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The Competitive Edge podcast – where champions aren't just born, they're made. Hosted by Brian Covey – former pro athlete turned high-performance executive, speaker, and coach who's mastered the art of staying at the top of the game. He'll bring you trailblazers, industry leaders, and game-changers who push boundaries, break limits, and never settle for less. From achieving peak performance to building an unstoppable mindset, the Competitive Edge podcast is your ultimate guide to rise, compete, and win in every area of your life. So ask yourself… are you ready to find your edge?
Unknown: Steve, what's up, guys,
and welcome back to another
edition of competitive edge
podcast. So our guest today,
you're gonna love this resume,
because not only is he written a
phenomenal book The City Leader,
he's also got a podcast around
it. He's a US Army Ranger. He's
got a real estate company,
construction company. Actually
owns four laundromats. But more
importantly, as I look at it, he
also has a family, and so for
those of you out there that your
parents, you've got things
you're doing, how can you show
up and be the best leader inside
your business, inside your
family, always say, inside your
home, and then outside and lead
people. So today, we're going to
break this down with Skyler
Williamson about not only his
journey as US Army Ranger, but
also how he has built a
successful real estate company
outside of Austin, Texas, there,
and more importantly, what has
he learned along the way through
those things that could help you
in your journey? Whether you're
in your 20s and you're trying to
figure out entrepreneurship,
trying to figure out what you
want to do with your life, or
you're somebody that you've been
in the game for a while, I
believe today you're going to
get some of the lessons and some
clarity, as Skyler talks about,
how do you move from chaos to
clarity and move forward in your
life and really attack and use
the gifts that God's given? So
Skyler,
welcome to the show. Man, I'm
fired up to be here. Brian,
thanks for having
me. Dude. I'm honored. And I got
to start here because, you know,
very few of my friends US Army
Ranger or seal or you've done
things that, let's be real. Man,
like not a lot of people have
done that. And as I was going
back through and kind of kind of
prepping and studying what
you've done, you know, I'm sure
a large part of your leadership
journey and what you learned was
entering in and doing that. But
let's give a little little
background into who you are and
how you got into actually be an
Army Ranger, because I love
these stories.
Yeah, well, I grew up in a
humble family, but full of love.
So my parents are still married
today, great examples of not
only how to how to love each
other as a spouse, how to love
your kids, but also just hard
workers. And they both are of
the type that went to work and
work for the same company for 30
years from my mother and 40
years from my father. And so
they just, they put their head
down, they climbed the ladder,
and they and they remained
loyal. And so they instilled in
me those kind of, put your head
down, be loyal. Work hard, don't
complain. You know, they
instilled that in me at a very
young age. But financially, you
know, I pretty early. I figured
out that if I wanted anything, I
had to go create it myself. And
and I remember having a
conversation pretty early in my
life. And I was always a mature
kid. For whatever reason, God
blessed me with maturity and,
and I'm the oldest of three
brothers, so maybe that was the
reason why, because I was just
the oldest. But I remember
having a conversation with my
father pretty early that if you
wanted to go to college, you
were going to have to get paid
for yourself. And there's two
ways to do that. You can just be
extraordinarily smart and do
really well in academics, or you
could be an athlete. I said,
Well, you know, I like the
athlete piece, so I'll just
focus on that. And you know,
whenever, whenever you put your
head down and you work hard on
something. You know, my high
school baseball coach used to
say you can't be a three to five
player, and three to five was
when practice was. So what he
was saying is, if you wanted to
make it, you had to do something
before practice. You had to do
something after practice. You
can't just show up whenever. I
show up when everybody else is
showing up and expect
extraordinary results.
Extraordinary effort gets you
extraordinary results and a lot
of things. And athletically, you
know, when you put in the extra
time working out, putting the
extra time recovery and and just
doing the skills and all the
things, you get those results. I
had a brilliant athletic career
in high school, football and
baseball. I had scholarship
offers all throughout the US,
but I had this one to the US
Military Academy at West Point.
And again, you know, kudos to my
father, you know, just just kind
of laying lessons out for me.
But he sat me down and he said,
Hey, look, you might make it to
the NFL if you go to University
of Miami, chances are you'll get
hurt or something will happen.
You know, football is a tough
sport, but if you go to West
Point, you'll never have to
worry like me and your mom ever
always had to, and so that made
it an easy enough decision for
me to kind of make the choice
that I wasn't going to play a
professional sport that I'm
gonna go to West Point and take
care of my future. Now, when I
chose to go to West Point, we
weren't at war, so that made it
an easier choice as an 18 year
old, but nonetheless, still,
still a very like forward
thought choice, right? I'm
choosing my life beyond sports,
rather than gamble and try to
make it to the NFL and maybe get
a sub optimal education, yeah,
one with the West Point, you
know, as fate would have it,
they changed the rules halfway
through, and I was able to go
pray a professional sport. But
we, you know, we came into a
time of conflict, and I. Yeah,
you know, I walked away from
baseball after getting told,
Hey, I'm gonna, we're gonna have
you come to spring training with
a big league team. I walked away
because my whole team from from
West Point was overseas
fighting, and my younger brother
had gone overseas and fought in
the battle for Fallujah and, I
mean, it was just so many people
that I knew and loved or
overseas, and so I made a
decision to walk away from
baseball and go into the
military. Well, I don't, I'm not
really an average person. I
don't care to be, you know, I
want to, I want to do everything
to to the max that I have gifts
that God's given me to do,
right? I believe in taking your
gifts and going to double them.
That's right. You know. And I
was an athletic person, and so I
believed I could be a warrior on
the ground that was better than
most. And you know, the schools
are very simple. In the
military, you know, if you want
to be of the elite, then you go
to this school called Ranger
School. And so just just in me,
trying to be my best, led me to
Ranger School, you know. And
then all the things that I did
in the military after that,
military after
that, I love that. And I saw
that sports ground. I'm glad you
brought up your background
there, because I looked at that.
