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BiggerPockets Money Podcast

491: Why You DON’T Need a College Degree to Reach Financial Freedom

BiggerPockets Money Podcast

BiggerPockets

Investing, Education, Business

4.62.9K Ratings

🗓️ 12 January 2024

⏱️ 72 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Do you dream of hitting financial independence before the age of fifty, forty, or even thirty? In this episode, we’re joined by two of the SheeksFreaks community’s finest—a pair of scrappy entrepreneurs who decided to skip collegeand pursue a much faster path to financial freedom. First up, we chat with Adrian Zapata, a twenty-two-year-old serial entrepreneur who now owns multiple thriving seasonal businesses. During the spring, summer, and fall months, Adrian delivers lawn care and tree trimming servicesto the locals of San Antonio, Texas. But, once the holiday season rolls around, that’s when the real cash cow takes over: a Christmas lights installation business that brings in a whopping $115,000 in only two months! Next, Javier Leyva shares how he was able to achieve financial independence by just twenty-six years old despite his underprivileged upbringing. After performing his own cost-benefit analysis, Javier determined that getting a traditional bachelor’s degree wasn’t the right path for him. Instead, he joined the workforce and took actionable steps toward FI—doubling down on saving money, finding a higher-paying job, and increasing his income with the house hacking strategy! In This Episode We Cover Two unique ways to achieve financial independence before the age of 30 How to boost your income with the house hacking strategy The HUGE revenue potential of building a seasonal business The case for SKIPPING college and choosing the straight path to FI Why you NEED to plug into a personal finance community (and stay accountable!) Why financial education—NOT a college degree—is the key to financial freedom And So Much More! Links from the Show BiggerPockets Money Facebook Group Network with Other Investors on The Path to FIRE Through the BiggerPockets Forums Finance Review Guest Onboarding Join BiggerPockets for FREE Mindy on BiggerPockets Scott on BiggerPockets Listen to All Your Favorite BiggerPockets Podcasts in One Place Apply to Be a Guest on The Money Show Podcast Talent Search! Money Moment Is College Worth the Cost? This 30,000 Variable Study Says “Sometimes…” Why 40% of Master’s Degrees Aren’t Worth It (and Which Are) w/Preston Cooper 20 Year-Old Minimum Wage Marine with $850K in Real Estate Building a $1 Million Net Worth in Only 3 Years by Investing in Real Estate Hear Our Last Episode with the SheeksFreaks Success Stories Join the SheeksFreaks Community Click here to check the full show notes: https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/money-491 Interested in learning more about today's sponsors or becoming a BiggerPockets partner yourself? Email us: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hello darling listeners and welcome to the Bigger Pockets Money Podcast.

0:04.0

Today is about two exceptional young men who made choices in their late teens that set them up for financial success.

0:11.0

Your jaw will drop, mine did when you hear the numbers that these

0:16.3

guys are putting up.

0:17.3

One of these stories is about smart, scrappy hustle and entrepreneurship and the other is about

0:22.3

the mind-blowing ease of achieving financial freedom by 30 if you just make three to four big decisions right or a certain way at least early in life around housing education transportation and of course

0:34.8

the cash flow positive spouse and we want to share these stories with you because we know

0:39.2

that there is a young person in your life who will hear them and be inspired. Right now in the beginning of

0:45.6

2024 is the time to make big changes to your finances. So please as you're listening, think of who you can share this episode with in your life.

0:56.0

Hello hello hello my name is Mindy Jensen and with me as always is my house hacking co-host Scott Trudge.

1:02.0

And with me as always is my flipping co-host

1:04.6

Mindy Jensen. Thank you Scott. All right first up let's bring in Adrian. At just

1:09.8

22 years old Adrian runs a successful Christmas Light installation company in San Antonio, Texas.

1:16.8

When it's not holiday season, Adrian is running a year-round lawn mowing service and he has his long-term eyes set on real estate investment.

1:25.7

Adrian welcome to the BiggerPockets Money Podcast. I'm so excited to talk to you today.

1:30.1

Me Andy Scott, thank you. It's a pleasure to be here for sure. So Adrian we are talking to you in mid

1:36.8

December which is the height of the holiday season at a busy time in your life. Can you tell us a little bit more about your business, both the

1:45.0

lawn care side and the hanging light side?

1:47.7

Absolutely, yeah. So the Christmas lights installations, we're all inclusive Christmas

1:51.8

lights installation company located here in San Antonio, Texas.

1:55.0

We provide absolutely everything, all commercial grade lights, custom cut extension cords, that way it has a nice professional look and fit to the home.

2:04.0

The timers anything and everything the customer needs we provide it.

...

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