YouTube transcript
Video ID: veRkq64zhew
Language: en
Captions: auto-generated

[0:00] But don't trust anyone. Maybe you could
[0:01] share with people. Don't trust anyone.
[0:03] Don't trust. Don't trust anyone. Don't
[0:04] trust anyone's word. You can trust
[0:05] people, but get it in writing. Don't
[0:08] trust someone's word. And always look
[0:09] out for your own interests first. It's I
[0:12] never wanted to say that, you know, how
[0:15] ruthless you've got to be. And I don't
[0:17] want to say you've got to be like the
[0:18] Koch brothers, you know, Carl Icon.
[0:21] These are ruthless businessmen. You
[0:23] don't need to be that ruthless, but you
[0:24] need to be on top of your stuff. That's
[0:25] how what I always envision in business.
[0:27] Now, when I'm doing something with
[0:28] someone, know that other person might be
[0:30] out to kill you. But they should also
[0:33] know you they you could kill them, too.
[0:35] But you're not going to you're not that
[0:36] people. Don't go that road. Never go
[0:38] that road. Don't go on the dark side and
[0:40] start screwing over people. That's how
[0:42] societyy's deteriorating. We should be
[0:43] able to trust each other and we should
[0:44] be outstanding citizens and trying to
[0:46] help each other. But just know that if
[0:49] they can get ugly that you can keep pace
[0:51] with them and you know their moves, you
[0:53] can preempt. You know, always use
[0:54] lawyers. Do not ever think that you can
[0:56] handle it on your own. No. No. Chad GPT
[0:59] cannot. I promise you. I promise you.
[1:03] Hey everyone, welcome to Ambition
[1:04] Aligned. I'm your host Devin Kum, CPA,
[1:06] MBA. And today I'm talking to my old
[1:08] friend Nicholas from Sea Sun, who's also
[1:11] an MBA from UCLA, who has started his
[1:14] own real estate shared space business
[1:17] called Connected. And today's going to
[1:19] be a really valuable podcast for those
[1:21] of you who are looking at starting your
[1:23] own business because we're going to talk
[1:25] about some really practical elements of
[1:27] how to be prepared, how to get ahead of
[1:30] ruthless partners, and how to navigate
[1:34] tricky relationships in business along
[1:36] with some other things that could go
[1:37] wrong that you can preempt yourself
[1:38] from. Nicholas was really brave in this
[1:41] and really helpful because he was
[1:43] sharing some real lessons he learned
[1:45] from stumbling blocks across his journey
[1:47] of building this business out. Really
[1:49] respect him. I'm going to add a bunch of
[1:50] links below for you to follow his
[1:52] business and let us follow his journey
[1:54] and support him. And I think you're all
[1:55] going to get a ton out of this episode.
[1:57] Please watch, please subscribe. And
[1:59] let's get straight into it. I've always
[2:01] admire people like yourself who went and
[2:03] became entrepreneurs and you started
[2:04] this business connected if I pronounced
[2:06] it correctly. I'd love for you to talk
[2:07] today about what it was like, like what
[2:11] made you go out on your own, what the
[2:13] journey has been like after college and
[2:16] just uh encourage anyone else who's kind
[2:19] of thinking about starting their own
[2:20] thing and encourage them and also kind
[2:23] of teach them along the way some things
[2:24] that you step into that you could have
[2:26] avoided. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Um it's
[2:28] it's been quite a journey. Um I will say
[2:31] off the bat um don't just jump into
[2:34] entrepreneurship. Give it a lot of
[2:35] thought. I mean, you know as well as I
[2:37] do. Um, it's it's not an easy feat. Um,
[2:40] it's not an easy journey, but it's worth
[2:42] it. So, you know, I don't I don't
[2:45] discourage anyone. Just make sure you
[2:47] give it a lot of thought and and and
[2:48] make it a an informed decision. Um, you
[2:52] know, that's separate from planning the
[2:53] business itself. That's a given. That's
[2:55] an obvious. That's that horse has been
[2:56] beaten to death. You know, um, if you,
[2:59] you know, fail the plan, you plan to
[3:00] fail. So, I won't beat that dead horse.
[3:02] But give it a lot of thought before you
[3:03] decide I am I an entrepreneur? am I
[3:05] going to go down this path? Um, I come
[3:08] from a family of like entrepreneurial,
[3:10] you know, we had a family business that
[3:11] my grandfather started, then my dad took
[3:13] over, and then my brother just recently
[3:14] took over. So, um, it's kind of always
[3:16] been in me. Um, so I started thinking
[3:21] about going out on my own while I was
[3:23] working for a firm um that I actually
[3:26] got the job while I was still finishing
[3:27] undergrad. uh went to work for a cyber
[3:29] security firm and um we were me and one
[3:33] other person were launching a brand new
[3:34] division of managed
[3:36] services and so that was uh kind of
[3:40] really where I got my first foot I had
[3:42] really never done the corporate thing. I
[3:44] was working for my family business, you
[3:46] know. Um, so my first step into the
[3:48] corporate world, I was I had a lot of
[3:51] autonomy. Um, it was very
[3:52] entrepreneurial because we were building
[3:54] this thing, you know, from I don't want
[3:56] to say scratch. It was just a new
[3:57] division of a of a already established
[4:00] business, but we were like building it
[4:02] from scratch. So um I got a lot of
[4:04] experience there you know learning how
[4:08] to build something um with limited
[4:12] resources and you know with limited time
[4:14] and and all of that and it was a great
[4:16] experience. Um unfortunately that was
[4:19] during co so there was a lot of stress
[4:21] there were a lot of um you know problems
[4:24] and um it turned out to just not be the
[4:27] right fit for me to stay with that
[4:28] organization and it just made me realize
[4:30] that I really do love working for
[4:32] myself. Um I love building my dream. I
[4:36] love working 16our hour days knowing
[4:38] it's for me and that's what
[4:40] entrepreneurship is. You don't make your
[4:41] own hours. You just don't work someone
[4:43] else's hours. Um, but you don't, you
[4:45] know, the whole thing I I make my own
[4:47] hours. No, you don't. And you don't work
[4:48] for yourself technically. You work for
[4:49] your your team because you got to keep
[4:51] those people employed and all that
[4:52] stuff. So, um, it's what's interesting
[4:55] first off, maybe it's a good place to
[4:57] pause where a lot of people don't see it
[4:58] this way and you did already a really
[5:00] good call out and some people call it
[5:01] entrepreneurship or I've heard other
[5:03] words, but a lot I think that's one of
[5:06] the best ways to start in
[5:08] entrepreneurship is in another business.
[5:11] Like for me, I started with a recording
[5:14] studio that totally failed after a
[5:16] couple of years and I lost a bunch of
[5:17] money. Uh but it I tried it again
[5:21] entrepreneurship when I was at Deote and
[5:23] I won a client on my own like on my own
[5:26] efforts and
[5:28] then I had the firm supporting me
[5:30] building out that kind of little
[5:31] practice of building up my own client in
[5:34] the firm and I did that at every other
[5:36] company I went to essentially other than
[5:38] Google because I don't know what I'm
[5:39] going to sell from Google and
[5:41] so there is a real value to and and it's
[5:45] a lot of overlap with entrepreneurship
[5:47] ship and entrepreneurship of like
[5:49] building out a practice inside a firm.
