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- [00:00]
Trevor Cowley
Anytime that you try to progress or do something different in life, something's going to happen. You know, there will be a curveball that's going to try to deter you from that goal. And it's up to you to determine whether that goal is important enough to jump through all the hoops that you're going to have to jump through to get to it, or whether you're just going to say, maybe it's just not meant to be, and I'll quit and give up.
- [00:23]
Brody
What's up, guys? Welcome to Real Estate Investing School Podcast. Stoked. Today we have obviously Joe Jensen, my co host here. What's up, Joe?
- [00:34]
Joe Jensen
What up? How's everybody doing?
- [00:35]
Brody
And then we have the man, our guest today, Trevor Cowley. Trevor, how's it going, dude?
- [00:42]
Trevor Cowley
Good, man, good. I appreciate you guys reaching out and asking me to be a part of your guys's show. You know, I don't know Joe as well, but I know Brody very well and I think that obviously if you know somebody well enough, you know, if they're associating with another individual, they're got, they just got to be good people. By default, Joe gets grandfathered into that group just because I know Brody and I know, you know, that type of. That's why I'm here.
- [01:05]
Joe Jensen
That's why I'm here.
- [01:07]
Trevor Cowley
So it's crazy how good that is.
- [01:09]
Brody
Just in general, it's crazy.
- [01:13]
Trevor Cowley
No, dude, like I made a post about it today. It's just like when, when you, when you have the right circle and then they introduce you to people, those people just automatically kind of get grandfathered into that same, same level of trust because, you know, that individual wouldn't surround themselves with somebody that's less than the caliber of person that they want to surround themselves with. And so it's, it's super important to have the right circle, but also trust that your circle is not going to introduce anybody that isn't like, minded to you as well. So.
- [01:44]
Brody
Yeah, no, that's awesome, man.
- [01:46]
Trevor Cowley
Yeah.
- [01:47]
Brody
What, what so for you. Because I think I want to dive into this. Might as well dive into it now. But I think you've done a good job at intention, creating your circle and surrounding yourself around those types of people. Like how, how big of a role has that played for you and your success? Just kind of putting yourself in the right rooms around the right people.
- [02:08]
Trevor Cowley
Yeah, look, man, you know, we, we believe in that wholeheartedly with everything that we have, and we invest a lot of money every single year to put ourselves in the right rooms. I Think people look at business wrong to a certain extent, that they look at business as very transactional, right? Like they're just trying to make money. You're just going after the dollar. If individuals by default got rid of that and they defaulted more so to, you know, relationship capital is the right way to put it, because relationships are the most important thing in business. The reality is, is we wouldn't be where we're at if we didn't have the relationships that we do. Everybody that we, that we do business with or that we surround ourselves with again, are just like minded people. The amount of investments that we've made in the last two years in different business ventures outside of our own all came from investing into different groups, surrounding ourselves with certain people that always bring opportunities to the table. One, either those individuals have an opportunity to help you scale your business or grow your business, or maybe those people are involved in other businesses that they can say, hey, you know, do you want to invest money into this and have your money start making you money? And when you're in the right circles, you, you have more trust with those people that the money's in good hands. Every business that we've invested in outside of our own, it's all you're betting on the jockey, not the horse, right? And as long as that individual, you have trust and confidence in that individual, then we make the investment.
- [03:43]
Joe Jensen
I have a question on that, Trevor. So like, how do you, how do you find and integrate into those circles? If like, for someone who's listening, like they're like, oh man, I don't have a circle of people I trust. Like, how do they get into a circle that they want to be in to kind of grow more of what they want to be?
- [04:02]
Trevor Cowley
You have to invest into it. There's plenty of entrepreneurship groups that are available out there where they do meetups. Like, you know, we joined the Arete Syndicate a couple years ago. We joined a group called Apex. Right? There's three different levels. Apex Entourage Entrepreneurship and Apex Executives. And just depending on where you're at in business, if you're a beginner and you're just a startup, you get put in Apex Entourage. And the goal for them is that you graduate levels and eventually become Apex Executives, where you're spending thousands of dollars each month to be a part of that group. But at the same time you have to look at it as though if other individuals can afford to spend that type of money each month in that group, then these are individuals that are doing something that is big, something that they Can. I mean, it's spitting out enough money for them to spend thousands of dollars a month plus fly to Dallas every single month for what we call a fly in Friday, where it's just kind of a mini mastermind. Right. And so entrepreneurship groups, coaching, mentoring, you know, there's. There's plenty of groups out there right now that exist that you could pay a monthly fee to be a part of. Some of them are just virtual, where it's just calls once a week, which are great. That's good for your personal mind, for you to set your goals and set your personal intentions. But we like investing into groups where there's actual meetups, to where we can create relationships. Right. And so they're out there. The fact is, is you just have to one, be following the right people on social media that are of high caliber because most of those individuals have their own groups going on or their own coaching going on. And you have to start investing into relationships. You have to start investing into information. If you're not doing those two things in business, I think that you're going to have a tough time. The reason why you're going to have a tough time is because you're going to have to figure it out all yourself. And when you're doing it that way, you're going to fail more times on the path to success versus surrounding yourself with the right people that can help you curb maybe some of those failures that you would initially see just trying to tackle it by yourself.
- [06:10]
Brody
Yeah, it is crazy too. You mentioned it, but in person, how much of a difference that makes. I do the same thing. I'm part of a few different groups and one of them it meets once a quarter and anyhow, like they, they shifted things back and forth, you know, with all the COVID stuff. And it went virtual for a little bit. And just. It's amazing how much of a difference there is seeing people in person versus just on. On zoom, right?
- [06:38]
Trevor Cowley
Oh, yeah, yeah. You get a feed off their energy too. It's just like a. It's a good way to reboot or refresh or restart when you remove yourself from your environment that you're normally dealing with problems. So for instance, I'm in my office. This is where problems come up, right. Things are coming at me all the time, so I don't have the ability to kind of take off my armor. But when, when you're, when you travel or you get into a room with individuals, you're not dealing with the same problems or struggles. So you have the ability one to Free think. And secondly, basically just feed off of the energy of the other individuals that are also go getters. So when you get back to the office that following week, you're just revitalized, you're ready to attack the week in a different way versus just get pounding with problems every single day.
- [07:26]
Brody
I know. It's the same thing even for me. Like I have a home gym, you know, my garage. You have to come over one of these days and you do a late.
- [07:35]
Trevor Cowley
Night workout there for me. Big dog.
- [07:38]
Brody
It's true, actually. It's true.
- [07:40]
Trevor Cowley
I don't, I don't know enough weight.
- [07:44]
Brody
For you to curl. There's probably enough weight for you to back squat. But yeah, your curling game strong. So, so, but yeah, just crazy like going to the gym, I was like, why do you have a gym membership? It's just, yeah, just switching up that environment. Something a little bit different. I'm a huge, huge believer in that. But it's interesting because you and I actually met. I don't even you remember, but the first time we met was at. It was like a, I don't know, a dinner meetup.
- [08:11]
Trevor Cowley
Yeah, it was a hundred dollar dinner club is where we first met. That's right.
