Own Your Upside

My friend Zach Metcalf spent 10 years in pharma, making around $400K a year. On February 12th at 9:15 AM, his boss told him his position had been eliminated. After a decade with the company, he had 30 minutes to wrap up and leave. Instead of panicking, he celebrated. For eight years he'd been buying real estate on the side, starting with a house hack and one rental in Joshua Tree. By the time that...

Andrea and I started buying real estate in 2017 and I did not leave my job until earlier this year. Seven years. That was not slow, it was on purpose. In this conversation from the Pending and Trending podcast with Deidre Quinn, I get into why we built in parallel instead of quitting, the question almost nobody answers when they set a cash flow goal, and how one rental property we underwrote badly...

Three years ago I was buying rentals twenty minutes at a time after my daughter went to sleep. I had a good job, a decent portfolio, and no real answer for when any of it would add up to something. My mentor Brian Luebben has walked thousands of high earners through the same gap. In this episode he gives real timelines for what it takes to replace your income depending on the path you pick. We als...

I left a six-figure consulting job in January. Not because I quit on corporate. Because I finally saw what my title was actually costing me. In this episode I break down: 1. Why a title proves you created value, not that you kept any of it 2. The math behind why a 3% raise quietly puts you further behind every year 3. Status as a currency employers pay you in, and why it's not the same as ownershi...

Most people making good money have never run the actual math on where their career ends. Not their savings rate. The terminal number. What all these years of work actually produce when the working stops. My guest today did that math at 35, standing on a ladder next to a 63-year-old electrician with a three-year-old son. The man’s pension after 20 years on the job: $2,000 a month. Luke Gilbert quit...

Stop gambling your financial stability to build something new. Learn the escape velocity strategy to scale your income and skills safely. Many professionals are told to quit their jobs and take huge risks to succeed, but this approach often leads to unnecessary failure. This video breaks down why abandoning a stable situation is rarely the best path and how you can achieve significant career growt...

After 150+ episodes, I'm launching a new chapter. In this one I share why my "successful" W-2 life and a solid rental portfolio still left a gap and why my wife Andrea and I sold properties to build a $10M assisted living development. This is the launch of Own Your Upside: how I'm building in parallel, 20 minutes a day, until the day job becomes a choice instead of a requirement.

Most real estate investors are chasing cash flow. We're building for a problem that's about to reshape the country. My wife Andrea and I left a portfolio of single-family rentals to develop two luxury assisted living and memory care homes in Houston. The reason is simple: the population is aging far faster than we have the capacity to care for them, and once you see that gap, you can't...

Most people quit their W2 to start building. We did it the other way around. My wife Andrea and I raised $2.8M, broke ground on a $9.4M senior care development, and built our entire team before I ever handed in my notice. This is what the Parallel Build actually looks like in practice. In this conversation: - How we went from 8 single-family rentals to a $9.4M ground-up development with no prior d...

You’re ambitious. You want to build wealth. Maybe that means buying your first rental property, launching a business, or pursuing a bigger project. But here’s the reality most high-performing professionals face. Your calendar is already full. Between work, family, and everything else life demands, there’s never a clean block of time where you can just “focus on the big thing.” So most people stay...

You've read the books. You've watched the videos. You've run the numbers on deals you never made offers on. And you're still at zero properties. The bottleneck isn't knowledge - it's that you're not having enough high-trust conversations with the right people. In this episode, Dave (host of the Property Profits Real Estate podcast and 2,000+ episode veteran) breaks down...

In this episode of the 20 Minute Investor Podcast, Aaron and Andrea share the real story behind building 8 rental properties across 3 states while working full-time and raising three kids. You’ll hear the mistakes we made early on, the systems that allowed us to invest in just 20 minutes a day, and the pivotal moments that changed our entire investing journey — including raising nearly $3M to buil...

If you’re consuming podcasts, books, and market updates but still feel stuck in analysis paralysis, this episode is for you. I’ll walk you through the exact system I use to filter signal from noise, use AI to refine my thinking, and turn captured ideas into decisive action - all in about 20 minutes a day.

