May 10, 2022

Truly, the best part about what I get to do these days is share my education and experiences with others who have the same goal of achieving financial freedom (and didn’t think it was possible or attainable) as when I first started going down the path less traveled.

When this journey officially began in 2010, I remember sitting in a hotel ballroom during my initial Bootcamp weekend. While learning the foundation of how to leverage real estate investing strategies to create a high performing portfolio that would contribute to my personal goal of financial freedom, I was also inspired by the trainer that weekend. At one point, I turned to my husband, pointing at the trainer on stage, and said: “one day, I want to be just like him.” His level of energy, positivity and the idea that we live in a world of abundance — more specifically, financial abundance — was not only inspiring, but refreshing. I felt like my soul was cleansed and any negative views and unkind ideas about money that I grew up with started to vanish that weekend.

In 2014, my dream came true. This was a dream because I actually didn’t set a deadline for it so it wasn’t a goal (definitions matter sometimes, remember?!).

Since declaring our own financial freedom on July 25, 2012 (and I hope to hear your date at some point), I continue to build our portfolio. However, admittedly, I started getting ‘bored’. Yes, as a 30-year-old, it was my egotistic way of wanting more challenges in life. Yet, the idea of doing anything else (ie. working for someone else) seemed unappealing and, quite frankly, a little idiotic. After all, didn’t I just bust my ass off for the last 2 years — learning and applying and building my portfolio — so I wouldn’t have to do that again?

My “better half” had the foresight. He continued to stay employed. And if you asked, he would tell you that he was simply following the trainer’s suggestion: when you are financially free, it can simply mean that you work because you want to, not because you have to. You work because the work you choose to do can now serve a purpose — whatever that is to you. He wanted to stay employed to further his skills and because he loves the social environment. It certainly didn’t hurt that he always learned fast, excelled at what he did and most of his pay checks reflected his effort.

I, on the other hand, had to really battle through that idea. This is also one of the reasons why I continue to say: I’m not the smartest person in the room ever! And, I pray that I don’t ever put myself in a room like that. Growth is so vitally important to my very being today. This has become the reason why I believe in the concept and active engagement of mentorship (of any kind) with all my given and earned wisdom to date.

In this article, I share the top 3 qualities that I look for on how to choose a mentor for you in your real estate investing journey. They are the combined perspectives of myself being a mentee many times in the last 12+ years and a mentor in the last 8.

The Top 3 Qualities I look for in a real estate investing Mentor:

1. They have achieved what I want to achieve.

This ‘quality’ is twofold: One — as the title suggested: they have paved the way for me to follow to create the results I want for myself. Two — it helps me collapse my timeframe. The latter is definitely the more important factor. Even to this day, whenever I get the chance to teach a Financial Education Bootcamp (we view this as the foundation for building a successful and sustainable real estate portfolio), I always ask people to complete this sentence: Time is _______. Unsurprisingly, almost without exception, 100% of the times, that blank is filled in with the word money. When, in fact, looking at time closely, TIME is EVERYTHING! These are 2 of my favourite quotes about time that I’d like to share:

When you ask around to see if anyone’s invested in a mentor in their lives, you’ll find out that the answer is most likely yes —

Yes to having a dance tutor.

Yes to having a piano teacher.

Yes to having a football coach.

Yes to having a personal trainer.

Yes to having a personal growth coach.

Yes to having a mentor in pursuit of higher education and degrees.

The list goes on. Aside from any natural notion of ‘going with the flow’ at any age or for whatever reason (I’ve been told that having a designated mentor when you’re getting a PhD is a must), most would say that these are conscious and welcoming decisions they happily made.

The mentors get to share their knowledge and experience, and we get to drink it all up like a jello shot at a party! Ok, maybe not the best analogy, but I think you get the idea. It’s easy, fun and the effect is often quite immediate.

With that said, the SMP Philosophy has applied quite well for everyone on this journey. I stand for leveraging real estate investing strategies to achieve financial freedom because that was my goal and is my passion. I know some others may choose a mentor based on a single strategy, a market or a certain type of property. The importance is that you and your potential mentor align on your goal.

2. They have my best interest at heart.

Itgoes without saying that life can be difficult and downright sucky at times. During those times, the comfort and solace we find in a bear hug from our loved ones, or maybe even just some consoling words may be what we crave the most. Yet, is it what we need the most?

Even with goal alignment, I want a mentor who is unapologetically straight with me. After all, my FIRST reason to have a mentor is to grow, and in ways that I may not even know I’m capable of (read that last line again). For example:

• When I am stuck, they guide me through the thought process rather than just giving me the answer. They want me to truly learn how to fish so I can eat for life rather than giving me a fish right now. However, rest assured, they are there to cheer me on and holding my hands when I’m wobbly in the process.
• They tell me what I need to hear and not what I want to hear (even if it’s hard for them to say). I’m fully aware of the fact that they are not here as my friends (at first). We are not buddies (at first). This is all with the purpose to help me grow. I grew up in Taiwan and had plenty of experiences of “teachers” yelling at and beating me (physically — yes, I’m from that era and that culture). The tough love is DEFINITELY NEEDED sometimes even as a grown man. A long-term friendship may develop organically over time but it’s not the focus.
• They don’t give up on me as long as I’m showing effort. This one probably hits home for me the most especially after the last point. As a real estate investing mentor for just over 8 years now for people from around the world, I can proudly say that I have NEVER missed anyone’s effort to stay connected and to get reconnected when they needed help — regardless of how long it’s been. However, I do make it very clear that the premise is “as long as they are making an effort” to learn and grow. I’ve simply come to embrace the fact that both timing and time are equally important. Having benefited from rebuilding long lost relationships (or just the ones that maybe got parked because life took a detour), I believe that this relationship is no different. One of my favourite quotes is this:

I’ve learned a few lessons the hard way over the years: “you can’t help those who don’t want to be helped” and “people don’t place value on something they get for free”. As much as I wholeheartedly believe that EVERYONE can achieve financial freedom, I’ve encountered, countless times, folks who don’t want it as badly as I want it for them. It’s simply not going to work. This is where also I would personally appreciate getting rejected by a potential mentor. They’re basically just telling me that I’m not ready to receive yet.

3. They are open about their failures.

Ipersonally LOVE the word “failure” — now. Growing up, failing meant a stern talk if not full out scolding was in the near future. That is, if I was lucky enough to not get beat when my test results were bad. Failing also meant looking bad. And I believe we all learned this lesson over and over again from our upbringings all the way to our day-to-day life now, too.

Failure is a blessing. Failure is a stepping stone. Failure is success in progress. As mentioned in Part 2 of Mindset, losing $1M overnight by far is the biggest failure I’ve had to work through. However, without it, I wouldn’t have come back stronger and better, doubled my portfolio and tripled my passive income in half the time compared to the first time around, and found the courage to start Trust Your Talent Academy to make sure as many people as possible can learn to avoid the mistakes that I’ve made. Not only that, I’ve been told that one of my opening lines when I teach has been: “You are really all here to learn the collective lessons of what not to do from me and the investors that have also come before me in real estate investing.” After all, as one of my mentors put it: “You can make a lot of money in real estate investing if you know what you’re doing. And you can lose a lot of money in real estate investing if you don’t know what you’re doing.”

