Episode 060: Jayson Siano - Bringing Chipotle to New York & Building a Brand in the Real Estate Market

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What's going on, everyone? Jesse Adams here. Welcome to the Rise of the Young podcast. Today it's episode 60, and I have a special guest here with me today, Jason Siano. And we're going to be talking real estate, talking about his story, his upbringing, anything about just how he's built his empire. So first off, Jason, I want to say thank you so much for coming on the show.

Thanks, brother. Appreciate that.

So every time I have someone on the podcast, I really just like to start it off by just letting people know, like, what are you currently up to before we kind of jump back to the backstory, like, what's current? Day to day?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So first and foremost, I think we have to let anybody listening understand that we're at a pool at. At the Dream Hotel in New York City. So we apologize for any audio issues in advance. But first of all, I just want to thank Casey for having me on. I appreciate you, what you're doing. It's amazing. You're doing, doing great things and. And obviously we'll get to my story a little bit, but, you know, looking at you and what you're doing at your age, you know, is just amazing to me because probably doing almost the exact opposite at your age. So, yeah, today, you know, so I own a real estate business called Sabre Real Estate. We are a brokering consulting advisory firm that is based out of New York and New Jersey. We also have a national consulting business. We focus primarily on retail and investment sales. I am in the commercial real estate field for about 18 years now.

And.

And we'll get into that a little bit. The innovative things that we're doing in commercial real estate include vlogging. We're heavy, heavy in digital media, social media. We're really trailblazing in a very un. Innovative industry, which is how you and I connected. So super cool.

So you've been doing real estate longer than I've been alive. Just to make that clear. I'm 17 right now as of this recording. But yeah, for everyone listening, like he just said, just to break it down to you guys, we're literally at the Dream Hotel in New York City just making it happen, doing the podcast today. But that being said, I know everyone listening, you may be doing real estate, you may not. You may be young, you may be older. So, Jason, first question I always like to ask someone, when you were 17, 18, or what was your life like then? I know that we just briefly talked about that, but what was like your starting 17, 18, and then we'll get farther back where you're from. But just what were you at at my age? At the people listening's age?

Yeah, dude. So, I mean, it's interesting to look back at where I was and, and I was automatically doing that, you know, by your intro. And, you know, at 17 years old, I literally had the best American version of, you know, of a family. My parents raised me. Amazing. I just had a very traditional, you know, typical childhood. But I was always a risk taker. So, you know, sometimes I was taking risks that ended up in positive results and other times, you know, negative results, obviously. But, you know, my life. I decided at around 17 years old that I was going to move out to Arizona, go to the University of Arizona. And that's really, you know, that was a major adjustment for me, obviously, going across country to do that. Now my family was in the automobile business and my father actually had a car dealership. And I always just more or less assumed at a very young age that I was going to go into the automobile business. I will get into kind of how that changed. But, you know, I was running around doing bad things with, with close friends, you know, and looking very much forward to going across country to Arizona and learning about what that had to offer, for sure.

So for everyone listening, you're from Jersey or where exactly?

No, I'm from New York. So, yeah, born and raised in Huntington, Long Island. I, like I said, went out to Arizona for college, came back, moved to New York City, worked and lived in New York City. And, you know, I guess I'll get a little into it while I was Away at school, my mother was diagnosed with cancer and she ended up passing away shortly after I graduated from college. So that whole idea of what my life was going to be was very different leading up into that point. And that's when my mother actually passed away. My father came to me and said, listen, you're going to have to leave school, you know, early and come into the family business. And I said, look, you know, listen, I need to, I need to figure out my own path in life, and I'm not willing to do that at this point. So you need to do what you need to do, and I totally understand if you're going to get out of the business and I'll figure out what I'm going to do.

Wow. So you graduated college or that was before you graduated, that entire negative situation in your life.

So she was diagnosed while I was in college. And that's when, you know, my father told me that I need to either leave school, move back home, get into the family business, or, you know, pretty much go on my own.

So you were what age at that point?

I was, I was about, I was about, call it 20 years old, you know, junior year of college.

Yeah. Wow. So pretty much when it comes to your life up to that point, coming from New York, when it comes to like early teens, just growing up, did you. Were you in a situation where it was like your day to day was great family, great stuff? Did you have massive, like, trials and tribulations? What was like your young childhood leading up to, let's say, college, end of high school, graduating? What was your, I would say, mindset when you were a kid? What was your interest? What were you doing when you were just first growing up?

Absolutely. So, you know, I was very fortunate, you know, had came from a loving family. They told me from young on I could be whatever I wanted to be. And, you know, I was always that, you know, that happy person, you know, and still to this day, regardless of the setbacks that I've had, you know, many different things that have impacted my life in major ways. Tragedy, you know, the loss of my mother. I've always been that positive individual that, you know, finds the good in everything. In some ways, you know, sometimes I think maybe to a fault where, you know, I'm always looking for the silver lining in a situation in, you know, middle school, high school, I was all about snowboarding. I mean that, you know. Yeah, I know that. Yeah.

