Adam Whitney (00:00.893)
Welcome back to the Seven Figure Flipping Podcast. I'm your host, Adam Whitney, and I'm excited to bring an amazing guest today, a friend and somebody who I work with pretty closely that literally works with my kids. And why would I have somebody on a flipping podcast that works with our kids? Because I think we all start the entrepreneur path to become free. Free time, free.
Financially, lots of reasons we become free. And what parent doesn't want their kids to be in a better position than they are faster? And that's exactly what we've been tackling in the seven-figure flipping community with all of our members' kids and people even beyond that. So my guest today is Carolina Perez, and she's been an education in the school system for 21 years before becoming a successful entrepreneur.
And now she leads the kids in a program called Teenage Tycoon and she teaches for all kinds of people's kids on how to be entrepreneurs, how to be financially literate, and how to bec how to get your freedom. Carolina, welcome to the show.
Carolina (01:14.754)
Hey Adam, nice to see you. Thanks for having me.
Adam Whitney (01:17.383)
I'm so excited about this conversation. So you've got 21 years in education, tons of education yourself, master's degree. You've been through the entire system on both sides of it. You've you've been on the kind of steady paycheck life. And yet we people are still unfulfilled. Like why would when did that click for you that you wanted some like something different, some type of freedom?
When did it click for you that entrepreneurship and like just tell me that point in your life and why you chose this path?
Carolina (01:54.764)
Yeah, so I am first generation here. my parents were born and raised in Mexico and so they came here to give us a better life. And the the dream was you go to college, you get the degrees, and you pick a career and you just do that for the rest of your life, right? And so that's what I was told from a very young age. what do you want to be when you grow up? Most kids are asked that. And so I wanted to be a teacher and I thought I was gonna be a teacher for the rest of my life. but then life happens and things you get, you know
you have a plan until you get punched in the face and then you realize, wow, I need to have options and I need to be able to pivot. for me it was I used to volunteer at Camp Ronald McDonald charity houses. Have you heard of that that charity?
Adam Whitney (02:34.06)
yeah.
Carolina (02:35.053)
Yeah, and so when I was a volunteer there and I was a counselor, I got to meet a lot of families and hear their stories. And one of the things that a sea a seed that was really planted for me was hearing these family stories about, you know, they did all the right things. They got the credentials, they got the degrees, they went and got the steady paycheck and the job.
And then they got punched in the face, right? They had a kid that unfortunately was diagnosed with cancer, and all of a sudden they found themselves in this really impossible situation between having to pick, do I go to work or do I go with my kid to the hospital to get chemo treatment? And so hearing so many family stories about having that impossible choice in front of them, really planted that seed for me of thinking beyond just the steady paycheck and beyond just what is this degree getting me with this with this job. and then
You know, fast forward a couple years later, my niece was actually diagnosed with cancer. And watching my own brother struggle with that and seeing how he had to choose. They both had steady jobs. You know, they w they worked for my my brother was a sheriff, my sister-in-law was a nine one dispatcher, and
They had to have that impossible choice. Do they show up for work? Do they go with their kid to go get chemo, spinal taps, all the things that she went through? And so seeing my own family go through that struggle, again, it was like planting that seed of like, what are we doing to actually build wealth and give ourselves options when things like that happen? so you go into life with a plan, but things are gonna happen, and so how are you setting yourself up? and then not just ourselves, so once we were able to do enough to kind of get that financial freedom.
How are now we setting our kids up to even do better than us? Right. And so that was really important for us to be able to to teach our kids the things that we had to stumble through and figure out on our own.
Adam Whitney (04:22.142)
Yeah, I think there's there's probably two people listening to this. You've got person one who is probably in nine to five or trying to figure out how to build their business, and they haven't yet cracked the code on freedom, but they're trying to. They certainly know and wish they had started earlier. They wish they had learned about entrepreneurship, about building wealth, about financial literacy earlier. Probably their parents.
didn't teach them. So a lot of them are trying to put their mask on first. And then the second person has been on the other side of it, got a taste of the freedom, built something meaningful, got y you know, started to educate and and build wealth, and they can see clearly the value of it and why it changes, kinda like you, why it changes everything. But I think both people want their kids
To have an opportunity earlier. So what for for those people, either of those two people, how how would what would you tell them having helped coach and mentor so many teens on, you know, hey, your parents were here, they have you here for a reason, this is why. Like, what are you telling those parents?
