How to Build Wealth, Ignore the Noise, & Design a Life You Actually Love

Okay, guys. You are gonna love our next guest in the same way I do. Devin Ryan Johnson is the founder of Dark Horse Capital and the Capital Club, a private investor community focused on democratizing access access to alternative investments and advanced wealth strategies. Over her career, she's worked across private markets, capital formation, and involvement in billions of dollars of structured capital. Devon is also the the fund manager and managing partner of Obsidian x Strategies, a quantitative investment firm, bringing institutional discipline and risk awareness to her broader investment ecosystem. She is a girl who chooses life by design. Can't wait for you to hear more. Everyone, and welcome to the Power Up Your Life podcast powered by GoBundance Women. I'm Mandy McAllister.

And I'm Kelly Resendez.

And today, we have a treat for you. One of my very fast friends, Devin Ryan Johnson. Devin, hello. How are you today?

Hello. I'm so good, and I'm so excited and grateful to be here. Thank you, ladies, so much for having me.

Very cool. I know our audience is gonna you know, we really align, Life, so I know that you're gonna have a lot of wisdom bombs for our audience. And for those who are watching on YouTube, behind Devin is actually real Costa Your. That's not just a background. She's living there mostly full time, but I don't wanna steal your thunder. Why don't you walk us through your background and and what you're doing these days, Devin?

Yeah. You know, I'm, like, the last person who ever thought I would be doing anything that I'm doing now. The journey makes zero sense. Years ago, I had a a retail business. I exited that. I went into real estate, had a property management company, got super burned out, worked for a fund for a few years, and then started doing a ton of consulting for raising money for all different kinds of companies and investments. And a couple years ago, I started a group called the Capital Club to help all kinds of investors find, you know, unique alternative investments that they wouldn't be able to find on their own and encourage them how to figure out, like, which ones are actually the best deals for them, which has nothing to do with asset class. It has everything to do with what is the purpose of the investment. We'll probably talk more about that. And I, you know, I have a fund. I've raised quite a bit of money over the last handful of years, Life, billions of dollars Mandy decided to move to the jungle and go surfing every day and, you know, just it doesn't suck.

It doesn't suck. It doesn't. The the life by design thing. I I think that one of the things that I stand for and what you and I resonate back and forth on a whole lot is that you get to pick what you're doing and where you're doing it. Oh, and I I love that you're helping people lean into more alternatives because that's really we know from data that that's how the wealthy get wealthy and wealthier. Right? So democratizing that in a big way matters. I'm curious, though, you as a business Power. Like, I'm talking to you as the human and not just the the people you're guiding through. That that's a big shift from the stuff that you were doing to, like, property manager to now raising billions of dollars and living in the jungle. Right? Like, there a thing I love to talk about is the identity shift that happens between that. Right? Because you have to believe you're this different version of yourself to move forward and find success in new things. To walk me through some things that you've done around your shifting identity. And if someone's in the middle of that right now, what's your 2¢ for them? What's your advice?

Gosh. That's a great question. Because, like, when people started reaching out to me saying, hey, Devin. I I need to raise money. Can you help me? I had never done that. And I was like, I don't know why people keep asking me to do this. I I've never said that I do this, but okay. And I think because I didn't know it was supposed to be really hard, the first one was because I didn't know. It was just Life a friend is working on this roll Up. You know, lots of people. Can you help? So I hadn't put any pressure on myself to perform. I was just trying to help my friend. And then ta da, raise $55,000,000. The second one, I was terrified because I was like, oh, now the pressure's on to, like, perform and do it again. And can I do this? Do I even know the right people or any of that? And I think, like, not listening to the fear and just doing it anyway is is huge. And I'm a bit of an adrenaline junkie, so that might serve me a little bit, I guess. You know? Like, I've always been kind of rebellious and, you know, a little a little outspoken, don't like to follow the rules. And that's helped me to, like, not listen to that fear voice. And it is still there. I wake up with it, you know, probably two days a week, and I just have learned not to listen to it Your at least not let that voice dictate what actions I'm gonna take today Mandy being acutely aware that, like, it's still there.

