Investing in Affordable Housing - Alex Carlson

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I think we are moving to a renter nation.

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I think the idea of the American dream, you know, owning your little quarter acre of land in a home is something that my kids aren't going to experience.

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I think the concept of building new affordable housing, that's not subsidized is not, it's not possible.

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You can't just look at the construction and say, we're going to build this with the affordable package, not the luxury package.

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Welcome to the Wayfinder show with Louie Hernandez, where guests discuss the why and how of making changes that led them down a more authentic path or allow them to level up in some area of their life.

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Our goal is to dig deep and provide not only knowledge, but actionable advice to help you get from where you are to where you want to be.

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Come join us and find the way to your dream life.

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Welcome back to the way finder show.

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I'm your host, Louie Hernandez.

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And today we are with Alex Carlson.

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Alex is from Lincoln, Nebraska, he brings extensive business and investment experience, particularly in real estate development and capital management, he married his high school sweetheart, and they have three kids together.

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During his spare time, he enjoys spending time with the family, playing golf, and training for triathlons.

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Alex, welcome to The Wayfinder Show.

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Hey, brother.

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Thanks for having me on.

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I appreciate it.

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Alex, tell us a little, you know, why don't you share your origin story with us a little bit.

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Tell us, tell the audience more about you.

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Yeah, like you said, Lincoln, Nebraska, born and raised, grew up south of town.

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Grandpa was a basketball coach, so grew up on the basketball court and was destined to be a six foot white dude.

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So I kind of kind of tapped out pretty quick at my capacity there, but We just grew up pretty simple upbringing.

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I was a grandpa coach basketball and my dad, was the executive director for, a nonprofit called youth for Christ.

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I spent a lot of time around family and the nonprofit.

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I just had a pretty simple upbringing, but.

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I wouldn't trade it for the world.

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I've got three younger brothers and the oldest of four.

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So I'm sure, my parents have some stories of us boys being around the house and being a little rowdy.

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that was how I grew up and then ended up going out to Arizona, for school, with my girlfriend at the time And three years for college and graduated and then got involved in a med tech startup.

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We did orthopedic and sports bracing.

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We developed some new technology with some strategic partnerships and worked with some big programs, NBA, NHL, professional bull riding, NCAA, traveled around the country working with, some really talented, impressive people.

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now we got out of that business and now I'm full time in real estate.

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done a little bit of development work we do acquisitions as well and do a lot of value add trying to buy, C's and convert to B's or low B's and bring them up to higher B's looking to get involved in some capital A affordable as well The next year or so.

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So that's a bit about me in a nutshell and where I'm at right now.

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Awesome.

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So going back to the startup, you said you left that, were you a founder there?

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I never had any equity in the business.

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actually when I left for school, I told you I was raised, my dad was the executive director of a, Nonprofit called youth for Christ.

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and before he was the executive director, he was the junior high director, and he spent a lot of time working with the kids and really feeling the impact of their life.

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then he moved into the executive director role raising a lot of money and working with high net worth people in the area for fundraising and support.

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And so he got to a place where he felt called if he was going to do business, he wanted to actually be in business.

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when I left for university, he left his role and he started a small, it's called a DME company.

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and it's kind of built that up.

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And so when I got out of school and graduated, my degree is in economics and I actually wanted to be an investment banker and then get involved in private equity.

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he approached me my last semester of school and said, Hey, I want to start this new company we're going to get involved in building the sports orthopedic products ourselves and setting up our manufacturers, and all these different countries and doing a lot more direct, consumer, marketing, and it's like, do you want to be a part of that?

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got involved, ran R and D for the first year as we were developing our product line and working with some orthopedic docs and athletic trainers.

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once we got the product to market, pivoted over and ran sales and marketing for the better part of four years, building our B2B and B2C channels.

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the family owned the business, but I never had any direct equity or ownership in the business itself.

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it just got to a place for me where the business was, was doing well and everything's good there, but wanted to go out and really got the chance to build my own business.

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I was that dorky kid in high school that, built The spreadsheets when it said, you know, if you buy one house and you buy two, and then you can buy four and you can refinance and all these things.

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And so I always had a passion for real estate and the passion for the math of real estate.

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took my experience in the business world and got into the real estate side and have been growing that now for about four years.

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Oh, neat.

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You know, I never thought about you, you, that was an interesting term.

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You said the math fell in love with the math of real estate.

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I guess I never thought of it consciously that way.

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it's what's always kept me in it.

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it is a beautiful math in a way that it's somewhat simple, right?

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But it's still, there's so much complexity behind those, those numbers, right?

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That, that really takes a lot of qualitative work.

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Yeah.

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That makes it interesting, right?

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It does.

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the math is very simple.

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it's the basis of, of all the different, type of math that you can, you can go after.

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But, the thing that is attractive to me about it is the application of the math.

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once you understand, How the math works.

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real estate becomes pretty simple.

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you're able to evaluate and look at things relatively objectively.

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There are a lot of levers and variables that you have to consider, but.

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Once you understand how those levers work together and then you understand the math of it, it really does make analyzing opportunities straightforward and you can determine where the value is, it's a very direct form of applying mathematics in a way that drives a lot of value.

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if you can understand, the qualitative components that actually make up Why the numbers on that page have any relevance.

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you chose your class, B minuses C type properties, And value add to those.

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Why did you start off in that?

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Or like, how did you develop your niche?

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Yeah, that's a great question.

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So when I got out of the orthopedic business and got into real estate, I knew I wanted to get in some capacity and really where my passion is, is in the development side.

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It's a painful story for me, we're sitting down with a successful business entrepreneur in my community.

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we were talking about our vision for the future and our passion for entrepreneurship and our city we're both born and raised in Lincoln and really have a desire to see our city grow and thrive and, sitting behind him.

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So like where my white board is that big, beautiful building.

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And he was referencing this building saying, this is a concept and this is an idea of what we as Lincolnites need to be thinking.

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We need to think big and bold.

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And he had this rendering made of that concept.

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my comment sitting there across from him was, well, let's do that.

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let's build that building.

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And he's like, what?

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I'm like, yeah, let's do it.

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Let's go after it and get it done.

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And so, I had never developed, I mean, I just was getting out of the orthopedic sports space doing B2C, B2B distribution of orthopedic products.

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So I understood, the math of real estate.

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I had started to understand that component, but I'd never developed a deal before.

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I was able to form a partnership with this gentleman that had some experience in the space.

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we set out to build the building on that poster.

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we spent the better part of 2 years doing all the pre development work and working with the city to get through all of our entitlements and securing land and air rights and all the things you have to do to do a high rise in our community.

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We got TIF, the largest TIF ever rewarded and our city was on our project and everything lined up.

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wouldn't you know, interest rates raised 550 basis points, what seems like overnight.

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we just had a huge chasm in our capital stack that popped up.

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rather than diving in deeper and spending more capital to try to you know, get the deal done.

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We were just going to sit tight and, you know, sit on the project and wait.

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we're still in the process of waiting, to get involved in that business and build that project.

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I still think it's very valuable, very, Bible or community.

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And I think our city would would receive the project very well.

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We're just waiting for the capital markets to settle a little bit.

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in that process, though, what I'll tell you is that I realized, the big, high rise project, and I use the term high rise loosely, your listeners in larger cities than Lincoln would think my 23 story building is very cute But in Lincoln, Nebraska, to be the tallest building outside the Capitol.

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it was a big project and a big vision.

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It just, our timing wasn't there.

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but what I came to realize is while I believe real estate has the ability to, be very stable and uncertain economic times, the higher end of the market shows a lot more volatility.

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And so while in good times is great in bad times, it doesn't have much resiliency.

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And so in that process, when the writing on the wall started to become a bit more apparent, what was going to, transpire actually got involved and jumped to the opposite side of the equation, which was more the affordable side.

