MILLIONAIRE Entrepreneur Shares The SECRET To FINANCIAL FREEDOM | Mikey Taylor

So when you look at financial freedom and ultimately the goal, I guess the highest goal of financial success is financial freedom. And that means that you have enough money coming in to support your lifestyle, pay your expenses. So it's wonderful, right?

Yes, it is.

It's amazing because it's means to an end, in a sense. Or it gives you the choice to decide if you have to work or want to work. Now you get to say, do I still want to do this? Yes or no.

Welcome to Stuck to Unstoppable, where we interview the world's foremost thought leaders to break things down in order to help you get past your hurts, habits and hangups and finally level up and move forward. I'm your host, Stephen Scoggins. Now let's go ahead and get into today's guest and our featured conversation.

You're not going to want to miss it.

You know, sometimes when I'm on the road, I meet some of the most amazing people. And today is absolutely no exception.

Our special guest today has had a.

Wild ride of hit successes. Pun intended. He's the only guy that I know. I mean, seriously, the only guy that I know that can actually tell you all about an ollie and financial diversification as a professional skateboarder, real estate investor, and serial entrepreneur with a multi million dollar exit. Mikey Taylor is now the CEO of Commune Capital, where Mikey Taylor and his team provide others with a solid path to financial freedom and success. Everybody, please help me welcome Mikey Taylor.

Mikey, welcome to the show. Dude, how you doing, man?

Doing well. Stoked to be here, brother.

Yeah, dude. So what's going on in your neck of the woods, man, over in Cali? What's going on over there?

Well, feels like a lot. You know, we've been. Our state's never open. We're still locked down. Like, we've been locked down since March. So, you know, there's still like a bit of this that, you know, I think we're anxious to reopen.

Yeah.

But other than that, I mean, same old. I mean, weather's beautiful. Just finishing summer, so the kids are now back to school and, you know, just doing it, living in California.

That's cool. Deal, dude. Well, if you don't mind, tell the audience a little bit about yourself. Obviously, you've had a very successful pro skateboarding career. Entrepreneur of several businesses, manage to sell one. Like, give us a little background, kind of give us the kind of. How'd you get to where you're sitting right now?

The short story. I picked up a skateboard when I was 13, completely became obsessed with it and didn't want to let it go. So I tried to figure out a way to not stop. And that was convincing companies to give me free stuff. And then that led to convincing them to pay me, which, you know, I thought I was off and running. And then, you know, one of the challenges to having a passion become a career, especially in sports, is short lived. So although I was living my dream, I was only able to do it for a little bit, a little bit amount of time. So I had to figure out what was next. And so, you know, there was two things at play. One, in the beginning, I wasn't sure how I was gonna make money because I made my money from riding skateboard. So I got really disciplined on saving as much money as I possibly could so that I actually had money to put towards investments. And then when I got a little bit older, I started really liking the business side of skateboarding, which then led to me creating my own companies, which you kind of mentioned one of them we ended up selling, which was a crazy experience.

I heard you did it in like three years or something crazy from like conception to sale in like three or four years.

It was including conception, it was about four, but yeah, it was still fast. Yes. We weren't expecting that. Truthfully. We thought we were going to be doing this for two decades.

And then, and then ended. My career ended up ending eventually. And then I started another company during that transition and that's what I do now, which is a company called Commune Capital. It's a private equity fund that we have people invest into our fund and then we take that capital and go find opportunity in apartment buildings and now storage units.

Oh, very cool. Also that's. The apartment building is my neck of the woods. I like that space. I like apartment buildings and I like the residential space come from a construction background. So yeah, I feel you there. Well, check it out. I mean, like, help me understand a little bit. So I think that everything that we do in life, no matter what it is, from finances to relationships and stuff like that, or even a hobby or passion, teaches us something about ourselves, about who we're going to become, stuff like that. You know, obviously most people your age, even as a professional skateboarder on the early side, aren't thinking about saving money and thinking about the future. They're thinking about, okay, how do I take this money I've got and like show off a little bit? I mean, how did you, how did you walk that out and prevent from falling in that trap?

