← The David Greene Show
The David Greene Show
Why Most People Stay Broke (And What the Military Taught Him About Wealth) I Episode 111
00:45:27
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- [00:00]
A
Welcome to Real Talk Real Estate, the show where we cover how to build wealth in real estate with no fluff, no bs, and no sales pitches. I'm David Green, and I've been doing this for over 10 years. I've seen the ups, the downs, and everything in between. This is the show where we pull back the curtain and show it to you, too. So if you want to build wealth through real estate, or you just love learning about it, you found your home. What's going on, everyone? Welcome to Real Talk Real Estate. This is the David Green show, and I'm joined today by Devon, who is a real estate investor, entrepreneur, and someone who coaches other people into understanding financial literacy, how to be good with money, and sort of retrains their brains from thinking about it the wrong way to the right way. And he's blessed us with coming on the show to talk about some of the things that he thinks that more people should understand and what you can do to start building wealth today. So if you're somebody who doesn't have experience with real estate, maybe listens to the show but isn't sure where to get started, I think you're going to get a lot out of it. Dj, welcome.
- [00:56]
B
Thanks, brother. Glad to be here. Yeah.
- [00:58]
A
So you and I ran into each other at bpcon, and I'm surprising you with this. I'm kind of hitting you with the curveball here. What were your thoughts when you saw me there? You could be as raw as you want to be. There's no curtain here. This is all behind the curtain.
- [01:10]
B
Yeah, no, absolutely. So I saw you walk. I was like, oh, man, there's David. I was like, I gotta go say hi. So we were sitting down at a lounge. I had a. A few people with me. You know, we were kind of networking. I saw you. Come sit down. So, you know, I told the waitress to, you know, you know, put their first round of drinks on me. And as I was getting up and I was walking away, I just stopped over to say hi because I didn't want to miss the opportunity. And I forget. I would never forget. I told my wife this. I called her, I said, I just met David Green. And the first thing he said to me after he shook my hand was, your hands are so soft.
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A
They're very nice hands, man. You got some pillows. I know.
- [01:52]
B
She. She knows I'm serious. Like, I make sure I'm wearing my gloves in the gym. And I'm always, you know, exfoliating and everything. But I thought it was funny.
- [02:00]
A
Years of careful training have finally paid off.
- [02:02]
B
Yeah, exactly. But no, it was. It was such a pleasure to run into you. I was watching, you know, you and Brandon on the Bigger Pockets, you know, podcast for quite a while, and, you know, it's just not the same since you guys aren't on there anymore. It kind of lost that dynamic. So I still peek in every now and then, but I'm not a religious watcher like I used to be.
- [02:24]
A
That's kind of what the vibe I get from everybody at bpcon was saying is. It doesn't sound like there's a whole lot of options for really good podcasts right now. There's a lot of flash in the pan. Somebody shows up, they get a big YouTube channel. You hear everything they have to say. It's kind of boring. They don't have, like, a sustained career of doing it for a long time, and then they disappear, and then they're looking for the next thing. But it's really hard to just find a channel or a personality that you can listen to consistently, consistently in trust. So I know that they're trying over there, but I. It's hard to find chemistry like what Brandon and I had, and like, that magic is difficult to achieve. So I'm appreciative you being on today's show, and we kind of get to hear what somebody who took some of this information and applied it over a significant course of time, how it changed their life and where they develop. So I'm excited to learn about your story. Like, let's start with your time in the Air Force. Tell us about what your service was like, what you learned, maybe some shocking things you weren't expecting and how that developed the mindset you have today.
- [03:22]
B
Yeah, absolutely. So I from. From New Jersey originally. You know, like many folks from that side of the country, I was a freshman in high school when 9, 11 happened. That hit really close to home because, you know, the smoke and whatnot made it its way to my house. And the town that I lived in had a lot of people that worked in the city, so that was kind of my, you know, my motivation there. So I joined right after high school. I actually joined the reserves. First I thought I was ready for college, but I realized I wasn't. But I also needed to, you know, pay my way because I didn't have, you know, anyone. I was 25 years old and homeless. Yeah, I'm sorry. I was 18 years old with $25 in my pocket, and I had no place to live for. For a little while. So, you know, the military Was a right fit at the time. And man, the first I was in for almost 20 years. I bounced around, I did different things. I, I started loading, unloading cargo on airplanes. Then I augmented doing something called security forces, which is like Air Force military police for a while. Then I realized that I hated shift work and I didn't want to do that anymore. And then I got into, got finally into the aircraft where I was doing. I was a boom operator. I did air to air refueling, so that's refueling airplanes during mid flight. And after doing that, I got to travel the world, man, I saw some awesome things, met some incredible people. I worked with some amazing people. And then I realized that, you know, I wanted to, I wanted to fly myself. So while I was in the reserves, I went back to college, I commissioned through rotc, and then I went on active duty. But at that point in time I traveled so much, I was going, you know, 270 plus days of the year, I decided to go the unmanned route. So once I got onto active duty, I flew unmanned attack aircraft, MQ9s, MQ1s, known to the general public as, you know, a drone. So that guy gave me the opportunity to be an aviator and you know, keep enjoying, keep doing what I enjoy to do. So yeah, it was, it was a great time.