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so even in, a situation where what's happened over the last year.

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we've seen rates go way up and everything kind of compressed.

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And there's been a lot of hurt in the market, the affordable market continues to be extremely strong.

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And so it really doesn't get much more conservative and much more stable than affordable housing in the Midwest.

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It's just this nice, calm trajectory.

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That's constantly rising and you're never going to see the huge peaks, but you're also not going to bottom out.

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And so that's really what's, what's bringing me into that was I was building this luxury high rise tower in downtown and then realizing the volatility in that.

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And so then started this equity fund where we focus on affordable housing in the Midwest to basically hedge against that volatility.

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that's what we've been doing now for the better part of 24 months and it's been going pretty well.

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Is that, your market primarily there in Lincoln?

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Yeah, we focus on really anything in Nebraska at this point.

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we have a number of assets in Lincoln.

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But we actually like, secondary and even some tertiary cities as well.

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we call them two highway towns.

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So, you know, there could be a community where 25, 000 people and a small college and good industry that a lot of the capital and our markets just won't go to.

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we know we're willing to go outside the city limits by.

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Three and a half hours.

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we find some great assets and a lot of value in those markets.

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we're grateful that my partner in my private equity group runs a large property management company.

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so they have the capacity to manage all these assets.

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So we really are, fully integrated, there would be an issue if we had to find a property manager in some of these smaller communities, but because we have it all in house, we have the capacity to manage these assets.

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even with our proximity being a little bit more spread out.

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Yeah, excellent.

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And, I'm curious, for those of us who aren't familiar with Nebraska, it's all relative, right?

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So when I'm hearing a two highway town of 25, 000, in my mind, I'm having a hard time justifying, one highway for a town that size.

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But what would you, just to kind of, figure out what the scales are like.

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what would Omaha Be like compared to Lincoln.

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So Omaha is going to have right around a million people and Lincoln's going to be right around 300, 000 people.

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I guess the capital here with university and capital.

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And then we have public power or the big kind of hubs here.

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And then, like I said, we, joke, but it is true that on Husker football Saturdays, Memorial stadium is the third largest town, in the state.

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And so we get 9, 000 people that show up, to cheer for the Huskers on game days.

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that's our third largest city is Memorial stadium.

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definitely a little bit different than, being down on the coast or in the Sunbelt.

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As far as our population goes, we see it as an opportunity.

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Now, I know a lot of the big boys with a lot of money don't play in our sandbox.

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It's too small for them with our size, we can find a lot of value here and just our relationships and connection.

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And so, we really, really enjoy it in the market and.

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One of my holding companies is called Amberland Companies.

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And yeah, in America, the beautiful, you've got, the beautiful mountains and the coast, but then you have the amber waves of grain and it's just the heartland right in the middle.

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And so, we, we have a passion for the places that we grew up and where a lot of people, don't come to find value.

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We think there's a lot of value here.

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the last couple of years have really shown that and we're kind of doubling down and continue to grow and establish our footprint right here in the Midwest.

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Excellent.

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Yeah.

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You know, we recently had, I think you might know him, Andrew Fried.

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he's an investor doing similar things to you out in New England.

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Yeah, he's a similar model, right?

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I mean, I think it's different because in New England, maybe his markets aren't so effective, but you have had declining populations there for a long time.

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but you still have quite a bit of appreciation, right?

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But he just figures out, same thing, he's looking at class C, B minus properties in areas that are solid, you know, working class areas that, you know, they're, they're, they're resilient, you know, they don't ever take off like too much, but they don't go down when everybody else takes a bath, right?

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Yeah.

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No, they don't.

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And like I said, the appreciation is modest, you know, three to five and a half percent per year.

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You can pretty much count on, even in, 2007, 2008, we're not seeing property values go down at all, I guess you're never going to get, these markets where you're getting huge double digit appreciation years and they're skyrocketing because of that, though, we're really good cashflow markets.

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So it's a little bit of a different, strategy in that way.

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a lot of our investors are local investors as well.

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they understand the market that we're in.

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And, when I say we own assets in Columbus, Nebraska, they know why Columbus, Nebraska is a strong market why it's growing and why the industry is there and why vacancies next to zero in Columbus versus, you know, somebody in California, they look up Google Columbus, Nebraska, like, why would I ever buy anything in this town?

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real estate is local, right?

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we use that to our advantage and we understand our market and we find value in our market.

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Not every market is that way.

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There are some smaller communities you want to avoid but it's difficult to diagnose all of those from across the country.

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And so we have a little bit of an advantage where, like I said, we live here.

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We understand these communities and we invest in the communities that we believe have A lot of potential and growth for years to come.

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So what is it that you look for there?

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Like what, you know, how small is too small?

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a 25, 000 person town sounds very small, what's going on there?

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Well, why would you invest there?

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Yeah, so a couple things like oftentimes these communities are very central to all the agriculture around So you'll have a town of 25, 000 and that'll be where the major high school is maybe a small university You'll have some larger companies that'll keep a headquartered there often like ag related and then around those communities, you'll have little towns, 3, 000 people, 5, 000 people.

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So those are the communities like we're, while there are investment opportunities in those markets, they are too small.

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we will not go to a town of that size.

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but these more hub towns for these ag communities are essential for, the agriculture around to be supported.

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Lincoln and Omaha are the main cities in Nebraska, but if you're three and a half hours to the west of where we are, Lincoln and Omaha on the far east side of the state.

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So there's a lot of great little communities right along I 80, that support the agriculture industry around the community.

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that's really what we look for, right?

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Is something that is population growth is steadily increasing that have, you know, a good, Presence with schools, a good college connection, and then, like I said, support, you know, all that agriculture around there.

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And then oftentimes we'll look at, maybe there's a power company that has business there, or there's a couple of large pharmaceutical companies that have like manufacturing set up here.

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Labor is very.

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affordable in these communities.

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And so oftentimes larger companies based on the coast will come to a community like Columbus, Nebraska, and establish a plant there and hire really hardworking, great employees, but their wages are half of what it would cost to be, you know, out somewhere.

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And, you know, California or New York or Florida.

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So, yeah, like I said, great, great markets in great towns, but it would be difficult to identify their value if you didn't understand, the inner workings of, all the different communities like we do.

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Yeah, that's neat.

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So, in my mind when you're describing it, it almost sounds like a hub and spoke model, right?

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You just like a wheel.

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you have these little hubs everywhere and then the smaller towns around them that kind of feed that hub.

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but you're probably not going to develop in those towns.

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you're buying what's already there.

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yeah, we buy existing inventory there, but I will tell you, there is development opportunity in those communities as well.

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Oftentimes, there's a lot of available funds set aside for these communities to bring in.

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It will go to the capital, right?

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The more the light tech affordable housing where you're bringing in tax credits and maybe some other home credits and home funds.

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And then the city is going to use a TIF subsidy or a tax abatement, to help get a deal done.

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cause again, you have to have the infrastructure to be able to go to these communities, to build, a 48 unit apartment complex.

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And a lot of the, bigger developers around our community are focused in Lincoln and Omaha So it does actually present opportunities to develop and build new construction in those markets as well.

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That's good to know.

00:18:11.026 --> 00:18:16.955
I'm in Colorado, so just next door and I'm very involved in the affordable housing space here, on a state level.

00:18:16.955 --> 00:18:24.536
I go to all the affordable housing conventions and the amount of money available for, light tech type projects is pretty big.

00:18:24.536 --> 00:18:26.135
that's a high priority area.

00:18:26.740 --> 00:18:26.830
For sure.

00:18:27.340 --> 00:18:28.131
Yeah, yeah, there's a lot.

00:18:28.161 --> 00:18:35.441
I mean, it definitely is not, it's not an easy business to get into by any means, when I say lowercase, I mean, it's just naturally affordable, right?

