Elite Impact Education Platform
Don's Thoughts
August 01, 2022 | Volume 6
New Development
Island Oaks RV Resort
DLP Capital has partnered with Island Oaks Community LLC to bring an elevated camping experience to Northeast Florida, with Island Oaks RV Resort. This recreational vehicle resort features state-of-the-art amenities including a miniature golf course, boat and bike rentals, a swimming lake with a floating playground, a pool featuring a cabana bar, pickleball and bocce ball courts, walking trails, and many more activities for couples and families. It is a short drive from Jacksonville and can accommodate 700 RVs. Each campsite offers electric, water, sewer, and Wi-Fi.
New Acquisitions
DLP Capital purchased Harbor House on Saratoga, a 252-unit Corpus Christi apartment complex. The property will be renamed DLP Saratoga and is conveniently located near multiple medical centers, schools, Naval Air Station-Corpus Christi Army Depot, and Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. Additionally, the Corpus Christi International Airport and Corpus Christi CBD are approximately 10 miles from the property. DLP Capital’s acquisition of this complex is the latest of many Texas-based projects as the company continues to pursue providing natural, affordable workforce housing to families in the Corpus Christi area.
DLP Capital also purchased 7 Square Apartments, located in Houston, Texas, in partnership with Avid Realty Partners, one of our Elite Impact Housing members Originally built in 2009 by Trammell Crow Residential and totaling 402 units, this elegant mid-rise wrap property features many resident-centric amenities and is conveniently located in the Memorial neighborhood of Houston.
DLP Capital is developing The Cottages at St. Johns, a new 194-unit build-for-rent community consisting of single-story one, two, and three-bedroom cottages located in Palatka, Florida. The project is located in the most developed portion of Palatka and is in close proximity to healthcare facilities, St. Johns River State College, public and charter schools, and dining and retail establishments. Both Palatka and the surrounding Putnam county vicinity will significantly benefit from the newly-constructed affordable housing project.
DLP Capital completed the purchase of Grand at Rum Creek, a 263-unit rental home community located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. DLP Capital will expand Grand at Rum Creek’s resident base from students only, into a community that serves students, university staff, and community members and families. Units will be leased at rental prices that are affordable to the local community, ensuring residents can afford to live where they work.
New Leaders
For our growth at DLP Capital, and to achieve our “Bigger. Better. Faster.” goals, we know we must have the right leadership in place—those who drive us forward every day, exemplify our core values and exhibit qualities of servant leadership. Over the past couple of months, we have added these new leaders to our team.
David FitzPatrick
Senior Director of Investments & Portfolio Management, Head of Servicing
Gina Lujan
Managing Director, Head of People Department
Recognition Wall
Part of our plan to be “Bigger. Better. Faster.” is honoring and uplifting our people. We simply cannot achieve what we need to achieve without the right people in the right seats, as well as showing how much we value them. In our last Vision Day meeting, we stated the following:
We will make sure our people KNOW they are the #1 Priority of DLP.
We will invest in, empower, support, and develop ROCK STARS.
In both our offices, we installed a recognition wall that is highly visible to our team and our clients. It honors those team members who are the high achievers, and puts their name in lights for all to see. While it is just one thing we are doing in the people arena, it serves as a reminder to those honored, and their fellow team members, of the fact that personal contributions make all the difference at DLP.
Mid-Year Update: “Bigger. Better. Faster.”
“Bigger, Better. Faster.” was the theme we unveiled at our Vision Day in January, and it will impact almost every area of our business. We shared updates on our progress at July’s team meeting. Watch it here.
Some of the changes we are making are directly connected to immediate results; others will pay off in more indirect ways (i.e. happier employees becoming more productive). Here are some things we have recently implemented within our company:
Unlimited PTO — We realize that the most progressive companies give their employees the time they need to do the things they want, with fewer restrictions. Our results and accountability remain non-negotiable, but we will offer freedom on how the work gets done.
Hybrid Work — We will always value a degree of in-person work. However, we are allowing our employees to flex a portion of work time between home and office, when being in the office is not critical to business outcomes.
New Partnerships — More to come on this in the next issue. We can say we are forging new partnerships that will expand/enhance our offerings, while allowing us to focus on our core capabilities. It’s about doing more of what we’re great at, and less of what takes us away from that.
Town Hall Meetings — We are changing some of our internal meeting formats in order to do more listening and less telling. We are adopting a Town Hall format for our team meetings so team members have the opportunity to ask questions that are relevant to them. We will still share company information; it will no longer just be a one-way street.
Each month at DLP, we highlight one of our ten core values.
Our core values are what define us as an organization. They are the beliefs and principles that guide our actions and decisions, and they shape our culture. They are the foundation of who we are and what we do.
