258 - Leaving a Legacy with Michelle Morton

Jun 5

258 - Leaving a Legacy with Michelle Morton

Listeners, we're back this week with Michelle Morton

For Michelle Morton, the concepts of generational wealth and leaving a legacy for generations to come were instilled in her from an early age. As the owner of Luxury + Legacy and DMV Luxury Homes, her mission is to guide her clients and team, as they secure their own legacies through real estate and entrepreneurship.

Michelle spent her lifetime making things beautiful, crafting poignant messages and powerful presentations. Not until her early twenties did she realize she could REALLY make this a career!Over the past 20 years, Michelle leveraged her passion for growing brands, revenue and teams, remotely, domestic and international, including but not limited to Motorola, Kodak International, Royal Caribbean, Lamaze International, and the Department of Defense.

Michelle's background as a PMP certified Digital Marketing Strategist and Project Manager, coupled with her ability to cultivate lasting relationships have helped her grow a thriving real estate business that serves the DC, Maryland, and Virginia metro area.

She is a product of Howard University, where she made the lifelong commitment to the illustrious ladies of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.Michelle is the wife, and business partner, to Dwight Morton, and the mother of three beautiful girls, Trinity, Eden, and Grace. As a Christian family, blessed + driven by faith and stewardship, Michelle believes it is our duty to create opportunities for our children, our community, our legacy.

During this episode we talked about:

08:41 - Frowing up with her grandparents
14:45 - Going to Howard
17:19 - Tech & creativity
17:44 - Building businesses
22:37 - Getting into real estate
26:37 - Going slow and steady
27:09 - Why real estate is important for her
28:06 - The real estate market
34:00 - The virtual world & web 3

Hello everyone. This is Pam de Café con Pam, the bilingual podcast that features Latines and people of the global majority who break barriers, change lives and make this world a better place. Welcome to episode to 258 of Cafe con Pam. Today, we have a conversation with Michelle Morton.
For Michelle, the concepts of generational wealth and leaving a legacy for generations to come were instilled in her from an early age. As the owner of Luxury + Legacy and DMV Luxury Homes, her mission is to guide her clients and team, as they secure their own legacies through real estate and entrepreneurship.
Michelle spent her lifetime making things beautiful, crafting poignant messages and powerful presentations. Not until her early twenties did she realize she could REALLY make this a career!
Over the past 20 years, Michelle leveraged her passion for growing brands, revenue and teams, remotely, domestic and international, including but not limited to Motorola, Kodak International, Royal Caribbean, Lamaze International, and the Department of Defense.
Michelle's background as a PMP certified Digital Marketing Strategist and Project Manager, coupled with her ability to cultivate lasting relationships have helped her grow a thriving real estate business that serves the DC, Maryland, and Virginia metro area.
Michelle is a product of Howard University, where she made the lifelong commitment to the illustrious ladies of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.
Michelle is the wife, and business partner, to Dwight Morton, and the mother of three beautiful girls, Trinity, Eden, and Grace. As a Christian family, blessed + driven by faith and stewardship, Michelle believes it is our duty to create opportunities for our children, our community and our legacy.
Listeners, this interview is special because it's one of my friends. Michelle is one of my business besties, and now she became one of my NFT besties. If you listen to a couple of episodes ago about the NFT project that we put together, Michelle is one of the four co-founders and we have been having such fun, doing all the things and talking business. And I think you will get a little behind the scenes of how our conversations go. I mean, of course I did it Cafe con Pam style and she will come back to hear how we talk about business and how we talk about all the things, really. We often run out of time. We schedule time, you know, for 30 minutes, an hour or whatever, and we're always like rushing out because we could just talk forever.
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So I hope you enjoy this episode. And before we jump into the interview, I do have a quick announcement. You may have noticed that the artwork is a little different. Well, we wanted a special episode to be the one that was the home of the new rebrand of Cafe con Pam. And we had a team meeting and we talked about it and we thought, do we want to make it on a rounded, like number? Do we need to go to maybe 260 or 275 or, you know, a more "special number"? And then we were like, or do we want it to be a guest that is special to us? And I think for me, Michelle is special and I would rather kind of do the inauguration of the new branding with a special guest rather than a special number, because we will continue to post episodes until you tell me you don't wanna hear me anymore.
And so, I hope you like it. We have been working on this behind the scenes for a few weeks, maybe month-ish or couple months, I don't know. And I hope you like the new feel of Cafe con Pam. We are the same on the inside. Just a little bit different on the outside, we have grown, we wanted the brand to reflect who we are now as a team. It's not just me editing podcast on my computer anymore. Now we are growing and we wanted the brand to reflect that. And so I hope you like it. Let me know what you think. Y bueno, ahora si. Here's my conversation with Michelle Morton.

***
Pam: Michelle. Welcome to Cafe con Pam.

Michelle: Thanks Pam for having me, I'm so excited!

Pam: Finally!

Michelle: You're right, I feel like a celebrity or something.

Pam: You are, I mean, everyone is, why not?

Michelle: Yes.

Pam: Welcome. Welcome.

Michelle: Thank you.

Pam: So the question we always ask is what is your heritage?

Michelle: I am black American, so I'm African American. That's me.

Pam: Every time I have, not every time, I guess, but I'm always curious, which one do you prefer? African American or black?

