Ownership through Determination, Grit and Partnership - Greg Spencer, Timbers Resorts - The Small Business Safari

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_05 (00:00):
Let's you and I go figure out how to kill this

(00:01):
thing.
And what we did is weimplemented a call center.

SPEAKER_02 (00:06):
We had so many funny stories.
I still have one.
Uh you got so bad.
Do it.
I do it.
Do it.
Oh, I got I gotta tell thestory.

SPEAKER_00 (00:14):
So so we we were implementing a call center, and
you know, you schedule when thecalls come there.
So we were just setting it up.
Like we were literally settingup the machines and all the
software.
And so uh I'm in the I'm in thecontrol room, you know, and
Chris is out there, andsomething screwed up, and they
started getting thousands ofcalls.

SPEAKER_04 (00:36):
I mean thousands of calls again with new agents,
nobody's nobody got nobody'sthere except me.

SPEAKER_00 (00:43):
There's one person there, Chris.
There's no one else, and there'sprobably I don't know, 600
positions, and the phones arejust ringing off the hook.
I was like, Chris, you got to dosomething.
So Chris just started picking upthe phone.
He's like, Thank you for callingnations bank, please come back.

SPEAKER_01 (00:59):
Thank you, call this bank.
Goodbye, thank you.

SPEAKER_05 (01:02):
Thank you, calling this because he said he he
radios down to me and says,Well, the technology guy says uh
they're stuck there.

SPEAKER_02 (01:10):
And I remember telling him something, and I
could hear him get on the phonewith them.
But my my words to him weren'texactly as uh I was so colorful.

SPEAKER_05 (01:19):
I'm like, they go, he goes, they told me that the
calls aren't there.
I'm like, I don't know what thefuck they think they're looking
at, but I'm looking at fuckingcalls.
He goes, uh Chris just said thathe could still see the calls.

SPEAKER_00 (01:32):
It was so funny.

SPEAKER_05 (01:34):
Welcome to the Small Business Safari, where I help
guide you to avoid those traps,pitfalls, and dangers that lurk
when navigating the wild worldof small business ownership.
I'll share those gold nuggets ofinformation and invite guests to
help accelerate your ascent tothat mountaintop of success.
It's a jungle out there, and Iwant to help you traverse
through the levels of owningyour own business that can get
you bogged down and distract youfrom hitting your own personal

(01:56):
and professional goals.
So start up in Adventure Teamand let's take a ride through
this safari.
Alan, we've been doing thisthing for four years.
Four years, Alan.
We've been talking to peopleabout how to feel good.

(02:17):
You know what?
I'm 18.
I don't know if you can see iton my face, but I do look good
for 72.

SPEAKER_06 (02:22):
You really knew.
I was just talking to somebodyabout that.
I'm like, God dang, Chris looksgreat for 80.

SPEAKER_05 (02:28):
That's awesome, baby.
That's how I do it.
We make it happen.
But I've been doing this forfour years, and this is the
first time Alan rolls up.
We're getting ready to do thepodcast.
He goes, So what's this dude'sdeal?
Can I ask him a bunch ofquestions?
I'm like, Oh, yeah, you can.
He goes, Why?
I said, Um, I'm not gonna tellyou.
You've got some history.
I said, I said, we got history.
Oh, do we have beef?

SPEAKER_06 (02:49):
No, we don't have beef.
We have history.
No, well, this guy's a thisguy's a big freaking deal.
Yes, but there's something aboutbeing a big deal there that we
gotta we gotta ask about.

SPEAKER_05 (02:59):
So Alan Stein, he's like, he goes, Well, so you knew
this guy before?
I'm like, Oh yeah, no, I I knewhim before.
I said, I'm just gonna lay thisout.
He was there when Sydney wasborn, my first.
I said, not there, there, but hewas there, there.
Not there, there, but he wasn'twhat I mean.

SPEAKER_06 (03:14):
He wasn't gonna be able to.

SPEAKER_05 (03:15):
The catcher's mid.
Is that what you're saying?
That's not but he he remembersthat.
And uh, that's not when we wererunning our own business.
And then Alan says, Wow, he kindof lapped you.
I'm like, Um, well, that's a bigfuck you.
I mean, oh, I can't say that I'mlapping.
I said, I said, of course hedid.
I said, I could have told youthat when I met him.
I said, I knew this guy.
This guy has done everythingfrom bee cancer, absolutely,

(03:36):
really, absolutely, really, yes,my friends.
Uh, to his he has uh a beautifulwife, two great kids.
Um, he is my good friend, GregSpencer.
And Greg, thank you so much forcoming on from Timbers Resorts,
baby.
Thank you.

SPEAKER_06 (03:51):
Wow.
So uh the other thing I said wasafter looking at his website,
can we get a freebie?
And I said, You get no freebies,Alan.
I get all the freebies.

SPEAKER_05 (04:01):
So Spence, man, great thanks for coming on.
I just meet each other.
All right, let's get back to it.
So, Greg, how do you rememberhow you we knew each other?
I I could tell everybody, but Iwant you to tell us.

SPEAKER_00 (04:12):
We uh uh we were working on Bank of America, I'm
sorry, Nations Bank Barnett Bankmerger.
And I had just started Chris, Ithink you were there a couple
months before I was there, anduh he started bossing me around
like the first day I met him.
So that's that's kind of prettymuch how we no surprise there,
Greg.

SPEAKER_05 (04:31):
So he came out of the military, and I I no, I
remember saying, Look, I mean,they say I'm your boss.
I said, Look, man, you you and Iare cut from the same cloth.
He is type A 1000%.
I said, Let's let's you and I gofigure out how to kill this
thing.
And what we did is weimplemented a call center.

SPEAKER_02 (04:47):
We have we had so many funny stories.
I still have one.
Uh you got so bad.
Do it.
I do it, do it.
Oh, I got I gotta tell thestory.

SPEAKER_00 (04:57):
So so we we were implementing a call center, and
you know, you schedule when thecalls come there, so we were
just setting it up, like we wereliterally setting up the
machines and all the software,and so uh I'm in the I'm in the
control room, you know, andChris is out there, and
something screwed up, and theystarted getting thousands of

(05:18):
calls.

SPEAKER_04 (05:19):
I mean thousands of calls again with no agents,
nobody's nobody kind of nobody'sthere except me.

SPEAKER_00 (05:25):
There's one person there, Chris.
There's no one else, and uh,there's probably I don't know,
600 positions, and the phonesare just ringing off the hook.
I was like, Chris, you gotta dosomething.
So Chris just started picking upthe phone.
He's like, Thank you for callingnations make please call back.

SPEAKER_01 (05:41):
What's going on the whole block?
Take a call this bank.
Goodbye, thank you.

SPEAKER_05 (05:44):
Thank you, calling because because he said he he
radios down to me and says,Well, the technology guy says uh
they're stuck there.
And I remember telling himsomething and I could hear him
get on the phone with them.

SPEAKER_02 (05:57):
But my my words to him weren't exactly as uh I was
so colorful.

SPEAKER_05 (06:02):
I'm like, they go, he goes, they told me that the
calls aren't there.
I'm like, I don't know what thefuck they think they're looking
at, but I'm looking at fuckingcalls.
He goes, uh Chris just said thathe could still see the calls.

