Jennifer: 0:24

Welcome to another episode of Behind the Dreamers. I'm your host, Jennifer Loehding, and we are talking to the achievers, the creators, the magic makers, and the dreamers. These are our friends, these are your friends and they are living extraordinary Well. I'm so excited about my guest today. It's kind of a fun and unique thing going on here, but he embarked on the as a financial advisor only to realize that his clients faced a bleak prospect of financial freedom through traditional investments. Recognizing the need for a different approach, he left the industry and moved his way into passive real estate. Remarkably, he achieved retirement at a young age of 28, and ever since he has been tirelessly sharing his knowledge, helping countless others replicate his journey. So I'm going to be excited to hear from him I know you guys are as well and see what he's up to and how he's helping his clients and all that good stuff. But before I get him on here, I do need to do a few announcements. So first of all, today's episode Whether short films, YouTube videos, photography work, or a new headshot, he can help you find a solution to match your needs. is brought to you by Walt Mills Photography. If you are a creator needing post-production consultation or promotion, Walt is your guy. To learn more about Walt and his work, you're going to want to go to photosbywaltcom. And also, if you have one of our amazing listeners and you are in a place where you want to kick start your leadership journey, then you're in for a treat, because I've got something special for you. It's free tools to accelerate your path to becoming a more effective leader. Did you know that they did a study and they discovered that a whopping 63% of consumers prefer doing businesses excuse me, doing business with companies that share their personal values and beliefs? It's a game changer. Understanding your core values isn't just crucial for your business growth, it's also a cornerstone for effective leadership, and so, whether you're a seasoned entrepreneur or an aspiring creator, identifying your core values is going to be a fundamental step in helping you build a framework as a successful leader. One of my favorite mentors, john Maxwell, says everything rises and falls on leadership. You probably know that one, Chris. So if you're eager to access the valuable resources and embark on your journey to becoming a better leader, then I've got you covered. You're going to want to head on over rward slash Jennifer to fo rward Loehding . And that's linktree forward slash jennifer with two ends, and then loading L-O-E-H-D-I-N-G. There, you'll be able to unlock your free leadership resources and take your first step to becoming a more effective leader.

Jennifer: 2:49

All right, so with that, all those words I got out, I want to welcome my guest to the show, so Chris Miles. He is the cashflow expert and anti-financial advisor. He's an authority on empowering entrepreneurs and professionals to make their money work for them immediately. Chris is not just an author, but also the host of the Money Ripples podcast. His expertise is earned in recognition and prestigious publications such as US News and CNN Money, as well as features on influential platforms like entrepreneurs on fire and bigger pockets. While he's company Money Ripples, he, with his company Money Ripples, he has solidified a reputation for delivering rapid and substantial financial results to his clients. And as if that weren't impressive enough, chris is also an avid marathoner. So we got some stuff in common there. So welcome to the show, chris. So excited to have you here today.

Chris: 3:34

Chris Miles Same here. Jennifer, appreciate you having me on today, jennifer.

Jennifer: 3:36

Miles, so fun. I had to get like a whole mouthful out in that first, like three minutes, chris.

Chris: 3:41

I'm impressed. I didn't think you could do it, but that's Jennifer, .

Jennifer: 3:45

I know it's like getting important stuff out. Well, I'm excited to have you and talk about what you're doing, so let's open this up. Tell us a little bit about what it is you're doing right now with your clients, chris.

Chris: 3:53

Miles. Yeah, right now what we do is we do two things. We really, ultimately the bigger picture is help people really get their money working harder for them, so they have to work so hard for their money. They can become work optional, where they work because they want to, not because they have to, and they do that because they have enough passive income coming in to give them that, that time freedom back, so they can spend time with their family doing what they love, spend time with those that they love doing passions, whatever it might be, even if they decide to keep working. But now they get to have that power in their control. Jennifer.

Jennifer: 4:21

Miles. It's a little bit more like flexibility and autonomy, so to speak. Chris.

Chris: 4:25

Miles. Exactly it's. It's, ultimately it's that freedom right, like it's one thing to have a lot of money but it's another thing to actually have that freedom in your life to choose how to live your life. Jennifer.

Jennifer: 4:34

Miles. Yeah, there was a guy on my show while back most Salami was talking about that. He had, like I think, three or four degrees. He's from, I think he's from Britain, but he had three or four degrees and he was working, I believe, in the pharmaceutical industry. And so he realized that he had you know, the nice house, he had the money, he had the degrees and he was you know six figure income. He thought that was success.

