What's up everyone. This NIyi Adewole, Host of the Ekabo home financial freedom mastermind group. This group meets virtually every Wednesday at 7:00 PM Eastern and the members of this group are committed to achieving financial freedom. Well before the traditional retirement age. So in this podcast, you are gonna get VIP access to the conversations we have about different forms of investment and creative ways to get your dollars working harder for you.
Then you originally worked to obtain those dollars. First and foremost, I just want to introduce our guest for this week. Nosa ewe, who is a former collegiate national champion, a TEDx speaker, social entrepreneur, real estate investor. And he's the founding partner and CEO of the prolific Institute. If you did not notice his back. NOA. Thank you so much for joining us tonight. Yo ne I I'm, I'm, uh, I'm definitely full of gratitude. I, uh, appreciate you having me.
Um, my allergies, um, I think in the midst of coming from back to Chicago in 35 degree weather in snow and April got me with a little bit of a stuffy nose. So, um, I apologize to the listeners listeners in advance for, uh, how, uh, how nauseated I sound, but I appreciate you having. Of course, of course. And having lived in Chicago and witnessed snow in may. I'm, I'm just happy that, uh, that you're safe right now, man. It's a, it's, it's a real thing. It's a real thing, man.
But, but you know what, man, we're, we're full of gratitude. Like I said, man, and, um, I'm just appreciative to be joined by company. Like you. Hey, come on now, come on now. And on this call, we're gonna dive into a lot of your background. You and I have had so many, one off conversations where I've just learned little tidbits and gems, and I've been implementing that in my life. So I'm excited for everybody else to get a piece.
Okay. And really wanted to take it back a little bit and jump into kind of before you got into the business and entrepreneurial world. Just talk about your athletics, right? Yeah. And kind of what you were able to accomplish and, and kinda, um, playing on that highest stage. Do you mind taking us through how you got to your Alma mater? Yeah. Yeah, man.
I try to make it quick, but, uh, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm Nigerian American, um, you know, grew up with a really awesome dynamic, uh, from a family perspective, you know, I grew up in Dallas, Texas, where I was very much in, in need. You can attest I'm sure, but I, I grew up very much in a Nigerian home, you know, as Nigerian as it gets, you know, uh, within the walls of the egg, Y family. In Dallas, Texas. But when I stepped outside of the home, I grew up with a true black American experience.
Um, and I think that at a young age, what that taught me was just the, the, the uniqueness, the uniqueness of people, um, just how we all come with our own story on our own journey. And, you know, a lot of the things that we do we learn, um, and I think it taught me also the. Um, the willingness to, to, to appreciate the differences, um, and not choose a side.
So what I mean by that is, um, I felt like I was always forced like, oh man, oh, you know, you've heard the, the saying as African booty scratcher and all this, and like, oh, I need to be as black as possible.
Right. But then like, You know, I've, I've also heard this dynamic from a, you know, growing up in a Nigerian home where it was like, you know, you're Nigerian, you're not black, this stuff, you know, those type of things, I necessarily did hear that in my home, but you know, that that energy exists. And I've always been able, man, since I was a kid to, to, to hold space for both sides of me and, um, You know, I think it's, uh, it's something that I still hold onto today.
And I know you talked about the athletic piece, but that kind of, kind of coincides with that. You know, when I stepped into sport, um, I was the biggest kid at the cc's pizza, so I had to start playing football and, uh, I thought I was gonna be a running back. And then on, on, on the, on the way, days was, is absolutely disrespectful to a kid, right? I mean, talk about trauma.
I'm still gonna to therapy, um, talking it through with my therapist, but on, on way day, it had to be over a certain weight to touch the football. And, uh, I was 15 pounds over and they put the, they, what we call the fat sticker on the back of my helmet. I hope they don't do this to kids. And, um, I got, I got the fat sticker on the back of my helmet. I go from playing running. To the next day playing center and de tackled.
I never left de tackle for the rest of my career, a defensive line for the rest of my career. And, um, You know, football was everything. But I think because I was, uh, was really good at it, um, because I dedicated so much time to it.
Um, people tried to box me into only being a football player, and I think that aspect of holding space for multiple aspects of me, um, really, really showed up into my life after sport, but successful career, um, had a chance to realize, um, and become who I said I was gonna be, um, at the age of, uh, Um, second grade, I said I was gonna be a NFL football player and became that and, um, got a chance to play at the highest level. Um, got a chance to win a national championship.
Um, little brag, man. Um, the only player in a Auburn university history ever starting two national championship games, um, at two different positions. Um, I maximized my gifting. I ran a five flat, a 40, um, I was six through two 70 in the S C. Um, but I, I, I wanted it more than most. And I maximize my talent because of the process. So that's a little bit about my story and my journey growing up. No, that's incredible, man. It's incredible.
