How a Widow Turned Tragedy Into a Real Estate Empire

I went to law school, failed the bar exam.

“My husband and I got married, got into a lot of debt,”

student loans, credit cards, all that. And then he got stage four colon cancer three years ago. And so I'm a widow as well. So building success through trauma and the way I've done it is discipline, commitment,

and consistency. - Hillary Cheney is a resilient visionary and purpose-driven real estate investor. And the founder of Lexington Family Investments LLC. Drawing from her journey of overcoming profound personal loss,

she empowers individuals to rebuild their lives and reclaim their strength, creating a lasting legacy of hope, transformation, and fearless leadership. - Somebody told me good debt builds well,

and that's scary to think of like taking this, you know, $500 and putting into something that will start to earn for you. But that mentality of like spending smart money to build is where I am too financially have the freedom and peace

that I have.

And having, that's the monster,

not having money is the monster under my bed. So when I tackle that problem, getting a credit counselor and getting a financial planner, the monster's gone. And so I can succeed.

(upbeat music) - It spans the goal. Like a super high school, enter their health. (indistinct) Today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone.

It's not over, I'm telling how we're... - The living your legacy podcast, for those who live to leave a legacy. (indistinct) (indistinct)

Oh, that is sensational. (upbeat music) Open, check up on what's the latest and call in response is not on the planet. You can live your dreams.

- Welcome back to another episode of the Living Your Legacy podcast for Insight Success. I am Rade Getsira's. Joining me today, moments before we film our episode

for Women in Power is the Rade Getsira. Don't tell me Hillary Cheney, quite the name. And I've got some show notes waiting for this. Hillary Cheney is a federal law clerk, a real estate mini-mobile,

and an advocate for finding the gold and others. Is that correct? - Yes, that's right. - Welcome to the show. - Thank you so much for having me.

- We are moments away from film your women in power episode, Hill. Can I call you Hill? (indistinct) - All volleyball nick name.

Come on, Hill. - Good, good, that's great. What are we gonna learn about you in your Women in Power episode? - Just getting through the mess

that everybody gets through. And it's been a lot, you know, I was diagnosed by Polar in my 20s. I went to law school, failed the bar exam. My husband and I got married, got into a lot of debt,

student loans, credit cards, all that. And then he got stage four call in cancer three years ago. And so I'm a widow as well. So building success through trauma

and the way I've done it is his three words. Nathan, my soulmate's three words were discipline, commitment, and consistency. And just find something you can do that you're able to do.

Like people would say, oh, go keto or stop drinking or yeah, those things are hard. Find something you can incorporate daily that's good and you can do and just keep doing it. - Yeah.

- Easy wins. That's also, that's the thing. - It's not back to quick wins, let's say quick wins. That easy wins because even the word easy is kind of like like, I don't want hard wins.

So it's hard wins. - Yeah. - Looking for quick wins. Thank you again for being on the show. I got to ask, what is your day-to-day like today?

I want to focus on your present day and let's start from the top before we rewind a little bit. What is your day-to-day like? What are your daily affirmations every morning?

“- Sure, well, honestly, my trick when I figured out”

two years ago that real estate investing was gonna be my future and went from zero rental properties to five in two years. - Wow. - Was I said, what do I look at on my phone

first thing in the morning? Like, what is that? What is my interest right when I wake up right before I even got out of bed? And it was Zillow and interest rates

and the markets and Airbnb's and all the stuff about real estate.

And I was like, well, I've never done this before,

but I must love it. So I still to this day, five houses later and a successful mogul, I guess, look at that first thing in the morning where interest rates, how does Zillow look?

Have there been any price cuts on houses? I'm looking at all that stuff so I do that when I wake up. - So are you wake up in the morning or are things that always that organic where it's constantly changing or are you just expecting change?

What are you focusing on? - Well, I'm used to change with widow and financial ruin and failing the bar exam and all that stuff. I'm ready for being a weeble and popping back up.

“- Wow, you know, honestly, I've been through so much,”

again, everybody's been through so much, but there's something in me that's just this golden motor, this little motor that was a state volleyball player of the year and succeeded so well when I was younger that just keeps going

My kids are safe.

