14x Your Portfolio in Only 1 Year Using THIS Strategy
14x Your Portfolio in Only 1 Year Using THIS Strategy
How can business owners prioritize new ideas without losing focus?
I live my life in quarters, with both a short-term and long-term vision list. When I get a new idea, like our AI software company that uses high-resolution property imagery, I first evaluate its use case. For example, with this AI idea, I saw potential to transform the roofing industry from a reactive approach ("I have a leak; call a roofer") to a proactive one ("This roof is likely to fail soon; reach out to the roofer now").
Once I identify an idea's potential, I add other ideas that come up to what I call my "shiny objects list" using software called 90io. For visionaries like me, this is essential. 90io lets me capture these ideas without acting on them immediately. I'm not allowed to touch them, think about them, or work on them until the current project is complete. My integrator helps keep me focused on the quarterly rock system, which means I tackle only two or three key projects each quarter. Once those are done and monetized, I revisit the shiny objects list to see what ideas are ready to move forward. At that point, I can build on the foundation I've created in other businesses and decide whether to bring an idea to market.
How do business owners incorporate user feedback into business strategy and product development?
The decision to conduct in-depth market research was probably the best one I’ve ever made, and I wish I had done it sooner. We were struggling to find a product-market fit with our AI tool and another of my Wealth Society businesses. I thought maybe the problem was the marketing approach or the messaging. So, I decided to take a direct approach: I put out an offer on social media, inviting homeowners who met specific criteria to join a 30-minute call with me, paid at $150 each.
Over two weeks, I spent 50 hours recording Zoom calls, asking a set list of questions, showing them the product, explaining the service, the messaging, and all related tools. I recorded each call on Read AI. After completing over 50 interviews, I fed the data into ChatGPT, asking for a SWOT analysis to uncover any gaps. This gave me insights into what I was missing, where I was off, and the customers' pain points, as well as how they wanted to be communicated with.
Why should business owners rely on data over assumptions?
The feedback I received from those interviews was eye-opening. I shared my findings with the board, explaining I had spent 50 hours collecting this data. They were surprised that no one had taken this approach before, and I realized it’s likely because most CEOs wouldn’t commit that amount of time to it. But that’s how we pivoted.
I believe a data-driven approach is essential; too often, we make decisions based on emotions or assumptions. I stepped back, put my assumptions aside, and focused strictly on the data. As soon as we took this approach, the results changed: after early rejections, we went back to development, spent six months refining the product, and now we have five or six Fortune 200 companies competing for exclusivity on our product. Today, our biggest challenge isn’t finding customers but choosing the right investment bank for a $20 million round of funding.
What should business owners know about economic cycles?
One thing that’s important to understand is that the economy traditionally runs in four cycles. First, there’s the expansionary period, where growth is strong—this is why people believe real estate and the stock market have long growth cycles before any downturn. Following expansion, we enter a slowdown phase, often seen as the “fall season” of macroeconomics. Then comes the contractionary period, or “winter,” when unemployment rises, productivity decreases, and the economy feels stagnant. This contraction is usually triggered by rising interest rates aimed at slowing growth. Then the government will do things like drop interest rates and put stimulus out to start to speed back up the economy. Afterward, we go into that springtime period and then we repeat that cycle.
Think of it like a household: you have the Federal Reserve and the Treasury, similar to one spouse earning the income and the other paying the bills. Imagine if the earner could adjust interest rates on the bills whenever cash flow got tight. In a similar way, the economy reacts to changes in cash flow and interest rates, with each cycle influencing spending, investment, and growth.
How do current societal values influence the way we handle personal and household finances?
Most universities were originally founded by churches or families as endowments to give back. When I started really examining the foundations of today’s education, I remembered something my grandfather once told me. He said, “Your generation is in trouble because you think it’s okay to finance a mattress.” It struck me as true. People today don’t fix things like automobiles anymore. Instead, we’re taught that if something isn’t brand new, just buy another. We accumulate liabilities and live life in monthly payments, just aiming to keep the budget at zero each month.
Once I started getting my brain around the fact that so much of what we have been taught is actually the antithesis of what we should be taught. I went back and reflected on my finance degree. I have good business acumen, but a lot of the principles that I have are formed because I went to public school. So I went back and started to look at things, not from a monthly payment standpoint, but what is the true cost of homeownership, using an animation table.
How do entrepreneurs ensure quality time with family despite ongoing business demands?
I realized that even though I was physically home, I wasn’t truly present with my family. My actions were sending the message that they weren’t a priority. Eventually, I understood that it’s not about the number of hours at home; it’s about the quality of interaction, emotion, and attention I give. So, I had to slow down business growth, say no to some opportunities, and make family time a priority to keep my family strong.
*This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.*
