Listen Now

Episode Transcription

Ep 108

Meredith & Craig (00:56.182)

Welcome Sally Gimmon to the Road of Life podcast. We're super excited you're here, Sally.

Www.SallyGimon.com (01:02.48)

Thank you for having me. I appreciate you letting me talk to your audience.

Meredith & Craig (01:07.214)

Absolutely, it's our pleasure. So, tell us a little bit about yourself. We know you're a real estate investor, so tell us how you got started, what prompted you to jump into this field, because we've got our own real estate investor story that we'll share with you in a few minutes. So let's hear how you got started.

Www.SallyGimon.com (01:20.54)

Www.SallyGimon.com (01:21.761)

My watershed month for me was October 2018. Three major things happened. I'm living in Phoenix. My mom and dad are living in Goodyear, Arizona, 20 miles west of Phoenix. My oldest nephew was getting married in Charlotte, October 28th, and I was the Medicare broker. I had requested the Friday before the wedding and the Monday after the wedding off, and they said no, because open enrollment October 5th to December 7th.

Www.SallyGimon.com (01:47.994)

Second thing that happened, my brand new three-week-old car, I'm driving on Indian School Road, a major east-west road in Phoenix, to get to work at seven o'clock in the morning. I'm the second car through on a green light and some idiot runs the red light, T-bones me on my passenger side, thank God I'm not injured. He has no insurance. Silly Sally has a paperwork sitting on her kitchen table to do gap insurance because she had four weeks to do it and her car was three weeks old. I'm all of a sudden upside down on my car.

Www.SallyGimon.com (02:17.148)

Third thing that happened, my mom and dad drove from Goodyear, Arizona to Charlotte for the wedding. My dad calls me Thursday before the wedding and says, your mom's in the emergency room. We don't know what's wrong. Don't change your flight. I'll meet you 720 AM. The day of the wedding. We'll go see your mom at that time. Fly in a red eye. We go to IHOP for breakfast. My two nephews go back to the house. My dad takes me to the hospital, see my mom, and I walk in on the priest giving her last rites. I was not ready for that.

Www.SallyGimon.com (02:47.259)

That afternoon, I go to this really nice wedding, a fantastic party at a country club, had a great time. My cousin from New Zealand, cousins from Ireland, all were in town, just having a wonderful time. Next day, my sister-in-law puts on this fantastic brunch. were calling it a smorgasbord, and she's like, I'm Italian, not Swedish. But you're talking to family. My dad taps me on the shoulder. He's like, let's go see your mom. And then I had to fly out at two o'clock in the afternoon.

Www.SallyGimon.com (03:15.524)

She ended up having septicular blood. She was on a ventilator for 13 months, in a hospital for 15 months. She got better, came home, but my dad stayed with her for nine months in the Charlotte area while she got stronger. She got into her pacemaker. They had open heart surgery. I was going out to their house once a week to do the mail and December 1st, there was a letter that was 27 pages thick. It was my mom's Medicare statement. One visit to the emergency room, one month on the ventilator.

Www.SallyGimon.com (03:44.156)

Www.SallyGimon.com (03:44.516)

was $72,000, but everything was being paid for. My dad was retired military, they had tried care for life. I'm standing in their kitchen, I have a mortgage, I have two car payments and one car, I have a $10,000 deductible in my health insurance, I have student loans because I went to graduate school and I hate my job. Right then and there, I called my friend, Glenn, who invited me to a real estate meeting back in August of 2018, and I told him I need to change my life. He's like, Sally!

Www.SallyGimon.com (04:11.996)

Next Saturday, we're having a Christmas potluck dinner, get a $5 gift, bring some food, meet my fellow real estate investors. And from there, I met my mentor, Jay Tannenbaum. 2019, I wholesale seven bank properties nationwide, paid off all my debt, was a good little real estate investor, had $50,000 in my bank account. I was a rock star. 2020, my mom got better. She's from Ireland. We canceled a massive St. Patrick's Day party because of COVID.

Www.SallyGimon.com (04:41.853)

April 1st, three of my properties didn't pay me. I had no money coming in. And on April 4th, my CPA calls me and says, congratulations, Sally, you made so much money in 2019. Your tax bracket went from 22 % to 24%. You owe $94,000 in short-term capital gains, and I only had $50,000 saved. Yeah, that's my story. And that's why I researched the Spendthrift Trust for five months. And now I help people save taxes legally with the Spendthrift Trust.

Www.SallyGimon.com (05:11.856)

the law for my work on behalf of. I have both my trust, my business trust and my beneficial trust there. And I became a representative because other investors need to know about this. I mean, if the rich can save taxes, we should be able to save taxes.

Meredith & Craig (05:26.125)

Yeah. Wow. What a story. There's a lot to unpack there. Yeah. Huge amount to unpack there. Yeah, no. Well, first of all, I'm so glad your mom improved. Like 13 months on a ventilator. That's a lot.

Www.SallyGimon.com (05:30.234)

Yes, They talk a lot, so interrupt me anytime, please.

Www.SallyGimon.com (05:40.572)

I'm not seeking.

Www.SallyGimon.com (05:43.708)

She came home, the funny thing about it, I don't know if you know Phoenix, but it doesn't rain there much. And I came in one morning, I'm like, hey mom, it rained and I'm opening up the window so she could smell it. She loved the smell of rain. And she's like, you cut your hair. I'm like, yeah. Her entire memory came back. She was only missing 13 months. And other than that, you thought nothing happened to her. It was a miracle.

Meredith & Craig (06:07.881)

wow. That's so cool. That's incredible. It's funny how the universe has a way of making things happen so that the decisions that you make are meant for you. Like we have a similar story in that when we were going through our entrepreneurial journey, when we started our entrepreneurial journey, we were in the corporate life. And it was not until our company decided to, you know, it was during COVID.

