SPEAKER_00 0:27

Joe never skipped a beat.

SPEAKER_03 0:28

Dude. All right. Mmm. We are live. All right.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

You want me to introduce?

SPEAKER_03 0:36

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Okay. You ready?

SPEAKER_03 0:38

Let's go go, baby.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

What's up, guys? It is a new day. And uh, as you know, I always like to bring on special guests. This is a probably a guest who's

No Script And Big Themes

SPEAKER_00 0:47

probably been on here way too much already. But Mr. Joe Diesel, my videographer, partner, and uh a stud of a dad. What's up, buddy?

SPEAKER_03 0:56

What's up, Mr. Ryan Garland?

SPEAKER_00 0:58

So we have no script today.

SPEAKER_03 1:00

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:00

But I know you wanted to interview me. So we can talk about the volatility in the market because I think that's kind of where you were kind of leading earlier the conversation. And I also know you wanted to talk a little bit about um just employees and managing people and all the fun stuff that kind of goes along with that and kind of how the hell we scaled this company the way we have. And how did we build, you know, warriors instead of uh people against us, I guess, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:24

Yeah, I I think with everything that's been going on with the war right now, but then the turmoil with inside the company, and nothing that it's bad, it's more so we're finding out who the real ones are. And I think with everything going on, you traveling back and forth to go see your son in Tennessee, checking in on the newest project, Paradigm Flex, you start and you I I really hold on to this because even for me, it's it's peaceful when you're doing a four-hour drive or a four to six-hour plane drive. And I think that's where this idea concept of wanting to do a podcast of another mask off, but also a market update and kind of going in with the decision makings that you have in your head and what we're doing as a firm. So for what's most important and relevant, and then we'll kind of tie into a little bit mask off personal side, but I'm noticing the market, and we sat at lunch today, and you know, we're we're seeing the oil drop or price go up in oil, and you know, NASDAQ and all that stuff dropping. Kind of talk on that and how it really is affecting not only the way we as employees have to look from marketing, sales, you as a founder, and how that communication with investors is going right now.

SPEAKER_00 2:49

Well, I think, you know, I talk about this a lot, probably more one-on-one with clients. So I'll be it's nice to be able to share this more, kind of more of a global per perspective, too, from like kind of utilizing this platform. But look, the volatility is scaring everybody, period into story. You know, you it's really hard to know exactly where the market's going to end up. It's just not like it used to be, you know, even prior to the

Why Volatility Feels Different Now

SPEAKER_00 3:09

pandemic, it was a little bit more calculated and a little more strategic, but also a little more consistent. Right now with the pandemic and just the synthetic money that was pumped in in 2020, inflation, tariffs, uh, the political warfare that we're kind of under, the real wars that we have going on between, you know, uh with Iran, it's relevant right now with gas prices, fuel prices, oil, and so forth. I think what what you're seeing is just people are becoming more uh concerned with their overall wealth and well-being. When you have the majority of the population are baby boomers, they have all the wealth. And their number one focus right now is to be able to hand over that wealth to their family, but also retain it. So, you know, when the market was hot, right? So say the beginning of the pandemic, when the rates were really low, people are refinancing, they're cashing out, they're getting all kinds of, they have money, you know, people are looking at making investments because you're just seeing profit and dollar signs. The minute the market shifts for the negative, you know, people start going into more of a uh a mindset of retaining the capital in which they've been able to acquire, right? How to retain the wealth that you've built. And now things are becoming so volatile on the market and just kind of overall, even with weather, you know, the the you know, the the winter was so harsh, all these people came to Havasu because that big uh the big um uh freeze that came up from Texas up into north, you know, into Nashville, kind of the northeast side. I mean, that that drove people right here to Havasu. And, you know, we ended up having 110 homes go under contract in two weeks. So when I talk about volatile, I'm talking about just across so many different metrics. So to answer your question more, people are just, I think people are just nervous, they're scared. You know, if you've been knee deep in the 2008 crash, you lost everything, you know, a lot of people lost their marriages, it was really hard. You know, I think people are just to a point where they're just they're being a little more bullish on which decisions they make. So they're becoming more uh conservative. So when you see this type of volatility, people are going, look, I don't, I'm not a natural day trader. So I'm gonna pull my money and I'm gonna invest into something that is gonna create wealth, but something I believe in. You know, and they're gonna go towards where data is really just pointing you to, trying to get the psychology out of things and just go looking at the just raw data, you know, that that makes things a lot easier to make decisions. And data is more uh it's easier to uh to acquire data now than it's ever before, especially with AI and you know online stuff. So, you know, it's not like it was, you know, 10 years ago. You had to get appraisals for everything. I can do an AI search on a property and get way more data than any appraisal will ever give me, you know. So it's just ultimately better. Um, I think there's better resources for people to uh to you know uh use to be able to make the right decisions. So at the end of the day, I think what's happening is the volatility is driving everyone nuts. Right now, the kind of the cut com most common conversation are people coming to us going, look, I I'm worried about my my IRA, I'm worried about you know my uh my healthcare, I'm worried about certain things, and I need to know if I invest into something I can't afford to lose my money. You know, people, it's the same con same part. Uh, I can't, I'm too old to start over, right? That is that's really the that's really it. So from from us, on our perspective, we're constantly shifting, hence the name paradigm. I've been doing this for so long. That's why I named the company Paradigm, because you want to be nimble enough to move, uh, be able to just foresee landmines and maneuver around them. And I think that's what we've constantly been doing. So I think we've gotten used to this, the up and down. So I think our our we have it, we built the scales for it. It's in our DNA now.

SPEAKER_02 6:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:35

So I think we look at things a little differently than everybody else does. We're we're more, you know, how can we get into something that's more long-term and build through the downturn? That's the reason for my investments being more long-term, where you can invest and you can have a forecast where the market's going based on data and just trends in general, but you don't need to worry about making a decision for next year or the year after. Like you can kind of invest, you can kind of make a play and you can kind of slow down and calm down and let everything else kind of go nuts where you're a little more calm. And I think that's what people are trying to find is that peace and their investments so they don't have to worry so much. And I am, I'm I'm doing that across everything in my life.

SPEAKER_02 7:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:15

But if you can go into something where you don't have to stress so much about your wealth, you know, and you and you know you have a good outcome or you have uh a least risk or an investment that has less risk, people are making those moves.

SPEAKER_03 7:26

Like, so for instance, when we see on YouTube TV, you got Fisher Investments, Goldman, you know, all these other firms that you see ads on, and you know, Liberty, all these other companies out there. For any new listeners that obviously I feel like our marketing is on a different level. People, if if we run a data analysis right now, they literally say the biggest up and advantage that we have is you're forward facing as a founder. And two, when it comes to the way we market, we're showing progress, we're showing renderings. It's not just, hey, invest, and yeah, these other companies have bigger names and portfolios. But for someone who is on the fence and they were to be like, well, I see more of Fisher Investments online and or on a TV ad and not really yours, can you explain the difference? Because I feel like that's also a big thing. People that have money, they know what they want. It's really just time, right? But the ones that are in between that have some money, but they've really never done it before, that's stuck in an IRA, kind of talk on that and what the difference is between these other firms and us.

SPEAKER_00 8:44

Yeah. So it's it's it's funny that you brought that up because

Data-Driven Real Estate Over Day Trading

SPEAKER_00 8:47

this is something I wanted to touch on for months and I just haven't had to. So you were able to pull a trigger out of me. So look, the reason why, if you look at the data as far as where investors are going right now, they're going to smaller fund managers. They want to go into operators that are more vertically integrated. They want people to have more control. So let's use 2008 as an example. In 2008, we did not, no bank foresaw which way the world was going, right? There was just a handful of people that were up in, you know, in uh Wall Street that were, you know, insuring and banking uh betting against portfolios to fail, right? They were hoping they were gonna fail. So they were driving the market. And what happened was is when the foreclosure uh market actually hit and you had tons of short sales, modifications, the banks were not prepared for it.

SPEAKER_01 9:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:34

So the amount of money that was lost was incredible that as far as like value, principle of the investment. That's why the FDIC back then, the FDIC didn't have enough capital to bail out these banks. And you you know my story. And for anybody who wants to know more about like an in-depth uh answer to this, go back to one of my podcasts called The Untold Story. But I talked heavy into how these billionaires were coming into the US and investing into uh buying distressed assets, ultimately opening up small banks. And uh I ended up rubbing elbows with a guy who uh was operating from a from a fiduciary side for the city or for the uh for the federal government. So it's kind of impressive. However, um, you know, I think I think what happens is when you're a smaller outfit, for you know, when we when like let me use the secured income fund as an example.