[5:51] And so I mean it sounds like that's what
[5:53] you did to actually go into
[5:55] entrepreneurship other other than it
[5:56] already being in your family and you
[5:57] having a family business but you
[5:59] actually practice those skills inside
[6:00] another company. Is that is that Yeah,
[6:02] because with the family business it was
[6:03] we were a very small family business. We
[6:05] didn't you know we didn't expand like we
[6:06] could have. So you know I didn't really
[6:09] do a lot of like I said there was not a
[6:10] lot of corporate I wasn't building you
[6:12] know necessarily like building the
[6:14] business. I was, you know, building
[6:15] initiatives and trying to build out
[6:17] marketing stuff, but it wasn't the same.
[6:19] So, yeah, like you said, that
[6:20] entrepreneurship where we were basically
[6:23] like building a little mini startup
[6:25] within this large organization because
[6:27] it was something that was not just new
[6:29] to the uh corporation uh to the firm,
[6:32] but new to the to the industry and new
[6:34] to the business um was that managed
[6:37] services piece. So, yeah, you're
[6:38] absolutely right. you get to learn a lot
[6:41] um with a little bit of a kind of a a
[6:45] fallback or you know a safety net
[6:47] because it's obviously it's not your
[6:49] money. Um but you get to learn the
[6:52] processes and everything that goes into
[6:54] basically starting something and then
[6:56] you've you got to just make that
[6:58] connection of um okay if I go out on my
[7:02] own the financial resources are going to
[7:04] be different so take that into account
[7:05] but still learn how it all works. So
[7:08] yeah, you're you're absolutely right. It
[7:09] definitely gave me um you know a strong
[7:12] understanding of what has to go into it.
[7:15] Um you know being able to look at things
[7:18] in a 360deree view um because things
[7:21] will come out of nowhere and then you
[7:23] know being prepared for bad stuff. um we
[7:27] were using, you know, pretty cutting
[7:29] edge technology and we were installing
[7:31] these systems um in some in some cases
[7:34] in pilot programs with um huge databases
[7:39] and it was um it was challenging and we
[7:43] had some things that you know didn't
[7:45] work right which is part of why I was
[7:47] working 16our days was to fix stuff. Um,
[7:51] but you you learn the process there on
[7:53] how to get through that crisis and and
[7:55] whether it's getting through a crisis
[7:56] alone or leading through the crisis or
[7:58] asking for help. You know, that's the
[8:00] biggest thing that I think a lot of
[8:01] entrepreneurs make the mistake of and I
[8:02] do too is asking for help or rather not
[8:05] asking for help. Um, you know, a lot of
[8:08] people get that mentality and I am the
[8:10] first one to admit it. I this is one of
[8:11] my biggest challenges is you get this
[8:14] little voice inside your head that says
[8:16] if you need help you're not doing it
[8:19] right or if you need help you're you're
[8:21] not cut out for this or and it's a
[8:23] stupid voice. Everybody needs help no
[8:25] matter what level you operate at.
[8:27] Everybody needs help. So it also gave me
[8:30] the opportunity to learn to not try to
[8:33] just take on everything myself by doing
[8:36] that with an organization because if you
[8:37] try to take on everything yourself
[8:40] um and it doesn't work out, you've got
[8:43] someone, you know, barking at you. So it
[8:45] kind of instills that, hey, if you need
[8:47] help, ask for it. Whereas if you do that
[8:50] in entrepreneurship and you don't ask
[8:51] for help, you don't get someone yelling
[8:53] at you. Your business is just done
[8:55] because you waited too long to ask for
[8:57] help.
[8:58] So yeah. Yeah. I mean I think that's a
[9:00] great lesson of intra and entra or
[9:03] anytime you're doing your own venture so
[9:04] we avoid all the in and outs of of the
[9:07] word. But anytime you're doing your own
[9:09] venture asking for help and that's so
[9:11] key not in just work but just life. Like
[9:13] I can't tell you how many times as I get
[9:15] older I I my pride goes down my humility
[9:18] goes up and I just ask other parents
[9:20] like hey are have your kids done this?
[9:23] How how would you navigate this
[9:24] situation? I feel like I might be doing
[9:25] it wrong. getting perspective, realizing
[9:28] there's always more to learn and someone
[9:29] has a different vantage point than you
[9:30] can completely change the game. Like if
[9:32] I had a finance person in my team early
[9:35] on in my business when I didn't have
[9:37] that knowledge, that could have probably
[9:38] saved me from the business going under.
[9:40] I just didn't understand that side. So,
[9:43] um I think a great takeaway is like you
[9:45] learned it's interesting, right? is you
[9:47] learn how little you know or your scope
[9:50] of your domain of knowledge and the
[9:53] ability to reach out outside that domain
[9:55] of knowledge is a real skill, right?
[9:56] Like, oh, this is the extent of what I
[9:58] know. There's some risk outside of this
[10:01] and I better reach out to somebody for
[10:03] some help or I'm going to screw myself.
[10:04] Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it's um you
[10:06] know, there was a I'm not going to I'm
[10:09] not going to quote it correctly, but you
[10:10] know, Henry Ford, you know, he he used
[10:13] to he used to say, "I don't know
[10:14] everything. I don't know how to do
[10:16] everything, but I got these buttons on
[10:18] my desk that's going to bring someone
[10:19] into my office that doesn't. And so
[10:21] that's the perfect example of even if
[10:23] you are I mean a pioneer of the a for
[10:26] the ages, you're you're in the history
[10:28] books, you still asked for help. Um so
[10:31] yeah, you're it's it's absolutely
[10:33] critical not to get yourself in that
[10:34] mindset um that you that asking for help
[10:38] is it's somehow a weakness or something
[10:40] like that, you know. I don't know I
[10:41] don't know if you ever took Dr. Walker.
[10:43] she became a really um good friend and
[10:45] mentor of mine. She was a marketing
[10:47] professor at Sea Sun. Um and she had
[10:49] this thing she had uh one of her, you
[10:51] know, sayings was ask for help and say
[10:53] thank you because both, you know, asking
[10:56] for help is not a bad thing. It's how
[10:57] you succeed.
[11:00] Yeah, that's beautiful. And that's
[11:01] simple. That's super simple. Asking for
[11:03] help, you make you make friends and
[11:04] mentors and employ you we you win in the
[11:08] process. And just being polite and
[11:10] compassionate through the experience is
[11:11] just the rising tide will raise all
[11:14] boats. Yeah. And you and so
[11:17] yeah, I was say and and and you get a
[11:18] you get an additional benefit from this.
[11:20] Sorry, my headphones just keep slipping.
[11:22] Um you get an additional benefit um from
[11:24] asking for help is that you make someone
[11:26] else feel good. It's because it's just
[11:29] human nature to be helpful and feel
[11:31] needed. You know, it makes you feel good
[11:33] to feel needed and feel like you're
[11:35] contributing to somebody else. So, it
[11:37] kind of is twofold is you're getting
[11:39] help and you're also showing someone,
[11:40] hey, like I look up to your knowledge. I
[11:42] look up to you. I respect you and um I
[11:44] could really use your help. Um you know,
[11:47] it it says a lot to that other person as
[11:50] well. So, you kind of build that
[11:51] connection in addition.
[11:54] Yeah, I completely agree. We I've made
[11:56] some of my best friends by asking them
[11:59] strategically for help. Sometimes you
[12:00] should ask for help even when you don't
[12:02] need it just to make someone feel good,
[12:04] right? Absolutely. That can be really
[12:05] helpful. I think Benjamin Franklin did
[12:07] some of that supper in his old like poor
[12:08] man's almanac. He's like, "Ask your
[12:10] neighbor for a cup of sugar even if you
[12:12] don't eat it because then you'll be
[12:13] friends with your neighbor. They'll feel
[12:14] good that it triggers that reciprocity."
