Ever dreamed of becoming a full time real estate investor but don't know where to start? Meet Krysta! She found her path with Freedom Mentor, transforming her life by mastering creative investing and changing her family's future—discover her story in this interview.
Meet Krysta
Brian: Krysta, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me today. You've obviously had success here, and we certainly enjoy it when you share that success and help to inspire others. To start with, take us back. What were you doing before you joined Freedom Mentor?
Krysta: I was originally a middle school science teacher. My two boys, my oldest, are only 15 months apart. When my youngest was an infant, we found that daycare cost more than my teaching salary. So, I started staying home with my two oldest, and I was home with them for quite a while.
Then I had a night out with some friends, and we started talking about what's one thing that you'd really like to do that you haven't done or are too afraid to do. I said I really want to flip a house. I've always just really liked real estate. I've always kind of been into it, watched plenty of HGTV, and they were like, "Go do it." So, I thought, why not? I wasn't currently working at the time, and my husband has a W-2 with really good insurance, so that wasn't a concern for us, and he was supportive. So, I started researching from there.
Initial Challenges and Motivations
Brian: So, were you looking to rehab a house? Was it the income? Was it the transformation? What was it about it that piqued your interest?
Krysta: For me, it was always about the transformation. It was about taking something that was unloved and rundown and providing a good product for a potential family to enjoy and raise their family in. That was primarily what it was.
Brian: That's awesome. What was holding you back at that time before you got started? What kept you from pursuing that prior?
Krysta: I didn't know anybody else in real estate, and I knew that being an agent and driving people around in my car on a Saturday just to have them not love a paint color wasn't in my future. So, I thought, I definitely don't want to be a real estate agent. I always said that if I was ever going to get my license, I'd get a contractor's license before a real estate license. I liked that aspect of it. I liked the idea of design, and that was more my focus. And I didn't know anybody else who did it, so I didn't even know where to start.
Discovering Freedom Mentor
Beginning the Search
Brian: Where did you start?
Krysta: I started on Google, trying to find somebody who could guide me through the process. I knew that real estate is expensive, and you can lose a lot of money if you don't do it well. And I knew it was litigious. I really didn't want to run the risks of not having the right permits or not having the right information. So, I started looking online to see if there was anybody who could help me figure it all out and help me figure out where to start and all of that.
Brian: Gotcha. So did you find some local options? Did you come across quite a bit of potential, or how did you end up with Freedom Mentor?
Deciding Factors
Krysta: There wasn't much. This was in 2018 when I first started looking. There were some local seminars because I live in a pretty urban area, but I never wanted to go get a sales pitch from a seminar and then just, you know, I know that I'm also not the person that's going to learn it and figure it out on my own. As a teacher, I know my learning style, and that's not it. I really like to work with people. I really like to bounce ideas off people. And I knew that reading a book or going to a seminar wasn't my type of learning.
So, I googled, and I found Freedom Mentor fairly quickly. Then I started looking at all the YouTube videos and trying to figure out if it was legitimate. Because you never know when you see things online. So yeah, after that, I finally decided to make contact.
Choosing Freedom Mentor
Brian: And was there something about seeing Freedom Mentor in comparison to the other potential options you saw that made it stand out, that made you feel like it would be a good fit for you?
Krysta: Yeah, it was just the continued support. For me, I just wanted to make sure that it wasn't a dump of information and then you're on your own. Because I knew that I was going to want to be able to talk through things, bounce ideas, come to someone and get direct advice when I needed it. That's kind of what it seemed like to me when I first started doing research.
Brian: So, you mentioned your learning style, and as a science teacher, I would imagine you weren't the teacher just droningly reading the book. You were getting hands-on, doing experiments, really teaching them. And then that's the style that you want to learn as well, right?
Krysta: Yeah, I'm a learn-by-doer. I have to actually do it and see the process to learn, and I knew that I was going to have somebody there for the entire time period so that I could learn that way.
Importance of Mentorship
Recognizing the Need for Guidance
Brian: So, there was not a time where you said, "I'll just do this on my own." You knew from the outset you needed to be taught how to do this. You needed a mentor.