Look at the slopes.

Totally. So, you know, I was spending my summers in Mount Hood, Oregon, you know, government camp. So I would snowboard all winter, go out west, snowboard, you know, on the glacier in the summer. And actually, my senior year of high school, I tore. I bent my knee on a trampoline 90 degrees the wrong way and ended up in bed for just shy of a year. I actually spent half of my. Yeah, half my senior year high school. Homeschooled. Yeah.

Wow.

Yeah.

So what was that you just broke. It was a broken leg or what?

No, man. I literally. So a buddy of mine double jumped me. I had a trampoline in my backyard.

Double jump. That was the thing to do.

Yeah. I had a trampoline in my backyard to practice snowboarding. So I tape up the edges of one of my boards and, you know, practice aerial tricks and stuff like that. I was in his backyard on his trampoline, and he double jumped me, and we were messing around. I was like, no joke, you know, easy, like 15ft, I would say, off the surface of the trampoline as I'm coming down. He kicked me on my side to kind of throw me off balance. I came down on the trampoline on one leg. And my. If you can imagine this, this is pretty gross. My leg was straight, but my foot. My shoe was in my armpit, so my knee bent literally sideways completely and tore every ligament in my knee. So they had to create my ACL out of my hamstring and crazy stuff, man. That was a sick.

That was senior year. So with that, it. Was that something that obviously you're telling. You're talking about it today. Was that like a oh, shit moment, negative situation? Like, how did that affect you mentally? Was it something like, you said, your bed rest for a year?

Yeah, man, that's.

Something like, that affected you that you kind of, like, you look back on, you're like, damn. Like, that helped me build a mental state of, like, confidence or whatever it may be. Like, what would you say you take away from that incident?

Yeah, you know, I haven't thought about this in a long time, but the short answer is, you know, from that moment, you know, I was. We were like, in the finals with football. I was heavy into lacrosse, you know, really into sports. Snowboarding went out the window. I was actually supposed to be at the U.S. open at Stratton. Literally, I think, like, the week after this happened. For snowboarding. Yeah. I wasn't going to be in it, but I was there, you know, just. Just to attend the event. And my whole world changed overnight, literally, to the point that, you know, I got depressed about the fact that, no joke, when they, when the injury happened and I got to the hospital, they shot dye through my arteries to see if they had to amputate my leg. Like, so that's how crazy the injury was. So, you know, the bottom line was from that point on, it was such a heavy recovery process, you know, physical therapy, like, just brutal stuff. And from that point, you know, my. Anything sports related kind of, you know, operate, you know, thinking that I can get to a different level was gone. So, you know, I was depressed about it and I went from being, you know, somebody that was just super healthy athletic to, you know, doing other things that weren't as healthy.

Yeah.

You know what I'm saying?

It's funny because, like, literally for me, it's like when I, when I had a neck injury When I was 15, I was almost paralyzed playing football. And that was something that I talk a lot about now. It's like sort of like what you said, that was kind of like my moment where I was playing lacrosse, I was playing football, snowboard. And when I first happened, it's like, hey, you can never play football again. You can never play lacrosse again, possibly never snowboard again. And like, I like to bring, like, it's funny because so many people I've interviewed, like, have massive injuries and it like, it's like the catapult of like mental toughness and all that sort of shit. But like, it's so strange because like, so with. With an injury, with. I would say for me, when it comes to my neck injury, that was kind of like my rock bottom. Especially like being 15, 16, like not having the life experience of like massive. Just depressions in my life. But from that moment of getting injured, going to college, to kind of now moving into crushing in real estate, living in New York, just dominating your industry. Yeah, I kind of like to bridge the gaps between, like when you were 17, what's like a habit or something that you kind of say that is still a main characteristic of who you are today. What's like maybe that one that if you had to say, hey, I was 17, I was like this. But today I kind of use that in the business or whatever I do. Do you have that sort of characteristic?

You'd say, yeah, well, I mean, you know, it's interesting because that wasn't rock bottom for me, you know. So I think that, I think that I need to tell a little bit more of the story and the transition and what kind of inspired me because I changed. I did hit rock bottom. And that's when I decided that I Needed to change my mindset.

So this is before real estate.

