Tim Carden Profile picture
Jan 21 17 tweets 5 min read Read on X
Mar-a-Lago in 1985:

A 126-room mansion nobody wanted.

Then, Donald Trump bought it for $7M.

It hemorrhaged money for years... Until Trump had a genius idea that transformed it into a $40M a year cash cow.

Here's the full story🧵 Image
Mar-a-Lago wasn't just any property.

Built in the 1920s by cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post, it was designated as a National Historic Landmark.

The name means "Sea to Lake" in Spanish - reflecting its unique location.

Here's where it gets interesting:
When Post died, she willed the estate to the US government.

But they returned it to her foundation. The maintenance costs were too high.

For years, the property sat empty. No one wanted to take on the financial burden.

Until Trump came along...
In 1985, Trump saw an opportunity others missed. But his initial bid for Mar-a-Lago was denied.

So, he strategically bought land between Mar-a-Lago and the ocean for $2M, causing competing interest to decline.

Result? Image
He nabbed the 126-room mansion for just $7M. But he soon realized why others stayed away.

The property was hemorrhaging money...
Due to its historical significance, there were preservation requirements.

Plus:

• High-end amenities to maintain
• Extensive renovations needed
• Massive operational costs

For years, it seemed like a massive mistake... Image
Then Trump had an idea that would change everything:

Instead of keeping it as a private residence, he'd turn it into an exclusive private club.

But not just any club...

He'd make it the most prestigious club in Palm Beach.
The transformation began in 1994:

• Five clay tennis courts
• Trump Spa and Salon
• Luxury guest suites
• Beach Club access
• Waterfront pool

But the real genius was in the membership structure:
Trump created artificial scarcity.

He capped membership at 500 people with an initiation fee of $25,000.

The wealthy elite of Palm Beach were practically begging to join.

By 2014?
It was generating $15.6M annually.

The property that was once bleeding money became a cash cow.

And today? It makes over $40M a year.

Having a Mar-a-Lago membership meant you were "somebody."

This is where it gets interesting...
The member list reads like a Who's Who:

• Billionaire William I. Koch
• Finance mogul Thomas Peterffy
• Real estate titan Richard LeFrak
• Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy

Trump wasn't just selling access. He was selling status. Image
That's why I love this story so much:

Trump took a product and turned it into a story people wanted to be a part of.

And we've spent the past 2 years developing a way for founders to do the same thing...
You see, people today don't buy from companies. They buy from people. From stories.

They don't trust the swathes of AI-generated content & corporate BS anymore.

Think about it:

Elon Musk. Logan Paul. The Kardashians...
They're businesses dependent on the stories of PEOPLE. And the best way to create this same effect?

The same thing Trump's been doing all his life:

Cultivate a personal brand. It's an asset that'll pay dividends for life...
When you build a strong personal brand, you create your own Mar-a-Lago effect:

• Customers seek YOU out
• Investors want to back YOU
• Top talent wants to work with YOU

All while you sleep.

Ready to get started?
Founders: We’ll build your personal/company brand on 𝕏 (and beyond) without you lifting a finger.

To date, we've already helped 100+ founders get 3+ Billion combined views.

Interested in how we can do this for you? Book your free discovery call here: form.typeform.com/to/JWuXNkxQ?ut…
Thanks for reading! A bit about me:

2 years ago, I cofounded @ThoughtleadrX — a premium personal branding agency for world-class founders, executives, and investors looking to dominate socials.

If you enjoyed this, hit "follow" for more breakdowns! Image

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More from @timjcarden

Jul 7
Everyone thinks Steve Jobs "saved Apple."

But they're wrong.

In 1996, Apple lost $1 billion and was 90 days from bankruptcy.

Until one man pulled off a "last-second miracle."

How did Jobs thank him?

No one could believe it... ⬇️ Image
Picture this:

Apple's board meeting on January 31, 1996.

They weren't there to hire a new CEO.

They were there to sell the company.

That's how desperate things had become.
The numbers were catastrophic.

Apple's value had evaporated. Cash would run out in weeks.

CEO Michael Spindler was begging the board to sell to Sun Microsystems "on any terms Sun offered."

But one board member had a different idea: Image
Read 17 tweets
Jul 6
This woman is the REAL genius behind OpenAI's $300 Billion growth.

While everyone praises Sam Altman...

She solved the ONE problem no one else in tech could figure out.

Here's how she quietly scaled the most powerful product in history: ⬇️ Image
Meet Mira Murati.

OpenAI's former Chief Technology Officer.

The woman who turned ChatGPT from a research paper into one of the fastest-growing products ever.

Without her, AI would still be locked in university labs.

But here's what everyone missed...
The tech world had a massive problem in 2020.

AI models were powerful. But completely unusable.

They were unpredictable, unsafe, and impossible to scale.

Google, Meta, Microsoft - all stuck with the same challenge.

Then Murati did something nobody expected: Image
Read 16 tweets
Jul 5
In 2025, Elon Musk now owns more farm & zoo animals than Teslas.

Dozens now roam his 37-acre ranch in South Texas.

Everyone's laughing it off as another "crazy billionaire hobby."

But here's why it's actually part of his riskiest business yet: ⬇️ Image
The collection started 2 years ago with a few cattle.

Now it includes zebras, monkeys, & exotic species from rescued zoo operations, and breeding pairs worth millions.

Local vets report infrastructure rivaling major wildlife parks.

The scale hints at something bigger... Image
The ranch sits near Starbase, Musk's newly incorporated city.

In May 2025, SpaceX employees voted to create their own municipality.

This gives Musk unprecedented autonomy over land use.

And that autonomy revealed his true ambition:
Read 16 tweets
Jul 1
This CEO built a $250 Billion empire by breaking every rule:

• Unlimited vacation
• No performance reviews

Everyone called him insane—until he built the #1 streaming service on Earth.

Here’s the "corporate chaos" playbook top CEOs are stealing: 🧵 Image
Just imagine:

A tech company with 13,000 employees.

No vacation policy. No expense approvals. No performance reviews.

It sounds like chaos.

But there's a method to this madness...
In the early 2000s, Netflix was struggling after the dot-com crash.

Hastings had to lay off about a third of his team.

He expected disaster.

Instead, something unexpected happened...
Read 18 tweets
Jun 30
I'm calling it now: Elon will be the world's first TRILLIONAIRE.

Not because of Tesla or SpaceX...

But from the mental model he just revealed in this viral interview.

Here's how billionaires actually think (10 principles): 🧵 Image
Musk never expected to build anything great.

His exact words:

"I wanted to try to build something useful, but I didn't think I would build anything particularly great."

Yet the 10 rules he dropped explain exactly how he became the richest man alive:
1. Expect failure, but try anyway.

Musk gave SpaceX a 1% chance of success. Started it anyway.

"We're probably going to die, but there's a small chance we might not die."

That's how he recruited engineers. The mindset?

A small chance beats no chance.
Read 17 tweets
Jun 30
Trump just held the biggest White House briefing to date.

The President and Pam Bondi rolled off announcements and hints about what's coming next for America.

Trump is now more powerful than ever.

Here's everything that's coming (the biggest societal shift in US history): Image
1. The shocking truth about who's been blocking Trump

Pam Bondi revealed that of 40 nationwide injunctions against Trump, 35 came from just 5 districts:

Maryland, DC, Massachusetts, California, Washington.

94 districts total. But 5 controlled everything.
2. Federal judges can no longer block Trump nationwide

Before, 1 liberal judge in California could stop Trump's policies for all 50 states.

Now, that judge's ruling only affects their local district.

Trump called this "a monumental victory for the Constitution."
Read 18 tweets

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