But also all the questions.
Right? Right.
Because you have.
I mean, your learning curve like this. Right. Yeah.
All of it.
Well, I mean, what was really important to me is
I started to realize so many people, like, are afraid to make the first move.
So I was like, why not just make a smaller one and get going?
Like, I was after my rookie season, I didn't know what my future in
the NFL was going to look like, but I was like, You know, what am I
to buy the first property?
It's like $12,000. And it was in my name.
I was like, that's a low, pretty low risk for me.
If I if I lose that, I'm going to take this bet.
And then once I did
the first indication, those $50,000, I'm going to be pissed if I lose this money.
But I can say but I can take this bet.
And if I didn't do that, I don't think I would have the portfolio idea.
So for everybody out there who is questioning
whether they should get started or looking for bigger deals,
if you're nervous and conservative, start small
and work your way up and you can really start
to build something special that what's a process, you know?
And I started the same way with a two bedroom, two bath,
and you started the same way and you learned so much.
But the second one is easier and easier.
Five Your average.
So I mean the confidence
the person like you're like, okay, you know, your hands are shaking
and you're like, I hope I don't lose my money.
And then you're like, okay, I wasn't so bad.
And that second one was way easier.
And then the learning curve just starts to get less and less and less and less.
Wouldn't you agree?
Oh, absolutely. You get more and more comfortable.
And I started out I was when I started buying my second batch of in Ohio,
in Kansas City, I was buying them cash because I wanted a high cash flow.
And I was sold on that on that philosophy
at first, like, all right, I'm making enough revenue through the NFL.
I'm going to buy the cash.
My goal was to get to $15,000 a month in cash flow
that was coming in because I was like, that's going to be able to sustain
my family's lifestyle, like, and some extra on top.
But then I started to kind of realize and recently took the last year or two
where I started to grow
and I'm like, Wow, I can refinance and get all that capacity.
And it's like, but, but, you know, so if you keep learning
your philosophy and, and what you believe and what you understand can change.
So I don't regret buying cash originally, but I've learned.
I kept learning.
I've seen the process.
And now, all right, how how can I use leverage effectively?
How can I, you know, scale my 20 to 40, then to 100, then then so on.
And I feel like that's the evolution of my real estate journey.
But if I didn't have the original mindset, I would I wouldn't be there.
So I don't I don't regret it.
Like a lot of people you talk to,
they're like, I just want to be a millionaire or
but there's really no like bridge to that, right?
Like, Oh, I want to be a millionaire.
Okay, well, how are you going to do that? You know,
oh, I'm going to start a business or I'm going to buy real estate.
But when you start breaking it down to the monthly cash flow versus
what you need to make a month, it's very easy, right?
Like if a property is cash flowing 700 bucks a month
and you want $7,000 a month, you're going to need ten of those.
We struggle with cash flow when we get done playing, and I feel like
that's why so many professional athletes in high wealth individuals go broke
is because you make a lot of money in a in a short amount of time.
And, you know, you invest a ton of money in the stock market.
Nothing wrong with the stock market, if that's your thing. Great.
But my issue with it was, ah, what?
Where's my cash consistently going to come from?
Because if I got all my money in the stock market but I need, let's call
it 15 grand a month to live, then how am I going to get it?
So I got to draw it out consistently.
I want to know that that money's coming in like clockwork.
So, like, real estate just made sense
for me to be able to get what my goal was monthly.
And I think that's important.
Whether you're a professional
athlete or anyone, what is the number that can make you live comfortably
so you can do what you want to do, not what you have to do, and, you know,
live a life and have a career to be in a place where I'm at now.
I'm playing football because I love football, not because I have to.
And that shift was one of the most mind blowing things for me,
because I'm going out here and I love the game
and I want to be the best that I can be and I want to win a championship.
Those are the reasons why I'm playing here,
because I got to the point where I have enough passive income
coming in to where I don't need football financially anymore.
