Crystal’s Untold Story (#FIREHOUR S3, E2)

There's my alarm.

6 AM.

6 AM. So, um, we got 3 hours of sleep yesterday. The baby's going through a 12-month sleep regression. For any of you that have kids that know what those fun sleep regressions are like, so don't mind us if we stumble around a little bit. Um, just working on 3 hours of sleep. But, uh, pop my capsules. I am thriving. So the baby will be joining us too. She decided to wake up. She decided to rise and thrive really early today as well. Yeah, like Devin, just, she kept waking up and she wouldn't sleep and, and then she woke up early and I was like, no, we have a Zoom. Like of all mornings, we have a Zoom today. Do not Wake up right now. But, um, yeah, you just— I mean, you don't get to choose, right? She's staring at us right now. Yeah, we're talking about you. Okay, so we are going to get started today.

There will be some baby background noise, or there might not because of the mic. Okay. Yeah. All right, let's, let's get it. All right, so welcome to Fire Hour. Today we are going to be talking about something that we haven't talked about before, uh, on Fire Hour specifically. And obviously Fire Hour is about wealth in all aspects of your life. So if you look at, if you think about wealth, right, Especially with the frame, I really want to share the frame that we are coming into Fire Hour with, which is wealth in all aspects of your life. And the reason why we say that, it's because life is colorful. Like your, your life is not just this one thing. It, there's so many things when it comes to your life that we want to strive for, for excellence in all areas. You know, that's just for us. Like for us, we want to accomplish our goals. We want to accomplish our vision. We want to accomplish our dreams. And when it came to the first Fire Hour session one week ago, we talked about manifestation. We talked about hitting our goals. We talked about being who, like, who do we need to be in order to achieve the goals that we want? And so every single person here, you know, if you're, if this is the first time you're hopping on, I encourage you to watch the first Fire Hour session simply because it's important for you, simply because it's about you. It's everything that happens on Fire Hour is for you. It's for transformation, life change. And I'm gonna share with you something that I've learned. I've learned that every single time I put my focus and intention on something, all my efforts and hard work and the dues I have paid the direct proportion I put in is what I get out. Meaning whatever I put in, all the efforts I put in, I tend to get out what all those efforts paid for. Okay, so if you're going to do your best to get what you want in life, whatever that may be for you, right? When we talked about the A and B, right, your starting point and your end— your ending point, whatever that ending point is for you, you can do whatever it is, but you have to put in the work. Okay? You have to put in the work because what you're gonna put in is what you're gonna get out. That's all I'm saying. So when it comes to today's Fire Hour session, this is gonna tie into every single aspect of your life simply because the way the world works is revolved, is revolved around this topic. And the topic we're talking about today is money, money, and a goal. One of the goals right? Because there are some people here who may have already achieved this goal. One of the goals is $1 million net worth, $1 million in your bank account. If you tomorrow, or if you today had $1 million right now, you'd be able to use it tangibly. You'd be able to go to the bank— well, I don't know if the bank would be like, hey, you can withdraw $1 million right now, because that's the business model of the bank, but you know, or one aspect of it. But if you could go and just look at your checking account, you could see $1 million net worth, right? You could see $1 million in your bank. That's what we're talking about today. We're talking about how can you achieve $1 million in your bank, okay? So if this is a topic that you want to, you know, learn more about, if you want to actually set in your sights, if this is a goal that you have in terms of the, the wealth aspects of your life, then that's what we're going over today. And we have another other than Crystal who is going to share her story, who she's never shared this part of her story to anybody, not even her mom. So you guys are in for a treat. Um, again, we're always a student. Everything that we talk about on Fire Hour is for you. It's transformation for you. It's life change for you. Put— whatever you're going to put in is what you're going to get out. Notetakers are money makers. Anyone and everyone can achieve $1 million net worth, but it's up to you if you want that. You know, there's some people who may not want that. That's okay. All I know and all I'm saying is that this world revolves around money, and it's going to be uncomfortable, but guess what? We're doing it, okay? And, uh, we really encourage everyone to— if you're here, especially on FIRE Hour, we encourage you to get that $1 million net worth because you can do it. You know, it's possible. So with that said, just, you know, share from your heart, share whatever you want, and I'll take care of the baby.

