Don’t Just Jump Into Real Estate: Build the Systems First with Evon Lightfoot

Evon Lightfoot (00:00)
So a lot of people say just jump in, just get your hands dirty, do all this stuff. But I would say on the conservative side, don’t just jump in. Take some time. Get in there. Ask questions. Don’t get on the phone and make yourself look stupid. Like let a system get on the phone for you, or let one of your friends get on the phone that you know talks well. Right. Figure out those systems before you go and spend that ten to fifteen thousand dollars. And then you don’t have a business because you don’t have ten to fifteen thousand dollars more to keep going. Do the research.

Quentin Edmonds (01:59)
Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros Podcast. I am your host, Q Edmonds, and I’m excited to be here today. This guest has shown me a ton of grace, and I greatly appreciate him for it. And I’m glad that he’s here. You know, I love when we get a chance.

To peek through someone else’s experience, glean through their life and their success. And that’s what we’re gonna learn today. We’re gonna get some nuggets today. And I’m so glad this gentleman is a co-founder, chief operational officer. I cannot wait for him to tell you everything that he’s doing. So I wanna introduce you all to Mr. Evon Lightfoot. Mr. Evon, how are you doing today, sir?

Evon Lightfoot (02:38)
Quentin, I’m doing great, man. It’s it’s been a fantastic day in the world. And you know, I walked outside this morning. It was beautiful, sunny, no clouds, just a beautiful blue sky. And I looked up and I said, Lord, thank you for waking me up this morning. It’s a beautiful day, Quentin. I’m super excited to be

Quentin Edmonds (02:51)
We appreciate it, brother. Well, where I’m at, it’s been raining for two days. But here’s the thing, Evon. I call the rain my liquid sunshine. So for two days, I have literally been taking hours walks in the rain, and it’s been so therapeutic. And so I’m with you every day that we are live is just a beautiful day. And so I appreciate you being here today, man. And Evon, yeah, absolutely, man. And listen, sir, I’m a tight man. I like to dive in. So let’s do it. Yeah, I love it, man.

I would love for you to tell the people what’s your main focus these days. If you don’t mind, give us a little origin story, man. Kind of how you got into the space that you’re in. And then tell them a part of the world you’re in. People love to know where people are geographically. And so Mr. Evon, sir, my friend, you have the floor.

Evon Lightfoot (03:35)
Sure. So thanks for the introduction, Quentin. And first of all, before I get into that, thank you so much for having us on the podcast. We’re super excited to be here. I mean, you know, myself and my team, we we’ve been watching the podcast forever. And you know, when we got the invitation to be on, you know, I was just like, I’m not scared, we’re going. and you know, we’re super excited to be here today. It’s it’s such a privilege and a pleasure. so you know, as for the you know, coming into the business, my name’s Evon Lightfoot. I’m the chief executive officer and co founder of Tungsten-Oak. We are

Private Realty Solutions and Technologies firm. We specialize in disciplined acquisitions, relationship first acquisitions, severely strategic and disciplined underwriting. we really try to think of a buyer-first disposition strategy. And even on that, from the acquisitions to the buyer, we’re thinking of the seller and the buyer at all times, and we’re thinking about our partners. So we’re super excited about the business.

as for like the origin story, you know, I’ve I’ve lived on the West Coast my entire life. it’s been a privilege to live over here. I’m I’m looking forward to moving the East Coast and you know, soon moving over to the state of Ohio, hopefully within the next, you know, year or two as things develop. but the West Coast has just been, you know, fantastic. as for the as for the origin story, I’ll tell you what, you know.

before COVID, I would have never thought that I’d be in real estate. You told me ten years ago when I was eighteen years old that you’d be doing real estate and you’d have, you know, partners and you’d have an executive staff and a full staff behind you and, you know, you’d be doing a podcast on investor fuel about real estate. I would have I would have laughed in your face ’cause that was not the direction. I went for an arts degree. you know, I was an arts student. I went for an arts degree.

it was fantastic. You know, I got to travel the country, I got to see some amazing things, you know, perform with amazing people. but COVID came in and just shattered all of that. Right. So coming out of COVID, it was like, Hey, I can’t do this thing because of these circumstances. You know, COVID was good to some, it was bad to others, and for part of, you know, my career it was like, my gosh, I just lost everything, my dreams, my hopes, my future. But you know, at the end of the day

what I would say to everybody here, all of your community and our friends is you have to be ready to pivot. Be open and willing to pivot when the time comes, because God might have a plan for you in this season to teach you some things here. But when he says pivot, don’t don’t don’t say no, no, no, no. Let let him, you know, on on pray on the little days and let God be God on the bigger days. Right? So you know, that whole shift.

was really what kind of started me down this path. It wasn’t just get out of college and go into real estate. I mean, my first year out of college, I actually was doing freight brokerage. I was moving apples, peaches, pears, watermelons, doing reefer stuff across the United States, California to Florida, Ohio, Philadelphia, New York. And, you know, my first year in brokerage, I think I revenued one point two million dollars my first year, but my margins were really low.

