Leaders that transform the world are also passionate about constant improvement. They are always looking for faster, more effective, and more efficient ways to enable their people. These leaders are also focused on how they serve people around them — customers and employees alike.
As the CEO of Total Wealth Academy, Mr. Steve Davis leaves no stone unturned to integrate the same thought into his leadership. After working for over 6 years in corporate America, Steve Davis quit his job and started his investing journey in real estate. Now, he is on a mission to empower others to make informed decisions in their personal finance journey through real estate investing.
Steve believes, “Without serving others, you are just a manager. Management is doing things right, and leadership is doing the right things.”
Interestingly, Steve also incorporates empathy and balance into his corporate culture by always ‘eating last’. In fact, initially for more than two years since starting Total Wealth Academy, he took no payroll of any type.
He continued to embrace this value even when COVID hit as he did not lay off any employee. Steve has the ability to make his team feel recharged and energized. “My team knows that I care about them as much as I do myself and they perform better as a result,” he says.
Rising above the tides
Although Steve’s early years were economically challenging, he was persistent and optimistic to turn a new leaf.
His first stint of leadership was during his teen years where he led the Marine Corp JROTC program at his high school. This encouraged him to be creative, while offering support and encouragement to his team members.
Later in his senior year, he won the best program in the US. He trusts and respects his role model Col. A.I Thomas, USMC and internalizes his leadership ideals. Steve believes that he learned the essence of leadership, leading by example, and fostering supportive relationships in the shadow of Col. Thomas.
Such role models definitely play an important role as the wind beneath the wings to fly higher and farther. These experiences shaped Steve’s personality and gave him a clear vision to later help people experience the same passion and motivation to achieve their goals.
Redefining the path towards wealth
At 27, Steve was over the moon when he found out that he won a national sales contest along with a trip to Hawaii. But his happiness was short-lived. A rude wake-up call awaited him as he got back home to a $20,000 a year pay cut.
This incident made him realize the cost of relying solely on a single source of income. It later snowballed into bad credit and no money. “I knew I had to make a change. I couldn’t sleep after the pay cut so I was up watching late night TV and there were multiple infomercials on real estate investing. This is where I learned that 70% of the millionaires in America use real estate to become so.”
With his last credit cards, he bought every program he could find. Steve ended up spending nearly $30,000 on books, tapes, videos, bootcamps, and workshops. He was determined to not just earn more money but to earn greater freedom to pursue his aspirations. The knowledge he gained from the investment to educate himself instilled confidence in him to quit his job within two months.
He then started a new chapter in his life by investing in real estate. His journey included wholesaling, flipping, then single-family rentals, and finally investing in over 4000 apartment units.
According to Steve, Success does not come overnight. It is important to set short-term and long-term goals, check your progress, take a step back to re-evaluate, be disciplined, work hard and always have flexibility in your approach.
While an additional source of income is a necessity to live a fulfilling life, it is not a cakewalk. As the CEO of Total Wealth Academy, Steve uses a step-by-step approach to guide people and build passive streams of income with real estate. His hands-on mentoring and coaching process enables people to seek answers to unlimited questions, apprehensions, and meaningful consultations.
Additionally, Steve walks them through everything — single-family houses, apartments, self-storage, senior living and more. His hard work has created a diverse real estate community for beginner and advanced investors.
With his mission to teach people lead more joyful and balanced life, thus far Steve and his talented team have managed to educate, motivate, and empower people across the US and parts of Canada through his online classes.
Taking charge of financial literacy
Making responsible decisions with your money is integral to your life. It has a material impact beyond yourself and influences your family, education, expenses, and retirement goals. Hence, financial literacy is an important skill to learn as it guides you towards financial growth and success.
Steve also believes in addressing financial literacy as it is one of the biggest concerns in the modern world. He feels that the increasing gap between the rich and the poor is because of the differences in their approach. “Our formal education system — high school and college — teach nothing about building wealth or getting rich. They just teach you how to get a job,” he adds.
Many people lack the basics of managing money, whether it’s budgeting, investing, or building emergency funds. This encouraged Steve to teach his son and daughter to build a second stream of income at the mere age of 8. As a result, his son graduated college with $4000 a month as his second stream of income from his 11 rental houses. His daughter, on the other hand, has an even larger second stream of income.
While he believes that his kids are brilliant and hardworking, he also believes that each and every person can change their fate. “The difference is that they were told the right things to do. Most people have never even heard of a second stream of income,” he says.
Leading a healthy balanced life
Steve believes that proper guidance towards money management and wealth creation is a gateway for collective growth. This is why it’s important to manage your time and create a healthy lifestyle.
His ideal day starts at the gym where he spends ample amount of time training. He then follows up with his scheduled consultations, his daily radio show and ends the day by winding down with his family.
This is also one of the core aspects of Total Wealth Academy. He says, “I don’t just teach people how to build wealth, I teach them how to do it while maintaining their fitness, family, romance, charity, and all the other parts of a balanced life. The “Total” in our name is representative of that philosophy.”
Being undeniably self-aware
Entrepreneurship assumes swimming in unchartered waters and navigating through them. Steve put a lot of faith in himself and paved a lane for others in the real estate industry. While he was alone in his ambition, he persevered and came out winning.
As a pioneer in real estate investing and consulting, his sage advice for young and aspiring entrepreneurs is to be in touch with reality through books and experiences. It’s important to pursue your career and keep pushing through moments of adversities to finally breakthrough.
“We have been through this many times in the past. There are many books out there on this and their advice can help greatly.” He also recommends staying focused on the philosophy of “how” — for yourself, your company and the people you serve.
An inspiring future
Steve holds the future of Total Wealth Academy close to his heart. He has true passion to inspire people and instinctively finds ways to nurture it. He also believes that the ‘principles of wealth’ have been around for thousands of years and haven’t changed.
As Steve continues to expand across the US and Canada, he aims to make the educational platform more digital as time goes by. “Some of my best students have never even been to Houston where our home office is. Our goal is to have members in all 50 states by the end of 2025,” he concludes.
Visit Total Wealth Academy Page.
