What happens when a mother of six decides to revolutionize school safety? Meet Anna Reger, a powerhouse entrepreneur and co-creator of the Fliplock safety device. In our intriguing talk with Anna, we explore her journey of inventing a device that promises to safeguard children in their classrooms, homes, and dorms. With Anna's passion and determination, we dive right into the importance of secondary locks and the empowering tools that can equip children to keep themselves secure.
Anna's entrepreneurial journey doesn't stop at Fliplock. As a founder of four companies, she holds precious insights into the realm of real estate. From the nuances of budgeting to the art of leveraging assets, Anna shares her wisdom and experiences. She emphasizes the importance of pacing oneself in the race to success and throws light on how her family's real estate investments are making a tangible difference in the world.
In the concluding segment of our conversation, Anna imparts invaluable advice to budding entrepreneurs. She shares her story of finding her mentor and how she harnessed the power of adversity to create opportunities. But it's not all business; Anna also opens up about her thoughts on family, self-care, and the importance of stability. This episode is a treasure trove of inspiration and guidance, particularly for those ready to make their mark in the entrepreneurial world, and a testament to how one person's mission can have the potential to save lives.
This episode is brought to you by Premier Ridge Capital.
Sign Up for our Newsletter and get our FREE E-Book where you'll learn everything you need to know about creating financial freedom through multifamily syndication.
Visit www.premierridgecapital.com now!
Introducing the 60 Day Deal Finder!
Visit: www.MartinREIMastery.com
Use the Coupon Code: WEALTHYAFfor 20% off!
This episode is brought to you by Premier Ridge Capital.
Build Generational Wealth As A Passive Investor In Multifamily Real Estate Syndication!
Visit www.premierridgecapital.com to find out more.
What happens when a mother of six decides to revolutionize school safety? Meet Anna Reger, a powerhouse entrepreneur and co-creator of the Fliplock safety device. In our intriguing talk with Anna, we explore her journey of inventing a device that promises to safeguard children in their classrooms, homes, and dorms. With Anna's passion and determination, we dive right into the importance of secondary locks and the empowering tools that can equip children to keep themselves secure.
Anna's entrepreneurial journey doesn't stop at Fliplock. As a founder of four companies, she holds precious insights into the realm of real estate. From the nuances of budgeting to the art of leveraging assets, Anna shares her wisdom and experiences. She emphasizes the importance of pacing oneself in the race to success and throws light on how her family's real estate investments are making a tangible difference in the world.
In the concluding segment of our conversation, Anna imparts invaluable advice to budding entrepreneurs. She shares her story of finding her mentor and how she harnessed the power of adversity to create opportunities. But it's not all business; Anna also opens up about her thoughts on family, self-care, and the importance of stability. This episode is a treasure trove of inspiration and guidance, particularly for those ready to make their mark in the entrepreneurial world, and a testament to how one person's mission can have the potential to save lives.
This episode is brought to you by Premier Ridge Capital.
Sign Up for our Newsletter and get our FREE E-Book where you'll learn everything you need to know about creating financial freedom through multifamily syndication.
Visit www.premierridgecapital.com now!
Introducing the 60 Day Deal Finder!
Visit: www.MartinREIMastery.com
Use the Coupon Code: WEALTHYAFfor 20% off!
This episode is brought to you by Premier Ridge Capital.
Build Generational Wealth As A Passive Investor In Multifamily Real Estate Syndication!
Visit www.premierridgecapital.com to find out more.
Welcome back to another episode of Latinos in Real Estate Investing Podcast. Places where individuals just like you come to learn how to create wealth, the real estate investing, entrepreneurship and business ownership. Today I have Anna Rieger, and Anna is the founder and owner of four companies, from real estate to children's apparel to safety devices, and everything she does revolves around her children and family. She is a champion of women, children and community. She's a mother, wife, business owner who believes in the power of dream. Hard work to make it and hard work to make it a reality. Anna is the founder of Fliplock, along with her husband, John Rieger, and I want to talk about Fliplock. Very cool stuff you're doing there. Fliplock is a safety device that started as a way to protect children in case of shooting or threats of shooting at schools. Anna, welcome to Latinos in Real Estate Investing Podcast. Thank you so much for taking the time to come out and share with my audience. I know we had a little bit of a hiccup this morning with technology and things, but here we are.
