06 – Britnie Turner: The Bumpy Road To A Benevolent Business

 

There are ways to use capitalism for good. If you just tune in to your calling and discover where your passions truly lie, you will receive guidance to build that benevolent business that will make an impact on lives around the world. But being called on to help people doesn’t mean you have to destroy your life. Britnie Turner knew from the get-go that a missionary’s life was not for her, as passionate as she is to help disadvantaged communities in Africa, especially in the ongoing fight against human trafficking. Her journey in real estate wasn’t exactly a smooth one. If you were told that she started investing in 2007, you would probably know what was coming for her. Through all these challenges (which even got to the point where she had to live in her car), Britnie never lost sight of what was important for her. She continues to do her part through her signature brand, Aerial. Listen in as she shares some powerful insights on the show with Brian Covey.

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Connect with Britnie:

Website: https://britnieturner.com/about/

Instagram:http://www.instagram.com/britnieturner

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/britnieturner/

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/britnieturner

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BritnieTurner/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/britnieturner

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Britnie Turner: The Bumpy Road To A Benevolent Business

I am super excited because I get to bring typically guests on that I haven’t met. It seems like lately where it’s people we’ve just met online, we connected through mutual friends, but I got to meet Britnie a few years ago. I cannot wait to share her story. She’s also a Nashvillian here, but she’s doing things big in the world. I can’t wait to unpack her story here in a little bit, but let me go ahead and start off with this. I’ve got some quick updates. I’m excited. We launched the book Conversations With Covey. We’ve taken the best ten episodes that many of you commented, you loved, and we’ve packaged that into a book. Always a reminder, if you guys would like, subscribe, leave a comment, let us know how we’re doing on the show on Apple. That helps us know what guests you liked, what topics you want to hear more of, who we should bring on next. We’re always trying to make sure we’re learning, growing together, and adding value.

Britnie Turner, I’m excited. If you’re in Nashville or somewhere around here, you will know the name Aerial. You’ve maybe heard of Aerial Development. You may have seen Britnie. She is one of the youngest entrepreneurs I’ve seen, especially in the female space. She’s not only taken hoard of skills and everything she’s doing to build successful businesses, she’s giving back in a way that you don’t see every day and she’s traveling the world. She’s been everywhere to like Sir Richard Branson’s Island. She’s out in the Caribbean helping with disaster relief. I saw your group. You were helping out with Nashville. Unfortunately, we had the Christmas bombing, all of this stuff going on. You’re doing some big things. I’m super excited to unpack your story and also learn some of the life lessons that you’ve had. Welcome. 

Thank you for having me, Brian. I appreciate it.

It’s been a while. We connected before, I’m in the mortgage space, and everybody knows that. You have done a lot of development and inner-city things there. Before we get into some of the company stuff, I love taking people back to your story because it’s unique. You talk about this as starting from living in your car to now where you are. Some people may not know that journey and story. If you don’t mind, let’s jump into that and talk about it.

I’ve known what I wanted to do since I was twelve. I had an out-of-body experience. I saw myself doing work in Africa and I felt this all-consuming peace. I don’t know what you guys believe. I don’t care. This is my experience, and that presence of God was something that I was so hungry to get back to. I figured this must just be a sign that I’m supposed to be a missionary full-time in Africa, and I’m going to do whatever it takes to get there. That became my identity. I don’t know if anybody reading has ever put something out there and told people, “This is what I’m going to be, and this is what I’m going to do.” You have to live up to that because that’s what everybody knows you for. I didn’t want to be a useless missionary.

I went to a survival school/ministry/leadership school up in North Carolina. I was trained by Green Berets and different survivalists on how to survive anything and stay on track with your mission because I wanted to end human trafficking. It’s the worst thing I could ever imagine at the time. As I’ve grown older, I’ve learned it’s still the worst thing I could ever imagine. I’m here at my property in the Caribbean with the top ending human trafficking leader in the world, the top organization. I had to walk in another room every couple of hours and cry, hearing the horrible things that people do.

