Derek Clifford 0:16
Hello, everyone! Welcome to a final episode of the Elevate Your Equity Podcast for Season Two. I’m super excited to be here with you today. And to be honest, it’s actually been quite some time since we recorded an episode. It’s been a while. The last episode that we recorded was with Vinki. And that was done a couple of months ago. And over the last couple of months, there’s been a lot of changes happening in every area of life. There’s been lots of things happening on the economic front, on the personal front with us. And also on just the front in relationships in general, the overall tone of the economy politically, technologically, a lot of has changed. And it’s just crazy, crazy fast how things have been moving. I’m also super excited for what’s coming up. But generally, what I wanted to share here with you today was just looking back into 2022, how much of a year it has been for us, I want to share a little bit about a personal journey. And then I want to share what I’ve learned in 2022. And what we’re going to be looking at going forward into 2023. And hopefully, you guys can pick up some extra knowledge here with that as well. And use that for your personal gain. However you want to do that if you want to go forward and use some of this knowledge for you to implement on your own, or just listen in. I’m all for it. So here goes nothing. So looking back in 2022, there’s been a lot of changes on our personal journey. As you know, we started becoming digital nomads back in 2022, and started traveling around after leaving my job in September of 2021. So that was relatively new to us. We spent time in over 30 Different Airbnbs over seven countries, and 20 states in the United States that was partially overshadowed with COVID in the first part of the year. But generally we’ve we’re so grateful to be able to be building our businesses and doing it Mobley and remotely. So we really are living the three degrees of freedom, which is location, time and financial. And so we’re super excited to be able to be a living example of that and inspiration for you to be able to do the same thing. While we were traveling. And even overseas in Europe, we closed on over 250 units in the Midwest. That’s insane last year, looking back at how deal volume is moving right now in q1 of 2023. It’s insane for me to think about all the things that we were doing, while trying to travel have a great relationship at home and transition from place to place moving 30 different times. It’s just insane. But we’re able to do it and we had a blast doing it as well. We also helped my mom and dad move their primary residence, one that I grew up in for, you know, most of my adult life, you know, from the teenager on to going to school in Colorado, we sold their house and got them into Arizona. And honestly, at this point of the recording at the beginning of the year in 2022, they had no idea that they were going to move, they knew they wanted to move, but they didn’t know where they had no idea where to start, nothing was packed and everything. And so now they’re sitting in their beautiful home in Arizona, enjoying life right now. And so I’m really, really happy for them with all of the mindset changes and relationship things that they went through to be able to get to where they are now. So it’s really, really inspiring what they’ve done. And I’m really happy for them and glad that we could help them in that way to help them think a little bit differently.

The next thing is, is we built proprietary software for reporting out on the status of all of our properties, and doing all the accounting and the books for everything for all of our properties. So now, the scaling will become even easier with each additional property that we add. And so for those of you who are listeners and also investors, you’ll be able to see some of that cool proprietary software, what it is able to spit out in terms of reporting for equity creation, vacancy trends, noi growth, all that great stuff that’ll be out there and intended to come out every single month along with our newsletters on all of our active properties. So super excited for the investors and also for us people to create something like that. And the last thing that we did, in addition to everything going on last year was with our final offering in Louisville, Kentucky. Back in October, we created a fund. And so now we have a fund that is open. But I would love and encourage people to ask us more about what that means and how it works. Because there is some steps to be able to get involved with it. And we do have to have a personal relationship before accepting any people into the fund because it is a 506 b offering. But we’re super excited to be able to help people create value in their lives and start to build towards that financial freedom while they’re working on their location and time freedom as well. It takes time to build a nest egg and some income for you to be able to depend on On over the long haul. And so we’re super excited to personally design and handpick offerings inside this fund that will allow you to be able to create that life for yourself. So we’re super excited for that. So that was our personal journey. Okay, that’s everything that went on.

