The Flat Bill Investor

Jill grew up on the shores of Lake Michigan in Kenosha, Wisconsin, moved to Utah at 17, and never planned to open a restaurant. She got her real estate license at 21, paid off her student debt by flipping her first condo, and built a career around design, marketing, and real estate investment.Then her husband started talking about franchising a bar. She ignored him — for five years.Until one walk around a lake in Daybreak, Utah changed everything.In this episode, Jill shares the full story of how The Lake Break was born: the 48-hour scramble to secure a sublease from Hoppers Grill, navigating an SBA loan with daily contractor chaos, training bartenders without a liquor license in hand, and soft-opening the week before Christmas — because a $17,000/month lease waits for no one.She breaks down what it really takes to build something from scratch when you have the vision but not the industry experience — and how a background in real estate, design, and house-flipping became her secret weapon.Topics covered:— Going from fashion design school to real estate at 21— How one walk around a lake became a business plan— Securing a sublease in 48 hours with no due diligence— Navigating SBA loans and contractor reimbursements in real time— Getting a liquor license the day before soft opening— Building a team you actually trust— What makes The Lake Break different from every other restaurant in the South Valley📍 The Lake Break | Daybreak, UtahConnect with Jill Jones: Instagram: @thelakebreak_daybreak @jillypink5858Connect with Josh Zieglowsky: Instagram: @thejoshzConnect with Zach Spencer: Instagram: @zach_espencerSubscribe, leave a review, and invest in your future. This is the Flat Bill Investors Podcast.

What does it take to build something out of nothing — with no funding, no blueprint, and a business partner who told you no for six years?Russ Warner has been a chameleon his entire career. From running a mortgage company with 38 branches, to assembling longboards in his living room while hiding parts from his wife, to waking up one day to find a TikTok had pushed his product to 50 million people overnight — Russ has never waited for perfect conditions to move.In this episode, Josh and Zach sits down with Russ to break down the real story behind Ghost Boards — a one-of-a-kind plexiglass longboard company that went from 3 sales a month on a Shopify store built in two hours, to national wholesale accounts and inbound licensing interest. They also get into the mindset behind never taking no personally, the "yes, and" approach that's defined Russ's career, and what most entrepreneurs get wrong when things scale faster than they're ready for.If you've ever talked yourself out of starting because the timing wasn't right — this one's for you.In this episode:How Russ asked the same neighbor the same question every month for 6 years — and what finally changedThe TikTok moment that flipped Ghost Boards from hobby to business overnightWhat it actually looks like to scale without a plan — and the expensive lessons that come with itThe superpower Russ credits for every pivot he's madeWhy Russ believes "no today doesn't mean no tomorrow"Connect with Russ Warner: linktr.ee/ghostboardsConnect with Josh Zieglowsky: Instagram: @thejoshzConnect with Zach Spencer: Instagram: @zach_espencer