And I think whether you're, you know, a professional athlete, a doctor,
a teacher, whatever, to have passive income coming in to where
you can get to the point where you could sustain your lifestyle,
it's like, I want everyone to pursue it because it's such a freeing feeling.
Once you get to that point
and even before, if you're a teacher, for instance,
and you're getting to the point where a passive, you're passively making
an extra thousand or 2000 or $3,000 a month.
You can't tell me that.
Doesn't feel, feel good or give your family some relief.
And I think some people don't pursue it because they think,
oh, it's not I'm not going to be able to replace my income that way.
Well, I want to start shift
and get to the point where you're bringing in $1,000 extra a month, then,
you know, try to double that to two and then double that to for like,
you know, $1,000 extras, $1,000 extra a month.
That's $12,000 in a year that you can start stashing, you know, stashing away
towards your, you know, for towards another property, towards something else.
So you can slowly chip away at chip away at,
you know, really growing your income in.
Like for me, I want to be an example of you can
you can invest in real estate passively because I think what scares a lot of
professional athletes, entertainers are anybody who has
who has a job and very successful very busy.
I can't own real estate.
I'm not trying to go, you know, fix toilets and do this or that.
So they just write it off like it's too it's too much of a headache.
I'm too busy.
I'm focused on on my passion.
And and I want to be an example of, hey, I'm in my ninth year.
I'm very passionate about football.
And I have been my it's been a huge part of my whole life,
but I still been able to passively invest in real estate
and take care of my financial well-being for for years to come.
And you can do that in passive ways.
And if you love it as you retire, you know, that's a big thing for me.
It's like, all right, how am I going to transition
from so many syndications to more of my own stuff once I retire?
I'm starting to think about those guys.
Yeah, but if you love it, you can think about that.
If not, then keep just growing it passively and it could stay that way
forever.
If you love what you do, if you're a doctor and you love that
or you know you're a professional athlete, and when you do retire, you never
you know, you never want to worry about,
you know, cleaning toilets or buying properties.
Well, you can still do it passively.
And I think that's really important for people to understand.
And I agree. Yeah. And I have another question, too.
You know, everyone keeps talking about a market crash, right?
Like everyone is like waiting for it, stressed about it, whatever.
Are you stressed about the real estate market crashing and your properties
losing value?
I mean, as long as my tenants are still are still paying
their is no like I can I'll just I'm not going to sell them now.
Yeah I don't plan on an ever so you know concert flippers crypto
stock market people right yeah anybody that has a capital gain
strategy, they're concerned but I, we're not really concerned.
Ah you know I always joke in the locker room, I call it mailbox money.
I'm like my mailbox money still coming in.
So for instance, way I own that domain name.
Do you? Yeah, I bought it
off mailbox
money like I say, mailbox money all the time. So
no, I think that's interesting.
And you know,
we were looking at charts this morning on our live on YouTube on Mondays and
in oh eight, the the rental market, you know, the housing market crash.
But the rental market stayed stagnant
and then went up in 2010 straight up all the way till now.
So even in the worst financial crisis we've had in a long time.
The long since the twenties. Yeah, since the twenties.
Rent did not go down, you know.
And you know, one thing I'll say is
do not buy assets that aren't cash flowing.
Bingo.
Like I'm seeing, you know, my, my wife is a realtor now
and she's been sending me properties and I've been underwriting them and stuff
and I'm seeing stuff that isn't cash flowing or are,
you know, it's only a one or 2% cash from cash return.
And I'm like
and people are accepting these these deals and and overpaying for this.
Like, if it's going to be your home, home, I can understand.
But if you're buying this as an investment
like, you know, so I would say when we thought
we started this conversation talking about discipline, decide what
cap rate or cash from whatever matrix you like to use,
what you're willing to accept and don't accept lower than that.
And because when you start investing only for appreciation,
that's when you're going to start to struggle.