Dragon's Gold: The Magic of Mindset

Social Gravity: Nathan Whigham on Building a Network That Attracts Opportunity

• Justin Mills • Season 1 • Episode 22

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Episode Summary:

You don’t need to chase capital, you just need to build the kind of network that attracts it.

In this episode of Dragon’s Gold: The Magic of Mindset, Nathan Whigham shares the origin of his “social gravity” philosophy, a framework built through decades of business development, dealmaking, and showing up with consistency and intention.

From losing his hearing in one ear to navigating the 2008 financial crisis, Nathan unpacks what it means to build meaningful relationships, raise capital the right way, and become a magnet for opportunity.

Key Themes:

  • The rise of “social gravity” and how to build it
  • How to create opportunity by becoming a connector
  • Networking intentionally vs. networking for status
  • Why generosity is the real growth strategy
  • What it means to start from scratch in a new market

What You’ll Learn:

  • How to build a high-trust, high-leverage network
  • Why follow-through builds real reputation
  • What separates people who get help from those who don’t
  • How to grow your career by investing in others
  • The mindset that turns relationships into opportunity

Tools & Weapons Mentioned

  • Social Gravity Framework – A mindset for becoming a capital magnet through trust and consistency
  • Follow-Up Systems – Weekly check-ins and staying top-of-mind in your network 
  • Phone as Sword – Your primary tool for building relationships and momentum
  • “Don’t Be a Pushover” Sticky Note – A handwritten reminder to stay decisive and follow through
  • Relocation Strategy – Leveraging location arbitrage for better life and bandwidth

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About Gold Dragon Investments:
At Gold Dragon Investments, our mission is to bring joy to others by helping them win the game of investing — helping every client become the hero of their financial journey. We believe that wealth is a tool, but joy is the ultimate outcome.
Through meaningful partnerships, we strive to empower our investors to create freedom, and build lasting legacies of purpose, fulfillment, and wealth.

Join Us on the Adventure:

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome once again to another episode of Dragon's Gold:

