Zach De Bernardi: The Standard Real Estate | The Business Blast Podcast #281

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.

All right everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Zach de Bernardi and he is the founder and CEO of The Standard Real Estate and an entrepreneur. So welcome to the show, Zach.

Thanks for having me, Tyler.

Of course, thanks for hopping on. Uh, we'll dive in. The first question I have for you, Zach, is what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?

Spanish. You know, I think— can you hear me okay? Yep. I think I don't have any story to tell that's like some transcendent reality-shifting moment in my life. But I think the most pertinent stories for me are ones that, you know, especially for the theme of this podcast, taught me some business lessons. And taught me how to problem solve. It's funny, they kind of all have to do with this old, beautiful 1995 Volvo station wagon that I used to drive for my first car. It was champagne gold, and I was a super, super reckless teenager, to say the least. And I just beat the heck out of that car. And so I'd always have to figure out ways to fix it, whether, you know, taking like a zip tie and putting this piece together or what have you. The funds in my life just weren't there to go get it fixed, or else I'd probably be driving something else. But I remember once I was spending— I spent like 2 hours out in the sun in Georgia trying to fix the tailgate of the station wagon, because every time I close it, that the inner clad, like the plastic that covered the pieces of the inside of the car would fall off and just land into like the storage bay at the back of the station wagon. So I spent forever trying to fix it. And, you know, I went to my dad, I was like, Dad, I can't fix this, it's impossible. We have to go to the shop, pay something and get it fixed. And he comes out with like a power tool and a drill and 2 screws and just screws like this plastic cladding in the interior of it straight to the sheet metal. And it's like fixed in like 2 seconds. And I was like, dang, I feel like an idiot. But you know, it was— I look back and it's kind of a small little funny story, but it showed me that, you know, there's always a different approach to a problem. There's always a different way to go about thinking about things, and that collaborating and having a meeting of the minds or seeking advice, seeking help is a really great way about finding a solution to a problem. So that was, that was really interesting and kind of taught me— I think that was one of the defining moments that taught me how to problem solve, or like a real-world problem-solving application. Because I'm a really big believer in that. And then it's actually funny, after I fixed— or after he helped me fix it, I turned around and sold the car for $400 to an illegal immigrant. And I tend to be like overly honest, overly transparent, probably too nice of a person when it comes to business negotiation. So I was like 18 and in the parking lot, and this guy didn't speak any English. His daughter was in second grade, she was translating for him. And I started pointing out all the things that were wrong with the car, like, oh, this doesn't work, or this doesn't work, this doesn't work. And my stepdad pulled me aside and kind of knocked me on top of the head and said, you know, when you're negotiating, let them do their own due diligence, never point out anything wrong. I thought, you know, that was also a valuable lesson for me as well. Don't point out obvious glaring mistakes in a business negotiation standpoint. Sorry, that was a little long-winded.

Yeah, no, no, no. Those are like great stories. I mean, from a business perspective. So, and what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?

So I think for me and for most people, I think most people always want to know that insider bit of information so that they can know what to act on next. You know, it's always good to be educated for the future. And I read a lot about the future. I would call myself a futurist in my mentality. And, you know, I think a lot about the future impact on society and could talk about it forever. But as it relates to real estate, I think there's something coming that a lot of people can't wrap their heads around right now because it's a future outcome that has multiple variables that are interconnected through a lot of different industries that I think will ultimately represent a larger paradigm shift on a similar scale to the internet coming around or the Industrial Revolution. And as it pertains to real estate, I think what we need to be prepared for in the future is an outcome where situs, or location, location, location, is no longer king or queen when it comes to determining value. So specifically talking about the demonetization of city centers or in real estate or urban areas. Right now, if you look at the data, I think we're somewhere at like 4% of the world population is living in city centers and urban lifestyle. And the trend says that by 2050, it should be about 7%, which will be over billions of people. And, you know, right now real estate is so so hot. I mean, we're seeing our clients right now in different scenarios, of course, but where they can make 50 to 100% profits in a year to 2 years, and they're already buying in a really hot market. Um, but I think that it's going to start— the city centers and urban areas in real estate are going to start to demonetize a little bit because of future technology from virtual attendants for companies, which we're seeing happen a lot right now in commercial. And most importantly, transportation, which is going to reduce dramatically in cost. So, you know, when you can live 20 miles outside of Dallas or Santa Monica or wherever you are, and the real estate values drop by a factor of 10, there, and, and you can get to where you want to be in the city center in, in 10 minutes, it makes a huge difference. And I think that we're really going to start to see that by 2050 with the autonomous transportation, flying taxis, which I do think will happen, Hyperloop systems, which we're already seeing being implemented, which actually Chicago just yesterday just signed that deal with Elon Musk, I think, for a similar thing with like the electric sleds for cars. So it's, I think that transportation will have a dramatic impact on the value of real estate in city centers as we progress into the future. And that's something that in my businesses, I'm really trying to be cognizant of on our investment platforms and what we're going to be investing in shortly.

