Wud up?

Sometimes friends suck.

I should probably unpack that.

If you’re reading this, you’re most likely entrepreneurially minded. In other words, you’re either running a business, actively building your passive investment portfolio, or in the dreaming phase of your future entrepreneurial endeavors.

Wherever you are on this spectrum, you know what sharing your plans with friends and family is like. You let them in on your dream, unveil what you’ve been building, or pitch your product/service to them, and then . . .

You’re immediately filled with regret.

What’s coming next is a generalization, but close friends and family are often the first to crap all over your dreams. They shoot you down. Tell you all the shortcomings of your plans. Emphasize your deficiencies and minimize your strengths.

Then, if they decide they want your product/service/investment vehicle, they expect you to give them a crazy discount — or worse, they go with a competitor instead.

Find yourself nodding along to that description?

The struggle is real, ain’t it.

The point here is not to bemoan ‘friends.’ Instead, the practical takeaway is two-fold:

1. If you’re building something, anticipate that your friends and family may voice their support, but it’s the rare few who will put their money where their mouth is when the time comes.
   
   Prepare yourself for this dynamic. Save yourself some disappointment.
   
   Be grateful for the real ones who buy in early, and don’t hold it against the nay-sayers. Give unsupportive friends the benefit of the doubt: they still love you — they just have a funny way of showing it.
   

2. Flip the script. If you have friends who are building a business and you believe in them, show your support!
   
   Support takes many forms. You can invest financially or buy what they’re offering (bonus points if you do so at full price!) But even sharing what they’re building on your social feeds, referring them to others who could benefit from their offer, or giving them constructive feedback and encouragement can have a huge impact.

Be the friend you want to see in the world.

Pretty sure Ghandi said that.

On Tap Today:

• Lessons from the Week

• A Banker’s Perspective

• Featured Episode from the Pod

• Something You Should Read

Top Lessons from the Week

1. Go fishing. Take a nap.

   Earlier this week, I called one of the largest self-storage owners and operators on this side of the Mississippi. When he answered after a few rings, he informed me that I’d woken him from his nap. He said he was wiped out after going fishing earlier that morning.

   Admittedly, I was a bit embarrassed to have woken him from his slumber. But he wasn’t embarrassed whatsoever. As we continued to chat, the implication was clear: the ability to go fishing and enjoy midday naps are the simple pleasures that make businesses worth building.

   
   Now, my self-storage friend is in the sunset years of his career, so he understandably has more hours than most to give to life’s simple pleasures.
   
   Still, there was a good takeaway for me: in the busyness of building a business, don’t forget to savor the everyday pleasures of the here and now.
   
   In other words, don’t get caught with your head buried so deeply in your work that you miss the moments that make life living. Carve out time for the things you love. Be that playing pickleball, noodling around on a guitar, taking your family out to the farmer’s market, or whatever else comes to mind for you.
   
   On death’s doorstep, no one looks back and says, “I wish I would have replied to a few more emails!”
   
   Make time for the things that make life worth living.

2. Pick your lane.

   I love cruise control. Whenever I hit a long stretch of highway, one of the first things I do is set my cruise for 6 MPH above the speed limit (the outer limit of universally accepted ‘grey area’ surrounding highway speed limits).

   
   What I don’t love are other drivers who don’t know how—or willfully refuse—to use cruise control.
   
   You know the type: they pass you in the left lane, pull in front of you, then slow down to 5 MPH below the speed limit. So, you get over to pass them. Then, two minutes later, that same car comes whizzing by your driver's side. And the cycle repeats.

   
   It drives me crazy.

   
   Unfortunately, when it comes to investing and entrepreneurship, I’m a lot more like the distracted and erratic driver who keeps inexplicably changing lanes and speed.

   
   Call it shiny-object-syndrome, ADD, chasing ghosts, or anything else you want, the reality is constantly switching things up, changing directions, and bouncing around leads to nowhere fast.

   
   Instead, you need to pick your lane. Decide what opportunity you’re going to pursue. Set your GPS, hit cruise control, and just keep going.
   
   Sure, unforeseen detours and traffic jams may slow you down, but those are external problems that you can deal with as they come. The main thing is to realize you’re the one controlling the pedals and the steering wheel.
   
   Control what you can control, and determine to stay the course until you reach your destination.
   

3. Distinguish objectives from strategies.
   Remember Settlers of Catan? The strategic board game that systemically divided families and friends.
   
   True story: my brother compared to the dictator of North Korea during one fateful round of Settlers. The comparison wasn’t altogether unwarranted.
   
   Settlers came up during our conversation with a podcast guest this week. (Teaser: look forward to our conversation with Whitney Elkins-Hutten!)
   
