Amanda's Journey From Corporate Burnout to 75k First Flip Profit!

Unknown Speaker  0:01  
You're listening to the flip houses like a girl podcast where we educate, empower and celebrate everyday women who are facing their fears juggling family and business, embracing their awesomeness and wholeheartedly chasing their dream of flipping houses. Each episode delivers honest to goodness tools, tips and strategies you can implement today to get closer to your first or next successful house flip. Here's your spiky hair to breakfast taco loving host house flipping coach Debbie DeBerry.

Debbie DeBerry  0:40  
Hey, how's it going today, thanks for spending some time with us. So I'm going to be sharing with you another one of our coaching program members, one of our flips, sisters, her story, her first flip journey. So we're going to be talking to Amanda. And she is in Lake of the Ozarks, beautiful area. And her story, I'm sure will resonate with many of you. She's married, she has children. And she was completely burned out in her corporate job. And she was ready to make a change. She not only was ready to make a change, but it was one of those I have to make a change or else kinds of things, which I'm sure we can all relate to. Anyway, we're going to be talking to her sharing her details of her first flip, how she found it, how she financed it, the issue that came up with her lender at the 11th hour, how she resolved it, how she resolved all the other things that came up, because that's really what we do. We manage the three P's people problems, and the project. And she takes us through how she did all that. So hang tight, you're gonna love her. You're gonna love her story. She's got some really great wisdom to share. And, yeah, let's go. Do you want to just start by introducing yourself, and letting us know a little bit about you?

Unknown Speaker  2:26  
Sure. My name is Amanda and I live at the Lake of the Ozarks in central Missouri with my husband and our three young daughters. We moved here in mid 2020, like at the height of the pandemic, with our youngest being one month old. We moved from St. Louis, I grew up in central Missouri. So it was kind of just like coming home. And we were actually planning to move pre pandemic. In 2019, we both kind of we've been working in the corporate world and St. Louis for over 10 years. And we had this young family and we were like, okay, something's probably gotta give here like this doesn't feel like it's going in the right direction. So we were able to both switch to working remotely, which allowed us to move here. And you know, that was kind of before everyone else switch to remote work. So it was still kind of like a little bit of a new thing. But anyway, so we moved here in 2020. And we got the kids settled and everything. And then towards the end of 2020. I found your podcast, and I started binging every free thing that I possibly could. And then I ended up joining in April of last year.

Debbie DeBerry  3:38  
Wow. What was your what is your husband do?

Unknown Speaker  3:42  
So we're both engineers. We met in college, at an engineering university here in Missouri. And he's a mechanical engineer. By school. I'm an architectural engineer. But we both have gone in different directions. I graduated at the height of like, right after the housing market crashed and everything. So my degree in architectural engineering wasn't great trying to find a job in construction. Oh, so I actually found a job working as more of a mechanical engineer doing HVAC and plumbing design, okay. And I actually got the job because I knew how to do the 3d modeling software that they use. It wasn't even an engineering position at the time, because construction just wasn't happening in 2010 When I graduated, and then he is a mechanical engineer. That's what his dad was. He kind of always knew he wanted to be an engineer. But he's now doing more software engineering type stuff. So he's kind of found his path to Yeah, so yeah, he's a big computer nerd.

Debbie DeBerry  4:46  
Um, y'all are kind of both hurts. I mean, yeah,

Unknown Speaker  4:49  
I mean, we really are truly your

Debbie DeBerry  4:51  
girls must be like, super

Unknown Speaker  4:53  
nerdy. They really are. Yeah, I mean, I try to try to make them cool, but it's just

Debbie DeBerry  4:58  
gonna be Hey, nerds are cool, right? Yeah. Oh, okay, so you joined in April? Yes. And all right. So let's go through your first flip. When did you close on the sale of it? The sale or the purchase the sale of it? Oh, no, I know. It seems weird. I'm going backwards.

Unknown Speaker  5:22  
Okay, so I closed on February 8. Okay.

Debbie DeBerry  5:27  
Okay. And then when I when did you close on the purchase

Unknown Speaker  5:31  
of it? September 30 of 21.

Debbie DeBerry  5:35  
Okay, and how did you find it?

