October 17, 2023 • 27 mins
I sat down with an inspiration in the real estate world who has an unbelievable story of persevering through failure after failure on his quest to make it. Trust me when I say - if he can overcome obstacle after obstacle to build a multi-million dollar business, you can achieve your dreams too.
From bombing the LSATs to being told "no" in countless acting auditions, this entrepreneur refused to back down. He offers brilliant advice for any young person struggling in school - success doesn't always come from the textbook path. Sometimes you learn more from falling on your face than acing a test.
Even when he finally broke into his dream career, the rug was pulled out from under him. But he picked himself up and stumbled into an industry he knew nothing about, only to rise to the very top. His tips for preparing obsessively and mastering self-confidence are game-changers for any business.
Beyond the corporate ladder, this mogul shares golden relationship advice that anyone can implement. Small acts of consideration go a long way. Listen in and you'll be convinced to put down your phone and pay more attention to your loved ones.
This self-made millionaire is now empowering the next generation through his passion for sales. You'll be blown away by his inspiring message: we all have an untapped ability to sell, and honing that skill can unlock life-changing freedom.
Get ready to have your mindset shifted as you hear this underdog's journey. He overcame the odds by never accepting defeat, and now he wants to pass the torch. Anyone can ignore the naysayers, never stop hustling, and eventually achieve their definition of success - even you. Tune in now to finally make your dream a reality!
Host: Daymond John
Producers: Beau Dozier & Shanelle Collins; Ted Kingsbery, Chauncey Bell, & Taryn Loftus
For more info on how to take your life and business to the next level, check out DaymondJohn.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I am not a natural born salesperson, but I figured
out how to be one. And I do not believe
that that people can't become a good salesperson or have
a good sales side hustle. And there's a lot of
people that want to make more money but don't know
how to. There's a lot of people who are riddled
with student debt and can't figure out how to get
a mortgage on their first home. So there's a lot
(00:22):
of issues out there that can be fixed with the
simple idea of learning how to sell one thing to
one person. And if you can do it one time,
you can do it again.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
You can do it again. You can do it again.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
What if I told you there was more to the
story behind game changing events? Get ready for my new podcast,
That Moment with Damon John will jump into the personal
stories of some of the most influential people on the planet,
from business mobiles and celebrities to athletes and artists. Ran
(00:55):
Thank you for being here, thank you for creating all right,
well for those who don't know and I didn't even
know half of.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
This stuff, which really is great.
Speaker 5 (01:03):
You know, obviously you're a million dollars things in New
York you're from Houston, and you know, I think, did
you studied, uh, what do you study? And as being
an actor and after a while, you know, it just
didn't really work out or you know, you're struggling to
support yourself, and then you moved to New York and you're.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
A million dollar listening.
Speaker 5 (01:21):
I know that obviously, I just compressed the whole day
in my life right right there.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
But I want to get into some stuff.
Speaker 5 (01:27):
I want to you know, I know you have a
book and I had the honor of putting a little
stuff in there.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Yeah, thank you very much.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
I don't know, it was really my pleasure. But I
want to get back to uh.
Speaker 5 (01:38):
First of all, you know, tell me a little bit
about you growing up and you know, your struggles as
an actor or trying to be an actor, and then
then let's bring it all the way back to coming
to New York.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
So I was born in Houston. I didn't live are
that long.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
I was born in a house on a mattress really yeah,
outside Houston. And then we moved and I grew up
a little bit in Long Island and and basically grew
up outside Boston, Okay. And the only thing I ever
really liked was theater, I think because I just was
awful at sports and I just wasn't great in school
(02:12):
no matter how hard I tried. And then I went
to college in upstate New York and majored in theater
and English literature Hamilton College, a liberal arts school. And
then after that I thought I should be a lawyer,
because when you go to a liberal arts school, that's
what you're supposed to do, right, Or go to business
school or go to pre med or do something like that,
get a real job. And so I took the LSAT
(02:34):
totally bombed.
Speaker 5 (02:35):
It.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Got like three points above the lowest score and use
that as like a convincing three points below the three
points above the lowest score. So it yeah, it was
like a one forty seven or something terrible. And then
I basically went to my parents. I was like, say, look,
I like I should go to New York. I'll use
the savings I have from working in from working as
a contractor's laborer for eight summers and try to serve
(03:00):
as an actor in New York City and I'll make
forty thousand dollars I think that's what I had saved
at the time. I'll make that last like ten years, right,
because that's a lot of money and I'll be the
next Brad Pitt.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
One thousand a year. Huh.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Yeah, Okay, I didn't really know how things worked right time.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
Now, did you intentionally try to bomb? No? Not really.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
I mean I studied really really hard for that thing.
Took all the classes, all the pretests, everything. I just
wasn't a great test taker, and yeah, my heart wasn't
in it, but it was definitely tough. And then I
came to New York City tried to be an actor
and had to figure out how to be my.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Own boss because a lot of people who come to
the city.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
To try to be an actor are you know, you're
technically unemployed. And then trying to figure out like what
you do during the day Monday through Friday, Saturday, Sunday,
you know, how to pick yourself up in the morning
and work and what the work actually is is hard.
So I had to teach myself how to do that.
I did a little like hand modeling to pay the bills.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
Actually really yes.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Well, I held phones for at and t hat my
hands to look like different countries and I was a
pretty successful hand model for a little while.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
They paid me like a hund.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
Model business, Yeah, one hundred.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Like I would hold cups like this and then you know,
really really flex the fingers and boom. But they cut
my face out, you know, And so I did that.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
There's a job for everybody out there.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
One of my first modeling jobs I did in the
city and I was absolutely awful at It was for
Fubu and Yes in my company Yes in two thousand
and six, and they were the worst photos ever. My forearms,
I think at the time, were really hairy and it
was like wearing a T shirt or like a collared shirt.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
I don't think they ever got used anywhere.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
Wow. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
I remember that distinctly though, because I just was like,
A I just did not.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
Do we still own the rightsier image.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Maybe you should look for them.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
Yeah, we were to look that up.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
It was forever tell me that a right anyway guy
is remembered.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
I did one there and then one for I don't
even remember, and then I got out of soap opera.
I did as World Turns for a little bit and
then they killed me off when the writer's strike happened
in two thousand and seven. They killed you yeah, well,
I basically killed myself in a tussle with my grandmother.
