Living Without Regrets & Curiosity is a Superpower - Lessons from Lorenzo Boucetta’s Global Life

Welcome to The Enes Yilmazer Podcast! On our first episode, our first guest, Lorenzo Boucetta shares his extraordinary journey through 36 childhood moves, entrepreneurial ventures, and a fearless pursuit of meaning across cultures, continents, and careers.

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Guest:
Lorenzo Boucetta

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What began as a journey to explore the world’s most exquisite luxury assets has evolved into something far more personal. Over the last 6 years, my team and I have traveled across the globe, touring some of the most sophisticated and highly engineered creations. But along the way, it was the people, the visionaries, creators, and dreamers, we met that truly shaped our perspective.

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#LorenzoBoucetta #Travel #Entrepreneurship #LosAngeles #Morocco #RealEstate #Business

Time Codes:
00:00 Introduction
02:10 Multicultural Upbringing
15:30 Life & Business Experiences In Morocco
26:05 Studying In Canada
27:21 Moving To Los Angeles
49:52 Lazzoni Furniture
50:34 Real Estate Ventures
01:10:45 Family
01:19:20 Living in Los Angeles
01:27:28 New Business Ventures 
01:30:42

Transcript

Hey everyone, welcome to the very first episode of the Enes Yilmazar podcast. Today I sit down
with Lorenzo Boucetta, a serial entrepreneur, real estate developer, and now quick serve
restaurant franchise owner. From owning and operating nightclubs in Morocco to flipping
multi-million dollar homes in Los Angeles, Lorenzo's journey is anything but ordinary.
He moved over 36 times before the age of 13, lived all across Europe, and built luxury homes
around the world. But it wasn't until a failed nightclub sale that fate led him to LA, where he
met his wife, Kaya, and built a life he never saw coming. We talked about wild highs and hard
lessons of entrepreneurship, raising kids while scaling businesses, the importance of staying
curious, and his latest mission, bringing the East Coast food chain, Bojangas, to the West.
Lorenzo is someone I truly admire and had the privilege to call a friend. This conversation is
packed with crazy stories, sharp insights, and a reminder that success isn't just about money,
it's about how you show up in life. So once again, welcome to our first episode, and let's dive
right in.
Lorenzo, thank you for joining us for our first episode. Thank you for having me, appreciate it. I
really appreciate your time, and with that I'm going to go right in.
You were born in Montreal, Canada. That's right. Then you moved to Spain, then you lived
between Spain and Morocco.
That's right. And from there you moved to London, Switzerland, and the list goes on and on and
on. In fact, before the age of 13, you moved 36 times.
36 times. That's wild. 36 times, yeah.
I mean, you gotta talk to me about your upbringing and how you got to that point where you
traveled 36 times before the age of 13. I mean, you know what it was. You know, my mom is
Portuguese, my dad is Moroccan, and they met in Canada, and they got married, and they
moved back to Morocco.
Where we lived in Morocco was Tangiers, and if you know Tangiers, Tangiers is around 14, 15
nautical miles from the south of Spain, from Tarifa. So at the time, they had a home in Spain, a
home in Morocco, and when it was time for my mom to give birth, she wanted to use the
Canadian health system, which was a great health system at the time, to give birth, and that's
where me and my brothers were born. We also had a home in Canada, in Montreal, and that
was that.
We went back to Morocco. My dad was in hospitality development, building hotels and
exploiting them, things like that. So our life was always traveling, moving to another place,
moving to a different house, moving to a different home, and sometimes multiple times a year.
You know, it was just like a different childhood. Uh, harder to establish friendships, let's say,
and I was always like a restart, and sometimes you feel like the odd one out, but you know, now
in retrospect, I speak a ton of languages, I've seen a ton of things, and it gives you like a
different perspective on life, right? Without a doubt. And how many languages do you speak?
With drinks or without drinks? Let's count both.
Listen, at a fluent, fluent, fluent level, let's say five, I can get around maybe an eight. And what
are some of the languages? Well, English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese are the five. And
then, you know, I lived in Italy, so I speak Italian.
I mean, that's a de facto anything. So my wife is Turkish, so I speak some Turkish, even though
my kids say I don't speak Turkish. I lived in Greece as well.
So my Greek is actually not bad. And my Russian is basic. Amazing.
No, I mean, it's fun traveling with you because you just switch between languages. Yeah, that's
right. Whatever you need, you know? You know, and I didn't realize that was a thing in life until
I moved to Greece for the first time.
So everywhere I went, I always spoke the local language. And then I moved to Greece, and it
was like, I speak no Greek. Because you were older at that time? Yeah, at the time, I was 18
years old.
And I moved to Greece, and I thought it was going to be fun living in a place called Glyfada,
which is in Athens, which right now, from real estate development places, like the hottest place
in Europe, that's where they built the new Four Seasons in Vouliers-Armenes, right? Yes, true.
Off to Astyr Palace that everyone seems to go to and enjoy. So I lived in Glyfada, and when I
arrived there, I didn't realize no one spoke really English.
And you had to learn Greek to, in a way, survive, right? And then it makes you resilient, I guess.
Well, you know, traveling a lot, living in different locations is something that you and I have
experienced in our lives. But I feel like every time I talk to you about travel cultures, Morocco,
Spain, and particularly Marbella, always stands out in your stories.
I feel like these two locations had a very big significance in your life. They have. No matter what,
for the first 27 years, it's a bit different now that I live in LA, but I always summered in Spain.
So I always had my summer friendships. I was always in Marbella. I always had the people that I
hung out with, you know, first girl I kissed, first girl I spent the night with, and first drink I've
ever had.
It all went back. A lot of fun memories. A lot of fun memories in Spain.
And, you know, it's a place I felt most like home, you know? Because that's one thing, like it's
hard for people to say, oh, you're Canadian. And I'm like, yeah, I'm not really Canadian. Even
though I was born there and I went to high school in Canada, I don't feel myself Canadian.
Or they're like, oh, you're Moroccan. I'm like, not really. Theoretically, yes, I am half Moroccan,
but like, you know, my dad, the same thing with Portuguese.
But I'm not Spanish, but I feel like Spain is my home. And I love it there. I love Marbella.
I'm going to make an assumption. So I know Marbella pretty well, but particularly the years that
you lived there was very interesting because the amount of wealth there at the time was a little
bit under the radar. I know a lot of people from the Middle East were spending their summers
there and living very extravagantly.
Beyond that, those were the years where Marbella was kind of picking up. And a lot of people
were like discovering how amazing of a city it is. But then I'm just kind of placing myself into
your shoes, right? You're also living on the other side in Morocco where it's a totally different
world.
It's a unique location out of Middle East, but it's not really Middle East. And the commerce, the
business, the way things run over on that side is totally different. And I feel like you got caught
up in this really interesting storm where you probably had to grow up very early on, survive, but
you were also exposed to such interesting lifestyles.
No, you're right. I mean, listen, especially where I was. So imagine you have all of Morocco,
different cities, different things.
And Tangiers was, let's say, the hardest city to be in, right? Because the way the people did
commerce and the commerce activities that were there were not like anybody else. So it has
also a Spanish influence compared to the rest of Morocco, which is more of a French ex-colony.
So that was a very not eye-opening experience.
But when I was like nine years old, 10 years old, there was people in my class that were going
out to nightclubs. And that was a common thing. People were 25.