This is before. And it's how I got into real estate. Yeah, I didn't bring up that. So, you know, basically for me, you know, things always came kind of naturally to me, like school. I didn't have to study very hard, but I didn't push myself, you know, very hard. It wasn't very important to me. But, you know, after I. After my mom passed, you know, I went through a tough time. I mean, that was the toughest time for me. That. That was my North Star, you know, so. So after my mom passed, my father got remarried, moved, moved to Florida. And, you know, that. That whole perfect family dynamic that I described earlier was gone right over, literally, practice, practically overnight. And, you know, I started to. To just, you know, drink my pain away, you know, do anything that would, you know, keep me busy enough to not focus on how messed up it was, you know, what I just went through. And then, you know, part of it for me was also I felt like. I felt like I had a. An amazing excuse to, like, do stupid shit and get away with it, you know, so that attitude ended me. Honestly, that's when I hit rock bottom. I ended up getting. Getting pulled over, got a Dewey and ended up in jail. So that was, you know, the craziest part for me was I was such an arrogant, cocky, you know, kid at that time where, you know, almost where you have nothing to lose. So, you know, the cops who threw me in jail made an example out of me because I was such an arrogant asshole through the process. And it was a Friday night, and they made. Based on how I was acting, they intentionally made sure that I wasn't able to see a judge until Sunday. And I was in a place that you definitely don't want to be. So that experience for me was rock bottom. I realized how stupid I was and how fortunate I was in so many other ways, and that I just needed to change my life because my mother would never have wanted that. You know what I mean? So, you know, just for me to realize that I was disappointing her, you know, that that changed my mindset overnight. And from that point, I decided that I was going to be a positive influence and role model and put my all into something positive and good. I found commercial real estate. It was something I was always interested in. My now partner gave me an opportunity, which was at that time, just literally a desk and a phone, a computer. But it was a different world back at the end of 2000, and, you know, I told him That I would be the best broker he ever met. Some of the top, you know, brokers in the industry came through his company, his family's company, I should say. And you know, he kind of chuckled and I decided I would, you know, if he had any doubt, I'd prove him wrong. And here I am 18 years later, continuing to prove that I'm the best broker that ever came through his shop.

That's amazing. So with real estate and just the bridging the gap from your depression from getting a DUI and all that sort of stuff, where was the in between of the experience of gaining the knowledge, experimenting, failing in real estate? Sure. What was that process before now becoming the one of best broker that came through there. When did you, number one first, like, how did real estate get brought up? You said your friend, he had an opportunity, was his family's company. Was that something where he was like, hey man, like, come work for us, give it a try. Or what was that process to even like get introduced to that industry?

Yeah. So, you know, I, I, after I decided that it was something I was interested in learning more about, I went around to different companies. I always had a very strong network. I was fortunate to always get along with all different types of people of all different shapes, sizes, walks of life. And I think that it was my positive energy that people would generally enjoy being around. So I started to go to my network and I knew that I needed, I skipped a little bit of my, my story. You know, through college I was a dj. I was heavy into nightclub promotion, you know, so I had all different types of networks. But, you know, I decided part of that was, you know, I DJ all night and hang out in the club scene and then show up to work, you know, with, on like three hours sleep and just get through my day job at the time, which shortly after college was online advertising. So I have a background in, you know, the Internet. So, you know that it was at the moment that I decided I need to, I need, I honestly, you know what it was? I wanted to make a million dollars before the age of 30. And that's what, that's what forced me to work harder. You know, you said something very interesting to me earlier. You said, I'm in the commercial real estate business longer than you're alive. When I got to the company that I started at, I was alive for a shorter period of time than those people were in the industry. So for me it was, you know, how am I going to figure out how to compete with these people who are in the business longer than I'm alive. And I decided that I was just going to work harder. Right. So I would pick and choose qualities from the most successful people in the industry and kind of, you know, mold them into what I wanted to be. Right. So I decided that there was this idea for me of the perfect, you know, the perfect person that would be, you know, a combination of all of these different people's qualities. And I set out on that journey. That was the initial mindset that I had when I got into the business. And, you know, I ended up taking. To answer your initial question, I ended up taking the job that I took back on Long island because my sister, who I was very close to, was having a very difficult time with the loss of my mother. She just got out of a relationship. And I took was my job to get close to her and make sure that our bond carried us both through that moment. So that afforded me the opportunity to live on Long island, you know, move back to the island. I moved in with her. She was gracious enough to have me. And, you know, that that's really how I decided to take the job I took.

So you said you came into the industry with like, let's say you were my age and then people that were double my age. Those were the people that you were competing with necessarily.

Correct.

And you came in there like, I'm gonna be the best. And these guys have the experience, have all the. The background experience and everything like that. That's super cool.

Yeah. So what did I do? I set out to, you know, back then I would focus on retail, specifically on Long Island. And I decided that if I wanted to be the best, I needed to know my inventory. So that's, you know, the downtowns, that's the shopping centers. So I literally drove to every single shopping center and downtown on Long island for three, four months, took a stack of index cards, pulled into the parking lot of the shopping center, drew the shopping center on the back of the index card literally to a tee, and every tenant that was in the shopping center. Then I would go research who owned the shopping center, who managed it, you know, who I could speak to. I called every single person on those index cards and introduced myself.