00:18:35.441 --> 00:18:39.080
The, the building is 50 years old and it's maybe got some deferred maintenance.

00:18:39.131 --> 00:18:45.201
that takes a special property manager to understand how to work with that client base and maintain the quality of the asset.

00:18:45.661 --> 00:18:52.141
And then on the capital A affordable, you know, working with the government and the state agencies, there's a lot of paperwork and compliance.

00:18:52.141 --> 00:18:57.931
And, you know, like I said, we're hoping to get more involved in that as we continue to build and grow the business.

00:18:57.961 --> 00:19:04.141
But right now the bulk of what we're doing is focusing on the lowercase a and, building and growing the portfolio that way.

00:19:04.746 --> 00:19:05.105
Gotcha.

00:19:05.486 --> 00:19:09.655
And from, Operation Stan, what type of size are the buildings you're buying?

00:19:10.955 --> 00:19:14.006
we'll buy anything as small as 12 units.

00:19:14.016 --> 00:19:17.385
we wouldn't buy 12 units eight hours away from where we are.

00:19:17.445 --> 00:19:21.096
Scott's Bluff is closer to Denver than it is to Lincoln.

00:19:21.185 --> 00:19:25.506
And so that would be a little bit small for us, but, or too far for a small asset.

00:19:26.215 --> 00:19:28.445
But in Lincoln, we'll buy that all day long.

00:19:28.546 --> 00:19:29.486
it's a great asset.

00:19:29.516 --> 00:19:30.215
we can manage easily.

00:19:30.215 --> 00:19:30.955
There's a lot of value there.

00:19:31.365 --> 00:19:34.096
and then we'll buy anything up as big as, you know, 90 to a hundred units.

00:19:34.105 --> 00:19:39.395
So we just closed on a 44 unit deal last month and that's a really good size for us.

00:19:39.605 --> 00:19:42.726
It's very easy for us to take that down, simple to manage.

00:19:42.776 --> 00:19:46.865
we were able to get in there and, bring the value pretty much right away, get to know the tenants.

00:19:47.215 --> 00:19:50.145
and so as of right now, that's kind of our deal size that we look at.

00:19:51.175 --> 00:19:55.415
So when you enter a market, you keep saying Columbus, so how far is Columbus from you?

00:19:56.215 --> 00:19:56.865
Hour and a half.

00:19:57.185 --> 00:19:57.826
Hour and a half.

00:19:57.976 --> 00:20:01.215
Is that, that seems pretty close relative, still, right?

00:20:01.215 --> 00:20:06.855
But, let's say when you go in there or let's take a three hour market, I don't know, Kearney, is that about three hours?

00:20:07.165 --> 00:20:07.316
Yeah.

00:20:08.355 --> 00:20:12.705
So, you go in there, you're obviously not going to start with a 12 unit, right?

00:20:12.705 --> 00:20:13.796
what would you start with?

00:20:14.786 --> 00:20:15.986
I'll use a real example for you.

00:20:16.056 --> 00:20:25.526
McCook is three and a half hours away and smaller market, we have a 24 unit deal there and we're looking at another 24 unit deal there.

00:20:25.576 --> 00:20:31.476
And so that one actually, you know, and oftentimes if the deal is not great, it's gotta be great.

00:20:31.800 --> 00:20:51.101
for it to work, but sometimes the deals are just so good that We get out there we actually have a team Through our property management side that they'll go out there once a month and go in we do our maintenance and handle everything But anymore for now, you know, if you build your property management system with a decentralized approach, you can do a lot of the management, not having to actually be on site.

00:20:51.290 --> 00:20:59.990
But then what we'll do and going back to my Columbus example, once we get to about a hundred units in a community, we'll look to hire a full time person in that market.

00:21:00.171 --> 00:21:14.931
Which is really the scale that we want to try to get to, because once you have a full time staff on site, you put them into One of your units and you've got that basis covered a lot better It can be a headache when something urgent comes up and you've got to get somebody in the car and drive down there to take care of it.

00:21:14.931 --> 00:21:22.141
So not always ideal, but I guess I'll just say 24 units because we've got an asset three and a half hours away of 24 units.

00:21:22.141 --> 00:21:25.861
the value of the deal and the value to the investor was too good to pass up.

00:21:25.861 --> 00:21:30.230
So we deal with a little bit of operational headache, to Achieve that return.

00:21:30.641 --> 00:21:44.615
Yeah, and I'm assuming it's a market you could look to grow in at this point Obviously get to that hundred where it justifies paying for an on site manager so much of it is the boots on the ground where we can handle a lot of things The property management, the asset management from our office.

00:21:44.955 --> 00:21:50.895
And then you're working with, the local electrician, the local plumber, and you're establishing those points of contact.

00:21:51.375 --> 00:21:57.086
So once you build that boots on the ground team, it does make scaling into those markets a lot easier because if we buy.

00:21:57.385 --> 00:21:59.226
a 40 unit deal in that same town.

00:21:59.256 --> 00:22:12.425
Well, we can, we, we, all of a sudden in one of the larger property owners in that community, able to capture a lot of the attention of the labor field So when we need assistance on an asset, we've got the team lined up to take care of it right off the bat.

00:22:13.385 --> 00:22:13.826
Excellent.

00:22:14.605 --> 00:22:14.965
Great.

00:22:15.145 --> 00:22:16.756
So outside of.

00:22:17.226 --> 00:22:18.286
Real estate investing.

00:22:18.766 --> 00:22:20.935
you have a young family.

00:22:20.955 --> 00:22:21.756
Congratulations.

00:22:21.766 --> 00:22:22.506
Sounds like you're blessed.

00:22:22.526 --> 00:22:23.605
Yes, absolutely.

00:22:23.895 --> 00:22:26.326
Ranged from one and a half To six, my oldest.

00:22:26.326 --> 00:22:26.935
Six, that's right.

00:22:27.435 --> 00:22:28.405
Yeah, I've got three.

00:22:28.425 --> 00:22:29.865
So I got two boys.

00:22:30.645 --> 00:22:32.756
Turner's the oldest and then Tatum's the middle.

00:22:32.756 --> 00:22:36.006
He turns four, next week, which he's very excited about.

00:22:36.056 --> 00:22:39.576
We had a big party for the six year olds and about two months ago.

00:22:39.576 --> 00:22:44.756
So Tatum for the last two months of has a lot of expectation for his fourth birthday party.

00:22:44.766 --> 00:22:45.986
very much excited for that.

00:22:45.986 --> 00:22:50.365
And then baby girl is, one and a half, And she absolutely runs the house.

00:22:50.425 --> 00:22:51.965
she's in charge one and a half years.

00:22:52.385 --> 00:22:54.766
So, and then I've got, yeah, beautiful wife.

00:22:54.766 --> 00:23:01.145
We've been married for almost eight years now, and she's absolutely my better half and is infinitely more impressive than I am.

00:23:01.205 --> 00:23:02.665
I'm very blessed in many ways.

00:23:03.165 --> 00:23:04.625
Tell us a little bit.

00:23:04.935 --> 00:23:06.605
you mentioned she was your high school sweetheart.

00:23:07.076 --> 00:23:08.586
Tell us a little bit about that story.

00:23:09.371 --> 00:23:18.211
Yeah, I went to the same school, K through 12, in Lincoln, and my wife, ended up coming to the same high school sophomore year.

00:23:18.590 --> 00:23:25.510
she lived in the area, moved out of town for a while, and then when her family moved back, she went to Lincoln Christian School I met her sophomore year.

00:23:25.510 --> 00:23:32.280
We were really good friends, sophomore and junior year, and then started, Dating senior year she's very athletically gifted.

00:23:32.280 --> 00:23:40.590
And was recruited to play volleyball all over the country and ended up deciding to go play at GCU, Grand Canyon University in Phoenix.

