The Few Will Hunt Show

Your adversity is your advantage. In this episode, Joey and Drew are joined by Tony Stephan—bestselling author, entrepreneur, and real estate investor. From a challenging upbringing in Detroit to building a thriving business empire, Tony shares how struggle shaped his success. He reveals lessons on turning liabilities into assets, overcoming rock bottom, and the mindset required to grow through life’s toughest moments. Learn how Tony turned pain into purpose and built a life of financial freedom.

The official podcast of Few Will Hunt, the world’s largest community of hard workers and Made in the USA apparel brand. Family-owned and operated and headquartered in Philadelphia. We’re on a mission to restore the dignity of hard work and help others live The Rules of The Few to strengthen ourselves and strengthen society. No entitlement or excuses are allowed here.

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Creators & Guests

Host
Drew Beech
Drew Beech is an entrepreneur and cofounder of Few Will Hunt. He spent several years in the sales and marketing industry, grossing over several million dollars in sales. But his love for the entrepreneurial journey and desire to escape the rate race started with his personal training business in college. Today, Drew leads the Few Will Hunt community alongside his cousin and cofounder, Joey in their mission to restore the dignity of hard work through the highest-quality American-made apparel.
Host
Joey Bowen
Joey Bowen is co-founder of Few Will Hunt.

What is The Few Will Hunt Show?

The official podcast of Few Will Hunt, the world’s largest community of hard workers and 100% Made in the USA apparel brand. We’re on a mission to restore the dignity of hard work and help others live The Rules of The Few to strengthen ourselves and strengthen society. No entitlement or excuses are allowed here.

Tony Stephan’s:

Anyone listening to this, there's someone out there less talented than you, less gifted than you, less resourceful than you, making more money doing what you should be doing because they chose to take action while you chose to stand back. Welcome to the Few Will Hunt Show.

Joey Bowen:

What's going on, Eagles? Welcome to the Few Will Hunt Show. I'm Joey, and I have my cousin and cofounder here with me today, Drew. We're also joined by Tony Stefan. Tony is in where do I start?

Joey Bowen:

Best selling author, entrepreneur, real estate investor, all around amazing human, one of the few. I could go on and on. We're pumped to have you here today. How you feeling?

Tony Stephan’s:

Dude, appreciate you guys. Man, I thought you guys were brothers. I didn't know you guys were cousins.

Joey Bowen:

I got that last week, so that's why I started having the cousin face back. Like.

Drew Beech:

Damn. I I mean, I can't imagine to having Joey as an older brother. Like, I mean, like, I I I give off like that. I am the older brother, so I I can never live with that, having an older brother.

Tony Stephan’s:

Yeah. You

Joey Bowen:

don't want me as the older brother, man.

Tony Stephan’s:

Yeah. The

Joey Bowen:

older brother. It's family

Tony Stephan’s:

family business. Love that. Appreciate you guys. Love the brand. We we were customers of the brand first.

Tony Stephan’s:

Just very high quality stuff. My wife's, like, really picky with clothes. She put the crop tops on. She's like, dude, I love these. She's like, can you order a bunch more?

Tony Stephan’s:

I'm like, fuck. Yeah. It's awesome. Let's do it. And, you guys did all of our custom logo for our brokerage at Safran Group.

Tony Stephan’s:

So appreciate you guys, and, excited to be here.

Joey Bowen:

Yeah. Yeah, man. It's been a while since I've seen you. I think, so it's good to see you virtually. Even if it's just virtually, I think.

Joey Bowen:

Right. Last time I saw you was maybe BK live. Right? Not the most recent one, the one before that.

Tony Stephan’s:

Yeah. Or it

Joey Bowen:

might have been High Performance Summit, one of those. But, yeah, in any event, man, it's good to good to see you. It's great to have you here. So today, I wanna talk about a couple things. Right?

Joey Bowen:

Wanted to talk about, what it was like growing up. You know what I mean? I think a lot of people when they see somebody that has reached a level of success in their life, they think that potentially they had a silver spoon in their mouth that helped them get there. And, for you, I don't wanna spoil anything, but it's the exact opposite. Right?

Joey Bowen:

And then, I was listening to your show recently, and, you did an episode on assets and liabilities. Right? And you had a really interesting take on that that I know will benefit the community. So after we talk a little bit about your story, so the community can get to know you, I'd love to talk a little bit about assets and liabilities as you did on your show. Sound good?

Tony Stephan’s:

Oh, love it, man. Exciting.

Joey Bowen:

K. So what was life, like for Tony growing up? It was shit, man.

Tony Stephan’s:

It was absolute shit.

Joey Bowen:

Yeah.

Tony Stephan’s:

But, you know, I would I I would even too I I love what you said. It's like when you see someone who comes from success or or has developed success, you you wonder where they come from. You know, man, I I've learned that the most successful people usually usually come from the highest level of adversity. Yeah. And those who come from the the easy life, like, it's expression I know you guys love this.

Tony Stephan’s:

Hard times make strong resilient people. Easy times make weak people. Right? Mhmm. And, like, when we first met, we really bonded because you guys are from Philadelphia.

Tony Stephan’s:

That's a kind of rough, tough city. Right? Like, a very blue collar mindset. I'm from Detroit. Very, very similar.

Tony Stephan’s:

Right? So I can I always say I'll give the short version, and I'm happy to expand in in any area? Grew up right outside Detroit, Michigan. My mother was an addict. She struggled.

Tony Stephan’s:

Struggled with prescription drugs, and then that led to the, you know, more hardcore stuff. She was in and out of my life since the age of 14. She OD'd when I was 18. At about 14, my father sat me down and he said, we're 3 months behind on our mortgage. We're gonna file chapter 7 bankruptcy.

Tony Stephan’s:

So he had to teach me what that was because, of course, I was like, what's that mean? He said, mom's not here. She's not coming back. It's gonna be a struggle. His exact verbiage was because it's right before Christmas, he said it's gonna be a couple poor Christmases.

Tony Stephan’s:

But and credit to him, he concluded with, listen, man. We're not gonna feel bad for ourselves. If I hear you feeling sorry for yourself, I'm gonna put you in the car. We're gonna drive to inner city Detroit. I'm gonna get you out of the car, and you're gonna walk home to see what feeling bad really feels like.

Tony Stephan’s:

So you never let me feel bad. And number 2, he said, you can have anything you want in this world. I can't give it to you, but if you go out there and get it, you can have it. And it took a lot of years and a lot of therapy, a lot of personal development to really reflect and be like, thank god that happened, man. Yeah.

Tony Stephan’s:

Thank god that happened. Thank god, you know, he he he didn't have a whole lot. He didn't have a whole lot of resourcefulness. You know, blue collar guy, union worker, never made more than $50 a year, held 3 jobs to kinda, you know, make ends meet for us. But at least he had the perspective to say, you know, your adversity is your advantage.

