The Small Business Safari
Have you ever sat there and wondered "What am I doing here stuck in the concrete zoo of the corporate world?" Are you itching to get out? Chris Lalomia and his co-host Alan Wyatt traverse the jungle of entrepreneurship. Together they share their stories and help you explore the wild world of SCALING your business. With many years of owning their own small businesses, they love to give insight to the aspiring entrepreneur. So, are you ready to make the jump?
The Small Business Safari
Ownership through Determination, Grit and Partnership - Greg Spencer, Timbers Resorts
Hook in Body:
Chris and Greg met at Accenture and were implementing call center solutions at the nations largest banks, their friendship has been over 30 years and we are excited to share the journey that Greg has taken to this point.
Summary:
Greg, CEO of Timbers Resorts, shares how he went from Corporate Consultant to Real Estate Business Owner life of ownership, service, and decisive leadership. Luxury fractional ownership vs. timeshare, resilience after hurricanes, and how we leveraged a position within the company to be able to move into an ownership position as the previous owner looked to retire.
đź’ˇ GOLD NUGGETS (Key Moments)
• Surviving the consulting grind and owning outcomes
• Why the 2006–2007 thesis said do not develop
• Service as strategy in luxury real estate development and operation
• Timeshare vs. fractional ownership with deeded interests
• Referrals as a growth engine and cost of acquisition
• Italy and Hawaii builds, permits, and GC replacement
• Buying the company while honoring legacy
• Practical on risk, and decisive leadership
đź”— Guest Links
• Website: TimbersResorts.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregory-spencer-1630044/
• LinkedIn: “All you have to do is drop Chris Lalomia”
🌍 Follow The Small Business Safari
• Instagram | @smallbusinesssafaripodcast
• LinkedIn | Chris Lalomia
• Website | chrislalomia.com
Let's you and I go figure out how to kill this thing. And what we did is we implemented a call center.
SPEAKER_02:We had so many funny stories. I still have one. Uh you got so bad. Do it. I do it. Do it. Oh, I got I gotta tell the story.
SPEAKER_00:So so we we were implementing a call center, and you know, you schedule when the calls come there. So we were just setting it up. Like we were literally setting up the machines and all the software. And so uh I'm in the I'm in the control room, you know, and Chris is out there, and something screwed up, and they started getting thousands of calls.
SPEAKER_04:I mean thousands of calls again with new agents, nobody's nobody got nobody's there except me.
SPEAKER_00:There's one person there, Chris. There's no one else, and there's probably I don't know, 600 positions, and the phones are just ringing off the hook. I was like, Chris, you got to do something. So Chris just started picking up the phone. He's like, Thank you for calling nations bank, please come back.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you, call this bank. Goodbye, thank you.
SPEAKER_05:Thank you, calling this because he said he he radios down to me and says, Well, the technology guy says uh they're stuck there.
SPEAKER_02:And I remember telling him something, and I could hear him get on the phone with them. But my my words to him weren't exactly as uh I was so colorful.
SPEAKER_05:I'm like, they go, he goes, they told me that the calls aren't there. I'm like, I don't know what the fuck they think they're looking at, but I'm looking at fucking calls. He goes, uh Chris just said that he could still see the calls.
SPEAKER_00:It was so funny.
SPEAKER_05:Welcome to the Small Business Safari, where I help guide you to avoid those traps, pitfalls, and dangers that lurk when navigating the wild world of small business ownership. I'll share those gold nuggets of information and invite guests to help accelerate your ascent to that mountaintop of success. It's a jungle out there, and I want to help you traverse through the levels of owning your own business that can get you bogged down and distract you from hitting your own personal and professional goals. So start up in Adventure Team and let's take a ride through this safari. Alan, we've been doing this thing for four years. Four years, Alan. We've been talking to people about how to feel good. You know what? I'm 18. I don't know if you can see it on my face, but I do look good for 72.
SPEAKER_06:You really knew. I was just talking to somebody about that. I'm like, God dang, Chris looks great for 80.
SPEAKER_05:That's awesome, baby. That's how I do it. We make it happen. But I've been doing this for four years, and this is the first time Alan rolls up. We're getting ready to do the podcast. He goes, So what's this dude's deal? Can I ask him a bunch of questions? I'm like, Oh, yeah, you can. He goes, Why? I said, Um, I'm not gonna tell you. You've got some history. I said, I said, we got history. Oh, do we have beef?
SPEAKER_06:No, we don't have beef. We have history. No, well, this guy's a this guy's a big freaking deal. Yes, but there's something about being a big deal there that we gotta we gotta ask about.
SPEAKER_05:So Alan Stein, he's like, he goes, Well, so you knew this guy before? I'm like, Oh yeah, no, I I knew him before. I said, I'm just gonna lay this out. He was there when Sydney was born, my first. I said, not there, there, but he was there, there. Not there, there, but he wasn't what I mean.
SPEAKER_06:He wasn't gonna be able to.
SPEAKER_05:The catcher's mid. Is that what you're saying? That's not but he he remembers that. And uh, that's not when we were running our own business. And then Alan says, Wow, he kind of lapped you. I'm like, Um, well, that's a big fuck you. I mean, oh, I can't say that I'm lapping. I said, I said, of course he did. I said, I could have told you that when I met him. I said, I knew this guy. This guy has done everything from bee cancer, absolutely, really, absolutely, really, yes, my friends. Uh, to his he has uh a beautiful wife, two great kids. Um, he is my good friend, Greg Spencer. And Greg, thank you so much for coming on from Timbers Resorts, baby. Thank you.
SPEAKER_06:Wow. So uh the other thing I said was after looking at his website, can we get a freebie? And I said, You get no freebies, Alan. I get all the freebies.
SPEAKER_05:So Spence, man, great thanks for coming on. I just meet each other. All right, let's get back to it. So, Greg, how do you remember how you we knew each other? I I could tell everybody, but I want you to tell us.
SPEAKER_00:We uh uh we were working on Bank of America, I'm sorry, Nations Bank Barnett Bank merger. And I had just started Chris, I think you were there a couple months before I was there, and uh he started bossing me around like the first day I met him. So that's that's kind of pretty much how we no surprise there, Greg.
SPEAKER_05:So he came out of the military, and I I no, I remember saying, Look, I mean, they say I'm your boss. I said, Look, man, you you and I are cut from the same cloth. He is type A 1000%. I said, Let's let's you and I go figure out how to kill this thing. And what we did is we implemented a call center.
SPEAKER_02:We have we had so many funny stories. I still have one. Uh you got so bad. Do it. I do it, do it. Oh, I got I gotta tell the story.
SPEAKER_00:So so we we were implementing a call center, and you know, you schedule when the calls come there, so we were just setting it up, like we were literally setting up the machines and all the software, and so uh I'm in the I'm in the control room, you know, and Chris is out there, and something screwed up, and they started getting thousands of calls.
