Pathway to Prosperity: Expert Insights on Real Estate Investing, Entrepreneurship, and Financial Freedom from Alex E. Edwards

Jeff Kikel: 00:00:00

Here's what it takes to be a successful real estate investor and realtor. Well Alex E. Edwards does. On today's show, I interview Alex and learn a little bit about his success as a real estate investor and as a realtor. In addition to that, we learn a little bit about his book mortgage before marriage. So enjoy this episode of The Freedom nation podcast.

Unknown: 00:00:29

Welcome to the freedom nation podcast with Jeff Kikko. On this show, Jeff shares his expertise in financial and retirement planning from a different perspective, planning for your Freedom Day, which is the first day that you wake up and have enough income or assets and do not have to go to work that day. Learn how to calculate what you need, how to generate income sources, and listen to interviews from others who've done it themselves. Get ready to experience your own Freedom Day.

Jeff Kikel: 00:01:04

Hey, everybody, it's Jeff here, once again with the freedom nation podcast. And today, we're gonna have a lot of fun. We're going to talk about one of our favorite subjects, which is real estate. And we've got an expert on today out of Boston, Massachusetts, one of my favorite towns on the planet. So Alex Edwards is on how you doing, buddy? I'm finding you. I am fantastic. Glad to have you on the show today. Really looking forward to this conversation. We had a little quick pre pre interview ahead of time. And Alex does a lot of stuff that I enjoy doing, and and we're hopefully going to have some really good advice from him from that perspective. So Alex, why don't we kick it off with you given us a rundown on your story? How'd you get to where you are today?

Alex E. Edwards: 00:01:49

All right. First, I want to say thank you for allowing me to be on your platform. You're welcome. It's definitely a pleasure. So my name is Aleksey Edwards. I'm from Boston, Massachusetts. I grew up in a town called Dorchester. And I will start when I was in high school, I promise I won't take an hour. Yeah. So here we go. So in high school, I decided to take a first time homebuyer class in Boston, Massachusetts, we have the opportunity to take these classes and get a discount on or, or help without downpayment. If we purchase homes inside, it's all in the city of Boston. So and you did this in high school, which is freakin badass. So yeah, it's like, how old you have How do you have to be your we actually don't have a limit? Because no one is dumb enough to join the class in high school? Yeah.

Alex E. Edwards: 00:02:45

So they don't ask that was the dumb one

Jeff Kikel: 00:02:49

or that one?

Alex E. Edwards: 00:02:53

So I was the youngest there and didn't know what they was talking about. So whatsoever and I was not interested in. Let's get to the end, saga figure this.

Jeff Kikel: 00:03:05

That's what I want to know. All right. So

Alex E. Edwards: 00:03:07

at that I'm about in 10th grade, so I can't buy a house until two or three years anyway, right. So fast forward. I graduated high school. I got a bank. I got a job at Bank of America and mechanic line in Brookline, Massachusetts. Now just the first time I ever seen I never seen this before you ready for this? Is gonna blow your mind. in Brookline, Massachusetts. They had people with money in time. I never knew they crap. You can have both. Yeah. So that, you know, that blew my mind. My mom worked extremely hard. And she she sometimes had four jobs. She busted her butt to keep to keep a roof over our head. She was never home trying to keep her home. That never made sense. She's never home trying to keep your home. But yeah, that's a different subject. But so I knew to have money. You can't have time. That's how I grew up. Yeah, until I got to Brooklyn.

Jeff Kikel: 00:04:22

And I had way more money and lots of time.

Alex E. Edwards: 00:04:27

Exactly. Exactly. So something was like, Huh, wait a minute, what's going on here? I want in. Right. So I'm at the bank and I'm learning on understanding mortgages, not understanding the difference between a bank and a mortgage broker, okay. And a bank is like gap. You can only buy gap products. So if that particular line doesn't fit you You can't show. Yeah. Right. So that's the bank. That's a loan officer. Right? But the mortgage broker, it's like Marshal, we have everything for you any product you need we have for you. Right? And I think if you're jumping into real estate market or business or whatever you want to do in real estate, you need to understand the difference. You need to understand the difference. Yeah. Because if the if GAAP says no, the lender the bank, say, Okay, no problem. Can you help over to the broker? The broker says, the broken ones say, See, I believe the broker will always give you good news. They don't say, you're ready. I got the right product for you or you're not ready. And I want to tell you how to get ready. Good news to me. Yeah. Point blank. So I learned the difference. I'm going to I'm in college, taking business administration. My professors had a project for us go home and and buy something running like a business. Okay, so you already know what I was preparing for. at 20 years old, I buy my first investment property. Okay. Right. I go to school. Guess what? The professor? What Alex? I bought a home. He's yelling, he's yelling.