There are a lot of people reading that have seen terrible things or heard terrible things, and you feel that rage. There’s nothing wrong with that. What can be wrong is what you do with that. For me, I took this rage of things that I was seeing as I went on these mission trips from thirteen years old on. I asked God, “How can I do something to solve this?” I felt like the worst missionary ever because I’m pissed off the whole time. I was mad because I wasn’t solving it. You’ve got two options when you feel this level of frustration or anger when you see these atrocities. You can become a hater or an activist, and whine about a bunch of stuff and do your thing and/or you can create a better system that makes the old system obsolete. Mother Teresa said, “I’m never going to attend an anti-war rally, but if you have a peace rally, invite me.” Whatever you focus on is going to expand. I dedicated my life early on to find real solutions to this.

On my final trip at seventeen years old with that survival group that I was part of, I met this little girl. We put on a women’s conference and these people have nothing. We’re in the middle of nowhere in Costa Rica. We’re praying over everybody at the end. I got to this little girl. I asked her name and she couldn’t speak. I asked the traveler, “What’s going on? Did I say something offensive? She’s a little upset.” I found out that her vocal cords were destroyed as an infant because her father sexually abused her and she still can’t speak. I found out that 1 of every 4 babies in this community died before they reached a year old because they were viewed as sex toys. I know this is graphic, whatever. I don’t care. It’s out there. People need to know about this so you can do something about it. It’s not just in Costa Rica, it’s everywhere.

I was so upset that this happened. I had this realization at seventeen years old. I went back to my tent and I got on my knees and I said, “God, whatever it looks like, use me to help make this not a thing.” Every day that I wanted to quit, I remembered that little girl’s eyes. It’s that day in that tent, I heard God say loud and clear, “I’m going to take you out of mission field,” which was my entire identity, “I’m going to put you in business.” I did not want to do that because business is boring, corporate stuff, all the things that I was not. I can’t rescue babies like that. What does it have anything to do with it?

Until the time where I’m sitting with this organization, and what we’re doing is going to save tens of thousands of lives, I didn’t understand exactly why God took me on this trail. I want to encourage you that even if you’re not living in the moment of exactly what you want to do, you’re being prepared for it if you’re focused. Pay attention, use your time wisely, educate yourself, grow in any Earthly thing you can learn, count on some heavenly wisdom, but Earthly knowledge. Don’t just sit around and think answers are going to be downloaded to you. If you don’t know the language, how is He going to talk to you?

That’s powerful too. I love what you’re saying there. I’m on the same path with you where I think God has given us certain gifts and talents, and things that he’s equipped us with. He’s given you this desire in your heart, but you have to act on it. You can’t sit on the sideline and be this person that’s just warming up and never get into a game. You have to go and do things. I look at it as you’ve integrated it. You figured out where your passions are, where you can contribute, where you can make a difference. Whether people like it or not, money does help solve problems through this. We have to make sure we’re doing something that we contribute back. As you’re building businesses, I’ve seen you evolve and you’re starting to do more and more through organizations. How did you start to integrate that while you’re also running businesses together at the same time?

I don’t even know I was building a business when I was building a business. I’m not somebody that’s going to talk fancy and try to sound smarter than you. I want to speak to make sure you understand. If I can share anything that can help you go to the next level so that you can walk in more abundance so that you can give more, I will always. I started out by continuing to go to this little school. My entire identity is wrapped up in being a missionary. I’m hearing this whole going into business, “What are you talking about?” I used to hate rich people. I thought they were evil. I know it sounds bad, but I did.

Even if you're not exactly living in the moment of what you want to do, be prepared for it. Click To Tweet

I’m in the back of this room and the speaker came in. He was some rich guy so I was not going to pay attention. I was like, “Whatever. This has nothing to do with my life.” He was teaching Rich Dad Poor Dad which is hilarious now that I look at it. I’m writing my book and Sharon Lechter is my coach, which is so fun. He’s up there talking about the difference between the mindset of the rich, poor, and middle-class. I’m in the back drawing my missionary training base and how cool it’s going to be, and all the things I’m going to teach them.

