Inspiring Conversations with Mike Bargetto of Axiom Wealth
Today, we’d like to introduce you to Mike Bargetto.
Hi Mike, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Before we started our business, Axiom Wealth, Katie and I worked your most typical jobs. She was in the defense and produce industries, and I was a career firefighter. We enjoyed our careers but the longer we stayed in our respective fields, the quicker we realized that our employers were always going to have a say over our schedules.
This lack of true time freedom didn’t sit well with either of us as we were going through our early 30s. On top of us each working demanding jobs, albeit having higher paying incomes, we really weren’t increasing our wealth as we had hoped. We were doing the typical things that everybody taught us. Katie’s 401k was growing, and we did own one rental property, but we certainly weren’t living without financial anxiety. This anxiety is what prompted me to start consuming education on finance and meeting with people more successful than me.
What I learned was fascinating. During this process it wasn’t that I picked up a few new strategies that would increase our rate of return- it was much larger than that and my entire mindset around money and financial certainty transformed. I learned that most Americans are simply playing the wrong game with their money. We certainly were.
With a new mindset around money, I left the fire service to begin assembling a real estate portfolio. Along this journey of learning how to best be stewards of our wealth, I came across this whole concept of how “Cash Flow is more important than Net Worth”. We began deploying our wealth into cash-flowing investments like real estate, and it quickly became clear that anything is possible if you have liquidity: access to money. At Axiom Wealth, we show our clients how to put themselves in a situation of control so they can live an intentional and abundant life.
We do this by adding financial guarantees to their life and by helping them create revenue streams outside of their primary income source. When you alleviate financial stress it allows you to put more energy into the other things that matter like your family, your work, hobbies, etc. Today, I have the best job in the world. I get to meet people where they are financially, and help them get to where they want to go.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Don’t believe anyone who tells you that starting a business is an easy endeavor. It isn’t! In the beginning, all we had was an idea to help people with their finances. We had pretty quickly acquired quite a few rental properties and had multiple revenue streams and we wanted to show people that they might be playing the wrong game when it came to their own money.
Leading up to us starting Axiom Wealth, we had learned a ton about how to invest in a way that kept us in touch with our money while producing passive or mostly passive revenue streams. When we first opened the doors at Axiom, we struggled to get people to walk through them. It’s a hard position to be in when you have a strong message to share but no audience to hear it. We were less refined, but we had a lot of enthusiasm! It’s easy to open up the office each morning in the beginning because you are still riding the wave of energy that comes at the beginning of any venture that you are proud of.
It’s later on, when that energy wears off, that separates those who will be successful in business from those who eventually close their business. What probably kept us in business in that first year was remaining committed to providing amazing service to our clients but also leaning on systems and putting ourselves in front of the right people. Our mantra in the beginning was, “Let’s just keep showing up,” and that is what we did.
The wins began stacking on each other. We would get a referral from a client to someone we didn’t know. Then another and another. We began receiving invitations to be on podcasts and live webinars. More business slowly began to roll in. We reminded each other that it was imperative for us to celebrate the small wins along the way. This kept us excited and energized to continue building our business.
As stressful as it was the first year, I remember thinking how alive I felt. Our backs were up against a wall and our two options were to either build or quit. This period of time strengthened my relationship with Katie – both our professional partnership but also our marriage.
We’ve been impressed with Axiom Wealth Solutions, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We set ourselves up for success before we even started Axiom Wealth, and ironically, it’s these same lessons that we teach our clients. The reason why a lot of businesses fail is because of bad cash flow management. Two of the most important financial lessons we teach our clients are as follows:
1) Be liquid. Always have some money set aside for the unexpected. If Katie and I started Axiom Wealth with no cash on hand we would have made it probaby just a few months, closed the doors and went out and gotten jobs again. Having ample reserves allows us to navigate the ups and downs of life and I have several instances where liquidity has saved us big time. (It’s what we do with said liquidity that matters and that is the foundation of the Axiom Process).
2) Alleviate the pressure on your primary source of income with other mostly passive revenue streams. Katie and I were able to lean on our other income sources when we started Axiom Wealth. Our long-term rentals, Airbnbs, and other passive ventures create cash flow for us each month. We show our clients what the options are for people who follow Rule #1. For us, building these streams of income was almost like a game, and we got to be a part of some pretty amazing conversations with our clients who were creating their own revenue streams.
As a fireman in California who fought a lot of wildland fires, I used to physically work very hard for money. Hard days in the heat, long shifts away from family, and, of course, the danger that comes from being in that field of work. If we don’t learn how to get our money to work for us, then we will always have to exchange our most valuable resources for money. That resource is, of course, time! Today, I get to see others’ “lightbulb moments” with these epiphanies, and I don’t think they will ever get old.
Alright, so before we go, can you talk to us about how people can work with you, collaborate with you, or support you?
We have become known for alleviating any and all financial anxiety for our clients so they can truly live the life they want to live.
It turns out that you don’t need to be financially free to live at this level- you simply need to be on the path that you know will take you where you want to go. I’ve seen it time and time again and it’s remarkable. Our Axiom Process is unique. We bring each of our clients through a cash flow mapping exercise that shows us where they are currently and then we guide them to where they want to go.
We stay engaged with our clients and they quickly learn that having an advisor they can trust changes their financial trajectory. If there is interest in learning more about how we serve our clients you can email us at Team@AxiomWealthSolutions.com. Thank you very much for this interview and for the opportunity to share a little about our journey and how we help people reach True Freedom.
-Voyage Phoenix Magazine