The Most Dwanderful Real Estate Podcast Ever!

Yamundow Camara Journey: From West African Village to Real Estate Success

• Dwan Bent-Twyford/Yamundow Carara • Season 5 • Episode 385

Share episode

Send us a text

What if your journey to financial freedom started in a small West African village with no internet, and ended in the bustling real estate markets of Georgia? Meet Yamundow Camara, our Wicked Smart Woman of the Day, who shares her extraordinary path from humble beginnings to becoming a successful real estate investor and data scientist. Her story is a testament to resilience, determination, and the transformative power of education and hard work.

Yamundow's narrative is nothing short of inspiring. She recounts a midnight interview that earned her a full scholarship to a US university, her first awe-struck encounter with five white men in suits, and the pressures of balancing family expectations with her dreams. Reflect on her emotional journey from overcoming childhood abuse to meeting President Obama, and see how these experiences shaped her into the formidable woman she is today. Through personal anecdotes,  Yamundow highlights the importance of healthy living, touching on the remarkable vitality of a 97-year-old aunt who defies age through an active lifestyle.

But  Yamundow's story doesn't stop at overcoming adversity. She shares invaluable insights into building wealth through rental properties, from starting with advice gleaned from books and podcasts to navigating the complexities of real estate investment. Discover how she transitioned from buying single properties to managing a portfolio, and how her strategic investments in smaller towns are revitalizing communities. This episode promises a deep dive into the rewarding world of real estate, illustrating how one woman's vision and perseverance are transforming lives, including her own. Don't miss this episode filled with resilience, resourcefulness, and the rewarding nature of helping others while building a successful investment portfolio.

Thanks again for listening. Don't forget to subscribe, share, and leave a FIVE-STAR review.

Head to Dwanderful right now to claim your free real estate investing kit.

And follow:

http://www.Dwanderful.com
http://www.facebook.com/Dwanderful
http://www.Instagram.com/Dwanderful
http://www.youtube.com/DwanderfulRealEstateInvestingChannel

Make it a Dwanderful Day!

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Hey everybody, welcome to another exciting episode of Tthe most wonderful real estate podcast ever. I am so excited about my guest today. I'm going to try to say her name without butchering it Yamu Dao. That's very close, yamu.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

Dao.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Close enough. Yes, you got it and we're going to call her Yamu, because y'all know I'm Dwan. I don't like to be called Dawn, dwayne, dwen, all the things, but I got to take a good crack at it and do my best that I can Kanara, so I'm excited to have her on. She's our Wicked, smart Woman of the Day and I am Dwan Bent Twyford. I'm your host. This is the most Dwan-derful real estate podcast ever and we are very excited that you are here with us today. Our motto at Dwan-derful is people before profits, so if there's something that resonates with you, you're at the right place. I'm your girl, we're your girls and we're going to have a lot of fun today. So, yamu, how are you today?

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

I'm doing, excited, I'm excited. Thank you so much.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

I'm doing wonderful. Thank you for having me. Yes, I'm excited. I just found out you live in Georgia, so that is like such a great place.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

I do. It's warm up here. It's very similar to Africa, so I like it.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, my number one cousin I see the most. She lives in Atlanta and you know we do a lot of speaking out there, so I get to see her four or five times a year. And my aunt, her mother, lives in Tennessee. So when I was there about two months ago she had brought her mom over, my aunt Wanda's 97 wow, spend a whole week with them in Atlanta. I was like, oh, that died me on the heaven. I got my favorite egg, I got my favorite cousin. She's got my favorite cousin, she's 97. She still goes hiking for two miles a day. I was like, oh, this is the greatest week of my life right now. We're so great.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

That's amazing 97. We all want to be 97 one day, yeah, and this one's 10.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Almost 100. My Aunt WRhonda does not take a pill for anything. Wow, she is the healthiest person. Sometimes I'm just like I don't understand, you know, because we all have all these other things in the in the family, but she's always eating very vegetarian. Okay, she cooks all of her own food all day. She's always eating, always healthy, always good. And she walks. She used to walk like five miles a day and so now she's down to two. She's like I don't do two miles, I'm like, but like you're 97. Wow, the fact that you walk two miles every day on a little trail that's in wood is like astounding to me.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

but she goes I don't drink, I don't curse, I don't smoke and I've never done drugs. She's like one of those pure southern women as they come, but she loves that sweet and all that sugary stuff. So I'm like, wow, that's what it takes. I mean, she's healthier than I am. Yeah, she's adorable. Okay, so we'd like to start off with a drink. I am having some bi. What are you having today? I'm having just water.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

I'm trying to be healthy. Cheers. I'm having just water, I'm trying to be like healthy cheers.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

We always like to have a little toast for everybody that's watching. You guys now have a drink, take a big stretch, just like, and just shake off whatever you got going on and spend the next 40 minutes or so with us, have some fun, have some laughs and hopefully we will brighten your day, all right. So we basically just kind of like to throw our guests like straight up into the wolves, and so I'm just going to ask you to tell us your name, how to reach you on your socials yes, and then just quickly like two cents is what you do and then we're just going to backtrack quickly, like two cents is what you do, and then we're just going to backtrack and how you found out to become Miss Yamu, who is on the podcast with the most Dwonderful real estate person ever, of course.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

Thank you for having me. Thank you for having me. So my name is Yamunda aara. A lot of people cannot say my name, but thank God my friends already cut my name short. They call me yamu. So every time somebody asks what's your name, I say it's yamunda, but call me yamu. So that's a great nickname, though yamu is great yeah, I'm originally from west africa and I I am a real estate investor and also a data scientist okay, and how do we reach you on all your socials?

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

Oh yeah, my social media. You can reach me at Building Wealth from Rentals on Instagram. You can also check on YouTube, building Wealth from Rentals, and also on Facebook, building Wealth from Rentals.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Okay, I will make sure I follow you today. So, building Wealth from Rentals, so I already like that. So that means you are Building Wealth from Rentals, that's your thing. So can I ask? So that means you are building lots of rentals, that's your thing. So can I ask you how old you are? I'm 35. 35. Oh, my daughter is your age. Oh look at you.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

You're going to be like your favorite aunt, yeah.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

So it's like, yeah, I have 33, 35, 37. So I was a single mom for a long time, so I went able to 35. Then I married Bill. I got two extra amazing bonus kids. They're 33 and 37. So it's like sometimes I'm like I want to have a 35-year-old child, because I still feel like I'm 35 years old. So that's awesome. Okay, so you came. So I don't really know. So we're going to find out. So you came from West Africa. How long ago did you come?

