Rigs to Riches Ep. 11 - Jimmy Vreeland on Applying Ranger Discipline to a $2.5M Real Estate Mission

All right, guys. Welcome in to Rigs to Riches. really excited about the guest today. I’ve been talking to Jimmy about coming on for months and just the excitement. I’ve known Jimmy for man, we’re going on three years when I met him in Collective Genius. But I’m really excited, guys, to get into today. Like his background as an Army Ranger, how he applied that to business. I mean, I just have so much respect for Jimmy in so many ways. From the way he leads his business, the way he leads his kids to the way he interacts with his wife. I can’t tell you how many conversations I pulled from Jimmy about just like managing work relationships with your wife and perfecting that. And Jimmy, Jimmy, you’re perfect at that, right?
Uh, not so much. Just lots of experience. There we go. Well, cool. Go ahead, Jimmy. Tell us a little bit about your background.
Uh, yeah. My name is Jimmy Breeland. I am a graduate. After West Point, I went to Ranger School. After Ranger School, I did a year-long tour in Iraq. After I got home from Iraq, I was lucky enough to be able selected to the 75th Ranger Regiment. Did two tours, went to Iraq, went to Afghanistan with the Rangers. It was awesome being part of an elite special for special forces unit. After that, I uh went into medical sale first. Met my beautiful wife, went into medical sales, adjusted to civilian life, but while I was in Iraq, the first time I read Rich Dad Poor Dad, I started buying real estate while I was in the military.
So, I didn’t know what I was doing between 2005 and 2015, but I was buying about two houses a year. 2015, I had my fourth child. We had four kids in five years. And I knew enough to be dangerous. And I was able to start collecting private money or raising private money. And I bought 60 houses one year, bought 60 houses the next year. Then at that point, I was able to uh leave my W2 job and start into real estate full-time. And since then, I’ve been doing real estate full-time.
All right.
So much to get into there. And again, what I love about these podcasts, guys, is I’ve had so many conversations with Jimmy, but some of these things I’m learning are new. So, let’s talk about 2005 to 2015 while you’re still serving, right, and buying the houses. You read Rich Dad Poor Dad. Yeah. Tell me more about that.
I served from 03 to 08. So, I bought the majority of the houses once I was back into civilian civilian life.
Okay. And was that when you were doing the medical sales gig? was 08 to 2015 then. Is that right? Yep. Okay, got it.
So, yeah, kind of thought well I guess first fascinating that you were buying them while abroad. I mean, what did that look like?
So, my mom told me to read Rich Dad Poor Dad. She was all fired up about it. My brother was in medical school in St. Louis. So, I would just You make a ton of money when you’re deployed because you’re in the middle of the desert, can’t spend money. You get combat pay and you can’t spend your money on anything. So, I would just send all my cash back to them and they would buy the houses. Wow. So, it’s literally speaking of turnkey, it was pretty much turn for key for you. Back to the family, huh?
They were just finding the assets and you were you like no go or go or just saying, “Hey, do what you think I would do or how did you manage that?”
My brother’s a lot smarter than me, so I just like, “Hey, if you think it’s good, go.” Perfect. That’s a good way to do it. Awesome. Yeah. Well, man, surround yourself with smart people.
Business lesson number one.
There you go. Yeah. Well, that’s going to be gold nugget number one from Jimmy today of just taking action. And for those of you guys that are sitting on the sideline worried about buying the next property, Jimmy did it from Iraq at times, relied upon somebody he trusted and started building wealth. So that was 2005. And then you kept them going. How did it transition once you got back and you were working the medical sales job and you started you were you still doing two a year or more?
Yeah, cuz like we had bought five. So we had agents sending us deals, wholesalers sending us deals and so it’s like I knew I wanted to do the whole real estate thing. I just didn’t know. But, you know, Rich Dad Poor Dad after he got out of the Marines out of Vietnam, he did Xerox sales. I don’t remember how many years, but so I did exactly what he said. I got a job in sales. I sold medical equipment and, you know, I was just hunting for those bonuses trying to get enough cash so I had enough money to buy the next house.
Okay. That one I love too, Jimmy. So, when I first read Rich Dad Poor Dad, yeah, he talks about the sales gig he had, right? And at the time, so I read this, man, 10 years after you, I was 2015. I read it and I’ll never forget I’m in the middle of Canada in Alberta driving between rigs list in the bridge that portad. I’m thinking to myself I didn’t have any sales experience at the time and I’m kind of at that point kicking myself. I’m like dang I wish I had that and I ended up getting it through buying a small business but did how did you start because I’m guessing you didn’t have a great skill set in sales before that or or did you?
