J. Darrin Gross
If you're willing, I'd like to ask you, Kevin Bupp, what is the BIGGEST RISK?
Kevin Bupp
It's a great question. Darrin, and I would say that I'll take it. I'll answer from a from an investor's perspective, and and I'll use a reflection back on 2020, 2021, 2022 when rates were incredibly low, there was lots of transactional activity, lots of transactions probably being overpaid for lots of risky debt that was put into place that ultimately didn't seem risky, but it had a timing risk associated with it. And if I don't execute this business plan, or if rates go up, or things that are outside of my control, if they occur, then my business plan, you know, gets flushed down the toilet, basically doesn't work. And so I i. So I think being a disciplined investor, I think that's it, that just just, you know, sticking to the fundamentals have never changed, right? I mean, the fundamentals have not changed. They didn't. They don't change when the rates go down. They don't change when the rates go up. We can all financial engineer a deal to make it look like it works on paper. But you know, when the tide rolls out, which it, which it has, you know, now we're seeing a lot of, lot of, what, what, what? We were praising people for Great job. Great deal. They were buying it. Now tide went out, and now there's a lot of distress deals because of the capital stack was a big risk. The timing of rates, when, when they, you know, went, you know, to historical, I guess at the historical rate, they rose in a very short period of time. And so for us, it's a, you know, just staying disciplined, being very disciplined with our Buy Box, looking at a lot of things and getting beat out in a lot of offers back when, when, when the when, times are crazy. A lot of transactions were happening. We didn't buy a lot. We weren't competitive buyers. It was very frustrating. But saying discipline to that allowed us to and not not skipping the fundamentals of, does this thing actually, cash flow does? Does this make money? Or is this a is the only way that makes money is if the market, at the timing of the market works in my favor and nothing, no black swan events happen. Rates don't go up. They stay the same. Is that the only way I make, I make money, and if that's that was, if the answer was yes, then we would pass on it. And so I think to stick into the fundamentals. They never change. They never will change, being honest with yourself and just sticking to that Buy Box. I think, I think that's how, that's how we avoid risk. We didn't grow like everyone else did during those couple of years. We grew, but not by gangbusters, like a lot of our competition has, but that put us in a great position. Last year was a one of our biggest year. It was, it was our biggest year until this year, as far as acquisitions and new opportunities and deals that truly fit our Buy Box. But it we were prepared. We were ready. We've never stopped distributions to investors. Our investors have continued received you know, quarterly distributions on a regular basis. And so us mitigating that risk back during the heyday, you know, and when things are going crazy, allowed us to really capitalize and take advantage of the opportunities that have presented themselves now over the last couple of years, so, and I think will continually allow us to do so in the coming years. So don't know if that's a good answer for you, but hopefully that, hopefully that's something.
https://sunrisecapitalinvestors.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbupp/
Today, my guest is Dan Lopez. Dan Lopez is the Chief Technology Officer at Neural and in just a minute, we're going to speak with Dan Lopez about Neural’s ability to better prepare and predict extreme weather events.
J Darrin Gross
I'd like to ask you. Dan Lopez, what is the biggest risk?
Dan Lopez
I love that question. Darrin, I think we always go back to the Donald Rumsfeld, the unknown unknowns, and to peel away the unknowns so that you have more insights to make better decisions more rapidly. Give you a a position and essentially the high ground where you can now make decisions with a clear head. I think that is the biggest risk, is shoving our heads in the sand and hoping that it all goes away and it's just not and we have to, especially for risk transfer. How do we get local to state to federal to global markets to understand how to interplay with each other? Because this is not going away.
Today, my guest is Kyle Kuderewski. Kyle is the operations manager at Web Street, an investment platform allowing people to passively invest in online businesses and digital assets. Kyle is an engineer turned investor entrepreneur. He's leveraged his attention to detail and knowledge of systems to create a well oiled operation at Web Street as they scale. And in just a minute, we're going to speak with Kyle Kuderewski about investing passively in cash, flowing digital assets.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kkuderew/
J Darrin Gross
I'd like to ask you, Kyle Kuderewski, what is the BIGGEST RISK?