SPEAKER_00 (06:15):
It was so funny, and like so he like after the like
first hundred of him doing that,he comes back and says, I'm not
gonna do that.
And so we just sat there andwatched how long people would
because there's no way to gethim out of there.
So we were watching one dude satthere for like three hours
before he finally hung the phoneup, and we're like, What on

(06:35):
earth are you doing that?
You're gonna sit there for threehours.
It was a terrible customerexperience, it's not something
I'm proud of, but like there waslike the technology at the time,
and we were pushing the envelopeback in you know, uh 200 uh
seven, 2008, right?
Uh well that was 90 or sorry,nine, nine it was ninety eight,
ninety nine, ninety-seven,ninety-eight, you know, yeah,
and like I mean there was no waythere was no way to get him out

(06:58):
of there.
So it was it was hilarious thatChris was going through, and and
then you get the stats, right?
And so the call center managergets it's just like what what
the hell?
You know, because it just likethe stats for the month just
totally screwed him.
Like Chris and I never toldanybody what had happened, but
it was hilarious.

SPEAKER_05 (07:16):
Uh so so that was our that was our time down in
Jacksonville, Florida.
Um, and I mentioned that Gregwas there.
So we I think we formed uh, youknow, obviously we formed an
incredible friendship uh at thetime, uh, doing what we did, but
we had to travel there all thetime.
And my daughter, uh, my my firstwas uh was my bought my wife was
pregnant, and they they said,Hey, look, if it's not a certain

(07:38):
date, um, then we're gonnaschedule the um the C section.
Um, or I'm sorry, the uh the uhum it's inducing.
Yeah, I kept calling the teatime.
So I said, Hey guys, I have togo back home for the tea time.
So so then I would come back uhafter I was on uh a little bit
of leave and came back, and uhevery time I would get fired up,
Greg would always go, Sydney,because my daughter's name is

(08:00):
Sydney.
He goes, Hey, calm down, Sydney.

SPEAKER_00 (08:02):
I'm like, there's only there's only way I can get
him off DEF CON one.
And like start arguing with him,I would just say his daughter's
name, and then he would like hewould be like, All right, dude,
I can't get mad if you keepsaying.
So he would just drop it andthen like he'd pick it back up
like an hour later, but it itwould it would work every time.

SPEAKER_05 (08:22):
Yeah, the Dal did, bro.
He did.
I mean, just going down memorylane with with Greg, it was so
fun.

SPEAKER_00 (08:28):
And um we worked a lot of hours.
I mean, we worked, you know, Ihear people complain about
working hours now.
I'm like, you have no idea.
I literally worked a hundred andseven hours in one week, right?
You know, it just the it's likedog years, the amount of effort
you put in.
And and but it it you know, youhave to have fun because if you

(08:49):
if if you're not, it's a totalmiserable experience because
you're you're traveling, you'reyou know, working a billion
hours.

SPEAKER_05 (08:56):
And so if if you're traveling, working a billion
hours.
We didn't go home on someweekends, we just kept working
right through the weekend.
Yeah, it was I I still tellyoung people, I said, Hey, if
you had a chance to go toAccenture, I would do it.
I said, I still think uh thefirm is way different than when
I was there, but no, it's someof the best training I ever had,
and I fall back on a lot of thatum as I run my small business.

(09:17):
So so Greg does his time atAccenture, and then um I
remember he says, Hey, I'm gonnago back to uh get my MBA.
I'm like, uh, okay.
Uh where?
Uh Columbia.
Columbia, South Carolina?
He goes, no, I said Columbia,New York City.
I'm like, oh.
And then I think I remembersaying this.
I'm like, you got in there?

(09:38):
I was like, it was socondescending.
But I was like, of course hedid.
So he goes and gets his MBA inreal estate.
Uh well, I don't tell me exactlywhat it was.

SPEAKER_00 (09:47):
I got a uh I already had an MBA in the military.
I got a master's of real estatedevelopment from Columbia.

SPEAKER_05 (09:52):
So he goes, real estate development, and then he
says, Hey, um, so now I'm gonnatell this one.
So people ask me all the time,I've been doing this for four
years on the podcast, talkingabout all this stuff, and people
said, Why'd you pick thehandyman business?
I said, Well, I actually I useda business planning process to
figure out where I was going.
And one of them was I was gonnabe the div, I was gonna be the

(10:14):
construction guy, and Spence wasgonna be the developer.
And this is 2006-7.

SPEAKER_00 (10:21):
Man, did we call that right?
Holy smack.

SPEAKER_05 (10:24):
How'd that go?
We would have been out ofbusiness in like three months.

SPEAKER_00 (10:26):
I mean, probably before so we I I wrote my thesis
on starting my own developmentcompany, which I would encourage
anybody out there that's like,how on earth am I ever gonna
figure this out?
I have aspirations to get to acertain level, like you know,
it's so hard.
And you know, look at that guy.
I mean, he must be lucky.
I I went and interviewed everybig developer uh in the

(10:51):
southeast, and I basically said,I'm a student at Columbia
University, I'm working on mythesis, I'm writing a thesis on
uh creating my own developmentcompany, and I'd love to
interview you just to find outabout your path.
And not one person turned medown.
So I talked with all these folksand I talked with them about the
path, and this again, circa2006, 2007, and Chris and I were

(11:15):
talking about this, and Chrishad a corporate gig, and so you
know, I just I I ended upfinishing it, and the conclusion
of my thesis was it was just toorisky right now to do it.
I looked at major markets, Ilooked at uh Jacksonville, MSA,
Tampa, Orlando, Atlanta, uhMiami, Fort Lauderdale, and the

(11:36):
conclusion was everything wasoverbuilt and this wasn't the
right time to do it.
So, you know, I remember havingto call Chris.
I was like, Chris, man, I just Ithink I gave you a copy of my
thesis.
I'm like, look, I I I said allsigns are pointing red, you
know, we should not do this.
And thank God we didn't do itbecause we would have been out
of business so fast.

(11:57):
And and you know, I think I Idon't know if that helped you
kind of really look at whatyou're going to do.
But you know, when Chris talkedto me about his business, I was
like, look, I it is such a painin the butt to get people out to
to to work on your home.
It just is right.
And honestly, I I kind of chanta little bit about what Chris

(12:20):
does today.
Like we have fully servicedproduct, we don't build condos
anywhere that they're just yourcondo and you figure it out.
We deliver full services.
So we have engineering,housekeeping, bell staff.
And you know, I've had uh wedeveloped on Kiwa Island, South
Carolina, and we had severalseveral big guys that had you
know 10, 12 million dollarhouses, and they're like, wait a

(12:43):
minute, let me get this right.
If the AC calls, who do I call?
I'm like, us, we fix it.
If the sink backs up, who do Icall?
Us, we fix it.
And like he had like 10different things.
He goes, Why has no one donethis before?
He's like, I got this beautifulhome on the beach.
He goes, I come down here for aweek, I spend the first 48 hours

(13:03):
figuring out what's not working,right?
Then I sit around for the nexttwo days waiting for you know
people to show up between eightand four, you know, and he goes,
and then the last the last day,he goes, I enjoy for maybe one
day.
The last day I'm putting up allthe cushions, I'm trying to like
drain water out because I don'tknow when I'm getting back to my
house.

(13:24):
And this is the most ridiculousthing ever.
And these are ultra high networth people, and they basically
just said, Hey, I don't want todeal with it.
So, you know, I I do think it'sa different, you know, uh level,
but like you know, there thereis a need for that.
There's a need for for trust,right?
People trust that we're gonnatake care of their investment,

(13:45):
and I think they do the samething with y'all.
Like it, like, hey, you know, ifI I don't want to call five
guys, can I call one guy?
And and okay, some of the thingsmight be it might be bigger than
a maintenance issue, it's notjust a creating, you know, a
clogged HVAC line, you need awhole new HVAC system.
Well, then you gotta call thatguy.
But for the the day-to-daystuff, you know, there's a huge

(14:07):
need for that, and and I thinkthe market.

SPEAKER_05 (14:10):
I'm gonna set this up so we can go back and do
history all day long.
I mean, Greg, I mean forever.
But let's go back to yourquestion.