And, and I can relate to that kid in the CCS, cuz I was, I was too happy to go play running back too, man. They had me on the yeah. You know, they had the, the under one 10 team or whatever it was. I was in the, I was on the regular team. oh man. Dog. What dog? You gotta gimme some tips, man. Cause I haven't even been able to drop the plane. I'm still there, man. I'm still in fat. Hey, come on now going on. Nah, nah, nah, man. I'm just trying to keep up with you, man.
I've seen you with the, with the suit wear, so I'm like, Hey, I got, I gotta, I gotta get notes somehow, man. So, Hey, come on, man. I hear you. I hear you. No, no, but this is I thank you for diving into your background, cuz it shows a lot of the drive and some of the passions and, and I can feel the energy just radiating off you. When you talk about, you know, kind of this journey to that highest level and what you were able to achieve on the football.
Both in college, as well as making it to the NFL is a dream that a lot of athletes have to make it to that professional level. But the next step is, and, and my hardest step is at some point, your career is going to end, right? At some point, you're going to have to stop playing that sport, whether because it's physical or other reasons, and you have to be able to move on from there and continue living life. We can both name many examples of people that haven't been able to make that transition.
Uh, but you're one of the folks that I look to as, Hey, this is an example of somebody that's successfully made that transition and is using that passion to Excel on the other side. And before we even get into the transition and, and kind of the difficulties and how you're able to do that, I wanna dive into from your athletics and from your career, what are some of the things that you believe were transferable moving into the regular world? Post athletics. That's a good question.
Me. Um, you know, it's, it's funny. I, I do this work, um, every day, uh, it came from my story and it, and it, and it led into impact that then led into purpose. And I think that, um, you know, one thing that I tell athletes that I get a chance to speak to now is what's your carryover. Um, what are you taking from this? Be selfish, take something, but know you're taking something. So what I like to do is frame it like a question, what are you taking from this?
And then make sure that they understand that they're taking something. And what that does is it really puts the onus on them because you're not always gonna have the support and the resources that you have at the art at Auburn university. But what you will have is what did you do with the resources and the support? Did you fully take advantage of one of the biggest things? I would say, man, if somebody was asked me, what's your, what's your superpower? No, I'm, I'm resourceful as hell, man.
I'm take advantage of everything they said no. So you can get extra time in your test, check, hand it over. Right. like, you know, they said, they said, they said, you can get the, you can get, you can get the tutor. You can get the tutor. That's the teacher's assistant. Come on. Yeah. Lemme take advantage. Right. And it was the same thing on the football field.
Everything that I could have took advantage of, I did, I made the most out of my opportunity and, um, you know, I try to make sure that, that, that young boys and girls understand that, um, that, that you will take something and, and it, and it may be a great habit and may be a really bad habit. And if it's a bad habit, habit, are you willing to do this? Are you willing to know that you're the problem? Know that you'll be the answer and know that if you're not the answer.
You're gonna continue to be a problem. So it's, um, it's something that I'm like just, um, extremely passionate about just the, the willingness to be self-aware the, the willingness to be self corrective, um, and the willingness to have grace through it all. And, um, Man. I took so much away from my, my experience in football. Um, but probably nothing bigger than just the willingness to be resourceful.
Mm. And that's powerful because literally I, I phrase it a little differently, but it means the same thing. Yeah. You can tell hustlers from, from non hustlers, right? Yeah. And the way I de define that is those that can work through ambiguity and still get the job done. Mm that's good. In a lot of situations, you can see the end goal or. Hey, we know we want to get to the national championship from an athlete perspective. We wanna win that trophy. Right.
Um, the coach is only gonna be there a certain amount of time during the day to hold you accountable. It's really up to you and your teammates to hold each other accountable when you're spending time with each other and figure out a way to get to that end goal. And the same goes for things that you're working on in life. Yeah. And one thing that I'll mention that relates very well to your story. Is you worked for a very long time.
You mentioned you dedicated so many hours and years to the sport to become great at it and Excel on the field and make it to the highest level. And a lot of people don't wanna put in that work. They see the end result and say, Hey, I just wanna be there as opposed to the grind that gets you there. And I just want everybody to be able to rewind the last, you know, couple minutes and listen to what Noah said and his story about how we got. And, and realize that that's the key. It's not yeah.
