From Infidelity and Scarcity to Family and Abundance with Business Mom Maureen McCann

Speaker 1

00:00

 Today we get to hear from Maureen McCann. She is a co-founder of Spartan invest, and she's the director of wealth building for them. And man, she's got quite a turnaround story, and it's really inspiring this one. She calls it. Her Jerry Springer story that we talked about toward the beginning of the episode. You're not going to want to miss that part. But and then we talked about how she at one point was unable to pay her income taxes and then her debit cards were declined twice when she was trying to buy food for our kids. So clearly at rock bottom or close to it at that point, and she rebounded in a big way. This episode is a lot focused on mindset and how preparation meets opportunity how you have Got to be willing to invest in yourself even when it doesn't seem logical. It's all about taking initiative, taking action, taking ownership of your future. Maureen is somebody who she said. If you have a plan B you don't really have a plan. A so she is an absolute go-getter and a force to be reckoned with. I thoroughly enjoyed this one and I think you're going to get a lot out of it. If you're a passive investor. Looking for rental properties. TurnKey rental properties. That's what Spartan invest focuses on. Or if you're an entrepreneur or more of an active real estate investor. This episode is definitely for you as well.

Speaker 2

01:44

 Welcome to the form adversity to abundance podcast. Are you an entrepreneur or aspiring entrepreneur? Then this show is for you. Each week, we bring you in Paxil stories of real people who have overcome painful human. Adversity to create a life of abundance. You are not alone in your struggle, join us, and you will experience the power of true stories and gain practical Knowledge, from Founders, who have turned poverty into prosperity and weakness into wealth. This podcast will encourage you through your health relationship and financial challenges, so you can become the hero in your quest for freedom, take ownership of the life, you are. Are destined to live turn your adversity into abundance.

Speaker 1

02:37

 Welcome everybody, to another episode of the form adversity, to abundance podcast. I am your host Jamie Bateman. And today, I am thrilled to have with US Marine McCann of Spartan invest Marine, is one of the cofounders of Spartan and best Marine. How are you doing today? Jamie, it's such a pleasure to be here, so excited because I love the title and I have got something to share with your listeners that I think would just be inspiring and give them hope. Absolutely it sounds great. I know, I know you have made the lead Up from w22 entrepreneur. And so we're going to dive into that. And I know it wasn't all rainbows and butterflies and I know you have had some ups and downs, so I am excited to dive into that in a bit. But for the listener out there who hasn't heard of you who are you and what are you up to today? So, first and foremost among super mom of three, incredible kids 16, 15 and 12. So that's my number one, job in the world. So see you don't mind. I am sorry I have got to Teenagers and I just can't imagine a third but man goes to you. Thank you. I think you're well they're almost. There is fight. They were my inspiration and continue to be my inspiration to heat being the role model that I want for them to see and look up to you. So it wasn't because of them might be being who I am today. So, first and foremost super mama three-phase and kids. I am that one of the cofounders of Spartan invest and Atlas rental. Bertie. I am an avid gym rat. I can find me working out in the gym anytime. And yoga is up something else that I really love to kind of get that in mind set straight, right? And I honestly just love building a business and it's super excited to be here and to share with you guys who I am, what I do and I got here love it, and we won't dive into Too much yet because we will later. But what does your business do and who do you work with? Yeah, so we are. If you guys have ever heard the term TurnKey rental property. So in short, here's what we do. We buy distressed assets, we renovate them. We place a qualified resident in the property, we sell that asset to an investor who wants to build a portfolio of TurnKey, rental properties. So to build long-term generational wealth, and then we do the ongoing management for our clients. Love it. You got that down. I need to do a better job of with my elevator pitch but I will work on that after the episode. So Marine tell us you know again we touched on it. There it hasn't been all easy. It hasn't been easy for you the whole time as far as, like you said, being a mom or, or starting a business. Let us dive into your backstory and focus on some of the adversity that you have been through. And the point here is to pull out Lessons Learned for The Listener so that we can take some of the principles and lessons that you have learned and apply them in our own lives. And take some inspiration from your story. So, where would you, where would you like to start? You know, obviously, I will start back where I decided to invest in myself, which, when I was thinking with my scarce mindset, I was thinking about a, what it was going to cost me. And what I have learned is I made that transition, That big leap over that Abyss, from scarcity, mindset to abundance mindset. And it really that where that leak took place was when I had decided that I had gone to my first seminar actually. It's been several. But this is the one that I decided that I was actually going to take action and you know if you guys have ever been to a seminar, you know, those like the three-day build up and you finally get to the third day and it's like you can't do this without them and say we're just going to have to like, you know, invest in yourself and pay the money that they're asking you to pay to get them receive the education that you're looking for. And this way that I really remember the year, I want to say it was at least 16 17 years ago, and I was at the Allen Robert Allen next Dora, and he's down for that third day and your it was, here comes the pitch for $99.99, you know, you can get all of this great information