Kevin Davis on Building Wealth With Stocks, AI, & Multiple Income Streams

Kevin Davis (00:00)
So in my world, I’m always telling people, why do you have the thought process of one income? And who gave you that thought process? Because…

If you’re an entrepreneur, you have to understand history. So if you go back 100 years and you say, okay, cottage industries were when if you had a car, you well, you’d have a car maybe that that period. But let’s say you had a car. You want to change your oil. I’d go to you, Quentin You change my oil. That’s a cottage industry. It services the people in the area. When Ford came out and said, okay, let’s revolutionize and let’s build the assembly line.

Quentin (02:04)
Hello everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I am your host Q Edmonds and I’m excited to be here today. Have another fantastic guest and I’m going to let him tell you what it is that he does. But I think I don’t get that many chances to talk somebody, to talk to somebody of his caliber and from his industry, what it is that he does. And so I’m excited for you to learn about it. It’s going to be very, very helpful. You know what I love? I love people who come and plant seeds.

because when those seeds are planted, they take root and you never know when it’s going to spring up, what ideas is going to come from it, if it can course correct you. And so, you know, this is what I love to do to talk to different people in different spaces. And so I’m so excited and listen, gentlemen have been doing this for 30 years. So like I said, proficient in what he does. And so listen, sit on the edge of your seats, get your pens out. And I’m so excited to introduce you all to Mr. Kevin Davis. Mr. Kevin, how you doing today, sir?

Kevin Davis (03:01)
doing excellent. Thank you.

Quentin (03:04)
Absolutely, absolutely, man. Listen, I’m so glad you’re here, sir. And I’m the type, I like to dive right in. So I would love for you to tell the people what’s your main focus these days. You can give us a little bit of an origin story, kind of how you got, you know, in the space that you’re in. We love origin stories. And then people love to know where people are geographically. So if you can tell them a part of the world, know, people love to know that too. So what you’re doing, origin story and where you are. Mr. Kevin, sir, you have the floor.

Kevin Davis (03:30)
Okay, so first of all, thank you again for having me on the pod. So I’m Kevin Davis. I’m the founder of askidojo.ai. It’s an agentic stock website that helps kind of close the gap between the retail investor and Wall Street. How did I get there? ⁓ This is a funny story, then I’ll give you a backstory to this. So number one, I’m driving my bike. This is about a year ago. And I’m thinking, how can I put me inside of a computer program?

because I’m a coach, I’ve been coaching for the last six years, been a stockbroker for 31 years, and just trying to make things simpler, not having to do the one-on-one anymore, not having to do the actual FaceTime when it comes down to groups. And I wanted to give them something that was an extension of my family to their family. So this way they didn’t really need me. If they did want me here, it’s because they really just wanted me to be the filter between their money and their emotion, that type of thing.

So my biggest thing is I can’t recommend anything. I’m not licensed anymore as a broker, right? But I can tell you what I’m doing for my family and we’ve done extremely well. I have a seven year old. He’s got almost about, I would say about 370 grand in his account right now. And it started five years ago. So, and my daughter, she’s, she’s two years old, but about 26. So we were trying to come up on her, but the whole key is that, remember that, uh, commercial where it said, I’m not only the, uh, member of the hair club president, that type of thing.

Quentin (04:41)
Mm.

Yes, sir. Yeah. Yeah. Yes,

Kevin Davis (04:56)
Right. I do

what I say. I say what I do, that type of thing. So I wanted to get into this whole mindset and I read a book called The Science of Scaling. I think everyone should read this book. It’s by Dr. Benjamin Hardy. There’s a co-author, but you’ll be able to find it with Dr. Benjamin Hardy.

And so that thought process says the same amount of energy it takes to make $100 million or $10 million, you do the same thing to make 100 million, right? And it’s really about 10Xing yourself, but really 10Xing your thought process.

