Real Estate Investing & Financing - Don Wenner on Creating One of the Fastest Growing Companies

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<v Speaker 1>I had this entrepreneurial desire at a very young age and I had this kind of belief that well, somebody else could do it.

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<v Speaker 1>Of course I could do it Don Winner.

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<v Speaker 2>he's going to amaze you.

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<v Speaker 2>Almost six billion in capital under management, massive real estate investments.

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<v Speaker 2>He built an amazing business.

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<v Speaker 2>He's going to blow your mind today.

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<v Speaker 1>His business has grown to a little under six billion dollars.

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<v Speaker 1>We've done so by bringing hard-working families along with us.

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<v Speaker 1>What do you hear on this earth to do?

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<v Speaker 2>tune in study, don winner don.

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<v Speaker 2>Let me start off with the question what's your definition of success?

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<v Speaker 1>well, thank you, brad, appreciate that.

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<v Speaker 1>Um, you know it's a.

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<v Speaker 1>It's an interesting, interesting question.

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<v Speaker 1>I don't know if everybody asked me that directly.

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<v Speaker 1>Um, I and I'm gonna kind of cheat a little bit and give you two answers.

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<v Speaker 1>First, my mind goes, it's living out your calling, or your purpose Mine is the short version of it is to passionately make an extraordinary impact by transforming lives through the building of thriving communities.

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<v Speaker 1>So building of thriving communities is what I'm called to do and we want to impact lives through doing that.

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<v Speaker 1>So, living out that calling, which I feel crystal clear, that's what I'm here to do Let me chat about.

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<v Speaker 1>And then the second note I would say is when you're you know, success is when you're living fully, and to me that means when you're winning in all the areas of your life at the same time.

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<v Speaker 1>And the way I've defined it as there's eight F's of life faith, family, friends, freedom, fun, fulfillment, fitness and finance.

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<v Speaker 2>I hope you have that written down in front of you and you're not just remembering that off the top of your head.

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<v Speaker 1>No, I am just remembering that.

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<v Speaker 1>I'll just show you something.

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<v Speaker 1>I just got one in my pocket here I can show you.

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<v Speaker 1>So I keep this little pocket guide, my Living Fully pocket guide, in my pocket here and sort of most of our employees, and we go through and think about what is Living Fully to us and we break that down.

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<v Speaker 1>I have my mission, my core values, my BHAG, my perfect life numbers, and then my daily routines, my goals for the year and the people I want to cherish, and so living fully is kind of succeeding in all these areas at the same time.

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<v Speaker 1>And I kind of think of it like a baseball analogy.

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<v Speaker 1>So if faith, family, friends, freedom, fun, fulfillment, fitness and finance are the goals of the areas of life, you know, if I'm only spending time working on one of those areas, that's a.

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<v Speaker 1>That's a single or a double, or a single.

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<v Speaker 1>If I'm working on two, it's a double.

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<v Speaker 1>If I can, if I can incorporate three or four or five of those areas, right.

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<v Speaker 1>If I can be, you know, going on a hike with my kids, having a great conversation and while I'm traveling in a beautiful country, right, you know, and I'm hitting on multiple of these areas at the same time.

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<v Speaker 1>That's that's that's how he lived fully.

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<v Speaker 1>It's a maximize, every minute, every day, what I, what I try to do and how I built my life, to virtually school my kids and have a traveling teacher and her husband and all these types of things to allow me to integrate the things I'm passionate about, my priorities, into life together.

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<v Speaker 2>Love it.

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<v Speaker 2>Now you threw out two words earlier purpose and calling.

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<v Speaker 2>Do you see them as the same thing?

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<v Speaker 2>Do you see them as different?

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<v Speaker 2>How do you relate to those?

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it's an awesome question and I've had, you know, I've had people say a lot of different things.

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<v Speaker 1>You're calling you're purpose, you're mission, and in our organization we have a purpose.

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<v Speaker 1>We have a separate mission.

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<v Speaker 1>I've always thought of mission as something you can achieve, something you're going to go out and accomplish.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm going to become the number one of this.

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<v Speaker 1>You can one day hit it and achieve it and set a new mission.

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<v Speaker 1>I think of purpose more as why I think you can get too easy to get hung up on those things, and I don't think it really matters what you call it.

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<v Speaker 1>But, but I think of it as the simple uh quote that's often attributed to Mark Twain.

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<v Speaker 1>You know two most important days of your life the day you were born and the day you find out why.

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<v Speaker 1>So I just think of it as that.

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<v Speaker 1>Why, what do you, what do you hear on this earth to do?

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, don, let's go back in your life a little bit.

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<v Speaker 1>When did you choose success for you?

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<v Speaker 1>Was it as a young?

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<v Speaker 1>You know kind of success and what I want my kids to, to, who they want.

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<v Speaker 1>You know what I want to be important for them and how I want to make sure to set them up for success and and then building out kind of what I think are the keys to for them to end up being men who are living fully, who are hopefully world chang changers and living out what they're called to do.

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<v Speaker 1>And you know, I think back.

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<v Speaker 1>You know I grew up to two parents who had me at 16 years old and my mom ran a home daycare in my childhood and my dad was a correction officer and they, you know, got divorced when I was four and I moved out of their house my mom's house when I was a junior in high school and went out on my own and so my path was different.

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<v Speaker 1>And one of my friends who wrote the book called the Running man and he ran two marathons a day across the Sierra Desert for like 60 days straight or something.

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<v Speaker 1>Really interesting guy it's going to hit me in one second, but he said it really cool.

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<v Speaker 1>He gets asked to go speak at a lot of kind of big events, talk to business leaders.

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<v Speaker 1>He said you know, I meet all these incredible businessmen and they always have their rags to riches story right.

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<v Speaker 1>They have their kind of pride of how they came from nothing and built their success.

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<v Speaker 1>And he said you know, every one of them.

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<v Speaker 1>At the center of that story is struggle.

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<v Speaker 1>He said, yet every one of us as parents, we want to rob our children of struggle, and his name's Charlie Engel, and that was a great way to think about it.