Www.SallyGimon.com (06:21.742)

Exactly.

Meredith & Craig (06:35.28)

close up offices and all this stuff. And it was a really difficult decision for us, but what made it easier was her dad actually got sick and it really put into perspective for us what was important and what we wanted to be doing and where we wanted to live because we had the opportunity to stay in corporate if we moved across the country further away from all those we love. But when he got sick, it was like, but we don't have all the time in the world to spend with those we love and we don't want to be that far away. And so, and then

Meredith & Craig (07:03.523)

miraculously after we made the decision, he actually went into remission, got better. for four, yeah, and we had four more years with him. So it was, it's funny how the universe has a way of making things happen so that you make the decision that's meant for you.

Www.SallyGimon.com (07:08.08)

Excellent.

Www.SallyGimon.com (07:16.308)

You make the

Www.SallyGimon.com (07:16.809)

decision that works for you at that time, exactly. I don't know if you're, I'm a student of Bob Proctor's where he talks about vibrations. And I really, really believe my mom's from a very rural Ireland. She didn't see electricity until when she left at 16 to go to London for nursing school. And I don't know where she learned this, but when she was potty training us, when you get up in the morning and do your business, you stand in front of the mirror and wash your hands, just stay in the mirror.

Meredith & Craig (07:19.916)

Yeah.

Meredith & Craig (07:27.107)

Yes.

Www.SallyGimon.com (07:43.834)

I love you Sally, and it changes your vibration. mean, it makes your vibration go so much higher.

Meredith & Craig (07:49.737)

I love that you said that because that is something we've adopted since we've started on this entrepreneurial journey because we've learned a lot of things. But one of the big things we've learned was we could be successful in our corporate lives, not doing any work on ourselves, not spending any time focusing on our personal development or our growth or anything. We could climb the corporate ladder and be totally fine. When we left that world and moved over to this entrepreneur world,

Meredith & Craig (08:19.779)

We discovered quite quickly that we can, our business will only grow as far as we do. And we both discovered very early in that journey. We had some limiting beliefs around not feeling good enough and not feeling worthy. And one of the first things we did was start working with ourselves in the mirror. Like, I love you. I'm proud of you. High five. Like, I'm not going to lie at first, it was kind of cheesy. I wasn't like, was like, what am I doing? Like I'm looking at my eyes and high fiving myself. This is weird, but

Meredith & Craig (08:49.052)

We learn from.

Www.SallyGimon.com (08:49.437)

My kids laugh

Www.SallyGimon.com (08:50.077)

at me because they hear me doing affirmations in the mirror, like, it works. My oldest son's like, can I start doing affirmations? Like, let's figure out what's important to you. And it's working for him too. He made the football team as a sophomore, the senior football team as a sophomore.

Meredith & Craig (08:53.667)

It works.

Meredith & Craig (09:06.191)

That's awesome. That's so cool. And it's funny because I was so resistant to it at first, but then we we were at an event and someone said, you know, you're not special. Like the stuff that works for everybody else, it will work for you, too, if you just do it. And so that was like, OK, so I got to start doing it. And so then when you start to the result. Yeah, because like it's one thing to understand it, like intellectually, like, oh, that makes sense. I understand that. Therefore, I don't really need to.

Www.SallyGimon.com (09:25.724)

you

Meredith & Craig (09:34.563)

do it, because I understand it, is a totally different thing than actually doing it, talking to yourself, looking at yourself, smiling at yourself, high-fiving yourself. All those things feel very different than knowing it intellectually, and it only works if you feel it. It

Www.SallyGimon.com (09:52.636)

Yes.

Meredith & Craig (09:52.788)

took a little brain work to finally realize, yeah, okay, I'm not special. These things work for everybody else. What's the worst that could happen? What's the best that could happen? Let's just try it.

Www.SallyGimon.com (10:03.084)

You just lost

Www.SallyGimon.com (10:04.487)

three minutes talking to yourself in the mirror. I mean, I don't know about y'all, but I talk to myself all the time, so yes.

Meredith & Craig (10:06.543)

Right? Yeah.

Meredith & Craig (10:10.245)

Yeah. 100%. Yeah, that's fantastic. And so it's interesting to me, you started on this, why did you choose real estate investing as the vehicle for you to change? Because you got to a watershed moment where you you needed to change your life. What for you made you say real estate investing is the vehicle?

Www.SallyGimon.com (10:32.893)

Don't laugh at me. When I was in high school, I went to the dentist and there was an article about Arnold Schwarzenegger when he came from Austria to Los Angeles, he started doing taxing and investing. So I had been doing some taxing and investing in my Roth IRA and my whole goal with my Roth IRA, I want the letter from the IRS saying the Mitt Romney rule, you've made too much money on too little money. And I'm like, please send me that letter. going to frame it. But he's worth, he's.

Meredith & Craig (10:34.351)

you

Meredith & Craig (10:57.935)

you

Www.SallyGimon.com (11:01.87)

Arnold Schwarzenegger movies, the governor of California, but his real estate portfolio of tax liens in California was worth millions of dollars before he got his first role in Conan the Barbarian. So I, he doesn't know he's my idol, but I followed him.

Meredith & Craig (11:19.011)

That's awesome. I bet you he knows eventually. That's so cool. That's a way better story than how we got into real estate investing. You think yours was embarrassing. is cool. Ours was like, so when we left the corporate world, we were like, when you leave corporate behind, you also leave corporate paychecks behind. And so we were like,

Www.SallyGimon.com (11:30.207)

you have to tell it now.

