She Asked His Credit Score on the First Date, Now They Run a Multi-Million Dollar Business

I want people to hear this. What do you think your long-term return on that $16,000 investment was? Probably a thousand X plus. A thousand X. A thousand X. That investment. One-time investment. We sat down and, you know, she started grilling me. Her questions were, what's your three-year plan? What's your five-year plan? Are you an entrepreneur? And most men would have been like taken aback and maybe offended, but I was actually, it was refreshing to me. I'm in my late 20s. I'm living my best life. But once we got past the looks and the superficial thing, I'm like, I wanted somebody I could build an empire with. We had just closed our first deal a year prior. Then two years later, we're filming a TV show. I'm like, that's just amazing how God works. Like closing your first deal and 24 to 36 months later, filming a national TV show. It's about building something that outlives you, period. It's just that simple. It's not as complex as most people want to make it. Our sons will be able to take over when we're gone. You can't take a W-2 with you. You can't pass that on to your children. We both came from generational poverty. And once you've seen it, you kind of don't want to go back. Hey, guys, welcome back. One part line, one part lamb. As you know, we have been on a roll recently bringing you guys one class guest who can teach you more about just shaping a business, shaping leadership, also shaping yourself. I've got a very special surprise for you guys. Husband and wife combo host the 50 50 flip. Top 80 channel Showing you right now, amazing Got Dedrick and Crystal Polite, what's going on guys? What's up Steven, thanks for having us man We've been trying to do this for a while right? I know, I know, but I just want to say You have a beautiful home so thank you for having us Well thank you, you guys are more than Welcome to hang out anytime you want I told you I travel a lot, you can use it as an Airbnb We will be back Right, we're open to it too And it's recorded Yeah, that's right, well look, I'm excited There's a lot of different ways we can go We could talk about the amazing work you guys have done with 50-50 Flip. We can talk about business strategy. Obviously, you guys are very successful in real estate as well. You guys have your hands on a few other things that I don't know if we're ready to talk about just yet. So if that pops up, that'll be on y'all's. You guys can share about that. But what I think I want to maybe lean into first, if it's okay with you guys, is you guys are an amazing husband and wife combo. Both, if I understand correctly, corporate background and all the things. Like, how did you move from corporate background to working together, TV shows, flipping real estate, all the things like I'd love to get some background? Great question. You want me? You can start. I mean, we both always wanted to be entrepreneurs. I grew up wanting to own my own business, looking at buildings, wanting to be in a real estate. But I didn't have a rich uncle or someone to kind of show me the way. Crystal, you know, when you were a little girl, you told your mom, what'd you tell your mom when she asked you what you want to be? I've always said I was going to be an entrepreneur. And she said since four years old, I would tell people I'm going to be an attorney, but I'm going to own my own law firm. And I was going to hire homeless people and train them to work for me. So I've been saying that my whole life. And so entrepreneurship was like a non-negotiable for me. So when I met Dedrick in 2009. 2009 Time goes by so fast Look when you have the kids Like I tell people when you have kids The dates now become the husband's job You know 2009 and we sat down For our first Date Yeah Slash business meeting A date was a It was a straight up interview It wasn't a lovey-dovey It was an interview We sat down and she started grilling me Her questions were What's your three year plan? What's your five year plan? Are you an entrepreneur? Do you plan on staying here in Boston? Sounds like me and my girlfriend And I was like whoa And most men would have been taken aback And maybe offended but I was actually It was refreshing to me I'm in my late 20s I'm living my best life But once we got past the looks and the superficial thing I'm like I wanted somebody I could build An empire with And I knew her mental when she started asking me all these questions I knew her mental was where I needed it to be. Yeah. Yeah. He thought he was about to come and sit down with someone he was about to hit. That's what it was. So you hit back first. You came with the gloves on. Hit soon. That's what he thought. And when we sat down, I was at a point where I think I might have been 28. We're in our late 20s. And I was at that point building. and I was when he met me I was working three jobs no kids but I was taking care of and helping a lot of people and family members and so when I met him I said look what's your credit score first dates slash business meeting we got all of that out of the way she's like I don't have time to waste on just random stuff if you're real good we're gonna find out tonight yeah that's what it was And that's really what it was. I told people I don't like finding, wasting my time. And I tell people that's the most precious gift I can give anyone is a moment of my time because it's a moment of my life I'm never going to get back. So did I find him attractive? Absolutely. But at that point, I was like, look, if we're not going to be compatible, we're going to know at Joe's. That's where our first date was. All American Grill. All American Grill. Now here, and we ain't even going to go no further. They're not they're not they're not supporting the show, but we could probably get Joe's to support the show now. Right. So it was really just finding out if this is someone that I can we can just be friends or if it's something someone that I feel we can build together. And that was my goal is what I knew any man that I was going to be with seriously was one going to have to be an entrepreneur. It was not. It was a non-negotiable. And it's not that. That's everyone. That's for everyone. It's not for me. I knew it was extremely important to be able to understand my mindset and why I am the way I am. And that's kind of what. And not ask you to change it. There you go. Accept it and enroll with it and be part of the journey. There you go. So for us, that was a lot of questions like, are you an entrepreneur? He was like, yeah, tell me what you've done. in the entrepreneurship field. Okay. Do you, what about this? Are you open to this? Hey, I'm planning on opening up and owning some family entertainment centers. What do you think about that? Like we got into, I said, Hey, do you plan on living in Boston forever? He was like, I mean, no, I don't have to. I don't have to, I can move wherever. I said, okay, anyone planning to be with me has to be willing to move in the next year because I'm not going to be here. And he was like, well, I mean, my mom's here, so I can, you know, I can talk to her. I don't want to care. You know, I'll see her all the time. And I said, okay. And that's really what started us as far as entrepreneurship. We started our first business together within two months of dating. Oh, wow. We went into business together. Yeah. See, I might have even slowed that down a little bit. It's only been two months. Like already already get married in a different capacity. And what happened was, you know, I went to school, got good grades, was working a job, worked for HubSpot, right, doing sales. And I got laid off and I was all depressed. I'm moping around the house. We just started dating and she came by my house one day. She was like, dude, what's wrong with you? Like, all right, I let you wallow in this misery for a little while. Then she like gave me a pep talk. You want to tell him what you told me? Yeah, I told him after seeing him in that bathroom for like two weeks, I said, listen, the job lost you. You did not lose that job. That's good. I said, F that job. What you're going to do now is you're going to take time to truly find out what God has truly ordained you to really do. I said, and this is not it. This was a season. let's move past this season into and for you to be able to really truly walk in your greatness yeah i said don't worry about your bills don't worry about the mortgage i had just bought a house i just bought a new car i had all these bills i was stressed don't worry about any of that i said i will take care of those you go out there ride your motorcycle clear your head um for you to be able to really get out there and figure out what it is you want to do not what you have to do but what you want to do so that from this day forward, every day going, that you're doing something that you're passionate about and that you love doing. Yeah, that conversation just gave me like a whole new outlook on life. Right. It kind of freed me up. Like, man, I know she has my back. That's what I knew. I was like, I'm definitely going to marry this woman. Dude, it's it's it's really beautiful because it was one part being called up and one part being challenged. gone out. Yep. Which I needed at the time. Well, yeah, but the other flip side of that is the fact that that even happened just showcased the belief that she already had in you. Some women would be like, hey, you broke, you laid off, I'm out of here. Yeah. You guys can know this now. My audience knows it, but pretty much everybody until I was in my late 40s, like 48, 49, every time I was in a relationship, I would end up becoming like the financial savior of the relationship. And it was always draining and dragging now because I was apprehensive about providing. Um, but because I didn't feel like I had a partner I could roll with. Yep. They just really understood what I was going through. Yeah. Um, the woman I was sharing downstairs, I don't, I don't share her name on camera for her request. Um, not that we're not proud of seeing each other, but she's, she likes a private life. I'm, I have no problem. Sound like me. Yeah. I have no problem more than the public. But she told me one time, she was, I remember we were on our first date and it was a, we met online. And I remember one of the first things she asked me in the little messenger, she's like, well, she was very first thing. She's like, because anyway, you ping somebody, right? And she says, well, what was the last book you read? And I was like, that's different. I like this. This is the last three books I read. She replied back, well, I read, I read these two. Have you thought about this one? I was like, challenging you. I like this. I like her. She's brilliant. I mean, and she's gritty and tenacious. So you know you were equally yoked right away. Well, I knew it was different than I'd ever experienced before already out of the gate. Right? And then we go to have our first date, and it was – I would say there was some mutual interviewing going back and forth. Yeah. Right? Which was really – which was a beautiful thing. But one of the things that I remember her saying, and she didn't know my background at the time fully, right? She didn't know I'd sold a company and built businesses and blah, blah, blah, blah. Right. And because I was trying to keep that like last. Right. Yeah. I want you to know me like it. Right. Right. And two things happened. So first the first thing that happened was when we were communicating, she goes she was just so you know, I'm an entrepreneur. I started my company by myself. I've been to, you know, she's been she's been building business now for about eight years. Right. So she started, started with her own money, her own time, her own energy, raising two boys at the same time, like doing it right. really doing it. And she goes, I just want to let you know, you know, I have about 30 team members collectively across the different companies. And I just want to, you know, if my phone goes off, sometimes I'm going to ask you to phone call. And she goes, and then she was like explaining what a hectic day could look like. And I just looked