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<v Speaker 1>And we try to try to avoid our kids having the benefit of struggling, and so, anyway.

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<v Speaker 1>So for me that struggle happened naturally because my parents didn't have much, didn't know much, as 16 year old kids.

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<v Speaker 1>So somehow, me, I had this entrepreneurial desire at a very young age and I had this kind of belief that well, somebody else could do it Of course I can do it and always had the belief that, that growth mindset which I think is one of the most critical aspects of success, that belief that if you're willing to put in the work to learn and to do, there's nothing you can't do.

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<v Speaker 1>And you know and I look back and this only hit me recently that well, maybe I had that confidence in part because I'm a white man who grew up in America and and raised in faith, and you know, I kind of hit the proverbial lottery and that gave me the belief that most of the most successful people and however I determine that is, in building my career, kind of look like me, right.

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<v Speaker 1>But?

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<v Speaker 1>But you know, I always had that belief that I could do anything.

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<v Speaker 1>And in eighth grade I decided that I was going to be a wealth manager and I started shadowing financial advisors wealth managers in eighth grade.

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<v Speaker 1>And I started shadowing financial advisors, wealth managers in eighth grade and I only determined that because they came in.

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<v Speaker 1>One came in on a career day and told me and showed me a chart, they made more money than doctors, lawyers, accountants.

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<v Speaker 1>And told me, to be great at it you had to be good at math and be entrepreneurial.

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<v Speaker 1>And I had already been employing my friends running businesses since really first grade.

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<v Speaker 1>And so I just naturally had this entrepreneurial nature, this work ethic, and decided that's what I'm going to do.

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<v Speaker 1>But when I started shadowing advisors in eighth grade, I didn't think I could do their job better.

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<v Speaker 1>When I was an adult, I thought I could do their job and do it better in eighth grade.

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<v Speaker 1>So I always had this belief that, hey, lots of other people have been successful, right, there's many who do it.

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<v Speaker 1>So when I entered my professional career, I started as a real estate agent and there's 1.3 million realtors in America, 1.3 million of them, right.

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<v Speaker 1>Well, there's a few hundred of them who are really good at their job, and so well, there's a few hundred who are doing it.

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<v Speaker 1>Well, why is?

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<v Speaker 1>Why can't I right?

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<v Speaker 1>So I just decided really early on I was going to be the best at whatever I decided to focus on, and I've never, once ever, had the doubt that there's a reason I couldn't.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah.

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<v Speaker 2>What is the Don Wenner formula for success today, like what are the components or the attributes or the steps to success, if someone had to learn from your mistakes and successes?

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I'd say the first part, and this is you know not the way I think a lot of people like to think of it.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm going to give you kind of two answers your mistakes and successes.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I'd say the first part and this is you know not, not the way I think a lot of people like to think of it.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm going to be kind of too, and the first is is to is to understand, accept, um, how little of a role um we really have in in in the scheme of things.

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<v Speaker 1>And and I know, you know, I live my life by the belief that you know to who much is given, much will be required.

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<v Speaker 1>And and it's my favorite, favorite verse, and I understand that, like you know, I was placed, as I said, kind of hitting the proverbial ladder.

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<v Speaker 1>I grew up in America in this information age two parents who love me, with a certain set of skills and you know, abilities that put me in a position to be successful in business and to and to and to lead and and certain innate kind of characteristics, and I and I know so little of what I've been able to accomplish Does anything to do with anything I've done.

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<v Speaker 1>I've taken that kind of blessing that have been provided to me and I've tried to make the most of it.

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<v Speaker 1>And when you live your life by that understanding that, you know that when you've been given a lot, that you're that that means lots required then you can take it as responsibility that that that I have.

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<v Speaker 1>I have a duty to do as much as I can with what I've been given and that gives you a kind of a bigger sense of, of meaning and value to the work you do every day and, you know, humbles that ego that can kind of get to you um, pretty easily, um.

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<v Speaker 1>So, putting that kind of as the backdrop, you know, I've I've kind of come to a formula that there's, you know, six keys, as I've often called it, but they're really six sort of decisions or commitments, um, that I believe if you make across the, you know the various areas of your life, you're going to be incredibly successful.

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<v Speaker 1>And the first is intentionality.

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<v Speaker 1>So being very intentional about not just big things but the little things right, meaning if you're going to spend an hour on something, being very clear, having clear intentions of what is the goal of that meeting, what is the goal of that hour, what is that goal of that next phone call you're making?

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<v Speaker 1>What is the goal of that trip you're making?

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<v Speaker 1>What is the goal of that hour?

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<v Speaker 1>What is that goal of that next phone call you're making?

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<v Speaker 1>What is the goal of that trip you're making?

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<v Speaker 1>What is the goal of that next event you're going to?

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<v Speaker 1>Being very clear of what the intentions are before you spend time or energy or effort on anything so big picture and small group, but being very intentional about what you do.

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<v Speaker 1>I say this half jokingly, but I spend maybe an hour a month doing anything that I don't exactly want to do, and not that it's all fun stuff I'm doing, but that doesn't all have a clear goal and purpose and that hour is the honey to do stuff I can't get my way out of.

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<v Speaker 1>But other than that, every now and then my wife convinced me to.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, I built a drum set for my 11 year old last night as an example, for a couple of hours, but, but in all seriousness, you know I built a drum set for my 11-year-old last night as an example, for a couple hours.

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<v Speaker 1>But in all seriousness, you know, being intentional about how I spend my time, on what and with who, is number one.

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<v Speaker 1>Number two is having clear purpose Again, big picture to our lives, but also to decisions we make on a day-to-day basis.

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<v Speaker 1>Third is goals.

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<v Speaker 1>We built some great rhythms around how you go about setting long term and short term goals, being very clear around goals.

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<v Speaker 1>Fourth is grit.

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<v Speaker 1>You know passion, perseverance towards long term goals, and I think a lot of young people who maybe young people who'd be listening to you and I chat right now can confuse hard work and grit, and I chat right now can confuse hard work and grit, and I know a lot of young entrepreneurs who have no problem working 70, 80, 90 hours a week, right, building a new product, launching a business.