Because at that time, fresh out of college, you know, I didn’t really care about making $200,000, $300,000, $400,000, but the brokerages do because they’re kind of like Wall Street, move the money out of their pocket into your pocket. Right? That’s how the brokerages think. And you know, I think I revenued $1.2 million that first year, and the margin was only like six or seven percent. So the brokerage wasn’t too happy. But you know, I was able to make connections there that actually led me to become an international director of logistics and distribution.

for a company that produces, manufactures, and supplies Costco wholesale with their coconut oil. So if you ever go to Costco and you see an 84 ounce tub of coconut oil with an orange lid, just some free publicity for them, that’s the product that I used to ship. And you know, I’ve you know I used to build invoices for high five figures and you know do 10 to 20 of those a day. So when I got into Costco, that’s when I was like, okay, I already knew there was money. But when I got into Costco, I was like, there’s money out here.

And you know, I’m not saying I worked directly for Costco, I worked for a manufacturer subsidiary pro portion of them. But you know, working for them and working, I’m not gonna say his name for privacy reasons and all that, but I’ll call him Mr. R for now. I try to be as respectful as I can. but you know, Mr. R, him and I, we had conversations late at night. Like I would work seven to five, and then there were some nights where we would stay from five PM to ten PM. Right. And, you know, it’s from him that I started learning how the math

Not only how the math of real estate works, because you know, I asked some questions about real estate and I asked some questions about business, but you know, he was able to teach me about the real estate side, but he was also able to teach me about the corporate institution and what happens from A to Z and actually how to make that machine. And you one of the things that he told me is if I can’t teach you how to build a business, when you leave here, I have failed you. And eventually I left to build this business.

And it’s taken three years. I had to go back and work another corporate job for another two years just so we could have some money. But you know, just over the past six months, we’ve left that and we’re saying, hey, we’re all in now. We know what to do. Let’s get after it. But, you know, with those experiences, I mean, working for those guys, working the international trade, bringing coconuts from, you know, coconut oils from Vietnam, getting them through the American ports, all of the American ports in that smile, what we call the American smile, learning the corporate business, learning real estate from these guys who actually have money and who have done it.

I think that’s what really gave me a leg up when it when it came to getting into real estate.

Quentin Edmonds (09:25)
Man, Evon, sir. Thank you, man. was a rich history, man. Thank you, man. Thank you for taking us through the ups and downs, the journeys. I appreciate it. And you said so many things that is so key. And I want to kind of focus on the journey a little bit with my next question because it’s interesting, man. Like you talked about, you know, God, like one of my favorite scriptures is we make our plans, but the Lord determined outcomes. So I make the plans. That’s great. But we do. Okay.

Evon Lightfoot (09:52)
God

says pivot, you pivot. you just have to say, wherever you lead, I’ll go. And be okay with that, he might lead you through hell, right? But at the end of the day, the guy that, you know, asked God, Hey, why did you allow me to live the hell of a life? Allow me to live this life in darkness, you know, God answered and responded, so that way you would know the way out when I sent you back in for the rest of it.

Right. So, you know, that’s how I live every day. It’s like if you’re gonna take me through it, hopefully I can go back into the fire and s pull somebody back out later on.

Quentin Edmonds (10:19)
Love that, man. So I’m gonna love asking you this because I’m loving your perspective, man. So I often say destiny has no wasted moments, right? Destiny has no wasted moments. We’re learning from the ups and the downs. Like you said, you know, you had to go back into a corporate job just to make money and then just to, you know, it took time to learn the business. And so my question is always: what has the journey revealed to you about yourself?

Like what has the journey revealed to Evon about Evon? Has it made you more disciplined? Has it made you more humble? Like what is the journey revealed to you about you?

Evon Lightfoot (10:52)
You know, I’ll tell you what, In this business, some days it’s hard to be humble. we’re in a dog eat dog world in real estate. And, you know, trying to find that humbleness, I think that’s probably been my biggest difficulty, even in like the successful moments, because like you win and you’re like, I won! Yes, every wholesaler’s dream. Right. But finding that humble humbleness, that’s been, you know, it’s definitely something that’s been brought to the forefront of what I look at because, you know.