Unknown Speaker  5:40  
yellow letters off off market. Um, I, so I joined in April of last year. You know, I kind of tried to dive in. But then I was still trying to manage the kids and everything. And there was a lot of I feel like I'm not doing things fast enough. And I was ready to go. And so we went, we were going on a family vacation in July of last year. And I was like, I just need to get some of these letters out in the mail. And I had been driving for dollars with my one year old, like, during nap times. Yeah. So I had a list of properties. And I just sat down. I was like, I gotta write some of these letters and get them in the mail. And I put them in the mail before we left for vacation. I think I had like, 25 of them. i Yes, yeah, I was like, Look, I did it. Like, I feel like I should have done this month ago. You know, it's always like feeling like you're behind for some reason, right? Um, but then we went on vacation. And then I got a couple of calls. Like, while we were on vacation, I got two people who reach back out to leads from just those 25 letters. And the one ended up becoming my first

Debbie DeBerry  6:45  
one. Amazing. Yeah. And I love the story of your first flip. Like, it was like, the people involved, like, everything is so magical about this flip.

Unknown Speaker  6:58  
Right? It feels like it was just cliche, but just meant to be like it was I was ready for it like, and I put in the effort. And then it all just kind of came together. And obviously there were hard parts and things to work through. But at the end of the day, it was an awesome experience.

Debbie DeBerry  7:16  
Yes. Okay, so you bought it September 30. Yeah. And when you initially were running numbers, what was your what was your initial repair estimate?

Unknown Speaker  7:30  
So I kind of took two snapshots in time here, because I think it's important for anybody to know, especially if you're not familiar with construction, that nothing is ever set in stone with your timeline with your quotes with the scope of work. Whatever you think is going to happen on day one is not what happens at the end of the project. So I would take, you know, make copies of my deal analyzer as things would evolve and kind of see how it changed. So my very first initial deal analyzer that I put together, and this was just after having a conversation on the phone with the seller, he said, it's a three bed, two bath, 2000 square foot. He told me that the basement was framed, but it wasn't finished. And this was a slow flip for him that it just kind of stalled. He's not local. He actually lives 10 minutes from where we still live in St. Louis. Oh, wow. One of our ironic points I know. And this was kind of just like his project house and he's retired now he wants to travel. He just didn't have time to come down here and keep working on it. So he had done a lot of the demo. I didn't have to do any demo. It was basically gutted and ready for a fresh start. Wow. So that information that he gave me, I was able to kind of pull together some ballpark estimates for Reno. And then my agent pulled the comps for me for three, two. So for the original purchase price, I had 100,000 for the repair budget, I had 65,000 and we had a conservative ARV of 250,000. And that was going to give me a profit of about 35.

Debbie DeBerry  9:14  
Wow, yeah. Nice. Yeah, very solid. Like that's a really solid project.

Unknown Speaker  9:20  
Yes. So that was the initial Yeah. The next snapshot that I did was after actually getting under contract, walking inspections, having my contractors come through. The purchase price went down slightly. I was able to get it at 94,000 Just a few things that came up in inspection that we were able to negotiate. The repair cost went up significantly significantly. And what I didn't really account for in my original numbers was that whole basement that was only framed, needed all drywall all trim like None of that was already there. So that's a really big number. On top of that, the location that we're at here in Missouri is kind of in our own little bubble here. And we're two to three hours from like the next biggest city. So there's definitely a premium on like, H back plumbing, all those systems, all those things come at a premium, kind of because they can, because we're kind of isolated here. So my repair estimate, after all of that was 95,000. And my new ARV after running it now as a four bed three bath, oh, basement. So yeah, my ARV went up conservatively to 275. We were looking, you know, upper two hundreds. But again, I was trying to be conservative. So I kind of just went with a 275. Nice. And that was looking at a profit of 33 33,000. So we're in the same ballpark. Yeah,

Debbie DeBerry  11:02  
exactly. I was gonna say with the price reduction and the repair allowance going up price reduction. So yeah, it was like with the same basically the same. It's

Unknown Speaker  11:11  
pretty easy. Yeah, pretty much, I think. Okay,

Debbie DeBerry  11:15  
cool. So then, what actually happened?

