Jodi Rotman, founder and CEO of Nestiny, built a real-estate tech platform to simplify home buying and selling with free information and professional connections. She credits her mother's insistence on erasing mistakes completely with teaching her to work thoroughly and restart without shame, principles she applies to her business.
Chapters
Welcome to the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with all the resources you need to become a successful author. You can learn more about Authors Unite and join the free community at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.
Alright everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I am your host Tyler Wagner, and today I'm with Jodi Rotman. She is the founder and CEO of Nestini, which is a real estate technology startup. So welcome to the show, Jodi.
Thank you, I'm glad to be here.
Thanks for joining us, and we'll dive in. The first question I have for you is, what's the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
I would say when I was a little girl, my mom was really attentive. And when my brother and I would do our homework and make a mistake, she'd always, always tell us to make sure we erased our error completely, not even leaving a trace of the error on the paper. It sounds really simple, but it taught me two vital things that I've really carried through my whole life. One is do things fully and don't cut corners. It'll save you a lot of time in the long run. And two, it's never too late to admit you've made a mistake and start over from scratch. And I think that's helped me many times with taking risks, reinventing myself and adjusting to life's changes. And it's especially come in handy with my startup Nestini.
And what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
It's that buying or selling a home doesn't have to be so difficult or overwhelming. As a female founder of a real estate tech startup, which is Nestini.com, my mission is to empower people everywhere anywhere to achieve their dream of homeownership, and also help them easily connect online with the right professionals whenever they're ready. We live in an on-demand world, and people deserve to have access to accurate information to learn how to buy or sell a home for free. And so I would say it's that homeownership is possible for many, and especially if you have an opportunity to make plans and prepare. And I think before Nestini, there wasn't a place online that was easy for consumers to go to to get ready. And now that we have consumers that have found us, we're growing because we're really filling a big need out there.
And what's your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily industry specific.
Sure. You know, I think if you believe in what you're doing and you have a real passion around it, you should go for it. There's no reason to let fear hold you back. What's always worked well for me is trusting my instincts, working to be as authentic as possible, and doing the right thing by my clients. So, I think that's really my overarching advice.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
It's probably actually to be even bolder and bet on myself even more than I have. I think that's something that you learn with time that you don't want to look back and have what I call rocking chair regret. So, I don't have a lot of those, but I can definitely see opportunities in my past where I might have been a little bolder and stepped out a little bit more. And now, I don't really take that chance.
And in your opinion, what's the key to happiness?
Happiness is a choice every single day. I believe that I realized kind of early in life that it's one thing that I actually can control. I work really hard to not let outside influences affect my outlook or my mood. And I think appreciating the little moments and the tiny victories throughout my day kind of makes it easier for me to weather a setback.
And what's the best book that you've read? And what was the number one thing you learned from that?
I'm kind of biased, I think, with that question. It'll be surprising, but it's actually the children's book that my husband wrote for me. It's called The Festive Frolics of Panda and Owl, and it's loosely based on our personalities and our nicknames for each other. It's actually a great bedtime story for parents or grandparents to read to their little ones, or even that kid who's kind of an aspiring reader. He's actually an excellent writer, and he wrote each chapter of this book for me as a gift. For all of our special occasions while we're dating. And honestly, I think it was his way of getting out of writing me a love letter because I was hounding him about it. But I guess he thought that writing me a children's book was easier. Don't ask me why. But what I did for our wedding is I kind of surprised him and secretly had it published. And now it's actually on Amazon and stores like Barnes Noble. And I think what I learned from that whole process is that even though we may look a little older on the outside, we're never really too old to explore the kid in us deep down.
Yes, that is awesome. And what's your favorite quote and why?
I would have to say it's actually one that I made up a long time ago, and I can't even remember why or when, but it's, "You never know unless you go." It's really been my personal mantra in life. It's always been something that I introspectively think about whenever I'm faced with choices that involve risk. And I believe that as you get older and more experienced, you learn the difference between taking calculated risks and taking bolder ones. And it also helps you understand when it makes sense to gather more information first before taking the leap, or just embracing taking a bold step just because you believe in yourself.
Yes, thank you so much for coming on, Jodi. The last question I have for you before we let you go is, where's the best place for people to find you online?
Yes, actually, you can find me on my website. It's nestiny.com, N-E-S-T-I-N-Y.com, or on LinkedIn by searching for Jodi Clower-Rottman.
Perfect. Thank you again for coming on, Jodi. We appreciate it.
Thanks so much for having me. Have a great day.
The podcast you just heard was recorded with Anchor. If you want to make your own, download the Android or iOS app completely free from anchor.fm/podcast. That's anchor.fm/podcast.