You were 10 going on 25, and that's how it was. And so you had kids that on a weeknight had a
2, 3 AM curfew at 9, 8, 7, and they would make fun of you. It's like, what did you do last night?
I'm like, sleep.
And they're like, I was out till three. And I was like, you're literally seven years old on a tricycle. I
mean, why would you be doing that? But that's how it was.
And that's how, you know, parents really over there, it's not that they didn't care about their
kids, but really their kids were like, okay, you do you, I do me. There was an odd sense of safety
back then. I grew up the same way.
I was going to nightclubs at the age of 13, 14. But it wasn't necessarily that I was a party
person. It was just, it was safe.
It was fine. It was different things, right? I mean, I think maybe we were maybe lack of
information or the statistics. But yeah, there was an inherent sense of safety, wherever you
went, whether it was Spain or Canada, or here, or not here, I mean, or Morocco, you know, but
now as an adult with who has kids, I wouldn't do, my kids can do one tenth of what I went
through.
Like, I remember taking intercontinental flights by myself at the age of five years old. You know,
with a four hour layover in Madrid, with no cell phone or ways of reaching me, it was like, my
parents were like, see you, show up on the other side, and we'll know by tomorrow. Yeah, crazy.
So I remember doing that, going to see relatives of mine or hanging out, because I always insist
like when I was really young to go spend summers in Canada, I had an uncle who was living
there, just to spend time with him. And I'd never put my kids on any sort of, even if it was a
direct flight, they wouldn't be on a flight. How do you think the experience of living in Morocco
and spending summers in Marbella, how do you think that experience has shaped you? Like I
said, just maturity wise, right? You know, I thought I was very immature, but compared to other
upbringings, other people, the way I see it, I guess I had way more responsibility than I was,
you know, or that I thought.
And it was different, you know, like I said, you know, people in Morocco, you know, especially
the 90s or the early 90s when I grew up there, you know, we didn't have, there was no
television as there is today. There's no fast food. There was no nothing.
It was like very, living in a very closed off culture that was, it is what it is. And you know, life is
short, there's nothing guaranteed. There's no living till 85.
You don't know, tomorrow could be your last day, you know, might as well to make the most of
it. If you want to move to Thailand for a year, two, three, just to work and do it. Just go for it.
What's the worst that can happen? Nothing. You can always come back. And I think that's a
really important perspective.
That's what I recommend to a lot of people. I'm like, let's run the worst case scenario. You will
get an amazing life experience.
You'll learn so much. And a lot of times the jobs and setups that people have, I'm like, you
know, you can get that back. You can reapply.
You can get a similar job. In a year, you'll be back to where you were, but you not taking that
opportunity can be such a big mess or beyond just having a job or opportunity there. Your
experience there can really shape you and that can really allow you to be the next person that
you can be.
And that's so exciting. That's so liberating. And I tend to just push people towards, you know,
new experiences.
I'm with you. You know, there's something that I've realized with time is that real wealth in life
is not the material. Material stuff is always fun and cool, but the real wealth in life is
experiences one has, right? And that's what stays with you.
And that's what keeps you happy. I mean, how many times you lie down in bed and you're like,
you know, you're just reminding yourself of the memory. Oh, you remember we did that and
that, and that was so much fun.
You know, no one remembers what car they have in the garage or the clothes that they have in
their closet, but those memories or experiences last forever. You know, I remember telling my
wife forever, this was always one of my goals. My goal was to move to Japan with the girls, my
daughters, and I wanted to move there for two years.
That's why I put them in the French system, so that they can go and fit into any sort of
scholastic program. And from Japan, have a two-year, like every single break, we're going to go
to a different Asian country so that they have that whole Asian experience, right? And I
remember telling my wife that, telling my daughters that when we went to Japan the first time.
And they were like, oh, you know, our friends and things like that.
And I realized it was not going to be as easy as I wanted it to be. But I kept telling them, you
know what wealth you're going to get out of this? I mean, living in Japan, you're going to learn
the language, most probably something. You're going to pick it up.
You're going to go to other Asian cultures, and then you're going to have that for your whole
life. And many people don't get that. And I think there's something very beautiful about
spending a good amount of time in a different country, in a different culture, where you can
understand them at a deeper level.
And that just unleashes this level of communication, sympathy, and empathy, where you can
really relate to people. It's not just about speaking another language. And it just makes life so
much more meaningful.
And it just gives so much more depth that I think most people lack. Like, at this age now, I catch
myself talking to people from different countries, or even different sectors, jobs, where I can
relate to them at a little bit of a deeper level. And it's not because I have such good
understanding of their job.
It's more so the years of traveling, years of living in different places, and doing so many
different jobs. It opens your eyes, and you can really communicate people at a deeper level.
And it just makes everything that much more meaningful.
Yeah, you pick up on nuances of life, right? And you're able to appreciate all the backgrounds,
all the things. And so many people have culture shock for some reason. Like, wherever they go,
they travel.
They're like, oh my god. And it's that block, or that internal block that they do. And they don't
realize that there's no growth to it.
And that's what, on what you said, you're able to resonate with everybody from all different
social classes, different backgrounds, different things, different cultures, just because of your
travels. They've built that into you. And I think that's so cool, especially if you have extended
travels, and you do absorb that.
I mean, it's a great life experience. And it's made me who I am. I mean, you know, a lot of, not
negatives, but a lot of, like, let's say downside to certain things.
I'm not having that childhood, traditional childhood experience. But now I wouldn't change it
for anything else in the world. Like, you know, my kids always in class.
And my dad speaks that. My dad knows that. My dad's been there.
I've lived there. You know, stuff like that. You're like, I'm the cool dad.
Yeah, the cool dad. I love it. Okay, let's go back to Morocco for a second.
Country that I'm fascinated with. Not only you live there, you also owned a business there, or
maybe multiple businesses. I don't know the extent of it.
So I would love to hear that story. So my dad was in hospitality, and he made me go to
hospitality school after my bachelor's. And I went to hospitality school in Switzerland, which is
what I guess, like, you know, the traditional, like, learn everything from the ground up
hospitality school, which was a great, like, life learning experience.
I mean, I recommended it. It's like going to a finishing school in the 20s. Learn how to eat, learn
how to do this, learn how to do that.
So it was great. And after that, I moved to London. And I was working a traditional job and
things like that.
And I remember my father, my father had this beachside nightclub, right? Or property, let's say.
And he would rent it out to a third party. And I remember him going, what do you want to do?
He was going to sell it, or he was going to do something with it.
And I was like, I was 25 at the time. I was like, I want it. And he's like, what are you going to do
with it? I'm going to have a nightclub.
And then he's like, what do you know about nightclubs? I'm like, please, I've spent 15 years
researching, you know, I know everything about nightclubs. And he's like, okay, let's do it. So
we did it.
It was me and my brother. I remember we hired, there was a nightclub in Beirut at the time
called Cristal. So we hired the same designer who did the nightclub of Cristal.
And then we were building it and everything. At the time, when we started building it, I went to
Canada for a couple of months. And when I came back for the opening, when it was all said and
done, opening, it was just like learning on the fly.
There's so many things that were like wrong from day one that you had to figure out. And then
I just realized another thing that the nightlife business is a tough business, generally speaking,
extremely tough. So it's not as fun or glamorous as people think it is.
