Today we’d like to introduce you to Troy Eckard.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Troy. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Ever since a young age, I’ve had a drive to succeed and make something for myself and my family. My life began from humble beginnings in a small, south Texas town. I was raised in a single-mother household with three siblings, until a wonderful man married my mother and adopted my siblings and me. My single mother was struggling on $250 per month, raising with my adopted farther saying to me, “Son, every day you have to get out of bed and pull yourself up by your bootstrap because no one else will do it for you!” He was an optimistic man, though on accountability and yet loving. That built my inner character and helped develop my drive to be the best I can be.
The oil and gas industry was not a field I was planning for as I started my career. I was studying economics and finance in college and was given an opportunity to move to Dallas to join a small firm specializing in private funding for oil and gas projects. So I left college early to move to Dallas and continued schooling at night and little did I know I was embarking on a 30 year journey in a career that would turn into my passion.
I soon earned my license to sell securities in private placement offerings and my journey in the world of oil and gas began. After five years in the industry, I was given the opportunity to own my own FINRA brokerage firm that I ran until 2009. Our firm built a substantial client base of investors and became one of the top capital providers in DFW for private oil and gas fund raising.
The opportunities in the field were astonishing, and the sheer magnitude of the science and engineering behind drilling a well fascinated me. As a lover of geology and engineering, I quickly absorbed the information and was eager to explain it to investors and the public. As an avid investor myself, I saw an opportunity to partner with like-minded investors (my partners) and work on their behalf to acquire long-term, cash-flowing assets. So, in 1995 I started my own oil and gas company to provide my clients investments in oil and gas with a more direct participation and allowing our firm a higher level of asset control. I chose to close my investment firm in 2009 and no longer employ licensed investment professionals. I now work only with very select wealthy investors and my main focus is exploration, real estate, fabrication industry, minerals and acquisitions of existing businesses.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
My path from near nothing to building up my own company has been anything but easy but it’s been a journey that has provided me years of knowledge and life lessons that could never be taught. Finding the right people to work for you, partner with you, and be in business with is the number one factor of failure or success in my opinion. The road to success was bumpy and trying, but I value each high and each low for providing me tenacity and perseverance.
Please tell us about Eckard Enterprises, LLC.
Eckard Enterprises is an asset management company whose origins were built on oil and gas investments but quickly grew across various industries such as real estate, water rights, mineral rights, midstream/pipelines, and mergers and acquisitions that fit the goals and objectives of the company and my partners. Our firm represents only mature, financially qualified and wealthy private investors who seek to acquire such assets. We operate under a simple philosophy of “buy ugly”, put in sweat equity, create value, and seek a buyer who appreciates the delivery of a ready to assume asset. Throughout these 30 years I’ve been involved in more than 3,000 square miles of mineral acres across seven states, I am a principal Partner in Kinetica Partners that owns over 1,800 miles of pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico, and a portfolio of over 300 wells in the continental United States.
What I’m most proud of, it is my relationships with my Partners. I created my company with the vision to provide families access to diverse, alternative investments and build their financial portfolios to last for generations. This vision allowed my partners and myself to create a genuine friendship with so many kind, talented, successful and caring clients from all over the U.S. Some of these Partners have been with me since I started my career. To garnish their trust, respect and friendship has been an honor.
As far as separating me from others, I would have to admit it is my blunt nature and willingness to say it like it is – good and bad. Every year we host an annual Partner Conference where we invite every single investor to come and meet our team, one another and learn more about their investments and the company they are working with. It has been a great success for the culture at our company which creates a transparency unlike any other in our industry. No other firm I know of puts their investors together once a year and provide an open format for interaction. This conference lets our partners openly talk with me and my team to tell us what they like and do not like with their projects, and what we are doing well and not doing well. Taking this risk in investment relationships allows me to always strive to be better and work harder for my clients.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I would have finished my college degree. I would have invested more time in real estate, not oil and gas. In a 33 year career looking back, the wins for oil and gas are wonderful. The tax breaks are fantastic and a great tool. Nevertheless, the loss of capital on dry holes, unsuccessful wells and the commodity price swings are brutal.
Oil and gas is the polar opposite of real estate, in so far that it is a depleting asset and losing value daily. In addition, no matter how hard I work analyzing data, there is always geotechnical and operational errors that can occur, which are out of my control. This leaves my capital sources at times disappointed, even though the risk is clear when drilling for oil and gas.
Going forward, I am focusing on tangible assets that grow over time, are not replaceable, create cash flow and allow my talents to be maximized by being able to control the assets and the outcome via skills, instincts, and applied industry knowledge.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1301 Central Expressway South
Suite 100 Allen, TX 75013 - Website: www.eckardenterprises.com
- Phone: 8005278895
- Email: info@eckardenterprises.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Eckard-Enterprises-LLC-183831275727863
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/EckardNews
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/company/eckard-global/
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