SPEAKER_04:I mean thousands of calls again with no agents, nobody's nobody kind of nobody's there except me.
SPEAKER_00:There's one person there, Chris. There's no one else, and uh, there's probably I don't know, 600 positions, and the phones are just ringing off the hook. I was like, Chris, you gotta do something. So Chris just started picking up the phone. He's like, Thank you for calling nations make please call back.
SPEAKER_01:What's going on the whole block? Take a call this bank. Goodbye, thank you.
SPEAKER_05:Thank you, calling because because he said he he radios down to me and says, Well, the technology guy says uh they're stuck there. And I remember telling him something and I could hear him get on the phone with them.
SPEAKER_02:But my my words to him weren't exactly as uh I was so colorful.
SPEAKER_05:I'm like, they go, he goes, they told me that the calls aren't there. I'm like, I don't know what the fuck they think they're looking at, but I'm looking at fucking calls. He goes, uh Chris just said that he could still see the calls.
SPEAKER_00:It was so funny, and like so he like after the like first hundred of him doing that, he comes back and says, I'm not gonna do that. And so we just sat there and watched how long people would because there's no way to get him out of there. So we were watching one dude sat there for like three hours before he finally hung the phone up, and we're like, What on earth are you doing that? You're gonna sit there for three hours. It was a terrible customer experience, it's not something I'm proud of, but like there was like the technology at the time, and we were pushing the envelope back in you know, uh 200 uh seven, 2008, right? Uh well that was 90 or sorry, nine, nine it was ninety eight, ninety nine, ninety-seven, ninety-eight, you know, yeah, and like I mean there was no way there was no way to get him out of there. So it was it was hilarious that Chris was going through, and and then you get the stats, right? And so the call center manager gets it's just like what what the hell? You know, because it just like the stats for the month just totally screwed him. Like Chris and I never told anybody what had happened, but it was hilarious.
SPEAKER_05:Uh so so that was our that was our time down in Jacksonville, Florida. Um, and I mentioned that Greg was there. So we I think we formed uh, you know, obviously we formed an incredible friendship uh at the time, uh, doing what we did, but we had to travel there all the time. And my daughter, uh, my my first was uh was my bought my wife was pregnant, and they they said, Hey, look, if it's not a certain date, um, then we're gonna schedule the um the C section. Um, or I'm sorry, the uh the uh um it's inducing. Yeah, I kept calling the tea time. So I said, Hey guys, I have to go back home for the tea time. So so then I would come back uh after I was on uh a little bit of leave and came back, and uh every time I would get fired up, Greg would always go, Sydney, because my daughter's name is Sydney. He goes, Hey, calm down, Sydney.
SPEAKER_00:I'm like, there's only there's only way I can get him off DEF CON one. And like start arguing with him, I would just say his daughter's name, and then he would like he would be like, All right, dude, I can't get mad if you keep saying. So he would just drop it and then like he'd pick it back up like an hour later, but it it would it would work every time.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, the Dal did, bro. He did. I mean, just going down memory lane with with Greg, it was so fun.
SPEAKER_00:And um we worked a lot of hours. I mean, we worked, you know, I hear people complain about working hours now. I'm like, you have no idea. I literally worked a hundred and seven hours in one week, right? You know, it just the it's like dog years, the amount of effort you put in. And and but it it you know, you have to have fun because if you if if you're not, it's a total miserable experience because you're you're traveling, you're you know, working a billion hours.
SPEAKER_05:And so if if you're traveling, working a billion hours. We didn't go home on some weekends, we just kept working right through the weekend. Yeah, it was I I still tell young people, I said, Hey, if you had a chance to go to Accenture, I would do it. I said, I still think uh the firm is way different than when I was there, but no, it's some of the best training I ever had, and I fall back on a lot of that um as I run my small business. So so Greg does his time at Accenture, and then um I remember he says, Hey, I'm gonna go back to uh get my MBA. I'm like, uh, okay. Uh where? Uh Columbia. Columbia, South Carolina? He goes, no, I said Columbia, New York City. I'm like, oh. And then I think I remember saying this. I'm like, you got in there? I was like, it was so condescending. But I was like, of course he did. So he goes and gets his MBA in real estate. Uh well, I don't tell me exactly what it was.
SPEAKER_00:I got a uh I already had an MBA in the military. I got a master's of real estate development from Columbia.
SPEAKER_05:So he goes, real estate development, and then he says, Hey, um, so now I'm gonna tell this one. So people ask me all the time, I've been doing this for four years on the podcast, talking about all this stuff, and people said, Why'd you pick the handyman business? I said, Well, I actually I used a business planning process to figure out where I was going. And one of them was I was gonna be the div, I was gonna be the construction guy, and Spence was gonna be the developer. And this is 2006-7.
SPEAKER_00:Man, did we call that right? Holy smack.
SPEAKER_05:How'd that go? We would have been out of business in like three months.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, probably before so we I I wrote my thesis on starting my own development company, which I would encourage anybody out there that's like, how on earth am I ever gonna figure this out? I have aspirations to get to a certain level, like you know, it's so hard. And you know, look at that guy. I mean, he must be lucky. I I went and interviewed every big developer uh in the southeast, and I basically said, I'm a student at Columbia University, I'm working on my thesis, I'm writing a thesis on uh creating my own development company, and I'd love to interview you just to find out about your path. And not one person turned me down. So I talked with all these folks and I talked with them about the path, and this again, circa 2006, 2007, and Chris and I were talking about this, and Chris had a corporate gig, and so you know, I just I I ended up finishing it, and the conclusion of my thesis was it was just too risky right now to do it. I looked at major markets, I looked at uh Jacksonville, MSA, Tampa, Orlando, Atlanta, uh Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and the conclusion was everything was overbuilt and this wasn't the right time to do it. So, you know, I remember having to call Chris. I was like, Chris, man, I just I think I gave you a copy of my thesis. I'm like, look, I I I said all signs are pointing red, you know, we should not do this. And thank God we didn't do it because we would have been out of business so fast. And and you know, I think I I don't know if that helped you kind of really look at what you're going to do. But you know, when Chris talked to me about his business, I was like, look, I it is such a pain in the butt to get people out to to to work on your home. It just is right. And honestly, I I kind of chant a little bit about what Chris does today. Like we have fully serviced product, we don't build condos anywhere that they're just your condo and you figure it out. We deliver full services. So we have engineering, housekeeping, bell staff. And you know, I've had uh we developed on Kiwa Island, South Carolina, and we had several several big guys that had you know 10, 12 million dollar houses, and they're like, wait a minute, let me get this right. If the AC calls, who do I call? I'm like, us, we fix it. If the sink backs up, who do I call? Us, we fix it. And like he had like 10 different things. He goes, Why has no one done this before? He's like, I got this beautiful home on the beach. He goes, I come down here for a week, I spend the first 48 hours figuring out what's not working, right? Then I sit around for the next two days waiting for you know people to show up between eight and four, you know, and he goes, and then the last the last day, he goes, I enjoy for maybe one day. The last day I'm putting up all the cushions, I'm trying to like drain water out because I don't know when I'm getting back to my house. And this is the most ridiculous thing ever. And these are ultra high net worth people, and they basically just said, Hey, I don't want to deal with it. So, you know, I I do think it's a different, you know, uh level, but like you know, there there is a need for that. There's a need for for trust, right? People trust that we're gonna take care of their investment, and I think they do the same thing with y'all. Like it, like, hey, you know, if I I don't want to call five guys, can I call one guy? And and okay, some of the things might be it might be bigger than a maintenance issue, it's not just a creating, you know, a clogged HVAC line, you need a whole new HVAC system. Well, then you gotta call that guy. But for the the day-to-day stuff, you know, there's a huge need for that, and and I think the market.
