Building True Wealth After Tragedy

The biggest thing that I have done as a soloreneur has been getting myself in the same rooms as high achievers,

[music]

you know, highlevel thinkers that have done what I want to do. [music]

He was pronounced dead at the scene of a cycling accident when he was a teenager,

but today he's redefining what it means to be truly wealthy, and he's doing it alongside one of the most influential

voices in personal finance. Welcome back to the root of all success. I am your host, the real Jason Duncan, and this is

episode number 343. My guest is Nathan Barosi, real estate developer, investor,

and creator of something called the true wealth philosophy. After surviving this near fatal cycling accident, which we'll

talk about in a few minutes, he got a traumatic brain injury as a teenager. He after all that, he transformed that moment into a complete redefin.

and he's now co-authoring a book with Sharon Lectar, who you may remember from episode number 148 right here on the

root of all success. And of course, she is the legendary co-author of the Rich Dad Poor Dad series of books. But Nathan and Sharon's upcoming book, Old Wealth,

True Wealth, uh Old Wealth, New Wealth,

True Wealth, explores how to build a life of purpose, freedom, and lasting prosperity. Nathan's portfolio spans medical, real estate, restoration,

wellness, and education. But his mission is singular. It's helping entrepreneurs pursue wealth that extends far beyond money. Nathan Barosi, welcome to the root of all success.

Well, thank you for having me. It's such an honor to be with the real Jason Duncan today.

All right. You were pronounced dead at the scene of an accident as a teenager,

something that not very many people can say. Um, so what happened and what do you remember about that moment and we'll go from there.

Absolutely loaded question. So I was nationally ranked as a as a 16-year-old.

I was top 10 in the nation as a competitive cyclist. I had my eyes set on going to the Olympics, on going to the tour to France, you know, becoming

an internationally renowned cyclist. And I was accomplishing every step that needed to be taken to get there, right?

So, I was the youngest to ever win the tour of the Hila down in Silver City,

New Mexico. I think I still hold that title. And I was state champion in New Mexico. I was state road race leader in New Mexico, top 10 in the nation. I was

going I was going to Europe, right? I was going to go race. And then January 23rd of 2016,

I was training with my coach and my teammate and I got hit by a car at 60 mph.

So immediately upon impact, I was thrown 100 feet and sprawled out on the ground.

I died on the scene. The officer at the side of the scene reported it as a fatality and I was in a coma naturally

for two weeks. By God's grace, I did open my eyes again, you know, two weeks later, paralyzed, right? So a nationally

ranked cyclist who couldn't move. Uh, by God's grace again, um, I was put on a medical flight up to Craig Hospital in Denver, Colorado, and that's where I

learned how to live again, right, as a 16-year-old, as a nationally ranked cyclist. I would struggle to reach over and press a button to have the nurses

come roll me out of bed into a wheelchair in the morning, but that was the beginning of my recovery. And I learned how to live again, right?

Walking again, talking again, eating again, all of the above. So that's really where, you know, when you're laying in bed as a nationally ranked

cyclist who can't move, you really get a mindset shift about what really holds value, right? What truly holds value.

And that of course is our time. What I always say is that tomorrow is never promised, right? So we ought to make the most of today. Utilize our time now and

take action so that we can create the lives that we are called to create. Well, when you woke up from that coma,

what was the what was the first thing you realized about the life that you had been living up to that point?

You know, that's a that's an interesting question, Jason. It's I it wasn't [laughter] I don't remember waking up from the coma. Um I don't remember being

I was in the ICU for a month. Two two weeks of which I was unconscious in the coma. Two weeks of which I was, you know, I had just woken up. I don't

remember waking up from the coma. My first memory is, you know, laying in bed at Craig Hospital, you know, needing to press that button to have a nurse come

roll me out of bed. And really, I wasn't reflecting necessarily on,

right, how my life had changed or how what was different. I just I knew that I was physically and and mentally

incompetent, right? Physically and mentally disabled. And all I all I wanted to do, all I had in my mind was

just to keep moving forward, right? To take the next step on on the progression to recovery. And so that's all my mind

really could could comprehend at the time. And so, of course, now we're here. I'm running a several businesses and my mind's comprehending a lot, right? You know,

raising two kids, you know, being married to a beautiful spouse and running a few businesses. So, my mind's on a lot of different frequency levels now. But at the time I was really just

focused on, you know, taking that next step and moving forward.