[12:16] So, I'm I'm curious though. Let's get
[12:18] more specific. It's really interesting.
[12:19] You graduate college, you go to this
[12:21] cyber security firm, you somehow enter
[12:23] into this entrepreneurship and starting
[12:26] your own venture within the firm. Uh,
[12:29] and then you decide you want to move on
[12:30] to something bigger. Yeah. Right. what
[12:33] what made that decision or what was that
[12:35] catalyst that made you figure out no
[12:37] this this still isn't enough I'm going
[12:38] to go go do my own yeah so so I mean
[12:40] ultimately it was it was a venture that
[12:42] I was leading but it was still that
[12:44] company's venture it wasn't my idea
[12:45] wasn't my dream wasn't my anything I
[12:47] just came in to build it from the start
[12:50] um so you know after you know the I left
[12:53] there in November of 2020 so after you
[12:56] know the eight months of COVID um things
[12:59] were challenging and trying um and I I
[13:02] just wasn't aligned with leadership
[13:04] within the company. You know, the
[13:05] higherups, so the CEO, um, who who was
[13:08] great, you know, gave me opportunity in
[13:10] industry that I was new in. Um, although
[13:12] it was related to my family business,
[13:14] which is in the, you know, construction
[13:15] and contracting. So, it had some a lot
[13:17] of parallels, but, um, it just it it
[13:21] started to look like it just wasn't a
[13:22] good fit. There wasn't necessarily the
[13:24] room for the growth that I wanted at
[13:26] this firm. And at the same time, a real
[13:29] estate development opportunity came
[13:30] along. So, not quite connected yet. Um,
[13:34] but an opportunity to to get into
[13:36] something I've been wanting to get into,
[13:37] um, which was real estate development.
[13:39] So, I left the firm, I did that, um,
[13:42] finished that out and then was looking
[13:44] for my next project. And during that
[13:47] time, I was getting my, um, MBA at UCLA.
[13:51] So, um, of course, we are the, you know,
[13:54] we were the they they say we got our
[13:56] Zoom BA because our first year and a
[13:58] half was on Zoom. And um so you know I'm
[14:03] doing this real estate venture while
[14:04] getting my MBA finished the real estate
[14:06] venture start looking for the next
[14:08] development and that was the time when
[14:10] the interest rates just skyrocketed and
[14:13] so because I was still a new developer
[14:15] and didn't have deep deep pockets the
[14:17] debt service was wiping out any
[14:19] opportunity for profit um because I
[14:21] couldn't you know fund it in cash so it
[14:24] became more and more challenging so um I
[14:28] started asking people around about this
[14:29] about connected kind of getting people's
[14:31] feedback getting people's ideas and I
[14:34] was just getting incredible feedback all
[14:36] positive and I decided I was going to go
[14:39] ahead because I had I had done well with
[14:41] that real estate development um I had
[14:42] some money in the bank I had some other
[14:44] people interested in investing so um you
[14:46] know I decided hey I think now's the
[14:48] time um I had been thinking about it and
[14:51] developing it
[14:52] for four years at the time because in
[14:55] 2018 while I was working for that firm
[14:57] um at they were a remote firm So
[14:59] pre-COVID and that just did not work for
[15:01] me. I you know I know it's been a while
[15:03] since we were in class together but if
[15:04] you recall as I was not an introvert I
[15:07] was an extrovert. So sitting at home or
[15:10] you know wherever alone all day every
[15:12] day just didn't work for me. So I
[15:14] started looking for you know other
[15:17] places to go work get out of the house
[15:18] but we're a cyber security firm which
[15:20] means I can't use Wi-Fi that's public.
[15:21] So Starbucks doesn't work. I could only
[15:23] sit there an hour or two. Um, and I knew
[15:27] of co-working, but I figured it was just
[15:29] overpriced for what my CEO would
[15:31] approve. And that triggered the thought
[15:35] of connected. So, that's what made me
[15:37] decide um, not necessarily to go out on
[15:39] my own because I had already made that
[15:40] decision, but that's what made me decide
[15:41] to take this incredible leap and risk
[15:44] everything was I need to serve my own
[15:47] need. And when amongst talking to all
[15:49] these people, they were like, "Yeah,
[15:50] that's a need everybody's got." you
[15:52] know, nobody wants to pay for something
[15:54] that they may not use, which is what the
[15:55] traditional co-working model was. So, it
[15:57] just got my brain thinking and I started
[15:58] developing it and in, you know, 20 mid
[16:01] 2022, I went for it and started seeking
[16:04] locations. But I think it was working
[16:07] for someone who
[16:11] um didn't have the opportunity for me to
[16:14] grow the way I wanted to grow was what
[16:18] drove me to to make that leap and fully
[16:20] go out on my own.
[16:23] Well, I respect that, right? There's
[16:25] something
[16:26] to There's many people who are very
[16:29] talented who get stuck in professions
[16:32] because of the paycheck. And it takes a
[16:34] special something to realize, hey, the
[16:37] pay it's worth more to me to pursue what
[16:40] I want to get out of life than the
[16:43] stable paycheck. and I'm willing to take
[16:44] that risk to have a more meaningful life
[16:46] and to build to pursue things that I'm
[16:48] passionate about and that I'm I'm
[16:50] confident in and that could add value to
[16:52] society. And so it'd be helpful to talk
[16:56] a little bit about what was your real
[16:58] estate investment and what what is
[17:00] connected like what is your idea there
[17:02] that you got so excited about that it
[17:05] led you to make these big bold risky
[17:08] moves? Yeah. So, so the real estate
[17:10] development was, you know, for for
[17:14] simplicity terms a house flip. Um, most
[17:17] people in that business hate to use hate
[17:19] to use the term house flip. Um,
[17:21] especially at the how I operate in my
[17:24] opinion, a house flip. And now this is
[17:26] just my own opinion. And I'm not a, you
[17:27] know, I don't want to say that this is
[17:28] how all house flippers are, but most
[17:30] time when you think of a house flip,
[17:32] it's get in, get it ready to sell, and
[17:33] get out, you know, don't worry about
[17:35] anything else, you know, and and in some
[17:36] cases, corners are cut um and things
[17:39] like that. It's, you know, the cheapest
[17:40] way possible, typically speaking. Um,
[17:44] but anyways, it was a house flip, but it
[17:45] was a high-end house. Um, it sold for
[17:48] over $2 million, so it was a high-end
[17:50] house flip. Um, but we we went all in on
[17:53] it. We gutted it um not all the way to
[17:56] the studs, but pretty close. In some
[17:58] places it was to the studs. We did a
[17:59] little bit of remodeling, knocked down
[18:00] some walls. Um and the timing was just
[18:03] perfect. It was 2021. The market just
[18:07] was to the moon. Sold it right before
[18:10] the market flattened out. So things went
[18:12] great. Um and then like I said, when I
[18:16] was looking for my next development, I
[18:18] was looking at properties to build
[18:20] multi, you know, multi- single unit
[18:21] homes. um single family homes or multi
[18:23] multif family homes and I just like I
[18:26] said earlier I just it wasn't feasible
[18:27] because I didn't have the deep enough
[18:29] pockets to cover you know debt service
[18:31] and profits
[18:33] um so during my thesis project so my
[18:36] masters or you know the project you get
[18:38] to choose you got your MBA so I'm sure
[18:40] you got to choose either consulting
[18:41] research or create a business so we do I
[18:45] do the create a business I work with
[18:46] another team um on a different product
[18:48] but every time I went out to do those
[18:50] personal interviews for my thesis this
[18:52] project. I asked if that person had an
[18:54] extra 10 minutes for me to pitch or just
[18:56] discuss with them connected. And that's
[18:58] when I was getting all of that positive
[18:59] feedback. And that's when I said, you
[19:01] know what, I've got some money in the
[19:02] bank. I've talked to some people who are
[19:03] interested. I'm going to go for it. So,
[19:05] I started seeking out um, you know,
[19:07] locations. But what triggered the idea
[19:11] for connected, like I said, was back in
[19:12] 2018, me needing a co-working space that
[19:15] was more conducive to my schedule and my
[19:17] usage, and that was sporadic. You know,
[19:21] your typical co-working space or
[19:23] flexible workspace is you pay a flat
[19:25] monthly fee for whatever type you're
[19:28] going to use. So, hot desk is come in,
[19:30] find an open seat as many times as you
[19:32] want in that month. Then there's office,
[19:34] private office, and so on and so forth.
