Welcome to another episode of the Balanced Growth Show.

I'm your host, Dr. Travis Parry. Today we have a fantastic guest as always, Mr. Shawn Johnson. is a former property management company owner who successfully scaled, merged and sold his business achieving financial independence at age 34. a choice to retire at age 39. Now he helps other property management company owners unlock financial freedom by building profitable businesses and creating multiple streams of income. Having navigated the challenges of growing and managing businesses firsthand, Sean understands what it takes to increase profit margins, streamline operations, and build wealth through, uh, the strategic investments.

His proven frameworks help property managers not only grow their wealth. But also reclaim their time, allowing them to transition from working in the business to working on the business. Sean, thank you for being here and, and being so willing to share your expertise. My friend,

I'm honored to be here. Thanks for having me.

Absolutely. Tell us a little bit about your story.

How, how did you even get here? How did you get to this point at age 34? Age 34. That's incredible that you were at a place that, that, uh, you, you know, you were able to retire at 39. Uh, so talk to us, like, what was the journey like? Tell us a little about, about your story.

Yeah, it's, it is hard to know exactly where to start, but, uh, grew up very humbly in the, uh, in a small area in northern New Mexico, and I had a, uh. Wonderful mother and father that, uh, taught me a lot of foundational truths about, uh, money and business, uh, how to treat customers and, and whatnot. And, uh, I did the traditional route.

I actually was always told that you need to go to. College and you need to get a great job and you need to save money and you need to put, uh, 10% towards investments and eventually you'll have the money to retire. And at about age, I don't know, I was probably about 24. I actually started to hate that thought process.

I, I wanted to be. An entrepreneur at that time. Um, but I was flying, I went to flight school and flying helicopters. Uh, that was early, early on in my helicopter journey. I. And, uh, and I always thought, well man, maybe one day I can, you know, save money and buy a helicopter and create a business out of that.

It was kind of the first business, uh, thought process. Of course, we didn't go that way. I, you know, found my beautiful wife. We, we got married. Uh, we. We bought a full service car wash in Southern New Mexico, and that's a beast of a business. Like you're really, uh, staffing is really hard. Uh, liability is really high.

Um, profit margins are really low. All the things you don't want. And, uh, and then we got into, uh, property management. My, uh, sister-in-law at the time said, look, there's, there's a really neat. A big need for property managers, uh, in, in where, where we ended up moving, where my family, uh, is and where I grew up.

And she said, you know, if you started one, I think you guys would crush it. So we did that. We started a property management, uh, company. My wife had already had a real estate license. I was still flying helicopters, working a seven and seven schedule, which allowed me the time, the mental capacity to, uh, to really do both things.

And, uh, it really. It really grew fast. And um, that's kind of where that journey, you know, the business journey went. Uh, the other piece to this, I think that shouldn't be neglected is, you know, when you, I. We got married young. I was 25. Uh, my wife was 23. And of course it comes with the big student loan debt.

You know, we both have college, uh, degrees. And then I went to flight school and, uh, comes with all that baggage. Uh, my dad saw that like, Hey, you guys are, you know, you're starting a life together, but you're starting a life with a lot of. Debt. And so he introduced me to Dave Ramsey and Financial Peace. And, um, and I'm really thankful he did.

Now, there's not everything that I agree with on the Dave Ramsey, uh, front, but there are a lot of foundational things that really helped transformed our mindset on debt and bad debt. Um, of course, Dave Ramsey thinks all debt is bad debt. And I, I do believe that there are some ways to leverage debt to make more money.

Because there is a difference between debt and leverage. Let's be, yes.

Yes,

honest. Let's call a s spade a spade. All debt is not necessarily evil. In fact, investing. In yourself, investing in your education is, in my opinion, the best investment that you could ever make, because

absolutely.

you know, that return on your education, that ROE is gonna be what makes you an expert, what makes you someone that other people look to and will pay you for your advice instead of for your time. So, I, I, I couldn't agree with you more right there my friend.

Yeah. Yeah. And you know, I'm glad that I was able to decipher that out because I think a lot of, especially younger folks that go down that route, they actually ha get a averse relationship with, uh, money. I. As a result of the adverse relationship with debt, and I think that actually stifles a lot of potential and growth.

Um, and I'm glad that,

don't

I don't know why my mind separated out or why my wife's mind also did, but I'm so thankful it did.

