Ever felt like life has you backed into a corner with no way out? Annie and Susan sit down with Dwan Bent-Twyford, a seasoned real estate investor and coach, who faced unimaginable challenges and emerged victorious, turning her lowest moments into a thriving real estate empire and a revitalized community. Dwan recalls her early days of knocking on doors with a baby on her hip and receiving numerous rejections, until finally making her first life-changing deal. Learn how Dwan cultivates a positive mindset and why she believes mentoring young people is essential for future success and community improvement.
Mindset and Long-term Impact
A positive mindset is crucial for overcoming challenges and achieving long-term success.
Keep moving forward even when feeling afraid. One more phone call could lead to the opportunity you’ve been waiting for.
Make a conscious effort to integrate healthy habits now so you don’t have to pay for it later.
Investing in the next generation through mentorship and education can create lasting positive change.
Embracing Fear and Positive Habits
[00:19:25] There's no time when I was like, oh, I got this. I'm not scared. I was scared all the time. But I was more scared of being stuck or going back in my life based on where I'd already brought myself to.
[00:38:08] To have a good life, you need to have good health, and people spend their health getting their wealth, and they spend their wealth buying back their health. So we're trying to stop that right now.
[00:42:29] "Your mindset is your best friend or it's your worst enemy. If you let it take over, you won't do anything because your mindset won't let you. And if you just retrain yourself... it took about two years to retrain my brain. Every time a negative thought came in, I replaced it with a positive thought."
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Connect with Dwan Bent-Twyford
Website - https://dwanderful.com
Instagram - @dwanderful
Podcast - The Most Dwanderful Real Estate Podcast Ever
Dwan Bent-Twyford [0:02 - 0:41]: I meet people all the time. They want to buy one of my programs. They want me to coach them. They go, well, I can only do business during these hours because I have kids. I said, no, no, no. That doesn't work with me. I had a baby, and I was living in another state, and I had no family, no backup, no husband, no daycare. I had nothing. You can't use excuses with me. I had every excuse in the world to go back home, tuck my tail, get on welfare, like, all the things. And I was just like, I'm not doing that. I want to be a mom, and I want to be a good mom, and I want to be a fun mom. And I'm not letting my big dream get smashed by the situation that's in front of me.
Annie [0:42 - 3:16]: Hey, there. I'm Annie Dickerson, and I wanted to welcome you to this episode of the Life and Money show brought to you by Goodag Investments. This is the show where we talk about everything from investing to financial freedom to parenting, traveling, creating a life by design, and everything in between. I'm here with my amazing co host, Susan Elliott. And today we are joined by an amazing guest, Duan Bent Twyford. Now, in this show, you're gonna hear her amazing story. From the moment she had her back up against the wall and everything was falling apart around her. She had an eight month old baby, and her partner had just left her. She had no money, she had no job. And how she went from that situation to where she is now, which is she has bought up all these buildings, and she has invested in an entire town. And along the way, you'll hear about her investment, not only in her real estate education, but also in her mindset. And one of my favorite moments of the show is the moment when she was just about to get this contract signed, and the person who was selling her the house asked her this question about a term in the contract that she didn't know the answer to. And you're going to love what she says and how she turned that situation into a huge, huge win. All right, well, before we dive in, just a quick note. In this show, Duan talks about her real estate investing journey and all the heavy lifting that she did along the way. Now, that's perfect for somebody like Duan, who wants to roll up her sleeves and do the heavy lifting. But if you're in the camp of wanting to have it all done for you and not having to do any of the work, that's where real estate syndications come in. Those are group investments where you get to put your money into real estate, get all the benefits of investing without having to do the work of being a landlord or a rehabber or a renovator or any of all that other stuff that can cause headaches along the way. So if that interests you, we invite you to invest alongside us. Whether you're an accredited investor or not, whether you have 100k, whether you have ten k to invest, we have space for you. Just go to goodaginvestments.com dot invest. All right. With that, let's dive into our conversation with Duan Ben Twyford. Duan, welcome to the show. How are you?
Dwan Bent-Twyford [3:16 - 3:21]: I'm good. Annie, it's super great to see you again. You look stunning, as always.
Annie [3:22 - 4:03]: Right back at you. Thrilled to have you here. Now, Duan, we're going to jump right in, because we know that there's always a moment in people's lives where their backs are up against the wall. And it's not the fact that their backs are up against the wall that makes the difference. The difference is what they choose to do in that moment. And you had a moment like this where your back was against the wall. It seemed like everything was falling apart. Nothing was going your way. But then you decided not to just take it. You decided to do something different, and that set you on a trajectory that changed the entire course of your life. So tell us about that moment. And then what you did.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [4:03 - 5:05]: It did. It did. Thank you. And Susan, it's nice to be talking with you today as well. You know, I always liked when I tell my story. You know, I was married, had a baby. I waited till I was 30. So I waited. So in my decade, 30 was kind of old. Like, my friends were having kids in their early twenties. I was like, no, we're gonna wait. So I waited till I was 30 to have a baby so I could be, like, the girl scout mom, the homeroom mom, the field trip mom. Like, I wanted to do, like, those things like my mom had done. So I'm married, I'm 30. I have eight month old baby. My husband and I have this really unexpected split. He takes the car, the money. I end up losing a house in foreclosure. Like, it's a really big, what we call, like, a come to Jesus moment. You're just like, I don't even know what to do now, and I don't have any job skills, and I've waited tables in my entire decade, of my twenties, so I don't have any actual, like, skill. I didn't go to college, so I was just really kind of left hanging.
