Episode 83: The Secret Habits of Multifamily Investor Jerome Myers

Acquania Escarne 0:03

You are listening to the purpose of money podcast, a podcast where we talk about ways to build wealth and create more freedom in your life. Today. I am your host, Acquania Escarne.

Hey, guys, welcome back to the purpose of money Podcast. I'm super excited today to talk with Jerome Myers, aka Jay, who is a developer of people and also a real estate investor, I am excited to have this conversation because we're going to talk about how to create the life of your dreams, and really live the way you want to on purpose. And we might also get to talk about the Myers method and how Jerome built a multi million dollar portfolio using the principles of the Myers method. So without further ado, let's get into this interview.

Hey, Jay, welcome back to the show. How are you doing?

Jerome Myers 1:00

Amazing, that means I get to come more than often. So I'm back. Right. So I get the like, be a regular guest on here now.

Acquania Escarne 1:07

Why not? Why not? It was maybe the right thing to say, because this is definitely a conversation I want to have or continue on another occasion.

Jerome Myers 1:16

Okay, yeah. Oh, good to be here. Thank you for having me.

Acquania Escarne 1:19

Of course, I really want to learn more about you. And how you got started, because I read that you actually had a shocking experience at 22, you had a head on collision that led to you being in the ICU. So how did you go from a life altering situation to where you are now?

Jerome Myers 1:41

Oh, that's a winding and twisting road. I think the big thing is me just realizing that I'm on borrowed time. Right? So when you get a second chance of life, because I mean, literally, when I was on a scene, that accident, somebody came up to the car and said he's dead. And know that well. Can I not make the most of this? I think a lot of us feel like money is our most precious resource. But the reality is time is the only thing that's not replenishable, right? You make money, you lose it, you make a bad investment, you can get the money back, what you can't get back is your time.

And so when I realized like that your life can end in a split second, when I realized like, you can't get more of the time, once it's taken away, it just started to be a lot more intentional about my approach to life. And so worked really hard in the career that I started as an engineer ended up in project management and I, my last role, I built a $20 million division for a company. I was employee number two, we had $0. And by September 30, we had about 175 employees. In a year, we made $6 million in profit on that $20 million in revenue. And the reward for that was laying people off.

And then the next year, I was doing the same thing again. And I just realized, hey, there's got to be more to this. In my mind, I was like, I'm an entrepreneur, I'm talking to people every other week, I'm seeing them once a quarter like this is my business. But when it came time to make the big choices, those were being dictated to me. And I realized that I needed to exit the matrix, I needed to start something of my own, where the buck really stopped with me instead of relying on other people to make the big heavy choices.

Acquania Escarne 3:27

Oh, man, that's so powerful. And it's, it's interesting to hear a story of someone who was able to grow a company from the ground up, but then to grow it to such a level where you still didn't have the authority to make those final decisions. I'm sure it was tough, but you were courageous, because you said, Okay, this is no longer meant for me. And I'm going to go into my own thing. And that thing helps you create the Myers method. So tell my listeners a little bit more about what is the Myers method? And how have you personally used it to level up your life and to change other people's lives?

Jerome Myers 4:06

Yeah, so that was coined by my buddy, Dr. James Bryant. So after we bought a few apartment buildings together, he said, Hey, man, on this next one, we're using the Myers method and I was like, What are you talking about? He's like the Myers method, man. All right. Humor me, right. Indulge me break this down for me. He said, Okay, let's so you go out, you find these deals. And then we put our team together, and that's us funding them. And then we fix them. And then we flip them.

It's a find, five, fix, flip. I said, it's kind of catchy four f's, huh? You say yeah, I started thinking about it more. And it was like, we do have a repeatable process because we use that every time we buy a building, and we've taught other people how to buy buildings using the exact same process. We were featured in like Black Enterprise and Business Insider for this method, but it's really quite simple.

I think a lot of people are expecting a broker to bring them a deal, right? That's the only way they can buy real estate. But there's so many other options that you can use in order to get something that actually gives you opportunity to make money. Some people think leads and deals are the same thing. But in our process, we think leads are things that you could buy, you're not going to make any money, you'll break even at best. And deals are the ones where you have a high likelihood of making money if you're able to execute your business plan, effectively, effectively being the operative word there. Because there's a lot of people who go through and buy these things, and they don't have any success actually implemented a business plan. And then the end the property is worth more less money than they expected it to be when they get through the project. And so those are the four steps. It applies for any type of business transaction, we apply to multifamily, because that's really where we built our expertise in real estate.