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

so I came from West Africa in 2016. I grew up in a small country, in a village in Africa called the Gambia, and I I was raised as an orphan. My mom passed when I was two and my dad when I was 11. So in Africa, the women are always my culture. Women are always betrothed, like when you're born, they already know who you're going to be married to. So my sister already knew who she was going to marry. She got married early. My dad wasn't feeling well, so she took me and my brother with her to her husband's village extended family village and that's where we live. So we live in compounds like a whole family. So, let's say, you and five of your cousins will all build houses and have kids, two kids, wives, two wives, three wives and it all grows to be a big, huge family. So it's called a compound. So I had to move, with my brother and her with her, to her husband's extended family. So I grew up as an orphan in an abusive home and we'll get into it today. Okay.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

So as an orphan in an abusive home, and we'll get into it today, okay, so as an orphan in an abusive home, so then in 2016,. So you were still like in your late twenties yeah, so for me.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

And you said I'm moving to America. Oh, no, no, no. So oh, wow, it's a huge, it's a long story behind it. So for me abuse happened in a home. The physical and the sexual, emotional abuse happened in the home, between for me and my brother as well. But for me I channeled mine to school. So I was really good in school and I would take first in my class and then in the village.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

So a girl child is not like pushed to go to school, like if you get to grade seven it's like, oh, it's time for you to get married. So for me, after middle school my friends were already getting married, my playmates and they were like she has to go get married too, because I already had somebody that I was supposed to get married to. So my auntie was like she's really good in school and we're not really paying any money towards the school. The school is paying, she's getting scholarship. Let him go marry someone else or let him just wait for her to go at least finish high school. So she kept lobbying for me and she and my um, my, my sister, and that's how I put I got pushed all the way to college. Time for college they were like no, so the elders, the men make the decision. They were like nope, it's time for her to get married, her college is at baby number two and she's here, wants to go to school. A girl child doesn't have to go to that, like she already has. She can read and write, that's enough.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

But I really wanted to go to college so I got a scholarship to study. Our university was new then, so my country is colonized by the British, so we will have colleges from the UK do exchange programs or have some scholars come and teach us for a year or so like a pro bono kind of work. So there was a program introduced at the time that I joined as computer science. So I was really good in mathematics so that made sense to me. So that's what I did and I had a scholarship because it's maths. I did a major in computer science and a minor in mathematics. So the scholarships are not many, like they're not a thing. But chances are higher for me because not many girls in computer science and mathematics. So I got the scholarship, completed it.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

In the final semester I got an internship to work as a software engineer in one of the only two software companies and the connections for you to get jobs like this was coming from my village that has no power, no water, running water. It was more like somebody has to connect to you, like you have to have like the kids from the city, their parents work in the government and the scholarship come and they do it down to them. Nothing gets to people like us. Yeah, one of my friends uh, family member knows the person that was opening that software company and they were looking for people. So they hired her and when she went to went, went for internship the boss told her do you know anybody? Because you're really good, do you know anybody you know who can come and work for me? You're like, well, I have this friend, I can call her. She's really come and work for me. She was like well, I have this friend I can call her, she's really good. And then she called me and it was like my boss wants you to come and I was like I don't have any money to come to the city right now. I'm at school. She was like just borrow money and come, we'll give it to you. So I went, did an interview, passed the interview and he was like you're hired today, so I started working there and he'll give me stipends and I use that for transportation because sometimes I go to school with no food and yeah, so so that's how I started.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

So during that time I was like there are not many girls doing IT, especially computer science or mathematics. So I started a non-profit organization that teaches girls how to code. So we'll take the used computers you started that, I started that. So the computers, computers from the work, the used one that they're using we take that and I mobilize some of the guy friends that I work with. I would just go from different villages and just teach them basic IT stuff. Just the school and the schools will send girls and we teach them. So it kind of blew up in different regions and people were adopting, doing it and people getting donations to get computers, to teach people, sensitize them on it and stuff like that.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

So there's this program that was created by the us government by the time uh obama was the president. It's called mandela washington fellowship for young african leaders. Yeah, fellowship that take a focus on young community leaders that are doing amazing work. So they keep sending me this link at work and I'm like because when I go home there's no internet, so I have internet when I go to the city to work, right. So I say, well, I'll apply tomorrow.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

And I'm like I don't think they want me. These people are looking for people that are fighting domestic violence, war and amazing things, not this IT stuff. But I was like, well, it's free, let me just apply, so I apply. And they called me to the interview to the US embassy. I went after the interview. They sent us an email and said you are going to the next phase of the interview. And then I kept going. And then I was like, oh, this is going somewhere. Yeah, eventually, out of 40,000 applicants, they chose me to come and I studied at Northwestern University and I get to meet President Obama before he left office in 2016.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

That is crazy. That must have been such a dream.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

Yes, I was on the news. My auntie was so proud, my sister, they were taking all the accolades Like people were coming to them. Whoa, you guys did great and I'm like I'm the one that worked hard. Thank you, thank you, thank you. We knew this would happen. I was like, okay, you can take all the alcoholics because you did good, but yeah, and then you got to stay in America.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

Yeah. So before I came, I was like I don't want to go back. If I go back, I'm still going to be marrying that guy Because even though he has a wife already, we have multiple wives. They have multiple, which is the normal culture, and I'm like I'll be second or third wife. I want to go back.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

So by the time I was doing the interviews and I'm going from one interview to another, I said let me apply for colleges here. So I had a friend here that helped me pay for the application fee I think it was like $30 or less than $100 and I applied to one university in Illinois and I applied to all the scholarship on their website, some of the course scholarship I don't even qualify for. So I saw one that's for international students, but for international students that are already in the university, like maybe they're on their fourth or second semester, right. But I was like, let me just apply. I mean, after I went and checked I realized, oh is, I did not qualify for this. And I was like I guess that's why they didn't message me, email me back.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

And then a few days later they emailed me and said, well, we never do this. This is the first time we did it. Your application was really great. We want to give you a shot. So they sent me a. They said we'll give you an interview, but it's the first time we're doing it. So here's the Skype link for the interview. The interview was at midnight in my time. I was like first of all, I don't have Internet at home. I don't have a laptop.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

I have to be at work. So I told my boss, hey, can I stay tonight? And he was like for what? And I was like I have an interview from the US and it's midnight here. I was like, well, I'll tell the caretaker who takes care of the office that you'll be spending the night, so they know that you'll be here. So I did the interview. That's the first time I've seen five white people together, because in my village you don't see, you don't see. I was like. I was like white people.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

You're like who are?

