Speaker 2 (00:01.42)

Hey, welcome back to the Profit First REI podcast. Two of my favorite people are back in the studio. Joe and Jen Delle Fave. I am super excited to have you both here. You've been working with us for a long time. At the end of the last episode, you even reminded me before we got on, no, we want to talk about what you got. I'm like, I'm not going to stop you. So we're going to start there because yes.

Disclaimer, they do work with simple CFO. So this is totally self-promotion all the way. Just kidding. They're also gonna give you great insight because I think there's not two people alive that I would trust more on the creative financing of real estate and the coaching and they're actually doing it as well too. And I've been on their groups and they've got an interactive group. I go on some groups and it's like dead as a doornail. That is not their group. It's like that is I think they're just I think they're amazing people. So Joe, Jen, thanks for coming back on.

Well, thank you so much, David. We're excited to be here.

Thanks so much. The last one was great. So I know you always have a great time.

Yes, yes indeed. I'll never forget that shoe story. So I'm so if you don't know what I'm talking about go listen to that first episode. Joe really you know he's so open to everyone here. It was a great thing. think Jen you even said that's the first time I've heard that story or something. It really made an impact on me. So I go back listen to the first episode with them. It was probably episode 152. I don't know. It's somewhere back there. We've been doing this a long time. So let's start with what has been your experience with Profit first maybe

Speaker 2 (01:23.372)

You can go from it at any angle working with a CFO or like the profit first and how it's changed the mindset. Jen, I want to give you just a couple minutes to talk about your experience there.

Yeah, thanks, David. You know, I think it's such a crazy journey running your own business, no matter what field you're in, real estate, especially, you know, the ups and downs, the highs, the lows and the big checks that come in. And so when we were talking with one of our mentors, they, you know, kept pushing the word CFO like that through that turn around. And I was like, well, that's for like big companies, right? Like those are for like.

huge investment firms and the reality was no, like a CFO is for anyone who's looking to get their financials in order and really take that stress off of you as the entrepreneur because there's a lot of other things you can be doing and should be doing with your time. So after some conversations, it was no hesitation. I immediately, I think I Facebook messaged you David and I was like, I'm in, sign me up and you're like, well, do need to wait for Joe? And I said, no, like I'm in charge of the books. I'm the one who's trying to run the show and

I was an English teacher, so numbers weren't my thing. I get that, but I've taught myself what I know, but I only know what I know. And at that point, I realized, hey, like we've got a lot of irons in the fire. And the number one stressor for me was tax time. We're huge on just paying Uncle Sam. And so not having to worry about like, where is that money coming from when it's time to pay those bills? Because, you know, there's always a deal to be had. There's always money that you're going to be spending. And so now

I can confidently say there is a bank account open. There's many now, but specifically for taxes that I'm not even looking at. And then I know that when it comes time to pay the tax bills, like I'm not freaking out about it. And so that relief helps me sleep at night and success is a good night's sleep. So I've been told.

Speaker 2 (03:12.812)

Yeah, no, that's really good. I like how Keith Cunningham puts it. A lot of people chase happiness and end up with success. And it's like that's where a lot of people I feel like, especially in the real estate world. Do you mind me? Let's just pick a little bit there of what were some of the most surprising things working with the CFO, like either a benefit or like, wow, I didn't realize that, you know, doing this would get me unlock this portion of my brain or whatever it might be.

Well, I think for me, was, you know, obviously when I did have to pay those tax bills this last time around, I didn't have all the bank accounts set up. So I sat with Tony, he's the gentleman we meet with and our CFO, and he was able to say, well, based on all of these reports, we can pull from this account, this account, and this account, and everything will still get paid on time and you're totally fine. Because I had enough money in the bank accounts. It was just where do I pull it from? And so that was...

I was eye-opening that I had somebody in my corner that had time to just like in two seconds it felt like, right? Like he does this all day all day. And so to him, it was no big deal. And I was like, wow, like that was, I was so grateful for that. And then even earlier today, I was working on our expense analysis, right? So like just really eye-opening, like where is the money going? And do we really need all these little subscriptions that in the moment, of the moment you're, you know, signing up for, and then all of a sudden like, do I really need that $39, which adds up.

