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Stand Tall & Own It
Something shifted. You can feel it. You just can't name it yet.
Stand Tall & Own It is for women in the second half of life who are high-functioning on the outside and quietly disoriented on the inside. You built your life inside systems you trusted completely — until you realized you couldn't tell what was actually yours from what you'd just learned to navigate well.
Host Andrea Johnson doesn't offer formulas. She offers honest thinking, sharp observation, and the kind of conversation that makes you pull over and sit in your driveway.
This is where the real work starts.
Stand Tall & Own It
Episode 94 - Financial Independence, with Elisa Zhang
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Elisa Zhang, owner/principal of $450M in holdings across 3000+ apartment units, has remained fully involved in the multifamily investing world throughout the pandemic and has never stopped finding deals that will benefit her investors. After successfully building a path to financial independence for herself in less than 10 years and transitioning out of her full time IT career she made it her mission to help motivated nine-to-fivers do the same. Elisa is deeply passionate about teaching those who want to quit their jobs how to do so using the power and infinite opportunity of real estate investing through her course offerings at EZ FI University and on her podcast, 10,000 Roads to Financial Independence.
Topics discussed in this episode:
Leadership principle: Lead by example. Be willing to do the work.
Habits:
- Morning intentional planning 5-10 minutes of journaling
- Miracle morning meditation
- Plan your day - clear your morning before 10am
- Write down 3 wins of the day at the end of each day
Green Flags:
- If you’ve contemplated it at all, research it to see if you want to do it.
Advice:
- Start with self-assessment to see where you really are.
- Always invest in education.
- Know what you want.
Where to find Elisa:
Website: EZ FI University
LinkedIn: Elisa Zhang
Instagram: @elisazhang_fi
Facebook: EZ FI University
Podcast: 10,000 Roads To Financial Independence
YouTube: Elisa Zhang EZ Financial Independence University
Books she recommends:
- Rich Dad, Poor Dad
- The Miracle Morning
- The Gap and The Gain: The High Achievers’ Guide to Happiness, Confidence, and Success
- Who, Not How: The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork
- The Go Giver
- The ABC’s of Buying Rental Property
Become an Intentional Optimist!
All my links
30 Minute Free Consultation
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You're listening to Intentional Optimist, the podcast for unconventional leaders, where you'll find inspiration, learn to discover and develop your own strengths, and hear from inspiring women just like you who are making a difference in their community. Who knows? You just might find yourself stepping up as the next unconventional leader right where you are. I'm your host, Andrea Johnson, the original intentional optimist. Hey everybody, welcome to episode 94. You know, I don't pretend to understand financial investing, but I do fall into that category of wanting to be financially independent, which represents freedom on so many levels to me. Now, when I first met Elisa Zhang, she was interviewing me. She wanted to share intentional optimism with her audience of investment-minded entrepreneurs. And you know me, I'm always ready to talk. But throughout the conversation, I found myself drawn to her passion for creating financial literacy in a million people and her Easy FI University, where she teaches one course or one concept to even just one person at a time. Alisa is an unconventional leader in her own unique way, and I can't wait for you to hear that passion come through as she talks about what she does and how she got there. Here's my conversation with my new friend, Elisa Zhang. Hey there, Elisa. Welcome to the show. How are you today?
SPEAKER_01Thank you so much, Andrea, for having me on here.
SPEAKER_00You know, we met. I don't remember if I pitched myself to you or if you asked me to be on your show, but it was several months ago. And um I we met and you interviewed me, and I'm like, I really like this girl. I need her to talk to my people. Um, I love your story. I love what you've done with your life. And for those who don't know you yet, could you give us a little bit of background, maybe a brief history and kind of what you do now that's unconventional?
SPEAKER_01Uh yeah, so I um was a computer engineer. Um, and I worked for Fortune 500 companies for um probably about 13 years between maybe two jobs. Um, and then before uh on on the side, I started Rieste business, um, and just starting from just being a small investor, buying one thing at a time, buying hold. Um, and eventually kind of get into syndication of apartment buildings. And then now we have about 3,000 doors uh that we manage and asset manage um and operate on. Um, and uh that's kind of what I have done. Uh, but also we have this vision, we're so far from it right now, but we do have this vision to bring potential financial literacies resources into the communities that we manage as well in the future.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Okay, so that was a lot. And and when you say I have 3,000 doors, so what I want people to understand is that you, I think on your website you said you are sole owner of about a thousand apartments, right? It's it sounds like it might be more than that now, and then a passive, like partial investor in at least a thousand more, but now you're saying three thousand, so it's somewhere in that mix.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so we've have grown and our website updates. You know, the thing about owning the property is it kind of fluctuates. You sell some, you buy some, you buy some, you sell some. Every single month is a different number. And then uh we just haven't really updated our websites um in terms of because we're just too busy doing all the other stuff. And then uh uh so the numbers on the websites almost always inaccurate um because of where we at. Um we do passive invest as well. Um, and uh, you know, I'm probably involved in about six deals. Um, I've also recently started to invest passively into funds as well, just to see kind of how that works. So I've no idea how many doors we own through the funds through passive investing, and then that number I don't really count to things that we manage because as passive investors, uh, you're investor first. So you put money into an investment and it goes do its own thing and it kicks you back the return. That's all I need to know. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So um, this is not a financial podcast. This is um a podcast about female leaders, and your story is unique and different. So that's what I want to dive into. Um, but I am going to request that you talk to me like I'm in kindergarten because I don't a lot of people like when you said those things on your podcast, I just kind of let you go because I'm like, this is her podcast, and her people know what she's talking about. But I promise you, many of the women listening do not know. So you got into real estate investing because you read Rich Dad, Poor Dad, correct?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So I got into real estate investing actually without any education. Okay. Later on, I read Rich Dad and Poor Dad, and the being part of an online community with landlords, like the Facebooks for uh the real estate investors, um, which is bigger pockets. And then through bigger pockets, I discover Rich Dad, poor dad.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_01Um, so um, you know, then I learn about cash flow, right? Cash flow. So it changes our investment strategy. You know, I got some education now versus none. Um, so it makes your investment more intentional, uh, and then makes your growth more intentional as well. Um, and when you have intentional uh things that you set up, the goals that you set up, uh, and then marching towards it, uh, it allows you to um weed out a lot of noise. Otherwise, you could get distracted because now you have a North Star that you're working towards. So you can filter out to say this is not important, this is not important, this is not on my goal to reach there. It allows you to become more focused. Um, and once you become more focused and not getting distracted with other things, you start progressing faster. So, so that's kind of like my transition, the, the, the, the big uh significant impact of rich that poor that book, um, and also socializing, networking with other investors uh who's maybe more experienced than you are, uh, kind of brings brings to you, um, you know, in terms of uh building that basic fundamental understanding and understanding yourself and coming up with a goal and then uh working towards that goal.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00So, what was the goal that got you focused?
