Podcast 163. Overcoming Life’s Obstacles with Mindset with Amy Sylvis

Average Joe Finances:
0:00

Hey, welcome back to the Average Joe Finances Podcast. I'm your host, Mike Cavaggioni and today's guest is Amy Sylvis. Amy, I'm super excited to have this conversation with you today. Thank you so much for joining me.

Amy Sylvis:
0:11

This is so cool. Mike, thank you so much for having me as well. What an honor.

Average Joe Finances:
0:14

Absolutely. No, the honor is mine. Speaking of that, we would like to know more about you. I'm gonna start this off the same way I start every podcast episode. So if you could please share with us your story. Who is Amy Sylvis?

Amy Sylvis:
0:26

Yes. So I am a 41 year old woman living in Los Angeles, California with my amazing husband, Joel. Both of us were born and raised in this area, and our parents still live here. I came from a very humble middle class, lower middle class background. My father's almost 70 and still does manual labor as he did all of his life and all of my life. I've been really fortunate to have a bit of a biotech background that translated later on into being a real estate syndicator. And I am the founder and CEO of Silver Capital, which invests in large commercial real estate properties throughout the United States in emerging markets. Invites folks to take advantage of our research and our experience and invest alongside us.

Average Joe Finances:
1:10

All right, fantastic. So I think it's important to point out you had mentioned your age at the very beginning, and I think it's important, there's an important reason why you mentioned your age, right? So I know that you had some you were born with a medical, a rare medical condition, right? That it makes living to this age very complicated. I know that's gotta be tough to talk about or just just a tough situation to bring up. But I think I'd like to talk about a little bit, or touch a little bit on this, because I think this touches upon your positive attitude and your positive mindset that you have to be able to overcome some of these, complications that you've had in life. If we could just talk about a little bit what is it that you were born with?

Amy Sylvis:
1:53

Yes. Thank you. I forget that it's not typical for a middle-aged woman to freely offer up her age, but I am quite proud to be 41 because I was born with cystic fibrosis. Some people, I find that most people have heard of that, but aren't quite sure exactly what it is. So what is it? It is a genetic condition that I was born with. Both my parents are silent carriers and passed on the illness to me unknowingly. And when I was born in 1981, I had this chronic cough and I wasn't gaining weight. And we received this diagnosis and my parents were told I would live to be around eight or nine years old. I actually thought the statistic was 18 or 19, and my mom just corrected me over the weekend. She said, it was eight or nine years old. To your point I love talking about how old I am because this was not expected. The illness essentially has a defect where issues with my lungs, infection after infection year after year, which led to weeks and weeks of hospitalizations that sometimes added up to months, year over year, and gradual deterioration of my lungs. It's been a bit of a wild ride, I'm not gonna lie, but thankfully a miracle medication came to the market about three years ago and completely changed my health. So I'm extremely healthy now. Without a doubt. There were a lot of trials and tribulations that came along the way having cystic fibrosis and it helped shape me though. So we can get into that if you'd like, but I'd love to share the story because I know everyone goes through things in life, so hopefully by sharing my story that could encourage others.

Average Joe Finances:
3:19

Sure. Absolutely. Now you said this miracle drug came out about three years ago, so even up to three years ago, you were still suffering with those conditions and having to be hospitalized and all.

Amy Sylvis:
3:28

Yes. Yeah. In fact, I had to medically retire in 2017 for my biotech career because I just became way too sick to hold down a W-2 job. So I was on disability not something I ever wanted to have happen, but it was, I was simply too sick to, to hold down a job. And yes, I was in and out of the hospital until right before Covid. Thank God we got the spherical medication right before the pandemic. You can imagine what that would've been like going through that without kind of a healthier set of lungs. But yeah, up until very recently, until I was 38, I was struggling quite a bit with my health.

Average Joe Finances:
4:00

Wow. Wow. A and to struggle that long throughout your whole life. And I could tell right now you're a very positive person just from this initial conversation, that and you seem very happy and I feel like that plays a part in how you were able to overcome and just, and stay strong and just fight back. And can we talk about that a little bit? Was there ever a time where you felt like, man, like I don't know if I really wanna do this anymore because this is too tough, this is too much, too many hospitalizations. What was that like for you?