SPEAKER_01 10:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:21

So, you know, we as we have $100 million under management, and now we're ultimately deploying that capital on first trusted mortgages, but we're overseeing the construction because that's really for construction financing, fix and flips, short-term bridge loans, what have you. We're very bankable, meaning we have an institutional underwriting practice. We can fund loans and sell notes on the secondary market. You know, there's all kinds of different things we can do. If we have to hold the loans on our balance sheet, we're also working directly with the borrower in fund control, draws, overseen construction. We're a lot closer to each asset that we lend into that portfolio, right? So what you're seeing is this kind of migration from the standard wealth management practices, guys that really don't know how to get their hands dirty, if God forbid the market shifts. Hence me kind of going into knowing construction. And if I have to foreclose and take a property back, I can go find out where the bodies are buried, I can talk, you know, construction language, I can identify litigation, you know, all of those things, which I really cut my teeth in in 08. But that's really what you're seeing is people are wanting to get into a fund manager or a firm that's a little smaller, but they have a niche, they're more vertically integrated, and they have more control of the assets. That is the biggest movement right now. So you'll see, you know, Fisher Investments as an example. We use them because we uh even though it's not a they're they're not a competition in any way, shape, or form. We just look at it from competition from a marketing perspective, right? Exactly. They're spending how much? Did you say 60 million in marketing or some crazy amount like that?

SPEAKER_03 11:50

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 11:51

A year, right? Just in ads on Meta and all these other platforms, but to drive awareness for their plat for their investments. Yes, their portfolios are clearly much larger. And their strategy is definitely different too. But we have one strategy and it's real estate investing. So I like to think of it this way: if you if you have a wealth manager, right? Let's say you're a high net worth client, you're gonna hire a law firm and a wealth manager to oversee your portfolio and make smart investments. You're gonna want diversification. You're not gonna put all your eggs in one basket. You want to be able to bet against certain things, but also ride the way. So you're gonna kind of look, you're gonna sit down and you're gonna do what you call a risk tolerance. You're gonna sit down with your wealth manager and you're gonna say, okay, look, I made all my money selling garage doors, whatever it is, right? And I sold my company for 80 million bucks. However, I like real estate because I kind of know real estate. I see a lot of money being made in AI stock, and you you kind of create this ultimately risk tolerance portfolio where you have advised your wealth managers to choose stocks or investments based off of your uh interests or your belief system and risk. Okay. Once you've established that, what happens is those guys now go to work. You, as a as the owner or the investor, don't have to focus on trying to day trade or make those decisions. You have specific professionals that do this all the time. Those professionals have other relationships in Wall Street. Those guys have other attorneys that they're talking to. These guys are deeper rooted into the space. So you really hired professionals to do that. So now those wealth managers will say, okay, well, Mr. Investor, you said you want to allocate 20 or 25% of your liquidity into real estate. You want to go in an alternative real estate. Some of it wants to go oil, gas, AI, whatever, right? But we need to focus on a group that we can focus that knows real estate.

SPEAKER_01 13:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:39

So then those wealth managers reach out to groups like us because we're waving our flag saying, hey, look, guys, we're in, I'm gonna use us as an example, true example of like, hey, we're in an area where people are migrating to. We're in an area where people are retiring. You're watching small regional banks open up because when people retire, wherever they move, they typically move their money too. So now regional banks are opening up. You know, the healthcare is getting more important here. You know, those those things are important for investors.

SPEAKER_03 14:06

Or registered vessels.

SPEAKER_00 14:07

Right. Oh, yeah, yeah, which yeah, spending habits and toys for sure. But really, what's happening is you're just you're those groups now go to the other groups of professionals to then invest into one direction, right? And then they like it that we're also diversified. We do debt, we do equity, we have longer-term investments, we have shorter-term investments. We have different asset classes you can invest to, multifamily, storage, you know, housing. So the diversification is really important from a risk tolerance and for this market, just given the volatility. But that's what's happening is you're seeing these people go, look, even the wealth managers are like, well, there's no reason for us to go and invest in the Lenar, even though Brookshaw Hathaway has just invested like, I don't know, even 700 million bucks in the Lenar. You can go play that card and it is a good bet, but you're not gonna put all your eggs in that basket.

SPEAKER_01 14:50

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 14:51

Now that return profile is sexy, right? So meaning the returns on Lenar is great, but they're not gonna put all their eggs for real estate, that portfolio there. They're gonna go, hey, you know, we can make 10% a year consistently or 12% or 13% with Lenar, but why don't we go make 30% and allocate maybe a little bit less, but we'll go into a larger equity play with this group. And yes, it may be a little riskier, but they also don't have any debt. The list kind of goes on, they have a track record. Let's allocate five, six, seven million bucks over here, and now we're gonna really accumulate wealth. Because what's gonna happen is when they solidify that capital in one direction, they're gonna look at tax strategy and tax credits. So

Why Investors Shift To Smaller Operators

SPEAKER_00 15:30

now you're looking at going, okay, well, we have all this income. We need we need investments that also have tax credits. So I can go down rabbit hole after rabbit hole, but ultimately the smaller operators are the ones that are able to identify tax credits. So those investments are gonna be really important for investors moving forward because whether they have taxable income, they're exiting a business, they need a 1031 exchange, whatever. It's one thing to acquire wealth. It's another thing to keep it.

SPEAKER_03 15:54

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

So it's all about that strategy on exit, where you're gonna park it and mitigating risk. And again, smaller, uh, smaller fund managers and portfolio managers have more hands-on, more vertically integrated, and they can know they get their hands dirty. So that's really what you're seeing a movement in the market.

SPEAKER_03 16:10

I feel like it's important too, because a lot of people they come to us. I would love to get the actual data, but you know, speaking of Matt, our investor relations lead, he would instantly say that the amount of people that go and listen to your podcast and they've been listening to it, and then that's right away when they want to invest with us or they want to engage. It's because those people are watching the market, but then they want people like you and your insight because regardless that they invest right away, it's the fact that they trust in what you've done, your book that you've written, all those things. It's it's not that you're always a right person, but your gut is right most of the time. And then I feel like once people get to know you and get to understand you, that's when they feel more comfortable. So these type of things and these little updates, I feel like people do appreciate it. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 17:07

Well, you know, like just to share with you well, you're gonna know this because you're literally my best friend. What is it that I fall asleep to?

SPEAKER_03 17:14

The news.

SPEAKER_00 17:14

Right. I literally fall asleep to the news. And one of the other things that I do is I listen to certain podcasts of non-biased podcasts that are truly data-driven podcasts, and I literally fall asleep to the shorts. So instead of you know, just turning on the news and falling asleep to the regular news, just that are just running, I'm going to outlets that are giving me bullet points of the things that are the most important, the big shifts in the market. So I'm getting an influx of knowledge real fast. Um, you know, it's funny, I always think, well, maybe if I fall asleep, it's like if you fall asleep to like pianos and you can wake up smarter, right? I'm like, maybe I'll wake up smarter if I listen to the news, which is like depressing because it's like, oh, the stocks are down and everyone's losing money. It's like, well, maybe I'm waking up with a stress. Maybe that's why I have anxiety and insomnia, man. I wake up at two o'clock in the morning going, hey, maybe I can't go back to sleep.

SPEAKER_03 17:57

It's habits, man.

SPEAKER_00 17:58

It's habits, man. It's those habits. So what do I do in the shower?

SPEAKER_03 18:01

You're calling people and and discussing business because that's when your your brain can't even shut off in the shower.

SPEAKER_00 18:07

I was to think you're gonna say that, but I do watch the news in the shower, too.

SPEAKER_03 18:11

No, he's either literally listening to the news or he's calling his executive team because he has important matters that just came to him and he still can't shut off in the shower. It's bad.

SPEAKER_00 18:22

It's really bad for sure. So um, you know, but those are those are the practices. Really, I tell everybody like, if you're gonna be the best, you better run through your DNA. And it's not that I do it because I I need to be the best. It's not this. And what it is is I have just as much fear as everybody else. You know, um, I went through 2008. My son, I couldn't even put food on the table for my newborn. My son was my first son was born in July of 08. Like it could not get any worse, you know? And um, and I just think that that's just it created so it just tore me apart, man. Not trying to put food on the table for your son. You know, my father raised me. I had big shoes to fill. And uh, and being out not being able to put food on the table for your family is the worst feeling I think any man can ever go through. And uh, and I just kind of made that decision, I'm never gonna do that again. And whatever it takes to never do that again. So if I have to be the best, fine. You know, if I have to study more, get it. You know, I don't, I just have a different way of looking at things now. But it's what all I've really done is just create consistency and a habit. And now it's just part of my life. It's I don't know another way. I honestly I kind of like it because I love being able to get on a conversation or sit down with Goldman Sachs when I go to an IMN conference and I'm sitting with, you know, Goldman or guys from, you know, uh um uh, you know, Morgan Stanley or some of these larger players, BlackRock, Blackstone, you know, I met the owner, you know, CEO, BlackRock. I mean, I've I've sat down with these guys and kept up with them on my analogy and or my, I'm sorry, my my performance along with my perspective, along with my outlook on the market. And they've always said you're actually on the right track, especially in my field. So, but how did I get there? It's because I'm studying, right? I'm I'm learning, and I also have gotten kicked in the teeth a lot. So, you know, but um, you know, and that's really what it comes down to is I think what's happening is I'm just really listening to as much as I can and understanding why things are existing. You know, and you answered a question earlier kind of first first odd didn't I didn't uh really touch on, but you know, you were talking about oil and gas prices, which is ironic because today we were talking at lunch, right before they brought it up on the news, I literally told you what I thought was happening, and then they brought it up, which was you know, what's really going on with this war in Iran?

