I wanted to be an investment banker after college.
My grades weren’t good enough and I blew the interviews I did get.
I accepted a middle office role, supporting traders who liked to fling bottle caps at my head.
I pivoted to working as a credit analyst, underwriting loans for ultra-wealthy clients.
Not 10% as sexy as Investment Banking, but I learned a ton and worked for some of the best people I ever met in my career.
I applied to work for the CIO of asset management next.
I didn’t get the job.
The people that worked for him were mostly former investment banking analysts, or at least had killer resumes and intellect.
I had neither.
But I applied again, and in our 1x1 interview, I told him I would outwork anyone.
I got the job this time.
It was 2009, and he was responsible for guiding the ship for J.P. Morgan’s richest clients.
I worked 7 days a week, a slave to my blackberry, but I absolutely loved it.
The role lasted a few years, that's the most you can last at the pace he sustained.
I pivoted again.
This time I was picking technology stocks for a large fund inside J.P. Morgan.
I loved it, and I added value.
When I realized that your compensation isn’t really tied to the alpha you generate, I lost all steam.
I pivoted again.
Moved to a hedge fund.
The hedge fund blew up 3 months after I showed up.
I pivoted again.
I started advising hedge funds on big ideas.
Self Storage was the first one we found that had a big opportunity.
We were successful and made our clients a lot of money, but our business model wasn’t scalable.
So I pivoted again.
We found that no one had figured out where every storage facility was.
We built the tech and grinded for 2 years to solve that problem.
Today most people in the storage industry use our platform @radius_plus
When we found a new way to think about developing but our clients didn’t think it was worth what we did, I pivoted again.
I called one of my favorite clients and pitched the idea of starting a private equity real estate firm to build storage in a way that no one was.
@dxd_capital was created.
3 years in and we’ve raised $150MM in capital so far and built some beautiful buildings (see below).
Everything you’ve read to this point has taken 20 years.
I haven’t had any big liquidity events, still drive a shitty car and rent a 1,900 sq/ft home.
It takes a long time.
I failed & pivoted a lot.
I had to have blind faith that I would find success.
Most days I struggled to not think that I was a failure.
Your path will look different, but if you outwork everyone and continue to push your own ceiling, then you will find success.
I promise.
There are days when I don't want to get out of bed and take a day off,
but I still follow my daily routine.
Why?
If you want to be successful,
you have to be consistent with your efforts.
These consistent efforts over a long period of time will make you successful.