Ever wondered how to turn your side hustle into a multimillion-dollar empire while juggling the demands of motherhood? Join us for an inspiring conversation with Julie Roy, a Canadian entrepreneur, author, and the brain behind the transformative podcast "Glam and Grind." Julie shares her incredible journey from managing childcare centers to building a dynamic, profitable enterprise. She reveals the secrets behind achieving harmony in the life of a "mompreneur," offering practical advice on navigating business growth, cash flow challenges, and family responsibilities.
Discover the rich cultural background that shapes Julie's entrepreneurial spirit. Raised by grandparents from Northern and Southern Italy, Julie's story is a vibrant tapestry of family heritage, marked by the immigrant mentality that drives her success. With engaging anecdotes about her aspirations to move to Italy and the practical lessons she learned from Montessori education, Julie's narrative is as educational as it is entertaining. Explore how these experiences have influenced her approach to business and life, highlighting the importance of maintaining cultural values across generations.
From risky loan shark deals to successful business exits, Julie's entrepreneurial ventures are nothing short of riveting. She dives into her strategic moves in real estate and senior care, sharing insights on tax strategies and wealth-building techniques. Julie also discusses the significance of a supportive CPA team and mentors in scaling your business. Finally, we encourage listeners to join our Side Hustle City community on Facebook, where ideas and motivation are in abundance. Don't miss Julie's wealth of knowledge and empowering journey—perfect for anyone aiming to elevate their side hustle to the next level.
As you're inspired to embark on your side hustle journey after listening to this episode, you might wonder where to start or how to make your vision a reality. With a team of experienced marketing professionals and a track record of helping clients achieve their dreams, we are ready to assist you in reaching your goals. To find out more, visit www.reversedout.com.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Side Hustle City and thanks for
joining us.
Our goal is to help you connectto real people who found
success turning their sidehustle into a main hustle, and
we hope you can too.
I'm Adam Kaler.
I'm joined by Kyle Stevie, myco-host.
Let's get started.
All right.
(00:24):
Welcome back to the Side HustleCity podcast.
Today we have a special guest.
Julie Roy, originally Canadian,currently lives in Nebraska.
What's going on, julie?
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Hey Adam, not much Just hanging out here in
Nebraska.
How about you guys?
Speaker 1 (00:39):
We are doing well.
Kyle just rolled in, but he isin studio to my right.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
This is going to be the worst experience of your
life, at least your dad.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Perfect, it'll just go with the flow today Just
continue the trend.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
So you're the guest on podcast.
You also have your own podcastand you guys talk about you know
your business experience beingmoms life's adventures called
Glam and Grind.
Tell us how you got to that.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
So a lot of glamming and a lot of grinding, I guess,
got us there.
Do you want to know about mylike, entrepreneurial journey?
Is that what you're asking meabout?
Or just how we got the podcast?
Yeah, yeah, like.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
I mean with us.
You know, starting businesses,things like that kind of led us
to hey, we want to share ourexperiences on a podcast and let
people know.
You know how we got here.
So how did you get to the pointwhere you were like yo, I'm
going to do a podcast becauseI've got all these things that
I've done to share?
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Yeah, basically same thing.
We um it's myself and my friendRachel, and we both own and ran
childcare centers, and I did alot of scaling of businesses and
have learned a lot of lessonsthe hard way and the not so hard
way so just want to help otherpeople, you know, compress the
timeline for scaling and just,you know, without the misery and
(02:01):
the pain that you know we hadto experience, and just have
available information.
You know, out there that we justdidn't have when we should have
had it or when we could havereally used it.
So that's pretty much what whywe started the podcast and we
have a particularly large femaleaudience, um, mainly because
both of us are moms of four kidsand um, are both
(02:24):
multimillionaires, and so Ithink it's a particular, it's a
small class of entrepreneurs andso just a lot of women
following the journey.
I think it's inspirationalbecause of where we came from as
well, and, yeah, just havingthe ability to have really open,
(02:46):
honest conversations aboutbusiness, which people aren't
having, you know, but a lot ofpeople are avoiding the real
life stuff aboutentrepreneurship.
I mean, it's not all glory,right?
So, and it's not all bad either, Right?
So I think there's a nice.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Well, you got employees and cashflow issues.
I'd say those are two big onesthat people deal with on a
regular basis that they may notbe prepared for.
You know tough conversations,uh, you know getting scared at
the end of the month.
You know you can't pay thebills.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
I would think for with a large female audience and
this is just going off of whatI would feel like my wife would
be like if she were anentrepreneur is the guilt of
giving so much of yourself tothe business as opposed to your
family.
So I'm assuming that a lot I'veheard that before.
I'm assuming a lot of yourlisteners are mothers.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Yeah, I would say you know, there's probably a 60 40
split.
We're getting a lot moreyounger entrepreneur females,
but I think it's because they'relooking to become mompreneurs
at some point or in theirjourney.
They know this is going to be athing for them.
And, um, I just wrote a book,so that comes out May 1st.
It's for presale.
I'm not plugging the book, buthe wrote a book and he has sold
(04:02):
anything.
So come on, I plug my book allthe time and non air me after
this, but I'm going to tell youanyways, because I guess closed
mouths don't get fed Right.
So, um, but yeah, so I wrotethis book on mom partnership and
becoming a multimillion dollarmom and having, you know, four
(04:23):
kids under six, 10 locations,363 staff, like all the things
going on while you're trying to,you know, be a good mom and a
wife and do all the things rightand take care of yourself, and
all the things they tell you youneed to do.
So, um, but I wrote a book andwe were just talking on another
podcast yesterday about, youknow, the challenges of
(04:43):
motherhood and this whole ideaof work-life balance, and I'm
like it's BS.
There is no work-life balance.
Like, what are you talkingabout?
I mean, all these people thatwalk around, you know, oh, I'm
going to be really intentionaland I am really intentional with
my time, but work-life balancedoesn't always happen.
I mean, it rarely happens.
What we say is we're happy withsome work-life harmony, right,
myself and my husband, who we'vebeen together.
(05:07):
I was 18, he was 21.
So it's been like 38 years.
So congratulations.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Wow, that's great.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Yeah, four kids, so our oldest is 20.
We have an 18, a 14 and a 13.
So three boys.
Last one was a girl, so wecalled it quits, wow.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
I would have never guessed you had an 18 year old
ever.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Thank you, God.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
I already love your podcast I mean it's true, it's,
it's, it's actually amazing.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Uh, so yeah he doesn't say that to me.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Yeah, I turned 50 in December and so, um, and had a
lot of, like you know, roughtimes, uh, growing these
businesses.
But it is important to takecare of yourself and we do talk
about that in the book and how,how to have harmony.
Because this whole idea ofwork-life balance for moms or
dads, honestly I think it goesboth ways.
I can speak to it from a mombecause I'm a mom, but I see the
(05:57):
same thing for my husband.
You know, I can't, couldn't beat all the things.
It's just impossible, right.
So you do have that like Ican't be at the soccer game or I
can't be at the choir event orwhatever.
But it's really cool now inretrospect to see my 20-year-old
and my 18-year-old and they'relike constantly thanking us for
the opportunities we've providedthem and that's like a whole
(06:19):
full circle thing.
Yeah, like crazy.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
They're actually like not entitled and they sound
like Chick-fil-A workers.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
I know what is going on?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Right?
No, it's amazing.
Yeah, so they, they've alwaysworked in the business too, like
since they were old enough.
We put them on payroll but theywere expected to do work, and
so even now my 20 year old is atcollege.
He works at Carrabba's, likecar side to go.
Our kids are not entitled atall.
Um, one of the we'll talk I cantalk a lot about family values,
(06:52):
but one of the things we have amission, vision, values, um,
plaque right in our door when wecome in and it's like a whole,
um kind of a whole script ofwhat you know, what we expect as
a family from them behaviorwise, core value wise, and the
first thing is like be a goodhuman, like that's the first
thing.
We want you to be Right.
And so I think it's really whatyou put in them, what you
(07:16):
instill in them, what yourvalues are, what they're seeing.
It really does come to fruitionin a really great light If you
put the time in.
You know and yes, I missed outon a lot of crap Um, and I felt
guilty at the time, um, or ornot even so much guilty, but
just knew there had to be somekind of harmony, because it's
impossible to do both things ata level 10, right, it's just, it
(07:38):
just is.
And when you're growingcompanies, um, you know you have
to be there.
There isn't a work-life balance.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
So that was my, that was my excuse for law school.
Yeah, yeah, Cause I was workingfull.
I was working full time, goingat night and then raising the,
you know, trying to coach theboys in football and basketball,
and so I finished like lowerhalf of my class.
Now I'm not like Joe Biden,where I'll tell you I had a
terrible first semester Then itfrom that on, I was first in my
class or whatever lie he came upwith.
I'm like, uh, yeah, I waspretty shitty all the way around
(08:08):
, so I use it as an excuse.
It was I.
I couldn't give it all 10, youknow 100%.
So I gave it to my family, andthat my law school suffered,
even though, had I not had kids,I probably would have wound up
in the exact same spot.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Funny enough, I went to law school and dropped out.
So, funny enough, I went to lawschool and dropped out.
So there's that, um, I went fortwo years and then was like
this is not for me, but, um, andit's a lot of work, right?
So, um, if you did finish,harada you, um I checked out.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
It's just.
It's just a very expensivepiece of artwork.
I don't, I don't practice, soit's, and I paid.
I paid kb.
I going to go do this again,cause screw that.
I'm sorry I I cuss a lot.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Yeah, so do I.
That's why I was super carefulon this.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Oh, come on.
Yeah, he's from Kentucky, I'mfrom the hood, so it's like,
yeah, we're good.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
That's why you're successful.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
That is why you're successful.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
We're going to talk about that.
Yes, oh yeah, oh yeah.
Well, like, like what they say,top 99 of successful people are
serial cursors.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
They have to be yeah, I mean yeah, the more you cuss.
Actually it's high iq.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
I've heard, I've heard you gotta figure out where
to put it, make sure it fitscorrectly.
You can't just be right like.
You can't be random, like, like.
English is your second language.
Cussing, that doesn't make anysense.
You've got to be able to showthat you know how to put the F
word where it needs to go andyou need to have proper
adjective or possessive verb,possessive adjective in front of
it or whatever.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Yeah, I don't even know what that means, because I
did go to school in the hood too.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
But, julie, Basically it's got to be on.
Point is what it's saying.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Well, yeah, okay, well, did you?
Uh?
I mean, you're daughter ofimmigrants, and this is one
thing that I think is reallyimportant.
Do you speak another language?
Yeah, I speak three languages.
Well, see, look at this.
So now you got three languages,all this other stuff that
you've done, it's amazing.
I'm telling you in like uh, youknow what is crazy?
I feel like I've had a lot offirst generations and I got a
(10:01):
bunch of friends that are firstgeneration American and for
whatever reason, like the theyappreciate the opportunity.
They 100% appreciate theopportunity that they have in
this country.
And we talk about this all thetime, julie, and there's so many
people who grow up here inAmerica.
I mean, first of all, yourparents came from Italy.
You moved to Canada.
