Ep. 2- DEBT FREE with Creative Monetization of Primary Residence

Brad and Jennie have an awesome story and they've found a creative way to steward their home that has helped them to pay off debt and offset their mortgage payment.
In this episode we cover:
* Building Brands
* Social Media Curation
* Home Design
* Creative ways to monetize your real estate, even your Primary Residence!

--To view or schedule studio space a their beautiful home or land visit- www.stockandseed.com

--To get inspiration in home design, visit Jennie's Instagram: @the.little.bird

--For a new twist in Whiskey flavor and finish, check out Oak and Eden: www.oakandeden.com (Hint: you can order online and have shipped directly to your door!)

Transcript

welcome back to real estate for the real good I'm Nathan carsten your host a nor Texas husband father realtor and real estate investor throughout my real estate Journey I've witnessed the transformative potential that real estate offers individuals families and communities whether your considering buying your first primary residence amidst today's challenging Market pondering the idea of investing in real estate for financial growth or simply seeking to Steward your home to its full potential this podcast is for you as our schedule allows I'll have the privilege of sharing the hosting duties with my wife Kristen as we seek to bring a diverse perspective to both sides of each conversation we have on the podcast in other episodes I'll be flying solo in order to remain flexible and bring you as many quality guests as we can to the show in this week's episode we get to hear from Brad and Jenny Ney as they unfold how they were able to creatively utilize their primary residents to become debt-free in addition we'll cover building a brand utilizing social media creating your own personal taste in home design and even Brad and Jenny's perspective on how they discern God's Direction in their own lives so settle in grab a cup of coffee maybe a glass of wine and enjoy welcome back to real estate for the real good I'm your host Nathan carsten joined by my co-host and wife Kristen today we have an exciting episode lined up with special guests Brad and Janny neathery they are a dynamic husband and wife team and we can't wait to dive into their inspiring journey of intentional home design and creative property and business ventures that's right but before we begin we want to share again the mission of our podcast that's to see individuals and communities flourish through real estate we believe in finding the people and the places experiencing the blessings of God through the joy of surrender to his direction we hope that these stories will inform Inspire and encourage you on your real estate Journey on this episode we'll dive into Jenny's Journey as a social media content creator her Instagram account at the little bird has 176,000 followers from her start as a boutique custom sign business then to sharing home design and Inspirations and now focusing on encouraging others on how to cultivate a home full of Peace Jenny has gained much Insight on intentional home design and creating a space that will bless your family friends and guest we'll also talk about how Brad and Jenny have turned their home into a unique opportunity leasing it to photographers social media content creators and other media professionals as a stunning mid-century modern studio we'll be discussing how this venture has helped them cover their mortgage over the past couple of years we'll also explore the challenges that they faced Market shifts and the connections that they've made along the way and now let's welcome our friends Brad and Jenny to the show well howdy yeah we're so glad to have y'all uh can y'all tell us a little bit more about yourselves Brad what you do for a living um and then if you guys just want to share more about your family and um yeah what home life looks like a little bit for y'all yeah so um personally by day I'm in the Whiskey Business and get to have a whole lot of fun with brand we created called Oak and Eden and um Keeps Us occupied five days a week but uh we as you said we got to uncover some really cool opportunities with our home um actually was a very neat uh prophetic thing that the Lord had given to us back about two years ago that we can dig into in a little bit yeah um which which has been a great you know kind of more than passive income opportunity been very um very fulfilling U passive income opportunity but um personally we have two kiddos we've got Graham who's nine and loves your boy Brady yeah class together and best buddies yeah and then Harper who Y and um we uh we met at abing Christian University mhm almost 15 years ago now which is wild moved to Capel where I grew up and then found our way up to Argyle where we live now mhm and we are never going back we love it out here it's man it's just such a great Community um perfect place to raise kiddos and um amazing Community yep and you guys have done uh such a good job and yeah I mean obviously the reason yall are here just of being really intentional um about creating a a home that is yeah that it that is really is full of the Peace of the Lord and and so we've been able to experience that and then uh obviously that you know extends past y'all's the four walls of your home and into your your family life wherever you go and so yeah we're just so grateful you know we new friends obviously you know we've just known each other for the last year or so and uh are coming up on a year but yeah just so grateful that God has you know brought us together and we're excited to yeah likewise see where it goes come on yeah so Jenny we'll start yeah uh with your business your story um we just yeah we just want to hear more about um the path that led you where you are today um with your with your business with your social media content um and then what's what really is the message that you want most for your followers to receive yeah um amazing uh so the journey started um I guess right after we had Harper uh back in 2016 um prior to that I had been working at a chiropractic office um just kind of doing something to uh have some adult time you know during the week with uh with our son gram at the time when he was about two um and so when Harvard came along decided to just stay home devote uh my time to just being a stay-at-home mom um but I quickly realized that I needed uh still something outside of being a mom that was my number one call but um there just was a creativity inside of me that um I just needed I just needed some other kind of Outlet you know and I think so many moms uh can relate to that especially in that season of life and so uh Brad at the time um I guess that was right around well you had right brain Factory his braining agency and I think you were also in the modern Huntsman um yeah I had started a print publication called modern Huntsman after having a creative agency yeah so I just saw