Getting fired normally isn’t factor. However on reflection, it was arguably among the finest issues to ever occur to Tony Robinson. Earlier than being the web’s poster boy for short-term rental investing, Tony Robinson spent his days working for another person whereas climbing up the company ladder. When he unexpectedly bought fired (2 days earlier than Christmas), he needed to reimagine what his life would and will appear to be.
Tony took an opportunity on himself and his actual property enterprise, an opportunity that has paid off huge dividends to today. He now lives life on the schedule he desires, spending time along with his spouse and son, with out having to fret a couple of boss someday letting him go.
If you’d like Ashley and Tony to reply an actual property query, you possibly can publish within the Actual Property Rookie Fb Group! Or, name us on the Rookie Request Line (1-888-5-ROOKIE).
Ashley:
That is Actual Property Rookie, episode 146. My identify is Ashley Kehr residing my greatest Alex Cooper life in a full matching sweatsuit launching on my sofa with microphone at hand, with my pretty co-host Tony Robinson, the identical black shirt he wears for each recording.
Tony:
That is really a brand new black shirt that I bought for Christmas. So, I bought a number of black shirts for Christmas, but when that is your first time hanging out with me and Ashley, welcome to the Actual Property Rookie Podcast the place each week twice per week, we deliver you the inspiration, data, motivation that you want to get began and to maintain moving into your actual property investing journey. So, Ash, what have we bought on the docket for in the present day?
Ashley:
So, we had talked about this just a little couple of days in the past, and I actually need to do that as our Rookie reply. So, you probably did an Instagram publish about how final 12 months. So, this was proper across the time you had simply turn into the podcast host and also you had gotten fired out of your job. I might love to speak about that as a result of we had the dialog. While you bought fired, as to say you have been simply going to take a while off, you guys have been going in your honeymoon, various things, and then you definitely have been going to begin making use of and getting a brand new job. And I mentioned, I don’t suppose you’ll ever return, ha, ha, ha. However okay, good luck. And so, let’s observe via, what has occurred.
Tony:
Yeah. So yeah. So, should you guys didn’t see, should you guys haven’t adopted me on Instagram, it’s @tonyjrobinson, however I posted December twenty third can be a day that the sort of actually essential day for me, for my household, as a result of December twenty third of 2020, I bought fired for my job and sudden sort of out of the blue.
Ashley:
And proper earlier than Christmas too.
Tony:
Two days earlier than Christmas, I’ve been married for a month, such as you mentioned, my honeymoon was arising. So, simply a number of bizarre factor, simply actually bizarre timing. And like most individuals after you get fired, you’re sort of in shock. There’s some in concern that sort of rushes over you, I believe like most individuals. And like I shared with Ashley, my preliminary intuition was okay, cool. Let me exit and discover one other job. I used to be a senior stage supervisor at my final firm and I had a extremely huge staff and I had sort of climbed the company ladder. However once you get fired from someplace making an attempt to exit and discover one thing else is just a little bit harder, proper? No matter what the reason being you bought fired, there’s sort of this stigma that comes together with that.
So, it turns into more and more troublesome to sort of discover one thing that’s corresponding to what you had earlier than. So, I went on a number of interviews, put in a bunch of purposes and I might undergo the entire music and dance and do all of the interviews and shake palms and do all these stuff you’re presupposed to do, however I bought rejection after rejection. So, I had a call to make at that time. It’s do I am going out and discover another job the place possibly I’m overqualified and underpaid as a result of I did get a job provide, but it surely was for a job that I [inaudible 00:03:01] would’ve taken like 4 years earlier than, proper? After I was contemporary out of faculty, didn’t have as a lot expertise and a fraction of what I used to be making at my final job. So I might exit, I might discover a job the place I used to be overqualified, underpaid, or I might use that as a possibility to sort of wager on myself and see simply how huge I might go develop the enterprise that we had began. So, made the choice to raised myself and it was fairly the wild 12 months ever since.
Ashley:
Was there one second the place you have been like, okay, that mentioned I’m going full time into actual property, I’m going to make this work or was it extra like gradual, like wow, that is really working for me repeatedly shopping for brief time period leases?