So in my world, I’m always telling people, why do you have the thought process of one income? And who gave you that thought process? Because…

If you’re an entrepreneur, you have to understand history. So if you go back 100 years and you say, okay, cottage industries were when if you had a car, you well, you’d have a car maybe that that period. But let’s say you had a car. You want to change your oil. I’d go to you, Quentin You change my oil. That’s a cottage industry. It services the people in the area. When Ford came out and said, okay, let’s revolutionize and let’s build the assembly line.

And then it became about commerce and industrial revolutions made it so you can get more volume.

made that cheap and the prices that cut the small guy out, they got jobs, they came institutionalized and that whole process of a nine to five, right? The problem is there was thinking benefits, but if you go to the nuclear family back then, you can afford what? A house, you can afford a car, you can afford a vacation, you can afford to send your kids to college on one income. And only a third of the women were working at that time. Today, you can’t afford half of anything on one income.

Quentin (07:25)
Hmm, yeah.

Kevin Davis (07:25)
Right. So the

mindset is to shift seven and seven streams of income. They say the average millionaire has. Right. So you’re always working on those streams. So my thought process is in my dad said this, you always got to the gray matter moving. So I build one thing. I got to build something else. Right. Because I’m not going to die in my seat. I got to get in the elevator. Right. So that’s been the whole process to get to ask I dojo. But here’s the funny thing that here’s the twist.

Quentin (07:40)
Mm-hmm.

Kevin Davis (07:56)
I was a rapper assigned to Warner Brothers Records in 1989. I got a 91.2 on my Series 7. I say that to say, they said, you know, rappers were dumb at the time. So I would hear that all the time. When I became a stockbroker, that was interesting because I wandered about the firm, the Wolf of the Wall Street was made after. Right? Stayed there for a couple of years and left, but I didn’t know any better, but I got licensed there.

Quentin (08:18)
Yeah.

Kevin Davis (08:24)
I learned a tremendous amount about the stock market, but I also was an order taker because I would do what they said, right? ⁓ Once I got out, went to research firms, then I learned how to pick stocks and elevate. It took me years to develop what I’ve been able to develop, which leads to where we are now with Ask Guy Dojo. And we’re very successful in the market as well.

Quentin (08:48)
Love it, man. Thank you, sir. Thank you for telling it is what you do. Welcome us to the journey. I greatly appreciate it. I actively listen. Normally, I’ll be writing things down. But man, I was just kind of captivated with some of the different things you was talking about. And I normally write things down because I want to be dramatic when I ask this question, right? If I’m just being honest. That’s one reason why I write things down. But like I said with you, was actively listening. I got to ride your bike thinking.

I got stuck when you said your seven year old had over 300K and your 26 year old had over 20K and I kinda got stuck. Say it again. ⁓ is it two? Gotcha. Okay. And so I’m sitting there and I’m like just listening, taking in, I did write down the science of scaling, which I’m definitely gonna go check out. So I always make this statement, Mr. Kevin, because I love to hear the guest reflective answer on this. So I make this statement.

Kevin Davis (09:26)
My two euro had 26,000 years.

Yeah

Quentin (09:46)
Destiny has no wasted moments, right? Meaning no matter what we go through in life, momentum is building and we’re borrowing from different parts of our life, different parts of the journey is reinforcing our mindset. I got stuck. You wrote, I do what I think. And again, I got stuck. I was trying to finish this. I was just trying to write stuff as you started, but it seems like you’re right reflective, your active mind, growth mindset. Dad said, keep the great matter moving, right? So throughout the moments,

of your life, the destiny, the journey. What has the moment taught you about yourself? What has the destiny, the journey taught you about yourself? Has it taught you resilience? Has it taught you innovation? Like what are some key points that you know throughout the journey just has built you to the person that you are today?

