After receiving a Navy ROTC scholarship to Texas A&M and serving in the Marines, Steve quit college to run a hamburger delivery business with a friend. Unable to meet their financial goals after 2 years, they quit and went into corporate America. After working 60 hours a week for 5 years, winning a national sales contest and a trip to Hawaii, his company cut his pay by $20,000 a year. So, at age 27, with bad credit and no money, Steve quit corporate America and started investing in real estate. He was eventually invested in over 4000 apartment units.
For the last 30 years, Steve has helped teach and coach tens of thousands of people on how to use real estate to build wealth and passive income while focusing on maintaining a balanced life. He did this through his daily radio show and one-on-one coaching. He now owns his own coaching and consulting business, Total Wealth Academy www.totalwealthacademy.com where he consults full-time. This program takes people by the hand, step by step through the real estate investing process. The education covers everything from single- family homes, apartments, self-storage, senior living and more.
FMM: Tell us about your background. When did you have an epiphany?
My first major epiphany came at age 27 when I won a national sales contest at my company, and a trip to Hawaii. When I got back from Hawaii, they cut my pay by $20,000 a year. I had thought that if I worked hard, if I sacrificed for the company (I almost lost my wife working 65 hours a week,) and if I was effective, that would make me valuable to the company. It didn’t. I realized that no matter how hard I worked, or how well I did, I was just a cog in the machine. Easily replaced. I knew that nothing I did made a difference and that I would never get to my financial goals working for somebody else. I had to make a change.
FMM: How did you go from bad credit and broke at 27 to a successful entrepreneur?
When I got the paycut, I couldn’t sleep so I stayed up watching infomercials all night. That is how I came across several real estate gurus and using what was left on my credit cards, spent about $30,000 on books, tapes, workshops, and bootcamps. Once I learned that 70 to 80% of the millionaires in America used real estate to get there, I was sold. I became a part of a real estate investor club in town and began wholesaling deals to the members. I quit my job within two months making more money that before. I slowly but surely paid off all of my debt, and the creditors reported so. I now had great credit again. I then started flipping houses making even more money. I then moved to single-family rentals and eventually was invested in over 4000 apartment units passively.
FMM: You have spent the last 30 years teaching and coaching tens of thousands of people on how to use real estate to build wealth and passive income. Tell us about the Total Wealth Academy.
Our mission is to stop the suffering going on in America financially. 95% of Americans fail to retire by age 65, about 30% are dead. The good news is that we know what the other 5% that do retire successfully are doing. Almost all of them have a second stream of income and almost all of them used real estate do achieve that. At Total Wealth Academy, we teach people how to use real estate to build a second stream on income with real estate.
FMM: Tell us about your program.
We use a hands-on approach that includes unlimited mentoring with our team to literally walk people through the investing process. We use online classes to teach the basics and one on one mentoring to fill in the blanks. Our students bought hundreds of single-family homes and over 20,000 apartment units in 2021. We are projecting double that in 2022.
FMM: What is the biggest mistake people make when investing in real estate?
Arrogantly going out and investing without educating themselves first. Real estate investing is very difficult if you don’t know what you are doing. It is very easy if you do. There are specific business models, and best practices that you must know before you ever buy your first piece of real estate.
FMM: How are you helping clients to build a second revenue stream?
We teach people the correct business model, and best practices for the beginner and advanced real estate investor. We have people that have never own a piece of rental property before and people that join with over 5000 apartment units.
FMM: You will be in the upcoming Shark Discoveries with Kevin Harrington. What can we expect?
Kevin Harrington will be doing an interview with me about building a second stream of income that will be show nationwide over the next few years.
FMM: Why do you love real estate so much?
I love real estate because of one word. Freedom. It gave me time to save my marriage, raise two incredible kids, stay fit, give to charity and simply enjoy all of the parts of a balanced life. My son graduated college with $4000 a month in second steam of income from his 11 rent houses and my daughter has an even large second stream of income. I could not have achieved this without real estate.
FMM: What can we find on your upcoming daily radio show?
My radio show is about all of the parts of a balanced life with a focus on building a second stream of income with real estate. We talk about family, romance, charity, balance, and teach the basics of real estate investing. www.totalwealthacademy.com/radio