Carolina (05:46.178)
Yeah, I mean definitely I mean I I think about it this way. Even the most elite successful people that we know of have coaches, have mentors, have community. That's how we are able to build ourselves up and be able to keep moving forward. Because life is hard and we got a lot of things coming at us all the time. And so
I think about like my own kids and what I want to be able to teach and model for them. But I think about who are who is their circle, who is their sphere, and who is their influence. A lot of parents they think, and I was, I I'm one of these, right? I thought if I get my kid in a great performing school district at a great school, they're gonna crush it and they're gonna be set. Right? And then the reality hits in of wait a minute, if I did that and I'm struggling.
Why would I think that the road would be different for my kids? And so really thinking through like school is is great and getting them into a private school or a high performing school, I think most parents think if I just do that or they go to college, they'll be set up. But really, the world that we grew up in is not the world our kids are growing up in. And things are changing so drastically and so quickly that we gotta think what what other options can we give our kids and how do we set them up so that they have the financial literacy, so that they
Have the mindset and the understanding of that there's different ways to build wealth and the importance of building wealth. And so whether you are in a nine to five yourself or you've gotten on the other side of that and you have some financial freedom, I think the one common ground is that we want our kids to understand the mindset behind the what it takes in order to get that financial freedom, the work ethic, the mindset, but also the knowledge and the in having the confidence to be able to do.
Do those things. And so how do we set our kids up for that? and who are the people that are influencing your kids? And so really looking at the day-to-day of who your kids are interacting with, you know, they got teachers, they got coaches, things like that, but are those people setting them up for that financial secure future that we all want our kids to have? and so school, I always say, we got some amazing teachers out there, we got some amazing programs out there, but it's just incomplete, right? They're really focusing on those core subjects.
Carolina (08:00.002)
They're focusing on state standards and what's gonna be tested at the end of the year. You know, those you take your kids probably they take those state tests at the end of the year, they prep, right, they write you those notes, make sure they get enough sleep and they eat their breakfast and all those things because they want the kids to perform really well on those state exams.
Because a lot of funding is tied to that, right? And so schools are very incentivized to really focus on those core subjects, but they're not prioritizing that financial literacy and teaching our kids those skills that are going to actually be really important for them, right? Like what's an interest rate, what's a credit card, what's a high yield savings account, what's an investment, what's an asset versus a liability, like these really important concepts that are gonna be able to build their financial future. It's just not focused on in the school districts or even private schools or things like that.
And so what are we doing as parents to be able to complete their education and make it well rounded and so our kids are being able to be exposed to that community and to those to that education and the importance of that. And so wherever you find yourself on that side.
Adam Whitney (09:00.286)
Yeah, it's like it's it that that that's such a good point because it's like those kids know what they know and those parents know what they know. It's like the the whole school system's built in an industrial age model. It's pumping high volume of kids through a standardized process, and we've learned that.
you know, learning doesn't happen in an industrial model like it does. everybody learns differently, we know that. And then from an entrepreneur wealth and like how to go from one social economic class to another, like that that that means you need exposure to new things. Because what got you in that social economic class won't get you in the next class. And it certainly won't get your kids there if they don't ever get exposure to them.
Carolina (09:40.973)
Correct.
Carolina (09:49.453)
Correct. Yeah.
Adam Whitney (09:49.781)
You know, so to me the question for the parent is can I get them exposure to what is out there? Like can I put in the room with somebody doing a hundred million dollars a year? Can I introduce them to other ways people are building wealth outside of going to get a degree in college and building up a whole bunch of college debt? And I think that's smart. And then I think some some parents, Carolina, are like, Well, I'm already an entrepreneur and my c my kids are
just watching me build and I'm leading by example. But I think I've heard you say this and I know you talk about this. It's not the same same as learning the how. And plus we all know our kids hear one thing from us and if somebody else tells them the same thing, they tend to start to take it more seriously. I call that the second witness, you know? So so talk to me a little bit about, you know, us modeling the behavior, but why they need something more.
