A little letter to bring in the new year…
If you’ve gotten to know me even a little over the past few years, you already know this about me: I’m almost always forward-thinking.
As soon as something gets accomplished, my brain immediately asks, “Okay…what’s next?”
That instinct has served me well.
But it also has a downside.
It means I’m often looking at how far we still have to go, instead of how far we’ve already come.
So before I talk about the future, I want to pause and do something I don’t do often enough.
I want to acknowledge how far we have come.
And the wins we’ve shared this past year.
Not just financial wins.
Life wins.
Courage wins.
The quiet wins that never make a spreadsheet.
The “hard conversation” wins that most people avoid for decades.
Because there isn’t always a straight line between a decision we’ve talked through together and the success that follows. But that was never truly the point.
From the beginning, the goal here was something deeper:
To be a place you can turn for real, honest feedback.
To be a backstop when a decision feels heavy.
A sounding board when the right answer isn’t obvious.
And most importantly:
A team that has your back so you can move forward with courage, even when fear or doubt lingers.
This year, that showed up in real ways.
I’m sure there were many, but here are a few moments that stood out:
Lee and Kelly - Launched their new cybersecurity company and, with Nick the attorney’s guidance, structured it as a QSBS-qualified C-Corp - a setup we first mapped out at our Jackson Hole retreat (October 2024) that can allow up to $10M of capital gains to be excluded when the company is sold.
Marco and Steph - Wrapped up their first full year of running their Wyoming holding company, kept the snow machine in storage and traded a month of North Dakota snow for Mexican sunshine - and then capped the year by moving forward on the purchase of a beautiful new home.
Chad and Katie - Navigated a tough conversation with Chad’s boss about life on the road, earned a promotion to General Manager, and took real shots at their next chapter by negotiating and submitting two LOIs to buy their first RV park.
Mandi - Found a renewed sense of purpose by joining surgical teams on a mission trip to Africa, and ended the year by stepping into an unexpected opportunity - adding another 160-acre parcel to her now-growing ag land portfolio.
Jordan and Haley - Finalized the plans and broke ground on a long-anticipated new home build - and just before the new year, welcomed home their first child – baby Rowan, the kind of milestone that puts everything else in perspective.
Carlos and Mari - Doubled down on serving their patients at the highest level and were rewarded with the largest bonus their practice has ever received - and they led by example by making health a personal priority, while running 3 half marathons in the middle of it all. They ended the year with the expansion of a new location just a week away from its grand opening.
Jacinto and Chenee - Sold their home in South Dakota and moved to Atlanta for warmer weather, closer family, and new opportunities - each stepping into new practices - and also started their first serious push into real estate by beginning the search for their first Airbnb investment.
Nate and Jess - Moved into a new home in March, spent the year building out Grand Vision Partners, and then - just weeks after welcoming their fourth child, baby Lochlyn Leah – held the first launch event for GV Partners in November.
Mike and Morgan – Led a mission trip of high school freshmen to Guatemala, added four new hires to the MJN Rentals team, managed over $1m in renovations at the GV Wealth Fund’s 3 apartment complexes, watched the “how is this even possible” moment of our first kid starting high school, and finally crossed the finish line on a four-year, $5M development project.
These aren’t just goals to check off. These are real steps of progress on life’s journey. And these are the achievements that create the foundation for what is to come.
Before I get into anything strategic, I want to share something that’s been on my heart, because I don’t take your commitment to Grand Vision lightly, and I never will.
My expectation for Grand Vision is not that the membership fee feels fair.
My expectation is that, over time, it feels obvious.
That it feels like one of the best decisions you ever made.
That one day you look back and think, “I can’t believe that was the cost to be in the room.”
That’s the standard I hold myself to... and that’s the standard that I hold our entire team to.
There are seasons where progress doesn’t announce itself.
Where movement is real, but also subtle.
Where the most important work doesn’t necessarily show up as something you can post on Instagram.
As I was writing out this letter, I knew ‘what’ I wanted to say, but I didn’t quite know ‘how’ to say it. Then, a memory hit me.
In 2021, I bought an 8-acre cornfield.
Today that 8 acres is a $5 million dollar storage facility.
The early phase of that development was nothing but decisions and checks.
$40,000 to the design engineer.
$20,000 to the attorney.
$100,000 for permits.
$300,000 for excavation.
Another $300,000 for water and sewer.
And after more than a million dollars had gone out the door, I still remember pulling up to the land one afternoon.
I parked.
I got out.
I stood there longer than I expected to.
And what I saw was…
A field.
No building. No steel. Nothing I could point to and say, “There it is. That’s the progress.”
I knew the work was getting done - the decisions, the planning, the invoices.
But it’s still a strange feeling to spend real money… and then stand there staring at a big dirt field.
Then, a few months ago (4 years after that moment staring at a $1 million dollar dirt field) we got that final green tag from the building inspector.
Buildings were up, parking lot was striped, tenants were renting units.
4 years of slow progress became very real all in one moment.
That’s the best way I know how to describe this season of Grand Vision.
What we’re building isn’t a product.
It isn’t “just” a fund.
