Bringing the woowy into business

Allow me to get a little vulnerable as for the first time I discuss my past years affirmations that I believe have helped me get to where I am. In this episode I discuss which ones I plan to remove from my stack and others I am adding and the thought process behind each one.

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Welcome to the King Me Collective Podcast. I am Dylan King, and I can't thank you enough for listening to what I have to say. This is the space that I get to ramble about all of my projects, lessons, and even my entrepreneurial ADHD ideas. My hope is to inspire you with confidence that you take action towards your goals and let's normalize learning on the go in your designated field. Time waits for no one, and the best time to start was yesterday. So let's go. Alright, what is up? So it was only a matter of time before we got into my wooiness, and I warned y'all in the first episode. Um, so business is going good. We actually are only on one job right now because, like I said, we do have big jobs booked, but we are on we are still waiting on permitting for um our next big one that's to start. And actually, um next week I'll be closing on my flip. So next week I start my flip for sure. Um, I'm gonna do things that don't necessarily like need permitting, so I can replace my windows, I can you know demo the siding. Pretty sure I'll need some sheathing, like OSB board on the side, so I can start doing those kind of things. Um, I can get my roof done, like there are things that I'll be able to do starting next week. Um, and that's only because I have like some funding in the bank to help me get started, because let's say all of my money deployed to adjust my down payment, then I would absolutely have to wait to get my permit. That way, the uh the loan provider I'm using, the the servicing I'm using, would then say, Okay, like here's you know, you have your permit now, we can release funds to you because they want to make sure that their money is being used legally, like in permitted jobs, etc. Um, so they won't necessarily start releasing money until permits are approved. However, um it's not gonna take all of the funds that I have for my say like closing costs, etc. So I will be able to start my flip next week on a select few things. Um, permitting, I don't think it's gonna be very complicated for what I'm looking to get done. We're not changing like the integrity of the building at all. It's not historically protected, so the fact that I'm not changing weight-bearing walls, etc. I'm really just going in like cleaning out what's there and um probably doing all new insulation and in drywall, but um we are like adding a room, but we're not taking away anything that like is holding the structure up, changing the we're not changing the footprint. Like I said, it's not historically protected. So um business is good. We'll be busy with that starting next week, and then um I have one crew on the large uh plumbing supply warehouse job, so we're still there for this week, but for this week it seems like that might be the only thing I'm I'm needing to manage. Um, because my one of one of my two crews has been waiting for this permit on the other edition for the customers that I've spoken about in in recent episodes. I do have two small jobs that we've been contacted for. So me and him are going to look at one of them today and another one of them on Wednesday. So those are like small minor things that we can look at to keep him busy. And we did have uh like I think it was nine or ten windows about four weeks ago for a return customer. They want window their their windows replaced uh because they're like the old New Orleans windows where it's just the glass pane, there's like no insulation, whatever, they're not even like sealed anymore. Um, if you've been in an older type of house, I think even if it's not New Orleans, I mean like I've even seen these kind of windows in like Birmingham, etc. So I think if you've been in like an older house, you know what kind of windows I'm talking about. So we do have like that coming up. Those windows should be in um within the next couple of days. So we have that, we have the two smaller jobs we're gonna go look at, see if we can get my second crew rolling, and then um get my house next week and get that permit, hopefully within the next week or two, and then we will be pretty booked through the end of the year. Um, because my my crew that I have on the plumbing supply house, they're actually starting another big job October 5th. So um they've got they've got enough time to finish up, but like they're already booked for the next thing, and then these two jobs will be for the crew that I'm searching for, some kind of filler spots right now. But with that being said, at the moment, I'm not super slammed. I have things on the board on the calendar coming up, but as of right now, not super super slammed. Um, I did get my cargo container delivered Wednesday. That was an experience. Um, they had to bring it on a tow truck, and the side of my house has like a pretty deep slant from like the pad of where we built the house, and then it goes down into like this um old city servitude area. So um we're built up. I mean, I would say we're probably built up three and a half, four feet from the servitude, so there's like a good little slant there. Um, so when they had the tow truck, you could only get it so far into my backyard, and I've been posting it on my personal Instagram page. I am King underscore Dylan D-I-L-L-O-N. If y'all want to check any of that out, I have some videos um of the truck backing up, and you can kind of see it like tilting, and um, it's super top heavy, like the guy explained to me. So we're only able to get it so far. My cousin is a commercial contractor, he has like four clips and all kinds of machinery. So he was actually able to come he come here to my house on Saturday with uh his skid machine, and me, him, and two of my crew members, we just uh maybe actually put like thick fence poles underneath, and he was able to like push it as far back as we could, and then he was able to like lift it and we had to level it, make sure all the the pilings, you know, we had everything level. Um, because that sucker is not moving from where it is pretty much ever. I don't know why I would ever need to want to move it, but it is there to stay. Um so yeah, we had that go on this weekend. Me and Missy, you know, had to move everything over from like our old little hoopty shed to to that. I've cleared out my space. Oh my gosh, it feels so good in here. I have the bikes in there now. Um, I've cleared out all the material that was hanging out waiting for jobs in there now. So I have my workout space back, which is great for my mental health. I think I got like I honestly think I got like only two workouts in last week. Um, and they weren't great because it was like I was coming in here, and when I was like fighting for space, I was having to move things around to like move on to a different movement, which like look, if you're waking up at like 5 a.m. to work out, like the last thing I want to do is like extra shit to get it done. Like, I need to be able to walk