On this episode of Investing for Freedom, Mike talks about why you should not be afraid to lift your roots up and go wherever you are treated best. You do not need to stay in your current situation just because you are comfortable there. If you feel stuck because of your job, family, or upbringing, the reality is that you only have one life and you need to be in the best location to achieve your dreams.
“The reality is that seasons change and things are changing faster than ever, so you’ve got to be prepared to adjust and you’ve got to be prepared to lift those roots up and go wherever you’re treated best.”
HIGHLIGHTS:
0:00 – Intro
0:45 – You are not a tree, your roots do not keep you in place
1:22 – W2 employees may have more freedom than business owners who feel that they are stuck wherever their business is
2:11 – There is healthy competition between states in the U.S.
4:22 – If you don’t like the state that you are in, there is an opportunity to go to one that treats you better and caters to your dreams
6:32 – Find where you have the most freedom to do what you want to do
6:55 – The American dream might turn into the Texas dream, the Arizona dream, the Florida dream, etc.
7:32 – States are competing to get businesses to relocate from states like California, because businesses and jobs won’t thrive in overregulated places
FULL TRANSCRIPTION:
Thank you for joining me on the Investing for Freedom Podcast. Listen, here’s what I want to talk to you about today. You are not a tree. Your roots do not need to keep you where you’re at or in your current situation or in the current life that you have. A lot of times we think that our roots are planted so deep. I’ve had so many conversations lately of people that feel like they can’t leave the city they’re in, or they can’t leave the job they’re in, or they can’t leave their business because their roots run too deep. My family is here, my business is here, all my clients are here. I’ve worked for the last 15 years to build this business. I’ve been in this job for the last 20 years. Where would I go?
In some circumstances, and Kara and I were just having this conversation this morning as we’re having a coffee here in Austin. In some circumstances, like having a W2 job, it is actually more freedom than owning your own business, because when I talk to some W2 people and they’re like hey, listen, you know I no longer want to live in Massachusetts. I’m going to quit my job and start applying for jobs over in Austin, TX or Dallas, TX or Phoenix, AZ wherever I want to go. Like there’s no, there’s no roots in that. They’re not like stuck there. And I’ve talked to so many business owners lately that feel like they’re stuck where they’re at because their roots run deep.
Here’s something that’s super interesting. I was on a call the other day through GoBundance with a guy who’s a very, very successful billionaire. Just so many, so many lessons, so many takeaways and it really brought a lot of like encouragement to me about, you know the future and where we’re potentially going. He’s got a lot of optimism around the future. Anyway, long story short, he was talking about competition between states and it really got me thinking. You know, he just dropped this little thought about, you know we’re entering a season of competition where, like literally you know California, I don’t know if you guys saw the reports, but California lost 100 and almost 200,000 people last year. It’s like the first year in 100 years that their population has decreased, which is super crazy. But it got me thinking about, it changed my frame of reference in a couple of areas. I haven’t been overly optimistic on, you know where we’re going as a country, but what he said to me or what he said to the group got me really thinking and changing that perspective a little bit. We’re on a slippery slope and we could, potentially, you know, kind of, like, lose our position as free America.
And here’s something that’s interesting. I may have said this before, but we have DNA in us. You know, there’s like a lot of people talk about how like if your father was an alcoholic you’re more prone to alcoholism. You know, you’re more prone to heart disease if it ran in your family, you’re more prone to diabetes if it ran in your family, etc, etc etc. It’s the same with freedom, so if you think about it, America was founded on freedom. Like our Founding Fathers, and this guy said this, he said our Founding Fathers were much more socially advanced than we even currently are, and that freedom is actually in our DNA. It’s like something that’s like it’s a part of us. It’s actually something that has been put into generation after generation after generation of Americans and so that freedom is literally in our DNA.
And so what was interesting is he brought up the fact that we’re going to start seeing more competition between states. And it got me thinking. Previously, I think it’s always been, you know, kind of America competing against the world and we’re in this new era where it’s no longer just America competing with the world, it’s states competing with each other and we have to be cognizant of this because. If you don’t like the place that you’re living right now, and you feel like your roots run deep there and you feel like you’re anchored like a tree, you need to really think through that. By the way, the other side of this. If you love where you live. And, your roots are there. That’s awesome. I’m not telling you you have to leave wherever you’re at. I’m speaking to the person right now who feels like they’re stuck where they are at that they can’t leave because whether it’s their job, whether it’s their family, whether it’s their upbringing, whether it’s you know four generations, 12 generations have been on this farm. Whatever it is, you can go wherever you want. You’re not a tree, your roots don’t run that deep and the reality is, you’ve only got one life to live, and you really need to just dig deep on what it is that you need to do to reposition that.