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<v Speaker 1>But then guess what happens Anytime you build any product or launch any business, once you do it, then you have to deal with clients, right, and then you deal with problems and issues and then it's not the fun stuff anymore, right, and so what a lot of young people do is, once they start having to actually deal with the hard work, they then jump to something else, and I can't tell you how many resumes I see on an everyday basis where six months this job, nine months at this job, 12 months at this job, four months at this job.

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<v Speaker 1>As soon as they got going and they got hard and got past the fun of new, they quit and did something else Passion, perseverance to getting better, honing your craft it takes a long time.

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<v Speaker 1>Number five I've already talked about earlier having a growth mindset, the belief that if I'm willing to put in the work, to learn and do, I can accomplish anything.

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<v Speaker 1>And then six is, and the final is is kind of the secret sauce across all of it.

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<v Speaker 1>And and that's presence and and I've struggled with this a lot early in my my life here is is that constant conflict between where my mind is and where my body is.

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<v Speaker 1>I can't allow myself to be at ease and be fully present in what I'm doing right now.

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<v Speaker 1>And I know young, young parents, young fathers, who said man, I'm working late, I'm in the office 7, 8, 9, 10 o'clock at night, I'm going to start getting home for dinner, right.

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<v Speaker 1>And so they start coming home for dinner and that feels really good, right, I'm going to be there, I'm going to be a present father.

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<v Speaker 1>But then they get home for dinner and worst of all is if they're taking phone calls or or doing work and they're completely not there at all, right, maybe they don't do that, but while they're there, they're on their computer or they're checking emails, so they're not actually paying attention to their wife or their kids because they're.

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<v Speaker 1>They're actually doing something else.

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<v Speaker 1>Maybe they're not taking phone calls, but they're sneaking their phone under the, under the table, or you know, or or.

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<v Speaker 1>But even if you don't do that, but just mentally, you're drifted and you're focused on what you have to do tomorrow morning or what you have to do the next day, or the big problem or the issue you have with one of your employees, or whatever the case may be.

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<v Speaker 1>When you can't allow yourself to be in the conversation with who you're with the most successful people I know, make me feel like I'm the only person in the room, the only person that matters.

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<v Speaker 1>When I'm in a conversation.

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<v Speaker 1>They've been able to be fully present.

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<v Speaker 1>Even if they've got 5,000 employees, even if they've got 20 businesses, they're fully present with me in that moment, and that's the secret to getting the most joy and fulfillment and value out of relationships and out of life, you know the Big Success Podcast, Don Wenner will be taking us into elite organizations and then elite investing when we come back.

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<v Speaker 3>Join Brad Sugars' Landlord event and you will quickly see why real estate investing has long been the backbone of serious long-term wealth for so many.

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<v Speaker 3>That said, so many try and fail at creating wealth because they simply don't learn how.

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<v Speaker 3>Visit bradsugarscom and attend this program as a standalone or as part of a Brad Sugars' entrepreneurial university.

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<v Speaker 2>Don, I want to ask you about elite organizations.

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<v Speaker 2>Now.

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<v Speaker 2>You started your company, dreamlive Prosper.

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<v Speaker 2>You've built it hundreds of employees, billions under management.

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<v Speaker 2>You have the four categories.

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<v Speaker 2>Take us through those four quadrants and why they're important and how that plays out on a day-to-day.

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<v Speaker 1>Thank you, Brad.

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<v Speaker 1>And just to put a little slightly more context on that, so I run an organization called DLP Capital, which stands for Dream Live Prosper, and you know we're an organization with a total about 900 employees, about six $700 million a year in revenue, Been doing this 19 years now and we've grown our revenue by over 50% every year for 19 straight years and we built a operating system that we use to run our organization we call the elite execution system, and most probably the average person you know never heard of that before, and but one that that more people may be aware of is a system called EOS or traction, a very famous book by my good friend, Gino Wickman, and so about in and so we took that system many years ago and took the best pieces of it and then kind of built on top of it and Gino's own words for our elite execution system, when he was the first person who read my first book called building an elite organization, he said this is EOS on steroids and and and and that's a good way to describe it and it's in the way I think about it is no matter what business you're in, whether it's for profit or not for profit, whether it's real estate, like we do, or we also own a bank or or something completely, completely different kind of any business.

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<v Speaker 1>They're more similar than than not, and I think every type of organization around those four quadrants is what you just mentioned, which are strategy, people, operations and acceleration.

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<v Speaker 1>And I think, for those of us who really are, you know, somebody jumping on a podcast like this, somebody's thirsty to learn, to grow, to want to get better, to improve, and when you have that mindset, as you and I do that, and you read lots of books and you read lots of books and you go on podcasts and you you're constantly trying to learn, you talk to one guru or one expert and they're going to tell you that, man, if only you got good at leadership, um, everything would, would be great, Right.

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<v Speaker 1>Or if you just got good at content marketing, you just got good at checklist.

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<v Speaker 1>Or you just got good at hiring, you just got good at building culture, you just got good at, you know, at marketing, Right.

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<v Speaker 1>But in what happens in a lot of organizations is then they over over index towards one area of focus and that's actually how you lead to an organization that goes up and down and up and down and sometimes gone, Right.

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<v Speaker 1>So we've been in 5000 for 12 years in a row, which measures the fastest growing companies in America.

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<v Speaker 1>Thousand for 12 years in a row, which measures the fastest growing companies in America.

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<v Speaker 1>Once you make that list one time, you're more likely five years later to be out of business than to ever make the list again, Really, yeah, so very few companies ever make the list a second time, Very, very few make it a third time.

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<v Speaker 1>There's only a couple of handfuls that have ever made it 10 times, as we have, and the reason for that is because maintaining consistent growth is really hard and most organizations, you know they tend to go up and have some growth and they have to catch up and build the operations to handle it and they go up and they down and sometimes they go out of business because of that roller coaster, Right?

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<v Speaker 1>So we build the elite execution system, which sort of the subtitle to my book, Building the Organization, is the blueprint to scaling a high growth, high profit business and we would have consistent.