and I remember I didn't have his I didn't have the 10 grand had to borrow it from my 401k. I didn't tell anybody that I have been doing this because they knew the naysayers would talk me out of it, especially, because Suze Orman was a big boy back then, and it was shouldn't leave your money in your account. Don't let it new belt, they compound interest benefit, you and I had decided that very Nervously. You know, I didn't have to borrow the money for my 401k, but I remember writing the check. I had a sweaty Palm. My hand was shaking, you know, I had the heart palpitations, but I had known and I knew deep down that if you want effective change in your life, you have to do something different. And I can do all the free seminars that I wanted to. But if I didn't actually take the action, take bleep, I wouldn't it would not have led that action would not have led to ask talking, that's, that's fascinating. Yeah. And so this was a I know Robert Allen. The multiple streams of income was this a real estate Focus seminar? I guess you said Millionaire Next Door, right? Yeah, it was definitely real estate, Focus seminar. And you know, I had this known enough that and I live in San Diego, and I was in former pharmaceutical rep and medical device wraps out a lot of windshields time on the road a lot. And if anyone knows San Diego and then hula-hula California, it's crystal jewel. That Beautiful home. Sit on top of these, gorgeous Cliffs, overlooking, the Pacific, and I was looking up at those homes and I thought, are they living up there? What did they know that? I don't know, as I started digging into it. I figured out that a lot of people, a lot of investors invest in real estate and two-thirds of our network is determined by the equity that we have in our real estate that we own. And so, that was my, that was my journey into real estate. Was I wanted to live on top of the help, which I know that. Got it. Awesome. So then you just made you know five or ten million dollars that year and it was just super easy and that was all right now that's cute that is I can take some of the challenging moments that I have. Let us do it. I mean that's so you know let us dive right into the adversity. What was what were some of the pain points that you experienced? The first one was when I was going at. So, When I started in real estate as a portfolio advisor for Company B. So Memphis I had three kids under the age of five, and I was going through a pretty nasty divorce. Well, I started this company. So there were some difficulties, some relationship challenges there, I will share a little. That's kind of interesting story, but I want to get really to the first pain point, which was I knew that as I, you know, you're building a company you don't start off. You're not The ball like you're just the money is not rolling and really just scraping by. And I remember one of the most pivotal moments with when I was, I knew, I had some a little bit of money in my checking account. I had to, at the time, and I went to go buy groceries for my kids, and I swiped my debit card and it said, declined. I was like, that's weird, but I do know that I have money in my account. So then I got the other card swipe that mine, Like okay, something's up. Something's really up, so I left without the groceries. I came back to my house, I went online and I looked on my online banking statement and tax levy. So I RS tax lawyer for ya, still got it just so you know, bones when you actually say, hey IRS, you can direct deposit my return and I feel like I learned that did not know that, but I learned that and it was simply an error on my part. It's on a payment plan to pay my taxes. With at that point when you're starting a business, I was forty thousand dollars in credit card debt. I would definitely just scraping by I was commissioned only no health benefits because they made a left the W2 world into the 1099 world, that was the first jump. And I couldn't afford my tax bill, so I was making monthly payments and my debit card. I have learned this, don't use your debit card at the gas station, because your PIN number hangs out longer in that transaction. So it's easier to steal your information. So, after four or five times of this happening to me, guess who? I forgot, Notify, when I changed my debit card where the IRS would make overthinking monthly payments, so I missed three monthly payments didn't realize that I did that. And when I went to go to that Target one day to buy groceries, all my funds or siphoned. And I had to call my business partner and asked him to borrow 10,000 dollars, so that I could just Get by until the next day to day, which I imagine was not a, you know, I don't know. I am sure you knew your business partner well, but it's still not a fun thing to have to ask anybody writes pretty humbling. I would imagine. So you, okay. So obviously there's some serious Financial struggles at this point and then you mentioned you're going through a divorce and could you touch on the relationship side of things a little bit? Yeah sure. So this is very Jerry. Bring your F so buckle up. Yeah, right, so I am just going to condense it but I know we only have 45 minutes and I will give you just the tips of it. So to put things in perspective gosh I started in real estate in 2010 I am say six or seven and had gotten married in 2003 that was April Three, my, I know R affectionately referred to him as my husband. So I was been nice. Not heard that. You got married, we decided to get you going on a business trip, and he had a one-night stand and there was a pregnancy that was a result of that one night stand. Well, but he decided to keep it secret from me for seven years. So in that seven year period, I then had three children brought them. Brought them into the Situation, unbeknownst to me but was about 21. And so here, I am now married with three kids, they are, I now find out that my husband has a seven-year-old so two years older than my oldest, right? And how I found out was he was interviewed because he looks like Obama, so he was interviewing 2008, he was interviewed to go. Obama was elected that year and so, the woman who it was the baby mama, she had seen the newscast because it was, it was indicated. I want to cross over