Jeff Kikel: 00:06:32

Fear. Yeah, this isn't theoretical. I actually went bought a house.

Alex E. Edwards: 00:06:37

And I'm good to go. Yeah, I'm good to go. So. So he goes on to say I got more news. I got more news. I say yes. This is the last time you ever gone to see me because I can't pay the mortgage and the school to pick one. Yep, that's the last time he ever seen.

Jeff Kikel: 00:06:56

Wow. So tell us how did you buy this first house? What What kind of techniques had you had you do?

Alex E. Edwards: 00:07:02

FHA. Okay, definitely FHA? I look, I use the mortgage. I got a mortgage. Here we go. Alright, and tell me if I'm going down the rabbit hole. Interesting. I got an adjustable rate. Yes. You're looking at someone that got adjustable rate around Oh, eight. Who? Alright. But I'm a survivor. Yep. So don't cry for me. Once I tell you the story, don't cry for me, please. I bought this home. And the home was about the mortgage was about 2100. Okay, when I bought it again, 20 years old. I'm excited. I'm happy in time and went to almost $3,000 I said all my gun. I was immediately broke. Yeah, right. I said, I can't say enough hours. I can't work enough hours. Like remember that time when they had time and money? Yeah. Yeah. You didn't have that. Yeah. That's not it. So no, no, no, buy a nice Jordans. You know, at that age. We all want to the nice sneakers and nice clothes. I was like, No, not me. When when my friends will go to the bar and buy rounds. My round. I'm gonna buy one drink and send it around. Y'all can take a sip of shot whatever you need. But I ain't buying a drink for everyone. Yeah, I don't got it. Yeah. Got me a second job. And and that was honestly my darkest hour in my life was real dark. And I was depressed. I felt like I gave up on myself. And I remember walking up Commons Commonwealth Ave. And it's filling like trash. Like I didn't. I just felt I felt hopeless. Yeah. And

Jeff Kikel: 00:08:57

well, and I mean 20 Whatever. What 2000 Something when you started. And Boston's real estate prices as not a real great house. Not a real nice.

Alex E. Edwards: 00:09:09

Well, well, no, no, no. Well, it was 2006 is 2006 I bought it. So it's still a good it's still a good deal in 2006. Yeah. Is that Boston now? You're exactly right in 2006. That house was 300 $389,000 Cheese. Not bad at all. And so a two family five bedrooms on a top car, two bedrooms at the bottom. Okay, right. So, so moving forward, I decided to do two things that really changed my life for good for good. One I file bankruptcy. Okay, I understood what bankruptcy really is. Those people with time and money, they probably filed bankruptcy 10 times already. Right. Because understanding Bankruptcy my All right, well, if you make a mistake in your LLC, and you file bankruptcy, you can keep the money made mistake, and money was insured anyway. All right. In my case, I had a junior loan. Okay, my my adjustable rate and two loans. So, here it goes this this, this is brilliant. I file bankruptcy, I got rid of $89,000. I then went to the city of Boston and got a loan modification to get adjustable rate, the adjustable rate didn't go down to $2,500 did not go down to $2,000 did not go down to $15,000. It went down to $1,200. Holy crap for life. Nice. So at that point, I became a mentor. I added some rooms, I took my I took some money, I'm a 401 K adding more rooms to the bottom. I've maxed out my debt, my credit cards, before I before I file bankruptcy, maxed out the debit cards, renovated the top boom, turned everything in. And that particular home has now the potential to grow. So by about 5005 to five to $7,000 a month. Nice. And you're paying 12 1200 for life. Yeah. Or for dollars for life. Yeah. Cool. So like I said, Don't cry for me. Yeah. Oh, crap for GameWorks. Yeah.

Jeff Kikel: 00:11:29

Well, it's getting creative with finance, sometimes, you know, you got to do what you have to do.

Alex E. Edwards: 00:11:34

And guess what, it gave me the opportunity to quit my nine to five. Right? I this is what the show is all about. Right? This the freedom, right? So

Jeff Kikel: 00:11:43

early on with with your first property. So interesting.

