Munificence: You Can Give Your Way Out of Overwhelm

In 2020, in response to a growing base of customers seeking to build their own local customized full-service housing programs, Capital Stacker took a few bold steps forward, even in the midst of a global pandemic. It took courage and a lot of really bright people in my life to help me to understand that it is what we do in the midst of trying times that makes all the difference. We can choose to play it safe, be small and retract in fear, or we can choose to have some faith, take some risks and put yourself out there.

At Capital Stacker we talk a lot about living generously, and because I tend to see the glass as being half-full, the idea of finding ways to squeeze all of the good out of tough times is something I have become accustomed to in my life. For me, the pandemic, which I'll always remember as a time when we were all cautioned to pull back and stay inside, felt more like a license to do some inner work (both personally and in my business) than a sentence to stay at home. Interestingly, in a world where "re" means to go back or do it again, a prefix I have generally tried to avoid in my life and in my work, my future, it seemed, was all about revisiting some now-out-of-date ideas around how work was to be done and life was to be lived, and removing that old mindset so that I could more clearly see what was ahead of me.

It didn't take much convincing for me to see that one way to do this was to take what was in front of me and begin to look for ways to rename it, re-envision what could be and then recalibrate for impact. This inner work led to another set of actionable "re's". I rearranged my physical space, renegotiated my contracts and delivery plans, rewrote my business plan with a growth mindset and felt completely reinvigorated when I was able to re-engage with my clients and partners in new ways with a renewed sense of what Capital Stacker might become.

It was with this attitude and these thoughts in mind that our business actually grew in the midst of arguably some of the most trying times of this ten-year old business. Here's what we did:

1. We developed two new B2B solutions.

First, after having developed the concept back in 2017, I was able to make a substantial investment in the development of a piece of fintech and launched Club 720, a SaaS platform that supports high performance individuals and organizations to increase profitability through 3-way capital stacking. More to come on this in the near future.

After a decade of collaborating, my friend-who's-like-a-brother, Ryan Chasey and I co-founded the Housing Resource Hub ("the Hub") in July 2020. For those who know us and the work we have done together over the past ten years, this won't likely come as a surprise but for us it represents a monumental change in the way that we now think and do business together. Again, more to come on this idea, as well.

2. We expanded our team.

Another bold step was to finally begin to develop a team to support the growing customer base of Capital Stacker, Club 720 and the Hub. The pandemic created opportunities of its own in the talent pool and my daughter and trusted advisor, Alexandra Wise joined the team in Q3 2020 to help me to oversee the development of Capital Stacker's two new product lines. As Chief Marketing Officer, Alexandra's role is to ensure operational excellence in the implementation of Club 720 as it continues to grow to scale. Shortly thereafter, my son, Jordan Presley, added his talents in videography and passion for Business to our operation. As Production Assistant, Jordan supports Alexandra's storytelling work for our clients and customers. This has been such a fulfilling experience, growing a family business and all, but I have to say growth and expansion has begotten more growth and expansion and I fully expect to add up to four new team members in 2021.

To conclude, I have to say this process of growth through turbulent times has been challenging and motivating, at the same time. What I have found is facing our fears and courageously taking that next right step forward is very powerful and can be an effective strategy for moving us out of overwhelm and into the bright future that lies ahead if we choose to see it.