[Greatest Hits] Episode #253: The Story Behind Roman Sharf CEO Of Luxury Bazaar

Welcome to this edition of the Million Dollar Mastermind podcast. This is where we pick the brains of high achievers from all walks of life and get their hard earned real world insights on winning. I'm your host, Larry Wydell. Hello, everybody. Very excited to bring you a new friend, Roman Scharf. Roman is somebody you might want to interact with him in a big way going forward as things start to fall into place in your life and you start being able to enjoy some of the better things of life. He is the CEO and founder of luxurybazaar.com and what this is is an online portal for luxurious high end watches and accessories. He may decide to tell you a little bit more about that. But before I give you some of his background, let me say hello. Hello, Roman.

Hey, Larry, how are you?

Great. And I appreciate you getting on. And Roman's a very busy guy. Like all high achievers. He's got a YouTube channel, he's done a zillion podcasts. What is your YouTube channel?

It's my name. It's Roman Sharf.

Okay, there you go. Simple enough. Now, Roman was brought here, here being the US by his dad, to chase the American dream. And he lived in a 400 square foot apartment in Brooklyn at the age of 13. You know, and they say when Bloomberg got started, Mr. Billionaire Bloomberg, when he got started, he was in New York in a 400 square foot apartment. So a lot of good things have come from those little tiny apartments. But Roman was living in there, sharing the apartment, and at 13, forced to start working by the time he was 18, he pretty much worked every job you could imagine. So he decided, I'm going to join the army. And after leaving the army, he decided to pursue college. And upon graduating at the age of 26, he was vice president at a Fortune 500 company. So he started with a bang. And at the peak of his career, he decided to walk away and follow his dream of becoming a luxury watch and accessory dealer. And so now Luxury Bazaar. He's become one of, if not the number one luxury watch dealers in the usa. Hundred billion dollar company. And he can elaborate on that. Been in business since 2005. It generates over 118 million in sales per year through wholesale and retail division. So, Rowan, thanks for carving out some time for us. How about a little background on your story? Because people are out there. In the beginning, you're wondering, you know, you're the 13 year old, you're working like a dog. You're probably working and picking up a lot of experiences, grinding before the glass and picking up a lot of experiences, meeting a lot of people who are probably not nearly as exciting or interesting as the people you met in your later twenties and on your way up the ladder. But what was that like at the time? And how did you fight your way up that ladder?

Well, first of all, thank you for that wonderful intro, Larry. I going to use a cliche and say I couldn't have said it better myself. But to go back to your question, it was a mindset that I was in at the age of 13 that kept driving me forward. And then whether the people I've met or the jobs I felt were interesting or not interesting, I always got a little something out of every single person I've met and out of every single position I may have held, whether it was delivering newspapers, working as a dishwasher, working as a waiter, or doing roofing and construction, it didn't really matter to me. The driving factor was very simple. My father came to this country with $4 in his pocket and. And the whole goal of my dad was to give his children the American dream, to give his children the opportunity to grow further professionally, individually and physically, really. Because where we came from, which at the time was the Soviet Union, there was none of that. There was no opportunity. Everything was controlled by the government within the socialist system that they had, communist system that they had. So to me, starting young, starting at the age of 13 with my very, very first job, I knew I was gonna be somebody because I was now in a place where it was completely up to me and no outside source, such as the government, would stop any of that. And that's where it came down to for me, even at the young age of 13. And that's the mentality I have to this day.

Well, we have people continuing to come to the United States, but here we take freedom and opportunity for granted. In fact. And you see the presidential campaign, everybody's given everything away. You know, you're supposed to get housing, you're supposed to have free health insurance, you're supposed to have this, that the other. And they ignore the fact that we're in a free country and you've got the opportunity to take charge of your life and make all of that happen for yourself. And if the government gives you anything, it's not going to be much. And so right from the beginning, you almost have an advantage coming as an immigrant once you get here, don't you think?