- [08:15]
Brody
So yeah, something, I think it was Jimmy Rex that kind of started everything up north and, and you know, I heard about it, thought it was cool. And so basically ideas if, if you show up to dinner, great like networking event, but also like an opportunity to give back. And so everybody there tips a hundred dollars. And so it was cool. Like, I mean that's just one thing. Like our relationship, you know, that was, I don't know, six or seven months ago now maybe. And, and obviously we see each other multiple times a week at the gym. You had me on, on your podcast, which we'll, we'll talk about here in a second because you guys have, have done an amazing job with that. But it's just cool going back to like if you don't have thousands of dollars to invest in some of these groups, like a hundred bucks. You know, this was $100 one time thing and, and obviously we've done multiple of those since and, and we've connected, you know, more each one we've gone to but 100 bucks like to make a contact, you know, with you and Kale and to come be on your show. And a lot of people bought my program because of that. And like already in the short amount of time that that we've been friends for my, my hundred dollar tip, like I've, I've made thousands of dollars from that. And, and it's probably going to go a long ways. You know, you're going to invest in it in a deal with me, and it's going to turn into a lot. And so not that that's the reason that I did that, obviously, but it just goes to show. And it's the same thing, I'm sure, with a lot of the rooms that you're getting in. I know you guys just interviewed the clever investor last week, right? Probably a lot of contacts that came from that. Now a lot of business opportunities that came from that. So anyhow, phenomenal opportunities come from, I think, just getting out there and putting yourself in that situation.
- [09:58]
Trevor Cowley
Well, I mean, if you have to tip $101, you know, they're good people that are showing up, right. That are wanting to, you know, make a positive impact in their environment or community or whatever it is. So anytime that you're, you're in a room like that with a bunch of individuals that are just givers, you just know they're good people. And again, it kind of weeds out some of the individuals that maybe can't financially even do a hundred bucks, you know, like, no offense, but like, I don't want to surround myself with a bunch of broke people because I don't want to be the next one, you know. So it just, it just is what it is. And so when you're in a room like that, you know, they're just, there is good people and they can afford the hundred dollars and everybody just, you know, they're just like minded individuals. And so that's where I try to go. I try to find things that, that I know if I put myself in that environment, it'll just be good people that are all like minded.
- [10:49]
Brody
Yeah, totally, totally.
- [10:51]
Joe Jensen
That's super cool. That's such a good, like, principle to approach everything with. You know, obviously this is kind of a real estate podcast, but all this applies so much to real estate and then so many other things I want to ask you, Trevor. We like to ask all of our guests, you know, if there's a certain guiding principle or habit in their life that they found has helped them the most or helped them a lot in building their business or just getting their mindset and their life in order. I'd love to ask you the same question. If there's a certain guiding principle or habit that you've seen have a huge impact, impact in your life or business.
- [11:25]
Trevor Cowley
I would just, I would default back to exactly what we just talked about. Yeah, the Guiding principle is again, just surrounding yourself with the right people. You know, business first off, you know, whether it's real estate, you know, you own a regular brick and mortar, it doesn't matter. You know, businesses is a hundred percent about relationships anytime, you know, I bet Brody or you or whoever's listening to this that have done real estate deals, they're doing deals with somebody they met at one point or another right there, or somebody that they met, put them onto a certain type of real estate, whether it's the Airbnb stuff, whether it's flipping, whether it's hold, you know, and so somebody had to give you the information that you currently have now to see the success that you're currently seeing. And so again, one of the rituals that I have or habits that I have is constantly surrounding myself with like minded people, investing into information, investing into knowledge, investing into groups so that I can put myself in a situation where I just have far more contacts than you and they're all high level contacts. And so if my business is all imploded today, I would have everything that I need to be successful still because it's all stored in my cell phone. It's all the contacts that I've made over the course of the last decade plus in business. And, and so I already know that I could reach out to enough people and kick something completely new up. And again, most individuals are, it's just very transactional. They're just chasing money than really playing the long game. Right. And so the long game obviously has to do with money, but I think people put money before maybe some of the principles that apply to success. Right? So don't chase money, chase the things that, you know, successful people do chase. Just absorb their habits, absorb their principles, absorb their mindset, and then by default you'll be successful.
- [13:19]
Brody
That's so good. And like, I mean, that's honestly, that's why we want to have you on the show, obviously, you know, for, for you and like the person you are, what you've built, like it says something right. Obviously you have to adopt certain habits and you have to operate at a certain level to have that type of success. But it's interesting because yes, this is a real estate investing podcast and we do talk a lot about the strategies and tips and all that stuff. But like, this is it, you know, it all applies. Like it's really hard to be successful in one area of your life without applying those same principles and not being successful in all the areas of your life. And everything you're saying is like Perfect for anybody that's investing in real estate. Anybody. Because ultimately it is a business. Right. We all have our own real estate investing business. Whether you have one rental property that brings in some. Some extra side passive income, or you have, you know, 10 or 20 or 30 of them, ultimately you're operating a business, and all these principles of success definitely apply.
- [14:19]
Trevor Cowley
So, I mean, even when we interviewed, you know, clever investor, you know, last week and that podcast just dropped, you know, on Tuesday, he talked about, you know, some of his early real estate experiences and how he got into real estate and it was going to conferences.
- [14:37]
Joe Jensen
Yeah.
- [14:38]
Trevor Cowley
You know, spending money to surround himself with people who know more than what he currently knows so he can get the information he needs.
- [14:45]
Brody
He put those on credit cards.
- [14:47]
Trevor Cowley
He did, yeah. You know, he was floating, you know, 20 to 30 grand or something like that on credit cards because he was a broke college student.
- [14:58]
Brody
Mentor. Right. He asked this guy to be his mentor, and he's like, yeah, give me ten grand cash tomorrow morning. That he did not have. Right. Just crazy.
- [15:08]
Trevor Cowley
But if you want something bad enough, you find a way to get it. And he found a way to get.
- [15:11]
Brody
It, which is crazy.
- [15:14]
Joe Jensen
Well, the interesting thing is, like, with all these networkings, it's not always just about, hey, how can this guy put more money in my pocket? It's about the paradigm shift you have to being around those people. You know, when you hear them talking, see what they're doing. You might do a transaction together. You may never do a transaction in business together, but the paradigm shift you have of seeing the mindset that people have, you know, maybe you're that person one day and that inspires somebody the next day. You know, you're starting to doubt the entrepreneur road. Like, oh, what am I doing? Or how do I reach that next level? And then someone, you know, shifts your paradigm again. It's just this ebb and flow, give and take that's more valuable than some of the transactions that even may or may not take place.
- [15:55]
Trevor Cowley
And I would tell people that they need to figure out how to bring value or add value to other people. Right. It's the law of reciprocity. Right. Is what it's called. So reciprocity basically means you do good, good things will happen. Right. And so I think individuals, you know, go into scenarios. How can I take? How can I make right? Instead of, how can I give, how can I add value? And when you add enough value and you. And you're a giver again, the universe sees that, God sees that. However you want to label that it's going to come back full circle and it'll serve you in the. In the long run. Takers can potentially win in the short term, but givers win long term.
