We recently connected with Erica Odom and have shared our conversation below.
Erica, appreciate you joining us today. What’s the best or worst investment you’ve made?
My business, my books, my coaching program all relate to my personal journey. When I was 19, I bought my first investment property. At that time in my life I lacked a lot of knowledge when it came to finances and real estate. I bought my property for too much money, and I was a victim of predatory lending. At the time I thought this was the worst investment due to me feeling lost, discouraged, and having to make some difficult decisions, like having to stop making my mortgage payments in order to be able to sale my house as a short sale, because the value had depreciated so much, that I could not sale it for what I owed on the mortgage loan. I walked away broke, credit ruined, and feeling defeated.
Fast forward to today, as a coach and an experienced real estate investor, I would say that someone purchasing a home is one the best investments that they can make in their life. They can use this investment to help them with things like using the equity in the home to pay off their debt, it can allow them a way to start their business, and or pass generational wealth. I was able to use the equity in my home when I bought my second property to pay off all my debt, and assist me in purchasing more investment properties.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Again, I got into real estate when I was 19 years old. I was inexperience and had no direction. I took a loss on my property that I bought in 2006, and failed miserably. It sold as a short sale in 2013. When walking away from this I told myself that once I had “bounced back,” I was going to come back and never look back, and be as big as the Mandel Group. In 2017, I had rebuilt myself back to a decent place financially to be able to purchase a home again. Throughout this time of regrouping, I also used it as an opportunity to educate myself. In 2017, I was able to purchase another property again. I lived in the property for a few years and then I sold it. I was able to use the equity that I had gained to pay off all of my debt and to purchase more real estate. On December 1, 2018, I started my business, Odom Investments & Property Management LLC. My business mission is to provide affordable housing, while changing communities, and bringing life back to homes. Being a minority and growing up and living most of my life on the north side of Milwaukee, I have seen time and time again when people outside of the city and some who never even have been to the city comes to our neighborhoods and buys up all the properties. However, most of these people in my opinion are part of the problem in the communities, because they are slum lords, that do nothing to their properties and give people horrible and sometimes inhabitable conditions to live in. Well, in my company we hold a high standard! I always say that if I don’t feel comfortable enough to sit on the floor, then it is not good enough to rent to someone. We buy the ugly houses and we flip them and bring them back to life, and make communities beautiful again. We sometimes hold onto them and rent them, but I personally enjoy buying the properties, and seeing them come to life. I project manage all of my properties myself from start to finish and I have a team of contractors that assist me in bringing my visions to life. This year we are now offering property management services for other investors and landlords. In 2022, we began offering a coaching program called Journey to Success. I go by “Coach Erica.” My program is focused on teaching basic financial literacy concepts and helping people become home ownership ready. After my own personal experiences with real estate and the loss I had taken, I vowed that I didn’t want anyone to be taken advantage of and for them to feel confident while on their financial journey to success. As a child luckily I never had to experience financial struggle. It was not until my early 20’s in which I knew what it meant to struggle. I didn’t know how to manage money, budget, or maintain my credit…the basic things. I was struggling and living beyond my means. I remember getting paid and being broke all in the same day, stressed because I didn’t have enough to cover the bills, which then pushed me into utilizing payday loan stores for money. It was embarrassing, driving from loan store to loan store, and living paycheck to paycheck. I had to file chapter 7 and chapter 13 bankruptcy. I am open about sharing this with people, because they need to know you can fail more than one time on this journey, but you will rise again. My program then encouraged me to publish my first book named Journey to Success in 2022 through Westbow Press. Then in 2023, I published my second book named, Journey to Success The “Unforgotten” Teen (All the Things You Don’t Get Taught), as I believe we need to do more and start early when preparing our kids for their financial journey. Most like myself, were not taught financial literacy skills in the home as a child or in school. This second book is appropriate for children and young adults ages 12-19. Both books give an easy read and way to demystify financial literacy. My coaching program is now offered as an online course and includes one-on-one coaching sessions.
Outside of business, I am an advance practice license social worker in my career life. I have both a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work, and an associate’s degree in criminal justice. Everything for me is about the journey and the empowerment along the way.
We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.
Our sister business is Boutiques On The Go. Which is intended to make individuals feel Rare. Authentic. Beautiful. It is an online boutique through Printify. We sale shirts, hoodies, and journals currently. Our brand name is called, Journey Collection. Again everything we do relates to the “journey.” All of our merchandise consist of positive affirmation sayings, but always hashtag with the word journey. What I like about this site, it is a print on demand service. It was easy to create the designs myself and have a nice, professionally looking eCommerce website for our shoppers to come and shop. With our store link we are able to share it with people and we were able to add the link to our social media platforms. What is most essential for me is that I know that this sector of the business just runs by itself essentially. This is a great passive income streamline! All we have to do is design the product, but the production, and shipping and handling doesn’t require us to do anything.
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
When you are a leader you have to lead by example. You have to hold yourself accountable and own up when you made a mistake. It is important to be open and have perspective. Yes you are the “leader” but it takes a team and collaboration to create success. I’ve personally learned that on this journey to success, lots of collaboration, networking, and team is needed. Everyone needs a “success team” in their life. You need individuals on your team smarter than you in different areas, so that when you all come together you are a fierce force. But as you lead you need to be fair, hold people accountable as you do yourself, and acknowledge them and show much appreciation.
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Source: canvasrebel.com/meet-erica-odom/