Walt Brown Jr. shares insights from his career journey, beginning with the impact of his first deal and the founding of Diversified Partners. He emphasizes the role of communication in business growth and the importance of building a strong team. The episode explores leveraging technology in commercial real estate, goal setting, and managing challenges in the AEC industry. Walt discusses the effects of the pandemic, the significance of training the next generation, and strategies for nurturing young talent. He also covers compensation strategies for retaining high performers, evaluating real estate investments, and measuring success. Reflecting on his experiences, Walt offers valuable advice for future leaders.
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(00:00):
Still today from that first year or two, westill represent some of those tenants today
that I met back then, and it's the neatestthing in the world.
We have we have a relationship with LA Fitnessthat has been made on a handshake from someone
that has just changed my career, changed mylife, has made an absolute difference, and it
(00:21):
was on one simple handshake.
And we've got, you know, thirty three yearrelationship with them.
We would not be where we're at today withoutthem.
It's neat.
We're really lucky.
Have you ever wondered how successfularchitecture, engineering, and construction
companies scale their business?
(00:42):
Or have you ever wanted guidance on how to getmore growth, wealth, and freedom from your AEC
company?
Well, then you're in luck.
Hi.
I'm Will Forret.
And I'm Justin Nagel, and we're your podcasthosts.
We interview successful AEC business leaders tolearn how they use people, process, and
technology to scale their businesses.
So sit back and get ready to learn from theindustry's best.
(01:05):
This is
building scale.
Hey, listeners.
It's Will here.
Our mission is to help the AAC industry protectitself by making technology easy.
If you've ever listened to our show, then youknow that the three pillars of scaling a
business are people, process, and technology.
(01:25):
So if you suspect technology is your weak link,then book a call with us to see where we can
help maximize your company's IT andcybersecurity strategy.
Just go to buildingscale.net/help.
Today's guest is Walt Brown junior, thefounder, CEO, and designated broker for
Diversified Partners, a full service realestate development and brokerage firm based in
(01:49):
Scottsdale, Arizona.
With over thirty three years of experience incommercial real estate, Walt has leased, sold,
and developed more than 5,000 properties andmore than 12,000,000 square feet of retail
space nationwide.
He's built strong long term relationships withmajor national tenants like Starbucks, In N
Out, LA Fitness, Walmart, and Home Depot.
(02:11):
Walt started Diversified Partners in '96,growing it into one of Arizona's leading firms
through his big picture mindset, hands onleadership, and reputation for integrity.
His firm provides a wide range of services,including development, brokerage, investment,
property management, and tenant landlordrepresentation across retail, office,
industrial, and land sectors.
(02:32):
Outside of business, though, Walt is a devotedfamily man, passionate philanthropist, and
former college football athlete for Universityof Mexico.
He's been honored with the City of Hope Spiritof Life award and supports organizations like
Phoenix Children's Hospital and Fresh Start.
And with all that said, welcome to the show,Will.
Justin, thank you.
(02:52):
Will, thank you, and thanks for, for having methis morning.
Let's not let's not forget that you're also aracing man.
You know, we forgot to put that in there.
You're you're a big, you're a big racer too.
It's a love.
It's as you know, Will, it gets in your systemand you can't get it out.
That's right.
I love it.
That's the spirit that keeps everything alive.
(03:13):
Absolutely.
So give us a little bit more color of theorigin story, Walt, how how you got in the
business, and then tell us a little bit aboutDiversified.
Well, I was I was I went through school and Iwanted to be a dentist, and at some point in
time, I've looked around and went, what am Ithinking?
And my dad said, stop thinking.
Go back to school and be a dentist.
(03:34):
You're gonna make $350 a year.
You're never gonna be working on Friday,Saturday, or Sunday, and, you don't have to
answer the phone at night to go to theemergency room.
And I said, okay.
And and what, Justin, what I've had to do is Ihad to go find something I loved.
My parents worked their butt off all day everyday, and I think they were really out there
(03:55):
just working to provide for myself and my twobrothers and two sisters.
There's five of us.
I watched that from a young age, and I decidedthat I had to go find something I loved.
There was something that happened when I wasreally young in my life.
I was 11 years old and my mom took me togoodwill, and I found something I had to have.
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So I grabbed it and I said, mom, I gotta havethis.
It was a vest.
It was a leather vest, and I was 11 years old.
Who knows what the heck you're thinking at 11years old with a
leather Rock star.
Rock star leather vest.
And
she said, well, we don't have the money to buythat today, but we'll have it.
Let's see if we can't lay it away.
And I remember that still today like it wasyesterday.
(04:40):
And I I said, I'm gonna go find something Ilove and that I can work hard at and be
passionate about, but could never put myself ormy children in that situation.
That's awesome.
That's very powerful
story.
You think about that, and you think aboutgoodwill, and and today, we are one of
(05:02):
goodwill's landlords, and it's a it's a greatposition to be in.
I had to go search and find something that Iloved, and and, Will, I know you love well,
both of you love family, but well, I know youhave a love for cars.
And and I when I discovered commercial realestate and commercial real estate development,
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I truly have never worked a day in my life eversince.
I get to be creative.
I get to work on design and implementation.
I get to negotiate documents with with peoplethat are really more my friends and people I
care about and really that care about usbecause it's a mutual win win for everybody.
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It's not just about me.
It's not being piggy or, or being selfish.
It's what we can do together to grow all of us.
And that's really what I've loved aboutcommercial real estate and commercial
development since the day I really discoveredit.
And I I did my first deal, and I I it literallyI feel like I've never worked a day in my life.
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I'm very so blessed in that.
It makes me giddy.
Can you talk about your first deal?
I think that story is really cool.
Why don't you talk about your first deal?
How did you get introduced to real estatedevelopment?
So I went to, I had a friend that was workedfor the international council of shopping
centers and they hold regional meetings to helppromote the business, both for developers, as
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well as retailers all across the world.
And she was kind enough to take me to thismeeting.
And I went to every one of the little breakoutsessions and I'm listening to developers.
I'm listening to retailers.
And I'm looking around the room and I'mthinking, man, there is a lot of people here
making a lot of money.
And, and I didn't think they were any differentthan I was.
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And so I literally tried to introduce myself toevery person I met and I'd read their tag and
I'd be like, what do you do?
How do you do it?
Where did you go?
How'd you get in the business?
And I met a guy that was an attorney and himand I hit it off.
I don't know where it was.
It was maybe a breakfast on the third day.
And I said, I'm going to come to work for you.
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And he said I don't need anybody to work forme.
I said that's okay, I'll work for free, and soI talked him into letting me work in his
office, and he was an attorney that was one ofthe greatest document crafters I've ever met
and been around in my life.
A commercial real estate transaction lives anddies on a document and the relationship between
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the parties and the agreement between theparties.
So he'd write these documents or maybe printthem from the previous I'd say, well, I need a
copy of that.
And I'd take it home at night and I'd read itand I'd highlight everything I didn't know.
And I'd come back in the next morning.
I'd go, what the heck does this mean?
I'd ask him 20 questions.
And about the time when he had had enough, he'dbe like, get out of here.
(08:10):
Leave me alone.
I gotta get to work.
But I read documents, and I was cold callingretailers, and that was it was the cutest thing
in the world.
I'd go to work.
And if you want to be successful at commercialreal estate, when you start, you got to start
at five in the morning and you work till eightat night.
You do that for about three years and all of asudden you make enough money to make it
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reasonable.
But I would come in at five in the morning andI would start cold calling.
I was on the West Coast and I would start callcold calling the East Coast.
And I would call all those East Coast companiesfrom five till about 07:30.
And then I'd drive home and take a shower andput, you know, regular clothes on because I'd
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get up and who knows where I'd been or what I'ddone the night before.
And I would get up, I'd put baseball hat on mygym shorts and a t shirt.
I'd to work and I'd start cold calling.
When I hit 07:30, I jump in the car, drive backto the house, take a shower, and then drive
back to the office, get there about 08:15, andthen I'd start working my way to the West
across Chicago, Dallas, Texas, and working myway.
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And then I keep calling on the West Coast guysuntil six or 06:30 at night, prospecting for
business.
Literally, the first year, I worked fifty oneweeks, sixty to seventy hours a week, and on
the weekends, I would drive and look atproperties.
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And at the end of the first year, I made myfirst check.
The first day of the fifty second week, I wasbartending at nighttime to provide for myself,
and I got a check for $36,000 the last week ofmy first year in my commercial real estate
career.
The next year with the same work ethic, I madethree times that.
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And the next year I made three times that.
Now when you love something, it's so easy to besuccessful.
When you're passionate about what you do, itreally isn't work.
It's just enjoying the journey of life.
And I believe a lot of people in the world outthere haven't taken the time to find what they
love and apply that to what they will providefor their family with because when you can
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merge those together, it makes the journey andreally that's what matters is the journey.
It's not the material things that we have.
It's the journey and knowing that I had a greatday yesterday.
And today I'm going to do the same thing,especially I'm with you two today.
I mean, it just makes me smile seeing those twobig smiling faces of your guys.
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It's what it's all about and enjoying thatjourney and caring about people and what you do
and what they do with you.
Because it's really easy to build a book ofbusiness in any business by caring first and
making sure that you're achieving their goalsjust as much as your goals.
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They're equally as important and not beingselfish or what I call piggy sometimes.
When did that mindset come?
Was it just always innate to you or was this athing that, you know, you, you, you found the
thing you loved, so you naturally did a lot ofit because you wanted to, you wanted to make it
right.
You wanted to make that your thing.
But when did you, when did you start realizingthat like bringing people together, caring
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about their goals, doing, like being more, ofjust a, just a flash, a sun of positive energy
and how that multiplies the outcome that comes?
You know Justin, my dad always said you have tolisten and he said you can't just listen, you
have to hear.
He said because a lot of times people will saysomething but they actually aren't great at
(12:00):
communicating.
So sometimes the words will come out, but youhave to really listen and hear what they might
truly be trying to say.
Not not just listening, but hearing andthinking the concept of what they're trying to
say.