Www.SallyGimon.com (11:45.658)

We keep the Pied Bully

Www.SallyGimon.com (11:46.689)

clean paychecks,

Meredith & Craig (11:48.193)

Yeah. And we were like, who? Well, we don't want to live in a cardboard box and we have bills that need to be paid. So what are we going to do? so we went to Google. So we just went and researched like ways to make money, like entrepreneurs, like, like, and we hear real estate, real estate, real estate, 90 % of millionaires make their money in real estate. So we're like, gotta be real estate then. It's gotta be real estate. Yeah. 90 % of millionaires can't be wrong. Therefore we must do real estate investing is exactly how we got there.

Www.SallyGimon.com (12:09.734)

Yes. Yes.

Meredith & Craig (12:18.071)

Yeah.

Www.SallyGimon.com (12:18.524)

I

Www.SallyGimon.com (12:19.365)

mean, at least you did something to figure it out. mean, give yourself credit that you Googled it. Now guess people would chat GPT it, but what kind of real estate investing do you do?

Meredith & Craig (12:29.528)

Not very much anymore. wasn't for us. Well, it's something that we haven't focused on lately. Right now we're focused on our business, but we did a lot of, so we bought a few and short-term rented. So we did a lot of short-term rentals. We've done some lending. We've done a couple of different things in real estate, but the one thing that we were really looking at at the time was starting a business around finding homes, under market value, purchasing them.

Meredith & Craig (12:58.645)

with investors and then having other investors hold the mortgage because where we are, the cost of living or the cost of homes has gone so high. It hasn't kept up with people's incomes, income levels. And so people were having a really hard time finding their first home. And we wanted to be able to help those people find their first home, but also help investors, you know, get a healthy return on their funds. it was a, it was a

Meredith & Craig (13:26.127)

complex strategy that as first time investors, it was a little complex, but we hated it. In the day to day doing of it. It wasn't, it wasn't our calling. wasn't on our heart. We were doing it for, there was the altruistic benefit of helping people. And we were a bit blinded by that and didn't run the numbers very well. But it wasn't, it wasn't our calling. wasn't the thing that really drove us. We were in the end doing it for the money more than we were for what was on our heart.

Meredith & Craig (13:56.667)

And so we had to pause, we hit pause on that business, we scrapped that business, but we do still do some real estate investing just from a wealth building, like our personal side, but it's not our main business.

Www.SallyGimon.com (14:08.206)

Excellent. What is your main business? know you guys are doing the podcast, but what else do you do?

Meredith & Craig (14:12.559)

Yeah, we're relationship coaches. Yeah. We help married entrepreneurs specifically build their marriage up to be the engine that drives their business forward as opposed to the brakes that keep it stuck. When your marriage isn't thriving, your business doesn't thrive either. Yeah.

Www.SallyGimon.com (14:15.876)

Interesting, okay.

Www.SallyGimon.com (14:30.326)

And

Www.SallyGimon.com (14:30.887)

unfortunately, the number one divorce is finances and it can get ugly. I mean, yes.

Meredith & Craig (14:36.909)

Yeah. Yeah. So do you have a lot of speaking from experience?

Www.SallyGimon.com (14:41.157)

Actually, I'm okay right now, but when I quit my job, he was just like, what are you doing? And when the bill came, the tax bill, I'll figure it out. And he's like, you better. And I'm like, I will, so yes.

Meredith & Craig (14:47.343)

you

Meredith & Craig (14:54.585)

So talk to us about how you got that $94,000 tax bill. so how did you like, walk us through how you've solved that problem.

Www.SallyGimon.com (15:04.316)

Literally, my CPA called me and said, congratulations, you all made so much money in 2019, your tax bracket went from 22 % to 24%. I'm like, that's not congratulations. And so then I told him, I only have $50,000 saved. And he's like, let's make an appointment. I'm gonna get you on a payment plan. Well, I had paid off our house in Phoenix completely. And I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. Let's take a HELOC out, not get interest rates on the house. And he's just like, we paid off the house.

Www.SallyGimon.com (15:34.78)

We'll get back into real estate. I'll pay it off. I promise you. it went from there. And then one of the things I did do before I started the trust, I bought a property in North Carolina because my mom was sick in Pineville, North Carolina. And it was a bank, a reverse mortgage bank loan that was $20,000. I paid for it. And it was going to go to auction for 50,000.

Www.SallyGimon.com (16:00.892)

And when I found out about the trust, that 24%, that $30,000 without lifting a hammer, I would have to pay $7,110 at 24 % tax rate. put it into the trust. I learned a secret about North Carolina, that's why we moved here, about upset bids. And I made $44,000 in profit on that house and saved $10,365 that I just put back into more real estate. I love real estate and I love helping.

Www.SallyGimon.com (16:30.001)

business owners. I just talked to a gentleman this morning, husband and wife in New Jersey, they have a mechanic shop. In $2026, we're going to save them over $39,000. And the wife's dream is she hates being the receptionist and dealing with all the clients. She's like, I'm going to hire somebody and I'm going to stay at home with our three kids. I'm like, that's your dream. You can do whatever you want with that.

Meredith & Craig (16:54.392)

Wow. That's really cool. I love your energy, Sally, when you're talking about how you get to help people. Yeah, you can tell that it's a passion of yours.

Www.SallyGimon.com (16:58.324)

thank you.

Www.SallyGimon.com (17:02.564)

It just, I mean, this is a true story. The Amazons of the world get free land. My brother started his dream brewery, was doing really well, winning a lot of awards, and he lost the lease because the rents went too high before I started the trust. If I had started this trust before that, because you can decide who your beneficiaries are and who your not beneficiaries are, he could have saved his brewery and now he still brews.