00:23:41.101 --> 00:23:46.891
And she's also was pursuing a nursing degree and they have a great program down there.

00:23:47.671 --> 00:23:56.280
Just to tangent on that ended up not playing volleyball because the nursing school was pretty adamant or the college was that if you couldn't do nursing and volleyball.

00:23:56.330 --> 00:24:06.401
And so she decided to focus on nursing she did not know this, but I had applied to GCU when I heard that she was going there and got in I can remember very clearly we were in our high school gym.

00:24:06.776 --> 00:24:07.796
So, hey, great news.

00:24:07.925 --> 00:24:09.576
I'm also going to Grand Canyon.

00:24:09.625 --> 00:24:11.006
And she's like, what?

00:24:11.006 --> 00:24:11.756
Surprise.

00:24:12.695 --> 00:24:13.955
I was going to get rid of you.

00:24:14.026 --> 00:24:16.165
And now we're going to school together.

00:24:16.185 --> 00:24:18.266
it was a bit of a surprise.

00:24:18.276 --> 00:24:22.496
we actually ended up, we went down there and our relationship, we ended up breaking up for a year.

00:24:22.955 --> 00:24:23.816
We just weren't ready.

00:24:23.855 --> 00:24:26.846
My parents got married, 19 and 20.

00:24:26.846 --> 00:24:29.615
And, you know, I'm 18 years old, going to be 19.

00:24:29.625 --> 00:24:30.756
we gotta get moving on this thing.

00:24:30.756 --> 00:24:31.685
just a little bit fast.

00:24:31.685 --> 00:24:32.986
I had a lot of maturing to do.

00:24:33.006 --> 00:24:36.586
we ended up being separated for a year and then got back together.

00:24:36.586 --> 00:24:46.715
And within nine months, we were married and graduated school in three years and we had our oldest, about a year and a half later, So yeah, she's wonderful though.

00:24:46.715 --> 00:24:52.425
And she's very intelligent and pushes me and, so many different ways and just makes me.

00:24:52.871 --> 00:24:53.611
infinitely better.

00:24:53.641 --> 00:24:55.111
So I'm very blessed to be married to her.

00:24:55.911 --> 00:24:57.201
Yeah, sounds like that.

00:24:57.701 --> 00:24:58.520
Oh, congrats.

00:24:58.530 --> 00:25:13.601
a good partner in life always makes us all better And I share that with you my wife has made me a lot better as well And the older I get the more I recognize just how inferior I am I already knew it but it's like god, every day.

00:25:13.601 --> 00:25:18.800
It almost feels like yeah, she She's definitely the better half, as you said.

00:25:18.810 --> 00:25:22.471
So you're, you're a much wiser person for recognizing that this early on.

00:25:22.911 --> 00:25:23.361
Oh, yeah.

00:25:23.361 --> 00:25:26.721
I don't know about that, but yeah, I always, I always joke with her.

00:25:26.721 --> 00:25:29.671
I'm like, I'm grateful that I married you when you were still in college.

00:25:29.701 --> 00:25:37.191
you would have got out of college and realized that there was much better candidates than me out there, but I got you locked up early smart, man.

00:25:37.641 --> 00:25:39.911
And, yeah, I've been the beneficiary of that ever since.

00:25:40.276 --> 00:25:40.665
Good.

00:25:41.056 --> 00:25:43.496
So what about, you're training for a triathlon now.

00:25:43.496 --> 00:25:44.705
Is that something you do regularly?

00:25:44.705 --> 00:25:45.635
Or is this your first one?

00:25:45.875 --> 00:25:50.256
Yeah, I've done a few triathlons in the past, like Olympic distances.

00:25:50.445 --> 00:25:50.796
Okay.

00:25:51.096 --> 00:26:02.240
actually I haven't done one in two years, but the other day my wife, we were just sitting there talking through some stuff and she was like, ah, I think I want to do an iron man.

00:26:02.461 --> 00:26:08.361
I'm six foot 200 pound guy, like Olympics or that's like, that's like a lot for me, right.

00:26:08.490 --> 00:26:11.391
and so like, okay, I love that.

00:26:11.441 --> 00:26:13.151
That's, I love the idea.

00:26:13.171 --> 00:26:16.830
I would totally do that with you, but I think I probably need five years to train for that.

00:26:16.840 --> 00:26:23.560
we're actually training together just to do a sprint in a couple of months to get back into it, I love training and exercise in general.

00:26:23.560 --> 00:26:27.340
My wife works for A startup out of San Francisco and does health coaching for them.

00:26:27.340 --> 00:26:30.240
And so she's very fit and active and healthy.

00:26:30.290 --> 00:26:38.770
we do all of our training together our swims, the bikes, the runs, and we work off a similar, schedule it's been a really fun thing for us to be able to do together.

00:26:38.770 --> 00:26:43.871
And I think like to eventually get to the point of being able to scale up and even do.

00:26:44.576 --> 00:26:46.625
Longer, longer races eventually get to that Ironman.

00:26:46.635 --> 00:26:52.945
But right now it's something that just as a couple, we're able to do together and enjoy that time and that connection.

00:26:53.346 --> 00:27:02.865
establishing those hobbies, you know, while our kids are still very young and very much in the house, you know, we've have had wise people in our life identify.

00:27:03.171 --> 00:27:08.980
The importance of establishing, that relationship and that friendship and always finding things you can do together.

00:27:09.351 --> 00:27:12.911
we have a lot of points of interest that we connect on and that's just one of them.

00:27:13.010 --> 00:27:23.141
hopefully in a couple of years from now, going out and doing Ironman Boulder, but as of right now, we're going to do a sprint coming up in a couple of weeks and get that knocked out it should be a good time.

00:27:23.151 --> 00:27:23.905
We're looking forward to it.

00:27:25.195 --> 00:27:27.215
what are some of those other interests that you guys share?

00:27:28.776 --> 00:27:30.546
my wife, she's a health coach.

00:27:30.576 --> 00:27:32.955
she also, worked at our church for a long time.

00:27:32.996 --> 00:27:36.236
We try to stay really involved with our church, here locally.

00:27:36.246 --> 00:27:37.566
she ran women's ministry.

00:27:37.655 --> 00:27:42.165
our faith is a huge point of life for us.

00:27:42.205 --> 00:27:43.256
it dictates so much of.

00:27:43.651 --> 00:27:45.361
What we do and who we are.

00:27:45.361 --> 00:27:46.891
that's a very central point for us.

00:27:46.891 --> 00:27:55.461
being parents is, very unifying, just working through that and being intentional about our children and who they are as individuals.

00:27:56.270 --> 00:28:14.811
I read a really great book called The Intentional Father, they made an interesting point where as parents, we look at raising our children and we want them to be very virtuous and very, you know, have these set of core values we want to instill in our kids and consistency.

00:28:15.271 --> 00:28:20.922
one of the things this book identified, which is really kind of a simple concept, but I kind of neglected it, is the fact that.

00:28:21.777 --> 00:28:28.886
Every child is different and unique and thus all your parenting needs to be different and unique for each child.

00:28:28.896 --> 00:28:35.116
That's the title, the intentional father, So my oldest son is very much like my wife and I and.

00:28:35.507 --> 00:28:44.106
It's highly driven and focused and is up early in the morning and he's, he's six years old and wants to get on the treadmill and do the runs and like just really engage.

00:28:44.106 --> 00:28:52.406
So he needs verse my middle child that is incredibly creative and is very fun and the life of the party.

00:28:52.416 --> 00:28:58.297
And, but it's a bit more of a free spirit where I need to parent them and where I need to lead them as a bit different.

00:28:58.317 --> 00:28:58.717
And then.

00:28:59.571 --> 00:29:00.692
Same with my daughter as well.

00:29:00.701 --> 00:29:03.612
That's a whole different thing that I have no idea what to do.

00:29:03.642 --> 00:29:04.551
I had three brothers.