I'm like, Okay, let's be real. I
mean, Scott, there's a lot of
things you've done, and I'm
going, okay, cool, like, multi
sport, you're going in and
you're successful and you're
playing and, you know,
similarly, I played soccer, of
course, and got to live out that
dream. And at some point, we all
know that that doesn't last
forever. And I gotta imagine, as
you look back and you think
about the steady leader, are
there things that you look back
now? Because I think it's always
cool to look back on that, that
you learned lessons, that your
dad, you know, encouraged you,
hey, you know, let's go do this.
Let's, let's go this path that
you would give people, maybe
with kids going to college. I
got one going to college in the
fall. Another one two years
behind and all. What advice
would you give now on the parent
side to people, potentially, of
if you're sending your kids to
college in the future, what do
you know now?
Yeah, well, you know so much of
being a steady leader is being a
thinker, right? I mean, I think
every smart person who's in a
leadership role, if asked a
question, you know, or is it a
part of your job to think they
would say yes, right? Like that,
just intelligence tells you Yes.
But how many people do you know
that are in leadership roles
that actually have time to
think, right? And if I were, if
I were, my kids are a little
younger than yours, so I've got
some time here, but if I were
about to send my kid off to
college, I do a lot of what my
father did for me, and just say,
hey, look man, like, let's sit
down and let's, let's cast a
vision for your life, right? If
you, if you had a great life
510, years from now, what would
that look like? And I'd have
them go through that exercise,
and then I just, just like
leaders do, I would just ask
them the questions to back into.
What do they need to do to make
that a reality? Right? I mean,
and you know, you've been a part
of coaching, coaches just ask
great questions, right? A lot of
a lot of performers, especially
the ones that seek out coaching
know the right answer. They just
need someone to challenge them
and ask them the right questions
to lead them to that. And so I
would just ask my my daughter,
who's my oldest. You know,
what's your best life? That's
called vision casting, babe. You
know, this is how you cast a
vision as a leader. And you
know, the books broken into
three parts, lead yourself, lead
your team, lead your business. I
mean, right in that moment, as a
father, we're teaching them how
to lead themselves, because the
first step of leading yourself
is having a good vision for your
life. And that's what my dad was
helping me do. He was helping me
cast a vision. Do you want to
gamble and play a sport for a
living, or do you want to be
sure that your life will be
stable and you'll have more than
me and your mom ahead? Yeah?
Well, I chose the latter. And
really, what that was doing was
That was my first lesson in
vision casting and and so as I
moved on from them, it just
continuously right, as you're
leading yourself, you're you're
casting a vision for your life,
and it changes, right? Vision.
Vision is not like purpose. It's
not ever purpose is evergreen.
Vision changes directions,
right? Because we can only see
as far as we can see. And
certainly right now with
technology and some of the other
things, that it just changes so
fast, right? And it's funny,
I'm, I'm a follower of Eos, like
I loved, you know, Whitman
system, yeah, you know, he has
to do the 10 year, right? And
then the three year, and then
the one year when you're casting
your vision. Well, the 10 years
almost like, why do we even do
that
anymore? So far, it's just so
far out and but you look
as far as you can, that's right,
you cast that vision. So I'm
just helping my kids do that
that, and I love that. I do that
for myself all the time.
Had to ask, and I love you.
Broke up the book because I was
gonna ask you about that is
leading yourself, you know. And
a lot of times I know as a new
leader, and I was captain on the
soccer team and fumbling through
like figuring out what is
leadership, and you model after
other people. And I know you
talked about that, a lot of your
lessons were modeling after
others that you saw. All, if
somebody's listening this, okay,
the steady leader. How do they
best lead themselves? Because
I'm in that camp with you. You
can't lead yourself. It is
really hard, if almost
impossible, to then lead others,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You have
to show up and be your best if
you're going to lead a great
team, right? Like we don't. We
don't have championship teams,
without every player looking
like a champion, eventually
you'll be exposed as a fraud by
a better team if you're not all
together, and that starts with
you as a leader. Yeah, again, a
lot of it's just thinking. Right
to me, living a successful life
and running a great business is
simply just how many good
decisions can you stack in a
row? To the extent that you can
make a good decision and a good
decision, a good decision just
continuously, you're going to
have steady production. And I
think that we owe it to our
teams, and we owe it to
ourselves to be thinkers, so
that we can respond in moments,
not react right and chaos would
attack you in your business to
get you to react to things. And
some of us are super clever and
witty, and we can react better
than most, but your chances of
answering those problems
correctly increase even for the
witty ones, if you have clarity,
and you're actually leveraging
models to think through what
could happen, right? And so I
think, as a leader, leading
yourself, you know you're these
are the kind of the five tenants
that I work through. Is vision,
being combat ready, this thing I
call love, which is pursuit of
excellence, energy, and then a
plan to win. And when you work
through those five buckets, and
you just kind of do those
continuously, you're going to
lead yourself to being the best
that you, that you can be. And
because we, I mean, John Maxwell
has taught us a lot of this
stuff, two things, every leader,
you will be the lead lid of your
business. If you stop growing,
if you stop leading yourself,
you will cap your business. You
will either have to get out of
the way, or you'll settle with
mediocre, right? And people will
pass you. And then the second
thing about leading is is you
have to have influence, right?
That's what Maxwell defines
leadership as. Is influence?
Well, you have to lead your life
in such a way that people see
something in you that they want.
And it can be, it can be what
you look like, physically. It
can be what you are paper,
wealth wise, you know,
financially, it can be the
business you're building. It can
be how healthy you are
spiritually. But you have to
have something in your life that
your teammates look at you and
say, I'm gonna follow him,
because I want that in my life.
And the cool thing is, is there
are people part of my company
because they want something that
I have spiritually. There are
people on my team that follow me
because they want to build
wealth like I have, you know.
And you know, it just runs the
full gamut. But the point is, to
be that person, you got to lead
yourself, right? And then you'll
have influence when you've done
that? Well,
hey guys, it's Brian here. I
hope you are enjoying the show.
