Living Life Unapologetically: Embracing Personal Growth and Overcoming Judgement - Feat. Ian Jimeno

In this week's episode, host Tim Winfred sits down with Ian Jimeno, a real estate agent and geologist, to delve into lessons of personal growth and the importance of embracing one's own path.

Ian shares his own journey, from starting out as a geologist to eventually becoming a real estate agent and investor in Denver. They discuss the power of pursuing one's passions, overcoming fears of judgment, and living life unapologetically.

Join Tim and Ian as they explore the idea that people's opinions should not hold us back from chasing our dreams, and that the ones who truly care about us will support us no matter what. Get ready for an inspiring conversation filled with valuable insights and practical advice on personal growth and breaking free from the shackles of societal expectations.

Transcript

00:00 That's the biggest thing that I know now that I either wish I knew sooner or want to impose on other people, is that, like, people don't care. Like, just live your life and do whatever you want, because we only have this one life to live. 

00:11 And it sounds super cliche, but the thing is, people still have so many fears and phobias in their own head that don't come into fruition just because it stays in their head. It's never physical and never happens in real life. 

00:27 Hello, hello, hello. Welcome to the I should have learned the sooner podcast. I'm your host, Tim Winfred. Together, let's take a dive into amazing stories of personal growth as my guests share their answer to the question, what is something you know now that you wish you had learned sooner? 

00:45 From overcoming impostor syndrome, investing money, lessons, and more. Join me and my guests as they share their stories of challenges they faced head on and how they came out on top. In today's episode, I get a sit down with a friend that I met recently at a networking event here in the Denver area, Ian Jimeno. 

01:07 Ian is a real estate agent, and he also is a geologist, and the list just keeps going. He also has a podcast called Invest in Denver, where he talks with people about how they're investing in Denver. 

01:22 Not just people who are investing money, but time, people who are making change, investing in the Denver community in one way or another. So not only do we get a chat about that, but we also get to talk about Ian's lesson around how those people who truly care about you don't really care too much about what you're doing. 

01:46 The people who truly care about you will care for you, and. Not judge you, no matter what you do in life, no matter what path you take. So without further ado, let's jump into today's episode. Here we go. 

02:01 Hey, Ian. How's it going? Tim? Thanks so much for having me on, man. I'm really excited for this. Thanks so much for joining me. It's been good getting to know you and hearing your adventure with your podcast as well, and following you online and meeting in person many times. 

02:17 Yeah, I dig it, man. Especially with all the airbnb friends that we have. I mean, send us more. We'll be friends with all these people. So yeah, man, you're a person to be around and always a favorite to talk to. 

02:30 Right back at you. You're always a positive energy anywhere I go, and a safe energy in big spaces. Dig it. So for people who are unfamiliar with who you are, give a little rundown. Yeah, man. I am Ian jimenez or jimenez. 

02:45 However you feel comfortable. Born and raised in San Diego. I love San Diego. America's finest city. I moved over here to Denver in 2020. By that time, it was really hard to make friends during COVID so a little bit more on my career base. 

03:00 I was a geologist. I graduated as a geologist back in 2016 from University of California, Santa Cruz. So over in the Bay Area, really close to Monterey, I really enjoyed my time as a geologist. Honestly, I could not think of anything better, but I kind of stumbled into the profession. 

03:17 But it definitely suited me pretty well, especially because I got a job immediately after college. So that was the least of my worries in terms of trying to get money immediately after college. Usually that's the hardest part. 

03:30 So anywho, continued my career as a geologist as I got into Denver, and I soon realized that as I got closer to bigger pockets and the whole financial independence community, I was like. Dude, this is where it's at. 

03:45 I love this space right now, especially working with real estate, budgeting, investing, things like that. I was like, I want to be a part of this community, so dived all in. Quit my job as a geologist. 

03:55 I guess more technically, I was an environmental consultant. Depends if you want to go into that. I free to talk about that, but I stopped doing that in June of 2021 and then got my license in September of 2021. 

04:09 And here I am as a real estate agent, investor, house hacker here in the Denver area. I know there's a lot to unpack there, but I'll leave that up to you, man. Well, first of all, I have to make the obvious joke and say it rocks that you were a geologist, and it suddenly makes sense now why recently you posted that whole thing about the different types of countertops that you'll find and the different sparkles in them and whatnot. 

04:34 I'm piecing the puzzle together a little bit more now. Yeah, I actually got accepted to UC Santa Cruz, the Banana Slugs, but didn't go there because it felt too rural to me, like I lived in the mountains and was ready for a city life. 

