Part Two Of Our Story: The Ebbs And Flows Of Business Growth, Ep #010

The learning curves of business growth can be difficult, but it was something we truly enjoyed overcoming together. We were seeing some success and hiring staff to keep things on track. In this episode, we continue where we left off and cover the next seasons of our lives. We’ll take you from building our business to selling it off, and where we are today.

Highlights From Our Conversation

  • [0:50] Part 2 of our life story
  • [3:10] Started selling off some properties and “rehabbing” others
  • [10:15] We realized we are not operators and managers
  • [16:36] Wins, pains and lessons learned
  • [20:33] We sold remaining properties and started to simplify life
  • [23:20] Where our journey to clarity started
  • [29:50] “Spring cleaning” and work transitions
  • [38:00] Brought everything in house and hired top tier players
  • [43:00] What our lives look like and why we do what we do

Business growth was our catalyst for change

As our business continued to grow and we hired more staff we began selling off some of the properties we had been holding and making some decent profit. We dabbled in renovating and flipping houses, which was a whole new world we had to learn. We also purchased an 18-unit rental property and built our portfolio to over 90 units.

This time period was hard on us and we went through a lot of ups and downs. We took a vacation to Greece and Italy for a month. In that time we also moved offices and purchased a home that was a fixer upper. Trying to hire and train multiple people and having them slip through the cracks was wearing us out. Listen on as we talk about how we realized it was time to make some serious changes.

Give yourself permission to live your life differently

As ironic as it is with us working in real estate, we did not like being homeowners. We hated the maintenance, the work and inconvenience of it. So we took a huge step, ignored what anyone else might think, and sold our home. From here on out, any time we haven’t been satisfied with our environment, we move somewhere else. At this point in time we found a place right behind our office that made life so much more convenient.

We learned a lot about what worked for us and what didn’t. Most of all, we learned that we didn’t have to fit into a box someone else had created for us. But we didn’t know what that meant for us yet. Ray was working all the time and I was home with our 4-month-old daughter. Despite not being involved in the everyday work of the business, I still heard about the ups and downs every single day. The business was no longer serving us, but we were serving it. Keep listening as we discuss our biggest wins, paind, and what we’ve learned!

Our transition into a simpler lifestyle where we found clarity

We decided to transition out of our business as it was—we needed to let it go. We began to sell off rental properties and slowly let staff go as we eventually closed down our office. We made more of a profit on our work during this time closing this business then in the years we had been running it! We knew it was the right decision for us in this season.

After the business was no longer consuming every bit of our lives, we realized how much we had let ourselves go. Our personal development had waned, and our relationship wasn’t as strong as it could be. Our journey towards clarity really began here. We began investing in mastermind groups and reclaimed our health. Continue listening as we talk about another move, “spring cleaning”, and transitioning into a better business for us.

The #1 reason why money does matter

The growth of our business eventually led us to the realization that training and managing people just wasn’t for us. So we transitioned into our loan business, which gives us steady monthly cash-flow and more time to do the things we want. We believe that time is our most valuable asset and we are now able to use our time towards things like creating this podcast. Our passion lies in helping other people, especially couples, and somewhere along the way we had lost the ability to do so.

Now we have time to take some of the money we’ve earned and invest it towards worthy pursuits. So often, people say that money doesn’t matter. But it does. Money allows us to make an impact, and leave a legacy for our daughter. Listen to the remainder of this episode as we talk about some ways we’ve recently used our newfound time and money, and encourage you to take steps to start living the life you desire.

Resources & People Mentioned

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