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Today we have an exceptional episode lined up featuring 
Hannah Hammond. Hannah is not only a real estate entrepreneur but also a seasoned private lender. Her journey from financial hardship to financial freedom is nothing short of inspiring. Starting from a young age, Hannah’s motivation was fueled by the financial difficulties her family faced. This drive led her to read “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” at just 13, sparking her interest in real estate investing and entrepreneurship.
Hannah’s path to multimillionaire status highlights not just financial success, but also deep personal development and self-awareness. Throughout her journey, she discovered that true wealth encompasses more than just monetary gains — it’s all about freedom, fulfilling relationships, and personal growth. One pivotal transformation in her life has been the incorporation of meditation, particularly Transcendental Meditation, which she describes as a game-changer for managing negative thought patterns and fostering a mindset oriented towards abundance and love.
In this episode, Hannah and our host Dave Wolcott delve into the profound aspects of wealth that go beyond the balance sheet. They discuss the importance of intention, self-reflection, and achieving clarity on personal goals and vision. We’ll also talk about the critical market insights Hannah has gained through her experience in real estate, including her current investment strategies amidst high interest rates and market uncertainties.
In This Episode
- Hannah’s early motivations and initial steps in real estate
- The significance of intention and personal growth in achieving true wealth
- Current market conditions and investment strategies
- Practical tips on meditation and maintaining work-life balance
Hannah, welcome to the show.
Thank you so much, I’m happy to be here.
Yeah, really awesome to have you on the show, Hannah. Appreciate your time and everything and I think your story is one that’s really going to inspire the audience and get them to think a little bit differently, right? About how they’re approaching their wealth, how they’re approaching investing. So definitely want to start with your origin story and tell us how you got into real estate and, you know, how did things really begin for you?
Yeah, so my story began with a lot of pain and a lot of suffering in my family because of the lack of money. Later on, I realized there are many more levels to suffering than financial, but as a little girl, I thought it was all financial-related because the topic of conversation and arguing on a regular basis was due to the lack of money. So from six or seven years old, I was on a quest to make money.
I was just very entrepreneurial, and I would try to find little ways to create things and sell them to my neighbors. I started babysitting really young and began researching and reading books as early as possible. That ultimately led me to Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. When I was 13, I read that book, and that’s what made me decide I was going to be a real estate investor and an entrepreneur.
But, you know, people called me the McFlurry millionaire because my dad wouldn’t buy me a McFlurry when I was six or seven years old. I told him I was going to be a millionaire so I could buy myself a McFlurry. I’m still a food lover today. That was the first memory I had of saying I was going to be wealthy, and of course, that’s a pretty young age to have this dire desire for wealth and freedom. But that was it.
I wanted freedom so bad, and I knew that nobody was coming to save me. Nobody was going to really protect me, provide for me, or support me. I couldn’t have the life that I wanted to live or be happy if I didn’t have money. That became an obsession of mine for many, many years until I eventually became a multimillionaire.
And I still was unfulfilled to many degrees, although the fight or flight was kind of out of my system. I had my needs met, and that feeling was amazing—having security, properties, and passive income. But at that point, I started looking deeper, doing personal development, meditation, and those types of more spiritual practices. I began finding peace within myself.
Because, you know, money is a piece of the puzzle that you absolutely need. It’s amazing to have, and there’s so much impact you can make when you have an abundance of it. It allows you the freedom to do the other things in your life that truly will make you your most actualized self and realize the fullest potential of who you can be as a human.
It’s really hard to do that if you don’t have money or freedom, right? Because if you make a lot of money but you’re a slave to it, you still can’t do that. So there’s a kind of yin and yang there.
Yeah, well said. So how would you define wealth?
I would define wealth as the freedom, ability, and capability to do whatever you want to do in your life. And that’s from a financial perspective, from a relational perspective, from a hobby, a purpose, and fulfillment. There are so many deeper layers to what wealth truly means to me because I’ve been in situations where I didn’t care what kind of money was in the bank account or what kind of wires were coming in because I was so miserable.
I didn’t enjoy what I was doing. I was working 80-plus hours a week, just chasing the next deal, the next closing, or the next hit of dopamine, or chasing approval, love, or something, right? And that wasn’t wealth to me, regardless of how much money was in the account or coming in.