Wow.

And that's how I started.

Okay. So it was just phone calls. Picking up the phone and calling people. That's obviously something that a lot of people talk about when it to comes sales. Just getting yourself out there, uncomfortable with copying on the phone. You're just calling people non stop when.

You first started, that's it Man, And I worked crazy hours. You know, I would oftentimes I became best friends with my man Jose, the janitor in the building, because he and I were the only people in the building after, call it 7, 8pm And I gotta tell you, you know, that's another thing that I think is really important. You know, regardless of what I achieve in life, I am not better than anybody, okay? You know, just because of circumstances that I've been dealt, opportunities that I've been afforded, I am no better than anybody else. You know, I only look at like today, I'm still scratching the surface, you know, and I don't feel like I've accomplished that much, to be honest. And, you know, when I meet people like Jose who are, you know, literally working ridiculous hours and, you know, had mouths to feed at the time. I have kids now, so I know what it's like. But, you know, like, I always was able to get along with, you know, with people like Jose or, you know, somebody like Steve Ells, the founder of Chipotle, who I later on had an opportunity to meet and actually bring to New York, which was part of, you know, which was one of the opportunities early on that, you know, I more or less created for myself, to be honest. Kind of like you figuring out how to get Grant Cardone on this podcast. I did that with Chipotle.

Okay, let's talk about that. Because I know when we first met, we were just chatting at dinner and we just really connected in that sense and we talked about Chipotle, bringing it to New York City and just kind of. I was asking you a bunch of questions because it definitely like stuck out to me. Like, yeah, like, whoa, that's a badass stuff. So I'd love for you to touch on that kind of like how you just said you created that opportunity to. Was he the CEO of Chipotle or what?

Yeah, the founder of Chipotle, Steve Ells. Yeah. So, you know, I'll start a little bit before that. You know, the hard work that I put into, you know, just grinding and learning my inventory. I also was afforded an opportunity about two years into the business to pitch the Starbucks account. I was invited by a senior level broker. We went into their offices, which were actually based on Long Island. At the time. Their east coast headquarters was not in New York City, it was in Long Island. And I went in with this other gentleman who again was, you know, double my age at the time. And I had very little experience. But when we walked into this conference room full of high level executives, For Starbucks, he literally could not get a word out and he was very nervous. The guy that I was with, from my company that I was assisting was not able to literally put a sentence together. He was so nervous. So nervous.

Before we get into it. So you were going to this Starbucks headquarters to do what exactly? For the people listening, just so they kind of.

Yeah, so. So Starbucks. So Starbucks is a very active account, obviously. So their in house real estate team looks to hire exclusive brokers that basically design their expansion strategy and execute the expansion strategy. So they were looking to transition from the brokerage company that they were currently working with and they were interviewing other brokers. So we went in to talk about why we should be considering them. Correct. So I'll make this short. He was literally stumbling over words. I stepped in, said, if I may, and I went into talking about the company that I worked for, how they've pioneered the industry in Long island specifically, which was the meeting was for that territory. And we left. And, you know, I basically thought that from that day on I would not be in this industry. Honestly, it was that bad. We get back to the office and my now partner, Ken Breslin, boss at the time, said, you know, listen, I got a call from Starbucks, can you come into my office? We both went in. He said, I have good news and bad news. I was expecting to hear I have bad news and bad news, honestly. And you know, he said, look, he's like, you know, Jay, they were really impressed with the way you handled yourself. They want to give you an opportunity. Brian, can you bleep out that name please? You know, we, we, we don't think that he's suited for the account. But if somebody's willing to, a senior level person's willing to work with Jay, we'd like to give you guys the opportunity. Yeah. So, you know, the, the real story is that a woman, you know, God rest her soul, who was one of the best brokers I had ever met, did as a favor, she said, I will do it with you, but you're gonna do all the work and I will, you know, I'll be there to kind of spearhead it. She gave me that opportunity and I said, I won't let you down. Failure is not an option for me. And I literally eat, slept, breathed the Starbucks rollout and expansion strategy. And you know, today, eight, 18 years later from when I started, call it 15 years of that day, I still am their exclusive broker.

So that's for the Starbucks and what territory?

So, yes, so that, that's long island specifically. We also have done the majority of their New Jersey drive through locations as well.

And that just entails, like you're the broker to put these Starbucks in all these different locations and you're controlling the real estate.

