Unlock Financial Freedom: 5 Powerful Mindset Shifts for Real Estate Success

John Harcar (00:00.898)
All right. Hey guys, welcome back to the show. I’m your host, John Harcar. I’m here today with Chelsey Jones. And what we’re going to talk about is the real importance of knowing your goals and kind of like knowing your why. Remember guys, at Investor Fuel, we help real estate investors, service providers, really all real estate entrepreneurs, two to five extra business by providing tools and resources to grow the business you want to have and in turn live that life that you always wanted to live. So Chelsea, welcome to our show.

Chelsey Jones (00:30.594)
Hey, thanks so much for having me.

John Harcar (00:32.72)
Yeah, I’m excited to talk about this. love goal setting. love, you know, you know, having that why. But before we talk in, talk about all that, you know, tell our audience a little bit about you, kind of your background, what got you into real estate? I mean, what got you to today?

Chelsey Jones (00:48.022)
Yeah, thank you. So I come from a kind of a corporate background. So I had the same job from the time I was 15 until the time I was 24. I worked for a grocery store, climbed that corporate ladder all the way up. And then I had a life event that really changed me. My brother passed away and that’s kind of, yeah, thank you. That’s kind of when I decided that I need to reevaluate my life.

John Harcar (00:58.779)
Hmm.

John Harcar (01:10.617)
I could ounces

Chelsey Jones (01:17.726)
I was in a job that I hated, you know, to be honest, but that was all I knew, you know, from being a kid, this corporate lifestyle, taking orders from other people. And that’s just not my personality type. so I, you know, after that happened with my brother, I took a leap of faith and I jumped headfirst into real estate. So I started, I had quit my job and I started buying rentals.

John Harcar (01:20.86)
Sure.

Chelsey Jones (01:44.526)
started with renting out the place that I had lived at, rented that out, bought a few more. And then here in the last four years, I actually switched all my long-term rentals except for one into short-term rentals. But it was really that kind of that defining moment, you know, with my brother that made me just reevaluate, is this what I want for the rest of my life to take orders from someone else?

John Harcar (01:59.419)
okay.

John Harcar (02:07.59)
Sure, sure. I won’t ask what it needs. was a grocery store. Okay, I won’t ask what chain it was. I’m not gonna go there. So, it kind of started as a whole bagger all the way up to where? How high did you get there?

Chelsey Jones (02:12.246)
Yes. Okay.

Chelsey Jones (02:20.748)
Yeah, so I was an assistant store manager and I was in that role for about two and a half years. And my brother took his own life. So that was really when I, yeah, thank you. But that was really when I made that decision that I’m not happy here. And what else can I do to make that different?

John Harcar (02:24.154)
Nice.

John Harcar (02:33.478)
My condolences again.

John Harcar (02:44.346)
What kind of mindset did you have? I mean, what made that shift? I know this was a big, you know, traumatic event in your life. I mean, what mindset did you have to fight the urge to just be in that depressive state and just say, I gotta make a change. Because that’s big, right? Some people don’t do that. Some people go the other way.

Chelsey Jones (02:59.502)
For sure. Yeah, I mean, definitely. And look, it took me a long time to make that decision. But when I was going there every day, I was just not happy. And after watching my brother battle with that depression and all that, and obviously it did not end well, I didn’t want to follow that path. So I knew inside myself that I either had to make this change because no one else is going to do it for me, or I can continue to live

you know, this life that I’m not really happy with and not really proud of.

John Harcar (03:32.422)
Good for you. Good for you recognize it made that change. All right, now my favorite question, why real estate? I mean, you’re in the grocery. Did you have someone in your family, a relative, an uncle, an aunt, someone who owned rental properties, a friend who flipped a house? How did you get into that groceries to real estate?

Chelsey Jones (03:46.958)
Yeah, not at all. Not at all. So I actually didn’t know really anyone who did this. And it really came down to kind of happened by accident. My boyfriend and I at the time had decided we wanted to move in together and I was going to sell the house that I had. I bought that house at 20. I think we moved in together at like 23, when I was 23.

So I had that house for about three years, had done some updates myself, and at the time, my good friend, they were pregnant, you and they were looking to move into a larger place. So kind of fell into this by renting out my house to a good friend of mine, and it was kind of easy, you know? I just, I collected a check every month, you know, occasionally stuff would go wrong, but really not all that often.

