Episode #29 – Building Legacy with Special Guest Micah Schoeplein

 

True philanthropy doesn’t begin when you earn a certain amount. Jack Gibson and Micah Schoeplein dive into why we earn, and more importantly, how this can bless others and build a legacy.

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Listen to the podcast here

 

Building Legacy with Special Guest Micah Schoeplein

In this episode, I have the pleasure of interviewing Micah Schoeplein. He’s a pastor at our local church. He’s delivered some incredible messages over the years. For age 29, you folks are going to see he’s full of wisdom and a lot of life experience. Why I wanted to bring him on the show was for two reasons. Number one, he’s been very successful in real estate. He’s done multiple house hacks, so that’s where you buy a house, fix it up and you live in it then you eventually sell it.

He’s made a lot of money doing this at a very young age. In addition to that, he’s an extremely generous giver and he feels like that’s a big key to his success. The second reason is that his father, Pastor Mike Shoeplein, was on our show. Episode number nine, Does God Wants You To Be Rich? If you haven’t read that episode, I think it’s the best episode that I’ve done yet on the platform.

That was our most popular, most downloaded show to date. In addition, I believe it’s been the most shared on social media. I figured that would hit you again with that type of content, as it appears that’s what you folks like. Here we go. I want to introduce you to my good friend. He’s certainly charismatic and funny, Pastor Micah Schoeplein.

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Welcome to the show, Micah. I’m so excited to have you. First question, how do you feel about our golf outing getting canceled? I was looking forward to it.

I can tell you this. I would much rather be doing that than talking to you on a screen.

I’m not offended because I feel the same.

I still am a little bit upset, so you bring me up some scar tissue wounds that are being healed.

The good news is that I saved $250 from not going and playing. Potentially, that’s a lot less colorful language than you heard for the day.

The bad news is I can’t watch you melt down in front of two guys who don’t know you.

Brandon does.

That’s so great, but you know there’d be guys out there. He’d be like, “What’s going on over there?”

In my defense, I think I only melted down the one time when Cara was beating both of us, that one night.

Golf is an enjoyable hobby mind. Sometimes it makes me want to burn down my house.

About that, the problem with this is that I feel like out on the golf course, I can say what I want to say, including all the different adjectives that I use. Now on this show, I feel I have to be more refined and watch myself.

I was skimming your other show and you have explicit episodes. Whenever you have the black E underneath, I’m like, “Am I listening to Ludacris?”

God, forgive me and I’ll make it up in other ways. How about that?

I hope so.

You’re the one who decided to reload Instagram. You watch my Reel videos, so that’s on you.

If you haven’t spent time on Jack’s pages, they’re fantastic, the reel videos. I will say this, though, I almost texted you because I was laying in bed very late and I don’t have any social media on my phone. I redownload every day if I wanted to use it for about 10 or 15 minutes. I didn’t want to turn up the volume. I made sure when I got to yours that I swiped away quickly so I could watch them with volume if I don’t have time or I was trying to decompress and go to sleep. I’m still supporting you, but you have to listen to Jack’s videos with volume, fully engaged.

I’ve had some good ones, but I’ve missed some days because I’m hung up on the editing process. I hate that part of it. I’m trying to figure it out, but I’ll be back on reels. Don’t worry. I know you’ve missed them. I know.

I feel like John is the ace in the back pocket. Start telling him. You got to start doing the reel edits. Have like a little personal sidekick photographer guy.

The problem is he’s thirteen, so it’s hard to get focused. The answer might be right in front of me, annoying me every day.

It’s very true. I hope that he sticks with track, though, because I do love going to track meets with you and watching him run because that’s fun too.

We had a bet and I never followed through on it. We were supposed to go run a 2.2-mile race, which was cross country. If he beat me, he was going to get a $500 item. I don’t know what he wanted. It’s like something like Apple, something new, but if I beat him, he was off technology for a month.

Not worth it for John.

He took the bet. He is so cocky. He thought he could beat me.

I’ll be at the finish line. I’m not going to lie, 2.2 miles sounds like a little bit of death for me, but it’s okay because you’re the one doing the race.

Me too, but if it got him off technology for a month, I think it’s worth it. I might do it, even though I might die. We got to teach people money on this show. That’s what we do. You’re young and you’re doing well on a pretty limited income as a pastor. I wanted you to specifically talk about some of the principles of what you’ve done to house hack and be able to build up some pretty nice funds for a young strap and young man. Tell us a little bit about your background, Micah. Let’s start there.

