What separates those who dream about raising real money in real estate from those who actually do it? According to Wendell Butler, a former military officer who went on to found Hammerhead Capital and Flip Fuel Lending, it’s not complicated spreadsheets or pitch decks. In reality, it comes down to discipline, speed, and crystal-clear communication.
Laying the Foundation: From the Military to Real Estate
Wendell’s journey didn’t start in real estate—he began as a military officer, where discipline became second nature. He later transitioned to a loan officer role, gaining firsthand experience in the world of lending and underwriting. That dual background proved invaluable, allowing him to understand deals from both the lender’s and the investor’s perspectives.
But how did Wendell Butler make his first step into raising private money? It wasn’t about flashy presentations or aggressive sales pitches. Instead, he focused on building a reliable track record—executing on two simple deals, living in and flipping homes using his knowledge as a loan officer. “It was less about what I said and more about what I did,” he recalls. Showing proof of concept and genuine results was enough to inspire confidence in his earliest private investors—even when those deals were relatively small.
The Power of Simple, Honest Communication
One of the biggest takeaways from Wendell Butler’s interview with Jay Conner is the importance of keeping things simple. For new investors, the temptation to use industry jargon can be strong, but as Jay Conner points out, “A confused mind does not make a decision. Actually, they do—it’s called no.”
Instead, Wendell started conversations with people in his closest circles—family and friends—breaking his process down in plain language. He described what he had done, how it worked, and what kind of returns they could expect, bypassing complicated terms like “equity splits” or “GP/LP shares.” By making the opportunity easy to understand, he won early buy-in and trust, leading to soft commitments before he even had deals in hand.
Discipline as a Competitive Edge
Wendell Butler’s military background instilled an unwavering discipline, which became his edge in investing. That discipline wasn’t just about executing deals—it also translated into always doing what he said he’d do, especially when it came to private lenders. “No matter what, I’m going to get my investor the money that I promised them—even if the deal goes south and it comes out of my own pocket,” Wendell explains.
He also stresses the value of disciplined underwriting (thanks to his loan officer days). By never stretching the numbers and maintaining a conservative outlook on each deal, he not only protected his investors but built up even more credibility. For him, it’s all about “staying disciplined to the numbers… because numbers don’t lie.”
Shifting from Sales to Service
A key mindset shift for Wendell Butler was letting go of the idea that raising private money is about “selling.” Instead, he reframed it as providing an opportunity—one that could solve a real problem for someone else. This approach—educating, sharing opportunities, and encouraging potential investors to take or leave it—created less pressure and cultivated relationships built on trust, not desperation.
Jay Conner reinforced this, noting that the goal isn’t to chase or persuade but to offer solutions to “ordinary people with lazy money”—meaning funds that aren’t working hard for them. “Private money doesn’t go to the smartest investor; it goes to the most prepared, the most consistent, and the most trustworthy,” he says.
Community and Continuous Learning
Wendell’s entrepreneurial spirit extended to launching The Hive in Charlotte, an entrepreneur meetup designed to foster genuine connections. “When you build true relationships through service, deals and private money will follow,” he explains.
For those starting, Wendell advises focusing first on education—through books, podcasts, and free resources—until you can confidently teach others what you know. Start with your inner circle, be relentlessly honest, and build relationships from a place of service. With discipline and the right mindset, the money—and lasting financial freedom—will come.
10 Discussion Questions from this Episode:
- The importance of discipline was highlighted as a key factor in real estate investing. How can discipline influence your communication and decision-making with private lenders?
- Building a “track record,” even with only a couple of deals at first, was described as valuable. Why is having a track record so important when trying to raise private money?
- The episode describes initial conversations with potential lenders and the use of simple, jargon-free language. What techniques can help keep these discussions clear and approachable for newcomers?
- The mindset shift from “selling” to “offering an opportunity” was discussed. Why is this change in perspective crucial for success in raising private capital?
- Community-building and networking, such as creating or joining entrepreneurial groups, were suggested as strategies for finding capital and opportunities. How does surrounding yourself with like-minded individuals impact your investment journey?
- There was a preference mentioned for deals with a large spread and lower risk, focusing on properties that are easy to flip. How does this approach make a deal more attractive to private lenders?
