Wendell’s Weekly Wins and Whiffs

🏆 Win of the Week: The Biggest Build We've Ever Taken On

This week was a good one.

We got a new deal under contract in Charlotte, and this one is special. We are buying land and building three townhomes from the ground up, selling each one off individually. No rehab, no renovation, just straight new construction. This is the biggest build we have ever taken on at Tide & Timber, and honestly, I am just really excited about it.

We already have a $100K commitment for this one, but there is still $20K available for any passive investors looking to make double digit returns. If that is you, reach out and let's talk.

And that is not even the only one we are working on. We are in final negotiations on another deal with the same exact plan. Buy it, knock it down, build the same townhome layout, and sell them off. We found something that works, and we are running with it.

Our cold callers have been putting in work too. A few new leads came in this week that look like they are shaping up to be wholesale deals. That is totally fine by us. Wholesale gives us faster cashflow, and we need that to keep the machine running while we wait on the bigger paydays from the fix and flips and new builds.

On top of that, one of our new builds is completely done and ready to list. It should be hitting the market any day now, which is exciting to finally see come together. And all of our other active projects are continuing to move forward as well.

Outside of Tide & Timber, everything else is moving too. A new mailer just dropped, so more leads should be coming in soon. Flip Fuel Lending has a handful of loans processing right now, which feels good to see. And I have been heads down building out our new CRM, Go High Level. It is honestly a monster of a tool, but the setup is no joke. Putting the work in now so it runs smoothly later.

Lots of good things are happening right now. Excited to see where it all goes!

💨 Whiff of the Week: The Season I'm In

This week's whiff is an honest one.

My schedule has been all over the place, and it is starting to catch up with me. My workout routine and diet have taken a hit because of it, and honestly my personal life has too. Sorry Catelin, I will work better on planning dates and making sure we have quality time together! But I will say, I am truly blessed to have an amazing girlfriend who understands the process and supports me through it. That means more than she knows.

I have been doing my best to keep things on track, but when you are deep in a building season, something always seems to give a little. I have dropped the ball on some processes along the way too, had to catch the mistakes, re-delegate, and make adjustments. Nothing is ever perfect and that is just the reality of it. You identify it, fix it, and keep moving.

Here is the thing though. I am not glorifying the grind. The whole point of building systems, hiring the right people, and putting the right processes in place is so that eventually you do NOT have to grind. You step into more of a board of director role, out of the day to day, with real time freedom. That is the goal.

But you have to earn that, and you have to be patient with it. I actually tried to step out too early once and had to step back in, and let me tell you, making that mental shift back is HARD. It is humbling. But it was one of the best lessons I have learned because now I understand what the business actually needs from me at this stage.

A lot of people try to skip to that freedom stage too early and it either stagnates the business or collapses it completely. Real sustainable growth is slow. Most of the people you see operating with that kind of freedom today spent ten plus years quietly building before anyone noticed them.

So right now I am in a season that requires more of me, and I am okay with that. The sacrifices I am making now are intentional. They are investments in the version of the business and life I am working toward.

It is a rollercoaster, but it is my rollercoaster. Hands up, I am enjoying the ride!

🎯 Tactical Tip of the Week: Delegate or Die

There is a mindset trap that almost every entrepreneur falls into at some point, and I am not immune to it.

"I need to do everything myself. No one can do it as good as me."

Even now, with employees on my team, I catch myself forgetting to leverage them. And if I am being really honest, a big part of it is that I am a people pleaser. In my head I tell myself, "I will just handle this myself, I do not want to upset anyone by adding to their plate." That thinking will absolutely kill your business.

I am a firm believer in servant leadership, but let me be clear about what that actually means. It does not mean taking on tasks that are not yours. It means removing roadblocks for your team so they have a better environment to succeed in. There is a big difference. I have caught myself thinking I need to absorb all the pain so my team does not have to, but shielding them from every hard thing does not help them grow. It just buries you, and eventually you will hit a wall. When you are carrying everything yourself and not trusting your team, that is when the doubt creeps in and the whole thing starts to feel unsustainable.

When you delegate properly you are not just growing yourself, you are growing your team too. That is a compound effect that can take your business further than you ever imagined. If they are the right people they will welcome the responsibility and thank you for it. If they constantly push back, complain, and never bring solutions, that is a toxic employee and you address it fast.

One framework I have been implementing is the 1-3-1 rule. If you bring me a problem, that is the first 1. Then I need 3 possible solutions. And from those 3, tell me which one you think is best, that is the final 1. This turns your team into problem solvers instead of problem finders and quickly shows you who the rockstars are.

A business is a team sport. Build your team like one.

👉 Action Step

Introduce the 1-3-1 rule to your team this week. The next time someone brings you a problem, ask for three solutions and their recommendation. Watch how fast the dynamic shifts.

You cannot scale what you refuse to let go of.

🔦 From the Field: Things Are Taking Shape

It has been a big week on the construction side and I am fired up to share some updates.

First, one of our new builds is completely done and ready to hit the market. We are talking move-in ready, looking sharp, and listing day is right around the corner.

This one has been a journey and seeing it come together like this never gets old. The only thing that slowed us down was a two month delay courtesy of Duke Energy, but we are past that now and ready to go. Every finished project is a reminder of why we do this.

Our other new build is shaping up beautifully as well. We are wrapping up drywall and getting ready to move into the fun part, flooring, paint, kitchen install, and all the finishing touches that bring a home to life.

It is always exciting when a project hits this stage because you can really start to see the vision come together.

Right next door we also have a fix and flip moving at the same pace as the new build, and the goal is to get both of them across the finish line together so we can list them back to back and free up a significant amount of capital. I will be honest with you, this combo has not been the most fun we have ever had. After everything we dealt with on them we are probably looking at breaking even when all is said and done. And yeah, that one stings a little.

But here is the thing. Two families are going to get incredible homes to build memories in. That matters. We finish what we start, even when it hurts, and we take the lessons with us into the next one.

More updates to come as these cross the finish line. Stay tuned!

🎤 Final Word

This week was a lot. And I mean that in the best way possible.

New deals under contract, capital being raised, loans processing, mailers dropping, completed builds ready to list, and more projects pushing toward the finish line. The business is moving and the momentum is real.

But I also want to be honest about the other side of it. The schedule has been inconsistent, the diet and workouts have taken a hit, personal time has been stretched thin, and some processes needed to be corrected along the way. That is just the reality of the season I am in right now. It is not glamorous and it is not the highlight reel you see online. It is real life building a real business.

The thing I keep coming back to is this. The grind is not the goal. The goal is freedom. True freedom. But you cannot shortcut your way there. You have to build the systems, grow the team, delegate the right things, and be patient enough to let it compound over time. Most overnight successes you see spent a decade quietly doing exactly that before anyone noticed.

So I will keep delegating better, keep removing bottlenecks for my team, keep implementing frameworks like the 1-3-1 rule, and keep showing up even on the days it is hard. Because the hard days are where the real building happens.

Families are going to get amazing homes. New builds are going up. Capital is being deployed. The machine is growing.

It is a rollercoaster. But it is my rollercoaster.

Hands up. Let's ride.

Keep growing or die,