That was a big There was a bad day for me.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
You had a white win, Nana, and then you killed you.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Yeah well, and my aunt she stepped in and like
took like a swing, and then the syringe that I
was killing people with took it to my own neck.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
It was a whole thing. It's still on YouTube. And
then I ran out of money.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
And then it was the summer of two thousand and eight,
and it was either go home to Colorado or get
a survival job. But I just knew that everybody who
had survival jobs, it just becomes your job, right, And
I didn't want to do that. I didn't want to
put myself in that position job like become a waiter
or a bartender.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
I thought you might go home to Colorado and like
work the ski slopes somewhere.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
If I went to Colorado, I'd be painting fence for
like hours on end. But then I got my real
estate license because a friend told me to. It was
two thousand and eight, like the middle so the market
hadn't fallen out yet, and so it was like the
greatest thing in the world to be a real estate agent.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
They said, you know you could just you could sell
apartments on Craigslist. It was super easy.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
So I got my license and my first day was
September fifteenth, two thousand and eight, the day leaving Brothers
Spot for bankruptcy.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
And now I still do it to this day.
Speaker 4 (06:15):
That's fascinating.
Speaker 5 (06:16):
So you went from sucking as a student to sucking
as an actor, to going into an industry that had
hit rock bottom, I mean as low as it has
hit in decades. Yes, would you think that you had
nothing to lose and that was why you kept going?
(06:37):
Because that could be that could be pretty tough, pretty
tough like you, A lot of people would go for,
as you call it, a survival job after that and say,
you know what, everything I do, it could actually give
you a really bad outlook in life in general.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
Sure, right, What what gave you the drive to then
keep going in an industry at that time that the
professionals who had business a successful business for years were dead?
You know what gave you that drive?
Speaker 2 (07:09):
A couple things.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
I mean, first, in hindsight, it was the best time
for me to get into the business because I because
I had nothing to lose, like you just said, I
ran out of money, so I had to make money somehow.
A lot of people who were really hurt in the
financial crisis and in the Great Recession, for people who
had lifestyles to uphold. You know, how do you pay
your rent, how do you pay your mortgage? How do
(07:31):
you pay for your kid's tuition if you aren't bringing
in any money? And sure, for me, I was making
my money getting paid one hundred and fifty dollars an
hour to wear your shirts, right, So, like I knew
how to make money in different ways and survive and
pay my rent, and so I was able to kind
of crawl up from the bottom. And I just thought
the business was super hard. I just thought, Wow, no
(07:52):
one can get loans. Wow, people lose their jobs all
the time. This is just a really hard business. So
it didn't really affect me the way it affected everybody
else because I had nothing to lose. And then, you know,
I think that when I was a little kid, even
though my first goal was to be an actor and
that was where my passion was, I really kind of
chose success first, you know, And I said, I'm going
(08:15):
to give it my best shot. But no matter what,
happens in life. I want to be successful and the
career will figure itself out, and if it's not acting,
it's going to be something else. If it's not as
a lawyer, it'll be something else. And I think that's
where a lot of people that I talked to anyway
kind of get mixed up. That they have this idea
of who they want to be, or the kind of
company they want to build, or the type of job
(08:36):
they want to have, and then when that doesn't work out,
it becomes like a brick.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Wall, and then they get pissed off.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Then they have that kind of defeatist attitude and they
just treat the rest of the world terribly. Whereas for me,
not passing the ls AT and going to law school
was a speed bump, right Not making it as an
actor was a speed bump.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Not doing well in school speed.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Bump, and then real estate was just another path that
I never anticipated to go down. But my years of
trying to be an actor actually prepared me pretty well
for because it's a lot of memorization, it's a lot
of improv it's a lot of just talking to people
on your feet, and you have to be okay with projection,
(09:34):
because it's a lot of memorization, it's a lot of
improv it's a lot of just talking to people on
your feet, and you have to be okay with projection,
and as an actor, you get rejected to your face.
In real estate, no one has ever not taken an
apartment or a home because of my face.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
Right, that's a good point.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
And so for me, I was Yeah, eighty two percent
of the real estate agents who get into the business
in New York City quit within twelve months because they
can't take the rejection and there's no salary, they can't
pay the rent, they can't figure out how to live
if they don't know where the next paycheck is coming.
But for me, I'd been in New York City for
two years already. I didn't have a salary. I was
(10:13):
used to just kind of scrounging buy and I was
used to being in a business where I was rejected
to my face every single day. So real estate, honestly,
wasn't that bad.
Speaker 5 (10:23):
Well, you know, as you said, you knew the job
of the career would figure it out. But you want
to be successful. What was your when you didn't have anything?
What was your measuring stick? For success.
Speaker 4 (10:33):
What what do you feel?
Speaker 5 (10:34):
What you what did you feel would be the ideal
successful person?
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Honestly, at the time, it was I never I wanted
to be successful enough that I never had to think
about money. You know, I never wanted to be nervous
about money. And when I lived in New York City,
I was nervous about money every day. I mean I
was always trying to figure out how is I going
to pay rent? You know, remember sitting on the subway,
(11:02):
you know, having my credit card declined at food and
porium on fifty ninth Street, and just like my eyes
welling up, not knowing what to do.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Should I call my parents? Like this sucks? I hate
New York.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
I paint this, you know what, just kind of like
letting that become a disease. And you know, I wanted
to run as far away from that point as I
possibly could.
Speaker 5 (11:23):
But you know what, you know, let's let's think about
it as you would step back for a second and
talk about people's lifestyles. A lot of people, no matter
how much money they have, they're still worried about money, right,
you know, because their their theory of it is Okay,
at first, I don't want to worry about money.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
But then all of a sudden they have a huge mortgage.
Speaker 5 (11:42):
They may want a bigger boat, they may want more cars,
they want to hang out in different areas.
Speaker 4 (11:47):
Right, so you relatives, Yeah, exactly right, So did you?
Speaker 5 (11:52):
Was your mindset always I just want a modest life
and I don't want to worry about money. And then
as you gain more more success, you kept that discipline
of having a modest life and putting away something.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
Here then being able to do whatever you want to do.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
I mean, I think so, you know, I not an overspender,
you know, and I'm always terrified that the real estate
market will crap out and that'll be screwed, and so
we take things like very very modestly, like you said.
And you know, I grew up like really trying to
understand like the value of a dollar, and my parents
(12:29):
made us work all of the time, made us like
pick up sticks in the yard for a couple of
bucks an hour, just so that I could understand like
what it means to work for your money.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
So so okay, so now let's let's let's move ahead.