So like the military I wasn’t exactly a round peg in a round hole. I was a big part of my personality really meshed well with the military. A big part did not. But sales was a round peg and round hole. Like all I got to do is talk to people and then they pay me. It was like I I mean from day one I was having fun in the military. Okay. And then when and once you got out. So did you feel like you had the sales skill set or did you really hone that in once you took the medical sales stuff?
No, that was like very natural. I was like a round peg and a round hole. Like all I had to do was speak and then learn and then do what the client needed. I’m like that’s this is so much easier than getting shot at. This is so much easier than jumping out of planes. And I’m like and I got paid twice as well. So uh I would say well my whole family all my uncles, my parents, my grandparents were all in sales. So we come from a very salesy family.
Love it. Okay. So you you had you had the background, a lot of skill set. You were just honing it. All right. Love it.
So now talk about natural inclination.
Love it. So talk more about when you left when you felt comfortable. Correct.
So a lot of our listeners, Jimmy, are like people working W2s, maybe they’re still in oil and gas, whatever their career, maybe it’s just still doctors, lawyers, a lot of people you work with, right? But what made you feel comfortable when you did make the jump from you felt like you had enough rentals to go in all in on real estate?
I mean, honestly, I think I jumped too early. I should should have probably stayed two or three more years, but you know, there were a lot of people on Instagram and social media saying like quitting your jobs the ultimate freedom.
And like I had to learn the hard way that that wasn’t true. And so, you know,
I had 100 poorly managed lease option rentals, no systems, no processes, and I was $5 million in debt cuz I was just good enough at this game to be dangerous. So, if anything had happened in the market and say 2018, I would have been toast. Luckily, I then joined the collective genius and they kind of showed me the errors of my ways and where I need to plug gaps. So, to people who, like you said, are still in oil and gas.
Like, if you have a cash machine, if you’re making a ton of money, that’s awesome. Keep making that money. And then I’m assuming cursing is not allowed on the podcast, so go for it.
All these [ __ ] saying owning your own business is the ultimate source of freedom. Like, just know that they’re full of [ __ ]
Yep. Guys, let’s keep going deeper on this, Jimmy. And to give you guys more perspective, when I met Jimmy three years ago at Collective Genius, actually, it’s almost four years now. I go to my first event, I get to be in Jimmy’s room. And I had not learned that lesson that Jimmy just told you guys, right? I was listening to all the [ __ ] out there saying just go buy a bunch of rentals, get enough passive income, and quit your job. And that was my goal. And then fortunately, I was able to get in that room and learn that from Jimmy. Right. But go I want you to just go a little bit deeper, guys.
Well, like and now, you know, don’t kick yourself too hard. Like Jordan Peterson says, “It’s better to be walking with the wrong map than not walking at all.” And so once I realized this, I’m like, “Hey, that book driving me for cash flow greater than expenses.”
It got me moving. So I’m grateful for it, but I’m also grateful to collective genius who kind of showed me reality.
Yep. No, keep going, Jimmy, because I just I want to try to summarize and and I’ve had long conversations and I and I guess I tell this to people. I tell this to our listeners. I tell this to different masterminds I’m in like you’ve got to create massive active income before you start investing passively. So if you want to just share a little bit more of like like maybe a different threshold where you feel like I don’t know what have you learned.
Here’s what I didn’t understand and so you it comes down to a cash machine. So I would call a cash machine 200 to 250k a year. If you have a job where you make 200 to 250k a year, awesome. You’re in the top 10, you know, you’re in the top 1% of income earners in the country. And now you have enough active income where you can start slowly investing. And now if you don’t make 250k a year, cool, no worries. But those people need to flip and wholesale. But if you’ve already hit that level of income, then you can start picking up passive assets as you continue to build that active income.
But for the people who are like, “Oh, I’ll go to real estate and then I won’t have any problems.” Like I thought that then I didn’t understand the tax code. Then I had a $250,000 bill to the IRS. Then I had to start leading and managing teams. Then I had to start learning how to hire. Then I had to start learning how to market. I could sell. I could sell forever, right? I always had that base.