Really cool. Um, you know, this has a lot to do with my, my book, marry and Grow Rich, like this psychological relationship with money that we

Yeah.

marriage with these different aspects and ideas and things.

And so if you come through, you know, a Dave Ramsey mindset or a business mindset, I know, you know, for personal. You know, and maybe debt is more problematic, but in business school they teach leverage. They don't really talk about debt. They just teach leverage. And leverage is what makes it grow. So I, I can understand that there may be some cognitive dissonance going on as a business owner coming from a world where, you know, you, your W2 income and you know, consistency and stuff to all of a sudden, whoa, I'm. a business owner

Hmm.

take on debt. But the way you grow is leverage a lot of times, unless you have investors. And quite honestly, in my humble opinion, that's still leverage because you gotta pay those people back. It's just future, you know? So we can call a spade a spade, and I, I love that you're mentioning this.

Um. And bringing this together. Let's talk a little bit about property managers, though. It seems like you've got some things figured out here that that, uh, that property managers and others, business owners just in general could probably learn from. Um, what would you say are some of the biggest issues that these property managers, these business owners, are facing in trying to, to, you know, to grow their businesses and grow their multiple streams of income?

Yeah, I think the biggest one that most property managers face is that they feel like their service

is

just an expense item. I. To the investor instead of a value creation for the investor. And what that hap, what happens there is they fall under the trap of not charging for the services and the values they actually create for the investor.

And they often avoid a. Providing those values because of that, because they can't charge of it. So if you're not having a profit margin or, you know, generating profit in a business, it's really hard to create new avenues of value or avenues of, of profit in the business for your clients. Um, so for instance, like if, you know, a big property owner has, you know, 30, 40 doors and he goes to a property manager, obviously they, you know, they're focused on the bottom line.

But they're also focused on reduction of liability. Um, how can you find the fastest tenant or the best tenant in the shortest amount of time? Those are the things they look for. But oftentimes property managers only look at me, just do providing a service so they can, um. Not have to worry about doing the work themselves.

And that's part of the value. The other value is those other things that, uh, is often missed and therefore they don't charge for 'em. And I'm the, of the mindset, if somebody doesn't charge for something, I actually start to question if they even provide a service for it. Because there's a one-to-one correlation is if there's a fee associated with something, now I know that I'm actually getting that service.

And, um, you know, I, I also believe that. Um, we should charge what we believe we're worth and we'll never charge more than or less than what we're worth. So we've gotta believe in what the value that you create for your clients is, and then charge accordingly. Um, and I think that's probably the biggest trap most property managers fall into is just not wanting to, um, level up their value services to the clients because they're afraid to charge for it.

Well said. I, I think that, that, um, in my, my experience with business owners in so many different industries, financial planning to mortgage brokers, to chiropractors, to plumbers and engineers, I. That seems to be a consistent problem most business owners that, well, what do we charge? Well, what does the market say?

So let's, let's charge what the market says and let's undercut. And quite honestly, one

Yeah.

things you can do is be the cheapest person out there because where are your profit margins? And, and then how do you scale? you're not Walmart. Walmart has figured this out. There's a science behind this and I don't wanna get into Walmart, but we're not Walmart.

And if you're providing a service for others, um, you've gotta provide a quality service. You need to value what it is that you have. So I really, I really appreciate you bringing this up. Um. Let's talk about some, some ways to overcome. I know you have some frameworks. I know that there are things that you have been able to do yourself and that, that you help other property managers do.

Why don't you walk, uh, us through some of your frameworks here? Yeah.

one of those, uh, and, and especially on the pricing world, is. You know, in the property management world, it's, so, it's contractual and typically you see an annual contract or an agreement in that space. Um. W in which it makes it very difficult to then raise prices. So part of the frameworks that I help my clients out with is that we can systematize the way in which we increase our value and fees to the client on an annual basis.

So that way it's not so cumbersome to actually do it. Um, so, so for instance. When you go to watch a Friday night movie with your family and you turn on Netflix and the little popup window comes up and says, Hey, your fees are increasing next month to, you know, 29 99, and you, most people are like, just get outta the way.

I wanna watch my movie. Leave me alone. That's, that's how I envision the same process in property management. Even though it's in agreement, it should be so fluid that the. If you are delivering a value to your clients and they, the perceived value is there, that when a fee increase or a new service is introduced, um, an upsell if you will.

