1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,680 Speaker 1: Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I and 2 00:00:02,759 --> 00:00:05,840 Speaker 1: Matt and today we're discussing waking up early and intentional 3 00:00:05,880 --> 00:00:26,759 Speaker 1: living with five Am Joel. Yeah, Joel, this is gonna 4 00:00:26,760 --> 00:00:28,640 Speaker 1: be a good one man. Our friend Joel is joining 5 00:00:28,720 --> 00:00:31,120 Speaker 1: us for this episode. We we both met Joel last 6 00:00:31,200 --> 00:00:34,840 Speaker 1: year at a personal finance conference and we immediately bonded 7 00:00:34,840 --> 00:00:37,479 Speaker 1: with him over a mutual love of craft beer and 8 00:00:37,520 --> 00:00:40,159 Speaker 1: the love of the name Joel. Right, I hate that 9 00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:43,680 Speaker 1: name actually, just kidding, but yeah, we both love craft beer. 10 00:00:44,040 --> 00:00:46,640 Speaker 1: And we also bonded over just talking about nerdy money 11 00:00:46,680 --> 00:00:50,000 Speaker 1: things like investing in real estate, financial independence, things like that. 12 00:00:50,479 --> 00:00:52,520 Speaker 1: But like the title of this episode, hens at, Joel 13 00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:54,720 Speaker 1: has been waking up early for years now, and we're 14 00:00:55,120 --> 00:00:57,840 Speaker 1: really excited to talk through how that has impacted him personally, 15 00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:01,040 Speaker 1: as well as some practical tips on how a night 16 00:01:01,080 --> 00:01:04,039 Speaker 1: owl like myself can it can start waking up early. Also, 17 00:01:04,080 --> 00:01:06,240 Speaker 1: he sends out a special email every morning when he 18 00:01:06,240 --> 00:01:08,560 Speaker 1: gets up, so we're gonna get to that too. So Joel, 19 00:01:08,600 --> 00:01:11,000 Speaker 1: thanks so much for coming on the podcast. Thanks very 20 00:01:11,040 --> 00:01:13,240 Speaker 1: much for having me. Guys. Hey, we're glad to have 21 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:15,319 Speaker 1: you Joel. It's been too long. Since we've hung out 22 00:01:15,319 --> 00:01:18,080 Speaker 1: in person. But I'm glad we get to chat right now. Yeah, 23 00:01:18,160 --> 00:01:20,720 Speaker 1: me too. Yeah. So every every episode, Matt and I 24 00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:22,880 Speaker 1: we drink a craft beer, which I know you're you're 25 00:01:22,920 --> 00:01:24,679 Speaker 1: fond of as well. And today on the show, we're 26 00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:27,440 Speaker 1: drinking a beer called black House by Modern Times and 27 00:01:27,680 --> 00:01:29,480 Speaker 1: big thanks to my buddy Craig, who is a brewer 28 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:31,800 Speaker 1: there actually, and since some beers our way. So with 29 00:01:31,880 --> 00:01:34,559 Speaker 1: that in mind, the fact that we drink an awesome beer, Joel, 30 00:01:34,640 --> 00:01:37,080 Speaker 1: the reason we do that is because we're prioritizing something 31 00:01:37,120 --> 00:01:40,039 Speaker 1: that we care about today, something is really important to us, 32 00:01:40,080 --> 00:01:42,800 Speaker 1: while we're saving thoughtfully for the future. So what's your 33 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:45,920 Speaker 1: explored its Like, what's your craft beer equivalent? Well, you're 34 00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:49,000 Speaker 1: not gonna like this, and I might get some backlash 35 00:01:49,080 --> 00:01:52,200 Speaker 1: from the FLA community, but my wife and I maybe 36 00:01:52,280 --> 00:01:55,600 Speaker 1: like three or four times a year we will spontaneously 37 00:01:56,240 --> 00:01:59,919 Speaker 1: buy flights to Vegas and go gamble for the weekend. 38 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:04,400 Speaker 1: Oh that's a awesome. I feel like that's the definition 39 00:02:04,440 --> 00:02:07,120 Speaker 1: of splurge because it's just I think most people would 40 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:10,760 Speaker 1: completely consider that just a total waste of money, definitely, 41 00:02:10,840 --> 00:02:13,040 Speaker 1: and like we're only a few minutes into the podcast, 42 00:02:13,120 --> 00:02:18,079 Speaker 1: and we've talked about drinking and gambling pretty in here. 43 00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:21,120 Speaker 1: It's only uphill from here, guys. But it's funny, like, um, 44 00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:23,120 Speaker 1: there's a lot of people trying to rid drinking and 45 00:02:23,160 --> 00:02:25,400 Speaker 1: gambling like out And as much as I've tried to 46 00:02:25,520 --> 00:02:29,959 Speaker 1: kill this from our like spending or like our annual spend, 47 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:32,480 Speaker 1: I just can't do it because we have so much fun. 48 00:02:32,600 --> 00:02:33,880 Speaker 1: I'm going to budget for it and I'm going to 49 00:02:33,919 --> 00:02:35,920 Speaker 1: continue to do it, and uh, yeah, we love it 50 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:40,000 Speaker 1: so Vegas, it is, say, awesome, Well, so let's continue 51 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:42,120 Speaker 1: that beer talk for a second. You used to homebrew, 52 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:45,000 Speaker 1: is that right? Yes? I used to homebrew. Nice. Yeah, 53 00:02:45,040 --> 00:02:47,440 Speaker 1: well so we get asked about that like a good amount, 54 00:02:47,480 --> 00:02:51,440 Speaker 1: just since we're beer lovers, but we don't brew beer ourselves, 55 00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:53,919 Speaker 1: just on average, Like how much money can brewing your 56 00:02:53,919 --> 00:02:57,200 Speaker 1: own beer save you? Oh, save you? Or cost you? 57 00:02:57,520 --> 00:03:00,520 Speaker 1: Because I think that a lot of people think that 58 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:03,240 Speaker 1: going into the homebrew hobby is going to save the 59 00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:06,360 Speaker 1: money on beer, and yes, it kind of can, but 60 00:03:06,600 --> 00:03:10,799 Speaker 1: sometimes it can't. And I think with me, my homebrew 61 00:03:10,880 --> 00:03:14,440 Speaker 1: hobby turned into like an obsession, like I threw myself 62 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:16,760 Speaker 1: into it. So instead of spending less money on beer, 63 00:03:16,840 --> 00:03:20,320 Speaker 1: I started spending more money on beer. But I calculated 64 00:03:20,360 --> 00:03:23,040 Speaker 1: all out, like, I can probably brew a beer if 65 00:03:23,080 --> 00:03:27,000 Speaker 1: I was bottling for about with all the ingredients and um, 66 00:03:27,040 --> 00:03:31,720 Speaker 1: all the equipment costs and not including time, for about 67 00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:34,520 Speaker 1: a dollar a beer would be like the sort of 68 00:03:34,560 --> 00:03:38,160 Speaker 1: the cheaper end, and with really good ingredients, I could 69 00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:40,840 Speaker 1: brew for about two dollars per beer. That's that's how 70 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:42,720 Speaker 1: much of costs. It cost me about a hundred bucks 71 00:03:42,720 --> 00:03:45,160 Speaker 1: to make a really good beer, and that'd be fifty bottles. 72 00:03:45,480 --> 00:03:48,160 Speaker 1: It's about two bucks a beer. And when I started 73 00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:52,120 Speaker 1: kegging like a yeah, it's it's not bad, right, It's 74 00:03:52,160 --> 00:03:56,800 Speaker 1: still cheaper than drinking out, but um, you can buy 75 00:03:56,840 --> 00:04:00,680 Speaker 1: a decent craft like six pack for two bucks of 76 00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:04,080 Speaker 1: beer these days, I would say, don't you think? Yeah? Yeah, 77 00:04:04,080 --> 00:04:06,960 Speaker 1: I agree, and plus it probably here's one of my 78 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:09,880 Speaker 1: biggest reasons for not getting into brew my own beer 79 00:04:10,240 --> 00:04:11,840 Speaker 1: is just the assumption that is going to take me 80 00:04:11,880 --> 00:04:13,440 Speaker 1: a long time to get good, So I'm gonna have 81 00:04:13,520 --> 00:04:15,560 Speaker 1: to drink a lot of bad beer for a long 82 00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:18,560 Speaker 1: time until I began to actually make decent tasting beers. 83 00:04:18,800 --> 00:04:21,679 Speaker 1: Was that the case for you? Yeah, it's both. Um, 84 00:04:21,760 --> 00:04:24,359 Speaker 1: if you make a bad batch, you're stuck with drinking 85 00:04:24,400 --> 00:04:27,680 Speaker 1: two cases of bad beer, and then the second is variety. 86 00:04:27,839 --> 00:04:31,520 Speaker 1: Like let's say, like you brew a pale ale, you've 87 00:04:31,600 --> 00:04:33,640 Speaker 1: gotta like it takes two weeks to brew, then it 88 00:04:33,680 --> 00:04:36,040 Speaker 1: takes four weeks to age in the bottles of the 89 00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:38,520 Speaker 1: keg or whatever just to make it taste good, and 90 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:41,680 Speaker 1: then you only get stuck with, you know, two cases 91 00:04:41,800 --> 00:04:44,840 Speaker 1: of pale ale. That's it. And so with me, I 92 00:04:44,880 --> 00:04:47,359 Speaker 1: started to think, you know, instead of waiting six weeks 93 00:04:47,400 --> 00:04:49,919 Speaker 1: for a batch, how about I brew like a pale 94 00:04:49,920 --> 00:04:52,800 Speaker 1: ale and he avison and an I p A and 95 00:04:52,839 --> 00:04:55,440 Speaker 1: I could stagger them out so that like I'm brewing 96 00:04:55,480 --> 00:04:58,880 Speaker 1: each week and bottling every second week and like pulling 97 00:04:58,880 --> 00:05:01,440 Speaker 1: out a new beer every now and then. And that's 98 00:05:01,480 --> 00:05:04,520 Speaker 1: when I started to really like, at one point, I 99 00:05:04,560 --> 00:05:07,880 Speaker 1: had like eight different beers on the go, eight different beers. 100 00:05:07,920 --> 00:05:11,919 Speaker 1: This is like your own beers like on at once. Oh, simultaneously, 101 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:15,839 Speaker 1: like I started a mini like microbrewery. I hit the 102 00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:18,960 Speaker 1: legal homebrew limit in two thousand fourteen. I brewed over 103 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:23,880 Speaker 1: two hundred gallons of homebrew in my spare bathroom. Wow. 104 00:05:24,040 --> 00:05:28,520 Speaker 1: So you're you're cut off. Yeah, and I, uh, you know, 105 00:05:28,600 --> 00:05:30,120 Speaker 1: so I spent a lot of money on the ingredients 106 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:32,839 Speaker 1: and stuff like that. Um. But also when you brew 107 00:05:33,160 --> 00:05:35,479 Speaker 1: your own beer, everyone wants to taste it. So out 108 00:05:35,480 --> 00:05:38,520 Speaker 1: of those two cases that you brew, you might maybe 109 00:05:38,600 --> 00:05:40,800 Speaker 1: drink a six pack or twelve of them, but the 110 00:05:40,839 --> 00:05:43,440 Speaker 1: rest go to your friends and your family because everyone 111 00:05:43,440 --> 00:05:46,680 Speaker 1: wants to try it. And uh, yeah, so it's expensive 112 00:05:46,760 --> 00:05:49,000 Speaker 1: just because you give away a lot. Yeah, it's it's 113 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:50,440 Speaker 1: it's going to your friends. I feel like that's a 114 00:05:50,440 --> 00:05:53,480 Speaker 1: noble cause, right, absolutely. Well, kind of on that note, 115 00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:55,880 Speaker 1: when we first met, you were taking time off from work. 116 00:05:55,880 --> 00:05:57,480 Speaker 1: It's kind of I think when you first you know, 117 00:05:57,560 --> 00:05:59,200 Speaker 1: right around there is when you quit your job and 118 00:05:59,240 --> 00:06:01,600 Speaker 1: you were even looking into working for a brewery back then, 119 00:06:01,640 --> 00:06:03,760 Speaker 1: maybe even for free, like just for the experience. I 120 00:06:03,760 --> 00:06:05,159 Speaker 1: don't think that panned out for you. But can you 121 00:06:05,200 --> 00:06:06,760 Speaker 1: tell us, like, how did you get to that point 122 00:06:06,800 --> 00:06:10,240 Speaker 1: where you could take a planned year long sabbatical, because 123 00:06:10,240 --> 00:06:11,440 Speaker 1: that's what you had planned at the time, was just 124 00:06:11,480 --> 00:06:13,960 Speaker 1: for for a year. But yeah, can you share a 125 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:17,400 Speaker 1: quick version basically of your of your money story? Yeah, yeah, 126 00:06:17,480 --> 00:06:19,320 Speaker 1: I guess we got to go all the way back 127 00:06:19,320 --> 00:06:22,000 Speaker 1: to my childhood because and at the time it was 128 00:06:22,040 --> 00:06:25,400 Speaker 1: so frustrating as a kid the rules and money stuff 129 00:06:25,400 --> 00:06:27,640 Speaker 1: that I learned and I didn't really understand. And then 130 00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:29,520 Speaker 1: later in life I look back and I'm like, man, 131 00:06:29,720 --> 00:06:32,600 Speaker 1: I'm so glad that I learned that crab. Yeah, a 132 00:06:32,640 --> 00:06:34,720 Speaker 1: lot of those from my parents. My parents told me 133 00:06:34,760 --> 00:06:36,760 Speaker 1: how to work hard. When I was little, I didn't 134 00:06:36,760 --> 00:06:39,320 Speaker 1: get an allowance. I had to do jobs around the house, 135 00:06:39,600 --> 00:06:42,240 Speaker 1: like during the week. This was like I had to 136 00:06:42,279 --> 00:06:44,600 Speaker 1: work really hard, and then on the weekend I could 137 00:06:44,600 --> 00:06:47,480 Speaker 1: do chores to earn money from my parents and they 138 00:06:47,480 --> 00:06:50,400 Speaker 1: would pay me five cents per chore that I would, 139 00:06:50,440 --> 00:06:53,240 Speaker 1: like you do for them. They just taught me a 140 00:06:53,279 --> 00:06:55,800 Speaker 1: really good work ethic. And when I was fourteen, I 141 00:06:55,839 --> 00:06:58,720 Speaker 1: started working at McDonald's and I worked all the way 142 00:06:58,760 --> 00:07:02,080 Speaker 1: through high school. In fact, I never stopped working until 143 00:07:02,160 --> 00:07:05,760 Speaker 1: I just got off work. There was no break after that. So, like, 144 00:07:05,839 --> 00:07:08,120 Speaker 1: my parents just taught me to work, work, work. The 145 00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:11,840 Speaker 1: other thing unique that my parents did was they taught 146 00:07:11,880 --> 00:07:14,440 Speaker 1: me that there was a cost to live. And so 147 00:07:14,680 --> 00:07:17,000 Speaker 1: they did this in like funny ways, Like as a 148 00:07:17,040 --> 00:07:20,160 Speaker 1: little kid, they would charge me if I was late 149 00:07:20,200 --> 00:07:23,559 Speaker 1: to school. So my mom worked out that it cost 150 00:07:23,600 --> 00:07:26,040 Speaker 1: her six dollars per day to send me to school. 