Carolina (10:47.681)
Yeah, so so our kids are always watching us, right? And so I always say w when I was going on my own journey of trying to teach my own kids, I thought, I'm a I'm an educator, I'm a teacher, I got this, I can teach my own kids. I I chose to start homeschooling my kids a few years ago. And so I thought I had that in the bag, right? But here's the thing, it's such an important message that financial literacy and what I'm teaching them and how to understand asset liability, how to analyze the deal, things like that. They're holding it with the same weight as go clean your room.
Or go help wash the dishes or go do the laundry, right? Because they're like, mom and dad are talking at me again. And so there is no truth beyond our house, right? They're like, this is what mom and dad talk about. They're talking at me again. When they are exposed to a community, when they have other mentors, when they're sitting in the room, like I said, with these really successful business owners, people that have accomplished really great things. When they see, you know, when my kids first met Bill Allen and they be they were like, What? He owns his own farm, he has his own
own chickens, he has his like short-term rentals, he has his businesses. They were so impressed by that that the weight of what he said, even though it was the same thing that my husband and I were telling them, all of a sudden it became real for them, right? And it also validated everything my husband and I have been trying to teach them for years. And so getting to meet these different mentors, being around other teens who already flipping houses, selling storage units, you know, selling of livestock, things like that. And they're seeing peers
Making their own income, being active investors, and then building their own wealth, man, it just makes it so normal for them, right? Make being a millionaire is a normal thing for my kids. It's not something that is unattainable or that's way out there because of the exposure in the environment. So
What you're exposed to, the people you're around with, becomes your standard and your normal. So if your kids are not exposed to those types of concepts and people and seeing the the reality of it, then it seems something that's really far away, right? And so the it's so important to have that community and that support and have that exposure. Even from a really young age, right? My daughter, I started bringing her around Teenage Tycoon when she was like nine years old, she was really little.
Carolina (13:07.215)
But I knew just having the exposure, she's 11 now and she's light years ahead of her peers, how she thinks about money, how she understands how it's a tool, her wealth building, being able to set goals for herself, and being able to break that down into okay, how many things do I need to sell in order to purchase this? How much can I of that can I donate? How much of that do I put back into my Roth? And so just at 11 years old, being able to have that mindset is most things that kids are not even.
some adults aren't even thinking about, right? So it makes me really excited for their future because of that exposure. And so the importance of that community is is really is really big.
Adam Whitney (13:44.765)
Massive. It's absolutely massive. And I think what's interesting with with us as parents and our kids is we're on a clock. You know, how many times have you heard I only have you know four summers left with my kids? Or but eighteen is a number that is inevitable. It's inevitable. And that's when they become adul an adult and there are things that change at eighteen. you know, so I think
As an entrepreneur and being on this side of it, we're always talking about why speed of decision making, why starting, getting started, right? 'Cause nothing moves until you get started. Why all that's important. How do you view the timeline for kids and kind of the clock that they're on?
Carolina (14:33.195)
Yeah, I think kids are so capable. I think more so I think we underestimate their abilities and what they're able to do. and how
What we expect from them and the standards that we set for them is extremely important. And so that 18-year-old, that clock is a real clock at 18. They can go get a credit card, they can go start getting student loans, they can start making some real financial mistakes at that point if they don't truly understand and know how to navigate the system. And honestly, Adam, the system is built to put us in debt. I mean, you think about it from the moment
Eternity, think about how many credit card envelopes you get every single day, right? Like, apply for a credit card. I get so many calls about loans, and like it's we are literally set up to be in debt so that we can pay those high interest rates and have like, you know, be be stuck in that, in, in, in that system. And so you have a system that is working against our kids, and you have a system that is not teaching our kids how to navigate that, you're asking for that chaos, right? It's not even their own fault.
It's just the way it's it's it's built. And so at 18 they can make some real financial mistakes that they're gonna be paying for for a really long time. being in education for so long, I worked with some really smart people, like psychologists and speech therapists and other administrators and staff. I can't tell you how many of them
are still paying student loans to the point that it's a mortgage payment, they can't even buy a house. They can't even be a primary homeowner. It's crazy, right? 'Cause they're literally paying fifteen hundred two grand a month on just student loans to get the credential to be in the the d the job that they're in.
Adam Whitney (16:08.788)
Crazy.
