Anyone that knows me, knows that family is huge to me.
My kids, my wife, they drive me to be the best version of myself every single day. When I had my first child, my son Hudson, it only drove me to work harder. I was even more adamant about accomplishing my goals and providing for my family in every way that I could.
Those three people mean the world to me, but long before they were in my life I had someone else pushing me to be the best version of myself. My dad.
He has always been my hero and someone I’ve looked up to. I still remember watching him get ready for work. I would put on his shoes and carry his briefcase, pretending I was joining him in the office that day.
My dad has always meant the world to me and has always been my go to person for advice.
In high school, I struggled with what I wanted to do after graduation. College did not seem appealing to me.
Well, my dad convinced me to give it a try. See if it was for me and maybe I was just overthinking it. So, I gave it a try, and I hated it. Not even a week into community college I was ready to call it quits, I was convinced that wasn’t the path for me.
I went to my dad for advice again, and being the supportive father he is, he recommended an alternative, the Navy. He thought it would be a another great option so I trusted him and went for it.
No surprise, I wasn’t a fan. Boot Camp was certainly not my thing, but I sucked it up and tried to look at the positives. I was getting to travel the world, see new places, meet new people, and honestly I came home with lots of memories. At the time, I wasn’t grateful for the experience, but looking back on it now, it was one of the best decisions of my life.
After some time in the Navy I came home, and back to square one. I wasn’t going back to the Navy and still didn’t know what my next move would be, so I went to back to — you guessed it, my dad.
He wanted me to give college another go. I still wasn’t thrilled with the idea but rather reluctantly, I went back. My dad was right about the Navy in the long run, so couldn’t hurt to give college one more try. So I asked him what I should major in.
For not the first time, and definitely not the last time, I took some advice from my dad. He told me I should study Finance with an emphasis in Accounting, the language of business.
At first, I was hesitant, me a finance major? I literally was the kid who got C’s and D’s throughout my years in school and I cheated on most of my math test. So me? Studying finance for four years? I could hardly see it.
I trusted my dad, he had faith in me. He believed that I could do this, and having this degree could really help me out in the grand scheme of things. I went to Arizona State University, and studied finance.
Somewhere within my first few years of college I met up with a friend for lunch, his name was Jeremy. We had been friends for years and he had always been a bit on the wild side, he was the kid that used to pass out behind a dumpster after a long night of drinking.
When he pulled up in a brand new Mercedes I was surprised to say the least. How did he do it? Last time I had talked to him he was struggling to pay his bills. Of course, I asked him. Do you know what he told me?
He had invested in real estate. Jeremy flipped a house for $80K without money or credit. At the time, I was broke as could be so I went home and I researched for hours. I didn’t want to be stuck working for someone else, or struggling to pay bills. I wanted to be a real estate investor.
For once in my life, I was excited about my future career. I figured out my dream and knew real estate investing was the only way to go for me so I went to the person who I just had to tell first. My dad.
He was my hero so I immediately ran the idea by him and did not get the response I wanted. He quickly shot it down, he told me to “finish school, get a good corporate job, & work my way up the corporate ladder.” He told me real estate investing wasn’t for me.
I left that conversation feeling completely defeated. The person who I needed to back me, my #1 advice giver, my role model told me not to follow my dreams. I was devastated to say the least.
In this case, history did not repeat itself. I didn’t take his advice. I mean obviously I didn’t or else I wouldn’t be the Clever Investor. Anyways long story short, I went on to invest in real estate and found tons of success.
Eventually my dad had a change of heart, and he got behind me 100%, and now he’s my biggest supporter. Plus, now I’m his boss.
Moral of the story: Get advice from your mentors, follow the people you look up to BUT remember, at the end of the day, you have to live YOUR life and chase YOUR dreams.
You ultimately know what’s best for you so always check in with your number 1, yourself, and never forget that.
Take care comb your hair,
Cody Sperber out.
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