SPEAKER_01Um, my goal was to having more time that I can spend with my kids, really. Um, and 2015, when I was uh pregnant and had my little girl, um, it really changed your perspective when you held that baby in your arm and you looked in their eyes and knowing like uh that person not 100% um counts on you, um, then the rest of it, the things are not really important. So it allows you to kind of focus on what is really important to you for me at the time is the flexibility of spending time with her. And that, you know, I was you know commuting three hours at a time going to my nine to five. Um, and it's not really nine to five, it's actually more like a nine to six, maybe sometimes nine to seven. Um, and uh, you know, I barely see her for more than two hours. The math just doesn't make a lot of sense. So there is an urgency on reaching the lifestyle, want to spend the time with people who you want to spend time with. So that's my motivation at the time. Um, my motivation has changed since you know we reached that goal because once as entrepreneurs, you reach that goalpost. Um, and you also have self-discovery. So I guess one thing I would say to the listener is that there is a goal that you set and you try to reach it. Once you reached it, you will look for maybe a different goalpost. Um, and once you reached it, there may be adjustment to it that maybe this is not exactly what you wanted. Like spending 24 hours with my kids is actually a lot. Um, so I decided that was too much. Um, you know, you needed some other distractions. So, but the flexibility, time, and the ability to decide I'm gonna take tomorrow off, spending time with my daughter is something that my W-2 job cannot provide, right? At least at the time pre-COVID, you know, post-COVID. I think employees are more flexible to working from home concept now because we the whole world had two years of practice at it. Um, but pre-COVID, that was not an option. So having that flexible working time is important to me, but spending 24-7 with my kids is turns out not exactly my goal. Um, so you have to kind of pivot around it. Um, and then for me, then it's searching for the meaning in life and the impact in life, what I can make to other people. Um, how do I bring other people, like up-level everybody around me to a next level, better quality of life? That now becomes a mission uh for me. Uh, which is when you look at your past, the future, present. This is a goal that I internally searched and figured that was really meaningful for me. And it's something that I want to kind of dedicate, you know, our life to. Um, you know, we don't do everything always right, you know, but we start with somewhere, and uh you just need to focus on doing things better one thing at a time. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So you said you started investing in real estate prior to any education. Um, so for people who may look at you, like on your website and your story, you kind of say, I want to quit my job. And you're easy, so you're easy fi university. Um is it easy fi or easy fi? Easy FI University, yeah. I would like to I'd like to say it right. Um, so in Easy Fi University, one of the goals is to be able to quit your job within 10 years. It's like giving you a goal. Evidently, it didn't take you that long. Um, and so you're that's what you're sharing with other people. This is very unique to to teach people specifically how to invest both actively and passively so that they can quit their W-2 job, as you call it. Because I've talked with several other, I've had several other women that I've interviewed who've talked about how the job is not security anymore. And that being able to take care of yourself and do your own investing in your own finances actually makes a big difference. But for somebody starting out, how like I couldn't personally go invest in a I couldn't buy a real estate property right now. That's not in my finances. So, how do you start? What is the what's the starting point?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, definitely. I think education is important. We started backwards. Um, it was a great market, and I think whether you believe it or not, I do think that there is going to be a market correction that's coming up, and that will give more people opportunities to get into the markets. So now it's a really great time to get educated first. Um, so you know, and then you do a lot of internalization and refocusing and deciding what one or two things that you want to focus on, and then educate, go deep on them. And then when the opportunity presents itself, you'll be ready to go. That's the process I would um really encourage everybody listening to it instead of myself. You know, it was a great market, so we just bought the reason why we bought because we didn't have a goes. We just said, Oh, you know what? Um, it's a great market, everything seems to be on discount, so we should probably buy something. So we we evaluated what can we actually buy and then feel like we're gonna be somewhat successful with it. Um, you know, to me, it was buying a condo because we don't know anything. So buying a condo doesn't require us to have huge maintenance issues and this and that. Learning about managing tenants and buying a condo in a very great neighborhood. So, like location, location cannot go wrong, you know, with an A-class location, a built a class building, just a single unit or a condo. There's very minimal things that we have to be responsible for. So, you know, that's what we felt at the time something we can chew on with no education. Um it sounds like a reasonable bite, yes. Right, right. And then so moving forward, then we said, okay, we got condo, we didn't really like the HOAs, you know, uh the or the assessment, the condo, um, because you're part of the building. So if your elevator breaks down or the regular maintenance, you gotta pay the what they call HOA fees, uh, or you know, assessment fees when it's a bigger item. Um, so when that happens, um, then we're like, okay, we don't we own a condo now, we know how to manage the tenants, and now we want to own something maybe a little bit more, like so. We don't like HOA. So let's kind of figure out something that we can buy without HOA. Uh so then we bought a town home. So not a lot of yard space, you know, everything's kind of regulated, no HOA. Um, so you know, the unit was a little bit bigger. Um, so it's the same set of skill sets, but just a little bit more because now you're in charge of more maintenance, right? Um, and uh after that we bought single family homes uh because well, okay, now we can handle the yards, now we can handle you know all the other stuff, the more repairs with single family homes and et cetera, but all else is still equal. Um, so then that's when I discovered bigger pockets. You know, we've been putting these properties on 15 years mortgage, which I don't recommend people to do. Uh, it's not good for cash flow. You do pay down a lot because we were traditional finance talked about lower interest is always better. But yes, your interest is lower. But if you put on 15-year mortgage versus 30-year mortgage, each month of monthly obligation is a lot bigger, it's almost double. So um that is going to eed into your cash flow. And if you property don't cash flow, that is not adding securities to your life because it is become a liability. So every month you have, let's say, one or two hundred dollars extra you're gonna pay for these. Yes, your tenants paying for rent, which is great. Uh, but monthly obligations are important with your global cash flow management. Um, so you want to make sure that you're in the position, should you lose your job, you can still somehow keep the property. So that's to me, it's it's asset versus liability. If you lost your job, you can't hold down the investment, then you potentially could lose it all in three to six months, right? So that's not a position that you want to be in.