So I was raised with that in, you know, myparents, I came from a great loving family and
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and and really starting and my dad used to say,when you make a customer happy and you fill
their needs, that compounds over time and willchange your life.
That first client that I had was ConverseTennis Shoes and here is how lucky I was.
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And sometimes when you work really hard you doget lucky and I used to call this man, great
man, Tom Rickert was his name, and he was aBoston guy.
Here's a Boston guy.
You know you know those Boston guys and the waythey are.
They're tough and rough.
And I used to call him every week, and I'd say,mister Rickerts, Walt Brown Junior, the hardest
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working man in America, and I always called himearly, and he knew I was on the West Coast, and
I'd usually call him on Wednesday or Thursdaybecause he was golfing on Friday, which is
where I wanted to be, but I was working, AndI'd go, good morning.
And after doing this for probably six or eightmonths, it was a I think it was a Thursday
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morning.
And I'm like, good morning.
How you doing, my friend?
And he's like, brownie, what's up?
And I said, you know what I'm calling for.
I wanna earn your business.
What can I do for you today?
And he said, well, son, it's your lucky day.
And he said, I had a store robbed in and Ithink it was in the Santa Monica area.
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And he said, I think you're in Newport Beach.
I said, yes, sir.
I lived in about 400 square foot studio,couldn't afford anything.
And he said, I want you to drive to, this tradearea, and I want you to go look at every
shopping center.
And when you're done, I want you to send me afax.
(14:16):
That was a fax at that time.
It wasn't an email, it wasn't a text, and andsummarize your four best choices.
And I'll call you the minute I get it.
Shit.
I hung up the phone.
I jumped in the car, and I did exactly what hesaid.
And I drove almost that was had to be at 05:45,six in the morning.
I drove until 08:00 at night.
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I wrote out the fax.
Actually, I think I it was the paper with thelittle pleats on the side and I wrote
Tearaways.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then I put it I fed it in the fax machine,you know, and it and I set it off, and he calls
me, and he says, I'll be there at ten in themorning.
Pick me up at LAX.
(15:00):
And I'm like, oh, no.
Oh, no.
I got a job.
What am I gonna do?
And we he we he said, drive to the you know,go.
Let's go see all four.
We weren't in each project three minutes.
And there was some distance.
So we drove thirty minutes to the first one,twenty minutes, ten minutes, fifteen, you know,
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twenty minutes, take me to lunch, take me tothe airport.
And he pulls out the book and he's like, okay.
I can get on this flight.
He goes in the airport, he's gone.
And he said, get me that deal.
And lo and behold, I did get him that deal thathe wanted.
He goes, that's my number one.
If we exhaust that, I will go to number two,but I don't wanna do it.
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Let's stick with number one.
And we made that deal, which was fantastic.
And the day we made the deal, I said, misterRickert, what do you need next?
How can I help you make your job easier, andwhat can I do that'll make a difference for
you?
You see how I work.
You see what I've done, and how can I help?
And he said, go to Dallas and do the samething.
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I said, really?
He goes, yeah.
I went, oh, no.
Holy moly moly.
I bought a ticket to South on SouthwestAirlines.
At that time, we didn't have this amazingtechnology that these young guns that work
around us are using.
So I pulled up into a Circle K or a seveneleven or a convenience store, and I bought the
(16:28):
maps, you know, and I'm looking at all the mapsand I'm like, okay, these look like major
streets and I'm gonna drive them all.
And I drove it for three days, and I picked out10 spots.
And eventually, we did, you know, not a 100stores, but we did a bunch of stores, and I
just kept asking how I could help him.
(16:49):
And we've done that with many of the tenants.
And still today, from that first year or two,we still represent some of those tenants today
that I met back then.
And it's the neatest thing in the world.
We have we have a relationship with LA Fitnessthat has been made on a handshake from someone
that has just changed my career, changed mylife, has made an absolute difference.
(17:13):
And it was on one simple handshake.
And we've got, you know, 33 relationship withthem.
We would not be where we're at today withoutthem.
It's neat.
We're really lucky.
Wow.
So you won.
Kudos to you.
You you did the you you have the story that isrequired to find the American dream, right?
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Like you you've got the background story that,you know, everybody wants the dream, but like
you have story that gets you to the dream,which is amazing.
When did, when did this turn into now?
I'm not just a single contributor.
I'm, I have a team or I'm going to get, build ateam or I'm going to, I'm going to have others
around me to really start multiplying and usingthe leverage there.
(17:57):
I was working at a company.
Well, let me back up just a little bit.
LA Fitness.
I was talking with the principals of LA Fitnessand we were talking about expanding.
And I said, they said, well, and I was doing alittle bit of work with them in LA, and we got
into a discussion of expanding LA Fitnessacross the country.
And the principals at LA Fitness, So wherewould you go?
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And I said, well, I'd probably either go toSouth Florida or Phoenix.
And he said, well, pick one and move there andwe'll give you our exclusive.
And I went, holy cow.
I went and analyzed the two markets and withhis, his motivational request, ended up in
Phoenix, which I'm a warm weather guy.
So it's worked out great.
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And physically it has worked out off the chartsbecause I moved to Arizona, helped expand them
into that market and other markets.
It was great timing because there was a lot ofvacant land in Arizona, and I'm looking around
going, there was no land in SouthernCalifornia.
This is easy.
And when you combine that with timing and workethic, because, you know, I was calling on
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landowners and saying, what are you doing?
Why aren't you developing?
You got vacant land.
Vacant land doesn't make any money.
You know, it just is dust.
And that really kind of worked to my favor.
I was then so I was I'd go meet with thelandowner and he'd say, I'll sell if you'll
buy.
And I go, well, I don't have any money, but Imight, if I could find the users to help me
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assemble the credit and the income, I couldprobably figure out a way to buy.
But again, I don't have any money.
I mean, was a I remember having thatconversation with 10 or 15 very successful
companies or owners.
And they're like, what are you doing herewithout any money?
And I go, I'm working on it.
I'm here.
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I'm trying to get the money.
That's why I'm working.
Exactly.
And at that point in time, Justin, I I I got towhere I was too busy.
And I went to my then boss who I worked for,and I said, I need a bigger percentage of my
money, you know, because you have a share whenyou're in a brokerage company.
(20:15):
And I need a little bigger cut because I'mgoing to hire some people around me.
And he said, I'm not giving you a bigger cut.
I said, okay, well, I love you.
You're a great guy.
I quit.
And I went, and that's how I formed diversifiedpartners.
I literally went that day and went to abuilding.
I liked, I said, how much space you gotavailable?
He goes, I got this great suite here.
And I go, I'll take it.
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I signed a lease on the spot.
I went to a used furniture store and bought thefurnishings, put them in my Jeep Cherokee and
drove, you know, and they had to help me withstuff that was too big.
And then I called three or four people that Ihad relationships with and I hired my first
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employee.
You remember the Mastercard and Visa bills whenyou used to get them, they had those checks on
the bottom.
Well, I was paying him with those checks.
Literally, you know, because when I founded thecompany, I think I had like $6,000 and my rent
was 800 or something.
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But then it started to come and I called allthe people that I was doing business with.
And I said, well, I used to be at this company,but I formed my own company.
And the great news is everybody said, I don'tcare what the name of the company is.
As long as I have you, I'm here to stay andwe're going anywhere you go.
And that's very humbling.
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I mean, it truly is.
It's something that, it gives you strength tothink about some of those conversations.
It makes you proud.
And and now now it's kinda bigger than me thatthe company, we're very lucky.
We're very blessed.
We have everybody in our company is a get shitdone person.
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They don't waste time.
They're not lollygaggers.
There's no cancer.
Everybody wants to do great things.
And when you surround yourself with people thatare smarter than you, because believe me, I
call them the young guns, this youth YouTube,same way.
You guys young, you're smart as hell, you'recreative, and you have these tools.
(22:21):
I mean, I'm thinking about something in a in aconference room with my team.
And as I'm talking about what I'm thinkingabout, they're pulling it up and it's all of a
sudden they go share screen and it's on thisnine foot by eight foot television in our
conference room.
They're going, well, that's the store spacingright there.
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It looks like there's holes here, here, here,and here.
I'm like, holy cow.
The commercial industry, the commercial realestate industry has changed so much with this
technology.
I mean, Earth, you can drop down, you can see,you can look at stuff.
And the industry is the greatest industry inthe world.
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And one of the reasons that it attracted me isbecause I felt weekends were more important
with my children.
Okay, maybe on the racetrack too, Will.
I know you're thinking about that.
A little bit here, a little bit there.
Yeah.
But I felt in holidays, I wanted to be with myfamily and my friends on the holidays and the
(23:28):
weekends.
I did not want to be at work, which is where myparents were at most of the time.
And I was able to really identify that as I wasgrowing up.
I started at 16 on New Year's Eve making a listof my goals for the next year, And I have those
still today from every year.
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It's hilarious how they've changed and, youknow, it's like I want a black lab in a
suburban in a boat.
You know, I was like, where'd that one comefrom?
You know, and now as I'm growing up, I don'tknow if I'm growing up, but, you know, I'm
maturing.
It's about health and it's about the journeyand it's about quality, maybe not so much
(24:12):
quantity.
But I've you know, when you take the time andand I think that is a true it's it's an asset
that is irreplaceable, taking the time to writeyour goals, write your objectives, and also
write down what you have not achieved throughthe previous year, identifying both the goods
(24:34):
and the bads.
And you don't need to talk to yourself, butmentally going through it, the goods and the
bads and and understanding.
Because if you had a goal and you didn't hitit, you really need to confront yourself on why
you didn't hit it.
What what happened?
What got in my way?
Was it something I could have controlled?
(24:56):
Was it something somebody else didn't do orshouldn't have done or should have done?
And what is my excuse?
Because excuses are like, you know, everybody'sgot good excuses.
But confronting that also helps you adjust orreproject for the coming year.
And I've always done that.
(25:17):
I still do it today.
I make my two sons do it and I think it'simportant.
And I tell my team, I call them, you know, thefamily of young guns.