Man, I’ll tell you what, back in high school, back in early college, I was the cockiest POS you ever came across. I was like, I’m gonna win. You know, we still have that attitude, right? But there’s a difference between being, you know, cocky and arrogant and just being, hey, sure about what you’re gonna do. And, you know, I think that’s been the you know the biggest reveal for me is just hey, in all things remain humble, enjoy the wins, share the wins, love and live the win, but also remember that, you know, if if God doesn’t want you to you to win.

you know, he he’s gonna he’s gonna throw you in the trash and you’re you’re gonna have a bad day. But you know, all that’s to test you too. So really just staying humble in all things has probably been, you know, one of the things that I’ve been trying to learn and to teach myself as I’ve gone through this business. And, you know, I look back on where I was back in college or early high school and I’m like, wow, that kid, man, you deserve to slap.

Quentin Edmonds (12:01)
Yeah, yeah.

Evon Lightfoot (12:01)
You deserve to slap. So you know, that that’s one of the biggest things we’ve learned is hey, you know, stay humble in all things as much as possible.

Quentin Edmonds (12:07)
Man, when I tell you I appreciate your answer so much, because I always like to say there’s a difference between a self-aware leader and a self-confident leader. Like a self-aware leader, he’s self-aware, he knows who he is, and is at the complement of everybody else. A self-confident.

A leader, they know who they are too, but it’s like at the detriment of everybody, meaning like I know who I am and I will steamroll you. Like it doesn’t matter if there’s any kind of if we don’t sync up. It’s like I know who I am, I’m leaning. But a self-aware wants to make sure everybody can be in a harmonious kind of role. Like I know who I am, I know my superpowers, I know I trust me, I know who I am, but also I want to identify who you are. So the fact that you can even say like being humble is something that

You know, always gotta watch out for for yourself. To me, that signals a self-aware leader. And that to me means that there’s good foundation at your business because it has a self-aware leader.

Evon Lightfoot (13:02)
Thank you for that.

Quentin Edmonds (13:02)
Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, we got business owners on here in the real estate space, even probably some that’s not in the real estate space. But one thing for sure: each business, systems is a big thing, operations is a big thing within systems. I mean, within business, right? So what’s

one operational thing you’ve put into place, let’s say the last two years that has really helped you be successful.

Evon Lightfoot (13:24)
Well I won’t give you just one operational thing, I’ll give you two operational things. one the one operational thing that I put into play is what I call the twelve to twenty-four hour rule. Okay. If there is a decision that needs to be made, if there is something that needs to be done, in our business, we expect that thing, no matter who it’s delegated out to, right, we expect that thing or that decision.

To be done and completed to production within 12 to 24 hours. And the reason why we believe this is because at the end of the day, if we as a company we can produce in 24 hours, whereas that person over there takes a week to produce, we will be better for that. You know, it it in everybody talks speed to lead or speed to this. It’s not even so much speed or urgency. It’s you know what I say to the team is we have a business.

How would you feel if it took me a week to get back to you?

Right? And you know, that’s really shifted the perspective of why why does it take a week for this system? Why does it take a week for you know just to get you know underwriting done over here? 12 to 24 hours should be the max that it takes to make any decision that it takes to you know say, hey, you know, how are we gonna game this out? So that 12 to 24 hour rule is definitely, you know, the one thing that we have in our company that’s done really great for us.

And the second thing that’s really great that we’ve done in our company is we have in inside of our executive team, inside of our staff frameworks, there’s always a backup for somebody. Like for my role as the chief executive officer, if I have to go out out of the office for five hours or whatever the case might be, I have a backup in my chief operations officer that can handle my desk while I have to do what I have to do while I’m on a flight. You know, my chief financial officer, if he’s gotta do something, I’m his backup.

Right. So we we we have a backup and we have a buddy system that allows us to to maneuver and allows us to still move forward as well. So it allows us that flexibility. Twenty four hour role and always having the backup for your role to ensure that your job doesn’t stop.

Quentin Edmonds (16:04)
Brother, you just gave you just gave some gems. And I mean, I hope people that’s listening realize that. because some people that that’s not in their structure just yet. And a lot of businesses paying for it because of that. And so I think you just dropped a major gem. I appreciate you sharing that. Thank you. Yeah, absolutely. What’s next for you, man? What’s the next goal? what are you looking to solve at scale next, sir?

Evon Lightfoot (16:26)
we’re looking to scale the business. over the past year, we’ve taken the time as an executive team to not really do business. Okay, we we wanted to say, hey, we’re gonna take some time, we’re gonna step back and actually look as the business model as a whole. And what and here’s kind of where I get into that, like, hey, you’re just getting into real estate thing, here’s some advice.

