Matthew Mak 0:42

Levi, thank you for joining me on Delta Vision. How's it going?

Levi Wanner 0:46

Thanks for having me. Absolutely. Thanks for uh sharing your time. Yes, sir. So, Levi, tell us uh what's the first of all, uh who you are, uh what you do, and then I'll I'll get into the uh questions. Absolutely. So my name is Levi Walner. Um I'm in Billings, Montana. I own a um home building construction company in the state of Montana. We are currently in four different locations in Montana, so we do a lot of traveling. Um, so I've been building and selling about 25 years. Recently just started a home builder um sales um coaching platform, so that's kind of my passive project right now. But so we we built a pretty good company here in Montana. We've got the largest volume in the state of Montana for single family homes. Um, and so real estate is all I've ever really done. So this is um kind of what we do. Cool. And uh for the homes that you're building, is it like are you working on mostly the mass production or is it custom homes or both? You know, it's kind of both. I I always like to say, Matthew, we do a good, better, best product. And so the good is I'll do a low-end spec house and we don't put that on the market until it's ready to sell. Then that better is as like a semi-custom where people come in, pick a floor plan. We can pick colors, move stuff around, and then we do full custom. So we kind of cover the whole gamut with that. Nice, nice. Yeah, I I definitely have a lot that I can relate to you on that because that was uh previously from what I'm doing right now. Uh I was an architect for 10 years designing residential homes, and then I transitioned to now fully different side of things, still somewhat related, but from the dirt moving stuff. So hunting uh the earth movie equipment, Bobcat excavators. Yeah, absolutely. We didn't we didn't start with you know the with the three different models. I always recommend people people start with that mid to high range because the guys the guys doing that low end stuff, they really have that dialed in and they're hard to compete with. So um that's where I always recommend when people want to start a new construction. Yeah. So all right, what's the one moment that made you realize you were done waiting for permission to start what you were doing? That's a great question. Because when I I first started, I was in property management. I started when I was real young and like as a maintenance man and kind of moved my way up into being a uh a property manager. And you know, I'm really big on reading, you know. The the book that got me into real estate, whether whatever politics that you like, the Donald Trump, the art of the book, uh, art of the deal is like the best book for real estate, goes through how every deal for me, every real estate deal is like a puzzle. So I you know, you nothing's a blank canvas, you have to kind of figure it out. So when I was working for that property manager company, I had I had pitched the idea because I wanted to get my real estate license. And the owners, you know, being young, you know, I was in my early 20s, they were like, well, you know, there's too many real estate agents, there's you know, there's too much competition, you won't be able to do it. And um, that kind of negative reinforcement always kind of pushes me over the edge. Uh I grew up an athlete, so I like I like doing the thing, the things that they tell you that you can't do. You can't do, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So that's um that pushed me to get my real estate license. And um, so I've been selling real estate since I was 25. And that's kind of where that all kicked off. So that was the moment that pushed me because I um, you know, a lot of business owners and entrepreneurs are like that. They don't like to be told what they can and can't do. Of course. So that's what that was pretty much the spark. That was the fuel that got you going. Yeah, just a little bit of the gasoline to the fire that you needed to push me over the edge.

unknown 4:52

Yeah.

