everybody, it's Kennedy here.
Hello.
And I am excited to be with Ray Glimpse met at Limitless
and Scottsdale recently, and your story is incredible.
You'll homeless and penniless at 19 years old, and now you're
you have over 100 doors.
And I think, there's a whole lot of knowledge from from
from where you started to where you are and sounds like you're giving
back a lot now.
So why don't we just start with your story?
Because I think it's pretty remarkable.
So I'm originally from Brooklyn, New York.
family, we were weren't rich by any means.
We grew up, I guess so.
So and after September 11th, my dad had lost his job.
They were just average family.
He lost his job. My mom, she was working.
But just like most families, we found it hard to keep up.
And unfortunately, we faced homelessness.
I was I believe I was 13, 14, around that age.
And I remember going to the homeless shelter was one of the saddest times
I ever had.
I remember having a garbage bag pinned all my stuff into a garbage bag,
and that kind of saved my life, what it became.
And I knew moving forward, I knew I never wanted to be homeless again.
So at that point, I think my first job was about the age of 16.
I picked up whatever outside jobs I could and I worked my butt off
and moving forward, eventually there was I was in New York City.
I didn't feel any room for opportunity for growth.
I knew I could just work job the job, and I eventually
wanted to escape the rat race, just like I think most Americans wanted to.
The opportunity came up for me to visit school or to go to school in West
Virginia.
My cousin stopped me and I was working at a bar and he told me,
Hey, man, there's a lot of opportunity out here.
It's a lot of upside. Would you like to come visit?
I went, visited, and I made a decision.
I was never looking back.
And that was how I made that first job.
what were some of the things that,
you know, you would like to teach today to people that are stuck in that,
you know, paycheck to paycheck to paycheck mentality?
Sure.
I think the number one thing is education.
So same thing that we're doing here.
And and as you do, you educate people.
So get educated.
I think my parents, they lacked education and especially as far as finances,
you know, passive income is just a form of, you know,
just knowing where your numbers are.
You know, you can create other you can create other forms of income,
but you can't create passive income if you don't know your numbers.
You can't you know, if you're going to work, you can't work to death.
And so that's what they did.
They they pretty much worked to death and they were never able to succeed.
So I would say, one, get educated and know your numbers.
Take steps to learn to find a mentor.
I think the people that I've surrounded myself as have helped me, you know, create
other means of freedom, you know, So fundamental, I think is very important.
And then find a means, as we mentioned, you know, there are people who work
and are very successful were for me, I knew that there was a cat.
I knew there was always a cap of how much I could make
or how I could continually stay free, you know.
Right now I see a lot of people get beat up with inflation.
You know, they're not able to keep up with grocery bills or, you know,
their rent rents are raised.
I still, you know, so I think those three tools
actually allowed me to create some type of freedom through education.
But when you say no, your numbers, what do you mean exactly by that?
So, you know, real estate, we have our numbers,
but then in life you have your numbers too.
And so most people I notice do not have a budget.
Right?
So they they they go out, they spend whatever on food.
And, you know, they they pay their bills.
Most people don't even manage their own bills.
I've seen.
So making sure that you understand, hey, you know, Netflix is cost me this much.
And to some people it may just be, oh, it's already $10 a month.
It's only $20 a month, but that's $240 a year.
I've got a utility bill, you know, is that a grocery bill?
So helping people even on a lower scale, understand that these bills
that you may have or these shopping trips or, you know, I see a lot of people
we look at social media, we may see people taking trips all the time,
understanding that these are all expenses that we have to budget for.
And I agree with you, Ray.
You know, I most of my friends that that don't manage their money well,
don't have budgets.
you know, it just makes me aware, okay,
if I have X amount to spend, do I really need to?
I really need that versus just throwing things in your cart.
And then I think that even with, personal expenses, like fun
money, you would call it that I give myself every month.
I'll say, okay, you don't have really the money
to buy these shoes this month, but I'll buy them next month.
And all I done that just creates discipline.
And then you, you know, you're just more mindful of your spending versus
if you just buy whatever you want, whenever you want and you have no idea
what you're spending money on, there's really no way to manage anything that way.
I agree.
And I think that's where the financial education really starts and it correlates.
Even so, real estate, you know, we're doing we're running numbers
for a property.
We want to make sure that we have our budget solid as well.
So it's not just real estate, but it's in our personal life in all facets.
So. Right.
So you jumped right into, you know, obviously you did what you had to do
at 16, got a job, you then, you know, what what were the big changes,
life moments or has or, you know, what did you do then?
Yeah, I think the biggest up one was, you know, I was working
I remember I was in college at that point, but I was working three jobs
and mentally I was like, I can't fall behind.
I can't fall behind.
And and but mentally, too, I was falling behind.
I was watching other kids. They had that freedom.
So, you know, they were going out partying.
And meanwhile, I'm just working my butt off, working my butt off.
And I knew I was like, something has to give.
And I remember I was going to school for industrial engineering light bulb
hit me to start my first business, which was eventually a food truck.
I started a food truck here and I knew that,
okay, well, if I became entrepreneur, I could make money
instead of doing this whole school route.
So I started entrepreneur
Your path took a risk, and from there I was still working my butt off.
I had owned several businesses and still work.