04:48 So yeah, it's a beautiful place, though. Oh, yeah, 100%, man. That was a big draw because I knew higher education, especially in Santa Cruz, I didn't feel like it was going to hold much water. I think if anything, it would just be the degree that would hold water versus a Harvard scholarship or degree. 

05:07 Yeah, I definitely enjoyed myself and it was definitely that aspect of being in the forest in the campus and being minutes away from the beach as well was a huge draw for me to go there. Awesome. So did you end up coming out of college with student loan debts or did you were to set yourself out of college without any debt? 

05:25 For sure. Good question. I went to community college for like seven years. I had no idea what I wanted to do, and I am very thankful of my younger self for going that route versus not having any idea what I wanted to do going to university. 

05:40 So. I mean, when credits are like, $40, each class is like, three credits. That's like $120 per class. Super affordable. And I recommend anyone, literally everyone, go to community college first, because at 18, you're a kid still. 

05:56 Like, legally, you're an adult, but you have a mind of a kid. Like, you had no time to prepare yourself as a fully functioning adult where you can pay your bills, know what credit score is, and all that good stuff. 

06:10 So find yourself, experience life, and maybe even that college life, quote, unquote, while you're in community college, because people live there and they're to have a good time at the same time. Yeah, I always say I've been saying lately I should say that I went to coding boot camp in 2018 and spent three and a half months and made more money because of that than I did. 

06:33 In the five years that I spent at San Jose State, I came out with $48,000 in student loan debt, and my first job was $16 an hour for 24 hours a week. That led to $32,000 salaried a year out of college. 

06:47 So I wasn't even making that much. Then I went to a boot camp, spent 17,000, and made 80K out of that. So I definitely see it as a great stepping stone. I don't think I would have gotten the opportunity, but I think a lot of people who make the decision to go to college do it because that's what you feel like you have to do, and I don't think that's the case anymore. 

07:09 100%, man. And if Kat, my wife, was on this call at the same time, she pretty much did the same path as. Where she went through SDSU, San Diego State University, and did the whole multimedia degree. And she was basically like publishing books and organizing the layout textbooks for professors. 

07:29 And she was like, you know what? I heard a lot about this whole coding boot camp thing, and I already know, like HTML, why not learn about the back end? So she did the same thing as you, three months into it, and I think it was like 15 grand or something like that. 

07:42 And now she's making significantly more compared to what she got with a degree. We can both fully attest to it. Yeah, it's not for everyone. I will say that it is an extremely difficult career. I feel like I'm taking an IQ test basically every day that I'm working. 

07:57 The pattern recognition man, it's rewarding. It's very rewarding. And I feel like my brain will thank me down the line, but in the thick of it, sometimes it's difficult. Anyway, so I want to jump into the first question so we have some time to chat about this. 

08:11 But as anybody who hasn't listened before, there's three questions, and the first one is, what is something you know now that you wish you had learned sooner? Yeah, I thought about this hard and heavy when I got that confirmation email, and one thing that really popped up is that no one freaking cares about your goals or your opinions, and you shouldn't care about theirs either. 

08:33 I mean, I myself, I'm in my mid thirty s, and I realized, like, whatever decision I make is not impactful whatever other person's idea of my life should be. And honestly, here I am, like, making content on YouTube, on Instagram, and being a real estate agent, all I needed was the blessing of my wife to go on with it. 

08:53 Do we have the proper finances? And literally no one else's idea of me stopped me. And that point, that was like late 2021, I was like, I'm all in. And I am no longer going to stress myself out with other people's opinions of me. 

09:08 So that's the biggest thing that. Know now that I either wish I knew sooner or want to impose on other people is that people don't care. Just live your life and do whatever you want, because we only have this one life to live, and it sounds super cliche, but the thing is, people still have so many fears and phobias in their own head that don't come into fruition just because it stays in their head. 

09:31 It's never physical, it never happens in real life. I'd say 95% of the time, it never does. Yeah, it's that idea. People who care don't matter, and people who matter don't care. Right. So good. It's true. 

09:46 In life, there's so many things that I've stopped myself from doing because of my fear of what other people will think. And once I stopped, I feel like it's a never ending battle inside of your head to just be like, EFF it. 

10:01 Let me do it anyways. And at the end of the day, I'm happy that I made that decision. And at the end of the day, something that I heard a few years back that really stood out to me whenever I was considering getting a master's degree. 

10:13 It's like, a master's degree may take you three years to get, but that three years is still going to come. So do you want to be your version of yourself where you have that Master's or the same version of yourself you are now where in three years you still wish you had that Master's? 

10:29 So it's sort of that same thing where it's like, people are going to judge you no matter what. If you're going to do it or not, you're still going to have to worry about people judging you. Yes. Yeah. 