[19:36] Well, there were going to be weeks,
[19:38] multiple weeks in a row where I'd be on
[19:40] a site, you know, deployed
[19:43] um um on a project and
[19:48] uh my CEO is like, I I don't want to pay
[19:50] a monthly fee when you may not go but
[19:52] once that month. And that was the first
[19:55] trigger of okay, well, there's got to be
[19:56] a better business model because this is
[19:58] still a great concept. the co-working
[19:59] itself was a great is a great concept
[20:01] but that business model that pricing
[20:03] model um was just not ideal. So that got
[20:07] my brain thinking and it just evolved
[20:08] and it turned into what connected is
[20:10] today which is um it's you know it's
[20:14] just a suburban it's suburban it's a
[20:17] suburban located um third space to work
[20:22] and it's it focuses on the modern uh way
[20:26] we work. So, it's in suburban shopping
[20:28] centers because nobody wants to drive
[20:29] 30, 45 an hour to get to their work. Why
[20:32] not just drive 10 minutes? And it's in
[20:34] shopping centers because, well, when you
[20:37] go out of the house, you want to get
[20:38] more than one thing done. You don't want
[20:39] to just go to work. Well, how about
[20:40] there's a shopping center with the
[20:41] grocery store and the Target, all of
[20:43] that stuff. So, um, I just wanted to,
[20:46] you know, bring it all together so that
[20:48] people could go back to the office
[20:50] because, like I said, as an extrovert
[20:52] and just human nature, working in your
[20:54] own little room all day, every day for
[20:56] the rest of your career, it's just not
[20:58] healthy. Some people can do it and some
[21:00] people will thrive on it, but I'd say in
[21:02] my experience, the majority of people
[21:04] psychologically that's taxing. So, go
[21:07] back to the office downtown LA 5 days a
[21:10] week, not necessary. never ever get out
[21:12] of the house. Not ideal. Um, so we
[21:15] wanted to find that in between so people
[21:16] could eliminate the commute, get more
[21:18] stuff done in a day. Um, and have the
[21:21] option to only pay for what you use,
[21:23] which is what I created with the credit
[21:24] system. So, you buy a package of credits
[21:26] every month. Whatever credits you don't
[21:28] use by coming to the space or buying
[21:30] something, they roll over to the next
[21:32] month, to the next month, to the next
[21:33] month. If you don't come for a whole
[21:34] month, all those points rolled over. Um,
[21:36] so that was the very first
[21:38] differentiator that I found. And that
[21:40] was because I was like, what if I could
[21:42] find something where even though I pay
[21:43] the same every month
[21:45] um knowing that my usage is going to
[21:48] fluctuate, I could have a very low plan.
[21:50] So I start with a low plan that keeps
[21:52] low points because on the months I don't
[21:53] go, those points will accumulate. So if
[21:56] next month I go a lot, I'm still
[21:58] covered. And then the pandemic hits and
[22:01] it develops and evolves into now what it
[22:04] what connected is today.
[22:07] um you know which is
[22:09] [Music]
[22:10] um the 20,000 foot community workhub
[22:14] ultimately. I've got podcast studios,
[22:16] photo and film studios, on-site child
[22:18] care. Um we have scooters so people on
[22:21] their lunch break can go, you know, hit
[22:23] the hit, you know, lunch or run errands,
[22:26] do some shopping without have to get
[22:27] fully get in their car or or do the
[22:29] walk. So that's where we
[22:34] landed. Wow. Uh it's it's incredible
[22:38] that you know all the things we learned
[22:40] in business school you kind of just
[22:41] nailed right it's like hey find a need
[22:44] and every I encourage anyone who's
[22:46] listening to this who's trying to figure
[22:47] out their own business mainly when you
[22:50] figure out those needs they start with
[22:51] yourself it's like hey what what am I
[22:52] missing that I can't find and you you
[22:55] like hey I'm trying to find a location
[22:57] where I can work based on usage that is
[23:01] reasonably like reasonably located so I
[23:03] don't have to drive to some downtown
[23:05] giant
[23:06] like an a giant office space that's a
[23:08] pain to get to and you have to figure
[23:09] out your parking and you have to get to
[23:11] the 20th floor and then all that stuff,
[23:13] right? It's you're figuring out
[23:14] something more convenient. And so you're
[23:16] trying to solve that problem and that's
[23:18] where if you have the problem and you
[23:20] figure out that other people share that
[23:21] same problem, that's a great place to
[23:22] start a business. And you took something
[23:24] pretty conventional of like working
[23:26] spaces, office spaces, but flipped it on
[23:28] its head with the with the way you're
[23:30] monetizing it and selling it and where
[23:32] you're locating it. And I mean it's that
[23:34] all sounds great. So talk uh but you
[23:37] also did it at a really tough time on
[23:39] the reciprocal like the the interest
[23:40] rates start skyrocketing right around
[23:42] that time. Um everyone's already in real
[23:45] estate and they're extremely high valued
[23:47] um overvalued in my perspective like
[23:49] especially in Los Angeles and
[23:50] California. Like real estate some of the
[23:52] most expensive in in the
[23:54] world. So what did that look like? How
[23:57] did you go around building your first
[23:59] structure and getting fundraising and
[24:01] and all of that? Yeah, give me one
[24:03] second. For some reason, my power strip
[24:05] is not on, so my battery is dying or
[24:07] something's wrong.
[24:09] Okay, all good. I'm plugged in, but it
[24:11] tells me it's going to go to sleep.
[24:13] There we go. Um, so, um, so no building,
[24:18] um, just TI's, so finding an already
[24:20] existing, you know, building in a
[24:21] shopping center. um you know down the
[24:23] road of course it's on our road map if
[24:25] we can own a shopping center and then we
[24:27] then the business is just taking a small
[24:28] piece of it uh or one of the you know
[24:31] one of the sites on a full location um
[24:33] that would be you know definitely part
[24:35] of the plan um but it was challenging uh
[24:39] most people were turning me down because
[24:40] I didn't quite have enough you know
[24:43] backing so I see out more investment and
[24:47] found someone that was you know looking
[24:49] that that was real bullish on the idea
[24:52] um I wasn't keen on the location, so it
[24:56] wasn't it wasn't really going to
[24:57] necessarily happen. Um but he convinced
[25:00] me because there was um he was bringing
[25:02] in he said he was bringing in this big
[25:04] giant like entertainment um tenant um
[25:08] that was like geared toward not
[25:09] entertainment in the sense of like
[25:10] movies and stuff like that, but like
[25:11] physical on-site entertainment like for
[25:14] kids and teenagers and things like that.