It isn’t “just” a set of advisors.
We’re building the infrastructure.
But not infrastructure that is beneath the field of that storage facility. Not something that produces a return on a spreadsheet and then gets sold.
What we’re building here is the foundation for decisions that haven’t been made yet.
For opportunities that don’t exist yet.
For storms your family will face long after I’m gone… and long after you are too.
That storage facility will serve its purpose.
It will generate income.
It will create value.
And one day, it will be replaced by something else.
Grand Vision Family Office is different.
We’re building a generational framework.
A shared playbook.
A way for a family to stay aligned when life gets louder, when the stakes get higher... and when your absence becomes the final test of the legacy you built.
I’ve done the research. I’ve read the biographies, and I have personally lived the experience: Most families don’t lose what they built in one big mistake.
They lose it in a thousand small ones. In unspoken assumptions. In scattered advice. In good intentions… without a framework strong enough to hold it all together.
So, we are building what lasts.
So that our families inherit more than money…
They inherit stability, they inherit peace, and they inherit direction.
Where We Are Today
Even in a long build, progress matters.
And while much of what we’re creating won’t show itself all at once, there are moments where it becomes important to stop and mark the ground we’ve already covered so we can be ready for what is to come.
We closed 2025 with our first investor event and the launch of the Grand Vision Cash Flow Fund - what we internally call the Family Bank.
That moment was a huge milestone.
Not because it was flashy.
But because it marked a shift - from planning to execution.
From architecture to structure. From idea to something real.
As we step into 2026:
The GV Family Bank is established
The Grand Vision Wealth Fund II is preparing to launch
And the internal structure of the family office - how decisions are made, how professionals coordinate, how strategy stays aligned - is materially stronger than it was a year ago
This is the part of the build that doesn’t feel dramatic while you’re in it.
It’s tightening bolts.
It’s removing friction.
It’s making sure the system works under pressure.
There are still pieces I want in place yesterday.
But this is one lesson I have learned the hard way:
You can build fast… or you can build right. You can’t do both.
We are choosing the latter.
A Personal Commitment (And Something I Didn’t Expect)
I’ve always been patient with my own finances. What I didn’t fully understand is how different it feels to practice patience on behalf of others.
When it’s your own money, patience is a discipline.
When other families trust you with the future they’re trying to build… it’s a responsibility.
And I want you to know this:
Our families are walking this path with you.
So, when I say “we’re building this right,” I mean for all of us... as one mission, one family.
And I can say this without hesitation:
Our team works every single day to expand the value of this family office.
In ways you’ll soon see.
And in ways you may never see - but your family will feel for decades.
I still think about the first rehab house I ever bought.
I remember how exciting that first one felt.
I remember how monotonous and mundane the next ones felt.
And then one day, I woke up, and I owned hundreds of doors.
It wasn’t dramatic. It was just compounding.
That’s how I see Grand Vision.
I’m excited for what I already see taking shape.
But I’m even more excited for the opportunities none of us can yet see.
Grand Vision exists for a very specific kind of person.
We have been working on a redesign of the website over the last few months, and it forced us to slow down and answer two simple questions:
If someone asked,
“Who is the Family Office for?” ...or
“What does ‘Be The One’ actually mean?”
How would we explain it?
Those questions were much harder to answer than I expected. I personally know what they mean, but it was hard to put into words. And the more we worked on it, the more it became clear, a simple sentence wasn’t going to do it justice.
So instead of trying to wordsmith it, I decided to speak directly to the person I picture when I think about Grand Vision.
Maybe you’re the one who did what your parents never had the chance to do.
The one who makes good money… but still feels like there’s a missing playbook.
The one who looks around and realizes: we’re the first in our family line who can change everything.
Maybe you’re the one who’s starting to see that average strategies produce average results.
The one who refuses to wake up ten years from now knowing you had the chance… but you let it pass.
Maybe you’re the one who wants wealth for the right reasons.
Not to show it off - but to strengthen your family.
To create options.
To build stability.
And maybe - deep down - you’re aware of the other side of wealth.
How wealth can create entitlement.
How it can replace grit with comfort.
How the money can live on, while the values quietly fade.
Grand Vision Family Office exists for people like you.
People who don’t want hype. They want wisdom.
People who don’t need another product.
They need a framework. A team.
And a community that understands the quiet pressure of getting this right.
Because you’re not just building wealth.
You’re building a legacy.
A hundred years from now, your family won’t remember your job title.
They’ll remember the moment someone decided to do it differently.
To choose wisdom over ego.
Stewardship over convenience.
Legacy over lifestyle.
Many will have the opportunity.
Few will accept the responsibility.
Be The One.
You all know me well enough by now: I’m wired to build, and I’m wired to see what’s possible. But as Morgan often reminds me, I’m not always wired to communicate.
So, I wanted to take a moment at the start of this new year to put words to what we’re building, and to give you a clear vision of where we’re going from here.
Thank you for being early and thank you for trusting us. We’re building this right – and the future is very bright.
P.S. I did not mean to end on a rhyme, but it made me laugh so I’m leaving it.
Happy New Year from all of us at Grand Vision!
-Mike