Speaker 5 (12:43):
You're you're you're starting to make your way in the
real estate world, and uh, you know, Bravo comes along.
You know, tell me about right before Bravo came along,
you know, give me a snapshot of your life at
that time.
Speaker 4 (12:57):
At that time.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
So it was the beginning of two thousand and ten
when they first started casting for the show. I wasn't
in love with real estate.
Speaker 4 (13:06):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
I didn't grow up falling in love with crown moldings
and Victorian houses, right, It wasn't in my blood. And
I wasn't a born salesperson either. Like I was overweight, shy,
terrible skin. I was int like I wanted to do theater,
so I didn't have to be myself at school.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Like that's why I got into it. That's I mean,
I know that now.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
No overweight, shy with terrible skin. Yeah, well now we
know why you didn't get the foogol pictures. They workout
you should be modeling in the first place at that point.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
But it cleaned myself up a little bit when I
moved to the city.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
Okay, I'm sorry, yeah, but.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
You know so I I at that time, beginning in
twenty ten, I was looking at business school options. I
thought about maybe going back to NYU or going to Columbia,
to get like a master's of real estate or trying
to figure out something to do with kind of the
two years of experience that I had at that time
renting and trying to sell apartments. And then there was
an open casting call at the Hudson Hotel and I
(14:02):
went with three thousand agents and they picked three.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
With three thousand cast three thousand real estate agents to
show three.
Speaker 5 (14:10):
Yeah, and why did they pick you? I mean obviously
you know, seeing you today and seeing how you know,
how skilled you are, smart, and how you obviously you
know know what you're doing now, Yeah, it's great, but
you know you only in the business two years?
Speaker 4 (14:27):
Yes, right? Yeah?
Speaker 5 (14:28):
Was it part of the theater that you know, that
that helped you bring this power to you?
Speaker 4 (14:34):
Or what was it? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (14:35):
I think it was. I mean, life has a funny
way of coming back around.
Speaker 4 (14:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
So even though I had quit technically the acting business
two years prior, I you know, I spent twenty four
years of my life thinking I was going to be
an actor and studying it. And I was on a
soap opera and I did other student films and things,
and I'd been on stage a lot, so I knew
how to carry myself in front of cameras, and when
(15:00):
I went into that open casting call, I knew what
they were looking for, and I gave them exactly what
they wanted. And I think a lot of people just
didn't know what to do. And you know, I knew
what role I kind of had to fit and that's
who I was. And then they whidled it down and
whittled it down, whittled it down, and then I just
went for broke and then I had to figure out
how to be a real estate agent, like for real. Right, Yeah,
(15:22):
So that whole first season, if I watch it back,
which I will never do, I think every episode I'm
like the most stressed out real estate agent ever because
I'm like trying to figure out, like how to do
this business competing up against like two very big, vary
established brokers.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
What do you think you know?
Speaker 5 (15:39):
On the side note, what is it about BRABO that
picks people who are really good business people? I mean,
obviously Bethany, my guy, Josh Altman, brothers, you, I mean
people who are they find a way of really finding
people before they've hit that mark, but these people are
usually really great business people.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
What is it with brabol? How do they have that eye.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
I don't know, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
I think they look for I think they look for
people who are business savvy, because you have to be
able to survive to do these shows.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
You know, even Andy, of course I'm a great business person.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Exactly like you have to. I think they look with
people with amazing energy. And if you have amazing energy,
you can be a good business person. And if even
if you're bad, you have great energy to find somebody
else who is good enough to help you. And I
think they have a good kind of like nose for that.
But not everybody was on Bravo is a great business person.
Speaker 5 (16:37):
No, not everybody, but they they have spawned a really
good amount of people that are, you know, game changers.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
You know. All right, so now you're a reality start now.
Speaker 5 (16:48):
I know that that word sometimes made other people cringe,
but a lot of people don't think about it. Listen
to the Kardashian's the number one Google family on the planet.
You know, Donald Trump is president. You know, I a
shark now, thank god? Right, and you got Bethnee. You've
got a lot of people that are in yourself. You've
got a lot of people that are doing world you know,
they're they're they're changing their breaking the model right out there.
(17:09):
And now you're a reality star and you know, and
you're selling real estate and you're inspiring people and educating people.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
What is your life like today?
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Today?
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Today, I run a large real estate team of about
sixty two people. We were just named the number one
real estate team in New York. I think we're number
two in the country. Nice as of like two weeks ago.
Speaker 4 (17:35):
Nice gratulations. Thank you. That's a big commersontion.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Yeah, so we uh so, my life today is basically
being the CEO of my real estate team and prospecting
and driving as much business to my team as we
possibly can and selling. Like right before this, I was
in an appointment showing an apartment. Right after this, I'm
going to go show another apartment.
Speaker 5 (17:53):
So all that is all that film Because you know,
you and I were talking about the you know how
long filming takes. You know me, It's takes two weeks.
Right now, they're wrong. The two weeks of filming is intense. However,
it's the six months of having the closed deals and
operate the companies.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
Every year that takes a long time. But you're filming
eight or nine months.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Right, Yeah, we film basically August to June.
Speaker 5 (18:14):
And so do they do they? Are they with you
like when you go and show places regularly?
Speaker 1 (18:19):
No, we have we tell them what properties we think
should be followed, because every episode for the most part
follows a different listing.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
And then they follow it.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
When we have something happening. You know, they don't have
to show every single showing, but they'll show the open houses,
they'll show the meetings with the developer. So today I'm
not showing anything that has to do with anything we're
following on the show, so they're.
Speaker 4 (18:41):
Not with me. So they're not with me today.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
I'm not showing anything that has to do with anything
we're following on the show, So they're not with me.
Speaker 5 (19:09):
Okay, because I would wonder, how do you have time
to obviously be with your family, run sixty two people company,
the privacy of the people who want to have listenings,
and they're like, I don't want to be part of
the show and that stuff, and then film all that
time and it sounds like a pretty hectic schedule if
you ask me.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Yeah, and throw on top of it, you know that
I just wrote a book that took me ever to
write on the tour. At the same time, we made
sell like Sir Hint, which is a spin off show
that is airing on Bravo right now on Monday nights.
