New American Dream

John Harcar (00:00.966)
All right. Hey guys, welcome back to the show. I’m your host, John Harcar, and I’m here today with Steven Andrews. And what we’re going to talk about is the new American dream. And I’ll go into a little bit about that a little more in later on in the podcast. But remember guys here at Investor Fuel, we help real estate investors. We help entrepreneurs. We help service providers, two to five X your business. We provide the tools and the training needed to grow the business you want to grow, which in turn will help you to live that life that you wanted to live.

Stephen welcome to our show

Steven Andrews (00:33.07)
Thank you so much for having me, John. Looking forward to it.

John Harcar (00:35.366)
I’m excited to talk about the new American dream and then fill people in on that a little bit later. But before we dig into that and kind of all the stuff we want to talk about, tell our audience about you. How did you get into real estate? You know, what you do now? What got you here?

Steven Andrews (00:50.67)
Absolutely, so my journey really started over a decade ago. I took a real estate class my senior year at High Point University. And really the class was a simulation on how to buy apartment complex and make it profitable in the first year. If you did that, you got an A. If you didn’t do that, you got a bad grade. And luckily for me, I got a great grade. And so I just kind of fell in love with real estate through that simulation. And it was many years down the road, I would say probably three or four.

years down the road before I actually got into real estate because just like the next person, you you do anything new, you get a little bit scared, you you get in your mind and you just don’t pull the trigger, right? And so when I left High Point, I was working retail store management, working 12, 13 hours a day. I was $75,000 in, student-owned debt. I did make a great investment as a young 20 year old, a 20-some year old, buying a brand new car.

John Harcar (01:30.852)
Yeah.

John Harcar (01:46.798)
Mm-hmm.

Steven Andrews (01:48.322)
That investment certainly hadn’t turned me any profits over the years or whatnot, but I was only made $45,000 a year as well. So I didn’t have a ton of money left over at the end of the day. But finally I was able to link up with a local investor, which is still my mentor to this day. And he said, you you got to pull the trigger. Read this book called Building Wealth by Russell Whitney. Come back and see me, you know, whenever you’re done. And he said, because I’m not going to waste my time. I want to make sure you’re

Truly in it. He said I get five, six, seven calls a year of people just like you that say they want to do it, but they didn’t, they don’t really pull the trigger. And so I did exactly what he wanted me to do. And went back to him about a month later after reading the book and I was just fired up for real estate. And I knew I didn’t want to continue to do retail store management. I mean, working 12, 13 hours, hours a day is not fun for anybody. And so, you know, I knew I could, I knew I wanted to do more.

John Harcar (02:23.746)
Mm-hmm.

John Harcar (02:40.133)
kills you.

Steven Andrews (02:47.604)
And so with Joel, he really helped me get into real estate and fast forward a decade, I bought hundreds of properties that my management company owns. We only manage what we own. I’ve also flipped hundreds of properties. I’ve wrote now a book called The New American Dream, A Simple Roadmap to Purchase and Investment Properties, which is a roadmap to how I’ve done it over the last decade. And it’s also been a best seller, won multiple different awards as well. And now I’m helping

the everyday person, just like I was over a decade ago, that wants more out of life, that doesn’t want to work 12 hours a day, that doesn’t want to barely get by. And I’m those individuals learn what I’ve learned. And it doesn’t take them a decade to learn what I’ve learned because I’m giving them the information they need. And that is so rewarding. That’s probably the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done is to be able to kind of pour back in, just like Joel did to me.

John Harcar (03:27.023)
Mm-hmm.

John Harcar (03:37.562)
Yeah.

John Harcar (03:45.109)
Awesome. Now let’s go back a little bit because he said something interesting in school. This wasn’t a high school. This was a university that you… Okay.

Steven Andrews (03:53.816)
That’s right, yep. At High Point University in High Point, North Carolina, four year school, great school by the way. And it was a real estate class. In my senior year, all I needed was nine credit hours to graduate. So I’m like, well, what classes do I want to take? And so I always tell people, you know, always take life, know, seriously, you don’t know when you’re going to do something that’s going to change your life forever. And so I only needed nine credit hours if I would have just kind of…

John Harcar (04:02.828)
Okay.