By the way, if you're an
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hear how it goes you
talk about this? I was listening
to one of my favorite guys, Ed
mylett, was sharing these four
levels of leadership. And you
get through, you know, just the
baseline you manage because you
have a title, and you be given
that authority, and you move
into motivation. And we know
motivation, you basically like a
shower every day, right? They
would say that. And you got
inspirational leaders, and you
just triggered something for me,
as I was thinking, Skyler is
sort of this fourth level, which
most never get to or maintain,
which is aspirational. I love
your choice. People are
following because they see in
you your spiritual walk. They
see a physical side. They see
you know, your ability and
discipline and finances, right,
and being able to build wealth
and to budget and do things. I
think for a lot of people, they
miss that. They just want to
skip over and it's like, you
know, I hear this all the time,
especially in our mortgage and
real estate, is like, I just
want to, you know, manage and
have a big team and lead a bunch
of people and all these things.
And, yeah, I'd love for you to
help someone, if they're in that
spot and their aspiration and
their desires. They do want to
lead all these people, maybe not
for the right reasons. They kind
of hadn't figured it out. Out. I
know I struggled with that early
in my career. Yeah, what are the
things on a daily basis that
they can start intentionally
doing? I think about keeping the
promises to yourself, but
anything you found in your
journey that helps them start to
build that muscle, right? Like
the real tactics,
yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, listen,
you got to have the table set to
do everything else really well.
And so I think you've got to be
clear on your purpose, the
purpose you have for your life.
If you know why you wake up
every day and get after it at
your life level, then you will
hustle every day. You will you
will give it your all. And then
we can go work on some of the
other tactical stuff, but you
got to know what your purpose
is. And here's the thing, your
purpose has to be about other
people. And I'll just tell a
quick story just to drive that
point home. You know, Ranger
School we talked about earlier,
but it's tough. It is tough. I
lost 55 pounds in 63 days. Or,
you know, however many days it
was, wow, and it just wore me
down. And I thought about
quitting non stop. Now, thank
God I didn't, you know, I was
able to endure and kind of push
through, and that was with the
help of some teammates and, you
know, just, I guess, in their
inner endurance. But I thought
about quitting all of the time.
Fast forward to my time in Iraq
and Afghanistan. I'm not one
time ever thought about
quitting. Now in ranger school,
my life was never at risk. It
was very controlled. It was a
training environment. In those
combat zones, I was getting
blown up. I pulled grenade
shrapnel out of my body armor, I
kick open doors. And it was like
a cartoon where the bullets just
kind of went over the doorway,
you know? And that was just,
that was just a regular Tuesday,
right? It was non stop, but I
never thought about quitting,
yeah. And the reason why is
because I was in combat with a
team that I cared about, that I
would never let them down. I was
there serving a country that I
love. You know that that country
that hosts my family that I
love, you know I'm not going to
let them down. Right? In ranger
school, I was there for a badge,
okay? I was there for a
certification. I was there for a
trophy. Now it's more to that,
but, but I'm making it simple so
that we can understand, yeah, I
was there for myself. Nobody
else cared whether I went to
ranger school or not. It was
just about me, and that's why I
was willing to quit. There is a
point that's closer to the start
that you'll quit. If it's about
you, if your purpose is about
you, you will quit. That's
right, you're doing it for
others. You'll never quit.
You'll just give it, and you'll
work yourself to the bone and to
the end, you'll work gladly.
Would I give my life for
another? It's for another that's
the key part of that. And so you
got to have, you got to have
that purpose dialed in with the
purpose, you know, kind of the
end of destination. Then you
can, you can create that vision,
and vision gives you general
direction, right? Then you can
create a plan for yourself,
because you can backwards, kind
of engineer that vision to today
and logically create the next
couple of steps and the
priorities for yourself. And
then at that point, then it's
just kind of getting yourself
ready to go, right? Can I be
cotton in the mid in the
military, we call it combat
ready, and that is, if you're
handed a mission right now, can
you go and operate like right
away? Yeah. And to be combat
ready as an individual and in
business, you need to be really
healthy as a leader. And healthy
is mentally healthy, physically
healthy and spiritually healthy
for me, yeah. And the way I
think about it is, picture
yourself on a boat, okay? And
you're sitting on a stool in the
middle of the boat. Well, mental
health is one leg. Physical
health is a second leg, and
spiritual health is two other
legs, right? So it makes a four
legged stool. Well, when things
are all kind of calm, right?
When there's there's a lack of
chaos in your life, well, yeah,
if you're athletic, you can sit
on a two legged stool. Yeah, no,
no sweat. Now, as soon as chaos
enters your life and those waves
start to rock that boat, you're
going to need all four, right?
And so you need to be healthy if
you're going to be a steady
leader, right? And mentally
healthy means you have a growth
mindset. Physically healthy, I
love the way the stoics talk
about it. Are you in control
your body? Or is your body in
control of you? Like, does your
body tell you to hit the snooze
button? Or do you say, Get up,
it's time to go, baby. We got to
do these things to get better
every day, and then spiritually
healthy. I like to summarize it
this way, when you wake up in
the morning, do you wake up and
think, What am I going to get?
Or do you wake up and say, This
is what I'm going to give the
world, to the extent that you
wake up every day and you are
excited to go give the world
something that's how healthy you
are spiritually. And, man, you
know, and those things are all
tactical to me, like the morning
routine, the planning, like how
I plan, all of that stuff's
tactical, but you do, you do
have to have that per. Business
and vision. I mean, you have to
have those things dialed in, so
that every day you can tap into
something that's never going to
run out. Because if you saw how
hard I worked, you'd be like,
maybe I don't want that, but the
reason why I want it is because
I got a big purpose.
That's right. And you take me
back to this fire fires me up.
