Hospitality & Heart

Welcome to another exciting episode of the VegasStrong Revival Podcast! 🎙️ In this episode, Britt sits down with the incredible Nick Cope, a man of many talents and a true embodiment of the VegasStrong spirit. From his extensive background in VIP hospitality on the Las Vegas Strip to his current roles in real estate, nonprofit work, and ministry; Nick shares his journey and insights on what it means to SERVE the community.

This episode is packed with raw, relatable, and even shocking conversations that tackle real issues locals face. Whether you're a Vegas local, a business owner, or someone interested in the unique culture of our city, this episode has something for you.

Key Takeaways:

• Hospitality at its Best: Learn how Nick transitioned from being a top VIP host at renowned venues like Hakkasan and Light Group to Fiv Group, a real estate brokerage that prioritizes hospitality and customer service.
• Community Impact: Discover Nick's involvement with Hope for the City, a nonprofit organization that has served over 2 million Vegas Locals through food pantries and other community initiatives.
• Spiritual Revival: Hear about Nick's role as a ministry partner at Central Church and how he integrates his faith into his community work.
• Real Estate Tips: Get valuable advice for both real estate agents and clients on how to elevate the buying and selling experience through genuine hospitality and attention to detail.

Connect with Nick:  @NickCopeVegas

Get Involved:

• Team Farnham / Fiv Realty: https://www.teamfarnham.com
• Hope for the City: hopeforthecity.org
• Central Church: Join us on Saturdays at 5 PM, Sundays at 10 AM and 12 PM. Or online: https://centralchurch.online

📲 Stay Connected: 

Don't miss out on this engaging and thought-provoking discussion. Listen to the episode now on your favorite podcast platform and be sure to subscribe so you never miss an update.

• Text the Podcast Hotline: 702-723-2343
• Social Media: @VegasStrongRevival
• Website: LaCritiqueLV.com/podcast

Let's keep the VegasStrong spirit alive! Share this episode with friends, family, and colleagues who love Las Vegas. Together, we can revive our city's passion for authentic service. Stay strong, Vegas! 💪

**LEGAL DISCLAIMER FOR THIS PODCAST AND THIS EPISODE CAN BE FOUND AT: LaCritiqueLV.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

La Critique believes in living a life full of experiences rather than possessions, which is why we designed a concierge service just for Vegas locals. We're all busy, and can any of us really keep up with all the changes around town? And yet, we still crave quality experiences when we go out and spend our valuable time and money. Now, imagine having a personal assistant whose credentials are quite literally hospitality snob and expert event planner. Seriously, leave all the details to us. Recommendations Personalized. Reservations? Done. More time enjoying our city and less time researching it? Absolutely. Subscribe today at LaCritiqueLV.com or give the gift of service by purchasing a subscription for your favorite person. Welcome to the Vegas Strong Revival Podcast. Buckle up because we're taking Vegas Strong culture to a whole new level this season. I'm Britt Whelan, your host, alongside co-host Desiree Wolfe, event professional and host of the Slightly Unfiltered Podcast. This season, the gloves are off and we're ditching the scripts for raw, relatable, and even shocking conversations, tackling real issues locals face, and bringing in voices from various industries like fitness, charity, aviation, and more. Don't forget to follow us on social media and visit Loughran for more about how we're helping residents and local business owners reconnect to the real meaning of hospitality. Ready or not, here we go! Everybody, today we have a really exciting guest. Welcome, Nick Cope.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

Yeah, thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_02 1:33

Thank you for being here.

SPEAKER_00 1:34

I appreciate

SPEAKER_02 1:35

it. You were connected to me from a dear friend of mine. Yep. I had to interview you.

SPEAKER_01 1:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:42

You are part of a firm whose tagline is literally loving Las Vegas through real estate.

SPEAKER_00 1:50

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 1:51

And that caught my attention so much because this podcast, my entire mission, it's really all about loving Las Vegas.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_02 2:01

Tell me more about your firm, your involvement with the firm, how long you've been there, a little back history there. And then I want to tell the guests a little bit more about your general history and where you got started. But I have to hear about Five Group.