at her and said, no, I got you. I understand. I've been there, done that. I fully understand. Yeah. Yeah. And then we've probably been dating, it was about two months in. And she knew more. She knew that I sold a company and built a company. And then she became aware of it. I'm Google-able like you guys are. Right. And then by that time, normally people are doing the Google. Who is this person really? Right. And I remember saying, well, I said something. I said something about building business. I said, yeah, I was like, I did this thing on this thing over here. It's online. She goes, I don't want to look for you online. I want to have the man in front of me. Yep. And I was like, where have you been? Yeah, because I've never had to prove myself. Yeah. Like I can just be. Yeah. Right. So you guys just started a beautiful story of what I would say to the audience. Like if you're looking for, you know, a mutual helpmate, like somebody that you can ride or die with and build something with, like what's the purpose to just roll through that sleepwalk? You know? Absolutely. That's powerful. Yeah, that's amazing. Yeah, so I just kind of looked at it like that as you guys just gave a beautiful crash course on what it means to like really like choose a mate, like be selective. There you go. In the beginning, before you are a year in, and then you want to disclose and say, hey, you know, I'm really passionate about entrepreneurship. And then you have someone who's like, well, they're not really risk averse. I did that too. I thought you were a nurse. I didn't know you wanted to be a business owner. Right. Why would you want to quit that job and now open up a bakery? And now you're going, and we know this because we have so many people who come up to us with the same story whenever we're doing conferences. Yeah. And we've got questions as much as a doctor who came up to us and said, Hey, I'm a physician. I just really wanted to know. I flew here really to meet you guys. I wanted to know, do you think I should divorce my wife? this is at a live event after we spoke and we're like whoa that's what kind of heavy questions yeah we just met a lot more detail and I'm not sure I'm qualified to answer right and we're like excuse me and it was for the same reason he is a physician but he wanted to get into real estate and his wife didn't understand that she's wanting to be very safe security and I told him you can't blame that right but so many people find that out later. And for me, it was not an option. I need to know up front ahead of time. So neither one of us wastes our time. And for him, it was kind of the same. Because when I came and by the time I met Dedrick, it was me recognizing that he didn't recognize his own true potential. So he was good looking. He had the new motorcycle, the brand new car like don't forget educated educated I did go to school too come on you guys are beautiful together and single so to him he was the full package and when he met me I was like you're alright I got my own package I told her I was like you're alright we literally sat and I was like you were sought after I was like babe you're alright and he was like what I was like you're okay Once we get together I said you're going to take off And that's because no one Challenges him No one reveals To him his true potential And from day one meeting me I was challenging him I was making him rise To the occasion showing him And just revealing to him little things that He was Not seeing before because the people around you Which is true you know how when people tell you, you know, your network is your network. And it is true. So he had a ton of friends that were super educated. All of them come from great backgrounds, great schools, private schools, major top universities. But where he was trying to go and what he was doing was kind of. It wasn't a traditional path. A lot of my friends, they went to Ivy League schools, their attorneys, their investment bankers, those type of paths. Very few people did the entrepreneurial path. So she was the first one to kind of reveal to me like, hey, you have something in you, but you need someone to kind of bring that out of you. And she was the one who saw the potential and wanted the best for me. Which is why he was so devastated that he lost the W-2 job. I told him, babe, go and sign up for that unemployment. I didn't know you could get unemployment. I didn't know. So you mean to tell me all this money that you're taking out of my paycheck, I can get a few hundred dollars a week? I said he's loaded it back to the government. Go sign up for that unemployment. Get that little check. And in the process, figure out what you want to do. And that's where we started Airbnb. She was always at my house, right? Couldn't get enough of your boy. Her apartment in Boston was always vacant. We just got that eye roll camera, by the way. It was always at my place. So her apartment was vacant. This is in 2012. Airbnb just came out. So I was like, I heard about this Airbnb thing. Since you're always at my house, why don't we rent out your place? Because it's always sitting vacant. and I thought she would be like, oh, I don't know. She was like, then I was like, oh, well, your brother's staying there because her brother was crashing in her crib. And she was like, hold on. He was staying there. So she calls him up. I was like, hey, Kevin, you got like full price, baby. You got about two weeks to figure out where you're going to go. Yeah. He was like, no, no, no. I'm going to start paying rent. No, you know. And she was like, you got two weeks. And we furnished it. We put on Airbnb. And that was our first business together. But then two months of dating. but it was because he had time to breathe and figure out what he wanted to do. Now he had time. And I tell people a lot of that comes from a man understanding and knowing that he has a woman that he wants to take care of and not has to take care of. So when he met me, he knew he didn't have to take care of me. Right. Yeah. I mean, I don't mind taking care of me. I'm a better name online here. She's very much the same way. She can take care of herself. Right. And does. It doesn't mean that we don't like come together. Yeah. She doesn't need you financially. She doesn't. And she was she was the only woman I've ever been with that didn't need me financially. Yeah. And I felt like I could let my guard down. Let your guard down and also. Relieve some pressure off of men, knowing that, God forbid, if something happens to me, do I have a woman who can take the reins from here on out? Or is this someone who we're going to go under because everything is dependent upon me? Yeah, yeah. I got so many other questions. All right. So it's very clear that, Crystal, you've made an immense or played an immense role in Dedrick and him just being the fullness of himself. Sorry, let me turn this thing on. I also forgot to put it on people's term. So I guess my flip side question is, in what ways has Dedrick called you higher? That's a good one. Good one. I would say. Make the phone a little closer. I would definitely say Dedrick opened my eyes to a lot of stuff that I wasn't seeing. So, and I'm not getting choked up over him. There's water on everything. The water went down the wrong way. Oh. But when I met Desiree, like I said, I was working three jobs. I was. Taking care of a lot of family members. And taking care of my nephew, who was my sister's son, but I was taking care of him. I was in my 20s, and I was the only one of my friends who really had no kids. so you know when you're the one with no kids you don't want everybody coming to right especially they know you have a little bit of it oh yeah I've been there 50 god kids pop up you're always the godparent I got five dads and so when I met Dedrick Dedrick's total opposite so I am a giver by nature I get joy in giving And when I met Dedrick He showed me really how That can go Differently I'll say It was Dedrick would be like Who asked you for what And when I met him It was just like yeah no you can't be doing that And it wasn't until he kind of Revealed to me that I can't trade places with these people By giving so much Nor can you pull them with you. They have to choose it for themselves. Yes. I had to learn that too. He kind of revealed to me like, look, I know you have a big heart. But because you have such a big heart, that's why you are a magnet to people. So when people came to Dedrick for stuff, you got to have a whole business plan, have your credit profile. You got to have, I mean, every day, and this could be for $100. But he set the tone where no one came to borrow anything from him. But it's a vetting process. I got bills, too. He'd be quick to tell you, I got bills. I got a mortgage. I got a car note. And for me. It was. Well, people were taking advantage of your kindness. Exactly. Well, when I was going, I heard especially like, so first of all, no one, when I set out to be an entrepreneur, it was out of necessity. We talked about a little bit of that when he and I had a chance to speak one on one before. But when I went through that process, I all of a sudden I began to think, OK, I'm going to I'm going to make a go of this. Like, I'm really going to I'm never going to let old man my right down because he gave me a second chance that it deserved. I was like, I will not let this guy down again ever again. Right. And about three or five years later, I began making some decent money. Right. I want to say I'm covering my expenses. As Torrey Roberts, a good friend of mine, says, he says, I have all my needs and most of my wants. Love it. Love it. And when I was listening to him talk about that, that jumped at me because during this season I was like, okay, well, I have resource. I have the ability to help. But I kept finding the same people coming back for the same help repeatedly, and I realized that I wasn't. So we had this slogan. Let me know if this resonates. Family helps family. Yep. Which is basically like saying, I get to help myself into your wallet. Yeah. And some of them were like super close to me, so much so that I had to, at one point in time, I was just like, I'm not helping you. This is not helping you. It is enabling them. You need to learn how to handle money. Yes. I'm bailing you out every time you never learn. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I could go down a laundry list, but that was the lie that I was taught as being part of an ecosystem. Absolutely. And also that being wealthy was evil. Yep. I heard that a lot. And it'll make you feel bad if you didn't give. You didn't help somebody out. But that's kind of what it was with Dedrick when I met him. He was financially very secure in his family. And everyone knew that. So if he didn't give something, he would be made to feel like. It's the guilt trip. Yeah, total guilt trip. Well, you got it. And the Lord has blessed you. And you should not be so stingy and you just should not be this way where you cannot help someone else and I had to come in and be like because it's funny when I first met Dedrick everyone loved me then when we started dating heavy and they started to see a change in him oh I went to being the worst in the world oh yeah yeah you're not the same I don't want to be the same Exactly. And I just told Dedrick when he first told me, he was like, yeah, well, my aunt's name is talking about how I didn't change. And I said, did you tell him thank you? He was like, well, what? I said, well, did you tell him thank you and tell him that's the best compliment anyone could ever give me? Yeah, because if I don't want to stay alive, I should be changing every day. And he was like, well, yeah, I said, don't ever look at that as a slight just because it's coming from family. Yeah, you should be changing. Yeah. And then they went from loving me to hating me to seeing where he's at now to loving me. Yeah. Right. A cycle. Yeah. Well the Bible I read actually says it says be faithful with the little and I make you master over much And I make you masterful Yes And I so what I did to kind of like the same kind of this is kind of a fun conversation I think every business leader needs to hear