151 00:07:26,200 --> 00:07:28,320 Speaker 1: Sorry if I work up late, and she didn't like 152 00:07:28,320 --> 00:07:30,120 Speaker 1: wake me up, So if I work up late and 153 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:33,400 Speaker 1: arrival late to school and was marked as late, she 154 00:07:33,400 --> 00:07:37,080 Speaker 1: would charge me six bucks. And this was not negotiable. 155 00:07:37,240 --> 00:07:39,480 Speaker 1: When I was fourteen, yeah, I got a job and 156 00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:42,200 Speaker 1: my mom sat me down and said, cool, from now on, 157 00:07:42,440 --> 00:07:45,640 Speaker 1: you're buying your own clothes. Um, your pay for your 158 00:07:45,640 --> 00:07:48,360 Speaker 1: own gas when I drive you somewhere. If you want 159 00:07:48,400 --> 00:07:50,520 Speaker 1: a new skateboard when you take it in the movie 160 00:07:50,600 --> 00:07:53,800 Speaker 1: is like, whatever it is, you're paying. And then like 161 00:07:53,960 --> 00:07:56,440 Speaker 1: it kept getting worse and worse as I got older 162 00:07:56,480 --> 00:07:59,080 Speaker 1: in the high school, so it was I was seventeen 163 00:07:59,160 --> 00:08:03,160 Speaker 1: when my mom said, hey, when you graduate high school 164 00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:05,960 Speaker 1: the day after, I'm going to start charging you rent. 165 00:08:06,760 --> 00:08:09,440 Speaker 1: And I was so angry at the time. I was like, Mom, 166 00:08:09,480 --> 00:08:11,920 Speaker 1: this is so unfair, like no one else has to 167 00:08:11,960 --> 00:08:14,920 Speaker 1: pay rent to live in their own house. But yeah, 168 00:08:15,360 --> 00:08:18,400 Speaker 1: so my mom started charging me rent. And she also 169 00:08:18,520 --> 00:08:21,320 Speaker 1: made me cook dinner for the family once a week, 170 00:08:21,440 --> 00:08:24,280 Speaker 1: every single week, and if I didn't cook dinner, I 171 00:08:24,320 --> 00:08:27,280 Speaker 1: would have to pay for the family dinner, like fifty 172 00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:29,520 Speaker 1: bucks for a takeout or pizza or something like that. 173 00:08:29,640 --> 00:08:33,720 Speaker 1: So anyway, all these like harsh lessons of what I 174 00:08:33,760 --> 00:08:37,000 Speaker 1: thought was like such a you know, a tough childhood 175 00:08:37,400 --> 00:08:40,360 Speaker 1: was so cool because my parents were basically teaching me 176 00:08:40,400 --> 00:08:44,040 Speaker 1: how to be independent and how to live independent of them. 177 00:08:44,880 --> 00:08:50,000 Speaker 1: And so that's sort of like the model that I 178 00:08:50,040 --> 00:08:52,720 Speaker 1: got molded into. I just I knew it wasn't normal 179 00:08:52,880 --> 00:08:55,560 Speaker 1: because my friends weren't doing the same thing, but I 180 00:08:55,920 --> 00:08:59,720 Speaker 1: accepted it as what has to be done. Just obey 181 00:08:59,760 --> 00:09:02,320 Speaker 1: your errands, really, and I sort of trusted that I 182 00:09:02,360 --> 00:09:05,200 Speaker 1: would be okay. And then man, since then, it's just 183 00:09:05,520 --> 00:09:09,000 Speaker 1: like skyrocketed. My my wife and I right now are 184 00:09:09,480 --> 00:09:12,920 Speaker 1: really well set up. Um we we. I had a 185 00:09:12,960 --> 00:09:15,559 Speaker 1: really good savings rate for the last twenty years ever 186 00:09:15,600 --> 00:09:19,319 Speaker 1: since McDonald's. Really my income has always been more than 187 00:09:19,360 --> 00:09:24,560 Speaker 1: my expenses, and I've studied a lot about investing and 188 00:09:24,559 --> 00:09:27,400 Speaker 1: tried to become a good investor as well. My wife 189 00:09:27,400 --> 00:09:30,199 Speaker 1: and I now, so I'm thirty four and she's thirty two. 190 00:09:30,760 --> 00:09:34,480 Speaker 1: We're not financially independent in the true sense of the word, 191 00:09:34,640 --> 00:09:37,800 Speaker 1: if you want to look at calculations wise, but we 192 00:09:37,840 --> 00:09:41,520 Speaker 1: are so far along the path that we are. Um, 193 00:09:41,640 --> 00:09:44,960 Speaker 1: we are free and free in the truest sense of 194 00:09:44,960 --> 00:09:47,800 Speaker 1: the word. We can do whatever we want for the 195 00:09:47,800 --> 00:09:51,040 Speaker 1: rest of our life. And that's what all the harsh 196 00:09:51,120 --> 00:09:54,720 Speaker 1: lessons have taught me. So that's my overview. Well that 197 00:09:54,720 --> 00:09:57,480 Speaker 1: that's fascinating, Joel. I love that your parents, your mom 198 00:09:57,480 --> 00:09:59,640 Speaker 1: in particular, it sounds like played such an integral role 199 00:09:59,760 --> 00:10:03,839 Speaker 1: in how you came to view money and work too, 200 00:10:04,040 --> 00:10:06,800 Speaker 1: And so I guess you know, Matt mentioned your sabbatical 201 00:10:06,960 --> 00:10:09,040 Speaker 1: and how you you decided to take a year off 202 00:10:09,080 --> 00:10:12,080 Speaker 1: of work, with work having been such ingrained in you 203 00:10:12,200 --> 00:10:14,520 Speaker 1: two at since such a young age, as such an 204 00:10:14,520 --> 00:10:18,040 Speaker 1: important aspect of your life and of kind of saving 205 00:10:18,080 --> 00:10:20,360 Speaker 1: for the future. What was it like for you when 206 00:10:20,400 --> 00:10:22,080 Speaker 1: you quit your job? That must have been kind of 207 00:10:22,080 --> 00:10:24,360 Speaker 1: a jarring experience to a certain degree because it had 208 00:10:24,400 --> 00:10:26,480 Speaker 1: been so ingrained that you know what you're supposed to 209 00:10:26,559 --> 00:10:30,840 Speaker 1: be a worker. Yeah, it's so weird. I've had like 210 00:10:30,920 --> 00:10:34,600 Speaker 1: all these epiphanies since my time off. And actually that's 211 00:10:34,600 --> 00:10:37,080 Speaker 1: why I started blogging, because I was like, I don't 212 00:10:37,080 --> 00:10:39,480 Speaker 1: even know, like things are changing so fast. I've got 213 00:10:39,480 --> 00:10:41,480 Speaker 1: to document some of this stuff. So that I know 214 00:10:41,640 --> 00:10:45,520 Speaker 1: what I did this whole year off. I think at 215 00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:48,760 Speaker 1: first I felt a little bored because I was such 216 00:10:48,760 --> 00:10:51,440 Speaker 1: a hard worker, so I tried to like fill my 217 00:10:51,559 --> 00:10:54,680 Speaker 1: day with all of these activities. I had a few 218 00:10:54,760 --> 00:10:57,480 Speaker 1: investment projects that I threw myself into, so they kept 219 00:10:57,520 --> 00:11:00,280 Speaker 1: me busy for a while. I think I felt a 220 00:11:00,320 --> 00:11:04,200 Speaker 1: little guilty as well. Taking time off when you're supposed 221 00:11:04,240 --> 00:11:07,080 Speaker 1: to be working, or you think you're supposed to be working, 222 00:11:07,120 --> 00:11:12,760 Speaker 1: is difficult to do. It's like squirmy uncomfortable thing. You're 223 00:11:12,840 --> 00:11:16,640 Speaker 1: kind of just you're stuck with yourself all day. It's yeah, 224 00:11:16,640 --> 00:11:20,160 Speaker 1: it's so strange. And then after a while, you slowly relax, 225 00:11:20,240 --> 00:11:22,880 Speaker 1: you get you pick up other hobbies, you get really creative. 226 00:11:23,280 --> 00:11:25,360 Speaker 1: I don't know, you kind of just get used to it. Now. 227 00:11:25,800 --> 00:11:28,920 Speaker 1: I it's been probably twenty months. I was supposed to 228 00:11:28,960 --> 00:11:31,280 Speaker 1: just take a year off, but things have been going great. 229 00:11:31,679 --> 00:11:33,880 Speaker 1: I haven't really found out what my next move is yet, 230 00:11:33,920 --> 00:11:36,840 Speaker 1: and I don't want to rush into anything. So yeah, 231 00:11:36,880 --> 00:11:39,679 Speaker 1: now things are things are going really good. I've adjusted 232 00:11:39,760 --> 00:11:44,679 Speaker 1: pretty well to this no working lifestyle. By the way, 233 00:11:44,800 --> 00:11:48,480 Speaker 1: Joel doesn't he have like the best accent every Yeah? 234 00:11:48,640 --> 00:11:51,520 Speaker 1: Much better accent than this show. Talking out of Joe. 235 00:11:51,520 --> 00:11:55,040 Speaker 1: You should have your own podcast, man Us. Well, actually 236 00:11:55,080 --> 00:11:57,760 Speaker 1: I proposed this, I think when we met. I was like, Matt, 237 00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:00,720 Speaker 1: if you change your name to Joel all come on 238 00:12:00,800 --> 00:12:04,920 Speaker 1: as a third host and three podcast and that would 239 00:12:04,960 --> 00:12:09,600 Speaker 1: be hilarious. I see it. Well, well, here's the thing, 240 00:12:10,080 --> 00:12:13,360 Speaker 1: as your name applies, you've made it a rock solid 241 00:12:13,400 --> 00:12:15,880 Speaker 1: habit to wake up at five am every single morning. 242 00:12:16,200 --> 00:12:17,920 Speaker 1: How did all that start? You know, you mentioned your 243 00:12:17,960 --> 00:12:19,800 Speaker 1: mom charging you if you woke up late, Like, did 244 00:12:19,800 --> 00:12:22,840 Speaker 1: it start back then? No? No, Like, oh man, I 245 00:12:22,920 --> 00:12:25,680 Speaker 1: was such a grumpy kid. I used to love to sleep. 246 00:12:25,840 --> 00:12:29,280 Speaker 1: I've never been a morning person. My mom used to 247 00:12:29,360 --> 00:12:32,680 Speaker 1: like just try everything to encourage me to wake up early. 248 00:12:32,760 --> 00:12:36,199 Speaker 1: So no, never, starting my childhood, even through my twenties, 249 00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:39,160 Speaker 1: I've always been a night ow Like I love staying 250 00:12:39,240 --> 00:12:42,600 Speaker 1: up drinking, That's my whole thing. And then about three 251 00:12:42,679 --> 00:12:45,160 Speaker 1: years ago, I was actually at a late night party 252 00:12:45,200 --> 00:12:47,720 Speaker 1: with a friend. We were making fun of people that 253 00:12:47,760 --> 00:12:51,840 Speaker 1: got up early. We were like, yeah, and we're joking 254 00:12:51,880 --> 00:12:57,160 Speaker 1: about like so many responsible adults exactly, and then he 255 00:12:57,240 --> 00:13:00,280 Speaker 1: said something really surprising. He was like, Hey, you know 256 00:13:00,320 --> 00:13:02,800 Speaker 1: what I tried getting up at five am once. Yeah, 257 00:13:02,800 --> 00:13:05,200 Speaker 1: it's actually kind of awesome. And I was like what 258 00:13:05,679 --> 00:13:09,959 Speaker 1: we were like just dragging it, and he said no, um, yeah, 259 00:13:10,040 --> 00:13:12,600 Speaker 1: it's really really good. In fact, um, I got more 260 00:13:12,600 --> 00:13:15,320 Speaker 1: accomplished than I ever thought I would. It completely changed 261 00:13:15,360 --> 00:13:17,800 Speaker 1: my life. Yeah, it's awesome. And I was like, well, 262 00:13:17,840 --> 00:13:20,000 Speaker 1: if it's so awesome, why are you not doing it? 263 00:13:20,559 --> 00:13:24,000 Speaker 1: And he was like, oh, yeah, that's why because it's 264 00:13:24,200 --> 00:13:29,160 Speaker 1: extremely hard, and I thought, what really and yeah, and 265 00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:31,640 Speaker 1: so it's just sort of clicked. I was like, extremely 266 00:13:31,720 --> 00:13:36,320 Speaker 1: hard but extremely rewarding. That's a really good combination for me. 267 00:13:36,400 --> 00:13:38,800 Speaker 1: I want to try it. So the very next day 268 00:13:38,960 --> 00:13:41,280 Speaker 1: we we kind of like made a dare to each other. 269 00:13:41,440 --> 00:13:43,719 Speaker 1: I was like, all right, tomorrow morning, we're gonna get 270 00:13:43,760 --> 00:13:47,640 Speaker 1: up at five am. And um, I haven't stopped since. 271 00:13:47,960 --> 00:13:51,000 Speaker 1: Like we I went thirty days and then just kept going. 