2. VICTOR VONICO JOHNSON
REAL ESTATE INVESTOR/PUBLISHED
AUTHOR/ENTREPRENEUR/SPEAKER
• Author of ‘Proven Pathways To Wealth &
Happiness’
• Senior Managing Partner, 555 Equity, LLC
• General Partner, Credit Restoration Mentors, LLC
• 20 Years Experience in the Debt Collections
Industry/ 2 Years Regulatory Compliance
3. VICTOR THE MONEY
MENTOR!
Rescuing people from poor credit scores,
living paycheck to paycheck, and helping
them grow their money through career
advancement, entrepreneurship and real
estate investing.
4. CareerBuilder Survey- November 2017- Study Highlights
- 78 percent of U.S. workers live paycheck to paycheck to
make ends meet
- Nearly 1 in 10 workers making $100,000+ live paycheck to
paycheck
- More than 1 in 4 workers do not set aside any savings each
month
- Nearly 3 in 4 workers say they are in debt today - more
than half think they will always be
- More than half of minimum wage workers say they have to
work more than one job to make ends meet
5. WHAT IS A SUPERHERO?
noun
a fictional hero having
extraordinary or superhuman
powers
also : an exceptionally skillful or
successful person
6. WHO ARE SOME SUPERHEROES IN OUR SOCIETY?
$800 Million
(2018)
$440 Million (2018) $300 Million
(2018)
7. WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO BE A SUPERHERO
(SUCCESSFUL)?
• Money
• Sense of Accomplishment
• Help Others
• Happiness
• Things
• Clout (Prestige)
• Respect
10. AGE 16 - MOVE FROM
CALIFORNIA TO ATLANTA
• Stable Family Structure
• Black City
• No longer the man of the
house
11.
12. STARTED HAVING
KIDS!
• Having children at a young age
required me to become more serious
about my finances and the future (for
them & for me)!
• 1st one I was 17 years old
• 2nd one I was 20 years old
• 3rd one I was 22 years old
13.
14. THE DEBT COLLECTION DAYS
• 22 years old
• Ready to make more money
• Office job- dress up for work
• More females around me
21. ‘VIC’S TIP’S’
5 TIPS TO IMPROVE MY FINANCES
1) Changed My Mindset
- Started BELIEVING that I could be SUCCESSFUL / Visualized The Success I Wanted (the exact attire I wanted
to wear, office, title)
3) Thoroughly Reviewed My Finances
- Tracked my Finances / Set a Budget / Stick To It
4) Confront My Credit Situation
- Pull all credit bureaus to see what challenges you have
2) Set Goals With The End in Mind
- Created very specific goals with Dates and Exact Details (Increase credit score to at least 650 by x/x/xxxx, earn
$X/per year, buy a house by x/x/xxxx)
5) Smile OFTEN
- Maintain a POSITIVE ATTITUDE IN EVERY SITUATION
22. WHAT ARE TRAITS OF SUPERHEROES (SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE)?
• Successful People
• Get up Early Daily
• Positive Attitude ALWAYS
• Make Plans for their Future
• Works to Improve themselves EVERYDAY
• VISUALIZES THEIR GOALS
• Write Down Their Goals
• EXPECTS SUCCESS IN ALL THAT THEY DO!
• SMILES OFTEN
• Serve/Help Others
• Surround Themselves with Ambitious People
• Exercise and Take Care of Their Health
• Unsuccessful People
• Sleep in often
• Negative Attitude OFTEN
• Waits for things to happen
• Watches TV/Netflix, Scrolls, in their spare time
• Complains a lot
• Goals? What's that?
• Expects FAILURE
• Angry & Disappointed OFTEN
• Selfish/Thinks of themselves
• Surrounds Themselves with Unsuccessful-
Minded People
23. THE BLESSINGS
STARTED
POURING IN….
Hired for a better paying job in 2011
Summer 2013 had a 45-minute Phone Call that changed it all
Job Offer in Austin, Texas ($40,000 more PER YEAR)
Sold the House in Atlanta, GA ($20,000 profit)
Debt-Free
25. 5 KEYS TO GET INTO REAL ESTATE INVESTING
1) Find a Mentor or Mentor Program
2) Get Preapproved by a Conventional Lender or Determine other Financing Options
(Savings, Traditional Bank, Private Lender, Hard Money Lender, 401k, etc.)
3) Look for properties in good neighborhoods (good schools, plenty of retail, jobs in the
area), that need some repairs. These properties are sold at lower than retail cost.
4) DO THE MATH! (Rental/Sales Comps, Rehab Costs, Loan Costs, etc.)
5) Build a dependable and talented team
28. The #1 Key To Being a
SUPERHERO!
BELIEVE IT IS
POSSIBLE
Editor's Notes
Growing up my favorite Superhero was Spider-Man! Spider-Man is the alias for Peter Parker- who starts out as a teenager dealing with the struggles of adolescence and financial issues, as well as "self-obsessions with rejection, inadequacy, and loneliness“, due to his parents being killed. As a kid, me and my siblings watched this cartoon and read the comic books, and I could truly relate as I went through my teenage years. Peter Parker acquires ‘spider-related’ abilities after a bite from a radioactive spider; these include clinging to surfaces, shooting spider-webs from wrist-mounted devices, and detecting danger with his "spider-sense“. Spider-Man is known for the statement: "With Great Power comes Great Responsibility."