So you've said that that experience was a quote rebirth. So walk me through how you went from being in the hospital bed

to building the life and the businesses that you have today.

Absolutely. That's a great question. I think when you're in that situation,

right, the the hospital became my boardroom, you know, the the the rehab center became my classroom, right? I

needed to learn how to live again and and structure my life, you know, to the new normal, quote unquote, right? My new

normal was no longer being a competitive cyclist. It was it was, you know,

graduating high school, you know, which I I was blessed to be able to graduate with my class. And that's really difficult to do when you're, you know,

suffering from a traumatic brain injury and you're recovering um at the capacity that I was. And so, I needed to be able

to move forward. And my my mission since that time was to really help people understand the value of our time, right?

And that's exactly what you mentioned at the beginning of this podcast is my mission, my passion is to help people understand the value of our time, which is true wealth, right? Freedom of time.

Um, you know, generosity with our with our time, with our assets, with our relationships, everything that we can to build the world up, right? It's it's a

very Christian undertone and I know how you you know you coincide with that and I think it really mirrors the the story of Christ right the suffering death and

resurrection we all have suffering death and we need to pursue that resurrection in some regard everybody has suffering

in some capacity whether that be with a family or with with finances or education whatever it may be but we

shouldn't use that as a dead weight to hold us back we need to use that as fuel to launch us forward and pursue that resurrection So true wealth is this philosophy that

you've built your life around now. Um for someone hearing this for the first time, what does true wealth actually mean and what does it not mean?

Mhm. Yeah. So true wealth is not it's not just counted in dollars, right? But

true wealth is counted in the person that you become and the life that it allows you to live. And that is that is

incredible because a lot of people would say, you know, if you had freedom of time, maybe you just go and waste it on a beach somewhere, right? But if if

we're actually able to structure ourselves with purpose and with passion to create multiple streams of income, which does include the dollars, right?

You've been able to do that. I've been able to do that. A lot of entrep successful entrepreneurs who have taken action have been able to do so. If

8 minutes

you're able to leverage that capacity and utilize that to free your time in order to become generous with your time,

with your assets, you know, with with all of your talents and then increase the value of your community and increase the value and the purpose in your life.

That is true wealth.

So, a lot of entrepreneurs are chasing money and then and then they realize it wasn't what they were really after. So,

how do you help people figure out that,

you know, that truism before they've spent decades chasing the wrong thing?

Yeah. And and so many people do, and I have as well, right? I've I've chased the fancy cars, you know, the fancy watches. I've I've made those those decisions, right? And we all do,

right? That's what you need to do.

But this is precisely what my book, Old Wealth, New Wealth, True Wealth, is all about, right? So, old wealth, as we describe in the book, is more of the

long-term tax advantaged wealth strategies. And I I have a lot of old wealth, right? So, real estate, um,

whole life insurance, a lot of tax advantage, long-term planning. And none of that's wrong necessarily, right? But

that's solely focused on accumulation and long-term planning. And that's great. We need that, right? But there's something more. And then the new wealth

is, you know, exactly what you were mentioning, the flashy cars, you know,

the flashy watches, you know, the the moving fast, you know, get-rich quick schemes almost. And there's nothing wrong with, you know, owning a nice car,

owning a nice watch, right? But there's something beyond that, right? There's something beyond that. So true wealth then is the perfect marriage between the

two, right? leveraging the long-term planning and the passion and speed of new wealth in order to create multiple

streams of income which allow you to gain true wealth which is the ownership of your time, ownership of your life, you know, which is true capitalism,

right? Owning real assets which produce real income which creates real freedom of time.

So in this book that you wrote with Sharon Lectar, um you're distinguishing between that old wealth, that new wealth, that true wealth. Why does that matter? Like I I you explain what it is,

but why does that matter?