I know what we are teaching and how we’re guiding new and seasoned investors holds one of the core values at Trust Your Talent: sustainability. Staying power matters. Those who continue to bust through and learn from setbacks are the ones in it for the long haul. After all, a life without having to worry about financial issues is freeing and rewarding.

Here is a quick video that has inspired me for years and I’d love to share it with you: Famous Failures.

This is a topic that I can go on sharing forever — both as a mentee and a mentor. As evident as it may be, I will risk sounding like a broken record here. Everyone needs a (if not multiple) mentor on their real estate investing journey. Based on the SMP Philosophy, I’ve had many mentors in my journey so far and I know it will continue to be that way.

In the next article, I will also share some of my personal experiences with some of the qualities that are definitely deal breakers — meaning, even if you ‘mentor’ me for free, I wouldn’t take it.

Tomy dedicated readers, I thank you for your support and feedback. If this is the first time you’re reading one of my publications, I hope you’ve enjoyed it and learned a thing or two.

If you’re wanting to be a part of a community of real estate investors from around the globe, here is the T.A.L.E.N.T.ed Investors Facebook Group. It’s a place where people come together to share experiences, knowledge, successes and challenges, and money making opportunities!

For those of you who prefer watching videos, here is the YouTube channel where some of my work (very raw) has been shared.

(Written at home in Edmonton, AB)

May 17, 2020

(WARNING: COLOURFUL LANGUAGE IN CONTENT)

This one is the hardest piece I have had to write to date. Like most experienced investors who have gone through the ups and downs building their portfolios, overtime our ‘what not to do’ list is actually much bigger than the ‘what to do’ one. This is done all in the hopes that the deal quality gets better and better. I joke with full truth a lot about this: if your first deal is your best deal, you’re doing it wrong! So…without going into too much of a tangent, here’s part 1.5/2 on the top 3 deal breakers for me when choosing a REI mentor these days.

For the record, I have a very deep appreciation for those brave enough to offer any kind of real estate investing training these days. Real estate, while being the most tried and tested asset class in human history, is also a moody animal. Training people on real estate investing can sometimes feel like training people on lion taming. Moreover, I also share the utmost respect for anyone courageous enough to offer financial education. It’s definitely the path less travelled. And, the mission of “creating financial independence one person at a time” is definitely one that requires more than just Trust Your Talent can accomplish. For that, I am grateful that there are others in the same industry.

On that note, it would be prudent to define what ‘industry’ that I am/we are in for doing what I get to do everyday. Like the titles of all of my published articles on this platform so far have suggested: financial education or financial education through real estate investing. Often times, people ask me about ‘competition’ in our industry and in the marketplace, my reaction has always been: there really aren’t that many — globally. Fortunately, I always say that “results always speak louder than words”. Usually, when people get to meet someone from and/or trained by Trust Your Talent, the question answers itself.

With that frame of mind, here’s my list of the top 3 deal breakers when choosing my next REI mentor:

To begin, borrowing from the previous article:

I stand for leveraging real estate investing strategies to achieve financial freedom because that was my goal and is my passion. I know some others may choose a mentor based on a single strategy, a market or a certain type of property. The importance is that you and your potential mentor align on your goal.

1. Misalignment in vision

For me, the purpose of putting my work and journey out there from day 1 is first and foremost to help others create financial independence or financial freedom through financial education. (Side note: it’s very uncomfortable to share a lot of the things I’ve been sharing. However, my mentor did tell me that I’d have to face my own fears and focus on the bigger picture. So here I am, stepping out of my comfort zone.).

What financial education has done for me is beyond what I could comprehend some days still. Yet, I feel it in my bones everyday that more people need to at least hear about it, if not allow themselves to start on it. Exemplified by one of my favourite quotes here, while traditional school (with a very pricey tag to my somewhat middle-class parents) bought me a poor mindset, a major clinical depression and my 3rd heart attack; financial education bought me time and money freedom, and later on, the ability to execute on my personal vision to help others achieve the same.

Ever since the first Wheel of Wealth article was shared, I’ve gotten very encouraging feedback from many of my readers. Perhaps it’s because it struck a chord — whether you’re a new grad from college/university, a highly trained professional (MD/PhD, engineer, accountant, nurse, marketer, programmer, etc.) or have simply fallen into the rat race.

As mentioned in the SMP Philosophy, it wasn’t always around when I first started learning and applying as an educated investor. It took time, more mentorship and further knowledge to distill the process. I firmly believe that if you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up where you don’t want to be. Investing is very much like that. Over the years, I’ve seen people acquire properties and grow their portfolios only to end up with a 2nd job. It was shocking at first. However, when I dug deeper into these people’s stories, it was unsurprising to see how they end up where they are despite having numerous rental properties. Like one of those singing competition shows, it’s a constant balance between advancing one week at a time and still with a clear end goal in mind. I have hardly come across people admitting wearing the name badge of a Real Estate Investor that go into it with the goal to add more stress and to-do lists to their plate. Yet, so many do.

I, myself, and the creation of Trust Your Talent stand for the ideology of total wellness. This ideology is composed with wellnesses in 5 major areas in our daily lives: financial, physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. We are currently in Phase 1 of carrying out of the grander vision of “elevating human potential by living a strategically positive life” by offering tools to help with people improve their financial wellness. These are the same tools that have helped me greatly in my quest toward time and money freedom.

Further to that, mounting statistics and researches around the world have shown that “financial wellness” remains a front and centre determinant of one’s quality of life and state of mind. Forget statistics and research results, if we are to take an honest look at ourselves and the people around us, most (if not all) of us can relate to one of these statements or situations:

• The number one factor that breaks up any couple is money. I saw that happen to my parents and many other relationships in my lifetime so far.
• Stresses and worries about money have directly contributed to people’s mental health. I know I was there myself despite making a relatively healthy job income.
• The pressure to maintain and get ahead financially in life has directly caused physical symptoms and illnesses in the modern world.

The list goes on and on. Even a simple Google search on this topic alone was shocking and chilled me to the bone. The positive, though, is that it gave me a much needed dose of confidence and belief of what I stand for these days: increasing the level of financial education to help better people’s financial futures. Truthfully, this has never been about real estate or even real estate investing strategies (shocking, I know). This has always been about leveraging the right investment tool to take care of one very important aspect of our day-to-day lives: money. The most commonly used currency these days that allows us options in life.

I believe that people who are simply looking to buy more real estate aren’t simply the right audience for me or Trust Your Talent. Those who are seeking time and money freedom as a personal vision and a way of living are the ones that will resonate with these messages.

As a result, after bumping around for 4 decades with numerous mentors in my life, I look for those who understand that real estate investing is a means to and end. Those who create financial results through real estate investing to contribute to a bigger vision — in their own lives and into the world. Those who stand for anything less than that…well, they are simply not good enough anymore.

To be completely blunt, there are those who “teach” enough so that I either become their OPM (other people’s money) or have to solely rely on their ‘other paid services’ (ie. legal) in order to completely execute on any deal is a clear red flag. The purpose of offering financial education and elevating a person’s financial intelligence in my LOUD AND OBNOXIOUS opinion should aim at giving them the required tools for independent thinking and decision making when presented with an opportunity (for differentiation between opportunity vs deal, refer back to this article).

