The Fort

Sean Sweeney, Co-Founder of Hall Sweeney Properties, talks about his journey in the industry, navigating through the '08 crisis, and founding his own firm. He breaks down the process of ground-up development, including site selection, working with architects and contractors, and property management. He also discusses popular unit sizes in real estate and reflects on the Forbes list.

On this special bonus episode, Chris is joined once again by Kevin Dahlstrom (Episode #131 of FORT) for a role-reversal interview. Chris talks about his current career transition and how the past 2 years have lead him to his decision regarding his role at Fort Capital. Kevin and Chris also discuss creating space to think, being multi-dimensional, Twitter and more. Enjoy! Follow Chris on Twitter: www.Twitter.com/FortWorthChris Learn more about Chris Powers and Fort Capital: www.FortCapitalLP.com Follow Chris on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/chrispowersjr/ (01:14) - Chris’ Current Career Transition (10:39) - Do you think of yourself as a ‘Zero to One’ person? (15:15) - Chris’ “Oh, sh*t!” Moment at the Beginning of COVID (19:31) - Was there a specific moment that was the catalyst for making your career change? (24:08) - The Enneagram Test (26:42) - How are you thinking about what’s next for you in life? (32:17) - Creating Space to Just Think (34:09) - Being Multi-Dimensional as a Key to Happiness (36:47) - “Stacking the Pancakes” (40:51) - The Time-Billionaire (41:40) - Chris’ Experience with Twitter (51:55) - Chris’ Habits and Routines  (56:45) - The Letter Writing Exercise (58:34) - Building in Public: Chris and Kevin’s upcoming Brainstorming Trip (1:03:36) - What’s one thing you’re looking forward to? (1:06:53) - Wrap Up and Final Thoughts The FORT with Chris Powers is produced by Straight Up Podcasts

Rhett Bennett is the Founder and CEO of Black Mountain, a private natural resources company with several business units: E&P operations, commercial saltwater disposal, midstream, and in-basin frac sand mining.  On this episode, Chris and Rhett deep dive into the Nickel industry. Black Mountain has recently stepped into the industry by purchasing a mine in Western Australia. Rhett delivers great insight into how Nickel is used in battery metals and will be critical for the Electric Vehicle industry. They also talk about the decreasing investment in Oil & Gas and how that creates a wealth of opportunity for the industry, and some great statistics that knock some reality into the increasing calls for more EV's. Enjoy! Follow Chris on Twitter: www.Twitter.com/FortWorthChris Learn more about Chris Powers and Fort Capital: www.FortCapitalLP.com Follow Chris on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/chrispowersjr/ (02:50) - Rhett’s Background (06:26) - When did you move from friends and family money into institutional money? (07:01) - Do you look at what you do as high-risk?  (08:50) - Is there an education you put yourself through before entering a new venture? (12:11) - How quickly did you hire Hayden Gillespie after meeting him? (13:05) - How did you get into nickel? (21:24) - Global Warming (27:36) - What does 80% more efficient mean when you talk about nickel for an internal combustion engine? (29:55) - Is nickel used for anything other than batteries? (30:20) - What are the two classes of nickel? (30:54) - How do you hire a team in Australia from America? (34:23) - Why did you implement new leadership in the Australian company you acquired? (37:01) - Is there a lot of nickel in the world? (42:20) - Opportunity in Betting Against ESG (44:32) - What brings money back into Oil and Gas? (47:37) - Nickel & Oil and Gas Statistics The FORT with Chris Powers is produced by Straight Up Podcasts