So when I told my Parents, I was going to be a pro skateboarder. They kind of panicked a little bit, I bet. You know, I mean, dude, skateboarding was small. One, two. At that time, you know, I believed it, My parents absolutely believed it, that if I wasn't going to go to college, I wasn't really going to be that successful. So for them to find some type of peace in me choosing this career, they wanted me to go speak with their friend who was the person who was managing my parents money. He ran a multifamily office. They did planning, advisory. And so it all started by me basically trying to like, make my parents happy. I met this guy when I was 19, and that mixed with the truth that I thought, and I really did, that if I didn't go to college, I wasn't going to be successful. So there was a component of it where I felt like I was letting go of something that I envisioned my life once being. And so I think it was a component of that. A component of trying to make my parents happy and then a component of really being scared of what life was going to look like afterward. That I just took everything this guy told me as truth. And I wasn't really at an age to know if what he was telling me was right or wrong. I was just like, his name was Randy. Randy, what do I do?

My parents trust Randy. I should be able to trust Randy.

Yes. So I was just like, randy, what do I do? Like, how do I win at this? And basically he. And thankfully, because he truthfully changed the trajectory of where my future was headed. But he basically started by working on the behavioral side. Me controlling my expenses, not increasing my lifestyle. As I started making more money, really honing in on ego and not trying to compete with my friends. Something you mentioned.

That's right. That's right. All of that was to build cash. I was trying to build this war chest of cash so that I could go, then deploy an opportunity. Then when the opportunity came, part of Randy's business was also on the private equity side. They ran a real estate fund in the storage space space. And then they also ran a fund in the lending space. So my intro into real estate investing, once I actually had cash to participate, was through Randy.

Okay, so Randy. So Randy's been a good guy over all then.

Randy has been massive. And one thing I'm really blessed with is he could have just said, oh, yeah, give me your money and I got you. Thankfully, he worked with me like a big brother and worked on all these components so that I could understand how money and investing worked, and I think I was just willing to listen and do it, and then that ended up having a massive impact on my life.

That's amazing. You know, it's interesting how one person can actually make that kind of an impact, you know, and so much about, like, getting life right because all about surrounding yourself with decent people. And you liked your friends so much that you. They became business partners in these different business ventures, Right. So you're still rolling with the same people that you were skating with back in the day, right?

That's exactly right. That's exactly right.

That's awesome. That means there's some serious trust there. What else does skateboarding specifically teach you about life and business, for that matter? I mean, what are some of the things that you can relate the two. I mean, they seem like different worlds, but they're really not because they both take perseverance and commitment and some other things.

They are different worlds. They are different worlds, but a lot of the. The, I guess skills or qualities that you learn do translate for skateboarding. The hardest thing about skateboarding is it's so damn hard. Right. It sounds so dumb to say, but it takes you so long to learn your first trick. Like, for example, I learned how to step on a skateboard and started trying to, you know, learn how to have balance. But the first trick, which is an ollie, that's when you jump and the board stays with you, right?

Yeah.

That took me six months of trying every single day.

Yeah.

And so what happens is most people don't have the patience to get through the tough part until something starts working, right.

Yeah.

So skateboarding six months, trying that every day, finally learn it. The next trick I wanted to learn was another six months. So basically, that just became normal for me to just like, sit there and try something over and over and over, and then feeling the joy once I, you know, delay gratification out six months to a year. And I loved that feeling. So there was. There was one part which is resilience that skateboarding taught me more than anything. The second part is having a realistic view of what failure is. Right. Most people are so concerned about failure that they'll never try. For me, I got so used to failing the majority of the day that it just became normal. Failure became part of my process to succeed. So I think those were probably. That was probably the biggest learning lesson. The other thing skateboarding is, it's very creative in. You know, for example, the first time I saw somebody skate down a handrail. Right. Like, the handrails that go downstairs.

That would scare the crap out of me.

It was. But for me, I saw somebody do it, and I was. My mind was blown. I was like, I had never thought of that handrail being used to skateboard down. I thought it had one purpose, so that you could hold your hand on it when you walk down or walk up. Right. And when I saw that. That guy do a board site on the rail, I was like, oh, my gosh, what else am I missing? And then all of a sudden, the entire world I started looking at through the lens of how do I skateboard on it? Right. And that just, like, different outlook definitely transpired or I guess moved into the business world, where I look at it very differently than most people. Most people see things one way, especially for us in real estate. Most real estate investors or professionals see it one way. But a skater comes in and sees things that they're not even paying attention to. So I think there's definitely been some skills that have transferred over.

That's awesome. That probably means you've been able to look at deals in a different way and see a deal that other people see as a failure and say, you know what, if I do this kind of improvement, do that kind of improvement, I can either buy, flip, or hold, right?

That's right.

And I think that's powerful for. For the vast majority of our audience.

