3 Degrees of Freedom

Ep 146 - Leveraging Intuition for Lifestyle Freedom from an Experienced True Digital Nomad with Melanie McDaniel

• Derek Clifford • Season 3 • Episode 146

Share episode

In this episode of the 3 Degrees of Freedom Podcast, we sit down with Melanie McDaniel, the Managing Director and Co-founder of Moonbound Partners, LLC. As a seasoned digital nomad, Melanie shares her expertise in private equity funds and her passion for real estate entrepreneurship, paving the way for others to achieve financial success. Drawing from her background as a U.S. Navy Veteran and law enforcement officer, Melanie intertwines her experiences to create a legacy of abundance and inspiration.

Join us as we uncover the secrets behind Melanie's lifestyle freedom, as she shares her strategies for maintaining focus and organization while traveling and exploring new ideas. Discover how her military and law enforcement background serves as valuable assets in her entrepreneurial ventures. Through her inspirational journey, Melanie empowers listeners to forge their path to personal and business success.

In this captivating conversation, Melanie also reveals the best advice she's ever received and its profound impact on her life. We explore the intrinsic link between freedom and success, gaining invaluable insights on how to create a lifestyle like Melanie's. Don't miss this episode as we dive into the world of leveraging intuition for unparalleled lifestyle freedom with the extraordinary Melanie McDaniel, an unwavering digital nomad, and visionary entrepreneur.

Connect with Melanie using the links below and learn more about his business:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melaniemcdanielinvest/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melanie_travelgal/
Website: https://www.freestylecapitalgroup.com/

Unlock 3+1 degrees of freedom (time, location, financial + health) with our 5-Point Blueprint! https://elevateequity.org/podcastgift

If you really enjoyed this content and are looking for more, you can continue to learn more about us in several different places for free!

If you'd like to have a FREE copy of our 7 Ways Commercial Real Estate Syndications Protect and Build Wealth, simply click the link below. We are here and vested in your long-term success!

Unlock 3+1 degrees of freedom (time, location, financial + health) with our 5-Point Blueprint! https://elevateequity.org/podcastgift

If you really enjoyed this content and are looking for more, you can continue to learn more about us in several different places for free!

If you'd like to have a FREE copy of our 7 Ways Commercial Real Estate Syndications Protect and Build Wealth, simply click the link below. We are here and vested in your long-term success! elevateequity.org/7waysEbook

Today, we've got Mrs. Melanie McDaniel on the podcast with us. Hey Melanie. How are you today? I'm super, how are you? Fantastic. You and I were talking a little bit before hitting record on this and that we have known each other quite some time, and it's just a matter of time. The time is now that we can finally do this. We've been talking for almost a couple of years now, or maybe even more than that, maybe since Covid started. And so I'm super excited to have you on the show. So before we get going, I'm gonna make sure, Melanie, that the audience knows who you are. Melanie is the managing director and the co-founder of Moon Bound Partners, L C A, women organized, a women owned and managed private equity fund series based in Austin, Texas. Her boutique firm specializes in investing in best in class private, commercial real estate opportunities with strategies including opportunistic value add, core plus, and utilizing a mix of debt and equity to preserve and grow generational wealth. Melanie is also a managing partner of her freestyle fund and coGP on many other commercial real estate syndications across the country. And as a US Navy veteran who served as a law enforcement officer for nine years, Melanie sees real estate entrepreneurship is a way to build wealth and answer to a bigger purpose. And our goal is to pave the way for other women entrepreneurs inspired by her approach, approach to launch fund vehicles, and lead others to financial success. And Melanie believes in abundance and is passionate about inspiring and encouraging other women to succeed in the industry. Melanie, it is a pleasure to have you on today, and I have. A series of questions that I want to ask you. But I think I'm going to start with some of the basic ones, right? Which is, it's no secret that you're someone that has had location freedom for quite some time. Now, I want to talk to you about what that location freedom has enabled for you. And then also talk to you about how it seems like now you have chosen a home base. I don't wanna say that you've opted out of location freedom because you can still decide to up and go wherever you want to go, but you've made this conscious choice to settle down in a specific place, at least for now. But anyway, could you talk about location freedom and what that's done for you at this point? Yeah, so I always had a job, right? I was in the military and then the government for law enforcement. It was very, law enforcement is not something you can really do from Thailand. So at some point I didn't know how, what I wanted, I didn't know it was possible. I didn't know for me, I could be location independent. I actually didn't even know that when I was still in law enforcement. I did the whole stepping stone thing, being an agent to being, doing what I am now. But as an agent, a real estate agent cannot be location independent really either, unless you have a team. But I was really starting to. Hone in on this idea that I could be, I came before it was cool, before Covid, before anybody knew what a digital nomad was. I followed the likes of Matt, what the Maverick show. Matt Bowles. He was one of the first people that I listened to at this. Nomad lifestyle and that you could do it. And I even had a call with him and he had to talk me off the ledge like, yes you can. You just need to do, whatever you have to believe. You can just design it that way. So he was the first person that helped me change my mindset that. You can do whatever you want, as long as you're intentional. You design it and you take action and then you go do the