Understand the model from a whole before you go and spend the money on it. First of all. And before you go and spend the money on it, make sure that you have a team of brothers or sisters that you are willing to ride into the mouth of hell with and come back from the jaws of death. Because that’s what you’re doing when you get into this field. I don’t wanna, you know, be a guru and say it’s all gonna, you know, be perfect for you. It’s not going to be perfect. But what will give you a leg up?

And here’s what I you know tell everybody that’s getting into it. The leg up is going to be looking at the industry from the outside. Okay. Understanding the business model. And by understanding the business model, like us, we had to take some time and ask ourselves: what is the A to Z from seller to close? And even what happens after close, those systems and those mechanisms as a buyer and developer ourselves. You know, looking from the outside, understanding the business, understanding the A to Z.

Getting those brothers or sisters that you would be willing to die for and right into battle with. And four, a lot of people say you don’t need money to make money or whatever it is. In this business, you will spend more money than you will make by coming into it, just jumping in. A lot of people say, just jump in. I would say be strategic. Hold back for just a moment. Be strategic about it. Learn the business, learn the A to Z. Get some brothers, get some sisters, bring some money to the table.

Whether it’s $10,000, $25,000, all of you do a capital call, all of you do some buy-ins, maybe it’s spread out over 12 months so that way it’s more affordable. But bring some money to the table. And while you guys are bringing that money to the table, learn the systems, learn the mech mechanisms. And once you’ve understand that A to Z, but what are the systems and the mechanisms that we’re going to need in place to connect A to B?

And then you start developing those slowly over time with your capital calls, with your capital. And then by the time that you have everything connected, right? And everything’s working the way that you think it should be working, that’s when you can go live. And all you really do for this business is like if you want to get into wholesale, do that. Okay. Connect your systems. Make sure you know how a seller enters the system, who’s responsible, who does underwriting, understand your systems and your procedures. Do the research first.

So that way when you click that live button and you put that $1,000 or that $5,000 into that ad buy on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, wherever it is, okay, you know that when a seller clicks that button or when a seller calls in, you know that your system is going to take them through because you’ve done your proper research, you’ve understood the gap in the market, you know where your product fits in the market, you’ve done your consumer market indexing to understand what your consumer is going to give you. And then you’ve put together the procedures and the systems in order to be able to manage that business.

So a lot of people say just jump in, just get your hands dirty, do all this stuff. But I would say on the conservative side, don’t just jump in. Take some time. Get in there. Ask questions. Don’t get on the phone and make yourself look stupid. Like let let let let let a system get on the phone for you, or let one of your friends get on the phone that you know talks well. Right. Figure out those systems before you go and spend that ten to fifteen thousand dollars. And then you don’t have a business because you don’t have ten to fifteen thousand dollars more to keep going. Do the research.

understand what you’re getting into, figure out the systems and the mechanics, and then execute with your brothers and sisters that you would go into war with. If you have those teams, those systems, that team behind you, when you go into business like we’re seeing right now, if we just went into it just with what we’re building, we we’d we’d be done. We’d be done for it. And so, you know, that launch on January first, you know, we’re very excited for that. But to everybody just take your time, do the research.

Bring the money, bring the friends to the table, have that team, and then once you have that together, get after it. Because you will win. You will win. But you will win in a much more strategic manner than just hopping into it and making a thousand cold calls in a day. You’re working in twenty sixteen at that point. Welcome to twenty twenty six, folks.

Quentin Edmonds (20:31)
Yeah. Well listen, based on what you just said, I’m gonna love asking this question. I love everybody that comes on. I love asking them what is their unique philosophy or strategy when it comes to building healthy relationships within business. Now you just talking about having a group that you can ride that you can ride with, your riders. And so I would love to know, man, what is your philosophy on building healthy relationships within business? And what are some of the

relationships that do help you within business or relationships that you help within business. So hit that Talk to me about your philosophy about building healthy relationships within business.

Evon Lightfoot (21:04)
So there’s really two facets to this question. There’s the leadership facet to this question, and then there’s the healthy relationships question. So let me start with the healthy relationships question first. My philosophy on that is this honesty, trust, and respect. Okay, it’s a little formula. Honesty, trust, and respect. Without honesty, if I’m not honest with you, Quentin, can you trust me? Nope. Nope. And if you can’t trust me, Quentin, can you respect me? Nope.