And then I was still with my other job when I bought one more rental because I just saw, know, wow, this is kind of easy money. I’m pretty handy. So I did a lot of the either renovations or, you know, maintenance issues myself. So I, other than the mortgage, didn’t really have a lot of overhead. So I did have like a toe in it before I decided to quit fully.

John Harcar (05:04.977)
Awesome.

John Harcar (05:13.34)
Mm-hmm.

Chelsey Jones (05:14.124)
But yeah, I didn’t know anyone who was doing this successfully. didn’t know. I didn’t have any guidance by any means. Yeah, I just knew that this wasn’t what I wanted. And the little bit of money I was making with renting out my two places that I had at that time, I saw just a vision with that. And I knew that if I put my mind to it, I could run with it.

John Harcar (05:23.149)
Right

John Harcar (05:40.132)
Awesome. So you kind of fell into the unintentional house hack, right? You got there, you’re running out, you’re pretty much paying for your bill or close to a lot of your bills. That’s awesome. That’s a great way to make that intro. now that you make that transition full-time, what type of different challenges from being kind of on the part-time bench to now making this your full-time thing?

Chelsey Jones (05:44.045)
Yes.

Chelsey Jones (06:04.11)
Yeah, well, I mean, I definitely had to reevaluate my expenses. I went out a lot less. That’s a big shock to someone who’s, you know, 24. was still in that partying, going out, you know, nice restaurants, all that. And I had to reevaluate that because even though it was a stable income because it’s a long-term rental, they’re paying the same amount every month. You don’t know when the furnace is going to break or when, you know, something’s going to happen.

At the time I was taking a salaried position down to only two rentals. So to be honest, I put my little hustler hat on and I also picked up a few side gigs. I did a direct sales business for a minute. I started walking dogs, just anything to make the ends meet while I continued to scale this business.

John Harcar (06:55.258)
I love it. Were there any like tools or resources or you know, books or anything that you can add you, you got into this full-time journey, you know, the things that maybe helped you along the way with some little, you know, bits of advice that you.

Chelsey Jones (07:08.588)
Yeah, well for sure, you know, it sounds cliche because I think everyone says it, but I think that’s the point too. So, rich dad, poor dad, Yeah.

John Harcar (07:16.39)
DeadPort, Ed. I wait for it’s like every third show I think I have where it’s DeadPort. I mean, if I was able to charge money on it, we’d be making, I’ll make some money.

Chelsey Jones (07:27.05)
know right? Every time I mention that book if I could get a little royalty that’d be ideal. Yeah but that really, yeah, yeah that really changed it for me. You know I came from a single-family household. It’s, you know, we weren’t poor but we were never well off or anything like that. So I didn’t know how to manage money. I didn’t know anything about money if we’re being completely honest. I just knew that I wanted to have it. So Rich Dad Poor Dad helped

John Harcar (07:30.712)
Sure, right. Yeah, but it’s an incredible book.

Chelsey Jones (07:54.786)
help change that mindset in me. One, I think that this is possible for anyone. And that’s my biggest takeaway and my biggest thing that I share with new investors too. An average Joe can buy Real estate and build a successful portfolio.

John Harcar (08:11.844)
I’m sure in the background, like everybody that gets into real estate does has those family friends and whatnot that like to kind of chirp in your ear a little bit about why you’re making the mistake of doing this. How did you focus on, you know, focus on state, you know, eyes on the prize and to detract those, those people.

Chelsey Jones (08:28.46)
Yeah, so I mean, obviously it’s risky, right? Like I said, I didn’t know anyone who had gone this path before. I was really grateful and still am to have a really supportive partner who, you know, kind of saw, he came from the same business that I did and now owns his own business, not real estate related, but you know, so he knew what I was going through at my job and then obviously personally as well. And he always just told me, hey, you got it, you got it.

so there was always one person in my corner and I’m very thankful for that. but you know, I’m just, I’ve always been driven and once I set my mind to something, that’s kind of it. So there were definitely a lot of naysayers or people that just didn’t get it. I think there still are sometimes, even though, know, I, I, yes.

John Harcar (09:15.964)
They’re always are gonna be they’re always gonna if you do that, right you don’t have haters

Chelsey Jones (09:21.054)
Exactly, yeah. So I just knew that I could do this because I’m strong enough, I’m capable enough, and I’m going to educate myself beyond my wildest dreams to be able to do this.

John Harcar (09:35.248)
Good for you. mean, and that’s a mindset that a lot of people, you know, don’t have. They, they stay in the, the, you know, analysis paralysis stage. As opposed to the action part. Did you research out any groups, any mentorships, any, know, even maybe just like a local guy that you can kind of learn and sit and have coffee with and talk about rentals.

