S2 Ep18: Building the Foundation | Ace | Bench to Bold

This week, Marnie and Alisa sit down with Ace, known to her growing audience as “Ace the Money Game” a real estate investor and wholesaler who built a self-made career out of one of the hardest possible starting points. The hosts met Ace by chance, as their Uber driver during a Kentucky Derby weekend in Louisville, and what started as small talk turned into one of the most candid conversations they’ve had on the show.

Ace opens up about being kicked out of her home as a teenager, periods of homelessness in Phoenix, and time spent in prison and how those bench moments became the foundation for a real estate wholesaling business that crossed seven figures within five years. She talks about renovating homes as a kind of rebuilding metaphor for her own life, her plans to launch a construction company focused on affordable housing, and the mindset shifts that got her here.

Episode Highlights:
00:00 — Meeting Ace as their Uber driver during Kentucky Derby weekend in Louisville
02:24 — Ace’s bench moment: starting with nothing and his first wholesale deal in 2015
04:32 — How Ace became homeless after coming out to her mother as a teenager
06:42 — Where the name “Ace the Money Game” actually came from
09:03 — Reconnecting with her mom and losing her father in a tragic accident
11:40 — Why renovating homes feels like a metaphor for rebuilding her own life
14:08 — From wanting to be a trauma surgeon to discovering real estate
16:32 — The real story behind driving for Uber on Derby day
18:06 — Lessons Ace would share on stage at a Grant Cardone event
22:29 — Ace’s boldest goal: building a construction company and her own hotel brand

About This Week’s Guest:
Ace, known as “Ace the Money Game,” is a real estate investor and wholesaler who has done deals worth well over a million dollars since starting her business in 2015. After experiencing homelessness and time in prison, she rebuilt her life from the ground up, and is now working toward launching a construction company focused on building apartments, subdivisions, and affordable housing.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Hi everyone. Welcome to another episode of Bench to Bold. I'm Elisa. And I'm Marnie. And we're so excited to have all of you here today and to be here with Ace the Money Game. How are you doing, Ace? I'm good.

SPEAKER_00 0:21

How are you doing, my friend?

SPEAKER_01 0:23

Good. Yes, I feel like it's been it hasn't been long since I saw you in person and met you in person in Louisville, and so excited to have you on our podcast today.

SPEAKER_00 0:34

Thank you for allowing me to be a guest.

SPEAKER_01 0:36

So, yes, so we we literally um were so happy to meet you and have you as our Uber driver in Louisville. Um that that was a that was just a great experience for us to be at the Kentucky Derby, but not only that, um to meet you and be in the car with you and have um I don't even remember what conversation we were having for you to start to tell us about all the things you do over in Louisville, Louisville.

SPEAKER_02 1:07

And I mean how do you first of all we have to start with how do you say Louisville?

SPEAKER_01 1:11

Yeah, right? Louisville or Louisville. How do how do you pronounce it? What's the correct way to pronounce it? Because I'm a southern bell over here pronouncing it Louisville, Louisville. I've heard it both ways.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

Honestly, I couldn't even tell you because we pronounce it everything too. Like I call it Louisville, Louisville, Louisville. It's just like how you have it. Looneyville, you just pick whatever one likes for you.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

Okay, so well, I'm going with Louisville. That's what I'm going with because I'm country and the little southern. Yeah, I like how you say it. Louisville. Yeah. But anyway, so you know, I think you and Randy were talking about businesses and AI. Uh, you may have asked us what we do, or we may have asked you what you do, which led to your vulnerability and sharing your story with us. And I felt like the you know, this was a this would be a great story for our listeners because um you've you've experienced some you know, bench moments and now you're experiencing a lot of bold moments. Yes, ma'am. Um and then we'd like to hear about them. So are you are you good with talking a little bit about that? About your bench moments that you talked to Randy and I about when we met you?