Now you're in Nebraska and youstill find a way to kill it, and
(10:26):
it's, it's something about theparents.
I think that they just crackeda whip.
Or they say look, we busted ourbutts to get over here,
appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Yeah, so I honestly felt like I owed it to them, um,
even to my parents, to mygrandparents, so like my grandpa
was a prisoner of war underHitler and Mussolini regime.
Like, let's talk way back,right, he he's over 100, now
past, but he lived to 94.
And he was a really huge rolemodel in our life.
(10:53):
My mom was a single mom, workedthree jobs.
I was raised by Nona and NonaRight, we were in the house all
the time.
No, I didn't speak English.
No, no, barely spoke English.
Our first language was Italian.
My grandpa was a tomato farmer.
That's how he got to Canada andthen he ended up working in
roofing and siding.
My grandma cleaned offices thatnight and we used to go with
(11:15):
her and hide in the closetsbecause there was no one to
watch us at night, so we'd haveto go to work with her.
Like just really cool.
I mean, I don't know, it's justa really cool upbringing.
But why I feel like I owed it tothem was like he took a huge
risk, left his whole familybrought.
My grandma ended up bringing 18, like our 14 brothers and
sisters on her side and 11 onhis, or something like that.
(11:36):
Like a ton of people.
They lived in a huge rumrunning house that we grew up
Like we were raised in, justlike I.
Just feel like I owe what theydid, like I can't just stop that
journey.
And he, if we were in Italyright now, I don't know how our
life would look.
Um, I just know that we weregiven a huge opportunity and it
(11:56):
was because they worked theirass off Right.
So, um, I knew there waspotential.
If my grandpa could come herenot speaking any English and
make a life and bring everyoneover Like I, I just feel like I
don't know.
We had it in us right To beable to do that.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
They come from Southern Italy or Northern.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
My grandpa is.
I said it's funny becausemostly the Northern side is
known for their work ethic.
Um, my mom is actually Northern, um, very straight and narrow,
and German, austrian, you know,raised us by the rule fairness,
like checks and balances.
My dad is from Rome and he's alittle bit much more crazy and
(12:37):
you know not as structured.
You know just a differentlifestyle in general.
You know just a differentlifestyle in general.
But I was raised by that, thosetwo grandparents more so
because the other two they wereworking, you know both of them
during the day and stuff.
So yeah, so I have about, Ihave a little of each right.
(12:58):
I kind of have this fine lineof northern and southern and my
dad's right kind of in themiddle.
But Rome, napoli, is where mydad's from and my mom's from
Friuli, which is like on theborder.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
I love Napoli, so they're North.
So you, you.
You came up, your grandparentscame and settled in Canada.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
So they, yes, they well, they first went through
Ellis Island, new York, Detroitright.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
And then the immigrant immigration here was
like dude.
They're bringing 18 brothersand sisters.
Canada needs people.
Go north, go north.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
They didn't bring them at first.
He came first, then he broughtmy grandma, which had my dad and
, I believe, his brother, andthen my mom came.
They both were like gradeschool age when they came to
Canada.
So they came and they didn'tspeak English or anything either
.
So we were first generationCanadian and I was also the
(13:51):
first millionaire in our family,right.
So I felt like I had a lot ofresponsibility, being like the
one to change the trajectory ofour family's legacy, right.
And so I still feel that way.
I feel like there's many more,probably lots of more people in
our family making good money now, but I was kind of like the
first grandchild, you know, Idon't know, I just had a lot of
(14:13):
like.
I felt like I took care of them.
When they got older they didn'thave a daughter, so I feel like
I kind of just settled intothat role.
And then, yeah, they worked atour schools.
When we were growing thebusinesses, my grandpa would
come and cut the lawn and takecare of the trees and my grandma
was always bringing treats forthe kids and my mom worked in
(14:34):
the office and it became a hugefamily affair.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
Well, what I don't understand is why your grandpa
was cutting grass at aMontessori when you have kids
there that can get educationalexperience by cutting grass
Cause the very first time I wentto Montessori for a parent
cause I didn't.
I didn't grow up with money, soI didn't know what Montessori
even was, until my daughter wasin it and I was in a parent
(14:58):
first parent teacher conferencewhen she was three and she
polished uh, silverware all day,literally.
It was like either she enjoyedhuffing the stuff that they put
on there or whether they'reusing water, I don't know.
I was just so stunned I waslike I'm paying how much money
for my daughter to have cleandishes.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Amazing practical life experiences, so amazing for
their fine motor grip andprehensile grasp.
I could talk to y'all aboutthat.
I love Montessori but my kidsdid not get the grasp because
they were literally well.
When I had Xavier at that timehe would have been under one.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
No, I'm talking about your students.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
You could have gotten all sorts of stuff done.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
You could have done textiles, you could have done
everything, that's true, thestudents did do a lot, though.
They cleaned tables and washedwindows and did all the things
so yeah, I could tell them howto make cell phones utilize that
labor come on and kyle.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
So yeah, yeah, fun fact about me I'm trying to move
to italy.
Uh, we got married in rome atthe vatican and uh, we were, uh
we want to go to I don't knowpulia maybe.
Uh, yeah, I just feel like it'son the come up right now.
So I mean that's one of thethings we want to go to.
I don't know Puglia maybe.
Yeah, I just feel like it's onthe come up right now.
So I mean that's one of thethings I want to do.
But it's great that you've gotthat background, you've got that
experience and you've got that,you know, immigrant kind of
(16:17):
mentality still like that'shanded down.
I feel like a lot of peoplethat have that end up being
successful and taking risk.
And it sounds like you took arisk from a loan shark At one
point.
You had to borrow some money ata crazy high interest rate just
to start that.
That preschool right.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
Were you in Montreal, cause if you're in Montreal,
the loan shark stories would beway cooler.
Yeah, montreal's got so muchlike mafia history.
I love it.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
So two things.
One, I lived in Rome for a longtime.
I played soccer, yep, and Ilived in France.
So I did go back to Europe fora bit and I just applied for our
citizenship and the kidscitizenship, just to have an EU
passport as well.
So we have in consideration.
But in terms of the loan shark,yeah, um, his name was Malcolm
(17:08):
and, uh, I saw an ad in thepaper.
I had just come back fromEurope, I played soccer there, I
had some scholarships and so Icame home broke, obviously,
cause why would I have any money?
I came from the hood and didn'tknow anything about how to do
anything with money.
Um, came back and was lookingfor a job and I had some odd
jobs.
I don't know if you saw in ourpress release or whatever, but
(17:30):
I've done some dig.
You know, grave digging, somehorticulture, landscape
activities and all kinds of funstuff.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Yeah, horticulture landscape yeah, they do that in
California a lot.
I think my brother that's whathe was he's an expert in
horticulture.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Oh, not that kind of horticulture.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Not that kind.
I wish it was that kind, but no, we were, like you know,
digging graves and stuff andalso taking care of flower beds
and cutting the grass, so, butlong story short.
So I came back and I startedthis preschool because I was
working before and after schoolin a Montessori program.
That's how it started and Iloved it and fell in love with
(18:10):
it and thought, oh, at somepoint when I'm a mom, I want my
kids to come here, because thiswould have been amazing for me,
like I never had thisopportunity.
My early learning life was likeawesome.
I mean, it was with Nona.
We learned a lot of practicallife skills cooking in the
kitchen and doing the gardeningand all the fun things.
But I had a real struggle inmath growing up.
Like I just could not figure itout.
(18:30):
Like I I'm very visual and Icould not think of things that
weren't there and all the things.
I'm super ADHD, so like I can'tsit down for more than five
minutes, and it's it's notbecause everybody in the world
is ADHD.
Now it's truly.
I probably should have been onmeds.
My poor parents and everyoneelse you know had to deal with a
lot.
But when I went to teach inMontessori.
(18:53):
I was just doing before andafter school, so I was just an
assistant and I was like thesekids are like multiplying and
dividing with like these littlekegs and stuff and I was like if
I would have known that youcould just take like four pegs
and take two away and then youhave two, it would have been so
much easier for me, right?
And they were doing all theselike remainders and you know
(19:13):
stuff that like was challengingfor me growing up, learning the
math.
So I was like that's it, Idon't care what I have to do, my
kids are going to do Montessori, they're just going to come out
out of the box thinkers andjust become super creative and
anyways, they all went throughMontessori.
But that spurred my idea oflike I'm just going to be a
Montessori teacher, that's whatI want to do.
I'm going to take my trainingand so I started working for my
(19:35):
boss at the time and I wasreally great with the like
people, with the parents and thekids, and I was growing her
program.
We started with like one smallclassroom and it was like three
and I kept enrolling people anddoing tours and it was just like
natural and I think, kind ofgoing back my parents.
(19:56):
Before they split.
They had a hardware store onthis little Italian street and I
would always be at the cash andtalking to the people and I
just loved the whole vibe oflike we had our own business all
that part.
During the recession it was adisaster.
My parents split, like thewhole world blew up, but before
that it was great, right.
So so I think I hadentrepreneurship in me.
(20:16):
My dad's super entrepreneurial,my mom in her own way is as
well, and so I was like I can dothis for myself.
Like why am I doing this forthis lady?
I'm growing her whole business,like this is crazy.
And I wasn't the best employee.
I will tell you, I'm not greatat like taking directions and,
you know, following someoneelse's right here.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Yep, yep, that's.
I hate it all.
I hate to listen to me, rightyeah.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
So, um, so I was like the monastery closed in the
summer, cause that's what theyused to do, and you know the
parents that have to find othercare.
So I was like I'm going to bethe other care.
So I put them in my mom'sbasement in the hood, created
this like classroom and I waslike I'm just going to do this
on my own, at least for thesummer, and see how this goes.
Well, everybody wanted to come.
(20:58):
It was super fun.
They didn't want to go back tothe school after, which caused
some trouble with my ball youknow all the things.
But then I took out an S.
Well, no, sorry.
Then I was like I don't haveany money, though, to like move
this out of my mom's house.
And she's like we're done here,like this is an insurance
liability.
We have all these kids in myhouse.
I'm at work.
Like what if you burn the house?
Like you know all the Italianmom, right?
(21:20):
She?
was like this is a good idea andthis is dumb.
You're going to make no money.
Teachers don't make any money.
Right Everything that you know.
An immigrant parent wants youto be a lawyer, doctor or an
accountant right yeah.
Yeah, something safe, you'regoing to make money, you don't
have to worry if somethinghappens.
Anyway, long story short,malcolm.
(21:40):
So I found this ad in the paperthat said, like, need money?
Now I was like this is me.
Oh my God, this ad is talkingto me.
And I went, I called him up andhe said, yeah, come down and
meet me.
Well, it was downtown Windsor.
It's like downtown Detroit.
Okay, behind McDonald's, thislittle purple door you walk in.
(22:01):
It's like Stephen King, creakylight, you know little little
desk.
I was like but I brought Bo, myhusband, boyfriend at the time.
I was like look at I, maybe youshould come with me.
I'm not quite sure this is agood idea to go down by myself,
to go, you know.
But so he's like what are weeven doing?
I'm like I'm going to borrowmoney.
He's like what, what, what ishappening?
I'm like I'm going to open aschool.