Jennifer: 4:55

And then he goes into the store one day and he gets his lands on a Jack Canfield book I believe that's who it was and he read the back cover of it and decided that I guess maybe at this point he was starting to question what is success like? What does that really look like? Is it having all that money like you're saying, but you're working this grind on holidays and weekends and not having really that freedom? And then he ended up basically just switching careers, went in and worked for Tony Robbins for a really long time and helped him, you know, did really well there, and then kind of went on his home and now he's doing like I think I believe he's helping like digital marketers and but it's all his thing now that's right.

Chris: 5:32

I think what many people don't realize when they look at entrepreneurs is they don't realize that, yes, there's that period of hustle and grind and whatnot. But what people also don't see is for many people that might seem successful on the outside and I know because I associate with a lot of these guys are multi millionaires like make 10 million their businesses, yet they still don't have freedom. So they might, they might even post on social media that their life looks gray and they're going to this beach, in that place, in that place, but at the end of the day, in the back of their minds, they still know that they're stuck. They still know that they're they're a slave to their own business. You know they created a massive business with lots of employees and systems and everything else to make millions of dollars. They're still stuck working in their business.

Chris: 6:15

They don't know how to get away from that and that's and that's something that, if you have passive income outside of your business, it really frees that up. It gives you that choice. I do agree that, yes, you need to create systems in your business to create freedom there, to buy your time back. But it's also great to know that when you do go work. You work because you love it, you work because you want to, because you know you're making an impact in blessing people's lives, not because you have to maintain that lifestyle right.

Jennifer: 6:40

That's a very I see it as a very different Outlook. You know, I think about that even with my podcast, because I do that so much for fun and if I had to do that where I knew that I had to grind right, make it, to make it work, would I be having near as much fun with it? Of course, we all want to make money and we want things to go in that right direction, but I do think there's some truth to that. When you can be able to, it's a place where you can go Okay, I can do something because I enjoy doing it. Now because I'm slaving to get it done.

Chris: 7:05

That's right. Yeah, you never want to be in a place where if, for whatever reason, that business is gone, that's your broke right. And I'll tell you there are a lot of seemingly successful people that if their business were to disappear today because they were no longer An essential business, as you heard, in 2020 things like that, right, all that kind of crap that happens. If that were to happen, there's a lot of people that be just as broke at this next person. So you want to start getting those things in place now to create that freedom for tomorrow.

Jennifer: 7:32

Yeah, and I love it. And so you started out in the financial side of business and then kind of moved into this whole passive in passive real estate type business, correct?

Chris: 7:41

Yeah, yeah, was selling the dream that you just say sacrifice and suffer and save enough, so your 70s, someday you might have a life right. And I found out that wasn't real. And it's funny because I got gravitated to that, because the whole thing inspired me when I became a financial advisor over 20 years ago, when I was doing the traditional mainstream financial advising, when inspiring was actually my dad, and not always in a good way, because he was that penny pinching Depression era type of saver, right, he was always about spent nothing, save everything you can, and so. But the problem was that I remember him also saying yeah, you know what? I think this job is gonna literally kill me, because by his 40s He'd already had strokes from the stress that had been created. I'm in my mid to late 40s now and thinking of having strokes. It's just doesn't seem real right. But he already had them by that point, and so I vowed I never wanted to be like that, and so I.

Chris: 8:38

Actually, when I went to college, I decided I want to become an entrepreneur instead, because I want to control my time and my destiny, and the first thing that came up was becoming a financial advisor. Because, you know, it's kind of cool to think I could learn more about money, but it was also. I wanted to, you know, help my dad, you know, give him some of his life back so he doesn't just work until he dies like he thought his job would literally kill him. So I did that for several years and then he actually reached out to me, says hey, chris, when you go look at my finances, when you can become my financial father which I never expected, because he was always very guarded with his money, never want us to know how much money he had. So I sat down with him. He says, chris, I'm 61 years old, I want to retire someday. Can I do it now? I looked at his money. He had a paid-off house. He was totally debt-free, paid off early, he saved up all his money in his 401k, is getting the match, everything the good boys and little girls are supposed to be doing right. And what happens? I tell him. I said, dad, if you want to retire today, you better hope you die in five years, because that's how long your money will last before you run out. And he's like well, what else can I do? I said I don't know, because you did everything right, according what I teach as a financial advisor and that bugged me because he was the inspiration for me getting in. And yet I Couldn't help him to have that freedom that I was hoping he would get.