Kevin Davis (10:33)
⁓ One of the I just don’t give up and I don’t arrive in anyone’s clock like on their clock always driving I’m supposed to

Right. So that’s really what it’s about. just, there’s no, nothing in my life I’ve ever done. I didn’t accomplish and went at it because there’s 360 ways to look at a problem. If you only solved it with one degree, then you have 350 non left. Right. So think about it. If a person comes and say, well, I have a degree. Good. There’s 360 degrees out there. How many do you have and how many applications do you have? Right. And then what’s your experience? Right. And then what have you accomplished? I’ll give you an example. I, um, my, my

firm was in beltfield in Maryland right and I had the insurance company that’s I said I lived alone so um and I remember doing a interview for insurance agents because I own insurance company and the guy came out and said why would I be an insurance agent I have an MBA I paused as I was making copies at the copy machine and I turned to the right and I said to him then let me ask you a question why are you interviewing for an insurance company you have an MBA

Quentin (11:15)
Fight him on the corner from me,

Kevin Davis (11:40)
Right. I guess you need a job, don’t you? So the reality is that I’ve learned to be humble along my journey, right? Because I used to be wildly famous back in the days and it didn’t serve me at all, right? Now it’s about empowerment.

For my family, everything I do is for my children and my wife, obviously. You know, there’s nothing that goes in here or energy out that doesn’t involve the thought process of what and how does it impact my family? So when people deal with me, they see the impact. When you get on my program, my platform, you see the impact because the wow moment is, wow, someone took the time to do this for me. And then.

That’s the deal. And so when you understand that you can’t really get that thought process until we kind of get into the side a little bit. I’ll explain it from there. But it’s really about knowing that you got to go through something to get to something. And so you can’t kind of waddle in the mud about what happened to you with the victim mindset. It’s more or less you woke up this morning, God pierced your eyelids. Let’s get at it.

Quentin (13:20)
Yeah, yeah. No, I love that. I love you talked about not wallowing in a victim mindset, know, more about the victor mindset and then the victim mindset. But the thing is we all face adversity, but some of us we tackle adversity is different, right? know, adversity finds all of us, but the way we attack it back, it’s totally different. It’s as you’re depending on a person. So I would love to know from you, how has adversity looked in your world?

And how did you attack adversity? Because of course, you’re not the type, it don’t seem like you wanna shrink back. Because most people either they shrink back or they swell up too much. So how did you handle adversity when it come up in your world?

Kevin Davis (14:01)
Well, I’ll explain it this way. Didn’t finish college, was a student teacher in college, but mom decided that because she was put out at 17, guess where you gotta go? Get out. And the reason why is because I bought a car, a new car, right, that I worked hard for, but you know, jealousy. As a parent, I never expected that to happen. Dealt with that.

Quentin (14:20)
Mmm.

Kevin Davis (14:24)
then became two years later a pretty much really like I had a classic record on Warner Brothers to sign the first rapper signed to Warner Brothers records the first of his kind to do Soul Train and so you know wildly famous then had to come back with the adversity of not knowing who I was talking to. You understand that one.

So then after that happened, then I had you go from feast to famine, and then you are now assessing your surroundings again with people. And then you have to transition your life from one life to a life where you’re unfamiliar with. And then everyone who’s familiar with the life you was was put you back in that box. You gotta be careful with that. So then I became this stockbroker, went away for two years. just when I say went away, I just studied, studied, studied, stayed out of the paint.

And ⁓ people were surprised, right? So I really don’t do things for people ever, like never. ⁓ So that was a scenario. And then wound up going to Wall Street and ending up at the firm that everyone was saying was ripping everybody off. And that was amazing because I didn’t get there on my own. But I also got to be responsible for staying. Right. So had to go through that whole process. And then that firm went out of business and

It’s a funny thing. I never forget the day it happened. A week before that, had a premonition. I walked through, I had a triplex ⁓ rental in what they call Port Washington, Long Island, right? And I walked through, put the keys in the door and out of nowhere, it said, I’m not gonna be here that long. I’m nowhere. And then next week, the firm went out of business.

