MSG Presents: Eric On Money-"Confessions of a 6-figure earner: The Rozerrio Camel Episode"

What really happens after you hit six figures? In this candid conversation, Eric sits down with Rozerrio Camel — a senior software engineer at JP Morgan Chase, real estate equity raiser, and former Northrop Grumman engineer — to unpack the highs and lows of financial success.

From early mistakes with credit cards and student loans, to navigating layoffs, career pivots, and the lure of “trinkets” that come with a high salary, Rozerrio gets real about the mindset shifts and discipline it takes to go from broke habits to building wealth.

Together, they explore:

• Why six figures doesn’t guarantee financial security.
• The difference between financial coaching and financial advising.
• How to spot (and stop) self-sabotaging money behaviors.
• Lessons from tech layoffs and the importance of financial resilience.
• The path from employee to equity raiser in commercial real estate.

🎙️ Honest, practical, and inspiring — this episode is a masterclass in money mindset and growth for anyone on the journey to financial freedom.

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Transcript

Confessions of a 6-figure earner_ The Rozerrio Camel Episode

Eric: [00:00:00] Good evening. Welcome to confessions of a six figure earner. So glad for you all to be here with us today. I have a special guest that I'm going to be introducing shortly. His name is Rosario Camel. I'm going to read his bio, but before we get into that, I want to talk about why this show is so important and why I invited Rosario on to the show.

So we know that a lot of people in society aspire to be six figure earners. It's you hear it all the time, but as six figure earners, we kind of know that just because you're a six figure earner does not mean you're That everything is all roses. There are a lot of challenges. It takes time to get to that point.

And people have a lot of confessions that they want to make to me about their experience and their journey. And so we're giving them a platform to do so. So without further ado, Mr. Camel, thank you for joining us. How are you doing [00:01:00] this evening? 

Speaker 2: Doing pretty good. It's definitely an honor to be here. 

Eric: Yes, it is definitely an honor to have you.

So I want to start off with telling the audience how you and I became acquainted with each other. Do you recall, well, I know you recall, but what's your kind of a version of events? 

Speaker 2: So for me I was still in New York and I wanted to, I knew I was going to be making a lot of money and I really needed some help trying to control what I was making because before I didn't get a good grasp on my finances.

So basically I just reached out to you on LinkedIn and say, Hey, I basically in so many words, I need help trying to maintain my finances and try to figure out why I keep spending my money and keeps going. Keeps almost near zero. So there's some issues there. So I've seen some coaching. 

Eric: Yes. And I remember it the same way.

And I think you already had a really healthy [00:02:00] income, but you were, you knew you were going to be making a substantial amount more, right? 

Speaker 2: Yes. And I wanted to get ahead of it before I started going to those habits again. So, yeah. 

Eric: Okay. All right. So I'm going to read your bio and I'm going to let us let you fill in the gaps a little more.

So Rosario is an equity raiser for multifamily real estate. Currently he is also a senior software engineer with JP Morgan chase. He has some previous experience at some really notable companies, one of which my father actually worked at as well Northrop Grumman. I didn't even know that until I saw this, your bio that you were there.

Mr. Campbell has a master of science and mechanical engineering from Purdue. Okay. And a bachelor of science and mechanical engineering from the University of Mississippi. Now that is the corporate bio. I'm just going to tell you all that I had a great experience working with [00:03:00] Rosario on his finances.

He was very coachable. He was very proactive and the results have been tremendous. So I have a lot of respect for him. But Rosario, is there anything that we missed in your bio that from the corporate presentation of who you are? 

Speaker 2: So essentially my background is in mechanical engineering, but I've done a lot of work across different fields, namely aerospace, chemical engineering, um, HVAC.

And now I'm in, in finance. So I've been able to kind of leverage those skills that I've learned across all those industries into where I am now. 

Eric: Okay. And how did you get into the real estate investment part of your background? 

Speaker 2: Yeah. So for real estate investment. So for me, I realized that I wanted to kind of roll my money beyond what I was making where I am now.

And so I'm currently in Texas and I just kinda one day I just, I was driving to work and I just saw all these, [00:04:00] all this space. All of these buildings and on my way to work, I saw, cause I worked downtown. So I see all these commercial buildings and I said, you know what? I may need to look into investing in real estate, try to get by, get myself and my family in a much better position long term.

Eric: Yeah. So you were riding on your way to work and it just kind of hits you like, Hey, I need to start making some different moves in the real estate space. 

Speaker 2: Yes. Plus I'm already in the finance world. So it was like, Hey. They kind of mesh together and you start hearing about things in the finance and the finance world and then real estate is go, you know what, why don't I just look into doing some real estate.

So 

Eric: absolutely. Yes. And we're going to get more into that. I want to take the audience back though, and I want to talk about, so you're obviously a six figure earner now, great career going, also building your business. But what was your, tell us a little bit about your history as it [00:05:00] relates to money. Did you grow up with people talking about money and financial advisors and all that stuff?

Like, what was your background? 