I tell them, you've got to write down yourgoals.
You've to write down your objectives.
Share them with the people around you and talkto them because if they know they can help you
get there, this is not a lonely road andteamwork creates strength and discipline as
(25:41):
well.
And people help.
People love to help.
I promise you, you too.
If you knew someone's goal, you would help themget it if you could.
And that's just the way the world is.
And it makes a difference when you don't haveto hoard them and hide them and be like, oh,
share them.
Let's go.
Let's let's do it together and make it work.
(26:01):
You're muted.
So I love what you talked about and, you know,the work ethic and all that.
Like, this is something that some people cannotimagine.
Okay?
I think maybe other entrepreneurs can.
Right?
So you were taught a whole bunch of things, butthere's the entrepreneurial tax.
(26:25):
Right, where you just have to learn by payingyour way through.
Okay?
And especially since you are working withreally construction companies, with GCs, right,
and all that, with with architects andengineers.
Why what is it what are the issues that theindustry has?
Because I'm sure you calls every day.
(26:45):
Everyone wants to work with a developer.
Right?
But what are the issues that you see with theindustry?
And I'll leave it and I'll leave it broad.
Okay.
Do you want me to answer that now?
Or or we go?
Okay.
So the industry problems have changed, by theway, because it directly relates to people's
(27:06):
desire to be successful.
And what we have encountered is a lot of peoplemake promises that they don't fulfill.
A lot of people put a schedule together that isunrealistic.
A lot of people commit, and commitment and wespend a lot of time, a lot of time holding
(27:29):
people's feet to the fire.
We have a team of people that hold othersaccountable for their commitments.
Then we have to tie it in with a contractbecause if you're a builder, we have
obligations to our end users.
And if we don't hold your feet to the fire,it's going to cost us a lot of money.
(27:51):
The companies that we deal with are publiclytraded companies and they have to produce.
It's a requirement for them and it's arequirement for us to produce.
Obligations and commitments and tracking peopleand their accountability, we spend a lot of
time and a lot of money doing that.
And it's no fun, by the way.
(28:12):
And and and calling people out, I got a textmessage from yesterday where the guy has made
four or five promises and it's light promises.
When I'm asking a question of a team member,I'm very specific.
When are you going to submit for the permit?
Tuesday.
(28:33):
I'm gonna submit by Friday.
It's perfect.
Monday morning at 08:00, I have somebody callhim and ask him for the submittal number.
Well, guess what?
It didn't get done.
So then it's like, oh, well, the engineer madea mistake on this or that, passing the buck,
the buck of bullshit, I call.
Okay.
Bob.
(28:55):
Bob.
Buck bullshit.
I love that.
Okay.
And and he passed the buck.
And so then we go into a discussion of, well,give us his number.
We're gonna call him.
I'll handle it.
I'll handle it.
No.
No.
We're gonna handle it too.
We're gonna get involved.
What's his name and his number?
We're gonna call him.
And most of the time people squirm.
(29:15):
But in our industry, we have a lot of problemsand newer things since a pandemic, which I
never use the C word because it just it's nothealthy.
Supply chain issues.
Power companies.
The power companies are busier than they'veever been.
Good architects, they're so busy.
They couldn't give a damn about it.
(29:38):
Now it may change just a little bit in thiswith what's going on out there in the
environment today, and we may be able to get afoot or a lag even back up on them, but they're
gonna go to the one who pays them the fastest,holds them accountable the least, okay, and I
use that accountability statement because wehave a team of people that hold people
(30:02):
accountable.
Our architecture and design team that managesour consultants, they have a spreadsheet.
I see the spreadsheet every week, and I seetheir notes every week.
I meet with them every week either bytechnology or face to face.
Our lending side, the capital market side, Isee every transaction and where it's at.
(30:28):
Our property management side, I see the notes,holding people accountable.
But we as a company have been very fortunatebecause we have people I don't know if they're
like me.
They're probably much better than me, butthey're the people that you don't have to
manage.
And and starting with that mindset, I mean, I Ican remember the goodwill story like it was
(30:51):
yesterday and that was forty some years ago.
Okay.
And I will never get close to coming back tothat.
Never, never, never.
And my children and I am surrounded by peoplethat have that same mindset.
They believe in themselves, and they want tosucceed, and you don't have to manage them.
(31:12):
When you properly train somebody that you knowhas it in them and they want to be that person,
the rest is really easy because then it's justproper training.
I spend a lot of time, especially with theseyoung guns.
I'm like, did you read your document word forword before you sent it out?
(31:36):
Did you read every word of the document andmake sure it truly conveyed, one, what you were
trying to say, and two, what the client trulyneeds and wants.
And a lot of these young guns, we've had towork hard to make sure they have the tools,
both, you know, I've I've heard some of thesequotes.
(31:59):
Well, just send it to AI.
Well, AI didn't negotiate the transaction.
Okay.
They don't know what the principal truly needs,what his wants are, and what's gonna make the
transaction work for him.
So we spend a lot of time training and we makesure that we start with the right person in
their heart and in their mind first.
(32:19):
And then we give them the tools.
We force them to read these leases withnational publicly traded companies and come
back and go, do you understand every word ofthat lease?
And we don't stop until they say yes because alease, a purchase contract, a document, the
agreement, the simple part, the letter ofintent, which is usually two or three pages in
(32:43):
the commercial real estate business, that'sthat's easy.
But when you get to the depth, the meat of thedocument, you have to know what each side wants
and and is trying to achieve.
You can't make assumptions.
And you've gotta combine, you know, the hardwork and work ethic with knowledge.
(33:06):
What I did that first year was I read documentstwo or three nights a week.
I'd wake up in the morning and in the documentI'd slept on it and I've scratched from it
because I fell asleep reading the documents.
And in the commercial real estate industry,everything is in the documents.
So you have to combine a work ethic, a desire.
(33:28):
You got to have the desire.
You got to want.
You got to want to be an entrepreneur.
You got to want to be successful.
You want to you got to want to be a leader, butyou have to have the knowledge behind it.
If you don't have the knowledge, you've gottafind a way to get it, and and you've gotta work
hard enough at getting it to where to where youmake a difference.
(33:52):
And and I I say make a difference, but the factis if you are a leader of a company, if you're
a visionary, if you're the entrepreneur, ifyou're leading people, you have to one, be
prepared to do every single job in thebuilding, but you have to make sure that you're
(34:15):
on the cutting edge of everything in theindustry, that you're working and learning and
teaching the whole way through bringing themwith you and adding value to them as well.
You can't just be like, well, I got it all andI'm not sharing.
You have to give back.
I mean, I, you walk in our company and theseyoung guns, they're bulletproof and it just
(34:42):
makes me giddy.
And I am the beneficiary of that becausethey're kicking ass, Scratch that word, but but
they really are.
I mean, they are doing amazing things, butthey're working at it.
It's not I'm going to work.
I got here at eight and I'm leaving at the holdon.
It's almost 05:00.
Five.
I'm out the door.
(35:03):
It's it's you can tell that they have thatdesire and they have that drive, and they're
excited about the future.
We work.
Financial independence is a great thing, and ifyou find what you love, you work hard enough at
it, that's a beneficiary that that's it comes,and it's really the magic sauce, and cool.
(35:28):
Great to be in that position.
I am so lucky.
Every single day I wake up, I'm like, I'm goingto work because I love it.
I love what I do.
Sorry to ramble.
No.
No worries.
How how do you find those young guns?
Right?
Like, yeah.
Obviously, there is a level of accountabilitythat they're gonna be held to.
(35:50):
There's a level of, you know, we're here towork.
Like, we're here to we're here to grind it out.
But if this is the thing you love, it's notgoing to feel that way.
Right?
Obviously there are long nights and thosethings happen, but like, this is going to be
the thing that is unbelievable for you.
How do you, how do you find that type ofmindset individuals, especially, in the younger
(36:13):
generations?
So that is a great question, and it has beeneverywhere from a waitress.
Okay.
A waitress that's probably gonna make $400 thisyear after three years.
Wow.
Yeah.
It's so someone reached out to me, and and Iused to be a little more involved in social
(36:36):
media, and said, hey.
I hear you're a car guy.
I know Will's smiling.
And I wash cars.
And I moved here from Montana, and I'm a carwash guy.
And I said, are you honest?
You trustworthy?
(36:56):
He said, yes, sir.
I said, good.
Be at my house every Friday at 05:45AM.
I leave at 07:30.
You can wash all the cars and golf carts in mygarage, and you gotta do it every other Friday.
And if you're late, the garage door won't beopen.
So today, he's one of the most successful guysin our company, and you'd really be proud of
(37:22):
him.
He's got a beautiful baby now.
He's got a beautiful bride.
And he made me proud of him.
He after a year of doing that, he and my songot to know each other.
And they came in one day and said Wally came inand said, dad, he wants to be in the real
estate business, and he is committed to doingit and we gotta help him.
(37:46):
And I go, oh god, this is gonna be a fun one.
And you'd be so proud of him today.
And that's it it it goes that far.
I've got another guy that came in one day andhe said, my uncles told me about you and I want
to be in the commercial real estate business.
I said, you're out of your mind.
(38:06):
He said, no.
I want to do it.
So we sat and talked for an hour and a half andI said he said, okay.
So what should I do?
I said, here's what I want you to do.
I want you to go back to your job.
I want you to make $200,000 and pass your realestate exam.
When you have $200 in the bank and you've gotyour real estate license, come back to see me.
(38:29):
Two years later, he comes in and says, okay,I'm ready.
One of the greatest men in our industry will bea leader in this industry forever.
You'd be so proud of him.
I'm so proud of him.
He's just amazing.
And he is a rock star.
And he just you'd be so proud.
(38:50):
And he did exactly what I said.
He he he asks for stuff when he needs it.
He's self sufficient.
He's a leader in the industry.
But you never know as I think, Justin, I'vebeen rambling on that.
I can tell you when you meet someone that'sdriven and you're looking for it, you're paying
(39:16):
attention, it doesn't matter where it is.
It can be in the lobby of of your office.