in and get this workout routine done. So um it feels really good. Actually, I'm going to bust out some some leg workout right after I finish recording this. So I'm really excited to get my space back in here. Um, and then I'm here at my desk and my office um, you know, that I've built, I have like my office on one side, my kind of gym area on the other side of the garage. So it has not been really functionable for like the past week and a half, maybe about two weeks. Um, so I went on like some jogs, some bike rides. I did, I brought my kettlebell in my front yard and did some stuff within the last two weeks. But man, any work I was really trying to get out done here and like focus in this room with all that shit in here, like was not happening. So it is so good for me, my routine, my mental health, um, to have my work and workout space clear. Um, excited to have it was only $1,900 to get that uh that container here and delivered. I think I might have spent uh I think I might have spent like $300 putting my fence back up on materials. I mean I'm paying my got paying my guys' labor, but for as far as the materials go, uh I think it was like $300 to put like my fence back up where it needed to go. And it took our weekend, but I mean, other than that, we now have an official storage area for materials for these big jobs that makes me feel better. Um, makes it a lot easier. I don't have to return every little thing if it's things we use frequently. Like I'm just gonna throw it back there and move on to the next job with it, you know. So, not a ton ton business-wise going on. Uh, just gonna keep going on this uh pipe, the the plumbing supply house. I'm really excited about that. I will say it is making me really up and again, making me debate getting my commercial license. I do love the renovations. Um, I know I've said before, like my goal is really to use my GC license in order to help myself as far as like flips and rentals and stuff like that. But if I have enough crews, I always thought that maybe I would manage some customer jobs on the side to keep me and Missy's like construction salary coming in. As we're working on flips that are paying us like a good bit, like every you know, maybe two to three a year. I know I say like once a quarter, but I even think like two to three flips a year, um, and then acquire um rentals kind of like as we need, as far as like taxes go, but also not just that, but like if like a great deal comes up for rental. Um, so like that's how I've always kind of envisioned using my license for the past say like year or so now, and I've had a few people approach me about doing commercial spaces. Um, and it's been really unfortunate because like if it doesn't necessarily need a permit, like if it's not like big stuff, then like we can go in and knock it out. If we're just doing drywall and paint and floors, like we could do that. But um I've passed up two jobs, and one was over a million, it was like a million and a half job that someone wanted us to do for them, and I had to pass it up because it needed permits, um, it was a lot of work, and I I was unable to do it because I was like, you know, I don't get hit up enough for commercial jobs. But now, if I think about it, you know, there was non-permitted stuff that I did for a restaurant. I had an LGBTQ couple that wanted to use me to open up their cafe bakery, and I had to pass that up because that needed permitting. The building had no utilities for over six months, so we definitely need permitting for that, even though they weren't moving a lot around in order to get them up and going, like they needed a permit. That's one of the things. If you've had utilities off for more than six months, you have to have a permit to basically assess the property and say, like, it's safe to turn electricity back on to this. Um, and then you know, um we had the the the non-permitted restaurant that we did. Um, like I said, that was just like the paint and stuff like that. We had the bakery, um, we had a dentist office for our friend, like it's turned into 1.5 million. I pretty much make 15%. Okay, so that hurts to imagine that hit. Um, and then now we're working on the southern southern um the pipe supply house, but the thing is, like, that's also not permanent. We're like, we're just taking down drywall and getting out their old um, getting out old insulation that's been there for like 40 something years through many storms, through many like water damage. So like it needed it. It needed fresh insulation, like it was damp in there. You can tell the insulation was so bad. There was mold growing in certain areas. Um, so but I'm looking at it and it's like, you know, the restaurant we did in this, it is so nice because they are like bigger, they're bigger scopes of work, so they take a little bit more time. So I'm not like you know, hustling and bustling for this estimate, getting this job done like in a week and a half, and like on to the next thing. Like they take time. So it's like you put that hustle and bustle into the estimate, you get it rolling, and like you kind of get on like a good routine. Um, you know, things are making progress. They're giving me paperwork of like what colors they use for everything. So it's like it's not even like uh I don't know, uh, I don't know. Which is great. Like, I understand our renovation residential clients, like I get like you want to know that you know the color you're putting is the color you want to see in your bathroom. Like, I'm not saying like I have a problem with people like wanting to make sure they make the right decisions for their space, like I love that. Like, and I love giving people the product that they love, the bathroom they love, etc., or whatever it is we're doing. But the simplified, it's simplified. Like, here's the paper of the color look we have to use. Um they want to add something, they're like, we we need a termite treatment. Like, we want to we actually need a full rewire to this whole side of the building. We need a full rewire, and it's like it's just in there. Like, they're not, oh, you know, give me a price and like nickel and diamond us on things that like we give fair prices. We we really do. Like, I take my guys' price, I add, you know, the percentage I need to to cover my workmen's comp insurance, my general liability insurance, those things are like not cheap items in the workman's comp, like I pay per what I pay out. So if I'm paying my guys fifteen thousand dollars in one month, then like I'm paying, depending on what the like whether they did sheetrock or whether they did brickwork, like it all varies, but I am paying six dollars and fifty cents to twelve dollars and fifty cents, I think, per hundred dollars that I pay my guys. So you think I'm paying, say some I'm paying essentially twelve percent. So I'm paying what six and a half to twelve percent on every hundred dollars that I pay out. So I put enough money to cover our workmen's comp, our general liability, um, like you know, like that stuff, and then I make 50 per 15. You know, I also put like a little bit just for a contingency, and I've talked about that because it's like instead of having to go back, oh, we have to do a change or a small