thing, right? So I had a job at the time and I was an agent at the time, like I couldn't even fathom the idea of working from a computer in Thailand. So the first step is one, realizing that yet you can be location in independent, and then two, getting yourself set up so you can, I remember when we met, you had a job. So it's all just a journey. You have to figure it out, put the systems processes in place, and potentially even change your career path. It's, we're pretty lucky in the days that we live in right now, that we can do a lot of our job from a computer. So I just had to intentionally design it, make it happen. I did have to shift careers for sure. Yeah. I thank you for saying that. I think that this location freedom I wanna expand on that a little bit more because it all does start with what you can do and what. What people have been traditionally told or thought of, at least up until now. I think this is starting to slowly shift because covid amped up, the ability for people to start working remotely. Yeah, and that's exactly what happened to me. It also increased my awareness. It's wait a minute, why am I paying a high salary to live in the Bay Area when I can make the same money working in the bay? Remotely because of Covid and I can live in, Fresno, California where it's way cheaper and I can build a whole bunch of wealth quicker, right? Like that type of thing. Yep. And so that, that kind of stepped it up. So just starting with the question of how and why, I think that's really valuable advice. Do you know where you got the inkling for this? Did you just stumble upon this, these podcasts or like where did you get the idea, or the spark to become locationally independent? So I'm a traveler by. Just who I am. Ever since I was a little girl. I've loved to travel, explore the world, and I really saw myself living abroad. When I was in the military. My first duty station was in Italy, so that was my biggest first bite of, oh, I lived overseas. Oh God, I wish I knew exactly the moment, exactly the book or the idea. I knew it was possible. I just didn't know it was possible for me. So I think. I don't know if I stumbled across a podcast. I don't. So there was that book, minimalism those two guys not book. Yeah. Maybe they had a book, but they did a documentary, min Minimalism. That documentary set me off. Honestly, yoga. When I really got into yoga back in 20 14, 15, 16, I did my yoga teacher training in India and I learned of the eight limbs of yoga. The physical practice is just one, but one of the eight limbs of yoga is detachment from stuff. Not even just stuff your title, dad, husband, c e o. My area code is 8 0 5. My zip code is 92 10 or whatever detaching from the labels that we, and this matrix we live in as humans give ourselves. So I had this really. Weird idea to just get rid of everything. And then once I got started getting rid of stuff, I realized, wow I'm free. I could be almost anywhere. All that was left to take care of was the money part the job part. So I think somehow all those ideas together made me search out these podcasts or books. And I don't know exactly the path I took, but I do remember the day that I was sitting outside my storage unit getting the last of my crap that I needed to either get rid of or. Moved to Utah across the country in my mom's garage, and talking to Matt Bowles, who was like, yes, you can do this. Who says you, you can't just design it and figure it out. He is I know you're in real estate, so am I. And he was living in Africa or something. He was in real estate. He just had a team that were, that boots on the ground. He did short turnkey rentals. That was where he made all his money. Yeah. So that's awesome. I think I love this story and I love the fact that you slowly start to put these things together. But it happened while you were traveling. It sounded like you started to say, oh my gosh. This is something that is what I really want to do, and I just want more of this, and how can I make that happen? That's one thing that I've really admired about you throughout the years is that your mindset has just been always very, like from a value add perspective and also expansive. Like, why not, asking questions like taking leaps of faith. I've watched you over the years take this, including the one that you've just done recently, right? Over the past couple of months with the new fund that you're opening up, which is massive and really admire you for that. I think the other thing that really spoke to me was you talked about how. The world puts these labels on specific things or roles that we're supposed to be, and there's stigma attached to those labels. So you've heard of the book, the Four Agreements, right? By Don Miguel Ruiz, I think, and he talks about, yeah, he talks about how the Matrix is really this thing where we've got words that have ideas and. Connotations and different meanings behind it. And there's this group think behind it that can more or less force the way that you do life, right? Because you're taught as ch as kids from your parents to not do certain things or to do things. And that over time starts shaping your mindset and what's even possible from the beginning. So I love the awareness. And I love that we're talking about mindset at the beginning because that seems to be the root of everything that you're doing nowadays and that has led you to where you are today. Yeah, I think mindset and just understanding the exchange of energy and the law of attraction and all the woowoo stuff of the world, it's, I believe it's absolutely true. And you get this one life as this one person, right? I have a belief system that it, this is just one of the many lives, right? And, but this me, Melanie, this life. I get this one. Why should I do what society says to you? Just go break the mold, go try stuff, and you're supported. If it's your call and your purpose in life, whether you believe in God or you call it the universe or whatever, we're supported. If we're given a gift and we're given a purpose, why would we be given that gift if we're not gonna have the support to get through that one? So that's what I believe. So that, yeah, it was a mindset shift for sure, but it's also an energetic shift. I think the mine's just the first start because analytical people living in the matrix can wrap their mind around that. A hundred percent. Alright, so