My job is to talk to people who are good with money — earning it, saving it, and investing it. Here's what they've taught me.
Ricardo Tomás for Business Insider
My job as an investing reporter is to talk to people who are good with money — earning it, raising it, saving it, and investing it.
I've had conversations with a young parent who started selling wallets on Amazon to bring in extra money and turned it into a full-time gig, and millennials who built an 8-figure caffeinated gum business while working day jobs.
A couple who got laid off at the start of the pandemic told me how they started making money by renting apartments and subletting them on Airbnb. College dropouts let me in on how they raised money as teens to buy out-of-state property.
At the end of every interview, I always ask for their top advice, which gets relayed to you, the audience. What doesn't always get passed along are my observations after talking to disruptive go-getters regularly. Here are four.
The real-estate investors and entrepreneurs I'm talking to who are building long-term wealth are doing so by putting money to work — by investing in properties, businesses, and the stock market. As the adage goes, you need money to make money. But it doesn't necessarily have to be your money.
Real-estate investors Natia and Jervais Seegars explained to me the concept of using "other people's money," or OPM, to build wealth. By raising money from investors to buy properties, "we were able to continue to save our money while using other people's money to make us more money," they said.
This is also how the college dropouts, Caleb Hommel and Chuck Sotelo, funded their first deal as teenagers without savings or a credit history.
Asking for money requires putting yourself out there, a thick skin, and being okay with hearing a lot of people say "no." It also requires a plan. The strategy the young business partners live by is, "the deal always comes first," said Hommel. If you find a good enough deal and present it accurately and professionally to investors, the money will come.
Another real-estate investor I spoke to made it nearly impossible for investors to say no. He wrote an 82-page pitch deck detailing everything from why he believes in real estate as an investment to his fee structure, terms, and real life examples of past deals he's executed. He ended up raising $7 million for his first fund in four months.
If I've learned anything from disruptive go-getters it's: If you don't have the cash to buy an investment property or start a business don't let it hold you back.
If you think about your biggest goal or what you hope to accomplish with your finances, career, or life, chances are someone else has achieved that goal or hit that accomplishment. The most successful people know this and use it to their advantage.
A pattern I hear about over and over again is: Figure out what you want, identify someone who already has what you want, and ask them for help.
Sure, you can try to do everything on your own but asking for advice and learning from someone else's mistakes will most likely fast-track your success.
Barring a few exceptions, the financially independent entrepreneurs I've spoken to all started with a side hustle — and, in some cases, simply a side project or hobby that cost them money, let alone brought any in.
Nine to five was when they put their heads down and worked for an employer to cover their bills. Outside of standard work hours, either in the mornings, evenings, or on weekends, was when they built their businesses — and only when their side income fully replaced their day job incomes was when many of them took the leap from working for someone else to working for themselves.
Carving out time and energy to put towards a side project that might not be generating any sales, while at the same time working a full-time job, isn't for the faint of heart. These self-made entrepreneurs are workhorses.
Jatz Naran built his Amazon business between the hours of 6-and-10, after his day job would wrap up. "Forget work-life balance," he advised. At the end of the day, "you have to sacrifice one thing for another."
NeuroGum co-founder Kent Yoshimura, who was working at a music studio and as a muralist while building a caffeinated gum and mint company, admitted to pulling "an all-nighter once a week" in the early days of the start-up.
This observation isn't to deter anyone from starting a side hustle; it's to point out that building something profitable and lasting takes time, effort, and actual work. Just because anyone can do it doesn't mean it's easy.
If you scroll through my author page, you'll see a range of financial freedom stories, from a former waitress who bought foreclosures in Detroit with her tax returns to a couple in Chicago who quit their corporate jobs to create illustrated prints and miniature ceramic homes.
The majority of financially independent individuals I speak to have built wealth through real estate investing but even within that specific category, the strategies vary from purchasing bachelorette-themed Airbnbs to house hacking to rental arbitrage.
In a way, it can be overwhelming to read about so many different strategies. It's the paradox of choice.
Or, it can be empowering. That's how I choose to look at it. As these successful individuals with unique stories and varying backgrounds have shown us, we can do whatever we want. Better yet, whatever we choose to do, the resources to help us succeed are right at our fingertips: free YouTube videos and podcasts, expert-backed books, and online courses. Plus, the occasional paywalled article.