change or a small change or like giving us a little bit of like a like a do the percentage for my um for my insurance and like 10% on top. That way, like one of those little things, the customer may not even ever know about some of these things, you know, because it might just be so small, it's like oh like it's another 150 bucks, like you know, like we gotta go get a that piece, that piece is like 70 bucks, but like because I have that 10% contingency on their numbers, um like I don't have to like bug them and like I said, make them feel like oh every week like Dylan's adding a change order, like is it really like do we really need it? Like, you know, I just I protect myself from that and then I make 15%. So if you think you know I had to say no to a $1.5 million dollar job that someone trusted me and wanted me because they knew me, wanted me to do it, like ah. So now working at the uh plumbing supply house and seeing like how much in a good routine and and work groove we're getting in, and seeing how they're just adding to it, and it doesn't have it's not being nickel and dime, like this is what they want, and because they're seeing as they're investing in like the facelift of this company, and they're going to improve their sales over the next X amount of years from what they were, you know. Um, so they're seeing it as an investment, so they no questions asked, and I'm loving it, right? Because I'm like, we can do it, like, and I don't have to worry about like do they understand that like they're asking for more, it's going to owe more because they're a business themselves, so they understand asking for more, you know, is going to take more. There's a video going around. Um, I follow this contractor, and it's so funny. He's like, he does like this example, he's like, No, you got this really nice steakhouse, and you know, you get like this $100 steak, $150 steak, and like the waiter comes up and they're like, Oh man, it was the best steak ever. Like, I loved it, I'm so pleased with it. And the waiter's like, Well, great, I love that you like loved the meal. Um, we have like, you know, the city's best whatever cheesecake. Would you like a piece for dessert? You know what? The steak was so good. I've got a little room, we're not in a rush. Like, let's go ahead and get the cheesecake, you know, enjoy the cheesecake, love it. And then the waiter comes back out with the receipt, and the guy's like playing the customer, and he's like, Um, excuse me, there's a cheesecake on my receipt. Like, you know, like fighting that, like, why isn't the cheesecake for free? You know, and it's like that's how people treat contractors, like seriously. They'll be like, Well, you're drilling over here, like, we just need to drill a little bit over here, too. It's like, okay, well, it goes by the foot, right? Like, if you drilled a hole, you know, nine inches to a foot down and two feet wide and you know, three feet long, like just because we have the jackhammer, like it's it's not easy work into like it's more labor and it's more time because I could just do the original spot and it would take less of my time. Time is money, etc. etc. Happens to us all the time. So I think I will reinvestigate the option of going to take my commercial uh contracting license. It is open book, but it's more in depth. But we'll see. We'll see. Um I'm really debating it at this point. I don't uh I think I my biggest hurdle would be exactly how much it increases my insurance. Um, but yeah, something to look into. So anyway, back to what I really want to talk about is my wooiness. Um, I have a few of I'm going to be redoing my affirmations probably like within this week. When I get some downtime, some office time, like I said, since this week's not too busy, there are some of my affirmations that it's not that they're not resonating, but I already feel like they're reality that I've accepted. So a lot of my affirmations I've written, um they are things that I know, but I have it's challenging for me to feel that they are real. So I bring them to my flashcard, my affirmation cards that I make myself, and every now and then I just go through and say, like, I already know this. This is a matter of fact, like I have no doubt in this statement, so I no longer feel like I need to like say repeat as frequently. So I always say like good things to myself. Um, I do listen to some like um affirmations like in my car ride because like you think I'm sitting in my truck like most of the day. If I'm gone eight hours, you know, during the day, eight to ten hours, I'm probably driving at least half of that. So four to five hours a day sitting in my car. I am a huge music person. If you don't know, I'm the lead singer of a local emo band, emo comf cover band. Um, so I do love music, but you know, and I listen to all kinds of different genres, new, old, whatever. But every now and then I just like can't take the music, so I'll listen to affirmations. So I do say positive things to myself. So I'm not saying if I get rid of when I write new cards and I don't put one down, that I'm not carrying it with me anymore, that I never think those positive thoughts, but it's already ingrained, I think, in my psyche, and I think it's already rewired me into the belief to have the confidence in that statement. So it's not like it just goes away and like I don't ever need that statement or that belief anymore. I just don't, I'm not sitting here saying trying to convince myself. These are things that I just like need my innate gut to feel are a hundred percent um real, you know. So I'm gonna go through a few of them and we can kind of talk about it. And then I also have a new one that I did write later at the end of last week, and then I wrote down some notes um from my therapist. Remember, I think it was last episode, I talked about how me and my therapist really helped me figure out um whether to say yes to all the jobs, yes to some of the jobs, or no to all of the jobs that we had coming onto our plate um into our opportunity realm. Um, and it it it so I have some notes written down from that that I'm going to end up using in my next set of affirmation cards that I'm gonna write. So I'm not gonna go through every statement I have, but just some of them. Um one is, and you'll see, these are really all into rewiring my my mindset about money. You know, when I say I grow up poor, I don't mean like we were never unhoused, but sometimes the electricity wasn't on, you know, and sometimes we were eating like butter noodles with chicken bouillon and watering down the Kool-Aid because like that's what we had, you know. Um like the fridge was empty, like quite empty for yeah, it was pretty empty a lot. Um and then like I said, the lights weren't on. Um so a lot of this, a lot of them that come to money is not because I'm sitting here and I am obsessed with becoming rich. I am rewiring my brain to know that the good life is not just for them. But that the good financial secure life belongs to me and allows me to provide an enjoyable, fun, stress-free life for my kids. Not that I don't need them to learn how to navigate stress or bad days, but as a parent, you always want better for your kids than like what you had, right? So