I Know What It Feels Like to Be Scared About Money
In 1982, I was 35 years old and a bankrupt auto mechanic in Jacksonville, Florida. Four kids. A mountain of bills. No connections, no experience, no savings and no credit. The prime rate was around 16%, and everybody said real estate was dead.
One night Beverly and I got into an argument over a washing machine. She wanted a new one. I wanted to fix the old one, because I didn't have the $150. I went to bed mad and woke up realizing what an idiot I was. My wife only wanted to wash clothes for our four kids, and I wanted to argue with her over 150 bucks.
Then I saw an ad: "Learn How to Buy Houses Without Money or Credit." My first thought? Total scam. But something kept gnawing at me. When they asked for $450 to attend the weekend training, I didn't have it. I borrowed it from two friends.
Three weeks later, I had my first check for $3,000. I called my boss and said, "I'm upping my income… up yours!"
Forty-plus years later, I've bought and sold more than 3,000 houses and helped train more than 500,000 students. I've never used my own money, never guaranteed a loan on a house and never broken a promise to a seller or a buyer. I still do deals today, and I still teach Quick Start myself.

