Kevin Ray Ward recounts starting his coaching company Yes Masters while enduring severe financial hardship. He worked six months without pay, earned his first income in April 2012 (about $808 from an $89.95 group coaching program with eight–nine initial signups), then by August lost almost all his possessions and slept on an air mattress while renting a single room in Playa Vista. He continued teaching real estate classes at Keller Williams and secretly recorded videos at night, refusing to abandon his dream; years later the company passed its eighth anniversary and he achieved personal goals like buying a boat.
Questions this video answers
April 2012
$808 (before merchant processing)
$89.95
Six months
Eight months
Chapters
I did not make a single dime until April of 2012. So I worked for six months for free. No salary, no income, no minimum wage. I worked for free. No thank yous, no words, no thank yous. And then when I quit my job, which that was coming, I knew that was coming. I mean, I already announced it, that I was quitting and all that. So when I finished my job there in April, by the way, in April, my income from my coaching company from yes, Masters was $808. Before processing, Merchant processing for my credit, the credit card payments, I had eight people, nine people sign up for an $89.95 group coaching program. That's how I started. I made 800 bucks my first month. And then May came and made a little bit more, but I had no other income. So by July I couldn't pay the rent and I was living in here in Hermosa Beach. And by August, I lost everything I had. I kept my car and I kept my air mattress that we used for tent camping and my clothes. And I ended up renting a bedroom in an old rundown apartment complex in Playa vistas. You know, 60 year old apartment from a single mom unfurnished bedroom and slept on the floor on my air mattress for eight months while I built this company. Wow. And I hated every moment of it. I'm sure it was, I was embarrassed. I was like, you know, praying nobody found out what I was doing. Get up in the morning, get dressed, I go to Starbucks to work. I still had a place, an office at Keller Williams. I was teaching real estate classes to just pay, make a little bit of money, extra money. And at night I would go in there and record my videos at the office when nobody else was around so they wouldn't know that I was what I was doing. And people go like, why don't you, you know, just go join a coaching company like I was with Keller Williams. They go, go join Maps coaching because they, they'll pay. And I'm like, that's not my dream, right? My dream is worth fighting for. And that's, I think, is what everybody has to understand. And real estate agents, you have an opportunity as an agent to build something, to build a business you can get to control your income. It's hard up front. There's no guaranteed salary, there's no guaranteed business. You have to go get it. You got to have the courage and the willingness to take that risk. And in times like this, to know there's opportunity out there. When I was doing this, it was not a good time. And it was certainly I wasn't ready financially. I did not have any depth, but it was my dream. And, you know, three years later, I couldn't recognize my life. And now it's been seven. What is this, eight years later? We just finished past our eighth anniversary of our company. And, you know, I have this boat. This boat was my dream for a decade. When I moved to California in 2009, I was came out here to get a boat. This is my dream, and I'm living that dream now. Am I done? Oh, no. But how did I get this boat? Because I set the intention to get this boat, and I knew I could never do it working for somebody else. And I was willing to build something that would allow me to have that kind of success.