Annie [5:05 - 5:14]: And how long did all this take, you know, with the foreclosure and the separation, how long was it, like, very quick, within the span of a couple weeks? Or did it?
Dwan Bent-Twyford [5:15 - 5:30]: When it was all said and done, it was probably between, like, him leaving and me doing my first deal. And all of it was probably about a two year process. So it wasn't, like, over in a minute. It was long. It was drawn out.
Susan [5:30 - 5:55]: It was just like, two years can be like. I mean, you just ticked through a list of, like, your partner left you. You had a new baby at home. You had a foreclosure. He took all your money. You didn't have any job to fall. Like, those are life things that we hope never happened to us in the entire span of our lives. So for them to happen, even in a two year span for you, is incredible. So what happened next?
Dwan Bent-Twyford [5:56 - 6:37]: Like, okay, I don't have a car and got repossessed at the end of the day, and I'm house and I'm husband. I had $75 in my purse. Like, for real, I had $75 in my purse. I remember thinking, like, I don't even know if I should be mad or angry or just stunned. Like, I mean, I just don't know. I feel like I got hit by a truck. It's like, I just. And it was a lot to process. So there was, like, anger, and then there was like, well, I'm just gonna put on my big girl pants and make something happen for myself. You know? There was that, and it was just, like, a lot of. And then there was my family. Like, oh, you could move back to Ohio, and you could live in your old bedroom that still has, like, my David Cassidy posters on the wall.
Susan [6:37 - 6:38]: Ooh, super appealing.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [6:38 - 7:04]: And Michael Jackson and the osmonds. And I was, like, moving back to my old room as a 30 year old woman with a child. I feel like I'm living in Florida. I feel like I'd rather just swim out in the ocean and pray that a shark would eat me. Like, that felt like a better option. And I love my parents. God, love my dad, but it's just like, mmm. God, I don't even know how far you can sink. That would have been the lowest level.
Annie [7:04 - 7:22]: Yeah. I mean, you had this dream of, like, being this mom in your thirties, the Girl scout cookies and all the, you know, volunteering. You were gonna be queen of the hill, and here you are, and you're like, okay, this is below how far even I thought I would fall.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [7:23 - 8:06]: It was actually, you know, looking, because I'm 65 now, so looking back over all the decades and things that have happened, and, you know, we have people that die, things happen. Illness, like, all that. But that was probably truly the lowest point in my entire life. Even since then, I haven't had a point quite as low as that, because it's like everything was shattered. Like, all the dreams, the hopes, the thing. Like, it was all just in one fell swoop. It was like, I don't even know what to do now, you know? And so I know you are too young to know this, but back in the eighties, we had to find jobs in the classified section of this thing called the newspaper.
Annie [8:06 - 8:07]: What's that?
Susan [8:08 - 8:09]: Tell us more.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [8:09 - 8:18]: God. I taught a class a couple years ago, and they say the front row, he goes, I've never touched a newspaper. And I just listen. I was like, dude, if I had one right now, I'd roll it up and smack you on the head.
Annie [8:18 - 8:20]: Smack you with it.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [8:20 - 9:54]: Why would you say that? So the Internet didn't come around till 98. So, like, there. That's how you found jobs. I was looking for jobs. So when I was started off, I just want to look for a job I could do from home. That was my first initial. I want to raise this child. I don't want to put her in daycare. I was smart enough to know at 30 that if I took a job for security, I probably have it till I was at least 50. And I don't know about you guys, but when I was 30, I thought 50. 60 was, like, old. Like, they have a foot already completely in the grave. They're barely alive now that I'm 65, I'm like, 80. Doesn't look that bad right now, you know, but in my mind, because I'm from that generation, like, when your grandparents were, like, 60, they were like, 100 years old, you know, just so you know how the people were. So I thought, gosh, I'll have this job time. 50, I'll be really old. I don't know. I don't know what to do. So I thought, I'm just gonna find something I can do at home by myself. And then I found some people that were investing, and they go, we buy houses and foreclosure, and we fix them up and we sell them. So I'm thinking I could do that. That sounds like fun, because I thought fixing up was decorating. Like, truly, from the depths of my soul, I thought, I'm gonna find this house. I'll decorate it. I'll make it really pretty inside, and I'll sell it and I'll make money. I'll be a decorator. I'm gonna be a decorator. And that sounded kind of bougie and, like, high profile. But decorating and rehabbing are not even this close to being the same thing.
Susan [9:54 - 9:56]: Not even this close.
Annie [9:56 - 9:57]: Yeah.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [10:00 - 10:09]: I found this house and I went door knocking with the baby hanging on my hip, like, to all the foreclosures. I had to drive to West Palm beach county courthouse.
Annie [10:09 - 10:18]: Do you think that helped? Was it like, they were like, oh, you poor thing, you have a baby. Let me consider your offer. Do you think that helped in any way?
Dwan Bent-Twyford [10:18 - 10:22]: No, I think more people talk to me because I had a baby.
Annie [10:22 - 10:23]: Okay.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [10:23 - 10:53]: But, I mean, I remember going knocking on doors for over three full weeks, like, all day, like a hundred, a couple. And people were just like, no, no, no. And that was just because I didn't know what to say. So I would just say, hey, I see you in foreclosure. I'd like to buy your house and decorate and fix it up. And people were like, no. So I think the baby made people be less rude to me because, like, there's a child and, you know, well.
