Service Academy Business Mastermind

"Something that has been very beneficial to me was the value of a mentor, in both real estate and the private equity space." -Neil Hoy, USAFA '03

Neil Hoy is an Investor Relations Specialist with VaultCap Partners, a private real estate investment firm that specializes in the acquisition, renovation, and asset management of underperforming multifamily assets in the Dallas, Texas area. VaultCap utilizes its 25 years of combined experience, market knowledge, and extensive professional network to source undervalued multifamily opportunities within high-growth markets. Neil graduated from the United States Air Force Academy and received his MA in International Relations and Affairs from the University of Oklahoma.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Neil's real estate investing journey and how he got started with VaultCap
• The types of value-add deals VaultCap invests in
• The firm's short-term and long-term goals given the current real estate market
• What Neil has done to improve his capital-raising skills and the strategies with which he has had success

Neil shares how his involvement in the community has been beneficial for him as a real estate investor. He has leveraged the strong personal relationships he has formed through volunteering in youth sports leagues and school events. Neil also shared with us how he is educating himself on capital raising strategies and the real estate industry as a whole as he settles into his new role with VaultCap Partners. We enjoyed hearing from Neil about the lessons he has learned through his real estate journey and wish him success in his next chapter with VaultCap!

Connect with Neil:

• LinkedIn
• VaultCap Partners

If you found this episode valuable, please share it with a friend or colleague. If you are a Service Academy graduate and want to take your business to the next level, you can join our supportive community and get started today.

Subscribe and help out the show:

• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
• Also available on Google Podcasts, Spotify & Stitcher
• Leave us a 5-star review!

Special thanks to Neil for joining me this week. Until next time!

-Scott Mackes, USNA '01

"I thought, 'What if there's a way to insure the wealth?' That's all you want, is to protect future sources of income." -Scott Tucker, USMA '02

Scott Tucker is a former Army Officer, a West Point graduate, and author of four books with unconventional ideas about military retirement, life, and wealth. He is the Founder of US VetWealth, a wealth management firm that offers access to safe investment strategies and helps military retirees create a "Private Pension" for their wealth so that they have more ownership of their assets, increased access to their money whenever they want it, and the ability to profit without additional rules, taxes, and fees. Scott has helped 100+ retiree high-income earners create a flexible and secure retirement with their unique benefits and pensions.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Scott's journey of transitioning out of the Army, entering into the life insurance business, and finding his niche
• How Scott's personal health experiences intertwined with his success as an entrepreneur
• The new category of "wealth insurance" that Scott has created through his company, US VetWealth
• The unique strategies Scott implements to help military retirees protect their wealth
• Scott's goals for US VetWealth and how he envisions the company to grow

When he was working in wealth management, Scott did not like the fact that he had to be all things to all people. That's what led to him finding his niche of using the life insurance investment model to help military retirees. He understood that, as career military officers retire, they need to change their financial strategy in order to make the most of their wealth. We learned a lot from Scott about the nuts and bolts of how someone can use life insurance to protect their wealth. Thanks for sharing with us, Scott!

Connect with Scott:

• LinkedIn
• US Vet Wealth

If you found this episode valuable, please share it with a friend or colleague. If you are a Service Academy graduate and want to take your business to the next level, you can join our supportive community and get started today.

Subscribe and help out the show:

• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
• Also available on Google Podcasts, Spotify & Stitcher
• Leave us a 5-star review!

Special thanks to Scott for joining me this week. Until next time!

-Scott Mackes, USNA '01

"This is National Estate Planning Awareness Week. If you don't have any planning in place, I'd encourage you…to meet with an estate planning attorney, understand what your options are, and put something in place sooner rather than later."-Rodney Hatley, Navy Veteran

Rodney Hatley is a former U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General (JAG) and the Founder of Hatley Law Group. As an estate planning attorney, Rodney protects successful individuals and families through estate planning strategies that eliminate taxes and safeguard assets. Hatley Law Group partners with their clients to protect everyone they love and everything they own. In addition to foundational estate planning, they offer advanced strategies to eliminate, or greatly mitigate, estate, generation-skipping transfer (GST), and gift taxes as well as domestic or offshore asset protection trusts.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Rodney's time as a Navy JAG and his personal experience dealing with his father's will
• The different components of an estate plan and how they differ from a will
• Special nuances business owners and investors should consider when creating their estate plan
• The lessons Rodney has learned over his 27-year career as an attorney
• How Rodney helps his clients organize all of the information related to their estate

Rodney explains that the typical estate plan can include a living trust, pour-over will, power of attorney, advanced healthcare directive, and HIPAA authorization. For those with business assets, membership interests, or shares of stock, he encourages that everything be tied back to the individual's living trust. Thank you, Rodney, for sharing your estate planning expertise with us during National Estate Planning Awareness Week!