272 00:13:51,440 --> 00:13:54,880 Speaker 1: So that's how it started. And um man, it's been 273 00:13:55,360 --> 00:13:59,600 Speaker 1: it's just been such a cool lesson. So weird. Yeah, 274 00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:01,480 Speaker 1: so so Joe. Part of the reason I think we 275 00:14:01,520 --> 00:14:04,120 Speaker 1: wanted to have you on because it's start of a 276 00:14:04,120 --> 00:14:06,679 Speaker 1: new year and this is like one of those big 277 00:14:06,760 --> 00:14:08,800 Speaker 1: changes maybe that someone might decide to make at the 278 00:14:08,840 --> 00:14:10,920 Speaker 1: beginning of a new year, Right, I'm gonna start waking 279 00:14:10,960 --> 00:14:14,599 Speaker 1: up earlier to accomplish more, get more done, and you 280 00:14:14,760 --> 00:14:16,600 Speaker 1: feel better maybe even I don't know, So, like, what 281 00:14:16,640 --> 00:14:19,360 Speaker 1: are the biggest benefits you've realized from waking up at 282 00:14:19,400 --> 00:14:22,640 Speaker 1: five am? Every day? So I guess the reason that 283 00:14:22,680 --> 00:14:24,840 Speaker 1: I started and the reason that I keep going is 284 00:14:25,160 --> 00:14:27,760 Speaker 1: a little different. The reason that I started was, like 285 00:14:27,800 --> 00:14:29,880 Speaker 1: I said, it was like a dare and this was 286 00:14:30,080 --> 00:14:32,000 Speaker 1: the person I was three years ago. Like I was 287 00:14:32,040 --> 00:14:35,200 Speaker 1: a workaholic. So what I did when I first got 288 00:14:35,240 --> 00:14:38,720 Speaker 1: up in the morning is I worked. And I'd say 289 00:14:38,760 --> 00:14:42,640 Speaker 1: the first benefit that I noticed personally was I just 290 00:14:42,680 --> 00:14:45,680 Speaker 1: got way more stuff done, Just so much more stuff 291 00:14:45,760 --> 00:14:49,200 Speaker 1: accomplished within my day. When you wake up early, like 292 00:14:49,360 --> 00:14:53,320 Speaker 1: there's no distractions, no one's up, You've got like really 293 00:14:53,360 --> 00:14:58,240 Speaker 1: good mental clarity, so you can apply extreme focus to 294 00:14:58,560 --> 00:15:01,680 Speaker 1: individual tasks. I remember the three things that I was 295 00:15:01,720 --> 00:15:05,680 Speaker 1: doing almost every morning were reading. I wanted to read 296 00:15:05,720 --> 00:15:07,720 Speaker 1: more because I wanted to learn more, and your mind 297 00:15:07,800 --> 00:15:10,200 Speaker 1: is like a sponge in the morning. So I first started, 298 00:15:10,280 --> 00:15:12,400 Speaker 1: like I used to read maybe like two or three 299 00:15:12,400 --> 00:15:16,040 Speaker 1: books a year like most people. Now I'm crushing out 300 00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:18,440 Speaker 1: like two or three a month, so and it's just 301 00:15:18,480 --> 00:15:22,800 Speaker 1: twenty minutes a day consistently. So reading more, I started 302 00:15:22,840 --> 00:15:25,560 Speaker 1: working more. You get to like I get up at five, 303 00:15:25,680 --> 00:15:27,600 Speaker 1: it get to six am, and I'd be like, right, 304 00:15:27,640 --> 00:15:29,640 Speaker 1: it's time to start working. So I pull out my laptop, 305 00:15:29,680 --> 00:15:32,080 Speaker 1: I smash out replies to all the emails that I 306 00:15:32,120 --> 00:15:34,400 Speaker 1: had sitting in my inbox from the night before, and 307 00:15:34,440 --> 00:15:37,520 Speaker 1: I just like get onto planning my day, planning my meetings, 308 00:15:37,560 --> 00:15:41,440 Speaker 1: planning my calls, and just that benefited me like huge. 309 00:15:41,720 --> 00:15:44,120 Speaker 1: I was in sales, so like, the harder you work, 310 00:15:44,400 --> 00:15:49,680 Speaker 1: the more money you make. Direct correlation between working more 311 00:15:49,800 --> 00:15:52,200 Speaker 1: and making more money when in sales for sure. Well, 312 00:15:52,280 --> 00:15:55,000 Speaker 1: and then that's like probably added to my motivation as well. 313 00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:56,960 Speaker 1: When I saw that, I was like, hang on a second, 314 00:15:57,000 --> 00:15:59,600 Speaker 1: if I'm making more money getting up early, I should 315 00:15:59,720 --> 00:16:01,880 Speaker 1: get Like if you were paid to get up early, 316 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:04,720 Speaker 1: you would do it too, right, So yeah, and then 317 00:16:04,800 --> 00:16:08,440 Speaker 1: and real estate as well, Like, man, I threw myself 318 00:16:08,480 --> 00:16:10,920 Speaker 1: into you could call it my side hustle if you want. Um. 319 00:16:10,960 --> 00:16:13,640 Speaker 1: I threw myself into real estate investing. So I started 320 00:16:13,640 --> 00:16:16,720 Speaker 1: studying and making phone calls and doing a lot of 321 00:16:16,760 --> 00:16:19,560 Speaker 1: research and putting bids on properties. So within the first 322 00:16:19,760 --> 00:16:21,640 Speaker 1: I think it was like ninety days of getting up 323 00:16:21,640 --> 00:16:25,320 Speaker 1: at five am, I had bought one investment property fully 324 00:16:25,560 --> 00:16:28,000 Speaker 1: while holding a full time job, as well as had 325 00:16:28,040 --> 00:16:31,080 Speaker 1: another one under contract as well. So it's a pretty 326 00:16:31,080 --> 00:16:33,120 Speaker 1: intense process. But like, if you get up early each 327 00:16:33,160 --> 00:16:35,320 Speaker 1: day and work a couple of hours on contracts or 328 00:16:35,360 --> 00:16:37,120 Speaker 1: whatever you need to do, you can get it done. 329 00:16:37,280 --> 00:16:41,680 Speaker 1: So yeah, productivity absolutely biggest benefit I saw. Well, Joel, 330 00:16:41,680 --> 00:16:43,200 Speaker 1: I mean, so since you, I mean you go buy 331 00:16:43,240 --> 00:16:46,600 Speaker 1: five am Joel online, Like that's the name of your site. Um, 332 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:49,960 Speaker 1: do you feel that you're no longer allowed to sleep in? Right? Like? 333 00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:52,640 Speaker 1: How much of your identity is tied up into the name? 334 00:16:52,680 --> 00:16:54,760 Speaker 1: Because I mean, I'll say this, I'll share a quick example. 335 00:16:54,800 --> 00:16:58,000 Speaker 1: As a professional photographer, once I started shooting and once 336 00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:00,440 Speaker 1: I kind of put myself out there as a professional phtographer, 337 00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:02,360 Speaker 1: once I you know, I tied my name to that, 338 00:17:02,840 --> 00:17:06,479 Speaker 1: certainly I enjoyed it, but I did feel more, you know, 339 00:17:06,640 --> 00:17:09,840 Speaker 1: there's more pressure to take awesome photos and to kind 340 00:17:09,840 --> 00:17:12,239 Speaker 1: of always do that. And so how much of this 341 00:17:12,400 --> 00:17:16,320 Speaker 1: for you has affected your ability to to actually sleep in? 342 00:17:17,080 --> 00:17:21,320 Speaker 1: So are you asking if, like, I get up because 343 00:17:21,520 --> 00:17:25,720 Speaker 1: I have to. Now when till last time you broke 344 00:17:25,760 --> 00:17:28,320 Speaker 1: the rules and you slept in past five Oh, it happens. 345 00:17:28,600 --> 00:17:32,800 Speaker 1: It happens, and but it happens very rarely, and so yeah, 346 00:17:32,920 --> 00:17:35,800 Speaker 1: I guess five am. Joel dot Com was sort of like, 347 00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:38,439 Speaker 1: I'm just pick a name and roll with it. In hindsight, 348 00:17:38,480 --> 00:17:41,440 Speaker 1: it's probably bad because now, um, yeah, I I sort 349 00:17:41,440 --> 00:17:43,679 Speaker 1: of live with that identify identity and I have to. 350 00:17:43,880 --> 00:17:46,919 Speaker 1: But someone asked me the other day, like, if you 351 00:17:46,960 --> 00:17:49,399 Speaker 1: were the only person left in the world, we do 352 00:17:49,480 --> 00:17:51,920 Speaker 1: still get up at five am? And the answer is yes. 353 00:17:52,320 --> 00:17:54,359 Speaker 1: I's a great question, by the way, which I thought 354 00:17:54,359 --> 00:17:57,680 Speaker 1: of that. Yeah, And I actually I asked the question 355 00:17:57,760 --> 00:17:59,200 Speaker 1: for a lot of the things that I do. I 356 00:17:59,280 --> 00:18:03,919 Speaker 1: got it. Um. Derek Sivers did something recently along that question. 357 00:18:03,960 --> 00:18:05,800 Speaker 1: He said, if you were the last person on nurse, 358 00:18:05,840 --> 00:18:09,160 Speaker 1: would you do what you're doing? Like, would you create art? 359 00:18:09,320 --> 00:18:11,879 Speaker 1: Would you like what you do throughout the day You're 360 00:18:11,920 --> 00:18:13,879 Speaker 1: doing it for yourself or you're doing it for others? 361 00:18:14,480 --> 00:18:16,439 Speaker 1: And I get up at five am, it's it's like 362 00:18:16,560 --> 00:18:19,320 Speaker 1: purely a personal thing. I do it for myself, So yes, 363 00:18:19,400 --> 00:18:22,439 Speaker 1: I would continue to do it, and yeah, people tease me, 364 00:18:22,520 --> 00:18:25,119 Speaker 1: like if I sleep in, they like send me an 365 00:18:25,160 --> 00:18:27,760 Speaker 1: email and they're like, hey, you probably should be seven 366 00:18:27,800 --> 00:18:32,159 Speaker 1: am Joel or like, but the accountability is there, and 367 00:18:32,200 --> 00:18:36,080 Speaker 1: I actually like the accountability. If I sleep in and um, 368 00:18:36,080 --> 00:18:38,720 Speaker 1: I miss one of my morning emails, people notice and 369 00:18:38,840 --> 00:18:41,399 Speaker 1: I get right back on track. The next is there 370 00:18:41,440 --> 00:18:43,119 Speaker 1: is there anyone else keeping your accountable to have a 371 00:18:43,160 --> 00:18:45,320 Speaker 1: friend or did your wife join you in this endeavor? 372 00:18:47,200 --> 00:18:50,520 Speaker 1: So when I first started, yes, my body kept me accountable. 373 00:18:50,680 --> 00:18:52,760 Speaker 1: And that's one of the tips, like maybe i'll talk 374 00:18:52,760 --> 00:18:55,680 Speaker 1: about later, is like, yeah, get an accountability partner. If 375 00:18:55,800 --> 00:18:57,639 Speaker 1: you and I or if the three of us like 376 00:18:57,720 --> 00:18:59,439 Speaker 1: promised to get up at five am, we could just 377 00:18:59,480 --> 00:19:01,359 Speaker 1: text each other or each morning. If you don't respond, 378 00:19:01,480 --> 00:19:03,960 Speaker 1: I know you're sleeping in. So like it's a great 379 00:19:03,960 --> 00:19:07,359 Speaker 1: way to stay on track and stay motivated. My wife 380 00:19:07,560 --> 00:19:12,760 Speaker 1: is naturally blessed with the time management superhuman skills already, 381 00:19:12,800 --> 00:19:15,720 Speaker 1: so she doesn't need any more productivity and what like 382 00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:17,560 Speaker 1: everything that I do is just to bring me up 383 00:19:17,560 --> 00:19:20,680 Speaker 1: to her already awesome level. So I'll give my wife 384 00:19:20,680 --> 00:19:23,680 Speaker 1: a break. She can sleep in as much as she wants. 385 00:19:23,760 --> 00:19:26,080 Speaker 1: Nice nice. All Right, We've got so much more to 386 00:19:26,080 --> 00:19:28,080 Speaker 1: get to with you, Joel, including Yeah, we're gonna get 387 00:19:28,080 --> 00:19:30,000 Speaker 1: to in a little bit some of those specific tips 388 00:19:30,080 --> 00:19:32,960 Speaker 1: on how other people can take that idea of waking 389 00:19:33,040 --> 00:19:36,919 Speaker 1: up early, adding some productivity into their life, getting more accomplished, 390 00:19:36,920 --> 00:19:39,520 Speaker 1: and maybe just feeling better in general. I don't know 391 00:19:39,680 --> 00:19:41,160 Speaker 1: for waking up early. And you know what, maybe Matt 392 00:19:41,160 --> 00:19:43,000 Speaker 1: and I will give us give ourselves a challenge to 393 00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:45,960 Speaker 1: do that too later on. Yeah, but you're gonna have 394 00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:47,679 Speaker 1: to stay tuned until after the break to see if 395 00:19:47,680 --> 00:19:59,280 Speaker 1: that actually happens. Alright, we're back from the break and 396 00:19:59,320 --> 00:20:02,760 Speaker 1: we're talking with five am Joel. Let's dive into just 397 00:20:02,880 --> 00:20:05,479 Speaker 1: intentional living a little bit here, Joel. Anyone listening can 398 00:20:05,520 --> 00:20:07,760 Speaker 1: tell that you are really intentional with how you spend 399 00:20:07,800 --> 00:20:09,800 Speaker 1: your money, with how you spend your time, and so 400 00:20:09,880 --> 00:20:11,920 Speaker 1: let's kind of launch into a quick little anecdote here. 401 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:15,520 Speaker 1: You recently wrote about dumping Amazon Prime. Why did you 402 00:20:15,560 --> 00:20:18,120 Speaker 1: make that decision? So it started out as like just 403 00:20:18,960 --> 00:20:21,879 Speaker 1: every year, I like sort of review our spending and 404 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:24,720 Speaker 1: our subscriptions, and I just wanted to cut down on 405 00:20:24,840 --> 00:20:27,119 Speaker 1: like some of our subscriptions. So it started saying like 406 00:20:27,200 --> 00:20:30,800 Speaker 1: as a money saving technique, and Amazon Prime like it's 407 00:20:30,840 --> 00:20:34,040 Speaker 1: not that expensive. What is a hundred bucks a year 408 00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:38,040 Speaker 1: or something like that. Not much? Yeah, but I've been 409 00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:42,840 Speaker 1: a member for seven years, I think, so I started 410 00:20:42,880 --> 00:20:45,479 Speaker 1: thinking about, like what is the reason that I signed 411 00:20:45,560 --> 00:20:48,399 Speaker 1: up in the first place, and like is that reason 412 00:20:48,480 --> 00:20:51,280 Speaker 1: still valid today? And like what is what? Like really 413 00:20:51,280 --> 00:20:53,600 Speaker 1: what are the benefits? And they've got maybe like ten 414 00:20:53,680 --> 00:20:56,000 Speaker 1: or fifteen benefits to be a Prime member, but the 415 00:20:56,040 --> 00:21:00,360 Speaker 1: main ones for me are free shipping, fast shipping, like 416 00:21:00,760 --> 00:21:04,840 Speaker 1: two day delivery, and they've got that TV and movies 417 00:21:04,920 --> 00:21:08,200 Speaker 1: service as well, which is like a streaming thing. So 418 00:21:08,359 --> 00:21:11,159 Speaker 1: those are the really the only three relevant things. And 419 00:21:11,280 --> 00:21:15,600 Speaker 1: seven years ago they were huge unique benefits, like Amazon 420 00:21:15,840 --> 00:21:18,960 Speaker 1: was crushing it, so I loved it for you know, 421 00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:21,920 Speaker 1: eighty bucks or whatever the membership was, like this is wicked. 