That he's like okay, whatever,I'm super supportive, Thank God.
(22:22):
So we get down there and the guylooks at Bo we're sitting at
the table and he's like okay, sowe need collateral.
And I'm like collateral, whatthe F is that?
I don't even know whatcollateral is.
And he's like.
So he looks at Bo.
He's like, do you have a job?
And he's like, yeah, I'm, I'minterning.
You know, I'm a psychologist.
I'm interning right now.
Like no money, right, but I'minterning.
(22:43):
Oh great, no problem, that'senough money.
So he's like looking at me likewhen did I, when did I become
the collateral?
So he's like, no problem, we'regoing to give you this loan,
julie.
It's $500 a month to pay usback for so many months.
And, um, bo, if she doesn't payus back, you know you're not
going to be around anymore.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
So he was like no thanks.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
No, he was like okay.
He was like looking at me, likewhat are we doing?
And so, um, he said are youokay with that, bo?
Do you love this girl enough?
Do you believe in her enoughthat you'll do this?
And he was like yeah.
And so we left with a check andhis signature on that paper and
let me tell you, I hustled,hauled, butt that first year and
(23:27):
got that loan paid for.
But again, I think there's thismentality of like there wasn't
going to be another option forme, like I was going to figure
it out.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Yeah, there wasn't going to be another option.
Your love of your life wasgoing to get.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
What I'm going to tell you, though, is why the
story is cooler than than.
The point of the story is thatI truly think all entrepreneurs
there's one thing we have thatdelineate success versus not in
the journey is that you have tohave belief in yourself, right?
So I knew, even getting thatmoney, that there wasn't going
to be an option for me to paythat 500.
Like I would never not paysomeone back, that just was not
(24:08):
an option.
So I've worked two, three, fourjobs.
I knew how many kids I had.
I knew that $500, I would haveto work, continue to work my W-2
while I did this for a year atleast, as I got kids, cause I
started the school with 13 kids.
Well, by the end of that firstyear, I had over 80 kids
enrolled in the church and wewere busting out and so.
(24:29):
But so what I'm saying is likeI think, at the end of the day,
if you decide you want it badenough and you commit and you're
consistent and you do the work,you can do it.
It's just people.
I don't think they have thesame will or drive or like
killer instinct that maybe wegrew up with, having been in
(24:51):
that lower middle economicsituation and seeing what our
parents had to do and what mygrandparents did, and I just was
like I'm not doing this, like Iwant to have a better life for
myself.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Yeah, you don't want to work until the idea of
working to your 65.
It's some job you hate or insome career you hate is like
almost worse than this guycoming after you.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
You know coming after her.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
Yeah, but is that the now?
Is that the thing you did, the12 X multiple exit from, because
that's a great multiple?
Speaker 2 (25:24):
The first one was about a 10 X Um.
Our first exit to privateequity was it took 10 years,
from 2001 to 2011.
We exited the first time toprivate equity in Canada and we
kept all the real estate.
So I had bought all the realestate along the way and then we
sold the real estate in myretirement days my first
(25:46):
retirement to, to, to what doyou call it?
An investor basically.
And then I got bored and Iopened a bunch of long-term
homes and went the other end,cause I had a non-compete and
all that you know.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
What's a long-term home?
Is it for older people?
Speaker 2 (26:03):
It's, yeah, basically like living for 65 plus or
people that have.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
Oh, I got a client that does that.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Long-term illness or end of life care, like really
sad, I was crying.
It was so depressing.
Oh no, so I didn't do that forvery long because I just got too
attached to all the people?
Speaker 3 (26:20):
Is that, like my thing, a hospice Similar to
hospice?
Speaker 2 (26:23):
similar to hospice.
Yeah, you have like regularlong-term care where they're
just they can't live on theirown, so they need a home,
basically, and it's nursing careand all that, and then on the
other side of it it's like endof life.
Speaker 3 (26:32):
So they do do the hospice and everything so like
okay, so there's like seniorcenters and then there's nursing
home, so long-term home couldpotentially kind of all that and
dementia, care you know, allthe things, yeah, the dementia
care, but I left that becauseeverybody God bless those people
.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Yeah, it was hard.
So, long story short, I waslike I just want to get back
into child care.
I'm going to go to Michigan orI'm going to go to Ohio or I'm
going to go, you know, somewhereacross the border and just
commute, and so that was 2011.
Ohio still kind of not great inthat recession, sort of just
(27:08):
right after.
Not a lot of opportunity forlike what I was looking for, for
child care to make it worthleaving the, leaving my kids,
you know, um four or five days aweek coming back home.
So, anyways, one day this umportfolio came across my desk
and it was for some schools inOmaha, nebraska, and and I was
like sure, why not?
Like I don't know where that is, but it'll be fine.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
Came out for a visit.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Anyways ended up buying them from an 87-year-old
at the time.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
Warren Buffett, warren Buffett, I know the one
millionaire, no, but probablyhis friend.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
She was like 87.
So ended up buying those boughtall around us, started to buy,
like all the owners around Omahathat wanted to sell, and then
created a portfolio.
But instead of 10 years, ittook less than three.
So high to COVID we were.
Cause I obviously learnedlearned all the stuff that we
didn't do, um, or that we shouldhave done the first time.
(27:59):
Um got into mentorship groups,just leveled up, um, our
education of ourself as well.
And then, when I was doing the10th school here, private equity
approached us and I was like no, I just moved my family.
Bo had quit his job, like heshut down his practice.
We moved four kids from Canada.
They hated us, you know all thethings.
(28:19):
And I was like no, this is a 10year project, like we're
staying here for 10 years.
So they came back again a fewmonths later with an even better
offer and I was like this iscrazy.
Um.
And then the third offer theycame back, um, I was just
finishing.
It was like my hurrah 10thschool.
We did a big transition of likean alumni house of the
(28:40):
university had like a beautifulHogwarts building, to this
amazing Montessori.
It was super cool.
It was like my, my projectduring COVID and um, we were
super full, had a huge wait list, um, during COVID, which was
awesome Cause we did all thecare for emergency caregivers.
You know, um, they have a COVIDhospital here like a um, not a
(29:02):
COVID hospital infectiousdisease specialty hospital.
So, anyways, we were super busyand they came back with an
offer and they said we want toclose May 28th and this was May.
No, this was April.
I was finishing the 10thbuilding would have been done
and open May 1st.
And I was like, so, anyways,yeah, you didn't even get to
(29:23):
enjoy the new building.
I didn't, I didn't, I didn't, Ijust finished it.
And then it was like here's thekey.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
She can buy it.
She can buy it yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
Do whatever you want after that.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
Yeah, it was 12X on the business.
But what we did which was supercool on this was we ended up
selling all of the business toprivate equity and then we sold.
We coupled what I did on saleis I coupled the sale with the
sale of the properties which weowned all of them.
But what I did was I sold thebusiness to the private equity
(29:56):
with and then I sold these real,this real estate, to store,
which is a big REIT.
I don't you probably know themin the U S.
they own a lot of stuff likeplazas and commercial buildings,
but I sold it to them with 15year triple net leases in place
with the new corporate company,so it was even more than a 12 X,
it was a nice eight plus figureexit Nice.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
So now you guys are just kind of living the dream.
I mean, you got the speakingengagements that you do, you've
got your podcast where you'resharing this information.
Still living in Omaha, you gotyeah.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
Over 10 million dollars Making the money stretch
making the money stretchinvestment club.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
It's awesome we're waiting for the kids to leave.
But what we did is we took themoney from the sale of the so
the real estate right, we didn'twant to.
There's a tax play, right?
Y'all know how this goes.
So we put a lot of emphasis onthe real estate.
So what we did was we 1031, allof the real estate sell into.
(30:55):
We own a bunch of like triplenets now.
So we own star, like a bunch ofStarbucks, four or five.
We own um kinder cares inMinnesota, um Texas, florida.
We own um kinder cares inminnesota, um texas, florida.
We own learning centers sowhere are you?
Speaker 3 (31:11):
where are you?
Where are you finding all thesefranchises at?
Because we just had a franchiseguy.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
They're buying the building and then just getting
the franchise.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
We're not buying the franchise.
We're just buying all thebuildings and these people all
right from us.
Speaker 3 (31:21):
So we have triple net corporate guarantees um based
on where you find in thebuildings, that how you find in
buildings, not to give don'tgive away your secrets, but
they're available.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
They're available everywhere.
But we have a develop.
We have three or fourdevelopers that just call us
because we close, you know.
So they'll just say like, hey,are you interested in?
I just got one yesterday thatwe're going to put under
contract?
Are you interested in thestarbucks here?
We're going to give it to youat this rate and I'll say I need
it at this cap.
They come back and say, okay,when?
When can you close?
And we can usually close inabout 30 days.
(31:51):
So the last two years we'vebought everything cash, so no
debt.
So that's also really great.
We have investors that wanted tostart investing with us.
So then we started syndicatingtriple net.
So we own our whole portfolioourselves.
And then we have anotherportfolio we own with a bunch of
people that come in with usthat just want, you know, maybe
they only have 100 grand, butthey want to come in and get
(32:12):
paid on that monthly recurringrevenue passive income cycle.
So then we just, you know,every first of the month we get
all the money.
Our own portfolio stays with us.
The other portfolio goes andjust cuts checks to all of our
investors.
So they get checks every firstweek of the month for the
passive income, because there'sno debt.
(32:33):
With rent on triple net itstays the same.
So we have rent bumps andescalations included to combat
inflation and all that.
But every month you're getting,you know, four or five hundred
bucks or whatever on everyhundred grand.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
So where did, where did you learn how to do that
part of it Do?
Speaker 2 (32:51):
you have a mentor.
So what I did initially?
Well, what happened was, youknow how business people work we
have a problem and then we haveto figure it out.
So I had a.
I had a huge tax issue, right,because I had a big capital gain
sale.
Then I had all this propertythat was giving me all this
passive income and I was likewhat am I going to do now?
Now I have a huge tax billwithout a business to do all
(33:14):
these write-offs with.
So then I started looking for umgroups, mentorships of
billionaires, and I was like Ineed to just put myself in the
room with billionaires.
So my first mentorship I loveGrant Cardone.
It's a whole other story, butI'm like I'm a one-on-one client
of his.
So I've been coached under himfor a while.
But what we did was we ended upinvesting in a bunch of
(33:37):
multifamily apartments.
So we have a syndicatedportfolio of multifamily of
about 600 million and thatportfolio eradicates all of our
tax.
So any money we make on passiveincome is eradicated through
bonus depreciation, through costsegregation of the building.
So we don't, we are living 100%passively and then we also live
(33:59):
tax-free.
So it's really nice.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
Yeah, I mean, it's like living in Puerto Rico
without having to live in PuertoRico.
It's pretty awesome.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
Yeah, yeah, and we have state tax.
So there's 8% state tax, whichis a little bit harder to get
rid of unless you haveoperations.
So what I did is we opened thecoaching company because I was
coaching people anyway.
So we do coaching for scalingand legacy wealth, basically to
high net wealth business owners.
So with that active income, wedo a bunch of other things to
(34:32):
eradicate that, likeconservation, easements,
purchasing and things like that.