SPEAKER_06 (14:17):
But I think we need to set up what he's doing.

SPEAKER_05 (14:19):
All right, so why don't you tell us what Timbers
Resorts is, and then Alan'sgonna ask you that knockout
question that you're gonnaactually come back and just slap
the shit out of him with.
I mean, I mean, sorry.

SPEAKER_00 (14:31):
So we're we're a uh we're a uh boutique luxury
resort developer and operator.
We have uh 18 properties aroundthe world, we have everything
from 4,200 acres in Tuscany to450 acres in Kauai.
We kind of uh fly in the 0.1 to0.5 socioeconomic wealth range.

(14:53):
So we're at the upper end of themarket.
Uh our average our average ownerowns 2.81 homes before they buy
from us.
So uh, you know, a lot of thesehomes are third or fourth homes.
So uh, but but that's kind ofthe level we do.
And and and we try to keep oureven though we have 4200 acres,
we only have a 40 uh one keyhotel and uh and you know 46

(15:19):
homes on it, right?
So it's not high density, it'suh it's kind of lower density.
So uh that's that's kind of whatwe do.
We're vertically integrated, sowe have uh architecture,
interior design, construction,uh management, rental, uh real
estate sales, the the whole nineyards underneath our company.

SPEAKER_05 (15:38):
All right, Alan.
No, no, no.

SPEAKER_06 (15:40):
So you have to be destroyed.
Come on.
No, no, no.
No, and I think we need to callit it's called the slap fast.
Think it's gonna get let's thinkabout the listener.
Let's maybe we should explain tothe listener a little bit more
about his business.

SPEAKER_05 (15:58):
All right, so let me set this up.
If you've ever done a timeshare,so Greg just told you point one
to point five.
For a lot of us, right, withsmall business owners, we're
trying to get ourselves going.
I know you guys, we're all doingthe same thing.
Um, if you have one home, youdid good, right?
If you got a you got your secondhome, hey, man, awesome.
Way to go, man.
You know, I'm right with you.

(16:18):
I've done it.
Whoa, whoa, that's awesome.
So then my dad buys into theWindham timeshare.
And I was like, Dad, don't don'tdon't do it, dad.
Don't do it.
Hey, Chris, what?
Oh, your mom and I did it.
I'm like, oh, that's awesome.
And so he just called me backand says, Hey, do you want to
buy it?
I'm like, um, yeah, no, why?
I said, because it's shitty assplaces, and I could never get

(16:41):
there.
So we've all been there.
We probably heard this timesharescam, quote unquote, that's out
there with what's going on.

SPEAKER_06 (16:48):
So you drive down to Florida and and then you got the
billboards and you get suckedin.
Hey, just you know, you can stayat this place and you get the
free blah blah blah blah.
Now I get that.
And there's a million peoplethat are trying to get out of
their timeshare.
Now, I will say on the flip sideof that, there was a time back
when I was living in Oregon andsomebody offered me to go stay

(17:09):
at this resort for free, and Ihad to listen to the pitch.
And I I brought a buddy of mine,and to be honest with you, um,
we ended up backing out.
My buddy bought, and he wassuper happy because you know, he
was a classic.
No, no, he was a classic personwhere he wanted to go to the

(17:30):
same place every yeah, and uhand he wanted to be, you know,
them to know his name and thewhole nine yards.
And I'm you know, um Judy and Iwrote Was he a baller?
I think he thought he was aballer.
All right, let's keep going.
Uh so so we might know, but itwas so so the whole the whole
night honestly, Greg, when I waslooking at this, I'm like, wow,

(17:52):
these are amazing places.
And I want to ask about how onearth did what was the process
like to develop in Tuscany?
You know, I mean that that's thekind of question I really want
to ask.
Oh no, no, but it's a man.
Yeah, no.
The original question is what'sthe difference between this and
the timeshare when you'redriving into Florida that
everybody's you know, you go onReddit and everybody's trying to

(18:13):
get the hell out of it.
That's his first question.

SPEAKER_05 (18:16):
Yes, there and I said I said, I said he goes,
should I qualify this in thecleaning room?
No, but no.
I said he can handle it.
I said Justby, this dude cantotally handle it.

SPEAKER_00 (18:27):
Not the first time I've been asked the question.
Uh look, there is there is apretty fundamental difference,
and and uh timeshare gets anegative connotation.
Sometimes it's earned, uhdepending upon you know some of
the smaller outfits.
Uh, but there's a lot of peoplethat are happy with timeshare,
and and you know, that it you Ithink you hit it.
That's exactly what they'relooking for.

(18:47):
They want they want to you knowmake memories year after year,
they want to know that this thisweek is when I'm going there.
Uh, and that's the old timesharemodel.
And and the old timeshare model,you had to sell however many
units times 51 weeks, and it itit was a slog to sell out of.
And in those models, youactually had a fee simple

(19:09):
ownership, so you actually had adeed.
What the timeshare companiesrealized is like, wow, everybody
bought all the really populartime, they didn't buy the other
time.
So, what they did is theystarted pulling everything into
what's called a Florida landtrust.
And so when you buy apoints-based system, you don't
physically have a deed into aspecific unit, you basically buy

(19:32):
into a trust, right?
And the points, the the thingabout it is there's some formula
of of how many points uh theycan generate from X amount of
units, and so that's wherethings have gotten a little
awry, is is the is the points.
Uh, because that that does kindof change a little bit of the
construct because you have to beflexible because you might not

(19:53):
always be able to get to thatplace you want to go.
So that's the difference betweenthe old uh timeshare and the new
timeshare.
Our our product and andtimeshare is typically it's you
know 75,000 for you know 50,000points or something like that.
And I can tell you if you lookat the timeshare companies, and
I have some friends that runthem, I look at their 10K's,

(20:14):
their financials, you know, theymake like 40% of their net
income off a hypothecationbecause it's all about debt.
So basically, they're they'reselling someone a loan at
they're like, hey, why don't youfinance this?
We'll finance it for you at 13and a half percent, but they're
borrowing at four.
So they're making the VIG on theDelta, and that and then what

(20:34):
they're doing is they'resecuritizing it, and that's
where they're making theirmoney.
So unfortunately, some of thetimeshare companies become more
of a financial type of systemthan it has a uh a service type
of system.
I think they're they're startingto try to get back to service.
I think they realize that youknow, particularly with where
you know rates are right now,uh, that you know you're gonna

(20:56):
have to provide service togenerate uh some returns.
But I think timeshare works forsome people.
The difference with ours is wesell a one-sixth or oh, you
know, one twelfth is the lowest.
We go one sixth typically is isthe is the least amount of um uh
divisions, if you will.
And what we buy is you actuallyown that real estate, you own a

(21:20):
deed in that unit uh that'salways yours, right?
And if something happens toanother person, it doesn't
impact you because you still ownthat deed.
And you know, our one sixproduct, for instance, like Kiel
Island, you know, that's 2.4million bucks for a 1.6.
So it's the equivalent of a youknow a$10 million,$12 million

(21:41):
unit.
Uh, I think that's thedifference.
We have some that go down to youknow uh$300,000 for one tenth,
you know, but but what we findwith our folks that are buying
our private residence clubproduct, it's it's what they can
use.
They already have a second home.
They're like, look, when I comeout to Aspen, I don't want to
rent, I don't want to go, Idon't want to risk it, not be

(22:02):
able to get to where I want to.
So I want to stay where I wantto stay, but you know, I don't
need another home.
So I will buy, you know, adancing beer aspen, you know,
one eighth is going for over amillion bucks.
I'll buy this, and that's stillcheaper than me trying to buy a
home, even if I'm renting itout.
So that's kind of that's thedifference, is like we really,
and I can tell you, ourfractional folks, a lot of

(22:25):
people sometimes they think thatthey're aspirational, like, oh,
well, that's the person thatcan't buy the eight million
dollar home.
That is not what we find.
We find that's the person thatcould buy the eight million
dollar home.
They're just choosing not to.
They're they're buying, they'rebuying that interest that fits
with with their uh their useright.
And and I I think you're gonnasee a lot of the world starting

(22:46):
to go to that.
You know, you're you'll see it,you know.
I think Tesla's trying to getthere, you know, where you know,
ultimately you'll haveautonomous vehicle that you
won't have a car paymentanymore.
You'll have a subscription andyou know, not for everything,
but that car will show up andyou'll pay, you know, you'll pay
as you use it, right?
And that's kind of a little bitof of what uh, you know, we see

(23:08):
our folks are trying to get thethe use to the time that they
could actually use it.
Uh we sell home ownership too,so you know, we have that, and
we don't only have fractions, wesell lots in some cases, so it's
a little bit of everything, andthen we have hotels as well.
So we we really have the gamut,and we see a lot of people will
move between that product aswell.