these affirmations, when it talks about money, I don't want you to sit here and think, man, this dude thinks about money all the time. I've had a ton of rewiring to do in order to say, I feel like make the most out of the success that I'm working towards. I don't want to just be busy successful. I want to be financially smart while I'm busy successful and have those two work to create financial security, stability, and just a stable home for my kids. Like that's the drive. You know, um my mom managed a helped manage an apartment complex, and you know, we got a discount at that apartment complex. I think I've lived in like three to five of those apartments, you know. Um we my mama bought a house and we rented a house from from my mama um in order to like have a backyard, you know, for a little while. Um and then we lived in another house and I my parents went through divorce and I stayed in that house to save money when I was 18, 19 until they one they knocked on the door to take my car. It was one of the things that was getting lost in my parents' divorce. Um, and so my friend's mom actually donated a hoopty card to me, which was great because like I had no means of getting another car, but like I did, I already had a career. I was already like booked doing hair. Um, so I needed a way to get to and from, but I didn't have the means to go just buy a car, and because of other reasons, which I said I'll get in another episode. I also had shit credit not to my fault. Um I'll get into that another episode. But um, so these these money affirmations are not through arrogance and they're not through me idolizing, say, billionaire type of things, but it's just like money doesn't buy you happiness, but does bring you peace. And if you don't know it brings you peace, then like you've never been without, you know. So I can't say like, oh, having money is gonna like bring it, like, no, but my family is happy. So to bring me the peace that I need from say the money trauma that I've been through, and for me to provide the type of opportunities in life I want to my kids, like it takes money, you know. So um one the first one I'm gonna read y'all is I am beyond grateful that money comes back to me in increasing quantities from multiple sources of income. And that is true, right? We have our home buyer job where we have, you know, it's a smaller salary, but then we get like a we get like a a commission based on our sales. Uh, and then you know, we also make our salary with with construction and with construction, you know, that that provides me the opportunity to do flips and with investors who don't own properties and like need someone to give them like a rough takeoff. I'm starting to charge, you know, $150 for that because a lot of times, most of the time, I haven't actually done a takeoff for an investor, and like they've even made an offer on the property, so I was doing that a lot. Um, and it was not a waste of time, but like it didn't provide me anything. So, you know, homeowners, whatever, free estimates. Investors don't own the property yet, like have not signed for that property yet, or even I have friends who are obviously in real estate, and the agent will be like, Oh, well, they want to renegotiate the numbers. Will you come do this estimate so we can get you know their sale price lower? Like, I'm charging for that because it is a rush around to make sure because like I also need to make sure, like, not that the price needs to be like a hundred percent without like all the tradesmen going, but like at a certain extent within a reasonable range, I need to have that number pretty accurate that way. If they do get the sale price down and if they do actually get that work done, that like my number is not that far off from what I quoted them for, you know, their closing. So multiple streams of income there. Um, this one only good comes to me, and I'm ready to receive more blessings, right? This was helping me rewire that good stuff is for me, it's not at random, it's not coincidence, it's not temporary, it's that only good things come to me. Um, let me see. I have another one that kind of goes off of that one that I really like. Um, I overcome challenges successfully and I take them as useful lessons. So, right there, right, like I know only good comes to me, but that doesn't mean I'm not gonna have those hard days. Like I said, we are actually in you know, legal back and forth with a job that owes us damn near 50 grand. I mean, honestly, from the work, it's 48k, and then from the legal cost already, we're at 13,000, so essentially 60, 60 something thousand dollars from one job. So it's not saying that it's not challenging, it's not saying that every day is good, but it is saying that I do overcome them successfully, and then I I learn, right? Like my contract is better because of this. I now know that if a job is over a hundred K that I need to go file um a notice of contract with the city. That way, if there is a non-payment issue, then I can instead of going this whole $13,000 legal route, my first you know, chain of action can be going to place a lien against the property. That way, hopefully, I can avoid lawyer fees or too many lawyer fees because we have that lee threat lien threatening their property. So I'm in that challenge, but I've learned I now have a lawyer that I trust. I now know about the notice of contract, and my own contract is stronger. Um, I also now know, like I always was bigger in texting because I'm on the go all the time. So customers will call me and I might be at the dump site, like literally not even by my phone. I might be like struggle busing with a full cart of heavy materials, that kind of stuff. So um, you know, just to get back to people quick, but I I've now learned like it is good to text and email that way everything, even when things are going good, like it shows like your communication through writing. And then one thing I also learned through that is even if it's an in-person conversation, because there's been one or two times I'm like, that was an in-person conversation. Like, I know everyone in the room remembers that conversation, and my Laura was like, There's no problem talking about things and making agreements like verbally, but then later an email or text, you know, go in and say, Hey, I just want to note like this was our discussion, and then this was you know the solution, or this is what you know the final answer was from y'all, get that confirmation in writing. So I I'm learning from that um that challenge. So, yes, good things do come to me. Challenges also come to me, but I learn through them and I overcome them in the most successful way that I can. Um, I do have here I am retiring wealthy at 55. Okay, I'm not really putting a dollar amount. I just want to retire feeling wealthy at 55. Now, am I really gonna retire? I'm a busybody. Come on, y'all. Am I really gonna retire? But can I be more passive at 55? Yeah, I'm 37, you know? Like I've got time. I've already had so many, so much more opportunity presented to me in the last 12 months of my life. So, what's that times 15, whatever, 10, 15 more, you know? Um, so I do have this in here. It is not like, and then I stop working, but it is if I