Episode 91: Learning How to "Taste Blood" to be Successful Early in Business with Investment Bank...

Welcome to this episode of the Million Dollar Mastermind. I'm Larry Weidell and let's get started. I'm excited today to talk to Anthony Tony Grosso. And Tony is amazing to me because of how he's been able to navigate up the charts early in his career and position himself in his business to where now he can compound and multiply for the rest of his young life, which we all can do. Except, you know, we're not usually in our 20s and early 30s when we do that. And so there's a lot of advantage to you getting yourself organized at an early age or, you know, you'll never be any younger than you are right now. So if you can get yourself organized to move into position where you can affect your life, you can control your life, you can make bigger income, you can enjoy, do something you're really enjoying, you're going to have a much higher quality of life and much more financially rewarding life. So welcome Anthony Grosso. And Anthony, do you like Tony or Anthony?

Tony's totally fine and I'm happy to be with you, Larry.

Yeah, thanks so much, Tony. And, and let people know, you know, you're the founder, managing principal of First National Realty Partners LLC up in New Jersey and busy, busy life, lots of things going on. But appreciate you taking the time out to share and pass on some of your experiences and insights you've learned on the road, climbing that ladder to where you have your own business, you're dealing with the public, you're in a position of huge responsibility, but also you've got lots of employees, lots of customers, lots of money at stake. Yet you know, you're somehow worked it out to where you're very comfortable, you're thriving in that environment. And the stage is set for, you know, you to be one of those guys that has 10 to 100 to 1,000 times growth over the next, you know, 10, 15, 20 years. And so let's just talk about how you started and how you got yourself into this position.

Sure, sure. And I'll, I'll cut right to the chase and try to be brief for the audience. But I think my story is a pretty good one and I think everybody will take a lot away from it. So I am the, like you said, the managing principal and founder of First National Realty Partners up here in Red Bank, New Jersey. We're a private equity group and what that means is we invest in commercial real estate assets on behalf of ourselves and our institutional and high net worth investment investors. And my story kind of starts I've always been an entrepreneurial person ever since I was a kid. I used to sell candy and all kinds of stuff in high school in the cafeteria. So I've always wanted to be in business. I started reading at a young age, predominantly business books, nonfiction, how to improve myself, how to sell all that good stuff. And I've kind of carried that through throughout my entire life. I originally went to Florida State University on a full football scholarship. This is 27 is when I went in and I had plans of one day going to the NFL and, you know, being the next top paid. I was an offensive tackle. I was one of the best guys to come out of New Jersey back then. So I went to Florida State and my career wound up lasting. I said, when people ask me, they say, you went to Florida? Says, had a cup of coffee. So that's pretty much how long my football career lasted. So I wound up leaving Florida State, getting out of football actually didn't, didn't wind up even graduating from, from college, and had this idea that I was going to come back to New Jersey and I was going to easily become this wildly successful entrepreneur. I didn't even know what I wanted to get into. Maybe I wanted to do franchising or financial services. I mean, I had done a lot of small, little niche businesses even as a teenager. So I came back to New Jersey and I continued. I started to struggle for probably two, three years miserably. And you know, I tried all kinds of sales jobs, all kinds of businesses. I tried a million different things and I really didn't have too much success. So it wasn't going as well as I wanted. So I wound up getting a job in investment banking, kind of starting at the low man on the totem pole, and kind of worked my way into that vein. And I wasn't rapidly successful right away doing that either. But what I was able to do is pick up the skill, a lot of the skills necessary, I'd say, on the sales front, to be able to master the English language and articulate my point of view. And when I really learned to sell, that's kind of when my career blossomed, kind of went out and did my own thing in that vein. Then ultimately started First National Realty Partners back in 2016. We bought a, you know, eight apartment, two stores, a little mixed use job up in north Jersey for 500,000. And you know, now we have over 3 million feet. I think our portfolio is valued over 400 million. And I look back now and I, you know, if I would have Looked at myself when I was 20 or 21, when I was struggling, and looked at where I'm at now, I'd say, wow, that's really impressive. But now I look back and I say, there's so much more I could have done. We're really just scratching the surface on what we're doing. So that's kind of my story. And, you know, happy to get into it a little bit more if you like, but that's kind of how it all has played out for me so far.

Yeah, I do want to get into it because people need to focus on what you did when you weren't getting big results, but you were climbing the ladder. You know, you were looking for ladders to climb. You were looking for places to go. You had a general mindset of that. I think most of us do, you know, wanting to be your own boss, wanting at least above average income, wanting to do exciting things with your life, didn't know how to do it. Is that a fair statement?

Yeah. And I don't come from, you know, vast wealth. And I never really had a serious mentor either. I was kind of mentored from books and picked up things along the way. But that's exactly right. You hit the nail head.

And what was, you know, people say, how do I stay focused? How can I do this? And the other, to me, if you're asking yourself, how do I stay focused? And how do I, you know, keep. Stay on the attack? Probably you don't have what it takes to really be your own boss, be a big. Even be a CEO or a big, big executive in any kind of big organization, because you just don't have the drive. You can't. Without the drive, you're really not going to go anywhere. But you had that drive. And I get the idea it wasn't hard for you to keep looking for things and reading books and this and the other. It was just. You were just compelled to do that. Is that correct?

Yeah. Even in the. You know, I hate to use this word, but my lowest points, let's say when I was a couple years of leaving Florida State, I always had a big vision and I knew that I was a competent guy, that I was going to do something huge. And I would start one venture and maybe I'd fail off to something else or take another sales job or try a million different things. I never stopped, you know, pounding the pavement. I never stopped hustling. I always kept moving forward. And the beauty. I heard Mark Cuban say this. One of the best things about business is you Only have to be right one time. So while maybe everybody thought I was a schmuck, you know, struggling and trying all these different things and. Oh, yeah, new thing of the week, you know, all I had to do was kind of compile all of these experiences and find the one vein that I could find success in and, you know, just continue to get some momentum and taste blood and build upon that. And that's, you know, really why I've been able to get to where I am, is I never stop moving forward.