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

all these white men asking me all these questions in their suits too, like in the movies.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

I was like, just like the movies, but a village girl like I've never seen that before. So I was like, okay, I was panicking at the beginning but God helped me. All the questions I was answering them and I was going and they didn't show any emotions like oh, you're doing great or anything.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

They really don't face cold. Yeah, don't fail. I was like maybe I'm not. I was like, maybe I'm not. I was like, whatever it is, I tried and this is a blessing for me to even come to this level, for them to even consider me, and that's how it happened. The next day, after the interview, they were like don't contact us, we'll let you know. It's a whole process. It's intense. There's so many candidates.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

The next day I go to work, there's an email saying you were so impressive, we can't wait to have you at the university full scholarship.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

That's how God works. I think God shined his light on you. Yeah, so that's how it works. So when I came for the fellowship after that completed, I started the, the master's program with the university. So the scholarship is more like I work for the university and I like data. I like a data analyst job and they would give me my tuition and give me a thousand dollar stipend.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Wow, and that was at which college 2016.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

Yes, it's college. Which one, so University of Illinois.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Illinois. Okay, so you're in Illinois, yeah.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

So you were kind of all over before.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Now, how did you land over in Georgia I?

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

know. So my. So at the time when I they didn't know that when I come for the fellowship cause, my auntie told her oh, she's going to come for the fellowship, she's going to come back and then she can get married or whatever you guys want, right, finally. But then she didn't tell them about the second scholarship. So the plan was, when I come I can continue and do my program. But because I have two visas one for presidential guests, one for student visa I have to leave with one and come back in.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

So I left, I met President Obama on a Thursday, I believe it was August, on the 5th. I had to leave to go to Africa and come back like in two days, and it takes like one and a half day or two days to go. So when I got back I left all my stuff at Northwestern and only took the bags that were going to be for their gifts and when I went there dropped it. The next day I went on a flight to come back. So most people did not even get to see me, they just heard oh she's here, you come back.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

So some most people did not even get to see me. They just heard oh she's here, you need to get out.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

Why are you still get out? Yeah, so they know, oh, she's not coming back for this marriage. And they were like my auntie was like now that they're off your back, you know the dowry and all of that has to be paid back, because you know we do dowry. It's more like you get you have to give back the engagement ring, basically. So that's what. What's happened and I met, uh, my husband. Me and my husband got married in 2017. So I met my husband in college back home, but we were friends then, but he had come to the US he's two years ahead of me in college, so he had had a scholarship to study here in the US as well. So we reconnected and got married. So I told my auntie I'll find you here in the US.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

So you have one husband, one wife married in America and you're out of all of that.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

Yeah out of all of that. So I met. He's a different tribe, so from my tribe. I usually didn't want that. They want you to marry in your tribe, but that's how it happened. We're married now with two kids.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Oh, you know, honestly, I could just talk about your story all day long. I mean, it's just, it's amazing, like how the different countries and the different cultures and you know, raised kind of like an orphan and on a compound and with the abuse and the sexual and the physical like that's so that's so much that some people could never overcome that. And then you came over here and you got all this great education and then you married someone that you knew that's over here and you got all this great education. And then you married someone that you knew that's over here and you have this amazing life and all of those things like prepared you, I guess, along the way to be the amazing Yami that you are today.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

Thank you. It's something that I look at. Sometimes I cry when I think about, like, what I've been through, like when I have deja vu, like when I see a box, my mind goes to when I have, when I wasn't allowed to sleep on the bed. I was allowed. I was sleeping on the floors because I used to pee in bed and, if you know, abused kids usually have that trend in them and I was. I was. I was forced to sleep on the on the floor, like dirt floor, not carpet or anything like.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

This is poverty in a village, and you haven't seen an African village. Just Google it and see typical African village, how it looks like. So that, like when I see boxes or I smell something, my mind goes to an abuse that happened to me, yeah. So, yes, it's painful, but I'm grateful for what God has done in my life, what he has done for me. So when I, when I completed my my master's program 2018, my husband then used used to live in California. He used to work for this company, payroll company, adp, and they moved him to Georgia before I graduated. So when we got married, it wasn't mine, because my auntie was like they're forcing me for you to get married. If you're not going to come back, then you need to find somebody. So before I, I graduated, we got married, and when he when. When I completed, I just moved to Georgia to meet him here.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

So that's so. I'm assuming he's a nice guy that treats you well and all the abuses behind you, and you're in a wonderful, loving, godly marriage. Yes.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

Yes, tell him.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Antoine will come there and kick his ass. No, he's amazing.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

I don't tolerate that. I'm mama bear for everyone. I don't tolerate that. I'm the type of person. So make sure he's in check. I'll let him know.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

I'll come and pick him up and take him up to my house with my backhoe and we'll find that body. My daughter was in an abusive one. I was like, listen, you touch that girl again. I'm going to hkill you while you're sleeping. I'm going to bury you in the backyard by the dog.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

I hate people that abuse, especially people that abuse kids.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Oh man, me too, me too, I am such a mama bear and I've got like my little nine-year-old granddaughter here with me now and I'm just like we were talking about that in bed laying in bed last night just talking about it, and I said no, mimi laying in bed last night just talking about, and I said no, mimi is like the protective one of the family. I know we have pappi, I know you have a mom and dad, but I'm gonna type it. We're walking down the street and something comes up. I'm stepping in front of everybody and I will kill a mofo. Then nobody hurt anybody. My kids, none of my kids, nothing's ever happened. None of my daughters.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

I said no, no maybe don't play like that crazy too about my kids, looking at my kids next to me. When you see a child, you're like how can somebody do anything to a child so innocent? It's just beyond me.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

It is beyond me. So many kids have their innocence stolen. It's a shame, it doesn't have to happen. But there has to be adults. You're 35. You've got kids, so you're a full grown adult. Now. People like you know you're 35, you got kids, so you're a full-grown adult now. People like you have to watch out for that and you know there's no way to stop it if other people don't get into. Oh, I don't want to get involved. It's like, yeah, but you know what you have to kids can't defend themselves.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

When does it stop? When who's gonna stop it if you don't get involved?