you know, you as and as the audience can tell you're very experienced when it comes to travel. You've been doing a lot of it for many years and just until recently in the last couple of years, you've decided to pick Austin as your home. But while you were traveling how were you able to keep yourself organized and focused? Because, I'm going through this right now where, whenever you travel, especially across time zones and you're living outta suitcases, you gotta unpack and pack things. And nowadays, I'm literally packing this microphone with me from the United States to and lugging this very heavy piece of machinery along with the camera and, laptop and everything. Still very fortunate to be able to do this, but it takes some effort to set it up and get, make sure the internet is stable and all these places. How were you able to stay focused and on top of diet? On top of like your work or staying focused to make sure that you're actually, doing things to get you that, that financial freedom also. Do you have any tips from that point of view? So you're assuming actually that I was organized and had it figured out? Honestly, the biggest the biggest piece of advice I can give you is to let go of that. Yeah, because you are gonna spend more time looking for housing. You're gonna spend more time settling in. You're gonna spend more time getting to know a place, getting your bearings, figuring out where you're gonna do your laundry, and that you just have to release the idea that you're gonna have this control and your diet's gonna be perfect and whatever. It's part of. That lifestyle. If you're moving every month, you're gonna do it more often. If you move every three months you're gonna get into a routine. So you have to figure out what your, what you're comfortable with. But you have to know you're gonna lose days, you're gonna lose days of productivity, period. Like you just have to accept that. Otherwise, you're gonna drive yourself nuts. You're not gonna enjoy the lifestyle. You're gonna miss out completely. That's a hundred percent correct. I've been finding out the hard way that whenever we have quote unquote travel days, right? Because usually my wife and I, we end up going on these tours that last about three, four months at a time. And every time we transition from one accommodation to the next,'cause we do Airbnb hopping and I know that there's other people that do, van Life, things like that. I don't know if you're experienced in that also in both Airbnb hopping and Van Life, but I know that when you're doing Airbnbs, there's pack, there's days where you gotta pack and get a lay for the land, right? Understand where yeah. Where your food is gonna be, you gotta do shopping, you have to do all of that, and it does get a little bit messy. But what we've been finding is the perfect balance is like starting to get longer stays in each location because it allows for more rich experience in the place that you're at and allows you to settle in, right? And you get discounts in Airbnb, that type of thing, right? It's, that's what we've been finding is working the most instead of the traditional sense of traveling and trying to pack in as much as you can and everything.'cause it's a lifestyle now. It's not like a vacation. Where you're trying to see everything you can in the city and then move on. Which is also a fallacy. I have thoughts on that too. If you have an Airbnb or you have a van, then some of the basics are taken care of. You show up, there's olive oil or salt and pepper. If you, yes, if you love to cook, do you drag your spices around with you? Because you're not gonna go buy new spices every time you move, but that is a thing, right? You have to adjust your cooking style to the lifestyle. Yes, Airbnb at least provide the basics, but they don't always provide olive oil. They don't always, they don't always have oregano and what do you do? You have to adjust to that, especially if you're in a different country where. Everything's different. The grocery stores are different. Spices are different. How you shop is different. You don't go to a grocery store, you go to the meat market, then you go to the vegetable market, then you go to the dairy market. You have to figure all that out, but that's why you do it. That's the fun part of it. You have to enjoy it and adjust. I don't know if you take dry, clean only clothes, probably not. Like you need at least one fancy outfit, but I don't know how you would travel. I traveled with carry on luggage only. Same. Yeah. That's what we're doing now too. And if you're in multiple seasons, then that, that's not easy. And plus you have all your podcast equipment. You should follow Matt Bulls. He was a podcast guy, obviously his podcast I'm recommending he would drag around all his equipment with him and have and live out of one suitcase. So maybe a good one for you. But yeah, I will, I certainly will. I've done a, I've done Airbnbs, I've done room rentals, I've stayed with friends. I haven't done the van lifestyle. And the only time I've. Camp or slept in my car, but not in my car when I was intentionally camping. I've always had somewhere to stay. But yeah, it's definitely, it wears on you after a while trying to figure out where you're gonna live. You end up spending a lot of time doing that research. Yes, you do. But I think you do. I think you're right for doing the three to four Monthers, 'cause you really get to settle in, really learn a place and really experience it and make some friends maybe. Yeah, that's absolutely right. We'll do we'll do usually like anywhere between three weeks and two months in a specific place. And we found that a month to a month and a half is like the ideal time. And so here in Japan we're actually in Japan right now. It's great because, we have the ability to settle in and I think if you can also get into a country or a region that's got a similar language then you get to learn some phrases, right? To get to know some locals. But lucky for us, like everyone speaks English and so as na, natural native English speakers, we have value to add to people who are local. They usually want to practice their English with us, so that's always a good thing Anyway. I appreciate that. I love the fact that there is no perfect advice and that you just gotta figure this out. Because everyone is different. And I think that in itself