Unknown Speaker  11:20  
So what actually happened? Well, my initial timeline was six months. And we came in under that, again, I was trying to be conservative there. For the actual Reno timeline, I was figuring about eight weeks, that ended up being more like 12 weeks, just because, you know, things come up. But it also was right around Thanksgiving, Christmas, we lost a few weeks there scattered about, you know. So the rent out a timeline was about 12 weeks, which I was still happy with. Again, I was being very conservative and all these numbers. So as far as the budget for renovations that went over, for various reasons. I don't know if I ever really went into detail on the septic issue that I have, oh,

Debbie DeBerry  12:13  
no,

Unknown Speaker  12:14  
let's talk about it. So okay, so the area that we're in here at the lake, there are environmental restrictions above and beyond even the state requirements here where we are in this area. And so their septic systems are very highly regulated. So during the inspection period, I had had it inspected, I made sure it was functioning, it has to be a certain capacity of tank for the number of bedrooms, and we met that. So I thought, okay, all good. Well, the day after closing on the purchase, I go in to meet with the inspectors and get my permit. And I find out no, they have additional requirements. So here in our area, you have to have so many linear feet of lateral in the drainfield per bedroom, which I didn't have. Well, we weren't sure what I had. So the only drawing they have recorded was from like the original construction in the 80s, showing where they thought the septic system was. So I had to have all of that identified and laid out, then we could figure out how much drain field I had. Turns out we were short, so then I had to have that surveyed, then we had to have the surveyor prepare his drawings and propose adding onto the laterals and get it approved, and then do the actual construction. So that was honestly like the biggest surprise. I mean, honestly, that blew my buffer. That was my, like septic right off the bat. And it could have been way worse than it was honestly, like they this was the lease costs, you know, impact of all the options. So I was grateful for it. But it was also just like, this is kind of a pain, like, because I it was the day after closing, I went in there and started talking with them about that. And literally we didn't have it done until the week before we listed like they were literally backfilling the week. It was the whole time and the biggest thing was the survey lead time. And I know we've been talking about that in the group like,

Debbie DeBerry  14:26  
oh, it's insane. Yeah, yeah, supposedly, I'm supposed to get my survey today that I've been waiting for

Unknown Speaker  14:34  
it. I mean, your hands are kind of tight because you're like, Well, I have to have that I was at a little bit of an advantage and that my brother actually works as a surveyor. He's not a licensed surveyor, but he was able to come out and he actually located all the property corner pins for me. And then the surveyor that I had come he was like, that was great. That saved me hours where I could just go like find the pins. So yeah, my brother is helping out for sure. Um, but yeah, your hands are tied like you need it. And just kind of gotta

Debbie DeBerry  15:04  
wait. Yeah, we can't close without them. So yeah,

Unknown Speaker  15:07  
you have to have a survey. Yeah. Then you're definitely stuck for sure.

Debbie DeBerry  15:12  
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So I totally get a totally get the single survey thing.

Unknown Speaker  15:16  
So yes, the septic was the biggest, kind of unknown. And then really like, the other reasons we went over, you know, trying to track down. There was no other like, big like, oh, that cost me 10. Grand, it was a lot of like little things. Yeah. Oh, we're gonna fix the soffit. And facia? Oh, the gutters are installed wrong. Well, do we fix them? Or do we just replace them? Well, let's just replace them. That's a grand like, and hence the reason for buffers. But I think where I kind of made a mistake, and I don't know if it was intentional, or if I was trying to still make it work, make the numbers work. But when I got all my quotes together on the front end, and then I was like, Okay, here's all my numbers. And this is what it's going to be, I didn't really leave that solid buffer in the construction numbers that I also should have left, because I'm like, here's, here's this number plus this number plus this number. And, like, I've worked in construction for 10 years, I know, you still need the buffer, but I'm like, oh, you know, it's gotta look good on paper or whatever, you know? And it's like, ah, and I don't think, like, I wouldn't have changed anything. But just like, you know, in the future, I need to make sure that anything I can push in, I need to push on. Yes, totally. So yeah, that I mean, that was just, you know, little things here and there, popped up. And like gaps in scope, kind of like where I hadn't thought through everything. So the stairs going down to the basement, we're just like an unfinished wood. And I didn't really have anyone bid, oh, we're gonna carpeted or we're going to, you know, whatever, how we're going to finish it was just kind of a gap in scope. And so we ended up staining them and painting them and making it nice, but you know, that was another couple grand that wasn't accounted for. So all those things add up, obviously,

Debbie DeBerry  17:05  
yes. What did you end up spending on the stuff septic stuff?

Unknown Speaker  17:11  
It was about 6000. Okay, so I mean, it wasn't terrible, but you know, the buffer in the overall deal analyzer. I mean, that was gone.

Debbie DeBerry  17:20  
Like six grand on stuff that's like, under the ground,

Unknown Speaker  17:23  
you know, and like, you see those two little cleanouts there in the yard? Like, that was really important. I did that for like, I'm gonna put that like on the list.

Debbie DeBerry  17:31  
Take pictures of it. Right. stage it?