- The episode discussed key protections investors should establish for private lenders, such as asset-based loans or including the lender on the insurance policy. How do these measures help build trust with your lenders?
- The importance of education before seeking private money was emphasized. What steps should a brand-new investor take to prepare themselves to raise their first $100,000?
- Communication and follow-up with investors was highlighted as critical. What are some of the best strategies for maintaining strong, ongoing relationships with private lenders?
- Overcoming doubts and negativity from others was mentioned as a challenge when starting in real estate. What are some effective ways to stay motivated and persistent despite skepticism from your personal network?
Fun facts that were revealed in the episode:
- Wendell Butler transitioned from serving as a military officer to founding not just one, but two real estate-focused businesses: Hammerhead Capital and Flip Fuel Lending.
- Wendell Butler raised over $2 million in private money, starting his journey by completing just two live-in flips/house hacks before attracting investors with his straightforward and disciplined approach.
- Wendell Butler runs The Hive in Charlotte, one of the fastest-growing entrepreneur meetups, with a focus on genuine community-building rather than just networking for deals.
Timestamps:
00:01 Discipline Fuels Real Estate Success
03:18 Building Credibility Through Action
06:36 Simple Deal Structuring Approach
11:55 Opportunity Through Educated Offering
15:39 Private Lending & Underwriting Insights
17:47 Risk-Averse Real Estate Strategy
21:41 Building Trust Through Relationships
23:57 Set Ambitious Goals for Success
26:32 Educate, Pitch, Commit, Repeat
28:24 Connect with Wendell Butler:
29:21 Raising Private Money Podcast.
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Discipline, Speed, and Community: Wendell Butler’s Rules for Real Estate Investing
Jay Conner [00:00:01]:
You know, what separates the investors who raise real money from the ones who just talk about it? It’s not the spreadsheets. It’s not the pitch deck. It’s discipline, and it’s speed, and it’s communication. And most people are slow, confusing, and quite frankly, scattered. So here’s the question. How does a guy go from a military officer to a loan officer to raising over $2 million in private money while building multiple businesses and a nationwide lending company? And more importantly, how does he do it consistently? Well, today I’ve got Wendell Butler on the show, and Wendell is the definition of someone who brings real-world discipline into real estate. Former military officer turned loan officer turned investor turned founder of Hammerhead Capital and Flip Fuel Lending. He’s done fix-and-flips.
Jay Conner [00:00:57]:
He’s done the brrrr method, multifamily stabilization across four different states. And he understands the lending side, the investing side, and the operator side because he has lived in all three. Now he runs Flip Fuel Lending, a hard money company serving investors all over the country. And his whole philosophy is brutally simple. St, spee,d, and communication win every time. That’s it. And the results show it. He also runs the Hive in Charlotte, one of the fastest growing entrepreneur meetups around, because he actually believes in building community, not just collecting contacts.
Jay Conner [00:01:36]:
So if you want to learn how to raise private money with clarity, confidence, and zero fluff, Wendell is your guy. Welcome to the Raising Private Money show, the only podcast for real estate investors who want to fund their deals without relying on banks or credit or using their own cash. I’m Jay Conner, the Private Money Authority, and I’ll show you how to get private lenders begging to fund your next deal. Because every good deal starts with money. In just a moment, you’re going to meet my guest, Wendell Butler, right after this.
Narrator [00:02:12]:
If you’re a real estate investor and are wondering how to raise and leverage private money to make more profit on every deal, then you’re in the right place. On raising private money, we’ll speak with new and seasoned investors to dissect their deals and extract the best tips and strategies to help you get the money. Because the money comes first. Now, here’s your host, Jay Conner.
Jay Conner [00:02:42]:
Wendell, welcome to the show, my friend. How are you?
Wendell Butler [00:02:48]:
Oh, I was on mute. Doing good, Jay. Doing good. How are you?
Jay Conner [00:02:51]:
I’m doing fantastic. Well, let’s go ahead and dive into it. You’ve raised over $2 million in private money. Let me ask you, can you think back to some of those very first conversations you had that led you to getting your first private money lender? Do you remember how those conversations went? How did you start conversations, what you actually said in the moment to start attracting the money?