SPEAKER_00 2:14

Yeah, absolutely. So we recently launched Five Group. It's a brand new brokerage that we started in the fall. But Team Farnham has been around for a while. And one of our missions is loving on Las Vegas and Henderson, the And it's really just about providing this elevated experience from before the transaction to after the transaction, to even to people that we're not transacting with. It's essentially to love on the community through real estate and adding a value add from top to bottom. So the way that we've built the infrastructure of the brokerage has three backend support members. We have a transaction manager, we have a client care manager, and we have just an overall ops manager. But in that, we have a client care manager, It allows us to really focus on the experience that we have with the individuals that we meet every single day.

SPEAKER_02 3:03

I love that. I mean, there's so many real estate agents in town. I mean, do you know how many are here?

SPEAKER_00 3:10

Yeah, there's over 20,000 agents. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:12

It's insane. You throw a rock and you hit a real estate agent, right? That's right. So it's really important that we know what firms are out there who are crushing it on the customer service hospitality side because that matters. I love that you guys are hospitality focused. We're going to talk more about that in a minute. But just for our listeners, a little bit of background on Nick is that he moved here in 2005. Yep. Originally from California, but you graduated from UNLV. VIP host with Hakkasan and Light Group. And you were recognized as one of the top VIP hosts in the city after spending a decade managing VIP experiences on the strip. Yep. And I resonate with that because I worked with both of those companies. Let me tell you, those... two companies alone, Light Group no longer exists, but those two companies run a lot of nightlife events. I mean, so much, so much hospitality on the strip. Their demanding level of service and execution is very high, wouldn't you say? I

SPEAKER_00 4:17

mean, that's an understatement. I remember, I mean, the first decade of life out here as somebody that was like 21 years old, I started out busing at Cat House, which was located in the Luxors. Carrie Simon was the celebrity chef. But that was ironically like that next spring was the year that Wet Republic opened. So a lot of like the senior like VIP hosts, they left. And right then I basically moved from a bus or to a VIP host. And shortly thereafter, moved over to the Bank Nightclub, which was in the Bellagio. So the level of service at that time, the Bellagio was the standard. And the people that would come in there from royalty to celebrities to multi multi millionaire or billionaires from the far east to abadabi to um the uae to um just everybody from around the world would come to the bellagio they would stay at the bellagio it's still true today i mean the wind the encore resort world and fountain blue there's a lot more competition and spreads out on the strip which is great but at that time the level of service was second to none we would be poured in from you know from forbes um they would come out and do training. So like a lot of this was, we were an extension of the hospitality that was provided from MGM corporate. And then soon thereafter, you know, after I was with the light group is with towel group, which then it was angel management group, which converted to Hakkasan group. So that whole evolution went from me at the bank nightclub all the way up to the VIP manager at pure nightclub, wet Republic, Hakkasan, and all that, that fun stuff, which I, it was exactly 10 years ago when I pivoted out of that, it was July of 2014 and we're in 2024. So exactly 10 years ago is kind of when I transitioned over to this life.

SPEAKER_02 6:05

When you were working with Hawks on Light Group, on the Strip, in VIP services, that was insane for you. Did you tell me that you were like sleeping in your car?

SPEAKER_00 6:18

I mean, there was days that, I mean, you would be at the, when you were working at the pool and the club, you would get to the pool by 8, 9 a.m. You would get off around 5, 6 p.m. You'd have to hurry up, eat, shower, change, be back to the strip by 7 p.m., 8 p.m., and work all the way until 4 or 5 a.m. So it was a lot of hours. It was a lot of time. And even for the nights that we didn't have the venue open, we'd have to go do like support reservations because, as you mentioned, Tower Group, Hakkasan Group, Light Group, they wanted us to support the sister venues and not just the nightlife, but also the daylife and also the restaurant. So it was just an ever-evolving hour. outing or being out in the field. So yeah, lack of sleep. I remember towards the back end of it, just to start out like Saturdays and Sundays, I'd get an IV in my arm just to get going into like that next day. So it was like, that was like at the front and now people just do it.

SPEAKER_02 7:14

Gotta stay hydrated.

SPEAKER_00 7:15

Yeah, you gotta stay hydrated. But yeah, I mean, it was a lot of hours. It was a lot of, a lot of work.