Amy Sylvis:
4:30

Yeah I think there were definitely times when it almost seemed, ironically comical with how many struggles were put in my life. Obviously this isn't an illness that I have because of, choices I made in my life. It's just, circumstance and yeah things did get tough several times where I just thought, gosh, I don't see the light at the end of the tunnel. I wasn't interested in, giving up necessarily, but, Would absolutely have moments where I just thought, I don't know where I'm gonna find the strength or the willpower to say, yeah, sign me up for another day of this. And, who knows what'll come behind. You know what will be around the corner? A progressive illness is wild because by definition it's going to get tougher the longer that you live. Having mindset and, having people around me to support me was really everything.

Average Joe Finances:
5:15

Yeah. And support from other people. And now, what was it about your mindset? How did you get yourself to stay positive through such obstacles?

Amy Sylvis:
5:23

A bunch of things. I may, without getting too corny, I'm a big proponent of therapy. I was very lucky when I was a young age that my parents thought, okay, she's gonna be dealing with some, not only physical challenges, emotional things that'll come along with it. Just having someone to talk to was really helpful. Surrounding myself with other people. Obviously you can't choose your parents, but you can choose your friends and your colleagues and such, and people that would speak positivity into me. People that would remind me that there are such things as miracles. There are people that beat the odds, not just health-wise but otherwise doctors aren't psychic as science isn't always completely psychic. Obviously I'm a huge benefactor of, western medicine and I'm very grateful. Sometimes things turn out differently than we expect. So just really leaning into that and my faith as well. Helped my mindset and thus my physical health, I think tremendously.

Average Joe Finances:
6:10

Yeah, that's fantastic. So some of the things I was writing down as you're talking about this is just that on that mindset piece, you were going to therapy early on, which was really good. You had somebody talk to and vent some of these emotional frustrations that you were suffering from because of your physical condition. And then, you made a very good point. You can't choose your family, right? But you can choose the people you surround yourself with, right? You could choose your contacts, your friends who you build these relationships with, and you chose to surround yourself with positive, like-minded people that were gonna lift you up and not hold you down. So I think that is, Absolutely huge. And I think it, that also is a big part of what you do as a real estate investor as well is the people that you surround yourself with. I'd like to transition the conversation to that because I feel like we know that your mindset is already there. Like you've already got a crushing mindset. So we're there. So let's let's move on to the actual real estate piece. And, what made you decide to actually get into real estate? Was it the fact that you were medically retired in 2017? What did that look like?

Amy Sylvis:
7:13

As you can imagine, knowing that I wasn't sure how long I would live, but I also have this fiercely independent streak where, I've always wanted to be self-reliant. My parents would kill me if I ever said this to their face, but I never wanted to be a financial burden on them. I wanted to see if as an adult, despite this illness, if I could find a way to support myself, pale my bills, do all these things. So from the time I was in my early twenties, I was on this mad dash to figure out how to be self supportive, in my twenties it was, trading my time for money, getting a bigger batter job, getting my M B a again, to be able to save more money for this what felt like this inevitable train coming down the track of I'm probably gonna be too sick one day to work, so how am I gonna make sure that I can continue to pay my bills? And then as I think maybe many people will resonate with this, I read this purple book called Rich Dad Poor Dad. And I went, oh, passive income. What a mindset. So what you're saying is while I'm in the hospital trying to get better for pneumonia, I could have property management collecting rents for me and money coming in. So decoupling, this training time for money was. Was such a blessing and an eye-opener. Now it took me 10 years to get there. lots of trials and failures, but that was really the genesis of it, of I wanna be able to be my own woman, be, be able to support myself and fund my lifestyle. And yeah, had this looming health challenge that I thought would really prevent me in eventually did from my time for money with the W-2.

Average Joe Finances:
8:36

Yeah, that's the purple book? We call it The Purple Bible around here, right? Yes. So it's rich Dad, poor Dad has definitely been a a staple in our community, right? When it comes to real estate investors or just anybody that's trying to build passive cash flow and, The fact that you already had the right mindset before you even picked up that book, right? You were like in your twenties I need to figure out a way to, to grind and make this money so that I'm, I can make sure that I'm covered and I'm good when I can no longer work and all that. So you already had the, you're a goal in place. Like you already knew what that , I guess financial freedom number was going to be for you.