   What emerged in the discussion is that building wealth is a lot like playing a game, and particular investments are strategies to win, but not ‘the game’ in and of themselves.

   
   In other words, in Settlers, collecting all the wood is a strategy. But Settlers is not won by wood alone. No, you’ve got to figure out how to turn that wood into Victory Points to win.

   
   Similarly, in entrepreneurship, it’s easy to confuse strategies with objectives. You start gaining customers, skills, or a professional network — great! — but if the objective is freedom, you haven’t ‘won’ until you’ve converted those resources into living the life of your dreams.

   
   Define your objective — your ideal life. Then, employ different strategies to reach the ideal. But don’t confuse a tree with the forest. Don’t think successfully implementing a strategy automatically equates to achieving your objective.

A Banker’s Perspective: Tips to Grow Your Business

Let me highlight the difference between a ‘historical cash flow lender’ vs. a ‘pro forma lender.’

This will matter to most of my real estate friends, but also to folks who own/operate businesses.

Understanding what sort of bank you’re dealing with when borrowing money is essential. The term “historical cash flow lender” is a bank that focuses on the historical performance of a company/real estate property in its underwriting process. They typically want to see 2-3 years of historical cash flow on a property to determine the future outlook. This past performance matters most to them, and they base the majority of their lending decision on those past financials.

Opposite of this is a proforma lender, which is viewed as more of a speculative lender. This lending is more common in new construction projects where no one knows for sure if/when the property will be leased up.

Pro forma lenders typically focus on the value of the “collateral” instead of historical financials because there are none. Most of the time, the larger banks are historical lenders and don’t like to take on speculative projects. Meanwhile, smaller regional banks and credit unions often take on pro forma lending since they know the market and are working hard to grow their portfolios.

I advise you to build relationships with bankers at both types of banks and understand what they’re looking for when it comes to lending and underwriting. It can save you an incredible amount of time on the front end when you want to get lending!

Featured Pod

This week, The Abundant Journey Podcast hosted Travis Watts.

It really was an honor to sit down with Travis. The guy has been exceptionally successful in real estate investing and has massive influence through his role at Ashcroft Capital and as part of the Best Ever Podcast Network.

Beyond his accomplishments, Travis is simply a delight to talk with. His words are loaded with practical wisdom but delivered in a highly accessible package to help you no matter where you are on your journey toward abundance.

Even as hosts, this is an interview we’ve already returned to for our own benefit. You don’t want to miss it!

Something You Should Read

At the beginning of the summer, I read Storyworthy by Matthew Dicks.

Matthew (I’ll refer to him by his first name to avoid a section full of ‘Dicks’) speaks to the power of storytelling for everyone. And by everyone, he means every single person on the face of the planet.

Whether you're a parent, a syndicator of multimillion-dollar deals, a UPS driver, or a candlemaker, Matthew shows how your life is improved and the lives of others are enriched by your ability to capture and communicate your stories.

Or, plainly stated, humans convey meaning through story.

If you want to engage people in transformative ways, you must first account for and communicate the moments of transformation in your own life.

One of Matthew's exercises to cultivate the art of capturing and retelling meaningful stories is what he calls “Homework for Life.”

The assignment is to take five minutes at the end of each day and write down one moment that stands out to you and a brief reflection upon it. It’s that simple. And, honestly, it doesn’t feel very profound in the moment.

But it is.

Since reading the book, I’ve implemented this little practice of jotting down one moment from each day. I have an Excel Sheet with two columns: ‘Date’ and ‘Story.’ I haven’t missed a day since starting in mid-June and now possess a collection of over 100 memories — many of which I would have entirely forgotten otherwise.

In reading over these bits and pieces of my life, I have a newfound appreciation for the significance of the seemingly small moments in everyday life. In hindsight, I can see how each day serves as an individual thread in the tapestry of my life.

I trust that my continued practice of “Homework for Life“ will eventually lead to more storytelling here and elsewhere. Until then, I’m grateful to at least have a savable, searchable, and simple record of my days.

That’s all we wrote.

Thanks for coming along!

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More content is on the way!

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Onward & Upward, Friends,

Nick & Nick

PS:

Are you wondering who we are and what we’re up to? Maybe this will help:

Founded by Nick ‘James’ Zalk and Nick Aufenkamp earlier this year, Abundant Journey is a community of active and aspiring entrepreneurs who desire to make the world a better place through business ownership and strategic investments.

The most active part of our community is The Abundant Journey Podcast, a weekly show featuring incredible stories of successful individuals from diverse backgrounds and industries. By sharing their stories, we aim to inspire you to take massive action and live with purpose, meaning, and abundance.

In short, if you think the world is improved by people starting businesses and investing in projects they're passionate about, you’re going to love it here!

So, no matter where you’re at in the process, we invite you to join us on this Abundant Journey.