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A
Was it shocking when you went from just, I don't know what your background was growing up, but it seems like the Air Force, particularly what you're doing. You said you were a pilot, right?
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B
Yeah, yeah.
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A
Like not everyone in the Air Force is a pilot.
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B
Yeah, it's like in the single digit percent, like 1 to 2%. Yeah.
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A
And is it fair to say that it's like the more talented people become pilots?
- [06:04]
B
Honestly, I think timing has a lot to do with it. And so for example, and, and your commissioning source. So a lot of the guys that come through the academy. Academy, they kind of get first dibs on pilot. Right. So a lot of them that come out of the academy.
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A
Officers.
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B
You're saying you have to be an officer? Yeah, you have to be an officer to be a pilot.
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A
So you have to be an officer and then you have to go through an academy, which is the Air Force. But doesn't everyone go through that?
- [06:31]
B
No, there's, there's three different ways you can commission, you can come through the Air Force Academy, you can go through officer training school, or you can go through rotc, Reserve Officer Training Corps, which is what I did. So I was in ROTC while I was in college and you know, we made met A few times a week. And it was actually a lot more than that. And then you're learning all about the military. You're learning how you know your uniform stuff. You're learning leadership skills, and then you are competing. And when you're competing to get a commission slot. So every year, at least for rotc, they do a board, and then they're gonna, you know, rank the top cadets throughout the country, and then they draw the line based on the number of officers they want, and you're either above that line or you're below the line.
- [07:23]
A
Okay, so if you. I'm assuming, like, you're testing scores, the recommendations of your instructors probably lead to.
- [07:29]
B
Exactly. Yeah. You take the officer Air Force Officer Qualifying Test, which is one component, your PT scores, which is another component. And then just your overall ranking in your detachment is another component. And then your detachment commander, they're gonna write where your ranking is, and then they write a recommendation on whether or not you should be above that line to get. To get a slot.
- [07:56]
A
Okay. So you end up getting in an unconventional way into becoming a pilot. There's not many people that do that. I'm sure this is very challenging academically, and just, like, the load of what you're having to learn and the stress you're under is higher than a normal person. So was this sort of par for the course for you? Had you already been through other things in life that set you up for this challenge, or was there kind of a shock with just what was expected of you?
- [08:20]
B
Well, so I went to. Coming straight out of high school. I went to basic training. Right. Which that's. You're not learning as much leadership there. You're really just learning how to follow orders. Right. You know, attention to details, shining your boots, making sure everything is placed the way it needs to be. And then I went through training to become a boom operator, which actually took a little over a year, and. And then I had to go to survival school and then all the various military trainings that. So I had the advantage of actually being in the military, being a reservist, that I was actually working pretty much full time. I had the advantage of those experiences while I was going through the ROTC program, which, you know, kids that are coming straight out of high school that just started college, they wouldn't have had that benefit. So that definitely did give me a leg up.
- [09:08]
A
Okay, so now you're in here. You're learning how to fly a plane. Was there, like, a first trip where you were just scared to death or, like a Point where you crossed the threshold, but before that was terrifying.
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B
Yeah, I think for most pilots, it's probably the, the first time you solo.
- [09:27]
A
I was about to ask that. Yeah, man.
- [09:29]
B
You know, so you, you, you always start out with, you know, your single engine prop plane, right? You're working on getting your. Your private pilot's license. And I remember I. I was getting ready to go to our first stage of pilot training, which is out in Peblo, Colorado, where you're learning how to fly under visual flight rules. You're learning how to read maps and, you know, use the terrain and just basic piloting skills. So before I got there, I, I had started taking some flying lessons. And yeah, I remember I probably only had like 10 hours or so, and my instructor didn't tell me anything. I showed up thinking, you know, we're going to go do some practice, practice some maneuvers. And then he said, all right, I'm getting out. And I was like, what do you mean? So he was like, you're going to do your solo today. So he jumps out the airplane. You know, I started back up, and I'm like, okay, there's nobody there. In case I mess up.