Speaker 2:Hey worries. Thank you so much for having me on.
Speaker 1:So you told me off air a little bit that you have six kids.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:So it's chaotic. I have four, so I know what that's like. So tell us a little bit about that. How did you get started? How does a mother of six start a business and is a successful business owner, entrepreneur? You also own a bunch of Real Estate, which is really cool, really awesome, and all the stuff that you're doing. So tell us about that, tell us about that journey, right? How does a mom do what you're doing?
Speaker 2:So my husband and I together have the Brady Bunch, if you will. So he had several kids prior to our marriage and so I inherited five amazing children and we have a child together. And he's an entrepreneur by nature also, and when we got together we just started doing so many other businesses together and we realized that we were a great group to be able to work together, because the synergy was he did things that I wasn't good at and I did things that he wasn't good at. So I'm the detailed person, he's the visionary person, and together we can complement each other in such a way that we can bring big things to life and we work together every day, and I think when you have somebody that has your back, then you can really take it to the next level.
Speaker 1:That is so true. Being married 21 years, it's 100. I completely understand exactly where you're coming from, anna. For a woman out there that might be listening to you, that might be listening to us today and they're married, or a couple that might be listening to us today and they're married and they want to get started, and they want to start a business, Well, it would depend, because the first advice I would say is what is it that you feel that is your strongest attribute in business?
Speaker 2:Is it real estate? And let's just go with real estate for the sake of the podcast, right? So you both are experts, or you feel like you've dabbled in enough real estate to go. Okay, I really want to spend, put some of this money and buy a property. Maybe we need to fix it up a little bit. And I think the first thing people need to think about is budget. Budget is a big deal. If you don't think about your budget, if your husband and wife, as you know, it could cause conflict Because one person is going to think this and one person is going to think that. But I think that if you come in with a plan okay, this is how much we want to, and you have to leave a 20% flexibility percentage in there, right? So let's say you want to spend $100,000 on a house just giving you easy numbers and then you need to have you know, let's say you know 20% of that. You need to put another 20% in to fix it up to the way that you think it would be able to.
Speaker 2:Let's talk short-term rental property right, or even a house that you want to rent to somebody long-term doesn't need to be short-term. So if you wanted to rent it to somebody, you bought it for X 100,000,. You want to rent it out for you know what $1,200 a month or whatever that looks like. You know? Do you have enough money to float for maintenance issues that come up? Are you going to have the rent? You know where the people are going to pay. What are you including in your rent? You need to come up with all of these things in advance.
Speaker 2:And the most important thing I think to note with me was when somebody calls you for the rent your property or talk about your property, you need to be available. That was a big deal in the beginning when I before I personally got into commercial real estate. We wanted to buy, we wanted to rent a big building, we had another business and we need to move it in somewhere and we didn't have the property. At the time I called hundreds of people. Nobody would call me back, nobody would answer the call. Everybody was too busy.
Speaker 2:And you know what. They never solved my problem. My rule is solve their problem as soon as they call you. Why Now they're not thinking about where they're going to go and what they're going to buy or who they need to rent from. You've already met them, they already got your information. You're going to probably close that deal, and now all you got to do is work on the paperwork. And now all they got to do is worry about how they're going to decorate it. What do they need to do? And now you've solved their problem. So that's a big thing for us. Solve their problem. They're onto the net and that's for every business you have. Somebody calls you for something. You're the expert, you need to be the expert and you need to be professional. So what if it's a Sunday? That's the only day they can meet. Get up and go. It's your business.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's really powerful stuff that you're saying. With that in mind, as we talk about solving problems and I know that this is a real estate podcast, however, this is also an entrepreneurship business owners podcast and I want to ask you about solving problems, tell me how. I really like what you're doing. We have a problem in our country with school shootings. Over the last 10, 15 years, we've had an increase I can't remember the data. You probably know more of the data.