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

I'm with you, okay, so I love your story. I could really talk about your story forever. You are, you are literally the american dream. You came from some place and poverty. And you came to america the right way, like through the documents and not crossing over the border down in mexico, coming in with like drug addicts and gang members. And you came in and you got all your papers, you got degree, you're smart. It's like like I wish you had more people like you, thank you. I look at the Mexican border and see all those people just piling in with nothing and sending little kids just alone. It's like these poor kids, like I don't know how any of them are ever going to make it. They need to be in the right system. You know, like the presidential thing and meeting the president, like how thrilling was that, it was amazing.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

He was amazing. It was amazing to meet him and having that opportunity to come in from a village, from nothing to that it was mind blowing to me.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Did you meet him at the White House?

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

Yeah, no, we met at a hotel nearby the White House, so it was like a conference setting Nice.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Is he like gorgeous and big smile in person it was gorgeous and he was really funny.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

It was a few days before his birthday. I believe I met him august 3rd, I think that was a day before his birthday or day after, I'm not sure. But like, oh, you can say happy birthday to him and stuff. He wasn't really. He just walked in in the hall. They were like secret service everywhere. They were like, okay, he's gonna walk in in any of these doors, because they don't really tell you what door. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was expecting, oh, that door and I'm looking like this and he just walked like this. I'm like all the training that they gave me about how to behave, everything went away oh, of course it does.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

That's how you mean the queen. You're just like uh curtsy, I don't know, I don't know, all right. So now you have all that amazing, crazy knowledge. You are clearly smart as a whip and you are building um wealth from rentals. Yes, so how did that transition happen? Yeah, so, a lot of. I'm a big fan of rentals myself, so I love to hear how this happened.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

Of course, of course a lot of people ask me that question like how did you know you want to invest in real estate? So it goes back to me 8-year-old, 10-year-old, laying down on the floor. I go to the shopkeeper and have the shopkeeper give me boxes you know, like moving boxes, empty boxes, and that's what I would use to sleep on in the morning. I pee on them, I go throw them out, right. So at night, of course they're a box. I'm sitting right on the floor. If it rains, the door is right there. So at night I wake up and kill the box from my neck, from my wall and stuff like that.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

So my goal. So if you're going through anything, your goal is like if you're thirsty, all you want to do is drink, right. If you're hungry, all you want to do is eat. You don't care about anything. So for me, it was like my goal as a child was like I'm jealous of kids. I look up to kids that have a house, that have a mom. You know they have a dad, they have this. Those are the things that I look up to. So for me it's like when I grow up I'm going to buy a house. I didn't know it was going to be multiple houses, but I said I'm going to have pillows, so those are the things that I used to dream about. So I always knew I wanted that. I was like I'm going to work so hard and get a house of my own right and I can't buy myself a mom but I can buy.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

If I work hard, I can buy it. I'll be your adoptive mom. You can call me for anything. Girl, you're the same age as my kids. I will help you through all the things in life. Thank you, thank you so when I came I mean it with all my heart. I love you so much.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

Oh, thank you so much. You're going to make me cry. But then goes back to when I was in college, when I was doing my master's program, I was given a thousand dollars stipend. Almost 400, 450 or about 500 goes to student insurance, which is very expensive international medical insurance, because it's a short insurance, right. And then the 500, I use it for boss fare to go to the campus and back and I have a roommate that I could share a room with. So my expenses are less on rent and internet and all that stuff. So I'll be left with maybe $50, $40. And I'll use that for food. So of course it's not enough. I'll be For the whole month. Yeah, for the whole month. So what I'll do is I'll go to the university. That's what I do. I'll go buy noodles.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

Also, when I'm tired of eating noodles, I go to the auditoriums in the university. You know where they have events and stuff like that. They have lemonade and crackers and stuff outside and wait for the person organizing his packing and stuff. I'll say, hey, you want to? I'll help them pack. And I say, hey, what are you gonna do with this? They're going to throw them. Oh, I said, can I take it? They're like, yeah, so I take those bottles and stuff and I keep them home in the crock and so that kept me. Sometimes it's cheese, they have cheese and grapes, you know. So I just take those.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

Just say, hey, I'm looking for a roommate or we're looking for three roommates. We only have two, we need one more. So the lesser, the more roommates you have, the lesser you get the pay. I was like, okay, if I have a roommate that's like more roommates, I'll be able to save money, right, so I can put that to feeding. So I realized what these parents will do is buy a property close by the college, realized what these parents will do is buy a property close by the college, have their child stay in one bedroom and rent out the other rooms. Yep, rent the rooms out to us like international students for a mattress, so in one room you can have three to four mattresses. So I realized, with one property, like one room is paying for the whole mortgage.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

I was like this is amazing, I'll have to do this when I when I start working. So that's what I was working. I was like this is amazing, I'll have to do this when I start working. So that's what I was working, I was like I started investing, looking into real estate, like reading real estate. I was so invested in it like podcasts. I love reading. I can't afford the book, so what I will do is read, watch interviews, people's interviews on real estate, their portfolio, their journey, and join networking events that are free online. That's what I would do and eventually, when I graduated, I moved to Georgia with my husband and I have my son then and I have to with international student. When you graduate, you have to get a job within one year and have a company sponsor your visa, or then you have to go back. So I was terrified. I was like I need to get a job, so I'm applying for a job I'm not going back.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