Michelle: Both.

Pam: Yeah?

Michelle: Yeah. You know.

Pam: I've met people that are like, I'm not this and I am this. And so, yeah. Yeah. It's always a--

Michelle: It's nuanced.

Pam: Personal choice, I guess. Yes. You know, you and I have this conversation all the time. I mean, being, most cultures, right, I can speak from the black experience is very nuanced. You know? So that's why for me, I just say I'm black, I'm black, American, or African American, you know, I can go into all the things, the good and bad that make that up. But in all reality, I am black American in all the things that that encompasses. It's beautiful.

Pam: Yeah. And where are you tuning in from?

Michelle: The Washington DC Metro area! Yay!

Pam: Yes. Is that where you grew up?

Michelle: So, no, I grew up in California. So this area here is, um, Washington, DC, Maryland, Virginia. I attended Howard university. That's why I came out here to go to the Mecca.

Pam: And you stayed!

Michelle: And I stayed. So my roots are from here. My paternal grandparents are both from here. I visited this area growing up.
The Heatley side of my family, we've had family reunions since I was born. So...

Pam: In DC?

Michelle: That's why family... In DC! Well, they were every two years, they were somewhere different, but the family originated from here. So California's where I grew up. So my grandparents from military, my parents met in California, um, in undergrad at SAC states.
I was born in Sacramento.

Pam: Nice.

Michelle: And then, um, about half-- I lived in Southern California, Northern California, three years of high school in central California, Clovis west high school, Fresno. So...

Pam: Was all of this up and down in California because of the military?

Michelle: Because my parents were separated. So my mother was in the bay area and my grandparents, my paternal grandparents were in Southern California.

Pam: Okay.

Michelle: In my earlier years I was with my mom and then we would spend like every summer with grandma and grandpa, and then all of my cousins, like we're really, really close, my parents were young. They were like 20 when they had me. So, you know, at that point, grandma and grandpa are always like second parents to everyone. Over time it just became a situation where my sister and I were like, you know, grandma and grandpa, we would prefer to be here. It just made more sense. And there was some other things that happened, you know, for, to make more sense. And then we would just kind of, it kind of switched. We were with grandma and grandpa during the school year, and then we would be in the bay area for summers and vacations and stuff like that.

Pam: With mom.

Michelle: With mom, who's originally from Shreveport, Louisiana.

Pam: So you grew up essentially with your grandparents.

Michelle: Yes.

Pam: I grew up with my grandparents.

Michelle: Oh, yes?

Pam: Yeah.

Michelle: Yay. There's nothing like grandparents. You know, and it's one of those things where, when you say you're raised by your grandparents, it's like, you don't wanna take away-- Growing up it was nothing for me to say it. Right. Because I felt like they, they did a great job. They stepped in when there were some challenges with my parents that were younger. And then I went through a phase where I was like, well, you know, I don't wanna take away from my parents. Right. Because even though they didn't ideally step in and it wasn't like "leave it to beaver" or the cleavers, I had a very good upbringing being with my grandparents and around my aunts and uncles and still having a relationship with my mom. So I couldn't imagine being 20 years old, 19/20 having like a daughter and then another daughter and, you know, being in California alone. So I've learned to respect her journey. That's what I'm always careful of saying, like I was raised by my grandparents, which is pretty accurate and they did an amazing job, but so did she, right? Those formative years when I was with her and I'm staying in touch with her, like I remember when I, um, pledged AKA in undergrad and my mom, her and my little brother traveled, which was a single mom and they traveled up to DC and she hung out in my dorm and, you know, she just always made those sacrifices to be close to us. So, it matters.

Pam: Absolutely. Well, and one thing that I always remember is that our parents did the best they could with what they had. And sometimes the best decision was to literally have the grandparents raise you, because otherwise it would've been a very different story. And so while we're naming the fact that they like, not to take away their effort, it's also truth that at the moment, the best decision for us was to be elsewhere. And that doesn't take away from like, the strength that they gave us.

Michelle: Absolutely.

Pam: Okay. So you grew up with the grandparents, summers with mom, you and your sister?

Michelle: Yes.

Pam: You're older or younger?

Michelle: I'm older. I'm the oldest, so, there's me and my sister Maisha. I have another sister who is from my father and another baby brother who's from my mother. So there's four of us in total.

Pam: Okay.

Michelle: But again, my family is so huge. So like all my cousins, we're like brothers and sisters. That's how we grew up. And then we have like second and third cousins, which are just cousins. Like I grew up with my great uncles. Like I've seen 50, 60 year marriages, like they're normal, you know? So it's like, family reunions. It's just, I just come from a huge family. So sisters, brothers, cousins. That's why my personality is like it is, where I just love people. I'm used to it. I'm used to people.

Pam: Having people over all the time.

Michelle: Yeah.