Jack, I don’t even think we’ve had this conversation about my background as well.

Probably have no idea what you’re about to say at all, even though we’ve probably spent 200 hours together.

Especially COVID year. We were borderline married couples. Anyway, a lot of the time, there is a little bit. It’s not necessarily a myth because there is truth to it where you got to have money to make money. I would also say you have to have character to make money. I think that the one thing that I’ve always leaned into is how to be somebody who has character. To find people with character is a lot harder to find than defining people with money. No offense because character, you’re doing what you’re saying, saying what you mean and showing up on time, being consistent, being faithful.

Finding people with character is much harder than finding people with money. Click To Tweet

Those are the things that have always marked my life and have allowed me to be at the place I’m at. When I graduated high school, my parents pretty much forced me into missions for a year. My dad was like, “You’re either going to go to college or you’re going take a little mission trip.” I was like, “I’ll go on a mission trip.”

Were there two evils at the time?

I kept trying to convince him. I’m like, “I’m playing for the Packers in four years.” He was like, “No, you’re not.” My dad’s a little bit more of a realist. When I came back, I was in Orlando for three months and in India for like two and a half. When I came back, I remember at a young age when I was like nine years old. My mom loves telling this story. You know my mom. She’s a storyteller. I made a shirt.

She bought us for ten minutes a church.

She does, about three inches away from your face too. I had a shirt when I was probably seven or eight that I wrote the working dude on and went door to door in my neighborhood asking if there were any odd jobs I could do to make money. I had my plain white tee that said the working dude with all of the words misspelled. When I got back, I remember I was at a crossroads in life where I was trying to understand what I was going to do.

I didn’t feel like I was going to be a missionary, like I was going to go to college, so the first thing I did was sell supplements at GNC. I went from a part-time sales guy there within a year to being a store manager. I have a lot of funny stories about GNC. One of my personal favorites is my first day of management at nineteen. They told me to call everybody who worked there and let them know that they were fired.

This is how the Lord is with character. Within a year, I’ve had crazy favor in my life. That was a top-five store in Michigan out of Benton Harbor, out of the Orchards Mall. Notoriety in our community comes in, a car dealer who owned four car dealerships. Essentially, he came in one day and said, “I sold him a lot of products.” He looked at me and he’s like, “You’re natural. I want you to come work for me.”

I was like, “What do you even do?” He’s like, “I’m a car salesman.” I was like, “I’m not doing that.” He was like, “I’ll double whatever you’re making now. I’ll give you full benefits.” He’s like, “What do I got to do to get you to work for me?” I was like, “In all honesty, you’re car a salesman. All you’re doing is trying to sell.” He’s like, “No, really.” He wrote up on a piece of paper an offer to double my salary. He gave me flexible hours. He gave me health insurance and he guaranteed it for a year. I literally left GNC.

Did you leave the store right then and there?

No. I called my boss and he’s like, “You should probably take that.” They didn’t even entertain anything. What was funny about it, though, was I called my dad and I know my dad’s been out here. My dad was like, “Okay.” He goes, “Car sales is, you know.” I was like, “I know. All right, whatever.” What was funny is when I left, I sold like 34 cars a month, which is ridiculous as a nineteen-year-old. I got my old license plate. I could drive any car, put it on any car at the end of the day.

I only made it there not even a year. It was pretty awful. At that time, I went to some conferences and some things. It felt like I wanted to start a college of ministry to help college-aged students figure out life and what it means to pursue Jesus in that age range. I literally quit that job and I essentially worked three jobs. One at the church landscaping and I went back to part-time GNC and I quit that job. Essentially, what I made in one week in my old job, I made in six weeks in my three new jobs.

It was a step back and I was living on my own. It was not a good season, but I grinded. That was when I was twenty. From there, I move and shaken a little bit. I knew I had friends that understood real estate. My first flip house I got when I was 22. It was a house that had fallen through HUD. We had called on it. It was right by our church. It was a piece of crap. They had a kid there. You love these flip stories. I know you’ve probably got a billion of them.

We take it on some things that not too many people would touch. Let’s put it that way.

This would’ve had a kid that had anger management issues. It busted out all the windows, stuff on the walls because it got repossessed.

I’m feeling a lot better about my anger management on the golf course now that you told me that.