Chelsey Jones (09:53.984)
So my realtor did have a couple rentals that I used to buy my long-term rentals. So, you know, he did help me along the way as things to look for, how to build a proper lease, even those kinds of things. then Facebook groups weren’t like a thing like they are now, I feel like. So there might’ve been one or two that I joined, but it really was a stumble over yourself, read a lot of books and figure it out.

John Harcar (10:22.96)
Got it. So let’s talk about your business now. I mean, you mentioned that you took a lot of your long-term stuff and you switched almost everything to short-term. Why did short-term appeal to you more than the long-term?

Chelsey Jones (10:23.776)
Yeah.

Chelsey Jones (10:35.968)
Yeah, so short term I felt like there was just more money to be made. Long term was steady and it was kind of like a salary job because when you get good tenants, they stay, they pay rent on time, you know, and you can expect that paycheck, which is great. And it did allow me to leave, you know, my almost 10 year career that I had. So I’m really grateful for that. But the…

John Harcar (10:53.168)
Right, right.

Chelsey Jones (11:03.246)
two to $400 per unit didn’t really make me feel excited anymore. And I love to travel. I am really passionate about travel. I travel probably every other month, if not, you know, a couple of times a month. And this was an opportunity for us to be able to travel and make money. So just a lot of research. And by this point, Facebook groups, all of that were big. So Bill Faith, you know, the Bill Short-Term Rental Group.

John Harcar (11:23.206)
Yes.

John Harcar (11:29.585)
Mm-hmm.

Chelsey Jones (11:33.076)
or long-term wealth with short-term rentals. There’s a lot of people now that I follow that helped me get into this space just from being a fly on the wall in those spaces.

John Harcar (11:46.8)
Yeah, that’s incredible. What challenges did you see when you made the flip into it?

Chelsey Jones (11:52.27)
It’s a lot more expensive. Exactly. So I was, when I was doing long-term rentals, I think the most expensive one I bought was like $150,000. Now I have millions of dollars of good debt, but it’s so scary. You’re taking a smaller investment and turning it into at times half a million dollar investment. And that’s really scary.

John Harcar (11:53.852)
No risk, no reward.

John Harcar (12:05.22)
Mm-hmm.

John Harcar (12:11.611)
Yeah.

Chelsey Jones (12:21.966)
I, again, know, once I tell myself I’m gonna do something, I’m gonna do it. So I researched the heck out of it, pros, cons, all the good, bad, in between, and decided this was the next route I wanted to take, not only for the money, but also for my family. Now we go on vacation to these places and it’s a lot cheaper than getting a hotel.

John Harcar (12:44.09)
Yeah, and that’s what a lot of you know, I hear a lot when I talk to short-term folks is like, you know, where do you get your first one? Where do you want to go? That’s where you that’s where you get it that you get it where you want to go because you you could say you save money. It’s a money making money saver. It’s you know, that makes sense. Well, cool. So where are your short terms and where are you located again?

Chelsey Jones (12:51.286)
Yeah, it’s where you want to be.

Yep.

Chelsey Jones (13:06.552)
So I’m in Ohio, Columbus, right in the middle. I currently have rentals in the Gulf of Texas, so Crystal Beach, right by Galveston. I have three in Tennessee, the Smoky Mountains, so the Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge area, and then Hocking Hills, which is on everybody’s radar right now. It’s a little foresty town in southern, southeast Ohio.

John Harcar (13:08.326)
Okay?

Chelsey Jones (13:35.84)
Yeah, it’s rated like number three on AirDNA to invest in.

John Harcar (13:39.504)
Wow, what do you think that is? Like, why is it so attractive right now?

Chelsey Jones (13:43.69)
Yeah, I think it’s just it’s experienced a lot of growth. It’s a beautiful setting. There’s, you know, cliffs and waterfalls and hiking and forests. And we get, you know, the leaf changes because we’re the Midwest. So, yeah, it’s crazy to watch, though, because I grew up, you know, on weekends going there to hike with my girlfriends and stuff like that. And now it’s this huge area of tourism, which is wild to have watched that evolution.

John Harcar (13:57.514)
Yeah, looks, yeah.

John Harcar (14:11.878)
Yeah, I mean, I’m in Boise, Idaho, right? And I’ve been out here for the last five years. I’ve seen a lot of tremendous growth and the purge coming in here. think, and correct me if I’m wrong or tell me your thoughts. Like, yeah, I think a lot more people now want to get out to those type of places, you know, get away from all this, you know, now this noise and then, and all this other stuff and just be in that natural setting. Right. So I think I’ve heard a lot of folks investing more into those. Is that kind of what your thoughts are as far as short-term stuff?

