

How a Regular Guy Built a Real Estate Empire: Finance Cowboy
Jaren — better known online as Finance Cowboy — didn’t grow up around money, investing, or real estate. In fact, after college he was buried in over $110,000 of debt, working a W2 sales job, and wondering how to get ahead.
In this episode, he shares how he and his wife tackled that debt aggressively, then turned their financial margin into massive momentum. Within a single year, Jaren scaled from 2 rental properties to 22 doors using creative financing, the BRRRR strategy, and the power of his stable W2 income.
We dive deep into:
✅ How he used private money and HELOCs to scale
✅ Why W2 employees have a HUGE lending advantage
✅ The exact playbook he used to go from zero to financial freedom
✅ What most “investor-friendly agents” still get wrong
✅ The truth about building wealth without quitting your job
Whether you’re just getting started or stuck trying to scale, Jaren brings real talk and a repeatable roadmap for building wealth the Finance Cowboy way.
00:00 Intro
01:36 Personal Story
04:17 Learning from Others
07:17 The Role of Debt
09:14 Balancing a Job and Real Estate Investing
12:32 Finding and Managing Your First Deal
15:53 The Importance of Investor-Friendly Agents
19:24 Managing Contractors and Projects
25:30 Collaborative Real Estate Ventures
26:00 Challenges in Finding Reliable Team Members
27:19 The Importance of Analyzing Deals
29:06 Scaling with the BRRRR Method
32:00 Creative Financing Strategies
34:33 Finding and Securing Deals
41:40 Building an Online Presence
46:10 Lessons and Advice for New Investors