SPEAKER_00No, and this is the kind of thing that scares the rest of us to death, right?
SPEAKER_01Right. And then turns out, you know, there's cash reserves that you can build into have a cushy cash reserve, three to six months of cash reserves, including all the stuff that you look around. Um, and then if you have all your mitigations in planned, then things will still happen, but your chances of surviving these are a lot higher. And you have to compare yourself with other people. The chances of me surviving versus someone else, can I outlast them? If you feel 90% of people is not gonna outlast you, then you're probably really good because by the time 90% of people get to impacted, there's something else that needs to give, uh, some policy or change to make sure the 90% of people are okay, then you're probably okay. And then that's risk tolerance. And for some people, that may be 30% of I'm better than 30% of people. You know, some people are like, I'm better than 50% of people. The super conservative people would be like, I'm nine, I'm better than 90% of my competition. Yeah, then I'm really good bulletproof, right? It nothing is really bulletproof, but it just reduces your chance of uh failure.
SPEAKER_00So this is something that can be done for people who are extremely risk tolerant as well as extremely risk averse based on the parameters that you set. Yes.
SPEAKER_01Okay, yeah, yeah, definitely. Um, I do think also the mindset piece is really important. Okay. Oftentimes when we talk with 90% of my investors, when I ask them when you quit your job, what do you want to do the most? Obviously, the default answer is always, I want to travel more. Pretty much everybody I talk to, I want to travel more. Okay. Have you thought about where are you gonna travel? What is your lifestyle of traveling? Um, what country are you gonna travel to? Are you thinking about long-term stay or short-term stay? Oh, don't know. Right. So, so it's this mirage that you have created in your head. By default, everybody wants to take a vacation because Americans are working really hard. We only got like two or three weeks of vacation uh in the in a whole year. Um, and uh so adding public holidays, maybe you get four like a one month off at mess. So during that four months, four weeks, uh, most people spend a lot of their money to travel because that's a place to get away. So by default, they these answers were oh, I'm gonna get away. But what happens if 100% of your time is getting away? Do you still want that? Then it's like, oh, like now I think it is like okay, maybe I don't want to move all the time, right? Like maybe I want to live somewhere for a longer period of time. But these questions that answer really matters. I think we help um, you know, our folks who read our blogs and etc. to be more intentional. So thinking about what really is it that you try to strive for after you reach retirement, quote unquote. Right. Um, you know, I one of my favorite quotes in the last two weeks, someone said this was retirement is really um, you have reached a retirement when you have quit the job that you do not want to do, which is a very interesting way to put it. Because as me and you, Andrea, as entrepreneurs, we never quit doing something. We'd be bored. Like, you know, uh each week I may be intentionally taking one or two days off, but after two days, I'm like, I'm recharged when I'm getting ready to do stuff, right? Um, so that whole retirement concept, which is tied with earlier uh American age, like the 60s or when you have pensions and all that stuff, um, retirement actually potentially kill people because they lost a purpose in their life and uh you know their life expectancies dramatically reduces after reach retirement. So I think that the whole mindset of the FI is that you can have the freedom of choice to do what you wanted to do. And then the first piece is of course finding out what you wanted to do, because how would you work towards the North Start if you haven't? So I think that's really the most important piece is over here, and then picture what that look like. The more explicit of it, the better, because your motivation is gonna be higher as well when that picture is really vivid for you. Um, and that that will allow you to potentially put in extra hours to help you reach that. Because the reality, you know, reaching FI in 10 years, if everybody can do it, they would just do it if it just falls on their lap. But but there is intentional work, there's extra work that you got to put into in order to get there. And there are sacrifices in the in the in the process. You know, we we have run some beta test with a mastermind program before, and there's certain people they just figure out through the program this is not they wanted to do. They were then made a piece to oh, that journey may take me longer, um, you know, through only passive investing, and passive investing is all I wanted to do. And it's okay if that's taking more than like 10 years to 15 years to get there. Um, we're happy with it. Um, and versus other people, they're like, no, our desire motivation is so strong, it has to happen in five years, right? So with five years, then they they they become like really like doing a lot of different extra things uh to get there, essentially. Okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, so I want to pivot just a little bit and talk um because I obviously you're a leader. You speak like you said, I didn't have any education and now I have some education. You speak with such authority on this topic, though. And um, that tells me that you not only have a passion for it, but you really do lead in this area. And you mentioned before that one of your kind of your dreams or your mission is to actually give the gift of financial literacy to the people who live in a lot of these places that you own, correct? Is that what you said? Yes, that's a vision that we have.
SPEAKER_01Yes, and then it takes multiple steps to get there for sure.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I can't imagine. I mean, just because even just when I think about any literacy on any topic, right? It's always a big humongous task. And financial literacy is huge. Most of us don't understand any of it. And I mean, I'm the woman who started a went to college, had a checkbook, didn't truly understand that if I had checks, that didn't mean I necessarily had money. And so we don't get that in our schools. We don't even get that unless you're a finance major in college. Um, but you're a leader in this area, and you make it very clear that this is not something you studied in college. You did computer work. And um, could you give us a little bit about maybe what you can remember as your earliest moment of leadership? I call this your earliest leadership memory. Going back as early as you can remember, because I know that you were raised until what age were you in China?
unknownUh
SPEAKER_00Okay. So you basically went to school and you were raised in China. And then you then you came either to Canada or the United States. And so tell us, what's your earliest leadership memory that you can look back on and say, you know what? That's where I can really recognize that I had this tendency.
