Your House is on Fire (...not really)
At 2AM this is the phone call I received...
“Tyler… this is the Columbus fire department. Your house is on fire”
This is how some of you may feel right now.
Your House is on Fire. 🔥
Overwhelmed with the Holiday season & New Year — lack of cash & accumulating debts — cost of living skyrocketing & living paycheck to paycheck, paying too much in Taxes — WW3 on the horizon — the fear mongering list goes on…
Sometimes I feel like we are doing this All For Nothing
Kinda feels like you’re running on a treadmill. You’re running hard, but you’re getting no where fast.
Can you relate or ever felt this way? Good
You can’t relate or never felt this way? Good. Unsubscribe because I know you are lying.
Again, if you can relate now or at some point in your life…
You have no choice.
No choice but to make change or a choice continuing to be the victim.
The choice is yours.
It is painful. It is tough to keep running the race, especially if it is someone else’s race. Most people stop running the last mile. Don’t be that person. Be the one who changes course & turns the Pain into Purpose.
Run your own race.
Years ago, I felt like the world was out to get me.
I felt like it was the fault of my small town upbringing. It was the coach’s fault why I did not play in the game, the school’s fault for not teaching me about money, business, investing or my bosses fault for assigning me the most difficult tasks.
I always allowed my circumstances dictate the outcome of my race. In reality, I was just running someone else’s race.
I was a victim.
Victim’s always have something to blame in their life. They say things like,
“that’s to expensive", “well, my parents did not give me money to buy whatever I wanted or a Trust Fund”, “I wish school would have taught us that”
blah blah blah no one f*cking cares.
Do you want to become the Victor and end being the Victim?
Let me share this story with you real quick…
A couple of weeks before my 21st birthday in 2016, I took a massive risk to drop out of my dream college, The Ohio State University & pursue a career in the mortgage industry.
A couple of months into my career, I purchased my 1st investment property.
It was a duplex (2 unit) property. It was the perfect ‘house hack’ investment opportunity to begin building my desired real estate investment portfolio.
The small town kid thought he had it all figured out. Oh boy, I was wrong
(…hang in there the story gets better…)
A ‘house hack’ is a real estate term in which you live in the property as your primary residence and rent out the other units and/or bedrooms to tenants (or friends) to earn additional cash-flow — ideally live for free, too.
Also, I was able to utilize a 1st time buyer’s loan to secure grant money from the state of Ohio to cover the down payment. I was $0 out of pocket, covered all the expenses: (mortgage payment, taxes, insurance, etc) earned cash-flow from the tenants in the unit next door — a buddy of mine lived in one of the extra bedrooms in my unit & paid rent. I lived for free, earned extra passive cash-flow from rents, captured big tax advantages by owning real estate, all while building equity value in the property…
These benefits are a few reasons why many people tune into my podcast show, All For Nothing and join my Inner Circle Community — I help people change the course of their financial destiny, keep & invest more of their hard earned money by leveraging tax loopholes, gaining access to capital and build more streams of income.
Back to the story…
Shortly after taking massive risk by dropping out of college and
(everyone thought I was crazy, well… they still do, but their opinions are irrelevant) settling into my new home — I was setting company records, earning nearly 4X the household income, and trailblazing the way for ‘friends’ to leverage my name to interview & join the company in effort to build their life changing careers.
Life was good.
The underdog kid from small town Mechanicsburg, Ohio had it all figured out — again, I could not have been more wrong.
It had been a long work week, the gloomy midwest winter was finally breaking and some buddies of mine were coming to town for the weekend to attend the infamous Arnold Classic.
We had planned going to the gym in the morning, attend the Arnold Classic event during the day, go out to dinner & hop around at some local bars.
Pretty normal weekend for a 21 year old.
It was getting late and the bar was nearing it’s ‘last call’ — instead of trying to consume just as much alcohol the last 20 mins or so that we did the last couple of hours, I ordered an Uber to drive my friends to their Hotel and then I was heading back to my home to call it a night.
We arrived at the Hotel & my friends convinced me to join them for one more drink at the Hotel bar.
The clock strikes 2AM.
As I am painfully chugging the last tequila shot, I feel my leg vibrate.
Nope, not what you are thinking… there are other Apps online to get that kind of dirty minded content from the loose pocket change in your jacket or from your couch.
(lol it is a joke & if you can’t joke around, then I’d encourage to immediately unsubscribe)
My vibrating leg was my phone ringing… I grab my phone, look at it and it was a phone call from a blocked phone number.
I hesitated answering the call… hmm, this is odd.
Then, I answered the call…
- Me: “Hello?”
- Unknown Caller: “Tyler?
- Me: “Yes. Who is this?
- Caller: “This is the Columbus Fire Department… we have you as the owner of 156 Olentangy St — correct?”
- Me: “Yes. Why?” (*I immediately knew something was bad… very very very bad)
- Unknown Caller: “Someone broke into your house and lit it on fire. We need you to come here immediately.”
My stomach dropped, my throat tightened and my thoughts went into chaos.
My friends knew something was wrong. I am sure my face looked like I had just seen a ghost. I immediately ordered an Uber to my home.