SPEAKER_05:I'm gonna set this up so we can go back and do history all day long. I mean, Greg, I mean forever. But let's go back to your question.
SPEAKER_06:But I think we need to set up what he's doing.
SPEAKER_05:All right, so why don't you tell us what Timbers Resorts is, and then Alan's gonna ask you that knockout question that you're gonna actually come back and just slap the shit out of him with. I mean, I mean, sorry.
SPEAKER_00:So we're we're a uh we're a uh boutique luxury resort developer and operator. We have uh 18 properties around the world, we have everything from 4,200 acres in Tuscany to 450 acres in Kauai. We kind of uh fly in the 0.1 to 0.5 socioeconomic wealth range. So we're at the upper end of the market. Uh our average our average owner owns 2.81 homes before they buy from us. So uh, you know, a lot of these homes are third or fourth homes. So uh, but but that's kind of the level we do. And and and we try to keep our even though we have 4200 acres, we only have a 40 uh one key hotel and uh and you know 46 homes on it, right? So it's not high density, it's uh it's kind of lower density. So uh that's that's kind of what we do. We're vertically integrated, so we have uh architecture, interior design, construction, uh management, rental, uh real estate sales, the the whole nine yards underneath our company.
SPEAKER_05:All right, Alan. No, no, no.
SPEAKER_06:So you have to be destroyed. Come on. No, no, no. No, and I think we need to call it it's called the slap fast. Think it's gonna get let's think about the listener. Let's maybe we should explain to the listener a little bit more about his business.
SPEAKER_05:All right, so let me set this up. If you've ever done a timeshare, so Greg just told you point one to point five. For a lot of us, right, with small business owners, we're trying to get ourselves going. I know you guys, we're all doing the same thing. Um, if you have one home, you did good, right? If you got a you got your second home, hey, man, awesome. Way to go, man. You know, I'm right with you. I've done it. Whoa, whoa, that's awesome. So then my dad buys into the Windham timeshare. And I was like, Dad, don't don't don't do it, dad. Don't do it. Hey, Chris, what? Oh, your mom and I did it. I'm like, oh, that's awesome. And so he just called me back and says, Hey, do you want to buy it? I'm like, um, yeah, no, why? I said, because it's shitty ass places, and I could never get there. So we've all been there. We probably heard this timeshare scam, quote unquote, that's out there with what's going on.
SPEAKER_06:So you drive down to Florida and and then you got the billboards and you get sucked in. Hey, just you know, you can stay at this place and you get the free blah blah blah blah. Now I get that. And there's a million people that are trying to get out of their timeshare. Now, I will say on the flip side of that, there was a time back when I was living in Oregon and somebody offered me to go stay at this resort for free, and I had to listen to the pitch. And I I brought a buddy of mine, and to be honest with you, um, we ended up backing out. My buddy bought, and he was super happy because you know, he was a classic. No, no, he was a classic person where he wanted to go to the same place every yeah, and uh and he wanted to be, you know, them to know his name and the whole nine yards. And I'm you know, um Judy and I wrote Was he a baller? I think he thought he was a baller. All right, let's keep going. Uh so so we might know, but it was so so the whole the whole night honestly, Greg, when I was looking at this, I'm like, wow, these are amazing places. And I want to ask about how on earth did what was the process like to develop in Tuscany? You know, I mean that that's the kind of question I really want to ask. Oh no, no, but it's a man. Yeah, no. The original question is what's the difference between this and the timeshare when you're driving into Florida that everybody's you know, you go on Reddit and everybody's trying to get the hell out of it. That's his first question.
SPEAKER_05:Yes, there and I said I said, I said he goes, should I qualify this in the cleaning room? No, but no. I said he can handle it. I said Justby, this dude can totally handle it.