Unknown Speaker  17:35  
Right. Like some plants around it. Yeah, I don't know. But it has to be there. So right, right.

Debbie DeBerry  17:44  
Okay, so what did your repairs end up being?

Unknown Speaker  17:47  
114,000? Okay.

Debbie DeBerry  17:51  
Oh, I forgot to ask. Let's talk about how you financed all this stuff?

Unknown Speaker  17:55  
Oh, yeah. Okay, so I used hard money and private money. The hard money lender that I used was one that I had bedded in, you know, in the original modules that you have us do. And this one in particular, just before even how to deal the the contact that I had really took the time to, like, help me learn and helped me understand. And anytime I would talk to him, it was guaranteed at least an hour. And it was he would spend that whole time educating me and explaining things to me. So we like really, you know, I really felt like he was trying to help me get going. Yeah. And they, I mean, they had good terms. The one caveat with them is that they are not purely asset based. So we have to have a personal guarantee, we had to do credit checks, and we had to have, you know, a certain amount of money available for them to see. And that was just something we kind of had to weigh our risks. When we were looking at it, I was like, you know, I have this connection with them. I feel like they'll they'll help me through this process. And we, you know, my husband, I just kind of had talked about it. And he's like, I think this is the way I need to go for this. So totally, and, and I think you know, I don't regret that either. I think it makes sense for us. But I know that a lot of people don't have that luxury. So just making sure you understand terms is so important.

Debbie DeBerry  19:18  
Yes. And asking questions, ask questions. You got to

Unknown Speaker  19:22  
ask if you don't have someone that you're working with that you're comfortable asking questions to you probably shouldn't work with. Like yeah, that's yeah, they're not going to be an ally. If you feel like you're, they're attacking you or ask for you or anything like that.

Debbie DeBerry  19:37  
Yes. Oh my gosh, great point. Okay, so you do you had some of your own money in the deal?

Unknown Speaker  19:46  
Yes, I did. I don't know if you'll remember. Like the week before closing I had a frantic post of like, so the other thing that I learned is this lender wouldn't allow Oh, second lien positions on the title. Yep. And so they were considering the private money that I had received as like, gift money. And they wouldn't let me count that towards like the assets they needed to see. And it was a whole scramble, like the week before. And I remember posting in the group, I was like, Okay, this is what I'm what I have going on. These are my options that I've come up with. I was like, I was again making copies of my deal analyzer. And I was like, what if I just did all private money? Or, you know, and I was just trying to work through my options? Yeah. And I had the luxury of having some funds available to us. And, you know, again, we weighed our risks. And I was like, I think I need to pull some of our own money. And so, and the reason to back up a little bit the reason all that happened is our appraisal came in short. That's right. Yes. So we were looking for an ARV of 275. And the local appraiser that I had to the appraisal put it at 250. But my hard money lender, again, having that relationship with him. He even was like this appraisal is bogus, he's like, we know these numbers are better than this. That doesn't mean we can actually lend you more money, you got to bring more to the table, but we still believe in this deal. And we know that you can make it happen. So they were still on board. But I had to make up that that gap funding somehow. So that's that's kind of how we ended up there.

Debbie DeBerry  21:30  
Got it. Okay, so hard money, private money, some of your own money for like downpayment and stuff. Yeah, got it. Okay, so you got all of that situated and you got it like you, you handled it quickly, because I remember you posting and then like you handled it, like I feel like you handle it, like a day or

Unknown Speaker  21:51  
so I've yeah, I've gotten pretty good at which, in order to do this, you have to be able to make decisions like quickly. And I think that my previous job. You know, there were a lot of good things and a lot of bad things. They're not bad, but just things that weren't great in the day to day. But what I did learn, because I didn't have a lot of support and decision making was I had to make a lot of decisions. And right, wrong or indifferent. Something somebody needed to decide, right? And so I did learn that skill there. You know, you you have to make a decision and move forward and then deal with the consequences. It's

Debbie DeBerry  22:28  
true, right? And if you need to, if you need to make a different decision, make a different one, right? Like you, you just have to keep making decisions. All right, so we went through some of the surprises, yes, and the funding and all of that. So then you end up with this beautiful four bedroom, two bath home on the lake with a lake view, let oh my gosh, let's not forget that this beautiful home has this beautiful lake view. And you list it,

Unknown Speaker  22:56  
we listed at 329.

Debbie DeBerry  23:00  
Okay, when did you list in January?

