This episode distills the primary insight from the Land UnConference: the largest, most sophisticated operators have radically consolidated their focus despite (or because of) current market pressure. The 60-person conference revealed that struggling operators typically juggled W2 roles plus multiple land strategies, while the most successful firms eliminated 99% of opportunities to dominate singular verticals.
Key Takeaways:
- Focus Intensifies Under Pressure Top operators like those running $20M+ operations have recently narrowed their scope further—eliminating previously planned expansions into AI data center land and large subdivides to double down on core competencies.
- Competition Acceleration Demands Specialization Every vertical now has highly skilled, well-capitalized operators with superior tools and data, making diversification across strategies (flips, subdivides, entitlements) increasingly unwinnable against focused specialists.
- Part-Time Operators Face Structural Disadvantage Conference attendees balancing W2 jobs while attempting multiple land strategies competed against full-time teams with vastly more resources—the mental energy split alone created insurmountable execution gaps.
Hear the complete analysis of how extreme focus became the defining factor separating winners from the struggling majority in this tightening market.
(Podcast transcript below)
Welcome to Get Serious, excited to be back here after returning from the Land UnConference. I know some of you may have read my newsletter earlier today on some of those takeaways. I think it bears worth repeating in this format too, even just for the sake of reminding myself here. you know, just absolutely jam-packed itinerary. No one plans events better than Dave Denniston. And I know that this took a lot out of him, but, you know, we all appreciate your…
your efforts here, Dave. And in terms of, you know, just the quality and caliber of folks attending, I’ve never been to a land conference with, you know, that was just so stacked is the wording that I was using just, you know, both from like brand recognition, you know, the names being there and, you know, just the size of the operations, a number of the folks attending.
that were actually there all in person. So it was just extremely invigorating and I learned a lot from having such fascinating conversations with you all there. I think everybody gets tired out from these things by the end of it, but the overall direction and moving forward is just such a multiplicative effect.
you know, think when we all come home, from, those type of events and, know, ready to take additional action there. couldn’t be more thankful to, to attend and contribute there as well as, you know, get to see so, so many of my, you know, now closer friends that, you know, developed relationships over the years here. So that’s, that’s probably the most fun part and just getting some great, great laughs in, between, all of the learning. So.
you know, just to center in on, you know, what, I thought was the number one takeaway is just the level of focus required to succeed in this market, especially. and even if you say, yeah, you know, okay. everybody knows you, you got to focus here. Okay. Down market. Sure. But, you know, even if the market turns more bullish, like the most focused operators are going to win and they’re going to build more momentum during a.
uh, you know, potentially, uh, more bearish conditions than, you know, folks who are just kind of scrambling and trying one thing, trying another thing. Um, and what I really noticed is that the largest operators, um, and, know, running the most sophisticated operations like 201, they
are just consolidating what they’re doing to focus in on key areas. And some of these are like, were more recent changes. Like I remember talking with some of these folks earlier in this year and they had, or maybe, you know, late last year, especially again, kind of a mini bull run that we had in the land industry. And I remember talking to them like, yeah, we’re going to go more into this area and this area. And I was doing the same thing. was like, yeah, we can already start looking like, you know, is it possible we can accelerate into like,
AI data center land identification and, you know, much larger subdivide projects and like trying to tackle all this at once. And you play that out like eight months later, and it was just like unrealistic, and far too risky to kind of pursue that, especially when things got tighter, you know, by, you know, Q2 of, of this year here. So, I think everybody kind of felt that,
know, shakiness within the market and just realizing, okay, like to really succeed here, like you need to double down even more. Because, again, if you enter into any other new area too, like you’re probably going to run into another, you know, crazy solid operator who’s only focused in that area as well. So like the overall level of competition is just continuing to rapidly increase. People are working with
know, better levels of information, the tool sets and software and data are just all better. Marketing techniques are better. And this is all, you know, going against like a general macro and generally smaller, you know, not just macro, but you know, also from a bottom up perspective of, you know, just tighter markets.