10:42 I 100% agree, man. And I don't want to say that I felt like other people's opinions of me did determine my life back in the day, because I still feel like I had pretty good control of what I wanted to do and how I lived it. 

10:56 It's just now I realize that they never cared in the first place. Right. It's only the people that are so close to me that. I really cared about, especially if your significant other, then yeah, of course you want to make sure that you're working together for a common goal or a common mission. 

11:12 So I fully attest to it and I hope more people understand that going forward. Yeah, it doesn't impact people as much as you think it will, and oftentimes with this podcast. For example, whenever I first launched it, I recorded the first episode of Just Myself Talking King several times and deleted it and was like, I'm just not going to do it. 

11:33 And then one day sat down and just blasted through it. And what I got out of that was honestly, people have reached out to me randomly from this season. It's been a few years since I did the original, but in the first season as well, I had talked about people who silently enjoy your work and never say anything. 

11:54 There's a lot of those voices of the people who you feel like are judging you sometimes drown out that positivity. But oftentimes there's a lot more people who are enjoying your content and not actually saying anything. 

12:06 Yes, 100%. Man, I'm glad you said that because with both you and me, we put content out there and it's out there for the masses, it's out there for the public to either criticize, condemn or whatever it might be. 

12:18 Right. And with us being so vulnerable, we're also very susceptible to positive energy too. The thing is that people could be super negative on either YouTube comments, Instagram comments just because you have that anonymity read it. 

12:32 That's the thing. I'm really glad that you kept going and kept pushing even though you didn't see that immediate result. The thing is that you learn only so much through books, reading and talking. The other 6% that you'll learn from it is actually doing it. 

12:47 Yeah, exactly. At work right now, I've been digging in really deep to and without boring you about tech stuff into a certain design pattern for coding and it's sort of new. To my company, not a lot of people have knowledge about it, so I implemented something with it and then we have this like, lunch and learn on every two weeks where someone can give a presentation about whatever. 

13:12 One time someone gave a presentation about how awful dolphins are, but after I did that, there was like four weeks out before the next available lunch and learn. And I was like, you know what, I'm going to put something on there to just talk about it. 

13:26 Because last time, as I was getting ready to leave my last job, I studying and blogging about the things that I was learning and taking it from that mindset of, listen, I'm not an expert in this, but I want to share what I've been learning and just put it out there. 

13:41 Like, I learned something that's really interesting or refreshing or new to me. And it sort of like it's what you said about learning, reading and stuff. Once you teach it, it really digs it in and people ask you questions and you sort of have to figure out and I was using Chat GPT, not going to lie for parts of it, but then my immediate work after I taught it was related to that, so I was able to immediately then go back and implement that. 

14:09 So it's like stacking that on top and with that same thing about doing things like creating content or putting anything out there that makes you susceptible to judgment is oftentimes the more you stack on top of it, the better your skills get. 

14:24 And eventually everybody started somewhere, right? Like my first episodes, if you go back, the audio quality is all over the place. And I learned that I don't like editing podcasts now I pay somebody to do that. 

14:37 Yes, 100%. Yeah. So there's just so much to what you said that they never cared in the first place. Like you just build up the idea in your head that they do. Yes, exactly. And you might see going back to that negative comment thing, or people that might be judging you for the content you produce. 

14:56 One of them might. Be an order of magnitude more in your head because you might be thinking, I know. I thought this when I first started doing, like, YouTube videos, is that if there's one person having this negative comment, they went out of their way to put down words on a page and press send or post to make sure that I read this so that they feel important. 

15:19 Exactly. Totally right. And that's the thing. Like, know that this is merely flash in the pan. Their negative energy is merely there just to bring you down. And you got to have the wherewithal you got to have that hold steadiness to keep going, even though the tenacity. 

15:40 That's the word I'm looking for. Yes. And you were mentioning that there's even some silent supporters of your content as well. And there are like, I'm seeing so many people that I knew back in San Diego supporting me in my Denver journey as a real estate agent, and they're supporting me in viewing my stories, and I'm able to see who's seeing this stuff, who's liking it, and things like that. 

16:01 But that's about it. The thing is that I think over time, I might be influencing them way more than what they're showing me and knowing that now it just feels so much better going into it. And I now produce content for those silent supporters. 

16:18 Yeah, I mean, the whole reason that I originally started this podcast was with the intention of eventually talking about money because people were asking me a lot of questions whenever I started my financial journey in the end of 2018. 

16:33 And then I launched the podcast right at the beginning of 2020, before Pandemic was announced, I was recording in person, but I never got around to asking the financial questions because I didn't feel like I had enough understanding myself. 