him you know getting to flex all of his creativity all of his creative muscles uh every single day and he was really uh just a big uh inspiration for me to um you know just step into something new and um so let's see we had just moved into our house in Argy um we did not have a budget really hardly at all to decorate it furnish it uh so we had um I'm trying to think I think for Christmas that year one of our parents got us a one of those I think they call him a diecut machine I don't know vinyl vinyl criet yeah Cricket um and so I had started using that just started crafting just different things uh here and there and um signs The Farmhouse kind of style signs started becoming popular and I think I saw I don't know a thing on Pinterest or something I don't know where always on Pinterest I'm sure yeah especially back then uh and I was like you know what I think I can make that which I don't know why I had any business trying cuz I had no woodworking skills no I don't I it just kind of must have been from the Lord to try it so anyways I made a sign for our house uh it was not well done but it was done it was done it it worked it fit in the budget and uh we did it so kind of like this podcast it's great somewhere you got to you got to start at the beginning um so anyways we put it up and you know super proud of it you know my hands made this it was great and um I think we had a birthday party or something for one of the kids and several friends came over saw it they're like where did you get that I'm like well I made it they're like wow that's great can you make me one and I'm like sure I mean of course and so it kind of just started there real organic with um just friends and family and uh Brad being the businessman that he is uh put a little what bug in my ear I don't know how you what's the proper term I didn't literally do that I didn't literally do that yeah yeah maybe a a playful jab to the side we'll go with that um to like start this as a business he like you can totally do this and I'm like I I I don't have the entrepreneurial you know bone in me like you do so if I'm going to do something I need your help um so he just took that and ran with it a little bit and developed a website uh uh did all the branding for it came we came up with the name yeah um based on Harper yeah is and really even before that I I in college oh yeah I forgot College our nicknames for each other I was booger to her she's birdie okay and so we just always got stuck and then we always called Harper our little bird yeah and and it was like it was just a clear I mean it just worked so well Instagram name was

was there and I always like to make the claim to fame I taught her social media that is true that is true and then only two years later I'm coming to her I'm like hey hey babe uh so like I'm not able to grow right now like any tips yeah she's teaching us the robes yeah that's awesome it it I just remember I think we launched officially in September of 2017 and I remember going to put my first post up and I'm like no no no I think well I call I think I call you and I'm like okay what's a hashtag what do I you what do I do with it I have no idea me I don't know probably got two likes five comments from Bots from you know across the world Soom I think that still happens today oh yeah yeah thanks Mom my gosh it really was it's really wild to just sit and think back um on those days so yeah we got the sign business kind of off uh off and going um we started kind of locally in the community too uh getting our name out there and creating things for people locally and then we started getting into shipping um to different people the Instagram page really just started as a uh you know marketing arm of the business um and were you all were you doing that out of your home that you're in now uh no we were doing it um in Harvest our previous house yep uh out of the garage and our spare bedroom downstairs and have and have guys text me like hey your wip's out in the garage with tools and woodworking why aren't you out there like that's not my thing yeah I'm in a cool office right coloring yeah we we switch roles a little bit uh in our in our family I'm the one with power tools Brad's the one with uh and I have no Pride issues with right I'm cool with that oh my goodness um yeah there was lots of good memories spent out spent out in that garage for sure um so yeah just started growing the business um I started he uh encouraged me to reach out to other social media influencers um at the time I was a real small account and I was just a business but to reach out to them and partner with them to get my signs in their homes they could take pictures share it on their page and grow you know uh the reach and the visibility of my business you know through their accounts and so we did that for I don't know two or three years yeah and um My Little page started to grow with every share that they would make and I also like to say that uh I kind of was doing a internship at the same time because I was watching all these other Home Decor accounts and kind of picking up tips and different things that they were doing in their house um so that when I think it was 2019 we bought our land um where our current house is um we started sharing just that build Journey just out of you know um it just became a passion of ours you know and what you're doing yeah I mean then and I think that's you know part of the reason your business was doing well in the beginning anyways probably just you're just you're being authentic and and sharing your personality and yeah especially that period of time with social media like Instagram stories had just came around and um really the only way you were going to grow on social media is if you got you know behind the camera and showed your face to all the people you know that were following you couldn't just be a nameless you know post a picture and and dash type account and so um just started getting comfortable talking to people about you know what was happening in the shop this week or oh man here's uh I spilled all this paint on me today and that was awful um just kind of the ups and downs of you know running a business and then as we started uh building the house it just naturally progressed to sharing what was going on with that and what the updates were there and um it also became uh the sign business had really taken off and was really you know healthy and and going crazy and I really honestly couldn't keep up yeah and so uh I ended up hiring a dear friend to help me in the shop which was great and at the same time I started feeling that itch of this the sign business is growing to a place where I don't think I can handle it anymore I was getting really burn out it was only supposed to be you know a creative Outlet alongside being a stay-at home mom and so it really started to feel like I had two full-time jobs I had you know my kids when they were young at the time so you know we're