to Georgia where she resided with her daughter and his daughter. And so he had ignored her and avoiding her. As long as he possibly could be going to ignore her for his entire life. And then, my friend had set me up on this thing called Facebook at the time when I had no idea about My friend, she sent me up to send pictures up there and I never even paid attention to it and then one night after the woman in Georgia had found out where he was working and you know she's good with contact him, she was trying to reach him and say hey we have got this kid, and he know about it the whole time. But anyway, he just ignored the child and my The Baby Mama. She's basically found me on Facebook after she saw the newscast, which was like, Hey, I am so and I work at the Del Mar Marriott in San Diego, and so she found him reconnected with him. He still ignored her. She wasn't getting what she wanted out of him. So she found me on Facebook and on August of 2010. That is the day that I had a three-year old and a two-year old and a two-month-old. And I had just found out that my husband had somebody. Well that is I mean obviously I am gonna do it. No justice by anything think I say that? Is that as we haven't had that story on the show yet so that is wild? I am sorry, you had to go through that. I guess, you know, I don't be sorry because here's the thing that was the motivation for me because I am such a loyal person. Like that was like the worst possible thing that could happen in order for me to make them very Wrong decision, to leave the marriage, save the family home. That's why I went into real estate was so that I could, you know what's going to straddle both the pharmaceutical world and the real estate world. So I could not disrupt my kids lives as much and keep them in the family, home with enough, you know, money to have him exit. And, so I was doing all this, that was building the business and while going through divorce with three kids under the age of five and knowing that It was just other child out there, that was part of my kids lives, but that have been hidden from me on purpose deceitfully for many, many years. I mean, any one of those just building a business is enough stress and of itself, you know? I mean that is Jersey testing. New Jersey, nice. Okay. So now how did that go? So that was August 2010, right? When you found out, then walk us through the next few years. Yeah, so that the next step that year, so I didn't have any family here in San Diego. Everyone was back east and Billy and groovy. So I had to be in a sister was helping me take care of my kids while I was working. And, so I had to figure out a way to be able to get him to exit. And so, I spent a year to tell anybody, I kept that it, but a secret for my family. My friends, because I needed to strategize on how I could be able to make enough money to support myself. Self and three kids without his support anymore. So that was that and challenging here. But so did you consider just going back to work at this point for an employer? I was straddling. I was still struggling at your gear. Don't do it. I met my business partners, Clayton and Lindsay. We started Spartan invest so be pushing 2010. And 2012 was, I can't even tell you. Such a blur because I was just studying real estate working and changing diapers, and taking care of kids. And so, I would, you know, get up at whatever sick, five, six in the morning, get the kids ready, get them off to where they needed to go, then I come back and I work and then I go pick them up from daycare or my sister. My former sister-in-law is house, put them to bed and then I work until 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning and wash rinse and repeat. And I did that for many years to one day. My daughter who is now 15. She said Mom, I don't you Do a work like three or four in the morning anymore. Why don't you do that? Because I don't have to at this point but I did then. So you talk about sacrifice and having to do what you need to do. He just, you know, when you're forced to do something you just have to do. Yeah, I mean humans are very resilient if we can find a way if there's enough of a reason, right? So, did you have a? I mean, you mentioned it, the end goal was to get him out of your life and to for you to be able to support Um, your three kids and was that, did you have like a 10-year goal with a plan? Or was it just like day-to-day? I am just going to grind this out. How did you approach it? No, it was. It was really day-to-day, but I learned that it's a pay-to-play environment, especially if you don't come from a very wealthy family, which I did not. And so, in order to begin the circles of the people that I wanted to be around, who were doing, things better than me, bigger than me. I knew that I needed to be Those circles. And it was a question of how do I get into them circles? And so it was, you know my first Mastermind I think was like an investment of 2500 dollars and then my second Mastermind with ten thousand dollars and then Mike you know I been part of several masterminds which were up to fifty thousand dollars, you know, to join for the year and as I was having success, so I started off with the small ones, right? Like I didn't have the Belgian dollar then when I had forty thousand dollars in credit card debt, and we're just trying to get some sales and I remember My plating my business partner. He said he called me up, and he's got this really cool like calm demeanor and way of delivering like, really bad news because like morning we don't. If we don't close, I think it was the number was 12, we don't close 12 properties. Just quarter were probably gonna have to shut the company down, and I was the only salesperson and I want no pressure, no pressure. And so you know you figure out you just you know you have to think when you have to do it when you have to figure out a way yeah you did. Because guess what Jimmy nobody wakes up and says you know I want to make my life so hard today to myself to be better and do better. It's only the life circumstances that are put in place before you where you realize you're either going to spiral up or spiral down and I agree kids are lying on me. So my only option was to spiral up. Yeah, I love it yet. You