- [10:25]
A
That's a butt pucker moment right there. It was. It absolutely was. This has nothing to do with real estate, but I just, I had a couple moments like this in my own life that I feel were very, very influential with building confidence. And a lot of people are struggling with building wealth, getting into real estate, doing something new. And it's really more of a confidence issue than it is a knowledge thing. We like to say you need the knowledge, but there's people that know exactly what to do. They can't go do it. Can you describe what it was like when you completed the solo flight? You did not crash the plane. You didn't screw everything up. You walked out. How did you see yourself differently, man?
- [11:01]
B
The solo flight serves a purpose, and it did exactly what that purpose was for me, which is as a, as a student, your confidence level just goes up, right? You're like, okay, I know enough now to where I can safely take off and land this airplane by myself, right? I might not. Your first solo is just in the pattern, like at the local airfield, like, you're not going anywhere. You're just practicing landings. Right? So, yeah, I may not go away from the airfield and be successful, but I know that I could at least take off and land. Right? So, yeah, after that, after that point, yeah, the, the confidence just went up a lot.
- [11:44]
A
So what did you do with this Newfound confidence. Like what, where did, how did you harness this and what direction did you take it?
- [11:51]
B
Well, I think the biggest thing was I didn't have to turn to my instructor for every decision I was gonna make. You know, it was like, okay, I know what I need to do. So instead of now where, you know, maybe I'm doing a pre flight and I'm like, hey, did I do that right? Or you know, you're always looking over your shoulder to hear if they're gonna say something in case you messed up. But after that point, yeah, I was like, okay, cool. I know what I need to do. I'm just gonna go ahead and, and do it. And if they see something that I messed up on, then, then that's okay. But I don't have to ask, you know, for every little thing.
- [12:25]
A
Yeah, I mean, I remember when I was in the police department that you got, we call it a fto, a field training officer in the car with you. And that first time when you start the car, you drive away and there's no one there and you're just like. I mean, I could literally tell you the first call I went to was a domestic violence call in a parking lot. And I was so nervous I was going to forget something or do something wrong. And like they were able to pull me up on cameras and they were watching everything that happened. And when I got like a good job at the end, it was maybe the best feeling I'd ever had in my life. Just that, oh, this relief that washes over you when you realize you didn't screw it up. And I feel bad for the people that haven't had that happen. Either they didn't have a loved one in their life that pushed them into doing something like that, or they just haven't ever had the confidence to go do it. But I think for a lot of people that's what's missing in their career progression is they're wanting someone to hold their hand. And so as a result of that, they just spend a lot of money to like get around someone else. They're trying to buy that feeling of confidence you can't really buy rather than going and doing it.
- [13:28]
B
Yeah, the military is especially good at that. You're giving, you know, 24 year olds that are flying, you know, multi million dollar aircrafts with, you know, some of them with bombs and missiles strapped, you know, I mean, you have a 19 year old that loaded the missiles on that airplane, period. Right. So there, there really is an immense level of responsibility that you get at A very young age.
- [13:56]
A
You know, I want to add to what you just said because one of the pet peeves I have in life is, is that we treat people 18, 19, 20, 21 like they are children. We will literally say things like, they're still a baby, they're still a kid. Their prefrontal cortex isn't developed yet. We can't expect them to have a job outside of Taco Bell. We, we can't expect them to pay their own bills. We don't push people out into the world to be tested by it, to develop confidence, to develop character, to be humbled. Sometimes I think our current educational system, like high school, it sets a lot of young people up to think that they're better than they are. They were popular, they were good at sports. They get this idea in their head that because you were good at football or baseball, that you are going to sit at the top of this hierarchy of your high school when you get into the rest of the world. And then you learn if you go out there, oh, I'm not that big of a deal. I don't know anything. There's a humbling that needs to take place to get people hungry. You don't ever get humbled. You usually don't get hungry. You don't end up developing your God given gifts, talents and abilities. You just kind of stay swimming in a small pool. Whereas when you go in the military, they treat you like an adult. Like you said, you're 19 years old and you're, you're loading live munitions into an aircraft in a semi complicated way that if you load that wrong and it doesn't release or it blows up in the plane, or the next person who comes behind you has to take it out and they get hurt. There are massive, massive, significant consequences to this. You're given a, a gun. You're given the ability to use force if you have to go into combat. And I think that it's healthy in the sense that it kind of sobers people up. You just realize, all right, it's time for me to be a grownup. I can't think like a child. And not giving young people that experience just stunts their growth, stops them from moving forward. So I really appreciate you sharing that part of your story because I think there's a moment where like, I think a lot of people have it when they become a parent, they're just like, oh, I got a baby that relies on me. It'll die if I mess this up. Like, I really gotta grow up and hiding from that and avoiding that has led to a lot of stunted growth and problems in our overall economy. And now that's a good transition into what you do now. So you actually help find people and teach them how to be financially literate, how to think about money. Like, tell us a little bit more about what your education and your coaching entails.