[25:16] um but wouldn't he said they hadn't full
[25:18] they hadn't um the company hadn't
[25:21] publicly stated that they were going to
[25:24] be there. So, he said he couldn't
[25:25] release the name of the company. But
[25:27] that, you know, the conversation we had
[25:29] in person and the fact that this was
[25:30] going to be a big anchor tenant um was
[25:33] kind of what that's what put me over the
[25:35] edge and said, "Okay, you know what?
[25:36] This is much further from home than I
[25:37] wanted to be for my first location, but
[25:40] from a business perspective, it is a big
[25:42] shopping center. It's in a a prominent
[25:44] neighborhood. Um, and you know, he was
[25:49] willing to work with me even though I
[25:50] didn't have the capital stack that you
[25:52] know, these other landlords wanted me to
[25:53] have. So, we went in, we negotiated um,
[25:57] your traditional 10-year lease and we
[25:59] got started on the construction
[26:03] process. So, talk Yeah. Talk to me about
[26:05] Keep going. Talk to me. What did that
[26:06] What was that like? Yeah. What was that
[26:08] like to That must have been exciting
[26:10] first off, right? like, hey, yeah,
[26:11] you've your dream was moving forward and
[26:14] maybe not your ideal vision, but now
[26:17] you're now you're breaking ground. That
[26:19] must have been exciting and
[26:20] nerve-wracking at the same time. It was
[26:22] um it was both. It was exciting because
[26:24] I have lots of experience in
[26:25] construction, so I had no problem
[26:27] managing that. Um and and you know, I
[26:29] brought on a team obviously, of course,
[26:30] to help um with everything.
[26:33] Um, so, so yeah, it was exciting,
[26:36] challenging, stressful, nerve-wracking,
[26:38] all of those, um, adjectives all at the
[26:41] same time. Um, we started to run into
[26:44] some challenges with the landlord kind
[26:46] of right off the bat. So, that added to
[26:48] the stress. Um, but was also a great
[26:50] learning experience on, you know, what
[26:52] to expect. When I was working in the
[26:55] security firm, all our clients were
[26:57] high-end highrises, hospitals, camp,
[27:00] college campuses. But with the high-rise
[27:03] environment, um, you know, those
[27:06] property managers, they treat the
[27:08] tenants, you know, like next level
[27:10] priority. They're always polite. They're
[27:12] always on top of things, great
[27:14] communicators. I found that in the
[27:15] retail world, it is not so much. So,
[27:17] that was a little unexpected.
[27:20] Um, so those kind of challenges arose.
[27:23] We had some challenges in the permitting
[27:25] process. It's a very difficult process.
[27:27] Do not
[27:28] underestimate the challenges that you
[27:30] will have if you're going into any kind
[27:31] of construction. Do not underestimate
[27:33] the city and the challenges that they
[27:34] will create. Whether it's intentional,
[27:37] semi-intentional, or ignorant, the city
[27:40] will create challenges. Um, so we had
[27:43] those right off the bat. Um, slowed
[27:45] things down. We couldn't even start
[27:47] construction in for eight months.
[27:49] Um because it took a while for the
[27:51] architect to get the drawings done and
[27:53] then it took forever to get through city
[27:55] planning which was I mean frustrating
[27:58] because it was nothing major. We weren't
[28:00] building a building. We were doing TI.
[28:02] There was very little structural
[28:03] engineering. The rest was cosmetic and
[28:05] you know fire life safety. So, it was
[28:09] mind-boggling to me the length of time
[28:10] it took to get through plan check given
[28:12] my experience in construction and
[28:14] knowing what you've got to look at, what
[28:17] you've got to check, and what you've got
[28:18] to prove. Well, finally when I get to
[28:20] the bottom of it, I find out that we
[28:22] just happen to get unlucky with the
[28:24] people we were assigned. We were
[28:26] assigned people who were not customer
[28:28] service. They were not diligent. They
[28:30] went on vacation a lot. It seemed like
[28:32] every time our project was ready to move
[28:34] to the next person in the plan check,
[28:36] that person went on vacation right when
[28:38] he was supposed to start. So that's adds
[28:40] another week or two and then the next
[28:42] time another week or two. So those are
[28:44] huge challenges that I think if you're
[28:45] going into any kind of construction
[28:46] project, you want to make sure that
[28:48] you're prepared for. And I was prepared.
[28:50] Well Oh yeah. And it's not just Yeah.
[28:52] It's just not construction, right? I've
[28:53] seen I know restaurant owners where
[28:55] they're going to kick off a restaurant,
[28:56] they're doing the renovations inside,
[28:58] then things get delayed for a couple of
[29:00] months and that's all their cash flow
[29:02] and then they have to rush a launch
[29:03] opening and then they get bad Yelp
[29:05] reviews and their business is done
[29:07] because it all the root cause of it is
[29:09] city planning or and then if you go one
[29:12] step further, it's because you didn't
[29:14] plan for the worst like the people
[29:16] didn't plan for the worst case scenario.
[29:17] like did it really take fixed loans for
[29:19] a year to look at some documents like
[29:21] Yeah. Yeah. Unfortunately, it does and
[29:23] that could cost you a ton of money if
[29:24] your landlord's not on on the same page
[29:26] with you. So, that's really challenging.
[29:28] So, um so thanks for sharing that. I
[29:29] know how frustrating that can be. Yeah.
[29:31] So, I learned but I learned a lot. So,
[29:32] that that you know that's what I can
[29:33] say. It's it's been very challenging.
[29:36] Um, we actually ended up having to leave
[29:38] that location after, you know, doing a
[29:41] substantial amount of the construction
[29:43] and, um, getting pretty far along,
[29:46] getting through some of the challenges.
[29:47] Unfortunately, we couldn't overcome all
[29:49] of them. So, we had to vacate that
[29:51] location and we're currently now kind of
[29:53] almost starting over, unfortunately. Um,
[29:56] but it was I learned a lot. I got
[29:59] burned, but I learned a lot. A lot. Um,
[30:03] so there's
[30:05] definitely, you know, some positives
[30:07] that come from it. Um, it's not the way
[30:10] you would want to learn, but you
[30:12] definitely need to look at it as
[30:15] learning.
[30:16] Um, you know, so um I I think there's a
[30:20] Yeah. What are some of those things?
[30:21] Yeah. What are some of those things that
[30:22] you like? So, don't trust anyone. Maybe
[30:24] you can share with people. Don't trust
[30:25] anyone. Yeah. Don't trust anyone. Don't
[30:26] trust anyone. Don't trust anyone's word.
[30:28] You can trust people, but get it in
[30:30] writing. Don't trust someone's word. Um,
[30:33] you know, and and always always look out
[30:35] for your own interests first. It's I
[30:38] never wanted to say that, you know, how
[30:40] ruthless you've got to be. You need to
[30:42] be diligent. And I made a mistake of of
[30:45] trusting someone's word agreement. Um,
[30:48] that didn't
[30:51] materialize. Um, and I think I
[30:54] overestimate I also overestimated
[30:57] um, you know, the city. I said I said
[31:00] you know even even um you know three
[31:02] months I thought was long and it took
[31:06] almost six. So that was a mistake that I
[31:09] made.
[31:10] Um and um you know you're the people
[31:14] around you. You definitely want to make
[31:15] sure you have the right people around
[31:16] you. I I lucked out and and I had the
[31:18] right people around me except for who I
[31:20] partnered with on a business perspective
[31:21] was you know a landlord that was you
[31:24] know less than transparent, less than
[31:25] straightforward and less than truthful.