The Magic of Mindset. Today we have the pleasure of having Nathan Whigham president and founder of EN Capital. Nathan, welcome to the show. Thank you. Glad to be here. Thank you, my friend. Well, Let's dive into the origin story. How did it all begin for Nathan? So originally grew up in Tucson in Arizona, did my undergrad at Arizona engineering major, and then got hired by a company to go to LA to do sales engineering. There's a company called Trains that HVAC basically sell on big air conditioning and stuff like that. So did that for a few years and did pretty well and actually learned a lot there about sales and business and like closing deals, stuff like that, building relationships, all that sort of thing. It was a good job for a kid out of college because corporate AMEX got season tickets to the Dodgers and the Angels. A lot of my job was taking mechanical contractors out and that sort of thing. But also kind of got bored pretty quickly. One, because you're kind of managing accounts in a job like that and You only kind of move up to better accounts when someone dies or quits like an older guy has been there for 20 years. And I was like pretty like go getter, like I was hustling and just wanted to do more deals and make more money. And that kind of artificial ceiling was really frustrating to me. And a lot of the older guys were like working 20 hours a week, which is playing golf with clients, which when you're 50, it's great. But when you're 24 and you want to make some money is like really annoying. So I kind of last year there, I was kind of like being trying to figure out. really what to do. And I grew up in a real estate family. My dad, my grandfather, were home builders in Tucson, they built about 1000 homes. When I was young, I grew up literally running around construction sites when I was four, got a real estate license like the day after I turned 18 or something. And so I kind of naturally gravitated to real estate and found a, it's super random. went to a networking event for an organization called ULI, which is the Urban Land Institute. Met a guy who had just finished his MRED, which is a master's real estate development from USC in LA. And he was so psyched about completing that and what he'd done. He actually got me super excited about going to grad school too. And actually ULI that year randomly was having their annual conference in Los Angeles. And I remember when I met him, he told me, said, you know, I meet a lot of young kids and say they're ambitious, whatever, but no one usually follows advice. But if you actually, if I actually see you at this conference, I'll be there. then I'll do what I can to help you. And the conference was kind of expensive. And so I actually took my corporate AMEX from my day job and used that to buy a ticket. And went and when he saw me there, he was like, holy shit, you actually showed up. I was like, yeah, man. And so he actually, from there, made a lot of connections for me. I still good friends to this day. I actually went and applied for grad school at USC in the MBA program and ended up doing that in the nights and weekends program. And right at the beginning of that, same guy connected me to a gray haired ex banker who had been on his own for like five years doing capital advisor work, real estate, so debt and equity placement, types of deals. And he wanted an assistant. So we had lunch, we sat down and I was like, listen, I'm not going to be your assistant, but I know how to sell. And if you teach me finance and real estate, I'll help you grow the business. and I was, well, finance was easy for me to learn. was a math minor in my undergrad and I was an engineering major. I'd never taken finance or accounting, but I certainly understood math. Um, and so he kind of took me under his wing and I had the privilege, uh, he was, he's still great, very close relation. My to this day, you know, I consider him, uh, you know, my mentor in the business in real estate finance, cause I got the privilege of working with him for a years while at the same time I was doing the nights and weekend NBA program. And, you know, I would sit in a one room executive suite with him and just listen to every conference call that he was on in every deal. And every time I heard a word that I didn't understand, I know what was, I wrote it down. As soon as we got off that call, I would bombard him with questions. What does this mean? What does that, how does that work? How do you do this? And I learned it super fast. And then at night I'd go to USC for my finance or accounting class. I just, I'm learning to analyze someone's balance sheet. And I just had a conversation with the developer about the balance sheet. So was all super relevant. And actually, while I was in grad school, because I started working with him in 2006, same time I started the grad school program. We ended up growing the company from me to him to six people, moved into a nice office and CBS radio building at Wilshire in LA and actually started doing really well. And I thought, you know, the business was pretty easy and he kind of was doing really well for some of my age. And then right as I was finishing grad school, the financial crisis hit and I think I was class of 2009, I technically graduated December of 2008 and that was three months or something after leaving Imploded. And so, I thought I was on this awesome path to go to invest in banking or private equity or something. And that didn't happen because I think the SC MBA class the year before mine had like a 97% placement on graduation rate for graduates. My class was like one out seven. Like once Lehman imploded every, cause a lot of MBAs get hired by a consulting firm, an IBA firm and like a big trading program. And that all just stopped. I mean, before Lehman imploded, we were all starting to do our interviews and whatnot. And then as soon as that happened, like everyone gets emails just to like, from every company, whether it was GE or Johnson for their management training programs or all the consulting firms or whatever. And they're just like, we are not hired. And so my class was kind of like, kicked off into the desert. And, you know, SC is, was a fantastic school and I had