- [16:14]
B
Yeah. So, you know, it's funny, you talked about, like, having a kid. Like, when. When my wife and I had a baby, she. We're both pilots. So we were walking out of the hospital. I'm like, they gave us, you know, my daughter, and we're like, okay, is that it? Like, we can just go, where's the instruction manual? Right.
- [16:30]
A
That's funny. Don't I need to be certified?
- [16:34]
B
Yeah. I'm like, there's no training. No. No technical orders, no. Nothing I have to follow. But. But actually. And the reason I brought that up is because, like I said, I started off, you know, in a situation where I had to grow up really quick, right? When I was 18, I had no place, you know, no place to go. I had a. A new car and a car payment and $25 and no job, right? And then. So I started to get into finances, and then when I found out, you know, my wife and I were pregnant, that really kind of lit the spark. And I wasn't, like, young at that point, and. And I didn't consider myself immature, but, you know, that first few months, I'm like, oh, my God, I'm going to be responsible for someone else's life. And I'm like, I got to get my shit together, right? So I really started learning and studying as much about finance as I could. Like many other people, I started with the Purple Bible, right? I read Rich Dad, Poor dad over and over. Then I started listening to podcasts. Actually, BiggerPockets was one of the first ones that I started listening to back then with. With Brandon and Josh, I believe. And then. And then you came on there, and I just started getting obsessed. And over the years, as I became more educated, I started joining masterminds and other networks. I started mentoring folks in the military, like, you know, some of the Junior Junior guys, to myself. I started really mentoring them, teaching them, you know, about this financial thing that no one teaches you anywhere, right? You don't learn about it in school. It's really hard to do research on your own because there's just an overload of information out there. So as I started meeting people and, you know, trying to inspire them and teach them, I really started to kind of put together a little like financial literacy course, if you will, on how can I take all these things that I've learned, right? My experience with investing in the stock market and real estate, all the things I've learned through my attorney for asset protection, my CPA for filing taxes, my financial advisor, how can I take all that and kind of put it in a nice, neat, easy, easily digestible way, you know, so that people don't have to look through all the noise, you know, and they could just follow an actual step by step process from, I call it from zero to hero, right? So first I focus a lot on mindset. That's one of the first things I talk about. Because mindset to me is the biggest problem with people that are not doing financially well, right? If you make a dollar a month, but you spend A$50, that's not a math problem. My daughter is doing that in the first grade. We all know that math. But it's, why are you doing that, right? Like what you know and what did you pick up along the way? What kind of negative habits did you see from your parents, from society, you know, that drove you to do that? And then after I moved through the mindset, then we start, I start teaching folks like how money actually works, like, where does it come from? You can't be successful at something you don't understand, right? And then we try to start developing that positive relationship with money. And then we do move on to the math portion, like doing your budget, automating your savings and investing, coming up with a deliberate plan, coming up with goals, living your purpose. I try to help teach people how to reach financial independence so that they're not waiting until they're, you know, 59 and a half or 60 years old to retire.
- [20:20]
A
Okay, this is really good. I gotta ask, did this framework of how you're seeing it and the lens you're looking at it through come from your time in the military and how you were trained?
- [20:30]
B
So a big part of it is I'm a process driven person and a goal oriented person. You know, that definitely came from the military. So I always have in my life, I have clear objectives on what it is I'm trying to achieve. Because it's really difficult to become successful if you don't know what success looks like, right? So when I, when I start, when I teach my clients and we're going through financial coaching, I make everyone make smart goals. Break your life down, say, what is your purpose? Right? We all have to live a purpose. It has to be More than just we wake up every day, we go to work, we work, we come home, we eat, maybe you pop a beer and you watch a game and then you go to sleep and do it all over again, right? There has to be more to life than that. So I really have people like, do some self reflection on if money was no object, what would you want to do? What if you woke up every day and you got to design your rich life and you designed your day, you know, what would that look like to you? And then I asked the question, well, what's stopping you? Right? And for folks, obviously, financial things will be part of it. But then a lot of people, they create these mental roadblocks for themselves. And what I try to do is break those down to clear a path for them to actually, and help them implement a path for them to actually, you know, make that come to fruition.
- [22:02]
A
This is a deep question. What is stopping you from achieving it? Do you, do you feel like most people know what is stopping them?
- [22:16]
B
I, some of them have to think about it and, and I, I have to pull it out of them. They may not know. They may have a surface level reason. Well, I can't do that because I have to work or, you know, I have kids and I have a family and all these reasons why they can't do something and then usually I just say, yes, you're right. So that thing you said you want, you don't want it bad enough because you're making excuses on why it can't happen. Right?