SPEAKER_00:Not the first time I've been asked the question. Uh look, there is there is a pretty fundamental difference, and and uh timeshare gets a negative connotation. Sometimes it's earned, uh depending upon you know some of the smaller outfits. Uh, but there's a lot of people that are happy with timeshare, and and you know, that it you I think you hit it. That's exactly what they're looking for. They want they want to you know make memories year after year, they want to know that this this week is when I'm going there. Uh, and that's the old timeshare model. And and the old timeshare model, you had to sell however many units times 51 weeks, and it it it was a slog to sell out of. And in those models, you actually had a fee simple ownership, so you actually had a deed. What the timeshare companies realized is like, wow, everybody bought all the really popular time, they didn't buy the other time. So, what they did is they started pulling everything into what's called a Florida land trust. And so when you buy a points-based system, you don't physically have a deed into a specific unit, you basically buy into a trust, right? And the points, the the thing about it is there's some formula of of how many points uh they can generate from X amount of units, and so that's where things have gotten a little awry, is is the is the points. Uh, because that that does kind of change a little bit of the construct because you have to be flexible because you might not always be able to get to that place you want to go. So that's the difference between the old uh timeshare and the new timeshare. Our our product and and timeshare is typically it's you know 75,000 for you know 50,000 points or something like that. And I can tell you if you look at the timeshare companies, and I have some friends that run them, I look at their 10K's, their financials, you know, they make like 40% of their net income off a hypothecation because it's all about debt. So basically, they're they're selling someone a loan at they're like, hey, why don't you finance this? We'll finance it for you at 13 and a half percent, but they're borrowing at four. So they're making the VIG on the Delta, and that and then what they're doing is they're securitizing it, and that's where they're making their money. So unfortunately, some of the timeshare companies become more of a financial type of system than it has a uh a service type of system. I think they're they're starting to try to get back to service. I think they realize that you know, particularly with where you know rates are right now, uh, that you know you're gonna have to provide service to generate uh some returns. But I think timeshare works for some people. The difference with ours is we sell a one-sixth or oh, you know, one twelfth is the lowest. We go one sixth typically is is the is the least amount of um uh divisions, if you will. And what we buy is you actually own that real estate, you own a deed in that unit uh that's always yours, right? And if something happens to another person, it doesn't impact you because you still own that deed. And you know, our one six product, for instance, like Kiel Island, you know, that's 2.4 million bucks for a 1.6. So it's the equivalent of a you know a$10 million,$12 million unit. Uh, I think that's the difference. We have some that go down to you know uh$300,000 for one tenth, you know, but but what we find with our folks that are buying our private residence club product, it's it's what they can use. They already have a second home. They're like, look, when I come out to Aspen, I don't want to rent, I don't want to go, I don't want to risk it, not be able to get to where I want to. So I want to stay where I want to stay, but you know, I don't need another home. So I will buy, you know, a dancing beer aspen, you know, one eighth is going for over a million bucks. I'll buy this, and that's still cheaper than me trying to buy a home, even if I'm renting it out. So that's kind of that's the difference, is like we really, and I can tell you, our fractional folks, a lot of people sometimes they think that they're aspirational, like, oh, well, that's the person that can't buy the eight million dollar home. That is not what we find. We find that's the person that could buy the eight million dollar home. They're just choosing not to. They're they're buying, they're buying that interest that fits with with their uh their use right. And and I I think you're gonna see a lot of the world starting to go to that. You know, you're you'll see it, you know. I think Tesla's trying to get there, you know, where you know, ultimately you'll have autonomous vehicle that you won't have a car payment anymore. You'll have a subscription and you know, not for everything, but that car will show up and you'll pay, you know, you'll pay as you use it, right? And that's kind of a little bit of of what uh, you know, we see our folks are trying to get the the use to the time that they could actually use it. Uh we sell home ownership too, so you know, we have that, and we don't only have fractions, we sell lots in some cases, so it's a little bit of everything, and then we have hotels as well. So we we really have the gamut, and we see a lot of people will move between that product as well.
SPEAKER_05:My boy brought up hypothetically, whatever what's that big word? He does this time to me. Hypothec hypothecary. I don't even know what they hold in. He always used big words on me, and then he brought back the big. I'm like, oh now you're talking back to your boy, huh? All right, let's go. I had to like I knew Lala Mia would know that one. I do Vic, huh? I'm surprised back to the Vic. I'm like, all right, now we're talking my language, all right? But but he's he's telling you what's going down is that at that level, and I saw Alan's eyes because I've seen the property in Kila. Um, I mean, it's amazing. Um, and you talk about this like, oh, this is timeshare. This dude, this makes Disney look like a booger. I mean, the stuff they do is amazing, and I I know who he's gonna do big, he's gonna use big words and his spreadsheets that he sent me to tell me this ain't gonna work. He says, Hey, look, you can see what I see. I was like, Wow, I see like the matrix, and I'm like, I don't know, I'm even sure what you built there, dude. And I'm like, I got my master's mechanical jury, I'm gone, I'm lost. I said the guy knows this shit so well. But he talked about how it was going down, even if you only had let's let let's say you've got one house and you're thinking about this. This is not for you, but he found the market and he's marketing to the market and he built the market for this because they're like, I really don't want to deal with this. My pain point is I don't want to uh have to manage another house. My pain point is I want to go enjoy myself for a month or for a week or for two weeks or whatever, you know, on how it works because my time is so much more valuable now and my money will work for this.
SPEAKER_06:So it's the places you want to go to.
SPEAKER_05:And well Tuscany, well, it's hang on skiing. So but you why but you don't just go to, you know, so he said, hey, you're you're gonna go to Tuscany every year. That's not what he said. Yeah, you're just gonna go to ski for every year. Nope, that's not true either. You're gonna go to Kila, nope. Uh, and he's got properties all over the world, and so he's been figuring it out. So let's say this year you don't want to go to Tuscany, you want to go to Aspen, or you want to go out to Colorado, you can, right?
SPEAKER_00:Yes, we we have a uh what's called a reciprocity program, uh, an exchange program. So what we allow our owners to do is they can deposit a week of, you know, let's say they deposit a week in Kiawa, you get a credit, it's good for two years, and you can use it one of our other properties. And, you know, we want people to buy real estate because they want to be in that market, but life happens, or you know, they have uh what we see it used for a lot is is anniversaries or honeymoons or retirement celebrations, things like that. And so they'll be like, you know, I've never been to Italy before, I really want to go to Italy. So, you know, we we we handle that behind the scenes, uh, you know, don't really use it as a moneymaker, it's more as a service. Uh, but I don't entirely have a halo around my head. I want to, I want to cross some real estate while they're there. Uh so because again, we sell fractional, right? So, you know, we you know, if someone has a great time and they want more time there, we'll we'll sell it to them. So uh, and even if they don't buy, they know someone that might want to buy. So as a brand, you know, since inception, we've run a 60% referral rate, and that's pretty that's pretty incredible. If you know, hey, if I find the right location, I build the right product and I have the right programming, I'm gonna make 60% of sales to people that are known to us, you know, as a business, you know, that's the kind of golden goose. So, you know, that is where there is tension with our, you know, our partners sometimes and even even counties, you know, or I'm like, they're like, Well, why don't you just do this? I'm like, I'm not doing that because my buyers aren't going to buy that. And at the end of the day, if they're not gonna buy it, I'm not gonna waste one second doing it. So you got to kind of be really a good steward if you're you know, given that you have that kind of referral rate, because all it takes is one screw up, and people are like, What the hell?
SPEAKER_05:This is this isn't Timbers, you know, and then I'm so proud of my say saying that my business is 40% referrals. You just said 60%. Just think about if you're a business owner um and you're trying to grow your business and at the level you guys are at, you that means you don't have to advertise, you're not putting yourself out there and having to do Google Pay-per-Click and put yourself out there, you know, back in the day with magazines, condenats, or whatever to go attract your buyers.
SPEAKER_00:You guys don't have to spend the money on advertising because you get we have to spend on different things, you still have to market, but like what we're spending it more on is we're making sure we have great digital collateral and things like that, that when we send it out to our owners, they could send it to a friend or a family member or someone else and be like, Hey, don't you like to go to you know Captiva or you know Southwest Florida? Man, check this out. And so we're still spending the money, we're just to your point, you know, we're not spending it the way it used to. It used to be back in the day, you could run an ad in Wall Street Journal and have a little broker request card and you know, or Conde Nast or any of those, and you get like you know, 400 responses and you'd make you know 20 sales out of it. That's not the world that everybody has so many choices these days. Uh so you still have to get it in front of them. And we do a lot of events-based programming. Uh, we'll pay for dues if someone does a referral. And I just look at that as a as a lower cost of acquisition, but you you're still you're still spending money, you're just spending on different things. And and but look, you still got to get that 40% that doesn't know you, right? So, and everybody knows, at least in the real estate world, you know, it doesn't matter that you sell the first 60% because all your profits in the last uh you know, 15 to 20 percent. So you gotta sell them out, you know. And that's all right, Alan.