Good Morning! My name is Victor Vonico Johnson, I am a published author, I am a real estate investor with 5 rental properties valued over $1,000,000, I am the General Partner for a credit repair company, and I have served more than 20 years in the Debt Collection business where I moved up through the ranks, while mentoring dozens of employees and helping them advance their careers, as well. So, to me, my life has been about HELPING OTHERS IN SOME FORM OR FASHION! In the book, Proven Pathways To Wealth & Happiness, I share my story of living many years paycheck to paycheck (meaning I had very little money saved, and if I missed 1 paycheck, I could be homeless), and I had horrible credit. Through some very specific actions, I was able to transition my credit score to the high 780’s, and I now own 5 rental properties in 3 states. That portfolio is worth more than 1-million dollars and growing everyday. I was able to achieve this over a 5-year period. So, in honor of Spider-Man, now that I have achieved a level of SUCCESS, I have a RESPONSIBILITY TO share what I have learner.
I AM MY OWN SUPERHERO- Victor The Money Mentor! I teach people how to achieve financial success!
VICTOR THE MONEY MENTOR- Rescuing people from poor credit scores, living paycheck to paycheck and helping them grow their money through career advancement, entrepreneurship and real estate investing.
So, what is a Superhero? According to Dictionary.com, it is a NOUN (a person, place or thing), that has extraordinary or superhuman powers. An EXCEPTIONALLY SKILLFUL OR SUCCESSFUL PERSON.
Tyler Perry- Net Worth $800 million as of 2018; Lebron James- Net Worth $440 million as of 2018; Will Smith- Net Worth $300 million as of 2018.
I enjoy being a superhero because it gives me options. I can make decisions based on what me and my wife want out of life, rather than what I can afford. Believe me, it has not always been that way.
So, let’s talk about my journey a little bit. I grew up in Oakland, California to a ‘most of the time’ single-mom, she hustled to take care of me, from being a ‘topless’ dancer in Japan to pay for me to go to private schools, to welfare, gov’ment cheese, and buying clothes at Goodwill. We were BROKE ALL THE TIME, but she made sure that I was always fed, clothed and educated. I have multiple streams of income to this day, because I say my mom doing it before it became popular to have ‘multiple streams of income’, they just called it ‘doing what you gotta do’ back then.
At 16 years old, my mom could no longer afford to send me to private schools and feed me, so she asked my dad to step up. This was my senior year of college; lost all my ‘juice’ being the man on campus. The girls liked me, and the dudes hated me.
The plan was to go to Howard University, but since my new household was making more than my old household, many of my funding options disappeared and I didn’t want to take student loans. So, what did I do instead……..
I was like Drake… “Back to Back”. Ok, I’m old school so, some of those jokes- yeah!
Since I was wasn’t going to Howard, and I now had these children to take care of, I had to find a way to continue learning. I started reading. One particular book was called, THINK & GROW RICH: A BLACK CHOICE, by Dr. Dennis Kimbro (a Clark-Atlanta University professor at the time). I would take the bus between 2 (8-hour) jobs and read this book. It’s a Rags to Riches book. Oprah, Jesse Owens, Sammy Davis, Jr., etc. YOU ALL ARE MUCH SMARTER THAN I WAS AT 19 – 23 YEARS OLD. The fact that you are here, and not on the block slinging rocks, doing dope, shooting at somebody, says a lot about you. Don’t be ashamed of that. Some cats will act like you are a cornball for studying harder, or getting up earlier, or working later, or meditating more, or being more appreciative, and more respectful to staff members or your parents. In reality, that makes you a trendsetter, someone that is willing to march to the beat of their own drums. If we all were to be the same, this planet would suck. DARE TO BE DIFFERENT! FIGHT FOR YOUR FUTURE SELF!
Then came my Collection Agency days. Ready to make more money, be kind of a business man, and meet more females. I ended up doing that for many years.
Nice Bonus Checks, party, weed, not paying bills on time, nor child support, broke for the next week and a half until the next pay day. Creating bad credit, a hole of debt, bad relationships with my baby-mama’s, my kids, being irresponsible to look cool. I would later figure out that it takes 3 – 4 times as long to get out of debt, as it takes to get into debt.
Fast forward to 2009, I met this gorgeous young lady that had a 9 year old daughter, and it was time to really get serious. By now I was in my early 30’s. Credit score was in the low 500’s, I was living paycheck-to-paycheck, and no money saved anywhere. I decided to continue reading, learning all I could about Collections and Managing people, so that I could get promoted. I STARTED TO LOOK AT FORTUNE MAGAZINE TO SEE HOW SUCCESSFUL BUSINESSMEN WERE DRESSING! Back then one of the symbols for success was to have a BLACKBERRY. I knew that my company provided BLACKBERRYS to Middle Managers, so my goal was to become a Middle Manager. THEY CALL THIS VISUALIZATION! When you visualize yourself ALREADY EXPERIENCING THE DESIRED GOAL. Visualization is a very important element to becoming SUPERHERO. Successful people in history and in current society have this trait in common. YOU MUST BE ABLE TO VISUALIZE, VISUALIZE, VISUALIZE!
That VISUALIZATION, READING & ZEST FOR LEARNING ALL THAT I COULD, led to a gradual rise at work. Team Lead, then Supervisor, then I switched companies, which DOUBLED MY SALARY.
I stuck to my GRIND! So, you may be asking yourself, what was his grind? How did I make the transition? Well, I will tell you.
Looking back at it, the 3 KEYS WERE…
1) Networking- we will discuss this in detail at the Networking Workshops today at 11:15am and 1pm. 2) ALWAYS HAVE A POSITIVE ATTITUDE- It attracts more positive things towards you. 3) Believe that IT IS POSSIBLE. We operate on frequencies- current frequency, and there are frequencies that are goals and dreams sit on. We MUST operate on the frequency of our goals, not our current situation. ONCE YOU HAVE MENTALLY MADE THE DECISION TO DO SOMETHING, and you BELIEVE IT IS POSSIBLE, you just gave your goals and dreams permission to manifest.
I’ll tell you how I got into my 1st rental property investment