Jessica Guevara
Jessica Guevara
Jessica Guevara wants you to know that she’s ordinary.
A finance manager for Ernst & Young, she is someone who dots every i and crosses every t. She does things the way they “should” be done, including responding to emails and texts about this feature with lightning speed.
“I’m a little proactive, so I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss anything. It’s a good trait to have in real estate.”
This responsible nature is all part of her version of “ordinary,” which is a life spent pursuing the American Dream.
Jessica’s parents emigrated from Mexico, raised their children in the United States, and consistently emphasized the importance of education and a strong work ethic. Their version of the American Dream included working hard and doing the right thing, and they instilled these values in their children.
Jessica calls herself a “W-2, all the way” and she knew from a very young age that her future included a life in corporate America. She traveled the path that her parents had set for her by majoring in finance in college, earning an MBA, and landing a job with a good employer with a 401K plan. There was no room for considering entrepreneurship, or “hustling” in the plan.
“There was no silver spoon. Today, we’re all professionals.”
Jessica said she was very grounded, and used to live in a “bubble” of rational contentment. She was not wealthy and was never obsessed with the idea of getting rich. She only wanted to be content, which meant being able to provide for her family, travel, and enjoy an occasional dinner out.
As she approached her mid-30’s, she realized that funding this contentment may require more than a 9-5 job. As a veteran of the business world, Jessica was aware there were alternative pathways to creating wealth but had not paid a lot of attention to those paths until financial influencers started to appear on her social media feeds. She began listening to different types of content, and expanded her thinking beyond the so-called traditional path to income.
Enter real estate.
Jessica became aware of the Better Than Success (BTS) Real Estate League via Instagram and was intrigued about the process of investing in properties. The timing was perfect for her and now that she understood how she could generate income outside of her comfortable “bubble,” she decided to join BTS and immerse herself in its resources.
When asked what attracted an “ordinary” person like her to BTS, Jessica commented “I come from a family where we don’t own real estate. It wasn’t something we did. But Nicole intrigued me. I liked that there wasn’t a gimmicky ‘oversell’ and Nicole was genuine, so I gave it more attention. She offered free masterminds, so you could sit in and make your own observations and opinions.”
While Jessica is still a relative newcomer to real estate, having been a BTS member for less than two years, she noted that people who are experienced investors with large portfolios can also benefit from the many resources provided by BTS. She values the network that provides her with connections across every facet of real estate investing, including finance, acquisition, and construction. She says a key to success is to “surround yourself with like-minded people” which, for her, means people who are in the business of real estate investments. The accessibility to this circle that BTS provides is like “hitting the jackpot.”
Jessica admits that she had to learn to be okay with going outside of her comfort zone. She is honest about the learning curve and the mistakes that she says humbled her early in her real estate journey. While she prefers to view her mistakes as lessons learned instead of regrets, she does have one regret: “I wish I’d joined BTS earlier.”
Jessica likes that BTS provides a foundation for people like her who are starting from scratch. She took advantage of all of the resources she needed to feel confident in investing and is now learning the finer details of process and building her knowledge in other related areas, including financial transactions, construction, and the locations where she invests (currently Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey).
“Growing my real estate portfolio allows me to lead by example for my nieces and nephews, and fulfill my late mother’s aspiration to be an all-around self-sustaining woman.
I’m securing the life I want to live now and in the future.”