And B, in the city that I was operating, it was even worse. I bet it didn't make it easier. Oh my
God, it didn't make it easier.
Like I had a competitor that had a lion in a cage down the street, you know, and he also had a
very short person who suffered from some sort of ailment. It was not dwarfism, but he looked
six. He looked like six, but he was going on 35.
And he was the host. And it was all these gimmicks going on around town. And me trying to
have like a traditional nightclub experience where people bring their girlfriends, have like more
of an elevated experience.
And it was just a learning curve. It was fun at some points, a lot of hard work. And that lasted
for a greater part of two and a half years.
Two and a half years. Wow. What an experience.
And also, I can only imagine you being technically from Canada. Yeah. Running a nightclub in
Morocco.
Of course. And all these cultures and world of entertainment and hospitality clashing in the and
you're right in the heart of it. Yes.
I mean, what an experience of a lifetime. It was. It was.
And if people don't know Tangiers. So just to summarize up Tangiers is known is let's say the
Tijuana of Morocco. In the sense, it's a gateway point for drugs to come out of North Africa to
reach Europe.
Right. And because of that, a lot of drug dealers or a lot of people who would do business in
Europe would come in Tangiers because that was like, let's say their distribution center. And a
lot of these gentlemen were from Holland.
Right. They're the Netherlands. And what's funny is that people don't realize, but the MMA has
always been big in the Netherlands.
Right. Like from Bas Rutten days and things like that. So everyone's a Taekwondo champion,
kickboxing champion.
We had a Moroccan a Japanese pride fighter called Badr Hari. He's from the Netherlands, but
he's Moroccan. But all of these guys.
Right. And so all these cartels always had a couple of enforcers with them. Right.
Tough guys. Scary guy. All very nice.
You know, when they're your friend, everyone's very pleasant. So I remember I was in the club
once and there was two factions or two groups fighting. And there was this one guy who was
short, fat, drunk, and he's just insulting this other group.
There's that. And I know trouble is going to go down. So I remember telling my bouncers, let's
take that chubby boy, take him out of here.
And on the way out, he said something to the other table or he did something. And I remember
that enforcer standing up and he was he was an MMA fighter in Japan at the time. Right.
For K-1. Right. And his name was Mustafa, I remember.
And I would see him on the beach training, fighting waves, you know, and he was just 6'4",
anything you'd see from like a heavyweight MMA fighter, 6'4", you know, 270 pounds of mass.
And I remember him running across and I knew that if they made contact, that's it. All my
investment in here is gone.
There's no insurance. So I remember telling the bouncer next to me, I'm like, stop Mustafa. And
he looked at me and he's like, I'm not stopping nobody.
So I remember I was like, either I stop this myself or I'm going to lose out. So I remember
running across, jumping and tackling this guy to the floor. And while he's on the floor, I'm
hugging him.
I'm like, don't do anything. Please. Please.
It's me. And he didn't react. Right.
He didn't do anything. And you're dealing with these individuals. I mean, it was not, you know,
we could go on and stuff about the fights that I've seen and the people, you know, out of
movies.
I mean, I can only imagine. And also like what an like that was part of a daily operation. You
know, that was another day at the club, basically.
Another day at the club. Another day at the club. Another business I did, which was so funny.
I decided I was like, you know, I miss Chinese, you know, fast food. Right. Who doesn't miss
Chinese fast food living in America or North America? You know, you have Panda Express or
whatever it is.
So I remember I was like, I'm going to open my own Chinese fast food place in Morocco. OK. So
I remember getting I went on this website called China Chefs and I got myself some Chinese
chefs to come from mainland China.
And when they came, they didn't speak English at all. And two things I learned. Chinese
mainland food is not American Chinese.
It's two very different things, you know, very, very different things. So I remember that I had to
teach them, you're going to mix, you know, orange soda and ketchup with fried chicken. They
were like, what is this? This is how you make orange chicken, you know, things like that.
And there was no YouTube back then. So it was hard. But we were setting all that up.
And I would go from the nightclub because I what I initially started was a fast food business.
And I was like, OK, as part of your training, we're going to open just from midnight to six in the
morning. Right.
And this little counter from this window and you're going to sell fast food to drunk people
initially. But from there, it's going to be such a practice run. We're going to start a real thing.
But it was doing so well at the midnight to 6 a.m. market that I never expanded beyond that. So
I'd go from the club to the Chinese place. You build the full ecosystem.
And all the club people would go to the Chinese place and other things like that. It was just, you
know, it was just the thing after the club, you'd eat at the Chinese place. And the things that I
saw in between crossing the street.
I know you briefly talked about some of your experiences, but I would love to hear what was
the craziest thing you saw or experienced during that time. OK, so this was a true story. So I'm
closing up the Chinese place.
Right. And now it's 7 a.m. So 7 a.m. Sun's out. Everything is out.
Right. And while I'm there, I see a group of girls crossing the street and I see this guy
approaching the group of girls. Right.
And he's trying to be suave or smooth or get their number. Or maybe he thought, you know,
they were night workers or whatever they were, but they got really offended. And they were
with a group of boys.
So they start, like, trying to run after this guy. Right. And this guy, like, runs away.
Anyways, he runs away. He gets into a car and leaves. And then me, I'm seeing I'm there.
I'm still standing on the street. I still see the group of boys, the group of girls. They're still there.
And all of a sudden I see this minivan driving from the corner of my eye. I'm like, what is this
minivan doing? And the minivan is driving, driving, then does like, you know, full stop, turns
around and out of the minivan come out four guys with machetes. Right.
And they come out and they come out swinging the machetes like out of a very bad ninja movie
from the 1980s. And I'm still there looking at this and I'm like, what's happening? Like, is this
real? Like, I couldn't comprehend. And then the guys were trying to fight and everything.
And just seeing that and people run away and no one got hurt. I didn't see anyone get stabbed
or hurt or anything, but just seeing like how they were like. How casual that was.
They were going like this with them. You know, and I was literally 15 feet away. I was like, how
is this going to unfold? You know, so that was like, yeah, that was a story that I did see.
And then, you know, I have other stories, but. Maybe for next time. Maybe for next time.
Maybe we should edit it out after. All right. So Morocco, Spain.
Yeah. And where did you go after that? Okay. So Morocco, Spain, always when I was 12 years
old at the time, I asked my parents, you know, I was done with living in Morocco.
I was so tired of it. I was like, can I go to school in Canada? We had our home in Canada. We
were doing nothing with.
There was a lady living there taking care of it, a caretaker. And they're like, sure, go to Canada.
So I was 12 years old.
I went to middle school and high school in Canada, junior high and high school. And that's
where I was. I didn't have parents, which was very weird because it's not like I went to a
boarding school.
I went to like a traditional normal day school, but I just didn't have parents. So you would just
come home and just be by yourself? Yeah. I would be by myself.
I mean, I had the caretaker later, but we never spoke. She was way older than me. But what
was funny is that I remember missing like 14 Fridays in a row, you know, until the school called
my house and they're like, you missed 14 Fridays in a row.
And I didn't realize that I was so many. It's just like, I would wake up Friday morning. I was like,
eh, who needs to go to school? You know? And I remember my principal after that, he called me
in and he was like, uh, uh, I'm going to prepare the guest room in my house.
You're going to live with me. And I'm like, I'm not living with you. You know, I got a good spot
here.
