TME 14 | How to Quit Your W-2 and Never Look Back with Jamie Bateman

Title: How to Quit Your W-2 and Never Look Back with Jamie Bateman

Summary:

In this episode of Raise the Bar Radio, Seth Bradley welcomes Jamie, a military veteran turned real estate and mortgage note investor, who shares his story of transitioning from a W-2 career into entrepreneurship and financial freedom. Jamie discusses the phases of his life, including collegiate sports, military service, and a long stint at the Department of Defense before pivoting to real estate and eventually mortgage note investing. He emphasizes how discipline shaped his journey and how shifting mindset, focusing on strengths, and leveraging his network were key to taking ownership of his life and finances. Jamie also dives deep into the mortgage note investing space, explaining how performing and non-performing notes work, the active nature of the business, and how he now offers passive investment opportunities for accredited investors. He closes by highlighting the importance of planning with intention, overcoming perfectionism, and using passive income to create margin and freedom in life.

Links to Watch and Subscribe:  https://youtu.be/nRyX8_YA9YI

Bullet Point Highlights:

• Discipline builds freedom - Sports, military, and entrepreneurship all instilled the value of discipline, which Jamie says is critical for success and freedom.
• W-2 life wasn’t the path - Jamie recognized through his commute and stagnant career trajectory that he didn’t want to follow the traditional path, sparking his exit plan.
• Mindset shift was essential - He stopped consuming negative news and started focusing on education and his strengths to shift into entrepreneurship.
• Mortgage note investing explained - Performing notes offer cash flow while non-performing notes offer the chance to add value, akin to fix and flips. However, both are active businesses, not passive.
• Passive income fuels risk-taking - Creating passive income streams allowed Jamie to take entrepreneurial risks while maintaining financial security.
• Action beats perfection - As an entrepreneur, chasing perfection isn’t practical. Done is better than perfect.
• Reverse planning drives clarity - Backwards planning from a vivid vision 3-5 years into the future increases urgency and helps set clear, intentional actions.
• Final advice - Start by investing passively to learn, and later you can decide whether to become active. Don't underestimate the transferable skills you already possess.

Transcript:

(Seth Bradley) (00:02.062)

What's up, builders? This is Raise the Bar Radio, where we talk about building wealth, raising capital, and all in all, raising the bar in your business and your life. This is the No BS podcast for capital raisers, investors, and entrepreneurs who are serious about scaling their business and living life on their own terms. I'm Seth Bradley, securities attorney, real estate investor, and entrepreneur, bringing you world-class strategies from the best in the game.

 

If you're ready to raise more capital, close bigger deals, build a better you and create true financial freedom, you're in the right place. Let's go. Jamie, what's going on, brother? Welcome to the show.

 

Thanks Seth, is awesome. I'm excited to be here and I'm hoping to add some value.

 

Absolutely, man. Third time's a charm. We've been trying to get this scheduled after I was on your show, which was fantastic. Had a really good time on that show and I think it turned out pretty good. I know we're going to deliver on this one as well.

 

Yeah, we're gonna try to try to I'll try to do as good a job as you did. So yeah, was that was a yeah, no, I that was a very, very good episode from adversity to abundance. highly recommend your your listeners check that one out to your episode on that show. So thanks for thanks for doing that.

 

(Seth Bradley) (01:20.086)

Absolutely, man. You're an incredible interviewer. I've net, that's the only, I've been on dozens of podcasts and, you know, you pulled out a lot of things for me that I've, I've never talked about on the air. So it's pretty, pretty awesome. Pretty awesome show, man.

 

Appreciate that.

 

Cool man, well let's just jump right into your background man. What's your story? Take it back as far as you'd like to brother.

 

Yeah. Man, I'd like to think that life has phases. So I've had a few different phases in my life. I come from a large family. I'm the oldest of seven kids and we always had a competitive background as far as team sports and things like that. So I played lacrosse