Risk Tolerance Diversification And Tax Strategy

SPEAKER_00 20:28

Do I really believe the administration, Trump's administration, is going to war simply because they just do not want Iran to have a uh nuclear weapon? I think there's truth to that, but I don't think that's everything. And what has happened is as I'm watching a lot of these oral oil executives striking deals to create pipelines all the way around the straits so that doesn't have to happen ever again. And they're and when you look at the big construction companies that are being engaged to do it, the UAE, you're talking, you're that's why we're doing the heavy lift, and those groups are coming in there and saying, hey, we'll invest our own money to help you guys. I think it's an oil play. I think all of this is an oil play, and he's crippling, my opinion, he's crippling the most, you know, you know, the country that has the most terrorism. And he's like, no one else is gonna do it, I might as well do it too. And I think he's willing to, you know, sacrifice a little bit of our freedom and pressure, you know, the less pressure, meaning, you know, oil prices are high, inflation, even though the inflation numbers came down what yesterday, you know, it showed that inflation came down, which is great. I don't, I think it's gonna go right back up because you gotta remember, we were kind of in negotiations and we had a ceasefire, so now things were looking a little sexier, but again, boom, oil costs went back up over the last couple of days. So, uh, you know, uh oil uh barrel costs. So you're now you're looking at it going, okay, well, it's gonna come right back. So the point is that I personally think that this is more of an oil play, and I think we're not gonna see things get better for a while, but I do think we're gonna see consistency in the market right now, right? I think you're gonna see that we can start planning for certain things that'll be a little more consistent. Another example, you know, um, a lot of people don't know this, but insulation has a lot of oil in it. So our insulation costs have come down on a lot of our projects. So we're starting to buy material early, knowing that it could possibly go back up.

SPEAKER_02 22:18

Right.

SPEAKER_00 22:18

But you know, the point is that you Want to be able to watch strategically what's happening and maneuver your life around those landmines. And that's the point. Why am I spending so much time trying to understand it? It's because I'm trying to navigate the waters like everybody else is. I live in just as much fear as everybody else does. But if I can keep up on what I see is going on or stocks or different companies are going public or what have you, I'm seeing an influx of where money is going. That's why you can tell where the world's going is where the money's being spent. Then we can we can maneuver our lives and the people that we have influence with and start opening up doors for opportunity, but really it's just about positioning ourselves properly.

SPEAKER_03 22:55

Yeah. And I think for what I also saw on there was it's affecting everything. Like I think the CEO of DHL was on there talking about, you know, costs of jet fuel and how this is going to affect. And then the topic, which everyone knows, they even brought up on the news. How are you guys implementing AI into your facilities to then therefore help out and you know the delta that you're losing with this inflation, the uh the oil, the gas, all that stuff. And almost everyone right now is going more towards AI. And I just heard a podcast um dire, the CEO, and there was a guy who used to work with OpenAI, and he even stated, and this is for everyone to understand, all these companies and even us are utilizing and implementing AI. If you are not doing that right now, you are going to fall behind. The good thing is, is this one statement made me stand out. So 2028, we're gonna have another presidential election. That moment is going to be, we have a year and a half until that comes. That moment is gonna be predicted to be the next halt or growth of AI, and that's ultimately gonna determine based off of look, Apple and uh OpenAI just are in a lawsuit right now. So also looking into that, what is coming up? We're July, mid-July right now.

The Habits Built From 2008

SPEAKER_03 24:28

In two months, Apple is doing their other releases. So all these things are being affected right now. So that topic alone with the issues with stocks, gas, all that stuff is huge right now.

SPEAKER_00 24:43

You know, you hit a so the AI thing is just one hell of a conversation piece. I'm kind of torn. And the reason I've been torn on AI is I first of all, the growth, it's we're implementing it and it's so powerful. I love we use it every single day now, multiple all day, actually, is for you. You're what you're literally using it all day. The the thing that I watch is the infrastructure, right? You saw, you know, I know this is this is not relevant, and it's this I shouldn't even probably say this on the podcast, but it's it's important because I just it's I'm laughing a little bit. But like New York, you know, New York's like, we're never gonna build another, you're not gonna allow, you know, data centers, right? Okay, fine. You have all these other states that are like, welcome the data centers for sure. We want to bring them up. Then you're hearing kind of through the grapevine certain data centers that aren't getting off the ground because the cities or counties that they're trying to build them on simply do not have the resources. So either water, power, electric, what have you, to be able to support that much energy that's going to take to build that.

SPEAKER_02 25:41

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 25:41

And so you have, and don't get me wrong, it's not rocket science. You can get the right engineers and the right people together, and they can go identify lots and lands and waters and look at jurisdictions and you know, and and policy to be able to build certain things in a certain place. It's not hard. But I do believe that if you are working inside, no, so the moving, the moving target would be are you gonna be able to, okay, fine. You find a land, you find a state, you find a county that you can work in. But does the city and who's gonna approve it allow it? You are literally rolling the dice to whoever the council is that's gonna approve this thing, you know, up to them because it's somebody that, you know, respectfully could be someone who really doesn't have a lot of education that's sitting on the board of a small city or town that has a lot of horsepower, a lot of power, and they just woke up on the wrong side of the bed and said, nope, we don't want it. Yep. You know, I hate to say it, but that's how this works. And so you're seeing a lot of these data centers that have like they've raised a lot of money with investors and then they never got off the ground. And these investors have literally lost hundreds of millions of dollars. And uh, but they don't talk about that because they want people to invest into AI.

SPEAKER_02 26:45

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 26:45

But that's the things that they're not gonna tell you online, and they're sure as I can just put that on the mark on anywhere else. But you we can dig deep enough and find it. And remember, we have investors that are coming through our portals every single day. We are literally talking to people, we are boots on the ground, two ears, one mouth, know exactly what's happening with all these other investments and investors. And it's very common, man. People are getting pulling out of AI right now, especially with the Apple itch issue with open AI, and people are starting to fear it. And I think you're seeing just people go, Look, I'm not gonna pull all my money, but I want to diversify. And I think it's just a smart play. But it is AI is very important, it needs to be implemented in every business. It's gonna help you shave costs on a lot of different things. We've had we've been able to get rid of you know, some staff, we've been able to get rid of some subscriptions. You know, we've seen maybe a little upcase in in certain things as far as cost, but at the end of the day, we've saved a lot of money and time. Yes, the amount of money we've saved just in time, and that's hundreds of thousands since you've dove in dove into this just on the content and what you're creating. So AI is definitely a hell of a conversation piece, but I'm just nervous, and I like where you're going in 2028. I'm just nervous of how fast AI is growing, but is there data centers to support it? Can they build fast enough? And I just know construction.

SPEAKER_03 28:00

So well, it's not even that, it's also the topics that people don't even consider. They consider this side of things. Do you want to put restrictions on it? And I think every normal, you're either a good person or a piece of shit. So I think most people that are a good person are gonna agree with there should be restrictions. You know, for instance, there shouldn't be allowed, you know, any pedophilia stuff or any weird things like that, or hacking into other people's things. Like this is supposed to be something to help scale and build and not replace but add to the employees in the companies. But there is one thing that people don't understand, that's why I want to be able to touch on this, is when it comes to restrictions, being able to are are we are we gonna in two and a half years or two years, are we gonna have just one? Is it gonna be Claude? Is it gonna be, you know, um, perplexity? Is it gonna be chat GPT, open AI, or is it gonna be just multiple and is it gonna be only US or is it gonna be nationwide? You know, uh like there's so many things, and how is that gonna be controlled? And I think that's why they're saying pay attention to how things start moving going into 2028 and the elections, because it's not even about restrictions, it's out uh about like what you said is are they gonna have the support to be able to sustain all these data centers on top of the restrictions? So those those little nuggets I believe are very important. Um, and kind of kind of where I want to go into this. So I like that we ended with the AI topic in a way, and it goes into AI and being able to replace employees or assist, right? So this next segment, guys, I want you to understand this has everything to do with being able to go into and understand how Ryan, this company, our firm, operates, but also a little bit of mask off on how Ryan makes his decision making. So, with this, from we're gonna we're gonna make this in a way about me, but also tying it into how you interact, how you hire, how you fire, and what do you

Oil Prices War And Planning Ahead

SPEAKER_03 30:28

expect with inside people and you being a Virgo and how detailed oriented you are when it comes to certain things and how you make those things. So, first off, I want to be able to go right into it. When you hire someone, are you hiring them for who they are today or the person you believe they can become?