of letting go of the fact that everything needs to be controlled is excellent. And so I will take that as advice, right? And then I'll execute on that because. There we go. I'm that kind of person. Anyway, I appreciate that, that insight there. So let's change gears here a little bit. I wanna talk more about you and your experience and how you've used your background to leverage your success now. So obviously you've been in the military and law enforcement. There is a lot of applications that can be used in the business that you're in right now. So can you talk a little bit about how that serves you in your ventures today? I am who I am. So some of it's just a personality thing. I could say, oh, in law enforcement, we did the law and there's integrity there, and you have to pass the red face tests in front of a judge, right? And you have to justify your actions without blushing all that I could say. That translates into, 'cause what we do in capital raising or doing deals like it's legal stuff we do, we've got the s e c Yeah. Down our backs and FINRA down our backs. Besides the fact that we wanna do right by people, like I didn't need the government or the military to teach me that. That's just who I am. I think I learned quite a bit how to stand up for myself. Although I still feel like that was my personality. Like I can hang with the best of 'em, but you cross me, you're going to hear from me. I'm confrontational if I have to be. And I think that helps when I'm negotiating or when I'm dealing with stuff, as to I'm your best buddy, but all right, let's talk business now. Let's draw the line here. Let's talk about this. So maybe I got comfortable at some practice being a law enforcement officer, right? Is. The confident that confrontation, whatever. Although I don't like that energy. I don't have to do it, but I can. So maybe that translates. Other than that, I don't know, honestly, I think what I'm doing now is more of who I am than when I was in the military or law enforcement. I just didn't know any better. I didn't have any entrepreneurs to model after. I didn't know anybody in finance. I didn't know anybody who did real estate. My dad retired from the Utah State Prison System, and his wife retires on the 28th of this month from the National Park Service. I was in the National Park Service, so I think I just ended up on a path that wasn't my purpose and like it, it served its purpose and I wouldn't go back and change anything. But I'm more in my element in who I am now than I was. So maybe your career path helped inform you to lead you down. The path of what you're doing right now is truly in alignment with yourself. Would you say that throughout your career obviously you know the full-time gigs, you've learned stuff from them that's become part of you, and so it's maybe hard to tease out those subconscious things that you've learned and. The conscious ones, and so I appreciate the example that you've given. Do you feel like what you're doing now is this constant searching and then now you finally found something that really gives you purpose and fulfillment? Is that an accurate statement? I feel like my whole life, when I was in. When I was a kid, I wanted to be in high school. When I was in high school, I wanted to be in the military. When I was in the military, I wanted to be in college. When I was in college, I wanted that career. When I had that career, I was miserable, but it wasn't miserable enough that I knew I was just unfulfilled. But it was just enough pay, just enough excitement, just enough future of pension, just enough entertainment, just enough time off, just enough, just enough. That's all it was until I read Rich Dad, poor Dad. And I, and simultaneously I read the Power of Now and then it just, my mind blew. I'm just like first of all, wow, I am just trading my time for money. And second of all, wow, life is meant for more than just this job thing, right? I've got a bigger purpose, and that may just be to meditate all day. I'm not even saying purpose and job, and. Doing, military to law enforcement, to being a real estate agent, to doing my first co g p deals, doing my first s p V to doing the first fund of funds and now launching a blind fund of funds. It's, I've really just taken a bite. The next step, just a little bit bigger bite each time, and yeah, I feel good. I don't have this idea of what's next, right? Like I, there's nothing. I want to do beyond this except launch the next fund and the next fund like copy and paste. Like I'm, I just wanna put the systems and processes in place that it grows on its own and I can be the, rich bitch on the yacht. And tell everyone else what to do eventually that I don't need to be there though. It's kinda like Gary Vee wanting to buy the Jets, right? I don't know if much about Gary Vee, but he's I wanna buy the Jets. But he doesn't, he's not like striving. He just is that's my end destination. Me. Yeah. My destination is to put the systems, processes in place and build generational wealth. So right now I'm grinding, I'm in the trenches, and I'm happy to be here too, because it's fulfilling. So let's double click into that a little bit more. Why as far as your purpose goes, I can see that you're that you're very passionate about what you do. Can you talk a little bit about that vision, about being on the yacht and telling people what to do, or just basically, I think what you're trying to say is you wanna be able to just make decisions and let ev let everything else get executed, right? Yeah. Like you make decisions on where to go, continue to grow your network and just enjoy what you do. Have you, would you say that you found your vision or if you maybe have advice for people who are looking to put a vision together that will help be there like. North Star, especially if they're traveling a lot right. And they're may be distracted and looking in a lot of different ways or maybe just are hunkered down at their job and don't know where to turn for a vision. What would you say to people in both camps? I would say, first of all, my purpose in life is not to build a fund and make a bunch of money. That's not my purpose in life. My purpose in life is to become the best human with the best. Heart and love for people, no matter, and compassion and all those things, right? Being just a pure soul like that is my purpose. But I also am here