Episode 11. Today, we are lighting up how to achieve wealth through real estate. As always the goal on this show is to shine a light on people, strategies, systems, and ideas to help your real estate investing business. The main reason I created this podcast is to introduce you the listener to a multitude of opportunities to create wealth through real estate.
Well, in this episode, I have a conversation with real estate developer, Patrick Henderson and in this interview, he delivers so much value. Not only did we talk about how to achieve wealth through real estate, he gives so much advice about mindset, credit and entrepreneurship. He shares the story of how he left his full time job and began flipping hundred thousand dollar properties to now developing one point $1.3 million luxury homes.
And as a graduate of Tuskegee university, he schools us in the financially lit classroom with an H.B.C.U special edition. And at the end of this interview, he leaves something just for the newbie investors that I think you would like. Here's Patrick Anderson from JMP Start Development Partners. Let's go. Patrick, welcome to lighting up real estate.
Thank you. Thank you for having me.
Well, it is an honor that I have you on the show today. I'm very impressed with what you're doing, how you're teaching and inspiring and influencing so many people. And I just want you on the show today just to , to talk to us about one, like the importance of wealth and getting it through real estate investing and then your business as well and how you are using your business to help others. So let's just dive right into it. Okay. How did you get started into real estate development?
I actually got started in real estate back in 2004. Um, a good college friend of mine stated that, Hey Patrick, you know, my wife's a real estate agent and I know you're interested in investing. So we have a quad , uh , which is a four unit building downtown Atlanta that we would like you to get involved in with us. And I decided to jump out there. I've always been the type of person that, you know, leaped in, grew my wings on the way down type person.
Um, and so with that being said, I jumped all in and you know, I did my first fix and flip , um, obviously with anything or real estate, what can happen will happen. And we ran into a bunch of challenges through that process, but it was a learning situation. You know, my motto is you don't lose, you learn. And so with that being said , um, that was the beginning of my real estate, you know, journey.
Um, I still did my profession on the side and in real estate, you know, as a extracurricular byproduct of that. And then as time went on, I started to get in full time with real estate. Okay. So let's talk about that first.
You said it was a fix and flip. How did you, I guess your finances? Cause that's what everybody always asks about. How did you get the money to get this started? So you said you had another job. So did you just save your money or did you do private lending?
On that particular project? We did private lending. Um, it was allowing us to, you know, work with other investors who were looking to diversify their current portfolio and put money in a deal. So again, when you're raising capital in, you know, different projects or businesses, friends and family round is the most important round. Those are the people who believe in you, who will, you know , really invest in your vision and allow you to be able to move forward.
So that's what we did for that particular deal.
And what did you learn from that deal?
Um , I learned being that, that was my first deal. Um, what can happen will happen? What happened ? I mean, it was crazy because, you know, we were downtown Atlanta. Um, you know, not the, the best particular area, because again, your thought pattern is you buy cheap and you sell high. And so, you know, as we were putting things into the house , um, people were taking it out the back door at night, you know, so we had a lot of theft in the area.
You know, I have stories, you know, galore about the things that happened in my earlier years in real estate. And what you kind of do is you kinda lend upon some of those experiences to help you improve upon them later.
Okay. So with the lessons that you learned , you could have easily just said , forget this, I'm done with flipping, I'm done with this, trying to invest in Atlanta. What made you keep going?
I enjoy it. Um, real estate is a passion of mine. Um, I've been involved in, you know, a lot of different, you know, business opportunities. I used to own an it company. Um, I've did that for over 15 years and it just was a into a means. I was good at it.
I knew my stuff, but real estate, you know, even in the down markets, when, you know, everybody lost their shirt, you know, '07 in '08, you know, I came back into the market back in 2013 and , and, and really embraced it because this is a passion of mine and what I really enjoy doing nice ,
Especially like through your Instagram, I'm just, I could look at your Instagram all day long because you're educating so much. And I'm very impressed with that. So how the, in your opinion, how does one achieve wealth through real estate?