00:29:04.632 --> 00:29:06.442
this little girl we're raising, it's a whole different thing.

00:29:06.461 --> 00:29:22.382
But anyway, my wife and I spend a lot of times talking about our children and how do we intentionally raise them up to be men and women that love the Lord love their family look out for each other and are able to be contributors in society.

00:29:22.432 --> 00:29:23.602
And then, yeah, just, little stuff.

00:29:23.602 --> 00:29:27.761
We love going on dates trying new restaurants and food and, going on walks.

00:29:27.981 --> 00:29:29.082
she really is my best friend.

00:29:29.122 --> 00:29:36.192
so having that intentionality in that time and constantly investing in that relationship is really important to both of us.

00:29:36.451 --> 00:29:38.001
Yeah, I love that.

00:29:38.001 --> 00:29:40.731
I'm thinking back to the time when my kids are teenagers now.

00:29:40.731 --> 00:29:43.481
They're almost, out of the house which is good and bad.

00:29:43.771 --> 00:29:55.136
but, you know, I can recall those early years when, it just felt like survival mode and any time we spent alone was just really thinking about, How do we parent, What are we doing?

00:29:55.237 --> 00:29:55.836
it was wild.

00:29:56.047 --> 00:29:59.336
That was obviously the common interest and now, it's different.

00:29:59.727 --> 00:30:03.876
I love that you're doing, an activity together and you do the dates together.

00:30:03.876 --> 00:30:05.287
we didn't have much of that.

00:30:05.386 --> 00:30:06.017
in those years.

00:30:06.047 --> 00:30:10.067
We, you know, we didn't have family around to help, like, support or anything.

00:30:10.067 --> 00:30:10.372
And yeah.

00:30:10.457 --> 00:30:10.906
And so.

00:30:11.757 --> 00:30:17.596
We now are making up for a lot of that we'll do some hiking together almost every night and it's cool.

00:30:17.596 --> 00:30:26.366
we're finally having conversations like we're falling in love all over again, we're different people than we were when we first started dating, 20 something years ago she's an amazing woman.

00:30:26.366 --> 00:30:29.777
I'm probably even falling in love more with her now than back then.

00:30:29.836 --> 00:30:31.646
she's really interesting and really cool.

00:30:31.666 --> 00:30:38.271
I know so many people, through talking with older individuals who have had, Great marriages or maybe not as marriages.

00:30:38.352 --> 00:30:39.842
that's a really defining season.

00:30:39.852 --> 00:30:46.192
Like as your kids start to need you less and you're more emotionally there for them and whatever capacity it might look like.

00:30:46.531 --> 00:31:08.132
it really is defining to see how intentional are you with the relationship with your spouse and do you invest in that and you try to grow that or are you interested in taking your now found free time and, you know, going and hang with the boys or picking up hobbies the people that I've always respected the most and want to emulate are those that really respect their spouse and have a great relationship with their spouse.

00:31:08.132 --> 00:31:13.162
And it just seems to bring so much stability and so much generational blessing as well.

00:31:13.271 --> 00:31:15.241
I don't think people think about very much.

00:31:15.251 --> 00:31:17.382
It's very much like, how do my decisions impact me?

00:31:17.791 --> 00:31:44.392
maybe they think about how does it impact my spouse and my kids, Something I've been blessed is to have a family that has made, generational decisions I don't necessarily come from a lot of wealth, but I construction grandparents and coaching grandparents, but really been very faithful in their marriages and to their family and in so many ways has blessed, you know, me and I, I'm the beneficiary now of generations of faithfulness that, I, hope to preserve and pass on to my children one day as well.

00:31:45.126 --> 00:31:46.106
Yeah, that's beautiful.

00:31:46.106 --> 00:31:50.596
And just the fact that you're thinking of it now in terms of generations, right?

00:31:50.646 --> 00:31:53.737
and not just, Your current life and how to pass it on.

00:31:53.787 --> 00:32:00.317
I think that's that that's a lot of you know Wisdom that's been passed on you'll be able to add on to and continue to pass on.

00:32:00.807 --> 00:32:01.086
Yeah.

00:32:01.186 --> 00:32:13.356
I know it's on everybody's story some people were dealt a completely different hand And I have so much respect for people that came from really difficult situations and emerged out of them that's just not my story.

00:32:13.356 --> 00:32:15.376
there was a lot of stability in my family growing up.

00:32:15.376 --> 00:32:17.047
And I was very grateful for that.

00:32:17.047 --> 00:32:24.787
And I just hope to be able to pass it on to my kids and my grandkids eventually, and continue with the example that was set before me generations ago.

00:32:25.571 --> 00:32:33.511
So you also, I know you're a member of Go Abundance, which is a group that I'm also part of and had a lot of past guests on.

00:32:33.511 --> 00:32:43.911
Talk a little bit about what that has meant to you and not, just Go Abundance, but the whole, mastermind community, if you could call it that, being involved.

00:32:43.911 --> 00:32:45.080
I don't know if you're involved with others.

00:32:45.121 --> 00:32:49.221
through your church as well and how that has helped you with your success.

00:32:49.221 --> 00:32:49.270
Thanks.

00:32:49.790 --> 00:32:51.431
Yeah, that's a, great question.

00:32:51.441 --> 00:32:54.050
I've been involved with GoBundance for about a year now.

00:32:54.431 --> 00:33:11.560
I got involved, there was a gentleman who was a member of GoBundance, kind of a mentor and, friend, we were talking about some business things I was dealing with and some frustrations anybody Entrepreneurial, can relate to the isolation that creates sometimes.

00:33:11.980 --> 00:33:18.340
while, I mean, as we've just spoken about, I have an incredible family and I am very, very grateful for them.

00:33:18.740 --> 00:33:26.651
there's times where things that you deal with running your own business and building your business, it's just hard to like talk about with people and they don't always understand.

00:33:26.861 --> 00:33:28.010
let's talk about chat about that.

00:33:28.010 --> 00:33:31.451
And then Chad, this, this guy and go abundance was like, Hey, you should check this thing out.

00:33:31.451 --> 00:33:31.500
Yeah.

00:33:31.665 --> 00:33:35.286
And, you know, I always say there's certain people in your life when they tell you to jump, you jump.

00:33:35.326 --> 00:33:36.296
so, let's check it out.

00:33:36.346 --> 00:33:38.296
got involved about a year ago.

00:33:38.836 --> 00:33:39.935
And it's been really good.

00:33:39.935 --> 00:33:43.536
It's been great to have a community, of like minded individuals.

00:33:43.576 --> 00:33:48.175
There's definitely a lot of variants and different industries, but there's a lot of real estate people in there as well.

00:33:49.355 --> 00:33:57.836
Candidly, I have not spent a lot of time With the events, and larger groups but what has been really beneficial for me is this structure called a go pod.

00:33:58.746 --> 00:34:01.625
And there's five of us in that go pod.

00:34:02.016 --> 00:34:08.496
And it's just, you know, five solid dudes that are trying to grow businesses real estate, guy in insurance learning from each other, growing from each other.

00:34:08.496 --> 00:34:12.275
And it was really healthy for me to get into a group.

00:34:13.376 --> 00:34:16.467
Of people who were doing better than I was.

00:34:17.077 --> 00:34:22.646
I think it's easy to look at your little circle and be like, Oh yeah, I'm doing pretty good.

00:34:22.646 --> 00:34:23.896
Like I've got this, I've got that.

00:34:23.896 --> 00:34:24.746
I'm only this old.

00:34:24.797 --> 00:34:28.206
you pat yourself on the back, which I'm all for celebrating achievements.

00:34:28.217 --> 00:34:36.476
And I think we don't do that enough sometimes, but it was very humbling and refining to get into a group with people who are.