doing everything with them but then we also have this business that I'm fully in charge of producing everything for and so it just started to weigh really heavily on me and I uh I think it just got to a point where it was like okay you either need to hire a team to really help you or you know scale back and change things and just making that next step was just scary to me and I just never had peace with um expanding it that way and so when we moved out we sold our house that I was doing the sign shop out of in 2020 May of 2020 moved in with my parents and while we finished uh building the house we're in now thanks Mom yeah shout out to Scott and Susan hun you know what you did and it was amazing um but they were so gracious and they actually let me have like do the sign shop at their house which it was a blessing and I they are crazy they should have just told me no cuz we took I took over their house it wasn't quite the same setup we had at home the living room the dining room like there like dominoes stacked of like Signs drying on racks it was like hundreds of signs shipping day there's boxes everywhere were all just trying to fulfill and walk into their house and just be like I how do I get upstairs like there's nowhere to walk it's just everywhere we had shipments coming with like furniture for the new house that would sit in there it was thanks Scot when we say thank you like it doesn't even scratch the surface of the blessing that that was for us in that time great good parents are blessing um yeah so as you were just kind of thinking about transitioning um how much of of income was was something that your family was depending on how did that factor into your decision oh that's a great question um you know when I started the business uh it was really at a time where uh Brad was kind of transitioning out of his uh branding agency into modern Huntsman which wasn't paying we had no yeah we wer paying ourselves a salary yeah they weren't taking a salary but I was working less on my agency it Wasing um so I didn't start it to really be a income generator for our family but it quickly became that and it uh just was such a blessing for us during that time it really got us through kind of a rough patch in in life and just learning how to manage different businesses and whatnot and so by the point where I was starting to get burnt out uh we weren't relying on it but it had really transitioned to uh cuz he had started working great sick and income yeah he had started working with space some margin there for for you guys kind of became the fun um you know side money yeah or whatnot and so as we started transitioning um I had also started in incorporating into my page uh working with different brands and sharing them on the page so there was already a a different income coming in than just me producing the signs it's really cool like turn the tables too because it was like you were relying on other influencers to help you grow m all of a sudden you know we start getting these outreaches from Brands who are asking you to help them grow you're like well I'm a maker I'm not I'm not a media person I'm not an influencer but you know at the time you've got like whatever 25,000 followers or something like that and and especially back then like that mattered on Instagram that was a big deal um and uh and it was just like wait a minute this is really cool yeah it just another idea popped in of like okay wait maybe I can scale back on the signs because now we have other opportunities coming in that are way less work you know I'm not sweating out in the garage for 8 hours a day producing these signs doing all of that um it was great money and and it just was a new kind of creative spark of like okay how where do I incorporate this now and how can I use you know different talents and whatnot yeah I came out to her one day she was working outside and and uh and I was getting an invoice together for one of the brands that she was promoting on her page and I said this is 10 signs that you're going to do a 30 second video it wasn't even video then I don't think I mean photo is it a photo and like you're going to style it real quick snap the shot and post it that's 10 signs which will take you two days Uh something's wrong we have to start transitioning you out of this and and into thish it was also kind of at the time I saw um just the design World start shifting away from you know the word signs the word art the farmhouse style it was it was right at the beginning of that so it was still kind of going strong um but we also we moved into the house and it was just kind of was a perfect storm of like okay we finally moved into this house after you know two years of trying you know building it and and everything so I want to just take some time off and enjoy just being at home and not worrying about signs and everything uh so I closed I closed the shop down just for a period And I said you know I will be I will reopen but I'm going to enjoy you know just being at home what a step of Faith there just to shut it down yeah it was it was a blessing just to be able to do that I know that's not the case for a lot of people but um it had just gotten to a point where that fall I was dying at mom and dad's trying to do everything and I mean we weren't together I mean it was like yeah you know I mean she'd be working until 11:00 at night yeah and getting up at 7 6 to to ship out and like we were just we were passing each other and it was just wasn't sustainable for the family we were homeschooling Graham at that time too so oh yeah there were a lot of a lot of variables that went into that um so yeah Clos the shop down um but didn't want to stop connecting with my community either um and so I just started sharing now we're in the house that we you know I've been talking about forever and here's kind of how I'm decorating it and here's kind of these designs that I've kind of come up with and this is how I'm going to incorporate it and so I just slowly transitioned to doing that from signs and that started taking off way faster than the signs ever did and it wasn't just a sign a house that you guys were having built is it was a house that you guys were very much involved in the design process and and thinking about uh or just being really intentional with how your your home was going to be personalized for for you and your style and yeah this is a floor plan that we had come up with I think 2 years prior to to building it just kind of a like a dream floor plan of creating a home that was less than 3,000 square ft but felt big felt but but that the main like the large parts were the living room the dining room the communal areas and then the bedrooms closets you know all the all the other areas were smaller mhm M but not tiny you know so we just wanted to kind of create this space where it's like okay those those more practical functional areas we we can just you know use those as necessity you know