SPEAKER_05:We gotta go back to one. So again, if you if you're not resonating with this conversation, you're you're blowing it up, man. You gotta stay here with me because this one's been big. I watch uh so Spence he he took the leap. He uh we're gonna go back to how he did that, and you know, he got into the world and he got into all that. So he takes the leap, and it sounds like he's just tonning it right. Oh, and of course he is, because everybody else is always tonning it. I said, but but sure enough, he buys uh buys in, does this thing, and then builds this great place. And he he brought it up on Captiva Island, Florida. And right after he closed on it, the hurricane came through, wiped the entire thing out. Oh Damn.
SPEAKER_06:Really?
SPEAKER_05:Almost three category four hurricanes. So talk about how you've had to adapt. You know, again, because I don't care if you're a million-dollar a year business or a as you guys are, a very large business. It's the same thing. And so it hit it hits you guys. And it hits you at heart because you know, you're from Florida. You moved back to Florida. You got into it. Talk about how you had to deal with all of that and what happened to you.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So we we own uh with some partners, South Seas Island Resort, uh Captiva, Florida. Uh it's a resort that I've been going to for, you know, since I was nine years old. So, you know, it's uh it's a great, great, it was one of the first master resorts where you know you get inside the gates and everything's there and kids can go run around and be kids. Uh, and you know, it had gotten tired. We had watched it for a couple of years. Uh Blackstone owned it. And, you know, Blackstone bought it through a portfolio. So I think it was just something remnant that Blackstone, you know, a little, you know,$100 million resort that they had lying around, you know, in the in the uh in the drawer. Um they weren't putting any money in it. And uh and so we we bought it uh 2020, uh, and we closed on it or uh end of 2020 we we made an offer, closed on it 2021, and literally Hurricane Ian hit day 364 of our ownership, and it was a direct eyewall hit. I have a picture of the eyewall going directly across the the tip of the island. We had 155 mile an hour sustained winds, we had uh um eight to ten foot storm surge, and mind you, the average grade on the property is about four feet, so uh just huge damage. Uh we lost 40 some odd structures. Uh, we lost our hotel. Uh, and and you know, more importantly, there's a bunch of condos down there that we don't own. Uh, 60% of them uh had to get just totally gut, you know, uh uh, you know, destructed, taken down to the studs because you had, you know, you have mold in there. And a lot of those structures didn't have wind damage or water damage. The HVAC systems are sitting on the ground. So they all got smoked by the storm, sir. So it was it was bad. It was and not only that, we had about you know 150,000 cubic yards of sand. And so there was sand about four feet deep uh throughout the whole island, it roads everything. So, you know, it was uh I was there the day after the storm, and you know, it's one of those things like you know, you get punched in the nose and you're kind of staggering around a little bit, and then you have to figure out, you know, is it fight or flight, right? You know, and uh Chris knows the type of person I'm in. I'm like, all right, well, come on, let's do it, let's get it cleaned up.
SPEAKER_05:And we're fighting, you know, we before before Alan uh uh asks this next question. One of the things I want everybody else to know, how many people did you lose in that? Your employees, how many people uh actually perished?
SPEAKER_00:Uh we were lucky. We only had uh we didn't lose any, and that was by the great zero, zero. We evacuated we evacuated everybody. I made several folks go across the state, and they were kind of arguing me. I'm like, we have a resort in Jupiter, Florida. Are you really arguing me about going to a five-star resort? And then they're like, okay, yeah. So they they went. Uh, we had one guy, uh, it was really weird. He stepped outside in the eye, you know, because he wanted to see the eye, and then the wind picked up and he got hit in the head uh with uh debris. And he was in he was in intensive care for about a month, but we were very fortunate that we had uh no employees lost. We did have uh about 30 employees lose their lose their housing. And when I say lose it, meaning it doesn't exist.
SPEAKER_05:You can't you can't handle that. But uh what I want to talk about is though I don't care how big or small you are. I want I want the point that I want everybody to know is that you didn't lose a person, and because you guys, you you were more worried about their lot their life than you were your property. And I remember that when that happened, and I was like, I mean, that's the kind of guy you want to be, that's the kind of owner you want to be, that's the kind of businessman you want to be, because you know, and it's not karma. This is the way you run your business the right way.
SPEAKER_00:It it and look, we we not only that, we had we had no guest or owner on the island. We had several owners, oh, I'm gonna ride it out. We're like, you're not riding it out. We're taking you right now, we're getting you off the island. And so we evacuated everybody. Uh uh the air rescue uh was based off of our property, so we had Florida Air National Guard. They were actually doing active search and rescue, plucking people off the top of roofs. Uh, we had a marina because the bridge was out. We had the only uh access on the island. So we moved all the they move all the fire trucks and everything uh off before the storm because they don't want them to flood. So we got we got power line trucks, we got the fire trucks all on barges through our marina to just start getting everything back reopened. Uh we actually the biggest thing I'm I'm proud that I'm proud about is we used our own employees to do our cleanup. You know, we had 800 employees pre-storm. We went to zero, uh, obviously because we were we were destroyed. Uh, but I didn't want to use these national firms like Balfour and others. So, you know, we or Belfour, I should say. So we paid our own employees. So we had 46 employees out there and we just got after it. Luckily, we had some heavy equipment out there from you know, uh doing some development work. So, you know, we were driving front-end loaders and skid steers and just getting all the sand off.
SPEAKER_05:Hey, when you say we though, what was we you? You were driving, weren't you?
SPEAKER_00:I I wasn't big boy, you got I I did use the uh I did have to get on an excavator and and tear off a couple buildings. So nice. Let's go.
SPEAKER_06:How long did it take you to get back online?