Pam: I'll share a funny story. I think I've shared it before. So I grew up with a single mom and my siblings are from the same dad and that's my truth. And that's what I always knew, that my parents, they got together, they got married and they had us three and then they separated and that's it. I just have those two other siblings. Right. And so when I was in college, one of my best friends, he invited us over for dinner. And his little brother was there. I was like, nice to meet you, blah, blah, blah. And so, and in the conversation, his little brother shared something like I'm Jamaican. And I was like, "dude, you never told me you're Jamaican" to my friend. Right. And he's like, I'm not Jamaican. And I'm like, wait, how does this work? You know, he's like, no, because he has a different dad and-- Oh, my gosh. And so that was like my first entrance to like blended families, which like, in my own like little bubble, I didn't know that that existed. So now that you shared that complexity, because it, it does happen that, you know, you have your, your siblings from the same parents, and then they happen to have kids from other parents. One of my really, really good friends actually has a very, very blended family like that. And so now I'm used to having those conversations, but when I first got to this country, that was like--

Michelle: Wow!

Pam: So, I like it blew my mind.

Michelle: Interesting.

Pam: Yeah. He almost got mad at me cause I was like, why didn't you tell me you were Jamaican? Oh my gosh. Like the, and he was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

[laughs]

Pam: This is not--

Michelle: I'm not Jamaican [laughs]

Pam: Right?

Michelle: Oh, that's funny.

Pam: He was like, he's Jamaican. I'm not Jamaican. And I'm like, oh, okay. I need to understand this.

Michelle: You know what it makes me think about, you always talk about the lived experience. You know, and that is like truly the definition, it's like our perceptions of the world are based on our lived experiences. Right. That's where we all have these biases. Right. And I say all of us, because based on our lived experience, our perception of the world is very different from each other. So it's about understanding and listening to each other, as opposed to, you know, allowing these differences to separate us.

Pam: Yeah. That's why I love having these conversations and asking all the questions, because then I get to see how others lived experiences are. And recently I learned this concept from Bruce White, right? Bruce Wright. Basically, what he shared was if you look at a quarter like a US quarter, they say, no, there's always two sides to every coin. However, if you look at a quarter, there's on the sides of the coin, there's the ridges. Have you seen 'em?

Michelle: Yes.

Pam: So those are called, Reed something. Like the Reed lines, because this one dude Reed, he invented putting the ridges in the coins because back in the day, when the coins were made out of gold, people would shave them and then devalue the coin.
So the Reed ridges were created because that would prevent people from shaving the coin. The metaphor goes with, like while there's always two sites to every coin, there's multiple sites to the coin because if we look at the ridges, then the ridges also have different sides. And so it's all about like the nternal intersections of every single side of the coin. And while we have a lived experience, doesn't mean that I have a perception, you have a perception and there's many, many others that exist from it. That's why we're here asking all the questions.

Michelle: [laughs] All the cheese man!

