Some years scale you, some years humble you, and most years do both. In this special episode, Rain City Capital Founder Fred Rea talks through the swings of 2025 and what they taught him about running a company when the market, the team, and the world won’t sit still.

Fred talks goal setting, market predictions, Keanu Reeves, and why culture is still the thing he protects the hardest after all these years.

Key Nuggets:

00:53 - What it means to have a sh*t year

02:34 - On keeping the culture

03:42 - Market pain, DSCR losses, and a 2008 flashback

08:35 - Big rocks and the "one word" exercise to keep you grounded

13:04 - Focus in 2026

14:36 - "The whim of a madman!"

19:06 - Growing up and letting go

About Fred Rea

Founder of Rain City Capital and host of Good Nuggets. Fred brings unfiltered conversations to the mic, pulling lessons from the trenches of entrepreneurship, lending, and leadership.

From Good Nuggets: Happy Holidays

Thanks for tuning in this year. We’re grateful you’re here and grateful you care about real conversations with real people who are trying to build things that matter. Enjoy the downtime, hug the people you love, raise a glass, and we’ll see you in 2026 for more stories, more lessons, and more good nuggets.

Mentioned in this episode:

At 14:36, Fred talks about the 1994 classic 'Speed', starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock and says Dustin Hoffman plays the villain, but actually it's Dennis Hopper. His impression, however, is dead-on.

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True longevity in business comes from relationships that outlast the hard seasons.

In this episode of Good Nuggets, Fred Rea sits down with Buster Brown, Rain City’s former CFO and one of its first investors. Together, they trace the quiet, steady work that built Rain City from the early scrappy years into the company it is today. Not through hype or shortcuts, but through discipline, humility, and sticking around long enough to matter.

This conversation feels less like a highlight reel and more like two people looking back on a decade of decisions, trust, and growth...the kind of “work that lasts” because it’s been earned day after day.

🎧 Listen to more Good Nuggets for unfiltered conversations about the real side of entrepreneurship: the grind, the growth, and the people who keep showing up, year after year.

Guest: Buster Brown — Retired Rain City CFO. Pragmatic Thinker. Trusted compass and board member extraordinaire.

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Sometimes the biggest changes come from simply showing up. Fred Rea sits down with Dalton Elliott—architect of Rain City’s broker program—to talk about how presence, discipline, and trust reshaped his life and work. From a Muay Thai fight camp in Thailand to rebuilding culture and relationships back home, Dalton shares what happens when you stop chasing success and start showing up for it.

Dalton gets into the details on:

• Walking away from a “successful” career and rebuilding from scratch
• How a Muay Thai fight camp in Thailand changed the way he thinks about work and discipline
• The two principles that guide everything he does: be present and control what you can control
• Why trust—not deals—is the real currency in lending
• How to build a culture people actually choose to show up for

Guest: Dalton Elliott - Broker program boss. Discipline junkie. Knows the value of showing up (and getting punched in the face).

Host: Fred Rea - Founder of Rain City Capital and host of Good Nuggets. Fred brings unfiltered conversations to the mic, pulling lessons from the trenches of entrepreneurship, lending, and leadership.

Mentioned in this episode:

• At 05:49, the hoodies Fred mentions are Rain City’s annual employee gift. You can see this years' design on Instagram.
• At 36:27, Fred notes that the DSCR loan market has “doubled every year for the past three years.” Industry data shows strong growth, though not quite at that rate—most sources report 50–100% year-over-year increases depending on the segment and timeframe.

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What does it take to balance legal risk, leadership, and life inside a fast-moving company?

In this episode of Good Nuggets, Fred sits down with Rain City’s General Counsel, Katherine Christofilis, to talk about the unseen side of entrepreneurship, where every decision carries risk.

From navigating the 2008 recession to building the legal backbone of Rain City, Katherine shares hard-won lessons on trust, resilience, and keeping your side of the street clean.

Katherine opens up about:

• Graduating law school in the recession and finding her way through compliance and bankruptcy work
• How in-house counsel actually thinks about risk (and when to just “pay it and move on”)
• Why being the calm in the storm matters more than being the loudest in the room
• Building systems that let founders stay entrepreneurial and stay out of trouble
• Why the best stories in law are the ones you don’t have to tell (and how to avoid becoming one)

Don’t miss this one, it’s a reminder that the real work of law is helping people steer through risk, not just avoid it.

Guest: Katherine Christofilis — Attorney. Operator. Swiftie. Voice of reason in a business that moves fast.

Host: Fred Rea - Founder of Rain City Capital and host of Good Nuggets. Fred brings unfiltered conversations to the mic, pulling lessons from the trenches of entrepreneurship, lending, and leadership.