Tony:
Yeah. There was sort of a second, and two moments actually. One was, I had tried to get a job at an organization that I labored for earlier than and I left there on good phrases. I crushed it once I was there. I used to be doing job sort of climbing up the company ladder there as properly. And the job that they provided me was the job that I had talked about, the place it was a job that I used to be overqualified for. I knew to my core that the talent units that I had and the flexibility that I had was going to be underutilized in that position. And together with that, the compensation was going to be far lower than what I used to be accustomed to as properly. And it was at that second that I sort of had this epiphany that it’s like, okay, if that’s what the job market is for me proper now. If it is a firm that already is aware of what I’m able to and that is the most effective that they’re keen to supply me, what number of extra firms had by no means heard of Tony J. Robinson, what are they going to do for me?
So, I believe it was in that second that I’d sit down with Sarah, my spouse and I used to be like, “Hey, I believe that the universe is sort of pointing us on this path that we have to and pause and take a second to actually double down and higher on ourselves.” And the craziest factor Ashley, was that I misplaced my job on December twenty third. The primary podcast episode that I used to be on for BP got here out six weeks earlier than. And once I’m this, I’m like, “Man, right here’s this chance that I assumed that was gone with entering into the Rookie present and out of nowhere, that chance comes again.” After which six weeks later, my job, this skill that I’ve with that, that will get taken away. It simply sort of felt like these two issues occur too shut to one another for it to be coincidence, for me to not capitalize on alternative.
Ashley:
Let’s sort of inform the backstory of that too, after they first introduced that there was going to be one other BiggerPockets Podcast that you simply have been within the prime three as a contender. And once you didn’t get it that first spherical such as you mentioned you thought that it was over after which lower than a 12 months later, you discover out that you simply do get it and also you’re in now, and then you definitely get it fired out of your job. Do you need to simply clarify briefly why you bought fired? As a result of I believe it’s essential as a result of there wasn’t one thing that occurred otherwise you did a nasty job. It was identical to virtually a bizarre scenario that would occur to anybody. And I believe that’s, you don’t should say who you labored for or no matter, however simply to, I believe to briefly clarify as a result of this might actually occur to anybody.
Tony:
Yeah, no for certain. I imply, I don’t need to get too deep into the weeds on it, but it surely wasn’t efficiency associated. I had simply gotten promoted. I used to be crushing it. I used to be very properly acquired by the management staff there, however there was a coverage that I wasn’t too aware of that I wasn’t following, that my staff wasn’t following. And since I used to be the senior supervisor of this huge group, they felt that it was my duty to actually know the ins and outs of all of the completely different insurance policies that my staff needs to be following. So, as a result of this coverage wasn’t being adopted in my group, they mentioned, “Hey, Tony, you’re the person who’s chargeable for ensuring that that’s in place.” They usually let me go for that motive.
Ashley:
The rationale I need to deliver that up is as a result of once you’re working a job, once you’re working for another person, you don’t have management over these conditions. However now Tony, as entrepreneur, he will get to make his personal insurance policies and will get to determine what occurs. And I needed to deliver that up simply to showcase how constrained you might be as an worker in your job. And naturally not all jobs in any respect, however simply, you may have it so a lot better now, particularly being my co-host.
Tony:
That’s the most effective half. However I imply, however right here’s the reality, Ashley, is that the day that I bought fired, I had coworkers, individuals who labored for me, all of them reached out to me and mentioned, “Tony, we are able to’t imagine that this occurred. We’re all going to overlook you.” However the firm saved shifting. Nothing stopped as a result of Tony left, proper? The corporate didn’t come crumbling down as a result of I used to be fired. And I believe that’s the half that actually stood out to me is that, and this isn’t me making an attempt to having this ego being like, oh my God, I used to be so essential that, but it surely’s only a humbling reminder that 99% of people that work at W-2, should you die in the present day, you’d get changed tomorrow and issues would hold shifting. There are only a few people who find themselves irreplaceable inside their firm.