Which is my fault because I'm like, oh, we need to get this new shiny software that's going to make real estate better. And then you do it, you use it for a month and then four months later you don't use it anymore. so to have that is key because obviously those little $39 a month adds up, especially you get a few of them. You're just wasting money.

Yeah, for sure. Do you feel like both of you that you've grown as business owners too? Does it feel more empowering now to know where your money's going and like that type of thing? Would you say the yes to that?

Speaker 3 (05:07.83)

100%.

Well, I think we go from having this as a side business as like a hobby, right? And the transition from going to that to being a professional, then I think going to professional grade, right? There's things that you just look at differently. You're going to act differently. And this was part of the big transition for us because we were buying the rentals, right? That wasn't the case. But now how do we do it professionally, right? And I think that was the big key is having.

And not feeling bad paying yourself, right? Like for some reason, there was a mental block there for me because that was always the money for the business. Like Joe worked full time. That was our money. And this always went back into the business. But four years ago, this is our full time. And so to actually profit first, like it sounds simple, but man, if you're in the trenches, it can be a little daunting. Yeah.

Yeah, so that was a mental barrier was actually not feeling bad about paying yourself and then through profit first actually having that account and pay yourself Do have you done anything fun then like with a profit account up to this point? Like have you gone on a trip? I don't know just I don't care if it's coffee like that You just paid from your car here profit account. I don't know. Have you done something cool?

We actually just did. Now that you're saying it, we just decided to splurge a little bit. The ticket prices did come down, but we just took our two kids to Taylor Swift. Oh, mercy. money that we've been accumulating in that account has now been generously donated. But it was a lifetime experience, once in a lifetime experience. And to not have that guilt of, could we, should we? But no, we totally can and we should because this is why we work so hard.

Speaker 2 (06:25.74)

Wow,

Speaker 2 (06:42.798)

Yeah, exactly. See, I love that. It's the guilt free spedding. It's because you know, though, that you weren't touching the other money to run the business. This was your money, you know, to be able to do the fun stuff. And that's very cool. Did you did you fly out to a location? Did she was she here in Florida when you saw her?

She was in Miami and so we live in Tampa. So we woke up last Friday and my daughter is the biggest Swifty. Jen is a huge Swifty too. There you go. This was like my daughter's like one dream. And it was to the point where even our son was like, listen, if you and if mom and Brooke just go, he's like, I understand. It would just make me feel so good. My son's nine, which like, it's so great to him to say that. And I'm thinking like, this is going to create a.

memory for us as a family and our kids. it's like, so let's all four of us go. And so the morning of the concert, we woke up, their tickets were a little bit less expensive. So we just ordered four, surprised the heck out of our kids, because my daughter did not know she was going. And the look on her face was absolutely priceless.

long. All night long. just was like mouth open and I just couldn't believe it. even to this, I, was a heck of a performance too, though. Like she inspired me three and a half hours nonstop that woman sang. Like it was insanity.

as a business owner, she is very inspiring, you know, like, where she can, because she's not she just doesn't you can't replace her on that stage. You know, like that, you know, a lot of us say we want to replace ourselves. But it's like, look at some of the highest earners out there that have big businesses, they do have processes systems, but they're still, they're still part of it as well, too. So there's lots of lots of lots of things to learn from that. But there's no shame here. So if

Speaker 2 (08:30.698)

If Jen's the biggest Swifty alive, then that's that's totally fine. My wife. yeah, we've got the songs playing all the time. I'm like, I know them all basically because they're just so they are catching. They're like, it's hard not to like, start, you know, bebopping around. You don't definitely don't want to see me bebopping around. But here, that's, that's awesome. And that is a core memory. That's something where you have to be you got to be able to do and just like say, Hey, let's do this and wake up and go and do that. That's fun.

I'm sorry.