Um , there's various things, you know, and , and I look at the old adage, there's multiple ways to skin a cat. And the same thing goes for real estate, meaning that you can be on the fix and flip side, you can be on the agent side, you can be on the lending side, you can be on the inspection side. There's multiple ways to get involved from a real estate perspective is really what is your niche? What is the area that you believe that you can thrive and give your expertise for me?
I started doing real estate with just your regular, you know, paint, carpet type renovations. And I grew to where I'm doing now, you know, 1.2 to one point $1.6 million homes, you know, and it was a process by which I got there. And so what I try to tell people is to find your area of expertise, find your niche, find the thing that really you're good at and go for it.
So let's talk about your development company.
Sure.
That is amazing. How did you get what made you decide to of course go to this level? Cause like you said, you could have easily just stayed, you know, and doing the typical fix and flips, but to go from one level to that level, like what did you, what was that transformation that took place for you to get there? Cause that's big.
So here here's what my philosophy has always been. It's the same amount of work. It's the same amount of diligence, due diligence that you have to do into a deal when you're doing a hundred thousand dollars deal versus a million dollar deal is just a level of finishes. And so if you take pride in that 50,000, that a hundred, $200,000 deal as you would, as that million dollar deal you'll be successful.
So the transformation point for me was, is that I had graduated from going from, you know , the a hundred thousand dollar, you know, traditional fix and flip. Um , back in 2013, I started doing pop the tops renovations , meaning that I will take you a one story home. I gut it, take off the roof and then w e go up with a second story. And as I started to get more knowledgeable in, y ou k now, my real estate journey, I was able to see that, Hey is no different than doing new construction.
Um, I started doing, you know, you're lighting new construction, you're mid four or $500,000 homes. Um, and then I said, you know what, let me jump out there. Let me get into an area that I know that we'll have to worry about. Some of the , um, the things that you may on a lower end home, you don't have to worry about some of the best depending upon the area that you're developing in.
Um , one of the things that really drew me to the new construction side is , is that I know what I'm getting when I'm into a new home. I know , um, I know it's behind the walls versus doing a renovation. You never know what's going to be behind the walls in that regard. So what has I used to do it by myself? I used to have my own firm, the Henderson equity group, where we used to do just, you know, renovations and some small new construction, but it was just a me .
And as I learned through the ages, as if , if you bring other people along with you, if you teach those around you, you can go much further together. And so I developed a team where we divided up, you know , certain duties and, and basically we found our niche area. We work heavily in the North Decatur area. We do modern construction, modern homes , uh, our traditional purchases, a house that's anywhere between 200 and $350,000 .
We'll tear that down and then we'll add another six or $700,000 budget on there for new construction. And they're generally selling anywhere between 1.1, a 1.2 to 1.6.
Did you have to take any training to do this, or is this a skill and then learning another level of skill. If someone wanted to , to go in the path that you're doing?
I believe in continuing education all the way throughout. Um, for me though, it was a trial and error. It was being in the field. We developed a learning series called the "Lawn Chair Learning Circle", and really it's coined after how I got started in real estate, meaning that I used to hire a GCs. I used to hire contractors and I'd get my lawn chair and I take it to the job site. And I sit there and just watch all day long, watch what each individual trade was doing.
Ask a lot of questions and understand the process. And as time went on, I started to take on, you know , some of those duties myself. So instead of having my general contractor who was, you know, hiring all the individual subs, the electrician, the plumber, the HPAC, or the roof guy, or the drywall guy, I started to get involved in terms of managing that process and doing the hiring myself and really understanding what was right and what was wrong.
But I learned that by being on site , I try to tell people it's about being present, you know, and it's not just, you know, being there and doing nothing, but you're being there onsite, present, and you're watching what is taking place and you're getting involved where you can. And so for, you know, my experience is being onsite and I also take a lot of continuing education courses in terms of real estate.
