Chris Cascella

Left F500. Built a private lending company to $50M+ in production. Now building fix & flip + wholesale company to $100M. Sales, Marketing, Brand, People.

[Chris Cascella @Chris_Cascella]

Brand is one of the most powerful moats a business can have.

It takes:

Time (and money) to build it.
Effort (and money) to maintain it.
People (and money) to improve it.

Most competitors can't or won't pay the price.

[Chris Cascella @Chris_Cascella]

It's my dad's birthday today.

The greatest gift he ever gave me was the freedom and encouragement to think for myself.

I don't think there's a greater gift anyone can give another person.

Happy birthday, Dad.

[Chris Cascella @Chris_Cascella]

My first manager out of college taught me about the say:do ratio.

How often you do what you say you'll do.

And she made something really clear...

There are only two ways to improve it:

1. Say less.
2. Do more.

That's it. No hack.

I've been chasing that ratio ever since. It's made me better at work and at home.

[Chris Cascella @Chris_Cascella]

Hard truth: this is just as true personally as it is professionally.

[Alex Hormozi @AlexHormozi]

There are gonna be a lot of opportunities you’re gonna wanna do. Most times, the other party won’t value your contribution as much as you’d like.

Which means you have to say no to amazing things, people, and opportunities because you value them, but they don’t value you.

Go where you’re valued.

[Chris Cascella @Chris_Cascella]

@AlexHormozi This lesson applies to family as well.

[Chris Cascella @Chris_Cascella]

Eye-opening realization as a business owner:

Trying to be helpful can do real damage.

Every time I step in to solve a problem myself, I tend to create two more.

The team stalls waiting on me. Ownership gets blurry. The fix I rushed in with doesn't fit how they actually work.

I'm learning that sometimes the most helpful thing a founder can do is get out of the way.

[Chris Cascella @Chris_Cascella]

A great way to maintain a positive culture is to pour into your people.

[Chris Cascella @Chris_Cascella]

Want to know how your market actually sees you and your company?

Share your job openings with your network.

We're in our first real hiring wave right now.

A few surprises:

- Business owners we respect are asking to work for us
- Competitors' current and former employees are reaching out
- People we were sure would be interested are saying no thank you

I'm learning that hiring isn't just about filling seats.

It's also a way to gauge your reputation.

[Chris Cascella @Chris_Cascella]

The further you get from reality the more complicated things get.

When you venture from reality you start dealing in derivatives.

When you deal in derivatives you're likely to miss the point.

When you miss the point you solve the wrong problems.

And so on.

[Chris Cascella @Chris_Cascella]

@realfrugalmogul Interesting thought. Can you elaborate on this? In what way does thinking out loud lead to misery?

[The Frugal Mogul 🏡 @realfrugalmogul]

Never forget this

[Chris Cascella @Chris_Cascella]

@GreatDane717 Big fan of CrossFit!

[Chris Cascella @Chris_Cascella]

Does anyone else find it absurd how many TVs there are in gyms?

Exercising by walking on a fake ground that moves for us while watching whatever show is playing at the time is sort of wild to me.

[Chris Cascella @Chris_Cascella]

I just got off the phone with this guy.

I asked him:

"What's important to you in a lender?"

His answer:

"Reliability."

He wants to work with someone local rather than someone national.

He led with a focus on price, but we ended with a focus on value.

[Chris Cascella @Chris_Cascella]

Every single day in our lending business, people ask me to reduce our fees.

I genuinely thought that starting a hard money lending company was going to be easy.

We have money.
People want money.
Deal.

It's not easy.

Just like all business, hard money lending is sales.

[Chris Cascella @Chris_Cascella]

@WillColeman31 How do you sell them on using you vs. your competitors if not by compromising on price?

[Chris Cascella @Chris_Cascella]

Every single day in our lending business, people ask me to reduce our fees.

I genuinely thought that starting a hard money lending company was going to be easy.

We have money.
People want money.
Deal.

It's not easy.

Just like all business, hard money lending is sales.

[Chris Cascella @Chris_Cascella]

Our Goals for Sharper Capital Partners Future https://t.co/aDyTYGssnt

[Chris Cascella @Chris_Cascella]

@ThinkAppraiser What flood app is this?

[SMB Attorney @SMB_Attorney]

A question weighing heavily on me the last few days:

If every month in 2024 looked like January just looked, what would your business and life look like by December?

Be honest with yourself.

What habits/systems did you implement?

Are you progressing? Would you be better off?