Speaker 2: So for me, so I come from a lower middle class background from I saw from Mississippi originally. And a lot of people in my family are blue collar. And essentially I didn't receive any advice other than maybe save my money. But you know, for what purpose, like what, for what vehicle, what, what why am I saving my money?

So there was no example that I saw growing up in my family. So for me, unfortunately, I kind of went down the road. Okay, I'm just gonna basically treat money like water, spend it. And okay, well, I know I'm working a little bit. So I'll spend it again. And it's kind of endless cycle, you know, getting, you know, one of those people who got caught up with as a freshman.

I saw that I can get a credit card even though the income the the limit on that was very low. I said, Oh, it's [00:06:00] only a couple of hundred dollars. It's not too bad. Then I found myself. You know, almost maxed out on that credit card. 

Eric: They got me like that too. Yeah. I talked about that on LinkedIn a lot and people are like, yeah, they got me like, that's, that's so predatory the way they do that.

Speaker 3: Yeah. I 

Eric: mean, what person, what young person in college is going to probably do well managing a credit card, you know? And then now with that, did it end up hurting your credit when you did that? 

Speaker 2: It did. And I eventually did pay it off, but it was, I didn't think about the credit score. I didn't even know what the credit score was back then until like maybe a few years into having a credit card.

So yeah, 

Eric: same thing for me. I think my first card I was in the South when I was in school at that time. And you remember this department store called riches? 

Speaker 2: I may have like a 

Eric: Macy's type of store or Belk or Nordstrom type of type of store. 

Speaker 2: I may [00:07:00] have seen it once maybe in Alabama. I'm not a hundred percent sure of that.

Eric: Yeah, they got me. They gave me, I got the richest card and I ran it up and then I didn't even like you, I didn't even really think much about it. And then once I figured out what credit was and I went on my credit report, there it was right. Missed payments, missed payments, and it was still hanging around.

So I had, you know, I had to try to figure out how to get that off. But yeah, that's it. Had no 

Speaker 2: clue, right? 

Eric: No 

Speaker 2: clue. 

Eric: Oh, good. 

Speaker 2: Yeah. So like when they did, so when I, they did advertise those credit cards, it was, I think it was in the middle of a football game. They had them outside. They had people like applying for them, like right outside.

So this is kind of around that time of the, the kind of the, I guess you'd call it the quote unquote predatory lending period. So I think it was around that same time. So, 

Eric: yeah, it would be better if they would at least have some kind of training or some kind of thing about [00:08:00] credit as they're giving you the card, you know what I mean?

Like you're, we're young, so we probably wouldn't have paid much attention to it, but at least it would have been in the back of our minds. Like. There is an impact on this beyond what I'm doing right now. 

Speaker 2: The good thing now is there is more, there's more education out there now than there was back then.

But yeah, I kind of wish that I would have known more, but you know, the same time I grew up in a family that didn't teach these values or even show that. 

Eric: Yeah. Same here. Same here. And I mean, I heard the, yeah, you need to save your money. My dad used to say little cliche stuff like. Save 10 percent of your gross income, you know, but it's like, I don't even know what gross income is.

You know what I mean? So I did, I heard some things from my parents, but I didn't really understand. What they were talking, he would be like, pay yourself first. It's like, okay. Like I didn't even understand what [00:09:00] that meant until I was probably in my thirties. Like, what do you mean pay yourself first? It sounds like common sense, but I just didn't get it.

Right. I totally understand where you're coming from. So you're in college, you got these credit card situation. And then, so at some point you graduated from undergrad. What was your experiences like with money once you got into your first job after graduation? 

Speaker 2: So I had a pretty interesting time frame before I got my first salary roll because I had quite a few internships before joining the workforce.

So I was kind of in the middle of finishing my doctorate. I didn't finish my doctorate because this became way too expensive. And at that point, I was like, you know what? I want to start getting more real world experience. They're actually, you know what, in that role, the first role I was doing pretty well, I actually was able to save like half my, like each check, like one check I lived off of, and then the other check I did, I saved.

I was [00:10:00] doing, yeah, I actually did that. And then only after that, I think it started to fall off. So after the layoff and everything, so I started to kind of, the habits weren't there. I did have a little bit of some practical experience with being disciplined, but after that, it just became a problem.

Eric: Gotcha. Gotcha. Okay. 

Speaker 2: Picks away, but it's fine. Yeah, it's fine. 

Eric: Okay, so, so you did mention a layoff. Can you tell us a little bit more about that? 

Speaker 2: Yeah, so my first role, I was impacted by layoffs. I was there for about 15 months, which actually taught me a valuable lesson about making sure you had enough reserves.

So that actually saved me what I was doing because I was working a lot of hours. I was working at least 60 hours a week on average. But I was in the, I did get paid overtime. So I did save a lot. I was actually my first time I made six figures. Really? 

Eric: Okay. Okay. So that doesn't sound so when you your first time making six figures, it didn't [00:11:00] seem like it took that long after you got out of undergrad.

Speaker 2: Right. So I was in my, so I was in my master's program. I did do several internships and then I got my first role, but it wasn't a six figure role until I started doing a lot of overtime. 