Susan [10:53 - 11:55]: Let me just pause there for you, the listener, to think about that and, like, what three weeks of that might feel like for you. I mean, have you ever been in a situation where you feel like, I just can't go on with this, like, this just isn't working, but I'm going to try one more day. I'm going to try one more house, one more knock. And sometimes I think in this progress, this, this life that we are living, to be able to invest more, to be able to do better for our families, sometimes it boils down to those tiny moments. And in those moments where you, Duan, were knocking on the next door after two and a half weeks of doing this with your baby and two and a half weeks of not seeing any progress, nothing. That doesn't sound like a lot right now, but it's a lot in the moment. And I just want to give the listener a little bit more inspiration to knock on one more door. And maybe that, for you, is just like, ask your boss one more time to have a conversation about getting a raise or be able to work on your budget a little bit more, to be able to find money to save, to invest a little bit more this year, because those tiny moments are where we make the biggest progress.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [11:56 - 12:30]: And, you know, Susan, to take off that when I'm teaching, coaching people, I always tell them, listen, when you're, no matter what, I want you to always hear my words, and I want you to make one more phone call. So when they're like, just what you said, their bosses said no, or they're trying to start this, or they got a new business, and it's in sales, and everyone's saying no. I'm like, no, you can't quit. You just have to make one more phone call. Just have to make one more phone call. One more phone call. Because the next one could be the one, as in my case. I knocked on Barbara's door, and she's like, yeah, I'd love to work with you. So then I just sort of stood.
Annie [12:30 - 12:35]: There and I thought, this has never happened before. What do I do?
Dwan Bent-Twyford [12:37 - 13:35]: I had to confess. She asked me to go over and read the real estate contract. Like, these guys gave me a couple contracts, and I have, like, little x's where people sign it. I had never even actually read the Florida real estate contract. So this is my first one. It has me explain the whole contract. I'm like, oh, sure. So I've got my thing. I'm glad I'm reading, and I'm. I'm kind of winging it, and I'm on, like, the second page. It's. I just remember there was the word estoppel, and. And she goes, what does that mean? And I said there. And I said, look, you know what? I don't know. You're my first deal. I don't even. I've never read this contract. I honestly, I don't know. All I know is that you're in trouble. I'm in trouble. I can help you. I feel like if we work together, we'll split the deal. It'll be great for both of us. And she was like, okay. I thought, okay, there you go.
Annie [13:35 - 13:36]: Wow.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [13:36 - 13:42]: And I made 22 grand on that first deal, which was a life altering amount of money.
Annie [13:43 - 14:32]: Can I just say that in such admiration of what you did in that moment? Because there's so many people out there who, when pressed on what a word means, and they're trying to. I imagine in that moment, you were trying to present like you were the expert in this situation. You finally, after weeks and weeks of knocking on doors and being told no, you finally got a yes. And you're thinking, oh, God, please don't let me lose this one. I want to do everything I can to bring this home. This is the closest I've ever gotten. And then she asks you a question that you honestly don't know the answer to, and rather than trying to make up something and trying to bumble your way through it and say, well, I think it means this, and based on context clues, this is what it means. You just were straight with her.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [14:32 - 14:33]: I had to.
Annie [14:33 - 14:45]: And you were honest, and you talked to her human to human, and forge this connection in that moment, it sounds like. So then it carried that deal forward because you were honest.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [14:45 - 16:17]: It did. So I don't have any real estate experience. I was never an agent. So as I was reading, like, oh, you know, your name goes here, and I'm like, hey, your address goes here. I was like, you know, I know some stuff. I'm like, okay, we'll close here. And then I get the page has all the stuff. And I was like, I got up. Shouldn't ask any questions. And of course, you know, when you say when you're dealing with any new or someone is trying to, like you said, they want to ask their boss for a rage, or in your mind, you're like, I hope they don't say that or hope they don't ask me that. And then that is the next thing they say. You're like, uh huh. Dang it. So I just fessed up. I was like, I don't even know what to do. And I thought her confidence level went from here, like, down here, and I didn't know. I'm like, you know what? And she said, yes. So that would have been, like, 92 ish. And back then, like, 2020. 2000 was an entire year paycheck for, like, a regular person, and maybe, like, an engineer made 30, 35,000. So I made a whole year. To me, a whole year of salary in one shot. I was like, dang, I liked doing that. Ayla was with me every day. My ex can kiss my ass, and I've got money, and I'm not moving back with my parents. This is what I'm gonna do. So. And then I did the next deal, and then I thought, huh, okay, I like this. I'm gonna do another one. And then now, 30, almost 35 years have gone by. It just. It goes so fast.
Annie [16:17 - 16:21]: I mean, your child must be a little bit heavy on your hip now.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [16:24 - 17:07]: Now I'm, like, carrying me. You carry me around. Now I'm retraining that little girl. By time she was ten, she had worked on 100 houses. I used to bring her to work on the houses with me. She had probably been to 500 closings at the title companies. She went to all the meetings, all the RIA groups every place I'd get a booth, everything. She did, everything. We used to wear little white collar shirts with little dollar 100 ties, matching cute. And we got, like, working the event. Like, she's like, would you like to get on my mom's emailing list? And I was like, I just drag her. I'm like, come on, girl. You know, this is it. This is the life we're living right now. Wow.
Susan [17:07 - 17:43]: Wow. That's amazing that you brought her around to every single stage of that journey, too. It makes me think about the limiting beliefs that we face. And we think that, like, well, I can't do this because of x, because of y, because I have young kids, or I do this. And, like, you just found a way around all of that, you know? Do you attribute your ability to kind of, like, not take limiting beliefs? How do you get around those? How do you make that one more call that show up at the one more event? Is there anything inside you that you just are like, you know, this is how I blast through those limiting beliefs?