00:34:37.027 --> 00:34:49.987
My same age who were further and I was from, you know, whether it was, from, you know, monetary standpoint or a business standpoint or a family standpoint and, be able to learn from those people, has been really good.

00:34:49.987 --> 00:35:01.367
So that I would say is probably the biggest benefit and is just the net benefit of community in general we just get in our little bubbles and we feel like we got this figured out and we're doing really well and we've kind of perfected the formula.

00:35:01.996 --> 00:35:10.126
But then you get into community, which, you know, GoBundance is that and you realize like, okay, yeah, I can, there's a lot of room for improvement, a lot of room for growth.

00:35:10.146 --> 00:35:12.157
There's people doing some incredible things out there.

00:35:12.476 --> 00:35:22.047
it's very motivational to continue to push and grow, with a group that you feel like they're kind of walking alongside, arm and arm and you're all growing and building together.

00:35:22.702 --> 00:35:23.652
yeah, I agree, man.

00:35:23.652 --> 00:35:36.541
I think it's been a big blessing for me too, you know, just, just being around so many, you know, I, there, there's certain values in there that, that become very evident that you really start to benefit from that you don't get into it for, right?

00:35:36.592 --> 00:35:42.027
I think a lot of us go in because we want to, you know, Just to be real, we want to figure out how to get wealthier, right?

00:35:42.106 --> 00:35:48.056
that's what we look, but then you go in there and that becomes the last thing you talk about, really what you start to do is share.

00:35:48.297 --> 00:35:51.726
Vulnerability is a big, an authenticity, a big value there.

00:35:51.726 --> 00:36:04.867
And you just start really being vulnerable and authentic and people just start sharing these crazy things about them that all of a sudden start to make you feel like, okay, maybe my life isn't that bad or Right.

00:36:04.896 --> 00:36:11.317
And, and everybody's still like puts a virtual arm around you and helps you get through whatever you got going on.

00:36:11.336 --> 00:36:18.447
you feel very good about sharing whatever you got going on and getting through those things you were suffering in silence with.

00:36:18.467 --> 00:36:26.117
what a platform like GoBundance does a good job with is finding like minded individuals to, come together.

00:36:26.117 --> 00:36:29.916
And you kind of have that, that sense of trust start off the bat.

00:36:29.936 --> 00:36:32.817
You know, you felt like there was a call, like a qualification process to go through.

00:36:32.817 --> 00:36:39.556
But my encouragement to people though would be, you don't have to go and join a GoBundance or another mastermind group.

00:36:39.856 --> 00:36:43.036
Like sometimes those people are right in your own backyard and in your community.

00:36:43.086 --> 00:36:53.166
Reaching out and being intentional to engage with the people right around you and setting the example of vulnerability and honesty and building that trust.

00:36:53.617 --> 00:37:02.516
and sometimes that can be even more genuine than the people that you see every day, whether it's through your church or a league, you're a part of your kid's school or whatever, I think everybody craves that connection.

00:37:02.527 --> 00:37:03.967
as humans, it's very innate.

00:37:03.967 --> 00:37:06.067
We were created to be in community.

00:37:06.407 --> 00:37:11.976
sometimes it just takes somebody willing to step out and be a part of that community and be intentional.

00:37:12.036 --> 00:37:12.836
I love the platform.

00:37:12.836 --> 00:37:14.126
I love what GoBundance stands for.

00:37:14.146 --> 00:37:15.777
I love how it can get you involved.

00:37:16.117 --> 00:37:19.427
I sometimes think people say, well, I have to be in a mastermind to have that.

00:37:19.456 --> 00:37:20.956
When really you just have to.

00:37:21.692 --> 00:37:26.181
Step back from yourself and look around there's a lot of people aching for that community.

00:37:26.202 --> 00:37:30.371
And you could be the one to initiate and start to build that in your local area.

00:37:30.891 --> 00:37:31.211
Yeah.

00:37:31.311 --> 00:37:32.402
But it isn't easy.

00:37:32.831 --> 00:37:42.351
as we get older, as we become adults in different areas of life, you have those connections growing up with people because you're young and authentic just because you don't have to put up a front, right?

00:37:42.362 --> 00:37:58.452
You don't know how, but then as you get older, That wall keeps building and it creates barriers you don't build that community naturally it's very hard to find like minded people not everybody's in growth mode other people just want to come home Drink beers and watch tv Yeah.

00:37:58.492 --> 00:37:58.762
absolutely.

00:37:59.061 --> 00:38:03.731
So on that point, I think we should switch over to our world famous WayFinder 4.

00:38:04.251 --> 00:38:04.422
Great.

00:38:04.472 --> 00:38:05.501
you ready for that, Alex?

00:38:05.661 --> 00:38:06.061
Yes, sir.

00:38:06.061 --> 00:38:06.632
Let's do it.

00:38:06.952 --> 00:38:07.411
All right.

00:38:07.442 --> 00:38:08.652
So give us a hack.

00:38:08.961 --> 00:38:14.411
This is something you use regularly to just kind of cheat life with or make your life easier.

00:38:14.461 --> 00:38:18.521
An app, a routine, habit.

00:38:19.092 --> 00:38:19.802
That's a great, that's a great idea.

00:38:20.112 --> 00:38:21.072
That's a great question.

00:38:21.121 --> 00:38:29.242
My wife calls me a hype guy, so I'm always trying to have something new and different But just to be totally candid with you, something that is.

00:38:29.692 --> 00:38:32.112
I think we, we overlook a lot.

00:38:32.202 --> 00:38:37.771
and I brought up like involved in our church and, you know, being a Christian is very innate to who I am.

00:38:38.192 --> 00:38:42.601
And in the 10 commandments, we talk about, the Sabbath and keep it holy.

00:38:42.711 --> 00:38:52.072
one of the things that I've really tried to be intentional with this year is looking at the rhythms of life and trying to, slow down.

00:38:52.541 --> 00:38:58.672
I'm actually finding by doing that, it's creating even more capacity when I'm looking to accelerate and speed up.

00:38:58.672 --> 00:39:16.902
So my hack, if you will, is my take Sabbath every Sunday, and I'm hyper intentional to turn off technology, invest in the community around me, having people over for dinner and engaging with my three kids, engaging with my wife, no work.

00:39:17.402 --> 00:39:18.681
so I really been trying to do that.

00:39:18.681 --> 00:39:28.032
And then also I am implementing more of a daily journal where every morning I, get out and I have a series of questions and I say, what's the type of man that I want to be?

00:39:28.041 --> 00:39:33.211
And I write that down every morning to my kids, loving to my wife, healthy with my body, right?

00:39:33.211 --> 00:39:34.831
Writing down, these things.

00:39:34.831 --> 00:39:37.192
And then I write down, areas that I'm struggling with?

00:39:37.291 --> 00:39:41.242
whatever comes on my heart and my mind, I'm just writing down and journaling about those.

00:39:41.661 --> 00:39:43.552
then I take a couple of minutes to pray over those things.

00:39:43.552 --> 00:39:47.942
Lord, today, I want to be this type of man and Lord, today I'm struggling with these things.

00:39:47.961 --> 00:39:50.672
please help me work through these, doing that every morning.

00:39:50.722 --> 00:39:53.192
it's a rhythm encouraged by a mentor of mine.

00:39:53.192 --> 00:39:55.181
That's light years ahead of where I am.

00:39:55.641 --> 00:39:59.661
but that would be my hack, if you will, actually trying to.

00:40:00.056 --> 00:40:10.516
Slow down and be more intentional on the Sabbath and taking time From a daily journal standpoint to really be intentional with How do I want today to be who am I trying to be?

00:40:10.527 --> 00:40:12.396
How am I trying to engage with my community?

00:40:13.407 --> 00:40:26.067
I absolutely love that, and for our listeners who aren't Christian, this applies to any religion, any philosophy in life, in the Jewish religion, there is the Sabbath, and just about every religion is something like that, and there's a good reason for it.