Amy Sylvis:
9:12

Yeah.

Average Joe Finances:
9:12

The challenge now was how do we get there? So you picked up the book and then you realized, okay, I need to do something to get this passive income. Yes. So that I can keep making money even when I'm battling illness at a time. I think that's huge right now. What made you decide that real estate, or let's just say multi-family real estate, what made you decide that was the way to go to build this passive income.

Amy Sylvis:
9:36

I love that. Impact is big to me, as you can imagine. I've been the benefactor of many people, even strangers that have decided to support me, pour into me fund research, all of those things. So having a part of my journey and my own income have positive impact was big for me. Although today I'm not exclusively a multi-family real estate, I really always wanted that to be, and did always want that to be part of my real estate journey because, Providing safe, secure, affordable housing where people can, focus on their goals and not be concerned about just basic living conditions. That's hugely impactful and I love that about what we do. So that was how I chose that space.

Average Joe Finances:
10:15

Yeah. Fantastic. So what else is, so you're not exclusive to just multi-family, what else do you invest then?

Amy Sylvis:
10:19

So we're doing triple net lease industrial as well. Really love what's going on in that space. Not the same impact per se because of course we're working with corporations, but I'm a big diversification lady, so whether that's within real estate, geographically, asset types, that's big for me. So we're enjoying that as well.

Average Joe Finances:
10:37

Yeah. Fantastic. So what kind of triple net lease. Or industrial buildings. Are you looking at are you doing like strip malls? Are you doing warehouses, anything like that? What are you doing with that?

Amy Sylvis:
10:45

Yeah, so it's Flex Industrial is actually what we have under contract right now.

Average Joe Finances:
10:49

Okay.

Amy Sylvis:
10:49

And so we've got some office and then a lot of warehousing/manufacturing in Kansas City, Missouri.

Average Joe Finances:
10:55

All right. Fantastic. Was this like a recent transition, like out of multi-family to that or are you still trying to do both or are you just gonna focus on the industrial side now?

Amy Sylvis:
11:05

Yeah, parallel tracks, multi-family. I firmly, obviously we've got the demographics in the United States as well as the supply of housing, so I'm very bullish from that point. And obviously value in terms of that we can provide to our residents. But we're also, in a space in multi-family where the debt market's a little while the feds really, set us for a loop and., something. Again, diversification I think is healthy for all of us. My portfolio included, and industrial, at least the deal we have cash flows from day one. Value add isn't, value add is just repaving the parking lot and making sure we have reserves for the chiller system. We're not, waiting for residents to vacate and doing heavy renovations like that we do in multi-family so. I think with most things there are pluses and minuses to both. I wanna have my hands in both so I can continue to grow my portfolio.

Average Joe Finances:
11:50

Yeah. That's fantastic. Okay. Let's talk a little bit about the multi-family side. Cause I know you have right now just around 60 million in assets under management, right? Yeah. Just small numbers, right? But, okay. So with that, like how were you choosing where to invest in for multi-family? Like how did you identify these emerging markets?

Amy Sylvis:
12:09

Market research is my jam. I think some would argue I spent a little too much time on it, but I just, I absolutely love it. It's like a treasure hut. So looking for, where are jobs growing, what's a business friendly city, state, environment there, where are people migrating to, right? Talk about the great migration we've experienced in the United States over the past two to three years during covid and supply constraints. Where is there a surplus? Where is there maybe a deficit of housing where we may be able to come in and serve people in that way? So we really look at a whole bunch of data points to identify these emerging markets. And it's served us and our investors incredibly well.

