Wendell’s Weekly Wins and Whiffs

🏆 Win of the Week: Our Biggest New Build Yet, Plus Beyond the Build Goes Live

Two big wins to share this week and they both speak to the same theme... leveling up.

First, we closed on the land last week to build three townhomes, side by side by side. Collective ARV on the project comes in around $1.11M and this is the biggest new build we have ever taken on. What makes it hit different is the trajectory. We only really started doing new builds at the end of last year. Single family was the entry point. Now we are tripling the unit count on a single deal and stacking three townhomes in a row.

On top of that, we have land under contract for a set of luxury duets with a combined ARV around $1.7M. And before anyone reads those numbers and thinks I am clearing the ARV... no. That is the top of the funnel, not the bottom. The profit is solid, but it is nowhere near the gross. Anyone telling you otherwise is selling you something. Too many people in this space pretend the ARV is the take home and that is just not how it works.

The point is the progression. Single family. Townhome triplex. Luxury duets. That is not by accident. It is the result of constantly pushing to grow, take bigger swings, and not get comfortable with what worked last quarter. The goal has never been to repeat. It is to level up every time we step back to the plate.

Second win, the first episode of Beyond the Build with Wendell Butler officially dropped last week. You can watch it on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUW3HFWrcbw or pull it up on Spotify or Apple Podcasts whenever it fits your day. The plan is weekly episodes from here on out. I have been loving the process more than I expected. It is forcing me to think out loud about what is working, what is not, and the stuff most people in this space do not say in public. If you check it out, I would love to hear what you think.

💨 Whiff of the Week: Some Deals Just Suck the Energy Out of You

Real talk this week. I have a lot of stress hitting all at once.

We are in the middle of transferring our 32 unit apartment complex to a new property manager. That alone is a heavy lift. On top of that, we have a fix and flip plus new build that is still fighting us, and I just want to get it finished and listed so I never have to think about it again. And then one of my personal rentals just gave notice, so now I am staring down a vacancy in what is genuinely a brutal rental market.

Charlotte is tough right now. Thousands of new apartment units are coming online offering free months and aggressive incentives, and it is hammering rents across the board... single family, condos, townhomes, you name it. Most investors do not talk about this stuff. They post the closings and skip the part where three deals are simultaneously draining the life out of you.

Some deals literally suck... as in SUCK the energy right out of you. I have two or three of those going right now. The plan is sound, the team is doing the right things, and once these clear the runway I will feel a lot lighter. But I am not going to pretend the middle of it is fun. It is a grind.

🎯 Tactical Tip of the Week: Name the Energy Drains and Manage Them Like a Portfolio

When multiple deals are simultaneously punching you in the face, the instinct is to grind harder on all of them. That is a trap. You end up spread thin, reactive, and emotionally tapped out across the board.

Instead, treat your deals like a portfolio of energy as much as a portfolio of capital. List out every active project and rank each one on two simple axes. How much energy is it costing me right now, and how close is it to clearing the runway?

The deals that are high energy and close to done get all your firepower. Push hard, finish them, and get them off the board. The deals that are high energy and far from done are the ones to delegate, restructure, or hand more directly to your team so you are not the bottleneck. The deals that are low energy keep cruising on autopilot.

You cannot fix everything at once. You can pick the one or two that are closest to closing the loop and pour everything into those. Clear the runway, then the rest gets easier.

Energy is a finite resource. Manage it like one.

🔦 From the Field: Trust Your Gut, Choose Your Own People

Some heavy stuff has come to light around Charlotte in the last few weeks. Multiple larger law firms in the area have been exposed for misappropriating funds, embezzlement, and outright fraud. Some investors have been wrapped up in the news right alongside them. And the names connect to people I personally know of. Not strangers in a news story... people moving in the same circles.

On top of that, we are seeing story after story about contractors with absolutely horrible track records still somehow operating in this industry. Liens, walk offs, half finished jobs, lawsuits stacked up behind them, and they are still out there pulling permits and signing contracts with homeowners and investors who did not dig past the first Google result.

I have been lucky. I have not closed with one of the firms in the news. With another, I have done a deal or two, not by my choice, but because the seller or buyer requested to use that firm. Even then, I always use my own attorney on my side of the table regardless. That is a hill I will die on.

Here is the lesson. You HAVE to do your due diligence. Always. On attorneys. On contractors. On capital partners. On anyone who is going to touch your money or your project. And if you feel like something is off, if the energy is wrong, if your gut is screaming at you that this person is not who they say they are... trust it. That feeling is information. Most of the time it is the only information you are going to get before the damage is done.

Do not let anyone bully you into using their attorney. If your state gives you the freedom to choose, choose. Easy is not the goal. Protected is the goal. And the only way you stay protected is by keeping your own people on your side of the table.

Same goes for contractors. Check the license. Check the lien history. Check the lawsuits. Call former clients, not just the references they hand you. The bad ones rely on people skipping that homework. Do not skip it.

Do not take shortcuts. Hold your integrity high and wear it like a badge of honor. Fuck the fraudsters, the scammers, and the slimy people who think they can play games with other people's money. If you feel that way about someone and you cannot pin down why... the feeling is there for a reason. Trust yourself.

I cannot tell you how many times I have felt that exact thing about an individual, walked away from the opportunity, and then a year or two later found out about the immoral and downright shitty things they were doing behind the scenes. It is almost like a compass from God whispering into your ears. Stay away. Listen to it. Even if the opportunity looks like it could print money, that money will probably turn around and bite you ten times harder on the back end.

Which brings me to the other piece of this... keep your circle small and secure. Be nice to everyone, but only trust a few. You will know who to let in and who to keep at arm's length, and that filter only sharpens with experience. Keep your guard up even when you are being warm and open. Those two things are not mutually exclusive.

I have been lucky and genuinely blessed so far. Every person I have worked closely with has been awesome. Same morals, same mindset, same internal values. Might be my intuition. Might be my moral compass. Might be God putting the right people in the room and pulling the wrong ones out before I ever sat down with them. Whatever it is, I am grateful for it. And I am not taking it for granted.

Pick your people carefully. Pick your professionals carefully. And never let anyone talk you out of using the team you trust on your side of the deal.

💰 Passive Investor Opportunities

We have a lot of great deals moving through the pipeline at Tide and Timber Ventures right now and these opportunities fill up fast. If you have ever been curious about passive investing alongside our team, now is a great time to have that conversation. Reach out directly and we will make it happen.

🐝 The Hive CLT Entrepreneurs Network

We have an upcoming event at The Hive CLT and you do not want to miss it. This community keeps growing and the conversations in that room are the kind that actually move the needle.

RSVP here or visit jointhehive.co to see all upcoming Charlotte area events.

🎤 Final Word

The same week can absolutely hold a record breaking land closing and three deals that are eating you alive. That is the business. Anyone who tells you the wins and the whiffs come in separate clean buckets is selling a fantasy.

The job is not to dodge the hard weeks. It is to keep building during them. Close the next deal while you are also unwinding the painful one. Launch the podcast while you are also transferring property management. Take the bigger swing while the smaller deal is still bleeding energy.

You do not get to the next level by waiting for things to settle. You get there by leveling up while the chaos is still in motion. Let's get it. 💥

Keep growing or die,