So there's a lot of taxproducts that you can use to
eradicate active income.
The problem is, when you'rereading the tax code, they tell
you just how to pay taxes, nothow to eradicate the tax.
The other 600 pages are whatyou have to figure out on your
own pretty much so, but we alsohave an incredible CPA and an
(34:54):
incredible team of people thathelp us.
Now that you know we have allthe information to be able to
keep as much money as we can,cause as business owners, you
know, um, we pay a lot of taxesnormally.
So it's just been a nice switchand a huge advantage to living
in the U S, which, again superappreciative of.
I just turned American.
(35:15):
I was just.
I just turned American in Augustso nice Congratulations yeah.
Yeah, my citizenship and, superexcited about that, my
husband's Hawaiian, so he always, always had dual and the kids
always had dual.
So his mom's Hawaiian, dadFrench, canadian, with the Roy
last name, so they already hadall dual.
(35:36):
I was the only one I came on anEB2 visa and the schools, the
ones we scaled.
I had to run those schools onzero credit for the first two
years.
So I don't know if you've everrun um businesses off zero
credit with 300 employees.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
Oh my God, now with 300 employees, geez.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
You know we've over a hundred X.
I mean it's insane.
Or a thousand X?
I don't even know what thenumber is.
I should probably figure thatout.
Speaker 3 (36:01):
That's a good problem to have.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
Yeah, that's what I had to figure out.
How many like figure that out.
That's a good problem to have.
Yeah, that's what I had tofigure out.
How many like.
When we sold our business, Ihad to figure out, like the
amount of time I spent on it andhow much money I'd made in an
hour.
And it was crazy and it wasjust like wow, like it, why
wouldn't you start a business?
Like it's just insane to me,like there's no way I I mean it
would have took 20 years, youknow, to make that kind of money
.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
Honestly, Adam, even now I have this crazy idea every
day that I need to just openanother business because I feel
like it's insatiable right.
Speaker 3 (36:32):
I'm telling you, especially when you come from
nothing like, it's never enoughLike it's crazy Like deep
stacked right now too, like it'snot even about the money.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
It's about.
It's not even about the moneyat all.
No, it's about like I could dothat again, like I did it
already, like there's somebodyout there who's not doing it,
like why don't I just do it?
I know what.
I know the way to do it.
Just do it, right.
Speaker 2 (36:53):
And now I always look at like cash flowing businesses
and I'm like, oh, I could forsure 10 X this bit Like they
come on my desk all the time nowand I'm like, hey, should we
buy this?
Speaker 1 (37:03):
Oh my God.
And I'm telling you, julie,like I need you.
Look, I'm telling you.
So I'm running for Countycommissioner here right In Ohio
and I'm trying to get the publicschools here.
I'm like, look, these kids needto be buying businesses, like
in the junior senior year, likethere's so many people that
don't have a succession plan fortheir HVAC company, for their
(37:23):
you know, all these businesses,the plumbing businesses, et
cetera.
How are we going to build allthis affordable housing when we
don't have people to do it?
So junior seniors in high school, they leave school a little
early, they go work for this guywho plans on selling his
business in the next five years.
And then the county helps thesekids.
You know, two, three years downthe road, once they have their
you know they're an apprenticeor whatever be able to acquire
(37:44):
these businesses.
We help them with the downpayment.
They get a SBA 7A loan orsomething.
And this is my life, oh my God.
But teach them to scale,because these guys, these legacy
businesses, do not, they're notmodernized.
And you teach these kids how tomodernize the businesses and
then they can take them from amillion a year.
Speaker 3 (38:02):
Comfortable with their zip code.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
To 200.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
Well, yesterday or Monday, when was it Sunday night
?
Sorry, my one kiddo was homebecause they go to.
Both of them go to college,which again, that's a whole
other thing I'm.
I am not about college unlessyou're going to come out with
something you needed to go tocollege for.
Speaker 3 (38:22):
Like a STEM degree.
That's basically the onlyreason you're an engineer.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
Yeah one son's in pre-med.
You can't be a doctor without,obviously, going to college.
Well, he had this whole ideafor his whole life he's going to
be a radiologist, blah, blah.
Well, about two years ago, hestarted doing, um, a lot of real
estate with us and learning andbeing in rooms and we take them
to all these conferences, likethey've been to all the
conferences, learning all thethings about financial literacy
(38:47):
which every kid should learnright now.
There's no excuse why kidsshould not be in financial
literacy.
Like this whole thing drives meinsane.
Um, they go to school, learnshit they'll never use, yet they
have.
They don't know anything aboutfinances, it's.
Speaker 3 (39:01):
They come out of college with 300 grand in debt,
like it's the whole the wholeusing the credit cards that were
mailed to them and they'remailing everything and they have
no idea what that even means.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
To their credit, nothing, anyways, I have.
That could be a whole notherpodcast.
But um, what I was going to sayto you is he came home and he's
like I don't know if I want tobe a doctor and I was like,
really why?
And he's like because I'm goingto make like 200 grand after
they take all my taxes and Icould make that.
Like he's already bought realestate himself in multifamily
and he's like mom, we could justyou know, I could do the Gator.
(39:33):
He does Gator methods with PaceMorby.
Speaker 1 (39:36):
He's like, yeah, I've met Pace a couple six months
ago in Miami.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
Super awesome.
Actually, he's doing squad upright now.
But there's like my kids are.
We're 18 and 19.
When they bought their firstproperty, we did Roth IRAs for
all the kids that wereself-directed.
We rolled them all into realestate.
So they have all real estatebacked assets.
So instead of paying them infull cash, we did payroll and
(40:03):
then we took the IRA and tookhalf of what their payroll was,
put it in the IRA, max the IRAout, the IRA grew tax-free and
then when we were there 18, theycould roll it all into real
estate.
So they self-directed all oftheir IRAs into real estate.
It's just people don't know thisstuff.
Though, like I didn't know whatI didn't know, the only thing I
regret is not doing this stuffthe first time or 20 years
(40:25):
earlier.
Right, we could have even been.
Not that we're in a badposition.
It's just like it annoys methat we paid all the tax and did
all this stuff when we didn'tknow.
And Canada is not the US, I mean, there's not the opportunity to
have all these tax breaks andto help the government create
housing to get tax breaks Justnot the opportunity.
So we feel super blessed to bein America and have the
(40:46):
opportunity and like going backto where we started on this like
immigrant entrepreneurialjourney.
There is nowhere else in theworld that gives the opportunity
that you get in the US.
As much as people hate on allthe things going on in the US,
man, there is no better place inthe world.
My kids and my husband one ofour goals on that mission vision
(41:07):
board was to see and go to allthe continents with the kids and
we just finished that.
In December we just did ourtrip to Antarctica through the
Drake passage with the kids andlike they have been everywhere
and the learning withoutclassroom walls and
understanding the way the worldworks.
Speaker 1 (41:24):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (41:25):
I mean super blessed to be here and I think that's
why they're not entitled right,cause they've seen the world and
seen the opportunities and havejust really been not blinded to
.
You know the opportunities andwhat America offers.
Speaker 1 (41:42):
So congratulations on and good for you for raising
some, some kids that are goingto be future leaders.
I mean it honestly, like I meanthe way you've set them up and
you've taught them.
This is why you have somethingright now.
It's because we took risk, we.
We did what we had to do.
You need to set yourself uplike this.
I mean these.
Your kids are going to be in aposition where they can pick and
(42:04):
choose what they want to do,but they have the knowledge of
what works and what doesn't work, because you did the hard work.
Speaker 2 (42:13):
Yeah, you have to equip them.
Like you cannot create a legacyand then just give the legacy
to them.
They don't know what to do withthat, right.
I mean, like we my grandparentsworked really hard, we worked
really hard.
We started teaching them how tomanage the legacy as soon as we
felt they were ready.
(42:33):
You know, and part of that islike, hey, you got to work, yeah
, you got to do the work andit's not just going to be given
to you.
We just don't give the kidsmoney and we just don't give
them whatever.
You know, and I think, becauseof where both of us came from we
didn't come from a lot of money, right so we didn't feel like,
because of where both of us camefrom, we didn't come from a lot
(42:53):
of money, right so we didn'tfeel like.
I felt like it made me, likethose five jobs while trying to
get my university degree, Iended up getting it and all that
stuff, but that made me who.
I was right.
I think it has a lot to do withwhy I am here right now.
I think if everything was givento me, I don't think that I'd
be as motivated or excited, or Idon't think that I'd be as
motivated or excited or I don'tknow, yearning for all that
(43:14):
stuff.
Maybe it's just because Ididn't have that, that I that I
feel that way.
But the entitlement, you know,is definitely a thing we're
dealing with in America rightnow.
Speaker 1 (43:25):
It's a problem and they just downtroddenness and
the, the, the cancerous peoplethat, oh they're so the worst,
like the communist kind ofmentality thing.
Speaker 3 (43:35):
And it's like Before you get rolling, she's gotta be
off here, like-.
Speaker 1 (43:37):
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (43:39):
Well, I apologize, but I could go that would have
been a 35 minute I could go allday on this and we could talk
about just being.
Speaker 1 (43:45):
You know where we came from and, like, you know
what makes us like tick.
I mean, you know what?
What makes us like tick?
I mean this is all stuff that Ilove, but you, you've done an
amazing job.
Congratulations on everything,you and your husband with these
kids, and I'm sure they're gonnahave great lives and you have
the coolest story in the historyof side hustle city.
Speaker 3 (44:04):
I'm sorry to all of our former guests.
Speaker 1 (44:05):
Yeah, this was the sweetest story ever, best story
ever, I know.
Yeah, that's pretty gangster.
Speaker 3 (44:10):
So yeah, he must have been a super love.
Like I was just like justwalking blindly into this
gangsters, like it's like goingto see.
Speaker 1 (44:16):
Jabba.
Well, it worked out.
Look, she's 50 years old.
Can you believe this?
Yeah, I know, Like this iscrazy.
Speaker 3 (44:25):
She's got kids in college.
Well yeah, if he doesn't diethe hut Han Solo got frozen for
that, for not paying back thehut job.
Speaker 1 (44:31):
She set her husband up.
Look at this.
So and, by the way, I love.
Speaker 3 (44:35):
Montessori for my daughter.
I love Montessori.
She did it.
She's an excellent student.
My wife went there.
She's free thinker.
Everybody I've ever met that'sgone through Montessori has been
very successful.
I was just giving you a hardtime about the no.
Speaker 2 (44:47):
No, it's true.
All the teachers would come tous like of the kids that would
succeed into their programs,grade one, and they'd be like
all these kids you send us.
They're all leaders, like theythink outside the box, they are
great with peer relations, likeI.
Just it's awesome for them.
I'm yeah, I even get emotionalabout it because I really am, I
really believe in it, like Ijust the kids, what they did,
(45:08):
what they can do, how my kidsare today, I 100 percent believe
it's because they were raisedin that environment and they
really respect other people,which that's a hard thing today,
you know, like being a goodhuman and being good to other
people.
Not everybody is doing that.
Speaker 1 (45:23):
They're not not at all.