422 00:21:22,400 --> 00:21:26,840 Speaker 1: But today it's two thousand and twenty free shipping and 423 00:21:26,840 --> 00:21:30,679 Speaker 1: two days shipping. That's not unique anymore. Almost all big 424 00:21:30,760 --> 00:21:35,840 Speaker 1: retailers offer some type of fast shipping and almost free shipping, 425 00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:39,360 Speaker 1: like Walmart and Target and stuff like that. So that's 426 00:21:39,359 --> 00:21:41,679 Speaker 1: sort of just left the TV and movies, which, to 427 00:21:41,720 --> 00:21:44,800 Speaker 1: be honest, I'm trying to move away from watching more 428 00:21:44,960 --> 00:21:47,920 Speaker 1: TV and movies and stuff like that. So I thought, 429 00:21:47,960 --> 00:21:51,360 Speaker 1: you know what, I'm going to cancel Amazon Prime and 430 00:21:51,480 --> 00:21:53,760 Speaker 1: see how it goes. And by the way, there is 431 00:21:53,800 --> 00:21:56,639 Speaker 1: no risk at all to canceling your Prime membership, like 432 00:21:56,920 --> 00:21:58,640 Speaker 1: you just if you don't like it, just signed back 433 00:21:58,720 --> 00:22:00,600 Speaker 1: up the next day. There's no penalty to your fee. 434 00:22:00,640 --> 00:22:03,239 Speaker 1: They're not gonna get mad or increase the costs like 435 00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:06,720 Speaker 1: who cares, cancel it and then resubscribe. So anyway, I 436 00:22:06,760 --> 00:22:08,199 Speaker 1: just thought, you know what, I'm gonna do this as 437 00:22:08,240 --> 00:22:11,399 Speaker 1: a trial period. So before I did, I took some 438 00:22:11,480 --> 00:22:14,800 Speaker 1: notes on like my Amazon spend for two thousand eighteen, 439 00:22:14,880 --> 00:22:18,359 Speaker 1: two thousand seventeen, and I spent like maybe I know, 440 00:22:18,359 --> 00:22:20,680 Speaker 1: a thousand bucks a year, and then I paid the 441 00:22:21,119 --> 00:22:25,159 Speaker 1: annual subscription as well. And since I quit and that 442 00:22:25,280 --> 00:22:29,040 Speaker 1: was dumped it in two thousand January this year January 443 00:22:29,040 --> 00:22:31,480 Speaker 1: two thousand and nineteen, so it's been a full year 444 00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:35,240 Speaker 1: and I've spent about a hundred and twenty bucks with Amazon. Yeah, 445 00:22:35,240 --> 00:22:38,880 Speaker 1: so massive reduction in spending, which was the main goal. 446 00:22:39,440 --> 00:22:42,520 Speaker 1: But the funny thing is, like, actually the true goal 447 00:22:42,560 --> 00:22:45,080 Speaker 1: is this, Like my friends tease me because they're like, oh, 448 00:22:45,119 --> 00:22:47,200 Speaker 1: it's only a hundred bucks, and you're doing all this 449 00:22:47,280 --> 00:22:49,800 Speaker 1: like effort to save a hundred bucks. But the truth 450 00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:53,600 Speaker 1: is that the value wasn't there for me anymore. So like, 451 00:22:53,720 --> 00:22:55,960 Speaker 1: I don't care if it's a hundred bucks or ten 452 00:22:56,000 --> 00:22:58,640 Speaker 1: bucks or even one dollar. I don't want to pay 453 00:22:58,720 --> 00:23:02,480 Speaker 1: for something that doesn't ride me value. So yeah, unless 454 00:23:02,480 --> 00:23:05,480 Speaker 1: it's free, like yeah, I can live without it. So 455 00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:09,720 Speaker 1: that was the reason behind dumping Prime. Not only value too, 456 00:23:09,720 --> 00:23:12,320 Speaker 1: but oftentimes when you're subscribed to something like that or 457 00:23:12,359 --> 00:23:14,360 Speaker 1: we can have a membership, you feel forced to use 458 00:23:14,400 --> 00:23:17,360 Speaker 1: it more often, right, And so it's not only are 459 00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:20,199 Speaker 1: getting value from it, but it's actually potentially costing you 460 00:23:20,280 --> 00:23:24,040 Speaker 1: more money. Sure, And um, okay, So I spent a 461 00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:26,840 Speaker 1: thousand bucks with Amazon in two thousand eighteen and only 462 00:23:26,840 --> 00:23:29,800 Speaker 1: a hundred and twenties, so I probably spent more throughout 463 00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:33,720 Speaker 1: the year on other websites and services. But it forced 464 00:23:33,760 --> 00:23:36,240 Speaker 1: me to look at cheaper places. It forced me to 465 00:23:36,320 --> 00:23:38,880 Speaker 1: look at, you know, other places that offer the same 466 00:23:38,960 --> 00:23:42,320 Speaker 1: value for free, And um, that's the what I'm really 467 00:23:42,320 --> 00:23:45,280 Speaker 1: going for is not to do the lazy you know, 468 00:23:45,359 --> 00:23:46,960 Speaker 1: I'll pull out my phone and just add it to 469 00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:49,640 Speaker 1: my cart and buy it later. I think what he said, 470 00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:52,720 Speaker 1: I had like this obligation to spend with Amazon when 471 00:23:52,720 --> 00:23:55,120 Speaker 1: I was a Prime member. Now I don't. I can 472 00:23:55,200 --> 00:23:58,199 Speaker 1: shop wherever I want. Yeah, and joll, I love how 473 00:23:58,240 --> 00:24:00,439 Speaker 1: your kind of value focused. I think so many times 474 00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:05,399 Speaker 1: in the personal finance game, we get maybe too concerned 475 00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:08,879 Speaker 1: with a specific line item, uh, and we're not actually 476 00:24:08,880 --> 00:24:11,159 Speaker 1: concerned with the greater idea of how much value it 477 00:24:11,160 --> 00:24:13,240 Speaker 1: adds to our life and kind of assessing it in 478 00:24:13,320 --> 00:24:15,840 Speaker 1: that light. And I think if we kind of took 479 00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:18,600 Speaker 1: everything under a microscope with the lens of value, that 480 00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:20,720 Speaker 1: would help us make wiser decisions when it comes to 481 00:24:20,760 --> 00:24:23,840 Speaker 1: our money. You you also, I feel like since value 482 00:24:23,880 --> 00:24:26,840 Speaker 1: is your main priority when it came to taking time 483 00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:30,320 Speaker 1: off from your traditional job, that seemed to be the 484 00:24:30,359 --> 00:24:32,480 Speaker 1: way that you weighed that as well, right, because that 485 00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:35,280 Speaker 1: that is like way more than bucks. Like you're you're 486 00:24:35,320 --> 00:24:37,439 Speaker 1: getting rid of your entire salary and you're saying, you 487 00:24:37,440 --> 00:24:40,040 Speaker 1: know what, it's it's worth it value wise for me 488 00:24:40,119 --> 00:24:42,959 Speaker 1: to have this time off of work instead. So can 489 00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:45,400 Speaker 1: you kind of share what that process was like mentally 490 00:24:45,480 --> 00:24:47,800 Speaker 1: to say, you know what this the value I'm going 491 00:24:47,840 --> 00:24:50,840 Speaker 1: to derive from taking a year off of work is 492 00:24:51,320 --> 00:24:53,600 Speaker 1: ultimately going to be worth it for me? Yeah? What 493 00:24:53,680 --> 00:24:56,200 Speaker 1: was that proposition? Like, how how do you think through that? Yeah? 494 00:24:56,280 --> 00:24:59,200 Speaker 1: I mean, dude, you pretty much just described it right there. 495 00:24:59,240 --> 00:25:02,040 Speaker 1: But I us I'll say that I didn't really even 496 00:25:02,119 --> 00:25:06,080 Speaker 1: know it until I was halfway through my sabbatical. So, like, 497 00:25:06,640 --> 00:25:09,240 Speaker 1: this was one of the epiphanies that I had within 498 00:25:09,480 --> 00:25:12,200 Speaker 1: taking time off work. Before I took time off work, 499 00:25:12,240 --> 00:25:14,400 Speaker 1: it was purely a money thing. I only thought about 500 00:25:14,440 --> 00:25:18,720 Speaker 1: the cost, and I was even asking people and researching, like, hey, 501 00:25:18,760 --> 00:25:21,200 Speaker 1: how much does it cost to take a year off work? 502 00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:24,000 Speaker 1: And um, there are several things that were in my 503 00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:27,040 Speaker 1: head before I like handed in my letter of resignation. 504 00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:30,040 Speaker 1: The first was like the the income approach to taking 505 00:25:30,040 --> 00:25:32,359 Speaker 1: out a year off work. If you earn a hundred 506 00:25:32,359 --> 00:25:35,280 Speaker 1: thousand dollars a year as income and you take a 507 00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:38,960 Speaker 1: full year off, it like technically costs you a hundred 508 00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:41,639 Speaker 1: thousand dollars because you're going to miss that income, And 509 00:25:41,720 --> 00:25:43,679 Speaker 1: so that's one way to look at it. And that hurts, 510 00:25:43,800 --> 00:25:47,680 Speaker 1: like just thinking about that, like taking prime years off 511 00:25:47,720 --> 00:25:50,880 Speaker 1: in your thirties, like especially for a hard worker like myself. 512 00:25:51,280 --> 00:25:55,040 Speaker 1: Second was like the expense approach. I was like, Okay, well, 513 00:25:55,080 --> 00:25:57,600 Speaker 1: you know that's really potential income, So let's look at 514 00:25:57,640 --> 00:26:01,080 Speaker 1: the true cost of living for a whole year. So 515 00:26:01,119 --> 00:26:02,680 Speaker 1: I looked at all the things that my wife wanted 516 00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:04,800 Speaker 1: to do, my wife and I wanted to do, like 517 00:26:04,920 --> 00:26:07,919 Speaker 1: travel and eat out and all of this stuff, and 518 00:26:07,960 --> 00:26:09,960 Speaker 1: I calculated on and I was like, how much is 519 00:26:10,040 --> 00:26:12,560 Speaker 1: one year going to cost if I'm not working and 520 00:26:12,600 --> 00:26:15,560 Speaker 1: we're traveling around? And that was like, I can't remember 521 00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:17,119 Speaker 1: the number it was, Maybe it was like fifty tho 522 00:26:17,400 --> 00:26:20,040 Speaker 1: bucks or something like that. And even still, I'm like, oh, 523 00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:24,240 Speaker 1: with no income, spending that much money like that is 524 00:26:24,400 --> 00:26:26,840 Speaker 1: like going to hurt me throughout the year. I pulled 525 00:26:26,840 --> 00:26:30,119 Speaker 1: the trigger anyway, because I'm confident on our f I 526 00:26:30,280 --> 00:26:33,639 Speaker 1: numbers and stuff like that. And then I started to 527 00:26:33,840 --> 00:26:37,200 Speaker 1: relax a little bit, like money just flows in and 528 00:26:37,200 --> 00:26:40,880 Speaker 1: out of my life via like in through investments, out 529 00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:44,920 Speaker 1: through expenses. And after a few months with no income, 530 00:26:45,400 --> 00:26:47,840 Speaker 1: I started to like get used to the fact that 531 00:26:48,119 --> 00:26:51,560 Speaker 1: I'm okay with my cost of living, Like I've calculated 532 00:26:51,640 --> 00:26:54,120 Speaker 1: pretty well, and instead of thinking about how much everything 533 00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:57,000 Speaker 1: costs me, it's hurting me. I'm like, I'm negative about it. 534 00:26:57,400 --> 00:27:00,560 Speaker 1: I should start thinking about like the real value it's providing. 535 00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:03,119 Speaker 1: So it's funny I started to look at the word cost. 536 00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:05,720 Speaker 1: It's like such a negative thing, like when I when 537 00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:08,640 Speaker 1: you hear costs, you hear something that's taken away from 538 00:27:08,720 --> 00:27:12,720 Speaker 1: your life. You The words associated with are like penalty 539 00:27:12,920 --> 00:27:17,240 Speaker 1: and like bills or attacks or fear like stuff like that. 540 00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:20,600 Speaker 1: The word value is completely different and they sort of 541 00:27:20,640 --> 00:27:22,800 Speaker 1: mean the same thing. When you try to work out 542 00:27:22,840 --> 00:27:24,720 Speaker 1: the cost of something, really you just want to know 543 00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:27,199 Speaker 1: the value of it, like what is the value? What 544 00:27:27,359 --> 00:27:31,120 Speaker 1: is it's worth? The word value sounds like um, it's 545 00:27:31,160 --> 00:27:34,000 Speaker 1: like something that's in addition to your life that you 546 00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:37,080 Speaker 1: think about potential, like what is the advantage? What is 547 00:27:37,119 --> 00:27:39,600 Speaker 1: the like the benefit or like the profit from it, 548 00:27:39,640 --> 00:27:42,960 Speaker 1: Like what's the value of it? And when you think 549 00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:46,359 Speaker 1: about what the value of a year of work is 550 00:27:46,560 --> 00:27:49,960 Speaker 1: or year off work is, like it's a total shift 551 00:27:49,960 --> 00:27:54,080 Speaker 1: in mindset. And this year that I've had off is invaluable. 