Now, what I want to share with you is some personal things that I’ve learned in 2022, that I wish that I had known, basically my whole life, it’s really, really important pieces of advice. First thing, getting results doesn’t always translate into the time spent working to achieve those results. Okay, here’s what I mean by this, okay. I used to think that if I could sit in front of a computer for eight hours a day, then eventually some great ideas are going to come out. Okay. And I would use to look at other people who are taking vacations and slacking off all the time beginning relaxation in their system, going out and doing something for fun, I viewed that as a wasted effort. I am so into future looking and investing for the future that I feel like an hour invested today is going to translate to $1 earned which will then compound quicker. So the more than I could work right now means the more dollars I’ll be able to put to work right now so that they can compound for a life later. Well, I found out that that was absolutely false. People have been telling me this for years. But here’s why I’ve discovered that it is not true. If you are living in a life where you are constantly working all the time, there’s no perspective, there’s no relaxation, there’s no balance of lifestyle in what you’re trying to do. Let’s look at two alternate universes universe one there is that person that’s sitting down and basically working for eight hours a day and just putting their head down and doing all of that and trying to achieve their outcomes, which will happen, it’s just going to be very stressful, they will do it. But they’re going to be very tired and burnt out at the end, which may actually affect the results for what they could have gotten in the Ultimate Universe B, which we’re going to talk about here in just a second. So you have alternate universe a, you have someone that’s sitting down and working really, really hard. And basically using willpower to just push through and get things done. That’s alternative universe a and universe B, you have someone who is working maybe one day a week, and is out enjoying themselves, maybe spending a little bit of money, relaxing, spending time with family, friends and getting perspective, but yet they have the same goals as universe a does, right? Well, in universe B, I never went there because there was so much guilt, I was always feeling like oh my gosh, like I could be being I could be so much more productive right now, if I was in front of my computer doing something. But here’s the thing, when you’re in universe be okay, I am confident that that lifestyle that you’re creating, you’re living it right there. So you’re teaching yourself to live that lifestyle, because if you’re constantly in universe a, you’re never going to switch to universe B, because your mindset is just there. And if you try to make the switch, you’re just gonna get stuck, you’re gonna go back to a all the time trying to finish everything, because you just can’t learn how to relax. In universe B, you have a lot of time for you to create urgency and perspective. Because as you’re sitting there for six days out of the week, and you’re saying, Man, you know, I really could be going back to my computer, I could be getting something done. You’re marinating on thoughts and ideas. And if you go back and think about all the times that you have created something that’s really impressive, and really, really cool. Think about how much effort and time came out of that, right? Like, for instance, if you’re working a full time job, if you were to distill your full time job down into those activities that actually move the needle that got something done for you, right, I would say that probably 20% of your time. And 20% of your activity actually did something that cascaded into results. The other 80% Was you messing around probably going down directions that did that just went to a dead end or didn’t, didn’t utilize or go into materialize into anything useful. And so you have the 20%, you have the 80% of wasted effort, when you are in university be when you are really rested and relaxed, you’re going to maximize that 20% Where it becomes more like 50% or 60% on that one day that you’re working, because you have time to live the lifestyle and live the integrated whole that you want to create while you’re doing your business. Okay, so hopefully that makes sense to you guys. But I had that huge aha, that if I was able to compress, you know, three hours, do all my work in three hours a day while we were traveling, then I could live the lifestyle that enable that three hours to be productive. And eventually your whole day forms around that and you start to realize what things need to be done, and some stuff just needs to go away. Okay, so that was my first learning lesson in 2022.

The second thing that I learned in 2022 is core values. understanding who you are as a person should be the prerequisite for any goals to set at any time in your life. Okay, there’s a core goals, assessment, core values assessment that was done that I did from Darren Hardy, I think he had, you know, a free assessment out there that you should be able to go download, I may be able to find the link to that in place that wherever you’re listening to this but no promises. Anyway, find a core values assessment to figure out who you are as a person and what things you stand for. If you have that, you have those core values, you’ll be able to eventually get into a place where you can set goals based on who you want to be or who you are, right now, that’s super important. So for instance, for me, a core value would be prosperity, another core value would be freedom. And the other core value the top three, for me, this third one is wisdom. So the first two, I was living. And that makes sense, because that’s the person I become, and that’s who I am. But that third piece of wisdom really made me start to think about, Am I doing the right things? Am I reflecting in the right parts of my life, and am I living those values that will help me become a wiser, more informed, more patient, just a better person in general. And so I realized that that wisdom piece of me was missing, I had prosperity values, I was living that and I had freedom. I was living that, but I wasn’t living the wisdom piece. So I encourage you to go in and find that core value assessment, because now I know that I can set my goals around these three top core values, which is prosperity, freedom and wisdom. So the wisdom piece, I’m living that out right now in my goals.