Number one is everything you're
saying I align with which I
love. I was as excited for this
conversation because of that,
and then to think about in
college, like the times that you
didn't want to go out there and
sometimes compete at the best
level, or do some of the
physical training, we'll just
call it, like some of the
physical training. And I got a
team counting on me, right? Like
there's people that you would
do, and always think about that
my life, the times that I have
gone further, or that I have
pushed through an obstacle or
boundaries. There's people
counting on, whether it's my
family, the team that I serve,
you know, all those. And so I
want people to miss that as that
purpose being bigger I love, and
then I love you talked about
being combat ready. I'd love to
go a little deeper and think
about, you know, people today,
if they're in business, right? I
think about, like, mortgage,
real estate, we got a lot of
people there, yeah, what's some
things that they need to think
about? How can they be combat
ready? Because, you know, we're
in this market. You know, this
is it feels as if there's a
group and a smaller group that's
winning, they're up, they're
performing like you're talking
about earlier. You guys have
sold, what, 40 million this
year. Yeah, your day. Yeah, your
day. Now just think about, Okay,
you guys, you're winning. But
then there's these other people
that are not combat ready. So
what does it take today, more
specific, like in real estate
and mortgage in this economy,
and get combat ready?
Yeah, well, we can just start
with just the mental health of
things, right? Just being combat
ready from a mental health
standpoint, when you are in a
growth mindset, and then you're
challenged with something, how
would you respond when you have
a growth mindset? I mean, yeah,
yeah. I mean, you just you, you
attack it right? If you don't
have the growth mindset, and
then challenges hit you, you
can't fall into that victim
mindset. And, you know, in a
victim mindset, it's really hard
to take action because your
brain is stuck in a fear or hurt
based kind of mode, right? And,
and a lot of this is just
understanding your brain and the
brain of your people, right? So
as a leader, I've got to
understand how my team's brains
working, and the most primitive
feelings that we have in our
brain is fear and hurt, and it
drives our survival, right? And
your brain is always trying to
predict what's going to happen
based on fear and hurt, not not
the positive stuff, right? And
and you got to know that. And so
you know when you're talking to
your team, you need to
understand that they're probably
in a fear mode, and you need to
understand why they're fearful,
right? They're fearful because
there's uncertainty, and then
you got to get them in control.
And so so much of our businesses
in real estate comes down to
your lead generation, how you
understand and work your
database and how consistent you
can be. And I mean that that's
oversimplifying it, but it can
be that simple and and we we
have to have lead generation
mechanisms that work in the good
times and the bad times. And
then we also, as a leader, need
to be thinking all of the time
like, Well, if the market did
this, this is how I'll respond,
right? I'm not going to react.
I'm going to respond and and I
do a good bit of that thinking,
you know, it's, it's my job as
the leader to be one step ahead
of the team and to pull them
there. I don't got to be 10
steps ahead. And that's, that's
where most people fall fall
short, like they think they got
to be 10 steps ahead. And it
looks like I'm 10 steps ahead,
because I'm always pulling them
to the next rung. But the
reality is, I'm one step up the
ladder, and I'm just pulling
them there, right? And soon as I
get them to that step, then I'm
taking the next step and pulling
them there. And so I look like a
genius in this guy that just
like is way ahead of everything.
But the reality is, I'm one step
ahead, and that's my job as the
leader. Is to be one step ahead.
What can we lead generate around
that gives us an advantage in
this moment, right? And I think
that our approach as real estate
agents has made us pretty good
at this on my team, because I
build value, I build lead
generation around each person's
unique value, because I know,
you know, we're we're five to
seven years in between
transactions, right, if things
are normal, and so I've got to
find five to seven ways to or
five to seven years worth of
value to give somebody just to
hold them close. And so, you
know, for me, what that might
look like is, I know how to run
a business. I am your real
estate agent, but I can teach
you how to lead I could teach
you how to grow business or a
side hustle. I could teach you
how to build wealth. And, you
know, and I do this for my
database. And so I've got people
at all levels coming to me to
solve business problems, wealth
problems, to talk spiritually,
you know, like kind of how. How
can they take that next step?
And it's keeping me in
conversation with my database,
in in my strength zone, and and
they love it, and they all know
I'm in real estate, you know,
like I tell, I do tell them I'm
in real estate. I just happen to
be pouring value into their life
from a leadership perspective or
some other way, right? And so
what I would challenge people
with, if you're in a hard time,
and first you gotta, you gotta
be positive, right? You gotta,
you have a growth mindset,
negative. Negative thoughts help
you expose problems. But no
problem was ever solved with
negativity. At some point you
gotta turn positive to solve a
problem. So you got to be a
growth mindset. You got to be
thinking so that you can respond
and build value around your
uniqueness that gives you a
reason that you feel really good
about to reach out to people. I
mean, I got a person on my team
who loves to declutter and loves
old folks, and so she does all,
all of this stuff, you know,
events and things like this
around decluttering and kind of
helping older folks find
retirement communities. Yeah,
you think that that part of her
database is growing or
shrinking? Yeah, it's fine.
Yeah. Old folks are trying to
downside is all the time, and
that's all the time part of the
business. And, you know, I got
another gal who, you know,
she's, she's really good on
camera, she knows makeup, and
she, you know, kind of knows
design, and she builds a lot of
value around them. I just find,
what is it that you feel really
good at teaching people, and
then just go teach the world. It
just makes sure that they know
you're in real estate too. And
we, that's how we communicate
with our now, we do a lot of the
traditional things to like open
house, all that stuff too, but
we, I mean, we build around our
uniqueness. We understand that
that's that's where you want to
advertise and market to, is your
uniqueness as an individual,
what you feel best being
valuable at man,
I love that. So we work with,
you know, brand builders group,
and they'll have a commercial
within the podcast today. People
hear it as well, but they always
talk about that as your
uniqueness. And Rory Vaden, he
and his wife, AJ, had that up,
and Rory shares this quote about
your most powerfully positioned
to serve the person you once
were. Yeah, like, you know, all
the experience, the things
you're sharing, like, that's the
value I would want. I think
about in mortgage, real estate,
financial services, yes, there's
things that you do, but we all
know, like, there's years in
between, some of those actual
transactions that occur in the
times that we're really solving
the big problem. What a cool way
that you guys are doing it. So
I'd love to expand on that
uniqueness piece. How do you
then get the uniqueness? I know
you guys have a newsletter. Are
there other tactics with social
like, how do you get that
uniqueness? Sounds like you've
identified it, you've packaged a
little bit. Then how do you
distribute it? Because I think a
lot of people struggle. You know
Skyler, it's like they may kind
of know what they do. They may
tell a few people, but they
don't really go at it like this.