Right. So it's a little bit more than that. So it's, you know, Starbucks, Starbucks has just in Long island alone, call it plus or 90, you know, 90 plus or minus 90 locations. So what we do is, you know, we are constantly evaluating and analyzing all of the real estate, identifying opportunities for new store development, you know, filling voids, if you will, putting new stores in. But we're also looking at existing portfolio and, you know, looking for better real estate and always trying to relocate stores, older cafes into drive throughs at this point so we could drive more business. So that, that early opportunity that came my way with Starbucks laid the groundwork, if you will, for my later on, you know, tenant representation for national companies that I now do, you know, in New York Metro. My company focuses primarily New York Metro. We have an office in Garden City and New Jersey, Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey. And we bookend the markets and we do everything, you know, New York Metro, basically. And then we do national consulting for other companies throughout the country and so on and so forth. But from that, I went to college in Arizona, as I mentioned. I used to spend a lot of time in California. Was visiting friends in LA shortly after landing the Starbucks account. And I'm working out of a FedEx Kinko's at the time because there was no such thing as, you know, really remotely working the way we can today. And I needed to print something out. And I was looking out the window and I'm staring at this real interesting storefront and it said Chipotle and it like caught my eye. And I just literally left everything in the Kinkos, walked across the street, walked in. I'm like, this is the next thing.

What year was this?

That was in 2004.

I was four.

Yeah, you were four, man. Crazy, crazy. But yeah, so that the moment I laid eyes on Chipotle and went inside and experienced it, I'm like, this is a game changer.

That was like, how early was Chipotle when you saw that? Because for me it's like I've grown up and. And like Chipotle has been popping, you know.

Yeah.

What was the stage of that company?

Oh, man, I don't even think they had.

It was new.

They might have had like 20 locations at the time. It was, yeah, they're based out of Denver and it Was strictly West Coast. Yeah.

So nothing over here on the East.

Nothing on the east. So. And actually, one of my good friends in the commercial real estate industry, Jeff Roseman, who's one of the best brokers in New York City, he was onto them around the same time him specifically for New York City. And we, you know, we. We ended up bringing them together to. To New York. So it was an amazing thing. I mean, look, that was all through persistence. Right. So a lot of. And this is. This is good for the listeners. You know, I set out on business that may never come through to fruition, but a lot of the things that I pursue are early on, and I stay with it for years. That's it. Right. So I travel, I look for special concepts throughout the country. And. And when I see something special, you know, at this point, I've done it for several concepts. You know, later on, European Wax Center. From there, you know, close clients and friends of mine started Orange Theory Fitness, which grew from one unit to 850 units and inside of seven years. So, you know, been. Been really fortunate to line up with these beasts that. That have changed the world, honestly. Like, these concepts have changed the game.

So with Chipotle, for example. Yeah. So that was something. You bridged the gap and put that in New York City or where's the exact territory?

Yeah. So for me, I was still working Long Island. Right. So Long Island.

Yep.

So Long island, specifically, I had designed their strategy.

Expand to Long Island. Correct?

Yes.

First one.

Correct. The absolute first one. So what I did was, you know, what we do is we take demographics, psychographics, daytime population, you know, square footage of office, you know, and so on and so forth, and Chipotle early on. So I ended up meeting Steve Ells ultimately, when they decided that they were going to come to the market, did my first tours with him and his team at the time, you know, long before even McDonald's was an investor in them. And then ultimately they went public. But, you know, what we do is we determine where we believe they'll be the most successful. So we designed the strategy and we rolled the strategy out and put their first, you know, probably 10 locations, I would say, on Long island in the first several years.

Okay, I got to ask that. So, yeah, from the first, like, you saw the concept to then making it happen, like, what's that time frame, process.

Yeah, man. So, you know, probably about a. I'd say about a year and a half to two years of just working and developing the strategy, and then ultimately their, you know, their team approving the market, etc. They were, you know, looking at New York Metro as a whole at the time. You have to remember, back then, I was solely working as a broker on Long Island. So it was before I started my company. And in between, I went to CB Richard Ellis from there and to spearhead Long island in the outer boroughs for them. They afforded me a great opportunity, and that was something that I did in the interim between starting my own company.

Yeah, huge. Just like, check off that box.

Yeah.

That's so crazy.

You know what? It was also, and this is, I think, an important lesson for young people. You know, before, I always wanted to start my own company, but I also knew that I had to be really good at what I did prior to starting my own company because, you know, it's okay to take risks. Not ones that land you in jail, but it's okay to take risks. You know, you get smart risks, right? Like, absolutely. And that's, you know, that's all part of maturity and growing up and life experience. But, you know, I knew I treated the opportunity to go to CB Richard Ellis, the largest, you know, commercial real estate company in the world. I always called it grad school for me. Right. Because I only worked for a powerhouse of a boutique firm. But they really primarily focused on Long island, which was a small territory. Not for me at the time, but, you know, later on in life, it became a small territory, and I expanded my network, my horizons. And the same way that I monitored all of the people that I admired in the commercial real estate field that were brokers, that I was taking, you know, bits and pieces of almost building my own Mr. Potato Potato Head.