Speaker 1:I've read an article recently about you know the increase in school shootings and it's crazy. It's just. It's a terrible situation and you've got this great device that, for those that are listening, you can't see it, but you're going to have the opportunity to look up and connect with her at the very end and you can see it, and if you're watching this on YouTube, you can see it behind her. Tell us, anna, how did this thing flip lock? How was that birth? You're also going to be doing a TED talk that you're preparing for, which is awesome. Congratulations, good for you, thank you, and you know you mentioned something about public and you're doing a lot of really cool things. You know you guys are. You guys are so further ahead than a lot of smaller business owners and smaller business people and you know, tell us about that journey. How does one? Why don't you tell us about that journey? How does one go public right? How does that happen? What is that process? How was Fliplock burnt?
Speaker 2:So for investors? We didn't go for investors because my husband and I have been very blessed in our real estate holdings and so we were able to put money towards Fliplock and always say we're Robin, peter, to pay Paul because we got to take it from somewhere right. But I believe in the greater good of the mission and Fliplock was born because I'm a mom. My husband and I have six kids together, as you know, and you know we have kids at all stages of life and every time you turn around, you hear, like you said, these, these shootings and these situations, and in 2022 alone, there were 51 school shootings, and that is of almost one per week. It's really sad as a parent to have kids in this world today, because I never, ever, had to talk about school safety with my parents. It was like you go to school and it's safe. So, with that in mind, you know, we always thought somebody has a solution, somebody has a solution. We were always doing other businesses and then, you know, we came home Like there was a situation in my area my youngest daughter at the time.
Speaker 2:There was an area you know in my area, so then I asked her you know, what do you do in that situation? What is your school doing? And she told me you know, basically she's supposed to go with her teacher. Teacher, lots of door. Teacher turns off the light. They're in the back of the classroom. And then I asked her you know, what do you do? You know, how do you know if the door is locked? She said I don't. I said can you lock the door? She said no. I said what do you do if your teacher is not there? And she's I don't know, mommy. And oh my God, I was. I had this epiphany of like I am. My daughter is helpless. All of our kids are helpless. We need to do something and they're scared. So that's when we started creating blip lock.
Speaker 2:I mean, it was something we had been thinking about for years. My husband and he's an inventor. So he one day woke up and said I got it. And I was like what? Let's get it on the 3d printer and let's see if it works. Because it was in his dream and I believe it was a gift from you know up above. And he, I told him get it to our guy in the office. They 3d printed it just so I could see it and we could make it reality and it was, you know that, grave. If you've ever printed anything on 3d, it's gray, it doesn't look cool at all.
Speaker 2:But when we seen it and it worked, then we started tweaking it and we started going into our research and development. We call it R and D. Research and development is difficult. You know, we we initially really really wanted it to be made in the United States. We call it a hundred factory. There's about a hundred factories here. We called a hundred and they were about two years out. So there was no way to get it made a hundred percent here, which we had already were making packaging saying made in USA. We were really going to push for that and it just didn't happen. So we had to go out of the country overseas and bring it to life.
Speaker 2:But because of the greater good that I know it can, what it can do is it can give peace of mind to our kids because they know what to do. And then it can also lock the door. And it's not just a lock, it flips, it drops, it locks, it reminds the kids to call 911. Why? Because we're kids and we've seen it on TV. I started doing research on that rabbit hole of what school safety looks like, and I seen videos of kids or somebody's on the other side get them in their video recording. So I was like we need to remind our kids to call for help. Don't call us, don't tick, tock it. Call for help. You know this is serious. And so that's when we really went into action and started production.
Speaker 2:And after several you know of course you make one it's not doing what you said. We had it tested. You know we wanted it to be over 2,000 pounds of pressure, so we had to get it retested and re-strengthened. And then we had you know, do we paint it or do we ionize it? You know it's different cost and all those things that you have to consider. You know, what else do we need to do? Oh, now schools require you to have an unlocking mechanism from the outside. So we had to invent that A lot of things that you don't think about.