Even the people who begin the businesses, proper? You suppose when Steve Jobs died and he left Apple, Apple has now turn into a multi-trillion greenback firm even with out Steve Jobs. And that’s the reality about a number of these W-2 positions is that even should you really feel safe, even should you really feel protected, you might be one downsizing away, you might be one merger away, you might be one financial recession, you might be one not getting alongside along with your supervisor away from probably shedding your job. And I simply really feel blessed that I by no means absolutely relied on simply my W-2 as my solely supply of earnings and monetary safety and that whereas I used to be climbing that company ladder, I used to be additionally within the background constructing my very own private monetary basis that I might fall again on.
Ashley:
Having these a number of earnings streams. As a result of if a type of legs give out no pun meant on my leg, you may have one other leg to face on. However and that’s such an ideal level as to if you’re working a W-2 job and also you don’t prefer it otherwise you don’t need to be caught in it, otherwise you don’t know if it’s going to final perpetually, begin constructing that facet hustle, that facet enterprise, that actual property empire now, as a result of there are such a lot of methods to get began in actual property whereas working your full-time job. And I’ve seen this publish so many occasions on Instagram recently is about how your W-2 job ought to that cash needs to be used to gasoline your actual property enterprise and to be placing that cash into it. And that’s what the aim of your W-2 job is to feed into investing in actual property and use these funds you make out of your W-2 to purchase properties, to spend money on actual property, to pay for rehabs or no matter it’s.
And I believe that’s such an ideal level is to you don’t should give up your job to turn into an actual property investor. And there are people who make it work. They determine, I’m quitting proper now and I’m going to only be a full time investor and go full blown. However there’s additionally people who work for 10 extra years and construct up their empire and use their W-2 job to sort of fund it and get it going after which possibly they retire and give up their job. So, there’s so many alternative methods to do it.
Tony:
Yeah, I imply, and that’s the sort of scenario we have been in is the place we have been residing on, I don’t know, possibly like 30% of what we have been making from my W-2 job. And the remaining was simply sort of like constructing our emergency fund which we ended up needing and sort of serving to with the acquisition of our brief time period rental, so I’m undoubtedly grateful and grateful for the earnings that I used to be given from my W-2 as a result of it did sort of give me that basis. However one factor I need to contact on Ashley, as a result of I believe that is the half that doesn’t get sufficient, like doesn’t get talked about sufficient is that I used to be scared.
Ashley:
Did Sarah give up her job already at this level or was she nonetheless working?
Tony:
She was working a job that she wasn’t tremendous pleased with. She ended up leaving that job and she or he used to work within the leisure business. So, she went again to that job, working within the promotions division, after which COVID occurred after which they shut down all the promotions and advertising and marketing that she was doing. So, she was out of labor as properly, proper? Due to COVID. So, neither certainly one of us was working a W-2 job at that cut-off date. So, it was very scary for each of us to suppose like, “Oh man, we went from getting this very nice paycheck each two weeks, these huge bonuses each quarter to now having nothing coming in in any respect. So, it was very scary, however I believe what helped us get via it was A, that we had saved up some huge cash earlier than and we knew that we had an extended sufficient runway to no less than make it via the 12 months.
And that’s sort of the dialog that her and I had, I used to be like, “Okay, let’s simply give it 12 months. And if we are able to make it via the subsequent 12 months and we be ok with the place we’re at then okay, let’s simply sort of hold rolling with this factor.” And we knew that we had sufficient financial savings to get us via the 12 months. The opposite factor is that we labored like loopy over these 12 months to actually develop, proper? It’s like we had three short-term leases once I misplaced my job. And we’re at 12 proper now inside like 500 contracts. We’ve grown rather a lot in that 12 months as properly. So, we had the monetary cushion, we had the protection web, after which we labored actually exhausting within the meantime to sort of deliver all the things collectively, but it surely was undoubtedly a scary second for us when it first occurred.
Ashley:
And I hear this rather a lot on private finance podcasts and in books is that individuals who attain their monetary independence and live off their index funds or no matter, is that individuals at all times say to them, “Oh, what occurs if the inventory market crashes?” And their solutions at all times, “Properly, I’ll simply be like all people else. I’ll simply go and get a job.”