SPEAKER_01So yes. Um, so the earliest leaderships I can think back, perhaps is when I was little, probably first grade or something. There was an incident where I kind of rallied up all my team, which are 10 of them, and then um kind of did this like volunteer work to went to elderly homes and we did like a whole performance, and we had some great ideas, and then we put it all together. So um very small incidences, but in general, I do feel when I grew up, I do have this persuasion or this impact of connecting with other people. So they will do what I like want to put together to do. Um, I don't know what it is, but I I'm I'm I think now thinking back, thanks for challenging me on that. Um, is that painting the picture for people around you and then telling them, oh, we're gonna go to the outlet home and then let's like put a program together. It's a combination between planning and the visualizing, visualizing for them. So when I paint the picture, then everybody's like, oh yeah, it's a great idea, let's go do it. Um, you know, it goes the other way too, you know. Like uh I also organized a couple kids uh skipping school one time as well. So I thought that was a good idea. I love them. We can do this task, or we're just gonna say we did this task, but we're instead we're just gonna go like do this other stuff.
SPEAKER_00And they're like, oh yes, like um, you know, it's it we look at we look at our leadership memories and we look at the way that our strengths too. When we look at our strengths, a lot of times we have to recognize that they can be used for anything, right? Good or bad, right?
SPEAKER_01So it's important like that your cause is good versus bad. Uh, someone else said this before. He's saying, I want to hire smart people and people with integrity, but has to be people with integrity first before they're smart. Because if they're just smart and without integrity, I don't want them. Like that could go south really quickly.
SPEAKER_00Um, anyway. And that seems to have does that really has that shaped your mindset today? Is that something that you are cognizant of when you do your work?
SPEAKER_01Yes. Um, I do think so. I think uh it became more solidified. I think um, you know, someone was talking about you can't even get some workers to show up at work. Um, post-COVID time is a really weird time. There's this great resonation thing that happened. Um, half the workers don't even show up on their first day of work. Um, so which is crazy to my mind. You know, I'm glad that none of my employees are not showing up. Um, but I think one thing that he said is it's not the money and compensation that you give it to them, it's the mission and the picture that you paint to them where your company is going. That gets people excited. Um, and then that's morale. Um, so I think it is important to help your employees or help people who you're leading to paint the picture of vision, what that vision looked like. Once you get there, what that look like, even though right now where you're at is you may be in a valley, you may be um completely opposite to where you at, where you want to go, but with that North Star, it keeps everybody going. And so you can walk out of a valley um and then start walking towards the peak, right? Um, so so I think that is important, and then checking in with your employees, checking in with people who are leading, making sure um they're well facilitated, that you care about them, uh, is just simple small things really helps to get them energized, um, and then keep them not like just floating because there are gonna be, I think you lose your people who you're leading if there's a prolonged period of time nobody's checking on them.
SPEAKER_00Oh, sure.
SPEAKER_01Um, especially on a company like ours, we um we really um because I'm not going to create a company that is gonna create another 95 soul-sucking jobs for my employee, uh, because I've been there. So I want all my team to be very happy working on what they're working on, um, and very motivated on what they're working on and getting rewarded on what they're working on when they're doing great work. Um, so we can't have all winners, I guess, in this case, but we do feel like by putting their skill sets to to match with not just skill sets, but personality, how they do work, match with the work and type of jobs that they do, uh, that could potentially create excitement. But on top of it, you need to have mission. So everybody's have our mission remembered in their heart. They feel really motivated at it. Even during interview, we want to make sure it's the right people. When we talked about the mission, if they're not super excited about it, then we're like, oh, I'm not sure if that's the right person. I think that's really important to have the right person. Um, but also we have developed, for example, first week onboard planning. You we get we give them a sheet that basically pre schedule the meeting touch-ups through the first week onboarding. Um, so they know exactly they're not gonna be left behind because we learned that from our past mistake where we just say swim or sink and mix results. Uh, even even though we have great motivation, we got great self-starter. Sometimes people are not as self-starter, um, then they're not gonna be successful. So now we came up with this whole first week touch points, uh, and I have a whole pretty detailed first week schedule for when people join us, okay. And then making sure that we have one-on-one check-ins from one of the leaders, um, you know, throughout like each week, basically, um, moving forward. So this way we know that they're not, you know, floating away or floating, you know, um, and carrying out. I think that right. And then I think thinking back, being an employee myself, I feel like anytime I feel deflated is when my expectations don't match with my managers, right? So even if you're not doing a great job, you know you're not doing a great job, and your manager have that one-on-one with you, and you know you're not, but then you're like, okay, what can we do to kind of move it? So then there's you know, it helps to keep keep on point, or in some cases help you self-manage yourself out because that's not the right fit. Um, so so I think at that, thinking back to my corporation job, uh, this is actually interesting because I can see the reason why they're doing this stuff, uh, but I think also extra explanation to employees why you're doing this stuff, uh, bring them up to ownership level, right? Um, is is going to kind of help smart people to continue being being on your team.