He asked a question. He said, “Who in here has been on a mission trip?” I said, “Me.” I left on that. “Who in here has had to raise money for that?” It’s like, “Also me. I can participate.” “Who in here hated that experience?” I was like, “Me, I hated asking for money.” You spend $200 on stamps to get a $20 donation. It didn’t make sense to me. From thirteen on, I always worked five jobs so I could afford my trips every summer to these different countries. He said, “Did you know you can buy a house with no money down? If your mortgage payment is $900 a month that you rented out for $1,200 a month, you get to keep that $300.” I was like, “Go on.” He said, “Do that ten times, and you can live in Africa and you never have to ask anybody for money again.” I said, “Genius.”

I went to one of my leaders and I said, “How do you buy a house?” For two hours, they went on about interest-only arms and all the most complicated mortgage terms that I had no idea what they were talking about. I pretended I was taking notes, but all I wrote down was, “Do not buy a house. It’s way too complicated.” I did end up getting pressured into buying a house. I had no idea what I was doing, but they gave anybody a loan back then in 2007. It was a great time to buy a house, right Brian?

I remember those days.

It’s a pretty solid time to get in. It’s the best. Everybody’s getting rich in real estate. I bought that house. In the process of buying it, I had heard of this thing I’d never heard of before. It’s called flipping houses. You could buy a crappy house, fix it up, and make $10,000, which is a billion dollars to an 18-year-old. I’m a hard worker. I was like, “Maybe I should get into that.” If you save those chunks of $10,000, you could put it as a down payment, $100,000 down payment on an apartment complex, and then you can make $10,000 a month. You can tell everybody else to suck it. I’ll fund my own orphanages. I know it sounds horrible, but I’m being real with you. That was my plan. I’m going to learn how to flip houses and before I’m 26, we moved to Africa and be full-time. I don’t want to be old when I moved to Africa. I’ve got to buy an apartment complex by then. I googled, “What colleges teach you how to flip houses?” Guess how many popped up, Brian?

It’s zero.

I’m very practical. I said, “I guess I’m not going to college.” Why would I go? They don’t teach what I want to learn. They were not popular back in 2007. That was not a popular idea at all. I get rejected by most of my family and I’ve got a good family. I get rejected by all the people closest to me. The market starts crashing and burning. I don’t watch the news. I thought I was a failure. Every time I learn of someone who does know how to flip houses and see “We buy houses” signs, I’m going to call them and see if I can work for them for free. I called them up and they’re like, “Get out of the market now. Run.” I’m like, “Why? This book I’m reading says I can be rich tomorrow. This course I’m taking says everybody’s a millionaire in a matter of months.” I was a complete failure for almost three years. I got into crippling debt. I became a loan officer right in 2008, which you could probably speak to what that experience was like.

I’m waiting for loans to close, I just survived on my credit cards. Guess how many loans closed? It’s zero in a whole year. I rack up this huge credit card debt. I ended up having to wait tables and I’m studying anything I can get my hands on real estate-wise for twelve hours a day. I was homeschooled. I know how to be self-taught. I want to learn this, but nothing was happening. I was waitressing at the Cheesecake Factory because no loans were closing. I remember this one day I was $350 short of being able to pay my mortgage. I have this whole idea in my head that if it’s God, for anybody who believes in this reading, the sea is going to part. It’s going to work out. It’s going to be this cool, amazing miracle story. It shouldn’t be hard or it’s not God. I committed. I’m going to work a double. I’m going to make $350. I’m going to give God all the credit, and I’m like bribing God.

I asked God like, “Why am I here? I’m smarter than this.” I was so upset because I paid my bills. I’m a good person. I heard loud and clear, “Because I want to bless you.” I was like, “Really? It sure didn’t look like it.” As I went up to the host and said, “Please send me home. All I’ve been doing is side work for hours.” He argued with me. These two guys and a girl walked in. When they walked in, I said, “Please give me that table.” The guy who is sitting the farthest away from me did give me the table. He had on his ring finger, The Millionaires Club. I was like, “Are you real estate investors?” They’re like, “Yes, we are.” I said, “I’m going to be a real estate investor someday.” He’s like, “Yeah, right. You probably read CosmoGirl Magazine.” I said, “No, I’m reading Success Magazine.” He said, “You’re probably listening to Hanson CD in your car.” I’m like, “Hanson, really?” I said, “No, I’m listening to Think and Grow Rich, the audiobook.”

