Leaving Silicon Valley to Become an Entrepreneur with Andrea Cwik

Good morning, and welcome to Ladies Kicking Assets. I'm Robin Binkley, and I'm here with my partner, Courtney Moeller, in this amazing vodcast that we have. It is our mission to just share financial information, education with women. And for anyone listening, our objective is for you to be educated and take action and whatever that is for you and just to feel confident, too, in that, to have some understanding of what's being talked about around you. But today we have a powerful businesswoman, Andrea Sawick, with us, who I just want to make sure I get every bit of this right. You are the managing partner of Good Good Investing with Rachel Grun, who. I love that. A female business partner. And you are the co founder and managing partner of Big Shine Capital with your beloved husband, J.J. and you are so many things as I was just really doing a deep dive on you. You have been an entrepreneur for years. You're a mother of three, and you love the Lord with all your heart and soul. And so I would love for you to share with our viewers today listeners just how you became who you are. And just. I'm so intrigued by you. And I just am grateful for having met you about a year and a half ago, wasn't it?

Because, I mean, it was. Yeah.

Seminar.

And so, anyway, welcome, welcome.

Thank you for having me.

Yes.

So, yeah, I think I met you about a year. A year ago also, somewhere right around that same time frame. So it's been so awesome to watch your journey, because I've seen. I kind of feel like we're on a little bit of the same paths. Obviously, you got started before I did, but I just love. You're such an inspiration. You're always so positive, and I love looking at your Facebook posts and everything else. So I'm super excited to have you and to kind of dig in. Yeah.

Oh, thank you so much, Y'. All. Y' all are already my besties, by the way. I love the both of you, and I'm huge fans and, like, I will support you, you in anything you do.

Well, that's. That's good. It's really about collaboration, you know, when you get to this space, it's really about projects that you can do together and how you can promote each other. And so I really. I love being able to do that with professional business women and all professionals, really. But, I mean, women are my passion, so I love that.

Yeah, mine too.

I know.

Well, Andrea, so tell me a little bit about what you're involved in right now, because I'd love to kind of lay that foundation and then we can talk a little bit about what led you into that path and what made you go there.

Yeah, what we're doing right now is we for the past year have been concentrating on multi family. Personally, our family portfolio is long term rentals, short term rentals, flips, and then heavily invested in multi family. Just recently we decided to pivot a little bit and get more into just investing in, in general and finding those really high, higher profit, obvious, obviously projected higher profit deals. So yeah, we're looking at syndicating vineyards, you possibly carbon capture. And so we're just partnering with really good teams to bring in new opportunities for our investors.

Oh, I love that. I, I feel like here recently there's been a little bit, you know, people are a little bit hesitant in some of those spaces. So there's so much uncertainty out there. So I think pivoting super, super smart. And plus there's some really awesome great opportunities in some of these other areas. It's funny that you mentioned vineyards. I was at the best Ever conference last week and there was a company there that did a pitch on a vineyard that's going to, I think it's maybe around the Lubbock area somewhere in, you know, the western north part of Texas. So that's really cool. Right?

Yeah. Yep. So I, that company is called Hubbard Capital and that's exactly who we're potentially partnering with here.

Oh, how exciting. Yeah, you know, it's, it's Courtney and I mean, you've mentioned it. You have to be able to look at alternative investments in this day and time and folks are very gun shy now about, you know, what's happening in the economy. Looking at investments that maybe aren't necessarily high risk, you know, because they're just, they're, they're scared to some extent with what's been happening in the world of banking and don't really have an understanding too of ways to kind of prevent some of that with happening with their own capital that they have. So it's, it's a great topic to talk about always and I know that we'll be hearing much about that and talking so much more about that in our future.