John Harcar (04:18.478)
Right?

Steven Andrews (04:22.114)
done whatever and didn’t take it serious. I wouldn’t have learned anything in my life. That’s right, I could have been, right, exactly. Yeah, so, and the thing is, know, my life would look very different today if I did not take that real estate class over a decade ago. And so that’s so cool, you know, to be able to see, cause you just don’t know in life what’s really gonna change your life, certainly in the future.

John Harcar (04:25.069)
You could have been a professional basket weaver. Could have taken Basket Weaver 101.

John Harcar (04:35.225)
Yeah.

John Harcar (04:46.511)
What was the decision to choose the real estate though? Like the class, what was the decision to choose that class, that real estate class?

Steven Andrews (04:50.114)
I’m sorry?

Steven Andrews (04:53.73)
Well, you know, I was just thinking, you know, for that semester, so I’ll kind of give you some background on why I took that semester. I took scuba diving, I beach volleyball, I took bowling as classes. And so I needed two classes. And so I took art, which I’m not a very good artist. I did make an A in the class, but it was the fundamentals of art. You know, so you’re like, you’re doing a painting from white to black and every shade in between is…

John Harcar (05:05.509)
You

John Harcar (05:14.031)
Mm-hmm.

Sure.

Steven Andrews (05:22.798)
It’s rather simple class. And then when I saw real estate, it was like, you know what, like, kind of just piqued my interest. You know, when I thought about very successful people in the world, the majority of them own some form of real estate. And I’m like, you know what, let me look into that.

John Harcar (05:24.707)
Bye.

John Harcar (05:36.015)
Yeah.

Yeah. Awesome. Alright, so now what is your business look like now? Like what are you doing? Because I know you mentioned you’ve been an investor, you’ve been a coach. What do you do now for folks in the business?

Steven Andrews (05:53.526)
Absolutely, know, so really I have multiple different businesses. So I still own rental property, so own multiple hundreds of rental properties that my company manages every single year. We also flip about 20 to 25 houses a year as well. So that’s a different sector of the business. And then we also loan money, you so people that are looking to get into real estate, depending on what kind of terms they need.

John Harcar (06:08.632)
Okay.

Steven Andrews (06:21.384)
sometimes we can offer lending for that as well. And then the part that I’m just so passionate about as well, I’m passionate about the other things, but this is just so much fun, because this is changing people’s lives, is the business coach part. And it’s just been so much fun. And so really, I’m an expert in all the other fields. I’m an expert in how to help people become successful in real estate. But this one’s just got me fired up. Along with the book, you know,

John Harcar (06:24.645)
Okay.

John Harcar (06:34.917)
Okay.

John Harcar (06:48.654)
I could tell.

Steven Andrews (06:50.142)
You can see them right here. You can see them behind me. This book has just changed people’s lives as well.

John Harcar (06:55.427)
Why is it important for someone to have a business coach?

Steven Andrews (06:58.904)
You know, I would not be where I’m at today if I did not have one. So Joel, outside of that real estate class I took at High Point, Joel was also one of the most single, most influential persons in my life to get me successful in real estate. And the reason why is he had 30 years experience. So I’m talking to someone that, yeah, I could read a book, I could read a textbook, I could read, you know,

Go listen to podcasts, go listen to YouTube channels, right? But when you have somebody that is invested in you and pouring the knowledge of 30 years into you, you don’t make the same mistakes they made. Now you do still make mistakes, but it’s different mistakes, right? And so it’s just one of those things where he just helped guide me. So whenever I’m reading that first book, Building Wealth by Russell Whitney,

John Harcar (07:35.011)
Mm-hmm

John Harcar (07:42.914)
How about this? There’s some. Sure.

Steven Andrews (07:54.882)
You know, and I’m like, okay, this kind of makes sense, but how do I use this in everyday life or how do I apply that? I go talk to Joel, Joel read the same book and he’s like, okay, this is how I did it. And it just, gives you that real life experience before you actually get there. And so it’s just, it’s such a great guide because there’s going to be times where you doubt yourself because you’re doing something brand new. You know, your mind tells you, you know, if anything, if you get out of your comfort zone, don’t do it, right?