Www.SallyGimon.com (17:27.36)

I don't like beer, but he's still bruising his garage. But everyone keeps saying, you should open another one. He's like, no, I just don't have the energy to do it anymore. just to see a small business person lose their business when the Amazons of the world get to win their business, just, the playing field's just not fair.

Meredith & Craig (17:45.136)

Meredith & Craig (17:47.28)

Yeah, that's tough. So talk to us more about you said it was called spend thrift trust.

Www.SallyGimon.com (17:53.552)

The Spendthrift Trust, it's legal, it comes from England. This is kind of funny. King Henry VIII, that famous king who chopped off his wife's heads, started the Church of England. Murder a few ladies, start a church. He went to go tax the lords and ladies of England, and they went back to the 13th century to the Magna Carturans and said, no, no, King Henry VIII, you can't do this. It's contract law that came to the colonies while we were still part of England. The law for my work on behalf of inherited trust.

Www.SallyGimon.com (18:20.636)

that turned 350 years old in 2023. now it's 2025, it's 352 years old. It's an IRS tax code 643B. If you talk to a CPA, I can guarantee you they're gonna get a memorandum that's dated August 3rd, 2016, where the IRS literally says they do not like tax code 643B. They do not like the irrevocable.

Www.SallyGimon.com (18:48.221)

complex, discretionary, non-grantor, spendthrift trust. The IRS can't change the tax code. Only Congress can. And I'm not trying to be political, but if you remember back when Hillary Clinton was debating Donald Trump eight years ago, and she accused him of not paying taxes, and he goes, oh, because I'm smart. His father, Frank Trump, started this trust in 1972 after they got sued by, Frank and Donald got sued by the city of New York for discrimination. There's a reason.

Www.SallyGimon.com (19:17.306)

He doesn't pay taxes and he doesn't tell he doesn't talk about it to anybody. I call it the secret of the rich because only the rich really know about this and it's just not fair.

Meredith & Craig (19:27.428)

Hmm. Interesting. interesting. 643B. Yeah. Noted. We're Canadian, so it doesn't really apply to us, but it's good. It's good information for people for sure. Absolutely. And so, do you now full-time your real estate investor? Like you are entrepreneur full-time now?

Www.SallyGimon.com (19:48.412)

Here's a funny thing here in North Carolina, it's an archaic law from before we were a state. If you have a tax lien or a foreclosure, the announcer in the courthouse steps. Any place else in the country, you go to an auction, you win a house for $10,000, it's your house. Depending, there's 101 counties in North Carolina, and either you have 10 business days or 10 calendar days, you have to walk in person and pay $10,750 and that 10-day window keeps going.

Www.SallyGimon.com (20:17.82)

So in the morning I go to different counties. I'm in Wade County right now where Raleigh is. It's 10 business days, but the counties around it are 10 calendar days. I actually won a property. It was worth $365,000 according to Zillow. And I got it for $159,000 that unfortunately the owners had passed away. And the law firm contacted me saying, how did you win our house? I'm like, I upset the bid. They're like, what's that? I'm like.

Www.SallyGimon.com (20:45.425)

your attorneys in North Carolina and you don't know the rule, I made it into a seller financing house. So I do that in the morning, I sell the trust in the afternoon and it's just a great job. I love both my jobs.

Meredith & Craig (20:57.04)

Wow, that's amazing. so does your husband work? Is he still in like a W2 type of?

Www.SallyGimon.com (21:03.248)

He's an

Www.SallyGimon.com (21:04.829)

IT specialist. He's still working, but doesn't like it. yeah, we moved here because his company moved him here. And hopefully I'll retire him sometime soon. But I think he'd get bored if he didn't have something to do.

Meredith & Craig (21:22.128)

Yeah, it does he under because I know we talked to a lot of entrepreneurs and one when one person's an entrepreneur and the other spouse is not is he Interested in entrepreneurship like does he know what you do? Is he into like a lot of times entrepreneurs?

Www.SallyGimon.com (21:36.508)

Actually,

Www.SallyGimon.com (21:37.789)

we met in the real estate group in Phoenix at the time. And so he was, I don't want to show him up, but I had done five real estate deals and he still had only done one. And he's just like, what are you doing? So that's how I met him and you know, together. like the two of you, he doesn't do much in real estate anymore, but his specialty, he's a Six Sigma.

Www.SallyGimon.com (22:04.784)

He doesn't do the computer programming. He makes the computers work together, if that makes sense. And he enjoys that. That's what he's been doing for the past 25 years.

Meredith & Craig (22:10.68)

Yeah.

Meredith & Craig (22:15.664)

That's awesome. Nice. Yeah. We talked to a lot of entrepreneurs and one of the things that comes up a lot is, like, I'm, I'm into personal growth and like doing the stuff in the mirror and learning about all kinds of stuff about, you know, becoming the best version of me so that I can grow because my business is going to be limited by the growth that I do on an individual level. And so they go on this growth journey, but the other person who's not the entrepreneur doesn't have as much interest in that. And so they find that there's a bit of a

Meredith & Craig (22:42.775)

friction there or a tension there when one grows and the other doesn't because you kind of start to grow apart kind of thing. It's cool to hear that he kind of has his foot in that world so and kind of just still understands kind of the entrepreneurial.

Www.SallyGimon.com (22:52.989)

He's been a real estate investor longer than I have or was in the group longer

Www.SallyGimon.com (22:58.401)

than I was. And unfortunately, I had a falling out. I was doing a mastermind in Phoenix and I had a falling out with the gentleman who ran the real estate group. And at the time, the two of them were very good friends and he completely stood behind me. We were only dating at the time. I'm like, thank you. You don't think I'm crazy. It ended up that the gentleman who ran the real estate group was a narcissist.