I'm going to a lot of seminars going to , um, a lot of events, network events, we're real estate professionals and understand the different tools of the trade.
How would it work if I was an investor and I wanted to work with your company?
Um, what I would do is I would ask you to come out on site and I will want to talk to you about what are your goals in terms of real estate? What are the things that you want to get involved in? How involved do you want to be involved? I mean that there's passive aggressive , um , investors , um , and there's active investors. So really which one are you and where do you see that you could be a benefit and value to the team? Meaning are you just investing cash or you invest in cash and time?
Are you investing your credit? Where are you trying to sit within this, you know, equation? And then from there I would, you know, help define a path by which we can move forward. So how early do we have to contact you?
We are working with you in order to , to get a deal going like, is this like three months in the work or a year in the works for this to happen?
Well, I mean, it all depends upon the individual. You know, I've had people who just come to me and , and they just want to be a site and cash investor , um, where they'll come out and, you know, they'll see the project , see what we're doing and say, Hey, I want to invest $20,000 or one of the best 50 or a hundred or whatever the case may be. Um, sometimes people don't have that type of money and they want to, you know, start small and do something. Whereas, you know, it's a $10,000 investment.
So what I do is find a property for them that they may be able to handle some of the operational cash and we give them a return on investment. Then you have those people who actually want to learn how to do what I do. And so we're actually in the process of developing a real estate developers course. What's entailed in that particular course is not just your normal fix and flip , um , and paint carpet, et cetera.
But we're teaching people how to go from soup to nuts from the very beginning of finding the labs , actually understanding how you go about developing the lot. I'm taking it from a developer and builders perspective and not necessarily a fix and flip perspective. Um, we talk about all of the, you know, the permits and the tests , the site tests that you have to do with the phone , the , as best as test to the soil test , we talked through getting site plans, surveys.
We talked through all of the intricate pieces in order to even get to a building permit. Um, we also talked through about how you design your project with the end in mind and how we go from our design sessions with our architects, with our real estate agents in order to produce a product that it can be sold at the end of the day, because it's one thing to do a fix and flip or new build. But if it's not something that the buyer wants , you've wasted your time .
And so in that development course, we're going to talk through the whole process all the way through your certificate of occupancy at the end of the project. When is this course writing? Cause I'm ready to take it. We were actually starting to do our recordings for that. Now of course, for that, we'll be ready to go.
And at the end of June, and we'll have ways that people can take the course virtually, and then we'll have some in person items where people can actually, you know , be in the field with us and watch our projects and be able to be mentored through that throughout that process.
It is possible that we can be in the course and also invest with you at the same time.
Absolutely, absolutely. Um, you know, a lot of times people want to get involved with a real world project. And essentially that is what we're offering, you know, is crazy because one of the reasons why we develop the Lawn Chair Learning Circle was is that a lot of times people go to these real estate courses and they're in a classroom in some hotel, but they don't really get any applicable knowledge as to, you know, how to do it.
And so what happens is it goes in one year, you're really jazzed up, do out the course and the session. And then when you go home, you don't put it to action, you know, without telling me , Hey , you know, people are out there buying those Carlton Sheats programs and things like that back in the day. And, you know, they would never do anything or people would pay 20, 30, $40,000 for real estate courses and it never materializes and actual money back to them.
And so the reason for our Lawn Chair Learning Circle is we bring people onto a real estate site where you can actually touch it, see it, feel it you're actually able to be in the building and understand what is going on. Talk to a lot of our contractors , um , understand, you know, why do we do stuff the way that we do it? What are the stages in order to do the application, et cetera.
So you're pretty much creating the real world situations and getting us out of that classroom. I love it. So what is the minimum amount we need if we wanted to invest with you?
It's a case by case scenario. It all depends upon what , um, the overall objective is for that particular client. Um, so we generally would take consultations with people, you know, talk about your real estate goals and you know, what do you have to bring to the table?