Right.

Like, I decided that I was gonna do that with the boutique firm that I started with and then with CB Richard Ellis, the more corporate firm, and learn the best practices from both of those, which ultimately was the inspiration for Sabre.

Start your own. So is that something we're like talking to young people? It's like you got experience and actually got hands on work to then start your own company based around those things that you've learned, in a sense, correct?

Absolutely. I mean, there's no way that you can have a successful business if you're not very good at what you do. Right. So, you know, for me, it was very much about. About learning everything from the ground floor. So I never, you know, I. We do, like, beautiful maps and tour books and things of that nature in order to work with the, you know, the large companies that we work with. And, you know, back when I started, I was literally in the office, the amount of hours that I was. Because I had a marketing team that was willing to do it. But I was such a. Such a. I was obsessed with making sure that I was absorbing everything, that I would do it all myself. So, you know, the reality is that if my marketing team, you know, doesn't show up tomorrow, I could put my books together myself. Right. It's like somebody trying to own a restaurant without ever, like, having bartended or cooked or whatever. Like you, you know, the cook doesn't show up. You're screwed, man.

Okay, so regarding social media now, because I know we talked a lot about real estate. Talked about the story. Yep. Obviously, we met on social media. You're building your brand on social media, killing it. Blogging, incorporating two industries that are now coming together beautifully with the content that you're putting out. But when it comes to social media and real estate, because I'm sure a lot of people listening, they may be doing real estate, they may not be. But what's been the correlation for you and when did you take that step to kind of transition from not doing social media to doing it, but with an aspect of bridging the gap between real estate and your audience? So to kind of simplify the question, when did you first start building your personal brand in terms of real estate?

Individual, sure. So, you know, I, like a lot of people my age, looked at social media as more of a way to keep up with other people in my life that I don't get to spend a lot of time with. You know, college friends that live on the west coast, you know, seeing them growing up, their families, their kids. And then, you know, I started to just watch it closely. And I'm a student of everything. I mean, so, you know, once I started to realize what it was, how game changing it was, you know, you have to remember I. Before real estate, I was in online advertising. So I did, you know, I lived through that.com era and when the Internet just started and people thought it was a fad.

Yeah.

You know, so I had that background, but it's not. And then the dot com, you know, the bubble bursting and, you know, that was part of me also deciding to change, you know, change careers. I never wanted to spend all of my time, you know, in advertising at the time. So, you know, I. It was about a year and a half ago, I decided that I wanted to do a weekly vlog. You know, I had an Instagram, I had a Facebook, but nothing, you know, really wasn't putting a lot of time and energy into it. And, you know, I started to follow Gary. Gary V. Everyone listening, the man. So I started to follow Gary and, you know, I read a few. A few of his books. Crush it. Yeah, same.

I first started, like, doing my brand right after I read that book.

That's it. And that was, that was really, you know, once I started to understand how he simplified for me, you know, what was going on and how you could take. Take that and apply it into whatever you do. You know, real estate's heavy marketing to begin with. I think that residential is a lot more innovative than commercial real estate. So, you know, people still don't necessarily understand what I'm doing in my world, so to speak. And I always said from when I started my vlog, I hope they don't understand because the minute they do, you know, then I'm not going to be super innovative any longer. You know, I'm not going to be ahead of the curve. But, you know, the, that was the, the inspiration for it. But honestly, it took a lot of balls to put myself out there because, you know, my partner, my, my, you know, my plus or minus, you know, 45 people working for me, working at Sabre, you know, I knew that they would all have their own opinions of it. They wouldn't necessarily buy into it, you know, so different, super different, man. And, and, you know, a lot of people think it's an ego play, which, you know, it. It's quite the opposite where, you know, you gotta, like, you gotta really, like, trust me, man. It's Friday at, at. At what time? 5:00'. Clock. It's my wife's 40th birthday. You know, I we spent a few days, you know, we unfortunately had a loss in the family this week, you know, so. And I'm. Yeah, but I'm saying, like, you know, you have, you have to. Yeah, you have to, like, you have to get it, man. You have to like, go. Go after it. You can't, like, this stuff's not going to. Not going to work. It's not going to work, you know, and we're grinding, man. And that's why, like, you, Tyler Harris, like, all these people have, you know, inspired me to just. Just, you know, go out of my way, even if I don't feel like being followed by somebody with a camera. Britney's literally recording us as we speak. You know, it's not comfortable and it's not. It's. It's. It's. It's foreign in a lot of ways, you know, but you, you understand the the context and the impact that you have. And you know, it's, it's like how could you not do this? Yeah, you know, it's, it's what gets me up in the morning. It's, it's, it's crazy man. You know, I didn't know what I was getting myself into, but the minute that I committed to it, full on.

