How to Build a Location-Independent Land Investing Business | Ann Danielson

Ann Danielson (00:00)
I think probably the thing I can talk to the best and connect with people the most on is that if you’re in a job that doesn’t feel like a fit or you’re in a town that doesn’t feel like a fit, you can change it. You can build something and it’s gonna take time and it’s gonna take hard work and it’s gonna take patience and it’s not gonna be overnight, but

you can work to build the life that you want. And I think the fact that I’ve been able to build this business in partnership with my sister from overseas—I can do it from Wisconsin, but it’s still in Tennessee.

Quentin Edmonds (02:02)
Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros Podcast. I am your host, Q Edmonds, and I am indeed excited to be here today. I have a fantastic guest. And listen, I’m gonna ask you the questions, but I’m hoping she’ll let us—send us to a little bit of her journey because getting to learn about her has been very, very exciting, and the transitions that’s on the horizon for her. But listen, she wants to teach you that you can be location independent.

She wanted to show you how to keep tight on kind of like your local area and your local relationships. She’s a land developer with her sister. I’m excited about the community that they’re building. I’m excited that we get to peek through her lens. And so I want to introduce you all to Miss Ann Danielson. Miss Ann, how you doing today, ma’am?

Ann Danielson (02:47)
Very good, Quentin. Thank you for having me.

Quentin Edmonds (02:50)
Absolutely, so glad you’re here. Like I said, so glad we get to talk to you. You’ll hear me say this probably again, but thank you for your time. I think time is our most precious commodity. So I really, really appreciate you taking time to sit down with us today. And Miss Ann, I am the type—I love to dive right in. So 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 bit of an origin story, kind of how you got into the space that you’re in. And I know location is a big thing for you. So tell them, you know, what market you’re operating in. And so, Miss Ann, you have the floor, ma’am.

Ann Danielson (03:27)
All right. Thank you very much. Yeah, I started the business with my sister Mary, and we both grew up in Wisconsin. So we grew up around land. We lived in Madison, but my dad had a bunch of land up north and he made us work on it and walk it and know where all the boundaries were and understand what kind of sand we had and what kind of timber we had. So we did not enjoy it.

Like, we hated it. But it wasn’t—in those days, you didn’t give your kids choices. You just said, “Get in the truck,” you know. So we went up north a lot of time and just worked alongside him and learned how to hunt and how to butcher deer. And so we were just, you know, in the woods a lot of the time. And so I didn’t really think much about it. I just thought like, “How the hell do I get out of here?” mostly, I would say.

And so then I went to university at University of Wisconsin-Madison. And then the next day, I guess—I, well, not the next day, end of the summer, my husband and I got married and we moved out to California so we could see other places, and we were both teachers.

Quentin Edmonds (04:29)
Mm.

Ann Danielson (04:29)
Then we knew, okay, we want to live overseas. So we moved to Malaysia and then on to Shanghai, China, and then into Ghana.

And then we just wrapped up after 25 years overseas in the Philippines. So for all those years I’ve been a visual art and design teacher, and my husband was teaching like history and global politics in international schools. So the kids all speak English, and it’s a great school. But I knew that I wanted to do something else. So I was—it was during COVID, like so many of us, right? We were bored during COVID, and we were on a really bad lockdown in the Philippines. And so

I started studying, like, what else can I do? What else can I do? ‘Cause I was going nuts. And so I got, you know, we already have some real estate, we’re landlords, and I don’t like being a landlord. So then I did hear a guest on a podcast that was doing land, and I thought, “You know what, I wonder if we could do this.” And then I dug in and studied as much as I could, and then I called Mare and said, “You know, what do you think? Do you wanna like invest in land?” And she had just moved out to Colorado from

Wisconsin, and so she had given up her own—she had a small business before, and she gave it up. So she was kind of also bored. She’s, “Yep, let’s do it.” Yeah. Yeah. We just decided then, you know, that we’re—we were gonna go into business together, two ladies, and we were gonna do land.

Quentin Edmonds (06:37)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Love it. Thank you. Thank you so much for sharing part of the journey and what you do now. And you know, listening to the story about your dad, you know, learned a lot from—from that. I’m—I’m—I’m assuming, I know you say you didn’t like it, but I—I know there’s a lot of things that you learned from that as well, right? Yeah. Obviously, you know, living in different places.