Tony Stephan’s:

And that's what I wanna share with anyone here, anyone listening to this. I I love your guys' message. You're all about adversity. Right? The depth of your struggle determines the height of your success.

Tony Stephan’s:

There is no way I'm where I am today without that struggle, without that adversity. So one thing the next thing he did then said to you is that, hey. We're not gonna use drugs. We're not gonna use alcohol. We're not gonna use all these coping mechanisms.

Tony Stephan’s:

Let's go to the basement. It's an old school Midwest branch, 900 square foot home, little Midwest basement, Joe Weeter wage weight bench, the old school dumbbells with the sand in them. You guys know what I'm talking about.

Drew Beech:

Like Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. We

Tony Stephan’s:

all have

Drew Beech:

them. We all have them.

Tony Stephan’s:

We all have And and he taught me exercise. He said, I want this to be an outlet for your pain, your fear, your anxiety, your frustration. I loved it so much. I'm like, you know what? This has helped me.

Tony Stephan’s:

I wanna help others with this. I wanna help people going through adversity, loss, depression, anxiety, whatever with fitness. So age 18, I go out. I do a at home personal training certification. I still don't even know how they how they accepted this because I was, like, just mailing in a test and photos and all this stuff.

Tony Stephan’s:

I got a job as a, personal trainer at LA Fitness on 12 Mile Mountains right out, you know, I hear Warren, Michigan right outside Detroit. $6 a session, guys. 6 bucks before taxes. There's no less I wanna share. You gotta learn before you earn, man.

Tony Stephan’s:

Right? Right? You gotta learn your craft before you get paid. Yeah.

Drew Beech:

Real quick. It's so funny you mentioned those mailing tests. Like, I I took a personal training test in college, and it's, like, it's they we put so much weight in these personal trainers, but realistically, anybody could do it. And, like 100%. You

Joey Bowen:

everybody

Drew Beech:

wants to be a personal trainer too, and then you get to the floor and it's, like, you're making pennies to it.

Tony Stephan’s:

Like, $6 an hour, like, an hour. That's crazy. 100%. But but what I learned there guys was experience. I mean, like, think about you guys.

Tony Stephan’s:

You didn't just, like, you know what? I'm gonna go take this course or go get an art degree and go make beautiful shirts. You probably had to made a couple of really shitty shirts before. A couple of crooked shirts for the sleeve. Yeah.

Tony Stephan’s:

Yeah. The sleeves were made. Right? You know, so many people tell you they just wanna go to the level, man. They wanna go to the financial freedom.

Tony Stephan’s:

They wanna go to the time freedom. They wanna go all that, but they don't wanna learn before they have to earn. They don't wanna have to make those mistakes. So I'm very grateful for that job because I made a lot of stupid mistakes there. Right?

Tony Stephan’s:

What I learned, I went to college to become a registered dietitian because I thought, like like like Jalen Hurst, right, Philadelphia, dual threat quarterback. If I can run and I can throw, I'm gonna be in demand. So I said, you know what? Every personal trainer needs a dietitian to refer to. Every dietitian needs a trainer.

Tony Stephan’s:

So went out and got my registered dietitian credentials, a 5 year degree, 23 years old, graduate college, took a 100% commission job as a registered dietitian. A lot of people said that was stupid. A lot of people said that was foolish. Right? But sales is everything.

Tony Stephan’s:

Right? If you can't sell, you can't market. What what product wins? Not the best product, best known product. Right?

Tony Stephan’s:

So you guys are smart. You're you're doing a lot of marketing. I see your product in a lot of people's hands. Right? It's the best known product.

Tony Stephan’s:

You guys have a beautiful product. But if no one knows about it, right, it goes nowhere. Like, you you guys probably love this. Who invented the light bulb?

Drew Beech:

Was it Thomas Edison or, fuck. Yeah. Oh, no. Bell was the telephone.

Tony Stephan’s:

Yeah. Tesla. Tesla and that Tesla.

Drew Beech:

Yeah. Oh, shit. I didn't even know that.

Tony Stephan’s:

But see, everyone says Edison. You know why? Because Edison was a marketer. Yeah. He took Tesla's invention, and he sold it, and he marketed it.

Tony Stephan’s:

So perfect example of history knows the best marketed product. Right? So took a 100% sales job, did all of that, and I left that, started a business, hired a mentor, mutual friend of ours, Major Skwin, took every dollar I had, charged 26 years old now, charged up my credit card, started this business because I knew I knew there was more out there. I wanted to help more people. Struggle with that at first.

Drew Beech:

You were 26 when you did that, or you're 26 now?

Tony Stephan’s:

No. No. I was 26 when I did that. Yeah. I was 26 when I did that.

Tony Stephan’s:

I wouldn't be surprised. You're very very spry looking young young man.

Joey Bowen:

He's good at 3, man.

Drew Beech:

Yeah. Like

Tony Stephan’s:

Yeah. But yeah. That was it, man. And that business led to the real estate and all that. So happy to expand anywhere in there.

Joey Bowen:

Gotcha. Gotcha. So it sounds like when your father sat you down in that moment, he said all the right things, but he also backed it up. It sounds like, with action too and said, hey. Look.

Joey Bowen:

Let's go to the basement. Let's lift.

Tony Stephan’s:

You know

Joey Bowen:

what I mean? Like, he didn't just give you some hollow words. It sounds like you really received them. And then even, like, right from the gate, you put it into action. Yeah.

Tony Stephan’s:

True. Yeah. Like you said, you know, I really appreciate because he could've went a lot of different ways, you know. He could've went a lot of different directions with it. But, yeah, 2 two things he never allowed.

Tony Stephan’s:

He never allowed us to feel bad. Right? He never allowed me to feel bad. I have an older sister. He never allowed, you know, either of us to feel bad.

Tony Stephan’s:

Like I said, I I kid you not. I just started feeling bad in Blaine's. I get in the car. My what? I get in the car.

Tony Stephan’s:

We're going we're going to, like, 6 mile in Detroit City. Yep. Right? And they're walking home. I'm like, oh, man.

Tony Stephan’s:

Okay. And, yeah. He just kinda taught me at that moment. He's like, you can go get anything you want, but I can't give it to you. And and, again, adversity is our advantage.

Tony Stephan’s:

Right? Anyone listening to this, you don't want the silver spoon, man, because the silver spoon makes you weak. It makes you non resilient. It makes you not resourceful. Right?

Tony Stephan’s:

You you don't want it. You want to that's why I like the the hunt mentality. You you wanna hunt because a house cat that gets the the milk and the whatever they eat, tuna every night Yep. The minute the tuna dries up, they don't know how to hunt.

Joey Bowen:

They're dead. Mhmm.

Tony Stephan’s:

They're dead.

Joey Bowen:

Yep.

Tony Stephan’s:

So we have to thrive on that, man.