Alex E. Edwards: 00:11:47

Yep. And I became a mentor to so in Massachusetts, I became a, I had disabled people live with me. Okay, right. And I and I was, and I got paid very well, for that. Take care of them, you know, just allow them not allow them but they will go out to their daycare and stuff like that. It was a it was it was a no brainer for me. I love people. And my, my, my my, my second job. I was a PCA. So it all felt good. Yeah. So again, single, no kids, I lived in a basement. Yeah. Just from the mentorship. I was getting $4,600. Just that's just one floor. Upstairs was government assistance upstairs. And that was 2200 Upstairs. So guess what I was like, Look, you're living by really, too. Yeah. Yeah. My regional manager came in one day, a brand new one said, Look, I understand the deal you had with the last manager, but you're gonna have to prove yourself to me. And she didn't get up introduce herself. She sat down. And that's what she said to me. And that was the last time corporate America ever seen me that day. That was the last time last time No, two weeks notice. It was it was about a five minute notice. I was like, You know what? That saves time. Because sometimes as entrepreneurs, we know who we are. Yeah, we know. It's more out there. Like we know that if, if we just keep going if we take one leap we know we're gonna land on our feet but we just scared to take that leap. Yeah, that's the truth. You know, you got it. It's not no secret to you, you know who you are. When you look in that mirror used and, and something is off, you know, something is off. If you work in your nine to five, and you don't like how you feel you're mad all the time, you know, something that's off if you felt like man, I should do this. I should follow my dreams. That's what you should be doing. And then that moment, I was like, You know what, thank you for for giving me the opportunity to fire you. And I fired my boss and I walked out

Jeff Kikel: 00:14:04

you You and I have a very similar background, but I just did it a lot longer in corporate America but yeah, that was kind of that's what turned me into an entrepreneur was one boss and I literally looked at and said I quit I'm done. I'm

Alex E. Edwards: 00:14:19

it's it's yeah, it's you know, that could down another rabbit hole. But it could. Man look that was paying me. I think at that, at that time. I think I'll make them house. Six 600 606 53 let's say six 700 a week, right? Yeah, they pay me 700 a week to forget about my dreams. So they're gonna pay me 700 To forget about your dreams. Imagine how much my dreams really worth. Yeah. I love that soak in. I imagine how many how much a dream really worth.

Jeff Kikel: 00:14:53

Yeah, so you love real estate. So you ended up kind of going down a different path for yourself in the Real Estate world what? So you got into real estate? Full time jumped

Alex E. Edwards: 00:15:03

in? Yep, I jumped in as a became a real estate agent. Nice. And this is when everyone was leaving. Okay, good. So I jumped in when short sales was going on and everyone's getting bailed out with short sales, a lot of homeowners and I jealous around

Jeff Kikel: 00:15:20

2008 2009 time period or

Alex E. Edwards: 00:15:23

2009 to 10. Okay. So, you know, I had to market myself. At that time, I believe Obama was just coming in. And I seen how politicians market itself. And it was always four year four years so I came in Alex Edwards for your real estate agent. When you think about politicians. When you think about attorneys and your doctor you better think about Massachusetts most trusted real estate agent ality Edwards. That's how I came into market.

Jeff Kikel: 00:15:55

I love it. And unending confidence on top of it. Yeah. Wow. What do you you know, see you obviously been successful, because you've been doing a long time. What do you attribute that success to? Was it just hustle or branding or what? What gotcha.

Alex E. Edwards: 00:16:16

I think how so? Hands down, thinking out the box. Okay. Cool. I'll give you an example. A real quick one. If there's a condo complex, a lot of agents, a lot of people will say let me market to everybody in a condo complex. Yeah. I mean, go knock on doors, not me. Makes no sense to me. Yeah, I'm going to take the trustees out for lunch. Okay, because you need the trustees to close. And you you, everyone in that complex trust, trust the trustees that aquatic trustees was voted in. I'm taking them out to lunch. And I'm going to be closing for the next 10 years. And this is stuff I really did. And nothing today I'm still benefit from taking trustees out for lunch and knocking out and not knocking on each door. Because the trustees is now sending emails is hey, I have this great guy obviously Edwards that he does this. So that's a gem drop for for your audience.

Jeff Kikel: 00:17:19

Is think outside the box. Yeah. I mean, and that's brilliant. Because it's it's okay, these Yeah, exactly. You know, to go go find the influencers, and then just make sure you're really good friends with the influencers that can help us out. That's

Alex E. Edwards: 00:17:34

exactly we all have best friends. If you're breakfront come to USA, you should use Alex Edwards. Yep. Are you going to go somewhere else? Yep.