Chelsey Jones (14:14.177)
Okay.

Chelsey Jones (14:34.894)
sure.

Chelsey Jones (14:40.238)
Yeah, for sure. We’re seeing that too in these small Midwest towns that you’ve probably never heard of are becoming tourist attractions, which is wild. You know, I think the Smokies will always probably hold the national park record, you know, that everybody goes there. But you do find that people want a little bit less of that hustle and bustle. You know, you can’t get to Gatlinburg anymore quickly and you can’t pay less than $20 to park.

John Harcar (14:46.084)
Right.

John Harcar (14:55.909)
Mm-hmm.

Chelsey Jones (15:07.086)
So I think people are going into these areas where maybe it’s a little more economic for them. They don’t have to pay so much to go. And they’re a little bit untapped. And I love that. I love emerging markets. And it’s really cool to live so close to one and to have grown up with one.

John Harcar (15:24.508)
That is awesome. How do you specifically choose the market? mean, obviously, like you said, you would want to go there, but how do you choose it? Like, is there a specific demographic population or anything that you really look for?

Chelsey Jones (15:36.544)
Yeah, so me personally, I do only do vacation markets. So I have not tapped into the metro market yet. I do have a lot of clients that do, but it’s just not my thing. So I like a vacation market because I think vacations, even as the economy ebbs and flows, vacations might look a little different, but they’re not going away. People need and want to reward themselves with vacations. And I think, you know, I think we saw this a lot during COVID and after COVID.

that vacations might change in how they look. So maybe people are flying less. So I like drivable locations. So when I say drivable, means either, so Crystal Beach for example, I would say 98 % of our visitors are from Texas. They’re driving to those locations. Hocking Hills, everybody’s driving, they’re relatively local. The Bourbon Trail, people are driving there. That way when or if…

travel changes and maybe flights are too expensive or there’s a lot of plane crashes right now, maybe people are looking to drive. I wanna be in those markets that people are able to drive to. I also wanna be in markets that are experiencing growth in tourism.

John Harcar (16:39.708)
Right.

John Harcar (16:50.556)
Do you have data that kind of supports like, know, and from this city, people would drive here and do you have all that? Or is it just kind of like, this is what you, your experience has led you to.

Chelsey Jones (17:01.774)
Yeah, it’s definitely a mix of data and just being in this now for about four years. You know, it’s kind of a mix of data and just what I’m seeing in the market. But studies do show that people from Ohio drive the most to their vacations and they’re willing to drive up to 10 hours. So when I’m looking, which, yeah, why, I don’t know, but.

John Harcar (17:22.192)
Wow, okay.

Right.

Chelsey Jones (17:27.374)
But so when I’m looking at a map, that’s always in the back of my head as well, because that was research, you know, and that came out a couple years ago, but it’s still good for me to know. And then being from Ohio, I kind of know what’s 10 hours away.

John Harcar (17:41.34)
Okay, I was gonna say, yeah, there’s probably this specific amount of cities or limited amount of areas that are 10 miles or 10 hours away. But that’s cool data. So where do you see yourself growing? mean, do you wanna get into a lot more areas? I mean, what’s your projected doors by the end of 2025?

Chelsey Jones (17:49.261)
Yeah.

Chelsey Jones (18:00.142)
Yeah, so right now my growth is a little bit different and I am switching from more doors to more revenue. So this year my focus, I’m not saying I won’t buy because if the right deal comes along, you can’t say no sometimes. But this year really my focus as these markets that I’m in have continued to grow as well is to continue to stay relevant and in that top percentage of rentals.

John Harcar (18:29.584)
Okay.

Chelsey Jones (18:29.684)
So, you know, just recently I was down in Tennessee and I ripped out one of those old soaking tubs, you know, that I don’t really think anyone actually uses. And I put in a little book nook because that’s something unique that not a lot of places have. This is the cozy little couple’s cabin. Two people can sit on it comfortably, snuggle up, watch a movie, read a book, whatever. So this year my focus is not necessarily buying new property.

John Harcar (18:45.66)
Sure.

Chelsey Jones (18:59.074)
but it’s going to be working on the properties I have to stay top of mind to our guests.

John Harcar (19:01.692)
Got it. Okay. So you’re just talking about like improvements within the properties that you currently have.