They haven't gotten to quite the level where they're seeing something called passive income. Now. It's a term that in our world that we use on a regular basis. Right. Because once you get your mainstream of income, then you're looking for your passive stream. Tell the audience a little bit what passive income actually is and why it's so powerful and what it can do for them.

Okay. Passive income means that you have money coming in. Well, let me take a step back. A passive investment is you investing in something, and you're not actively involved in the investment. Your money is at work. So when you start making a return on that money that is passive, you're not working or giving up time for money to come in. So when you look at financial freedom and ultimately the goal. I guess the highest goal of financial success is financial freedom. And that means that you have enough money coming in to support your lifestyle, pay your expenses. So it's wonderful, right?

Yes, it is.

It's amazing because it's means to an end, in a sense. Or it gives you the choice to decide if you have to work or want to work. Now you get to say, do I still want to do this, yes or no? So there's a lot of blessing in it, but it takes a lot of discipline to get there, because passive income.

It grows. It grows slowly, but once it starts moving, it really starts moving. So it's like skateboarding, where most people don't even get to the first trick. That's how passive income is. Most people don't even get to the first stage, and they give up before it starts really working for them. It's massive, though, that passive income is what allowed me to do what I'm doing now when my skateboarder ended.

Yeah, I mean, it's a snowball effect that can work in your favor. You know, I mean, it's an old terminology, but it's true. Right. So you can either work for your money, you can make it work for you. Right. The trick is. The trick is moving from one camp to the next camp. Right. So what do you think the top three things are that would hold somebody? Let's say they got a job and they're working hard and they're doing their thing. How do they move from a job over time? What kind of behaviors do they have to get around in order to start building and going towards the direction of a passive income stream?

Okay, before I even answer that, I had a neighbor just click off a lawnmower. You picking that up? If so, I'm gonna run to the house.

No, it's all good. I'm good.

Okay.

Do you want to ask earbuds?

There we go. Do you need to ask question again, or can I just go in?

Yeah, either way, it's fine.

Go ahead.

You do?

Okay, cool. So, yeah, Yeah, I like realness, but. So here's the deal. You know, there's typically, as we've mentioned a second ago, there's two camps. There's. There's the job camp. Yeah, I got a job. I'm working as hard as I can. I'm working. I'm trading time for money. That's what I'm doing. But I really, really want to have financial freedom. I would love to do what you guys are talking about. I'd love to get into where I'm creating passive wealth and having money work for me rather than me work for it. What kind of behavior patterns do you see that are negative that need to be changed with the vast majority of people that you work with?

That is such a. Such a good question. So it starts with believing that it's possible. That is at the core of it, because most people think that what they have now is all they're ever gonna have. And they don't think they have the ability to either make more or ultimately get to a position of financial freedom. So, yeah, it first starts with saying, okay, I can do this and I'm capable. 1. The hardest thing about financial freedom or even financial success is the behavioral side, as far as the knowledge goes. And this is kind of of where I'm at with it. It's only about 15%. 15 to 20%, yes. For sure. The other 80% is behavioral. And most of us have a hard time saying no to things that we don't need.

Right, right. Like your buddy's Lamborghini.

That's. That's exactly right. There's so many components of it. Right. So we have a hard time saying no. We have a hard time not comparing ourselves to others. We have so many challenges with society and what society tells us to do with our money. And that before you know it, you've fallen into the trap and you can't even put yourself in a position to succeed. So there's a behavioral component of it. Second. And then third, just patience and discipline. You have to be disciplined to commit to. I'm going to put this amount of money every single month towards my future or towards investment. Right. Automate that thing and that is there to go, right? Yeah.

And just forget about it.

And forget about it. The second component is be patient, be there for the long play. And I think that is maybe would add into another challenge of the majority of us are just thinking about tomorrow. If you're thinking about tomorrow, you're not gonna get anywhere with investing. You gotta think about the next two decades.

Yeah, easy, easy. And you know, it's funny because you and you were just talking about COVID a little while ago and how it's, you know, I think before we got even hopped on air and how much it's like, impacted the world and our space in general. I don't know about you, but, you know, being prepared for events that you can't predict by doing smart financial practices. Dude. Has saved my butt this year. Has saved my butt. And here's what I mean by that. I said this on an interview, I was on a. Doing something with Forbes not long ago, and I said this. I said, most people don't understand that when everybody else is right. Hey, it's a bull market. Yeah, let's roll. It's a bull market. You know, the wise guys, the people that are going to be around after that are the ones who are like, oh, it's a bull market. That's awesome. Let's get some gains over here. But just, just know there's a bear coming. Right. So be prepared for that bear. You know, how are you able to kind of position yourself, to insulate yourself to the best of your ability and protect your, you know, your investors and all that kind of stuff with their money and with the COVID world? I mean, were you able to even, like, really kind of shelter any of it as a result? I mean, because it hit pretty much every sink in the industry.