Dwan Bent-Twyford [17:43 - 19:32]: Susan, that's a good question, because I meet people all the time. They want to buy one of my programs. They want me to coach them. They go, well, I can only do business during these hours because I have kids. I said, no, no, no, that doesn't work with me. I had a baby, and I was living in another state, and I had no family, no backup, no husband, no daycare, nothing. So you can't call me and say, oh, duana, I think I don't even want to hear, put him in the car, give him an iPad now, and take him with you. And that's not your excuse. You can't use excuses with me. I had every excuse in the world to go back home, tuck my tail, get on welfare. Like, all the things I could have done, any of those things. And I was just like, I'm not doing that. I want to be a mom, and I want to be a good mom, and I want to be a fun mom. And I'm not letting my big dream get smashed by this situation that's in front of me. But I will tell you, there was. I was scared a lot. There was a lot of days. I just thought, oh, man, I don't know if I can. This is a lot. You know, I'm so over my head because I don't know how to rehab. I don't know how to do stuff. I don't know about contracts. Like, I was in the unknown for a solid five years. Like, solid five years before I woke up one day and thought, I am a real estate investor. So it was scary. And I just always was like, well, if I don't start and the next step I take isn't towards this, it's going to be towards going back somewhere, like back home or back to wedding tables or back to a job and trying to work away from it. And if I completely fail, I can go back, but if I go back, I won't go forward. Yeah, that makes sense. So it was more like, why I want to work away from that, and I want to work towards that. If that fails, I have a backup.
Annie [19:32 - 19:32]: Yeah.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [19:32 - 19:42]: But not really, because who wants to move home at, like, 32 or 33 with a baby and all your family and cousins? I told you she'd be back. Like, who wants to do that? You know.
Annie [19:44 - 20:02]: It'S as they say, success is on the other side of your comfort zone. And it sounds like you were outside of your comfort zone. I mean, that became your new norm. That became your new norm. You just always were constantly learning and growing and changing and trying new things. I mean, I can't even imagine. I mean, so, okay.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [20:02 - 20:04]: And I'm going through divorce during all this, too.
Annie [20:04 - 20:05]: Ah, yeah.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [20:05 - 20:45]: Trying to start this, and I'm going to this divorce and. And I'm just like, don't even know. I didn't. I honestly, people say, how'd you do it? I'm like, I don't know. I just was really determined to do the things I wanted to do on the mom's side. And I thought, well, whatever I have to do to make that happen, it's not going to be harder or worse than just going back. So I realized I'm not a quitter, big time. I realized I can work out of my comfort zone. Even though I did it, I did it. Afraid. Like they say, do it afraid. And then I was the ones I was doing. I was like, huh, that's kind of fun. I'm glad that happened because this life is much better now then the big picture. I'm kind of glad it happened because, you know, he's a jerk, so. And here we are.
Susan [20:48 - 20:50]: Do it afraid. I like that.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [20:50 - 20:51]: You have to.
Annie [20:51 - 20:51]: Yeah.
Susan [20:51 - 21:05]: I mean, what can you do? Afraid right now. What are you afraid of right now? And how can you continue to do it? How can you continue to move in that direction or double down? Just be afraid. That's. It's okay to feel afraid. You can still do the thing.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [21:05 - 22:13]: You can still do it. And no matter what it is, whether someone's wanting to start a business or getting married or someone's like, listen, I really need to get out of this awful relationship I'm in, or whatever it is. There's no time. When I was like, oh, I got this. I'm not scared. I was scared all the time, but I was more scared of being stuck or going back in my life based on where I'd already brought myself to. And, like, now I can't even imagine. I would have, like, gone back and, like, worked in the service industry for 20 or 25 more years. It's like, oh, my God, like, I've had such a great life, and I was scared of all of it. I mean, there was no more. I woke up and thought, I got this. Now I feel that way. I feel that way for a long time. So I think people just have to do it, and they have to just feel like, you know, even if you take a few steps and it doesn't work, at least you're going in the right direction. And you really. All those things you hear, do it afraid. Take a stab. It all starts with the first step. But all that's really true. If I didn't take that stab, we would not be talking at all, because I'd be living in Ohio, probably working in a factory.
Annie [22:13 - 22:43]: So paint us a picture over that five years that you were, you know, trying new things all the time, constantly outside your comfort zone, you know, from that very first door knock where you had in that first contract, where you didn't even know what the contract said and what the terms in it meant, where you thought you were going to be doing some interior design here to five years later? What had you done in that five years? And more importantly, I guess the question is, who were you five years later versus who were you when you started?
Dwan Bent-Twyford [22:43 - 22:54]: And that's a good question. So now they have this thing. They're called RiAs Reia, real Estate Investors association. They're all over the country, but they didn't even have those yet. Like, I was like, really?