but we want the living room to be big we want the dining room to be with the kitchen to be big yeah and um and yeah yeah what are your thoughts behind making those spaces the big spaces yeah yeah I mean that that was kind of the the dream was to have it all be open concept yeah you know and our previous house in uh our old neighborhood was kind of set up that way it was you walked in and you could just see all the way to the back it was set up for entertaining we love hosting and and having friends over and everything and so that was really important for us to maximize our square footage in the places that would be used you know on an everyday basis and not just wasting it in you know a giant kids room somewhere although the kids do wish they had a little more room these days but that's you know here here but it was a it was a design concept I mean even even aesthetically we wanted it to be this kind of hybrid between like Scandinavian and mid-century modern we wanted it to have this highed ceilings yet low roof lines and um kind of like a juxtaposition of several different design Styles and we just hadn't ever found uh you know a design concept that mirrored that and so there was hard to find inspiration cuz you get one or the other okay and um so we we got to partner with um some of our our friends at the time who were actually building our flagship store for Oak and Eden yeah and they were um on on diai network they were on HGTV so they kind of had this you know this early following they're called the hey Hurst brothers and um so called them up like Hey we're we're interested in kind of you know starting to talk about building a house we bought bought some land and um they were like hey we'll do all the design work for free were like hired and their um their first design concept was the design we stuck with yeah made just tiny modifications on it but it was like we saw the designs and that was it you know um it like everything that we had been dreaming about it being was it and so it was just a it was a really cool thing to be able to have this this piece of land that first off when we when we first walked on the land we heard the Lord say build my church here MH and it was kind of this weird like like a real he really wants to build like cuz we were really hoping to build a house are you changing our plans or is this something more yeah and as it always is it's like there's something deeper behind it you know and you know we spent a few months just sitting on that word waiting for the uh the interpretation of it and then one day I just felt to my spirit just this kick of look up the term Church and uh in in Greek and what does it mean and so I went back to scripture and did a lexicon translation and got found that in Greek it means eklesia which is a common term and and so I was underwhelmed by that but then I was like well let me do a reverse search and see what eklesia literally means and how they interpreted it to the word church and the second definition of eklesia is a place where the Holy Spirit dwells I was like oh my goodness yeah wait so like that's good where does the Holy Spirit dwell you know like if if a church is where he dwells then where does he not dwell yeah and I've been to a lot of places a lot of places that he doesn't dwell I've been to very few places that he dwells and you can feel it you know you feel his presence there and so I remember that word build build my church here and it was that moment that was like build a place where he dwells yeah create a space for him and invite him here you know keep inviting him here let him know he's he's the only one welcome here M and um and be intentional about his presence here yeah and so we just that's what we started praying on and started building this house and it was like everything getting us to the you know no turning back point was as easy as could be yeah so smooth and then it became hard yeah and it was like you know the point of no return um when when the Lord knew that we would maybe have quit yeah yep you know that's when it started to become challenging I know that feeling yeah yeah it's like uh sometimes he gives you like this or or it has happened to me this way or he gives you this big Vision yeah like go and Chase get on your face praise him for what he's promised to give you yeah and then it's like it it feels like it's almost like hit the breaks and okay I'm just going to give you this one step in front of the other just barely left your path yes and and and you feel like well that okay you promised all this and it's not it's not happening tomorrow yeah and the I think the easiest thing that that I mean I do personally is I go man like the devil's in this like ah there's there's spiritual warfare here and it's like you really sit back and you go no there's nothing demonic here yeah it's just the Lord's testing us there's just and it's just his Pace it's just the pace of it is it's like nothing here there's no there's no animosity there's no chaos it's just it's just it's conflicting with my spirit with my timing my patience my perseverance but it's an invitation to grow your faith through the process that's what we saw a lot yeah and so it's cool because then we fast forward um and and I mean really the rest of the story after we had completed the home was a story of truthfully like his presence dwelling his church being built yeah um and as we as we moved forward it was I mean literally stories and testimonies that we just can't explain you know the healings that have taken place in that home that you just can't you can't put any sort of a a natural bow around there's no way to explain it um people being set free from things they never been set free from yeah um you know even even in in kind of transitioning to us using the space for other creatives to come in you know was a complete just prophetic word that was fulfilled two weeks later yeah and um everything has been just this Mark like we hear it all the time people they come into the home and they leave they're like we've had people that like man y'all have good energy in there like we're like yeah energy has a name it's not my