Eric: Okay. 

Speaker 2: Yeah. 

Eric: So you were pretty young making six figures though. 

Speaker 2: Yes. Relatively speaking. 

Eric: Well, I didn't have that experience.

I started making six figures later in life. So tell me, tell us a little bit more about that. So you're very young. I would imagine you're in your twenties. And you're making a six figure income. What was that like? 

Speaker 2: For me, because I think that I thought this was going in at any moment. So I was like, you know what, let me just stash some away in case something happened and something did happen.

And so but I was on the first wave of layoffs. They had many more after that. Oh, 

Eric: okay. So you weren't the only one, 

Speaker 2: right? It was like being 300 other people, engineers, and [00:12:00] then they started way by the way, by the way, the most part, that's how it goes. 

Eric: Okay. And so I would imagine at that point, even though you did put some money up, now your lifestyle is changing a little bit because you got laid off.

Speaker 2: Right. Actually purchased a vehicle like five days before I found out. Wow. I got laid off. But the good news was. It was a cheaper vehicle. It wasn't like it wasn't something very expensive and it was manageable. So I was like, Oh, okay, let me just get this. Cause I was using, I was still doing leases. So you know what, I want to just buy this car.

Eric: Okay. So I'm sure that was a little bit stressful. So you got laid off and you had just got this new car note, even though it wasn't too crazy, but it was another expense that you had to manage. 

Speaker 2: Right. And then where I was living the rent was very cheap. It was, well, it was inexpensive compared to, you know, the rents out right now.

So I [00:13:00] made sure I kind of prepared myself. So I had a little bit of financial discipline, but, you know, to make sure I wasn't underwater in general. So, because I knew I had to pay off other, I had other smaller debts I had to pay. Now, 

Eric: I'm curious about this at that job in particular, was anybody, was the employer doing anything related to helping educate about money, financial literacy, anything like that?

Speaker 2: You know what, they did have a employment assistance program. 

Eric: I 

Speaker 2: think that was only for people who really needed it, but I didn't think I needed it at the time because I didn't know if I needed to do that. So I said, you know what, let me just, that was, It was my back pocket just in case I ran into a situation.

But by the time I did run into a situation, I no longer qualified because I was no longer. 

Eric: Right, right. I got a similar story with that too. Yeah, I, I had, I was somewhere that [00:14:00] had actually had an employee assistance program as well, but I didn't even know what it was until I was gone. Oh, and I guess I was too proud or just too busy at the job to even inquire about it.

But it could have actually helped me quite a bit because at that time I needed some financial coaching or assistance and they had it in that program. But again, I didn't know until I left now with you, you said you didn't participate in that, but did you understand what it was and how it worked? 

Speaker 2: Yes, so we did receive trainings.

Yeah, 

Eric: gotcha. Okay. So at least you did understand. I didn't. So that's 

Speaker 2: okay. I just thought it was for people who did, who, who are going under economic hardships. That's what I thought it was for. So in the event that they go through some hardships, then yeah, it would be something that I can use. 

Eric: Gotcha.

Okay. So you mentioned that you ended up going to do your master's degree. So this is at Purdue [00:15:00] at the time, what was going through your mind about maybe student loans and things of that nature? You just came out of undergrad. I'd imagine you maybe had some debt and then you're coming out getting a master's degree now.

Speaker 2: So at the time, so, so someone asked me this a long time ago, back in undergrad you know, about taking out loans. And I looked at it as an investment back then. So that was my mindset back then. I didn't think about the interest that would pile up later on. So right. But it's, it was, it was something that I, I really had a lot of passion for considering I wanted to get both PhD for Purdue.

So at the time I was very liberal with, with money. I wasn't that, you know, Stringent about things. So I look at it as an investment, you know, no different than someone investing in a, in a house to flip or something like 

Eric: that. Okay. At the time. Okay. So maybe you have a different view [00:16:00] of it now. Do you have the same?

Speaker 2: Very different view now. 

Eric: All right. What's your view of it now? Looking back. 

Speaker 2: Definitely not take out nowhere near as much as I took out. I think because it was just me supporting myself and I didn't have that support system. So my Children, I'm not, I don't want them to take out so many take out loans at all.

So now I know better. So like, okay, you know what? We can look into scholarships, grants, because I did get scholarships and grants, so it felt like I didn't have any funds. It was just that I wanted to live off campus, and I wanted to have money for emergencies and things like that, because I didn't have, I couldn't depend on my family for that.

Eric: Okay. Yeah, definitely understand that. Totally. Okay. So you're thinking, so you're signing for the loans like, Hey, this is an investment, not too big of a deal. I want to ask you, do you believe that you would have made it to six figures without getting those student loans? 

Speaker 2: Yes. Well, it's just got my [00:17:00] mask. I was cut off of my masters.

I was in fine. I wouldn't own. Oh, nor near as much, but it probably worked three, four years pivoted a few times. Like I did in my, in my career. I would have gotten there 

Eric: pretty quickly. Okay. So do you feel like you would have gotten there though, even without the undergrad in the grant and the grad school, like with no loans, do you think you would've got the six figures?