Yes. That. That everybody should rewind what you just said and listen to it twice, because there's so much value in that for me. And I'm going back to Randy, Something he really, really blessed in me was an emergency fund. From point of being 19, right. You're 19, you're 20. You're focused on passive income. All you want to do is invest. That's actually not the first thing you do. Right. Get out of bad debt and then create an emergency fund. Most people don't like hearing this, but you want to build an emergency fund. Six to 12 months. Because when unexpected things happen in your life, and they will, the last thing you want to do is sell your assets because most likely you're not going to be able to sell them at the peak time. Right.

Yeah.

So that was something that he instilled in me through my youth. Going into investing in something I'm equally thankful for in him is they've been through three corrections in real estate investing. So, and I should add this, Randy is now my partner in my company. So I Randy, a lot of the principles he taught me we. We live by, because one, he taught me, and two, he was living it. So when we. When we look at investing, we take a very conservative approach. We don't ever expect the plan to go according to plan. Never. There's always going to be something unexpected. And we look at something, I guess, talking specifically to a deal, when we move forward on a deal, we only move forward if everything goes wrong and we're forced to hold it. And by holding it, we want to hold it. And so all of our investments, at least talking now to Covid.

We weren't challenged in a way that we had to worry about losing assets. We sit on a lot of cash reserves.

And ultimately, and this is what you want to, I guess, protect yourself from in a correction. You don't want anything to happen to your opportunity, but you want to make sure you're positioned to participate in the opportunity to come. Because these moments happen. This is the moment of wealth building right now. This moment is going to be massive for generating wealth. So you don't want to lose your assets, and you want to be able to participate in it. So we just plan to be able to participate. Yeah.

And that's. And that. And you do it by being aware of the bear and being prepared for that. And that's. I think that's one of the wisest things that my mentor guy about the construction guy, Steve Meyrick, you wouldn't know him, but he passed away in 2003. He would tell me. He goes, he told me this one time, and I've said this a thousand times on the show. It'll probably say a thousand more times because it's the most pivotal piece of information. He asked me with a question. He said, what's the difference between a rich man and a poor man? And I was a numbskull. I was like, 17 at the time. He could have slapped me in the back of the head. He would have. And because I said, duh, money, you know, like, I'm thinking, well, money. Money's the answer, right? Money's always the answer. He said, absolutely not. It's the way they think. Learn to think about tomorrow and plan for it while everybody else is spending all they got on today. Yeah, you got to be willing to do today what others want so you can have tomorrow what others don't, you know, and it's coming. You know, coming from a homeless background and then having to build my life, rebuild my life and stuff like that, and then getting that. There's a lot of. There's a lot of belief system change. There's a lot of behavioral change. There's a lot of different things. But at the end of the day, you know, you're right. If you plan, if you can participate in a correction.

Right.

Everything's on sale. Everything's on sale because everybody's on sale.

That's right. Let me give you. I have a story to add to it. 2007, 2008 was my first correction. All of my investments were passive at that point. I was just skating. And I remember, it happens. And I look around, all my friends are panicking. My friend's parents are losing everything. I call Randy. Randy, what the hell is going on? How much did I lose? Oh, we need to sell this stuff right away, right?

Yeah, yeah.

Randy goes, what are you talking about? I'm like, randy, are you not paying attention? Right?

Aren't you watching the news?

I'm like, 23 at this point. Randy, what are you talking about? And he Goes, mikey, this is why I've created all these disciplines in you, because these moments are. Are what we want. We're buying right now.

We're not.

What are you talking about? And I remember just looking at him going, okay, dude, I'm going to trust you. Right? And thank God. Now, my experience through a correction was so much different than my surrounding because I had somebody to guide me and look at trying times as opportunity. But. And this is the type, the part where I'm thankful. Prior to that, I didn't know why I was setting myself up. I was just listening. I didn't know why I was sitting on so much cash. I thought cash was trash. Right?

Yeah.

Randy's like, no, you need cash for opportunity.

Yeah.

Trust me. And then after that moment, I was like, oh, my gosh, when's the next recession? This is insane.

This was awesome.

Not saying I should say it like that, because recessions, there's a lot of pain in them starting to look through.

Uncertainty as an opportunistic time. That's what changed for me.