You know, just being put on the stage it's preparing for so that when you do get that opportunity, you can take advantage of it. Yeah. Yeah. Mean I add to it, right. I think there's, there's this aspect of finding your purpose. And I was sitting with a client a couple weeks ago, me and my business partner. And, um, he, he dropped a dime on this, you know, Jimmy was like, you know, everybody talks. He was like, he was talking about our work at prolific.
And he was like, man, what I love about your work is you're you're saying go do the work. And watch that when that, when you do the work, your purpose will find you, you don't find purpose. And I said, damn, that's good, right? Because at the end of the day, man, you, you sit around in a room and you say, I'm waiting for my purpose to find me, guess what you're gonna become. Your purpose is gonna be laying, laying on the couch.
But if you go and you do the work, even if it's a day job, even if it's, we talk about this all the time, even if it's, even if it's something that you, you, you know, it's not your forever. Are you willing to do the work so you can find purpose? Cause if you're willing to do it, you'll find it a hundred percent agree, a hundred percent agree. It's literally being so good at whatever you're doing that you can Excel become masterful at it. And you'll find a love.
You'll find something within whatever you're doing that you can get passionate about. And eventually it'll allow you to kind of create your own space to work where you want to work. And so one of the things that we mentioned a little earlier is the transition that you were able to make into the business world. Yeah. And I know a couple people right from back in the day that were pursuing the NFL, they, they didn't make it for some reason. They went to maybe an arena league, things like that.
They were kind of bouncing back and forth trying to figure it out and never made that transition to where now they feel as if they're behind. But you had a completely different story. You actually had an opportunity to continue living out that dream and continue on the NFL, but you, you said no. And went the business route. What, what was the impetus behind that decision? Yeah, man, quick, uh, quick shameless bug again, man. It was prolific.
Um, but, but before it was prolific, um, before prolific had a name, it was, uh, it was, it was the fact that I found, um, I found purpose in, in the, in the, in the transition. Uh, I went through a really tough time transitioning from sports, man. It wasn't easy. Um, I wanted to play the league for 10 years. And, um, when the opportunity came about with the Oakland Raiders and the story that you mentioned, you're you're, you just spoke to, um, I knew the coaches that were there.
Mike Tyson loved me in Atlanta when I was with the Falcons. Um, coach Smith loved me when I was with the Falcons and when they offered me the free agent deal, there wasn't a. It wasn't a, an inch of me that didn't think that I was gonna make that team, but it was also in that same light. I knew for a fact that I was done and I remember praying on it and I remember calling my agent. I was like, Hey, I'm, I'm done. And he was like, what? He like, no, I been pack your bags, come to Oakland.
And I said, no, I'm done. I said, um, I'm gonna make this, uh, I'm gonna make this transition from, from, from sport. I'm gonna have incredible success in the corporate room. And I'm gonna ensure that other athletes transition more seamlessly than I do. That's my work man. And, um, you know, it took a while for it to shape into what it is now. Um, but I knew for a fact that like I was gonna figure it. Trailblazer isn't easy.
And that's why truly prolific exists because I think that it's not, I think, I think what, what I like to talk about is equitable development. If you provide the same level of resources and support and clarity and access for people, you'll see who rises to the top. Unfortunately, we don't provide that same level of equity. We expect some people to have all the resources and support. And we expect others to figure it out when they don't have those same resources.
And, um, I think that's, what's led me into who I am and what I do and what I'm passionate about. But also I think that, you know, it's a larger conversation and I'm just trying to play my part. So yeah, man, I, I gave up football at 23. It was my line in the sand moment. And, um, I didn't necessarily know how I was gonna get there, but I knew that there was a plan for me. Um, and, um, you know, the plan found me, it led me to a Ted talk stage.
It, it has given me the opportunity to do what I do now on a, on a, on a, on a level that I don't even know if I can truly fathom how big it's gonna be, but I know I'm in it. That's, that's incredible. That's amazing. And, and seriously, one of the things that I commend you on is a lot of people can be that one person that makes it out, right. That one person that makes that transition and continues to Excel within their career.
But you stopped for a second and said, Hey, how can I look back and opened the door for others to have this opportunity? And, and you've mentioned it a couple times. And, and for those that are watching this on YouTube, you can see. On the screen, but would you mind just reading that slogan that's behind you for prolific? Yeah, man. So if I could move outta the way, somehow I D. Built by the athlete for the athlete. What, what does that mean to you?
you know what, man, I get a chance every day, man, to alongside a team of former athletes, agents. Have been able to realize success in whatever way that is, right. It's super relative, but we've all been able to realize success in our own, in our own lanes. And, you know, we started to do the work really on the basis of, we want to create a space where access development and an agency is given to individuals that have the high capacities that deserve it.