had your, why figure it out? That's for sure. So you go in, so you join these Mastermind groups, you're putting yourself in the position where opportunities can arise, right? And then you're obviously putting into work as well. Which is a piece that we like to gloss over sometimes. You know, just as a society. But so you're both putting yourself intentionally in these in this position but you're also putting in the day-to-day work. Sounds like and then some. So how did the formation of Spartan invest? Come to be. I mean, how did that all come about and I love this? I love this story to II. Just want to say that there, is that there is Serendipity, serendipitously, really, but it is, it is opportunities preparation. Where are an opportunity meet? And I Was preparing myself for a really long time. Just learning about you know, real estate and residential real estate and rental properties. And you know how to make money. One of my, when I one of the guys that I met, I felt that first webinar. The Robert Allen webinar, Randy Houser. Really good. Friend of mine, still good friend of mine. He invited me to a second Mastermind, no called portrait voters which I went there and that was a 25 thousand dollar investment to learn, you know, their system but Randy was the first one who bought he invested into rental properties, and I am not the early. After guys, I am not the one that's good. The jump in head be first, right? But I am the one that's going. Hey, Randy, how are those rental property? Sure, I didn't make any money you do. So I think unlike you I am not the guinea pig but you know let somebody else, you know, figure it out and then I will come behind them and maybe tweak something that but success leaves Clues, I think. So. Why not pay attention to what's working for somebody else? And then, you know, put that into your life. So okay, so He but he buys a couple. Or does he buy a couple rental properties? Okay. For the Memphis group that I then wound up working for but I wasn't working for them at the time. So he bought two and then I was watching him. And then I, you know, I didn't have any money outside of my retirement accounts. I had significant some money in my retirement account. So I learned about the non-recourse loan and self-directed Ira and then I bought my first to rental properties because Randy was having successful make a he can do with and I can do it. Like you said so sweets Clues? Yeah. Then. And then how I actually got into TurnKey rental properties and selling them was the company that I had bought two from in Memphis. I was a member, I was a drug rep. So I had a lot of doctors at my business and so let us talk to them. They hate talking about my drugs, but they love talking about real estate, making and cash flow. So, I just used that playground as a way to talk to these guys about what I was doing. Personally and then I hosted an event that I paid for I myself got the hotels base, have the refreshments, I invited the company that I had bought properties from to see if they would come in and speak. They decided they would much to my surprise and Delight. I wound up selling 10 rental properties and 30 people in the room, mostly doctors and their, and their spouses. And then I want of selling 10 properties that weekend and I thought, oh my gosh, this is so cool. So you said, you needed to sell 12 and you sold 20, right? There's that, is that it is different. Not. So it was, it was able, it worked out. It worked out, got it. So we're get a couple of things I want to pull out of this before we move on is our one it when you were, you know, pharmaceutical rep, starting off. I doubt you foresaw, this, this event happening. And so my point is, you probably had days when you didn't feel like doing your pharmaceutical job or it was a difficult, you didn't know why you were, you know, doing this. Having this role or developing these skills, but it ended up paying off in a way that you probably didn't foresee, right? So to The Listener out there, I think it's important, do your job, do it. Well, it doesn't mean never question what you're doing, or never take control of your career path, but you may be in a position that you don't necessarily love. But it may, you know, provide some fruit later on in a way that you don't foresee. And secondly before you move on is You were listening to the doctors. It sounds like for what they were interested in. It wasn't just you throw, you know, your sales pitch at them. It was they wanted to talk about passive income and real estate as opposed to the drugs. So very true though, just that's another key thing I think is just to pay attention to the people around you and understand what their, what their motivation is or what they're interested in. So all right, so you have the event you sell Enough rental properties. And so, how do things go from there? This is where everything started to really start to cook in, okay? Because I took, I took the initiative, I took action, I invested in my use my own money to put on this event so that I could, you know, generate some sales and I didn't really you don't know you guys like I didn't know how the outcome of that event was going to be, but I was willing to invest the time and the money and then to bring in the resources that would help the event be worthwhile. For these individuals to show up on a Saturday, right? When they have got families and things, and they work Monday through Friday, and they have got heroin scheduled to seeing so many patients in a day. And so, but it really was, you know, that's where one of the pivotal moments was because then I that's when you have that little moment of attendee this I just did this right versus. I don't know if I can because you can sit on the sidelines for so long ago that I don't know if I can, but until you try, You don't know and it could have failed, right? It sure has been a failure and nobody could have bought but that was where I got that little taste of. If you just try, I always say, you know if you don't a SKU don't GE T. So I know I was looking for the ask and then I was able to get what I was unexpected. I was hopeful but it was not guaranteed and so that was where, you know, We that's where I just I do Vin. I left the pharmaceutical