Unknown Speaker  23:04  
Yeah, it was, I think it was like the second week of January. And to back up a little bit there. For some reason, in my mind, I thought that I was going to push this thing and I was going to have it on the market before Christmas, like early December. That was my goal. And whole time I'm talking with my agent, I'm like, I think we can do it. I think we can do it. And it was like early December. And there were still just a lot of finishing touches that needed to be done. And I remember one night, you know, not sleeping, I'm laying there thinking of all the things that need to be done. And I was like, why am I doing this? I have plenty of time, built into the schedule. Why am I putting this on myself on my subs, I want to enjoy the holidays with my family. And so I sent an email, I think at like four in the morning to my agent and I was like, Hey, we're gonna shoot for January. Let's enjoy our holidays. And so we did that. And there was still crunch time issues in January. But you know, when there's room in the schedule, and you can give yourself a little bit of freedom, like you don't have to put that much pressure on yourself. Yes. So I did that. And it was great. We had wonderful holidays and then January, you know, we were ready to wrap it up and get it listed. So that's such

Debbie DeBerry  24:11  
a good point. I mean, really, you have it built into your timeline. Why are you fighting yourself? Like why are you making it so much harder on yourself when you have it built in? Right? It's such a good point. Oh my gosh, I do the same thing.

Unknown Speaker  24:26  
Yeah, like and why like, I mean, yes, time is money, but like that much more money you know, like,

Debbie DeBerry  24:34  
like, what's the trade off your sanity?

Unknown Speaker  24:37  
Exactly. Yeah, like, if you're over I could see where it would be a lot more stressful and you're trying to get it wrapped up. When you have that time built in. It's like yeah, you gotta you gotta definitely weigh Yeah, benefits for sure.

Debbie DeBerry  24:52  
I wonder if it's that part of me that always has to beat the GPS estimated time of arrival. Yeah, I'm gonna get this done by one minute. Watch me. Watch me you watch how long? How long it takes me to get to wherever? Yeah,

Unknown Speaker  25:09  
I think it's just a competitive I think it's just, you know, we want to be successful. And but I think what I really learned especially is I'm the boss now. And so this trickles down to my subs and my family and everyone. So how I handle the pressure is gonna affect everyone.

Debbie DeBerry  25:31  
100% I think one of the things that so many how house flippers, investors, small business owners in general, fail to really acknowledge that. We're leaders, we are leading. Whatever the vision is, we are leading it. And so yeah, we have to show up as that I don't think people think of themselves as leaders. I think it's, it's a there's a lot of work that can be done there. Yes. Yeah, totally agree. Okay, so you thought it was me? 275?

Unknown Speaker  26:09  
Yeah. And I was being conservative. It was so funny, because while we were wrapping up things, you know, before Christmas, my agent and her husband sat by he wanted to see it. And we literally were arguing like, Well, we think we can go higher, should we do 285 or 299. And, and I was like, I just don't want to be, you know, too aggressive. And my agent, I mean, she, man, she wants that. She before she listed she had some of her agent friends come through, she was calling appraisers. I mean, because she wanted to get it right for all of us. And she's like, you know, this market isn't always going to be this way. And if we can get it now, we need to do that. While we can and so yeah, she I mean, she pushed it. But I told her at one point, you know, kind of when we were getting ready to the list, I was like, if I was super comfortable at 299 That's probably a sign that we weren't pushing enough when we can. Yeah. So, um, so yeah, we listed at 329. And we were under contract within like, a day, I'm sure. Yeah, I'm

Debbie DeBerry  27:15  
sure you were, um, what did you end up selling for?

Unknown Speaker  27:20  
We ended up selling it at 325. Because there again, wasn't an appraisal issue. Again, we're in our little island here. And all of our local appraisers are busy as can be. So our buyers are from out of state. So they were using an out of state lender who doesn't have connections to the local appraisers who know the market. So we got this new appraiser and my sweet agent. She tried arguing with this guy, and it was the appraisal gap was not much and I was like, let's just move on, let's split the difference. We're good. Like, it's, it's fine. And she's like, but this is just not accurate. You know what it's worth, and you probably doesn't like, you know, lake views are worth a certain amount and in things like that in our area. So, and I had a double lot, I bought a lot next door to go with it. And so those sorts of things. You know, but again, like she just really believed in it. And she pushed it and we had had several people looking at it. And we were gonna be getting several offers. But the problem is a lot of the back of offers were like conventional and people had to sell houses. And yep, I know everybody's got crazy markets. But we have two very separate buyer pools here. We have the local like working class buyers who are here, full time all year round. And then we have the vacation second homeowners who come in, and they're winning everything right now because they have the cash. Yeah. And it's my agent and I that and I have had several conversations because my heart is with the people who live here full time. And young families like us. I mean, just two years ago, we were trying to find a year, you know, a home for our family to move here. And it. It was right before things got really crazy here. So we were able to find something. But um, you know, we really want to try and help the families come live here as well and enjoy it and it is growing rapidly to more than just a summer tourist destination. And there's definitely a need to support you know, the working families,