SPEAKER_00:It was crazy. So it took us uh we had to tell you the scope of the of the damage. We hauled off 120 million pounds of debris. Okay, so it just was a just an amazing amount of debris. So that was pretty solid for six months, just getting the debris off. And uh all of our amenities got destroyed. So we kind of got after trying to get our amenities up, and so it took us a solid uh year and a half, and so no sooner did we open our pool, we got our golf course open, we're starting to get things back, we get hit by Hurricane Milton and Hurricane, and uh and and you know, they the flooding damage was significant, like our marina, you know, we had just installed five hundred thousand dollars worth of new uh, you know, once once a circuit gets in salt water, you know, the breakers are are are shot, you know. So we had to replace all that infrastructure. And uh, and so that sucked, you know, and and you know, we got hit by Helena Milton, had another, you know, uh six to seven foot storm surge, had you know, another, you know, several feet of sand uh throughout the resort, and you know, we just got back after it and and cleaned it up again. Uh, but we made a decision after that. We're like, look, this isn't gonna happen. We're we're going to harden the overall resort. So we probably spent$15 million just in uh resiliency measures. Uh, we put um uh you know a revetment. I know more about resiliency than I ever wanted to. So we put a seawall up a 5200 uh 5,200 linear foot seawall. It costs us about 10 million bucks or 8 million bucks. Uh generators, we've elevated them 96 hour runtimes. You know, we have these uh uh these flood panels, these flood systems. You know, we just basically said, hey, we're getting everything to at least a 12-foot flood. Now, if we get more than a 12-foot storm surge, it just wasn't our time, right? But you know, we're gonna at least harden everything. So, you know, that's what we've been doing. We did finally get uh uh uh in uh June, we finally got everything that all the amenities that were there before the storm, we got those rebuilt. Uh and then you know, frankly, our hotel, we're in a nasty zoning fight right now. Unfortunately, uh we, you know, the environmentalist aka people funded by our competitors are have been holding up our zoning and and filing lawsuits. And I I think that's pretty uh you know, piss poor to be frank with you. Like, you know, it to use a natural disaster to try to punish a business and get you know something out of them, I think is wrong. So uh we're fighting it right now. We're in a a pretty nasty hornet's nest of uh of lawsuits, but we did get our zoning approved. Uh, and because the issue is the zoning went back to 1947, so you could only build 35 feet of a grade. Well, the new flood maps started at 22 feet, so we lost buildings that were three stories, and they're like, Well, yeah, you build them back. I'm like, I'm building a 13-foot tall one story because I can't you know, unless I'm building it for Umpalumpas, I'm not building two stories, right? So, you know, it just was the most ridiculous thing ever. And so we and the county's been great, they've been trying to help with us. The state of Florida's been great, but it's again, and it it our our competitors are funding the opposition to us, and I just think that's wrong. So uh, so we're going after them right now, and we'll that's a whole nother podcast, right there.
SPEAKER_06:Uh huh. Come on, Alan. So, Greg, I told you. Let's talk about something a little more fun. I I I freaking love Italy, and when I looked on your website and you know, San Jiming Giano and all, I'm how on earth did you manage to get as beautiful of a location and the the product that you put together in a country that it seems to me like it'd be really hard to basically build a resort?
SPEAKER_00:It's hard to do a lot of things in Italy. Uh I'd love to take credit for it. It was actually our founder, uh David Burden. Uh, you know, David is uh a visionary, you know, he worked way, way back in the day. Uh there's a guy named Charles Frazier from Seapines. He really was the grandfather, if you will, of a whole bunch of development companies throughout the United States. And uh and David uh uh actually had a Italian billionaire walked in off the street in our office out in Colorado, and he shows up and he says to David, I'm I'm sure I'm gonna get it wrong, but he basically says, uh, I'm probably in Italy and you're gonna be my partner. And uh, you know, David A doesn't like partners, B, it was in Italy, but the more he talked to him about it, we checked on this guy. This guy's legit, you know. So he owned 5,600 acres in Tuscany. Uh, and uh basically he he's he he's a big big time guy in in Italy, and so we go over there and David made a trip over there and started looking at it. And you know, basically the guy's just like you know, we we sign the deal, we start working with him. He's like, uh these buildings have air conditioned. I don't want air conditioning. We're like, well, the gringos that were selling these two air conditioned, and like, you know, uh, these bathrooms are too nice. Uh, you know, just put a little bathroom in there, and so it became pretty apparent that we weren't gonna work out with him. So uh we ended up taking 4,200 acres. He kept 1400 acres and got a payday, and so we just started developing it, and you know, we we initially started using Italian architects and Italian contractors, and we found out that Italians like to go bankrupt every four to six months. So uh, you know, after the third or fourth one, we just said, screw it, we'll do it ourselves. So we actually self-performed our own architecture and in and interior design and construction. And uh they really did a great job. And and and so I got involved uh, you know, several years after they had started it, but you know, we've been building homes out there, just built our last home. Uh, but you know, they really are great homes. And what we found is, you know, in Italy it takes three no's to get to a yes, you know, you got to kind of, you know, you ask the first question, they're like, Oh, that is not possible. And they're like, Okay, well, wait a minute. Has this ever been done in Italy before? Well, kind of. Well, what did that look like? And they start explaining, like, isn't that what we're asking to do? No, but it's totally different. And they're like, Well, what if we did this? Well, yeah, you could do that, and so you just have to run, you have to run the process, right?
SPEAKER_05:So we we learn just for the record, I am an I'm an Italian, but I'm an American Italian, and I have not gone bankrupt-ish. And um, six months, I would I would say my nose is exactly three feet, so it does take three three doses per day. Uh yes. So thank you, Greg, for saying that. But but that's what it takes. It's just like you have it's you have to you have to negotiate with it, but you have to know who you because you did the same thing out in Hawaii. Um, we haven't talked about that story, uh, about just overcoming obstacles because that's what you did. I mean, that's what you went through. So, what happened in Hawaii?
SPEAKER_00:Well, Hawaii is the same way. We we took over a a massive uh property, we bought it from a big luxury brand, and uh, you know, like oh, how hard can it be? It'd be pretty hard, you know. So you uh you get in there and oh no shit.
SPEAKER_03:You'll be you'll be business isn't fun, it's not always easy, you can't make a ton of money. Easy. No, go.
SPEAKER_00:We have five endangered species that we have to manage. Like, I'm like, you know, it just oh on top of everything else. You like like you know, I had to spend a whole day talking about the bird takes and the state biologists, and we finally just hired the state biologists and just said, why don't you just work for us and you manage it? And you know, because there's all these wacky rules. And and look, we've we actually we actually got uh we're on Disney Plus uh working dog segment where we you know we convinced them how to uh how to you know to haze the birds in a in an ethical way, right?
SPEAKER_05:So what we had to do, but it it it was uh it's a lot, and it just and then we let's talk about how you got into it though, because uh one of the things I I I totally remember is you told me they're over there, they're developing this property, and it's gonna take X amount of months, and you're like, no, that's not happening. And you flew out there and you said, No, we're gonna fix this right now. And so take us through the steps that you had to go through. You're the CEO of this company, you bought this company, we haven't gotten into that all yet, but um, tell us how you got into just solving that problem because big or small, we all have the same problems.
SPEAKER_00:You mean when we had to replace the GC in the middle of the job?
SPEAKER_05:100%.