Yeah. So like, of all mornings, I was like, the baby was up and I was like, No, you're taking away like my support system. Like you're taking away like, you know, my rock. Um, I'm here. So, so yeah, like what, um, what Sean said, like this is, um, this is something that I don't take lightly. Uh, this is something that I, I literally could have just been totally comfortable with taking to the grave with me just because I'm not really the type of person that like talks right? Like, most of the time, like, if you guys have went through our 2020 trainings, I always say like, I'm just your art candy, shine. Like, and I'll, I'll add in a couple things here and there, and if I'm feeling the moment and I have something to share, like, I'm— I'll pop on here and there. But I'm really a private person. Um, I've never been so out there, right, until like this one business. Really, we had to start showing up. We had to be authentic. We had to be ourselves. We had our share to share our stories. And so I've never really, I've never really fully shared my story. So I guess in a lot of ways you can say that I haven't really been authentic to who I am, to what I do, to the things that I've done. Because like you said, my mom doesn't even know. So I should probably send her this recording afterwards, just like, oh, hey, by the way, you know, My family doesn't know. 99%, 99.9% of my network doesn't know. Like I said, I would have been more than happy just to, like, carry this to my grave and never have said anything. But, you know, I made a promise to myself a long time ago that if I had crossed a certain threshold, that I would give my knowledge. I would give back. I would do what I can to share with others, uh, the, the trials and tribulations that I went through, right, to be able to get to a certain place in my life that I once probably thought was unachievable. So bear with me, 3 hours of sleep, super nervous. Um, I don't think I've ever been as nervous, and we've done like over 120+ hours of training by now, if not more, and like multiple podcasts. So like you said, this ties into everything, right? Like your health, your family, education. Money makes the world go round. And as comfortable as— as uncomfortable as it is to talk about it, I do believe that as a society, as a community, we should start talking about it because The more you talk about it, the more you're going to learn, right? It's even taboo, right? Socially. So, yeah.

Yeah. Take your time.

Take your time. Okay. They said— I think someone's trying to get in. Do you see? No. Yes. Okay. So at the age of 33, I crossed a net worth of $1 million.. And I had no idea. I really had no idea until I actually sat down and I had to start taking things, assets, liabilities, and calculating it. Right. So the funny thing is, I always tell Sean, because he's probably the one only person that I share things with, my partner. And I'm like, I honestly, I'm an accidental millionaire because I had no idea. I like absolutely had no idea. So, um, back in— I want to say that was 2019, right? So back in 2019, I wanted to diversify my income, right? And I basically was like, okay, you know, like, I want to diversify my income, I want to make my money work for me. Because every level, there's different ways of thinking, right? Like, at first you trade your time for money until you have your money work for you. And so I was like, I want to have more of my money work for me, right? So I, um, I met a friend. He connected me with someone who earned— like, who owned his own venture or private equity firm. And I'm like, okay, great, like, I have some money, I want to invest it, right? And so he's like, okay, yeah, like, if you want to invest, you can invest, but you have to make X amount per per year, or you have to have X amount net worth. And I'm like, okay, like, I have no idea, you know, I've just been hustling and grinding. And so I haven't really slowed down to really take the time to look back to see all the things that I've accomplished. Cool, send me the paperwork. So you actually have to kind of go through these forms, you have to input a lot of personal things, right? So I started inputting things. You know, it asks for your net worth. So what your net worth is, is your assets minus your liabilities. It's what you own minus what you owe. And so I started putting in, you know, my real estate, my savings, checking, retirement, autos, anything and everything that you own, right? And then minus what you owe. So anything that you owe, such as credit card balances, your mortgage on your home or on your investment properties, your car loans, right? So I started typing everything in. I started pulling everything out. And this is something that I had never done before because I had just been going, going, going, going, you know, trying to reach this goal that I didn't know was possible or could be possible, right? Just head down, super focused. And so once everything was calculated and the results were in, I was like, like, holy shit, like, I'm a freaking millionaire. Like, I had no idea this entire time. Like, I had no idea. So I always like to call myself like an accidental millionaire because I knew that was always my goal growing up., but I had no idea that I had even crossed that goal until I took the time and I really had to sit down and start looking through everything, right? Um, so by the time, by the time I was 33, I crossed a net worth of $1 million, and then by the time I was 36, so 3 years Later I crossed a net worth in the multimillions. And so there's different levels to the money game. And when you understand it, that's when you're actually able to play at it, right? So it is taboo to talk about money in this society. I feel like it's mostly this country because I've talked to other people from other countries and it's not that like awkward or weird of a thing to talk about, right? I would have felt more than comfortable to take this to the grave with me just because I'm a very private person. I usually don't share things, right? Like, I think some of you, like, some of you know, like, after I was like 5 months pregnant, I was like, oh, by the way, like nonchalantly, like, oh, I'm pregnant. You know what I mean? I just, I just keep things to myself. I'm a very private person. So I am like super nervous. I am like shaking. This is completely out of my comfort zone to even talk about it. So whether you're on the spectrum of uncomfortable talking about it because you feel like you don't have enough, or you feel like you have it, um, it's uncomfortable, right? But we have to start to get uncomfortable. We have to start getting comfortable being uncomfortable if you want to reach a certain level, or you want to reach another level that you've never, never met before. Because in order to have what you never had before. You really have to become someone you've never been before. And so I had made a promise to myself a long time ago when I was a kid. I was just like, you know, like one day when I become a millionaire, when like I make it in life, you know, I'm going to pay it forward and I'm going to help people. Like I'm going to share everything that I did in order to get from like you know, someone that grew up with a family that didn't have anything to someone that finally, you know, finally made a million, finally was worth more than a million, you know. So here I am, uncomfortable, anxious, but paying it forward because I made a promise to myself a long time ago that I would share everything that I knew, right? Everything that I knew. All the steps that I took. So, oh, you got it. So I never take notes on our trainings, but I was so nervous. Like, I was so nervous. I was like, I need to take notes. Like, I'm going to kind of like write it out just in case, like, I get nervous and I forget. So this is going to be— this is going to be a while, right? Because there are so many different lessons that I learned along the way. Growing up as a little girl until now in order to get to where I am. And I'm still not completely satisfied with where I am. Like, I'm not like— there's just once you hit certain thresholds and certain goals that you never thought that you can like make before. As someone that's like an overachiever, I'm always like, what's next? What's next? What's next? I don't slow down sometimes to be like, Oh my goodness, like I did that. Like, that's great. Like, you know, pat on the back. I'm just like, next, next, next, next, right? Like, so I'm always looking for what's the next goal? What's the next goal? What's the next goal?