It’s true. Every hole I’m repairing, I’m like, “This is interesting. This was a fist that I’m repairing right here in the drywall.” We got that house, flipped it through HUD and nobody pretty much wanted it. Ultimately, we sold that one and did pretty well on it.

Did you fix it up?

I did. That’s what we’ve always done, me and my dad because it’s character too. He helped me a little bit. I fixed that one up, lived in it and I had renters in it for years. I rolled over a HELOC of that one into another one that I bought at a garage sale.

You pulled out a HELOC, a home equity line of credit on that first one, so that you had funds to buy the next one?

Essentially how it worked is he led the basement and I was looking to get out of it. This will give you an idea of who I am. I was at a garage sale and I was walking around a not nice house at the time. An awful house, but it was in a good part of town. It was a three-bedroom, two-bath, two-car garage, 1,800 square feet. I knew that there was no way they were going to get a conventional loan on it. I was walking around, I asked, “Is the owner of the home here at the garage sale?” They’re like, “He’s inside.” I went inside and I started talking to him. I looked at him and I said, “Are you selling this house?” He goes, “Yes.”

I was probably 25 and I was like, “How much are you selling for?” He goes, “I can’t get a conventional loan on it and I want somebody to be here for four or five years. I’d like to be able to pop in and out and be able to look at the construction. I’d love to get some paneling off the wall because it’s been in my family for many years.”

I was like, “I’ll do all of that.” He was like, “What do you mean?” I was like, “I’ll make you an offer now.” He goes, “You want to buy this?” I was like, “Yes.” He’s like, “I was thinking $60,000.” I was like, “I was thinking $40,000.” He goes, “We’ll meet in the middle.” I said, “I’ll be back in a half hour with $1,500 cash.” That’s how I ran to the bank and came back. I called my dad and said, “I bought a house at a garage sale.”

What hit you that would be a good house for you?

That’s the thing. I’ve always been a little bit of a visionary where I could see things not for what they are but for what they can become. I think that’s a little bit of a mindset that, to a lot of people, we get so caught up in what’s right in front of us instead if you have vision to see things.

 

That’s the same. Don’t you think the same thing applies to humans?

It’s a biblical principle, is what it is. When you talk about faith, Hebrews 11:1, “Faith is a substance of things hope for with the evidence of things you can’t see.” You’re hoping for something you can’t see and that’s faith. That’s what all the following Jesus is, “All right, go do it.” You’re like, “Can you give me a little more here?”

I think that applies to anything, whether it’s business, finances, church ministry, or whatever. If you’re going to be somebody who follows the Lord, you’re always going to have to see with eyes of faith rather than the eyes of your inefficiencies or weaknesses or the constraints or limitations that are in front of you. You’re always going to have to believe and trust that deep down. With me, it’s always easier because I build my life on the rock.

I do pray about everything and try not to WWJD everything but a little bit WWDJ things and what would the Lord do. In that situation, I knew, “If I got this house for $50,000, this is the worst house than my previous house, but this is probably $60,000 to $70,000.” I’m at $120,000. I know this house and this was a few years ago. I’m like, “I know this house is probably $180,000, $190,000.” Now, we sold it for $223,000. I like to be accurate.

Are you talking about the house that you’re in now that you got under contract? You got that one at the garage sale?

Yes.

I didn’t know. I thought it was a different house.

The best part is and this will give you another idea, this is a character thing once again. When I closed on my second flip house, we got a third one mainly because my neighbor calls me after my first flip house. She was almost a 90-year-old woman. She called me and I’d helped her a lot. Anything she needed, she knew she could always call me and I’d help her. She said, “Do you mind helping me move?” I said, “Yes, we can help you move.” She goes, “Great. Can you buy my house too?”

I was like, “I just closed on another house.” She was like, “I want you to buy it because you did such a great job on yours. I know and trust and love you. I’d love for it to be yours.” I go, “In all honesty, I’m not looking.” She goes, “Even if it was $30,000?” I was like, “I think we’re interested. We’re probably interested.”

What do you think it’s worth the one for $30,000?

I ended up wholesaling that one a little bit off my chest. I didn’t want to work on another one. Once it’s all done, it’s being remodeled, it’ll be worth another $150,000-$170,000.

You wholesaled it, you got it for $30,000 and you flipped it to somebody else. What’d you sell it for?

I don’t know what they’re going to sell it for.

What did you get?

To be honest, I don’t even necessarily remember.

