The A To Z Of Reaching That Financial Freedom Number With Tiffany Pantozzi
If there is one great thing to be learned across all episodes, it is that you can achieve financial freedom. The questions that remain are how and when. In this episode, Stefanie Peters brings back powerhouse lady boss and realtor, Tiffany Pantozzi, to help us expedite the process in achieving financial freedom. Following up on the previous conversation, Tiffany and Stefanie get more tactical by talking about the steps from A to Z that can help you get to that financial freedom number—from identifying your why down to creating multiple streams of residual income. Listen in to this conversation to go deeper and learn more.
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The A To Z Of Reaching That Financial Freedom Number With Tiffany Pantozzi
I am honored to have our powerhouse lady boss back, Tiffany Pantozzi. We talked a lot about in our last show the big perspective of what financial freedom can do for you and dialing into the real estate investing game to help you to expedite your process on your way to financial freedom. We wanted to get more tactical talking about what are your steps from A to Z to help you get to that financial freedom number. There was a book that I finished. The name of the book is called Retire Early With Real Estate: How Smart Investing Can Help You Escape the 9-5 Grind and Do More of What Matters. One of the guys from BiggerPockets with Chad Carson, he was talking a lot about the ins and outs about step 1, step 2, step 3. We won't have all the time to go into the specifics on the real estate investing game but he will definitely give you some good crystal clear ideas to paint that picture and vision for yourself and then also step 1, 2, 3 to get you on your show and make it happen. Tiffany, thank you so much for joining us again.
Thank you.
I am honored to be chatting with you a little bit more about the financial freedom game and the real estate investing game. I know that this is very cliché-ish but what the first step is that people need to make sure that they get a good handle on is what is their why. Why do they want to run in the real estate investing game? I will tell you in my experience, you can tell me differently, but there have been times where I have to tell myself, don't let your highs be too high, and don't let your lows be too low because this is the roller coaster of being an entrepreneur.
When the rubber meets the road, you want to get crystal clear on why you're driving this game. When I started out, it was the time freedom. It was financial freedom. It was the mission of being able to link arms with other lady bosses and bosses that say, “I want to get out of the rat race as well.” It's very fulfilling for me to be able to put my arm around them and say, “This is what I can help you to do.” If you want to expound a little bit more about your why of why you dialed into real estate and some different questions that the audience can ask themselves on how to dial into their own why.
I've always been an entrepreneur or somebody that likes to be independent and work for themselves. I've always been looking and have looked for opportunities that would allow me the biggest return on investment in my time. It's funny that I took so long to get into real estate because we all want to chase our dreams and our initial passions in life. As a kid, I used to say I was going to be a freaking veterinarian but that never went anywhere although I am obsessed with animals. I love animals more than humans. I also love fashion and I went and got my bachelor's degree in fashion merchandising.
When I first got out of college, I started my own apparel line, which was amazing. I had so much fun doing that. I learned a ton. I did everything from A to Z and I had the opportunity to sell that company. It was a great life lesson for me. The hard work that I put into that company, I didn't become Nike or Under Armour but I still sold millions of dollars in merchandise and it was very successful but the amount of effort and time was crazy. Not only that, I always said to myself, if I ever transition career paths, I'm going to make sure I do something that I'm solely in control of my destiny and my success.
Although I was running my own business in that company, I would sell millions of dollars of merchandise. When I sent my orders to the factories all over the world, if those factories didn't deliver, my efforts were worthless. Even though I was an entrepreneur, self-made, owning my own business, it was very hard for me to be still dependent on other people. I've worked so hard, designing incredible lines, getting major purchase orders from major retailers. If a factory messed up, it was still on me. Fast forward to now, when I got the opportunity to sell my company and I was like, “What am I going to do? Will I stay in apparel?” I started looking at my options and my family was all in real estate.
Knowing this industry, it's extremely saturated, first of all, but being somebody who's educated, driven, and I felt that I had the expertise to excel in this industry, I knew that the returns are high in real estate. When you sell a house, depending on your price point you're selling at, I'm focusing on luxury properties, $1 million-plus. In one deal, it can be a $30,000 commission. For me, that shift in mindset was all about the biggest bang for my time and my effort. I am passionate and driven. I put everything into my business and my work, so I want to make sure that I'm getting the biggest return on investment for that. That's where my shift in saying what do I want to do next to my career?
Retire Early With Real Estate: How Smart Investing Can Help You Escape the 9-5 Grind and Do More of What Matters
Is real estate the right fit because yes, it gives me the time freedom, I'm my own boss and I can do whatever I want when I want but also you got to put the time and effort in. I'm somebody that I wake up and I go to sleep thinking about opportunity in my business. You have to be disciplined to be able to do that in your career. If you're somebody that's used to being a 9:00 to 5:00-ver, you may not have that discipline yet because you're used to checking out at 5:00 and going to happy hour with your friends and not having to worry about work until you sit down at your desk the next morning. That doesn't happen and it doesn't work for entrepreneurs. It's a mindset shift for sure. For me and in anything that I do in my life, moving forward is all going to be about the biggest bang for my buck in my time and my investment.