Jeff Kikel: 00:17:43

Of course not. Yeah. Why would you?

Alex E. Edwards: 00:17:45

Why would you not knock it on? And look, you should use Alexia was coming from the trustees. Man game over.

Jeff Kikel: 00:17:53

Yeah. Now you went on to become a broker. So explain that process? Because I'm not sure. You know, some people might be interested in being a real estate agent. But explain that process of becoming a broker. I know how it is here in Texas. But how is it Massachusetts?

Alex E. Edwards: 00:18:07

Alright, so and I'm laughing because every Padam a big decision in my life, someone got on my nerves not got on my nerves. But something happened. Yeah. My broker hired a new agent and paid this particular agent more than me, but I was the number one agent. So I'm like, How did how did that work? That doesn't make sense to me. Like, I'm that guy that doesn't, I'm confused. You should want to keep me happy. So I found out what he was getting. He was getting 90%. So I was like, Yo, I'm gonna get I'm gonna get my I'm gonna go to my broken blade. Look, I want 90%. Right. But I was wrong. I want to make sure everyone understand that I was wrong one ounce count in someone else's pocket. That's wrong. And then two, that's my broker. He could do he could pay whoever he wants to pay. Yeah, anything. So I was totally wrong. And of course, looking back, I was wrong. So I went to my broker and one of the ways he said no, and as I you know what, I put 90% up everywhere around my house, because I was I'm gonna go get my broker's license, and we'll come back to them and do a partnership. So what my one of my friends were like, Oh, why do you care about 90 want us to go for 100%? Alright, put 100% everywhere. So I go in, go for a broker's license. I failed plenty of times, like well, two times actually. And on July 10, is my birthday. And I told I said God is this is this is it for me. I'm not renewing my my agent license, my salesperson license. I got my broker's license July 8. My birthday is July 10. It expires, my career is over July 10. Yeah, I get it on July 8. And on July 8, July 8, go back. I said, look, let's do this together. He said, No. I said no problem. Again, I have a lot of respect for him. No problem. I bought him a watch. And I said, Thank you for your time. You know, thank you for everything you taught me. Thank you for your time. And I became a broker and started thumbprint Realty. Today we have, we have a little over 40 agents in the branch. We have agents in Georgia, and we also licensed in Rhode Island. So we licensed in three states. And the funny thing is, this all happened when a teacher told me, you know, go home and buy something as a business. This all happened when a manager looked at me wrong and disrespected me, you know, and this all happened when my broker gave someone 90%. Yeah, so it's Yeah. So that's, that's the story of Aleksey Edwards, when it comes to the real estate side.

Jeff Kikel: 00:21:04

So we were talking ahead of time, one of the areas that you focus on as far as your own personal investing is probate. Let's talk a little bit about that one, how you got into that to what you like about investing that way.

Alex E. Edwards: 00:21:18

All right. Great. You know, great questions. Great questions. Alright, this is I get excited. Here goes dead people don't negotiate. I just want to let everyone know in the world. And people don't negotiate. Right. I gave you if I leave a nice vehicle. So my Mustang to my, my son. Yeah. Right. And he's and I love the Mustang. Because I took his, his wife, Mae, his his his mother everywhere in his Mustang. It was like our thing. So it means a lot to me. Right there being crafted and lead. I lead this Mustang to him. Now, there's Mustangs, the antique they carry $100,000. Yep, I die. He's all like, I live in New Hampshire. It's always snowing. I don't need them. I would see. Another version of Alex here was called like, Yeah, I know you got this Mustang. Your father died and left you this Mustang. You know? I'm looking I'll give you 30,000 for you for he said cash. Yup, right away. You sure? Yo, I don't need the Mustang. Okay, how much is worth? I don't I'm never coming back down to Boston or whatever. Take it. I don't want to deal with nothing. Take it. Okay, are you sure? Do you know the worth? I don't care. I'll take it off your hands on 30,000 $70,000 of equity right away. Right. And that's probate because everyone in different situations some some siblings fight all the time. Fight or every every situation I've been in similar spot. Right. So when so when siblings find it. Some people want to sell it. Some people want to buy it when someone to keep it? Yeah. It all and guess what, a lot of times they don't have the money to keep up with the home. They don't have the money to pay the mortgage. They don't have the money to clean out the home.

