How An Ex-Blind Guitar Player Figured it Out

One of my investing heroes is a friend of my dad.

This guy, Johnny, is in his mid to late 60s now.

He always wanted to be a rock star... he even auditioned to be the guitarist for Boston (or maybe it was Kansas) years and years ago... but didn't get it.

He also helped me in the music business a little bit about 25 years ago --- back when I had aspirations to be a country music singer.

But that didn't work out either... though it will be a story for another day.

Anyway, Johnny came from a little family money.

They weren't billionaires or anything, but probably low 8-digits.

Not too bad.

So when he was about 20, out of the blue, he just went blind.

No rhyme or reason... and doctors couldn't figure out why either.

Then, about 6 years later... BAM... he can see again.

Johnny told me the experience completely changed his outlook on life.

He said he knew he needed to figure out a way to make money which wasn't dependent on having a job --- or even owning his own company.

So he dug into everything about real estate he could get his hands on.

To see how he could maximize the income he made on his little slice of the family money.

He didn't want to earn 2, 3, or 4% on his money... it would barely keep up with inflation.

No, he wanted to make sure his little nest egg gave him a great income --- something along the lines of 10-15% a year on average.

Fast forward a few years and he did it. 

He had tons of rental properties, he was making a fat income every year, and he just played guitar, dated women (he never got married, the smart dude), and had an awesome life.

I haven't seen Johnny for about 20 years now, but I think I'll look him up today... maybe I'll see if my old man still has his number.

So what's the moral of the story?

I don't know --- I guess it's if an ex-blind, guitar-playing, bachelor from Houston can figure out how to say "scroo yoo" to Wall Street and forge his own path, you probably can too.