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  Life can be difficult living with a physical disability, but apparent dead ends are often forks in the road, navigated with the help of “angels in disguise” who focus our energy on important issues. Life is precious and encourages us to bring thoughtful zest to our mission.

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  Heather S. Coombes is a retired chaplain with 20 years experience working in aged care. She is a Uniting Church minister living in Queensland, Australia. Heather has a lived experience of physical disability―specifically cerebral palsy. Her continuing interests are providing disability awareness education and offering pastoral care and preaching in faith communities. She is the author of a memoir/handbook Marathon Wheeler: Living with Physical Disability (Bloomington, Ill.: Westbow Press, 2016). Marathon Wheeler can be ordered through Amazon.com or www.heathercoombes.com Heather is happy for connection via email [email protected]

  CHAPTER 10

  The Road Less Traveled to

  Self-Made Millionaire by the Age of 30

  by Andrew Jarrett

  “M r. Jarrett, unfortunately, in your case, there’s no way out but to file for bankruptcy. That will alleviate all your debts; however, you will be unable to get loans for at least seven years,” said Mr. Bankruptcy Attorney with no hesitation. Coming to the harsh realization that I had lost everything I had worked for was devastating. I was angry. I wanted to scream. I did not want to accept this outcome. I’m in my early 20s. I buy and sell houses. This is not supposed to be happening to me. I am supposed to be living my dream!

  My father taught me the value of hard work at a young age. While I was growing up, he was always traveling for work. I hardly saw him; on a good week, he would sleep at home twice. Watching this made me realize how much I did not want to be away from my family five days a week while building someone else’s dream. I knew I wanted to be financially free. I just didn’t know how I would get there. I also knew that conventional wisdom dictated that you needed to have a college degree to be a high-income earner. Only problem was, I hated school.

  My father eventually got sick of traveling as well and decided to branch out, starting his own company. This new venture came with several obstacles. He lost his salary, had to live on savings, and had no guarantee that he would be successful. Even though he was still working very long hours, his attitude was different. It was very noticeable. He was doing something he loved, and he was turning his dream into a reality. During this phase of his life, my father also started looking into real estate investing.

  One day, my father gave me a little black book written by Russ Whitney, Overcoming the Hurdles & Pitfalls of Real Estate Investing: What the “How To” Books Don’t Tell You . I read that book and fell in love. I saw a path to the work-life-income balance I wanted, without having to go to school for 6-8 years. After reading that book, I dove into several others. I was nonstop reading. I couldn’t get enough. I read the famous Rich Dad Poor Dad, and then one that really hit home was Cashflow Quadrant .

  I still remember the euphoria of buying my very first real estate property as if it happened yesterday. We knew of a property that was selling for under market value, put it under contract, did minimal work (drywalled and painted a closet and one bedroom), and made $14K on that contract flip.

  From there, I got my real estate license and started doing more fix-and-flips. I was also looking for owner-financed rental properties because I didn’t have enough money to finance one on my own. As I started to make some sales from being a realtor, I made sure to save up all my commission money to be put towards a rental property and my dream of financial freedom. In parallel to that, I started a property management business with a friend.

  During this time, I became good friends with the owner of the real estate sales company where I held my license. Him, his brother, and I often got together, and it didn’t take long before opportunities started to come up. One such opportunity came from a family member of theirs. He told me how he was raising a lot of private money for this great investment where you could double your return within an incredibly short time. “WOW!” I thought.

  It was a non-real estate investment, which I knew nothing about. However, I looked at the return on this investment and thought about how many cash- flowing properties I could purchase with that return. This could be the seed money I needed to build my dream! He had the “look of success”: nice cars, expensive suits, and all the other flashy items. I also trusted him, as he was related to friends I’d grown close to over the years. I handed him several checks, all my life savings from real estate commissions, flips, etc. All my liquid cash was invested. The investment sounded so good, and had such a short timeframe, that I even took on large additional credit card cash advance debt to increase my gains.

  This person took off in the middle of the night with money from everyone who had trusted him to invest on their behalf, including all of mine. We reached out to the authorities and found out he was wanted in two other states for the exact same thing. He had taken millions from investors and had a very long rap sheet. The FBI got involved and eventually caught him. He did not give up easily, and it turned into a high-speed chase where they ended up running him off the road. He is currently serving three consecutive five-year prison terms.

  This taught me several other valuable lessons: Never put all your money into one investment. I invested more money than I could afford. I also learned to never invest in what I do not fully understand. The feeling that I was missing out on great, quick returns had tempted me to make poor financial decisions. Most of all, I learned you must do research on whoever it is that you’re investing with. I now know that FOMO, fear of missing out, is a common rookie investor mistake. Had I taken the time to fully understand what I was so eager to put my money in, I would have known that this investment, which seemed too good to be true, was just that.

  All my money was gone, and I had a very large credit card debt to pay. I had flips in the middle of being done which I could not finish. I lost sleep and was in complete despair. It was time to consult a bankruptcy attorney.