- [16:36]
Joe Jensen
Let me ask you this, Trevor. So we've talked about some of your successes, and we brought them up before we even brought you on because you've obviously done some amazing things, started multiple companies. You know, you're. You're living what you're preaching about, networking and doing amazing stuff. We also want to talk about some failures. We always ask some of our guests, like, what's one of your favorite failures where you maybe learned a lot from or learned what not to do, but maybe you could talk a little bit about that.
- [17:03]
Trevor Cowley
You know, we've had a lot of failures, you know, more. More failures than we've had successes. But the good thing about that is all you need to be right is once. Right. I think everybody's kind of heard that concept, right? So if we invested into 10 different businesses, 50 grand each, and we lost a half a million dollars, and on that 11th one, we invested 50 grand, but now it's making us, you know, millions of dollars each year, it makes up for it. So we've had a lot of failures in business. In some cases, we put the cart before the horse. And what I mean by that, we've built out the entire back end. We've built out the fulfillment, we've built basically how to service the person. But we didn't test the marketing aspect of it. You know, we were confident that we were able, that we'd be able to generate the leads that we wanted based upon a completely different business that we were able to generate leads for. So we went into it confident like, well, we're able to generate leads for this business of ours, so we'll be able to easily do that for this business, which wasn't the case. So we invested a lot of money getting all the pieces in play for the back end so that we could start marketing and start plugging people into the fulfillment process. But then the marketing didn't work because, you know, every business is a little bit different. Maybe Instagram's for some people, Facebook's for some people. LinkedIn's for some people. Maybe radio ads are for some people. Maybe investing into entrepreneurship groups are for some people, and growing their network so that they can get more affiliates sending them business. There's multiple ways to start getting the word out, so to speak, of what you do. But we were just a little too confident, a little too cocky in Our abilities from one company. We thought we would be able to do the same thing for a different company and that industry and that business. It just wasn't good for the same platform that we were using marketing on a different company. So we spent, you know, lots of money building the whole back end. And when we went to run marketing, we couldn't really generate the leads that we wanted to. So I would say, you know, individuals that are trying something. I think individuals think that they have to have a perfect before they start trying. Rather than going through the process of spending a little bit money testing things, test it to make sure that your theory is true. See if you can get some leads. Call the leads, hey, would you be interested in this product or this service or whatever it is? And if you're getting interest, then it's easy to build out the back end or build out the fulfillment. The hard part of any business is leads. Getting clients, getting customers. Right, or whatever it is. Maybe in this case getting homes at a good price. Whatever the situation is, you just have to make sure that you have the ability to market that product. One of the biggest failures that ended up being a huge blessing is one of our Instagram accounts got shut down when we initially started to try to do this social media thing, right? So we were initially running it just under easier accounting, posting the same content that we are on real business owners. We grew it to about 9, 800 followers and then Instagram shut it down on us. And so that was something that we couldn't necessarily control, right. That we didn't have our hand in it because Instagram kind of did that. But, you know, we had spent roughly 30 grand in marketing trying to figure out how to do this Instagram marketing to grow a page. And that was, that's what I considered my tuition, right? I learned all the things that I needed to know to have the information that I have so that I can use it now to be successful. It's no different than spending 30 grand on college to learn a specific topic or, you know, what a specific industry, whether it's dentistry, doctor, whatever it is, you spend thousands of dollars to learn something. I, I go about it maybe in a little bit different. I, I don't, I don't see that 30 grand going out as we were failing over and over as a failure. I was just learning along, along the way. And once that Instagram got taken down, you know, I was a little frustrated because we started to get some traction, I swear, finally started to figure it out. And, you know, the, the question That I asked myself is, what is this trying to tell me? And I think when people, when a curveball happens in somebody's life, they complain about the curveball rather than asking themselves, what is this trying to teach me? Where is it trying to redirect me? Because that's exactly what it's trying to do. You might be going down a path and a curveball happens because you maybe make. Need to make a little slight change changed. Maybe you're not seeing something and you had to have that hurdle or roadblock so that you could sit back and think about it and make those tweaks and adjustments so that then you can continue to move forward. So after the, after our account got taken down, you know, I sat there and said, what? What? Like this is happening for a reason. I just don't know the reason yet. You know, I. I had. If I stayed in a place of frustration, I'm not allowing my mind to free think to create a solution. I'm only thinking about the problem. If you're only thinking about the problem over and over and over, you're not a solution that isn't going to hit because your brain's too consumed about thinking about the issue at hand, right? And so I wanted to free my mind, not stay in a state of frustration or panic, so to speak. And within about a week, week and a half, it hit me. I said, nobody wants to follow an accounting page. Like, even if it's cool, nobody wants to follow accountants. Instagram has to be fun, cool, sexy, or informative, right? And there's nothing fun, cool, or sexy about accounting. So. And we were trying to do that with the type of content that we were putting out, but it was still branded under easier accounting. And so all of a sudden it hit me and I said, we need to camouflage this. We need to call it something that we're trying to attract. And who are we trying to attract if we own an accounting firm? Real business owners. So who are we? Real business owners. And so one, I wanted to name it after who we are and the type of people that we want to attract to our page. So if somebody sees the page, oh, hey, I own a business. I'm a real business owner. What are these guys about? And then they'll kind of poke around, right?
- [23:27]
Brody
Well, that's how I got. That's how I got turned onto the podcast originally, which was funny. And I think I told you this. It was like, surreal meeting you guys because, like, I was already listening to your podcast. And the only reason I started listening to it was it the title, you know, Real Business Owners. And, and yeah, it was just, it was just crazy because I had no idea who you guys were, where you're from, anything. I had no idea that, you know, you live close to me or anything like that. So when I saw you guys, I was like, oh, that's crazy. I had, I had no idea. Let's do you got a show. You know, so yeah, obviously it worked.
- [23:59]
Trevor Cowley
And, and that's exactly what I wanted to have happen, you know, Did I know for a fact that it would work? No, it was just, you know, a thought and idea. But literally it was like I wrote down like three or four options. It was like owners and operators, Real business owners. And there was like another one because we're owners and operators of our company. We're real business. So I was trying to label it one again, who we are and who we're trying to attract. And we, we voted on Real Business Owners. Kel said, I like that name. Is it available? I said, yeah, I made sure they were all available before I pitched you guys on this concept. Because I want people to just take the information for what it is and not think that there's an agenda behind it. Now, if State Farm puts out a great ad or commercial that hits you in the heart or whatever, it's still coming from State Farm. So it's not a shareable. You don't want to share a state. State Farm ad even if it hits your feel goods. Right?
- [24:54]
Brody
Yeah.
- [24:54]
Trevor Cowley
And so it's less shareable when it comes from a company. Right. So because then it feels like they have an agenda behind what they're posting versus just giving good content and being genuine and authentic about trying to help people. Because we still want to help people. We still want to be genuine and authentic, but by default, as givers, if we do that, we already know that it'll come full circle and we'll be tangible, taken care of.
- [25:18]
Brody
And within Podcast came after that then.
- [25:21]
Trevor Cowley
Yeah, yeah, within three months we had like over 10,000 followers when it took a year to get 10,000 followers on easier accounting. And within that three month time frame, we started getting so many messages like, hey, do you guys have a podcast? Do you have YouTube? Like, we want more content because all we were posting is like 30 or 30 second videos, two minute videos, whatever it was. But people wanted more. And so the following actually kind of moved us in the direction of like looking at each other. Hey, maybe we should start a podcast. Because a podcast can also help you create content for social media. And give people what they're asking for, which is more long form content.