Yeah. That's so important because so many people think that powerful women are fearless, but I think it's really we've learned how to navigate the fear and take action in spite of it. So thank you for sharing that. You know, when we think about the differences between men and women when it comes to investing, we see a lot. What would you say from a decision standpoint? Because, like, I like to be in my feminine and trust how I feel, but I also know that I need to really look at data and make better decisions. So if I'm a female investor Women or a woman that has money to invest, what is the best way to make decisions that are gonna ensure my long term financial future is in intact?

That's a great question. I encourage everybody to think first about what do I want this investment to do for me. And there's there's only six things it can do. Is it cash flow? Is it growth, liquidity, impact, tax strategy? Or number six is return on joy, which that's why I moved to Costa Rica. Right? I would get this place when I'm not here. It doesn't really make any Mandy, but the amount of joy and happiness it gives me, like, you you can't quantify that. But if you start first with, like, what do I want this investment to do for me? Every dollar has a job. It's like little soldiers. Right? And you focus on that first, it's gonna help to filter out all the noise and the shiny objects. Right? So get really, really clear on Life I have, you know, a million dollars. I'm willing for a 100 k to go towards something that's higher risk, long term growth. I want the majority of that to go towards cash flow now, a certain percentage to go towards tax strategy, or whatever it might be for you. And, like, if you get clear on those rules first, then we won't get distracted by the shiny objects. Also, similar to dating, if there's a deal or an opportunity that lights up your nervous system, it's probably a red flag Mandy you should run. Those are you know, when you get, like, way too overly excited about it, just like when poker players go on tilt, it's the same thing with investing. If you, like, jump into something overly excited, I would start to question, like, where's my motivation coming? Is it coming from adrenaline, my adrenals, or is it actually coming from, like, the sound decision making?

That's so great. I I just have to chime in. So in dating, we joke that I'm a fixer and flipper, Life, in investments. Like, you know, I see the I see the potential, and then as soon as, you know, I put a little investment in, like, I'm I'm ready go. So I love that.

Low capital gains in that though, Kel.

Yeah.

So one of the things that we've talked about, Devin, is my ideas of return on brain space. I think it just it's so it's in the same vein of your return on joy. I Life that that's something that you optimize in the things that you talk about too. So in the world of investing, you know, probably the biggest mistake is that getting overly excited and following things that don't actually make sense just because of, you know, jazz hands and enthusiasm. Walk me through some other biggest mistakes you see with you know, I I get a little nervous when I see somebody with a couple million dollars liquid Mandy they just wanna go invest. Like, I think that that that could be a really scary situation because you might get taken advantage of. What what are some things that you see that are the biggest mistakes of people getting involved in investing in alternative?

Again, they focus way too much on, like, what is trending, not what is actually gonna give them the outcome that they want. Like, start with the outcome that you want Mandy disregard asset class because you can optimize for cash flow in in real estate. You can optimize for cash flow in private equity. You can optimize for cash flow in private credit. Like, again, you've got to hone in on, like, what are the outcomes that I actually want and totally disregard everybody's talking about oil and gas right now. I'm a bit I'm a fan of oil and gas. I love it. But because of what's happening on the other side of the planet, there are people who have no business investing in oil and gas are probably gonna hop into it because it's trending, or they're not gonna pay attention to the structure of the deal that they're getting into. And is this the type of structure that's actually gonna give me the outcome that I want? But just everybody's talking about it. And we've seen it happen with Airbnbs, with self storage, with, you know, every other, you know, something is hot and trending, so people get on the bandwagon without having that primary question answered of, like, what is it that I'm actually trying to get out of this? And that is true with investments and also relationships, business partnerships, business deals, everything. If we're not really, really clear with ourselves about, like, what is the outcome that I'm optimizing for, then you just, you know, you get you will get confused by the noise and the shiny objects. Also, I think, like, way too many people invest with friends and family without questioning, you know, is this actually a smart investment for me to make? Right? Like, 90% of Up fail, and almost all of them start their fundraising with friends and family rounds, and most of that money gets set on fire. So why do we do it? Because there's, like, relationship and trust, and we let that totally blind any of the other data based decisions. Just because Your, you know, your friend's barber is a cool guy doesn't mean that he knows his butt from his elbow in in whatever deal that came came to you. I'm a big believer in always bet on the jockeying of the horse, especially in anything early stage, but I think that holds true in in later stage opportunities as Kelly. Because if you have ever had a business or ever worked in one, you probably know that things do not go according to plan a 100% of the time. So whoever is running this business, this deal, this investment, like, do you have full faith in their capability to steward well in troubled waters?