John Harcar (08:10.691)
Mm-hmm.

John Harcar (08:18.276)
Yeah.

John Harcar (08:23.013)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Steven Andrews (08:23.854)
and having a mentor, having a business coach there helps you become successful. It gets you to where you want to be.

John Harcar (08:29.517)
And how did you connect with, how did you connect with Joel again?

Steven Andrews (08:33.912)
So Joel was a local investor. So my dad actually knew Joel for probably about 20 years. And I was talking to my parents one night and I was like, you know, I really kind of want to get into real estate. And I’m like, well, hey, I don’t know if Joel can help you out at all. Don’t, don’t, you know, I know he’s in a real estate. I know he’s doing the business stuff, but I don’t know if he can help you. Here’s his phone number. him a call. And I’m so glad for one, I asked my parents and had that conversation too, picking up the phone and calling Joel. Life changed. It really was.

John Harcar (08:52.869)
Mm-hmm.

John Harcar (09:03.031)
Yeah, how do you think someone should go find a coach now? Like what’s the best ways to do it? And then also to secondary to that, what are maybe some questions you want to ask? Because you could go online and everybody can be a business coach, right? We don’t know. Like we want to get on the phone with them. We want to make sure we ask them this. Like, how do you what do you recommend?

Steven Andrews (09:24.302)
Absolutely, you know, I always tell people don’t go in the flashiest places. You know, so when I think about Joel’s social media presence, there’s not one, right? And so I’m not saying you can’t find a business coach on social media. I’m on social media, you’re on social media. You know, we’re good people. We know what we’re doing. We help people. But for me, Joel was just an everyday guy that had a ton of success and he was genuine.

John Harcar (09:45.187)
Yeah.

John Harcar (09:52.921)
Yes.

Steven Andrews (09:53.31)
And so I would always tell people, don’t always look in the flashiest places, trust but verify. And so, you know, just because somebody’s telling you something doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the truth. So you need to verify the information they’re giving you and then always make sure you ask the right questions. And so I still remember Joel told me this a long time ago. He used to go to these seminars. And so the seminars were taught by people and they were talking about how to

John Harcar (10:07.267)
Huh?

John Harcar (10:16.461)
Mm-hmm.

Steven Andrews (10:22.19)
how to become successful in real estate and this is what you need to do, this is what you need to do. And the one question Joel asked him, is actually a pretty good one, he said, how much real estate do you own?

John Harcar (10:35.457)
Exactly. Yeah, I knew the question. That’s it.

Steven Andrews (10:37.688)
Yep. And the guy said, I don’t own any. I just get paid to say this stuff. Right. And so to me, that’s the difference. And so for me, what I look at from a business coach standpoint or a mentor standpoint, you want somebody that’s done it before, right? You don’t want somebody that’s just read a bunch of books or that have watched YouTube or, you know, got information that way. You want somebody with real life experience.

John Harcar (10:47.663)
Mm-hmm.

John Harcar (10:56.557)
Right.

John Harcar (11:06.469)
Someone has been in the trenches. Yeah. Yeah.

Steven Andrews (11:06.968)
because that’s life changing, right? Anybody can read a book, right? Anybody can read the book, but you want somebody that’s used practical use. so asking those questions of trust, but verify. for instance, in this scenario, Joel trusted the guy, what he was saying, but then he wanted to verify. And when he went to verify, it was a much different answer than what he was being told. And so you just really have to be careful and then make sure they align with what you believe in.

Right? You know, don’t want to lose yourself in building a business that you’re proud of, right? When you’re proud of a business, you want it to align with your goals, your dreams, your aberrations, your values, you know, at the end of the day. And so if you’re, you know, getting vibes from someone, you know, trust your gut, you know, whether or not they would align with what you believe in, because there are certain people out here that might not do it the same way that I do.

John Harcar (11:37.625)
Yes.

John Harcar (11:51.097)
Your core values, yeah?

Steven Andrews (12:06.346)
And there’s certainly people there that believe something different than I do. And so you wanna make sure that your value’s alive because if you create a business and it does not have the right foundation of what you believe in, it’s gonna crumble at some point. Because at some point you’re like, this is not what I believe in, I don’t wanna do this anymore. And so, but if you build a business that’s like, you know what, this is what I believe in, these are my beliefs, it’s a great foundation to certainly be successful.