SPEAKER_05 (23:30):
My boy brought up hypothetically, whatever what's
that big word?
He does this time to me.
Hypothec hypothecary.
I don't even know what they holdin.
He always used big words on me,and then he brought back the
big.
I'm like, oh now you're talkingback to your boy, huh?
All right, let's go.
I had to like I knew Lala Miawould know that one.
I do Vic, huh?
I'm surprised back to the Vic.
I'm like, all right, now we'retalking my language, all right?

(23:51):
But but he's he's telling youwhat's going down is that at
that level, and I saw Alan'seyes because I've seen the
property in Kila.
Um, I mean, it's amazing.
Um, and you talk about thislike, oh, this is timeshare.
This dude, this makes Disneylook like a booger.
I mean, the stuff they do isamazing, and I I know who he's
gonna do big, he's gonna use bigwords and his spreadsheets that

(24:14):
he sent me to tell me this ain'tgonna work.
He says, Hey, look, you can seewhat I see.
I was like, Wow, I see like thematrix, and I'm like, I don't
know, I'm even sure what youbuilt there, dude.
And I'm like, I got my master'smechanical jury, I'm gone, I'm
lost.
I said the guy knows this shitso well.
But he talked about how it wasgoing down, even if you only had
let's let let's say you've gotone house and you're thinking

(24:37):
about this.
This is not for you, but hefound the market and he's
marketing to the market and hebuilt the market for this
because they're like, I reallydon't want to deal with this.
My pain point is I don't want touh have to manage another house.
My pain point is I want to goenjoy myself for a month or for

(24:59):
a week or for two weeks orwhatever, you know, on how it
works because my time is so muchmore valuable now and my money
will work for this.

SPEAKER_06 (25:08):
So it's the places you want to go to.

SPEAKER_05 (25:10):
And well Tuscany, well, it's hang on skiing.
So but you why but you don'tjust go to, you know, so he
said, hey, you're you're gonnago to Tuscany every year.
That's not what he said.
Yeah, you're just gonna go toski for every year.
Nope, that's not true either.
You're gonna go to Kila, nope.
Uh, and he's got properties allover the world, and so he's been
figuring it out.
So let's say this year you don'twant to go to Tuscany, you want

(25:31):
to go to Aspen, or you want togo out to Colorado, you can,
right?

SPEAKER_00 (25:35):
Yes, we we have a uh what's called a reciprocity
program, uh, an exchangeprogram.
So what we allow our owners todo is they can deposit a week
of, you know, let's say theydeposit a week in Kiawa, you get
a credit, it's good for twoyears, and you can use it one of
our other properties.
And, you know, we want people tobuy real estate because they

(25:56):
want to be in that market, butlife happens, or you know, they
have uh what we see it used fora lot is is anniversaries or
honeymoons or retirementcelebrations, things like that.
And so they'll be like, youknow, I've never been to Italy
before, I really want to go toItaly.
So, you know, we we we handlethat behind the scenes, uh, you

(26:17):
know, don't really use it as amoneymaker, it's more as a
service.
Uh, but I don't entirely have ahalo around my head.
I want to, I want to cross somereal estate while they're there.
Uh so because again, we sellfractional, right?
So, you know, we you know, ifsomeone has a great time and
they want more time there, we'llwe'll sell it to them.
So uh, and even if they don'tbuy, they know someone that

(26:40):
might want to buy.
So as a brand, you know, sinceinception, we've run a 60%
referral rate, and that's prettythat's pretty incredible.
If you know, hey, if I find theright location, I build the
right product and I have theright programming, I'm gonna
make 60% of sales to people thatare known to us, you know, as a

(27:01):
business, you know, that's thekind of golden goose.
So, you know, that is wherethere is tension with our, you
know, our partners sometimes andeven even counties, you know, or
I'm like, they're like, Well,why don't you just do this?
I'm like, I'm not doing thatbecause my buyers aren't going
to buy that.
And at the end of the day, ifthey're not gonna buy it, I'm
not gonna waste one second doingit.

(27:22):
So you got to kind of be reallya good steward if you're you
know, given that you have thatkind of referral rate, because
all it takes is one screw up,and people are like, What the
hell?

SPEAKER_05 (27:31):
This is this isn't Timbers, you know, and then I'm
so proud of my say saying thatmy business is 40% referrals.
You just said 60%.
Just think about if you're abusiness owner um and you're
trying to grow your business andat the level you guys are at,
you that means you don't have toadvertise, you're not putting
yourself out there and having todo Google Pay-per-Click and put
yourself out there, you know,back in the day with magazines,

(27:54):
condenats, or whatever to goattract your buyers.

SPEAKER_00 (27:57):
You guys don't have to spend the money on
advertising because you get wehave to spend on different
things, you still have tomarket, but like what we're
spending it more on is we'remaking sure we have great
digital collateral and thingslike that, that when we send it
out to our owners, they couldsend it to a friend or a family
member or someone else and belike, Hey, don't you like to go

(28:17):
to you know Captiva or you knowSouthwest Florida?
Man, check this out.
And so we're still spending themoney, we're just to your point,
you know, we're not spending itthe way it used to.
It used to be back in the day,you could run an ad in Wall
Street Journal and have a littlebroker request card and you
know, or Conde Nast or any ofthose, and you get like you

(28:37):
know, 400 responses and you'dmake you know 20 sales out of
it.
That's not the world thateverybody has so many choices
these days.
Uh so you still have to get itin front of them.
And we do a lot of events-basedprogramming.
Uh, we'll pay for dues ifsomeone does a referral.
And I just look at that as a asa lower cost of acquisition, but

(29:00):
you you're still you're stillspending money, you're just
spending on different things.
And and but look, you still gotto get that 40% that doesn't
know you, right?
So, and everybody knows, atleast in the real estate world,
you know, it doesn't matter thatyou sell the first 60% because
all your profits in the last uhyou know, 15 to 20 percent.
So you gotta sell them out, youknow.

(29:20):
And that's all right, Alan.

SPEAKER_05 (29:22):
We gotta go back to one.
So again, if you if you're notresonating with this
conversation, you're you'reblowing it up, man.
You gotta stay here with mebecause this one's been big.
I watch uh so Spence he he tookthe leap.
He uh we're gonna go back to howhe did that, and you know, he
got into the world and he gotinto all that.
So he takes the leap, and itsounds like he's just tonning it
right.
Oh, and of course he is, becauseeverybody else is always tonning

(29:44):
it.
I said, but but sure enough, hebuys uh buys in, does this
thing, and then builds thisgreat place.
And he he brought it up onCaptiva Island, Florida.
And right after he closed on it,the hurricane came through,
wiped the entire thing out.
Oh Damn.