So important. That resiliency in a in a CEO or founder is so important, and we do get knocked down a lot. And it is our you know, how the speed in which we make decisions during that. That's so important. So we know that a lot of people just end up with a financial planner Your even worse, just a four zero one k or something like that. And then they get to retirement age, and they're really lost. And, like, I can't even pull this money out without paying taxes, other things. So I'm guessing that some people that are listening might not even know what alternative investments are classified as. So if you could break alternative investments are classified as. So if you could break down what some of those alternative investments are and what makes them alternative. Yeah.

You know, alternative investments, like, real estate is the most well known, and real estate can be broken down into many, many, many different asset classes within that big umbrella, but that's, like, the main main category of real estate. Any alternative is basically anything other than your, you know, your your traditional investments, your publicly traded, your EFTs, all of that is what is considered traditional investments. Alternatives are actually where most of the truly wealthy people have made their money. Private equity, those are privately held businesses. Right? So it can be a number of different types of businesses that fall in that category of private equity. And you can invest as a limited partner in a number of different opportunities. Someone, say, is rolling up home services, or it might be, an oil and gas investment could be considered private equity depending on exactly what they're they're doing. There's hedge funds, right, where hedge funds are trading, whether it's stocks, commodities, currencies, futures, any number of things. What I'm gonna oh, private credit. Private credit's one of my favorite alternative asset classes right now. I think there's huge opportunity there. There's a ton of consolidation going on in banking. You know, the little banks are getting gobbled up by the bigger banks. Tons of them have, you know, been consolidated in the last number of years, which means businesses who need capital, they need debt. Unless you're exactly the right fit and you can go to JPMorgan, you probably can't go to your local credit union. And if you need $5.10, 20,000,000 in debt, it's nearly impossible to get. So private investors pool capital together and essentially make loans to all different kinds of businesses.

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And for the investor, frequently, those types of deals provide, you know, pretty predictable preferred returns paid on, like, a monthly or quarterly schedule. That whole idea of, like, be the bank.

Mhmm. You absolutely are the bank in that case holding holding the the paper. Right? One thing I really admire about you, Devin, is your kind of unconventional view of things. Right? Like, you were talking about you've been a a rule breaker from the jump, and this leaning into alternative investments is kind of an unconventional strategy. I'm I'm curious just in your life in general, Are there other things that people might consider are unconventional that you believe to be true, that they might not believe is true, but you absolutely believe to be true? Oh,

yeah. I'm sure.

I don't know how much of this I could should stay Life, but,

Well, whatever.

Okay. Like, college is stupid. I didn't finish, and I, you know, I wasted a lot of Life. And thank God I had scholarships, but I wasted a ton of time doing what I thought I was supposed to do because I was good at certain subjects. And unless you're gonna be a physician or a lawyer or, you know, something where you need some kind of license Mandy that's required, it's really it's a waste of time. I wasted way too much time and energy caring what other people think of me Oh. And doing what I was supposed to do. I grew up in the conservative South, and I I just, like, twisted myself into a pretzel for years, like, trying to be more digestible and accommodating than I really am. I wasted a lot of time pretending to be nicer than I really am. Awesome. Which didn't get me anywhere. You know? It just it, gave me heartburn, and that was that was about it. But I think something, like, at least for me, something happened right around 40 where, like, I just stopped giving an f. That all just kinda went out went out the window and realized, like, I'm gonna start living my life for myself. I did have an early mentor who told me when I was starting to work in capital markets and stuff, he was like, you should change your hair, and take the ring out of your nose and cover your tattoos. And he was very well meaning, but he was brilliant and extremely conservative. And I said, yeah. I'm not gonna do that. I'm done adjusting myself for for somebody else. I don't know if that's controversial or not, but, you know