I mean, I've had investors that came to the table with just $10,000 and we found something that was suitable for their particular investment, you know, so it all depends, you know, upon, I also have, you know, two and $300,000 investors, so just depends. Okay.
Okay . Then you mentioned something very important to my ears. You said investing with cash time and credit, right . And you just talk about the importance of credit. Cause I know also that you have experienced in, in credit , uh, I guess explaining credit, not explaining credit, but more so of teaching about the importance of credit or credit repair.
Right? So basically , um, I I've done some courses that I've taught at my Alma mater Tuskegee university and some other places where, how do you actually structure your deals and what are some of the key elements that are needed in order to do so? Meaning what kind of cash do you have in reserves and cash on hand? Um, what is your credit profile look like?
Obviously it doesn't have to be perfect, but depending upon where your credit is, is going to determine, you know, what kind of interest rates and you know, how much money you're able to borrow in order to do some of your deals. In addition to that experience, how experienced are you in , if you're not that experienced, how experienced is your team?
So you have various elements needed in order to be able to craft a deal team is not , if you don't have the experience we need, you've not done any fix and flips, you know, in the last year, or if your team members, you don't have a business partner that has done that. You won't get preferable rates because they look at you as a novice. So there's a lot of things that make up what your interest rate is and how your deal is going to be comprised.
So if you wanted to use our credit to work with you, what should our credit score look like?
It all depends. I mean, it , like I said, it depends upon what we're building. Um, I have some houses that we're building , um , right now and , and the credit traditionally is if I'm using you as a credit partner and we're going to build your real estate portfolio, your real estate experience. So the goal would be is that you would come to the table and then I would help you find a lender that you can buy a house.
I would help you understand, you know, what is needed in order to put the full package together. So therefore at the end of the day, you can buy something that you can afford, that you can do the renovation, and then that can actually be sold on the back side . So it's a full, basic consultation of helping you build your resume.
Nice, nice. So this is how you, you are actually a person that is a , a real estate wealth builder, right? Is that what I'm getting?
That is correct. So let me tell you the reason why. So a lot of times we go to a lot of these banks and you're not able to, you know, get the preferable rates or finances that you're looking for to get your particular deal done. But if I can help empower and help, you know, give knowledge to somebody who's looking to get involved in real estate.
That's allowing me to build my team because now, instead of me going around and you know, doing this single family residence by myself, I can take those people who I've helped empower to build their portfolio up. So now we can go together and we can be the bank. We can buy a block, we can buy apartment building, we can build a subdivision.
And so that's the reason why I am forthcoming with a lot of information to people is because I like to take it as a group economics type perspective, but we can go much further together in person go on their own
Like screaming. Cause this is everything, everything, what you just said,
You made my entire week. Yeah . I mean , you gotta look at it. I mean, and we can do things together. We can build our own, you know, we can be our own banks. He can be your own banks. We can sell fund a lot of these deals. We can write the terms. And with that being said, we can take that. And now we're building our subdivision. We're going in building that brand new condo building that you see on the corner, that's us in a self funded by us. So that's what the goal is. Yeah,
Absolutely. If I can help you in any way achieve this goal, I'm here, I'm here. That's why I've made this podcast so that I could just in some sense, educate. So they could just hear your voice and get you on another level for people To hear this and understand like, this is how we get it together. This is how we can make this work and we can be your own bank.
Oh, absolutely. And that's crazy because you know, that's basically, you know what, I'm writing my book on, you know , getting ready to write a book. It's the serial entrepreneur, you know, I've, I've been an entrepreneur all my life, you know, even throughout college, you know, I had my own businesses and when I graduated at Tuskegee, I ended up going to work for a software development firm out of California. That's where I'm originally from.
And , uh, I stayed with them through train, got all the knowledge and no house that I could. Relocated to here to Atlanta. And then from there, I stayed with the company for about another six to eight months and then left them and started my own IT development firm. And I've been, you know, an entrepreneur ever since, you know, doing my own thing.
