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Unknown

Welcome to the Profit First for Real Estate Investors podcast. This series is the simple CFO Case Files, where our CFOs break down real client scenarios, financial systems and practical decisions from inside the business. Enjoy the episode.

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Unknown

Have you ever wanted to involve your kids more in your business, and maybe pass down some of the things that you've learned the hard way? Maybe in your 20s or 30s and you're wishing men. I wish my kids could learn this now when they're like 5 to 18 years old. Well, I got a story for you. Let's tell the story quick.

00;00;43;14 - 00;01;09;14

Unknown

I was at a mastermind event. It was one for real estate investors. And one of the guys there, we were talking about our personal situations and just mixing personal and business in our home life. And, like, how do we find that balance and all that stuff? And he started talking about how he and his wife had started this branch of school out in Oklahoma, and he called it an act in Academy act.

00;01;09;15 - 00;01;35;27

Unknown

On my ears perked up, was like, what's that? And because he said, it's nontraditional. And I'm like, okay, tell me about this. And as he started to explain the school to me, I was like, oh my gosh, I have to put my daughter in one of these. I have to research this more. So there was actually a book where the the original founder of the Acton's called or Sandford, she she has a book out there called Courage to Grow.

00;01;36;00 - 00;01;51;02

Unknown

I encourage you to read it, but I read that book. I took it back to my wife. She read that book. She's not even a huge reader. But she was like, oh my gosh, this is an incredible book. So we started looking for this type of school because what makes this school different and why is this even relevant to you?

00;01;51;04 - 00;02;16;17

Unknown

If you want your your young heroes, those kids that you are interested in, your care to be able to go through and grow through some of the things that you're going through now, but in a safer environment, then that's what this school is all about. It's a very entrepreneurial type school. When we first heard about this school, they also said things about like taking responsibility and holding each other accountable.

00;02;16;17 - 00;02;38;20

Unknown

And that's the to me. I really perked up then because we also run systems in our business through the EOS system and through the EOS processes, and holding people accountable and having meetings and taking responsibility. Like all these things are a part of who we are at simple CFO. So I get back, we read the book, we search for one.

00;02;38;20 - 00;03;11;09

Unknown

We ended up moving across the country like we had moved a couple of times in the last few years at that point, because we wanted to be closer to from my family, and we want to be closer to my wife's family. Then Covid happened, and then we were looking for another place to live that had one of these schools, because this school and its mission impacted us so much, because a lot of the things they were teaching, I had learned, but I had learned them either when I became an entrepreneur or in my 20s and 30s, as I was becoming either a parent or growing as an into my adulthood.

00;03;11;09 - 00;03;29;29

Unknown

But a lot of these lessons could have been learned back then. So then we moved down to Florida for this school, specifically this because this school, Acton Academy, has different branches and all the owners can run them by the acting guidelines, but then they can say, is this a Christian school or not? So one that we chose was a Christian school because we're also people of faith.

00;03;29;29 - 00;03;52;29

Unknown

And we enrolled her in that school. And here's what really makes it different and why you might like sending it or even even research in this type of school, when the workers are in the studio, they call them studios in our classrooms. Like I said, it's very nontraditional. They call them guides, not teachers, because they don't want someone just standing up lecturing for eight hours a day.

00;03;52;29 - 00;04;12;18

Unknown

They want the students. They just said students, but they want the heroes to sit, to be in that studio and to be able to be a part of the warning process. I don't know if you've ever tried to grow a team, and if you've ever tried to impose your will on the team, that usually doesn't go very well.

00;04;12;19 - 00;04;35;11

Unknown

Just like this is how it's going to be. Sometimes it is like that and you have to stand and make those decisions. But if you're all trying to row in the same direction, it's great to get everyone on board and rowing in that direction together and get buy in from your team. Right. And that's where we want the heroes at these schools that they act in academies to be bought into their education and to be bought into what they're really learning.

00;04;35;11 - 00;04;54;20

Unknown

It's what I think it's attributed to Einstein. I don't know if he really said this, but like if you teach the you know, if you teach a monkey how to fish or a fish how to climb a tree, he won't be as good as the monkey, right? Like we're trying to teach people that have different learning styles and they have different things that they're interested in, different things that they really like.

00;04;54;20 - 00;05;17;08

Unknown

And they're trying we're trying to fit them in that box. Right? In education, we're trying to teach them that all you know, just to be a good assembly line worker, what we want is for our heroes and for those kids to be able to grow up and honestly be an entrepreneur like you, but to be an entrepreneur that has 20 years ahead of you because they were taught some of these things in school, because in this school they also learn personal accountability.

00;05;17;10 - 00;05;36;23

Unknown

They at the beginning of each year they sign a contract and they go over what are the values that they're going to for that year hold each other to. So I don't know if you have a business that you've ever done, like a core value exercise and you hire and fire by those core values, literally the kids sit down and write a contract with each other.

00;05;36;25 - 00;05;53;24

Unknown

They say, these are the values that we're going to hold each other to this year, and then they're accountable to that the rest of the year. And if another line says, hey, you're out of, you know, you're out of line here, they can get three strikes and eventually get sent home, meaning, like they cannot come back to the school if they are not holding up the contract guidelines.