Connect with Rodney:

• LinkedIn
• Hatley Law Group
• [email protected]

If you found this episode valuable, please share it with a friend or colleague. If you are a Service Academy graduate and want to take your business to the next level, you can join our supportive community and get started today.

Subscribe and help out the show:

• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
• Also available on Google Podcasts, Spotify & Stitcher
• Leave us a 5-star review!

Special thanks to Rodney for joining me this week. Until next time!

-Scott Mackes, USNA '01

"If you can work at the foundation of the problem and understand the nature of the problem… then creating the resolution for the problem is actually really simple." -Mandy Barbee Lanier, USAFA '05

Mandy Barbee Lanier is the Founder and CEO of Palladium Mind, a business through which she facilitates measurable, high-value, personal transformations for her clients. An expert in transformation work, Mandy has led a $39 million P&L at a Fortune 500 Aerospace company, as well as teams, operations, and strategic initiatives in four different commercial industries, the US State Dept, and the US military to achieve shared goals. Mandy earned her M.A. in Economics from Old Dominion University and is a Distinguished Graduate of the United States Air Force Academy.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Mandy's struggles with anxiety and depression and how that led to her starting Palladium Mind
• How Mandy successfully built up her client base for her business
• What Mandy does to help people figure out the source of their problems or pain
• The inverted pyramid that defines Palladium Mind's work, which includes information searching, healing services, coaching, and transformation work
• An example of how Mandy helped a client transform his beliefs by leveraging imagery and the unconscious
• Mandy's book, The Enjoyment Gap, that will be released in January 2024

Mandy shares how, in her purpose-based business, she helps people break patterns and reclaim inner control by tapping into the unconscious. She uses the language of the unconscious and leverages certain techniques to access the state where her client's problems reside. From there, transformation and healing can occur. We learned so much from Mandy about the power of root cause resolution and the impact she has had on the lives of others. Thank you for the important work you do, Mandy!

Connect with Mandy:

• LinkedIn
• Palladium Mind

If you found this episode valuable, please share it with a friend or colleague. If you are a Service Academy graduate and want to take your business to the next level, you can join our supportive community and get started today.

Subscribe and help out the show:

• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
• Also available on Google Podcasts, Spotify & Stitcher
• Leave us a 5-star review!

Special thanks to Mandy for joining me this week. Until next time!

-Scott Mackes, USNA '01

"How do you conceptualize your future and make sure that you're putting your assets to work for you to get to where you want to be? There's the psychological and emotional component to building wealth." -Thomas Perez, Navy Veteran

Thomas Perez is a Financial Advisor with a practice through Northwestern Mutual. A Navy veteran, Tom has 28 years of combined active and reserve service. He began his military career at 18 on active duty as a submarine radioman and Navy diver before transitioning to the Navy Reserve, where he attended The Citadel on his G.I. Bill and earned his commission. He served as a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy Reserve in the Information Warfare Community where he was a leader in cybersecurity, computer network defense, computer network offense, non-kinetic effects, and information technology. In 2020, Tom transitioned into his career as a Financial Advisor. He provides services in personal financial planning and wealth management, business financial planning and corporate benefits planning, and VA benefits and military retirement planning.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Tom's experience working as a Financial Advisor with Northwestern Mutual
• How Tom goes about identifying centers of influence in his network
• Unique offerings that draw clients to Tom and Northwestern Mutual
• Cash reposition strategies Tom implements with his clients
• The new endeavor Tom and his wife, Ullas, are pursuing
• Tom's personal and professional goals for the rest of 2023

Tom is passionate about empowering people through sophisticated, yet simple wealth-building strategies and is motivated to help others based on his own life experiences. Tom shares an example of a cash reposition strategy he implements through cash-value life insurance. Regardless of where his clients are in their financial journey, Tom puts systems into place to help them get where they want to go. We enjoyed talking with Tom about the strategies he implements as a financial advisor and his approach to being a business owner and side hustler. Thank you for sharing with us, Tom!

Connect with Tom:

• LinkedIn
• thomasperez.nm.com
• tomullas.com

If you found this episode valuable, please share it with a friend or colleague. If you are a Service Academy graduate and want to take your business to the next level, you can join our supportive community and get started today.