I also launched a secondary business to diversify my income. It's a new company. Nobody's ever heard of it. It is network marketing business which is a totally legitimized business and career path. Truthfully, I wouldn't be doing it unless I could see a huge return for myself. I always do the work and the research. My biggest piece of advice for somebody is whatever you're doing in life, make sure that it's the best return on investment of your time. If I'm not spending time with my family and friends or traveling and doing the things that I'm so passionate about, I better be doing something that's going to get me more time to do that and going to get me closer to living my absolute best life to do more of that. That's where I start in my mind every single day, when I decide to put time into something that I'm working on.
What a phenomenal answer. It's so true. Making sure that you're in your zone of genius, leveraging your time, and you are getting your best return on investment because everyone only has 24 hours in a day, so let's make sure that we get the best bang for our buck and we're enjoying the process. I remember looking at so many of my peers at the age of 18, 19, 20 years old, I thought to myself, I don't want to join the 40-60-40 Club where you work for 40 years, 60 hours a week and then you retire on 40% of the income that most can't even live on in the first place. I wanted options. I wanted freedom. I wanted to work my own hours, be my boss, call the shots, and live the life that I've been called to versus feeling like I couldn't get out of the 9:00 to 5:00 grind or the rat race. There isn't necessarily a right or wrong. It's ultimately what you want and then reverse engineer that. I love that, Tiffany. What an awesome answer.
To go back to what you were saying about your why. Again, that was my why for that financial freedom, the ability to make my own time, do what I want when I want, and knowing that it was going to give me the biggest return on investment of my time. Of course, I've been in real estate now for years. I've built my business up tremendously and I've also shifted my mindset. When I first got started, it was about getting transactions, book of business, and clients. I get reached out to all the time by investors that everybody is a freaking investor. It's like a joke. I've learned how to vet those people out much better now to make sure are they a true, serious investor qualified and capable. I'm an investor now. If I know how to find the deals, am I going to give them away to other people?
There's also a way for you to not only find deals for yourself but even if you find a deal and you don't have the finances to pursue that deal, there are ways for you to align with other people or special financing and things that you can do to be still able to secure that deal. In my real estate business, we're focusing as well on finding certain deals that appeal to us and what we want and there are different ways to do that. Going back full circle, you have to make sure that your finances are in line and your plan is outlined as well because I'm sure if somebody could be reading this and being like, “I don't have any money to buy a house for an investment or whatever.” It’s okay. You don't need all the money but there are people that do have the money. There are banks and programs that could lend you the money. There are different ways to go about doing it, even if you don't physically have it. It's important for people to realize that you don't have to have a bunch of money sitting in the bank to become an investor.
Thank you so much for bringing that up. Number one, dial into your why and number two, if you don't have the finances to pull the trigger on it right away, you can sit down with a financial advisor and banker and ask, “What do I need to get to this point to be able to buy the buy and holds or Airbnbs?” If it doesn't seem feasible for you, then either you can partner with someone else, which my dad has done phenomenal working with a guy that he does the sweat equity and my dad brings the capital and it's a win-win for both of them. This guy has made a lot of money on the deals, my dad has made his money work for him, and to leverage his money and time. Either side of the coin that you're on, when you can make it a win-win situation, you can go so much farther, faster with collaborations.
Being resourceful, not giving up, and knowing that trying every single way possible. For instance, I've even heard of people that are resourceful. They go ahead and reach out to people that have properties that could be potential good Airbnb properties. They tell them all about how much they could be making and tell them that they'll help them run the whole thing for them by taking a percentage of that. Now, they are Airbnb-ing other people's properties that they don't even own and still making income and a profit from it. There's a way to be resourceful, get your foot in the door, and get started, creating some income, knowledge, and understanding. You never know, somebody might be so impressed by you for doing that.
They can have the finances to say, “I want to do more of this. I have some money's saved. Why don't you find me a property?” You have to take chances in life and I'm a huge believer in that. Some of the best opportunities that I've had in my career have been because I said, “Screw it. I'm going to go take a chance. What's the worst thing that can happen?” They can say no, they can say go screw off. I don't know but a lot of the times it's turned out to be awesome and great that I did take that chance. I always tell people to think about the worst-case scenario. You're not going to die by taking a chance and asking somebody for an opportunity, to work with you, partner with you, or whatever it might be.
Financial Freedom Number: It's important for people to realize that they don't need to have a bunch of money sitting in the bank to become an investor.