16:48 And again, it was that same sort of like impostor syndrome that we were talking about earlier with putting out stuff. Whenever you feel like you're still learning. And once I did it and put that vulnerability into it, like, listen, I'm not doing this, and I'm not trying to tell you what to do. 

17:05 I'm just telling you what I'm learning. And what I want you to do is take tidbits that work for you from that. You don't have to do everything. I don't expect you to do everything that I'm doing. This is what works for me. 

17:16 This is my journey. Do you but what I wanted to ask as a follow up to your thing about nobody cares about your goals or opinion and how you've let that play into your financial journey. So the switch between geology and real estate, I'm sure any career change is always the financial question plays into it. 

17:38 Can you talk a little bit about, I guess, the judgments that you were worried about with your finances as you transitioned? Totally. This is going to be, number one, vulnerable, and number two, I guess, a little bit more into the role stereotypes. 

17:54 So a little warning for your listeners. This is me, this is my opinion and cancel culture. I don't know. Just to throw anything out there like making sure that you're forewarned. So me, as a real estate agent, you have this capability of helping out so many different types of people, getting into their first home, their first investments, retiring early, and a lot of things like that. 

18:14 The thing is that the stuff that you see on Instagram or the stuff that you see in the public eye is definitely not the case in real life because it took me about almost five months before I even got my first transaction closed, before I helped out my first friend or family. 

18:30 And that's five months. I mean, not even including the training period of another two months getting the license. So I would say a grand total of, like, over half a year before I made any income on this. 

18:42 And me, as a male, I love to support for my family. I feel like there's a responsibility for me to put bread on the table and. The biggest judgment during that time. I mean, now looking back at it was me on myself, that I could not provide for it. 

19:02 That makes me less of a human, therefore less of a man. Right. And so I want to be able to pull my own weight and make sure that my significant other, my wife, feels support in me and has a foundation in me, and then she can help me either emotionally or something like that. 

19:20 Right. I just need that foundational aspect of making sure that I feel fulfilled as a man. Right. So that financial journey was definitely a struggle, although it did ramp up as it got into the summer months going into 2022, and it was quite a weird time. 

19:35 And this is something that you can attest to, Tim, with your first house hack, where I guess it wasn't too competitive going into October of 2022. No, mine wasn't competitive at all. Totally. I mean, that's when interest rates were getting higher and people were sort of sitting on the sidelines like, I don't know about this, right, but like, earlier in 2022, interest rates were super low. 

19:55 People were putting in asking or over asking price, like fifty K, one hundred K over asking price waiving, inspections, things like that. And for those people that don't understand what I'm talking about, just understand it's a really hot market back in the day, back in early 365 days ago. 

20:13 Yeah. Going back to your original question, it was definitely a struggle getting into the proper finances and making sure that we were okay as a family. A family just being me and my wife. But luckily, we did start house hiking back in San Diego as well. 

20:26 And that's, I guess, a little bit of a point that I forgot to mention, too. But house hiking over there, setting ourselves up for that proper appreciation tax, that advantages, rent increases, things like that, going into Denver, knowing that, hey, we have some sort of a backup, if anything goes to crap, we can sell the place, and then we'll suffice off of that, even though that's the worst case scenario. 

20:47 So what did you do to mitigate your risk? Was it just the house hack? Situation that you had, or did you have an emergency fund? Did you have money in the stock market? What did you do to ensure, I'm assuming, Kat was still working? 

21:02 And so you at least had one income. Were all of your bills below her income level? For sure, yes. And we had a pretty deep discussion on it. And she knew when I was working as a geologist that back in San Diego, I work a lot outside. 

21:17 I'd say 50% outside. 50% writing those reports of being outside. Right. So when I moved to Denver, that 50% outside was hell with wintertime. I was like, Shit, it's like zero degrees outside. My ants are freezing. 

21:32 Or, like, I would have to go to Wyoming or Grand Junction, and I would be gone for, like, a week at a time, and usually it would be within two days notice. So it was not only emotionally draining for her, like me being out, but also draining for me just not being at home. 

21:50 And so when I would come home, she'd be super excited for me, but I'd be like, I just want to go to bed. I'm just stoked to be home. So going back to your original question of what was the lifestyle like and how did I prepare for it? 

22:01 Not much reserves, I'll be honest with you. But my lifestyle did change significantly. My lifestyle was more of a hermit, and I tried to put myself out there in a different way than just a face to face contact. 

22:17 Mainly because of COVID too. That's still a thing ish nowadays. But I was like, okay, if I'm going to do something, I needed to be as close to face to face as possible. And that's when I started doing content creation, whether it's video or or podcasts or I guess just those two. 