Okay. So let's talk about entrepreneurship. What made you want to not work for that company and you start working for yourself?
Well, one, it allowed me to buy my time back. Um, but number two , um, here's what I found and if this was the epiphany for me. So when I first got to, you know , California, in terms of company, I was working for, you know, you had all these college kids, they were talking about how much money that they were making. And, you know, they were coming from Ivy league schools because it was a college program that we went there to this tech company. And I overheard a lot of that.
But the difference was that they were getting paid more than I was. And we were doing the same thing coming from an HBCU. And I went to my manager and I said, Hey, you know, you got these guys coming in from Arbor . I mean , from Auburn, you got guys in here from Harvard, Penn , um , all these different Ivy league schools and you're paying them more money than you than I am, but we're doing the same thing. And he said a profound thing to me. He said, Patrick, I appreciate you coming to me.
I'm to raise , give you a raise. And from here on out, I need you to understand that you need to manage your own career. Manage your own career, and what that sent waves into to say, Hey, you know what, he's right. I have to take the bootstraps. And I have to make the decision on where I go with my life and my career. So I looked at, is that doing the, I was, I was a data warehousing consultant.
I did business intelligence and data warehousing, and I got all the knowledge and train and went to all the training courses. Um, I went to a couple of , uh , client rotations with that company. And then from there I decided to leave. The reason why I decided to leave was because I saw that they were billing me out at $300 an hour and they weren't paying me that.
And I said, you know what, we'll go ahead and bill myself out for habits and make double the amount of money that I was making currently with the company. And so that's what set it off. Within, within two weeks of me quitting, I landed my first contract at Harvard university doing their HR database warehouse there for them .
And from then on and starting in 2001, I've been on my own doing my own thing, you know, and it's allowed me to, you know, be able to take that money and invest in other entities, other investments, in other businesses throughout my career, it has really helped me land my sweet spot in real estate.
That's amazing. So you pretty much told a story of how you invested in yourself and in the return you made the money and in that money, you were able to invest in real estate. So you went from one stream to another. Oh my gosh. Yeah. That was an amazing story right there. Patrick, you got a lot of stuff in you. I don't think you're really telling it all because you are dropping a lot of nuggets this morning. Okay. So this is we're already here. This is go ahead and put you in the classroom.
Professor Henderson for finance, we lit one-on-one. We are going to get lit this morning and you're going to educate us on finance. Cause uh , I got so many questions and I think you're schooling me right now. If I could only imagine who's listening to this. Okay. So question number one and you can just be quick with it or you could take your time and explain it, but it's all based upon finance and we're going to do an HBCU college edition.
Oh, these are questions form as if a 20 something year old , still in college is asking you these questions and not an adult. Okay. What financial book can I be reading right now that can change the game for me?
Seven habits of highly effective people.
Stephen Covey . Okay. Can I ask why? Because in order to be successful, you must develop certain habits. You must develop , um, certain way of doing things and you need to live by those things day in and day out. And so from there, it'll allow you to train yourself as to, you know, how you need to operate in the things that you need to do. And it's about mindset. It's about creating a mindset. Yeah, absolutely. The best financial advice given to you that was not learned in school.
Pay yourself first and, and the thing about it is you spend a lot of time, you know, bringing wealth to other people and you never put some money aside for yourself. And so you find yourself continuing, you know, in this conundrum of, you know, being able to make money and service others, which you want to do, but you don't take care of yourself.
And so one of the things that I've learned is you need to make sure that you're taken care of because if you're struggling or if you are not, you know, in a good position, you can't help anybody else.
Okay. So we hear that all the time, pay yourself first. Is there a certain percentage that we should be paying ourselves? And then when we pay ourselves, do we put it in our pocket? A piggybank are we investing? It's like, what exactly do we do from there?