Well, I think we all aspire. Right? We all aspire to reduce our give a f factor, but it's work because we've been programmed Life this. You go to school, you go to college, you do these things. And, you know, my son and I are having a conversation. He's the no college kid. He's been working for a company that I'm a part of for three years and has done Kelly, and he's thinking about getting a sleeve on his arm. And he's like, well, what do you think? I'm like, that's great Life that's what you wanna do. And I'm like, but have you just thought about doing it, you know, a little bit higher? So then if you decide, Mandy he's like, mom, like, nobody cares anymore. Like, your generation, if you would've walked in when I was in banking, and I started in banking in 1992 with tattoo, like, you wouldn't have been hired just on that alone. So I I do believe that we've grown a lot as a society in acceptance, but I do believe it's the unconventional things. And thank you for sharing what you just did. Mandy and I both, like, I've been going through some some things recently that's stretching me Mandy that I don't care what anybody else thinks sewn. And so super impactful. So how important is it? Because, you know, I'm an abundance teacher, and and I know that I am a student every day of my life working on myself, and I truly believe that's part of what's created the wealth and success. How important do you believe that as an investor that you still have to be working on yourself so that you can attract in more opportunity?

I always have a tribe of mentors and frequently asking them questions. And I am the first to admit when I don't know what I'm doing, which is daily, and to ask for Kelly. But you you have to. If you're not if you're not growing, what are what are you doing? You're just, you know, you get stale. And I've noticed the higher I've climbed, the more abundant the people that I run with are. It's what Your, like I don't even know the right words for it, but when you're, like, you know, scrapping at the bottom, people are less generous with ideas and resources and introductions and things like that. And I've just noticed, like, as my my network, my circle, when I started getting around, you know, more and more people who had insane amounts of wealth, they're some of the most generous and abundant minded people that I've ever met, and they hand out introductions, names, resources, strategies, like crazy. It's Women you're when you have that lack mentality is when you have to keep everything guarded because that comes from a place of, like, oh, there's not gonna be enough for all of us, so I can't share with you what's working for me. And then, you know, make homies with a billionaire, and they'll introduce you to anybody that you wanna meet and and Kelly you anything that you wanna know, and here's my cell phone Mandy text me anytime.

You know? Make homies with a billionaire. I love it. I you've said so many things that are just, like, so my jam. Like, I always say Your get two arms for a reason. Wanna pull yourself up and wanna pull other people up with you. Mandy, again, the higher you climb, like, that's when you see that collaboration wins over competition every single time. And in this vein of, like, I don't know it all, like, you have to have such confidence in what you do know to be willing to say what I don't know. You know? Like, that's what I think the the people who are in the scrappy trying to know it all, quote, unquote, it's it's because they don't have confidence in what they know that they're unwilling to say what they don't know. I'm curious about this too because, you know, we talk a lot about finding clarity and getting unstuck on this podcast too because as an entrepreneur, you know, you're groping into darkness many times. Like, I sit in this basement of mine thinking Life, oh, I hope it works, which is why I'm lucky to have Kelly and my girls at GoBundance to to bounce ideas off of. I'm curious for you. If you feel like you don't have clarity or you've gotten stuck on something, what are some things that you do that are kinda actionable that get you unstuck or help you find clarity?

Number one is go surfing, which may not be accessible for a number of people listening to this. Does boat surfing count? A 100%.

Okay. Good. Because I'm on my lake right now.