Yeah. Oh, I was just gonna add that I think that right now we're, you know, really looking at deals more conservatively just to have like higher, just a bigger ways to analyze and, and just like make sure that all of our T's are crossed, you know, and I's are dotted because we want to give, you know, we don't know what's happening with the interest rate or anything like that. So because we're being more conservative, there's not a lot of deals that are actually penciling out. And so that's the reason for the pivot. But I think there's still a lot of opportunity coming and there's a lot of gps. Like, their multifamily is actually something that people are starting to understand and know about. And so a lot of GPs are coming into the ecosystems, new ones. And what's really important too is when I first started as a gp, I knew how to analyze a deal, but I didn't really know how to do any other parts of what makes up to be a gp. So I kind of had to like shuffle and investigate and learn how to talk to investors, like all on my own. And so I think one of the parts that is important for these new gps that are coming in is to figure out, like, how do they actually start a business? There is a lot of opportunities, I think, that are coming, so how do, how are they successful? There's so many more moving parts and just analyzing a deal. And that's one of the places that, like, I love to pour into people because there's so much, so many things. And then once you become a syndicator, you can syndicate anything too. So, like, how do you start up that business? How do you brand yourself? How do you market yourself?

Well, and I think that's where, excuse me, I think that's so important to find the people that you know, figure out where your weaknesses are, you know what your strengths are, and then make sure you're partnering with people that, you know, have the strengths that are not yours. So.

Yeah, right.

Well, you know, when you're new in the business, you're trying to figure out what are all the different hats to wear and how can you add value. And you don't have a history, you don't necessarily have assets under management. I mean, you might buy your own level of investment, but not with other teams. And so it's really good to be able to connect with folks who have done this before and be mentored a little bit while you are also being coached on what's your mission, vision, values, who are you, what is your brand and being. And being able to, you know, accept the fact that you don't know everything, because it is, it is way more of a business than what I ever expected or anticipated. But I love the fact that there's a lot of people who are willing in this community of entrepreneurs and syndicators to Help you. You know, I mean, they, they really do because they recognize the fact that not everybody knows all this. I mean, you know, you know, it's, it's different than just personally investing in, in, in projects.

Yeah.

I think different ecosystems have different experiences because I feel like when I first got into it, there was a lot of, like, I met a lot of gatekeepers, you know what I mean, they had a secret sauce, but they didn't want to share what that was. But y' all are part of like, I mean, an amazing ecosystem and I think that there is a lot of collaboration there. And I also have now moved into one with more collaboration and it's all just about like unlocking, like you said, it is actually a business. And you have to go from, you know, kind of like startup mode to how do you just make this well oiled machine.

Right.

So I love that we're talking about this because I, when I first got in, I was like, wait, what? Like what do I do? You know, it's way more than just analyzing a deal. Right.

Where do I add value? And you know, we're constantly talking about that. I mean, in, in our masterminds and inner circles, how can you add value, you know, at all levels of experience and you know, because you can collaborate with folks who are always going to be far more successful than you. There's always somebody more successful than you. But how do you add value to that person? You know, it's just, it's, it's a key, it's a key ingredient to all levels of success. Well, I was reading about you in your time in California, so I'd love for you to kind of share with us about what entrepreneurial businesses you launched then before moving to Texas and really starting your real estate deep dive.

Yeah. So I was in corporate America in Silicon Valley for many, many years. And there was a point where my mom wasn't doing super well and couldn't help me with the kids, so I needed to pivot and I started my own business because I've always had this entrepreneurial spirit and wanted to be my own boss, you know, goals. And so I was like, well, what can I do? And I just felt like, I don't know what I think it was. The Lord was just like, hey, I really do think so. It was like those gift baskets that you always get because, you know, we're like, we were in, you know, corporate America, so like every holiday we would get these gift baskets that nobody really wanted to eat. And like, you know what I mean? Like we would throw most of it away. And I was like, I feel like I can make these like really good that like people would want to keep them and they would love them, you know. And so I came up with the idea of me making like beautiful corporate gift boxes. And I would put them in like I'd get like hand selected curated items from like Etsy or like small businesses that were hand making thing, just like super high quality. And I would.

Then you're supporting other people's small businesses?