Speaker 2 (45:25):
Well, julie, I really appreciate it and they look at
their eyes.
You know all the things, and soI'm sure you you noticed that
with your daughter too, right,it's just different.
So anyways, I know I got to go,but I wish I could talk to you
guys longer.
It was super awesome to meetboth of you.
Speaker 1 (45:39):
I appreciate it.
Yeah, yeah, well, thank youvery much for being on the show,
julie.
Speaker 2 (45:43):
Thank you guys.
Hopefully we'll chat again soon.
Speaker 1 (45:46):
Thanks for joining us on this week's episode of Side
Hustle City.
Well, you've heard from ourguests, now let's hear from you.
Join our community on Facebook,side Hustle City.
It's a group where people shareideas, share their
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successful and turn their sidehustle into their main hustle.
We'll see you there and we'llsee you next week on the show.
(46:08):
Thank you.
Welcome to Side Hustle City and thanks for
joining us.
Our goal is to help you connectto real people who found
success turning their sidehustle into a main hustle, and
we hope you can too.
I'm Adam Kaler.
I'm joined by Kyle Stevie, myco-host.
Let's get started.
All right.
(00:24):
Welcome back to the Side HustleCity podcast.
Today we have a special guest.
Julie Roy, originally Canadian,currently lives in Nebraska.
What's going on, julie?
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Hey Adam, not much Just hanging out here in
Nebraska.
How about you guys?
Speaker 1 (00:39):
We are doing well.
Kyle just rolled in, but he isin studio to my right.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
This is going to be the worst experience of your
life, at least your dad.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Perfect, it'll just go with the flow today Just
continue the trend.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
So you're the guest on podcast.
You also have your own podcastand you guys talk about you know
your business experience beingmoms life's adventures called
Glam and Grind.
Tell us how you got to that.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
So a lot of glamming and a lot of grinding, I guess,
got us there.
Do you want to know about mylike, entrepreneurial journey?
Is that what you're asking meabout?
Or just how we got the podcast?
Yeah, yeah, like.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
I mean with us.
You know, starting businesses,things like that kind of led us
to hey, we want to share ourexperiences on a podcast and let
people know.
You know how we got here.
So how did you get to the pointwhere you were like yo, I'm
going to do a podcast becauseI've got all these things that
I've done to share?
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Yeah, basically same thing.
We um it's myself and my friendRachel, and we both own and ran
childcare centers, and I did alot of scaling of businesses and
have learned a lot of lessonsthe hard way and the not so hard
way so just want to help otherpeople, you know, compress the
timeline for scaling and just,you know, without the misery and
(02:01):
the pain that you know we hadto experience, and just have
available information.
You know, out there that we justdidn't have when we should have
had it or when we could havereally used it.
So that's pretty much what whywe started the podcast and we
have a particularly large femaleaudience, um, mainly because
both of us are moms of four kidsand um, are both
(02:24):
multimillionaires, and so Ithink it's a particular, it's a
small class of entrepreneurs andso just a lot of women
following the journey.
I think it's inspirationalbecause of where we came from as
well, and, yeah, just havingthe ability to have really open,
(02:46):
honest conversations aboutbusiness, which people aren't
having, you know, but a lot ofpeople are avoiding the real
life stuff aboutentrepreneurship.
I mean, it's not all glory,right?
So, and it's not all bad either, Right?
So I think there's a nice.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Well, you got employees and cashflow issues.
I'd say those are two big onesthat people deal with on a
regular basis that they may notbe prepared for.
You know tough conversations,uh, you know getting scared at
the end of the month.
You know you can't pay thebills.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
I would think for with a large female audience and
this is just going off of whatI would feel like my wife would
be like if she were anentrepreneur is the guilt of
giving so much of yourself tothe business as opposed to your
family.
So I'm assuming that a lot I'veheard that before.
I'm assuming a lot of yourlisteners are mothers.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Yeah, I would say you know, there's probably a 60 40
split.
We're getting a lot moreyounger entrepreneur females,
but I think it's because they'relooking to become mompreneurs
at some point or in theirjourney.
They know this is going to be athing for them.
And, um, I just wrote a book,so that comes out May 1st.
It's for presale.
I'm not plugging the book, buthe wrote a book and he has sold
(04:02):
anything.
So come on, I plug my book allthe time and non air me after
this, but I'm going to tell youanyways, because I guess closed
mouths don't get fed Right.
So, um, but yeah, so I wrotethis book on mom partnership and
becoming a multimillion dollarmom and having, you know, four
(04:23):
kids under six, 10 locations,363 staff, like all the things
going on while you're trying to,you know, be a good mom and a
wife and do all the things rightand take care of yourself, and
all the things they tell you youneed to do.
So, um, but I wrote a book andwe were just talking on another
podcast yesterday about, youknow, the challenges of
(04:43):
motherhood and this whole ideaof work-life balance, and I'm
like it's BS.
There is no work-life balance.
Like, what are you talkingabout?
I mean, all these people thatwalk around, you know, oh, I'm
going to be really intentionaland I am really intentional with
my time, but work-life balancedoesn't always happen.
I mean, it rarely happens.
What we say is we're happy withsome work-life harmony, right,
myself and my husband, who we'vebeen together.
(05:07):
I was 18, he was 21.
So it's been like 38 years.
So congratulations.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Wow, that's great.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Yeah, four kids, so our oldest is 20.
We have an 18, a 14 and a 13.
So three boys.
Last one was a girl, so wecalled it quits, wow.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
I would have never guessed you had an 18 year old
ever.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Thank you, God.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
I already love your podcast I mean it's true, it's,
it's, it's actually amazing.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Uh, so yeah he doesn't say that to me.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Yeah, I turned 50 in December and so, um, and had a
lot of, like you know, roughtimes, uh, growing these
businesses.
But it is important to takecare of yourself and we do talk
about that in the book and how,how to have harmony.
Because this whole idea ofwork-life balance for moms or
dads, honestly I think it goesboth ways.
I can speak to it from a mombecause I'm a mom, but I see the
(05:57):
same thing for my husband.
You know, I can't, couldn't beat all the things.
It's just impossible, right.
So you do have that like Ican't be at the soccer game or I
can't be at the choir event orwhatever.
But it's really cool now inretrospect to see my 20-year-old
and my 18-year-old and they'relike constantly thanking us for
the opportunities we've providedthem and that's like a whole
(06:19):
full circle thing.
Yeah, like crazy.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
They're actually like not entitled and they sound
like Chick-fil-A workers.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
I know what is going on?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Right?
No, it's amazing.
Yeah, so they, they've alwaysworked in the business too, like
since they were old enough.
We put them on payroll but theywere expected to do work, and
so even now my 20 year old is atcollege.
He works at Carrabba's, likecar side to go.
Our kids are not entitled atall.
Um, one of the we'll talk I cantalk a lot about family values,
(06:52):
but one of the things we have amission, vision, values, um,
plaque right in our door when wecome in and it's like a whole,
um kind of a whole script ofwhat you know, what we expect as
a family from them behaviorwise, core value wise, and the
first thing is like be a goodhuman, like that's the first
thing.
We want you to be Right.
And so I think it's really whatyou put in them, what you
(07:16):
instill in them, what yourvalues are, what they're seeing.
It really does come to fruitionin a really great light If you
put the time in.
You know and yes, I missed outon a lot of crap Um, and I felt
guilty at the time, um, or ornot even so much guilty, but
just knew there had to be somekind of harmony, because it's
impossible to do both things ata level 10, right, it's just, it
(07:38):
just is.
And when you're growingcompanies, um, you know you have
to be there.
There isn't a work-life balance.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
So that was my, that was my excuse for law school.
Yeah, yeah, Cause I was workingfull.
I was working full time, goingat night and then raising the,
you know, trying to coach theboys in football and basketball,
and so I finished like lowerhalf of my class.
Now I'm not like Joe Biden,where I'll tell you I had a
terrible first semester Then itfrom that on, I was first in my
class or whatever lie he came upwith.
I'm like, uh, yeah, I waspretty shitty all the way around
(08:08):
, so I use it as an excuse.
It was I.
I couldn't give it all 10, youknow 100%.
So I gave it to my family, andthat my law school suffered,
even though, had I not had kids,I probably would have wound up
in the exact same spot.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Funny enough, I went to law school and dropped out.
So, funny enough, I went to lawschool and dropped out.
So there's that, um, I went fortwo years and then was like
this is not for me, but, um, andit's a lot of work, right?
So, um, if you did finish,harada you, um I checked out.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
It's just.
It's just a very expensivepiece of artwork.
I don't, I don't practice, soit's, and I paid.
I paid kb.
I going to go do this again,cause screw that.
I'm sorry I I cuss a lot.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Yeah, so do I.
That's why I was super carefulon this.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Oh, come on.
Yeah, he's from Kentucky, I'mfrom the hood, so it's like,
yeah, we're good.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
That's why you're successful.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
That is why you're successful.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
We're going to talk about that.
Yes, oh yeah, oh yeah.
Well, like, like what they say,top 99 of successful people are
serial cursors.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
They have to be yeah, I mean yeah, the more you cuss.
Actually it's high iq.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
I've heard, I've heard you gotta figure out where
to put it, make sure it fitscorrectly.
You can't just be right like.
You can't be random, like, like.
English is your second language.
Cussing, that doesn't make anysense.
You've got to be able to showthat you know how to put the F
word where it needs to go andyou need to have proper
adjective or possessive verb,possessive adjective in front of
it or whatever.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Yeah, I don't even know what that means, because I
did go to school in the hood too.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
But, julie, Basically it's got to be on.
Point is what it's saying.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Well, yeah, okay, well, did you?
Uh?
I mean, you're daughter ofimmigrants, and this is one
thing that I think is reallyimportant.
Do you speak another language?
Yeah, I speak three languages.
Well, see, look at this.
So now you got three languages,all this other stuff that
you've done, it's amazing.
I'm telling you in like uh, youknow what is crazy?
I feel like I've had a lot offirst generations and I got a
(10:01):
bunch of friends that are firstgeneration American and for
whatever reason, like the theyappreciate the opportunity.
They 100% appreciate theopportunity that they have in
this country.
And we talk about this all thetime, julie, and there's so many
people who grow up here inAmerica.
I mean, first of all, yourparents came from Italy.
You moved to Canada.
Now you're in Nebraska and youstill find a way to kill it, and
(10:26):
it's, it's something about theparents.
I think that they just crackeda whip.
Or they say look, we busted ourbutts to get over here,
appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Yeah, so I honestly felt like I owed it to them, um,
even to my parents, to mygrandparents, so like my grandpa
was a prisoner of war underHitler and Mussolini regime.
Like, let's talk way back,right, he he's over 100, now
past, but he lived to 94.
And he was a really huge rolemodel in our life.
(10:53):
My mom was a single mom, workedthree jobs.
I was raised by Nona and NonaRight, we were in the house all
the time.
No, I didn't speak English.
No, no, barely spoke English.
Our first language was Italian.
My grandpa was a tomato farmer.
That's how he got to Canada andthen he ended up working in
roofing and siding.
My grandma cleaned offices thatnight and we used to go with
(11:15):
her and hide in the closetsbecause there was no one to
watch us at night, so we'd haveto go to work with her.