Wendell Butler [00:03:18]:
I think it was less about what I said. I think it was really more about what I did. Right. So what I really focused on was building an initial track record, like using kind of like just my expertise in lending, understanding how deals work, and understanding how to actually make good deals happen. Informing a track record, showing that I’ve done it before, can replicate it, and is proof in the pudding that I can, you know, make these other individuals money as well. And once I had that, like a track record, and was confident enough to kind of speak about it, that kind of allowed me to have these discussions with more confidence and kind of lay it out. I would call it Barney style to potential investors that I can raise money from to make it less confusing for them, easier to understand and figure out, you know, if they actually want to lend with me. So I think it was a combination of both.
Jay Conner [00:04:14]:
Right.
Wendell Butler [00:04:15]:
It was a combination of just building and doing and having a track record and then taking that in full confidence and full stride to then communicate it effectively with the investor and break down what I was going to, you know, the opportunity that I was presenting them. Right.
Jay Conner [00:04:33]:
How much of a track record did you build? How many deals did you do? What did your track record look like before you started attracting private money?
Wendell Butler [00:04:42]:
Absolutely. So in the beginning, I only had, I think, about two. I only did two on my own. And they were really just like original, you know, live in flips or house hacks. And they weren’t like big or anything crazy of a deal, but the fact that I could leverage understanding money finances, like, as a loan officer and find ways to do it myself and take the risk myself, really allowed me to build just a more confident track record. Yeah, it was only like two deals, but that alone provided enough value for my first investor to want to invest with me.
Jay Conner [00:05:25]:
Okay, so you got a couple of deals underneath your belt. So, how did you start conversations? How did you, you know, start approaching the subject or having a conversation about someone being a potential private lender with you?
Wendell Butler [00:05:42]:
Absolutely. So I always like to start the conversation before, and I know you preach this too, like before even finding the deal. Right. And using my experience and track record of how I leveraged capital to create wealth or create profits, um, I started the conversations just being like, hey, this is what I’ve done. And it started with close friends and family, of course. I think you should always start with your closest inner circle and then branch out from there because they’re just easier conversations, and they see what you’re doing more. Right. Because if you’re posting on social media or you can meet them at family events and stuff like that, you tell them what you’re doing, they have a better idea of what you do and post first, I guess they get the first look at it right and know you, as a person.
Wendell Butler [00:06:36]:
So from there, I started just communicating with my close inner circle and talking about what deals I have done, and then how I would structure a deal if they wanted to get involved. And I broke it down very simply. I was just more like, I didn’t get into equity splits or anything like crazy like that. I didn’t get into any type of GP or LP type splits, like anything like confusing. It was really just talking about what rate of return I can get you based on the money that you provide me, whether that be a flat, you know, interest rate, interest only, and, and, and giving an appetizing rate at that time for that, and then people’s interest to then look into hearing more about opportunities. And I would get almost some soft commitments before even bringing them a deal. So once I had soft commitments, then once I had deals under contract or deals close to being on the contract, I would then float them their way and then get the approval of yes or no. And if they said yes, we would move forward with a deal and get it done.
Jay Conner [00:07:46]:
Yeah. What you just said is so important, Wendell, and that is keeping it so simple, keeping the communication, the languaging, not using any kind of insider industry jargon. And you know, I know that’s important to you. A confused mind does not make a decision. Actually, they do make a decision that’s called no. You know, they want to understand, you know, what’s going on. And so I really appreciate you sharing that. Now you were, you served in the military.
Jay Conner [00:08:13]:
Thank you for your service. And discipline is built, at least because of that, into your DNA. So my question is, how would you say discipline has shown up in the way you communicate with private lenders, or how does it give you an edge?
Wendell Butler [00:08:35]:
Yeah. So I think, you know, utilizing discipline to know to have constant communication with investors or private money lenders is important. Right. In understanding that you have to do what you said. Right now, one thing that I’m very disciplined in is that no matter what, I’m going to get my investor the money that I promised them. Even if the deal does go south. Like I will get them that money, even if it comes out of my own pocket. And that’s just the kind of morality and discipline that I have with every deal.