SPEAKER_00 2:24

Yeah, no worries. Yeah, definitely. Um I um I started out with like nothing, you know, and how much of anything. Um I've been homeless, you know, and um back in 2014, I started working, um, was working 12-hour shelves. I was like, man, I'm tired of this. I can't do this. I don't want to get into real estate. So I opened up my LLC and I did my first wholesale deal um back in um May of 2015. And that's when I got a check for $18,000. Then I realized, wait a minute, I made somebody's salary in one check for they work for a whole year for it. So I was like, I'm not checking, wait a minute, let me let me take off and do this. So I started wholesaling. My first year, I did um a little bit over a quarter of a million, my first year, and then my second year, a little bit more than than that. My third year, I think it was over 500, and then my fifth year, I made my first million doing it. So I was super excited. I said, oh yeah, I know what I'm doing now, like I'm making money. So I was like, but now I kind of like regroup because when you get into real estate, you want to buy everything and you can't do that. And I made some mistakes along the way. So now I'm still wholesaling and trying to regroup myself and want to do more like new construction, new build. So we're doing PPC, generating leads and stuff like that now. So now the business is starting to go. So now I'm trying to expand more outwards and national reach to grow and to build my foundation that I want to want to build. And the main thing is to build a strong construction company that builds apartments, subdivisions, and um apartments and affordable housing for people as well, not just for the n for the wealthy, nicer, nicer home, but also for people who can't afford, because if the minimum wage is $7.50, how many people can really afford $1,500 to six seventeen hundred dollars a month in rent? So I want to keep it where I can keep rents stable for people without inflate without inflating that too as well.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

So so let's let's go back. Let's take us back to you mentioned that you were homeless, and that was one of the things that I felt, you know, you when you uh told Randy and I that in the car, in the Uber car that night, um, and we asked you, you know, how did you become homeless? Take us back to and and exp and talk to us about that and and tell us how you became homeless.

SPEAKER_00 4:56

I was a honestly, she's my mom's in here, so this is gonna be funny. I we got out of high school and um I was technically at one point less time, I'm gonna take it back before beforehand, and I'll explain actually the the details of what actually happened a little bit. I was um a lesbian, so she's like, you can't live here, you're gay. I don't raise you that way, so she kicked me out. So then I started selling books and magazines, and then I needed to find a way to make money, so I started hustling, doing things I shouldn't actually do. And I ended up back in 2010 in Kieman, Arizona, locked up. So I ended up doing um two years in prison. I got out of twelve in 2020 2012, and um was like, okay, I gotta change my life. Came home. I was I was like 30, 90 days old, was out on uh Keme, Arizona, running the I mean Phoenix, Arizona, running the streets. Because I didn't have nowhere to go, so I was living on the streets, sleeping on the um train, the the go-kart that goes on that goes up, the light rail that goes through the city, try to sleep in between, between her, YMCA, when I could, you know, homeless shelters, um, drug rehab places, but I don't do drugs. I just pretend like I needed to recover something just so I can have a place to lay my head at that time. So it was like, okay, so that's how I came up homeless because I actually left. And then mom was like, Well, if you're gonna do some the right things this time, you can come and stay with me. So that's when I got the job for 12 hours, and that's when I made the made the change. That's the open, honest truth. That's what it was.

SPEAKER_02 6:42

All right, so Ace, and that's quite a story, and bravo to you for being able to uh have some, you know, clarity about how you know what you wanted your life to look like. I'm sure that there were a there's a a lot there that um we could spend a lot more than 30 minutes, but how did you get your name, Ace the Money Game? Where did that come from? And was that something that did money always motivate you? What were your things that said, okay, I'm gonna get my life together and my name says it all?

SPEAKER_00 7:13

Ace came in high school, like middle school, high school. It first started as Ace. So everybody just knew me as Ace. And as um money has always been a motivation for me. That's why I've always that's why I ended up hustling because I never wanted to be broke. So I was doing stuff that I shouldn't have been doing that led to trouble, but I was like, no, I'm not doing trouble no more. Trouble, I need to do it legally and change. And people was like, Don't be shy to shape short of your story because your story can change somebody else's life. And I kind of always try to get it from certain people that I do business with because I was like, man, what if they try to judge me and stuff on what I did, you know? But some I've seen some judgment, but some a lot of times I don't see it. So I was, I know who Grant Cardone is, right? Mm-hmm. So when he was holding his festivals in um Miami, I went to my first one back in, I think it was 2020, night 2020. He did one in Miami and stuff, and I went and I was like, man, and I met up some great group of people who was in his mentoring class and stuff and his Zooms. And they ended up, some girl said, We're gonna call you Ace the Money game because real estate's the money game. And then that's where it just kind of came from. And she said, just build your whole brand on the money game, and the money game is real estate, and different entrepreneurial businesses to grow and have money. So that's kind of where Ace the Money Game actually started.

SPEAKER_02 8:34

I like it. I think that it, you know, I I think that it is uh it's definitely fitting and certainly adds to your storyline. And so you so you're currently in your mom's house right now. Uh and so tell us about how that reconnection that story was. I think a lot of families have some it, you know, sometimes they go through breaks with their parents. And I think that um hearing how families can come together and reconnect is really interesting.