Yes, you do and you don't. Because the way our country is set up until this day, you want to get into social programs that are available to those that are in need. I have nothing against social programs per se, but those that truly are in need, but there are also those that take advantage of it. And I can tell you one thing, that even some of my peers or some of my father's peers, they came in here from the very beginning. They did take advantage of the system. Where my father was a very proud man, still is. And he always said. He said, I will work three jobs before I will allow the government to give me food stamps. We've never had food stamps. And the reason we never had food stamps is because my father said, I would rather work three jobs. That's the kind of example he said to me in the very, very beginning. And as a little kid, seeing that made me think that, you know what? Nothing in this world is free. I can take two roads. This is a country where, if anybody chooses to take the route of social help and reaching out for a helping hand, the government is here to help you. And that's the only issue I have with the social programs we have today. And that is the fact that it enables people not to drive forward, not to be motivated, and not to try to succeed when something is handed to you, from housing to food stamps, to help, you know, tends to drive your motivation down. And from the very beginning, my father set an example of saying, absolutely not. This country is full of opportunities. I can work three jobs, I'm physically able, and there's an opportunity to do so. So therefore, I'm not going to reach, but I'll help. I'm going to drive forward and make sure that my family has food on the table and my children have the opportunity to study, learn, and move forward on their own.

Well, I wanted to ask you about that, Roman, because there's a lot of truth in the fact that as you start, so you'll finish. And you could almost see that with employees when they hit your office the first day or week or something, if there's not a spark there, if there's not an initiative, if there's not a natural affinity for the work that you've got them hired to do, it's probably not going to show up later. And one thing that I've heard from you so far is the same thing that Mark Cuban said about starting out his career when he was a salesman at a computer. I guess it was a computer store, he was a salesman, or I think he just swept up the place when he started. But he said he looked at it as an opportunity to learn. And he said one thing. I know people here know more than I do. I'm going to learn everything I possibly can that they know as fast as I possibly can, you know. And then he went on and said, then I'm going to learn about what the customers coming in the door are most interested in, and I'm going to get inside their mind and see what I could learn about marketing from the customers. And so what you did starting out at the young age, hard work, you started off also with a North Star. I think you've got to be very clear. You started off with a North Star in your mind. I'm going to be somebody. I'm going to amount to something. And I think, Roman, you can tell me if I'm wrong, but just starting out with that idea causes you, no matter what you're doing, to put more energy into what you're doing. Would you agree with that?

I will agree with that. And I'll tell you one further. A smart man once said that you always have to dream big, but you have to take small steps to get there. Do you know who said that?

Who's that?

Me. I said that. That's my motto. That's my motto of life. And I've always dreamed big. Since the age of 13. I always dreamed of making it big. I never had fantasies in regards to living in mansions or driving fancy yachts and the stuff that you saw Robin Leach show at the time I came to America. However, in the back of my mind and in front of my mind, I always knew that no matter what it is I do, I'm going to be successful at it because I'm going to continue driving on until I am successful. I didn't have another choice. It wasn't a choice of being successful or not being successful or being mediocrely successful. It was a question of I am going to be successful. What I'm going to do and when I'm going to get there, I'm not quite sure yet because I'm still young. But I know that no matter what, once I grow up, I am going to be successful.

Well, you were obviously thinking, you were obviously evaluating options. Why did, at 18 years old, the army appear to be your best next step?

Because right now what you're doing is you're talking to probably one of the biggest American patriots in this country. I mean, I'd hate to call myself the biggest, but I'd like to think of myself as a huge patriot of this country. I love United States of America with all my heart. It gave me an opportunity to do what I do today. Gave me an opportunity to my now three children to be able to do and achieve what they want to achieve in life. And at the age of 18, it was my way of actually giving thanks to the country that took me in from a place that was so foreign and so far. It was a country that gave me the opportunity to do what I want to do. And I'm also a firm believer that like in most countries in the world today, military training is mandatory. I don't necessarily think that like back in Soviet Union, you had to serve 2 years mandatory or 2 and a half years I think was the mandatory serve time. And a lot of other countries do the same thing. I don't believe in that. But I do believe that most young guys and girls out there should receive some sort of military training while let's say they come over age of 18. So if I believed in that, you got to practice what you preach. So it was a two part thing, but for the most part it was the fact that I absolutely love this country until this day. Should I get the call, God forbid I will pick up my rifle and I will go defend this country because this is a country that should provide me with everything. Everything.

What did you get that you took from the army experience? The biggest things you took from that experience that you used going into college and launching your career because you seemed like you launched your career with a bang. Vice president of a company at 26 years old.

It's actually a simple answer. Oftentimes when you hear guys or girls talk about the military, right? And then you hear guys and girls that are not in the military. I started it with $12,500. So when I say anything is impossible, anything is possible and you're in the right place. And that's the United States of America.

Thanks so much, Roman. Look forward to having you back again. Your story is super inspirational. It's one thing to hear in generalities that you can turn your life around in the United States. It's another thing to hear from someone who has done it. So thanks so much.

Yeah, I look forward to being back on the show. There's plenty more we can discuss. Larry, thanks so much for having me.

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