Exclusive Interview : Aaron Wagner Shares the Height of Optimism

Aaron Wagner is a Family man first … he has 7 children and prides himself as a Dad and Husband above all else . He has been married 18 years to wis wife Candace As an immigrant to the United States in pursuit of the American dream, Aaron played College and Pro Football for a number of years before transitioning to his wins in business.

Aaron has participated and led over $1 billion in Real estate development and transactions… his Real Estate companies will lead and participate in close to $500mm in Real Estate Developments a year. In the last 3 years he has founded one of the fastest growing Food & Bev companies in the country and grown from 0 to over 100 Restaurant’s, a dozen brands and over 900 employees.

Aaron has invested in over 60 companies and sits as an advisor and board many to many of his portfolio companies. Aaron loves people and wants to impact lead and inspire … he has spoke to over 100,000 people Live and many millions digitally. Aaron Wagner is the Founder and CEO of Wags Capital. WAGS CAPITAL is multi- faceted boutique Investment firm specializing in Real Estate, Food & Beverage and Private Equity, in emerging markets with asymmetrical risk/reward and value add strategies. The company focused on value and prioritize relationships above all else and are in constant pursuit of strategic, residual and meaningful business relationships.

tell us a little bit of your back story because you have done so many things. you work with many different companies and different skill sets, so how do you get to do what you do? Take us from the beginning.

Yeah, quick summary, I grew up in Canada as a young kid and my parents were both entrepreneurs. Not overly successful entrepreneurs, they started a lot of businesses and failed in a lot of businesses, but they always seemed to figure out how to provide for us. As far as I knew, I had a great childhood. Looking back people would say that we came from pretty much nothing. But at the time we were happy, we were a happy family, I was a happy kid. So things were good, but I moved around a lot because my parents were entrepreneurs. I went to seven different elementary schools as a kid and I knew that I really didn’t have an opportunity for much more than most of the people in our small town we’re doing, which was mostly the oil fields. And so for me, if I wanted to do more, which I always had aspirations to do more. But I had to figure out a way to do it and for me, the ticket to that was through sports. I didn’t want to work in the oil fields and be a rig pig. So for me, I needed to figure that out and I loved sports, that was my passion. That’s what I was excited about but I really didn’t know the exact path that would take me. 

However, I had seen all these professional athletes living the life that I wanted, and so I knew that that was what I wanted to do. The crazy part about that path for me was growing up in Canada hockey’s the most popular sport. But my mom wouldn’t let me play hockey because when I was a kid, she said it was too dangerous, so I played basketball.

I played that too. 

Yeah, her brothers played hockey growing up and none of them had any teeth. So she didn’t want her kids to lose their teeth. She thought it was too dangerous. So I played basketball, volleyball, track, and baseball. And then I had kind of a crazy circumstance where I ended up getting cut from a volleyball team because I voted for there to be more cuts made and that led me to a place where I really didn’t have much to do during that season. And my little brother had been playing football which in Canada, football just wasn’t that popular. So I was bored and I was going to his football practices and I was sitting on the sidelines watching and the balls would come over and I’d throw them back. Then one day the Coach asked, “Hey, do you want to run some plays?” So I started running some plays and he said, “Man, you’re pretty good at this.” And so I started playing football in high school and ended up being pretty good at it. I got multiple football scholarships offered in the United States and that was my opportunity to come to America and chase the American dream. My parents divorced when I was 15, my brother and I moved out, and were on our own until I was 17. When I was 17, I got on my 50cc Razz scooter with a backpack and I drove all the way to the United States, crossed the border and came in with nothing but a backpack and a small scooter, and that was my start to the American dream. I played at Washington State for two years and then transferred to BYU and at BYU that’s where I started doing real estate. I started as a junior in college, I bought my first rental property, I talked one of my friend’s dad’s into putting a down payment for me, and he trusted me, he was a fan and it was really fun. So I rented it out to all my fellow student athletes and made some money on it. Then I parlayed that into the next deals and went on to play pro football and that was kind of the pathway into what I’m doing today.

Going back, what would your parents say about you right now?

What would they say? 

Yeah.