Chris: 9:51

And I was selling. I sold myself on the dream I was drinking the Kool-Aid. I thought, if I scrimp and save for Decades and I could be free too. And it wasn't till a few weeks later a friend pointed out. He says, chris, well, how many of your clients are really financially free where they don't worry about money? I said, well, they all worry about money. They all, even for retire, they still worry about running out of money in retirement. It's like, well, that's a good, chris, way to help. No one. Well, how about this? How many of you guys are financially free? Yes, financial visors, not off the commissions you're earning, but actually doing these investments.

Chris: 10:22

And when I realized that there was guys working in our office since the late 1970s and yet they were still a slave every day as a financial advisor, I knew that there was a problem. This was, I was. I was basically like I was. I was selling, hope him right, like people are all smoking, or hope him, hoping that someday this would actually work. And it has not worked really ever I would say less than 1% of time you actually see people doing this method where it actually works out. That's why we have so many Americans that are desperate begging for Social Security, because they need it. And so that's when you said, like me to talk about alternative investments. It's like when the students ready, the teacher appears right.

Chris: 11:00

And the same friend that asked me those key critical questions He'd actually I trained him to be a financial advisor, but he'd left to go do real estate investing and he was telling me how much money he and his dad were making, which I thought was too good to be true. I thought there's no way, because it's gonna take you decades to make this much money Like I had those financial advisor blinders on. But when I started realized that it wasn't about how much you save up, it's about how much that money pays you each and every month or quarter. Right when I realized that was the secret. It was about the income, not about the accumulation, it's about the cash flow, the, the passive income from it. That's when I my Mindset flipped around and actually later that year by time, I started to really apply it my own life. I was able to retire on us 28 years old.

Jennifer: 11:45

Wow, it's incredible. Well, and it's interesting. I know so many people that are in that real estate investment, you know. And it's interesting because my background I was in network marketing for 22 years completely different in a different industry, but we're still talking about creating, like this passive income, right, like that's why you build these teams and you build, you get people on there so you will hopefully keep generating income as this thing keeps growing. So I understand, you know that. But you're right, I don't. I don't get into the financial like. I don't know much about 401ks and all this stuff. We've got them. I'm not that person. I was fine. Where are my people that know all that stuff and they can tell us? But you're right, I think we do. We get so hung up on doing these systems that we think are the right. We never really. I think it's like this with everything we never really get out until somebody shows us there's another way to do this and be more effective at what you're doing.

Chris: 12:32

Yeah, you know I'll give kudos a network marketing too, even though I know it's got a lower success rate than what people would like. But the truth is business has a low success rate in general, right, yeah, and and I have several network marketing clients too I put that a category of residual income right because if you've you probably learned this you talk about leadership. Leadership is essential. There's management that still needed to happen because every time in network marketing I've ever had leaders, they walked away. They said I'm retiring, I'm, I'm just gonna live off the income and live the dream and do nothing.

Chris: 13:02

Yeah never worked out. Their team always starts disintegrating and and weakening and then they find themselves right back in it again. Right, the cool thing is like I have one couple they they train thousands in their team. I kept telling was like listen, like you guys make great, I mean 700,000 plus a year residual in your business. I said you know, this is your time right now. This is the time to start getting that passive income as well because I can the money and move.

Chris: 13:28

I just never know what the company's gonna do. Right, you're really an independent contractor. You're not sure if they might make changes that either one you don't agree with and you're gonna change companies, and that's hard to start from scratch again. Or two, like something just happens where it might cut back, or something happens your own life. So there, that's what they're doing now. They're actually taking that money, investing in a way to create passive income to the point where they want to have 25,000 month coming in from that.

Chris: 13:50

So then when they get on their calls with their team, they're literally saying to people they're like listen, like look at this, we don't even need you need anybody to join, we don't need you at all. In fact, you know, but we got a great opportunity to help you in this company. And they come from this bigger position of power, versus saying we got to keep recruiting, like, listen, we don't recruit a single person. In fact, we could sell this business off and be done. Yeah, but this company rocks. You need to be a part of this if it's a good fit for you, you know? And? And that power is just so much fun to watch, because that the funny thing is, ironically, is when you don't, when you don't really don't need the money. That's exactly when everybody wants to pay you money, right?