And the last thing I’m going to say about this, too, is that when you’re setting your goals, I highly recommend doing a 90 day sprint instead of setting them for the entire year. So a 90 day period of time is just enough for you to get your hands deep into something for you to establish a habit going forward for things that you know is really, really good for you. So I highly recommend that you take a look at that, make sure that you’re figuring out what it is that you want to do for 90 days who the person you want to become at the end of 90 days, it’s a perfect amount of time for you to be able to achieve something great and also set up habits, and then need to re pivot into the next quarter if you want to. So if you’re taking it really seriously, you can do it for 90 days, you can do anything for 90 days. Now, the third thing that I want to share with you is something that I learned from Sophie, my wife, in reflecting back in 2023. And it’s this process that I want you to take, even though we’re already past the end of the year, it’s something that’s really cool for you to be able to reflect in the middle of the year or at the quarter. So this is process and it’s six questions that you ask yourself. Okay, so I’m just gonna go ahead and read it. And I have a LinkedIn post that I can reflect back to you. That was a reshare from John Birkhoff, which is the awesome founder of exchange, who helps facilitate events and asks really great questions from an appreciative inquiry standpoint. So these questions for planning and reflection, is, number one, celebrate what were my high points, peak experiences, or moments where I or we felt most alive in the year? What did I or others do to support these moments? And what did they look like? Sound like and feel like? So answer that question, you know, first thing, write it all out, and then go to number two, which is where did I struggle? is learning number two is learn? Where did I struggle? Was I challenged or tested? And how can I see these experiences as teachers sources of wisdom, and gifting me with lessons? And what would it look like to reinvest these learnings in 2023? Okay, so that’s the next one, or the one after that is appreciate. So after you’ve done celebration learning, now, I want you to look at appreciating yourself, no matter what changes about me, my world or my work? What do I want to honor, nurture, protect or preserve? And what strengths, values, relationships or opportunities can I present before looking ahead? So I think that looking at your core values is a perfect way to do this appreciation, and to look back and say, Oh, my gosh, I’m so grateful for all the amazing things that I have. So that is a really important step. Number four is imagine so a year from now, what would I most liked to be celebrating? Both outcomes that you’ve created at home at work, but honestly, who have you become and what qualities have you embodied? So at this point, you should have answered these four questions and have about a half page answer for each one or whatever calls to you, whatever makes sense, to help get you really in the creative space with the mental juices. And then number five is reinvent for my future visions to become true what in my life needs to die and what will be born in its place. What parts of myself need to be hospice so that the room energy and potential for the new is multiplied. That’s the reinvent after you’ve gone through celebrating Giving appreciation and learning from your previous year or six months or a quarter, it’s important for you to only then look at where you want to reinvent yourself. So that’s something that I would highly recommend. That’s why we’re going through this process. And then the last question here is act. This is where you can say, is there a commitment action are first step that moves me or us towards the images and possibilities we’ve explored for our future? And are their immediate small steps to take or is there something big, bold and brave that can be done. And so this is the actual act of spelling out what it is that you want to do in order to become the person that you want to be? This would be the actual goal setting piece, okay? And so those are the six questions, celebrate, learn, appreciate, imagine, reinvent an act. And if you do all those six things, you’ll have a ton of clarity, alongside having that core values assessment with you to help guide your future and figure out what it is that you need to do and want to do to become the person you want to be or do the things you want to do in the next quarter year, two years, three years, five years. That’s up to you. So I want to give that to you. Because it’s that important to me, what I was able to do.

