Rookie Reply: How Do I Escape My 9-5 with Real Estate Investing?

Ashley Kehr:
This is Real Estate Rookie episode 164.
My name is Ashley Kehr, and I’m here with my co-host Tony Robinson.

Tony Robinson:
And, welcome to the Real Estate Rookie podcast, where every week, twice a week, we bring you the inspiration, the information, the education you need to get started as a real estate investor, or keep going if you just got started.
So, Ashley, I see that you’re not by yourself. You’re not in your closet. There’s a man behind you, who’s got a big grin on his face, so I feel like he got some good news to share. What’s happening? What’s going on?

Ashley Kehr:
In my DMs, I was reading a question. I was going through and looking through what one we should read off today, to do for our Rookie Reply. And I got a question from Nash, that was just about how he wants to quit his job and become a real estate investor. So, I thought this question would go perfect with what happened to my business partner, Daryl, today. So I’m going to bring [Daryl Clinch 00:00:56] onto the show today. Say hello.

Daryl Clinch:
Hi, everyone.

Ashley Kehr:
To talk about something amazing that he did today. So, Daryl, what did you do today?

Daryl Clinch:
So, today, I officially quit my W2 job.

Ashley Kehr:
And he’s going to be a full-time real estate investor. Wooh.

Tony Robinson:
Could we give them the back story? Daryl, how long were you on that job for? I think that’s even more impressive, of the fact that you’re walking away.

Daryl Clinch:
Yeah. So I’ve been working in the bricklayers union and with the company that I work for, for 16 years, I’ve been doing it.

Tony Robinson:
Wow. 16 years.

Ashley Kehr:
And why did you want to quit? What were the reasons?

Daryl Clinch:
During these 16 years, I constantly was working out of town, in hotels, just away from my family, all summer long, never home, away from friends. I felt like I was losing out on everything. And I mean, the work too, it was hard work definitely took a toll on your body and stuff. So, I knew I wasn’t going to last, and seeing the older guys that were kind of getting out of it, and they’re in their sixties and stuff and just could barely walk, their knees. So, I knew it wasn’t somewhere that I wanted to be for the rest of my life. So I knew I needed a change.

Ashley Kehr:
So, this summer, Daryl and I started talking about real estate investing, and how he wanted to pursue something else and change his life and get more time back. So I introduced him to real estate investing, and when he got laid off in the winter, he started doing anything and everything he could to learn the business, to help me. And, we got a bunch of properties under contract, and he lives very well below his means. So we figured out how to make it work, so he can quit his job.

Tony Robinson:
I just want to ask one clarifying question, Daryl. So, for a lot of people, even if they hate their job, even if they get up every morning and they hate the idea of getting out of bed, they still do it. Millions and millions of people do it every single day. And they do it because there’s a certain level of security, false security in my mind, but there’s a certain level of security that comes along with having that steady paycheck. So, A, were you feeling that way? Were you feeling afraid of that lack of security that comes along with having that regular job? And if so, B, why wasn’t that fear big enough to hold you back from taking this big leap?

Daryl Clinch:
So, yeah, I definitely was super nervous about change, just because, when you even think about it, you’re wondering like, “How am I going to pay my bills?” None of that you understand, until you start getting into it and being like, “Okay, I can get paid from this or this or this.” So yeah, just thinking how am I going to pay my bills, and I have a 10 year old son, and what I’m going to do. And yeah, the waking up every morning, just knowing that I had to go to a job that I hated and was just miserable with was awful. I didn’t even want to get out of the bed and do it. I lived below of my means. So thinking, yeah, this could work out. So yeah, the fear of it, thinking, “Okay, what’s the worst thing that could happen?”
Well, I’m in a hiring union. So, the worst thing that I thought that could happen, “Well, if this don’t work out, I can always call my union up, and there’s always work or companies that need workers and whatnot.” So, I figured, “Hey, if this don’t work out, I know I can get hired back on with a company.” And then the company that I also just left, I don’t think I burnt any bridges doing it, and I was really professional about it. They constantly have so much work, so I also think, if I need to go back or whatever, that they would bring me back on.

Ashley Kehr:
Worst case scenario, he goes back to what the majority of Americans are doing, goes back to a job. So, I think, just one thing about Daryl is that, he spent his winter, when he was laid off, learning as much as he could, when he just could have accepted, “This is my life. This is normal.” And just hung out, snowboarding all winter, and then went back to his job. But, he has worked alongside me every single day, for no money, and has learned everything. And, we’ve acquired a bunch of properties together. So, I’m very proud of you.

Daryl Clinch:
Thank you.

Tony Robinson:
I love, Daryl, that you went kind of, “Okay, what is the worst case scenario?” And I feel like that’s the part that a lot of people don’t do, right? It’s like, “Yeah. The worst case scenario for me is, if this doesn’t work out, I’ll just go and get another job.”? Everyone else has that same opportunity. If I failed miserably as a real estate investor, I’m a smart enough guy. I can go out and probably find another job doing something. And, Ashley, same for you. If all of your properties in Buffalo burn down today, and you had no cash to get started and you needed to, you could go out and find a job somewhere too. Everyone has that same ability.
But I think the idea of starting over scares people a lot. But, what I would challenge most of our listeners to think about is, what is scarier? The fear of stepping out and betting on yourself, or the idea of looking back 30, 40 years from now and never having done that in the first place? And I feel like, for most people, you would be more upset with yourself if you didn’t try. But you tried, Daryl, and, dude, I’m super happy for you, man.