It's so important to be thinking outside the box because so many people are thinking, “If I want to buy a buy and hold, I don't have the finances and the time freedom to do that.” It's like, “No. We live in the most abundant country in the world and we don't have a lack of resources, we have a lack of resourcefulness.” When we can dial in, stop living in a fixed mindset, going into the faith mindset, and being able to expose yourself even to like YouTube University, how are other people doing it with no money down? How are other people doing creative financing? How are other people doing subject to deals where you don't even need any money in the deal? There are so many creative ways to jump right into the game. If you want it bad enough and you're hungry enough, you will make it happen and you will figure it out.
I like always to say, this is about being prepared, doing your research, doing your homework because if you try to become an investor in real estate and you pick the wrong property. You get the wrong kind of loan or your crew is not good at what you needed them to do to flip that property, you are going to be so screwed. It can put you in a hole that you may never get back out of. You got to do your research. You can go to a hard money lender to get lending for a deal that you want to flip. Even if you have bad credits, they'll give you money but if you don't understand what the terms of that agreement are and the timelines, you can end up in a hole and lose everything.
You have to understand the terms of the agreements and always plan for a worst-case scenario. Have an extra cushion on your timeline. I can guarantee you, renovations do not go on time no matter what, I don't care who you are. There's always something in a renovation. If you're trying to flip, you got to plan for it, plan accordingly. Have a little cushion in the budget of what you thought you were going to make a return or what it was going to cost to do the renovation because you will catch a surprise. Doing your homework in the beginning to understand what are my financial options whether you're going to do it yourself or are you going to go to a lender? Are you going to go to a hard money lender?
What are all of those terms? Are you going to find a partner? You better have an agreement if you go into partner with somebody. Verbal partnerships and agreements are garbage. I don't care if it's your best friend or it's your freaking brother. I'm telling you from experience guys, if you don't have it on writing, signed, sealed, and delivered, you're screwed if shit goes bad and you never know. Even when you have it on paper, it still could be a struggle to fix the issue unless you have money to go and fight somebody in court to prove that they were wrong or did you wrong. That's a headache and negative energy that you don't want to deal with. I like to plan for the divorce in the beginning, plan for it, talk about the worst-case scenarios, all that good and bad stuff if you're going to partner with anybody to do any sort of investment in property. It’s very important. Again, you got to be resourceful and there are many different ways to get involved and start doing this.
What I even may do, if you're great at this to be able to learn the ins and outs and as a side note, yes, it is so important to sign an agreement. The story of my life for 2020 has been very interesting of learning some very valuable lessons and knowing the dos and don'ts of what to do but I put myself out there and I came out where it’s like, “That partnership went differently in my head,” but you live, you learn, and you move on. Even if, let's say, you find yourself in a spot where you're like, “That was not fabulous.” You know what? You learned what to do better to move forward. My thing is plan for the worst and expect the best but try it.
Even to partner with an expert, you might not make as much in the deal but you'll learn the ins and outs on how to do it because that is extremely valuable. If you can learn from someone that has made a lot of money in the space, they know what they're doing, they are an expert being able to be around them, and capture the mindset of how they do business and life, that is valuable in itself. I would say don't shy away from putting in the sweat equity in the beginning because it will pay itself back tenfold when you learn the ins and outs on how to do it. We talked a little bit about this, the next piece is knowing what your financial freedom number is. How much money do you need to make residually in your lifestyle, not changing anything and you need to know what that number is?
Is it $2,000? Is it $5,000? Is it $10,000? Because then you can have a target of saying, “This is how I want to be able to get to that financial freedom number residually.” What type of portfolio do I need to build out in order to get to that spot? How great would it be to wake up on Monday morning and say, “My bills are completely paid for this month.” You can build on that, you can even expand where you want to go and your dreams but I want to dial it into what is your financial freedom number? How much do I need to make in order to even break even, not changing anything in my lifestyle, and live the life that I am comfortable with? It's cool to know what that number is for yourself. I highly recommend knowing that because once you hit that number, it's so euphoric. I hit that a couple of years ago and I'm so excited that now, it's the icing on the cake. You're building to that next level in your life.
It's an important exercise and it puts it on paper. It makes it real. It helps you to visualize it and everybody has the things that they believe in whether you're a very spiritual person, a very religious person but no matter what you believe in. I think visualization is something that we can all agree is very powerful. Putting it down on paper makes it real. It makes it a real goal that you know that you have to achieve. It makes you think and look inside and say, “Am I doing the things in my life that are going to get me there?” If not, you may have to come to a hard realization to realize that it's time to make a change or it's time to hustle a little harder.
Financial Freedom Number: You're not going to die by taking a chance and asking somebody for an opportunity to work with you, partner with you, or whatever it might be.
