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Welcome to The Legacy Investor Podcast, where we talk money, investing, business, and what it means to leave a legacy for generations to come. Hosted by Cameron Philgreen, this show dives deep into the intersection of entrepreneurship, investing, and legacy-building, all while keeping God at the center. Whether you're a seasoned investor or just starting out, you'll discover how to align your financial journey with your faith, grow wealth with integrity, and create a lasting impact for generations to come. Join in, as we explore practical strategies, real-world stories, and timeless biblical principles to help you honor God in every step of your journey.
Hey guys, welcome back. This show is going to be a little bit different today. I'm here with Danielle Roseboom in the studio in Waco, Texas, and she has been my personal assistant for about a year and a half. And we got together because she had applied to the coffee shop, but then I was drawn to her entrepreneurial spirit and her drivenness and her interest in real estate. She ended up actually working later at the coffee shop as a leader at the coffee shop and awesome skill wise. Anyways, we've just talked and like got to know each other over the past year and a half. I've alluded to, hey, you know, I didn't start with very much and I think this is her idea. Let's just sit down and like hear your whole story. And she's like, I want to hear your story and all because I haven't like shared end to end, I guess. And I'm sure other people would like to hear it, too. So That's today's show. How are we doing today? We're doing great, Cam. Just want to say thanks so much for everything that you've done in my life. And I will say that you have been the best boss that I have ever had. And everything that I have learned from you, it really is that like you've invested in me and my legacy not to be corny. um but i'm just so thankful for you and so yeah i have been asking him from time to time about um his story and he drops like little bombs in certain areas over the year and a half and i was like you know what let's just sit down and let's actually hear about it so let's start at the very beginning tell me a little bit about your childhood Alright, so yes, I grew up in an awesome home and I don't want to make it sound like rags to riches or anything, like I grew up in a great house. I don't remember really worrying about money a whole lot. I do remember my parents saying, you know, we can't afford that on occasion. But nothing crazy and I remember my parents were even flipping houses a little bit like before I was born. And my dad in general is a great, great, has an entrepreneurial spirit, entrepreneurial mindset. I mean, he can do anything. There's like literally nothing my dad can't do. He taught me to do construction. We like finished our basement together. He tried to teach me about cars. I never picked that up. I suck at cars. So that's kind of what got me a little bit of the bug of creating value through real estate and through construction. And it didn't really serve me until later on when we got our first deal and decided to fix it all up ourselves. Some of that knowledge of like, hey, here's how to do wiring and plumbing and HVAC and sheetrock and blah, blah, blah. Some of that came into play. But So my childhood was very healthy, awesome, Christian home, and then I'm the oldest of four siblings, and pretty awesome. And I think I'd give a lot of credit to my dad for... I mean, my faith and business and just, you know, he put Rich Dad Poor Dad in my hand at like 16. I didn't understand it at all when I read it at 16. But it definitely just some of these little nuggets that my parents would give me growing up really, really helped. And again, my dad works for a nonprofit. We didn't grow up with like I'd say I would say like middle middle class income. So I'll just leave it at that. Okay. Yeah. So cool. So your dad definitely was there to like equip you, but it's you who continued that knowledge and actually implemented it. So would you say that you always imagine yourself where you're at now, that this was your goal that you wanted to do career wise since then? No, not at all. Good question. I mean, I still don't even know. I don't know where I'm going to be or what I'm going to be doing in like a year. I mean, literally like so much in entrepreneurship and in especially real estate investing. mindset your mindset just can shift even through this podcast interviewing these amazing people like Justin I mean after interviewing him last Freistadt last week like something in my mindset shifted I'm like I'm thinking too small anyway that's a side side note like just I have no idea what I what I even am doing or what I'm going to be doing in a year or three years I have an idea My wife and I do this thing called Vivid Vision where we try to imagine what do we want our lives to look like in three years? So no, I definitely did not see myself doing this. Now, I've always had sort of a... this Enneagram for sort of, I'm different. Like all throughout high school, I dressed different than everybody. It kind of stuck out in a way. And, and I've always had like, um, a desire to like take high risk. And so, um, And so putting myself through college, doing wedding photography, which doesn't sound like high risk, but at the time it did feel that way to me, like I'm starting