Www.SallyGimon.com (23:20.282)

And I caught him in a lie and everything just fell apart. yeah, it got the groups no longer there. were 800 real estate investors in Phoenix and the group has completely shut down. So it's kind of sad.

Meredith & Craig (23:31.368)

wow.

Meredith & Craig (23:33.711)

Very cool that early days in your relationship, he had your back like that. That

Www.SallyGimon.com (23:40.273)

Yes.

Meredith & Craig (23:40.488)

he showed up in a team, on a team with you. That's not an easy thing to do for any one.

Www.SallyGimon.com (23:49.992)

And they

Www.SallyGimon.com (23:50.932)

had been friends for five years at that time. And I'm just like, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cause this whole problem. And he's just like, if this is what he said to you, he has no right to speak to you that way. The anger that came at me from the gentleman who ran the group, I was just like, dude, no one's spoken to me like that. Even my brothers, when we got into fistfights as kids. mean, it was just, and he's just like, no, he goes,

Www.SallyGimon.com (24:20.518)

people have to respect each other. And I'm like, okay, I liked you before and I like you a lot more now.

Meredith & Craig (24:24.944)

Meredith & Craig (24:27.288)

I mean, it's the foundation for any strong relationship, right? Respect. the fact that, well, you weren't receiving respect from the founder of the group until you held a boundary there and that your husband, what's his name? So I can.

Www.SallyGimon.com (24:41.626)

His name is John.

Meredith & Craig (24:42.981)

So John was willing to stand beside you because he didn't want to see you disrespected either. That's how important respect is to him that he didn't even want disrespect to you by proxy. So he held your boundary with you is really impressive.

Www.SallyGimon.com (24:57.244)

I don't know if you understand Meredith, how nervous I was to tell him this, because we only just started dating at the time. I'm just like, he took away my mastermind because I caught him in a lie. And I'm just like, I've got to figure out what to do. And going back to Bob Proctor, my coach at Thinking Into Results, she's just like, you need to start your own business. The gentleman who ran the real estate group made 50 % off of any sales I made in the group.

Www.SallyGimon.com (25:25.924)

everybody in my real estate group knew, liked, and trusted me. And all of a sudden I lost my cash cow and he supported me to do what I needed to do. it's a wonderful feeling knowing that someone has your back at all times. It's a very good feeling.

Meredith & Craig (25:44.168)

Yeah.

Meredith & Craig (25:45.369)

And what's really cool about that story is that you were able to have that conversation, even though you said like, you don't know how hard it was for me to broach that subject with him that early. But the fact that you did and that you, cause a lot of times when we start dating early days or in the

Www.SallyGimon.com (25:55.121)

Yes.

Meredith & Craig (26:02.864)

in the, we're feeling each other out and it's like, I don't know, I'm not going to say this right yet. want to rock the boat. Yeah. And then, and then we're not being fully ourselves, but you were able to, there was a safe enough space there that you had both created for each other that you felt comfortable, even though it was awkward and you didn't really want to do it, but you did do it because you knew that it was a safe enough space to have that conversation. And it's really cool because you were being yourself. And then because when you're not being yourself, then that's, that's when

Www.SallyGimon.com (26:09.264)

Yes, yes.

Meredith & Craig (26:32.526)

Resentment starts to build in relationships and it's all good. But obviously you felt that comfort. That's really cool and Being that vulnerable that early in a relationship takes a lot of courage So I hope you celebrated yourself and gave yourself a lot of credit for that

Www.SallyGimon.com (26:48.457)

It was kind of shocking because when you I had done this mastermind for 18 months and all of sudden it ended and then people in the real estate group start calling me saying well I don't want to use his name because people will know it that he did this to me and One guy's like I got ulcers because of him like you allowed somebody else to give you ulcers because he didn't pay you correctly I'm like that's that's not the way I'm gonna live my life. You know it just it's it's interesting because

Www.SallyGimon.com (27:17.824)

His little empire of 800 real estate investors completely fell apart, but it people allowed him to get away with things for too long, if that makes sense. And when I caught him, mean, we were in a real estate deal and he didn't pay me the right amount. And he's like, are you calling me a liar? like, I'm missing $5,000. You tell me what happened to it. And the next day when we got on the zoom, was just Mr. Hyde showed up and I'm like,

Www.SallyGimon.com (27:46.308)

I'm canceling this before things are said that we can never come back from. he's just like, the anger, I was just shell shocked. we, John and I were going out that night and I'm like, before we go out, I have to tell you what happened today because, and he was completely in my corner, which is so nice.

Meredith & Craig (28:06.161)

so reassuring to have that, know, when you're that early, but when you have that conversation and he steps up and he's like, I got your back. What a good sign. I mean, that must have really pushed him really up the curve on how much I like this guy.

Www.SallyGimon.com (28:08.657)

Yes.

Www.SallyGimon.com (28:13.67)

Correct, correct.

Www.SallyGimon.com (28:19.26)

Www.SallyGimon.com (28:21.341)

It really did and we were doing so well up to that point and then I'm like, god, this is one of his great friends. They had season tickets to the Cardinals. They went to baseball games. not going to take away his friendship, but I just want nothing to do with the gentleman. And he's just like, if he treated you like that, nobody deserves to be treated like that. And it was interesting. Some of the things he started talking about that he was seeing and he thought it was wrong.

Meredith & Craig (28:37.904)

Yeah.

Www.SallyGimon.com (28:49.179)

He's like, I didn't stand up and I'm like, it didn't happen to you directly. I understand. and, you know, we made some great decisions together and I'm super happy right now.