on the matrix and money. This currency that we've created puts me in the matrix and I have to navigate this place. So having a job and creating income is part of that matrix. But more importantly, I need to be living in the present moment, happy with where I am. And sometimes where you are is in the trench. And that's part of the journey, and that's, it's so important to just be present in that. So purpose wise, I think for people seeking purpose, they just need to really sit with themselves and think, who am I? What am I here for? What am I like? How much time am I giving to this job and do I love it? What is it serving? And just really have a heart to heart with themselves and. If it isn't, if it's unfulfilling, then make some changes. But yeah, if you want to have abundance and lots of money you've gotta do something. You can't just sit around and hope for it or draw it in with some, visualization. But yeah, it's been a journey for me, honestly, my spiritual journey and this idea of the law of attraction that as I've grown in that, So has my vision for moon bound and what that's doing. And healing your relationship with money. Obviously that's actually part of a lot of people's problem is they have a really bad relationship with money 'cause they grew up saying, rich people are bad. Or, all that big make mansion, that guy doesn't need that house, he doesn't need that car. Like it is real bad energy around money. So fixing that. Mindset or whatever is. It's something I've been working on because I was raised that way, and even now as far as I've gotten, I still feel myself going back to this low vibrating energy that doesn't serve me for the bigger purpose. Yeah, I don't know. Taking risks calculated risks on yours. Self, like building your confidence, knowing that if you go do something that you feel you can do it, trust yourself and go take the action, find the support, the people around you that can help you get there. Obviously you need to know what you're doing, so education and analytical stuff is super important as well. I don't know if I'm answering your question, but honestly, at the end of the day, it's all, everything is internal. I. And they say, you need a good why. I guess you do, but I think even that's too surface. It's really yeah, who am I? And discovering that is more important to me than making a bunch of money. Yeah. A couple of things I wanna say about this because I'm in a full alignment with what you're doing. And first of all I, before I say anything is that you've always been a person that's been clearly trying to add value to others. So you've been successful in detaching that scarcity mentality that comes with. You know the win-lose mentality, right? Which isn't, which is not what successful people do because there's always win-win situations everywhere, right? And it's up to us to create them, right? You can't just expect those situations to fall into your lap. You've gotta be the person that creates those. And you can do that by elevating your mindset and understanding that there's a different approach, so that both people win, even if it's not in the short term. Definitely in the long term. So I, I wanna make sure that's out there, that the listeners understand that's something that you have done for many people, including myself in creating these mastermind groups on LinkedIn constant social media posts and just being a supportive person in general. I really appreciate that. But it was still growing. Like I'm still growing. Yes. I'm still trying to make myself better, still investing in myself and spending time correct meditating.'cause honestly, a lot of the stuff shifts in silence and we never have silence. That's a hundred percent right. And I think that silence and self-reflection of knowing who you are, trying new things, right? Like under, like talking with people to see parts of yourself and others, right from the external view. Recognizing that and starting to piece together who you are as a person that will inform your values. Who you are as an individual, your value system, right? And there's a really great exercise that I can actually link to in the show notes here. That is, I think it's either Darren Hardy or it's someone else's value core value finding exercise where they basically walk you through, a bunch of questions of who you admire what type of things you fear, those types of things that will tease out in the end three or four words or adjectives that describe who you are as a person or what direction you wanna move in. Now I know it's not perfect, but doing something like that will help you understand who you are as an individual, and then maybe you can start to ask those why questions, yeah. So I love that you're taking it into the approach of who you are as an individual. Then starting to ask the questions of why, because here's the thing, your why's change. And so do your values as a person, as you meet people and involve I'm a completely different person now that I've met my I've been married to my wife, right? Yeah. Before marriage. I'm a complete, I was a different person, so Yeah. Yeah. For sure. And honestly, the next level of figuring out your why and your purpose and your, you are your, is figuring out, okay, what, who else can I support? Can I, I want all this money, right? It's not so I can go sit alone on a yacht. It's so I can help other people sit on my yacht with me or they're on yachts and we'll tie 'em together. Because if you're not serving more than yourself, the universe is not gonna support you. They're gonna be like, oh, you're just selfish. That's love. Of course, yes. Keep dreaming. Of course. You're so not evolved. But if you are lifting others that there's a karma to that. And I feel that is like pouring fuel on the fire of law of attraction. Let's shift more in that direction. Sure. Because I think that there are plenty of people who are watching what you're doing, and especially I think you're trying to primarily focus more on women entrepreneurs, which is an amazing thing. We need more of that. Do you feel. That what you're doing and how you live as an individual inspires other to others to follow in your footsteps or maybe ask questions about themselves and if so, do you have an example of that happening? Or maybe just talk about how you can inspire the people to pursue their own freedom. I mean I do want to