Today's episode features Joe Pohlen, Founder and Partner of Cardinal Senior Management, an assisted living company operating facilities in Michigan and Pennsylvania. On this episode, Chris and Joe dive into the different levels of senior care and look into how Joe's facilities look and operate. Joe describes the process of acquiring buildings, the sales process of adding residents, and how they focus on maintaining the dignity of the resident above all else. They also have a sobering discussion on just how hard the pandemic hit seniors.Enjoy! (03:18) - Joe’s Background and Career(15:52) - What are you doing on Day 1 after you close?(18:12) - What kind of work do your salespeople do?(18:50) - Who brought this sales-driven philosophy into the organization? (19:49) - How does taking over a new property work in terms of existing staff and training?(20:34) - What do your lease-up plans look like?(21:22) - How long have leasers planned on coming to Cardinal before signing?(22:52) - How many people come in against their will?(23:07) - How do you get these people comfortable with living there?(24:18) - What activities can residents participate in?(25:25) - What happens on holidays?(26:32) - How do you get paid?(27:11) - Is there a doctor on staff that prescribes medication and how do staff administer medications?(29:11) - Are there upsells on the sales side of Cardinal?(30:15) - How are residents able to afford this rent?(31:44) - How does medication arrive at pharmacies and then your facilities?(32:22) - What do the resident’s kids care about the most?(34:37) - What are some of the lingo and sandboxes that people don’t understand at the beginning?(35:23) - What are your fixed and variable costs?(36:04) - Is your business a target for legal issues?(37:26) - What are some reasons you could get sued?(38:01) - Why is keeping the resident’s dignity your main focus?(49:23) - What was happening in your world during COVID?(58:30) - What was it like to be a resident the past 6-8 months?(1:00:26) - How did vaccine administrations work?(1:01:36) - What did the past year teach you about leadership?(1:03:46) - Is there any technology on the horizon that will have a profound impact on your industry?(1:07:22) - Does dating and marriage happen with residents?(1:08:08) - Population and Age Stats of the Boomer & Silent Generation(1:09:07) - With people living longer, how will people be able to afford so many years of care?(1:10:06) - What do the next 10 years look like to you?(1:10:43) - How would you be valued with 50 properties?(1:11:56) - What happens to prisoners when they get really old?(1:12:50) - What’s your perspective on the world when you spend so much time with the elderly?(1:14:50) - How many deals will you do this year?(1:15:02) - Is there more opportunity out there for you right now?(1:15:57) - Do you plan on staying in assisted living or do you want to go into nursing homes or independent living?(1:17:27) - Is there anything from a government standpoint that you would like to see changed?Twitter Questions(1:18:58) - How can people experiencing poverty sustainably afford assisted living?(1:19:39) - How do you approach the distributed nature of your business?(1:20:33) - What’s going to happen in 15 years with the largest population aging into assisted-living eligible?Personal Questions(1:21:47) - Do you have a morning routine?(1:22:33) - Did you have a childhood experience that led you to be such a great leader?(1:23:50) - If someone was getting into your industry, what’s the best advice you can give them?(1:25:02) - How can people reach you?jpohlen@livecardinal.comThe FORT with Chris Powers is produced by Straight Up Podcasts

Chris is joined again by Stinson Dean (Founder of Deacon Lumber) as well as Ali Wolf (Chief Economist at Zonda) and Dustin Jalbert (Fastmarkets RISI's Lumber Lead) for another deep dive into the lumber industry with an emphasis on the home building and sawmill side. On this episode, they discuss how the lumber price increase has affected the housing market, labor markets in wood products and residential employment, risks for home building & sawmills, the impact on multi-family, and a ton more. Enjoy! Follow Chris on Twitter: www.Twitter.com/FortWorthChris Learn more about Chris Powers and Fort Capital: www.FortCapitalLP.com Follow Chris on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/chrispowersjr/ Follow Fort Capital on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/fort-capital/ Watch this episode on YouTube (02:55) - Introductions (05:32) - Ali: How has the lumber increase affected the housing market? (08:07) - Regional Trends on Housing Prices Realtor.com (10:05) - Dustin: The State of The Union of Canadian Sawmills and Their Perspective on This Insane Price Jump (12:20) - The Labor Markets in Wood Products and Residential Employment National Association of Home Builders (18:59) - Are home builders going to be building spec homes as quickly as before? (20:29) - Data on Demand for Single-Family Homes Driven by Population Migration Over the Past Year (21:32) - Who’s making all the money with labor shortages in sawmills and do they have incentives to go back to full capacity? (24:12) - What’s the barrier to entry for more people starting sawmills? (27:39) - The Logging Situation in the Pacific Northwest (31:37) - Potential Uses for Southern Yellow Pine (35:28) - How many homes can you project that a new sawmill would be able to supply from the get-go? Idaho Forest Group (41:35) - Builders Dealing with Lumber Thieves (43:05) - Why do the Canadians control everything and why hasn’t private equity jumped into this? Do the Canadians have trade secrets that give them the monopoly? (47:11) - How is risk going to reorient itself in housing? (49:38) - How does the size of the home building companies affect the relationships with lumber vendors going forward? (50:54) - What are the mills saying about risk management and price forecasting? (57:54) - What do builders do with their pricing if lumber prices do come down? (59:12) - Major Publics vs. Regional Builders and Their Ability to Compete with Each Other Going Forward (1:07:06) - Are homes getting smaller? (1:11:13) - How has lumber impacted multi-family? (1:17:01) - How do we get more efficient in home building? (1:23:35) - Why does build time keep taking longer and longer? (1:27:34) - Are there opportunities to buy up these older sawmills and implement technology to get them going again? (1:31:07) - How much of our lumber comes from North America and how much of the globe is using North American Lumber? (1:41:16) - What is your prediction for 1,000 board feet of lumber in 12 months? (Recorded on 5.24.2021) (1:43:18) - Is there a range lumber gets to where it's actually bad for the industry? (1:46:37) - Closing Thoughts The FORT with Chris Powers is produced by Straight Up Podcasts

