From $5 to $1M in 24 Months: My Uncharted Path from a $5 investment from a 5-year old to IRS Dances & New Beginnings at 42

From the innocent hand of my 5-year old, offering up a mere seed of $5, to witnessing it amplified into $1M within two short years - this is more than just my story; it's a testimony of faith and perseverance. Dare to delve deeper? My tale weaves in an unexpected dance with the IRS and a humbling start anew at 42, in my parents' basement, alongside my family of five. Let's embark on this venture together.

And it starts with an idea.

Ever read the book ZAG?

It’s listed as one of the 100 Best Business Books of All Time (by 800-CEO-READ).

If you haven’t, you should. Here's why:

In business there are often two strategy choices:

1. Do (copy) what everyone else is doing, only slightly better, or slightly cheaper, or slightly faster.

2. Or do something DIFFERENT and truly distinctive. Something that stands out. Something that produces extraordinary, not marginal results.

Disruptive people begin with the courage to zag where others zig. If your competitors are all starting to turn left, you look right.

There’s so much more value for you, and the people you seek to serve, when you choose to be different.

And it’s actually not that hard to do.

It simply requires reading the herd and making a decision to courageously act.

When everyone is running in one direction, you just need to ask:

What if I ran in the opposite direction?

But it’s not a path for everyone.

Because it takes real hootzpah.

The kind of hootzapah that comes from know who you are and what your assignemnt is. The kind that has the courage to stop copying the masses, and to move in the opposite (more “risky”) direction in order to complete the next chapter in your life's assignment.

And real talk here....it’s scary as hell.

But I believe that fear can be a good signal. A signal you should lean into, not seek to avoid.

It’s the only way forward if your desire is to acquire that treasure that your hearts seeks. It's always awaiting us in the cave(s) we fear.

I took a step of faith into the cave I feared and embarked on a "Do Over" story at the ripe old age of 41. New career, new skills, new character, new home, new tribe, new everything.

It required the faith to navigate a new trailhead.

To create a new meaningful impact in the world; even if that impact was small (tiny, even); even if that attempt failed.

So I took the jump and started my Do Over story just over 2.5 years ago and I am so thankful for where we are now, but I didn't always feel this way throughout that time.

Every assignment requires that one walk through a season(s) of testing and disappointing prior to one's appointing which takes me back to a moment in my story

ORIGIN STORY: Oh Crap! Why did we decide to do this?

I was taking in the view at one of my favorite places to visit but instead of thoughts of glee I was flooded with thoughts of fear and anxiety.

I remember thinking, "why the hell did I decide to do this?!?"

Is this really how this business works?!?

Two months earlier I was living in a modest home in Arlington VA, had a predictable salary with benefits and didn't wake up unemployed everyday as a business owner.

We had gone from living in a modest single family house to a 900 SF 2 bedroom apartment in my parents basement as a 41 year old with a wife, three kids, and a yellow lab named Gracie.

Yeah...It was difficult. Back to the moment at one of my favorite places...

It's a marina with an outdoor restaurant and bar on the inner coastal water way.

I was overlooking the water with a cocktail in my hand...

But instead of relaxing next to a hot blond sitting next to me (my wifey; before you think other things)

My heart was racing with anxiety while I was staring at the picturesque view, wondering how we got ourselves into the mess we were in.

The view is so peaceful. The kind of place that once you sit down and take your first sip you feel your shoulders drop and your heart rate slows down.

But, this time my shoulders didn't drop and I wasn’t interested in the freaking view.

I was a few months into my new real estate career, cash flow was present but after bus expenses and taxes that I hadn't accurately calculated (another lesson learned in building a business) I wasn't left with much to provide for my family of 5.

Crap

And btw, this was 2020 when the world had just shut down in Apr/May because of Covid.

Back to the marina moment.

Come on bro, get yourself together. Remember, God causes all things to work for your good, not against you. Get your focus right. Focus on Jesus and what He is doing in and through you and and on your wife right now. This isn't doing you any good.

I shook my head quickly back and forth to snap out of it.

I reached over to grasp my wife's hand and give her a kiss. She looked at me and said, "You OK?" Yeah, I'm just glad to be here with you...

Ha...yeah right. I wasn't OK. I was flipping out inside.

The events that led up to this moment had all started more than a decade ago through a vision and a calling but started traveling at warp speed a year and half earlier.

