Episode 45 - Bill Haase - After Making the Best Real Estate Move in My Life, the Housing Bust Hit and It Was So Hard on New Construction That We Lost Our Home.

[00:00:06] Speaker A: Welcome to from caving in to crushing it, the podcast for those who find themselves immersed in adversity and choose to write their story instead of having others write it for them. I'm Drew Deraney, and I'm your host. Hey, Bill. It's a pleasure to see you. Thanks so much for coming on. [00:00:24] Speaker B: Appreciate you having me on, Drew. Good to see. [00:00:28] Speaker A: So, we've only known each other for about a week, and we've resonated, and I learned from you the actual pronunciation of your last name. So I'm going to let you tell the audience. H-A-A-S-E is pronounced Haasi. All right, you got that, everybody? When you meet Bill, it's Hasi. All right, so now that we have that disclaimer out of the way, it's great to see you. We had a great talk the other day, and we did talk about how life certainly rarely plays out as expected, right? Trying to learn, not say the word never too much. But in that respect, you're right. It never plays out the way we expect. And we're taught at a young age that life is linear, that if we follow certain steps, certain things will happen. Well, certain things do happen, just not the ones we expect. And you, for sure, are a person who didn't retreat from challenges in life. And I'd like you to think about a defining moment, and it can be, too. As far back as you think is the most impactful. That really kind of woke you up and had you say, to know, bill, there's a better way to live, and I'm going to take that different way from what I've been taught. I'd love for you to share that with us. [00:01:52] Speaker B: That's a challenging question because I think many of us, especially when you get to be as old as I am, you probably have been through a number of those instances which have directed your life. One of the most impactful, I think, for me, was during the housing bust, okay, in the 2007 eight nine area. And I was a victim of that. I lost a career of 20 years in 2006 in the trading pits here in Chicago. Electronics took everything over. And subsequently, I turned around, and I had made one of the best real estate moves of my life, selling my home in one area and all that money into a new home, new construction in a new area, only to have the best hit. And it was so hard on new construction that we lost our home. We gave it up. And I have kids that were old enough to understand what was going on. They were not yet in high school, but very close and that was painful. That was painful to put the family through. [00:03:01] Speaker A: How'd you rebound from that and not just survive, thrive, and had your kids and wife do? [00:03:08] Speaker B: Well, we were very fortunate, blessed to have good friends, good neighbors, and I'm glad people aren't going to be able to watch this because I have a hard time getting through this story. But some friends in a different part of the neighborhood got transferred to California, and they reached out and said, hey, would you like our place to move to? Our place you can rent until you figure out what you're going to do. And we said, absolutely, because that would be the least upsetting to my children. Right. We're still in the same neighborhood. They're still going to go to the same schools. My wife was still working, so it wasn't like we were destitute. Although she wound up losing her job later. And when it came moving day, I would say I had probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 to 40 neighborhood friends show up. [00:04:06] Speaker A: Wow. [00:04:06] Speaker B: All their cars and trucks and everything, and we moved all our stuff over from one house to the other. [00:04:12] Speaker A: Unbelievable. [00:04:13] Speaker B: It was an incredible story. Gave you a lot of hope to rebound from that. You learn about being careful with your money. You learn about the value and importance of supporting family. [00:04:32] Speaker A: Absolutely. [00:04:33] Speaker B: And sometimes you got to not do what you want to do. You got to do what you have to do. [00:04:38] Speaker A: Absolutely. Especially we talk about men being afraid to ask for help or being taught that it's a weakness to ask for help. I give you a ton of credit for having the strength I believe you had to do it. You accepted that help, you needed it, and to have it there for you must have been a wonderful experience to have that type of support system for the entire family. It's a teaching moment for the kids, too. [00:05:05] Speaker B: It is. And I think it's resonated well throughout their lives, and it's been many years since. And it was a choice. I'm fortunate that we had both my in laws and my family were both sitting there saying, let us help you. Let us help you. And I said, no, it's just throwing good money away. It's not the right choice. It's not the right decision to make. Let me eat my crow and learn from this and move along. And that's what we did and brought our family closer together. [00:05:39] Speaker A: Actually, right now you say that I've heard a lot of circumstances where it pulled families apart. Tell me how and what you think were the ingredients to bring your family closer. [00:05:59] Speaker B: It's interesting because at that time, in 2009, so I got married back in 1990. I asked my father in law for his daughter's hand in marriage. He knew I was not religious, not