They're, you know, my dogs are okay and we're gone.

- I gotta ask 'cause I feel like this is a great question for you.

“- What are you thinking first of the power or the woman?”

(laughing) - Gosh, I gotta go with that golden power that's in my heart and that I see another people and I think it's love. I mean, I think that what connects this is love. That's the greatest thing there is.

But I just see other people like you, you're shine, you're smile, you're energy. I just see that and mirror it. - I'm asking, I'm asking. (laughing)

- Not me, I try to draw that out and recognize that in other people and that is allowed me just around myself with people that in my daily life. My bosses, my accountant, my therapist,

all are people that have recognized a goldness

in a light, a shine, and so.

- A lot of folks can just kind of tap out and go, well the darkness has found me. I guess I'm gonna be one with the darkness. You are quite the contrary. You found the light within the darkness.

Can you talk about that journey? - Sure, so really the catalyst for all this, I will tell you when I was about five years old, I told my dad, I said dad and I was a normal kid at that point. I said I feel things too much.

When I look at people, I see everything in their heart and soul, I see their pain and their joy and their hurt and everything. I was like, this is abnormal and it's really hyper empathy and it turned into a symptom of bipolar

when I was diagnosed at 24, which is just feeling too much. And so in high school, I just turned it off. I was the ice queen, I just, you know, was misperfection and grades and athletes and all that. It was very safe in my lane of like,

I don't want to feel too much. And then after I graduated college at Washington and Lee and had a great career there playing volleyball, I went to Richmond, Virginia, a lot of stress with my new job and wound up manic,

didn't know psychotic break, not sleeping or eating for six days, checked into a psychiatric hospital, was diagnosed bipolar.

“And I can remember being there and I was terrified”

and you can die from not sleeping. And so I was in bad shape. Thank goodness for the psychiatric care and for Virginia. But I would have this dream and talking about the darkness. I would have this dream there in the hospital

that I was in a Star Wars world and I was at the bottom of a ladder and there was all this darkness under me, all of space under me and I would be like pulling myself up and I would pull myself up, run by, run and I'd get one run up

and then I'd drop down and my feet would swing and panic, like above the abyss. And so I had to learn, relearn, learn for the first time how to continue to put that arm up and you fall down and you put the other arm up

and it was like bit by bit and when I was at my worst with depression from bipolar, my mom would be on the phone with me four states away, like here's how you brush your teeth, Hillary.

Here's what we do, you pick up the tooth brush.

Now you pick up the tooth, like bit by bit, I have to break everything down into like this smallest bite. When I'm doing poorly, when I'm succeeding and excelling, it's like, it's a breeze, it's fine, I can, you know, the flower, the power woman, the like, okay, I can do anything.

And so, but then you have to be mindful of those dark, scary terrifying claustrophobic moments and learn what to do. - For some of that hasn't been diagnosed and pretty confident, I suffer for a multiple personality disorder

and bipolarness, how does one know? That's something ink right upstairs. - Yeah, okay, so I would say the trigger for me and for a lot of bipolar's in particular is sleep and insomnia.

And so if you're up, like I went before I was diagnosed, I went to my office in Richmond at 3 a.m. and worked on my computer. - Not normal. - No. - You clean all night long, you spend $5,000 in a day,

you don't have, you're racing, you're spinning, you're conny, you're Britney, you're doing everything. - Everything, your brain is racing, it's like shuffling like a deck of cards and so you can't sleep, you're anxious.

I talk on my website, Hilary Beth Honey, about things to do and say if you have a bipolar in your family and certain things are good and certain things are bad. If you're not sleeping and you're bipolar and your family loves you

and they want to do the right thing and they say, just get some rest, just relax and sleep and you're like, I physically cannot. It's the worst thing you could say. - Do you need some help? - I feel like I'm running out of time.

- Fine, I'm just over here, it likes to me. And then they say, well, what can you say is the family and it's hard for family with people with severe mental illness. It's really hard, thank goodness for a great family I had. But what I would love them to say to me

“when I'm spinning is what are the monsters under your bed?”

What is the fear? Is it, you lost your job? Is it, you're about to divorce? Is it just normal stress of school or life or whatever?