SPEAKER_02 7:20

So you came in contact all the time with celebrities and royalty, right? There's a certain level of... hospitality, of service, of communication styles, all those little intricate things that we're trained on that are required when you're dealing with those people, right? I love that you have that background because you understand the value of it. Would you say that you've been able to influence people at Five Group? Well, technically, I guess it's Farnham, Team Farnham, sorry. Would you say that you've been able to teach and help and show them like, or by the very least demonstrate what that

SPEAKER_00 7:55

might look like? Yeah, I think it's a demonstration. It's a caliber of conversation. Like one of the guys that I just talked to, he wanted to sell his high rise, which is at the Turnberry, which is downtown. It takes a whole different level of conversation when you're talking about people that have that much money because he's going to purchase a new place or he actually put down the deposit for a$14 million penthouse suite at the new Four Seasons high rise that they're building in the Henderson mountains out there. So that's actually breaking ground here soon. But when you have that level of conversation, there's a different way to communicate with those type of people. And it's it's essentially don't be looking like you're a rookie at that, you know? But I think it's just through experience. Like, I think one of the hardest things for me, like a lot of people wouldn't know that I was kind of shy in high school. Like when I would go and talk in front of classes, like for presentations, there's no way I'd be doing this. Like I'd be turning 20 shades of red, but standing on a bridge on the strip and 120 degree heat, trying to recruit girls that are attractive to come into your club. And it's just like, you have to be put through the ringer. And obviously the countless hours and nights of partying and and trial and error, it just evolves you and shapes you into the person that then you can have these conversations. I would say on the infancy side of it, I was running the door at the bank nightclub in the height of when the bank was super popular. So all the VIP reservations that would come in, I would have to be talking to those individuals. So that kind of broke me into having those conversations. And now in real estate, how that translates is no matter if somebody is a first time buyer and needs to fix their credit and stuff, or no matter No matter if someone is a multi-billionaire, you treat them exactly the same. And that's essentially what hospitality is, right? It's like serving other people on where they are, but you just have to maintain that level of communication and honoring them for who they are, right? We're no better than anybody else, but you have to give them the same level of professionalism and that hospitality that translates no matter what you do.

SPEAKER_02 9:48

Well, and how you speak to somebody who is a celebrity or royalty, for example, right? How you speak to them isn't going to be the same. is how you may speak to me or in your personal life, right? Like those relationships are all different, but also maybe you're selling a first time home to a small family and they're a cool, chill couple and you're gonna probably, what, match their cool chillness, right? Make them

SPEAKER_00 10:14

feel comfortable. I mean, there's different type of personality profiles, right? You can do like the whole disc profiles and stuff. So I think you have to be an active listener and be able to meet them where they are based off of their personality type and how they can communicate, but ultimately it's being that listener and serving them, right? And some people are used to having the light on them all the time. Some people don't want that. I mean, there's been times that I've been with celebrities and they're just like everybody else. I think that the level of experience changes because if then there's people that are trying to pursue them, want to take photos and stuff like that, you almost kind of are a hybrid bodyguard

SPEAKER_01 10:49

at

SPEAKER_00 10:50

the same time. But usually it's now got to the place that Vegas has become so trendy and popular that even when the like again there's so many real estate you could throw a stone there were so many celebrities here that literally everywhere you were there was some sort of like celebrity so I think they stay in the hotels that kind of cater to that experience and give them that privacy that they need with real estate it's just working with those type of people and really listing up what their true needs are meeting them there

SPEAKER_02 11:17

love it so guys Nick has this incredible hospitality VIP experience background but he also man business development for local nonprofit organization, Hope for the City. I need to know more about that. Tell our listeners about it. What's your involvement? What do they do?

SPEAKER_00 11:37

Okay, so when the pandemic hit, everything shut down. We all know that. It was super disruptive. One of the things that actually shut down was 95% of any food pantry that operated in Las Vegas. So immediately, we partnered up with Station Casinos from Palace Station to Fiesta, Texas, Santa Fe, and we launched 27 food pantries within a couple of hours. To date, we've done over a thousand food pantries. We've served 2 million plus people. We currently operate four to five pantries every single week and do about 20,000 people a month. But essentially what it was, was we had to be able to serve the people of Las Vegas and Henderson, the Vegas Valley, in one of the darkest times. And in that, we partnered up with a gentleman, his name's Kelly Jones. He actually came from Light Group a long time ago too, but he owns and operates a lot of restaurants. He just recently opened up Emmett's with Emmett Smith He opened up a social station, which opened up just this past Friday off of Eastern. But logistically, we brought the hospitality vibe into the pop-up world. And we had lines upon lines. I remember one time at Palace Station, it was almost five miles long and they had to turn off all the signal lights to blinking red because there were so many cars in line. There was like over thousands of cars.