- [22:46]
A
Yeah. Yes. So I think most people that I'm, I've come across in life, the majority of them, they can tell you how they feel, but they can't tell you why they feel that way. They can tell you what they're experiencing, what emotion they're having. If you bring up something, what their fears are a lot of the time, but they don't know why they have that or how to get over it. And that if you don't ask yourself those questions and don't have clarity on that, you don't know what needs to be removed to get you to the next level in life. And I think I tend to look at success as maybe being less about just knowing what to do, because I think we kind of subconsciously have a good understanding of what to do. It's more about are you able to remove the blocks that are stopping you from doing it in the first place? Like, like Brandon Turner was famous for talking about on BP webinars, nobody's confused about how to Have a six pack. Like, we all know what you got to do if you want to have a six pack. Nobody's mad about having a six pack. I don't know anyone who's like, I'm trying not to get one. I don't want that. It's what is stopping you from having one that's the tough decision. Because it's like, really tough choices that you got to make. If that's a thing that you want to have in life and you want to commit to. If you don't mind sharing, like, what are some of the common things that you think are holding back to people? Listening to you and I right now are holding back, you and I from achieving the things in life that we really want, that we don't bring out of our subconscious into our conscious.
- [24:12]
B
Yeah. I mean, I could probably sum it up in one word that would cover the majority of people. There may be other underlying reasons, but I think it's fear. Right? Once you clearly define your goals and you know what you want and you know what you have to do to get there, then all you have to do is take the steps. But why don't you take that first step? Then your mind starts, you know, coming in and saying all these things of why you can't, you can't because of xyz, you can't because of this. And then really, if you peel back the layers, it'll be, what if I failed? But I always say, what if you don't? You know, for people that tell me, you know, I don't. I want to live in the now, I don't want to worry about investing for the future. I'll worry about that, you know, when I get older and I could die tomorrow. And then my question is, but what if you don't? What if you don't die tomorrow? Then what? Right? So I think if people actually make a, like, first of all, number one, figure out exactly what you want. And I'm a work backwards kind of person. I've done that my whole career, right? This is what I want. This is the goal. Now how. What, what do I have to do to get there? And I start working my way back. Yeah, I may come up with a plan A, B or C, because life has a funny way of making things difficult for you, and it's not going to be very easy. But the difference between those who succeed and those that don't is how did you rebound from the obstacles as they came up? Right. The first thing that happened, did you let that just knock you down. And you were like, see, I know I couldn't do it. Or were you so determined that you're like, I don't care what happens, I'm going to find a way.
- [25:53]
A
Do you think that those responses to setbacks or hurdles like the. It's almost like they look at it as proof why you should quit or why you never should have started versus a new problem to solve. Do you think those responses are developed in childhood?
- [26:09]
B
I think it could start there. Me, I have a 7 year old daughter and I'm trying to teach her, you know, all these things to set her up for success as an adult. And I used to be scared of failure, right? I wouldn't try something unless I thought I could do it. And I grew out of that. Now I fail all the time and I teach my daughter it is okay to fail because if you don't fail, it means you are not trying and you are staying in your comfort zone. Yeah, right. So I think a lot of it probably comes from the programming as a child, but then also when you, you become an adult, life as a. I'll use military. The military is a way that, where it's, it's not a regular job, right? It's not a 9 to 5 where you clock in, clock out. It is a whole lifestyle, it is a mindset. It is so many different things. And I've seen so many guys that have, you know, what I call the, the golden handcuffs, right? They get paid on the 1st and the 15th. And instead of doing what I did was I used that consistent paycheck as an opportunity to take risks. That way if I fail, I know I'm going to get paid in two weeks again, right? They kind of use it and they get extremely comfortable. You know, they don't push the envelope, they don't push the limits. They're just like, hey, I'm going to retire, you know, I'm not going to take too much risk, you know, and man, that drives me nuts.