So, when I truly became wealthy, it was when I was able to shift my perspective, intention, and motivation from a place of fear, scarcity, and lack—trying to obtain love—to a place of abundance, connection, love, and gratitude. When I was able to make that shift in my intention and motive behind everything I was doing, that’s when true wealth started pouring in. More money started pouring in, but not because I was seeking it, forcing it, or needing it so much for the wrong purposes.
It wasn’t just wealth in the money sense, but wealth in my life—amazing, abundant relationships, abundant health, abundant freedom, abundant joy and happiness. Everything kind of shifted.
Yeah, I really love that and I think too often people just are so caught up in this other concept of really being rich, right? Which it’s more of the, you know, the tangible things, right? Whether it’s the car or the house or the vacations or those kinds of things, people think that that’s really wealth. But I think you’ve really well articulated, right?
What is true wealth? What does that really mean? And, you know, the concept of freedom, is really fascinating, right? Because that’s what is really underlying all of this, I think, for all of us that we’re looking for, right? To be able to have freedom, you know, not only with money, but right, freedom with our time, right? So we can, you know, take charge of the day the way we want the day to unfold.
We want freedom of purpose to kind of wake up every day and be excited about the work we’re doing or the relationships to be able to choose you know, who you want to work with, who you want to spend time with. And, you know, it’s really great that you’re able to share that story with the audience, because I think we’re surrounded in this social media world and, you know, this whole world where it’s all of this, it’s all in your face, right? What wealth maybe should be or appears to be. But you see people who’ve gone through this amazing transformational journey as you have, and really understand it’s something totally different.
Yeah, I couldn’t agree more. You know, from the financial perspective, I think wealth is also tying it back to freedom. It’s money that just continues to flow to you without you having to trade your time for it.
Once you get to a point where, and that could be a different amount for everybody, it’s not like, “Oh, you have a certain amount of money and that makes you wealthy.” I don’t think that at all. But just being able to know that your lifestyle, your bills, and your hobbies can all be provided for through assets that continue to fill your bank account with money, without you having to trade your time for it.
You can count on that reproduction of cash flow for generations to come, you know, through rental properties or whatever your means for cash flow is. I think that’s, in the financial world, really what wealth is. Because a lot of people can sell a company and have a big exit or make a large sum of money, but they could lose it immediately. That’s not true, sustainable wealth.
It might be like being rich for a minute, but not truly wealthy.
Yeah, so Hannah, how did at an early age, you figure out how to become a successful investor? Because some people may have actually, you know, received a lot of money, they’ve made a lot of money, right? But then maybe they invested in stock market or crypto or something, and then lost it really quickly. But you were able to quickly understand that investing in assets, investing for cash flow, was really the way to go. So how did you figure that out so early?
I knew that I had to make money before I could really invest in any assets. So, I chose sales—real estate sales. I wanted to be a real estate investor, so I just happened to decide to make real estate my business as well for making money. I really enjoyed the relationship aspect of it, and it just seemed simple to me. It’s not that difficult.
You buy something at a lower price, you add value to it, and then you sell it at a higher price. Or, you know, me as an agent, I would just represent clients who were looking to do that, helping them find properties and getting my commission by doing so.
At 18 years old, I had my first sale, which was a $1.1 million sale. That was 10 years ago, and it resulted in a $36,000 check. I took that check, put some reserves in my bank account, and used the rest of the money to find a property that needed to be renovated. I bought it, renovated it, and added value to it.
I needed a house to live in at the time because my parents were splitting up, and I had just turned 18. So, I lived in it while I renovated it and saw the appreciation in it. Then, I was able to buy another one and rent that out. That’s when my cash flow started. I just lived really cheap for a long time. I knew how to stretch a dollar.
Every dollar I made, I reinvested back into real estate. I didn’t splurge on myself, I didn’t go out, and I never celebrated. I’m not saying not to do that, but I had a lot of issues mentally. I was a very depressed person during that time. Still, I was able to live below my means and know that delayed gratification was the way I was going to build my wealth quicker so I could have freedom sooner.
That was the price I was willing to pay. But I made lots of mistakes. I didn’t have a mentor. I had books, and books were always my mentor. I’m so grateful to have had books, and the internet was just becoming a thing. There weren’t podcasts like there are today, or YouTube. YouTube was around, but there wasn’t the type of information that exists today.