And that's part of your mindset.

And yeah, thank you. That's, that's, that's just the mindset. Like, that's the mindset that you have to adopt is just what's next, what's next, what's next, right? Like, if you set a goal for yourself, and you're not able to accomplish it, like, it doesn't mean you quit. It doesn't mean that you weren't good enough. It doesn't mean that you are not worthy of achieving that goal. It just means you need to get back up and you need to keep going and you need to keep trying, right? Because the people that give up, that just quit, that's it. Like, that's it. Like, they just throw the towel in and What I can say is something like that is going to eat at you like for the rest of your life. You're always going to be wondering like, what if, what if, if you never get back up and just try again, right? Thank you. Can you have me my water?

Oh, yeah.

I'm parched. I parched. I parched. Thank you. Okay, um, so before I really, um, start to get into lessons and, um, start to get into anything— and yeah, see, it's like I'm reading the chats and people are like, oh, okay, glad you're talking about this. Um, you know, a lot of people feel like it's so awkward to talk about anything related to their achievements and what they've done in life, or like money. Right? But it's a part of life. It makes the world go round. Like, it's what helps to house you. It helps to feed you. It keeps your family safe. It keeps you, you know, it keeps you going, right? Oh, thank you. So, yeah, like, so, so I just want to share, I guess, my background, right? Because I think now that it's out there, people are going to be like, so how'd you do it? Where'd you come from? Did you come from a wealthy family? Were your parents rich? Were your grandparents rich? Is this like generational wealth? And no, it's not. My grandparents were immigrants, and I think that most of you have the same story, right? So immigrant grandparents. My parents were immigrants. And growing up, my father, he was an entrepreneur, right? So I guess I get my entrepreneurial spirit from him, just watching him growing up and all of things that he did. We did okay. Like, so growing up, we did okay. My parents, they had been in the restaurant business, super hard business. They, you know, my dad was investing in real estate. And funny story, my dad and my mom and my dad, they also owned an auto shop that specialized in Mercedes. And now we do right now. I do. And it was like such a coincidence, and it was not done on purpose. But growing up, um, I would say when we were younger, we did okay, right? We did a little bit. We were still average, right? Um, I don't think he had found that secret sauce yet, even though he was an entrepreneur, because you can be an entrepreneur, but you can be an entrepreneur that doesn't make that much because you're struggling to really figure out the business and what you need to do, right? Um, it wasn't— and so we were we grew up okay until the '90s. So my dad, he started leveraging and investing very heavily into real estate in the late '80s, early '90s. And I don't know if you guys are old enough to remember, but in the '90s there was a huge real estate market crash. There was a huge real estate market crash. So with that real estate market crash,, it completely wiped out my family. So we went from doing okay, and my dad and my mom, like, owning a couple 4 units, a couple investment properties, we had our own home, to nothing, right? So just overnight, that's where the real estate market took us. It completely crashed. Um, he was overleveraged, and, um, my parents filed for bankruptcy. They filed for 2 different kinds of bankruptcy. There's so many different kinds, right? But they filed for bankruptcy. All the investment properties that they owned were foreclosed on. So that means the bank took it back. And our primary home, like the home that we grew up in, it was short-sold. So basically the bank, you know, basically came back and was like, hey, if you can't make these payments, like you can't live here anymore. And so you know, the family home that we grew up in, that we made so many memories in, um, still a home that I think of and I remember the address to this very day. Um, it got taken away. So that was something huge, right? Like, that affects a family, and it affects a family to its core. Uh, the number one reason why people divorce is actually not like infidelity, it's finances, right? So we went through bankruptcy, um, had houses foreclosed on. We were kicked out of our primary home just because the real estate market went the other way. And so our life pretty much completely changed. Um, and we had to move out. So around that time, my parents had also separated, right? They had separated maybe a little while before, and it was highly likely due to finances, due to money reasons, right? And a few other things. And so it was my mom and my brother and I. And I grew up with a single mom, right? My dad did what he could for us when he could, but we were in a very tough situation. I just remember going to school. I remember getting free lunches. I remember having free health insurance. I remember holes in my shoes, walking to school in the rain with my socks being soaked. I remember once a year we were able to go to like the Salvation Army or Goodwill, and my mom let us, you know, for back to school, purchase like one item, like one item, right? Like it was one shirt or one shorts or just we can only afford to get one item. So because a lot of people around us knew our situation, we were lucky enough that, you know, we had family friends, we had family, we had neighbors that, you know, when their kids grew out of their clothes, you know, those were the clothes that we got. We got hand-me-downs. And I don't think anything's wrong with hand-me-downs because it was free. So that's how we grew up. I grew up with a single mom. She was a homemaker. And so, you know, going from a homemaker all of a sudden to being through like bankruptcy and foreclosure, like getting kicked out of our like primary home and, you know, separating from my dad, she had to go to work, right? So she got like 2 or 3 jobs and she was working at like Frosty Freeze and like she was working at like, you know, fast food places, like anywhere that would hire her, that gave her a schedule flexible enough to be able to drop us off at school and pick us up. That's where we were at. So no, I did not come from money. It was not handed down. I didn't marry rich. Everything that I did, I made right. I saved. I made, I invested, I grew. I've always been really smart with my money and I had no idea how good I was at it until a couple of friends were like, yeah, you're really good at money, you're really good at saving. I was just very unaware because I was just doing what I set out to do, which was I wanted to take care of my mom and my brother. My mom was a single mom. She struggled. My brother was younger than me. And so all I ever wanted in life was just to be able to work hard, to take care of them, to do what I could, and to be able to like buy a home one day so that we would have something stable because we moved from neighborhood to neighborhood. You know, every time rent went up that year, we were moving to the next place, we were moving to the next neighborhood, right? If my mom had known about Section 8 and food stamps, we would be on Section 8 and food stamps. So back then she only knew about free lunches at school and free health insurance. So that's a little bit about me. That's the background that I came from. And so everything that I've done was really through a lot of determination, hard work, and just never giving up. So, so I just wanted to share that.

