The Lifestyle Investor - Investing, Passive Income, Wealth

How do you create a work culture that leads to happier employees and explosive growth? Today’s guest, Dane Espegard, is here to answer that question. While in college, Dane stumbled into an entry level sales position with Vector Marketing selling Cutco Cutlery. Little did he know that he would still be with them almost 20 years later.  He has since trained thousands of sales representatives,...

How do the wealthiest of the wealthy think? And what can you learn from their mindset and apply to your own investment approach? Today’s guest, Steven Pesavento is a high performance coach and active real estate investor, who knows that mindset is at the center of what it takes to create lifestyle freedom. Steven entered the real estate market with zero experience and within the first two and a ha...

When you’re looking at the qualities it takes to be a great leader, it’s easy to get lost thinking it’s about what other people are doing for you. But it’s actually about how you can provide value to other people.  To better understand the most important habits of highly effective leaders, I’m speaking to Brad Lomenick. Brad is a leadership consultant, founder of BLINC , host of the H3 Leader...

Even the most driven of us are sometimes forced to swerve from our goals when life takes an unexpected turn. And although it might seem like the end of the world at the time, it could also be a major opportunity. Today’s podcast guest, Daniel Alonzo, started in financial services when he was 21 — and was a millionaire by 28 — but that wasn’t his original plan. His dreams of becoming a baseball pla...

When you have your mind set on achieving financial freedom, it’s easy to get impatient. But you can’t start generating wealth-building passive income overnight. Marco Santarelli is the CEO and founder of Norada Real Estate, and host of the Passive Real Estate Investing podcast. He bought his first property at 18, laying the foundation for what became his ticket to long-term wealth: residential rea...

Have you ever wondered how industry influencers and thought leaders become known in their space? I’ll tell you one thing, it doesn’t happen by accident!  Maybe you can even think of someone who you’ve never heard of before, and then all of a sudden their name is popping up everywhere; in major publications, all over social media, on all the big podcasts, and in every book store. Their content...

Most people wake up, see their to-do list, and tell themselves that they have to get as many things done as possible. This is what today’s guest, Geoff Woods, calls The Lie of Productivity ; the idea that everything matters equally.  If you want to win at investing (or any area of life), you need to focus on what matters most, not on everything. Geoff is the Co-Founder & President of Prod...

By his 35th birthday Mike Michalowicz had founded and sold two multi-million dollar companies.  Confident that he had the formula to success, he became an angel investor. But to his surprise, what he thought he knew about building a successful company, was all wrong — which led to him losing his entire fortune.  He lost his house, his cars, and even had to tell his 9 year old daughter th...

Today, I’m speaking to Garrain Jones! For over 2 years, Garrain lived out of his car and was over $300,000 in debt. If life wasn’t miserable enough, he then spent 2 ½ years in prison for selling heroin. But through these challenges, and many other tragic events surrounding his life, Garrain found his purpose and was able to completely change the trajectory of his life.  Today, he’s a transfor...

Today, I’m speaking with Tony Cappell. Tony is the Principal and Co-founder at Chicago Atlantic Group — a private market investment firm combining deep expertise with an entrepreneurial approach to multi-asset class investing. As a debt investor with over 10 years of experience in the specialty finance space, Tony has completed over 150 deals comprising over $5B in total credit. Prior to founding...

Today, I’m speaking with JP Newman. JP is the Founder and CEO of Thrive, FP — a relationship based private equity firm focusing on real estate projects that make a real impact. Their focus is on generating profit for investors, while also improving tenant communities for the greater good.  The way JP see’s it, when residents thrive, a property succeeds—and when a property succeeds, investors...

From a very young age, we’re taught that in order to earn money, there has to be an exchange of time. To make more, you have to work more. The problem is, there’s only 24hrs in a day, so the earned income model completely limits how much money you can make.    Sure, you can level up by making a higher hourly wage or working more hours, but beyond that, you’re stuck.  As a resul...

In this episode, I’m speaking with Khalil Rafati. Khalil is a high school dropout, convicted felon, and former heroin and crack addict who wound up homeless by the age of 33. With nowhere to go but up, he decided it was time to get sober — and that’s exactly what he did! Fast forward to today, Khalil is a bestselling author, speaker, and health and wellness entrepreneur. He is the founder and owne...