00:18:07.242 --> 00:18:09.051
<v Speaker 1>Our growth looks like this Every year.

00:18:09.051 --> 00:18:48.871
<v Speaker 1>We've been very city growth and you know again, as I've said a couple of times already in our conversation, you know I understand the blessings that are provided to me and we've built our business at a great time in history and so forth and certainly not all of us but we've built disciplines and structures, rhythms to how we set goals, how we go about achieving those goals and to how we communicate through the growth and as complexity grows, and that's allowed us to maintain this really consistent growth that we've got a plan that incorporates what needs to happen operationally, what we need to do from a people staffing standpoint, what we need to do to accelerate, bring in more clients and revenue all part of us plan, our strategy, that incorporates all of it.

00:18:48.871 --> 00:18:54.050
<v Speaker 1>That allows us to all work together and have consistency to that growth Got it.

00:18:54.652 --> 00:18:57.419
<v Speaker 2>So take me through each of the four areas then.

00:18:57.419 --> 00:18:59.222
<v Speaker 2>And what's the importance factor?

00:18:59.222 --> 00:19:01.295
<v Speaker 2>Why balance it out with all four?

00:19:02.017 --> 00:19:11.493
<v Speaker 1>So for us it starts with strategy, and we have a tool we built called the compass, which is our way of laying out a plan.

00:19:11.493 --> 00:19:36.761
<v Speaker 1>It starts with the big picture of your purpose and your mission and your values and your big, hairy, audacious goal your BHAG and then breaks it down into the smaller components of what needs to happen who your leadership team is, what your strengths are, your weaknesses, your product offerings and we've got a kind of more in-depth version and a shorter version based on the size and scope of your business.

00:19:36.761 --> 00:19:42.923
<v Speaker 1>Today we take the big picture and then we narrow it down to our three-year aim and our one-year bullseye.

00:19:42.923 --> 00:20:00.160
<v Speaker 1>And in that one-year bullseye, which is sort of where the rubber meets the road, we've got our key numbers, our key metrics less is more five or six key numbers, and then two or three key priorities around strategy, two or three key priorities around people, two or three key priorities around operations, two or three key priorities around acceleration.

00:20:00.160 --> 00:20:03.795
<v Speaker 1>And then we break those goals into every day, 90 day rocks.

00:20:04.476 --> 00:20:07.721
<v Speaker 1>And having that you know, getting really clear about where we're going to be in 10 years.

00:20:07.721 --> 00:20:09.163
<v Speaker 1>What's our big goals, where are we heading?

00:20:09.163 --> 00:20:09.805
<v Speaker 1>What's our mission?

00:20:09.805 --> 00:20:11.895
<v Speaker 1>Where do we aim to be in three years?

00:20:11.895 --> 00:20:14.609
<v Speaker 1>When you're growing fast, you can't see perfectly what you're going to look like through.

00:20:14.609 --> 00:20:15.935
<v Speaker 1>What are we aiming for?

00:20:15.935 --> 00:20:17.894
<v Speaker 1>And then what are we setting the target on?

00:20:17.894 --> 00:20:19.279
<v Speaker 1>What we're going to accomplish this year?

00:20:19.279 --> 00:20:31.410
<v Speaker 1>No matter to accomplish that and then what needs to happen in the next two weeks?

00:20:31.326 --> 00:20:34.192
<v Speaker 1>And building that rhythm around the different areas of organization, around people, which, at the center of that, is leadership.

00:20:34.192 --> 00:20:35.753
<v Speaker 1>It is, you know, what are the leadership seats that need to be filled?

00:20:35.753 --> 00:20:36.934
<v Speaker 1>Where do we have gaps in leadership?

00:20:36.934 --> 00:20:39.759
<v Speaker 1>How do we want to build our culture?

00:20:39.759 --> 00:20:43.554
<v Speaker 1>And, being really clear on that, there's lots of great sayings out there.

00:20:43.554 --> 00:20:57.809
<v Speaker 1>You know, culture eats strategy for lunch, and you have to have a strategy and values and purpose mission, understand what kind of culture you want to build and what type of people you're going to attract into your organization, what type of people you're going to reward and retain.

00:20:57.809 --> 00:21:02.582
<v Speaker 1>And so we've built a tool to help us organize that.

00:21:02.582 --> 00:21:06.250
<v Speaker 1>And then we've got lots of rhythms to how we go about you know, day to day operations.

00:21:06.250 --> 00:21:07.611
<v Speaker 1>How do we go about communication?

00:21:07.611 --> 00:21:08.031
<v Speaker 1>How do we?

00:21:08.031 --> 00:21:08.531
<v Speaker 1>How do we?

00:21:08.531 --> 00:21:09.313
<v Speaker 1>How do we meet?

00:21:09.313 --> 00:21:12.654
<v Speaker 1>How do we meet one on one with leaders and their team members?

00:21:12.654 --> 00:21:13.916
<v Speaker 1>How do we meet as groups?

00:21:13.916 --> 00:21:14.936
<v Speaker 1>How do we solve issues?

00:21:14.936 --> 00:21:16.939
<v Speaker 1>Which is all your businesses do is solve issues?

00:21:16.939 --> 00:21:18.881
<v Speaker 1>How do we solve issues together?

00:21:18.881 --> 00:21:19.981
<v Speaker 1>Right, how do we?

00:21:19.981 --> 00:21:22.084
<v Speaker 1>How do we track and hold each other accountable?

00:21:22.084 --> 00:21:29.529
<v Speaker 1>So we've just built different rhythms around how we drive that communication, how we solve problems, how we go out and execute every day.

00:21:29.730 --> 00:21:43.807
<v Speaker 1>One of the biggest, I'll just hit one of the last highlights there is we built a tool we call RREK, which stands for role, responsibilities, expectations and key numbers or key outcomes.

00:21:43.807 --> 00:21:48.211
<v Speaker 1>Key numbers or key outcomes.

00:21:48.211 --> 00:21:49.217
<v Speaker 1>And and um, what I find in so many organizations.