SPEAKER_00 30:49

Well, uh a little bit of both, to be honest with you. Because what you know, it's funny because I'm I'm using Tony Robbins' example a lot more nowadays, where hire slow, fire fast. You know, I'll talk about you, but I'll also talk about Jen, our latest hire.

SPEAKER_02 31:05

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 31:05

You know, Jen was a server at a restaurant that we used to go and support every single day. And it unfortunately the restaurant went went under and we were going there for two straight years, you know, almost what at least three or four times a week for lunch. And uh and we got to know her personally, and she just had you know, just overall a good fit for the brand. She would represent well, she's very kind, very smart, never really skipped a beat. My water was always full, you know, that type of thing. And uh, and we needed someone at that at that level. So we we I I thought she'd be a great opportunity. So at the point is, is I got to know her. So we hired slow, because we got to know her. And unfortunately, if she doesn't turn out, we got to fire fast, right? Because really, I I I've been using this as another example of, you know, if I just try to, if I let's say try to work with somebody over and over and over again, right? Let's say there's a problem and I can't get them to understand the importance of making sure that that problem doesn't continue to stay a problem, then really what I'm doing is I'm just building up resentment. And then I'm just, it's just gonna be toxic in a way.

SPEAKER_01 32:04

Right.

SPEAKER_00 32:04

So it's important that I cut the cut it loose because not only am I saving us time and money, but I'm also saving them time and money too, because longer the time goes on and we know that they're not a fit, then we want to let them go so they can go somewhere where they they feel like they are in a fit. A lot of people are fearful of losing their job simply because they just need to make the money.

SPEAKER_01 32:23

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 32:23

So even though, you know, even though they may just kind of deal with the stress of having to work, the reality is like they're so miserable that they're just not performing, which is making me upset, right? And then the job's not getting done. So it's important that we just let them go sooner. So again, that higher, slow, fire, fast concept. I understand it more and more now.

SPEAKER_02 32:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:42

Using you as an example was kind of the same thing. You know, we used you what a couple of times a week, once a week for a long time on the on the videography side.

SPEAKER_03 32:51

10 hours a week, to be exact.

SPEAKER_00 32:52

Yeah.

unknown 32:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:53

So it yeah, it was actually, I think it was just a uh it was just like, hey, if we use you two, three days, but whatever, right? But 10 hours, okay. So, but you know, I got to know you more on a personal level. But what was happening was is you were then you unfortunately, but fortunately, you were with me so much that you were starting to see that mask off of the business. Like you were everyone sees this wonderful thing online or what have you. They look at us and go, everything's going great. They have all this money, whatever the beat, but it's not the truth. You know, we understand marketing and algorithms and we use that to highlight what we do, but there is that kind of iceberg concept. It's there's a lot more underneath that that that water, right? That surface. And you were able to see that. And I think what happened was as you came to me, you needed, you had an opportunity, you were kind of tired in your current position. I kind of opened up the door and you said, Hey man, I want to come. I would like, I'd like to work for you a little bit more. And I think at the same time, I had dropped that nugget going, I need someone full time. Like I know the value of trying to do more content, but you've already proven yourself. Like you're cont the thing that was different about you than everybody else I've ever worked with. I'm talking everybody. Now, mind you, I've hired Hawk Media, $17,000 a month for six months straight just to do strategy. They had content creators, um, you know, um, they had editors, videographers, right? Which was another. So I spent, I don't know, it was at one point when we were launching like the crowdfunding division, we were spending probably 60 or 70 grand just on building out the platform. That wasn't in ads or building any type of actual hard cost for marketing, right? Marketing costs. So, you know, but man, these people that they had so much turnover, and I was re- and I just was looking at like this. I'm spending this much money and I'm really not getting what I wanted. And every time they would give me content, I uh before it would go out, I'd have to look at the content, change things, fix things. And a lot of times I felt like it was repetitive, it was the same shit, but they should have been fixing it after they learned my brand. Yeah, why do you keep delivering me the same crap when it like I'm gonna say the same thing? So I was starting to get to a point where I'm like, I'm spending too much money and I'm really not getting better, it's not getting better. It's still the same. So I just felt like it wasn't valuable to me. And I really, I'm trying to speed up the process. That's not growing, that's just staying steady, right? So I'm like, this isn't gonna work with you. What I really, really respect about you is, and this is important because I think a lot of people that own businesses will say this, they'll shake their head if they're listening to this. Yeah, they're gonna say, when you find somebody that's actually respects your business enough to understand the pain points, understand what you're trying to deliver, do their own homework on the market. This is a different language for you. You're a videographer, I do private equity, IRRs and LTVs, and it's just a different language. But you took the time to study it. So you knew when you were doing your edits and your cuts, you delivered results. And dude, I don't know. Right out the gate, I wasn't even asking you to do any type of adjustments to your cuts. It was like, boom, we shoot the video, boom, you do a cut. I just told you maybe some that maybe like here's a here's a some framework, this is what I'm trying to accomplish. And then you delivered it, and I gave you the content that I needed in between, and you just did it all the time. So then I started pumping it out, and then I started seeing results. And then when you start seeing results and you have somebody that really gives that gives a damn, all of a sudden you just kept getting better and better and better. And then you really started wearing that hat of like leadership. And then that leadership was like, hey, Ryan, look, I you hired me to be a professional in marketing. Here are some other trends that are happening that are taking root and going, you know, viral. That's that's build awareness around your brand, but utilizing these practices. And you brought that spin where you weren't just trying to make money, you were actually providing true professionalism, which means you had a passion for what you did. Yeah, and then you were delivering results. And really it was crazy. And I think this was probably one of the other, I don't think I've ever even told you this. The the fact that you don't even take all the content that uh you build for me or for the company, you don't even post it on your own personal stuff. You can care less about the way people see you. Everybody sees what you do for me because we've been so tight now and everybody knows, right? But if for the very for the longest time, for a couple of years, nobody even knew who was behind the content. And so you never used me or my my content for you to highlight your business. What you did is you just kind of kept it tight and you just delivered results. And to me, I was looking at like this guy's all in. Like he's not trying to build his brand for worst case scenario if we don't work out or if if something doesn't happen. He's literally putting all his eggs in this basket. And I don't care which way you look at it when you're a dad of three, like you are. I'm like, that I respect that, but that's what it takes to be the best. You got to burn the bridges and go all

AI Adoption And The Data Center Bottleneck

SPEAKER_00 37:36

the way in. So I identified that in you, but then I learned a lot about that in how you were raised by your mom, your relationship with your father, your family dynamics. Then it just kind of put two and two together and just watch the stars align. I'm like, that's just who it's that's just who he is. But then your your brotherhood, your your friendships. Like, I don't know anybody, like there's people that don't like everybody out there, blah, blah, blah. But I really don't know many people at all that have anything bad to say about you. Definitely not in a business perspective. Not one person's ever said, Joe doesn't know what he's doing, Joe can't build fast enough, Joe can't do this. I never ever heard of that ever in my life. So at the end of the day, you've been able to create um a really good name for yourself. And it speaks based on you delivering results. And and I think at the end of the day, I have the, I don't care who you are, that is so you have to respect that and appreciate that. So what's happened is now is you and I have synced up, and now we've done a lot of this mostly together here. Yeah. And what the company has been seen as, the the way the company is being looked at and how much people know about us has all based been on, all been based on my vision that you've taken and highlighted. Yeah. Through all the plans. So it's great. Do you want me to get into the real weeds of the the other part? Well, because I can talk on that too.

SPEAKER_03 38:50

So what I first off, I want to say I appreciate that. And honestly, that's not where I was wanting this to go yet, at least. I did want to talk on pretty much being able to see how I started from here to, I always say this literally, it's like in my elevator pitch, 10 hours a week to being let go. Ryan didn't mention that part. We've talked about it on a different podcast, but that's not relevant. The the the relevant part of this is Ryan has an ability to identify people very, very well. And like you said, Tony Robbins, hire slow, fire fast. It's it's different when it comes to how Ryan operates, when it comes to hiring employees, managing them. And I think that's where the way that I operate with inside our company, I've already been in my own way, similar to you, just in a different world. I've always been the alpha, the leader, the mentor to personal trainers and other content creators or new dads prior to even meeting you, to be honest. And I think that's where my name, my brand, everything, uh you know, I literally every logo that I have for my businesses, I have tattooed on me. I'm just waiting for the right time to put paradigm on me. But it's it's all about who you are and who you surround yourself with. So going into that, what do you see in certain people that makes you want to invest your time, energy, and money? Because the difference is with me, you clearly just stated it. You saw those little nuggets. But for other people, and again, you gave the example of Jen, but even from the past and the people that didn't work out, I want you to really understand in your own head, because this is like a therapy session, but also for other people that are listening, to understand how you operate and how you go and hire people and why you actually do what you do.