Given to the individuals that we know that we've seen along the way to the needs, the Justin Garretts, right? Justin woo. These individuals that were given an opportunity and they took advantage of it. What happens if there's more access and opportunity for individuals to do that? Um, and it's something that, um, We're extremely passionate about the prolific Institute.
So we work with the athletes, um, you know, uh, across both the professional realm and the collegiate realm that are making the transition into life after sport. And we partner with, um, tech and biopharmaceutical companies and, um, business development roles to, um, ensure that they have, um, opportunities. Um, and we partner with those companies really under the premise of, um, the diversity, talent, acquisition, and strategy in order for them to be able to just keep up with the times.
Very frankly, By 20, 30, 50 4% of the workforce in America will be people of color, right. These cold hard statistics. And, um, if a company doesn't have a diversity strategy at the first world of the professional ladder, if they're not building out the pipeline for the future, what are they doing? It's true. It's true. And, and that stat is one that I. Was exposed over the last couple years and, and more and more companies are starting to develop teams to attack this.
So the fact that you're able to help them and pool some of these athletes that may have a similar background to you into these opportunities is incredible. And so when you talk about prolific, right, from a athlete's perspective, what are they gaining? How are they even getting in contact with you to, to go down this journey and make that transit. Yeah, man. It's crazy, man. We've been at, we've been doing the work since 2019.
Um, and you know, while, while starting the work, while us really engaging with it, we realize that the first step of this work isn't that we build up it's that we build down. So wee big portion of what we do is we provide emotional development resources and support built out the first and this kind trans transitional care framework that really focus on the five pain points associated with the athlete transition.
Built that over, um, over a hundred hours of observational research, two of my partners are mental illness, practitioners, one, the psychiatrist, the other is a therapist. And, um, we coupled that with professional development resources, true upscaling being able to not just provide, um, A framework around, around, you know, what you need to do in an interview, but what are your strengths and what do you bring to the table on day one?
And how can you live in your strengths in order, in, in a way that can create room for you. And that can make teams better. Big goal that we have is that we want our fellows to leave rooms better when they leave than when they found them. So, um, I guess, you know, to find us, um, you can go to of course, prolific institute.com.
Um, we have, uh, running cohorts, um, that, uh, happen quarterly and, um, we get a chance to impact incredible athletes, um, that, uh, are looking to make a powerful pivot, uh, will be doing a lot more storytelling here in the, in the next, uh, couple months to document some of the stories and the impact that we created. Um, but the easiest way to find us to store our. Done and done. We will definitely tag that in the show notes. And, and one thing that I, I wanna dig into if you're willing.
Yeah. Yeah. You mentioned five pain points that you try to address for these athletes that are making that transition. What are some of those pain points? Some of the typical ones. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, it, it starts with self. We've identified as that, um, when you become an expert at something like a lot of our athletes do, right? We, we talk about the 10,000 hours and, um, you then have to pivot and you can't do that anymore. It's, it's extremely tough.
And in research, what we actually compared it to was an executive spending 30 plus years in the corporate world. Right. It's a similar transition. And, um, for us, we try to make sure that people are aware and call it for what it is. You don't trust yourself in this space, but in the order for us to influence, change upon something and we have to recognize it and we have to attack it. Second is emotions and relationships.
Um, It's a big, um, when you are unsure of yourself, a lot of times your emotions can get the best of you. So how can you control that? How can you create space for you? Boundaries, things of such sec. Uh, third is, um, self identity and self. It's uh, something that shows up really big for us because to the trust piece, um, who do you perceive yourself to be? What's your carryover? Do you know? You're great because if you don't know, then you should know.
I like to say that our, our program it's all digital, um, fully automated, uh, through, um, our, our prolific app is, is an opportunity for, um, an individual to hold a mirror so closer and face that they eventually grab it. That's our work. Um, so that's our self identity and self perception piece, uh, for his, uh, social, uh, environment. Um, a big thing that showed up for me when I was transitioning from sport was, um, I hated going to the store.
When I got cut from Atlanta, I went back to Auburn. Cause everybody in the store was saying, hang on. So what, what are you doing here? How you on the team? What team are you going to next? So being able to navigate that, it's not easy. And then, uh, trauma and, uh, the trauma piece is really important actually is probably the most important piece. But sport is a, um, is an escape mechanism.
So for a lot of individuals that suffer trauma and traumatic experiences, uh, being cut can be one of 'em. I was cut on national TV, on a show called H HP, uh, HBO. It's not easy, but, um, I've had teammates that went through far cover things than me and sport was their escape mechanism. So what happens with that escape mechanism no longer exist. There's still trauma. So we gotta solve that and we gotta create, um, mechanisms for us to be able to handle that. So that's the, the five pin points?
