Creating Wealth Through Life-Defining Decisions

Are you ready to elevate your life and explore the realms of big decisions and grand visions? In this episode, we, Raya and Trae, open up about our own journey of embracing life-altering decisions, shaking off comfort, and venturing into the unfamiliar. From meeting during the turmoil of the COVID-19 pandemic to getting pregnant shortly after, to making a million-dollar investment in our first home - we lay bare our path to creating a life filled with wealth, happiness, and fulfillment.

Ever wondered if you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur? Doubt no more! We engage in a deep conversation about the significance of commitment and investment in entrepreneurship. We share our insights on risk-taking, self-belief, and understanding that challenges serve a greater purpose. Additionally, we emphasize the importance of surrounding yourself with the right people who aid in informed decision-making. 

Finally, we reveal the power behind setting goals, maintaining an optimistic attitude, and harboring a billion-dollar vision. We share our experiences of being part of a supportive community that pushes you to strive for greatness every day. We also shed light on the importance of reflection amidst the hustle and bustle of life and business. Get ready for an episode filled with real-life experiences, insights, and valuable advice that will ignite your journey to success. Tune in and take that leap towards your billion-dollar vision!

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Making Big Life Decisions for Success

Raya 0:02

I'm Raya .

Trae 0:03

And I'm Trae .

Raya 0:04

We'll share our own experience building and selling a seven figure business , owning multiple successful brands , and share the stories of other entrepreneurs who are incredibly successful in business .

Trae 0:16

This is Billion Dollar Vision , the podcast where we educate current and future entrepreneurs to expand your vision , give you strategy and help you take your business far beyond what you thought was even possible .

Raya 0:28

Your future is limitless and it begins right here , right now .

Trae 0:40

Let's go . Welcome back to the Billion Dollar Vision podcast . My name is Trae .

Raya 0:45

And I'm Raya .

Trae 0:46

And on this episode we're going to talk to you about making big life decisions . Big life changes , and I want to pose a question to you first . Have you ever had to make a decision and it was going to be uncomfortable for you and you decided not to go that direction ? You decided to stay comfortable , decided to stay put where you were , and , if so , how did that turn out for you ? Most likely , you regret it to this day , and we are here today to talk to you about going from good to great , making that shift mentally where you're stepping away from what's comfortable , going to what's uncomfortable , in order to achieve a life full of wealth , freedom , happiness and overall fulfillment .

Raya 1:32

Yeah , and I'm really excited about this topic because I feel like in the last three years we've had huge life changes , and not just in life but in business , and every change was really uncomfortable . So let's kind of get into where should we start , almost like , should we start with the kids or start with the house or the business ? They were all pretty huge jumps like an identity and uncomfortableness .

Trae 2:09

I mean the uncomfortableness kind of started during COVID , right when we met during COVID , for those of you who don't know , or we started dating during COVID . She asked me for my phone number .

Raya 2:24

No , no , no .

Trae 2:26

She asked me for my phone number during COVID . Now , I'm not saying it starts during COVID , because I don't know how you felt , but I don't know if people were like starting new relationships during 2020 , especially when COVID first got started , right , because it was like you were afraid to even be around people , you're afraid to touch people , you're afraid to be in the elevator with people , right ? So people really weren't starting new , fresh relationships during that time . I don't think . Unfortunately for us , it worked out , but that's where the uncomfortable switch started for me .

Raya 3:02

And then- what was uncomfortable about it ?

Trae 3:07

Not wanting to get sick , right , I mean , yeah , and I had no fear .

Raya 3:15

I was like I'm not going to get sick .

Trae 3:17

Yeah , I wasn't afraid of COVID from the standpoint of I thought I was going to die or yeah , I wasn't afraid from that standpoint . But it's just the overall thought process of being around someone you don't know . You don't know if you're going to get sick from being around them , kissing them , right . So that shift was probably the first shift I had to make , because , for me , I knew If this is the person that I know I like and care about and love and want to be with , I gotta move past whatever the news is saying , right ? So , yeah , so that was the first shift . And then , shortly after that , we got pregnant three months after we started dating .

Raya 4:08

So we started dating about like July 2020 , right .

Trae 4:13

Yeah , July .

