RG 151 – The Great Escape from Corporate America with Paul Thompson
Paul Thompson is a qualified engineer and after a life in the corporate world in 2015 we decided he needed to leave. He started buying rental properties to create a passive income and then built up from there. In his first 18 months he did 20 deals and now he has 24 properties in his portfolio, all done without bank financing. Paul teaches people how to raise money from other people to invest in deals and he hosts the podcast Ready Investor One. Paul made his first dollar when he worked at a BBQ restaurant scrubbing pots, frying and working the cash register.
Paul followed the plan that he assumed he had to follow and went to college, qualified as an engineer, left and got a job in Little Rock, Arkansas where he worked for 15 years. It was at this point that he realized his ‘ladder was on the wrong wall’ when he was on holiday with his family but had to come home for his job when the rest of the family had the time and money to stay on holiday for longer. He realized his job was holding him back from spending time with his family so he calculated that he needed $5000 per month in passive income to cover all of life’s expenses and quit his job. This has allowed his to realized his goal of spending more time with his family; he used to have a goal to be a property tycoon but then realized how much work and time that would take and it wasn’t what he actually wanted.
After the financial work was under control he started getting into teaching and consulting and really enjoyed giving advice, he realized that people were willing to pay to be educated by him. Paul now does group work and 1-2-1 coaching on the subject of real estate investing. Paul says he’s not actually passionate about real estate as a topic but he’s good at it and loves teaching. He approaches his business with a mindset of service and his mission statement is to empower busy professionals to transition out of exchanging their time for money so that they can invest in their future and create a life of their design. Paul’s tip for success is to find a likeminded tribe of people because your success in life is correlated to the expectations of your peer group. You should aim to feel like the most stupid person in the room because then you’re always being challenged and stretched by the people around you.
Paul’s tips for 3 investments to make this month to set you up for future wealth
- Invest in yourself – Intellectual wealth like podcasts, blogs etc
- Invest in your network – surround self with likeminded people who are rooting for your success
- Invest in assets – Real estate, businesses, stocks, etc
Top Tips
- Most important habit – Getting up at same time and doing his morning routine
- Most influential person – His wife
- Most important tool – Social media
- Contact – Pauldavidthompson.com