I think also like— sorry. Yeah, I think also like when you were 16 years old, like you were going to school.

Yeah.

You were working to help your mom. You were working to help contribute to— for the bills.

Yeah.

And you were also in college at the same time.

Overachiever. Thank you. See, that's why I need him here. So today when Devin woke up early, I was like, no, like if I forget parts of my stories, he's going to have to help fill me in and like guide me back, right? So, um, yeah, so at the age of 16, I was— I started college, guys. I started college at 16, and I'm not like the smartest person, like, I'm not, but I am very, very determined. I am very determined, right? So I started college at 16 while I was still finishing high school, and I was working so I can make money, so I could actually finally contribute and be able to give like money or a paycheck to my mom, right? And I was just so proud. And so in life, I just thought like, you got to go through school, you got to get that 4-year degree, you have to like work really hard. And you know, that's when I thought that if I went through life really fast, if I went through school really fast, if I graduated, if I had that 4-year degree, if I could make X amount of money, I'd really be able to help my mom and help my brother and buy a place for us to finally have a home so we wouldn't have to keep moving every time the rent went up to like the next neighboring city, right? And you know how that goes, like the cities kind of just like degrade a little bit, right? And so, yeah, I grew up in parts of the ghetto and it was very interesting. Yeah.

But just to add, you know, like if you notice, I really want you to pay attention to the why. Like, why was she working so hard? Why did her mindset shift into this? Why did she put herself through doing whatever it takes to help, like, her mom and her brother? Like, why? Like, what is that why for you? What is that why for you? That's where you're gonna get the— for the inspiration, the fire inside, the hunger, the drive. That's where you're gonna pull from when you're going through the bad times. When you're going through good times, it keeps you humble. Those are the, those are the things, okay? Those are the, the reasons why you continue to strive for more, where you continue to push and fight for your dreams, your goals. You never want to see your family struggle, 100%.

Yeah.

What is that why for you? If you notice, like, that was Crystal's why. That's part of her why, right? So there's so many other layers to it, but again, You know, for you, if you're taking notes, right, as a student, taking notes for yourself, for your life, for your future, for your goals, your dreams, what is that why for you?