00:21:49.217 --> 00:21:49.858
<v Speaker 1>I talk to young entrepreneurs.

00:21:49.858 --> 00:21:52.670
<v Speaker 1>They say you know, I really need, you know, I need a good operations person to help me.

00:21:52.670 --> 00:21:56.018
<v Speaker 1>Right, I need a, I need a COO or I need this operation person.

00:21:56.018 --> 00:21:57.762
<v Speaker 1>I say, awesome, that's great.

00:21:57.762 --> 00:21:59.453
<v Speaker 1>Um, well, what?

00:21:59.453 --> 00:22:01.420
<v Speaker 1>What would success be for that person?

00:22:01.420 --> 00:22:08.032
<v Speaker 1>And then they say, oh, you know, we're, we're just, we're just executing better, we're just doing things better, and and so.

00:22:08.032 --> 00:22:11.281
<v Speaker 1>But they have no definition of what they're looking for.

00:22:11.281 --> 00:22:13.734
<v Speaker 1>What would success be for that person?

00:22:13.775 --> 00:22:28.815
<v Speaker 1>And the way I always think about it is, you know, kind of behind me here, you know you can kind of see I've got a basketball court kind of out there in my parking lot and if I was looking out my window and nobody's playing basketball right now, but if they were, I could not hear anything out my window.

00:22:28.815 --> 00:22:36.340
<v Speaker 1>They're across the parking lot but I'd be able to tell if they were keeping score or not or if they were just shooting around just by looking.

00:22:36.340 --> 00:22:38.923
<v Speaker 1>You can tell just by the intensity they're playing.

00:22:38.923 --> 00:22:42.685
<v Speaker 1>If score is being kept, you play at a different level than when it's not.

00:22:42.685 --> 00:22:44.366
<v Speaker 1>And the same thing happens in our businesses.

00:22:44.366 --> 00:22:53.257
<v Speaker 1>If there's clear winning, if everybody knows how score is being kept, if they're winning or not, they play harder.

00:22:53.277 --> 00:22:55.162
<v Speaker 1>Every person in my company I can speak for wants to win.

00:22:55.162 --> 00:23:03.214
<v Speaker 1>But if they don't know what winning is, there's not clear targets to what they're responsible for, what the outcomes are that we're measuring against, they're not going to be able to win.

00:23:03.214 --> 00:23:05.285
<v Speaker 1>And so we get really clear.

00:23:05.285 --> 00:23:08.012
<v Speaker 1>Every personal organization knows what their REK is.

00:23:08.012 --> 00:23:16.314
<v Speaker 1>Every personal organization knows what their expectations are, what they're expected to accomplish, and anybody else in the company can see what everybody's expectations are.

00:23:16.314 --> 00:23:25.854
<v Speaker 1>And before we ever decide to hire somebody new, we're looking for where do we have gaps, where do we have key priorities, key outcomes that we don't have somebody today who owns that or is capable of owning it?

00:23:25.854 --> 00:23:32.362
<v Speaker 1>And we get really clear on what that role is that we're actually looking to hire for, and guess what happens.

00:23:32.422 --> 00:23:37.997
<v Speaker 1>And then when I'm interviewing people for that job, now that I can look for that person, I actually have a score to grade them off.

00:23:37.997 --> 00:23:42.296
<v Speaker 1>Do I think this person has the ability to accomplish this or to do that?

00:23:42.296 --> 00:23:45.652
<v Speaker 1>Because if you don't do that, what a lot of us do in our organizations is we.

00:23:45.652 --> 00:23:48.174
<v Speaker 1>We meet people and everybody seems great in interviews.

00:23:48.174 --> 00:23:50.898
<v Speaker 1>Not everybody actually had a really bad interview last night.

00:23:50.898 --> 00:23:52.981
<v Speaker 1>The guy was just absolutely terrible.

00:23:52.981 --> 00:23:54.704
<v Speaker 1>That was I thought I was being punked.

00:23:54.704 --> 00:23:57.772
<v Speaker 1>Actually they're there.

00:23:57.772 --> 00:23:59.518
<v Speaker 1>They all come off impressive Right there.

00:23:59.518 --> 00:24:03.095
<v Speaker 1>My team does a good job screening, but that's if I don't have a way to grade them.

00:24:03.095 --> 00:24:04.578
<v Speaker 1>I like most people Right there.

00:24:04.578 --> 00:24:06.789
<v Speaker 1>You know I'm an optimist, right.

00:24:06.789 --> 00:24:14.960
<v Speaker 1>But if I have a clear way to say is this person got the skills and ability to accomplish this Right, and I can ask them questions and test that at a much better chance of finding a match.

00:24:14.960 --> 00:24:17.723
<v Speaker 1>But I have to first define success, hey just a quick one.

00:24:18.223 --> 00:24:30.361
<v Speaker 2>When I look in the back end of this something that's quite surprising to me I noticed that it says that 82% of you, who watch the channel regularly, haven't hit the subscribe button yet.

00:24:30.361 --> 00:24:33.007
<v Speaker 2>So one favor, click that button.

00:24:33.007 --> 00:24:37.718
<v Speaker 2>If you've watched this show before and enjoyed it, just please click that button to subscribe.

00:24:37.718 --> 00:24:45.323
<v Speaker 2>Hit the notifications bell and make sure you're part of it, because as the show gets better, your success gets better.

00:24:45.323 --> 00:24:46.773
<v Speaker 2>You're on the Big Success Podcast.

00:24:46.773 --> 00:24:47.596
<v Speaker 2>We'll be back in a moment.

00:24:47.596 --> 00:24:49.892
<v Speaker 2>Don Wenner is going to talk to us about investing.

00:24:50.634 --> 00:24:59.618
<v Speaker 4>Don Wenner is the founder and CEO of DLP Capital, a private real estate investment and financial services firm focused on building thriving communities.

00:24:59.618 --> 00:25:04.319
<v Speaker 4>To learn more about Don Wenner, please visit dlpcapitalcom.

00:25:04.882 --> 00:25:05.282
<v Speaker 2>And we're back.