Yeah, I'm not going back to that life. So I escaped that I'm not going back. So I applied for every job that I see and eventually I got this walking with this recruiter and he sent me this job application. I didn't even know what the CDC was, I just applied, I just wanted a job, okay. And after the interview they were like the interview has so many rules, like, don't be quiet, do that, do that. And I was like, okay, fine, I'll just do it. I've been doing the interviews and I'm not getting it. Sometimes I'll get the job. And they were like oh, but we can't sponsor your visa, so you just have to find out how to get a green card somewhere else or something. So I can't do that, so I'll just let go of that job. So with this job I didn't even. The recruiter didn't even ask me. I think he assumed I already have a green card, which I didn't. I was a student visa, student visa. So I did the interview.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

The interview was like at the beginning was chaos, because they said be quiet, let it no noise or whatever. The apartment complex that I was living at. I went to the, to the porch you know the back porch so I can have quiet and peace. Close the slide door and everything. And then the apartment comes. I decided to cut the lawn that day. So I ran with the laptop inside and I was like I'm so sorry I didn't know they were going to cut the lawn today. Everything was like hello, they're like, yeah, go ahead. Like they're frustrated. So I I was like, oh, there goes that interview, I don't think I'm going to do it, but I did my best anyways.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

30 minutes, one hour later, the recruiter called me. He was like did you even know who you interviewed for? And I was like, no, he said, well, it was the government. That was the CDC Do. How am I supposed to know? How would you know the CDC? Yeah, so he was like well, they love you so much, they want to offer you the job.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

So I got the job through there and he was like oh, send me your green card on all your documents and stuff. I said, well, I don't have a green card. He said what? I was like oh my God, there goes that job. He and said, well, it's fine, they're good with that. And that's how I started walking there, and this was 2019. So I worked there for like six months. Then COVID happened. Oh yeah, yeah. Then COVID happened. So that was that. But during that time I had saved for at least 8,000 from the three, four months of work and I've already been reading real estate and watching podcasts and stuff. I'm a reader, so I buy books on Amazon real estate books and I'll listen to podcasts like BiggerPockets and all that?

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Did you read my books right there? See my three books. Yep, I have three bestsellers right there. You better be reading my books.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

I'm going to be reading it, You're going to send it to me and I'm going to buy them. I have to read them. I have to read it. Yeah, so that's how I started. I got $8,000 saved up. So I was like everything that I've learned from the books and the you know, the podcast is really what they say is connect with a local bank, connect with a local bank, connect with a local bank. So I said, okay, where else do I know that I can buy, Because I can't buy where I live in Georgia, but let me see where I can find that's cheaper. So I went back to my roots, which is Illinois. Right, I went to college there.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

So I look outside of Chicago, one hour, two hours away from Chicago, to a smaller town where I can afford. I found this property that is 52,000 and the person was going through a divorce, the couple and they just wanted to sell. They listed it for $75,000 or something like that. I got it as $52,000 on the contract. So what happened is, when I contacted the local banks most of them with my accent they just hang up. They don't even know what I'm saying, which is understandable, because I couldn't understand what some of them say. But they would hang up and I called most of them and some will say, no, you're not qualified or they don't tell me why I don't qualify. So I get one bank to listen to me.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

And the lady was like I see that you have so much passion for this. If I were you, it's like you're a newborn baby because your social security is new. If I were you, go open a credit card. I didn't know what a credit card was right, Because I was just given a debit card and I was just given a thousand dollars stipend, so I didn't know what that was. I was like go you work for CDC, right. Go get a secure line of credit, build the credit, open a Capital One or Discover card and start building pay utilities and all that stuff. And then I didn't know how to drive, so I don't have any expense. I take the bus to work and the train and back and the bus would pick me up from the train station back. So I didn't have any expenses except daycare for the kid and one of the ladies that I knew that's from back from my country. I met at the grocery store babysits the baby for me, so I paid her daughter $200, so I didn't have any like a lot of expense, right, yeah? So she was like go do that and come back in two years you'll be ready to buy a property.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

I was like I've learned so much about real estate in this short period of time. I don't want the fire to die down. I want it now. So I went back and I told her well, I've done everything you said. I've opened the credit cards and everything. I've started building it. However, I found this property is $52,000. The down payment would be like less. I have negotiated for the seller to pay for the closing cost. They just want to sell and be done and settled. And I said it's already rented Just how much they say it's rented. Now, here are the numbers. So I'm going to date another. So I presented to her and I was like well, I'm not promising anything, but I'll give it to the underwriting team. And the next day she was like well, the underwriting team said what's the scenario? One tenant will be able to pay your mortgage, which will be $350. And it's all on Section 8, so their new is guaranteed money.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

So that's how that happened and I started with that one property and scaled Nice. Wow, I'm telling you what a great story. I love to hear how people like what the first step was and the second step. But your journey, I mean your journey starts back as a child to escape, and then all this education, and then now you're in America and you're you're like living the American dream. You're buying rentals, yes, and so now that you have that person, so now, what is it that you mainly do now?

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

So now? So I started buying those cheaper properties, doing section eight, getting the cashflow. So the cashflow started coming from 2000 to 3000 to 6,000, 10,000. So I'm like, okay, now I can buy more. So I'm buying portfolios, I'm buying like five properties at a time and have my contractors fix it up. So I was doing that.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

And 2021, that's when everybody was tired of the lockdown. Everybody wanted to travel, right In Atlanta. It was like everybody was like, oh, airbnb, there's Airbnb, there are travel nurses and that. And I was like, well, I'm already an investor out of state, right, how about I take this business model and put it in smaller towns that have hospitals where I'm already investing? So that's what I took, that the same model, and I'll buy properties that are like 80,000, a 12 apartment complex for 150, 145. And I'll renovate it, put 80,000 in it and rent it out to 12 nurses. One property was bringing me like 12,000. One of them was bringing me like 22,000. So that's how I got started.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

Of course, the bank was like this model is not going to work here. This is a small town. I was like, well, it will work. My mortgage is only 1,200. If it doesn't work out, I can still rent it on market rent and it's going to cash flow.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