Pam: All the cheese man.
Okay, so you grow up and then when do you, is it mainly California until you go to college?
Michelle: Born and raised in California until I went to college. Yeah.
Pam: And what made you decide to go to Howard other than it's Howard.
Michelle: Pther than it's Howard. So growing up family reunions, right? So one year we had a family reunion in DC, and auntie Nessa who, you know, very well. Auntie Nessa my, the godmother to my children, my biological aunt, business partner, real estate investor. So auntie Nessa, who was always very much, we were really raised by a village. We're out here for the family reunion. She grabs Myesha, my sister and I, and she's like, hHey, let's hop on the train. We hop on the train in DC, We go to Howard university and I'm like, [gasps] Drool, drool, drool, ust beautiful black people everywhere.
Pam: Everywhere.
Michelle: I went to the bookstore, and I grabbed a course booklet, right. A booklet of all the courses and took it home with me. And I had it forever. From that point on, I kept telling people I'm going to Howard. That's where I wanted to go. And I'm the type of per-- and I feel, I know this is gonna come through with probably all of my daughters, but I'm the type of person that once I say something, I'm going to do it. So like, I didn't really look at any of the others schools, I just made it happen.
Pam: So you fell in love with the school and you were like, this is where I'm going.
Michelle: And I think a lot of it had to do with the culture at that time, right. There were School Daze, which is a move about HBCUs. There was Different World, which was a sitcom about HBCUs. So I think that that representation of Claire Huxtable, you know, Fruity, those guys going into a different world and just seeing like that black excellence represented, it just really made a difference.
Pam: So cool. What did you study in Howard?
Michelle: So initially I was pre-med for three years.
Pam: What?
Michelle: I know.
Pam: Pre-med and then you switched to what?
Michelle: To business. That's always been my interest, marketing, business. And so then I just started working.
Pam: Literally.
Michelle: Literally. And I started businesses literally. Right. All kind of businesses. Oh my gosh. This is so embarrassing. Like, I don't talk about any of this stuff. A couple of girlfriends and I, we did a bikini car wash called The Hot Body Shop.
Pam: Oh my gosh!
Michelle: I turn everything into a business and you're learn, you know, this about me now. Right? It's like, it has to be a business, right? Yes. So then we did event planning called Fomora.
Pam: Oh my gosh.
Michelle: And so my best friend, Melissa, she's from New York, she always said, she's like, you're the first person she said, I remember being at Howard walking up the hill, right in front of the sign. You're like, I'm gonna have a conglomerate. And she was like, what the heck is a conglomerate? [laughs] Right? And so, um, but yeah, I just started businesses and I fell in love with business and I fell and I was always creative. I always had, um, my grandfather always said I could be an engineer, but business, enterprise was just always like where my passion was, but I attacking it from that creative perspective. So, you know, the world was so different because all of a sudden, you know, tech and creative, they were always separate.
Pam: Uh, huh.
Michelle: And then all of a sudden around that time, so let's say, you know, the early two thousands, you know, there was, there started to be this intersection, you know, the hub spots were born. It was like MarTech became a thing. And then I had a place and I was like, oh wow. These two things that I love, there's an intersection. Let's go make this money.
Pam: Of course. How many of your businesses that you started fail? Can we be transparent?
Michelle: Yeah. All of them. I mean, so not necessarily fail. Yeah. They all failed. I will say, they're not Apple, right? They're not, I don't have a conglomerate.
Pam: But did you like close? Like they're no longer existing.
Michelle: Some I sold, right. Living Plush, that one was a, um, online magazine when I was in Miami. And so that was fun. Fun times. I was in Miami for five years. I had an online magazine called Living Plush, we had models. I didn't know what I was doing, right.
Pam: Oh my God.
Michelle: But I was trying my best. Right. So I had, um, build the website myself on WordPress. Like it was cool. We had a huge list. We were-- had videos. So this is before all the things, right. This is still like in the MySpace era, right?
Pam: Yes.
Michelle: We ended up selling that one and then I've always had clients. Right. So I've always had marketing clients and that was just always a staple. So that's probably been the business that was a business line from the beginning.
Pam: Mm-hmm.
Michelle: So, you know, big clients, small clients, government contractors, cyber security companies, um, nonprofits, the boys and girls club, working on anything from like their brands to their digital marketing, their lead gen, and then. Always had like my W2, my day job, which was doing the exact same thing, but for the Motorolas, the Royal Caribbeans, the whoever else, the DOD, you know what I mean? Mm-hmm I had my day job and my other day job, always running simultaneously.
Pam: Did you ever think that it wasn't gonna work? Like when you got, who was your very first big client?
Michelle: So the very first one big, it wasn't super big, but there was a young lady who she was a beach body coach. Right. So she was pretty big. She had a nice big list. She was a beach body coach. She had all these different lines of business that she was promoting. Right. Her coaching programs, all of that kind of stuff. So she was probably one that I was like, you know, is this actually gonna work right? She's in fitness, it's just kind of reselling a beach body product. It's not really her product. So, um, I, you know, my thought process was like, well, let's build your brand, right? So let's build your brand and then just drive all these people to on the things that you do. So, you know, of course we build our blog and her Pinterest and got some videos going actually built out her program. So that one, initially I was kind of like, eh, I don't. But I think for the most part, because I never really went in thinking that I couldn't do it. I know that sounds so bad.
Pam: That's awesome!
Michelle: I think because I have the creative side that I have such a like strategy and technical side that I kind of like dot most of the Ts and cross most of the Is. What is it? Uh, under promise and over deliver?
Pam: Yes. Okay. So let's take a quick coffee break.
***
Pam: Michelle, do you drink coffee?
Michelle: I love coffee.
Pam: Yeah?
Michelle: I love coffee. I'm drinking tea now, but yes, I'm a coffee drinker.
Pam: Yeah. Cause it's what, yes. It's like noon your time.
Michelle: It doesn't matter. I'll drink it at like five o'clock at night.
Pam: Really? I mean, you don't sleep. So I guess. How many hours of sleep do you get a day?