my own business and I'm doing I have a website and blah, blah, blah. And that's how I put myself through college. And but I mentioned that because first of all, I loved love wedding photography. I'm still doing it on occasion, although less so. but what that did was give me this like desire to work for myself um and to be my own boss and to like not be you know it's not that i don't want to be under anybody so to speak it's just like i love the freedom you're a leader and you want to pioneer your own life yeah yeah yeah and i just love the freedom that came from that and so when i heard about real estate investing around like 2018 2019 The bigger pockets, like I totally drank the Kool-Aid of like, you know, replace your W2 job with cash flow from rental properties. That was like the dream. Much harder these days with prices going up and rents not following them up quite as steeply. But but still I'm still on the train still like seeking financial freedom through real estate investing. So that's and I know I did not foresee this for my life at all. So would you say that in 2018 was like the real start of your real estate business? Yeah, like my wife and I actually, and I know there's many of you listening that might be like scared to buy your first house. My wife and I were like scared to buy a house because, and like a lot of people, we don't want to be like beholden to a certain area. We were not even in the same state anymore. That's true. We were in Lawrence, Kansas. Yes, thank you for the reminder. We were in Lawrence, Kansas. I had graduated from KU. We did the Antioch Discipleship School. Throughout those years, I got my life totally changed by God, just like found out God was real, saw people healed and saved and delivered, and it was an amazing time and after so yeah 2018 read that book Rich Dad Poor Dad and what was I saying I can't remember I was on a train of thought 2018 yeah so we were afraid to buy a house that's what I was saying we were afraid to buy a house because we didn't want to be beholden to any certain area and didn't want to like lay down roots because a lot of people in their 20s they want to be able to like move on a whim, right? And so we went on this trip to Florida and my aunt Hope, shout out to Hope and Ryan Russell. We were sitting outside just like in the hot tub one night and they were like, why aren't you guys buying a house? And we ended up talking about this for like an hour. And they're like, listen, you don't have to stay where you buy a house. Like you can move and rent it out. you can if you buy it at a like a good enough you know a good deal you might have enough equity that you could sell like six months or a year or two years later and it just kind of and also we had some money in the bank but they were like you know you can buy a house for like probably five or ten thousand dollars first time home buyer three and a half or five percent down this is back when i know our first house was 125 we bought it So, it just kind of like opened up our horizon, I guess, and just, it became, we like spent that whole trip and then on the way back talking about should we buy a house and we started looking. And then, long story short, we ended up feeling good about this house and Dani actually had a dream about the house, like she saw the house and then the number 125 over it. and it was listed for like 135 or 140 we ended up under contract at 125. so that felt like the lord's affirmation of this and a few things have happened that way it's really been cool um but that house i want to share that we were able to add some value and like we fixed it up a little bit. We took down some walls and painted and my wife is very, very good interior designer and stuff. But we ended up living there for two years, then moving to Waco and we rented it out for three years. And when we sold the house, we pocketed something like 110 and we put all of that money five years later Keep that in mind. That's a long time. We had no idea what we were going to be doing or where we were going to be. But that enabled us to buy this commercial property where the shop is now. Wow. Where For Keeps is. And speaking of weird God things, we ended up buying For Keeps, that property, for the same as the... It was $435, and that was $435 Michigan. So totally random, like... We just felt, again, the Lord's affirmation. You can call that overly spiritual if you want, but we, that's like how we live our lives. So anyway, all that's to say, if you're like on the fence about buying a house, let that be a testimony. Like you have no idea what you're going to be doing or what you might need money for two, three, four, five years down the line. But investing in real estate, even your own primary residence might be a big factor in that. So that was, sorry, that was a long time talking about our first house that we bought. This is what people want to know for sure. So looking back at that time, what is something that you wish you would have known when you were first starting out? I said this on a reel the other day, you know, I wish I didn't realize, especially starting out, like how much of real estate investing involves construction. You know, there's a lot of people that that do it out there that don't have never picked up a hammer in their lives. And that's awesome. that's just not been my experience and I'm trying to get to the place where, okay, I'm just, you know, a