Jennifer: 14:27

exactly. Yeah, well, I think I think that goes with that whole idea of the desperation. Right, when you're desperate and they people can see that, right like, they see, they feel the desperation and I think anybody listening to this I'm in that you know, I know so many people on network market. This is probably actually a really good episode of what you've touched on this, because I think that, yes, there is that there are a lot of people that do okay. I mean, I know some really Phenomaly done well in the network marketing space and then there are a lot that don't right. But I think that what sets those people apart is is they get to a place where they're doing things like this and they're not in that desperation anymore.

Jennifer: 14:59

Now, right like, and so many of them I know have other endeavors. They have, like, I know one that they purchased a Like a spa in Forte, so they're high up in that, we're marking. But now they got this spa that's doing things, and so they start branching out and they do you get into that place where you no longer have to come from. I need you here to pay my check now. It's like, if you want to join, this is something great, because I'm gonna show you what I'm doing over here to create this wealth and you could follow along and where I mean be, you know I have the advantage of being here. It's a whole different mindset.

Chris: 15:28

It's a whole. It's a whole new level of leadership too. Right, it's not just about because I mean, the great thing with network marketing is that a lot of the business is handled for you, like you don't have to worry about doing payroll, that's Just just that alone. Getting rid of that is awesome, you know, and I've mentioned marketing materials are made for you. I mean, if you're really just doing sales and leadership, I mean that's the biggest thing you're doing. Operations are handled, affilments mostly handled, all for you, right. But yeah, like when you start to Expand beyond that say, you know, like actually it's funny because that same couple, they actually are starting a spa, a franchise. It's funny. You said that because they're like, yeah, we're gonna do like this laser spa type treatment there's nothing like it in this area or start doing that and and that's kind of enhances their health coaching. That they're doing as well. Right, and that's fun. We start to align things. There's our passions and doing those kind of things, and I'll tell you like it's, this is really important because what they're doing, they're doing the very thing that I didn't want to have happen to someone close to me.

Chris: 16:24

Right, that's, that's been a network marketing for several decades. I mean, the guy listened to Bob Proctor, actually got coached by Bob Proctor and did all this stuff and he made literally 10 million dollars plus in network marketing of the last couple decades. But he has zero to show for it. So now he's in his late 60s. He's I mean he's he's built up a new business. He actually got booted out of his previous company Even though he thought he'd be there forever. He was one of the founders. They booted him out due to drama and lies, right. So they booted him out. He had to start from scratch and he's now got up already to multiple six figures.

Chris: 17:02

But he's just like I'm done, like I'm now. I'm almost 69 years old. Can I just, you know, get the point where I can enjoy my labors? And the thing is that he didn't do. He's never bought assets like a cash flow along the way. He always just spent the money, always reinvest in the business, and this goes outside of network marketing. Anytime someone tells me they always reinvest in their business, they're not reinvesting, they're just spending. Because it's one thing you can generate your income and that's good. You shouldn't reinvest some money, and in the beginning that's essential. But once you get to a point of maturity. You're going to invest some money into your business, but you need to take those profits home and start creating freedom at home first, so that, even if the business is gone, you can keep continuing on.

Jennifer: 17:45

This is good. It's good. Thank you for sharing that and I agree it's in all areas. It's not just we just happened to get out of the network marketing talk, but it is, I think, in everything that we do and I think that's what why everybody, you know, they work so hard to get this 401k, you know, and they go up.

Jennifer: 17:58

And I said I don't know a lot about the financial, that's not my thing, but I understand enough to know enough and how that works and I feel like we do all these systems of where we're taught to do, but it isn't, it's never enough, and so I appreciate, you know, you sharing that from your perspective on how, what that needs to look like and what they can do. So so I want to ask you kind of a, I guess, a fun question. You mentioned, you know, going in and becoming a financial advisor, kind of that was your starting ground. Did you know at a young age that you wanted to be an entrepreneur or did you, just when you got to this place where you saw what was going on with your dad, you like that's going to be? That was the turning point for everything?

Chris: 18:32

That's a great question If I were to say something that I probably never say. On almost any show I've ever been on, right, and you're probably like the hundred and some of the show I've been on this year is now you think about it. I probably was somewhat entrepreneurial, but I was such a shy, reserved child that I never thought that that was even a possibility, right, but I think back like one of the first things I did, entrepreneurial speaking, was my mom did like herbal life right back in the 80s. You know, we had the buttons, the lights that lose weight now ask me how I wear it to school and and I had like amway stuff at home. And so I remember they had the shakes, you know, and the first protein shakes tasted like crap back then, right, I mean, some of them still do, let's be honest. But so, anyways, I remember like thinking, I remember learning about calories and I'd read the calories on the label and so I was like, oh, what if I mix this with Tang?