So, I just lived by Rich Dad Poor Dad. I read that book and just went for it. I made a lot of mistakes. I lost a lot of money. I was terrified. I remember buying that first condo. I was so scared. I was like, “What if the market crashes?” It had been going up for five or six years since it crashed, and I was so scared. But looking back, you learn all of the greatest lessons from just taking action.
I always had the mentality that I either win or I learn. What’s the worst thing that can happen? If I lose it all, guess what? I’m right back where I started. Who cares? I rebuild, and then I have lessons. I have knowledge, and I have more confidence moving forward because I know what not to do the next time around.
I think about that now, even as I scale companies and take bigger risks. I still have that fear. It’s not about not having fear; it’s about courage, which is taking action in spite of fear. So, I try to mitigate my risk. I try not to over-leverage myself. I make really smart, calculated decisions that aren’t foolish or involve burning the ship like some people’s approaches. But still, I know the difference between fear and risk, and being able to take those calculated risks.
If the worst that happens is I completely screw up or the market completely collapses or whatever, then okay, I have a lot of knowledge, skills, and experience. I’ll rebuild. Nobody could take that from you when you have the skills.
Yeah, that’s such a powerful mindset to really have to, you know, to win or learn. That’s such a great takeaway, I think, for people out there because we always feel like, yeah, if we lose something, we’re really losing something, but it’s actually the learning experience that’s even more powerful. And, you know, most investors all the way up to Warren Buffett will tell you that they became great investors by having losses along the way.
That’s what actually makes you sharper. You know, if you’ve never been through economic downturns, you can’t expect to continue to, you know, move ahead. So these, these interesting things that we have in the past that, that are really challenging times, actually that’s the raw material for your growth.
Really cool. So I was surprised that you didn’t have a mentor because, you know, especially at a young age, you know, someone, you know, whether it’s someone in your family or you’re connected to someone kind of gives you that, you know, encouragement to head down a path. But it’s amazing that you had the foresight. You took the purple pill like so many of us did and then really tried to figure it out, right?
Take action and I, you know, I did the same when Robert’s books came out. I mean, they were so empowering because, you know, really, it was really a massive paradigm shift that he made, you know, versus the typical financial planning model, right? Of this accumulation theory where you just put all of your eggs in the stock market. And then you hope that at age 65, right, you’re going to have a nest egg, and then take out 4 % a year, and hope you don’t outlive your money, right, which is just, and that’s still the advice today, right? But this model is just so different when you can buy, you know, tangible assets that are cash flowing, they have tax efficiency to them, they have equity growth to them. You know, that’s how you can actually create legacy growth.
Right, yeah. Real estate is incredible, I mean, with the tax benefits alone and the value add component and the fact that the demand is never going to disappear for housing. think it’s just such an incredible investment, whether it’s, you know, and I invest in other things too, but I will always invest in real estate because it removes all my income taxes. Like how could you not invest in real estate?
You know, the tax benefits are low and are insane. The government wants you to own real estate. yeah, I think it’s amazing and then also I think with all the institutions that are buying up so much real estate in, they’re going to control more of the pricing and have a lot of that inventory. Real estate is going to always be valuable and the government’s always going to print money, which means the assets are always going to go up in value.
So it’s great, but I think it’s a great compliment with lending. I have the debt fund and I discovered private money lending as a great compliment to real estate investing because it’s more liquid, shorter term loans, it’s collateralized by real estate, it’s pretty much guaranteed set returns, it’s very low risk and it’s a great compliment. then the cashflow from that, I put back into real estate and in the more illiquid longer term holds and wealth building, you know, I think the real estate’s really more of like the wealth building side. But yeah, it’s a really, really fun game if you can just learn how to enjoy it and learn how to play it. It’s so fun. I absolutely love it.
Yeah, are you focusing on any specific asset classes, markets that you like in particular?
So right now I like small bay industrial is kind of where I’ve been focusing a lot of time on, but in all honesty, I haven’t been doing a lot of real estate buying over the past two, three years since the rates went up and the market’s been a little bit difficult. I’ve done more of hard money lending, private money lending is where I’ve been deploying more of my capital and a lot of crypto investing and things like that.