When I did it, the lenders themselves asked me to show them how to do it and they started doing it themselves. So I ran to business professionals. I have contract with companies, insurance companies and I'll house their people. So I'll buy the properties, fix it up while my contractors are fixing it, whatever they had done. Whatever unit is done, I just buy stuff beds, couches, tvs on Amazon and I'll just ship it there and I'll just travel and furnish it over the weekend and come back. So now I don't travel. My property managers do the furnishing for me because I have a whole team now, but I used to do it myself. So that's how I scale my portfolio. So I do midtown rentals and now I buy in Georgia. I buy in different states and I just entered the commercial property. I just purchased my first self-storage facility two, three months ago.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

I today, facility two, three months ago. I tell you, girl, you have such huge things in front of you. Thank you, such huge things in front of you. You know, when I first started buying my first rental, I went when my daughter was only eight months old. My husband and I split up like really unexpectedly, and I lost my house and my car and like everything I I had $75 in my purse. I was like the heck, am I going to do right now? So I actually got into real estate investing and my first rentals for like a decade I bought all section eight and I'm like, hey, these women, you know, same situation, they've got no man, they have multiple kids, they, you know, you, you, you want to raise your kids in a house, a nice house, and so I still, to this day, I'm a big fan.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

I've been renting Section 8 rentals for 30 years and I still love it. But I work with the moms that are using the program properly. They're supposed to go to college, get a degree and then, when they get a job, then the government pays. They take whatever 50 bucks out of their paycheck and they match it, and they match it up until they can qualify for a first-time homebuyers loan and then they're able to buy a house and have home ownership and the job and they're off section eight. And so I've had most of my girls over the last 25 years work all the way through the system and get college degrees and and get, and then they always want to buy my rental.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

I've been living here for 10 years. You changed my life. I want to buy this rental. I was like, no, not that rental. So I end up selling. If they do want it. I I sell that rental to them because you know they they work really hard for it. Yeah, that's their home, that's their home.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

And so I'm uh, when you said that I'm like I and a lot of people I go along, so like those people in section eight, it's like what? Those? What does that mean? I said those are just poor people that need a break and you know there's a system. Now there are other people, I'm sure you'll know as you go along, that are section eight lifers. Their mom was on it, they're on it, they're on it, their grandma's on it, they're lifers.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

So I don't ever rent to lifers. I rent to people that are like I want to get ahead in life and I want to break this. I just need help right now. Yes, I want to break this poverty streak that my family is stuck in.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

But almost all the people that have rented for me and one guy had one, only one male tenant. He had six kids, his wife passed away and and he's like he worked at a butcher for the public's grocery stores with a butcher and he still had section eight. He's like I just I don't want to give my kids all the relatives. I'm gonna keep my kids together. You know, in the black community I think a lot of black men don't always want to keep all their kids together. They're like well, you, well, you have to live with the aunts and you know there's other people that will help me. And William's like no, all my kids staying with me, I'm raising them all. I don't want no one in my family. Everybody wants my kids. It's like I'm raising my own kids and I was like how you can rent from me till that last child turns 18. I have no.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

And he was one of my most favorite tenants out there because he would work on the house and the kids would work in the yard. He's like I'm not splitting up my family. Everybody wants to split up my family and you know, help out. And the thing I can't raise my kids is I'm raising my kids. I love him. I know I loved him. I hated to see him leave. I was like, oh, I was heartbroken, but you know, you want it's like, nah, the kids have moved out, it's just me. But I was like so proud. So I feel really proud about being able to help like that, because you know, I was a broke single mom and I had my car repossessed and I was bouncing for clothes no money.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

The story, yeah, and it's like I was fired from Denny's. I worked at Denny's, they fired three o'clock in the morning from Denny's. It's like where do you go from there? And I had all the comfort of being raised in America. So now look at you now best seller, oh best seller. And so now I'm just like the best thing that ever happened to me is the best thing that ever happened to me. So okay. So now you're doing. Uh, so you started off with your own. You bought your own house. I had a tenant. So you're doing. So you started off with your own. You bought your own house. I had a tenant. So your first thing you bought was a rental.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

Yeah. So I buy a rental and the property manager. So when I close on the property, that's when I realized the property manager lied, the agent lied, the numbers were not true. One of the tenants hasn't paid for months. One of them was about to leave. The other one hasn't paid for like two months, so hasn't paid for months. One of them was about to leave, the other one hasn't paid for like two months. So what I did is the one that just left, I just convert, because I was like this is all my money, this is all I have in this property. Yeah, there's nothing else. So I was like I need to fix this and that's I learned. Everything that could go wrong in a deal went wrong, like the numbers went sometimes.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

That's not a bad thing, though, because you really like you get thrown into the deep end it's not.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

It's not because if I didn't learn that I wouldn't I wouldn't be where I am right now. So what happened? Thanks to god, he's helped me every step of the way and I I was like this is it? I have to fix this. So the first, the unit that was empty, we cleaned it out and rented out because the person was moving out, because they wouldn't pay. And remember, you couldn't evict anyone during covid time and you could not. So we rented that unit to section eight that was that was vacant, and the lady downstairs uh, she hasn't paid for months the previous owner. So now that I'm the owner, I, the money comes to me.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

So what happened is there was the city had a um, they were helping out, you know, covid, the what's it called, the relief that they were giving, yeah, yeah, so many organizations were giving relief for rents, people that are back on rent, so, but you have to apply with your landlord together and the rent goes to the landlord. So it's not like, oh, I'm applying, you take the money, so it goes to the landlord. So we applied together and we she won about eight thousand, close to nine thousand, and I used that to fix up the other unit upstairs. I'll give that lady cash for keys to leave the one upstairs. And then I converted that unit as well and rented on section eight and it's been over cashflow in 2000. But then it was like 1009 something. Now it's over because rent has increased over 2000 a month. So I was like I need to do it again. So I started looking in other states, other properties as well. So I found one in Cleveland and I started growing there as well.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Nice, well, I tell you what, honey, you just I mean, you have really, you have just really hit the nail on the head with every little thing that you're doing. Now, what does your husband do? He's a software engineer. He's a software engineer, so he's got his job. He likes it. You're out here and you're being the mogul and you're the millionaire maker.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