What are the monsters under your bed?

and really wants to know.

- It's funny you go there

“'cause I was asked who's talking right now,”

who is the center of voice, who's got the center stage and who has to stick a step aside for that one person to speak their truths or speak whatever they want to say and give that person space.

You can kind of see the, not just with the way I dress or the way I carry myself, there's good days and there's bad days and you can kind of tell one of my having a bad day 'cause everything kind of externally changes.

And it's funny you mentioned being five. I was five and very quiet, but I would just look at folks and kind of analyze and feel them and sense them and I didn't quite understand it.

Tell that to my grandma, because my grandma's very old fashioned, you know, she's 60 and I'm four and she adopted me.

How do I tell my Cuban grandma?

Hey, grandma, I can see and feel everything. She'll just smack me and go, you're just possessed. (laughing) How does, how do, now that it's the year 2026, there's a lot less possessions

and a lot more mental health mindset, generational trauma. What is, how can someone like myself

“that is on that search of self-discovery”

reach you and find you and what are some keywords that I can use to communicate to you better that I need help? - Right, I would say a lot of people say exhaustion, a lot of people say I'm at my limit,

a lot of people say I just can't, I can't even and you shut it down. And whenever I'm planning to come to Miami for filming or to show up at a court case or to show up for something, I have to have a backup plan.

I have to have it, I can shut it all down. And that means just go in my room, shut it down, turn off the phone and if you just say, I can't, I can't anymore, I'm done. But also letting people know

when I started talking about bipolar, I was in a small Baptist Southern town and to talk about bipolar and the things I felt about religion and bipolar was like, what is she doing?

She is possessed. And so to have the courage to be like, so many other people you see have severe mental illness, diagnosed a diagnosed. And when you say that, when you Sam's struggling today,

with depression, with mania, with psychosis.

“And you say that, I think you'll be blown away”

that people open up and they help. People are helpers, people have the gold. And I think most people will probably try and help you if you're really struggling. I remember flying back from Chicago one time

when I was by myself and I was manic and I had to get back to the hospital and my doctors really quick. And I was so tired ahead and slept for days. And I just went under the flight attendant, I said,

I am not a real person right now. You can help and they were like, we'll give you extra seats and here's some blankets and we hear some heads like people see if you're distressed.

- Yeah, I think most people have that golden and now. This world has some very mean people and some very people that do not understand or sympathize with divergence. But you'll recognize you know the people that are safe, right?

- Yeah, yeah, yeah. - For sure, it's kind of difficult 'cause well, you must be good looking 'cause things must be easy for you. Well, you don't have a problem like, no, dude.

Like, (laughs) At the end of the day, we're looking at a microphone and I was saying it's all these futons can press together to create reality. And sometimes folks like you and I are receptive

to also different frequencies, be it positive or negative. And it's us to go, there's a bad energy here. I'm destined to fix this and the majority of folks can't even understand what we feel and see. We really have quite the responsibility on our shoulders

and I hate to compare oranges, apples and oranges, but that's terrible, things to compare.

But losses and trauma is very powerful thing

that teaches us and molds us and it's our job as human beings to kind of see the light and the darkness. How do you keep people motivated to continue finding that light? Knowing that this is an incurable disease,

but it's something that is part of the human experience. - Right, well, it has been talking about it. I wrote a book about it to keep other people with bipolar, it's called "Through the Open Door." It's on Amazon, Hillary Cheney.

And so that gives tips and tools for people that are going through it or families. I love having a stable of people that are professionals in my life that I can count on and trust that I pay money to help me.

Accountant, lawyer, I love power women, so they're all women, real estate agent, property manager, for my houses, financial advisor. All those people trust me, they know me, I trust them, they get my mania, they still work with me

and use that stable and refer my friends to them. I have like success stories of people I've said, okay, your entire street's financially, go see Robin at a mayor prize, go see my financial planner and go see her and talk to her

and they come out and they're like, I have financial freedom and peace, oh my goodness, I can't believe I do it. So referring people to those actual living people who have helped me in Little Rock,

I love it, I feel so good about it because it's helped to me. If I try and invent the wheel every time I have a problem with my kid, with my work, with my houses,

I'll have no time, so farming it out,

you know, another thing that helped me, I was terribly afraid financially when we were negative $300,000 in debt

“and terrified of just bankruptcy and not eating”

and not having any of our disbelief and all that and somebody told me, good debt builds wealth and that's scary to think of like taking this, you know, $500 in putting into something

that will start to earn for you, but that mentality of like spending smart money to build is where I am to financially have the freedom and peace that I have and having, that's the monster, not having money is the monster under my bed.