Debbie DeBerry  29:31  
right. Yeah, it's hard. I know. I know. Okay, so what did your profit end up being?

Unknown Speaker  29:39  
75,000 Yeah, wow. Yeah.

Debbie DeBerry  29:45  
I never know until these calls. I've only known once before the call. I've never I otherwise I don't know. Wow.

Unknown Speaker  29:52  
Yeah, it's amazing.

Debbie DeBerry  29:53  
Congratulations.

Unknown Speaker  29:54  
Thank you. Um, I struggled a little bit with not so much that now. verb, but the actual, like percent of profit kind of bothered me, because it's like coming up on 25%. And that comes from my previous work. And I've mentioned this in the group before, I don't like sales. In general, it doesn't feels gross to me, I don't like generally like sales. And in my previous work, there was like the construction department that I was in. And we would always have profits of like 10 to 15. And the sales side was always like, 2540, like jacking it up. And so, to me, that was like, oh, no, we're like a gross sales personnel like, but interesting. You know, I went back over the numbers and stuff. And I'm like, you know, should I did I short the seller in some way. And, I mean, we had conversations up front, and he knew what he needed. And I made the numbers work on the front end, and my rental numbers went over by quite a bit, right, I did have cushions, you know, on the timeline on my ARV, all of that stuff. And then just the crazy market just did it thing. So it's not so much like feeling guilty, but I did just like spend some time like, Okay, how does this feel? But then it's also Well, now I can just take this money and go do more things. Like I can keep, I can keep going. Exactly. And then also, like, you know, just use some of it to give back and things like that. So totally,

Debbie DeBerry  31:28  
totally, money is evil. But I get it, like I get I get the whole thing of that's a lot of money. And should I be making this much money having this much fun? Like,

Unknown Speaker  31:40  
yeah, that felt like, too easy, or to make as much money like, this is supposed to be harder and more painful, like, and not that it won't be for other deals, but it just, you do definitely, like kind of look inward a little bit like, Well, I mean, I guess I guess it's okay, like, let's move forward.

Debbie DeBerry  31:58  
For the most part. That's how it feels. I have two deals that I'm like, Oh my God, those were the worst things ever, like painful emotionally, financially, just awful. But over 15 years, that's not bad. So yeah, it does generally feel like oh my gosh, wow, it feels light and good. It's crazy. And it's crazy. Okay, so when you let's talk about feelings. When your

Unknown Speaker  32:33  
favorite. It really is my favorite.

Debbie DeBerry  32:36  
Yay. Okay. Yeah, what were your some of your battles?

Unknown Speaker  32:40  
I gotta tell you, in my old job, they used to jokingly call me the office therapist. And working as an engineer in a construction company. 90% of the employees are men, and they would literally come in my office and talk to the therapist about their feelings and their struggles. Like I love talking about that stuff. I love it. Yeah, it's good stuff. So let me see here. mindset. So initially, the big thing was just the fear of losing money, obviously. And I have this big block about No, we spent the first 10 plus years of our career, doing the traditional thing, and, you know, building these 401, k's and doing all this stuff that you're supposed to do and be good, you know, whatever, human employee person. Yep. And we did all that. And we've got these, you know, good amounts built up. And the fear is like, what if I just destroy all that, but we just worked so hard during the, you know, in the first chunk of our career? And that's a big one. Yeah. And it. I mean, I was scared of that. But I was more. So that was my husband's biggest concern. And so I looked into flipping, I remember, like, even before I found your podcast, I just like, Googled, like, how you flip the house. And it was like Dave Ramsey, or someone's like, well, he can't like, you know, pay cash, don't do it. Well, I can't pay cash for a house right now. So I guess I'm not gonna do it. And then, but I just kept coming back to it. And then I found your podcast and started learning about hard money and private money and all this. And I would always have it on in the car, like all the time, especially when my husband would get in the car and I'd like turn it up. I love it. You know, listen to this, like, this is how we can do it. And yeah, my kids, I think I told you one time my kids referred you as my coworker, Debbie, who was always talking in the car, because like the podcast was literally always on. Oh, yeah. But you know, we both were educated on how do you actually do this without risking all this other stuff that we've worked hard for? Yeah. So that was the big the biggest thing I would say for sure. Yes. Um, other struggles. I don't like putting myself out there in public ways. Like I struggled with that for a while, like I put together my website and it was all pretty and it was all good. I wanted it. But like saying out to the world, hey, this is what I'm doing. Like, I've never liked attention. I don't like eyes on me, like, I just want to work over here and do my thing and, and I'll be good at it. And I don't need anyone to like shouting from the rooftops like, I just want to do my thing over here. But you kind of have to shout it from the rooftops if you're gonna get business. So yeah, that's been a big shift, but I'm getting more comfortable with it.