[31:28] Uh so yeah, I think the the biggest
[31:31] lesson there is is anything that you
[31:35] anything that someone agrees to get it
[31:37] in writing. Even if it's as simple as an
[31:39] email, you know, because while while the
[31:43] contract avoids, you know, usually a
[31:45] contract is e makes it easier to avoid a
[31:48] extensive legal battle. Um, even
[31:52] something in writing in an
[31:54] email will protect you once you have to
[31:57] go down that road. It it won't it most
[31:59] likely just an email, you know, saying,
[32:01] "Yeah, that they agreed to this." It
[32:02] probably wouldn't avoid litigation, but
[32:04] it's going to give you what you need to
[32:06] to come out on top and show that you
[32:09] were right. You they did agree to this.
[32:12] Um, even though it wasn't necessarily
[32:13] contractual, you're like, "Hey, you said
[32:15] this. I relied on it." Otherwise, it's,
[32:18] "Hey, he said this." and that person
[32:19] says, "No, I didn't." Um, so I think
[32:21] that's the biggest lesson is and I
[32:23] should have known that. That was to, you
[32:25] know, that was foolish on my part. Um,
[32:27] you know, to not get it followed up
[32:29] with, you know, clearly in writing.
[32:32] Well, that so it's it's actually a
[32:34] really interesting place and I'm sorry
[32:35] you got burnt like that and I've been
[32:37] burned like that more than a handful of
[32:38] times in my career. So it I think anyone
[32:40] who's done their own thing has been
[32:42] burned by more than a few people. It's
[32:44] part of the earning your stripes
[32:45] unfortunately, right? And it's it's
[32:47] really and when I say unfortunately it's
[32:48] really unfortunate like it being in it
[32:51] and being betrayed is one of the worst
[32:52] feelings right partnership's almost like
[32:55] marriage like you're really taking a bet
[32:57] on somebody and you really have a dream
[33:00] together with someone and then when they
[33:02] violate that it's like a betrayal at
[33:05] almost the marriage level is it's very
[33:07] extreme and very like disorienting
[33:09] because a lot of what you've based your
[33:11] future on is with this other person and
[33:15] when they suddenly become become someone
[33:16] else than you understood them to be. It
[33:18] becomes just where well where are you
[33:20] and what were you and who who were you
[33:22] during this whole place. It opens up a
[33:23] whole can of worms. So, I've been there,
[33:25] but I but I think it's really and I'm
[33:27] sorry you went through that, but I think
[33:29] it's a really helpful call out to
[33:32] everyone where there's this balance of
[33:35] I'm a big proponent of reciprocal
[33:36] generosity. Like, be generous, be
[33:39] compassionate, look out for other
[33:40] people, don't expect something in
[33:43] return. And when you're giving services,
[33:45] that's really true. But there's also I
[33:48] it got it's got to be balanced with what
[33:50] you just said, like the ruthlessness.
[33:51] You got to be a bit of a monster. You
[33:54] got to be able to be dangerous so that
[33:56] when other people are partnering with
[33:59] you or playing with you, you can have if
[34:01] if they get dangerous, you can get
[34:02] dangerous, too. Or you don't partner
[34:04] with those people. Like, you need some
[34:06] kind of leverage over their heads. And
[34:07] I've I've had more than a few times.
[34:09] I've had times where I was working on a
[34:11] real estate deal. Real estate's pretty
[34:12] tough, by the way. Real estate itself,
[34:15] people are pretty sharky. Real estate's
[34:17] ruthless. I was working on a real estate
[34:19] deal. Real estate and Wall Street are
[34:20] the two most ruthless.
[34:22] Yeah. Not a question. They um there was
[34:25] a real estate deal where someone brought
[34:26] me in. They want they wanted a CPA to
[34:28] look over a business plan for for a
[34:32] veterinary hospital. And they said,
[34:34] "Hey, I'll give you what we can't pay
[34:36] you your fee, but we'll give you a
[34:37] percent of the commission, like a 10%
[34:39] cut of the commission check when we're
[34:41] done if you help us validate all this
[34:42] plan." And I even got it all in writing.
[34:46] And then after they sold it, they
[34:47] wouldn't pay me. And they're like, "Take
[34:48] us to court. We don't care. Like, take
[34:50] us to court. Um, but like you you waste
[34:53] your time on it. We we don't care and
[34:55] we'll just hire lawyers. We'd rather
[34:57] hire lawyers because it was such a big
[34:58] deal then have to deal with you and we
[35:00] don't think you can compete with us with
[35:01] the lawyers." Yep. And it's just like I
[35:04] had stuff in writing and they still
[35:05] screwed me because I they were right.
[35:07] I'm like, I'm not going to pay tens of
[35:09] thousands of dollars of lawyer fees to
[35:10] try to get a $20,000 commission check.
[35:12] And so they called my bluff, but it
[35:15] completely they violated trust in
[35:17] writing. And so how do you how do you
[35:20] get around that? Or I've had times where
[35:22] someone promises me a commission, firms
[35:24] have promised me commission verbally,
[35:25] and then when they whenever people want
[35:27] to separate with their money, they
[35:28] suddenly like honesty becomes a big
[35:30] issue, right? Yep. And
[35:32] so what are practical ways around that
[35:35] are just to to be a bit of ruthless
[35:37] yourself, but also to in an honest way,
[35:40] right? like, "Hey, here's what we're
[35:41] agreeing. I'm putting it in writing.
[35:43] Here's the conversation we had." It's
[35:45] something I do now. It's like, "Hey,
[35:46] just so you know, we had this
[35:48] conversation. Please confirm that you
[35:50] agree that I we said this." And have
[35:52] something an email even if it's not in
[35:54] your contract that can help that can
[35:56] really help protect you so you can at
[35:57] least point at that and be like, "Hey, I
[35:58] did say that we did have an agreement
[36:00] there." Right. Any anything else you
[36:02] recommend to people who are kind of in
[36:04] that space of wanting to trust somebody
[36:06] but and maybe not nervous enough or
[36:09] maybe just not aware of the danger. Have
[36:12] the bigger bank.
[36:14] No. Um
[36:16] unfortunately I I don't want to be, you
[36:19] know, pessimistic because I'm not by
[36:21] nature. I'm a very optimistic person,
[36:22] but it's unfortunate that if you're not
[36:24] sure who you're getting into business
[36:26] with, it's going to come down to who's
[36:28] got the bigger bank. You had that
[36:29] experience. I just did. They called my
[36:31] bluff also. I started out I was gung-ho.
[36:34] Dumped a bunch of money to my lawyers to
[36:35] start the lawsuit. Um and unfortunately
[36:40] they have the pockets to take it all the
[36:42] way to the end and they know that I
[36:44] don't you know and so I'd say um you
[36:49] know have it have the internal
[36:51] ruthlessness like don't let that go.
[36:53] keep that shark inside. But just know
[36:56] that you still are working with these
[36:58] people and you still want to try to give
[36:59] them the benefit benefit of the doubt as
[37:01] you work with them. But you know, always
[37:04] use lawyers. Do not ever think that you
[37:06] can handle it on your own. And no, no,
[37:08] Chad GPT cannot. I promise you, I
[37:12] promise you, Chad GBT can review some
[37:14] basic stuff, but if you're going into
[37:16] business and there's any substantial
[37:18] amount of risk or money on the line and
[37:20] you don't use a lawyer, you get what you
[37:22] deserve or you deserve what you get. You
[37:25] have to use a lawyer. It's a shitty
[37:27] system we have, but it is the system.