Michelle: Uh, you know, more now than I probably ever have.
Pam: Yeah?
Michelle: So I, I usually [inaudible] out around midnight. I'm a night owl, so I like to stay up till like two, three, and then I really like to get up early, but it's just not my jam. So at this, you know, young age, I've decided...
Pam: Well, cuz you don't go to bed.
Michelle: Yeah. [laughs] I love coffee.
Pam: What kinda coffee do you drink?
Michelle: Ooh, Columbian roast. I like it black.
Pam: Nice.
Michelle: So I like anything that's strong and it has to have flavor because I like it black. Like I love the taste of coffee.
Pam: Mm-hmm I drink my coffee black too.
Michelle: Yeah.
Pam: I mean, it's the way to drink the coffee, you know?
Michelle: Yes.
Pam: Do you have a favorite coffee shop?
Michelle: Oh, so I do not. I used to, I can't remember the name of it. And, um, we featured it before in Alexandria, Arlington, Virginia, but it was pre COVID. So I kind of stopped going to most of those places.
Pam: Right. I know. I am drinking Magic Mind and today I made it into a warm kind of latte. Normally I make it iced. And I'm not sure if I like it hot, I added pea milk, like P-E-A milk, not like regular milk. And so that kind of made it a little funky. So we'll see if I try it again warm. I might stick to the cold Magic Mind. Which is matcha tea, honey, adaptogenics, mushrooms, like things for the brain. Super fun.
Michelle: Yay.
Pam: So that's what I'm drinking. Cuz this is my midday drink. I only have one cup of coffee a day now cuz I I'm trying to reset my adrenals. And so too much coffee kinda like messes with them. So one cup and then the matcha tea. Okay, let's go back to the show.
***
Pam: How did you get into real estate?
Michelle: So I come from a real estate family. Auntie Nessa has been in real estate since forever. She's been buying and selling and mostly holding, um, individual properties in Southern California and Northern California. My grandparents have always, you know, they were military. So from the moment I was born, they've always owned a home and they've always leveraged the home for other things. Right?
Pam: So smart.
Michelle: Yeah. And they always, they believe in paying off debt and paying off credit and all that kind of stuff. So I've always had a passion for real estate, primarily from the investment side. And so we had just had Trinity, I think we just had baby one or baby two Trinity or Eden and Dwight and I were like, all right, now it's time for us to really make this move. We both love, love, love real estate. What are we gonna do? So we're saying, okay, how can we leverage our [inaudible] skills to serve, because service is always first. We always put service first. So how can we leverage our skills to serve into this new space, into the real estate space? And so, um, we decided I was gonna get my license, which I did. I first I had my Maryland license, I had class. I was still nursing Trinity, baby number one, when I took my first class, they've been in like so many properties. And so that's how we came into it. So we started off with serving other people through helping them buy, sell, and invest in real estate. And then from there we grew the brand Luxury and Legacy, which is all about again, serving people by giving them the roadmap to creating a legacy, or generational wealth, whatever that means to them, whether it's, you know, family recipes, whether it photos, whether it's stories, whether it's a life insurance, whether it is a estate or trust or real estate stocks, bonds, crypto, NFTs, whatever it is, that's gonna help you, um, build a legacy for many generations to come, for your children, for your community, for, you know, the global space. And then of course we're investing in real estate, right? So then that's the other pieces that, um, we also are acquiring properties, so that way we can walk the walk and talk the talk. And I just say, hey, this is what you should do, but this is what we're doing. And this is how you can do it too.
Pam: So fun. You went super fast. I have questions.
Michelle: Sorry, you know me.
Pam: Yeah. Did you meet your husband in school? How did you meet?
Michelle: No, I returned from Miami 2009. We met shortly after, like literally within months we met, we were both playing wing woman and wing man to some of our friends. He was with one of his friends. I was with one of my girlfriends. They had hooked up, like met, not hooked up like that, but they had met and they were going on a date. So we both, um, they both wanted someone to come. We both came along and the rest is history. Here we are, nine years and three babies later and they never went on another date again. Everyone always asked. They're like, so what happened to them? That was their last date. That was their first to last.
Pam: So your friends went on a date, so you two could meet. Literally. That was the purpose of them going on a date.
Michelle: Yes.
Pam: Oh my gosh. So cool.
Michelle: I know.
Pam: How fun! It's been nine years. You have three kids. So you've been in real estate for nine years.
Michelle: No, no, no. We've been in real estate since maybe let's say six years, five, six years.
Pam: Cause you don't, you don't have babies immediately.
Michelle: Right. We met in '09, married in 2011. First baby was 2013, and then 2015, and then 2017.
Pam: Ok! Wasting no time. Making little humans.
Michelle: Now the shop's closed.
Pam: But that's great, because they're like how old are they, six, four and three?
Michelle: Yes. Yes.
Pam: I mean, they're like take care of each other.
Michelle: Built in best friends.
Pam: Yes, 100%. So who's been your biggest mentor when it comes to real estate?
Michelle: Ooh. When it comes to real estate, who's been my biggest-- Auntie Nessa, hands down. I mean, I don't have to think about that one.
Pam: Mm-hmm.
Michelle: You know, she's my mentor in many, many ways. And then, um, you know, real estate is really just another way of her expressing who she is, um, service first, family first, faith first, and she operates the same way and I've seen her leverage property in over decades. And so it's taught me that again, one it's about service, and two, slow and steady wins the race. Every deal doesn't have to be the multimillion dollar deal, treat every client the same. So it's funny how all these little nuggets are abuelas and you know, tías dropped on us, how they really help us grow to the people that we are.
Pam: Mm-hmm, all the time. 100%. I think when we're in it, we don't see it. And once we're able to look back, then we're like, oh, they taught me all the things. So why is real estate important to you?
Michelle: Real estate is important to me because it is one of the key ways to build wealth, right? So most of the people that build and pass wealth down generation by generation have property. They acquire property, they hold that property and then they, at some point leverage that property. So to me, I just, my mission is to make sure that property and real estate gets into the hand of more people and a more diverse group of people. Of course, I love pretty houses too.