SPEAKER_06 (30:00):
Really?

SPEAKER_05 (30:01):
Almost three category four hurricanes.
So talk about how you've had toadapt.
You know, again, because I don'tcare if you're a million-dollar
a year business or a as you guysare, a very large business.
It's the same thing.
And so it hit it hits you guys.
And it hits you at heart becauseyou know, you're from Florida.

(30:21):
You moved back to Florida.
You got into it.
Talk about how you had to dealwith all of that and what
happened to you.

SPEAKER_00 (30:27):
Yeah.
So we we own uh with somepartners, South Seas Island
Resort, uh Captiva, Florida.
Uh it's a resort that I've beengoing to for, you know, since I
was nine years old.
So, you know, it's uh it's agreat, great, it was one of the
first master resorts where youknow you get inside the gates
and everything's there and kidscan go run around and be kids.

(30:49):
Uh, and you know, it had gottentired.
We had watched it for a coupleof years.
Uh Blackstone owned it.
And, you know, Blackstone boughtit through a portfolio.
So I think it was just somethingremnant that Blackstone, you
know, a little, you know,$100million resort that they had
lying around, you know, in thein the uh in the drawer.

(31:10):
Um they weren't putting anymoney in it.
And uh and so we we bought it uh2020, uh, and we closed on it or
uh end of 2020 we we made anoffer, closed on it 2021, and
literally Hurricane Ian hit day364 of our ownership, and it was

(31:33):
a direct eyewall hit.
I have a picture of the eyewallgoing directly across the the
tip of the island.
We had 155 mile an hoursustained winds, we had uh um
eight to ten foot storm surge,and mind you, the average grade
on the property is about fourfeet, so uh just huge damage.

(31:53):
Uh we lost 40 some oddstructures.
Uh, we lost our hotel.
Uh, and and you know, moreimportantly, there's a bunch of
condos down there that we don'town.
Uh, 60% of them uh had to getjust totally gut, you know, uh
uh, you know, destructed, takendown to the studs because you
had, you know, you have mold inthere.

(32:15):
And a lot of those structuresdidn't have wind damage or water
damage.
The HVAC systems are sitting onthe ground.
So they all got smoked by thestorm, sir.
So it was it was bad.
It was and not only that, we hadabout you know 150,000 cubic
yards of sand.
And so there was sand about fourfeet deep uh throughout the

(32:35):
whole island, it roadseverything.
So, you know, it was uh I wasthere the day after the storm,
and you know, it's one of thosethings like you know, you get
punched in the nose and you'rekind of staggering around a
little bit, and then you have tofigure out, you know, is it
fight or flight, right?
You know, and uh Chris knows thetype of person I'm in.
I'm like, all right, well, comeon, let's do it, let's get it
cleaned up.

SPEAKER_05 (32:55):
And we're fighting, you know, we before before Alan
uh uh asks this next question.
One of the things I wanteverybody else to know, how many
people did you lose in that?
Your employees, how many peopleuh actually perished?

SPEAKER_00 (33:09):
Uh we were lucky.
We only had uh we didn't loseany, and that was by the great
zero, zero.
We evacuated we evacuatedeverybody.
I made several folks go acrossthe state, and they were kind of
arguing me.
I'm like, we have a resort inJupiter, Florida.
Are you really arguing me aboutgoing to a five-star resort?

(33:30):
And then they're like, okay,yeah.
So they they went.
Uh, we had one guy, uh, it wasreally weird.
He stepped outside in the eye,you know, because he wanted to
see the eye, and then the windpicked up and he got hit in the
head uh with uh debris.
And he was in he was inintensive care for about a
month, but we were veryfortunate that we had uh no

(33:51):
employees lost.
We did have uh about 30employees lose their lose their
housing.
And when I say lose it, meaningit doesn't exist.

SPEAKER_05 (34:00):
You can't you can't handle that.
But uh what I want to talk aboutis though I don't care how big
or small you are.
I want I want the point that Iwant everybody to know is that
you didn't lose a person, andbecause you guys, you you were
more worried about their lottheir life than you were your
property.
And I remember that when thathappened, and I was like, I
mean, that's the kind of guy youwant to be, that's the kind of
owner you want to be, that's thekind of businessman you want to

(34:21):
be, because you know, and it'snot karma.
This is the way you run yourbusiness the right way.

SPEAKER_00 (34:26):
It it and look, we we not only that, we had we had
no guest or owner on the island.
We had several owners, oh, I'mgonna ride it out.
We're like, you're not riding itout.
We're taking you right now,we're getting you off the
island.
And so we evacuated everybody.
Uh uh the air rescue uh wasbased off of our property, so we
had Florida Air National Guard.
They were actually doing activesearch and rescue, plucking

(34:49):
people off the top of roofs.
Uh, we had a marina because thebridge was out.
We had the only uh access on theisland.
So we moved all the they moveall the fire trucks and
everything uh off before thestorm because they don't want
them to flood.
So we got we got power linetrucks, we got the fire trucks
all on barges through our marinato just start getting everything

(35:10):
back reopened.
Uh we actually the biggest thingI'm I'm proud that I'm proud
about is we used our ownemployees to do our cleanup.
You know, we had 800 employeespre-storm.
We went to zero, uh, obviouslybecause we were we were
destroyed.
Uh, but I didn't want to usethese national firms like
Balfour and others.
So, you know, we or Belfour, Ishould say.

(35:32):
So we paid our own employees.
So we had 46 employees out thereand we just got after it.
Luckily, we had some heavyequipment out there from you
know, uh doing some developmentwork.
So, you know, we were drivingfront-end loaders and skid
steers and just getting all thesand off.

SPEAKER_05 (35:47):
Hey, when you say we though, what was we you?
You were driving, weren't you?

SPEAKER_00 (35:51):
I I wasn't big boy, you got I I did use the uh I did
have to get on an excavator andand tear off a couple buildings.
So nice.
Let's go.

SPEAKER_06 (36:00):
How long did it take you to get back online?

SPEAKER_00 (36:03):
It was crazy.
So it took us uh we had to tellyou the scope of the of the
damage.
We hauled off 120 million poundsof debris.
Okay, so it just was a just anamazing amount of debris.
So that was pretty solid for sixmonths, just getting the debris
off.
And uh all of our amenities gotdestroyed.

(36:24):
So we kind of got after tryingto get our amenities up, and so
it took us a solid uh year and ahalf, and so no sooner did we
open our pool, we got our golfcourse open, we're starting to
get things back, we get hit byHurricane Milton and Hurricane,
and uh and and you know, theythe flooding damage was

(36:46):
significant, like our marina,you know, we had just installed
five hundred thousand dollarsworth of new uh, you know, once
once a circuit gets in saltwater, you know, the breakers
are are are shot, you know.
So we had to replace all thatinfrastructure.
And uh, and so that sucked, youknow, and and you know, we got
hit by Helena Milton, hadanother, you know, uh six to

(37:08):
seven foot storm surge, had youknow, another, you know, several
feet of sand uh throughout theresort, and you know, we just
got back after it and andcleaned it up again.
Uh, but we made a decision afterthat.
We're like, look, this isn'tgonna happen.
We're we're going to harden theoverall resort.
So we probably spent$15 millionjust in uh resiliency measures.