Raya 4:15

October or maybe it was November , we found out we were pregnant . So October it was October . So yeah , that was , that was major . I just remember being like this cannot , this cannot be real . You know , I and this is like right after we had this like major fire , I was thinking we were probably gonna break up , but then and we did for like a week , right , maybe a few days , and then we got back together , but then I became pregnant shortly after that .

Trae 4:49

I don't know if we got back together . You just sent me a text message . So now , yeah , yeah , that's what happened . You sent me a text message of a pregnancy test and I didn't believe it . So then I made you do like three or four more in front of me .

Raya 5:06

And , yeah , I was trying to trap you or something . So we found out we were pregnant and and I had already been thinking about moving out of our apartment . So we met because we lived in the same apartment building but we we met walking outside , but I had already been thinking about moving . We had been discussing it together . Like you know , potential , like that's the thing about Trae and I . I feel like we've always been huge dreamers and I think that's what , like part of what really attracted me to you , you attracted me to you . Besides that you know you're attractive and we had great chemistry is like .

Raya 5:47

You're your visionary , your dreamer , and one of the things he told me was I've always wanted to meet a woman that wanted to build an empire together , and I'm like , I've always wanted to meet a man who wanted to , you know , build an empire together . And so we would , you know , go on Zillow all the time , like looking at houses , and we weren't like I don't think we were Really thinking about doing it , but what ? But we were dreaming , right , and what happened was when we found out we were pregnant , because we spent so much time on Zillow , we knew what was available to buy and it was almost , I think , the next day After we found out and after Trey believed it was true , maybe a couple days later that we decided to sign for our first house , and it was a house that was being built , so brand new house , a Million-dollar house , which was a huge jump for us , right , like building a as your first home , a million-dollar house that's brand new , and Bringing in a new baby into the world Only having been together for three months , like that's a really huge commitment to your future together . That I feel like most people wouldn't make that commitment until after marriage , right , correct ? But because we're so big into dreams and vision .

Raya 7:14

I Don't know why , but we just like knew it would work and we decided to go for it and so To almost like jump timelines a little bit fast-forward this building process . It was supposed to take about nine months to build our house and it was perfect because we were gonna have a baby in nine months Fast-forward nine months . And this builder hadn't even started , like they had the foundation .

Trae 7:44

To give you some context into what happened During that time . The market Was so good for sellers , he realized , like , so we got it at one rate , one price . He realized as time went on he could actually sell it for more . So what he did was he delayed the building process on purpose , knowing we were gonna have a baby purpose knowing that we had a child on the way .

Raya 8:13

We had given notice to our apartment .

Trae 8:15

Yeah , I gave a notice to the apartment . I had spent time picking out details to go into the house and Actually have the pictures Because I would . I would go on walks every weekend from where we live . Yeah , I have pictures from every Saturday . I will walk by and be no progress every Saturday and but yeah , that's what happened .

Raya 8:42

But it was all for our favor , right ?

Trae 8:45

So at the end of the day , we can look at it's just a lesson , right ? There's a , as they say , there's a blessing in the lesson , right . So the blessing was . He did that not knowing . It was actually for our favor Because for numerous reasons . Number one , but given our current situation right now we have two children the house would not have been big enough .

Raya 9:12

Yeah but also just we drive by now and oh my god , there are so many things wrong with the house .

Trae 9:19

Yeah . Yeah , the driveway is really really short . It's on a busy street . Not ideal yeah it wouldn't have been ideal .

Raya 9:27

Let's backtrack it just a little bit . So during this time I'm extremely pregnant , about to have a baby , and I'm I'm just pissed . But one of our favorite things to do is dream . And so , although mentally at this point we thought we were gonna be in that house , right , we thought we could afford a million dollar house . But we would find and we still do this , we find different neighborhoods In Tampa that are way above you know what where we currently are , and we say one day , we could , we just know we're gonna afford houses there .

Raya 10:01

So during this time there was certain neighborhoods that we would drive in that had multi-million dollar houses and they were Beautiful and amazing and we thought one day , this is the neighborhood we'll live in . And so One day the their real , the real estate agent , called us from the house we were building and offered us our deposit back because they want to sell the house for more to someone else . But she said , you know , for the inconvenience and and because we drive around so much dreaming and visioning , we took some time to make sure we did this strategically , but we found a house from driving the neighborhood that we really liked , that was also new , being built by much further along , right , like it was almost done , just it was missing . You know design details . And so this house that we found was double the price .