But I like the small bay industrial. think especially localized in my market prices are still pretty high. know, interest rates are still high. Prices are still high, so there’s definitely still deals out there. It’s just harder to find them and I’ve been doing so well in the lending side of things. I’ve just kind of been waiting, you know, waiting to see what happens in the coming year with the commercial market, we’ll see.
It’s kind of hard, some people think we’re in big trouble in the commercial space. Some people think we’ve already bottomed out and we’re on our way back up. So it’ll be interesting to kind of see where we land.
Yeah, for us, we’re typically in multifamily type assets, self storage, mobile home parks and those types of things. But we haven’t done one of those, I think in 18 months now just because of the interest rates and hopefully this year, we will start to kind of get out of this market, right?
As things, I think it’s all about buyer and seller expectations and where values are, so it’ll be kind of interesting on the buy side. I think there will be some really good opportunities presenting themselves, but we’re not gonna be the first ones to really jump in, right? We’re gonna let the market kind of start to be on that upswing a little bit before we jump in so we can really be conservative with that.
Yeah, I know it’s so interesting because it’s like, I don’t see how we can get more expensive, you know? So people are like, “Yeah, well we hit the bottom and we’re about to start going up again.” I’m like, “it is so unaffordable out there. I don’t know how we can have hit the bottom because I don’t feel like this is a bottom at all.” Yeah, rates have gone up a little bit.
You know, there was some price adjustability, but nothing major like the numbers in my opinion on most things that you’re going to find on the market cap rates are low like here in Arizona, I mean It’s you know, I have clients from out of state that want a seven and a half to nine cap I’m like it’s never happening unless it’s a burnt down building, you know, so um It’s a it’s a little bit It’s hard when you have to put down 40% or whatever just to break even it’s hard to justify those numbers but yeah, and then just still with the lack of supply, it’s just a little difficult. And I don’t know other markets.
I’m just speaking to Phoenix. I know every market can be so different, but I’m hoping that we see much more of a price reduction than we have seen in the past year.
Yeah, I mean, our underwriting has basically taken a lot of deals where sponsors will say that, hey, we’re buying this on a discount and it looks great, but it’s still way overpriced in our book, right? And then in terms of like the rent projections that they’re forecasting to your point, I don’t think the market can actually some of these local markets. mean, they’ve already had so many increases, right?
And I think people are suffering out there, the renters, right? It’s like something’s got to give. Yeah, any other asset classes outside of your private lending that you like or you’re investing in?
Yeah, I agree.
Yeah, I mean, I like storage, I like mobile home parks, I love apartment complexes, multifamily. I honestly I like pretty much every asset class where there’s opportunity and that’s kind of where I’ve been in my commercial brokerage to I’m you know, unbiased to asset class, I represent clients for all asset classes, I’ve done every everything literally. So I just like things that where there’s opportunity, there’s cash flow.
I know people that do really well in retail, because a lot of people don’t really look at retail, because they worry about Amazon or things like that. But there’s some really good opportunity in the retail centers, like the retail kind of strip malls that need value ads and lifts, they have the like Amazon can’t replace getting your nails done, you know, or the barber shop or the convenience stores like those types of things.
I feel like are always pretty safe and are pretty much going to be in good demand if you have a good like I go to my nail person every two weeks whether I need it or not I’m over there and I’m always going to need an in-person building for that and I mean I guess there could be a world where that gets delivered to your house but I think those things are pretty safe so I like retail as well.
And yeah, the flex space is good. But anything where the numbers make sense, I think it’s a good asset class to be able to pivot to, and the market’s always shifting. Office has been kind of struggling and hurting. I do well in medical office, though. I do like medical office. So I think there’s just truly opportunity in all asset classes.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, for sure. It’s interesting, pretty soon we’ll probably have Tesla robots doing your nails, among many other things in the future.
I know as I was saying that I was like yeah you know what maybe it’s sooner than we think.
Yeah, I think everything is being, you know, innovation across the board with AI. So it’s pretty fascinating, but good points, you know, and real estate is so local, right? We all know that, right? Different markets, so I think there’s different opportunities even in, you know, tier two, tier three type markets, right? Where there’s nice niches and the riches are in the niches, right? If you can find those deals, but at the moment it’s harder to find those deals, right?