$50,000, $60,000 or $70,000?

No, that one, it went to a family member. It was more of a blessing thing. I made some money on it. I don’t think it was that much, but it was more about somebody I knew who wanted it and was looking. I wanted to help them out. That’s even a huge thing to understand, too, because Jack, I know you do that. That’s maybe something people don’t realize is like, you want to make money in the maximum amount of money you always can. At the same time, you also want to help people. Any time you can help people or you can bless people who’ve blessed you, it feels good.

For me, I never want to be the guy who everybody says, “He’s trying to make the max and do whatever is needed.” I want to be somebody who look and say, “That guy, he could have done a lot more than he did, but he was generous.” I don’t run into people like that because, for me, I don’t have an excuse. That’s the other thing. I think people think you grow into generosity. Once you get to a level of which you can be generous and it won’t cost you. You can be generous then rather than if you’re not faithful with the little. You’ll never get the much. That’s such a biblical principle where so many people are like, “I don’t make enough to give. I can’t give back. I can’t do this to that.”

It’s like I’ve never made a ton of money, but I always gave above 10% every year. Even more than that, I could have made so much more on separate little things when it’s for friends, families, people I care for, or people who need help. I think that the object doesn’t come down to, “What’s karma going to do?” It comes down to like, “I want to be remembered as somebody who was generous and who loved people and put my money where my mouth is.” It has always been important to me. It will always be important to me is that you don’t need a lot to give a little. It’s important.

A lot of times, when we hear the word philanthropy or think of a philanthropist, the image comes up of this mega multi-millionaire billionaire. Philanthropy is a way of life. It’s not someplace that you arrive at some point in your future when you have this massive abundance. I always say like, “If you can’t give a dollar out of $10 or if you can’t give a hundred out of a thousand.” What are the chances that when you get blessed with $1 million that you’re going to give $100,000 out of that? It’s not looking real good.

What’s funny is that this last house, I think the numbers were like at $64,000, $65,000. I remember in my mind, I said, “Lord, what do you want me to do with my 10%?” I didn’t know how much we were going to make. I had a ballpark, but I fleeced myself. I said, “I’m going to contact 4 or 5 missionaries that are in different parts of the world that I know are looking for finances and I’m going to commit a set amount to them before this house even sells in faith that it’s going to sell at this 10% mark.”

I knew that no matter what, I was given money away. I didn’t wait until I had the money to give it away. I had committed because I knew I was going to make some. I committed and said, “The very first thing that I’m thinking about is how I can bless other people.” That’s so hard now to even rationally think about. The very first thing you’re thinking about is how you can bless others. That’s such a foreign concept, but that’s the hands that God blesses. When he says, “If I can get it through you, I can get it to you.” That’s always the test of humanity. You’re going to be able to acquire or build wealth if you’re going to be somebody who gives it away.

The true test of humanity is if you're going to be able to acquire or build wealth and be somebody who can give it away. Click To Tweet

You got too much wisdom. One of the things I know about you, Micah, is that you always seem happy. You’ve got joy in your heart, I should say. You’re not always happy on the golf course. I can say that. You don’t use the colorful language that I do, but there’s a time where you know you want to. You wish you could.

It might be in my head, though. You never know.

You probably allow me because you vicariously through me. You got this joy in your heart and where do you attribute that from? Where do you think that’s coming from?

Jack’s like, “I’m going to tee this up for Micah to hit a grand slam.” For me, my favorite passage is to seek first the kingdom and righteousness and all things are added. It’s one of my favorite passages. Another one is 2 Timothy 2:3, “Though we are unfaithful, he remains faithful for he cannot deny who he is.” For me, I know if I’m seeking the kingdom and righteousness, all things will be added and I’m not going to worry about stuff.

In our day and age, it’s getting harder for people to see Jesus in the world or see Jesus in people. If I could be somebody who people can see something different in and I can point people to Jesus, that’s my goal. Happiness and joy are almost on the back burner a lot of the time as it pertains to living our life. We think that those are more like byproducts more than they are primary products.

Whereas when you truly are seeking out a lifestyle of like, it’s not about me. It’s about Jesus and it’s about loving Jesus and loving my neighbor. Everything else, once again, is added onto you. My joy has always been serving the Lord and loving people and trust in that he’ll bring everything else into alignment.

You texted me and you said, “I need to stop by your house. I got a big announcement.” Put this into context for the readers. He’s pretty much the only person I go out golfing with besides my wife. Not that you’re my only friend. I do have other friends.