Committed and that was it. I think that's something like a lot of people like they're doing it but they're not like doing it. You know, it's like even for this right now, like you said, it's like Friday 5am and I don't even know what day it is anymore after like everything I'm doing. But regarding just like doing it, people like they'll take the couple minutes to like DM someone but they're not actually, they don't have a plan, they don't have a vision, they don't understand like why they're doing it. You know, people may be listening to your story right now and just something was spark in their head, you know. And like I think a lot of people don't think about it from the context of like who is listening to what I'm saying, who's actually. Maybe there's one person or a hundred thousand people. You know, it's like the impact and that's something where I started really focusing and I'm sure you agreed it's like it's just crazy with social media and now it's like, like you said, Gary Vee, it's like every industry, you know, commercial, real estate, whatever, may be like just documenting is like the thing to do right now.

You know, it is. I mean, but it, it's, it's, it's so amazing meeting people like you. Right? Like meeting all of the, the people that I wouldn't meet if I wasn't doing this stuff. That's what I'm saying. Exactly.

Doing your branding, I wasn't doing mine. Like it's crazy.

It's crazy. And, and you know what, it opens up a whole new world of opportunities and you know, it's just, it's networking in life is so important. And you know, I will say that part of whether I'm, whether my story is touching one person or five people, you know, I'm not doing it for that. I'm not doing it. I'm doing it, I'm sorry, to inspire people, but I'm not doing it to monetize. I'm not doing, you know, I'm just passionate about what I'm doing. And I think that, you know, having traveled the road, less traveled in a lot of ways in my life, you know, I think it's important to give back and to, you know, help younger people that don't know who is a positive influence, you know, who's. There's so many people out there today that are doing what we're doing, but with the wrong purpose behind it. Right. So, you know, how are people gonna pick and choose who they're going to be inspired by, what type of mentors to line themselves up with? And I think that's important because there's a lot of bullshit out there, too.

Yeah. And it's hard to kind of. I think a lot of people, like. And there's also, like. There's so many options, and it's like, it's hard to tell if you're kind of stepping into the game. You're starting following 100 people all in one niche. It's like, it's harder to kind of pick and choose who you want to follow. I was talking with Grant Cardone. He's like, everyone has 20,000 mentors. He's like, why the hell you need 20,000 mentors? Because you just have access to follow as many people you want to take in different bits. Everyone's, like, just saying one thing, saying the opposite. So regarding mentors, I have, like, two more questions before I wrap this up. Number one, who would you say would be a huge mentor in your life that has just really helped you stay aligned with who you are and just really helped you throughout your journey? Is there one person or multiple people that you kind of, like, attribute? Just, like, they've helped me and, like, shown me the ropes and the.

Yeah, man. I mean, you know, that.

That's.

That's a. Always an interesting thing for me to think about, because, you know, the honest answer is that I didn't have a tremendous support system, you know, when I was dealing with those tough things. You know, early on, I had to deal with a lot of those things myself, and. But that also forced me to do everything myself, which. Yeah. Which, you know, ultimately, I. I think it was the internal, you know, fire that. That. That, you know, having to. To do this by necessity sort of speak was what always drove me. I mean, that was the reason that I was up early, grinding late, you know, going above and beyond constantly. And. And, you know, there are people that I look at, and I'm inspired by, you know, the digital stuff that I'm doing, which has now transitioned from the Digital marketing. Things that we've done at Sabre into a completely different business called Be Creative, which is a digital marketing consulting business where we, you know, we'll build websites, we help people with social media management. We're doing third party vlog stuff now, helping people, which it's. It's awesome because, you know, when you know what it does for you and you can actually just. It's like, yeah, you know, I'm not even, like, trying to tell people to do it, but you're just so passionate about, like, yo, you have no idea. Like, any person that I meet with in my real estate business, they've seen my videos before. I'm walking into a conference room, they think they know me, and it's such a much easier, natural conversation from that point on, I could literally, my company could sell a, you know, a $50 million project yesterday.

If.

If I see somebody tomorrow, they're gonna start, the conversation is gonna be about the video content that we're doing. I mean, and that's what's so crazy to me. It's almost like, you know, everybody's doing these big real estate deals. Everybody's doing all of this other stuff. Not everybody's doing this. This video stuff. Not everybody is. Is. You know, it's interesting. I went to college with Kourtney Kardashian. Right? So. Yeah. Which is another. Another fun fact. Right? So. So, you know, when I first met Kourtney and Kim.

You met them?