I'm like, I'm fine. He's like, you sure you're not going to miss any more Fridays? I'm like, trust
me, I'm not going to miss any more Fridays. And then, uh, I would go to my own PTA meetings.
I was like, so how did I do? And then they were like, well, you need to work on that. I'm like,
really? Good to know. Good to know.
You know, thank you for your time. And I was like, well, that was like the part of growing up,
you know, that was a bit surreal, right? It was just, it was a bit different. Amazing.
Now let's talk about LA. This is also where we met. Tell me, you briefly touched on how you
ended up in Los Angeles, but I would love to hear that story.
And from there, I really want to understand how things evolved. How did you get into real
estate and all that stuff? Sure. So basically what happened was, uh, so in Spain we had like all
the summer friends that we had, right? Some, you know, you can't, some of them are just really
your summer friends, which is not like they're your best friends or people you would be in
touch every year.
But every time you saw them at summer, you're like, you know, you just reconnect. And there
was one person who, who was a good summer friend of mine. And I hadn't seen for many
years, came to Spain in, uh, in the summer of the late two thousands.
And she was like, uh, she was, she was from LA. She was born in LA, raised in LA and
everything. And, uh, she came.
And, uh, at that point she was married and, uh, her, her, her husband and I were like, uh, you
know, like a three wheeled operation. We'd do everything together, hang out together, all that
stuff, especially that summer. We were always together, going out together and everything.
And then she was the one that told me, she would call me like move to LA, move to LA, move to
LA. And she was calling me every day for like a month or two month period from September to
October. And I remember around mid-October, uh, I spoke to my dad and I was like, listen, I'm
going to move to LA.
You know, at the time I was planning to move anyways, I was going to go back to London. And
my father told me, listen, you've lived in London, you've done that. You've been there.
Like, I mean, like, what's the point? Go somewhere else, you know, go to LA. And, uh, I ended
up doing that. And then, I came here, uh, and, uh, a couple of months later, I met my wife, my
future wife.
She was, she was my girlfriend. And then, uh, she became my wife. And, uh, that was that.
And that was how many years ago? I moved here in 2009. Got it. You know, so, and I met her
like within my first six months of being here.
Amazing. So you've seen the last 16 years of LA. Yes.
Which is also interesting. And I would even argue you kind of timed your next location really
well as well. You saw the prime time of LA to kind of like the current stage that we're in, which is
a whole another subject that we can discuss.
Yeah. You know what I was thinking about that? It was funny. It's like when I first arrived to LA
and I've always loved real estate because it was something that since I moved so many times,
uh, and, and I've been in so many homes, so many things, it was always in the hobby interest of
mine, houses, architects, architecture, looking at that and things that I always read.
Like if I'd go to on a plane at the time, used to buy magazines to get the past time. And I buy
always the architectural digest and stuff and look through all of it, A to Z and things of that
nature. Um, what happened was, uh, so I was here as you said, LA went through a phase of
being undervalued real estate, right? So in the, after the financial crisis of 2008, if you look at
real estate prices in LA, you know, homes were less than a thousand dollars a square foot.
And we're talking about Beverly Hills, super prime Bella. And if you were to compare that to
European prices, whether it was London, Paris, New York, Shanghai, even Mumbai, whatever it
is, the price per square foot was still cheap compared to everywhere else, even Miami. And I
remember so many great homes.
I would look at all the traded homes at the time, you know, beautiful homes that in today that
are on the market today for 40 million plus we're trading at nine, 10, 11 around that price point.
And they would sit on the market for a long time. So what happened was, and this is how I
ended up getting into real estate was in 2012, uh, the mother of the friend that made me move
to LA, they lived in Beverly Hills, more specifically a neighborhood called Truesdale estates.
And she had a house that was on the market and it was on the market for a considerable
amount of time, two to three years. Right. And, uh, at one point she was asking nine and then it
went down to eight and a bit.
And it was, uh, it was on a corner lot. It was a Bob Offenhauser house, had decent square
footage. It was like six to 7,000 square feet, impeccable views.
And it had a extremely high ceiling. And I remember the house was not moving, right? The
agent on the house was, uh, Drew Fenton. Right.
And I would hang out always at that house. That house was like my second home in LA. And I
remember one day coming home and finding out that the house sold.
And I was like, how much did it sell for? Five. You know, that was my approach to the market.
How much? Five? They're like, no, we actually got $7 million.
And I was like seven for this, such a high price, so on and so forth. And the buyer wasn't, was
Niles Naimi. Right.
And Niles bought the house and I saw the house from when Niles bought it to when he flipped
it off market within 14 months. Right. And I know how much he put into the house for the
simple reasons that, you know, like we would, I would always end up visiting the job site, you
know, I was drawn to it.
I was like, I'm curious what they did with this house. And they did this and that. And he sold it
for $38 million off market.
It was just right at the beginning of that like boom. Yeah. And then I understood that it's going
to create a precedent and this is going to, like, there's going to be an upward cycle of real
estate.
There's going to be a market justification because the prices were so low for so long. It was
going to catch up to that. It was and no one can anticipate where the prices are today.
Today, to be honest, I think prices are a bit high on a general level. I would agree with that. I
think many people, unfortunately, are aiming for price points that I always see some cities with
real estate caps.
If you look at London, for example, and you say $100 million, London has multiple, you know, if
not dozens of $100 million plus properties and the market can justify that. Same thing with
Hong Kong. Same thing with other cities.
Right. New York itself, another city that can substantiate 50, 60 plus million dollar homes all the
time. If you look at L.A. County, the only place that can, if you have an amazing property that
can justify record prices always seems to be Malibu.
Right. Because these seem to be those over the top prices. Exactly.
One off works of art. Whereas I think L.A. County itself, depending on the neighborhood, has
hard caps. Right.
As much as people are now trying to sell homes for $100, $200, $150. You know, these are hard,
hard. I'm not saying it's impossible.
These are hard, hard sells. You know, I think we've reached the point of a $20 to $30 million
price point seems to be, you know, not an easy price point, but a fair price point. Anything
above that, you're going to just be waiting for that one who's going to buy it.
Well, I agree with that statement, but I think what has changed over the last two decades, let's
just say, given how loud of a city L.A. is and how popular internationally it is, people can own
assets such as these homes and can leverage them in a way that takes it beyond its context of a
home and price per square foot. Right. We have so many millionaires, billionaires here.
And a lot of these times, as you know, these assets are utility. People throw parties, people
launch companies, products, and they really use these investment vehicles as a way to
showcase wealth. And in that context, yes, you may buy a $40 million home and you may, you
might have paid $10 million over.
But depending on what you do and how you use that asset and how loud you're about it can
make you so much money that you can overlook the price point. And I'm sure you've
experienced so many times we would hear these record prices and you and I would have a hard
time justifying that price because we're looking at it from an investment standpoint. Then you
hear who bought it and what they're doing with the house or how they're utilizing it.
One party, one event there or them storing their art can be a way they justify that price point.
So LA is kind of that funky, interesting city where a lot of things can be utilized beyond their
context. In this case, you know, real estate, we look at it as a structure, but LA is a city of
entertainment.
No, you're right. And there are some homes that are like, like you've said, even that Jay-Z,
Beyonce, Beyonce home they bought. I mean, that's a, that's a piece of art.
