Introducing our Investor Relations, CJ | Freedom Vlog | EP. 51

Hi, guys. Welcome back to another Freedom vlog. This is episode number 51. We have surpassed 50. Felt like forever getting there, but at the same time it felt like it was like that. Today I am here with cj. He is our investor relationship with Freedom Capital Investments, otherwise known as FCI for short. You all know we like to do abbreviations here, so if you hear that at all throughout the video, we are referring to Freedom Capital Investments, which is one of our sister companies in the Freedom Real Estate Group family of companies. Cj, do you want to go ahead and do any kind of introduction to yourself or do you just want me to go ahead and get started with the questions?

Yeah, yeah. So, hey guys, my name's cj. I. I do investor relations, kind of talking to investors on how to answer any questions around what we do here at Freedom Real Estate, as well as what is the best way for them to invest their capital. So we have people who are interested in buying turnkey companies, which is what we are at our core. But we also have people who want to lend us money or do private money lending and earn a certain interest percentage, or do syndication, which is our longer term investing, which can produce higher returns and tax advantages there as well.

Perfect. Okay, so you kind of answered a couple of my questions. There is what exactly do you do in sci? So now my next question is how did you get started in your role ant with the Freedom Real Estate Group companies?

Yeah, of course. Yeah. So I am an investor as well here in Dayton. And you know, I bought some small multi families and was just trying to get connected to more investors because I was kind of doing it on my own. And I went to one of the events that Danny sponsored here in Dayton. Right. So it was just a talk with some different investors. I was trying to put myself out there. Didn't really know anyone. I'm trying not to make too many mistakes along the way. And it came up that she needed some help. So I have a finance background. I'm also, you know, I'm doing it as an investor and it just worked out well that I could understand and kind of relate to the investors on what they're trying to do and accomplish. And yeah, it was a perfect fit, I think. And yeah, I was hired within a couple weeks and we've been rolling ever since. And yeah, it's been a lot of fun. Yeah.

Yeah, that's super interesting. I did not know all of that was how you got started. I actually thought Danny probably posted a job ad of some sorts. And you responded to It. So that's.

She put it on a Facebook group and I known that was it like a possibility, but I really kind of came in and I just really like Danny and Flip. I think they're good, honest people. They're trying to help. You know, they do a lot for the Dayton investing community. And, you know, this just the role or what this has become fits perfectly with my interests.

Yeah, absolutely. I know in previous Vlog episodes as well. Podcasts as well. Podcast. Excuse me. We've talked about how many people in our office or even I know, like Tina, she isn't physically hearing Dayton. She's in Georgia. But a lot of people in our companies are investors themselves, so they have a bit of background and they understand that point of view. And I think that really pushes us aside from some other providers because we are in the industry ourselves and we know how it works, we know how it goes. So we can relate to other investors on a much deeper level, I think.

Yeah, of course. Yeah. I'm actually with the, you know, haven't been too happy with my property management, so I'm actually trying out independence property management with one of a recent purchase. And we just are finishing the rehab for Bulldog Renovation. So it's cool that I can kind of speak to. Right. People want to know, well, what's the interest percentage? What's the communication like? And I have experienced that firsthand, which I think helps relate to the investor, you know, and makes them feel at ease, that if I'm willing to use the product or the service that, you know, it would be good for them as well.

Yeah, absolutely. 100%, absolutely. That kind of goes into my next question on have you always wanted to be in the real estate industry and kind of how did you get started in that?

Yeah, so growing up, I've always been a math guy, like numbers. I went to Ohio State for a finance degree, and thereafter, I think I had a lot of interest in. In personal finance. And if you kind of go down that whole fire financial independence train, you run into a lot of people who were interested or invested in real estate. And just from continuing to read podcasts, blogs, books, it just seemed like a natural progression. And so these last three or so years, I started purchasing some rental properties here in Dayton because of the affordability and, you know, just being somewhat familiar with the area. And it's just grown now. It's where I spend all my time. I'm focused, I really enjoy it. I think there's a lot of financial benefit that anyone can obtain from it. And yeah, that's kind of how it's how it's progressed. Definitely not always. When I was a young kid, I didn't imagine myself getting into this, but I really am interested and really enjoy it.

Awesome. Awesome. I always love hearing everyone's backgrounds and how they got started in the industry. Everyone kind of, it's always different how they got started. I kind of grew up in it, so I pretty much have always been around it and always knew that it was something that I wanted to do once I became an adult as well. So, you know, I went to school for business so I could learn a little bit more of that financial wise and smart business moves, things like that. Yeah, great. Okay, so changing it up a little bit in your free time, what do you like to do?

Yeah, so I used to or I, you know, worked right out of college as a financial consultant. So working for a lot of the big Fortune 500 companies, traveling every week to their headquarters and helping them with different software, financial software implementation projects. And with that it was awesome because right out of university I got to travel so much and really enjoyed that. So I think I've, you know, these last five, six years I've, you know, averaged 25 plus states a year and really, you know, try to maximize whenever I'm traveling to just go explore new places. A big thing for me is skiing. So I'm right now trying to plan out our ski weekend trips, have plans to go to Big Sky, Salt Lake City as well as Denver for winter Park. I have the Icon pass, so that's something I really enjoy and try to always make a couple trips each winter. And yeah, I've gotten into cycling recently, so that's my new hobby. I actually just bike rode from Chicago to Milwaukee, so it was about a hundred miles. So that was a good, it was a hard all day event. It was also a lot of fun with one of my friends. So yeah, those are a couple things. And like I said, I know it sounds nerdy maybe, but in my free time I devour a lot of real estate and personal finance content and that's something that I enjoy as well.