SPEAKER_00 9:03

It it's it's great right now. Like in 2004, my dad was tragically killed by a semi-truck. Well, I called my dad. And that was another thing to help help her learn. Like, life is short and you're my child still, so I'm gonna still love you. And being back in her house, she still shows me as much love, she no judgment. You know, she's very proud of what I do. I only stay in her house because I'm always traveling, always on the go. So she's like, Why pay rent for something or something you never in? Because every time when I had my spot, my mail was overloaded. My neighbor's like, Do you still live there? Because I was always gone. So she was like, You can just take the guest room in my condo and go. So until I move, because I'm getting out of Kentucky because I need I don't do this coldness, I don't like snow. So it's like, she's like, When you're ready to go, then you're free to go. So I'm just here for this time being right now. And then with my sister having cancer, is also here to help as well.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

So if if you had to look back, what are you most proud of surviving over all of it? If you had to look back today.

SPEAKER_00 10:10

Being homeless, because I was homeless a couple different times. And the first time I was y too young, like I'm like nine 18, 19 years old and just out of high school. And then to do it again for 90 days was also another insane moment. So to be able to survive and come through that and not actually go into prison for life or do or ending up in prison a lot longer is also another blessing and stuff. So I think it's it's a lot of different things, and then be able to come actually see, look, when I put my mind to it, I can achieve everything and anything. And that's a hustle motivation. Like, I just don't stop, like, because I refuse to go broke ever again. So it's just work and build and continue to build and grow.

SPEAKER_02 10:56

When I hear your story, Ace, and I think about what you do for your career and you rehabilitate and renovate homes, it's um for me, I keep thinking that that's really a metaphor for you, what you've been able to do with your life. You've been able to find beauty in something and see what the value is and then rebuild it. So, for other people, what do you like about rebuilding homes and going in there and renovating? What do you see? What makes you so motivated to do it? And what is the fun part for this? Because I see so many things that, like, oh, this is your story. Like you did this, and now you do this to other people, you know, other places so people can go in and have a really pretty experience of where they live.

SPEAKER_00 11:40

I think that's the I think you actually hit it like on the nail, like that's what it is. It is just like, okay, you take something that was outdated that one family once had once before, and now you modernizing it for another family to live and giving it that beauty and that color and to design it to make it look not what you want it to look like, but what people you expect people to want it to kind of look like. Because you can't build something off your design because not everybody's gonna have the same taste. But if you kind of follow that same pattern and trends, like colors, light flooring, bright lights, people feel like it's opening, it's home where they want to open and build for their next family or the family that they're planning on doing. So it's like I get to do that. Like this home was once looked like this. That's why I always like the show to have the before pictures and the after pictures so they can see, wow, you did. I came in here and actually did work. It does not look like I just painted and do some stuff together or do some carbon here. I want you to see, look, we transformed it so you have a whole different house for the next generation for you and your kids to live.

SPEAKER_01 12:43

I feel like doing that, do you ever get the feeling of this is a place I may want to buy and stay? Because you make it so beautiful. I feel like I'd have a hard time, you know, going in and renovating something that didn't look, you know, up to par, let's say, and then making it beautiful the way, you know, sometimes I'm sure you make you choose things that you like, right? For it to look like. If it's hard, is it ever hard for you to leave, like to give it to someone else or sell it to someone else?

SPEAKER_00 13:14

One thing I learned in this business, it's like you it's like a relationship. You have to learn how to emotionally detach for a moment.

SPEAKER_01 13:22

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 13:22

You can't like it's like do this, let go, move on. So that's kind of that's kind of how you we were operate. Because sometimes I'm like, I did this, why do I have to sell it?

SPEAKER_01 13:33

But I'm like, no, I gotta go. It's kind of like if I were to foster dogs, you know, I would never be able to I'd have a house full of dogs because it you get attached to them. I how do you know it's like how do you emotionally foster attach from certain things, right? I mean, obviously dogs and and babies are probably a hell of a lot harder to emotionally detach from than a house. Um, however, you know, you can go find a house and make it any way you want. But, you know, loving dogs and children, it it would be hard for me to emotionally detach from that.

SPEAKER_02 14:07

So the young ace um sitting in seventh grade and uh, you know, thinking about your life, did you ever think, I mean, that this was gonna be something were you interested in art and design and those kind of things when you were younger? Or is this more of something that really developed as you matured and and got out there and saw how cool it was?