You cannot justify that price yet alone what they have paid for it. That's what I'd say. That is like
a, you know, all those properties assuming you're trading in Malibu are art pieces in a sense.
You will never be able to replicate this property, this land, this view. Ever again. Ever again.
Bingo. Hence, you know, it's subjective. Do people spend $200 million on a painting? Yes.
So why not on a $100 million on a house? Exactly. You know, and I remember there was a, there
was a real estate developer who was, he was the one that pushed the boundaries in Bel Air on
Nimes road, I believe. Right.
And I know where you're going with this. Yeah. QVC guy.
Right. What's his name? Starts with an M, I believe. The guy, he had a non-functioning
helicopter pad and everything.
And to his credit, his reasoning was billionaires are buying $80 million planes, $100 million
boats. It was Bel Air road, not Nimes. And they were going to $20 million homes.
Yeah. So he's like, it doesn't make sense. We got to level this up.
He's like, we have to level it up. And we have to have that parity throughout their assets. And
it's true.
These billionaires, you know, G650, as you know, or the G700 or G800 that's coming out now,
$70, $80 million. There was a mismatch. The type of wealth LA managed to pull, but yet the
housing wasn't there to accommodate.
And I feel like literally Dubai is going through the same thing as well. That's why we're seeing
these over the top homes, because I think Dubai is trying to catch up to the wealth. I know
we're not talking about Dubai in a way that's exactly what's happening in that city as well.
And I feel like that's what happened in LA too. We started seeing bigger, better, more
extravagant homes and there was the demand for it. Yeah.
And I'm curious. So you, it's so funny that your first, this real estate experience, you seeing this
property getting developed and being sold for this insane price and really seeing Niall in his
early days, knowing you, your background and seeing that experience, what went through your
mind? I mean, listen, I'm not somebody who's jealous at all. I'm always somebody that likes to
look at other people and be like, if he can do it, why can't I do it? So, that's where it was.
And that's when I realized how great America was compared to everybody else or any other
country. Growing up, you always hear America is the best, America, land of opportunity, land of
opportunity. And until you are here and try to do business, then you don't realize.
If you're here just visiting a party, you're like, America is great. You don't see it all the way. You
don't see it all the way.
But once you do and you realize, oh, wow, the potential is enormous here for whatever you do.
And market for whatever you do is great and you don't need anything else. So, seeing that and
seeing Niall's or that case study up close, because it was one thing that I monitored at the time
I was living close by to Truesdale.
I was living in a building called Sierra Towers. So, Sierra Towers- Iconic building. Yeah.
So, it's at the base of Truesdale, right? So, just seeing the progress of that house and just being
innately curious. And I remember showing up on the job site and it was all a bunch of Mexicans.
And I was like, hey, can I see the house? They're like, no.
And I was like, oh, I used to live here or I used to be here. They're like, oh, then please come.
We'll show you everything.
We'll show you everything. And I think it was a palm decline as well. And it was that whole
structure.
It was that real estate concept of opening up an open basement, right? Open basement level.
Big sliding glass doors, modern lines, minimalist architecture. Yeah.
Exactly. Bingo. And I saw that and I just saw, and I was always curious.
And for it to trade before it was finished for that price. And this was at the same time that it
traded as when the gentleman who owned Minecraft bought that $88 million house. And I can't
believe, I can't remember his name, but he was the same developer that built that house on
Palermo too.
That guy, he did both, right? He did both. We'll put his name up on the screen. I can't remember
right now, but he was the one that built the Minecraft.
McCoskey, McCoskey, something like that. I want to say Brian, maybe Bob. Yeah.
So, I mean, that price and that changed. Oh, okay. That changed the game.
That changed the game because as you know, Jay-Z and Beyonce were going to buy the house.
Yes. And they were outbid by Minecraft who had just sold Mahjong or Magong, whatever the
company was called, to Microsoft for- I mean, it set a totally new benchmark.
Of course, because the guy had two, three plus billion dollars, right? And he creates a new floor.
He's like, listen, I want this house. I like this house.
It's 5% of my net worth. Who cares? And the same thing happened with basketball. If you look
at NBA teams, NBA teams were trading for three, four, $500 million at the time until Steve
Ballmer came with a $2 billion check, bought the Clippers, and he changed the floor price.
Same thing with cryptocurrency. Once you create a new floor price, that's the floor price. It's
funny how that works.
It's funny. And it works for real estate as well. I mean, people are like, oh, wow, we are able to
sell.
This is the potential of this place. And since then, I think Truesills has had two record sales. One
was the Katzenberg Estate, sold for $120 plus, and another one- Such an incredible location too.
I just bought a house there. Congratulations. I just bought a house there like a week ago.
Oh, amazing. What made you pick? I know you were considering many places. No, so I bought,
listen, so I bought the house as a project.
I'm not going to live in it. The reason I bought this house- It's not the house that I sent you,
right? Which one was it? I can't remember the address. You did send me a house.
I did send you a house, but you didn't like something about it. Was it a two-floor house on- No,
it was a single-story, mid-century modern- Carly Rich? Maybe. Was it? Maybe.
I would have to look it up. I wanted to buy it myself. So basically what happened was, if you look
at Truesill, great neighborhood.
It's a bit soft right now. Key element of buying a house is buying a house that nobody wants to
buy, right? And finding that diamond in the rough. And people are overlooking it.
Why are you overlooking this house? And really understanding that, breaking that down and
turning that into your advantage as you're participating in the deal. So what I liked about this
particular property is that it had a tennis court, but it had a tiered tennis court. So the tennis
court was at a different elevation from the house.
Right now there's trees in front of it. But if you take down all the trees, the tennis court has a
view. And then there's the Sheetz Goldstein residence that everyone knows.
Exactly. Arguably the most iconic tennis court in the city. Exactly.
So Club James, right? Club James. And I just saw that tennis court. If you do a class- Like, this is
my Club James.
And then I was like, I'll do Club James. And you know what's so funny? Is that I actually am in
talks with the architects of Club James to do the house. So we're going to demo the house, do a
new construction.
Oh, you're going all in. And we're going to do this sister tennis court to Club James. Oh, I love
that.
You know, so that was my whole idea. Like these gentlemen, they used to work for an architect,
if I'm not mistaken, called Dustin Nicholson, who used to work for John Lautner. John Lautner.
Exactly. They are protégés of John Lautner, basically. That's right.
In a sense, they're third in line, but they're protégés. They've been working for James for the
past 20 years. They basically extracted Lautner's identity and really managed to... I don't want
to say replicate, but carry it on and modernize it.
Exactly. Exactly that. And we had talks with... We went to visit the job site.
And right now, they're doing a guest house for James for the Schitt's Cove residence. And I was
like, listen, I want this to be a project. And I want to have that tennis court.
And I want to have like a very unique proposition here that's going to be different from
everything else. So that's the exciting part in this. That's awesome.
Yeah, that's why I did it. Well, I was going to say the whole story is coming together because I
feel like seeing Niall and that house is what really triggered you to say, you know what? I'm
doing it myself. Yes.
I mean, listen, I've lived in so many homes and I've always had a very specific mindset of what I
like, what I don't like. And unfortunately, developers have like a lot of... Some developers have a
lot of cookie cutter things. And I do understand cookie cutter works and cookie cutter sells.