And just to share this year, for me, my theme has been trying to just go with the flow with things, realizing that I have a ton of strengths and a lot of ways to direct my energy. And it’s up to me now to find the right place and time to put my energy into to start multiplying the new, okay. And that’s where the 90 day sprints come in. So you have the core values, that whole vision process of the year, those six questions, and then you’ve got the 90 day sprint to help inform what you’re going to do for each quarter with that annual theme of going with the flow for me. So for me, that’s, that’s what that is. And hopefully that was useful to you as well. The other thing I want to mention too, is that timelines are false. I’ve been learning that I have been attaching a timeline and end, like an end time that I need to have something done, or else the life is over. I’ve missed my goal. And so I’m starting to learn to go back and just realize like where that goal came from, and started to be a little bit more flexible on the important things, absolutely keeping them. But I’m realizing that some of these are artificial deadlines that just add stress to me. So I’m learning to let go of some of that to help increase my wisdom, and then allow more freedom in my life to flow. Then I also mentioned before that I’m learning to try to go back to my natural talents and finding ways to blend it into my entrepreneurialism. So that’s one of the reasons why guys like you probably don’t know this, but I used to love computer programming. And I did a lot of it when I was younger. And I’ve just let that gone, like gone to the wayside ever since pursuing a career and life in general. And so I want to get more into software and programming. And so being able to take that software tracker that I have and use that to license to other asset managers is going to be a big thing for me, because it combines my passion of real estate investing, plus programming, plus entrepreneurialism plus mindset, and capital, raising all these things. And so I’m trying to flow more in that direction. And I hope that you can find something to, to find a way to have it blend into your side hustle or what you’re doing as a person right now. So whatever that is that you really get drawn to try to find that natural talent and bring it into what it is that you’re doing. And so that’s great. And the last thing I’m going to mention is that I’m bringing spirituality into my lifestyle. So in order for you to be truly happy and successful, I’m finding that you have to bring a little bit of the life that you want to live now, you got to bring that into your life right now you have to do it. Even if it’s painful, or you say you don’t have the time, you’ve got to because what happens if you build something that you think you want? And then just when you get into it, you find out that you don’t want it for instance, if you’re working your so hard to try to get yourself passive income. So you could do absolutely nothing will have you ever thought about how boring nothing is, and even how boring it is to travel around the world and just sit on beaches all the time. What are you going to do that’s going to continue to add value to give yourself something to do, right? What is it that’s important to you. So bring some of that life that you want to live some of that freedom, some of that vacation mindedness, bring it into where you are now. So you can live start living that incorporated life right now, because that’s really the true balance of things. And that’s really what it’s all about.

So, again, like, even before this year and buying, going on the buying spree that we went on and buying all these awesome properties. I was convinced that if I could work super hard now for the next 10 years, that the next 10 I could just do nothing. And I’m getting a sample of doing nothing right now because the markets slowing down and it’s it’s not great. It’s not something that I want. So I encourage you to please start thinking about long term like that. Figure out what your life will be like if you try to keep going down that trajectory that you’re working towards, bring it in now and test it out before you actually get into it, you never know what the future may bring. Okay, so those are my bits and pieces of wisdom for you. I hope that they are useful because I wish I had known these, but this is just life. And I’m glad to have the opportunity to be able to learn these and have the life that we have. So going forward into 2023, what’s happening. So this podcast, most likely will not come back with the same name, we’re going to be shifting it into more of a lifestyle based podcast, we’re not going to be talking about real estate completely, and just real estate in general. But we’re gonna be talking about the lifestyle, and people that are investing in real estate, but also creating lives for themselves that they want, right? I’m looking for people to come on and attract people into the podcast, that are wanting to create financial freedom, time, freedom, location, freedom, and do it with a very small time impact every day. So location freedom, you can do that already, by working with your employer to get remote working relationship setup. The second piece is getting processes and procedures to help you with time freedom. So you can use vas, to help fill in at your job for you, or to help fill in on your side business for you. So you can, you can pack in two to three hours worth of work in an eight hour day. So you’re only spending a little bit of time each day doing your work or however you want to plan it. And then of course, the financial freedom is continuing to offer you all advice and real estate investing, and our fund offerings and everything. So you can get yourself to that financial place. So we want to take care of all three of those degrees of freedom doing that for you. And that’s what our podcast is going to be about those three degrees of freedom, and getting everyone to be able to be more efficient and work effectively, to get to that goal and do it quickly. That’s our intention and our goal to you for these next podcast episodes going forward. Other than that, I want to really thank all of our guests that came on, it was incredible to talk with such amazing people with great talents and great perspectives. And I’m really looking forward to exploring lifestyle with all of you our listeners, going forward into 2023. And I’m wishing all of you a fantastic start to the new year. And I hope that all of your dreams come true and that you live some of your dreams right now. So please do make sure that you comment, like and subscribe wherever you’re listening to this podcast. We really appreciate that so we can get our reach out to more and more people. Thank you guys so much. And we’ll see you for the next season coming out in about a month or two. Have a wonderful day. We’ll talk later.