Well, I don't look at it necessarily as, as a certain percentage because everybody is different. But what I would say is that, you know, as you make a dollar, go ahead and put some of that away. You know, one for your rainy day, number two, to be able to, you know, reinvest in some of the things that you want to do. You know, some, you know, you have an old adage due to things that you must do, so you can do the things that you want to do or can do.
So what I try to say is make sure that you're putting money a side, but therefore you can realize the dreams and the things that you really want.
Nice. Nice. Do you think money should get to a certain account or, I mean , on a third account, a certain, amount, I had a conversation with a friend and I guess it's one of those higher level conversations and he's an investor he trades for X and it's a , uh , what is that account called that everybody is using now? Um, it's not Robin hood is for trading.
This one is for like, you save automatically like every, every, I think $5 you spend , it takes a dollar and it puts it into an account for you, Acorn. Okay . So right now this is the thing that, you know, a lot of people say , Oh , get acorn account, get acorn account. And you can save up money and not even realize that you're saving money, but I'm like, it didn't hit me because I did have it. I'm guilty as charged. I had Acorn.
And before I knew what I had over like a thousand dollars in this account. And so my friend was like, are you crazy? Why would you let that company get that much of that money saved when you could have been doing so many other things, at least with half of that. And I never thought of it in that perspective.
So I guess I'm asking you in your opinion, like when we start putting that money aside for ourselves and we're paying ourselves, does it get to a certain point when we need to be doing something else with it?
I mean, it can't do anything sit in a bank for you. So I would reinvest that into, you know, different vehicles that will allow you to realize some of the things that you want to do down to down the line, you know? So whether you're investing in a vehicle that can make money, there's no point in just having it, sit there if it's not going to make money for you.
Right, right. Okay. So what financial lesson are you learning in your business right now? But COVID-19, and then I got another question after you answer that one regarding COVID-19.
Sure. So it's about preparing for a rainy day. Like right now, the world is different than any of us have seen in our lifetime with that being said , um, we need to make sure that you're Bulletproof.
And what I mean by that is, is that those people who can't go out to work, how are they able to survive when the government changes, you know, the stipulations and the rules for the stimulus package or a person can't go and do their own business, what do you have that will allow you to still make money and still be able to operate in the manner of which you choose to? Um , and so that's one life lesson, because I don't believe that even if somebody things open up, I don't believe that is over.
Um, you know, there's probably going to be a second wave of this. And with that being said, how are you going to prepare for that later? What are our steps financially? That's going to make sure that we're doing something to generate money when you're asleep or generate money when you don't have an office to go into. So those are the things that I try to instill in people.
Yeah, absolutely. I agree with you 150% on that. I think that's the lesson that I'm learning. And even with me being in real estate sales, we've came to a halt because when we sell real estate, we're two months out. And Patrick, if what happened in March is showing up now in my May. So , so right now it's like, okay, I'm looking at my closes. And it's like, well , we didn't have anything. Well, why don't we have anything? Oh, because they shut down everything. Right?
So now I'm having to, and I kicked this scream. I'm not gonna lie, but I'm grateful. And God knows I'm grateful about it, but it was difficult for me to get uncomfortable. And I had to figure out a way to create another stream of income for me right now. And so I've gone into Forex trading and it's creating that other stream of income that I need and I'm safe. That's the most important thing. So I'm able to still provide for myself.
However, it's like Candle, you might have to do this for a longer period of time than you think. Cause I'm like, okay, I'll do it for maybe a month.Yeah, I'm a creative person and it's nothing, a lot of things creative about Forex trading, but it's great. Don't get me wrong. It's a great, great way to make money. But I'm realizing like what you said, COVID-19, it's going to be a second wave coming back. This may last maybe till the end of the year for all we know. So it's like get used to this.
We're going to make some fun stuff out of this. Get, just make a fun thing out of it. So, you know, that's, what I'm having to do is to adjust. And I think what you're saying is so profound because we're having to get uncomfortable and we need to have those conversations that you need to find another stream of income. We may not be able to go back into storefronts. We may not be able to go and sell real estate. So let's, let's have those conversations. So yeah, you're right. Absolutely.
