00;00;09;21 - 00;00;32;06

Unknown

Welcome to the Profit First for Real Estate Investing podcast. Every week we bring you top investors and experts sharing how they create clarity, cash flow and consistent profit. This episode is brought to you by simple CFO. Profit first. Profit always. Let's go! We have a great episode for you today from Joey Hart, who's a real estate investor. He's been in the business about a year and a half.

00;00;32;07 - 00;00;57;10

Unknown

He's already had ups and downs, but one of the best things about his business is that he started profit first from deal number one. And I want you to get someone's perspective. That's been in the corporate world that came to be an entrepreneur, that now has a perspective that helps you understand why managing the money is so important, even from the first deal, and why having a purpose is what will get you through the tough times.

00;00;57;10 - 00;01;17;20

Unknown

So please listen to this episode. Go back and listen to it. This is a great one. If you especially are either thinking about getting into real estate or you've lost the love of real estate, I believe this episode will help you a ton, and will help you understand why managing your money is so important. Enjoy Joey's episode. Welcome back to the first repo!

00;01;17;22 - 00;01;39;18

Unknown

Joey Hart is in the studio with me. I'm super excited about this one. I'm no Joey now for it's got to be at least a year, year and a half. And Joey, thank you so much for being on the podcast today. Oh man. It's an absolute pleasure. Thank you so much for inviting me. Well, I well, I appreciate you for actually reaching back out because I love when investors, especially with the answer you gave, you said, I want to help people.

00;01;39;18 - 00;01;58;24

Unknown

I want to like if you're going through the crazy real estate world, like then you've got some wisdom that you can share with them, which I think it was really unique, the way that we got introduced and how you even joined with simple CFO, because if you're listening to this, Joey is actually a client of simple CFO and of our company and has implemented a profit.

00;01;58;24 - 00;02;21;16

Unknown

First is working with the CFO. We're going to talk about some of that. But first I want to talk about you left corporate America to run a investors franchise franchise. And Joey, I wanted to ask, what was the moment you knew you need to make the jump from corporate America into, really, the entrepreneur world? Sure. I'll try to make this as short as I can.

00;02;21;18 - 00;02;43;18

Unknown

I, I mean, my my career history. I started out as an engineer. Okay. Now I'm flipping houses. Like, how in the world did that happen? You know, I believe God has a very specific purpose for our lives, and he just has guided me and I've gone all over the place. I had engineering, I had a stint in product management for about eight years.

00;02;43;18 - 00;03;08;19

Unknown

I spent about eight years in sales, and then that's when I left. So the short answer to your question is that my sales career, which I said I would never do. And so that's one lesson. Never say never. Yeah. Which I'm sure you know, but my sales career was lucrative. And it was to the point where, okay, I can't just sit on this.

00;03;08;19 - 00;03;30;06

Unknown

I've got to do something. I got to be wise steward of what I have. So what does that look like? To me, that I found real estate investing to do that. All the while, things where I were wasn't exactly where I wanted them to be. And I think it was just God's way of saying, look, you got to start thinking different.

00;03;30;06 - 00;04;01;28

Unknown

And so I started thinking different and thinking, what if I were a franchise? I had some friends say, why don't you think about franchising? I was like, I've never thought about that before. So I decided to do franchising, looked at some other brands and found home. And it was like, where have you been all my life? Because I had started down the real estate path and I'm saying, wait a second, I can accelerate my rental portfolio, which was my ultimate goal and kind of put money on the table in the meantime.

00;04;01;28 - 00;04;20;01

Unknown

So I decided to buy a franchise. And then why I left Corporate America was I realized there's no way I could do both. Some guys, you know, have their W2 job. They build this over here until it's successful enough. There's no way I could do both. So I said, I'm going to go all in on real estate. And that's what I did.

00;04;20;08 - 00;04;46;23

Unknown

Awesome. So how long has that been now that you've been in the entrepreneur world? So I bought the franchise late 2024 and started full time March of 25. Okay, so a little over a year and a half now. Awesome. So yeah, in that transition, have you seen anything where you're like, I guess let's just blow it out there.