SPEAKER_01 12:47

Oh my

SPEAKER_00 12:47

gosh. So logistically, Hope for the City had to figure out how to keep people safe. And we did that by having a drive-through experience that they would come through the drive-through pop up in the trunk. We partnered up with Three Square, which has a contract with Feeding America. They provide the food, but we also had a lot of donations from local businesses, from grocery stores to hotel casinos. So ever since 2020, we've got into a problem and now we just can't get out of it. Our primary focus is at-risk communities, especially with women and children. At the end of the year, we also have an event called Hope for Kids. We do a drive-through experience. Food is the element, but we actually get them Christmas presents. We get them clothing. We get them warm blankets. But we do this amazing drive-through experience. I have Channel 13 come out. They produce the night. We have partnerships with all sorts of businesses from F1 to the Golden Knights to Walmart to Cosmo. So it's a really cool way for us as a 501c3 to lock arms with the community to give back. And I think this past year, we raised enough money to sponsor over 30,000 kids for Christmas and beyond. So the economic impact has been really cool. Currently, we're in an initiative we call Hope for Kids Summer Edition because there has been... 47 Title I schools that have lost funding here in Las Vegas. So many of them lost food programs throughout the summer. So our goal was to sponsor 10,000. I think as of this past weekend, we already sponsored 9,000.

SPEAKER_02 14:07

Wow. Holy cow. And what's your involvement directly with Hope for the City?

SPEAKER_00 14:12

Yeah, so I became the liaison to the community. So I actively, voluntarily, this is full voluntary rope, but I maintain the relationships with the business community, whether it's the Henderson Chamber, the Vegas Chamber, all the different businesses, small to midsize, all the way to corporate. And in that, we've been named Nonprofit of the Year by the Henderson Chamber, the beneficiary of their annual golf tournament. We've been noticed by the Vegas Chamber as one of the finalists for Nonprofit of the Year. But the cool thing is, is it's opened up the doors to raise more money to go and serve the community. So for me, I've just felt like I've been an active ambassador to the business community where otherwise we wouldn't have had some of these partnerships.

SPEAKER_02 14:51

Were you able to use some of your old hospitality contacts from when you were a VIP host?

SPEAKER_00 14:55

Funny enough, I mean, yeah, a hundred percent, but what's, what's, what's kind of wild is I host these like free quarterly business networking mixers that I get about three, 400 people. So my goal is to bring all these people together and then add value and say, Hey, I'm going to host this networking event. And the past two I've actually hosted at ghost bar because my buddy is the manager over there at the palms for all nightlife. So he's gifted us the venue and we use that. They obviously get all the proceeds to the bar, but it gives us the venue to share about, you know, what initiatives that we have going on. And it's just a great way to kind of to meet the nonprofit world, to the Vegas world, to the nightlife, to all of this, and it gives a beautiful view of the whole strip.

SPEAKER_02 15:32

I'll have to meet your buddy. Ghost Bar is actually my favorite bar in all of Las Vegas, as far as views go. Anyway, so that's incredible. Okay, guys, as if Nick doesn't wear enough hats, he is also the ministry partner at Central Church. What does that mean exactly?

SPEAKER_00 15:48

Well, let's say this. 2014, how I told you 10 years ago, I was living a completely reckless life. I was partying way too much, but I decided to get out of nightlife and transition into this whole different world. So ever since 2014, I started attending Central, went through all the ringers and everything like that, actually went to ministry school, graduated ministry school this past year, exactly one year ago, I was in Israel for 10 days. So that was kind of cool just to go to like see a Galilee, go to Jerusalem. But as a ministry partner, I've led out the welcome team since the pandemic. That team has grown to about 150 volunteers that actively serve on Saturday and Sundays. And I also launched a business connect. So it's a central business connect. It's a Christian business ministry for self-employed entrepreneurs, sole proprietors, business owners, and stuff like that. So not only do I try to connect them on the Hope for the City side, but ultimately, you know, they come to faith. I've had people get baptized that it changed their life. It changed their family life. So it's kind of like cast the net as far as I can with Hope for the City. Then it comes to the church. And as a ministry partner, I just love on people, not just through real estate, but through business.