SPEAKER_00Cool. Um, that sounds like a really good plan. You've got a nice developed, developed uh philosophy. It's still a try and error every day. You know, we tweak our process uh every day. Yeah, but that's agile, right? It's like that means that you're it what you try this, if it doesn't work, you pivot and you try again, you try again. And I think that's really, really smart. Um, at what point did you as an investor realize, oh, wait a minute, I think I need to actually create this thing where I could teach other people how to do this to be this kind of leader. What was that realization moment for you when you just kind of discovered that mission?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, um, it was in COVID. Um, you know, everything was uh as planet. So March 2020 rose around. Um, and then May, then May rose around. Um, so you're like, okay, we used to go to all these conferences and all the other stuff, and now you don't have these activities. Uh so you become much less busy. So you kind of twiddle your therm, some thumbs, stay at home. Yeah. Um, you know, the acquisition side of the house gets a little quiet too because you're not too sure what your economics is gonna work, um, and continue working on your operation, of course. Um, so it has dawned on me, it's always my goal to bring financial literacies to people. Um, and that's somewhere, somewhere I wrote down like the big audacious goal is to impact a million people uh through financial literacy. Um, and uh then I was like, well, I have a goal set for myself in five years, we're going to have some sort of uh education for financial literacy, uh teaching financial literacy. Um so I'm like, well, why five years? There's really no artificial things other than my goal was five years in the future. I'm gonna create this because the sequence was like, we're set up with a company. The ones we're set up as a company, now we can teach because now we have the creds, right? So um, but I'm like, but you can make an impact today because all the investors I talk to, 90% of top topics we talk to, it's all rings and repeat the same question, right? The same, like I mentioned before, like what do you want to do after your retirement? It's the answer is always the same as like I'm just gonna travel, but then you ask further, there's no no no uh no go really. Um, so then we're like, okay, maybe we can create something that's more intentional. And then coming from the IT background, we've always talked about this concept of MVP. MVP means um the uh minimal viable product, right? Uh it's this idea about you get something out there, you test the price, test the market, see if it's worth building, even. Um, so then I was like, well, why don't we just start a minimal viable product? Turns out it's just a website, a mechanism to receive payments, um, and uh and then a high-level outline of what your program is going to deliver. So put that on there. I approached all my investors, um, who I had a great relationship with to say, Hey, are you interested in connect? And then getting into these programs, and here's how the pricing is gonna be, this and that. But a lot of people had objections. So that's lesson number one is passive investors are not necessarily people who want to spend time learning about financial literacy because there is time involvement that they just can't commit to because hence passive investor uh want to be passive. Um, so instead, we attract some really young, like a really motivated people who want to maybe take the next step. Uh, so that was a great lesson learned. Uh, should we build up the whole program then when now uh you know, like the answer is very different. So I have been very explicit on the beta program. We're gonna do a mastermind format. This way allows us to collect the feedback, and we're very explicit. This is beta program. Um, so it allows me to fine-tune the stuff that I want to teach people, and then actually my student also helped fine-tune what they want to learn because mastermind format is very loose. You meet once a month, um, and then you have a webinar that you host once a month, and you have some homework to do once a month. So um, so I got a lot of good feedbacks from there, and then you also horn in on your persona, uh, who's interested in active type of things, who can benefit from the passive type of things, and how people actually learn what is effective, what is not effective. So, so that's kind of where we started doing that. But again, I always have been learning by doing, so no difference over here. Launch something, set the expectation really low, and then we're all here to learn. Um, so that helped uh solidify that what we want to build moving forward. So we know the time commitments from the passive investor. So we decided uh instead of creating a year-long program, there isn't uh there's homeworks to do for that, um, but there isn't like a go. It could be too long of a commitment. Why don't we just um you know publish? I don't think anyone else offers this. I could be wrong in this in this area of arena of like multifamily investing. Uh so we decided why don't we release um courses kind of twice a year or once a year? And these courses only last four to six weeks. Why four to six weeks? Because it's something that people can commit to, they can prioritize, commit to right this week or this two months, I'm focusing on learning this. Um, and then we can create a concentrated spur of energies. Um, and we also like the whole online because everything was wrong online, but we found you can build deep connections online, unlike people would say, well, in person is always different. You know, I've been to workshop in person, the same content online. I do agree in person you get a much more connection, you don't get the you know, off our socials and et cetera. So uh, but online can still be very, very convenient, and then like creating a cohort of a small group of people, and so creating a system that you know supports it so you can have accountability partners within the program with you. So, and then focus on modules after each module will create something that's actionable. So um that's kind of how we created our future courses that's coming online. Um, you know, first one we're gonna do is passive investor courses, and then in the future, you know, different segments of courses. So if people stay with us, they can learn the whole shebang into syndication um at the leisure of their time, yeah. Uh, or people who decided that's all I needed to be were passive investing, that's what I can take on right now. Then they can just only take that one course um to select what they want to learn and do.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and passive investing sounds like the probably the easiest way to get involved.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, it's probably the least amount of knowledge that you needed to have in order to invest. I think there's education involved. Once you learn about education, you can vet your team, your market, and your deal and understand the strategy of each of these businesses, because there's tons of stuff for you to invest in, right? Um, ranging from high cash flow things to high equity things that has zero cash flow. So if you understand where your goals are and what your horizon of retirements are, you can kind of then uh structure the projects that you want to invest it in to align with that goal. I think that's also a really important piece. And then making sure your vehicle of investment, the buckets of the money are allocated appropriately, appropriately optimized for for the type of investment that you want to invest in.
SPEAKER_00And this is the kind of thing you're teaching in these courses.
SPEAKER_01Yes. Okay. Yeah, um on our first course with the passive investor course, which we'll probably release in about three months.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Um, in about three months, so like September ish 2022. Yeah, September, October-ish, probably.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00So when people start following you, they'll be able to know approximately when to look for something like that. Right.
SPEAKER_01And then meanwhile, we have a lot of free content. Uh, we've uh decided to stop the mastermind because we collected enough data, you know. Actually, great side effect of the mastermind is we actually identified and hired people for who are our students, right? So this was like great because they were so excited about things that we built, you know, they feel like they have brew leaps and bounds. So some of them has committed themselves to just working for us for the cause. Um, so that was a great experience for me as well. Um, so at some point we're probably gonna launch the mastermind again, but that's probably gonna be like, you know, after a couple courses where we have build up people to the caliber, then we create a mastermind that's gonna be really productive. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Um, so as a leader, most I've noticed that most leaders have some kind of a personal leadership principle that they live by. Do you have one that kind of governs how you function on a daily basis?