I’m easily top 2 or 3.

You’re out there.

We’re not going to skate around it.

I’ll give you that because you’re leaving and now I have to replace you.

No, you won’t because you’ll come down to Arizona two or three times a year then I’ll still stake my claim.

He says that he’s got this big announcement, so I’m thinking, you got married. Is it possible that he’s having a baby?

No.

A big announcement is either A) You’re having a baby, which, A is bad because then you don’t realize.

That’s why I’m not having one.

You know that. Maybe you did it. I didn’t know if you thought that life would be the same.

I’m plainer. We got that. We’re good.

B) He’s moving. He took a job at another church. He’s going to go start a church. I said in the text, he said, “I don’t want to hear either option because they both stink.” Anyways, came over and announced that you are doing what? You’re building a church. That easy. “I’m building a church from scratch in a city I don’t know anybody in.

I know like seven people.

3,000 miles from my grassroots, home roots, family, all your twenty family members and your parish and all of that. We don’t want you to go into the 40-minute version, but what hits you to want to do that?

I do have a little entrepreneurial mindset. I always want to be somebody. When I look at my life, I think your life is broken down in what I would classify as your assignment. Your assignment portion of life is like a 20 to 25-year increment where you’re working towards something strategically that feels bigger than yourself. That’s me boiling down like what I would feel an assignment was.

In COVID, when everything was shutting down and I was going into a season where me and my wife were getting married. I wanted to make sure that that assignment portion of my life, that 20 to 25-year portion, was something that felt so out there, so much faith-filled and so much like borderline Micah. It’s like only Micah would do that, that truly I could dedicate my life to. There’s a long story about what went into the prayer and some things. For me, it was always about what is the maximum amount of faith that I could step out in and see if God will meet me. I’m fully expecting you will, but there’s a verse. These are verses in my background. It’s in Luke 18:29-30. It says, “He said to him, truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left a house, a wife, brothers, parents, children or friends for the sake of the kingdom who will not receive many more times not only in this life but in the age to come.”

That’s a verse that I’ve stood on ever since we’ve made this decision. There’s nobody who’s left everything behind for the sake of the kingdom who I won’t give many more times above in this stage and in the age to come. For me, as I looked at that trajectory of my life, I wanted to be remembered as somebody who didn’t preach faith but truly said, “I’ll put everything on the line for it.”

Certainly, the Gibson family, everybody at the church, is going to miss you. In fact, the Gibson family teared up when we heard the announcement for the second time on livestream while we were driving up to our trip. We figured that you would be here and take over for your dad at some point and now you’re not.

That’s tough to swallow, but we know that you have the entrepreneurial spirit and, like me, you love that challenge of starting something from scratch. You have this deeper need for a challenge, for fulfillment, eloquently as you said it, what the scripture says. That’s amazing. What financially is this going to look like in terms of how do you get this going? Is it like a business in a way?

Very much so.

Not kind of. It is.

Yes, it is. That’s where the intersection of faith and practicality always has been. It always has a little bit of friction, like, how do you live in faith but also live practically? Jack, it’s like, you can have faith for all of these things, but if you’re not doing anything practical. It’s like, “We all want,” your thing, indestructible wealth. How do we build a lifestyle where we ultimately live out an indestructible wealth mindset?

 

If you don’t have any practicals, you’re never going to get there. For me, the practical level of it is truly like trust in the Lord. As it pertains to finances, we’ve already been. Essentially when I made the decision in March, I started reaching out to organizations and different planting networks that will partner financially.

At the same time, too, we’re drumming up a little bit of a campaign for us at our church that would be ascending thing. Essentially, this is one way to look at it. Between some of the flip houses and different things from a personal standpoint, my wife and I have been fine for about a year and a half. After that, it’s like, “Lord, I hope you’re going to come through.” If you were to look at me and say, “You’ve got a year and a half to get yourself dialed in,” and build a church sufficiently and with a base of health, longevity, and sustainability. I would look to you and say, “That’s plenty of time.”

I’d love to say a ballpark number. We’d love to raise $250,000. Now where we’re at, we’ve got a partnership with an organization that, hopefully, we can get finalized, which is a decent chunk of finances. I think we’re probably now in the $120,000 to $125,000 range. What’s funny is we haven’t even done any big pushes or anything like that. Me and my dad were talking. We’re going to do a big push starting in a week weekend in October for it. If we can get to that $250,000 range, that gives us the freedom to dream big. The biggest thing is I’m going to be in the top five city markets in America in Phoenix, the Valley area.

