Background:
I grew up on a small island called Westport off the coast of Maine. My parents were very hard working and supportive, I am so lucky and wouldn’t be anywhere without them. Most of my childhood days would be spent doing countless outdoor activities, ranging from snowboarding and windsurfing to lobstering and getting lost in the woods. Basketball quickly began to consume all my free time as it was the first true love of my life. Although at the time I wish I could’ve spent every waken hour in the gym, my parents instilled a strong work ethic in my sister and I. By the time I was 14, I was working full time for a landscaping company in the summers, then weekends and after school during the school year, getting a restricted driving license early just to drive to work.
Maine is a very beautiful and magical place unlike the rest of the country, but at 18 I couldn’t wait to get out. My parents talked me out of attending college in California due to the distance and increased costs, so I landed at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA. I spent 6 years living there, receiving my Bachelors in Civil Engineering, minor in Construction Engineering Tech, and went on to complete my Masters studies in Structural Engineering with a certificate in Coastal Engineering. During my engineering internship, I quickly realized that corporate life wasn’t right for me. All I knew is I wanted flexibility, so I became a personal trainer and bartender. This allowed me to make decent cash while still (sometimes) attending class.
Experience:
Odd Jobs - from as far back as I can remember, my parents would make me ask around the neighborhood for small manual labor jobs like raking leaves, shoveling snow, etc. I remember thinking manual labor was the best type of work because you were outside, staying in shape, and the work showed daily improvement - therefore providing instant gratification.
Landscaping - for a couple years in high school I worked full time for a great landscaping company doing both soft and hard scape work - mowing lawns, laying brick pavers, snowplowing, building stone walls, etc.
Lobstering - growing up on the Maine coast, I thought it was almost required to experience lobstering. The captain I worked for was a family friend who was an extremely successful and smart nuclear engineer full time, but somehow doubled as a very good lobsterman during the summers. Competitive, lucrative, difficult and best of all, entrepreneurial.
Home Repair & Lawn Care - my friend an I started our own small home repair and lawn care business where we were finally able to earn on project-based pay rather than hourly rates as a laborer. This is the first time I can remember tracking my expenses, income, hours, and doing my own taxes.
Civil Engineering Internship - during my sophomore year in college I received a paying internship at a local firm that focused on environmental and transportation engineering work. Analyzing the corporate ladder, I quickly gained the opinion that this was not the best path for me.
Bartender - the first night tending bar I was almost fired for being too boring, I was very shy and introverted. Turning on a dime, I switched on my best entertainer personality and never looked back. I spent the next 4 years bartending all the largest bars and clubs in the area. This job has probably taught me the most important life lesson of all - how to talk to people, how to create a common ground with anyone, regardless of their beliefs.
Personal Trainer - shortly after entering the service industry, I also picked up a job as a personal fitness trainer at the Gold’s Gym down the street from college. I would often work all night bartending then go straight to the gym for an early morning training client. Although fitness is and always will be a huge part of my life, I realized this passion wasn’t enough to create a career from.
Membership Sales - after moving to California in 2011, I began working at a large chain gym selling memberships, mainly just so that I could workout for free. The pay was bad, the sales were difficult, and the energy was mediocre as best. I didn’t last long, spending most of my work hours talking with colleagues about my plans to own my own business.
Modeling/Commercials - trying to make ends meet my first few months in CA was difficult, but one of the only industries showing a lot of promise at the time was modeling and small tv commercial gigs. This was a big stretch for me, having been too shy to bartend years before, it was a big test to my personality. Although I did have a blast experiencing this very crazy industry, I knew I couldn’t look at pictures of myself any longer.
Online Trainer - although the small modeling gigs were decent pay, I wanted more. I spent every day and night trying to figure out new start up ideas. My first attempt was at an online personal training business. This never made it much further than a website.
Dog Bones - my next start up attempt was at reselling all natural dog bones, online. We had a great plan for sourcing the bones with great profit potential and I had a very smart (but inexperienced) partner. However, the logistics soon became overwhelming with the myriad of storage and distribution issues.