Speaker 2 (08:58.422)

I love hearing stuff like that because when people don't spend the money, it's like, you got to have fun with the business too. You can't just go out there and just work, work, work. Like, why are you doing this? I bet a big reason, a big why for you guys was seeing that smile and seeing her light up like Christmas morning as a, you know, like when we were four and five years old type thing. So, you know, that's, that's good stuff. Yeah. Anything there? was sorry. didn't mean to cut you off.

It was awesome.

Even our son was dancing around knew every word. So he did get tired though. Three and a half hours is a bit long for a nine year old.

Yes, but it sounds like he had a lot of fun too. Joe, were you dancing around?

Well, mean, you've everyone. You're 61,000 people. It's hard not to get down. And everybody's screaming so loud, you can't even hear yourself. Yeah. So you've got to just enjoy it. So, of course, I had a good time.

Speaker 2 (09:52.352)

Awesome, good. Well, sounds like you had a blast. I love that you took it from, like you said, you were able to do this through the system as well too, because that's why I even started this day and thing. So for me, it's like, thank God, people are actually embracing it and then doing fun stuff with it. Not just, let's put it all back into the business. It's like code for like, we're just spending too much money. So I really like what you guys are doing there. No, that's awesome. I want to make sure I give you plenty.

of time to talk about the creative financing side and going into that and like the state of the market. So let's talk about that. First of all, if people didn't listen to your last episode, do you want to give groundwork on what you teach and what you're doing in real estate? And then maybe some of the top tips are like, what is the market doing right now? We can just ease into that. But just want to make sure people can understand where you're coming from.

Yeah. Well, our favorite way to buy real estate is to learn how to buy rentals without banks, without using your credit. And that's been just a strategy that we've been using now for the last eight, nine years. And it's really opened up a lot more opportunities for us is, you know, the market could go up or down rates at the lenders and the banks. They definitely go up and down. And with rates going a little on the higher side right now, not super high, but, higher than the way they were in the last few years. Yeah. That's really putting.

a stop to a lot of people's business. A lot of these deals don't cash flow, which is understandable. Coming up with 20 % or 25 % down, that's a challenge for lot of folks. When we had some rentals the traditional way, but then found out how to buy rentals without banks, that's what really changed our lives. When we started implementing these strategies, our portfolio started growing a lot quicker than normal. Hence, why we need is help with you, with Simple CFO and ...

profit first because these things help put all of it together to really help us know what we're looking at spending. So when I'm like, I found this deal and Jen's like, where are you pulling the money from? Like these are conversations we have now. and I will tell you the reason why we love this is because even if banks, the rates are high, the way that we buy rates are always low and the payments are always going to cashflow. we're going to take a deal and they have to, and that's the reason why we're into this. So I think that's been our favorite thing.

Speaker 1 (12:08.552)

As the state of the market, well, you we're in South Florida and it's dropping right now. It's, definitely slowing off. Nobody says there's a crash. mean, some people might, but nobody knows for sure. You don't know until after it's already happened anyways. but for us it's business as usual, accumulating cash flowing assets for a really long time that are nice properties and nice neighborhoods. And if I'm able to buy a lot of these with some of them as little as a hundred dollars down and paying a few thousand in closing costs. And I have a turnkey house.

the state of market is always great and always great in this business, for sure.

That's awesome. love that. Go ahead.

And I think that's really the key to just having a strategy that isn't depending on the rates of banks and things like that. And this is when it's been our favorite for quite a long time now.

No, I love that from the perspective of you want to build a business that is as recession proof as possible, whether it can work in the up markets, the down markets. It sounds like you've really found a niche like that where you've seen like we can do this, whether the interest rates are high or they're not, or like you're able to provide the solutions that work on both ends for you guys as business owners, but then also for the sellers and the people in between and all that as well too, which I love it because then everyone wins. No one wins if a business owner goes out of business.

Speaker 2 (13:27.372)

You know, like no one wins there. So this is really good. I did want to focus on one thing you said, Joe, that you said Jen asks you, like, where are we pulling the money from? Is that post profit first or was she always asking you that?