On this episode, Chris breaks down Fort Capital's strategy of aggregating smaller assets in order to make them more attractive to institutional capital. He defines what would constitute a smaller asset, why institutional capital would be interested in these aggregations, additional margins to be made for the owner, and more. Enjoy! Follow Chris on Twitter: www.Twitter.com/FortWorthChris Learn more about Chris Powers and Fort Capital: www.FortCapitalLP.com Follow Chris on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/chrispowersjr/ Follow Fort Capital on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/fort-capital/ (00:47) - Fort Capital’s Journey Into Aggregation RE #98: How to Assemble & Entitle Urban Land (02:10) - Asset Type and Market in Aggregation (03:11) - What is a ‘smaller asset’? (04:56) - Larger Institutional Interest in a One-Off Deal vs. Aggregation (06:21) - Additional Margin to be Made for the Owner (06:42) - Lowering the Cost of Capital (08:29) - Different Institutional LP-based Scenario - Raising From Non-Profits (10:44) - Institutions Require Operational Efficiencies (12:17) - Wrap Up The FORT with Chris Powers is produced by Straight Up Podcasts

Today's Lesson in Business (LIB) discusses how to properly start a meeting in order to make sure your team is laser-focused on the agenda. Enjoy! Follow Chris on Twitter: www.Twitter.com/FortWorthChris Learn more about Chris Powers and Fort Capital: www.FortCapitalLP.com Follow Chris on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/chrispowersjr/ Follow Fort Capital on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/fort-capital/ The FORT with Chris Powers is produced by Straight Up Podcasts

John Schissler is Founder of J&M Hospitality which was created to open and operate Chicken Salad Chick restaurants in the Fort Worth, TX area. John and his wife Meggie currently own and operate 5 locations in North Texas.On this episode, John and Chris discuss the process of franchising a restaurant. John breaks down what conversations with franchisors & founders look like, financing, finding store locations, the hiring and training process, and operations. John tells some great stories about the realities of a franchisee, growth plans, how he navigated the pandemic, and more. Enjoy!Follow Chris on Twitter: www.Twitter.com/FortWorthChrisLearn more about Chris Powers and Fort Capital: www.FortCapitalLP.comFollow Chris on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/chrispowersjr/John on Twitter: www.Twitter.com/JohnmSchissler(03:12) - John’s Story and Early Career(04:48) - How did the opportunity come up to start franchising Chick Salad Chick?(06:34) - How do you become a franchisee of a restaurant?(09:32) - When did you know that you had found your first location?(10:39) - How did you finance your first location?(13:09) - How do you design locations?(15:23) - How long was it from the day you signed the lease to opening day?(15:38) - What was your and Meggie’s job going to be when you first started?(16:52) - When did you start prepping to hire?(20:01) - Training Staff and Testing Days(20:48) - John’s First Grand Opening Day and Horror Stories(25:33) - What does 200-300lbs of chicken look like and what’s the prep process like?(26:30) - At what point did you know store #1 was going to make it?(27:34) - How long before you moved on to opening stores #2 & #3?(28:59) - Are there any tricks new operators can use to get landlords to pay attention to them when finding a location?(31:16) - How does the relationship work with the franchisor?(32:01) - What resources do franchisors provide to you?(33:45) - Do you ever meet with other franchisees?(35:05) - What do Yelp & Google reviews mean to you?(39:37) - How do you go about getting more stores?(41:44) - How does hiring above-store operators work?(43:53) - How many stores will you open up in the next 24 months?(44:16) - What’s happened in your world since March 2020?(46:24) - How long did it take for you to get to a pandemic way of operating?Good to Great by Jim Collins (49:03) - How did you staff the restaurant?(50:09) - Why are restaurants having trouble hiring?(51:47) - Are you realizing you can run stores leaner than previously thought?(53:20) - Are there certain cleaning practices that will stick around after the pandemic or new regulations you’ll need to abide by?(54:44) - Were you getting any signals early on from other parts of the country that the pandemic was coming?(56:27) - What have you learned about keeping your staff in tip-top shape to be successful?(57:55) - The Realities of Being a Franchisee(1:13:16) - Do you need corporate approval to sell to private equity?(1:13:59) - What are you seeing in the retail market?The FORT #108: Brady Wood(1:17:10) - How do you mitigate the risk of being in a multi-tenant property where your neighbors suck?(1:18:38) - Do you have a childhood experience that shaped who you are today?(1:19:43) - What’s the best advice you’ve been given?(1:21:13) - How do you separate working, parenting, and marriage with your wife?(1:23:16) - How can people support you?www.Chickensaladchick.com/Locationswww.JMHosp.comwww.linkedin.com/company/j-m-hospitality/www.Twitter.com/JohnmSchisslerThe FORT with Chris Powers is produced by Straight Up Podcasts