- [26:02]
Brody
Yeah, I love that. Something I, I think I would love to touch on because I think that it's easy for people to see you where you're at now and be like, oh, you know, you've been like this forever, you've been successful, you've had money forever. Two things. One, like, tell us a little about like your, your upbringing, your background, because you didn't, you weren't just this born entrepreneur, right, or born successful entrepreneur. And then also like how you, your views on money now. Like, you and I have spent a lot of time talking about this and you're probably one of the most. I don't frequently frugal's the right word, but you live below your means times more than anybody I know for what you have and then what you live off of. So if you do touch on those two things, I'd love to hear it.
- [26:48]
Trevor Cowley
Yeah, I, I, to be honest with you, and it's, it's not bragging, it's just truth. I don't know anybody that's more disciplined with the money that if I don't know anybody that makes the type of money I make, that lives the life that I, that I live in terms of, you know, beneath your means, so to speak, you know, I could, I could live off of 2 or 3% of my income just fine, you know, and so, and, and that, and just so that you guys understand that's what put me in the situation that I'm in today. So it's like, well, why would I change what's working? Right? And so in, in terms of how I grew and I'll, and I'll elaborate that on, on just a sec, in just a second in terms of, you know, how I got to where I am in terms of my managing my money and how I manage my money that ultimately helped me get where I'm at today and why I live by some of those same principles, even though my income's way higher. Right. And so I grew up in Utah, Southern Utah, Washington to be exact. And there were seven kids. We lived in a three bedroom house. I shared a room with my three other brothers, so there was four of us in a room. It wasn't uncommon for, you know, our lights or utilities to get shut off. I remember watching my mom cry in the kitchen to the utility department, begging them to turn the utilities back on because there's seven young kids in the house and she'll pay them 50 bucks on Friday if they'll accept that. You know, there were times where we had to light candles in the house so that we had light when the power would get shut out for, you know, a day or two before she was able to get the money that she needed to turn the utilities back on. There's, you know, I don't know how many people listen to this that are religious or anything, but the Mormon Church, they have a thing called the Bishop Storehouse for poor people. Right. Where they can provide you peanut butter, bread, just kind of eggs, milk. Just some of the essentials. Right. Just enough to survive, not necessarily thrive. And the milk that they provided was powder milk. Right. So you get a scoop almost like you're taking a scoop of protein with water, and you'd have to mix it and, you know, all of that. So in that type of environment, I tell people I had the luxury of growing up poor, which kind of sounds a little backwards, but when you grow up with less than, it puts you in a situation where if you want something, you have to create your own solutions. I already knew if we were struggling financially, where we couldn't even afford food or utilities some of the times that if I wanted something for my bike or if I wanted a skateboard to go hang out with the other kids in the neighborhood, that my family just didn't have disposable income, where we could do stuff like that, where I could say, hey, mom, I want a skateboard, or I want a new bike, or whatever it was. If I wanted something, I had to empower myself to figure out a way to get it. And I honestly think that that's. That's served me for the rest of my life. You know, I mean, even as an entrepreneur, if. If there's a problem, nobody's gonna fix it but me.
- [30:00]
Brody
Yeah.
- [30:01]
Trevor Cowley
I can't turn to somebody else for them to create a solution to my problem. My problem was I wanted to go skateboarding with my friends or I wanted to ride the bike with my friends, not my mom.
- [30:12]
Brody
Yeah.
- [30:12]
Trevor Cowley
You know, so. And if she's already struggling, what did I have to do? How can I kick up some money? I had to get creative as kid, so I'd walk down to the local golf course and with a backpack, and I would be digging through all the bushes, plucking all the golf balls, throwing them in my backpack. I would hike back home with my backpack. I would pour them all out on the. On the front lawn, and I'd polish the golf balls. I'd put them back. Yeah, well. Yeah, well, he's the guy thank God for people like Brody because he kept in business. He was the one put. Putting them in the bushes so that I could. I could find those little gold nuggets and buy the things, right? So I appreciate guys like you, you know, so keep shanking it. The kids need it, but, you know, I polish them up and on. Saturday was my big day because that's when the golf courses was busy. So I'd hide in the bushes, and when the golfers would come, come by, I'd pop out of the bushes with my backpack and rip it open and. And. And show them all the golf balls, nice and shiny and clean. I'd say four for a dollar. And a lot of golfers, the cool thing about them is they respected the hustle. And back in the day, everybody carried cash. It isn't like it is now. Like, if kids tried to do that, they'd be like, yo, Venmo me. You know, for these golf balls or something, right? Nobody's really caring as much cash anymore. But back in the day, when I was young, doing this, you know, 25 years ago, everybody had had a wad of cash, especially golfers, because they're always out there betting with each other, all their friends, right? And so some of them, literally, just because I was out there hustling, it's like, hey, I don't need any golf balls, but keep doing what you're doing, kid. And they'd hand me, like, two bucks or five bucks, like they just wanted. Like, even I enjoy seeing that still today. Like, if I see people selling snow cones or lemonade, I'll try to pull over and give them a couple bucks if I've got some cash out just to just. Just to honor their hustle, right?
- [32:14]
Brody
Because my door now, just after. After doing door to ourselves for so long, it's just like, I'm like, I'm a sucker for it, you know? Pretty sure I got completely scammed by somebody the other day. I. I've. It was like, venmo me this. And we're collecting donations for, you know, this. All you have to do is just Venmo me, and we'll make sure your money gets done donated. And I'm just like, bro, I'm 99 sure this is fake, but the fact that it's hot outside and you're going door to door, like, I'm gonna send you some money.
- [32:48]
Trevor Cowley
Yeah, exactly. You're just supporting people that are out there trying to support themselves.
- [32:53]
Brody
Yeah.
- [32:53]
Trevor Cowley
And. And that. That's a lesson in of itself, right? People Want to help people that are helping themselves. Nobody wants to help somebody that's always complaining about how helpless they are and that nothing can go right. But, you know, just like you talked about the clever investor, how he found a mentor, he was wanting to help himself, and the mentor saw that in him and said, you know, look, kid, I'll help you. Because he was literally there investing into the fact that he wanted to, to create a better life for himself. And so I would do that whenever.
- [33:23]
Brody
Anybody that wasn't willing to do that right off the bat, right? Just like you said, like going to these, you know, the 100 dinner clubs, like, you know, it doesn't have an extra 100 bucks to, to tip or to give to charity like that. That's like a qualification process, right? Just probably like this mentor, it's like, hey, dude, this is going to show me how serious you actually are, you know, and it's going to weed you out right off the bat if you don't show up with this money, you know, because the money wasn't an issue for him. You know, probably that 10 grand probably didn't change his life at all. But it told him a ton about Cody. Right? And if, if it was worth working with him or not.