So I often say this, Miss Ann: I say destiny has no wasted moments, right? We learn from every part of our journey, every part of our success, our failures. And so, Miss Ann, I would love to know throughout this journey—different places you lived, dad, you know, in the land space now—

what has the journey taught you about yourself? What has it revealed to you about you? Has it revealed humbleness, tenacity, discipline? Talk to me a little bit about what this journey has revealed to you about yourself.

Ann Danielson (07:34)
It—it has unveiled to me that I’m a better entrepreneur than an employee. And I realized like after all these years of being a teacher that I was always bumping my head up against administration, and I had a lot of ideas, and sometimes people don’t really want to hear a lot of ideas. They just want you to shut up and do your job. So

I—I really learned, like, I love building things and I love projects, I love challenges, I love puzzles. And so that—I know that that’s why this is a good fit for me. Yeah. And then I just love watching—I have two girls that are eighteen and nineteen. I’m an empty nester two days in.

Just dropped off the youngest a couple days ago. But I—I love seeing how it’s impacted them, too. You know, they are both doing things that are in business and in real estate. And I don’t think that would have been the case if—if though they haven’t—hadn’t seen me doing what I did for the last five years. So I know that I am a doer and a builder. I’m excited. I—I’m super passionate and hardworking, and I think I’m really happy that it’s rubbing off.

Quentin Edmonds (08:41)
Yes. Thank you. Thank you for that reflective answer. You know, I—I always ask that question because I say at the center of our businesses is us, the business owner. And sometimes you—we get in—in certain parts of the journey where we have to ask like, “Why did I do this? Like, why’d I even get myself into this?” And sometimes you gotta reflect and just look back on

what—what’s your why? You know, one of my mentors said when you know who you are, you know what to do. And so when you know your why, when you know where you pull in from, sometimes when you get yourself in certain situations, you’re like, “This is—this is who I am, this is how I got here,” and you know how to push yourself through. And so I appreciate that again, that answer. I really, really do, really, really do. Let me ask you this, because of course, you know, systems have to be put in place.

Operational things have to be put in place. So let’s say, what—what is one—one operational thing that you’ve put into place, or you and your sister have put into place, let’s say the last two years, that’s really changed the way you do business?

Ann Danielson (09:46)
Operationally, because we’re family who’s also working together, and I’m older and I’m the bossy one, and I was the one that was overseas, too, right? So like, there were some really clear things that made how we structured our business important, just for logistics and for, you know, family relationships.

Quentin Edmonds (10:06)
Yeah.

Ann Danielson (10:07)
We were really clear to look at

our personalities and our strengths. And then, as—I mean, I’m—I’m a teacher leader, right? Like, I understand a team is built when everybody brings something different to the table. And so she’s great on the phone. She’s great with people. She’s super likable. She has an awesome personality. She’s like—loves details and lists, right? And literally all of those things are not me. So

it was easy to see operationally that she would be the person who’s connecting, you know, with both sellers and the counties and our surveyors and dirt guys and soil work people, that she’s really, really strong in all of that. We’ve done some land-home stuff as well, and she’s great with just being meticulous and checking on everybody and how are we doing with the timeline? What do you guys need out there? You know, let’s get you paid. Like, all—like all of that is her.

Quentin Edmonds (10:59)
Yeah.

Ann Danielson (11:00)
And then as an art teacher and like a creative and a visionary, my operations is totally different. Like, I just look at a huge piece of raw land and turn on all my topo maps and wetlands and access, you know, and—and really figure out like, what does it want to be? Almost like a piece of clay. Like, what is this gonna be? And kind of envision myself there. And then also in the summertime going there to see, like,

does this actually make sense? And then talking with the folks that are there and like, “Lady, that might look good on your computer, but what you don’t see,” you know. So I think it’s—operationally, it’s been really important for us to stay in our lane, right? And—and make sure that I’m—I’m making sure that she has what she needs. And then by the time I wake up in the morning, you know, she’d have the answers that I needed to make my next move. And it’s been super great.

Quentin Edmonds (11:53)
Yes, ma’am. I love it. I always break down relationship as relation and ship. We are in this ship.

