408: Building Wealth from Scratch, How Julie Roy Went from $25K Debt to Multi-Million Dollar Success

Show Notes

Julie was born into an Italian immigrant family and raised in Windsor, Ontario. She started working at nine years old, taking on odd jobs such as babysitting and working at a meat market. Her parents' business failed during a recession, leading to significant financial struggles and showing Julie the importance of financial independence. Throughout high school and university, she worked various jobs, including at a Montessori preschool. During a summer break, she started her first business, a Montessori preschool in her mom's basement, driven by the need to support herself and a determination to succeed despite the financial challenges she faced.

How did you go from a Montessori school in your mom's basement to financial freedom?

Julie expanded her preschool business from her mom's basement to multiple locations.

She overcame numerous challenges, including securing a high-interest loan to finance her first standalone location.

She sold her preschool business to private equity, retaining the real estate for rental income.

She then started a long-term care business but found it emotionally challenging.

After that she decided to start a Montessori business in the U.S., but faced challenges like establishing credit and securing visas.

After getting going, she was able to scale her business rapidly during COVID by providing emergency services.

Achieved two eight-figure exits, selling both the operations and real estate of her preschools.

What are the steps or phases you coach people to take to accomplish financial freedom?

Julie talks about the importance of the entrepreneurial mindset and overcoming scarcity thinking.

Set big targets with intermediate goals to maintain motivation.

Become a continuous learning and seek mentorship.

Believe in yourself and commit to continuous learning. You have to have the mindset to do this because if you can't wrap your mindset around growth and around always be learning and around being coachable and being absorbent, you won't succeed.

Julie shares the concept of prioritizing return on life (ROL) over return on investment (ROI).  What actions/goals give you the best return on your life?  Focus there.

"Return on life is about what is the return professionally, personally? How is that affecting my spouse and my kids and our time together and all the pieces together? That equation looks very different."

How have you found harmony with raising a family and being an entrepreneur?

Julie admits there is no perfect balance, but prioritizes being fully present during family time.

We must let go of guilt over missed moments and focus on the impact of current and future actions.

It is critical to focus on your health and well-being for maintaining harmony.

Can you explain some of the passive income streams you coach entrepreneurs on?

Julie focuses on triple net real estate for stable, passive income.

There are a lot of benefits of triple net leases, where tenants cover all property expenses.  Basically, triple net covers all expenses with a profit margin from the rent.

Julie likes Starbucks and places with long-term leases for 15-20 years and if the Starbucks leaves or closes, her triple net contract ensures she still gets paid.  For her not to get paid, the Starbucks company would need to go out of business.

Julie also spent time talking about understanding and utilizing tax strategies like bonus depreciation and negative K1s.

Other passive income opportunities she uses are multifamily real estate and oil and gas investments.