It's time to do something beyond the 9:00 to 5:00 job and now you have to also do at night for a few hours from a work from home opportunity. Whatever it takes. If you truly want it, you got to ask yourself this because I come across people all the time that they want to be successful, they want us to be a luxury realtor, they want to sell this and that, or they want to get an investing. We could want a bunch of things but if we don't take action to get on a path to achieving them, then you'll keep dreaming and keep wanting all day long. When you take that time to sit down and reflect, sometimes, some people may realize that they don't have it in them to get there. They're not willing to take the effort, time, and steps to get there and that's okay too.
You then got to scale back what your plan is or what you think in your head you want to be doing in your life. If you're not the person that's able to get up at 6:00 AM and work one job and then transfer at 9:00 AM to another job. I'm not saying you're going to work for somebody else all these hours out. Clearly, we have to sleep but there are other things you can do in terms of multiple streams of income to be able to diversify your income and build different ways to make money to achieve those goals. Putting it down on paper makes it real. It makes you realize what you need to do to achieve that. If you're in doing something in your life right now that will never get you there, it makes you reflect and take action to make a change.
There's so much power in the pen, writing your goals down, writing where you ultimately want to be, and then put those deadlines in place and then reverse engineer. What's step one, what's step two, and what's step three. Break it down into quarters, months, and weeks of what you ultimately want to accomplish. It's amazing how quickly you can get there when you have a picture of where you want to drive to. To summarize to you guys, start with your why. Define your financial freedom number, decide even what side hustle you want to bring into your life in order to expedite it to get you to where you want to go, and then hit the lane of what type of real estate investing you want to do in order to get you to that financial freedom number. Is that flipping on a regular basis?
Is that house hacking? Is that the BRRRR strategy? Is that the buy and hold, the Airbnb, the student housing? The book that I had recommended earlier on in the show, Retire Early With Real Estate: Escape The 9-5. I know we're going through some of this pretty quick but Chad Carson can help you to break it down to where you want to go. Tiffany, any other words of wisdom that you want to leave with? You helped to share with them a lot of steps 1, 2 and 3. If they have more questions, I want you to share your handle as well.
People need to be real with themselves in their goals are. As you said, both of us, we are running multiple businesses. We make the time for what we care about in life and what we want in life. We prioritize based on that. There's always a way to achieve your goals and you have to believe that wholeheartedly. The two of us, we have successful real estate businesses. We have successful network marketing side gig businesses as well as other things that we do. You have your book, you have coaching, I do coaching as well on the side.
There are different things that we do that create this whole portfolio for us to afford us the opportunities to get to where we want in our goals. It's important for everybody to put that into perspective, reflect on what you're doing for yourself to get you to that next step and that next goal that you have. We're always here to help. We're just an Instagram message away. I'm @TiffanyPantozzi on Instagram. We're here to help. We would love to see everybody achieve their success and their goals. We'll do more of these to share more insight into the future.
Thank you again, Tiffany. It's always so much fun connecting with you. To all my audience out there, I am honored that you read this blog. Send Tiffany a message. Send me a message. I'm @LadyBoss_ SP. We want to help you drive to your dreams, reach your goals, and make those dreams a reality. Put that pen to paper. My heartbeat for you is for you to fire your fear, build your faith, and become the boss of your own life. Let's get after it. Let's make it happen, and let's rock it out together.
Important Links:
Tiffany Pantozzi - Previous episode
@TiffanyPantozzi - Instagram
@LadyBoss_ SP - Instagram
About Tiffany Pantozzi
Tiffany is dedicated to providing her clients with unparalleled service by creating a customized real estate experience. She is in the top 1% of all agents in Central Florida and a member of the Compass Private Client Network where collectively, via all Network Partners, operate in 35 luxury markets across the country - and sell over $1.5B in luxury real estate annually.
In her previous professional experience, Tiffany represented some of the world’s most recognizable brands, which gave her a solid foundation that she is able to leverage in real estate. Her reputation as a marketing expert, skillful negotiator, and relentless advocate differentiates her in a wide market. Not only does Tiffany get the job done, but she does so with a smile.
Tiffany is a naturally social, friendly, high energy person with extensive knowledge of the local lifestyle, amenities, and history of Central Florida. She is highly organized and attentive to important details, persistent, and driven - giving each of her clients the confidence necessary to trust her with all of their real estate needs.
In this ever-changing market, she believes it’s important to stay up to date on trends and utilize cutting edge technology, which plays a strong role in her strategy for success. Tiffany’s ability to develop innovative marketing strategies provides clients with an unprecedented advantage in the market. Whether she is developing an innovative marketing plan, leveraging her expansive network, or negotiating a high stakes deal, she is always engaged and focused.
When choosing your real estate agent, Tiffany encourages you to think about what they have to offer you, how they will invest in you to put more money in your pocket and how their brand will represent you. When managing such an important financial transaction, choose an agent that is best aligned to your needs, with the experience to match.