energy and uh but you know people who have discernment of the Holy Spirit like you know there's just the presence of God is in there like what do youall do it's like it's not us like literally he told us that he'd be here you know that's it's it's almost like I said it to somebody one time like you can imagine if if somebody came up to my son Graham and we're like H Graham your house is beautiful like great job and he were like thanks like no he's not the one who gets the glory for that you know like he didn't do anything to get that like it's Dad's home it's Mom's home you know and he lives there but they're who made it what it is and it's the same thing for us it's like yeah we occupy the space but we're not the ones who made it what it is and and what what a freeing place to be that you can brag on it yeah that what God has done yeah yeah yeah we didn't we didn't make it yeah you know and you don't have to you don't have to hold it for your own that's right that's why we just always say the word Steward CU like we're just stewarding the piece and then and then we forget yeah and and we make it ours and then we repent yeah and and we come back mhm yeah it's cyclical y yeah so yeah Jenny got of kind of going back to your journey and just thinking about the steps that you took there was never like is necessarily this thing that you had to take or or like this big Vision that you had had had but God was just you know gently step by step taking you to the next place and uh so you had the signed business as you were marketing really just marketing your signed business you learned how to be this designer yourself as you were watching um what others were doing and and then I think probably creating your own style from that and um yeah we can we'll start to transition into how you guys have used your space um for other creatives but if you even want to just talk a little bit about uh Your Design philosophy and how that how that philosophy really transferred into other people wanting to use your space the way they do mhm yeah when we moved in like I said uh just started learning how to style a home and decorate a home but there was I don't know I ju I just can't say that it was me because it wasn't me I didn't I didn't have a design background before I didn't I always kind of dabbled and had a um like a it was always there but I never had like you know the formal training or anything to to go with it so I just you know started playing around and it was really there that I saw the Lord working my creativity in a new way um I had no um like you said I didn't have a huge vision for where this was going to go or anything like that it was just you know playing around in our home and and seeing what worked and and it just started becoming a new passion and it was you know really fun and so by the time that everything you know was kind of set up and ready to go um we had a friend reach out and well let me let me stop right there two weeks before that um we uh both heard very clearly from the Lord to pay off our debt and you know we had been in the house for like five months and that was a huge expense obviously moving into to a new home and we were like okay Lord if you want us to do that like you're going to have to do it supernaturally because I don't know how that's going to happen and yeah and maybe if even um do do you want to talk a little bit about what it what it looks like for y'all to hear from the Lord in that way yeah Brad yeah I mean when whenever we talk about this I always have to be very cautious like you need to hear from the Lord through the word yeah that's that's first you need to know his word yeah um because if we can't validate that what you're hearing in your spirit is beginning from the word if it conflicts or contradicts the word it's not him yeah um but but a very easy we we have great uh great pastors that that have taught us very well on hearing from the Lord in your spirit allowing for the Holy Spirit to speak and the easiest uh definition is understanding when you when you are when you're are baptized in water you receive the Holy Spirit and and there's something really cool that Christians are invited into which is the baptism of fire being able to have the Holy Spirit Come Alive it's almost that this little L of Mind turns into a wildfire and um and that's when all these amazing Supernatural things begin to happen but one of the things is understanding that when you have you know we have that little that little call Inner Voice you know just just there's just a a speaking right yeah and there's three voices that talk there's your voice there's voice of the Holy Spirit and then there's other Spirits Y and we've heard many stories of people who hear those voices very clear MH um but we don't hear the stories as often as people hearing the Holy Spirit but when they hear things like like to go and and love on somebody in need and that wouldn't your voice yeah you know we don't naturally come up with that we don't have compassion as Humanity we have the spirit who gives us compassion you we don't have love on our own or peace on our own or Joy or patience those are fruits of some common Grace obviously for those who are are not Believers I think that um I mean because as we're all made in the likeness of God we I think we have there there is some characteristics towards want wanting that but uh for me yeah personally I think just like for you like what you're saying is is I know my my tendency apart from the spirit is to look out for myself to yeah care for what's mine and um I would agree with you yeah that just anytime that uh I have a genuine um urge or or just thought to care for another that's not going to turn into something good for me yeah it's very clear like that that that feels com that's comforting to me and just knowing like in peace that like that's a peaceful thought yeah for me and then there's these times where I always I love the times where I'll hear something that's a very it's an odd statement but immediately there's Clarity and Revelation around it there's just like you get goosebumps yeah or you'll have some sort of a some sort of an identity accelerator that you're just like I know who I am now you know I know like I know what I'm supposed to be doing here I know that I know that I'm at least in the right place right now and that was the moment that that when we heard to build his church especially when you have a spouse who you are united with and you know we each heard the term the the phrase build my church here different like settings like different times and we didn't I didn't even think talk about it to her cuz it was just so weird and and like that felt really clear really good but I'm like I don't know what to do with that so it was like 3 weeks later I told her she was like I heard the same thing come on wait what yeah then it's like okay and then we just wait to figure out what he's talking about so we were at church yeah this this uh this this one weekend and just in the middle of worship I just hear pay off your debt yeah and it was like again it was like identity accelerator it's like I want that I want that like that brings me joy and I have freedom in that and um and there's so much peace over that and we call it oil it's like you just have the oil of Heaven fall over that and so as soon as we got in the car I was like I heard the Lord tell us to pay off for Deb she's like I heard the Lord tell us toay and I was like okay but how yeah you know and that was just that you know that that little rise in your spirit like I don't I don't hear audibly with my ears yeah um I've heard of people who do yeah and and it's a pretty interesting time for yall as you both transitioning in your businesses yeah well we've we