Although successful as a college basketball player, Antonio Buchanan wanted to dispel the narrative that you had to be a rapper or athlete to escape your circumstances as an African American male.
Joining the U.S. Navy paved the way for his successful journey. Buchanan has worked as a U.S. Marshal and an intelligence officer for the CIA. Today, he is CEO-managing partner at Capstone Investment Group â and works as an engineer for Microsoft. A trial-and-error approach has bred success throughout his life. The savvy 38-year-old has maximized every opportunity and is sharing his experiences in his new book, âBuilding Success Through Real Estate With AB,â to help others achieve their goals.
Antonio details his journey with Zenger, from traveling the world to amassing an impressive resume.
Percy Crawford interviewed Antonio Buchanan for Zenger.
Zenger: When Ross [Williams] told me your story, I thought you were at least 70, given the life you have lived. What were your experiences?
Buchanan: We joke about that, but itâs kind of amazing some of the things I have accomplished in such a short period of time. Iâm blessed. Everything started at a young age. Iâve always been motivated, always wanted more out of my life. Some people have to be motivated in a certain way to do certain things. For me, I didnât personally have to experience anything to want more. I looked at other people that were either in a position to succeed in life and didnât, for whatever reason. I didnât want to be like that. That propelled me into my career.
Starting out in high school, I played basketball and went to college on a basketball scholarship. I realized I wanted more than just being a basketball player. In our community, we have a stigma. In order to be successful, you have to be an athlete or rapper, things like that. They donât see us being successful outside that. At that period of time in my life, I made a decision: The chances of me going to the league [NBA] are very slim. I want to focus more on school, but I donât want to pay for school.
So I went to a junior college on scholarship, then tried to get into a really good school for academics. Unfortunately, the school that I wanted to go to didnât give me a scholarship. Thatâs when I joined the Navy.
I was stationed overseas. I did humanitarian-type things, visited 20 to 30 countries and just experienced life. Joining the military was hands down the best decision I ever made in my life, because it set me up for everything else that happened. I did three years in Japan, traveled all over the world, and I did my last year in Oklahoma City at an Air Force base. Once I completed that, I left Oklahoma City, I moved to Miami. In Miami, I was a U.S. Marshall.
Now, the jobs Iâve had in my life.
Every job Iâve had has been extremely difficult to get. Some statistics: You can apply to be a U.S. Marshal, but out of 40,000 applicants, weâre only accepting 50 across the board. You have to be very competitive and be on point. Everything has to line up. Fortunately, I made it and got through. I was a U.S. Marshal in Miami for a few years. I was on high-profile cases. Iâve come face to face with a terrorist, drug cartels, Colombian cartels, everything that you can think about. Kicking in doors, arresting peopleâĤ all of that. Miami is the drug capital of the world. We were on high alert all the time.
Once I did that, I was like: âI want more! What other job can I do?â Sitting at my desk one day, I said, âIâm going to apply to be a CIA intelligence officer.â I applied, same exact thing, we get 20,000 to 30,000 applicants per month, good luck. Now, when I was a U.S. MarshallâĤ I made it to the CIA, Iâm like one of 10 black people out of 100. As a matter of fact, on my team for both, I was the only black person for a long time. Itâs difficult, but for whatever reason, Iâve always excelled and made it beyond that. I did a plethora of things for the CIA as a computer engineer.
In the intelligence community, everything is very low-key and confidential. When I go to work, I donât have access to my phone. I canât talk to the outside world. There are certain things I can talk about, there are certain things I canât talk about. After four years, I needed a change. I wanted to start a real-estate company, but I canât do real estate and work there as well. Then, I said, what other job could I do thatâs going to get me where I want to be outside the government? BoomâĤ Microsoft came knocking at my door.
âWe got this position; you qualify for it.â I applied and got hired the same week. When I left the CIA and started working at Microsoft, I started my business at the same time. Iâm working full-time and running my business full-time. Iâm currently working at Microsoft, and I still do real estate.
In my real-estate business, I have about 30-something units across five states: Mississippi, Indiana, Virginia, Maryland and Wisconsin. Another thing in my life: Iâve always worked full-time and always went to school full-time. I have three degrees: an associate degree in computer networking, a computer engineering degree, and a systems-engineering degree from Johns Hopkins. All the academics and all the hard work have paid off â and thatâs why I am where I am today.
Zenger: Have you found a balance between the Microsoft job and your real-estate work?
Buchanan: Because Microsoft is my W-2 employer, it gets the bulk of my time right now. I have to perform. At Microsoft, I am No. 1 on my team. The other time I have is all real estate. Whether itâs on the weekends, on my way to bed before I sleep. People like to say, âI woke up early,â but whatâs the benefits of waking up early if you donât capitalize on that time? My days start at 4:30 in the morning because Iâm able to do real estate in the morning before I start my job at 8 or 9:00. Iâve been doing that for years. When Iâm done with my job, most people say how tired they are, and they donât feel like doing anything. Iâm more motivated because I know where my end goal is. I know where I want to be at.
Zenger: How did the military prepare you for all this?
Buchanan: The military was my first time away from my family. That was my first time being introduced to the hardships of life, difficult situations, being able to think on the fly, counter certain situations, being able to make split-second decisions. No matter how dangerous a situation may be or seem, you signed an oath, to protect and defend the U.S. and the Constitution. Nothing seemed hard to me.
When I think back on it, we went through some dangerous situations. As a U.S. Marshal, think about the threats you go against every day that are unknown. I did the same thing in the Navy. Working with foreign nationals, protecting the seas, protecting the lands, transporting Marines to shore. That was my first eye-opener to everything. [It] set me up for every other job Iâve had.
Zenger: What made you decide to share your real-estate expertise in a book?
Buchanan: Iâm a humble guy, Iâm very low-key, I donât like being the center of attention. My mentor told me: âYou have such a great story, you provide a lot of knowledge to a lot of people, you need to get your story out there. You would be doing a disservice to people that look like you, that wonât be in the same position. Theyâre going to see you and be motivated by the things that you have already done.â
It was important to me to say, itâs not about me, itâs about the people that I am catering to. When Iâm giving a presentation, itâs not about me, itâs about my audience. I wanted to create this credibility, so people can say, he came from the same state I did, he did a similar thing I did. Heâs an African American male, heâs young. I give them the motivation to be something bigger and better than a rapper or an athlete.
Zenger: For anyone that picks this book up, what will the takeaway be?
Buchanan: Everything! Life knowledge, discipline, consistency, the ability to change their mindset. Theyâre going to learn from mistakes that I made, and how I was able to navigate. One of the biggest things that I like about my book, itâs easy to give somebody knowledge. If I tell you, go out the door, turn right, and pick up something, as long as everything is in the exact place that Iâm describing it, youâre good. What happens if thereâs no right turn? Can you think on the fly? Do you know how to be analytical and made the right decisions?
One of the things I like about the degrees that I have, I was taught to be able to think on my own. It wasnât like when we were in school, they give you a study guide, and the test was exactly like the study guide. For instance, if I tell you to give me numbers that equal 10. You can do, 5+5, you can do 8+2, you can do 9+1. Thereâs more than one way of deriving the answer. Thatâs what I like, and thatâs what people will get out of this book.
Even though it is real estate, and weâre talking about certain things, everybody can approach it differently. It is different ways to invest in real estate.
Edited by Fern Siegel and Kristen Butler
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