He doesn't like real estate. I force him, but he's like ah, that's all your stuff, he's not into it.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

But you know how much you've done on your own is amazing. Yeah, thank you, it is amazing and you love it. So, at our wonderful family, we always want to know what is your next biggest goal that you're working on and how can we help you achieve your next big goal.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

Okay, I don't know if you guys can help me. But I have two kids. I have a five-year-old and a one-year-old and I want more kids, but my husband is like we're done, so I want to take out my birth control and be accidentally pregnant.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Okay, well, I will pray that over you, girl, Take out that brotherhood. Claim that in the name of Jesus Baby's coming.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

I want a baby, I want another one. I'm not done with two, I want more kids. I love kids, but that's one thing. That's my biggest personal goal and financial goal.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

He'd get mad if you accidentally turn up pregnant.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

That's what I would say. Well, I forgot to tell you I took out the back control.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

What is he going to do? You know what? He'll love it, cause he grew up where you grew up, right?

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

Yes, he did, okay, so he's probably you know His dad had two wives, so he has brothers and a lot of sisters. So I don't know why he doesn't. We cannot have any more wives.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

We don't do that over here.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

No, no, no, not him, no, no no.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

We're claiming in the name of Jesus yeah, I'm just having babies. You can also adopt some kids too.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

No, I do have 17 that I adopted. So I have started a nonprofit organization to help kids just like me, and I started with four kids for five years and now I have added more and I have 17 in total. Are they here in the?

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

States. No, they're in Africa, nice, so you have a 17 kid that you've adopt over there, and then there you're in control of their living situation a little bit better. Yes, yes, I am. You are a powerhouse, sunny. I have not met very few women at your age that have done this many things, and you're doing so many good things for humanity and stuff too. Thank you, thank you so much.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

Take out that birth control girl. I have some more babies. Yeah, that's. That's my personal goal. My financial goal is I want to buy more commercial deals. I've always wanted to get into the self-study facility. I just broke in. It's so hard to find a deal. Somebody just snatch it up, but that's. I want to scale on the commercial side. Probably a strip mall, that's something I always wanted. A warehouse you know those land that you buy, you convert it to warehouse and Amazon rents from you. I'm speaking it all out there.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Hey, listen, the Bible says God tells you to speak it into existence, as if it already is. Yes, that's what I'm saying.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

When people tell me like, oh, I'm manifesting to the universe. I'm like no, don't do that. Do what the Bible says, Like the name of Jesus. I'm speaking this into the world. You speak it into existence as if it already is. Like God literally tells you how to get things that you want. Speak them into existence. I have a strip mall. I have this. Thank you, lord, for that strip mall. It's coming my way, yes. In my religion even in Jesus, not into the whole universe. So that's a bunch of hoo-ha.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

Yeah, in my religion, in the Quran, it says God is like how you imagine him too. So if you say God is going to bless me with this, that's how you perceive him. You can get anything you want. It's like manifesting, but actually speaking it out spiritually.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

I do it all the time.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

I do all the time too.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

I'm in this little town here. We're in clinton, iowa, right now. My husband and I we live, uh, in colorado. We have a house in florida and he's from clinton. We started coming back for high school reunions and it's like they have this downtown like right over here at the downtown, and I was like bill, this little downtown is like half of it's boarded up and it looks like a little town. Right, people got a hold of it and bought some buildings and fixed them up and put more businesses. This would be like a little antique shopping food. So we started doing that five years ago and we have purchased 28 buildings. Wow, that's amazing. So we are straight out rehaming a town and I never, I never thought, thought, I mean, if you would even told me 10 years ago, hey, you guys are gonna, you're gonna turn around a town I'd be like find a block, but then they got one building.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

I was like, lord, we need more buildings and you know we want to turn this town around. And then we ended up, so we got a storage unit and a couple of that and we've got a building right next door with a four-story apartment building with two floors of commercial downstairs, two floors of apartments, commercial at the top, and it's just like and we just so I said okay. So first of all, we're stopping at 28 because, like that's really a lot. But since we've come here, this little town, like every thursday they block off the downtown street and have music on the avenue. Like two weeks ago, like 1700 people came out to music downtown.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

That don't even know that that downtown's vibing and changing and getting revitalized and there's restaurants and there's we have an antique. So I had no, nothing about this. We open an antique store, a marketplace and a coffee shop and a clothing boutique. It's like, well, I know enough, you get a building and you rent out a hundred spaces to other vendors that bring in their own things. I got them in the running cash register, I'll do that. So we have personally, even in my own, five years so many more things that I've never done.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

I love the way mine was I need to read all those books right there. So I was just like, ah, what the heck. So every time we're just like Lord, just open the door. So we just do the same thing we speak it into existence. The town is getting better. It's getting amazing. Thank you for the fast food and welcome.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Building up and like this Friday is a big giant sidewalk sale about three. So the town is like the, the mississippi uh, mississippi river's here, so illinois, and we crossed the bridge. We're in iowa, so it's right across the bridge, the mississippi river, so downtown, three blocks wide and three blocks deep, so it's just a little area. Well, by buying that extra two parcels of land, it gave us boating rights, so extended it a block each way, which bought some other businesses in, and so now they're doing like friday's a sidewalk sale. Everything's staying open till 10 o'clock at night.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

There'll be a thousand people down here shopping, and we do wine walks and we do halloween walks, and we have christmas, and we do christmas in july, we do all this stuff. And I was like and we do Christmas in July, we do all this stuff. And I was like there you go, and it's not all us, it's not all us. Other people had a business here and there. But if you have three blocks and half of them are board and half of them are open, people feel kind of creepy about walking around. Now everything's open, even people that haven't finished their building on the inside. The outside's done and beautiful and it looks a hundred percent different than it looked five years ago. I love that.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

So, what do we do when we finish this town? Do we, do we find another town?

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

I'd be fun to move to another town for like one year, two years and build that up and say, yeah, we're done here, let's go find another town.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Let's go find that you don't to come out of here. You're not that far. You have to come out here to Clinton Iowa Sometimes. Stay for a couple of days. I'll show you all my bill, all of our stuff and what we did.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

I'm going to. I'm going to. Are you going to text me afterwards?