SPEAKER_01I think always take the short, shortest the end of stick is one of the principles I lead like by, so leading by example, essentially. And then if, for example, if we're all traveling, and then if everybody was like, oh, we're sharing our room, like not sharing room, but like we're getting into an Airbnb, you know, like there's the tiniest of room, I'll be like, I can take it, you know. Um, I think that that's really important to build a report with um people who report to you, right? Um, and then if you're rolling up your sleeve and doing the same work that they are doing, or you're wiping butts, it's actually you're biggest the poop off the ground. Um, I think that that's my principle is like, you know, don't leave um the most undesirable things. Uh, like, you know, if if someone needs to volunteer, it like you are really the owner of your business. Uh, you have to have the accountability to pick it up, and and people will see the motivations that you have. Um, yeah, I think that helps.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, leaving undesirable stuff for the lesser, quote unquote, lesser people to do is a great way to lose people. But I mean it just I I love that. Take the smallest room, take the short stick, just do it and make sure that your people know that you're willing to do that for them, which I see as servant leadership.
SPEAKER_01You know, yeah, and and I think open door policies are really important. I want to curate my team's um, I always tell people because you know, as leaders, we always build as more of an extrovert or we come across as the extrovert. We have strong opinions, we're outspoken, but we have to realize there's fewer leaders than there's people who are following. Of um, there's fewer leaders in the world than followers. Sure. Um, and uh in order, and then people who are well followers that may not be as verbal. Doesn't mean they don't have good ideas, right? And then there's a different way of thinking. So I think people who works for us come from all walks of industries. So, how do you actually create foster this cultural so that anyone who is seeing things that are not going properly, they can raise up their hand and just say, Hey, like I don't think this is going properly. Here's my opinion, and here's where I think you know, being outspoken, be able to spoke out about things they don't feel right, right? So that talks about that's integrity for that team member responsibility because they care about the business enough to stick their neck out there. Um, so I think that that's to be encouraged in our cultural. Um, so I have my bookkeeper always, I wouldn't say yelling at me, but she always like slap me on the head, like, hey, stop doing this, like and in front of everybody, right? So it's like, hey, it's it's okay. I I need the feedbacks from you guys to talk about these things, then we can we can improve, or we can agree to disagree. You know, there there needs to be discussions, and then once we come with a solution, there needs to be consensus on okay, even though if I disagree, I'm still a bind by the team, and then we agreed as a majority over here. Um, we we from here on we don't revisit it, just keep on going.
SPEAKER_00What's done is done, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_00So do you have a habit or a ritual that keeps you in that mindset?
SPEAKER_01Um I haven't, but I would say during the most productive period of my time, definitely a morning, um intentionally morning planning just takes like five, 10 minutes journaling. It's very helpful. Um, and uh, you know, I used to read miracle morning and practice that in some different ways. I can't wake up at five o'clock in the morning every day though. Um, but it's just kind of having time to do some meditation about five to ten minutes helps to anchor yourself, clear your mind. Um, I do do that exercise also when I feel like there's just too much stuff, there's a lot of high stress, and I'm like, okay, take a minute, let's meditate for five, 10 minutes. That can make a huge difference, and it makes bring you more clarity on decision making. Um, the second part is like planning out your day. The days that I plan out my day, who I need to talk to, what are important things that only limit to like three to five things, that tend to be more productive than the days that let's just say I feel like I'm behind the A-ball, you know, start from the minute I wake up. Right. So I try to clear my morning up before 10 o'clock. So that's a free time that allows me to get ready for the day. Um, just just through all these intentional meetings. So who do I need to call? Make sure the most important things that get handled in the morning, you know. But but the minute that you're kind of not doing that, I do notice the significance falling behind a wagon. Uh that whole day just not setting up correctly, but you can interject uh using a meditation session over there.
SPEAKER_00I I agree. And I I've read Hal Elrod's miracle morning as well. And I tried to do that for a little while, and he makes it very clear that you don't have to do all of it, that you might need to come up with your own miracle morning. And for you, if just getting some things done by 10 o'clock, I mean, you have two small children and you you run a company and So being able to just get a few things, those things done, um, might be your definition of the miracle morning, right? It's it's all different. The whole point of it is that you have something that helps you be productive. And I like this. Um, it it's it's similar. I need to do my journaling in the morning and some I do my Bible study and prayer time. And so it's very similar.
SPEAKER_01Um, and for some of the employees, that I would highly suggest them because people are really hard on themselves. When people have extreme responsibilities, extreme ownerships, which is great people, high achievers, um, they're extremely hard on themselves. So for those employees that are people I would highly recommend just write down three wings before you go to bed. The wings of the day. Um, and they can be as small as in like I resisted eating candy today, right? Or as small as like I picked my daughter up on time, like just small wing a day, three things, and then you have to search your memory, you have to write down three. Uh, that helps you anchor to be on the more positive side, living in the game versus the gap, as Dan Sullivan would put it. Um, you know, um the the the extreme successful entrepreneurs or employees uh tend to beat themselves up the most. Yeah, so learning how to live uh in the gang is a huge, huge win by itself for them. So just writing down three wings, if you only come on two, like today I won because I actually wrote down three wings before I went to bed. That's a wing. What it does, it it gets your uh brain start thinking about happy thoughts, being optimistic, uh, and it helps you when you're optimistic, it helps you see problem more clear and it helps you resolve issues.