00;05;53;24 - 00;06;16;10

Unknown

Now, there's there's lots of of places to be able to before it goes there. There's three strikes and then adults do have to get involved before someone gets sent home. But the workers can vote on that if it keeps happening and repeat offenses and they're holding each other accountable. I thought that was mind blowing, because I didn't really learn true accountability to waiter in life and how to have those difficult conversations.

00;06;16;10 - 00;06;46;27

Unknown

But another key thing that I've learned from this is instead of just taking tests every week and trying to get A's what they have in order to progress A levels, they progress in the levels versus just, okay, you're in first grade this year. Did you pass? Well, then you go to second grade. Well, no. In this in the Acton framework, they actually have levels, meaning that they could do all the things that they need to do for that level and be, you know, get ahead, which they don't even like ahead in behind because people weren't at their own pace.

00;06;46;27 - 00;07;14;15

Unknown

But you can finish that level one. And in the levels they have badges. And those badges are not just math English reading, but there is that. There's also like especially when they're like very, very tiny. Some of them are around, hey, go play with ten friends that you've never played with before and they're teaching emotional intelligence skills. Then when they get older, when they're in the high school and junior high age, they do something that's called the next great adventure, and they actually help them apprentice with people.

00;07;14;15 - 00;07;38;26

Unknown

What have you in the business that you're in now could have been an apprentice to another wholesaler or another real estate investor, someone who helped you get to where you want to be. You probably had to hire a coach. You had to hire a mentor. You had to be in a program or something like that. What if you've got training like that because the school that you were a part of helped you to cultivate an apprenticeship for what you think you might want to do.

00;07;38;26 - 00;07;55;22

Unknown

But what's crazy about this is that they have to do several apprenticeships because they know you might love one and hate another. You might think you want to do this thing, but then you end up hating it. This is where it's giving them opportunities to really explore. How do they want to contribute to the world? How can they change the world?

00;07;55;22 - 00;08;16;27

Unknown

What's the value that they bring? But then they're warning all these things throughout. Okay, one last thing. Because I'm the profit first guy and I love teaching about the finances in the even my daughter right now, she's in what's called the elementary studio. They've already taught her some basic principles. First, obviously when she was a little tight, she had to learn what even money was.

00;08;16;28 - 00;08;30;24

Unknown

Now they're teaching basic financial principles. And then in junior high and high school, they teach him. This is how you read a profit and loss, a balance sheet, like things that I had to learn through the school of hard Knocks and a couple of the first businesses I was a part of, and had to ask the CPA a million questions.

00;08;30;24 - 00;08;48;26

Unknown

I'm just telling you that there are alternatives to what you're doing now, probably in the in wherever you're sending your kids to school, or if you are up and coming, you say, hey, we're just now having a baby. And that's definitely going to be something in our future. I would just encourage you, I get nothing from this. Acton does not pay me to say this.

00;08;48;27 - 00;09;09;12

Unknown

It's just we've seen this in our daughter. One time our daughter came home from school and she wanted to do something, you know, like kids all the time, right? I just, you know, they're always trying to get your attention. They're always trying to get their way. Well, she said, dad, I really want to do this thing, and I know you don't like it, but what if we did this, which is also something that you like?

00;09;09;13 - 00;09;26;01

Unknown

Is this a win win? And I heard that from her. I'm like, what? Like I didn't hear the words win win until I read the seven Habits of Highly Effective People in my 20s. And I'm like, she's learning this. And she was literally six years old at that point. And I'm like, she's learning stuff like that at six that I learned at 26.

00;09;26;01 - 00;09;48;02

Unknown

I'm just telling you, there's alternatives. There's things that you could do, but then there's principles to learn as business owners as well. You could look at somewhere like Acton, what are they teaching. But then you can also go get that mentorship, that guidance if you need that. Now, one of the best things about it is that now that our daughter's in it, there's things that I'm learning now, even through her schooling and her education, that I'm like, wow, this would be great.

00;09;48;02 - 00;10;04;25

Unknown

Apply to the business world. So this is just something, a resource that I wanted to give you. I want you to be able to, at least if you're in that stage of life that you are going through this process and maybe you're not loving the education, or maybe you're doing homeschooling and you're not loving that process, whatever it might be, I just want to encourage you.

00;10;04;25 - 00;10;23;18

Unknown

There's alternatives, but there's also some of the things that we want to learn. We want to learn to be good entrepreneurs, good stewards of our money, good stewards of the responsibilities and the people that we have underneath of us. But then also that we're working with us side by side, like whatever it might be. I want you to have that outlet to be able to say, okay, how do I learn these things?

00;10;23;18 - 00;10;42;05

Unknown

Or how do I equip the next generation to be able to learn these things way in advance of when I learned them? Thanks for listening to the simple CFO case Files on the Profit First for Real Estate Investors podcast. If you found this helpful, make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss our guest interviews featuring other real estate investors and our Profit First chats with David Richter.

00;10;42;11 - 00;10;49;16

Unknown

If you're ready to bring clarity and structure to the finances in your business, visit profitrei.com. To apply for a free financial clarity call with our team.