a great experience there. And I've got really nothing but positive things to say about the school, network. It's pretty awesome. but you know, you're kind of given your degree and like, Hey, good luck to you in this really crappy job market. And, know, don't forget about the student loans. So you got to think about that too. Um, not gonna forgive those you still got to pay Yeah 100%. So, so yeah, so, but I kind of got lucky, um, I ended up landing in the solar field and I had gotten there because I knew that at that time that was one of the few industries in the U S that was still growing. And I knew that because I had actually spent a year, my last year of grad school, working on a biomass deal in Texas. And I totally kind of fell ass backwards into, I was doing a hotel deal in San Angeles, Texas. and was flying from Houston to San Angelo and a little puddle jumper. Happened to stick next to this little guy. We have a fun conversation. He had been a division president for a big US Steel company for many years, had retired and then came on board to the president to start a biomass startup in Texas that his son had been involved in founding or something like that. he was on one hand, it was really cool concept. They basically had grounded up 20 years of timber leases on branches in West Texas to gather Mesquite wood. which is an invasive species and chip it, gasify it, and basically through a paralysis process and turn it into clean energy. And we're on this flight and he's like, on one hand, we've done a good job of this, but now in a year, he's $20 million to go build a power plant. I have no idea how to do that. And I was like, well, I do. I really didn't. I'd only worked on real estate deals, not energy. But in the executive suite we had in Century City in LA, one of the guys on our floor was like a PE guy. would just like, know, bullshit next to the coffee machine or whatever. had a good rapport with, and I knew he was in the space. So I tell the CEO, like, oh, I can totally help you with that. Soon as I get back to LA, I'm running this guy's office. I'd be like, what do I do? You got an agreement I can use? And he did. And he gave me some advice on how to structure it. So I send the CEO this agreement, and he signs it. And I ended up, this is all before Lehman uploaded, it was like 2008. I spent a year while I was in grad school working on this deal, went to New York. twice with him, got an 80 million return sheet out of Morgan Stanley's tax equity group to build four power plants actually. And we'd be in like the Death Star meeting with their global head of tax equity and his 20 associates. And there's like the CEO and 26 year old Nate sitting there and like, don't worry about it. And we got it. And I thought that deal was going to close and I was going to make that my fee to be personally was going to be like a couple million bucks and then Lehman imploded and all blew up and nothing happened, which sucked. But because of that experience, knew renewables were hot. So when I out of grad school, there's no finance jobs. And my boss had been working with our shop. We had six people, four guys left because there was no deals. Every deal we had in the pipeline after Lehman exploded, just all of them, everyone, like one after another just blows up, blows up, blows up, nothing. And so I started kind of searching aggressively for an opportunity in renewables. And kind of early 2009 found a company in San Diego that was a solar development company that had just gotten acquired by a public traded Taiwanese company. And they had put together a $400 million fund to finance the power purchase agreements for projects they developed. And they need an LA guy. So I met them to hire me. ended up working for them for about three years as the LA guy developing a big solar farm at Edwards Air Force Base in California with Los Angeles. I did a megawatt for hospital outside of Fresno. did half a megawatt for the city of Ridgecrest. And I spent a year trying to work on deals in New Jersey and a few other things. So renewables kind of saved my ass. but the only reason that happened is cause I sat next to this CEO on this plane and started talking and saw an opportunity. was totally not qualified to work on. was like, screw it and jumped on it. And that all kind of led to that. So did that for a years. Uh, solar was actually getting commoditized the last year, which, uh, made the business less interesting. Uh, and my old boss real estate was asking me to come back. the market was coming back. And so I did. So 2012 went back to work with him, did that for about three more years. Same story. Me and him grew to six people. The last year I was there, which is 2014, we did $200 million deals with six guys working around the country. so I had a good year for me financially. and actually ended up leaving, which is a whole nother funny story. So interesting stories to why that happened, which relates to, I think mindset and everything we're talking about. So the last year I was there, that trade association, I mentioned ULI, They used to have through their young leadership group, they used to have to have this thing. I think it's called like a partnership forum where young groups got 10, 10 or so younger guys. They meet once a month with a senior guy in the industry who's like their mentor and it's all closed door, confidential talk about anything. Um, you do it every month for a year. And the guy that year I signed up with the guy I happened to be with was the CEO of a very large commercial mortgage shop, which is like what we would, the shop I was with, what we would want to grow into. So I went into it with the attitude of like, I'm going to go learn all the tricks and the trade from this guy, the master, grow our business to a big competitor. That's going to be great. And the guy was fantastic. He's a fantastic mentor. Like that was an excellent program structure to have. But after a year of kind of hearing his story, and everything he had to go through to be successful in that I ended up with a year of being like, I do not want to have this guy's job or his life. And it put me, it really. perspective. is like, yeah, I was like super like that was my