James Camp is the founder of Nano Flips, which helps people learn how to buy and sell websites. On this episode, James talks about his young career overseas when he decided to pack up and move to Malaysia, the cannabis industry, and his work in digital strategy before his work in website acquisitions.  Then, James dives into the world of website flipping. He talks about what kinds of sites stick out to him, how he sources sites to buy, the due diligence process when buying sites, and changes he implements to make his sites more profitable. Enjoy! Follow Chris on Twitter: www.Twitter.com/FortWorthChris Learn more about Chris Powers and Fort Capital: www.FortCapitalLP.com Follow Chris on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/chrispowersjr/ James on Twitter: www.Twitter.com/JamesonCamp James' Website & Newsletter: www.nanoflips.com (02:24) - James’ Background and What Led Him to His Current Career Google Launch Pad  (06:03) - How did you end up picking Malaysia and what were you doing while overseas? (08:53) - What does digital strategy for a McKinsey entail? (10:41) - What’s the state of Cannabis today and how big of an opportunity is it over the next decade? (14:32) - Do you have any insight as to when it becomes federally legalized? (15:42) - What do you do in the world of “Website Flipping”? (19:29) - Can you frame what a really good business looks like to you? (24:05) - James’ Focus on E-Commerce Businesses (26:14) - Are you buying the website that facilitates 3-commerce or the business that only operates online? (30:39) - How do you find the businesses you want to acquire? Flippa Empire Flippers FE International  Quiet Light Product Hunt (33:09) - What does a typical contract look like? (35:34) - Is there hard earnest money when buying a website? (37:36) - What’s the due diligence process to get you comfortable with a deal? (40:29) - If you’re buying a $50k website, how much of your attention is required as the new owner in order to make sure it’s functioning properly? (43:41) - Is it risky to buy something where the new owner is taking over the content creation? (45:40) - What’s a dream $100k website for you? (48:31) - Is there any risk in Google or Amazon deciding to cut revenue unannounced through policy change? (51:42) - What kind of due diligence needs to be done on the code of these websites you’re buying? (53:30) - What transfers in terms of ownership beyond the domain name? (55:19) - In a situation with $1m EBITDA and employees in a 60-day closing period, how do you underwrite the people in a short manner of time and determining their future post-close? (1:00:14) - Do these companies have founder-like people or does all responsibility fall on the FTEs? (Full-time employees) ClearCo (1:03:39) - How do you get your message across to teams in terms of what you want implemented without becoming a day-to-day worker in the business? (1:06:17) - How are deals being financed? (1:09:35) - How can the average person find low-hanging fruit to improve the online marketing of a website? Google Analytics www.NanoFlips.com Codie Sanchez  (1:15:16) - What’s the biggest risk to buying a website at a $100k level with no employees? (1:23:10) - Media Reccomendations The Exit - Flippa Podcast Thrasio (1:26:20) - Contacting James Twitter: www.Twitter.com/JamesonCamp Hi@nanoflips.com The FORT with Chris Powers is produced by Straight Up Podcasts

Our second LIB dives into the concept of 'The Flywheel.' Chris reads a short excerpt from Jim Collins' book 'Good to Great', walks through Fort Capital's Flywheel, gives a personal example of flywheels in his life, and a quick challenge for listeners at the end. Enjoy! Good to Great by Jim Collins Follow Chris on Twitter: www.Twitter.com/FortWorthChris Learn more about Chris Powers and Fort Capital: www.FortCapitalLP.com Follow Chris on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/chrispowersjr/ Follow Fort Capital on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/fort-capital/ The FORT with Chris Powers is produced by Straight Up Podcasts