SPEAKER_00 40:52

So I tell everybody when you first come here, if you've never been in this space, you it's going to be very, very difficult. Private equity, my old mentor told me the same thing. He said, either you have it or you don't. People either have the ability to stay in this market, push themselves, or they don't. But I I the more that I think about it, it's I think just a general characteristic that people have to have to be able to be in a growing startup-like business, right? Every project we take on is naturally a startup. It even says in our offering documents, this is a startup. And so if you think about it, we're doing constant startups. So what's that mean? So anytime you open a business, it's all hands on deck. You're it is you you're working all hours, the stress is high, you got to generate income, you're shifting, you're doing things, new systems. You're doing that even with every project, you're doing with that with every city. It's it's so much stress and work, but it does pay off. And at the end of the day, I tell people if you want to come and work for me, you have to have this kind of unique, you have to be a little insane, you know. You have to kind of want so much for yourself that you're okay being uncomfortable. Because if you're not and you're just trying to get a paycheck and have some peace and chase peace, this is not the business for you. I literally tell people this in interviews. And I tell them, I say, look, if I'm gonna bring you on, I'm going to expect that you're gonna do continue education after hours. If you're working 40 hours a week, this is not the company. You will not survive here. I will literally hang my hat, like, look, I'm paying you. This is what you get paid, this is what you need to do. Yes, there's legal and you have to pay people overtime, fine. But I don't care. If you're still only doing 40 hours a week, it's not enough. You need to go home and sharpen your blade. If you are going to take a certain position on, you need to learn what it takes to be in that position. So, what's happened is I can have those conversations. And when I sit down with somebody, I'm like, you got to push yourself, you want to do better for yourself, you know, let's talk about your families, what have you. You know, everyone says, Yeah, I'm ready, I'm ready. I want to do better. Everybody's ready for a change, everybody's ready to make more money, everybody's ready to be in a good environment. And that's what that's what leads people to want to jump ship from old companies to maybe new companies, is hope that you're gonna get into a better position. But the reality is that if you're gonna go into something that's gonna make you more money, it's probably gonna be harder. Yeah. Right? Because it's risk and reward. The the more money you're gonna make, it's gonna be more risk. It's gonna be more stress. You got to give up something to gain something. And that's just the way the world works. So I tell people, if you're gonna come and you're like, for example, I'll use this. I was telling Amy the other day. I said, Amy, you know, you can go do whatever it is you were doing before, make the same amount of money, or you can come over here, you're gonna make the same, you know, make the same amount of money, but you're going to have different respect in the world because

Restrictions Trust And The 2028 Factor

SPEAKER_00 43:33

you're in private equity now. You can go to Thanksgiving with your family and talk about, well, what are you doing? Well, I'm dealing with, you know, I'm dealing with I'm next to a guy who's a fund manager that manages, he's done $3 billion in transactions and I'm learning how money works, right? I'm I'm raising capital for a hundred million dollar project. Whatever the case may be, people go, wait, hold on, that's really cool. And they look at you different. Look at you. You are now the one person in your family. Your entire family comes to you. Why? Because they respect you. You put food on the table, you do you, and you've always been consistent, but now you've gotten so much respect in your family because of what you do. I hate to say it. That's just life. If in in and that's the chess game of life. If you want respect and you kind of have that, I need people to see me for what I am, or I want to be better, or I want people to look at me different, and you're gonna take on this position, it You're gonna have to work for it, but you're gonna get the respect in return. Yeah. So it's it's just there's this ongoing give or take that you have to be to be a part of this company. So with that said, the the characteristics I have to see in people is this undone like unbelievable drive of wanting to learn and just be this consistent student. You have to, these people need to want to grow, they want to do better, they want to elevate their company or their their personal life, they want to be a better mom, they want to be a better wife, they want to be, you know, a better business person, they want to make more money, they have to have an unbelievable drive for something. I don't care what it is, you know, but you need to be, you they need to want to be better, right? And if they if they just don't have that, I just I know they won't do well here because they won't be able to get uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_03 45:09

And two ears, one mouth, also.

SPEAKER_00 45:11

Yeah, yeah, right. That too. And so if they don't have the ability to push themselves through that uncomfortable situation, it's never gonna work. And I tell people all the time, how hard is it to be married? Oh my goodness gracious. Okay, well, everyone's like, marriage isn't the way it's supposed to be. But here's the point would you rather be married to your wife that you've had three kids or not? Everyone's always gonna say, I would rather be married than not, but it's hard freaking work. Yep. So it's like, look, no matter what you get into, it's gonna be hard work, but you gotta know that there's reward on the other side of it, especially, and this is where I get frustrated, especially when I've explained it, I've communicated it, I've given you tools, I've given you what you needed. And if you still don't deliver, I have to let you go.

SPEAKER_03 45:50

So, with that being said, do you feel that you can still scale this company or anyone's company, another founder that's very similar to you? Do you feel you can still scale this company while still personally pouring into every employee, or do you feel that becomes a weakness at some point with inside this firm or any other people in the same shoes?

SPEAKER_00 46:17

So, my biggest problem was I give too many people chances. I just I give too much chance. I I have a heart for, you know, people are going through hardship, you know, and it's just simply because I don't like going through hardship myself. And when you have personal stuff going on in your life, the last thing you want is financial hardship on top of that, right? So if someone, if someone's going through something fine, you know, a personal you know experience in their lives and it's really difficult for them,

Hiring For Drive And Discomfort

SPEAKER_00 46:42

if it pollinates onto their business life, then we have a problem. If they're able to keep the ducks in the air or duck in a row, if you will, with the company while they're going through their personal life, I respect it and I'll keep investing into them. But 99% of people cannot separate that. If they're going through things in their personal life, it's gonna pollinate under their business life. And then it affects me, it affects everybody in the in the company, it affects all my clients. So I have to be the bad guy sometimes and let people go. But to answer your question more directly, I know I will never be able to scale this company where I want to go if I keep pouring into people that don't deserve it or haven't earned it. So again, hire slow, fire fast. I'm getting better at going, they don't have it in them, they gotta let them go. It's the same concept. You give people 90 days to do well. And if in that 90 days they're not doing very good at all, well, after those 90 days, the likelihood of them being better is very low. Normally the mask continues to come off the longer things go. So in the first 90 days, if they're not doing very well, then I might as well just let them go now because it's just they're gonna get more, you know, laxadaisical or what have you. I want to see people in the first 90 days consistently growing and getting smarter and taking on more responsibilities and continuing to surprise me and instead of going backwards. The minute people start going backwards, I'm starting to get into a point where I can let them go. But no organization can can scale a business without their executive team growing or their downline to grow. And then you have to you have to delegate too.

SPEAKER_03 48:12

But yeah, so the kind of my next question goes into how you finish that with executive team. So this is a two-part question, in a way, with me, but then also how you choose your executive team. So for my situation, being, I always say my not a videographer, I'm Ryan's right-hand man and executive partner here at the company. Punching bag? Yes. So, with that being said, how difficult is it to mentor someone you care about while still holding them accountable as an employee and or trusting them as an executive for your firm?

SPEAKER_00 48:51

That's the hardest part. Because you never want to come down on somebody you love. But you also know that you have responsibilities and and then you kind of you you get to a point where you you really kind of have to trust that you know, I've done it long enough now where I kind of trust my gut, you know, more. And so I'm I'm I'm not I'm not taking it so hard when I have to come down on anybody that I love, but I also know that we have a business to run, and it really is difficult because what you fear is losing that love and respect from that person. It's like, you know, some like you choose your wars, right? You choose the battles. And I think people do that in marriages, you know, like should I bring this up and create a fight or should I not come to some create a fight? Like, yeah, but then but then but if there's like real business, then you have to really have that hard conversation. And that's why a lot of marriages they can't work together because if it's like time to really get serious on something, there's one leader that just have a hard time, you know, doing well. So I think I think it's that's the hardest part. But I think what's happened now, which we've seen internally, is that nobody takes it personal anymore. Like you don't take it personal, none of it, nobody else that's out on the executive side takes it personal. So if I come down on people, they're right, they're like, right, there's a reason for it. What why? You know, they don't really, no one's like, okay, you know, Ryan's seen a landmine somewhere, Ryan's stressed out something. Like, what where is it? What is it? And then so no one's taking it personal anymore. They're just like, okay, Ryan needs me to do this, needs me to work the weekend. Fuck fine, I'll just do it.

SPEAKER_03 50:17

Yeah, you know, it's not like I don't even go that way, honestly. When you come down on me, this is my thought. Everyone else must be doing good because Ryan is having to just let it out. At the end of the day, as in your shoes, just knowing so much about you and the stress you have to deal with, investors, personal life, the city, BS. I know at the end of the day, you need to let loose on someone.