Catholic. They were very strong Catholic. He was Notre Dame, she was St. Mary's Notre Dame, her brother was Notre Dame. Father in law said, well, will you raise a kid's Catholic? And I said, sure. And you pay for Notre Dame. I thought that was a good deal. Neither kid went to Notre Dame, but still a good deal at the time. In 2009. My kids were in catholic school at that time for the first time. And I said, not fair for me to not have skin in the game. And I went through RCIA and I became a Catholic in nine. And I think that was a very strong base for holding the family together for us. And I'm blessed to have an amazing wife who is still with me today. Will be 33 years, married in October. [00:07:03] Speaker A: Congratulations. [00:07:04] Speaker B: Thank you. [00:07:05] Speaker A: That is wonderful. Yeah, I know it's very important to have a support system like you have. And I believe it was Warren Buffett who says, be very careful who you pick to be your significant other because you're going to need that. And you did a good job doing so. [00:07:21] Speaker B: Congratulations. You don't think about that when you're in your 20s. [00:07:27] Speaker A: You don't. [00:07:28] Speaker B: And all of a sudden you date and you meet the girl that leaves the girl of your dreams. And you don't necessarily mentally think that through, because at that point, it's more of an emotional drive, and there's something inherent there as well. There's something more than just the good looks that's driving you to a person. Right. The kind of person who they are inside is really important. And I was fortunate. Look, my wife hadn't been without many stresses up until that point in time. I spent 20 years in the trading pits in Chicago. So you want to talk about riding a roller coaster? You won't find a bigger roller coaster ride than that. [00:08:14] Speaker A: Absolutely. So after you were in renting friends homes and whatnot, how did you pick yourself back up and move forward with? [00:08:28] Speaker B: Know I had another friend reach out to me and tell me. He goes, you need to come into the business of underwriting and processing of loans. [00:08:35] Speaker A: Oh, wow. Okay. [00:08:37] Speaker B: This guy was head of Morgan Stanley. He ran about half the country for Morgan Stanley and their residential loans, very high level loans. Said, you get some experience, I can bring in. I made an effort. I put four years in working with Chase bank and Bank of America, and I was top 5% producer for bank of America. But I hated it. Yeah, I hated it. I hated the corporate life, the corporate world. After four years I told my boss I quit and he's like, what's wrong? And I said, I can't do stupid anymore. I've been an entrepreneur my whole life and that's who I am and what I am. And I said, I don't know what I'm going to do. I wound up getting back into the financial world and financial advising because at this time that world had shifted to where it was really more focused on clientele than picking pockets of clientele. So I thought that was great. But the lesson I learned was people just weren't financially illiterate and it was very difficult to advise people on their portfolios and such because they really had no idea what you were talking about. [00:09:47] Speaker A: Right. They didn't have that foundation, that literacy. [00:09:50] Speaker B: Yeah. And then that entrepreneurial came out of me. I was mentoring some kids at a high school here in a program, incubator program to help them understand how to build their own business. I have a radio show that all it is for three years is teaching people how to go from building a business from concept to success. So I had a lot of experience with that and it just clicked one day and I said, I got to develop a financial literacy program and an entrepreneurial program. And I know it could be for everybody, but let's target a market because that's what you have to do when you start a business. You can't go after everybody. You'll catch no one. [00:10:28] Speaker A: Right. [00:10:29] Speaker B: So we're going after juniors and seniors in high school to begin. [00:10:33] Speaker A: Wonderful. [00:10:34] Speaker B: So we're developing a program and a business, a company for that right now. [00:10:38] Speaker A: Congratulations on that. It's much needed in our society and I'm sure you have aspirations that once you kill it and make this go, you're going to go for the younger kids so they can understand at a younger age the value of. [00:10:52] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, we already have designs to go for the college kids to teach them a little bit different, like things like how to buy a home. [00:10:58] Speaker A: Right. [00:10:58] Speaker B: My own son at 29 years old came to me, 27 years old came to me and said two weeks after he got married and then condo they were living in, the owner said, I'm selling. You have first rights to buy, otherwise it's going to be gone in three months. [00:11:13] Speaker A: Wow. [00:11:13] Speaker B: And he called me and said, I have no clues who to even call. Fortunately I had a little bit of experience in that world and then we want to go down to 7th and eigth graders. [00:11:27] Speaker A: Okay. [00:11:27] Speaker B: Because people don't understand that you really need to start thinking about college in eigth grade. [00:11:32] Speaker A: Right. [00:11:34] Speaker B: There's different aspects at different levels of life, but the reality is we're