Jeff Kikel: 00:23:19

They don't live in the same town. Like you were saying what exactly?

Alex E. Edwards: 00:23:22

Yeah, exactly. So am I you know, a lot of my friends go down to land court and do all that stuff. I don't want to do that. Yeah, I just have a big mouth. And it just comes to me. Like right now we have one under agreement. And now this is Dorchester, Massachusetts, you can look up the how many homes cost is three family. It's a three family. We have it under agreement right now for 400,000.

Jeff Kikel: 00:23:50

That's fantastic. Price. Probate. Yeah.

Alex E. Edwards: 00:23:54

That's you know, and two years ago, I had an opportunity to buy, like I was selling you a home in an airport. And now that home is full, my two year old at the time with my two year old son, we're gonna do this trust thing. We thought we need to do this. He needs to be the owner when he gets to an age of age. And this is for him. So he became Newsweek that this article on him. They called it the youngest landlord around town. And without I knew for fat, I didn't want his manager to talk to him a certain way. And he had to stay in state in that particular position. He's already collecting rent that that home is Airbnb is doing very well is mad at airport is he has a lot of equity. So myself and his mom put them in a real good position to when to say fu to his boss. Yeah, if he goes to college and not cool if he goes to college, his tenants will pay for his education. If he doesn't his his tenants will pay for his startup. Yeah, but no matter What the tenants is paying for something? Absolutely. So it's real estate. It's a no brainer. And I don't see how people could second guess it. My mother bought her home at 430 $5,000. A two family, three family. Those days are never coming back. Imagine she sold it today. She could sell it for that particular home like 1.1. Yeah, she only invested 35,000. Yeah, it's brilliant. You know, in the next 10 years, like, I'll say, the i wish i bought, you know, to 2023. Guess what your grandparents did to?

Jeff Kikel: 00:25:35

Somebody originally bought that house for like 3500 3500 bucks or something?

Alex E. Edwards: 00:25:41

I'm having too much fun on your show, man. Yeah, it was fun. I get too excited when it comes to real estate.

Jeff Kikel: 00:25:48

So when, you know, we've got some of our folks that are sitting out in the audience that either are sitting in a cubicle dying a little bit every day, or they're a business owner, and they're kind of looking, how do I kind of diversify out of my life? If you were the 30 year old Alex again, and you were sitting there working out of a cubicle, what do you think your first step would be? As a as an investor?

Alex E. Edwards: 00:26:17

I mean, I left the cubicle at 23. But if I stayed there for another seven years, another few years, yeah, another seven years. Yeah. And knowing what I know now, or I didn't know nothing. I didn't know anything. Okay, so I would look at my expenses. Okay. Write down my expenses. That's the first thing I do. Okay, write down my expenses are, what do I need to live? And then I look at my bank, my bank statements. Okay, so what I look at my spending habits, look at my spending habits. And so with that, I could come up with a plan. So if I needed $2,000 $3,000 to live, I'm like, I can come up with a plan. And then I will see, I will look. So do I own real estate or I don't want to say you don't own anything. Yeah, I don't own that. Okay. So yeah, I'm looking at I will look at that, and then I will, at 30 out probably. I'm at the bank still, hopefully. So I would I would look at the mortgages and what is what is, what do I have to qualify to get a certain amount of mortgage? And then I'll also look at the city of Boston, what kind of resources they have. Yeah, that's that's probably the the thing, that first thing I'll do so make sure you know how much you need to survive. That's extremely important. And I'm going to figure out how can I make other people pay for for my monthly expense? That would be my game plan.

Jeff Kikel: 00:27:43

I love it. Love it? Well, it actually you just detailed the first two steps of, or the first and the third steps of the Freedom Day method, which is figure out where you're at, and then figure out how you're going to generate that revenue to cover your minimum required expenses. So absolutely. So so cool. Yeah,

Alex E. Edwards: 00:28:05

I think it's because it's not a secret. Making money is easy. I think making money is I think, at the point I want to say for me, it's it now is about the passion. Yeah, like I'll go broke, chasing my passion and doing things I want to do. And less of what I have to do. Yeah, I believe. I believe the mind will always make more money than enhance. I really believe that. Absolutely. You're, like you could come up with just like you. You're doing. Nurses, right. Travel nurses. Now you're going state to state right? Yeah, that's mine. That's all mine. You can have one everywhere. It's up to you. Think of it do build it, do whatever you want. But me as a real estate agent. I go I'm if I'm in Boston, I could close in Boston me as an agent. I could close those my hands. I can't close them in Texas right now. I have to fly to Texas and close the text and come back and close them off. That's all hands. There's a lot of time.