world and dove in headfirst into, selling rental properties. And guess what? Guys, I had, I left a company. Car company benefits, a six-figure salary with bonuses, and Company trips, and all this fun stuff that you get in that world. And, you know, to leave all of that to go commission only no health benefits. And I got caught in that whole Obama era. Where, if you didn't carry health insurance, even privately, which was very expensive for me at the time, and I couldn't afford it. I had to, I think, I think three or four months, and then I couldn't pay for the rest of the year. And so, I went without health insurance, my kids went on their dad's plan, but I did not. And so, you know, you that's risky. That's where she ended up. Absolutely weird happened. I could have been a medical catastrophe in a white male financially, but it was Thing I just had to do. And then what would you say to the listener out there, who maybe it's not, they're not in the exact same position, but they have a W-2 that or commission-based job, 1099 jobs, but they're not really working for themselves, and they had an inkling of starting a business. Now we know it's not one, size fits all every situation is different, but what would you say? Should they start a start? A side hustle and take it. The long-term view or just, you know, ripped rip off the Band-Aid and jump in or any thoughts there looking back. I have learned this that if you have a plan B, then you don't really execute on plan a right. It's really good. You have always got that little Safe Haven to it's an instant excuse basically. Yeah, you're all. I made that decision. I didn't care was willing to leave all of those benefits and stuff behind because I wanted something different and I would tell you here's a thought that went through my mind. And people ask me this like why did you do what you do? Or why did you, why did I make that leap? And I thought because One day when I turned 50, I don't want to have to wake up and ask permission from my boss. I didn't even want to boss, right? But have to ask permission from my boss, most likely probably going to be younger than me, right? That was your cake. Me to ask for 10 lousy vacation days to go take my kids somewhere that I did not want that. And so that was a big Thing for sonically people ask me why do you do that? I was like, okay, well mom for my kids but I didn't want to wake up one day and have to ask permission to go take 10 days in vacation days, take my kids somewhere. I was like I want to be in control of my world. And yeah, I will say this. This is the last thing I would say. It's not like I did this on my own, right? I have two amazing business partners who they have they come to the table with extremely valuable skill sets that I don't have. Lindsay's, the operator she can put systems and processes together claims the Visionary. The find the quantitative Finance guy, so he could figure out at all the research and figure it out, you know, all the pieces to the puzzle to make sure hey this is a pitfall. Hasn't we do to avoid this and then I am the sales person, I am the Storyteller so those three skill sets combined are wickedly powerful. I did not do this on my own by any means and then it's only continued on because of the amazing. Talent that has been brought on its review got on your team. That makes all the difference. People know that's a really key piece and it sounds like you all have a lot of synergy and I know Spartan invest has done very well, and we will get into that. But how did you approach? That was it just organically just, you know, kind of happened to start a business, in the three of you happen, to have different skill sets and got along famously, or was it? Let us take. Let us take personality test and now I am going to go look for Business partner because, you know, people approach this in a lot of different ways and it sometimes it works and other times it doesn't. So as far as finding a business partner, you know, not a deal partner, but an actual business partner. How, how did you approach that? And what lessons have you learned? They actually found me and so and here's the here's one of the key points I want to beat up to before I share. That story is had I not been developing my skills. Had I not been working on my writing skills. My verbal skills, my real estate skills. You know you constantly have to be one-upping yourself. We I read so many books like when I moved into my new house for years ago most of my boxes were books. All right, so I do Vin to. I didn't go to a lot of parties. I spent a lot of times in Barnes & Noble, so develop your skill set because you someone that looking for your skills up, you're not working on them, then they're not they're going to pass you by right. So work on your skill set. All right, let us go with that. How late Lindsay and how may I help my business partners is Clayton is the researcher he went on, we went on the road for nine months going to different cities, pulling Courthouse, records, something I would never do, right? If that's the way that his mind works. And so he was based in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He and Lindsay had already partnered up, and they were putting houses to the retail buyer. This is way before I showed up, they formed the company called Spartan value investors. But during the slow months, they wanted to figure out. Is there a way that we can speed up sales? Can we keep to sailed going through the slower month? And Clayton and it is little researched way when he was going. He went to Memphis, Tennessee, Old Courthouse, records. I happen to be working for a company based in Memphis, he went to Nashville, Tennessee, Birmingham, Alabama, Atlanta, Georgia, and Jackson Mississippi. He spent nine months on the road, pulling Courthouse records. What he found through that research was there was a company that was he was astonished that was actually closing 60 properties a month and that was the I was working for. So in a very condensed version, he went on line to that company. He follow the contact form. This is where serendipitously, the universe conspired to bring us all together. Has out of the five portfolio, advisers, he could have been assigned to, he's assigned to me, and