I'd love to learn how you guys
are packaging it and
distributing
it? Yeah, well, it can look a
lot of different ways. Okay, we,
we do have the newsletter. The
reason why we do the newsletter,
and you know, this isn't Skyler.
I've learned this model from
other people, like, I own my
newsletter, right? Nobody can
rip that away from me. I own
that we're building a YouTube
channel, but that can be ripped
away, right? If YouTube chose
to, they could, they could take
that away from me, and they've
done that. People that have
built big channels for one
reason or another, they violated
the policy that they have and
and when that's gone, it's gone,
right? And so I think you have
to be understanding of what
captures your building and what
processes you're building that
you own, and the things that you
don't own and the things that
you don't own. Point them all to
what you do own. Yeah, right.
And then, and then just, really,
just make the things that you
own just next level valuable.
And and you I like, I like Rory
and the team to, you know,
they're real clear about who
their target customer is, right?
And speaking to that person,
when you know exactly who you're
speaking to, then you can pour a
ton of value into that, yeah,
and that, you know, again,
that's, that's what we're doing
on our team, is we know exactly
who we're talking to, and then
we pour value into it. And I
talked leadership enough to the
people that I was like, alright,
well, I still write a book,
right? Like, I'll, I'll write
this leadership book. Yeah, this
is a perfect opportunity for me
to call people and talk to them.
Yes, first, at first, I was
selling books, but they know I'm
in real estate. And I tell you
kind of laughed about, like, I'm
part time book salesman now, but
you know, we not tell them a
couple real estate stories, just
so they know that I'm still
heating it up, you know, yeah.
But then, you know, after I do
that, then I get to call them
all back and say, Well, what did
you learn? You know, let's talk
about it. Oh, by the way, can
you leave me a review? Can you
tell your friends? Guess what?
When they tell somebody else
about the book, and then that
person goes into you. That
website to learn more and kind
of download some of the the
content that you can with a
book. Where do you think those
names are going? That's about
real estate, but database,
right? Like I've got. So this is
a leadership book, but it's a,
it's a form of Legion, where
it's capture, and I'm working
people down back to the
database, where I can
communicate to them again about
real estate, yeah, yeah. Mission
home builders, our construction
company under a completely
separate brand, but when we send
out mailers saying, hey, mission
will buy your house, where do
you think the response? When
those people respond or they
click on that link to sell us
their house, where do you think
they go? They go right into my
real estate sales database. Love
it, yeah, any, any kind of event
that we do to kind of just teach
wealth building or whatever,
like, all goes back to the
database. So we, we're not doing
anything unique. We're running
events, but they're, but they're
steady leader events, right?
They're not, hey, come get my my
apple pie. Like, I'm not, I'm
not the realtor that does those
types of events. We're doing
wealth building events we're
doing. We're building houses
right, and we're hosting happy
hours in our houses that we're
building and inviting our
investors invest in our spec
deals if they want to, right?
That keeps our investors close
to us, because I have my agents
at the house too when we're
teaching, I mean, we just non
stop, are just teaching and
trying to provide value. And as
long as you have your mix of
real estate versus other value,
right, they'll always know that
real estate's your core. You're
just, you're just giving them
value in other ways. And that's,
that's the key.
I love how you outline and
everybody listening go back and
rewind that and write down some
things. And I would encourage
you to look at, okay, what are
the things that you're doing?
What are some of the things
Skyler went through? They're
like, Oh, I should be doing
that. Whether it's events or
you're funneling everybody in.
And I love that kind of focus
and lead magnet, the brand of
the steady leader funnels all
the these, these people are
potential buyers and sellers all
the time, and everybody needs
shelter, yeah, I love that well
before we get into the
entrepreneurial side. Because I
know you mentioned that with
laundromats, you got those
things cranking. You got the
construction company. All that.
I looked at that next phase we
move out of leading ourselves. I
was about leading the team.
Things that you know, people
that are listening today. You
see these themes, and always
think about patterns that
emerge, and you're really good
at this is seeing the patterns.
What are the best leaders today
doing in this environment?
Right? Because we have this
hybrid that still exists after
COVID, and all these things are
like virtual people across the
country. I know our teams all
across the country, different
time zones, some are in an
office, some are not in an
office. And what are those
things to really lead the team
well that you found, or are
those pillars, right staples of
leading a team? Well,
yeah, I'm not. I think first is
a mindset of, I don't want to
surround myself with followers,
Owner, surround myself with
leaders. You know, for someone
that's got a team that spread,
spread throughout the US, you're
not, you can't do everything,
and so you're going to lead your
your core four or five, right?
We have to obey the span of
control rule if you, if you're
leading more than five to seven
people, you're babysitting, you
literally can't produce, because
all you're doing is answering
questions all day long. So you
got to find a way to keep your
direct reports to five, maybe
seven, if you're kind of ramping
up to that next leader, but
ideally five people, because if
you have five people reporting
to you that are leaders, they'll
go lead the team, but you also
can lead them and still produce
right, like you and I are where
we are today, because we're good
producers. Okay, so it's still
for our company. We still have
to produce. It just looks a
little differently. Now, you
know, we're out trying to land
wells or or, you know, the next
opportunity for people to invest
in or whatever that might be,
but you got to surround yourself
with leaders. Okay, once you've
surrounded yourself with
leaders, or you have that core
team, then then it becomes a
vision exercise, again, because
you need people to understand
the direction that they're
moving, and you have a vision
for the team, but then you're
going to have a vision for each
individual player, and this
might be where the kind of the
uniqueness for what I do comes
in, and I look at it as the
offensive coordinator, right?
