Freedom And The Time To Live Well, Be With My Family And Give Back

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Frank: I’m Frank Garon and I’m from Breinigsville, Pennsylvania. The reason I got into real estate was to take the internet marketing knowledge and the sales knowledge that I have, having been full time as an internet marketer and entrepreneur for the past 15 years, I wanted to take some of my wealth of knowledge and transfer that into a more physical type of an asset and add that to my business. I deal with intellectual property all day long. I make my money through my ideas, my concepts, my mouth, and my voice. But on the other hand, I also want to OWN stuff. That just makes sense to OWN things – to own physical assets, e.g. land, real estate, silver, gold and whatever.
 
Frank: And I’ve known Joe, and I’ve liked Joe and I trust Joe. I’ve also had time to see his system evolve over the years, and see him perfect what was already a very competent, capable system. So it just became time to where this was the logical next step for me to get involved in real estate. And when I looked for real estate, one of the things that I looked for is the teacher – somebody I can buy into and believe in, or is it just another ‘Ra-ra, me too, you’re going to be rich overnight type of person?’ And one thing I’ll say about Joe is Joe gives full disclosure – you know exactly what you’re getting into before you ever get started. You can’t come back to Joe and say, ‘Well, you didn’t tell me about this or that’ – because all that means is that you didn’t watch the 50 hours of free content he gives you and you didn’t read the 8000 pages of emails that he’s got out there because he tells you that there. You know what you’re getting into and you know what to expect and you know what to expect from him. And that’s why I like that.
 
Frank: My wife and I chose to get into this. What I’m doing with Joe crump is as much my wife Catherine’s business as my own business.
 
Frank: I’ve done real estate investing over the past three years and we had a partnership with two other guys. We owned 28 properties in the U.K. and on paper we were doing great – we controlled 3 million dollars in property. Unfortunately, the mortgage provider that was writing those types of deals, overnight, stopped writing. Whereas, today we control 3 million dollars’ worth of properties, I should say, for a couple few thousand out of our pocket. And you aren’t going to get rich overnight, but you’re very definitely going to get rich in a handful of years or so. So overnight it went away, so we’re like, ‘Ahh..’ We had the taste – because when you have 28 of anything it feels good.
 
Frank: So we’re building a business, building a business, and I still have my full time internet business going over here. We had that one setback. It didn’t turn me away from real estate investing because I understand the sense in it. I just needed to think about what I wanted to do, and as an internet marketer as I say, I’ve been making a decent living full time on the internet for the past 15 years, I understand automation, I understand systems, I understand modular scalability – a project of a modular nature where you can ramp it up to the next level, and it’s a very clear path. I looked around at a lot of different systems. I’m not saying Joe’s is the only good one but it’s certainly the one that I feel most comfortable with right now following. Because it’s just that- basically it’s like a set of instructions – insert tab A into slot B –here’s what happens then now that you’ve done that. And so you’re building. So I liked that – I knew exactly what was going to happen before I got started.
 
Frank: Whereas, with my internet stuff, is the whole other side of me which is that I think on my feet; I have to hustle. It’s all about Franky-Frank and what he can come up with out of his own mouth and his own head. Here’s somebody else basically handing me the equivalent of a license to print money, all standard disclaimers and everything included. You don’t make money if you don’t work. You don’t make money if you don’t talk. You don’t make money if you don’t use common sense. But the man gave me a plan that my wife can basically get in and just start driving right away. I guess that’s what I’m so excited about.
 