- [33:58]
Trevor Cowley
Correct. The guy was already worth millions. 10 grand isn't going to do nothing. But it's. That was his first test. Right? And we're all going to get tested in life. The question is, are you really passing the test when they're presented to you, or do you just, you know, fade back and, and complain about the problem, about the issue? Any, any time that you face an issue or a problem in business, somebody else has had to face it that, that currently is seeing success. And so they passed the, that level. And it's up to you to pass that level too. Right? And so, yeah, as, as I, as, as I did that as a young kid, mowed lawns, pulled weeds, got golf balls. However, I could kick up money, I'd kick up money because I knew that it had to come from me. I had to be my own resource. And resourcefulness is a big, big deal when it comes to entrepreneurship or business. Because somebody might come across a real estate deal, that's a great deal, but maybe they, they're in the wrong position to capitalize on the deal. They have to get resourceful in order to be able to make it happen, move some things around, call their network, leverage people that they know in order to get something done. Resourcefulness is like a big, big deal.
- [35:03]
Brody
When some especially real Estate investing, you know, because it's like, there's so like everybody has an excuse, right? Everybody does. And it's funny, like I did a couple of deals this last year just because I was, was tired. Like I took all the excuses that I could figure out people were having, like, hey, I don't have any credit, so I have to wait to build that up. Hey, I don't have any money, you know, Hey, I don't have like the connections or the network or whatever, right? And so I went out and like, I did a few deals that didn't involve any of my money, that didn't involve and you know, just straight hustle and that's it. And just to prove the point of like, hey, it's okay, like there's stuff out there, there's opportunities out there if you are resourceful. And like, obviously, you know, that's, that's the one thing that's hard to teach somebody. You know, you can't teach them, you can't teach them that like you got it. That comes from within, I feel like.
- [35:52]
Trevor Cowley
But the other, well, yeah, at the, at the end of the day, man, they're, they're, they're focused on what they don't have versus what they're trying to get and what they're trying to gain. Well, I can't, you know, I can't do this or I can't do that. That's just their self limiting beliefs coming in. Right. And so they have, they have to, they have to write a new story. Right? They have to believe that as long as they put in the work, that there, there is the ability for them to, you know, get a result. And some people want all of the chess pieces laid out completely in front of them. Want to know, move one through 10. It's not going to happen. You just have to make that first move and then see what happens. Universe is going to make the next move, then you make your next move, then the next one. Like too many people are, they're thinking too far ahead rather than just saying, you know what, let's just start knocking doors and see if I can start kicking something up. Because if I knocked enough doors and found a good deal, I could sell that deal to you guys.
- [36:47]
Brody
Yeah.
- [36:48]
Trevor Cowley
And maybe I could pocket grand selling that deal to you guys. And Now I've got 20 grand to play with.
- [36:54]
Brody
Yeah, right.
- [36:55]
Trevor Cowley
And so at the end of the day, if you want it bad enough, you'll, you'll do whatever it takes. You'll figure it out, you'll make it work, you'll, whether you have capital, whether you have credit, it doesn't matter. Again, it just comes down to resourcefulness, right? And so that's probably why like growing.
- [37:12]
Brody
Up, you know, learning that because I feel same way. Like I was the kid that had to pay for, I mean it wasn't nearly as bad as you had it. You know, like we were, we were, you know, probably middle classish, but I had to pay for my spirit pack for football. You know, like the thirty five dollar shirt, shorts, what I was so mad about it like, like in the moment, right? Like mom, nobody has to do this, you know, cell phone, like car, gas, car insurance, all that stuff. And I'm like, this is not fair. You know, my wife was the exact same way growing up. And so now it's interesting because we, we almost bond over that and we're like man, so grateful for that. And I think that word resourcefulness like sums it up because that, that's the lesson that it taught us. And I think that obviously today's day and age, you have two, like, not enough of that. And so it just teaches people like one of my, my biggest pet peeves is like when somebody takes ownership over their parents, things like, yeah, our boat or our car or our this and my wife no longer do you want.
- [38:16]
Trevor Cowley
To go out on our, like, you don't have a boat.
- [38:20]
Brody
Your, your daddy has a boat. You know what I'm saying? And it's like, but they grew up like being so used to that that now they're older and they're married and they're, it's like they just assume that like that's their stuff and it's like, no, there's a point where if you didn't learn it when you're, you were young, like, you know, we did. Like you have to learn it at some point. And the quicker you learn that, like you got to go, you got to go be resourceful on your own and make a name for yourself. Like, the quicker you're going to figure it out and be successful.
- [38:49]
Trevor Cowley
I feel like, you know, your, your mind is a muscle, right? And your mind is a record of the past. And if your entire past or childhood or upbringing, somebody else solved all your problems for you and you had everything that you needed, then when you get out into the real world, when other people aren't going to solve your problems and give you exactly what you need, you know, you might get a little frustrated. Dude, I know plenty of people that were, that were the rich kids in school. School that aren't doing anything right now with their life because they've been given everything. And when the world's not giving them exactly what they want, then they don't know what to do. They don't have the hustle, muscle built up from when they were younger, having to earn the things that they had. And now, now they're at a disadvantage. So I think growing up poor is actually a luxury because it's going to teach you some harsh lessons that will serve you later in life. And so that's why I had the luxury of growing up for it. It didn't feel that way while I was going through it. And, and, and, and the, the lesson is, is if you're used to doing difficult things like coming up with 35 bucks as a high school kid to pay for your own thing, when you get older, you're going to be used to hard things. You know, some there's an issue. I have to come up with X so that I can get X whatever that thing is that you want. And now you're in a position where you're far more resourceful and you figure out a way to get what you want because you were taught that at a young age. And if individuals aren't taught that at a young age, they're going to have a very difficult time. So let's talk real quick just about finances. Let's talk about money. Okay. Because money's fun.
- [40:27]
Joe Jensen
Yeah, we want to hear your perspective on money. Like obviously you kind of give us foundation of your relationship with it growing up. And how did that shift? And let's talk about what you think and know about it now.
- [40:37]
Trevor Cowley
So here, you know, I was, I was very, very, very money motivated because of the circumstances that I grew up in. I remember as a young, young boy looking around and you know, seeing my environment and I was super embarrassed of it, dude. I didn't want people in school that I went to school with to ever come over to my house to see how I lived. Right. I remember getting asked to Sadie's by a girl, right. A high school dance where they come decorate your room or whatever. But I shared a room with my three other brothers. So she decorated my top bunk and I was so embarrassed that she saw I shared a room with. There was four of us jammed in a room and my was like, that was embarrassing, right? And so, yeah, I just, I remember at a young age saying, one of your brothers, top bunk for the best. It was, it was his. Hey, I had an older brother, he had the bottom bunk. And then My two younger brothers, the older one of them had the bottom and then the younger one at the top.
- [41:34]
Joe Jensen
But dude, we had a three level high bunk. I grew up with me and two brothers sharing a room. We had three levels high, so I was the third level. There's like this much room between my bed and the ceiling. So it's like I couldn't sit up.
- [41:47]
Trevor Cowley
Slamming the ground, right? You know, back in the day it was reckless. They didn't have the guards. So you grow up as being in small, smack the ground and wake up. But I remember looking around saying, this isn't okay. I will not live like this when I get older, right? Making, making that promise to myself. And you know, as I started growing up, you know, I went into cells at 19, made good money, surrounded myself with the wrong people, started doing some of the wrong things, got caught up in drug addiction for three or four years, got clean, went back into cells and started making money. Now when I started making money was when I found out that, you know, my current wife was pregnant, we were gonna have our first child. And I said, okay, holy cow, this is coming quick. It's no longer about me. Now I've got to really take life serious and start thinking about, you know, providing for a household.
