You'll Never Build Wealth Until You Fix This | Christopher Salem on Mindset, Emotional Intelligence & Wealth

How He Buys Land for $15K and Sells It for $45K | Mike Deaton on Land Flipping

Most people think real estate means houses, rentals, or Airbnbs. But there's a quieter, lower-risk niche almost nobody talks about: flipping vacant land. Mike Deaton buys land for as little as $5,000-$15,000 and resells it for 2-3x — and he's been doing it for 10 years. In this episode of MyFinJourney, Mustafa Ladha sits down with Mike Deaton, who along with his wife Ligia left corporate America (after being laid off by Microsoft in 2016) to build a land flipping business that now out-earns their old salaries. Mike breaks down exactly how the model works, why land is one of the lowest-risk real estate plays, and how owner financing creates years of passive income. ⏰ TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 — Introduction 03:00 — The Microsoft layoff that changed everything 05:46 — Do you NEED a crisis to change your life? 14:24 — How the land flipping model actually works 22:23 — Why bigger land deals are actually LESS risky 25:06 — Where to find land for $5K-$50K across America 27:39 — The exact buy-low, sell-high model explained 30:24 — Owner financing & building passive income 32:49 — Where Mike sells land (Facebook Marketplace, MLS & more) 36:54 — Does he make more than he did at Microsoft? 41:46 — The $50K coaching bet that 10x'd their business What you'll learn: → How to buy vacant land for pennies on the dollar → Why land is one of the lowest-risk real estate strategies → How owner financing turns land into passive monthly income → Where to find cheap land anywhere in the U.S. → Why direct mail still beats every fancy marketing tool → How a layoff became the catalyst for financial freedom ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🔗 Connect with Mike Deaton: linkedin.com/in/michaelbdeaton [https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelbdeaton/] Website: FlippingDirt.us (free resources at FlippingDirt.us/freedom) ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎙️ Subscribe to MyFinJourney→ https://www.youtube.com/@myfinjourney [https://www.youtube.com/@myfinjourney] Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/5UmpEcn 🔗 FOLLOW Mustafa on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mustafa-ladha/ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 📍 CHAPTERS 00:00 Intro — flipping land & building real wealth 01:39 What "growth" really costs beyond the socials 02:14 Flipping houses as a kid → corporate America 03:00 The Microsoft layoff that changed everything 05:46 Do you NEED a crisis to change your life? 09:08 Why he pays for coaches and communities 09:55 Letting go of the fear of failure 12:33 Who he became 2.0 — the entrepreneur shift 13:00 Why real estate is still "old school" 14:24 How the land flipping model actually works 17:04 Why nobody responds to sellers (your opening) 18:24 Why most employees never stand out 19:01 The levers Mike pulls to make more money on demand 22:23 Why bigger land deals are LESS risky 25:06 Where to find land for $5K-$50K in America 27:39 The exact buy-low, sell-high model 30:24 Owner financing & building passive income 31:45 The interest rates Mike charges on land 32:49 Where he sells: Facebook Marketplace, MLS & more 33:33 What buyers actually do with the land 36:54 Does he make more than he did at Microsoft? 37:22 Why he started coaching land investors 41:46 The $50K coaching bet that 10x'd his business 42:47 How to connect with Mike Deaton

"AI Isn't Taking Your Job — The Person Using AI Is" | Michael Frank on the Future of Work