Frank: Well, I guess working with properties overseas is a little bit different for me because I have a very strong physical presence in the U.K. I’ve done ten or so of my own live internet marketing workshops. 8 or 9 of them have been in the U.K. With my consulting practice (my mentorship program; just like Joe does real estate mentoring, I do internet marketing mentoring) 70 to 80% of my clients are in the U.K. I have all the discount cards, like for example, London transit – London transport – I have the Oyster Card which is the top-up card like if you’re on the Chicago CTA or New York City subway or whatever. I have my own U.K. phone number. I’ve had physical offices in the U.K that I’ve shared with other people. So I know U.K. this and U.K. that. It was easy for me. I had U.K. partners. So it was fun. I think I’m probably in a special situation but what I will say is the laws are different – the real estate’s real estate’s real estate – if you’re buying at the right price, it doesn’t matter whether its Denver, or Manchester or England, it doesn’t matter whether its Perth, Australia or Singapore. But there’s something about making money right at home, like I’ve built the international glamorous (not that I have an ego or anything) and it’s kind of fun like, ‘I’m flying over to London again. They need me in London. I’ll be right there.’ Whereas, with this it’s like, ‘Hey, I’m selling houses and doing Joe’s stuff right here in my backyard,’ which keeps me at home.
 
Frank: I’m happily remarried. I have a 2 year old daughter. As much as I miss the U.K., I haven’t been to the U.K. once in the 2 years since my youngest was born. I’m going back soon, but I used to be gone every few months. I’d be gone for a week, 2 weeks, or 3 weeks, and here it is – the quintessential sit at home and make money in your underwear. I don’t have to leave if I don’t want to. That’s another appealing thing because my oldest is 25 and yes, I did see her grow up but I wasn’t there for it like I am with my 2 year old. If she wakes up, I want to be in there when she wakes up. When she goes to bed, I want to be in there when she goes to bed. Like Joe was talking about freedom and what’s your family worth and all of that. My family’s everything. My 3 kids – that’s what makes my heart beat. Let’s say I was making x amount of money here, being on the road doing speaking, and making x amount of money here being off the road, being at home doing real estate, and at my stage in life I want to be at home. I don’t want to miss one moment with my kids. I don’t want to miss one moment. This allows me to make what I want to make and stay home — which I’m not saying internet marketing doesn’t.
 
Frank: I never had to go on the road. It’s just that I enjoy speaking. I kind of have a worldview, so I like traveling and so forth. But this keeps me local. I mean, this is Indianapolis. I didn’t have to even be here really to learn it. But having said that, there’s immense value in live events and I want to encourage people who are seeing this video, if you’re watching this now – you need to come out to the 2 day buying event so that you get the full experience. It’s just part of your education and as somebody who’s been a 17 year student of entrepreneurship, what you gain in person is invaluable. At home, we’ll get you up and running – absolutely – but you should always make plans. If Joe is doing a buying event, you need to anticipate that. And he does them regularly. You need to make sure you come out and attend the next one you possibly can.
 
Frank: Well, my goal would be… I have an interesting goal. First and foremost, I want to make sure my kids are taken care of so that they’re set for life. I want them to learn how to make their own way in the world but at the same point, Dad’s got some money – like my oldest is 25, she’ll be getting engaged and she’s been with her boyfriend for a couple of years; ‘Hey, here’s money down for a house.’ And I don’t even want to miss the money. Because don’t forget, if you don’t know my story, Google me, because I was a bankrupt tractor trailer driver. I went bankrupt trying to make money. I never made more than $13.75 an hour and drove a tractor trailer for a living. So I still come from that and I can still relate to that. I was not born with a silver spoon; we were decidedly middleclass. So my first goal was, as a parent, you always want your kids to do better than you and you want to take care of your kids.
 
Frank: The second thing is to pursue my hobbies that I’m into. I have a couple of things that I’m really into; travel, transportation. I have a transportation management degree. So if you see a train going down the road, I’ll want to look at it and I’ll want to learn about it. Or a jet plane, like if I had flown here, I could tell you who made the plane, blah, blah, blah, etc. I want to pursue that; to pursue my passions.
 