Then it to them it's just, click get out of the way. Yep. Let's move on. Because there's stickiness. They see the value in the services that you provide, and it's not so difficult to then, uh, increase your, your revenue in within the company. Where most get trapped is that they lock in an agreement. They kept the same agreement for 10 years.

Nobody's ever seen a fee increase, but I all. We all know how much inflation has changed over the course of time. Like I'm a, I'm a believer you should increase in any business at least annually, but even better every six months. You should readdress how much you're charging to the client. And I think that helps us realign our focus on the value we're actually creating for the clients as well.

'cause we all, we all know that we want to provide the best service possible, but. We can't do that if there's not a profit to maintain and create in a business and then reinvest into the business.

Well said. Yeah. I mean. that's a big part of this. Um, so what, how, how do you suggest, you know, talk us through maybe some other steps in the framework. How, how do you suggest that these property managers or business owners in general?

I, I can see how this applies to literally

Sure.

that I, I speak to. Um, we have these conversations about how you value your time, right? Or how you value your expertise. You can sell your time. you're really trading time for money and there's a cap. Um, or you can trade your expertise and, and write a book or, you know, be on stage and have it recorded and have webinars and courses.

There's lots of, you know, end results for this. But what, what do you do? How do, how do you help them sort of, uh, get to that point where they can understand their value?

Yeah. You know, that's probably the biggest, um, the biggest challenge, but the easiest way is to look at it on like a cost basis. So if you're providing this service, if they didn't have that service, how much would that cost them to not have it? That's probably the easiest way to equate it. The other part is, is like, um, if you, if you don't provide this service, what kind of liability risk does it cause, um, to them to not have it, you know?

And so we, we work through those things. I think the biggest part I try to get people to actually think is not to think about the individual service, but to think about the time that it takes to manage, or the time that it takes to service a client. Um. WI think time is extremely undervalued in our culture.

It, we chase money far more than we ever chase time, and I think that's a huge travesty. So I try to get my business leaders that I, I help coach to rethink what their time is worth and then translate that into what the service that they're maintaining because. Let's look at the client's time. Their, their time is also worth, and you're saving them from not having to manage those, those properties on their own as well.

So that's just another way to look at it. But so often, and especially in our society, it's, I'm willing to spend my time to save money. And that's not how it should be in my opinion. We should be willing to spend money to save time, because money, we could always make more, but time is, uh, is finite.

You

You can't gain more.

When you're speaking my language, first you used my name in vain, right? That's a travesty. And to, you know, we talk about time and my, my first book I, I, I wrote that I published is called Achieving Balance. It's all about time management. Based on what you value, right? So not just, you know, how you value your time, but using your time where it is most valued for you.

And you're, you're exactly right. Uh, most business owners that I've seen, they really struggle with time. They struggle with time management and the most don't have a system in place. Most don't, um, follow that system if they did. There's nothing that the whole company uses. Everybody has like their own tips and tricks to kind of hodgepodge some of this all together, which creates cultural problems. Um, I know, I know you're somewhat of a time management expert in this industry. Talk to us a little bit about some of your steps and frameworks to help people manage their time better.

Yeah. You know, a lot of what I've learned, uh, over the years kind of stitched together from just, uh, other experts. But, um, I'm really a big fan of like Dan Martel. Dan Martel's, you know, buy Back Your Time book really changed a lot for me, uh, several years back. But one of the things is I just, I literally encourage my clients, and I do this myself to do regular time audits.

It is so easy to be in the grind. The day to day, and you don't even realize that three o'clock is rolled around and you haven't even accomplished anything and there's nothing really to show for it. And when we do a time audit, we see everything we've done for the day, all the distractions. Literally. If you want to beat your competitors, I'll bet you could just out distraction, distractions.

Than them and you would beat your competitors because they are facing the same distractions you are. And if you can ignore the distractions, you'll beat them. It's that simple. These days it's like that's the low hanging fruit. But a time audit is super important. Um, then putting your. What you're actually doing every day into buckets, like what is actually going to create growth and value for my company?

Put those into a bucket. What are the things that have to be done, but I shouldn't be doing them? And what are the things that could be possibly eliminated and put those into a bucket and those things that can be eliminated, eliminate those things that you shouldn't be doing, but still have to be get done.