Yeah. No, and there's wisdom in that. In fact, let's hit this button because this is a weird behavioral change.

Right.

In regards to beginning to go from the paycheck mentality to, okay, I'm going to build wealth mentality. First of all, it takes time, and it takes a lot more time than most people give it credit for. It's putting compound interest to work for you rather than against you. But on top of that, in a correction, in a Covid world, in a housing boom or a bust or in a dot com bust or boom or.

Whatever.

How difficult or how important is it to hold fast and not operate out of fear?

Well, that's something that everyone will agree on. The challenges, once you're actually in it, your belief system goes out the window because you actually tried. Right. Something I found. And for me, personally, I'm not a very emotional person. It's not. I just don't get worked up about much. And money, I don't really get worked up on either. When I lose money, I'm fine with it.

Yeah.

The challenge is most people aren't like that. And so if you are emotional, you need to make sure you have somebody on your side that you trust that can look at you go, you're not looking at this correctly. And be your source of truth in a time where you might not be thinking clearly. Because in those moments, it's easy not to think clearly.

Yeah. Well, and that's the thing is, you know, it's that's why everything goes on sale, because everybody gets scared, right?

That's exactly right. That's exactly right. Look, when there's a correction, at least the wealthy. The wealthy don't lose anything because they're not selling anything. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? You only realize the loss when you have to sell it.

Well, and I think it goes back to what I mentioned before with that. That question that my first mentor gave me about, you know, rich man versus poor man is. A rich man is prepared for the correction. Right. Because he knows that when a correction happens, things are gonna go on sale, people are going to panic. People, this blows my mind. People that invest in the stock market. That is such a emotional workplace. It's not even funny. Like, I don't understand why I've always stuck to real estate or business ventures themselves that I have a little control over a little bit. And also, obviously, I'm sure you do this too. You don't pay full price for anything if you can do it. Right. So, you know, as you're working through this, you know, the other. I think one of the other behavioral things that you've got to work through is the element of pride and ego. Being willing to admit when you're wrong and being. Also being willing to say, hey, I need help. Someone trained me. I'm sitting where I am today and. Sounds like you're sitting where you are today because of mentors that took the time to not only help us, but teach us. Is that what you found as well? How much does pride and ego getting in people's way.

Destroys people?

I mean, just from something you just brought up, Usually when you have an ego, you want everyone to think you are always correct and all knowing, right?

Yeah.

If you're all knowing and always correct, you'll never lose another. You'll never learn another thing more than you learn now.

Right.

Because you're not in a position of soaking anything up. Any mistake you have, those are the greatest moments of learning. Right. If you're not even willing to go, why did I mess up? And what can I learn from this? You have no growth. So if you're. If you're one of those dudes is massive ego. It's only a matter of time before everything comes crumbling down. It really is. So for sure, I think it's important to get away from that.

Again, it's easier said than done, but, yeah, I think it's incredibly important.

Yeah. I mean, especially when you're trying to. You're trying. You are. I mean, this Our world, especially in a social media environment. YouTube and Instagram, you know, as good as they can do, they can also be destructive as well. It's really hard to get to the place where you are not in the comparison game. You know, somebody else has got a nice Rolex watch and you're looking at it and you're like, well, maybe it'd be nice to have a nice Rolex. Maybe I'll go for a Rolex watch. And then you get a watch. So I did this, and this is something, a mistake that I made. One of my largest competitors had this nice submariner one time and I used to eye that thing because I had like a royal blue center, my favorite color or whatever. And he would sit in the corner of the airplane where we fly onto trips. And of course I just barely made it onto the trip. Like I barely, by the skin of my teeth made it onto the strip. You know, he's been going there for years. And so I finally, I worked my butt off for like three years to get this quote unquote, Rolex or whatever. I mean, work my butt off to build my business to a place where I could, you know, free cash flow. I could buy a Rolex. Well, I go buy my first Rolex. I put it on within a month. It's like every other watch that I've got. When I'm typing, I lay it on the desk, I'm not even thinking about it. Then that stupid joker falls off the kitchen counter. Supposed to have a crystal bezel or whatever that doesn't crack or break, hits the corner, shatters to pieces. Cost me a thousand bucks to fix the stupid thing.

What we put ourselves value in is ridiculous.

It's a huge one right there. Massive one. Don't put your value in things because things will always go away.

Yeah. Now, your parents played a huge role in your overall development. Obviously they led you to Randy, but if not mistaken, your dad also. Oh, actually your parents gave you what, a hundred dollar allowance or something in other to teach you how to invest or something. Like tell me that story because that was cool.