I think they would say a lot of good things. They would say that they sure wish that they could see me and my kids more probably. We don’t visit as much as we could hope and especially during covid, Canada’s been like really on a lockdown. It’s pretty tough to go back and forth, but my dad tells me all the time that he’s very proud of me.nI know my mom is as well, but they’re fantastic.

Wow, Aaron, I’m very inspired. I feel like I just want to cry, I cry very easily.

Thank you.

A lot of the audience are entrepreneurs trying to make it happen. What do you think is the characteristic or the quality that we need to have in order to be successful?

I would say one quality that I’ve identified amongst almost all the most successful people that I know, is the ability to just be a solutions-oriented person. Meaning, everybody out there knows people, that if something comes up almost everything that comes out of their mouth is, “What’s wrong with the idea?” So for instance, if somebody complains about something and you offer a solution, they say well, “that won’t work because of this” and “that won’t work because of this reason.” Then there’s on the opposite end of the spectrum, there are these people that no matter what problem comes up, the initial thought is almost always directly to a solution. Now, every one of those solutions might not be perfect but it doesn’t matter because the people that are focused on solutions versus problems and execution versus excuses. Those are the people that are winning, and it’s not intelligence, it’s not a born ability, it’s none of those things. It’s people that are just good at figuring hard stuff out and so for me, I’ve realized that if you’re solution oriented and everything is figureout-able, and you’re always willing to just try and go and start. Those are the people that are just winning non-stop. Now don’t get it twisted, if you’re on social media, you probably just see these people’s highlight reels and you’re like, “Man, everythings so easy, everything they touch turns to gold.” I get messages like that all the time, but the fact of the matter is, these people are doing a lot of stuff and they’re winning a lot, but they’re also failing a lot.

But you get really good at both, and that’s the thing that I tell people all the time, all of the people you see that are winning on social media, they’re showing their highlight reels, they’re not showing when they fail, they’re not showing the long grinding hours in the office doing paperwork and hiring and firing, and all that stuff that’s tough, it’s boring and people don’t want to see that. And so they’re not shouting those messages, but I’ll tell you this, for me, I’ve failed a lot, and just as good as I’ve got winning and that confidence that’s come with it, I’ve also gained a tremendous amount of confidence in failing. In the sense that if you fail well, if you fail quickly, you can jump back on the horse and you can go again very quickly. And a lot of people are just not good at losing, they’re not good at failing, they drag it out, they let it ruin their confidence, their character, and they associate it with future performance. All of that is completely irrelevant, and honestly, it’s what I call living in what-if land like, what if this? what if that? I mean so many people out there today are living in what-if land and they’re creating this anxiety, and if you actually tracked all the what-ifs over the last five years, I’d be willing to bet that those people actually in reality lived less than 1% of those what-ifs. We need to be disciplined and not allow ourselves to play in what-if we land? Let’s deal with problems that actually exist, that comes up in our lives and be really good at being solution-oriented. And if we take our lumps, we take our lumps.

I love that, living in what-if we land, you should write a book about this. Wow, that’s awesome. So, as an entrepreneur, we always have ideas, different ideas and new ideas always come up. We’re very creative and then we do it and then we don’t wait long enough, then fail, and then jump to the new idea. And you’ve done different things too. How do you do that? How do you manage time, manage people, and manage new skill sets? How do you do all of that?

I’m definitely not a master in it, it probably appears that way to people. Internally for me, I find myself all the time stretched too thin. Not performing as well as I could or should or want to in certain areas of my life. But I will say this, at least, in my experience, this life balance, it’s a myth, it’s a mirage. If you want to be a high performer in many areas of your life, balance is just something that you have to let go of and say it’s not going to happen. And so, for me, I’ve let go of that myth a long time ago and said, look, I’m going to be very, very good at shifting gears. So, if I’m good at what I do while I’m in it, I just need to be able to go, okay, shift gears to family, shift gears to being a dad, my role as a husband, as a CEO, as a business partner. And so I just try to put myself in those positions and shift gears very quickly, and the quicker that I can do that the more effective and efficient I can be in that role. It’s like these guys you see and they draw stick figures and singularly those stick figures don’t really mean much, but in the transfer of them they put together a really cool picture and story and it looks like, “Man this thing is just flawless,” and I think that’s what happens as you become very good at shifting gears quickly. Then people from the outside and even yourself over time, it starts to look and feel like a very well oiled machine but it’s not balanced. It’s just a mirage of balance.