Wendell Butler [00:09:08]:
So if you go into every conversation knowing, like, hey, I’m going to get those returns that I promised, even if it comes out of my pocket, uh, it just, you just come with a lot more confidence in your conversation with them. Now the discipline aspect, it, it. When you’re investing in real estate, it’s important to be, quote, unquote, disciplined because you want to have systems in place that you make sure hit the timelines. You want to make sure that you stay disciplined in your underwriting. You can’t get emotional about deals. It’s very, I would say, you have to take emotion out of it and just look at the numbers.
Jay Conner [00:09:43]:
It’s.
Wendell Butler [00:09:44]:
Numbers don’t lie, right? If you look at ARVs, the numbers don’t lie. If you look at how much a rehab is, the numbers don’t lie. And you just have to be very disciplined with your numbers. And the more disciplined you are with your underwriting, which I think I just got from being a loan officer before and having that experience of underwriting many, many deals, the better off you’ll be. Because if you always have a kind of conservative type mindset and disciplined approach to your underwriting, if anything, your deal will only be better than you think it’s going to be. So that’s how I kind of use discipline in my success in my business so far, is just to always do the right thing, stay disciplined with the numbers. Numbers don’t lie. And always have constant communication, clear communication, and constant follow-up with investors if they have any questions or if they have any thoughts or concerns about anything.
Jay Conner [00:10:41]:
That makes a lot of sense. Well, you know, with your experience, Wendell, you know, you come across very, very confident as you are. And a lot of investors, particularly newer investors, struggle with actually feeling confident about talking with a potential private lender. What advice would you give regarding a mindset shift? Shift. What kind of mindset shift helped you go from maybe, perhaps hesitating, to raising millions in private money?
Wendell Butler [00:11:16]:
So I think a lot of people approach it wrong, of raising money or even, even sales as a port as a whole. Right. So raising money are technically, it’s technically sales, right? You’re trying to sell your service to make someone money. But if you look at it that way, like I need to sell this, I think right there is when you lose. Right. Because people can really read past, I would say, the BS of Iifyou’re really just trying to sell someone, or if you actually care and you’re trying to help someone. So the mindset shift that you should have is you should look at every opportunity, every deal that you have as an opportunity for somebody, right? It’s.
Wendell Butler [00:11:55]:
It’s an opportunity that you created, even if you’re newer, right? You found this opportunity. It’s an opportunity that you are providing to someone to possibly be a part of, to make some money with you, and get some rewards, right? Now, when you approach it that way, and instead you just have a conversation that’s educating or showing the opportunity and just explaining what possible benefits you can get from being a part of this opportunity, in turn, you are technically selling it. But it’s coming from a different point of view, hey, I have this opportunity, and I think it would be great for you to have. You don’t have to say yes, you don’t have to say no. It’s up to you. But here are the facts, here’s the education on the opportunity, and it’s totally up to you to make that decision. If you approach it that way, where you almost come across like, you don’t, like, need the money, even if you do need it, right? That. That approach usually is a lot more.
Wendell Butler [00:12:55]:
It’s just taken better, right? You build relationships better that way. And. And people can smell desperation from afar, right?
Jay Conner [00:13:03]:
So if you’ve really heard somebody say.
Wendell Butler [00:13:05]:
That one time, yeah, like, I think. I think his name’s Jay. But it’s spot on, right? It’s the exact way you have to approach it. You know, if you smell or if you sound like you need it, need it, need it. Like, I. I wouldn’t give you money. If you would come to me, I’d be like, ugh, like, it just. No, I feel it was wrong, right? But if you’re like, here’s the opportunity, this is what the math is.
Wendell Butler [00:13:28]:
You know, take it or leave it. If you want to do it, sweet. If not, cool. Here’s my track record. More people will invest with that approach. Maybe not that nonchalant, but I’m just. I was being very broad with it.
Jay Conner [00:13:38]:
Right. Well, I couldn’t agree with you more. You know, I say all the time, the whole mindset thing, there’s no chasing, there’s no begging, there’s no selling, there’s no persuading. You’re really not selling. What are you doing? As you said, to use your words, Wendell, you’re offering an opportunity to serve these people, right? There’s more private money and private lenders than there are deals, to tell you the truth. And one thing that takes the pressure off of selling is putting on what I call your teacher hat. Right. Figured Lee put on your teacher hat, the private money teacher hat.