I was so self-taught that they were like, “This chick is smart and she’s trying. She’s applying herself.” They invited me to this conference in Vegas in which I used the last available dollars on my credit card to take the speakers to dinner so I could pick their brains to try to learn this. One guy is telling somebody else’s story about how he’s got all these deals stacking up on his desk. If only he had an assistant, he could teach real estate investing, then he could still do deals and speak all over the world. I was like, “Pick me. I’ll be the best assistant in the whole world, I’m sure. I got all this experience being a waitress, which has everything to do with being an assistant.” He said, “You have to move to Nashville in two weeks.” That’s how I got to Nashville.

When you’re sharing that story, I’m thinking through like visualizing, you’re using the last money you have on your credit card. For those of us that have been there and know, you’re spending it to invest in yourself and like, “I have a hope, I have a dream.” There are a lot of prayers going out. You’ve got to be in that moment when you’re there knowing that God put that on your path and you’re in this moment. What was going through your mind when you’re like, “I’m raising my hand, you need an assistant. I’m there.” Walk me through what happens next because sometimes we see opportunity and we second-guess ourselves. Some people call it the imposter syndrome or what have you like, “That’s not for me. I’m not good enough for that. That couldn’t be me.” How did you then take action and be assertive to make sure that happened? There’s an opportunity sitting in front of you. It’s not guaranteed. What did you do to make sure that went forward? 

I was also in school to be an emergency medical technician. I didn’t sleep very much. I dropped out of that because he said I had to move there in two weeks. I rented my house out to these guys on Craigslist. I took the job. It was $600 less than the minimums on my credit card and I moved to Nashville. I just hopped on my Mustang. I was full of hope. I told everybody, “This is God opening the door. It’s going to work. I’m so excited. I finally get to learn.” They’re like, “You’re an idiot. You’re moving too far away from family. You’re seven hours away now. You don’t know anybody. You don’t even know this guy. It could be some weirdo, all the things.” I was like, “No, it’s going to work out. Trust me. It’s God.”

If a problem has been solved somewhere, it can be solved anywhere else. Click To Tweet

I moved to Nashville and within 60 days they did away with my position and said, “We don’t need this anymore.” The house that I rented out, the first month’s rent check bounced and they never paid again. I didn’t know how tenants work. I was a sucker and believed everything they said about their child being sick. I ended up finding out they did all these drugs in the house. They use it like this rage hall. I had to pay for eviction, had a mortgage, I don’t have a job, and I’ve got all this debt. I moved into my car. That survival training came in handy. The day that I got fired, I was at an event with the speaker guy that was my boss, and I overheard these other two guys. They were talking about all these deals that they did. I just gotten fired at the event. I said, “Can I work for you guys for free?” I have to learn this because every time I close my eyes, I can see that little girl. I knew I had to figure this out.

When you have a purpose bigger than yourself, and you understand that, “I could have been that little girl,” or you could have been that little boy. I just heard a story. We could have been them. By the grace of God, we ended up in the most blessed nation in the world. More opportunities than we can even get out of bed for. We have to seriously ask ourselves, what made you go after that opportunity? How did you get motivated? Are you kidding me? Do you know how many people need our help? We have to get our crap together, so suck it up, stop whining and feeling all depressed and sorry for yourself, and understand you can be used not to throw money at problems. It’s solved them. There’s so much opportunity.

If it’s ever been solved anywhere, it can be solved somewhere else. Therefore, if America, for example, is not a third-world country, and it’s been figured out in one place, even in one city, it can be the same things that make it work. It can be applied anywhere else in their own way. That’s not us putting our Western civilization on anybody, but there are systems and processes that work to be able to create an opportunity for education, people to be able to pull themselves up, and operate from a place of dignity to be able to provide for themselves and their families and even more. Whatever has never been figured out, let’s do it somewhere else. It’s just like a car. How do you build a car? You don’t have to reinvent it completely. They still build them in Germany or America. It’s the same process, maybe different parts.