Pam: And, so for someone who is looking to acquire their first real estate property and given the market, how everything's volatile and kind of messy and unknown, what would you say for a first time? And you, you serve a lot of first time home buyers, especially in that area where you live, it's not cheap.
Michelle: It's not, I've been having a lot of conversations with clients of course, because the market moves and shifts. Right. And so the reality is the real estate market is a market. Right. It's a market, just like the stock market. It's a market, just like the crypto market. It's a market. So it's always going to ebb and flow. It's going to move and shake. It'll have ups and downs and the key is one to be prepared. The first thing I'm gonna tell you is work with a licensed realtor, a licensed mortgage professional to figure out what steps you need to do to prepare. So for when the time is right, right. The second part is probably a little patience. No, it's definitely a little patience. Patience one with the market, right. So do not rush or FOMO into buying a property because everyone else is doing that right. Work with your professionals, your squad, your team to identify, um, when is the right time. And then of course, back to prepare and make sure that you're prepared to do so. I would say that the market right now, for me, I'm not like an analyst or anything like that, but what I just see across the board is just the market correcting itself. Right? It's correcting itself from the, the COVID pump of assets and liquid capital. So it's to be expected. And so hopefully you were working with, um, a group of people, or now you will work with a group of people that will help kind of shelter you as much as possible from anything that can be, can be too bad. Like example, one thing I told my clients, especially when the market was really insane, right? When people were paying a hundred thousand dollars over the list price. Over the list price and in cash, right? One point something million dollar property. So, and what I would, um, tell my clients is just be patient, right? You don't have to give up all your rights and everything just to get that property. Now, if you say I'm gonna, that's the property where we're gonna be for the next 20 years. I'm gonna raise my children there, you know, then I say, all right, it's made-- and that's the house you want then it makes sense to be a little bit more aggressive with our position, right. With our offer. But not just because we wanna beat the next guy. If you're gonna be in a house for three to five years, don't overpay for it. Right? It's an asset you're-- it's in holding, right? The value is in holding the asset, it's in the appreciation, right? So when you purchase a house, it appreciates, it becomes worth more. So holding onto the asset for longer, even with the ups and downs.
Pam: Yeah. This is why I love real estate. And when I was 21, I bought my first house because I knew somewhere somehow I knew that the value of land increases. You know, buying the land back. Like for me, California is, is stolen land. Yeah. Colorado, like everywhere in the US. And so to me, real estate is like reclaiming the part of us that was taken from our people. When I bought my first house though. However, when I was 21, the recession happened. And so I lost that property. And for a long time, I didn't think I was gonna be able to buy a house again, because I was like, this is not for me. I don't know how to do it. I don't have any knowledge or anyone to advise me. And that's why I think mentors are so important. Then my best friend got into real estate and she was like, look, Pam, you can do this again. And this is why community is so important. This is why having conversations. And really, I believe just like your declaration in the beginning of like, I'm gonna go to Howard university, I believe telling people what you want. It's really planting seeds because somewhere somebody will be like, oh, she's looking for this. If you know somebody, you know, let me connect you. And also you meet the people that are supposed to be in your path to guide you through that process. And so how are you going to connect the crypto space? Because you mentioned briefly that you're in this space, like you've always been to the tech and creative. And so, I mean, we skipped all the businesses, but you, we didn't talk about the, The Virtual World Business Association.
Michelle: Oh my gosh. The virtual world business association. So, and I, I guess I'll kind of answer your question too, right? Cause you were kind of asking like what's the bridge, right? So all of a sudden you, myself, your other two besties, we're talking about NFTs and Web3 and crypto. And so again, couple things. So one Luxury Legacy of course, is all about helping people create legacy. And what we know is that the 1%, or even the 10%, or even the 50%, right. Their money is diversified, right? It's not all liquid cash. It's not all stocks. It's not all bonds. It's not all real estate, even though real estate is hands down, one of the best ones. But, the NFT space is, um, not even the NFT space, the Web3 space is the internet of tomorrow. Right? What we know is that in order to, um, the people who made the most money off of real estate are the people who bought hundreds and hundreds and of acres, right? The people who still own that property, right. Who still own--
Pam: Or inherited.
Michelle: Or inherited. You know, that's a whole another--
Pam: That's a whole other conversation. But that's what we need to buy now so we can pass it on.
Michelle: Exactly. And so real estate, of course, businesses, right? People are passing on businesses. Of course, people are passing on stocks and bonds and all of that stuff. And they started early, right. They were the ones who were able to be early adopters, get it early and then pass it on. Well, we're trying to do the same thing with this new technology. So when the internet first started, the people who owned the internet, then made all the money. Right. But it was only truth be told, CIS white men and a couple of other populations who had access. Web2 came along. And that was the, the Amazons and the AOLs and all those guys. Well again, who owns the internet? It's the people who have the money, right? It's the it's again, the haves and have not. Well in Web3, it's still that early space. It's still very much early adopter opportunity everywhere. Right now I think it's important. Super important that we build education opportunities and access for the people who have historically not had that opportunity.
Pam: Let's start closing. Cause we're, you know, we can talk for three days.
Michelle: Yeah.
Pam: So you started The Virtual Business Association. How many years ago?
Michelle: Oh, man. I don't-- let's see. I was still in Miami when I started the virtual world business association. So basically it was leveraging a platform called Second Life.
Pam: Yes.