And that was literally on my mind every single day, um, even since elementary school, right? Like, I don't know if you guys ever walked with holes in your shoes in the rain with your feet soaked from your socks, just like absorbing all the water. But I dare not ask my mom for another pair of shoes, right? I saw how hard she worked, how tired she was. She was working 2, 3 jobs and she was going to college at night just so she can better herself, get like a better degree and be able to make just a little bit more. So I just remembered walking to school with my brother and it was like, it would always— I swear it rained so much back then, and I would just walk to school with holes in my shoes and my socks would be wet. But guess what? Like, for the next 6 to 7, 8 hours, like, I just had to put up with wet socks. And so that is like a memory that I, I held dear, and I was like, man, one day, one day I'm not gonna have to walk in the rain with holes in my shoes and sit in class for like 6, 7 hours with like soggy socks, right? I just remembered there was just so many things and so many little layers that just added on, you know, it sucked being the poor kid. It sucked seeing everyone every single year come with like new clothes, new pencils, new everything. And my brother and I just, it was always the same. It was just every single year. If we still fit it, like, that's it. Like, we just rotated everything. Um, and, you know, we were only allowed one thing per year, and it was like 25 cents or like 50 cents from Goodwill. So there was a lot of things, a lot of pain points where I was always like, one day, one day, one day. Like, one day I'm gonna make a million dollars. Like, one day I'm gonna buy a million dollar house. Like, One day, like, I am not going to live my life like this forever. When I am old enough to be able to do something about it, like, I'm going to do something about it. So what is your guys' why? Like, why do you guys keep going? Why are you guys here? Why do you do what you do every day? Sometimes we get so busy every single day that it's like everything that we do is like we just wake up and we just do what we do. But I think often we forget about our whys. We forget about our pain points. Like, does anyone else have immigrant parents? Did anyone else struggle through life? You know, um, what were your struggles? What were your pain points? And what did you use to tell yourself as a child? Or maybe not even as a child, maybe you didn't struggle until later on in life, but what are the things that you always told yourself like one day, because that one day could be— could very well be today. It could be the start of today. So why I share my story now, I share it because I want to help people, because I was once there. I was once there before and going from absolutely nothing and being like the poor kid of school all the time watching your friends like buy snacks, buy, you know, drinks in the locker room, buy little bags of chips and just watching them like eat and drink and enjoy. And we didn't have that. So we just watched. We just watched other kids enjoy like the littlest, simplest things in life. And it sucked. A freaking fact. And so that is part of why I was so determined. Like, what is your why? And have you given up on yourself? Like, have you given up on your why? Have you just went through life thinking that it's not possible anymore? Because I'm here to tell you that I'm living proof and that if I can do it and I came from like absolutely nothing you guys can too, right? Like, we are all the heroes of our own story, and deep down inside, you know what you need to do. You know exactly what you need to do. You know why you wake up every day, and you know what you see and the life you envision in front of you, right? So I want to inspire you guys to turn that dream machine back on because it is absolutely possible. And I'm going to be doing my best throughout, like, the next few trainings here and there to teach you what I did, the how-tos, the mindset, right? Because at the end of the day, it's so much mindset, but it is also a lot of heart. Because the days when your mind tells you those negative thoughts— we all have them throughout the day, we are our worst critics— your heart will always tell you that it's not true. You can keep on going. You are not going to give up, and you are going to keep pushing through. And because we have this beautiful Community alongside us to love us, to support us. We are all going after our goals and dreams, right? And Shen and I are gonna do our very best to break those things down for you guys and to give you guys all the tools and all the how-tos to be able to accomplish that. But are you— are you willing to do whatever it takes to be the hero of your own journey? Because it is on you. You can learn what you can learn on YouTube, on social media, through books, through trainings. But it's not until you actually decide to take the action and to stop giving yourself those negative thoughts of why not you, right? So there it is.

That was very powerful.

Wow. I feel your heart.

I feel your heart.

I feel like my heart's in my stomach right now. Like, you guys have no idea. Like, a sweater was probably not the best thing to wear. Like, something moisture-wicking. No, no, no, no. That's pretty good.

Anchor this energy. Like, you want to anchor this feeling right now, the feeling of uncomfortability. Get comfortable with it. Anchor it into yourself. Because you can pull this energy and channel it back in at a moment's notice, any time. You see what I'm saying? This was very powerful. This was so powerful. Thank you for sharing.

This is so uncomfortable. Like, Sean's been— Sean has been like my number one fan since the very beginning. And he's like, what? Like, you have— like, since 3 and a half years ago when you stepped into my life, he's like, why aren't you sharing your story? Why aren't you being authentic? Why aren't you? And I was just like, No, like, no, like, I'm not ready yet. Like, I'm going to die with this. Like, I am not sharing. And it's not because I don't want to give you guys. It's not. It's because it makes me uncomfortable. Like, it makes me uncomfortable. Like, you would think that I should be comfortable. You would think that I made it. Like, I haven't yet. Like, I— and I— and I hope I never do. I hope I never stop dreaming. I hope I never stop setting the bar higher and higher and higher because there's so much to life. And I really want to see everyone in life succeed. Like, it hurts me to my core when I see people struggling, when I see families struggling, struggling, like especially single moms. Like, I came from a single mom. At one point I was a single mom, you know, until Sean stepped in. I want to see families thrive in all aspects of life, and I know you do too, and I know you guys can do it. And I'm going to be getting more comfortable being uncomfortable, sharing a lot more how-tos, right? So that's fire.