Drew Beech:

That's one in addition to that, that's one thing I'm constantly reminding myself too is, like, when you're hunting and and on the path to a greater journey than just average, No one said it was gonna be easy. Right? Like, no one told you that if it was easy, everybody would do it. But also, like, someone else would kill for your problems right now. Like, as bad as you have it, like, even in that moment, Tony, when you your mom was gone and you're filing bankruptcy and your dad was like, we're gonna have a it would be like, for a 14 year old kid, for your dad to be like, we're gonna have a a shitty Christmas, like, that kinda like, that's, like, a big deal.

Drew Beech:

Right? Like, you're like, oh my god. Like, but someone else would kill to have been in your situation with a loving father that taught you the the path and to not feel sorry for yourself and become a strong man.

Joey Bowen:

Do you think do you think that your father was equipped to give you those words and then help you put it into action because of his strong blue collar work ethic? Or did he have a father that instilled it in him? How do you think or was it pure he just stepped up to the plate when he needed to step up?

Tony Stephan’s:

Yeah, man. Really good question. I've actually never been asked that question. I probably told the story numerous times. I still get a little, like, choked up on it.

Tony Stephan’s:

You know? So, no. He didn't know his father, actually. So I don't I I really don't know how how yeah. They came from a very traditional Italian family, so very nuclear.

Tony Stephan’s:

Like, the woman kinda took care of the house and the man took care of that, you know. So, it it was different. You know, I I don't know where he got it from. Him and I definitely had some adversity because, like you said, there's a lot of caveats in the story. A week later, an another woman moved in and, you know, all that was she was very emotionally abusive to me and very, like, ostracized me in in the house and things like that.

Tony Stephan’s:

But what what I've learned, it took a lot of therapy and a lot of, like, again, personal development. He gave the best advice he could give with what he had. Yeah. That's it. And I think anyone listening to this too, it's like, you gotta forget what you can't forget sometimes.

Tony Stephan’s:

And you have to look at the source and say, you know, all 3 of us here are personal development people. Right? Your income will never exceed your level of personal development. People listening to this, but not everybody Pillar pillar number 1.

Joey Bowen:

Yeah. Yeah.

Tony Stephan’s:

Not everybody does that though. So they can only share, like when I went to quit my job at 23, my girlfriend, now my wife was like, I support you. I mean, you're gonna do it. You're maxing out your credit card. Don't worry.

Tony Stephan’s:

You'll succeed. My dad was like, don't freaking do it. Don't do it. Remember? Remember where we came from?

Tony Stephan’s:

Remember where that? And I was so angry at him for that. I was so mad. Why I bought my first rental property? He's like, you don't wanna do that tenants, they might not pay.

Tony Stephan’s:

Now I own 40,000,000 in real estate. So I I was angry at those moments, but then I had to step away and kinda go meta above it. Right? And, like, dissociate and look down and, like, why is he saying this? That's just his worldview.

Tony Stephan’s:

His worldview. That's his frame. So our parents can only give us what they can give us. It's up to us to ascend and to develop ourselves beyond what they give.

Joey Bowen:

Yeah.

Drew Beech:

I have a couple, points I wanna hit here. Like, I do believe that I know a lot of blue collar guys being in the area in Philadelphia. You said Detroit, a lot of similarities. I believe it's my personal belief that a lot of blue collar guys have what it takes to be successful, to be millionaires, etcetera, because they have the work ethic. Like, they work hard as hell.

Drew Beech:

Like, I know a lot of blue collar guys that bust their ass, and it's just because of that world view, they don't have that. What to them feels like risk. Right? They don't wanna take the risk and not have a quote unquote safe income. Like, I had a very similar situation to you, Tony.

Drew Beech:

I came home and told my stepdad that I had, quit my account management job and switched to sales, because, like, I saw all the commission these sales guys were making. I was like, I can fucking do this. Like and I went from a decent salary to a a 100% commission job, And he we we had a, like, a blowout fight because, like, you're such an idiot. Like, this is also, on the back of I had just got done reading Rich Dad Poor Dad, which I believe that you're living you're living the dream

Tony Stephan’s:

as far anyone that read Rich Dad Poor Dad, you actually applied it and fucking are living the

Drew Beech:

Rich Dad Poor Dad dream. So I'm fresh off of that, I thought I quit, and he's like, you're a fucking idiot. So same thing. That worldview, he's a cop. So another blue collar guy, and that was his distorted worldview.

Tony Stephan’s:

Yeah.

Joey Bowen:

Yeah. I think the the other thing too was, like, you know, personal development. I I Tony, I doubt your dad was, like, listening to, like, Zig Ziglar tapes, you know, in the house. You know what I'm saying? Like, they're, like, you know, even the the time, personal development wasn't as accessible maybe.

Joey Bowen:

You know, personal development resources weren't as accessible now, you know, then as they are now. So that's another another thing that kinda makes it remarkable that he was able to sit down and give you those lessons. Despite what happened after that, he kinda set the he

Tony Stephan’s:

he kinda set the stage for you.

Joey Bowen:

You know what I mean? To and, you know, change your worldview a little bit. Yeah. Very cool, man.

Drew Beech:

My question, Tony, at what point in the journey did you start to get into personal development, and what was your introduction to that space? And, like, how did you start, picking things up?

Tony Stephan’s:

Yeah. I was 18. I bought my first laptop, and I was like, YouTube and, you know, that's that's actually where I found Badri's Cooling because I was like, how to sell personal training? And this guy comes up with this nice flowing hair. I'm like, oh,

Joey Bowen:

shit. Cord. Yeah.

Tony Stephan’s:

Yeah. I'm like, oh, okay. Okay. But then that was, like, Tony Robbins and all that, and I just dude, when you lack resources, you have to get resourceful. I didn't have money.

Tony Stephan’s:

I didn't have all that, but I had a computer, I had the Internet, and YouTube was around, and I started with that, and then that led to the books and everything else.

Joey Bowen:

Yeah. Gotcha. Gotcha.

Drew Beech:

So that was 18. Right? You're kinda I mean, as far as the curve goes when in in the trajectory of like, some people are finding it much earlier on. I I wasn't quite 18. I wish I was 18.

Tony Stephan’s:

Yeah.

Drew Beech:

So you're pretty pretty young when you when you found it.

Tony Stephan’s:

Yeah. Yeah. Yep. 1st year of college is when I really started saying, like, okay. I see where this road's gonna go.

Tony Stephan’s:

How do I get off? Or or I gotta find a better road. You know what I mean? Where's a better road at? Right?

Tony Stephan’s:

So

Joey Bowen:

Exactly. It sounds like when there were a couple maybe of those off ramps where you're like, okay. Look. There's another there's another path here. There's another road that I can take.

Joey Bowen:

How important was it finding b and then hiring him as a mentor and a coach when you were taking those off ramps?

Tony Stephan’s:

Yeah, man. It it was everything. You know? I'm I'm very vocal that he's been pivotal in my life. I owe him a tremendous amount.