Like just really cool.
I mean, I don't know, it's justa really cool upbringing.
But why I feel like I owed it tothem was like he took a huge
risk, left his whole familybrought.
My grandma ended up bringing 18, like our 14 brothers and
sisters on her side and 11 onhis, or something like that.
(11:36):
Like a ton of people.
They lived in a huge rumrunning house that we grew up
Like we were raised in, justlike I.
Just feel like I owe what theydid, like I can't just stop that
journey.
And he, if we were in Italyright now, I don't know how our
life would look.
Um, I just know that we weregiven a huge opportunity and it
(11:56):
was because they worked theirass off Right.
So, um, I knew there waspotential.
If my grandpa could come herenot speaking any English and
make a life and bring everyoneover Like I, I just feel like I
don't know.
We had it in us right To beable to do that.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
They come from Southern Italy or Northern.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
My grandpa is.
I said it's funny becausemostly the Northern side is
known for their work ethic.
Um, my mom is actually Northern, um, very straight and narrow,
and German, austrian, you know,raised us by the rule fairness,
like checks and balances.
My dad is from Rome and he's alittle bit much more crazy and
(12:37):
you know not as structured.
You know just a differentlifestyle in general.
You know just a differentlifestyle in general.
But I was raised by that, thosetwo grandparents more so
because the other two they wereworking, you know both of them
during the day and stuff.
So yeah, so I have about, Ihave a little of each right.
(12:58):
I kind of have this fine lineof northern and southern and my
dad's right kind of in themiddle.
But Rome, napoli, is where mydad's from and my mom's from
Friuli, which is like on theborder.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
I love Napoli, so they're North.
So you, you.
You came up, your grandparentscame and settled in Canada.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
So they, yes, they well, they first went through
Ellis Island, new York, Detroitright.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
And then the immigrant immigration here was
like dude.
They're bringing 18 brothersand sisters.
Canada needs people.
Go north, go north.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
They didn't bring them at first.
He came first, then he broughtmy grandma, which had my dad and
, I believe, his brother, andthen my mom came.
They both were like gradeschool age when they came to
Canada.
So they came and they didn'tspeak English or anything either
.
So we were first generationCanadian and I was also the
(13:51):
first millionaire in our family,right.
So I felt like I had a lot ofresponsibility, being like the
one to change the trajectory ofour family's legacy, right.
And so I still feel that way.
I feel like there's many more,probably lots of more people in
our family making good money now, but I was kind of like the
first grandchild, you know, Idon't know, I just had a lot of
(14:13):
like.
I felt like I took care of them.
When they got older they didn'thave a daughter, so I feel like
I kind of just settled intothat role.
And then, yeah, they worked atour schools.
When we were growing thebusinesses, my grandpa would
come and cut the lawn and takecare of the trees and my grandma
was always bringing treats forthe kids and my mom worked in
(14:34):
the office and it became a hugefamily affair.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
Well, what I don't understand is why your grandpa
was cutting grass at aMontessori when you have kids
there that can get educationalexperience by cutting grass
Cause the very first time I wentto Montessori for a parent
cause I didn't.
I didn't grow up with money, soI didn't know what Montessori
even was, until my daughter wasin it and I was in a parent
(14:58):
first parent teacher conferencewhen she was three and she
polished uh, silverware all day,literally.
It was like either she enjoyedhuffing the stuff that they put
on there or whether they'reusing water, I don't know.
I was just so stunned I waslike I'm paying how much money
for my daughter to have cleandishes.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Amazing practical life experiences, so amazing for
their fine motor grip andprehensile grasp.
I could talk to y'all aboutthat.
I love Montessori but my kidsdid not get the grasp because
they were literally well.
When I had Xavier at that timehe would have been under one.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
No, I'm talking about your students.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
You could have gotten all sorts of stuff done.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
You could have done textiles, you could have done
everything, that's true, thestudents did do a lot, though.
They cleaned tables and washedwindows and did all the things
so yeah, I could tell them howto make cell phones utilize that
labor come on and kyle.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
So yeah, yeah, fun fact about me I'm trying to move
to italy.
Uh, we got married in rome atthe vatican and uh, we were, uh
we want to go to I don't knowpulia maybe.
Uh, yeah, I just feel like it'son the come up right now.
So I mean that's one of thethings we want to go to.
I don't know Puglia maybe.
Yeah, I just feel like it's onthe come up right now.
So I mean that's one of thethings I want to do.
But it's great that you've gotthat background, you've got that
experience and you've got that,you know, immigrant kind of
(16:17):
mentality still like that'shanded down.
I feel like a lot of peoplethat have that end up being
successful and taking risk.
And it sounds like you took arisk from a loan shark At one
point.
You had to borrow some money ata crazy high interest rate just
to start that.
That preschool right.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
Were you in Montreal, cause if you're in Montreal,
the loan shark stories would beway cooler.
Yeah, montreal's got so muchlike mafia history.
I love it.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
So two things.
One, I lived in Rome for a longtime.
I played soccer, yep, and Ilived in France.
So I did go back to Europe fora bit and I just applied for our
citizenship and the kidscitizenship, just to have an EU
passport as well.
So we have in consideration.
But in terms of the loan shark,yeah, um, his name was Malcolm
(17:08):
and, uh, I saw an ad in thepaper.
I had just come back fromEurope, I played soccer there, I
had some scholarships and so Icame home broke, obviously,
cause why would I have any money?
I came from the hood and didn'tknow anything about how to do
anything with money.
Um, came back and was lookingfor a job and I had some odd
jobs.
I don't know if you saw in ourpress release or whatever, but
(17:30):
I've done some dig.
You know, grave digging, somehorticulture, landscape
activities and all kinds of funstuff.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Yeah, horticulture landscape yeah, they do that in
California a lot.
I think my brother that's whathe was he's an expert in
horticulture.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Oh, not that kind of horticulture.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Not that kind.
I wish it was that kind, but no, we were, like you know,
digging graves and stuff andalso taking care of flower beds
and cutting the grass, so, butlong story short.
So I came back and I startedthis preschool because I was
working before and after schoolin a Montessori program.
That's how it started and Iloved it and fell in love with
(18:10):
it and thought, oh, at somepoint when I'm a mom, I want my
kids to come here, because thiswould have been amazing for me,
like I never had thisopportunity.
My early learning life was likeawesome.
I mean, it was with Nona.
We learned a lot of practicallife skills cooking in the
kitchen and doing the gardeningand all the fun things.
But I had a real struggle inmath growing up.
Like I just could not figure itout.
(18:30):
Like I I'm very visual and Icould not think of things that
weren't there and all the things.
I'm super ADHD, so like I can'tsit down for more than five
minutes, and it's it's notbecause everybody in the world
is ADHD.
Now it's truly.
I probably should have been onmeds.
My poor parents and everyoneelse you know had to deal with a
lot.
But when I went to teach inMontessori.
(18:53):
I was just doing before andafter school, so I was just an
assistant and I was like thesekids are like multiplying and
dividing with like these littlekegs and stuff and I was like if
I would have known that youcould just take like four pegs
and take two away and then youhave two, it would have been so
much easier for me, right?
And they were doing all theselike remainders and you know
(19:13):
stuff that like was challengingfor me growing up, learning the
math.
So I was like that's it, Idon't care what I have to do, my
kids are going to do Montessori, they're just going to come out
out of the box thinkers andjust become super creative and
anyways, they all went throughMontessori.
But that spurred my idea oflike I'm just going to be a
Montessori teacher, that's whatI want to do.
I'm going to take my trainingand so I started working for my
(19:35):
boss at the time and I wasreally great with the like
people, with the parents and thekids, and I was growing her
program.
We started with like one smallclassroom and it was like three
and I kept enrolling people anddoing tours and it was just like
natural and I think, kind ofgoing back my parents.
(19:56):
Before they split.
They had a hardware store onthis little Italian street and I
would always be at the cash andtalking to the people and I
just loved the whole vibe oflike we had our own business all
that part.
During the recession it was adisaster.
My parents split, like thewhole world blew up, but before
that it was great, right.
So so I think I hadentrepreneurship in me.
(20:16):
My dad's super entrepreneurial,my mom in her own way is as
well, and so I was like I can dothis for myself.
Like why am I doing this forthis lady?
I'm growing her whole business,like this is crazy.
And I wasn't the best employee.
I will tell you, I'm not greatat like taking directions and,
you know, following someoneelse's right here.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Yep, yep, that's.
I hate it all.
I hate to listen to me, rightyeah.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
So, um, so I was like the monastery closed in the
summer, cause that's what theyused to do, and you know the
parents that have to find othercare.
So I was like I'm going to bethe other care.
So I put them in my mom'sbasement in the hood, created
this like classroom and I waslike I'm just going to do this
on my own, at least for thesummer, and see how this goes.
Well, everybody wanted to come.
(20:58):
It was super fun.
They didn't want to go back tothe school after, which caused
some trouble with my ball youknow all the things.
But then I took out an S.
Well, no, sorry.
Then I was like I don't haveany money, though, to like move
this out of my mom's house.
And she's like we're done here,like this is an insurance
liability.
We have all these kids in myhouse.
I'm at work.
Like what if you burn the house?
Like you know all the Italianmom, right?
(21:20):
She?
was like this is a good idea andthis is dumb.
You're going to make no money.
Teachers don't make any money.
Right Everything that you know.
An immigrant parent wants youto be a lawyer, doctor or an
accountant right yeah.
Yeah, something safe, you'regoing to make money, you don't
have to worry if somethinghappens.
Anyway, long story short,malcolm.
(21:40):
So I found this ad in the paperthat said, like, need money?
Now I was like this is me.
Oh my God, this ad is talkingto me.
And I went, I called him up andhe said, yeah, come down and
meet me.
Well, it was downtown Windsor.
It's like downtown Detroit.
Okay, behind McDonald's, thislittle purple door you walk in.
(22:01):
It's like Stephen King, creakylight, you know little little
desk.
I was like but I brought Bo, myhusband, boyfriend at the time.
I was like look at I, maybe youshould come with me.
I'm not quite sure this is agood idea to go down by myself,
to go, you know.
But so he's like what are weeven doing?
I'm like I'm going to borrowmoney.
He's like what, what, what ishappening?
I'm like I'm going to open aschool.
That he's like okay, whatever,I'm super supportive, Thank God.
(22:22):
So we get down there and the guylooks at Bo we're sitting at
the table and he's like okay, sowe need collateral.
And I'm like collateral, whatthe F is that?
I don't even know whatcollateral is.
And he's like.
So he looks at Bo.
He's like, do you have a job?
And he's like, yeah, I'm, I'minterning.
You know, I'm a psychologist.
I'm interning right now.
Like no money, right, but I'minterning.
(22:43):
Oh great, no problem, that'senough money.
So he's like looking at me likewhen did I, when did I become
the collateral?
So he's like, no problem, we'regoing to give you this loan,
julie.
It's $500 a month to pay usback for so many months.
And, um, bo, if she doesn't payus back, you know you're not
going to be around anymore.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
So he was like no thanks.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
No, he was like okay.
He was like looking at me, likewhat are we doing?