because a lot of us are probably giving, giving without any kind of like healthy boundary system or whatever. When people began coming to me, I was like, one of them was very important to me. Let's put it that way. Played a role in my adolescent raising, so to speak. So when they came to me for, I don't know, that's probably two years into saying yes all the time, right? So they came to me on the, we'll call it the 18th time. We'll just say the 18th. It's a long time, right? Comes to me and he says, I used to call it the money dance. Like he would put his hands in his pockets and he just started, and it would tell me he's about to ask for money. You already knew it. Yeah, I mean, I watched him do it with other people. I mean, I watched it happen with other people, right? People that were living in my life. And look, the reality is I don't fault anybody, right? Because you, in many cases, if you really know, you really know better, not that you just know. Yeah. Right. But you know better, you'll do better. Yeah. There you go. And in the grand scheme of things, I remember this, I said, well, I tell you what, I said, I don't have it to give. But if you want to do this, this and this for me, when you're done, I'll pay. I'll just I'll essentially pay you a wage for doing it. So now when people came to me, it was more like, okay, even when the kids were never growing up, they were like, what do I need to do to earn enough money for the next? You started training them. Yes. It's not just give, give, give. This is not a give to get. There's an exchange here. I love that. Yeah, because at least there's a value exchange because the kingdom economy focuses on value exchange. Right? Even the way Jesus operates. Nothing is a value exchange. Exactly. That's what our sons do now. And they'll think twice now. When they know they got to do something or give something, they'll say, do I really want this? Do I want to ask you for this? Or maybe not. Yeah, it was really interesting. One of my girlfriend's boys, she's done a fantastic job as a mother, by the way. She is an incredible entrepreneur, an incredible woman, an incredible mother. I honestly don't know how she does it all. I legitimately don't. But the oldest one recently, he's into Roblox or Roblox or whatever. Our kids are, too. Yeah. Roblox. anyway so he's always like hey there's a new skin package coming out i want to yes right 1999 yeah exactly and at first he's like can i have some because he got roblox for christmas and his birthday or whatever can i have some robux i said no but you can earn some robux yep and last night we were talking like okay well all right now he's on that now he knows he has to he's all he's so he's been helping around the house he's working now he is he is and she was like yeah he's doing great he's like he did this he did a dishwasher he did all this i'm like That's awesome. That's our 12 year old. Whenever he wants something, hey, I want those new $200 Balenciagas. OK, well, you need to work for it. Or what are you going to sell? So now he's actually looking up. He's now he's looking for value. His plan now is to go on the A.I. and build websites and sell them to local businesses. That's strong. He's doing he put together a website for us as a prototype. And he's looking to earn money to get the things that he wants. Yeah. Dude, it's wild to me how many people are not adopting A.I. Yeah, it's crazy. Which is huge. It's just it's wild. But on the same point, last night we were also talking about like, okay, well, now he's got that under control or he's got that working for him. So now, like I said, when I was raising Machi Boys, we had a framework so they could earn it. But then out of earning it, they had to buck it in buckets. Yes. So a certain amount for give, a certain amount for reinvestment, as we called it, right? Yes. A certain amount for savings and a certain amount for spending. So if they earn $100, they didn't get to spend $100, they got to spend like $25. Yes. Right? Yep. Same thing we do with our kids. And it's just ironic that what they do have to spend, they don't want to spend it. When it's their money, they don't want to spend it. That's human nature, period. It's just sitting there. Never mind. I don't think I want it again. It's just ironic. It's mommy and daddy's money. Yeah. Let's spend it. Yes. Oh, my gosh. Well, let's pivot for a second. We can talk. There's so much we can talk about. We're definitely like Ken for sure. But how did you guys make the conscious decision to jump from corporate straight into it? Was it just necessity, like in your case? Or I mean, you said you started your first business like two months into relationship. Like, how is this taking shape? Yeah, it's really because Dedrick has always dreamed of getting into real estate. That was his dream. So when I met him and went to his apartment, he had books in my house that I owned. Yes. Basement apartment. He had his basement apartment and he had books on real estate. CDs, CDs, you know, back then it was CDs were huge and DVDs. He had VHS tapes. I was going to live events, seminars. I was always looking for a way out of the rat race. Right. When I read Rich Dad Poor Dad in 2021, I was like, that's what I want to do. I need cash flow. I need properties. But I didn't know the how. And I didn't have a mentor to show me. So I just navigated back into my safe, secure job. You know, I had a corporate job, corporate credit card. I'll get you next year. I'll try next year. Yeah. And then I grew up on Section 8. I grew up with a single parent household. So I didn't have a lot growing up. So I was risk averse. I was like, I want to do entrepreneurship. But what if I step out there and fail? What if I fall on my face? I don't want to go back to being on food stamps. Right. So I was like, let me just keep doing what I'm doing. When I met Crystal, she was totally the opposite. She's like risk. I'm getting after it. Who cares? You know, we can go bankrupt in the process. Don't worry. We'll get it back. So she had a totally different mindset. So she gave me the motivation to be like, you know what? Let me give this a try. If we fail, we just try something else and just keep iterating. So I was always looking for a way. I had side hustles. I did all these different MLMs that failed, made like $3 in them. We sold stuff on eBay, Amazon. It was just whatever we could do to I could do to get out of that rat race. I tried. Right. So we failed at dozens of businesses. How are you guys so successful? It's because we failed way more times than we've actually succeeded. I survived my failures. Absolutely. And I had to tell Dedrick, like, in the beginning, we're going to fail. Yeah. And that's okay. Let's just get that out and open. We're going to fail and understand that it's okay. I believe in jumping and growing wings on the way down. I call that faith, by the way. Faith. Absolutely. And I told him, let's not worry about that. Let's worry. Only worry if we don't learn from them. Yeah. Yeah. So from there, Dedrick's like, hey, he did some research in real estate and came up with wholesaling. Yeah. Wholesaling. Actually, I bought my first house in 2007. I house hacked it. So I read a book called How to Buy Houses with No Money Down and Get Cash Back or Closing. That's what I did. I got twelve hundred bucks back when I bought my first three family in Boston. So I was like, I know this stuff works. But then it wasn't until I found out about wholesaling. I was trying to figure that out. And driving down here, we're looking at our phone and we're seeing pictures from 2016 where we were going to these live events and these seminars, trying to figure out how do you make money in real estate? I'm like, man, that's not even a decade ago. And look where we are now, 10 short years later. And she started the LLC. And when she started doing research, she was like, all right, we're doing this wholesaling thing. You've been talking about it. We're taking action now. that's going to talk you to death about something like yeah you know I want to do this and that yeah don't tell me unless you're going to do it which I need I'm not going to talk about it if we talk about it you best believe I've already gotten the LLC created I'm really just informing you she does a window shop I don't I don't window shop don't take me to the store and be like hey let's go look at cars if we're not buying come back to me when we're buying it was so funny because you guys showed up today And I remember we were having a conversation on a Zoom call. This was probably six months ago, probably. And he said, yeah, my wife is interested in this next space. I'm like, oh, that's cool. That's awesome. Sounds good. I would just go do your due diligence, whatever. You walk in and yeah, we were already under an L.O.I. We're going, all right, let's freaking go. It is like when my mind is set on something, it's set. So and he knows that like, I don't I it's weird. But which is also why I think we really work so well together because of that. Like he knows how to reel me in and I'll bring a business to him and be like, hey, I want you to look at this. And he'll say, OK, and then he'll go through it with me on why and without just shooting it down. Yeah. But it'll help me see why it may not be what I think it is. Or it's going to be like, well, if it's going to work, it needs more like this. Absolutely. Balance. So when he kept talking about the real estate I said you know what Look you know You're not going to talk me to death So I went out and created the LLC I went out and started signing us up For seminars, webinars Three day trainings, two day trainings Accelerators Accelerators We're going all over the place Traveling around the country To get the information And that's really just because I said like look If we're going to do it And it's your dream Then we're going to have to make these sacrifices We had two One small kid at the time Before we had my second one Because the moment we had the second child The June 6, 7 What day were they born? 6, 7, 17 So 6, 7, 18 I was able to quit my job That's awesome so that's how hard we were going money loves speed and that's what I love about my wife is that she's always executing and pushing the envelope and that's what success doesn't come from reading books it comes from taking action on the information that you learn so that's the powerful part as well there's two things I want to mention I just want to get your thoughts on it we're talking all around it but I'm going to try to phrase it where I feel like a business leader or entrepreneur can really see themselves in it complacency comfortable, complacent, golden handcuffs. Exactly. Let's let some. I don't want people to jump out and do something dumb, but I also don't want them not to get started. Absolutely. Right. So how do we balance complacency with effort and like trigger what the sweet spot is? Yeah, I call I call it golden handcuffs. Right. You're making 80, 100, 150,000 a year, maybe even a quarter million. But you work 80 hours a week. Yep. You barely see your spouse, your kids, you're missing games, right? So it's golden handcuffs. If you leave, what about health insurance? It's all these things that kind of sink there, hooks into you and make you say, do I really want to step out there and try this entrepreneurship thing? And again, on you, your mindset is totally like, what handcuffs? Hers is more like mine. I'll quit and figure it out. I'm not saying don't quit your day job tomorrow, right? But what we did is after getting into real estate within six months, we were able to fire her boss And we fired her boss first strategically Because I had a higher salary So we were like, alright, well we need to ramp this up We're not just going to quit our jobs willy-nilly We need to have our side income First of all, replace your income We did that within a few months Then a year and a half later, once we were making Six figures a month consistently Then I was able to quit my Six-figure-a-year job Comfortably But that was also after I love how intentional you guys are Super intentional And that was after joining the Mastermind, where we were around. We were the only one still with W-2s in this Mastermind. 