You know, it can by watching someone's actions,the way they move, the way they listen.
It can be anywhere.
Success doesn't have a look.
It's not tall or short or skinny or heavyset oror pink or blue or white or red.
(39:37):
It's someone that has a vision.
We got this new person that is in our company,and I'm trying not to use names, but youth with
desire is absolute dangerous because it is theold guard in our industry doesn't have a chance
(40:00):
against youth with the technology and the toolsthat they have.
And if they've got the desire, this young lady,she will be with me forever.
We'll never let her leave.
We make sure now there's an element that we'renot talking about here and that's compensation.
You cannot forget that if someone is doing thatkind of a job, they deserve to be compensated
(40:26):
duly.
And in many cases, and we watch this veryclosely, we tend to overpay or bonus when
someone does that work because they deserve it.
They absolutely deserve it.
And we give them a chance to be partners intransactions and partnership.
(40:51):
I wasn't able at 23 years old to put $50 in atransaction.
You know, when you do that at that age and whenyou hit 33 and that 50 turns into $800, that's
life changing.
And then the $800, you do that a couple oftimes and that turns into 4 or $5,000,000.
(41:12):
And and it's it's it's fantastic.
Youth love to invest.
They love to do deals.
Watch driven youth watches stocks more than Iever you know, like, I wouldn't.
By the time I was 30, I woke up to what a stockwas.
I was like a stock.
Okay.
(41:33):
But it's, you can't forget.
I can't forget about that compensation partbecause they see that and they feel it and it
makes a difference to them.
You see that hungry, like there's more outthere for me and I'm going to keep doing it to
where it makes my family bigger, better, andstronger.
I have to ask, there's obviously a formula tomaking money, and specifically as a developer.
(41:58):
Right?
Can you kinda simply put, what is a strategyaround deals that makes sense?
For anyone that's that's even looking to be inthe industry.
Right?
What is it that you're looking for?
Highlights.
Right?
That you're looking for that go, yep.
This could be a good deal or this is not a gooddeal.
(42:20):
That's a
great question, Will.
From the commercial real estate aspect, whatmakes a commercial piece valuable is density,
population density, and traffic counts.
If you have density and traffic counts and youhave a piece of land that is developable
because there's a lot of land that you lookaround out there and it may have water issues.
(42:45):
It may have slope issues.
It could have compaction issues, which all canbe solved with with money, and time.
But but really, you look for bull's eyes.
We call them bull's eyes.
They're at a good hard corner.
Retailers in today's environment need togenerate sales.
(43:08):
Sales don't come from locations without densityand population.
They don't come without traffic counts.
Now every now and then you've got these greatamazing places that are out in the woods or
something like that that do good.
But the fact is you need population density andyou need traffic counts.
You need visibility.
(43:29):
In commercial real estate, signage is soimportant.
You know, a lot of these cities get stuck onsignage and we've lost deals over the lack of
signage.
And the city's gotta be more aware of thatbecause they generate sales and they generate a
community, but well located real estatedensity.
(43:50):
And then it and then you get into a design andwill you've gotta design it to where it works.
And Justin was talking earlier about, you know,those mistakes and those hurdles that don't
work.
You can have the greatest piece of real estatein the world, but if you don't have access,
it's over.
They'll never be successful.
You've got to have access.
You've got to have signage.
(44:11):
You've got to have visibility.
Safety.
Safety has become a real issue, especially withwhat's going on in the world today.
Ladies, women need to be safe.
They need to feel safe.
It has to be designed safe with the properamount of lighting, not too much landscape.
So when you combine all that stuff, that'sthat's really what makes commercial real
(44:33):
estate.
And then it's not an easy game to get into.
It takes time.
And sometimes people don't have the time tocommit.
They need the quick hit.
They need that quick check to survive, and inthis business, it takes, you know, to do a big
project, we've got, I think, large scaleprojects right now.
(44:57):
They're thirty two to thirty four months beforethey get stabilized and really support
themselves.
And some of those take eighteen months beforethat thirty two months.
So you can't just run-in and say, need to makea commercial real estate transaction, get a
check and feed my family for this year.
Many of the individuals in the commercial realestate, they'll have fifty, sixty deals working
(45:23):
and close 10 deals this year.
You know, the pipeline.
Pipelines are priceless, and and they'resomething that you have to, you know,
acknowledge, be aware of.
And you have your short term goals, your kindof midterm goals, and then your long term
development goals as well.
So go ahead, John.
(45:43):
Because things are so they lack.
Right?
The results lags.
Right?
That's just inherent to the business.
How do you how do you know either you orsomebody in the company are doing good or doing
well?
Like how, what, what are like, I guess KPIs canbe used to say like, you are on track for the
three year picture to become the, you know, thewaitress that is now gonna be, you know, 400 ks
(46:08):
this year.
How do you know that that's happening?
Well, it starts by watching their actions inthe office.
I mean, it starts every morning.
It starts by who beats me in the door.
Okay.
It it starts by questions they're asking,Justin.
I mean, if someone's talking to 50 people aday, they've got 10 questions for you.
(46:32):
They really do.
Because they're like, let me tell you what thisguy said or this gal said.
This what was the here's what I was confrontedwith.
You can see it early.
You really truly can see that productivitycoming early, both with questions and the
objections.
You know, like, I ran into this.
How do you overcome that?
(46:54):
As well as bringing them in.
Remember, we talked about accountability.
A good management style for someone to come inand go, Justin and Will, how many people did
you guys talk to this week?
What did you hear?
How can we help you?
Show me your pipeline.
Okay.
What are you working on?
Who are you talking to?
(47:15):
Okay, so you're talking to some tenants.
Are you talking to any landowners that needtenants?
Are you talking to any retailers that maybe,and this is something we're doing a lot of,
we're doing a lot of this now, that have storesthat are not productive and they want to
(47:35):
sublease them or dispose of them.
We're doing a lot of that for some of thesenational credit tenants now.
Making sure that they're not in just thisnarrow gap, that they've got five or six
pathways to success.
And then what happens is over the years thatI've learned, what'll happen is that when you
give them, let's just say there's five paths,after a few years, they'll jump on to two of
(47:58):
them or one of them or three of them.
They'll be like, nah, I'm a dirt person or I'mjust a tenant rep or I'm just in the property
management side.
We've had that where brokers have come in aftera year and they're like, I'm not cold calling
anybody anymore.
I wanna make the properties pretty.
I wanna make sure that they're leased, and Iwanna make sure the lights are on, but I don't
(48:22):
wanna cold call and ask people for businessanymore.
You kind of if you're watching closely thatback to that accountability word, that's really
what kind of ties in to make sure because astatement I've used with our team is we need a
barstool with six legs because one or two aregonna get knocked out.
(48:46):
Okay?
At the end of the day, you're still standingand you have a good foundation and making sure
that they have the support.
They want the support.
They need the support and making sure thatyou're giving them that support so you're not
running into this like, the last thing youcould ever do to these young guns now is not
(49:07):
help them through because they're willing tolearn.
They wanna learn.
They want to be successful, and making surethat they have those tools is so, so important.
I mean, it just and that tool can come fromanything.
You know, it's, you know, I always say to theteam, who did you take to lunch this week to
(49:31):
ask them for their business?
Everybody in my company knows if they takesomebody to lunch or dinner, I'll pay the bill,
bring me the bill and go make a new friend, askthem what you can do to help them.
And when you're done, bring me the bill, I'llpay for it because you're meeting new people.
You're learning more about them, which ishelping you have more tools in the industry.
(49:55):
And it's truly making everybody bigger, better,and stronger.
It's also taking the company and exposing thecompany to to be able to more knowledge.
More knowledge is always more success.
So this has been incredibly insightful.
Look, if we could stay on and, be a Joe Roganpodcast, we would.
(50:17):
But we're not quite there yet.
So we gotta end with our favorite question.
And our favorite question to ask everyone is,if you were to go back twenty years, what would
you tell yourself?
What advice would you give yourself, yourtwenty year previous self?
God, that's a great question.
And five, the White Sox are gonna win the WorldSeries that year.
(50:38):
Ain't that correlation?
Don't take no for an answer is the first thing.
Don't when someone says no, ask why.
Think outside the box.
I would say read a little more about the world.
I was fortunate enough I sold a company in oseven and avoided a a big crash.
(51:03):
I was so focused on my company that I missedwhat was going on in the world.
So today I spend an hour every morning, usuallyfrom four to five or 04:30 to 05:30, and I
watch four or five different news channelsabout fifteen, twenty minutes apiece.
(51:25):
Learning of what's going on in the world.
Don't don't create a platform that you not onlyknow what you're doing and what you wanna do,
but also what's going on in the world aroundyou so you don't miss something and and get
caught off guard by something that you cannotcontrol.
(51:48):
I'd say that's probably it's it's in don't evertake no.
I mean, just keep asking why and how and andmake sure you get up early because if you're
out late, you're not gonna get up early.
And you too, I promise you, you're gonna beright there next to Joe Rogan.
(52:09):
We'll teach him how to do these things properlywith your with your format because you guys are
amazing.
Thank you so much.
You're so kind.
This has been awesome.
We'll put your social media and all that stuffin the show notes, but if somebody wanted to
get ahold of you, what's the best way
for them to do that?
Walt@dpcre.com or our website is dpcre.com.
(52:32):
I am really easy to find.
And thank you, Justin and Will.
You guys have been amazing, and and just thanksfor allowing me this time.
No.
This has been great.
It's been our pleasure.
Totally.
Yeah.
As I said, listeners, this has been amazing.
Walt, you've been an amazing guest.
And until next time, adios.
Thanks for listening to Building Scale.
(52:54):
To help us reach even more people, please sharethis episode with a friend, colleague, or on
social media.
Remember, the three pillars of scaling abusiness are people, process, and technology.
And our mission is to help the AEC industryprotect itself by making technology easy.
(53:14):
So if you think your company's technologypillar could use some improvement, book a call
with us to see how we can help maximize your ITcybersecurity strategy.
Just go to buildingscale.net/help.
And until next time.