SPEAKER_00Um, you know, it does well, and then you go to sleep with that and your brain actually does something with it while you're sleeping. You know, I mean there's there's documentation, it's not osmosis, but your brain actually does something with it because that's the last thing you put in it. So as we wrap things up, um, I love to talk about green flags and for you, specifically in your mission of financial literacy and helping people become financially independent. If somebody wanted to know what are some green flags I should look at in myself for either investing in real estate, either passively or actively, what are some green flags they should look for to say, oh, okay, yes, this is definitely something I could or should do.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So I would say if you're contemplating buying, getting into real estate investing, um, now you heard about this, um, it's worth researching. So because traditionally the alternative, most people reach out to me, they're at the entry-level investor level, uh, they would say, Oh, I'm thinking about buying multi single family homes, or I bought single family homes, right? And then realize it actually doesn't kick in a lot of cash flow. So you should think about this as am I the investor? Am I a landlord or an investor? So for most people, it's investor. So, as such, when you evaluate investment opportunity, it should be about the returns. And it's not just the return of the money, but also return off the effort. Um, so if you're someone who's at the stage where you're like, I can buy a single family home, probably in the coastal areas or even like Phoenix Market or Dallas market, then you likely have a couple hundred K. Um, and you likely will qualify for passive investing. So then it's a path for you to decide, okay, am I passive? Like, do I not want to deal with tenant or anything? Just am I comfortable enough to give my money to someone else so that they can operate it properly, providing that I have vetted them, right? Don't just give it to whoever. Um, and and if you check the boxes over there, if you like, I just want to be passive and my future goal is to travel more. If I travel more, then you can't man these properties physically. Um, so it's much better to start with passive investing versus sunken 300, like two 300k into a single family home. Yeah, right, because it's also not diversified. Um, so that's that's some of the flags that I would say you're someone who's probably suitable for passive investing.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_01And you have some basic financial background to invest in passively, there's there's a level that you can invest at, because these minimals are typically like 50 to 100k. Um so someone has to kind of saving up to it. But again, like I said, if someone's thinking about buying single family homes on the coastal area, did you know that you can actually diversify into multiple projects? Right. Because you can it's gonna cost you two to 300k just as a down payment for these houses over there. No, now for someone who's got a saving about $10,000, $20,000, there are regulation A offers out there. We do not provide them. Um, that that is another way to passive invest in crowdfunding platforms, etc., to just get learning on this. So always invest in the minimal, I would say, uh, just just to kind of diversify different projects and learning different things, or invest it in yourself to get education so that you have the education piece will help you decide uh or help you create a separate business um that creates extra income, more active extra income, because you need to build your basis to get there. Um, so so I would say these are some of the green flag self-assessment uh in terms of where you are. Um, and if you're interested in real estate, you can always start it with something more labor intensive, but helps you build the extra income. Uh things like wholesaling, getting real estate license, um, start buying and selling single-family homes, you know, because you're kind of in that rim of real estate, you're getting familiar with it a little bit more. Um, and then you you're also making extra income. That's the key to build up your extra income. Uh, other things is are you a really great saver? If you're a really great saver, or even if you're not right now, but you feel like I can save, I can like take sacrifices to save more. Most people, if they made 100k a year, they can probably save on the extreme plan, they can probably save $50,000 a year. Most of them can probably squeeze out 25, right? So 25, if you add two 25s together, that's $50,000. Now you can make a one single investment. So um there's different levers that you can pull. If you're super organized, I think the budgeting saving plan could help. Uh, if you're like me, super not organized, but you're really good at creation, then creating extra incomes is probably a better path. Okay. Um, so and and then uh it and if you someone who don't envision managing a whole bunch of tenants, you don't enjoy doing that, there's no purpose doing it, then it's much better off just doing passive investing. Okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_00So if there's one piece of advice, it sounds to me, I'm gonna I'm gonna ask you if this is what it would be, and you can just say yes or no or elaborate on it. Um, it I liked what you said about you need to know, do you need you need your self-assessment and figure out do you invest in something or do you invest in yourself for education? What's the is that clear? Would that be maybe the one piece of advice? Is that yeah, before you start, you need to know what you know and what you don't know.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think everything always starts from you. We always look for outside for answers.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_01But I can't tell you what your plan for your life is. You have to understand yourself.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, right. So always look at that. It's the self-assessment is the very best place to start. Correct. Okay. Now I know we talked really quickly about some books you would recommend. Um, and you were rattling off several. Of course, there's the rich dad, poor dad. Um, what were some other ones?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, rich dad, poor dad is almost the Bible of uh how you think about cash flow, the cash flow quandrum. Um, so that's a good book to kind of start with. I think we talked about the miracle morning. Um, it's it's basically the rituals and the hap. It's it's great to kind of listen to that. Um, I would say the gap again, if you're an individual that is taking extreme ownerships of your mistakes that always lives in the gap. I think everybody can use little optimism uh in their life. Um, and who not how for people who are in the edge of self-employment, have your own company, but you're having struggle with hiring your first couple employees. The Who Not How is a great book to shift your paradigms in thinking uh and help you accelerate.
SPEAKER_00Literally in the queue next on my list, you are the fourth person in the last two weeks that has recommended that to me. I'm like, oh, that's like totally it's like in the Amazon queue.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and the books, um, all titles of Dan Sullivan's books, the books are extremely well titled and explicit because the who not how is about who not how. Yeah, yeah. It's as simple as that, right? Um, but there are examples that he gives in the book that helps you like realign, oh, that's me. I was doing that, maybe I should stop doing it. Um, so so you know, so right, exactly. Um, and uh I I would say the other book I really love is The Go Giver. Uh it's a very generic book about sales. Uh Bob Berg himself is a salesperson to start with, but he's figured out a method to be given as a method of selling, given as a method of uh receiving. Um, so we literally took that book, practiced it, and helped us solve our acquisition issues.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01Um, so got on top of our brokers list essentially. Um so there's there's different ways to kind of practice this. Um, this can work with when working with investors and you know, even in life, uh when you work with other people. Um so these are some books I would say pretty mind shifting our mindsets. Uh technicality-wise, if you're interested in apartment building, you know, owning your own rentals, uh the ABCs of rental property by uh Ken McElroy in the Rich That series uh is a great book. Um and uh Ken has a very great way to break down some complicated concept lingos into extreme simple examples.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, he really does a good job of that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Um, so these are probably pretty good first start.
SPEAKER_00Okay, excellent. We have so much information. And the best place to find you is easyfiuniversity.com.