Speaker 2:Right, and making a product come to life. So it's not just a device, it's. You know what's the color going to be? I said it should be red, it's an emergency use device. It should be red and in big bowl letters when they lock it it should say lock. So if your kid calls you and they're in that situation and they say, daddy, I'm my real big platterman, we're all locked down. Somebody's outside. What's the only thing as a parent we can do is the door lock. And the last thing you want to hear is I don't know, daddy, it's unacceptable. It's unacceptable to me. So that's where it was born and that's where it came from, and it's become my mission. This is a very mission driven company for me because we have been blessed with other businesses, but as a mom, I feel that it's my duty. I would do all of our children a disservice if I don't go and advocate for them to have a secondary lock that they can use, and also for standardization of active threat drills across United States, because they are not standard.
Speaker 1:But who explained to us, to the listeners that are not seeing the lock, and maybe we can bring it over and show it to us? I know I see behind you. I know you showed it to us. You showed it to me at the moment. Can you show it? But also explain to us how it works? Well, explain it to the listeners, because we're giving up a lot of people that are not seeing it.
Speaker 1:And if you, I just want to say this If you are listening to this podcast and you're on a school board and you're a principal, you have some sort of influence within the community. You are a state representative or something like that. You need to be. It is the responsible thing for our children and our children's safety to reach out to Anna and explore this. At the very least, you need to be exploring this. If you are in a school district and anywhere across this country, you need to be exploring this, or across the world, for that matter, because we've got listeners everywhere For our children's safety. Guys. I am pleading with you that this is something that, at the very least, at the very least, even if it doesn't do everything perfectly, it's another, it's something, it's a planet that will help save lives, our children's lives, for that matter.
Speaker 2:Yes, so we have inward and outward. This is an inward swinging door, so the kids run into the classroom.
Speaker 1:Can you bring it in more towards the middle, so I can see it towards you, towards more towards the middle Great. I'm trying to see you so it's closer towards your body so I can stare right there. I can see it, yeah.
Speaker 2:Okay. So the kids run into the classroom. This is them going into the classroom. They close the door. All they have to do is flip it. It drops and it locks and it reminds them to call 911 because that's the next action step. And it's them know anywhere in the classroom that the door is locked and we have inside inside the classroom right inside the classroom so they don't need to worry about stacking desk in front of the door.
Speaker 2:So now what it does is the kids see this big red lock on the door every time they come in their classroom. So now they're not thinking what am I going to do? Somebody comes into my classroom. They now can go back to being students and learning and step and giving them peace of mind, knowing they know exactly what to do, with or without the teacher. This can be placed at an 88 compliant height of these kids, and wheelchairs teachers on purchase can also use it. It needs to be easily available. You can't ask a teacher to go get a key or go get a device and run back to the line where where the perpetrator is coming and you got 10 to 20 kids screaming in the classroom. When you have 10 to 20 kids, those kids should have the device to be able to go into action. It should not be just on the teacher. It's not fair to them and is doing it in a disservice to all the children sitting in the classroom, because what if the teacher is not in there? That's my big turn.
Speaker 1:Or what if the teacher is caught off guard? Or what if the teachers are human beings too, right? What if they're having a bad day? What if they're distracted? What if they're going to the forest? What if they're panicked? Yeah, what if they're? Who knows, right, we're human beings. They died that morning and they just can't hear, they can't see, they're just depressed for so it never be a team spirit. It needs to be a team sport.
Speaker 2:That's right and I think it's important. And we have an unlocking mechanism for schools, for emergency personnel, because they need to have that as well. That's a requirement. But I think that flip lock is my mission and passion and I am advocating for secondary locks in the classrooms. You don't have to use flip lock, but give our kids the tool to lock the door themselves. Give them that.