552 00:27:54,200 --> 00:27:58,280 Speaker 1: You can't buy it. It's like, yeah, so for me, 553 00:27:58,359 --> 00:28:00,760 Speaker 1: it's totally worth it. And my month the expenses like 554 00:28:00,800 --> 00:28:03,399 Speaker 1: whether it be a bill for insurance, or whether it 555 00:28:03,440 --> 00:28:06,760 Speaker 1: be go on Vegas with my wife splurging. Um, the 556 00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:09,560 Speaker 1: value is there, so for me, it's worth it every time. 557 00:28:10,320 --> 00:28:12,560 Speaker 1: And when you're looking at it just from the value standpoint, 558 00:28:12,680 --> 00:28:15,280 Speaker 1: you're looking at it through a filter of what it's 559 00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:17,320 Speaker 1: like to be human. When you're looking at the cost, 560 00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:19,560 Speaker 1: it's almost like saying, how much all this transaction costs me? 561 00:28:19,560 --> 00:28:21,760 Speaker 1: Whereas when you are looking at the value, you're that's 562 00:28:21,800 --> 00:28:24,399 Speaker 1: it's more of an experience. Yeah, that's a great way 563 00:28:24,440 --> 00:28:26,400 Speaker 1: to put it. If we wanted to cut down our 564 00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:29,680 Speaker 1: costs in life, if we wanted to really minimize everything, 565 00:28:30,160 --> 00:28:33,280 Speaker 1: we'd be bums living under the bridge. They've got no bills, 566 00:28:33,960 --> 00:28:38,680 Speaker 1: no expenses, and that that's it. And so you can 567 00:28:38,680 --> 00:28:40,520 Speaker 1: cut everything out of your life, or you can think 568 00:28:40,560 --> 00:28:42,920 Speaker 1: of it as like how what are the things that 569 00:28:42,960 --> 00:28:46,880 Speaker 1: are valuable to me? And how can I afford them? 570 00:28:47,040 --> 00:28:50,240 Speaker 1: And how can I just fill my life with valuable 571 00:28:50,320 --> 00:28:53,720 Speaker 1: things experiences and stuff like that? Not valuable it's like, yeah, 572 00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:58,959 Speaker 1: you know what I mean, not gold necessarily, Well, I 573 00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:00,479 Speaker 1: love that. I love that a pro it shall love 574 00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:03,160 Speaker 1: that mindset. But like practically speaking, like now that you 575 00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:05,560 Speaker 1: no longer have like your high paying jobs, Like, you 576 00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:07,479 Speaker 1: still have to be able to pay the bills, right, so, 577 00:29:07,600 --> 00:29:10,080 Speaker 1: like how are you and your wife able to support yourselves? 578 00:29:10,160 --> 00:29:12,360 Speaker 1: You mentioned real estate? Is that the main thing that 579 00:29:12,400 --> 00:29:14,600 Speaker 1: you guys are working on right now? Yeah? Real estate 580 00:29:14,840 --> 00:29:19,080 Speaker 1: U has always been my primary vehicle to like, you know, investing. 581 00:29:19,520 --> 00:29:22,560 Speaker 1: That started at a young age as well. Again sort 582 00:29:22,560 --> 00:29:25,360 Speaker 1: of going back to my parents, they bought an investment property. 583 00:29:25,360 --> 00:29:27,720 Speaker 1: It was their first investment property. I was eighteen at 584 00:29:27,720 --> 00:29:30,120 Speaker 1: the time, and my head dad came to me and 585 00:29:30,240 --> 00:29:32,200 Speaker 1: was like, Hey, we're going to buy this investment property 586 00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:34,800 Speaker 1: and you can like go in on it with us 587 00:29:34,840 --> 00:29:37,560 Speaker 1: if you want, so, like, yeah, I was interested, and 588 00:29:37,680 --> 00:29:41,400 Speaker 1: they're really mathematical about it. They said, cool, this house is, 589 00:29:41,720 --> 00:29:45,200 Speaker 1: uh this two thousand dollars and you can buy one 590 00:29:45,280 --> 00:29:48,880 Speaker 1: quarter of it, so that's fifty and you can You're 591 00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:52,480 Speaker 1: responsible for like a quarter of the down payment, You're 592 00:29:52,520 --> 00:29:55,200 Speaker 1: responsible for a quarter of the mortgage, a quarter of 593 00:29:55,320 --> 00:29:59,400 Speaker 1: the um you know, the expenses, the taxes, insurance, but 594 00:29:59,560 --> 00:30:02,560 Speaker 1: you will all to receive one quarter of the monthly 595 00:30:02,640 --> 00:30:06,200 Speaker 1: incoming rent. So that was sort of it was interesting 596 00:30:06,240 --> 00:30:08,320 Speaker 1: me and I was only eighteen. I was like, hell yeah, 597 00:30:08,560 --> 00:30:11,320 Speaker 1: and my parents are gonna like help me do this 598 00:30:11,520 --> 00:30:16,120 Speaker 1: shore so they yeah, so they got me interested in property, 599 00:30:16,120 --> 00:30:18,600 Speaker 1: and then like a year later they were like, hey, um, Joel, 600 00:30:19,120 --> 00:30:21,880 Speaker 1: why don't you buy another quarter, this time off of us. 601 00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:25,040 Speaker 1: So you'll own half of the property now and we'll 602 00:30:25,040 --> 00:30:27,400 Speaker 1: reevaluate it. You pay us a quarter as a down payment. 603 00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:30,640 Speaker 1: You assume, you know, half of the mortgage, taxes, insurance, 604 00:30:30,680 --> 00:30:34,040 Speaker 1: all that. And then also my mom sat me down 605 00:30:34,040 --> 00:30:35,560 Speaker 1: and was like, oh, yeah, by the way, now that 606 00:30:35,600 --> 00:30:38,600 Speaker 1: you're in half of this, you're managing the books. And 607 00:30:38,640 --> 00:30:41,680 Speaker 1: they made the property management company UM called me as 608 00:30:41,680 --> 00:30:45,080 Speaker 1: the primary property manager. And then yeah, she sat me 609 00:30:45,120 --> 00:30:47,880 Speaker 1: down and showed me how like cash flow works, which 610 00:30:48,240 --> 00:30:52,960 Speaker 1: was like, I mean, you can't buy education like that. 611 00:30:53,040 --> 00:30:55,880 Speaker 1: This is like true like thrown in the hot seat, 612 00:30:56,040 --> 00:30:58,800 Speaker 1: so and real estate. For me, it just it just 613 00:30:58,880 --> 00:31:01,640 Speaker 1: made sense, don't know. And then when I got to 614 00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:05,240 Speaker 1: the US. I was born and raised in Australia and 615 00:31:05,360 --> 00:31:08,440 Speaker 1: the rules are let's just say, stricter down there. So 616 00:31:08,480 --> 00:31:10,280 Speaker 1: when I got to the US and there's all these 617 00:31:10,360 --> 00:31:14,440 Speaker 1: like you can you could build wealth very quickly here 618 00:31:14,600 --> 00:31:17,040 Speaker 1: in the US, I just sort of went on a 619 00:31:17,040 --> 00:31:20,720 Speaker 1: bit of a rampage, particularly the last five years. Um, 620 00:31:20,720 --> 00:31:22,560 Speaker 1: when I moved to the US, I bought an apartment 621 00:31:22,600 --> 00:31:24,440 Speaker 1: in the city that I lived in. When I moved 622 00:31:24,440 --> 00:31:28,200 Speaker 1: to California, everything was too expensive, so I studied out 623 00:31:28,200 --> 00:31:31,240 Speaker 1: of state investing and that's when I really got interested 624 00:31:31,280 --> 00:31:35,360 Speaker 1: into multi family properties like duplexes and four plexes and 625 00:31:35,400 --> 00:31:38,040 Speaker 1: stuff like that. So, yeah, my wife and I sit 626 00:31:38,080 --> 00:31:42,000 Speaker 1: on a healthy size real estate portfolio that pays us 627 00:31:42,040 --> 00:31:45,200 Speaker 1: a little bit of dividends if you will. Um, We've 628 00:31:45,240 --> 00:31:48,640 Speaker 1: also got like a big cash pile that we're living 629 00:31:48,640 --> 00:31:51,480 Speaker 1: off that when that runs out, yeah, I'm going to 630 00:31:51,520 --> 00:31:54,840 Speaker 1: go back to work. So it's not unlimited money, but 631 00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:58,120 Speaker 1: that's how I'm surviving right now. Yeah. Well, I mean, yeah, 632 00:31:58,160 --> 00:31:59,640 Speaker 1: Matt and I were super in the real estate. We've 633 00:31:59,640 --> 00:32:02,240 Speaker 1: got our own own small real estate portfolios, mom and 634 00:32:02,240 --> 00:32:05,640 Speaker 1: pop style investors, and and we manage our own properties, 635 00:32:05,640 --> 00:32:07,960 Speaker 1: which can be a challenge at times. You know, we're 636 00:32:07,960 --> 00:32:10,640 Speaker 1: the ones getting the emails, getting the phone calls and 637 00:32:10,680 --> 00:32:13,440 Speaker 1: having to you know, having to find the person to 638 00:32:13,680 --> 00:32:17,280 Speaker 1: fix the issue or go fix it ourselves. So for you, 639 00:32:17,600 --> 00:32:20,400 Speaker 1: as someone who's kind of doing the out of state 640 00:32:20,480 --> 00:32:22,560 Speaker 1: landlording for the most part, and you have people kind 641 00:32:22,560 --> 00:32:25,400 Speaker 1: of managing that for you. How have you found that 642 00:32:25,680 --> 00:32:28,200 Speaker 1: has worked for you? And have you had any issues 643 00:32:28,240 --> 00:32:32,800 Speaker 1: come up? Yeah? So I think before I was had 644 00:32:32,840 --> 00:32:36,600 Speaker 1: property manager, I tried to manage things myself, and I 645 00:32:36,680 --> 00:32:39,800 Speaker 1: suck at managing tenants, So like, who goes to you guys, 646 00:32:39,880 --> 00:32:43,000 Speaker 1: because it requires a really unique set of skills that 647 00:32:43,120 --> 00:32:46,280 Speaker 1: I'm sure you have. So yeah, like I learned the 648 00:32:46,360 --> 00:32:50,120 Speaker 1: hard way that property management is definitely worth it. Um. 649 00:32:50,160 --> 00:32:53,080 Speaker 1: Actually a funny story I like tell, like because I'm 650 00:32:53,080 --> 00:32:57,440 Speaker 1: so nice, Like I would give away the farm truly, Like, Um, 651 00:32:57,480 --> 00:32:59,800 Speaker 1: this one of my tenants, she was this girl. She 652 00:32:59,880 --> 00:33:02,200 Speaker 1: was paying eight hundred bucks a month for one of 653 00:33:02,200 --> 00:33:05,880 Speaker 1: my apartments and her lease was coming up and the 654 00:33:05,920 --> 00:33:09,560 Speaker 1: apartment should have rented for about a thousand bucks a month, 655 00:33:09,640 --> 00:33:12,680 Speaker 1: so she was already like undermarket rent. We sat down 656 00:33:12,720 --> 00:33:15,560 Speaker 1: to work out like a new negotiation for at lease renewal, 657 00:33:15,920 --> 00:33:18,360 Speaker 1: and somehow, and I don't really know how how it happened, 658 00:33:18,400 --> 00:33:21,320 Speaker 1: but like somehow I walked away from the negotiation agreeing 659 00:33:21,360 --> 00:33:25,080 Speaker 1: to let her pay six fifty per month moving forward 660 00:33:25,120 --> 00:33:29,080 Speaker 1: on a new lease. So yeah, I just I love 661 00:33:29,160 --> 00:33:34,440 Speaker 1: giving all my profits away. So professional property management is 662 00:33:34,560 --> 00:33:38,920 Speaker 1: like I must have for me moving forward with everything 663 00:33:38,960 --> 00:33:42,560 Speaker 1: I do. Now here's a funny story, because I still 664 00:33:42,600 --> 00:33:45,840 Speaker 1: screw up all the time with professional property managers. Like 665 00:33:46,360 --> 00:33:48,360 Speaker 1: sometimes I'll talk to him, I'm like, so, how's it going, 666 00:33:48,440 --> 00:33:50,520 Speaker 1: what problems are you facing? Oh, how can I help you? 667 00:33:50,600 --> 00:33:53,200 Speaker 1: And I will mess up their business like that. I 668 00:33:53,240 --> 00:33:55,160 Speaker 1: pay them to do a job and then I screw 669 00:33:55,240 --> 00:33:58,440 Speaker 1: it up on top of that. The probably the biggest 670 00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:02,080 Speaker 1: thing that's happened with tenants and one of the biggest 671 00:34:02,160 --> 00:34:05,680 Speaker 1: lessons I learned. Actually, I had this one place that 672 00:34:06,480 --> 00:34:10,279 Speaker 1: was running so smoothly. The property manager didn't call me 673 00:34:10,400 --> 00:34:14,320 Speaker 1: for like a year. The tenant paid rent on time, 674 00:34:14,680 --> 00:34:17,640 Speaker 1: I never heard anything from them, and then one day 675 00:34:17,880 --> 00:34:20,200 Speaker 1: I got a phone call out of the blue. It 676 00:34:20,320 --> 00:34:23,799 Speaker 1: was from a private investigator and he said, hey, do 677 00:34:23,840 --> 00:34:27,240 Speaker 1: you own this property at blah blah blah address. I said, 678 00:34:27,560 --> 00:34:30,239 Speaker 1: yeah's everything all right? And he said, yeah, look, we've 679 00:34:30,280 --> 00:34:33,320 Speaker 1: been investigating and we have reason believe that your tenant 680 00:34:33,520 --> 00:34:37,400 Speaker 1: in there is running an illegal massage pilot and offering 681 00:34:37,520 --> 00:34:44,480 Speaker 1: prostitution services. And yeah, like my heart sank, that's not 682 00:34:44,560 --> 00:34:47,000 Speaker 1: the kind of car you want to get as a 683 00:34:47,200 --> 00:34:51,680 Speaker 1: property own My goodness, and so it's pretty interesting how 684 00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:55,759 Speaker 1: you want to not be involved in managing your properties, 685 00:34:55,800 --> 00:34:59,400 Speaker 1: but you also you need to be involved because you're 686 00:34:59,440 --> 00:35:04,759 Speaker 1: the one that holds the ultimate responsibility. So that was 687 00:35:04,800 --> 00:35:07,720 Speaker 1: a wake up call for me that, like, you can't 688 00:35:07,800 --> 00:35:10,760 Speaker 1: turn your back on your business no matter how many 689 00:35:10,800 --> 00:35:15,280 Speaker 1: tasks you outsourced to others. You have the ultimate responsibility 690 00:35:15,480 --> 00:35:20,240 Speaker 1: of double checking their work, and you're responsible when things 691 00:35:20,280 --> 00:35:23,200 Speaker 1: go wrong and they don't do their job. So yeah, 692 00:35:23,239 --> 00:35:26,799 Speaker 1: that was a that was a fun problem to solve. Um, 693 00:35:26,880 --> 00:35:30,279 Speaker 1: So there you go. Wow, that was I don't think 694 00:35:30,320 --> 00:35:32,719 Speaker 1: I've had some interesting real estate stories, but nothing that 695 00:35:32,760 --> 00:35:36,160 Speaker 1: comes