A man who built a market-making firm to a $1 billion balance sheet — and sold it to a NASDAQ-listed company — has some advice that might surprise you: don't go to college to code, become a plumber or an electrician, and learn to build AI agents. In this episode of MyFinJourney, Mustafa Ladha sits down with Michael J. Frank — exited founder, capital markets operator, independent board director, and co-founder of Gilder, a community for startup founders. Mike has spent decades in regulated markets, governance, and risk, and now advises companies across fintech, AI, and emerging tech. This is a raw, no-BS conversation about work ethic, the future of jobs in the age of AI, why college may no longer be worth the debt, and the networking mindset that builds real wealth. ⏰ TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 — Introduction 01:21 — From the trading floor to exited founder 05:23 — Why market makers don't exist anymore (and what replaced them) 06:41 — Should you be worried about AI taking your job? 08:00 — The brutal truth about college debt and "useless" degrees 09:38 — Why Mike says become a plumber, electrician, or welder 12:36 — Building Gilder: a community for founders 14:11 — Why school may be the wrong place to learn now 18:25 — Why star athletes and Ivy grads couldn't show up to work 21:39 — How to fix the "I can't wake up" problem 25:42 — How parenting shapes who succeeds (and who doesn't) 29:04 — Advice for the entitled young founder 33:27 — Work-life balance: why "all in" matters 41:07 — The networking habit that changes everything 46:44 — How Mike uses LinkedIn to land board seats 51:52 — Why he ended a 30-year friendship 56:00 — "You never know who you're standing next to" What you'll learn: → Why "AI isn't taking your job — the person using AI is" → The careers Mike says actually lead to the American Dream → How to build wealth when AI is changing everything → Why work ethic beats talent and credentials → The networking system Mike uses to open doors at any age → When to walk away from relationships that drain you ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🔗 Connect with Michael J. Frank: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mikejfrank [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikejfrank/] Website: MichaelJeffreyFrank.com ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎙️ Subscribe to MyFinJourney→ https://www.youtube.com/@myfinjourney [https://www.youtube.com/@myfinjourney] Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/5UmpEcn 🔗 FOLLOW Mustafa on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mustafa-ladha/ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Episode Chapters: 00:00 Intro — markets, AI & building real wealth 01:21 From the trading floor to exited founder 05:23 Why market makers don't exist anymore 06:41 ⭐ "AI isn't taking your job — the person using AI is" 08:00 The brutal truth about college debt 09:38 Become a plumber, electrician, or welder 12:36 Building Gilder — a community for founders 14:11 Why school may be the wrong place to learn now 16:00 How AI will level the education playing field 18:25 Why Ivy grads & athletes couldn't show up to work 21:39 The simple fix for "I can't wake up early" 22:31 How to help (or not help) an entitled person 25:42 How parenting shapes who succeeds 27:21 The rock-skipping story every parent should hear 29:04 Advice for the entitled young founder 30:14 Why distribution is the only real moat now 33:27 Work-life balance & why "all in" matters 36:02 The Italy story — what "success" really means 38:00 Gary Vee & finding money others walk past 41:07 The networking habit that changes everything 44:00 Why you never know who you're standing next to 46:44 How Mike lands board seats through LinkedIn 48:23 Meet "Boardy" — the AI that calls him weekly 51:52 ⭐ Why he ended a 30-year friendship 56:00 The $5 billion man at the ice cream shop 57:52 Closing — value, respect & doing the right thing

After 431 Airbnbs, He Says Most Investors Buy Wrong | Taylor Jones on STR Investing