SPEAKER_01Yes, easyfiuniversity.com. We appreciate it if you subscribe to our channel on YouTube. That's a channel that we try to push pretty hard over here for our marketing team. Um, so it takes a while to build up your audience. Yeah, I I understand fully.
SPEAKER_00I don't before we close it out, there's the the one question we like to close with is if there's one thing you could be optimistic about, no matter what, even when everybody else thinks you're crazy, what would it be?
SPEAKER_01Uh one thing I can be optimist about.
SPEAKER_00And this is like totally your fun side, it can be silly, you know, whatever.
SPEAKER_01Well, I think it's our goals. It goes back to our goal. It sounds really boring. Um, it's to up level everybody around us for a better quality of life. We truly believe, I truly believe in the impacts that uh myself and my company will have over millions of people's life. Like that's just a fact that we have believed in. We're not there yet. Um, but we we do kind of truly believe it's a big audacious goal, but it's something that's achievable. Sure. It's really crazy because the mathematics behind it, it's everybody's uh, whoa, that's like a huge goal, you know.
SPEAKER_00You know what though, it's it's a kind of goal that it's it's both altruistic and exciting, and you know, it's it's focused on others, it's others focused, it's not focused on yourself. And you know, we talked a minute ago about how the answer is always in here, it's not out there. Um, but then you when you find that answer in here and you turn it around and you become that servant leader, you become somebody who wants to lift others up, then you've got what you need, and that's your mission. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Right. Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_00Oh, Elisa, this was so good. Thank you so much. Um I look forward to knowing you better. It's this completely wets my appetite again for becoming financially independent. Um, you know, as a small business owner, I'm not necessarily that doesn't mean you're financially independent, folks. You need to understand that. Yeah. So um, but at least I I do what I love, right? So um anyway, is there anything we left out?
SPEAKER_01Uh no, I think uh that kind of covers it all. But I mean, we can have conversations for hours. I can just kind of feel that.
SPEAKER_00Oh, absolutely we could. So maybe we'll do that again. So thank you so much. I love talking to you today.
SPEAKER_01Thank you, Indra.
SPEAKER_00You know, when I hear a woman speak with passion and authority on a topic the way Elisa does, I know she's all in. She's a leader in her field. The idea that you can start with nothing, make a decision, set a goal, and become financially independent in the span of five to seven years is right up my alley. This is the stuff intentional optimistic dreams are made of. Now, don't get me wrong, she's not selling a dream. She's selling financial literacy, which means she's selling self-understanding and hard work. There is so much I could go into here, but what I'd like to do is point out how Elisa exemplifies the tenets of intentional optimism. I do this for every guest because we all live unique and different lives, and while what we do is different, intentional optimism is how we do, what we do. It's the attitudes and mindsets that we employ and embody to live out our own goals and dreams with excellence. And Elisa is a prime example. Now we always start with optimistic, and Alisa makes it very clear that you can start out with the information that you have and then make a move. Even if that is that you need more education. She knows how to make that next move. She has what she needs to do it. For presence, her big motivation to become financially independent in the first place was to be present with her daughter. But then, as she so eloquently put it, as soon as you reach a goal, you realize you have a bigger one. And then her mission takes it a whole step further to bring financial literacy to those who rent the properties that she owns. This is keeping her hands open to those who need her help. Very present. For energetic? Well, how can we not talk about how she's financially savvy? But she didn't start there. She cultivated her knowledge base and got the education she needed, and now she shares from her own place of authority. For courageous, boy, does she have a vision. Did you hear her talk about it? She said you need to paint your people a picture so they know where they need to go. That's visionary leadership, and it takes a lot of courage to share it with anyone that you hope to lead. It makes you vulnerable. For wise, Elise's level of respect in her organization, the company that she's currently building, includes modeling respect for others, modeling the receiving of feedback, which creates a beautiful loop. When you can create a respect loop in an organization, you're leading with wisdom. Now, for intentional, did you hear how many times she actually used the word? She's super intentional. From her growth mindset to how she shares her information and advice. There's a method to it that helps others understand, see the steps, and then follow. Elise's unconventional in her leadership because her passion to reach a million people with financial literacy is a reflection of her core values of lifting or leveling others up, sharing her knowledge, and serving, which makes her a great role model for leading with a servant heart and a big, audacious, as she calls it, vision. Unconventional leaders lead at every level, in any area, using their unique gifts. Did Elisa's story inspire you? If you want a primer on investing, passive or otherwise, hit up her Instagram feed or her YouTube channel. You'll find video after video of simply explained real estate investment concepts and general financial information. As timely as, what do I invest in when inflation is this high? They're like five-minute videos. This is a great place to learn. Elisa's mission is to be able to share financial literacy with a million people. My mission is to empower you to do what I've done, to take control of your future as the leader that you're created to be. I want to create unconventional leaders who step away from cultural expectations, think critically, create imaginatively, and lead effectively, no matter the size of the team or organization. This is exactly why I created my community Launch from the Beach. It's a group coaching program where you can get the support you need to dream, grow, experiment, and explore. We do this through self-paced courses, group coaching calls, teaching, encouragement, and gentle accountability. All of my information, as well as Elisa's, is in the show notes. So hop on my calendar for a 30-minute consultation and let's get you a strategy in place. Until next time. If you're curious what it would be like to work more closely with me, or to step up as an unconventional leader yourself, schedule a free discovery session and we'll chat. But maybe you're an entrepreneur looking for a support team. I'd like to personally invite you into my collaborative community, Launch from the Beach. It could be just what you're looking for. All of my contact information and all the links are included in the show notes. And don't forget, you can always connect with other intentional optimists in our Facebook community. You can follow my Facebook or Instagram page, or even connect with me on LinkedIn. Additionally, I invite you to subscribe to my newsletter, Optimistic Living. It's good stuff delivered straight to your inbox on a not so strict schedule, but always from the heart. Remember, unconventional leaders lead at every level, in any area, using their unique gifts. And you, my friend, are a leader. You are the future of leadership and the role models for future generations. Until next time.
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