SPEAKER_00 14:31

Art and design was not my thing at first. I actually I wanted to be like a heart surgeon, I wanted to be a trauma surgeon and save lives because my grandma asked from colon cancer, so I was like, I want to save lives, and that was one thing I wanted to do at one point. And then I got into school and I started performing, so I was like, Oh, maybe I'll be on TV, yes, I would become an actor, and stuff. So I love I got into like doing things and doing plays and stuff, so it was that was fun, and then like in my like around the time I hit my 30s, I was like, okay, that's when everything kind of like I started, like my late 20s actually, and I was like, no, I need something to make money. And I said, What makes people the most money? And researching, it said most wealth is create, most millionaires and billionaires are created through real estate. So I was like, let me get into real estate, and that's where it took off.

SPEAKER_02 15:21

Fantastic. So um, do you have any partners in your business?

SPEAKER_00 15:25

Currently, no, but I never partner up with a lot of different people when I want to do certain things. So the bigger the project, if I need to bring people on, I will. Or if they need something moved, they'll call me and say, could you help me? So right now, but it right now that's just me.

SPEAKER_01 15:39

Have you ever thought about getting your contractor's license?

SPEAKER_00 15:42

I'm working on, I want to get, I don't know if I'm gonna get my contractor license, but I do want to start a construction company. So I want to hire the people that can actually completely do all of that. But it'd be my company, but I have the guys on team. So as I do these flips, I'm like, hey, I can hire you, I can hire you, who's going on board? Yes. So then you know, you get your architect tag, and then you have to make sure your electricians and your plumbers, everybody's permitted and license and certifications. So I want to make sure when I put the team together, I have the right people together. So yeah, that's definitely, definitely a big thing I want to do.

SPEAKER_01 16:14

That's a good plan.

SPEAKER_02 16:16

And so what do you like? I mean, I always, whenever I'm in an Uber and I have the opportunity to talk to the driver, and usually I I've met some really, at least and I were talking about this, nice women are my friends. So what do you like about being an Uber driver in your spare time?

SPEAKER_00 16:32

Okay, let me uh I am not an Uber driver. It was, it was, it was technically, it was technically that day, it was derby. I wasn't doing anything, so I got out. It was like, okay, make some free derby money. That's why.

SPEAKER_02 16:48

I think that that's great. I love that.

SPEAKER_00 16:49

So that's why I understand.

SPEAKER_01 16:50

I had no idea. Well, you were a great derby driver.

SPEAKER_00 16:53

Thank you. So I was like, I just happened to just I had a nice truck, everything. So I was like, let me take the people who want who's here because you never know who you'll network with or who might get in your car. And her and her husband just happened to get in my car and was like, Hey, could you ride us to the airport? I was like, sure, which one? And they told me the private airport. I was like, all right, cool. They got in my car, I roll them, you know, and that was the fun part because I'm talking to somebody I didn't know, and this is what the connection created, something I wasn't anticipating, you know. So I made another connection with a guy that was in Michigan who's a big builder out there as well at the same time. So it was like, you never know who's gonna get in your car because there's a lot of money in that city during that time. So I might just get lucky to because I was like, I'm not giving no teenagers, no 20, 30 years. I want the older crowd because they're gonna be about something. So I need those to come into me riding my car. So that's how they they came in there.

SPEAKER_02 17:50

So, how would you then, if you were gonna go give a speech, Ace? All right, so Grant Cardone calls you and he says, All right, Ace, I want you to come, you know, speak at one of my conventions. What are some of the lessons that you would share to people out there of all ages? What are some lessons that we can learn from your story?

SPEAKER_00 18:06

Life is hard and is unpredictable at times. So you have to keep trying. You can't give up because there's always gonna be curveballs or something thrown at you. So you just gotta keep going and pushing and struggles because sometimes you want to give up because it's like it's too hard, it's it's not gonna happen. But if you keep pushing through it, that go at glory of opportunity is right there. Just waiting for you around the corner. You just gotta keep going and keep pushing and fighting for it and believing yourself because there's always people who's gonna hate on you and stuff. And I learned that people who hate on you are usually doing worse than you because they just don't want to see you succeed. The people who who like to see you to see are the ones who're doing better for you, doing better than you, so they want to help you go along. So you're gonna have people who want to help you, who want to see you grow. Take that opportunity, get to know, network, talk to people, don't be scared. Because the longer you sit there and wait, I'm gonna start my business tomorrow. I'm gonna start my business in a couple weeks when I get this money. There's never a right time. Just do it. Because if you just do it, you'll start feeling better. You'll feel like, okay, this is mine. I've got to start doing things and changing. And when I got my LLC, my bank account, I was like, this is mine. I own it. Let's just let's let wait. Let me let me make some money, let me put some money in here. So I got more motivated. So yeah, that's I'm I believe that.