high level investor. I think you just have to like have a lot more money to be in that position, but we like didn't have money. We could barely get into this house with $8,000 down our first, first house. Um, so what do you do? You like pick up the hammer and like fix it up yourself and make it better and increase value. So that's a big one. Um, You know, I think the dream of living off of the cash flow has happened, but it's not as fast or as... rainbows and butterflies as i thought it would be i guess and that's how you get sold into courses and mentorships and those are all awesome but like you have to if you're gonna there's a lot of patience in it yeah there's a lot of patient gratification for sure exactly it is a slow burn worth it and then once you I heard my friend Ian said the other day, he's like, once you make it, you make it like it just takes, it just takes a while. Um, and there's like much faster things out there, but real estate is tried and true and tax benefits and lots of reasons to do it. Yeah. Would you say that you had a turning point in your career or has it just been a slow upscale? I think, I don't know. I think there's, in some ways I feel like, yeah, we made it. And then in other ways I feel so small and like, so like, wow, I'm just starting out. So, you know, I love hanging out with people that are, are just getting the, the real estate bug because they're, there's like this fire, the zeal to, to do it. But then you like get to kind of where I am at 25 properties, like, Kind of got it down. I'm starting to feel good about myself And then I start hanging out with people at the next level and then you feel like small again, and that's okay. That's good That's what's fun about business and fun about real estate and fun about entrepreneurship. There's like always Ways you can grow there's always the next level so the turning point is I don't know. I think we were financially free, so to speak. Don't really have to work anymore, like two or three years ago. But I'm still very much working and very much in the business and don't plan to stop anytime soon. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. I think there's definitely a balance and And mentoring to people who are brand new, big eyes, kind of like how you've done it for me. But then also putting yourself as a what you thought was a big fish in a small pond as a tiny little fish in a huge pond and continuing to be around people who are where you want to be. Um, so I'm glad that you mentioned, uh, the vivid visionary or the, yeah, the vivid vision by Cameron Harold. Yeah. Um, because you recommended it to me and that is an amazing book. So you guys need to read that book for sure. Um, it's definitely so helpful. So, um, what would you say, um, were some of your biggest challenges that you had to overcome and in the same light, um, how did you handle any of those, um, risk-taking opportunities that you had? Challenges. You know, the first house we really fixed up in 2020 was on Fifth Street here in Waco and like very challenging. We got in over our heads. We bought it a little too high. I'll give you the numbers. We bought it for 95 and then it needed everything. Bought it for 95 ARV was like 200 or something, maybe not even. And we thought it needed, you know, 30, 40 grand to work. But it turned out to be like closer to 80. And and that's with us doing all of the work ourselves and not paying ourselves. So like this is a full gut, by today's standards, I'd say is $150,000 job easily. So, and my wife and her, my wife and I are in there every day, like swinging hammers and my wife's amazing. She just became a construction worker for three months. But that was really challenging because obviously we're learning a ton and there's this dissonance, you're using a ton of calories in your brain just trying to learn everything and then put it to use. And then my wife is like, you know, I mean, we just had a terrible time. I remember being under the house crying because I was doing this plumbing and we had failed inspection and everything just feels like it's falling apart. So that was challenging, but I learned a lot from it on the construction side but also i learned like i don't want to do this i don't want to be the person under the house yeah i don't want to be a self like a flipper or like doing construction work so then what does the challenge become it becomes okay how can i like find deals at a steep enough discount that i can put other people doing the work and just take a just be a deal finder yeah and be the general sort of contractor and be the the operator of these deals and so that's that was just a really pivotal experience because i learned like okay yeah not gonna not gonna do this i just need to be the high level person I don't think it's a bad thing if you are a flipper listening to this or if you are handy and you want to do that. I don't think that's wrong. It's just you'll never be able to scale past yourself. You'll never be able to do more than two deals at a time. And I want to be able to scale pretty big, so I got to delegate. Yeah, that's really cool. What would you say was the biggest motivator to push you through that time? Oh, gosh. I mean, for that specific example, it was like, let's just get this thing done. I had tenants lined up. We had shown these girls the house, and we're like, yeah, it's going to be ready by July 1st. And then, you know, things