In my twenties, I rented an apartment in a mixed-use building. The first floor was all retail space; the second floor was all apartments. One day, my landlord approached me, asking if I could use my bookkeeping skills to help an eyeglass business in the building. He knew the business was bringing in good money but couldn’t understand why it was struggling to make rent.
As I dug into the numbers, I saw the money coming in—but I couldn’t track where it was going. Vendors weren’t being paid. Employees weren’t being paid. It was a mess. One late night, as I sat in the back office compiling, entering, and calculating bills, there was a knock on the front glass door. It had to be close to midnight.
That knock taught me something I never expected. In the long line of people who weren’t getting paid was the owner’s drug dealer. Suddenly, everything made sense. Despite multiple stints in rehab, the owner had relapsed. Desperate, he offered to sell me the store. I turned it down, thinking I wasn’t qualified. It was a foolish decision.
Looking back, here’s what I missed:
I was already running the business. I hired optometrists to come in two to three times a week to provide vision exams. I outsourced the lens development and cutting to fit the frames we bought from wholesalers. We purchased popular designer frames for as little as $2.50 to $7.50 per pair and marked them up by 600%—still undercutting local competitors. Most importantly, we owned a name that had been in households in the community for years.
All we did was provide the roof under which a successful business could run. That was it. All we did was own the house. It was that simple.
Today, you don’t even need a physical storefront. Your roof can be made of pixels.
I’ve always admired people who can literally build their own homes—laying foundations, framing walls, constructing a livable space with their own two hands. I never thought I could do it either. And in that moment, I missed my first real opportunity to turn a failing family-owned eyewear business into something profitable.
Because I missed this critical lesson: Own the house.
The house doesn’t have to be a literal, physical space. It’s all in how you frame it. And it all depends on what you actually want.
Your possibilities are unlimited. The only thing that limits you is yourself.
You never thought you’d be a homeowner? Then own digital real estate. But don’t build on someone else’s platform and terms—because then it’s not truly yours.
Whatever you do—scratch that. Do whatever you can imagine. Just make sure you own the house. And the land you build it on.
You deserve to be a property owner.