that's how we met. And then he told, Lindsay after we Echo our first initial call, he said, I had no intentions of wanting to buy property, but after I talk to Maureen my property, and so I think we found her Other co-founder, and that's how that's awesome. That's really cool. Okay. So and that was I think you said well exercise like as well. Okay, gotcha. So and then how has the company grown since then this is, People? Well more that we have employed through, just our organization, we have gone from, you know, year 130 properties soon. LM was 2100 is a little over 2100 in that time period we had about 350 doors a year, I think last year's Revenue thought 60 million and so, you know, to go back from this. Let me just transport you guys for one second. I will just transfer. You get the once I could sing about this because I started with, you know where I started in real estate and that was at a seminar, but I was scared to death to write a ten thousand dollar check to invest in myself because I had to switch my mindset. It wasn't the scarcity mindset. I had to operate from, I had to switch to the abundance mindset and that is so hard. A really good book is mindset by Carol dweck had highly suggest reading that book, okay? But how do I not written that ten thousand dollar check to invest? I stopped to learn about real estate. I would not have met Randy which when he then would have not introduced me to Fortune Builders with. Then I would have not met the company that I bought properties from in Memphis who then hired me. We then found me then Clayton and Lindsay found me through their online research to being here, present today. And I guess, what if I was fearful and I let fear stop me from writing that ten thousand dollar check, which the money I did not have in my, I had to borrow Oh it for my 401k but had I not had I let fear stop me. I still probably bounced around from different pharmaceutical companies, trying to figure out my way because they're hiring laying off all the time, right? And I would have been bounced around all over the place, versiv walking through the fire. I did walk on fire with Tony Robbins unlike The Power Within, I did that right? So everything that you want is on the other side of everything that you fear, it's just doing it anyway. That's awesome. I mean it's very easy for us now to look back and say well I mean I am sure Marin you could write a ten thousand dollar check today to go to one of those seminars, and I am sure you it sounds like you write larger checks first, four other seminars. But so it's easy to look back and say We will obviously you should have done that right? Because we have access to the results and it certainly worked out and but yeah that time man that is there's nothing logical. Oh, about that decision to write that check. I mean that takes, you know that's kudos to you that was that makes a lot of sense. I mean what would you say? Because there are people who write that check, and then they nothing really materializes, or they don't take action. What do you think the difference is there? It comes from that burning desire from within, to really want to do something different. Really want to take action, I am telling you. Mine was, I didn't want to wake up when I was 50 years old and asked for permission to take 10 days off a vacation with my kids that thought? Yeah, I can relate. Yeah. I have never been, I think I work hard and I think I was a decent employee. But at the end of the day, I just like I would rather work harder and have my own team and kind of, you know, being been able to take off whenever I want to have control of that. So that's awesome. So, you know, so any other kind of ups and downs you want to discuss as far as I have got other questions, but for the last say 10 years with, you know, looking back on the last 10 years, were there any other kind of low points or highlights you want to touch on? Yeah, well I would say you know when you're in Investment real estate and covid arrives. I call it the plan demek that's a whole nother podcast right, but we didn't know, you know, in March of 2020 we didn't even know if we were going to have a business. We didn't know how many of our residents were affected by job loss through the entire world being shut down. Sure that was very scary for us. You know, you didn't No, but we thrived through that. That time period because I then learned that. Because I am in real estate. I was I lived through the Global Financial meltdown that's, you know, going to meet ya. And then here we had the plan demick in 2020. And the thing that I learned is that People will pay for basic needs. Basic needs are food and shelter. And even if they have a situation that puts them, you know, in a situation where it's hard for them to pay around, or they can't pay their rent, or they find a way. You know there was the government stimulus, this Timmy chats, right? That have led us to our inflation that this particular Point I have that's another conversation but it was what you know was able to sustain People through that time period And as the one, the second wave of stimulus went out instead of the money going directly to the Social Security number who made 75 thousand dollars or fewer and that dependence the money went directly to the property managers and utility companies. Hmm. I am not sure we would have survived. All right. And that not been something that was implemented in. That was a whole cluster on how to actually get the money because they had never discussed 45 billion dollars before. You know, so we had to learn that was not fun, but what investors to be responsible, you know, responsible to and accountable to delivering results. So our team us will be got we collected almost two million and aspirin. I am really glad investors hole. That's fantastic. Yeah we the even if the government does have a decent idea it's not often implemented super well but actually was the PPP loan thing. Somebody, somebody used my name and my business information to obtain, it was a hundred ninety thousand dollars after. And I would end up having to close down that particular company and Move my rentals over and totally fraudulent. And you know, PPP may have been a good idea but it certainly wasn't, they had