Yeah, and I have a couple of big real estate guy buddies out here of mine that they just specialize in light industrial, like single tenant buildings, you know, warehouse buildings with storage yards and they crush it. You know, they have a few hundred million dollars worth of real estate in their portfolio and they just do that one little thing because the hedge funds aren’t on them and it’s lower competition and they’ve just found a nice niche there. So I think just whatever you’re passionate about and you can build a good reputation in and build a good network in, then it could be a great opportunity.
Yeah. Hannah, what have been some of your most pivotal learning lessons as an investor?
I would say to make sure you account for the risk. You know, like for instance, with the adjustable rate mortgages in the commercial space where these properties are hitting their rate caps and things like that. I think everybody was underwriting deals on double digit rent growth and 90 to 95 % occupancy and no account for the interest rate doubling.
Like these are things that can happen in markets and this is where people really get their hands tied. And so just being conservative on those projections, I think, even if the market currently is seeing a double digit rent growth, not to just project that for the next seven years in your underwriting. that paired also with take action. Like don’t be so analysis paralysis or so afraid or so uncertain that you don’t have a crystal ball, that you just don’t do anything.
And I think that’s how you learn and you build the experience and the confidence and so I think more than anything, it’s just take action, don’t procrastinate. Like the faster, most of the really big players out there, they’re very, very fast decision makers. And if you can just make quick decisions, you can win strictly by making quick decisions. You know, if it takes you a day to make a decision that your competition is taking them a week, you’re gonna win, and so that’s like my tagline for HB Capital is capital at the speed of opportunity because opportunity moves fast. It comes quick and it goes quick. And if you’re not seizing that opportunity, then you’re always gonna be left behind in the dust.
Yeah, sage advice and I think one of the ways investors can really maximize on that is actually just getting crystal clear on what your strike zone is and looking at the asset types, the markets, the operators, really understanding what it is you’re looking for in investment. So that way you can filter out the things that don’t come, you know, come across your radar that don’t fit. And then when the ones that do, you can make that quick decision, right? to be able to act.
Exactly, that’s awesome advice.
Yeah, no, I think that’s really powerful to have that and understanding that the entire market, mean, it’s crazy, right? The entire kind of multifamily market, probably over 90, 95% of the loans that were being done in the past five years were all, the underwriting was unadjustable, you know, adjustable rates, right?
So that’s where I think the industry is really challenged and even in office space as well as multifamily, hopefully we’re gonna get out of it and there’s a lot of really cool innovation going on with different debt funds, pre-equity, bigger players coming in and doing things. So hopefully that’s gonna help kind of, you know, soften the blow a little bit.
Yeah, I agree and it’s unfortunate that people have to lose for others to win sometimes. I always think that there’s always a win-win situation in every deal that we do. But it’s tough. There are market cycles. It’s just the way of the game and there’s always going to be market cycles for as long as history goes.
Unfortunately, there’s always going to be people that get caught up in that, either driven by fear or greed or a little too much optimism or a little too little, not enough risk mitigation or properly calculating risk. But at the end of the day, so many of the big players today lost everything in 2008 and they are, you know, built back and built bigger than ever. And so that’s the, that’s what I kind of talk about of like, just take action because if we are always just so afraid of what could happen because anything could happen.
I mean, the whole world could just be over tomorrow. Like we live in the middle of a, you know, expand like we live on a space rock in the middle of expanding nothingness. And we’re just like, okay. Let’s just talk about real estate. But like, you know, that’s, we don’t know what’s gonna ever happen in the world.
It’s crazy out there. even if you lose it all, you’re gonna be fine. Like you’re gonna come back from it and as long as you’re a good person and you’re doing everything that you can to fulfill your promises and to make smart decisions, if something crazy happens that’s completely out of your control, it’s gonna suck and it’s gonna be difficult and it’s gonna be a long, slow, hard time, but you’re gonna come back from it and you’re probably gonna come back from it 10 fold.
Yeah, Hannah, you’ve really come so far on your journey in such a short amount of time. Are there any personal productivity habits, routines or hacks that are really core to you?