inspire, but I don't like do stuff. To necessarily inspire. I want my actions. It's not your objective. Inspire. I don't wanna stand at a microphone and inspire people with a talk. Correct. I wanna pave the path and walk the path, and then they can walk the path. That's my goal with all this. I'm not like a feminist or anything, but there is definitely data showing how few women are in finance, whether it's real estate or whether it's big finance. I think in big finance, 6%. Are like led by women. So I always just see those things. I'm like, challenge, accept, whatever. Yes. Like I don't, I'm not a feminist or anything. And I think part of it is culture, but that's changing. And so I women and men, like everyone, I want everyone to succeed. I just feel like women might need to see like Thero Roger Bannister, right? The no one. Thought you could crack the four minute mile until someone did. So I wanna be that someone for other women who wanna be in finance or they wanna take a leadership role. And they were like, oh, she did it and she was normal for the most part. So I, and an example, I get a lot of feedback I from women of how I inspire them and men too. But I guess my lifestyle, burning the boats, leaving my government job and trusting myself. That has been very inspirational for a lot of people. I don't necessarily recommend it. I had no kids, no spouse, no plants, no pets, no nothing, right? So it was very easy for me to just take care of myself and live very cheaply to do that. You have to be willing to do that. And it was risky 'cause I didn't have this big savings account to go chill. I, I had real motivation and that was debt and yeah, fail or crawl back to the government and that was the last thing I wanted to do was crawl back to my office as a park ranger. Yeah, just nothing too specific except just feedback from people that like, Hey, you're really inspirational. I quit my job. I've got a lot of people that said, because of, watching you, I've been able to quit my job and do my own, I, so that's, I'm happy. I'm not trying to convince anybody to do any anything. I'm really just trying to walk the walk, and it's not an easy walk like, It's challenging. Yeah. Yeah. It's not that's the other thing that I think there's a misconception about the freedom concept that, there's time freedom, there's location freedom, and even financial freedom. A lot of this comes with the price of energy and the effort that it takes to get there. But that's why the mindset piece is so important, because that is an investment that you make, Warren Buffet says that you will never lose value on Yeah. It will never go down in value. And so I, I think. The misconception is that it's this idealistic lifestyle that everything is perfect and it never is the case. Like nothing is perfect. And so I really appreciate you and I also can completely understand how people have been inspired to leave their jobs because of you. And I think that's something you should definitely be. Proud of, because I'm not saying that leaving jobs per se. But the fact is that people are asking questions about themselves and they're making changes, right? Yeah. To be more in line with who they are. So just wanted to say that now we're getting closer to the end of the show. I can't believe it's already, been almost a half an hour that we've been chatting here. But maybe you can talk about what is the best advice that you've ever gotten, and how would you say that's informed who you are today? Is this one of your end questions? The five questions? It's not separate one. Okay. It's funny because I get you get advice in fitness, you get advice in finances, you get adv advice, like the best. It's hard to say the best advice ever, I would say advice wise is be live in the present moment. But that probably came more from a book or a. A bumper sticker, right? Until you embody it doesn't mean anything. But to really truly live in the present moment as if the past, didn't necessarily even happen. How do we even know what's a memory? Whatever. Yeah. And the future definitely is not promised to us. And trying to live more present, that fulfills my life. So I would say that's great advice. It does, it answers the question because for you to say presence, that's, to me, that's it's like awareness, right? Understanding who you are and being present. Yeah. Is is great and I hope that's something that people can take to heart from you because when you're more in alignment with who you are as an individual, there's less friction. And I can see that because you're so willing to help people and pursue these incredible endeavors that you're doing now. I do want to give you just a minute right now to talk about what it is that you're looking to do with this. So please explain where that came from. I think this is also an exercise and mindset in listening to you over the last couple of months on this. But maybe you can explain that real quick and then that'll be a good transition into our rapid round. Yeah. So it's moon bound because a moonshot right. Is there's a lot of risk involved. Yes. And that's typically in your techie, in your startup and your business moonshots, right? Yeah. I put in a dollar, I get 5,000 out. But that's, or you could lose it all moon bound to me is, yeah, we're gonna go to the moon just like you guys are shooting for. We're actually gonna get there though. It's just a little bit slower and more calculated. And it's through commercial real estate, the slowest locomotive, it's like an aircraft carrier, we're gonna get there eventually, but we're not that fast. We just are precise. So that's why it's moon bound and not moonshot. So I'm, I chose that name to speak to those people because they're my target audience, because the partners that I have are in that PE angel investing space. So I'm trying to speak to them and in their language, but try to get. Through that, you should probably have 20 to 25% of your net worth in boring old commercial real estate. If you look at the history of the US and where all the wealth is held, it's 80% in real estate, maybe more for the generational wealth. If you compare like the, is it the Vanderbilts and the Rockefellers? One of them was real estate focused and one has nothing. My, my thing with Moon Bound is for generational wealth boring, it's a fund of funds. So you and I, we work in the space of individual