even close to the terror of dealt with that yet. Yeah, 696 00:35:36,239 --> 00:35:38,120 Speaker 1: but the terror of receiving a phone call like that. Um, 697 00:35:38,120 --> 00:35:41,480 Speaker 1: but yeah, that's fascinating. Joel. We've got some more questions 698 00:35:41,520 --> 00:35:44,000 Speaker 1: for you, specifically about getting up at five am and 699 00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:45,839 Speaker 1: how Matt and I we want to know more about 700 00:35:45,880 --> 00:35:48,080 Speaker 1: how we can potentially incorporate that in our lives, especially 701 00:35:48,120 --> 00:35:49,840 Speaker 1: with kids, kids who are waking us up in the 702 00:35:49,840 --> 00:35:51,400 Speaker 1: middle of the night. And so we're gonna ask you 703 00:35:51,400 --> 00:36:03,920 Speaker 1: some questions in that vein right after this break. Al Right, 704 00:36:03,960 --> 00:36:06,480 Speaker 1: we are back from the break, and like the title 705 00:36:06,480 --> 00:36:08,920 Speaker 1: of this episode mentioned like we hinted at, so we're 706 00:36:08,960 --> 00:36:11,200 Speaker 1: going to talk about waking up early, and so joel 707 00:36:11,239 --> 00:36:13,880 Speaker 1: if if someone isn't used to waking up crazy early, 708 00:36:13,920 --> 00:36:16,080 Speaker 1: like like you do, what tips do you have for 709 00:36:16,160 --> 00:36:18,080 Speaker 1: folks who you want to start making this a part 710 00:36:18,120 --> 00:36:21,839 Speaker 1: of their everyday routine. Yeah, well, actually, let me first 711 00:36:21,840 --> 00:36:25,200 Speaker 1: by start by saying this, I'm still not used to it, 712 00:36:25,440 --> 00:36:31,759 Speaker 1: so like, l no, I'm being dead serious. So it's 713 00:36:31,760 --> 00:36:34,880 Speaker 1: been three years since I started getting up at five am, 714 00:36:34,960 --> 00:36:37,680 Speaker 1: and I thought that by now I'd be this magic 715 00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:41,040 Speaker 1: morning person, like wouldn't need an alarm, I just like 716 00:36:41,160 --> 00:36:44,560 Speaker 1: wake up, big smile on my face. But that hasn't 717 00:36:44,600 --> 00:36:49,080 Speaker 1: happened at all. The truth is it's like still extremely difficult. 718 00:36:49,120 --> 00:36:52,040 Speaker 1: So I have to have discipline and um a lot 719 00:36:52,080 --> 00:36:56,319 Speaker 1: of like self control to continue doing it. So there 720 00:36:56,440 --> 00:36:59,400 Speaker 1: is no like easy route to success. You can't just 721 00:36:59,480 --> 00:37:01,680 Speaker 1: make a quick change. You have to like just keep 722 00:37:01,719 --> 00:37:04,640 Speaker 1: going and going and going. So if you're ready to 723 00:37:05,040 --> 00:37:09,319 Speaker 1: like try the struggle, know that I'm still in the 724 00:37:09,400 --> 00:37:11,520 Speaker 1: struggle with you. If you want to sign up for 725 00:37:11,560 --> 00:37:15,279 Speaker 1: all this heartache, well, actually, it's so funny that you 726 00:37:15,320 --> 00:37:18,640 Speaker 1: say heartache because it does. It does kind of suck 727 00:37:18,960 --> 00:37:22,400 Speaker 1: every morning waiting up. But here's the cool thing. It 728 00:37:22,520 --> 00:37:27,239 Speaker 1: only sucks for like two minutes. And I think of 729 00:37:27,280 --> 00:37:30,760 Speaker 1: it this way, like two minutes of sucky nous for 730 00:37:31,040 --> 00:37:35,360 Speaker 1: two hours of awesomeness. Like it's actually a pretty cool 731 00:37:35,400 --> 00:37:37,399 Speaker 1: trade if you think about it. So, if I can 732 00:37:37,440 --> 00:37:40,680 Speaker 1: suffer through two minutes of hard times getting up, it's 733 00:37:40,760 --> 00:37:44,160 Speaker 1: literally like, um, a little bit cold, a little bit daisy, 734 00:37:44,239 --> 00:37:46,760 Speaker 1: I just need my coffee. And then once you break 735 00:37:46,760 --> 00:37:49,480 Speaker 1: through that two minute mark, you have like you're ready 736 00:37:49,520 --> 00:37:52,680 Speaker 1: to like do awesome stuff that morning. And it is 737 00:37:52,760 --> 00:37:56,520 Speaker 1: such a massive benefit. So what a great trade. Two 738 00:37:56,560 --> 00:38:00,359 Speaker 1: minutes of pain for two hours of gain. And that's 739 00:38:00,360 --> 00:38:02,440 Speaker 1: all trade that anyone should take, and I take it 740 00:38:02,680 --> 00:38:05,880 Speaker 1: every single day. So that's the way I think of it. 741 00:38:05,960 --> 00:38:08,680 Speaker 1: It's going in with a good mindset. If anyone wants 742 00:38:08,719 --> 00:38:10,759 Speaker 1: to try it, that's that's what you're in for. It's 743 00:38:10,840 --> 00:38:12,719 Speaker 1: going to be a sucky two minutes, but like an 744 00:38:12,719 --> 00:38:15,719 Speaker 1: awesome couple of hours. Yeah, you know, that's funny. I 745 00:38:15,760 --> 00:38:18,680 Speaker 1: don't know if it's encouraging or discouraging that it's still 746 00:38:18,680 --> 00:38:20,440 Speaker 1: hard for you when I think about it like that. 747 00:38:20,480 --> 00:38:22,560 Speaker 1: But I think when I think about what it's like 748 00:38:22,600 --> 00:38:25,080 Speaker 1: in my own life to do things that are really meaningful, 749 00:38:25,640 --> 00:38:28,640 Speaker 1: it doesn't Usually it doesn't get easier. Usually those things 750 00:38:28,680 --> 00:38:32,040 Speaker 1: that are meaningful continue to Like, I have to get 751 00:38:32,080 --> 00:38:34,879 Speaker 1: motivated to continue to do those things, even if it's 752 00:38:34,920 --> 00:38:37,560 Speaker 1: something that I've enjoyed doing or been doing for for 753 00:38:37,640 --> 00:38:42,080 Speaker 1: quite a while, like even just sometimes getting together to podcasts. 754 00:38:42,320 --> 00:38:45,160 Speaker 1: I love podcasting. It doesn't mean it's easy every time 755 00:38:45,160 --> 00:38:47,120 Speaker 1: we do it. It involves a lot of work and 756 00:38:47,160 --> 00:38:49,880 Speaker 1: a lot of bringing myself, my whole self to the process. 757 00:38:49,960 --> 00:38:52,560 Speaker 1: So that's yeah, I feel like that's really interesting. It's 758 00:38:52,560 --> 00:38:54,560 Speaker 1: really interesting to hear you say that. The the other 759 00:38:54,600 --> 00:38:57,400 Speaker 1: thing I'd add to that is, um, it's kind of like, um, 760 00:38:57,480 --> 00:39:00,280 Speaker 1: you can think of it as a compounding effect as well. 761 00:39:00,280 --> 00:39:02,680 Speaker 1: You can't just throw in like a thousand bucks in 762 00:39:02,680 --> 00:39:05,640 Speaker 1: the stock market and like hope that it doubles the 763 00:39:05,680 --> 00:39:07,640 Speaker 1: next year. It's not gonna it's gonna take time. So 764 00:39:07,680 --> 00:39:10,440 Speaker 1: you're like, you have to keep investing and keep investing, 765 00:39:10,480 --> 00:39:13,400 Speaker 1: and keep investing. And the truth is just like continuous 766 00:39:13,800 --> 00:39:16,600 Speaker 1: additions to what you're doing. That's what five am is 767 00:39:16,640 --> 00:39:19,120 Speaker 1: every day. So you can't just do it for thirty days, 768 00:39:19,239 --> 00:39:23,520 Speaker 1: and then your life is magically different. Afterwards, your life 769 00:39:23,600 --> 00:39:26,879 Speaker 1: is magically different if you keep trying to make it 770 00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:30,759 Speaker 1: magically different. So that's what it is every day. So 771 00:39:30,920 --> 00:39:33,400 Speaker 1: when when it comes to people with kids, Joel, like, 772 00:39:33,480 --> 00:39:36,200 Speaker 1: what do you tell them about waking up early? Because sometimes, 773 00:39:36,200 --> 00:39:37,839 Speaker 1: like Matt and I, we've got newborns and I'm waking 774 00:39:37,920 --> 00:39:39,759 Speaker 1: up in the middle of the night to to go 775 00:39:39,800 --> 00:39:42,399 Speaker 1: pop a pacifier in or you know what, honestly, it's 776 00:39:42,400 --> 00:39:43,640 Speaker 1: the four in the six year old that are waking 777 00:39:43,640 --> 00:39:46,080 Speaker 1: me up more than the newborn a lot these days. 778 00:39:46,120 --> 00:39:49,040 Speaker 1: But for somebody like that, like, what helpful thoughts can 779 00:39:49,040 --> 00:39:51,319 Speaker 1: you give to someone who has kids and and you know, 780 00:39:51,400 --> 00:39:54,360 Speaker 1: has a harder time because they aren't getting maybe the 781 00:39:54,400 --> 00:39:56,719 Speaker 1: good sleep that's required to make it, you know, even 782 00:39:56,760 --> 00:39:59,600 Speaker 1: that much easier to wake up at five am. Dude, 783 00:40:00,160 --> 00:40:02,920 Speaker 1: I have no good answer for that question because I 784 00:40:02,960 --> 00:40:06,160 Speaker 1: don't have kids. I really don't, and I don't I 785 00:40:06,200 --> 00:40:09,080 Speaker 1: can't even imagine how hard it is to have kids. 786 00:40:09,480 --> 00:40:13,000 Speaker 1: And quite honestly, like, one of the tips that I 787 00:40:13,120 --> 00:40:16,080 Speaker 1: have for waking up early is to try and get 788 00:40:16,200 --> 00:40:20,640 Speaker 1: enough sleep. So if you're already sleep, I don't recommend 789 00:40:21,040 --> 00:40:25,319 Speaker 1: trying to like make it worse. So yeah, I don't know. 790 00:40:25,480 --> 00:40:28,040 Speaker 1: Maybe when you've got a newborn, it's probably not the 791 00:40:28,120 --> 00:40:31,840 Speaker 1: right time to try a five am challenge, so that 792 00:40:32,040 --> 00:40:36,640 Speaker 1: that's as good as because at five am. Yeah, well, 793 00:40:36,680 --> 00:40:39,359 Speaker 1: I mean for Joel, based on you know, I've known 794 00:40:39,400 --> 00:40:41,839 Speaker 1: you for years and I get your emails, I read 795 00:40:41,840 --> 00:40:44,960 Speaker 1: them every morning. And for for me, I've tried to 796 00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:47,080 Speaker 1: kind of make an adjustment at least, and I've been like, 797 00:40:47,080 --> 00:40:48,520 Speaker 1: you know what, I know five am is not gonna 798 00:40:48,560 --> 00:40:50,879 Speaker 1: work for me. But I was waking up at six 799 00:40:50,960 --> 00:40:54,400 Speaker 1: forty when my kids woke up, and I knew that 800 00:40:54,440 --> 00:40:56,120 Speaker 1: I didn't like the way I'm at the day when 801 00:40:56,160 --> 00:40:58,279 Speaker 1: I woke up at six forty as my kids are 802 00:40:58,320 --> 00:41:00,960 Speaker 1: waking up, and so I set a goal for me 803 00:41:01,040 --> 00:41:03,520 Speaker 1: that felt reasonable, which was to wake up at six am. 804 00:41:03,560 --> 00:41:05,799 Speaker 1: So I love the idea of waking up at five am, 805 00:41:05,800 --> 00:41:07,440 Speaker 1: and maybe that'll be a reality at some point in 806 00:41:07,440 --> 00:41:09,520 Speaker 1: my life. But six am felt like, you know what. 807 00:41:09,600 --> 00:41:12,040 Speaker 1: I had the time to take a shower, to get dressed, 808 00:41:12,160 --> 00:41:14,799 Speaker 1: to have my coffee, and to do a little bit 809 00:41:14,800 --> 00:41:18,200 Speaker 1: of reading before everybody else kind of invaded my day 810 00:41:18,320 --> 00:41:21,279 Speaker 1: and that that's my time, and it's not five am, right, 811 00:41:21,280 --> 00:41:23,080 Speaker 1: but it's at least kind of what I can bring 812 00:41:23,120 --> 00:41:24,680 Speaker 1: to the table at this point in my life. So 813 00:41:25,400 --> 00:41:27,360 Speaker 1: you know, I'm so glad you said that because I 814 00:41:27,400 --> 00:41:30,160 Speaker 1: think when people challenge me on why do you think 815 00:41:30,200 --> 00:41:32,279 Speaker 1: I should get up at five am, I actually tell 816 00:41:32,360 --> 00:41:34,719 Speaker 1: him like, I don't care when the hell time you 817 00:41:35,040 --> 00:41:38,960 Speaker 1: thinking or not, But what I will challenge them on 818 00:41:39,280 --> 00:41:41,920 Speaker 1: is why do you get up in the morning, Like, 819 00:41:42,000 --> 00:41:45,520 Speaker 1: what is your reason for getting up? Most people's reason 820 00:41:45,719 --> 00:41:48,160 Speaker 1: is work. That's why they get up in the morning, 821 00:41:48,200 --> 00:41:50,040 Speaker 1: and it used to be mine too, So I'm not 822 00:41:50,160 --> 00:41:53,839 Speaker 1: like criticizing. But like three or four years ago, if 823 00:41:53,880 --> 00:41:56,319 Speaker 1: I had worked at nine, I would get up at eight. 