I was always asking now, but before, but now it's become a lot cleaner, right? Before, when we were making these deals and I'm like, well, the seller wants, you know, five grand plus closing costs and we're going to need 10,000 to close. That was the scramble of like, where are we pulling the money from? We had money in the accounts, but is this taking from the wrong spot? And now it's crystal clear of where we're pulling money from without having to guess, right? This is the deal, right? And this is how much we're going to need. And this is where.

taking it and it's just, it makes it just the clarity so much more simple. And that's what you really need as a business owner is not to focus on these things, is to focus on what you're great at. Yeah. Right. And that's for us, it's deal making and rentals and buying these properties. So the fact that now we've got clarity in the backend part of it, which is the most important part, it just makes the rest of the process so much easier.

Yeah, because before we'd have one bank account and we'd sell a rent to own home. Our tenant buyers just cashed out after six, seven years of renting. And then that money would just go back into the one account. But then when that comes in, now you're able to spread it out, pay yourself, put money back into the business and then allocate those expenses, you know, that money to other things, too. So it was just it's so nice. And now know that when the money comes in, it has places to go. And I like things orderly. And so it's really helpful that it's now like.

each bucket, right? And the hardest part was just opening all the darn bacon cows. feel like it was this like, my gosh, how am going to keep it all straight? What is this pass through? Walk back, blah, blah, blah, blah, know? And the CFO walks you through it, literal baby steps with me. And Tony has the patience of no other. I've never, other than my husband maybe. Because I'd be like, I don't understand. Can you say that again? Or he'll ask me, does that make sense? And I'll be like, nope. Go ahead, Tony. Break it down really simple. And he does.

Speaker 3 (15:29.184)

never making me feel stupid, even though I get really frustrated because it's something I've never spent time learning. So now I have that ease and understanding and then we don't have difficult conversations. It's just kind of black and white now. Like the money's there or no, we have to do something else to get more in there.

Yeah, no, that's great. And I love hearing that as well too, because that's one of the reasons I started Simple CFO because so many people in my life in my past, especially like in my 20s when I knew nothing, I totally look like I should know lots about the financial world. I come from that background, but like I didn't and then CPAs were talking over to me, know, over my head or down to me and making me feel dumb. So that makes my heart really warm inside when you say Tony is just very patient walks you through. Tony is a great human being but

That's how I want all of our CFOs to be just to be able to like get you to really say no, I don't understand this. I don't know if you're an office fan, but I always think of like Michael Scott where he's like, talk to me like I'm 10. And then the accountant says something he's like, actually talk to me like I'm five. He just keeps going down and down. And I've like I've had that conversation even with our own CFO for my company. I'm like, no, talk to me like I'm five. Like I need to know what's going on here. So that that's great. I did want to focus on one other thing there.

because you said, you know, post profit first, it's more clear it's black and white. But do you think that it's helped because you two are married, working together with the communication back and forth on the financial side was like, were the conversations rougher when you had one account? And like what we're doing with this and like, I don't care, like, we're just gonna get it done. I don't know. just wanted to see because you two are pretty chill and seem like you have great relationship. But I'm just wondering if there was any

any back and forth before when it wasn't black and white.

Speaker 1 (17:15.746)

Well, you're partially right. We do have a great relationship, but being pretty chill, there was times where those conversations were not so chill. We're looking at a deal because once again, you're putting all this money in the account, but then tax season comes and a big chunk goes. You're like, my gosh, I thought I didn't need all that. Or I thought I had more than that. They say there's really only a handful of things that takes down a business and that's usually a bad relationship, a bad partner, or not paying your taxes. Those are like the...

you know, the kiss of death. So the fact that we have a great partner, great relationship, right. And then also now, and we've always been really big and like pay your taxes. I can't believe how many businesses just don't pay their taxes. it's bad and it's scary. And that's just the one person you never want to mess with is the federal government, own that money or your state. So pay your taxes. And that's a big thing. So when we don't have to worry about that, cause one of my friends on Facebook just this morning was like, my gosh.

