The Most Dwanderful Real Estate Podcast Ever, hosted by America’s most sought-after real estate investor Dwan Bent-Twyford, recently passed a major milestone: over 1 million official downloads. To celebrate, Dwan welcomed a special guest, someone she had never met before but was excited to learn from: Jimmy Rios, founder of Rios Business Funding and Rios Business Advisors.

Meet Jimmy Rios: Real Estate Investor & Funding Strategist

Jimmy is the creator of the trademarked I-Level to High-Level™ Program, a financial strategy built to help real estate investors, business owners, and entrepreneurs leverage credit, restructure debt, and build wealth through smart funding techniques.

His verticals include:

• Rios Business Funding
  
  
• Rios Business Advisors
  
  
• RealEstate.com (residential & commercial)
  
  
• A hedge-fund-backed leverage strategy that helps clients grow capital quickly
  
  

You can find Jimmy on:

• YouTube: @riosbusinessfunding
  
  
• Instagram & TikTok: @riosbusinessadvisors

The I-Level to High-Level™ Program Explained

Jimmy’s unique program helps people use leverage, specifically debt, in a smarter way. Instead of avoiding debt, he restructures it and uses a portion of those borrowed funds to invest through his firm’s hedge fund. That investment can generate 3x, 5x, or even 10x returns within months.

The goal isn’t reckless risk-taking, it’s:

• Paying off existing debt
  
  
• Accelerating business growth
  
  
• Stabilizing long-term financial health
  
  
• Strengthening the investor’s entire financial ecosystem

Jimmy positions himself as a long-term advisor, helping clients build, structure, and scale their businesses, especially in the real estate sector.

Jimmy’s Background in Real Estate

Before launching his funding firms, Jimmy and his family spent over 20 years in real estate:

• Fix and flips
  
  
• Wholesaling
  
  
• Commercial investing
  
  
• Residential sales
  
  

His wife handles the residential side while Jimmy oversees commercial deals. Their real estate journey, filled with successes, failures, and hard-earned lessons, inspired many of the solutions he now provides to other investors.

Dwan’s Journey & Why She Focuses on New Investors

Dwan shared her personal story, one that resonates with many beginners. At 30, she went through a divorce, ended up a single mom, and lost her home and car. With no help and no training available at the time, she clawed her way into real estate investing through sheer determination.

Because of that struggle, her heart is with new investors, especially those looking for financial freedom but unsure where to start.

Her advice to beginners:

• Start with wholesaling to build quick capital
  
  
• Learn multiple strategies to find your niche
  
  
• Understand your time is your most valuable asset

Why Beginners Often Struggle With Financing

New investors often come to Jimmy saying they “just need money,” but they rarely know:

• How much they really need
  
  
• What type of funding fits their strategy
  
  
• The details involved in creating a long-term investment plan

Jimmy emphasizes that funding is easy when you know the plan, but the plan must come first.

Jimmy’s Process: Crafting a Strategy Before Providing Capital

When Jimmy works with a new investor, he starts with deep discovery:

1. Understanding the Vision

• Are they flipping homes?
  
  
• Buying rentals?
  
  
• Pursuing commercial?
  
  
• Planning short-term vs. long-term strategies?

2. Assessing Financial Reality

This includes debt, credit score, assets, liabilities, and available resources. Many clients aren’t prepared to share that information, but it’s crucial.

3. Mapping Out the Blueprint

Jimmy explains that you wouldn’t build a house without a blueprint. Investing is no different. A structured plan prevents beginner mistakes that can take years to recover from.

His motto: “Go slow to go fast.”
If you set up properly from the beginning, you can scale quickly—without the painful setbacks many investors experience.

The Cost of Not Valuing Your Time

Dwan shared one of her own early mistakes: trying to save money by doing all the rehab work herself, including laying tile to save $100. In reality, she lost valuable time she could have spent finding more deals, something many new investors also struggle with.

Time is money, and learning when to leverage other people’s skills is a major turning point for investors.

Success in real estate is often a mix of strategy, mindset, and mentorship. In this conversation between Dwan Bent-Twyford and Jimmy Rios, the two dive deep into the emotional, financial, and practical challenges new investors face, and how to overcome them with the right tools and guidance.

Mistakes vs. Mentors: Why Guidance Matters

Dwan opens by reminding listeners that learning happens in two ways: mistakes or mentors. Mistakes can be costly, not just financially, but mentally. A single misstep can derail confidence, trigger doubt, and push someone out of the business completely.