- [27:40]
A
Well, you don't ever develop what you have inside you if your goal was just to be comfortable. Yeah, have golden handcuffs. Don't take risk. Find guaranteed security. If your goal is to be the best you could be, you're going to live a very different life. Like I think about what you just described as failure, right? If you're like an MMA fighter and you want to be the best you could be, you probably want to go put yourself against the best fighters in the world. And every time you start to think that you're good, you go up against someone better and he beat you. And loss would actually be the best path to mastery. But if your goal is to protect your record and have a 250 record or look like you have really good wins and losses so that what the world sees is you're better than everyone else, you're going to live in a perpetual state of fear. I can't fight that guy. He might beat me. I can only fight this guy if he's already really tired or injured. You're always going to be looking for, like, a hack, a way to cheat the system. A a a a benefit to yourself to stack things in your favor versus saying, yeah, I don't care if I lose. I just care that I grow. I care that I got better. I care that I learned. And then there's a freedom that comes from it. Like, I, I too was like you, where I was very afraid of failure. Came from a childhood where, like, my dad would yell at us if we did something wrong or if we scared him. He wanted to prevent us from getting hurt, so we were just told no about everything. So then I get in the world and there's like, hey, do you want to try out for the baseball team in junior high or something? My first thought was like, no, I can't do that. What if I strike out and everyone sees? First thought that I would have had in my head, I'm not good enough at baseball to do that. Well, I don't know what I based that on. I didn't watch anyone else playing baseball. I just had this, like, operating system that was driving me subconsciously to say no to everything unless I felt like the odds were in my favor I could be good at it. And it was like this with personality. It was like this with meeting new people. It was like this with learning a new thing or even reading. And I mean, it went all the way to how I dressed. I wore the same type of clothes. I wouldn't wear, like, cargo pants because I thought I wasn't cool enough to wear cargo pants. I have no idea where that thought came from, but I remember thinking that and even be aware, like, why do I have this? And I. Maybe that's why we started the show off with your story of that first solo flight. Those things shatter these voices in our minds that tell us, no, we can't do it. And it kind of forces you to look at yourself in a new light. Like, man, who am I? What else could I do? Do you think I'm crazy with this? Or do you think that there's Something to that?
- [30:02]
B
No, no, you're spot on. I mean, yeah. You know, no growth happens in your comfort zone. Right. And you know, the military is great, especially when you're going through these type of training environments where they are very good at pushing you outside of your comfort zone. So, you know, I've. There's been periods of time where in a six week period, a four month period, you know, I had grown, you know, more than it took me years to at that point, you know, so I, I think you're, you're definitely right about that.
- [30:36]
A
It's odd because people come to podcasts looking for give me the formula. Right, Give me the buy box, give me the, the thing I need to know so I don't make a mistake. But people like you and I that sort of are in the business of developing humans, leading people, we've learned. Yeah, I could give it to you. Your brain would find a way to talk you out of whatever it is. It is not going to help you. It's sort of like in sports. I'm assuming that you played sports just from the mindset that you have. I did too. There isn't a way, it's not like chess, where there's always a rule like, okay, if he does this, you do that and you have to memorize these. Or like our loan officers, their brains work this way. What are the guidelines? What are the rules? What's. If I learn enough stuff, then I can be really good at my job. Sports are much more about adapting to the situation that you're seeing. Understanding principles, trying to apply those to what you're trying to do. But when you get good at that, there's a confidence that you walk around with and you don't worry about what they're going to throw at you. Like, if they do this, I'll do that. Well, maybe I'll get stuck here and I'll have to fight out of it, but I'll learn something new that actually does lead to success. And this is a, I mean, I love talking to you about it because this is a big challenge that I'm having right now in my world is I'm trying to hire people to work in my businesses and they're drawn to this world of real estate that has no ceiling. I could go as high as I want to go. I don't like my boss, dj, because he puts a ceiling on me. He makes me be in the office, he makes me sit in a commute, he forces me to be here from 9 to 5. I don't want that. I want freedom. And they don't think about, yeah, you. You had a ceiling put on you because he gave you a floor. You got a paycheck every two weeks. No matter what you did. You could show up and suck and probably there was no one to see it. Or you could charm your way into good relationship with your manager, and they didn't make you do stuff. And what those people don't see is that there's someone else that has to pick up the slack when they do that. There's another person in that enterprise, that firm, that team, that situation that's working twice as hard because they're working half as hard in their own little world. They don't recognize this, and so their skills and their abilities atrophy. And then they want to get out of that little, like, cage that they don't like where they're fed every day. And then they get into the wild and they're like, holy cow, my muscles don't work. I don't know how to hunt. I don't know how to succeed. I'm scared. I thought I wanted no ceiling, but I kind of want to go back to the cage where at least I had a floor. And in my experience, there's so many people stuck in this middle part, they left the comfort like you could give a biblical example of when the Israelites were slaves in Egypt. They've left slavery of Egypt. They are not in the promised land yet where they are a strong people. They can defend themselves. They're stuck, and they haven't committed completely to what you and I are talking about. But they're also not willing to run all the way back. And this is what I feel like is the majority of people that come my way, they don't understand. You don't get to say things like, that is not my job. Someone else has to do that. If you're a business owner, it's all your job. You get someone else to do it, and you got to train them and you got to oversee them. And if you pick somebody and they have that W2 attitude of it's not my job, it becomes your job again. You got to build these skills of how you pick the right person, lead the right person, hold them accountable. If you are not good at doing something, you're just going to fail until you get good at doing it. The beautiful part is what you're talking about is once you do it, you get to fly a plane by yourself. You get to become a useful part of an organization. You get to run the bombing missions or the reconnaissance missions that help in a greater good for whatever thing that you're belong to. And you develop confidence that you can't put a price on. It leads to more finances, at least some more influence. It leads to your ability to provide for other people. The lack of fear allows you to be kind more often. Right. We, we preach kindness all the time, but man, if you're scared, you're not going to be kind to other people. You're constantly seeing them as a threat or you're constantly trying to figure out how to take advantage of them. Do you think that there's a sort of like a, it's just not portrayed to people? When you leave your cage, you're going to need to build your muscles to exist outside of that world if you want to be successful. And it's not always explained to them the right way.