Acquania Escarne 6:00

I love it. I'm actually a fan of multifamily. I purchase or participate in a multifamily syndication for the first time in July of 2021. And my goal at the time was just to create more passive income through real estate because after dealing with toilets and tenants, I learned a lot about myself. And I also learned about what I like and don't like. And I'm glad that even though I had a trying experience as a landlord, I definitely wasn't discouraged from still being in real estate, because I know that it's a great way to build wealth and legacy. But I just had to find a different way to do it.

So I'm super excited to even know that you're creating a method that's repeatable, that's teachable, because everyone's always asking how do I get into apartments? How do I get into multifamily? And for me, I think it's a great way to create passive income at a larger scale than potentially one off rentals that you find here and there.

Jerome Myers 7:02

Without a shadow of a doubt, the ability to buy the properties that we're actually set up to be businesses, is something that I think is missed by most people, a single family home is just that. And the intention when most of those are built and purchase is for a person to live there. And so when you go and you leverage those properties at 90%, 95%, 97%, or 100%, you're just not going to make any money, there is no cash flow from those and the commercial properties and where there is multifamily, or hotels or retail properties, industrial, all of those are set up with the expectation that the real estate is a business in and of itself. And it's meant to make money. And it's not for personal consumption is probably the best way to put it.

Acquania Escarne 7:49

Absolutely, those are all facts as a hotel investor as well. I tell people all the time, you're not just buying wholesale, you're buying the land that it sits on, and you're buying a business that is operating. And so you have so many ways to make money from that, because you can add to that business, you can raise your prices, you can raise your rents, and hold in apartments and make more money for everyone. So I love that. And I definitely think more people of color need to think about this as a potential avenue for building wealth and entrepreneurship, because it is a business. And sometimes it's the best way to get into business is to acquire an existing business.

That's why the franchise model, hotel model. So many things out there work because it's successful, you don't have to create everything from scratch, and you don't have to figure it all out on your own. So that's really, really dope. Let's pivot a bit because you're also known for developing people, and you have a very particular way in which you'd like to help Apex performers live their best life and do the most and the purpose of money is all about living the life you've always dreamed. So I want to know, what are the secret habits of an apex performer?

Jerome Myers 9:06

You know, it's funny, because I don't think there are any secrets success leaves so many clues, right. But for the sizzle, we got to tell you about the secrets. And I believe that our lives are broken up into four things, right?

It's stress, then there's health, wealth, and significance or legacy. And most people are trying to optimize for all of them. And they don't realize there's a sequence with which that you should actually pursue these things. And so what I humbly submit to the listeners today is that you want to start with stress first. And the way we think about it is through our model of a center life called the Red Pill. So there's three things that create stress in your life. And I encourage everybody out there this listening to argue with me after I suggest this to them and tell me how wrong I am. I haven't had anybody come to it yet but I'm looking for the person that is ready to debate with me. And so the first one is self image.

The second one is relationships.

And the third one is work. If you can control, manage, understand how those operate and get them to perform at an optimal level, the stress in your life will turn down, right, if you make promises to yourself and you keep them, your self image will go up, which will reduce the internal conflict, which is the thing that causes the stress, if you have relationships, and you get rid of the ones that are not ever going to be mutually beneficial, but you keep around because those parasites are good for your ego, because you think you're doing something but all they're doing is draining you, you reframe the ones that aren't mutually beneficial, but can be mutually beneficial to have only mutually beneficial race relationships in your life, you won't ever be empty, because there's always somebody coming to fill your cup as you're filling other people's cups.

And then the last one is work, right. And so when you handle your self image and your relationships, you move into the workplace, people are drawn to you, you're a leader, people want to trust you with more and more responsibility, which usually leads to more calm. And so you handle those three relationships, relationships, self image and work, your stressful get turned down, I've never heard anybody say, Hey, I'm gonna do something to take the edge off and then go do something healthy,

Acquania Escarne 11:18

I love that

Jerome Myers 11:20

aren't going to do yoga, they're not going to meditate, they're going to do something that's going to negatively impact their health when they get ready to take the edge off. And so once we turn the stress down, then we can focus on health.

And so this is why you can't do this, I don't think you should do this stuff out of order, right. And so you can implement your meditation routine, you can get your stretching, going, you can get your workouts, you can get your diet, because you don't need the sugary drink in order to numb the pain that you were experiencing. And you don't need the chocolate to fix all of the other stuff that's happening in your world. Or if the alcohol or the drugs or whatever other thing you use in order to soothe the stress in your life.