So if I was a college student right now, and of course we're not in our dorms, we're at home with our parents, but we have all this internet. We have a lot of, in my opinion, a lot of opportunities in front of us. If you were a college student, what would you be doing right now during COVID-19?
I would be finding something that I could do to generate money that , um, would allow me to be able to pay some of the bills that I may or may not incur, you know, while I'm, while I'm not at the school or while I'm not working or whatever. So I would look on internet based businesses. I will look for things that I can do that doesn't need a bunch of other people from an interaction standpoint right now the real estate market is booming.
People stand , and now it is a buyer and people are out there buying houses to not enough inventory for people, especially in the high end market, what I'm doing, but just, you know, from everyday standpoint, there's a lot of inventory out there on the streets. I would be trying to invest in something. I agree, even if it's just a simple , uh , paint carpet type scenario. I agree. I heard on CNN last night, the interest rates are at an all time low.
Um, and so what I would try to tell people is if you have the right profile or background in order to go get loans, they'll get it done.
And see , and that goes right back into that credit. When you were just talking about this is why it's important because you could be using that credit as leverage right now to buy real estate.
Leverage is key. Absolutely.
Okay. So you kind of touched on this, but I'm going to ask this again. Cause I think you're going to give me a little bit more figure thought off about entrepreneurship. What financial advice would you give to students, especially at HBCU that want to become entrepreneurs.
It starts with understanding, you know, what are you good at? It starts with really finding that niche.
You know, I try to tell people, you know, if you want to be an entrepreneur and you want to, you know, sell something or you want to be able to have your own business and you want to be able to take care of yourself in that regard, find something that you really would like to do that you could do for free, not necessarily that you wouldn't do that you would do for free, but however, what's something that you really, really enjoy.
Yeah. I thoroughly enjoy real estate, i f f rom, all different aspects of it. And so that is why I spend so much time in it. But if that's not your thing, if your thing is that, you know, you want to be a s alesperson or you, you want to develop a product or you want to do some type of home based business, find what you enjoy l atching o nto a mentor who knows that space in and out shadow them. You know, it doesn't matter what you're doing for them.
Don't look at it as it's demeaning or whatever. If it m eet, if you want to be in real estate and you g ot t o pick up the trash behind the person or whatever the case may be, be in the building, do what it takes to learn the business. So you can do it for yourself.
Okay. If you were a college student and you received $2,500, this is a scenario of a stimulus package. What would you do with it?
I've put some of it for savings for a side, for a rainy day. And then I'd find something , um, a portion of that that can make me money. How can I make that money make money for myself? So I put 1500 or a thousand dollars away, or whatever, get your debt ratio down so you can leverage that, that profile or that money. And then from there, I'd figure out how I can flip that money, whether it I ' ll g i ve y o u a prime example.
When I was in Tuskegee, one of the things that I did to make money as I went to pizza hut and they ha d p ersonal pan pizzas, and I knew that a lot of people didn't have cars on campus. So I made a deal with pizza, had to bought a pizza for $3, and I went into each dorm and sold them for five. You know? So that was my way of, you know, trying to make money and Tuskegee.
Another thing that I did, I went to Sam's, but you know, cases of sodas, chips, I bought also things to make nachos and whatnot. And I'd sell those late night snacks to people in the dormitory, you know? And so I found, you know, a way in order to make a profit in a situation where people actually needed a service that I could provide. And so what I try to tell people is do what you do best.
If you got a swift mouthpiece or if you're good with your hands or whatever the case may be, find that area, that niche and create a business out.
I agree. And you said my magic word profit.
Right? I love that word.
Those are speaking about profit. How many streams of income in your opinion, do you think one person should have?
That's a loaded question. Um, it is. I love to ask people that cause everybody has a different answer. Yeah. I mean, you know , I've heard some people say seven, I've seen people heard people say three. Um, well, here's what I try to tell people, do what you can do that you can manage. And what I mean by that as a person could have 10 streams of income and they don't do any of them.