Levi Wanner 4:52

And you're like, watch me now. Absolutely. That's that's the fun part. Yeah, no, that's awesome. Good for you. That's that's that's great. Now, like during like that uh that time when you were making your first big move, what did the people closest to you think when you were making that move? Yeah, and that's that's a funny, funny question because my dad is a is a was a farmer. I my all my family's from North Dakota, and they were dairy farmers. And um, when I became a salesman, um, it was just like a four-letter word that that you my blue-collar family did not want any part of. And um so you know, my dad, then my dad was a truck driver. So you um me getting into the sales world was really, really kind of the no-no of a family. That's yeah. They thought were like the evilest people on the planet. And um I would take, I would take a girlfriend back to the farm, and she would be like, Oh my god, it smells so bad. And you know, with the cows don't smell great. Yeah, yeah. And my uncle my uncle would say, would say, you know, that smell, that that smell is money. So they finally got it when I came back one time and my phone was ringing off the hook, and I told them, like, every time that phone rings, that means there's money coming. So it finally took me kind of using their own terminology right back to them that that got them thinking different. Yeah, and it's kind of like uh it goes back to that um uh the thing of uh you can't uh teach an old dog new tricks, right? But you can, in the sense of because it's just the environment that they grew up in, the mentality and the mindset, right? So it's just a matter of how uh, like you said, you find the analogy or the way that they can understand it better, that you just slowly you know slip it in there that they'll finally understand what it is that you're in and everything, right? So I'm sure I'm sure they're now your biggest supporters in a in a way, right? All over the place, you know, because we have a big family. So it just it all worked out great. And they they it then when I started the home building company, they they they understood that a lot more than me just providing, you know, selling a service. Yeah, of course. Yeah, and and that's what I find too is that like most of like all the businesses that we all like uh we all get ourselves into, they all come down to serving. That's the biggest thing. People just want to be served, solve their problem, and just make it happen. Right? I love that question, Matthew. I love that question because even when you know I was a realtor, I didn't come from a construction background. Like I've never done the framing or the trim worker, and that's kind of the progression of a no normal home builder is they've done the labor and then they move up. Um, I started selling early on for another home builder here, and he's a great guy, still good friends of mine. And every when I started, I wanted to I knew I figured out the processes and I wanted to build my own spec house. So um I I just started with one. Yeah. You don't know what you're doing, you you know, you don't know how to frame a wall, all of that kind of stuff. But I knew the processes and I knew I could hire the right sub to go do that. So there's always gonna be people that are that are gonna you know questioning you in your in your journey. Yeah, doubting. Yeah, doubting is a good word for that. So and again, that just adds fuel to the fire. Yeah, well, because also for them, it's it's they they don't know what you're thinking, and they're just going by what they see in front of them, right? And it's kind of interesting where it's like yeah, uh lear learning learning that when people are doubting or giving you that negative feedback, it's not so much it's you or as a person, it's more so directed, redirected to themselves. Not understanding, yeah. Right, yeah. Which is pretty pretty interesting. It's a lot of their insecurities. Yeah, it's a lot of their insecurities for not taking the steps that we're taking, and um they don't want they don't want to fail, so they're not willing to take the of course, yeah. And like the biggest thing is that uh with people like um yourself is that you just execute whether you know or you don't know in the moment, but you'll figure it out. Oh, absolutely, and that's that's the fun part, is just you know going headfirst and diving into it and figuring it out later. Because you're never gonna have a perfect, perfect execution plan that you can that you can go into you know step A through D and you're gonna be super successful. There's curveballs and a winding road all the way to that that success. Oh yeah, no, for sure. Sure. And uh so tell us uh what's the decision that changed everything, the one that scared you the most at the time? You know, but uh the biggest decision for me was I started the building company and I was doing about you know 10 to 20 homes a year, and it was it was a really well-run company. We were we were doing great, getting market share, but I was doing everything myself. And you know, from you know the budgets to the managing, all of that. And so for me going and hiring staff to you know, in in the words of Dan Martell, right, is buy buy back your time. Um, for me to start delegating was the hardest thing because I knew what I wanted, I knew how it worked, and I had no SOPs in place that I had no SOPs in place, they were just all in my head, and which is a scary place. And you know, so making that step, and now we've got you know, we've got a big step, and I've gotten through that. But for me, that bottleneck was always me. I'm the salesman, I deal with the financing, all of you know, every little detail. And so um, to be able to expand and grow, you you have to get out of your comfort zone and and get some good free staff. Yeah, no, for sure. And that's where actually like right now, um like I have I have a business partner too, and it's both of us are pushing on that part because it's like you're like you said, SOP is like it's all in here how to put it put it out there, right? Because we end up being bottlenecking ourselves that we're working the super late nights, the weekends, the yeah, and I and I'm in that that was my biggest problem because I'm a grinder. I love I love the I love the for me at least the journey of getting to the place. It's never actually the the destination, the journey. So I love that early mornings, you know, weekends. I love that stuff. But um, to be able to grow and then build a company that someday you might be able to exit, you've gotta have those those things in place. You gotta have a staff. And now with AI, it's made making SOP so much easier. Oh, instead of you know, me writing writing each step now, I just get on to Claude. I just get on to Claude and just start talking to it, and it makes me like, all right, this is this step. So it's made made guys that my life a lot easier. Yeah, yeah, I know for sure. Like uh with Claude with uh that app Whisper, so I got whispered like maybe two months ago. I'm like you talk forever, right? Instead of just typing.