become very familiar with that yeah really comfortable with it yeah right like get more starting businesses yeah right just get more it's great and um and so paying it off wasn't even on our radar M and um so yeah so so we hear this word and we Just Surrender back immediately give it back to God like if okay if you if you'll do it if you'll do it we'll do it yeah you know and um two weeks later we had a very dear friend who reached out and um he said hey I've got a I've got a video ad that I'm doing with a company called norex which is like a cleaning supply company he's a video producer and a film producer and um he was like we'd love to use use can I just use your home for the for the shoot I was like yeah you bet he's like awesome here's the location budget for the day and I was like oh no no no you're not going to pay me just come and use the house and he's like no no no this is the client's budget you should just take it I was like okay we'll take it and the next day on Instagram she had a message from um looy rugs which is a high-end rug company and they reached out to her said hey we're we're shooting our fall catalog and uh we'd like to use your space to shoot some of our catalog images yeah and she and here's her location budget for the day yeah and she told me this and I was like I'm sorry what yeah wait a second anytime something happens in pairs like that you're just like this this is too weird yeah um it's it's like okay I'm just going to start praying about this because this has got to be from the Lord and so I I just started praying I'm like Lord what do you want from this is this is this your answer is this like wait a minute okay so I called my friend who had that first phone call I was like is this a thing you know do people like rent homes for commercial use and he was like well think about all the ads you see on TV that are shot in homes that's not a studio yeah those are real homes and um and you know production companies don't buy homes to use like they're all rentals I'm like well like how do you like how do people know that you have a home available for rent he's like I don't know I just I usually just call my friends and I'm like all right now I'm on a mission and so I I went in found all these very like corporate you know it's like you have to sign up and get on this long agency weight list kind of thing and it's like no surely there's something more peer-to-peer and there's got to be like an Airbnb style you know approach to this and so I literally typed in like Airbnb for corporate or for commercial rentals and the first thing popped up was an ad from company called peer space and I looked into it and sure enough it's like people who put their homes on this place for hourly or day use yeah just for Studio space and I was like interesting babe what do you think about if this worked yeah not living in our home during the day

I was like I mean you know it'd be a sacrifice but what you would make on Airbnb you make in 2 hours yeah on this m and all it takes is US keeping the home clean and just getting out yeah and she was like let's pray about it so we did felt a lot of Peace over it yeah we opened up the space for booking in our first 6 months we had like a 100 bookings mhm and now we've been doing it for two years and I've had we just crossed over 400 bookings crazy and um and it has been the wildest Financial blessing generator and and what it kind of what it you know pressed us into is something that I think you know philosophically we've always kind of aligned with but haven't really understood how to fully exercise which is the concept of like if you own something that you don't use 24/7 MH can you and it has value to it excessive value to it can you utilize it for you know for passive income yeah so if you own two cars but somebody works from home and one car sits in the driveway you know three three qus of the time can you rent it out and make money on it you know if you have a home I I always talk about this with with church buildings that that are occupied for 4 hours on a Sunday yeah and then it's a giant office space for 16 people the rest of the week like make it a school make it a school make it a daycare you know or or host uh you know a a like a little bible college or something you know yeah um and so there's just all these opportunities of empty spaces empty moments to be able to fill and and have passive income opportunities and this is I think our first one that was like oh my gosh like literally we've just got to get out of the house un we built a little Studio behind our house so you know most of the time she just goes into the studio and and you know is unbothered yeah by whoever's in there and she's not bothering them and um it has just again been one of the wildest blessing so we did get to pay off all of our credit card debt that's awesome um which was really cool uh in that season and then um after that it was just like okay we have to do this again again and so we've been praying over what comes next you know and and um we fully believe that that every time we we've bought and we've bought and sold we've bought three houses sold two mhm all of them have appreciated in value over double yeah what we bought them for over the years yeah like post us selling yeah what was your kind of thoughts and and may not think we talked about a little bit but when you're when you're buying that next house each time buying the first house uh and you're looking at the mortgage payments and you're thinking about you know is this thing ever going to is this worthwhile or yeah so I mean I think for a lot of especially new home buyers they they look at the cost of uh a new home or you know existing home uh and it's and it's always an intimidating factor to look that mortgage payment and and I'm going to be uh I'm going to have you know I'm I'm I'm guaranteeing this mortgage and uh so just yeah I mean just thinking about you're going to have to live somewhere obviously and rents not never going to be locked in you know it's always U subject to the you know the whims of the market a mortgage can can at least get you locked in so yeah I mean obviously just for the podcast listeners um encouraging uh those that you know if if there there are ways to make a mortgage more affordable and you know whether it's renting your your house out like you guys are are doing or it's or it's finding roommates to uh rent rent by the room or something and so just as you um yeah as you as you think about your living space don't don't necessarily get yourself locked in to well this is this is an impossible step for me just because I see how most people do it um and so this I can't do it like that so you may not be able to but there may be a way that you can make it work for you and then and then just trusting that there there is a blessing that comes through just you know if it if it's what God is calling you into there's a blessing yeah yeah and that was