From health, we go to prosperity. And we do health before prosperity, because I think everybody out there knows somebody who's really well off and is struggling in the health department. So the goal is to go forward and not go backwards when you're working in our model. And so fix your health, then grow your prosperity. And prosperity isn't just money. It's time, talent, and treasure. And so the goal here is for you to be able to maximize the use and enjoy the things that are left in your care all of your resources. From there, most people think that they've made it, they've self actualized. But then they start asking these two questions. What was it all for? And is this really and when they start asking those questions is because they are unfulfilled. And so the only place where you can find fulfillment isn't significant significance for us is only true success. Some people call it legacy, I love to call it immortality, because these are the things they're going to live on pass your life. And so a level six, we're figuring out the legacy play, how are you going to positively impact the lives of others people so that you can get the fulfillment that you seek because it's not, that's not something that comes from within.

So six levels, self image, relationship work, stress, health, prosperity, and then significance, which gives you the legacy.

Acquania Escarne 13:17

Wow, that is powerful. And there was a lot there. But I love how you break down prosperity is not just about money. And a lot of people think that if I get to a certain amount in the bank account or in the assets, I'll be happy. But you made so many valid points that a lot of times, they're still not happy, or they're unhealthy, or a combination of the two. And it's because they haven't really addressed anything in order. So I like that you have an order or a sequence to how things should be done. And I'm wondering, though, if you're a leader, because you did mention, like a lot of us are leaders, but there are some theories that say there still should be some who follow, right? Everybody can't lead or shouldn't lead at the same time. So if you're a leader, and you have a team, which I know this is something else you're really good at doing, what are the unconventional approaches to inspire your team to have that income and motivation to do things as a team when they're not in a position to lead.

Jerome Myers 14:21

So everybody's in a position to lead especially if they know the subject better than somebody else, or they already have the experience. Right? So titles don't matter in my world, but there has to be some level some hierarchy. Because if nobody knows what to do, then you have to defer to the hierarchy in order to get the final decision made.

Very similar to the thing that I discussed in the beginning, right. If I had my druthers, I wouldn't have laid people off, I would have figured out a way to redeploy those resources in order to make sure that we were able to retain that talent, but my superior And the org chart said, No, that's not what we're going to do, we're going to move in another direction. And as a leader who became a follower in that situation, I had to follow those orders.

Now, encouraging people to bring their ideas, giving people empowering them to actually lead from the front instead of trying to coerce or suggest that something gets done. It is the way to make things happen. I heard this really funny quote about 20 years ago, they basically said, don't do stupid things to demotivate motivated people. Right. So if somebody's ready to go do the thing, get behind them, let them go do the thing, support them as necessary. I think leaders are support role, I don't think leaders are the doing role, their support role. So the quicker you can get to the support role, the quicker you can serve, the more likely things are to go further, because it's not a function of solely your effort, being the person that's behind the curtain, and directing all the things doesn't lead to a organization that's innovating at a very high level and running or operating without you cracking the whip. If that's the space that you're in, I think you're not actually getting full leverage out of the different resources that are available to specifically the human capital. And if you have an organization full of people who cannot actually contribute, you might want to retool the organization to get some folks around you who are smarter at the stuff that you're doing so that you can actually move forward

Acquania Escarne 16:41

facts. So don't be intimidated if your team knows more and can do more, because that's what makes everyone more valuable, right. And I like what you said about everyone has the potential to lead us and we should be surrounding ourselves by smarter people who can do the things that maybe we don't want to do, or we're not best suited to do. So I think that's I think that's really important. So then, how do you take that to the next level, if you're always giving opportunities to your team to give their ideas and to execute them? How do you prevent burnout in that case?

Jerome Myers 17:18

Yeah. So this was the hard one, right? Because we're taught hustle culture, we're taught grind culture. But in reality, I don't think that actually works. If you are grinding yourself, doesn't that sound painful? Does that sound like something you would enjoy? So where did you learn that? Because when you look at the wealthiest people in the world, they don't grind. You look at the wealthiest people that, you know, I suspect that they're not working 100 hours a week. And when I say wealthy, I'm not just talking about money, right? We talked about prosperity earlier. It's time talent and treasures, time, talent and treasure. If you don't have any time, how can you be wealthy? How can you be prosperous if you don't have time?

Now, with that said, you also have to have some money, right? And so the quicker you can get out of the mode of selling your time for money, the better off I think you'll be in the prosperity equation. Now, does that mean you have to build a product? Or do you have to have employees? I'm not able to answer that question for you in the podcast episode. But what I can tell you is leverage is the game. And if you can apply leverage, meaning you don't have to do all the tasks that need to be done, you can find other people to do it. You don't have to have somebody who can work 60 80 100 hours a week for the sake of saying that you were at the desk longer than everybody else. We could keep going down the list of the things that people do as a badge of courage, honor, that doesn't really mean anything in the grand scheme of things. It's not efficient, it's not effective. I don't know anybody that can work more than six hours and actually still be super productive.

