8 - Debt Part 2

“I was three months behind on rent, living off peanut butter and graham crackers, but I told myself — this is going to make a great story one day.”

The Cost of Ambition
In this powerful continuation of Joe Wanner’s financial journey, Part II of the “Debt” series dives deep into the college years and young adulthood that tested his grit like never before. From working weekends in high school to fund gas and insurance, to being publicly showcased in a financial aid video while catering the event, Joe was constantly reminded that he came from less—and that drove him to want more.

Hungry and Hustling
Joe recounts moments of literal hunger, where his family’s lack of understanding around athletic nutrition led to skipped meals, and how he’d confide in close friends about not having enough food. By the time he entered college, he was used to hustle. From work-study cafeteria jobs to selling his Xbox, TV, and favorite Nikes to attend a business conference, Joe was all in on building a better future—even when that meant sleeping in frat house sewer water during spring break.

Drowning in Debt but Not in Defeat
Through network marketing, unpaid internships, and car payments he could barely afford, Joe shares his rawest financial lows. Living three months behind on rent, surviving on scraps, and walking past restaurants knowing he only had $7 to his name—these moments didn’t break him. They sharpened his purpose and solidified his resolve.

Built Through the Struggle
What sets this episode apart is Joe’s honesty in the discomfort. From building dreams on bus rides to working in gyms with no AC while wearing a suit, he makes it clear: the price he paid was steep, but it was necessary. Hope was his currency when money ran out—and the belief that one day, his story would serve someone else.

Conclusion
Joe’s journey from broke and behind on rent to building businesses, paying for his wedding in cash, and having millionaires on speed dial is a testament to what’s possible when you reject victimhood and embrace purpose. This episode is for anyone who’s ever felt like their financial situation is too much to overcome—because Joe proves it’s not.

If the information in these episodes have helped you in your business journey, please subscribe to the show and leave an honest review.

Chapters
01:26 Early Financial Challenges in High School
05:26 Transition to College Life and Financial Burdens
10:39 Struggles During College and Building a Business
18:16 Overcoming Debt and Finding Hope
20:33 Reflection on Growth and Success