Kyle Kuderewski
Yeah, I think this one for me, thinking about the investing risks all the time and whatnot, but I have to zoom out. And I like to go on a personal level, level here, and this is kind of why I got out of more of a corporate role, and what kind of led me down this investing path and this entrepreneurial path. So to me, I think the biggest risk is becoming too focused on immediate tasks and losing sight of long term strategic goals. So it's easy to get caught up in day to day demands and miss those opportunities for innovation, for growth. And what I mean by that is like, what am I doing day in and day out at my previous engineering job is that getting me where I want to be long term with the way my life's built? If I want to be able to work remote, or if I want to spend more time with family, or whatever the case is, I need to craft a life around that. So you talked about mitigating it. This is actually written here on my desk. I I schedule regular big check, check in big picture, like review sessions, where I assess my progress against my goals and identify where I need to adjust. And then the other way I mitigate that is I build accountability by sharing these goals with a colleague or a mentor. Mentors are huge, huge tool I use so that they can provide feedback and tell me, like, Yo, you're getting out of line here. This is not leading you toward the goals you want. You're too focused on the day to day, whatever the case may be. So to me, that's a really big risk, and it can you can lose tons and tons of time, years and years of your life if you're not paying attention to those big picture goals.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kkuderew/
Today, my guest is Edie Weintraub. Edie Weintraub is the visionary founder of Terra Alma, a boutique real estate advisory dedicated to shaping walkable, community centered spaces and fostering local connections. And in just a minute, we're going to speak with Edie Weintraub about creating vibrant hubs where people gather.
Website: https://www.terraalma.com/
J Darrin Gross
I'd like to ask you. Edie Weintraub, what is the BIGGEST RISK?
Edie Weintraub
Yeah,I think for us, you know, we are commercial real estate brokers for real estate agents, and so we are typically paid on commission only. And so if that deal doesn't come to fruition, that lease doesn't get signed, we don't get compensated. And so here, what I have to offer is my my network, my knowledge and my time, and so we are taking a significant risk every day in choosing who are the clients that we opt to work with. Because, you know, we might put a lot of time, energy and effort into deals that might not come to fruition. So it's, it is definitely the roller coaster. It's not a merry go round. And so I know that our field is not necessarily for everyone, but I do think that we're able to mitigate it in regards to balancing out our portfolio with some consulting opportunities where we're educating brands as well as developers on how to go about creating. Spaces that ultimately will attract the right tenants that they want. So we do try to balance that as much as we can, but I think it's important and we share with all of our clients that how we get compensated and why they should opt to work with us, but also realizing that we're investing in our time in them as much as they're investing their time in us.
Today, my guest is Jay Connor, the private money authority, and in just a minute, we're going to speak with Jay about raising private money.
J Darrin Gross
I'd like to ask you, Jay Connor, what is the BIGGEST RISK?
Jay Conner
Well, when you ask that question, Darrin, the first answer that comes to my mind is definitely not a traditional answer. I'm thinking about Charlie Jones. Charlie Jones is known for his quote that says, within the next five years, there's two things that will have the biggest impact on your growth within the next five years. Those are the new people you meet and the new books you read. So my answer to the question, what do I see is the biggest risk? The biggest risk I see is someone being happy with the copasetic and the static and missing out on all the opportunities that this world has to offer and that God has to offer. And how can you learn about these opportunities? Is what Charlie Jones says, The people you meet and the books you read my good friend Tom Crow, who was the founder of wholesaling Inc, which was the largest wholesaling instruction Company in the nation, Tom preaches, read eight pages a day. Just read eight pages a day of a non fiction book, autobiographicals, biographies, self improvement. Do that? Commit to that and join very reputable networking groups or masterminds, people of like minded goals. So the biggest risk that I see Darrin are people missing out on all that there is out there to be offered by staying static and not embracing and being committed to self growth. By the way, just as an aside, success is a lousy teacher. Success is a lousy teacher. It's where we fail. It's where we make mistakes that we actually grow. I was so blessed six weeks ago to meet John Maxwell in person and have a chat with him. He was our keynote speaker, one of the masterminds that I'm a member of and the audience member asked him says, What do you what's the one thing that you attribute your success to? And John Maxwell says, Well, I just fail more than anybody else. He said, You know, our wins are only about 30% of what we try, but if somebody else tries 10 new things, they fail seven times, they win three times. I'm going to try 100 new things, I'll fail 70 times, but I got 30 wins.