You it's Your me, and I'm not good. Like, I'm terrible. I am in the water and paddling and trying to, you know, stay alive more than I'm riding away. I am not very good. But it's one of those activities that you cannot be thinking about anything else. It gets you into that flow state. And then usually, the ideas and the creativity and all of that comes after. Or, like, we've got a a group here that does its ecstatic dance every Sunday morning. It's just, like, middle of the day, a bunch of grown people having a dance party with no alcohol, no drugs in the jungle. Sounds totally weird, but it turns your brain off when you're just, like, in your body kind of in the moment doing things that bring you joy. And because when you're, like, overanalyzing at least for me, there's a committee of, like, 12 people in here, and they all have opinions and ideas, and they get loud. And the more I try to interact with them, like, just the louder the committee meeting gets versus if I can kind of, like, turn that off and get into a flow state, then and whatever that is for you, for I thrive on novelty. So if I travel someplace and I just wander around a city that I haven't been to before, it'll spark better thinking. Or, you know, sometimes if you need to, just sit on the floor and cry and eat a half a package of Oreos Mandy give yourself some freaking grace that it's hard.

Devin, you don't know this, but you and I are probably gonna be best friends, and I'm gonna book a flight to Costa Rica immediately after this podcast. Life, you you have just shared so much wisdom today. And one of my favorite parts is just the embodiment of in spite of, like, in spite of the fear, in spite of the noise in your head, but then you bring such intentionality into finding ways to overcome those things. And I just think that's awesome. And I love the I love the billionaire comment too because I I that's, like, my jam. And I'm fortunate enough that I have a few in my life that have been, just like you said, powerful. And there are, you know, the most abundant people are going to be generous, and I think that's awesome. Mandy, what about you?

You know, Your say so much that I just so Life with the return on joy Life we talked about. The the idea of, you know, the committee. I love calling it the committee, and I'm a name them. I'm a name my committee. It's gonna be great. Yeah. I'm a tell myself Do you want me to name them for you? Oh, that'd be great. That's, maybe put in the comments of the podcast what Mandy should call the committee in her head. That'd be great. But I I just I I most admire that, you know, forget it, flip a table mentality that I'm gonna go do the stuff that feels right for me. That's the life that I wanna one big beautiful life. Let's let's go run after it. So you've given all of these gifts to us and our listeners. We wanna know how we can serve you. What is an introduction or a resource that would change the ballgame for you so that Kelly and I Your anybody listening might be able to to serve you?

That's a great question. If you Life interesting people that have really interesting investment opportunities, like the weirder, the better. Send them my way. I I love that. And of course, any, you know, any investors that are Life, if they're trying to figure out how to get into alternatives Mandy they don't wanna do it on their own, I've I have something for you. I can I can help Your, so send those folks my way for sure? Because it's not that hard. You just need a guide. Yes.

I already have one from yesterday that was, like, you know, running a smaller family office, and she's, like, figuring it out. So I'm gonna be sending that introduction right afterwards. Amazing.

Because it's not harder. It's just different. I always say this about multifamily. It's not harder. It's just more. So what is the best way for people to get in touch with you, Devin?

To get in touch with me, probably send me a DM on Instagram, to be honest. My handle is at Devon Ryan Johnson, and that's probably the most authentic representation of my Life. Your the capitalclub.io, there's a button to, you know, reach out to our team and and talk to us. But if someone really wants to see interact Women in the wild, it's it's Instagram.

But that's great. Well, we actually GoBundant Women has a couple of of crossover members with the Capital Club, and they have great things to say about it. So we can give you that stamp of approval. So thank you everyone for joining us on the Power Up Your Life podcast. If this resonated, make sure you're liking, subscribing, leaving us a comment. We cannot wait to see you on the next episode.

Thanks, Devin.

Thank you. Thanks for joining us today on the Power Up Your Life podcast. If you got value from today's episode, make sure that you like and subscribe and send this episode to someone who needs to hear some wins like this. If you need to power up your business, head over to Power Up Your Life Now, where you can see all of the resources that our team has to power up your business. We'll see you on the next episode.