Behind the Scenes of a $3M Land Business (Podcast Ep#165)
Jesse interviews Cameron Schultz, a 24-year-old operations manager at Granite Family Properties (GFP), a $3M land investing business owned by Dave Denniston. Cameron discusses his role managing a 13-person remote team, the company's operations, core values culture, and the challenges of running a land business without being the owner.
Summary
The podcast features Cameron Schultz, a 24-year-old operations manager at Granite Family Properties (GFP), a land investing business run by Dave Denniston, who also operates a financial advisory practice managing $80M in assets across 350-400 accounts. Dave splits his time approximately 60% financial planning and 40% land investing, relying heavily on Cameron to manage day-to-day operations for a team of 13-14 people.
Cameron comes from a family business background — his grandparents founded Triple A Auto Parts, a used car parts business, which his parents eventually acquired. He studied business at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, was a Division I decathlete, and entered a tough 2024 job market before being connected to Dave through a recruiter. His role has evolved significantly from the original job description, which included stock trading and land due diligence.
His primary responsibilities include overseeing all buy-side and sell-side closings, managing a transaction coordinator (TC) team, co-managing the sales and acquisitions team, and ensuring the right people are in the right roles using the EOS framework. He described a recent win: resolving a complex title claim on a property in Aiken County, South Carolina, where a legal access issue nearly killed the deal multiple times over nine months.
The GFP team is largely remote, with employees in the Philippines, Egypt, and South America, and only Cameron and Dave are physically co-located in Minnesota. The team structure includes Dave at the top, Cameron below him, an acquisitions manager (Reggie), two TCs, two lead managers, an on-market specialist, and several admin VAs, plus a Facebook marketing VA.
GFP currently holds 155 properties in inventory and has paused outbound marketing to focus on disposition efforts, using realtors, land.com (with 70 listing slots), neighbor letters, automation, and signs. The company also maintains a note portfolio that covers most operating expenses.
Culture is a major focus for GFP, built around seven core values: continually pursuing growth, team-first attitude, drive to serve others, follow-up and communication, reliability, proactive effort, and flexibility. Daily 30-minute standups rotate between topics including AI and core values discussions every other Wednesday, fostering team bonding and reinforcing the company's mission despite the remote environment.
Cameron's biggest mistake at GFP involved closing on a Maine property without waiting for a survey, resulting in owning less acreage than expected — a decision that may cost Dave approximately $30,000. Dave responded by framing it as the nature of speculative land investing rather than punishing Cameron, which Cameron credits as part of what makes the environment conducive to taking ownership.
Cameron attributes his effectiveness to a willingness to get his hands dirty, take initiative on uncharted problems, and cast a long-term vision for the team — distinguishing leadership from mere management. He sees being part of something bigger than himself as his primary motivator and suggests that entrepreneurship school programs are the best place to find candidates with a similar mindset.
Key Insights
- Cameron argues that building a strong culture around seven defined core values — rather than processes alone — has been the single most important driver of GFP's operational success with a remote, international team.
- Cameron claims that Dave Denniston's willingness to say 'I don't know, go figure it out' is what has allowed Cameron to develop ownership and initiative, suggesting that managerial trust is a precondition for employee growth.
- Cameron distinguishes leadership from management by arguing that anyone can manage tasks, but true leadership involves casting a long-term vision, nurturing talent, and developing trust across a team.
- Cameron revealed that GFP currently holds 155 properties in inventory and has completely paused outbound marketing to focus exclusively on disposition, reflecting a strategic pivot in response to a slow market in 2024-2025.
- Cameron describes a costly judgment call — closing on a Maine property without a completed survey — that will likely result in a $30,000 loss, yet notes Dave treated it as an acceptable cost of operating a speculative business rather than a punishable error.
- Cameron states that GFP's note portfolio now funds essentially all of the company's operating expenses, indicating that owner-financed sales have created a financially stable foundation for the business.
- Cameron argues that the 'drive to serve others' core value reframes land acquisitions as helping sellers resolve difficult situations — such as title issues or financial distress — rather than purely extracting value, which he says is critical to keeping team members motivated.
- Cameron suggests that entrepreneurship school programs at universities are the best talent pipeline for hiring operationally-minded, initiative-driven employees, based on his own background at the University of St. Thomas.
Topics
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