Keep building scale.
Still today from that first year or two, westill represent some of those tenants today
that I met back then, and it's the neatestthing in the world.
We have we have a relationship with LA Fitnessthat has been made on a handshake from someone
that has just changed my career, changed mylife, has made an absolute difference, and it
(00:21):
was on one simple handshake.
And we've got, you know, thirty three yearrelationship with them.
We would not be where we're at today withoutthem.
It's neat.
We're really lucky.
Have you ever wondered how successfularchitecture, engineering, and construction
companies scale their business?
(00:42):
Or have you ever wanted guidance on how to getmore growth, wealth, and freedom from your AEC
company?
Well, then you're in luck.
Hi.
I'm Will Forret.
And I'm Justin Nagel, and we're your podcasthosts.
We interview successful AEC business leaders tolearn how they use people, process, and
technology to scale their businesses.
So sit back and get ready to learn from theindustry's best.
(01:05):
This is
building scale.
Hey, listeners.
It's Will here.
Our mission is to help the AAC industry protectitself by making technology easy.
If you've ever listened to our show, then youknow that the three pillars of scaling a
business are people, process, and technology.
(01:25):
So if you suspect technology is your weak link,then book a call with us to see where we can
help maximize your company's IT andcybersecurity strategy.
Just go to buildingscale.net/help.
Today's guest is Walt Brown junior, thefounder, CEO, and designated broker for
Diversified Partners, a full service realestate development and brokerage firm based in
(01:49):
Scottsdale, Arizona.
With over thirty three years of experience incommercial real estate, Walt has leased, sold,
and developed more than 5,000 properties andmore than 12,000,000 square feet of retail
space nationwide.
He's built strong long term relationships withmajor national tenants like Starbucks, In N
Out, LA Fitness, Walmart, and Home Depot.
(02:11):
Walt started Diversified Partners in '96,growing it into one of Arizona's leading firms
through his big picture mindset, hands onleadership, and reputation for integrity.
His firm provides a wide range of services,including development, brokerage, investment,
property management, and tenant landlordrepresentation across retail, office,
industrial, and land sectors.
(02:32):
Outside of business, though, Walt is a devotedfamily man, passionate philanthropist, and
former college football athlete for Universityof Mexico.
He's been honored with the City of Hope Spiritof Life award and supports organizations like
Phoenix Children's Hospital and Fresh Start.
And with all that said, welcome to the show,Will.
Justin, thank you.
(02:52):
Will, thank you, and thanks for, for having methis morning.
Let's not let's not forget that you're also aracing man.
You know, we forgot to put that in there.
You're you're a big, you're a big racer too.
It's a love.
It's as you know, Will, it gets in your systemand you can't get it out.
That's right.
I love it.
That's the spirit that keeps everything alive.
(03:13):
Absolutely.
So give us a little bit more color of theorigin story, Walt, how how you got in the
business, and then tell us a little bit aboutDiversified.
Well, I was I was I went through school and Iwanted to be a dentist, and at some point in
time, I've looked around and went, what am Ithinking?
And my dad said, stop thinking.
Go back to school and be a dentist.
(03:34):
You're gonna make $350 a year.
You're never gonna be working on Friday,Saturday, or Sunday, and, you don't have to
answer the phone at night to go to theemergency room.
And I said, okay.
And and what, Justin, what I've had to do is Ihad to go find something I loved.
My parents worked their butt off all day everyday, and I think they were really out there
(03:55):
just working to provide for myself and my twobrothers and two sisters.
There's five of us.
I watched that from a young age, and I decidedthat I had to go find something I loved.
There was something that happened when I wasreally young in my life.
I was 11 years old and my mom took me togoodwill, and I found something I had to have.
(04:17):
So I grabbed it and I said, mom, I gotta havethis.
It was a vest.
It was a leather vest, and I was 11 years old.
Who knows what the heck you're thinking at 11years old with a
leather Rock star.
Rock star leather vest.
And
she said, well, we don't have the money to buythat today, but we'll have it.
Let's see if we can't lay it away.
And I remember that still today like it wasyesterday.
(04:40):
And I I said, I'm gonna go find something Ilove and that I can work hard at and be
passionate about, but could never put myself ormy children in that situation.
That's awesome.
That's very powerful
story.
You think about that, and you think aboutgoodwill, and and today, we are one of
(05:02):
goodwill's landlords, and it's a it's a greatposition to be in.
I had to go search and find something that Iloved, and and, Will, I know you love well,
both of you love family, but well, I know youhave a love for cars.
And and I when I discovered commercial realestate and commercial real estate development,
(05:27):
I truly have never worked a day in my life eversince.
I get to be creative.
I get to work on design and implementation.
I get to negotiate documents with with peoplethat are really more my friends and people I
care about and really that care about usbecause it's a mutual win win for everybody.
(05:51):
It's not just about me.
It's not being piggy or, or being selfish.
It's what we can do together to grow all of us.
And that's really what I've loved aboutcommercial real estate and commercial
development since the day I really discoveredit.
And I I did my first deal, and I I it literallyI feel like I've never worked a day in my life.
(06:14):
I'm very so blessed in that.
It makes me giddy.
Can you talk about your first deal?
I think that story is really cool.
Why don't you talk about your first deal?
How did you get introduced to real estatedevelopment?
So I went to, I had a friend that was workedfor the international council of shopping
centers and they hold regional meetings to helppromote the business, both for developers, as
(06:40):
well as retailers all across the world.
And she was kind enough to take me to thismeeting.
And I went to every one of the little breakoutsessions and I'm listening to developers.
I'm listening to retailers.
And I'm looking around the room and I'mthinking, man, there is a lot of people here
making a lot of money.
And, and I didn't think they were any differentthan I was.
(07:04):
And so I literally tried to introduce myself toevery person I met and I'd read their tag and
I'd be like, what do you do?
How do you do it?
Where did you go?
How'd you get in the business?
And I met a guy that was an attorney and himand I hit it off.
I don't know where it was.
It was maybe a breakfast on the third day.
And I said, I'm going to come to work for you.
(07:25):
And he said I don't need anybody to work forme.
I said that's okay, I'll work for free, and soI talked him into letting me work in his
office, and he was an attorney that was one ofthe greatest document crafters I've ever met
and been around in my life.
A commercial real estate transaction lives anddies on a document and the relationship between
(07:49):
the parties and the agreement between theparties.
So he'd write these documents or maybe printthem from the previous I'd say, well, I need a
copy of that.
And I'd take it home at night and I'd read itand I'd highlight everything I didn't know.
And I'd come back in the next morning.
I'd go, what the heck does this mean?
I'd ask him 20 questions.
And about the time when he had had enough, he'dbe like, get out of here.
(08:10):
Leave me alone.
I gotta get to work.
But I read documents, and I was cold callingretailers, and that was it was the cutest thing
in the world.
I'd go to work.
And if you want to be successful at commercialreal estate, when you start, you got to start
at five in the morning and you work till eightat night.
You do that for about three years and all of asudden you make enough money to make it
(08:32):
reasonable.
But I would come in at five in the morning andI would start cold calling.
I was on the West Coast and I would start callcold calling the East Coast.
And I would call all those East Coast companiesfrom five till about 07:30.
And then I'd drive home and take a shower andput, you know, regular clothes on because I'd
(08:53):
get up and who knows where I'd been or what I'ddone the night before.
And I would get up, I'd put baseball hat on mygym shorts and a t shirt.
I'd to work and I'd start cold calling.
When I hit 07:30, I jump in the car, drive backto the house, take a shower, and then drive
back to the office, get there about 08:15, andthen I'd start working my way to the West
across Chicago, Dallas, Texas, and working myway.
(09:17):
And then I keep calling on the West Coast guysuntil six or 06:30 at night, prospecting for
business.
Literally, the first year, I worked fifty oneweeks, sixty to seventy hours a week, and on
the weekends, I would drive and look atproperties.
(09:39):
And at the end of the first year, I made myfirst check.
The first day of the fifty second week, I wasbartending at nighttime to provide for myself,
and I got a check for $36,000 the last week ofmy first year in my commercial real estate
career.
The next year with the same work ethic, I madethree times that.
(10:03):
And the next year I made three times that.
Now when you love something, it's so easy to besuccessful.
When you're passionate about what you do, itreally isn't work.
It's just enjoying the journey of life.
And I believe a lot of people in the world outthere haven't taken the time to find what they
love and apply that to what they will providefor their family with because when you can
(10:30):
merge those together, it makes the journey andreally that's what matters is the journey.
It's not the material things that we have.
It's the journey and knowing that I had a greatday yesterday.
And today I'm going to do the same thing,especially I'm with you two today.
I mean, it just makes me smile seeing those twobig smiling faces of your guys.
(10:52):
It's what it's all about and enjoying thatjourney and caring about people and what you do
and what they do with you.
Because it's really easy to build a book ofbusiness in any business by caring first and
making sure that you're achieving their goalsjust as much as your goals.
(11:13):
They're equally as important and not beingselfish or what I call piggy sometimes.
When did that mindset come?
Was it just always innate to you or was this athing that, you know, you, you, you found the
thing you loved, so you naturally did a lot ofit because you wanted to, you wanted to make it
right.
You wanted to make that your thing.
But when did you, when did you start realizingthat like bringing people together, caring
(11:35):
about their goals, doing, like being more, ofjust a, just a flash, a sun of positive energy
and how that multiplies the outcome that comes?
You know Justin, my dad always said you have tolisten and he said you can't just listen, you
have to hear.
He said because a lot of times people will saysomething but they actually aren't great at
(12:00):
communicating.
So sometimes the words will come out, but youhave to really listen and hear what they might
truly be trying to say.
Not not just listening, but hearing andthinking the concept of what they're trying to
say.
So I was raised with that in, you know, myparents, I came from a great loving family and
(12:23):
and and really starting and my dad used to say,when you make a customer happy and you fill
their needs, that compounds over time and willchange your life.
That first client that I had was ConverseTennis Shoes and here is how lucky I was.