No, that was, uh, that was powerful, man. And I'm so happy that you, you shared that with us. I can say that, you know, I never made it to that highest stage. Right. I just played college ball up in the Northeast and yeah. Very cool. Hey, come on now to you. It have nothing on Auburn, but Hey, we, we were trying up there, man. Yeah, we got a better, better, better degree. Yeah no, and it, and it, literally, I went through a lot of the things that you just described, right?
That self-trust piece. When you've been playing a sport and thinking, Hey, I'm gonna go to the top. This is what I'm gonna be doing for, you know, X amount of years. It's hard to transition and put that energy into something else, really for that first year. I kept watching games on TV. Like, man, I could still get in there. And then after about two years it was like, all right, I know I can't get in there. I'm gonna get, yeah, I'm done. I'm done. I ain't taking no more double teams.
I'm done coach, you know, that type of deal. Right? Yeah. And the other piece that you mentioned is that social environment, right? For so long, you're known as the athlete, you know, people are asking about, you know, how the game go, et cetera. Mm-hmm mm-hmm and now you're not that piece. You've got to reidentify yourself. As, you know, a powerful individual that can accomplish goals and, and really continue to make an impact on this world outside of athletics.
So, yeah, I'm so happy that you're addressing that. Cuz this is a piece that holds a lot of people back, as you mentioned. Yeah, for sure, man, for sure. That's big. It shows up a lot and it's not just, we, we talk about transitional care. There's the reason why we say athlete transitional care. Right.
You know, this shows up a lot for, um, some of our fellows that have been, um, you know, women, you know, trying to reincorporate themselves into the workforce, you know, after having a child, um, you know, army veterans, you know, there's, there's a lot of individuals, you know, we met a gentleman that, that, that spent 10 years, uh, at Jorey in New York doing, doing ballet. And then it's no longer, um, an ideal for that. So, so who am I outside of that? Right.
So it shows up a lot for a lot of people, and that's what we see kind of from a, um, you know, addressable market perspective, just how big of our work can. Absolutely. Absolutely. And I want to continue talking about this all day, but you've, you've gone so much. Yeah. I know the real estate piece. We got a lot to cover man. Five minutes, come on now.
So to that point, transitioning to the real estate piece in between all of this in between joining a fortune 500 healthcare company and excelling while launching prolific and continuing to grow that business, as well as doing the TEDx, we haven't even talked about that yet. You've been investing in real estate along the way. And you've picked up a couple properties.
And I don't know if I've mentioned it on this podcast before, but no se way is actually the person that inspired me to get into short term rentals. He was doing it way before I was. Um, I was hearing the numbers. I was like, Hey man, let me get in this game real quick. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So no, how did you get into real estate? And, and can you take us through that journey? Yeah, definitely.
Um, you know what man it started, so, you know, back I'm a storyteller, um, and I'll be quick, but I I'll never forget. We were in around lake man and, um, we were having a conversation with I, and I believe it was after work. Um, and, um, We, we, we, we just kind of set out course on some things that we, we knew were important for us. And very early off, I don't know if you mentioned the word freedom, but I knew we understood the power of real estate.
And I remember knowing what it was, but not really knowing what it was. I didn't know the difference between an asset and liability. Um, but I knew. You know, my mom was a real estate agent growing up. I knew she was also a landlord. Like I knew that there was power there and I knew I wanted to be a part of it.
You opened my eyes, um, in regards to reading rich at qu in regards to starting to get into the bigger pockets podcast, starting to get reps before I needed to get rest and something that I reached today because I spent two. Three years, um, educating myself before I stepped in. And I think that people start to learn about whole assets might be, let me jump into it right now.
Just. Think that there's a, there's an aspect of learning that needs to take place just the same way you went to university, same way you went and got 12 years of education growing up as a kid, you have to educate yourself. And I know I didn't get as many reps as you, but I remember in 20 15, 20 16, you were, you know, showing me how to, you know, essentially, you know, put a deal together. Right. And this is before you had a deal, but you were able to take advantage of calculators.
You were able to take advantage, um, to see truly what. Get your reps in before you had to truly get your reps in. And I think that that's kind of, that was, that was my, that was my start into real estate. Got my first feeling, uh, 2018. And, um, you know, I wish I could be the one that could step up here and say, yo real estate is awesome, man. It's been amazing. I got this property, that property jump in. And unfortunately those are how a lot of stories go. People don't take the true process.
And, um, when I went through the experience, I think I've been hustled in every aspect of a real estate deal. I've a real estate agent I've contractor on multiple occasions, but I'm still here and I have cash loan properties. and I'm gonna pass these properties down to my kids one day and they're gonna be paid off by other people's money. Have I've had sleepless nights?