Jay Conner [00:14:17]:
And, you know, I got 47 private lenders, and not one of them ever heard anything about private money until I started sharing it with them. So I sort of view myself as a doctor. I’m diagnosing, I’m looking to see if they have a problem. And the problem would be they’re not happy with the returns on their investment capital or their retirement accounts. And so first, all I’m looking to do is diagnose if I have a solution to a problem that they have. And if they don’t have a problem, then no problem. You know, I just move on. And also, when you’re not attaching a deal to offering the opportunity, then it just takes the pressure off.
Jay Conner [00:15:04]:
I mean, there’s no deadline. You know, I’ve got to close by next week or the following week or whatever. And it just really allows you to put yourself in a position of a servant to offer these people a solution. You know, this world of private money, I’m not looking for rich people. I’m looking for ordinary people who have what I call lazy money. Well, what is lazy money? Lazy money is money that’s lying around, not working. That’s why I call it lazy. That’s not working for the owner of that money.
Jay Conner [00:15:39]:
So here we come along, offering away, you know, offering a private lending opportunity as to the interest rate we pay, how they can get their money back in case of an emergency, and how it’s all about service. Now, you’ve been a loan officer for Institutional Money. You’ve talked about the underwriting that you’ve done, and that gave you some, you know, some really, really good experience. So, sort of walk us through your underwriting process. Now. Here’s what I mean by that. You know, when we’re raising private money, we are our own underwriter, which is a little hard for new capital raisers to wrap that around their head around because we’re so used to whoever we think here, we’ve got to change the mindset. We think whoever’s got the money makes the rules.
Jay Conner [00:16:26]:
That’s 99% of the world out there. Whoever’s got the money underwrites it, sets the terms, sets the interest rate. But in this world, we are offering an opportunity, and we are our own underwriter, so to speak. But, you know, you’ve raised private money, but you’re also, you know, doing the hard money thing as well. So walk us through the underwriting process, and what I mean by that is what are the key things that you look for that make a deal? What I would call pro. Private money is ready.
Wendell Butler [00:16:59]:
Yeah. So the way I look at it is with all my underwriting, I always start at what it is, it’s pretty simple. It’s like whatever deal fits. My buy box is always private money ready. And the reason I say that is we try to get a big enough spread that it doesn’t really matter to the point that I can add more leverage to the deal. Like, say,y if I’m using hard money and then I’m also raising private money to be part of that. Like, I don’t have a big enough spread that it doesn’t really take out of my pocket or affect the deal at all to make it get in trouble or have like too much of a profit loss. So it’s kind of looking at each deal.
Wendell Butler [00:17:47]:
I like to be very risk-averse, and I think it’s from having a lending background. So we usually keep our deals pretty clean and pretty normal without a ton of risk. So,o for example, we like to do mostly just cosmetic upgrades. So like single-family, you know, one-story brick ranches, three bed, two baths. We love, and we like to, we like them when they’re grandma clean. And the reason for that is because we do this all the time and we have a lot of speed with our contractors to quickly flip those properties, for example, for a fix and flip and then there’s a lot less risk in it because you’re not opening up like walls or doing full guts or dealing with fire damage or dealing with, you know, problems that could arise and then run into a lot of trouble that could affect, you know, the profit return or, or you know, the raise maybe didn’t raise enough money. So it all comes down to being risk-averse with the initial underwriting of the deal and then staying within your buy box of like the profit spread that you try to make as the opportunity provider. And as long as you’re hitting those two, usually it always falls within, you know, a deal that can be a private lender deal.
Wendell Butler [00:19:06]:
That’s a good question. I mean, I never really thought about it that way, to be honest. So I don’t know if I answered it correctly. Well, you know, dive into it more, let me know.
Jay Conner [00:19:15]:
But like, you know, my circumstance, my underwriting process, as far as how I look after my private lenders, I’m not going to borrow more than 75% of the after-repaired value. I didn’t say 75% of the purchase price, but 75% of the after-repaired value. I want to look after them, the underwriting process. I want to protect my private lenders. For example, all the private lender loans that we do that we borrow are asset-based. We don’t borrow any unsecured debt. It’s all asset-based. We give our lenders, our private lenders, a deed of trust.