John Harcar (12:06.519)
huh.

John Harcar (12:20.942)
Yeah.

John Harcar (12:25.347)
Yeah.

John Harcar (12:34.839)
And that’s a huge nugget, right? I mean, someone can know everything, but if you’re if they’re in it just to take shortcuts and get to the money and not care about who they step on along the way.

doesn’t align with me. You know what I mean? So I think that is a really big thing because yes, once again, they can teach you, but if you can’t teach and then relate and then they have that experience, I think that’s where a lot of people falter. Tell me about some challenges you had getting into the business, getting into the business coaching, all those type of things.

Steven Andrews (13:08.11)
Absolutely, you know, for me, I think back to real estate, getting into that business, I came from a middle-class family, so I was $75,000 in debt, making $45,000 a year. I didn’t have a lot of money left over at the end of the day, every month, to do anything with. And so for me, it was so scary of, if I pull the trigger on this rental property, I started playing the what-if game in my mind. Well, what if the tenant doesn’t pay? Well, what if the…

I need a new roof, what if I need a new HVAC and so on. And it’s one of those things where it’s okay to ask questions, it’s okay to be cautious, but you can’t play the what if game to psych yourself out from actually doing it. And so for me, it was where am I gonna get the money at? And then I started playing the what if game and that’s when Joel kind of come in and Joel said, listen, if you play this what if game 10 years from now, you’re gonna be right where you’re at. You’re gonna have to take the leap.

John Harcar (13:51.417)
Yeah.

John Harcar (14:05.423)
Yeah.

Steven Andrews (14:07.01)
leap of faith at some point, he said, you’ve done the research, trust the research you’ve done, trust yourself. He said, I’m gonna be here to help guide you and you’re gonna be okay. And so for me, know, not having money to put down, I used a credit card to get a cash advance off of for my first down payment for my first property. A lot of people at the time were like, well, that’s 7 % interest. That’s a lot of, that’s a big interest rate at the time.

John Harcar (14:33.765)
Unless a mortgage. Well, yeah, it’d be scratching at the bit for it. Pertrumping at the bit for it.

Steven Andrews (14:35.336)
anybody would love 7 % interest today, right? Yeah, absolutely. So it’s all about perspective, right? But getting that first down payment was a challenge for me because I didn’t have a ton of money. And then getting past those doubts were also a challenge. But then once I’ve done it, I do million dollar deals now and it doesn’t phase me one bit. And this was a hundred thousand dollar deal, right? So it’s just one of those things. Life’s all about perspective.

John Harcar (14:59.927)
Yeah, yeah.

Steven Andrews (15:04.04)
and getting your feet wet and really making sure that you know what you’re doing and then believing in yourself is really the biggest thing. You can be cautious, but don’t be too cautious to keep you out of the game. And that’s really what it’s about. And the same thing for business coaching for me, one of the biggest challenges is getting people to understand that, right? So I can give you all the information that I’ve collected over the last decade.

John Harcar (15:12.965)
Yeah.

John Harcar (15:17.093)
Yeah, they’ll hold you back.

Steven Andrews (15:34.008)
But if you don’t apply it every single day, and if you don’t apply it into your business and believe it, then there’s, know, it’s that old saying, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink, right? And so it’s just one of those things where, you know, trust in your mentor, make sure you have the right mentor, and then do it. Because at the end of the day, if you don’t take that first step, first step’s always the hardest. If you don’t take that first step, you’re gonna be right where you’re at 10 years from.

John Harcar (15:36.399)
You don’t believe it.

here, yeah.

John Harcar (16:02.373)
Well, it’s a mindset thing. You know what I mean? It’s really getting over those hurdles. And I mean, it’s like, what does it say? What’s the difference between $100,000 property and a million dollar property? Zeroes? That’s it. A little more. how do you and what tools or things do you recommend to keep that mindset on the right path to be that focus centric, go get it?

Steven Andrews (16:28.718)
Absolutely, you you can kind of look at athletes, for instance. You know, you look at Tom Brady, for instance. He had to work every single day to be one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. And so, you know, when you now apply that to business, just say here in real estate or just say another business you’re creating, you have to be disciplined every single day. In order for you to be successful, you have to do something today for it to pay dividends a year from now.