Yeah, that shows a lot though that, you know, what people choose to do in their free time. Shows and speaks a lot to who they are as a person. I know I've recently started a little kind of like side hustle as well. Not with real estate, not quite yet, but more so with like an E Commerce, like an Etsy shop type thing. Wow. So it definitely it's a lot of hustle, but it's good because it just, like I said, it shows where you want to be one day and how you want to grow. And hopefully the growth from that Etsy shop will lead me into a turnkey property in the near future. Hopefully that's the goal at least. But snowboard or skiing? My significant other, Cole, he likes to snowboard. In the past three years, they have done like a guys trip to Keystone. Every year. They've gone there for a weekend trying to convince them, the guys to take the girls. This year.

Yeah, I am actually doing the same thing every year. We've done at least a couple trips. And this year I think the majority finally have significant others. So they're pushing, pushing for that, that trip. So we're planning to go to Winter Park. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That'll be awesome. I'm. We'll see what happens. I've never been skiing or snowboarding. I've never even been tubing, but we'll see what happens. It should be interesting.

Yeah. You should try like, even it's not as big of mountains, but you should try here in Ohio. Right. Going to like Mad river or something, just so you can do lessons where it's cheaper and then enjoy your time out there. But that's awesome. Yeah. I'm going to have to ask you more about your E commerce store and how that's going. I'm interested in it, but yeah, I agree. I think people who are doing side hustles are some of the most motivated people and some of the people that I think have seen the most success both in their main career, but they always seem to have something else they're working towards. And I think it's just that mentality of trying to continually get better.

Yeah, absolutely. 100% with you. Absolutely.

And that's. That's what our investors are too. Right. I mean, most of our investors have day jobs and they realize that maybe they can't spend 100% of their time doing real estate investments. Right. And that's why they come to us for people who can help either manage their properties if they're purchasing a turnkey or manage their money by putting their capital to work into our real estate deals that we are actively managing.

Yeah, that's exactly what I was just about to say. So you hit it right on the nail there. Great minds think alike.

There you go.

All right. This is a little fun question I always like to ask. Always like to see what people say. Back to it. If you could have one superpower, what would it be and why?

Wow. Okay. Initially off the bat, I would say the ability to fly, maybe. Right. So I feel like a lot of superheroes can fly, and just. I love the idea of being able to get up and go wherever I want. Maybe I need to become a pilot or something like that so I can have that availability. But, yeah, that's probably what I would go with.

Yeah. Especially with all that traveling. That could come in handy.

I know. Yeah. I have a couple of trips coming up here, so it would be nice.

Oh, great. What is. This is a little off topic. What is the favorite. Your favorite place you visited?

Wow. In. I would say, in the US I really enjoy Austin, Texas. I think it's just, like, a great outdoor community. People are, you know, kayaking on the river, going on runs, good weather, just, like, a very fun vibe. And it's. It's really blowing up right now. Internationally, I would probably say Singapore. It was just an awesome city. Very unique, great food, and just, like, such an international community. And I just really enjoyed my time there when I visited.

Yeah, that is awesome. I love doing these because I always learn so much about everyone. I kind of get, like, the upper hand.

Yeah.

Because a lot of people. I get to know a lot about a person or about the people that I work with before a lot of other people. And so we'll be, like, in the office talking, like, oh, yeah, like, CJ also does that, or CJ is interested in that. They'll be like, how do you know? I was like, oh, yeah. I did their vlog interview.

There you go. I know we need it. We should mandate that everyone listens to every podcast that comes out so they can learn about their teammates.

Oh, I encourage everyone. I'm like, guys, listen to this. Like, these. Even our other ones, like, there's. They're amazing, and they hold so much valuable content. I have learned so much because I do all the editing for every single podcast and blog. So I learn a lot just from listening and editing. And then, of course, also sitting in on a few here and there. I get to learn more. So it's been a great experience and amazing opportunity. Yeah. All right, well, I don't have anything else to add. Do you have any final notes that you want to add or anything else you want to say?

Yeah, I think I'd just say, please feel free to reach out, whether that's via text phone, my calendly link, if we can maybe attach that in, schedule a meeting with me, and we can see how we can be helpful to you. The three main ways we can put your capital to work is via our turnkey business buying an actual investment property. Or you could help fund those purchases and earn interest of 6 to 12% or otherwise kind of go into our syndication opportunities which are a little bit longer term but provide better returns as well. So yeah, I'm happy to help. I love walking through people's like personal finance journey and trying to see how freedom can help them with that.

Beautiful. I love it. All right guys, well, that is all that we have for you today. Um, I'm sure that we will be having a follow up episode on our podcast Real Talk with CJ in the near future. Cj, don't know if you know about that at all. Maybe a sneak peek for you as well, but I'm sure this is not the last that you guys will see of him. We always like to end this with.

Invest Smart, Live Happy.

Thanks guys.

Bye. Take care.

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