Meredith & Craig (29:00.805)

Yeah, that's awesome. You know, one of the things that I've noticed through the conversation is that you've got a very much a growth mindset. Like where does that come from? I know your mom obviously had some of that because she instilled that, you know, the mirror work early on and stuff. Where does that growth mindset really come from?

Www.SallyGimon.com (29:22.516)

True story, it was before I could read, did you ever go to the dentist and I forget what the scholastic magazines, I love them. My mom would never let us get them, but she's like, you'll read it when you go to the dentist twice a year. Well, in one of the magazines, it talked about a lemonade stand. We're living in Pittsburgh, my dad's from Pittsburgh, my grandfather was a master steel cutter, worked for US Steel, he cut the steel for the St. Louis Arch.

Meredith & Craig (29:30.169)

Yep.

Www.SallyGimon.com (29:50.3)

My dad was going to graduate school at the time and I asked my mom, I get this lemonade stand? I don't know how old you are, but they still had bank books. So she had an August bank book and she wrote down lemonade stand $10. And I went to, we lived right next to what was Three River Stadium at the time in townhouses. And I wanted to set up my stand there and the people who ran the townhouse complex said, no, know, Girl Scouts can't sell their cookies. Boy Scouts can't sell geraniums. You can't do this.

Www.SallyGimon.com (30:18.69)

I don't know if was my next door neighbor who was Joe Green, not me and Joe Green, but the three Joe Greens on the football team. Or if it was Mr. Rooney who sponsored the school my older brother went to. But Mr. Rooney came to the door, the townhouse knocked, my mom answered, he goes, do you know who I am? And she's like, no idea. He's like, you're the only person in Pittsburgh who does not know who I am, which is the funniest thing. He's like, I heard what happened to your daughter.

Www.SallyGimon.com (30:44.989)

I want her to come and sell lemonade after our spring practice this coming Saturday. My dad couldn't do it because he's studying for finals. My grandfather's like, oh, driver. Oh my god. This is before the the Steelers won anything. So we go out to get the card table. My mom charges me for the sugar for the lemonade. I have to pay my grandfather because he drives me and I have to pay my older brother who's good, five dollars because he would help me.

Www.SallyGimon.com (31:11.676)

My next door neighbor, Joe Green, I think he was six foot eight. He was a defensive, was a humongous man. He was like, you buy lemonade from her. he, I made, after I paid out everybody, I made $165 in one day selling lemonade. And we put the lemonade stand into our tool shed in the backyard. Hurricane Agnes came up the Ohio river, flooded everything. I mean, my mom had towels along the sliding glass door. We had to change every hour because they were getting wet.

Www.SallyGimon.com (31:41.52)

When the floods went away, we went out to the tool shed, opened it up, and my lemonade stand was all crumpled. And she's just like, you made enough money. And she swears to this day, I turned around like, I didn't make enough money. I wanna make more money. And she's just like, where did that come from? I don't know. I was in the corporate world for, I was an insurance agent for 20 plus years, and I got so bored asking the same questions.

Www.SallyGimon.com (32:11.094)

to every single client and I'm most like I need to do something on my own now and I love what I do.

Meredith & Craig (32:18.033)

That's an incredible story. It's an amazing story. You got a little taste of what it was like. Entrepreneurship.

Www.SallyGimon.com (32:27.581)

It was so easy to sell lemonade. mean these, my grandfather, bless his soul, he had people sign, his younger brother went to school with Franco Harris and so he kind of knew who he was but he got, what was his name, he's now an announcer and this was before they won the Super Bowl and my grandfather was like, look at these signatures I have.

Www.SallyGimon.com (32:56.112)

I'm a football fan because of my granddad, but he was just so honored doing what he was doing. And I'm like, you're driving me to the stadium. You helped me so much.

Meredith & Craig (33:05.391)

No, that's so sweet. That's so cool. Was it Terry Bradshaw by chance? The announcer?

Www.SallyGimon.com (33:11.6)

Yes, Terry

Www.SallyGimon.com (33:12.241)

Bradshaw, me and Joe Green, the actual guy who drank the soda. There were three Joe Greens at the time, and it was very interesting because my next door neighbor, Mr. Green, he was the sweetest man, but he was a giant. mean, he was just the nicest guy in the world.

Meredith & Craig (33:17.051)

Hope, yeah.

Www.SallyGimon.com (33:34.76)

Actually, we went to a pre- we didn't have kindergarten in Pittsburgh and we were supposed to go back to Phoenix as mandatory kindergarten. His son Ernie told one of the nuns to shut up. His mom said to him, wait till your dad comes home because he had Monday night football. They lost, I think, 37 to nothing. And the townhouses were super close next to each other. And I heard Mr. Green go, Ernie, get your butt down here. And then he stumped up the three levels of stairs. And I told everybody in school,

Www.SallyGimon.com (34:03.514)

Ernie's dead, his father killed him last night, and Ernie came to school and couldn't sit for a whole week. He was so- he was in so much trouble.

Meredith & Craig (34:07.025)

You

Meredith & Craig (34:13.189)

Are you still a football fan?

Www.SallyGimon.com (34:15.364)

I am, true story, my great aunt in Pittsburgh, this was before cable TV, her husband was a friend with Frank O'Harris, she had a TV on the porch, a TV in the living room, a TV in the kitchen, a TV in the back porch, and you didn't move if the ball was in play, you didn't talk or anything else. I moved to New England, I was working for Monster.com, and my five-year-old nephew calls me, they were playing a playoff game in Pittsburgh, he's like, Sally.