Glide Cycle - one of the weirdest inventions you will ever see, this run/walk/bike contraption grabbed my attention immediately. The weightless running idea (similar to swimming) was really revolutionary. I worked with the founder for quite some time, trying to grow sales and launch this product to the market. The company is still around, slowly increasing size, with the same, awesomely dedicated founder.
Corporate Rentals - the world of real estate fell into my lap after being offered a job in corporate rentals by my cousin, who owned an office in SD but spent most of his time in SF at their larger office. The SD office was very laid back, allowing me to become office manager very quickly. I saw the opportunities that real estate offered right away, but didn’t feel rentals and/or traditional sales was the best way to get there.
Loan Originator / Hard Money - there aren’t many people at the gym in Pacific Beach, CA at 4:45am in the morning, but one of those (other) crazy people ended up becoming a great friend who offered me a job in hard money. This small family owned business did $70-$100m in loans every year with just a few people. I am so lucky to have stumbled upon this industry and even more lucky to have learned from one of the best.
Medical Cannabis - with all the rumors of legalization coming in the near future, I decided to get into the medical field as quickly as possible. By this time in 2015, most companies had already purchased buildings in the very sparsely located designated areas. Over the next 4 years, we grew the company to one of the largest in SD, with plans to open in LA and SF. Laws made this extremely difficult. I decided to move out of this extremely dynamic industry at the end of 2018.
Brokering / Hard Money - after many years as an originator, another good friend and prior intern of mine approached me with the idea of starting our own hard money business. Knowing this job inside and out, I was very confident in our abilities to do so. The company grew fast, originating over $70m in hard money loans in 2019 alone.
CBD - having left it all on the table with medical cannabis, I always felt a good chance of returning to the industry in some capacity. With CBD laws changing faster than cannabis, I felt this industry could be much less volatile, but still offer great returns. With all the lessons from previous experiences, I knew exactly what approach I wanted to launch with.
Lending / Hard Money - with so much going on, I knew I had to be doing things a certain way if I wanted to be successful. I needed more autonomy with my schedule and wanted to approach hard money differently. This industry is ripe for innovation and disruption. Institutional money has changed the landscape and I felt compelled to build a boutique shop to help bridge the gap between old private money ways and new institutional rates. BEST Lending Co. for more info.
CURRENTLY:
BEST Lending Co, Inc. was created in the very interesting time of April 2020, amidst the COVID19 pandemic. Although it may sound like a terrible time to launch a business, my belief with investing is that you always need to plan for the worst case scenario. Just like each loan I underwrite, I attempt “punching as many holes” in the deal as possible. If it stands up to the fury of punches, then and only then is it a good deal to invest in. COVID19 is the first for all of us, but life crises happen to all of us way more frequently than we think. So in many ways, this has been the perfect time to launch an investment business, learning so much during the epidemic to better prepare you for when it’s time to strike.
Taking April and May off to focus on the market conditions allowed BEST Lending Co. to perfect our backend software, thanks in large to my partner and CTO, Adam. This innovative new software allows our clients to submit loan applications in minutes, complete the transaction completely online and close in days. The backend power of our software makes the underwriting and loan management a breeze. With all of this help from technology, we are able to operate with very little overhead, creating more flexibility for the company during the unprecedented times we’re facing. Having a highly nimble and completely remote lending business allows us to adapt to our ever changing world.
Being a DIRECT private lender allows BEST Lending Co. to close quickly on deals because we are funding with our own money. Hard money loans for real estate investing, also known as trust deed investing in the institutional world, has seen massive growth since 2015. With COVID19 effecting so much of the economy this year, real estate investors, note buyers, hard money lenders, brokers, agents, title, escrow, attorneys, contractors and the entire industry need to work together to help off set the negative impacts. After all, “airplanes take off against the wind, not with it” - Henry Ford.
FUTURE:
Restructure the educational system to better prepare kids for the ever changing world.
Write 3 books about Fitness, Dogs, and Business, and how they all are perfect analogies for life lessons.
Launch “FreeDumb” podcast and grow community of positive change entrepreneurs.