2017, we joined a real estate investor Mastermind. You have to be full-time in the business, and you have to be making over seven figures a year. Or you have to have $16,000 to buy into the group. We met the third. I think the third was the cheapest option. We met the third criteria, because we definitely weren't. And we didn't even have the $16,000 when we made that investment to join this group. We didn't have the money. luckily I had a business credit card I had American Express with like a $20,000 limit and when they made the pitch at the end of the three day boot camp I was sitting on my hands because that's just my disposition Derek didn't even look up I'm trying not to make eye contact No I didn't we literally sat there at the table and you know when they make the pitch and we're sitting there and we're just looking and Derek's sitting there he's just looking at the guy But I know this is what we need. And so I slowly turn. I'm like. And I look at him. I'm like, is there a reason why you're still sitting here? And I know the majority of the people are like me. They're like, do I really want to take this risk? I want to hit that for just a second because I can't tell how many times I've sat in front of people, whether it be on a virtual thing where we have something that would help them or it's a one-on-one thing. I've sat with them like, you're at X. I can help you get to X in like six months. You're in your own stinking way. Why are you letting this stop? You know they need it. They know they need it, but there's a block. I think people don't trust themselves. It's not like they don't trust you. They don't trust the program. I'm like, am I really going to do it? Am I going to do what it takes? oftentimes we let ourselves down so much it's a lack of belief in yourself and that that's what it was with dedrick and i knew that coming into it so i know i have to pour into him where he understands that um this is something you can do this is something that you were meant to do yeah you just have to get out of your own way so when he sat there and i turned i was like is there reason why you're still sitting here. And he was like, oh, babe, we don't have the $16,000. I said, yes, we do. He said, put it on the credit card. He was like, but I said, get up. And now I'm like, I got an 800 credit score. If I put this on a credit card, now I'm really going to have to get to work. I'm going to have to stop. Maybe it's like, actually, once you put dollars on the line, the accountability level is way in the room. When you pay, you pay attention. That was nice. All right, so fun story. Fun story, fun question. That's $16,000 investment. What do you think your long-term return on that $16,000 investment was? You don't think I mean the exact number, but I'm just curious. I want people to hear this. It's probably 1,000X plus. 1,000X. 1,000X. 1,000X. That investment. One-time investment. And that's really what did it for us. And then going to the quarterly meetups for this mastermind. Flying out of state to go to these. Two kids where we had to get all four of us there. Then we would fly Dedrick's mom from Boston to meet us there because she would watch the kids. She was still breastfeeding our youngest kid. Like we were sacrificing. She would watch those kids, the two boys for us while we're in the conferences all day. I would be running back and forth upstairs to breastfeed, come right back down. What I miss? What I miss? Okay. He's like, oh, I got the nose. I got the nose. Okay. this was two quarters we did this and we're having to sit there this was the wake-up call for me and mind you we had not closed the real estate deal yet yeah we've been trying but we had not closed our first deal yet we're shelling out tens of thousands of dollars to learn and funding this through our w-2 job right that was our first investor making sure we're going to get back and forth to these mastermind meetings and but what woke me up was sitting there hearing people were like, ah, yeah, well, I know last quarter I said I was going to try to add another 50 doors. I only got 30. I only brought in 2.1 million this quarter. So I definitely felt short. It's really strange to say that out loud. Yeah, but it's true. And we cannot gather that. Like, you only made what? Yeah. And we're sitting here, like, barely. We're trying to get our first door. We're trying to get to the mastermind. And we're hearing people like, yeah, I only, you know, I added 40 doors this quarter and I bought this apartment complex. And we're sitting here like, well, we made some cold calls and we sent out some letters and I was some letters. And I mean, we text a couple of people after the second one. I told Dedrick, I said, look, we're not coming back next quarter unless we've actually done some deals. Unless we move the needle. I said, if we have not moved the needle, we're not coming back. All right. So I'm going to pause you there because I think there's another hidden story here. Comparison. Comparison kills deals and entrepreneurs every day, all day. Talk to me about, like, how you guys made that shift because I feel like when I look at entrepreneurship and I look at entrepreneurs right now, I mean, like, people that have haven't, right? Because you guys know this because you guys are entrepreneurs. We look at each other's eyes. We even just meet each other for the first time. Like, oh, yeah, they're entrepreneurs. Yep. Like it takes seconds, right? Yep. But I know that we all had to go through like this posture syndrome, threshold comparison, like how can we help more of our fellow entrepreneurs out there break through that ceiling? I think comparison could be like anything else. It could be positive or negative. It could be good or bad. It could be negative in a way of if you're constantly comparing that could discourage you. But the reason we joined the mastermind and we talk about the association and the power of people that you spend the most time with is that we needed to get around people who were doing things at a higher level because we thought we were good, right? We're making a couple hundred thousand a year. We got good jobs. We got a nice house. But when we got around these people who were making seven and multiple seven figures, we're like, we're not doing anything. We're not nowhere near where we need to be financially. So that caused us to raise our game because we had to go and be accountable to that group or we wouldn't fit in. Right. So that type of comparison was actually healthy is being around those high level, high achievers. Yeah. But then when you go on the gram and you're looking at people who rent in cars and airplanes and the fake lifestyle and wonder why you are where you are and it's because of that like I did when people ask us I say you know the difference between us is because we weren't doing anything for the gram we were doing it for our last name and our kids like that's what we were doing it for we put our heads down and we worked we didn't compare our journey with anyone else's what we did was we ran our own race and anyone along the way who we knew could pour into us and help us get to where we were with the people that we pulled from so like i tell people and when i met dedrick dedrick didn't believe in paying anyone for i don't see the value he did like and when i remember the first time i said look i didn't understand we're gonna have to pay someone to mentor us. It was like, no, we don't. I was like, YouTube and podcast. We'll figure it out. You can get benefit from YouTube and podcast, but it's not the same as somebody sitting down with you talking about your specific business, your specific niche, your specific roadblocks. There you go. There you go. I still spend 10-15% of my net income every year in ongoing development training. I told her, I said, look, we have to shorten our learning curve. What we want to learn, we don't want it to take us two years. Or 10 years. Or 10 years. Or never figure it out. We can pay someone to teach us this specialized knowledge and we be where we need to be in six months. So then he was like. Once that clicked. He was like, okay, all right, let's do it. And I always like to press upon people, especially when money is always the root of why you don't feel like you should do something. And everyone, you know, everyone hits you with it. oh, well... If I only had the money... I don't come from money. No, what gets me is when people say people are always charging for their... Why do people charge for information? And you want to help someone, you should just be telling people. What is it? I tell people all the time, they still don't do the work. There you go. They don't do the work unless they invest in... There you go. Here's the other thing that I realized about this too, is the one place people should invest in most is themselves. And it's always the last place people want to invest. They want to do everything else but invest in becoming the person that can carry a mantle that is actually worthy of being carried. There you go. There you go. Best investment you can ever make is in yourself. And we're living proof of that. And I tell people, and any other entrepreneur, no, and me and Dudley was just talking about this two days ago. I said, because we got that question to send a long email like, you know, I've been at this for a year now and I've been trying and people say they want to help you, but they never do. And I told Dedrick, I said, you're not going to meet an entrepreneur. No one successful who's going to say I owe all of my success to this one person because they did all the work for me and they got me to exactly where I needed to be because they did this. They went out and did this. They went out and did that for me. No one. Yeah. You still have to earn it. We had to put the work in. So my audience has read this story before a little bit, but I had a young man I was coaching for a while. A while. A long while. And I remember one of these conversations, he wanted to shadow me, so he shadowed me to a lot of different events and stuff like that, which is fine. Because if I'm in the car already riding somewhere, we can have a conversation. and I'll be sure whatever I've got going on or whatever, right? On this one specific ride, it wasn't even focused on business. He's like, you're in good shape. I'm just curious. How about build a bigger chest? I'm like, well, you know, the easiest thing to do is probably just start doing, you know, to get started, just start doing some push-ups, right? Just, you know, get on the ground, bang them out. Yeah, right? I said, if you can only get one out the first time, that's great. Get two the next time and work your way up. So he's like, oh, okay, okay, okay, right? And then 30, 45 minutes goes by. He goes, well, what if I want to, like, chisel the bottom half right here? I was like, do the damn push-ups, right? So on and on, like, this conversation went on for probably another four hours. What? Like, different areas of the chest. And I'm like, and the answer was always the same, do the push-ups, right? So the reason I share that story is because a couple years goes by, and I've been mentoring this guy for a while, right? He said, well, how do I make my business successful? How do I do this? I'm like, do this, this, and this. There you go. The answer did not change for three years. There you go. He went from zero to $500,000 in top-line revenue in one year because he did the same three things that I told him to do three years earlier. Three years ago. Yeah. So now we have this running joke when this comes up. I said, what do you got to do? Do the damn push-ups. Do the push-ups. I can show you. Like I can show you all, but I can't I can't do your pushups for you. We have mentees like that as well. Yeah, it's crazy. The good news is don't get it eventually. Exactly. But it's kind of like at what cost? Yeah. Right. Like what? And I'm one of the people who I'm a firm believer in, I guess, because I started entrepreneurship early. Like I had my first company at 18 and for all the way through college, I had a business. So I learned the wrong way to do