Average Joe Finances:
12:45

Yeah, that's a very good point too, like with everything that happened with the pandemic, with that. Everybody moving from the cities, out to the suburbs or just other areas besides being just in the city. I remember I wrote like a whole blog post about that very early on in 2020 and it just got even. not worse, but like it got even bigger since then. Yes. And just so many people just, transitioning and moving out between that and like this great resignation that we've had, with people quitting their W-2's to go and freelance and do their own thing, or, go full-time into real estate. And other ways of just building income on their own instead of having to rely on a W-2. It's really changing our economy on a much larger scale than I think we really talk about. And I feel like some of those impacts, we're not gonna feel them until a couple years from now when when we realized. Hey, there isn't somebody at the grocery store to slice the deli meats, ,it's just, that's like where we're heading. Yeah. And it, I think it's important to just pay attention to those things. But anyway, I'm gonna get off my little tangent there. Now when you got into multi-family real estate, so I know the market research that is like your jam, right? That is what you love to do. And that's fantastic. Now, did you start off as a general partner or did you get into your first multi-family deal as a limited partner? Like what? What did that look like for you?

Amy Sylvis:
14:01

Yes, so at the very beginning I wanted to start off with small multis, quadplex, triplex, that type of thing. Living in Los Angeles, I figured out very quickly that even if I could afford it, that was not something I wanted to do. It's not the most business friendly or landlord friendly environment. And then after a few kind of attempts to do a few things in Phoenix. If you're in LA what's the next best market? A few hours East Phoenix. With some failures there as well. My health getting in the way, Yes. I decided to passively invest because I realized that, what my investors tell me now. I had a full-time job. I, had other things I wanted to do, but I knew I could learn also while investing. So how, if my long-term vision was to become a general partner and run these deals on my own. It's great to read. It's great to get a mentor, but it's really powerful to have your money go to work for you and then interact with, the folks that are managing the deal to learn from them the good, bad, and the ugly. So that served me extremely well.

Average Joe Finances:
14:53

Yeah, that's fantastic that, that's where my head's at right now with what I'm doing. Cause you know, when I started investing in multi-family, I was still full-time active duty in the Navy and I felt to be a general partner I would be doing a disservice if I was trying to do that while I was still full-time in the Navy. Cause my commitment was to the Navy, right? Yeah. Yeah. And so I started pa in investing passively in real estate syndications and learning as, About it as I could, right?

Amy Sylvis:
15:18

Yes.

Average Joe Finances:
15:19

And I was fortunate enough to get with a couple really good groups, and that taught me a lot, it wasn't just Hey, yeah, invest with us. Like here's the numbers, this is what it's gonna look like. They showed me how to get deep down in the weeds Hey, here's how we did our market research. This is what we went and looked for. This is why we think this is a good value add because of A, B, C, and D that's happening. In the city and all that stuff, and I was like, oh, wow. Like it, they really got deep into the weeds for me and it was really great to be able to understand all that and learn it hands-on versus just oh yeah took this course and now I know everything about multi-family real estate. It was being able to really be in it with these guys and understand what they were doing, I think that really helped me get a better understanding. Almost all facets of multi-family. I I still don't know what I don't know.

Amy Sylvis:
16:05

Exactly. Exactly.

Average Joe Finances:
16:06

And that's the way it is for everybody, right? You don't know what you don't know. But be willing to learn, be willing to learn as you go. And I think that's super important and I'm really thankful to have this conversation with you today because it's making me realize, hey, cause I was thinking to myself, should I go as a LP or should I try to just right away, grab some partners and start my own thing and I feel a little bit more confident that I made the right choice, right? To go in as a limited partner first, see, get the runnings of how this works and, and then eventually do something on my own. So yes. Thank you for that. That's great.

Amy Sylvis:
16:36

Yeah.

Average Joe Finances:
16:36

Now, how, actually this next question is selfish, right? Because now I want to ask you what is it like, like how do you do that transition from being a limited partner into being a general partner going out and getting your own deals?