Most high-income earners give 37% of their paycheck to the government. But there's a perfectly legal short-term rental tax loophole that can save you $50,000 to $200,000 a year — and Taylor Jones has used it to acquire 431 Airbnbs. In this episode of MyFinJourney, Mustafa Ladha sits down with Taylor Jones, Founder of STR Search — the data-driven Airbnb acquisition firm helping high-income professionals build cash flow, slash their tax bill, and create generational wealth through short-term rental real estate. This is the most tactical, no-fluff conversation on Airbnb investing you'll find. Whether you're a W-2 tech worker, doctor, attorney, or business owner — this episode shows you exactly how the wealthy use Airbnbs to legally avoid taxes and build wealth on autopilot. ⏰ TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 — Introduction 01:06 — From COVID layoff to 431 Airbnbs — Taylor's origin story 04:00 — The $82K cabin that started everything 05:30 — Revenue > Doors: the counter-intuitive scaling strategy 06:28 — How to finance an Airbnb: vacation loans, conventional, DSCR 09:00 — Buying remote: video walkthroughs and the 4-point inspection 14:00 — The best Airbnb markets in America (2026 update) 17:00 — Why 3.1 nights is the magic stay length 20:00 — How to dominate Airbnb's algorithm with photos & staging 23:30 — Why $6,000 for a photographer is worth every penny 27:00 — The emotional triggers that 10x your nightly rate 30:00 — The Short-Term Rental Tax Loophole explained ($200K savings) 33:30 — Why bachelorette markets (Nashville, Scottsdale) are gold mines 41:00 — The 3-pillar business: Data, Construction, Operations 46:00 — A-B testing amenities: pickleball, saunas, movie theaters 48:30 — How STR Search's white-glove service works What you'll learn: → How to save $50K-$200K on taxes using the STR loophole → Why one $250K/yr Airbnb beats five $100K/yr Airbnbs → How to underwrite, finance, and acquire an Airbnb remotely → The 4 inspection points that matter most (roof, HVAC, electrical, plumbing) → Why photography is the #1 ROI move in short-term rentals → How to design for the data (and not for your own taste) → The 1031 exchange strategy to trade up Airbnbs tax-free → Why high-income earners are flocking to short-term rentals If you're a high-income earner tired of giving 37% to the IRS — this episode is your blueprint. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🔗 Connect with Taylor Jones: linkedin.com/in/taylor-jones-38997154 [https://www.linkedin.com/in/taylor-jones-38997154/] ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎙️ Subscribe to MyFinJourney → https://www.youtube.com/@myfinjourney [https://www.youtube.com/@myfinjourney] Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/5UmpEcn 🔗 FOLLOW Mustafa on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mustafa-ladha/ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Episode Chapters: 00:00 Intro — Airbnb investing, tax strategy & wealth building 01:06 From COVID layoff to 431 Airbnbs — Taylor's story 03:00 The Tuesday night that hooked him on short-term rentals 04:00 The $82K cabin that started a real estate empire 05:30 ⭐ Revenue > Doors: the wealth scaling secret 06:28 Vacation home loans, DSCR & how to finance an Airbnb 09:00 How to buy an Airbnb remotely (without flying out) 10:30 The 4-point inspection — roof, HVAC, electrical, plumbing 13:00 Why a flooded basement didn't stop Taylor's first Airbnb 14:00 The best Airbnb markets in America (2026 update) 15:30 Why proximity to a metro = built-in demand 17:00 The magic of the 3.1 night booking average 19:00 How Airbnb's algorithm actually decides who wins 20:00 Photos are EVERYTHING — the $6K photographer secret 22:30 Staging models — the next evolution of Airbnb listings 25:00 The 30-day free promotion every new Airbnb gets 27:00 Why people pay $700/night for unique stays 30:00 ⭐ The Short-Term Rental Tax Loophole explained 31:30 How to save $50K-$200K in taxes year one 33:30 Bachelorette markets: Nashville, Scottsdale gold rush 36:00 The bunk bed slide that makes parents click "Book" 38:00 Yurts, geodomes & A-frames — why unique wins 41:00 The 3 pillars: Data, Construction, Operations 43:00 Why you should buy ugly distressed properties 46:00 Pickleball courts, saunas & A-B testing amenities 48:00 The 80% data, 20% art rule of Airbnb investing 49:30 How STR Search's white-glove service works 51:00 How to connect with Taylor Jones

How to Buy a Franchise & Build a Business Empire | Franchise Funding, SBA Loans, Wealth Building

Most people fail at business — but 90% of franchise owners are still in business after 5 years. Why? Because they follow a proven system instead of guessing. In this episode of MyFinJourney, Mustafa Ladha sits down with Laura Rolfe, CEO of Mint Franchise Consultants, who helps aspiring entrepreneurs evaluate franchise opportunities with clarity and confidence. After 25 years in nonprofit and being laid off during COVID, Laura built her own franchise consulting business — and now helps clients buy everything from $200K home services franchises to billion-dollar multi-brand empires. This is the most honest conversation about franchising you'll hear — no hype, no "retire by 30 with a laundromat" garbage. Just real frameworks, real numbers, and real warnings. ⏰ TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 — Introduction 01:04 — Laura's family of entrepreneurs & the Coors distributorship story 03:21 — The hidden truth about franchise ownership (work hard, but freedom) 07:08 — The 90% stat that changes everything about franchising 08:50 — The 3 qualities every successful franchise owner needs 13:00 — What a franchise consultant ACTUALLY does (and why it's free) 17:00 — How franchise consultants are like real estate agents 20:00 — Why AI is changing the franchise game (and what to use) 23:05 — The 8-12 week discovery process explained 25:21 — How to fund your franchise (SBA, ROBS, self-funding) 27:34 — The 3 types of franchises you can buy (resale strategy) 30:00 — How to scale from 1 location to a multi-territory empire 32:30 — The "inch wide, mile deep" approach to franchising What you'll learn: → Why franchising is recession-resistant AND inflation-resistant → The Federal Trade Commission rules every buyer must know (FDD documents) → Why social media "franchise gurus" are lying to you → How to spot a high-performing franchise vs. an underperforming one → The right way to fund your franchise (including using your 401k tax-free) → How to stack franchises and sell to the same customer multiple times → Why some people sign in 21 days and others wait 2 years If you're tired of your 9-to-5, scared of AI taking your job, or just curious about owning a business with a proven blueprint — this episode is your starting line. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🔗 Connect with Laura Rolfe: Website: MintFranchiseConsultants.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/laura-rolfe Free initial consultation available ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎙️ Subscribe to MyFinJourney → https://www.youtube.com/@myfinjourney Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/5UmpEcn 🔗 FOLLOW Mustafa on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mustafa-ladha/