Annie [22:54 - 22:56]: I'm like, you're like, og.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [22:57 - 25:51]: Totally. And so I was doing it for two years before a Rio group opened. So there was really nobody to say, do this and this and this. So I was just figuring it out. So I spent a lot of time reading lots of self help books, like all those think and grow rich and seven habits for highly effective people. And all the books I went to lots of Tony Robbins type seminars that came into West Palm beach or Fort Lauderdale. I would go to all the rah rah things. Ah, they can do it. I can do it. You know, somewhere at one of those, I remember thinking, I'd like to be on that stage. That's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna be on that stage. I want to be up there, not out here in the audience. And then that got put in my head, like, how do I get on stage? Which was a terrifying thing. The first time I spoke was for ten minutes. I thought I was surely gonna die. It's terrifying. And I don't know. And I just kept, I kept reading and I kept taking for what I was doing. I kept going to a lot of home Depot classes and just learning how to build and make things and learning how to do things easier. And then I had a little bit of money, and I hired a couple guys to help me, and I thought, I can get more done if I have some help, and I don't have to be a one man show. And then I got a couple more people, and then I had a little bit of money, and I did two houses at once. I was like, oh, I can do this one and that one, and I can just kind of go back and forth and keep an eye on everybody, make sure they're doing a good job, because, you know, I don't want any crappy work over here. And just each little kind of thing was like another step. And then I was doing three houses at once, and then I wasn't working on them. I was just finding the supplies and making things sure they were okay and kind of overseeing people. And so I just kept, I guess, just kind of evolving naturally as I learned more. But now I'm doing it. We're rehabbing a whole town. We have 28 buildings in this town. If someone even wanted me and said, 15 years ago, you're going to be doing a whole town, I've been like, no, I'm not going to be doing that. But it's really no different than doing a house. It's just a bigger scale. So I just kept learning, reading, listening, asking questions to anyone I met that was more successful, which at that time was everybody, but from the right kind of people. Like, I love my parents and my family, but my people that work in factories aren't the advice I want. It's from someone that's going to a Tony Robbins seminar. Like, that's who I need to ask questions to. And I started realizing, just ask questions, ask questions. People generally want to help, but people, other people are afraid to ask. So I would just walk up to anybody and say, hey, I see you're in the vip section, like, you know, what are you doing and what's happening? And I just started talking to everybody I met everywhere and reading and reading and reading and reading. I know.
Annie [25:52 - 26:39]: I love that you brought in the seminar aspect of it, because, you know, I think a lot of people think, I'll just read the real estate books. I'll just learn how the real estate stuff works and then I'll just do that. But they forget that. The mindset piece, that whole opening your mind up and going beyond your limiting beliefs, perhaps the harder part, the real estate part, you can learn that, you know, fairly easily. There's a process, there's a framework for that, right. But the mindset stuff, that's what's going to be holding you back. And things like going up to people and just introducing yourself and asking them. That's something that I venture to guess that a lot more people are afraid of. And so, yeah, it's great to hear that you were working on both aspects of that.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [26:39 - 27:30]: I still love to go to all those v rah rah seminars and stuff, and I love Tony Robbins. I've probably been to 15 of his seminars over the years. But I bought, like the. I forget they're called unleash the giant or whatever. I bought a couple of those things, and everything's about mindset. And I thought. So I didn't equate mindset to what was happening to me until I started learning about mindset. I thought, oh, that's what it is. I have this great mindset, and I'm not afraid to try stuff. I'm more afraid to, like, again, go back. And I learned more. I learned about mindset. I was like, that is like, the key to my success. My mindset was always good and it was always open, and I always wanted to just get better and then be better. And then because I figured the better I got, the less actual work it took to get the same result as it did in the beginning.
Annie [27:30 - 27:56]: Yeah, it's like they say, your business grows to the extent that you do. And so you are your biggest skating factor. So if you can grow yourself, then your business or whatever venture you're working on can grow. Which, speaking of which, you have to tell us about this town that you told me a little bit about it, but I know it wasn't exactly your intention to go in and have all these buildings. So how did it unfold, and where are you now with that project?
Dwan Bent-Twyford [27:56 - 30:04]: I tell you, my husband and I must say, we are a hot mess. He's from Clinton, Iowa. And I think that you know where Clinton's at. And so we come back every five years to his high school reunion. We both go to our reunions because, you know, that's like a big thing in the midwest, I guess. And we kept coming back to this little town. And every time we'd come, I'd see some growth. But the growth is, like, out of the new area. And right along the river. Like, it's on the Mississippi river. Like, right on the river across the bridge. And there's Illinois. So it's right there. And there's all these little river towns that have, like, shopping and antique stores and, you know, music and all this stuff. And Clinton is like a ghost town. It's like three blocks wide, and three blocks is this little area. And this 90% of the buildings are boarded up. And it's like a ghost town. So at, like, the 15th reunion, because we were married 20 years now, I was like, you know, we've been coming here for 15 years, and the downtown, it still looks like a ghost town. Maybe we should see if it's an opportunity zone. Doing like, a re beautification, like a. Bringing back the downtown. Are they doing anything? And maybe we could buy, like, a building so that, as you know me, we're like, a building. A building. So we buy the building. Actually, the building that I'm in here, it's 20,000 sqft. They were asking like, 175. And we found out who owns it. And the people that owned it knew bill's dad, and they'd already moved to Arizona. And at the end of the day, we bought it for $32,000. So I'm like, 20,000 sqft, turning $32,000. We'll buy it. And then we worked on it, and then someone else says, hey, the twiper has bought my building. So they told a friend, and Carol called and said, I've got three buildings, and my husband's been deceased for a decade. I want to just move to Florida. Would you buy my buildings? And we're like, well, I guess, but you have to own or finance them because, you know, there were a lot. And then, like, another person calls and says, hey, I heard you bought Carol's buildings. Will you buy my buildings?