Jeff Kikel: 00:29:13

You don't have to jack squat like that. Man. You close you close away.

Alex E. Edwards: 00:29:18

Yeah. So if you use your mind, you could sell around the world. We put a course together, like the freedom guy that's selling around the world. That's mine. Your hands on me to do anything else?

Jeff Kikel: 00:29:31

Yep. Well, Tom, it's got honestly, the best thing that happened was the was the pandemic because I mean, I closed three deals this last year. I've never even been on the property. I hired a team to come in, get it all set up. But I've got teams in there that do all the work, you know, so I've not even touched the property. I've not even been there. So fact I've never, never once in my life been the Minnesota eventually I'll probably go there. But yeah, I own three, three pieces of property.

Alex E. Edwards: 00:30:05

Oh, congratulations. That's all mine. Yeah, that's mine. Yeah, it is. Moston. So yeah, think of it a different way. How

Jeff Kikel: 00:30:14

are you going to do it? And I mean, I, by nature, I am inherently lazy. So the way I can do it the least amount of work if

Alex E. Edwards: 00:30:22

I wanted to be the laziest, wealthiest person alive, that was right there with you. Yep. That was my goal. I wanted to do stuff I love doing, you know, I just want to be that person that came into the bank, happy money, time, time and

Jeff Kikel: 00:30:37

money. Yes. I work extra hard today to make sure that my calendar is as free as possible every week. So by looking at my calendar, I used to judge my calendar by how full I made it, you know, I judge my calendar or how high I can I eliminate everything from my calendar, and have other people do the work. So

Alex E. Edwards: 00:30:59

you're funny. And so I used to do the same thing. I put everything on. I put everything right now. So I'll

Jeff Kikel: 00:31:05

be going I gotta I gotta hustle.

Alex E. Edwards: 00:31:09

Make? Yeah, you know, that's exactly what did you make? I make more

Jeff Kikel: 00:31:12

money today. And I work way less than I ever have. I even do a keynote called procrastination for fun and profit. So

Alex E. Edwards: 00:31:22

I get so I wrote a book mortgage before marriage finances before fiance Rockefeller.

Jeff Kikel: 00:31:28

That was my neck. Yeah, that was my next question. So tell us about the

Alex E. Edwards: 00:31:31

book. Yeah. So I wrote this book, right. And it took me three years to write it. Because I'm like, You know what? The mind. Gotta work on the mind, Alex, you're ripping and running. I decided not to be a real estate agent and not sell homes, but just to run a brokerage. Because I didn't want to compete with my partners, the other agents in the office. So. So I wrote this book. And it's about my life by my wife and my life. And this all the things that we did. And you one of the stories in the book. My wife and I, you know, purchased mean, sorry, had a wedding. And our tenants paid for it, but they wasn't invited. So make sense to me. Right? And understanding buying home before. Marriage is extremely important. You could win, you could win. I'm married the right person. How many of us don't marry the right person? Yeah. In Massachusetts, it's about $7,000 to get a divorce. So that's why I made my book. $100. Yeah. So my books $100. And today, I had a meeting with a college, a college wanting to buy 100 copies. Now, that's my, yeah, that's mine. And if so if I did sit down and write that book, yeah, it took me three years. But I've created a masterpiece. And I tell this to everyone. If you didn't learn if you don't learn nothing, anything from my book, if my books not interested, and interesting, I'll give you your money back. And never in my life received a complaint or request for refund. Yeah. And now colleges is buying in bulk. Yeah. I don't have to write again. I just got to go around the world and sell in bulk. Yeah, you know, I don't I just go on on on a freedom guy. And sell my book. Yeah. You know, so it's, it's it's like, it's like you said it's the mind, man. Yeah. I haven't been in Minnesota personally, but I've been doing a podcast. I just did a podcast from in South Africa. Yeah. So the same thing you're doing like it's all about the mind. And I think people need to understand. You got it. You got it all. You just have to lose it. So yeah, you want

Jeff Kikel: 00:34:30

to figure out what you have an interest in and just do it. Figure out a way to make money at it. Yes, yeah. Because more than anything, I mean, what I will get out of this interview is one quote that you had Dead people don't negotiate. As Geno's. Right. There is his absolute genius I had, you know, do I know this? Absolutely. Have I dealt with clients from the financial advisor perspective that had been fighting over You know, they're fighting over grandma's old beat up couch, you know, and who's going to keep it and old beat up pans and all that stuff. But yeah, it's absolutely correct. You know, most of the time, they're fighting about this that they, you know, they just want to get out of the house. Not have to fight with it anymore. It's genius. You know, but that's using your mind to figure something out and a different way.