no idea how to actually implement it, but we will leave that there and move on. I do have some rapid fire questions here. Maureen, if you're up for it, I am so far. What's one thing that people misunderstand about you? That's a good one. About me. Put you on the spot. I know. It's a thought-provoking question. I would say, aye well, I would see people that didn't know me before, where I think we underestimate me, you know, I mean, your someone that me appeared to be sort of this bubbly, approachable happy-go-lucky, kind of gal, but deep down, I am in my conviction of what I want, and I am going to get it right answer. If you could go back and give your 18 year old self some advice, what would that be a good one? So I go back to my 18 year old self and I would say that everything that you have been programmed to believe since we have done kid is wrong, you know, you think about this goes back to your you know this was a big struggle of mine. I grew up hearing, and I am sure some other list of are going to risk has been a resonate. But I grew up hearing money doesn't grow on trees. Turn off the lights, we don't want the electric company and if you have money, you got in some nefarious illegal fraudulent type of way. So money with that, you know, money was a bad thing for me. When I was a kid, we didn't understand. Yeah, sure, scarcity mindset, right. And I thought one day, I thought, well, if I did, if I family did only electric company, we want everyone to stake them. Keep the lights on. Let me plus money. So you see the difference? It's like the scarcity mindset is what I grew up in. In and to make that leap from scarcity to abundance. Someone said that to me, once I don't remember who the coach was, but they said Maureen you know what you have programmed in your mind is erroneous, it's not, right? And so in this is going to take myself, I probably should say, CD versus cassette tape. What you got it, you have to inject, you have to take out that cassette tape reprogram it with new wiring, new thoughts. Put it back into your mind and that is how I got from. I read many, many books on this. It wasn't just one book, and I was like, oh, I got it because I struggle, you know, you struggle. You want to go back to the old way of thinking because that's what you were immersed in and from the agency row, 25 you have no filter. You just absorb whatever is the mindset around you and that mindset was the result of my parents who grew up in the depression. So they had scarcely ones that I don't blame them. LinkedIn, which is understanding where it came from, but realizing that it was wrong. That's really good. If you were given ten million dollars tomorrow, what would you do with it? Just, no. Not saying you don't have 10 million dollars already, but if you were given ten million dollars, no strings attached, what would you do with it? I would probably start. I would invest in the financial literacy and education of our youth. Hmm, started school to teach them on how to learn how to understand how money works. Awesome. So speaking of kind of just money and financial abundance, what does Financial abundance look like for you? What does it mean to you right now? It means living a worry-free financial life, whereas I used to have to worry about money all the time, and I don't have to and, you know, the thing about the most joy that I get is being able to take my kids to really cool places and do that together as a family. Which, you know, when I was a kid, the biggest trip we had was going down my grandma's house at the shore. The Jersey Shore. That was it. And that was all we did. There was no Disneyland or SeaWorld or trips to Europe, or skiing or snowboarding, none of that and have any of that. But that's what I get to do with my kids. It's awesome. Sounds like you have come a long way from when your debit cards were declined and you didn't pay your income taxes so starting casting. Yeah, in your business, what's won one challenge that? You are facing right now. Yeah, the challenge though is, you know, I would say, we got comfortable with the artificially low interest rates, which then made everybody want to buy real estate. And as the interest rates, when we had the main thing about this, the interest rates doubled in less than 12 months in 2022, that is going to have a profound effect on sales. And so that has been, our biggest challenge, has been maintaining the sales and growing the sales when you have such a huge obstacle in front of us. So what we did we pivoted, could you have been any good company leadership guys. You got to Pivot and then, you know, we just got get the guy conquer. We just got lazy. We're looking for those cash buyers, and we have made a valiant effort. To bring on Affiliates from France, Argentina from London. So we went overseas and network, our little hearts out, and we are now that affiliate contracts in place with cash buyers in a committee. Because here's the thing, I don't want to be stuck in that same situation. I don't have control over the interest rates, they may go up, and they go down. When they go down, it's being passed over when they go up. Everyone gets scared and they sideline them. So the real investor show up, they know the opportunity because You know, they believe what Warren Buffett said and you know the 30-year fixed mortgage is the eighth wonder of the world. That's a one-way BET, right? You win. Either way, if the interest rates go up and you're locked in at a 30-year fixed he went if they go down your refinance he went so true. Yeah that's a great Point. Speak to the potential client out there. What is like you know we have talked around it and you know, we talked about it earlier but what is it? Deal look like who do you walk us through? Kind of the beginning to the end of a deal. Yeah, well first it starts with the investor and what they're searching for, right? That's their mindset. And if their own say, the majority of our clients are usually between demographically there between 40 and 60 years of age. I love it when I get to see a 20 or 30 year old come across, because they have got a different mindset, someone's influence them in a positive way. If they're tired of working for the man or tired of the Rat Race, you know that you, they