Today we’d like to introduce you to Winston Templet
Hi Winston, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My name is Winston Templet and I was born April 4, 1968 in New Orleans, LA. I was born into a poor family with a very abusive father who had just gotten out of Vietnam. At the age of seventeen I moved out of my parent’s house and have lived on my own ever since.
My first job was in the hotel industry and I started in the general storeroom. The comptroller in the hotel took a liking to me and moved me into the accounting department in my first year of employment. I worked in each of these departments within my first 3 years of employment. Accounts receivables, accounts payable, inventory control, staff accountant, and chief accounting clerk. In 1989. In 1990 I felt as though I was passed up for a position and I decided that I need to leave the Hotel.
After I left the hotel I quickly realized that I had made a mistake by leaving because I really had no education or ability to get another good job. After searching for a job unsuccessfully I decided to take a job temporary in Tennessee managing the office in a small construction company, so my wife of one year and I decided to pack up and go to Tennessee until I could find a good job closer to home. I worked for the construction company for one year and realized that this was not a company that I wanted to work for and I was offered a position as an office manager with a startup company that did facilities maintenance for restaurants. I worked for this company for about one year and the owner of the company got sick and died. Over the next several months I only got paid maybe 3 times, the owners wife was doing the best she could but the company was new and the person who had the companies vision had passed away.
My wife and I were living in a trailer in Westmoreland Tennessee. This trailer had half of the windows in it broken out and had plywood over them, the floor in front of the front door was so rotted out and the dog would stick its head up through the hole and look at you. We lived in this trailer for two years without running water. We were poor and it looked like our future was doomed with poverty and problems.
After working for free for a most of the three months following the company’s owner’s death I came home on a Tuesday night noticed that the bank had repossessed my wife’s car. My wife told me that she appreciated the fact that I wanted to help the company out, but we weren’t able to pay our bills and we couldn’t even buy food. The next day went into the office and told the owners wife that I would be leaving on Friday because I needed to get a job that would feed my family. On Friday they closed the company down.
Again I didn’t have a job and wasn’t sure what I was going to do but on the very night I left the company I received a call from a man that I had never met, but had talked to many times on the phone doing receivables and collections calls. His name was Richard Blackmon and he asked me if I would be interested in starting my own company? I told him that was strange question because I didn’t feel qualified to open any kind of accounting company and he quickly told that he didn’t want me to open an accounting office, he wanted me to start a service company for restaurants. I told him that I didn’t know anything about restaurant service and he assured me that I could do it and all he need me to commit to is that anytime he called me I would respond to the call. So I decided to give it a try and the next day (Saturday) I ran my first service call for my very own company. I sold that company in 2019 with about $7 million a year in sales and 72 employees.
In 2006 I bought my very first rental property and as of August of 2024 I currently have just under 250 rentals. All of my properties are located in the state of Tennessee. I own a 50 unit apartment complex and a 47 home neighborhood in South Pittsburg, TN and another neighborhood of 57 houses in Smithville. Almost everything else that I own is in Sumner County TN. I have a team built around the real estate industry. We operate a property management company, a construction company, a land development company and an educational platform. Our passion is about helping people to become successful.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No, the road hasn’t always been smooth. Building a medium sized service was constant work and almost like herding cats with that many employees. Now on the real estate side, education is king. You will pay for your education through experience, or you can pay for it through classes. I would always suggest people that the path of classes. Education from experience is much more expensive and can have the potential in completely bankrupting you. In real estate, I’ve only ever had 3 properties that I bought that didn’t go according to plans. After losing money on those 3 deals, I decided to get the correct education, and I’ve never lost money on a deal since. Education is king.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
I’m currently working on rebranding my company from Stapro Investments, LLC to The Real Estate Templet. The purpose of the rebranding is to push more on the educational side and build an educational platform that helps beginner investors how to invest properly.
Under the platform of The Real Estate Templet we will be managing our real estate portfolio, we will be building land development deals, we will also be developing single and multi family deals. The second part of The Real Estate Templet will be the educational platform.
We are known to offer great quality housing. We are a company that is extremely proactive when it comes to maintenance of properties and taking care of the tenants.
What sets us apart from others. The quality of our builds, and the quality of our rentals. We are proactive in taking care of the needs of the tenants.
How do you define success?
I have always just wanted to be comfortable. Money isn’t my biggest push. I love helping people, and giving back to our community. I hope when I die that I’ve done my part in making this community a better place to live.