Yeah, because we have what, 25 minutes left? So this again You know, whenever— this is what I wanna encourage everyone to do, especially at times like this, like especially for you right now. Like this is like a moment for you. You need to anchor it in. This is like an energy that you can pull at any time you want. You have to anchor it in. You have to channel this energy, feel this energy, lock this energy in because this energy changes lives. This energy changed your life. This energy changed my life. This energy changed someone's life here today. Use this energy, anchor it in, and like enjoy and feel this moment fully. Good job. I'm fired up too. I'm really fired up. I was over there. Yo, I was, I was over there and I'm just like, oh, like I'm holding my tears back. I'm also like, I'm, you know, I'm pulling all this energy. I'm, I'm, I'm soaking up this inspiration, this fire, because the thing is, like, again, let your learning lead to action. What is next? What action are you gonna take next? This story is one unique story. You have a unique story as well. Every single person here has an, their own unique story. And guess what? That's the beauty of life. That's the beauty of people. That's the beauty of humanity. It's everyone has their own individual, unique, compelling story. What are you going to do with that story? Who are you going to help with your story? I'm just reading the comments. This is like amazing.

Thank you, guys. Thank you. Thank you for your love and for your support.

Powerful action items and action items.

So before this, there's another action item, right? This was one of the top, top tools that I used in my personal life from to, to actually obtaining where I am today. There's a saying, right? And I never knew this saying until Shawn taught me. And I guess it's a saying that's out there, but you can't manage what you can't measure, right? So I'm going to say that again if you want to take notes. Take notes. You can't manage what you can't measure. So if you can't measure something, you can't manage it. And if you can't manage it, you don't make it an actual step that you can break down, like an actual goal that you can break down by steps. So the— my favorite thing that I did was I had a journal, paper and pen. And as soon as I started making money when I was 16, while still in high school, starting college, was I would have a paper and pen. And every month when I made a paycheck, when I got a paycheck, every month I would write down how much did I make, right? So I would write down, um, Income. Okay. Income. So what is your income? Right. Can you see that? So I need to bring it closer.

No, just maybe use the other pen.

So every month I would write down how much am I bringing home? Right. How much are you bringing home? How much are you bringing home after tax? Right. So if you get a pay stub, you have gross income, which shows what your salary is. And then you have your net pay, which is what you actually get paid. But what is your income, right? So I would take my gross because that showed me how much I was taking home. Because no matter what, we're gonna get taxed, right? There's a saying, Ben, the saying goes like, in life, nothing is guaranteed but taxes and death. I may have botched the saying, but you know how it goes. Nothing in life is guaranteed except for death and taxes, right? So what is your income? So if you guys want to, this is the top, top tool that I used in order to understand my finances better. And so every month I would go over what's my income. Oh, this is much better. Yeah. And I would subtract my expenses, right? So this is what you're taking home every single month. Minus your expenses, right? So your cost of living, your home, your rent, your mortgage, your car, which is, um, your credit cards, your food, anything and everything. And then at the end of the day, I would see what do I have left? And from what I had left, what can I do with that, right? Um, what can you do with what you have left at the end of the day? Do you have anything left at the end of the month, or was the month Did your money run out before the month ran out? Right. That's like another saying. Was there more month than there was money?

Yeah, right.

But there are more months than there was at the end of the money. So this was like the top tool. And as we go along, I'll break— I'll break these things down further. But it's really super simple to start. What's your income? What are you taking home? Minus what are your expenses and what do you have left? Because at the end of the day, what you have left, I would save it. I would save this. And if you don't have anything left, I would evaluate this. I would evaluate this first because the easiest way to start with is to start by saving. And you can't manage what you can't measure. So this would be one of the top tools that I use to get to where I am today and that still use on a monthly basis, right? This is something you could start.

Yeah, this is called the net worth calculator, right? So when it comes to net, what she's talking about is the, the net right here is what's in your bank, okay? What do you have in your bank? What do you have liquid? What do you have, like, what do you have, uh, under your bed? You know what I mean? It's like that, like, what do you have, okay? That's what she's talking about right here. So income is what you're making, is what you're, you're receiving, what's coming in. Yeah, what's coming in. And then the expenses is what's going out. Yeah. So this right here, that's what she's talking about. And we created a tool called the net worth calculator. It's on our website. Now you can literally plug in, you can plug in what you own and what you owe, and it's going to calculate for you what your net is. And so I think it's so important that, like, we talk about the savings on another call. Another session simply because, like, when she talks about savings, like, when I hear her talk about savings specifically, it reminds me of the book The Millionaire Next Door, because everything that they talk about in The Millionaire Next Door is actionable, practical items that you— if you know a millionaire and you've lived with them, or you, you've seen them, you're able to shadow them, you'll notice specific intentional actions that a millionaire does. Okay, it's very, it's very simple and subtle though for those who don't know. It's very simple and subtle for those who don't know. So, but I've noticed it because even for myself growing up, same thing, uh, poor, you know, not, not having it all, all these things. And guess what? I recognize these patterns. I recognized, I recognize these patterns that a millionaire doesn't do. A millionaire does not do. I was doing. And then from there I was like, what the heck? Like saving? Like really saving? Because I would think that earning is the thing that will help you get— make a million. But in reality, it is a combination of both. So yeah, I really want to dive deeper into, you know, the saving aspect. That's gonna— that's gonna be a full training on its own. But I encourage everyone for to as a call to action, as one of the call to actions, you know, is reading or listening to The Millionaire Next Door. That subtle— everything that they're talking about in there, the subtleties of them saying you have to skillfully take action on saving, skillfully take action on buying, skillfully take action on how you live and audit your lifestyle up to the detail. If you're serious about hitting your goals, your financial goals, the money goals, then guess what? What she's talking about, saving, is a key aspect to it.