And so that show took a lot of time to
make because it was very different. It was as a
coach and kind of as a counselor to people in
(19:46):
different jobs who were sucking at selling.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
Right, yeah, so how do you find time to do
all that? You know what?
Speaker 1 (19:55):
A couple of years ago, I was so busy and
so stressed out out and I told my wife that
should we wait for the siren?
Speaker 4 (20:03):
Its cool?
Speaker 2 (20:04):
No?
Speaker 4 (20:04):
You know, people know you share in New York and
you know the.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Film all the time and we always have to wait
for sirens. So my brain is like, wait for silent Yeah.
Speaker 4 (20:11):
And by the way, who was watching in New York?
This is normal? Yeah? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Yeah yeah. So my wife told me to stop complaining.
She's like, you know who's busy? Obama?
Speaker 4 (20:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
And for some reason that stuck in my head because
I was like, you know what, You're right, the president
is probably more busy than me.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Yeah, and why and he's having dinner with his wife?
Damn it, I need to figure out time management better.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Right, So I had to really really look at how
I leverage the work that I do on the team
that I have right, and leverage my time to make
sure that all I do every day is only things
that I can personally do.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
If there's anything that's going on during.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
The day that somebody else that works for me or
that works with me can do, they should do that that.
Like I can only be here with you, you wouldn't be
here with someone else on my team correct everything else.
Speaker 5 (20:56):
You're trying to master delegation.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Yes, it's all about leverage and delegation and making sure
that my team knows what they're supposed to do, and
then taking a step back a little bit.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
I know.
Speaker 5 (21:08):
So, but you know, how do you find power or
what empowers you in your business life and in your
personal life?
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Good question, power? You know, I don't think I'm that powerful.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Power to me is confidence, right, and confidence is then
knowledge and so like even when I first started in
the business, I had no power.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
I was brand new. I didn't even own a suit.
Speaker 4 (21:35):
I got sure.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
I was showing apartments up and down New York City,
walk up four bedrooms that were you know, split out
of a one bedroom in cowboy boots because those were my.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Nicest shoes I had. I couldn't wear like gym shoes.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
And because I had no experience that I had to
figure out how I was going to have power in
a situation with a client, have confidence. And so I
just memorized as much information as I could so and
I knew that other brokers were lying on their experience
versus what they actually knew. And so if I was
showing an apartment on this block right here, I wouldn't
memorize all of the information about every single building. I'd
(22:10):
look up who lived everywhere, so that when I walk
down the street with somebody, I would be able to
point and tell them everything that they never knew and
couldn't even google. And so then they would look at
me and say, wow, you look young, but you know
what you're talking about. You've been doing this for a
long time, right, And I'd look at my watch, I'd
be like, yep, but in a while, uh huh.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
And so I think that's very powerful.
Speaker 5 (22:29):
I think that you know, really studying the marketing environment
you're subject, even if it had to be two hours
prior to that, is powerful. You know, A lot of
people will walk into some place unprepared. Yes, I think
what preparation is power? Yeah, yeah, they say, you know,
most crimes are most of the criminals of court because
(22:50):
they never thought about how to get away. Yeah, they
just jumped into it and never actually thought about how
to get away, right, And you're thinking about how to get.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
Away always right?
Speaker 1 (22:59):
And then my personal I think the same thing. You know,
I think it's preparation as well. You know, it's it's
like thinking forward. Its thinking about, you know, how do
we make date night different? You know, it's thinking about,
you know what, I should be a little bit late
and clean up the dishes and take out the trash
today because she's going to really appreciate that, you know,
that little bit there, and coming home half an hour
(23:21):
early and surprising her when she's had a long day
like that. Preparation as a husband, and same thing goes
for being a friend for the little time I have
for my friends goes a long long way. And I think,
is me power in the relationship or in the bedroom?
Speaker 4 (23:37):
You know, yeah, listen, you know I can learn from that.
Speaker 5 (23:40):
I think that being very considered on how your buyer feels,
your wife feels, your friend feels instead of it just
being a very selfish act is very powerful. You know,
everybody wants to feel special, right, and I think that
that little half an hour you took to make her
feel special buys me sign goes a long way, heavy wife,
(24:01):
happy life exactly right.
Speaker 4 (24:02):
So I think we can all learn from that.
Speaker 5 (24:05):
And now you're you know, sell the like sir, hand
is going to empower other people? What do you How
are you empowering other people to sell? To be a
better person, to be more effective.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
I mean a big reason that I did the show
because I didn't have to, right, I mean, we sell
a lot, Like I didn't have to do a TV
show where I'm helping Amanda sell hot tubs in Long Island.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
I didn't have to write the book.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
But I really thought about how I can give back
the most from a city and a world and a
TV network that has given me so much in the
last ten years. Was that I am not a natural
born salesperson, but I figured out how to be one.
And I do not believe that that people can't become
a good salesperson or have a good sales side hustle.
(24:50):
And there's a lot of people that want to make
more money but don't know how to. There's a lot
of people who are riddled with student debt and can't
figure out how to get a mortgage on their first home.
So there's a lot of issues out there that can
be fixed with the simple idea of learning how to
sell one thing to one person. And if you can
do it one time, you can do it again. So
even if you have a nine to five, you can
(25:11):
go home and you can sell shoes on eBay. You know,
you on the weekends, you could help out a real
estate agent and make five or ten percent on an
open house. Right there are little things that you can
do learning to sell that will pull you into the
next income level.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
And I've seen it work.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
And I think we're in very, very, very weird economic
times right now, and I think especially with student debt,
that I saw it happen with me. Right if you're
young and even if you're older, that there's not just
one path anymore to paying off loans. There's a thousand paths.
And knowing how to sell yourself and sell anything that
(25:49):
you want to sell is an amazing way to clear
that up.
Speaker 4 (25:54):
Listen, I think you hit it right on the head.
You know, I'm the same as you.
Speaker 5 (25:59):
You know, you were an actor and you were looking
to go place. All of a sudden you jump into
the real estate market and you're like, all of a sudden,
look what it did for you. Right, I was working
at a red lobster. I was a waiter, right, you know,
and I decided to sell it a couple of a
I was really good at selling.
Speaker 4 (26:15):
I decided to sell a couple of hats.
Speaker 5 (26:16):
And you know, whether it's somebody trying to pay off
a student loan, or it's those individuals who've been working
in a certain industry and technology is starting to replace
certain ways they do things. They can go home at
night and pick up their iPhone and try to find
a way to sell, and all of a sudden, Yeah,
it slowly.