Daryl Clinch:
Thanks. I definitely thought about things, and you need to kind of take a bet on yourself and understand that you can do it. If someone else can do it, you can do it. So I took a bet on myself, and that’s what I told my boss. I’m ready to make money for me and stop making someone else wealthy. So, here I am.

Ashley Kehr:
Your ex-boss. You no longer have a boss.

Daryl Clinch:
My ex-boss.

Tony Robinson:
Yeah. What’s that saying? Oh, I was just going to say about the boss thing, right? You talked about making your boss wealthy. It’s like a meme I’ve seen floating around the internet a bunch of times, where the employee walks up to the boss, and he tells the boss, “Hey.” The boss is driving a really nice Ferrari or something like that, and the employee is like, “Man, I really love your car, boss. It’s amazing.” And the boss turns to the employee and says, “If you work really hard, you put in extra hours, I’ll be able to buy myself a second one.” And it’s like, how true is that?

Ashley Kehr:
And I think, one thing that we have talked about a lot is changing Daryl’s mindset of just that, he has the ability to not have to work to someone, and to kind of build that own financial freedom, build that wealth and to create time. That’s one thing that’s super important to him, and important to me. And, I tried to show him that, with real estate, you can do that. And, do you have more time or less right now?

Daryl Clinch:
Oh, I definitely have more time. And, it’s nice just to kind of do the work when you want to do it too. You don’t have that anxiety of a boss calling you constantly. “When’s this getting done? That getting done?” If you want to go do something, I can go do it, and then be like, “Well, I can just do what I need to do when I get home.” Or, if I can’t sleep, I can do the work late at night, whatever I need to get done.

Ashley Kehr:
I would say, for some action items, for someone who’s in Daryl’s position that want to get out of their W2 job is, first of all, the easiest thing is find somebody to partner with, or start working alongside another investor like Daryl did. What value can you provide to that investor? So, Daryl did quality control in the military. He has a lot value and a lot of capabilities that I suck at from that side. And then also, he was a foreman in his union, so managing people, which I don’t like to do and I don’t feel like I’m good at. He’s been able to manage our contractors. He has construction experience. He has all of these strengths that are my weaknesses.
And, another thing to do too is, if you do want to leave your job, Daryl took a notebook and wrote down every single expense that he has in his life, and looked at, “Okay, what do I need to live on a month?” And it was actually way less than what you thought it was too. And then also looked at okay, “If possible, what are some things that I could actually cut?” So he is giving himself, kind of this winter buffer of time, where he really isn’t bringing in any income. And then, once our properties are rehabbed, then he will be making, hopefully, more than he did last year, by the end of the year, if everything goes as planned.

Tony Robinson:
I love those steps, Ashley, but I’m going to one up you. There is an even easier way to leave your W2, and that’s doing it the way that I did it, where you just get fired. Because then, you don’t even got a choice. But it’s worked out pretty well for me.
I think the idea of kind of figuring out what your expenses are, and using that as your target, if I take a step back, right? I just put out a YouTube video about this, and it was about the different levels of financial freedom. On the bottom level, you have financial disparity, where you’re living paycheck to paycheck, or maybe not even paycheck to paycheck, but really tough financial situation. Then above financial disparity, you have financial dependence, where you’re working a day job, all of your bills are covered, but you’re still reliant and dependent on your job to survive. And then the next step is financial independence, where all of your income, from your businesses, from your entrepreneurial endeavors, from your investments, are enough to cover your expenses, so now you don’t have to worry about that job.
And then once you get past financial independence, there’s other levels of financial freedom, where you got like FU money, where you can get the yachts and the jets and all that good stuff. But, there’s different levels to that. But to move out of… My point is, I think people oftentimes underestimate how much money they need to be bringing in, to have the option to step away from their job. If your monthly expenses are a thousand dollars a month, then you only need a thousand dollars a month in cashflow to replace your income. And obviously, I think having a decent safety net is helpful as well. When we stepped away, we had a lot of money in the bank. But I mean, if you’ve got steady cashflow coming in, you’re kind of the risky type of person, you might not even need that big of nest egg to be able to walk away from.

Ashley Kehr:
Tony, that was awesome. That was great, so make sure you guys go and check out Tony’s YouTube video that goes into more detail on that. That was a great description. Thank you for sharing that with us.

Tony Robinson:
Cool. Well, Daryl, congratulations, man. We need all the rookies to go on to Daryl’s Instagram and thank him, congratulate him. I know there’s like a time travel thing in podcasting, so by the time this is airs, it’ll be several weeks after he actually quit, but I’m sure he’ll still appreciate if you guys go back and…

Ashley Kehr:
Hey, Daryl, what’s your Instagram?

Daryl Clinch:
@darylc138.

Ashley Kehr:
Well, thank you, guys, so much for watching or listening to this week’s Rookie Reply, and we will be back on Wednesday with a guest. And, you guys, let us know in the Real Estate Rookie Facebook group, if you have quit your job, retired and are pursuing real estate investing full time. We would love to hear it and congratulate you guys.
Thank you so much for listening, and we’ll see you next time.