Annie [30:05 - 30:23]: Can I just say what a full circle moment this must have been? Because here you were all these years ago knocking on doors. Nobody would give you their building, and here you're not even asking. And people are coming out of the woodwork. They're like, oh, buy mine. Buy mine. Wow.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [30:24 - 31:11]: And on that note, the bank ended up, like, two blocks over. The bank ended up taking a property back in foreclosure. It's got, like, eight parcels. It's big parking lots, a storage unit, and three big, tall buildings that maybe they worked on, like, semi trucks or something. And the people left all the equipment, all the stuff, and the bank got it. So the bank's calling, says, we want you to buy this. Like, no. Now, these are the banks. Now, granted, it took me, like, seven years to get a bank to give me a dollar after a foreclosure and a repo and all the stuff. And we're like, no, we really don't want anything else. And they're like, we'll find, no, we don't want you to finance it. We don't have any money to put down. He is. I'll tell you what. We'll just give you a loan. If you'll just start making payments. We won't even. No money down, no nothing. No credit. You guys can just have it. And I was like, well, where the.
Susan [31:11 - 31:14]: Bank is even begging you to help, please.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [31:15 - 32:48]: Now, like, where were those people? So we went and signed the bank papers and just started making payments. It's like, with nothing, I couldn't have got that to happen for me in the first seven or eight years, no matter what I did. And now the banks are like, please take this. Like, well, all right. So anyway, one thing led to another. Pretty soon we have, like, 1516 buildings. And so now we're really, like, full and like, okay, you know what? We're gonna really. We're gonna bring back to downtown. Like, that's a fun project. It's a town. And I watch a lot of hallmark movies, and Hallmark has, like, a summer fest, a winter fest, an October fest. Like, all the things are downtown on the square, and all the people come. And as a building owner, our taxes go into a special account, and we vote on things for the downtown to help revitalize the downtown. So for, like, the first two years, you guys, I think, will appreciate this. Like, the first two years, Bill and I would go to the meetings, and, you know, we're new to the town. People voting buildings here for, you know, 75 years, and we're voting on let's do Christmas in July, let's do an Oktoberfest, let's do a hayride stop. And everyone's like, no, this is what happened. Small town. Now. We tried that seven years ago. It didn't work. We did that a decade ago. It didn't work. We did that three years ago. It didn't work. I was like, I said, bill, I'm exhausted. Like, every idea we give them is a good planned idea. So then I called the building guy and said, how many buildings I need to own to control the votes?
Susan [32:50 - 33:02]: I was just about to ask, do you have, like, eleven to 15 votes at this time, or did that go into your analysis for buying more buildings so that you could make the Hallmark festivals happen?
Dwan Bent-Twyford [33:03 - 34:17]: That's what made us buy the last batch. Like, listen, I can't fight with these people. I'm thinking this big. We're thinking this big, and they're thinking this big. So we just want to control the vote. So they told us how many buildings we needed, we got the parcels, and then we went back to the next meeting and said, okay, we control the vote. Here's what we're doing. Yeah. People were mad at us for about a year. So I'm like, listen, y'all can be mad all you want. We have put in millions of dollars into this town out of our pocket, and, you know, a lot of financing from people in town. But it's like, this is a big deal for us, and this is, like, a five to ten year thing. This is not. We're just in and out. We're gonna sell everything off and make a bunch of money. Like, we're investing in the town, the people. Like, we're investing full in. So I couldn't stand all the. No, Susan. So we were just like. So on the side. We bought a couple more vacant lots, but they count because a parcel is a vote. And we got eight more parcels and then went to the next meeting, and everything changed. And now this summer, we have eight weeks in a row of music on the avenue. They're blocking off the streets and having live music, and all this stuff is going on. It's like, yeah, we did that. Wow. Wow.
Annie [34:17 - 34:18]: The vision.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [34:18 - 35:19]: I didn't start out that big. It was, like, just going to be two or three buildings just to kind of spark it, you know, because there's some really nice buildings down here, and the people that, you know, they have their building. A lot of them have their building in their business. They live upstairs. It's an old town, you know, and. But it just wasn't moving as fast. And I just think, too, with my husband and I, after all, like, 30 years of investing, we just roll at a faster pace. And somebody with one individual building and their whole life is in that one building, and we're like, no, listen, we can't work this slow, so we're gonna move things along. So that was the final factor on the last batch. And now we're like, we just had a meeting the other day. Like, hey, the trifers are back for the summer. And, you know, they're just like, God, they're here in person, like these people. Oh, so now we go to all the meetings, and they're just like, what do you guys just tell us what you want to do. It's like, I like that attitude change.
Annie [35:19 - 35:22]: Yeah. Funny how that happens.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [35:22 - 35:24]: Tell me what you want. Oh, God.
Annie [35:25 - 36:36]: You know what strikes me about your story from all those years ago to this big project you're working on now is one you've never given up, and you've never said, I can't do this. And you've always found ways to say, how can I do this? Here's where I'm stuck. How can I do this? You know, you're not here in Clinton, Iowa, to just make a quick buck and leave. You're here to really invest and to just like you did when you bought those individual homes. You weren't there to just make a quick buck and turn around and run. You were there to really beautify a property and to really make an impact, just as you are doing now. You know, I think about that all the time, is it's like Las Vegas. There was nothing. It was desert. Somebody had to have the vision that, of what was possible there. And it feels like, in many ways, that's what you're doing for Clinton, Iowa, all these boarded up buildings. But somebody had to have that vision to take that first step, to say, this could be something much bigger. And one of these days, when Clinton is truly on the map and everybody's like, have you been to Clinton, Iowa? Well, no, that duan was the one who put it on the map.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [36:36 - 37:14]: We were there. You know, they'd already taken the first steps. They had the downtown designated an opportunity zone. So if you have anyone listening, doesn't know what that means, it means if you own the property for more than ten years, there's no capital gains, so they can sell for any amount of money, millions of dollars. And so that was a big thing. And then they already had put together an organization. They were already having people pay taxes into a fund like they'd already started the ball, but nobody was really picking it up and running with it. So we just came along and thought, well, we'll just move the ball along. And then after, like, two years of all my ideas getting shot down I'm like, well, we're just gonna buy the whole stadium then.