My Boss Told Me I'd Never Be Good Enough. Then I Built This. | Ken Sher

At 52, Ken Sher was told by his boss: "You will never live up to my expectations." A few months later, he was out of a job, with two kids in college and one in high school. What he did next built him a thriving executive coaching business — and a leadership framework now used by CEOs across the country. In this episode of MyFinJourney, Mustafa Ladha sits down with Ken Sher — Executive Coach, Keynote Speaker, and creator of the TRUST Success Model. After 25 years at Johnson & Johnson and Bristol-Myers Squibb, Ken now coaches everyone from new managers to Fortune 500 CEOs on what most leaders get wrong about trust, communication, and team performance. This conversation is brutally honest about job loss, career transitions, building wealth through multiple income streams, and why the smartest leaders in the world all have one thing in common: a coach. Time Stamps: 00:00 — Introduction 01:06 — "You will never live up to my expectations" — Ken's career-defining moment 03:05 — What coaching actually is (it's not what you think) 06:27 — Ken's TRUST framework explained 09:00 — Why vulnerability is your unfair advantage as a leader 17:15 — The painful lesson Ken's kids learned when he got laid off 20:33 — Why every employee needs multiple streams of income 25:46 — How to write a resume that gets you hired (the STARS method) 29:08 — The #1 mistake busy executives make every single day 33:30 — When to recommend therapy to your top performers What you'll learn: → The TRUST framework: Transparency, Results, Understanding, Simplicity, Teams → Why showing vulnerability ACTUALLY makes you a stronger leader → The 3 things every executive must do to grow (most ignore them) → How to position yourself for ANY job using the STARS method → Why "time to think" is the most overlooked CEO habit → The painful financial wake-up call that taught Ken's family more than any lecture → Why authentic ≠ weak — and how to use both as leverage Whether you're a manager, executive, entrepreneur, or someone navigating a career transition — this episode gives you the practical blueprint nobody teaches in MBA school. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🔗 Connect with Ken Sher: Email: ken@shercoaching.com Website: ShercCoaching.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kensher Free TRUST Model Guide: Email Ken directly to receive it ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎙️ Subscribe to MyFinJourney → https://www.youtube.com/@myfinjourney Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/5UmpEcn 🔗 FOLLOW Mustafa on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mustafa-ladha/ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Episode Chapters: 00:00 Intro — leadership, trust & building real wealth 01:06 ⭐ "You will never live up to my expectations" 02:03 From J&J to building a coaching empire 03:05 What coaching actually is (most people get it wrong) 04:24 When a coach becomes destructive 06:27 The TRUST framework explained 09:00 Why leaders refuse to ask for help (and what it costs) 11:05 The product launch story — vulnerability that paid off 13:03 When transparency is a weapon vs. a weakness 14:27 The 3 things every top executive does daily 17:15 ⭐ Getting laid off at 52 — the brutal teaching moment 20:05 Why your "stable" job is actually not stable 20:33 Multiple streams of income — the new survival skill 21:39 Why traditional education isn't enough anymore 23:09 The hidden ways top performers actually learn 24:03 How to stay relevant when AI takes your job 25:46 The STARS method — resume writing that gets you hired 28:24 The "so what" trick that separates winners 29:08 ⭐ Why busy executives never grow 30:31 The morning ritual every CEO swears by 31:35 How to actually use "thinking time" (it's structured) 33:30 When to send your top performer to therapy 36:07 Authentic vs. vulnerable — the leadership distinction 37:46 How to connect with Ken Sher 38:44 Closing thoughts