Wendell’s Weekly Wins and Whiffs

🏆 Win of the Week: A New Ride, A New Show, and Deals in Motion

A few things worth celebrating this week.

First, I traded in the Raptor and drove home in a 4Runner. I got great value on the trade and I am genuinely excited about this SUV/truck. I’ll miss the raptor, but there is a well known fact that when a Ford hits over 100,000 miles, the clock is ticking. So I got rid of it fast as I did already start feeling things going wrong with it. The 4Runner fits where I am right now. I plan to drive it for a long time and make it a little better with some upgrades along the way. You can really make these things look awesome and take them on some off-roading trips! One thing I did not expect but definitely appreciate is that the 4Runner qualifies under Section 179 of the IRS tax code. As a real estate professional with business use, that means a pretty solid tax write-off. A good deal on the purchase and a tax benefit on top of it. It's hard to complain about that.

Second, Beyond the Build with Wendell Butler is officially announced and launched. This has been in the works for a while and it feels good to have it out in the world. The whole point of this show is real talk for real entrepreneurs. No fake guru content, no highlight reel nonsense, no advice from people who have never actually done the thing they are teaching. Just honest conversations about what it takes to build. I am excited to get back on a weekly recording cadence and hopefully help some people who are in the trenches doing the work. Follow and check out the Instagram page out here and links in the bio point you to the actual podcast: https://www.instagram.com/beyondthebuildpod 

On the deal side, one of our triplex builds is now fully funded by our passive investors, which is a huge milestone. Thank you to everyone that puts their trust in me for their investments, it means a ton! The other triplex is just getting started on the capital raise conversations. Both are moving in the right direction and we are grateful for every investor who has partnered with us on these projects.

💨 Whiff of the Week: Personal Block on the Back Burner Again

The deals moved. The brand launched. The team executed. And I still dropped the ball on the things that only I can control.

Workouts were not consistent. Diet was off. I treated myself to food when I felt burned out and I know that pattern well by now. The GHL CRM buildout only got partial traction as well.

The honest answer is the week got consumed by deal flow and reactive work and I let that be the excuse… again. When the calendar fills up, the personal block is always the first thing that gets bumped. Exercise, reading, sauna, cold plunge. All of it slides when I do not protect it aggressively.

The fix is not complicated, but it does require discipline. I need to get to bed earlier so I can be up by at least 6am and lock in the personal foundation block before the day has a chance to take over. That block is not a luxury. It is the infrastructure everything else runs on. When it falls apart, everything else eventually follows. I have been staying up to midnight lately just working, which is no go. I need to start hitting the hay at the latest 10pm so I can wake up early, get my personal stuff in and in turn that will make everything else better.

Naming it. Not accepting it. Working to fix it over the upcoming week.

🎯 Tactical Tip of the Week: Your Personal Block Is Non-Negotiable

Here is something I have learned the hard way more than once. If you consistently put your personal foundation on the back burner, the burnout is not a matter of if. It is when.

Most builders I know are great at protecting business commitments. Investor calls get on the calendar. Deal deadlines get met. Team check-ins happen. But the personal stuff? The workout, the walk, the quiet morning, the thing that actually refuels you? That is the first thing that gets traded away when life gets loud.

And it feels fine at first. You tell yourself you will get back to it when things slow down. But things do not slow down. They compound. And eventually your output drops, your patience shortens, your decisions get worse, and you start running on empty without even realizing it.

The fix is simple, but it requires treating your personal block like an unmovable meeting with your most important client. Because it is. For me that means lights out earlier, up by 6am, and the first 3 hours of the day belong to me before anyone else gets access.

👉 Action Step: Pick one non-negotiable personal habit this week. Block it on your calendar like a board meeting. Do not move it. Do not skip it. Do it for five days straight and see how the rest of your week changes.

🔦 From the Field: Capital Tied Up and Watching the Clock

This one is real and it is happening right now.

We have a fix and flip and a new build side by side that have both been grinding along longer than planned. The new build just hit a milestone though. The floors went in this week and the kitchen is taking shape. The fix and flip is actually around the same point now which is good. Seeing it come together is genuinely exciting after everything this project has been through.

But I would be lying if I said the excitement was not mixed with urgency. We have a significant amount of capital tied up in both of these projects and the longer they sit, the more carrying costs eat into the margin. The flip in particular has had issues pile up in a way nobody planned for. At this point we are targeting a break even outcome at best because this deal went upside down. That stings. But breaking even on a project with this many headwinds is still a finish, and finishing is what matters.

The lesson is one the market keeps teaching. Carrying costs are silent killers. Every week a project is not moving is a week you are paying for it. When timelines slip, margins compress, and what looked like a great deal on paper starts looking a lot different.

The floors are in. The kitchen is coming. We are close, we can see the light!

🎤 Final Word

This week had real wins and real accountability moments and I am not going to pretend otherwise.

Deals are moving. The brand is live. The team is executing. Flip Fuel is building. Those are all real. And my personal foundation slipped again and the CRM buildout needs more dedicated time.

What I keep coming back to is this. You can build a great business and still lose if you are not taking care of yourself in the process. The personal block is not separate from the mission. It is the foundation the mission is built on. I know this. I am going to live it better next week.

The floors are in on the new build. Deals are in underwriting. Beyond the Build is officially live. The machine keeps growing.

Let's get it. 💥

Keep growing or die,