Annie [37:15 - 37:16]: There you go.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [37:16 - 37:17]: We'll just own the ball.
Annie [37:17 - 37:31]: That's right. You just take the whole thing. Well, Duan, we can't wait to hear where you take it. I'm gonna put Clinton on my bucket list just to see the amazing things that you're doing out there.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [37:31 - 37:52]: It's so cute. It's just like a little hallmark movie. Like, it's the cutest downtown. And, you know, since we started buying here, they did some kind of property valuation that the values of the properties downtown have gone up 48% already since we started buying here already. And it's like, dang, we still have a lot of work to do.
Annie [37:53 - 38:07]: Yeah, indeed. A lot more potential to come. Well, hey, Duan, with that, we're going to move into the final part of our show, the life and money show spotlight round. We're going to ask you three questions that we ask all our guests. Are you ready, Duan?
Dwan Bent-Twyford [38:07 - 38:08]: I'm ready.
Annie [38:08 - 38:19]: All right. The first question is around your life and money. So share with us one thing that you're doing to live a meaningful and intentional life by design.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [38:19 - 39:23]: You know, I would have to say something. Bill and I have been really focusing in the last couple years is we're taking more time to focus on our health. And I think a lot of people that are, I know for a fact a lot of people that run businesses and are busy, they're all in on this issue or money, and they're all. And things sort of get out of balance. So we're really consciously every day, like, what do we need to do to feed our bodies? What do we need to do to exercise? What do we need to do to be engaged in the moment with our kids and our grandkids? And so we're taking the time to make sure we live longer, but also a healthier, better life because Bill and I have are terrible for going to hotels, eating room service for a week, because it's fun and it's easy and, you know, don't work out, don't do anything, but, you know, it wears on you. So I feel like to have a good life, you need to have good health. And people spend their health getting their wealth, and they spend their wealth buying back their health. So we're trying to stop that right now so that we have healthy.
Annie [39:23 - 39:36]: Yeah, I think that's fantastic. That's such a great investment to make is in yourself and your own health. And the more that you take care of yourself, the more that you can take care of others as well. And to have that impact and that.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [39:36 - 40:03]: Longevity, I never really did. Like, we do acupuncture, we get massages, we go bike riding, we exercise. We do things that we just never did because we're just like, oh, yeah, we'll be fine. My aunt just turned 97. She sent me a video the other day. She was hiking 2 miles. It's like, wow, there's a lot of years between 65 and 97, and I'm not going to make those years and be able to hike out there and by myself if I don't start making some changes.
Annie [40:04 - 40:06]: Mm hmm. Wow. What an inspiration.
Susan [40:06 - 40:23]: Well, just that, like, they spend their health getting their wealth, and then their wealth getting their health is such a dichotomy that is worth reflecting on. Like, are you spending your health right now in order to build this? And how can you just start moving the needle in a different direction so that you're allowing yourself the years to enjoy your wealth? Wealth. I love that.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [40:23 - 41:43]: And, yeah, you have to make for us anyway, we had to make a conscious effort because we're both really easy to travel everywhere, speak everywhere, work everywhere, you know, vacation. We're just easy to, like, be all over the map, and it's like we had to really make a conscious decision. It was, like, two years ago. So we're like, you know what? We're gonna just starting now. We're just gonna start taking better care. And now we eat really good. We even. This is probably something nobody does, but it's an idea for all of you that. That travel and work. So we have a full suitcase that we travel with that has our juicer and, like, our vitamix, and it has my heated blanket, and it has all the stuff that we need to live healthy when we're traveling. So we have this whole suitcase, and everything in it has got ionized water and our big vitamix, all this stuff. Can you travel with that? And it's like, yeah, because we haven't traveled like that for 25 years, and we're trying to be healthy, and that is every day, not only when it's convenient, it's a life decision. So I have a big old suitcase. You open it up, and it's got protein powder and all kinds of stuff, and people that know us like you. I can't believe you travel with all that. It's like, but then how do you get on the path and stay on it? Yeah, bring it with me.
Annie [41:43 - 41:45]: That's how you know you're committed.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [41:47 - 42:04]: For that. I was like, okay, now we're those people. We talk with our own pillow. Like, we became those people. Say, oh, my God, pretty soon, we're gonna start traveling with our own sheets. Yeah, I have my grounding pad. Like, I take stuff, you know?
Annie [42:05 - 42:05]: Uh huh.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [42:06 - 42:07]: Everywhere we go.
Annie [42:07 - 42:08]: Yeah.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [42:12 - 42:18]: I don't even know how that happened. It's like, oh, my God, I'm a grandma now. I got my cups. I've got my special cup.
