Real Estate & Cons...

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BTU #408 - 0 to 2,100 Employees (Alex O'Brien @ Cardinal Group)

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BTU #408 - 0 to 2,100 Employees (Alex O'Brien @ Cardinal Group)

Why Listen:

I'm so grateful for the opportunity to have this conversation with Alex. I reached out to him via LinkedIn because I saw he was in Denver, and he was a Marine who has done incredible things as an entrepreneur and basically treated this interview as part two of a conversation with him. Here's a couple of things that stood out to me that I hope you benefit from this interview. At one point, Alex says, I don't know anything, pay me and teach me. I think that's such a great thought as he was taking different jobs as he was starting his company; such a great way to approach anything, which is find something that can make money and teach you a skill set. I really appreciate his lessons on patience. You'll hear that in his 15-year journey of building up a real estate company that spans so many different functional areas now, but it wasn't an overnight success. He also talks about pounding the rock. It's not a single pound that cracks the rock. But it's the repeated relentless intention of showing up every day. I think there's a lot there that I can learn as well going along with that his story really has these threads of constant improvement. And I'm just appreciating his thoughts on inclusivity and how creating an incredible place to work really depends on understanding each unique person, their history, and what they're wanting out of life. And then you can create and craft an environment that's right for them. It was really powerful to think of that from a cultural standpoint.

As always at beyondtheuniform.org there are show notes with links to what we discuss timestamps for the key points of this interview and 407 other interviews similar to this one, all provided for free.

About Alex:

Alex is the Chief Executive Officer at Cardinal Group Companies, a fully integrated real estate investment, construction development, marketing, and management firm specializing in opportunistic and value-added investments throughout the United States. Alex started out at Miami University after he served in the Marine Corps for four years as a Logistics Officer. He started the Cardinal Group out of the Marine Corps, and over the last 15 years, has bootstrapped his company. For those of you that are unfamiliar with that term, bootstrap means he did not bring on outside investment. He bootstrapped his covenant over 2100 employees, somehow finding time to earn an MBA at Chicago's Booth School of Business along the way.

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BTU #378 - Know Your Boundaries (Chris Hsu - CEO @ Zibo)

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BTU #378 - Know Your Boundaries (Chris Hsu - CEO @ Zibo)

Why Listen

For today’s guest, Chris Hsu, I could have spent a full episode on six incredible positions he held since his time in the Army - his work as an Associate Principal at McKinsey & Company, as Managing Director at KKR, as Senior Vice President at HP, as CEO at Micro Focus, and as an Advisory Partner at Andreessen Horowitz - each of those blow my mind. While we touch on this briefly, we spend the bulk of our time on his current role as CEO and Co-Founder of Zibo, which blends real estate, financial services, and software. I view this interview more as a personal mentorship call, where I soaked up as much of Chris 20+ years of experience as possible. Whether you are interested in entrepreneurship, developing a side hustle into a full-time job, consulting, finance, or tech, this interview will have a wealth of knowledge for you.

About Chris Hsu

Chris Hsu is the CEO & Co-Founder of Zibo, a company he started nearly 2 years ago to radically improve financial services for independent landlords. Chris has raised over $10M in venture capital and LinkedIn shows over 20 employees. His path to this point started at West Point, included over 5 years in the Army in tanks, and has included work at General Mills, Associate Principal at McKinsey & Company, Managing Director at KKR, Senior Vice President at HP, CEO at Micro Focus, and Advisory Partner at Andreessen Horowitz. He holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management.

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BTU #330 - Tech, Side Hustles, and Relationships (GS Youngblood)

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BTU #330 - Tech, Side Hustles, and Relationships (GS Youngblood)

Why Listen:

My guest today transitioned from the Air Force into high tech in Silicon Valley, where he has worked in Product Management at Intel, Trulia, Realtor.com and other great companies. He also wrote a book about Product Management, where he takes the principles around procedures and checklists from the military, and applies them to the functional role of Product Management.