- [34:40]
B
Yeah, I mean, most people are not built to be entrepreneurs. Right. Like I, I didn't even think it was cut out for me, but, but you know, I'm living my purpose now, so everything that I do fulfills me because I only do the things that I want to do. But most people, they, they have this idea of what they want. We can all daydream, right? We can all daydream about the yachts and the airplanes and the bows, but how many people daydream about winning the lottery? And then you ask them, have you ever bought a lottery ticket? And the answer is no. Right? Not saying that you should go out and buy a lottery ticket, but, but you know, everyone wants the end result, but they're just not willing to put in the work to get there, you know? I see. Yes, I, I, I did play high school basketball. I was on a cross country team as well. I love Steph Curry. Hate what he's done for the game because I mean he, he's, you know, undoubtedly the best three point shooter of all time, but every kid in the park is trying to shoot three point shots from half court and you're like, do you know why he could do that?
- [35:49]
A
Yeah, he makes 500 shots a day during his MVP runs, not shoots 500 times. He makes 500 shots before he leaves the gym.
- [35:58]
B
Exactly. You know, and, and I really think becoming successful does not mean you have to be the smartest person. Like, there are so many people smarter than me that are less successful than me. But the one difference is I knew what I wanted and I never quit. Yeah, I took a chance and I kept going. Right. And I didn't fall back to my Safety zone or whatever the case may be. And I actually, it's funny, I've been out of the military for a year now. I thought at this point I was going to be, you know, get into a traditional job again or whatever. And you know, I was just explaining to my wife, I said if I went back and I got a W2 job, then that means that I failed. Right. I made a declaration that I will never work for anyone ever again. And failure to me is if these ventures and these different things that I'm doing, you know, don't really amount to anything and then I have to go back to get a job.
- [36:55]
A
Yeah, that's such a good point. What I'll talk about a lot is you got to fall in love with the process of becoming great. There is no secret to real estate that you can find the back door. That's the easy way. And I think subconsciously that's what a lot of people are looking for. They're jumping from method to method to method, trying to figure out what's the way that works rather than just getting good at what they're doing so that any method will work if you can get good at it. So I love that you're sharing this with people because a lot of people could be in your position then they learn something and they keep it to themselves. They benefit their own lives, but they don't want to go share with other people. What are some of the, the main things that you think someone who struggles with money should start with to get better at it?
- [37:38]
B
I think education will always be, you know, the most important thing. But the first, the. Well, the first thing you have to do is admit that you could use some improvement. Right. If you're blissfully unaware or you make an excuse for why all these things are happening and you're not actually taking any opportunities to address the situation, you know, then that's your status quo. You're going to keep going through life that way. But if you know that you want to start to improve your life to get better, start with education. One thing that I realized that is a difference between a poor mindset and a rich mindset is, and this is so funny to me, someone with a poor mindset, whenever they want something, they feel that they shouldn't have to pay to get it.
- [38:26]
A
Oh, yeah, right, right.
- [38:28]
B
It's like, I want to be better with money. You don't know how to do it, but I'm someone that does. And I'm your accountability partner. I give you a laid out plan, but you Want it for free. Meanwhile, someone. That's a rich mindset, you know, I'm part of groups where, you know, we spend 20, 30 grand to be part of that group because we know that the, the value that comes from it, right? And, and that's the difference is, you know, you want something for free that, you know, you need help with, but you can't bring yourself to spend the money to get there.