00;04;46;25 - 00;05;09;29

Unknown

Do you ever regret leaving corporate America, or have you liked your journey so far in the year and a half? I know it's early in your career, in your journey, but I'm very curious there if you've had those feelings yet. Oh man. I mean, yeah, there's days it's like, what am I doing? But again, I have that guide.

00;05;09;29 - 00;05;33;27

Unknown

I know that this direction I'm supposed to be going, so I have that to fall back on. So I don't regret that. You know, I don't regret it. Like the freedom that I have to. To do what I need to do when I need to do it. The ability for me to help impact others, you know, so many different things that I could never do in a corporate environment.

00;05;33;28 - 00;05;57;08

Unknown

And it sounds like your purpose, that Y is really driving you and helping you to make those decisions along this journey. Sounds like you want to help people. I even got that from not when we've talked before, but then also even what you put through when we were talking about coming on the podcast, like if you're listening to this, he wanted to help you on this podcast because he wanted he like, there's things that have happened.

00;05;57;08 - 00;06;19;18

Unknown

And now with this question, now we get to go into some of the fun stuff that's happened over the last year, year and a half. If you've had a deal that looked great on paper but taught you an expensive lesson. Do you have an example of that to give us? Oh yes, I do. This was my this. No no no, it's it's a learning.

00;06;19;19 - 00;06;41;20

Unknown

It's you know, and that's what I've had to I've had to learn is to is perspective. You know, when I started this business I used retirement money in it's called a Rob's rollover for business startup. If anyone has ever heard that term the government IRS allows you to take money, put it into a retirement account, create a C corporation that buys shares in that in that retirement account.

00;06;41;20 - 00;07;01;03

Unknown

Then you get access to your retirement money and, you know, basically an interest free loan to myself. So so that's what I decided to do. And, you know, I'm looking at things like, well, a plus or minus, you know, it's all I could have my money in the stock market. I might as well have it in myself.

00;07;01;04 - 00;07;23;22

Unknown

Same. So I had a major down. It was my first. It was actually my first deal, not my first contract, but my first purchase. And I held on to that for 13 months before I sold it. I thought everything was set up great. I bought this at a real estate meet up. It was set up. I knew the guy that was selling it.

00;07;23;23 - 00;07;41;06

Unknown

He said everything up. He said, hey, I've got a contractor here. His wife is the real estate agent. Here they are. You can talk to them. Here's a good deal for you. You know, it's a little bit far away, but I've got everything set up for you. And I was like, great. So me inexperienced, I didn't do enough due diligence.

00;07;41;06 - 00;08;07;03

Unknown

And so everything that could have gone wrong went wrong. Oh, wow. The contractor was not at the level he needed to be. I didn't realize that until it was too late. I didn't make site visit frequently enough. So budget overrun, you know, market shifts. And now the value is way off from where I thought it was. I mean, everything that could have gone wrong went wrong.

00;08;07;03 - 00;08;29;21

Unknown

So but again, on that flip side, what would I have learned? How would I have learned that otherwise? You know, so while I lost a small fortune on that deal, you know, I learned quite a bit. I learned quite a bit. Quick pause from the episode. I have exciting news that's expanding the world of profit. First real estate investors.

00;08;29;21 - 00;08;50;15

Unknown

You may know that years ago, I wrote the book Profit First Real Estate Investing, endorsed by Mike Michalik, that has been read now by thousands of real estate investors. And now we're launching three workbooks, one for wholesalers, one for fixing flippers and one for rentals. These aren't just deal calculators. They're full implementation guides. They're dialed in for each type of business.

00;08;50;15 - 00;09;20;19

Unknown

Wholesalers you're getting assignment fee math, marketing, budgeting, planning, and how to beat the feast or famine cycle. If you're a flipper, you get ARV accuracy, rehab, budgeting and profit forecasting, and running multiple projects at once without going broke rentals. You get your freedom number, cash flow per door, and a five year portfolio plan, plus the full profit first bank account set up an allocation system tuned to your business with formula specific for your business type everything you need to go from operator to CEO.