goal. And I realized like, I do not want to run like a middle market mortgage shop. And then it was like, yeah, now what do I do? And I really had no idea. Nate, I wanna touch on a few things that you said there. I think there were so many awesome pieces to the story you've shared so far. one of the things that I loved the most in the beginning was just your drive, your hustle, your can-do attitude, right? Love that, like coming in at 20, like you guys can go on golf and have a great time and enjoy working 20 hours a week, but I'm gonna make a name for myself, right? You're coming out fresh. And I think that having that drive and that hustle is so crucial to becoming successful. I think that beyond that though, also the confidence that you displayed is key, right? You have to be confident in yourself and things don't always work out the way you plan much as you describe. You can go in with the best laid plan, the best aspect of intentions and all the drive and hustle and things that are completely outside your control can completely wreck your plan. But that doesn't take from you the things that you learned along the way. It doesn't take from you the relationships and the connections that you made. Right? Being able to be mentored and being able to learn experience and lessons and gain wisdom from other people that have been in similar situations and then take that wisdom and the knowledge that you've gained and then be able to reapply it. One of the things you commented on in regards to that, the renewable energy space, I think of the term ready fire aim, right? The idea being like you were in a place, you were in an opportunity, you saw an opportunity and you seized it. And were you ready for that opportunity? No. I mean, like the reality is you didn't have all of the pieces in place, but you knew that you had the will to do it. You knew that you had connections and resources to tap into, and you knew that you were going to make it happen. Right. and with that confidence, you ride that and then you go find your friends. Hey, I got to talk to you and let's, let's work this out together. And in so much of that, I think is, is, uh, a wonderful. Paraphrased to say that you can do anything you put your mind to you just have to put yourself out there and take those steps and no one's gonna do it for you I'm curious. Is there a point in your life in in in on this journey that that you knew that hunger that you knew you were destined for greatness or to do something more When did you feel that? I feel like, I think I felt like that since I was a kid Like we have one shot at life, right? Like I don't believe reincarnation. I don't know. I'm an atheist. So I think this is it. And so my attitude is like, why are you not trying to do everything you can? You know, with life that you have, whatever that is, whatever that means for you. Right. And so the thought of like, good example, again, going back to that first sales job, the older guys who were just content to, you know, they're making a couple hundred grand a year and they were 20 hours a week and they're happy. And I guess works for them. But for me, that's like death. It's like, yeah, like just sitting there not trying to realize whatever potential you have in the best way that you can. just can't imagine that. And so maybe it's maybe the answer is not so much like that. I always believe I was destined for greatness, which is more like I just not doing like not working on something that's interesting. It's just not on my radar. And I think it's fantastic. The reality is some people, everyone's wired differently, right? And some people have just an innate drive and a hunger to push for more. Whatever it is that was the catalyst to create that, taking action on that, pushing forward, right? And not quitting, even when it would completely be logical or could be argued that you could. Right in trials and tribulations, the things that we go through in our life and you've you've shared some of them already. I'm curious, is there anything that that comes to your mind that was a difficult experience and that you were able to overcome? And how do you feel that mindset impacted that? Yeah, I mean, probably the most difficult was losing my hearing in one ear. So yeah, this is something that started seven or eight years ago and hearing was starting to degrade. Eventually I woke up one day and it's gone. It's called sudden hearing loss. And I went to like the best ear doctor in Beverly Hills. You get a bunch of steroid shots through your eardrum, which is fun, but it just didn't do anything. And you know, I... best doctors, other doctors in LA and all that stuff. And like the best answer they have is they kind of shrug your shoulders and be like, yeah we don't know why that happens. So I mean, I was pretty, you know, scary, understandably, and very difficult to adjust to, especially when, you know, a lot of my business is sales, business development and things of that nature. And, you know, and my other ear sometimes gets wonky, which is also hard to kind of like mentally manage, I guess. But as far as mindset, like, I've had, I've had moments for sure where like, you know, it's like, it's good. No one gives like, doctors think I have some like weird autoimmune disorder that's hurting my ears, but which is I think medical catch all for like, we don't fucking know what's going on. And so because they've done all the MRIs and whatever stuff. So, so I mean, that, you know, that's, that's challenging for sure. But you know, when I have those moments, I mean, I kind of try and remind myself like, this isn't something that you can control. You can either like feel sorry for yourself Or you can focus on what you can control, which is whatever's in front of you, whatever I'm to focus on working on doing. And, know, that doesn't change the reality of whatever that is. Right. But it, having that change of mindset and focus on like, even if it's little things in front of me, I'm going to focus on what I can do right now. I found that to be really helpful to get through those, you times. That's such an amazing perspective, right? And idea of perspective and perception. You have the view that you see it from, but