[37:30] So, that's the first piece of like make
[37:31] sure you use a lawyer and spend the time
[37:35] to go over the draft, the document
[37:37] yourself. try to understand everything
[37:39] about it yourself, not just rely on the
[37:41] lawyer. Um, and then, you know, you
[37:45] know, be vocal about like, look, hey, I
[37:47] want a long-term partnership. I think
[37:48] there's a lot of money to be made here.
[37:50] Um, and and in my opinion, so maybe I'm
[37:53] a little too transparent sometimes, but
[37:55] I tell now I tell people upfront, hey,
[37:57] unfortunately, I have to protect myself
[38:00] down to every dotted eye. So, I'm going
[38:03] to review this contract. You're going to
[38:04] get track changes. we're gonna have a
[38:06] convers I'm going to clarify everything
[38:07] that is even the slightest bit
[38:09] ambiguous. So that's another piece of
[38:11] advice is clarify everything that's even
[38:13] even a little bit ambiguous. If you're
[38:15] like there is even a slight bit of gray,
[38:18] clarify it. Add a sentence, whatever
[38:21] it's got to do, make sure there's no
[38:23] ambiguity in your contracts. Um, you
[38:26] know, and then in the case where you
[38:29] didn't get your
[38:31] commission, that's a tough one to avoid.
[38:34] um is is spending the time to do due
[38:37] diligence on the firm itself. It sucks
[38:40] that we even have to have this
[38:42] conversation that I've got to do
[38:43] diligence. I got to do due diligence on
[38:45] just the firm, how the firm behaves,
[38:48] their reputation. That's crazy. Like
[38:50] you're a professional firm. I we should
[38:52] have we should be able to basically
[38:55] assume that you guys don't [ __ ] people
[38:57] over. You know what I mean? Yeah.
[39:00] Exactly. But nowadays, you can't even
[39:02] make that assumption for any firm. So
[39:04] you like now I'd say if you're going to
[39:06] get into business somebody that you've
[39:07] never been in business with and they're
[39:08] big and they've got much deeper pockets
[39:10] than you, there's a good chance that
[39:13] they carry that mentality that that firm
[39:15] did with you. So just spend a week, a
[39:18] few days, check them out on LinkedIn,
[39:20] check them out, check out their
[39:22] employees on LinkedIn, see what kind of,
[39:23] you know, conversations they have, what
[39:25] kind of posts they make. You can tell a
[39:27] lot about people based on the kind of
[39:28] posts they do. You know, it's anecdotal
[39:31] and I won't take too much time, but some
[39:33] guy posted something that was wildly
[39:35] anti-Semitic in my opinion on LinkedIn
[39:37] the other day. It was a picture of two
[39:40] um acidic Jews. So, they've got their
[39:42] yamas. They've got the, you know, a bad
[39:45] I'm a bad Jew. I forgot the name of this
[39:46] the strings that hang. These are they're
[39:48] clearly Jewish in the picture. They're
[39:51] their identity is not it's not hidden.
[39:54] and he goes into this tirade about how
[39:56] horrible and scummy and barbaric and
[39:58] animals they are for doing this thing to
[40:00] their tenants. That part I don't agree.
[40:02] I don't disagree with. If you do those
[40:04] kinds of things to force tenants out
[40:06] because they're under rent control,
[40:08] you're doing inhumane things, you are a
[40:10] pretty shitty person. However, they
[40:13] chose a 10-year-old case, which which
[40:15] wasn't even the most extreme case of a
[40:18] landlord [ __ ] over their
[40:20] tenants. But he chose and he chose this
[40:23] particular picture that clearly shows
[40:24] these are Jewish men. He knew what he
[40:27] was doing. He was doing it inflammatory.
[40:29] So, I posted I and I called him out on
[40:31] it, but I was very professional, very
[40:33] respectful. This guy responds in a way
[40:36] that blew me away. profanity just
[40:40] unhinged, spiraled, not even coherent to
[40:43] what I said. He, you know, he says, "I
[40:45] work for myself. I say what I want. You
[40:47] could [ __ ] off." I'm like, "Okay, cool.
[40:49] I didn't tell you you can't say what you
[40:51] want. I just said, and then, you know,
[40:54] he tells me, you know, you're you're a
[40:56] kiss ass. I'm not." I'm like, "I don't
[40:58] know whose ass I'm kissing and what I
[40:59] posted." Like all he did was respond to
[41:01] your clearly inflammatory and
[41:03] anti-semitic post when you know these
[41:06] guys they didn't even he said that these
[41:09] people should rot in prison. They didn't
[41:11] even go to jail. But a case more recent
[41:13] than that one the guy defrauded for
[41:15] millions of dollars was fined tens of
[41:18] millions of dollars and did go to
[41:19] prison. But he decided to choose the one
[41:21] that showed the Jewish men as the evil
[41:23] people instead of a more recent and more
[41:26] severe case. But what blew me away was
[41:29] his response. And so when you see those
[41:31] people's responses, you can glean a lot
[41:34] about them. I would never do business
[41:35] with that person. Even if I wasn't
[41:37] Jewish, I could tell this person doesn't
[41:40] have morals and ethics. He just doesn't.
[41:43] So those are the kinds of things that
[41:46] unfortunately nowadays we've got to
[41:48] do just to go into business with
[41:51] somebody is you've got to do your
[41:53] research on that company. Are they
[41:55] upstanding? Do they do things ethically
[41:57] or or are they known for screwing people
[41:58] over?
[42:01] Yeah. Well, and I think so it's an
[42:02] interesting idea that I totally resonate
[42:05] with of there's something about like the
[42:07] word since you're Jewish, I have the
[42:09] biblical background. I'm a Christian.
[42:11] The the whole I the whole idea of like
[42:14] the meek will inherit the earth.
[42:15] Biblically, it's not meek like the word
[42:17] actually in Latin means something more
[42:19] like someone who's extremely dangerous
[42:23] but doesn't act. Like imagine like a jut
[42:26] like a really juted warrior or someone
[42:27] who's really like like that person you
[42:31] know like that black belt in jiu-jitsu
[42:33] who's walking down the street you know
[42:34] they could kill somebody but instead
[42:35] they're helping the kid out right it's
[42:37] like that per and so that's what you
[42:39] need in business that's how what I
[42:40] always envision in business now when I'm
[42:42] doing something with someone be like
[42:43] know that other person might be out to
[42:46] kill you but they should also know you
[42:48] they you could kill them too but you're
[42:50] not going to you're not that pe don't go
[42:52] that road never go that road don't go on
[42:54] the dark side and start screwing over
[42:55] people. That's how society deteriorate.
[42:57] We should be able to trust each other
[42:59] and we we should be outstanding citizens
[43:01] and trying to help each other. But just
[43:02] know that if they can get ugly that you
[43:05] can you can keep pace with them and you
[43:07] know you know their moves so you can
[43:09] preempt. Yeah. It's all like you said
[43:11] like it's part of the strategy. Yeah.