No student loans. 

Speaker 2: It would've been a little bit of a struggle. I would have probably had to work maybe art slash full time job for some expenses and maybe stay on campus the rest of the whole 44 years I was there, 

Speaker 3: but it would have been 

Speaker 2: possible. Probably not where I was, where I was living. Cause I was in Mississippi.

I would have to move to a different, another state because I was considering California at one point. I'm glad that 

Eric: that didn't happen. Yeah. Super expensive over there. Yeah, 

Speaker 2: yeah, 

Eric: definitely. Okay. Hey, I was asking you that because I also got student [00:18:00] loans and I don't think I would've got to six figures without them at the time, only because of my mindset.

I know the opportunities were out there, but my mindset just wasn't there. So I just wanted to ask you about that to get your perspective. So you're saying, yeah, I would have got there. It would have been a little bit more difficult, but I would have gotten there. 

Speaker 2: Yeah, it'll be taking a lot longer than if I didn't get the master's, it would have taken a lot longer.

Eric: Okay. Now the next thing I wanted to get into with you, one of the things that intrigued me about your background when we first met was that you were a black male in tech. 

Speaker 2: Yes. 

Eric: So I definitely want to talk to you a little bit about that. You know, what have your experiences been as a black male in tech and just as a person in tech in general that you'd like to share with the audience?

Speaker 2: Yes. So for me, I've always been like, even though I have a lot of formal education I've always been very self taught. So my mindset [00:19:00] was, I wanted to make sure that I could figure out as much as I could because I don't expect a lot of people to help me with a lot of things, even the most difficult things.

So me personally, like going back to you being a teenager, I always like to solve difficult problems. So this was the same thing, just a different application, different industry. So for me, I always like to make sure I figure I can figure it out. Because I've had situations in grad school and I think maybe in my last, my senior year of undergrad, where I had to kind of figure it out because there was no one there or I was left to figure it out.

So I said, you know what, let me just go ahead and just figure it out. And that was my mindset. 

Eric: Okay. And as you're in that space, I would imagine that maybe you don't see a lot of other people like yourself many times or, or is that changing now? 

Speaker 2: That's changed dramatically. [00:20:00] Actually, my current role now, I see a lot more than I did in my last role.

I think a lot, a lot of people, well So you know, I come from a chemical engineering background. Not a lot of uh, black people want to go into those, you know, real hardcore STEM roles because mechanical engineering is much more difficult than software engineering, in my opinion, down to the, the, well, I guess, For the most part, you don't have to learn as much like I can do software engineering, but software engineers can't necessarily do mechanical engineering without a whole curriculum.

Basically, you have to go back to school all over again. So it's not that, that that simple. I mean, for me, I loved it because it was like, I, you know, I had a, I had already saw a lot of this stuff growing up. 

Eric: Okay. So it wasn't that unfamiliar. Right. And I mean, to me, I'm obviously not in tech, but mechanical engineering even sounds more difficult than [00:21:00] software engineering.

You know, it's like, you hear the word mechanical, you're already thinking like there's a high level of difficulty, 

Speaker 2: right? Yes. One of the more difficult, one of the more difficult types of engineering out there. Electrical, chemical civil, not as bad, but the definitely A lot of area that a lot of people don't try to pursue or they don't stay in for a long time, right?

Eric: Is the burnout level high in that mechanical engineering role? 

Speaker 2: I would say a lot of people will try to pursue maybe management. They'll try to get the management as quickly as possible because they don't want to have to deal with the, you know, it becomes a little mundane after a while. So, and, you know, unfortunately there's not a lot of black engineers.

that stay, that they go stay in that route probably now, but like back when I was doing it, I didn't see a lot. I was always either the only one as far as American. 

Eric: Oh, okay. Gotcha. 

Speaker 2: Yeah. 

Eric: And then in terms of other [00:22:00] people of color in just in tech in general, in the roles that you've been in, have you seen a decent number of Asians and Hispanic individuals in these roles?

Speaker 2: Yes. Really? Okay. I'm used to, I'm used to being in a diverse group, like the teams I'm on the last couple of, the last two, the teams I'm on now and the one in my last role, everybody was, at least. 

Eric: Oh, okay. Okay. So I didn't, I didn't realize that. Okay. Cause I kind of thought of it being maybe more white male dominated.

In my mind, just because that's what I get, I've shown a lot of times in the media. So that's good to know that there is a pretty decent level of diversity there. 

Speaker 2: Right. And the roles I'm in now, I see people from everywhere. So it's very diverse. 

Eric: Okay. That's really good to know. So I want to ask you this, are people, and I don't know if you know this, but I know people, you probably talk to your coworkers occasionally.

Are people in tech [00:23:00] good with their money?

Speaker 2: So I can go, let me start back with maybe people I talked to in my last role. Now I'll come back to the current. I see people more focused on maybe the traditional types of ways of. Growing your money via stocks, bonds other, other investor vehicles. That's just more common. As far as the alternative investments like real estate and other things, some it's, it's a mix and all depends on who you're talking to, to some may share, some may not.