Yeah. And the thing of that is that. Don't you feel like that informed, that type mentality, informed how you evaluated opportunities and how, you know, could a lot of people come in? You know, in every organization, you basically have the 80, 20 rule. And people at the top 20% will make $20, let's say, for every dollar the bottom 80% makes. But the guys.

Pareto principle. Absolutely.

And the guys at the top 1 or 2%, they'll make 100 to $200 for every dollar the people at the bottom make or more. And so the thing is, I used to tell people when they would come to work with our company is like, do you want to train for the 80%, the 20%, or the 1 or 2%? Because if you want to train for that to be a 1 or 2 percenter, you, you gotta work with me. You can't fight me. You gotta be early, stay late, and otherwise I'll lose interest in you. And a lot of people don't have that in their mind. But I got the idea that you, when you're evaluating these opportunities, we're looking at the 1% payoff of succeeding in this area or that area. Is that right?

Well, even. That's exactly right. And even looking at different opportunities, I would find myself in different jobs, or let's say, business opportunities that I would try. And I would realize that this opportunity doesn't work for me and I would almost like shut down within a couple of weeks and kind of get away from it. I really wanted to find that one scenario where, you know, I said, wow, this is the opportunity if I apply myself and I, you know, I'm successful here, you know, there's going to be different things that are working for one thing. Like when I would work for somebody else and I would be in a job, I had no leverage. I was only going to get paid off of all my results. So if I was in an opportunity or a job like that, I would immediately shut down. When I really started working for myself and I realized I can use the leverage of having other people help me build my dreams and get where I need to be. You know, it really blossoms and there's a million different, you know, little niches to, you know, different opportunities that, you know, you have to use leverage and all that. Different, different points. But that was one of the big things for me, was really buying into what I was doing. And, you know, when I. When I found what I'm doing now, I immediately knew it was going to be a, you know, home run.

And when you. What were some of the lessons you learned from some of those. Any lessons stand out from going through those experiences that you use today. And it helped you be successful where you are today.

You know, one of the most important things is tasting blood early is the kind of word that I use. And what that means is you have a little. Success begets success. So what I. And momentum and, you know, when you get into something, if you can quickly get in there and have a couple of quick wins, you can start to slowly build momentum. And, you know, what's crazy is you can look back after building momentum six months, a year after and say, I cannot believe what my results were. So, you know, if I was talking to somebody, I would want to, you know, I would. And I talked to a lot of guys that are entrepreneurs and they've been in their business for two, three, four, five years, and they're not really having big results. And the reason is, is they don't have that momentum. So one of the things I would, you know, look for if I was looking for an opportunity, how can I get in here? How can I immediately be successful and then put systems and processes and resources and hire people to expand upon what I'm doing? And I think that, you know, being able to taste blood quickly in any business is really huge for guys that are really starting from a standstill.

I would say fantastic. Tony, I appreciate you sharing that with us, and that allowed you. It's funny when you go through these years where not things are not happening, you're working like a dog and you keep running to brick walls. It seems like time is very slow, but when you look back on how much progress you made in a year, it can be incredible. And I know this is a frustrating experience for you, but it puts you in a position where you worked your way up to. When. At what age were you when you founded your company?

I was. I closed on my first deal. I was kind of in business, you know, kind of in the investment banking advisory space for really about a Year and a half before I started first national, kind of had my own thing going. But I started first national, actually closed on my first deal when I was 2016. So I guess that's. I was 25, 26, maybe 26 back then. And I had had. Before starting this company, I had had a decent level of success. It wasn't like I just from a standstill, you know, I learned the skills, I had a good income, and I was able to kind of shift that into this business. The years before that were definitely lean and I had all. I was, I drove a cab, I was a bouncer at a nightclub. I was a bartender. I did a lot of different crazy jobs, but. Yeah, so, but I started this company when I was like I said, 26, 25. And you know, I don't really want to do anything else other than build upon what I'm doing right now. I love the private equity business. It's a great place to be in.

And now you're around what, 20, 29, 30, something like that?

I just, I turned 31 back in June.

31. And so in now you can look back and say, you know, five or six short years, you went from your first deal forming the company to over, what, $400 million in property under management?

Yep. Right around there. Yep. 3 million square feet throughout the country.

Yeah. It's unbelievable. Of course, you were starting, you were in Red Bank, New Jersey, which you are today. But the geographical restrictions mean nothing to you now. Like you said, you got properties around the country, right?

Correct. Yep. We're geographically agnostic, so we go where we can find opportunity and, you know, add value. And the fact that we may be remote in our office, you know, we've put systems and processes in place to be able to handle stuff, you know, all over the country.

Unbelievable. Thanks so much, Tony, for sharing that. And I know that's a lot of powerful information, could be useful for people wondering how can I take the next couple of years, months and years and make the biggest leap forward to where I can get a position where I've got unlimited opportunities and I'm doing things that really turn me on. So thanks so much, Tony, and thanks for sharing.

You got it.

Thanks for listening to this episode of Million Dollar Mastermind with me, Larry Wydell. If I've helped you in any way, leave us a five star rating and review on Apple Podcasts. For more information like this, listen to our other Million Dollar Mastermind episodes and check out my Wydell Academy YouTube channel and visit us on whydel on winning.com com I'm the million dollar mastermind. And until next time, go, go.