Alex E. Edwards: 00:35:23

Now. Yeah. So love it. We Yeah, it's, you know, it's a no brainer. And that's in the book as well. And just breaking everything down. And just making sure it's, it's the stories in the book that will take your career to another level. Yeah. We, you and I having a good conversation. Someone could listen to this podcast and say, Alright, I get it. It's simple. I understand them. I like them both. Okay, I'm gonna listen to about three four times take notes. Yeah, that's what the books are the book is you reading like home life. This is funny. This Alex character is hilarious. Is point, man, I just learned something. He said Dead people don't negotiate like, what is

Jeff Kikel: 00:36:09

the greatest quote of the year so far?

Alex E. Edwards: 00:36:12

He's like, you know, he's like, wait a minute, we dive into this. You know, so. So that's what the books all about, had been selling very well. You can purchase on Amazon mortgage before marriage. You can also purchase on my website, mortgage, the letter B, the number for marriage.com. And if you have any questions, I'm definitely here. But yeah, that's that's that's what the books about. Once one thing about the book that's that's extremely important to me as well. We talked about wills and trust. Good, right. We know death is coming. Not a secret. devas come in, and we pay taxes. All right, cool. So I wrote letters to my family. And let them and I was just letting them know how much I love them. How much I appreciate them. And why I know they are special. All the fathers and mothers, the parents out there. Why is it so critical? Why is it so critical? Because we never know when we'll take our last breath. So we need to respect our breath. Yeah, but if God takes me today or tomorrow, my loved ones in the entire world know how I feel about how I feel about my loved ones. So I think it was important. Yeah, I absolutely

Jeff Kikel: 00:37:28

love that. But that's a great way to end this section. That is just absolutely awesome. All right. Let's jump into the Fast Five questions now my friend. All right. First one. First one, can I wake up your morning business has gone yet? 500 bucks laptop computer, you still have your contacts place to live? What are you gonna do first?

Alex E. Edwards: 00:37:55

Of $500 I'm going on social media. And I'm starting the landscaping company. Empire started landscaping company don't need a lot of tools. And I probably could hire people to help me right away. So I don't really have to get dirty. Or I'll yeah, I'll start a landscaping business on social media. And when they actually when they call me, I'll just call another landscape of business. I get a referral. All right. I won't want it. I won't be lazy. There we go. Get my hands again. Yeah.

Jeff Kikel: 00:38:31

But you're thinking with your hands and Oh, so you went oh, wait, am I somebody else to do it? Yeah. I just want to be the middleman in here. This is awesome. All right. What's the biggest business mistake you've ever made?

Alex E. Edwards: 00:38:42

The biggest business mistake I ever made. Partner with the wrong people. Okay. Now it's a partner with the wrong people.

Jeff Kikel: 00:38:53

I've been there done that. I've not had a partnership workout yet. So yeah,

Alex E. Edwards: 00:38:59

I think I think my moving forward, a lot of my partnerships will start in the bedroom with my wife. Because when I'm when a partnership goes back, I go to the bedroom. When a partnership goes good. I go to the bedroom. So am I going to start in the bedroom?

Jeff Kikel: 00:39:13

Yeah, I totally agree with you. I've said it all along. My wife is the best partner I've ever had. And we've been together for 30 years. So she's she's my business partner as well. And I mean, absolutely the best one I've ever had. So what's a good book that you'd recommend?

Alex E. Edwards: 00:39:30

Mortgage before marriage? Finally? Yeah, Rockefeller before Beyonce. That's all we bought. You should be reading for the entire year. I promise you. You will buy one for a friend and that friend will buy one for you again, I promise you. We will see it in jazz background. So

Jeff Kikel: 00:39:55

what's the tool that you use in your business every day that you'd wreck

Alex E. Edwards: 00:39:58

Alright, so Oh, we skipped me straight to business. I would say this though. Mindset is extremely important mindset, it's so Okay, every single day. I listen to something motivational, okay? Every, like, every single day

Jeff Kikel: 00:40:21

and as part of your routine, it's

Alex E. Edwards: 00:40:24

it's routine. Because I really believe we, we sometimes can lose focus. And we just need that spark. So I could I could turn on to your show sounds like I am on listen to this, right? Because if the mind is not working correctly in your mind says Not, not in a good place. I can't use my CRM, I can't use my emails, I can't go on thumbprint website and see what's going on. It's just it's not going to make me want to be active. So I think a lot of times, we skip over the what's the CRM thing you put your mindset is extremely important. The fact that you know, you could do anything in life and he was here for a reason and you found your purpose. That's way that is important.