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:31

Welcome to another episode of Built for the Cold Podcast. Too cold for the average Joe, just right for me and the listeners of this show. Where today I'm going to cover part two of the financial struggles and overcoming massive amounts of debt and heartache from not being able to afford things and some pretty um some pretty deep drastic stories that are near and dear to me just because it really formed like how I shaped who I am today and the success we've been able to have. And the one thing I really want to cover for you guys as you listen to this, please understand my heart that I know there's many people that have had way worse scenarios than this that have done way more than I have. I am not um ignorant of that. I'm very aware of that. And I also know there's people that have it way better off than I did. And I'm not bitter toward either. Just everyone has their own story. And if you can relate to different things here, fantastic. If you can't, that's cool too. This is just my story. But I want to share with you how I did not claim victim to my circumstances and found ways to overcome, even in some of the hardest financial heartaches and struggles, right? So going back real quick, just to do a quick recap, because in the last episode, I talked about the different things I experienced my senior year in high school, a couple different moments in time, just to touch on real quick, that I was kind of thinking more and more on. I just remember like when because I received so much financial aid, as I had mentioned before, that I remember because I was just always working. I was always working different jobs while I was in high school, right? Um, to be able to afford things like my gas and insurance. So I'd literally ref like probably six to eight games on a Saturday and then Sunday do a catering gig. So I never had like time off to hang out with people, party or whatever. I was just I was trying to pay for all my stuff and also get ready for for college. And I remember during one of the catering jobs I had, um, I actually was doing a job at my high school, kind of like an alumni uh luncheon where they were kind of asking for donations for the school to help people who receive financial aid. Well, lo and behold, I didn't recognize that me and my brother would be one of the featured videos at that luncheon where I remember seeing multiple of my classmates helping out with it, serving during it, their parents were there, and here's me and my brother on a big screen talking about how we don't come from money and how we're just grateful that the the school had given us a lot of financial aid. And I'm like working a catering job during that with the company I was with, and I just remember feeling like just embarrassed because I'm like, here I am around all my classmates, they have all these resources, they come from money, and I don't, and again, it was just a reminder. It was a constant reminder of how I have this chip on my shoulder financially that I have less resources, I come from less, and again, it's still impacted my self-image. You know, I'm like 17, 18 years old at this point, right? There was even some moments in time, this is gonna get pretty real, but my family, God bless them, but none of them really did sports to a high level, so they didn't understand the energy demands when it comes to like how much food you really need to be eating when you're weight training. I was training for track, and I was always hungry. To the point, my mom made multiple comments when I would like grab snacks or whatever. It's like, hey, if you're gonna eat that much food, like you're gonna need to buy some of that yourself. So I just kind of went without eating sometimes because that was just you know the perception of we just didn't need that much food. And I don't know if it was because my parents couldn't afford it or just because they didn't believe we needed that much. I don't really know to this day, especially mom and dad, if you're listening. I I don't I don't know, so I'm not saying like, hey, we couldn't make it put food on the table because my mom made home cooked meals, but I went hungry a lot. And I remember walking with my friends one time, one of my best friends from high school, still to this day, stay in touch with her. And I just remember a very humbling moment where I told her that. And I was like, hey, a lot of days, like I just don't I don't have the money for extra food or I'm doing what I can, but it is what it is. And she was like, Hey, if you ever just need to like come over to my place, I don't live too far from our high school, like you want to grab a snack and we can hang out and do homework or something, like don't feel bad. Like, I'm here to help you. And as grateful as I was for that, I just my heart sank because here I am kind of really just trying to get ahead and doing everything I can and feeling just so bogged down financially. Like I'm here thinking about like the food I have to eat, and I'm still trying to like train for track and be at a high-level athlete and everything else, and we just didn't, you know, there were times where I even remember I'd have to go like buy some groceries myself at the store or whatever, just because you know, and it's not that that's like the end of the world, it's really not, but being 17 or 18 and feeling like you know, you're you have that feeling of hunger, it's it's a very um humbling thing, if I were to describe that. So I'm gonna fast forward to Marquette, right? Because now I kind of got you up to speed of where I am going into college, and I was always working, like I worked in work study, and speaking of which, like I would um speaking of food, my first job in the college