But marketing, completely different skill set. Hiring, completely different skill set. Understanding the tax code, completely different skill set. Then you start making money. Then you got to start paying people to count your money. Then you got to start paying people to protect your money from the IRS. And then you know I used to think freedom was freedom from constraint. Now I understand it that freedom is the freedom to pursue excellence.
So if you’re pursuing excellence in whatever you’re doing, guess what? You’re free. And guess what? Things still suck. And there are days you don’t want to do it, but that’s part of the human condition. That’s my favorite, but we we’ll save that just a little bit longer. We’re still staying on that W2, those folks that are working that job because just you guys a little bit of background, Jimmy has been selling turnkey properties for years. I didn’t even mention that in his intro, but one of the best turnkey guys as far as like finding a deal, fixing it up, and selling it to an investor turnkey to where it’s rented out, cash flowing, helps him with the financing. Right. He’s been he’s one of the And then we actually do Berky now. We don’t really do many turnkey anymore. Burki. And I I can get into those definitions if you’d want. Yeah, let’s explain that and then just go deeper, Jimmy, because I just want to I want to continue to give these people options that are in a W2 because as you said, like your W2 is your cash machine. You should probably keep that and do things like what Jimmy’s going to tell you. So, yeah, turnkey was like fix it up. Don’t sell it till there tenants in there full, but sell it at full retail price andor a little bit above full retail price. So, the problem with turnkey is like I’d work with these really wealthy individuals and for a $200,000 rental, your down payment’s 50 grand. So, everybody ran out of money and then they didn’t love there’s a little bit of market insecurity when you’re buying the house at tiptop value, right? I mean, you and me, we never buy houses at tiptop value, right? No. So, then I was like, okay, how can we get around that? Like, these people are highly liquid. Why am I buying the house? Why am I holding the house? Why am I doing all this stuff and then selling it at retail? Like, I’d probably have a bunch more buyers if they could burr. And for those you don’t know, burr is buy, rehab, refinance. So, if you listen to Bigger Pockets, they’re all about burrs, right? And so, okay, to get a burr, I got to be into the house 80 to 85% of the deal. I’m like, wait a minute. I’m a wholesaler and I have a construction management team. Couldn’t I just get these people who are my turnkey buyers. Couldn’t I get them into an asset at 85% of the asset instead of 100%? And the answer was yes. And so then we just switched to Burkys where they’ll buy the deal cash from us and then they’ll refi out the majority of their cash. So they’re only leaving like 15 to $20,000 into every deal instead of $50,000. Good.
So base deal is $200,000 house. Get them all in for 160. Generally the purchase price is 120 40k in rehab. They refi out. I get them all in at like 170. Bank comes in, refies out 160 of that. So they’re into the deal for 10 grand. And then they take that 170 they used and then they do the next deal with it. So it extends their capital base and they’re walking into $30,000 of instant equity and it’s cash flow positive. So everybody’s enjoyed Burks more than turnkeys including I can imagine. I mean you just shared it right. So it previously that same property they’re leaving 50k in each time, right? And they’re paying full market. Now they’re in for like you said roughly 10K. So you’re going to do Yeah. I mean essentially five times as more and you’re just Do you feel like the velocity is faster and everything too? Yeah. Yeah. The the the clients are happier because they get all their cash back or most of their cash back. Yeah. All but 10,000 is great. And who who do you feel like is can anybody do this? Is this the person that’s making 250 250k a year or who’s the target audience for this? Yeah. Anybody making over 250k? Anybody who has some liquid set aside. Got it. And even the first one, right? Like let’s just say that somebody’s super interested in that has making 250k at their oil and gas job, we’ll say, and has good credit. What? Yeah. And I know I know the answer here, but I’m going to let you answer. What if they don’t have they’re not keeping all the liquidity and maybe it’s in their 401k and it’s in the it’s in their it’s not in it’s not liquid. Is there ways for those guys to do these? Yeah, I mean you can use hard money for burrs. I don’t love it. They can learn to raise private money. That’s probably the eas simple way. But like honestly, most people like they do what I did to start my business. Take a home equity loan. get that 170 from their house, you’re replacing it when you do the refi and then you know you take your investment capital and that’s the 10 grand you leave in the deal. But a lot of people like that’s the other thing you kind of got to learn as you have your cash machine. Your financial advisor is really probably not going to prioritize liquidity and liquidity is so that was a painful lesson to learn as a business owner. Like liquidity is vitally important. So, I advise people do your 6% match, but whatever you’re doing to investing, also invest in cash and