22:37 I love doing video. That two dimensional. I see your face, I see a reaction. It is so warm. It's so connecting versus just audio. I mean, audio is great, I'm not going to lie about that. And people listen to podcasts, especially with this one. 

22:51 There's a lot of good stuff coming from it, especially if I'm driving 40 minutes to different listenings or whatever. I get so much value off of audio. But if I'm able to see your face, I connect with it. 

23:02 And even seeing like your background. This is your personality, this is your room. So anywho, not much on the reserve side, but I just changed my lifestyle so significantly that I knew real estate was the path to go. 

23:16 Yeah. I hope you're enjoying this episode. Here's a quick word from today's sponsor. Are you looking for freelance services for your business or personal project? Look no further than fiverr.com. With over 300 categories to choose from, you can find the perfect freelancer for any job, no matter how big or small. 

23:35 Whether you're looking for graphic design, writing, programming, or maybe even video production, fiverr has you covered. Plus, with prices starting at just $5, you know it won't break the bank. Get started today at fiverr learnsoner.com. 

23:53 That's Fiverr Learnsouner.com and take your projects to the next level. So whenever I quit and did boot camp, the reason I took out 17,000 for that was actually only 11,000 was for the student loan. The other 6000 was a cost of living loan as well. 

24:16 But my goal was like, okay, know how much I'm taking out and I want to make at least that much more in my next job. So that it was the step up and so it was sort of a gamble. It was definitely a gamble. 

24:29 I got to a point where. My money was running out and I was like, okay, I either need to get a job or I have to register my car to drive Uber and Lyft sort of thing. So there was a Plan B, but I didn't even have that Plan B anywhere close to me. 

24:45 I was 100% all in until I had to not be anymore. And it worked. I got a job in like two months out of school, which felt not everybody is able to do that. So I felt really lucky. But I also know the amount of hard work that goes into it. 

25:00 And so I think a lot of what you're doing as well, putting content out there, learning and just constantly going. Not to say that you don't take breaks as well, but the constantly going and studying and learning and not having a Plan B in some ways is factor in your success. 

25:19 Yes. Burn the ships, man. Going back to what you originally said, the very first thing you said was like, it felt like a gamble. I would attest that you knew yourself were going to be putting 100% effort into it. 

25:31 I would say it's an investment in yourself. That gamble is merely statistics, and usually the house wins, and in this case, you won. Not the house. Right. So I would say that I told Kat not too long ago, but I felt like this is something I should have said when I first started my real estate agent journey, is that you're putting an investment in me, not only Monetarily, but emotionally. 

25:54 Because this is going to be really tiring and draining for both of us. The first six months, whatever that time period might be. And it still is, because on that 1099 versus the W two, it's on you. It constantly is. 

26:07 And it's really tough to still flick that switch in my mind that every time I work here, I am working for Brian or Dan, for their clients to come to me, because I know that. It's reciprocative. And also, I know that there's so much more value in making sure that other people find that property that they want and making sure that my friends know that they can count on me at the same time. 

26:32 So, long story short, I want to say that that money towards you and that effort that you put into being a developer and engineer is an investment, not a gamble. Well, it's like whenever you quit and you put all your eggs in one basket, right, and you have debt, and whenever you're younger and you go to college, it sort of feels like you're playing with fake money. 

26:56 But at that point, I had built up other debts and realized that money was the real thing in this world. And I was adult enough to know that if I was going to spend that money, it wasn't going to be for nothing. 

27:08 So having that as well was a big factor. And you sort of saw in my boot camp as well, like, the younger kids whose parents were making them be there, their sort of drive in it as well. Okay, so I want to jump into the next question. 

27:21 The next question. Is there something, a book person, a job, a conversation, anything of that sort that has really impacted your life? Yeah, I thought about this too. Can I say a quote? Yeah. Instead of like a book or something like that? 

27:35 Okay. Anything that was on the list, I just switch it up occasionally and okay. I will say that the quote that really got me going and just inspires me every time I think about it. It's by Tim Grover. 

27:50 Tim Grover is the sort of fitness coach, life coach of Michael Jordan, and also Kobe Bryant, rest in peace, one of the goats of all time, Tim Grover. He has a couple of books, but the one quote that really stood out to me was, if you think the cost of winning is high, just wait until you get the bill for regret. 

28:12 And every time I try to think of something. Whether I should be putting 100% into it or if I should half asset. If it's worth doing it's worth doing good, do it nice, or do it twice. Right? And the ultimate currency is time. 

28:30 I'm spitting out all these different quotes at you, but the main point is that I no longer wanting to regret my life decisions going forward. So I want to make sure that these things that I do, these actions that I do, are not geared towards that regret. 