Yeah, I feel like the concept of work-life balance is not the correct ideal, because it might have worked 30 or 50 years ago but not now. I love the book called “The Power of Full Engagement” and it matches what you just said. You focus on the thing in front of you, and right at that moment shift gear to the new thing. And you have seven kids, what does your day look like? You must have a dream team, right?

I do have a dream team in my work and in my business. Then I have a dream team for my personal life, and believe it or not, people are going to be kind of blown away at this but my dream team at home is just my wife, my wife does everything. She is an absolute All-Star, in the same way that people ask me all the time, how do you handle all these businesses, these different deals, roles, and companies? She gets the exact same thing because not only do we have seven kids, but she takes care of a big beautiful home and keeps it immaculate. Every one of our kids is ultra active and has multiple extracurriculars in schools. I mean that woman’s driving like 200-plus miles a day, just shuttling kids around. And on top of that our house is in great order and our kids are learning things that they need to be learning at all times. They have great confidence and she’s able to spend quality time with them, and plans experiences as a family and then on top of that she’s gorgeous. She keeps herself in great shape, she runs six to eight miles a day. She’s just like, she’s a go. She’s that person.

Awesome. Alright, let’s talk behind the scenes, I would love to bring her to the show because a lot of women need to hear this, right?

Totally.

The full engagement and managing and making it happen.

I tell her that all the time. I’m like, Candace, what you do on a daily basis, there are so many women that would just love to hear. It seems so natural and normal to her, but it’s not. From the outside, people are like, wow. And it’s something that I know she could share a ton of value with people because she just manages it so well. It’s like controlled chaos.

I have two kids and I manage them well at my level too. I have a dream team, I have a restaurant that I love. It’s Thai food and I just get the food for the whole week and I warm it up and that’s my dream team.

Totally, it’s important.

So since you have seven kids, what does your legacy look like for them?

I think that’s not completely refined at this point. For me I will say this, I’ve never had a very definitive clear picture as to what my future is going to look like, I’ve been pretty much an opportunist. In the last five years, I’ve been a lot better at crafting and curating the things that I want to take on, where I want to spend my time, who I want to invest with in terms of my time with people and going deep with relationships. So for me, that’s starting to get more clear, and I think at the end of the day, the legacy for my children is that I just want to teach them that whatever they want to do, whatever excites them, whatever they’re passionate about, they just need to always excel to be the best at that, I don’t care what that is. But people’s happiness in this life, which is ultimately what we’re all striving for and everything that we’re doing is really just trying to contribute to that happiness, it looks different, and it’s a different recipe, and a different equation for everybody. But I think the common denominator for happiness is personal development. We have to continually be trying to be better. We have to continue to be working toward the betterment, whether that’s our health, our wealth, our spirituality, whatever the case may be and so for me, I’m really just trying to instill those things in my kids that whatever you’re doing, set goals, and continue to strive and work to do your very best at it, because that will bring you happiness and bring you fulfillment. And ultimately, you’re going to find success. It’s funny, people are always like, “Oh, your girls love golf. Are they passionate about golf?” And my two daughters are in the top 10 in the world, right? So yeah they like golf but more than golf, what they like is winning. They like being successful, they like achievement and everybody likes that. So people are like, “Hey what are your kids good at?” They like what they’re good at, and that’s how all people are, we like what we’re good at. So if you put in the effort and the discipline to be good at something, you’re going to enjoy it more, which brings the happiness that we’re all looking for.

I bet they learn from just being around you and seeing your work. That’s a great example, not just by words but by action. So back to the business a little bit Aaron, as a new entrepreneur who’s listening to this show. If they do not start with money in the bank or money in the wallet. What would you suggest to them to do first before coming up with a new creative idea for starting the company?

One common denominator I see with all aspiring budding or new entrepreneurs is that they almost always view the largest barrier to entry to what they want to be doing or the step that they want to take in business, as capital restrictions. And one thing that I commonly have to dispel is a lack of capital or not having any money, although it feels like the biggest barrier to entry, it’s actually the least, and that’s just a mindset shift. That’s an understanding of being resourceful, because the most successful people are successful, not because of their resources, but because of their resourcefulness. That’s why you hear so many stories of people that are ultra successful that came from nothing because they’re resourceful people.