Yeah. Well, so one of my best friends in college was dating Kourtney. And it's a crazy story for another time. But the short story is, you know, I've said. I've used the term the Kardashian effect. And, you know, there's a book, obviously, the Kardashian Effect. And if you look at, you know, like, when I met Kim, she was married to a music producer. This was in 2000. No, I'm sorry, what am I saying? 1996. Okay. Something like that. Right. She was already married and. And, you know, had some. Some local fame based on, you know, obviously her father and the O.J. case and all that stuff, to see where she is today. You know what I'm saying? Like, that just.

That's crazy.

It's bananas. But it's also, you know, like. Like, Ryan Sirhant is killing the game with his content. He's a great guy, and he, you know, the fact that he's out there vlogging now and doing content that's not solely specific to his real estate business. Yeah, man. Like, he's doing it. Like, he gets it, right? He gets it. I was on a call with a group of people in the commercial real estate business, Beth Azor, who's friendly with Gary V. And we were on a conference call with him. He was kind enough to call in, and somebody asked him a question, and he's like, nobody in commercial real estate is, you know, especially in the retail space, has a podcast. I'm like, yo, I'm starting a podcast. And I did. And, you know, and. And it's just. It's. It's crazy, man. You know, there's still. There's still oceanfront real estate available, and the people who don't understand what that means need to figure it out.

Yeah.

You know what I'm saying?

So you started around two years ago, just documenting, going hard. And obviously all of his stuff will be down in the description. But I have one question to kind of wrap it up. Obviously, you've done multiple things. You've had ups and downs throughout your journey. And when it comes to the overall, like, the process, when it comes to someone listening, maybe they're 17, 18, 25, they're lost, not knowing what to do. Maybe they just had a negative situation.

Yep.

What's something that. In the overall way that if you look at, like, your success, what's something you'd want someone to know? Just maybe not tips, maybe not something just blunt, but just something that, like you as an individual, just. You'd want someone to know that's super young, that's lost. What's something that you'd want to give them so that they can just internalize while they're listening to this?

Yeah. I mean, none of my success happened by accident. You know, you have to set goals. You have to map out your future, and that's. That. That's with everything. Right.

That.

That's with a family starting a family. You know, you have to decide what. What. What is best for you. Because what's best for somebody else doesn't necessarily mean it's best for you. But you can't. Once you ultimately decide what success means to you, what happiness means to you, and trust me, it's not money. You know, money will give you more freedom, which is great. Obviously, you know, not knowing that there's nobody in this world, based on the hard work that I've put in, that can tell me where I need to be tomorrow, you know, that's really success to me. But, you know, I would urge everybody to. Andy Frisella. Aggressive patience.

Right.

You know, that's Ultimately, what you need to think about, you need to put a plan in place, set goals and grind hard at those goals. Because the short story is, nothing great in life happens overnight. And anybody who's super successful at anything has grinded very hard. You know, yes, you can make quick money, yes, you can, you know, have, have some sort of overnight success, but that's not gonna last long term. So you need to, you need to pick something, map it out, go all in into that purpose. And when you, when you have passion and purpose for something, you're never working a day in your life, bro.

I love it, bro.

That's what's up.

Everyone listening. One thing I want you to do right now, everyone, he will have his. We will have the link to his Instagram vlog, YouTube channel, everything below. I really, and I mean this with a purpose. Make sure you go follow Jason and make sure you tell him that you came from this podcast. Because the reason that I bring on guests and the reason I brought him on is I know his story is phenomenal and we definitely got to get deep right here. And I definitely appreciate you coming on. I know it's literally a Friday night, five o', clock, we just finished an event, we're sitting at a pool right now and we're just knocking out this thing. And I really just want to take the quick second to say, like, guys, make sure to take the five seconds, follow his content and really, you can hear what he's saying when it comes to the vlogging, but actually go check out his stuff because I feel like a lot of people can know what to do. And like, they say, alright, it's good to start a vlog, but people aren't watching the vlog. People aren't like studying individuals who are putting out the content. So I think everyone listening, if you want to follow someone that's really doing it and really putting in the effort, putting in the time it has, the experience in an industry like real estate, definitely go check out his stuff. And like I said, that will all be down the description. And to end it off, I just want to say make sure that the biggest thing I want you to do from this podcast is just share it with a friend. Like you said, I don't monetize my podcast. I just literally create the content for people to listen to it and really just hear the amazing stories from people that I have in my network. So that being said, everyone make sure to go follow him. And Jason, thank you so much for coming on, man. It's such a pleasure man.

Appreciate you. This was amazing. Thank you everybody for listening to my story. I hope it inspired one person.

Absolutely. Well, thank you, guys. Thank you so much. Thanks for tuning to the Rise of Young podcast. We'll talk soon.

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