There’s a common misconception that entrepreneurship has to come at a cost; that in order to make a company valuable, a trade-off must occur. If your business goes up, your personal life must come down — and there’s no other way!   Well, today’s guest, Mac Lackey, would humbly disagree.  As an entrepreneur for over 24 years, Mac has started, built and sold six companies — all of whi...

Money can’t buy you happiness. It may be cliché, but it’s true.  I’ve met lots of people whose bank accounts are full, yet their lives are completely empty. And no matter what they acquire, it’s never enough and never satisfies.  Don’t get me wrong… I’m not saying that money is bad or that it can’t help you build a life on your terms. BUT, if you’re struggling to find joy in your life, n...

When I started a family, I made a very intentional decision that I wasn’t going to trade time for money. I knew I wanted to show up at every game, recital, and important activity for my daughter, so I decided I was going to build a life that would give me and my family lifestyle freedom — and that’s exactly what I did! But, just because I created that freedom, it didn’t mean that I was automatical...

When I quit my job years ago, a lot of people thought I was crazy for doing it. But why? Was it because I had checked off all the "right" boxes; or because I was making good money and could make even more if I had stayed? From the moment we’re born, we’re told how to look, how to feel, and who to be. We’re taught to do things a certain way and to follow a certain path. But if we’re not careful, it...

Today, I’m talking to Robert Glazer. Robert is the founder and CEO of Acceleration Partners — a $20 million business that has won over 30 awards for its company culture. The company employs over 200 people worldwide, and despite being fully remote, is recognized as a best place to work by Inc, Fortune, Forbes, Entrepreneur, the Boston Globe and Glassdoor.   He’s also ranked as the #2 sma...

Today, I’m speaking with my friend Craig Kessler. Craig is the COO of a multimillion dollar company, Topgolf, which is one of the fastest growing sports and entertainment companies in the world with over 60 venues across the US and nearly 20,000 associates.  Before he joined Topgolf, Craig cultivated extensive experience in the world of private equity, which helped him prepare to serve as one...

Today, I’m speaking with my good friend John Ruhlin. John is a master networker, keynote speaker, sales and marketing expert, and entrepreneur who has built an entire business around the art of gift giving. It all began when he created the Corporate Gift Program at Cutco - which he still owns to this day - and now he’s creating gift packages for some of the largest companies and pro sports teams i...

Today, I’m talking to Frank Rolfe — the godfather of mobile home park investing.  Frank has been an investor in mobile home parks for almost three decades, and has owned and operated hundreds of mobile home parks during that time. He is currently ranked, with his partner Dave Reynolds, as the 5th largest mobile home park owner in the U.S., with a portfolio valued at over $500 million.  H...

Today, I’m talking with Michael Blank — the leading authority on apartment building investing in the United States.  Through his investment company, Nighthawk Equity, he controls over $90 million in performing multifamily assets and has raised over $21 million.  In addition to his own investing activities, his unique training programs have helped his students purchase over 7,600 units va...

Today, I’m thrilled to be speaking with my friend Jake Harris — a very successful entrepreneur and real estate investor. In his new book, Catching Knives: A Guide to Investing in Distressed Commercial Real Estate , he shares practical advice and personal anecdotes to help you embrace the next economic downturn and navigate the risk of distressed investing. Jake became a millionaire before the age...

Rob Dial is a motivational speaker, coach, and content creator who has inspired millions of people around the world.   I actually first met Rob back when he was only 19 years old selling Cutco — where he got his start in sales and discovered a passion for personal growth. Rob quickly moved up in the company, and by 24 he owned and operated a multimillion dollar office, where he trained o...

Today, I’m talking with Phillip Stutts. Phillip is recognized as a political and corporate marketing genius, who has over 2 decades of experience working on campaigns with billions of dollars in political ad spend, and contributed to over 1,407 election victories, including 3 U.S. Presidential victories.  Phillip has spoken in front of 40 million+ people in his career and made more than 350 n...