[43:14] And the and the best way that you could
[43:16] do that like you said is that for me the
[43:18] way I approach partnerships now are so
[43:21] inflammatory upfront so I can understand
[43:24] people and like you said like I think
[43:26] this last partnership I I just
[43:28] structured with some of my friends at a
[43:29] firm that I'm I'm I'm helping out is uh
[43:32] and great firm but we had probably hours
[43:35] of conversations where we're like near
[43:37] yelling at each other and we needed
[43:38] cooling off periods because we we
[43:40] iterated and went like what happens if
[43:42] you screw me here and You tell me what
[43:44] happens if I screw you there. Like
[43:46] something happens when I get sick and
[43:48] now I can't fulfill my end of the
[43:49] partnership and then what happens if I
[43:51] really succeed here and and you now
[43:54] don't want to pay me. And we went down
[43:56] every iteration and we needed cooling
[43:57] off period. So we're like, well, if that
[43:58] happens, if this 1% thing happens and
[44:02] you act this way, I I don't want to do
[44:03] this partnership. But that that's what
[44:05] we we worked through that for maybe a
[44:07] month and then we came and put that all
[44:09] in writing where we were like we can
[44:11] feel good about what this relationship
[44:13] looks like holistically and it was like
[44:14] a 15 20 page document of all the
[44:17] iterations of things that can go right
[44:18] or wrong but that's what you got to do
[44:21] like kind of upfront in order to show
[44:23] the other person I'm serious I'm not
[44:24] playing games and and get the any
[44:27] clarifications from that subsequently in
[44:28] writing and not enough people do that.
[44:30] if you're not willing to do that and
[44:32] before you go into partnership, you
[44:33] shouldn't go into the partnership in the
[44:34] first place. And and and you make a good
[44:35] point with, you know, so you know, like
[44:37] you said, the the person who can but
[44:39] won't, you know, I think um you know,
[44:41] for if anybody listening is familiar,
[44:43] Achilles, I think, you know, is a a
[44:46] pretty well-known historical figure, but
[44:48] he was that he was the one he could kill
[44:51] and he was the greatest warrior, but he
[44:53] didn't want to he didn't like going to
[44:56] battles that weren't his battle to
[44:58] fight. But if he had to fight, you were
[45:00] going to lose. So that that that that's
[45:02] a great example of like you said, you
[45:03] know, know that this person can strike
[45:07] just as much as you can if they have to.
[45:10] Um, but I think you make a good point
[45:11] where you said, you guys hash that out
[45:13] for a whole month. So, you know, you
[45:15] think about the project or the, you
[45:17] know, the financial implications of
[45:19] whatever you're getting into. If it's a
[45:21] $10,000 contract, are you going to
[45:23] spend, you know, a whole month, you
[45:26] know, hashing that out? Maybe, maybe
[45:27] not. If it's a $2,000 contract, you're
[45:29] definitely not. If it's a $100,000
[45:31] contract, you definitely are. So, you
[45:32] got to think about that balance of is it
[45:34] worth it? I, you know, if I don't spend
[45:36] this month, you know, hashing this out
[45:39] and then I spend the next six months on
[45:41] a project that I'm going to end up
[45:42] getting totally screwed over, then,
[45:44] yeah, it was worth that month. So, I
[45:47] think that's a, you know, that's a a
[45:49] great way to go about it because you
[45:51] guys are now you're even closer with
[45:53] that person. So, you have a a much more
[45:55] solid understanding. You've got a a
[45:57] strong camaraderie because you guys
[45:59] raised your voices to each other. You
[46:00] had some contention. You hashed out
[46:02] where, well, I wouldn't do that. I'm not
[46:04] that type of person. I am not either.
[46:06] But we got to protect against either of
[46:08] us becoming one of those people. So, you
[46:11] I think you you build this, you know,
[46:13] camaraderie and connection by hashing
[46:15] that out. And in the end, it was worth
[46:16] that month. I mean, obviously, it wasn't
[46:18] a full 160 hour month, you know, but it
[46:21] was over the course of the month. A
[46:22] couple hours, but it was over the course
[46:24] of the month. So, it was worth and it
[46:25] was worth it. Um, because what what I
[46:28] think a lot of people don't realize is
[46:30] that how long things take in business
[46:32] and I'm one of those people. There's
[46:34] there's times when I'm like, "Ah, that
[46:35] shouldn't take no time." And it takes
[46:36] forever. So, understanding that things
[46:39] just take time and if you're not willing
[46:41] to, you know, spend the fraction of the
[46:44] overall to make sure that you accomplish
[46:47] the goal, it can hurt you. and I've made
[46:50] the mistake and I can you know you've
[46:51] shared that you've made that mistake and
[46:53] you learn from it and that's that's what
[46:56] business and life is all about is
[46:57] learning and growing and trying not to
[47:00] make the same mistake twice you know if
[47:02] it's you know person and it's the best
[47:04] things
[47:05] it's the best things in life that I've
[47:07] learned is like I wish I learned these
[47:09] things earlier but I'm glad I learned
[47:10] them now it's like if you don't I know
[47:11] people that never learn them and you see
[47:13] them still stumbling at 60 or 70 and
[47:15] having fractured relationships right
[47:17] I've lost friendships over partnerships
[47:19] that I didn't structure where I I wish
[47:21] we had more contentious fights up front
[47:25] because it might have fabed the
[47:27] relationship which was more important
[47:28] than the business venture right and it's
[47:30] just and it's by no means of anything
[47:32] like hey if someone has a kid and you
[47:34] don't plan for that like what does that
[47:36] look like for a partnership
[47:38] that's a big change in life and if
[47:40] someone has a kid or someone gets a
[47:41] really lucrative job what does that look
[47:43] like for your partnership and someone
[47:45] else was banking on that partnership it
[47:46] can be a real struggle if you didn't
[47:48] think you're if you didn't think about
[47:49] it up front. So, it's it's worth the
[47:51] effort. Same in marriage before you get
[47:53] married. Really wise to talk about if
[47:54] you want to build a family first or else
[47:56] that's the kind of stuff that really
[47:58] like causes contention later on. Um man,
[48:00] I could talk to you forever. That's I'm
[48:02] having a really fun time chatting, but I
[48:03] know we both got to jump. Um I'm
[48:05] curious, what are you doing next? And
[48:07] then I would love to have you on again
[48:09] just to see how your journey is going
[48:11] and if you could tag on where people
[48:12] could find you and how people could my
[48:14] audience could support you, we would
[48:16] love to. Yeah, absolutely. Just uh one
[48:17] last point. I think whiteboarding, I'll
[48:19] just close out that last topic with
[48:21] whiteboarding is is a great way. You
[48:22] know, it's super simple. You whiteboard
[48:24] it out because then you hash things out.
[48:26] Even if it's like on an iPad or a real
[48:28] whiteboard, whatever, helps you hash out
[48:30] those ideas and then dial them all in,
[48:31] you know, funnel them down. But, um, so
[48:34] we're we're, you know, connected is
[48:35] still, you know, obviously the, you
[48:37] know, the issues now I have drove me to,
[48:39] you know, get back into, you know,
[48:41] regular job doing some consulting. Um,
[48:44] but we're seeking out a new location.
[48:46] we've we're going to pivot into a um
[48:48] slightly different style agreement with
[48:50] landlords rather than traditional lease.
[48:53] Um but we're still charging forward.
[48:54] We're still, you know, same um same
[48:57] plan, same idea. Um we just obviously
[49:00] have to make some changes um to how we
[49:03] approach it um and find some new
[49:06] investors and things like that. Um and
[49:08] you can find me and the company all over
[49:11] the place. Um on LinkedIn, it's Nicholas
[49:14] Violin. You're gonna have to probably
[49:15] put that in the um podcast notes because
[49:18] my name is spelled a little differently.
[49:20] But um if you just search connected Oh,
[49:23] it's muted. So, but connected but with
[49:25] K's. So, instead of C's, swap them out
[49:27] both with K. So, K O N E K T E D.