Tony Stephan’s:

Whatever I paid to him over the last 5, 6 years, I don't even know. He's paid back, you know, tenfold. So I was 26, and, again, you know, I was I was doing pretty well at Lifetime Fitness, like 90 k a year as a dietitian. Not bad. Right?

Tony Stephan’s:

Weight blown out, a dietitian salary. But, again, just wanted more, knew more, you know? And I thought more was, like, own a couple gyms, right, hire trainers, be a dietitian, and then I reached out to him, charged up my credit card, flew out there too because it was the it was $10 back then, which felt like $1,000,000.

Drew Beech:

Hey. You gotta steal.

Tony Stephan’s:

No. No. Yeah. It's a steal. Inflation, man.

Tony Stephan’s:

Inflation, Florida. Nice. But, but then you had to fly out there too. So, you know, there's a couple of 100 even on Spirit. Right?

Tony Stephan’s:

Last row. Couple of dollars extra. So I was, like, toying the red. And, I just remember going out there and I'm like, look, man. I I can't fail.

Tony Stephan’s:

Like, what do I have to do? And he just pulled out this marker, he wrote this stuff all down on this whiteboard and taught me Internet based business. He said, don't open a gym. Let the world be your business. I still get goosebumps because when he said that, I was, like, holy shit.

Tony Stephan’s:

I was I was like, Moses and God in the burning bush. I was like, this is a whole new world. Right? And I I just told myself, I made a decision right there in that moment. Guys, listen to this.

Tony Stephan’s:

You gotta make a decision. Like you said, a lot of blue collar workers, a lot of people like, oh, I could do that. I can do but you're not. Yeah.

Drew Beech:

You're not

Tony Stephan’s:

doing that. Right now, anyone listening to this, there's someone out there less talented than you, less gifted than you, less resourceful than you, making more money doing what you should be doing because they chose to take action while you chose to stand back. Yep. Period. Right?

Tony Stephan’s:

So I just made that right then and there, I I I wasn't I wasn't going back. You know what I mean? That was it. That was my Normandy beach, dude. I was gonna die in that I was gonna take the hell.

Drew Beech:

Yeah. It's It's real quick. Something about that first whiteboard session with b, man, like, pulled out that marker, and your your head just explodes. I still have I go back and list them on my on my phone because I I had to set set my phone out

Tony Stephan’s:

Yeah. Yeah.

Drew Beech:

And just, like, literally hit your head

Tony Stephan’s:

Oh, yeah.

Drew Beech:

Brain bending.

Tony Stephan’s:

Yeah. Yeah.

Joey Bowen:

So

Tony Stephan’s:

how'd that been? I don't know. Maybe I would've opened some gyms or whatever, but that was everything. Because I moved the business online and never opened a gym, and that was

Drew Beech:

Realistically, you probably would've been not maybe not equally as successful, but you would have been successful because, like, you, like, Joey and I had that same talk with ourselves. Like, yeah, we're gonna do this or we're gonna die trying. Right? Like, the 50¢ motto.

Joey Bowen:

Mhmm. Exactly. The not not 50¢ a dollar amount. Yeah.

Drew Beech:

I feel I feel like Tony would've would've picked it up.

Joey Bowen:

Yeah. He's

Drew Beech:

a fellow 50¢ guy.

Tony Stephan’s:

Yeah. Yeah. Hell, yeah. Yeah. I love it.

Joey Bowen:

So the, once that, business took off, that's what then led into real estate. Right? So you're doing well with with that business and just for everybody, listening and watching, that business was?

Tony Stephan’s:

Telehealth. Yeah. So online it was online nutrition coaching first, and then it ended up being online education and continuing education credits for other dietitians. So it was everything from digital products, 1 on 1 coaching, but also masterminds. And we ended up having customers in 21 different countries for digital products and resources.

Tony Stephan’s:

All organically too. So no paid advertising, all organic. So profit margins were huge. And and and to add to your point, new levels, new doubles. Business is not avoidance of problems, it's elevation of problems.

Tony Stephan’s:

Right? So problem for Tony in 2016 was my AmEx is full. I just need to make money. Right? Problem for Tony now coming in 2019, 2020, right, is, oh my god.

Tony Stephan’s:

I just owed the IRS $400,000 for the year. Right? Yeah. Because you Yeah. Made so much.

Tony Stephan’s:

And I go to my CPM, like, what are we doing? Like, what's going on here?

Joey Bowen:

Yeah. Let

Tony Stephan’s:

me do something. He's like, buy a second home. And I'm like, rich dad, poor dad. I'm like, wait a minute. You just told me to buy a liability by definition.

Tony Stephan’s:

Liability is anything you pay for. Right? So your home, it's a liability, guys. I'm sorry. I I know it goes on your balance sheet as an asset.

Tony Stephan’s:

Right? And I love my home. It's beautiful. Right? But she owns cash flow.

Joey Bowen:

Yep.

Tony Stephan’s:

Right? I I pay for this home. So sure it's gone up in value and all that but I pay for it. And asset is anything that pays you. And it can be a liability can be a person, it can be the bull crap food you're putting in your mouth.

Tony Stephan’s:

Right? Oh. It can be a lot a lot of other things. It's not just real estate or stocks or crypto. Right?

Tony Stephan’s:

So fundamental people get that confused. They're like, oh, my home's an asset. My watch is an asset. It goes on your balance sheet as an asset, but that Rolex ain't producing cash flow. Right?

Tony Stephan’s:

So you had to pay for that, you know? So yeah. I had all that and then again personal development. Formal education will make you a living, self education will make you a fortune. So I started researching again and you hear real estate people don't pay taxes.

Tony Stephan’s:

I'm like okay, how is that? Oh wow, there's these rules and there's these incentives and there's these laws that promote real estate investing just like business, right? The tax system is rewarding to those who give to the economy. Mhmm. You guys create products and create jobs.

Tony Stephan’s:

You get certain tax incentives. And you make it in America now, so you probably are gonna get more now. Thank god. Right? We're with where we're going.

Drew Beech:

Yeah. I hope

Tony Stephan’s:

so. We've done so. Right? So you create, you add to the economy. Yep.

Tony Stephan’s:

If I just take from the economy, if I take a job, if I take product and I consume, I don't get tax breaks.

Joey Bowen:

Yeah.

Tony Stephan’s:

For my wife and I, we provide housing because no one else in the country provides housing. The US government tried it. It was called the projects. They failed. It didn't work.

Tony Stephan’s:

We're a free market capitalistic society. The government implores its private citizens like all 3 of us to create jobs, create businesses, and provide housing, and with that you get massive tax benefits. So that's how that all kind of led in to the real estate.

Joey Bowen:

So that that kinda you you started down that asset liability path. So I wanna explore that a little more. But I do hear I hear a couple things.

Tony Stephan’s:

I hear a couple pillars in your speech. So when it

Joey Bowen:

comes to personal development, I can guess that you're a Jim Rohn guy. And we've never spoken about this, I don't think, but, 12 Pillars was actually the book that started my personal development journey. So, like, you know, all of those pillars, in that book. And, you know, when I first read it, I was like, this makes perfect sense. Like, why was I not taught this sooner?