(12:46):
And sometimes when you work really hard you doget lucky and I used to call this man, great
man, Tom Rickert was his name, and he was aBoston guy.
Here's a Boston guy.
You know you know those Boston guys and the waythey are.
They're tough and rough.
And I used to call him every week, and I'd say,mister Rickerts, Walt Brown Junior, the hardest
(13:08):
working man in America, and I always called himearly, and he knew I was on the West Coast, and
I'd usually call him on Wednesday or Thursdaybecause he was golfing on Friday, which is
where I wanted to be, but I was working, AndI'd go, good morning.
And after doing this for probably six or eightmonths, it was a I think it was a Thursday
(13:30):
morning.
And I'm like, good morning.
How you doing, my friend?
And he's like, brownie, what's up?
And I said, you know what I'm calling for.
I wanna earn your business.
What can I do for you today?
And he said, well, son, it's your lucky day.
And he said, I had a store robbed in and Ithink it was in the Santa Monica area.
(13:55):
And he said, I think you're in Newport Beach.
I said, yes, sir.
I lived in about 400 square foot studio,couldn't afford anything.
And he said, I want you to drive to, this tradearea, and I want you to go look at every
shopping center.
And when you're done, I want you to send me afax.
(14:16):
That was a fax at that time.
It wasn't an email, it wasn't a text, and andsummarize your four best choices.
And I'll call you the minute I get it.
Shit.
I hung up the phone.
I jumped in the car, and I did exactly what hesaid.
And I drove almost that was had to be at 05:45,six in the morning.
I drove until 08:00 at night.
(14:38):
I wrote out the fax.
Actually, I think I it was the paper with thelittle pleats on the side and I wrote
Tearaways.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then I put it I fed it in the fax machine,you know, and it and I set it off, and he calls
me, and he says, I'll be there at ten in themorning.
Pick me up at LAX.
(15:00):
And I'm like, oh, no.
Oh, no.
I got a job.
What am I gonna do?
And we he we he said, drive to the you know,go.
Let's go see all four.
We weren't in each project three minutes.
And there was some distance.
So we drove thirty minutes to the first one,twenty minutes, ten minutes, fifteen, you know,
(15:22):
twenty minutes, take me to lunch, take me tothe airport.
And he pulls out the book and he's like, okay.
I can get on this flight.
He goes in the airport, he's gone.
And he said, get me that deal.
And lo and behold, I did get him that deal thathe wanted.
He goes, that's my number one.
If we exhaust that, I will go to number two,but I don't wanna do it.
(15:43):
Let's stick with number one.
And we made that deal, which was fantastic.
And the day we made the deal, I said, misterRickert, what do you need next?
How can I help you make your job easier, andwhat can I do that'll make a difference for
you?
You see how I work.
You see what I've done, and how can I help?
And he said, go to Dallas and do the samething.
(16:06):
I said, really?
He goes, yeah.
I went, oh, no.
Holy moly moly.
I bought a ticket to South on SouthwestAirlines.
At that time, we didn't have this amazingtechnology that these young guns that work
around us are using.
So I pulled up into a Circle K or a seveneleven or a convenience store, and I bought the
(16:28):
maps, you know, and I'm looking at all the mapsand I'm like, okay, these look like major
streets and I'm gonna drive them all.
And I drove it for three days, and I picked out10 spots.
And eventually, we did, you know, not a 100stores, but we did a bunch of stores, and I
just kept asking how I could help him.
(16:49):
And we've done that with many of the tenants.
And still today, from that first year or two,we still represent some of those tenants today
that I met back then.
And it's the neatest thing in the world.
We have we have a relationship with LA Fitnessthat has been made on a handshake from someone
that has just changed my career, changed mylife, has made an absolute difference.
(17:13):
And it was on one simple handshake.
And we've got, you know, 33 relationship withthem.
We would not be where we're at today withoutthem.
It's neat.
We're really lucky.
Wow.
So you won.
Kudos to you.
You you did the you you have the story that isrequired to find the American dream, right?
(17:35):
Like you you've got the background story that,you know, everybody wants the dream, but like
you have story that gets you to the dream,which is amazing.
When did, when did this turn into now?
I'm not just a single contributor.
I'm, I have a team or I'm going to get, build ateam or I'm going to, I'm going to have others
around me to really start multiplying and usingthe leverage there.
(17:57):
I was working at a company.
Well, let me back up just a little bit.
LA Fitness.
I was talking with the principals of LA Fitnessand we were talking about expanding.
And I said, they said, well, and I was doing alittle bit of work with them in LA, and we got
into a discussion of expanding LA Fitnessacross the country.
And the principals at LA Fitness, So wherewould you go?
(18:20):
And I said, well, I'd probably either go toSouth Florida or Phoenix.
And he said, well, pick one and move there andwe'll give you our exclusive.
And I went, holy cow.
I went and analyzed the two markets and withhis, his motivational request, ended up in
Phoenix, which I'm a warm weather guy.
So it's worked out great.
(18:41):
And physically it has worked out off the chartsbecause I moved to Arizona, helped expand them
into that market and other markets.
It was great timing because there was a lot ofvacant land in Arizona, and I'm looking around
going, there was no land in SouthernCalifornia.
This is easy.
And when you combine that with timing and workethic, because, you know, I was calling on
(19:06):
landowners and saying, what are you doing?
Why aren't you developing?
You got vacant land.
Vacant land doesn't make any money.
You know, it just is dust.
And that really kind of worked to my favor.
I was then so I was I'd go meet with thelandowner and he'd say, I'll sell if you'll
buy.
And I go, well, I don't have any money, but Imight, if I could find the users to help me
(19:32):
assemble the credit and the income, I couldprobably figure out a way to buy.
But again, I don't have any money.
I mean, was a I remember having thatconversation with 10 or 15 very successful
companies or owners.
And they're like, what are you doing herewithout any money?
And I go, I'm working on it.
I'm here.
(19:52):
I'm trying to get the money.
That's why I'm working.
Exactly.
And at that point in time, Justin, I I I got towhere I was too busy.
And I went to my then boss who I worked for,and I said, I need a bigger percentage of my
money, you know, because you have a share whenyou're in a brokerage company.
(20:15):
And I need a little bigger cut because I'mgoing to hire some people around me.
And he said, I'm not giving you a bigger cut.
I said, okay, well, I love you.
You're a great guy.
I quit.
And I went, and that's how I formed diversifiedpartners.
I literally went that day and went to abuilding.
I liked, I said, how much space you gotavailable?
He goes, I got this great suite here.
And I go, I'll take it.
(20:35):
I signed a lease on the spot.
I went to a used furniture store and bought thefurnishings, put them in my Jeep Cherokee and
drove, you know, and they had to help me withstuff that was too big.
And then I called three or four people that Ihad relationships with and I hired my first
(20:56):
employee.
You remember the Mastercard and Visa bills whenyou used to get them, they had those checks on
the bottom.
Well, I was paying him with those checks.
Literally, you know, because when I founded thecompany, I think I had like $6,000 and my rent
was 800 or something.
(21:16):
But then it started to come and I called allthe people that I was doing business with.
And I said, well, I used to be at this company,but I formed my own company.
And the great news is everybody said, I don'tcare what the name of the company is.
As long as I have you, I'm here to stay andwe're going anywhere you go.
And that's very humbling.
(21:38):
I mean, it truly is.
It's something that, it gives you strength tothink about some of those conversations.
It makes you proud.
And and now now it's kinda bigger than me thatthe company, we're very lucky.
We're very blessed.
We have everybody in our company is a get shitdone person.
(21:58):
They don't waste time.
They're not lollygaggers.
There's no cancer.
Everybody wants to do great things.
And when you surround yourself with people thatare smarter than you, because believe me, I
call them the young guns, this youth YouTube,same way.
You guys young, you're smart as hell, you'recreative, and you have these tools.
(22:21):
I mean, I'm thinking about something in a in aconference room with my team.
And as I'm talking about what I'm thinkingabout, they're pulling it up and it's all of a
sudden they go share screen and it's on thisnine foot by eight foot television in our
conference room.
They're going, well, that's the store spacingright there.
(22:41):
It looks like there's holes here, here, here,and here.
I'm like, holy cow.
The commercial industry, the commercial realestate industry has changed so much with this
technology.
I mean, Earth, you can drop down, you can see,you can look at stuff.
And the industry is the greatest industry inthe world.
(23:04):
And one of the reasons that it attracted me isbecause I felt weekends were more important
with my children.
Okay, maybe on the racetrack too, Will.
I know you're thinking about that.
A little bit here, a little bit there.
Yeah.
But I felt in holidays, I wanted to be with myfamily and my friends on the holidays and the
(23:28):
weekends.
I did not want to be at work, which is where myparents were at most of the time.
And I was able to really identify that as I wasgrowing up.
I started at 16 on New Year's Eve making a listof my goals for the next year, And I have those
still today from every year.
(23:50):
It's hilarious how they've changed and, youknow, it's like I want a black lab in a
suburban in a boat.
You know, I was like, where'd that one comefrom?
You know, and now as I'm growing up, I don'tknow if I'm growing up, but, you know, I'm
maturing.
It's about health and it's about the journeyand it's about quality, maybe not so much
(24:12):
quantity.
But I've you know, when you take the time andand I think that is a true it's it's an asset
that is irreplaceable, taking the time to writeyour goals, write your objectives, and also
write down what you have not achieved throughthe previous year, identifying both the goods
(24:34):
and the bads.
And you don't need to talk to yourself, butmentally going through it, the goods and the
bads and and understanding.
Because if you had a goal and you didn't hitit, you really need to confront yourself on why
you didn't hit it.
What what happened?
What got in my way?
Was it something I could have controlled?
(24:56):
Was it something somebody else didn't do orshouldn't have done or should have done?
And what is my excuse?
Because excuses are like, you know, everybody'sgot good excuses.
But confronting that also helps you adjust orreproject for the coming year.
And I've always done that.
(25:17):
I still do it today.
I make my two sons do it and I think it'simportant.
And I tell my team, I call them, you know, thefamily of young guns.