- [42:41]
Brody
Right.
- [42:41]
Trevor Cowley
And so I buckled down right around, you know, 25 years old, started making, you know, 120, 20, 130 grand a year. And during that time I was driving a three thousand dollar Mitsubishi Lancer that was paid off, that had zero air conditioning. And if anybody knows anything about southern Utah, you know, it gets 110, 115 degrees here in the summer. And so my, my air conditioning was. You just roll the window down and let that wind hit the sweat, you know, that's, that's on your body. That was, that was my, my air conditioning. But. And I lived in a 750amonth piece of crap townhouse. And so I was making 120, 130 grand a year with my overhead being 750amonth on this townhouse. Obviously there's gas, groceries, you know, just some of the basic stuff, right? But the reason why I did that is because I knew I wasn't smart. Okay. And, and I'll elaborate on that. You know, I didn't do the best in school, right. I didn't even graduate with my class on time. I had to take packets after the fact. So I got my diploma six months after everybody else in my class did. And so I went into the, the real world environment knowing that I was at a disadvantage. And I knew opportunities like one of two things. They either like people with money or they like people with a certain skill set. So let's say, for instance, you guys wanted to build a real estate investing app and I'm a programmer. You come to me and say, trevor, we want you, we want, we want to hire you to build this amazing app for us. We think it's going to revolutionize the way people invest into real estate. And I said, okay, well instead of you guys paying me, I want 10 ownership of the app and it won't cost you guys anything, we'll just partner on it. Now, I can trade a specific skill for equity where if I'm a brilliant marketer and a company comes to me, want me to do marketing for them, I can say, look, give me 10% of your company and I'll blow this company up. But you guys won't have to pay me, you know, x amount per month to do your marketing. I can trade a very high level skill for equity in some cases, right? And I knew I wasn't the smartest and the most skilled, so that was kind of out of the picture for me. I was a sales guy. Salespeople are a dime a dozen. There's plenty, plenty of salespeople, right? And so that's not too unique of a skill. Option two is opportunity loves money because money can bring an opportunity life, right? It's the gasoline, it's the fuel that makes it, makes it actually chug and, you know, see progress. So I was like, okay, if I'm not smart, I need to have access to money If I'm going to change my life and change my family legacy of just being broke, broke rope is killing be. Then I have to live way beneath my means and I have to stack cash. I know for a fact a hundred percent of people will have 3, 4, 5 different opportunities presented to them within their life that could change their life. But the issue is most people aren't preparing themselves for that opportunity because they just don't see it. And then when the opportunity is finally there and available to them, they don't have access to what they need to take advantage of it. And then they try to rush to put things together in order to make it happen. The old saying, stay ready so you don't gotta get ready, right? And so I didn't know what opportunity I was preparing myself for, but I knew I had to have access to money. And so I lived that little teeny lifestyle on purpose so that 120,130 grand a year. I could stack cash in the bank. Again, no opportunities in front of me, which is very difficult to be disciplined, to have a stack of money in the bank. You make decent money, but the surroundings, your car you drive doesn't look like it. The house that you live in doesn't look like it. Right. And so I always say it takes discipline to make money, but it takes even more discipline to make money and not spend it. Right. On. Especially on the wrong things. Right. And so if you want to figure out discipline, I can hand you a million bucks and see if you can really hold on to it for the right opportunity or if you just start burning through it just to enjoy a life. Right.
- [46:52]
Joe Jensen
Your wife to buy into that?
- [46:54]
Trevor Cowley
She didn't for a long time. Like, she was raised. You go to school, get a good job, you work that job for 40 years, and you retire. Just is what it is. Right? But I wasn't smart, so I already. I barely got out of high school, so I knew that that route wasn't going to be for me. And there was many times in the early years that she told me, like. Like, sales is too inconsistent. You need to go find something that's a little bit more consistent, go back to school, get a degree, whatever. Whatever, Right? That wasn't something that I was willing to do. And I remember the first time I was going to invest into something, I sat down and talked to her, and she. She wasn't. She wasn't about it. So over and over, I kept planting the seed and I kept watering it. You can't expect just to bring it up and then get, you know, their full blessing right off the bat. Now, I'm grandfathered into that now based upon the fact that I have a track record of success. And, you know, she believes that, you know, I know what I'm doing. But initially, she was scared to the point where it was like paralysis by an out. Like she just couldn't do it. And I finally came home and said, you don't understand the pressure of what it's like to be a man and have to provide for a family. That's my responsibility, not yours. I'm not gonna purposely make a bad decision to put our family in a worse financial situation. The only reason why I'm doing it is because I want something greater for us. Whether I have your blessing or not, this is something that I feel like I have to do for our family because that pressure's on me. That pressure's not on you. And then she finally said, well, Just do whatever. Just do it. Do whatever you want to do. If you're going to just do it anyways. Why did you know? And so I did it. Yeah, you know, and that one didn't work. I didn't have the heart to tell her because there was another opportunity, literally, like two months later, three months later, to make another investment. And she's like. I said, hey, I've got this thing, you know, she's like, well, wait for that first thing to, like, to. To pay itself back or start making. Yeah, yeah, yeah, do it again. And I said, it will. Don't worry. The checks in the mail. I literally was saying that, like, I knew the entire time that it was like, we got screwed. And so. And I said, I. And I told her. And she, again, she started fighting me hard about it. Like, no, we're not doing this again. Like, let's wait. And I said, that's not how opportunities work. Opportunities don't work when you're ready. They're not going to be around when everything's perfect. I said, the opportunities here and now. And if I don't do it, then I miss out on the opportunity. And then in back of my mind, I knew we were already going to be screwed on the first one. So I was like, I can't let this one go. Like, I've got to make this one work. And I did, you know, I turned, you know, I think it was like 13 grand into 60 grand in like six months. And then at that point, I told her the other one didn't work, you know, but the other one, I only invested all about timing, you know? Exactly.
- [49:54]
Joe Jensen
So.
- [49:55]
Trevor Cowley
But she couldn't complain at that point because I made up for it. And we made some money on that deal, right? And so when you had that opportunity.
- [50:03]
Brody
Because you were disciplined early on, right, and you would save that money for that specific purpose. And I. I mean, I see it all the time, especially once someone, you know, maybe gets into their first rental or their second and they have this extra cash flow that's coming. I call it like the steamroll effect, right? Where you actually take. Take that cash flow, don't live off of it, don't spend it, you know, roll that into the next deal, wait till it builds up, and then roll it in the next deal. And then eventually all those together will pay for your lifestyle. But I see the same thing happen with people in car payments. Like, as soon as their cars paid off, what do you think they do? You would think it would be, like, sweet, I have an extra 3, 4, $500 that I can now put into savings or like, it's gonna make things less tight at the end of the month. Like my car is only, you know, four or five years old. Do they do that? Like, no, they go get another car and they go get the same payment and replace it because it's like this. Yeah, it's just a struggle, dude.