I’m sure people are curious. I’d like to shift because as you’re going through it, you have your purpose. You have your why as you referred back to you’re thinking about this young girl you met. Now you’re shifting into building a business. Since I know some of the audience are all investing right now in real estate and they’re trying to build things. As you started being a mentee, you’re learning from these guys and you’re learning the business, what were some of those early lessons that you took away as you started to build a foundation and understand how to build real estate, how to go out there and get in the market?

It was the worst time in human history to get into real estate, specifically. If you ever want to google 2009 headlines, everything crashing and burning. I was like, “Wasn’t it 2007 that was bad?” “No, that’s when it started. It was worst in 2009.” What I learned, first of all, was to give first. In my moments of desperation, I was trying hard to be financially responsible. Therefore, when I found somebody who was richer than me in the beginning, I was like, “How do I find a way to sell something to them or whatever?” I started wanting to just pull that from them, pull their money from them instead of viewing them as somebody I could learn from and bless, and somehow it will come back to me because it’s two wins that go on. I’m very practical. I learned if I can bless them, it somehow will come back. It doesn’t have to be from the person. I was in so much anguish in debt. Debt feels like this giant foot crushing your chest and sucking the life out of you.

Once I broke the love of money off of me, which I don’t know. I was in love with it. I view it differently now. It doesn’t own me at all. God needed for that to happen, to be able to trust me with so much of it, so fast and big in many different areas and different regions of the world. If you tell me I just made $10 million, I will say, “Cool, awesome.” If I just lost $10 million, “All right.” I don’t have an emotional reaction anymore, which is a very cool tool to have in your belt. By giving first, I can’t even explain the ripple effect, but that was the first lesson I learned, which even got me to Nashville.

I found ways to serve because these guys worked many hours. It was insane and they didn’t have any time for me. They’re like, “Who are you? Why do you want to work for us for free?” They weren’t all about a 21-year-old girl hanging out and listening. I would listen to their phone calls because they weren’t talking to me for the first while. I’m like, “How do I stay here?” I’d listen to their problems. The takeaway is to find a way to create value and people will keep you around. The value I created is I’d listen, “They need more investors.” I’d ask them, “How do you find investors?” I would do it. “We need more deals.” “How do you find more deals?” I go find them. “How do you find vendors if you hate this contractor or this lighting provider or granite provider? Tell me what you’re looking for,” and I go hunt them down. “You hate all your real estate agents? I’ll become an agent and I’ll sell your houses for X percent,” whatever it is. I’ll mark them. All the things that you hate that they’re doing, I’ll do them. I’ll do all the things that you’re mad at them for not doing. I took notes on everything. They never had to double teach me.

When you’re homeless, you never have to learn the same mistake twice. My mom laughs all the time. There are six kids in the family and she says, “Britnie, you are the sloppiest one. You are the goofball, messy, funny kid. I never would have thought you would be so successful.” Honestly, I was at that time in complete desperate survival mode with this. I call it survival creativity where you can’t not find a way or you have to figure it out. It’s not an option to say, “I’ll try that.” No, you figured it out. I would take so many notes, and then I would go home or go back to my car. I implement them, solve problems for them, and help them. It made them hundreds of thousands of dollars in a nine-month period. I did financially survive by filling up and managing their rentals that were in the most dangerous neighborhoods of any worse surrounding in the national region. It was super dangerous. I would fill them up and got little commissions. I was able to survive and eventually moved out of my car. They were like, “You’re ready to do this on your own.” That’s how I got into it.

I’m like, “I’ve got nine months of all these deals under my belt of being able to be around them. My first project is going to go great.” I still had no money. I had to seller-owner finance it. I had to use my friend’s credit card to buy materials and do all the work myself. Finally, I was ready to sell. I got a contract and all that stuff. Everything went wrong. I got robbed. I had to sleep in the house with a gun, no power. There was a blizzard, all kinds of insane things. When that house finally closed, I made $40,000. I reinvested that in the four properties, $10,000 each. I was back to broke. The next year and a half, I became the biggest rehabber in Nashville, and then got into new construction because of my orphanages. I became one of the biggest infill developers in Nashville. I got into specific plan zoning and I got into revitalizing the entire areas.