Debbie DeBerry  35:22  
Yes, that that's a big one for me. I hate attention. I do not like attention. I constantly have to shift it to. But who isn't going like, because I'm playing small? What seller isn't going to get to talk to me who I know, I'm the best option for them? Because I know, I'm going to do right by them. Right. But it's constant, I constantly have to remind myself like, Okay, what's the why? What's the why how who can I serve? Who am I serving by putting myself out there in this scary way? Yeah, I totally get I had

Unknown Speaker  35:56  
to make that shift from you know, I mentioned that never sales just kind of bother me the general sales tactics. But I remember bringing it up in the group. And you said, there's a big, big shift, you have to make there from the sales mindset to the service mindset. And once that kind of clicked, you know, I just have to keep coming back to that anytime it feels a little off just saying remember that?

Debbie DeBerry  36:17  
Yeah, I say I always have to come back to that, too. That's a good one. Any others? Are those big, those are the big ones see

Unknown Speaker  36:25  
mindset. I think one of the biggest, like skills I've learned is sending out action items for myself, like, my whole previous career, I felt like I was just, you know, kind of chasing this endless wheel. And there was a lot of reacting to fires and negativity. And I feel like by setting up action items for myself, they're still going to, you're still going to have to react to issues and things like that. But I can dictate where my energy and my time goes in a positive way I can say I'm going to I'm going to be proactive in these ways. And so like, that's something you know, in the group, I make sure I put action items each week. And then I have, like, my planner, and I put those same action items. But then even on the day to day I say okay, these are my action items to get me towards those goals. Yes, that's definitely the biggest skill I've taken away is how to act. Proactively. Yes,

Debbie DeBerry  37:26  
that's huge. Because if we're, if we're just floating, and just constantly reacting to things, it's first of all, like, that's super draining. It's so exhausting to constantly just be reacting and talk about feeling completely out of control. Because you are you are out of control if you're just reacting to other things constantly. Oh my gosh, I'm so glad finally somebody appreciates the action items.

Unknown Speaker  37:52  
I love. Like You I shared

Debbie DeBerry  37:54  
like, we're there. And look at y'all like yeah, we're doing it. And maybe there's something to it

Unknown Speaker  38:01  
seems like there might be a correlation there.

Debbie DeBerry  38:05  
Right? Funny, any other kinds of things around that?

Unknown Speaker  38:10  
Um, let's see, those are my biggest mindset things.

Debbie DeBerry  38:15  
I would say, What's your favorite part of the entire process? Project manager,

Unknown Speaker  38:19  
I just, I love making the decisions I love. Again, controlling where my time and energy is going. I love being able to control how I respond and what emotions I project I like being able, I just, I just love the whole process of project management. And ironically enough, in my previous job, I worked as an engineer, but they really wanted me to try project management. And I always knew that it was something that I think I would be really good at. But in that environment, the project managers weren't given the support to be successful in a lot of ways. And I didn't want to subject myself to that environment. And so I never I never went there. But I did work as a project engineer on several big of our big jobs. And you know, I learned a set the setup, same skills. So yeah, the project management part of it is just I really enjoy that.

