Wendell’s Weekly Wins and Whiffs

🏆 Win of the Week: New England, Capital, and Proof the Systems Work

This past week was a masterclass in movement while staying in motion.

Started the week in New England hiking the White Mountains with Project Insulnation. If you haven't heard of them, go check them out at https://projectinsulnation.com/. What they are building around type 1 diabetes is powerful. From the mountains I pivoted straight into a real estate speaking panel at Bentley University in Waltham, MA and then stayed for Ascend Summit with some of my friends who threw an incredible event in Worcester, MA. The conversations, the energy, the caliber of people in that room are world class.

But here is what really got me this week. While I was doing all of that, the business kept punching. We raised $400k+ in capital. We got another teardown luxury new build duplex under contract. And I still had quality time to visit with family and hang.

In my last weekly newsletter I talked about how I need to delegate more so I can focus on raising capital and strategy. And I meant it. There is work to do on that front. But looking back this week, the fact that the business was still moving forward, deals were still closing, capital was still flowing, while I was out there living and speaking and networking tells me something is working. The systems are holding. The team is executing. My partners are in their lanes.

Six months ago, a week like this would have blown everything up. Deals would have stalled. Capital conversations would have gone cold. The business would have stopped. But this week the business did not stop. It accelerated. That is proof of progress. That is what a scalable operation looks like.

I am fired up heading into this next stretch because I finally have 40 days without travel ahead. Time to lean in. Time to tighten up systems. Time to hit the ground running. And I am doing it with an incredible fiancée by my side. Man, I still love saying that. That is the win. 💥

💨 Whiff of the Week: Chaos Multitasking Has Its Limits

Real talk. This past week I ate like shit, barely planned, and worked out sparingly.

Here is the thing about me. I am genuinely excellent at chaos multitasking. I thrive in it. There is something about unpredictability and juggling five different priorities that gets my blood going. When everything is on fire, I tend to perform. I move fast. I make decisions. Things happen.

But here is the trap. You cannot live in that state permanently. I can sustain chaos mode for a few days, maybe a week. After that, the un-organization catches up with you in ways you do not see coming until it is too late.

No planning means you are reactive instead of proactive. Reactive mode feels productive because you are constantly putting out fires. But you are not building anything. You are just surviving. And surviving starts to feel like failure because deep down you know you should be winning.

Bad nutrition. Minimal movement. No structure. It feels fine for a minute because you are running on adrenaline and momentum. But then it catches up with you. Your energy tanks. Your mood shifts. You start getting frustrated at things that normally would not bother you. And before you know it, you are not just burned out on work, you are burned out on everything. You hate it all.

That is the real cost of sustained chaos. It does not just affect your productivity, it affects your soul. And I am not interested in that version of life.

This week I am getting back to structure. Back to planning. Back to eating clean. Back to working out. It is going to feel uncomfortable at first because I have been living fast. But I know exactly what happens if I do not. I combust. And that is not an option. Not with everything I am building. Not with the momentum we have right now. Not with my fiancée waiting at home for a man who is present and energized, not a guy running on fumes.

The whiff is real. But I caught it early. That is the win.

🎯 Tactical Tip of the Week: The Power 5 Is Your Operating System

I want to talk about something that has been a game changer for me. The Power 5.

If you follow Andy Frisella, you know what I am talking about. Every single morning, before anything else, you identify the five things that matter most that day. Not ten. Not twenty. Five. That is it.

Here is why this matters so much. When you are running a business and managing your life, there is infinite demand for your attention. Infinite. Every person wants a piece of you. Every project wants a piece of you. Every notification wants a piece of you. Without a filter, you end up bouncing between everything and finishing nothing.

The Power 5 is your filter. It is the line in the sand between what matters and what is noise.

And here is the thing. When you actually do this, when you write down five priorities and commit to them before you do anything else, something magical happens. You finish things. You make real progress. You do not feel like you are spinning your wheels at the end of the day.

Contrast that with chaos mode. In chaos mode you are reacting. You are taking on whatever hits you first. You feel busy. You feel productive. But at the end of the week, when you look back, you realize you moved a bunch of small things but did not move any big things. And that is the trap.

The Power 5 keeps you honest. It keeps you focused on impact instead of activity. It is the difference between looking busy and being effective. Between grinding and building. Between burning out and sustaining momentum long term.

I stopped using my Power 5 this week. Big mistake. I can feel the difference. So I am going back to it this week and I am staying with it. If you are not using some version of the Power 5, start. Tomorrow morning. Do not wait. Your future self will thank you.

🔦 From the Field: Sometimes A Boulder Is Just A Boulder

We have a 2 for 1 new build and fix and flip project that keeps testing every ounce of patience we have.

Seriously. Every. Single. Thing. Has. Gone. Wrong.

I actually did a full deep dive on this on the podcast if you want to hear the whole story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvBAU_hl32I. But this past week we hit another one. Just when we thought we saw daylight and could finally pour the driveways and get these homes market ready, we hit a massive granite boulder sitting right underneath where the driveway needs to go.

And I mean a real boulder. Not a small rock. Granite. Extremely hard to break through. This is the kind of obstacle that on most projects would be a minor issue. On this project? It is just another line item on the list of things that have tried to kill this deal.

But here is what I know. You break the boulder. You remove it. You keep moving. That is it. That is the business. That is life. You do not get to pick whether you hit boulders. You only get to pick how fast you remove them and keep going.

We got the boulder out. We are pouring the driveways. We are moving forward. This project has been a test of resilience, problem solving, and refusing to let obstacles become excuses. And that is actually valuable. That is how you build real estate chops. Not on the easy deals. On the ones where everything tries to go wrong and you figure it out anyway.

So shout out to the team for punching through another one. The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter. 💪

💰 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. RSVP for our next event at https://jointhehive.co/

🎤 Final Word

This week was a reminder of something I needed to see. The business is working. The systems are holding. The team is executing. And I am building something real.

But momentum without structure turns into burnout. Impact without focus turns into noise. That is why I am leaning back into planning. Back into the Power 5. Back into the fundamentals that got me here in the first place.

This next 40 days without travel is a gift. It is time to tighten everything up. Time to raise more capital. Time to close more deals. Time to strengthen the systems so the next time I step away, everything still moves forward even faster.

I am coming home to my fiancée. I am at home with my dogs and cats. I have zero travel on the calendar. And I am ready to absolutely crush this next month.

The boulder did not stop us. The chaos did not derail us. The travel did not slow us down. That is what happens when you build the right way.

Let's keep it spinning. 💥

Keep growing or die,