A conversational YouTube interview in which Danielle Robison and Flip recount meeting on cruise ships about 24 years ago (both were trumpet players and worked at Disney/cruise-ship bands), a memorable encounter in Nassau (the ship Destiny referenced), a proposal about six years after they met, marriage four years after that, and a later career shift into real estate. Over ~10 years they built six real-estate businesses focused on generating passive income to gain time freedom for themselves and for investors.
Questions this video answers
About 24 years ago.
About six years later.
They married four years after the proposal.
Six real-estate businesses.
About 10 years.
So we'd like to start off by telling you how we met. It started on cruise ships about 24 years ago. Did I get it right? 24 years.
It was 24 years ago, and it.
Was an unlikely story, and I'm gonna let you share it because you tell it way better than I do.
Yes, the proverbial cruise ships passing in the night.
Yes.
So I moved to Florida. And very shortly after I moved to Florida, somebody had said, hey, there's a job at Disney that you need to do. And so a month after I moved to Florida, I auditioned for the job, and I got the job because we were both trumpet players back then, but I did not know her. And so I got the job at Disney. And, like, within a week at Disney, somebody said, oh, so you're doing this, this, and this? And I said, yeah. And they're like, oh, so you know Danielle? And I'm like, no, I don't, actually. That's. That's nice. And then I went on. Right. Well, about three months later, another friend of mine from a different job called up and says, hey, I need a trumpet player on a cruise ship. I said, great. When he said, in three days, I said, okay, no problem. I'll be there. So I drove down to Miami, got on a cruise ship, and as I got on the cruise ship, somebody was getting off the cruise ship. Hint, hint. That same very day, passing at night. There we go. So I got on the bandstand the first night, and the trumpet player next to me says, what? You worked at Disney. You went to school in Florida. So you know Danielle. And I'm like, who the bleep is Danielle? At this point, I couldn't believe it. And so I. And so I'm just following Danielle everywhere I went. And then finally there was a hurricane, which we don't like hurricanes, but there was a hurricane that came into the Caribbean. And when that happens, all the cruise ships go to a port that's safe. And so there was about 20 cruise ships. Okay, maybe five or six. But anyway, in Nassau, Bahamas, and the ship that I was on, we had to do a formal dinner. And so we're playing, and we're in our tuxedos, and the curtain opens, and there's all these people in the front row, which never happens. And the trumpet player next to me leans over, says, hey, remember that, Danielle? And I said, yeah. He goes, that's her in the front row. And I think, no way. And so I was so excited I was gonna finally get a chance to meet her. And then after the dance set, curtain opens, they were gone. And so I couldn't believe it. So I put my stuff away. Full tuxedo August in Nassau, bahamas. It's like 110 degrees with 300% humidity. I am running down the pier yelling her name. Now, remember, I've been following her for now two years. She has no idea who I am, and I'm yelling her name, and so she's like, who the hell's this guy anyway? So that's how we actually met. And it took me a while to explain that story to her as. But then the rest was history.
Yes. Then Flip became a band director, and he was actually the musical director for the entire ships. There was like 40 musicians, and he got to choose another trumpet player to come on the ship, and that was the ship. Destiny.
Yeah. I wonder who am I?
Somehow I landed on that ship as the second trumpet player, and I think that's where the rest is history. And we kind of make a joke about the Destiny landed us in Nassau, and that's how we met. And I don't know how many years later, but there was an event where we are in a cruise ship. He was in the bathroom, sitting on the bathtub, and he asked me to marry him.
That was about six years later.
So we got married four years later, eventually moved on land, and then started our career in real estate. And now, 10 years later, we own six real estate businesses, primarily focused on passive income. And the passion was really to provide passive income for ourselves, but also do it for other investors so that they could come along the ride with us.
Right. Because the main thing was we realized why passive income was so important to us, because passive income now gives us the time freedom that we want, which gives us. Allows us to do what we want, when we want, where we want, and with whom we want, and also allows us to give back to all the causes that we want to give back to. And so it really changed our outlook on everything. And we're like, more people need this.
Absolutely. So we kind of related financial freedom to time freedom, because when people talk about freedom, they talk about time more than they. They talk about finances. But in order for you to do what you want when you want, you have to have the financial freedom to be able to have time freedom. And so that's why we got so passionate about it. And we built these six companies, and we want to achieve freedom through passive income ourselves and do it for others along with.