Krysta: Yes, I never would have done it by myself.
Brian: Gotcha. You know, I see a lot of investors make mistakes. When I first started out, I spent years just trying to study and treated it more like a hobby. When you put in hobby time, you get hobby results, right? It sounded like you had enough experience in life to know that if you want to learn something, you need to go to someone that's been there and done that, that can guide you through it.
Krysta: Yeah, and I also wasn't that young, and I also wasn't single. I had two kids, two babies at the time, and I didn't have the time or the financial backing to really limp through it. It was like, if I'm going to do this, I need to do it. It needs to be something that I can monetize quickly. I needed to minimize the number of failures that I was going to have and my learning curve. So, yeah, doing it by myself wasn't an option.
Mitigating Risk with Mentorship
Brian: Got it. And from a financial standpoint, time standpoint, you knew that you kind of had a window of time to pursue this. Your husband was supportive, but you didn't have a lot of extra time, and if you were going to get results, you needed to make sure you were doing it very efficiently.
Krysta: Yes, it needed to be as minimal risk as possible. Of course, it's always risky, and you're taking that risk on yourself, which is probably the only person I would put that much risk into because I knew failing wasn't an option for me. Once I got started, I just had to make it work. But I wanted to minimize the number of failures and lessons that I learned on my own.
First Deals and Learning Experiences
Getting Started
Brian: So, you came into the program, learned, went through all the training, and started connecting with coaches. Obviously, you picked up on things, but you wanted to get hands-on. So, what are some of the highlights, some of your favorite experiences and deals in Freedom Mentor?
Krysta: Yeah. When I first started, I didn't touch a deal or do any full marketing for the first couple of months. I wanted to get my groundwork solid first. So, I really dove into all the videos and training. Then, I closed my first two deals within a week of each other.
One of them was a double-wide trailer, and the other one was a million-dollar mansion. In my area, that's a lot of money—it was like 15,000 square feet. Surprisingly, I made the same amount of money on both of them. So, I always tell people, don't judge a deal by its size because you never really know.
Facing Challenges
Brian: Such a huge contrast between a double-wide and a 15,000 square foot mansion. You made about the same on both deals. Tell me about the stress level or what came with one versus the other. Were they similar?
Krysta: Yes, they were structured fairly similarly. Obviously, my negotiating wasn't the best because my margins were different due to the price points. Would I do it differently now? Absolutely. They both were under contract for too long. With every real estate deal, there are always hoops to jump through. Did I create more hoops? Yes. I was on every call in the morning asking for advice. I needed a lot of hand-holding, but the only thing that got me through was being able to get on a call, ask a direct question, get a direct answer, and then follow those marching orders for the day.
The Value of Guidance
Brian: You weren't just sitting back, waiting for everything to be done. You were going after it, trying to clarify, ready to take action, and just needed a little guidance to ensure you were on the right track, right?
Krysta: Yes, I would have specific deal questions, like what to do in an exact instance. I would upload documents that I needed reviewed or discussed during the call. Then, I would get my marching orders and go from there.
Brian: As a student, you had access to send over questions through the message center, but sometimes you realize you just need to talk through it. That's where the group coaching calls were valuable. Would you agree with that?
Krysta: A hundred percent. I never felt like I asked a question that you all couldn't answer. You always had everything in hand to support me, and that was most important for me.
Achieving Success
Brian: Well, you've graduated, made half a million dollars in net profits in real estate, and gone on to make more. How does that transform things for you?
Krysta: It makes you look at things differently. I never set out to be an entrepreneur or a business owner. Even when I started, I just planned to flip a couple of houses. My mindset wasn't on making a lot of money. When I first heard the amount needed to graduate, I thought it was impossible. But after graduating, I felt really accomplished. It made me realize I could do more than I thought was possible. My whole mindset changed.
Brian: So, you came in with goals to transform some houses, but your goals evolved as you started growing and seeing success.
