Happiness and the Opportunity of a Lifetime

The happiest people I know are ones that regularly serve and give back in their communities. I can attest to this, at times in my life I have been so self absorbed that it felt like I was seeing my problems through a magnifying glass. Give me the same problems and if I’m spending time serving others, my problems seem smaller in light of my focus on others. So is it possible that by giving to others we can receive happiness?

Someone once told me that you can tell what someone cares about by looking at their bank account. Youch. Another person expanded by saying you can tell what someone cares about by looking at how they spend their time, talent and treasures. If you don’t have time to give, can you give the gift of your talents and skills? If you have no talent or skills, can you give treasures in a monetary sense?

At times in the real estate investing world it can be so easy to obsess over investing goals and acquisition and rehabs and S.M.A.R.T. goals and R.O.I. goals and doors goals…and goals are great. We would be like squirrels without them. But why are we investing? What is the end-game?

I fully subscribe to the power of multi-generational wealth. But beyond our family legacy we need to leave a larger impact. I love investing in real estate, it is exciting and changing and empowering, but some of my greatest joys have come from moments where I am serving others.

So is it possible that by including giving and serving along with our investing goals, we could have the opportunity of a lifetime–the opportunity to receive joy by giving to others?

My first job out of college was counseling at-risk youth. I have always had a heart for kids that age, being a teenager is weird and confusing enough without adding in dysfunctional families, abuse and addiction. I feel for these vulnerable kids and some of the most rewarding experiences I have had have been giving back my time to build relationships with them. Out of that first job came the first business I ever started. It was a non-profit and we called it Risk Promotion, Inc. (RPI). My mom said the name sounded like we were promoting risk and she was probably right, but I spent about 5 seconds on the name before I moved on to dreaming, possibilitizing (fun word) and planning (I’m changing the world, Mom). With a handful of friends and acquaintances that I converted into board members, we started a business aimed at utilizing local businesses to make a positive impact on at-risk youth.

We networked like crazy and were met with open arms by other non-profits and youth workers in our city. We funded the business by throwing events hosted by generous restaurants and we had a gala event and silent auction with so much donated food, drinks and auction items that it took our whole team several hours to write out all the thank you cards. We worked with counselors, mentors, coaches and teachers who would refer us kids and we put the kids in dance class, on a softball team, and one of our own art-teacher-board-members even designed a 6 week graffiti art class for a group of boys at a residential treatment program. At the end of the program their work was displayed at a hip-hop expo in our city. It might have been my imagination but I could have sworn I saw less graffiti on buildings over the course of that 6 weeks. I loved every second of running that business. It was fulfilling, it was exciting, and I really felt like I was making a difference. It felt like the opportunity of a lifetime.

I was in my mid-20’s and within our second year of business, some of our board members went through significant life changes with work, relationships, out of state moves, and all of the changes started with me. Faced with rebuilding our board or dissolving the business, we chose the latter. At the time it seemed like the right thing to do but I loved that business and I mourned losing it.

Over the years Chris and I have enjoyed giving back and having our own kids now, I often think of the at-risk youth I used to work with. We have dreamt about the non-profit and what it would be like to have a business like that now. Fundraising is hard work and is always a big part of non-profit life. I like the giving and the visioning and relationship building but the fundraising was not my favorite. I told Chris that I loved the business model with RPI, but I would only want to have a non-profit if I could fund it myself.

Enter: Real estate investing.

Last spring, I had the opportunity to join some of our out of state investing partners to speak at a conference. As I was being introduced to begin my speaking part, unexpected to me, my friend James, shared with the listeners that a part of our investing strategy is giving back to the communities we invest in. Thank you, James. I shared about our strategy and experiences and lessons learned and I enjoyed hearing the panel of speakers share about their expertise. As is standard with these investing conferences, we had the chance to connect with some amazing investors from all over the country who were doing similar projects, it was exciting and encouraging.

About a month after the conference, I got a video email from an investor named Jessie. Jessie is a CPA in San Francisco and a successful real estate investor with a presence in multiple markets. During her speaking part, Chris was most excited when she filled an entire whiteboard with numbers and equations, showing the massive potential that real estate investments can have on reducing taxes.

In her video email, Jessie said that she had been thinking about giving back, wanted to hear more about our strategy and wanted to shoot around some ideas. Out of this first video Jessie sent me came more video emails, phone calls, more emails, phone calls to non-profits, strategy sessions, and eventually a very rough draft PowerPoint presentation that put together a vision and purpose that had been formed by Jessie and myself. We talked about possibilities and sustainability, I shared lessons learned from my days with RPI, we talked about time commitment and Jessie shared a desire to professionally develop girls to elevate the next generation of young women.

All of this is incredibly exciting to me. We call our vision J Movement, because we spent about 5 seconds talking about what to call ourselves before we moved on to dreaming and possibilitizing, and planning. Both of our names start with J and we are moving, so, J Movement.

Back at the conference, James had shared that Chris and I give back and it wasn’t a part of my planned speaking to share that. Yet out of that sharing came a connection with Jessie, and out of our friendship came a shared purpose. Sounds like the opportunity of a lifetime.

It is important to share what you are passionate about. It is important to find purpose and take action and share about your purpose with people in your circles. Collaboration can happen anywhere, especially among like-minded people who are taking action in other areas.

In our first conversation, Jessie wanted to know,

“Where are you giving back?”

“How do you pick organizations?”

“How do you vet them?”

“Are you giving time or just money?”

“How can we do more than just build wealth?”

“Why did you pick those organizations?”

And the two questions that helped our vision take shape were,

“How can we help other investors give back and do the same thing?”

“What kind of impact could we make in communities if more investors gave back their ‘time, talent, and treasures’, to the communities they are investing in?”

I am excited for this partnership with Jessie, for the opportunity to give back, to keep asking questions, to equip non-profits, and learn from professionals who have more wisdom than us in the world of serving and giving back. I have moments and days where I am laser focused on investing, and have tunnel vision on our goals. I get obsessed with outcome and annoyed with the journey and I want to buy all the deals exactly right now. Thankfully, a purpose beyond investing helps me to see past all of it.

Our real estate investments have given us the opportunity to experience the fulfilling happiness that comes from making a positive impact, however small. Even if we could make a positive impact on just one individual, one kid, that sounds like the opportunity of a lifetime to me.

Share with me–who are you passionate about serving?