Subscribe and help out the show:

• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
• Also available on Google Podcasts, Spotify & Stitcher
• Leave us a 5-star review!

Special thanks to Tom for joining me this week. Until next time!

-Scott Mackes, USNA '01

"I really feel like I've built my dream job where I get to meet people, learn, grow, and make money while doing it." -Justin Nassiri, USNA '02

Justin Nassiri is the CEO and Founder of Executive Presence, a fully managed social media service for CEOs and top executives. The company helps top-tier executives boost their visibility, activate their network, and position themselves as thought leaders. After transitioning out of the military and completing graduate school, Justin built and sold two successful companies before starting Executive Presence. He is also the creator and host of the podcast "Beyond the Uniform", the #1 iTunes-rated podcast for military career transition advice with over 400 episodes. Justin is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy and earned his MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Justin's journey as an entrepreneur and how he got to where he is now
• How Justin shifted his perspective on making money and being successful
• Where the idea for Executive Presence came from and how it grew
• The client experience Justin and his team provide and what their ideal client looks like
• How thought leadership can help CEOs gain awareness and build their brand

Connect with Justin:

• LinkedIn
• Executive Presence

Justin shares about his journey as an entrepreneur and how every experience served as a stepping stone to where he is now. In the past, Justin has felt that he was grinding at work but was not growing as a human being. With Executive Presence, he has created his dream job where he is "paid to grow" as a person and has the opportunity to learn from the CEOs and high-performing individuals he works with. Thank you, Justin, for sharing your story with us, and congratulations on all you have achieved so far with Executive Presence!

If you found this episode valuable, please share it with a friend or colleague. If you are a Service Academy graduate and want to take your business to the next level, you can join our supportive community and get started today.

Subscribe and help out the show:

• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
• Also available on Google Podcasts, Spotify & Stitcher
• Leave us a 5-star review!

Special thanks to Justin for joining me this week. Until next time!

-Scott Mackes, USNA '01

"The problem that we're solving here is that 65% of investors don't have a solid grasp of how their portfolios are performing… I find that to be unacceptable." -Greg Namrow, Marine Corps Veteran

Greg Namrow is the Founder & CEO of TRACTIC, a real estate asset management platform enabling owners, investors, and landlords to assess the real-time performance of their portfolios. He is a passionate and dedicated founder and entrepreneur with a proven track record in launching and scaling successful startups in business, real estate investing, and PropTech. Greg served as an Infantry Officer in the United States Marine Corps, earned his MBA from American University, Kogod School of Business, and his MA in Leadership & Education Studies from the University of San Diego.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How Greg's strengths helped him in building his property technology platform, TRACTIC
• The inspiration for TRACTIC based on Greg's personal experiences with real estate
• What TRACTIC does and the platform's ideal user
• Greg's favorite features and how they help investors
• The challenges Greg is facing and his short-term and long-term goals

Connect with Greg:

• LinkedIn
• Tractic.io

Greg shares three things that make TRACTIC unique: the dynamic accountability and efficiency settings, the reduced workload it provides for users, and its ability to help investors make data-driven decisions to improve their portfolio performance. Whether you are an investor who just purchased your first property or you have owned multiple properties for many years, TRACTIC's dynamic capabilities can help you analyze the performance of your real estate portfolio in real-time. It's great to see Greg excel with his PropTech platform and we wish him success as TRACTIC continues to grow!

If you found this episode valuable, please share it with a friend or colleague. If you are a Service Academy graduate and want to take your business to the next level, you can join our supportive community and get started today.

Subscribe and help out the show:

• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
• Also available on Google Podcasts, Spotify & Stitcher
• Leave us a 5-star review!

Special thanks to Greg for joining me this week. Until next time!

-Scott Mackes, USNA '01

"For me, it's all about helping others really understand what their brand strategy is so they can be the best that they can be." -Pete Canalichio, USNA '81

Pete Canalichio is a Brand & Licensing Strategist who is on a mission to help brands find the most authentic parts of their story so they can share it with the world. After successful careers in the Navy and global branding, brand expansion, and marketing, Pete realized that his greatest passion was helping brands reach their full potential. He employs proprietary digital guides and knowledge, platform talks, consulting workshops, and tools to inspire, educate, and empower others to achieve all that is possible.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Pete's' experience developing tools and courses to help his clients succeed
• How Pete helps "overcomers" who have not had the opportunity to reflect on branding
• The importance of defining your purpose, vision, and mission
• How a personal brand can be impactful in one's personal and professional life
• All of the elements that need to be considered when developing a brand

Pete shares why building a personal brand is important and how everything we do communicates something—even when we aren't trying to communicate anything. Pete's goal is to help others understand what they are trying to communicate so they can do it well, and he uses the tools he has created to meet the needs of his clients. We are inspired by Pete's thoughtful approach to helping brands grow and thrive!