have something liquid. Got it. And now, how about in that scenario? This is really I think this is super helpful because I think there’s so many people that are going to listen to this that are around that income level, have good credit, can do this, but how much cash do you feel like you’d you’d keep? Like, let’s say they got the 170K set aside, and as you keep doing this, say every what, every three months or I’m not sure how how how much? Four months. Yeah. Okay. But how much extra cash do you feel like they should save? Then as they grow, does that does that scale? Yeah. So, I mean, I got the book back here, Richest Man in Babylon. You’re saving and investing 10% of your gross income no matter what. And hopefully that continues to grow and increase the more money you make and the better income investing. But I then I say, hey, when you have a rental, keep $5,000 set aside for when the tenant turns. Okay? So, you know, if you got 50 rentals, you got $50,000 set aside for your rental portfolio as you’re collecting rent, as you’re doing all that stuff. Yeah. And you really never have to look at it. Okay? 5,000 of cash per rental you’re saying? Yeah. Of cushion. Yep. Okay. Got it. And then and even with your and and again just to drill it home even further, right? Because we we talked at the beginning of this guys that get into this podcast about not just going and buying a bunch of rental properties and feel like that’s passive, that’s freedom, right? But you feel like if as long as you’re keeping that W2, right? You keep your W2, you got 5,000 of cash for each rental and you feel like that’s pretty scalable. And I know it’s not. And you’re still Yeah. And you’re saving 10% of your gross income every year. Yes. So that liquid pot continues to grow. Yeah. Awesome, man. This is super tactical. I think today like you guys are going to get so much more from Jimmy, but just that alone of that equation and that way of investing, leveraging your credit, leveraging your W2 income. I mean, how do you I know you do this, Jimmy, but how does that project out over 10 20 years for these folks? If you buy two houses a year for 10 years, yeah, you should add $2 and a half million dollars in equity or balance sheet between appreciation and tenant payown, you’ll probably save 160k in taxes and then cash year 10 should be like 150k a year. There we go. I’m going to recap that, guys. So, two and a half million of equity. You said 160k of depreciation again. Yeah. And I I mean, I know it’s a hard to accept just me talking it. So, I do have YouTube videos where I break down those actual numbers. Okay. We’ll share those for you guys in the notes, but two and a half million 160k and then 150,000 of Yeah. You’re basically saying a passive income after after 10 years. Yeah. Love it. All right.
And then the other thing is you’re getting a governmentbacked 30-year mortgage. And so when we’re filming this January what? No, February 6 of 2026 where gold, silver, and crypto have just taken a huge dump. Right. Mhm. And so I what I’ve been talking about the last few months. So the current administration is trying to do everything they can to build affordable housing. Why? Well, the government wants safe, clean housing for its citizens. Who are they going to reward? People invest in those assets. And they’re going to protect and do everything they can to make sure this asset class succeeds, especially since we have a 4 million house shortage throughout the country. And what happens if people can’t find safe, clean, affordable housing? Casey, any ideas? They can’t find Yeah, they’re renting. Well, what if they can’t even find safe, clean, affordable houses to rent? What do they do? Yeah, I guess you’re homeless. No, they generally riot and they generally show great social angst. So, the government has a huge incentive to find safe, clean, affordable housing and they will reward those investing in safe, clean, affordable housing and they will make sure that industry never fails. For example, Trump just had Fanny and Freddy buy $200 billion dollars of their own bonds to keep mortgage rates low. Now, some people as home buyers for their own house are going to take advantage of that. Why not take advantage of that as an investor? Because the government will give you 10 of these loans if you’re single, 20 if you’re married. So, I’m getting the point is we are as a highincome earning American, you have a target on your back from the IRS. The only way to make that target less big is to invest in real estate because you don’t make right now the government’s committed to keeping that people making a hundred under $150,000 lowering their tax burden lowering making everything easier for them, right? That’s how you get reelected. Now, those people are going to get subsidized. Those people are going to get helped out. The demographic we’re talking about is not getting helped out. And then they’re not wealthy enough to get subsidies on the high end. Right? So, you’re what you’re called the forgotten man. And so, the only subsidy you will get as an upper middle class American is whatever real estate investments you make. And so, the government will give you a 30-year governmentbacked loan at an artificially low interest rates, even though right now people say they’re high. And so, it’s like I personally think you have a patriotic duty to get 20 of these houses and only to take advantage of the financing