THIS quote above (or an ageless wisdom) is always the end goal. That’s why when I seek help these days, it’s to acquire resources, tools, new perspectives and new knowledge to become as good as my Mentor, if not better. I have no problem saying that because I know a few of my students definitely have gone on to doing bigger projects than I have. That is an amazing feeling when the shared vision is not on the size of the deal nor the amount of profit, but the ability to be autonomous and living life on our own terms.

Clearly asking them what their personal vision and mission for offering training and mentoring is a quick and easy way to determined whether you align. There should be ZERO hesitation for true go-giver to explain their purpose and intention being a mentor.

To be continued…

Tomy dedicated readers, I thank you for your support and feedback. If this is the first time you’re reading one of my publications, I hope you’ve enjoyed it and learned a thing or two.

For those of you who prefer watching videos, here is the YouTube channel where some of my work (very raw) has been shared.

And if you’re looking for the quickest way to understand what “financial education through real estate investing” means, we run 1-Day Bootcamps as an introduction. And yes, full disclosure, you’ll have the opportunity to pursue advanced trainings during the Bootcamp if you wish.

(Written at home in Edmonton, AB.)

May 24, 2022

(WARNING: COLOURFUL LANGUAGE IN CONTENT)

The challenge continues. Admittedly, this particular topic — qualities vs deal breakers that I look for an a real estate investing mentor — is by far one that gets me going the most. I can feel the heart palpitation through my trembling fingers as I type. Like everything else I’ve shared so far, I only do so from personal experiences and perspectives. More importantly, it’s done with the hope that fewer people make the mistakes that I, along with many others, have made over the years.

With that said, the list continues with the 2nd deal breaker for me these days.

2. Misalignment in mindset

This is the one that gets me the most heated and it’s personal.

First and foremost — stripping away the financial education and any reference to real estate for a New York minute — investing in its simplest form these days means making money make money. Learning how to invest is then learning how to make money make money. (Might be good to read the last 2 lines a few more times.)

People think that “financial education through real estate investing” is only for the novice and the inexperienced. Experienced investors and property collectors need not apply. This cannot be further from the truth.

Many times, I’ve had to first help students either get out of their existing non-performing properties, or improve performance before acquiring more. This is why STRATEGIES are so crucial (as stated in the SMP Philosophy). I’ve repeated this over and over again. Sounding like a broken record to my students has apparently created some very positive impact in their investing journey, so here I go again: it’s not simply about buying properties or buying more properties. It’s about buying properties that will PERFORM TO MEET YOUR FINANCIAL STANDARDS and GOALS.

First thing first — cashflow. We invest for cashflow.

Many have attempted (and many will still) to take a different approach in getting your attention by focusing on the ‘long term wealth gains’ from investing in real estate. What does that mean? They will focus on “don’t fall into buying for cashflow, buy for the long-term equity growth”. This message is targeted towards those who may find it challenging to find any cashflowing single family properties in their home market who take on the approach of buy-rent-and-pray.

Let’s go back to basic once again here: we invest in real estate because we want to create better financial resources for ourselves. Both now and later. Cashflow, aka ‘profit’, is the ONLY indication whether or not you have a viable business deal at hand. We are not saying it has to cashflow from day 1 (you can if you use the right strategy such as tenant-first Lease Options). We are saying that, before going into a deal, we need to have the ability to determine that it will cashflow once all the necessary renovations and improvements are done. Nobody would buy a business that will lose money every month, why should investing in real estate be any different?

It’s also that mindset — one that tells you to ONLY focus on the long-term growth — that gets people in trouble. This mindset alone has created a subset of bitter “I once was an” investors and the market went against me. And frankly, if you’re only going to be a property collector regardless performance, it’s ok as long as your life isn’t impacted negatively in any way. Unfortunately, not everyone is in that position.

To conclude this thought, people who tell you to let go of cashflow or putting it other than on the top of the priority list when analyzing a deal do NOT even qualify as a real estate mentor in the first place. You want someone who understands that real estate is a means to an end. You want someone who understands the business fundamentals in investing — beyond acquiring assets. You want someone who understands the Wheel of Wealth to guide you to make the best and right investment decisions with you.

Next, we look at ROI — return on investment is what a bona fide investor-minded person focuses on. In laymen’s terms, a true investor focuses on “how much it’s going to make me, not how much it’s going to cost me”.

Piggybacking on that though, this is also where we see the amplified differences in mindset and behaviour:

• being frugal vs being cheap,
• building assets vs acquiring liabilities, and
• value vs money.

Fundamentally, there is nothing wrong with how anyone wants to position themselves in the marketplace. The biggest drawback that I have witnessed is how the innocents get taken advantage of because they simply aren’t able to tell the difference. Hence, one of the main driving forces for writing this article for me personally.

Looking back, I still get a good chuckle at how naive I was when I enrolled into my very first financial education (through real estate investing, of course) curriculum. At the tender age of 28 (in 2010), my husband and I decided to invest CAD $50,000. There was just this burning desire to make a difference in our own life. In today’s money, our investment looks like this:

It doesn’t matter how you dice and slice it, that’s a decent Mercedes right there! At 28, that was a sh*t load of cash (that didn’t have). However, after slaving at a corporate job for 2.5 years, making a 6-figure income and working an average of 80 hours per week, I knew I had to invest in my financial education if I was ever to see a change in my financial future. More than that, I needed a change in my life. I could get into how poor my mindset was back then — especially when it comes to money, but we’ll save the popcorn for a later date when I can really paint you a picture of the “poor middle class me” tale.

The point is this: I saw the possibility, the hope, the potential and, most importantly, the proof of what my future life could look like. What drew me in the most was not the earning potential (although it was a close second at the time). It was how the trainers, mentors and the students they currently have going through the training THINK and VIEW their lives and the world. Gone are the ‘lack’ mindset and language, the daily dread and despair for an unfulfilling job and life, and the negative and limited outlook about the future. Instead, I saw people with different perspectives and positive energy for the first time since probably kindergarten. I knew I wanted to be around that as much as possible. I needed to.

As a result, when I am looking for another REI mentor for myself, I pay extra attention to their mindset. Alright, alright…before some of you want to slap me and go “what the f**k does that mean?”, here’s a relatively more concrete list of what that means (in the order of a thought process):

• Mindset translates into behaviours and words.
• Behaviours that tell me that they are cheap and not frugal is a red flag.
• Words and language that overly focus on cost/money instead of return and goal is a red flag.