It matters because I we have and and I've explained this before. We have a generation that at least I'm witnessing

that's getting lost, you know, in their phone screens. They're getting lost in the messages that are that they're drowning in, right? They're surrounded

they're surrounded with words. They're just drowning in words, but they're starving for truth, right? and and true

wealth is going to help people find that purpose. And capitalism is so focused on this, right? If we if we're able to

create an abundance of wealth in the economy, then we're able to create jobs for people, we're able to create wealth

for ourselves, we're able to create generational wealth for families, for legacies, right? And there's there's the key difference is that if you're

focusing just on the watches, just on the cars, just on the short flashy things, it'll be really fun for you in the moment, right? But it's all

long-term, which then of course falls into the old wealth concept as well,

right? That it's if you're intending to build a legacy for yourself, for your children, for your family, if you're

intending to build a legacy and a name that lasts through history, then it goes so far beyond just the temporary pleasures. And a quote that I always I

always go back to is um I believe it was John Paul II. He said, "The world offers you comfort, but we were not made for comfort. We were made for greatness."

Right? And so that call to greatness is achieved through ownership of your time.

It's achieved through wealth as opposed to just the temporary um you know, seeking comfort temporarily.

Yeah. And now you've built uh an impressive real estate portfolio. You got medical flex funds, restoration,

town homes, even a wellness resort in Colorado. So, what's what's the common thread that ties all these together?

Yeah. So, I I wanted to study a particular business specifically. I was actually working with Josh McCallen up

in uh New Jersey. He's the owner of Accountable Equity and the Capital Hacking Podcast. I was his assistant while I was in college. And while I was

working with him, I was I was using that as, you know, paid mentorship almost,

right? So I would I would ask him questions and I would learn so much from all of the podcast that I helped him produce from all of his guests. And I was able to leverage that information to

move forward and acquire my first town home portfolio out in Fort Worth. And since then, I've been able to scale the portfolio. My entrepreneur mind, right,

has gone forward to um, you know, build a few businesses and scale those businesses. And we're in the process,

right, um, of of creating the proper systems um, to be in place so that they can continue to scale at the capacity

that they need to. But my focus has been real estate because that is um, I mean,

arguably one of the most tax advantaged strategies to build long-term wealth.

And that's my goal, right? Is to continue the continue my family legacy.

And so that would be achieved through real estate, which is why I wanted to focus on real estate. Well, in real estate development, uh, development

specifically, not just holding, buy and holding, but real estate development can be stressful. It's capital intensive. It can be all-consuming. So, how do you

keep your own true wealth in check while you're running these multiple ventures? Oh, you caught me red-handed. [laughter]

It is very, it is very labor intensive.

It's very stressful, right? Um, I think really the key, and I've explained this to to a lot of people, the key to

building your businesses, the key to scaling is to hire the and outsource the necessary tasks to the experts, right?

To the people that are experienced in the field, right? So, I have general contractors with 40 plus years of experience that I leverage in order to

scale my developments, in order to scale my businesses. I hire employees that um are that are experts at marketing or at

grow the brand, help that grow the business so much. And that's that is true capitalism, right? Creating jobs for people, creating opportunities for

other people to utilize their expertise to grow the vision that I have set. Right.

All right. We're going to get back to Nathan in just a moment, but first that chances are someone's come to mind while you've been listening to this show today. I want you to forward this

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onyour yourself and you can take charge of your financial future today. Now,

let's get back to talking to Nathan about some wealth. Now, you're co-authoring this book um with Sharon

Lectar, who helped create one of the best-selling personal finance books in history, Rich Dad Poor Dad. So, how did

that partnership come together? And then what surprised you about working with Sharon?

Absolutely. This is a great question as well. So I my mind was open to financial literacy through Rich Dad Poor Dad as it was for the majority of the world,

right? [laughter] And so I when I was reading or after I had completed reading um Rich Dad Poor Dad and and really

obtained financial literacy to that capacity, I thought to myself, you know,

I would like to see where the source of this whole Rich Dad brand, the source of the whole Rich Dad Poor Dad concept came from. So, I I found Sharon Lectar and I