00;09;20;19 - 00;09;49;18

Unknown

And right now they're free. You just need to cover shipping. You go to workbook com that's p f r e I workbook. Just like profit first for real estate investing free workbook. Grab whichever matches your business or you can grab all three workbook. Com go get them make more profit. All right back to the episode. And there's your real estate college education right there.

00;09;49;20 - 00;10;10;26

Unknown

Oh yeah. This is not school is not 101. This was like a 301 or a 401 course. Well it sounds like it with all the different things. So you got to see different aspects and it made sounds like it made you super smart after this first one to be like, okay, here's my checklist of what I know I'm never going to do again and what I have to always do going forward on these properties.

00;10;10;26 - 00;10;29;21

Unknown

So which leads me to the next one, which I guess is more on the up front. When you're evaluating a house to buy, what does your underwriting process look like now, and are there certain numbers that have to work for you? Percentages. Is it profit amount? Is it I don't know cash flow. If it's buy and hold like what is that for you on the up front.

00;10;29;23 - 00;10;52;29

Unknown

Yeah. So I'm primarily looking at fixed and flip. So I'll talk on that context first. And actually now that I said that out loud I try to look at a property with multiple exit strategies. Awesome. That's the key. So you can't what would it look like if I just wholesale this property, generate some quick cash, assigned a contract to another franchisee or another investor?

00;10;52;29 - 00;11;12;03

Unknown

What would that look like? Can I afford to do that? Could I just hold tail? You know, not quite full retail, not quite wholesale, but somewhere in the middle. Just just some paint. Put it back on the market. Do it quick. Or what does it look like if I have a full, full retail flip? So that's how I look at that.

00;11;12;03 - 00;11;32;07

Unknown

I look at what's the value of each of those exit strategies. What's the after repair value of each of those each of those strategies. And then I look at what are the repairs. You know, what's going to cost me to put into that. And then how how long am I going to have to hold it. What's the interest?

00;11;32;08 - 00;11;49;02

Unknown

Insurance. You know, all those things are going to cost me. Then I look at so I'm building a profit and loss statement basically. And then I'm looking at the bottom line of how much am I going to walk away with some in the real estate community, you know, like bigger pockets. Those type of things will say 70% minus repairs.

00;11;49;02 - 00;12;09;25

Unknown

That's your offer number, you know. So then I make an offer based on that my CFO is is challenged me to say, look, let's look at a profit margin, a gross margin I call gross margin meaning acquisition cost, sales minus acquisition cost plus rehab and all of that. Not my operating expenses, not marketing, you know, none of that.

00;12;09;28 - 00;12;29;15

Unknown

That's what I would call gross margin. So he says, let's look at some gross margin targets of 15% in this case. Or maybe let's make it 20, or in this one, maybe you could do ten, you know, helping me fine tune. What should I aim for? What could I accept as a floor? And so then that's when I'm looking at properties, looking multiple exit strategies.

00;12;29;16 - 00;12;50;06

Unknown

What can I make profit from this deal and what's the risk? Is this a quick turn or is this a longer term but gets more more profit? That's what I look at. Awesome I love that. So sounds like because of that first deal when you bought it and it's like, okay, everything went wrong. I really like what you said.

00;12;50;06 - 00;13;08;03

Unknown

It gave you perspective of like, okay, what what do I really need to learn from this and how can I apply this in the future? But then adding to that, now you're looking at every deal. What's the exit strategy as there multiple exit strategies if it doesn't go right. So that way I'm not stuck with the deal. You know that's costing me a small fortune here.

00;13;08;03 - 00;13;28;03

Unknown

Or is there some way I could make that back? Which I think is another great thing about real estate too, is that, you know, it can be forgiving in the ways where it's like, oh, shoot, it didn't work for this. Maybe I could do something else with it over here. So I like that. I like that encouragement. Yeah, I had it speaking just two seconds to give positive for folks out there.