  I remember walking into his office. Everything seemed like it was in slow motion. I kept thinking to myself, How did I end up here? Is this the end of my dream? Should I just give up and get a job? As the attorney gave me no option but to file for bankruptcy and keep nothing, I remembered all the times my father could not be home because he was an employee for someone else and how things changed for us once he was able to be the owner of his own business. In that very moment, I had a sudden turning point. It was like a wave of determination came over me.

  I decided then and there that I would not give up. I would overcome this setback. I would not file for bankruptcy.

  To raise some operating funds, I sold my property management company to my partner. By this point, we had built the company up to managing over 100 doors comprised of mainly single-family homes and some smaller two and three-building properties. It was a hard but necessary choice to make. Not long before, I was working towards my dream of becoming a full-time investor, and now, I had to report to work at 4:30 each morning for back- breaking manual labor.

  I spent some time working for a national hardware chain moving heavy appliances from the top shelf to the floor with a harness strapped around my chest and waist. Another job had me installing insulation in cramped crawl spaces that otherwise were only occupied by feral cats. I did whatever it took to generate income during this time, including odd jobs and maintenance work. However, I didn’t do it all by myself. Whenever I could, I would find a contractor who was willing to negotiate a better price than what I had agreed on with my client. This skill for negotiation would come in handy later.

  Getting up before the sun every day was a constant reminder that this wasn’t the life I wanted for myself. I would come home after my W-2 job, take a quick shower, and dive straight back into my real estate business. I built my website from the ground up and spent a lot of time on the phone taking incoming leads, doing broker price o
pinions for banks, and cold-calling for listings. I learned a lot about marketing during this time; if I hadn’t, my real estate business wouldn’t have survived. Just as I lifted so many heavy appliances and crawled out of so many tight places, I also elevated my heavy dreams to reality and crawled my way out of despair.

  In a short timeframe, I was able to save up money to quit my W-2 job and eventually pay off all my credit card debts. There is a large lake in my hometown, and the houses on the lake are the most expensive houses in the area. I was able to land a big lakefront listing and sell it. This, combined with my odd job income, gave me enough of a savings to go back to real estate full-time.

  By the age of 30, because I decided to persevere and take the road less traveled, I was able to build a personal real estate portfolio worth several million dollars, with a very healthy cash flow that allows me to have the financial freedom I have always dreamed of. Being blessed with the ability to be financially free, it is now my passion to help others achieve the same blessing of financial freedom through real estate syndications.

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  TWEETABLE

  “A smooth sea never made a skilled mariner.”

  – English Proverb

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  Andrew Jarrett is currently living his dream as a full-time real estate syndicator living in Florida with his wife. He currently owns over 200 apartments in Western New York and is a general partner on 265 apartments in various states through syndication. His journey was paved with a variety of experiences from manual labor to owning several businesses after his financial recovery, although real estate was always at the heart of it all. He knows first-hand that the right (or wrong) opportunity could change your life forever. For more information about multifamily investments or real estate in general, schedule a call at www.JarrettCapital.com or through www.facebook.com/JarrettCapital/

  CHAPTER 11

  The Third Time’s the Charm

  by Jeff Wimmer

  A s the aircraft taxied to the terminal of my home airport, I was still enjoying the feeling of accomplishment, having put another deal together six months after the first fell through. The past few years had been a stressful roller coaster, absorbing most of my waking hours and causing many sleepless nights, and I was relieved to finally put this chapter behind me…until my cell phone connected to the network and the message loaded…“We have a problem.”

  I’d started the company 40 years earlier with my college buddy Todd when my intended career in politics got derailed. After interning in state government, I volunteered as an “advance man” in the election campaign of a highly respected lawyer and senior state legislator. We were all blindsided when three weeks before election day the news broke that he’d been practicing law for 20 years without completing his bar requirements.

  My idols as a child were entrepreneurial inventors. I spent my free time building things, from model airplanes to motorbikes. To fund my projects, I held down a paper route, did chores for neighbors, and mowed lawns.

  I paid my way through college with a variety of independent contractor opportunities which were much more interesting and lucrative than flipping burgers for minimum wage. Lacking a “plan b” after the campaign loss, starting a private weather consulting company with Todd in a nascent industry where we had to make everything up as we went along seemed like a perfect fit for me!

  Todd was a true snow and storm fanatic. During college, whenever it snowed, he would run outside in his underwear to check the thermometer nailed to a nearby tree. When not in class, he earned date-money as a radio weathercaster for local stations and got reprimanded more than once for using university facilities and data to make money with his “side business.” That side business provided our first service offering providing weather broadcast “feeds” to radio stations across the country.

  In the mid 70s, there was one main company providing weather broadcasts over telephone lines for radio stations. As their service was exclusive to a single station in each broadcast market, the other stations were eager to find a competing service. With a little seed money and lots of coaching from Todd’s businessman dad, CompuWeather was born and almost overnight became #2 in the industry while we scrambled to keep up with the growth of a 24/7 business.