you have the lens that you see it through. And you can't change the circumstance or situation, but you can change how you react to it. You can change how you respond to the situation and the actions that you take in that. Now, Nathan, in regards to taking action and in regards to the steps that we take, this path, this journey that we walk is not one that's easy or that we walk alone. We call this the fellowship, the mentors, the allies, the people that have gone along this journey with us. You've cited a couple names, I'm individuals, but I'm curious, who would you say has been most inspirational and helped you along this journey? Um, it's a great question. I mean, I've had, I've been fortunate that for most of my career, with a couple of exceptions, but for most of my career, I've had the privilege to work for really good guys, uh, that were, whether they knew they were doing it or not at the time, were, to me, great mentors, and invested in me and took time to help me grow and whatever, whether was the real estate side, the sales side or other things I was doing. And even things in my personal life, like conversation I had with my old boss, sales manager at the solar company, me the advice he gave me ended up leading to me ending a relationship that needed it. I've been with it kind of for longer than it should have for different reasons. If that had happened, I probably would have ended up in a marriage and would have ended in divorce or some other. bad situation. And then another boss later actually gave me great advice that kind of led to the marriage I'm in now, which very happy. So, you know, it's mentors, I think, you know, it's not just business, right? It's, you know, with someone's invested in you and taking the time to have conversations with you as you're younger and developing can ultimately down the road, know, be really meaningful and impactful. pasta waves. I think one of the things you commented on right now made me recall you earlier in the interview commented on having a mentor that said, if you go to this, then we'll talk more, right? And it wasn't easy. It was difficult. You had to get creative in the solution that you found to do so, right? And the saying, it's easier to ask forgiveness and permission, right? Like you made it happen. I'm assuming that you made it square at the end of it all, but you made it happen. Yep. steps and you took that action and you took a risk. You put yourself out there and then you were able to benefit from that. And I think so many times that people, mentors, allies, friends, teachers, people, can extend a hand, but you have to take it, right? It's, yeah. And I think that. mid forties now. And so, you know, I get young people reaching out to me for advice or different things or a lot through the Trojan network is very strong. And, I always try and take time to talk to them and give them that advice and then see what they do with it. And a lot of them just probably more than more than half or more. I just don't. And if that's the case, I kind of write them off, frankly. But the ones that do I give them advice and I see that they've, they're, whatever I've told them, they're actually doing that, whatever that is. Well, that makes me really motivated to continue trying to help them and invest in them and do what I can to see them grow. Yes, absolutely. Right. Anything like like a garden when you nurture a plant, right? They don't all make it. And unfortunately, the reality of what you mentioned a moment ago, the vast majority of people say they want something, but they don't take the action to do it. Right. Everybody wants the shiny object. Everybody likes the dream or the vision or or wants to help. But how much are you willing to help yourself? How much effort are you willing to give? And when it's hard, when it's hardest do you persevere? Do you push through? And unfortunately the reality is most don't. But the ones that do, the ones that stick it through, the ones that are willing to put in the effort and get the scars and the experience, those are the ones that succeed. Nathan, I'm going to ask, when we talk about those scars and those moments, and I call this the darkest hour, unfortunately we all have a moment that may jump out in our mind that is aggressive. It's a point that potentially we were gonna throw in the towel or we were gonna quit because we didn't think that it was worth it. Obviously you push through and I'm gonna ask, is there a moment that jumps out to your mind in that and how did you push through? What was the mindset shift that helped you to overcome that? Yeah, I mean, probably the financial crisis said like, you know, you just finished grad school, you think you're going to, you know, go get hired by investment bank and make a ton of money, right? And all that stuff and be on that path. And said, you know, we get out of school and there's nothing. I don't think people, don't think younger kids today understand how hard that time was and how there was just no jobs. I mean, of any type. Like I remember randomly at the time I was talking to a friend of mine who owned like a bar in which county or something he was talking about. Like, yeah, we like put a job, you when you're bartending, put a job notice on Craigslist at that time. And like the next day there was like 250 people standing outside our bar. And we were like, what the hell do do with this? It was, was a horror time. you know, for a kid out of grad school, fresh MBA, looking around being like, what the hell am going to do? I had certain amount of money in the bank. but you know, LA is not a cheap city to live in and you're just watching your bank account smaller every day. Student loans to think about. Absolutely, man. That was, was a hard time emotionally with all that are just managing that stress. but like I I was, was fortunate that I, I knew that there was this industry because the steel had worked on the hand and I had a good background for Cause I had an engineering undergrad at sales engineering for terrain, which has a big energy component. understood all the systems and all that. So I was confident that like, I just got to find the right group in this business. One of these guys are going