Speaker 2:Empowerment is really what flip lock is about. And I have it for the homes because I have a daughter who's 20 now. She was 18 at the time living in her first apartment. Well, as you know, if you live in anywhere that's rented, somebody else has the key. Now she could be in the shower, come out and somebody could be in there to work on something, and she has no way to keep them out. So that's why we created flip lock for homes, schools, dorms, things like that. Smaller, a smaller device, you know, that doesn't have an unlocking mechanism that you can use in the classroom. It doesn't do anything to the surface of the place. It attaches to the frame of the door, so it doesn't do anything to the aesthetics of the door or anything like that. It's not a gift to put something on the outside of the door.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, what I love about what you're doing and is that I'm going to bring it back 360 where to where we started. And then the second thing is that real estate so 90% of self made millionaires around the world are made through real estate investing and because of real estate, you and your family are going to have such bigger impact on the world because of it. So you took your money from, like you said, robin, peter, to pay Paul. You took your money from real estate, the money you guys have made through investing in real estate, and now you're having such a bigger impact. Now real estate has a big impact because we're housing people and we all need a place to live. Everyone does and you've taken that and now you're literally.
Speaker 1:This device has literally the potential of saving lives and there's not a bigger impact I don't believe personally in the world than saving someone's life. You are literally doing that through real estate and I want to take it back to the beginning because we have a lot of listeners. I have so many questions going through my head right now that I want to ask you and we're living at time so how do you take, how do you start? And if someone is listening to us and is like, wow, what an impact real estate has done for Anna and her family, her husband, to have this level of impact and make sure you go check out her TED Talk. Make sure you send that to me, anna, when you do it, because I want to check it out. Where do you tell that person to start?
Speaker 2:I think that they need to really think about you know, what does their cash flow look like? Right, make sure your credit, your credit, is the key to success in anything you do. If you can't get credit, you can't really grow anything. Right, Everybody, in some form or fashion in their business, has gotten credit to be able to grow a business or do business, and I think that if you can keep your credit to in a way where, even if you're small, it doesn't matter. You get a small little townhouse. Let's say you start out with a townhouse, you own it now, but you can afford to rent it out and move into something else, maybe an apartment, depending on where you're starting from. Everybody starts somewhere. You don't wake up and it doesn't happen overnight. There's no magic pill. So what do you do? You think about how much does the air conditioner cost? How much does you know if a pipe bust? You know, make your renters get insurance. There's things you can do to protect yourself so that you're not out that month. You know if do you have somebody that's a good air condition guide, maybe a family friend, maybe a neighbor, maybe a good friend that's a plumber? Or use your connections, use your resources and you're helping them in their business and as you grow, you continue to have those people. We have people that have been with us for more than 10, 15, 20 years because they know that we've grown over the time and they know that they can count on us to also pay them on time. You want to build those relationships and friendships to create your future, to be able to grow with the right group of people. If you don't do things you know, don't ever think there's a shortcut.
Speaker 2:You know, if you want to go into real estate, do your homework. What do you want this property to be? Do you want this townhouse to be a long-term renter? Long-term renter is, like you know, six to 12 months. Is that required by the HOA? Do you want it to be a short-term rental? If you want it to be a short-term rental, is that acceptable through the HOA?
Speaker 2:Don't buy a property unless you've done your research. That HOA will allow you to short-term rental it, right? Do you need a permit for short-term term rentals? Some people need that. There's just homework, basic homework that you need to do and understand.
Speaker 2:What is my taxes? What is my insurance? What is my overhead cost If I have a loan? How much is that a month? What is my cost on the money that I'm invested into this property and can I sustain it if I don't have a renter for a year or six months?
Speaker 2:Put that money away just to cover your basic bills, because you're going to have taxes, you're going to have insurance, you're going to have some small bills lawn HOA, whatever that looks like and budget those things. You know, don't get it and don't live above your means. You'll get there. But you don't need anything fancy. You don't need put that fancy money or purse into your property, into your investment, because that's going to be a long-term deal. You'll be able to get whatever you want.
Speaker 2:If you have a loan, once you've paid off that loan, then all the money you rent your property out for is income. It's all yours. But if you get that property and then say you paid off your loan, you don't owe a dollar, but you're showing a constant rental history and you've done that over a year, maybe two, maybe five if you're new, I don't know what the banks are requiring then you go to the bank and you say, look, I have this property, my credit is really, really impeccable and I would like to get a loan on this property because I know I can pay it. I know I'm going to have a constant renter. I've shown that I can continue to do that and I can continue to pay my bills on time. Then you can go to that bank. You can get a loan on that property usually 70 to 75% loan to value whatever that looks like for your property.