it. Yeah. So early that by the time I got with Dedrick, I knew there are the right way and the wrong way to do things. And I learned the power of really paying for someone's time and their expertise. They can see it. They're not inside the jar looking out. Exactly. That mindset. Yeah. Paying for the expertise of someone who is where you want to be. and the power of that. So when we got together, it was like, look, I'm not trying to do this in two years. I'm trying to do it in two months. And if this is someone who can get us there, put the check, cut the check. And when you look at the investment 10 grand 15 grand we spent 52 grand on one mentorship But you look at what the ROI is I mean that the thing though And this is where I think people get stuck because people aren looking at it from an ROI perspective If I invest X I can turn this into and I say I can turn this into because again it knowledge the principles the strategies Dude, I've built in the last 24 months, I've helped seven different entrepreneurs, build seven bigger businesses, basically from scratch. Right? And they weren't paying me. Right? This is me coaching them all the way and all this kind of stuff. And my team company goes, why are you still funding our entire operation? Why aren't you not putting up? You need to be doing space to be paying you. Yeah, basically. I'm paying to help them build businesses. It was kind of a bizarre kind of look at it. But what I've discovered is people are coming at it from fear and lack. Because I don't have or I'm not scared of putting in something and not getting returned. I mean, the trust economy is broken, right? Yes. Because there has been a lot of people out there selling a bunch of stuff. Absolutely. A lot of scams. You were talking about that downstairs in the studio. It's like, but there's also people that really know their stuff. Like, you guys have been through the fires. Therefore, you're worth the pain. You guys have been mentored in these different categories. Yeah. And understanding that learning who those people are, right? And understanding, for me, it is receipts, right? When we all of our mentors and coaches are people who are still actively and we would go and meet them and we would spend time with them and we would shadow them and we pay them to shadow them. Because, again, if you're going to be mentored, how do you you said the trust economy is broken? It is. That's why there's so much fear and hesitation, because there's so many people out there saying that they're doing things, but they're not. They're just some lifestyle. So that drowns out people like us who are actually doing what we say we're doing. And now the audience is like, who do I trust? Which is a valid feeling. Yeah, and I remember my son had just said to me, I think it was last week, he was showing me an ad on Instagram, and it was a Lambo. Okay. And it was a guy with a Lambo. And he said to me, he was like, that's probably not even his car, Mommy. It's probably. We taught them well. It's probably a rental, right? Yeah, it's probably a rental. and I just smiled at him because I was so proud. That's awesome. Okay. I see where you're going with this. I didn't even say anything. He was like, yeah, I've seen this before. But yeah, the mentor you choose should be able to show you a document that they've done what they're telling you they can help you do. If they can't, I wouldn't. Well, and you also can't, you can't, you can't look at a potential mentor and look at their stuff and decide on their substance. That too. We as a group would do it differently. So let's say we had a liquidity event of a million bucks, right? We get a million dollars, right? And we have that event. We're not going to go out and buy a $300,000 car. Right. We're going to go buy the pieces that can pay for those things. There you go. I'm going to pass them. I'm going to buy a piece of real estate that's going to kick off $10,000 a month or $15,000 a month and you buy a few more and now the toys are paying for themselves rather than just It's a different mindset, right? Some people go out and buy the Lambos and the jewelry. And again, nothing wrong with that, but my mindset is different. Like I said, if I got $10 million tomorrow, I already got investments that I had already planned. That's going to go with the majority of that we'll go into. Yeah, I'll have some fun and play a little bit, but yeah, the mindset is different. Sometimes I'm like, man, is that a bad thing? Is that a curse? I think it's stewardship, right? I believe in creating legacies that outlive you. I was talking to Quest about this earlier before you guys got here. I said, there are different type of business owners. There are different, but there are business owners that want to create a legacy that outlives them, meaning whatever they build stands the test of time. They're gone and dead and all the things. And they've got great parents and all the stuff. And, you know, for me, I want to leave stuff inside of people, like that's not the heart of somebody. Right. There's other people who are like just as happy to, you know, just kind of they have a business, but it's really a job that they enjoy. They're, you know, they just enjoy doing what they do. So I make money doing this. But when they pass There's no entity That's it I'm glad you said that because that's what I say To all of our students Anyone who come into contact with us Who ask us about why we do what we do And I tell them It's about building something that outlives you Period It's just that simple It's not as complex as most people want to make it It is building something That outlives you our sons will be able to take over when we're gone because we have built their kids to do the same thing. There you go. Cause we built something that would outlive us. Yeah. And when we're done and we're not even done yet, but when it's something that we can now pass on our own kids, it'll outlive them. So that's really why we do what we want to do. And that's what we kind of try to press upon people is you can't take a W2 with you, right? You can't pass that on To your children And for me it's about We both came from generational poverty Me too And once you've seen it You kind of don't want to go back It ain't something you want to even visit Too often That was where my seriously used to come from That would be where my hesitation is If I do this I might have a little reserve To fall back on That was Dedrick's He was Very fearful of going back. And for me, I came single parent, my mother, four kids. I tell people by the time I think I got to the fourth grade, I had already been in like eight schools. And so I was like, look, I lived through that. I can survive that type of upbringing. Look, if I fail, it won't be the worst thing that's happened to me. If I lose it all, we'll get it back. It won't be the worst thing. So for me, That's what entrepreneurship is. That's so good. I'm having such a good time. This is fun. I want to maybe pivot to 50-50. So, one, obviously you guys have been building businesses. You guys have been growing and things. How did you guys work your way into a TV show, then start teaching other people how to do that? Walk me through the journey a little bit. On the ride up here, again, we've got iPhones, and we've got like 50,000 photos and videos, And we were just going through pictures from 2016, 2017, 2018 and reminiscing on the drive up here, the beautiful drive. And I was like, that's 2019. We were like, we had just closed our first deal a year prior. And two years later, we're filming a TV show. I'm like, that's just amazing how God works. Like from closing your first deal and 24 to 36 months later, filming a national TV show. So I just say it's God. I mean, we're blessed. And absolutely. Absolutely. And for us, it was not something that we sought out to do. Not something that was planned. Definitely not me, because I am super private, like your girlfriend. And people are like, well, how is that possible? You're on a TV show. I'm handling business behind the scenes. That's what I'm doing. And if you see me outside of the TV show, then you know I'm still private. Like Dedrick likes to tell people if the CIA and the FBI had a baby, had birthed a baby, it would be me. because I am a very private person. You go to my social media, you're never going to see anything about me. I post maybe once a year, somebody's birthday, my kid's birthday type thing. But it was really us from that mastermind. Again, we were trying to drum up money to attract private investors. To attract private investors. Real estate projects. That's it. That's why we went on social media. The founder of the mastermind was like, look, you guys, a great looking couple. You guys need to get on social media. Super smart. Both of you guys are incredibly intelligent. And he said it. He was like, look, get on social media. Start showing people that you're doing what you say you're doing. And the investors will come because you now have documented proof. And Dedrick was like, well, I mean, I can, but. I know my wife I said and I told him I said well you can you know it like and he was like okay and that's really what it was just us day in day out documenting the process and we walk through walking through a property taking selfie videos meeting the contractor meeting the roofer so we've documented our whole business over the past 10 years and we shared it and we were rehabbing our rentals and it just so happened that the TV networks were seeing that. It turned out A&E had been emailing, had DM'd us for like over a year. You were looking at your DMs? Well, we got a lot of spam. I'm sure you get a lot of spam. So I was not interested in it. And so many casting agencies would DM us also. And I wasn't there. We had small kids. I wasn't even interested. so A&E had actually ended up getting our 1-800 number, called our secretary, made our secretary promise to pass the message along and to have us, me call them back. Made her pass it along. Yes. She promised. Made her promise that she would have them call me back. So when I walked in our office, she was like, hey, this lady, I think it was Kathleen from A&E Network had called me. And I was like, oh, okay. And she was like, she wanted you to give her a call. And I was like, okay so I just walked into the office and she came and followed me she was like could you please give her a call because she made me promise I had a pinky promise and I'm like well why would you promise she was like it made me feel so comfortable and safe she said she's been trying to get in contact with you guys for a while and she can't get a hold of you and I was like okay but for future reference let's not promise anybody and she's like okay i won't i promise so i gave her a call and she asked if we can do a zoom call this is right after covid like early 2021 okay and it might have been still during covid because when we still got first season okay so i told her uh we hopped on a zoom call with two of them and she was like look i want to start off by saying this i am not a casting company i am the in-house Casting agent for A&E Strictly She was like so I will not be Getting a tape trying to shoot anything of you guys And then shop it around She was like I work exclusively With A&E I'm in house And she was like we're looking to Gave us a whole spiel of they're looking to green light Three flipping shows They're getting back into the flipping space They came across us Absolutely loved Our presence and what we're doing And da da da and they're interviewing a lot of people. So we was like, oh, okay. When we started, we was like, well, let's just see how far we get. We was like, we ain't really going to do it. Because, you know, I'm definitely not doing a TV show. And I was like, well, let's just see how far we go. And he was like, yeah, cool. And Desi was like, well, it would be kind of cool. He was more for it. Of course. And I was against it. I didn't think they were going to pick us. Let's just see how far it goes. Neither one of us did. We was just like, yeah, it'd be cool to tell people like, yeah, you know, we got to the final round. And then after, what, six months, back