Chris: 19:30

You know, back when people drank Tang, and then I'm throwing this and that and I started like mixing all these flavors together to create my own version of shake, but I put the price based on the number of calories that were in it, you know, based on my limited first or second grade math skills. So I told my mom, I show it to her. It's like here we can sell this drink for $16. She's like good luck with that, buddy. Yeah, yeah. So that was my first entrepreneurial venture, as a total flop never got off the ground, not until I started mowing lawns. I was about 11 years old. Then I started making a little bit of money doing something on my own.

Jennifer: 20:04

I didn't. I mowed yards to believe it or not, so I never. I love to ask that question because I think for so many people I think you know, like I, my parents were both entrepreneurs when I was growing up so I sort of got to view that as the child kind of the lifestyle. But they always worked really hard, like really hard at what they did. And my mom had executive suite. She was a bookkeeper and so she had these executive suites in different offices and they would, you know, house people in there. She did all with her typing and their bookkeeping and I worked in there sometimes and I went to work for one of her clients at one time. So I kind of sort of got to see that entrepreneurial spirit.

Jennifer: 20:35

But it was funny because when I was a kid I used to do things like I would.

Jennifer: 20:40

I would always like try to, like you did your tank thing, like I'd be trying to create things and figure out how am I going to hustle and make money, and I would be like we're going to do this and we're going to do that. And it's so funny because when I look at everything I do now, if I really look at the big picture, a lot of the things I do are very similar to a lot of things I was doing when I was a kid, like talking to people and rallying people to do. We didn't have podcasts back then, but we'd get our tape recorder and record ourselves and make little productions and all that stuff. And so I was allowed to ask that question to kind of see where you come from, because some they do something happens right, like something happens, and it sort of kind of twists them in and says, oh now I want to be an entrepreneur, but I still think we have some of that. You know, like you have that leadership, some of that leadership back there that kind of directs you in that way.

Chris: 21:24

Yeah, it is interesting to see that. And when you talk about your parents, it's interesting that influence, because I had two very contrasting parents, because my mom was the dreamer, right, she was the starving artist, as they call, you know. So she was an artist trained by the same master painter that trained Bob Ross and taught those same classes, same kind of art technique as you saw Bob Ross do. She was doing the same thing and at that same time. And my dad, though, was like you, work for this company for 40 years. Unfortunately, the company wasn't loyal to him, either because we would think he'd worked there for 40 years, but then they would lay him off or they would cut back on it. He would do sales and stuff, and so they would cut back on his territory and give it to somebody else that he did all the hard work for, and he hated that, you know. So I really think that did influence me to want to take control of my own life.

Chris: 22:11

Right To say, yes, I could go work, but even when I was going to college, because you know your mom goes to college, you know. But you know, when my dad, he said, like you got to go to college, you know, so I'd be the first one in the family to go to college. But even when I was there I saw the professors. I was like I want to live a nine to five life where they're going to tell me what to do and how I'm going to live my life and how much I'm going to make. And so even my initial intention before I became a financial advisor was to actually be a business consultant. I was going to do that Go in and tell companies why they treat their employees like crap and then walk out with a big check right. That was going to be my career plan. But I wanted to get real life business experience and that's why I started looking for something to do, dropped out of college, to then go do a financial advisor. And I stayed dropped out. I never finished my degree after that.

Jennifer: 22:56

Yep, you've done good. It sounds like you're doing some good stuff and you're moving in the right direction and getting to live it out the way you know on your terms. That's awesome. That's the ideal path we want to go on.

Chris: 23:07

Definitely doing better than I would have got with that sociology degree, that's for sure.

Jennifer: 23:10

Yeah, I know I feel like I don't ever like to Say college is a bad thing, but a lot of people have done really well without it too. I think it's what goes both ways right. Like some, I know so many entrepreneurs that even the ones that have Got their degrees that are like doing completely different things than they would have done. I mean, I studied accounting. Can you imagine I couldn't? There's no way. I Actually had a guy come on my show. He, you know, he worked with zig-ziggler for 20-something years so he would travel all around when he's here local. I'm in Dallas so I see him here locally. But he came on my show and he's like, no, you should not be an accountant.

Chris: 23:46

Don't follow your bookkeeping mom's. You know type of yeah, pathway right.

Jennifer: 23:50

Yeah, not exactly exactly. So I wanted to ask you what would be like. We talked about passive income, so what would be? Because, you know, recharge yourself at age 28? So I'm sure people listening this are gonna be like what the heck, how do we do that? What would be? Maybe some advice to give to somebody young that's like maybe this is where they're at, they're starting their business and they're trying to get into, maybe thinking, hey, I want to do some passive income.