Jay Conner [00:19:55]:
Most states call it a mortgage. So that collateralizes the note. We also name our private lenders on the insurance policy, the property insurance policy, as the mortgagee. That gives them another layer of protection. We give them a 90-day call option. If they want to call the note due early, they have some kind of emergency that comes up, they can call the note due early, give us 90 days. That gives us plenty of time to, you know, replace them. So it’s, it’s all about.
Jay Conner [00:20:21]:
It comes back to that attitude of serving and looking after, you know, their best interest. Now, when are you also running the hive in Charlotte, a growing entrepreneurial community? So here’s my question. How is community building like that? Has it, and if so, how’s it translated into private lenders, partnerships, deal flow, all that kind of stuff?
Wendell Butler [00:20:48]:
Yeah, well, I, I tell everybody that wants to get into any type of business, you know, real estate or just tech or any type of business or entrepreneurial journey, to always try to go to meetups and just talk to people that are like minded or trying to, you know, succeed to goals that are similar and similar aspirations of yourself. Right. Because you know, it’s like, the cliche saying of you surround yourself with five people or four people or whatever the number is, you’ll become the fifth or the sixth average of those people. Right. So it’s the reason I started that event in Charlotte. I couldn’t really find one that was, ran very well. That was like a full entrepreneurial type of networking event where you can meet a lot of like-minded individuals. Another reason is that you can build great relationships there.
Wendell Butler [00:21:41]:
And from that, yeah, deals and you know, private money might arise. But I approached it with the mindset of building relationships, learning from other entrepreneurs about maybe how they run their business, which they then transfer possibly into my business, and how I run it better, and vice versa, I can help them too. Now when you build true relationships like that where you’re trying to help everybody and become like you said, like a servant to each other, deals, private money, things will just come because people start trusting you more, you start building relationships and more and it becomes a lot more of a fulfilling process and you have stronger trust and relationships with people. So, believe it or not, as you would think, I would have to start a real estate-focused entrepreneurial group to try to get deals or try to get money. And if that was my only mindset to do it again, people would probably smell desperation, right? But instead, I approached it as, and I, this is where I find purpose anyway, is, I approached it as trying to meet a ton of entrepreneurs, learn from them to help better myself, and vice versa. Maybe I can give them some information that helps them better themselves, and in turn, if I can get deals, private money, et cetera, from that as like a cherry on top, great. If I don’t, oh well, it doesn’t matter because I’m still building myself internally as a better person. And in turn, that just makes your business more successful and profitable, and it just makes you a better person.
Wendell Butler [00:23:08]:
And so that’s how I’ve approached it. And that’s kind of what the hive is about. It’s about just putting entrepreneurs in the same room together. Maybe not the same business in the same niche, but have the same type of mindset, of hitting goals, growing, and you can help each other in each of the businesses. Because I believe that most businesses are very transferable. The systems and the processes, and the true ins and outs of business, are very similar across the board.
Jay Conner [00:23:36]:
Beautiful insights there, Wendell.SoS,o for a new, or let’s say maybe mid-level investor listening right now, if they wanted to raise, say, their first hundred thousand dollars in private money in the next 30 days, what steps would you tell them to take?
Wendell Butler [00:23:57]:
A hundred thousand dollars in the next 30 days? I would say first add an extra zero to that and say, I’m going to raise a million. And that’s not to stress you out, and it’s not to make you freak out. It’s to just set your goal higher than you think because you’re gonna fall somewhere in between there and it’s gonna end up being better than like, you know, this, the amount that you originally thought, I’m a big, I’m a big supporter of setting higher goals, not out of reach, but something that scares you. Right? Because even if you don’t get to it, you’re gonna be farther along than if you set the goal lower and didn’t get to that. Right. Because you’re gonna, you’re gonna move along farther. But I would first say the first thing you want to do is educate yourself as much as possible. Say, say you’re a new investor, and you’ve never even done a deal, period, right? Maybe you can’t get a track record.
Wendell Butler [00:24:53]:
You have no money. Maybe that’s the barrier that you’re running into. That’s fine. Now there’s a ton of education out there. This is free YouTube. You can learn a ton on YouTube. YouTube, university, one of the best places you can learn, right? You’ve got tons of books, hundreds of thousands of real estate books out there from investors who are experienced. They’ve gone through it all.