and forth, Zoom after Zoom. Every Zoom call had more people on it. They contacted us, got on another Zoom, and it was like, hey, we'd love to offer you guys one of the TV shows. And me and Dejik looked at each other like... And still trying to smile and we're like, oh! Oh, okay. And it was like, we are super excited. Super final round. she's like we're super excited oh my god we love you guys and we're like okay awesome and he's like we're going to send over all the paperwork and we'll get that over to you the attorneys and we're just like then we got off the call and we were like are we really doing this and at this point I'm like oh shoot like now my my personality kicks in and I'm like I don't think we're going to do this we're opening up our whole lives to national TV. And then she's like, well, we kind of have to do it. We've already made this whole long process. Exactly. And he's like, no, we don't. I was like, babe, we do. Like, they've let go of so many other candidates. They've interviewed like hundreds of people. And this came down to us. We kind of can't, like, back out now. And he was like, look, we didn't say we were doing anything. And I was like, yeah. We just sat there and smiled because we were frozen. Right. I said, but, well, we kind of have to do it at this point. I said, let's just see it's an experience right where it's something new and with us usually they were like even when you get a tv show they'll have you shoot like a sizzle or a pilot and with us they went straight to series meaning like they flew out like 15 guys like west and from la and new york and we just started filming the first episode so it was and then the producers were like that almost never happens they were like there's something about you guys i call that an open door yeah yeah yes So it was amazing. That's really how it started. Like, it was just from us documenting our journey on social media. And I like to tell people we weren't doing it for the gram. Or to get on TV. Or to get on TV. Trying to find that money. Right. And it worked. Where is Steven? We need some. And that's why it worked. Because with the TV show, a lot of people see these flipping shows and they think, oh, well, the network is paying for the house. Are they giving you construction budget? No. No, it's all you. A&E, and the reason we did it is because, you know, A&E shoots documentary style. It's not scripted like some of the other TV flipping shows. So we were like, hey, look, we're not actors. As long as we can be ourselves, you know, we're not even house flippers. We always play them. Like, you sure you want us? We're not house flippers. We're buy and hold investors. They had no idea that all the houses they were looking at were our rentals. We weren't flipping them. We weren't flipping any of them. So our first flip was on national TV. Literally. Literally. You know, it's a little different when you're renovating to flip versus as a buy and hold. Right. But the difference with us is that we put, you know, luxury quality finishes into our buying holds properties. So that's why they thought they were flips. So we made it very clear to them, like, look, we're not flippers. We we don't flip. We buy and hold. And it was like, we don't care. We don't care. We just want to document. They was like, well, can you incorporate flipping into some of them that you hold? And we was like, I mean, yeah, we could do that. How hard could it be to sell something? famous last words right well yeah how hard could it be the first season almost killed us because we had a team of about three people with no project manager doing the work of like 15 people like with TV cameras in your face on a time limit like which is totally different than if you're just flipping a house on your time limit TV is everything is compressed like it's crazy That's where the name came from. And then at the same time, I had to raise the private money. We had to do 10 episodes. Each house would buy from about 100 to 200 grand, had to put 50 to 100 thousand into it. So I had to raise two or three million in private money to make that happen, which I did successfully. That was part of the nervousness. Like, I've never raised this much money and I got it. Now I have to do it to pull off this TV show. The next TV show is going to be Stephen and Dedrick, creative private equity fund. Right. It was. But when my back was against the wall, I did it. Right. Look at that. It was it was an experience. First season was Annie. Second season, Hulu bought the rights to our show, which blew up even more. Yeah. Right. So we went from what, four million. How many Annie's did they say had? Well, Hulu has about 45 million subscribers. Yeah. From like nine million subscribers or something from Annie to like 45 million subscribers with Hulu. and we have been doing mentorship before then but it wasn't as formalized we had a few small courses and accelerators we were doing a lot of free coaching like you said teaching people free coaching someone who didn't take action which was frustrating and I think a lot of that was and a lot of that came from me like I just feel I've always felt like let's just give the people information and Desiree was like look this is our time and it just became more and more and more DMs emails and people from the first season popping up at the office. We had to move on. They would find their office. I drove all the way from Philadelphia to learn from you guys. So much for me wanting a TV show. It is. I like my little solitude here at Safe Haven. I'm telling you, when people want to get what they want, they're going to find you. People still, to the day, they show up at our mailbox. So it's not our office. They think it's our office, our actual mailbox. And they'll call me and they'll be like, hey, Ms. Polite, there is such and such here. And he came down. We tried to tell him that this is your mailbox. It's not your office. And they're asking if they can meet you guys. And I'm like, it's a no. And please don't call me again in regards to this. Tell them to just shoot us an email. Like we have events and things of that nature. We're not in town, right? now. But after that second season, it definitely stretched us, right? The first one killed us. The second one... We came back smarter with a bigger team. And then listen to the people who did it before us. When they told us, it's going to be hard for you to do something else. TV's going to become your job. It's going to become your job. And we was like, yeah, we can run all of our companies and do this little TV show in the process. Well, they told us it was only film a couple hours a day for two or three days a week. It ended up being five days a week, 12, 14 hours a day on set. This is what the actual reality was. For, what, eight months? Because they compressed, they got all that content and compressed it in a one-hour show. There you go. Five-minute show, yeah. Yeah. It killed it. I know our last day of filming we sat back in the bed, both of our heads are on the headboard like, yeah, we're not doing it. This is a game. Was that where you guys were going? Like, you just finished filming, like, a wrap up a season when you and I met Sean's place? We were going on spring break with the kids. So season two was hectic, but it was a lot more calm for us because we had a lot more people involved, a bigger team, much bigger team. Everyone was kind of pulling their weight. They knew what they were doing. We had an amazing cast and crew that was on the ground, showrunner, everything was just phenomenal come season two. It was a lot better. It was still, you know, stressful, but not as much. But that's also because of that coaching and mentorship from people in the TV industry. And that's why I like to press upon people. It's not just real estate. Whatever you want to do in life. Find a mentor. Find a mentor. Someone who's done that already. Who can help you navigate what you're about to go through. Because otherwise you're going to pay the stupid tax. all the way through the whole thing. That's it. What do you say? Stupid tax. Choose your heart. It's going to be hard if you play the stupid tax. It's going to be hard if you find a mentor, but you're going to get better results with a guide or a mentor. Not only that, with a mentor, I mean, we all believe in paying our mentors, right? Yes. Because there are times. I did this. You and I might have talked about this. We were in Greece for that time. But a long time ago, I was trying to figure out what should I charge, right, for whatever's in my noodle, right, Whatever's up here, all the experiences I've been through. There's a lot, right? There's been a lot of different things I've been through and circumstances, building large teams from nothing and building my – to rebuild myself. And, you know, we've already talked about some various stories, just kind of walking around the house. And then I had a mentor of mine said, take your net worth for last year and divide it by 2,080. And I was like, okay, why? He goes, that's what an hour of your time is worth. that's a good one and I was like I can't do this for free anymore you realize the value of your time I'm sure you guys are like this we're so close to what we're doing we even as mentors to other mentees if you will who also we have our own mentors we as a group we're too close to it Like something that feels like super like natural to us is like supernatural to somebody else. Right. It's only a little about speaking and doing, you know, immersive events and stuff like that is because I was I was at a I was at all over the place in the month of April. But I was just in I think it was Vegas last. And I met someone who's been very successful with a lot of celebrities and doing a lot of different things. And we were just having a quick chat. I was, in fact, I was being interviewed in one of the settings and he overheard the conversation, came to find me after the fact. And he's like, can you tell me more about this, this and this? And he goes, can you keep this private? I said, of course I can. Like this conversation, like the substance of the conversation is the things between us, right? But when we were talking, you could just at different times, you saw like things welling up right in the eyes, right? So it's like, I think we're going to be so close to information and transformation that we underestimate the value of it. Yep. Absolutely. Because some of these problems that we've collectively solved for other people has been life changing. Yep. Generational changing. Yes, absolutely. Yeah, same thing with our mentors. Like you said, we still have mentors. Even though we mentor thousands of people, we still have mentors. Yes. I was telling my CPA recently, who's been with me for a long time, I have to learn how to think like a billionaire. I have to learn how they think. I may not necessarily agree with everything they do because I know about seven collectively. The seven that I know are really good humans. They've done really well in business, but they're also really good people. I've been acquainted with others that are not as favorable as far as how I would do life differently. Let's leave it there. But all of them have taught me something, even the ones that I disagree with. I've learned something. I think Hemingway said every person's superiority in some way, there's always something to be learned, no matter who it is. Absolutely. What's been the most recent thing that you guys have learned that's unlocked a new level for you guys? That's a good question. Most recent thing we've learned. That has unlocked a new level for you guys By the way I haven't even asked a single question This is just part one We're going to have another conversation It's unlocked a new level I think it's just working For me it's working on yourself What do they say The inner me is the enemy Right that little voice in your head So constant personal development, reading the books, listening to the tapes. If you're spiritual and connected to that, that higher power, that that's what what constantly unlocks new levels for me is when I focus on those type of things, the inner, the inner mind, the inner workings