Carolina (16:19.959)
But they can't even afford to buy their own house, right? They're they're spending all this money on rent and you're just stuck in like a hamster wheel because you're paying all your money on rents, you're paying all your money on interest rates, and you're and you're just kind of stuck and you're not able to get out of that. And so seeing that myself, I'm like, no, I don't want that for my kids. They need to understand the rules of the game, they need to understand how to navigate it, how the system is built.
and be able to to play the game in their favor versus being just kind of a a a prisoner to it, right? You c become a prisoner of that.
Adam Whitney (16:51.102)
Yeah, yeah. And and you're on a you're on a clock. Like you're you only have so much time to influence to
Mentor to coach your kids, and the best you know you can do is expose them to the right things so that they because kids are beautiful. They they don't have limiting beliefs the same way we do as adults. So when you expose them to things that you only got exposure to late in your life, early on, their ability to ideate and to grow, like they will probably surpass you in all kinds of things success, relationship, financial.
Carolina (17:14.199)
Correct, yeah.
Adam Whitney (17:29.602)
Financially and you're on a clock. I and I think all of those components that you mentioned are so critical. I do I do want to touch on one other subject too, because for all my friends who've built built meaningful wealth, for all of us who've become entrepreneurs, for all of us who you know even built something just over a lifetime and left it to our kids.
The statistics of leaving something to your kids, especially financially, and it dissipating very quickly. Your kids don't care for it like you do. Like there's a difference between getting skills and building wealth and them knowing how to build wealth and how to take care of money and you just transferring it. What do you see as that difference and how do you view that?
Carolina (18:17.77)
I mean I I would even say like
Being investor and all the experience that you have, how many times have you met or known somebody or have you bought a deal at like a really great deal because the kids just didn't know how to manage it, didn't want to manage it? You know, parents passed away, they're just like, Yeah. Right. Yeah. And it's so common. It's so common because you you build this wealth and then you don't really teach your kids the importance of it, how to manage it. And so when they come to inherit those things, they don't want to deal with it. They're like, I don't, I don't wanna, I don't know what to do with this, I don't want to deal with it.
Adam Whitney (18:31.368)
Yesterday, literally yesterday.
Carolina (18:49.742)
And so then they're just giving away the the wealth that they could have built. And so for my husband and I, it was really important. We're like, what how how are we actually teaching our kids to take over the, you know, to manage the things that we've built, but also keep building it and be better than us? Yeah, you're absolutely right. The the statistics behind it, being able to actually transfer, it's not just the skills, but it's the mindset as well.
Right. The mindset that it takes in order to to take those bigger risks and to be able to to build true wealth in our society. And so the statistics it's like by it's like seventy percent by the of kids by the time it gets to to the the kids are not able to maintain or keep what has been built and it's like ninety percent by the time it gets to the grandkids, right? So you think about that's like such a huge number of and gap that we need to be able to fill.
Adam Whitney (19:42.367)
I say this all the time to even the entrepreneurs, the investors, the business builders in the seven figure flipping world. Like I've seen a lot of people make millions of dollars and have nothing to show for it. I've seen, you know, I say if you can't manage a hundred dollars, you probably can't manage a million dollars.
So th the the the habits and skills required to do it, like the zeros don't impact the habits or skills. The habits or skills are the ones that are real wealth builders. So it's it
Carolina (20:14.57)
Yeah, and a lot a lot of yeah, you're absolutely like we have parents that come in and they they say like, hey, my kid just thinks that money just like magically appears, right? There there's no concept of like the actual work that goes into the dollar that comes in, right? And how that dollar loses value and so what the value then the importance of investing it because of inflation and understanding all those different concepts. man, it's gold when you once your kids understand that.
Adam Whitney (20:38.59)
I tell I tell my kids, my kids will say, Yeah, I want to buy this. I'm like, Do you have money? He says, Dad, we have lots of money. I say, No, I'm rich. You're broke. There's a difference. You don't like, you know, it's like you this is my money. You gotta get your own. I'll show you, but you can't just have anything. Everything is earned. I I wanna talk about, just to be cognizant of our time here, I wanna talk about
Carolina (20:48.124)
Yeah. Correct.
Carolina (20:54.572)
Yeah.
Carolina (21:00.406)
Correct.