Www.SallyGimon.com (34:42.685)

I'm betting you $5. Like, I'm not betting a five-year-old $5. Give me your mom. This is horrible. So the phone gets passed around to everybody in my aunt's house. Everyone's betting me $5. The Patriots won. We had a family reunion in Pittsburgh that summer, and everyone had paid me, I made $90 off of family members, and they all told me I'm no longer a Steeler fan. Like, okay, I'll be a Patriots fan from now on. And that's a big fight whenever I go back to Pittsburgh. They were like, we're not talking to you this month. I'm like, okay.

Meredith & Craig (35:13.49)

So you're still a Patriots fan then?

Www.SallyGimon.com (35:14.396)

Www.SallyGimon.com (35:15.859)

I'm still a Patriots fan and I was gonna say I know you've got you've got the the Chargers, the the Broncos. I'm sorry the Broncos. But yeah.

Meredith & Craig (35:21.49)

Yeah. Yeah. I'm a Broncos

Meredith & Craig (35:24.659)

fan and he's a Niners fan. Yeah.

Www.SallyGimon.com (35:27.212)

wow, you all must have some interesting conversations.

Meredith & Craig (35:31.597)

Luckily they don't play each other too often. we don't have their opposite sides. we don't have too many battles. to the last two times they played. We're one and one. She's one and one.

Www.SallyGimon.com (35:40.636)

you're one. Okay.

Www.SallyGimon.com (35:42.828)

Okay. Well, when I was at, when I was at, I worked for USA for 13 years and I started what was called loser lunch. So at the beginning of the football season, you chose, you chose who your team was. And the whole thing was if your team won, you ate lunch for free. If your team lost, you had to, make lunch for everybody else. Two of my teammates on my team were Detroit Lions fans. was the year they went, what was it? Zero and 16.

Meredith & Craig (36:07.972)

Meredith & Craig (36:09.271)

jeez.

Www.SallyGimon.com (36:09.508)

I

Www.SallyGimon.com (36:09.628)

mean, we had lamb stew, we had homemade biscuits, we had lemon meringue pie. I mean, I was thinking we're gonna get a bowl, cereal, and milk, but it turned out to be a feast at our meetings every Thursday for whoever was loser lunch. And that was the second, that was, the Patriots won the Super Bowl that year, so I didn't have to, I rarely had a play loser lunch, so, but it was a lot of fun.

Meredith & Craig (36:23.194)

amazing.

Meredith & Craig (36:33.451)

That is a lot of fun. That's great. Yeah. You had a, you had a good run. Yeah, you did. So Sally, what, um, aside from the, the, the tax $94,000 tax bill, what was like, what would you say is as an entrepreneur has been your biggest challenge over the last, you know, six, eight years?

Www.SallyGimon.com (36:54.714)

My biggest challenge, honestly, I'm going to go back to that day when the Gentleman Who Man the Real Estate group just turned on a dime.

Meredith & Craig (37:03.09)

Yeah, that'll be tough.

Www.SallyGimon.com (37:04.356)

My

Www.SallyGimon.com (37:04.586)

entire, he was my mentor, he was my friend, he was my business partner. And I sent a text to my coach, Susan Ma, who was thinking of the results coach. And she wrote back, she's like, I'll talk to you at seven o'clock the next day. And if I could go back in time and say to that gentleman, thank you for making me open my eyes and start working on my own. At the time I sold 14.

Www.SallyGimon.com (37:33.242)

Beneficial trusts and now I have 160 clients and most of them are business owners who are just I mean The the mechanic and his wife that I'm talking about. She was crying happy tears She's like, do you know what this means? I get to cook a homemade meal for my family every single day She's like I couldn't do this because we needed I need to work the reception in the art and now that he's saving so much money

Www.SallyGimon.com (37:59.708)

In September, he went to the local high school and put up on the bulletin that he was looking for two kids to learn auto mechanics because his three children want nothing to do with the mechanic shop. So he's going to train people how to, how to, $15 an hour, cause they're saving so much in taxes. He can train them to do what they want. And I'm like, what a win, win, win, win situation for everyone.

Meredith & Craig (38:24.529)

Yeah, that's so cool. And I love how you, you know, it's interesting when you look back on your biggest challenge, it comes down to people like relationships. Like it was, it was this weird situation with, and it really just puts into perspective the importance of, and the value we put on human relationships and how entrepreneurship is so hard, right? Like there's always challenges and a lot of them are, you know, financial and building a business is never easy.

Www.SallyGimon.com (38:35.729)

Yes!

Www.SallyGimon.com (38:45.446)

Yes.

Meredith & Craig (38:53.703)

But your biggest challenge was a human to human interaction. And it's just.

Www.SallyGimon.com (38:58.524)

Well, when you're

Www.SallyGimon.com (38:59.355)

an entrepreneur, you're usually working by yourself, solo. You're working in front of the computer. I mean, it's great. I don't have to go to meetings and things like that, but it gets lonely sometimes.

Meredith & Craig (39:11.142)

Yeah. Yeah. That was a big learning for us too, is sometimes it feels like you're pushing a rope uphill or you're standing on a cliff screaming out, is there anybody else out there? Like it feels isolating and having a community like a mastermind, something to be a part of where people understand what you're trying to do and can celebrate you and cheer you on and hold you accountable and just be there to support you is it makes all the difference. And one thing I wanted to jump in and build on what you said,

Meredith & Craig (39:39.792)

It's interesting for sure that your biggest challenge was personal, it was a human relationship, but that challenge also sort of revealed so much for you in the personal relationship you were in. So yes, it was a big challenge, but the gift it ended up giving you, leaving that mastermind going out on your own and revealing the human being that you were making a partnership and a team with, that was a huge gift in the end from your biggest challenge.