Amy Sylvis:
16:48

Yes. So my secret was I ended up being GP, CO-GP with the people I was limited partnering, investing with. It was really a matter of trying to add value without expectation of having anything in return. When I was ready not to get too in the weeds of this, but as you can imagine, I was a bit isolated during covid. I had all the time in the world because my lungs were, healthy, but I needed to still protect them., the resource I had to be able to provide was time. And so I would just consistently show up to in the inbox and phone calls to this GP team of, Hey, I've got time. How can I help? What can I take off your plate? And developing that relationship of, oh, Amy does what she says she's gonna do. Oh, she's prompt. Oh, she's trustworthy. And that relationship grew over several years to the point where when I was hunting for deals and finding, looking for people that I could bring the deal to, to co-sponsor with. I was already a known entity, a trusted entity, a partner that they knew would be valuable. And it really made that transition pretty easy. So I know that's not everybody's story, and not everyone has a ton of time or skills, but it was very intentional because we all know how important relationships and trust are in this industry.

Average Joe Finances:
17:56

Yeah, relationships, trust, and then the value that you brought to them and the value that you brought to them was the time that you could commit to helping them with, research or whatever it was that you were able to do with that time. So that's fantastic. And that's not something you hear too much about, right? Like when you're like, oh, what do you bring to the table?

Amy Sylvis:
18:13

Yep.

Average Joe Finances:
18:13

Time, right? time. Everybody needs more time, right?

Amy Sylvis:
18:16

Yes.

Average Joe Finances:
18:17

How do you get more time? So that's that's a really strong. I guess asset in your toolbox for you to use when going out there and becoming a partner with these with these other GP's as you did these co-sponsoring. Yes. Okay. Great. Now you made that transition, right? So you transitioned from being a limited partner to now going out and hunting down and finding your own deals. Now you're doing triple net leases on industrial properties, so that's fantastic. You've run like the full gamut here on the commercial side, so that's really awesome. Now there's a reason why you got into real estate, right? And I was perusing your website a little bit, right? And so I know one of the things was to make sure that you can take care of yourself and your family with what you had going on physically, right? Yeah. But also you have this This thing that you called the Five Freedoms, right? So can we talk about that a little bit? I know it was financial, geographic, Time, association, and purpose. So what are these five freedoms to you?

Amy Sylvis:
19:11

I think they're incredibly important and I think our culture, I don't know, maybe you'll agree, maybe the listeners will agree. Our culture doesn't necessarily talk about this as much as we're filtered through this school system of, go to school, get a job that's safe and secure and trade most of your waking hours, to earn that money. And I think, there's something so valuable in being able to control your time whether it's going on vacation or your hobbies or maybe giving back and volunteering and making an impact on the world. Yeah. Being around people, doing what you want, when you want, where you want for however long you want to have the impact you want on the world. So it's not to say that you can't do that with a W-2, but I think a lot of us are focused on money and generating money, especially through real estate, which I do too. That is definitely a focus, but it is simply a vehicle to be able to have more agency over our lives. And I think real estate and the cash flow that comes from it is so powerful in that respect. I love talking about it. I think it inspires a lot of people, myself included to be able to design the lives that we really love and want to live.

Average Joe Finances:
20:12

Yeah, I absolutely love that because it. When people ask me, cause I go in I'm a guest on other podcasts as well, and a lot of times people ask me, okay. What is it about financial freedom that's important to you? That's a very popular question I get Or what is financial freedom to you? And to me it, my answer always is always, time freedom. It's the financial freedom gives me the freedom to actually be free and that's a lot of freeze. But it's, that's probably the most important thing to me, is that the value that it gives me isn't the money. It's the, I don't have to worry about the money. It's the, I don't have to worry about how I'm gonna pay my bills. I don't have to worry about any of that stuff because I've got the passive income that covers that. Now I can worry about the things that are more important to me, like my family, right? Watching my daughters grow up, being with them as they grow, and I've recently retired from the Navy and it was, I'm finding now that I've been home, I've been home the past two months. And it's been quite an experience to, to actually be here with them every day. I'm not sure that they're a fan of it yet. Because they, I have a teenager and a twin, both daughters. Oh. So they're not necessarily a fan of it yet, but we're getting there. Yeah. But it's, for me, it's just this, I get this. It's just a whole different experience being with them during the day while I would've been at work because we homeschool our kids as well. So it's just been really fun and it's one of the things that I got cause I wouldn't be able to do this on my own. With just my pension from the Navy. So investing in real estate and, focusing on what I was doing on my way out the door was huge in allowing me this time freedom to pursue the things that I wanted to pursue, right? So I think that's huge, and that's why I really like the fact that you discussed these five freedoms, right? So I think that anybody that's coming to you and looking to invest with you as a limited partner or just in general, they understand that, you're the real deal, right? Like you're here to bring this freedom to help other people. And I think that's that's commendable for sure.