Yes. Has it been extremely difficult to go through some of the things I've went through financially because of the decisions I've made? Yes. But all those decisions, bad decisions or lessons or lessons. And I probably the second thing after being a resourceful from football, probably the second thing that's the carryover that I was speaking to earlier is I don't make the same mistake, so I won't ever make the same mistake to get a bad real estate agent. I'll never go to a house twice.
Cause the sales agent got me with that one all first deal. Um, I'll never only go into a deal with one. I'll always have to, um, huh. I'll I'll have tough conversations before things, um, hit a boiling point that showed up in my last deal. I'm growing through it. Think I would've said different things couple a few weeks ago. Um, but my last deal. Well, put me in a place that was tough.
It, uh, I understand how people get into financial situations when they, uh, they, they land under two of depression. Um, I didn't get that far, but I went through a tough time, you know, navigating, um, a deal that I was involved in with somebody I considered the best. We're no longer friends. And that probably hurts way more than the losses that I took financially, but I'm better for it.
I'm better for it because I can see that there was some things that I made, some decisions that I made in that deal that truly weren't aligned and some things that I did in that deal that truly weren't aligned with who I know I am. Me. I live at the top five and anytime I feel like I'm out of alignment, I go back to my five things and I say, where I look at decisions, I'm looking at my financial statements and I say, I gotta be able to pinpoint 'em back to my top five things.
If I can't pinpoint it back. I'm out of alignment and in a lot of ways in that last skill, I was out of alignment, unfortunately, but, um, you know, it's still, uh, a, a cash flowing short term rental property. Um, I'm doing really well with it and we can get into the details of that if we have time. But, uh, you know, the, the real estate piece has been important to me. Why? Because it's, it's going to gimme freedom. Absolutely financial freedom, true freedom.
And I really want to break down a lot of what you just said, cuz there was gems throughout. Right? What are the things that you mentioned and it kind of relates back to what you were saying around the willingness to work. Is a lot of people, you know, they share their highlights, you see it on Instagram. I do the same. Right. I'm sharing highlights most of the time. Hey, you share some of the lows of school. God appreciate. Yeah, no doubt.
You know, I don't wanna, I don't wanna bring everybody else's day down. So I keep some of the lows myself, but I do share some, yeah. It's, it's one of those things where you have to have the willingness to just find a way to work through different issues. Cause you're not gonna know what problem's gonna pop. Mm. And the way to keep going is what you just mentioned, right? Yeah. It's not focusing on that one tree in the forest. It's taking a step back and seeing the full range and the picture.
And what about was legacy, right? Yeah, the fact that 20 years from now, 10 years from now, 15 years from now, you're gonna be able to pass that down to your kids. Mm, right. Or way later down the road and much more. And it's gonna be worth probably double, triple what it is now. Yeah. So, so what I, I do the same when I'm getting down or I see like, Hey, this isn't going, right. You know, something's wrong again with this house, I gotta replace a roof the other day.
Uh, I, I thought I was gonna be good. Right. I was doing, uh, a renovation on the unit and while they were renovating it, there was a leak through the ceiling. So I said, okay, let me call my roofer. He gets out there, starts messing around and says, Hey man, this whole thing needs to get ripped. That's gonna cost 6,500. I said, okay, let's, let's get it done. He gets the shingles off and realizes that all the wood underneath is routed. Cuz it's it's original. So that's gonna be another 3,500.
So call it 10 K is gone and the blink of a eye that I'd get him budget for. And so yeah, long story. long story short, similar to you. The thing you have to focus on is the bigger picture. Five years down the road. Are you gonna be happy that you have this.
And I'm happy to report having gone full circle on my first property, bought it in 2016 for one 90, went through a lot of the same difficulties that we just mentioned, but ended up getting a cash flow asset that started out bringing in 2200 a month. And when I sold it last year, it was bringing in 2,800 a month and I sold it for three 10. So, you know, a hundred K. Plus, whatever you paid down, plus all the cash we got over the years.
That's when you have to think about when you're looking at this real estate game, mm-hmm , I'm so happy that you have the same mindset mm-hmm and are looking that way as well. But to your point, I wanna dive into. Why did you choose the short term rental versus long term rental? What, what was the thought behind that?
Yeah. Yeah. And to finish your thought, you know, I think that that's the importance of the education piece and doing your homework and doing your then and, and getting your reps in there's two aspects of reps. There's reps, you get in practice, and then there's reps you get into the game, both make you the player that you are. When you're in practice, get the rest in because it's gonna help you play a better game, but you're not gonna know everything. And you're going against real players.