And this ship is sailing and we have a destination, but how are we going to relate in this ship? Who’s gonna be the captain? Who’s gonna be the co-captain? You know, who—you know, who’s gonna man the crew? You know, it’s like all these different components that have to come into place, but everybody has to know, how do we relate to each other? And so I love it. I think that it’s a very clear operational thing is to know who’s gonna do what and to know who you are. You know, “No, no, this is the strength that I bring,” you know, “and what’s the strength that you bring?” and then how

we’re gonna relate while we’re in this ship moving this thing together. And as you know, boats—various sizes. Sometimes we may start off as a little rowboat. Then we may—we may move—move to a yacht. Then we may move to, you know, a—a—a bigger, you know, ship, you know. And so I—I love the—the way that you guys are moving the ship together. That is beautiful.

Now we’ve—we’ve come—we’ve been talking for a little bit, but we have not said the name of the business. So I would love for you to say the name, and then tell me, how do you guys—how did y’all decide on the name? Is there a story behind the name?

Ann Danielson (13:03)
Well, we started out with a—a different name, but it was really quick for us to just arrive at Danielson Land Company. It’s just—it’s—we’re Danielsons. Like, that’s who we are. And when—when I got married, I—I did take my husband’s last name, but I kept my maiden name as my middle name. And he even took my maiden name as his middle name. So we’re all Danielsons here.

And so the name was very easy for us. And it’s funny, because on Facebook, you know, you just can have like one person, right? But Mary and I operate as Mary Ann Danielson, because Mary Ann can be a name. Yeah. Right? And then she’s Mary and I’m Ann. And then someone’s gonna respond, but I don’t know which one. It’s whoever’s awake. And so it was really—I—it’s—it’s worked really well for us, ’cause we—I

people don’t even know. They’re like, “I’m not talking to Mary,” and I’m like, “It doesn’t matter which question, like—” Yeah. You know, so yeah, it’s—that’s been—that part has been simple.

Quentin Edmonds (14:01)
I love it. So what’s next for you guys? What’s the next real goal? What are you looking to solve at scale next?

Ann Danielson (14:07)
We—for us, scale looks like going deeper into a—a micro market. So we’re pretty established where we are, and we love our team and our crew and our local folks. And so up until now, we’ve been doing rural subdivides and making mini farms. And then this year we have gone vertical a little bit

with some land-home, and now we’re gonna do some barndominiums, which is exciting. But I think we wanna have probably those three things happen because they’re really complementary to each other, and then just stick around in the one market where we can just do what does the land call for. You know, are these big—you know, are these mini farms? Are we gonna put some manufactured over here? Like, is this a barndominium-like area?

This land that we just visited last week, I’m like, “Yep, these are—these are barnos. And they need—they need a big back porch ’cause there’s a creek.” So like, that kind of thing I think is for us to be able to bring the product or build the product that the—that the local folks want and need, and they want to be able to afford it, too. That’s—that’s what we want to keep doing.

Quentin Edmonds (15:15)
Yeah, love it. So I’m—I’m gonna love asking you this because you are surrounded by relationship: your sister, your husband. And so everyone that comes on, I always like to hear their unique philosophy or unique thought when it comes to building business relationships. So I would love to know, you know, what’s your philosophy, your thought on building business relationships, even the ones, you know, outside of just, you know, family?

Are there other relationships that you have within the business that has helped you succeed? So Miss Ann, if you don’t mind, talk to me a little bit about relationships and building healthy business relationships.

Ann Danielson (15:51)
Yeah.

I’m—I’m really happy you asked me that, because I think a lot of land investors are big on outbound marketing, right? And they are, you know, chasing and chasing and chasing deals. And for us, that was not really ever a great fit, because, well, we’re not—we don’t want to bother anyone. We don’t—we don’t wanna be, you know, calling and just pestering people. So from the beginning, we’ve made really, really tight

broker relationships. And so once you—you know, we’ve done a couple of deals and it’s gone well, then they know what we’re after and they know how we operate, and that, you know, we’re gonna come through and we’re gonna close. And so that—the broker relationships have been really a big deal for us. Yeah. And actually, so coming out of teaching, my husband just came—we did, after we dropped off our girl at Tulane in New Orleans, we looped through and did a big