Creative Real Estate Strategies
Krysta: Yeah, absolutely. I didn't realize creative real estate was an option. As someone who likes to solve problems, I leaned into Subject To and more creative deal structures. To date, I've done over 40 deals and only used a lender once. Everything else has been creative. You can help sellers more when you structure deals on terms. It felt good to help people out of their real estate issues while creating a win-win situation.
Brian: This is a people business, so helping people is the first focus when dealing with real estate problems. It's interesting that you've only borrowed money once. What was that like?
Krysta: Expensive. I didn't realize how much lenders take, between lending fees and closing costs. It motivated me to do as many terms deals as possible because I'd rather pass those funds along to the seller.
Brian: That makes sense. And you have many options when getting creative, unlike the one-size-fits-all nature of lending. You've been able to do a lot of creative deals, and it sounds like that’s where you want to continue to focus.
Advice for Your Younger Self
Brian: You know, you've graduated from an apprentice and you're on your own now. You've been through a lot and grown in your goals. What kind of advice would you give your younger self? If you had known what you know now, what would you pass on to someone else in that position?
Krysta: I would say, don't sleep on it. Don't wait. The perfect time doesn't exist. The perfect time in your life doesn't exist. There's been a lot of stuff that's happened in my personal life since I got started, and it probably made me stronger. But the perfect time to start doesn't exist. The perfect real estate market to start in doesn't exist because you can't really predict it. So, I would say, don't wait. And I would also say, lay your foundation. Do your training, get everything set up so that when it's time to start doing deals, you can just focus on the deals. So, get all the business stuff set up, get all your training set up, and then learn from your mistakes because you'll make a lot of them.
Brian: That's part of how we learn, right? That's part of the curve and having someone there to give you a hand, help you up, point you in the right direction, and make sure we learn from those mistakes. Right?
Krysta: Fail forward.
Structure of the Program
Brian: Yeah, absolutely. So with regards to the way the program was designed for you to be able to come in, as you said, go through the videos, go through the training, start plugging in, start looking for deals, was it structured in a way that was optimal towards the way you wanted to pursue this and get that foundation under you?
Krysta: Yes, a hundred percent. The way that Freedom Mentor trains you, you have to do every single step by yourself, which is a lot, from marketing to underwriting to getting the deal to closing the deal. I mean, all of it. When I talk to other people in the business now and I tell them I did all my own marketing, I've never used a transaction coordinator, I don't even really know what they do. They can't believe that I've done as many deals as I have and done every single step on my own. Because honestly, if you're going to be an entrepreneur and a business owner, you should understand and know every step of your business.
Importance of Understanding All Aspects
Brian: That's such an important piece because a lot of people want to specialize and just trust someone else to take care of the other details. But we often point out that no one cares about your income more than you do. If you're going to manage your business, you need to understand every aspect of it. You can, in time, if you choose to, perhaps hire someone, involve virtual assistants, or work with other partners. But if you don't understand all the pieces of your business, you don't even know what it might cost you. So, it sounds like you having to go through that and learn all the pieces forced you into doing that. Were there pieces that you really enjoyed more than others, some that you have decided to push off elsewhere?
Krysta: I really like deal analysis and underwriting, and I really like talking to the sellers and doing the negotiating and closing on the deals. I don't like paperwork; I could definitely do without dealing with all of the finite paperwork stuff. But again, that's something that you could have a VA do.
Experience with Freedom Mentor Community
Brian: Totally understand. What would you say it was like to be part of the Freedom Mentor community overall? Was that a big help or how did that work for you?
Krysta: Yeah. I think that there's no other way that would have worked for me. Since the time that I've started and the time that I've graduated, I've talked to, experienced, and networked with a lot of other people. I still know that with all the other groups that I've seen and with all the other people that I've met, having somebody there to support me every step of the way is the only thing that would have worked for me. And I've never seen another group that does it.
Brian: Excellent. So, your overall experience with Freedom Mentor, what would you say to someone else that's maybe looking at Freedom Mentor right now and trying to figure out if this is where they should spend their time and get some help? What would you pass on to them?