Speaker 4 (26:32):
Grows and the compounds.
Speaker 5 (26:34):
But the art of selling, people think you're selling, you know,
only your job. You're selling when you know, jokingly you're
trying to get into the bathroom before your husband and
wife in the morning. Right, You're always selling, And I
think that you're empowering people by doing that. Something for
me to think about it as well.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Thank you, man, I appreciure thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
That Moment with Damon John is a production of the
Black Effect Podcast Network. For more podcasts from the Black
Effect Podcast Network, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts.
Speaker 4 (27:05):
Or wherever you listen to your favorite show.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
And don't forget to subscribe to and rate the show.
And of course you can all connect with me on
any of my social media platforms. At the Shark, Damon
spelled like Raymond, but what a d
I am not a natural born salesperson, but I figured
out how to be one. And I do not believe
that that people can't become a good salesperson or have
a good sales side hustle. And there's a lot of
people that want to make more money but don't know
how to. There's a lot of people who are riddled
with student debt and can't figure out how to get
a mortgage on their first home. So there's a lot
(00:22):
of issues out there that can be fixed with the
simple idea of learning how to sell one thing to
one person. And if you can do it one time,
you can do it again.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
You can do it again. You can do it again.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
What if I told you there was more to the
story behind game changing events? Get ready for my new podcast,
That Moment with Damon John will jump into the personal
stories of some of the most influential people on the planet,
from business mobiles and celebrities to athletes and artists. Ran
(00:55):
Thank you for being here, thank you for creating all right,
well for those who don't know and I didn't even
know half of.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
This stuff, which really is great.
Speaker 5 (01:03):
You know, obviously you're a million dollars things in New
York you're from Houston, and you know, I think, did
you studied, uh, what do you study? And as being
an actor and after a while, you know, it just
didn't really work out or you know, you're struggling to
support yourself, and then you moved to New York and you're.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
A million dollar listening.
Speaker 5 (01:21):
I know that obviously, I just compressed the whole day
in my life right right there.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
But I want to get into some stuff.
Speaker 5 (01:27):
I want to you know, I know you have a
book and I had the honor of putting a little
stuff in there.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Yeah, thank you very much.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
I don't know, it was really my pleasure. But I
want to get back to uh.
Speaker 5 (01:38):
First of all, you know, tell me a little bit
about you growing up and you know, your struggles as
an actor or trying to be an actor, and then
then let's bring it all the way back to coming
to New York.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
So I was born in Houston. I didn't live are
that long.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
I was born in a house on a mattress really yeah,
outside Houston. And then we moved and I grew up
a little bit in Long Island and and basically grew
up outside Boston, Okay. And the only thing I ever
really liked was theater, I think because I just was
awful at sports and I just wasn't great in school
(02:12):
no matter how hard I tried. And then I went
to college in upstate New York and majored in theater
and English literature Hamilton College, a liberal arts school. And
then after that I thought I should be a lawyer,
because when you go to a liberal arts school, that's
what you're supposed to do, right, Or go to business
school or go to pre med or do something like that,
get a real job. And so I took the LSAT
(02:34):
totally bombed.
Speaker 5 (02:35):
It.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Got like three points above the lowest score and use
that as like a convincing three points below the three
points above the lowest score. So it yeah, it was
like a one forty seven or something terrible. And then
I basically went to my parents. I was like, say, look,
I like I should go to New York. I'll use
the savings I have from working in from working as
a contractor's laborer for eight summers and try to serve
(03:00):
as an actor in New York City and I'll make
forty thousand dollars I think that's what I had saved
at the time. I'll make that last like ten years, right,
because that's a lot of money and I'll be the
next Brad Pitt.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
One thousand a year. Huh.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Yeah, Okay, I didn't really know how things worked right time.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
Now, did you intentionally try to bomb? No? Not really.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
I mean I studied really really hard for that thing.
Took all the classes, all the pretests, everything. I just
wasn't a great test taker, and yeah, my heart wasn't
in it, but it was definitely tough. And then I
came to New York City tried to be an actor
and had to figure out how to be my.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Own boss because a lot of people who come to
the city.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
To try to be an actor are you know, you're
technically unemployed. And then trying to figure out like what
you do during the day Monday through Friday, Saturday, Sunday,
you know, how to pick yourself up in the morning
and work and what the work actually is is hard.
So I had to teach myself how to do that.
I did a little like hand modeling to pay the bills.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
Actually really yes.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Well, I held phones for at and t hat my
hands to look like different countries and I was a
pretty successful hand model for a little while.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
They paid me like a hund.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
Model business, Yeah, one hundred.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Like I would hold cups like this and then you know,
really really flex the fingers and boom. But they cut
my face out, you know, And so I did that.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
There's a job for everybody out there.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
One of my first modeling jobs I did in the
city and I was absolutely awful at It was for
Fubu and Yes in my company Yes in two thousand
and six, and they were the worst photos ever. My forearms,
I think at the time, were really hairy and it
was like wearing a T shirt or like a collared shirt.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
I don't think they ever got used anywhere.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
Wow. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
I remember that distinctly though, because I just was like,
A I just did not.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
Do we still own the rightsier image.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Maybe you should look for them.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
Yeah, we were to look that up.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
It was forever tell me that a right anyway guy
is remembered.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
I did one there and then one for I don't
even remember, and then I got out of soap opera.
I did as World Turns for a little bit and
then they killed me off when the writer's strike happened
in two thousand and seven. They killed you yeah, well,
I basically killed myself in a tussle with my grandmother.
That was a big There was a bad day for me.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
You had a white win, Nana, and then you killed you.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Yeah well, and my aunt she stepped in and like
took like a swing, and then the syringe that I
was killing people with took it to my own neck.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
It was a whole thing. It's still on YouTube. And
then I ran out of money.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
And then it was the summer of two thousand and eight,
and it was either go home to Colorado or get
a survival job. But I just knew that everybody who
had survival jobs, it just becomes your job, right, And
I didn't want to do that. I didn't want to
put myself in that position job like become a waiter
or a bartender.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
I thought you might go home to Colorado and like
work the ski slopes somewhere.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
If I went to Colorado, I'd be painting fence for
like hours on end. But then I got my real
estate license because a friend told me to. It was
two thousand and eight, like the middle so the market
hadn't fallen out yet, and so it was like the
greatest thing in the world to be a real estate agent.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
They said, you know you could just you could sell
apartments on Craigslist. It was super easy.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
So I got my license and my first day was
September fifteenth, two thousand and eight, the day leaving Brothers
Spot for bankruptcy.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
And now I still do it to this day.