00:25:05.282 --> 00:25:06.994
<v Speaker 2>Don, you started out.

00:25:06.994 --> 00:25:07.717
<v Speaker 2>Obviously.

00:25:07.717 --> 00:25:10.369
<v Speaker 2>One property Like that's the beginning.

00:25:10.369 --> 00:25:18.021
<v Speaker 2>Now, with billions, we take us through the difference between where you were thinking when you started and where you're at today.

00:25:18.530 --> 00:25:21.779
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, I love to, and you know kind of cool things that happen with a lot of us.

00:25:21.779 --> 00:25:32.105
<v Speaker 1>When you take time and and reflect and and um, you end up um, it's kind of interesting how, how we, we end up where we are and and.

00:25:32.105 --> 00:25:41.159
<v Speaker 1>So you know, in the beginning I got into real estate sort of by mistake and you know the first property I bought, first and best property I remember it vividly.

00:25:41.159 --> 00:25:46.595
<v Speaker 1>It was 223 Church Street in Catasaco, pennsylvania, and it was a single family home.

00:25:46.595 --> 00:25:48.479
<v Speaker 1>I didn't plan to buy it.

00:25:48.479 --> 00:25:53.771
<v Speaker 1>Long story short, I stepped in and solved this lady's problem, bought it on the spot.

00:25:53.771 --> 00:26:04.279
<v Speaker 1>I was a realtor representing somebody who was going to buy the home and he didn't show up to closing and a little old lady was crying that she was going to get kicked out of the assisted living facility she was in if she didn't have the money for this home.

00:26:04.279 --> 00:26:08.417
<v Speaker 1>Today I was 20 years old, it was $72,000.

00:26:08.417 --> 00:26:13.489
<v Speaker 1>And I literally sat there in that moment and my bank was outside the window.

00:26:13.489 --> 00:26:16.016
<v Speaker 1>I could see my bank across the street from the closing table.

00:26:16.016 --> 00:26:19.394
<v Speaker 1>I was in and I literally said hold on, eleanor, and I left.

00:26:19.394 --> 00:26:30.876
<v Speaker 1>I ran across the street, took out a cashier's check for $72,000, which was almost all the money I had at 20 years old and I bought this lady's house and since then we've done over 36,000 acquisitions.

00:26:30.876 --> 00:26:35.711
<v Speaker 1>Today we own about 25,000 rental homes units.

00:26:35.711 --> 00:27:06.029
<v Speaker 1>But that was the first one and over time it went from buying single family homes and renovating them and building this portfolio of small, scattered single family homes and small apartment four unit buildings and things to buying large, you know rental communities to then developing and building brand new rental communities, which we do all those things today and then also lending money and partnering with other developers and operators to do similar, which is actually the biggest side of our business day empowering other people to build portfolios.

00:27:06.089 --> 00:27:17.230
<v Speaker 1>But interesting note is, you know, I got started and I was always really passionate about providing, you know, attainable or affordable housing and it just came from solving people's problems.

00:27:17.230 --> 00:27:19.075
<v Speaker 1>I got started in 2006.

00:27:19.075 --> 00:27:21.540
<v Speaker 1>So my first few years of my career, market was crashing.

00:27:21.540 --> 00:27:23.894
<v Speaker 1>People were upside down on their homes, you know.

00:27:23.894 --> 00:27:25.137
<v Speaker 1>We had high unemployment.

00:27:25.137 --> 00:27:26.382
<v Speaker 1>There was lots of short sales.

00:27:26.382 --> 00:27:35.313
<v Speaker 1>At one point I had one of the biggest short sale negotiation companies in America and I'm seeing all this distress and all these challenges with people affording housing and that's remained.

00:27:35.373 --> 00:27:44.541
<v Speaker 1>The center of our business is providing attainable workforce housing, and I think of that attainable workforce housing as the foundation of our business.

00:27:44.541 --> 00:27:50.637
<v Speaker 1>As I mentioned earlier, what I've been called to do is to build thriving communities, to transfer lives to the building of thriving communities.

00:27:50.637 --> 00:28:05.951
<v Speaker 1>Just having a place that you can afford to live in isn't a thriving community, but that's the starting point and then we think of there's eight elements of a thriving community that we focus on bringing to our communities that we own and we have our team members working at, and so forth.

00:28:05.951 --> 00:28:11.942
<v Speaker 1>But one of the cool notes to that is, you know, kind of I didn't realize this until probably five years ago.

00:28:11.942 --> 00:28:27.077
<v Speaker 1>So I was already, you know, 12, 13 years into my journey of basically building our entire organization around providing attainable workforce housing and I never connected the dots with the fact that when I was a kid, I moved 37 times.

00:28:27.137 --> 00:28:32.419
<v Speaker 1>By the time I was 17 years old, I had complete housing instability.

00:28:32.419 --> 00:28:40.920
<v Speaker 1>I went to three or four different schools in different years and what our focus has been not only providing safe, attainable housing, but it being a thriving community where people live their long-term.

00:28:40.920 --> 00:28:59.237
<v Speaker 1>Our goal is to average 10-year average occupancies and I actually never connected the dots between those goals that I set and realizing how important that was for family, how important it was for kids' educations, for third grade literacy levels, for kids to stay in the same school, and so much later in life.

00:28:59.237 --> 00:29:04.896
<v Speaker 1>When actually one of my leaders, bo, actually told it on stage in a speech he was doing, and it hit me like how did I never realize that?

00:29:04.896 --> 00:29:06.741
<v Speaker 1>That's why I've been so passionate about this.

00:29:06.741 --> 00:29:11.234
<v Speaker 1>But I say I know that's what God called me to do and why I went through.

00:29:11.255 --> 00:29:26.596
<v Speaker 1>Some of the challenges I went through as a child has led to me building a good sized organization today, focused on helping kids and families have stability and believing in the statement it takes a village to raise a child and wanting our communities to be that village.

00:29:26.596 --> 00:29:31.825
<v Speaker 1>Cool that, as we've done this and the business has grown to date a little under six billion dollars.