Jeff Kikel: 00:41:13

Input. Amen, brother.

Alex E. Edwards: 00:41:17

So, I was telling you, I'll tell people when you wake up, or when you're by yourself, every morning, police, listen to something motivational. Please listen to something that will activate you. Please. Don't listen to Jeff. Just podcast one time. If this list her every morning, you probably get you probably hear something you've never heard before. Right? Have something that that that makes you think because soon as you get into work your bosses yelling at you, or say, hey, hey, work on my dream. I pay you every work on my dream. I'm the one that says the motivational stuff every morning. Don't do that was tricky.

Jeff Kikel: 00:42:02

Because I want lots of time and lots of money. So exactly.

Alex E. Edwards: 00:42:05

I'm going to ask you a couple of years ago, we don't gossip we boss up.

Jeff Kikel: 00:42:14

So Alex, last question, what is your definition of freedom?

Alex E. Edwards: 00:42:20

Hmm. My definition definition of freedom is having unlimited opportunity. Oh, sorry, unlimited access to opportunity. That's my definition of freedom. I mean, if I fall off, I have so I have the opportunity to get right back on the relationships that you bill, the friendships and having a good brand. Knowing that you could never put your your family or yourself in jeopardy financially because you created a good brand and good relationships. So therefore, if anything ever happens, you have unlimited access to opportunities. Hey, Jeff, I got a couple of got a couple of dollars. Can I invest in Minnesota with you? Alex, you always been a good friend. Of course, no problem. They get better fat. Yeah, fly down there. And we could be just be 5050 You know, so it's just, it's just that's really to me, that's what success means and freedom. That's what it means. So, if my son needs a job if he wants a job or career somewhere, Hey, what's up? Boom. He deserve it. Please keep it all right. No problem.

Jeff Kikel: 00:43:33

That's brilliant. So thank you, man. So if somebody wants to get a hold of you what's the best way?

Alex E. Edwards: 00:43:39

Alright, so it's Alex E. Edwards. Everywhere. Alfie Edwards on Instagram. Alex E. Edwards on Facebook, Aleksey Edwards on Twitter, Aleksey Edwards on LinkedIn. Alex E. Edwards words. And there's Alex Evans everywhere.

Jeff Kikel: 00:43:54

Aleksey Edwards for what? Right?

Alex E. Edwards: 00:43:59

No, the back in the days I Aleksey Edwards for your real estate agent. As much most trusted real estate agent, you can't close without Alex E.

Jeff Kikel: 00:44:11

CIG brother. Well, thanks a lot for being on you are just absolutely a blast. It's the interview and it kinda you know, have lots of conversations. And this ain't gonna be the last of ours. So thank you for being on today and sharing all that your life and just just being funded interview.

Alex E. Edwards: 00:44:30

I appreciate again, thank you for the opportunity. You could have had anyone else in the world but you chose me. So I appreciate you.

Jeff Kikel: 00:44:37

Absolutely. Well, we're glad to have you on and folks, make sure you reach out to Alex and make sure you buy his book so that you can learn from him as well. We do this twice a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays so make sure that you are getting your your fix in and make sure that you subscribe to the channel. Give us a five star thank especially for Alex Hear give us a five star on this episode, and share this with somebody else that really needs it. And you take action to

Alex E. Edwards: 00:45:08

can it can it can I just give your listeners something a gift fire away, I won't give them a discount. If that's okay with you. I'll give I'll give you a list of the 50% gets a discount on my book. M before M seven. So the letter M as in Mary, B as in boy, the number four and M as in Mary again, the number seven, a you will receive 50% off of mortgage or marriage off and again, if you're not excited, if you if you're not entertained, if you're not educated. If you don't look at this book and say you know what? I'm giving this to my children. I will give you your money back.

Jeff Kikel: 00:45:54

That is brilliant. Thank you, man. Well, I appreciate it. Look forward to keep it up with you down the road here and we will see everybody soon.