deals, so that's, Hey, I pick an apartment, I like this one. Here's my 50 k. What if I can put that 50 K across? Five funds with 15 apartments in each fund, and then you're just a bit more diversified. I'm not doing just apartments or apartments at all, potentially. I like triple net industrial. I like last mile logistics. I like storage, I like really boring stuff. Data centers, medical centers, that kind of stuff. Just put the money there. Let the operators who specialize in that asset class in their market do their thing. And in one fund, you're diversified. So that's moon bound. It's a blind fund of funds. It's a closed fund, so it'll raise all the money. Get it deployed and then we'll just ride it out for probably eight to 10 years. Yeah. That's awesome. And I think right now there's, it's a unique positioning in the market where there is a lot of opportunities coming up because we're starting to see some signs of distress. I'm not saying that 'cause there's always a debate as to where we are in the economy right now. But obviously things are happening and there's change constantly. And I love the fact that you guys are looking at all types of different opportunities and being opportunistic to say, to say it bluntly on what things make sense and how to grow. Stably over the long period of time and over a diversified mix of assets, which is great. Yeah. Strong fundamentals. Just very small opportunistic by definition. But yeah, most of it's just, yeah, fundamental with a little bit of value add. But yeah it's a little early maybe for the best stress, but honestly there's just not a lot of opportunities out there at the moment. So I feel like we're launching at a great time because there's fewer. People doing deals and some money is sitting on the sidelines, but the people who are in now are gonna grab up that first round of deals for the year. My fund, it takes, by the way, I'm learning, I thought it'd be lunch launched in March on this fund. It just drags out because partners won't get you legal docs. You have to tweak legal docs stuff. Your business plan wasn't gonna a couple of months beyond what I thought. I think I'll actually be launched by May. It's crazy. That's insane. Yeah. In the meantime, there's still stuff that you can do without having the fund there, and it's, oh yeah. It's just it's just like what, what we went through with our current fund platform with your freestyle fund and, I'm on the same platform as you and getting all that legal documentation set up and everything does take some time. And I completely understand that, but I think you're on the right path and man, like I'm I cannot wait to see what you have going there. So I'll be definitely a follower and encourage all the listeners to give that a shot as well and to, and investigate what you have going on. At the end of the show, we'll give you an opportunity to find out how people can find out more about what you got going on, but. For the time being we want to head into the rapid round here. These are the same five to six questions that we ask every one of our guests. And so if you're ready, they're meant to be answered in a 32nd timeframe for each question or less. So if you're ready to go let's do it. I'll do my best. Alright. You'll be all right. Number one, name any resource that was or is essential in your journey to pursue your freedom. Man, I would, I'm just gonna have to say meditation. I think that's an amazing one. The self-awareness piece is a wonderful place to start, and that's a good thing if number two, if you woke up and your entire business was gone. You had $500, a laptop, a place to live, and some food, what would you do first?$500. Can I get a credit card, a 0% interest credit card? Because that saved my life many times and it's currently saving my life right now. That's just how I roll. That that hey, that is actually a really good question. I think, asking about resources and really trying to figure out, what do I have to work with? Is this really my only constraints? I love that approach to it. It's Is that really what I'm constrained by? And so that's what I'm picking up from what you're saying here. Yeah. It's scary. I would never recommend anybody go get, debt that they can't handle. But I have used 0% interest credit cards. I've actually made money off of them because some of them, if you follow them and they have, two years of interest free, that's just one thing. But some of them, they're like, they'll pay you if you transfer. Yeah. Balances. I'm like, that's weird. Okay. So that's really odd. But yeah I get it. Free money. Money. It's not cash, but you can spend swipe it. Yeah. I know people that have done like flips and stuff or use it as a revolving line of credit and keep opening up stuff. And so I hear great things about it. I haven't touched it 'cause I didn't I'm scared to, 'cause I'm, I don't want to go down that, that rabbit hole, but I know that there's a lot of people that do great things with it. So I may end up talking with you later about that. Sure. I know. All the good one. There we go. Number three, what does your self-reflection and your goal setting practice look like? I'm constantly self-reflecting. Goal practice is interesting and I'm going through a shift with the idea of goals, where instead of setting these specific goals, you just, you set the intention and then you just go for it. Because goals can limit you. If you didn't set a big enough one or if it's too big, whatever. I'm not gonna say don't set goals because people need to do what they do. But I'm, I vibe more with an intention and seeing and visualizing the end and then backing up to the now and figuring out what I need to do to get there. So I do set. Goals, but they're not like these hard, fast, quarterly, 10 days out one day, what do I do This hour block time? Block, time block. It's so restricting. And you can't, that's not sustainable. And it's not fun. At least not for me. Yeah. But daily, like in meditation or in reading, I read a lot and a lot of 'em are spiritual books. There's a lot of self-reflection and my boyfriend and I were very spiritual, so we do a lot of. Talking back and forth and then, trying past life regression or energy healing or reiki or whatever. All of that stuff reveals all sorts of fun things. Absolutely. Interesting stuff. I think we'll have to talk about this a little bit