SPEAKER_00:That's exactly what's too that's what I recommend not happening, but look, you know, we had a we had a GC that kind of came along with the deal, and uh, you know, we were trying to accelerate and move fast, and so you know, we had existing designs, we knew we wanted to change some finishes, but we weren't wholesale changing the building. And you know, it it didn't take long to realize that they're playing a different game than we were playing, right? And you know, they uh, you know, a question was answered with five other questions, and you know, I was trying to hit design gates and getting, you know, I'm like, okay, well, give me a change order, and they would just give me 10 lines on a piece of paper. I'm like, yeah, that's not how it works on a cost plus contract. You have to give me all the detail, and they wouldn't give us the detail. And so I realized pretty fast that they underbid the job originally and they were trying to, you know, make it up off of change orders. And you know, if they would have just been transparent with us, we probably weren't going to cover everything, but we could have tried to work it out. But that that wasn't the path they took. So, you know, I came to the conclusion I had to like, you know, fly out and tell my financial partner uh that we have to fire our general contractor in the middle of a deal, and that didn't go over too well. But I just said, look, you know, someone says, Well, why do you want to fire them? I'm like, Well, I can't tell you how much it's gonna cost, when it's gonna be done, and what it's gonna look like. But other than that, you know, they're great guys, and so the head guy's just like, All right, he goes, You can let them go, but it's your ass if it if this thing doesn't get done. And so, you know, you just have to get hands on the steering wheel and you have to drive on it. And so that's exactly what you know what I did. And you know, I was making trips out there every two to three weeks. We got a great contractor out of uh Alabama uh to jump in and and help us. And it just was it was make decisions, get stuff done, and and don't let analysis paralysis. So we had to get it done uh before our loan matured because a major event of default, we got it done like two days before, and it was a total ass kicker. But you know, that's what you have to do as a business owner when things go awry. It's not you can't just delegate it to someone else when it's that big of a deal. You have to get hands on the steering wheel.
SPEAKER_05:I want to switch gears, we're almost coming out of time and Spence. You know, I I gotta love you to death, you know that there. I could I could talk to you for three hours, and uh, we have, by the way. Um, well, maybe one of us talk and the other one listening, and then you know, the other one's saying, All right, Chris, you shut the fuck up. So, um, all right, so you get you get into the real estate development world and you went to work with David, um, who you told me he was a big deal. Of course, I didn't know back because we didn't have the internet back then. I didn't know if he was a big deal. And because now it's kind of big, but you found a way to buy his company. Tell us a little bit about how and why you've made that big leap. Because let's face it, guys, that's a big flipping ex. I mean, it's a big deal. It's one thing to work for the man, it's another thing to be the man. Now, this guy has been built to be the man, so I want you to tell his story because I want to finish up with uh how you beat cancer because we're gonna talk about that.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, sure. Yeah, it was uh so look, I had talked to him about you know uh exiting the company. I knew he, you know, he was back and forth. Do I do it? Do I not do it? Uh and uh and one of our equity partners on one of our deals actually reached out to us and said, Hey, we'd like you to come meet with us. And so uh David, I think, knew what it was. So he's like, I don't, I'm not, I don't want to go. So I flew out there and met with him, and and I had a subordinate with me too. And so I couldn't like openly talk in front of the subordinate. So I waited for him to get up and use the bathroom. I'm like, look, I know how to buy the company, I know what he's looking for, but I'm gonna tell you the number's his number and it's not one dollar less. And so if you're you know, if you're one of those shops that want to kind of get someone pregnant and then change the deal, this is gonna blow up, right? And so uh I was straight up with him. And so, you know, I I called David, told him what happened, and uh the way I viewed it is I was held I worked for him, this was his company, it wasn't my company. I was first and foremost gonna focus on helping him achieve what he wanted to achieve. And it was funny. I knew I told my wife, I'm like, all right, well, I'm either gonna be part of this and be part of the acquisition, or I'm gonna get fired. One of the two, because I knew way too much for a small company. So we worked through the process, and you know, uh the uh my capital partner says, Oh, well, we want you to participate. I'm like, Well, I want to participate, but you know, I I I want to make this about David and supporting him. And so I think that's why I was able to get it done, is I didn't make it about me, I made it about him, and it was tough, you know. It was uh part therapy session, part, you know, uh uh business transaction.
SPEAKER_05:Cause it was let's talk about that for a minute. Because this guy, uh, I never met him. Um, but we're we've all been there. And and well, you're not there yet, Spence, but let me tell you about my ego. It's still this freaking big, bro. His arms aren't big enough, they are big enough, so I get it. I mean, this guy must have had a huge ego, and then to be able to say, Look, David, I'm trying to preserve your legacy and buy you out. Yeah, that that's got to be hard for a guy like that who has been the man, right? To do it. So tell us how you did that, how you navigated that.
SPEAKER_00:It it was uh, I don't know how well I navigated. It was hard because I also had nine family members and a split family working there, so it it was a lot to to navigate. And look, at the end of the day, I don't uh hopefully David feels like I, you know, was an honorable person. I did the right thing. I've tried to honor, you know, what he created with the brand, but like the reality is is I gotta run, I gotta run the business. I'm here day to day, I gotta run it. So there's some things that I'm sure I've done that he doesn't agree with, but you know, that's okay. You know, like he, you know, I I I own it with my partner now. So, you know, I tried to always just ground myself on being consistent with what our brand does and and and trying to do it. But there were you know, there were times where you know I could tell he was taking it out on me, and I know it wasn't me personally. He was either frustrated or had anxiety about selling, or you know, uh I think he probably had some seller's remorse. And, you know, I I that's natural to have it, but you know, like you're a big boy, you made this decision, right? And so I think that's how I try to navigate it. But yeah, you know, there were some things that I think were unfair, but you know, for the most part, I fully respect David. I learned a tremendous amount from him, and you know, look, he had the balls to create this thing from scratch, and it's tough. And you know, anybody that's created anything from scratch, like I feel like uh you know, as a business owner, you own it 365 days a year. There's you don't tag someone take over, you you you have to worry about it. And I could just imagine David starting this company navigating the GFC. I was right there with him during the global financial crisis, and it's a lot, you know. So kudos to David. He's a great guy. I learned a ton from him. And and hopefully, if he ever does see this, you know, hopefully he doesn't harbor any ill will. And like, look, he got a great transaction. He got great.