824 00:41:56,520 --> 00:41:58,640 Speaker 1: If I had work at eight, I'd get up at seven. Like, 825 00:41:58,680 --> 00:42:00,680 Speaker 1: I just get up an hour before work because that's 826 00:42:00,680 --> 00:42:02,440 Speaker 1: the time that it took me to get ready and 827 00:42:02,480 --> 00:42:04,839 Speaker 1: get to work. Like the reason I got up was 828 00:42:04,960 --> 00:42:08,840 Speaker 1: for work. Well, like, that's not a great reason to 829 00:42:08,920 --> 00:42:11,440 Speaker 1: live your life and do your whole schedule by So 830 00:42:11,480 --> 00:42:13,960 Speaker 1: I started thinking, hang on a second, I want to 831 00:42:13,960 --> 00:42:16,040 Speaker 1: get up for me. I want to get up for 832 00:42:16,080 --> 00:42:19,360 Speaker 1: a list of things that I create for you was 833 00:42:19,480 --> 00:42:23,000 Speaker 1: reading and stretching or having coffee like you said, so 834 00:42:23,040 --> 00:42:25,560 Speaker 1: now I think I get up for me. So whether 835 00:42:25,600 --> 00:42:29,560 Speaker 1: that means five am, six am, six forty or whatever, Yeah, 836 00:42:29,680 --> 00:42:32,520 Speaker 1: I think you should get up for your own personal time. 837 00:42:32,880 --> 00:42:36,240 Speaker 1: And kind of as a segue to that, I always 838 00:42:36,360 --> 00:42:39,759 Speaker 1: tell people about the pay yourself first mentality. And you 839 00:42:39,800 --> 00:42:41,879 Speaker 1: guys are familiar with pay yourself first when it comes 840 00:42:41,920 --> 00:42:44,880 Speaker 1: to money, right, yeah for sure? Yeah cool. So yeah, like, 841 00:42:44,960 --> 00:42:47,640 Speaker 1: if you pay yourself first, you will never run out 842 00:42:47,640 --> 00:42:49,600 Speaker 1: of money, and it's a good money we would have. 843 00:42:50,000 --> 00:42:52,480 Speaker 1: I think it's the same with time. I think a 844 00:42:52,520 --> 00:42:55,960 Speaker 1: lot of people they wake up and um, everyone has 845 00:42:56,000 --> 00:42:58,600 Speaker 1: the same amount of time, but they pay all of 846 00:42:58,640 --> 00:43:01,799 Speaker 1: their hours. They spend all their hours with everyone else. 847 00:43:01,880 --> 00:43:05,040 Speaker 1: First they wake up and immediately they give their hours 848 00:43:05,080 --> 00:43:10,160 Speaker 1: away to traffic, to work or school, and then it 849 00:43:10,200 --> 00:43:14,720 Speaker 1: goes to your chores, your friends, your family obligations, dinner 850 00:43:14,800 --> 00:43:17,280 Speaker 1: and stuff like that, and then you pay yourself whatever 851 00:43:17,360 --> 00:43:18,880 Speaker 1: is left over at the end of the day. But 852 00:43:18,960 --> 00:43:21,799 Speaker 1: the problem with paying yourself whatever is left over is 853 00:43:21,880 --> 00:43:25,520 Speaker 1: usually it's nothing left over or it's not a very 854 00:43:25,600 --> 00:43:29,719 Speaker 1: high quality. Like the person who pays themselves money, Like 855 00:43:29,840 --> 00:43:32,520 Speaker 1: whatever is left over usually has no money in the bank. 856 00:43:33,200 --> 00:43:37,160 Speaker 1: So I think if you shift the clock and you're like, hey, 857 00:43:37,200 --> 00:43:39,640 Speaker 1: I'm a second. If I pay myself the first few 858 00:43:39,719 --> 00:43:42,760 Speaker 1: hours of the day, I will never have a shortage 859 00:43:42,760 --> 00:43:44,959 Speaker 1: of time. Like time will always be on your side. 860 00:43:44,960 --> 00:43:48,480 Speaker 1: You're always in control of your time. After you've paid 861 00:43:48,480 --> 00:43:50,720 Speaker 1: yourself an hour or two or how long it takes 862 00:43:50,760 --> 00:43:53,040 Speaker 1: to do your stuff, then give it to everyone else 863 00:43:53,160 --> 00:43:56,160 Speaker 1: and what you'll find is, just like money, you will 864 00:43:56,200 --> 00:43:59,680 Speaker 1: like build this platform for yourself to be able to 865 00:43:59,719 --> 00:44:03,040 Speaker 1: help others more so, my two hours of personal time 866 00:44:03,040 --> 00:44:05,680 Speaker 1: in the morning help me work better. They help me 867 00:44:05,880 --> 00:44:09,640 Speaker 1: like help others better throughout the day. Yeah, and stay organized. 868 00:44:09,719 --> 00:44:12,759 Speaker 1: So yeah, pay yourself first for you at six am. 869 00:44:12,800 --> 00:44:15,360 Speaker 1: That's awesome. Yeah, that's so good. I mean, what I'm 870 00:44:15,400 --> 00:44:18,080 Speaker 1: hearing you say is that like basically you've identified why 871 00:44:18,280 --> 00:44:20,440 Speaker 1: you're getting up early, right like you said at the 872 00:44:20,440 --> 00:44:23,080 Speaker 1: beginning there, Like before it was just because you're getting 873 00:44:23,120 --> 00:44:24,719 Speaker 1: up early to be able to give that time to 874 00:44:24,800 --> 00:44:27,799 Speaker 1: your work. But if you can actually identify why it 875 00:44:27,840 --> 00:44:29,800 Speaker 1: is that you want to get up early and have 876 00:44:29,960 --> 00:44:31,880 Speaker 1: it be something that you're really excited about, like that 877 00:44:31,920 --> 00:44:34,360 Speaker 1: could be the motivation to get you up because I 878 00:44:34,400 --> 00:44:36,400 Speaker 1: know what I'm laying in bed and the alarm goes off, Well, 879 00:44:36,400 --> 00:44:38,080 Speaker 1: I want a snooze for a little bit longer because 880 00:44:38,200 --> 00:44:40,120 Speaker 1: I know that I'm just getting up to start the day, 881 00:44:40,200 --> 00:44:43,120 Speaker 1: not necessarily to maybe finish the novel that I want 882 00:44:43,120 --> 00:44:45,759 Speaker 1: to you know, complete, or you know, maybe go for 883 00:44:45,800 --> 00:44:48,280 Speaker 1: a run or different things like that. If I haven't 884 00:44:48,280 --> 00:44:51,640 Speaker 1: identified a specific task that you know that I want 885 00:44:51,640 --> 00:44:53,799 Speaker 1: to accomplish, and I'm gonna hit that snooze button then 886 00:44:53,840 --> 00:44:55,319 Speaker 1: and kind of lay there for about five more minutes 887 00:44:55,360 --> 00:44:57,480 Speaker 1: because that feels really good. And we'll say, by the way, 888 00:44:57,480 --> 00:45:00,320 Speaker 1: I just bought the website six am Joel dot com 889 00:45:00,360 --> 00:45:02,120 Speaker 1: and you're gonna have You're gonna have a rival out 890 00:45:02,160 --> 00:45:06,560 Speaker 1: there now Joel. Okay, I like it. Yeah good. Maybe 891 00:45:06,600 --> 00:45:08,440 Speaker 1: I can shut down mine then you can take over 892 00:45:08,520 --> 00:45:13,279 Speaker 1: my side. Nope, dude, I'm so glad you said that 893 00:45:13,440 --> 00:45:17,400 Speaker 1: about creating a reason to get up, because if you 894 00:45:17,480 --> 00:45:19,799 Speaker 1: won't get up, if there is no reason to get up, 895 00:45:19,880 --> 00:45:23,600 Speaker 1: So create a to do list the day before for 896 00:45:23,680 --> 00:45:26,160 Speaker 1: the morning time. If you wake up and then you 897 00:45:26,200 --> 00:45:28,160 Speaker 1: don't have a to do list, you're not going to 898 00:45:28,239 --> 00:45:30,200 Speaker 1: get up. You're just going to hit the snooze button. 899 00:45:30,600 --> 00:45:33,040 Speaker 1: And it doesn't have to be a like a fascinating, 900 00:45:33,160 --> 00:45:35,960 Speaker 1: mind blowing list. It can be as simple as like 901 00:45:36,120 --> 00:45:39,919 Speaker 1: get up, put coffee on, stretch for twenty minutes, read 902 00:45:39,960 --> 00:45:43,920 Speaker 1: for twenty minutes, and walk the dog. Done. That's your 903 00:45:43,960 --> 00:45:46,120 Speaker 1: to do list. But now that you've got like five 904 00:45:46,160 --> 00:45:48,680 Speaker 1: bullet points to check off when you wake up, you think, cool, 905 00:45:48,920 --> 00:45:50,839 Speaker 1: I got something to do. I'm gonna go do it. 906 00:45:51,080 --> 00:45:54,040 Speaker 1: So you mentioned a couple of tips. You're having someone 907 00:45:54,160 --> 00:45:57,000 Speaker 1: like potentially an accountability partner right that you're you're texting, 908 00:45:57,480 --> 00:45:59,799 Speaker 1: or that you're staying in contact with about you know, 909 00:46:00,000 --> 00:46:02,399 Speaker 1: your your wake up schedule, someone that you can that's 910 00:46:02,440 --> 00:46:04,000 Speaker 1: going through it with you, which I think would be 911 00:46:04,040 --> 00:46:05,960 Speaker 1: super helpful. You just mentioned having it to do list, 912 00:46:06,000 --> 00:46:08,359 Speaker 1: preparing that the night before. You know, what else can 913 00:46:08,440 --> 00:46:10,920 Speaker 1: someone do that's going practical tips that are going to 914 00:46:11,000 --> 00:46:13,719 Speaker 1: help them stick to this because it's really easy. I 915 00:46:13,719 --> 00:46:15,279 Speaker 1: would think to say I'm gonna get up at five 916 00:46:15,320 --> 00:46:16,840 Speaker 1: am and do it twice and then fail and then 917 00:46:16,920 --> 00:46:20,719 Speaker 1: never do it again. Yeah, one is like stay consistent, 918 00:46:20,880 --> 00:46:23,759 Speaker 1: do it every day. Big failure I see people do 919 00:46:23,920 --> 00:46:26,080 Speaker 1: is that who will try getting up at five am, 920 00:46:26,120 --> 00:46:29,400 Speaker 1: like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesat, Thursday, Friday, and then when the 921 00:46:29,440 --> 00:46:32,200 Speaker 1: weekend rolls around, their reason is completely out of the 922 00:46:32,239 --> 00:46:35,040 Speaker 1: window because their reason was work. So they get it 923 00:46:35,120 --> 00:46:38,160 Speaker 1: right back to like sleeping intil ten. And if you 924 00:46:38,239 --> 00:46:40,799 Speaker 1: try and create a habit but you're doing it five 925 00:46:40,880 --> 00:46:43,600 Speaker 1: days on two days off, you can't do it like 926 00:46:43,680 --> 00:46:46,840 Speaker 1: that is so difficult when Monday rolls around again that 927 00:46:46,880 --> 00:46:49,040 Speaker 1: you're gonna have such a hard time. So I would 928 00:46:49,080 --> 00:46:52,919 Speaker 1: say a good tip is to do it every day. Yeah, 929 00:46:52,920 --> 00:46:55,279 Speaker 1: So what I'm hearing is is consistency and so doing 930 00:46:55,360 --> 00:46:57,719 Speaker 1: that every day. Yeah, I think that's so smart. Joel. Yeah, 931 00:46:57,760 --> 00:47:00,759 Speaker 1: you mentioned accountability and you also mentioned to just having 932 00:47:00,800 --> 00:47:03,120 Speaker 1: a list of those different things that you want to do. 933 00:47:03,160 --> 00:47:04,919 Speaker 1: You know that kind of gets us to your email list. 934 00:47:05,000 --> 00:47:06,640 Speaker 1: Part of what you do when you wake up early 935 00:47:06,680 --> 00:47:08,879 Speaker 1: as you send out a message to folks on your 936 00:47:08,920 --> 00:47:12,680 Speaker 1: email list. Can you explain what that's all about? Yeah, 937 00:47:12,920 --> 00:47:15,680 Speaker 1: it started out as a work email to my colleagues. 938 00:47:15,800 --> 00:47:18,040 Speaker 1: Like when I started. When I first started getting at 939 00:47:18,040 --> 00:47:20,520 Speaker 1: five am, I was crushing out of work and I 940 00:47:20,560 --> 00:47:23,320 Speaker 1: was sharing a story with just a small team saying 941 00:47:23,400 --> 00:47:26,040 Speaker 1: like how cool it is to get up early, and 942 00:47:26,080 --> 00:47:28,040 Speaker 1: the next day, I got up at five and I 943 00:47:28,040 --> 00:47:30,240 Speaker 1: sent them all an email. I said, see, it's five am, 944 00:47:30,320 --> 00:47:32,399 Speaker 1: and I'm doing well and we're gonna have a good day. 945 00:47:32,440 --> 00:47:33,879 Speaker 1: And it was a bit of it, like a pump 946 00:47:34,000 --> 00:47:36,840 Speaker 1: up speech. People liked it. So I did it the 947 00:47:36,920 --> 00:47:39,439 Speaker 1: next day and then the next day and the next day. 948 00:47:39,480 --> 00:47:41,400 Speaker 1: You know, I'd get up every day and I'd send 949 00:47:41,480 --> 00:47:44,600 Speaker 1: my immediate team an email that says, hey, guys, we're 950 00:47:44,640 --> 00:47:47,080 Speaker 1: going to crush it today. Let's do this, and you know, 951 00:47:47,120 --> 00:47:49,600 Speaker 1: we're the best team in the West Coast and stuff 952 00:47:49,640 --> 00:47:52,680 Speaker 1: like that. Probably really annoying for them, but um, you know, 953 00:47:52,760 --> 00:47:55,400 Speaker 1: people seem to like it. And then, um, the list 954 00:47:55,600 --> 00:47:58,160 Speaker 1: kind of I just took off, I guess. Um. I 955 00:47:58,200 --> 00:48:00,680 Speaker 1: added my parents, who thought it was really cool that 956 00:48:00,719 --> 00:48:03,279 Speaker 1: I was so motivated every morning, and they called it 957 00:48:03,360 --> 00:48:06,760 Speaker 1: to my other relatives and siblings, and then people started 958 00:48:06,800 --> 00:48:09,200 Speaker 1: requesting to be on the list, like other people within 959 00:48:09,239 --> 00:48:12,879 Speaker 1: the company. And then when I left work, everyone was like, well, 960 00:48:12,960 --> 00:48:15,880 Speaker 1: I hope you can still send your five am email. 961 00:48:16,000 --> 00:48:18,239 Speaker 1: So that's when I made it public and I create 962 00:48:18,320 --> 00:48:21,200 Speaker 1: a website and you can actually go on my website 963 00:48:21,239 --> 00:48:24,520 Speaker 1: and see all of my archives. There's like I've been 964 00:48:24,560 --> 00:48:26,520 Speaker 1: doing this for like a thousand days now, so you 965 00:48:26,520 --> 00:48:28,759 Speaker 1: can see an email from every single day. When I 966 00:48:28,800 --> 00:48:31,720 Speaker 1: get up, I send this email out and people find 967 00:48:31,719 --> 00:48:34,760 Speaker 1: me from the weirdest places. They subscribe to my list, 968 00:48:35,000 --> 00:48:37,600 Speaker 1: and yeah, they're from people from all over the world, 969 00:48:38,000 --> 00:48:40,000 Speaker 1: so they get an email from me every single day, 970 00:48:40,080 --> 00:48:42,960 Speaker 1: and it's it's kind of I wouldn't say it's random. 971 00:48:43,040 --> 00:48:47,160 Speaker 1: It's got a theme of like motivation and stuff. I mean, 972 00:48:47,200 --> 00:48:49,200 Speaker 1: you guys know what it's like. It's either a quick 973 00:48:49,680 --> 00:48:52,239 Speaker 1: you know, it's less than a hundred words. It's a 974 00:48:52,280 --> 00:48:55,800 Speaker 1: short motivational message or like a lesson that I've learned, 975 00:48:55,880 --> 00:48:58,600 Speaker 1: or a funny story or a photo, or a productivity 976 00:48:58,640 --> 00:49:01,719 Speaker 1: tip or a money tip, and it's just quick and 977 00:49:01,760 --> 00:49:05,320 Speaker 1: it's short. It's letting people know that I'm up and 978 00:49:05,680 --> 00:49:08,480 Speaker 1: I'm ready to face a new challenge and that I'm learning. 979 00:49:08,840 --> 00:49:12,279 Speaker 1: And that's what it's about. And if you want, for 980 00:49:12,320 --> 00:49:15,480 Speaker 1: anyone out there who wants an accountability partner, I mean, 981 00:49:15,840 --> 00:49:18,640 Speaker 1: my five am email goes out five am Pacific time 982 00:49:18,680 --> 00:49:20,959 Speaker 1: every day. If you want to hit reply, I get 983 00:49:20,960 --> 00:49:23,759 Speaker 1: the reply and I can see whether you're up or not. 984 00:49:23,840 --> 00:49:25,359 Speaker 1: So if you want to need to be in your 985 00:49:25,360 --> 00:49:28,680 Speaker 1: accountability partner, just sign up from my list. That's how 986 00:49:28,719 --> 00:49:31,160 Speaker 1: it was born, and it's growing and it is so 987 00:49:32,280 --> 00:49:35,800 Speaker 1: fun and interesting. So well, five am your time is 988 00:49:35,840 --> 00:49:37,480 Speaker 1: eight am my time, So I can do that. I 989 00:49:37,520 --> 00:49:42,240 Speaker 1: can that schedule. Yeah, that's easy, exactly, Joel. I mean honestly, 990 00:49:42,320 --> 00:49:46,080 Speaker 1: I I love subscribing to it because I appreciate your optimism. 