00;13;28;03 - 00;13;53;08

Unknown

I had a deal where literally all I had to do was clean the property out professionally, stage it. They had a pool. I opened up the pool and I walked away with about 100 grand. So wow, on the deal like that, that can go super horrible where I lost probably over 50. I'll be I'll just talk numbers. Yeah, there's another deal right around the corner that boom, you can make all that up.

00;13;53;08 - 00;14;13;00

Unknown

So that's the nature of this beast, right? It can change on a dime. It really can. And what I well that's why I like and I'm going to go back to that again keeping things in perspective. So if you're listening to this and you're like why can they never take a 50 k hit? If Joey would have given up, then he wouldn't have had the 100 K.

00;14;13;06 - 00;14;31;15

Unknown

Good thing that happened to him as well too. So it's like you just have to keep going. And that's just hopefully this is what is if you're in the thick of it right now, there can be better days. So you just have to learn. You have to learn from those mistakes and then you have to keep going. But you also did say working with your CFO to the margin and looking at it from that.

00;14;31;15 - 00;14;50;00

Unknown

So I have to ask from this perspective, how is it working with the CFO and how does working with the CFO help you on the money decisions? And obviously he's already helping you, like on the up front and buying in the margin. But what else? Right. Yeah, I mean, my my CFO and this is what I wanted. He helps keep me accountable.

00;14;50;01 - 00;15;09;03

Unknown

He challenges me because he has a real estate background and he knows what I'm doing. And so he's challenging me, you know, have you thought about this? Have you thought about that? So it's you know, I get coaching is a part of home Vestas. But this is like a coach that knows my numbers, knows my my financials, my business.

00;15;09;04 - 00;15;42;22

Unknown

It's very powerful, very helpful. So giving me goals, introducing me to other concepts. You know, have you thought about private money for this or Infinite Banking or some of these other concepts that I'm still learning about, but that I wouldn't, I wouldn't think about otherwise? You know, challenging me to run profit first and do it. This is why you did, you know, like pay yourself like, okay, so I just took a distribution, like not a distribution because that's against the Rob's rules and taxes and all that.

00;15;42;22 - 00;16;07;16

Unknown

But take a paycheck. Yeah. With your profit. Do, do a, you know, semiannual profit sweep whatever you want to call it. Take your money. My money. So. Right. But he's challenging me because I have a very risk averse mindset. I'm an engineer at heart. So so I had that. I had that profit account sitting there and I'm like, well, you know, things really go bad this next month.

00;16;07;16 - 00;16;31;25

Unknown

Well, I could always he's like, why are you doing that? Right. He might as well just have a, you know, boost your reserve account or do the. So he's helping me learn how to manage my cash. And it's just it's very helpful. And also on top of that, challenging me in my business in terms of thinking about things, thinking outside the box and what I know, and educating me on other ways to invest in real estate.

00;16;31;29 - 00;17;01;08

Unknown

Awesome. It's funny that you say, I know you've brought up that in your past life you were an engineer. How many people we've worked with in the engineering world that have come to us, that jump into the real estate investing world? Honestly, there's some of the best people we work with because they want their like hungry for the numbers and they're hungry for that accountability because there is that aspect where they are risk averse versus the just hot to trot salesperson that comes in and says, help me, I am a freaking mess.

00;17;01;08 - 00;17;17;28

Unknown

I have no idea where my money is going and I need this. And then it's like, yeah, they're they're on fire for it. But then they go to something else. So I just want to say to thank you for what you've poured into your CFO and how you respond as well to, because I think that's a great back and forth.

00;17;17;28 - 00;17;37;06

Unknown

But obviously people need it for different reasons. It sounds like one of the big ones for you as accountability, someone that's in that space that's challenging you, but also holding you to standards and helping you to see different ways, perspective things, things like that, helping you with the margin up front, helping you with profit first. So let's talk about profit for it's a profit for sorry.

00;17;37;06 - 00;17;59;04

Unknown

I guess we probably talk about that a little bit here and ask you some questions about that myself here. But before you became an entrepreneur and coming into this field and especially as a home franchisee, what did your finances look like before Profit First and did anything change after you've implemented it? Well, honestly, I've never done anything except profit.

