Good morning friends…
As long as I can remember I’ve felt an internal struggle between two different, competing forces. And there have been times in my life I felt like I was being torn apart as a great battle ensued. Who would win? My ambitious, insatiable pursuit of more? Or, the wiser, steadier Brandon, who calmly appreciates all that is?
For years it wasn’t clear who would win, and I oscillated between the two. Money seemed to always be the false flag in this struggle. The more I pursued it the less I seemed to have, and I wasn’t convinced my positive affirmations did anything to help.
Finally, after my third IRS audit, and what I judged to be a rather paltry net worth statement I submitted to the bank for a refinance, I realized something. Both sides of me were needed to build wealth. My ambition and my equanimity needed to live together as one.
It’s not always a peaceful coexistence I assure you, but I’ve learned to deploy ambition and equanimity, in different circumstances. That is my strategic advantage in finance, and a lot of other things.
Last week they danced beautifully as I brought on board Shane Feldman my new Chief of Staff. He’s talented and going places and has built a substantial platform of his own. So why would he come work with me at Chapter 2 Ventures?
That’s a question I’ll let him expand on at some point, though part of it I believe is that when you successfully combine ambition and equanimity, a third element forms. And that is alchemy. And when that happens, literally anything is possible, and people start to come into your life at just the right moment.
Also, this week:
Stoney Creek Farm is advancing. Over the weekend we met with our hotel consultants on property to work on the customer experience design. We recently checked out one of their properties, The Ivy in Baltimore and were impressed. Now they are part of our project, and frankly I’m blown away at where this is headed. We are going to have a world-class destination at Stoney Creek, and I’m not exaggerating. Opportunities are everywhere if you’re looking.
And the wealth building cohort has proven to be as interesting as I had hoped. We are on week 4 of 12 and learning quickly what people want and how willing they are to help you if you ask and engage them with openness to crafting the specifics. I’ve been sharing with them the behind the scenes thinking and getting great feedback. We are co-creating a game-changer with a launch target of this summer.
Find and deploy your alchemy this week!