Speaker 4 (06:15):
That's fascinating.
Speaker 5 (06:16):
So you went from sucking as a student to sucking
as an actor, to going into an industry that had
hit rock bottom, I mean as low as it has
hit in decades. Yes, would you think that you had
nothing to lose and that was why you kept going?
(06:37):
Because that could be that could be pretty tough, pretty
tough like you, A lot of people would go for,
as you call it, a survival job after that and say,
you know what, everything I do, it could actually give
you a really bad outlook in life in general.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
Sure, right, What what gave you the drive to then
keep going in an industry at that time that the
professionals who had business a successful business for years were dead?
You know what gave you that drive?
Speaker 2 (07:09):
A couple things.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
I mean, first, in hindsight, it was the best time
for me to get into the business because I because
I had nothing to lose, like you just said, I
ran out of money, so I had to make money somehow.
A lot of people who were really hurt in the
financial crisis and in the Great Recession, for people who
had lifestyles to uphold. You know, how do you pay
your rent, how do you pay your mortgage? How do
(07:31):
you pay for your kid's tuition if you aren't bringing
in any money? And sure, for me, I was making
my money getting paid one hundred and fifty dollars an
hour to wear your shirts, right, So, like I knew
how to make money in different ways and survive and
pay my rent, and so I was able to kind
of crawl up from the bottom. And I just thought
the business was super hard. I just thought, Wow, no
(07:52):
one can get loans. Wow, people lose their jobs all
the time. This is just a really hard business. So
it didn't really affect me the way it affected everybody
else because I had nothing to lose. And then, you know,
I think that when I was a little kid, even
though my first goal was to be an actor and
that was where my passion was, I really kind of
chose success first, you know, And I said, I'm going
(08:15):
to give it my best shot. But no matter what,
happens in life. I want to be successful and the
career will figure itself out, and if it's not acting,
it's going to be something else. If it's not as
a lawyer, it'll be something else. And I think that's
where a lot of people that I talked to anyway
kind of get mixed up. That they have this idea
of who they want to be, or the kind of
company they want to build, or the type of job
(08:36):
they want to have, and then when that doesn't work out,
it becomes like a brick.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Wall, and then they get pissed off.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Then they have that kind of defeatist attitude and they
just treat the rest of the world terribly. Whereas for me,
not passing the ls AT and going to law school
was a speed bump, right Not making it as an
actor was a speed bump.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Not doing well in school speed.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Bump, and then real estate was just another path that
I never anticipated to go down. But my years of
trying to be an actor actually prepared me pretty well
for because it's a lot of memorization, it's a lot
of improv it's a lot of just talking to people
on your feet, and you have to be okay with projection,
(09:34):
because it's a lot of memorization, it's a lot of
improv it's a lot of just talking to people on
your feet, and you have to be okay with projection,
and as an actor, you get rejected to your face.
In real estate, no one has ever not taken an
apartment or a home because of my face.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
Right, that's a good point.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
And so for me, I was Yeah, eighty two percent
of the real estate agents who get into the business
in New York City quit within twelve months because they
can't take the rejection and there's no salary, they can't
pay the rent, they can't figure out how to live
if they don't know where the next paycheck is coming.
But for me, I'd been in New York City for
two years already. I didn't have a salary. I was
(10:13):
used to just kind of scrounging buy and I was
used to being in a business where I was rejected
to my face every single day. So real estate, honestly,
wasn't that bad.
Speaker 5 (10:23):
Well, you know, as you said, you knew the job
of the career would figure it out. But you want
to be successful. What was your when you didn't have anything?
What was your measuring stick? For success.
Speaker 4 (10:33):
What what do you feel?
Speaker 5 (10:34):
What you what did you feel would be the ideal
successful person?
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Honestly, at the time, it was I never I wanted
to be successful enough that I never had to think
about money. You know, I never wanted to be nervous
about money. And when I lived in New York City,
I was nervous about money every day. I mean I
was always trying to figure out how is I going
to pay rent? You know, remember sitting on the subway,
(11:02):
you know, having my credit card declined at food and
porium on fifty ninth Street, and just like my eyes
welling up, not knowing what to do.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Should I call my parents? Like this sucks? I hate
New York.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
I paint this, you know what, just kind of like
letting that become a disease. And you know, I wanted
to run as far away from that point as I
possibly could.
Speaker 5 (11:23):
But you know what, you know, let's let's think about
it as you would step back for a second and
talk about people's lifestyles. A lot of people, no matter
how much money they have, they're still worried about money, right,
you know, because their their theory of it is Okay,
at first, I don't want to worry about money.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
But then all of a sudden they have a huge mortgage.
Speaker 5 (11:42):
They may want a bigger boat, they may want more cars,
they want to hang out in different areas.
Speaker 4 (11:47):
Right, so you relatives, Yeah, exactly right, So did you?
Speaker 5 (11:52):
Was your mindset always I just want a modest life
and I don't want to worry about money. And then
as you gain more more success, you kept that discipline
of having a modest life and putting away something.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
Here then being able to do whatever you want to do.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
I mean, I think so, you know, I not an overspender,
you know, and I'm always terrified that the real estate
market will crap out and that'll be screwed, and so
we take things like very very modestly, like you said.
And you know, I grew up like really trying to
understand like the value of a dollar, and my parents
(12:29):
made us work all of the time, made us like
pick up sticks in the yard for a couple of
bucks an hour, just so that I could understand like
what it means to work for your money.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
So so okay, so now let's let's let's move ahead.
Speaker 5 (12:43):
You're you're you're starting to make your way in the
real estate world, and uh, you know, Bravo comes along.
You know, tell me about right before Bravo came along,
you know, give me a snapshot of your life at
that time.
Speaker 4 (12:57):
At that time.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
So it was the beginning of two thousand and ten
when they first started casting for the show. I wasn't
in love with real estate.