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Yeah, I'll give you everything, but I'm telling you it is uh, but during that time everybody watched out for us and other people and other investors said, hey, buy something in this town. And the whole town is like it's completely different than it was five years ago.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

And I was like God's hand in that. And I know for a fact that a lot of that happened because we didn't buy one building and everybody else says we bought 20. And we bought a couple more. And then we bought a couple more and then we're like how many do we need to control the vote on what happens downtown? If you have 28 parcels? The two blocks over was a storage unit and then three big giant buildings side by side, but each one was a parcel and they're like for semi trucks and they have all the cranes in them and the parking lot, so it was like five or six parcels. Well, that put us over the vote, the next time being we're saying, oh, we want to do music and this and that no, and I said no, but we have extra votes now. So here's what we're going to do. That's power right there.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

I'm like listen, I'm a gangster. I tried to play nice with everybody. I got half my stuff voted down for a year. I was like no, I don't play like that. I have a big dream, a big vision and y'all won't vote with me because I only tried it 10 years ago. It didn't work. I'm like but look at the town now. So we got enough parcels and they just go. Okay, what do you guys want to do? Like, oh glad you asked, that's amazing, I love that. So you're a gangster too? We're downstairs, that's what you gotta be. Hey, listen, everybody you know. Yes, every business downtown is like man, I can't believe how much better we're doing than we did a couple years ago. It's like you're just changing lives. Changing lives um so, um again.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

Tell me how people reach you yeah, you can reach me on instagram. I I'm more active on Instagram on Building Wealth from Rental, and also on Facebook and YouTube Building Wealth from Rentals.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

I love it. I love it. I would love to have you back on like in a year and see what you're up to. You're one of the people I'd really like to follow along and I will send you we'll text when I I'm done and if you ever get a chance to come out here while we're here, I would be so happy to have you come and just kind of show you something bigger that like I wouldn't have thought of something like this when I was 35. I only started investing when I was 30, but now I'm 65.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

It's like look, what we got going on now you look like 48, girl 65.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

I don't know how that happened, I don't know. I just woke up one day. It's like, oh my God, I'm 65. How?

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

did that happen. You know, time goes by. I feel like just yesterday I gave birth to my daughter. She's now one. I'm like how did you even become one? I can remember being pregnant, it's crazy.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

That's what I felt. My daughter turned 35 in December. I was like, can I remember? Just like, oh, and I was like now you're 35. I don't understand how the time went. I still feel I think in my mind I'm like stuck at 35. Yeah, I was working, I was rehabbing, I was in good shape, I was having kids. I was like the Girl Scout mom, the cookie mom, the homero. That's part of what helps me. Yeah, because my mind is like I love it. I'm in this town that graduated with my husband and he's 66. And they look like they're 100 years old. Yeah, how many colors their hair. How do you tell yourself they're all overweight, they all walk like they're half dead and it's like At the same age as we are. I don't understand.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

I think all you, god, live it up to you to to work on your mindset. I said that's it okay.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

So I have one more thing for you. So everyone, if you enjoyed the show today which I know you did I have to tell you I think you might be my favorite guest of all time I, you. You just came from such, a such a place of hardship that no one in America can really understand that. We really can't. I mean, the worst poverty that we have is like the inner cities and things like the Appalachian mounds. I just don't think people can understand what you came from, to be who you are and you and it didn't taint you Like you have a good spirit and you're happy and you're like, glowing and it's really. You are really a one in a million person. You need to claim that and accept that for yourself, because I'm telling you that you are. Thank you so much.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

So, everyone else listening, if you had a good time today, which I know you did, it's really important for those of us that do podcasts to have you follow, leave a five-star review and write something about how great it was. Also, follow me at Dwan-der-ful on Instagram, facebook, youtube, all the places, linkedin, dwan-der-ful. So what I did at Yalma was I took my name Dwan and wonderful, and I made a new word and I'm Dwan-der-ful.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

I love it and you are Dwan-der-ful. You actually look Dwan-der-ful. I'm Dwan-der-ful, so that's how that came to be.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

I just did a. And you are wonderful, you actually look wonderful, I'm wonderful. So that's how that came to be. I just did a play on my name. I thought, ah, that's kind of fun. And so the last thing is, I always like my guests to leave us just with one parting word of wisdom, but just one single word, one single word Consistency. I like that. So everyone that listens knows I tell them to take a little yellow sticky, write the word consistency, put it up on their mirror and every day that's the word of the week in this wonderful world consistency, consistency. But we want to know what it means to you, consistency means don't give up.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

Every time you on something, you don't go halfway and say, ah, it's hard, I'm going to leave. If I had done that, I would never be where I am right now. So I keep doing the same thing School. I keep studying, even though I'm getting people telling me, oh, you're going to go and get married soon, why are you even disturbing yourself and studying this hard? You're going to eventually drop out and go get married. Like everyone else. I keep pushing. I consistency. The same thing on my real estate business. The same thing in my applications to to universities consistency. I'm applying to different universities. The same thing with the banks, contacting all the banks. I'm getting rejection. I'm still consistent on doing what I keep doing, what I believe in, and God gave me what I prayed for and more. Yeah.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

Amen, girl, amen, I love it. So that's what it means. Folks Just don't give up. I tell people all the time people you know I do a lot of coaching and mentoring and people go oh, that one deal was so hard. I don't know if this is for me. It's like it's one deal I'm 2000 deals in a town.

Yamundow Canara - Yamu:

Don't tell me it's hard, I know it's hard, but if it was easy, everybody would do it. Everybody would do it. If it was easy, there will be no property left for you to buy in the first place.

Dwan Bent-Twyford:

All right. So, and again, thank you. I'm just really humbled to meet you. I just I love your heart so much. I can't even tell you how much I love you. And everyone will be back next week, same bat time, same bat channel. And remember that the truth is in the red letters. All right, everybody. Ciao, we'll see you next week. And, yamu, thank you so much for being on. You have just been such a joy. See you next week, everybody, thank you, bye.