So, but I see a lot of people, I see people talk about stocks a few times, but as far as being good with money that's, that's a different situation. I think. As far as achieving financial independence, some may want to achieve it. So I may not there's a kind of a Scott, I don't want to say false sense of security, but more so it's a comfort [00:24:00] being in a full time role knowing that you're going to get paid at least twice a month compared to, you know, going out on your own, you may get paid, you may not get paid.

So it's, it's, it's all about the risk involved. So. Also, with that being said, with that comfort comes, you know, quote unquote trinkets like the, you know, cars on vacations, being able to buy certain items. So, 

Eric: yeah. One reason why I asked that question is because we're seeing so many tech layoffs now and we've seen them for a while now.

So I was just wondering, like in general, You know, and I knew you couldn't speak for everyone, but like, you know, the tech people, are they saving their money? Like, what are they doing? Like when these massive layoffs happening, is it just like any other industry where most people probably didn't save very much?

Financial literacy rates aren't really that high. And they just kind of go out here and start looking for another job. [00:25:00] 

Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that tends to be like the default mindset say, well, I want to keep this comfort going. And, or maybe their expenditure are so high that they have to get one as soon as possible.

Cause I saw a lot of posts on social media, people in tech saying, Hey, I need to get this job within a few months. I need to get this job. Cause you know, just that the third happened. Now the fortunate thing about some of the people who did have high salaries that worked at some like the you know, the larger tech companies.

They were okay for the most part because a lot of them were able to land roles within a few months. Okay. And a lot of them have a lot of like, you know, extra bonuses, like restricted stock units, aka RSUs. And if they're already invested, they can leverage that to kind of use to live or, you know, invest it to something else.

So there are a few people who are very smart with their money, but I think the majority, I think there's still a need to And I'm not trying to speak for [00:26:00] everyone to have that, you know, kind of prepare for the worst because I've been there. 

Eric: Yeah, for sure. I think that's great advice. Prepare for the worst because the worst can certainly come.

Right. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I appreciate that insight because I've always wondered that about the tech industry just cause I came from a legal background and a real estate background, so I just didn't know. So that's helpful. Any advice that you would give to young people just coming into tech about money, given what you've just said, like you're probably going to make a lot of money.

You got, you're going to get the trinkets and all that, but what would you suggest to them as some strategies to protect themselves? 

Speaker 2: Okay. So for me, I have to be careful cause you know, I work at a large financial institution, so I'm not a financial advisor by any means, but I would say that what I did was I had a spreadsheet and I looked at all the [00:27:00] expenses and then I had a budget that went against that.

So I was like, okay, let me make sure I don't go over budget. So prepare, have like a fixed budget. And try to stay as close to that budget as possible. And then just every day, just look at all your expenses because when you slash that debit, that debit or credit card. It becomes almost like you have unlimited, like in the, in the mind for me at the, in a while back, I felt like that, you know, I had unlimited source and you don't have unlimited source.

So even if you have to use cash for certain pur purchases, I, I found that has helped me tremendously, especially like in the last couple weeks. Yeah. Just being, just, you know, taking the emotion out of the, out of the, out of the of having that, of being close to money and just treat it like a business basically.

Like how much is going in? How much is going out? What do you need to do to increase your, your profits, for example, which is your, let's say your, your job is your way of making money. How do you [00:28:00] increase your profits via promotion via upscaling to where you can get promoted in your current role or receive opportunities?

outside your current role within that company or even outside the company. Definitely upscaling is very key, especially now because things are becoming more and more advanced. And that ties into the money too. So I've found myself always kind of upscaling and challenging myself to be better than where I was before.

Eric: All right. You all hear that? Mr. Camel is definitely not giving any financial advice. He is not speaking on behalf of JP Morgan Chase or any other finance financial institution, but he is offering you some game as an OG. So he's been in the tech game for a while, he's made the money and he just gave some strategies on how to protect yourself and make sure that you have a fruitful career.

So I definitely hope everyone is taking note of that. Now we talked about your role as a tech person [00:29:00] as you know, working at these different companies, but you also are a tech person. entrepreneur. Could you tell us about that? 

Speaker 2: Yes. So I've been getting a lot of coaching and I realized that I had some ideas for medical devices.

I came up with a new idea with regarding how to handle leads from marketing leads. So I had been getting coached like the last, I want to say, almost six months now. And I realized that that could be a potential stream of income as well. Also it doesn't it's something I can take in multiple directions with both the medical device and the the, the marketing leads technology.

The leads technology idea came from me essentially working with real estate leads and the market, the, the medical device came from me trying to develop some medical devices, I think about seven, eight years ago. With the doctor, that situation didn't work out, but I was always interested in, you know, developing, [00:30:00] uh, medical devices for the cardiovascular system.

So that's something that's a more long term thing, but it's something I'm definitely interested in doing. 

Eric: Okay. Wow. Medical healthcare. Yes. Yeah. I've had quite a few clients lately doing startups in the healthcare space. It's definitely intriguing for me. It's something to think about as a serial entrepreneur.