Krysta: I would say if you're not the kind of person that can learn and do everything by yourself, then this is the best product that I've found. And I've seen a lot. If you're someone who wants to know that the people backing you know exactly what it is that they're doing and can answer every question, and that they have your back and they will get back to you, then this is where you need to be. I don't know any other group that has that level of consistent support.
Daily Calls and Support
Brian: Yeah, and again, as you participated in, we're doing a call pretty much every day of the week. I know when I was an apprentice, that was such an important piece as well because I'm similar to the approach that you've taken. I want to get hands-on; I want to understand all the aspects. But when I have that dilemma—Is it this way? Is it that way? Is this the best way? Analysis paralysis can seriously curb you if you don't figure out and get past whatever is holding you up. Being able to jump on those calls, absolutely.
And again, all the coaches are investors. We've all been there, done that. We're kind of paying it back in a sense because we love helping people transform their lives. I think that's something that stood out to me in Phil. He really has a passion for that, and I think I've developed that more myself as well. Getting to help people avoid some of the problems you went through and just see them see more efficient success is very rewarding.
Future Plans
Brian: So where are you now? What are your future plans?
Krysta: So right now, I have kind of pivoted out of investing, but I'm still in the real estate sector. I love real estate, I love flipping houses, and I love seeing that transformation, so that is something that I will always do. If I could find a way to use my knowledge base and help other people, that's also a focus that I'm going to, you know, kind of be doing in the future. With a teaching background and a teaching heart, that never really goes away. So, I'll be focusing on that as well. I'm just, you know, trying to figure out how to take everything that I've learned and really formulate it into something that works for me in a long-term situation with having the kids and trying to balance everything.
Brian: Have you looked at, for the future, expanding into other types of real estate? Or is flipping or rehabbing, transforming houses, still a love that you have?
Krysta: Yes. I currently own a short-term rental, and I have a midterm rental arbitrage that I'm doing. I don't know that midterm is my thing. Again, you have to try it to figure out what doesn't work for you. But I would love to buy and hold properties as vacation rentals. That would be something that I would be really interested in doing. If I can buy them creatively, that's even better. I haven't been able to make that happen yet, but that's kind of the direction that I'm moving in.
Fix and Flip Focus
Brian: Absolutely. Do you continue to do a lot of creative deals or have you looked at more flipping since you've graduated? You know, you spent a lot of time with creative deals and only had to borrow once. But has that pushed you in a direction as to the types of deals you're focusing on?
Krysta: That is my focus. My focus has always been, even after I graduated, doing short-term sub-two fix and flips and subtails. Those are really what I like to do. I feel like I can help the biggest number of people doing those, and I don't really want to deal with lenders if I don't have to. I will if needed, and if I found a great private money lender, that would be even better. But I really focus on Subject To fix and flips and subtails. That's what I've gotten good at and niched down on.
Brian: Absolutely. That's wonderful. Krysta, thank you for taking time. I mean, obviously things have transformed for you as you've shared. What is it like to be you now? I mean, how does your future look?
Freedom of Choice
Krysta: I feel like I have a lot more options. As much as I loved teaching, there was always kind of that financial ceiling, and I never really saw a way out of that. I think for now, just knowing that my time and my finances are a choice for me, you know, I can choose what I want to do. I can choose what real estate I want to focus on and how I want to structure things. For me, it's really about the freedom of choice.
Brian: I'm so glad we were able to help you achieve that freedom and build a foundation for the future for you, your boys, and your husband. Thank you so much for taking time to talk to us today and share your success. We've certainly enjoyed working with you and seeing that you've had the platform here to really come in, learn, and take it to the next level. That's so rewarding for us, seeing someone that can see the opportunity.
You know, as you were alluding to earlier, this is a real business. This is something that requires hard work, but when you have the right vehicle, now it's on you to run with it. And then you see this success, you've made a half a million dollars and gone on to make a lot more. It's wonderful for us to see that it's working, and we certainly want to see that continue to work for others as well. So, thank you for taking time to share with us today.
If you have questions for us, text FREEDOM to 305-315-8030 or post a comment below.
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