However, beyond our discussion of Product Management in this interview, there are two things that I absolutely loved about my conversation with GS.

First: side hustle. GS made the transition to the Real Estate industry. While his day job was building tech products for the Real Estate industry, he leveraged what he was learning to start investing in Real Estate as a side hustle. The result is that, over the course of his career, he developed side income that has allowed him to transition into more meaningful work around coaching and writing. This is a wonderful example of how - outside of the workplace - listeners can cultivate a hobby that creates the financial freedom to pursue a deeper purpose in your next chapter.

Second: relationships. In the 300+ episodes I’ve done so far, we’ve only talked about relationships in one other episode, and that is the recent episode #323 - Conscious Leadership, with Floyd Carlson. It’s something we should talk about more. For those of you who are in relationship, I’m sure you can relate: when my relationship is off with my wife, Rebecca, everything is off in my life. I’m not as productive at work, I’m not as focused in my conversations, I’m not able to operate at my peak potential in my professional life. There is not this clear distinction between work and life… they blend together, and one affects the other. In his work with couples, and in his recent book, “The Masculine in Relationship” GS brings some very poignant advice to how listeners can improve and deepen their relationship. I know, I know, this is a podcast ABOUT career success… trust me on this, you can have success in your career without success in your relationship or family, but it’s not much fun.

I met GS through the men’s work I’m doing with John Wineland, and it was a pleasure to get to know this professional side of him in our conversation - I hope you enjoy it as well.

About GS:

GS is a coach who helps men in relationship develop their Masculine core. He is a former Silicon Valley executive, founder of a tech company that he eventually sold, and the author of two books (including the recently published “The Masculine in Relationship”). His teachings are based on 12 years as a student and creator in the realm of the Masculine-Feminine dynamic, and also pull in principles from a variety of fields: psychology, martial arts, tango, meditation, and BDSM.

After his time as a military officer, GS got his MBA from the University of Virginia and transitioned into the high tech industry. He spent time at Intel, Broadcom, Trulia, Realtor.com, and Matterport. He also founded and sold the company CityStash, which sought to disrupt the $23B self-storage space with technology.

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BTU #169 - Marine Corps to Residential Real Estate (Drew Morris)

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BTU #169 - Marine Corps to Residential Real Estate (Drew Morris)

Drew went directly from the Marine Corps into Residential Real Estate. However, beyond this just being an episode pertinent to other Veterans interested in Real Estate, there are two reasons to listen to this episode. The first is our conversation about commission-based jobs. Drew does the best job I've ever heard about why Veterans should consider a commission-based job. I know most members of the military have a negative association with this sort of job, but Drew has some compelling points. Second, Drew has great advice about sales. Sales is the most cited challenge in my interview with Veterans - selling oneself, networking, and sales in general. Drew's advice will hit home for many listeners.

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BTU #165 - Marines to Real Estate Development (Chris Antonov)

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BTU #165 - Marines to Real Estate Development (Chris Antonov)

This episode is all about Real Estate Development. Most people on Active Duty are likely familiar with Real Estate and Real Estate Brokers, but Real Estate Development is different. Chris does an exceptional job of talking about Real Estate Development: the multi-year process of finding land, purchasing land, designing a building, constructing that building, and then leasing the office space or building. He also provides a great look at how this work is highly relevant to many of the skills we develop on Active Duty. He also talks about how his work in the Marines was largely project management, and how that is one of the key skills in his current job.

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BTU #164 - Buying 20+ houses, with cash, while on Active Duty (Rich Carey)

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BTU #164 - Buying 20+ houses, with cash, while on Active Duty (Rich Carey)

Rich Carey is a Commander in the Air Force, currently stationed in Korea. While on active duty he paid off his $280k mortgage in six years and $32k in student loans in 1 year. He flips houses and purchases rental property with cash while living overseas in the military. He currently owns 20 rental properties mortgage free. He also operates - despite a demanding schedule and frequent travel - the website RichOnMoney.com

Why Listen: 

Financial security is something that comes up frequently in my interviews. Veterans talks about how important it is to have enough time after Active Duty to be able to find your ideal job... and this may take 6-9 months. Rich is an exceptional example of someone on Active Duty who has lived below his means, and invested wisely to provide financial freedom when he leaves the military. His lessons are applicable to every career path, and whether you are on Active Duty or already transitioned to a civilian career.