went longer. And then it was like July 15th. I was like, you know what? Let's just call it good. This is good. We got floor down. We got some trim. We need to touch up paint and caulk, but let's just call it good. So that was the motivator. I'm trying to think of other challenges better than that one. You know, a couple... A couple of times tenants haven't paid. I don't know. The other, the like little challenges just become like part of God teaching you to overcome challenges. You know, I was just with Chris Delanier this morning who was on this podcast. He's our first guest. And he's like, yeah, you know, I just have learned to like let the lawsuits and the evictions and the business problems just like become, you know, God teaching me to be stronger and like to endure. Yeah. And just letting it roll off your back. Yeah, and somebody out there needs to hear that because we're all like, I don't know, we all fall into this, many of us, fall into this victim mindset of like, man, life's just out to get me. Nothing's going right. But if you just look at it as like, Hey, these are challenges to overcome, and this is how you get stronger. It's just a really good perspective shift. Yeah, yeah. I really like that. As someone myself who definitely falls into, oh, shoot, I messed up. I need to be perfect all the time. I'm not even an Enneagram 2 or a 1 with perfection. I'm a 4. But I lean into that. So I... Think that you need to give yourself grace and forgiveness especially in real estate because you don't know everything and you Like you're not going to be able to know everything until you go through it. Yeah, and that's something that was big in um entrepreneurship classes that i took at baylor is talking about failing and failing fast yes and doing lean startups but not even the startup just fail fail fail and you'll learn through that and so um i want to commend you for being able to push through because i think that's one of the best advice that you um your your story can give to everyone listening um Is that you have to push through and you have to be okay with those hard moments because it's so well worth it later on Yeah, that's really well said. Yeah um so Uh, you actually answered some of my questions. So we're gonna skip down a little bit. Um, uh, what advice would you give to someone that is new intermediate and then around where you are at, feeling like you need to elevate. So intermediate. No, no, no. You know, this is like the answer everybody gives, I feel like, but it's just to take action. So, you know, you can read all the books, you can listen to this podcast, you can listen to a million podcasts, but like until you get out there and like knock on some doors, And call some people and get into a deal and, like, learn. It's just a much better learning experience. It's the best education is, like, just take action. And some people would say take massive action. You know, don't just... Don't just pick up the phone, like go raise, you know, raise $500,000 or do whatever it takes to go the extra mile like that. Take massive action, get off your butt, take out your headphones, put the book down and just start doing what you've been learning. Yeah, that's really awesome. I think at every level, like beginner, intermediate, expert, that's still the game. Just keep pushing, keep moving. I have to constantly remind myself to take out the headphones. Let's go play. let's go make some calls, let's take action. I'm still like learning to make that a habit and it's good. And those of you who are around my age, get off TikTok, get off social media. Do you really want to waste your time? How old are you? I'm 25. Don't waste your time watching someone else live the life that you want to live and actually start moving yourself. So I'm trying to say that to myself too. Me too. Constant battle. But so Cameron, how would you define success? Yeah, I mean, everyone, I think success gets this, everyone kind of has this image in their mind of success of just, I think it usually has to do with finances. Like being rich, you picture someone successful, they're like swimming in money. I don't think that's success. And I think everybody wants to be successful, whether they say it or not. You want to be a successful father. mother you want to be a successful student you want to be a successful even like uh you know, a believer, you want to be a successful follower of Jesus. Um, these are all forms of success that I think we like forget about. You want to be a successful athlete. You want to be fit. Like who doesn't, who doesn't want that? And so I think it, success has become way too much about money and it's more, it's actually not about money at all. It's about relationship with God, relationship with family, relationship with your kids. Um, way more than it is about money. And so if I can be successful in those areas, then like money is like number five to be successful, I think. There's a lot of really, really successful people out there that don't look successful to the world. They don't have the nice cars or the nice house or whatever, the bank account, but they're more successful than the folks that do have the big bank accounts. i think that's huge um that's that's like how it defines success you know it's just it's not always about money that's like a a small part of it yeah um so this is obviously a different way of doing this podcast so is there something