Ever wondered how some couples manage to not only stay together but thrive while running a land investment business? Steven Jack Butala and Jill K DeWit share the secrets to their 30+ years of combined success in the land investment business. They delve into the key ingredients of shared goals, compatible work habits, and mutual respect that have allowed them to build a land empire and a lasting partnership. Discover how these “black sheep” found common ground, divided responsibilities effectively, and avoided the pitfalls that often plague couples who work together. Tune in to learn if their recipe for success could work for you and your partner, and gain valuable insights into navigating the challenges and rewards of a shared land investment journey.

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Secrets To Thriving In The Land Investment Business: 30 Years Of Insights From Jack And Jill

This is episode number 2073. Jill and I have been talking about the secret recipe for success in the land investment business. I have to say I am qualified to talk about this topic. In this episode, we’re talking about why Jill and I have survived for 30-plus years combined together in the land investment business. What’s the secret? What do you think?

There are a couple of pieces and I’m going to share them in a few minutes. It’s really good. I took some time and thought about what makes us work. It’s interesting. I pick it up on other relationships and other partnerships. I have some good insight and some things that can help you and help you look for in a partner.

Land Academy Member Question

Each day on the show, we answer a question from our Land Academy member Discord forum and take a deep dive into land-related topics at your request.

Frank wrote, “How the hell do you guys work together? I’ve tried working with my wife and I can’t agree on anything. She does not take my direction. What’s the secret?”

We should go right into the show here because the question’s the same. It’s good. I chose that question intentionally.

People ask us that a lot. That does come up a lot, and I get it. What’s interesting is there are a lot of people that come to Land Academy like, “I get it. I’m into it.” It might be the husband, and sometimes, it’s the wife. They’re like, “I want my husband or my partner and me to have the same thing that you guys have.” It’s not going to work that way. It’s not because one of you is into it that it necessarily means you could pull the other one in. Sometimes, you can, but often, you can’t.

We’ve been working together for fifteen years.

It’ll be going on 16 years this 2025.

We’ve been hardcore working full-time together for 12 or 13 years, or probably more. The way that it works now is way different than the way that it worked in the beginning. It wouldn’t even resemble the same situation at all. There are some pretty simple boundaries and rules that we have in place now that we did not have in the beginning. If we would’ve given up after the first year because we didn’t understand where each of us fit in the whole thing, this would’ve never worked. It took a lot of work. I hate when people say, “It’s a lot of work to be married.” That’s not the case. If it’s a lot of work, get out of there. It shouldn’t take a lot of work.

People say it's a lot of work to be married. That's just not the case. If it's a lot of work, get out of there. Share on X

There’s a lot of work to be single. They both have pros and cons.

Wanting The Same Things

Some upfront work for Jill and I to have a social and professional relationship lasted about maybe 12 or 18 months. That’s it. The reason that it did last and the reason that we stuck with it is because of this. Here’s the key. She and I, as far out as you can look from down the success line or what we want in life both socially and professionally, it is the same thing. That’s not because she sold me on it or I coached her on it, or any of that stuff. We come from an environment where we are the black sheep in our family. In my family and Jill’s family, we are misunderstood. They don’t understand our drive. They don’t understand us getting together later in our life.

I come everything from a number standpoint and Jill doesn’t. She comes to everything from a social standpoint. We both have alpha personalities. That shouldn’t work. We should both be eating each other alive. The reason that it works is because we have some simple rules. Anything to do with a person, Jill does it. Anything to do with taxes, legal stuff, math, budgeting, research like, “Should we do it? Shouldn’t we do it?” and pricing, all of that has to do with me. We don’t question each other. That’s how I can work with Jill.

Is it my turn?

Yeah.

Three Reasons We Survived And Thrived

I wrote down three things and they’re like a lot of what you discovered. I’m going to do three things. Here are three things why we have survived and thrived working together as a couple in the land business. We have the same goals. That’s easy. That was a lot of the reason why anything I did before this didn’t work. I couldn’t find anybody that had the same crazy goals as me. They were like, “Why would you want to do that?” I’m like, “Why wouldn’t you want to do that? I don’t get it.” That was huge.

Number two is similar work habits. That is huge. I will never get mad at him for saying, “I need to go in a dark room for two days. When I’m done, it’s going to be amazing. I will tell you exactly where we’re mailing and exactly what we’re doing. Hold onto your hat. These are going to be beautiful and you’re going to be buying a lot of property.”

That happens.

I say, “That’s great. Tell me what time you want me to deliver you a sandwich because I appreciate that.” This flip is true. When the phone’s ringing off the cookie, he’s like, “It’s Saturday night. We’re having fun. We’re going out.” I’m like, “I can’t leave the phone. You should go.” He’s like, “Okay.” There is no reason for both of us to do it. I get a kick out of it. I’m making us money and I don’t mind giving it up. He doesn’t give me a hard time for leaving him on a fun night and me working and staying in. It’s no big deal. We have the same nutty work habits.

Together, we didn’t even talk about it for the first four years of Land Academy. We’re going on ten years of Land Academy. For the first four years of Land Academy, we didn’t come up for air. Our friends were like, “Where’d you guys go?” We did a lot of the work ourselves. He learned how to burn CDs and figure out the show and all this equipment. There was so much there. We were dealing with property. I was buying and selling land, helping Land Academy, answering questions, and building the membership. It would be however many hours or days. We didn’t think about it. You did what you had to do. Nobody was mad. We were doing it together.