SPEAKER_01 50:42

Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_03 50:43

It doesn't matter if it's a five-second conversation or a two-day bender on hating why they're you know slow on this or not making enough calls, or Joe's not giving me as fast as cuts as I need, you know. As a founder in his shoes, he he definitely has, just like with anyone, every child can go so long and then they have a breaking point, regardless if there's anything else going on. It's it's just the this cycle of life, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_00 51:10

Yeah, and I think, you know, I I think I've I think what it's happened is we've all been, you know, let's just put it this way when you look at these big institutions or someone, or let's

Giving Chances Versus Protecting The Team

SPEAKER_00 51:18

say a private equity firm is about to buy out a business. Did you know one of the first things that they focus on is how long has your executive team been together? Because they want to see that you guys have all fought and kissed and made up because there is just a commonality in every company. If you have an executive team that's been together for more than five years, you guys have fought and figured it out and you guys have stuck together, that means that this business is probably pretty rooted, right? So that's just like a metrics from other bigger private equity companies that are bigger, smarter, that are buying up other firms, and they're looking at it from that perspective. That's part of the underwriting metrics, right? There's a reason that exists. So, you know, that's the way that I kind of look at it is like we've all stuck together for so long that it's just kind of like, okay, we just continue to take the shots together. But I, my job is not only to push everybody in the company, but also push myself, Joe. I don't really have a lot of other people that are pushing me or giving me the vision or and then continue to do the business development side because again, that's my role now, right? I do focus on business development. But it's like, who's gonna do that? I'm the only one. So, but I have to have disciplines and I have to push myself. And I so that's part of me constantly listening to the news or whatever the case may be. I've created the processes. Now, what happens is like we all go through our personal stuff and I see it. And you have you noticed, I let everyone kind of go through it, and as they come out of it, then I go get hard on them because I'm like, okay, well, you've been you know slacking for two weeks because you've been having that personal shit. It's time to get now, it's good time to get back on track. Will you do me a favor? I need you to work the next two weekends. I need you to make up this. This is what you're missed, and this is what needs to be done. Yeah, and what's happened is everyone's like, okay, no problem. Now it wasn't like that for a long time. It was a lot of turmoil, but it's just that doesn't exist as much anymore.

SPEAKER_03 52:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 52:56

But anyways, yeah, go ahead.

SPEAKER_03 52:57

So where the company is now and being being able to understand in my shoes, I do want to make kind of like a statement on just myself as I would have never seen where I am today in this company. I I would have never seen that. Like if I had to flip a coin and someone tell me, like, you know, because next month is six years. It it's it's going on six years. So looking at myself back then almost six years ago, being able to see from where I started to now, this is also a different mindset for me because it helps me understand how important the vision is. And I've already known that from the vision, how fast we need certain things. Marketing is the gold rush for our company at the end of the day, because Ryan could go anywhere else. He could, he could start over, he could bankrupt this company and you know, fire everyone, and just literally keep someone like me and maybe you know, one or two other people, and we would be fine because we know how to market, we know what to do, and we could start over anytime.

SPEAKER_00 54:17

So we understand how money works, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 54:19

And so for me, I just want to be able to honestly express to you like I appreciate everything that you've been able to guide me in, but I do want you to understand that you did do a good job being able to fine-tune and trust inside me. And I want to congratulate you on that because ultimately it is hard. And I'm sure you put yourself down too. Like, you know, why didn't why did I hire this John Doe? Why didn't why did I hired this Karen, you know, and I trusted in her or trusted in him, and you know, it doesn't work out, but sometimes you do need to give yourself the credit to be able to, as much

Accountability With People You Love

SPEAKER_03 54:59

as I earned everything, I'm never gonna discredit that because I do work my ass off. But I also want you to understand that everything that you've been able to trust with inside me has been able to allow me to continue to grow and to continue to lead with inside this firm. And I really do believe that our company is changing and the atmosphere, you know, even for this building itself, like I'm beyond proud of what we were able to do in less than one year. I mean, if you really think about it, um, Art actually was like, dude, let's let's me and you do a podcast, me, you, and Ryan, me and Rosie. Um, and for those of you that don't know, you know, Art is our gym, you know, manager uh or man, he's like our advisor, advisor, gym advisor for building out equipment, ordering equipment and mass. And then Rosie's a good friend of mine, helped with logo design. But my point with this is we were talking the other day, and he's like, Do you and Ryan realize that you guys were able to, and it would have been done faster, but the problem is is like we have so mind you, we're in the middle of capital raising, launching other projects, trying to market for paradigm storage. Ryan's going back and forth, figuring out, you know, does he gonna keep his California house, not keep his California house? All these things in the meantime, we're trying to figure out with 35 years of experience between me, you, and art of just professional of yourself as a you know, wealth manager, myself in the fitness industry, art in his. We have so much experience, and it was so hard for us to figure out what equipment, but once we did, it was less than four months that we ordered all of this.

SPEAKER_00 56:44

Well, think about the guy, the guy who came in and put a put the uh the um the uh octagon in, right? Because mind you, that's a Jackson chain octagon. That's why we're in the Jackson chain right now. Yep, you do too. But um, you know, that was and I think it was one of uh the professional fighters, and we don't have to announce it, but it was one of his originally. And so when he came in to install it, he goes, This is literally the coolest gym I've ever been in, ever. He's like, I've been doing this for 40 years. And he goes, I've never seen anything like this before. And that really was cool. We even have a testimony. I think you have a video of him saying that too. Yeah. Um, and uh, I thought that was really kind of cool, you know. And yes, that is a testimony to our ability to see and forecast and do our homework and look at the data. And and you know, we had actual two-scale renderings. We did all the right practices, but this is the real this is what happens when you do the right practices, when you plan properly, right? My old my uncle, the one former owner of Standard Pacific, sold the Lenar, went and built 3,000 doors for the Irvine Company or Western National, right? Built 33,000 apartments. I mean, he told me the risk is in is always going to be mitigated in the planning and your upfront studying. That's why I'm so such a perfectionist of like, let's get everything dialed in all the way down to our renderings to scale. Like before anybody even sees what we're doing, all of the homework was already done. And then we went and built the marketing material. So it's like, you know, I think what we've done, especially with all the other things we had on our plate, to be able to launch this and then create enough cash flow to sustain any business in a in four or five months, that's not normal. Yeah, you know, in this metric, because you or in these in this area, because there's no data to support it.

Vision As The Real Moat

SPEAKER_00 58:20

So it was a very entrepreneurial play, but we utilized our own data and understanding to make it happen. Yeah. And that is what's going to be the vertically integrated movement moving forward with smaller fund managers that can foresee being boots on the ground and foresee those problems or issues and then build around it. But yeah, I I I going back, I really appreciate what you said, man. I think, you know, I you know what it all comes down to this. And I think this is why I'm always so hard on everybody because I I I expect so much out of myself, and I no one's harder on themselves than than themselves, right? Like I'm hard on myself, you're hard on yourself. I've seen you get real hard on yourself. I think what it is, man, is that I've had enough people that were in my life that now reach out to me and say, I was so thankful that you were hard on me. My own sons. You know, I think I think what and my old mentor that I really learned it from him, you know, was now I'm so glad I went through the pain and the stress and the struggle because look at the the lives I'm changing now, or look at where we are as a company. And it's just not a lot of people can ever say we've been able to get there. Now, the path to get here was not fun. Yeah, but at the end of the day, you can what did I say today when we were up in the in the I said, hey, all I told the whole team were in there and I said, Hey guys, I know the stress is high, but we are also very, very blessed. And the minute I said that, everyone was just like, so true. So we can hang on to all the stress, or we can really see that what we are, the position that we're on, are pretty blessed. So the point is that everyone that I that I've had, like I you've seen text messages, messages on social media call me and go, the best thing I ever did was work for you. And you opened up my doors. That's why I'm in the career I'm in, or this is where I am where I'm at. You know, I always think of your voice before I make a next decision. And I think I've had enough of those wins now that I can, I know it's even if you don't like me, maybe at the moment, you'll be thankful down the road because I'm not giving you bad advice. I'm just I care for you and I know you want better for yourself. That's what you told me. Then the only way is to create the disciplines and you don't have the discipline. Sorry, I'm gonna call you out on it. Yeah. So if you don't like it, I don't know what to tell you, but I'm doing it to myself, I'm doing it to everybody else. So what happens is the people come in, let's say the company, and I'm hard on them, but they've also seen me hard on everybody else. And they also say I'm hard on myself.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:37

And then they see my sacrifice, you know, and and then if they can't make it, then they really weren't ready.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:44

And that's usually what it comes down to, it's just they weren't ready, right? They everybody wants it, but they just may not be ready. So I think, you know, it's the same concept as this. You know, like when you go through a really bad time or a hardship, the minute it gets past you get past it and you look back five, 10 years ago, and you're like, you know what? I'm actually blessed I went through that.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:02

Because now you know. Now you know if it happens again or you're going down similar path.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:07

But then you also kind of get this sense of pride. Like, you know what, I've been through a lot in my life. Like, I have I earned this.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:14