Annie [42:18 - 42:36]: You've earned your stripes. You've earned your stripes now. All right, second question is about others life and money. So share with us a life or money hack. A tip, a resource, a tool, a book. Anything that's really helped you on your journey that you think will help others as well.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [42:36 - 43:24]: Well, you know, I don't have a specific book exactly, but I think the thing that's helped me more than anything was that my mindset was always really good. Even when I was going through really awful things, I was never, oh, poor me, I'm going through divorce. I'm turning to alcohol and drugs or whatever. I was never the poor me person. And I feel like anything anyone can read, like, any mindset things, and there's just so many. I mean, all the great people, you know? I mean, I still listen to Zig Ziglar. Like, and I know he's 100 years ago, but he's so funny. So I still listen to, like, all of those things and all the new people, too. And I don't know. I feel like your mindset is your best friend or it's your worst enemy.
Annie [43:24 - 43:25]: Yeah.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [43:25 - 43:50]: And let it take over. You won't do anything because your mindset won't let you. And if you just retrain yourself. So I took the time, it took about two years to retrain my brain. Every time a negative thought came in, I replaced it with a positive thought. So I don't know if you all know this, but, like, 80% of our self talk is negative. That we thoughts in our mind. 80% of self talk is all negative.
Annie [43:50 - 44:03]: Can you imagine if you did that to somebody else, if 80% of the things that you said to somebody else were negative and how that relationship would be? It would be horrible. Horrible.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [44:03 - 44:41]: When I have people to start working with me, I give them these little exercises. And one of the first ones is, every time you think a negative thought, just catch it and write it down. So I had a little notebook one day, and I wrote down, like, these thoughts, and I had, like, 250 negative thoughts I wrote down. That day just popped in my head, and I wrote them down. I was like, dang, I'm a hot mess over here. And sometimes I'm feeling negative. It's just, you know, thoughts, even negative felt like, hmm, look at these two girls. I don't know, what's their deal? Like, that's a negative thought. And I started consciously replacing them. It took over two years to really retrain my brain so that all my thoughts are positive. That's a challenge. You have to really.
Susan [44:41 - 44:42]: That's hard work.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [44:42 - 44:59]: It's hard work. And I hardly ever have a negative thought anymore. But it didn't happen overnight. I'm talking years and notebooks full of thoughts and restructuring my brain. So again, mindset. Like, your mindset's everything. It's everything.
Annie [44:59 - 45:05]: That's a really good one. I'm gonna have to try that. Is writing it down and bringing it into conscious awareness.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [45:05 - 45:32]: Do it for one day. Get a little notepad, and every time a thought pops in your head, write it down for one day, and you'll look at that and go, I cannot believe I had this many negative thoughts today. You would be shocked. I was shocked, and I thought, dang, no wonder people don't make it in life. They're all negative thoughts. They take hold and then they live there. So you gotta, like, pick them out and, you know, evict them.
Susan [45:32 - 45:32]: Yeah.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [45:33 - 45:34]: And get some new tenants.
Annie [45:34 - 45:35]: There you go.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [45:35 - 45:48]: So any book on positive thoughts? I'm a fan of all, all people, all ages, going way back up to the new stuff. I still, to this day, I listen, I read it, and when I have free time, that's what I do with it.
Annie [45:48 - 46:01]: Love it. All right, final question, then, is about life and money in the world. So tell us one thing you're doing to help make the world a better place, whatever that means for you, I think.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [46:01 - 47:02]: I mean, gosh, the world's such a hot mess right now. Our world's a mess. I spent a lot of my time working with kids and youth, because the youth, they are the leaders of tomorrow. And the leaders pretty much across the board that we have right now need to all be replaced by younger people. Like, all across the board, I'm talking, oh, we need some young, fresh, thoughtful people. So I spent a lot of my time working with teenagers and kids in churches and even at real estate and teaching and training and even my own grandkids to try to pass down, like, generational wealth and generational ideas and to try to shape the minds of the kids that I have influence over, because I feel like the kids today are just on their phones and they game. And everything they do is, in the end of the day, is bad for them. So I don't know. I guess I want to leave my mark through the young kids that I have access to.
Annie [47:02 - 47:25]: And that's the goal right there is, you know, you could leave them all the money in the world, but if they don't know what to do with it and how to maintain it, how to grow it over time, it's only a matter of time before it goes by the wayside. But if you teach them and if you shape them and if you help them to develop that mindset for themselves, then the sky's the limit as far as what they can achieve.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [47:25 - 47:49]: And I've done that, like, the last 20 years, worked with teens and kids, and it's amazing to watch the ones that grow and the ones that are like, meh. And they go over here and you see them later, and they're so different. They're so different, you know? So I feel like for me personally, kids are. They're our future, you know, they don't have to be yours. Just all.
Susan [47:49 - 47:50]: Yes.
Annie [47:50 - 48:08]: Yes, indeed. Well, Duan, this has been such an enlightening conversation. You have such an inspirational story, and I love that you're continuing to grow and learn and to give back. And I know our listener is going to want to follow up with you, learn more. So tell them what's the best place that they can go?
Dwan Bent-Twyford [48:08 - 48:29]: Easiest thing is dwanderful. So I took my first name, Duan. D w a n. I took Duan. And wonderful and I made a new word. So. So dwanderful. D w a N d e r f u l. So dwanderful.com, instagram, TikTok, like Facebook. All the places. Everything is wonderful.
Susan [48:29 - 48:31]: Everything is wonderful.
Annie [48:31 - 48:50]: There we go. Everything is wonderful. That's the perfect place to wrap Duan. Ben Twyford real estate investor and coach grandmother, mom. All the things inspiring the world. Duan, thank you so much for being here with us and our listeners today.
Dwan Bent-Twyford [48:50 - 48:53]: Thanks, girl. That was so nice to talk to both of you. I love it. Thank you.
Susan [48:53 - 48:57]: You too. This was fun. Thank you for being here.