00:40:26.106 --> 00:40:31.097
We need to decompress and get away from the rigors of everyday life and take it all in, right?

00:40:31.146 --> 00:40:34.237
so I love that when you journal practice, man, that's beautiful.

00:40:34.677 --> 00:40:35.967
I love how you think about that.

00:40:36.757 --> 00:40:36.996
Yeah.

00:40:36.996 --> 00:40:41.547
It's very blessed to have some really wise people in my life encourage me to implement these things.

00:40:41.597 --> 00:40:42.407
a lot of times.

00:40:43.657 --> 00:40:54.416
you think of, a pastor or somebody very spiritual or a nonprofit, encouraging these behaviors, but then you look at, I'm trying to build a business and I'm an entrepreneur and I'm trying to do all these things.

00:40:54.416 --> 00:40:55.827
how could I possibly have time for that?

00:40:55.827 --> 00:41:00.356
I always appreciate when successful entrepreneurs look at somebody younger.

00:41:00.717 --> 00:41:04.106
And say, Hey, look, you, you need, I do these things.

00:41:04.146 --> 00:41:10.177
This is what I, and you look at their life and you're like, wow, you're making a huge impact with your business and still implementing these rhythms.

00:41:10.206 --> 00:41:24.507
when I have the chance to engage with younger people as well, younger than I am, just, just like, Hey, this is something I really want to encourage you where you, you don't have to, you know, just because you implement a Sabbath doesn't mean you have to go be the pastor, you know, like you can still have a successful business.

00:41:24.507 --> 00:41:28.536
And I think the Lord blesses us when we keep his law and commandments.

00:41:28.536 --> 00:41:31.657
I think in a lot of ways, we've lost that in some capacity.

00:41:31.666 --> 00:41:36.927
So I've been blessed to be encouraged and hopefully somebody finds some encouragement in that as well.

00:41:37.427 --> 00:41:38.376
What about a favorite?

00:41:39.516 --> 00:41:43.117
Could be, you know, a show, a book, activity.

00:41:44.387 --> 00:41:46.427
That's a great, that is a great question.

00:41:46.507 --> 00:41:56.177
favorite book, I've got a lot of favorite books in different genres, but one that I always go back to and use the principle a lot in business is, Peter Thiel zero to one.

00:41:56.427 --> 00:41:56.976
Oh yeah.

00:41:57.456 --> 00:42:04.737
When I think about business, I think about, the something to nothing concept, like creating that zero to one, taking that step.

00:42:05.266 --> 00:42:06.717
I think it's so fundamental.

00:42:06.827 --> 00:42:11.126
And I know Teal's approach to it as much more like industry based and trying to get into a new industry.

00:42:11.867 --> 00:42:17.257
How I like apply that a lot is when you think about any project or concept or idea that you have is going from.

00:42:17.856 --> 00:42:29.487
Zero to one, something to nothing that is so innate to entrepreneurship and having that grit to just take a blank piece of paper and then start, you know, writing it out and building it and folding it into something that has some meaning and substance.

00:42:29.887 --> 00:42:32.047
And then having a team that you can then pass that on to.

00:42:32.047 --> 00:42:36.666
But I think entrepreneurs are so much of that philosophy that we need to embrace and hold on to.

00:42:36.666 --> 00:42:38.547
And so I love that book.

00:42:38.617 --> 00:42:43.797
while I'm not really involved in that space as much now, I think the principles are, pretty much true to anybody.

00:42:46.152 --> 00:42:48.822
I'm always amazed by anything with Peter Thiel.

00:42:48.871 --> 00:42:50.101
he's a remarkable guy.

00:42:50.101 --> 00:42:51.592
he's so forward thinking.

00:42:51.661 --> 00:43:03.101
he's had his hands in so much of what's happening now from getting leaders elected to getting companies started and he could just see all of the roadblocks ahead yeah, he's amazing.

00:43:03.632 --> 00:43:06.577
Paradox in a lot of different ways, but he is a.

00:43:06.766 --> 00:43:08.856
generational talent and an absolute thought leader.

00:43:08.856 --> 00:43:11.836
there's people that just seem to have this gift of clarity.

00:43:11.907 --> 00:43:13.047
he definitely seems to have that.

00:43:13.047 --> 00:43:18.777
And so, yeah, no matter the industry, I think learning to those people and just, I mean, kind of the pieces of your show, right.

00:43:18.777 --> 00:43:27.407
Is that mindset you learn so much just by listening to how those individuals solve problems analyze the world and look at situations I don't care what industry you're in.

00:43:27.407 --> 00:43:29.206
you can apply that to just about anything.

00:43:29.237 --> 00:43:30.266
So, yeah.

00:43:30.817 --> 00:43:33.266
what about a piece of advice for a younger self?

00:43:36.117 --> 00:43:37.967
Piece of advice for my younger self?

00:43:40.427 --> 00:43:44.126
I would say something that I'm very much still working on.

00:43:44.666 --> 00:43:47.586
in the, you know, Enneagram, are you familiar with?

00:43:48.262 --> 00:43:51.931
That kind of personality assessment at all, the Enneagram.

00:43:53.302 --> 00:43:55.612
So you have these series of numberings, one through nine.

00:43:56.141 --> 00:43:58.822
And I've never done it, but my wife tells me I'm a three.

00:43:59.501 --> 00:44:06.231
And the three is kind of the entrepreneur, you know, achiever, you know, kind of builder, grower, right?

00:44:06.331 --> 00:44:11.751
But the three also is, is, sensitive of how he's perceived in the world.

00:44:11.811 --> 00:44:13.541
And sometimes.

00:44:13.791 --> 00:44:23.342
Can be perceived as inauthentic and in one situation, I can act a certain way in a different situation, I can act a totally different way and be a chameleon in some way.

00:44:24.012 --> 00:44:30.442
one thing that I'm very much working on and would want to tell my younger self is to really be intentional about being genuine.

00:44:31.052 --> 00:44:33.811
Identifying and thinking about like, who are you as an individual?

00:44:33.811 --> 00:44:36.692
What is the, what is the value that you're bringing to this situation?

00:44:36.702 --> 00:44:39.021
And just don't, don't pretend to be anything that you're not.

00:44:39.072 --> 00:44:49.751
that genuine spirit is something, that to be candid can be hard at times being vulnerable and honest isn't always the easiest because I want to be perceived a certain way.

00:44:50.226 --> 00:44:54.896
I want, the world to think about me a certain way when in reality, I am who I am.

00:44:54.936 --> 00:44:59.306
And while I want to improve and get better, there are certain things that are just innate to who I am as a person.

00:44:59.317 --> 00:45:06.817
So I would want to encourage myself to think about that more, recognizing perfection is never the goal, but just the progress of it.

00:45:06.867 --> 00:45:15.007
it's just been the last few years that I've developed a framework to think and process through that So that would be the advice I would give to myself 10 years ago.

00:45:16.586 --> 00:45:17.126
I love that.

00:45:17.481 --> 00:45:20.351
I think it is something that comes, more with time.

00:45:20.351 --> 00:45:26.641
we all start out trying to put up this front, like we are this, because that's what we want people to think of us.

00:45:26.661 --> 00:45:33.831
And as time goes on, we start to accept our faults, as part of who we are and people can take it or leave it and that's fine.

00:45:34.186 --> 00:45:35.766
Who cares what they think, right?

00:45:35.766 --> 00:45:36.916
we want to be accepted.

00:45:37.117 --> 00:45:38.277
We want to be loved.

00:45:38.356 --> 00:45:40.956
that's so innate to who we are.

00:45:40.976 --> 00:45:46.086
I think in a lot of ways people think the path to that is to be disingenuous and to pretend to be somebody they're not.