SPEAKER_02 16:54

And through faith, right? Oh, 100% through faith. All

SPEAKER_00 16:57

of them. I'm a walking testimony. I was a train wreck. And yes, there was a lot of highs in nightlife and working on the strip, but there's also a lot of lows. And one of the things that I've really seen in my life, and I speak to a lot of people that work in nightlife, but there is a way out. And that's something that Vegas, we really, I know you do as well, but some of the way that we look at how does the strip translate into the community? And I'm a walking testimony to someone who was at the height and in the chaos to where now, you know, I'm married, I got six kids, I'm active in in Inspirada, in West Henderson. I'm active at the church. I'm active in the business community and ultimately taking all the tools that I got on the strip to take that hospitality and really integrate it and serve people in the community.

SPEAKER_02 17:39

I love you. In the most like genuine, not romantic way because I barely know you. But yeah, you're awesome. That's incredible. Father of six?

SPEAKER_00 17:51

Yeah, five daughters and then my stepson. So one of them is going to be a senior. The youngest is two. So yesterday was a very busy day because we had to move up ceremonies my stepson was moving up from fifth to sixth grade and my daughter Penelope is moving from pre-k to K so and then my niece was also graduating going from eighth to ninth grade so like it's a lot of family stuff now rather than the Las Vegas strip yeah in the countless hours yeah

SPEAKER_02 18:13

don't get me started on all of these grade by grade graduation though oh gosh that's a whole other episode you guys are all probably in the thick of it right now as well this episode won't publish until a little later. So we'll all be able to reminisce and remember what this time was like. A little insane. Nick, tell me what the word hospitality means to you.

SPEAKER_00 18:36

Serving others, 100%. Like you can coin it however you want and giving it your best self and being attentive and really kind of like, oh, well, I can serve you and do all this. But if you serve others, you truly serve others in whatever capacity, then you're honoring them. And that is hospitality. I'll even go and when I'm walking around the casino, I'll pick up trash. just because I don't even know. I don't even work there. But to me, I love Las Vegas. I love the city. I love the economics. I love the way that people come here. When I see somebody struggling on the side of the road, you serve them. If you see them at the church, you serve them. If you're out and about, it's the way that you carry yourself. But ultimately, if you do that in your business, then you're actually truly, I feel, a champion of your community. And it's a way for you to elevate yourself. When Vegas, I feel, could be a very transactional city, it's more being a relationship like with purpose to serve them.

SPEAKER_02 19:29

I literally could not have said it better myself. That's spot on in my opinion. Tell me what you love most about living in Las Vegas. You were, you were previously living in California, right? Is that the only other place you've lived?

SPEAKER_00 19:41

No. Um, I did a few years like I'm talking about prison. I did a few years in, uh, Naperville, which is, uh, West Illinois, um, built out some real estate out there heading into the pandemic. Um, with a buddy of mine, we built a luxury apartment complex. So I was in, uh, Naperville, Illinois, which is a pretty amazing place. I was raised in Bakersfield, Central California. So like the armpit of California. Got it. But that's pretty much those are the three primary places that I've lived. But I love Las Vegas for multiple reasons. It's changed because before I loved it for the party life, but I still do love the Las Vegas Strip a lot. Yeah. And I've even evolved it as a parent that like two weeks ago, I took the kids down. We park at MGM or park MGM. Yep. And we'll hop on the monorail. The monorail takes you where? To the Bellagio. You got the botanical gardens. You got the fountain. So it's kind of a really cool experience because when you go down there as a local, you could park for three hours for free. You go there, you go and do like a cool thing. It's not going on the Strip where you get all these solicitors and all the crazy chaos, but it's a way that you still can enjoy the amenities of the Strip. And ultimately, like the food, we have the best food in the world. The best restaurants all come here. The best entertainment, the best shows. We have sports. We have concerts. If you want to be in business, we have the conventions that come here. We're like the number one economic driver for convention. So the strip to me is a very special and unique place that no other city can offer. But as a local, I think different people like different vibes of the city. I especially like West Henderson because it makes me feel as though it's like an actual community. They're pouring a lot into the families, like the economics. So when you did see a very transient community, I would say until I'd argue the shooting, um, that timeframe, Vegas was a very transient. It's like almost running away to join the circus. Like people came here literally to join Cirque, to join Nightlife, to join restaurants. And then they would say, okay, I'm not going to find love here. I'm going to move back to my hometown and move somewhere else. I do feel like this whole Vegas, which was birthed with Vegas Strong out of that, there was something that changed in the community. I would say the hockey team had something to do with that and being good in the inaugural season. I would say a lot of different events, even the pandemic, I think just what with people moving from other communities, rather it be for taxes or just like whatever reason, you are seeing a lot of churches pop up, a lot of community amenities pop up. You're seeing a lot of communities being built to really bring togetherness rather than most people driving into their garage and then shutting it before they can even talk to their neighbors.