dorms was actually like serving food to all my peers and classmates. And Marquette is one of those schools where a lot of kids with again, a lot of money from Illinois or Minnesota or Wisconsin, not all of them, but a lot of them come from money, and so here I am serving food to a lot of kids that don't really have to think about where their next meal is coming from. Mom and dad got it covered, and I just remember those days where I'm just like constant, constant reminders. I had to take the bus everywhere because I didn't have a car I got to take or whatever. Remember, I flew on an airplane for the first time by myself, arrived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, took the bus, and that was my move-in day. Right? So I rem I remember those different moments in time. Again, just constant reminders. Like I feel like an underdog financially, like I can't, why can't I just get ahead? I feel so suffocated by this ability to not pay for anything, and all the subliminal programming of my background and upbringing, hey, we can't afford this, we can't do this because of money. And it just it drove me insane to the point of like I will fight tooth and nail to not have to think or worry about money. To the point at my sophomore year in college, I got into a network marketing business. Um, for those of you not familiar with the industry, you know, multi-level network marketing or whatever, you kind of sell different products, you recruit people. Nothing wrong with those businesses. I still have many friends that do them to this day and very supportive of it. But I also know there's been a lot of people who have bad experiences, including myself, with different types of business models, different mentors, stuff like that. That's a whole nother story for a whole different time. But I remember my sophomore year, I was an RA, right? So Ruben Board was covered because I was an RA, so thank God for that. Um, but all I remember I had like $300 to my name because I was just paying for everything. Remember, I paid my way through school. I only had a couple thousand bucks or whatever for my laptop, and that was it, and that was my college fund, right? So here I am with 300 bucks left to my name. This guy draws out this plan that talks about either you can work a job and it's kind of like taking a bucket to the stream every day, getting water, coming home. Do this, do it again, do it again, do it again. And then he drew out a pipeline. A pipeline is it takes a little longer, but once you set up a stream, right, and a pipe, your house gets as much water unlimited. And it's like, hey, we build pipeline income. I didn't even know what it was, I didn't really care. I'm like, I'm gonna do this because this is my opportunity. This is my opportunity to prove everyone wrong that I can make money, that I am meant to be financially successful. So I spent every last little dollar I had in my bank account. I had no credit cards at this time, and I went all in. To the point that there was a business conference in Richmond, Virginia two weeks from then, all right, that cost another 200 bucks. Then I had to do hotel and then the bus, and I had no money left. So, what was I gonna do? Well, I did what most 19-year-olds do, and I sold my Xbox, I sold my TV, and I sold my favorite pair of Nikes and a few of my different like favorite Nike clothes. Just kidding, most probably wouldn't do that. But I knew that if I paid the price no one else was willing to pay, I'd get results that very few could ever dream of. And I understood that at 19. So that's what I did. I sold my favorite pair of Nikes, TV, Xbox, everything. I did whatever I could, right? Fast forward a little bit. I remember as I'm building my business while I'm still in school, while I'm still working as an RA, everything else, they they all of a sudden announced that oh, spring break, like you have to go home. They closed the dorms. So even though I was an RA, I couldn't stay. So all of a sudden I had to find a place. I couldn't afford to fly all the way back to Oregon. So one of my buddies, he was very you know generous, but opened up his frat house. And this frat house was nuts, like it was a mess, it smelled weird, and just to give you a pretty it's not the best story, but I just remember waking up one morning and I was next to the upstairs bathroom, and I wake up one morning and I step on the ground and the carpet's like soaking wet. And I'm like, what the heck is this? Fortunately, my stuff was in a suitcase, right? And it wasn't really like damaged too much, but like everything was like wet. I'm like, what the heck? And I go to go use the bathroom and the toilet is flooded over, and I'm like, oh my god, I have sewer water I'm sleeping over. And that was for an entire week. And I just remember these stories and examples because every time it happened, all I remembered in my head was like, man, this is gonna make a great story one day. Man, this is gonna make a great story. That's all I could think of. Was it was gonna make a great story? Yes, it sucked, yes, it was annoying. Did I enjoy that experience? Absolutely not, but I knew one day I would tell this story. Even from when I would go on like breaks to different friends' houses because I couldn't afford the plane tickets and the time to go back home because I didn't have any money, right? And my friends are very generous. I remember one time my friends took me to Detroit and they were generous enough to bring me along to like an Uncle Cracker concert of all things in downtown Detroit. Just all these different memories of like people who really helped me out, even when I couldn't do much. And they knew the business I was doing, they didn't make fun of it, they were supportive of it, and I was grateful