Raya 11:00

But I think I just said , trey , can we just check this out ? It looks so amazing . It's been sitting on Zillow for a while , like let's check it out . And we walk into this house and I'm just in love . Like it has no walls , it just has framing . But I'm just like this is a dream . Everything we hated about or not hated but didn't like , but we were settling in for with the other house , this house had plus , so much more , but it was double the price . And so we leave this house and at this point we had already had our baby , serena , and we leave the house , you know , and I look at him and I'm like this is it ? And what did you say ?

Trae 11:49

I think I said let's do it .

Raya 11:50

He said , let's do it and so we just looked at each other and I think there was like maybe five or six months until it'd be finished , and so we just decided we will stay uncomfortable in our tiny apartment for a little bit longer . I mean tiny for us with a new baby and two dogs at the time .

Trae 12:07

I mean , it's not that it's a tiny apartment .

Raya 12:11

Yeah , it was small for a growing family , and during this time we'll commit to growing our business so that we can afford a house that is double the price and not just double the price . But this means double the down payment , and so instead of a $200,000 down payment now we're looking at 400,000 that we have to come up with in . Really , I think it was like a six month or less timeframe .

Trae 12:38

Aside from that , the good part , and the reason why I say it was for us , is because so the previous builder that we just told you about he knew we had a child on the way did not care delayed because he wanted to make more money , which is cool . That's what he chose to do . We go to the first meeting with the builders of our current home and we put down our address of where we on some paperwork where we currently live . The builder actually lived in the same building as us .

Raya 13:14

Yeah , he was our new brifertime .

Trae 13:15

Yeah , so the good part about it was like he understood the timeframe . He understood like we would see him , he would see us . There was a respect there , so everything into working out literally in our favor . So then , all because we chose to be uncomfortable and up level , and do and commit to something before we were ready .

Raya 13:40

Yeah , at the time we signed for the house , double the price . Now we're going from , we're going to multi-millions here . We weren't ready for it , honestly , like we didn't have that money . Our businesses weren't quite there yet , like probably by far . Thankfully , on paper it was enough to show that we could do it , but it was a stretch . And then , 30 days after signing for this house , we are pregnant again with our second . So we have a three month old . We're building like our second house that we haven't moved into and we find out we're pregnant and we're committing to double our revenue in six months . Like talk about a commitment that I don't think most people would make given that situation , because it's a big commitment financially as a person , like who you have to become to make that happen . Right , and we did it . Yeah , it was tough , but we made it happen .

Trae 14:48

Yeah , it was tough but took about six months . It was tough , but to go back to what we said at the very beginning of this episode , which was it's gonna be uncomfortable when you go from good to great , it's gonna be .

Raya 15:04

Because that would have been a good house . Yeah , but it was not great by far .

Trae 15:08

It would have been a good house , but when you add in a second child , it would have been pretty tough , especially when we have our parents who come and visit and stay .

Raya 15:17

Now we have a flavor .

Trae 15:19

We have so much .

Raya 15:20

More and more space , a bigger backyard .

Trae 15:23

Yeah . And so we say all this to say you have to look at your own life and you have to assess if you have certain goals and dreams right , are you doing what it takes and are you making the necessary shifts to go from comfortable to uncomfortable , and not uncomfortable in a way that is gonna set you back Sometimes when you want to , let's say , you're starting to work out right . If you want to tone up , you want to lose weight , it's gonna be a little pain before you actually start to see the gains , right . So this whole episode is about are you willing to do what it takes If you have certain goals ? Are you willing to do what it takes to be uncomfortable for a little bit , and not uncomfortable for a little bit , in order to see a much greater return down the road ?

Raya 16:20

Yeah , and I think this same goes for if you're an entrepreneur .