I sometimes get challenged on why the investment in our Mentorship Programs is much higher than everyone else’s out there. Here are my responses from the heart and my personal journey:

1. Higher compared to what? Collectively, all the Trainers and Mentors have made a thousand folds of our investment in education that we know otherwise would not have happened. Certainly, not in the timeframe that we have.
2. What’s the price you would put on achieving time and money freedom in 3–5 years? I had a condo in the Vancouver market. Purchased in 2004 as a pre construction for approximately $256,000. Sold it in 2010 for $400,000. The seed money created financial freedom for me starting July 25, 2012. Today, that condo it worth approximately $900,000. An extra $500,000 in value. That’s an extra $50,000 a year in gain. Not to mention capital gain tax now if I sold it. Not to mention inflation. Not to mention the fact that my time freedom is worth much more than $50,000. Do your math.
3. What is the value of having time and money freedom in your life?
4. It’s a hand up, not a hand out. Most people place little to no value in something they get for nothing. Worse yet, most people are willing to bet small and lose small all too often. Your skin in the game is ultimately an indication of how much you believe in yourself. I had to believe in myself. I needed to. There was not another option.
5. Lastly, Mentors and Trainers on our training team (not to mention a large number of students) have all declared financial independence and freedom. In other words, we know our worth — the collective knowledge, experiences and network we bring to the table to help any student turn their goals into reality.

This quote always gets me and it’s so true especially when it comes to the real estate investing industry where high value services and assets are changing hands regularly.

By no means do we know everything. In fact, what I love about our entire Trust Your Talent community is this: we are all lifelong learners. Mentors and trainers are simply those who have accomplished what you want to accomplish before you. We understand and RESPECT the concept that ‘time is everything’ (as mentioned in one of the previous article). Supporting someone else on their journey is more than an honour, it’s a responsibility that takes time — our most valuable resource in life.

If it helps, turn the table around and ask yourself this: what would you do when you have the time and money freedom to do anything you want? The cold hard truth is this: we don’t make the best money teaching and mentoring. And we shouldn’t. It’s a balance act. When a mentor has earned the time and money freedom, mentoring is our form of contribution and giving back. And yes, it’s an additional source of income. Whenever I get a chance to teach these days, I often say “teaching and mentoring probably generate the lowest financial ROI for us” to the students. Mentors don’t do it for the money. The cool part is (especially with advanced students) they now get it and agree with me once they’ve learned how simple making money can be. Now, the best part is this: teaching and mentoring definitely generate the highest sense of fulfillment and purpose for us these days.

Here are some uncategorized and yet relevant thoughts to conclude this part of the article:

• Know what your financial future is worth to you before you choose a mentor.
• Don’t be cheap when it comes to the betterment of your financial future.
• Your mentor should have the ability to show and help you build your power teams from scratch. It’s about teaching you how to fish so that you can build income sources beyond borders.
• Your mentor understands that mentoring is a full-time commitment but not a full-time gig.
• No one person knows everything (as great as that sounds). Pay attention to the size of their ‘training team’ or ‘organization’. Many are the lone wolf coaches with limited strategies and market experiences (or experiences in general).
• Ask why instead of how (or how-to) questions when you’re engaged in a conversation with a potential mentor. Listen to their thought process.
• Your mentor should have the ability to diagnose your existing financial wellness and improve upon it.

To be continued…

Tomy dedicated readers, I thank you for your support and feedback. If this is the first time you’re reading one of my publications, I hope you’ve enjoyed it and learned a thing or two.

For those of you who prefer watching videos, here is the YouTube channel where some of my work (very raw) has been shared.

And if you’re looking for the quickest way to understand what “financial education through real estate investing” means, we run 1-Day Bootcamps as an introduction. And yes, full disclosure, you’ll have the opportunity to pursue advanced trainings during the Bootcamp if you wish.

(Written at home in Edmonton, AB.)

May 31, 2022

Sofar, this topic has generated the most responses and, frankly, I’m not surprised. The best part, however, is that it’s given me the opportunities to further the dialogues with some of you and I so appreciate that. Many have thanked me for sharing while some accused me of ‘sitting on my high horse’ and preach. One way or another, I appreciate your time and effort. To those who have said that these articles are making a change in their lives (you know who you are), I am extremely happy for you and I thank you for allowing me to be authentic.

Every piece of writing I have created is meant to be positive, and even inspiring. This quote has been my guiding light for the last 8+ years of why I still teach and mentor.

More importantly, for the same reason why I write in the first place — to help people think about certain things ahead of time. After so many years, I do see many people WASTE away their talent, their drive, their ambitions, their money, their time and their goals as a result. Unfortunately, many of these cases have much to do with mindsets that do us a disservice. Fortunately, it’s given me the chance to share here.

Inthis article, I will conclude this now 4-part topic with the last deal breaker for me when choosing a real estate investing mentor.

3. Misalignment in values

Let’s define what value means in this context first. Here’s a high level thought process:

1. My personal values are health, sustainability, joy, fulfillment and impact.
2. When I’m choosing a mentor, I want to get a sense that we align on at least 2 of them. For example, health is an overarching value that covers beyond physical health. It also covers mental and financial health. If someone is financially successful and yet completely out of shape physically, I know there is a misalignment. While I’m all about leveraging money as one of the greatest tools in the world, I personally do not believe that it should come at the expense of my health in other areas.
3. Sustainability is a huge one. I’ve witnessed too many investors, entrepreneurs and ‘mentors’ (yes, using the quotation marks to be sarcastic here) come and gone over the years. Some as short as 6 months, some as long as 8 years. For example, we all know that what we focus on grows. A bodybuilder will tell you that the exercise and diet regimes are not a sustainable lifestyle. An high-level executive can only work so many hours for so long before a burnout happens amongst other long-term health implications. Staying power is key. And that power comes from having the right mindset, the required tools and the attitude.
4. When I interview new mentors in any areas of my life, I simply as them these 2 questions: why did you want to be a mentor in this area and why have you continued after so long? What I’m really looking for is the passion and the energy they exude. More so, the joy and the fulfillment that they get from doing what they do should show up in their voice, their eyes, their words and their body language. I want to feel their joy and their sense of fulfillment. Because I believe that nobody can (nor should) pour from an empty cup. If their desire to help others success is overflowing, we can pick up on that usually right away.
5. Impact — circling back to aligning on vision, I want my mentor to have a greater vision for their purpose, their life and their business other than just making some money from telling others what to do.

With all that said, here are the last few thoughts that I’d like to share here:

Real mentors don’t need your money to invest in their deals in any way.

They’ve built successes before you and without you. If the true intention is to teach you how to fish so you can eat for a lifetime, they should not treat you as OPM. At least, not at first. I remember one of my earlier mentors wanting to connect me with another student investor to potentially do a deal together in my early days. Very quickly, I found out that she was the “silent partner” in that business venture and also the licensed realtor for all his “deals”.

Real mentors encourage you to be authentic and honour your journey.

While you do have the support of a mentor (and maybe even a community at large), be honest and open about where you are in your journey. The whole “fake it till you make it” idea (while I understand it’s used sometimes to combat imposter syndrome) tends to do more harm than good. I believe in “face it till you make it”. If people judge you based on how green you are in the first place, that means you are already misaligned on some core values. It’s easier to move on from that than to dwell on it.

Watch how you are (or might be) mentored in the way you approach deals/opportunities and especially with people. Some industry professionals can sniff a newbie from mile away. If you’re trying to pull a fast one on them, it’s the fastest way to put giant speed bump on your journey.