Michelle: And which is like a virtual reality space. And I built a couple businesses, helped other people build businesses. Um, one of them was The Virtual World Business Association. And what we did was basically, it was global virtual people and we would host international business seminars. We'd have people come and talk about their business. That's kind of like where the spotlight came from. Right. Same concept, just IRLish. We had, um, coworking space in the metaverse for people. We had, um, events and social events. It was pretty, pretty awesome. And I'm just excited because now it really feels like so, but back then, any content that you created belonged to the platform where the content was created, right? Just like the internet. Anything that you make in Canva, depending on their terms and conditions may not belong to you. Right.
Pam: Mm-hmm.
Michelle: And so the opportunity now in Web3 is for us to own our own stuff, own our own content or own our own coins. So we own our coins without having to give them up to a bank of America to hold our money for us. Right.
Pam: Right. So they can make money.
Michelle: Exactly. So, and I, I don't wanna go, like get into all the technical stuff cause you know, we'll go down the rabbit hole. But I, I think that, honestly, it's all just about being an early adopter in new technology. Right? If you wanna be an early adopter, even if you're not really into tech, if you're not into games, if you're not into art, I mean, even if you're not into art, wouldn't you wanna own a Picasso?
Pam: It's gonna be worth some money later.
Michelle: OK. At some point.
Pam: And you have futuristic in your strengths, right?
Michelle: Yes. It might be the number one. Early adopter is like the thing.
Pam: Futuristic is my number two.
Michelle: Of course it is.
Pam: My first one is individualism or something. In this Web3 space, how are you going to connect it with real estate?
Michelle: So, truthfully, I don't know yet. Right? I don't know where the intersection of real estate and Web3 will be, there are a few projects out there that are trying it. Legacy leaders, whom I adore, Pili and her husband, JC, Jason, they have the multi-family, um, monopoly, I believe, or something like that. And then there's this another company called Propy that's trying to do some stuff with NFTs, but I think that it's still, everyone says this phrase "it's so early". Well, it's not the beginning, but it's still very early of Web3, the new internet will look like that. The companies we're seeing now are, I mean, they're not even the MySpace, right? They're like the Netscapes like, we're still very much in like the dial up phase. So what the internet or what real estate will be at that point. I have no idea, but I just wanna be a part of it. Now the mission is pretty much to use the early adopter opportunity as a way to help build legacy and generational wealth. So we may not see the, you know, we're not, I'm not trying to have people ball out of control off in this space, but buy Apple at $1 and let it grow.
Pam: And just like, hold. So what does your business model look like now?
Michelle: So I have really couple of businesses, right? So DMV Luxury Homes is our transaction business. So that's where we hope people buy, sell, invest in real estate. The team consists of licensed realtors and biz ops managers. And so we've leveraged basically my marketing skills, project management skills into helping people by selling in that transaction side of the business. Luxury and Legacy is the brand that is, um, all things, generational wealth in building a legacy through real estate, through entrepreneurship. And now honestly, through the blockchain, right. Through Web3. And then we have a property management business that launches in, in September. Auntie Nessa is gonna be running that, based on her years of experience of, um, managing rental properties. And then of course we have our own real estate investment portfolio that we're working on. And then our new baby, I'm just so excited about it! The Fund, right? So The Fund, which is allowing again, underserved communities, historically marginalized communities, black women, Latina women, LGBTQIA+, indigenous women, Asian women, women, period. If you are a cis white woman who reads your Bible every day, we still want you to have access because historically you were not allowed to have access, right, to become an early adopter in Web3, the blockchain NFTs. We're gonna learn this stuff together. We're gonna have community where we can build together and hopefully we can all, um, benefit financially from it together.
Pam: Yeah.
Michelle: That's The Fund.
Pam: That's The Fund. And the average age for crypto investors is 38 years old, 74% male and 26% female, which is so interesting. So 74% of owners are men. Still. And they're over 30 years old. So they're almost 40.
Michelle: Which is hilarious.
Pam: I mean, who's that? The 1%.
Michelle: Yeah, who can, right?
Pam: Right, right. Who has that disposable income.
Michelle: Interesting. But I love that because I'm sure the number for women in the space was a lot lower a year ago. So I love how fast women led projects are coming out the gate strong. Right. And you know, what we know is women led projects are usually gonna be mission focused. Right. They're gonna be a lot of them are driven on inclusivity and diversity and whatever their lived experience make that. Right. Some people talk about diversity of mind or diversity of race or diversity of gender. I mean, there's all kinds of diversity. So I'm so excited for the space.
Pam: Yeah, I have more stats. 10% are Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders of crypto investors and 9% African American and black 13% Hispanic, Latino. Interesting. 1% native American American Indian and Alaskan native. 1%. 71% white. And 1% other. I share this to say the goal for The Fund is to break that concept because in the, in Web2, in real life investments are still dominated by white people. And the global majority also deserves to have a piece of that cake. And so that's what we're looking to, to create with The Fund. And those stats are alarming. We don't want to repeat history, once and over. You know.
Michelle: Yeah.
Pam: So tell us where we can find you.
Michelle: Yay. So all kind of places. So, um, luxurylegacy.com, thefundproject.xyz and DMVluxuryhomes.com.
Pam: Awesome.
Michelle: Those are my homes online.
Pam: And do you hang out on social media?
Michelle: I do-ish, but I'm trying to follow, um, your lead and only be on social media one, one week a month. I'm like "goals". How did she manage that? I'm on social, just Google Michelle Morton, Michelle Morton realtor. Honestly, I'm on Facebook. Um, I do have an IG, which is @MichelleMortonrealtor. I love Twitter, at a virtual village.
Pam: Yes, definitely Twitter. She's like the best at Twitter.
Okay. Last two questions. You have a remedy? Maybe I'll ask you the third one. Do you have a remedy that you wanna share?
