Chasing Financial Freedom
Chasing Financial Freedom
The 'Who' Factor: A Fresh Perspective on Navigating Entrepreneurship
Trials, tribulations, and triumphs are all part of the entrepreneurial journey. This episode walks you through my latest battles with corporate tax deadlines, the joy of hitting over 150,000 podcast downloads and the challenges of bringing a vision to life in the Bayard Park project. We'll also talk about why it's vital to focus on the 'who' that can help us, rather than getting hung up on 'how' to get things done.
From grappling with the concept of 'who' versus 'how', to sharing the unfiltered reality of entrepreneurship, this episode is all about transparency. You'll hear real-life examples of how focusing on the 'who' in our lives can drive success, and the importance of tenacity and vision in both our personal and professional spheres. Plus, I'll share my thoughts on the potential consolidation of the podcast and plans for a personal branding mission. So, buckle up for an episode that is as insightful as it is personal.
Start for FREE
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Thanks for Listening! Follow us on Tik Tok Facebook and Instagram
Hey guys, ryan Dement, I hope you guys are having a great day. Labor Day weekend just passed. I hope you guys got to spend some time with your friends, your family, anybody else that you wanted to spend time with, got some down time and you were able to rest and relax. Thank you for all the laboring that you've done throughout the year and now we're getting into the end of the third quarter and we're into the fourth. You guys have me today. I wanted to talk about some trials and tribulations that I'm going through, but also some positive things that are going on. And when I say trials and tribulations, there's ups and downs. There's tons of ups and downs going on with me right now and today I would probably say I'm pretty well stressed out because I'm hitting that deadline against corporate taxes that are due by the 15th of September and getting that all together and seeing all those pieces coming together, which is so fun. But I wanted to start out by saying thank you for your support in your comments. I read them, I respond. I enjoy what you guys are saying, but I'm also honored that you guys are listening. Every single week. We've eclipsed over 150,000 downloads on this podcast, so that is a huge honor and I hope we get to 150,000 very quickly, to where we double up and get to over 300,000. But I think there's going to be some changes coming along with how I do the podcast, because with two it's a lot of work and I think we could consolidate the podcast into one and I've started a branding or a personal branding mission of mine to where I'm creating my name as a branding logo and I'm working on that. So that should be done in the coming weeks. Love to hear what you guys think of the new logo but also the rebranding to where potentially we bring both podcasts together chasing happiness and chasing financial freedom together and just call it the Ryan Dement show or something with my name in it. I don't know what it is, I'm just thinking off top of my head. Nothing's in stone. It just would make my life a lot easier and I could focus on one show and be able to go after it and really hit it hard, because two is really tough, but I think there's value in two. So I'm trying to figure out how I can effectively do that consolidate the brands and put it into one place. So be on the lookout for that. I will be sharing and asking for feedback.
Speaker 1:Also, this week we've hit a milestone on our Bayard Park project. We have the first house practically ready. We have floors down, paintings done. Our project manager and general contractor are going through the house with a punch list. Countertops and cabinets are going in. So we're just about ready and that'll mean the backyard and the front yard will be taken care of here very quickly. That will be very good for us to put out there. It is officially on the market and we have people that are interested, but no one's pulled the trigger.
Speaker 1:And here's part of the trials and tribulations Just like when we started this project before COVID and had to pause it during COVID was people do not see the block's vision. So where? Today there's seven families living on this block and we? We still have several houses that need to be knocked down or raised that look not so hot, and people don't realize that we have work to be done and purchasing a home for, let's say, $185,000 is not quite worth it. And they'll wait and see how things go down the block.
Speaker 1:My response is you continue to wait. Unfortunately, prices are going to fluctuate up and not down, because once we put that first house in the ground. We'll be able to start working through pricing and being able to measure that, even with the headwinds with interest rates, at some point these rates are going to have to come down. They're not going to continue to stay this high. There's no way that the system isn't going to break when you continue to leave interest rates so high. It's just. It's crazy, but it's where we're at today. As a wise person told me, we're selling today's rates, not tomorrow, and all we can do is sell what we have today. So we'll see how that plays out.
Speaker 1:But what are your thoughts about that? Would you move into a neighborhood that still had houses that were still standing, that were dilapidated, that you have to move, that you have to be seen on a daily basis for a short period of time we're talking less than two or three months and there'll be knockdown. I'm hoping to have them all knocked down before the end of the year, and there are several other properties on the block that we started renovate or we gutted. I think we're just going to knock them down and build houses, because we can build a house in about six to eight weeks versus it's taken us 90 days to rehab a house makes so much more sense, but people don't see the vision, and I think this gets me into the second aspect of vision. If we don't see vision in something that we're not attached to, how we're supposed to see vision for ourselves in our personal lives? Pretty hard and when talking to realtors or talking to individuals, anybody.