Whenever I am out conducting in-field work with my mentees, I always ask them to be honest and truthful in everything they say. Sounds like a basic requirement for being an investor with solid values and integrity, doesn’t it? Yet, you’d be surprised at how many are taught to puff up their chest and embellish their knowledge, skills and experience level.

Don’t get it twisted here! I do encourage my students to use the line “I have invested in my education and have a mentor guiding me through my first few deals” when necessary. After all, leveraging our results and systems is part of the education. Doctors and surgeons all have mentors at different levels, we are no different here.

Real mentors do the work with you behind the scenes.

Thanks to social media, ‘progress’ is loitered all over everyone’s feeds without context. While it’s good for marketing purposes, note that a real mentor does the work and often goes unrecognized. Countless calls, texts, in-person and video meetings we do are just part of the process we do with our students. Some mentors these days post every single chat and screenshots of a coaching call. This brings me to 2 questions that challenge me daily: Are you busy or productive? Are you creating real results or creating a facade?

This is obviously a very grey area these days. We want to celebrate wins — big and small — because it creates positive reinforcement internally. We also want to leverage the wins as much as we can for marketing purposes. However, many have focused on the marketing rather than doing the work themselves. I recall meeting a “newbie” (his word, not mine) about 18 months ago. He admitted that he focused on 1 single strategy and only had done less than a handful of deals at the time (oh, and in 1 city only). To my surprise, he started a podcast and became popular during the pandemic. Less than a year ago, he started “coaching” others on strategies that he told me he knew nothing about nor had the interest for. Unfortunately, he’s not the first person like this I’ve known over the years. It’s just that, social media (especially) has made it even harder to tell the difference upon first look these days. On a positive note, results is always the one thing that we fall back on especially on the quest for financial independence and financial freedom. Results is what give a few of the mentors the staying power to stay in this industry.

Lastly, some random and final thoughts here:

A mentor is part of your power team, both a short- and long-term business partner.

Real mentors help you pull the different ingredients together to cook up the results YOU WANT (vs pushing certain outcomes on you).

Many groups, clubs, coaching programs — both online and live- masquerade “buying” as “investing”. Learn to tell the difference. I’m really hoping that my previous articles have shed some light on how for you. If not, you’re more than welcome to reach out to me directly: tim@trustyourtalentacademy.ue1.rapydapps.cloud anytime for a chat.

Like vs respect — I want to be able to respect my mentor first. This one took me a while to grasp. A mentor is someone I look up to and respect from the get-go. I don’t always have to like them as a whole (I know this sounds terrible right now) because I’m wanting to be mentored for a specific set of skills initially. If we end up liking each other and form a relationship beyond the mentorship, great!

Mentors should have mentors. I need to know that they consistently invest in their own growth — professionally and personally. To be more specific, networking, signing up for club memberships and attending a few webinars for market updates here and there do not count as professional development. I want to learn that they are going into programs and full curriculums to further their growth. After all, that’s why I want a mentor.

Tomy dedicated readers, I thank you for your support and feedback. If this is the first time you’re reading one of my publications, I hope you’ve enjoyed it and learned a thing or two.

If you’re wanting to be a part of a community of real estate investors from around the globe, here is the T.A.L.E.N.T.ed Investors Facebook Group. It’s a place where people come together to share experiences, knowledge, successes and challenges, and money making opportunities!

For those of you who prefer watching videos, here is the YouTube channel where some of my work (very raw) has been shared.

Lastly and definitely not least, Bootcamp! If you prefer the live interaction and delivery to help you build some foundation, our next Bootcamp is just around the corner. Go ahead and register for a session for either June 11 or June 12 to help you further your financial education.

(Written at home in Edmonton, AB)

June 7, 2022

First things first, definitions matter! I’m strictly using “getting paid” for being an investor as the baseline here. So, here’s a list of things that are taken into account while making the differentiation between what qualifies as amateur vs professional investors:

• Getting paid = compensated by the deals they have created directly and indirectly
• Professional investors have short- and long-term plans and strategies for building their portfolios for specific financial goals (as opposed to property collectors — buying for the sake of buying)
• Professional investors have an exit strategy on how they transition from being the managing/active partners (most of the times in the beginning) to being the capital/passive partners over time
• Professional investors also recognize that they are amateurs at the same time — more of a growth mindset driven statement

The inspiration for this article came from a few readers’ suggestion (you know who you are) — thank you and hope you enjoy this!

I guess this is in line with the previous 4 articles. However, the funny thing is this: what I’m about to share are things that had been ‘taught’ to me early on in my financial education. Yet, many were not ‘learned’ (and felt to be true) until years later. Some of them MUCH later.

Before going any further, I want to be extremely clear about this: knowing how to spot them doesn’t mean you treat the any differently in terms of respect. The purpose I want to accomplish with this topic is to help you become more efficient and effective as a real estate investor — both as an amateur and professional. Yes, I said both. I believe that we are all both at the same time these days in the world of real estate investing especially if you follow the SMP Philosophy. Nobody truly knows and has executed on EVERY SINGLE strategy available. In addition, nobody’s invested in every single (viable) market available.

Knowing how to spot them means you can pivot and create more meaningful and productive conversations when you first meet them. And, perhaps, supportive and mutually-beneficial long-term relationships!

So, let’s dive right in!

How many properties do you have?

This one is probably the biggest tell-tell sign.

Most professional (and trained) real estate investors understand that property is simply the investment tool we use to achieve the financial goals we have. And, once again, following the SMP Philosophy, property is at the bottom of the list.

For amateurs, it can seem like this is the fastest way for them to size up the other person. Using the number of properties the other person has to determine how much respect, time and patience they should give — especially at a networking event. Even if the intention is positive — they want to learn from someone who ‘knows’ more than they do, this often backfires because people can sense it when you are disingenuous in your interactions with them. The opposite is also true. People who have collected properties over time may use that to judge how much time they would spend with the amateurs. If this describes you in any way, STOP IT! You’re letting your ego get in the way.

From both personal observations and personal experience, a newly educated investor on a single strategy with a focused market picked out can easily outshine a wealthy property collector.

The point is this: it’s not a bad question, it’s just a bad first question. If you are hunting for a REI Mentor, it’s natural that you are curious and want to know more about their experiences — in strategies, markets, the types and number of properties they have transacted and held — to give them the financial freedom (or independence) that they have today.

Remember, everyone has something to offer regardless of how you classify them. With amateurs, I simply want to see if I can add value to their growth — be it a chat to share experiences, adding to their knowledge vault (or bridging their knowledge gap), or helping them get started by working on a deal together. With other professionals, I also just want to see if I can add value to their journey — from trading ‘war’ stories to collaborating together in any other ways possible. The common thread is — add value. It’s not about you.

I use the BRRRR strategy.

This is a short but brutally important one. BRRRR (buy-renovate-rent-refinance-repeat) is NOT a strategy, it’s a process. I cannot stress this enough.

It’s the fundamental process of performance improvement regardless of the asset class you choose to use. This is a marketing term that became popularized in recent years. Strictly speaking, when you are leveraging a property-first strategy in real estate investing, 99% of times you NEED to BRRRR. Otherwise, what is the point?