28:46 And usually regret comes from not doing something. And so the more I do it, the more I focus on it, the more I say no to other things and yes to the things that I want to do. That's the price I am paying to be victorious. 

28:59 So I freaking love that quote. And every time I think about it, it's like, okay, I know the path that I'm on. I'm happy where I'm at. Once you set your mind to something, if you don't make the decision, sort of making the decision is the key thing. 

29:13 So once you make that decision, you'll be generally more happy if you pick the route of the decision you made. They say a lot of people actually, what that made me think of is The Lion. The Witch in the Wardrobe has a prequel to it called The Magician's Nephew. 

29:31 In the beginning of it, they walk into Narnia, and there's a bell on the table, and it says with a note, don't ring this. But if you don't forever wonder what would have happened if you did. So it very much makes me think of that. 

29:45 Yeah. It's like, do you want to sit? Like, if you never had that opportunity again, if this was the only opportunity for whatever, that thing you are faced with. For me, what was a big post college decision that actually led to me deciding to make the boot camp decision? 

30:03 About a year and a half after I graduated college, I had the travel bug, and I mentioned how. Little money I was making out of college with the debt that I had, just not feeling satisfied. And so I learned about traveling and teaching abroad. 

30:17 So I decided to quit my job and not work in the industry that I just spent five years studying for. And I was, like, so mad at myself because I was, oh, my God, what am I doing? But at the same time, it turned into the greatest year of my life. 

30:32 And I think the that decision and other things that happened, I started a website and marketed it, and that helped me get jobs that were better paying whenever I got back. And so that decision ultimately led me to whenever I decided to quit my job in marketing, to go to boot camp, to coding boot camp, I was like, you know what? 

30:54 Throwing everything in the dirt behind me and leaving it behind worked for me once before. If it worked for me, then there's got to be something in the equation that's going to make it work for me this time. 

31:06 100%, man. And that's the thing. You rung that bell. You tried. Exactly. So good. I didn't get the bill for regret. Did that person ring that bell? They did. Spoiler alert. Yeah. Cool. It's what sets off the whole adventure of that book. 

31:22 I never finished it, to be fair, but I think I read that probably in, like, 8th grade, the first half of the book or whatever, but it just stuck with me so much. And I think about that regularly because this type of conversation comes up often enough. 

31:38 It resonates with people. I don't want to live a life of regret, but at the same time, you are where you are because of all of the choices you made. And for some people, that's not where they want. Some people, they wish they could go, but there's opportunity from those choices that you made to have a Master's in three years to go back to that sort of thing. 

31:58 That's true. And you always have that option, too, of, like, wanting to go back to Masters. Sure, I'll do it when I'm making money on the side, and I can afford that time for the Masters. Honestly, as soon as I graduated with a bachelor's, I was like, there's no way I'm going back to school. 

32:13 At least, like, traditional school, higher education school. That makes no sense to me. Like looking back at it and what you did, especially with coding boot camps. And maybe that's the thing too, because you noticed kids in there, or kids quote unquote, but like 18 year olds, 19 year olds, 20 year olds that were forced to be there, but they had no idea what the other option was. 

32:34 And here we are with bachelor degrees and made very little money off of it compared to what we're doing now. And maybe you do have to cross that path to understand what the other life is like. It's so unfortunate, isn't it? 

32:49 You have to almost have your heart broken by the world in order to under sorry. I'm laughing because Ryan Donor, mutual friend of ours, I either shared something with him or whatever, but it was like, all right, you quit your job and you become a real estate agent. 

33:06 Like, the millennial thing is to do that because, hey, money. It's like you don't hear 15 year old kid or a twelve year old kid get asked that question, what do you want to be whenever you grow up? And, oh, my God, I want to be a real estate. 

33:22 Yeah, it's unfortunate, but we live in this world that sort of forces us to either do something that's really new and you invent it, or to follow a process that's already in place. And that's why I think I've leaned into it. 

33:40 Like, I've listened to so many podcasts from bigger pockets, particularly The Money Show, and I noticed the pattern of 80% to 90% of what people did was the same. And then there was that, like, ten to 20%, sort of uniqueness, their own color and their coloring book, but the outlines are all the same sort of thing. 

34:01 Yeah. So good. Honestly, that aspect of it where you just never know until you try. And one other we're just barraging quotes here. One more that I really enjoyed was like whether you think you can or you can't, you're right. 

34:19 If you feel like a mindset, I can't be a real estate agent, whatever. I'm just going to continue on down that path, my original path. There's so much contrast that you need to learn along the way because you just don't know what's like on the other side. 