to want to hire me. Nate, I think what you say there, and I think this theme has run through the majority of this interview, is that the power of relationship. you have to have the drive, but so much in what we do is the people that we meet along the way, the opportunities that are presented to us, and the networks that we create and nurture, right? I think that hearing the networks that you're in part affiliated with and the ones that you've gained benefit from and also given benefit to others, right? Extending that hand as well as, and then whether or not they do something with it, that's on them. But how rewarding it is to see when they do take action on the advice you've given, right? Not only is it rewarding to you emotionally to recognize that you helped that person, but also it helps to reinforce the thought. the value in not only helping others, but even giving more assistance or potentially partnering with one of those people. You never know. You were always looking up and trying to increase our network base or work with people that are successful. But oftentimes the people that we bring up with us can suddenly become major players in whatever game we're in. And suddenly that power of relationship, that network, the fact that you were able to lay that groundwork that oftentimes is not lost and it helps to reap or yield rewards that were perhaps never expected or intended. 100%. Your network is everything. I mean, you know, I think about my, I've gone through my whole career, but you know, to talk the part I talked about, this was huge for me because I was with real estate company, finished grad school, go into solar, come back to real estate. When I came back, I made a really conscious decision to say, okay, I'm going to, like, I'm going to build my network. You know, had a sales background, always been good at like talking, you know, building rapport with people, but I made a conscious choice to say, I'm going to build my network as best I can. And that has kind of, that turned out to be very, very, uh, uh, you know, helpful for me and really meaningful. And to this day, I still have a huge network of commercial real estate. have an email list with 30,000 people, mostly commercial real estate folks. of the other things. I, I I live in Mexico City now, I left LA in 2019, but I I'm to you if I go to a commercial real estate event in LA, I'll know half the people there. And I have one degree of separation away from probably anyone in that industry in Southern California. And it's all because I built that network and I did that very intentionally. And one of the things I want to chat about is I've kind of developed over the years through these experiences, this, I would call it like my business development and networking philosophy, whatever, something like that. It's just meets all these things I'm trying to like, solidify my mind that I call social gravity. And it is all about networking. And when you're younger, earlier in your career, or even older, most people, think, as to their professional lives, don't develop their networks in the way that they could and that I think that they should. So when you don't have that network that's very strong, the way I think about it, again, using the concept of gravity, is you're kind of like a pep. floating through space, right? You have no gravity. Like you have other entities, think about a solar system, know, other big players in your industry, where they might be, there are these entities that have more gravity. So things naturally coalesce to them. When you're starting out, building that network, you need to do it very intentionally. And you do that by going to every networking event you can go to, getting out in front of as many people as you can. And as you do that, you're going to build your gravity in that space. And eventually your gravity is going to get so big. And I remember it because when, you know, when I was building my network, this is like 2012, 2013 ish, yeah, I was intentionally going to everything. had, I didn't have this framework yet. I'm just going out to every event I can and talk to everyone I can. You, you hit this kind of inflection point, which is kind of wild and we, it feels weird when it happens, but you'll know it happens because you start going to events in your industry and you start to feel like the Godfather. because everyone knows you or half the people that know you. You'll spend more time that you walk in the door. You don't really have time saying hello to new people because you spend all your time saying hi to everyone. like, he was Nate, he might even know or barely remember that Nate, you doing, man? What's going on, man? It's so great to see you and blah, blah, blah. And you know, you kind of hit that point. Said where we're getting it's like gravity. People are kind of now drawn to you and people that don't know you'll be like, who's that guy? Why's everyone talking to him? And from a business perspective, what at least what I found is the business opportunities like for me, far as deals to work on, just start falling into your work left and right. And now that's a wonderful position to be in. So now you don't have to chase business. My biggest problem today, like if I push, I send out an email to my list at least once a week or so I push send I get 20 deals thrown at me. And so my biggest problem is deflecting now. Like now I don't want to work on that. Don't want to work on that. OK, that's interesting. and kind of figuring out what to do with all this inbound volume in those relationships. And that, I'll tell you what, man, those are good problems to have in business. what I was thinking literally right now. That is a wonderful problem to have and one that didn't come from nothing. It was that focused intention, that effort. It was you putting out all of that time, effort and energy and with intention, right? And going out and then creating that gravity. mean, ultimately, and it comes over time. A lot of people want things instantaneously. They think it's going to come with a push of a button or a turn of a page. And the reality is, is it takes time. and it takes effort, right? And having that focused intention and taking the action