We’re often blindsided just when everything seems perfect. Dr. David Phelps learned that lesson the hard way when his daughter suddenly faced a life-threatening health crisis.
But instead of letting that derail him, he turned it into an opportunity for himself and for thousands of others.
On the surface, he had a perfect life.
Time for what matters most
As a youthful entrepreneur always seeking personal independence, Phelps began investing in residential real estate at the ripe age of 22. At the same time, he also began the educational road to becoming a dental professional.
He ran a successful dental practice for over twenty years. While he was working a lot, he was also making great money to support his family’s lifestyle. But then everything changed.
Life punched him in the gut when his daughter suddenly faced a life-threatening battle with leukemia, epilepsy, and a liver transplant—all before she was 12 years old.
Phelps found himself at a crossroads. He had an income that most people would be jealous of. But he also had a workload that severely limited the time he had available to spend with family. And now, that was more important than ever.
So he sat down and ran the numbers.
His analysis showed him that he could sell his practice, reinvest that money into real estate, and replace his income while drastically reducing his workload.
It seemed too good to be true. But he decided to take the risk and he hasn’t looked back since then.
That decision gave him the freedom to spend more time with his daughter while she was facing the most difficult challenge she had ever faced in her young life. It also likely played a big role in her eventually winning that battle and going on to live a happy, healthy, productive life.
But their story doesn’t end here.
Success led to mentorship
Phelps continued investing in his growing portfolio of real estate. As he did that, his income and net worth skyrocketed—as did his freedom. This model gave him near-complete flexibility to live life on his terms without worrying about where money was coming from.
Soon, his friends, many of which were still practicing dentists, began asking him about his new lifestyle. They were curious how he was supporting himself after leaving a lucrative career and they were intrigued at his newfound freedom. Especially since they were still trapped in the hamster wheel of trading hours for dollars.
When he explained his new business model, many asked him to help them make the same transition. He began sharing advice here and there, and even partnering on deals with them. Before long, this evolved into something more formal, and over time, it became the mastermind and investing community, Freedom Founders.
Driven by a new purpose
In this community, Phelps brings other successful entrepreneurs together to learn from each other, network, and collaborate on deals.
The idea is to “collapse time” by enabling everyone to benefit from the knowledge within the group. Rather than learning from mistakes, as most people do, members of Freedom Founders skip those mistakes and learn from people who have already made them.
One of the hallmarks of the group, Phelps says, is that every member is carefully vetted before being allowed to join. This is very different than most other groups of this type.
“Our members collaborate on huge deals together, so everyone needs to be able to trust each other. One of the ways we foster that trust is to ensure that everyone is who they say they are before we allow them into the group. To do that, we run a comprehensive background check and even audit their financials. Our entire purpose is to help people achieve the freedom they want in their lives, and properly leveraging your investments is the foundation of that. If a deal goes bad, it takes you off course fast, so we’re very serious about avoiding that,” he explains.
Building a strong foundation by only allowing high-caliber members is the first part of the equation. The second part is following a structured learning environment.
The organization provides a wealth of educational resources, but it’s not a DIY education.
They hold several in-person events each year, which also offer a hybrid attendance option.
During these events, experts teach a variety of investing topics. After each lesson group leaders conduct breakout sessions to help ensure that every member understands and can implement the advice shared. Members are encouraged to participate during these sessions, which increases retention of the information while building relationships that will help each member to grow. Phelps also puts accountability partners in place to ensure that members stay on track.
And the third part of the equation is underwriting.
Rather than just leaving Freedom Founders members to put deals together on their own, Phelp’s team underwrites each deal to validate it. This eliminates any potential uncertainty.
He says, “I refuse to gamble with my members’ financial futures, so we underwrite every deal ourselves. It’s a substantial additional overhead cost for us, but the highest degree of safety is what we’re about. I believe it’s the right thing to do to ensure the success of my members. I only want to put them into deals that I can personally vouch for.”
A path to serve even more people
Phelps understood that becoming a member of Freedom Founders is not realistic for a lot of people because of its price tag.
So last year, he started working on his latest book. Own Your Freedom, which outlines many of the principles taught in his group and was released on October 12th, 2021.
“I wanted to create something that the average person could use to start gaining their own freedom. So I documented the lessons and processes we use within the group to empower our members and distilled them into a book that anyone can afford,” Phelps explains.
He is on a mission to transform lives.
Dr. David Phelps turned a crisis into his own financial freedom, then into a life-changing community. Now he wants to do the same for as many people as he can.
He says, “It’s more than just a business. It’s about creating financial freedom and a family legacy for others. And it’s about creating a more secure future for America.”