The whole concept of the competition between states is super interesting because whatever it is that you want to do in life, whatever it is that you want to achieve, you gotta go to the place that’s going to best help you do that. So I heard a saying a while back by Andrew Henderson who wrote the book Nomad Capitalist and he said “go where you’re treated best” and that was just such an interesting phrase to me, because, you know, as a business owner, as an investor, it’s like programmed in me to be in places that treat me best. Like I don’t want to be as a landlord if you will, you know we’ve got a fund, and multiple investors in an MHP fund a mobile home park community fund. We own 35 communities and the reality is I don’t want to be in states that are deep and heavy and regulation because. It’s really, really hard for us to get returns to investors when the state is constantly stepping in and protecting the tenant and not protecting the landlord. And by the way, like I’m actually a very giving person, but at the end of the day, if you agree to rent a home from me like you can’t stay there for two years or three years or four years without paying, it’s just not. It’s not something you can do, and so the reality is, you’ve got to go where you’re treated best. And that’s what I’m really getting at. I’ve been just really pondering this thought lately that you know businesses create liquidity, liquidity converts to assets, meaning you take that liquidity you take that cash flow that business, spinning off and then you invest it into cash flowing assets like homes etc and so businesses create liquidity. You take that liquidity and you convert it into assets and then assets long term create wealth and you’ve got to figure out in this day and age it’s more important than ever to be in areas where you can really grow where you have the freedom to do whatever it is that you feel like you need to do or want to do in life or whatever you’re called to do. And the interesting thing is, is it used to be America is the place you know to build wealth to grow. To accomplish all your dreams, the American Dream. Well, here’s the thing the American Dream might turn into the Texas dream, or it might turn into the Arizona dreamer. It might turn into the Tennessee dream or it might turn into the Florida dream. Depending on you know, whatever it is, here’s the thing the other side of this conversation. It might be the California dream, you know, if you want a place that’s going to. Tax the heck out of you and it’s hard to do business, and everything’s regulatory yet. It’s beautiful. The weather is nice, it’s great. That’s the that’s the California dream, so I have my certain dream and that’s why I say the Texas dream, the Phoenix Street or the Arizona Dream or the Florida dream. But whatever, your dream is, that’s where you need to go.
And the interesting thing that I’ll leave you with this is that we’re entering a period of time where we’re seeing competition between states and again, I don’t think it’s any longer the American dream. I think it’s going to be. It’s going to be the dream state by state, and we’re already seeing it. Texas, Arizona, Tennessee, Florida, all these states are competing to get all these businesses in you’ve heard story after story, after story about how businesses are relocating from California to Texas, because Texas is attracting them and giving them the incentives they need to go out and build whatever product it is to do whatever service they do. Businesses will not thrive in an overly regulatory environment and neither will jobs.
So you’re not a tree. Your roots are not stuck where you’re at. So if you’ve been feeling like you want to leave where you’re at, hopefully this whole concept of competition between states helps you because I think it’s going to be very, very important that we land in the places that want us to be there live where people make it to make it easy for you to do business places where you’re not overly restricted and again at the end of the day businesses create liquidity, liquidity converts to assets, and assets create wealth and in an overly regulatory environment, that’s hard to do business. You can’t create liquidity, you can’t turn that liquidity into assets and ultimately those assets can’t generate wealth if the government is trying to take it all from you, so. If you’ve been stuck or feeling stuck and just can’t figure out how to get out of there. Just start thinking through it like what is it that you really want? This is why that whole formula what do you really want? Why do you want to? What are you going to get it? Measure the results and adjust. This is why adjusting is so important, because seasons in life change.
If you would have told me 10 years ago that the states were going to be competing against each other and that we were going to be in the environment that we’re in right now, I would have called you crazy. But the reality is that seasons change and things are changing faster than ever. So you’ve got to be prepared to adjust and you’ve got to be prepared to lift those roots up and go wherever you’re treated best so, hope that helps.
