My journey started in 2001 in the residential mortgage space.

At the time, I was working a comfortable salaried job in marketing at a title company when a branch manager at a large national bank offered me a position as a mortgage lender.

I was nervous to make this leap to a 100% commission-based position, and I didn’t know much about the lending world. But I trusted him, and more importantly, he believed in me.

That belief pushed me to take the leap. I spent evening hours after the branch closed learning one-on-one with him, absorbing everything I could about structuring loans for first-time buyers, move-up buyers, and seasoned investors who were building portfolios. It was exciting—watching others create wealth—but I never considered doing it myself.

Things were going great… until 2008.

The crash felt like a light switch had been flipped off. Realtors I’d worked with for years had no business. The loan industry changed overnight, and it became nearly impossible to get a deal done. I joined two colleagues in 2010 to start a new mortgage company with more flexibility in what we could offer. But no one had heard of this company, and it became the toughest financial year of my life.

That season taught me something essential: business has winters. You can't skip them—but you can survive them. I learned that if you weather the storm, a better season always comes.

By 2013, I could see the market recovering. I decided it was time to pivot again. I got my real estate license and went back to the basics. Even with over a decade in the mortgage business, becoming a Realtor felt like starting from scratch. I dove in headfirst—hosting open houses, building my brand, and devouring podcasts and YouTube videos for hours each day. I was fascinated by real estate investing and soaked up everything I could from places like BiggerPockets.

My first rental property

In 2017, I was finally ready to buy my first rental property. But in my local market, nothing penciled out. So I did what most wouldn’t: I looked out of state. As long as the numbers made sense, I wasn’t emotionally attached to seeing my properties in person. I bought an older house in East Texas, fixed it up, and got it rented quickly.

It proved the concept. From there, I figured out what my Tier 1 financial freedom number was—and how many rent checks it would take to get there. The roadmap was clear.

I started scaling. I found some opportunities to buy infill lots and build duplexes and single-family homes. Even a 25-acre subdivision project. I reinvested, strategized, partnered, and kept going.

COVID!

In 2020, just as momentum peaked, COVID hit. Lumber prices exploded. Supply chains collapsed. Projects halted. And once again, everything stopped.

Then, as we were coming out of Covid, my local market boomed. People were leaving big cities in droves, and prices shot up 26% one year, then another 24% the next. While I welcomed the business, it also distracted me from my wealth-building goals.

In 2023, I stumbled across a YouTube video by Pace Morby. At first, I thought, “No way this subject-to stuff is legit.” I brushed it off. But later, I saw an ad for his Elephant Challenge. I decided to give it a few days—and it completely shifted my thinking about how to scale without relying on banks.

That path led me to private money lending, and I quickly realized how much it aligned with my background. It was a perfect fit. I started lending to experienced investors—low-risk, collateral-backed deals that created passive returns.

But I ran into a new challenge: I could only lend what I had. Once that money was deployed, I was stuck until the loans matured.

That’s when I discovered capital raising.

Now, I help people who want to invest in real estate but don’t have the time, expertise, or desire to do it themselves. I can plug them into the network, strategies, and systems that have worked for me—and create success for them too.

Today

My biggest driver today is hitting Tier 1—financial freedom: enough cash flow to cover my monthly expenses through rental income and lending. From there, Tier 2—financial abundance—becomes the next target.

There’s a story I often return to when I feel stuck: Three Feet From Gold. It’s a reminder not to give up just before the breakthrough. I’ve lived that lesson, and now I help others see it too.

Whether I’m helping someone buy their first home, exit a property during a life transition, or fund their next flip—I’m here to serve.

To share what I’ve learned, stay grateful, and keep building a future where freedom and impact go hand in hand.