Chelsey Jones (19:08.906)
Yeah, improvements and then doing more research on what amenities do I need to add? How can I boost up my hospitality? And then moving towards those direct bookings. Love the platforms that I’m on, but once again, similar to my corporate job, I don’t really like to be told what to do. So if I can move those platforms and onto my own, that’s something I’m really focusing on this year as well.

John Harcar (19:31.281)
right?

John Harcar (19:38.172)
Sweet. OK. And then let’s I mean, we’ve talked a lot, but we haven’t hit really our topic yet. And we’re running out of time. So tell us why it’s important to know your goals. Why is it important to have that drive that why?

Chelsey Jones (19:51.916)
Yeah, so for me it’s important because that story and that journey is gonna change. So my why was I wanna own my own business because I want to be proud and happy in the life that I’m living every single day. And I need to know how to do that, but I don’t know what that looks like until I know that why. So for me, it looked like being able to travel more. It looked like having places for my family. We have three boys.

So it looked like having places for my family to go to take their friends to make these memories with them. And it also looked like generational wealth. Again, three boys that someday down the road, if they don’t want to work for someone else, I’m setting this up so that they can work for themselves. Me for a little bit, but them down the road. And I think that’s important because I think had I just said, I wanna make money,

John Harcar (20:42.3)
Yeah, right

Chelsey Jones (20:49.198)
I don’t know that I would have taken this route. I probably would have continued to climb the corporate ladder that I was on a good track with because that probably would have given me more money a lot quicker, but it wouldn’t have gotten me to where I am now. And then knowing kind of that initial goal and then your three, five, 10 year goal, and obviously those will change along the way, but knowing that is how you start the plan.

So I knew right off the bat that I wanted a place in Tennessee. Now I knew that I needed to be profitable enough to have that place in Tennessee and to buy more. I didn’t just want one and done. So, knowing that, knowing that that was my end goal was multiple places allowed me to pick that first investment that would pay for the next investment and so on. And I think when you don’t have a why or a strong enough why, then the day to day, you know,

John Harcar (21:40.614)
Got it.

Chelsey Jones (21:46.38)
the guests who complain, the times when that rental didn’t make a lot of money that month. It’s a lot easier to give up then and listen to all those naysayers.

John Harcar (21:55.152)
Yeah, no, and that’s important. I mean, goals and having your end in focus, you you’re just running out elsewhere if you’re not. What goal setting tips, tools, tricks, things did you use or can you, would you recommend to maybe some of our listeners to help get, if they haven’t set goals already, get that started.

Chelsey Jones (22:15.478)
Yeah, so the first thing I would say is start big. So start with that wildest goal. Maybe it’s I wanna own a beach house in Italy, you know? Whatever that big, big goal is, start there and then narrow it down. Because I think we get so stuck in our heads that that big goal is just a goal and it’s just a dream that’ll never happen. But when you start so big and then you start to break it down smaller and smaller, okay, well what do I need to get that beach house on the Amalfi Coast?

What do I need to get to that step and so on. So I like to work backwards and I like to start huge and then break it down into chunk size bits. And when I did that, I realized, wait a second, so I can sell this property that I’m making, I think it was like $600 a month from, I can sell this and put 20 % down on a dream house in Tennessee. That’s easy. I’ll do that tomorrow.

John Harcar (23:11.75)
Right.

Chelsey Jones (23:13.41)
But starting big, I think is important, and then bite-sized pieces.

John Harcar (23:18.342)
Yep. What do they say? How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Such awesome, such awesome information, such good content. What’s the last little piece of advice you might give someone that might be looking to get into rentals, at starting their journey, whatever.

Chelsey Jones (23:21.87)
One bite at a time.

Chelsey Jones (23:36.268)
Yeah, just do your research and know your why. I think if your why is big enough, you’ll do anything to get there. So do that, but obviously you wanna be smart about it, so make sure you’re doing your research. Hire a coach if you need to, know, stalk the Facebook groups, do all of the things, but get those goals down on paper because once they’re on paper, they become a plan.

John Harcar (23:59.548)
Awesome guys. hope, I hope, I hope you took some notes here. This was, this was an incredible podcast. Thank you so much for Chelsea for coming on. Yeah. I know we had a hiccup in the first scheduling, but we got it back on, which is fantastic. Uh, guys. Yeah, it was great. Um, thank you for coming Chelsea. Thank you again. We’ll see you the next one. Cheers.

Chelsey Jones (24:16.846)
Thanks, John.

Alright, thank you much, John.