SPEAKER_01 19:25

I think you have to put yourself in very uncomfortable positions sometimes to grow, right?

SPEAKER_00 19:30

That is what I that's one of my tickets I do. You got to get very comfortable being uncomfortable. And when you get uncomfortable, it'll push you to do a lot of things that you normally won't do. And I got myself uncomfortable because I don't like people and I don't like talking to people half the time. So it's like, I don't want to well, I have to interact with people. But I found out this helped my business growth, this makes the connections. I'm not going nowhere if I sit here quietly to myself because nobody's gonna know what I'm doing if I'm quiet. So it's you got to get uncomfortable. You gotta get uncomfortable, put yourself in uncomfortable positions and around people who can make you feel uncomfortable. Because if you feel comfortable with those people, then you're you're in the wrong crowd. You got to get uncomfortable. Hanging out with her and her husband make me uncomfortable. I'm like, okay, these people doing a lot of things, so I'm like, okay, I'll sit here, I'm doing my okay. Let me let me try to get where they at. So that's what that's yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:24

But had you not picked up that day to drive, you know, Kentucky Derby people, had you would have never met I would not have the people that you met, right?

SPEAKER_00 20:33

Yes, and I'm grateful for that. I will never forget that that opportunity is always a great blessing. At the same time, it was a great conversation in the car as well, as I was talking to them as the we were driving. So yes, it was definitely a blessing.

SPEAKER_01 20:46

Yeah, Randy loves to be um talking about the next business.

SPEAKER_02 20:52

I know. Well, I think entrepreneur, I mean, I think such an entrepreneur. Right. I think people that and also you can read I mean, Randy's an attorney, but I mean a lot of people can read the audience and know uh, and so you know who you're who you're with, and and it's always nice to make a new friend and to hear someone's story and to understand kind of some of the we're all pretty, even though we might be very different in many ways, there are usually things that we're all connected upon and that we can all agree is the you know, is similar in many ways. So, all right, what do you like to do? We're gonna um we're kind of winding down, but what do you like to do in your spare time aside from you know being an Uber driver on the day of the Kentucky Derby?

SPEAKER_00 21:38

My free time, I enjoy traveling. I'm big on traveling, basketball, watching TV. I'm big on cartoons. Like I love cartoons. So, but like sports, working out, having fun, living life, trying to hang out with my friends when I got a moment, but just acting like a normal person, you know, because no point of making money if you're not gonna enjoy it. So it's like a little work hard, play harder. So you gotta do you gotta be able to do both in order to have a balance in your life.

SPEAKER_02 22:08

Yes, absolutely. Well, Ace, thank you so much for sharing your story. One last thing, you know, uh what is your aspirational bold moment in your life? Something that when you're like, I'm gonna get there, this is gonna be what what is on your bucket list of something really bold that you know that we know you're gonna get accomplished?

SPEAKER_00 22:29

That construction company, and then I'm going to build some amazing apartments and hopefully a do a hotel. It's always also on my loss, uh brand of brand of hotels as well. So y'all see that coming because it's it's coming. Might take me about five years, but it's coming to get to that. But it's it's everything is a step by step by step. You just can't go to the goal, but that's gonna be the moment you're gonna be like, hey, she did that. That's she did, you're doing it. Yes, ma'am.

SPEAKER_02 23:01

I get it fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 23:04

Well, I can't wait to continue to follow you and see all your goals that you hit, and let me know if you need a contact for hotels because I have one.

SPEAKER_00 23:12

I greatly appreciate that. Yes, I'll definitely look forward to seeing you all when I come down to North Carolina. I told you, I'll definitely meet up with you and just hang out because I see y'all building your house. So I getting hands on it.

SPEAKER_01 23:24

Come to the restaurant, yes.

SPEAKER_00 23:25

Yes, definitely coming over to food because food is always good. I can't go wrong with food now.

SPEAKER_01 23:30

And we'll definitely be calling you next year because we're coming back to the derby. We had such a great time, so you can be our problem driver again.

SPEAKER_02 23:38

And I will be up with you so much, Ace, um, for joining us on Bench to Bowl today. I'm Marnie. And I'm Elisa, and we'll see everybody really soon.