also global. So we're already working on. We've done one virtual conference, was in six latin american countries and three languages over four days, and wound up hitting 25 countries and 11,000 watch parties. So that the topic of financial literacy and entrepreneurial skills, how to build a business, is a trigger everywhere. [00:12:05] Speaker A: It is of global interest. Of course. If you were to give one piece of advice for a beginning entrepreneur, what would it be? [00:12:17] Speaker B: Don't think too big. Start small and work your way out. Be good at one thing, and then once you're good at one thing, then you can move on to the next thing. [00:12:29] Speaker A: And is that the approach you had all your. Tell me, tell me. Bill's approach prior to that? Great advice. [00:12:39] Speaker B: Go big or go home. [00:12:43] Speaker A: That's what we're taught, man. [00:12:45] Speaker B: Go big or go home was always. And to be fair, Drew, even with this building of this business, when we say in our business plan that we're going national with all juniors and seniors in high school, that's a pretty big plan. Why not just say, I'm in Chicago? Why not just say, build it and try to incorporate in schools in Chicago and then spread out from there? But the reality is, because of the current situation, there is a market that is national, and I think it needs to be cohesive nationally. So my goal is to try and develop it that way. So I'm still thinking big, but I'm narrowing it down to one market, at least not trying to catch everybody, even though everyone could stand to take these courses and learn from them. [00:13:38] Speaker A: Right. I mean, the beautiful thing is, now that the majority of the population are accustomed to virtual events, you can go global, and people can benefit just as much as they would in person. Learning about financial literacy. [00:13:54] Speaker B: Yeah, it was kind of a marketing play for our business, to introduce our business. The conferences are for underprivileged people. [00:14:04] Speaker A: Okay? [00:14:06] Speaker B: That's that market. And rural, LGBTQ plus, women and minorities, double, triple minority stuff. But it's interesting to meet people from all over the world at different levels and what's going on, what needs to be done? There's so much out there that needs to be done. [00:14:26] Speaker A: There really is. And you getting out there, I have a feeling you're learning that we human beings, no matter where we live, we're much more similar than we are different in the core things of who we are and what we need to feel like a productive person in society. [00:14:46] Speaker B: That is so true. Look, I've learned. I don't care. Color, country, culture, religion, gender, forget all that. That's just noise. This is about people. This is about human beings. We all want to need the same things, okay? Some of us want a whole bunch of money, but the reality is what our needs are are all the same. And our mission statement is we provide knowledge. Knowledge gives you options. Options gives you freedom. [00:15:21] Speaker A: That's beautiful. Yeah. I've learned the hard way that there are certain things you have to do in a certain order. Like you can't skip step one of crawling before you start running. I think it's the same now that you need to first raise awareness of an issue that needs attention, and that's the financial literacy. After the awareness is there, then it goes into that education piece. That's that knowledge. And once people have that knowledge and education, you can then guide them to the proper resources and then connect them with the right people and resources, and then they can start collaborating once they have all that. And you got to start with the awareness what you're doing. And now it comes to that knowledge piece. So this is a great philosophy you have. [00:16:07] Speaker B: You're absolutely true. I think we've hit a chord that has been struck loudly around the world. We're already working on our next virtual conference. We'll be in Germany at the end of October, then we're going to Asia Pacific, possibly Manila, and then we'll go to South Africa. Because these people are screaming for. [00:16:26] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely are. [00:16:29] Speaker B: The biggest reason why people don't talk about finances to anybody is because they don't know it, and we don't talk about things we don't know about, that's. [00:16:37] Speaker A: A very good point. And if we dig deeper as to why we don't know it, and this goes to somebody I was talking to who's from Europe, and we were having this conversation, and she told me that in her country before she came here, there were no topics that were taboo in Europe. You could talk about money, sex, politics, religion. You don't get slapped on the wrist. So in her culture, it was normal, it was stereotypical, that if you're in a new relationship, whether it's professional or personal, those topics are wide open for discussion. And people took advantage of that. So you really knew what you were getting into. She came to this country and started networking virtually, and she would talk about one of those four topics and get told, no, these are the four things you can't talk. And she's like, well, so I said to her, I'm like, it's no reason that our divorce rate is so high in this country. We're telling people, don't talk about the four most important things to talk about in a relationship you don't want