So, yeah, I love football. I was
better at baseball, but I love
football. The offensive
coordinator looks at their
offense and says, at a high
level, the vision for this
thing. We're going to be the
best running offense, or we're
going to be the best passing
offense, or we're going to be
the the fastest offense, right?
We're going to run with tempo,
whatever it might be, right?
They have a vision for the
offense, but then they have a
vision for every player on that
team. And so do you think the
vision that the offensive
coordinator has for their
offensive tackle is the same
vision that they have for the
wide receiver? No man, I mean,
just physically, they got to
look different, right? Because
and their jobs look different,
and success looks different, and
and how you talk to. Them is
probably different, like, the
way they prepare for games is
different, like, everything's
different. And so what you
acknowledge is, when you're
leading your team, yes, there is
a vision for the team, but every
individual you have to have a
vision for. If I hit it out of
the park with this person in
three to five years, this is
what they look like. And so
you're leading the team to a
vision, but you're leading
people to a vision, right? And
so when you have your one on one
meetings with a teammate, that
you have a vision for, like, how
much better are those one on
ones going to be? I mean, you
know where you're taking that
person, and if you can get them
there, think about where your
team's going to be, yeah. And
I'm, I'm real clear about that,
right? And so I've got, I've got
a vision for the team and for
each individual, and I've got
plans for both, right and not in
and then what I train to is
based on that, right? I'll train
the team based on that team
vision, right? And then I'll
train each individual with who I
need them to be if they're going
to be the successful person in
the future, right? And and I ask
them to like, I want them to
know, like, Hey, I see you as a
leader in our business in the
future. Is that what you want,
right? And if they tell you no,
well, that's great. Like, you
have some clarity there, and you
can change your vision for them.
That's right. Map out someone's
life and not know what they
want, right? Like, you get some
of this is kind of just talking
back and forth to to expose the
reality of things. And so, you
know, then we train right. My
one on ones, you know, we got
our plan that takes us in the
direction of our vision, right.
And then we break it up in the
quarterly big rocks, right, just
and, and then every one on one,
I'm asking them first, always
ask them how they're doing,
right? Because if the person
isn't healthy, then they don't
care about any of your
professional stuff, right? If
the only thing we do in a one on
one is take care of the person,
and that's what we have to do,
because that's the most
important thing. So I check on
the person, and then I ask them
how last week went. And what I'm
listening for is, did you stay
focused on the things that we
call the priority that we call
the big rock for your next
quarter. And I'm listening
right? And hopefully what I'm
hearing is, yes, I stayed on
priority. Some things I was able
to accomplish and do really
well, some things I struggled
with right now, and I'll try to
plug in there as their leader.
I'll try to plug in and be who
they need me to be to help in
those problem areas. Well, then
we say, Okay, well, what's your
plan for this next week? And
what I'm listening to again is,
are you on priority? Have you
thought about the vision? And do
you understand the plan and the
priority for this next week? And
if they don't, I redirect them
right? And then we settle on
what we're going to talk about
next week so we know what the
big rocks are for the week. And
then I, then I just usually ask
them, hey, where do you need me
to plug in more? Just ask them
that. And if sometimes they say,
you're awesome, you're doing
good, don't need you anywhere.
But sometimes they have
somewhere where they need you to
plug in. And that's, that's an
awesome answer to have, because
then you can go be more valuable
to them, right? That helps with
retention and their growth and
everything that's right. Then I
ask them, hey, where am I in
your business that I can unplug
from like you don't need me
anymore? And that's awesome for
me, because it saves me time.
Makes them feel less like I'm
micromanaging. There's a whole
lot of other great things. Yeah.
And then we high five, and I
send them out, you know, we do
that in 30 minutes. But when you
have when you have a vision,
when you have a plan, when
you're holding them accountable,
and then you're kind of, like
leading by example and training
them, and, you know, doing,
doing great, kind of innovative
things as their leader, the
team's gonna be successful. It's
going to be steady. There's
going to be growth.
Yeah, I love that. That's for
anybody listening, I think
that's, that's the game, right?
And I love that you broke down
the one on ones. You broke down.
You're having the vision calls
with them and actually mapping.
And I love that you shared this
to scholars like what we might
think is, is the vision for
them, and we see in them they
may not see in themselves, just
meeting them where they are and
helping them go through that
critical the best leaders at me
there?
Yeah, yeah, amen. And I learned
this from somebody. So that's
that's why I get to do it right,
because I got to work under a
great leader. But I do it right
up front in the interview
process, because I need to know
that you're aligned with where
I'm going. Because it because if
we're aligned, and I hope you
get what you want, then I'm
going to get what I want. That's
right, and that's an awesome
place to be to push you to get
what you want, so that I get
what I want. We're going to run
real fast, because we're just
completely aligned. And then if
there's ever conflict later down
the road, then I can say, like,
Well, wait a minute, like you
told me when I hired you, this
is what you wanted in your life.
Has things changed? And
sometimes things change, Brian,
that's what, that's why we got
to stay connected to the person.
Because sometimes things change,
and if they changed and we're no
longer aligned, then it might
be, it might be the right time
for us to help you go find
somewhere where you can be more
aligned. Nobody wants to come to
work and not be aligned. No,
they just, it just doesn't feel
good. No, we know. Everybody
knows that. Around. Around, and
they're just waiting for that
day and that opportunity. And so
I love the chance to get to
lead. It's always that great
opportunity. And I love the way
you've laid it out. I'm going to
leave the leading the business.