SPEAKER_05:I'll tell you what, David, if you watch this uh and you harbor any ill will, it's Chris at the trusted toolbox. I'd love to come talk to you about exactly how my boy did because I think my boy did you right. I'm just gonna say I'm coming from a different side, but um, me and the Italian will talk. Okay, you know what I'm saying? Okay, hey, one thing, man, we're running out of time, dude. One of the biggest accomplishments, you've done it all. I mean, I love your kids, you know that. I love your family. But um Spence uh texted a bunch of us and says, Hey guys, I got bad news. I got cancer. And I was like, nah, this is easy. I said, if there's one guy in the world that's gonna beat it, he will fucking beat it. And sure as shit. Here he is, I think for five years now. You're five minutes. Coming up on six, yeah. So uh he goes and what's he do? He does exactly what I remember Greg Spencer being when we worked together or whatever in life. He was like, he went and sought the best guy out, found the best guy, went to the best guy, got the surgery, got the retreatment, did all the stuff he had to do, followed his life, runs a completely healthy life, which does not include a lot of bourbon like we have right here with the small business safari. Okay, here we go. Um, he runs it all because he says, Man, I gotta be there for my kids. Now I was like, dude, props to you. And you knew that. I mean, no, you don't know that because when you stare that one, you're like, you run a business, no, it's so hard. Um, and then you get this because you would I I don't remember how many years after you had said, I'm gonna take over this business or are you gonna buy it?
SPEAKER_00:Uh it was it was about uh five, but I I found out Christmas Eve of 2019, and uh doctor calls me and says, I knew I had a CT scan on the 20th. He thought it was something with my kidneys, and he said, uh, he goes, You have a massive tumor on your liver and you need to do something about it immediately. I'm like, it's 5 p.m. on Christmas Eve. Like, what the hell am I like? Thanks. I'm like rapping presents, and I'm totally not present because got that dropped on me. But you know, I I got to the right doctor, Dr. John Fung, University of Chicago, the best liver surgeon in the world, literally one of the top ones in the world. And uh, you know, he knew immediately what it was, and and look, it was a tough one. It had a 30% five-year survival rate.
SPEAKER_05:It it was uh in this 30% five-year survival rate. He said that to the group, and I was uh I was like, dude, I wish they put this shit in Vegas because I'll put a lot down. This fucker's gonna beat it, and he did. You knew he would. I mean, I knew you didn't.
SPEAKER_00:I mean the surgery itself had a 16 mortality rate, and so like, you know, you go in there and like you know, man, like 16. I'm like, ah, it's low, but when it's your life, it's not low. That's yeah, that's a big number when it's so I I got in there, I had surgery at the University of Chicago February 17, 2020. We had this other little thing starting to go down in 2020, and I was up there for two weeks afterwards, and I was supposed to be up there for a month, and they they sent me home. They're like, COVID's coming, we're stopping doing cancer surgery, which that's a whole nother safari. Like, you know, I'm like, wait a minute. So COVID's got like a 0.5% death rate, cancer's got 100%, but you're not gonna do surgery on it. So, you know, I went home and and uh and you know, was trying to manage a business. Italy closed down, Hawaii. The governor's saying, you know, basically, why do you don't come, you know, and and then our other properties go to 100% occupancy because people are trying to get out of town, and it was it was a lot to manage. But you know, look, I I uh I don't drink anymore, and and not that I'm a teetotaler, but you know, I flew pretty close to the flame. So, you know, I just uh uh by the grace of God, I'm here and uh I you know it's true. I was like, I don't want some other dude raising my kids. So, you know, nothing motivates you by trying to make sure that you you don't do it. And it it was uh it was tough. They took 40% of my liver, uh, took my gallbladder out, and uh, and it was uh it was a tough recovery.
SPEAKER_05:I couldn't lift over five pounds for about six months, and uh I just which is a big deal for this guy who loves to work out and run like forever and then uh also lift weights. So even five pounds doesn't sound like a lot for a lot of us, but but look another six months I would have been dead.
SPEAKER_00:I was like four millimeters from our portal vein. And so, you know, you got to get, you know, if if your listeners take one thing away, don't take the resorts away or that I'm I'm you know, dogged or that you know I have dirt on Chris. Take away you got to get your physicals, you have to go see the doctors because you know, why let why get to a point of no return? You know, get like get there. I know it's a pain in the ass. We're busy. I almost blew off the the CT scan, like literally, I almost blew. I'm like, ah, I don't really want to do this. And man, I would have been dead in six months, like no tune about it. So, you know, I just encourage everybody, definitely make sure you you you you get checked. And then if you ever do get cancer, uh don't go out and re-google and all the shit. Although I did, you know, it's the first thing you do is you Google it, but you know, you really you you need to educate yourself, don't just read Google probabilities and stop there. You know, I was looking at reports and I was trying to figure out uh you know what's happened. And then you just gotta talk with your friends too. It was actually a friend of mine who lost his battle with cancer who got me to uh Dr. Fong. And uh and and so you you have to be vocal, don't you know suffer in silence, you know, which a lot of guys do, particularly driven small business owners. You know, you gotta have that, you gotta have that dialogue and that conversation and try to get it before it becomes fatal, you know. Super powerful, guys.
SPEAKER_05:If you didn't get something, that's on you because I'm not even doing the final four. This no this has been a good friend of mine for years. Uh, you know, I I was so excited to get him on, and uh, I would not tell Alan anything about it because I want this to be so exciting. He always says that great. And uh and well, no, I don't always do it. Yeah, well, fuck you. All right, back to you. All right, so look, guys, big deal, right? Forget this. Timbers Resorts, go check it out. It's so awesome.
SPEAKER_06:It is. I mean, you want to be inspired or something? And where else are you gonna you plan on going? Oh come on. Hey Drew, drop a nugget. Come on.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, like uh, we'd love to be Western North Carolina, uh, Cashers Highlands area. We'd love to run there, uh, out in uh uh Montana, uh up in the up in the mountains, uh around uh uh Moonlight Basin. We've looked out there, Costa Rica. We've chased a couple deals in Costa Rica, uh, you know, but frankly, there's a lot of great opportunities in Florida. We've been bidding on some things, you know. The pricing still people still really like their property.
SPEAKER_06:They still had COVID back in real estate.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and and so it hasn't, we haven't seen the capitulation yet, but it's coming, you know. It's uh you know, I had a professor at Columbia told me first day, he goes, land is like a horse, all it does is eat, and that that that is those are facts, right? Because you know you're paying those property taxes and they're running and you're paying insurance, and they're like at some point in time, you either need to do something with it or you need to get off of it.
SPEAKER_05:So all right, everybody. We got all we gotta get going. You gotta keep going up that mountain. Great job, everybody. Greg Spencer, TimbersResorts.com. I'm sure if you looked him up on LinkedIn, he'd give you 10 minutes. I know he will. All you have to do is drop Chris Lalamia. And don't forget the fact that we dropped a shit ton of calls back in 1997. I'm the worst customer service guy you got here. We gotta go, Alan. We gotta go get going. We gotta make it happen. Let's get going now. Cheers, everybody. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Small Business Safari. Remember, your positive attitude will help you achieve that higher altitude you're looking for in the wild world of small business ownership. And until next time, make it a great day as you see.
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