Jimmy agrees, highlighting that the mental side of investing is one of the biggest hurdles. New investors enter the field full of ideas but quickly get discouraged. His advice?
Start thinking in terms of opportunity, optimism, and success, instead of scarcity and fear.

The Power of Mindset in Real Estate

Jimmy emphasizes that not everyone can take on the real estate journey, especially the emotional part. It takes courage, adaptability, and a willingness to face challenges head-on. He encourages investors to lean on mentors who can “light the path” and help them avoid unnecessary pitfalls.

New investors often spiral into negative thinking like “I can’t do this” or “I don’t know enough.”
Jimmy flips that narrative:
“You’re doing what most people won’t. If everyone could do it, they would.”

One Actionable Tip to Start Your Real Estate Journey

When asked for a single actionable step, Jimmy gives a surprisingly simple yet powerful tip:

Pull a Tri-Merge Credit Report—and Upload It to ChatGPT

Yes, seriously.

He explains that understanding your own credit profile is a foundational step toward funding, business credit, and future deals. Uploading the report into ChatGPT and learning how to read it empowers investors to understand:

• Negative marks
  
  
• Opportunities to improve
  
  
• How fundable they appear to lenders
  
  

Jimmy owns a credit repair company, Next Level Credit, and also authored the book “Decoding the Mystery of Business Credit.” His philosophy: The more you understand your credit, the better you can structure your financial path.

Creative Financing: There’s Always a Way In

Many people believe foreclosure or bankruptcy means they can’t own a home again anytime soon. Jimmy breaks that myth down completely.

His approach involves:

• Removing or improving negative credit items
  
  
• Using creative financing such as wholesale deals, hard money loans, DSCR loans, and asset-based lending
  
  
• Getting someone into a property first, then refinancing later with better credit
  
  

He explains that bankruptcies and foreclosures don’t have to define someone’s financial future. With the right strategy, homeowners can recover, rebuild, and reenter the market.

Helping Homeowners Through Foreclosure

Dwan, who specializes in buying homes from owners facing foreclosure, shares how homeowners often feel defeated, angry, or ashamed. Many swear they’ll “never own another house again.”

She knows better, within a few years, most want to buy again.

Jimmy’s credit repair expertise now gives her a new resource to help these homeowners transition from crisis to recovery.

Using Technology to Shorten the Learning Curve

Jimmy encourages everyone, investors and homeowners alike, o test the Tri-Merge credit report + ChatGPT method themselves.
Technology today can cut the learning curve dramatically and give people clarity faster than ever before.

Getting to Know Jimmy Rios

The conversation shifts gears as Dwan asks Jimmy some fun personal questions:

• Favorite band: Metallica
  
  
• Favorite food: Steak and potatoes
  
  
• Favorite time of day: After 3 PM—family time and decompressing
  
  
• Life philosophy: Balance, presence, and putting the phone away to be with loved ones
  
  

Dwan relates, sharing her own love for evenings with her husband in their beautiful Colorado mountain home.

Jimmy’s Big Goal: Growing His “Eye Level to High Level” Community

Jimmy’s mission is to bring more people into his educational movement:
Eye Level to High Level.

His YouTube channel, Real Business Funding, features over 50+ videos, tutorials, and podcasts designed to help people elevate their thinking, funding, and financial future.

He believes:
“It takes a village. It’s easier together than alone.”

Listen, Learn, and Stay Dwanderful

The conversation between Dwan and Jimmy made one message clear: success in real estate is a blend of mindset, mentorship, and the willingness to take meaningful action. Whether it’s understanding your credit, embracing creative financing, or learning from seasoned investors who have walked the hard paths before you, every step you take builds the foundation for long-term success. Both Jimmy and Dwan show that real estate isn’t just about deals, it’s about growth, confidence, strategy, and believing you’re capable of more than your fears tell you.

And if you’re ready to take the next step in your own journey, Dwanderful, Dwan’s platform as a real estate investor, educator, and podcast host, offers powerful tools to help you build momentum. You can grab her free book “Real Estate Lingo”, which breaks down the terms every investor must know, or dive deeper with her paid guide, “Five Pillars of Real Estate Investing,” a transformative resource for building a sustainable investing strategy. For a fun and fast way to understand where you fit in the real estate world, don’t miss her quick quiz game that reveals how you could generate six figures in the next six months, whether you’re buying your first property or your next. It takes less than a minute, and it just might show you the path you’ve been searching for.

From leveling up your mindset to leveling up your income, staying Dwanderful means staying open, learning freely, and taking inspired action, all things that Dwan and Jimmy champion throughout their work. Contact us now!