That came from seeing how to solve poverty, which was crazy. In the development of one of our orphanages, we picked this one area because they were selling their kids for $25. You have nine kids. You sell one, that two-year-old little boy, knowing what’s going to happen to him, that his organs are going to be harvested at the end or the rest of the family dies because they have no financing system. Everyone dies or you sell one. They sell them. By tying up this orphanage site, this was our second one in Kenya. We came back a year later to progress the project because we hadn’t done anything yet. We came back and the whole area, the whole perimeter had all these businesses that moved in like the property lining us. We’re like, “What the heck is this?” Apparently, because the Americans are developing something here, there must be gold in those hills. We saw that the perception of hope, opportunity, and change, even though it was an orphanage site, created an opportunity enough to wipe out the poverty by creating all these jobs.

I challenged myself and my team. It’s probably the worst way to go about real estate investing ever. It’s how we can practice this in our own backyard. How can we take hopeless places that were called the Murder Acre and Stab City, those are my two favorites, and make them places that people can afford more because they have better opportunities and they’re safer? They’re mindfully revitalized versus gentrified. I’m not saying I knew how to do it the right way at all. I messed up a lot of different ways, but we’ve done a lot of work throughout the Southeast that now I’m very proud of it. I’ve had a lot of haters and I’ve had more little old ladies write me and say, “I feel safe in my neighborhood. Thank you for cleaning up my yard. Thank you for revitalizing an area that I never thought would happen.” That has been the template for revitalizing nations. Now that’s what I do.

I love your story because people can listen to that and realize like start where you are with what you have and do something, and then it could grow. You don’t know which direction it’s going to go, but think big enough. Did you ever have a moment where you’re thinking big and it was that much bigger? Some of these actual projects that you’re running, you’re doing developments I saw in Nashville that I thought you had to have a pretty big, bold vision to even think about that. As you’re sitting back, did you ever think it would grow to what it is now and the impact that you would have outside of Nashville and multiple countries? 

God only gives you one piece of the puzzle at a time. If you’re faithful with that, He’ll give you the next one. Click To Tweet

The answer is the whole way in which I thought it would come together is so different. That’s what I’ve learned about God. He only gives you one piece of the puzzle at a time. If you’re faithful to that, He’ll give you the next one. Sometimes you’ll understand a piece of the puzzle, but you don’t know how it connects just yet. There’s a seed planted in your heart that is supposed to be there. You do some work on it and then you feel like, “Why do I waste my time?” You’re like, “I’m not allowed to say anything is a waste. I understand that this will come together someday.”

I’ve built out entire media platforms for ending human trafficking. I put them together. I’ve wanted them to work with a different organization and it didn’t happen. I have been on that for a year and it didn’t happen. I’m like, “God, people need this,” but because I’m so busy, and then I get this introduction, I can take everything I’ve built and run with the wind. I would have never had the time, the energy, and space to do what I did a year ago or two years ago. It’s like, “Pull that back out, apply it now.” The biggest lesson is know that you don’t know the whole picture at all. Trust, but go for it. I’m not going to sit back and wait, I’ll sleep on it. I’m not saying that’s the right way to do it. It’s not anything like that. I am full-on, but I do have great filters for what’s an opportunity and what’s a distraction.

I can see that. Speaking of opportunities, I’m sure everybody wants to know the story because I had a few people ask. As I do research and prepping the whole thing, going over with Richard Branson’s Island, spending time and lessons you’ve learned there. Give us a little insight into that experience and some of the biggest takeaways you had. He’s thinking on a level that many of us have never seen. It’s such a huge opportunity. 