and beat inflation. Man, I’ve haven’t I mean, I’ve listened to podcasts, right? I’ve read books about it, but never articulated that way in terms of your patriotic duty and just the way that it’s I mean the way that it’s written, they’re encouraging. And the fact that the middle class, that’s your only option. Well, and then if you look at the big bold beautiful bill, which is a boondoggle for real estate investors, it’s not great for people making over $400,000. It’s very good for people making over under 150 because remember the current administration made a commitment to that demographic that they are going to make sure that they are taken care of. So whether wherever you lie on the political spectrum I don’t really care about right and wrong but to get reelected they’re going to have to keep that demographic engaged. Okay. And who are they going to do at the expense of highly paid employees. Got it, man. And Jimmy, I know you study this and look at it as Helen. How do you feel like it changes over time when different administrations come in and as we’re evolving, you feel like it changes? All Yeah. All the good things I just said about being an employee and having a cash machine, right? They are going to get the most taken from them in taxes any way you slice it. Now, there’s one argument to say, “Hey, oh my god, that’s so wrong.” There’s another argument to saying, “Hey, the government is going to not take as much out of people who provide services and provide safe, clean housing.” And so they’re going to give subsidies to that investor class. But if all you’re going to do is go to work and do nothing and pay your taxes, of course they’re going to take the most from you. So what can you do to keep more of your own income? And the easiest, safest way for those people with cash machines is real estate. Nailed it. There you guys go. I told you we could just stop it there and you guys would have gotten your value out of this podcast for those of you are in that same position or you’re going to be there soon because you’re getting promoted. You’re working hard. And that’s why people like you and me have businesses the way we do is we perform services for those people who need tax breaks and hook them up with the tax breaks. Yep. So powerful. That’s why we have an industry. Yep. Awesome. All right, Jimmy, let’s segue into some of the fun stuff. So, if you guys didn’t get enough value from how to build your wealth, try to do it taxfree. Try to still be in that forgotten, would you call it? The forgotten man. There’s a book There’s a book about the Great Depression called The Forgotten Man. the forgotten man where really rich people during the depression got subsidies really poor people got subsidies and then there was everybody else in between who didn’t constitute a large enough voting block for the government to worry about perfect all right so helping you guys not become the forgotten man I want to segue into guess Jimmy has helped me a ton when like relationship wise even leading your kids being a dad being a coach but the first one is my favorite one I remember forget the first time I asked you was on a boat we’re on this little cruise I’m like Jimmy how do you do it with your And I think there’s a lot of people, a lot of guys out there and maybe they’re entrepreneurs or maybe they’re not, but they’re thinking about having their wife help them out, join them, be part of the business. And I feel like you’ve done a pretty good job with that. But what are what are your tips there, man? How do you guys stay sane and and operate such a I loved it. Susie is centretired from the business, but I personally loved working with her. We well we actually met at work at corporate so we had very bas similar mindsets on how work should be done and how hard you should hustle and so we I mean we met on a sales call together selling the same doctor so we were always aligned I guess business-wise you know when Susie was deep in the business the kids were younger we had a house manager so that helped you know I think it would be it was unreasonable and unkind for me to expect her to do all the mother things she would have to and maybe all her domestic duties and professional duties in our business and then not for her to have any help. You know, Sus’s eye for detail is like twice as sharp, three times as sharp as mine. So, she was great with the detail. Like, I could come up with ideas and then she came with the execution. And I do see a lot of business owners, couple wives have that dynamic. Yep. And I personally always thought it was fun, but then we got to a certain point where she’s like, “The kids need me, the business doesn’t. Can I quit?” And so, I was like, I was sad, but I was like, “Yeah.” At what point was that? How how recent was that? Probably two years ago. And the kids were what age? So just hitting Maria was just hitting junior high. Junior high. Okay. Yeah. Guys, so to echo that, I mean, I compare it to like Chip and Joanna Gains, right? It’s like not one plus one equals two, right? When they came together, one plus one equal three. I mean, sounds like exact same situation with you guys and kept it rolling and built momentum, man. So, how’s I was going to ask you this though, people who are the the house manager, right? This is actually one that I’m working through and trying to get my wife on board. But what would you say to the the wife that maybe didn’t? By