(37:29):
Uh, we put um uh you know arevetment.
I know more about resiliencythan I ever wanted to.
So we put a seawall up a 5200 uh5,200 linear foot seawall.
It costs us about 10 millionbucks or 8 million bucks.
Uh generators, we've elevatedthem 96 hour runtimes.
You know, we have these uh uhthese flood panels, these flood

(37:53):
systems.
You know, we just basicallysaid, hey, we're getting
everything to at least a 12-footflood.
Now, if we get more than a12-foot storm surge, it just
wasn't our time, right?
But you know, we're gonna atleast harden everything.
So, you know, that's what we'vebeen doing.
We did finally get uh uh uh inuh June, we finally got

(38:15):
everything that all theamenities that were there before
the storm, we got those rebuilt.
Uh and then you know, frankly,our hotel, we're in a nasty
zoning fight right now.
Unfortunately, uh we, you know,the environmentalist aka people
funded by our competitors arehave been holding up our zoning
and and filing lawsuits.

(38:35):
And I I think that's pretty uhyou know, piss poor to be frank
with you.
Like, you know, it to use anatural disaster to try to
punish a business and get youknow something out of them, I
think is wrong.
So uh we're fighting it rightnow.
We're in a a pretty nastyhornet's nest of uh of lawsuits,
but we did get our zoningapproved.
Uh, and because the issue is thezoning went back to 1947, so you

(39:00):
could only build 35 feet of agrade.
Well, the new flood maps startedat 22 feet, so we lost buildings
that were three stories, andthey're like, Well, yeah, you
build them back.
I'm like, I'm building a 13-foottall one story because I can't
you know, unless I'm building itfor Umpalumpas, I'm not building
two stories, right?
So, you know, it just was themost ridiculous thing ever.
And so we and the county's beengreat, they've been trying to

(39:23):
help with us.
The state of Florida's beengreat, but it's again, and it it
our our competitors are fundingthe opposition to us, and I just
think that's wrong.
So uh, so we're going after themright now, and we'll that's a
whole nother podcast, rightthere.

SPEAKER_06 (39:37):
Uh huh.
Come on, Alan.
So, Greg, I told you.
Let's talk about something alittle more fun.
I I I freaking love Italy, andwhen I looked on your website
and you know, San Jiming Gianoand all, I'm how on earth did
you manage to get as beautifulof a location and the the
product that you put together ina country that it seems to me

(40:01):
like it'd be really hard tobasically build a resort?

SPEAKER_00 (40:06):
It's hard to do a lot of things in Italy.
Uh I'd love to take credit forit.
It was actually our founder, uhDavid Burden.
Uh, you know, David is uh avisionary, you know, he worked
way, way back in the day.
Uh there's a guy named CharlesFrazier from Seapines.
He really was the grandfather,if you will, of a whole bunch of
development companies throughoutthe United States.

(40:28):
And uh and David uh uh actuallyhad a Italian billionaire walked
in off the street in our officeout in Colorado, and he shows up
and he says to David, I'm I'msure I'm gonna get it wrong, but
he basically says, uh, I'mprobably in Italy and you're
gonna be my partner.

(40:48):
And uh, you know, David Adoesn't like partners, B, it was
in Italy, but the more he talkedto him about it, we checked on
this guy.
This guy's legit, you know.
So he owned 5,600 acres inTuscany.
Uh, and uh basically he he's hehe's a big big time guy in in
Italy, and so we go over thereand David made a trip over there

(41:10):
and started looking at it.
And you know, basically theguy's just like you know, we we
sign the deal, we start workingwith him.
He's like, uh these buildingshave air conditioned.
I don't want air conditioning.
We're like, well, the gringosthat were selling these two air
conditioned, and like, you know,uh, these bathrooms are too
nice.
Uh, you know, just put a littlebathroom in there, and so it

(41:32):
became pretty apparent that weweren't gonna work out with him.
So uh we ended up taking 4,200acres.
He kept 1400 acres and got apayday, and so we just started
developing it, and you know, wewe initially started using
Italian architects and Italiancontractors, and we found out
that Italians like to gobankrupt every four to six

(41:54):
months.
So uh, you know, after the thirdor fourth one, we just said,
screw it, we'll do it ourselves.
So we actually self-performedour own architecture and in and
interior design andconstruction.
And uh they really did a greatjob.
And and and so I got involveduh, you know, several years
after they had started it, butyou know, we've been building

(42:16):
homes out there, just built ourlast home.
Uh, but you know, they reallyare great homes.
And what we found is, you know,in Italy it takes three no's to
get to a yes, you know, you gotto kind of, you know, you ask
the first question, they'relike, Oh, that is not possible.
And they're like, Okay, well,wait a minute.
Has this ever been done in Italybefore?
Well, kind of.

(42:37):
Well, what did that look like?
And they start explaining, like,isn't that what we're asking to
do?
No, but it's totally different.
And they're like, Well, what ifwe did this?
Well, yeah, you could do that,and so you just have to run, you
have to run the process, right?

SPEAKER_05 (42:50):
So we we learn just for the record, I am an I'm an
Italian, but I'm an AmericanItalian, and I have not gone
bankrupt-ish.
And um, six months, I would Iwould say my nose is exactly
three feet, so it does takethree three doses per day.
Uh yes.
So thank you, Greg, for sayingthat.
But but that's what it takes.
It's just like you have it's youhave to you have to negotiate

(43:12):
with it, but you have to knowwho you because you did the same
thing out in Hawaii.
Um, we haven't talked about thatstory, uh, about just overcoming
obstacles because that's whatyou did.
I mean, that's what you wentthrough.
So, what happened in Hawaii?

SPEAKER_00 (43:25):
Well, Hawaii is the same way.
We we took over a a massive uhproperty, we bought it from a
big luxury brand, and uh, youknow, like oh, how hard can it
be?
It'd be pretty hard, you know.
So you uh you get in there andoh no shit.

SPEAKER_03 (43:41):
You'll be you'll be business isn't fun, it's not
always easy, you can't make aton of money.
Easy.
No, go.

SPEAKER_00 (43:47):
We have five endangered species that we have
to manage.
Like, I'm like, you know, itjust oh on top of everything
else.
You like like you know, I had tospend a whole day talking about
the bird takes and the statebiologists, and we finally just
hired the state biologists andjust said, why don't you just
work for us and you manage it?
And you know, because there'sall these wacky rules.

(44:09):
And and look, we've we actuallywe actually got uh we're on
Disney Plus uh working dogsegment where we you know we
convinced them how to uh how toyou know to haze the birds in a
in an ethical way, right?

SPEAKER_05 (44:24):
So what we had to do, but it it it was uh it's a
lot, and it just and then welet's talk about how you got
into it though, because uh oneof the things I I I totally
remember is you told me they'reover there, they're developing
this property, and it's gonnatake X amount of months, and
you're like, no, that's nothappening.
And you flew out there and yousaid, No, we're gonna fix this
right now.

(44:44):
And so take us through the stepsthat you had to go through.
You're the CEO of this company,you bought this company, we
haven't gotten into that allyet, but um, tell us how you got
into just solving that problembecause big or small, we all
have the same problems.

SPEAKER_00 (44:57):
You mean when we had to replace the GC in the middle
of the job?

SPEAKER_05 (45:01):
100%.

SPEAKER_00 (45:02):
That's exactly what's too that's what I
recommend not happening, butlook, you know, we had a we had
a GC that kind of came alongwith the deal, and uh, you know,
we were trying to accelerate andmove fast, and so you know, we
had existing designs, we knew wewanted to change some finishes,
but we weren't wholesalechanging the building.

(45:24):
And you know, it it didn't takelong to realize that they're
playing a different game than wewere playing, right?
And you know, they uh, you know,a question was answered with
five other questions, and youknow, I was trying to hit design
gates and getting, you know, I'mlike, okay, well, give me a
change order, and they wouldjust give me 10 lines on a piece
of paper.