Chris: 24:12

We know, if you're in business like your number one investment should be your business, especially when you're just starting out. And that's why, matt, like when you're reinvesting, you know hustles a season, it's not a lifestyle. So don't fall on a trap that most business owners get into where they end up hustling the rest of their lives and then they're end up like our family member where you know he's in, made over ten million dollars network marketing and then he's still hustling and he's at a season where he doesn't want to hustle anymore. So still, you got to hustle in the beginning, but once you start, do that focus on profit. I recommend reading a book called profit first by Mike McKellowits. Great book. Even if you're not going into accounting, it's still a great book.

Chris: 24:50

The essential, the essential part of it is, rather than saying here's my revenue coming in, my friend for my business, my expenses and if I have anything left over, that's why I pay myself, you flip it on its head. You say, what do I want to pay myself? Then what's the amount of money I'm making the business and then that's the amount of expenses I have to work with right, very different way of doing it. I mean, imagine everybody did that as an entrepreneur where they actually said I'm gonna set my wage because if you're a CEO of your business, you better dang well get paid like you're the CEO. I mean, come on, tim cook with Apple gets paid over a hundred million dollars a year just to be a CEO and he doesn't do that much right, like most of the work is done beneath him, not with him. So really make sure you pay yourself first. I think that's really important and that's what I mean. Like bring that money home and then keep some of that as profit, start Building up that savings. Once you do that, and especially once you get into a nice, more mature phase in your business, you start to really get some good profits coming in. Take those profits and then take a, whatever percentage it might be. Take that and invest it.

Chris: 25:53

Do not do the same old crap like the 401ks and the IRA is every talks about, because when you take your money and invest, you do not want to lock it up in prison. Almost every financial expert and advisor will tell you the same thing. If you really dumb it down, they say invest your money in the stock market and Lock it away there. In fact, you might put in an IRA or 401k where you get slapped with penalties and taxes if you try to take it out too early, and Then they're gonna say, pay off your house, right, which is also a prison. And and I'll tell you that the people that learned that was a prison the most was in the last recession, because you had equity, your house, and you needed money and you wanted to get to it. The banks wouldn't let you.

Chris: 26:33

I tried, I remember I tried to get the access because I was a mortgage broker before the recession hit. This is why we retired twice, because I screwed up the first time. So I got to the point where I was able out of the rat race, but then I was coming back out. I was launching a new business, teaching people how to do what I'm teaching now. Right, starting to do that in 2007.

Chris: 26:51

And then, of course, everything starts getting really, really tight. Our marketing that we were doing was catered towards real estate investors, so they were going broke, not paying us. So I was like, well, how do I get? I was putting all the money in my house because, as a mortgage broker, I thought, well, I could just pull it back out whenever I need it, because the banks will just give me the money, won't they Not, when you need it. That's the thing is that banks will only give you money when you want it, never when you need it. So when I went into the bank, even in the summer of 2007, they said oh, we're sorry, we don't like business owners anymore. You can't get access to that money. That's in your house, even though you put extra in there just last week. We won't let you get it back. And and so I saw money trapped in there. And then, of course, the mortgage that the leanholder was owned by Lehman brothers, which went under right. They wouldn't let us get the money either. Even though I had people willing to buy my house and get me out from that mortgage, they wouldn't let me do it. So eventually I foreclosed on that house. I did not come the door. Somebody came and bought it for half the price that I purchased it for three years prior, and Then and then I ended up having just to let that house go. They eventually did give me a $300 settlement check as a sorry for the mortgage fraud, but you know, but that's the thing like I lost all the literally hundreds of thousands of equity I had trapped in the house was gone because I locked it away.

Chris: 28:08

So the key is, when you're a business owner, get that money liquid, make sure it's available to use in your control and your power. That's why we teach about things like on our site, like infinite banking is a cool strategy to use, especially here in business, things like that. Keep that money in your control that you can still use and access but still make money with it, and then from there, as you start to build that up, I would say, once you get over a hundred thousand dollars of savings, then you can start to diversify and get your money out. I'm doing things like, for example, like I lent my money out, I lend out fifty thousand bucks and and basically the guy says here I'll pay you fifteen percent for a short-term loan, you know. So fifteen percent per year. He had my money for three months. He basically paid me almost four percent for three months. Most people only make four percent in a year with their savings account. Right, I was able to make from that fifty thousand, about sixteen hundred dollars from that money Actually a little bit more than that, but anyways, yeah, a little shy of two thousand bucks.