want to, I can fully retire while they at 55, and I'm putting that out there. Maybe, maybe I feel like I still do want to work, and that's fine because like most people don't really retire, retire, or it's like in their 60s, but like I want to know if I want to take a trip every quarter, a big trip every quarter, or go like out of the country for two, three weeks at a time and explore whatever it may be. Like, I'm putting out in the universe that the work I'm doing now, I'm going to retire wealthy at 55. And when that happens, it is up to me how much I want to work and you know how passive I can be at that point. I also have there is no limit to what I can achieve. Pretty straightforward. Um, I think I might get rid of that one because I do believe that. And I know people think I'm a little dreamy, I guess, for thinking that. But that's fine. That's their own limiting beliefs that people can't achieve everything they want. But like, I think it's that thought alone that has them not able to achieve what they want. So to me, I just fully believe this so much. You see, like, I fully believe it so much, like, like, of course, like I can achieve anything I want. You know, Missy's like, You think you're just gonna get everything you want? And I'm like, in a reasonable reality, and as long as I work for it, like, yeah, like I'm not saying like everything I want's gonna land on my lap, but I mean, I will find a way. And one of her sayings that she probably hates that she ever told me was where there's a deal, there's a way. So if you ever see me post that on Instagram, just know that Missy came up with it. Um, she wishes she would have never told me because I am riding that, I'm riding that wave. So that's probably gonna be one that I don't rewrite on my new ones, um, just because I fully have that belief. Um, I also have, and this one's I guess maybe a little embarrassing, but this one is me and Missy continue to grow professionally and continue to be appreciated and become stronger assets at Homebuyer Louisiana. So I wrote that when we first got on with Homebuyer Louisiana because we had not been employed by someone else in a decade. So going from being your own boss, like literally, like we could close the gym, we could get trainers or our coaches to the gym and take off. You know, we wanted to change the gym schedule because we thought it'd be more beneficial to have a different schedule, you know, for the for the members or whatever. Like we were able to do whatever we wanted. We want to invest money, like we would, you know, buy new equipment, like it was always up to us. Um, so I won't say I guess we were like kind of nervous, you know. Were we the type of workers at this point that were gonna work well with someone else delegating us in someone else's systems? I know it's probably harder for me than for Missy, um, but it hasn't been hard at all. It's been really great, and I do feel that we've both grown professionally, like without a doubt. Um, and I we do feel appreciated. We feel very appreciated, and we do feel like assets, like Missy, the way she helps them. Like, I know she feels like an asset, and I definitely feel like my contractor knowledge definitely helps them because they'll call me just about construction stuff sometimes, you know, or like I can help out with investors, like last-minute repairs that like they've lost track with their construction crew, like so, and then I've tried to also get better at like the way I inspect their properties because I'm not like a licensed, like say you're getting a new house and you have an inspection period, like I'm not that kind of inspector, but like I have a base knowledge of everything. You know, I've got a couple of tools that I take in, you know, it's more useful like when the power's on to the structure and they're not always on these wholesale properties, but yeah, we do feel like we've grown professionally, we do feel like we're assets and we do feel appreciated. So um, that was one I wrote down a little when we got hired. Like I said, this month made a year over there. So I guess I wanted to share that one because even if it feels corny, if it's something that you just need to put in your belief system, write it down, start repeating it and repeat it like you feel it and you know it. You know, don't be like like then no, like the universe is going to serve the assertiveness. Um, and then eventually that in the back of your head that like you're trying to fight away from, it goes away, and you completely believe that statement. I completely believe that statement now, and it did everything I needed it to do. Um, my family is full of love, happiness, safety, security, and joy. All three of my kids know how much they mean to me. I wrote that one because I wanted a house full of love, happiness, safety, security, and joy. And I can't say that that's what I grew up with. Like, love you, mom, if you end up listening to this podcast. Um, but you know, it the home was not that. You know, our home was dry shelter, but for many reasons love, happiness, safety, security, and joy were none of those things were probably um words I'd use to describe my childhood. So I wanted to affirm that for my immediate family now and my home. And I also know that my parents, through their rocky relationship, you know, um that I don't know if we all felt loved all the time, like us kids, you know, because I I do know like we cause more stress. So this one's super important for me personally, and it's like no matter what goes on in the professional work world, like that was one that um I needed to keep in there, and I do believe it. I do believe it. I I do love how I do love how happy my kids are. Um, and that's probably the been some of the biggest things. Like, we've been starting to take family bike rides. We all finally got bikes because before we were in a neighborhood where we could ride, we're on a dead end between two busy roads, so like we can't really ride our bike in our neighborhood. I didn't have a way, we now have a truck. Uh, so we've gotten all of our bikes and like the kids we've had to like teach them every summer for the past three summers because like they'll ride like in the parking lot across the street, but then like once school starts and we get busy and like they didn't see us riding, they would stop riding and have to reteach them every summer. But I went and got a bike for exercise, they've seen me now. I've taught them. So we've been going on bike rides. So I'm going to keep this one in there. I might re-word it a little bit, but I just want all my three kids to like really know, like, no matter how busy I get with work, like how much they do mean to me, and that one's really um, really important for me to keep in there in some way because I do know it and believe it, but I don't see the harm in in keeping it, you know. Um, because it's something that I think even my deepest demons still still fight like some of my memories of not feeling some of those things. So um it's not necessarily like out of sight, out of mind yet, you know. So I'm gonna keep it, probably just reword it. Um let's see. Here's a good one that I think's been really good. Debt is just a tool that helps me grow