Delegate and those things that drive the the company forward, those are the ones that you should then, okay, should I be doing it? Does this give me energy or does this take away energy from me? Um, because I think that's super important. I. Because you know, oftentimes when we, those things do that do create value, but it takes away from me or takes away from my energy, actually leads to burnout a lot of times.

Like we just get overwhelmed by all the things that have to be done that's creating value. I know it has to get done, but I don't enjoy doing it. Look at if you can, um, delegate that to somebody that's a higher level, that's not just a task taker, if you will. Um, and that's how I help my clients really audit the time because.

Uh, it seems like on average about 60% of everyone's day is on those low level tasks that don't really move the, the company forward. And then property management like so many other businesses, especially with business owners, you know, Mr. Client might have a massive flood flooding the basement and that derails your entire day, and that's.

Once that derails, it's so hard to then get back on the rails and then move that forward. You have a day completely missed on opportunities. Then it turns into two days, a week and a month, and you're dealing with these bigger problems that they, you know, you look down, you look six months down the road and think, well, the company's not any different.

We're not making any more money. Uh, we've probably churned some properties now. We've churned clients and, uh, I don't have much to show for it anymore. It's because our time is not. Um, being dedicated to what actually matters.

Well said, well said. Um, there's so much here that we can unpack, but I like the idea and the analogy. You these buckets, right? Having, having these buckets together, knowing where your buckets of time are, and having these time audits something that I, I, again, couldn't agree with more. Uh, I talk about it in my book Achieving Balance a lot about, um, about where you're spending your time.

Most people have never tracked it. They've never tracked their time. There's like a plethora of apps out there. It's super easy to do. Um, our, our, even our, our phones. Um, and one of the reasons I have, you know, I'm a Mac guy. I, all of my is Mac. Um, 'cause it kind of goes through and connects with everything.

I can connect, you know, with all these different monitors and stuff. But it also tracks my time and I can see where I'm spending my time at work, at home on my screens. It's not just my phone and it's very helpful, but. Man, even if you just look a day where you're spending your time and how

Yeah.

it, you'd be amazed, oh, I'm actually really doing this. So I, I actually, I do a time audit on their personal side and their business side. Say, Hey, this is what you're doing in, in life in general, and then here's where you're spending your time at work. Let's be super productive at work so you can spend more time. On the personal side to do things that are more important. that's the general gist of the make time method. Um, but I like what you're talking about here out dis you know, basically out, um, un distract your competitors or out de distraction your competitors. I like this, this concept constantly are re bombarded. Constantly we're, we're we're destroyed with our apps on our phone, with emails, with interruptions from even your own team. Right? So having those boundaries between technology, your team. Your family, right. During the, during the day, I, I just, I turn off and have a work focus on my phone so that no texts

Yep.

come through during these specific times. I can go back and check, I can take breaks and check and make sure everything's not on fire.

And if there's a true emergency, my wife knows how to get ahold of me. Um, and I work from home most of the time, so That's great. But that said, um, you know, what, what would you say, based on what we've been discussing, what would you say that, that, uh, property managers, other business owners, what should they.

Really focus on, we've talked about value, avoiding distractions, time audits, putting your time into buckets. What's the most kind of important factor in all, in all this framework that if they could focus on that one thing, it would really make the difference in all the other areas? What would you say? I.

I, I always result to the people factor. When we build leaders in businesses, um, they are empowered to do the tough work for you. They grow as people. That becomes, um, I. Uh, something that they can then take on in their life and enrich the community or the world that they, uh, are a part of. And so I always like, I always focus on the people side, and I think once the people side is really, uh, mastered, then the rest really falls in line.

The p and l? Yes, it's important. The balance sheet, yes, it's important. New clients, cu customer acquisition costs, all that stuff's important, but when we focus on the people side, those things actually fall in place. And I'm just such a big proponent of, um, trying to make other leaders that can be relied upon to run a, uh, efficient business without always you being the guy that has to do it or the gal, um, in the business.

So do you start then? You, you, you've talked about these ideas, these frameworks really focusing on the people. What, what would you say is, uh. The 1, 2, 3 steps that other businesses, you know, and other business owners out there are like listening to this going, okay, wow. I'm hearing a lot from you Sean.

This is great, but where would I start? What's the first thing, second thing, third thing that, that you would suggest as far?

As far as, and let me just clarify, as far as the people side.