We're talking about veterans, we're talking about lenders, real estate agents. We're talking about contractors that do it every single day. Me, you are a pro real estate investor. How many of those have you done? I've done 12. 12 deals. There's people that have done 50 or a hundred deals. Well, a lender does a thousand. A contractor will do a right, so you're not gonna be able to like, like guys go to Vegas. Eventually the house win. All that's so facts. That's why they ended the business.
And quite frankly, there's ethics and code in a lot of industries. There's not a lot of ethics and code when it comes to real estate. I don't say that to say, you know, buyer beware, right? I don't live in a, in this place of fear. I've been through my loss is always ended up winning, but I will say that. Do your work on the front, get your rest, but be willing to make mistakes and be willing to take your wounds during the process. Cause they will come. What was your question? The question.
And, and that was incredible. Thank you for that. Cause it, it makes a lot of sense. . And so I know you did the short term rentals where you did the long term rental for a bit, but then you moved it to short term rentals. Yeah. Why the decision and, and why do you like the St? Yeah, so, so the process was house hacking. Um, so I ended up buying property in 2018. I had two of my guys living with me. I had them. Paying essentially for the mortgage.
Um, a little bit more, um, I mean a little bit of money that I had to put into that. And then I was charging myself, um, rent and essentially I was putting that into the rehab. So for me, that was kind of the strategy that I wanted to kind of start out with. I'm in a very expensive market in Chicago. So, you know, using strategies to amplify returns is something, or just simply to be able to do the work you gotta put down.
Even if you put down 5%, you know, on a $500,000 house, you gotta figure out how you gonna scrap it together. Right. And, and bootstrap, the thing to be able to do the rehab. It takes as well. I try to find a house that isn't necessarily term key, but at the same time, isn't necessarily a disaster. I like to kind of play in the middle, but for me, I think the STR piece, um, really came about because, um, I wanted to amplify my returns. And I am a true businessman.
I like to put systems and processes and plus, and for me, I wish I can take all the credit for what I learned, but there's a gentleman that I'm gonna hopefully help have you put him in, in the show notes, but he, uh, provides these incredible master classes on short-term res and his name is TJs in Houston. He's just a, a beast of, of, of a real estate, uh, investor. And TJ really helped me with the basics. I got started, but I was not comfortable enough to pick, to move outta my, my place.
So I put it up on Airbnb. I then had a friend that was a travel nurse. So I was living at her place for $40 a day. Every time my place was rented. So the place was up on, on the platform for about one 70. I was making about one 30 a course, cause I was paying her to 40. And then after about two months, I realized that it was, it was cash flow. I started to really get hot in my property in Chicago. Um, this was, um, February of March of 2020. And then of course you get hit by the pandemic.
Um, and, uh, I lost all of my bookings, had my most expensive booking I'm right next to a park where they do a big music. And I had my first like $700 book game. And I was like, oh man. And that was on March 16th, March 19th, PTO. Right. Lose all my bookings, but it was able to stay in it, you know, when, um, you know, by the guy I was able to say, okay, and, and by may, everything came back. One thing I love about the SCR approach, because I don't think people fully understand that.
It's not recession proof. I don't know if anything can be recession proof, but for a group and our family to travel to a place and to get a hotel, it is very, very, very economic, taxing, and Airbnb from me. And my strategy is I don't wanna be the rich Airbnbs. That's not my, that's not my place, but I, I do want to have a hospitable, comfortable home. Is gonna be about 15 to 10, 10% cheaper than our riders. And, um, was able to get my second one.
Um, and that is one part, um, shortterm rental, um, due to the, due to the laws in, in Chicago. Um, my other property is a, um, you know, um, is a unit for tribal nurses. Um, so, uh, leverage a app called first finder, which is incredible. Um, definitely put that in show notes and, um, you know, on that I'm able to still amplify my returns.
Probably not as much as Airbnb, but people, especially in city like Chicago are looking for, um, extended say, uh, properties, you know, from anywhere from, uh, three to six, um, to nine months. True. True. And, and to your point, it's, it's being able to pivot because that 20, 20 shut down a lot of people and a lot of people stopped buying and even stopped looking. Right. Because it was, there were some difficulties there. Right.
But for you to find a way to even survive that and continue going, uh, I, I think it's only going to continue to set your unit apart. You mentioned the laws that are coming into place. Uh, I just had my first brush up with that in Atlanta. Thankfully, I've been able to get myself and some of the owners that are property managed for, uh, approved, but it's really gonna limit the supply. And I think just drive up demand for the ones that do make it through. that's incredible.
