Rising Up Through Rough Times
In middle school, KAYR saw what was happening all around him. He talks about living in a studio apartment with 11 people, with a sheet hung up in place of a real bathroom door and a hot-plate in lieu of a stove. KAYR recalls the people in his neighborhood – the homeless, the single parents, the struggling business owners, the drug dealers, the bus-drivers. He had the foresight to realize that eventually these people would have to be replaced by the next generation, and also realized he didn’t want to be any one of those things.
Eyes Set on Real Estate & Education
Having had so much experience moving from one run-down apartment to another, he figured out what he should be – a landlord. After all, he laughs, he had a PhD in being a tenant. At age 13, KAYR hit the books, reading everything he could about real estate, wealth, and investing, he notes, at both the library at UPenn and Barnes & Noble. He admits the didn’t start getting serious about school until high school and started studying hard and applying himself. He saved his money and purchased Certificates of Deposit in high school. When he told his mother he was interested in the stock market, she said he couldn’t to that “on her dime and her watch until he was 18,” he jokes. KAYR would become the valedictorian of his high school and received a scholarship to Bowdoin College in Maine. He was the first person in his family, siblings, and peers to even go to college. He interned on Wall Street during the summers. He then went on to receive his MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. After business school, he went to work at Goldman Sachs.
Not Self-Made, Community-Made
‘I didn’t have a mentor or a guru to look up to growing up, says KAYR. My community and church collectively helped lift me up, he says. To most of us, KAYR is self-made, but he points out that he is not self-made; he is community-made. I was part of a small poor black church, says KAYR. “They didn’t have money to give me, but I was surrounded with love and prayers from them.” The people around me didn’t have much, but they gave me what they had. He goes on to say – you go to work to get a paycheck; you go to school to get your education; and you go to your family and your close friends to get love. My family, friends, and neighbors ‘they poured into me’ and watched over me, and prayed for me. They enabled me to take it to the next level. I did have teachers though that also helped in, and tutored me along the way. KAYR played sports, worked after school, and sought knowledge from others along the way.
The Three D’s
KAYR says he’s seen his loved ones go through a lot of hardship. His stepfather used to tell him – “Don’t be an eff up. Don’t be like me.” You can apply what you know works. KAYR says a lot of us know what works, but we don’t apply ourselves. KAYR goes on to talk about the ‘three D’s.’ The three D’s are Desire, Discipline, and Determination. After you get the desire and discipline down, the determination follows. And they can be taught says KAYR. Our job as coaches and teachers is to help people unlock these gifts and realize their potential. KAYR says it first starts with teaching young folks about desire, and then you teach them about discipline – and how to break up big projects into a series of small ones and achieve them. Then in order to be determined, you have to figure out what motivates you. KAYR also notes that in his own life, he wasn’t trying to win anyone else’s race; he was trying to win his own race.
Investment Real Estate, Consulting & Early Retirement
In 2009, KAYR bought his first investment property. By 2018, he owned nine rental units. In 2019, he owned 35 units, and by 2020 he grew his units to 105. KAYR had purchased 70 units in the midst of a pandemic and was able to retire in August 2020 at 37 years old. Shortly thereafter, he co-founded KAYJAY Consulting with a former student he had coached, Joe Meares.
Are you interested in learning how to invest in homes and apartment complexes? Check out KAYJAY’s virtual and in-person bootcamps, one-on-one coaching, and Mastermind Groups for real estate investors? Check out https://www.kayjayconsulting.net/ Also, be sure to watch this inspiring real estate podcast on the Casandra Properties YouTube channel Read the Casandra Properties blog daily for real estate trends, home-tips, listings and more!
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