34:32 And one think that's actually one of the reasons why we moved to Denver in general, because when I was growing up in San Diego, obviously people love the weather, people love the beaches. It's a very desirable area. 

34:43 America's finest city, quote unquote, because I worked at Starbucks for eight years, I ran into people that were from all walks of life at various different parts of the country, international, whatever it might be. 

34:56 And oftentimes they said that like, oh my gosh, this is amazing. I love this weather. I can't believe that it's 70 degrees in December. I freaking love it. And I was like, well, I kind of want to travel somewhere else to know what it's like having snow or something like that. 

35:13 And they're like, don't leave it's so much better here. You do not want to go anywhere else but San Diego. I'm like, but you have to pay for paradise. I'm not going to lie. I mean, it was definitely heck of expensive. 

35:28 But the main point of that was that I wanted to move to understand what people were saying about San Diego. As much as I do love Denver, I will say that, hey, I'm tired of snow. We just had snow in April, late April. 

35:42 I'm like, what the hell? So having that contrast though, made me respect San Diego a little bit more in that weather aspect. But I do like Denver in different aspects, though. It's all a give and take. 

35:52 It's all part of that process. Yeah, there's so much to I was just watching a video that had said, I believe if you basically took all of the states from Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico west. 

36:06 California's population is combined greater than all of the other states in that area, and you have to pay the price to live there. Right. I don't know if I'll stay in Colorado or Denver forever. I mean, I don't know what I'm having for lunch tomorrow. 

36:27 And so I feel like part of the reason that I came out here was because of the opportunity to set myself up for the future. Trust me, I would have loved to. Instead of moving east because I was in La. 

36:40 I would have loved to move west and be in Santa Monica, right on the beach. But unless you lived there for 15 years, your rent for something within half a mile to the beach is going to be $4,000 for a studio. 

36:55 It's like my mortgage isn't even that much. And also, moving from California to Colorado, I made more money just from the state tax reduction, so I got a pay raise. In a way. Yeah, there's a lot to it. 

37:15 Living in paradise is expensive, and sometimes you have to sacrifice and deal with the late April rain snow combos and buying snow tires for your car. Well, I don't know. I've heard a lot of people don't. 

37:30 Actually do that, but it's just a myth. No one actually does. So we're running a little short on time. So I want to get to the third question to think about the future and sort of where you are in the present. 

37:42 What is something that you're working on learning now? Yeah, honestly, continuing on this path of being in the real estate industry, there's so much that I have yet to learn that a lot of my colleagues have an expertise in. 

37:57 For example, I never really. Wanted to be one of those, let's say, like Wholesalers or Flippers or people that own multifamily apartment syndications. The thing is that that is where money is made. And if I want to scale up and want to live the life that I want, I'm going to have to learn those things. 

38:17 So just staying in the game and going back to all the previous things that we've said so far, it really is just staying on your path and understanding a deeper understanding of that industry. And if I can reference a book, the Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck and have you read that book? 

38:36 I haven't, but I had a roommate. I did. It's good. The context is in the title, not going to lie. But the thing is that there's one thing that I really enjoyed about that whole passage. It's people will often say that they want to experience life. 

38:51 They want to just not give a about anything and want to go travel the world, have sex with all these women or men or whatever it might be. Right? And just experience everything. The thing is that you can also experience something brand new by having a deeper relationship with someone or something. 

39:09 And having a deeper relationship and understanding of an industry is also something that's brand new, a whole different experience. Right. I highly recommend you read that book. I mean, there's some really good writing in that. 

39:23 And he's been writing blogs for several years prior to reading this book or writing this book. And so you could tell that he's a really good writer going into it and obviously just don't give a fuck. 

39:33 And we talked about that a little bit earlier. People don't give a fuck about you. Vice versa. You don't have to worry about anyone else but yourself. Radical Candor is a book that my company, my w two job has given out to us. 

39:49 And I've been audiobook whenever I take my dogs on a long drive to a park somewhere. Put it on. And something that's really stood out to me in that is the idea of superstars versus rock stars and geology joke, I guess, because rock not being like not being Billy Idol type of rock star, but being like a rock a physical boulder. 

40:14 Someone who so the superstar are the people who want to go fast and up and the rock stars are maybe still going up, but they're going at a lot more subtle pace. Sometimes you don't even notice that upward tick. 

40:28 So there's a place for that in life, for everything, for your career. Maybe for a while. You want to spend a lot of time studying. It's okay to sit back for a while and be content and take it slowly. 

40:42 Maybe your life circumstances change, someone is sick or you have kids or whatever is important to you changes. But I feel that same way about traveling and spending money. Right now, I'm a phase where I am not spending as much money as I would like to in order, not on the things that I would like to. 