(45:45):
I'm like, yeah, that's not howit works on a cost plus
contract.
You have to give me all thedetail, and they wouldn't give
us the detail.
And so I realized pretty fastthat they underbid the job
originally and they were tryingto, you know, make it up off of
change orders.
And you know, if they would havejust been transparent with us,
we probably weren't going tocover everything, but we could

(46:06):
have tried to work it out.
But that that wasn't the paththey took.
So, you know, I came to theconclusion I had to like, you
know, fly out and tell myfinancial partner uh that we
have to fire our generalcontractor in the middle of a
deal, and that didn't go overtoo well.
But I just said, look, you know,someone says, Well, why do you
want to fire them?
I'm like, Well, I can't tell youhow much it's gonna cost, when

(46:27):
it's gonna be done, and whatit's gonna look like.
But other than that, you know,they're great guys, and so the
head guy's just like, All right,he goes, You can let them go,
but it's your ass if it if thisthing doesn't get done.
And so, you know, you just haveto get hands on the steering
wheel and you have to drive onit.
And so that's exactly what youknow what I did.
And you know, I was making tripsout there every two to three

(46:48):
weeks.
We got a great contractor out ofuh Alabama uh to jump in and and
help us.
And it just was it was makedecisions, get stuff done, and
and don't let analysisparalysis.
So we had to get it done uhbefore our loan matured because
a major event of default, we gotit done like two days before,
and it was a total ass kicker.

(47:10):
But you know, that's what youhave to do as a business owner
when things go awry.
It's not you can't just delegateit to someone else when it's
that big of a deal.
You have to get hands on thesteering wheel.

SPEAKER_05 (47:20):
I want to switch gears, we're almost coming out
of time and Spence.
You know, I I gotta love you todeath, you know that there.
I could I could talk to you forthree hours, and uh, we have, by
the way.
Um, well, maybe one of us talkand the other one listening, and
then you know, the other one'ssaying, All right, Chris, you
shut the fuck up.
So, um, all right, so you getyou get into the real estate
development world and you wentto work with David, um, who you

(47:44):
told me he was a big deal.
Of course, I didn't know backbecause we didn't have the
internet back then.
I didn't know if he was a bigdeal.
And because now it's kind ofbig, but you found a way to buy
his company.
Tell us a little bit about howand why you've made that big
leap.
Because let's face it, guys,that's a big flipping ex.
I mean, it's a big deal.
It's one thing to work for theman, it's another thing to be

(48:04):
the man.
Now, this guy has been built tobe the man, so I want you to
tell his story because I want tofinish up with uh how you beat
cancer because we're gonna talkabout that.

SPEAKER_00 (48:11):
Yeah, sure.
Yeah, it was uh so look, I hadtalked to him about you know uh
exiting the company.
I knew he, you know, he was backand forth.
Do I do it?
Do I not do it?
Uh and uh and one of our equitypartners on one of our deals
actually reached out to us andsaid, Hey, we'd like you to come

(48:32):
meet with us.
And so uh David, I think, knewwhat it was.
So he's like, I don't, I'm not,I don't want to go.
So I flew out there and met withhim, and and I had a subordinate
with me too.
And so I couldn't like openlytalk in front of the
subordinate.
So I waited for him to get upand use the bathroom.
I'm like, look, I know how tobuy the company, I know what
he's looking for, but I'm gonnatell you the number's his number

(48:54):
and it's not one dollar less.
And so if you're you know, ifyou're one of those shops that
want to kind of get someonepregnant and then change the
deal, this is gonna blow up,right?
And so uh I was straight up withhim.
And so, you know, I I calledDavid, told him what happened,
and uh the way I viewed it is Iwas held I worked for him, this

(49:15):
was his company, it wasn't mycompany.
I was first and foremost gonnafocus on helping him achieve
what he wanted to achieve.
And it was funny.
I knew I told my wife, I'm like,all right, well, I'm either
gonna be part of this and bepart of the acquisition, or I'm
gonna get fired.
One of the two, because I knewway too much for a small
company.
So we worked through theprocess, and you know, uh the uh

(49:38):
my capital partner says, Oh,well, we want you to
participate.
I'm like, Well, I want toparticipate, but you know, I I I
want to make this about Davidand supporting him.
And so I think that's why I wasable to get it done, is I didn't
make it about me, I made itabout him, and it was tough, you
know.
It was uh part therapy session,part, you know, uh uh business

(50:00):
transaction.

SPEAKER_05 (50:01):
Cause it was let's talk about that for a minute.
Because this guy, uh, I nevermet him.
Um, but we're we've all beenthere.
And and well, you're not thereyet, Spence, but let me tell you
about my ego.
It's still this freaking big,bro.
His arms aren't big enough, theyare big enough, so I get it.
I mean, this guy must have had ahuge ego, and then to be able to
say, Look, David, I'm trying topreserve your legacy and buy you

(50:22):
out.
Yeah, that that's got to be hardfor a guy like that who has been
the man, right?
To do it.
So tell us how you did that, howyou navigated that.

SPEAKER_00 (50:30):
It it was uh, I don't know how well I navigated.
It was hard because I also hadnine family members and a split
family working there, so it itwas a lot to to navigate.
And look, at the end of the day,I don't uh hopefully David feels
like I, you know, was anhonorable person.
I did the right thing.
I've tried to honor, you know,what he created with the brand,

(50:51):
but like the reality is is Igotta run, I gotta run the
business.
I'm here day to day, I gotta runit.
So there's some things that I'msure I've done that he doesn't
agree with, but you know, that'sokay.
You know, like he, you know, I II own it with my partner now.
So, you know, I tried to alwaysjust ground myself on being
consistent with what our branddoes and and and trying to do
it.
But there were you know, therewere times where you know I

(51:14):
could tell he was taking it outon me, and I know it wasn't me
personally.
He was either frustrated or hadanxiety about selling, or you
know, uh I think he probably hadsome seller's remorse.
And, you know, I I that'snatural to have it, but you
know, like you're a big boy, youmade this decision, right?
And so I think that's how I tryto navigate it.

(51:34):
But yeah, you know, there weresome things that I think were
unfair, but you know, for themost part, I fully respect
David.
I learned a tremendous amountfrom him, and you know, look, he
had the balls to create thisthing from scratch, and it's
tough.
And you know, anybody that'screated anything from scratch,
like I feel like uh you know, asa business owner, you own it 365

(51:56):
days a year.
There's you don't tag someonetake over, you you you have to
worry about it.
And I could just imagine Davidstarting this company navigating
the GFC.
I was right there with himduring the global financial
crisis, and it's a lot, youknow.
So kudos to David.
He's a great guy.
I learned a ton from him.

(52:16):
And and hopefully, if he everdoes see this, you know,
hopefully he doesn't harbor anyill will.
And like, look, he got a greattransaction.
He got great.

SPEAKER_05 (52:25):
I'll tell you what, David, if you watch this uh and
you harbor any ill will, it'sChris at the trusted toolbox.
I'd love to come talk to youabout exactly how my boy did
because I think my boy did youright.
I'm just gonna say I'm comingfrom a different side, but um,
me and the Italian will talk.
Okay, you know what I'm saying?
Okay, hey, one thing, man, we'rerunning out of time, dude.
One of the biggestaccomplishments, you've done it

(52:47):
all.
I mean, I love your kids, youknow that.
I love your family.
But um Spence uh texted a bunchof us and says, Hey guys, I got
bad news.
I got cancer.
And I was like, nah, this iseasy.
I said, if there's one guy inthe world that's gonna beat it,
he will fucking beat it.
And sure as shit.
Here he is, I think for fiveyears now.