Wendell Butler [00:25:12]:
They have lessons to teach, and they’re writing them literally in a book, so you don’t make the same lessons. They’re giving you guidelines on how to invest in real estate. Like, it’s. Just pick up some books and read. You got podcasts to listen to, like this one, that you can learn a lot from, too. Now fill yourself up with as much education as possible. And I always tell people to continue doing that until you start seeing the same stuff again and again, because you will. Real estate’s not.
Wendell Butler [00:25:38]:
It’s not a secret formula. A lot of it’s very similar. A lot of it will repeat itself. A lot of people are doing the same stuff and saying the same stuff. So once you start reading the same stuff again, again, that’s when it’s time to take action. Now, you might not have a track record, but you have a ton of education. And you have this ability, if you have time, you have the ability to actually do the deal or complete a deal. And this is when you can start talking to your inner circle of influence, which is usually your friends and family, right? You start telling what you’re trying to do, what you would like to do, and just educating them on what you learned.
Wendell Butler [00:26:13]:
Right now, not everybody’s going to love it. Not everybody’s going to be like, oh, heck, yeah, I want to be part of that, too. Some people are like, You’re insane. You’re crazy. In this economy, why would you want to do that? Real estate’s right. We deal with that. I’d be damn sure Jay hears that a lot, too. But there will be some people who are very intrigued, and they’re like, Wow, I didn’t know that.
Wendell Butler [00:26:32]:
And then you start educating them more. And then those, that’s what you put on. Like Jay said, you put on your teacher hat and you just continue educating about how deals work, how you would look into a deal, how you’d possibly, you know, organize a deal, and then see you know, pitch and just ask, say, hey, if I find one, would you be interested in joining in on addition some money, like, and being part of it? I say that is where you would start. And I guarantee you in 30 days, if you do that and you talk to enough people, you’ll be surprised how many people will give you, like, soft commitments, some hard commitments. Someone would be so excited, they would be asking you where the deal is. Right. I guarantee you it’ll happen. It’s just all about being resilient, being disciplined, and 100% educating yourself before you start.
Wendell Butler [00:27:20]:
Don’t go into it blind. You have to educate yourself as much as possible before you have this communication in conversation with people. Otherwise, they’ll be able to know that you’re just BSing. So that’s how I would approach it. And I guarantee that within 30 days, you’ll be able to raise a lot more than you thought.
Jay Conner [00:27:40]:
All right, Wendell, what you have said is absolutely solid. You know, a lot of people talk about raising private money, but you actually gave us the mindset, the systems, the real conversations behind how you have actually gone out there and done it. So for everyone listening, if you didn’t catch it, rewind this episode. Wendell dropped the exact frameworks he used to raise private capital, communicating with lenders, and building businesses that actually run instead of constantly breaking down. Wendell, before we wrap up, what’s the best place for people to connect with you? Learn more about Flip Fuel lending or plug into the hive community that you’re building?
Wendell Butler [00:28:23]:
Absolutely. I built a website that’s just called www.WendellButler.com to make it easy. And I got links to all my businesses there. I got my contact information there. If you want to shoot me an email, my social media, just reach out anytime. I’m always here to help out or connect. So I’m all about connecting and have an abundance mindset. So beach on out.
Jay Conner [00:28:46]:
All right, so that website to connect with Wendell Butler is www.WendellButler.com, and of course, all this will be in the show notes. Perfect. And for all of you listening, remember, private money does not go to the smartest investor. It goes to the most prepared investor. As Wendell was just talking about the most consistent and the most trustworthy. Take what you’ve heard today. Start applying it today. Not when you feel ready.
Jay Conner [00:29:21]:
If you got value from this episode, share it with another investor who needs to hear this, and make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss the next episode. This is raising private money. I’m Jay Conner, and we’ll see you right here on the next episode.
Narrator [00:29:39]:
Are you feeling inspired by the knowledge you gained in this episode?
Then head over to www.JayConner.com/MoneyGuide, that’s www.JayConner.com/MoneyGuide, and download your free guide that shares seven reasons why private money will skyrocket your real estate investing business.
Again, that’s www.JayConner.com/MoneyGuide to get your free guide. We’ll see you next time on Raising Private Money with Jay Conner.