Well , you know, you , you, you don't put enough effort and tenacity into that one stream in order to maximize the profit out of that. And so if you're only getting a little bit out of each where if you concentrate, you know, on, you know, three or four, then you may be better off. So it all depends upon what a person can handle and what is needed to do those different streams of income and then just do whatever you take on do it well.
Nice. Okay. My final question. If you could talk to your 21 year old self now you're at Tuskeegee, an Alpha, what would you say to yourself? You have accomplished alot. Wow. Yeah, you know, I think that I was still f ollowed t hat, that path that I did, u m, you know, going to go work, y ou k now, f or my ICU forever, then starting my own firm. U m, I think I would have some of the money that I made in my earlier years.
I think I w ould've taken some of that c ashflow a nd, and invested i t earlier. I started investing probably about three or four years outside of outside of college, as opposed to once I started, y ou k now, working f or a n a ffirm and started making some good money, I s hould h ave took some of that money and got involved in the real estate game m uch earlier.
U m, I wish I had had a better handle on credit literacy coming out of school than I have now i s one of the things that, you know, we're not taught or at least I wasn't taught back when I was in college about how to manage your credit and your cash flows and things of that nature. U m, so I wish I w ould've h ad had a little bit more understanding in that regard cause I w ould h ave made some different choices. That's a great answer. Yeah. I think a lot of us were saying that right now.
Absolutely.
So how can we get in touch with you or stay in contact with you?
Sure. So , um, different mediums that you can reach me. My website is J so my name and my company is , uh , JMP jumpstart development partners. And my website is www.jsdevp.com. So JSDP .com . And then my Instagram handle is @decisionmaker76.
Okay. So you mentioned the lawn chair. Yes . Is an open invitation for us to just bring our lawn chair anytime and just watch you and your team.
So what we do for our launch or learning circle, we generally hold that once a month. We generally hold it on a Tuesday evening. However, due to this COVID and stuff, we've done a lot of virtual lawn chairs over the last two ones. This coming up Tuesday, we are doing a virtual Lawn Chair Learning Circle is going to be on Instagram. And what we're doing is we're doing a kitchen addition . We have a meeting set up at one of the kitchen showrooms here in Atlanta.
And so we're going to be there with the owners of the company. And we're going to be talking about, you know, the cabinetry , different choices, different options. We're going to talk about appliances and how to put certain appliance packages in your house based upon the price point that you're selling at. and which panel packages won't work in versus which ones will.
And then we'll also talk about, you know, things such as order a time and you know, what is really needed in order to outfit the kitchen , um , for your particular buyers. That's going to be a virtual one. We're going to be doing that on Instagram. And so just make sure that you, you know, friend us on Instagram and then I can direct you where you can get the link for that virtual Lawn Chair Learning circle.
Okay. All right . Awesome catching. You are so passionate about what you do and it's reflecting through this, this interview. So I have one more question. What is your ultimate goal?
Ultimate goal is to empower and help, you know , people where we can actually, you know, buy the block . So I look at, I look at it like H. D. Russell. H. D Russell was a large real estate developer who , um , African American who developed a large part of downtown Atlanta. And I want to be the modern home builder developer here in the Atlanta area and do things that I can give back. And so my overall goal is to be able to amass a team where we can go out there and do that and help people.
Nice. Well, I am definitely going to help any way I can in your efforts to, for this to happen. And I know you're going to get this done too. Absolutely. Well, I thank you for your time and I thank you for your light. Oh my goodness.
I appreciate it.
Patrick is leaving a downloadable real estate investor's guide to building luxury modern homes. To get access. Just go to CandleLocket .com forward slash podcast. Also on the site, you can learn more about Patrick and read the show notes. If you liked this episode, hit the subscribe button. We have more awesome interviews ahead that you don't want to miss. That's all for now. Stay safe, stay sane and stay lit.