Acquania Escarne 19:17

Facts. And there are a lot of studies that show that even those who say they work 80 hours a week, they're probably not really working 80 hours a week. They're just have that mentality that they want to tell and show that they've been working longer or harder. But you're right, they probably if they can say 80 hours a week, they lost their productivity every day at an earlier rate than they stopped working. They just might have kept working for the sake of being able to say I put in the time, I did this, I was grinding. And I do agree with you that it's especially in our culture where entrepreneurship is seen as the grind thing to do. But one day you'll get there One day, you'll be able to put your feet up and vacation one day your business will run itself is is an interesting perspective. And you're right, I think in order for any leader to genuinely enjoy that time where they can put their feet up, they have to put in discipline of actually creating breaks actually creating a feasible work schedule and amount of time that allows for rest, because if you don't practice that, you won't actually rest when you get it. Right. I know a lot of people will take a vacation, and we're working through the entire vacation because they're not used to taking breaks, or allowing your business to run with the brainy smart people they hired to do the other things.

Jerome Myers 20:46

I don't even think you have a business. If it doesn't work without you doing all this stuff, you just have a job. Right. And so if we go to Robert Kiyosaki Cashflow Quadrant, you know, there's an employee, self employed, business owner and investor, I think a lot of people are being mis educated in this concept, hey, go from being an employee to an investor, thinking that that's going to get them free.

Here's the thing. If you look at most investments, you're only maybe going to make 10%. And so if you got a cool 5,000 50,000, you put that in, you're gonna get $5,000 a year for most people, that's not going to move the needle. So my encouragement for people is go from employee to business owner. And so the way that we think about multifamily investments is, you know, whether you're doing a syndication or a joint venture, the goal is to be an operating partner in the deal, instead of just being a passive, because again, if you're a passive partner or limited partner, then you're down there in investor space, we want to get the carry want to get the management fees, we want to get all of the economics associated with being owner, including the tax benefits. Now, some people don't feel like they can be a business owner and have a job as an employee. So maybe they need to be self employed, and then use their self employment to then either buy ownership and businesses or turn that self employment into a business, whatever the case may be, that I think the business owner Quadrant is the way that you create wealth is the fastest way to equity, if things go well, and then you take that equity and roll it into the investment pool.

Acquania Escarne 22:25

Pay me in equity. Yes. So I love it. And I definitely agree with you on a lot of that, because it does take a mindset to be able to get into that business space, but then also find the right business for you. And there's so many options out there now that we found that individuals will find their passion as a contractor for another business, or maybe they want to help contribute their expertise in a way that allows them to get paid for what they are doing in their nine to five. So there's just so many ways to monetize our skill sets. So I appreciate you sharing that and even talking about everything today your experience creating the Myers method, your success in real estate. But before we wrap up, the name of the podcast is called the purpose of money. And I always ask my guests this, what is your purpose for money?

Jerome Myers 23:20

Buy freedom is choices, right? The money is neither good nor bad, it is just a tool, and you get to apply that tool. Um, so we've done a lot of things with money. And we've been able to create opportunities for folks who may not have been able to have it any other way,

Acquania Escarne 23:40

I love that. I love that. Absolutely amazing. So tell my listeners if they want to follow you and become a fan of Jay, where can they find you?

Jerome Myers 23:51

Yeah, the best place to go is Jeromemyers.co. And you can find all of this stuff there the podcast, and other free resources and opportunities to come hang out with us. We're going to Belize in March. So who knows what will happen there.

Acquania Escarne 24:06

I love it. And Belize is a great country. I traveled there for my mom 65th. And we had a amazing time. Just hanging out good food laid back culture, beautiful beaches. I hope you have a great time. I might even check it out. I'm a traveler. So let's see. Maybe we'll hook up in real life in Belize and hang out with all of our investing besties that's what I call them those who like to invest, and do businesses and level up. Thanks guys for listening to this episode of The purpose of money. Don't forget to LIKE, subscribe, and leave a five star review wherever you're listening. Until next time, keep building generational wealth.

Thank you for listening to the purpose of money podcast. For more resources and information. Check out my website the purposeofmoney.com and while you're there or please sign up for our newsletter so you have the latest information on new episodes and blog posts until next time keep creating freedom in your life today

Transcribed by https://otter.ai