Debbie DeBerry  39:18  
Yeah, same. I didn't prep you with this question. It just came to my head. Hit me it there was like an I don't know if you if you have an answer to this, was there a certain way you thought you would feel after you flipped your first house,

Unknown Speaker  39:36  
necessarily? I think so. Every woman that I've noticed that comes into this project, everyone has gone through some length of journey in their time, you know, in their life. And they all get to a point where they're like, that's it enough. I need to do this for me every single one that's a common, a common denominator. Everybody comes in here and they're like, it is my I time. Yep. I had that experience in 2019 before I left my job, and then I went through severe job burnout, like I was, I was so over it, so, okay. And I mean, I just like I closed off the outside world, like I was just trying to get by I was doing the work. It was. It was, yeah, it was rough. But I went through that time of like, I know how crappy that feels. Yeah. And so I'm just not gonna, like, I'm just not gonna go back to that. Yes. So it wasn't that I was looking for like this big revelation after my first flip. Like, I was just kind of looking for control of like, my time and energy and making sure that it felt good. And it felt great.

Debbie DeBerry  40:44  
Yes. Oh, my God. Let's just do things that feel good. How about that?

Unknown Speaker  40:48  
Right? It doesn't have to be so hard. It doesn't

Debbie DeBerry  40:50  
have to be so hard. It doesn't have to be so hard. When you're making a choice. Do the thing. Choose the option that feels less terrible? Yeah. Pretty straightforward. It's so true, though. Like, if we could just shift that one thing, that maybe this time, we don't have to get to a low in order to realize this isn't like this isn't working?

Unknown Speaker  41:15  
Unfortunately, it seems like that's what we all need. We all have to go through something like one, two, or over completely overwhelming. Yep. And that's what it takes. I mean, I guess that's what it takes, you know, I, in 2019, when I kind of got overwhelmed, I was given multiple projects. I was traveling to both coasts, my kids were really young. I can't, this is too much. But I think back and I'm like, if I hadn't been overwhelmed, I would have made a change. I would have just kept going along. Right. Right. So

Debbie DeBerry  41:43  
yeah,

Unknown Speaker  41:45  
no, I am. I'm grateful for all of it. But yeah, it seems like every woman that comes in here is like, Okay, I'm, I'm done with all this. It's my time now. Yeah. So

Debbie DeBerry  41:54  
yeah, it's so true. They're all at some some sort of transition place. Yeah. Oh, my gosh, well, you know that we are so appreciative of you. You're awesome. Thanks for being you, like you from day one have just been such a big giver and supporter and just totally embody everything we want it to be like and feel like in the group. So really, like, thank you so much for that.

Unknown Speaker  42:22  
Yeah, no, I just I feel like that's the best way. You know, you could probably make a living just off all the people that tell you, thank you in a day like but it's a lot to run and keep going and you have cysts and you have layer but like if other people don't help, like, that's how it keeps going. You have to contribute. Yes,

Debbie DeBerry  42:41  
thank you. And like, there's so much the value in the group is people sharing their stories, right? That like that is why that group in that space is so valuable because it normalizes all the fears. It normalizes feeling like we don't have enough time in the day, but we have to make the time. It normalizes. Oh my god, I got this kid, and driving for dollars that are in the backseat, right? So what you're gonna do is you're gonna put her in the backseat, you're gonna drive around. Right, right. Like it normalizes all of that. And that makes it not just seem possible, but be possible, because you see these everyday women doing

Unknown Speaker  43:20  
it, you feel less lonely, and like the especially the downtimes one, like, you can go like, Hey, I'm struggling here. And people will just like flock to you and be like, Oh, my gosh, you can do this. You know, I'm like, it's just yeah, it's just really, really special place for sure.

Debbie DeBerry  43:38  
Oh, my gosh, thank you. Thank you for sharing your journey with us. Thank you for being here. Thank you for contributing in such a big way that you just consistently do. We appreciate you.

Unknown Speaker  43:48  
I appreciate you. Thank you.

Debbie DeBerry  43:50  
Okay. All right. Bye. I love it. Thanks, Amanda. Again, thank you for sharing your story with us. I know it's going to inspire somebody to get off the sideline, and go do this thing already. Nobody has ever regretted getting started sooner. Right? I mean, come on. What we usually hear is, gosh, I wish I had started sooner. What is it going to take for you to go chase this dream you have? Go do it. Anyone who's sitting on the sideline, choose one action step that you can take and you will commit to taking to get yourself one step closer to your goal. Commit to it and go do it. And then keep doing that every single day. One little action step. All right. All right. And if you want incredible support, you want the step by steps you want the systems and the processes and all the things plus an incredible community of a Like minded, lighthearted, everyday women who are doing this thing exactly the way they want to be doing it. book a call with us and let's see if we're a fit to work together. All right, go to her first flip.com and book your call. All right, until next time, go out there lead people in places better than you find them and keep chasing your curiosities. Bye