Speaker 2:You take that money, put some of it away for this property because you never want to have a problem with your bank loan. You take that money and you go and invest it in another property. Then maybe it's a little more expensive property because now you've got your footing, you know what to do. You know how to manage your property. You know what the pitfalls are. When you feel comfortable maybe two years, maybe three years Then you're really comfortable. Then you take that money, you go to a next property and that's how you grow your network. Then you build that property up Once. That property is a more expensive property because you got a little brave and you put a loan on it. You paid it off and you can take that one, get another loan on that one. You've paid this one off now because this new property paid them both off. Now you're sitting with no loan. Then you go and you take that money and you buy something a little bit bigger. You can continue to do that because that loan is non-taxable 100%.
Speaker 1:So the money you get from loans is tax-free Every time you refi. That's the secret to a lot of rich people. They borrow on their assets, that cash flow, and a lot of people don't have the financial education to really understand them, unless they hear someone like you or like me teach them that and people like there's some gurus out there, the Ramses of the world. They don't teach that. They say that is bad, but they don't teach what kind of debt is bad or what type of debt is good, because not all debt is bad.
Speaker 2:That's right. It's bad for you to have that because it shows that you have real estate investments which, by the way, the bank loves that's never going to drive away. It's not going anywhere. Nobody has to chase it. It's there and they can always take it from you.
Speaker 2:My biggest advice is don't bite off more than you can chew. How do you eat an elephant? You want an elephant to be your net worth, your legacy in the future. One bite at a time. Don't overdo it. You're not in a rush. It doesn't matter how old you are. Take your time.
Speaker 2:The last thing you want to do is not set yourself up for success. We never know if there's going to be a COVID. You never know what the world's going to be. Now, after COVID, you learn even more. Don't put yourself in a situation that you financially can't get yourself out of, because that could be detrimental to the future growth of your business. You don't want to file bankruptcy. That's not something you really want to do. I don't recommend that. That's not something I do. I think that you really just try to figure it out and try to make good with the banks, because they will always, if you get the right bank and you get the right relationship, they will do a lot of magic for you.
Speaker 2:My relationships with banks are not with some of the bigger brands.
Speaker 2:Go to your local smaller bank, talk to them, make a friend Most importantly, make a friend at a bank, make a friend that can make decisions on money.
Speaker 2:Those are the people that you want to meet the vice president, the president, whatever that looks like and let them know what you're doing and you're learning and what do I need to do? What do you need from me? What do my financials need to look like so that you can help me grow, because that's what I'm trying to do. If your bank can't do that, then I'll go talk to somebody at a different bank. I promise you the smaller banks are more open to helping you grow and helping you navigate that in a much easier way. They're not as open to giving loans on properties and stuff, unless you have a lot of experience, because there's been a lot of people that came in and, oh, we're going to fix up this house and we're going to flip in and we're going to make all this money when the market turns, they're sitting on stuff they never should have bought. That could be really detrimental to their business.
Speaker 1:You are a seasoned obviously a seasoned successful entrepreneur, serial entrepreneur, as you like to call yourself. What are the biggest lessons that you have learned?
Speaker 2:As an entrepreneur, I learned the biggest lesson when my husband and I joke is experts, be the expert in whatever you do. If you don't and you bring in experts, experts will expertly take your money. That's been pretty. I like that.
Speaker 1:That's our, my husband's joke.
Speaker 2:I don't share that, but I'm sharing that because I understand that there's a lot of people learning and they're going to promise you the moon and the stars. The truth is, they're not obligated to do whatever they tell you. You have to really, really control your money and really know what you're getting into. Don't go and trust an expert to teach you a business that they probably don't even have. How are you going to teach me about real estate and you're not in real estate?
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was my next question for you. So do you believe in coaches and entrepreneurs? I mean, I meant and mentors, right?
