You’ll learn how to strive for the next level while maintaining a healthy balance in this conversation with John Hopfensberger. With more than 30 years of experience in the commercial real-estate industry, John is the founder and president of CMK Properties, and has developed more than $200 million of real estate. In addition to his business accomplishments, John is a triathlete and a two-time Ironman finisher. He also serves on advisory boards and in various nonprofit capacities.

John grew up on a dairy farm just outside of Green Bay, Wisconsin, where he was taught to have a strong work ethic. “When we were building a shed, building on the barn, renovating the house…we did as much work as we could ourselves,” he says. This fostered a passion for construction, and right out of college, John took on a two-family fixer upper. He made the needed repairs, rented the place, and became hooked on real estate. He obtained a general contractor license and started to take on larger projects, eventually expanding into multiple states.

Facing the decision of whether to become a national-level general contractor or focus on what he loved doing, which was real estate development and investment, John opted for the latter. He also laid out objectives to grow that were attainable, timely, and realistic. He has continued with this strategy, and today holds regular meetings with his team to talk about business goals. Together they break them down into people, operations, marketing, sales, and financial aspects. He also keeps his goals in front of him on a desk.     

Now based in Brentwood, Tennessee, John’s company CMK Properties serves as a fully integrated real estate investment, development, and management company. It carries out build-to-suit projects for major brands, and has clients such as Dollar General and Tractor Supply Company. For anyone looking to get started in this development space, he suggests finding a site and presenting it to a potential tenant. After breaking into this segment, his company has gone on to generate repeat business and create a portfolio of over $385 million, with more than $235 million in successful exits.

 You can connect with John through LinkedIn and his company website CMK Properties.

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