Joey Bowen:

You know? And that's the wild thing. I think when people get into personal development, they're like, wow. Like, when their worldview shifts, they're like, wow. I can't believe how I was living before, and they see opportunity in the future.

Joey Bowen:

You know what I mean? So you started, you started hitting on the asset and the liability stuff, the actual the actual the technical definitions of those things. But then you you alluded to how some other things can be liabilities, right, in your life on the personal development side. So could you explore that a little bit for the watchers and listeners?

Tony Stephan’s:

Yeah, man. Like, you know, a liability can mean a lot of things. Right? It's the bullshit you buy. Excuse excuse my language, but it's bullcrap you buy.

Tony Stephan’s:

Right? It's the people you hang out with. Right? The people you allow into your inner circle. It's the food you put in your body, the drugs or alcohol or substances you do or do not put in.

Tony Stephan’s:

Right? You know? All those things can be a liability. Like, there's 3 levels. Right?

Tony Stephan’s:

There's 3 levels to wealth creation. Number 1 is you, man. You have to be an asset first because if you're a freaking liability, you're gonna blow everything. You're gonna blow the business. You're gonna blow the real estate.

Tony Stephan’s:

You're gonna blow the you're you're just gonna you're gonna self implode. Right? So you have to become an asset first. You have to eat right. You have to be in some sort of physical shape.

Tony Stephan’s:

Right? You need to mitigate stress. Stress management is the ceiling to your potential. Right? You guys do the jujitsu.

Tony Stephan’s:

My wife and I box. Why? Because someone's punching you or someone's choking you out, and you have to stay calm. I've never been choked out. That's too much for me.

Tony Stephan’s:

I'll I'd rather be punched 10 times in the face than get a rear naked choke. But I'm assuming it's the same. If you start hyperventilating and freaking out, you're done. Yep. You're done.

Tony Stephan’s:

Mhmm. It's the same thing in life and business. Right? So number 1 is you. Number 2 is is some sort of business that produces cash flow.

Tony Stephan’s:

And then number 3 is something that can work for you when you don't have to work like Warren Buffett said. I'm a big believer, follow the billionaires. Don't follow the millionaire, follow the billionaires. Right? Buffett said, if you don't find a way to make money while you sleep, you work to the day you die.

Tony Stephan’s:

Right? So, you know, in that first business, I was crap. Guys, I was cash rich, asset poor. I stopped working. The money stopped coming in.

Tony Stephan’s:

Yeah. I took time off. The revenue dipped. I owned a job, not a business like most small business owners do, and that's okay. But you become the best version of you possible.

Tony Stephan’s:

You build that business, that business grows, then you take the profit from that business, right, and invest in the assets that grow while you're you say 40, 30, 30. Right? 40% of your income reinvested in the business, reinvested for growth, 30% goes to taxes until you learn the real estate game, like we're talking about, Then 30% dude, if you're giving 30% to the I r and the s, you gotta give 30% to yourself, man. You gotta put 30% into some sort of investment vehicle. I think real estate's the best, I'm a little biased, but there's stocks, there's cryptos, there's whatever.

Tony Stephan’s:

Right? So for an entrepreneur, 40% into your company, 30% to the IRS is what it is. Right? More if you're in New York or California, more or less if you're in Texas. But then 30% has gotta go to you.

Tony Stephan’s:

I think that's just a fundamental thing. If you're paying the IRS 30%, you gotta pay yourself 30%.

Joey Bowen:

Sure. So those three levels, just to recap, you're saying you, then you're saying, you know, your your earned income, something that you're doing to produce cash, and then that 3rd level making that cash work for you. So you're not working for cash, the cash is working for you. That's that 3rd level.

Tony Stephan’s:

You're doing both. You're doing both. And that's where people get it twisted, so I'm glad you brought that up. My wife and I own 259 units, but we bust our butt for money. We still bust our butt.

Tony Stephan’s:

She owns the brokerage, I co own, I just I I pivot out there and I let the team do the thing. Right? I own my coaching and consulting company, we bust our butt for money, We live on a small minority of that money. We take the rest of it and get rid of it into something we can't touch. Bricks and sticks.

Tony Stephan’s:

Yeah. I love this. You know why? This is illiquid. You can't get to it right away.

Tony Stephan’s:

But it produces cash flow, it produces tax benefits. If you do it right, you can refinance it, keep the asset. Right? But this is safe because your bank account's losing money. Right?

Tony Stephan’s:

In inflation right now, they're saying that's not going away. Right? It's it's gonna stay elevated. Just is what it is. Right?

Tony Stephan’s:

We live in an inflationary society. Most entrepreneurs, big biggest expense that they do not know about is inflation. The devaluation of our dollar and the increase of expenses. You guys know, is labor going up or down? Yeah.

Tony Stephan’s:

It's going up. These beautiful polyester, I'm I'm sweating, you know, it's like, moisture wicks off. This is again cheaper to make. Yep. It's only going going more expensive.

Tony Stephan’s:

Right? So you have to put your money, your bust your butt money into something that will outpace inflation and work hard for you while you're sleeping. But, yes, if you don't if you don't earn income, you ain't got no money to invest. Right? So you don't start earning income just because you invest.

Tony Stephan’s:

You keep that money machine rolling. The worst number in business is 1. One source of income, 1 customer, one product, 1 distribute distributor, 1 sales rep. So you don't want 1, you want flows, multiple flows. Right?

Tony Stephan’s:

That's

Joey Bowen:

Yeah. I feel like especially when I was I feel

Drew Beech:

like we're getting a k. I was just I feel like we're getting free game right now. Like, I'm fuck. I'm like, we should be charging for this podcast. Like, time is dropping heat on this one.

Joey Bowen:

It's a small small portion of the heat that I've heard them drop. So, it sounds like it sounds like, or I'll I'll rewind. When I was in my twenties, right, a lot of my friends were looking for that magical, like, passive income thing. And I feel like that was like a phase. I don't know if that's still going on, but people looking for this this passive income.

Joey Bowen:

What I saw all of them missing was the fact that they weren't earning. They were looking for something to pay them, right, cash without actually doing something to earn cash to create it. And it it bombed out for everybody. And it goes all the way back to to effort, nurses entitlement. You know what I mean?

Joey Bowen:

And that's like the cloth that, you know, we're cut from.

Tony Stephan’s:

Love that.

Joey Bowen:

When I zoom out on the asset liability conversation, I see clearly the fact that you really can be your best asset. Right? Skills developing skills over time, you are your best asset. I also see the other side of it as you are potentially your worst or your most dangerous liability. Because like you

Tony Stephan’s:

were saying, self imploding or self destructing based on any number of things, vices, your circle, your limiting beliefs, your trauma from your past, they will sink the ship just as just as quick

Joey Bowen:

as you could by developing skills to build the ship.