00:29:31.825 --> 00:29:39.131
<v Speaker 1>Um, you know, we've, we've.

00:29:39.131 --> 00:29:40.994
<v Speaker 1>We've done so by bringing hard-working families along with us.

00:29:40.994 --> 00:29:42.759
<v Speaker 1>Today we have about 3 000 families invested with us directly.

00:29:42.759 --> 00:29:44.863
<v Speaker 1>Um, these are mostly not people who are billionaires.

00:29:44.863 --> 00:29:55.726
<v Speaker 1>These are people who worked really hard as, as professionals, built up 401ks and invest a good portion of their wealth that they've created.

00:29:55.726 --> 00:30:08.320
<v Speaker 1>That's going to be a big part of their legacy, a big part of how they're able to support their kids and grandkids and their church, their ministries, and we get to be a big, big part of that by going out there and executing and providing attainable workforce housing.

00:30:08.710 --> 00:30:09.894
<v Speaker 2>You know when you look at.

00:30:09.894 --> 00:30:17.742
<v Speaker 2>I guess if I can finish with one mindset question, what is the mindset that it takes to be a great investor?

00:30:18.170 --> 00:30:19.434
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it's a wonderful question.

00:30:19.434 --> 00:30:25.036
<v Speaker 1>So to be, you know, I guess, to be an incredible investor, you know you have to start with saying you got to.

00:30:25.036 --> 00:30:27.541
<v Speaker 1>You kind of decide on a big kind of question.

00:30:27.541 --> 00:30:46.250
<v Speaker 1>This doesn't have to be a one or the other, but when we're talking about investing, are we talking about being an active investor and going out there and directly choosing investment properties, driving the execution, having other people maybe trust their capital to you, or are we talking about passively investing your money with somebody else?

00:30:46.250 --> 00:30:47.132
<v Speaker 1>And you can be both.

00:30:47.132 --> 00:30:48.134
<v Speaker 1>Right, I do both.

00:30:48.193 --> 00:31:02.369
<v Speaker 1>My core business is managing, you know, a lot of capital for other people, but then I invest capital as a passive investor with other great managers and so I would say you know for most who aren't going out there and running the investment strategy themselves.

00:31:02.369 --> 00:31:14.912
<v Speaker 1>But the first thing that I think is really important is figuring out a investment strategy that makes sense for the duration or the timeframe of the goals of your capital, right?

00:31:14.912 --> 00:31:20.943
<v Speaker 1>So and that sounds really simple, but people tend to lose sight of that basic fact.

00:31:20.943 --> 00:31:32.215
<v Speaker 1>So I'm very blessed that you know I was, you know, kind of called into, sort of by mistake, investing in attainable workforce housing because there couldn't really be a safer, better asset class.

00:31:32.215 --> 00:31:36.392
<v Speaker 1>You know it's a tremendous crisis in America has been since the beginning of our country.

00:31:36.392 --> 00:31:39.941
<v Speaker 1>There's a lack of housing that that's affordable families to live in.

00:31:39.941 --> 00:31:44.378
<v Speaker 1>So that means demand is really great, occupancy is really great, Rent continues to grow.

00:31:44.378 --> 00:31:48.053
<v Speaker 1>It's not people are going to need to live somewhere, no matter what happens in the economy.

00:31:48.053 --> 00:31:49.556
<v Speaker 1>It's a great place to be.

00:31:49.556 --> 00:31:55.104
<v Speaker 1>That allows us to provide really safe, consistent returns, and so I just you know I just got fortunate.

00:31:55.104 --> 00:31:55.984
<v Speaker 1>That's where I ended up.

00:31:56.891 --> 00:31:59.599
<v Speaker 1>But for somebody thinking about where to invest, that's an important thing to look at.

00:31:59.599 --> 00:32:04.220
<v Speaker 1>Hey, am I looking for consistent, reliable returns year over year?

00:32:04.220 --> 00:32:06.570
<v Speaker 1>Am I looking to try to hit a home run?

00:32:06.570 --> 00:32:11.039
<v Speaker 1>And I've got, you know, money to take kind of risks, and you know, and I'm not.

00:32:11.039 --> 00:32:15.057
<v Speaker 1>You know my goals are to try to find a home run and there's different strategies for that.

00:32:15.057 --> 00:32:29.874
<v Speaker 1>If you're trying to 100x return on your investment and okay, with the risk of some of them not working out, and there's some great venture strategies and different stuff that you can hit a home run and invest 100 grand and walk away with 20 million, right, that's not what you're going to do with strategies like what we do.

00:32:29.874 --> 00:32:36.221
<v Speaker 1>So I think figuring out an investment strategy that matches your risk profile, your goals, et cetera, is the first thing.

00:32:36.221 --> 00:32:38.242
<v Speaker 1>I would say that's really important.

00:32:38.262 --> 00:32:49.231
<v Speaker 1>To be successful is defining what success is for you, and then second is choosing to invest your money with people you trust, and I can't state that enough.

00:32:49.231 --> 00:33:00.653
<v Speaker 1>And in any market cycle, in any environment, the best of the best in any asset class and any strategy are going to end up doing well and in tough times, are going to actually end up.

00:33:00.653 --> 00:33:07.625
<v Speaker 1>The spread, or the difference between the best and everybody else is going to be much greater than it is in really good times.

00:33:07.625 --> 00:33:33.683
<v Speaker 1>And so being with the people who are a really good at what they're doing, but that you trust to make the good decisions, sometimes the really hard times, and so being with the people who are a really good at what they're doing, but that you trust to make the good decisions, sometimes the really hard decisions when things are tough, is really important, and that's just that's an element of kind of you know, looking across the table or in today's world, I guess, at times, the Zoom or the building that trust that, hey, yeah, when times are going good, this person is going to make good decisions, but also times aren't going good.

00:33:33.730 --> 00:33:35.253
<v Speaker 1>This is a person that I want to bet on.

00:33:35.253 --> 00:33:38.221
<v Speaker 1>This is a person that I believe is going to do what's right.