Watch full episodes on YouTube: youtube.com/@GoodNuggetsPodcast

Follow us on Instagram: instagram.com/goodnuggets.podcast

Listen on all platforms: goodnuggets.buzzsprout.com

When Jared first jumped into real estate, he thought he’d be a millionaire in a year. Instead, he found himself broke, managing a mobile home park, and losing money on his first flip.

But out of those struggles came lessons that reshaped how he does business. Today, Jared has a thriving book of business, a reputation for protecting his clients, and a bigger vision that merges entrepreneurship with the dirtbag lifestyle.

In this candid conversation, Jared and Fred unpack:

• How failure and struggle forged Jared's approach to business
• Why protecting your borrowers builds more than deals; it builds trust
• The difference between “dirtbag” and “scumbag” and why he proudly claims the former
• What to look for in your dream team (and why rock stars hang with rock stars)
• Where the lending industry is headed as Wall Street plays a bigger role

Whether you’re flipping your first property, building a lending business, or just trying to align your work with your values, Jared’s story will hit home.

Guest: Jared Prevost - Tampa market insider. Social media savvy. Total dirtbag (the good kind). Follow Jared on Instagram @jared_does_hardmoney

Host: Fred Rea - Founder of Rain City Capital and host of Good Nuggets. Fred brings unfiltered conversations to the mic, pulling lessons from the trenches of entrepreneurship, lending, and leadership.

👉 Mentioned in this episode:

• "Abundance mindset" - originally coined by Steven R. Covey in 'The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People'
• The Dirtbag article that Jared doesn't remember sending

Subscribe to Good Nuggets on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube for more authentic conversations and practical takeaways.

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In this episode of Good Nuggets, Fred sits down with Rain City Capital’s Chief Revenue Officer, and his longtime business partner, Ian Morell. Ian’s journey is a masterclass in patience, partnerships, and persistence. From his early flips and courthouse auction days to leading sales and marketing at Rain City, Ian’s story proves there are no shortcuts to building something lasting.

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• Why you should never quit your day job too early
• The grind behind building a $40M portfolio
• How smart partnerships fuel growth
• The role of timing and luck in entrepreneurship
• Why finding the right role matters more than titles

This is one for anyone who’s tempted by the quick win but knows deep down that the real payoff comes from playing the long game.

Guest: Ian Morell - Rain City's CRO. Punk band alum. Partnership-first operator. Co-architect of a $40M portfolio and proof that patience pays.

Host: Fred Rea - Founder of Rain City Capital and host of Good Nuggets. Fred brings unfiltered conversations to the mic, pulling lessons from the trenches of entrepreneurship, lending, and leadership.

👉 Subscribe to Good Nuggets on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube for more authentic conversations and practical takeaways.

Watch full episodes on YouTube: youtube.com/@GoodNuggetsPodcast

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What Taylor Swift can teach founders about culture…

It started out as a lazy Saturday and ended as one of Fred’s top five life moments: a spontaneous, last-minute family road trip to Vancouver for one of the final shows of the Eras Tour.

Where his son was pulled on stage for an iconic moment with Taylor Swift herself.

But this isn’t just about the concert. In this special episode, Fred shares what the experience revealed about culture, authenticity, and leadership. From watching his son become a “celebrity for a day” to feeling the instant judgment-free community created by 60,000 Swifties, Fred draws parallels to entrepreneurship and the challenge of building a company culture that will last through every era.

In this episode:

• The wild family scramble to make it to the concert without tickets, hotel, or a plan
• How Fred’s son ended up on stage with Taylor Swift
• The power of a judgment-free community
• Why authenticity is the foundation of lasting culture
• Lessons every entrepreneur can apply to their team and business, courtesy of the queen herself.

Check out our Instagram to see Fred’s photos and videos from this epic moment: goodnuggets.podcast

👉 Subscribe to Good Nuggets for more real stories, strategies, and people in entrepreneurship.

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This episode isn’t business as usual, we're gearing up for season 2 (coming September 8!) by remixing the most unforgettable nuggets from last season when our guests talked about one thing: the moment everything clicked.

From near-quits that became career-defining wins to the grind finally paying off, this episode is packed with raw stories about resilience, risk, and finding your turning point.

Featuring:

• Lesa Say on almost walking away and what made her stay (00:39)
• Julian Montante on the year-long grind and doubling down when it mattered (6:42)
• Fred Rea on losing it all and starting over with support (10:47)
• Jill Beattie on the month everything clicked after a brutal stretch (13:54)
• Alex Brosy on getting torn apart in an interview and coming back stronger (18:10)

🔔 Season 2 of Good Nuggets drops September 8. Subscribe now!

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