Let me tell you that story...it was the day...

I Still Remember The Day I Turned My Back On A Steady Paycheck, & Embarked on a New Journey At The Age of 42

Some things you just NEVER forget. Ever.

I will always remember that day. And the next day.

I was driving to our weekly leaders meeting at the church I was pastoring. It was 630AM, dark and cold in Arlington VA. I knew what was about to come, and (thankfully) felt at peace about it.

Was even looking forward it to. This move had been in the works for more than 10 years and all the guys knew about it.

But...I was the only person looking forward to it.

My best friend, Eric, who was the lead pastor was seated right beside me. He knew what was coming.

It was Jan, 2019.

“Jon, has something that he'd like to share with us,”he said.

"I believe its time for me to begin transitioning out gents." These guys had been with me processing this transition, affirming it, but the actual day hadn't been decided yet. This was that day.

It was finally here.

10+ years in the making. I wasn't sure of the when or even the how. Just that I knew I was eventually going to be transitioning out of a formal and full-time pastoral role into the marketplace.

I remember seeing the glad and sad expressions on the faces of these elders that I had stood side by side with for years. These guys were and still are legends in my mind.

It was peaceful and terrifying all at the same time as we concluded that item on the agenda.

One hour later — after I drove home with nothing more than a transition plan and alot of faith I began moving in the direction where I find myself now.

It was a surreal situation.

I was finally here. We're doing it.

The dominant emotion flowing through my body was one of anticipation with a thread of fear and calmness...the good kind of fear you feel when you're doing something honorable, noble, but at great risk. An adventure, a mission that will demand every resource one has and more to defeat the mighty foe that stands in the way of the heaven one seeks. It is a feeling I've never forgotten.

The day I woke up to a new version of the entrepeneurial life was also one of the scariest freaken days of my life.

That "oh crap" moment.

I was 42 years old.

I had been unplugged from the matrix of a W2 and haven't returned.

I had very little money coming in.

I was on my own having thrown myself in the deep-end, left to fend off the sharks.

It was time to learn how to swim, and VERY quickly.

I had very little savings (about 3 months) of buffer money in the bank

I still remember my wife Jenni telling me:

You've got this babe. God will provide what he has called us to. We are with you.

I was terrified.

And things were very difficult at first. Very.

For starters I didn’t know what the heck I was doing for the most part.

I knew very little, and the real estate business is so freaken complex. You have to be part sales leader, part attorney, part business owner, part administrator, part marketing pro, part customer service rep and the list goes on and on. And you need to learn this in warp speed. It's one of the many reasons that 87% of real estate pro's don't make it past a few years. It's a cut throat biz with a very short onramp and tons of mind numbing minutia.

And...I was drowning.

I chose to invest in multiple mentors on (credit btw) to compress time frames to acquire the necessary knowledge, belief, character traits and skills to win in less time. I only had 3 months of cash and most real estate transactions take 90 days to close from start to finish.

Shit.

The training was expensive. I had a real estate coach, multiple sales coaches like Jermey Minor, Eli Wilde, Grant Cardone, Dan Lok, and then I hired Chris Voss Ex FBI Hostage Negotiator just to name a few. I had an all-star coaching squad buffet. True savages.

I remember looking at my credit card balance go up and up and up and thinking "What the heck did I just do? I can barely even afford these monthly payments let alone my other living expenses.

There was an all-you-can-eat smorgasbord of anything and everything leadership/sales/and real estate but I paid for it with money we didn't have. It was either going to be a story of warning due to over leveraging oneself or a story of inspiration. I was committed to the later.

My plan was simple: wake up at 4AM and spend 2-3 hours learning from these guys everyday so that I could download the new programs into my brain...I didn't like waking up at 4am and I gained 25lbs bc I wasn't going to the gym...

But...

The next two years were EPIC.

… if you can call working stress-fueled 15 hour days starting at 4am epic. But it’s what it took. I trained and worked my face off. I loved it and hated alot of it too.

Somehow, things started to work out for me as a listing advisor and those 14 hour days eventually turn into 8-9 hour days with very few nights and weekends of work. Then, because of the results I was delivering, moved into an executive role on our team as the Lead Listing Advisor within the first few months on the team and then just a few months later stepped into our director of expansion role overseeing our expansion teams.