00;17;59;04 - 00;18;21;08

Unknown

First thing to hear. Yeah, I was blessed with the Home Vestas training that we do. We do a week of training up front, and you were a guest in during that training, and I'm very thankful for that because it really was like, whoa, that's what I need to do. Like, I knew it from day one. I knew I should not even think about it.

00;18;21;09 - 00;18;41;26

Unknown

So what did take me a little bit was was pulling the trigger on the investment. Oh, sure. To have the service, you know, and and I'm thankful I did it because I think one of two things would happen. Either I would be out of business or I would not be paying myself. You know, I would be in a very different place.

00;18;41;26 - 00;19;04;22

Unknown

And so I'm very thankful for that. But short answer to your question. You know, I never did anything different. I knew I needed the structure, I needed the accountability, and that's what I chose to do from day one. Well, well, I appreciate you saying that and your candidness and your honesty, because a lot of people, I think they come in and they're like, oh, you know, like I need the help, but I'm not sure if I want to pull the trigger.

00;19;04;22 - 00;19;26;26

Unknown

And I think that's very high opening what you just said out of business or not paying yourself. And honestly, the two versions of the same thing, because if you're out of business, obviously you're not getting what you want. But if you're not paying yourself, you're not getting what you want. And that's why I also like what you've said to you wanted the accountability and someone to challenge you because then you're like, okay, I might not want to show up to this call.

00;19;26;26 - 00;19;42;26

Unknown

I might not want to do this thing. I might not want to take this money. I might not want to put these in place. But at the end of the day, you're like, man, I'm really glad I did. And I think Profit First lends itself to that. Even when you were on that first call, it like opened your mind to, oh, there's a system for this.

00;19;42;26 - 00;20;05;29

Unknown

I should probably pay attention to this. And especially because you with that engineer background, you your antenna were probably going up like, oh, there's a risk averse system like for my where it can save me from myself. This is great. Like. Yes. So I love that perspective that you brought to that as well too. And honestly, there's not a lot of people that I get on the podcast.

00;20;05;29 - 00;20;22;22

Unknown

I asked that question and they say, well, I've actually done profit first the whole time. And you know, like from the first deal or like from my very, you know, very beginning. So I appreciate that too, that you took that chance on yourself. And you also started this from day one. And it's just good habits. I know things don't always.

00;20;22;24 - 00;20;37;26

Unknown

And as we've already talked about on this podcast, things don't always go right in the business. Even if you run profit first, you might have a deal that goes south or sideways, but you still don't have to worry. You know, at the end of the day, if you've got the cash where it's supposed to be going and you're paying yourself and you've got someone there to help you.

00;20;37;26 - 00;21;03;22

Unknown

So I appreciate your perspective from there. That was definitely a different perspective than what are usually going on here. So thank you for that. Now, you did talk about this as well too, and alluded to it with the roller coaster of real estate. And it can be up and down. So since real estate is so lumpy and there's times where you've got stuff that's like a negative deals and you've got some that are $100,000 deals, how does profit first?

00;21;03;22 - 00;21;28;28

Unknown

Or how does having a system in place help you handle those ups and downs and the challenges for your business? Oh yeah. So I've worked with my CFO and we've developed a cashflow projection. So I know over the next few months where what what does each profit first account look like? Where can I afford, what can I afford to do so that I can make decisions on?

00;21;28;29 - 00;21;53;23

Unknown

Can I buy a house right now or can I not? Should I wait? Should I slow roll this rehab, just acquire the property, slow roll the rehab or whatever because I know where my money is going to be and I know what it's going to look like. You know, so that's been a really good tool to help in making decisions on current deals is to have that have that cash flow.

00;21;53;26 - 00;22;16;05

Unknown

Look the projection well, and I love that you're actually paying attention to it because so many people are deal junkies in the real estate space, which I get it, you love the deal going after it, but the fact I even wrote this down while you're talking like you ask yourself, should I buy this house or not? Where a lot of people are like, no, I have to buy it, or I need to buy this deal, or it's too good to pass up.