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:15

When you start seeing your value and you start believing that your hardships was worth there was a reason for it, you know, like, uh, now I know, like, God didn't paint the picture as to why I was going through. So I even used to ask the Lord, like, why are you why am I going through this right now, Lord? But he you didn't hear him. Well, it didn't mean that he wasn't going to answer you, just right now he was trying to create something out of you. You know, so maybe five years, 10 years down the road, he made it very clear what you're going through, there's the reason. And you're like, and now I'm thankful I went through it. So I think for me, I have enough of those two where I'm like, I'm so thankful for all these hardships and times because I don't think I'd be where I'm at today. But really, the value I'm getting is the amount of people I'm helping and and engaging with. You know, you hear people say bad things, but it's always the ones that don't know me. Yeah. Right. But the minute you get engaged with me and I put any type of effort into you, I will elevate you no matter what. I mean, look at my resources too. Every business in town that I've put, you know, I've elevated, I mean, look how many people I've brought under the wing and elevated their businesses. They're now having kids and family and hiring people. I mean, it list goes on, but that's actually what my that's that's part of my reward for me. I enjoy it. So now that's what that's what encourages me to want to keep going. But I also I'm gonna be hard on everybody because I don't know another way to be.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:29

Yeah. And I and I think it's it's it's definitely one of those things for any anyone with inside the company knows the the big boss always has to be hard at some point. So it's not necessarily unnormal for that situation to occur. But I do feel in my shoes now, I sometimes is the mean one most of the time because I'm trying to like push you to not be as nice and lenient or forgiving because I know you have a big heart and you do sometimes go a little bit too far and trusting people and all that, and it does dictate decision makings and timelines with inside the company because hiring one person, let's just I'm no names or no rabbit holes, but let's just say a year ago we hired someone and overpaid, made us change things. Oh, I know, and then it delayed us almost six to eight months in the middle of a capital raise. And that now caused us on top of the city with everything we have going on. So, all those things I'm learning, and I think you you know, you appreciate it, but I'm learning now to understand and be put the hammer down and then also mentor people because ultimately you want your executive team with inside this firm to be able to go and oversee when you are not here. And I think that's important for everyone to understand is if you were to die today or you needed to go be with your family like you've needed to be at times. Can you trust the people to manage while you're gone? And I think that's that's big.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:14

Oh, that's big for any company. That's what they always tell you. Like, if you want to see a company that's sustainable is when the founder or CEO doesn't need to play work work in it anymore. Yeah, they work on it. That's the reason why I took a back seat, though, right? I and when I say back seat, I'm no longer the CEO. I'm now the founder chairman. And when we brought on a CEO to take on to the day-to-day, I would say 90. You know what, Joe? Honestly, if any of my staff listens to this, um, I think the only way that it will continue is if you continue to follow the vision. But there's but you are gonna have to the in five years, there's gonna be a new vision, though. So you're gonna have to sit back and go, Well, what would Ryan do? What would Ryan see? And the reason I know you'd be good with that, dude, is because of how you are with my oldest son.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:00

Because you tell Shane all the time, your dad would not approve of that. Don't do it. Dad, your dad would, how would your dad want this? He would do that this way, whatever. And you've always been right with him. Yeah, but you're always right a lot on even the marketing side. So I think the only person, because you've been so close to me, and dude, it's only been you and me on marketing. You and I, it period into story, and all of the decision making for the last six years on where we're going as a company. You're the if you're not staying in on the vision, like you've continued now, you take over the visionary side. If you don't, if that doesn't happen, this company won't survive.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:33

Yeah, and I and I thought about it actually on the way here driving this trip, listening at AI podcasts, and they were talking about how no AI will ever be able to make creativity with inside a brand. It can make stuff, but you have to be able to prompt it to do it. So you as a human still needs that. And honestly, like without me and you, no one would ever be able to see what we've been able to create and do. I'd like I would bet I would go all in on black on roulette for sure with the money I don't have to bet that you wouldn't be able to find someone that can match mine andor yours in a way to replace that. Because I love Mike. At the end of the day, but Mike being the CEO, there he knows nothing. Numbers and research, 100%.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:27

Yeah, he's he's he's a Wall Street guy. Wall Street.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:30

Yeah, but if we had to rely on him for visionary stuff for the company, honestly, I don't know how well he's gonna be.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:36

He would have fired everybody a long time ago, dude. You know, he's just like fire him, fire that person, fire this. I don't my numbers aren't correct. You're like, hold on, let me tell you why. Yeah, he just can't he's just he's a numbers guy, man. How much you're spending on ads? Yeah, why are we doing this? I don't understand. You know, he's like the he's the Scrooge of the company, right? You just picture a guy back there with like glasses down to the bottom of his nose and just reading every single line item, you know what I mean? What is going on around here? You know, so it's a it's a that's why I have him here, though. That's why I hired him, really. That's exactly where I hired him. Um but uh you know, I think I think you know, for for this firm, it really is going to come down to vision. And no, and and I'll highlight a few things. Look at paradigm storage. Paradigm storage is like nothing else in the country. That's why we got the recognition, that's why it's moving like it is. Look at this this gym, look at the the building itself. The building kind of came as already set up of his design, but we redesigned the about 65% of this building, and then we everything changed as far as structural uh components to it down to finish work. Everything's totally different. And then we built a gym within it. So we had to figure out it, we had to find vision too, as well, which was kind of wild when you're in the middle of something because we were looking at this. This is our headquarters building, but we were gonna look at it just storing material. But we're like, hey, we need to kick off the business plan. Let's start the gym, you know. And then when the big gyms open, we'll just move everything over there, right? But I mean, so we had to shift visions, but we hit our mark. And so that I think that's gonna that's the hard part, you know. You can't really replace that. That's gonna be the hard part. And then think about the barn caves, there's nothing like that in the country. Think about the new gym design, there's nothing like that in the country. I'm on the entrepreneurial side, but everything makes sense when you look at the data, right? And then really we've eliminated any kind of competition, so we've created a niche, and that in that niche is what typically makes multimillionaires and billionaires. So I always knew that we would, it's always nice to do things in an asset class that performs just because you know, built and RV storage out here makes sense for here, right? It's in the self-storage asset class. So from an institutional grade, it is a great investment. So we are still hitting markers that make sense for worldly investments, but we're we're just putting our own little spin and design on there and shifting things according to the area or demographics that what we know people want. And that's not rocket science, we just do it on a much greater scale than anybody else has touched. Yeah, you know, that's really what's happening. And then people want it, and and then we're like, boom, I'll pay more for it, you know. And then if you think about it, even our competitors can't keep up because we're priced less than they are and we give a lot more.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:03

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:04

So that's the key, right? It's like if you're gonna go to a restaurant, you you're hungry, but you go over here and you know they're gonna give you a tiny little slice of this or that, you're like, We're not I can go over here and spend the same money and get a massive steak. You're gonna go over there, exactly. You know, so it's just that simple. Yeah, but you know, that but that's the point. It's the vision. It's you know, and that's the point of you know, paradigm is is if they're gonna start a development, they're gonna make themselves known because we care more about our brand and what we're doing, more than just trying to pump out things and make money. Because we know my my belief system is the brand is what makes you money, it's what you're gonna create in the environment for those who are gonna buy them or be the end users that is what is going to make that valuable. And that's why I knew, and then from a reinvestment side, when those users go to resell or repurpose, how what what's that asset do for them? And that's where you know, people are buying these or coming into a lot of our stuff, knowing that even the resale for them on the on the future is good and valuable for them.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:59

Yeah. So that's the vision. Yeah, and I think I think we can kind of close off on that aspect of things. What I do want to try and just incorporate for the you know the audience that comes in, because we have so many people that go to the webinars, the podcasts, or they they haven't listened to one podcast and then they see a post of yours and it resonates with them. I think it's important for you to be able to do an elevator pitch on what is going on with our projects, what things you're offering, what things are making you happy right now. Like, I want you to be able to just close off on the podcast in a way to be able to just highlight what's going on with you right now.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:37

Yeah. So, like, so we have three projects now, right? The everybody knows the barn caves, but on that one, 93 units, townhomes, detached, three stories, 45 feet tall, right? Uh, each one of them has an elevator. Uh, bottom uh bottom floor is all garage. I think the largest unit we have is a 72 foot long by 25, uh 28-foot wide building.