Yes, yes, yes. And then I would put themes to each box and then the vessel that I would put everything in was a wooden box. And so they would, you know, open it up and I would hand write every card. So anyways, it got pretty big and I partnered with a lot of Silicon Valley companies and they love to give it to like new parents or you know, for whatever occasion for their employees. So I got to be in the world still of corporate, but then also having my own business. I loved it. But here's the thing. I think that when we start a new business, sometimes you don't think about like the whole, you know, like the whole line, like solo, like being a solo entrepreneur, right? It's like there's so many responsibilities. So I loved the shopping part, y'. All. I was like, I can hand select every day, right? The whole building and then doing like the shipping to FedEx and like all of that, that wasn't so much my jam. So I was like, okay, I cannot like do this all the time. It takes so much time away from my kids, my family. Like, I want to be more mobile. Like, I don't want to be like just, you know, doing boxes. So I decided to pivot. But long story short, after my while I was in my business, my husband and I were thinking about moving somewhere else because he was working for Apple for many, many years. Worked all the time. We had to do dinners at Apple because he couldn't leave his job. He had to go and work again. So. So we're just like, is this the life really that God is calling us to live? Are you supposed to be getting calls while you're coaching, you know, T ball?

Well, and, and I think that is where so many of us have stopped and gone. You know what, we are like slaves to our jobs and that not what we were put on this earth for. I mean, our time is so precious and, and time with our families, our kids, our friends, that's. We don't get that back. We just don't get that.

Exactly, exactly. So we decided that we would be in prayer a ton and see if this was the life that God was calling us to live. And we felt that it was time for a shift. And we didn't know anybody anywhere else because all my family is in California and JJ's family's in Canada and we weren't going to go to. So, so, so we decided to, to be in prayer. And then the Lord just kind of put places on our hearts in the South. And so first we checked out Austin, and that was like, so similar to California. We're like, nope. And the second was Dallas. And so we just felt like really at home. And so we decided to move our family to Dallas. We had some money from the sale of our house in California and we're like, what do we do with this? So we actually sat on our. That profit for like a year.

And then we were like, wise decision.

We didn't know what to do with it.

That's okay. Because people get suddenly all this cash and they're not educated enough.

Right.

Do with it. Or they make hasty decisions, you know?

Right, right.

Paused.

But I remember calling like a financial advisor and them giving me options, but the options were like, not very profitable. You know what I mean? And so I was like, I was like, let's just sit on it, figure things out. We end up calling our old neighbor who moved to Texas, and we're like, what'd you do with your money? And he was like, oh, I like single family, you know, properties, and I rent them out. I'm like, cool, let's just start there. So we ended up getting a house in Austin and. And that's how this whole snowball of real estate investing came about.

I was going to. I'm glad you said that because I was going to ask because I think a lot of people, when they think about real estate investing, they think about buying single family home to rent out. I think that's generally what people think about. I mean, I never thought about owning apartments until, you know, two years ago. I, I didn't even realize that was a thing, you know, for regular people, you know, so. So I, I'm glad that you mentioned that. I think that's kind of the, the path. Normal path.

It's a really path. I mean, that's, that's what I did. I started.

Well, I think that kind of starts you. Yeah. Get you plugged into other things and then you learn about all these other.

Opportunities and I learned how much I don't. That's not my favorite thing. One thing leads to another because you began to expand your mindset and grow your mindset and your education and all of those things. Well, that's not been that many years ago, though, for you.

It really hasn't. I. I'm trying to calculate. I think it's been two and a half, three years. And we didn't. You know how a lot of people start accumulating these single family rentals for us? It was like, we bought one, and I was like, yeah, how are we supposed to retire early? We're literally making an extra hundred dollars a month. Like, how many of these are we supposed to buy before we can retire?

A hundred thousand?

Yeah. So, like, when we went to a real estate conference and it was just like more single family stuff, I was like, okay, I. I need to figure this out. And somebody got on stage and talked about multifamily and the scaling of it and how, you know, it's like a hundred dollars a unit times 100 or 200amonth. And I'm like, yeah, I can get behind this now.

Made sense.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, that then is where we met. Honestly. We met at Brad Summrock event, and I met so many other folks that we've partnered with in. In other projects there. And I know that was kind of a period of time where you moved into some different spaces also. And so I think the success that you've had, the trajectory has been pretty, pretty quick for you in, you know, two and a half, less than three years, really, you've gotten into a number of different spaces. You've. You now have another business partner, you've got a podcast, you're looking at syndicating alternative investments. I mean, you have a lot going on, and you still have other business lines that you're in creative mode on. And so I think that that just, just giving yourself the space to think and grow is a powerful thing that we don't allow ourselves to do. You know, Courtney was talking about time.