00:33:38.221 --> 00:33:58.454
<v Speaker 1>It has the right values, and that's going to often show through as much in the person themselves, but more the team that's behind that person and who the person attracts around them, the quality of those people, the quality of their values, so all the same stuff that comes back to kind of the concept of building an elite organization, elite execution system.

00:33:58.454 --> 00:34:00.339
<v Speaker 1>That stuff really, really matters.

00:34:00.339 --> 00:34:03.636
<v Speaker 1>And who you invest with, which is why all the capital we deploy.

00:34:03.636 --> 00:34:14.358
<v Speaker 1>So our business is interesting, so people invest their money with us into our investment funds, and then most of the money we deploy with other sponsors as a lender, as a partner yeah, so we're making that decision.

00:34:14.358 --> 00:34:15.344
<v Speaker 1>Is this somebody you know?

00:34:15.344 --> 00:34:39.510
<v Speaker 1>We're investing in asset classes we believe in, but is this somebody we want to bet on and we spend as much as we're getting to know the CEO and then their leadership team and seeing their, their, seeing their, their business and their other assets and their track record and their financials and understanding their goals, understanding their culture, understanding where they're going and most of the borrowers we work with, we're helping them implement the elite execution system in their business and one of the big screening tools we do.

00:34:39.829 --> 00:34:52.402
<v Speaker 1>If one of my first conversations with the borrowers, you know, tell me about the biggest challenge you have in your business today, tell me about your next important hire you're going to make, and if their focus is, oh, I just need to raise more money, is their biggest problem?

00:34:52.402 --> 00:34:53.847
<v Speaker 1>They're not a fit for us, right?

00:34:53.847 --> 00:35:05.096
<v Speaker 1>When I ask them to tell me about their values and they don't really know what they are, right, um, or I tell them you know, tell me, tell me what, what, what you've been called to do, tell me what you're really passionate about and it's just making.

00:35:05.096 --> 00:35:06.117
<v Speaker 1>And they don't really know.

00:35:06.117 --> 00:35:13.755
<v Speaker 1>And their answer is I don't really get involved in operations, I got people for that.

00:35:13.755 --> 00:35:15.471
<v Speaker 1>You know.

00:35:15.471 --> 00:35:18.360
<v Speaker 1>They're not going to be a fit if somebody I'm going to deploy my money with, et cetera.

00:35:18.360 --> 00:35:20.496
<v Speaker 1>So those things really really matter.

00:35:20.838 --> 00:35:28.112
<v Speaker 2>Final question, Don what's the best advice you ever got or the best quote you ever read on the subject of success?

00:35:28.552 --> 00:35:33.840
<v Speaker 1>So I'd say the one I use all the time is the one I'll go with.

00:35:33.840 --> 00:35:37.773
<v Speaker 1>So this quote's been attributed to a few people.

00:35:37.773 --> 00:35:41.202
<v Speaker 1>The one I often see it attributed to is Vince Lombardi.

00:35:41.202 --> 00:35:44.255
<v Speaker 1>But many have the will to win.

00:35:44.255 --> 00:35:57.023
<v Speaker 1>Few have the will to prepare to win, and I think of the difference between people being motivated to want to be successful, to having the will to win being the people are willing to do the preparation.

00:35:57.670 --> 00:35:58.893
<v Speaker 1>You know there's the quote of.

00:35:58.893 --> 00:36:03.123
<v Speaker 1>You know the urgent is rarely important and the important is rarely urgent.

00:36:03.123 --> 00:36:07.199
<v Speaker 1>And the reason for that is because the urgent acts upon you.

00:36:07.199 --> 00:36:09.878
<v Speaker 1>Right, the urgent are the emails, the phone calls.

00:36:09.878 --> 00:36:10.483
<v Speaker 1>They come at you all day.

00:36:10.483 --> 00:36:11.771
<v Speaker 1>That doesn't take any real thinking, any real effort.

00:36:11.771 --> 00:36:11.918
<v Speaker 1>For the phone calls, they come at you all day.

00:36:11.918 --> 00:36:15.536
<v Speaker 1>That doesn't take any real thinking, any real effort for for the stuff just to come at you.

00:36:16.298 --> 00:36:30.739
<v Speaker 1>Uh, what takes real effort and real work is to to do the, the planning, the preparation, deciding what you're going to focus on, where you're going to go, the direction of your organization, even while the whirlwind's going on, and, um, that's that's hard.

00:36:30.739 --> 00:36:34.831
<v Speaker 1>It takes real thought, takes real effort, um, to manage that.

00:36:34.831 --> 00:36:36.740
<v Speaker 1>Uh, with everything that goes on around us.

00:36:36.740 --> 00:36:47.159
<v Speaker 1>There's no getting away from the whirlwind of every day, but it's being able to have the discipline to focus on, on, on, on on the key priority, even as the world comes at us.

00:36:47.159 --> 00:36:55.900
<v Speaker 1>And I find the most successful people I know are prepared, they're organized, they, they're disciplined and that's what it really takes to be successful.

00:36:55.900 --> 00:36:57.503
<v Speaker 1>And that's not the fun stuff, right.

00:36:57.503 --> 00:37:06.302
<v Speaker 1>For a lot of people it's a really hard thinking and planning and tough decisions.

00:37:06.302 --> 00:37:08.530
<v Speaker 1>In many cases that forces us to make the same no to more than we say yes to.

00:37:08.530 --> 00:37:09.976
<v Speaker 1>So that's what I would go with.

00:37:10.329 --> 00:37:14.835
<v Speaker 2>You're on the Big Success Podcast Don Winner, follow, learn, study, get all the things.

00:37:14.835 --> 00:37:15.838
<v Speaker 2>Hit the subscribe button.

00:37:15.838 --> 00:37:18.394
<v Speaker 2>We'll be back next week with more for your success.

00:37:19.980 --> 00:37:25.615
<v Speaker 3>You've been listening to the Big Success Podcast with the number one business coach in the world, Brad Sugars.

00:37:25.615 --> 00:37:35.177
<v Speaker 3>To learn more about how to achieve business and personal success, as well as how to level up or listen to past episodes, visit wwwbradsugarscom.