for those people, right? But it got to a point, I think I had mentioned this in a previous story where I had uh gotten fired from being an RA, so I'm not gonna bore you with all that because that was in the dismissed episode, but I lost 10 grand of basically free room and board when that happened, and what was even harder financially is that that was at a time in the year where it's like I had one month left on campus for my sophomore year. Everyone already had their living arrangements for junior year. So not only did I not have a place to go for the following year because I thought I was gonna be an RA and be in the dorms again, I also didn't have a place to live that at that moment in time for like one more month. So fortunately, I found some friends that let me kind of crash at their dorm or whatever just for a month, but I still had no place to live my junior year. So junior year, I ended up living with seven guys in a small house on campus in this small crammed like bunk bed on the second floor. And I just remember this was this was probably one of the most sobering financial experiences I've had to date, where it was so hard for me. I was three months behind on rent, basically should have been homeless. My roommate kept being like, Hey, when are you gonna pay for rent? When are you gonna pay for rent? I was like, I'm gonna have it, I'm gonna have it. But I was still also like paying for my zip car $7 an hour to go up to my internship that was not paid, go up about 30 minutes north of campus. And every single time it's like I had to stay later in that internship, it was money being chipped out because my rental car was like an hourly rate. Those zip cars, if you remember guys, remember what those were. I was three months behind on rent. I couldn't afford groceries for about six months. I survived off of like peanut butter, celery, raisins, and graham crackers. I remember it like it was yesterday for six months. I was hungry all the time. I felt super skinny, even while I'm training these athletes and these, you know, high school and college, even NFL, MBA athletes that were coming to this training facility, you know, a lot of them came from money, especially in the Mekwan area in Wisconsin. And I just remember as I couldn't afford groceries, I'm behind on rent. There was even a point where I had to take, I had to sell like two cases of energy drinks and just to like make it to my my uh zip car that day so I could get to my internship. And you know, the the owner of the the gym at the time, who I still stay in touch with to this day, he didn't know. I didn't share it, I didn't share it with anyone because it didn't matter. Now, my girlfriend at the time did help me like um one time with with some groceries, nothing crazy, just some bread and everything else. And I'm still grateful to her to this day that she was supported me, even though she didn't understand she supported me in that. But it got to a point where I was so strapped for money that I remember this like it like it was yesterday. I remember walking down campus on Marquette's campus between 16th and Wells, like looking at Qdoba and being like, Alright, I haven't had dinner, I don't have any food in the house, I have seven dollars and thirty-four cents left. My ticket to that business event that night was seven bucks. So I could choose dinner, or I could choose go to the business event and continue to build my dream. I chose to go hungry. And what was even harder at that one business event, it was like a qualifying training night, they call them night owls, and what that means is if you did a certain amount of like work and did some volume and stuff, you get like extra training from the top leaders in the business. I had done everything I needed to qualify, except for my own personal volume because I couldn't afford my products that month. And I just remember like with integrity, I just sat outside just feeling this ache and pain of like all these other the call other college students that were there, parents were supportive, buying stuff from them. I had no network, I had no family that was supportive of the business I was doing, hardly any friends that were supportive. And I'm sitting there like, man, this is the last qualifier I'm gonna miss, but it just sucked because it's like I didn't have money and I hadn't sold anything, and that just it ate at me so much so that I still remember these moments to this day, and it reminds me of where I came from, so that way I'd never I never develop a big head, no matter, I guess, regardless of where I come from, because I just remember how how humanizing that felt to be like I can't, I can't do things again because of money. I even remember my we fast forward to my senior year, and I remember from my high school days where I had to get up and take the bus super early, nothing changed. I did the same thing my junior into my senior year, where I'd get up super early in the morning, whether it was like, you know, to my internship, training the market basketball team, right? When I had that internship, fortunately, that was um paid with work study and everything. But then I would also like, you know, take the bus city bus 45 minutes north of campus to go to my training job. And I would do that at 3:30 in the morning, four in the morning. I would get up and take the bus super early, get up there, train a few clients, and come back. And that was that was just what I was used to. I was just used to paying that price. And then I would my day would start at four in the morning, and then I would go to my classes, then I would go for a second shift up to go train more clients, another 45 minutes up, another 45 minutes back, get back at like 10 o'clock at night from the last, like, you know, last