I just had to pay this huge tax bill and he's like, and I'm like, hey, bro, you should be like profiting first. Like it still stinks. You got to pay all that money, but at least you know that that's what it's there for. And when it comes time to writing that check, it's just less painful. Right. So I think that's the case. But yeah, so those conversations at the beginning.

also takes out like the guesswork or like me trying to explain why I need to hold a big lump sum, right? Because like in my head, I'd rather hold it and keep it because I'm going to need it anyway. And he's like, well, we'll make it again, right, which we will. But let's just not hope for that. Right. Like, so now it's in its own bank account. doesn't exist in his head or my head. Right. It's there, but we're not worried about it because it's just going to continually accumulate. But yeah, I don't know. It just makes it a lot.

cleaner and then also we've had our EA, executive assistant. She's kind of stepped into this role of almost like a comptroller. She's very, very helpful. She actually really enjoys running Profit First and she's been helping us just keep everything in order and keep that needle moving forward so that again, we as business owners can do what we do best and continue to do what we do.

Speaker 2 (19:20.334)

Exactly. Well, that's why, especially if you come on here and we're talking and you've implemented profit first and if you've hired a fractional CFO like that is an investment as a CEO. Like you are more business owner like you said, Joe, a few minutes ago, professional. Like you feel professional like you're doing that. That's why I like endorsing people like this where it's like you're not just building this big thing to go out there and just sell to lot of people. It's like, no, I want to teach you how to be a good business owner. And like here's a great section of the market. But we're also going to show you like, hey,

like make sure you're keeping the money too and like pick up this book, do that type of thing. So I love that because I feel like this is where a lot of people get into the real estate world and there's lots of people they can learn from, but not everyone has it together behind the scenes. You know, like when you get into this, as you well know in this space. So I appreciate you guys also for leaning. I guess I just want to say thank you for leaning in, for leaning in, for opening up all those day in accounts, you know, for doing the hard work upfront.

and then running with it because you stay consistent with it and it's paid off. I mean, it literally just paid off last Friday, it sounds like. And I want to see that over and over again. So thank you for doing that. And I appreciate you guys coming on and talking about it. And I do, I want to give you a little bit more time here. there anything else or like anything where you're like here, I want to give this to your audience. I want to make sure that they understand like creative finance, what's a good first hot tip or like something that you teach specifically. I want to make sure that they understand your expertise.

in this and like how you teach people or like anything that you want to impart about that.

So I think with real estate investing, it's just a numbers game. You got to look at a lot of deals. You got to talk to lot of sellers. Therefore, how do I find these people? And this was probably my biggest challenge. I've noticed this is a lot of folks' biggest challenges. How do I get leads? yeah. Right? And you could cold call. You could door knock. You could drive for dollars. You could ride your bike, whatever it looks like.

Speaker 1 (21:17.646)

But we found a method that is absolutely free it costs zero dollars to do and I could target anywhere in the country and get actually Incoming leads for free without spending any money and we learned how to do this on Facebook by using Facebook groups more importantly We've had some special posts that we've done over the years and then we've just found one that just catches Absolute fire you get abundance of leads. So to have a hundred incoming leads a month for free is now

Not that hard to do. You spend probably 15 minutes a day making some posts, make some strategic posts and the way to do it. And it works really well. One of our clients, the record on one post was 1,100 comments. What? It's very, that's the record, right?

That's That's a record. But that's still a lot.

Yeah, we know. There's been some that have hit 400 and 500, but most times you can get a handful. Sometimes it could go a little bit more viral and you get 30, 40, 50. That's great too. But you're not paying for it because I know when we first got into real estate investing, I didn't have some big marketing budget set aside because we weren't profit first thing, know, eight, nine, 10 years ago. Yeah. So once we did this, you know, because I just yanked money out of my checking account, but now when we learned how to do this, my gosh. So if you go to our website, we give away the secrets for free.

just by joining these Facebook groups and we share the post. And if you subscribe to the news channel, even the same script that we use or our clients use, we give it for your audience, no charge. But if you're going to use it, go use it, get some leads coming to you and then start having these conversations. Cause with our script, we've actually made it so over so many years of doing it that the seller actually gives us some answers. We ask great questions. They give us answers. And by these questions, they actually make us the offer. So it takes a lot of the pressure off us, especially when we're new.