I got onto her website and I reached out to her and I gave her a short explanation of my story, you know, um of

my my near-death experience, how I've been able to leverage my near-death experience and the motivation in

pursuing a life of excellence beyond that. And uh you know, the the accomplishments I've had in business since then. And within you know within a

day her team got back to me and we set up um the next meetings and it's been incredible because Sharon you know

mentorship with Sharon has really helped [snorts] me understand right I wanted to write a book about my accident because it is a very you know inspirational

motivational story right um but that book was all about me right and so what I learned with working with Sharon is that writing is more about it's less

about ego and more about stewardship right and that's what I wanted to that's that's well I guess that's how we've

been able to construct this parable of uh the three brothers you know so we have three brothers one represents old

wealth one represents new wealth one represents true wealth and so it's a it's a modern-day parable on on this whole story which makes it even easier

to relate to for the audience you know for the readers which that's exactly how you know rich dad poor dad was able to affect so many lives is everyone knows

that they either have a rich dad or a poor dad or they are the rich dad or the poor dad, right? So, that's very relatable. So, now they'll be able to relate to the three brothers, you know,

the old wealth, new wealth, and true wealth. Those brothers and see themselves in Cherry Creek Lodge, which is Sharon's location, um her her ranch,

and that is the actually the scenery of this entire book as well.

Now, you've said that identity drives wealth. So, what do most entrepreneurs get wrong about who they think they need to become in order to be successful?

That's a great question. It's so this is this is really based on taking action,

right? A lot of a lot of people have the dream to become an entrepreneur, right?

And they think that they that they can just keep dreaming and it'll come true someday. But what I always tell people is the difference between a dreamer and

a successful entrepreneur is taking action, right? So, so it is of course necessary to learn, learn, learn, study,

study, study. always dive into these books, these podcasts, all of the free content that is out there available for

you to increase your knowledge, your personal net worth, your personal value um just by studying, right? So you so

you increase your understanding, but then you have to be able to just take that understanding and take action,

right? So that's what's going to hold back a dreamer from, you know, a successful entrepreneur is is being able to leverage the wisdom and the knowledge

that you gain through a podcast like this and then surround yourself with a network that's going to bring you to that highest potential um [snorts] you

know that highest potential good that you could become and that will allow you to go forward and take action and then it's a domino effect, right?

Nathan, what's something that you used to believe that you don't believe anymore?

that um I can rely on others to accomplish my own dreams, right? Um I've invested passively into a couple deals,

all of which the payments have stalled.

Um I've relied on some some other people to help me attempt to grow my personal brand. And none of those have none of

those have come true, right? My my dispersements were paused from all my past investments. the people that I was relying upon to help me leverage my personal brand, which is me, my mission,

right? They can't write write my passion for me. I have to be the one to write it, you know? And so, one thing that I've learned um through a lot of pain is

the fact that I just have to I have to get it all done myself. Of course, once you've achieved the um success through

the constant grind and the grit to get it done yourself, that's when you're able to start employing people and you can show them the systems that they can take forward, which is, you know, what I mentioned before. But um that reliance,

that passive reliance on others to accomplish your own dream, it's not going to work.

So, the name of this show of course is the root of all success. So, I got to ask you some success questions. What do you believe has been your one key that

unlocked success for you more than anything else?

That's a really good question. Of course, I think the number one thing that has allowed me to unlock

success is my my network, right? My desire to be around someone like yourself, around

someone like Sharon Lecter. Um the the most valuable dollars that I have spent

have been the ones that I used to put me into the same rooms as people like Ken Maroy, you know, like um Sharon Lecter,

you know, as these same rooms with people that are such high level thinkers, you know, being with Marson Dro, Nick Scalos, these people that are such highlevel achievers and thinkers,

if you're not surrounding yourself with these people, then you can't move forward with your own success. So I would say my the biggest thing that I

have done as um as a soloreneur to to escape the soloreneur lifestyle and to fully accomplish the entrepreneurial

lifestyle has been getting myself in the same rooms as high achievers, you know,

highlevel thinkers that have done what I want to do, right?

Okay. How do you how do you personally define that word success?

I to me success is if I were if I were to write a scene of success, it would be having a delicious

steak dinner with my family around the dinner table every single night and having that be a stress-free dinner,

right? So, every night we get to eat delicious food around our dinner table.