bus or whatever, and I would just do it all over again six days a week. That was that was my college experience, partying it up, right? And I just remember all those different things, not to not to drag on about all the different stories. I'm sure I'll share ones a different amount of time, but I even remember, like, because I didn't have much time in my day, I'd be literally trying to build my dream and my business. I'd make literally phone calls on the bus because that was the only time I had during the day because I had to work. And then when I got into like my final internship, right? It was a non-paid internship, my back half of my senior year. They ended up offering me a job, which was like 30k a year, nothing crazy coming out of school. It was kind of like you know, decent, but okay. And then I go through two weeks of training with them, and then they can't pay me for the training, and then they don't even have a job for me because they lost some of their biggest clients. And here I am in a city with hardly any connections other than my market classmates, right? No idea what I'm gonna do with my job. And I ended up working as a trainer at a gym in the summer of Wisconsin in July, the worst time in the world to be a trainer and try and make money when it's in the summer in Wisconsin. Everyone wants to be out. So I remember making like around $700 a month or even less. I mean, half of that was just to like rent and could hardly afford anything. I was going backwards, like you know, a couple thousand a month between car payments, everything else, had such a low credit score, like I barely got even a decent car. I just remember money always being tight there, and it was it was stressful. I just I even remember because this car didn't have AC, and I'm showing business plans in a suit in the summer in like 80% humidity, and I remember sitting in the car and I'm watching beads of sweat form on my arm as I'm on like a business phone call, trying to roll down my window, but it's also still so hot outside, and I was just like, I'm just paying the frickin' price. And that's been my story. And I had those chips on my shoulder all the way up to like the young adult years where I always had car problems. I always felt like I just had this like debt that I had to overcome, even to the point that I had massive business debt built up because there was a lot of things that happened with the upline, and that I'll get into kind of the upline was like my business coaches in network marketing that um really put me in financial straights, like you know, tens of thousands in financial debt because there was pressure to buy these like you know, cases of energy drinks so people and our coaches could hit certain levels. Crazy stuff, crazy. That'll be for a different time, otherwise, I'll bore you guys with that story. But I share that because going to and understanding how to get through things, right? I felt every single moment in time that I felt the financial struggle. Was I praying the whole time? Not necessarily. I just felt like I just I trusted there were there was hope there. Hope was the element I relied on. Hope that it would get better, hope that if I just went to bed and woke up the next day, like I can make it through the next day. I use this as a story. How can one day am I gonna tell this story and use it so I can eliminate people's excuses? And it gave me a such a deep purpose in what I was doing that when people made fun of the business that I was doing, or like me reading books or listening to podcasts or just paying the price no one was willing to, I I didn't, I didn't get phased so much by it simply because I felt a deeper purpose in what I was doing. And now I always believe don't share your success or your struggle until you get to the successful part, right? Fast forward from that moment in time, I think I was 21, 22 then, fast forward, you know, five, six years, right, to when I paid off all the consumer debt between me and my girlfriend at the time, paid for our entire wedding, which was about 25 grand, out of my own pocket, right? And I did whatever I could. I worked DoorDash to pay for things, I hustled on side businesses outside of my full-time jobs, and I just worked like a dog until it happened. And now obviously I shared obviously the different income levels we've been able to reach, and now all of a sudden I have multiple millionaires on speed dial on my phone and just access to an amazing network. I'm so grateful for. But I think these financial struggles built me into the person. So when I became and God blessed me with the financial gifts he has, I wasn't gonna squander it. I wasn't gonna let it get to my head too much, right? I think everyone deals with kind of like status and ego when you start to have that type of success. But I feel for the most part, God has humbled me enough through this, and I never forget where I came from. So I'm so grateful that he allowed me to experience some of the most disheartening, traumatic, like very humanizing financial struggle. That it just it, I truly believe it doesn't matter where you come from. You could come from, I've seen people come from extreme, extreme poverty, even way worse than I have, and come out 10 times ahead because they didn't claim victim to their circumstances. That's the point of this podcast. That's why I want to share this story with you guys, so you understand that when you overcome your own mind and decide how am I going to use this as my story to help people, it will change absolutely everything about your life and the trajectory you're headed on. And the energy you have will attract in the universe what you're hoping for in your future. Until next time, until your next cup of Joe. We'll see you on the next one.