What’s interesting is nobody ever got mad. Nobody ever resented the other person. I can speak for myself but I hope you feel the same way. I never felt like I was carrying you or I was doing more work than you. We were both working so hard. Whoever was best at it or whoever could do it, had the time, or whatever, you get that and I get that. You did it. My number three, which ties in with that last comment, is we each fill the void. There’s a void. I have no desire to have a PhD in Excel like he does. I have no desire to learn Adobe Audition. I have no desire to fill in the blank kind of thing.

Do you know what Adobe Audition is?

I know what it is. I can play around with it. I have used it a little bit to record little snippets for stuff for other things but only because you set it up on my computer and gave me the little tutorial. That’s not my thing and I’m fine with that.

How Land Academy Solved A Big Problem

Land Academy solved the last big problem that Jill and I had in our land investment business. That was creating a constituency of like-minded people, educating them about the way that we believe this business should go, and then doing deals together. Access to capital when I started buying land was non-existent. You couldn’t get private equity. Buying and selling land was such a foreign concept in the early ‘90s.

The reason that we started Land Academy is to blow it open because we were constantly having all these acquisitions we couldn’t fund.  That solved it, especially with houses and mobile homes because they’re expensive. You have to spend $400,000 to make $80,000 or $90,000 which is fine. It’s pretty low risk. That’s why we started Land Academy. I don’t question Jill when she’s like, “We need to buy this.” I’d be like, “Are you sure?” She’s like, “Yeah. Here’s why.” It’s very rare that I’ll say, “I disagree.”

You can never say 'I told you so.' You just have to support each other all the way. Share on X

When was the last time you even said that?

I don’t even know what she buys. That’s the truth. It has been this way for many years. Here’s the thing. We’re at a point where we don’t need to work anymore at all. Our kids probably don’t ever have to work again as well as their kids. We won’t stop. Neither one of us will stop buying and selling land. We have little differences about when things should happen, how they should happen, and how to get to that big point down the road. There are very serious differences about how to get there, but we both want to get there so we work it out and we trust each other.

People ask me, “My wife’s not working anymore. I got Land Academy for her.” It never works that way. They’re like, “Should we work together?” I’d be like, “Can you go on vacation together?” They’re like, “The last time we went on vacation this happened.” I’d be like, “You’re not going to be able to work together.” Don’t feel bad because this is not the regular thing that we have. It’s great.

I agree. It is weird. It’s like, “You’re in an RV together? You’re working together, doing a show together, and doing this together?”

We meet all kinds of people on the road. Some of them know who we are before we meet them because of the show. They ask us, “Should we work together?” I say, “No, you should not even try. It’s such a long road to success.” I met somebody who said, “I couldn’t go away for a weekend with my wife. There’s no way we would kill each other.” That’s the norm. I don’t know what it is about you and me and how this works.

It is those same things. For other people, maybe they have the same goals but they don’t have similar work habits. You probably have to have all three, the same goals, the same work habits, and that you fill each other’s voids and trust the other person. Something in there is missing.

I can tell you what I think it is.

I’ll add a little thing. You have to be a little bit humble and a little bit like, “If you feel strongly about this one, you go for it. I believe in you and I trust you.”That’s probably the hardest part.

The Benefits Of Building A Business Together

There’s this business of idiosyncratic crap that your partner pulls professionally or socially. Believe me. If you think she’s pulling idiosyncratic stuff, so are you. She’s sitting there saying the same thing. She’s like, “I can’t stand the way he sits there,” which happens. You have to get that under control because that more than anything, especially when working, spirals out of control.

We took a tour of the Midway, the aircraft carrier from World War II that was active in the Gulf War. I learned that. It’s all decommissioned and it’s in San Diego. A few years ago, we walked through it. We were lucky enough to have a retired admiral, something crazy. It was either that or the captain. I don’t know if they necessarily served in that fleet, but there’s a specific chair on the bridge. When the captain or the admiral sits in the chair, that’s it. He’s in charge. Somebody said until he gets up and his wife calls. He said, “That’s the case.” He had to take a minute or two before he went home after being the captain of the Midway and say, “When I get home, she’s in charge of the house.”

I don’t think a lot of people do that. Jill and I built this together from the first dollar. We have split everything down the middle as it’s happened, all the profit, all the expenses, all the sweat, all of it. Many guys I know have started companies that have done incredibly well and they resent their spouse. Many women I know resent their husbands for never being there and their kids. It leads to all kinds of stuff.

This business model allowed us to drop our kids off from school until they could drive, one or both of us. This business allowed us to teach our kids to drive, be the soccer coach, and all of that stuff. We were always there. We split all the money down the middle, which is really important to me because I have personal examples in the way long before Jill where that’s not the case. You make a lot of money and you give it away. I don’t have any resentment for you.

Thank you.

If you’re going to work with your spouse, good luck. Have a sit-down conversation about splitting money and acquisition decisions and see what they’re good at. If one of them’s great at Excel and one of them is great at talking to people and you both want to make a ton of money, that’s a great start but I bet it won’t get past that.

If you're going to work with your spouse, have a sit-down conversation about putting money, acquisition decisions. and see what they're good at. Share on X

Maybe it will. We do have successful couples in Land Academy. If that’s something you guys think you can do, we will help you. It’s part of Land Academy too.

I’m not being negative but most companies don’t have co-CEOs. That’s what Jill and I are. There’s not one person that runs it. In most of the successful marriages I see, 1 person runs it and 1 person rolls over and they’re both happy in those roles. That isn’t us.

I’m sorry. I can’t do it.

Why would it be you? It could be me. Mostly, the guy rolls over.

Thank you.

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