Yeah, I’ve been on the transformation over the past year and it’s been to prioritize my health, my mental health and my physical health above all else. And I, you know, I worked really hard. I worked a lot of hours. I worked more by the time I was 25 than probably most people had by the time they were 50 just from, you know, all I did was work. Um, but I wasted a lot of, I feel like I could have gotten a lot farther and would have been a lot happier in the journey if I would have prioritized my health first.
And I mean, I can’t say that because hindsight’s always 20-20 and I wouldn’t be here today if I didn’t do what I did. But now it’s like, zoom out and lift your head up and like really get honest with yourself and ask yourself the questions of like, what are your intentions behind what you’re doing? Why are your goals what they are? Why do you do what you do? Is it just for the next hit, the next high, the next deal, the next paycheck, the next validation? Or is it truly coming from a plate? Are you truly happy deep down? you take it all away, you truly happy when you’re just by yourself with yourself with no stimulation? And my answer was no.
Now, you know, the first four hours of my day, I don’t look at my phone. I don’t answer calls. I don’t do meetings. Like it’s me time. And that’s a non-negotiable. unless it’s a crazy thing, fire, but wake up, go to the gym, hydrate right away. I journal. I walk, like I walk to the gym. I walk 20,000 steps a day. I take walks after I eat. make set time to eat and not eat while I’m working anymore and I meditate every single day, twice a day.
And I know for all entrepreneurs, that’s like a death sentence to them, but usually what you run from is what you need the most. And so I really try to like lean into the things that I don’t want to do. and meditating has changed my life. I be learning to be an observer of my thoughts and learning to slow down and actually be a witness of my mind and my body just be all consumed and just learning that I am not my thoughts and I am not my body.
They’re just things that, know, I’m in this, this body is the suit I’ve been given and these thoughts are what my lizard brain is trained to do for survival, but I don’t need to be all consumed in them. So I think just having that practice of self care and self development and not just like, I was so obsessed with business and making money and doing the next thing. And it was like such a frantic energy and it wasn’t fun because it was just so stressful all the time and it was so much pressure on myself and now it’s just fun. can just enjoy it and I’m not like tied, my worth isn’t tied to my goals and I’m not, you I like setting goals and I like building.
I like growing but it’s coming from just a place of fun and creation and my health is always first and so at the end of the day when I go to bed and in the morning when I wake up, like I don’t wake up with that pit in my stomach of like, here we go again. Like I wake up just happy and excited for the day. And every day is a day that I live, that I enjoy. I don’t like live for my weekends.
I love my Sunday where no one bothers me and I do, you all my stuff. definitely love that. But every day is just a day of your life and all you have is the present now. And I think everybody deserves to be able to live a life that they truly love. Like I don’t think, I think we’re we’re taught no pain, no gain. And I think that mentality really robs a lot of people for a long time because they think that pain means that they’re doing the right thing. And I’m trying to not live that way anymore and really enjoy the creation of everything every day.
Yeah, such a powerful message. you know, I feel for people because, I mean, I was the same, right? I mean, it was the grind, it was the hustle, and, you know, that’s what you do, right? I think all of us can relate to that. And so many of the listeners are probably in that position now.
But you have to force yourself to take that time to get away and really do some deep thinking and get clarity on your vision get clarity on your goals and that connection to yourself as you’re saying is just so important because before you know it, another decade is gonna go by. And if you’re in a job that you’re not happy with, you’re in a toxic relationship, right? That’s becoming an energy vampire to you. You know, it’s really suffocating, right? And so it’s great that you’re able to share that because to me, that’s really what wealth is really all about, right?
You want healthy relationships, you want healthy health, right? Your physical capital as well, your spiritual capital, your emotional capital, right? All of these things really connect and being able to have them right from a holistic perspective, you know, that’s really true fulfillment. And I think that’s, that is the journey of self-actualization, right?
That we’re looking to. meditation as well, like I’ve got to say, like if you took away like everything from me, like I could only do like three things. One of them would be meditation. If I was incapacitated, I couldn’t use my limbs anymore. mean, it would be like meditation, breath work is so powerful and it does give you that opportunity to really, yes, just calm down, really think about your thoughts, think about your thinking, be intentional about what you’re doing and then ultimately that it’s this lifestyle design, right? You’re creating this ultimate life that you want to live and it’s a life of abundance.
Wealth isn’t about the tangible things; it’s about creating a life of fulfillment and purpose.