Yeah. People side beginning there and, and then, you know, incorporating, I, I'm suggesting, you know, I'm guessing that you're saying with the people side that you also, you know, wanna build your value.

You want to help them avoid distractions. You want to help them manage their time and, and, and know that they're valued in the company. So, I'm, I'm kind of putting this all together, saying, great. If people are the most important, where, where does, where does somebody begin on this? Yeah.

Yeah, I think the biggest thing is, uh, having the end in mind, and we do that by having a vision of what you actually want your life and your business to look like. And once you've decided what that is and are clear, very clear on what that is, then you can work it backwards as to what you want the outcome to be, and that helps you then.

Put the, uh, processes, the policies, the, the procedures, the people, um, how you want the, the customer to be treated all into perspective. So I'm just a huge fan of looking at the end in mind, what do I want to gain from this business that doesn't? Uh, the end of mind doesn't necessarily mean to sell a business by the way.

That means what I want this, what do I want this business to serve in the marketplace, for the community, or for the industry that I work for? And how can that serve that marketplace or that community? I. At the highest level, and then I'll work it back. And how do we treat customers and, and hire employees and what kind of ethics and morals should those folks have?

Uh, then starts to fall in line with, uh, our overall goal into the company. And I think, um, especially small businesses, really. I don't know why, but they kind of avoid the, the vision, mission, mission side. Maybe a lot of times it feels like fluff. Um, but when you can actually distill it down into actionable, um, thoughts, if you will, then it becomes, I hire off of these, I fire off of these, I discipline off of these and I reward off of these.

And when I do that, then it strengthens the culture within to go. Rowing in the same direction as a, as a group or a business, you know?

Yeah, well said, well said. let's say we've got the mission and vision. You really know what the end in mind, you know, it's very Coby esque, right? Of this kind of mission, vision statement, the goals kind of where you want to be, um, personally, business. Um, what, what's the next step? What would you say the next point is?

If, if they've got that in line, um, and they've got that working, what, what's the next thing that you would suggest they do?

Yeah, I would, I, they go back to the, the people side. So then I look at my hiring process. Um, does my hiring process fall in line with my vision and my mission here? And then I would, I would actually, I. Uh, most people default to a very simple hiring process. I actually like a very strenuous, uh, hiring process.

Like even if you are hiring a local person, I, uh, have buddied up with a local restaurant and I'll go with the restaurant, have their final interview, if you will, and I will purposefully have the restaurant screw up the meal. So I know how they handle that situation if they avoid the question, you know, like I actually ordered a fish sandwich and I got a, uh, quesadilla.

If they don't say anything, well, I know they're probably gonna be too passive to confront an issue, but if they fly off the handle and they get mad, well they're probably gonna do that in a stressful situation with your customers, your clients, your other staff members. So I actually put 'em into a stressful situation myself.

I've, I have found that to be really a good, good thing to do, and I've, I've loved it. Another, uh, hiring technique, uh, that I've really loved in the past is. If you've got a position open, do it as a group setting. So put everybody, Hey, the interview is at two o'clock on Thursday. Everybody's gonna set at the uh, conference table.

I'll pull one at a time back and then put them back into the conference environment. And it's amazing of the things that people will say with people they've never met about the interview questions and those types of things, and you're really. Find out in, in a real world situation because I know, you know, there's not, there's no exact science to an interview.

You actually don't know the person you're interviewing that well. And to put 'em into these human interactions, uh, helps you shortcut maybe some issues that you, uh. We'll have in the future. I actually had, uh, one instance where this, this gentleman got back to the conference table and he started gossiping about the gal that was in the interview at the time with the other people.

And I was just like, well, I don't want that in my business, you know, and I don't want gossip that's gonna be a cancer. So, you know, that's just one, one instance. So that's where I'd start the people side of this. What kind of culture do you want to create? And then oftentimes I think people forget that what you tolerate as business leaders is actually a massive contributor to the culture that you have in your business.

So if you tolerate people to show up late or tolerate people to go to a meeting unprepared. Or are disrespectful to the, uh, other members of the company. That's the culture that you've created. So look at what you tolerate as well. And if you don't know, just ask people. The, the other staff members actually have a very good grasp of what is allowed and what is not allowed in the business, and they will tell you, um, it's actually pretty good.

So I'm, you know, again, I go back to the people side. I think the, uh, the people side is the next step. Once you've really distilled down the culture, because then you or the. Mission and vision because then you really have to solidify the culture in the company. What is being allowed and what, what you want that, uh, work environment to actually be.