Wow, that is— I never thought of that. That's very interesting. Um, and what is your best piece of overall business advice? You're not necessarily industry specific.

Yeah, I'd say just, um, focus on your dreams. Be in business. I, I would say invest and be involved in the things that, uh, you're, you're passionate about. And focus on things where on problems where you want to make a change. You know, be, be a driver of change if you can. And also, just stay, stay as persistent as you can. In all things in business, I've looked back at my prior failures and said, wow, you know, if I had stayed at this for another 6 months, I bet I could have pulled it off. So always try, try and find a way to stay persistent, especially for young entrepreneurs. And something also that I do consistently from my creative process and when I'm looking to try and solve something is just look at what other companies are doing. Sometimes copying is a good strategy, or at least iterating out of that. I mean, if you look at A great example, Instagram and Snapchat. Instagram, or Facebook tried to acquire Snapchat. Evan Spiegel said no. And then, so Instagram basically just has been copying everything Snapchat is doing and they're taking all of their market share. So sometimes that, that is not a bad strategy as well to, you know, always look at what your competitors are doing and see if what they're doing can apply to your business as well.

And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?

Um, stay persistent for sure, but, but also for me personally, and I think a lot of young people out there, um, just slow down, uh, take your time to develop a great solution to a problem in business before jumping headfirst in something just to say just for the fact of saying that you're an entrepreneur or you're a businessman or you own a business. Really, you know, take your time and slow down and think about the applications of what you're doing before going in headfirst.

And in your opinion, what's the key to happiness?

Key to happiness. For me, when I look at like the times in my life when I've been the happiest or had the most joy, I'd say when I had a purpose, when I, you know, woke up and felt like I was doing something that was contributing to other people around me. That's what drives me. And I think it's important for people to have something that they're working towards. It's also important to look, not to look at happiness as a sense of like you get there and then you're done. But I think it's with anything in life, it's a never, never-ending pursuit. And really embrace the struggle of life and everything that it brings. To understand that, you know, you're always working towards your happiness and the happiness of others around you.

And what is the best book that you've read? And what was the number one thing you learned from that?

That's a hard question to answer. Because I, I try to read as many books as I can. I think a book that I, that I really enjoyed for myself personally, it's pretty surface level. But it's just really fun to think about. Like I said, I love thinking about the future and the impact of that on society. Physics of the Future by Michio Kaku is just really fun, fun read. It crosses the line between fiction and nonfiction. It's super speculative, but I really enjoyed that book. He's the guy that is like always on the Science Channel with the long hair. Super interesting guy. Another book that I think is Super cheesy, 100%. It's probably as cheesy as you can get. And I love the guy, but so I hope he doesn't get mad or anything like that. If he ever hears this, which he probably never will, but Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins is a great read, especially I think if you're at a low point in life and you just kind of power through that book, I think it really helps. And then ironically, I love the Iron Man comics. I get a lot of creative ideas from that. And I think from a business book, if I recommend a book for an owner of a company that wants to be a great leader, a great book with a lot of great lessons is Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh. It's the Zappos story. There's a lot of really cool creative things that he did with his company before they sold to Amazon that helped them stand out and really helped their culture. So I think that's a great book as well.

And what is your favorite quote and why?

I think "Everything you can imagine is real" by Picasso. So, you know, if you, if you can imagine it to some degree in reality, whether it depends on what you call reality or not, it has some sort of tangibility. And you can go out there and pursue, pursue what you're imagining, forecast it and make it, make it real if you want to make it real.

Thank you. Oops, sorry, go ahead. Was there more?

No, no, that's it.

Thanks so much for coming on, man. Tons of value in this one. And the last question I have for you before we let you go is where's the best place for people to find you online?

I think my favorite social media platform would be Instagram. I use the other ones like LinkedIn and Facebook and things like that for mostly for business, but someone just shoots me a direct message on Instagram or something like that, that's probably the best way to reach out to me and find me.

Perfect, and we'll put that in the show notes. So for anybody listening, I'll put a link to his Instagram there, and thanks again for coming on, man.

Yeah, absolutely, Tyler. It was great talking with you. Thank you.

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