Www.SallyGimon.com (40:07.912)

We just went, it's a national real estate group and we just went in March, end of March, beginning of April and he was there and he's just like, how the two of you doing? And I just stepped away because I have nothing nice to say to him. And John's just like, we're doing quite well. And that's all that was said. And I'm like, I think he has no idea what he caused, but I guess I should thank him, but I just don't want to, I need to be a bigger person next year.

Meredith & Craig (40:33.094)

Yeah.

Meredith & Craig (40:35.748)

Yeah. Yeah. Cause I mean, in theory, like you could thank him. You, you gained so much by, by stepping out.

Www.SallyGimon.com (40:40.56)

Yes.

Www.SallyGimon.com (40:44.027)

I do owe him a, I was comfortable and he made me become uncomfortable to succeed even better. And I don't think I would have ever started my own company. I don't think, maybe John and I would continue, at that time when he said, I'm standing, I'm standing with you. If he talked to half as bad as you say he did, there's no reason for that. I'm like, you believe me that that's just.

Www.SallyGimon.com (41:14.04)

It changed dynamics in my life completely. I want to say I did a 180 and it was all because of the gentleman who ran the real estate group.

Meredith & Craig (41:23.494)

Yeah. It's the universe always working in our favor, right? When it presents the biggest challenge, it's because one, you're absolutely capable of working yourself through that. And on the other side is everything that is meant for you. It's really cool.

Www.SallyGimon.com (41:26.576)

Yes.

Www.SallyGimon.com (41:38.544)

Exactly.

Www.SallyGimon.com (41:39.244)

you know, because of the real estate group and getting the large, know, getting this huge tax bill, it started me on a second journey. And the neat thing, you know, I'm helping people. And then I'm also working with one of my nieces who hates her job. I'm like, let's get out start teaching you what to do. When I retire in, I shouldn't say this, but I'm 59 years old right now when I retire in six years.

Www.SallyGimon.com (42:06.052)

I'm going to give you whatever I built, you can take over." She's like, why would you do that for me? I'm like, because you're the only one who's interested in following my footsteps. it's an amazing thing.

Meredith & Craig (42:16.73)

Yeah, that's so cool. How can people get a hold of you, Sally? If someone's listening and they're like, that trust sounds like a cool idea, I want to, you know, maybe there's real estate deals to be had. How does someone, how does someone get in touch with you?

Www.SallyGimon.com (42:30.48)

I appreciate that. My website is www.thetrustisyou.com. There you're gonna get a presentation. I also have a class on the great discovery. Have you all heard about that yet?

Meredith & Craig (42:43.568)

No, talk to us

Www.SallyGimon.com (42:45.934)

Kind of an inside track because John's a Six Sigma person. It's the people who started Six Sigma now have a database. It's competing against Kajabi in school and my class can get translated into 165 different languages. One of my clients, two story, they're in San Francisco. They're first generation Taiwanese husband and wife who have three laundry mats. They translate the class into Mandarin Chinese. I don't speak it.

Www.SallyGimon.com (43:15.152)

They got their adult son to get onto the Zoom with me and they had older questions in English and they started the trust. But that, if they go out to my name, www.sallygimmon.com, they'll get a class, they'll get three articles from Forbes Magazine, two pages of case law so they can research this to their heart's content and examples of people who can, saving thousands of dollars. And again, my goal, maybe it's not for you today to know about the trust.

Www.SallyGimon.com (43:44.432)

But in the future, you'll have it in your quiver because when you start making some good money and your tax rate starts going up, it can get ugly, unfortunately.

Meredith & Craig (43:54.374)

Yeah. And so we're going to have all of that contact information in the show notes so that you can click those links. Sally, it was so cool getting to talk with you. If you could leave everyone with one gold nugget, one, you boiled your wisdom down to one kind of bullet point, one gold nugget. What would that be?

Www.SallyGimon.com (44:16.732)

I'm gonna paraphrase from Nike, just do it. If you have a plan, just do it. mean, the two of you, you decide you're gonna stay, be close to your father and you got on Google to figure out what to do. I mean, I wish I had started, I was doing tax liens quietly, but just to get involved in real estate, I mean, I wish I started earlier.

Meredith & Craig (44:43.399)

That's fantastic freaking advice. That's a great gold nugget. Thank you so much, Sally. We so appreciate you coming on and sharing your wisdom and sharing your story and sharing the blueprint for somebody else. And if anyone out there is looking at real estate investing or, you know, they want to save some money on taxes, check the show notes. Sally's your gal. Get in contact with Sally.

Www.SallyGimon.com (45:00.892)

Thank

Www.SallyGimon.com (45:03.097)

you for having me. I appreciate it. The two of you are so easy to talk to.

Meredith & Craig (45:07.186)

Oh, thank you. Thank you so much.

Meredith & Craig (14:50.886)

Thanks for listening to this episode of the Road of Life podcast. Remember, your business will only grow as strong as your marriage does. So what's one action you're going to take this week? To put something you learned in this episode into practice. We love a good chit chat, which is the next person, but with action, but without action, you stay where you are. If you want to turn your marriage into the engine that drives your business forward instead of the brakes keeping itself, book a free marriage and business strategy session with us at www.200percentmarriage.com/strategycall.

Meredith & Craig (15:19.27)

We'll see you next week.

Meredith & Craig (15:33.126)

Thanks for listening to this episode of the Road of Life podcast. Remember, your business will only grow as strong as your marriage does. So what's one action you're gonna take this week to put something you learned in this episode into practice. Because we love a good chit chat as much as the next person does. But without action, stay where you are.

Meredith & Craig (17:04.954)

If you want to turn your marriage into the engine that drives your business forward instead of the brakes keeping it stuck, book a free marriage and business strategy session with us at www.200percentmarriage.com/strategycall. We'll see you next week.