Chris: 29:04

Another thing you could do too is, like you know, sometimes I, you can go give your money to other investors, let them do things with it, you know, like real estate investors, for example. So it's you had have it backed by real assets you could have. There's one company that pays our clients like one percent a month. You know, just like clockwork. So if you have a hundred thousand dollars, they'll pay you thousand dollars a month. You do nothing for it. So you don't have to deal with tenants, toilets or trash, right. You don't have to deal with all that stuff that people always talk about, like, especially in network marketing. They're always like I'm gonna buy that investment property, right, like I'm gonna do this. You know, after I pay off my house, then I'll buy that investment property. And then they do it and they buy in their own backyard and the numbers suck. They don't make any real money with it. If they're lucky, it appreciates and makes up for their mistakes, right. That kind of stuff. But you can avoid all that. You can avoid that hassle and invest in things where other people are doing the investing.

Chris: 29:53

You're literally just the finance sir. I'm in one partnership right now where I'm a 70% partner. They're 30%. I finance everything, but they're taking my money and they're buying raw land with it and then turning around and selling it at retail price To really it could be investors. It could be people that just want land to go. Do you know, go shooting on or eight you know, ride their 8aV around or whatever, or build a house, or might be. We sell it to them at almost double the price that we bought it for and we sell it to them on terms like we're the bank, so they'll get a loan from us basically for you know, 5, 10, 15 years where we charge them interest and then we get paid monthly payments as they pay off that loan to us. So the cool thing is like I've invested by 350,000 in the last two years with that, but my cash flow is now 8,300 a month. I'm making over a hundred grand a year Just from 350 grand. You know, like that's awesome, you know, yeah some people that's more than pays their expenses.

Chris: 30:54

They're like I'm done, I'm work optional, now right, so that's. That's the kind of the cool thing that you can do when you start to realize there's a whole other world outside of stocks and which you make literally like not much. Like. The average stock market return is 7.73% for the last 30 years, but most mutual funds that you invest in won't even make that like over 90% will do worse than the stock market. So you're hoping to make 7% if you're lucky and when I can make double-digit returns over here, and it's not just growing my money, it's actually cash to me, not even touching the money, the principal that I have.

Jennifer: 31:32

That's good. Okay, so far. Listeners, those of you that want to have figured this out, you need to contact Chris, because he's got it figured out. I love it, chris. Thank you, it's awesome. So I want to ask you kind of a fun question. This is gonna be like about you in your journey, because you've told us a lot about what you're doing, and I love the fact that you're in a place where you're able to to live your life the way you want, you're able to show other people how to do this, and so I want to know what you've learned about yourself through this journey, like what's been the big takeaway for you and all of this?

Chris: 32:00

You know, the biggest takeaway is the number one asset is you. You are the number one asset investment, right, that that's the one thing that can't take away like. Even when I had my house foreclosed on in 2009, you know, I pretty much had to sell off almost everything I owned. I didn't file for bankruptcy, but still I was over a million dollars in debt after being financially free. Right, I had to dig out of that hole.

Chris: 32:22

The thing I that gave me faith was that I knew there had to be a reason behind it. Right, there had to be a purpose. There are no accidents in life, I believe. Right, and even if it meant that it, if it just what I was going through would help somebody else, I knew that would be worth it.

Chris: 32:37

Coming on the other side, and the great thing is is when I had all my stuff stripped away because, like in my late 20s when I first did it, I buy the big house to show off I mean, I literally told the realtor I want the wow factor. So when I have people come to my house, they look up and go, wow, right, because I wasn't filled my bank account, I was trying to feed my ego and and when you don't value yourself. Sometimes you'll try to put things in front to say, well, look at my value, look at my car, look at my house, especially with the media social media and stuff for it nowadays it's even worse, right. So I put those things in front to say, look at my value. But when that was all taken away, I had to find out where the true value was, and it was within me. That stuff wouldn't exist had I not produced.

Chris: 33:19

So when you realize that you, when you start to really work within your genius and you focus on how do you use that Genius to serve people and I'll tell you this the number one thing I learned, if you ever want to stop asking the question, how do I make more money, you ever want to find the cause of money.