Current Projects And What Is Open Now

SPEAKER_02 1:10:58

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:58

Um, super cool. If you look at it, you have 26-foot vaulted ceiling, you know, 10-foot lids, you know, all I mean, it's unbelievably their barn dominiums that are just unbelievably sexy. So that's a good investment, but it's a mixed-use product. You have a 40,000 plus square foot gym that we're building, Dubai-inspired pool. You know, we're obviously showing proof of concept with this gym that's already gonna make money, that mitigates risk for investors. That's gonna be open to the public. The building has value, right? All that fun stuff. But we are gonna do a post-tension actual parking structure. Wow. So this is gonna be the first parking structure ever built in Lake Havaso. So you can imagine the PR, right? In fact, you when you we pour that concrete, the concrete, the way we're pouring is incredible. No one's ever even said, we're bringing a concrete company out of California. There's no one out here that'll be able to cater to that. So that's gonna be cool. So, of course, again, that vision, right? It's just this, that big vision, but the big push. Um, the uh uh the uh the flats, man. You know, I don't talk on it that much, but man, I'm I love the flats. And the reason is because I love the location, right? Four acres, literally downtown. It was the largest parcel left in in that downtown area by far. We pulled it down and we were able to pencil out 68 units of townhomes, a little more affordable, second home driven for sure. We're gonna keep the HOAs down, two stories, big RV garage at the bottom, second floor has the living space, and then a third floor rooftop deck, flat, but with a rooftop deck. And pretty much every single unit has a root has a has a view. To give you an idea, at the stop sign, at that four-way stop at the corner of this project, you could see the lake from at the stop sign, and it's a beautiful view, almost a I'd say a hundred degree view. Now imagine on a third floor, right? It's just gonna be stunning. Um, but I at the locations, what's the the point? And then the design I like a lot because, and of course I'm biased, but I like a lot because I have been traveling up to Park City quite a bit. And as you know, and for those that may have known me, uh, we were looking at buying a big gym up there that had some land and we were gonna basically do with the Barncaves model, but up in Park City. So the product that we designed is catered to even those types of areas and that quality of buyers and that dollar amount. But uh what I did is I brought in our architect and had him kind of go on a tour with me, and we are bringing in a lot of finished work and design from Park City. So very, very sexy finish work. Um, a lot of 90-degree lines, you know, 12-foot island, just sexy stuff, but for an affordable um price, it's inside, you know, uh the community. Yep. And people are just freaking out, going, I can't believe these exist. So, you know, those are those are townhomes, fee simple purchase, but it's in the heart where people can still park their their boats and their toys, but they have a little crash pad. You know, it's like a it's a man cave, but really nice man cave. It's a it's a man cave on peptides. We're gonna start doing that. Yes. And then um, so that one's a good one. Uh, we're we're hoping that we're gonna start moving dirt in October. The barn caves, going back to that, we've already started moving dirt. So we pulled the permit on that, so we're really blessed and excited. Um, the next one up is uh what we call Paradigm Flex. That's actually an 80-unit storage project. It's basically uh Paradigm Storage 2.0. We know that product well. We know everywhere we're gonna. In fact, I had a talk with my superintendent. I said, I'm gonna rent you a house and you can go out there and manage it for me. And he said, Absolutely, let's go. Because he wants to retire out there anyways.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:03

But uh, you know, talked to him today and he said, I'm I'm in, let's go. Um, that was a foreclosure take back through our secured income fund. We uh we took back the project and uh we have it on the market to sell, but no one's buying it. Just the layout of the land is very unique. You can't really use it except for maybe building a house on it, but it's already zoned by right for us to build the storage units, and then it's on a it's on a main vein. It's uh it's right next to Old Hickory, it's about 20 minutes north of downtown uh uh Nashville, and so it's a big lake life. So very the similar demographics is here as far as the the uh the recreational use, but just a lot more dense with a lot more money. I mean, we're talking about 1.6 million people in a 30-mile radius here in Havasu, it's like 75,000 in a in a 30-mile radius, it's very small compared to that. So, and a lot more migration there, that type of stuff. So the model, as far as an institutional grade model for a feasibility study, shows it's the best investment we have on our platform, as far as from a risk study. Uh, on this highway, because the street the properties on the highway, it's 15,000 cars a day drive by it. So it's very similar to the 95. So you're literally on a on a main vein with that much exposure, which is killer.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:13

Um, so we'll have a 10,000 square foot gym facility. It's gonna be a little smaller than the one we are now, I think. Right. Well, actually, let me back up. The floor plan that we have right now, as far as the layout of this existing gym, we only have 12,000 square feet being used. So, and that's with all the that's all the office space too. So we're gonna be at 10,000. So it's gonna basically be identical to this. So we know these numbers, right? We know these numbers. So we're gonna do that. And it's gonna be uh, we're gonna also gonna have a medical tenant as well. So from a risk side, I think a lot of clients will like that because you're bringing in a healthcare tenant into a building, which increases value.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:45

Um, so that's what we're gonna do there. But again, that's 80 units. We're hoping we'll have approval. Uh, we met with the city. Uh, my architect came with me. We met with the city last week, uh, two days in a row. Uh, we stood in front of P uh PNZ, we stood in front of BZA, and they all loved it. So now it's like just go through the process for planning. Uh, so we're we're hoping that we can get through that in October, November. We'll no later than early next year. We'll start. And uh, but we already know our numbers and we kind of know where we're gonna land. The comps are showing uh sexy, but uh yeah, we're gonna we have that open for capital raising right now, too. So we have three projects. We just finished three projects. Now we have three more coming out of the hole, and then that's kind of where we want to hover. You know, we have a couple, we have a little spec home that we're gonna build up in the foothills. That's kind of fun, but that's easy.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:25

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:26

Um, other than that, like yeah, we're we got those three big projects, and I think collectively it's about uh it's about 150 million dollars worth of projects on our platform right now.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:35

Love it. Well, that I think that's the big overview for where we are as a firm. The other thing that I just want to make sure he touches on boat house. Um, we have boat house storage units available right now. And Eric, if you need any storage units to rent out um andor buy, we have we have multiple storage units available at boathouse up on the 40. Yeah, 40 and 95, right? 40 and 95. And then paradigm storage, we are going to be starting to go vertical very soon on building G millionaires row. So those are the other two that you don't we're not raising capital for that. It's already, you know, we're in the building phase andor selling for those.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:15

Building G. I mean, today we just our building drops in 30 days, and then our erection team, which is our building team, is we just call them the erection team. Some people think of erections. I'm like the sexual erections. I'm like, no, no, it's just the it's just the verbiage, forgive me. But um, yeah, we uh we have 20 laborers. We're gonna try to deliver that building in two and a half months. So we're actually gonna try to deliver ahead of what we've been telling people. Um, but we have about half of those already accounted for from buyers, but we won't we don't have any available. We have no the people are buying these. I can't build them fast enough. They we have no available units. The only ones we have available are the ones in Boathouse. Those are fee simple people can buy them. So if you're listening to this and you have a 1031 exchange, you're looking for cash flow, these are good assets for less maintenance. You have people that are gonna put more money in those units than what you're gonna buy it for. So people are gonna pay the bill, you know. Um yeah, but uh those are really great for investments. And then you get the bonus depreciation, you get the tax credits. So a lot of investors uh coming out of the stock market right now, that they've made money and they're liquidating, they're gonna look for write-offs and tax credits. So that's a really good play for people. So, but yeah, boathouse, that one's available. We just delivered that one and uh the last building we have in Building G and and Paradigm Storage, and that's it.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:21

Yep, yep. Well, there is one more.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:24

Which one?

SPEAKER_03 1:18:26

San Antonio. So that's the other one. We we if you know anyone in San Antonio, we have apartments being able to be out for rent, uh, brand new, turnkey ready, and up to four four plans.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:40

We have a four-bed, we have we have it's it's four floor plans. Yeah, so we have a four-bedroom, three-bedroom, two-bedroom uh options. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:47

So those are good. I actually, when I was out there, I had an old client of mine text me on Instagram DM and was like, hey, uh are one, you know, are those available? And she's like, if I would have known, she's like, My son just moved out there, who I trained when he was in high school, and he's going out there in college. And she's like, I would have totally

Final Wrap And Where To Find Webinars

SPEAKER_03 1:19:06

rented one of these with my son and his roommate. Yeah. And so again, if you're out there, you know, just just if you're listening and anyone in San Antonio and looking for, you know, an apartment, those are awesome. So, other than that, it was just a quick overview. So that way, if you haven't caught a webinar, we have our webinars, audios on our Paradigm Shift platform. We are gonna be posting soon a webinar going into August, I believe the first or second week, we're gonna determine that um by the end of this week. And yeah, other than that, I think I'm good. This was an hour and 20 minutes about of a podcast. And just honestly, I want people to understand who we are. And honestly, it's I again, like he said, I can care less about getting any credit. Um, I'm here to accomplish one thing, and that's making our company a billion-dollar firm and something all of our families can be proud of. And I think that's what it takes, and we will get there. We're slowly climbing that ladder, but I'm proud to work for Paradigm. I appreciate everything that you've done, Ryan. Um, and I love you like a brother, you're Uncle Ryan to my kids. So, you know, on to the next. And, you know, those that have any questions for us, I think they always reach out to you, and it allows us to be able to pull that data to be able to understand what to talk on next.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:28

So yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:30

Other than that, on to the next. And thank you for listening to the Paradigm Shift. This is Joe Diesel Roman, the executive media director at Paradigm Companies, and Mr. Ryan J. Garland, founder and chairman of Paradigm Companies. See you soon.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:44

Thanks, guys.