John Harcar (16:58.127)
Yep.

Steven Andrews (16:58.41)
And so you have to make sure you’re doing the small things because if you’re not doing the small things, small things lead to big things and big things lead to even bigger things. And so you can’t start with the biggest things because you got to lay that foundation, but you got to do it every day. You know, my parents always told me this saying, don’t put off for tomorrow what you can do today. And I think that that is so big in business that, you know, if we get into a mindset or if you’re in a mindset, I’ll just do that tomorrow.

John Harcar (17:07.407)
Mm-hmm.

John Harcar (17:19.587)
Yeah.

Steven Andrews (17:28.238)
I promise you there’s gonna be something else for you to do tomorrow. Right, know, real estate, for instance, really any business for that matter is never a hundred percent done. I could work 24 seven, 365 and I still wouldn’t be done, right? Because there’s always something that’s gonna come up. And so you never wanna put off, you wanna do the small things every single day to be successful. And at some point it just, you you’re like pushing the ball up the hill, like the snowball up the hill. And at some point you crest the hill.

John Harcar (17:30.073)
Something comes up tomorrow.

John Harcar (17:42.703)
Yeah.

John Harcar (17:56.218)
Yeah.

Steven Andrews (17:56.386)
and that snowball just starts getting bigger and bigger coming down the hill. And that’s where you’ll be at, but you have to do the right things first.

John Harcar (18:00.963)
percent but you got to push it uphill to make it go downhill I love it let’s talk a little bit about our topic or our title today and that’s the new American dream tell me about the book tell me kind of what prompted you to write it you know if there’s something you know it’s something that happened or some instance behind it etc

Steven Andrews (18:05.39)
That’s right.

Steven Andrews (18:19.694)
Absolutely, you so the new American dream is simple roadmap to purchase and investment properties. Really how I got the title was a couple of years ago, I was thinking about what is the American dream now? You know, so when I would have talked to my parents, my grandparents about that, you know, the American dream for them was always, I want to own my own property, right? You know, that used to be the American dream. And now when I think about kind of this new generation that’s coming up, it’s they don’t care as much about owning the property they live in.

but a lot of them want to own real estate. And so for me, that’s just the new American dream, right? And so it is absolutely, this book is a simple roadmap to purchase and invest more properties. It is everything in there that I’ve learned over the last decade of being in this business to first things first, how do you create the business? How do you find the deal, get it financed? How do you fix it up? How do you handle local municipalities and ordinances and inspections?

John Harcar (18:50.914)
guess.

John Harcar (19:15.461)
Okay, that’s your roadmap.

Steven Andrews (19:17.646)
to really at the very end, know, relationships and how do you manage it? Once you own a property, you know, what kind of tenants should we be looking for? What kind of processes should we be looking for? And then at the very end, there’s a chapter in there of when’s enough enough, because at some point, you might not be there today, but at some point you’re gonna ask yourself, like, hey, do I have enough? And so this really started back during COVID when I was driving down the road and there was,

this particular barbecue restaurant that had been open 50 plus years, it was gone, right? Closed down, just didn’t make it, wasn’t reopening. And so for me, it was like, man, do I really wanna spend my entire life just running, running, running, running a marathon or sprinting a marathon just to give everything I’ve accumulated to someone else? Or do I wanna enjoy the journey?

John Harcar (19:52.154)
Bye.

Steven Andrews (20:13.964)
And do I get to enjoy the fruits of my labor? And that’s okay if we still want to give somebody something one day when we pass away, but I also want to enjoy this as well. And so I started thinking about when’s enough enough for me. And so I started thinking back to my early twenties and I said, you know what, if I went back to that person and I said, hey, when you’re in your mid thirties, you’re going to own several hundred rental properties, you’re going to flip 20 houses to 25 houses a year, you’re going to loan money.

John Harcar (20:19.63)
Right.

Yes.