Chris: 33:35

It's always ask. This question instead is how do I go about creating more value for more people? How do I serve people, solve problems or add value in such a way? The money's just the natural byproduct that I'm literally just being a problem-solver in people's lives. That's really when entrepreneurs all about is being a problem solver. You focus on that and how you help people versus how you help yourself. It's amazing how you'll never have a money problem because as long as you're giving people what they want, you will always have enough for what you want. And so I think that's the biggest thing is just understand the value within you, the genius is within you, and how you can take that genius to serve People at the highest level so that you become a massive blessing in people's lives and create greater impact and ripple effect throughout their lives.

Jennifer: 34:17

It's good. It's good. I think you know what I think about that, because I've had this conversation with several people before about this particular thing, and it goes back even like when you're talking about selling, because when you figure out what the people want and you target the right people, you're no longer really even selling at that point anymore, because now you're in the space where you should be and you're serving the people the way you should be, right, and then the money comes. So Thank you for sharing all that. It's awesome Good stuff.

Chris: 34:41

Yeah, it's awesome because people really know like you mentioned this, I think, earlier is that when people really buy what you believe in, you know those values and things like that they're already attracted to you. They're already coming to you like a beacon towards a light. Like I like we don't ever do outbound calls or sales or anything like that Like it's all inbound there's all people saying, hey, I like what you've got, how can you help me? And our biggest objective is just let's see if it even makes sense, because if we can't do it for you, then we're gonna flat out be honest and say listen, we're not for you. Maybe go talk to our competitor that we hate, you know, or something like that. You know it could be something of that nature. But it's really awesome when you come from a place of just how can I help serve you? Right, that for me it's been just life-changing.

Jennifer: 35:21

It's good. It's good, chris, this is awesome, all right. Well, I want to see a couple fun questions, kind of off the cuff. These are different, not not about necessarily about money, but fun stuff. So I would love to know there there are personal questions, fyi. I want to know because it sounds like you got your money in all that in order. I don't know what you do outside. I know you're a marathon runner, so you're probably are living fairly healthy life. I'd love to know like what is your one junky guilty pleasure?

Chris: 35:44

food, oh, oh, only one.

Jennifer: 35:49

You can, you have two, you can pick two.

Chris: 35:51

I've got two, I'll give you two. It's always been the guilty pleasures. Chips and salsa and ice cream like those are my guilty pleasures right there.

Jennifer: 35:58

Those are mine Every Friday night, like we go to the little Mexican restaurant around the corner. Chips and salsa every Friday night. It's like my thing. I could eat chips and salsa like all day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I don't even think it affects my digestive system, I just eat it. It's so good and I love ice cream Good stuff.

Chris: 36:16

I'm into that.

Jennifer: 36:17

All right, first concert you ever attended.

Chris: 36:22

It was. There was both the same year, I think. Actually, the very first one I attended was that Eagles Hell freezes over tour Back in 1995. That was awesome because we thought they'd never do a tour again. Of course, now they're touring again, right. But right, it was like oh, they're back together after 14 years. That's a winner. A teenager, that was like a lifetime ago, right. So that was my my very first concert.

Jennifer: 36:45

Cool, cool. All right, they were booked oh.

Chris: 36:50

Boy got a lot, I'm sure. Yeah, I know I mean aside from like the Bible and things like that, right, I mean, everybody probably says that, so I don't want to Give the common answer. I would say my second favorite after that would probably be how to win friends and influence people. That was like my very first personal development book I learned as an entrepreneur and it's still, to this day, is so applicable In my life so that they'll currently give book how to win friends, influence people. I think it's a must read.

Jennifer: 37:17

Yeah, it's good. That's a good book, all right. Well, this has been fun. Chris, I appreciate you jumping on here and sharing what you're doing, and congratulations on all your success. Sounds like you're doing some incredible Things, and that's awesome. I like to hear that so means you're making the world a better place. So if our audience wants to get in touch with you, maybe they want to check out what you got. What's on your side all that good stuff podcast when do we want to send them?

Chris: 37:36

Yeah, two different ways you do it. You can follow our podcast, the money ripples podcast. I'm really creative, I know money ripples podcast. You can follow that on YouTube or iTunes, wherever you consume podcasts, or just go to money ripples calm.

Jennifer: 37:48

Perfect. We'll make sure to, when this goes out, that we get you tagged and get it in appropriate places so they know where to find you. So all right. Of course, we do want to say to our listeners if you enjoy the show, please head on over to Apple, give us a review there. You can hit that subscribe button on the YouTube. And, as I always say, in order to live the extraordinary, you must start, and every start begins with a decision. You guys, take care, be safe, be kind to one another and we will see you next time.