Tony:
Proper.
Ashley:
They usually’re like, “If my worst case situation is being like all people else, I believe I can dwell with that.” And that’s sort of the ultimatum you gave your self is, “Okay, over the subsequent 12 months, if I don’t make it work, properly, then I’ve to go and get a job.” However you made it work and I’m so pleased with you and Sarah, like simply watching you guys over the previous 12 months and all you guys have completed has simply been wonderful and I’m so pleased with you guys.
Tony:
No, and I admire that Ashley. And if there’s one remaining factor that I can share with individuals, I bear in mind writing, like I might journal. And one of many issues I might journal is a part of like my targets. And that is once I was in school earlier than I’d even bought into the workforce, I might say my objective is that I would like to have the ability to drop my son off at college after which choose him up within the afternoon. I particularly bear in mind writing that down. And once I search for on the previous 12 months, it’s like, that’s actually the life that I’ve been capable of dwell. It’s like I drop him off at college. I choose him up within the afternoon. I can take him to his basketball practices. I’m there for all this video games. I can go to the health club in the midst of the day at 1:30 when no one else is there.
If I need to go on and make a journey, I don’t should ask for PTO or fear about having to cope with all these things. After I was engaged on W-2, each Sunday night time I might spend possibly two to a few hours on my laptop computer simply chugging via the emails that piled up throughout the week and simply preparing for Monday once more. And I might simply really feel my vitality dropping each Sunday night time. However now it’s like actually day by day to me seems like a Friday, possibly, proper? It’s like that very same feeling that you’ve on Friday once you labored your W-2 is how I really feel each single day. And although I’m not making practically as a lot cash as what I made once I was in my W-2, the liberty and the happiness that I really feel is price far more than that change in earnings. So, I really feel so-
Ashley:
Fulfilled.
Tony:
… Positively fulfilled, however even that second of me getting fired, that would have been a horrible second for thus many individuals, however I really feel so grateful that it’s turn into, I believe among the finest issues that would have occurred to me, as a result of it’s set me on this path to a life that’s the precise life that I’ve dreamt of for thus a few years. And it was that W-2 being taken away from me that compelled me into this new life. So, I’m grateful for what felt like a setback within the second. I’m grateful for it now, as a result of I do know is what I wanted to sort of step into this life.
Ashley:
Yeah. Tony, I’ll say it once more, I’m so pleased with you guys and what you guys have completed, and I’m so excited to see the place you may have turn into and that you simply don’t have to return to work as a result of, properly, really, as a result of the explanation I’m excited is as a result of we don’t should do 6:00 AM Zoom conferences anymore to accommodate your work schedule.
Tony:
Yeah. So, what really speaking about once I was engaged on W-2 and we have been doing the podcast, I might be up at like 5:30 Pacific time so I can knock out the interviews earlier than I begin at work. So, I’m additionally glad I don’t have to do this anymore both for certain.
Ashley:
Yeah.
Tony:
Yeah.
Ashley:
Okay. Properly, Tony, thanks a lot for simply being open and sincere with everybody and sort of sharing that a part of your story with us. And I hope that’s useful to lots of people, not possibly someone who did lose their job just lately but in addition someone who desires to go away their job, like what are the issues to do to organize, like, have that cushion have financial savings in place and have a marketing strategy in place. You knew you have been going after brief time period leases, you knew your focus, you knew what you’re going to do. You had constructed your staff. So, having these issues prepared earlier than you really do go away your job after which worse case situation, you return to working a job.
Tony:
Yeah.
Ashley:
Yeah. Properly, thanks guys a lot for listening. I’m Ashley at Wealth from Leases and he’s Tony, @tonyjrobinson. And don’t neglect should you guys need to enroll in the Actual Property Rookie Bootcamps, I’m internet hosting the way to get your first or subsequent deal. And Tony is internet hosting a brief time period rental bootcamp. So, test them out on biggerpockets.com/bootcamps and we’ll see you guys on Wednesday.