00;22;16;05 - 00;22;32;04

Unknown

And then they're doing too many deals and they've blown up their operation and it's like, what are you doing? Like, yeah, you got more deals. But did that really help you get to where you want it to be? And it sounds like you're very methodical. Like, okay, we don't we're going to do this cash flow projection and we're going to see, do I have the money?

00;22;32;05 - 00;23;02;14

Unknown

Do I need a slow roll this, you know, what do I need to do in order to put yourself in the position you want to be in versus just the I gotta have a deal. I gotta keep going. So I do love that perspective, too, because like I said, that not a lot of people think that way. And I just want people to feel that from you, that confidence and that discipline to say, I yes, as much as that deal might look good on paper, I don't have the money right now and it's going to put me in a worse position like then if I did take that down.

00;23;02;14 - 00;23;23;11

Unknown

So I love that. Okay. Did it take any adjustment going from the corporate world into the entrepreneurial world, from the press, from the perspective of paying yourself like obviously this is profit first in this podcast, but did you have any like because obviously on the corporate world, you're getting paid every week or every other week or every month consistently, and it's coming there.

00;23;23;11 - 00;23;45;19

Unknown

They're taking your taxes out there doing all that. So how is that gone from the entrepreneurial level? Oh, well, it's just a well now the burdens on me. Like I got to come up with this cash. Like how am I going to afford to do, you know, can I afford to pay myself? You know, going back to the cash flow, projections like this is what my employer used to always do.

00;23;45;20 - 00;24;11;19

Unknown

You know, they looked at that and I never had to worry about it. So it's been it's been good to understand that. And now I kind of appreciate some of the decisions that had been made at companies I was at before, like, okay, now I understand that now because I'm a business owner. But in terms of paying myself, I would say it's just learning, learning through, how can I manage that and how can I ensure that I have that?

00;24;11;19 - 00;24;36;11

Unknown

How can I manage my cash well enough to ensure that I've got several months of runway? Yeah. No, I like that. It's it's scary because you are the one that it depends on. But then it sounds like once you have things up and running and now you've got these systems in place, it's okay. What can I tolerate? Like I need to have these reserves out here and I it's making you think differently which I love that.

00;24;36;16 - 00;25;00;02

Unknown

Okay. So on the same track of W2 and like the corporate world versus entrepreneur, was there anything from the corporate world that you had to unlearn to become an entrepreneur or like over this journey for the last year that has put you on a better path? I think just on a on a practical level, you know, unlearning. I've got to be in front of my computer 9 to 5.

00;25;00;08 - 00;25;29;15

Unknown

That's what I did for the last 25 years, like so. Okay, that's that's one thing. What I would say differently is that is that I've been able to I feel like I'm using all the skills that I have learned in the corporate world, in this career. Now, you know, from an engineering, analytics, product management to sales like this is still my I feel like my job is still very much a sales role.

00;25;29;18 - 00;25;51;18

Unknown

You know, I'm talking with people, showing them the value of selling their house to me at a discount in exchange for convenience. You know, it's still very much a sales job. So, so unlearning maybe just some practical like, yeah, you know, it's okay. It's okay to go outside and cut your grass right now, like, right, or whatever. Yeah, exactly.

00;25;51;19 - 00;26;17;22

Unknown

The flexibility. Correct? Correct. So learning the flexibility. But but I think more of us just applying everything I've learned so far into this role. Awesome. Now I love that because I if it was like in the industry, real estate or just entrepreneurs or especially, I guess maybe even the the subject of the hustle culture, it's like, oh, you don't want the W2 or you don't want to go to college.

00;26;17;22 - 00;26;36;28

Unknown

You just go out there and you know, your hustle, you grind it out. But for you. You're using a lot of those skills that you learned over the last years in the corporate environment, and you're transmuting them into the real estate world. That's helped you with some of the things that honestly, some entrepreneurs have never even, you know, they didn't have systems before.

