What the Balcony Reminded Me
Hey Income Flippers,
I surprised my sister this week. ✈️
Flew into Orlando, no warning, just showed up to watch her oldest son play in a national volleyball tournament. Watched a kid I love compete for something he's working hard at.
That's the kind of thing I never want to be too busy for. Ever. ❤️
Then I got on a boat. 🛳️
Three nights with real estate friends from around the country. My first cruise ever.
I got up in front of the room and taught The 7 Steps to Building Wealth, and from what people told me after, it landed.
That matters to me more than I probably admit out loud.
But that's not the part I want to write about.
One morning I was sitting on the balcony with a cup of coffee, still warm in my hand. 🍵
Ocean everywhere. Beams of light cutting through a wall of clouds on the horizon, gold on the edges, water underneath still dark and heavy. I grabbed my phone, took a picture to remember the moment.
And out of nowhere, gratitude hit me.
I thought about how fortunate I am. Then my mind went somewhere I didn't expect.
I thought about people around the world who will never sit on a balcony like that or ever experience anything like this.
Not because they don't deserve it. Because of poverty. Because of where they were born. Because they're in survival mode every single day, with no space to even dream about a moment like the one I was sitting in.
That's when it stopped being about me.
I'm not a religious man. But I believe in God. And sitting there, I thought about my favorite prayer, the one from St. Francis of Assisi that starts...
"Lord, make me an instrument of your peace."
I've read The Peace Prayer a hundred times. It never hit me like it did that morning. Because I wasn't asking to feel good. I was asking a harder question.
What would it actually look like to live as the best version of me?
Not the version chasing the next deal, the next closing, the next win. The version that shows up for complete strangers in the exact moment they need it most.
Here's the lesson I keep coming back to.
Freedom isn't the finish line. It's the responsibility that comes after.
We chase income. We chase ownership. We chase the version of life where we don't have to ask permission to fly somewhere or say yes to a cruise. I'll never apologize for wanting that. For my family. For the people I lead.
Go build it. Go earn it.
But let me ask you something.
If all that freedom does is buy you a better balcony, did you actually win?
This is the whole reason I talk about the Income Flip.
Money that just sits there feeding your own comfort was never the goal.
The goal was always bigger than that.
Build enough that you have something left over.
Time. Money. Energy. Attention.
Something real you can hand to somebody who's still stuck in survival mode, still waiting for their shot.
That's not charity. That's the whole point of building wealth in the first place.
So this week, as I close it out, here's what I'm asking myself. I'm asking you too.
What are you building your freedom for?
Who is one person, one family, you could show up for this month? Not someday. This month.
You don't need a cruise or a balcony to figure that out.
You just need to sit still long enough to ask yourself the question, and be honest enough to answer it.
Always Forward,
Rob
Rob Chevez
Founder, GRID Capital Partners
P.S. If you are ready to build your wealth with a community that challenges you to think bigger and take action, join us for GRID Tactical Tuesday, where real estate entrepreneurs share practical strategies you can put to work right away. Join the next session at https://www.gridinvestor.com/grid-tactical-tuesday.
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