The 10 minute ride felt like eternity.
All I could think of during the ride is when I was 8 years old… when my entire life changed forever.
Hearing my 2nd grade teacher take a call from her desk, looking up at me and demanding me to immediately go to the Principal’s office.
Similar to the phone call I received, I was a confused, scared little kid trying to figure out what was going on…
Once I arrived at the Principal’s Office, I was guided to a random enclosed room, crowded with a few police officers & school staff members… then I really knew something was wrong — I see my Mother.
I forever have the look of her face burned into my memory. Her face looked like she had just seen a ghost, eyes filled with tears and then I hear a loud screech come from her mouth as my two siblings and I simultaneously enter the room together.
My Mother had to break the nightmare news to her 3 children that their Father had Died earlier that morning in a tragic house fire.
20 years later the pain of losing my Father still cuts deep.
Adversity is inevitable. It will make you or break you.
You can turn the pain into purpose or your lack of purpose can become painful.
Regardless of the circumstances, you have a choice.
No choice.
No choice but to turn the pain into purpose — even if your House is on Fire
No, no, no… especially if the House is on Fire!
What are you going to do? Sit there, do nothing and let the flames engulf you?
Doing nothing is a choice. Doing nothing is what a Victim would do. Victims are Peasants. They are slaves to their circumstances.
They say losing a parent as a child is one of the most traumatic experiences for a human. Studies estimate that 5% of children in the United States (~1.5 million) lose one or both parents by age 15. Additional data revealed many negative outcomes associated with a child losing a parent, such as: increased likelihood of substance abuse, greater vulnerability to depression, higher risk of criminal behavior, school underachievement and lower employment rates.
As you may know — most, if not all of our trauma stems from our childhood.
Is the stem of painful trauma going to uproot itself in every aspect of your life & eliminate your God given purpose?
OR
Is that stem of painful trauma going to ignite the fire for your desire?
Men lie, women lie, numbers don’t.
I was supposed to be a statistic.
I could have allowed my Father’s death to be the reason why my circumstances dictated my race. That’s what a Victim peasant would do.
I could have allowed the months of interrogations with local authorities & the insurance company, jumping around every couple of days to a new AirBnB property with my head on a swivel thinking someone was out on a mission to kill me, & pressure from my Boss & work colleagues to keep performing to dictate my race.
That’s what a Victim peasant would do.
Instead of allowing circumstances & my environment (people, places & things) dictate my race — I turned my pain into purpose. That’s what a Victor does.
During the trials & tribulations of essentially being homeless when my house was caught on fire, losing everything — I experience many restless & sleepless nights.
Scrolling through my phone late at night in bed, I found this quote from a renowned Chinese philosopher, Lao Tzu:
“Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny.”
This quote is a great reminder we are in full control, regardless of the circumstances.
The control starts in the mind.
The mind creates the message.
The message is the mission.
(I created this motto so please give me a shoutout if you ever use it, my ego would appreciate it)
Most things are not our fault, but everything is our responsibility.
Instead of being upset about having to pack up my few clothes every couple of days to check into the new AirBnB to make sure someone was not following me around to potentially kill me — I realized the impactful & profitable business model of short term rentals.
Learning this opportunity years ago, before it became a mainstream real estate business model, I had an early head start on accumulating information & properties, integrating systems & processes, built a team & infrastructure, and eventually coached hundreds of my clients over the years to be able to do the same — regardless of their level of experience or amount of money they have saved up.
This is just one of the measurable benefits from my home being broken into and lit on fire — losing everything.
Oh yeah by the way, I know who did it & who you are — after many months of investigation, I was caught in a crossroads with a choice to make…
- Do I expose this person for their actions and they go to trial to face the consequences?
- Or do I not do anything in case I am wrong & face consequences of false accusations?
I chose the latter —
Why do you ask?
Silence is loud — I would prefer they suffer from my success.
This is the message that needed to be sent. In fact I’ve learned over the years… this is arguably the best form of communication — zero communication.
The cold shoulder. Nothing to say, but everything to watch & witness.
Sometimes you have to lose everything for new life to grow.
This methodology is what I like to refer to as Controlled Burns.
Fires are used as a tool by foresters to replenish nature & enrich mother nature’s soil.
Weird, huh? That’s not what the News says… Don’t believe me?
Studies confirm a controlled burn off or even a naturally occurring burn off is beneficial for wildlife, forest management, fire suppression, farming, prairie restoration or even greenhouse gas abatement.
Nothing is coincidence.
‘Controlled Burn’ — the terminology itself & benefits to life — no coincidences.
You… We… are in full control — even if your house is on fire & you lose everything.
This is the fresh start you’ve been seeking to ensure you are not doing this life
All For Nothing.
My name is Tyler Bossetti — Host of a top performing podcast, All For Nothing.
And I coach people & consult business owners in my Inner Circle Community.
My mission is to ensure people are not doing it All For Nothing.
You are not alone. Let’s connect — Text Me: +1 (614) 660-5921
If you feel like it, send this over to someone you love & appreciate.