It’s funny how you can create your own normal, which I have been, to everybody reading. It’s in our subconscious to not want to be rejected and to listen to all the voices, “Be careful,” or “Look,” because they sound like love. If they’re not the person you would switch places within that specific area, then don’t heed their advice. Don’t discount the whole person, but don’t heed their advice in that area. If somebody is a billionaire but has a terrible marriage, take their financial advice, not their marriage advice. If somebody is overweight but has an excellent marriage, don’t take their diet advice. Pick and choose, and don’t discount the whole human because everybody’s imperfect. As you surround yourself with people who are incredible in specific areas, you can be a sponge, and pick and choose the person you want to be. It’s not that you even take from a Richard Branson. I want to be him. What is the essence of what I like about him? He’s brave. He’s real. He’s fun. He is a force for good. Is there a whole list of things I don’t agree with? Yeah, but why take these? Absolutely.

Pick your village because your subconscious mind is going to tell you that if the village rejects you, then you’re going to die because the dinosaurs are going to eat you if you get kicked out of the village. Pick and choose your village. Who do you want to be like? If you can hang out with Richard Branson, which I am very blessed to get to do all the time now because I’ve found ways to be blessed. I’ve found ways to serve his organization. I’ve found ways to serve his mission. He wants to keep me around and all these other people. The only reason I care to have him want to keep me around isn’t because he’s famous. I don’t care. I don’t want to watch TV. It’s because he’s doing cool things that I do agree with, not everything, but a lot of things. I wanted to answer your question, which is what’s it like to be around him?

I love that though. The lesson is there are people that come in and out of our lives and seasons, and I believe this. I love that you gave some specific examples. When you think about they’re not there for you to be like them in their entirety, and they may have certain areas that you’re like, “This is where they excel.” That’s where we need to learn from them. That’s why I believe they’re put in our path. That’s why we’re there together, but it’s not that you need to become that person. Be you but learn. Be very financially sound. Understand your spiritual side of things, learn how to give back, and even working out, diet, and those things. Find people that are experts in that. You can put that whole person together so that you’re your best version. We talk about that a lot on the show. How do you become the best you, not someone else, the best to you? To do that, you’ve got to treat your whole person because without that, you’re not complete. I think that’s the best. What I love about watching what you’re doing is how you’ve integrated running a business and how you’ve learned it. Your survival skills, this mission and passion that’s in your heart, now you’re able to live that out. That’s inspiring to folks out there seeing that. That’s what I believe. You’re doing some cool things.

 

Here’s a final question because this will be cool. I want people to be able to follow you and find out more. This will probably get their wheels turning, hopefully, like it did with mine. As you’re thinking about the difference you’re making now and you look out there, what would you say to people that maybe they want to do something, they want to get involved, but they don’t know where to start. They see this and they hear this, and they’re like, “I don’t know about that. I don’t know about this.” Where could people start to get involved to get in the game so that we can start collectively making an impact together? 

For yourself to be able to be clear on not just what you should get involved in your whole life, there’s one simulation that will change everything for you. You have to have a purpose-driven, clear life of anyone you know. It was the thing that changed my life forever. I did it at seventeen years old, from the time living in my car to being Forbes Sixth Fastest-Growing Woman-Owned company, all the cool awards. You’re not doing it in a morbid way. You’re doing it because you have no direction wherever you’re going. If you have no idea what you want the story of your life to be like, you can’t direct everything and neither can you update it. What I at least want them to say about who I am as a person, and the top things that I focused on that I progressed in my lifetime, if I can’t end human trafficking by God, we’ll have to help save one. I could have been the one. Everyone matters. If my whole life worked and nothing but saved one, it was still worth it.

What’s your story? What did they say? It sounds creepy, but pretend you’re at your funeral and you get to have a sneak peek at what everybody says, how did they describe you? What did you do? How will they remember you? What was your legacy? From there, turn that into the next step of action. I do teach this now. Before you start a business, before you go pick houses, whatever they are, write that and then make sure. They’ll be surprised at what comes out of you. You have fifteen minutes to do it. That’s it. Don’t overcomplicate it. Don’t get four days. Just write it, done. From there, you’re going to see those recurring themes you want to be known for that you can take and integrate into your business and into your value.