00;26;36;28 - 00;26;52;18

Unknown

They didn't have someone where they could have learned structure. And now you've got some of those skills that you're now putting inside of the real estate, because I like that a lot. So the unlearning is more of the mindset of like, oh yeah, I do all my own company and I do have flexibility, but then you know where you're learning, okay.

00;26;52;20 - 00;27;13;25

Unknown

No, I can put the things that I've learned into practice in the real estate company. I really like that because a lot of people, you know, like I said, knock it in. I don't think they should always knock it because there's a good things to learn everywhere where you are. So then this I only have a couple questions left for someone, and you might have already answered this with your very like the first or second question when you were talking about that deal.

00;27;13;25 - 00;27;35;09

Unknown

But for someone thinking about leaving a corporate job to buy their first house, what's the one piece of it? Or to become a franchisee or to become in the real estate world, whatever it might be. What's one piece of advice you wish someone had given you?

00;27;35;12 - 00;28;02;25

Unknown

I'm not sure I can think about that because I've. Yeah, I have such a great support network with Home Vestas in this franchise. Like they give me. They giving me what I need. I think the, the thing that I wished I had more was this running of I've never run a business before. Yeah. So where where I can learn about real estate transactions and those type of things.

00;28;02;29 - 00;28;23;10

Unknown

I need to know more about running a business. And so that's another reason why I chose simple CFO. And running the profit first system was to give me that, give me that knowledge that I knew I didn't have. But I mean, if you're if you're asking me, you know, what would I what should I, should I leave corporate America, should I not?

00;28;23;11 - 00;28;39;04

Unknown

Should I jump into this, should I not? You know, I felt like I had a calling, a direction. You know, I'm a Christian. I believe God guided, guided me into this. And so that that was my my thing. But I would say, don't just jump into this thinking you're just going to make a whole bunch of money.

00;28;39;04 - 00;29;01;25

Unknown

And it wasn't about the money, you know? I mean, it is at the end of the day, I've got to provide for my family and right and whatnot. But but I would say you got to have another purpose for what you're doing. And that's kind of what I that's because I can fall back on that in the hard times when I lose $50,000 on a dog and say, no, I have this direction, I know it's going to work out, and I have a trust there.

00;29;01;25 - 00;29;21;15

Unknown

And that's really what, you know, what holds me up, man? Mic drop there. So it's about the purpose. It's really about coming back to the things that really matter in your life. Because if you're just thinking about quitting the corporate job, just because you want to own your own job and you don't want to have a boss anymore, and you want to make more than you've ever made, that might not prop you up.

00;29;21;15 - 00;29;45;05

Unknown

When it gets really tough as an entrepreneur and you lose that 50 K. Now Joey has a bigger life plan and a bigger purpose, and that's what's really driving him. That's where if you're listening to this right now and you're thinking of jumping, there's another thing too, that you said where when you were first in the real estate space before you even heard about Home Vestas as a franchise, you know, like, and that there's a franchise system out there and like, okay, I can get deals or something.

00;29;45;05 - 00;30;01;18

Unknown

So you might need a support system from that level as well. And not just going alone because some people think they just have to go alone. I'm the entrepreneur. I'm the lone wolf. Let me go out there. I'll just get deals done. So it's the purpose that will drive you in the hard times. But you also might need a support system as well.

00;30;01;18 - 00;30;18;16

Unknown

So that's another thing that I took away from that. This is Ben. Awesome. Joey. He I was asking him, like, were there any questions that, you know, that he had for me? And he asked, well, why do you want me on the podcast? I'm like, this is why this is this was great. This was one of my favorite episodes that I've ever produced.

00;30;18;16 - 00;30;34;23

Unknown

So if anyone listens to it, you just have to come back. On if you were a guest and try and beat Joey's podcast because this was great. I love the answers and I loved everything that he gave here because it was very practical. It was also, I believe you touched on the deepest thing that we talk about here on the podcast.

00;30;34;24 - 00;30;51;17

Unknown

Is the purpose, like profit just unlocks your purpose. And that's really what Profit First is about. Because in a for profit business, if you're going under, you can't think about your purpose, you can't think about those things. And people use money as an excuse and it gets them out of their, you know, gets them out from what they could really be doing.