in general across much of the country. And so like that, you know, kind of creates this playing field that gets tight super quickly since, you know, it’s a trickier time within the industry at the same time that your competition is continuing to get that much better and the players are getting bigger year after year. So that’s what I really noticed across, you know,
a number of individuals, the ones who are really finding success within this more difficult market. And, you know, we would throw ourselves in there as well, too. I mean, we probably throw out 99 % of opportunities sent our way. And, you know, that’s not just land deals, but, you know, people will send stuff that is kind of
Primarily improved lots or you know, they’ll be looking for us to invest in You know some type of startup or commercial business that Is going to provide some service on on top of some some land so like some longer term cash flow opportunity so we’ve seen things like like that come in Or I’m trying to think of some of these other ones that
we’re just a bit stranger. Either way, there’s a whole bunch, like, I can’t even really mention them at the moment right now, just because like, as soon as I, like, they’re just kind of, you know, tossed out. And I have my ops manager toss them out as well too, because we can’t afford to, you know, get distracted by anything that’s outside of our core areas here. And again, normally like, I’m just more inclined personality wise, just,
you know, saying yes to a number of things, but, um, you know, it’s just a reminder of like how long it takes to get really, really good in one area and how long it can take to, you know, find repeatable and sustain success in an area. Like sometimes it can take years, um, years to get good. Like I, you know, we’ve been in the land industry for, for awhile. And in some ways, like I feel like, uh,
you know, even the last few months, and like just hit hitting my stride here, it’s just because like we start unlocking higher and higher levels of performance. And it’s like, man, if I would have known, you know, again, I’ve just been paying the ignorance tax for so long in so many different areas, didn’t have the resources or the skill set to see things as clearly in the past. you know, so what can you do? You can’t jump back in time there. So I just have to take the learnings that I’ve gotten and
I be ready to move forward and use what time I still have remaining to continue to find success. So that’s just another point towards the focus equation. But the folks that seem to be struggling the most were on average smaller operators, but not always. There were some newer operators who had come into the industry within the last year even.
And we’re really really dead set focused on on one area And they were they were starting to find some you know quick success And you know, can always potentially tribute and you know, think they were being modest like yeah I could like be a bit of beginners luck, etc. But especially in a tough market like this. That’s it and you start getting you know, sustained results like you know
Luck sure is always part of the equation here, but you know, the longer you’ve been doing something, the less you can attribute any potential luck to it. Like I think it’s far more likely there was just a, a skill part of the equation. And like, it was just reinforcing the sense of, Hey, this, this person is dead set focused on this particular area. Maybe other parts of their operations were a mess. But they were focused on doing, you know,
one thing really, really well. But you know, the folks that I think were struggling a bit more, not saying they can’t turn it around, certainly as you know, think everybody attending was like a serious, you know, it takes a lot to show up at these conferences. And you know, I applaud everybody who wants to put, you know, time into better themselves and better their business. Like I’m always going to root for any ethically operating entrepreneur. Like those are just my kind of people. And
But just noting, some folks that are having to balance a W2 with their land operations and even within their land operations, they’re trying different strategies, whether it’s marketing, different marketing techniques, mixed between different types of properties, either flips or subdivides, entitlements, all of those are unique.
skill set that you know, there’s some carryover in between it, but you have to really excel in one area is already so hard. Plus, again, if like some of your core mental energy is being utilized by another full time role outside of land business like that is so hard to succeed. When when you’re in a position like that, especially again, going up against
you know, some of uh, you know, the full-time operators who have tremendously more resources and their debts had focused in, in one area. um, that was definitely a key distinction that, that I was noting. And I think it’s kind of the story of the industry, you know, there’s 60 some odd, um, land investors at, the conference, but, know, out of the thousands that are, um, you know, actually spread across the industry. think that’s just the, um,
the general trend that you could extrapolate from the smaller pod that we had together there. So just wanted to share some key insights from that regard. And you can see my thoughts from the written post from earlier today, or it’ll be posted on the website later on. But if there is any takeaway for succeeding in business, you just got to stay focused. It’s boring. Everybody wants to do more, especially entrepreneurs.
But you know the fastest and most simple way to achieve the success that that you want and create the life of your dreams is just to stay focused. Don’t get distracted. Easier said than done, but that is the route and that is why there aren’t that many people who find a way to win and create that freedom they want for themselves. But the pathway is there and if you follow the plan, you will get there.
I’m saying that to remind myself. With that in mind, SeriousLand.Capital for any of your funding needs, Land Daily Diligence Facebook Group for zero cost review of your land deals, and LandPricer.ai for the most reliable land funding, our land pricing tool on the market. A lot more updates there. Had a lot of exciting news from the conference and feedback on it. Looking forward to sharing more. Take care, everybody. Subscribe and share. Bye.