00:45:46.447 --> 00:45:53.036
Really, at the end of the day, authenticity is not hidden behind this veil of who we're pretending to be.

00:45:53.047 --> 00:45:55.476
It really is being our genuine selves.

00:45:55.476 --> 00:45:58.797
And so, something that I need to continue to work on.

00:45:58.806 --> 00:46:10.447
But yeah, hope to continue to grow in that area and surround myself with people that appreciate the person that I actually am and can see through the facade sometimes and willing to call you on it as well.

00:46:10.507 --> 00:46:11.637
Be like, yeah, that's not true.

00:46:11.666 --> 00:46:12.507
That's not who you are.

00:46:14.056 --> 00:46:15.376
Yeah, that would be my advice.

00:46:16.047 --> 00:46:16.467
Excellent.

00:46:17.146 --> 00:46:21.217
What about a big opportunity that you see out there or perhaps that you're pursuing?

00:46:24.217 --> 00:46:25.427
A big opportunity?

00:46:25.476 --> 00:46:31.110
I really feel like affordable multifamily housing is a big opportunity.

00:46:31.422 --> 00:46:41.362
I'd love to get involved or get into a conversation of some of the details that I'm, I'm working through right now, but I've got a pretty strict NDA that I can't talk about.

00:46:41.382 --> 00:46:56.672
maybe I'll update you in a couple of months, I'm actively pursuing a couple of sizable opportunities that I think will help to catapult, the business into the next level and really start to make an imprint and build the business that we're capable of building over the next 10 years.

00:46:57.146 --> 00:47:02.306
what I'll say is I think that real estate in the Midwest is overlooked by individuals on the coast.

00:47:02.317 --> 00:47:03.257
I'm grateful for that.

00:47:03.257 --> 00:47:08.706
I tell my friends, I say, Hey, in 10 years, you come by whatever you want to hear, cause I'm going to own most of it and you can buy it from me.

00:47:09.047 --> 00:47:13.016
I'm looking forward to continuing to build and grow our presence here regionally.

00:47:13.376 --> 00:47:13.916
and then.

00:47:14.271 --> 00:47:20.692
I don't know if we'll end up growing out of this market, but right now it's a plenty big sandbox and we want to be the best in our own backyard.

00:47:20.692 --> 00:47:22.601
So we're just going to keep focusing on what we're doing.

00:47:23.442 --> 00:47:23.621
Yeah.

00:47:23.621 --> 00:47:28.791
What do you think about, well, I agree housing continues to get more and more unaffordable, right?

00:47:28.791 --> 00:47:31.032
And there's a lot of factors for that, right?

00:47:31.032 --> 00:47:36.692
And then to mitigate that, governments often come up with plans to create more affordable housing.

00:47:36.742 --> 00:47:44.742
I'm just curious as to what, you see how that's playing out I'll preface this by reminding you that I am very involved in Colorado and the affordable housing scene.

00:47:44.742 --> 00:47:49.911
last year, I went to the housing Colorado conference, the biggest conference in Colorado for affordable housing.

00:47:50.731 --> 00:47:54.902
they had a record turnout, over a thousand attendants for the first time.

00:47:55.311 --> 00:47:57.512
And I'm sure this year is going to be even bigger.

00:47:57.512 --> 00:48:01.061
There's just more and more national players starting to come to Colorado.

00:48:01.461 --> 00:48:09.782
I think the bigger reason why is because there is a lot of government money getting pumped into it, but I don't see housing getting any more affordable.

00:48:09.791 --> 00:48:11.541
Do you see the paradox?

00:48:11.782 --> 00:48:13.081
it is an issue.

00:48:13.262 --> 00:48:17.481
obviously being the owner of a lot of multifamily, this may be biased.

00:48:17.581 --> 00:48:21.172
but I think we are moving to a renter nation.

00:48:21.302 --> 00:48:22.831
I think the idea of.

00:48:23.387 --> 00:48:31.936
The American dream, you know, owning your, you know, little quarter acre of land and a home is something that my kids aren't going to experience.

00:48:33.016 --> 00:48:37.186
I think the concept of building new affordable housing that's not subsidized is not.

00:48:37.521 --> 00:48:38.981
It's not possible.

00:48:39.012 --> 00:48:45.871
You can't just look at, the construction and say, we're going to build this with the affordable package, not the luxury package.

00:48:45.882 --> 00:48:52.242
your garden walk up is going to be 200, 000 a door, regardless of how much TI you put into the interiors.

00:48:52.291 --> 00:48:52.521
Right.

00:48:52.552 --> 00:49:08.547
And so that's where I think if The goal is to be able to establish a renter base of people that can afford to live in quality housing without, the income to be able to pay 1500 bucks a month for a one bedroom.

00:49:08.597 --> 00:49:10.436
It has to be subsidized.

00:49:11.016 --> 00:49:17.927
And so I'm actually of the belief that I think in 20 years from now, most housing will be subsidized.

00:49:18.047 --> 00:49:18.496
I think.

00:49:19.077 --> 00:49:25.717
When people think affordable housing, it kind of puts a bad taste in their mouth and a lot of preconceived notions or biases come into play with that.

00:49:26.126 --> 00:49:30.047
if it was me and I'm the federal government, I'm rebranding it as something different.

00:49:30.887 --> 00:49:46.786
I think that will just be what housing is in the future your rent is 1, 500 a month and you're paying, you know, you're a firefighter and you're paying 1, 200 and the government subsidizing 300 and that's almost the housing for the entire middle class.

00:49:46.847 --> 00:49:48.766
That's really where I think we're moving towards.

00:49:48.766 --> 00:49:52.666
And I don't see pricing coming down in any dramatic way.

00:49:52.666 --> 00:50:15.851
not just material pricing, but labor pricing, as the minimum wage continues to increase I don't see a path to getting back to a place where, housing is attainable to the average individual, both from buying new and owning your own home, or just Simply renting, you know, if you're making 65, 000 a year, which is, you know, a pretty decent income, you can apply to live in some of this affordable housing.

00:50:16.271 --> 00:50:16.552
That's right.

00:50:16.581 --> 00:50:18.581
So that's where I see it going.

00:50:18.581 --> 00:50:24.291
that's where, I'm kind of putting my eggs in that basket, because I think it's a big industry and there's a lot of upward mobility still.

00:50:24.291 --> 00:50:26.592
that really is where the future of housing lies.

00:50:27.072 --> 00:50:28.371
I don't disagree with you.

00:50:29.371 --> 00:50:32.842
Alex, if people want to know more about you, how can they find you?

00:50:33.831 --> 00:50:37.992
you can email me really at any point, just alexander at rckrealestate.

00:50:39.291 --> 00:50:39.722
com.

00:50:40.132 --> 00:50:42.132
it's probably the best way to get in touch with me.

00:50:42.132 --> 00:50:46.302
I have a Twitter and a LinkedIn that you're welcome to look up, but I don't check those very well.

00:50:46.322 --> 00:50:49.791
So I would shoot me an email if you ever want to talk about affordable housing.

00:50:49.842 --> 00:50:52.152
Be happy to talk with anybody about that.

00:50:52.461 --> 00:50:55.958
That was alexander at rck realestate.

00:50:55.958 --> 00:50:57.061
com.

00:50:57.541 --> 00:51:04.952
Well, Alex, it's really been a joy having you here and sharing your multi generational wisdom with all of us.

00:51:05.371 --> 00:51:07.262
I think our listeners are going to get a lot out of this.

00:51:07.262 --> 00:51:08.202
So thank you.

00:51:08.202 --> 00:51:13.742
And if anybody wants to invest in the Midwest, specifically in Nebraska, send Alex an email.

00:51:14.646 --> 00:51:14.987
Thanks, brother.

00:51:14.987 --> 00:51:15.677
I appreciate the time.

00:51:16.126 --> 00:51:16.817
Thank you so much.