Commitment and Investment in Entrepreneurship

Raya 16:28

Most entrepreneurs start their business by themselves right ? You're really good at what you do , so you're like why not open a business ? It seems simple enough in today's age , right ? And then you find out it's not as easy as you thought and then you get to a certain point where you're really busy , that you need help , and what I see a lot of people doing is they're not willing to hire people or start growing a team , or because there's all these fears about they have to be the best and they can't afford it .

Raya 16:58

And all these things come up and financially it's gonna be an investment . Right , when you're talking about you might go back a little bit first , and it's true , if you start hiring a team , you're absolutely financially it's going to set you back a tiny bit at first , but then you're gonna grow double , triple , quadruple in time because you made that commitment and because you're doing things that most people won't and where the greatest return is gonna come from is from risk and doing things that most people won't . You know you get the greater reward because of that and it's committing to the future that you have for yourself , and I think that's what we did right . It all starts with vision and belief , like when we would drive through the neighborhoods . We believed we belonged in this neighborhood , like we knew it . We didn't know it would happen as fast as it did . We thought in a couple of years after we're in that house for a couple of years but I think that belief being so strong and then us committing before we were ready , it collapsed . The timeline .

Trae 18:08

Yeah , it definitely collapsed the timeline . And when you listen to what Ray had just said , she said the commitment . But you can also replace the word commitment with investment , right ? So anytime , anytime that , and that's with anything you look at anyone's life , you look at any company , they had to make certain investments first , so they had to technically take a financial step back in order to start to see big gains . And sometimes it doesn't always work out for you , right , but you have to give yourself a chance by making the investment . If you don't make the investment , there's no way you'll ever have a shot . And so , like Ray was saying , the commitment , you gotta have that commitment .

Trae 18:55

We were able . Our situation it was like a perfect storm , almost adding a second child , a builder who didn't want us to be in his house , this property becoming available and then us seeing opportunity . And instead of waiting for the right situation and waiting for the perfect situation , we made a decision and we've turned this decision into the perfect decision . Right , we made a decision and made it the right decision . So that's one thing that we can always wait for the perfect scenario , but sometimes you have to create the perfect scenario for yourself and for your family and for your business . It's not always gonna be . The stars won't always align , necessarily , but right now , for us and our lives , the stars wanna align when we first made the decision , but things look a lot clearer now than they did then and that's the thing , like it sounds easy , but when we were going through this it was by far emotional , like it was not .

Raya 20:04

It felt horrible during , like when we were in it and now in perspective , like Trey said , the stars align , like everything was happening on purpose . So sometimes the challenges you are going through actually not even sometimes I would say almost 100% of the time in my experience that the challenges you go through are there to serve a greater purpose on your path , and the more you can understand that , like during it , like okay , this is here to challenge me , to become a better version of myself , to put me on the right path that I'm supposed to be on . It makes it a little bit easier while you're going through the challenge .

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Trae 21:18

I would almost say like , instead of trying to understand every single step and understand

(Cont.) Commitment and Investment in Entrepreneurship

Trae 21:24

why this is happening , why that is happening , just focus on understanding that it's happening for you and not to you , and find a way to make it right . And I know it sounds repetitive , but in almost every decision , the way I operate every single day right now is I try to be prepared , try to be strategic , but sometimes you gotta make decisions and that either gonna go right or go left . But you have to . You gotta live with the choices , live with the decisions and go from there Like you can't get stuck or you can't get upset . Me and Ray have two different temperaments , so yeah , during the process she was really really , really high , stressed , and I had some moments where it was stressful , it was tense , but I just looked at it from a different lens , which is probably what helps us . We balance each other out .

Raya 22:26

But I'm not normally high stress . I was pregnant . I was pregnant twice in a row .

Trae 22:32

And that's fair . I don't want to discredit any woman who was given birth to one child , let alone two . I commend you . I think your body goes through a lot , your hormones go through a lot . So , yes , I'm not downplaying that . I don't want anyone to get upset about that . With that being said , yes , we have two different temperaments . So even when you haven't been pregnant , there have been things where you've been stressed about and it's just you've got to .

