I prefer my American Reality. Earn Out Before You Burn Out

Back to the cold ceramic bathroom tiles, well back to my oversized tears. September 29th, 2018, 4 years after my father had passed, physically, emotionally and spiritually devastated, cursing the man who had inspired me to dream big. Searching for the unanswered question of why? Why did I keep needing to ‘achieve’?

Where was my finish line and what was at the end of it?

And so this is where my story likely deviates from others.

As I pulled myself together, wiped away the tears and changed out of my salty t-shirt, I felt a sense of calm come back over me. Although I would never get the answer to my question, I did breathe a huge sigh of relief for the decisions I had taken along my journey. Decisions entirely inspired by my father.

You see. My father was an entrepreneur….of sort, a real dreamer. And most of his ideas were born from his love of America. The American Dream. The one wherewith an idea, hard work and the belief in one's self, you can achieve success. Maybe even financial prosperity and for the lucky few, freedom for you and your loved ones.

He read all the books. He had all the tapes. Our shelves were filled with memoirs and tales of rags to riches.

Unfortunately, my dreamer dad had all the ideas but fell short on the execution.

He himself died a modest man but the wisdom he imparted on me, in the form of a book, changed the course of my life.

Rich Dad. Poor Dad.

The irony of this book title is not lost on me.

For those who may not know the book or its teachings, it essentially boils down to this — Do you work for money or does money work for you? Before understanding the how of it all, I already knew my answer to this simple question. I wanted money to work for me. Period. It was the only way to ensure my ‘freedom’. But freedom from what? At the time in my life when I read the book, I was happy at my job and was fulfilled by how I was contributing to society in general. There were no signs of discontent and certainly no signs of burn out. I was enjoying my life, my friends and my time in New York. I was living the American Dream after all. Right?

But burn out was on the horizon I just didn’t know it yet.

And so with this clear answer “ I want money to work for me” and the need to secure my ‘freedom’, I started implementing the teachings of Rich Dad. Poor Dad. I would essentially become a passive real estate investor, leveraging the power of my hard-earned income in New York and making it work even harder for me in other states.

The equation is pretty simple and my goal is to make sure everyone I meet understands this. We will talk more about this later.

And so with an audible sigh of relief, I was comforted by the fact that over 6 years prior to this epic burn out, I had already started to invest in my financial freedom. Invest in my ‘freedom of choice’. Yes, we can all “choose” to quit our jobs if we really need to, but do we? No. Because we have responsibilities, we have mortgages to pay, children to feed, clothes to buy and vacations to take. No. We don’t quit our jobs. And we don’t get to choose.

We don’t get to choose because we fear money and fear what the lack of it will mean for us.

I was so so grateful for my dad at that moment. With a portfolio of rental properties, (I’m in Texas y’all), leveraging others peoples money, building equity day-by-day and delivering a modest monthly cash flow, I realized that I had a choice. I may not have had all the answers but I had a choice to take a step back. To re-evaluate. To decide what was most important to me.

I had a choice because I didn’t fear money.

I had a choice because Money was working for me.

I had a choice because I earned before I burned.

Note: while I am in a very healthy relationship with my dearest clients whom I consider friends, let it be known the fire still burns, the stoker still throwing the briquettes into the steam engine but the ship is moving at a steady pace now.