Is there a reason that you were more drawn to health care versus like FinTech or some other kind of tech where you could have been an entrepreneur? 

Speaker 2: Well, unfortunately, I can't do anything in FinTech right now because of interest, but, but in the medical space, I can. And the reason why, especially with the heart in particular, so I have like a you know, family history of heart conditions, I'll say.

And I want to understand more about how the heart operates under those conditions. So the mechanical engineering me is like thinking, Hey, how could I find ways to kind of diagnose well [00:31:00] help cardiologists rather diagnose these conditions better over a long term period. 

Eric: Okay. Yeah. That's it. That's very intriguing.

And I actually saw someone recently, a young lady, she's a teen. I don't recall her name, but she was in a similar situation. She had a family that had a history of having strokes and she actually created a device. It's kind of like a watch that would kind of warn you if you were about to have a stroke and she was in the process of getting funding and all of that stuff.

But I just thought that was very intriguing. Like the tape. Something that's happening in your family and to create some tech around that. That's pretty awesome. 

Speaker 2: Yes, definitely. Yeah. Plus genetics play the role too. 

Eric: Yeah, definitely. Absolutely. Okay. So you're an investor as far as real estate and then cause we're going to jump back into real estate cause I want to talk about certain pieces of that, but you are an investor in [00:32:00] two different lanes, so to speak.

I want you to talk to the audience a little bit about how do you manage that from a financial perspective? I would, I would you talked about having a coach. I would imagine there's some investments. You have to make money being spent. How do you manage that so that you don't go too far in one direction?

Speaker 2: So for me, I've been kind of taking my time. I am in a few masterminds, so I've been cognizant of what's being spent. So that's another thing. I had to make sure, you know, during or out, you coach. But you and making sure I don't go overboard because there's a lot of shiny objects out there and say, Hey, you can do this.

You can do that and do this and do that. Now, that's great. If you have the funds to do it, plus the funds. The help do the help close those deals to well help do the marketing which is going to cost some money too, but don't think about that and then the and then closing 

Eric: Okay, great advice because we got a lot of [00:33:00] people out here They have a lot of different business ideas that they are trying to fund basically seeing which one is going to go off the ground, you know get off the ground and Sometimes it can be difficult.

You know, they don't know how much to spend on this business, how much to spend on that one. Then they have their normal expenses that they have to take into account. Right. Yeah. So it is a, definitely a balancing act. Now before we jump back into the real estate conversation to close us out, cause I want to get deep into this equity razor, part of your real estate investing.

I want to tell the audience what that is and what that looks like. I want you to please tell the audience. We keep saying that you got coaching from working with me with financial coaching. Let's talk about what that really is. Cause I'm starting to realize more and more. A lot of people hear financial coaching, but they don't necessarily understand what that entails.

Let's talk a little bit about what we did in that process. [00:34:00] 

Speaker 2: So in the process, we started off with kind of defining, you know, what were the, what were the money blocks? What's my money story? Like How did I get myself in this situation? Kind of sort of and what are some ways like identify, and this was a very, I don't want to say it was kind of emotional and psychological time, time that I had to deal with regarding how to just check that, check my my bank account and see what's in there, see what's going in and see what's going out.

I think a lot of people and myself included. You know, purposely ignore it and then we'll come back when there's a lot and when there's a little like, I don't see it because I already know what I did. So, but with time, we started to break all that stuff down, started to figure out the root cause. So, it took the emotions away from the, the blocks that I had psychologically.

Then after that, we started to develop a budget and plans, like, different types of ways [00:35:00] to. Maximize my, my income beyond just working. We looked into insurance. We looked into other streams of income via like stocks bonds looked into other investment vehicles outside of support one K we'll actually optimize the 401k and then also look into other investment vehicles, such as like a self directed IRA, which is very good for real estate investments.

What else do we do? We definitely. Dig into that budget quite a bit. We took several months to kind of optimize that budget and just try to keep the budget at a certain, at a certain, within a certain range or a certain number. And then kind of monitor all the daily expenses. So I did all, I did all my expenses manually did yet the day before and the current day what, what was my bank account looking like yesterday and today?

Just kept doing that for several months. And by doing that, it helped me rearrange and transform my mindset into thinking, okay, this needs to be treated like a [00:36:00] business. I can't just keep spending and not and wonder why at the end of the month, why I don't have enough. 

Eric: Yeah. And I have to say, you know, you all that are listening, I can't say this enough.

This gentleman definitely did the work and I know it wasn't easy. Cause I mean, we started off with mindset and I knew from my own experiences that that's really the hardest part to get through. Sometimes the mindset and just some of the habits that we built up and thought patterns over time, but you did the work.

And I would say from my perspective, I would, we got into quite a bit. But that budgeting piece was the bulk of what we did because it set the foundation for everything else. Even as you've been talking about the, your entrepreneurship and everything else we, and I want to let the audience know we met for the most part every week, every week.

So this took a lot of dedication on Mr. Campbell's part to meet every week, show up, be prepared, [00:37:00] have those difficult conversations and get better one meeting at a time. Right. And that's exactly what we were able to do. So I'll end with this. I want everybody to know that the difference between a financial advisor and a financial coach now play both roles.