Adam Whitney (21:06.962)
Like what we're seeing with these kids who are, you know, these it's not just the kids, by the way. This is a team effort. This is a family effort. And I know our family participates in a lot of the classes you do and a lot of the get togethers we have in the summers with these kids and all the stuff they're getting exposed to. But it's a team it it it's a team effort. But what do you think when these kids you see become entrepreneurs or start to really click for them?
What does that look like? What do the kids actually get? What are you seeing in difference of behaviors and growth?
Carolina (21:41.793)
Yeah, man, I it's the confidence. It's the ability to understand that I am totally capable. If I want to make a thousand dollars, I can go make a thousand dollars. We had a teen who his goal was to be able to buy a plane ticket to Germany 'cause he wanted to go see his girlfriend out there. and so that was his goal for this quarter was to make enough money to go
buy that plane ticket. So he came to one of, you know, the guest ment we had a guest mentor that taught him how to build AI agents. From that he ended up building like an an app. He ended up selling that app
Different subscriptions, and then he was able to buy that ticket to Germany. And it seems, and the bigger, the bigger teachable moment there is that when you set a goal for yourself and you work towards that, and then you accomplish it, man, the confidence that it gives them to then set an even bigger goal. Okay, what's the next goal? Okay, I wanna buy a rental by the time I'm 18 years old, right?
those goals seem so achievable because they're meeting these smaller mil milestones and so the next goal even gets more ambitious and the next goal gets more ambitious. And so seeing that confidence is just
amazing to watch these teens go from I don't understand what an asset is or a liability and you know what's a car you know, car insurance, car payments, what does that mean? And understanding those different concepts and then prioritizing those goals that are really going to build wealth for them and why it's important to do that. Like for example, and and I love what you said earlier about just how they don't have the
Carolina (23:13.012)
Teens and kids, they don't have the baggage that us adults do, right? They haven't been as scarred as we have. And so one of the books that we read in the community was Go for No. And I loved reading that with the teens because we talked about like the value of failure and the teachable moments that come out of that and not to be afraid of it and not to just try to avoid it. Because I think so many adults, they have these big dreams, but they are so scared to go after it because they're like, what if I fail?
What if I don't do well? What if I call, you know, and they tell me no? And so you become so afraid of the rejection and the failure that you don't even give your ch yourself a chance to succeed. And what's amazing about these kids is that they're so young that you're teaching them from that age to say, Hey, failure is the best teacher and you're gonna get sharper and you're gonna get better from it. Here's how you use it as a teachable moment to make yourself even better. And so
From that young age, imagine. Yeah, imagine not being afraid of failure from a young age, right? We talk about risk mitigation. We're not like just like, don't go make dumb decisions, right? Like you gotta be you gotta assess the risk and and try to avoid that. But at the end of the day, if you wanna accomplish big things, there's a risk to it. There's never a for sure guarantee. And so the Yeah.
Adam Whitney (24:07.891)
I love it.
Adam Whitney (24:12.169)
Yeah.
Adam Whitney (24:26.62)
Nothing. Yeah. It's like, I mean, sitting in a nine to five job is risky because you could be fired at any time. And then what are you gonna do? But no, I love what you're doing with empowering these kids and these teens to really take control of their financial future, but also giving them skills, success habits, and like the community you've built around this, the mindset of my kids has improved.
I think this is just really cool. And I I get this too, Carolina, from parents a lot. or even for us, like Jenny and I, my wife and I, you know, my our kids are busy and we're busy. We've got dance, we got flag football, we've got National Junior Honor Society, we've got probably something else that I'm forgetting. There's there I got more we're we're more we're busier than Uber.
Carolina (25:19.59)
Okay.
Carolina (25:23.262)
Yeah. Yeah.
Adam Whitney (25:23.644)
over here. So it's a lot for a parent to say, I want to get my kids into I want to get my kids exposure and have them spend time doing this. And what if they don't like it? And do I have enough time to add something else to my schedule? What have you seen work? What do you what would you know, like obviously we've made time because it's more than worth it in our family.
for our kids to participate with other entrepreneur kids. w what what do you tell parents for those things?
