<p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Key Takeaways:</p><p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"><strong>Became a developer in crisis:</strong> Meg started as a high‑end residential project manager and was forced to become a developer when a partner burned through about $1M on unfeasible plans; she took over to protect investors.</p><p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"><strong>Sees value others miss:</strong> She identified under‑loved Nashville locations (riverfront, Gulch‑adjacent) early and was willing to buy where locals thought she was “overpaying,” which later proved very successful.</p><p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"><strong>Capital without a rich network:</strong> With no wealthy friends/family, she raised ~$5–6M for her first deal by cold‑calling and using CCIM directories and BiggerPockets—showing the importance of <strong>research, persistence, and real phone calls</strong>.</p><p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"><strong>Sunk costs and pivots:</strong> Scrapping expensive concrete plans, switching to cheaper stick‑over‑podium, cutting ~25% of the budget, and waiving her own developer fee turned a near‑disaster into a profitable condo project.</p><p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"><strong>Cycles and business model shift:</strong> The frothy early‑2022 boom (big flips, many employees) was followed by a painful downturn when rates spiked and equity dried up. That pushed her toward <strong>leaner teams, fewer project types, and more long‑term, cash‑flowing/hold strategies</strong>.</p><p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"><strong>Niching and design differentiation:</strong> Her “big unlock” is focusing on <strong>niches</strong> (short‑term‑rentable condos/flexible living, select industrial) and <strong>distinct but cost‑disciplined design</strong> (landscaping, thoughtful finishes, no trendy white‑box commodity).</p><p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"><strong>Leadership lessons:</strong> The hardest part was <strong>people and overhead</strong>, not buildings—layoffs, departures, and restructuring. Out of that came a <strong>small, high‑caliber, focused team</strong> model.</p><p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"><strong>Current focus – Modernist:</strong> She’s now doubling down on <strong>flexible living condos</strong> (Modernist) that owners can use personally and also rent out for income—an institutional version of how she once Airbnb’d her own apartment to fund her start</p><p class="" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"></p>