So people go get the book,
because I want them to go get
that. Speaking of business, man,
I got to ask this, because the
entrepreneurial journey we
watch, we're big fans of Shark
Tank. I always think about
entrepreneurial journey, and I'm
going through years and, like,
everything's making sense to me,
Construction Company, real
estate, stuff you're going
through that, like, laundromat,
okay, yeah, for those you're
talking about what you're doing
there. Yeah, the biggest lesson
you've learned, and let's keep
it relatively recent, in the
last year, maybe about
entrepreneurship and and having
these multiple companies that
you've got there maybe some you
wish you had known years ago
when you got into this, but an
entrepreneurial lesson is
transferable. Man,
it's easy for me. I don't know
why I didn't trust people, and I
think it might be the way I grew
up. I grew up in a rough
neighborhood where you really
couldn't trust people. You know,
they were always out to get what
they needed to survive, and they
would take years to have it. And
I think because of that, I never
trusted people enough to partner
with them in business, right?
Because I believed in myself,
and it was hard for me to
believe in other people, to
think like I did, you know, like
I would, I would give to
somebody else before I would
partner with them. Yeah. But if
you look at what I've been able
to accomplish in the short
amount of time that I've been
able to accomplish, it, it's
only because I'm 100% willing to
partner with people. Now, if
you, if you are going to make my
business and myself better than
who I am today, then I'll
partner with you and and I, I
think that that, aha, that I
don't have to own it 100% that
has enabled me to do
extraordinary things. And you
know, you talk about the
laundromat, the laundromat is
such a unique thing. But if I
wasn't willing to partner with
the right people, I'd never be
able to do it. And so I'll just
tell a quick sort we invested in
a commercial retail center,
okay? And we had two vacant
spots, three lease, right? So
it's five, five unit retail
center, and we bought it, right?
So even with the three units
leased, we were cash flowing, so
we were already okay. Again,
we're not average. We want
exceptional, right? And so we
juiced the value of the real
estate by getting the vacancies
leased. We were able to get the
fourth space lease pretty
quickly, but the fifth space we
just couldn't get that thing
leased. I mean, we were a year
and a half into it, trying to
give all this free rent and all
this TI allowance and all this
stuff, and we just couldn't get
it leased. Yeah, I'm not
commercial real estate broker.
I'm the residential broker, but
it's my money in the deal, and
I'm along the journey with them.
So we started to think, Well,
what businesses could we plug in
there that would be similar to
real estate but would bring
value to the retail center could
pay market rent and would bring
value to the CO tenants, right?
And we looked at restaurants, we
looked at all kinds of stuff,
and laundry was a good fit, and
so we put the laundromat in
there, and we found the right
person to lead that business,
and paid market rent. So juice
the value of the real estate,
but that customer comes every
single week. And so our ability
to go increase rents with the
other tenants kind of went
through the roof, because they
love that laundromat being an
anchor tenant, bringing their
people in all the time. And so
what we ended up doing was
changing our whole commercial
real estate investment strategy
to find them places we could
plug a laundromat into. Like we
wouldn't buy it unless we could
plug a laundromat into one of
the vacant spaces and center.
And, man, we, you know, you do
that four times. You understand,
like, I know how to run this
business. Now, we got a great
playbook, and that's why we
franchised it. And this I,
can't. I can't run my real
estate sales company the way
that I can without the great
people I have in it. I can't,
you know, can't be a part of the
construction company without the
great people there. And I surely
can't run a laundromat without
the great people I have there.
And I already told you, my
mindset is five people report to
you, and so no matter how big
our organization is, it's going
to be five that report to you,
and you just got to find a way
to let them lead the rest. And
that's that's how you're able to
do it. That's how you that's how
you're able to grow your empire
and still keep your sanity,
still be the dad and the husband
you want to be, and things just
keep getting bigger. Man, you
just partner with people. It's
changed my life. It's changed my
life.
I love it, man. It's such a good
story, too. And similarly, some
of the best deals we've done,
they were partners and people
that I didn't know as much, but
I brought something to the
table. They brought other things
to the table, and they did that.
And as I'm thinking about that,
you know, Skyler, if somebody's
listening, they're like, Okay,
man, that sounds great for you.
And all these things you've
done. But if somebody's looking
to partner and they're like, You
know what I do really well in
this this area, maybe it is real
estate, maybe it is mortgage.
Like, how do I go? How do I go
seek out these partnerships and
use my talents and use my gifts
and even seek out a partner like
that. Because I've had people
ask me, and, you know, I kind of
know my answer, but I'd love,
I'd love yours. How do people
get in the game over there?
Yeah, you, I mean, you got to
find people that are after the
same purpose and have similar
values as you, and so I come off
really outgoing on this kind of
like channel of media, right?
But I behind the screen and it's
just talking to you. But I'm
not. I'm not a super outgoing
person. You know, when I when
I'm on a stage, or when I'm
talking to a group of people,
I'm performing, I'm a task guy.
I wake up in the morning, so I
see that opportunity as a task
that I can accomplish. I'm not
naturally just going out and
networking and talking to
people, but when I understood
this, and I understood that,
really at a high level, I wanted
to bring love to the world, and
I need good people to help me
build something where we can
touch a lot of lives. Then it
became a part of just the
mission that I was on and and
so, you know, everywhere I go,
I'm kind of like running a
scenario through my head. Every
time I talk to somebody, it's
kind of this, this process,
maybe, and I'm kind of making
this up on the spot, but I think
it'll help the folks, every
person I meet, I ask myself,
first, you know, can you teach
me something, right? And so, you
know, if you could teach me
something, I'm a learner. I want
to be better. I got a growth
mindset, you know, teach me
something. Then I'm asking
myself, well, can you work for
me? Can you help me build my
empire, right? And then I'm
asking myself, well, if you
can't work for me, then are you
going to be a customer of mine,
right? And then if you're not
going to be a customer of mine,
then I just ask myself, well,
what can I give you that you
know might help your life. And
so I'm every person. I'm working
through that thought process of,
what can what can you teach me?
Can you work for me? Will you be
a client? What can I do for you?
Like I'm every person. I'm doing
that, so I don't miss any
opportunities with people to do
that. And the cool thing is,
really what I'm doing, Brian,
I'm walking with open hands.