Um and and that is that is what I have achieved, right? I've been able to um we live in a a beautiful area and we get to

go outdoors with our boys every day and play and then we come home and we eat some delicious dinners around the dinner table every night. So to me that is true wealth. To me that is success, right?

because my passion is building my family legacy and that is founded in in my boys that's founded in my relationship with

my wife and um keeping that rooted in Christ is that is the only way to achieve you know success

so based on that definition do you consider yourself successful I would consider myself successful as of

now obviously I'm just starting my career you know I'm I'm 26 and of course you know working with Sharon. Um the the

brand is just on the launch pad right now. Of course, we're about to go out and start doing a lot of international speaking engagements and book tours and

I will continue to grow the brand, but I do I feel successful as of now because I'm able to eat dinner with my family around the dinner table every night.

That's awesome. All right, so as we close our conversation today, Nathan,

I've got three rapidfire questions for you. Are you ready? Let's do it.

All right. one book besides your own that shaped your thinking the most.

I I think The Richest Man in Babylon was a really good book that helped me. If we're talking about mindset shift,

that's a book that is a parable as well. Um, but it really helps you have a mindset shift that I I really

enjoyed that book and I think that that book helped me move forward and and have a mindset shift around m around money and monetary wealth.

All right. Favorite place in the world to recharge and to reset.

I would say Lake Bled, Slovenia was just an unbelievably beautiful place to be. Very peaceful.

All right. And final one. If you could go back and have a conversation with that version of you lying in that hospital bed, what would you tell him?

I would I would just say, you know, keep your keep your mindset, right? Never stop. Never give up, right? Just keep taking the next step. And that's I mean,

that is what I did. And so I would I would tell myself to do it again.

Well, Nathan, congratulations on your success and your recovery. I mean, what it's what what's it been 10 years since the accident?

10 years. Yeah. So, we are we are officially publishing my book, Old Wealth, New Wealth, True Wealth, on January 23rd of 2026, which is 10 years

to the date of when I was hit by the car and my life ended.

So, it's a very, very holistic day to be able to publish a international bestseller.

Or you could look at it as 10 years to the date from when your life actually began. Amen. There we go. Yeah. So, congratulations on this.

Looking forward to reading the book. I know anything Sharon does is top-notch. She's a she's a class act. And uh again,

I I'm so grateful to have you on the show. I'm glad that we got connected. U people can get in touch with you at Nathan Barosi on any platform,

Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook or X, or your website is nathanarcosi.com.

And the spelling of that is bo cy for those that are listening. That's nathanarcoy.com.

Nathan, thank you so much for being here. Congratulations on your success and thanks for being an inspiration to people all over the world about how you

can recover from what would be a life-ending accident to turn it into something positive for the world. So, congrats, man. Good on you.

I I really appreciate and I'm so honored to be on this podcast with you, Jason. I appreciate what you're doing and the movement that you've started and I'm grateful to be able to do so with you.

Well, there you have it, folks. another successful entrepreneur, a young one, 26 years old, showing us what it's like to

make a difference in the world and to build true wealth. Listen, I don't care where you are, what you're doing, how old you are, where you live, where you

grew up, who your parents are, what limitations you have. Nathan's story,

among many others that I've interviewed on this this show, prove that none of that matters. All of those are starting points for something [music] great. So

listen, until you get hit at 60 mph riding a bicycle, let's not talk about how bad things are for you. No matter where you're at right now, you can make

it better. You can be better. And where does it start? It starts with your mindset. Just like he said in the book,

The Richest Man in Babylon, which you should probably go read. I actually recommend listening to it. I listened to it and it was it's phenomenal. It's actually a pretty long book, longer than I thought it was going to be, but it's

worth the listen. Go listen to that and you're going to really like it because it teaches you about how to get your mindset right because even if your body

is in a coma, even if your body is flat on a bed and you can't move and you're paralyzed, your mindset is still under your own control. That's the one thing that God gave us supreme control over.

And that's [music] how we think. So use it the right way. Thank you for tuning in this week to hear me interview somebody. I want to encourage you to

listen again next week when I interview yet another very successful person about his or her story of success. Until then,

as always, I am the real Jason Duncan and Jesus is King. Attention business owners.

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