BRRRR was known to me as:

• Buy, add value, cashout-refinance (commonly used in the US), or
• Money in, money out, income for life and asset for free (if you get to pull out 100% of your initial ‘money in/investment’)

From day 1 of my financial education, without fail, every trainer and Mentor has emphasized on the concept of value-add in every deal, every property and every step of the way. One of them call ‘real estate investors’ as ‘transaction engineers’. That also took me a few years to fully grasp through living the life of a full-time investor.

With a hard asset like real estate, value-add has a broad spectrum of meanings. Putting it plainly, value-add can literally mean anything between sweat equity to a gazillion dollars. You can paper flip through the Wholesale & Assignment strategy. You can also take a piece of empty or under-utilized land in the middle of nowhere on this planet and put a world class city on it (think of Dubai and Las Vegas).

So, I’ve learned to stay hip and relevant by using the phrase ‘BRRRR’. I’ve also learned to use it like: We leverage the BRRRR process in all of our property-first strategies/deals. This ain’t about sounding smart. It’s simply about sounding like you understand how business works — even if your business is real estate investing.

One last note on the BRRRR process is that it does NOT say anything about cash flow/profit, or as we call it, performance of the asset. This is why, it’s NOT a strategy. A strategy tells you how you make money and how much money you make in the world of real estate investing. I’m only highlighting this because I’ve seen way too many folks BRRRR themselves into even more financial distress. While, on paper, it sounds great and makes 100% sense, it is only a part of the process of any good deal.

I regret selling my properties.

Amateur alert!!!

My best analogy (which I’m oddly proud of) is that properties and buildings are like people. The older we get, the more problems we have. Meaning, the more expensive it is to maintain.

Here’s a quick techno-babble for my trained RE investors: your NOI (net operating income) goes down over time typically with every property in your portfolio. This decreases the capitalization rate (aka. Cap Rate). With the rising interest rates, your cashflow will decrease from higher debt servicing amounts.

A professional investor understands (at all times) that learning how to invest is learning how to make money work harder for us. As pointed out in Financial Education: Know the Difference — Cash on Cash Return vs Return on Investment, real estate is just our vehicle in investing. The goal is to create better financial resources and blueprints for ourselves, and hopefully generations to come. Making sure our money is working hard for us at all time is, in my opinion, the highest level of the art of investing.

Why would you want to make 10% when your money can be making 20%? Why would you want to make 50% when your money can be making infinite return? Selling your properties for the purpose of reinvigorating your capital’s ability to work harder for you is not only smart and the way the pros do it, but an absolutely necessary and natural part of being an investor.

Anyone that tells you to simply hang on to your properties for life is an amateur. This is a lesson that I refused to see early on when one of my Mentors pointed out to me. Silly me!

With that said, this directly ties to the concept of “velocity of money”. For those of you who are curious and interested in learning more, there are lots of articles and videos available for your research.

Tomy dedicated readers, I thank you for your support and feedback. If this is the first time you’re reading one of my publications, I hope you’ve enjoyed it and learned a thing or two.

If you’re wanting to be a part of a community of real estate investors from around the globe, here is the T.A.L.E.N.T.ed Investors Facebook Group. It’s a place where people come together to share experiences, knowledge, successes and challenges, and money making opportunities!

For those of you who prefer watching videos, here is the YouTube channel where some of my work (very raw) has been shared.

Lastly and definitely not least, Bootcamp! If you prefer the live interaction and delivery to help you build some foundation, our next Bootcamp is just around the corner. Go ahead and register for a session for either June 11 or June 12 to help you further your financial education.

(Written at home in Edmonton, AB)

August 23, 2022

I’ve been so excited about writing this article that the excitement woke me up at 4am this morning.

Many of you have learned through reading my articles over the last few months that my ‘baby strategy’ is called Lease Options (aka ‘rent to own’ as its more commonly marketed term). There are reasons why I keep stressing with all my students from Day 1 that:

1. Lease Options is a form of creative/seller financing
2. You can tell who’s truly educated in Lease Options and who’s not by the way they see and use this strategy (should really be part of the “How to Spot a Professional vs Amateur” series)
3. Options, when used properly, is an amazing way to structure all-win deals (bold statement, I know — that’s how much I believe in it)

Lease Options, by definition, has 2 components: the lease and the option to purchase/renew, etc. When it comes to seller financing, they do tend to go together. So, it’s really called “lease with the option to purchase”.

Options — for anyone that has already gone through a real estate transaction of any kind would know — already exist in nearly every contract paperwork. Most people just know them as conditions, clauses or subjects.

For example, a typical list of conditions in an Offer to Purchase Agreement by the Buyer would include financing and inspection as the bare minimum. If we were to take a closer look at what this means:

• A financing condition is usually used when the Buyer needs to leverage a mortgage to complete the purchase. What the Buyer is really saying to the Seller on a higher level is that “I don’t want to buy this property if I cannot borrow the money I need to borrow”. This can also be interpreted as “I have the option to walk away if I don’t like the lending terms even if I’m approved for financing.” Of course, some Buyers will specify rates and terms of the approved financing as a second layer of protection. Some will go as far as listing out the funding date and other conditions of their own during this time.
• An inspection condition is easy. This is when the Buyer can simply say to the Seller that “if I don’t like anything I see in the inspection report, I have the option to renegotiate the Offer to Purchase and/or walk away from the accepted Offer.”

For some, if you’ve done a mortgage renewal in the past, it’s actually because that you have signed a mutual option to renew in your original mortgage documents (remember the day you felt like you were signing your life away?!).

With that said, given that the focus is seller financing, we will focus simply on the concept of ‘option to buy’. This means that — in a “lease with the option purchase” situation — the tenant (or leasee — a technical term by default due to signing a lease) has the option but not the obligation to exercise their right to purchase on or before the contract end date. In other words, the tenant/leasee has the first right of refusal to purchase the property.

Iwant to look at it from 2 different perspectives in the next couple of articles here with you — as a Buyer using Lease Options and as a Seller using Lease Options. Today, we’ll look at the former.

Before going any further, here are a few bullet points to keep in mind:

• A Buyer in this arrangement can also be called a Tenant Buyer, Leasee or Optionee (someone who’s granted the Option)
• A Seller in this arrangement can also be called a Leasor or Optionor (someone who’s granting the Option)
• The Optionee has the right but not the obligation to exercise their Option

As a Buyer

I have done countless VTB deals over the years as mentioned since Part 1 of this series due to the lack of personal resources at the beginning of my career and wanting to scale quickly. Leveraging Lease Options is definitely my favourite due to “having the right but not the obligation to buy”. We will look at how it’s different from Agreement for Sale later.

Purchasing 2 Mobile Home Parks in Texas via Rolling Options

I’m going to start by clarifying one thing quickly: many have challenged me that it should be Lease Option and not Lease Options. That challenge often comes from the lack of education and the lack of experience. One might even say that it comes from the lack of empathy and detachment from reality. Whoa! That got dark in a hurry. No fret — the simple point here really is that, regardless of which side you’re on, you always want multiple options to exit for the simple fact that not everything in life goes as planned. In a business transaction, it shows maturity, understanding and vision when you can plan ahead on how to leverage options to conduct transactions.

