Wendell’s Weekly Wins and Whiffs

🏆 Win of the Week: Momentum on Multiple Fronts

This week had a lot of moving parts and most of them moved in the right direction.

The Stegall capital raise picked up serious traction. This is a luxury duet new construction project and we went into the week needing to warm up investor conversations and came out the other side with $120K in soft commits and another $60K possible conversation still alive. That puts us at potentially $180K of the $195K we need on our end. Capital raising is a relationship game and when you do the work and have honest deal conversations, it shows.

And to everyone who has shown interest or already committed capital, thank you. Genuinely. You are the reason we are able to do what we do and we do not take that lightly. We are just as excited to grow your money as we are to grow this business. We will always make sure that is a two way street.

On the team side, I fully briefed our marketing lead on the weekly social media and branding routine for Beyond the Build. She owns it now. We also knocked out three to four podcast episodes to give her a content pipeline to execute from independently. Delegation done right is one of the most underrated wins in business. When your team starts operating without needing you in every decision, that is when you know you are actually building something.

We also had back to back meetings on Monday around the Red Rose 32-unit apartment deal. And full transparency, I did not mention this last week but our property management company sent us a termination letter out of nowhere. There was about a full day of oh shit energy if I am being honest. But we pivoted fast, got the right people on the phone, and solved the problem quickly. Those meetings Monday were the result of that pivot. Sat down with our sale brokers in the morning to discuss the sale and then locked in a new property management team in the afternoon to carry us through the transition. Crisis to solution in under 48 hours. Getting the right people at the table early saves a lot of headaches down the road.

The real lesson across all of it: Clarity about what matters most is the only path to doing less but achieving more. You make the call when it would be easier to push it. You have the investor conversation when it feels uncomfortable. You brief your team when your calendar is already full. Each one seems small. Together they compound.

💨 Whiff of the Week: Spreading Too Thin and a GoBundance Wake Up Call

Strength training took a backseat this week. I got a lot of cardio in and picked back up with Krav Maga, which has honestly been a blast. It brings me back to military combatives and boxing and reminds me why I love training that has a real world purpose. Everyone should know how to defend themselves and their family. Self defense is one of the most underrated investments you can make. That said, I still need to get back under the bar next week. No excuses.

The bigger whiff though came from a conversation I did not expect to sting as much as it did.

I was on the hot seat at my GoBundance regional meeting this week and the room made something crystal clear. Flip Fuel Lending should not be my growth focus right now. Tide and Timber Ventures needs to get to where it needs to be first, and then I can shift attention to scaling Flip Fuel the way I have envisioned it.

Here is the thing. I preach this to other entrepreneurs constantly. Focus on one business, grow it, then pivot to the next when the time is right. Trying to grow two businesses at the same time leads to burnout, slower overall growth, and stress that is completely unnecessary. And yet there I was, doing exactly what I tell others not to do.

I love lending. I am genuinely good at it and I have a big vision for Flip Fuel. But for now it serves the business best as a vertical integration tool to support Tide and Timber. The end of this year into next looks like the point where T&T will be where it needs to be consistently, and then we shift gears.

To be clear, Flip Fuel is not going dark. We still have a few LOs with full access and the ability to originate loans, and we are still open to outside investors for funding. I am just not out here aggressively marketing, building hiring pipelines, or trying to scale it right now. My full focus is on Tide and Timber until it is exactly where it needs to be. Then watch out, because when it is time to scale Flip Fuel and take over the hard money lending space, we are coming. 😄

My GoBundance community did what a great community does. They basically told me what I already knew and needed to hear out loud. Sometimes even when you preach something, you catch yourself doing the opposite. That is why the room matters. Invest in rooms that will hold up the mirror. It is worth every penny.

🎯 Tactical Tip of the Week: Read Profit First

My GoBundance crew also put me on to a book this week called Profit First by Mike Michalowicz. I just started it and I am already annoyed I didn't read it sooner.

The core idea hits hard. Most entrepreneurs build a business chasing revenue. You see it everywhere. People flexing that their business does $10M or $100M in revenue. But revenue without smart profit allocation is just a fast track to burnout and broke. You keep pumping money back into the business thinking one day it will all pay off, but meanwhile your personal finances are suffering, your expenses are growing to match your revenue, and you are actually devaluing the business you are trying to sell someday.

Profit First flips the traditional formula. Instead of Revenue minus Expenses equals Profit, you operate as Revenue minus Profit equals Expenses. You take profit off the top first and force your business to operate within what is left.

Michalowicz recommends setting up separate bank accounts for specific allocations: profit, owner pay, taxes, and operating expenses. Every time revenue comes in you distribute to each account based on your target percentages. Your business learns to live within its means instead of consuming everything it earns.

I have always made money and immediately put it all back into the business. It catches up with you on the personal side and creates stress that is completely avoidable. Multiple people in my chapter said this book changed how they run their business and their personal finances. I believe them. I am finishing it fast and implementing right away.

Pick it up here if you want to read along: Profit First by Mike Michalowicz

🔦 From the Field: Know Your Lane, Win as a Team

Had a great conversation with one of our new build GCs this week that is worth sharing because it is a perfect example of what good partnerships look like in practice.

We were exploring whether we should handle the clearing and grading ourselves on our new build projects. On paper the math was attractive. Save around $7K per deal and across 10 builds that is $70K you could redeploy into more deals. My numbers brain was already running.

But our GC was straight with us. They have tried this before and it usually creates problems. When they get on site and someone else has done the grading, it is often done incorrectly for their product. What looks like a $7K savings on the front end can quickly turn into costly fixes, permit issues, and coordination headaches that eat the savings and then some.

So we had the conversation. Openly. No defensiveness. They shared their experience, we listened, and we made a better decision together. Full project from start to finish on their end. No administrative drag, no permit filing gaps, no scope confusion.

That is what the right partnerships look like. You can ask the hard questions and challenge assumptions without anyone taking offense. These conversations are healthy and should come up regularly to check each other and grow together.

Our strength is deal flow, underwriting, financing, and capital stacking. That is what we bring to the table. We leverage our GC partners for their expertise because that is their craft and they are masters of it. I know enough to ask the right questions and push the needle when needed, but my time is best spent on the systems that drive the business.

You cannot be a master of everything. The goal is to master what you bring and then surround yourself with people who have mastered what you have not. The Patriots did not win Super Bowls because Tom Brady also played defensive tackle. Do your job. Let your people do theirs. That is how you win.

💰 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: Meetup Event Link or visit jointhehive.co to see all upcoming Charlotte area events.

🎤 Final Word

This week had a lot of real in it. Big wins, a hard conversation at GoBundance that needed to happen, a book that is already making me rethink how I allocate money, and a GC conversation that reminded me exactly why I invest in the right partners and stay in my lane.

The machine keeps growing. Focus on what moves the needle. Build the right team around you. And never stop showing up. Let's get it. 💥

Keep growing or die,