No say, and, and to that point, you're still pivoting by adjusting to the city laws, using furnish finder to get higher, higher, uh, cash flow than you would if you were to do a month to month rental or a 12 month rental. And, and that's what it takes to be successful in this game, keep pivoting and hang onto the asset. As long as you. Because it's, it's literally like monopoly. Right?
You can have those people that try to travel around the board and collect that 200, but that's not the person that wins the person that wins is the one that controls the most assets mm-hmm and can continue to grow with the inflationary environment that we're in right now. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. A lot of people in the small, last thing, I don't know how much we have, but you know, I think there's. A lot of individuals that see the market. Right.
And they see the incredible returns that I see it I'm like, yo, what? Like, you know, I'm in Miami this weekend, my guy bought a place, um, across the street from the design district 10 unit, um, multifamily. For 125,000 and it's now put 500 in it and it's now worth 2 million. And, um, like, yeah, man, like I definitely want that. Right. But one thing I heard, I think I heard on Biggers is that you can't go chase some appreciation.
You gotta be able to do your fundamentals and you gotta be able to say, Hey, like one, I think the first question to ask yourself, are you willing to live there? Shit hits the fan. Are you willing to say, you know what, let me go live here. Right. Are you willing to charge this over? I think the second is then saying, you know, is your place going to cash flow as a, you know, a regular, you know, 12 month, long term rental? Um, do you have the mechanisms in place for you to be able to.
Turn, what you think should be a flip into an STR into a long term run tool. Right? I think right now it's really sexy to like flip houses, the market's nuts, but market's correct themselves. So I think it's, it's just having your bases covered, being willing to mitigate risk, you know, but at the same time being willing to take risk. Absolutely. Absolutely. And I agree with all three of those points and, and those again, I just want to thank you so much for joining us tonight.
And I, I got one last question for you and it's, it's really around how our audience can help you. What is one goal or something that you're working on, that the people that listen to this podcast can help you with in 2022 man in two man. You know, prolific is everything to me. Um, and, uh, you know, we talk a lot about, you know, being able to be free and to be able to like, just live and, and do your work and do things you're passionate about.
And, you know, I think, uh, prolific is, is, is, you know, my to do that. And, and it's the way that I'm gonna be able to leave this place better than I found it.
And, uh, we're gonna be telling a lot of stories coming up and, uh, you know, just being on the look for lookout for what we're doing, uh, from a social media perspective, follow so LinkedIn, um, we feel like that's a great platform for us to tell our stories, um, and you'll see our website, um, and, and please follow on air and, um, you know, just be willing to share, share stories of, of what happens to the glad in the long arena. I don't think a lot of people talk about.
Um, I think it's epidemic, quite frankly. I think there's a lot of athletes across the globe that, and across the country that, uh, that, that, that leave their hometowns, whether that be, you know, Nashville, Tennessee, or Dallas, Texas, or, you know, the pork beans in Miami or, you know, new Orleans and, and they end up at these universities and they think they're never gonna make, they're never gonna have to go back to their neighborhood ever again.
And unfortunately, because of the systems that we have in place currently, a lot of them end up right back there, four to five years later, and it's a tragedy and it's something that for me, real estate gives me the freedom to be more of our work. R says that is a, is a tool. It's a mechanism. For me, forces me to be able to lean in more to the thing I care about the most. So I think from that perspective, man, um, thank you.
I think, you know, I'd be remiss if I didn't use this platform, this space to just acknowledge you need, you have always been there. Um, you've been a beacon of information for me. You've been, um, you know, you've been this, this, this. This beautiful example, man, of what, of, what it looks like to do work well, you, um, you bring excellence into everything you do. And, um, it's inspiring. I think the competitor me is like, man, I wanna do it too.
Right. But more than that, I think the gratitude in me, which is, which is mostly me, is just super thankful that I know you not. And I, I get to likely so appreciate you, bro. No, I can only echo the same for you. I truly appreciate the example that you set in every way. I love the fact that we can have these conversations offline, right? Thank you. On a daily basis. And that it truly is like that saying iron sharpening iron.
I learned so much from you and I truly appreciate all the time that we do spend and men, I, I know a lot of people are gonna get a lot out of this podcast. I, I, if you didn't hear earlier, you definitely gotta go follow, uh, Nosa as well as his company, prolific Institute on LinkedIn. Social media and check out the, the website, which we'll have in the show notes. And while you're doing that, go ahead and hit that subscribe button on your favorite podcast or YouTube channel.
So you can be updated on new episodes coming out from the, a Cabo home financial freedom mastermind group. No, thank you so much for the time. And we'll definitely be in, in contact here again soon. It's love baby.