Yeah. So one of my friends, when I was. Oh, gosh, I was in like seventh grade or something, he told me that his parents started giving him an allowance. They gave him 100 bucks a month and he had to pay for everything, right? Food, clothes. But I just took this. Oh my gosh. You get a hundred dollars a month? Are you kidding?

Oh my gosh. Yeah.

And so I was like, I'm gonna go hit my parents up. So I look at my dad, like, hey, I have this idea. How about you give me $100 a month and I pay for everything, right? And he goes, everything? And I'm like, yeah, food, clothes, like, skateboards, anything. And he goes, yeah, I'll do that. And I remember thinking, like, wait a minute, why did he say yes so quickly, right? Like, wasn't I supposed to convince him into this? He said, yeah, let's do it. I'm like, oh, he's sick. Oh, gosh. That was a learning lesson for me because I got, you know, that first month, it clicked over. I get my hundred bucks, three days later, it's gone, and I have the next 27 days broke. And my parents wouldn't give me any money. That was it.

Yeah. So I had a moment of learning about budgeting and planning in seventh grade and that ended up being massive.

Yeah. So did you finally realize there's a reason why he said, look, yeah, you would do it right now because your food bill was probably more than 100.

Bucks, dude, seriously now the blessing of it, Right? I started planning, I had to worry about budgeting, but I started getting creative on how to do things I wanted to do for less money. That was like, it was big, you know, I think.

I think if I were to change anything now, being a parent, I would, I probably wouldn't give my kids the money. I would have my, my kids work for the money, then help them instill the budget. Because that was something I had to learn later. Like, okay, I'm really good at managing money. How do I make this stuff?

Yeah.

Right.

Well, let's talk about parenting for a minute. Right? So I'm on the other end. So you're at the early end of the parenting.

Right.

How old are your kids now?

Our oldest is eight and our youngest is five months.

Oh, brand new.

Yeah. Middle child is five and a half. So we've got three now.

Oh, cool. Awesome. Congratulations on all three. I thought you had two. So I get to learn about the third one today.

That's awesome. Yeah, nice.

Let's talk about parent a little bit. So I'm on the other end. I've got a 23 year old and 19 year old and 18 year old. I've got two people there, two of them that are decent with money because they. I've done my best to train them. I've got my other son who I've done my best to train. He just doesn't listen. He just spins anyway. Right. So that's the gambit of parenting. So what have you learned so far about parenting and the importance of parenting.

Parenting.

Well, I mean, as it relates to money, as it relates to relationships, affirmation, all that kind of stuff. Like, what have you learned? What do you think the three biggest takeaways are?

Okay. You know, as you're talking about parenting, I just keep thinking about how hard it is. Right. Being a parent is by far the hardest thing I've ever done. I would say the things I've learned is your kids see more than they hear. I can tell my kids anything. They learn more from seeing how I operate. So if I'm telling them, girls, don't be on the iPad. Don't be on the iPad as I'm sitting on my phone, don't be on the iPad. They're going to be on the iPad because they see dad do it. So I've really had to. It's really shown me the importance of living in a way in which you say you're gonna live. Living in your words. When it comes to finances, this is an interesting one. And our kids are young, 8, 5. So we're going through this moment of trying to teach them how to be earners. Right. How do you make money? You make money by doing something that somebody needs, creating a service, whatever the value is. Right. So they're going around seeing if people need their car wash, going around seeing if they need dogs walked. Right. So I'm just working on the earning component right now. My oldest is now starting to get in the world of trying to save because we have her buy things. And so it's interesting on that one. And this is going to kind of touch on what you said. My two girls are completely different. My oldest, it's really easy for her to just save all of her money. My youngest, she wants something. She wants something. She wants it now. So I think you instill the principles and you show them the rewards of those principles. But they are gonna have to figure out a way to use what you teach them and apply it to their lifestyle and their personality. Yeah. Does that make sense? So I think there's gonna be some tweaks as my girls get older. But the two big things we're focusing on now from the money side is how to earn and then the discipline of saving. So we're going to start doing, like, a fake IRA where we could basically match their savings. And over a certain amount of time, they have to keep it in there, et cetera, et cetera, just to kind of teach delayed gratification.

That. And you're teaching them compound Interest, I assume, because you're going to sprinkle some more in there. That's awesome.

That's right. That's right. Then we'll teach them the real. We'll teach them the real estate game when they get a little bit older.