Frank: And the main thing that I want to do is I want to leave a legacy, not for me or not because I care about my name, but because I’m called to do it. I’m very involved with our local church, and this time around in life, my heart’s really into it. I like to work with the youth group. A friend of mine has a charity in Zimbabwe, an AIDS orphanage where she’s literally saving the kids’ lives and educating them. I mean, I want to be the one to cut the check and say, ‘Here – bam. Whatever you need – send me the bill.’ I have another friend who’s like a brother to me. He’s a Sikh from Punjab province in India – same thing – he just funded an irrigation and sanitation system in his village that he came from. These are people that are going to the bathroom in the same place that they’re getting their water form. They are the poorest of the poor. I don’t even have to know those people to know that they’re my brothers and my sisters. And just to say, ‘You know what, brother? You’re going back over there, brother, to do some work? Here’s $50,000. I trust you to put it to use.” Because money isn’t about owning things – it’s about what you can do with the money.
 
Frank: And I think I already did the world a very good thing by having my three kids. Like if I never did another good thing in life, my 3 kids are – I did right by the world because they’re good, they’re principled, they’re ethical, they’re good kids. They’re going to go far.
 
Frank: But at the same point, if I have a mouth and a brain, and I can make money, then why not make it for other people? Because all I know is that none of the stuff that I did own over the years ever made me happy or satisfied. Not to get preachy, but it’s the truth in my heart anyway – the more stuff I owned, the less content I became. And so the fulfillment I get is from being a good father and a good husband and also service to other people. There’s just something about it, man, you can just do something nice and they don’t even have to know about it – I don’t care if anybody knows what I’m doing. Between me and God you know, I’m like, ‘Here’s the money, it’s cool – go help people.’ So that’s what’s in my heart. That’s what it is – helping my family and buying back some of my time so that I can do charity work and philanthropic work – that is THE goal for me.
 
Frank: I already have my own internet marketing business that’s done very – if you average it out over the years from start to now, it’s done very well for itself overall. But I also like challenges and being entrepreneurial, you always have that drive, y’know? I want to know something that I don’t know. I’ll just put it to you this way – I want to know about things that I don’t know about. I don’t like not knowing about things. I like to educate myself. You hear of real estate, and you’re like ‘That’s cool. I’ve owned a house.’ But no, that’s not what real estate is. Real estate is a vehicle to make money improve your life and it’s also a good sound – it should be a lynchpin. Like every family should own real estate, because it’s a physical asset – people can’t take it away from you unless you don’t pay taxes. It should be an appreciating asset. It certainly would be if you averaged it out over the years and bought sensibly. So for me, I think as I said, the real estate stuff will allow me to buy back my time. I do keep myself very busy but at age 46, I’m just called to service now.
 
Frank: So I know how to make money, but I need to make at least this much if not a lot more for two reasons. Number one, so that I can buy back my time and serve others through community service through fundraising and through speaking about causes that matter to me. But also to have more money to give away. You can never have too much money because if you have enough and then keep making more, then you can just give the rest to everybody; there’s always St. Jude’s, there’s always Salvation Army, there’s always Disabled Veterans, there’s always United Way or Feed the Children, so whatever I make I’m good, and then the rest goes to the greater good.
 
Frank: And that’s where I’m at – work as few hours as I can so I can enjoy my kids, and then make enough so that I can cover my needs, my family’s needs and the rest. I want to give away as much as I can. I really do. That’s what I’m called for.
 
Frank: To be real honest with you, my plans to grow this business are simply as follows: copy whatever Joe does. Do whatever Joe tells me. I am completely shallow – if the man tells me to go left, I’m going left. If the man says go right, I’m going right. If the man says go straight, I’m going straight. The way I got full time into internet marketing way back in 1995 and 1996 was that I had somebody teach me using a script, selling a product in one way, over and over and over again. In other words, it was lather, rinse and repeat. I didn’t innovate, I didn’t improvise – I just read from a piece of paper – boom, boom, boom, and next thing you know the money shows up.
 
Frank: That’s what I’m planning here. After 15 years of teaching and educating myself, it’s kind of like I’m going back to school. It’s almost like I’m starting over to learn the real estate side of things. But you know what? I have no ego. It doesn’t matter what I know. It matters what Joe knows. It doesn’t matter what I feel, it matters what Joe feels. It doesn’t matter what I say, it matters what Joe says. Whatever he tells me to do, I’m doing because the way I made my money, particularly in the beginning – now I’ve improvised and expanded, and you take a little bit from this guy and a little bit from this lady and then you synthesize it and you own that combination plus what you are, and then put it out there. But on this, I’m completely shallow. I’m just copying my way to the top, man. Joe says push the button – I’m pushing it twice just to make sure. Joe says it – ‘Frank’s doing it’ – that’s my motto.
 