Drew Beech:

Mhmm.

Tony Stephan’s:

You know

Joey Bowen:

what I mean? So it's a very it's an interesting dichotomy

Tony Stephan’s:

that I don't think a lot of people see.

Joey Bowen:

They're too they're many times, on the liability side, they're too focused on looking outward about what's being done

Tony Stephan’s:

to them instead of thinking inward about what

Joey Bowen:

they can do to their environment. How they can happen to things instead of how things are happening to them. You know? Yeah. 100%.

Tony Stephan’s:

Yeah. You said you said 2 things there. Number 1, like you said, skills pay the bills. And, Ray, everyone wants to jump to passive income. Everyone wants to jump to, I wanna do this.

Tony Stephan’s:

Bro, you got you gotta develop a skill set first. Right? Skills pay the bills. Right? For me, it was learn to personal train, learn to be a dietitian.

Tony Stephan’s:

I wasn't like, how do I own a 100 unit apartment? I was like, I just gotta motherfucking pay this credit card bill off. Right? So I'm gonna sell registered dietitian services for a $100 an hour, whatever it was back then. You guys created products.

Tony Stephan’s:

Right? Skills pay the bills and, like you said, show me your habits. I'll I'll show you your future. Right? Because, you know, money and and success and all that, the bigger the bigger our enterprises have grown, right, and the bigger our teams have grown and the bigger our responsibilities have grown, we've had to return more to the fundamental habits, The early wake up, eating right.

Tony Stephan’s:

My wife and I joke all the time, we're like, dude, we we don't even have time to eat crappy anymore because you wake up a little bit later, your stomach hurts a little bit, you're not working out as good as the right because we ate the freaking orange chicken that we probably shouldn't have had. You don't have time to do it. Like you said, every choice has to be factored into the production of Yes. Everything because if we sink down, everyone else sink there's a ripple effect. Right?

Tony Stephan’s:

First when I was a steel premier, you know, I could have a little bit of wine at night and sleep in a little bit. It was different. So that's why we say new levels, new devils. A 6 and 7 can't lead a 9 to 10, that's a Bader's Quillian quote and and I I live by that. Right?

Tony Stephan’s:

You guys know what it's like to lead people. So for anyone listening to this looking like grow in an organization or grow their team, no no one no one makes it long term as a solopreneur. Entrepreneurship is not a solo game. Right? That's either, like, ignorance or arrogance or a little bit of both to be like, I just do it all myself.

Tony Stephan’s:

No one builds a great organization alone. Right? So you have to lead others and you gotta lead yourself to lead others because people will forgive a criminal before they forgive a hypocrite. Right? Hypothetical is hypocritical.

Tony Stephan’s:

Yep.

Joey Bowen:

Right? Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. The at you know, on our journey, it's, you know, year after year something else gets shed.

Joey Bowen:

Every year, something gets shed. And I thought I was in good shape 2 years ago. Now I'm in way better shape than I was 2 years because there's just like you're saying, new levels, new devils. Those devils, you're trying to keep that devil, right, at arm's length. So you're doing everything you can, right, to be the best version of you.

Joey Bowen:

Not, you know, not just for you, but for your people too. I see you're writing, Drew. You got some questions?

Drew Beech:

I'm I'm jotting down the questions for the the money round at the end.

Joey Bowen:

Money round.

Drew Beech:

My new favorite game to play with our guests.

Joey Bowen:

Thanks. Very nice.

Drew Beech:

I do have one thing to add, though. I'd say to that habits, point you made, Tony, I and one thing I'd say to our coaching, circle and peep our team and my close circle is, like, how you do anything is how you do everything. And when I heard that quote for the first time, it really like, I had to reflect on, like, everything I'm doing. Right? Like, not just how how I'm working, how I'm eating, etcetera.

Drew Beech:

Like, it all plays a factor and it's people like to say they work hard, but if you show up to the gym and just put in the reps, then you're not going home and and eating right, then you're not actually doing the hard work. Right? You're working hard in one area, but you have to be doing it in a in a full circle. It's like a big it's a big pie. Right?

Drew Beech:

So it's just interesting you made that point because that's one thing that's always stuck with me in my life.

Tony Stephan’s:

100% man. Yeah. When we do interviews, we we go look at their cars. Honestly, if your car's filthy.

Drew Beech:

You can tell a lot about a person about where do you stand where do you stand on making the bed, though, Tony?

Tony Stephan’s:

I I make my bed every day. I I I get the argument that, yes, you could be a billionaire and not make your bed. I get it. I just think, you know, I think if if the day goes to shit, right, and I come home and the bed's just nice and made, it's just kinda like, you know

Drew Beech:

Bro, something something special about getting him a nice made bed, I will say.

Tony Stephan’s:

Yes. 100%. 100%. But, yeah, man. Same thing with, like, your physique, dude.

Tony Stephan’s:

I I I'm sorry. Stress management is the ceiling to your potential. And I'm a registered dietitian. I'm all about health and different shapes and sizes. I'm all for that, but, you know, I I will tell a lot about a man or woman based on your standards.

Tony Stephan’s:

Right? And the way you carry yourself and the way you present yourself because if that's your standard for your health, the ultimate gift in the world, right? $30,000,000 can't buy 30 more minutes on God's green earth. Right? Health is everything.

Tony Stephan’s:

But if that's your standard, you're gonna go bust your butt in my business? No freaking way. Because that's your standard. That's your standard for life, for quality of life. So your quality of work's gonna be a direct correlation.

Tony Stephan’s:

Yeah. For

Joey Bowen:

sure. For sure. I agree. I agree. Let's hit, let's hit the money round.

Joey Bowen:

Got me. Now I'm curious, Jared. Let's hit the money round. Unless you got something else.

Drew Beech:

I do have I do have, one question for you, Tony. Were there was there ever a point I it sounds like it might be when you maxed out your credit card and flew out to be and and changed your life. But since having success in in business and real estate, like, has there ever been a point where you hit maybe not rock bottom, but where times got hard, and you needed to be resilient and figure out a way out? Or because I I one of my favorite quotes I've only seen from Cody Sanchez is she said it comes from her dad. And he said, if you're not spending a night with your head in your hands figuring wondering, like, how am I gonna fucking figure this out, then you're not really actually being an entrepreneur.

Tony Stephan’s:

Yeah. Yeah.

Drew Beech:

Oh, have you ever had have you ever had a night like that? And if so, like, what what if you wanna tell the story, if you don't wanna tell the story, but

Tony Stephan’s:

100% Yeah. Real real concisely. Yeah. It was 2021 going into 2022. I was trying to sell my business, my my IP of my digital product.

Tony Stephan’s:

I had a multimillion dollar valuation. We, brought on a, god. I can't think of it. Not an AMM, but, like, a a a broker for businesses. Right?