  After a few years, Todd became restless, and his original ambition of becoming an on-air TV meteorologist re-emerged, so my next role was as his “talent agent.” Starting with part-time and weekend positions on small- market stations, Todd honed his skills, progressed to larger markets, and was ultimately hired by a Boston TV station where he achieved recognition for his coverage of “the perfect storm.” This success eventually led Todd to leave the business to pursue stardom.

  While Todd was pivoting to a TV career, the company was encountering increasing challenges including competition with other private sector weather companies and smoldering resentments from the government National Weather Service who viewed us as encroaching on their turf. The business needed to evolve to ensure its long-term sustainability. The solution came in the form of a connection I made with another meteorologist, Tore Jakobsen.

  During his college years, Tore had provided weather forecasts for his dad’s shipping operations office, leading to his founding a company which specialized in servicing the shipping industry. We really got along well and believed a merger would benefit both companies. The combined company now offered marine, land, and forensic weather consulting. Manufacturing began moving to Asia in the early 2000s and both raw materials and finished products needed to be transported by ship, and our maritime division grew along with that industry. Shipping operations offices also began moving to Asia to follow the cargo. Tore regularly visited our customers in Europe, the USA, and South Africa, so when somebody had to go see the customers in Asia, I volunteered!

  I was stunned on my first visit to Singapore to discover all the newly built shipping operations offices with amazing views in high rise office towers. An early visit was to a ship management company running 200 ships, but only using our service for a few of them each month. After speaking for a short while, they challenged me by saying that they didn’t much need our current services but were curious if we could develop some cutting-edge approaches to address their other data needs. I realized that we had all the elements but hadn’t yet assembled them into an offering. We quickly cobbled together a service which became known as “business intelligence for the shipping industry,” and almost overnight became the industry leader in servicing larger fleets. But along with that growth and success came a whole new set of challenges.

  Innovating an industry can be exciting, however, it requires investment in new technology and systems. As time went on, big competitors noticed our initial success and began picking off our customers and replicating our services. With their deeper pockets, better technology, and worldwide sales forces, it was all we could do to stay even while dealing with pricing pressure and growing overhead costs.

  The next crisis came when that customer who had first challenged us to develop new services now began demanding that we develop new, more sophisticated technology. We assured them we were committed to fulfilling their requirements, yet we didn’t have the resources or time to start from scratch. I remembered a UK based firm that we had worked with in the past who had the expertise in developing the technology that we needed now. I reached out to them, and we agreed on a plan for them to develop the solution to fulfill the customer’s requirements. As we got to know each other, the UK firm’s owner and I hit it off, and they were similar to us in size and culture. Over time, he and I began casually discussing merging companies.

  A few months into the project with the UK firm, the largest industry trade show took place. At that show, the North American President of our largest competitor stopped by our booth and invited us to visit their New York office “to explore joint venture opportunities.” He and I also got along well, and the discussions soon turned to their acquiring us. A non-disclosure agreement (N
DA) was signed, and after a few months of talks came a letter of intent (LOI). Next, we were given a long list of things to assemble for the due diligence to commence after the 2017 holidays. Our management team was excited and put long hours into fulfilling the extensive requests. The torrid pace continued until the due diligence team and executives flew home, after instructing us to stand by for board approval followed by the contract. The deal would then close by summer. All throughout the process, the nonstop stress had impacted my health, but I had to keep plugging away.

  As difficult as the due diligence was, the waiting was worse. After five or six weeks dragged by, their COO requested a meeting and came to New York. He said while they were still keen on acquiring us, their board had them focused on fixing some prior deals which had not gone as planned. We were requested to “kindly” stand by for one year after which they would restart the process.

  After advising the staff that the sale of the business was on hold, morale at the company hit a new low. I was really depressed, having lost my hope for an end to this saga. However, I couldn’t show my disappointment and needed to keep going. It took a huge effort each day to put on a cheerful and encouraging public face and paint a positive and hopeful picture for the staff.

  While under the NDA, I couldn’t tell the owner of the UK company about the potential sale. After the first deal was put “on hold,” I was released from the NDA and I shared the whole story including the fact that I wasn’t going to sit still and wait a year and wanted to resume our merger discussions. His reply was that instead of merging, he now wanted to buy us! The prospect of another deal reinvigorated the staff, and everyone was delighted that this time the buyer wasn’t a humongous public company.

  As negotiations proceeded from August through December, we began working closely with the UK team to build out the global IT structure. Daily “stand-up” video conferences and frequent overseas visitations increased everyone’s enthusiasm. In December, we traveled to the UK for an intense week to finish mapping out roles and responsibilities of a combined entity and finalize the planned business structure. There was a celebratory dinner, and we shook hands on a deal. While I flew home, key people from both our companies visited the London headquarters of that same large shipping customer which I visited in Singapore years ago to share the good news of our joining forces. Our people were surprised to be met by a newly hired executive who introduced himself as overseeing the overhaul of the customer’s information and operations systems and now the contact for both our companies. During that meeting, he was clear that his plan was to explore competing services and replace us…hence the “we have a problem” message when I landed and powered up my phone.