Yeah, I think meditation is the most undervalued tool that we have in humanity and it’s so crazy to see the transformation and I think like with meditation and I do I practice a couple different meditations, but one of them is TM transcendental meditation where you repeat a mantra and you you can actually like transcend to another state of consciousness where you’re not awake, you’re not asleep and you’re not dreaming you’re transcending and it’s an incredible feeling.
I can’t even explain it but it’s like when you can start to, it’s like the closest thing to brain control that you could possibly get to in my opinion. Cause you’re never going to be able to control your lizard brain. Like it’s always going to have that, that those thoughts that it’ll start, it’ll always start leaning to the negative fear type thoughts. But the nice thing about the brain is if you say, think of an elephant, you think of an elephant, right?
And so two seconds later, you might go back to thinking like, “My gosh, I’m going to lose on this deal or I’m a failure,” this person, whatever, but then you can observe, “oh, okay, I’m not thinking of an elephant anymore.” So I’m going to think of an elephant and then your brain is going to think of an elephant again, so as you practice training your brain to go to where you’re guiding it to go, it’ll be, you’ll be quicker to observe when your thoughts become not what you want them to be, and you’ll be quicker to be able to change them to what you do want them to be.
And so it’s as close to brain control as you can possibly get. And when you’re not tied to the thought of what you don’t want to be thinking, you’re not identifying with it. You’re like, “Okay, that’s not me. That’s not my soul thinking that. That’s not my true belief. That’s just my lizard brain, you know, wanting to survive right now.”
Then you don’t have that emotional reaction to it and because the thought comes first and then if you identify with that thought, then it becomes an emotion inside of you, and then that emotion inside of you will create an action that you take. And so if you can stop it at the thought and you can change the thoughts and think, you know, it’s not about all I think is positive things or all I think is this. It’s just about being able to recognize when the brain is doing its own thing and you before you get all consumed and absorbed in it, you guide it to the direction that you want of love and abundance and creation and all those things.
So I think it’s absolutely amazing. It like I think everybody needs to do it and practice it because it is a practice and it’s the most difficult practice that you will ever practice in your whole life. The tactical stuff is easy. Like how to underwrite a deal is easy. How to buy a property is easy. Like the the how to’s, that’s easy. Like that information is cheap.
What’s difficult is mastering what’s in here. Like mastering your mind. If you can’t master your mind, you will be in a prison forever. And so many people are in a prison and you see them. You know, I see them. I see people and I’ve been, cause I’ve been there. I’ve been in a prison for so long and it wasn’t until recently that I started to feel free, but yeah, I think it’s wild and I never knew those tools.
I would never could have helped myself because I didn’t know, but it had to get to a point where I’m like, okay, this isn’t it. Like I need to figure something else out because I, this hole, these holes inside of me are, are big and I need to figure out how to not feel this underlying anxiety all the time. And yeah, it was absolutely life-changing.
So I recommend if anybody gets anything from this is like dive in, read the book, you know, transcend or the myth of normal or how to live a what is it enlightened and epic life by Tom Ferry or Mike Mike Ferry son or something. Yes, all these these books that will at least start to guide you down that path and just teach you like, okay, here’s some things I can do to start to get this crazy mind under control.
Yeah, no, you’re so spot on with that really because your beliefs become your thoughts, your thoughts become your emotions and your emotions become your actions. Right? And so that can be either coming from the primal side of your brain, which is fight or flight, always looking for danger. Right? Or it can be from the powerful state when you’re innovative, when you’re in flow.
Right? When you’re creating, when you’re in abundance, you know, all these things. So we really do have the power to change that. And what I’ve found over the years of, mean, I think I’ve been meditating for easily 15 years, but the neuroplasticity in your mind, can actually, and apparently they’ve actually shown studies where they’ve done MRIs on brains and like the brains have literally evolved and become like stronger and healthier because of with people who meditate.
So you can, you know, make your brain stronger doing this, but, you know, it’s really such a powerful message, Hannah, you know, to share that with the audience, because if you guys can do that one thing, just get meditation incorporated into your daily routine, it will literally change your life. Like a hundred percent.