That's the first step. Yeah. So income minus expenses equals net. And the next thing that I want you guys to do besides that monthly check-in with yourselves, with your finances, is the net worth calculator. This is literally how I accidentally found out that I was a millionaire, right? So it is your net worth. And what is your net worth? Your net worth is what you own minus what you owe. So what do you own and what do you owe, right? So last night I wanted to go to bed, but I was like, you know what? Like, I love my sleep, okay? I love my sleep. Health is important when you're chasing your financial goals. With no health, you have no wealth. Okay? So I was like, you know what? Let's do this calculator, because if you really want to see where you're at, your net worth is going to determine where you're at. And this may be very uncomfortable, but last night we stayed up and we put a calculator together, and Sean helped me like do the coding, right? Like he, he did the coding, put it up on his website. So we have a net worth calculator I would strongly suggest you guys get uncomfortable, start looking at your numbers, and go through the net worth calculator in order to determine and to see where you're at, so you know where you want to be and where you're at and the distance. And as we go through these trainings, we're going to give you actionable items to get closer. So, um, can you share Can you share the website, the share the, the link for the calculator?

Yeah, it's resurrectionmedia.com/firehour. It's just on there.

Do you wanna type it in? 'Cause maybe resurrection can be spelled very differently.

And so just to take a moment too, you know, because we're gonna be talking about more of this, we're, oh yeah, let me just type it in real quick.

So if you guys want to, um, we stayed up last night putting a net worth calculator for you guys to use as a tool.

It took me 30 minutes to do because I'm not a coder. I don't know anything about coding, so I had to use AI to help me with the code, and, uh, it took 30 minutes to do. We ended at like 1 AM, and I like it. It could be, it could be improved, but this gets the job done. It gets the job done. It tells you your net worth after you, you input your, the amounts. And it's very self-explanatory. There's no need for assistance. It's with ease. You'll be able to do it with ease. And so, um, on the next Fire Hour session, this was, you know, this was the story. This is just, just to give the background of, you know, $1 million net worth, right? Multiple million dollars net worth. So anything is possible, right? If you have a goal to be a millionaire, if you have a goal to say, I am a millionaire. Right? And it feels good to say that, by the way. So, um, if you do have that goal though, okay, I encourage you to, to do it because you can, right? You can. It's possible and it's worth it, and you should, because the world revolves around money again, okay? That's why we're bringing it up on FIRE Hour. It's because wealth is not just about health, it's not just about finances, it's not just about family, it's not just about your relationship, it's not just about self-love, it's not— but it's as there's so many things to it, but we need to address money, we need to address finances, we need to address the things that are uncomfortable. Because again, what I've found to be true is money ties to everything else. Money connects to everything else. And like, I really wanted to show a visual of this because it's so— it's important, like, just to give a visual, like, for those who are visual learners. This is money, okay? What is connected to money? Let's just ask the question right now. What is connected to money? Food. What is connected to money?

Home, roof over your head.

What is connected to money? Clothes, right? What else is there? What is connected to money? Your job.

Car. A car, you gotta get somewhere.

Your car, your transportation vehicle, right? What is connected to money? Yeah, I'm always asking the same question. Ask yourself the same question. Pay attention and notice What questions are we asking, right? The, the quality of your questions determine the quality of the answers that you may receive depending on who it's from. What else is there? What is connected to money, right?

Everything.

There's— yeah, there's everything. Like death.

Everything, right?

There's death as well. What is connected to money? There's so many things, okay? So everything is connected to money, right? And then how do you use that money to make more money? There's, there's ways to do that, right? If you have— if you're doing Thrive, Thrive is an income stream, a vehicle. It's a vehicle to increase your, your money, right? There's, there's more things. Why do we have an auto repair shop, right, aside from our full-time stuff? It's because it's another way to increase your income. On the next Fire Hour session, we're going to go over income-producing activities. IPAs, because it's important to diversify your income streams. It's important to multiply your income streams. It's important if you— especially if you have multiple bills. Especially if you have multiple bills, why do you not have multiple streams of income? Yep, right. Um, one example, uh, this was Crystal's idea actually. When, when we got pregnant, Crystal— this is what I was thinking, okay? When we got pregnant, I was like Oh my gosh. All right, how do I scale this, this business that we have right now? How do I multiply the income? How do we go from 10 to 100? Like, what are we gonna do? And then she was like, no, let's just buy another income stream. Let's just create another income stream, right? It's— there's mindset shifts, there's philosophies, there's frameworks, there's different, like, ways. There's different ways, different ways of thinking. Uh, and problem solving, especially for, for money out and money in. Okay, we're going to talk about that in detail on the next call. Income-producing activities. I'm telling you right now, if you have multiple streams of income, you're going to have multiple different IPAs, multiple different income-producing activities for each business. And I'm going to talk about the 3 ways. Okay, I'm going to talk about the 3 positions I'm gonna talk about— I apologize, can we, can we— I'm gonna talk about the 3 positions that you can be in, okay? Um, and I'm just gonna give you guys just a quick teaser. So the 3 positions are operator, owner, investor. Operator, owner, investor, okay? There's only 3 positions everyone is always in. It's either operator, owner, or investor. The goal, the goal is to always start off as, you know, operator. That's how we all start off, basically.