required and giving it the time that it needs to nurture it, and then suddenly you're the star, right? The dark star, the black hole, the piece that's drawing other things to their orbit, right? So it's powerful. You're totally right. It's intentional. And so what I was doing, I didn't know what I was building. I just knew I want to very focused on building my network, right? Getting out there. And then all these things happen. Now, in hindsight, I can think about the framework. I've actually thought for years that I should write a book or build a course about this. It's just one of a million things to do. you know, again, with the benefit of hindsight, I can see what was happening. But at the time, I was just out there talking to people. But the benefits of that have been just extraordinary. Can I also ask then, and not just the fact that the opportunities that have presented to you, not only the things that have come to you in that regard, but potentially the opportunities that you've been able to present to others, or being able to be in those networks and having those opportunities, even if it's not one that you were potentially gonna pursue, one that you could connect to someone else, right? And allowing other people to grow and those ripples that come from those relationships. Absolutely, man. Being, if you are a nexus of connection, you are the guy that is connecting dots. Even if in whatever that random circumstance is doesn't benefit you directly, but you're the one making connections. Hey, I need help with this. Great. Let me connect you my friend. I'm pretty sure he can help you or whatever that is. Over time, again, as you become that nexus of connection and you become known as someone that's, you know, that's willing to help people. the long-term benefits of that for building your network, your presence in the industry, your reputation, and when you need something are priceless. one of the most important things you do. And I'll tell you once again, I'm in like my mid forties now, right? So I'm kind of middle of my career, I guess. As you get older, the older I get, the more I really understand that more than ever every day, that those relationships on network is worth almost more than anything else that you have. And most problems are not how problems, but I think are who problems. If something comes up and it's, you I don't, I don't immediately know how to solve this, in the past. Let me do a bunch of research. can figure this shit out. Now I think who in my network do I know is probably seen this problem before. And I call them and usually it's a real quick do this or that. Here you go. Done. That lesson that you just said is so incredibly powerful and so hyper relevant. Being willing to do the research and to put in the time to be able to find the answers, having that hunger and desire is incredibly important. But if you can leverage your network and ultimately how much time savings come into play from that, it is massive. can make more money. You can't make more time. Right, and so finding a way to be able to leverage the wisdom of others and being able to apply the lessons that they have learned, that is a resource that is invaluable. Understanding how to apply it though, and taking that knowledge, and then again, much as we already said, then doing something with what you've been told, right? Doing something with the knowledge that you've gained. That's on you, and that's something that... Having the knowledge is something that no one can take from you, right? And having the drive, the will, the determination to apply that is really a gift that it sounds like you very much have. Speaking of gifts, Nathan, we call this the dragon's gold, accolades, the achievements, very commonly they tend to be mindset shifts that we've experienced and I feel you've shared such a wonderful one, this idea of social gravity, right? And being that nexus. I think it's incredible. Is there anything else that you can think of that you might share with the listeners that as of lessons you've learned that dragon's gold? Yeah, several. things that kind of quickly come to mind are the importance of quality of life where you live and how that relates to. I guess your productivity, the business that you're doing. So for example, now I live in Mexico City. So I spent 15 years in Los Angeles, five in Puerto Rico. last three, was half time there and half in Mexico City and now I'm full time in Mexico City. And I love it here. Like it's just that the quality of life, as as people, food, all that stuff, it is fantastic. And... You know, as we're on the zoom here today, I fiber to my apartment here. So connectivity, being able to be productive and get work done is, you know, is super easy. It's as good as anywhere else you'd be. so, you know, I think maybe it's kind of indirect answer your question, but what I'm making is like, I think today we're in a really interesting time in history because we really do have the ability to work from anywhere. And so I think a lot of us get stuck in a mindset of like, Either we want to stay where what's familiar to us, where we grew up or something like that. Or, you know, I've lived in a certain area for some amount of time or something like that. And I think a lot of people are just missing the fact that like, you can kind of pick up and go anywhere right now and be just as productive for most jobs. So why wouldn't you do that? Like, why aren't you? I mean, can tell you like the quality of life here is fantastic. And my cost of living is like 20 % of what it was in LA. And I make more money here. I So there's just so much more that you could do with So yeah, I think more people should be open to exploring that because I think like 10 or 15 years ago would have been tough because bandwidth issues, things of that nature, connectivity. Now that's not a problem. There's kind of no reason not to do that. And Nate, I think when I hear you say this, and I agree with you, but I think about so often people are comfortable and they don't want to come outside of their comfort zone for fear, right? Being able to lean into that, to overcome the fear, some of the greatest things in life are on the other side of fear. And so