- [51:02]
Trevor Cowley
I, I even see it with like, even employees. Right. Not even entrepreneurship. If somebody literally gets like a one dollar raise or a two dollar raise or whatever. A dollar raise with 40 hours a week, that's 160 bucks a month. So what do people think that they can do now? They can afford an extra payment of a hundred or one hundred fifty a month so they can go trade their car. So literally cable, you know, they're never able to get ahead because when they see a bump in something, they see that they can bump their expenses, not bump the amount of money that they have the ability to save.
- [51:36]
Brody
Yeah.
- [51:36]
Trevor Cowley
Right. And so, you know, even back then, in order to put myself in a situation to capitalize on opportunities, I still do that to this day. Right. Like, I have one payment, my one payment that I have right now is 1300 bucks a month on a house that I bought 12 years ago. Right.
- [51:52]
Brody
You have hundreds of thousands of dollars of equity in that house.
- [51:57]
Trevor Cowley
Yeah, about a half a million in, in that house.
- [52:01]
Brody
But which is interesting because like, I'm.
- [52:05]
Trevor Cowley
Below my means, you know, like. Yeah, I, I think people need to put into perspective what they're really trying to accomplish long term. Like this business game or the real estate game or whatever your game is, all that is, is a vehicle to secure your financial future. That's not a vehicle to live a high lifestyle today. And if you play the cards right for a long enough period of time, if you, if you, if you sacrifice for five years or 10 years and you don't start living off of the money that it's being generated, then in 10 years you're going to be in a position where it's spitting off so much money that you have money to continue to invest and live a great lifestyle.
- [52:45]
Brody
Yeah.
- [52:46]
Trevor Cowley
You know, versus just the lifestyle you now, you're shackled to. Your lifestyle because if, if something slows down, you're going to have to rate your business of any profits in order to fuel the lifestyle that you've now created. I'm more risk adverse than most people. I can invest a quarter million dollars into a business and lose it. And guess what? I'm not risking my lifestyle at all. I can look around. I still have all the vehicles that I have. I'll still have the exact same. If I lose this, I'll still still have everything that I have. But individuals that live a great lifestyle, right, when they take one risk and that risk doesn't work out, now they're going to have to sacrifice the way they live. And the funny thing about living up here, it's very difficult to come back down here and live like that once you've tasted it. But if you stick down here long enough, then you could taste that forever. You never have to really drop back down and, and make those same sacrifices. And so one, make the sacrifices by stories, starting investing, start the business, whatever it is that you're trying to do. And then as it's making money, don't immediately reward yourself. Some people work hard for two or three years to get the business or whatever it is to cash flow. And because they've worked so hard, they want to reward themselves for the hard work that they've put in. So they start taking the money right when it starts spitting it out and they start living. Maybe because their family made some sacrifices as well. They've made sacrifices. And so it's now in their eyes, time to reward themselves for all the hard work and sacrifice. I say give it another three to five years of sacrifice without rewarding yourself. And that's going to put you in a situation when you do reward yourself. It's not going to be, you know, something that is a struggle to pay for that big house or that big. You're never going to struggle because you gave it the time that it needed to get to a certain level to where again, whatever you're doing, whether it's real estate or business, that business is cash flowing enough or the real estate is cash flowing enough to where if it's making 50 grand a month, you have 25 grand a month, you can continue to reinvest and you can live off of 25 grand a month. Right. And so that's a pretty good lifestyle. And you're still putting yourself in a situation where you're not taking away from the thing that puts you in this situation, which was a vesting original. Right.
- [54:58]
Brody
I think it's interesting too, because I. More people than we realize that are successful now, like they've, they've had the same mindset on things and it's. Yeah. I mean, I always go back to when I was watching all my friends that were making, you know, about the same amount of money as me going and building these, these Homes, you know, and I call it the stucco three bed, two bath, two car garage house because it's that classic. Like I've graduated college, now I got a job. Like, you know, I might have a kid or two, like I'm gonna go build a house or buy a house. And instead, like my wife and I got on board with early on was like, hey, let's sacrifice a few years of our life now and we can live later, you know, like nobody else can. But ultimately, like, even now, I was talking to somebody the other day and like we were looking back, my wife and I, the last, you know, five houses we've bought. Like we haven't lived in a house that the purchase price of the house wasn't what we made money wise that year. It's just interesting to look at it that way. You know, it just kind of shows like, okay, this level my income. Whereas, you know, you go to qualify for a home nowadays and literally it is scary. Like the payment people are always focused on payment. Can I qualify for payment? Can I qualify for payment? It's scary what you can qualify for. Like, I'm like, man, you like rubbing pennies together at the end of the month if you were to get into that house. And yet we see it day in and day out, which is just crazy to me.
- [56:23]
Trevor Cowley
Well, the system wants you enslaved to the system, so they're going to qualify you as much as they possibly can so that you're stuck in debt, paying things for the rest of your life. Right? I mean, and then that's going to keep you stuck wherever you're at in life, whether that's working for somebody else or whatever the situation is. And so, you know, either, either, either the system has their hands on you and has full control over you because you overextended, ended yourself, or you create your own system in, in the way that you want to live. And you actually have to create that because the system that we're in right now in the United States or the world is go to school, get a good job, get into debt, retire at 65 and basically, you know, not, not live. Right. You're, you're, you're, you go to work just to put a roof over your head or just to be able to afford the car. And so you're in debt for the rest of your life. And if you do not make sacrifices, you are the sacrifice. That's how I put it. Yeah. And.
- [57:26]
Joe Jensen
Go on, go for it.
- [57:28]
Trevor Cowley
What do you got?
- [57:29]
Joe Jensen
Oh, I just, that's what I love about real estate. Is it lets you kind of turn the game on its head because you can use that leverage and that debt as an asset buyer to go buy investments instead. Instead of buying, you know, your primary residence. That's overshot but yeah, do qualify for as much as you can and go buy a 4 Plex. Have someone else pay your mortgage so you can take their game, turn it around and leverage it to gain your freedom, you know.
- [57:57]
Trevor Cowley
Exactly. Well, you've been is having people pay them to live at a certain place. So if the banks are one of the richest companies in the world and they've got all the money then you know, take a page out of their book. But you can't take a page out of their book unless you're starting from somewhere. And the only way you start from somewhere is but making a sacrifice somewhere. Right.
- [58:16]
Brody
So true. Well and that's one of my favorite quotes has always been if you do what's easy, life's hard video it's hard, life is easy. I think it applies perfectly to this, this principle. And, and I think you know, you've been a great example of that obviously. Like I know, I know there's a lot of things that you could have done years and years ago. I know you got, you know, your dream lot that you paid cash for that like you've had that for a while and you haven't built on it, you know and it's like you haven't built on it for like you don't need to you know. I know you pay for your, you know, your parents lifestyle and stuff like that, which is really, really cool. And so dude, yeah, we appreciate man, super, super high level stuff and like obviously I took a ton from this. I know a bunch of other people are going to take, take this same. But before we head out, Joe's just got a couple quick questions and then, and then we'll let, let you get back to running the world.
- [59:09]
Joe Jensen
Yeah man, we love your energy. It's exciting. We could talk about this stuff for hours. We want to do a quick like. Yeah, a couple firearm questions at the end here. First question I'd like to ask is what's a bucket list item for you that you're excited to do next? What's something on your, your bucket list you're excited to check off?