Steven Andrews (20:43.598)
you’re gonna write a book, you’re gonna have a net worth that used to be negative to a net worth that’s in the tens of millions, would you be okay with that? And so for me, it was like, well, of course, right? My 20 year old self would have loved to have that. And so it started to get me thinking like, okay, if I would have told myself that then and I hate 10 years from now or 15 years, I have this work, which you’re gonna be at,

John Harcar (20:56.421)
Hmm.

John Harcar (21:02.436)
Yes.

Steven Andrews (21:12.546)
and I’m okay with that. Well then, do I have enough? Maybe. Do I need to be worth 100 million or is it okay to be worth 20 to 30 million, right? What’s really the difference? Because at the end of the day, when you pass away, you don’t get to take any of it with you. So you might as well enjoy it while you’re here. And so it really got me thinking and in the book, I go into more detail of making sure you don’t look to the world.

John Harcar (21:16.847)
Mm-hmm.

John Harcar (21:30.563)
Yeah, all right, about so.

Steven Andrews (21:42.392)
for your happiness, you don’t look to the world for this answer of when’s enough enough, but what really makes you happy? And so for me, I have this saying now that I don’t live to work, but I work to live. Meaning I’m utilizing the businesses that I’ve created to go live life. Whatever that looks like, everybody’s life’s gonna be different. But for me, family and friends, traveling’s important. I’m a huge sports fan, so that’s important.

John Harcar (21:48.047)
Mm-hmm.

John Harcar (21:56.325)
Yeah.

John Harcar (22:03.577)
I love it.

Steven Andrews (22:11.22)
enjoying those moments because you never know when those moments are gone, right? know, for instance, I still remember this during COVID, at the beginning of COVID, I’m at ACC land here in North Carolina. So I’m a huge Carolina fan, but in between Duke and Carolina here, and I still remember that ACC tournament, the rumor started going around, well, hey, ACC tournament’s gonna be canceled. And then it was like, hey, the NCAA tournament’s gonna be canceled.

John Harcar (22:12.953)
Yes.

John Harcar (22:25.306)
Mm-hmm.

John Harcar (22:29.315)
Yeah.

Steven Andrews (22:39.15)
I still remember this. I told my friend, said, there’s no way it’ll be canceled. There’s too much money. And it’s, they’re going to lose too much money. What happened for a couple of years, all that stuff was so altered. So you just never know when the unthinkable is going to happen. So make sure you’re prepared for that, but also enjoy life because man, it could be gone just like.

John Harcar (22:44.576)
yeah.

John Harcar (23:01.349)
Yes. Yeah, we all know too well, especially the older you get, see, you you start to see it more. But I, and I love it. And I love the nuggets you dropped. That is exactly how I have a view of live it for today. Right. I mean, obviously you want to set your kin up for tomorrow, but enjoy now. You know, once again, I could have $10 million die tomorrow. And what’s the good of that $10 million?

Steven Andrews (23:21.166)
That’s right.

John Harcar (23:22.277)
If folks want to get it reach out to you Steve if they want to talk about your book they want to talk about investing they want a business coach How is there what is the best way for them to find you?

Steven Andrews (23:32.302)
Absolutely, you so I have a website. You can go to stevenhandrews.com. You can also email me at info at sorrettsconsulting.com. That’s my direct email. You can also catch me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn as well. LinkedIn is Steven H. Andrews. And then Facebook and Instagram is at Steven H. Andrews one. I’m available on any of those. I regularly message people back on those.

John Harcar (23:56.794)
Perfect.

Steven Andrews (24:01.624)
would love to help anybody that’s looking to become successful in roasting.

John Harcar (24:05.593)
How do they find your book?

Steven Andrews (24:07.682)
Yep, so you can buy through the website. So go on to stevenhandgers.com. can buy the book through the website. You can also go on amazon.com. It’s also on Target, Barnes and Nobles websites as well. It is very versed and very available for people.

John Harcar (24:20.869)
Cool.

John Harcar (24:25.926)
Awesome, I have to go pick up a copy. Guys, I hope you guys got a lot of good nuggets out of here. I mean, I know I sure did. Stephen, thank you again for sharing all you did. Guys, I encourage you to reach out to him. And I hope you enjoyed this episode. Well, we’ll look forward to seeing you guys on the next one. Cheers. Thank you, Stephen.

Steven Andrews (24:42.446)
Thank you John.