having a vision, taking the action, pushing past that terror barrier, The blue skies that are possible, after taking that leap. It sounds like you've done those things and you've taken that leap and you're reaping the rewards and benefits of them. So grateful. but here's an important thing I want to note on that. As I said, like, under my 44, as you get older, as I get older, I try and it's easier when you're younger, it like easy, right? Jump out of my comfort zone, go do whatever, right? As you get older, I think there's more of a... I don't want to say temptation, I think people you just kind of naturally can get settled in your ways or something like that. And I try a lot to remind myself to keep stepping out of my comfort zone and keep doing that, which I think as you get older, I think maybe you're talking about intention right? You need to be even more intentional about that as you get older and you get more comfortable in different ways to make sure that you continue to step outside and grow in different ways and have unique experiences you wouldn't otherwise have. so valuable and I agree. Nate, I'm gonna ask about legacy. I really call this the Hall of Heroes and if there was a massive statue of Nathan Whigham and on there, there was a plaque and it said anything you want to share with someone. What would you want someone to remember you by? it's funny if you asked me that a different portions of my life, I would have really different answers. I think that's really reflection of like, what you're prioritizing. I think where I am now would be really simple and just be that I was a good husband and a good friend. Powerfully simple, right? Powerfully so, because there is so much in just that. And I love that you share it I'm thankful for it. I think a lot of people need to remember that there's such beauty in being a spouse, a friend, a father, a mother, just, and again, it comes back all to the relationships, right, that we have. to ask Nate, what's next? What's the next quest for Nathan Whigham and EN Capital? Yeah. Um, I mean, since I'm here in Mexico city, I'm really focused on now building my, I'm starting, starting from scratch. got to take my own advice, right. And build my gravity here. This is a market that I'm in where I, I'm on the pebble floating in space. So I'm focused right now on, on building my own network and my own gravity here and really excited, actually very bullish on Mexico in general, if economic perspective for lot of reasons. And, um, you know, I've already had some deals of looking at here and I'm excited to start getting more involved in stuff here along with other stuff I do in the U.S. and Caribbean. Awesome. Nate, if anybody wanted to reach out or connect with you, how can they reach you? You can find me on LinkedIn pretty easily. I have like 26,000 connections Or just send me an email Awesome, and we'll make sure to attach all those to the show notes. Alright, my friend, two more questions I've got for you. The first is tools and weapons, things or resources, items that you've been able to use that have been inspirational and helpful to you and could be to the listeners. What would you share? mean, this relates to getting back to building your network, but a lot of understanding, a lot of the techniques of rapport building, like the actual like, what do I do when I walk into a networking event? How do I shake someone's hand? How do I look them in the eyes? How does my body language look like? All those things are profoundly important in helping you get build that network together. there's, I I can talk for days about the different techniques. said maybe one day I should write a book or something. And then the other one, you know, I think I guess now it's like what I was gonna say, and this is another mindset of mantra is like, I was gonna say your phone is your tool, your sword. Now it might be your computer for outreach, whatever it is, whatever tool you have to actually reach out to people. That is your weapon. When you're building a business, like you never be afraid to pick up the phone call someone. call them 10 times to get a response and whatever that is, again, emails, whatever your outreach tool is. the second, and this, are things I would like write down on my computer years ago, right? It was like your one was your phone was your tool. And then the one right below was like, don't be a pussy, which means actually pick it up and use it. ha! I love that, yeah, right? And fear will crush you. Fear will crush you. You have to push through. And I think that that's valuable. All right, my friend, last question. And in my mind, the most important. If you could be any mythical creature, what would you be and why? Yeah, so the one that came to mind for me, because I've always said, I grew up in Tucson, I grew up in the desert, was that my spirit animal was a coyote. And so the one that comes to mind is, I'm sure I'll butcher the pronunciation, but it's like, Huehuecóyotl which is the name of a Mexica, which were the Aztecs in Mexico, a coyote god. And I've always liked the idea of a coyote because uh, mythically, like they're known as being, um, really intelligent. Um, kind of like tricksters, and I like fucking with people sometimes, so that's fun. but usually they're known for solving problems in like really clever ways, not just like, you know, kind of, uh, like if they had a set of getting in a fight with someone and just, you know, going head to head, it's like, okay, what are the things can I do to rig this thing in my favor? And I've always liked that kind of. you know, that mentality of life, right? Like, what are the other, you know, more, again, like clever, interesting ways I can solve this? I love it. Fantastic. Thank you so much for sharing that, my friend. My friends, thank you for joining us once again on our quest to inspire, educate, and empower you to turn your dreams into reality, one mindset shift at a time. We'll see you next time.

People on this episode

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Justin Mills

Host
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Aaron Iler

Producer
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Nathan Whigham

Guest