the way, so the house manager got let go when Susie wanted to go back to the house. She’s like, I don’t want people in my stuff anymore. I keep wanting her to have a house manager because she’ll be like doing laundry and I want to watch a show. I’m like, dude, we can hire somebody to do this. And she’s like, no, I don’t want anybody in my stuff. There you go. Yeah. So, I’ll use my wife example, but I think there’s a lot of people listening that might be in a similar situation where you’ve got kids, your wife takes care of them, but you want more for your wife and maybe she’s wanting more purpose, right? But I don’t know. I just How do you get like I would love to have that same I have that exact same mindset of like, hey, if we have the house manager, you could open up even if you just go have more impact in the four of our kids’ lives because you’re not doing laundry. Like, any tip you would give to guys like us to get that buy in? I’ve never gotten that buy in from my wife, so I can’t really I mean, I do think I like I’ll read a book and be super excited about something, right? And what’s awesome about my wife is she’ll be like, “Cool, go explore that.” But then I don’t think it’s fair for me to expect her to want to go on that same journey, you know? And then the level of detail that it takes to raise children is insane. So, I think where I need to like have new adventures outside the house, I mean, I don’t like to necessarily speak for my wife, but I think she finds the same adventure inside the house. That’s awesome. And I guess I’m assuming too, she she lived it. She lived that corporate. She had the fulfillment there, but she then Yeah. If I needed her to go make a couple hundred grand, she’d go do it. Yeah. But we don’t. So, we’re blessed there. You know what I mean? Because it is weird like you’ll go to CG and she used to come to CG all the time and then you’ll go in like a mastermind and you’re like I’m going to do this, do this and do that and she’s like cool go. Now if she was saying you can’t that would piss me off but she’s like go get after it but don’t expect me to want to go on every adventure which was weird in the beginning cuz we did all the adventures together man. But now we got four little souls who need help with their adventures. Nice. Well, let’s yeah, let’s segue right there. How do you I’m just curious tips you use. I love talking about it, right? How you guys involve the kids, how you spend your time with them, how you you’re obviously a high level achiever, have so many goals. I mean, the procedum of pu pursuing excellence in your business. How do you balance that with the kids? When I know, I’ll let I’ll let you know. When I figure it out, I’ll let you know. The amazing thing as my kids get into high school and Maria’s in high school is like, you know, this is why I’m gonna tangent a little bit, but do you want you know why socialism will never work? Why? I can’t create equality in my own house skill and talent-wise, right? Like my four children are so different. I expected them to be like four carbon copies of me and they’re just not. And then the real mind warp is the one closest to me is my daughter. like as far as like similar mindsets, similar lack of empathy is my daughter. So, it’s just like the kids are so different and and so I what I’ve kind of learned to do is I’m not going to put my need for high achievement on them. But whatever they choose, they need to do it in an excellent manner. Like we had a hilarious discussion last night with my 15-year-old daughter. She was like, “Well, when you pay for my college?” And I was like, “What do you mean pay for your college?” Like I went to college for free. I got a scholarship to West Point. My brother got an ROC scholarship. So, I’m just like, we might pay for your college. We might not. But like, you’re gonna have to figure that out. And it’s not a given. So, it’s like just because I don’t put like my need for high achievement on my kids doesn’t mean they won’t high achieve. And it doesn’t mean they get to sit on their ass. So, I guess it’s like a a needle to thread. Yeah. No, I love that. I mean, so many ways we could go with them. Yeah. Keep going to like how you balance pushing them because I’m with you. Like, and I didn’t realize this. I’ve had this realization in the last probably year of how different the boys are. I’m like you and the first one was a lot like me. The second one wasn’t. And you’re just like like what are you doing? Huh? Why are you here? Exactly. So, how have you Yeah. Keep going. I’d love to hear more of how you balance that. I mean, I know you’re involved. I know you love coaching them. I know you love doing that, but how do you connect with them and and show up? Well, like so my my eighth grade boy, he was struggling in school and he was having trouble focusing and I was like so we sat down. We did a 5x exercise like we did a 31 90day target, right? And like, okay, cool. So, we broke it down to his daily activity, but he was getting straight C’s. And I was like, dude, what did he want? What was the first target? So, like this quarter, if he gets five A’s and two B’s, he wants a pair of Jordans. So, I’ll get him some Jordans, right? And then, so the first quarter we tried this five A’s, two B’s, I I’ll get, you know what, he wanted a Lego Death Star, which like 250 bucks. And so first quarter he went in with five A’s and two B’s and he bombed his