wealth, equity, and net worth, right? Wealth is equity you have, it is like net worth. So maybe that one's a little wordy, but I wanted to make sure no matter which way my brain was thinking that day that I was reading these cards, that I understood that the debt I had was just a tool, right? We used to have like retail debt. I mean, like I said, I've been on my own since I was 16. Like, you'd think I've never been in like massive debt, just like keeping my head above the water, like just like at the barely at the surface, like I've been there, you know. Um, so we don't have retail debt anymore. Uh so you know, when you're in so much debt because you're just trying to breathe and you're just trying to survive, you're just trying to eat, and like honestly, man, sometimes you did I did put social outings on cards because like fucking needed some social time sometime, you know, especially in my early 20s, mid-20s. Um you know, like that it was a thing. Like, I mean, can you just work and sulk in your own house for so long? So maybe not the best decisions, but you know, obviously, I pretty much had to learn from my own mistakes. I didn't really like have examples of like um success, financial success, financial literacy, like all this stuff. So I needed to change my mindset around debt because to me debt was just icky. It was just icky, I didn't want to touch it. I would still have to do everything I can with cash. We're still like not there, but I'm being smart about debt and I've changed the I've changed the um stigma of debt in my mind. So now this is what I have. Debt is a tool that helps me grow my wealth, equity, and net worth, and it is helping me. I probably will keep that one in there. I think it's very important. Um and I do know that that is what I'm using debt for at the moment, and I'm being really smart with the risk I take with that, but I think just having a reminder in there because it is such a big part of flips and and stuff like that, whether I'm using a hard money lender or whether I do find that like solid money partner that's just ready to roll with me. Either way, it's a debt in some sort. Um, I'm gonna keep that in there. Uh, it is exciting to travel and be adventurous with my family. Gonna keep that one in there. I love to travel. I do feel like if I'm home in any sense and like the kids are just chilling on their iPads, that I am definitely like, um, let me just go grab my computer. I can like make a Canva post for the construction company. Or let me just double check, make sure I got like everybody's text, like all that stuff. So um I'm gonna keep that one in there just to remind myself work-life balance, you know. Uh, okay. Here's another one that might be a little embarrassing, it's more personal for me, but like my affirmations are for my entire life, they're not just like professional. Uh, my body is strong and beautiful, and I love my physical image. I've told y'all in the previous episodes, I'm trans, like there's body dysphoria. Um, I was heavier as a kid. I was told how heavy I was as a kid, uh, was picked on for being heavy as a kid. So I know I'll never see in the mirror what other people see, so I do struggle a lot with my physical shape, and it's getting better, but man, I still have bad days in weekly, so it's not like oh once a month, once every other month, like whatever, or like when I eat something, like something bad or whatever. Like, I do struggle with it, and um, so I'm definitely gonna keep that one in there because there is someday, and I know it's in my mind because some days I'll step in front of the mirror and be like, This is the dude I've always wanted to see, like this is it. It mostly happens actually in pictures I see of myself that like I'm not the focal point. Like, I'll see myself in the background of the picture, and I'll be like, Man, that dude's in shape. I'm like, man, that's me, like that kind of stuff. Um, so it's harder to happen like to myself for myself, but that's one I'm gonna keep in there because like I said, even with my transition, like it gave me confidence to do whatever I wanted to do for myself, but I still struggle there, and I know that like only good things will come like the more confident I get in that. So I no longer work out as punishment. I do work out for longevity, I do work out to be uh healthy and active with my kids, and I like to look good. Like, yeah, I do work out to look good, like I like to look good. I'm not like conceited vain, but like, I mean, who doesn't like to look good? And if you like haven't like done up yourself, like you go do up yourself real quick for the weekend or like eat good for two weeks and dress nice on that weekend and tell me you don't feel better. If and you have that confidence, like your confidence will only help you. So I'm keeping that one in there for sure. Um, let's see what else I've got here I want to share. Um, I have I have an immense ability to manifest anything and everything that I desire for me and my family's life. I'll probably take that one out because I 100% believe it. I feel it. And I can kind of tell like when I say it, and it's just like, okay, like how fast can I say the sentence and get through it? That like it's because like I already know it. You know, I'm not like, oh yeah, like I'm okay, I'm working on feeling it, that way it's gonna come real. Like, no, like I'm reading that sentence and I'm like, I already know, like I already know it, and there's no dissing that statement in there because having it in the affirmations is why I feel so strongly confident in that statement. Um let's see, another one on money. I no longer stress over finances because I know money comes easily and effortlessly to me. This is one that was still hitting me, even making construction money because of the ebb and flow of jobs, and for um, like I think I told y'all, like I really did just raise our prices when we went and got that new like system that helps me build and know market prices that that I splurged on because I raised. My prices, but it's really to help cover my business overhead plus my percentage instead of like just covering my labor and then my percentage because like any overages that happens that um were say my fault, like whether it was for like a miscalculation was coming out of my profit, you know. And I didn't have any money in for my overhead, like I was just like covering my guys um my guys' fees in like my 15%. So like any overage that was my fault, like eight at my percent. So I felt a big ebb and flow. So putting that in there, I'm going to keep that one in there. I may reword it a little bit. I may reword it a little bit. I'm not quite sure how yet, but I'm gonna keep it in there because you know, I feel like I didn't get the system to say help me with that statement, but I did get the system. Something led me to make the investment to get the system, and I am four or five jobs in with the new system, and we are producing solid, stable income, job to job, even with you know, overages, etc. Because, like I said, I build in insurance, contingency, and then my percent. Um, so I'm going to keep that in there because I feel like, right, we say these affirmations, we want to believe these good