that unlocks the outer. Yeah. Yeah, that's good. Yeah, I think for me, it's more being able to transition into other areas of business. So us transitioning also into from red uh real estate into now other entrepreneurship areas like the Sky Zone that we purchased, just going now into actual businesses is like my thing now. So it's literally unlocking a ton of different doors and avenues where now I'm learning something completely different on franchises, which has been my dream my whole life. So when Dedrick and I got together, his dream was real estate. Mine was. Is. Mine is. FEC is Family Entertainment Center. Yeah. So when we met, I told him, you know, my dream and goal is to own a chain of them. And he was like, OK. He was like, look, if we do this real estate, we can take the money from real estate and roll that into. The vehicle. Mm-hmm. Uh, use that to finance your dream. And I was like, okay, say less. Yeah. And I tell people the seriousness of that was, it was written in our vows. In our wedding vows. I won't own FECs. I played zero games with them. Like, we're going to do the little real estate thing. Cause you know, that's your dream and your goal. Oh, this is awesome. But we definitely going to pivot and come back to this. Don't think we're going to forget my boy. And he was like, listen, let's use this to fund that. And that's exactly what we did. We utilized the real estate that we were owning to be that vehicle to purchase like our first franchise. Yeah. Yeah. That's so good. Again, I love how intentional you are because I feel like. All right. So one of the things I've been saying recently, this has been like a battle cry of mine for like the last six months. it's funny how a battle cry of yours it starts to have ripple effects where you start seeing other people use different phrasing and stuff it's not mine anyway so it's like have fun with it but my battle cry is you can't scale dysfunction say that twice can't scale dysfunction we've learned that that's how I learned so and one of the ways that I think dysfunction shows up is I call it shooting from the hip So as an entrepreneur, there's no shortage of problems that you're like. And you think in the moment, hey, got that, hey, got that, got that pigeon, got that, you know, I got whatever. And you realize that shooting that one thing turned into five other problems. Yeah. And that turned into five other problems and that turned into five other problems. And one of the things I admire about you guys so much is how intentional and deliberate you guys are. I just I hope that's like a major takeaway for the audience today, because I just feel like that's a super, super, super strong takeaway for me. Like from the very beginning. Yeah. Like we're we're we're going to build something like this. Yes. We're going to it seems like you guys hold it with open hands a little bit like, you know, this is the vision. Yes. How we get there may be a little bit different. Yeah. Or maybe like we plan most. It's not like maybe a circuitous circuitous route. Yeah. But as long as we get there. Yeah. So. All right. So I guess I have another. This is more of a this is more of a fun question. this is by the way I'm a naturally curious person um oh here's what I'm curious about who are the polites when there's no cameras and no business who are we okay so who are we together or individually yeah both okay um me individually step away from all of it when I step away from it all I am a mother and wife like I am That's what I absolutely love. I love, I am the Uber driver to the kids. I'm the chef. I'm the like, I am ripping and running to practices, trainings all day, every day. I'm cooking like, and people are like, well, how do you have time to do all of this? And that's my girlfriend, same question. That's what actually gives me joy. Right. Right. That's what I want to do. And so doing that actually gives me great pleasure. And yes, people ask, yes, I could hire someone to get my kids from here and there. I can have my parents do it. Like, but I want to do it. Like, Deja will say like, hey, you want me to go get the kids? And you can just know. Like, he knows, like, ask to do something that you know I don't want to do. Yeah. You know I want to go get my kids. Even though as soon as they get in the car They're about to give me a headache from that point For it but I love Doing that so I love Every weekend we're at tournaments Now we're having to divide And conquer So what are the sports tournaments that you guys are into? AAU basketball, travel soccer Girlfriend and kids are in some serious Soccer One is a goalie for The USA version of the Younger our kids in the same. We might need to create a little super team here. We might have to do something like that. We were actually just in Burlington last weekend. Hit us up next time. Plain? Her oldest son was Plain. Springwood Park. Goalkeeper. What was the spring for soccer? Goalie. We're learning that too. I'll be out there yelling like I know what I'm talking about. Knowing I didn't play any soccer and didn't want my youngest to play. He'd been asking me for like four years before I actually put him on a team and I would conveniently forget everything. Oh, mommy missed the registration. Travel soccer's legit. And that, it really took a parent saying to me like, does Keena play soccer? And I was like, no. No, he played basketball, you know, football, flag, football. And he was like, no, Keena plays soccer. I was like, what? He was like, yeah, he's really good. I was like Kenan does not play soccer so I signed him up for like a little league a little church league I said well first day Dedrick was with our son at a basketball tournament and I was like yeah once he this might be one and done he realized you got to run up and down this field I said yeah we won't be back here by the time I got in the car I called Dedrick and I said did you know Kenan can play soccer he was like what He had scored like 10 goals. Oh, wow. By the first, by halftime. They have to put him on defense in the second half. And they prevented anyone from scoring. Mercy rule, mercy rule. It was crazy. And it just so happened to turn out he's really good at it, like really good. And our oldest son, both of them do travel basketball. So our youngest plays up. He's eight in the third grade. He plays with a fourth grade travel team who plays against only fifth grade teams. Oh, wow. So he plays on a travel team. Our son plays on John Morant's 12-time team. And he's been playing travel basketball for ever in a day. And this is coming from a kid who, when we first got him into basketball, he could play, but he didn't want to because he don't like attention. So he didn't like people staring at him at all. Like he had that phobia, like he didn't want people looking at one of his parents. Yes. And so for us, that's the every weekend. So even when we were filming, it was I remember the first season, they was like, hey, what are you guys doing on the weekend? Not this Monday through Friday. What you guys have. Yeah. and when I tell you it would be a hard stop if I said my kids have something to do and they learned during season one the hard way it was something we were filming and I said hey we got a hard stop at 5 I have to be here for my son by this time and it was like okay not a problem it's like yep and it was like 5-0-1 and he was producing oh it's gonna stay a little bit I was already on taking mics off his stuff and they were like, oh, she hasn't really been there. Oh, you're going to learn the name. They should have known that when they were interviewed to begin with. They learned that. It's not like she puts off like an impartial vibe. At all, whatsoever. And I'm literally grabbing the pack and I'm like, okay, so Dedrick, I'll meet you at the field. Okay, I'll meet you there. I'm going to grab him. And they're looking like, oh, we just wanted to finish this. We'll finish it tomorrow. Yeah, you're not going to finish it today. I said a hard stop at five. All right, baby, I'll see you later. I was out the door. That was a one and done for them. They knew from that point on. That's me. I am that person who, when we're at tournaments and people come up to us and they're talking to us, I have no problem with that. If you see me watching my son's game, this is not the best time. I'm the mom that you see videos about. Pop up on social media, I am very loud. Deja and I don't even sit together at the game. he was like babe opposite ends of the court he'll be like babe I don't want you to get kicked out I'm getting kicked out she's intense she's intense I mean but all the rest know me now like great relationships with all the rest they'll be like how we gonna do today here she comes we're gonna be okay we're gonna be okay today I said it depends on how you call this game it depends on how you call this game are we connected it they'd be like yes we are we're gonna be good we're gonna be good but you're seeing intimidated rough yes i am like i'm super intense when it comes to sports and my sons and then that's where i find joy that's what i love to do but that's also why like it goes back to being intentional i tell people and desic and i met i wasn't having kids before i was 30 i made that very clear to all guys. I'm not having kids before I'm 30. Why? Because when I have them, I wanted to be able to enjoy them. I didn't want to have to feel like I'm pulling them along. I didn't want to feel like I'm missing out on anything in life because I'm having to take care of these children. I said, when I have them, I have to be in a position and a point in my life where I can take care of them financially, not just their wants, their needs, but their wants, and then get to enjoy every moment with them. And that's what happened. I waited. And so I think my first one was what, 32, 33? Yeah, we're in our early studies. And from that point on, I've enjoyed them. I love every moment with them. It never felt like it was a burning. We're like, oh my God, I got to go do this. Okay, but I got kids. I got to do that. And then I got to do this work. And I got to do this. And being an entrepreneur, it allows you the flexibility. It allows you the time freedom, right? I remember growing up with a single parent. My mom couldn't make almost any of my games. Why? Because She's working her nine to five to provide for three kids. Right. And I always be like, man, my friend's dad's always at the games. Why are my parents not there? And I want it to be the opposite when we have kids. And that's exactly how it is. Like we don't miss anything. We're at every game at every practice because we put in the work to buy our freedom. Everything is cool. Our kids can have a little play that'll last 10 minutes. We're there. And we're stopping production because we got to go to the school play. and I was to my baby say this one line for 10 minutes. You guys, we're so aligned. I was the opposite. I missed a lot of time. My oldest son comes to me. He was 22 at the time. I think it was. He said, if there's one thing you can do better, as far as just one thing, it was like you can just be more present when you're present. I had all these Rolodex moments. I was there. Body. But I wasn't there. I was on this stupid computer on an iPhone. And I remember thinking to myself, as soon as he said it, I had like a Rolodex of all these moments, right? I told my son, it's in the new book that comes out like next year. I told my son, I said, you legitimately changed my life with that one statement. And he was the one that doesn't speak up. He's the one that goes with the flow, doesn't like to rock the boat. So the amount of courage that he had to have that conversation with us is super special to me. Who are you when the cameras aren't filming and the deals aren't flowing? You get to walk away for a few minutes. Yeah, I mean, like you said, it's the purpose is more important for me. It's the freedom, the lifestyle. Because, again, I just read this book. It's called Die With Zero. And it's like, what good is all this money, all these toys? You hear this? It's nice. You can enjoy it. I like toys and have it fun. but it's the memories, right? So I was just