finals, right? I was like, “All right, bro. You learned a lot this quarter. You have a gap. What do we got to do? So next quarter you get this.” And it was he needs to improve his study skills for the finals, right? But in the beginning, man, it was just getting him to do his homework. But the first time he set a target and failed, he at least was consistently doing his homework. Next quarter he went out and crushed it. Crushed the finals. Five A2Bs. Got his Death Star. And then now this quarter we’re going uh Jordans cuz I love wearing Jordans. He see me in my Jordans and he started the first month of the this quarter like crappy. And it was just like you are a you know just like you do as a manager. Hey bro, you’re off track. What do we got to do to get back on track? So like Susie disagrees with me that you shouldn’t pay for your kids for grades. And I’m like I don’t do anything unless I get paid. Why would I expect my children not to? Human beings respond to incentives. So, I guess you got to figure out whatever fires up your kid and do it. Oh, man. It’s I’ve felt the same way. It’s a slippery slope incentivizing them with money. But that’s a you just made me feel a lot better about it. But like I mean you and me don’t do it with out of Target and honestly like I can relate to a kid who out of boys from your teachers and a good report card doesn’t motivate him. So cool. If a pair of Jordan motivates him and I don’t have to yell at him, do his homework, it’s the best money I’ll spend this court. Yes. Oh yeah. Heck yeah. Well, add one. I was going to add the background as a ranger, right, in serving in in in a business, but we’ve already moved on. So, I would love to hear how do you use that? What are some skills you learn there? I’m just curious how that comes across and as a dad, as a husband, as running your running your family. You use any of it in a positive good way. So, I’m clenching my teeth because I came to this realization like we talked about calling before, right? I mean, I was given certain gifts that made being a ranger tolerable. And I don’t think everybody is called to serve their country that way and or given those gifts that made it tolerable. Like physically at Ranger School, nothing really bothered me because like it wasn’t as hard as college football. Yeah. And so business-wise, I think I always have an extra gear where for some people it’s like, man, this really sucks. And I’m like, yeah, but it doesn’t suck as much as Iraq. And so I think that keeps me going. So I do think I have an extra gear. And so I’m grateful for that time. Now, as a dad, I don’t want to go drill sergeant and completely fry a kid who does not have that calling or and or initial hardware. Like, for example, I’m 6’2. My my best 40 time ever was a 47. So, not really slow, but not fast by football standards, right? Yeah. M but you one I could you could put 100 pounds on me and I could walk 20 miles and then at the end of it it’d be like okay cool you know that’s not anything I did that’s just that’s the chassis I was built with y if I have a kid who didn’t have that like and to expect them to want to go into special and then you have to want to be in special operations if you’re not in it completely you won’t survive so it’s like not everything I learned there is going to be applicable to fatherhood if that makes sense it does and even maybe going to coaching too I’d be curious like how you’ve Yeah, I agree. You got to dial it back for sure. But I mean, yeah. Have you used it in coaching any of the kids or and and the reason I’m asking back to your point of like you love learning from other coaches and what they’re doing and refining it? Have you found as a leader there? I mean, the one thing where I do think it applies to coaching, so in Ranger school, my first mission, the way you graduate Ranger School is you get two missions to lead at each phase. And if you fail both, you’re done. So you have to you have to pass one, right? And so my mountain phase, my first mission was the worst leadership example ever. I completely messed up everything. I was unprepared. I was not ready and I just sucked. And but I didn’t hang my head. Like I didn’t point fingers. I didn’t hang my head. Essentially took it like a man, right? And so the RAR was like the only thing you good did good today was not hang your head and not complain. And that was a life lesson for me. And so like with my like sixth grade basketball team, it’s like no matter what happens on this court today, you do not slump your shoulders. You do not hang your head. And I will pull a kid for missing a shot and then slumping their shoulders because it’s just a habit that they have to break. Y and then the other thing is like my fball is so much fun. Like why do people watch March Madness for the last 90 seconds, right? Yes. I don’t know what it is about the sport, but every game comes down to the last 90 seconds. It’s part of the greatest thing about the sport, right? So, I’ll like we’ll be in a tight game and the kids will be tensing up. I’m like, “Why are you tense? This is why we play basketball. This is the whole point of the game. Enjoy this.” And so, I don’t think I’d have that perspective without, you know, when things are tight, when things are tense, that’s what the Rangers trained you to, that’s when you’re at your best. And so, if I could pass that down to the the kids, that would be great. Wow. What a flip of