We.

We have so very little time. Sometimes we don't even have time. Time to think. So you're. You're doing an amazing job with that. I mean, you're a real example of what that can be for folks.

Well, I love your story because here you are, you were in corporate America, and you said, you know what? This is not how, you know, we want to spend our time. There's got to be a better way to do this. And you started, you know, getting educated, you know, reaching out, figuring that out. And, and I feel like that's. That was kind of My path, you know, I didn't want to work for other people. I did have always had that entrepreneurial spirit as well. And so I didn't ever go the single family route, but I, you know, met the real estate guys, went into the investor summit and just went big right from the the get go. So I feel like, you know, the being my friends kind of fast tracked me and you know, sk some of the steps that are normal, but I just love it because this is real life. You're a real person that had a job. You said, you know what, there's better ways for me to spend my time. My family is important and you've gone through this and figured out how to invest and raise capital and, and really to me that is really true wealth. True wealth is having money is important, but you know, having the time and the freedom to, to spend your time with the people that matter and your kids and having that time and freedom to, to travel and do the things that you want to do. So that's amazing.

Yeah. And I, the big motivation, you know, you mentioned Robin, like I literally can't sit still. I like what, like what can I do? Robin knows like I almost launched like a non alcoholic. We talked about that.

We, we met with a beverage company and it was. Okay, let me circle back on the.

So yeah, that's on pause. Yeah, it's on pause right now because I'm actually launching my coaching business for Airbnb. So I've been really successful with my Airbnbs and so I'm putting together a whole course to teach people how to do the same and manage it on their own. So.

Oh, I love that. That is something that I am really taking a hard look at right now because I just think there's so much opportunity and you know, especially since COVID you know, people are wanting experiences and I think that there is a way to tie travel and experience and, and everything together. So I'm definitely.

That space myself. You know, we have our right, our ranch out there and you kind of have to look at location and your market. And so we've found that the market for that is, you know, college with Texas A and M and football games and graduations and you know, all the things that are tied to that. So you can use your lifestyle, investing, if you will, to meet the needs in those markets or if you just want to run it as a straight short term rental all the time, you know. So anyway, I love reviewing the Matrix on that. It's, it's really a very cool space and Lots of opportunity. Lots of opportunity.

So much opportunity. And it's very profitable. And I, you know, I want to make more money because I want to further God's kingdom and I want him to use me, and I want to be a conduit for him and be generous to others. Right. So I'm like, what more can I do, God? Like, so I'm like, all about, like, yeah, how do we build more wealth for me and for others is right.

I love that one of my things is asking, okay, God, who am I serving today? How? How am I serving? Who? So I love that so much when.

You ask, he opens that door. And so you cannot be afraid to step through it, you know?

Absolutely.

What holds you back? Well, I love that you are a mother. You've got three very busy kids, and I imagine that you're involved in all kinds of stuff. You carved out time in your life to do that. You are in business with your husband, you're in business with other folks. You're beginning a coaching business in different spaces. I know you've done some webinars for education and such, and so you are moving and grooving. So what would be next for you outside of the coaching over the next two years? I mean, I know you've got some pretty lofty goals for yourself. So what are you setting your eyes on?

Well, I want to help my husband. He just launched an online marketing company, and I really see people scaling when they use automation. And so I want to help as many people as possible and help him help as many people as possible because there's so much time that can be saved when you use automation. So that's one. And I, you know, want to continue with this, the coaching program, and then offer more courses. There's so much education, I think that can happen to especially females because I don't know for some reason or if you all have experienced this, but a lot of women actually are not in charge of finances in their household. But I feel like we cannot be asleep deep. Right. Like, we have a lot that we can add value to our families and to our husbands. And so the more that we dig in and get knowledge, then we can share that and be like an influencer of change to our families and help with, like, legacy and all of that. So, yeah, that's huge for me, you know, to do. We're actually. Rachel and I are going to work on a bus book. We're working on a book this year. So, yeah, lots going on in our future.