I like this concept. Um, I'm just laughing because I've been in similar situations. I remember like earlier on, like one of the very first jobs, I came to a new town. I. I was going to college and I was looking for a job and they had us all come to a group interview. I didn't know it was gonna be a group interview. And I showed up and they actually said, Hey, uh, there's 10 of you here. Only one of you is gonna get this job. I'm just like, now we're sizing each other up. I go like, well, maybe I don't really want this job. You know? And some people, some people just got up like, see ya, I'm gone. You know? And then they left. And I was like, oh, this is crazy. And I, I

You learned they.

very competitive. No, I was like, well the, you know, the people who are competitive are gone. Like, that's crazy. And I'm like, I'm just sticking around to see what happens now. Like, this is really fun. And I'm studying psychology and I'm looking at how people are interact.

I love watching people. It's so fun. And, and then it kind of went through these other steps and at the very end they, they hired or they, they offered me the job and I, I ended up. Turning it down, which is funny 'cause I'm like, yeah, this is not the right fit. But it was fun. I mean, it was, it was a great experience. Um, but than that, the restaurant, the screwing up of the meal to actually partner with the re that is genius. That's so genius. Um, that's very much, uh, that's a psychological, um, you know, test right there to see how people actually interact under pressure, under stress. Um, well I do have a question though. How do you plant someone in the group conference room? Uh, okay. Okay. So you plant one of your employees to act as if they're gonna go get interviewed. That's, that's

Yep.

Wow.

Yeah, you could also, I guess you could probably just do a, you know, a conference table, uh, camera or something and have someone watch the camera. But yeah, we always planted someone, yeah.

That's, that's smart. Um, I, I like this for me.

I, I will take, I'll, I'll have other people interview them and I'll do the kind of the final interview. And if I like them, I will usually say, Hey, this is a conditional, it's 90 days, so we're gonna train

Mm-hmm.

And at any time if you don't think you're a good fit, if I don't think you're a good fit. You're gone. Like there's no two weeks, there's no, it's just we cut

Yep.

you know, and run. So, and then

Yep.

90 days, then I make the official offer and say, Hey, you kind of, you passed. You did really well. Here's some things you need to improve on. Here's some things that we'd like to see moving forward.

Uh, but I think you're gonna be a good long-term fit. I. and we move on. And I, so I, I like this idea of, of really testing people, of really seeing who you bring on. 'cause culture is huge. Um, any other thing you'd like to say about culture, about developing the right culture? 'cause I think that this is really where, where you're kind of going with people.

Yeah, I think, um.

as

business owners, we, I see the often mistake is that because we have a strong doer, um, that makes a automatic shoe in for management. Um, and I would just, I would encourage people to really vet that a lot more than just because they're good. Um, uh. What, what is, uh, EO or the, uh, I can't remember.

The E-Myth revisited. The linchpin, uh, in the cog. You know, if you've got somebody that's really good at doing the, the task doesn't necessarily mean they are a good manager of people. And I think we often, as business owners, want that easy button, the shortcut. Uh, let's just put somebody in there and, and hopefully they are.

Able to succeed and we actually ruin good staff members because they aren't set up for success in having the, the skills and the abilities to be a good manager. And so part of that culture I think is to have a good leadership growth plan. Maybe it's just you and, um, that new. Prospective manager mentoring together, spending time together, teaching them the ropes on how to handle tough situations, on how to handle client complaints or whatever the case may be, but to actually have a path of gaining the, the managerial skills it takes to, to elevate in a company.

You know, you've touched on a lot of great things here today. Um, I'm, I'm seeing some takeaways of focusing on the people first. I. Um, really identifying your hiring process, your firing process, which you didn't really get into. I'm sure you know, um, you talk about this. Um, and then growing people, right?

Giving them the opportunity, the skills, the education to know how to grow through management. Um, I love that. Anything that you would, um, suggest at the end here, Sean, that would be, that you would want to include anything that maybe we, we, we want to touch on to emphasize, uh, before we're done with our, our interview today? Yeah,

I think, um,

touch

touch on this 'cause this is really part of the, the framework is

viewing

your business as a asset and not just a job. Um. I think commonly business owners fall into that routine of like, I've, I quit my W2, I'm gonna start a new business, and then it turns into a lot more work than I expected, and then it turns into a JOB, the job.