Trae 23:07

I guess we can say this too right , you want to make sure you have , when you're making decisions and you're making those changes , you want to have the right people around you , to excuse me , to make sure that you're feeding yourself the right information , right ? You don't want people around If you're a panicking . You don't want a bunch of panicky people around you at the same time . Right , you want to have people around you , yeah , whether it's family , whether it's friends , like you're going to make decisions that a lot of your family members have never had to make , and because your dreams and goals may not be what their dreams and goals were , or maybe they are what your parents or some friends' dreams and goals were , but they didn't do what it took . They didn't make the tough decisions right . So they're not .

Trae 23:56

You got to be careful sharing your dreams . You can share your dreams with whoever you want to share your dreams with , but as far as taking that information , it needs to come from someone who can give you real , credible advice and either is on the path that you're on , wants to go on that path , or has been on that path , and , whether or not they've had success , they understand what you're trying to do , because you can get advice from someone who has not accomplished or you're trying to accomplish , but they can still encourage you right , because they can still see your vision and so sometimes our family and friends we grew up with are operating in fear because they love us right and they want to protect you .

Raya 24:45

Had we told our parents that we were doubling the price of our first home and have two babies , like probably every single one of our parents , I would think would say you're crazy . What are you doing ? Yeah , why , Like you're going to go broke .

Trae 25:02

Yeah , I mean not just our parents , but anybody . Most people wouldn't even be able to understand what you're doing right and why you're doing it . But fortunate for us , we had each other and , like Ray said at the very beginning , we're both the dreamers and so and we have grown our businesses tremendously since 2020 .

Raya 25:28

Like , since we even first committed to buying our first house together , that was a stretch , let alone the second , which was a 10X stretch , like our business , I mean . Now we can make you know in a month , essentially like depending . We'll talk about our business models in another episode , but we can pay a year's worth of mortgage . Right , we can put aside a year's worth of mortgage at a time , which is incredible .

Trae 25:59

Yeah .

Raya 25:59

And I mean , I feel like we're even ready for the next level , because we just know we're constantly evolving , wanting to push ourselves to become the next version of you know who we're meant to be .

Trae 26:12

Yeah , absolutely . And with that being said , whether you're jotting down notes or whether you're thinking

Surround Yourself With Supportive People

Trae 26:21

, think about who you surround yourself with and the advice that they give you , the mentality that they have , because no matter how much money you're making right now , this is practical information that you can apply to your life . Right ? Do an overall assessment of some people , say the five people you talk to the most ? Right ? Or you can look at the one or two people you talk to the most . Where are they at mentally ? It's not about where they are financially really , but where are they at mentally in terms of believing in something much greater than what most people believe in ? Right ? Where are they at mentally in terms of encouraging you along your journey , even making an assessment of your partner ? Right ? Whoever you're dating , maybe married to , you want to be on the same page . Right , because it's tough to have a billion-dollar vision . It's tough to have big , grand , lofty goals and have people in your area who make you believe that it's not possible . Right ? I'll let you touch on that if you want .

Raya 27:38

Yeah , I can't imagine a life where I was marrying someone that wasn't aligned with the heavens vision in growth and I think that's one of the things that has really helped us is , when we found out we were pregnant is deciding to become aligned in our vision and saying , hey , let's look at the bigger picture , because if we're having a baby together and we weren't engaged at the time , we had been dating three months we want to be together for our child , right and like . We are committed to making this work , no matter what , because it's not just about us Now , it's about this little human we're bringing into the world and giving them the best life possible with two parents . And so , looking at the big picture vision for our life , we realized , for scheduling , for , you know , travel , for freedom , for everything that we wanted in our life , it made the most sense to come together in our vision and in business , mind you , I had always previously said I will never work with my partner because I saw my parents work together and it ruined their relationship . I saw previous bosses work together , ruining their relationship . But if you make decisions based on past experiences , you're doing it wrong . Right , like you also don't know every , everything they go through and who they are as people .

Raya 29:06

But if your growth minded and your person , your person is growth minded with you , I think it's very possible to have a vision together , work together , have a relationship , have an , build an incredible life together , and it honestly makes everything so much easier . I can't imagine one of us being like let's build a billion dollar company and the other one being like that's done , that's impossible . What I love about Tray is he makes me dream so much bigger than I ever had and I thought I was a big dreamer , like I thought I thought I was , had huge dreams and then I met Tray and he made me dream at such a bigger level . And that's what the right partner can do for you . They can amplify everything in your life .