Speaker 1:Vision is something that we all struggle with because we're looking for that instant gratification, unfortunately from social media, and I have the same problem, but I also know what it takes to be perseverant, excuse me, to persist and also be consistent. That's a big deal for me because, ultimately, making sure that I'm persistent in what we're doing is going to be the difference between ooh and ah, and I don't know how else to say that is when things happen. You have to be as proactive as you possibly can to fix the problem, but you also can't let it just sit there and linger, and I think that's where vision is at sometimes, or most times, for people is. They will continue to sit in that camping mode on the couch eating bonbons, watching Oprah, and expect something different to happen and I know I use this analogy a lot, guys, but you can't go put out a video on social media and expect it to go viral and you actually be an overnight success. It doesn't work that way. If it does great, I'm wrong, but I don't know very many people that can put out one video and their their hit sensation in their lives change. Don't get me wrong. There's unicorns out there. I get it just like you do in tech, startup and so forth. It's out there, but it happens so rarely. That's why they call them unicorns.
Speaker 1:The rest of us have to be really working at our craft and being able to improve what we're doing on a daily basis, creating a better vibe for ourselves, but also working towards what we want on a daily basis, and I don't think we do that. I think we totally struggle with this aspect, and chasing financial freedom is about that. It's about getting the things that you want, but the other side of that is is putting the time and effort in to get those things and then rewarding yourself by getting them and then being grateful that you earn these things and not keep on going for the next promotion or the next thing that you want. That's chasing the Joneses and we struggle with that. We are never thankful for the things that we have today, and I've done that for a long time and I was struggling with that in probably nine, ten months ago I started really focusing in on my day, every morning, waking up and being thankful for the things that I have my health, my family, waking up, friends roof over my head, bills paid food in my stomach, those type of things. And then I start going into the other things that I'm working on, that I would like to have. I'm thankful for the things that I have today.
Speaker 1:How are you supposed to grow as an individual, as a business owner, as somebody going to work whatever father, mother, aunt, uncle, brother, sister if you don't stop and really think about what you're thankful for each and every day that you have in your life now? Because if you don't really think and stop and smell the roses, as they say, about what you have right now, it doesn't work and you're always chasing the Joneses in this aspect, because the Joneses are never satisfied with what they have and they always are going after things. And that's what I'm talking about is the things, guys. I'm not talking about helping others or really putting others in front of you. When you're whole inside, you have plenty to give, and it's not about those toys that we all want. We want to have the Mercedes Benz or the BMW, we want the big house, we want the big pool and the big backyard and we want this. We want that. We want all the things that go along with it, the high end clothing and the purses and whatever. Those are just things. They can all be. They can all be taken care of and replaced in a matter of seconds when you live beyond your means. So why not be thankful for the things you have today, make goals for what you want to be thankful for tomorrow and start focusing on those things. Not about I got to go buy myself a new Mercedes Benz because I have to have one Because Johnny across the street has one. That's a bunch of crap and you wonder why you continue to struggle on a daily basis with getting to where you want to be in life If you think about it.
Speaker 1:Think about some of the richest people in the world. They give so much more back than they actually take in. That's just repain for all the sacrifice they did. But they've always had that mindset. They always found a way to give back, whether it be 50 or 100 bucks when they were broke and helping somebody else out over hogging all the money. And let's say you're a millionaire, 10 million. Let's say you're 10 times over. How much of that are you giving away? How much is that supporting a charity or something that will help your community? Is that going to your church? Is it going somewhere outside of the country? I don't know.
Speaker 1:But if you're just sitting on it and not giving any of it away or helping others, how are you supposed to grow as a human being, as a business owner, as an entrepreneur or as a W-2 employee, whatever you want to say? There's growth in that, and chasing financial freedom is just that is. You want the freedom. But with those freedoms comes requirements and the requirements are to be good to others. And the way you can do that stewardship is giving some of your money away or providing services or maybe volunteering, whatever the case is. But if you're not doing any of those things and you're always chasing the things in life and you're never satisfied, how are you supposed to get anywhere in life if you just keep on spinning your wheels and you wonder why entrepreneurs, small business owners, get stuck in the place that they're at is because they're chasing the same thing, the squirrel on the wheel mentality. They're just going to keep on doing those circles over and over again.
Speaker 1:By all means, that has been me, and through this project on Baird Park and the ups and downs that we've had, I am blessed with a great construction crew, a great team leader, a great general contractor that have really made life easy and it's really starting to come together. To say that I'm not nervous or worried about what's happening in the market is an understatement, but they take a lot of that pressure off me to make this all work and by making it all work, they're allowing me to focus on the things that I need to focus in on, and that is sales on the front end, working with the sales team, making sure that we've got people going, getting people signed up for mortgages and getting them funded and making sure they qualify, and all that Making sure they're getting the right down payment assistance if they qualify for it. There's just so many other aspects of this project that I haven't spoken about and I deal with on a daily basis and to say I'm overwhelmed at times I am, but I find a way to get through it and that's starting my day outright, making sure I write a list of things that I need to accomplish, but it's also being thankful for the things that I have in life today as we speak. Now, don't get me wrong I'm out there making sure that I'm putting out that we're going to get these sold by the end of October, putting the right families in to make sure it's a right match in a fit, but also we've got 14 properties to develop, ensuring that I've got focus on the future to where the families that could come in in these other 14 properties excuse me, other 13 properties will be the right fit. Also in getting in front of the right people that can help us grow, because this is a growth item or action that needs to happen.