to be surprised about in the middle of your relationship. So there's something to that where we need to take the labels off and the restrictions and the limits off and let us be authentic. No topic should be off the table to discuss because we all can learn. [00:17:54] Speaker B: From other people's experiences, see maybe even a step further that it's not taboo to discuss. But it's more like we just don't want to talk about things we don't know about. We don't want to come across as being stupid. [00:18:09] Speaker A: Ignorant. Yeah, you don't want to look bad in front. [00:18:12] Speaker B: I walk into a group of people when I was a financial advisor to do a big meeting, and the first thing I would say is there's two things I know spouses never talk about. It's money and sex. And I'm here to help you with one of those. That would break the room up. Right. Somebody might then relax a little bit and learn something instead of saying being there. Because typically when somebody's there in a room listening to a financial advisor, all they're waiting to hear is, what's he trying to sell me? [00:18:45] Speaker A: Yeah, unfortunately. [00:18:46] Speaker B: And we put the walls up because nobody likes to be sold. Everybody loves to buy. Nobody likes to be sold. So I try to break it up and I say it's true. And because parents, spouses don't talk about money, and I've experienced this many times over talking with couples, but because they don't talk about it, they don't talk to their kids about it. [00:19:06] Speaker A: That's true. [00:19:07] Speaker B: Perpetuates. Perpetuates generations and generations. Well, guess what, folks? It's just too important a subject that it needs to be addressed as early as possible. [00:19:18] Speaker A: Absolutely. And the whole financial literacy piece is a foundation knowledge that we need, and then we need to then build upon a strong foundation. And a lot of stuff changes up here. The foundation doesn't change. So if we don't have that foundation, though, then that heavier stuff is going to collapse. And I think that's the key. You don't want to keep learning the old stuff from the generations past because it's not going to fly right now. [00:19:44] Speaker B: I will tell you that learning what the capital of all 50 states was has done me no good in life if I didn't learn about money and how money works. I would have been much better off at a much earlier age. [00:19:58] Speaker A: I agree. And as far as back as I can remember, I remember being in middle school, and it was fifth grade where we first started changing classes rather than just being in the homeroom all the time. And my middle school was kindergarten through eight. And when I was there, which was in the early, late 70s, early 80s, we had shop and we had home ec. And so half the year, we were learning how to sew and build. And I still have some of this stuff for home ec, too. It was not just the sewing piece. We were cooking. We learned how to cook and clean up after ourselves. I learned how to write a check for the first time in fifth grade in that home economics class. And what's unfortunate is whoever came in to change our education system when the first things that were cut out were those foundational classes that helped us at least know some of the fundamental stuff in life. I remember that I had to change my mindset when my kids went to school, because if I didn't, I would have automatically thought they were going to learn it in school. So put some additional pressures on the parents to try to teach things that the Schools used to teach. And now the schools are teaching stuff that you wish they weren't teaching. [00:21:20] Speaker B: Well, here's the other problem. And we could do a whole show on the school system, because I tell you things that would scare you to death here in this country. But as parents, we kind of rely on the schools to teach our kids the things that we're not doing at home. [00:21:38] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. [00:21:38] Speaker B: We expect it. And it's just life lessons aren't taught in school, right. I talked to a private school. I talked to one of the head guys, and I said, so what do you teach for decision making skills with your students? And he quickly replied, oh, that's geography. And I just kind of shook my head and I go, what? [00:22:02] Speaker A: Geography? [00:22:03] Speaker B: Decision making through. Was it geography? No, it was geometry. I'm sorry, geometry. My bad. Even geometry I don't see but through geometry. And I just looked at them, I said, do the students know that? Because if they don't know that, how are they getting that? Yeah, but those are the kinds of things that I see. And again, I don't want to get into the whole school system. It's horrendous. But the bottom line is we still have to do more at home. [00:22:33] Speaker A: Well, you hit on something very important. I come from 24 years working in the healthcare system, and that system is as broken as the education system. And a lot of stuff isn't taught at home either, even on health and wellness. What shocked me is when Covid happened. I working in the healthcare field, I knew how important it was to wash your hands because we did it all the time. To see people get surprised, like, first thing I should be doing is wash my hands with a pandemic. What are you doing in the bathroom when you leave? It's like in a restaurant, but I mean, it's those kind of things that there are certain