Because you're safe. I've never been safe, but I know what I want. And I always, whenever I was
doing a home, I always catered it to what I want, you know, and I never cared about anybody
else.
I'm not saying that I missed out on some things. For some things, like sometimes I did a project
and I got a lot of pushback. People were like, why did you do this kitchen like this? Why, you
know, you only have three bedrooms in a 12,000 square foot house.
And I was like, how many kids are you planning to have? And if you can afford this house, most
probably your kids are in college. Yeah. Like you're just enjoying your life.
Exactly. You're enjoying your life. So the whole idea was for you to have an extensive, expansive
master bedroom, you know, and two other rooms.
I was like, so... Good enough for your guests. But, you know, agents sometimes, as you know,
are just very cookie cutter as well. Houses need five plus bedrooms, this amount of this, this
amount of that.
We need this, that, the open California kitchen. And then that's where you see the cliches. Yeah.
I mean, a lot of times they can lack the understanding of the person, individual or the family
who can actually afford and buy it and really see the world from their perspective. I see this
happening a lot with the agents. Yes, that's exactly right.
And doing what we do, seeing these homes and interacting with the homeowners, the people
that built them, it's a totally different world. I mean, a lot of times these individuals see the
world so differently or when they look at a house, what they see as value is so different than the
price per square foot or how many bedrooms it comes with. They have different needs for the
house to be.
So I think it's important that given that you've traveled so much and you've experienced luxury
and really been around high network individuals from so many different countries, I think that
gave you a very broad perspective. And I can see that influence in your properties as well. Yeah.
I mean, listen, I was very lucky enough that I've hung out with a lot of different people from
different backgrounds. And I think from a house perspective, a story, the house I've been most
impressed with in my life was a house that belongs to currently to John Fredrickson in London.
So John has two daughters, Catherine and Cecile, if you're watching this, hello.
And they're twin girls. And they're girls that I knew growing up. I knew them since they were 12,
13 years old.
You know, we would do our birthdays, things like that. And I knew them until I moved to
London, which was like, I was still in my teens. I moved to London and they were there, right?
Homeschooled, no one knew them.
And John Fredrickson, who many people don't know at the time, I still think currently he owns
the biggest oil tanking company in the world. And at the time he owned the biggest marine
farm company in the world, right? Norwegian gentlemen, Cypriot passport. And the house was
a work of art.
I've never seen a house like this in my life. And to this day, I still think it's the number one
property in the world. You know, it's called the Old Rectory.
It's in Chelsea. It's on three hectares of land in Chelsea, you know. That sounds insane.
It's insane because while you're there, you think you are in the English countryside because you
don't see a house for as far as your eye can see. You just see foliage and trees and things like
that. And he had, the house used to belong, believe it or not, to a Greek family.
And the wife became the president of the Athens 2004 Olympic Committee. So when the Athens
Committee won, and we were going to be the, it was going to, the Olympics were going to be
held there. She sold, they sold their house in the mid-90s to John, and they moved back to
Athens.
And they ended up buying a yacht company called Ocean Co. So they're the owners of Ocean
Co. Very famous, yeah.
They had a pool house in that house. The pool house felt like you were like in a Greek
pantheon, right? And there was like a 14 foot high statue of Zeus at the end, but none of this
cheesy statue stuff. It was amazing.
Pool house itself was 10,000 square feet. It was incredible. Indoor pools and the parties we
would do there and everything.
And just to see, there's so many things. Like there's your traditional ballroom to see that and to
see like all your different houses growing up and this is how certain people live and things like
that. And I just realized, like you said before, like many people have very expansive homes,
different mindsets, different things, different visual cues.
So try to take some of those elements and do like, how would a person with this much money,
how would they want to live? And what would they want, right? And like you said, agents and
developers sometimes don't associate to that too well because they've never, you know, it's an
outer body experience so they can't do that. But you know, it's little things, you know. I want to
take a quick break and give big thanks to Lozani for providing all this beautiful furniture for our
podcast studio.
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precision, and service align with our vision and values, making them a standout choice for us
and for those who appreciate well-made pieces. For the price point, their products offer some
of the best value in the industry.
We've known Lozani for years and every client, friend, or colleague we've sent their way has
had a great experience with them, whether in-store or online due to their customer service.
That's why we felt confident choosing them to furnish our podcast studio and we can't thank
them enough for their support. It's little things and I would also say this.
I've spent a good amount of time with you over the last few years and it's an art to understand
and know how to enjoy life and have good taste, right? You would assume someone that has a
good design aesthetic or someone that comes from a good educational background might
know a lot of these answers, but life is all about being able to enjoy it and live it well. So given
that you're so well-traveled, but also along the way, I think you really learn how to live life well.
And I think being able to infuse that into your design or in a lot of times to the businesses that
you do or operate makes all the difference.
And it's, I think like with what we do with videos, it's the same thing, right? We try to infuse that
culture and understanding into our videos and try to let people experience these homes
through that lens and it's the same thing. It's one thing to build a home, but then putting your
own personal touches or curating rooms, accessories, furnishings, or even making a library a
little bit more special makes all the difference. And I think a lot of times with these high-end
homes, that's what people are buying.
It's this cool experience that they don't have, but they could have with that house. Yeah, I mean,
this is what's made Ralph Lauren so good as a designer is that you sell a lifestyle. And then
there's some people who know about the lifestyle and some people who don't, but recognize
that lifestyle.
And then that's why it's also like, I also think about that when people stage homes. Sometimes
the best home is the home that's being lived in and that has a lifestyle that you're like, and then
that's what you gravitate to. Because I've seen the furniture leave of that house and it's a
different feeling completely.
And they're like, oh, this is what I want. This is, and you feel it, you know? I mean, it happens so
many times. People want to buy it with all the furnishings and even art because once it settles
and if it's designed and done well, and if it owns its identity, you almost don't want to touch it.
That's how it is. You want to just grab it the way it is. Yeah.
Yeah. That being said, I'd like to make a public service announcement. Please.
My neighbor who lives on... Could you please change your door numbers? Those were
temporary door numbers and not the permanent ones. So every time I drive by it, I look at $3
hardware on a $100 million house and I feel like sending them the actual hardware by mail. Is
this a public announcement? You know, please.
It bothers me. I love that. I love that.
Yes. You should see it. They're literally $2 numbers on this beautiful Travertine, right? And I
think when they bought the house, they thought that was the original.
That was the number? No, those were the temp numbers. In LA, nothing surprises me. Yeah,
those were the temp numbers.
Talk to me about some of your projects that you have done in LA or in California. Sure. I mean,
so when we first started out, I believe very much in this neighborhood called Hancock Park.
As you know, Hancock Park was, let's say the old Beverly Hills, undervalued at the time and
always has great lots, great history, historical homes. Centrally located. Centrally located.
And I always felt there was going to be a renaissance to that part of town. I mean, historically,
since the Rodney King riots in the 90s, people had like safety issues with Hancock Park. But, you
know, it's still so pretty.
So I remember buying a home in Hancock Park that belonged to Lou DeBelle. Lou DeBelle used
to be the CEO of Howard Hughes. So never married, lived with his sister.
Beautiful Italian style house built in 1927. And it was a two owner, untouched home. It was him,
and then it passed on to a second owner in the 70s.