And so, um, he said are youokay with that, bo?
Do you love this girl enough?
Do you believe in her enoughthat you'll do this?
And he was like yeah.
And so we left with a check andhis signature on that paper and
let me tell you, I hustled,hauled, butt that first year and
(23:27):
got that loan paid for.
But again, I think there's thismentality of like there wasn't
going to be another option forme, like I was going to figure
it out.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Yeah, there wasn't going to be another option.
Your love of your life wasgoing to get.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
What I'm going to tell you, though, is why the
story is cooler than than.
The point of the story is thatI truly think all entrepreneurs
there's one thing we have thatdelineate success versus not in
the journey is that you have tohave belief in yourself, right?
So I knew, even getting thatmoney, that there wasn't going
to be an option for me to paythat 500.
Like I would never not paysomeone back, that just was not
(24:08):
an option.
So I've worked two, three, fourjobs.
I knew how many kids I had.
I knew that $500, I would haveto work, continue to work my W-2
while I did this for a year atleast, as I got kids, cause I
started the school with 13 kids.
Well, by the end of that firstyear, I had over 80 kids
enrolled in the church and wewere busting out and so.
(24:29):
But so what I'm saying is likeI think, at the end of the day,
if you decide you want it badenough and you commit and you're
consistent and you do the work,you can do it.
It's just people.
I don't think they have thesame will or drive or like
killer instinct that maybe wegrew up with, having been in
(24:51):
that lower middle economicsituation and seeing what our
parents had to do and what mygrandparents did, and I just was
like I'm not doing this, like Iwant to have a better life for
myself.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Yeah, you don't want to work until the idea of
working to your 65.
It's some job you hate or insome career you hate is like
almost worse than this guycoming after you.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
You know coming after her.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
Yeah, but is that the now?
Is that the thing you did, the12 X multiple exit from, because
that's a great multiple?
Speaker 2 (25:24):
The first one was about a 10 X Um.
Our first exit to privateequity was it took 10 years,
from 2001 to 2011.
We exited the first time toprivate equity in Canada and we
kept all the real estate.
So I had bought all the realestate along the way and then we
sold the real estate in myretirement days my first
(25:46):
retirement to, to, to what doyou call it?
An investor basically.
And then I got bored and Iopened a bunch of long-term
homes and went the other end,cause I had a non-compete and
all that you know.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
What's a long-term home?
Is it for older people?
Speaker 2 (26:03):
It's, yeah, basically like living for 65 plus or
people that have.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
Oh, I got a client that does that.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Long-term illness or end of life care, like really
sad, I was crying.
It was so depressing.
Oh no, so I didn't do that forvery long because I just got too
attached to all the people?
Speaker 3 (26:20):
Is that, like my thing, a hospice Similar to
hospice?
Speaker 2 (26:23):
similar to hospice.
Yeah, you have like regularlong-term care where they're
just they can't live on theirown, so they need a home,
basically, and it's nursing careand all that, and then on the
other side of it it's like endof life.
Speaker 3 (26:32):
So they do do the hospice and everything so like
okay, so there's like seniorcenters and then there's nursing
home, so long-term home couldpotentially kind of all that and
dementia, care you know, allthe things, yeah, the dementia
care, but I left that becauseeverybody God bless those people
.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Yeah, it was hard.
So, long story short, I waslike I just want to get back
into child care.
I'm going to go to Michigan orI'm going to go to Ohio or I'm
going to go, you know, somewhereacross the border and just
commute, and so that was 2011.
Ohio still kind of not great inthat recession, sort of just
(27:08):
right after.
Not a lot of opportunity forlike what I was looking for, for
child care to make it worthleaving the, leaving my kids,
you know, um four or five days aweek coming back home.
So, anyways, one day this umportfolio came across my desk
and it was for some schools inOmaha, nebraska, and and I was
like sure, why not?
Like I don't know where that is, but it'll be fine.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
Came out for a visit.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Anyways ended up buying them from an 87-year-old
at the time.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
Warren Buffett, warren Buffett, I know the one
millionaire, no, but probablyhis friend.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
She was like 87.
So ended up buying those boughtall around us, started to buy,
like all the owners around Omahathat wanted to sell, and then
created a portfolio.
But instead of 10 years, ittook less than three.
So high to COVID we were.
Cause I obviously learnedlearned all the stuff that we
didn't do, um, or that we shouldhave done the first time.
(27:59):
Um got into mentorship groups,just leveled up, um, our
education of ourself as well.
And then, when I was doing the10th school here, private equity
approached us and I was like no, I just moved my family.
Bo had quit his job, like heshut down his practice.
We moved four kids from Canada.
They hated us, you know all thethings.
(28:19):
And I was like no, this is a 10year project, like we're
staying here for 10 years.
So they came back again a fewmonths later with an even better
offer and I was like this iscrazy.
Um.
And then the third offer theycame back, um, I was just
finishing.
It was like my hurrah 10thschool.
We did a big transition of likean alumni house of the
(28:40):
university had like a beautifulHogwarts building, to this
amazing Montessori.
It was super cool.
It was like my, my projectduring COVID and um, we were
super full, had a huge wait list, um, during COVID, which was
awesome Cause we did all thecare for emergency caregivers.
You know, um, they have a COVIDhospital here like a um, not a
(29:02):
COVID hospital infectiousdisease specialty hospital.
So, anyways, we were super busyand they came back with an
offer and they said we want toclose May 28th and this was May.
No, this was April.
I was finishing the 10thbuilding would have been done
and open May 1st.
And I was like, so, anyways,yeah, you didn't even get to
(29:23):
enjoy the new building.
I didn't, I didn't, I didn't, Ijust finished it.
And then it was like here's thekey.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
She can buy it.
She can buy it yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
Do whatever you want after that.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
Yeah, it was 12X on the business.
But what we did which was supercool on this was we ended up
selling all of the business toprivate equity and then we sold.
We coupled what I did on saleis I coupled the sale with the
sale of the properties which weowned all of them.
But what I did was I sold thebusiness to the private equity
(29:56):
with and then I sold these real,this real estate, to store,
which is a big REIT.
I don't you probably know themin the U S.
they own a lot of stuff likeplazas and commercial buildings,
but I sold it to them with 15year triple net leases in place
with the new corporate company,so it was even more than a 12 X,
it was a nice eight plus figureexit Nice.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
So now you guys are just kind of living the dream.
I mean, you got the speakingengagements that you do, you've
got your podcast where you'resharing this information.
Still living in Omaha, you gotyeah.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
Over 10 million dollars Making the money stretch
making the money stretchinvestment club.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
It's awesome we're waiting for the kids to leave.
But what we did is we took themoney from the sale of the so
the real estate right, we didn'twant to.
There's a tax play, right?
Y'all know how this goes.
So we put a lot of emphasis onthe real estate.
So what we did was we 1031, allof the real estate sell into.
(30:55):
We own a bunch of like triplenets now.
So we own star, like a bunch ofStarbucks, four or five.
We own um kinder cares inMinnesota, um Texas, florida.
We own um kinder cares inminnesota, um texas, florida.
We own learning centers sowhere are you?
Speaker 3 (31:11):
where are you?
Where are you finding all thesefranchises at?
Because we just had a franchiseguy.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
They're buying the building and then just getting
the franchise.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
We're not buying the franchise.
We're just buying all thebuildings and these people all
right from us.
Speaker 3 (31:21):
So we have triple net corporate guarantees um based
on where you find in thebuildings, that how you find in
buildings, not to give don'tgive away your secrets, but
they're available.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
They're available everywhere.
But we have a develop.
We have three or fourdevelopers that just call us
because we close, you know.
So they'll just say like, hey,are you interested in?
I just got one yesterday thatwe're going to put under
contract?
Are you interested in thestarbucks here?
We're going to give it to youat this rate and I'll say I need
it at this cap.
They come back and say, okay,when?
When can you close?
And we can usually close inabout 30 days.
(31:51):
So the last two years we'vebought everything cash, so no
debt.
So that's also really great.
We have investors that wanted tostart investing with us.
So then we started syndicatingtriple net.
So we own our whole portfolioourselves.
And then we have anotherportfolio we own with a bunch of
people that come in with usthat just want, you know, maybe
they only have 100 grand, butthey want to come in and get
(32:12):
paid on that monthly recurringrevenue passive income cycle.
So then we just, you know,every first of the month we get
all the money.
Our own portfolio stays with us.
The other portfolio goes andjust cuts checks to all of our
investors.
So they get checks every firstweek of the month for the
passive income, because there'sno debt.
(32:33):
With rent on triple net itstays the same.
So we have rent bumps andescalations included to combat
inflation and all that.
But every month you're getting,you know, four or five hundred
bucks or whatever on everyhundred grand.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
So where did, where did you learn how to do that
part of it Do?
Speaker 2 (32:51):
you have a mentor.
So what I did initially?
Well, what happened was, youknow how business people work we
have a problem and then we haveto figure it out.
So I had a.
I had a huge tax issue, right,because I had a big capital gain
sale.
Then I had all this propertythat was giving me all this
passive income and I was likewhat am I going to do now?
Now I have a huge tax billwithout a business to do all
(33:14):
these write-offs with.
So then I started looking for umgroups, mentorships of
billionaires, and I was like Ineed to just put myself in the
room with billionaires.
So my first mentorship I loveGrant Cardone.
It's a whole other story, butI'm like I'm a one-on-one client
of his.
So I've been coached under himfor a while.
But what we did was we ended upinvesting in a bunch of
(33:37):
multifamily apartments.
So we have a syndicatedportfolio of multifamily of
about 600 million and thatportfolio eradicates all of our
tax.
So any money we make on passiveincome is eradicated through
bonus depreciation, through costsegregation of the building.
So we don't, we are living 100%passively and then we also live
(33:59):
tax-free.
So it's really nice.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
Yeah, I mean, it's like living in Puerto Rico
without having to live in PuertoRico.
It's pretty awesome.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
Yeah, yeah, and we have state tax.
So there's 8% state tax, whichis a little bit harder to get
rid of unless you haveoperations.
So what I did is we opened thecoaching company because I was
coaching people anyway.
So we do coaching for scalingand legacy wealth, basically to
high net wealth business owners.
So with that active income, wedo a bunch of other things to
(34:32):
eradicate that, likeconservation, easements,
purchasing and things like that.
So there's a lot of taxproducts that you can use to
eradicate active income.
The problem is, when you'rereading the tax code, they tell
you just how to pay taxes, nothow to eradicate the tax.
The other 600 pages are whatyou have to figure out on your
own pretty much so, but we alsohave an incredible CPA and an
(34:54):
incredible team of people thathelp us.
Now that you know we have allthe information to be able to
keep as much money as we can,cause as business owners, you
know, um, we pay a lot of taxesnormally.
So it's just been a nice switchand a huge advantage to living
in the U S, which, again superappreciative of.
I just turned American.
(35:15):
I was just.
I just turned American in Augustso nice Congratulations yeah.
Yeah, my citizenship and, superexcited about that, my
husband's Hawaiian, so he always, always had dual and the kids
always had dual.
So his mom's Hawaiian, dadFrench, canadian, with the Roy
last name, so they already hadall dual.