00;30;51;17 - 00;31;07;16

Unknown

So, Joey, I really appreciate your wisdom. There's a lot of great things. You did talk about that support system. So I was going to ask here, is there any place that you want to point people or if they want help or community that you would like to point them to? Yeah. So I would direct you to Home Vestas.

00;31;07;18 - 00;31;39;03

Unknown

We buy houses. That's our brand. It's just been a tremendous blessing and support for me. You know, it's a franchise model helping individually owned and operated franchisees buy and sell houses. We've got training, coaching, lead generation, just support. I mean, a group. I meet with franchisees monthly in my market and then quarterly with our entire state market, if you will.

00;31;39;11 - 00;31;59;26

Unknown

And we bounce things off of each other. We sell houses and buy houses, two from each other. I couldn't do this without that, you know. So I knew back as an engineer mindset again, I got to have a system. I got to have something I can fall back on. And that's what homelessness has really been to me. So could you do it without it?

00;31;59;27 - 00;32;15;23

Unknown

Sure. You can go market and find leads yourself. Yes, you can go find contractors. Yes, you can do this. But who are you going to call when you're dealing with the bad deal and you want to know how to make the best of it, or what? I can just boom, phone call. Hey, I'm walking into a house right now.

00;32;15;23 - 00;32;32;17

Unknown

This is what I think I'm going to offer. What do you think? Nope. I would do this. Okay, that's a thank you. I say five grand on a house doing that. You know, I was going to offer 90. And he says you don't know if that would have been 80. Would have been good. So I got I got it for 85, you know, and it saved me five grand.

00;32;32;18 - 00;33;09;13

Unknown

So that system has been tremendously helpful for me. And that's home buster. So we buy houses. It's got franchise information in there. And or just call me, you know. Awesome. Well, Joey is a great testament. And we've been a part with home for about three and a half years now. They have a great system. So if you I would also say to Joey, it's a lot of great people like you that have come from the corporate background and they want some of that systems and structure and like give me a roadmap of what I need to do in order to get off the ground and like getting these deals in the door.

00;33;09;14 - 00;33;32;11

Unknown

Then they have a great network and a great community and a lot of training and a lot of people there. So I like them a lot. They've been really good to us. They've also poured a lot into people like Joey. To be able to be successful from their first deals and get those off the ground, and really and that's why, honestly, I love their partnership because then if you can get deals in the door, we want to help you make sure you know how to run a business and know how to run your money.

00;33;32;11 - 00;33;48;14

Unknown

So if you want that side of it, you could go to simple CFO and book a call there. We'd love to talk to you just to see is it the right timing? Can we connect you to the right people? Like, we want you to know how to run a business and not be worried about the cash, and not be worried about the money.

00;33;48;14 - 00;34;09;24

Unknown

So if we can help you from that perspective, we'd love to. Joey, this has been incredible. If there's anything else that you want to say to the community or any other advice before we sign off, I just say go for it. You know, like that's a the the risk averse thing, you know, again, having a purpose, having a goal.

00;34;09;25 - 00;34;29;16

Unknown

But just go, you know, that's that's what my lesson you know. Yeah I think just take the step, take the step in faith and just do it and just do it. Believe in yourself. Make sure that you have that purpose that can drive you in the hard times. You might need a system and a community around you as well too.

00;34;29;17 - 00;34;50;12

Unknown

You might need some help to make sure you know how to run the business. That's where Joey was a great example of like, putting a lot of right pieces in place, using a lot of the things that he's learned throughout his life, and then also using some of the hard times to to really define, okay, how do I want to do this going forward and learning and just that perspective of it's not failing, it's learning and moving forward.

00;34;50;13 - 00;35;09;25

Unknown

So Joey, thank you so much again. And then if you're listening to this, remember, make profit a habit in your business. That's it for today's show. Be sure to subscribe, review and share this episode. If you're serious about financial systems and keeping more of your profit, visit Simple CFO to take your free discovery call today.