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BTU #158 - Lockheed Martin to Residential Real Estate (Sean Ponder)

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BTU #158 - Lockheed Martin to Residential Real Estate (Sean Ponder)

Real estate! How buying a house and binging on HGTV led to a career in Real Estate. I have been trying for the last several months to get a Veteran in real estate on the show. Sean is the first person I’ve had not the show to speak about this career path. We also talk about a lot of other topics relevant to any career path. We discuss the Pros & Cons of working with headhunters, and how this may set your salary starting point lower than if you are able to go directly to a company. We also briefly chat about Lockheed Martin, where Sean started the first nine years of his civilian career. We also touch on the Reserves.

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BTU #80 - Zach & Drew - two Navy vets team up to raise $13M for Rhumbix

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BTU #80 - Zach & Drew - two Navy vets team up to raise $13M for Rhumbix

Rhumbix is based in San Francisco and is a mobile platform designed for the construction craft workforce. They were founded in 2014 and have raised over $13M in funding from investors including Greylock Partners, Brick & Mortar Ventures, Spectrum 28, and Glynn Capital.

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BTU #16 - John Vardaman: Construction, Project Management, and Tesla

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“And I think sometimes that was hard to admit to ourselves and to others in the military: it was a little scary looking out there at the job market and trying to figure out how am I going to make this work and make this happen? It is not that bad - and I would encourage folks to be confident in themselves and their skills. You've been equipped with the skills to land pretty much any job out there." – John Vardaman

John Vardaman is a Senior Construction Manager at Tesla. He started his career in the Construction Industry at DPR Construction, where he served as a Project Manager. While at DPR Construction, he earned his Masters in Sustainable Design and Construction at Stanford University. In the military, John served as a Human Intelligence Officer in the Marine Corps, and graduated from the US Naval Academy.

In this conversation, we cover a lot of topics, including:

  • How John used multiple recruiters over the course of a year to find his ideal job
  • What it's like to be a Project Manager, and how the military prepares you for this role
  • The benefits of pursuing advanced education once you have civilian working experience
  • How to explain your background to an employer in terms that will resonate with them
  • How to approach the job search with confidence and humility
  • And much, much more…

iTurnes Beyond the UniformStitcher Beyond the Uniform

QUESTION OF THE DAY: How can I make these episodes more valuable to active duty military personnel considering transitioning to the civilian world? Please let me know in the comments.

Scroll below for links and show notes…

Selected Links from the Episode

Show Notes

  • [2:00] John's Background
  • [2:48] Making the decision to leave the Marine Corps
  • [4:54] Evaluating whether or not to join the Reserves
  • [6:30] Choosing his first job, and working with Recruiters (and the pros and cons of Recruiters)
  • [9:18] Starting to work with Recruiters one year from separation and the advantages of more time for interviews
  • [12:30] What drew John to Construction and Project Management
  • ** [13:20] John does an amazing job explaining his past as it would help in a Project Management role. I thought this was a great, tangible example of how to sell your background for ones desired role
  • [16:20] John explains how he would explain his military background in a Project Management role
  • [19:27] Day-to-day life of a Project Manager in the Construction industry
  • [22:40] Where John felt ahead of his peers based on his military service... and where he felt behind
  • [25:48] The most surprising aspect of John's transition to life as a civilian
  • [31:23] How leadership outside of the military differs from leadership in the military
  • [34:18] Pursuing a Master's at Stanford while working, and how John benefited from having experience before pursuing advanced education
  • [39:37] John's experience working at Tesla, and how great it is to work at a company aligned with your values
  • [44:44] Final words of advice for military personnel and other veterans