Trae 30:04

I'm laughing because I get on red for not reading and not to get off topic , but I get on red for not reading all of like . She starts a book and she never finished it . And I'm looking at her books and all of them have tabs like midway through . So they're not finished .

Raya 30:20

But so yeah , yeah .

Trae 30:22

But not to touch on what you just said . I number one , I'm thankful for you and I appreciate you and we push each other to dream a lot bigger , and it's even if you're a partner . I want to be clear . Let's say your partner is in a totally different industry . They can still be supportive . I'm just , I'm encouraging you to look for the support Right . They don't have to do exactly what you do or be into exactly what you're into 110% , but I do believe that , whether it's your partner or whoever you speak to the most best friends , family they got to be supportive of your vision and got to understand your mission because so , just to give you all a brief run down of our model , so I am the CEO of our business , our business .

Trae 31:32

Raya is the chief visionary officer , right , and I know that . Raya , I know that she operates better . I'm noticing now she operates better when she reads more . Okay , so , with that being said , since I know that , although we both have shows that we like to watch , I am now encouraging us more to read more at night because , as the CEO and as someone who supports her and wants her to operate at her highest , I want to see that right . So I want to see her operating at her highest . So I'm having us read more , right , we're ordering more books , we're reading books together and they're helping me as well 110% . But I know she's just a different person when she's reading more and I noticed that . So as a CEO , I'm realizing like what's best for the company ? Reading more , right , and we've never even talked about that , I've never even said that . But reading more , I know , is better for our overall company .

Raya 32:39

Yeah , cause we got a little comfortable having two babies so close . Like nighttime was kind of like okay , let's relax a little bit . And I do feel personally 10 times better now that we've gotten you know . We have , you know , our movie nights on the weekends but now committing during the week . We read before bed versus watch TV .

Trae 33:01

Yeah , and so in your life , you want to have supportive people who understand that , all right , she's on her mission or he's on his mission right now . He doesn't need to go out , stay out late , doesn't need to do things that throw them off . So , like I said , whether it's your spouse , whether it's best friend , parents , you want to have people who are pushing you to be just one or 2% better each and every single day , so that you can move closer and closer and closer to accomplishing your goals and your dreams . And , with that being said , do you have anything else ?

Raya 33:39

Yeah , to come back to where we started at the beginning of like good to great . When I first met Trey , I thought my life was good . I had , you know , 17th floor of a beautiful apartment , looking out over the water , traveling to entrepreneurial events , like a business that was self run , and I thought I had a good life . And now I know I have a great life . Like there was things that I , of course , wanted , but there was a lot we had to go through , like you know stories we could share later to get to the point where we are now .

Raya 34:23

Like it hasn't been perfect , right . I mean , think about how much we did in such a short time Two babies , one and a half houses , bill , two businesses and a new business were starting , like condensed , in a very short timeframe . Like you go through a lot of struggle to make that happen , but I really think that we've like jumped like again , like collapsed timelines , right Of like who we've become and I think , like , looking back , even on like videos of myself back then , like I'm a different person . It's crazy to see the growth and it's amazing , and I know that there is a next level and so I know that in even another year that we're gonna look back and like , oh , our life was good then and now it's even greater now . But to get there we're gonna have to be uncomfortable , we're gonna have to take risk , we're gonna have to start new things , which we are and that's the only way . As Trace says , the only way to is through .

Trae 35:27

Yeah , the only way to is through , and you gotta go through the bad to get to the good and definitely in order to get to the great . So , with that being said , we will see you on the next episode . We hope that this episode will enhance and encourage you to , like I said , make that tweak , get 2% better , 1% better or even more in order to help you . Help you on your path to freedom , wealth , happiness , love , all of that . We'll see you on the next episode . Have a good one .

Raya 36:04

Remember it all starts with your big vision .

Billion Dollar Vision Power

Trae 36:07

Stay determined and always keep your billion dollar vision alive . Please , wherever you are listening , subscribe and leave us a five star review .

Raya 36:16

It would mean the world to us . See you next time I'm looking out . I was listening for too long . Something in my heart told me to cool off . Mama always told me I should move out . No-transcript .