Now, picture this — it was June 2013. I was only 3.5 years into my ‘professional investing’ career. Wanting to branch out into the US and having learned about mobile home parks as an investment strategy and property type, I could not pass up the deal presented to me. Only, it wasn’t quite a deal I was ready for yet because I didn’t have the resources to jump on the deal, even with another partner. However, the whole point of creative financing is to let money be the least limiting factor as a professional investor. So, I was forced to get creative again — even if it’s not in the same country.

Side bar: there’s real estate buying and there’s investing in real estate. I’ve come to learn that investing is a broad spectrum word and, to a large degree, misused by mass media and even some in the real estate investing community. True investors are trained on the very foundation of how money works. Therefore, their knowledge and skills are universally applicable and know no borders.

With this one — 2 separately titled mobile home parks owned by the same seller — I came up with (what I later learned) is what people call a rolling option. This allowed me to purchase both parks totalling 144 units over an extended period of time while being a leasee with the owner. Without getting into too many details (how much time do you have to read today?! lol), I’m going to list out some of the background story, how the thought process and deal got structured:

• The owner was a 2nd generation landlord that initially inherited the property from his family estate and thought he would enjoy the cashflow from it with them being debt-free and all.
• The owner had very little to no experience managing the parks and the performance slowly got worse. (He was an accountant and had only done the “buy rent and pray” before.) During the due diligence period, I found out that he was attempting to save money by cutting necessary expenses to maintain the property. This was his accounting brains talking, not the investor’s mindset. I continue to stress the importance of understanding and operating from “it’s not how much it’ll cost me but how much it’ll make it”.
• When the leases ended, the tenants started leaving. As tenants left, he was putting new tenants in without a proper screening process (from lack of landlording experience) and without improving the physical properties. This created a very mixed tenant base with frequent internal conflicts.
• Taking his wife’s advice, he finally decided to sell to ‘cash out’. When he started to let the word out, the word travelled across the border through my network to me. Again, your network is your net worth!
• When we first met (on the phone), he had no idea what seller financing is or how it works. I learned that all he really wants is a certain level of cashflow per month from the parks originally. Now he wants cashflow (or just a pot of cash from selling) and not have to deal with the management and upkeep of these properties.
• Taking his small and common wish list into consideration while aligning with our business goals, I was able to have him agree to sell the parks in 3 phases over the course of 15 months that ended up taking nearly 20 months to complete.
• Phase 1: I would lease non-performing 38 units first with and overarching option to purchase the entire 144 units. While I’m in the process of ‘turning things around’ with these 38 units, he’s able to continue to make a small and shrinking income from the other 106 units.
• Phase 2: Once I have reached a certain level of performance with the 38 units, I’m able to lease out the next 70 units. Repeat the same process to raise performance.
• Phase 3: The last 36 units became the easiest because I wanted to have commercial leases for those. By commercial leases, I don’t mean having commercial tenants running businesses in there. Rather, due to its unique location in Texas (outside the Dallas-Fort Worth area), oil was booming in 2014 at this time and many companies were putting their workers and contractors nearby. In the end, I was able to lease out 36 units with 1 lease. That’s just 1 tenant and 1 rent collection to deal with!
• Keep in mind, I’m not personally managing all tenants, there’s always been a property management company that I work closely with.
• As soon as the corporate lease was signed, I exercised my option to purchase all 144 units at the predetermined price. Because the performance has been significantly improved, the new mortgage more than covered the purchase price and all capital expenditure at that point — making it an infinite return deal.

Now, many would think “wow, you’re so lucky!” To that, I will say, yes and it’s because I took the time to educate myself prior and was willing to dedicated 20 months of my life on making 1 deal work (not knowing if it was actually going to work in the beginning).

Were there man tears from stress? Yes.

Were there sleepless nights doubting myself if my ‘brilliant plan’ was going to work? Yes.

Were there times when I thought that it would take everything I got if my plan didn’t work? Hell yes!

The way I looked at it was: I wanted to buy, he wanted to sell. That’s the first alignment. The rest is a simple breakdown on each others’ actual money goals and align again on that front.

What I also want to point out is this: remember how I keep emphasizing that BRRRR is not a strategy but simply a process? This is a perfect example of that. The “B” or “buy” part here is just through a more creative way to achieve. While the “buy” part is not 100% done yet, I started the rest to renovate and rent. The actual completion of the “buy” part now is combined with the refinance.

The most exciting part is this: I can repeat this as many times as I want. Even though I didn’t pull out money to buy other things, I didn’t need it. The knowledge, experience, skills and confidence built from this deal has given me the rest of my career so far.

There may be some details worth sharing here because I want to be real with you all — it’s not always sunshine and rainbows — and hopefully you continue to get how important financial education really is. Not real estate investing, financial education through real estate investing!

1. During the periods of the leases (Phases 1 and 2 specifically), I had to pay rent to the owner whether or not there was money coming in.
2. Even when there was little to no money coming in, I had to incur large sums to money to get the units back up to shape. Some were on the actual mobile homes on the lots and some were capital expenditures to improve the overall park infrastructure.
3. It took countless hours to educate the owner on seller financing on a theoretical level. Once he was comfortable with me and the proposal, it took many billable hours between lawyers to finalize the lease and option agreements. Of course, those billable hours were many people’s annual salary at the time.
4. I had to bring on private lenders and a few JV (joint venture) partners to raise the funds required to go through what we now call the “stabilization period”.
5. Private lenders were also paid on a monthly basis regardless of income level. This is where I really learned the importance of borrowing more than needed (and it’s ok) in a real life deal.
6. Bringing in JV partners was not the first nor the most ideal way to approach this deal as I was ‘hoping’ for a an infinite return deal after all is said and done. And then I heard my mentor’s voice: don’t be greedy and don’t be cheap! And that’s just it. Very quickly, I realized that it was worth it to share my sweat equity (that turned into real equity) than to suffer the occasional anxiety attacks of running low on funds to bring my vision to life.

To this day, this remains one of my most memorable and heart-pounding deals. There were times in between when I wanted to give up and just take the hit and walk away. However, call it blind faith or call me stupid, I stuck with it.

I existed this deal in the beginning of 2017. That was when I also experienced for the first time the added benefit of currency exchange. When done strategically, it’s another way of growing the portfolio income in our Wheel of Wealth!

Excited to continue with this series with everyone and I hope to continue to add value and get feedback from you! A fun fact on this deal, too, is that I had NEVER VISITED nor SEEN this property in my life!

Tomy dedicated readers, I thank you for your support and feedback. If this is the first time you’re reading one of my publications, I hope you’ve enjoyed it and learned a thing or two.

If you’re wanting to be a part of a community of real estate investors from around the globe, here is the T.A.L.E.N.T.ed Investors Facebook Group. It’s a place where people come together to share experiences, knowledge, successes and challenges, and money making opportunities!

For those of you who prefer watching videos, here is the YouTube channel where some of my work (very raw) has been shared.

If you prefer the live interaction and delivery to help you build some foundation, our next live in-person real estate investing Bootcamp is on September 24 and 25 in Toronto. Go ahead and speak to a Strategy Coach on how you can attend and learn more!