Amy Sylvis:
22:05

I appreciate that. I love hearing about what you've been able to do with your time freedom. I think most people would, give anything to be able to spend more time with their children. They grow fast, right?

Average Joe Finances:
22:14

Yeah, they certainly do.

Amy Sylvis:
22:15

Yeah, and in your particular situation, fathers are so important to young daughters, so maybe they're not seeing the value or the appreciation right now., those of us that are women, remember how wild it is to be that age, but without a doubt, you're making a lifelong impact, that's irreplaceable.

Average Joe Finances:
22:31

I appreciate that. There's certain things that they're happy about. I told them tomorrow I'm taking them to the water park they're happy about that. But where I wouldn't be able to do this if I was still, focused on my nine to five and really just bearing down on that. So this is one of those things that. that I get to enjoy some of the fruits of that extra labor that I was doing right. So anyway enough about that. I just wanna say that freedom is huge. It's important, and I'm really glad that's one of those things that you discuss as well. Okay, cool. Amy, I would love to transition this into something that we call the final round. It's where I'm gonna ask you the same four questions that I ask every that comes on the show. They're hard-hitting questions but I. We already know how Amy responds and reacts under pressure and in tough situations. So if you're ready to go, we'll we'll get that party started.

Amy Sylvis:
23:14

Yes, sir. Let's go.

Average Joe Finances:
23:15

All right. Let's do it. Amy, first question, what is the biggest mistake you've ever made in real estate investing?

Amy Sylvis:
23:22

Not getting with the team soon enough? I really. I'm an independent person. I think that I've got a decent amount of self-confidence, but I just didn't fully appreciate how much of a team sport this industry is. I think a lot of us may see, companies are just one person talking about their syndication or what they do, and I think our industry doesn't do a good enough job, in my humble opinion, talking. All the different partners and people that go into all of this to make it look simple enough for just one person to do. Once I finally figured out I could go further faster with a team, I was off to the races. And gosh, I wish I appreciated that years and years ago.

Average Joe Finances:
23:56

Yeah. That's really a great point and I just want to ask you like, when did you figure that out? Was it, did you happen to go to a meetup or a conference?

Amy Sylvis:
24:03

Yeah. Yeah, that's exactly right. Yeah. Yes. Got really entrenched in Yeah. Hearing people's success stories, success leaves clues, as they say and really diving deep into what exactly does it take to be successful. And that's exactly right. Oh, okay. Now I get it.

Average Joe Finances:
24:16

Yeah. That's awesome. I, because that's one of the big things that I like to focus on too when I coach people as well as the teamwork aspect, right? The building that network and building relationships is so key to being successful as a real estate investor. Yeah. So I, I think that's fantastic that, and I appreciate your transparency, that is the the biggest mistake that you made because a lot of people, don't wanna admit to certain things. And it's sometimes trying to be a lone wolf in real estate. Sure. You can go a certain distance.

Amy Sylvis:
24:42

Yeah.

Average Joe Finances:
24:42

You can only go so far. You're gonna get capped out.

Amy Sylvis:
24:44

Agree completely. Yeah.

Average Joe Finances:
24:46

Awesome. All right, Amy. All right, so the next question kind of ties into this., they all tie into each other except for the last one. But anyway, the next one is, what is something that you've learned that you wish you knew when you first started?

Amy Sylvis:
24:57

Yeah. I really didn't appreciate on the acquisition side how much to your point of being awarded a deal, and I say that word very strategically isn't necessarily about. Isn't necessarily about the terms of the deal the terms of maybe the LOI or the contract that you're looking to get into, but is about relationships. People want to know and trust the person that they're doing business with, and I didn't fully appreciate that. Maybe unlike the single family market, maybe not recently, but historically, where it's just, how much money can you give me? What does that'll look like?, your relationship with the broker and then in translation with the seller is really based on, how much you know them and the relationship that you've built and the trust that you've built out. If they don't have surety of closing, if they think you're gonna be a pain to work with, not everyone thinks that, getting top dollar for something is worth all of that. They will sacrifice price or terms to be able to do business with people that they like and they, feel comfortable around. I think I was a bit naive not understanding that, but now understanding that it's changed everything.