Speaker 4 (13:06):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
I didn't grow up falling in love with crown moldings
and Victorian houses, right, It wasn't in my blood. And
I wasn't a born salesperson either. Like I was overweight, shy,
terrible skin. I was int like I wanted to do theater,
so I didn't have to be myself at school.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Like that's why I got into it. That's I mean,
I know that now.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
No overweight, shy with terrible skin. Yeah, well now we
know why you didn't get the foogol pictures. They workout
you should be modeling in the first place at that point.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
But it cleaned myself up a little bit when I
moved to the city.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
Okay, I'm sorry, yeah, but.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
You know so I I at that time, beginning in
twenty ten, I was looking at business school options. I
thought about maybe going back to NYU or going to Columbia,
to get like a master's of real estate or trying
to figure out something to do with kind of the
two years of experience that I had at that time
renting and trying to sell apartments. And then there was
an open casting call at the Hudson Hotel and I
(14:02):
went with three thousand agents and they picked three.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
With three thousand cast three thousand real estate agents to
show three.
Speaker 5 (14:10):
Yeah, and why did they pick you? I mean obviously
you know, seeing you today and seeing how you know,
how skilled you are, smart, and how you obviously you
know know what you're doing now, Yeah, it's great, but
you know you only in the business two years?
Speaker 4 (14:27):
Yes, right? Yeah?
Speaker 5 (14:28):
Was it part of the theater that you know, that
that helped you bring this power to you?
Speaker 4 (14:34):
Or what was it? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (14:35):
I think it was. I mean, life has a funny
way of coming back around.
Speaker 4 (14:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
So even though I had quit technically the acting business
two years prior, I you know, I spent twenty four
years of my life thinking I was going to be
an actor and studying it. And I was on a
soap opera and I did other student films and things,
and I'd been on stage a lot, so I knew
how to carry myself in front of cameras, and when
(15:00):
I went into that open casting call, I knew what
they were looking for, and I gave them exactly what
they wanted. And I think a lot of people just
didn't know what to do. And you know, I knew
what role I kind of had to fit and that's
who I was. And then they whidled it down and
whittled it down, whittled it down, and then I just
went for broke and then I had to figure out
how to be a real estate agent, like for real. Right, Yeah,
(15:22):
So that whole first season, if I watch it back,
which I will never do, I think every episode I'm
like the most stressed out real estate agent ever because
I'm like trying to figure out, like how to do
this business competing up against like two very big, vary
established brokers.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
What do you think you know?
Speaker 5 (15:39):
On the side note, what is it about BRABO that
picks people who are really good business people? I mean,
obviously Bethany, my guy, Josh Altman, brothers, you, I mean
people who are they find a way of really finding
people before they've hit that mark, but these people are
usually really great business people.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
What is it with brabol? How do they have that eye.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
I don't know, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
I think they look for I think they look for
people who are business savvy, because you have to be
able to survive to do these shows.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
You know, even Andy, of course I'm a great business person.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Exactly like you have to. I think they look with
people with amazing energy. And if you have amazing energy,
you can be a good business person. And if even
if you're bad, you have great energy to find somebody
else who is good enough to help you. And I
think they have a good kind of like nose for that.
But not everybody was on Bravo is a great business person.
Speaker 5 (16:37):
No, not everybody, but they they have spawned a really
good amount of people that are, you know, game changers.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
You know. All right, so now you're a reality start now.
Speaker 5 (16:48):
I know that that word sometimes made other people cringe,
but a lot of people don't think about it. Listen
to the Kardashian's the number one Google family on the planet.
You know, Donald Trump is president. You know, I a
shark now, thank god? Right, and you got Bethnee. You've
got a lot of people that are in yourself. You've
got a lot of people that are doing world you know,
they're they're they're changing their breaking the model right out there.
(17:09):
And now you're a reality star and you know, and
you're selling real estate and you're inspiring people and educating people.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
What is your life like today?
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Today?
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Today, I run a large real estate team of about
sixty two people. We were just named the number one
real estate team in New York. I think we're number
two in the country. Nice as of like two weeks ago.
Speaker 4 (17:35):
Nice gratulations. Thank you. That's a big commersontion.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Yeah, so we uh so, my life today is basically
being the CEO of my real estate team and prospecting
and driving as much business to my team as we
possibly can and selling. Like right before this, I was
in an appointment showing an apartment. Right after this, I'm
going to go show another apartment.
Speaker 5 (17:53):
So all that is all that film Because you know,
you and I were talking about the you know how
long filming takes. You know me, It's takes two weeks.
Right now, they're wrong. The two weeks of filming is intense. However,
it's the six months of having the closed deals and
operate the companies.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
Every year that takes a long time. But you're filming
eight or nine months.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Right, Yeah, we film basically August to June.
Speaker 5 (18:14):
And so do they do they? Are they with you
like when you go and show places regularly?
Speaker 1 (18:19):
No, we have we tell them what properties we think
should be followed, because every episode for the most part
follows a different listing.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
And then they follow it.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
When we have something happening. You know, they don't have
to show every single showing, but they'll show the open houses,
they'll show the meetings with the developer. So today I'm
not showing anything that has to do with anything we're
following on the show, so they're.
Speaker 4 (18:41):
Not with me. So they're not with me today.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
I'm not showing anything that has to do with anything
we're following on the show, So they're not with me.
Speaker 5 (19:09):
Okay, because I would wonder, how do you have time
to obviously be with your family, run sixty two people company,
the privacy of the people who want to have listenings,
and they're like, I don't want to be part of
the show and that stuff, and then film all that
time and it sounds like a pretty hectic schedule if
you ask me.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Yeah, and throw on top of it, you know that
I just wrote a book that took me ever to
write on the tour. At the same time, we made
sell like Sir Hint, which is a spin off show
that is airing on Bravo right now on Monday nights.
And so that show took a lot of time to
make because it was very different. It was as a
coach and kind of as a counselor to people in
(19:46):
different jobs who were sucking at selling.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
Right, yeah, so how do you find time to do
all that? You know what?
Speaker 1 (19:55):
A couple of years ago, I was so busy and
so stressed out out and I told my wife that
should we wait for the siren?
Speaker 4 (20:03):
Its cool?
Speaker 2 (20:04):
No?
Speaker 4 (20:04):
You know, people know you share in New York and
you know the.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Film all the time and we always have to wait
for sirens. So my brain is like, wait for silent Yeah.
Speaker 4 (20:11):
And by the way, who was watching in New York?
This is normal? Yeah? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Yeah yeah. So my wife told me to stop complaining.
She's like, you know who's busy? Obama?
Speaker 4 (20:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
And for some reason that stuck in my head because
I was like, you know what, You're right, the president
is probably more busy than me.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Yeah, and why and he's having dinner with his wife?