business road trip through Tennessee, and we did all kinds of meetups with our gang, you know, our—our people in different places. And my husband was like, “Ann, you are so anal in like professional meetings about an agenda and like action items.” And then he’s like, “I just feel like we’re like going to distilleries and like meeting up with people like for drinks and talks.” And I was like, “Yeah, because these are now our friends, and so we trust each other, and

you know, we sponsor their softball team, and we send steaks, and we meet up and we go to drinks, and we talk, and we hang out.” And then when we like each other, we can follow up. Like, I can send you the contact and you can send me the property. All of that can happen, you know, when we’re on Zoom or—or when we’re, you know, shooting each other emails and stuff. But like, we need to like and really enjoy the people that we work with. And on our website, it even says like,

“If we don’t want to invite you out on the boat, then we’re not doing business with you. We don’t grow up with jerks.”

Quentin Edmonds (17:51)
I love it. “We don’t work with jerks.” I love that. Yeah. Yeah.

Ann Danielson (17:56)
I mean, we do if we have to. No, I mean—actually, the guy that we bought the steaks for, he used to be a jerk.

Quentin Edmonds (18:02)
Did y’all convert him? Has he converted now?

Ann Danielson (18:05)
He’s also the only guy that can approve our soil site in the county, so what are we gonna do?

Quentin Edmonds (18:11)
No, I—I love that. You know, I often say community is common unity. It’s people in common unity. And I believe healing happens in community. And so the fact that you want to protect your community—like, the community, we ride out on the boat with the community. If—if—if we don’t want to ride out on the boat with you, then maybe we don’t have common unity. And so I—I—I get it. I—trust me, I totally get it. I really do. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Miss Ann, I appreciate it. Listen, I want to ask you, is there anything that maybe you came into this conversation—you—you had something on your mind that you wanted to make sure our viewers knew? I kind of want to make space if there was a message that was kind of just on your heart, on your mind, that you’d be like, “I need to make sure I land this,” if anything. I kind of want to open up space if there’s something like that you wanted to land.

Ann Danielson (19:05)
I think probably the—the thing I can talk to the best and connect with people the most on is that if you’re in a job that doesn’t feel like a fit or you’re in a town that doesn’t feel like a fit, you can change it. You know, you can—you can build something, and it’s gonna take time and it’s gonna take hard work and it’s gonna take patience, and it’s not gonna be overnight, but

you can work to get to build the life that you want. And I think the fact that I’ve been able to build this business in partnership with my sister from overseas, home home, I can do it from Wisconsin, but it’s still in Tennessee,

and then in January I’m moving to Mexico, so I think as—if it’s not working, you can change it. And it’s gonna take a lot of hard work. Yeah. And it’s worth it.

Quentin Edmonds (19:58)
Yeah, yeah. So well said, ma’am. So well said. 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 you?

Ann Danielson (20:53)
There’s probably two ways. One is we’ve got a—you can connect with us on our website, which is danielsonlandco.com. Very easy. And then also on Facebook, we’re Mary Ann Danielson, so you can find us there, too. Yeah.

Quentin Edmonds (21:08)
Absolutely. Well, listen, I want to say three things to you. First one is going to be a reiteration: thank you for your time. Time is our most precious commodity, so thank you for taking time out with us. Secondly, thank you for your story. Thank you for the gift of your authenticity, I would even say the gift of your vulnerability. I believe our stories—when we talk about our business, we talk about our life—I believe they plant seeds for people. And we never know when that seed is going to take root and grow. It can happen at any given time, but the seed is there. So I thank you for coming on,

springing a little seed. I appreciate that. And lastly, thank you for your mindset. Thank you for the way you think and bringing that mindset to this platform. I greatly appreciate you coming on today.

Ann Danielson (21:47)
Thank you, Quentin.

Quentin Edmonds (21:48)
Absolutely. Well, listen, y’all heard my friend Miss Ann. Her information is in the show notes. Please connect with her, but definitely make sure you are subscribed here, because I promise you we’re going to continue to bring up amazing people, just like Miss Ann. So, ma’am, I say thank you again, and everyone else,

have a fantastic day.