(53:07):
You're five minutes.
Coming up on six, yeah.
So uh he goes and what's he do?
He does exactly what I rememberGreg Spencer being when we
worked together or whatever inlife.
He was like, he went and soughtthe best guy out, found the best
guy, went to the best guy, gotthe surgery, got the

(53:28):
retreatment, did all the stuffhe had to do, followed his life,
runs a completely healthy life,which does not include a lot of
bourbon like we have right herewith the small business safari.
Okay, here we go.
Um, he runs it all because hesays, Man, I gotta be there for
my kids.
Now I was like, dude, props toyou.
And you knew that.
I mean, no, you don't know thatbecause when you stare that one,

(53:48):
you're like, you run a business,no, it's so hard.
Um, and then you get thisbecause you would I I don't
remember how many years afteryou had said, I'm gonna take
over this business or are yougonna buy it?

SPEAKER_00 (53:59):
Uh it was it was about uh five, but I I found out
Christmas Eve of 2019, and uhdoctor calls me and says, I knew
I had a CT scan on the 20th.
He thought it was something withmy kidneys, and he said, uh, he
goes, You have a massive tumoron your liver and you need to do
something about it immediately.

(54:20):
I'm like, it's 5 p.m.
on Christmas Eve.
Like, what the hell am I like?
Thanks.
I'm like rapping presents, andI'm totally not present because
got that dropped on me.
But you know, I I got to theright doctor, Dr.
John Fung, University ofChicago, the best liver surgeon
in the world, literally one ofthe top ones in the world.

(54:40):
And uh, you know, he knewimmediately what it was, and and
look, it was a tough one.
It had a 30% five-year survivalrate.

SPEAKER_05 (54:49):
It it was uh in this 30% five-year survival rate.
He said that to the group, and Iwas uh I was like, dude, I wish
they put this shit in Vegasbecause I'll put a lot down.
This fucker's gonna beat it, andhe did.
You knew he would.
I mean, I knew you didn't.

SPEAKER_00 (55:03):
I mean the surgery itself had a 16 mortality rate,
and so like, you know, you go inthere and like you know, man,
like 16.
I'm like, ah, it's low, but whenit's your life, it's not low.
That's yeah, that's a big numberwhen it's so I I got in there, I
had surgery at the University ofChicago February 17, 2020.
We had this other little thingstarting to go down in 2020, and

(55:25):
I was up there for two weeksafterwards, and I was supposed
to be up there for a month, andthey they sent me home.
They're like, COVID's coming,we're stopping doing cancer
surgery, which that's a wholenother safari.
Like, you know, I'm like, wait aminute.
So COVID's got like a 0.5% deathrate, cancer's got 100%, but
you're not gonna do surgery onit.
So, you know, I went home andand uh and you know, was trying

(55:48):
to manage a business.
Italy closed down, Hawaii.
The governor's saying, you know,basically, why do you don't
come, you know, and and then ourother properties go to 100%
occupancy because people aretrying to get out of town, and
it was it was a lot to manage.
But you know, look, I I uh Idon't drink anymore, and and not
that I'm a teetotaler, but youknow, I flew pretty close to the

(56:10):
flame.
So, you know, I just uh uh bythe grace of God, I'm here and
uh I you know it's true.
I was like, I don't want someother dude raising my kids.
So, you know, nothing motivatesyou by trying to make sure that
you you don't do it.
And it it was uh it was tough.
They took 40% of my liver, uh,took my gallbladder out, and uh,

(56:30):
and it was uh it was a toughrecovery.

SPEAKER_05 (56:33):
I couldn't lift over five pounds for about six
months, and uh I just which is abig deal for this guy who loves
to work out and run like foreverand then uh also lift weights.
So even five pounds doesn'tsound like a lot for a lot of
us, but but look another sixmonths I would have been dead.

SPEAKER_00 (56:49):
I was like four millimeters from our portal
vein.
And so, you know, you got toget, you know, if if your
listeners take one thing away,don't take the resorts away or
that I'm I'm you know, dogged orthat you know I have dirt on
Chris.
Take away you got to get yourphysicals, you have to go see
the doctors because you know,why let why get to a point of no

(57:11):
return?
You know, get like get there.
I know it's a pain in the ass.
We're busy.
I almost blew off the the CTscan, like literally, I almost
blew.
I'm like, ah, I don't reallywant to do this.
And man, I would have been deadin six months, like no tune
about it.
So, you know, I just encourageeverybody, definitely make sure
you you you you get checked.

(57:31):
And then if you ever do getcancer, uh don't go out and
re-google and all the shit.
Although I did, you know, it'sthe first thing you do is you
Google it, but you know, youreally you you need to educate
yourself, don't just read Googleprobabilities and stop there.
You know, I was looking atreports and I was trying to
figure out uh you know what'shappened.

(57:52):
And then you just gotta talkwith your friends too.
It was actually a friend of minewho lost his battle with cancer
who got me to uh Dr.
Fong.
And uh and and so you you haveto be vocal, don't you know
suffer in silence, you know,which a lot of guys do,
particularly driven smallbusiness owners.
You know, you gotta have that,you gotta have that dialogue and

(58:14):
that conversation and try to getit before it becomes fatal, you
know.
Super powerful, guys.

SPEAKER_05 (58:20):
If you didn't get something, that's on you because
I'm not even doing the finalfour.
This no this has been a goodfriend of mine for years.
Uh, you know, I I was so excitedto get him on, and uh, I would
not tell Alan anything about itbecause I want this to be so
exciting.
He always says that great.
And uh and well, no, I don'talways do it.
Yeah, well, fuck you.
All right, back to you.

(58:40):
All right, so look, guys, bigdeal, right?
Forget this.
Timbers Resorts, go check itout.
It's so awesome.

SPEAKER_06 (58:47):
It is.
I mean, you want to be inspiredor something?
And where else are you gonna youplan on going?
Oh come on.
Hey Drew, drop a nugget.
Come on.

SPEAKER_00 (58:55):
Yeah, like uh, we'd love to be Western North
Carolina, uh, Cashers Highlandsarea.
We'd love to run there, uh, outin uh uh Montana, uh up in the
up in the mountains, uh arounduh uh Moonlight Basin.
We've looked out there, CostaRica.
We've chased a couple deals inCosta Rica, uh, you know, but
frankly, there's a lot of greatopportunities in Florida.

(59:17):
We've been bidding on somethings, you know.
The pricing still people stillreally like their property.

SPEAKER_06 (59:22):
They still had COVID back in real estate.

SPEAKER_00 (59:25):
Yeah, and and so it hasn't, we haven't seen the
capitulation yet, but it'scoming, you know.
It's uh you know, I had aprofessor at Columbia told me
first day, he goes, land is likea horse, all it does is eat, and
that that that is those arefacts, right?
Because you know you're payingthose property taxes and they're
running and you're payinginsurance, and they're like at

(59:45):
some point in time, you eitherneed to do something with it or
you need to get off of it.

SPEAKER_05 (59:50):
So all right, everybody.
We got all we gotta get going.
You gotta keep going up thatmountain.
Great job, everybody.
Greg Spencer,TimbersResorts.com.
I'm sure if you looked him up onLinkedIn, he'd give you 10
minutes.
I know he will.
All you have to do is drop ChrisLalamia.
And don't forget the fact thatwe dropped a shit ton of calls
back in 1997.

(01:00:11):
I'm the worst customer serviceguy you got here.
We gotta go, Alan.
We gotta go get going.
We gotta make it happen.
Let's get going now.
Cheers, everybody.
Thank you for listening to thisepisode of the Small Business
Safari.
Remember, your positive attitudewill help you achieve that
higher altitude you're lookingfor in the wild world of small
business ownership.
And until next time, make it agreat day as you see.

All Episodes

Ownership through Determination, Grit and Partnership - Greg Spencer, Timbers Resorts

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

Ruthie's Table 4

Dateline NBC

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Ownership through Determination, Grit and Partnership - Greg Spencer, Timbers Resorts