So I'm not trying to put one on a pedestal higher than the other, but typically a financial advisor, they could be a coach, but typically their role is to advise you as the name suggests on what needs to happen. They'll probably do an assessment and all this different stuff, which is great. But then a coach is there to deal with behavior.

So instead of saying, Hey, you need to get an emergency fund, they're going to get into your psychology and help you get the emergency fund by rebuilding your mindset. So they're kind of there with you every day or on a daily basis weekly to help you get it done versus saying what you need to do. And [00:38:00] so if you're out there listening, if you are a six figure earner, even if you're not a six figure earner, I'll tell you, if you aspire to be a six figure earner, this is what the six figure earners do.

On their way to becoming a millionaire, they get help, they humble themselves, they become accountable and they do the work to get to that next level. And I guarantee you, whoever your favorite guru is and social media that has a lot of money that manages it well, they have some sort of coach, some sort of advisors, people in there on their money team, right?

Everybody wants to, needs to develop a money team, your team to help you with money. There's nothing wrong with it. And matter of fact, it will accelerate your success in life and definitely financially. 

Speaker 2: Absolutely. 

Eric: Yeah. And Mr. Camel Rosario is a perfect example of that. I mean, he's done exceedingly well.

And when he walked, when we concluded our financial coaching, he's [00:39:00] definitely extremely financially literate now as well. So I feel like the other piece that I want people to understand about coaching, if you have a good coach, even a good financial advisor. They're going to make sure that you're more literate when you're done.

I haven't, I've only ran across a few people that cared about whether I was financially literate or not, but that's why it's such a big part of the work that I do. Because I want you to walk away and be like, yeah, you know what? I actually understand these concepts and now I can teach my spouse, my children, people, other people in my family.

So yeah, I just wanted to bring that up. So yeah, thank you for sharing that. Now, sir, as we conclude, I want to get back into the real estate. So I would like for you to please tell the audience What is a equity raiser? 

Speaker 2: Okay. So an equity raiser is essentially an investor who works with either general partners or they call them [00:40:00] GPs, or they are also a co general partner, co GP to help raise funds to for commercial properties.

For example, let's say you, you have a team of general partners. Let's say five or six general partners on a team and one person is responsible for the acquisition section and another person responsible for the close. Another person responsible for the lending for the lending, you may get about 60 to 80 percent loan to value.

So let's say the. The loan, the, the property is about 10 million. So you get like maybe six to 7 million as a loan, you have to raise the remaining 3 million. So that's typically through a host of different investors or institutions. Typically people go through the private investor route. So people who are considered accredited investors, which are people who make either 200, 000 or more [00:41:00] if they're single or 300, 000 or more if they're married.

Or they have a network for I think over a million. They may have changed the rules since then. And there's a couple of other exceptions as well. Or unaccredited registries who may not fit that. And then there, the, the deal goes through a I'll use a syndication model, for example. They go through two steps.

One is 506B, where you can, you have to have a some substantive relationship with the person that you, Would like to become an investor. You can't just ask someone randomly, Hey, do you wanna invest in this what they call security which is, which is commercial property security other, otherwise, it's, it's illegal.

You can go to jail for that. Then after you pass that, you, you also don't allow to get up to a certain amount of unaccredited investors. in that particular stage. And then the deal can go through what's called a 506 C, which is only limited to the accredited to accredited investors. [00:42:00] And then from there, you can, there you can commercialize, you can post it on social media.

You can post it everywhere about the deal, but you can't, you're not allowed to advertise the deal when it's in five or six B or a similar stage, but otherwise it's, it's, it's, it's not, it's not legal. Okay, I might learn. So 

Eric: yeah, yeah, no, that's great. I mean, I think that's good for audience to hear because you are becoming extremely seasoned with understanding these concepts and implementing them now.

So if you were to explain this to You know, one of your children or someone very young is the, is it this simple? Let me know. You're a cinch as an equity raiser, you're responsible for helping to bring more money into a deal. 

Speaker 2: That and I'm also helping other people become financially independent in the, in the, in the process, because.

The deal goes well, they could, [00:43:00] they could, as they could potentially depending on the parameters, double their their their return on investment. Yes. 

Eric: So you're, you could be helping someone build generational wealth, for example. You know, it may, maybe it won't happen on one deal, but you know, you do a couple of good deals and Hey.

You're, you're, you're in the financial freedom category and generational wealth to pass on to your family. Okay. So this is a very important role. What drew you to this? Because I know from talking to you, you've been exposed to a lot of different pieces of the real estate development process. What drew you specifically to being an equity raiser?

Speaker 2: For me? So very Season investor, she works with master capitals. I will plug them with it. So she told me about, um, how could I easily get my foot in the door to start and capital raising was the was one of the things, because the problem was I'm still, I was still relatively new to the [00:44:00] real estate world, especially commercial real estate.