Skill sets.

Yeah, skill sets. That's where you get your skills, your skill sets, your experience, your wisdom, your knowledge, everything, right? Then you transition to owner, right? You're, you're operator, owner. And then from there, the goal is obviously to become an investor. If you are an investor, you are now leveraging and playing the leverage game. Of not trading your time for money anymore. So there's different levels to it, but again, the goal is to— if you want to, the goal is to become an investor, to add that, that title of investor to you, add the title of investor to your personal brand, add the title of investor to your lifestyle, add the title of investor to your family. This is important simply because if you have aspirations and goals to accomplish financial goals and lifestyle goals, you have to transition into that investor role. It's, it's a powerful position to be in that I encourage every single person to strive for, to achieve, because you can, okay? You can. There's so many people out there who have achieved, who are investors. Why not you? Why not us? Why not Devin? Why not the kids? Okay, why, why not, right? So this— if you guys enjoyed this call, like, just let us know because we're going to go deeper. This is just the— there's so many things we can talk about.

This is just the surface. There's, there's so much more. And like, I feel so free and I'm so excited to like not hold back anymore after like 3 and a half years of you literally like share, share, share. Like, I'm, I'm going to be a lot more authentic, right? Like, I am going to practice what I preach and there is just going to be so much more fire. We are going to keep bringing the heat because I believe that it is our duty to help the next person, to help the next family. And so I'm going to be speaking a little bit more now. Let's go.

It's going to be good. Isn't it liberating? It's freeing, right?

It is.

You feel good.

I feel like a big weight is off my chest. It's something like just huge. It's like off my chest and off my shoulders because my goal is to help people. My goal is to help families. My goal is to help that family that's struggling, that single mom that's struggling, right? Like, and how can I make that my goal if I'm not open and honest? Like, literally sharing with you guys it felt like I was like naked. It felt like I was taking off my clothes. Like, that is how nerve-wracking it was. But now that I've just released a part of me that I've held back for so long, like, now I'm more open and free to sharing exactly how I did it and exactly how we continue to do it and how we're going to build legacies for our families, for our children. You know, there's more than one generation that we want to take care of. We want to take care of our parents, our grandparents, our kids, our kids' kids, so on and so forth. And so that's what we're here for. That's where we're going to. So if you guys want to go there too, it's going to take a whole nother version of you to get to somewhere you've never been before. You have to become someone you are not yet, but you can do it, and we are right here with you guys.

Absolutely. So yeah, this is— this was Fire Hour session number 2, day number 2. We're gonna keep on bringing the heat. This— and if you have— again, if you guys have questions, if you have topics that we— you want covered, like, if we have the knowledge, if we have the education, if We have the experience. We can discuss it. We can talk about it. We can share our journey. We can share our experiences. We're not going to talk about things we don't know. There are other people and experts who can talk about the things we don't know, but always a student. Okay. Always a student. We're here to help. This is for you. Fire Hour is transformation for you. You got what it takes. You just got to give it all that you've got. Don't let your dreams die. Where is your why? Find that why. Push through, fight for your goals, fight for your dreams. Get fired up, get inspired. You can do it. Let's go. All right, have an amazing Wednesday. Crush it, dominate your path, live life on your own terms, and make it happen. All right, peace out.

Love you guys.

Love you all. Record. Good job, baby.

Woo!

You got me fired up, Devin. Love you. That was amazing. You crushed it, baby. That was fire. That was very inspirational. That was powerful. Yeah, that was transformation. You changed someone's life. You changed your life. You changed all lives. And now, like, this has brought Fire Hour to another level.

It has, because now I'm literally sharing what I know and what I've been through in the hopes of inspiring someone else to really get somewhere that they never thought possible. Because like, I'm living proof and I have actionable items.

Yeah.

And I'm not holding back anymore because I finally expressed my truth, so I don't have to hold back on the information and the knowledge that I have to help educate people because it's my truth.

Yeah, and it's a disservice to withhold it. Yeah, to ourselves and to everyone else. So yeah, it's time.

Fulfilling a promise that I made a long time ago.

Yeah, great. Gosh, fire hour. Powerful. All right, we gotta go.

Yeah, we gotta go. We gotta get ready to get the kids up next.

All right.