Right. So then I had to figure out what that was because see, spent most of your life being one identity. Then you transform to another identity. Right. And then that identity kind of breaks apart and you got to figure out is this a temporary adjustment or you got to make an adjustment that allows you to go long term. So from there, you asked about diversity. So I’m going to give it to you from there. I wound up going and starting my own mortgage company. I moved from I went to let’s go back.

Quentin (16:32)
Yes, sir.

Kevin Davis (16:40)
you had the dot com era happen, right? Y2K first, then dot com. Y2K was nothing compared to the dot com, right? So what happened after that was…

Accounts were going down stocks are going crazy. You’re going up like crazy, right? And then March 19th I’ll never forget it who’s gonna be the next Cisco Dell Microsoft and then Booth the market hit Qualcomm with went up to $700 a share split four for one and then went to 30 bucks Companies clients accounts were going to zero right? It was in a it was the most crazy thing we’ve ever seen right? So that put me into a mode of depression for probably a good few months

So I had to figure out again what life was. This is not something that you wake up and decide is your choice, right? You don’t know what the market’s gonna do to you, right? So I came out of that because that’s just not my mind frame in general. And then I said, you know what? I’m gonna move to Florida and I’m gonna start a mortgage company. Didn’t know how I was going to do it, right?

Quentin (18:26)
Yeah, yeah, yeah,

yeah.

Kevin Davis (18:27)
So at that point, got there, six months later, I met one of my biggest clients. He had a hundred real estate properties and I went from $50,000 in the first six months to about totally finishing year with about 300 and something thousand in income. And then I started my own firm, right? And that was great until we went out of business because of what? 2008 mortgage crisis.

Quentin (18:53)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Kevin Davis (18:53)
Right? So then we had

to shift and deal there and figure out what we’re going to do. And from there, then I became a licensed insurance guy, which didn’t want to do because you have to realize something. I was probably making between 60 to 80 grand a week in the mortgage company. Then all of sudden I dropped down to 1500 to 2000. And I never forget the owner or

the principal walking up to me and saying, man, you had a good, cause I was going to get a $6,000 check out performed that week. He says, you had a, you had a really great week. And I remember looking at him and he called me to guy with the suits. Cause I was always wall street, kept the suits. And I looked at him. said, what did you make? And then I walked out because I knew if I’m making six grand and you own the company, what did you make? Pretty much don’t beat me over the head with the misunderstanding of who I am. know who I am.

I know what I’ve done. So I know exactly where I gotta go. I, so cause a little friction, but it was okay. Cause then I, then I have this thing called manipulate the system that may to belay shoot. Right? So that means that while he may think a certain way now, let me pull him in. So I pulled them in and said, you know what the best thing to do, especially when you’re dealing with certain types of leadership is to ask them for their opinion and let them go because

build a relationship that way because when they know that you can they can help you and you’re subservient to them then they’ll come to your dinner table. So I said how do I get to where you are? How do I help you grow the firm and get to this?

And they told me, and it took me 18 months to get my own agency, moved to Maryland, ⁓ started from scratch, very successful, retired in 2017, and then retired again in 2019. And that’s the adversity that I traveled.

Quentin (20:50)
Sorry,

I’m sorry, Listen, I love the way you tell stories. just, I get stuck. When you talk, I’m like, I’m just, but listen, this is what I did as you was talking. Cause thank you, man. Thank you for your reflective way of answering questions. So I wrote down rapper, stockbroker, insurance tech. I often say, when you know who you are, you know what to do. And I think you are a prime example.

of when you know who you are, you know what to do. Whether you’re a rapper, stockbroker, insurance tech, you’ve had success when you’ve been successful in all these spaces. And I think one of the things that I’m kind of recognizing with you and you said it yourself, I’m actually gonna use your words against you. You find the picture within the picture. It’s like whatever space you win, you’re not just looking at the overall picture, you’re looking deeper within the picture and figuring out what’s the picture within this picture.