I got so annoyed that there was nowhere I could learn how to take my values and incorporate them in there. Conscious Capitalism was the only book I could find. Everybody tells me I have to be a nonprofit, but I want to be a force for good business. How do I do this? I got annoyed, which is normally my process that I said, “Screw it, I’ll start my own.” That’s why I started G-FORCE Mastermind. It’s not this annoying thing. There’s no upsell. It’s not like a pitch-athon. There’s nothing shady. All we do is work with each other to scale our income for our impact. We want to scale your impact if you haven’t thought of these things. It’s everything I wish I had known for being a force for good for-profit organization. It’s amazing. We meet every week and I started it in March 2020, not knowing COVID-19 was going to be what it is. Every single member has either doubled or quadrupled their income because instead of getting lost in the story and the sadness of COVID-19, I started three businesses in 2020. All of them are crushing. I started investing in stocks. I’ve never done that before. I first had a 700% return on my stock portfolio and I’m learning it.

It was some cool things that I’m learning by sharing in the right community, in the right village of mindset. I do have a non-profit and we have incredible things that we focus on in 2021. They’re all hand up though. This 2021, we’re funding rescue operations for ending sex trafficking for people who are being trafficked. We’re funding rescue sting operations. We’re funding Entrepreneurship 101, helping people in developing nations create their own businesses. The last one is disaster relief because these people lost everything and we want to help them rebuild even stronger. Those are probably our three big ones. If you guys want to get involved, those are Aerial Global Community. We do it through GFORCEMastermind.com as well.

Britnie, this has been awesome. Kudos to you. I love what you’re doing and your story, it has inspired me. It’s one of those where you go, “We all can do a little bit more.” Some of us can do a lot more. Wherever we are, we need to figure out where that path is. I love how you’re leaning in to the gifts you’ve been given, but also take advantage of the opportunities that are there, and you’re going all-in on it. Thank you for the good you’re doing. There are a lot of things we align up on. This has been a joy. Thank you for spending time with us. 

You are welcome. If I could leave you with one thing, that’s the best advice that my mentor ever gave me when I was self-sabotaging as I first started making money and I felt bad. I don’t deserve it or I should give it all away. He said, “Britnie, don’t give away all of your seed. You’ve got to plant it and grow it. It is your responsibility to be able to provide for more than just yourself.” I want all of you reading to know, you have way too much access. You’re one Google away from figuring out the secrets of the wealthy to not start putting the pieces together. If it’s not just a rainy day for you, it could be your family. It could be an entire nation that gets wiped out. It could be COVID-19. If you’re called to help people, it doesn’t mean you have to destroy your whole life to be able to do it. If you walk in that abundance, you can do it with ease. I challenge you all to start learning more, applying yourself more, focusing more, watching a little less TV.

With that, it has been another episode. This is awesome. I love bringing you amazing people like Britnie. You can follow along with her on social, connect up with everything she’s dealing with G-FORCE, all that stuff. I would ask you to leave some comments. Make sure you like and subscribe so that we can continue to make a collective impact. We’re always trying to learn and grow together. This has been a great example of that. Thank you for tuning in and we’ll catch you on the next episode.

Important Links: 

• Conversations With Covey
• Apple Podcasts – The Brian Covey Show
• Aerial Development
• Rich Dad Poor Dad
• Think and Grow Rich
• Conscious Capitalism
• Aerial Global Community
• GFORCEMastermind.com
• https://BritnieTurner.com/about/
• http://www.Instagram.com/britnieturner
• https://www.LinkedIn.com/in/britnieturner/
• http://www.Twitter.com/britnieturner
• https://www.Facebook.com/BritnieTurner/
• https://www.YouTube.com/britnieturner

About Britnie Turner

Founded Aerial in 2009 at the age of 21 with the mission of elevating people and places. Britnie has since formed multiple companies under the Aerial brand, all accelerating the mission by empowering people, sustaining the planet and utilizing capitalism as a force for good.

Through the success of her companies, Britnie is resetting the standard of what is possible for women and young people across the globe and has won several national and international awards for speed of growth, innovation and trajectory.

Aerial’s commitment to a triple bottom line approach is proving that conscious business is not only viable but the way of the future.