SPEAKER_02 22:16

City of Henderson feels to me like they focus as a government, focus on community big time. Like they have tons of dog parks. They're very dog friendly, very family oriented. Last year, I think it was last year or the year before, I can't recall, they have this water park just for dogs. So yeah, I'm going to call out the city of Las Vegas right now and say y'all need to step it up because lately it feels like anytime I take my dog out, for example, I get harassed or this or that for throwing the ball to him. So yeah, go city of Henderson. You mentioned the shooting this is the vegas strong revival podcast so i gotta ask what does vegas strong mean to you

SPEAKER_00 23:02

i think the definition could change for every single person because i think that the the whole vegas strong or the strong movement has happened in a lot of different cities and typically there's some catastrophe tied to it whether it was like the um uh the hurricane that hit like houston or new orleans or earthquakes or whatever it is but i think for vegas vegas strong became an activator of we don't have to be separated we could be together and you saw people rally the day after the shooting heading to the blood banks and stuff like that just to donate it was just kind of like this like I have to be there too and I think social media helped that because that just allowed people to see that and say me too beyond that I think Vegas Strong is realizing that the world has changed and really being a contributor to change and the evolution of change, that the world, that America, that the cities, that the government, presidents, whatever it is. But ultimately, it comes down to kind of a self-reflection and saying, OK, maybe I came from Bakersfield. What can I take my time, my talent, my tools to be an active member of a community so that all ships rise? And to me, being that, how can I take what I learned in my upbringing? What can I take that I learned from the strip and actually be a good human, be a neighbor be a good community just be somebody good and in that I feel that makes us one of the strongest cities when there's so much disruption in all these other cities you see homelessness spiking you see crime spiking you see many of these cities collapsing economically businesses are leaving like San Francisco Seattle Chicago New York and it's a huge issue but what's crazy when you look at Vegas we're building we have more resorts going up we have teams coming here we have F1 we have the Super Bowl we have all these really cool and then that has this trickle down effect that now the individuals are wanting to be part of that on the individual level, right? Like if I live in Henderson, I live in Summerlin, I live in North Vegas, what could I do out there? So the Vegas Strong, I think is just this wraparound of a culture that has developed. Yeah, it was originally with the shooting, but I think now it's evolved into like, okay, we have this really powerful city that's probably gonna have about another million people in the next like 10 years. It's

SPEAKER_02 25:20

wild. Tell me about the revival part. What do you think that little word revival is all about? I

SPEAKER_00 25:25

think there's two different types of revival. There's like a spiritual revival. Sure. And I can see a lot of that happening in younger generations. I'm going to call them COVID kids. We throw these events even at Central that bring middle school and high schoolers out, and we have about 1,000 kids that show up. You're seeing these Bible studies pop up in all of these high school campuses. You're seeing all these colleges. Just in this past weekend out in Newport, there was over like 20,000, 30,000 people go into the ocean and get baptized. Mm-hmm. So there's this spiritual revival that, again, I think social media has a lot to do with this, but it's people trying to find true meaning in life. The pandemic was, I would argue, kind of scary because you had this mass thing. You saw like a first aid ship going into New York. You saw people like being trapped with dead loved ones in Italy. Like you just saw the whole world. But to have a whole economic powerhouse like the Strip shut down and be a complete ghost town, I think just gave people this like, okay, well, what is the true like purpose of life and not just finding it through drugs and partying and sex and all of the seven deadly sins of Vegas. But it's like, just like, okay, this revival is to me, it's a spiritual thing. Now, if you look at Vegas as a revival, I think that with growth, there's a lot of businesses out there and you have to have a USP, a unique selling position or a profile, an avatar. What makes you different than other people? And that's the revival is people going and elevating their brand, the client experience, experience, the hospitality. So I think you have to compete or you're going to get devoured. You're going to get ate up by technology, innovation, from AI to chat GPT to all the different things that you're hearing about. But ultimately, even real estate's changing. There's a gigantic class action settlement that was like$418 million that changed the way that buyers are now represented. And now that's completely going to disrupt. So to me, you have to continue to evolve and show your best self, but that ultimately is the revival internally and like, okay, how am I going to be a better human and serve people? And to me, that's my own personal revival, right? But I can see that in other people as well.