things, but then I feel like what leads us into certain things, like it all comes together. So, me saying I no longer stress over finances because I know money comes easily and effortlessly to me, and going through all these things about like being successful in the field has led me to get this system, um, led me into learning how to better price for what we do, and has also led me to believe that like my price is worth it. If someone doesn't want to pay me the 15%, then they can go self-manage that job, they can go find someone else, they can go whatever their solution is gonna be by not hiring us or whatever. But like that statement has led me to have my prices increase in a um, I say meaningful way, but purposeful, like I'm not just like increasing everybody, say like 50%, so I can keep 50%. Like, no, but like I learned how to price myself for a business and for my own income, saying that like I'm worth a true 15%, not like whatever's left of 15% after contingencies, etc. You know, um that and this is this next one is big. This is the first time I ever wrote this down, and I actually got this one from my friend John Lester, he's a co-worker for me at Home Buyer. I don't know if he even knows how much when he said this, it hit me when we first started working for Home Buyer. Um, me, Missy, and him were in the room, and I was there being like, God, like all these investors all around us, all these properties, like, oh my god, like what an opportunity to like get to know these people, get to know this industry. And John was talking to Missy, and he's like, Well, in these rooms, he's like, Dylan's the asset. And I'd never, I've literally never been called that. Like, that was such a big moment for me. It still is, it's still uh that was big because I always felt like I as hard as I've worked, as hard as I've worked, I always felt like the person waiting for a handout. Isn't that weird? Like I've taken care of myself for as long as I can remember. I've worked over time. Um I've picked up extra shifts when I did work at salons, etc. I've sleepless nights building my brand, hard conversations leaving, um, hard conversations leaving the partners' hell, stepping into a room I knew nothing about just to get my GC license. So when John Lester said Dylan's the asset, because he was like, you have money partners, you have lenders, we have the wholesale properties, you have investors, but we need the contractors to get the work done. So he's like, Dylan's the asset, you know. Like, I'm gonna keep that one. I'm gonna keep that one. I feel it, and I'm believing it more. But I don't know if I know it 100% of the time. Like, I'm not remember, I said like when I say those, and I'm like, how long does it take to say like this? And I know like I'm an asset, like it takes no time at all. But it still hits a feeling, a nerve. So that means to me, like, I still need to tell it to myself. So I'm gonna keep that one. John, if you're listening, you'll never know how much um that statement turned me around and made me believe in myself more, or at least value myself more, and drove me honestly, gave me more motivation to learn even more about my field, you know. So that was great. Um, I prioritize taking time to travel and make memories with friends and family. Um when I'm home, I work, I like to travel, even if it's like a three, four-day weekend every now and then. Um we actually have a couple of trips booked, like we're going one last beach trip for Labor Day. We're going to Tucson, Arizona to play in our LGBT uh softball tournament. So I'm really excited about that. And then me and Missy for Missy's birthday like next year, like a year from now, going back to Acumal, um, Mexico. Oh, and my mom's actually also getting married in Mexico in February. Just haven't booked our flights for that yet. But um work-life balance, you know. Um, when I'm home, I'll like I said, I'll find a way to work. So being in this um makes me just like take off and be in the moment. If it's not burning down, if I'm not in town, I can't fix it. So I leave my guys as prepared as they can to continue to work on the jobs. You know, if they need certain materials, like I can pay over the phone, I can pay online, I can set up an order for them to pick up whatever materials. But as far as like day-to-day stuff, it just takes me out, it almost like gives me like a weekend, like a true weekend, honestly. Like, I work at some point through every weekend, so I'm putting that in there, keeping something like that in there because I don't want to forget that work-life balance is just as important for my life. Because like, if I'm not, and also I'm gonna enjoy the money. I'm not here to yes, I'm here to become wealthy, but like I want my kids to remember traveling and going to like really cool places. Um, yeah, like my mom brought me and a few of my cousins to Cancun, which is crazy. Can'cun for like two or three years in a row for spring break, okay. I think I was like third, fourth, second, third, and fourth grade or something like that. We went, and I like it's wild to me, like now knowing what cancun is during spring break, that my mom, my mom would like she'd take me, my mom, my aunts, and like our kids, and like her the kids, and like some of the other cousins, and like they'd all they we'd all go. So that's super funny. But I remember that, and as crazy as my childhood was, like that that those are memories that I am so grateful to have. Super cool to say, like, you know, I went to Mexico when I was like a child. Um, you know, so I want that for my kids. So leaving that in there, I enjoy life and cherish the little things. I don't know if I need that one in there anymore. Maybe I'll reword it, but you know, not that like I don't or that I need to convince myself, but I guess this one is just kind of like a reminder. The hustle and bustle gets busy every day. We can get so lost in it, but we need to enjoy and cherish those little things. So I might reword it. Maybe I'll take it out. I don't know. I'm on the fence with it. Um, because I do believe it, and I already know that I cherish the little things. I'm very sentimental, so we'll we'll see about that. And I am fulfilled. I like that one. Um, probably keep that one in there again, just as a friendly reminder. Um, the new card that I have that I wrote the end of last week is I have earned the success I am enjoying now. We went over it before, right? Um, with my therapist and with my friend and with Missy, my wife, telling me like the good life is meant for me and stop freaking out about it, like I'm here. Like, yes, I'm working a lot still, but I'm in the success, like we're having it, you know. So now we need to make you know the smart decisions with the money, just because we have it, don't spend it, you know, invest it, invest it where, invest it how, like what's worth the investment, things like that. But to say, you know, like my friend told me, my foot's in the door of where I've been wanting to go, and my back heel is up, leaving. I'm humble, I'm gonna stay remembering where I came from, but that I have earned the success that I am joining now. So, this one, like I said, this is a new one. Keeping that uh financial freedom is mine