Speaker 2:I do have a coach that I've had for years. I didn't seek her out, she was a friend of mine's coach. We ended up a meeting and it was a funny I. We were meeting and I I used to take care of special needs kids. She was choking and I saved her, get the peppermint out, do the hotman maneuver, and we became friends and after that she Really mentored me because I didn't wake up, you know, on this on the great side of town. You know, I was born very, very poor. My dad was blind. I left home at 14. I went back to school. As an adult I have a bachelor's of science from the University of Houston. Now it's gonna be a nurse. I was gonna take care of kids and do all this wonderful stuff and couldn't, you know, quit working to go be a nurse full-time and it just didn't work out for my schedule. So I ended up taking a minor in entrepreneurship and Business classes and here I am today. So when that door closed I was crying, but now I think God.
Speaker 1:They got it closed, huh.
Speaker 2:Because with one door closes, another one will always open. Never, ever, get discouraged when you fall. I trust me. We've had some failures and we. I could tell you I don't have an MBA, but I have one of the most expensive MBAs because I've learned and lost a lot of money, and a lot of it was with experts. However, I quote, make that mistake twice.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 100% right. The the great, the, the Author, mr Napoleon Hill, which you probably have read and thinking grow rich. I don't know if you've read that book, but think you grow rich. He says in every adversity lies an equal to, or better than, opportunity. So basically is saying exactly what you just said when one door closes, look for the opportunity. It's when that adversity comes there's an opportunity, or you just got to look for it, whether it's just a lesson which is going to elevate you to the next level, just even if it, like you said, you've lost money, right, we? I think if you're an entrepreneur, it's not if, but when, right, if you're really a serial entrepreneur like yourself, I've owned restaurants, I've owned vending machines, I've done all kinds of cleaning companies, all kinds of things, right, and I landed the one thing I do love, which is real estate, and I'm having a blast and you know, but I've lost money along the way and that's the deal, right.
Speaker 2:No risk, no reward and entrepreneurship, right. What he tells me I get to my office every day at 8 am. Nobody says, hey, anna, you got a clock in. Hey, anna, no, mom, but is here every day, because now I'm on a mission with school safety, but every day, you know, I'm at the office. No matter where I'm at, I'm always working, because that's an entrepreneur's life.
Speaker 2:It's not as glamorous as you might see, if you see me on social media or if you see it's not just that. Look at the Hour I get to work. Look at the days. Look at this. You know right now I'm putting pressure on myself to do well in this 10x talk. You know it's my first time and it's a big stage.
Speaker 2:And in real estate, as you know, you don't have to be out in the public. Nobody has to know you. You get to be this person that hides in the shadows and make his deals happen and does it. Nobody knows you, right? You're like the Wizard of Oz, right, but you get out and you're doing a mission-based company like myself, with flip-lock. Then I have to get out there. I have to stand up in front of people.
Speaker 2:It's uncomfortable, it's scary. You put yourself out there. But I'm willing to do that because I believe that I can save lives. I believe that if we get enough people together, we can make change, and I believe that the mission is bigger than anything. Nervous, you're, scared. You know I'm gonna just go for it, ma'am, because I know I'm supposed to do this and I know that's my mission. So it's just a different, a whole different world. So when you're an entrepreneur, you gotta get, you gotta get ready to go out there. You're gonna fail. If you fail, it's okay. That means you tried, does your stuff off, put your big girl pants on and get back to it.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm and I, I'll tell you you're gonna do fantastic in that talk. I can feel your passion, I can see it. I could see that your love for what you're doing, your you're a committed person to your committed individual to this thing that you, that you're doing with flip-lock, and I'm really, I'm really glad that you came on. First of all, I'm really happy that you came on the show and that you were able to share and best of luck with that. I know you're gonna kill it, I know I. This thing is, it's a lifesaver, and I'm gonna repeat it again.
Speaker 1:If you're listening to this podcast and maybe you know someone in the school board, guys, this is serious, serious, serious stuff, right, this is saving our children's life. You know someone on a school board? If you're, if you, if you haven't, if you're listening to this and you're not watching this, I think you should go to YouTube at the elite strategist and look at this video and see the, the device that they've created, that Anna and her husband has created Literally. You guys know, my listeners know I'm not one to promote Particular product or anything like that. This, though, however, is something that is going to save lives, literally, guys. So if you are listening to this episode and or you are watching this episode and you know someone on a school board. You need to make this introduction. You know someone on a school board, you are a school official. You know someone a teacher. I mean you need to get this in front of whoever needs to see this Because literally, I'm selling this for you right now Because, anna I, this is literally saving lives.