Tony Stephan’s:

When several months, we had a lot of offers, but they were all earn out offers, so I had to stay on board, which I was not willing to do because I wanted just a clean break. And I was, like, hell bent. I was gonna sell this for a multi seven figure payout, ended up not taking anything. My we had 87 units at that time. We had 3rd party management, so, like, a a management company that would manage it.

Tony Stephan’s:

Mhmm. My wife came to me, and my wife's a night person. I'm a morning person, so you got you guys know. If, like, you're a morning person, past 8 o'clock, don't tell me shit. Especially numbers or business because my brain's all she's a night person and she does all our financials and she's like, if we keep going with this management company, we are subsidizing this real estate.

Tony Stephan’s:

We are we are taking our money from it was my business back then, and you're paying these managers and you're paying for these properties. And we had a come to Jesus moment, either we get out and we're done, right, or she steps in because I couldn't because I'm running my business. Right? And she creates a management company. And shout out to her, dude.

Tony Stephan’s:

She freaking did. She's a school teacher by trade. She's not a real estate person, ain't that. She went and she managed our 87 units and they're all over the place. She would lug things out of there for people to pay their rent, like, professionally and within the letter of the law, stalk people until they were evicted and did that.

Tony Stephan’s:

But that moment shot us now to 259 units. So we had that come to Jesus moment where we're either, like, the management company didn't work because they just spend money. They it's your money. They just blow your money. Right?

Tony Stephan’s:

Either get out. Right? Take the resistance. Take the adversity and get out and say, I don't want in this game or go in. Right?

Tony Stephan’s:

It's the old Lee Tyson expression. Everyone has a game plan till you get punched in the face. Right? Right? So that that was huge for us, man, because it it was not a fun year.

Tony Stephan’s:

She was property management's a difficult business,

Joey Bowen:

you know? It's people.

Tony Stephan’s:

It's people. Real estate's easy. People are hard, man.

Joey Bowen:

Not bricks and sticks, man. It's people.

Tony Stephan’s:

That's it. That's it. So, and it was just her. Just her. So driving around, 87 units, collecting rent, dealing, learning learning all these systems.

Tony Stephan’s:

That that was a tough year but we got through it. We have 4 full time managers now, 40,000,000 in assets. Right? Privately owned.

Joey Bowen:

So Beautiful.

Tony Stephan’s:

Yeah. Without her that doesn't happen. So

Joey Bowen:

yeah. Yep. Or it goes back to the point that you said earlier. You know, nobody is, quote, unquote self paid. You can't do it alone.

Joey Bowen:

Solo solopreneurs only last so long. You know what I mean? Yeah. It's it's all about the team.

Drew Beech:

I do find I do find that choosing your your mate too is such a an important part of business and in life because everyone I know that's, a strong man or a strong leader, a strong business person, they have and my wife my wife and I and Joey Joey's wife also, like, we've had those points where we're like, you mentioned earlier where your wife is like, you were I'm maxed out this credit card. I'm flat. I got California. He's gonna teach me how to do this. And she's like, alright.

Drew Beech:

Go ahead. I gotta trust you. I'm like Yeah.

Tony Stephan’s:

Yeah. Yeah.

Drew Beech:

I find the same with with my wife, Amanda. Like, she's just like everything our account. And asked me the other day, she's, like, how does your wife feel about this? I was, like, she just blindly trusts anything I do and just tells me I'm doing great. I'm, like, is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Drew Beech:

Who knows? But you need that person in your corner supporting you. I think I heard Mosey said you need, like, someone on the field with you playing the game, not cheering you off from the sideline.

Tony Stephan’s:

Hard side. Yeah.

Drew Beech:

That's so funny.

Tony Stephan’s:

We had we had

Joey Bowen:

our own moment, Drew, when we when we had to fly out to meet Bee for the first time. You know what I mean? Yeah.

Drew Beech:

Yeah.

Joey Bowen:

We we had our own little moment.

Tony Stephan’s:

Exactly.

Joey Bowen:

Melissa, I said, hey. And then this was that was 21. Right? So, like, travel was still weird.

Tony Stephan’s:

Yeah. You know? So I

Joey Bowen:

was like, hey, I'm gonna get on a plane and fly out to meet a guy that I met on the Internet, And then we're gonna do business together after we after

Tony Stephan’s:

we get a We're we're we're we're we're we're we're we're we're we're we're we're part of our company.

Joey Bowen:

You know? And it's it's that, you know, I I think what it comes down to is that that, faith, you know, that faith. And we have that in in our partners and, you know, they also check us when they have to. And I think that's important too. Like, you know what I mean?

Joey Bowen:

They make it they make you think make you think critically, you know, not always just blind support or blind faith, but they also check you sometimes when you need it.

Tony Stephan’s:

It's Love love won't lie, man. Someone who truly loves you will never lie to your face. I would say that's my wife. I'm like, if you want me to lie to you, dude, that's like this isn't a relationship. Like, don't lie.

Tony Stephan’s:

Yeah. You know? Don't don't lie to that. And a good coach and a good mentor doesn't tell you what you wanna hear. They tell you what you need to hear.

Tony Stephan’s:

It's not always what you are hoping to hear, but then you course correct and you, you know, you drive off of that.

Drew Beech:

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Joey Bowen:

On the on the heels of that too with the coaching and mentorship thing, I feel like nowadays, many people are looking for coaches or mentors to solve their problems. And a great coach and a great mentor doesn't do that. They they steer you in the direction of the solution. They don't give you the solution. You know what I mean?

Joey Bowen:

Sure. They can speak from experience and say, this is how I think it should be done or this is how I did it, But, ultimately, your path is your path. So it's more steering you towards what you already know or what you're capable of than coming in and stealing your problem from you.

Tony Stephan’s:

100%. I always tell my clients, I'm here to be your coach, your mentor, not your savior. A savior is someone who will step in and do it for you. Because I'm, like, even if I did, the minute I stop,

Drew Beech:

you're you're first off.

Tony Stephan’s:

Yeah. Right?

Joey Bowen:

Yep. For sure.

Drew Beech:

Alright. We're gonna get into this,

Tony Stephan’s:

the lightning

Drew Beech:

round. The lightning round. So I have a series of 4 it's typically 3, but I have 4. Okay. First one is, what is your favorite quote?

Tony Stephan’s:

Fortune favors the bold.

Drew Beech:

Mhmm. I could've guessed that one from the the shirts.

Tony Stephan’s:

Shirt. Sounds

Drew Beech:

like shirt.

Joey Bowen:

Gotta say sounds familiar.

Drew Beech:

Can you drop your favorite book reco for the if you want community, please?

Tony Stephan’s:

It's a lot. I would say, the one that was probably the most impactful was you mentioned it earlier, Rich Dad Poor Dad. It's fun. It's not a real estate book. It's an accounting book.

Tony Stephan’s:

People call it a real estate book. It's an accounting book. And 99% of people don't understand what's in there, but it's very fundamental. And if you apply that into whatever level you're at, doesn't have to be a massive, like, real estate empire. But if you apply that, right, assets, liabilities, and then to follow it up, cash flow, Roger, read that second one, man.