I tell them, you've got to write down yourgoals.
You've to write down your objectives.
Share them with the people around you and talkto them because if they know they can help you
get there, this is not a lonely road andteamwork creates strength and discipline as
(25:41):
well.
And people help.
People love to help.
I promise you, you too.
If you knew someone's goal, you would help themget it if you could.
And that's just the way the world is.
And it makes a difference when you don't haveto hoard them and hide them and be like, oh,
share them.
Let's go.
Let's let's do it together and make it work.
(26:01):
You're muted.
So I love what you talked about and, you know,the work ethic and all that.
Like, this is something that some people cannotimagine.
Okay?
I think maybe other entrepreneurs can.
Right?
So you were taught a whole bunch of things, butthere's the entrepreneurial tax.
(26:25):
Right, where you just have to learn by payingyour way through.
Okay?
And especially since you are working withreally construction companies, with GCs, right,
and all that, with with architects andengineers.
Why what is it what are the issues that theindustry has?
Because I'm sure you calls every day.
(26:45):
Everyone wants to work with a developer.
Right?
But what are the issues that you see with theindustry?
And I'll leave it and I'll leave it broad.
Okay.
Do you want me to answer that now?
Or or we go?
Okay.
So the industry problems have changed, by theway, because it directly relates to people's
(27:06):
desire to be successful.
And what we have encountered is a lot of peoplemake promises that they don't fulfill.
A lot of people put a schedule together that isunrealistic.
A lot of people commit, and commitment and wespend a lot of time, a lot of time holding
(27:29):
people's feet to the fire.
We have a team of people that hold othersaccountable for their commitments.
Then we have to tie it in with a contractbecause if you're a builder, we have
obligations to our end users.
And if we don't hold your feet to the fire,it's going to cost us a lot of money.
(27:51):
The companies that we deal with are publiclytraded companies and they have to produce.
It's a requirement for them and it's arequirement for us to produce.
Obligations and commitments and tracking peopleand their accountability, we spend a lot of
time and a lot of money doing that.
And it's no fun, by the way.
(28:12):
And and and calling people out, I got a textmessage from yesterday where the guy has made
four or five promises and it's light promises.
When I'm asking a question of a team member,I'm very specific.
When are you going to submit for the permit?
Tuesday.
(28:33):
I'm gonna submit by Friday.
It's perfect.
Monday morning at 08:00, I have somebody callhim and ask him for the submittal number.
Well, guess what?
It didn't get done.
So then it's like, oh, well, the engineer madea mistake on this or that, passing the buck,
the buck of bullshit, I call.
Okay.
Bob.
(28:55):
Bob.
Buck bullshit.
I love that.
Okay.
And and he passed the buck.
And so then we go into a discussion of, well,give us his number.
We're gonna call him.
I'll handle it.
I'll handle it.
No.
No.
We're gonna handle it too.
We're gonna get involved.
What's his name and his number?
We're gonna call him.
And most of the time people squirm.
(29:15):
But in our industry, we have a lot of problemsand newer things since a pandemic, which I
never use the C word because it just it's nothealthy.
Supply chain issues.
Power companies.
The power companies are busier than they'veever been.
Good architects, they're so busy.
They couldn't give a damn about it.
(29:38):
Now it may change just a little bit in thiswith what's going on out there in the
environment today, and we may be able to get afoot or a lag even back up on them, but they're
gonna go to the one who pays them the fastest,holds them accountable the least, okay, and I
use that accountability statement because wehave a team of people that hold people
(30:02):
accountable.
Our architecture and design team that managesour consultants, they have a spreadsheet.
I see the spreadsheet every week, and I seetheir notes every week.
I meet with them every week either bytechnology or face to face.
Our lending side, the capital market side, Isee every transaction and where it's at.
(30:28):
Our property management side, I see the notes,holding people accountable.
But we as a company have been very fortunatebecause we have people I don't know if they're
like me.
They're probably much better than me, butthey're the people that you don't have to
manage.
And and starting with that mindset, I mean, I Ican remember the goodwill story like it was
(30:51):
yesterday and that was forty some years ago.
Okay.
And I will never get close to coming back tothat.
Never, never, never.
And my children and I am surrounded by peoplethat have that same mindset.
They believe in themselves, and they want tosucceed, and you don't have to manage them.
(31:12):
When you properly train somebody that you knowhas it in them and they want to be that person,
the rest is really easy because then it's justproper training.
I spend a lot of time, especially with theseyoung guns.
I'm like, did you read your document word forword before you sent it out?
(31:36):
Did you read every word of the document andmake sure it truly conveyed, one, what you were
trying to say, and two, what the client trulyneeds and wants.
And a lot of these young guns, we've had towork hard to make sure they have the tools,
both, you know, I've I've heard some of thesequotes.
(31:59):
Well, just send it to AI.
Well, AI didn't negotiate the transaction.
Okay.
They don't know what the principal truly needs,what his wants are, and what's gonna make the
transaction work for him.
So we spend a lot of time training and we makesure that we start with the right person in
their heart and in their mind first.
(32:19):
And then we give them the tools.
We force them to read these leases withnational publicly traded companies and come
back and go, do you understand every word ofthat lease?
And we don't stop until they say yes because alease, a purchase contract, a document, the
agreement, the simple part, the letter ofintent, which is usually two or three pages in
(32:43):
the commercial real estate business, that'sthat's easy.
But when you get to the depth, the meat of thedocument, you have to know what each side wants
and and is trying to achieve.
You can't make assumptions.
And you've gotta combine, you know, the hardwork and work ethic with knowledge.
(33:06):
What I did that first year was I read documentstwo or three nights a week.
I'd wake up in the morning and in the documentI'd slept on it and I've scratched from it
because I fell asleep reading the documents.
And in the commercial real estate industry,everything is in the documents.
So you have to combine a work ethic, a desire.
(33:28):
You got to have the desire.
You got to want.
You got to want to be an entrepreneur.
You got to want to be successful.
You want to you got to want to be a leader, butyou have to have the knowledge behind it.
If you don't have the knowledge, you've gottafind a way to get it, and and you've gotta work
hard enough at getting it to where to where youmake a difference.
(33:52):
And and I I say make a difference, but the factis if you are a leader of a company, if you're
a visionary, if you're the entrepreneur, ifyou're leading people, you have to one, be
prepared to do every single job in thebuilding, but you have to make sure that you're
(34:15):
on the cutting edge of everything in theindustry, that you're working and learning and
teaching the whole way through bringing themwith you and adding value to them as well.
You can't just be like, well, I got it all andI'm not sharing.
You have to give back.
I mean, I, you walk in our company and theseyoung guns, they're bulletproof and it just
(34:42):
makes me giddy.
And I am the beneficiary of that becausethey're kicking ass, Scratch that word, but but
they really are.
I mean, they are doing amazing things, butthey're working at it.
It's not I'm going to work.
I got here at eight and I'm leaving at the holdon.
It's almost 05:00.
Five.
I'm out the door.
(35:03):
It's it's you can tell that they have thatdesire and they have that drive, and they're
excited about the future.
We work.
Financial independence is a great thing, and ifyou find what you love, you work hard enough at
it, that's a beneficiary that that's it comes,and it's really the magic sauce, and cool.
(35:28):
Great to be in that position.
I am so lucky.
Every single day I wake up, I'm like, I'm goingto work because I love it.
I love what I do.
Sorry to ramble.
No.
No worries.
How how do you find those young guns?
Right?
Like, yeah.
Obviously, there is a level of accountabilitythat they're gonna be held to.
(35:50):
There's a level of, you know, we're here towork.
Like, we're here to we're here to grind it out.
But if this is the thing you love, it's notgoing to feel that way.
Right?
Obviously there are long nights and thosethings happen, but like, this is going to be
the thing that is unbelievable for you.
How do you, how do you find that type ofmindset individuals, especially, in the younger
(36:13):
generations?
So that is a great question, and it has beeneverywhere from a waitress.
Okay.
A waitress that's probably gonna make $400 thisyear after three years.
Wow.
Yeah.
It's so someone reached out to me, and and Iused to be a little more involved in social
(36:36):
media, and said, hey.
I hear you're a car guy.
I know Will's smiling.
And I wash cars.
And I moved here from Montana, and I'm a carwash guy.
And I said, are you honest?
You trustworthy?
(36:56):
He said, yes, sir.
I said, good.
Be at my house every Friday at 05:45AM.
I leave at 07:30.
You can wash all the cars and golf carts in mygarage, and you gotta do it every other Friday.
And if you're late, the garage door won't beopen.
So today, he's one of the most successful guysin our company, and you'd really be proud of
(37:22):
him.
He's got a beautiful baby now.
He's got a beautiful bride.
And he made me proud of him.
He after a year of doing that, he and my songot to know each other.
And they came in one day and said Wally came inand said, dad, he wants to be in the real
estate business, and he is committed to doingit and we gotta help him.
(37:46):
And I go, oh god, this is gonna be a fun one.
And you'd be so proud of him today.
And that's it it it goes that far.
I've got another guy that came in one day andhe said, my uncles told me about you and I want
to be in the commercial real estate business.
I said, you're out of your mind.
(38:06):
He said, no.
I want to do it.
So we sat and talked for an hour and a half andI said he said, okay.
So what should I do?
I said, here's what I want you to do.
I want you to go back to your job.
I want you to make $200,000 and pass your realestate exam.
When you have $200 in the bank and you've gotyour real estate license, come back to see me.
(38:29):
Two years later, he comes in and says, okay,I'm ready.
One of the greatest men in our industry will bea leader in this industry forever.
You'd be so proud of him.
I'm so proud of him.
He's just amazing.
And he is a rock star.
And he just you'd be so proud.
(38:50):
And he did exactly what I said.
He he he asks for stuff when he needs it.
He's self sufficient.
He's a leader in the industry.
But you never know as I think, Justin, I'vebeen rambling on that.
I can tell you when you meet someone that'sdriven and you're looking for it, you're paying
(39:16):
attention, it doesn't matter where it is.
It can be in the lobby of of your office.