usually woke up, you know before he's worth 50s, and they're like wow I have got like I have got a life insurance or I have got health insurance, whether you can cover it in my old age. I have I am afraid about living my money. I have got large expenses, College to all kinds of weddings, all kinds of things, and they start figuring out that they don't have. They may not have enough income to be able to do all the things that they want to do for their family. So, first is the mindset of the investor and if that's you and you're looking for something bigger and better and you want streams of residual income coming in, then starting Single family. Rental properties in really simple because you don't need a large outlay of capital. You know, most of the properties are between, you know, call it a hundred and a hundred eighty thousand for rehabbed. And then 232 285 for our new construction, you just see 20% down that, don't need to be accredited, you know, you just need to have, you have some Capital sitting somewhere. That's not that's been nerfed, that's not earning more than inflation is eroding. Its value. If it's not running more than, I am not going to believe CPI, I don't really remember chords, right? But cpi's, whatever 5.1 right now, I am going to double that you do we call it let us call it 11%? So if your money wherever it is now in your ETFs, or your 401k or were hiring wherever it is, it's not running more than 11%. You're growing broke slowly. You have got to get it, you got to get it, your capitals got to be earning more than jalapeno personal and there's so many and real estate just has so many benefits that we can't, we don't have time to go into here. But so somebody puts 20% down, then you help them with the loan and then you help them with the property management. And it's just it's a long-term stream of income for them is that Zach how things look for the client. Yeah, I mean if someone's got anywhere between I would say twenty-five and fifty thousand dollars. You can get started finger curls from a property that would produce a residual income. If you're using leverage around 3 Grand a year, if you are using, if you're buying new all cash, your Looking at maybe ten thousand dollars per unit. Got five of those units that's fifty thousand dollars coming in per year. I mean, that's just half-way to replace in your, in your, some of your in comes late. So that's the way you build it. You still won. Proper. You the time, I love it. Now, there are decent number of what I would call Shady TurnKey, operators out there, how do you all separate yourselves from them? Well, you know what? It's called your The team of people that the leadership team and the mindset that we have and the intention that we have, only started, Spartan intention is to create massive, amounts of cash, flow for ourselves and others in the single-family space, in the Southeast markets, and to help people build Financial legacies. I don't have that mindset of, I am just going to and there's, there's a group that I just learned about from my Argentinian group, will remain nameless because I will tell you offline, but I am not going to Seeing them in public. But this is a group that is targeting specifically offshore investors happens or cash buyers and whatever their my whatever their intent was when they started their business was to defraud and to steal from people, we have always had the mindset of enriching people because when you have a, you can live a financial worry-free life, not to worry about paying your bills, because you have got steady streams of income coming in that, cover your monthly expenses, and then some, then you get to live your passionate life. Because now instead of being bogged down by the drudgery of your life of your working life, now, you can find your inspiration and contribute back to the world in a large way. And that's just how we operate from. Well if you're in, Spartan invest has been doing this, for sounds like, over ten years, so You know, there's got to be something there because, you know if you're a fraudulent group, I think you're going to be found out eventually and it just it's not a, you know, not going to be a long-term win-win scenario which I know it is in your case, I will say this. I have learned in business that if you do what you say you're going to do, you will have success with people do what they say. Most people say, and they don't do what they say. They're going to do the opposite of that. Awesome. Maureen McCann. It's been fantastic. Chatting with you. You have dropped a ton of knowledge where can our listeners find you online? Oh yeah, you guys have finally thanked you. Thank you for watching me for having me here. Hope I am inspired. My story. Has my Jerry. Springer has part stories, but you guys are website.com. Find me there. Awesome. Is there anything else you want to throw in there before we sign off? Just that gratitude is the best attitude to have and no matter where you are in your life, buying things that you can be grateful for because it will, you know, I think Tony Robbins says, let me say, oh gosh, I am blanking on it. If you change your expectations for appreciation, then your whole life will change. So find the things in your life that you're grateful for even if it's me my son would tell me the other day and saw a kid that was Mom is grateful that I have eyesight great grateful for the things that you have, the little things that you have, because that will change your mind saying, people in the positive, take to keep you going forward. I love that. That's awesome. Alright, well, thank you, once again for spending this time, with, with us, Marin it's been great and to The Listener out there. Thank you for spending your most valuable resource with us and that is your time. Thanks everyone. Take care investors. Have you rep experience challenging? Communication or the headache of tracking taxes and insurance meet by Phi a Loan Servicing Company, founded by investors for investors with an expert team and best-in-class vendors by Phi will partner with you to service your loan from start to exit, visit by Phi, L s.com to see how you can get started today. That's bi fil s.com.

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