that uh you haven't been able to express to uh your listeners um that i want to give you the opportunity uh to say now Um, gosh, very open ended. I like it. I would say, I would say, you know, This podcast is largely about business and largely about money and largely about entrepreneurship and gaining in your financial life. And I've tried to insert God into the conversation as much as possible, but I just wanna say to whoever's listening that Jesus loves you and he died for you and he wants relationship with you. And that is like the most important thing about my life. And Jesus changed my life. And it's around 2013, I was... you know, in college and, and just exploring the world and, um, drinking and smoking weed and all the stuff that like I had been warned about by my amazing parents. And I went to college and I was like, let's just try this thing out. Um, and then it was around that same freshman year. I was kind of like interested and I wanted to get in a, like, Christian, you know, Jesus following community, I also like wanted to party. And it was somewhere around my sophomore year of college, I was like involved with these friends and I just remember being in this worship setting and God just like touching me and just like realigning my heart and with his kindness, it's his kindness that leads us to repentance. And it wasn't through force or like angry father. It was just the kindness of the Holy Spirit that, I almost want to cry right now, that just like led me to stop partying, to stop doing all this stuff. And like, that was not a salvation moment. That was a... I think we're constantly being drawn back to Him and realigned with Him through repentance. It's just turning back toward Him. I mean, it happens to me all the time still. It's not like a one-time thing. It's a constant repentance and coming back to Him. So that was what was happening in my heart. And so I guess I just want to say that. And also, if you can just put yourself... in a position or in community or in an environment where you can just allow God to speak, even right now, just take a moment. And I just want to invite God to speak to your heart in His kindness what you might need to stop doing or do differently or start doing. So I just want to take that moment. And if you heard God say something, hey, email me, call me, text me, 913-832-9919. That's my number. And I think that is what I want to be more of the message of this podcast and the message of my life is Jesus is real, and He loves you, and He cares for you. and wants to speak to your heart and realign you with his goodness and through repentance and um that's the most important thing and like his way is the best way yeah that's what i'd say it's like it's not these guests that we've had on here these 50 or so guests that we've had on this podcast or all the books you've read or all the poc like we're all trying to find the best way but like god knows it and he his way is the best way Yeah. Cameron, thank you so much for sharing that. I feel really touched right now. It reminds me of how God doesn't come every time in the mountains and the thunderstorms, but he can come in a silent, quiet, quiet whisper. So I think that advice that you didn't even know that you gave, but taking a moment to every day and sitting in silence and listening to what he wants from you that day and realigning um your mindset that you know you can have a bad morning um and you can change it right then just take a moment and give it to god yes continue on yes so um one last question for you cam uh what does building a legacy mean to you yeah um i think similar to the success thing like building a legacy you know i think has everything to do with like what are people going to say about you after you die um and like i've never been to a funeral where they talk about how much money someone had or how many buildings or you know, the, all the like financial stuff, a lot of materialistic stuff. Yes. That we, that we tend to focus on and tend to set our minds on. Um, they talk about, yes, what someone built and the organization they built. Sure. But, um, you know, what people talk about is like how you loved your family, how you, the, the father or mother you were, the father, Your character. Your character. That's right. Integrity. And so, you know, that's what I'd say is leaving a legacy. And, you know, I think doing it in a big way is awesome. But if you're listening to this and you're like, hey, I'm just doing my thing. I'm an employee. But you're loving your family well and, like, following Jesus and obeying him. Like, that's a big legacy right there. Guys, thank you so much for tuning into this episode of The Legacy Investor. Hey, if you want to help us grow and support us, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. That really helps a lot. Please subscribe to my YouTube channel, Cameron Filgreen. It's still new and growing, but I am going to start posting on there more regularly. Follow me on Instagram at Cameron underscore Filgreen. If you know someone who should be on this podcast, Go fill out the form on my website. It's CameronPhilGreen.com slash podcast. Fill out the form there. I'd love to have more guests on this podcast. It's been a blast. And music is by Eric Lopez Villaverde. Reach out to him for all your music needs. On Instagram, he's Eric Lopez Villaverde. Hope you guys have a great day and thank you for tuning in. Bye-bye.