Frank: You need to find a mentor, no matter what business you’re in – somebody you can trust, somebody you can relate to and also in today’s age, somebody that you can educate yourself about. And one thing I can say about Joe is that you can do your homework on the guy. You can do your homework on the guy. You can watch 3 hours of video and if that ain’t enough, watch the 4th hour (you know how to use slang, right?) If you want to read an article by Joe and 2 isn’t enough, well how about 50? Because he’s got them. Testimonials – one or two – ‘Oh, well that could be his brother and his uncle.’ No – watch the videos. When he’s got 100… He sends us his testimonial book – stories form his students – and it’s what – an inch thick? So I’m not saying Joe is perfect or he’s the second coming but the dude comes with papers; he comes with papers. He’s showing you, ‘Here’s who I am. May I please earn your trust? May I please earn your business? And if you have questions, here are all the many different ways in which I present my information so that you can educate yourself before you get started.’ So whether you’re starting with full blown mentoring, that’s great, or if you’re starting with his sort of primer 101, the downloadable lead book, either way, you’re going to be just fine. It might take you a little longer and you might have to work a little harder, but that’s what I had to do in the beginning. The fact is, it’s all here. Like I said, I know the guy , I trust the guy, and even if I hadn’t known him all those years back, he’s certainly proven himself – I mean, you know what you’re buying with Joe crump. And I like that.
 
Frank: Many times it’s kind of a leap of faith which is great, but in today’s tough times, it’s just good business sense to make a purchase that you can totally check the thing out. It’s just like taking a test drive on the car but you drive the car 6 months before you decide if you like it or not, because he gives you that much content. That makes me personally feel really comfortable. And I can recommend it to family and friends and wouldn’t have to sweat it or not about if they’re going to be taken care of.
 
Frank: That’s another thing – would you put your mom in Joe’s program? Well, yes. Because my mom could do it and Joe would do right by my mom. So that feels good to me, too.
 
Frank: I think what I’m looking forward to the most is having a new challenge because I get excited by challenges. I have done real estate in the past but with this particular system, what I’ve learned about it has been from the outside, so now I’m coming in from the field and I’m working on it now, I’m in it now, and I’m working with Joe. So that feels good. That feels different. It’s good to be educating myself on something that I sort of knew about but couldn’t say I had a mastery of. My plans are just to knuckle down, roll up my sleeves and go to work just like I’ve always done.
 
Frank: One piece of advice I would give – its easier to work harder in the beginning – it’s easier to work longer in the beginning while you’re still young, new and excited than it is to (for me at least personally with what I’ve seen with people) – it’s easier to work hard and fast in the beginning and get as far up the beachhead as you can get than to kind of just coast into it and see how it goes. So if you’re watching this and trying to decide, ‘How am I going to approach this?’ You need to jump in with both feet, and as a matter of fact, you need to buy a third foot just so you could jump in with three of them and make full impact, and then you just need to work and keep going. Because it happens fast – I mean it does take time. Like Joe says, your mileage may vary, etc. etc. But this is doable. This stuff works. And that’s what I would tell people – just do the work like Joe tells you.
 
Frank: Me personally? The sky’s the limit. I have very big goals here. I have set very lofty goals and I think we can do it in a very reasonable, livable amount of time. That’s what I’m most excited about – I’m not going to have to be 70 to see this stuff come home. I’m 46 now. I’ll be 47 and I’ll be living it. So that makes me feel good, too. I say this is moderately paced instant gratification, in other words, moderately paced meaning its legitimate and its going last, but the payoff happens soon enough to where you’re not going to get bored doing it. And I know I certainly won’t be.