991 00:49:46,080 --> 00:49:49,440 Speaker 1: I appreciate your sense of humor. Your bright outlook is 992 00:49:49,480 --> 00:49:52,839 Speaker 1: just like effusive as I begin my day. So yeah, 993 00:49:52,880 --> 00:49:55,880 Speaker 1: I I appreciate getting those emails, man. I appreciate you 994 00:49:55,880 --> 00:49:58,600 Speaker 1: your dedication to continuing to send them out every single day, 995 00:49:58,640 --> 00:50:00,560 Speaker 1: even after you left your job. And and it's really 996 00:50:00,560 --> 00:50:02,880 Speaker 1: interesting to hear how your list has grown, and I 997 00:50:02,920 --> 00:50:05,320 Speaker 1: appreciate being part of it. So for for our listeners, 998 00:50:05,320 --> 00:50:07,279 Speaker 1: for the folks that want to find out more about you, 999 00:50:07,520 --> 00:50:09,560 Speaker 1: they can, of course sign up for your email at 1000 00:50:09,600 --> 00:50:11,239 Speaker 1: your website, but how else can they kind of get 1001 00:50:11,239 --> 00:50:12,920 Speaker 1: in touch with you and learn more about you? That's 1002 00:50:12,920 --> 00:50:15,680 Speaker 1: pretty much it. My email, Um, sorry, my website, it's 1003 00:50:15,719 --> 00:50:18,400 Speaker 1: five am Joel dot com. There's a little contact section 1004 00:50:18,440 --> 00:50:20,759 Speaker 1: if you want to shoot me a note. I stay 1005 00:50:20,760 --> 00:50:23,160 Speaker 1: off social media. A lot. I don't have a Facebook, 1006 00:50:23,280 --> 00:50:25,960 Speaker 1: so um, yeah, you've got to interact with me through 1007 00:50:26,000 --> 00:50:29,520 Speaker 1: my website. Very cool, awesome, Well, Joel, this has been 1008 00:50:29,560 --> 00:50:31,400 Speaker 1: a super fun conversation. Man. Thank you so much for 1009 00:50:31,400 --> 00:50:33,799 Speaker 1: coming on our show. Thank you very much for having me. 1010 00:50:33,840 --> 00:50:37,280 Speaker 1: Guys cheers, Yeah, man, thanks again, Man, what a fantastic 1011 00:50:37,280 --> 00:50:39,480 Speaker 1: conversation with five Am Joel. I feel like I have 1012 00:50:39,560 --> 00:50:41,360 Speaker 1: to say that to you by the way, to you know, 1013 00:50:41,440 --> 00:50:45,160 Speaker 1: differentiate between you and our guests. But uh, I wish 1014 00:50:45,160 --> 00:50:46,440 Speaker 1: we were in the same city we can kind of 1015 00:50:46,480 --> 00:50:48,080 Speaker 1: hang out with him more. But Joel, do you have 1016 00:50:48,080 --> 00:50:50,040 Speaker 1: a big takeaway that you want to share with us? Well, first, 1017 00:50:50,080 --> 00:50:51,839 Speaker 1: I love his name, I love his personality, I love 1018 00:50:51,840 --> 00:50:54,480 Speaker 1: his optimism. He's just an infectious dude. So I yeah, 1019 00:50:54,480 --> 00:50:56,719 Speaker 1: I really enjoyed our conversation with him. And I think 1020 00:50:56,760 --> 00:50:59,719 Speaker 1: my big takeaway from this conversation was I love how 1021 00:50:59,800 --> 00:51:04,040 Speaker 1: Joe thinks about assessing everything through the specific lens of value, 1022 00:51:04,080 --> 00:51:06,720 Speaker 1: what sort of values this can provide. And he even said, 1023 00:51:07,120 --> 00:51:10,439 Speaker 1: you know, whether it's the Amazon Prime decision or even 1024 00:51:10,520 --> 00:51:13,799 Speaker 1: a one dollar decision he's thinking about, or an entire 1025 00:51:13,880 --> 00:51:17,879 Speaker 1: years worth of salary decision. Yeah, whether it's the most 1026 00:51:17,880 --> 00:51:22,600 Speaker 1: massive decision possible, or or these tiny micro decisions. Assessing 1027 00:51:22,600 --> 00:51:25,120 Speaker 1: it through that lens of value just kind of creates 1028 00:51:25,480 --> 00:51:28,080 Speaker 1: you know, it might take a second, it's not instantaneous 1029 00:51:28,400 --> 00:51:31,080 Speaker 1: to recognize whether it's worth it or not. It might 1030 00:51:31,080 --> 00:51:33,680 Speaker 1: take a little bit of digging or thinking. But when 1031 00:51:33,719 --> 00:51:35,600 Speaker 1: you do think about things like that, I think you're 1032 00:51:35,600 --> 00:51:38,399 Speaker 1: gonna find that your money is prioritized in a way 1033 00:51:38,440 --> 00:51:41,319 Speaker 1: that you feel better about. And you're probably gonna find 1034 00:51:41,320 --> 00:51:43,200 Speaker 1: out at the same time that you're you're spending less 1035 00:51:43,440 --> 00:51:46,560 Speaker 1: of your money too. So yeah, I love that value proposition, 1036 00:51:46,560 --> 00:51:49,120 Speaker 1: the value lens that he sees everything through. Yeah, that's 1037 00:51:49,160 --> 00:51:52,120 Speaker 1: so good. Well, mine's gonna be oriented more towards the 1038 00:51:52,200 --> 00:51:55,240 Speaker 1: five am proposition of getting up early. He only touched 1039 00:51:55,239 --> 00:51:56,520 Speaker 1: on this for a second, and I kind of wish 1040 00:51:56,520 --> 00:51:58,000 Speaker 1: we would have alluded back to it, but he he 1041 00:51:58,080 --> 00:52:00,319 Speaker 1: mentioned wanting to make sure that you get enough rest, 1042 00:52:00,680 --> 00:52:02,000 Speaker 1: and I was kind of thinking about that in the 1043 00:52:02,000 --> 00:52:03,520 Speaker 1: back of mind a little bit. And what that means 1044 00:52:03,560 --> 00:52:06,120 Speaker 1: for me is going to bed earlier, earlier than I 1045 00:52:06,160 --> 00:52:08,799 Speaker 1: normally do. And I know that that is the number 1046 00:52:08,840 --> 00:52:10,520 Speaker 1: one reason why it's so difficult for me to wake 1047 00:52:10,600 --> 00:52:12,759 Speaker 1: up in the morning, specifically, because I do wake up 1048 00:52:12,800 --> 00:52:15,160 Speaker 1: early a little bit. I'm kind of aware that it's 1049 00:52:15,200 --> 00:52:17,920 Speaker 1: early and I could get up, but I think to myself, well, 1050 00:52:18,120 --> 00:52:20,440 Speaker 1: I need to stay healthy. This is the conversation I 1051 00:52:20,440 --> 00:52:22,040 Speaker 1: have with myself pretty much, and I know if I 1052 00:52:22,040 --> 00:52:24,919 Speaker 1: get up now, that's only six hours of sleep, when 1053 00:52:24,960 --> 00:52:26,840 Speaker 1: in reality, like wuld be great to have something closer 1054 00:52:26,880 --> 00:52:28,759 Speaker 1: to eight. And so I kind of talk myself out 1055 00:52:28,800 --> 00:52:31,120 Speaker 1: of getting up early by arguing with myself saying that 1056 00:52:31,160 --> 00:52:33,120 Speaker 1: I'm gonna you know, I might get sick. And you know, 1057 00:52:33,120 --> 00:52:35,160 Speaker 1: there's different studies to where you know, if you're not 1058 00:52:35,200 --> 00:52:37,839 Speaker 1: getting enough sleep, your creativity at plummets or even your 1059 00:52:37,840 --> 00:52:40,319 Speaker 1: i Q it's harder to solve different problems and stuff 1060 00:52:40,360 --> 00:52:41,960 Speaker 1: like that when you have, you know, a limited amount 1061 00:52:42,000 --> 00:52:44,080 Speaker 1: of sleep. So these are all the arguments I have 1062 00:52:44,200 --> 00:52:46,200 Speaker 1: with myself as I'm laying in bed, and it's just 1063 00:52:46,239 --> 00:52:49,640 Speaker 1: me talking myself out of getting up early. And so yes, 1064 00:52:49,800 --> 00:52:51,720 Speaker 1: for me, I know that means going to bed earlier. 1065 00:52:51,840 --> 00:52:54,480 Speaker 1: And he did mention the accountability factor as well, and 1066 00:52:54,520 --> 00:52:56,840 Speaker 1: I think that could be a strong piece of me 1067 00:52:56,920 --> 00:52:59,120 Speaker 1: actually trying to get up early. Yeah, man, so I 1068 00:52:59,160 --> 00:53:01,759 Speaker 1: guess the big question after this conversation is are you 1069 00:53:01,880 --> 00:53:03,719 Speaker 1: going to wake up earlier? Are you gonna start getting 1070 00:53:03,760 --> 00:53:05,719 Speaker 1: up at five am? I was actually wondering if you're 1071 00:53:05,719 --> 00:53:07,799 Speaker 1: gonna ask that or if five am Joe is gonna 1072 00:53:07,800 --> 00:53:12,000 Speaker 1: ask that during the interview, because I kind of cringe 1073 00:53:12,120 --> 00:53:14,279 Speaker 1: because it is hard. But at the same time, I 1074 00:53:14,320 --> 00:53:16,200 Speaker 1: didn't realize you're getting up at six too, and so 1075 00:53:16,280 --> 00:53:18,719 Speaker 1: I think the sort of competitive side of me thinks, well, 1076 00:53:18,840 --> 00:53:20,279 Speaker 1: if you're getting up at six, I bet I can 1077 00:53:20,280 --> 00:53:22,840 Speaker 1: do that. I will say yes, if you're challenging me, 1078 00:53:22,960 --> 00:53:25,800 Speaker 1: I will commit to at least getting up by six 1079 00:53:25,840 --> 00:53:27,640 Speaker 1: and maybe even a little bit earlier. Maybe if I 1080 00:53:27,840 --> 00:53:29,640 Speaker 1: can send you that text at five forty five, you'll 1081 00:53:29,680 --> 00:53:31,439 Speaker 1: see that I'm beating you to the punch a little 1082 00:53:31,440 --> 00:53:33,239 Speaker 1: bit and we can we'll see how this, uh this 1083 00:53:33,360 --> 00:53:35,160 Speaker 1: actually tracks for the next couple of weeks and maybe 1084 00:53:35,160 --> 00:53:37,279 Speaker 1: we'll we'll report back. All right, If I start getting 1085 00:53:37,280 --> 00:53:39,080 Speaker 1: text from you at five forty five, I'm gonna up 1086 00:53:39,120 --> 00:53:40,520 Speaker 1: my game and get up a five forty five. Two. 1087 00:53:40,560 --> 00:53:43,279 Speaker 1: We're gonna make it happen. It's a losing battle, I know, right, 1088 00:53:43,520 --> 00:53:44,920 Speaker 1: all right, Matt, let's get back to the beer that 1089 00:53:45,000 --> 00:53:47,319 Speaker 1: we had on the show. We had an awesome beer 1090 00:53:47,360 --> 00:53:50,040 Speaker 1: by Modern Times called Black House and it was a 1091 00:53:50,160 --> 00:53:52,520 Speaker 1: coffee stout and big thanks to my friend Craig, who 1092 00:53:52,719 --> 00:53:54,759 Speaker 1: is a brewer at Modern Times pretending us some of 1093 00:53:54,760 --> 00:53:56,440 Speaker 1: their beers. Now, what was your take on this one? Well? 1094 00:53:56,480 --> 00:53:57,759 Speaker 1: Did you like that? By the way, I chose the 1095 00:53:57,800 --> 00:54:00,239 Speaker 1: coffee stout since we're talking about getting up early. Oh, 1096 00:54:00,719 --> 00:54:03,840 Speaker 1: I was trying to be clever a little bit there. No. 1097 00:54:04,000 --> 00:54:06,720 Speaker 1: I really enjoyed this beer, Manu. Specifically what it reminds 1098 00:54:06,760 --> 00:54:09,880 Speaker 1: me of nitro coffee. Have you ever had nitro coffee before? 1099 00:54:10,239 --> 00:54:13,120 Speaker 1: I have, basically where they just inject nitro into the coffee, 1100 00:54:13,160 --> 00:54:15,680 Speaker 1: so it kind of comes out like Againnis, like silky smooth, 1101 00:54:15,719 --> 00:54:17,680 Speaker 1: silky smooth, and that's how this beer drink. It was 1102 00:54:17,719 --> 00:54:20,239 Speaker 1: silky smooth. It almost did kind of feel like a 1103 00:54:20,280 --> 00:54:22,439 Speaker 1: Gainnis in my mouth. But it had those coffee notes. 1104 00:54:22,480 --> 00:54:25,320 Speaker 1: It wasn't too robust and and overly smoky. It was 1105 00:54:25,400 --> 00:54:28,399 Speaker 1: just a nice balanced coffee stout. Really dug it. Yeah, 1106 00:54:28,440 --> 00:54:30,600 Speaker 1: So on the can it says that it tastes like 1107 00:54:30,640 --> 00:54:32,880 Speaker 1: a chocolate covered espresso bean. Oh, that's perfect, And I 1108 00:54:33,000 --> 00:54:35,320 Speaker 1: was like It's pretty much the best description that anybody 1109 00:54:35,360 --> 00:54:37,359 Speaker 1: could come up with for this beer, so I'm gonna 1110 00:54:37,360 --> 00:54:38,880 Speaker 1: stick with that. I think it really did kind of 1111 00:54:38,920 --> 00:54:41,520 Speaker 1: taste like that. It had those nice roasty coffee notes. 1112 00:54:41,640 --> 00:54:44,760 Speaker 1: And Modern Times is a brewery but also a roctary, 1113 00:54:44,840 --> 00:54:46,560 Speaker 1: so they do include a lot of coffee and the 1114 00:54:46,760 --> 00:54:48,879 Speaker 1: beer that. Yeah, and they sell coffee as well. It's 1115 00:54:48,880 --> 00:54:51,680 Speaker 1: a really neat company, their employee owned. They've they've done 1116 00:54:51,719 --> 00:54:55,799 Speaker 1: just an amazing job of remaining super cool and making 1117 00:54:55,880 --> 00:54:58,920 Speaker 1: great beers as they've grown. So yeah, I enjoyed this 1118 00:54:59,000 --> 00:55:00,440 Speaker 1: beer and glad we have to have it on the 1119 00:55:00,440 --> 00:55:02,680 Speaker 1: show today. Man. Yeah, it was great and things again 1120 00:55:02,719 --> 00:55:04,880 Speaker 1: to Craig for sending this one hour away, so Joel, 1121 00:55:05,000 --> 00:55:06,879 Speaker 1: it's gonna be it for this episode. Folks can find 1122 00:55:06,920 --> 00:55:08,719 Speaker 1: our show notes up on our website at how to 1123 00:55:08,800 --> 00:55:10,919 Speaker 1: Money dot com, and don't forget to check out Joel's 1124 00:55:10,960 --> 00:55:13,040 Speaker 1: website as well, five Am Joel dot com if you're 1125 00:55:13,080 --> 00:55:15,480 Speaker 1: wanting to learn more about him. Yeah, and ultimately, it's 1126 00:55:15,520 --> 00:55:18,080 Speaker 1: the new year and Matt and I here on the 1127 00:55:18,120 --> 00:55:20,320 Speaker 1: show at how the Money. We have a lot in 1128 00:55:20,400 --> 00:55:23,279 Speaker 1: store for you moving forward, and in particular this month 1129 00:55:23,320 --> 00:55:26,400 Speaker 1: of January, we've got guests and show topics that we 1130 00:55:26,440 --> 00:55:28,200 Speaker 1: think are gonna be really helpful as you begin this 1131 00:55:28,320 --> 00:55:31,440 Speaker 1: new year to stay motivated to get your finances in order, 1132 00:55:31,480 --> 00:55:33,440 Speaker 1: So don't forget to hit the subscribe button so you're 1133 00:55:33,480 --> 00:55:36,839 Speaker 1: informed of each episode as we release them, and Matt 1134 00:55:36,880 --> 00:55:38,799 Speaker 1: I guess that's gonna do it. So until next time, 1135 00:55:39,040 --> 00:55:40,879 Speaker 1: best Friends Out, Best Friends Out,