And if I can’t be respected, Quentin, well then I might as well be six feet under. That’s the way that I look at it from a human-to-person standpoint. It’s like if I can’t be honest with you, the client, if I can’t be honest with you, the buyer, or the broker, and you can’t be honest with me, then we can’t trust each other and we can’t respect each other, and that’s just not good. So that’s the first thing in the relationship is honesty, honesty, honesty every step of the way. Put everything on the table and be open. In this business of real estate, everybody just wants to hold their cards close to their chest.

Just be open about the things. Like sellers, be open. And more often than not, it’s that one thing that you’re holding back, which actually tells me what I need to do in order to help you through your situation. Honesty

Quentin Edmonds (22:09)
Yeah.

Evon Lightfoot (22:10)
is at the root of everything we do. Honesty, trust, and respect. Okay? Without honesty, there can’t be no trust. Without trust, there can’t be no respect. And without respect, well, I might as well be six feet under. So that that’s the that side of it. Now, as for the leadership aspect.

how to lead people and how to develop those relationships, I would say be firm, be fair, be compassionate in every decision and in every battle and in every disciplinary moment or whatever it is. Be firm, be fair, but also show the compassion as well. Because you never know what somebody’s going through. You never know the phone call that they just had with that, you know, angry seller that just wants to cuss everybody out. You don’t know what’s going on. However, just because you’re compassionate doesn’t mean that you can’t be firm.

and fair with your staff and your employees. Okay. There there has to be, you know, that level of, yes, you know, Tungsten-Oak, we love them. They’re fantastic guys. However, there also has to be that, you know, hey, don’t do the wrong thing. Like Tungsten-Oak wants to do honest business, you know, with honest people. And but you know, there should always be that little bit of hesitancy.

You know, when your staff brings something to your desk and you want that so that way you ensure that what’s coming to your desk is the right things. And they’re not just bringing the nonsense to your desk. If they’re thinking before they come to you, hey, this leader, he’s he’s an awesome leader. I love him, but I know I have to come at him appropriately, right? I have to bring him the appropriate items. it’s almost like that slight fear of God almost. which is it’s a lot of some people might say it’s a bad thing. I think it’s a good thing because

It allows them to take the time to process before they come to you, but they also know coming to you that you are going to be that compassionate guy. But if they come to you and it’s not to the standard, you’re going to be firm and fair with them and say, hey, this isn’t up to the standard. Right. So be firm, be fair, be compassionate and honesty, trust and respect. Those are my answers to that question.

Quentin Edmonds (23:59)
my man, Evon so well said, sir. Listen, man, I have enjoyed our time. If someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, collaborate with you, learn more about what you’re doing, how can they get in contact with me?

Evon Lightfoot (24:11)
So you can get in contact with us at our website, www.tungsten-oak, tungsten-oak.com. Again, that is www.tungsten-t-un g-s-t-en-oako-a-k.com. We also have an Instagram handle, tungsten.oak, so you can reach out to us at tungsten.oak. And then you can also reach us at our corporate number, 419-287-8952.

five two again that corporate number is four one nine two eight seven eight nine five two. Website is www.tungsten-oak.com and our Instagram handle is tungsten.oak.

Quentin Edmonds (24:48)
My man. Well listen, I’m gonna reiterate I’m gonna say three things to you. One of them I’m gonna be a reiteration, man. Thank you for your time. Like I

Evon Lightfoot (24:56)
Thank you for having us. It’s been it’s been such a privilege and a pleasure.

Quentin Edmonds (24:59)
So definitely, man. Definitely. Thank you for your time. Secondly, man, thank you for the gift of your authenticity, the gift of your integrity, just showing up as your real self. I believe when we tell our stories, they plant seeds, man. And I believe you planting some real seeds today. So thank you. And lastly, man, thank you for your mindset. Thank you for the way you think and bringing that mindset to this platform. I appreciate you coming on, man.

Evon Lightfoot (25:20)
It’s been such a privilege, Quentin. And to everybody out there, hey, you know, God bless you. God bless your families. Go out there, you know, pray, pray on the little days and God will be God on the bigger days. You know, you’re in you’re in good hands. Just keep marching forward. And, you know, when he takes you through the darkness and when he takes you through hell, he’s just he’s just preparing you to go back in and get the rest of your friends. So don’t don’t be afraid of that fight. Be ready to go back in and get your friends. God’s leading you on the path. So keep looking up, keep your head up, you’re gonna do just fine.

You’re gonna do just fine, friends.

Quentin Edmonds (25:50)
So well said, man. Well, listen, y’all heard my friend Mr. Evon. Y’all heard him. His information is in the show notes. Please get in contact with him. Definitely make sure you’re subscribed here because I promise you we’re going to continue to bring up amazing people just like Evon Lightfoot. So, sir, I say thank you again, man. And everyone else, listen, y’all have a incredible day.