Everything’s a little bit more expensive, but that’s the thing. Once again, when you’re faithful with little, he trusts you with much. That’s something that I’ve always proved here. Even in the seasons where I had much and I have had little, is that he consistently bring it to the Lord and trust that he’ll give you the direction. Character once again, not to bring it back to the first two minutes of the interview, but the character’s the thing.

If you don’t have character, no offense, you don’t have anything. You could be a hard worker and be good with finances, but character truly is, to me, I think, make or break as it pertains to if people believe in you. If people want to partner with you, if you’re going to be able to build anything lasting, those types of things all come down to who you are, what you believe, and what you stand on. For me, character has a track record and I’ve been at our church for years.

I’ve been anything you can ask or think I’ve done and am willing to do. Those are the things that separate the people of character versus the ones who don’t. There’s nothing beneath me. There’s nothing I’m not willing to do from a biblical perspective and, at the same time, consistently coming to the Lord and making sure that I’m following his word. Following his spirit and submitting to people who are older and wiser than me who can lean into and give me advice as well.

It was crazy to think that when you came over that night to tell us that you were going to Arizona, I had signed a purchase agreement on one of my first investment rental properties in Arizona City. Probably less than an hour or so from where you’re going to locate your new church. I said, “This can’t be a coincidence. This is God’s speaking to me saying, ‘You got blessed on this property. You took $80,000 out-of-state, bought it, sight unseen.’ Guided to now selling it for $230,000,” six years later. I’m like, “This is too much of a sign. I need to make a donation.” It was amazing.

That’s what indestructible wealth is to me. That’s what this whole platform is about. You want to build financial freedom and great finances for yourself and for your family. There’s something much bigger than that you can be a part of. Being a part of helping the church to grow from scratch. Being a part of blessing missions. Being a part of feeding the hungry. Being a part of supporting young life, where that’s to help high school kids to have a better support network. I think that’s what this is all about. It’s not just about how you get yours. It’s about so much more impactful and meaningful and fulfilling than that.

I don’t even know if you remember this talk that we had. We were in your basement shooting the breeze late at night. This was probably a few years ago, but we were talking about what legacy is. You were chatting about and I do remember this. You were chatting specifically about what leaving a legacy was. We were chatting about what that means. It wasn’t a super long conversation, but I remember it because it was late at night.

I think we were talking about church stuff and you were talking about wanting to do things that left a legacy. We don’t necessarily think about that as much as we probably should. At the end of your life, what are people going to remember you for? Are they going to remember you for how much money was in your bank account or are they going to remember you for how you made them feel or how you believed in them or how you were there for them in a tough time or how you supported them or how no matter what went on in life, you were always there?

At the end of your life, what will people remember you for? Are they going to remember you for how much money you have in the bank, how you made them feel, how you believed in them or supported them, or how you were always there no matter what went on… Click To Tweet

Those are the things that, from a legacy perspective, make an impact. I’m a big reader, so it’s interesting to look at a lot of these Roman leaders and even the Egyptian pharaohs and stuff that would try and carve their names into stone and make their monuments so that they wouldn’t be forgotten. In essence, because they did that, they weren’t forgotten. What are the pieces of stone that were carving our legacies into because it’s not about the things that are fleeting? It’s about the things that are going to last.

When you ask yourself the question, what’s your legacy going to be? I want to go out as somebody who I risked it. I put it all on the line. I trusted that the Lord was going to meet me, but there I wasn’t going to live comfortably. I wasn’t going to live easy. I wasn’t going to live with it handed to me. I was live going out, as the warriors say, going out on my shield.

For me, that’s always been something I’ve wanted to do. To be somebody who, when people looked at my life, they said, “That guy followed and gave everything for the Lord.” Even for you, your legacy is shifting into like, what can I give back? I think that’s the greatest place you can find yourself. When you’ve had accoladesand success and it pivots from not more success , howcan I give this success to other people to see them succeed

You and I probably were arriving at the same thing when COVID, all the shutdown and we had time to listen to that still voice within. We realized that there was something bigger that we both wanted to do and we were never talking about that. We were probably both contemplating, searching and trying to figure that out.