So when I tackle that problem, getting a credit counselor and getting a financial planner, the monster's gone and so I can succeed. - It's brilliant how you're in this, I'm currently in that phase as well

where I have a financial advisor or someone

that's gonna re-regurgitate my regurgitate.

They're a board, a re-enhanced from my credit and just kind of build these safe zones for I can just create, feel at peace and everyone's happy and it's so important to have that tribe, especially a tribe that is one less voice in your head

that's knowing at your brain, keeping you up at night about tax or about this or about that. Now you can kind of spread that energy to your team, your home base, that's keeping you protected. How does one learn that?

Did you just go to Tony Robbins convention or did you just have this divine download and you kind of express yourself and you're just on your go. - When I needed help and my family's in Virginia,

I'm an Arkansas, I knew that I needed to really do it on my own with my husband and friends around me because family is limited. Family is limited in the skill set, in the patience, in understanding who you are, in having lived long,

like feelings about who you were when you were forced.

So family was kind of limited and helping me. I was like, who are the pros that have trained in this, that are specifically knowledgeable in this area that I could use.

“And as a lawyer, I think I was trained to go”

to the source of knowledge because as a lawyer, you might not know what the heck you're talking about. You say I will find the answer. People say, well, how do I do this like legal case of like child support?

I don't know, I'll find the answer. And so as a lawyer and a law student, you were trained to go hunt down answers. And I was trying to do that in spending my wheels and going in debt and all this stuff

and then I was like, oh, hire people to find the answer. And then that gives me time to look on my phone on Zillow and scroll for new houses to buy. Yeah, you're getting yourself out of the work and you're doing things that are just going to enhance

the entire tribe and enhance your entrepreneurial journey. Well, and I still, you know, and what I did and my kids are around and they're so funny because I did get to start my real estate business with life insurance money after my husband passed

and everybody was like, well, your husband died. How can you say you're a mogul from that? Well, it was awful. It was horrible, it was the love of my life, but I smartly

“took that money and used good debt to build wealth”

and my team to say these are chances to diversify your portfolio and give you rent income for life and help stabilize your kids' finances. And so my kids are like, well, you have a real estate money. It's not like you started from scratch.

I'm like, well, how is that? I mean, it was awful. I still used money to support myself and my family, but it's my kids whenever. I was gonna say, you mentioned Star Wars.

I'm like, it's like saying, "Looks guy, Walker said it in Tatooine, "but look that I have to build Tatooine." (laughing) You don't start from like, the back.

Right, right, but I completely agree 'cause I do have like my word chest and to your point, I'm like, it's going into production. This investment is gonna make me more money and it's just going into production.

Yes, it is a home, but I foresee it as a home that is going into production 'cause now it's gonna just be a life of its own, right? - Right. - And generate where it's just on autopilot

and then I can go, okay, cool. This monster underneath the bed, they really will monster the drought of financial freedom is underneath everyone's bed. And now that I kind of can quiet him down or her.

(laughing) I have the ability to just be at peace and create. And when you're creating a that mindset, it's all energy. And you can kind of see a gravitated magnetized. - Well, and that is so true about little like finding the golden people.

When I even like, we have these Facebook groups. I used Facebook a lot for like local groups, local realtors, the local moms, whatever. And if I find somebody there that's gonna help me, I give them feedback.