Kevin Davis (21:35)
Mm.

Quentin (21:46)
I wrote down, find rhythms, you find trends, you find the picture within the picture. And these are some of the things that I’m watching as you talk that I’m synthesizing the way your brain works, the way you’re centered in anything that you do, whether it’s rapping, stock, insurance, when you’re at the center, you know who you are, you know what to do, you find the rhythm, you find the trends and you find the picture within the picture. And so I appreciate the way you answer that question. Cause that’s how everybody that watch, no matter what business you’re in,

You are the center of your business. so knowing you, figuring you out, figuring your why, and knowing your superpower, being able to reflect and fit the pieces together will help you get out untangled in any situation you’re in, you can find your way out because you know who you are. And when you know who you are, you know what to do in any situation that you’re in. So I appreciate you, man. I’m going to ask you this. What’s the next goal for your business? What are you looking to solve at scale next?

Kevin Davis (22:44)
Really, it’s about, again, the marketing piece for…

ask I do you. Making sure that the value proposition is inflated so people understand what’s out there. You know, there’s nothing like it. So if you think about my space in research and stock research, there’s companies like Motley Fool. There’s companies like Seeking Alpha. There’s companies like Zach Research, all these companies that are familiar to the investment community, but not one of them have an agentic stock research scenario, right?

So what I wanted to do was make sure that I delivered a product, not just a product, but something that you couldn’t duplicate that was more or less your market companion, if that made any sense. So the next six months to 12 months is really going to be about ⁓ getting it out there to as many people as we can.

Quentin (23:37)
another well thought out answer, man. And so I appreciate you, sir. I greatly appreciate you, man. I appreciate you coming through. Listen, if someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, collaborate with you, learn more about what you’re doing, how can they get in contact with you,

Kevin Davis (23:46)
9-4

They can just email me or go to my sites. You can go to [email protected]. That’s my main software of contact. you know, for social media, it’s investment dojo on TikTok.

I’m building the Ask Guy Dojo because Ask Guy Dojo is owned by Investment Dojo. So I’m building both platforms right now. So to keep it very simple, I would say [email protected].

Quentin (24:25)
The ask-out is like, you know, what we wear, like, not a tie, but an actual ask-out. Am I picking up on that?

Kevin Davis (24:30)
What do you mean? God. It was ask I dojo. So if you think about it in terms of ask me a question, investment dojo, all I did was abbreviate it. No, that’s fine.

Quentin (24:32)
When you, as you said, it’s Ascot Dojo, right? ⁓ Ask I, I apologize. Okay.

Got you. about that. Got you.

All right, my friend. Well, listen, Mr. Kevin. Let me say three things to you let me say them to you sincerely. So one, thank you for your time. You could have been doing anything in the world, but you gave us your time. And time is our most precious commodity. So I appreciate the time, Secondly, thank you for your story, for your narrative. Again, I think stories have a way.

of getting straight to the soul and planting the seed. And then somebody come and water that seed. You you plant the seed, some idea, water the seed, but you put the seed there. And before you know it, something springs up that could bring somebody tremendous growth. So man, thank you for your story. Lastly, thank you for the way you think. You have paid a price probably in money and in years to develop the way you think. So thank you for bringing that mindset to this platform. I greatly appreciate you, sir.

Kevin Davis (25:39)
You’re very, very welcome. Thank you for having me.

Quentin (25:42)
Absolutely. Well, listen, y’all heard Mr. Kevin. Look into the show notes, get in contact with him, check him out for sure. But definitely make sure you are subscribed here because I promise you we’re going to continue to bring up amazing people just like Mr. Kevin. So, sir, I say thank you again. And everyone else, listen, you’ll have a fantastic day.

Kevin Davis (26:01)
Thank you, thank you.