And then I was theoretically the third owner, right? So to have, and this is what I realized, great
architecture or historical homes need as little intervention as possible. Update bathrooms,
update the kitchen, you know, update some things, but don't demolish the essence, the
molding, the framing, certain things, you know, you can't replicate the woodwork. So we did
that with that house and we kept it as much as we could, right? Whilst updating everything else,
you know, the HVAC system, the electrical, the plumbing, changing everything.
You know, certain flooring elements. But I remember there was a little bar in the house and it
was off the dining room. And the bar had 1920s original wallpaper, right? And restoring that
wallpaper.
And I, you know, it was like this gold Chinese wallpaper, which was beautiful. And I remember
just painting the wood accents in this red color just to match the gold. And I could just see
having a waiter behind there making the drinks while you're attending your dinner party.
And I saw that floor plan. So maintaining that essence and keeping it was important for me.
And so that was a very interesting project that we did.
And I loved it very much. Another project that we're doing now is actually in Coachella, right?
Palm Springs. Palm Springs.
So I was lucky enough, post COVID, I was looking through one of my real estate apps and I was
cleaning up all my favorites because it was all sold, sold, sold, sold. And I remember seeing one
property never, didn't sell. And I called up the lady who owned it.
I was like, what's this? What's this? This property has been online since pre-COVID. What hasn't
sold? She's like, don't know. I'm not stuff, not selling.
Things of that nature. So I ended up buying it. I was like, I've never been to Palm Springs.
I've never been to Coachella. I'm a family man with kids. So I missed all of that.
But I was like, hey, how bad can it be? I have a contingency period. I'll go see it. I don't like it.
I'll walk away. We went. Property was great.
It was on this little cul-de-sac, very close walking distance to the Empire Polar Grounds. So we
bought it. And we hired a French architectural team called Studio KO.
The reason I went with them when I went to Palm Springs, it reminded me of Marrakech, the
terrain and everything. And Studio KO, even though they're a French team, they've done
amazing properties in Marrakech. They've done the Saint Laurent Museum in Marrakech as
well, amongst other things.
And I thought it was an ideal fit. I reached out to them, lovely people. They were actually doing
a project at the time in LA called the Flamingo Estate.
And that's going back to your story. That Flamingo Estate, that home made their business. A
business stemmed out from that property.
And it was so significant. It made such a big impact. It made such a big impact.
And now we're talking about a business that does, if I'm not mistaken, close to $100 million in
revenue. It's very popular. Very popular.
Soaps, candles, lifestyle out of that estate. So they designed it for the owner who was a friend of
theirs at the time. And so they came to LA.
We did the property. We're doing that. Since then, it took a couple of years of planning.
We're just doing the grading now, as we speak. We're building. Yeah, you're doing the site
work, right? That's right, work.
We bought the neighbor. So there's four properties on this cul-de-sac. And we bought the
adjoining property.
The good news is that south to us, Madison Club just bought 170 plus acres. That's a big deal.
And they're going to be expanding Madison Club.
So they're going to be adjoining our property line. And north of us on the other side from the
other property is Mr. Hagen, the gentleman that owns the Empire Polo Club. So he's buying
properties all around Coachella just because the actual polo fields that the Coachella Festival
are on are leased out to AEG for the next 20 years.
So he can't do anything with those. He can't even do polo during the year. So he's expanding
his polo properties across.
So it just ended up being great. And we bought the neighbor. And now we're going to be
adjoining with two APNs and creating a property that's going to be a very interesting property.
What is the rough square footage you're aiming for? 27,000 square feet. So it's going to be a
big property. It's going to be a big property, but it's not 27,000 square foot technically a home.
There's a covered space. There's an entertainment space. But yes, it's 27,000.
Given where it's located, it's going to be about. It's a 27,000 square foot covered property with a
speakeasy, cloakroom, tons of expansive space. It's just very interesting.
And it's also in terms of architectural, I can't even describe what it is. People are always like, are
you building modern or Italian or Spanish? Or what are you doing? And I'm like, I can't even tell
you. It's, you know, it's very different.
And I'll show you pictures of this. Yeah, I want to see it. Everyone's called me who drove by.
They're like, what are you building? An Empire State Building? Yeah. Why are you digging so
much? And I'm like, it's the basement. How big is this basement? I'm like, I don't know.
You'll see. You will see. I think it's 10,000 below grade.
Got it. And so it's going to be interesting. And now that we have the property next door that we
have to fix and things like that.
I'm curious, given that you're working on so many different businesses, your family, which we'll
talk about in a second, what you enjoy in real estate? Like, I know it's a good investment and I
know you're very good when it comes to managing your money, finding the right locations.
You're very picky when it comes to real estate, particularly. Like, I get listing links from you all
the time.
You and I are discussing. But personally, what do you enjoy about it? I mean, in life, you got to
enjoy what you do, right? And I like this transformative thing. In a way, it's like an art form.
One thing I do like real estate very much, but I'm going to tell you something. Once I'm done
with a home, I hate the home. I do not want to know it exists.
I don't want to see it. I can't even drive on the street. Yeah, after putting in a few years.
Yeah, because I just see all the things I could have done differently. That's how my mind works.
I was like, why did I do that? I could have done this.
And I just think of all the improvements I would have made. But you know, I just, you just love
it. I mean, it's something I do love.
I love looking like it goes back from the days of moving or the days at the airport with
architectures. I just love looking at furniture. I love looking at finishes.
You know, going to trade shows for real estate, I recommend it to everybody. It's so much fun.
And you learn so many things, you know, and things are just changing so much and so fast.
And people had no idea about so many things that you could put in your house and do in your
house or innovations or building your house, you know, and all these just like, you know, tingle
me or tingle my curiosity, you know. And that's why I like it so much. It's not like, listen, building
a home on a day to day is a pain, but the overall process is fun, you know.
And once you're done and once you see what you've done and you're able to keep it or sell it or
do whatever you want, I mean, there's so much reward in that. It's just like, I birthed that
house. No, I totally agree.
And this actually leads me to my next question. You're so curious. Like the variety of subjects I
talk with you and discuss with you and the extent of knowledge you have in various subjects,
it's quite impressive.
Like from cars to watches to homes to places to travel, restaurants to go, I mean, no, no, it's
quite impressive, but it's not just impressive because you have such knowledge, but more so
you're incredibly curious. You're sending me things, you're constantly researching your own
social media with a little account that no one knows about, but you're looking at everything.
Why are you so curious or where does this come from? I don't know.
It's something I've always had. And like if people interview Joe Rogan, they always tell him,
listen, you're so smart. And he's like, I'm not smart.
He's like, I have a great memory and I just am curious as hell. And being curious is something
I've always had. And I can resonate to what he said because I love reading up on stuff and I love
going down rabbit holes.
And I'm just, and then you learn. And just because I'm grateful enough, I have a decent enough
memory that I'm able to recollect certain things. But like, things stay with me.
Like I was reading an article not so long ago about this company that provides soundproofing
solutions. So I was like, okay, let's see all the solutions they provide and how they provide them
and how they work. And I was like, oh my God, this is amazing.
And then I was like, oh, how did they start? And then it goes down to another rabbit hole
segues to something else. So. We literally went Texas together.
That's right. Because of this construction company. They're coming Monday.
You know that, right? Yeah. Yeah. Oh my God, amazing.
They're coming Monday. I did not know that. Well, and.
We're not going to give them free publicity. But no, I mean, I'm really curious as well. And I love
learning.