- [59:28]
Trevor Cowley
I would say, you know, getting past, you know, some of the things that I'm dealing with with the FAA currently so that I can get my pilot's license and we can buy a plane. You know, so I've been going through that now for about months, going to flight school, things like that. And you know, the fact is, you know, some of my younger decisions have come up to haunt me, you know, at this point. Because, look, I was a crazy kid when there was a three or four year period there when I started making money, I was doing things that I shouldn't have been doing and got in a little bit of trouble. And it's, and it's coming back 13, 14, 15 years later to haunt me all. One of the situations was 18 years old that the FAA is looking into. And we've been going back and forth now for seven to eight months with the FAA just to try to get them to approve me so that I could start, you know, doing some of the final things that I need to do in order to take my exam so that I could get a pilot's license. But you know, they, they want me to jump through a bunch of hoops and I'm trying to do that. And that's another lesson in of itself. Anytime that you try to progress or do something different in life, something's going to happen. You know, there will be a curveball that's going to try to deter you from that goal. And it's up to you to determine whether that goal is important enough to jump through all the hoops that you're going to have to jump through to get to it, or whether you're just going to say, maybe it's just not meant to be and I'll quit and give up.
- [60:48]
Brody
Right?
- [60:48]
Trevor Cowley
So I would say just getting my pilot's license and being able to get a plane so that we can do more bills and shake more hands and kiss more babies and do pr, Right? That's what we want to do, is shake hands, kiss babies. Hey, we exist, you know, love us and do business with us.
- [61:06]
Joe Jensen
I love it. I love it. Next question. Trevor, what is your definition of, of freedom?
- [61:14]
Trevor Cowley
I would just say, you know, not being shackled down to a certain place at a certain time, having to do a certain thing to earn a certain amount of money, you know what I mean? Like, people have to be at this place at 9 o' clock, till 5 o', clock, like they're told when they have to be there when they can, when they can go home, you know, that, that's something that was never very appealing to me. So I, I would say my definition of freedom is if, if I wanted to get up and move and relocate across the country right now, could I, you know, is that something that you have the ability to do. These are questions that people need to be asking themselves. How much freedom do you really have? If you wanted to do something right now, today, could you really even do that thing that you wanted to do or would you not be able to do it because somebody else is telling you what you have to do, when you have to do it and when you get to go home to see your family?
- [62:08]
Joe Jensen
That's why you need that plane, right? To be able to go where you want, when you want.
- [62:12]
Brody
I love it.
- [62:13]
Joe Jensen
All right, so last question, if you were able to, was that I said.
- [62:19]
Trevor Cowley
I don't like long lines and those security check, all that stuff at the airport. So it's more just a convenient factor.
- [62:25]
Joe Jensen
For me, you know, 100%. I recently got the TSA pre check and it's like a thousand times faster and easier. I'm like, this is what it used to be like for everybody to always go to the airport. We've lost a lot of freedoms. So last question. If you could send a text to every single person in the world, what would your text bomb be that they'd be able to get read?
- [62:47]
Trevor Cowley
Say that one more time for me.
- [62:49]
Joe Jensen
If you could send a text message and it would go to every single person in the whole world, what would be the message you would send out?
- [62:57]
Trevor Cowley
Probably you are good enough. You know, I think, I think in today's society, a lot of people don't think that they're good enough. You know, whether it's, they're, they're not good enough to invest into real estate, they're not good enough to start a business. They're not. You know, I mean, we live in this social media world, right? Everybody's comparing to themselves to somebody that has something better than what they currently have, so they feel less than, they don't feel good enough. You know, and so I think people need to understand that their self limiting beliefs or how they grew up or whoever taught you that was their beliefs. It's time for you to reprogram your mind into what you believe is possible so that you can start going out there and doing some of the things that maybe the people that brought that raised you or taught you those things. Just because they didn't think that they could do it doesn't mean that you can't. But it does take a lot of reprogramming and that's why it's important to fill your mind with good information and surround yourself with the right people so that over time that you can be an individual that does believe in yourself. But I think that that's a big, big issue. Kids are, you know, have mental health problems at a very, very young age because they just don't believe in themselves. Why? Because they're constantly comparing themselves to somebody else and somebody else that's only showing their highlight reel. So they just don't feel like that they're good enough. And I think that that's an important message that a lot of people need to hear, is that you are good enough. You're good enough to do whatever it is that you want to do. And if it's important enough to you, you'll find a way to make it happen.
- [64:25]
Brody
We've asked a lot of people this question and it's probably one of my favorite answers for sure.
- [64:30]
Joe Jensen
That's.
- [64:31]
Brody
I was thinking the same thing.
- [64:33]
Joe Jensen
That was really good, dude. You're an inspirational guy. I love your energy. It's been really cool just being able to pick your brain for the short period of time. What's the best way for people to continue to follow you and like, learn from you and see what you, you're doing? Obviously. What's your, you know, your podcast and your favorite social media handle?
- [64:50]
Trevor Cowley
Yeah, I would say just we're heavy on Instagram at Real Business Owners. The podcast, it's called Real Business Owners as well. So it's all just Real Business owners, whether it's YouTube, whether it's tick Tock, whether it's Instagram, Facebook, you know. But I would say if somebody really actually wants to connect and they have a question and they want, you know, me to answer the question, or my business partner Cal, that's also with me on the Real Business Owners, we answer all of the direct messages that come through on that Instagram account personally. You know, we've had some pretty heavy hitting questions, some life altering questions. People, you know, very depressed, wanting to commit suicide, you know, like we've been there for every single message that has ever come across our Instagram account. And we're going to try to continue to do that for as long as we possibly can and keep up with that. But if somebody wants to connect with us, Instagram is the best way to do it. Again at Real Business Owner, and I.
- [65:48]
Brody
Think too that's all plug for sure you're. Because you do have easier accounting. It's your accounting service for, you know, I don't know if it's small businesses or just businesses in general, but you offer that service and then you also offer, which I think actually could really apply to our listeners, a credit repair business as well. It's not expensive to do it, but a lot of times, you know, you don't need good credit to buy, to buy a house or get into real estate. But it opens up way more doors if you do. So I think that's also important if your credit's bad to get.
- [66:19]
Trevor Cowley
Yeah, if anybody wants to check that out, that's just 60 day credit. Repair.com. so and the ideas is we move quick, right? When people want to repair their credits because they have something in mind that they want to put purchase, you know, most people aren't forward thinkers, say, no, I might want to purchase something next year, I better fix this. Now usually again, there's an opportunity to buy something immediately. So what do they do now? They've had to try to run and address the problem. And so we, we move quick, we move fast. So if that's something that individuals need, you know, definitely hit us up easier. Accounting is there for, you know, entity formations, tax planning, tax prep, bookkeeping, whatever, whatever services somebody might need as a business owner.
- [66:57]
Joe Jensen
There we go, man. Well, it's been our pleasure. We appreciate it and maybe we'll be able to catch up again down the road. But for now, this is Joe Jensen signing off for the real estate investing school and reminding you to not be afraid to sacrifice for what you want. Catch you around, guys.