unknown 12:45

Yeah.

Levi Wanner 12:46

Oh, I think, yeah. Yeah, yeah, there we go. Yeah, so no, I was just thinking about like Whisper, how a game changer is for me, because like now it's like I can talk way faster than obviously type it. Oh yeah. It's so nice. Yeah, yeah. It's quite accurate, like as long as you're pronouncing it properly, it's very accurate. And how it like even like it's able to um uh like like if you're writing an email and you formally speak to it, it will actually break the paragraphs to the person you're directing it to, and it's like present. Yeah, it's making making our lives a lot easier for sure. Yeah, yeah. No, that's that's that's cool. Um so now uh what's something that you know now that would have saved you years of pain earlier on? Or maybe it goes back I think yeah, it's a lot of about the delegation and trusting trusting your your instincts, I think don't listen to to people that that aren't where were you, you know, taking advice from people that think you think they have their your best interests at heart, but they don't know what your goals are. They don't know, you know, if I take advice from from somebody in real estate, but my goals are way bigger than them, they can only give me the advice that they know that they know. And I don't think it's anything malicious. Yeah, they but they don't know where where we're coming from. So yeah. Yeah, and and that's where like and you're right, like it's like different levels, right? Like, and it's not like wrong or right, it's just who is it you can actually listen to, and if they're actually in it or if experienced it before that you can actually take that advice. Exactly. Yeah, but they have if they haven't if they're not going down the path that you're on, there's no reason to take advice. Yeah, no, for sure. And it's it's kind of like cool, like uh, and I talked to this a lot of people um it about you know when you're sharing experiences and you don't feel alone anymore, because sometimes, or not something a lot of times you may feel like you're going through certain experiences alone, but then when you hear it from someone else, you you feel kind of reassured, like okay, I'm not the only one. Right? And maybe that other Montana. Yeah, sorry, go ahead. Yeah, and that's tough in Montana because we that's tough in Montana because we don't have you know, there's there's not a lot of people here, you know. Our our we're in the biggest city in Montana, there's only a hundred thousand people. There's not a lot of entrepreneurs that are going to the same places. That's why joining, you know, big groups is is nice because you get people like you know bouncing ideas off each other and absolutely and learning from each other. So and when people ask me for advice now, I preface it like, okay, here's my goals. You know, your goals might be different, then this is why I take this tactic. And so because you we all have different different journeys. For sure. Yeah, for sure. And now um, like with uh with Dan's program and everything, uh what so when did you join? I'm about a year and a half into it. Yeah, I'm about a year and a half into it. Cool. And then so then as soon as soon as you started um like let's say in the measuring perspective, when you started it, and then it was from his teachings about the delegation and the bottlenecks and all, like I guess you then kind of slowly implemented that as soon as as soon as you could, like just to trick your mindset. Dive head in first kind of guy. So that's exactly I took the first call and I'm like, okay, and I try to implement like little things constantly, and yeah, I think it drives my staff crazy. I you know, it drives everybody around me crazy because I'm always like changing and tweaking, and there's there's no reason to be status phone. And I and then then but then there's like the light bulb moment that comes on with your staff, like you change something and they're like, Oh, this is way easier. And I'm like, this is why you know we're paying money to be coached by someone that's great. Yeah, no, for sure. No, and that's cool because like now, um, like I've only been in the program now for like since March. Uh I've I have not been able, unfortunately, to measure much as of yet, only because I just had a little bit of uh personal challenges when I just joined the program on the personal side. So now I'm like pushing myself into everything, right? So I hope soon enough I can see the measurable scale of the success of everything. Yeah. You know, it's hard to find the time to implement everything. What I try to do is just find what what like my most glaring need at that moment is and implement that. So obviously AI's been, you know, he's he's pushing that of I'm I'm neck deep into cloud, and um and I'm not a techie guy. And me neither. But then and then once I start, then all of a sudden, like two hours is gone on a Saturday. I'm like, I've just been sitting here working on this plot for hours, and but then it's kind of fun when it starts working, then it gives you like this weird little adrenaline, you know, endorphin rush, like you know, like you just work out, and um so I but I I think everything that Dan's got in in the program obviously doing a great job, and all of that stuff works. Um, but I think you gotta find what works for you and and what your glaring needs are. Yeah, no, for sure. Right? Like it it's like you know, one of one of the uh um I guess you could say uh challenges for myself and what I do is just just trying to be able to manage um the gapping, like the cash flow gap. Because I have like high assets, right? That's the thing that sucks about what I'm doing. It's that it's all assets. Banks don't even, you know. No, no, they don't. Right. And that's where that's where I'm at is like connecting to as many people as possible to see what strategies, what keynotes are gonna like really change my thoughts and views and to improve.