Tony Stephan’s:

Mhmm. That's woah. Right? It's huge.

Drew Beech:

I bought the the rat race too, but I was I I I'm not in the real estate game as you are, yet. I will be soon, eventually, one day. Good. But, I was very, hell bent on it when I was younger, and I was having to figure this out. So it's it's still my plan, but, alright.

Drew Beech:

So moving forward, the next question, what if I I imagine that a lot of people listening to this podcast will be in the same boat as I am, just, like, still on the fence about real estate. And everybody want everybody wants to be a Few Will hunt. Right? But everybody says they wanna do real estate and get that quote unquote passive income. Right?

Drew Beech:

Like, real estate's sexy. Like, everyone wants to do it. Do you have any advice for someone that may be on the fence or hasn't wants to do it but hasn't pulled the trigger? And what would you say tell them their first step should be?

Tony Stephan’s:

Yeah. Education creates awareness, and action cures anxiety. Right? So get educated. Go on my YouTube.

Tony Stephan’s:

I mean, we show you the good, bad, and ugly for free. Get the books. Right? Go on the podcast. There there's so much free resources.

Tony Stephan’s:

Just just get education. Right? And then number 2, if you're into it, I I would say start small. Right? Start small.

Tony Stephan’s:

Like, people you said sexy. People see our 100 unit apartment, see my 42 unit, my 56 unit, and and they're cool. That's kinda like a how much do you squat number. You know?

Drew Beech:

Yeah. Yeah.

Tony Stephan’s:

How much do you bench. Right? But, man, without that first single family home and that first duplex, I don't get to those apartments. Right? And I just challenge you guys, and and I'll be brief because like you said, it's money around.

Tony Stephan’s:

I challenge you guys. Probably 90 99% of people listening to this have a 401 k. Mhmm. I challenge you right now. Go tell me what your 401 k is invested in to.

Tony Stephan’s:

Tell me. Tell me the companies. Do you support those companies? Do you believe in those companies? Who's managing your 4 o k?

Tony Stephan’s:

None of not your sales rep. Who's really managing your 401 k? Dude, what's 401 k even stand for? You don't have to use an acronym, they're fucking you somehow. Right?

Tony Stephan’s:

Yeah. I can use real estate so much, I think every person should own at least one piece of real estate and you can use your 401 ks in what's called a solo k, a self directed account and invest yourself at least. I'm just a big proponent of being in control of your financial future. Don't just take your money and hand it to my money guy or my money girl at JP Morgan or Morgan Stanley because guys if they were so good at it, why would they be working there for fees? Right?

Tony Stephan’s:

Wouldn't they just be doing it? So I think the financial system, we're all really taught, like, work hard and just do this 401 k and do this stock market because, you know, that's what we do and so on so don't don't don't you don't have to think about it, just hand it over to the the guy or the gal at JPMorgan Chase. You need to be in control of your financial future. No one will take care of your money and watch your money the way you do and at the very least, it's cool to do a 401 k but do a solo k, self direct it. You can invest into real estate with that without penalty.

Tony Stephan’s:

Be in control of your financial future. In the coming years, 1 in 2 people are gonna be a renter. The cost to build is not going down. We have a we have a national multimillion unit housing shortage. We will be a renter's nation by choice.

Tony Stephan’s:

The average first time home builder is 38 years old, the highest in the history of the United States. Get in real estate. You got it. Worth. Yeah.

Tony Stephan’s:

That's it. Yeah.

Drew Beech:

That was there is so much heat and free game in this in this episode that, like, we're out of the charge for it.

Tony Stephan’s:

You guys. We we love your brand. We love what you guys are doing. Just love that.

Drew Beech:

One one final question. I know you're a football you're a Lions guy. The Eagles I don't believe the Eagles have the Lions on the schedule this this year in the regular season.

Tony Stephan’s:

Playoffs. Yeah.

Drew Beech:

Who wins Lions Eagles? Your honest assessment.

Tony Stephan’s:

Detroit's hot, man. Yeah. Detroit's hot. Dan Knee, Biden, Campbell, dude. And I I'm so enamored by that.

Tony Stephan’s:

This guy, when when he got hired, nobody bought tickets here. Everyone's like, oh, who is this guy? He wasn't the big name. He wasn't but this man, talk about leadership, came in, took a quarterback no one wanted, Jared Goff, took players that no one wanted, not big names, and they built a contender. So talk about for, like like, you know, the old expression, most people underestimate what they can do in 1 year or, 5 years overestimate what they can do in 1 year.

Tony Stephan’s:

Look at that, though. So, of course, Detroit Lions. Right? I'm gonna say that. I'm a big Nick Fools fan.

Tony Stephan’s:

I love the Philly Philly. I love that story. Aren't we all?

Drew Beech:

Aren't we all?

Joey Bowen:

There we are. Leadership, man. And and

Tony Stephan’s:

things can change in an instant with the right leadership. So that that's yeah. But always Lions, dude.

Drew Beech:

I will have to we'll have to check back in in the post season and see.

Tony Stephan’s:

There we go. Let's see. Yeah.

Drew Beech:

That's all I had. That's all I had for the lightning round.

Joey Bowen:

Tony, so much, like Drew was saying, free game, but so much value that you poured in to our community today. And I really, really, really appreciate that, man. You're a great human, and having you on the show today was an absolute honor. I'm glad we started doing virtuals because if we didn't start doing virtuals, we may not have been able to have you. Or Mhmm.

Joey Bowen:

It may have been a year. I don't know. So we, again, been able to do it. So thank you. Thank you very much.

Tony Stephan’s:

Thank you, guys. Thank you to you guys. Thank you to the what you built. Something special in this this community. Like, what what clothing product what clothing line is doing this?

Tony Stephan’s:

I read the emails. I like the emails. Right? Like, what what clothing brand is doing this? So shout out to you guys.

Tony Stephan’s:

You're doing something unique. You guys are doing something special. We we are we are we are customers first. Right? Yeah.

Tony Stephan’s:

So we love it. Shout out to

Drew Beech:

you guys. Thank you, brother.

Joey Bowen:

Thank you, brother. Appreciate it.

Drew Beech:

But I'll Joe is probably gonna do this, but where's where can people go to find you, Tony, before we I wanna sign off before, you drop that.

Tony Stephan’s:

Yeah. Just 20 something everywhere. 20 something on YouTube's YouTube's my big one. Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, TikTok, whatever. Yeah.

Tony Stephan’s:

If there's ever anything I can do for anyone listening, just shoot me a DM on Instagram. Go follow on YouTube. Shoot me an email. Here to help. Cool.

Joey Bowen:

I'll leave the few with a reminder. Always choose hard work over handouts. Always choose effort over entitlement. Remember, no one owns you. No one owes you.

Joey Bowen:

You're one of the few that lets hunt.