From cockpits to capital: Insights from a pilot's journey.

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Positioning for the Win: Why I’m Bidding on Stuff I Don’t Even Want

Hey everyone, thanks for tuning in. I just finished recording an episode of the Taking Initiative podcast with my buddy Travis Fairbairn. He just flew back after delivering a jet from Texas to Florida, which sounds rad, honestly. But while he was enjoying being home for a minute, we dove into the conversation we seem to have with everyone lately: How do you explain Big Circle Auctions (BCA)?.

My answer? You stop over-explaining it.

I only bring up BCA when someone is trying to purchase an asset, needing financing, or looking to build passive income. In that moment, they only need to know how BCA provides the solution to their specific problem. We’re not talking about complicated mechanics; we're talking about financial positioning.

The Contractor Conundrum

Think about my contractor, Tim, a buddy of mine. We were chatting about business ideas, and suddenly, there’s this expensive piece of equipment right next door in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, priced relatively well. We needed access to capital to acquire the thing quickly, right?.

If Tim (and me, since I could be in on the deal) had been strategically bidding all along, we wouldn’t be scrambling. We could tell the Asset Based Manager (ABM), “Hey, we’ve been through six auctions, and we have X amount of dollars accumulated in the rounds. This gives us the history we need to acquire this $36,000 asset”.

This is positioning 101.

Just like in Jiu-Jitsu, where we talk about positioning in every class, moving money strategically allows us to achieve a better financial position. For example, if I needed to refinance my house but had high-interest credit card debt, I could use a policy loan to wipe out that credit card debt first. Since policy loans don't show up on a credit report, my credit score improves, and I become a more marketable borrower, giving me a lower interest rate on the home loan. I’m just repositioning without expending all my energy trying to force the transaction to work.

The Strategic Bidding Playbook

So, why am I bidding on items I don't necessarily want or need? I’m doing it to improve my financial positioning.

I am bidding to get my dollars through the mandatory rounds, all the way through the Best and Final stage. That strategic activity is building my history. We aim to bring at least 5% of the total amount we need through a minimum of six auctions. That activity is the banking history we are building on the platform.

Crucially, my money isn't leaving my personal economy forever. Here’s the deal for us non-winners:

1. Money is Safe: The accumulated service fees (Points) are sitting there, available to use in future auctions.

2. It Earns Interest: While my money is just sitting there, it’s earning interest—a minimum of 6.5% annually.

3. Top Bidders Get More: Rebecca and I recently came in 7th and 3rd on two recent auctions. Because we were in the top 10 Best and Final bids, we have the ability to bring a higher amount forward that will earn 15% (or potentially 9% to 16% annualized). That’s amazing cash flow, and my strategy wasn't even to win.

4. No Risk: For us veterans, especially, this is huge. When I got out of the military, I saved a lot of money, but I lost capital on risky investments. On the BCA platform, the worst-case scenario is earning 6.5%. Unlike the stock market where you might be upside down with no known period to get your money back, BCA guarantees the 60-month timeframe for redemption.

The day I come in second place on a commercial piece of real estate is going to be a win because I'm banking the dollars and getting paid interest on them monthly. This is how we create riskless passive income streams to hit that "retirement number"—since retirement is a number, not an age.

Nelson Nash Said Everyone Needs to Be in Two Businesses

This strategic positioning is what allows us to move from being a "first floor customer" of the bank to operating like the "back end, closed door, fourth floor level" banking partners. We want to operate like the big fish who aren't forced to lose.

This applies directly to small business owners, too. Nelson Nash said everyone should be in two businesses: the job/business you’re currently in, and the banking business.

Most small businesses rely solely on customers walking through the doors to make money. But large, successful corporations like airlines (selling credit cards) or Amazon (banking functions) all have a secondary banking business going on underneath the hood.

In our TCC community, we solve this for small business owners:

• Protecting the Business: We help businesses, like a jiu-jitsu gym, build systems so they don’t rely solely on walk-in customers. If they had to close for two years (like in COVID 2.0), they’d still be able to operate because they're under the network's umbrella.

• Creating Bankable Assets: If my contractor (or I) finance a project in-house and accept payments over five to ten years, we're generating a note. This is cash flow for the next decade, which looks incredible to a traditional bank, because that contract/note is a highly marketable, bankable asset.

By participating in BCA and joining our community, small businesses access safety nets, and their value hits a larger corporate ledger. They operate with corporate strength, protecting them from getting bought up by Wall Street.

It all comes back to positioning. If we can get on the banking side of the table and start earning like the banks earn, that is a win for us. Amen!