thinking as you were speaking about your son, nights and weekends, I don't work, right? Now, early in our career, I would work nights and weekends, but now that's for my wife, that's for my kids. People want to book meetings on a weekend, it's like, no, that's family time. Because again, those are the moments you can't get back. Like, what is it if you gain the world and you lose yourself in the process? So that's what I'm about. And he likes shooting guns, going to the gun range. I got a couple of those. Oh, yeah, yeah. I love firearms. A couple of rages nearby, too. Absolutely. I recently got into golf. The point's right here. You can watch me throw clubs. As long as you don't judge. I'm at the same level. Learning the game. But it's fun. It's fun being out there. Traveling is definitely both of us. We love travel. We have two different travel personas. When I travel, I want to sit on the beach, sit on the dog, hang out, have a couple drinks. I want to go to an adventure. When we travel, she has a whole itinerary. It's like we get up at 8 a.m. and we're hitting this spot, this spot, this spot. It's different. I'm the explorer. I get lucky there. I like to go with the flow and just kind of, hey, let's. Yeah. No, but you like structured exploration. I like, let's just figure out. Well, so here's what we did because my girlfriend, she likes both, which is really good for me because I'm like, I want to explore. How often are we in Greece? I mean, you know, like, you know. Let's see everything. And so the thing is, is when we go to lay out a little vacation, right, it's like, okay, let's do some stuff, but also make sure we actually carve in downtime on house. Yeah. But we carve in actual downtime in the whole thing. So everybody gets their little replenishment thing going on. Yeah. Two, three-hour blocks. I think downtime is usually the last day. I wouldn't help. The last day. She's going to take a vacation for vacation. That's literally what it feels like. By the time we get back, I'm like, child, I need a vacation. Well, we have the experiences and we have the incredible memories. And our kids, that's what they're used to now. Like if we're not doing something because I've been like that since they were born with all of our vacations, it's kind of like, what are we doing next? Where are we going next? What's on the schedule for tomorrow, mommy? And the memories. What's on our itinerary for tomorrow? And then, like, we go to places everywhere we go. And, you know, when you go to somewhere and they'll be like, hey, do you want me to take you guys' picture? And Deja will be like, yeah, nah, we good. I used to be like, I got an iPhone. He'll show you quick. He used to see all these pictures. Nah, we good. We got the phone right here. And I'm like, yes, we need the picture. Now I'm just like, we take it. So we get that souvenir picture everywhere we go. And we've got about 100 of them probably. Like, literally. And then Deja will be like, do we need another picture? I don't even ask now. Yes, we do. But they get to look at these memories and be like, oh my God, look at that. I'm getting older and older and older and all kinds of stuff, yeah. Exactly. Even now, just from our recent vacation, Doug's like, no, we good, my boy. And I come right behind him. I'm like, yeah, we need that picture. He's looking at me just like, is it really worth $100? Yes, it is. That's exactly what he says, too. Is it really worth $25. Take the pictures. You know me. I got to get the picture in the frame. She gets the top package. Whatever the top package is. But that's us as a family. And our kids are the same way. But it's also because when I was a kid, I never took a vacation with my mother. I don't know what a spring break for us. We were outside playing. Ours, if it happened, it was camping. Somewhere. Because the tent and the fire doesn't call. Inexpensive trip. I never took a vacation growing up like a vacation. Never heard of it like a vacation. What? Nothing past what I saw on TV. Yeah. People on television, you watch the show and they're going on a vacation. But growing up, we had never took one. Yeah. And Dedrix was like to go down south to see family. Like that's what his they take a vacation to come back to South Carolina from Boston. So for me, I like giving my children those experiences where they know a true vacation and what they're supposed to do. And I mean, yeah, you are supposed to relax. I'm just I just get wired like that. I'm not wired like that. So they'll find that downtime. Yeah. So I know we're really a couple minutes left, but I have I have a question. I don't know where we're going to go with this answer. So I don't know if this is something you guys are really strong in, something you're still walking through, working through. but a lot it's becoming more increasing that great partners are going into business with each other, right? They're building businesses, doing life, doing things How do you guys navigate business time versus marriage time? Like how do you guys dance that? Is it everybody still, it's okay to like be making a meal like hey, I might just close this deal I got the LOI Do you just separate it like you do at the time? Yeah, no Yeah, it's not easy. It's definitely not easy being in business with your spouse. But we were kind of intentional about this as well. Yep. The reason being is because you see so many couples and not a bad thing where the husband is working or the husband runs a business and the wife is doing her thing. And they they only see each other at night, 6 p.m. when they're getting home on the weekends. Yeah. Everybody's fried. They don't get the best of you. So what I want is like when I get married, I want to build something with my wife. Right. I don't want her working for someone else. And I barely see her. Right. So we were intentional about that as well. Now, it does have its challenges. Right. It's not our unicorns and rainbows where you're married to the person, you're in business with them, your parents, you know, you're doing all this stuff. But that's how we wanted it. So. Yeah. And for us, for me, it was a non-negotiable. I told people I had partners and I told Dedrick before that robbed me blind. So my only next partner in business will be my partner in life. My next partner would be my husband That's it And for us There is no separation And people will say it is But if you are truly In business And you're a true entrepreneur And Married It's impossible for something Not to come up when even you're on a vacation Or something Some business or something not to be discussed But one of the things that helps us Even early on Was we learned to stay out of each other's way Which means We learned our roles and responsibilities Within the business So that He was over X, Y, and Z I'm over X, Y, and Z And we did not cross We came to each other as if we were partners If it was something that had to do with Sales Or acquisitions I came to him and I said hey look I was over marketing when we first got started If leads were slow it up Then you could come to me and say hey look I'm not getting enough leads X, Y, and Z And we never stepped on each other's toes Yeah And when it comes to the marriage It's the same way Autonomous respect I love it Absolutely I love it It had me thinking too So Rory and AJ and Vaden you guys were with them Okay you guys should know them They're amazing people out of Nashville They built a company called Brand Builders Group They, I think, co-founded at one time Southwestern Consulting, which is a massive sales firm in Nashville. They're behind a lot of the New York Times bestsellers of all the major thought leaders. You know, ET and Ed Milet and Amy and all the different folks. They're amazing humans. One of my biggest takeaways are from them because they co-founded their company together as well. AJ is the CEO. And Rory is a bit more like the chief visionary officer or marketing officer in many respects, right? One of the things that I love about them is they're also very intentional. They even have a framework. In fact, when I first started to date my girlfriend, I was like, this is their framework. I'd really like to model this framework. And the framework is date night every week. Okay. Quarterly getaway. Like a weekend. and then an annual vacation where one week is with the kids and them and the one week is just the them. I love that. We're already going to copy that. We have some components of it, but we're going to copy the framework. Well, just because, you know, I think it is a beautiful quality to be in relationship with somebody you love and do business with somebody you love because there's a trust level there. Yeah, absolutely. There's a safety level there. The flip side of the challenge is, like, you get to certain aspects. You're like, hey, we're in all business. We need to play. Yeah. Like, it's like a place home, you know, turn it off. And it was a point where, like, he would work from the office and I would work from home. So when you needed that separation, there you go. He's like, OK, you get on my nerves. OK, he would be in the office and I would work from the home office. So people would be like, even if we were together so much all day, every day, you can still have that little separation. Or you can go in the home office and I can go somewhere else in the house. leg. It's big enough. We ain't got to see each other if we're getting on each other's nerves, which happens because I can tend to do that. But you got to know yourself and know when to walk away. Again, we have our date nights and stuff. On date nights, we're like, all right, no business. Put the cell phones away. But we got to remind ourselves of that. I just want to mention that because you guys, when you come to my, what I call my energy, we're around each other in the person. You guys have beautiful energy together. you clearly are very very very gifted in what you guys have been building but you're also very very connected you're also very very intentional with kids yes so I just love the I love the well rounded roundness of it right because if I was going to design a relationship and have a partner who I was doing business with and stuff like that I'm like okay this is the kind of energy that would be like super beneficial I'm not saying there's not challenges we all know there's challenges like piece of socks you know whatever all day every day well I put it right beside the dirty clothes hamper and I didn't put it right in Guilty. Guilty. That's the way you go sometimes. Look, I know you guys are doing a ton. If you wanted our audience to engage with you, where would you want them to go and get to know you best better? Any and everything Be Polite. Okay. Right. So you can find us on all social media platforms under Be Polite. Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, everything. Our website is DedricandCrystal.com. and then our coaching platform. Crystal with a K, by the way. Yes. Crystal with a K. Please, Crystal with a K. And then our coaching platforms. Yeah, yeah. So we have a coaching program called Polite Wealth where we teach people how to invest in real estate, whether they have experience or they're brand new. They want to own properties. So just go to PoliteWealthPortal.com, and we'd love to connect. Love it. We appreciate you having us, man. Bro, this is fun. I know. This is a great conversation. Long time coming, too. That's right. Like, do this a while, but we got it. We got it dialed in the right day. Absolutely. They call it divine timing. And this is just the first of many because that means amazing conversation. That's right. That's right. All right, guys, you know what to do. Like, share, subscribe, do all the things, one part lion, one part lamb. What are you going to do? Rise and last. You just heard from the polites. You guys are interested in real estate. You're interested in learning from a married couple who's actually doing business well, life well, and all the things. I advise you and highly recommend you guys check them out on every single area you can find with Be Polite. In the meantime, we love you. We can't wait to see you in the next episode. God bless. Peace.