Yeah, that's probably like age 12, right?

Yeah.

By your first townhome building at age 12.

What's funny is my daughter right now is going through the whole boss thing, right? Who's your boss? Daddy, who's your boss? Take me to work. So I took her to work about. I don't know, this is about a year ago. This is at the end of last year. And I took her to one of our apartments and she was so confused. Wait, this is your work? This looks like a home. This is what Daddy does. Who's the boss? Daddy's the boss. And she was like, couldn't grasp it. My daddy's the boss and he works at apartments. That's pretty funny.

You could have taken a step further and knocked on somebody's door and said, this is daddy's boss.

That's right. That's right. That's right.

Daddy has to make sure this building operates like it's supposed to.

That's right. That's right.

Let's hit marriage for a second, right? Because I know your family, man.

I know you.

I know you love your family, and it's really important to you as it is to me. Right. Because obviously my wife is my bedrock. She keeps me out of a lot of trouble. She's my gatekeeper.

That's right. That's right.

I get in a lot of trouble. But are you guys a dual parent household or dual partnership when it comes to binance, or is it one stronger and then one contributes? Or do you guys have separate. Separate. I mean, what's your concept of how a marriage should work when it regards to finance?

Phenomenal question. We've tried everything at this point. When we first started dating, she didn't really know how much I made. When we got married, it was completely separate. She didn't want me. So I got to give you a little bit more context. My wife, family where her parents, and they are amazing. But her dad got stressed out when it came to money. So my wife. Anytime you talk about money, my wife would go into defense. So when it came to us getting married, she didn't want anything to do with it. Any type of planning, any type of investment. She didn't want to know anything.

She had a moment where she really started working on herself, and that bled over to her relationship with money. And once she started, you know, viewing money in a different light, then she started getting more involved with our finances, which then led to us making decisions together. And so how our structure works. My business pays our family, so we have our family wire that comes in. She manages the family budget, so we use mint.com so she is responsible of all the family expenses. I manage.

Business and then our investments. But what I've learned is I now incorporate her in those conversations so that she knows what's going on. Because if there are moments where things don't plan out, I don't want them to catch her by surprise. I want her to be involved. So we've definitely grown into that. And I wish we were there in the beginning, but we learned that along the way. So I think it's been a huge blessing having her involved, because when you get married, it's no longer you and her, it's you as one. Right. That's how a marriage really becomes successful. And you can't have some components where you're separated and some when you're together. And money, I think, is probably from a. Oh, man. Stress level. Probably the biggest trigger in any relationship is finances. So, yeah, sure. That was a big one for us to go, you know what? This is everything. Let's get on the same page. Let's start making decisions together, et cetera.

Yeah, that's awesome. You know, I like the fact that you brought up. It's a timeline, because, you know, when you're merging two people, you got two different sets of behaviors, two different sets of thinking, two different things. I grew up from in a very difficult background. My wife grew up in a more stable background. You know, money was tight from now on again, but for the most part, it was pretty steady. It was still more of a job or job mentality. So I come in as the entrepreneur, Right. Who's always looking at opportunities and threats and risk and taking it like, I think it's working, you know, and trying to. Trying to get my opportunity eyeballs to settle down a little bit. Right?

Yes. Yes.

You know, so I go through all this kind of stuff.

What works for us is, first of all, my wife, unfortunately, had to sign a prenup, which wasn't my first choice. I had been married and divorced before, and my previous spouse decided to that opposite gold mine and that, you know, so, you know, so I've always felt a little reluctance. The fact that she had to pay for somebody else's mistake kind of thing.

Sure.

And it's taken Time. With enough time and enough nurturing, you know, that that piece of paper has become irrelevant, the two of us. Because what, you know, who I am and what she. Who she is is the same. One of the things that we've done, I think you touched on this a little bit, a little bit differently than some. Is if I'm making a major business decision, like it's a major deal, and I got. I got people at the table. Right. She's in the room. She may not be sitting directly at the table, but she's in the room doing her. Her intuitive thing that she's just like, awesome at. Because I've learned that anytime she's not involved, I lose $50,000.

I think you and I both share the reality that we married up and our wives make us look way better.

Than we actually are. That's the truth.

Oh, my gosh.

I hear you. My wife is, you know, she took more of the conventional path. She went to business school, got her business degree, wanted to be an interior designer, got a degree at fit and do interior design, started her own. She is a. I mean, she's a go getter. So, you know, there is a lot that she offers in a lot of these big decisions, you know.

Yeah.