Yep, and just that I think the biggest thing is self-awareness, and I think so many of us operate disconnected and we’re being we’re being run by this operating system that we don’t even have control over and we’re just disconnected. And, know, I would do things like all my addictions that I’ve struggled with food being the number one thing is just like, you know, I want to procrastinate or I’m stressed out or I’m sad or I’m happy or whatever emotions I’m feeling. It’s just like the brain wants to go do this and I’m not even present for the food.
You know, it’s like I’m eating a cookie and I’m sending emails and then I’m gonna look down and there’s no cookie. I’m like, “Who ate my cookie?” Well, it’s because I’m not even present or aware. And so just the meditation practice of slowing down and being present and being there like in what you’re doing. And if you’re eating a meal, like being there, like I almost meditate on the meal and the taste of it and the feel of it and like the process of it now.
Whereas before, I wasn’t even there for the meal. I was just putting food in my mouth and swallowing and my brain is thinking about work or deals or how I need to go to the gym or how I need to do this or why is my issue here? And so I think it’s just such an amazing practice to be able to feel that and be able to recognize the messages that your body is giving you.
Like I feel, I didn’t realize I was so tense for so many years. had a horrible chronic back pain. It’s actually Genius Network, Joe Polish. The first meeting I went to when I joined, they’re talking about the book, Healing Your Back Pain and how back pain is not actually from any injury. And I thought it was from my scoliosis and I read that book and started doing, you know, therapy and healing. And I don’t ever have back pain anymore unless I get super stressed out. And I noted, and now I’m like cognizant of my body and like, okay.
That’s because I’m holding my shoulders like this all the time when I’m stressed out and I’m super tense and tight and I’m not breathing and all these different things. And meditation has helped me start to actually feel my body and feel my heart starting to beat or like what does anxiety really feel like in the body? You know, or what is depression feel like or what does excitement feel like? And it’s really cool to actually start to like be here and actually be alive and not just be somewhere else in your thoughts all the time.
Yeah, no, that’s awesome and here’s a really nice stack for that as well, is if you meditate on a PEMF or grounding mat, it’s a really good stack on top of that.
I love it, yeah, eminent wellness. I don’t know, have you been there up in North Scottsdale? It’s great place, also, Joe told me about it, a friend owns it and they have a hyperbaric machine, their chamber, they have all the grounding mats, lasers. Like I think I’m really excited for the world because these wellness centers are starting to open up and all these technologies and it’s so important. And I think so many people, you the way society has built it is like you work 40 to 80 hours a week and you don’t have time for anything else.
And so I think it’s just such a flawed system and it’s so hard because you can’t truly take care of your health if you’re working that much and take care of your family and take care of your kids if you have kids and have friends and relationships and go to the gym every day and do the healing things and do the meditation and have an amazing business. Like it’s really hard to fit all that in if you’re just doing business, you know, nonstop.
Yeah, 100%, Hannah, if you could give just one piece of advice to the listeners about how they could accelerate their wealth trajectory, what would it be?
Do the things that you know you need to be doing every day that are gonna get you to where you wanna go, even when you’re not seeing the results. And those are the people that truly will be sustainable and successful. think, know, it’s just like me with going to the gym, right? It’s like you just want instant results, but if you just do, if you just show up to the gym every day and do the workout.
You’re going to get there, you know, if you just eat the right, you just one day at a time and not thinking just about where you want to be all the time, like living in the game of where you came from and not measuring up to the gap of where you want to be, I think is the best advice I could give for being, having sustainable success in any area in your life.
Yeah, perfect. Focus on the process, not the outcome. It’s not the size of your bank account, right? Yeah.
Right, yep, yeah, measure against where you came from and you probably come some way, in some way, or form, you know, as a human being, there’s things that you are better at now, mentally, physically, relationally, spiritually, than where you started and being proud of that success.
Focus on the process, not the outcome-success is showing up every day for the work that matters.
Yeah. Amazing. Hannah, can’t thank you enough for your time and your pearls of wisdom today. If the audience wants to reach out and learn more about you, connect with you, what’s the best place?
Yeah, Instagram is the best place at Hannah B Hammond and you can feel free to reach out to me directly, send me a message and I will respond and my links is in my bio to all my other channels and sites and businesses.
Yeah, we’ll make sure to put it in the show notes as well. Thanks again, really appreciate it.
Thanks, Dave.