Wendell’s Weekly Wins and Whiffs

🏆 WIN OF THE WEEK: Trust Your Team and Watch What Happens

This week I headed to Japan for 10 days. This is a bucket list trip that I have wanted to experience for years and I made the call to go for it. Before I left, I made sure my team and partners were locked in on everything we have going on. Communicated what I would be handling remotely and what would be fully on them while I was gone.

Here is what really matters though. I trust my team and partners to handle everything that needs to get handled. No anxiety. No constant check-ins every hour. Just confidence that they are going to execute while I am gone. This trip is also going to be another real test of what systems we have in place and honestly, if anything breaks while I am traveling halfway around the world, that is valuable information about what needs to get fixed.

On top of that, we just hosted another Hive event and this time we did something different. We did a hot seat. A hot seat is simple. You go up in front of 50 plus entrepreneurs and talk about a few problems you are working through. Everyone then gives their perspective and ideas to help you. It sounds simple but it is incredibly powerful. Even if you are not in the hot seat, just listening to everyone else's problems and solutions is gold. People absolutely loved it and we had an amazing showing of 50 plus people. This is something we are going to do way more regularly. The Hive is not just a networking event, it is a mastermind and this format proves it.

💨 WHIFF OF THE WEEK: The Market is Unforgiving and It is a Constant Mental Battle

Let me be real with you. Real estate is extremely hard right now. I feel it. My partners feel it. My employees feel it. It has been an absolute grind for not much reward and here is the thing, it is not anything we are doing wrong. It is just the market we are in right now. Over the past three months we have made over 600 offers and gotten 2 accepted. Two.

When I got into real estate we were at the peak and I have been building my businesses since then while riding the wave down. That sounds rough and it is, but the way I look at it is if we can build systems and be successful in this market, then real estate is cyclical and when it turns we are going to absolutely kill it.

But I will say, it gets tougher each day. Running businesses is not all the hype and woooo that everyone talks about. As the business owner you are bearing all the stress and doubts. You are handling all the top problems. You don't have a consistent paycheck coming in. It is fight or die every single week. I know these hard times will just make me, my partners and my employees flourish in the future, but I just want to be real and say it is a constant mental warfare of when are we going to hit the breaking point. When is this turn coming?

Just some real talk, but I will let you know something else. After grinding and pushing through markets like these, I swear nothing can stop me and my team. Nothing. Let's get it.

🎯 TACTICAL TIP OF THE WEEK: Build Your Systems in the Storm

Here is what separates entrepreneurs who make it from those who do not. When things are easy, everyone looks smart. You can throw money at problems and things work out. But when the market tightens and things get hard, that is when you figure out what systems actually work and which ones are just illusions.

This is the time to build. This is the time to create processes that work when no one feels like working. This is the time to get lean and mean and figure out exactly what moves the needle and what is just noise.

Real estate is cyclical. Everyone knows that. But not everyone uses the down cycle to their advantage. The people who build systems during the hard times and streamline their operations are the ones who absolutely dominate when the market turns. You are literally preparing your team, your processes, and your capital structure for the next wave.

If you can crush it when things are tough, you will be unstoppable when things are good. That is the formula.

🔦 FROM THE FIELD: The Real Battle Behind New Development is Not What You Think

New development battles are not talked about much and I think that is a huge mistake. Some of the biggest issues don’t come from the actual construction side. They come from dealing with the city, the zoning board, the planning department. They come from getting permits approved and documents signed off on and it is an absolute constant battle of follow ups again and again just to keep things moving faster.

Filing for addresses. Filing for LDIRLs (Land Development Individual Residential Lot Reviews). Getting permits approved. All of this can delay your timeline and here is the thing, you never really know how long it is going to take until you just start the process. Every city is different. Every planning department moves at their own speed.

That is why we always plan for around a 60 day ramp up before we can actually break ground. That is why when we get offers under contract, we are asking for 60 day closes. It gives us the time to close the gap between getting a deal under contract and actually being able to break ground and start moving forward. It sounds simple but this one detail alone eliminates so much stress and actually prevents deals from falling apart when permitting takes longer than expected.

💰 Passive Investor Opportunities

We are continuing to move deals through the pipeline at Tide and Timber Ventures. If you have been curious about passive investing with our team, reach out. These opportunities fill fast and now is a solid time to have that conversation.

🐝 The Hive CLT Entrepreneurs Network 

The Hive community keeps growing. The conversations in that room actually move needles. We are building something special and if you are serious about your business and want to be around other builders, RSVP for our next event at https://jointhehive.co/

💬 FINAL WORD

This week taught me something that I think about constantly. You do not get to choose easy or hard. The market picks that for you. What you do get to choose is what you do with the time you have been given.

The market is brutal right now, but we are using it to build something that will be unshakeable when things turn. We are learning what actually works and what is just comfort. We are stress testing our team, our processes, our capital deployment. We are winning in the down market which means we will be unstoppable in the up market.

Deals are moving. The Hive is thriving. My team is executing while I am halfway around the world living a bucket list experience. And we are closing 60 day deals because we understand the permitting game and we are not letting it slow us down.

This is what it looks like to build. Not just grind. Not just survive. But actually build something that works in every market. That is the goal.

I will catch up with all of you when I get back from Japan. Until then, keep pushing. The market does not stop and neither do we.

Keep growing or die,