Connect with Pete:

• LinkedIn
• Brand Alive
• Pete's Book: Your Brand is a Promise (use coupon code "BRAND" upon checkout for free access!)

If you found this episode valuable, please share it with a friend or colleague. If you are a Service Academy graduate and want to take your business to the next level, you can join our supportive community and get started today.

Subscribe and help out the show:

• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
• Also available on Google Podcasts, Spotify & Stitcher
• Leave us a 5-star review!

Special thanks to Pete for joining me this week. Until next time!

-Scott Mackes, USNA '01

"Things in the legal career field don't happen in a vacuum… you're not doing everything yourself. The lessons of how to build teams and how to maintain teams, as both a leader and a follower, that you learn in the military translate well to the civilian sector." -Michael Segal, USAFA '02

Michael Segal is an attorney and graduate of the UCLA School of Law, with a specialization in Business Law. As a former USAF F-15 Fighter Pilot and current Air Force Reservist, Michael translates the skillsets he learned in complex, dynamic, and high-intensity situations to the legal profession and business environment. His military experience includes leading Airmen in combat as well as peacetime, while also managing billions of dollars in Department of Defense resources. Michael's litigation practice focuses on commercial litigation. He seeks to help businesses with a broad spectrum of legal issues, including commercial litigation, securities law, private equity, venture capital, and real estate investment.

In this episode, we discuss:

• What led Michael to want to become an attorney
• Michael's specialty within business law
• The intricacies of securities offerings and Michael's internship with the SEC
• Best practices for someone who is raising capital or looking for investors
• Key takeaways from Michael's military experience that he uses as an attorney

Michael shares that his work is focused on litigation and transactional work, including contract drafting, mergers and acquisitions, and loan agreements. Although he has not had the opportunity to do a lot of work in the space since becoming an attorney, Michael finds securities offerings very interesting and looks forward to doing more with securities down the road. His current goals include immersing himself in a wide range of legal training and learning as much as he can about the needs of his clients and the issues they are facing. Thank you, Michael, for sharing your story and offering your business law expertise!

Connect with Michael:

• LinkedIn
• Davidovich Stein Law Group
• [email protected]

If you found this episode valuable, please share it with a friend or colleague. If you are a Service Academy graduate and want to take your business to the next level, you can join our supportive community and get started today.

Subscribe and help out the show:

• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
• Also available on Google Podcasts, Spotify & Stitcher
• Leave us a 5-star review!

Special thanks to Michael for joining me this week. Until next time!

-Scott Mackes, USNA '01

"The most important thing that I can do in the next three to five years is… help as many people as I can develop wealth." -Keegan Wetzel, USNA '13

Keegan Wetzel is a real estate agent and mortgage broker with a passion for helping his clients develop their net worth. Keegan earned a B.S. in Control Systems Engineering from the United States Naval Academy and has eight combined years of experience leading cross-functional teams in a high-tempo environment of military operations and logistics, and hunting net-new logos to build B2B SaaS ARR. While succeeding in his sales career, Keegan began to learn more about real estate investment and how it can help in achieving financial goals. He recently made the jump to work in real estate full-time and is currently building and training his team of agents.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Keegan's transition out of the military into sales and his more recent transition to do real estate full-time
• His goals for the next 90 days as he enters his new endeavor
• How Keegan found his purpose of helping others achieve net worth
• Where Keegan sees himself in five years

Keegan shares his tangible goal for the next five years: Create 100 multimillionaires through real estate. He is passionate about communicating the strategies he has learned to develop net worth and looks forward to using them to help others achieve their financial goals. We enjoyed hearing about Keegan's journey and congratulate him on entering this exciting new phase in real estate!

Connect with Keegan:

• LinkedIn
• [email protected]
• @keeganwetzel on social media platforms

If you found this episode valuable, please share it with a friend or colleague. If you are a Service Academy graduate and want to take your business to the next level, you can join our supportive community and get started today.

Subscribe and help out the show:

• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
• Also available on Google Podcasts, Spotify & Stitcher
• Leave us a 5-star review!

Special thanks to Keegan for joining me this week. Until next time!

-Scott Mackes, USNA '01