Speaker 1:I don't need to know the how. I need to know the who in this process. The how can be figured out by the who, and that is something I've struggled with for some time now to where. Having the who has been elusive to me, and the who is typically people or a person that is going to do the job for you, that have the skill set to take this on and focus on it full time realtors, for example. That's a who that I need to have in my corner, which I have two of them and my goal is to make sure that they understand that we're here, we're ready to go and it's now. It's been go time for several weeks now. We've had an open house, we've had interested people. We're almost done with that first house. The second house is that framing and going to have a roof on it. It'll be wrapped here very quickly this week. It's moving along in. The third house will start going up quickly, moving on.
Speaker 1:The how is where it's always tripped me up because I'm trying to figure out how to get there. If I eliminate the how and I go look for the who that has that skill set, I feel like I'm not, feel I am more successful than looking for the how because the how is I'm trying to figure it out. I'm wasting time when I can find somebody that is an expert or has somebody that you know is an expert in that space and I would probably gain. I would probably say I can only say that homing so many times probably say I can probably guess a nice repetitive right that a lot of the challenges that I've had in my small business entrepreneur journey has been fighting how versus who and I've always tried to figure out the how instead of the who. Now it's all about who. Who can help us get these houses sold? Who's going to help us develop the block? Who's going to help us advertise the block? Who is going to attract the families into the block?
Speaker 1:I can't worry about the how, because it ties me down for so long to where I don't get an opportunity to focus on the today stuff, to where I I'm strategic in my thought process. I'm strategic in who I am for the day and what I'm going to do to really close out the day. When I say close out the day, it's more about getting stuff done and making sure that I'm accomplishing the things that I am the who on. So focused on the who for myself will be the best way I can describe this as being effective in my daily work routine is something I've lacked Straight up. I've lacked and I've really sat down and started focusing on what I can impact from a who perspective, from my expertise, and then I have to find others that can handle the who for me, because it's been a struggle, to say the least, and part of the who versus how is also a limiting mindset problem too, because when I think of who versus how, I think of money. You need money for the who and the how is most of the time me doing the work, so it's not money, it's time. So I don't value my time as much as I do the money, and my time is probably not. Probably it is more valuable than the money Because I could be doing things that change the business, and that has been probably one of the biggest struggles, challenges, obstacles I've had in this process of being a small business owner is understanding who versus how.
Speaker 1:And now that I'm I don't say I'm 100% on board, because I'm still learning, I'm still struggling with it I still catch myself screwing up stuff. I have to find a way to make the who happen every single day, otherwise stuff doesn't move, we don't get stuff done and we fail and it's all on me and there's nothing else I can do about that. So making sure I have the who in place is a big deal, and the only way I know how to solve this is sitting down every single day and writing out the things I need to accomplish and then figuring out who's my who before I figure out the how. If the who is me, then I've got to figure out the how, but more and more things on this list. I typically do six to eight things a day. More and more things on this list are not me. I am not the who. I am actually the person that's going to hand out the directions or what do you want to call it roadmap to the who.
Speaker 1:A good example is I finally found a VA that can really help us on the social media side around video and being able to be effective with that and taking that off of my plate, because I was spending probably 45 minutes to an hour and a half daily just on social. So if you put an hour back in my day, what can I do with it? I could be reaching out to realtors telling them about what we're doing on Bayard Park. I could be reaching out to renters or potential home buyers letting them know that we have stuff on the block. I could also be reaching out to other builders in the area letting them know what's going on and what are they up to, so I can hear some trends. There's just so many things I could be doing from that perspective that it makes more sense for me to focus on the who and not the how.
Speaker 1:And don't get me wrong, I've gone through several VAs for this, but that also is a problem. Deciding between the how and the who and making sure that you have things set up properly for your VA or whoever the who is is critical. And having an onboarding process with job to add I don't even want to call it job descriptions, I would call it working requirements and then the job description came from their experience and what they could do, and they had to show that to me. And then we work through the process, and one of the biggest things that I've seen from working remotely with a VA is communication. Staying up on communication is key. I don't have a problem communicating. The VAs are not used to having somebody that does communicate with them, and that's a challenge. I want to know what you guys are doing. I'm not trying to micromanage it, but I'm also trying to learn what you're doing on a daily basis so I can be more effective with my time and also give you the who on stuff that I'm trying to do Period. It just works so much easier that way.
Speaker 1:So, guys, I rant it for a while. I know this has been. I know it's been on and off with guests. I just have had some guests that have had a reschedule because of holidays or family emergencies. I'm booked all the way out to April, so I will keep as many guests on as I possibly can, or if they can't, I'll come on and you guys can hear me talk and I'll be straight up honest with you guys. But I enjoy having these conversations every so often, just from simple fact. I like to tell you guys what's going on and let you guys know that, hey, I'm still here and there's still struggles and I'm just being transparent with you guys. That's it. If you like it, great. If you don't, great also. I understand that. But I'm just being as transparent as I can. It's a journey I'm on and I've said that from day one that I would actually be transparent in everything we do. All right, guys, I hope you guys have a productive short week and I'll see you guys on the other side.