Speaker 1:I've seen I'm 45 years old I've seen way too many school shootings. I've seen way too many kids. It just breaks my heart to the point that when my wife is the one that watches the news and all that stuff, I try to stay just informed on economics and and I watch the news that I want to watch, because I'm very protective of what I Let in my world, in my mind, I can't even watch it. I got to tell you like I see the things on TV. When I do see it or I get the articles is like it, just it, just it Just breaks my heart. It just totally breaks my heart. Innocent children, it's just guys. This can literally save a kid's life.
Speaker 2:And that's why I said I don't want another mom or dad going out there. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Or not, we're leaving our teachers.
Speaker 2:We have to keep our teachers. What's going to happen to our future generations if our teachers are already monitoring because they're scared for their lives?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so please, if I am, at least explore this. That's all I'm saying. Is, if you are someone in the school system, something, or politics, and you have to, at least you owe it to your constituents, you owe it to your, you owe it to our children to at least explore this you. You don't have to do it, but at least look at it. It's your responsibility, it's all our responsibility as a community to keep our children safe.
Speaker 1:I'm a big believer of of us as men. We have to protect our children, our women and children and the elders. I think that that's the responsibility of society is to protect those first widows, orphans, in that order, women and children and elderly. We have to protect and take care of them, and this is a device that's literally. These are my personal values. These again, full disclosure, not telling anyone to believe in the way I believe or what I do, way I run. You know the way I am in my life and my values. These is just my personal values and I think that this needs to be explored. My dear, thank you so much for coming on, thank you for being so great and your energy and your expertise really, really appreciate it. We're about to go into the untitled round where we're going to ask you a series of questions you could justify if you want. You don't have to. If you don't want is just for fun, so people could get to know you a little more. Okay, you ready to play? Yes, entrepreneurship is Challenging and fun.
Speaker 2:I highly recommend people should read my husband's book don't talk for free.
Speaker 1:I've always wanted to travel to Italy.
Speaker 2:Inflation is driving us all crazy. It's really over overly. It's hard for everybody, right. My advice to young people is my advice to young people is no matter what you want to do, if whatever it is every single day, write down three things that you want to do the next day and get those three things done, and if you do that every week, you'll be that much closer to your goal.
Speaker 1:Great advice family or business, family first, cats or dogs, dogs, wine or beer or wine, self care or self love both, but self care would probably help show the love to yourself, so I would go with self care. Passion or stability.
Speaker 2:Well, if you're not stable, you can't be passionate about anything.
Speaker 1:So I'd say stability, then you're passionate More time or more money, work time and lastly, trump or Biden.
Speaker 2:Oh, no calling.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you so much for being such a great sport, coming out, sharing your wisdom, your insights and sharing your time with us and the listeners. If people wanted to connect with you, I've been rampant or rampant and raving about this flip lock and what you're doing out here in the world. How can people connect with you? How can people find you? How do they get affiliated with you?
Speaker 2:It's fliplokcom and they can reach me at annafliplockcom. We have social media flip lock. I think it's USA. We have anna reger official and you can find all my links on my Instagram at anna reger official.
Speaker 1:Okay, fantastic, you heard her here. Flip lock this is going to be the greatest, the next greatest invention that's going to save a ton of lives. And you heard it here on Latinos and real estate investing podcast and I thank you again so much for coming up. It was my pleasure, my honor to have you here on the podcast and love to have you. I love to have you back here in the future as flip lock takes off and it's and it's just killing it and it's saving a ton of saving a ton of lives out there around, not just in our country around the world, although that this problem from some of the state you probably know more, this problem of school shootings is not really happening around the world, is more happening here in our country.
Speaker 1:It's more of a thing here in our country, not in areas around the world. I'm no expert. I've just read some, some things on it and it's very prevalent here and not everywhere else around the world. But thank you for coming on, really appreciate you, my dear, and good luck and much success to you, continued success to you, much wealth and success to you and your family. Thank you.