GRIT
We have the endurance and unshakable commitment necessary to achieve our visionary long-term goals.
This core value is brought to life in the following ways:
- We don’t give up until we reach our goal
- We leverage the structure and tools of EES
- We will outlast, outsmart, and outwit our competition
- We stop trying to delegate the hard work until we have invested the time to develop our team members. You cannot outsource the hard work
Driven for Greatness
This is a meeting we have been doing now for ten-plus years. Essentially, it started as a book club. I was reading a book called the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John Maxwell, and loved it so much I decided to invite my teammates to read the book with me. We started meeting every other week to discuss the book. That led to us reading another book together, and another, etc. Over the years, we have read more than 150 books together, many of them multiple times. Today and for the last number of years, Driven 4 Greatness has been a voluntary group at DLP. As we have grown, the attendance and membership has remained at about 50% of all of DLP, so today that is over 200 people. We meet every other Thursday at 8 a.m., and we read on average one book together each month. Two DLP team members volunteer to lead us through a presentation and discussion on the book we are reading, breaking it into two halves, and each leading one Driven 4 Greatness meeting.
Our latest book is The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor. DLP team member Derek Wacaster led the session covering the first half of the book, while Steven Thompson led the session covering the second.
Key takeaways from the book:
- Using the psychology of happiness helps drive better outcomes
- Our brains are hardwired to perform their best in positive environments
- Seven proven and actionable patterns that predict success and achievement
- Practicing “happiness habits” can start to change negative patterns
- Giving of ourselves to make others happy can fuel self-happiness
"The Happiness Advantage" is a great read for:
- Anyone interested in the science of becoming happier
- Anyone who wants to live a more positive, upbeat life
- Anyone interested in creating more success for themselves
What I'm Reading
Where I've Been
Where I'm Going
IMPACT with Don Wenner
Since the last issue of Don’s Thoughts, we’ve added three really great episodes to the IMPACT podcast series.
Britnie Turner - "Business as a FORCE of GOOD"
We sat down with Britnie Turner and her husband Jeremy Locke to talk about their mission. Under the umbrella of Britnie’s family of companies Aerial, especially the Aerial Recovery Group, they aren’t just impacting lives, they are impacting nations!
Founded Aerial in 2009 at the age of 21 with the mission of elevating people and places. Britnie has since formed multiple companies under the Aerial brand, all accelerating the mission by empowering people, sustaining the planet, and utilizing capitalism as a force for good.
The three things listeners will take away from this episode are:
1. The Power of Impact Investing
2. Britnie’s true rags-to-riches story and her commitment to conscious business
3. Their current mission in Ukraine and how DLP Capital investors stepped up when called upon
Richard Wiese - "Born to Explore"
Join Guest Host, Bo Parfet, as he speaks with a true-to-life EXPLORER, Richard Wiese. Since he climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro at age 11, Richard Wiese has circled the globe, capturing powerful images and living one adventure after another—from traveling with Bedouins in Africa to cross-country skiing to the North Pole. In 2002, Richard became the youngest president in the history of The Explorers Club and currently serves as its President. Richard is dedicated to working with local communities around the world to help their voices be heard in their own words. He believes the most memorable aspect of any journey is not about reaching “the summit,” but the people you meet along the way.
Dean Barber - "Retirement Guidance"
Dean Barber is the Founder and CEO of Barber Financial Group and has been in business since 1996. He is the host of two podcasts, America’s Wealth Management and The Guided Retirement Show. He is also the author of Retire A Winner!
Fundamentals Of Living Fully: The 8 F's
Over the last several years, in pursuing living fully (another one of DLP’s core values), I have developed what I believe to be the formula for a life of significance, fulfillment, prosperity, and happiness.
The central thought of living a full life is the 8 F's: faith, family, friends, finance, fitness, fulfillment, freedom, and fun.
By putting intentionality and focus around all of these areas as a part of “one plan” for your life, you can truly live fully. We have an entire day–Living Fully Day–dedicated to being a launch point for all of our team members to live a full life.
We have a process of assessing our lives, setting goals, and then putting those goals into an annual Living Fully Dashboard, which I will also dig into in a future edition.
In this issue, the F I will cover is Friends. It is important to have close relationships with those outside of your family circle who know you and, sometimes, become as close as true family.
First, let’s put some context around the term “friends.” Some people say they have tons of friends, and some may have very few. To me, friends have different classifications. There may be acquaintances with whom I enjoy spending time and I have a “friendly” relationship with on a social basis; then there are those who I could call at 10 p.m. on any random night with a stressful issue, and would not hesitate to jump on the first flight out to be by my side. The second group is what I would define as true friends.
What are the roles of friends in your life?