A lot going on. Well, you know, you said a very important thing there about women. Women, what I found might be in charge of the finances in their home, meaning their household, paying bills, keeping up with that sort of thing. But as far as growing wealth, as far as investments, as far as how having any understanding of what's happening there, or having the permission, if you will, to give themselves or from their spouse or significant other to actually go out and do make an investment, you know, that's what I've kind of seen is like the missing, the missing piece. It's like, okay, you're dealing with the checkbook, but I'm going to be over here growing wealth for our family. And it's like, well, you know, know, I think women are perfectly capable. In fact, I know they are. We are of, of creating all kinds of business lines and, you know, growing wealth. I mean, it's, it's, it's powerful.

And that has brought me to a question. So, okay, what would you say was the biggest catalyst for helping you make all of this happen? You know, what was, what was that thing that helped propel you or launch you into this? Or maybe the most effective thing.

I will attribute it all to confidence. So I, when I was younger, was very shy. If I were to see a friend at the mall, I would turn like fire engine red. Like, I was just so shy and like, I didn't have a lot of confidence. There was a lot of negative self talk and just all the things that I think a lot of women struggle with feeling less than comparing. And there was a time where I was in a small group and I remember somebody speaking something and I was like, oh my gosh, I am gonna grab onto that. She said when I was talking about negative self talk, she said, I take a piece of paper and I write down all the negative things. Which, you know, by the way, probably, you know, it's coming from the enemy, right? Not God. God says that, right? We're amazing and we are smart and we're successful, right? He has all the positives for us. But that negative self talk is not coming from God. So she's like, write that down on a piece of paper. And then on the other side, say the opposite, because that's what God actually says about you. And I remember just sitting with that and thinking, okay, that is so powerful. Like, what does God say about me? Not like, what is in my head. And then I, I decided to get out of my comfort zone and really challenge myself to do a hard thing, which was going out for a speaking competition, which is like, so Opposite of who I am. But, like, I wanted to do a really scary thing, right? And so I went through that and I. I felt like I planted on my face like it wasn't good. But then somehow by miraculous intervention, I don't know, I went on to around two and just the fact that then on round two, I was like, lord, show up, God. Like, I. I cannot fall flat on my face again, you know, And I just, I came in with more faith, and the Lord released so much confidence in me, and I have never been the same since. So my takeaway is confidence is key. Believe in yourself. Believe what God says about you, and then get out of your comfor zone and do something hard because you are capable. And once you release that confidence, once that confidence is released, you are gonna unlock success. Like, boom, you can go sky's the limit. Success is for you to all your listeners. You too can unlock success in your own life. You don't have to be looking at others. Is that success? Oh, they're successful, right?

The killer of joy, right?

Yes. Yes, it is.

And. And it's out there so much because we see everybody's highlight reels of life, you know, on social media and everywhere else, and it's so easy to get stuck in that rut of comparison. And I, I love this practice of writing those negative things down and then. Then writing the opposite. I. I think that is something I'm going to utilize, you know, next time I have any kind of negative thoughts. I love that so much. I can't even imagine. I know. That's so powerful.

It is. It really is.

It is. It is. Well, on that note, I would like for you to share with our listeners and viewers today on how they can get in touch with you because you have shared some amazing pieces with us today.

Oh, yes. So I have a website, my coaching website, which is andreaswick.com you can find me on good, good investing.com and bigshinecapital.com on all the dot coms. And then my Facebook page, which I'm gonna be launching this week, I'm gonna say this week, find me on Facebook at Andreas Swift. So that's Andrea. And then Cwikit.

Yeah.

Make sure that all of that is in the show notes. And I know I just joined one of your recent Facebook groups, so I'm super excited about that. I just, I love your positivity and your energy and your. Just love for all the things I, I think it, you know, so important to be surrounded by people that are positive and that are moving in the right direction. So I'm. I'm excited to be a part of. Of your group. Yeah.

Thank you, Courtney. I love both of you. Y' all are killing it in all things syndication and life. I look up to the both of you. Thank you so much for having me.

Oh, it has been a pleasure. So for our viewers out there, please like and subscribe us. We are Ladies Kicking Assets, and we look forward. We are Kicking Assets. All three of us are kicking some. So, anyway, we just ask that you like and subscribe and share our. Share our podcast with your friends till next time. We love you. We're Robin and Courtney with Ladies Kicking Assets and our amazing guest, Andreas Wicked.