things that must be taught at home when you're at a young age, because 50% of our belief systems form by the age of seven years old. And where are we getting that from? [00:23:19] Speaker B: Well, look, we're taught as men. We don't ever go see a doctor. [00:23:23] Speaker A: No, we can take care of ourselves. [00:23:25] Speaker B: Yeah, we're all good. [00:23:26] Speaker A: The apple a day keeps the doctor away, right? Just eat your apple. [00:23:30] Speaker B: I'm coming up on 62 years old, and I do not have a personal care physician. [00:23:34] Speaker A: Well, we got to get on you, man. You got to take care of yourself. Come on, bill. [00:23:37] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:23:38] Speaker A: Jeez. [00:23:39] Speaker B: Generational. [00:23:40] Speaker A: Yeah, it is generational. We got to change that. I could talk to you all day. I got two final questions. Do you want to talk more about what you're doing now with the radio show or. We kind of got to that. I want to give you, I pointed. [00:23:56] Speaker B: Out I have a radio show that teaches you how to build a business to success. The one thing I point out is we did just sign with iheart media. [00:24:04] Speaker A: Congratulations. [00:24:06] Speaker B: So we're working out the details in that, but I will soon be on twelve of their platforms. [00:24:12] Speaker A: Congratulations, Bill. I knew you had something to tell us, and it just hit me to open that up again. Okay, here are the last two questions. The first question is, you're sitting down with young seven to ten year old Bill, and you want to give him advice about life. What are you going to tell him? [00:24:31] Speaker B: Great question. I would tell him, focus on life. Focus on the things that you enjoy, you appreciate in life. Focus on your work. Focus on your relationships. Pay attention. Same kind of focus. We get so distracted by the next new shiny little thing that comes across our path that it takes us in so many different directions. We don't need to go. We waste so much time and effort. I said, one of the things about growing old that isn't fun to learn is the fact that all the bs that you've been fed throughout your life, whether it's marketing and sales and people just lying to you and other people's, agendas. If you focus on what you want, focus on the kind of person you are. [00:25:29] Speaker A: I love that. Now, this question I kind of asked in a general way for entrepreneurs earlier. I'm going to ask you a little bit different, and let's see if you have a different response. You're now sitting, put different hat on. You're sitting down with young Bill, the entrepreneur, young businessman, your younger self. What business advice are you going to give him? [00:25:53] Speaker B: Be patient. Be patient. Nothing. As you pointed out at the beginning of the show, nothing really ever goes as planned. And I can tell you it doesn't matter how old you are, what stage you're in in the business. It's true. It's true. You need to have second plans, backup plans, and then backup to backup plans. You want to build a business and you think, I'm just going to go out and borrow money. Well, that's not easy. How are you going to do it from a grassroots side? So do it from the grassroots while you're seeking money, but being patient, because you'll overlook things if you try to move too quickly. And it doesn't take much of anything to take down a new business. You don't know everything. Surround yourself with good people. Let them do what they do best. Don't micromanage. [00:26:48] Speaker A: I love that. All right. So you gave the audience a lot today. And they now know, I believe, the essence of Bill Haasi. [00:26:59] Speaker B: Believe. [00:27:00] Speaker A: So they're going to want to find you and get more of you. Make it easy for them and tell them how to do that. [00:27:07] Speaker B: Well, you can go to the numbers 2116 and then the letters, the net two one sixthenet.com is where my radio show is on Friday mornings at 1030 Chicago time. It plays a number of times throughout the week and it'll be on iheart soon. Or you can reach out to me. [email protected] and I'm glad and happy to talk to anyone. It's all about helping each other. One really important thing you need to be in life is humble. [00:27:38] Speaker A: Yes. [00:27:39] Speaker B: In your personal and your professional life. Don't get a big head. Trust me, it won't last long and it won't work. [00:27:48] Speaker A: That's great advice. So, Bill, I want to thank you for coming into my life. I have to thank Jack Gillet for the introduction. You're a great man. You're doing great things. Don't change who you are and keep writing your own story, my friend. We need you. [00:28:04] Speaker B: Thank you. Thank you. And don't forget to let everybody know you're going to be on my show on August 18. [00:28:10] Speaker A: I am so looking forward to be on your show August 18. I really am. [00:28:14] Speaker B: Thanks so much for your time, Drew. I really appreciate it. [00:28:16] Speaker A: My pleasure. Be well everybody. Thanks so much for listening. If you enjoyed the episode, please subscribe and give us a review to help others find it. If you find yourself immersed in adversity and would like to find support from other men in times of struggle, please become a member of my men's supporting men collaboration tribe by emailing me at [email protected] expressing your interest and I'll get in touch with you. Speak to you soon.