unknown 19:09

Right.

Levi Wanner 19:09

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, that's um, you know, we're a high asset um business as well. You know, we build tech houses and then sell them stuff. Yes. Um, but what's what's nice about homes is we can always you know drop price and sell them and move on to to live another day if something you know where you know you're probably you know you gotta rent this this uh bulldozer out for a month. Yeah, it'll pretty much. Listen, if I if I am able to send machines down your way, I'll let you know. Yeah. Um when we start cutting roads in, yeah. Yeah, yeah. What what area are you in again? So I'm up in uh I'm up in Toronto, Ontario. Okay, fantastic. Yeah, so uh yeah, so Leva, tell me, um without permission, what does it mean to you? This this actually means a lot to me because you know, I've I've got a pretty crazy little backstory. I didn't graduate high school, got in a bunch of trouble when I was a kid, kind of a lot like the Dan Martell story, you know. Yeah, um, and so everything I've ever done, I've never had permission to do. You know, I shouldn't have, I shouldn't have got my real estate license, I shouldn't have started a building company. Um, so I I do everything that I feel like is right for me and my business. And now that we I've got this big ecosystem, um, I've got staff, I've got subcontractors and vendors that all rely on me. Like I do things that are best for my ecosystem. I don't I don't care for what the banks think, I don't care what anybody thinks. Like I you have to be unapologetically driven on your mission. And I think you know, we we can't ask permission to be successful. It's just you have to just go out and get it. And like it, it almost I don't I don't want to say the word violent, it has to just be unapologetic. Your drive has to be to take care of your family, your staff. Um, and if you're waiting for for people to tell you that you can do something, or you know, a lot of people wait for acknowledgement and praise. Um, and we know as business owners, there's lots of those little baby steps that we've taken, we take for months and months that don't show any results, and then all of a sudden is this big result, kind of like fitness. You know, you're working out, you don't see anything, and then all of a sudden a month later, you know, you're down five pounds. Yeah. So um I use the word violent because I think you have to be violent with your goals. I think you have to attack them and um and go after them and just just not care what anybody else thinks, don't care about people that you don't care about. About think about it. Yeah. It's like you you're figuring out the noise and the signals, right? You just focus on the signal and you just draw out all the noise. Right. I think this one might might uh uh might be good for you, all right? It's you are the fearless leader. That's what I'm thinking about. Fearless, you gotta be fearless out there, you know? Yeah. Yeah, I a hundred percent. And you you have to make the right choices for for you for you the people that you take care of. I mean, that's I think not talked about enough as business owners, how many people rely on us? Um you know, from our vendors, the guys changing the oil in your in your machines, those people all depend on you to make the right decision. And if you're you've got somebody you know telling you you should cut staff and do all these things, and those people are your responsibility. Oh yeah, no, for sure. And that's actually like uh uh a bit of um challenge that I go through from time to time with my partner is all those discussions on that, right? And always trying to push to not Google that with such a great culture, right? So I just gotta keep going forward. Yeah, and partners are tough, partners are tough. It's it's tough, especially when it's family. Oh yeah, that makes it even