Growth VUE is Passionate About Service to Others

I was sitting in sophomore history class at Fred T. Foard High School in Hickory, North Carolina, when I saw the second plane hit the World Trade Center in 2001. I knew then that I was called to do something - I was called to serve. I vigorously applied to service academies and was accepted to the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. The trajectory of this decision has continued to play out in wonderful and amazing ways as I learned there how to be a servant leader.

In the summer of 2006, prior to my Senior year (called "Firstie Year" at the academy) a small group of Midshipmen planned a service trip to East Africa that would forever hold a place in my heart and soul. We worked with the team at Bridges-to-Community, and the African non-profit The Greenbelt Movement, led by Noble Peace Prize Winner Wangari Maathai, to help build businesses, plant trees, and develop schools in rural areas of Kenya. This trip opened my eyes to the EXTREME poverty that billions of people in the world are living in. My heart was completely broken when we had the opportunity to visit an orphanage in the slums of Nairobi, the world's largest and most densely populated slum. There we met children who were developmentally challenged due to fetal alcohol syndrome - they were fatherless, and to make money their mother's had to work, so they would fill bottles with half milk and half grain alcohol so the baby would wake up, feed itself, get drunk, and pass back out. On top of that, all these children had AIDS. When our group was saying goodbye and about to leave, the children surrounded us and held hands and said a prayer for our safe return back home, that broke my heart. That was the only time I had to find a pay phone and call my mother sobbing. . . it still brings me tears as I write this today.

My senior year at the Naval Academy was the height of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the majority of US and Coalition casualties was from Improvised Explosive Devices, commonly called "IEDs" or "road-side bombs." Again, I was called to serve. I applied for, and was chosen to become one of only fourteen Explosive Ordnance Disposal Officers selected that year. After two years of arguably the most extensive military training in the world, my team of dedicated servant warriors and I completed two deployment to find and destroy Taliban IEDs and explosives that were wreaking havoc on coalition forces and the local Afghan populace. Many times we went into Afghan villages and saw the faces of the locals that were affected. We saw their lost legs, and mangled hands of children that tried to pick up something shiny only to have shrapnel and blast tear apart their limbs. We served with the local Afghan police and military, and showed them how to safely avoid or render-safe the enemy's hidden weapons. We were able to blow up hundreds of thousands of pounds of enemy explosives. We did everything possible to save as many lives as possible in this horrific conflict.

While still serving as an active duty Explosive Ordnance Disposal Officer I completed three more deployments, two to the Arabian Gulf, and one in South America before the 2016 Olympics. During this entire time I was also focusing on real estate and building my own private portfolio. However, the wealth generation perspective of real estate was pleasing, it was never SATISFYING. I wanted to do more - I wanted to serve more. It was then I met the amazing leaders at Growth VUE at a mastermind group in Richmond Virginia. These businessmen shared the same goals of growth through service. We aligned on the thought that "those who can do more, SHOULD." We built a company that see NET PROFIT as a means to help others. Having two active duty members on our investment team, and hundreds of veterans in our investor network, we have vowed to give portions of our proceeds to Operation Second Chance, a non-profit that helps wounded, injured, or ill veterans move on with their lives. We are PASSIONATE about service to others.

At Growth VUE Properties we have built a network of over a thousand investors who share the same mindset. They want great returns, so they can attain financial freedom, and in return they can do more for the projects they are PASSIONATE about. All of our investors are selected because they have a goal of serving others through freedom of time, or financial impact.

Today, I'm still and active duty Explosive Ordnance Disposal Officer. I spend as much time as I can reading to local elementary school kids and giving financially to 6 Degree Initiative, a missions-based charity that works in impoverished East Africa. My goal is to build substantial passive income through Commercial Real Estate to support teams of missions workers locally and across the globe so they don't have to spend precious time fund-raising.

What is your goal for financial Freedom? Contact [email protected] or www.thegrowthvue.com to find out how you can reach financial freedom through passive commercial real estate so you can pursue your passion!