(35:36):
I was the only one I came on anEB2 visa and the schools, the
ones we scaled.
I had to run those schools onzero credit for the first two
years.
So I don't know if you've everrun um businesses off zero
credit with 300 employees.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
Oh my God, now with 300 employees, geez.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
You know we've over a hundred X.
I mean it's insane.
Or a thousand X?
I don't even know what thenumber is.
I should probably figure thatout.
Speaker 3 (36:01):
That's a good problem to have.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
Yeah, that's what I had to figure out.
How many like figure that out.
That's a good problem to have.
Yeah, that's what I had tofigure out.
How many like.
When we sold our business, Ihad to figure out, like the
amount of time I spent on it andhow much money I'd made in an
hour.
And it was crazy and it wasjust like wow, like it, why
wouldn't you start a business?
Like it's just insane to me,like there's no way I I mean it
would have took 20 years, youknow, to make that kind of money
.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
Honestly, Adam, even now I have this crazy idea every
day that I need to just openanother business because I feel
like it's insatiable right.
Speaker 3 (36:32):
I'm telling you, especially when you come from
nothing like, it's never enoughLike it's crazy Like deep
stacked right now too, like it'snot even about the money.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
It's about.
It's not even about the moneyat all.
No, it's about like I could dothat again, like I did it
already, like there's somebodyout there who's not doing it,
like why don't I just do it?
I know what.
I know the way to do it.
Just do it, right.
Speaker 2 (36:53):
And now I always look at like cash flowing businesses
and I'm like, oh, I could forsure 10 X this bit Like they
come on my desk all the time nowand I'm like, hey, should we
buy this?
Speaker 1 (37:03):
Oh my God.
And I'm telling you, julie,like I need you.
Look, I'm telling you.
So I'm running for Countycommissioner here right In Ohio
and I'm trying to get the publicschools here.
I'm like, look, these kids needto be buying businesses, like
in the junior senior year, likethere's so many people that
don't have a succession plan fortheir HVAC company, for their
(37:23):
you know, all these businesses,the plumbing businesses, et
cetera.
How are we going to build allthis affordable housing when we
don't have people to do it?
So junior seniors in high school, they leave school a little
early, they go work for this guywho plans on selling his
business in the next five years.
And then the county helps thesekids.
You know, two, three years downthe road, once they have their
you know they're an apprenticeor whatever be able to acquire
(37:44):
these businesses.
We help them with the downpayment.
They get a SBA 7A loan orsomething.
And this is my life, oh my God.
But teach them to scale,because these guys, these legacy
businesses, do not, they're notmodernized.
And you teach these kids how tomodernize the businesses and
then they can take them from amillion a year.
Speaker 3 (38:02):
Comfortable with their zip code.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
To 200.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
Well, yesterday or Monday, when was it Sunday night
?
Sorry, my one kiddo was homebecause they go to.
Both of them go to college,which again, that's a whole
other thing I'm.
I am not about college unlessyou're going to come out with
something you needed to go tocollege for.
Speaker 3 (38:22):
Like a STEM degree.
That's basically the onlyreason you're an engineer.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
Yeah one son's in pre-med.
You can't be a doctor without,obviously, going to college.
Well, he had this whole ideafor his whole life he's going to
be a radiologist, blah, blah.
Well, about two years ago, hestarted doing, um, a lot of real
estate with us and learning andbeing in rooms and we take them
to all these conferences, likethey've been to all the
conferences, learning all thethings about financial literacy
(38:47):
which every kid should learnright now.
There's no excuse why kidsshould not be in financial
literacy.
Like this whole thing drives meinsane.
Um, they go to school, learnshit they'll never use, yet they
have.
They don't know anything aboutfinances, it's.
Speaker 3 (39:01):
They come out of college with 300 grand in debt,
like it's the whole the wholeusing the credit cards that were
mailed to them and they'remailing everything and they have
no idea what that even means.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
To their credit, nothing, anyways, I have.
That could be a whole notherpodcast.
But um, what I was going to sayto you is he came home and he's
like I don't know if I want tobe a doctor and I was like,
really why?
And he's like because I'm goingto make like 200 grand after
they take all my taxes and Icould make that.
Like he's already bought realestate himself in multifamily
and he's like mom, we could justyou know, I could do the Gator.
(39:33):
He does Gator methods with PaceMorby.
Speaker 1 (39:36):
He's like, yeah, I've met Pace a couple six months
ago in Miami.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
Super awesome.
Actually, he's doing squad upright now.
But there's like my kids are.
We're 18 and 19.
When they bought their firstproperty, we did Roth IRAs for
all the kids that wereself-directed.
We rolled them all into realestate.
So they have all real estatebacked assets.
So instead of paying them infull cash, we did payroll and
(40:03):
then we took the IRA and tookhalf of what their payroll was,
put it in the IRA, max the IRAout, the IRA grew tax-free and
then when we were there 18, theycould roll it all into real
estate.
So they self-directed all oftheir IRAs into real estate.
It's just people don't know thisstuff.
Though, like I didn't know whatI didn't know, the only thing I
regret is not doing this stuffthe first time or 20 years
(40:25):
earlier.
Right, we could have even been.
Not that we're in a badposition.
It's just like it annoys methat we paid all the tax and did
all this stuff when we didn'tknow.
And Canada is not the US, I mean, there's not the opportunity to
have all these tax breaks andto help the government create
housing to get tax breaks Justnot the opportunity.
So we feel super blessed to bein America and have the
(40:46):
opportunity and like going backto where we started on this like
immigrant entrepreneurialjourney.
There is nowhere else in theworld that gives the opportunity
that you get in the US.
As much as people hate on allthe things going on in the US,
man, there is no better place inthe world.
My kids and my husband one ofour goals on that mission vision
(41:07):
board was to see and go to allthe continents with the kids and
we just finished that.
In December we just did ourtrip to Antarctica through the
Drake passage with the kids andlike they have been everywhere
and the learning withoutclassroom walls and
understanding the way the worldworks.
Speaker 1 (41:24):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (41:25):
I mean super blessed to be here and I think that's
why they're not entitled right,cause they've seen the world and
seen the opportunities and havejust really been not blinded to
.
You know the opportunities andwhat America offers.
Speaker 1 (41:42):
So congratulations on and good for you for raising
some, some kids that are goingto be future leaders.
I mean it honestly, like I meanthe way you've set them up and
you've taught them.
This is why you have somethingright now.
It's because we took risk, we.
We did what we had to do.
You need to set yourself uplike this.
I mean these.
Your kids are going to be in aposition where they can pick and
(42:04):
choose what they want to do,but they have the knowledge of
what works and what doesn't work, because you did the hard work.
Speaker 2 (42:13):
Yeah, you have to equip them.
Like you cannot create a legacyand then just give the legacy
to them.
They don't know what to do withthat, right.
I mean, like we my grandparentsworked really hard, we worked
really hard.
We started teaching them how tomanage the legacy as soon as we
felt they were ready.
(42:33):
You know, and part of that islike, hey, you got to work, yeah
, you got to do the work andit's not just going to be given
to you.
We just don't give the kidsmoney and we just don't give
them whatever.
You know, and I think, becauseof where both of us came from we
didn't come from a lot of money, right so we didn't feel like,
because of where both of us camefrom, we didn't come from a lot
(42:53):
of money, right so we didn'tfeel like.
I felt like it made me, likethose five jobs while trying to
get my university degree, Iended up getting it and all that
stuff, but that made me who.
I was right.
I think it has a lot to do withwhy I am here right now.
I think if everything was givento me, I don't think that I'd
be as motivated or excited, or Idon't think that I'd be as
motivated or excited or I don'tknow, yearning for all that
(43:14):
stuff.
Maybe it's just because Ididn't have that, that I that I
feel that way.
But the entitlement, you know,is definitely a thing we're
dealing with in America rightnow.
Speaker 1 (43:25):
It's a problem and they just downtroddenness and
the, the, the cancerous peoplethat, oh they're so the worst,
like the communist kind ofmentality thing.
Speaker 3 (43:35):
And it's like Before you get rolling, she's gotta be
off here, like-.
Speaker 1 (43:37):
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (43:39):
Well, I apologize, but I could go that would have
been a 35 minute I could go allday on this and we could talk
about just being.
Speaker 1 (43:45):
You know where we came from and, like, you know
what makes us like tick.
I mean, you know what?
What makes us like tick?
I mean this is all stuff that Ilove, but you, you've done an
amazing job.
Congratulations on everything,you and your husband with these
kids, and I'm sure they're gonnahave great lives and you have
the coolest story in the historyof side hustle city.
Speaker 3 (44:04):
I'm sorry to all of our former guests.
Speaker 1 (44:05):
Yeah, this was the sweetest story ever, best story
ever, I know.
Yeah, that's pretty gangster.
Speaker 3 (44:10):
So yeah, he must have been a super love.
Like I was just like justwalking blindly into this
gangsters, like it's like goingto see.
Speaker 1 (44:16):
Jabba.
Well, it worked out.
Look, she's 50 years old.
Can you believe this?
Yeah, I know, Like this iscrazy.
Speaker 3 (44:25):
She's got kids in college.
Well yeah, if he doesn't diethe hut Han Solo got frozen for
that, for not paying back thehut job.
Speaker 1 (44:31):
She set her husband up.
Look at this.
So and, by the way, I love.
Speaker 3 (44:35):
Montessori for my daughter.
I love Montessori.
She did it.
She's an excellent student.
My wife went there.
She's free thinker.
Everybody I've ever met that'sgone through Montessori has been
very successful.
I was just giving you a hardtime about the no.
Speaker 2 (44:47):
No, it's true.
All the teachers would come tous like of the kids that would
succeed into their programs,grade one, and they'd be like
all these kids you send us.
They're all leaders, like theythink outside the box, they are
great with peer relations, likeI.
Just it's awesome for them.
I'm yeah, I even get emotionalabout it because I really am, I
really believe in it, like Ijust the kids, what they did,
(45:08):
what they can do, how my kidsare today, I 100 percent believe
it's because they were raisedin that environment and they
really respect other people,which that's a hard thing today,
you know, like being a goodhuman and being good to other
people.
Not everybody is doing that.
Speaker 1 (45:23):
They're not not at all.
Speaker 2 (45:25):
Well, julie, I really appreciate it and they look at
their eyes.
You know all the things, and soI'm sure you you noticed that
with your daughter too, right,it's just different.
So anyways, I know I got to go,but I wish I could talk to you
guys longer.
It was super awesome to meetboth of you.
Speaker 1 (45:39):
I appreciate it.
Yeah, yeah, well, thank youvery much for being on the show,
julie.
Speaker 2 (45:43):
Thank you guys.
Hopefully we'll chat again soon.
Speaker 1 (45:46):
Thanks for joining us on this week's episode of Side
Hustle City.
Well, you've heard from ourguests, now let's hear from you.
Join our community on Facebook,side Hustle City.
It's a group where people shareideas, share their
inspirational stories andmotivate each other to be
successful and turn their sidehustle into their main hustle.
We'll see you there and we'llsee you next week on the show.
(46:08):
Thank you.
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On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!