Michelle: A remedy? Ooh, so I love for everything. It's crazy. I love lemon. So I love like lemon water with honey, lemon water with cayenne, lemon, honey ginger. And it's so funny. I see. This is why I love hanging out with Pam cause stuff that you have repressed or don't even think about. Growing up in Southern California my aunt had lemon trees in her backyard. In Southern California. And we had lemon, everything, we would cut them. We would eat them, sugar.
Pam: Like apples.
Michelle: Yeah. It's like lemon. So I love, I think it's good for your skin. I think it's good to cleanse your body. So lemon is probably my go-to for everything.
Pam: I love it. Lemon's so good. Yeah. So what's funny is that for me in Mexico, limón is lime. It's, it's always confusing. And Lima is lemon. Okay. And so there's a joke in the Latina community about like the green one, like which lemon do you want? The green one or the yellow one? Because for us is limón, you know, like,
Michelle: It's the same thing.
Pam: Yes, it's just like the green one or the yellow one. And so you had the yellow ones, just to clarify. [laughs]
Michelle: Yes. The yellow ones. Yes, the big yellow, you know, Southern California. So the fruit that grows on the trees, I mean, come on. It's amazing.
Pam: And do you have a quote or mantra that you live by?
Michelle: Ooh, a quote or mantra that I live by. Oh my gosh. There's so many. I would say that, um, just in a world where you can be anything, be kind. That's probably it.
Pam: I love that. And the last question that I normally don't ask, but I ask sometimes, what do you think love is?
Michelle: I can go biblical on you. Right? Love is kind, love is all those things. I believe that love exceeds like all boundaries and all expectations. Right. And of course, I'm speaking from like a Christian perspective. So, you know, I loved how you said that you went to that black church. You're like, whoa, this vibe is completely different, right. This God is a little bit, you know, likes to get down. It's a little bit more forgiving and that's what love is. Right. It's always having a place where you can turn, where you can be yourself. I talk a lot about my faith and that's why, right. I could always a little girl all alone in the world, but I knew that there was someone for me to talk to in the dark, right. My family, because I can lean on my family for anything. Right. I can call them. I can get good wisdom, advice, a recipe, a remedy, you know, all of those things. So to me, that's what love is. It's not unconditional. I do not believe love is unconditional. I do believe it comes with conditions, right? Meaning that for my nieces and nephews, I'm gonna love you through it all, right. But it's, I, I will also have expectations, right? I expect you to be a good person. I expect you to follow the law. I expect you to stay outta jail. I expect you take, you know, to love your parents. So to me, love is. It's just being selfless, um, being selfless, loving yourself, you know, even with loving yourself, I believe that love is just looking outside of yourself, thinking outside of yourself and seeing, and being a part of someone else's lived experience.
Pam: Thank you, Michelle, for coming to Cafe con Pam.
Michelle: Thanks for having me, Pam. It's been amazing. Thank you.
Pam: Come back!
Michelle: Stay shining!
***
Y ya, listeners, what do you think, qué piensan?What are your thoughts on this conversation? I do think that one of the things that I learned from Michelle is to persevere. To keep going. And one of the things that I admire from Michelle is that I don't know when she sleeps, like she's racing, three little kids and running all kinds of businesses and doing all the things well. So shout to all the moms because, oh my gosh, you're amazing. So, let me know, let me know what your thoughts are. What did you learn? What did you get from this? I can't wait to hear. Y bueno, if this is your first time here, this is my time to ask you to subscribe, rate, and review. And now there's a ton of podcasting platforms that you can choose from, that you can choose to listen your episodes from including my website. You can listen to Cafe con Pam from my site. You can listen to Cafe con Pam on Spotify. I, you can even listen to us on Audible. Isn't that cool? There are different ways to rate the podcast. The biggest one right now is Apple Podcast. Apple Podcast is still the one that dominates the ratings and the subscriptions. And so if you use an Apple Podcast player, then I invite you to leave a rating. And a review if you feel called to do, because that really helps the podcast a ton. It gives visibility. It supports the way that the algorithm sends it to other people because the more people send reviews and ratings, the more the algorithm says, okay, people are listening to the show, let's show it to others. So it would make such a difference if you could leave your words and you know, it makes me so happy when I read you. It really does. And I check every day cuz I'm obsessed. I thank you all to those who have left reviews. And it, I know a lot of times I listen to podcasts as well and I'm like, oh, I'm gonna go run and leave a review. And sometimes we don't make the time. But those who do I do appreciate it so much. Thank you. Thank you.
Y bueno, another way that I would love to connect with you is through the socials. That of course, I think you've already followed me. If you don't, I'm on all the socials @cafeconpampodcast. Not all the socials, actually I'm on Instagram and Facebook at cafeconpampodcast. The rest of them. I don't know if I'm there. Maybe I'm there, but I don't post there. I would love to connect in this online gathering space that we have called Discord. And if you type stayshining.club, then you will get an invite. All you have to do is join with your email. I don't get that email. It's just to create an account. You can download the Discord app and then you have it on your phone and we can hang out there. You can learn more about, we can actually, we do have conversations specifically to the podcast, which is really cool. We have a channel for Cafe con Pam. And so we talk about all the things. So I really invite you to hang out there. I would love to hang out with you because I'm less and less in social media. I know. While you might see me posting. I don't go in them all the time. And so I really love connecting with those who listen to me. And this is why I created the stayshining.club.

And of course, if you want to check out how I work, what I do and learn more about me as a coach, you can head over to cafeconpam.com. It will take you to all the places and spaces where you can find how to work with me. There is a start here page that gives you different options to choose from depending on where you are in your journey. And then you can decide if you wanna work with me further, or if listening to the show is enough.
And I thank you so much for being here. Thank you for your listenership. I so, so appreciate it. I also hope you like the branding, PS do let me know. Please do let me know. Y como siempre, stay shining!