the script, right? And I’m just even thinking of the times I was nervous in the last minutes. And Yeah. And you’re Good point. And I’m like looking at the kids like and you see the ones who are like ready for the moment. But that’s a great psychological way to flip it. This is why we do it. This is why it’s so exciting. Which there’s three options in games. Did you enjoy the games most where you just completely kicked the crap out of someone you got the crap kicked out of? Or it was an evenly matched team. Whoever had the ball last was going to win. Which games did you enjoy the most of those three options? Oh yeah, by far game on the line coming down to the end of it. So it’s like you got to start welcoming those games. You don’t want to kick anybody’s butt. It’s boring. Agreed. Couldn’t agree more as a dad when I’m watching them. Like I don’t want to like I hate the games when you’re playing the little weak team and you just blow them out. That’s not fun. And you definitely end up getting your ass kicked. Well, and this is from Peterson, but you your job as a dad to be the ultimate encourager and put your child in their proximal zone of development. So, it’s like it’s tough like as a coach like my my team is not like a AAA travel team, right? Mhm. We’re probably like a single A on the verge of being a double A. But getting the appropriate competition for those boys is like that’s where I see as another big job as a coach and a dad and like you don’t want your kid to be the absolute and I don’t and then my kids also play a bunch of baseball. I don’t know if football’s like this, but baseball every fall there’s a team shakeup where the top third kids go to the next level, the bottom third kids go down a level, and then your core team stays the same. Mhm. And I think it’s great and it’s sad that teams break up and then relationships break up. I get it. Yeah. But if your kid is the top tier kid, he needs to go get challenged. He needs to move up a level. But then like you don’t want a kid who all he does is bat last and play right field. He needs to go to a team where he’s got a legit chance to bat in the middle of the order and play more than outfield. Yeah, that’s such a good That’s a tough part of as a dad, finding that zone of proximal development. Yeah, but such a good good tip and such a good perspective as we know we all those who live in kids sports know that feeling when or that awkward because you all everybody wants their kid to be on to be on the AAA travel best team. It’s I had a a great buddy of mine who coached my kid. He’s like Jimmy AAA is just a designation for the parents. It’s not for the kid. Oh man. And then your your tip on like body language and the fact that you can fix that. I I mean my big thing is I always tell the kids you can control one thing and you control your effort, right? You can’t control making every pass, making every shot, right? But you can control effort. But another one is just having a good attitude and it can just separate every team. But I love that it’s like you’re going to show up today and that’s the one thing you can control and the one thing you can deliver on. It’s basketball. I mean, what’s Steph Curry’s lifelong ping percentage? 66, which is Hall of Fame. Yep. He still misses a third of his shots. Yeah. Aaron Judge still gets out twothirds of the time. It’s like, you know, it’s hard for a 12-year-old, but to got to get a mindset of next play. It’s hard for a business owner. How many bad flips have you done? You’re like, I got to move on to the next one. I got to learn my lessons and move on, man. Good. Well, man, anything else you want to share, Jimmy, for I’m going to I I could go all day with Jimmy, but I know he’s got a family. He’s got to get back to it. Anything else you want to share with the listeners? You give them so much to think about today. I appreciate you having me on. I love having these conversations, so thank you for your time having this. Yeah, real estate’s a great way to build wealth. Go pursue excellence. Maybe real estate will help you. Love it. Awesome. Well, Jimmy, where uh before sending you off, where can people find you? Uh Instagram, just Jimmy Breeland. LinkedIn, Jimmy Breeland, and uh it’s Vre L- N. Perfect. And then uh YouTube. Go to the YouTube. Cool. Well, guys, yeah, as you guys can see, a little bit of Jimmy’s personality today. Hilarious. Watch on YouTube or Instagram. You gota get a little bit more of this personality. But Jimmy, thanks so much. from the family to the husband to the dad to the ranger and even just segueing. I just I think some of the biggest goal today is going to help these W2 listeners to get like you just you provided a great framework for them to go build something. And then probably my last favorite one is just the pursuit of excellence, right? If you either got it or you don’t. And I think I think if people are listening to this, they they’ve got it inside of them. And I would just encourage you guys listen to what Jimmy said today and go for it. Jimmy, thank you so much for coming on. Thank you, Casey. This was fun. All right. If you’re listening to this because you’re chasing freedom, not just for yourself, but for your family, then don’t let this just be the background noise. Take action. Shoot me a DM. Reach out. Find a property. Make a call. Remember, small moves today create the life your future self and your family will thank you for tomorrow.