And still work is still in that rat race.
I had got a little bit of finances, but I'm still working
and at that point I'm like, something has got to give.
And I was working late nights, you know, the graveyard shift,
I mean, same, same thing.
People can relate to.
And I'll never forget the first thing I bought for passive
income was a arcade machine, and it was like a Pac-Man machine.
I made a couple this $0.50 to play and I got to be able to cash it out.
And I was like, Man, this feels kind of good.
You know, I made a couple of bucks off those kind of good.
And I said, You know, maybe I can scale this some more pool tables.
And I started to buy vending machines,
started great passive income, a group of guys, it was about eight of us.
Some were attorneys, lawyers, doctors.
We all went together one night at a bar and they all say, Hey,
but we saw about this investment property with each put 5000
and they were using a bunch of terms that I had no idea about real estate.
We could all buy a property for 50,000 and then we can refinance it
and everything else. I was like, Man, it sounds like a great idea.
You guys have more money than me. Maybe I should listen.
And when it came time to put the money up, nobody.
It was crickets in a room.
Nobody want to put the money up. So I said, You know what?
I'll try it.
I found this sketch.
It was I guess they were a wholesaler at the time.
I didn't know any better, but they sold me property for $25,000.
I actually pulled money from, like, a line of credit that I had
and bought the property, and then I had to lines the credit 0% finance.
So it was a no brainer.
And I use the rest of the money to do another rehab and property.
Cash flowed, I think $1,000 when all is said and done.
And so it was in a Pittsburgh.
It was it was a D class neighborhood, but it was all about cash flow at that point.
And I think we I just I just sold that one.
We sold it for 125, so I had 50,000.
The dealer sold it for 125, six years.
So, you took a series of small steps, the food truck, the Pacman,
the pool tables, the vending machines.
Let's walk through that,
because I really think that that's a really good entry point.
Yeah.
So I think for me, I knew and like I said, I knew I needed passive income.
The Pac-Man machine I think I bought on Facebook and it was like
700 bucks or something like that.
And I had a location.
I knew that there was a bar at the time.
I knew that would work, and I think it was $0.50 too, to play a game of Pac-Man.
But this bar was a busy bar.
So lots of college kids, people came in all the time.
But after I started reaching out to other local bar
owners saying, Hey, look, you're not places machine.
I built a reputation with the first guy places machine.
Would you be willing to let me place another machine in?
I'll give you a card if needed.
And people were happy because they didn't have to put their initial
money out for to purchase a pool table.
They didn't have to maintain it.
But with it came, there was work.
It wasn't 100% passive.
So going to sell the dream of it being passive fully,
I did have to maintain, you know, the machines.
I didn't have to clean them, I did have to refill on it.
But it wasn't 100% active either.
You know, I was able to do other other things
while making that passive income.
But I think those are great barriers because, you know, a vending machine
may cost anywhere from 5000 to 2000, but you can easily make it the right
location, anywhere from 500 to $1000 a month.
you know, we're not advocating that you quit your job and go buy real estate
at all.
You know, there's a
there's that period of time and I denial went through it where you're working
a lot, you're got a second job going and you're saving and it's super frustrating.
You're wondering if it'll ever will ever work.
But you have to have that passive the multiple streams
of passive income before you actually give that up, right?
Hundred percent.
I would never tell anyone to quit their job until I mean, the job
just becomes a hobby, right?
And eventually I think that's what a comfort point is.
You know, I don't need to go to work.
You know, we have X amount of dollars coming in above on the side.
I don't actually need to go to work.
And your job should be something you enjoy doing as well at that point.
I think once you get to that, that equal number where your pay
from your side hustle or whatever it may be is equal to your job amount.
If you don't enjoy your job anymore,
maybe that's when you start making the transition step.
That was something that you actually enjoy
that still pays you not to actually quit, but do something that you actually enjoy.
That's still a now you've learned a lot.
So now as you start to move forward and look at deals, what you know,
what are some things that you can tell some of the listeners on what to look for
on what are three things I always tell are know your numbers, know your needs
and know your market.
So your numbers are going to be like, as we mentioned in the beginning,
your numbers are going to be the most importantly analyzing the deal,
knowing your niche.
Right now, I like small multifamily, so anything over, you know, 15, 16
units are typically not such it may be a little bit too big for me to manage.
I typically stay away from single family just because I don't like having
cash flow versus multifamily and then knowing your market.
I think that's the most one of the most important things.
You know, I can buy a home in Arizona say, Oh, it should compile
just like this one, but it's on the wrong side of the street.
And my mortgage particularly, I'm in Morgantown, West Virginia.
But West Virginia on the whole has been on the decline.
But Morgantown, we had a appreciation rate last year, a 19.6%.
So it's a strong a our market.
We were a college town, great hospital, great infrastructure.
So we're strong and that's what I know of my market.
You know, when I visit Pittsburgh Market, I know that particular market.
So no one else do.
Things are great when you're starting out with us.
sorry.
I know you do some speaking, you do some coaching and all that.
What's the best way people can reach you?
Instagram, Ragland Radio. Why?
Instagram is a great way to get a hold of me.
You can do me on the Mac, Ray, I appreciate your time.
Congratulations. Richard, thank you for your time, guys.
Now, You bet. Two or three,