Okay, I'm I'm very willing to
give you all that I have. But
because my hands are open, I can
accept things from you too. And
so, like, it's a, it's a, it's a
given take and kind of, Bob,
scratch your back, you scratch
mine. Kind of mentality to just
trying to bring love to the
world. And you know, a lot of
people, I may only talk to once
in their life, and that's okay,
but more times than not, I'll
connect with someone because I'm
genuinely trying to help them in
some way in their life. And then
we just have more and more
conversations. And it's not that
conversation that usually turns
into a partnership. It's
somebody saying, Hey, I met a
guy that just reminded me of
you, and I thought you guys
should meet. And then they, they
connect us. And it's like, my my
brother from another mother.
Yeah, I meet with them like,
man, I've been, I've been
missing you my whole life, the
whole time. And then we find a
way, right? And it's, but it's,
it's intentional. You're always
talking and, you know, just got
a web, right, putting the web
out there, and you're captured
and bringing
them in, that's a cool model.
And, I mean, I'm going to use
that, because I think about
that, but not in that detail. Of
when I meet people, I'm like,
Okay, well, God, what is it was
the intention of this? And how
can I serve them? What's the
connection they need? Where's
their advice? Where's their
opportunity? I think if we all
look in our lives like we come
across people every day, you
just never know what would be
this. I love that open hands,
just that's gonna stick with me.
He's got to be a thought leader,
right? Brian, like I this past
weekend, I went and spoke at an
event called fitness and faith.
And had never met the guy
before, but he read the book,
and he knew that I was a
businessman that loved Jesus,
yeah. And he's like, Hey, I'm
hosting this event called
fitness and faith. I'd love to
you to come and talk about the
faith piece. And the only reason
why that opportunity came to me
was because I was putting out
valuable content, and just kind
of open hands, sharing with the
world what I've learned, right?
And I think the more you do
that, it's just going to come
back, you know, you're going to
get opportunities. And so I got
to talk to 100 people, and they
all know I'm in real estate. I
was sure to share that. And then
we focused on faith. But it was,
it was good. I mean, that's just
that open hand approach. I think
it really works.
Oh, it does. It ties back to the
uniqueness who you are, your
talents and things you've got.
So, man, I know we could jam. I
feel like a brother from another
mother there. As I was prepping
for I was super excited about
this, because I'm like, man, we
a lot. Up on so many things, and
these are the people that I want
to be around and associated
with, learn from and share with
our audience. And so I always
say this, everybody that's
that's listening to the show is,
man, I see I want, I want great
guests like you, where your
pedigree and what you're doing
and what you're building is
inspirational and aspirational,
for those people to go man
Skylar is over here doing it. I
can take a few pages out of his
playbook. I can go lead better
at home. I can go lead my team
better, lead myself better,
right? Like I can go and play
big in the world. And so dude,
thank you for sharing your gifts
with us today. Last Last
question of anything that's on
your heart or that didn't ask, I
always love this, anything that
you know maybe God's teaching
you right now, or anything you
want to leave people with just
kind of a final thought or
message,
good question.
You know, we've sold some real
estate this year, but I've sold
more in the past, right? I'm the
same as you all in that way
that, you know, it's tough to
sell real estate in Austin, and
in I talk, I talk to God every
morning, you know, and I'm and I
believe that everything that I
go through is preparing me for
someone that I can help in the
future, like I know that. And so
I'm always asking, you know,
God, what are you teaching me in
this moment? How can I, how can
I achieve wisdom from this, this
adversity, to make me a better
man and and I just, I just want
the people that are listening
and got this far to know that
everything we have is a gift,
everything the struggles, the
talents, the the resources, the
timing and business. So much of
my business success is just
timing. Everything we have is a
gift, and you are to steward
those gifts. And it isn't about
you, it's about what you can
bring this world. Can you? Can
you be someone that multiplies
love for other people and and
just help them grow spiritually,
so that they wake up every
morning and they think about
what they can bring the world
and not what they're going to
get themselves? You know, if we
could, if we could teach more
leaders that and get them to
think that way, this world would
be a lot easier for our
leadership to lead? Yeah, we it
would just run itself. And
that's, that's really what we
need. We need that. And so I
would just encourage people to
seek that spiritual health, to
talk to God every morning and
and be humble and think like,
what, what am I learning? That's
that I need, that I need to go
help someone else in the future,
because that's the point. Yeah.
Closed out, strong brother.
Thank you. This has been
incredible, and I cannot wait to
share this with everybody. Guys.
This is why we bring on great
guests. And if you're not
following Skyler, we're going to
have his information there. You
can link up the steady leader.
Go grab the book. If you're a
leader today, I would tell you
what a great way for you to go
grab the book, go through it
with your team and actually
share some things from today,
and I say this too, is then grab
the podcast, grab some excerpts
that you loved, bring it back.
The action you take as a result
of this conversation has
probably sparked something in
you, where you say, you know, I
want to get better here. I could
improve there. And it's all in
that bigger purpose that Skylar
talked about today. So if you
would, if you've listened
through and you've been
following us for a while, you
know, leave us a review. Share
this with your friends. That's
how we get this out in other
people's hands. And I believe
that ripple effect of us sharing
these quality conversations,
putting that in front of people,
so we're thinking about the
right things. We're using our
talents and actually honoring
God with what we've done there.
That's how we change the world,
just one share at a time,
review, share it with a friend,
and then take this back to your
team, especially if you're a
leader or to your family. This
is gonna be a book that I
recommend to several leaders
that I talk with right now, and
make sure you follow Skyler.
Give them a shout out and let us
know if something has resonated
with you, as I always love that
feedback of what stood out,
maybe something you want to hear
more of, or we can help you
with. So make sure you reach out
to us. And then, until the next
episode, guys, go out there and
do something great. You've heard
it from Skylar today, but that
bigger purpose is what pulls you
forward? If you're in a tough
season right now, or you're
facing some of those challenges,
best way to move forward is to
serve others, I found. So this
is a great way to go do that. We
appreciate you guys tuning in.
We'll catch you on the next
episode. See ya.