Speaker 1 (23:04.91)

And we've had people all over the country doing this, so there's not a spot that it doesn't work. So if you go to our website, creativefinanceplaybook.com, creativefinanceplaybook.com, and if you go to the top, there is the section where you can download our, it's called the blue post, the blue ad, okay? But it doesn't cost any money, but I'll tell you what, this thing works. We've got to make a deal with your audience that if you're going to use it, don't change it.

Use it exactly like that is. And then when it works and you get some leads and you get a deal, let's connect. If you need some help with a deal, my cell phone number, I always give it away because if we connect, we could do deals with lots of people. It's 585-207-2240. That's my actual cell phone number. So if you call me or text me, don't be surprised when I answer.

Go out there and text you right now. No, that's enough. But that's OK. So that's how they get the download. What if they want to work with you? Is that where they can also find if they want to work with you and become students and really dig into and getting the knowledge straight from you guys as well too?

Yeah, if you want to talk more about that, I'd love to. mean, we have a rocking community. It's really exciting. It's probably the best because we do step by step of exactly what you need to do from to get started, generating leads, ask the right questions, down to the paperwork, down to even how to meet with David and his team and get profit first set up so then your books look great. So we walk you through step by step exactly what you do. And there's plenty of great resources out there, but sometimes if you need that help, that's what we're here to do.

And I feel like that's one of the biggest things out there is there's so many people out there, but like, who can you really trust? And I trust both of these people. Like, and like I said, I love their group. I love going in there. They've got a great group that is responsive and people that take action. So, I mean, if you're going to go out there, you're going to download the thing and you're going to look at it you're going to post, you're probably a good match to go and at least have a conversation with them and be like, Hey, I want to start this thing and I want to really take charge. It always helps if you have accountability, a coach.

Speaker 2 (25:06.71)

a mentor, someone that's in your life that's helping you get to where you want to be. Joe and Jen are where you want to be. They're just several steps ahead so they can help you get you know, get past all those roadblocks up front. And they have well, I've at least spoke one a few times in there and they probably have the old recording so you can get even the first steps of profit first if you've never even listened to the rest of my podcast. So there you go, go to their stuff and you'll get my stuff from there as well to the first the first steps but they really love their community I

endorse them. So that was creativefinanceplaybook.com where they can get that and then say your phone number one more time because I want to make sure they want to text you directly.

585 207 2240

There you go. So then you can be texted, Joe, get the ad information, or you could go there and get the download for free. Is there anything else, any last parting words that you'd like to say to the odds before we wrap up for the day?

Yeah, just, you know, I always say take the messy, massive action. Don't let someone else's journey say, it's just for them because that's how I was in the beginning, like even with the CFO. But, you know, the journey is yours to make and it's all about the vision, your why, what kind of lifestyle do you want? And yes, times can be kind of crazy and uncertain, but, you know, we bet on ourselves and we put in the work and we showed up daily. And fast forward to today.

Speaker 3 (26:27.128)

We'll be able to live and homeschool our kids. We live in Florida. Dreams can happen. It sounds cheesy, but you just have to write it out, figure out where you want to go, and then find the right people to surround yourself with and go get it.

That's awesome. That was those were great parting words. Go out there. Take action. mean, even Joe literally gave you a step that you could take to get like leads for free. Like that usually doesn't happen on a podcast. So it's like you could go there, download it and literally start getting leads in if you take that action. So go out there, take the action. If you do also need help with the financial side, like they were saying through this episode, you can go to simplecfo.com.

as well to book a call with our team and at least see if we're a good fit, start implementing Profit First for you and send you to Taylor Swift Contra as well. we'll get you, that'll be our goal for every client, just kidding. So whatever you want, that's what we wanna get you to. Joe and Jen, this has been awesome. Thank you for the wisdom that you've dropped here and for being great guests today and for coming back on.

Thank you, David. Thank you so much. Great to see you again.