Average Joe Finances:
26:00

All right, fantastic. So were you saying that you were annoying them and attacking them saying, Hey, I'm the person. No, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding.

Amy Sylvis:
26:07

No, but I think it was, I was a bit more transactional.

Average Joe Finances:
26:10

Sure.

Amy Sylvis:
26:10

I'm out in Los Angeles trying to buy a deal in Tennessee during Covid, I wasn't flying out and, I just thought, Hey, they're busy. Like, why do I wanna call them? I can be a chatty Cathy. Do I wanna call? Get to know them on a personal level. I just figured, I'm not gonna bother them. This is what I have to offer. I'll be a bit more transactional as it turns out.

Average Joe Finances:
26:26

Yeah.

Amy Sylvis:
26:26

My default and leaning into truly who I am about caring people about people and getting to know folks is actually beneficial in a lot of scenarios. So I lean into that now.

Average Joe Finances:
26:36

Yeah, that's fantastic that I'm very much the same way. I'm like a social butterfly. Yeah. I gotta get out there and talk to people. I absolutely love it. Very much an extrovert. And I can tell you are too, so I'm sure when you started going out to meetups, you were probably just like all over the place, which is fantastic. All right, great. Let's get into the next question, Amy, and that is, do you have any tips or tricks that you would recommend. To someone that is just getting started out today?

Amy Sylvis:
27:01

Yes. We talked about this at the very beginning of the podcast, I think, and it is, you really become the people that you surround yourself with. We are social animals by default to fit into the group. We subconsciously start morphing into people that we're around. We really do our thoughts, our actions. All of those things are beliefs, really follow the people that we're around. To your point, meetups, getting mentors, even just people within the space. Find your tribe, pick them, based on your values, based on your goals. And yeah, don't be afraid to be around people that are more successful than you, or that maybe you're a bit intimidated because you don't quite know or feel like you have the knowledge or experience. You belong in the room, you belong in groups of people that are successful. So I really think really picking who you're around can change your life completely.

Average Joe Finances:
27:51

Yeah, a hundred percent. This, it's a very popular saying, and I've said it on this podcast several times, but if you surround yourself with five millionaires, you're bound to be the six millionaire, right? It's what you hear all the time. Just surround yourself with like-minded people that have similar goals and aspirations to. You're gonna follow them and be successful. Sure. You can go out there and you can see people that have been doing this for 20, 30 years. And really look up to them and say, that's who I wanna be. But if you're getting yourself involved with people that maybe started a year or two before you, they're like your peers. Right? Yeah. And you're like, man, I wanna do what they did. I wanna keep just following in their footsteps. And you can eventually be at the same level at them as them, or even surpass them, depending on how aggressive you go into it. Yeah. But that's one of the things I tell people as well, like when you go to these meetups and you're networking and you're meeting these individuals, it's great to have a mentor that's been doing this for 20 years, right?

Amy Sylvis:
28:42

Yeah.

Average Joe Finances:
28:43

But don't go to them and asking them for advice on how to invest in the market today. Because when they first started, it was way different 20 years ago than what the person that's next to you that started a year ago or two years ago they could probably give you more actionable advice to help you move along there. So that's awesome.

Amy Sylvis:
29:00

Brilliant. I love that.

Average Joe Finances:
29:02

All right. All right. Hey Amy, I have one more question for the final round.

Amy Sylvis:
29:06

Yeah.

Average Joe Finances:
29:07

And this one is different than the other ones. It's more of an opinion piece but I think it's very helpful and useful for a listener. Do you have a favorite business investing or real estate related book or podcast or both?