They weren’t given resources, they have the resourcefulness. And so I want everybody to change that mindset to, how can I add value? If I want to do this, and I need X, and this person can provide X. How can I provide value to that person so that they can help me do it? Or how can I get what I need? That means I have to bring value to it, and so whether that’s real estate, and people in real estate tell me all the time, “Hey, I’d love to get into flipping houses or commercial real estate but I don’t have the money to do it.” And I’m like cool, then go find great deals. If you go find great deals and you tie those things up under contract. I can promise you, there’s going to be a plethora of people that have money that are willing to fund those deals, and partner with you. It’s the same thing in any business. If you want to start a restaurant and you have great food and a great business plan and customer service, and you’re willing to do everything.

Do you know how many restaurant brands I’ve purchased because the people had no money to grow but they were incredible in their craft? That’s something I can’t really buy. That’s the hardest part of the equation is having those people, and that process, and that product, and that brand, and you can do that with very little to no money in whatever you guys are looking to do. So, focus internally on what value you can provide, and if you don’t have any value, then good luck you might as well go get a job.

Yeah, come up with something and then commit to it. Well, thank you so much for sharing this. How can our audience reach out to you and possibly work with you?

You can follow me on Instagram @aaronwags and a lot of times I’m putting things on the story for opportunities, internships, employment positions, partnership opportunities or I’m even throwing out a lot of times these are the type of assets or deals that we’re looking to purchase or invest in certain companies and believe it or not, we’ve actually done a ton of business from people just reaching out through Instagram. So follow me there and I appreciate the support.

Thank you so much, one last question before I forget. So, taking risks, because you are an investor and you’re taking risks, tell us entrepreneurs, a little bit about, what should we learn from taking risks? 

Well, again, I kind of always go to the macro, in terms of your perspective and your attitude. When I hear risk, almost always people associate that with taking action and when I think about risks, I think about not the risk of not taking action. So for me, there’s a consequence and there’s a risk associated with either or, right? And if you don’t do shit, you have a great idea, you have a great opportunity and you don’t do anything about it? That’s a major risk because you are going to either be going backward or you’re going to be in the exact same place that you’re at, and if you’re at the exact same place you’re at, that means you’re probably not where you want to be. I feel like once you can kind of recraft that mindset and that perspective then you don’t look at risk as a liability. You look at risk as an opportunity, and that’s the way I look at almost all risks. I look at risk as an opportunity because there’s a risk associated with every decision you make, it’s positive or negative. What do you want it to be? There’s going to be an outcome and so I look at all risks as a real opportunity. Now, there are certain things in different businesses that you have to do to mitigate some of the risks and due diligence and partnerships and all those kinds of things. But I think that the basics of that, start with the mindset and the perspective, and if you can condition your mind to look at risk as an opportunity then you’re going to continue to just grow. Are you going to have setbacks? Yes. But there’s no such thing as mistakes, there are only lessons if you have the right mindset. You take the lessons and you learn and you go and you just keep moving forward.

I love it, so the mindset is the key to everything.

And risk tolerance, so many people look at me and they’re like, “Aaron how do you take so many risks?” Even my wife is like, I don’t know how you balance all the stress and the pressure of all the risks that you take. But here’s what happens, over time as you do things and you bet on yourself and you win for yourself and you win for others, investors, family members, and employees, you gain so much confidence that at a certain point nothing feels risky because you know you’re going to win. Every single person listening to this right now has something that they do every day that they have 100% confidence in themselves that they can perform, and when you get to a point where all those little things or all the big things that you’re looking at as a risk become as fundamentally easy and natural as those little things that you already have a massive amount of confidence in, then the risk disappears in your life. And so although it looks like that from the outside, for me I don’t feel like I’m ever taking risks because I know what I’m capable of. I’m going to win.

That’s so good, Aaron, thank you so much. It really helped me too, that’s why I’m having so much fun interviewing you.

Thank you. 

Thank you for being here for our show and looking forward to bringing you back again for the show. Congratulations on all the things that you do.

Thank you, thank you so much. I appreciate you guys having me on and good luck to you.

Thank you.

See ya.

Contact Aaron Wagner :
http://www.aaronawagner.com
http://www.aaronawagner.com
IG : wagscapital