You know, it can by watching someone's actions,the way they move, the way they listen.
It can be anywhere.
Success doesn't have a look.
It's not tall or short or skinny or heavyset oror pink or blue or white or red.
(39:37):
It's someone that has a vision.
We got this new person that is in our company,and I'm trying not to use names, but youth with
desire is absolute dangerous because it is theold guard in our industry doesn't have a chance
(40:00):
against youth with the technology and the toolsthat they have.
And if they've got the desire, this young lady,she will be with me forever.
We'll never let her leave.
We make sure now there's an element that we'renot talking about here and that's compensation.
You cannot forget that if someone is doing thatkind of a job, they deserve to be compensated
(40:26):
duly.
And in many cases, and we watch this veryclosely, we tend to overpay or bonus when
someone does that work because they deserve it.
They absolutely deserve it.
And we give them a chance to be partners intransactions and partnership.
(40:51):
I wasn't able at 23 years old to put $50 in atransaction.
You know, when you do that at that age and whenyou hit 33 and that 50 turns into $800, that's
life changing.
And then the $800, you do that a couple oftimes and that turns into 4 or $5,000,000.
(41:12):
And and it's it's it's fantastic.
Youth love to invest.
They love to do deals.
Watch driven youth watches stocks more than Iever you know, like, I wouldn't.
By the time I was 30, I woke up to what a stockwas.
I was like a stock.
Okay.
(41:33):
But it's, you can't forget.
I can't forget about that compensation partbecause they see that and they feel it and it
makes a difference to them.
You see that hungry, like there's more outthere for me and I'm going to keep doing it to
where it makes my family bigger, better, andstronger.
I have to ask, there's obviously a formula tomaking money, and specifically as a developer.
(41:58):
Right?
Can you kinda simply put, what is a strategyaround deals that makes sense?
For anyone that's that's even looking to be inthe industry.
Right?
What is it that you're looking for?
Highlights.
Right?
That you're looking for that go, yep.
This could be a good deal or this is not a gooddeal.
(42:20):
That's a
great question, Will.
From the commercial real estate aspect, whatmakes a commercial piece valuable is density,
population density, and traffic counts.
If you have density and traffic counts and youhave a piece of land that is developable
because there's a lot of land that you lookaround out there and it may have water issues.
(42:45):
It may have slope issues.
It could have compaction issues, which all canbe solved with with money, and time.
But but really, you look for bull's eyes.
We call them bull's eyes.
They're at a good hard corner.
Retailers in today's environment need togenerate sales.
(43:08):
Sales don't come from locations without densityand population.
They don't come without traffic counts.
Now every now and then you've got these greatamazing places that are out in the woods or
something like that that do good.
But the fact is you need population density andyou need traffic counts.
You need visibility.
(43:29):
In commercial real estate, signage is soimportant.
You know, a lot of these cities get stuck onsignage and we've lost deals over the lack of
signage.
And the city's gotta be more aware of thatbecause they generate sales and they generate a
community, but well located real estatedensity.
(43:50):
And then it and then you get into a design andwill you've gotta design it to where it works.
And Justin was talking earlier about, you know,those mistakes and those hurdles that don't
work.
You can have the greatest piece of real estatein the world, but if you don't have access,
it's over.
They'll never be successful.
You've got to have access.
You've got to have signage.
(44:11):
You've got to have visibility.
Safety.
Safety has become a real issue, especially withwhat's going on in the world today.
Ladies, women need to be safe.
They need to feel safe.
It has to be designed safe with the properamount of lighting, not too much landscape.
So when you combine all that stuff, that'sthat's really what makes commercial real
(44:33):
estate.
And then it's not an easy game to get into.
It takes time.
And sometimes people don't have the time tocommit.
They need the quick hit.
They need that quick check to survive, and inthis business, it takes, you know, to do a big
project, we've got, I think, large scaleprojects right now.
(44:57):
They're thirty two to thirty four months beforethey get stabilized and really support
themselves.
And some of those take eighteen months beforethat thirty two months.
So you can't just run-in and say, need to makea commercial real estate transaction, get a
check and feed my family for this year.
Many of the individuals in the commercial realestate, they'll have fifty, sixty deals working
(45:23):
and close 10 deals this year.
You know, the pipeline.
Pipelines are priceless, and and they'resomething that you have to, you know,
acknowledge, be aware of.
And you have your short term goals, your kindof midterm goals, and then your long term
development goals as well.
So go ahead, John.
(45:43):
Because things are so they lack.
Right?
The results lags.
Right?
That's just inherent to the business.
How do you how do you know either you orsomebody in the company are doing good or doing
well?
Like how, what, what are like, I guess KPIs canbe used to say like, you are on track for the
three year picture to become the, you know, thewaitress that is now gonna be, you know, 400 ks
(46:08):
this year.
How do you know that that's happening?
Well, it starts by watching their actions inthe office.
I mean, it starts every morning.
It starts by who beats me in the door.
Okay.
It it starts by questions they're asking,Justin.
I mean, if someone's talking to 50 people aday, they've got 10 questions for you.
(46:32):
They really do.
Because they're like, let me tell you what thisguy said or this gal said.
This what was the here's what I was confrontedwith.
You can see it early.
You really truly can see that productivitycoming early, both with questions and the
objections.
You know, like, I ran into this.
How do you overcome that?
(46:54):
As well as bringing them in.
Remember, we talked about accountability.
A good management style for someone to come inand go, Justin and Will, how many people did
you guys talk to this week?
What did you hear?
How can we help you?
Show me your pipeline.
Okay.
What are you working on?
Who are you talking to?
(47:15):
Okay, so you're talking to some tenants.
Are you talking to any landowners that needtenants?
Are you talking to any retailers that maybe,and this is something we're doing a lot of,
we're doing a lot of this now, that have storesthat are not productive and they want to
(47:35):
sublease them or dispose of them.
We're doing a lot of that for some of thesenational credit tenants now.
Making sure that they're not in just thisnarrow gap, that they've got five or six
pathways to success.
And then what happens is over the years thatI've learned, what'll happen is that when you
give them, let's just say there's five paths,after a few years, they'll jump on to two of
(47:58):
them or one of them or three of them.
They'll be like, nah, I'm a dirt person or I'mjust a tenant rep or I'm just in the property
management side.
We've had that where brokers have come in aftera year and they're like, I'm not cold calling
anybody anymore.
I wanna make the properties pretty.
I wanna make sure that they're leased, and Iwanna make sure the lights are on, but I don't
(48:22):
wanna cold call and ask people for businessanymore.
You kind of if you're watching closely thatback to that accountability word, that's really
what kind of ties in to make sure because astatement I've used with our team is we need a
barstool with six legs because one or two aregonna get knocked out.
(48:46):
Okay?
At the end of the day, you're still standingand you have a good foundation and making sure
that they have the support.
They want the support.
They need the support and making sure thatyou're giving them that support so you're not
running into this like, the last thing youcould ever do to these young guns now is not
(49:07):
help them through because they're willing tolearn.
They wanna learn.
They want to be successful, and making surethat they have those tools is so, so important.
I mean, it just and that tool can come fromanything.
You know, it's, you know, I always say to theteam, who did you take to lunch this week to
(49:31):
ask them for their business?
Everybody in my company knows if they takesomebody to lunch or dinner, I'll pay the bill,
bring me the bill and go make a new friend, askthem what you can do to help them.
And when you're done, bring me the bill, I'llpay for it because you're meeting new people.
You're learning more about them, which ishelping you have more tools in the industry.
(49:55):
And it's truly making everybody bigger, better,and stronger.
It's also taking the company and exposing thecompany to to be able to more knowledge.
More knowledge is always more success.
So this has been incredibly insightful.
Look, if we could stay on and, be a Joe Roganpodcast, we would.
(50:17):
But we're not quite there yet.
So we gotta end with our favorite question.
And our favorite question to ask everyone is,if you were to go back twenty years, what would
you tell yourself?
What advice would you give yourself, yourtwenty year previous self?
God, that's a great question.
And five, the White Sox are gonna win the WorldSeries that year.
(50:38):
Ain't that correlation?
Don't take no for an answer is the first thing.
Don't when someone says no, ask why.
Think outside the box.
I would say read a little more about the world.
I was fortunate enough I sold a company in oseven and avoided a a big crash.
(51:03):
I was so focused on my company that I missedwhat was going on in the world.
So today I spend an hour every morning, usuallyfrom four to five or 04:30 to 05:30, and I
watch four or five different news channelsabout fifteen, twenty minutes apiece.
(51:25):
Learning of what's going on in the world.
Don't don't create a platform that you not onlyknow what you're doing and what you wanna do,
but also what's going on in the world aroundyou so you don't miss something and and get
caught off guard by something that you cannotcontrol.
(51:48):
I'd say that's probably it's it's in don't evertake no.
I mean, just keep asking why and how and andmake sure you get up early because if you're
out late, you're not gonna get up early.
And you too, I promise you, you're gonna beright there next to Joe Rogan.
(52:09):
We'll teach him how to do these things properlywith your with your format because you guys are
amazing.
Thank you so much.
You're so kind.
This has been awesome.
We'll put your social media and all that stuffin the show notes, but if somebody wanted to
get ahold of you, what's the best way
for them to do that?
Walt@dpcre.com or our website is dpcre.com.
(52:32):
I am really easy to find.
And thank you, Justin and Will.
You guys have been amazing, and and just thanksfor allowing me this time.
No.
This has been great.
It's been our pleasure.
Totally.
Yeah.
As I said, listeners, this has been amazing.
Walt, you've been an amazing guest.
And until next time, adios.
Thanks for listening to Building Scale.
(52:54):
To help us reach even more people, please sharethis episode with a friend, colleague, or on
social media.
Remember, the three pillars of scaling abusiness are people, process, and technology.
And our mission is to help the AEC industryprotect itself by making technology easy.
(53:14):
So if you think your company's technologypillar could use some improvement, book a call
with us to see how we can help maximize your ITcybersecurity strategy.
Just go to buildingscale.net/help.
And until next time.
Keep building scale.
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