Sometimes You Just Have to Laugh

The other morning, I got a text from my property manager:
“Call me. There’s an incident at one of your properties.”

That’s not usually how you want to start the day.

So I called him back, bracing for bad news. He said the tenants had accidentally driven through the garage door. He was already on the way over and promised he’d handle it.

About 30 minutes later, he sent me a picture.

It was a single-car garage, and sure enough, the tenant’s vehicle was about 60% inside. The problem was…the garage door was still down. The door was crumpled up like an accordion on top of the car.

As you can imagine, the tenants were pretty distraught.

My property manager, though, stayed completely calm. He went over, talked to them, and even managed to break the tension with one of the funniest lines I’ve ever heard:

“Well, y’all were wondering if your car would fit inside the garage. We definitely know it fits now.”

That one calm, humorous comment completely defused the situation. The tenants relaxed. He got a garage door vendor out that same day. Within three or four days, everything was fixed — and the tenants paid for it.

I didn’t pay a dime. I didn’t lose sleep. I didn’t have to scramble.

The Bigger Point

This isn’t really a story about a garage door. It’s about systems.

Owning property means things will happen. Pipes break. Tenants move out. Garage doors sometimes get tested by 3,000 pounds of steel.

The difference between panic and peace is whether you’ve built a system that absorbs the shock for you. In this case, it was a capable property manager who handled everything with professionalism and a little humor.

And that’s what real financial freedom looks like. Not that everything always goes perfectly, but that you can stay calm because the right people and processes are in place.

The Takeaway

• Without a system, a “car-through-the-garage” moment ruins your week.
• With a system, it ruins your garage door for a couple of days — and barely touches your life.

That’s why I keep saying: financial freedom isn’t about avoiding problems. It’s about designing structures that solve problems without costing you your peace.

And sometimes, you just have to laugh.

👉 If you want more real stories — and a complete roadmap for building systems that turn chaos into calm — you’ll find them in my book: Built for Freedom™: A Proven, Real-World Roadmap to Durable Wealth, Real Assets, and Tax-Smart Passive Income.

Grab your copy HERE.