Carolina (25:56.705)
Yeah, I'd say at the end of the day, just like every other decision you make for your kids, it's a parent decision, right? You don't give your kids a choice to brush their teeth or eat their vegetables or go, you know, maybe they're too tired to go to soccer practice. No, we gotta go to practice. You made a commitment, right? You make it a non negotiable and you prioritize it because you understand the importance of
Cons those small actions, the consistency over time is going to build huge results. And so those things like yes, like going to soccer and dance, those are really important skills that the kids build, but I would argue that those are skills that they build for that season. These are skills that's going to affect them for the rest of their life. It's gonna understanding finances, understanding the rules of the game, understanding how to build wealth and all the different vehicles to build wealth, regardless if they become a doctor or a lawyer.
lawyer, whatever they choose to do, you gotta start building that wealth as well. Right? Not just living on the paycheck.
Adam Whitney (26:51.476)
Yeah, it's it's it's not really optional. You know what I mean? It's like if you really truly want your kids to be better off than you were or to take it you've taken it far and you want them to take it to the next level, like you can't do it alone. And I know I think we're scheduled I think you're doing a class on master class on for kids and their parents to come to on September tenth. It's totally free and
Carolina (26:55.339)
Yeah.
Carolina (27:08.278)
Correct.
Adam Whitney (27:21.31)
People can sign up. Can I we'll definitely put the link in the the show notes. Get like get signed up right now and then bring your kids and sit down as a family and participate. Talk talk a little bit about what you have coming up with that.
Carolina (27:35.361)
Yeah, so we're gonna talk about how like what is that gap that you never see coming, right? Cause a lot of times like we think we're doing we're doing parents are working hard. We are, like you said, driving them to practice, making sure they're doing their homework, eating their vegetables, brushing their teeth, taking them to the dentist, getting their physicals. Like we are working so hard for our kids because we want the best for them, because we love them. and so we're gonna talk about there is a real gap.
that most of us don't see coming and by the time it hits us our kids are are out of the house and they're gone. Right? And so how do we start closing that gap now so that our
Kids are set up to be the most successful that they can be when they become 18 in their 20s, in their 30s. What does that roadmap look like for our kids? What does success look like? And so, what can we start doing now as parents to be able to set them up for that success? And so we're gonna be talking about what that gap is, what are things that we can do today, now to start changing that gap, and the importance of why and what those two different roadmaps are look like for teens that they don't get those.
Inputs and for teens that do and share some real stories from the community of successes that our teens have had from filling that gap.
Adam Whitney (28:51.794)
Yeah, it's a can't miss. It's really can't miss. September 10th at 2 p.m. Eastern. Like, I'll be there. It's on my calendar. I just looked at it. you should get get signed up. And it it it's so worth it. It's so worth it. Don't let it just be another thing on the list. Sign up, take it serious. I talk to people all the time. Like, you're either gonna be interested.
Carolina (29:05.526)
Yeah, it's gonna be some great.
Adam Whitney (29:14.548)
Which you're means you're probably not gonna do something or you're gonna be committed. You're either committed to your kids and their growth and letting them get further than you and being a proponent of that, or you're not. So I would come. I think it's crazy if you don't.
Carolina (29:27.904)
Yeah, 'cause I Yeah, I would say like what else in their lives is going to affect them all the way until their twenties, thirties and forties, right? Like what what else in their life is gonna be that important for them? So it's definitely something worth prioritizing and commit committing to.
Adam Whitney (29:43.314)
Now it's the tenth. What day is that?
Carolina (29:46.002)
It is a Thursday, so next yeah, September tenth, Thursday at two PM Eastern time.
Adam Whitney (29:53.01)
Yeah. okay. So some of the kids might be in school. The parents the parents should come.
Carolina (29:57.11)
Correct. Yeah. So so we'll have yes, parents should definitely be there. it's gonna be some great information.
Adam Whitney (30:04.53)
Love it. All right. We'll see you guys there September 10th, 2 p.m. Eastern. You can get signed up in the show notes. Completely free to you. this has been awesome, Carolina. Thank you so much for all that you do with the teens and pouring into them and and helping them to build skills to to get their freedom. Really, really appreciate you. And thanks for coming on the podcast. It was super cool to get you on here. for everybody listening, go get signed up for the event.
I hope you had a great show. I hope this was super valuable to you. As always, get signed up, and I'll see you on the next one. Thanks for listening.
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