I mean after we sold our first house it was one of those things that we I mean there was no way that we were going to be able to keep our home and get the next and get a next home we needed the cash to get the next which I think is I mean most people you've got to have the the ability to sell the home and and you know so looking back would it have been possible I don't know um to be able to have done it but with what we know now I think if we could have given ourselves wisdom at that time to say hey work and save up enough money to put 20% down on the next home and give yourself some buffer to be able to allow for if you don't have you know a a rental income coming in on the next home for 6 months or so give yourself enough buffer but keep the property get buy another property rent that one out do Airbnb do Pier space turn it into a into a wedding venue what I mean if it right doesn't have to be a beautiful giant home I mean this like we're talking you know there's use cases all over I mean homes are one of the greatest assets for both kind of a homestead purpose as well as secondary property purposes and they don't have to be chip and Joanna gain's aesthetic you know yeah and we've got plenty of friends who have done that same thing but have found amazing ways to take you know their second home third home fourth home in a 1979 fox in Jacob's neighborhood yeah and turn these into very profitable cash generating um rental properties or airbnbs and um so I mean it's it's like I I wish that we could go back and still own that property the appreciation on it and understanding what the rental the rental price prices are now in the neighborhood that we were in our first home right it just makes me want to it makes me want to throw up yeah time is you know yeah definitely the the biggest uh just helper in real estate in in almost all the cases you know you can just wait it out a little bit you're locked in that interest rate or whatever you've got and locked into your payment and then yeah that appreciation happens and it's always fun to kind of look back yeah yeah well I think it's so fun too I I'm just seeing a new trend in this generation of people are not just buying their home and staying in it and just paying the mortgage just you know like our parents and grandparents did they're getting creative with the ways that they use their home like we have um you know I've seen a lot of people that are uh you know moving into their you know home two years later you know doing a HELOC uh refinance pulling out the cash that you know they've gained over the two years of equity and then putting that now into the next um generator and you know renting their home out as a you know just a landlord even you know more the traditional renting style but I'm I'm seeing that I think if people start kind of moving that way I think that's just such a great um Avenue of income generation as well that is just kind of becoming on the Forefront of people's minds and more people are starting to do it and for our parents it wasn't necessarily a requirement to to think that way when they were buying their home you just it was it was more affordable in a lot of ways um and and yeah and and the market and the culture has changed I think we're just going to see so many more creative avenues for people to generate income with their assets like we're talking so it'll be really interesting to see that happen and and that kind of would be kind of a good segment into how you guys have the the challenges that you you have faced in in allowing in in having a uh your home as a business but also just still maintaining that that home feeling in that in that peace that is so important um yeah I think it's really it can be really easy to uh you know let the having to keep it tidy all the time cleaning up getting out of the house quickly you know for bookings and stuff it can be really easy to let that disrupt the piece that's already in the home um I think that's one of the questions I get most often is just how the heck do you do that how do you keep the home you know the way it needs to for photo shoots I could never do that and you know two years ago I would have said the same thing but the more you do it the more you get used to it uh it's actually honestly become such a good tool for our family because we know hey we're going to have a shoot shoot tomorrow so let's put all of our stuff back that we got out you know it doesn't keep the kids especially you know from Wrecking the house daily coming home building forts getting all the you know crayons and markers out um but it just has taught them really well to to Steward their things and treat the home with the same level of uh care that we do and you know even from the time they were born um we kind of always said we're never going to change our house our Decor our anything just because we have kids we're going to teach them how to properly care for it uh so that you know they have that ownership over it as much as we do so you know our our previous house uh was a totally different style but you know we always had things out that could be broken by kids you know if if they were running around and doing things and they would with our friends kids yeah yeah well then we also realize that stuff is just stuff that's okay yeah I mean I mean I think probably you kind of have to have you have both sides right yeah if you want to teach that stewardship you also have to be ready for them not to have learned it yet it's exactly right I even today it's like our kids are not proactive about cleaning up their mess or anything like that like it's just it's not a battle like it was when we first started this you know like why you know we like we're going to leave leave the fort until all week cuz we want to play it all week like you can build a new one tomorrow and and that's I mean just getting them in that habit is so has been I don't know so crucial to like I said Peace in the home everybody just knows what's expected of them yeah the same way the Lord trains us that's right you get that first like battle of wills and you lose and then you slowly learn not to resist so much and then you learn to enjoy yes yeah yeah but I I I'd just say you know when the Lord's in it it's easy and that's that can be a very controversial even hurtful thing to hear for a lot of people because they're going through hard times and they're with the Lord um but um I have you know I think all of us have had the thought of you know how would somebody go through this if it weren't for the presence of the Lord um and it doesn't make me that things aren't hard it just means that there's something about his presence his his burden is easy his yoke is light um it's it's this weird thing where when we you know as we say a lot like when when you get into his presence it's easy and you know you're in his presence because nothing else matters you know fear is gone um you're your worries of of your of your lifestyle or what you have going on are gone and it's that time where you are so just Mesmerize and Adoration of the face of Jesus and you just it it may take 20 minutes or 40 minutes or an hour to get there because we are so tied to ourselves we're so care we we so care about ourselves but when you when you get in that place where you can just sit and adore and sit and worship sit in the scripture and just and and let your heart touch his you know because he's always reaching out to ours but it's when our hearts when we let our hearts yeah get close to his it's like all of a sudden it becomes easy and so so much of even the story with with this with our home and uh we call it stock and Seed the the home the business that we have um so much of that story is like you know there's been times where people have asked us like what you know like what things do you would you not do over again you know what have you learn it's