later on, 'cause my wife and I like, we're, we've been getting into that over the last couple of years because life is energy. And yeah, there, there's a lot to talk about there. So I'm just gonna, I'm gonna leave it at that. Yes. Alright. Number four, what are the core work habits that you attribute to your success? If there's anything that repeats on a daily basis, I am afraid not, and I'm probably not a really great example of that. I calendar stuff. I time block the things that I know I need to get done. I have a calendar that people can book on and I'm very, when I set what's available for them to book on, I keep it very set in a way that I. I don't get overwhelmed because when you're working, you've been working all day and you have meetings at six and seven, you get overwhelmed real quick and then yeah, you're going through this horrible cycle of Yeah, the entrepreneurial rollercoaster. There's, I find some sort of balance and I try not to take too much in one day 'cause it really just inhibits me from being human. Yeah, I think that's awesome. Really this is self-care. I think prioritizing self-care in, in your decisions. And for me, like I tend to muscle through things and that's when I make the poorest decisions. And that's when I start harboring resentment and that's when people can pick up on that energy. And so I love that you mentioned that, so there's something to it for sure. All right. Number five, or, I think this might be the last question here for saving on time here. But what book do you recommend or books do you recommend to people to help them jumpstart their success If they're just now getting started with something that they really want to grow? Or maybe something that's helped you. So the Power of Now is one book that really changed my mindset and whatever but it's not really a business book. That's okay. I love that book and, but I always talk about, I always recommend it because they go back to it. It just really depends on where people are in their journey.'cause I would love to tell people to read many lives, many masters, right? About past life regression, but that's more spiritual and not everybody's open to that. I'm reading a book. The End of the World is just the beginning and so it's macro demographics, so if you wanna read that and cry, read that. But I think things like that are important to see where we are and where the. Where the opportunities are in the future. So that's an interesting book for today. Maybe in a year it won't be as prevalent. It was written in 2022. Yeah, I don't have one that's just read this, it's gonna change your life. I would encourage people to get into, 'cause the business books and that is fine. But I really think working on yourself is more important and less you're doing something specific. I would say if you're gonna launch a fund, read BMI's book on how to, yeah. Put a fund together. I. It just depends on what they're doing. And if it's vague, I'll just say like spiritual books, many labs, many masters get into that. I love it. I think that what I'm taking away from this and it's just another reminder for me is that people should read actively. If there's a problem or something that they're working on, you need to read it right then. You need to read something on that subject right then and there 'cause you'll remember the advice, right? Because a lot of book reading these days are done from a should perspective and that ends up becoming. Like a passive type of thing, right? Where people are just reading and then you don't recall anything, so you end up just wasting time. Love that advice. Love the power of now. Yeah. The thing about some of these books that are great, right? And they teach you habits and atomic habits, like all these books about structuring your day and doing whatever, and it's just, it's so not vibey. I guess I'm getting too woowoo. I I wanna feel and be intuitive about things not structured and analytical. Yeah. And I think, that is what's missing in the society and that's why people really are following you, because this is something that's very hard to find because everything has been in the past. The structure has been what people have valued because it's scientific, it's very rigid. It's like you can see the process, you can see all of it, but there's something to be said about intuition and following what's in your heart and what's in your soul, right? And I absolutely love that reminder. And my wife and I are definitely, we've always been like curious about this and we're starting to see how more and more important it is, especially watching you and some other folks doing some amazing things by doubling down on that. Intuitive part of it. Melanie, this has been awesome and I wanna be respectful of your time as well as the audiences. And so before we leave today, why don't you tell the audience out there how they can find out more about what you have going on and you know how they can get ahold of you. I would say, just look for me, Melanie McDaniel On social media. I have Freestyle Capital Group. Moon Bound will eventually have some sort of branding, and there's a website, moon bound fund.com. It's still under construction. I would say I'm, I think I'm gonna rebrand everything just in my name because I have all these other projects and it starts getting confusing. And depending on when they listen to this, it may or may not be accurate. So look for Melanie McDaniel on Instagram, on Facebook, you'll find me or ask Derek. Yeah, sounds good. I will be here for you guys. I'll definitely be routing you over to Melanie. She's got a lot of great stuff going on and I'm always going to be a follower as well. Melanie, thank you so much for coming on the show. It's been a pleasure. My pleasure. Thank you for having me. Absolutely. And dear listeners, thank you as well for listening to the show and getting to this point in the podcast. And please, wherever you're listening or watching this please make sure that you engage with us. You like, subscribe, comment. Doing all of that will help improve our rankings in the algorithms. And so we want to be able to bring more incredible people to come on the show, like Melanie and then also attract more listeners like yourself to listen to the show and get more feedback and all of that good stuff. Thanks everyone. You guys have a wonderful day. We'll see you guys next week.