When we started Moe Bros, it wasn’t because we loved spreadsheets, drywall, or explaining to county inspectors why a 1920s basement doesn’t need sprinklers.

We started it because we wanted freedom.

• Freedom to spend time with our kids while they still think we’re cool.(Too late for Scotty.…I’ve still got a couple years left before mine realize Dad wears the same two shirts in every photo.)

• Freedom to serve in ministry when God opens doors.

• Freedom to not have to ask a boss for “permission” to coach a little league game.

That’s what pulled us into real estate.

But here’s what we discovered: just because you’re not punching someone else’s clock doesn’t mean you’re free. Sometimes it just means you’ve built yourself a shinier prison.

The Owner-Operator Trap

Most real estate investors aren’t business owners.
They’re owner-operators.

And you can spot them a mile away. They:

• Wake up at 6am to answer tenant calls.

• Spend the day negotiating with sellers, running comps, and writing contracts.

• Take late-night Home Depot runs because “the project manager” is… them.

• Do their own books, manage their own marketing, design their own rehabs — and still call themselves the CEO.

In other words, they didn’t quit their 9–5.
They just traded it for a 24/7/365.

And that’s fine if that’s what you want.
But it’s not what we want.

The Realization

That’s who we’ve been for the past five and a half years.
Owner-operators.

We did everything ourselves — acquisitions, project management, marketing, accounting, dispositions, property management. All of it.

A couple years ago we hired Lynette as our coordinator (she quickly became our CSP (Chief Sanity Preserver) and now does basically everything except tuck our kids in at night).

(Her bad taste in sports teams is not an indication of her intelligence, I promise.)

Anyway... before her? It was just us, wearing all the hats.

And it worked… until we realized it wasn’t who we wanted to be.

Why We Stayed Stuck

Here’s the hard truth: We stayed stuck because I (TJ) wasn’t leading the way I should.

I act as our CEO. Scotty acts as our COO. That means Scotty oversees all operation, systems, and is part of the brain trust of deciding who we are and what we’re doing. “My job as CEO should be (if I were leading well) to set the vision, drive our mission, make big-picture decisions, raise capital, and build the brand.

A few months ago Lynette sent me a personality test from her church — the Predictive Index. Mine came back as “The Captain.” Supposedly, I’m driven, decisive, competitive, always pushing for results.

That sounds impressive. Like I should be commanding a battleship or at least a Chick-fil-A drive-thru.

But in reality? I was more like the captain of the Titanic. Lots of confidence. Not enough competence. Straight into the iceberg.

Because being a leader isn’t just barking orders or talking loud enough that people think you know what you’re doing (which is my true gift). A real leader:

• Casts vision

• Sets clear goals and defines what winning looks like

• Builds systems and structures that scale

• Empowers people to grow

• Models values and makes the hard calls

I wasn’t doing any of those things.
I was doing… tasks.

Scotty calls it “firefighting.”

Stephen Covey lays this out inThe 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. We’ve lived almost entirely in Quadrant 1: Urgent and Important. Constant fire drills.

• Put out fires.

• Handle emergencies.

• Spin plates.

Meanwhile, Quadrant 2 — systems, people, planning, vision — sat untouched. (Like Scotty’s gym membership)

The four quadrants are are below:

Michael Gerber says the same thing inThe E-Myth: stop working in your business, and start working on it.

That’s what we’re finally doing. He also says this:

How We Survived Anyway

Here’s the truth: the only reason we made it this far is because of Scotty.

And that’s the last nice thing I’ll say about him.

Scotty worked at Willow Creek under Bill Hybels, who was one of the best in the country at training leaders. So when we started Moe Bros, Scotty built the systems that kept us alive.

If it had been up to me, the business plan would’ve been: Buy low, sell high, pray a lot.…and maybe sell a kidney if the numbers didn’t work.

But Scotty put structure in place. He gave us something we could actually grow from.

Of course, he’s also shorter than me and wears a T-shirt in the pool when he swims. So it balances out.

The Transformation

In just the past few months, here’s what’s changed:

• We hired a Virtual Assistant(after three years of talking about it). She’s already made our lives 10x easier.

• We added project management support, saving Scotty years of his life (and sparing what remains of his once-promising hairline.)

• We revamped property management into a real system, not chaos and prayer.

• We clarified roles and expectations for every team member.

• I shifted my focus to raising capital, the lifeblood of our flipping and lending businesses.

For the first time, the business doesn’t feel like it’s running us. We’re starting to run it.

Where We’re Going

Within the next few months, we plan to hire a buyer to handle acquisitions— another step toward moving from “owner-operated shop” to an actual business. (So if you or someone you know is interested, let us know!)

Our goal is simple:

• Scotty in his zone, overseeing operations, building systems, and setting vision with me.

• Me in my zone, setting vision, raising capital, and driving growth.

• A team empowered to do the rest.

Because if all we ever build is a job, we’ve missed the point.

We want to build a business.
Something durable.
Something that can last, grow, and eventually outlive us.

Why This Matters

Because five years from now, we don’t want to be bragging about how many hats we can wear.

We want freedom.

Freedom to come home at night and actually be present with our kids.
Freedom to serve in ministry when and where God calls us.
Freedom to build a company that lasts — not a hamster wheel that burns us out.

We didn’t start Moe Bros to build ourselves another job.
We started it to build a business.

And since June, we’re finally starting to make that a reality.

Not that anyone ever thought we had it all together, but just in case you did… this photo is here to confirm we most certainly do/did not.
2010 was a simpler time — apparently shirtless baking was a team sport.