like it's not that things there hasn't been challenges yeah it's just that it's been easy yeah you know it's been blessed it's been anointed like there was an anointing on this right and he said to do it so he did it yeah and um and we haven't had a single time where we've had like you know somebody come in and trash the place we haven't had anybody uh we had one party uh that that we came in the home the next day and it's like we just felt something different there was something odd in the home and we went back and looked at at our cameras to see what was going on and we saw some activity that that was that was foul and it was like they brought something in here and so we spent the day just going through the home and praying and just inviting the Lord back in and literally putting olive oil like on our on our doorposts and um and it was like it's he's here he's here you know like um there was an intention by this one party to not let the holy spirit in yeah and um and so out of out of you know 400 bookings to have one time where it's like we know we we know something something went on here that um shouldn't have happened here but we we we know how to handle that you know we know how to we know how to deal with this and um and I've heard horror stories from other people who have done the same exact thing but they're like well how do you handle the people who like scratch up your walls and like destroy your floors and you know how do you handle that we're

like I've really had to do that yeah yeah so I mean truthfully when the Lord's in it there's just something different it's it's just easy and then when those little challenges come or the big challenges come you know where to go right you know yep yep that's great we thank youall so much for just sitting with us and I think yeah just uh just kind of circling back to um the importance of peace in our home and creating that space where family thrives and uh friends Thrive and and even you know guests that we invite in that we that we don't know well um just have a place to come and meet with with the Lord is um so encouraging again just to hear today obviously but to see yall live out so well and um yeah just you know as a um you know I don't I don't know what to tell all the two listeners that might hear this podcast uh as encouragement or advice um to create a space like that in your home other than just if if you don't know the Lord you know seek him um um and then and then listen and surrender and invite him into that place uh and then just uh be obedient to what you know however whatever step he's calling you to take next and so um you know just Jenny through your uh story of hearing you um just being obedient with what you have you know in the moment and in the way you guys have so um just encouraged each other so well um in that and uh so yeah it's just something that K Christen and I are even learning with this podcast of just how to um live life together um and plan together and and strategize together and and and seek the Lord's vision for our lives together is uh something that seems pretty clear that has been um present for you guys and so that's encouraging um can you guys just tell us uh real quickly before we head out where if uh folks can reach you at uh yeah so for stock and Seed uh if you're interested in renting or anything like that we're on Instagram at stock and Seed we have a website that's Linked In Our bio there that you can go through and check out the house check out rental uh my Instagram page where I share more of uh just kind of the home decor inspiration uh sharing how we create a you know peaceful home in our in our house um teaching you kind of how to do that uh that's on my Instagram page at the. little. bird and if you're interested in amazing whiskey that's on Brad's side at Oak and Eden at Oak and Eden and then also we just launched a new brand JoJo you all know about JoJo couple bottles up on the Shelf actually yeah yeah yeah good stuff yeah yeah it's great and then you can find me on MySpace if you want to or fster if you can get that deep in the internet yeah you got to go to dark web for that we should just go look each other's my you need to see who's in that top eight so yeah love that what do you think Kristen yeah this is wonderful just happy to hear how God's worked in your lives and yeah just a blessing of your home it's been sweet all right thank you well thank you guys so much youall have a good day as we bring this episode of real estate for the real good to a close we want to extend our heartfelt gratitude to you our early listeners thank you for joining us on this journey we hope that today's discussion has left you both informed Med and encouraged if you have any questions about today's episode please reach out you can get in touch with me through our Instagram account or by email at nathan Carsten gmail.com check out the show notes for how you can get in touch with Brad or jennie if you'd like to take a peek at their stunning mid-century modern home or would like to lease some beautiful Studio space go to www.inc.com or swing by their Instagram account @ stock and seed for some design inspiration in your own home you can find Jenny's Instagram @ the. little. bird where she regularly posts on her evolving taste in furniture and decor head on over today to see what she's been doing lately to get ready for the fall season if you enjoyed today's episode and found it valuable please consider subscribing to our podcast and leaving a review your feedback is in valuable in helping us to improve and reach more individuals looking to make informed decisions in real estate you can also find us on our YouTube at for the real good or on Instagram at real estate for the real good as we part ways for now we pray that God would bless you that he would keep you and that his face would shine upon you and that you would seek to know him more trust his will on your life and surrender to his loving and G mental

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