you know more fun. Yeah, but uh the family dynamic is fun. The yeah, yeah. I brought my sister on as a realtor to work with us, and we always joke because we we could be like F you, F you, and then five minutes later it's like, okay, where are we having lunch? Like we can't you can't get mad for too long when it's your sister. Yeah, I know for sure. Yeah. Well, I find that the biggest thing is it's just as long as communication. Communication is the biggest key for everything. Yeah. No, yeah, but I agree. I'm I'm a big Ed Mylette um follower. I'm I'm a part of the RT group as well. And what I learned from him is if you're explaining to your partner or your employees, or even like your wife or your kids, okay, this like when you're talking to your kids, like, hey, we're gonna or do the dishes before we go to bed, here's why. Here's why I'm thinking this. Not just not just be the you know, the the dictator of your business and being like, hey, we're doing this no matter what, because I said so. But if I explain to them, yeah, this is my reasoning, and you know, let me know what you think, but ultimately I get the I get the call. Yeah. Uh thank you for that, actually. I'm really gonna put that one into place. I'm gonna write that one down in my notes, giving the reason why, because I do actually have that tendency of just like I have my reasons, but then I do it without explanations, and then there's a lot of times it backfires. Oh, absolutely. I mean, I'm sure your your dad was a lot like my dad, you know, the truck driver farmer was like, I'm like, why are we doing this? And he he was his answer would be like, because I said so. You know, right? And my brain works, my brain works like I'm I'm getting my pilot's license. I just bought an airplane, and for me, I'm learning that if I understand why something happens with the airplane, then it it sticks in my brain better. Yeah, cool, that's cool. Yeah, it's fun, it's a lot of fun. Yeah, I've that that's baby steps. I'll get there. Oh, absolutely. Well, and for me, it's a lot of business because we're you know, the other markets that we're in are three or four hours away, so it'll be a lot of travel time for me, you know. So you gotta save that time. You gotta save that time. Yeah, there it's the coolest thing I've ever done. Yeah, that's that's awesome. That's awesome. Well, well, whenever I plan to come down there, then we'll we'll set up something. That'll be fun. That'll be a blast. Yeah, cool. You come see the uh Yellowstone or Glacier Park, we'll take you around. Awesome. That's awesome. Now, uh Levi, tell us where can we find you? What's the best place? Uh on IG, on LinkedIn, or on the socials. I I am on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn. It's all Levi Warner, um, W-A-N-N-E-R. Um, Builder Launch is my new um building coaching program. So um, we're giving away my my top 10 tips for new builders. So if anybody wants that, just DM me on on Instagram. That's kind of my passion project right now. I'm teaching other other builders, you know, how to scale their their businesses. So that's been a lot of fun for me. Um, I didn't know that I'd ever like to do any teaching, but it's um it's it's been so much fun. Um, and love to connect with anybody, answer any questions. Uh Matthew, I've had a blast. Thank you so much for having me on. Yeah, and thank you for joining. And we'll uh we'll definitely keep in touch. It'll be great to have you again sometime. And thanks for joining me at Boat Without Permission. Thank you, have a great day. See you leave bye.

Matthew Mak 27:17

Cheers. See you bye. If you're waiting for permission, you're already behind. The life you're building starts with a decision you make today. So stop thinking and start moving. Subscribe, share this with someone still thinking about it, and start building something of your own. No bootprints, no approval, no.