Faith-Driven Leaders W/Will Harvey
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Episode Description
In this episode of the On The Rise Podcast's Faith-Driven Leaders Series, host Nick Stromwall sits down with Will Harvey, a real estate fund manager and hard money lender based in the Richmond, Virginia area. Will shares a remarkably candid story — from battling alcohol addiction in college, to finding sobriety and faith, to building a career in mortgage lending, house flipping, and ultimately launching his own investment funds. He opens up about how his faith shapes his business decisions, his marriage, and how he is raising his two young boys. He also shares his vision for using wealth as a tool for eternal kingdom impact rather than earthly recognition. A deeply honest and inspiring conversation for any faith-driven investor or entrepreneur.
Summary
1. Sobriety Was the Foundation Everything Else Was Built On Will's journey into business and faith began not with a strategic plan but with a moment of vulnerability — getting sober at age 19 after a family friend spoke truth into his life at just the right time. He credits that decision, alongside accepting Jesus, as the two most important choices he has ever made, and sees the hand of God clearly in how it unfolded.
"It was looking back — I don't know how you could say it was anything but God ordained."
2. Faith Becomes Real When You Start Living It Out Loud For years Will believed privately but didn't speak openly about his faith in professional settings. As he and his wife drew closer to God together, that changed — he now prays with investors before meetings, signs his investor updates "In Christ," and mentions prayer naturally in his communications. Small signals, he has found, draw the right people in.
"I just try to be authentic and not hold any of that back."
3. Growing Closer to God Grows Your Marriage Too Will describes a triangle analogy shared by a friend in his Bible study — when both spouses focus on growing closer to God, they naturally grow closer to each other. He credits this principle with transforming his marriage, and now he and his wife pray together most nights and model prayer with their three-year-old son every morning.
"Our marriage has improved so much since we've really made a commitment to draw close to Jesus."
4. Know What You're Good At — and Stay There It only took Will three rental properties to realize he hated being a landlord. Rather than grinding through something that didn't suit him, he pivoted — using house flipping to generate cash and migrating toward the finance side of real estate, eventually launching a dedicated hard money lending fund. Knowing and accepting your strengths is a form of wisdom, not weakness.
"I like being more of a limited partner. I migrated more and more to the finance side. That's just where I migrated to. It's what I enjoyed."
5. Stay Local — Regional Expansion Is Where Operators Get Burned Will has intentionally kept his hard money lending focused on the Richmond, Virginia market, resisting the temptation to expand regionally or nationally. He has heard too many war stories from experienced operators who performed well locally but got into trouble the moment they ventured outside markets they truly knew.
"Real estate is such a localized thing that the local guys just have a big edge over guys that are national or even regional."
6. Kingdom Stewardship Means Playing a Long Game Inspired by watching how strategic philanthropists use wealth to create systemic change, Will has built a separate personal fund designed to grow over time and eventually support missionaries, ministries, and gospel work around the world. His vision is not recognition — it is eternal impact through faithful stewardship of what he has been given.
"This life is so finite and so minuscule compared to eternity. I'm a long-term investor. So why would I focus on the ephemeral instead of focusing on the eternal?"
7. Time in the Word First Thing Changes Everything Will's most consistent piece of practical wisdom is simple — get into Scripture before anything else in the morning. When he is intentional about this, he describes experiencing a peace that he can only attribute to God. When he drifts into a checklist mentality or skips it altogether, his mind is scattered and his day reflects it.
"I have found that it has given me a sense of calm and a sense of peace that is just beyond comprehension."
8. The Peace of God Is the Greatest Asset a Leader Can Have Will closes by reflecting on Philippians 4:6-7 — the promise that when we bring our anxieties to God in prayer and thanksgiving, a peace that surpasses human understanding guards our hearts and minds. He sees this not as a platitude but as a lived reality that sets faith-driven leaders apart in the middle of adversity.
"Every time I do that and I get to that point where I'm done and I just have this total sense of peace, I'm like — why don't I do this more often?"
Resources
Website: https://harvey-capital.com
Socials: https://x.com/wharvey93