now, and I know I deserve it. So I won't say like we're say a thousand percent there, but we're on our way there, so I'm still manifesting this. We are better than we have ever been. I believe we are on the right track. I do feel like if something were to happen, like uh, and we'd have to like come out of pocket for something, or like say maybe not make as good on a deal, but like we'd still make good on the deal. So I feel like even like a setback here is not like a halt or a pause or a fail. I just feel like life is going to eventually happen. So I won't say like we're 100% financial freedom, we can do whatever we want, like we don't have to calculate like whatever. I think I'm gonna always calculate things, even when I'm there, but we're still manifesting that. That one's in there. Um, and then I deserve this good life, and I am proud of myself. I think that one's self-explanatory, especially if you listen to the last episode. So I do deserve this good life, and I am proud of myself. And I think the proud of myself is a big part because it's like, well, I do deserve the this good life, but ugh, like I have all these like concerns and worries and in these voices, and like all this could go wrong, or like what if it what if it ends? Like, what if we don't get in we don't we never book another job? Um, you know, and feeling like I'm chasing something, so I think I want that I'm proud of myself in there because it's like I'm here handling it, and like no matter what comes, if it gets slow, I'll you know, I'll hustle and bustle, I'll go out there. I'm in the right rooms, I'm in the right rooms to find more to find more business. Um, and also like I have this you know success coming my way, but the fact that I am one delegating, two, not doing everything at once, which will lead me into the notes that I came up with my therapist the last time I spoke to them. Um, but that I'm not just like, oh, I have the money to do all the things now. Like, no, okay, we have the money, but like let's do this, and then we'll get like another check or another job, and then we'll do this, like another check, another job, then we'll do a little bit of this. So it's not like oh let me deplete everything now and then like rebuild from all of it. So um proud of myself that it's here, proud of myself that I'm acknowledging that I deserve it, proud of myself that I'm patting myself on the back for the hard work I'm putting in, but also proud of myself because I'm planning to scale properly, timely, and responsibly. Um, so that's a new one. Last one, the notes that I have for from my um my therapist when I was like freaking out about everything in front of us is let go of the all or nothing mindset, right? And that's kind of like what I just described. Like I know because you know we have money in the bank that could I go get like a little hoop-dee work truck that can pull heavier than my truck, and I don't have to worry about damaging my truck at the dump site or get a second dumpster that way I don't have to stagger everything that I can have two dumpsters on two different job sites. You know, could I do all of that? Like, I could go do it all right now and then like really lower the cash that's in the bank. But what I did was I got the storage container, or like I could have just gone and got a commercial space, but I didn't want to spend that much. I know I didn't that was like overkill for me right now, so I got $1,900. It's gonna be under, I'd rather pay my guys and the fence material like under $2,000. I now have a storage container essentially for um for works for supplies, materials, tools, whatever. So I did that low-cost investment that's useful. I'm not going into overkill, so let go of the all-or-nothing mindset. I feel like I'm already healing from that. I'm going to definitely put that in my cards. Um yeah, and that's pretty I guess that's all I have. The other stuff is, you know, the conversations that I needed to have that was like who remember if you paid, if you tuned in to last episode going over seeing what investors had the money because I didn't have the cash to upfront on any of their projects. So I had that conversation. Um let's see, okay, and then here's the there's a second note in here. I need to find a way to phrase this, but it's this, this kind of trails off of the all or nothing, but it's not this or that. Like I don't have to pick. Do I get the say the storage container or the trailer or the dumpster trailer or the storage container or the the truck, like the 250 that can pull heavier instead of this or it can be this, then that, right? So I have the storage container. So now my workout space is clear, my office space is clear, like I can think and breathe again and be productive and have my designated spaces rebuild, and then I'll probably get like an older but stronger truck because I've had $12,000 of repair in my brand new tundra. Oh my god, I can get into that in another conversation, but thank god my insurance paid for it. But it was the the dump site that fucked it up. Um, something basically ripped the whole undercarriage of my my truck. Um, because these dump sites they do not care about your property, they're just like you're gonna park there and empty your truck. Anyway, so getting rid of this or that and leaning leaning into this than that. Again, that goes right into being more responsible and proud of myself for accepting the success, but being smart with my success. So, this was my first wooy episode. I hope it wasn't too much, and hopefully something resonated. You know, you can definitely take some of these affirmations and turn it into whatever you know feels important to your life and your well-being. And as you saw, like some of mine without context could definitely seem like arrogant, but it's just I just we just need the confidence. We need confidence in our everyday lives, we need confidence in ourselves, and we need to stop relying on others to like pat us on the back and like just believe it for ourselves so we can walk into those rooms, walk into those spaces, claim our success. Um, and then family stuff because work-life balance is just as important as being hella great in your field. Um, you know, you need you're working towards the success, but don't you want to like enjoy the fruits of your labor with like people you love and care about, enjoy their company. So hope y'all like this episode. Um, give us a follow. We are king me underscore collective. We are now live at kingme-collective.com. Um, and then we are the King Me Collective podcast here on YouTube. Share us if this episode resonated, like, subscribe, whatever, or don't. But I'll talk to y'all next week, either way. Gratitude is where everything begins. So thank you again for thinking what I have to say is worthy of your time. If you'd like to find out more about what I do and keep up with what we have going on, find me at Kingly underscore collective on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook. I'm Dylan King, your host and owner of DM King General Contractor LLC, serving the New Orleans metro area. If you found something I said useful, like, subscribe, share, comment, or don't. Either way, take care until next week and go get it.