- [39:00]
A
I think that applies to things more than just coaching. I think that's a toxic attitude that hurts a lot of people from succeeding. They want someone to teach them how to be better at basketball, but they don't want to pay. And you could pay in money, or you could pay in reciprocation. Let me come cut your grass. Let me babysit your kids. Let me, let me share something with you that I know before I ask you to do something for me. There's that attitude of I'm a victim and people owe me is no one likes it. We all avoid those kind of people. You, you see this sometimes in political realms where politicians know, man, I could get elected if I just tell you that, hey, you deserve this, I'm going to give you a free thing. Well, it's an easy way to get a vote, but it sort of creates a bad atmosphere where there's hostility between people because one side feels like they're the ones having to pay for something that somebody else is getting that they didn't reciprocate to get versus when you get these things from a private world, I'm happy to share with you. Are you going to share something with me? Are we going to be on the same team working towards the same goal, which is really what a coach or a mentor is. You have similar goals, they're aligned. They're going to teach you how to do this thing so you could become more like them. And at a certain point, maybe you don't pay money anymore more, but you bring value to them through supporting them in the business. Sort of an apprentice role where maybe you take over some of the stuff that they were doing and now you manage properties for them or you bird dog for them, whatever that world is that somebody's in. If you start with that idea of what can I pay? And if I don't have money, I'll pay something. That gets you a lot further than this idea that you should teach me because, you know, and it's not fair. I mean, my personal thought is that approach is just manipulative. When people have that attitude of, I deserve it, you should Just tell me versus, well, how can we make sure that we're on the same team so that you're incentivized to do it? And I'll add this part, too. If you're someone who's struggling finding a mentor and you don't want to pay, it may be because that mentor doesn't think that when they show you everything you want to know that you're still going to be on their team. They can probably smell that the minute you get all this figured out, you're going to take off and go do it on your own. And now you're asking someone to do something for you that you would not do for them. The minute you end up in that territory, you created an adversary out of what could be an ally. If you maintain this attitude of, I'm going to keep scratching your back because you're scratching mine, if you show me everything you know, I'm going to make sure that it benefits you that you showed me, not just me, that I was shown. People can sense this. They can smell that. Like, we maybe use phrases like energy, but you can tell when there's a person who's like, no, I'm on your side. I want to see you win.
- [41:28]
B
If you.
- [41:29]
A
I trust that you'll take care of me when the time comes. I don't need to negotiate that up front. Like, do you have any more advice you could just give for the people that listen to these podcasts? I mean, I had someone DMing me yesterday, like, hey, man, give me a loan. Give me a loan. Let's go dominate real estate together. Like, never has he bought a deal. Never has he done anything he doesn't understand in his young brain. That's offensive that you're asking me to give you my money. The first time we've ever met, telling me that we're going to dominate together when you don't know anything. Like, you can't even get a house on your own, and you want me to partner with you. But to him, I know he doesn't understand that he can't see my perspective. Just, can you share some advice to the people that are maybe in that seat?
- [42:08]
B
Yeah, I firmly believe this to the core of my being. You are rewarded based on the amount of value you bring to people. Right? Based on the amount of value you provide in the. In the market space. Love them or hate them, you know, everyone has a. An opinion about Jeff Bezos, you know, one of the richest men on the planet, you know, and they want to criticize him. People shouldn't be this rich, blah, blah, whatever the case may be. And then I said, right now, in your house, do you have an Amazon box? And the answer is almost certainly yes. Unless you live under a rock, right? He provided a service for you. He made buying stuff for you. Well, we could say maybe there's a little manipulation in there or whatever, but whatever, you. You can literally go on your Amazon account and hit click, buy now. You don't have to. Your credit card was already in there. Your address is in there. And then I live in Vegas, so we have, like, huge warehouses here, Amazon warehouses. I can have something here at my house in two hours, right? That convenience, that ease of no friction is extremely valuable. And that's why Jeff Bezos is worth what he is. Right? So as I started on my entrepreneurial journey, I had to take a step back and say, not how can I make money? What value can I provide to people? What is there a service, a need that is missing? And how can I leverage my skills and provide that need or service to others? And because I've never actually focused on the income side of it, I've told you, I never marketed for, like, my financial coaching or these other things I'm doing, but it just grew organically because I provided value to people. They have gone on and they're shared with, you know, their friends and family. And, you know, now I have people coming to me all the time.
- [44:04]
A
That's a great way to wrap this up. If people want to reach out to you, learn more about what you're doing and get in touch with you, where's the best place for them to go?
- [44:10]
B
Yeah, you can visit my email is Devon jarvis o venture group.com Devon Jarvis on Facebook or DJ, the Finance Guy on Instagram. I'm still working on the Instagram thing. I'm not very good at it, but. But you guys can reach me out there.
- [44:28]
A
There we go. Go check him out. Give him a follow on Instagram and send him an email. Thanks for being here, dj. I appreciate it. I appreciate that Red Bull you bought for me, and I appreciate those soft hands, man. You gave me something to aspire to.
- [44:40]
B
Absolutely, brother. This was a pleasure. Thank you so much.
- [44:43]
A
All right, we'll do it again.
- [44:44]
B
All right.
- [44:45]
A
All right, everybody. Thank you for listening to today's show. If you don't mind, take a quick minute to leave a comment, let me know what you thought as well as subscribing so you get notified when we have future episodes. And again, go give Devon a follow and let him know you appreciate what you heard today and the free value that you received. We'll see you guys next week on the David Green Show.