Things were going well. I figured it out and in record speed.

I was a zagger from the very beginning. I didn't run the typical plays from older real estate coaches or sales guys like pop by's, nor did I use the "time-tested" sales scripts from of old. I didn't focus on engaging my large sphere, and I didn't focus on buyers...I wanted to be a listing advisor from the beginning. People looked at me like I was crazy but those ways seemed old and ineffective at creating the business and life I wanted.

I was able to do this bc of the extraordinary team and mentors that I was apart of. I was able to plug in and focus more on leadership training and elite sales models that could sell in any industry not just real estate. When I trained with them they wouldn't even let me practice real estate. I had to sell other products and services. It was one of the best decisions I made because I learned sales principles and went further down the rabbit hole of human nature which is highly predictable once you understand it.

That early decision to raise my awareness and bolt on the skill sets needed through hiring mentors even when I didn't have the money shaped my trajectory. It became a super power.

In 2021, just one year into my journey, I read a book by the late Naploen Hill, Think and Grow Rich. I had never read it before. He quoted Henry Ford, Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're usually right.

It was and is about faith! Belief always precedes ability.

It’s a quote I’ve never forgotten. I’m pretty sure it’s what helped guide me to a pivotal moment with my dad on their porch just one year ago.

I was sweating, furious, stressed out of my mind and terrified.

"Your accountant told you that you owe $80,000 more in taxes than you've already paid in quarterly payments?"

My head sunk...I felt this consuming fear and simultaneous rage rise up in me. "Yes dad, and I ran over exactly how much I would owe with him multiple times this year and I did exactly what he had told me to do."

80K to the IRS was bad enough, especially on top of what I had already sent them, but what mattered worse was that I had promised my wife we would be out of the basement and in a new house within 2 years of embarking on this journey. We were under contract on a home, approved, and prepped to move in within 2 months time and then this happens.

Shit...

After grinding for 2+ years, hammering phone call after phone call, consult after consult, putting 50,000 miles on my car and serving every person I came in contact with at the highest level I could possibly give, especially when I was exhausted and didn't want to...crash.

… what happened on that porch next completely changed the game for me. Forever. At least mentally. It was a turning point.

My dad looked at me and said, "Jon, what you've accomplished in two years is extraordinary. "How did you do this son? I've seen guys work for decades and not make this kind of money." My dad worked for the IRS before founding and running a very successful CPA firm for two decades before transitioning into pastoral ministry where he still is to this day.

I remember those words. They were so powerful, so meaningful, so well timed, so right...

My dad had spoken faith into my heart. "huh?" "What do you mean?"

"You have a tax problem bc you have an income problem. What you've done in just 24 months is remarkable son. Not only have you gone from zero to hero very quickly but you have done so much more to get to this point. I'm so proud of you. Did you ever think you would have this kind of success in your first 2 years?"

"Not to this level, no. I thought that I might crack 6-figures but not this..."

"Son, we will solve this tax issue but this is something to celebrate."

He was right and we did.

It was a WTF moment in my life. I came into this business with high levels of faith, but would have had a hard time believing someone that would have told me that I would be where I was at that point in time.

Blink. Blink. Blink.

I walked downstairs to talk with Jenni.

I needed to tell her, to reassure her.

"Dad says we will be good."

I still get goosebumps remembering that moment. She hugged me.

"We are gonna be ok love."

That day was the start of a profound turning point for me. It marked an initiation into an identity that I had been committed to, worked for and prayed for. It demonstrated that there was a lot of value in zagging, going the other way, a non-traditional way and following the voice of God.

In that one meeting with my dad, I saw the scoreboard of value that came from helping alot of people with their real estate needs. The score read that I had made $1,040,000 in gross commission sales ($34 Millionin volume) during my first 2 full time years in the business with 98% of my business coming from listings.

I was earning in one month what I used to make in one year as a pastor.

… and all from just partnering with the right team, investing in the right mentors, taking massive action everyday and learning how to play the game better everyday.

Now...just 2.5 years after I started this Do Over I'm writing this story in our new home that's been renovated, have a newly purchased multi-family property that produces passive cashflow, I'm an executive and primary sales trainer for our team, I oversee and direct our expansion into numerous markets, currently train agents across the country to do what I did and have 6 successful income streams.

And that tax problem got solved btw.

There’s more, and I'll tell that story next.