41:05 I have spent a lot of money, but it's on my property and getting my house hack all set up. So, yeah, I would have loved to have spent that money to buy some fancy trip. I've never been to Paris, whatever it might be. 

41:21 So I feel like that's what it is. It's okay to spend maybe one month. You blow through your paycheck all the way and don't save anything, but you can't do that all the time. It has to be a good balance. 

41:35 I agree. Balance is the key here. It's everything in moderation. Maybe not in moderate, even moderation itself. That's the extension. But I don't necessarily agree with that, though. But yeah, man, it's all about how you want to live your life and making sure that you're happy with it. 

41:49 That's the thing. If you want to keep working, then just keep working. Whatever people's shoulds. Of your life, it really should not bother you. All right, so we're just about out of time. But one thing I want to start adding to the end that I mentioned to you, gave you a little bit of heads up right before this is. 

42:11 Do you have a productivity hack that you use to like I have something on the whiteboard behind me that was introduced to me in my first episode of this season by Tiffany. Is there something that you found has helped you that's so good? 

42:26 I might actually implement that myself because my whiteboard, I haven't touched it in a long time and I feel like I should. The Eisenhower matrix. It's great. It's great. Yeah. Take a picture of it if you could, Tim, and then text it to me so I know how the heck to set it up. 

42:40 So picture is worth 1000 words. If I were to give you a productivity hack, I don't have anything physical for you, but I do have something like mentally for productivity. If you can't do it forever, don't start. 

42:51 If you want to be the best guitarist, start knowing that you're going to continue on with this for ten or 20 years. Even if you dedicate an hour a week and promising yourself that you can do that, you will become a much better musician based on that. 

43:07 So if you can't commit to it forever, don't even start it. That's what I would think. I like that idea, but I kind of like the idea of making it indefinite. More like if we're going to put terms on it forever, I don't think everything has to last forever. 

43:23 Okay. I think making something indefinite doesn't give it a timeline. Forever is a timeline that means you're never going to stop. But if I have the plan to, I'm going to do this while it makes sense to me me. 

43:37 Because sometimes you have to quit things for a reason. I agree. Maybe some sort of life change would happen to that. I'll stop playing guitar when I lose fingers. I don't know. No, I know what you all right, let's go. 

43:54 Before we wrap up or anybody who's interested in following you, checking out your podcast, can you tell us where they can find you? Yeah, most dev, as Tim said. I do host a podcast myself, invest in Denver podcast. 

44:07 I would love to have you on actually sometime, Tim, because you would be a great candidate for the love of the community and the love of Denver itself. I mean, you're staying here for a reason, right? 

44:16 Right. I want to make sure that gets projected out to the community. One, make sure that it gets the proper love it deserves. So invest in Denver Podcast. You can find it on any sort of streaming platform, spotify, itunes, whatever it might be. 

44:26 I'm also a real estate agent here. I love investing in real estate and just talking about it in general. I post weekly videos on YouTube regarding the Denver community favorite neighborhoods, what I wish I learned beforehand for house hacking, things like that. 

44:41 And a strong advocate for getting to financial independence as soon as possible so that you can live the life that you want without being bogged down by a w. Two, that's the biggest holdback for a lot of people for not living the life they want. 

44:52 So at. Ian real estate agent is my Instagram handle. Feel free to text me 720-704-3522. I am that willing to put it out there for those spam people out there and also on YouTube. It's called moving to Denver. 

45:07 That's my channel name. So really excited to hear more of you guys and give me a follow. Awesome. Thanks so much, Ian. It's been great talking to you. Thanks so much, Tim. Appreciate it. All right, take care. 

45:22 All right, that is it for today. I hope you enjoyed that episode as much as I did. I was super excited to get the chance to talk to Ian and it just really stood out to me what he said. Whole idea of the cost of winning is high, but wait until you get the bill for regret. 

45:41 Are you going to ring that bell from The Magician's Nephew, the Narnia series that I talked about? Is it going to just sit in the back of your head if you don't do it? Take the chance. Jump, dive, whatever you have to do, make it work. 

46:00 Figure out a way, and you won't have any regrets in this life. So until next time, my name is Tim Winfred. Check out new episodes every Monday, and don't forget to subscribe and rate and review on Apple podcasts. 

46:14 And check me out on Instagram at contemporary and on Twitter at contemporary. It's like Contemporary, but kind of a dad joke of if you know me, I enjoy dad jokes. So anyways, thank you so much for tuning in, and I hope to see you next time. 

46:33 Take care. Music for this podcast comes from FilmMusic IO Acid Trumpet by Kevin McLead, Incompetech.org. Licensed by creativecommons.org licenses. Buy 4.0.