8 rental properties across 3 states. 3 kids under 5. A full-time job. How? A 20-minute daily system built around constraints, not despite them. In this conversation with Coach Carson, I break down the exact weekly planning habit, floating time blocks, and offense/defense framework that made it possible. 00:00 Introduction 01:09 Balancing Family and Real Estate 03:36 Goal Setting and Time Managemen...

Nathan and I explore innovative personal finance strategies related to real estate investing. We discuss how rental properties can serve as a college fund, leveraging property appreciation and cash flow to fund education. Additionally, we discussed the concept of interest-only payments on primary residences, emphasizing the importance of minimizing monthly expenses to invest more in rental propert...

Is single family real estate investing really dead in 2026?In this episode, Nathan and I share our honest take on what’s actually happening in the market right now. We talk about why it’s harder (but not dead), how we’re adapting to higher interest rates, and the mindset shift that’s helping us keep moving forward—even when deals are tough to find. If you’re feeling discouraged or unsure about you...

You don't need more time. You need a better system. After 150+ episodes and building an 8-property portfolio across 3 states, I'm relaunching this podcast with one mission: helping busy professionals invest in real estate in just 20 minutes a day.

In this collaborative episode, Aaron Ameen, Ana Bialek, and Nico Garcia reflect on their experiences in 2025, discussing their goals, challenges, and future plans in real estate. They share insights on property management, innovative housing solutions, and creative financing strategies, emphasizing the importance of community impact and building trust with investors. 00:00 Intro 01:31 Aaron's...

In this episode, Aaron sits down with Pedro Luna, a former aerospace engineer who pivoted into real estate and ultimately found his calling in senior care. Pedro and his wife are currently developing two 16-bed assisted living and memory care homes in Oklahoma, focused on delivering dignified, high-quality care for seniors. He shares why he left aerospace, how he discovered the senior living niche...

Development is no joke, and this episode is us being honest about that. Andrea and I share where things really stand with Everwood Reserve—from surprise pipeline issues and SBA delays to how our tolerance for risk has had to grow this year. We also talk about launching the Ameen Family Foundation and our Reclaim Memories campaign, plus how we’re reshaping Remote Real Estate Academy into a free Sko...

After my wife and I had twins, my old routines fell apart, and traditional time blocking stopped making sense. What did work was shifting from task-based scheduling to a simple framework I call Offense vs. Defense —a core part of our 20 Minute Investor system. I’ll walk you through how this approach helped us keep momentum in our investing while raising three kids under three, and how you can use...

In this conversation, Leah Walczak shares her remarkable journey in entrepreneurship, highlighting her unexpected success in her first year, where she sold about $10 million. She reflects on the lack of entrepreneurial education in traditional schooling, emphasizing the importance of self-made success and financial literacy. 00:00 – Introduction 01:54 – Background & Journey 03:54 – The Birth o...

Notes can outcash-flow rentals. Data pro turned investor Sierra Davis breaks down mortgage notes 101, buying at a discount, partials, realistic yields, due diligence, and how to start even with a self-directed IRA. 00:00 Intro 04:04 What Is a Note? 05:56 Why Notes? 08:22 Buying at a Discount 13:15 Partials: How They Work 17:52 Evaluating Deals 21:43 Non-Performing: Pros/Cons 23:06 Non-Performing D...

On this special cross-post, I join my friend Haydynn Fike on The Art of Connecting to share how my wife and I pivoted from rentals to launching Everwood Reserve—two boutique residential assisted living “memory care mansions” near Houston.  We get into the mindset shifts, mentors, and masterminds that helped us raise 7-figure equity, create 15+ local jobs, and build a 32-resident community that put...

How a tech exec and dad built a six-figure remote rental portfolio using time-blocking, automation, and Midwest buy boxes without sacrificing family. here you go—same timestamps, crisper chapters: 00:00 Intro 01:20 Juggling Career & Family 03:17 Time-Blocking Tactics 08:01 Tech Career → REI 12:52 First Deals 17:27 Scaling Up 24:19 Remote vs. Local 25:37 PM Team: How-To 27:03 Network & Dili...