I say, I love you. I've never been awesome. Five stars recommend you refer you to somebody else. So I'm spinning this little like wheelhouse of good people that I trust and building their own

financial freedom. And when I found out that I was putting food on people's tables with my real estate industry and my realtor was making money off me, my property manager, and I was like,

helping feed their kids, it was the best feeling that was even more than like caching the money every month. Was knowing I was this little enterprise that was checking along.

doing this podcast, I understand that there's XYZ of folks

that are gonna grab this podcast edited, but those facts are now eating their families and even the casting process, getting you this chair. We are quite the tribe and it all just comes down to this very moment sitting in this,

in front of these microphones and having this conversation, knowing that there is this entire family that is supporting us and supporting you. How can someone start building that family?

“How did you build your first follower, your first client?”

- So I guess I'm not sure I really have clients because I'm buying the houses and then running them out. So I would say followers maybe are the people that my book held. - No.

- And so I started doing public speaking, just in Arkansas, two lawyers and judges and counselors and all that about recognizing by Polar Symptoms, how to help family all that. And people would just message me on Facebook,

like my daughter is by Polar and she's on Lithium, what should I do? And I love the personal touch and the catharsis of helping others. So any followers were like seeing I was by Polar

and could maybe help them with their situation. And that just fed me for a while. That was like 10 or 12 years ago. So then we fast forward to Nathan passing from cancer and real estate.

I haven't needed outside investors. I've just done it on my own and used a home equity line of credit that I just keep using and paying off and using and paying off. - I'm working on one.

- So I know, it is. - I got very good results, you know. - How do you make this work? - I know.

“That's what you have attached to counten.”

- I have attached to counten. - I have attached to counten. - I have attached to counten. - I have attached to counten. - I have attached to counten.

- I have attached to counten. - I have attached to counten. - I have attached to counten. - I have attached to counten. - I have attached to counten.

- I have attached to counten. - I have attached to counten. - I'm more than enough masculine energy, well, but I would say a lot more feminine than masculine, but anyways, that's a completely different podcast today. That being said, where does your power derive from? Where do you think your power comes from?

Is it your legacy? Is it your day-to-day? Is it your zill postings? Where does your power as a woman come from?

- I think it's that I've always been a competitor.

I played on little league boys baseball teams. I, you know, one tennis tournament's in the city of Norfolk when I never played on a high school team. I just was a competitive athlete, Tom Boy, all that, and just wanted to win. I loved winning.

I loved competing. I loved coming for behind. I loved being the, you know, underdog. So that sports mentality took me through the rest of my life, and I truly have been the underdog.

I've been pummeled down psychiatric hospital and debt and cancer caretaker and widow. I am used to being the underdog, and I just get excited when I'm the underdog. I just get a thrill. But like what you haven't seen nothing yet, wait till you see what I can do with this. And so it's competitive and it's ego.

And I, so many of us in the modern days say, oh, ego is bad, or we, we're not as, you know, look at other people and value other people more, or value a spirit more, something like that. ego is us. ego is what we have and what we need to drive and feed ourselves every day and wake up

and do.

And so I've never looked at ego and my confident absolutely do I take advantage of other people

because of it.

“But I think having that ego in your heart is the driver, like, don't be afraid of that.”

Mandela said shine your light so others may shine, and that's that golden core. I see another people I see in you and my kids and the people that are producing this show and all that. I don't know. Well, I appreciate the affirmation.

You're in the recognition for that. Hello, how can people learn more about you and discover your journey? Sure, okay. So there is the website HilaryBethHoney.com and that has a blog and my real estate portfolio and it has a newsletter with some tidbits and helpful tools and that kind of thing.

And then it's a link to my book through the open door on Amazon. They can find me on those socials, HilaryBethHoney on Instagram and TikTok and the socials. And you can also just look on my regular socials, which are Hilary Martin Cheney or Hilary Cheney. And contact me and email me, message me, whatever I love to help people, I'd love to

tell you about like, like I said, like, that lithium dose seems a little high. Not a doctor, but if you're doing, you know, I loved that little conversation with people. Absolutely. So HilaryBethHoney.

It's H-I-L-A-R-Y-B-E-T-H-Honey HilaryBethHoney. HilaryBethHoney. All right. Well, thank you so much for your time energy. We're literally gonna walk down the hall and film your episode now.

Right on. Well, thank you so much for your time. Thank you. Thanks, honey, and I am Ray, not Beth Gutierrez, and we are inside success. Thank you.

Thank you.