SPEAKER_02 27:38

I love it. And I fully agree with the Bible studies for the kids and the younger generations having a spiritual revival because I've witnessed that around town as well. Crazy. I think it's incredible. So you mentioned the USP and I know we're going to circle back to this now We're a little bit all over the place. Sorry, guys. I'm not a professional interviewer, but I'm doing my best.

SPEAKER_01 28:01

You're doing great.

SPEAKER_02 28:02

The five group. You mentioned, you know, you guys kind of go above and beyond. You take that little extra to make it a unique selling position. What kind of tips might you have for other real estate agents here in Vegas who really could step up their game? Because this podcast is really all about helping other people in the community. So I feel like it's it's important that we take somebody like you who's got tons of hospitality experience and just share a little bit of that knowledge so that they can also step up their game a little bit and give their clients a higher level of hospitality when interacting and buying and selling homes.

SPEAKER_00 28:42

Use the community as a tool to be different and pay attention. Those are the two things that I would say to take away. I'll give you two examples. I have a guy, he came to town to purchase a home but he wasn't sure what type of town so i was like all right well where are you staying at he's like oh i'm staying down on the strip i'm like great meet me at stratosphere i took him to the top of the stratosphere said here's the city and how here's how it lays out what so instead of just pulling up mls or google maps i literally took him paid our ticket to go to the top of the stratosphere and walked him from summerland to red rocks down to the southwest out to henderson gave him the whole lay of the land and he was like bro this has to be the the coolest experience to actually look at a city from up here. That's one, right? Using that as a tool. Number two.

SPEAKER_02 29:32

Okay, that's dope. Well done. I'm actually impressed with that.

SPEAKER_00 29:37

Yeah, that's awesome. Number two is pay attention to life events. Social media helps us. I recently had a client, their dog died. What did we do? We took a picture from their social media. We had it printed. We got a frame. We put the name and we sent it to them as a above and beyond. We already helped them purchase their home, but it's loving on people through through real estate. So to us, that was something that's going to go above and beyond. We, we pay attention to their life. There's some sort of life event. Now they're expecting a baby. We have these other couples that are expecting, right? We go buy something. We send them a gift basket. So like, it isn't just like, Hey, here's some champagne. Thanks for doing a transaction. It's genuinely and authentically loving people beyond just a transaction. What do they do? What is going on in their life? Pay attention. And if you can, and you have the means do something simple.

SPEAKER_02 30:25

Yeah. you're not just you know handing a brand new family their set of keys with a little cute keychain you know like that they don't need right with your company logo on it or something right like they don't want that they don't care

SPEAKER_00 30:37

about it yeah it's like oh here's some sunglasses because it's getting hot or some something okay whatever like how many people are going to go above and beyond and say wow i feel for you i have empathy for you i'm so sorry that you lost your pet or something like i'm sorry you went through this this or this or oh congratulations you just did that like you're honoring them and you're eating them on whether they are. And I think that that's that elevated hospitality, especially when going to the strip, when you come back and we kept the data of that client, you know exactly what they ordered for dinner, what they drank, what their type of bottles they ordered from the club. So you just say, hey, are we going to be drinking this again? It's paying attention to the data so that next time they're like, dang, you're good.

SPEAKER_02 31:15

Yeah. Last season, we did an episode for nightmare guests. Therefore, I have to ask because hospitality truly is a two-way street. Every single one of us in business has that one client, that one guest, that one customer who is like really just not great to work with. So anybody out there in Vegas, maybe you recently moved here, maybe you're thinking about moving here. We've got some great advice on how to approach real estate agents. At least I don't, but Nick does. What are some tips that you could give to people who are interviewing real estate agents? Generally speaking, how can they also ensure that they have a great experience no matter where they go.