And I didn't know anything about underwriting per se, but I know underwriting is more natural to me from a number standpoint, because I'm also a numbers person. So. I could have easily done that, but capital raising is something that's completely out of my comfort zone initially. And I think that in order for me to grow on an exponential level, that I need to do something that that's not in my comfort zone in order to grow.

Eric: Respect. I really, I really can respect that because you, you could have done the easier thing, but you chose to do something that was way more challenging. Okay. So you're a little early in your journey. You know, if you're, if you're okay with sharing this, so what's your ultimate goal as it relates to real estate?

Speaker 2: So my ultimate goal is to get definitely me and my wife have become like very experienced real estate investors. So I started out in residential. I'm still going to be doing some residential deals, but based on the way things are going, especially with traction commercial [00:45:00] seems to be a better fit short term and long term.

I do like the, I do like the residential side in terms of being able to get that experience, but it doesn't, it's not the same, this term of scalability is very difficult. Let's say, for example, you're a, you're a fractional owner of a 200 unit versus being a owner of 10 units 10 separate units.

Let's say with multi families, 200, 200 apartments, and then the single family is 10, 10 units. I'd rather be a fraction owner there. And one 200, 200, 200, 200, because we're leveraging the power of team dynamics versus a person can go out and buy a home, flip it person, go out and buy another one, another one, another one, or they can have a rental portfolio.

There's nothing wrong with doing that. I like that aspect too, to a certain degree, but I think with the, let's say multifamily, you can become a fractional owner very quickly. You can scale very quick. So if you [00:46:00] get to 1000 units, that's what maybe 345 large deals that you're involved in. So you could scale very quickly and get a lot of experience in the process.

Eric: Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I mean, I just feel like it's me. Haven't gone like the more of a residential investing route and all that stuff. I think your model is way more, you're leveraging your time better and you definitely can scale your business faster because of what you said. It's not just you, you're leveraging other people's time, other people's money and other people's resources.

And you know, you're purchasing some properties where there's a number of different units. And so even the financial impact can be way more significant and you're spending the same amount of time probably, I mean, you know, no matter which route you go, you're going to spend time and you have to think which one of these is a better use of my time and is going to have the most financial [00:47:00] impact.

Speaker 2: Exactly. Plus, I'm not. So, you know, I'm not an expert right now. I can become an expert very quickly by leveraging other people's expertise. Cause I, I learned a lot. I learned so much from the like for example, I was on a panel on Friday and I learned so much from just the, the other investors talking about their journey into real estate.

And I definitely want to be on their level at some point in the next couple of years, maybe five years. I'm not, it's, it's pretty exciting journey. Definitely. And also in commercial real estate, it's very, very difficult to do all of that by yourself. It's, it's, it's almost impossible. And me coming into the game, looking at residential and commercial, I'll say, you know what I don't even, I wouldn't want to even do residential by myself because I'm like, well, this was being made 10 years ago.

I will try to do, I'll try to do as many properties on the residential side as possible. Cause I had that mindset of just doing things solo, [00:48:00] but now leveraging you know, a team I'm used to working on a team in corporate. So let me just let that experience. outside of corporate. 

Eric: Absolutely. I hope you all hear that audience.

You know, you got a person here that been successful in corporate taking those corporate skills and now applying them to real estate entrepreneurship with the understanding that, Hey, yeah, I can try to do everything by myself and that's fine. But if I leverage other people's time, money, and expertise, I'm going to get further faster.

Because his goal, as he said, is to build generational wealth with his wife and family. And so, you know, anybody can be a real estate entrepreneur. That's a great, but what I guess we're suggesting is if you think about having this mindset from the very beginning, man, at five years, you're so much further along and you would be with then with this, Oh, I'm going to do everything by myself mentality, or [00:49:00] well, I'm going to get one property here, one property there.

That's cool. You can do it, but you can take that same time and do what Rosario is suggesting just something to think about something to think about. Well, sir, I want to really thank you for coming today, you know, to this confessions of a six figure earner episode, this is going to be something that's heard across the world.

And I really appreciate you coming on and I've appreciated getting to know you better and working with you. Do you have any final thoughts that you would like to share with the audience? 

Speaker 2: So for me, I'm not used to like interviews unless it's like a, like a, like a interview for a role. So I'm getting better and better.

I'm getting better and better at this a little bit. So I'm definitely very much honored and happy to be here and I'm definitely willing to collaborate more in the future. So, 

Eric: okay. Yeah, you did an outstanding job. I thought you come off to me as a [00:50:00] seasoned person being interviewed. So thank you for that.

Your responses were crisp, you know, you're, you don't seem to be nervous at all. So yeah, thank you. And again, this conversation is going to help a lot of people. And Hey, I want to leave you all with this. Don't think because somebody has a six figure income that everything is all roses again. It may be, it may not be.

And if you are an aspiring six figure earner, part of the purpose of this series is to prepare your mindset for being a six figure person before that money hits your hand so that you can have better strategies to manage that money and to become a millionaire as quickly as possible. Because what we don't want is for you to be a six figure earner who is still broke.

And all of that has to do with mindset. So until the next episode, folks, we will talk to you later. And for now, [00:51:00] peace.