And I, I'm just such a huge proponent, why, why would you take all that risk, um, and all of that stress. And become an entrepreneur, which is really long-term. Chewing of glass is what entrepreneurship is and, and not really view it as an asset. A financial wealth generating means. For a bigger, brighter future.

Um, I, you know, I'm such a big proponent of looking for ways to, to widen the gap between revenue and expenses, to increase profits, and then utilizing those profits to reinvest in the business, and then taking that beyond that to create other cash flowing assets. Maybe it's, um, complimentary businesses to the one you have or real estate, uh, investing or whatever the case may be.

Other software, invest, whatever, but to look for ways to create wealth beyond your business because I. A single source of income and I'm in aviation is like having a single engine airplane. And when that engine goes out, then you're just reliant on the coast down to the water or to the runway, and hopefully you have a.

Good stick the landing experience. But the reality is the reason commercial airliners have multiple engines, 'cause if one goes out, they're still flying. So if one goes out your main business, then you're still, uh, living a life that is not stressful, that is not strapped for cash, that is not putting a financial in a relationship strain on your wife or your kids or whatever.

Um. Your family, your legacy. And so I, you know, as entrepreneurs, we don't get the 401k pensions and all those things. We've gotta find our own path in financial freedom.

And I'm

I'm just a huge proponent of multiple streams of income. That's really like the, the core of the program that I help, uh, entrepreneurs with.

Wonderful. and I can agree with you more on the end of my, my book, marry and Grow Rich. Talk about, you know, using your business, I. As leverage as an asset to then say, Hey, if this is successful, and you've done really well at this one business, because I, I think there's this thing, well, I've gotta start five businesses at the same time.

No, no, no. Do one first. Do it really, really well.

Mm-hmm.

it is an asset and you can literally walk away and it still runs without you, 'cause you built it well, now you can leverage that. You can leverage the income for another business. Um, and I, I use Elon Musk. I know right now, you know, he is a highly, uh, divergent, uh, individual and personality with, with politics aside though, um, his business acumen, he just has nailed it.

He started, you know, and, and left PayPal and then began other businesses. And he doesn't, he doesn't do. not boring the tunnels under the, the roads. He's not building the cars. I mean, there may have been a time where he jumped in to save the company, but he's not flying to space. He's not doing, he's allowing all of his leverage from other businesses and income to now build multiple businesses, what I call business stacking, and you call it multi, you know, levels of income or multi streams of income. And same concept, same idea. And I, I love that I'll begin where we ended with, with flying, with, uh, having multiple engines and, you know, being able to successfully navigate this wealth, uh, you know, building phase of life. I, I appreciate you being on here, Sean. I, I, I thank you for your advice. if people wanna, you know, connect with you, especially those in property management and, and other fields that feel like, Hey, this, this guy, I, I need his help.

Where, where can they go? How can they reach you? Yeah,

Yeah, they could go to my website, which is Sean Austin johnson.com and

they

they could connect there. Sean is spelled S-H-A-W-N. Um, and

uh,

uh, I'm on all the socials at. At Sean Austin Johnson.

Um,

so Instagram, TikTok, wherever. Um, you could always reach out on those as well. Even XI think my handle on X is Sean A.

Johnson X because Sean Austin Johnson was taken.

But

But, uh, yeah, happy to connect. I love talking about business, especially generating wealth and,

you

you know, and, and, and you back to Elon real quick. Um.

him

Him and Richard, Richard Branson are so successful with that because they have extremely good executive assistants and they know that they can't get caught in the weeds.

They have to be up with their head and looking at the big picture all the time.

So

So kudos to.

the people again, right? It's back to who you have around you. And, and your systems. So thank you for reiterating so many great ideas and for giving us some frameworks to talk about and, and some, some things to chew on here today and that reemphasis on people and systems and, and value.

Thanks for being here. I I do really appreciate your time, guys. If you've enjoyed this, like share, do all the things. Um, check Sean's, you know website, Sean Austin johnson.com. Check him out and connect with him. On social. If you still haven't gotten the book, marry and Grow Rich. Go to Marry and Grow rich book.com, and a lot of the same principles are applied in different ways and forms as we've been discussing them.

​Definitely get that book and watch it as it changes your life. And until next time, remember, live Life on Purpose Together.