Damn it, I need to figure out time management better.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Right, So I had to really really look at how
I leverage the work that I do on the team
that I have right, and leverage my time to make
sure that all I do every day is only things
that I can personally do.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
If there's anything that's going on during.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
The day that somebody else that works for me or
that works with me can do, they should do that that.
Like I can only be here with you, you wouldn't be
here with someone else on my team correct everything else.
Speaker 5 (20:56):
You're trying to master delegation.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Yes, it's all about leverage and delegation and making sure
that my team knows what they're supposed to do, and
then taking a step back a little bit.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
I know.
Speaker 5 (21:08):
So, but you know, how do you find power or
what empowers you in your business life and in your
personal life?
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Good question, power? You know, I don't think I'm that powerful.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Power to me is confidence, right, and confidence is then
knowledge and so like even when I first started in
the business, I had no power.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
I was brand new. I didn't even own a suit.
Speaker 4 (21:35):
I got sure.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
I was showing apartments up and down New York City,
walk up four bedrooms that were you know, split out
of a one bedroom in cowboy boots because those were my.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Nicest shoes I had. I couldn't wear like gym shoes.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
And because I had no experience that I had to
figure out how I was going to have power in
a situation with a client, have confidence. And so I
just memorized as much information as I could so and
I knew that other brokers were lying on their experience
versus what they actually knew. And so if I was
showing an apartment on this block right here, I wouldn't
memorize all of the information about every single building. I'd
(22:10):
look up who lived everywhere, so that when I walk
down the street with somebody, I would be able to
point and tell them everything that they never knew and
couldn't even google. And so then they would look at
me and say, wow, you look young, but you know
what you're talking about. You've been doing this for a
long time, right, And I'd look at my watch, I'd
be like, yep, but in a while, uh huh.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
And so I think that's very powerful.
Speaker 5 (22:29):
I think that you know, really studying the marketing environment
you're subject, even if it had to be two hours
prior to that, is powerful. You know, A lot of
people will walk into some place unprepared. Yes, I think
what preparation is power? Yeah, yeah, they say, you know,
most crimes are most of the criminals of court because
(22:50):
they never thought about how to get away. Yeah, they
just jumped into it and never actually thought about how
to get away, right, And you're thinking about how to get.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
Away always right?
Speaker 1 (22:59):
And then my personal I think the same thing. You know,
I think it's preparation as well. You know, it's it's
like thinking forward. Its thinking about, you know, how do
we make date night different? You know, it's thinking about,
you know what, I should be a little bit late
and clean up the dishes and take out the trash
today because she's going to really appreciate that, you know,
that little bit there, and coming home half an hour
(23:21):
early and surprising her when she's had a long day
like that. Preparation as a husband, and same thing goes
for being a friend for the little time I have
for my friends goes a long long way. And I think,
is me power in the relationship or in the bedroom?
Speaker 4 (23:37):
You know, yeah, listen, you know I can learn from that.
Speaker 5 (23:40):
I think that being very considered on how your buyer feels,
your wife feels, your friend feels instead of it just
being a very selfish act is very powerful. You know,
everybody wants to feel special, right, and I think that
that little half an hour you took to make her
feel special buys me sign goes a long way, heavy wife,
(24:01):
happy life exactly right.
Speaker 4 (24:02):
So I think we can all learn from that.
Speaker 5 (24:05):
And now you're you know, sell the like sir, hand
is going to empower other people? What do you How
are you empowering other people to sell? To be a
better person, to be more effective.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
I mean a big reason that I did the show
because I didn't have to, right, I mean, we sell
a lot, Like I didn't have to do a TV
show where I'm helping Amanda sell hot tubs in Long Island.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
I didn't have to write the book.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
But I really thought about how I can give back
the most from a city and a world and a
TV network that has given me so much in the
last ten years. Was that I am not a natural
born salesperson, but I figured out how to be one.
And I do not believe that that people can't become
a good salesperson or have a good sales side hustle.
(24:50):
And there's a lot of people that want to make
more money but don't know how to. There's a lot
of people who are riddled with student debt and can't
figure out how to get a mortgage on their first home.
So there's a lot of issues out there that can
be fixed with the simple idea of learning how to
sell one thing to one person. And if you can
do it one time, you can do it again. So
even if you have a nine to five, you can
(25:11):
go home and you can sell shoes on eBay. You know,
you on the weekends, you could help out a real
estate agent and make five or ten percent on an
open house. Right there are little things that you can
do learning to sell that will pull you into the
next income level.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
And I've seen it work.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
And I think we're in very, very, very weird economic
times right now, and I think especially with student debt,
that I saw it happen with me. Right if you're
young and even if you're older, that there's not just
one path anymore to paying off loans. There's a thousand paths.
And knowing how to sell yourself and sell anything that
(25:49):
you want to sell is an amazing way to clear
that up.
Speaker 4 (25:54):
Listen, I think you hit it right on the head.
You know, I'm the same as you.
Speaker 5 (25:59):
You know, you were an actor and you were looking
to go place. All of a sudden you jump into
the real estate market and you're like, all of a sudden,
look what it did for you. Right, I was working
at a red lobster. I was a waiter, right, you know,
and I decided to sell it a couple of a
I was really good at selling.
Speaker 4 (26:15):
I decided to sell a couple of hats.
Speaker 5 (26:16):
And you know, whether it's somebody trying to pay off
a student loan, or it's those individuals who've been working
in a certain industry and technology is starting to replace
certain ways they do things. They can go home at
night and pick up their iPhone and try to find
a way to sell, and all of a sudden, Yeah,
it slowly.
Speaker 4 (26:32):
Grows and the compounds.
Speaker 5 (26:34):
But the art of selling, people think you're selling, you know,
only your job. You're selling when you know, jokingly you're
trying to get into the bathroom before your husband and
wife in the morning. Right, You're always selling, And I
think that you're empowering people by doing that. Something for
me to think about it as well.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Thank you, man, I appreciure thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
That Moment with Damon John is a production of the
Black Effect Podcast Network. For more podcasts from the Black
Effect Podcast Network, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts.
Speaker 4 (27:05):
Or wherever you listen to your favorite show.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
And don't forget to subscribe to and rate the show.
And of course you can all connect with me on
any of my social media platforms. At the Shark, Damon
spelled like Raymond, but what a d
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