Amy Sylvis:
29:19

This, okay. I'm hoping this qualifies. It is an investing related book. I think I'm a big macroeconomics and monetary history nerd. So there is a book called The Creature from Jekyll Island by G. Edward Griffin. It is a long read, but it is really worth it because I think the more all of us understand the greater financial market the global economy. As I think Winston Churchill said, the further you look into the past, the more into the future you can see. And I think it's a really powerful book that's informative and isn't necessarily talked about enough. So I hope that qualifies.

Average Joe Finances:
29:56

It does, because this is actually the second time somebody has mentioned that book on this podcast. I can't remember who the first person was. If I go through my notes, I could probably find out. But yeah, this is the second time I've heard that book mentioned. Yes, it definitely qualifies. I have not read it, no. But now that I've heard it for the second time, it's gonna get added to my list.

Amy Sylvis:
30:14

Awesome.

Average Joe Finances:
30:14

I don't how far back on the list it's gonna go. Cause you said it's a very long book. I try not to read no. Like books that are too long. Yeah. When it comes to like fiction stuff, I was reading Game of Thrones and I actually had to stop on the third book because it was, a song of ice and fire. It was just, it was way too long. I can't read a thousand pages. Yeah. In one book. It's ridiculous.

Amy Sylvis:
30:30

Yeah.

Average Joe Finances:
30:31

But yes, anything that is going to help me self-help or help me with understanding economics a little bit better, that is something that's important to me. So that's a longer book that I would probably bite the bullet and say, okay, I'll read that. Yeah I'm adding that one to the list.

Amy Sylvis:
30:45

Good. It'll be in your top five of any book you've ever read in your life. Guaranteed.

Average Joe Finances:
30:49

Really.

Amy Sylvis:
30:49

Come back. I'll tell you to the listeners as well. I guarantee it. It's gonna change everything.

Average Joe Finances:
30:54

Maybe, maybe I'll have to move it up higher on the list then.

Amy Sylvis:
30:56

No pressure.

Average Joe Finances:
30:57

Sooner than later. Yeah. No pressure.

Amy Sylvis:
30:58

No pressure.

Average Joe Finances:
30:59

Pressure. Okay. Awesome. All right Amy, I just wanted to ask you, so that's it for the final round. Was there anything else that you wanted to cover today? I think we touched on everything and I'm really excited about about getting this episode out.

Amy Sylvis:
31:09

Appreciate it. No, I think we covered it all. I really appreciate it. You're a great interviewer.

Average Joe Finances:
31:12

Awesome. Oh, thank you so much. Now I do have one more question for you though. Yeah. So I fib there because this one is the most important question of all.

Amy Sylvis:
31:20

Yes.

Average Joe Finances:
31:20

And this is gonna be, for my listeners mostly because they're sitting here listening to this conversation saying, wow, Amy has truly overcome and beaten the odds in many facets of her life. We've learned so much just from this initial conversation, but we wanna learn more about Amy and what she does, or we wanna learn more about you knows capital and all of that. So where can people find that information about you your company, what you're doing? Do you have a website you can share with us? Social media, anything like that?

Amy Sylvis:
31:52

Yes, both. Thank you so much. sylviscapital.com is where you can find me. I know it's a little bit of a different spelling last name, but I'm pretty positive, Mike. We'll put that in the show notes. And then I'm also extremely active on LinkedIn. If you're not on LinkedIn, there's a lot of value there that folks like myself and other people in the industry love to post and just provide information that can be informative to you on your journey. So definitely send me a connection request. I'd love to interact with people and help any way I can.

Average Joe Finances:
32:18

Fantastic, Amy, thank you so much. And yes, I will have all those links in the show notes to make it easy for everybody that's listening. So you can either click or copy and paste away. Just don't do it while you're driving. All right, so Amy, thank you so much. This was truly a fantastic interview. I had a great time talking with you.

Amy Sylvis:
32:36

Likewise. Thanks Mike. Appreciate you so much.

Average Joe Finances:
32:39

Absolutely. And hey, to my listeners, thank you so much for joining me and our special guest, Amy Sils, on the average Joe Finances podcast. Go leave us a five star review and tell us what you liked about today's episode with Amy Aloha from Hawaii and have a great rest of your day.

Amy Sylvis:
32:53

Bye!