I realized that I had a message I could make a difference for younger entrepreneurs and professionals and that I could give them a little piece of my knowledge and experience. It’s interesting how we both arrived at the same thing, just different ways of doing that. What’s the one question that I didn’t ask you that maybe I could’ve or should have, that you could give some parting advice to the younger entrepreneurs and professionals about the money game?

You probably talk about diversifying. I know that you’re somebody who’s a proponent of diversifying stuff. For me, first thing you need to do is you need to find people who are way farther ahead you and ask a lot of questions and write a lot of things down. What I mean by that is, a lot of the times, people want your advice, but they don’t do anything to remember or implement it. You’re like, “This feels like a waste of time.” I highlighted people who I knew knew things. I know even early on, one of the guys who taught me quite a lot in terms of understanding was one of my best friends and still is, Matt.

My dad had talked to me a little bit, but Matt helped me out with how do you assess a flip house or understand the market a little bit. That helped me because he was somebody who was farther ahead and he was doing it. He wasn’t a realtor at the time. All he did was casually mention things. I’m putting the numbers together in my mind and I’m like, “I think I can do that.”

With my dad, I’ve always had a relationship in terms of bouncing off ideas. There’s another mentor I have named Joe Matthews. In the next few years, I’d love to have some form of laundromat business. I’ve been doing a lot of research on it and it is an industry that intrigues me because a lot of laundromats are owned by older couples that are phasing out of that industry. It’s not a sexy passive income industry. You got to load the soap dispenser.

There’s a lot of cash that comes through those numbers.

It’s a monster industry. That whole idea came from a mentor one time. This guy’s done very well for himself. He looked at me and he said, “I’ve done 4 or 5 different industries as well has been a top executive in a massive company that’s about an hour away from here. One of the best investments I ever did that put multiple kids through colleges is coin laundry.”

I went to some of his laundromats and started researching systems and processes and reading books on it. Deep down, we want somebody to drop the golden idea on our lap and then do these ten things and you’re there. Rather than us like, “Who are the people I respect that I have proximity to and I have access to? How can I pick their brain in the most thorough and respectable way? What can I implement into my life to set myself up to maybe live out some of the things that they’re saying?”

I’m not saying that I’m actively looking at laundromats now but I am saying that is something that actively interests me based off of conversations that I’ve had with a mentor. You can never underestimate the value of getting around people who will challenge your ways of thinking. They will push you, but at the same time, who are farther ahead and being okay with not having, for lack of a better term, penis-measuring competition. Jack, I know you probably know exactly what I’m talking about. It’s like you get around people and they’re like, “How many units or what are you this, that?” It’s like, “What can I learn? I can learn from everybody.” I think that in my life, I’m a product of my network, not my net worth.

 

I do know that when I’ve focused on the net worth to an extreme, that’s led to a lot of unhappiness. What’s most important for all of us is that it’s what’s the trajectory that you’re on? Are you healthy and happy where you’re at now as you strive for more growth? That’s made a huge difference for me to have peace in my art and not just worrying about where am I trying to get to?

I don’t need to get to the next goal or the next place. Be healthy and happy right here and enjoy this as I strive to continue to grow. I know that you’ve got that down. Thanks so much for joining us. How do people follow you? You said you’re not very active on social media. What’s the name of your church? How are they going to be able to find you?

I have to be more active when I move because I feel like I have an obligation to the people here in Michigan to see my life. I have an obligation to be, so I am planning on coming out of the attic and getting more active and engaging in that. I know people are so into me that that may be the only way they can see. It’s Micah Schoeplein on Facebook or Instagram. The name of our church is Fixate Phoenix.

Do you livestream?

Yes, but we’re quite a bit out in terms of when those will be starting. I was talking to my wife about this. What it’ll look like is hopefully we can get a website and everything up and running so people can be in tune with what’s going on and build out a database of communication and updates on everything. I know that’s quite a bit out, but if you like me that much, you can hang on.

My wife and I are very happy to make a $15,000 donation to your church. It’s 10% of what we’re going to make off of that property. It seemed like the right number. I wouldn’t be surprised if that number goes up once we determine what your needs are and how other people engage and donate and step up. We are thrilled to be a part of the whole experience of getting it off the ground. I’m so proud of you. I value the friendship, relationship and all your wisdom. Thanks, everybody, for joining us. Micah, thank you so much.

 

Important Links

• Micah Schoeplein – Instagram
• Facebook – Micah Schoeplein
• Fixate Phoenix