While growing STORE Capital into one of the largest net-lease real estate investment trusts in the U.S., with more than 3,000 properties as of fall 2022, Volk began to share what he’s learned over the course of his career about business.
The success of STORE’s customers — like health clubs, child-care centers, restaurants, auto repair and maintenance shops and small manufacturers — was integral to the success of STORE.
That’s one reason he started STORE University, a series of video modules aimed at helping STORE’s tenants succeed and grow more profitable. After all, if a tenant’s business goes under, that tenant is no longer paying rent.
Topics covered by STORE University include determining the value of one’s business, calculating return on equity, picking businesses to invest in and evaluating financing options.
Since stepping away from STORE, Volk, who splits his time between homes in Arizona and Huntsville, Ala., has continued to write extensively on and teach the same principles that fueled his own success. He also serves on several boards, including that of Banner Health, the largest health care provider in Arizona.
On the topic of business, he’s written for many publications, including CEO World, European Business Review, MarketWatch, Chief Executive and others.
“I’ve been a student of business models my whole career,” Volk says. “And over the years I learned you could make them simpler and simpler, and they’d still be just as effective.”
And that’s the idea behind the book, “The Value Equation: A Business Guide to Wealth Creation for Entrepreneurs, Leaders & Investors,” which breaks down the characteristics of successful business models, demonstrating how wealth is created for owners and investors.
The book garnered over a dozen awards in 2022, including the BookFest, International Impact, PenCraft and New York Book Festival awards.
For Volk, a successful business is intrinsically virtuous, benefiting its customers, its employees and its owners and investors alike.
“All businesses solve a problem for customers and no business can succeed without lots of customers,” Volk says. “For a business to succeed, it has to be a win-win-win proposition.”