SPEAKER_00 31:58

To go and work with an individual real estate agent and they're on their own journey, there are some that are good out there, but ultimately I think that the industry is evolving into the team type of atmosphere because you can serve them better. For example, if somebody, we decided we're going to work together, I launch a text thread with my transaction manager and with our client care manager. Through that, every single update that happens we're under contract we received the earnest money deposit we just ordered the inspection the appraisal came in like every single check mark in the pipeline is communicated not just in email and text but also with care and with videos and it's really elevating the experience so there's no uncertainty there's no anxiety so when interviewing someone really just understand there's like three major things in life that can be completely disruptive one is death one is divorce and the other is buying real estate. Typically you go and you just, you need representation and now there's going to be a whole lot of noise out there about, oh, you can go and do it yourself or you could do this, but there's a lot of things that could go wrong. So having someone that is educated, that is treating you more than a transaction or a number and can really serve you to the level that you deserve to be served is what you should be looking for.

SPEAKER_02 33:19

I love it. And as far as any questions that they should be asking upon first approach to a team or an individual real estate agent. Any tips there? I

SPEAKER_00 33:30

would even just say how familiar are they into the neighborhood that they're looking at? Like, is there a geo-specific area? For me, I focus on West Henderson and Ensprada. Do I sell houses all around the valley? Yes. The last like five have been in Summerlin. But my USP, my avatar is West Henderson and Ensprada. I live there. I work there. I breathe there. I have a million of kids. Like, I know everything about everything there. So I'm going to be able to speak to it a little bit different from the education to the parks, to the amenities, to all the economic developments that's coming. Then I'd be able to speak to something that's going on in North Las Vegas. So if someone's relocating from a different city, they probably want to work with somebody that's specific to the area that they're looking at, or at least ask questions that align and you do the process of elimination. This is the five things that I'm looking for. And you're like, okay, these communities are not going to be best for you. It's not steering. It's just the process of elimination based off of what their needs are, what they're looking for. And then you could highlight, okay, this is the type of community. Can I still help them? Yeah. But when doing that type of interview, if it's someone that's looking for Wes Anderson and Sprada, our team, I think over the past 10 years, we've done more than any other brokers significantly.

SPEAKER_02 34:42

Okay. This question just popped in my brain. I didn't even prepare you for this one. What was your favorite house to sell? Do you have one?

SPEAKER_00 34:49

I wouldn't say it's necessarily a favorite house. I think it's more the... people in the transaction.

SPEAKER_01 34:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 34:56

You know, I think there's just like, there's different people out there that you just work with and you hit it off with. And then there's ones that are just like, I just want to get it over with and I'll never talk to you again. So it's like, there's just some really cool people that you get to learn when they move from other cities. And I think that there's not just one, I think just that process of people that are relocating and you just see they're fired up to move here. Like to me, that's my favorite.

SPEAKER_02 35:18

Yeah. All right. Well guys, Nick is available. You can contact him. Tell us how we can can contact you?

SPEAKER_00 35:25

Probably social media is the easiest. Just Nick Cope Vegas. At Nick Cope Vegas. Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, X, whatever. I keep it super simple. Nick Cope Vegas. I should change it to Nick Cope Wes Anderson. But Vegas is a lot of people, the majority of people know me from my first decade of being on this trip. So at Nick Cope Vegas.

SPEAKER_02 35:44

Awesome. And what about Hope for the City? How can somebody get involved with Hope for the City?

SPEAKER_00 35:50

They can message me. They can go to We have tons of information on there from all the initiatives that are current. But yeah, we have the opportunity if somebody wants to come out and serve. I'd recommend our location off of Russell. We have about 300 cars that line up in the morning Wednesday and on Saturday. We pop the ropes around 7 a.m. So somebody would come out from 5 to about 8 a.m. if they want to serve at one of those locations. Or if they're interested in locking arms and donating, then you can contact me directly.

SPEAKER_02 36:20

How about Central Church?

SPEAKER_00 36:22

Come on down. Saturdays at 5, Sunday 10 and 12.

SPEAKER_02 36:24

Awesome. Thank you so much for being here.

SPEAKER_00 36:27

Absolutely. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_02 36:28

And that's a wrap on this episode of the Vegas Strong Revival podcast. I hope you found our discussion engaging and even thought provoking. A big shout out to all of our amazing listeners for tuning in and supporting the show because it truly means the world to us. So thank you. Let's keep the Vegas Strong spirit alive. Share this podcast with your friends, family, colleagues, and just anyone who loves Vegas. If you have ideas, suggestions, or want to be a guest on the show, simply reach out online or feel free to text us on our super cool podcast hotline 702-723-2343 and of course don't forget to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an episode let's keep pushing the boundaries and reviving our city's passion for authentic service together stay strong vegas