Lastly, I just want to say thank you for your continuing support. I aim to be authentic and adding value to your life.

It’s ultimately about LIFE and I appreciate you coming on this journey with me!

(Written at home in Edmonton, AB and edited in the air over the Canadian Rockies)

October 18, 2022

This is a question that I get asked a lot during podcast interviews and Q&A at stage events. Plus, some of you have started asking me this very question over the last few months now so I thought it’d be fitting to share, not to mention timely in today’s world.

Before I get going on this, I should clarify that I’m cheesy as hell when it comes to viewing all versions of the word “fail”.

I do not believe in failures.

I believe in growth and learning.

I believe in never giving up. I believe in “fall 7 times, get up 8.”

So, let’s dig in!

Here’s the first and BIGGEST reason that I’ve experienced and witnessed:

. Old & Outdated Money Blueprint

I remember half-way through my Real Estate Investing Bootcamp back in June 2010. Having made the decision to get financially educated, I just needed to pay the tuition now. The only challenge is: I had just lost all my hard earned savings (as shared in previous articles). We had just moved to a brand new city and house 4 months prior and incurred a lot of surprise expenses through bad debt. How are we going to make this happen?

Both of us started calling our family and friends to share this new “business venture” that is real estate investing with them, and how we would treat them as our very first angel investors and pay them back tenfolds when we made it.

A couple of 28 year-olds went nowhere with those conversations.

Side Bar

If you’re reading this and you are a young entrepreneur, I’d love to hear your business ideas if you’re looking for private funding/angel investors. I have a soft spot for you because I was you. Over the years, we have backed and supported various small ventures to get started — some went well, most went bust and it fuels our souls to see how they all grew from the experiences.

Asa last resort, I called my parents who have been wanting me to pursue a MBA (Masters of Business Administration). I gave them my best“accomplished 28 year-old, middle-management title, earning-6-figure-income, and managing-50+-people across Canada”pitch at the time. Their response was the most awful and the most awakening.

During the Bootcamp, I had so many ah-ah moments that directly targeted at the heart of all my limiting beliefs when it comes to money. These ah-ha moments ripped many of the limiting beliefs out of my mind and my heart like poisonous weeds preventing a beautiful, fertile garden to blossom.

First thing I do have to say is this:my parents didn’t know what they didn’t know. They were only wanting the best for me. And here I am already thinking:If I want something I’ve never had, I’ve gotta do something I’ve never done.This includes breaking free of so many outdated money blueprint given to me by my parents. They refused to support my journey to be financially educated and yet were willing to remortgage the house to send me to grad school. The two people that rarely agreed on much and THIS they aligned on. This madness had to stop.

I refused their offer to get another degree. The bank of love was no love at all — or so I thought. I was angry — at them and at myself.

For people my generation especially, the last 2–4 generations all were raised in the industrial age where if you work hard, budget excessively and save, life will work out just fine. And it did — for them. I was born in 1982, the year where mortgage interest rates in North America were documented at 18% or higher. THINK about that! As a real estate investor and Mentor today, I teach everyone to conduct extra due diligence when someone’s offering double digits on a private lending deal.

Myconversation with my parents was one that burned me deep. Watching them struggle their whole lives to have a semblance of a comfortable life was the biggest lie they fed me growing up — unintentionally. Fortunately, my fears and self-doubt in the moment also got torched and turned into the fossil fuel I needed that night. The fuel that gave me the courage (or perhaps temporary blindness) to take the leap of faith to bet on myself.

I’m sure there’s more to this list as I’m only sharing some of the points they made that I still remember (honestly, a bit fuzzy now). If you have more to share, please feel free to comment as it may help others relate to this topic better:

• Money is the root of all evil and you don’t need much to live.Misquoted by them and I didn’t want to just live and survive through this lifetime, I wanted to thrive and have options in life — especially after 2 heart attacks at a young age, a heart surgery at 20 and an autoimmune disorder that I have to manage daily.
• You have a good job (good pay, ok benefits, company stock options, pension, extra play money) and just keep climbing the ladder.I just knew I was made for more. If for nothing else, I want to build my own ladder in life, not just for a job or career.
• You need money to make money. You’re just a kid, who’s going to give you the money (after sharing with them the idea of OPM — other people’s money).I was now armed with knowledge — and soon support through mentorship — that would prove anyone at any age can succeed with a strong why and proper guidance.
• It just sounds too good to be true (how to create cashflow and higher returns than savings and stocks was a subject them and I had never heard of).Maybe…and what if it isn’t? Numbers don’t lie. I love the saying (forgot the actual quote): “All you need is one way to make it work.”
• How are you going to find time to learn and do this?I would time block. I would cut out some bad habits (notice not all). I would do whatever it takes.
• The market in Edmonton is bad right now, isn’t it?Financial education through real estate investing goes beyond the city/town we live in. Educated investors are performance based investors. Most people that buy stocks in Tesla, Amazon, Nike, Facebook or Google care if they are going to yield good returns. This is not different.

No offence to my parents. To be completely clear — I love my parents and have a lot of respect for them. They did their best based on what they knew. And I remember this thing my Bootcamp Trainer said: “Often time, the people who love and care about us the most are the ones that stop us from achieving our full potential the most. They also tend to share the same last name.”

I took it all in.

That night, I decided that I needed to break the mold.I needed to break free of my old money blueprint.

The next day, my husband and I invested ~CAD $50,000 in our financial education. 3 credit card transactions and a promissory note on the contract later, we walked away with a used Cashflow Game and a branded padfolio.

Did we just get hyped up?

Could we do this?

Were we just young and naive old hanging fruit for these ‘seminar people’?

The overdosing amount of self-doubt and fear crept in night after night like an excessive daily binge on junk food. In 2010, CAD $50,000 was a nice Mercedes-Benz PAID IN CASH. It was a healthy downpayment for a condo in Metro Vancouver and Downtown Toronto (yup, you heard that right).

Our only antidote at the time was a concoction of believing in ourselves and the new tools that we had gained at the Bootcamp. Interestingly and unsurprisingly, these tools are the same that we still use today when we experience the same two emotions that have destroyed more dreams and aspirations we know: fear and self-doubt.

Today, I know my parents are proud of what I’ve accomplished. For that, I’m grateful. Grateful for their rejection and grateful for their limiting beliefs. From that, I got stronger and better.

All along, I’ve wanted to create something timeless with my writing. This is not about the market conditions, or interest rates or even inflations. Yes, they are important facts to know and they are not the first thing any of us need to know.

Proper financial education allows any of us (yes, you heard that right again — ANY OF US) the ability to expand our means through growing our income streams and wealth in any market conditions. Even the perfect sh*t storm that we are all living through right now.

I hope this is offering some light for you. This ‘reason’ does not need to be as reason as long as you choose different. So that you can become different.

Tomy dedicated readers, I thank you for your support and feedback. If this is the first time you’re reading one of my publications, I hope you’ve enjoyed it and learned a thing or two.

For those of you who are ready and or curious about how to create your personalized financial success plan, you can visit the Bootcamp page or talk to a Strategy Coach from Trust Your Talent Academy to learn more. Take action now if you’re serious about thriving through the tough times and come out better at the end of all of this!