And two, I think if you're making a decision that could make an impact on your family. Yeah. Let's have the other leader involved in it, you know?

Yeah, right.

For sure. What? That it's important. I think you brought this up too. Is. I don't want everybody to hear this. I think it's important to. Especially if you are in a married or family situation. Right. You're not single. You know, you're. You're actively married. Maybe you're newlyweds. Maybe you've been married for 10 years, maybe you have kids, maybe you don't. No matter what that is, there's a responsibility to do your best, to always provide at the stable level first. You know, if something happens to me, there's a chain of events that automatically begin in reassigning assets and, you know, legacy planning and things of that nature. I assume that you've got pretty much the same thing built, which takes time. Right. Was Randy involved in that too?

That's absolutely right. He was. That's absolutely right. Trust. Yeah, of course, dude. Yeah. Yeah. Need to answer a lot of difficult questions. When we got married.

Yeah.

Which happens. Yeah.

So.

Yeah. That's right. That's right.

Yeah. Well, good.

This. This man had a Randy. Really. I mean, I hyped him up because he's he deserves all the praise there. There's. Truthfully, I wouldn't be here talking you today about the story in which what became my story if it wasn't for him.

Yeah, for sure. And Steve was that way for me, you know, and I think so. I'll maybe try to close with this part.

I believe that at this stage in the game, after you've been able to go from paycheck to passive income to wealth building to protection.

There'S an element of, yes, there's service and there's giving, and that needs to be part of your portfolio on a regular basis. I also think there's something that Randy has given you that you're now giving to listeners right now, which is a legacy that outlives him, and you'll leave behind a legacy that outlives you. I'm a living example of Steve's legacy. And, you know, it's my goal to kind of leave a legacy that outlives me. Right. Talk to me a little bit about what a legacy that outlives you looks like, and then we'll. I have to say goodbye because I don't take up all your time.

Legacy. I mean, at the core of it, it's what we do as parents, right. We're trying to create children who become leaders who make an impact in their community. Right.

Yeah.

What. What I realized in this is.

Everything went full circle with Randy and I, and now I all of a sudden found myself in a situation that is very unique. And I'm incredibly thankful for. Because he participated in my life. And that feeling, I was like, oh, my God, I'm so thankful for it. How can I do that for all of my friends? Right. And so I started thinking about, you know, the principles Randy taught me, how I could bring them to them. And what happened is, and this is the coolest part, you feel so much more rewarding rewarded, and you feel so much more accomplished when you're doing things that are making a direct impact in someone else's life. As far as a purpose standpoint, that's when it really starts moving. So I would say, and it doesn't have to be at the level of like, oh, once I'm financially successful, I can give back. Right. Like just getting involved in somebody's life who's going through some type of struggle and. And for you to be a blessing to them, I'm telling you, it will be more rewarding than anything you ever do. So then you end up, like, just wanting to do more. It's pretty cool.

Amen. To that, you know, I'm a firm believer that the greatest purpose in life you'll ever have is serving the person you used to be.

Very good.

Check this out. So if everybody wants to stay in contact with you and wants to hear more about what you're doing, you know, some are probably at the investor level, some may not be, but if they want to stay engaged with you, what's the best way to do that?

Okay, so if anyone is on Instagram, that's probably the place to find me. And then you can find everything from there. I have a text number, you can text me. I get back to everybody, but it takes me some time, so give me some grace. Our company is Commune Capital. If you want to look into the company, even if you're not an investor, we spend a lot of time creating content around the education around education, teaching people about how money works, how to become financially free. So even if you're not there yet, I think you could have a big value add there. But yeah, if you get to me on Instagram, which is Mikey Taylor, you can get a hold of me and get to anything else.

Dude, I've simply loved this, your wisdom and that your experience has been amazing. I love the fact that you've been able to be successful but do so in a planned fashion.

You may have had some lucky breaks along the way, but it's also with a lot of hard work on the front end. It wasn't a get there overnight kind of thing, so.

That's right.

Thank you so much for spending time with me today and I wish you well. And then you can come back on the show anytime you got something new, exciting. I'd love to have you back on all that kind of stuff and let everybody know about it.

Thankful for being here, brother. Thank you for including me.

All right, take care, my friend.

See you, ig.

Dude, you gotta love a young entrepreneur.

And Mikey Taylor was awesome.

Awesome. Do me a favor, check out this video right here.

Their pain. Most people choose to be defined by it in a negative way that they're not capable, that never can. It's never going to work out. And very few decide that I'm going to be defined by it in a positive way and use this to help.