And I feel like I ended up with this job because I'm so curious and I'm digging up and I'm
learning how to make videos and understanding houses and the individuals behind them. And I
see the same thing with you. And I'm just trying to dig up to see where it comes from.
It's two peas in the pod. I mean, that's the thing. You know what's funny? Many, many, many
years ago when I was just starting out in work or stuff, I had my brother's college friend, French
guy, Ulrich, very smart guy.
Ended up being great CEO, many big companies, many big exits, so on and so forth. And I
remember having lunch with him and I hadn't done anything. I hadn't gone out of business
world and everything.
And I remember him going, you're going to be fine. And I'm like, what makes you say that? And
he's like, because you're curious. He's like, that's the number one thing, being curious.
And he's like, that's what's going to separate you from everybody else. And I do see that. I see
that now.
Being curious is in a sense is a superpower because so many people are just so fixated in their
ways and they're not learning. And curiosity is basically you're learning and you're absorbing
that. And you also don't have an ego, right? You're always saying, oh, how can I do something
or what is better or how's this thing better? How's it working better? And then you can
implement those with whatever you decide to do in your business, whatever businesses you do
follow.
So this element of curiosity is something I even encourage in my daughters, right? I was like, be
curious, right? Be curious, learn. And now we have so many great resources at our fingertips,
whether it's AI or whether it's the internet or anything. I mean, you can read up on any subject.
I'm not talking about reading up 2000 pages on a subject, just read a summary, a couple of
pages, three, four pages gives you like a general understanding. Watch a couple of videos.
Watch a couple of videos, exactly.
And you'd be surprised what you learn and how that stays with you, right? And then you do that
on a constant basis and you're just training yourself. And then after a certain period of time, for
example, I remember being sick on boats and I was like, oh, I hate being sick on boats. I don't
like boats and things like that.
And then I was like, oh, let's look at stabilizers of boats. And then I was researching about all
different types of stabilizers that you would need on a boat. And then I was like, okay, it turns
out that gyroscopic stabilizers are the best ones.
How many gyroscopic stabilizers do you need on a boat depending on size, right? And now like
when I see a boat and these are the questions I ask, I'm like, how many stabilizers? And it looks
like I know exactly what I'm talking about. I have no idea, but I know enough to know that- To
engage with that conversation. To engage that conversation and to start that.
This is what you need yourself. Oh, pass. And I remember going, pass.
I'm not buying a $20 million. I was never gonna buy a $20 million boat. I'd never buy one that
has these stabilizers.
And it's just like part of the process. You learn and whether it's construction methods or
whether it's, like you said, cars, this, that, things that interest you or vacation spots. There's
always things you learn.
And I recommend it to everybody. No, I mean, you said something beautiful. Being curious, it
keeps your ego in check.
It keeps you humble. It keeps you humble. Yeah, it keeps you humble.
You're always learning. And I think there's something very beautiful about being able to see life
from other people's perspective as well. And having good enough of a knowledge just makes
you appreciate things a little bit more.
Or you can really feel the passion of others. Sometimes, like we were recently on a container
ship. I was just telling you about it before we start.
We traveled 11 days from Spain to New York on a container ship. I have no business being on a
container ship. I have the jumpsuit right behind me.
I loved it. I loved it. It was 11 days and I almost wanted to play this character of like someone
who's really bummed out and like really just worn out from 11 days of travel.
I was like, do you guys want me to come to the next location? I'll just stay on board. Like, it was
fine. It was so fun to learn from these men, share that moment.
I mean, travel from Spain to New York and understand a container ship. I can walk you through
any container ship in the world right now. I fully understand how they're built, how they
operate.
And that's exciting. Every time I look out to the horizon and I see these container ships, I was
like, I know. But I know how they work.
But isn't that amazing? Now you can start a container ship business. But you had that curiosity
to ask all those questions, to immerse yourself in that experience. And that's what's cool.
Many people don't. And I mean, I agree. And I encourage people to learn.
Learn anything. It doesn't matter. So many times people are like, what should I do with my life?
I'm like, just go try things.
Just try things. Ask questions. Go fail.
Do it again. Do it with something else. It is so exciting.
We don't need to frame failure as this thing that is devastating. Fail small. Fail quick.
Do more. Ask. And people, it's shocking to me how much people are willing to share.
If you just go to them with genuine intention and curiosity, then they'll just see it right through.
And they're like, you know what? I'll answer your questions. No.
But is it also sucky how much people are scared to fail? Yes. You know, and like whenever I hear
like somebody not willing, and I guess that's like against my mindset. People are so many are
willing not to try or venture out just because they're scared to fail, right? And yes, failure sucks.
Who wants to fail? And I remember this Giannis, a Greek basketball player, plays for the
Milwaukee Bucks. He said a couple of years ago when he lost, and they're like, how does it feel
to fail? He's like, there's no such thing as failure. Everything is learning steps to success.
You know, he's like, that's how I see things. And I agree with it. I mean, you know, you fail.
Yes, you fail on one thing. But then you're learning. You've learned enough.
You learn more from failure than success. Exactly. And you've learned enough.
And that's, you take that and you apply that to your next step. I mean, sometimes you look back
like, thank God I failed. Or thank God that didn't work out or whatever it was.
Because now I'm doing something else and I figured it out. And you know, it's an amazing, you
know, failure is part of life. But being curious and having your ego in check is important.
You know? Very important. That's how it is. Always learn.
Well, speaking of curiosity, the other thing that I am personally curious about, you're married.
Yes. You have two kids that are 10 years old.
That's right. And I think again, being from Turkey, you know, growing up there, I've traveled
well over 30 countries. I can good amount relate to your life, your past, and how you ended up
here and your personality.
And the way you have lived your life was quite free spirited. I mean, you did whatever you want.
You've explored so many different businesses, lived in so many different countries.
And when you live life that way, you build incredible independence. And then when you merge
that kind of a lifestyle with someone else, and you know, in your case, Kaya is someone who's
that way too in many aspects. But forming a family and then having kids, that's a big shift.
That's a big change. It is a big shift. I mean, listen, I was never the guy to plan my wedding or to
see myself with kids and see all that.
You know, I never saw that far. I always saw the day to day and things like that. But I must say
something.
Kids is the most life changing experience I've ever, ever. And it's an experience that you don't
know what you're missing out on because you've never experienced it in the sense. So that's
what single people have and what I had as a mindset is that I never realized what I was missing
out on.
But once you have kids and somebody that, you know, is part of you, I mean, the sense of love
and the sense of responsibility and everything, I mean, it's life changing and I wouldn't trade it
for anything, anything in the world. And the only thing I tell people is that no one is ready to
have kids. How many people are like, yeah, I'll have kids when this happens, that happens, you
know, and sometimes they delay it or they're like, oh, fine.
No, no one's ready. But when it happens, it happens. And, you know, it is scary for whatever
your circumstances are, you know, because you have responsibility for a life that's greater than
your own, you know.
And I had my two daughters and it's amazing, amazing experience. I recommend being a
parent to most people. Some people don't deserve to be parents, that I'll tell you that.
But to most people, it's such a great thing. No, I mean, it was so refreshing and I wouldn't say
inspiring to hear you talk about your kids or this whole experience, because you're someone
that comes from such diverse background and you lived life in such an interesting and dynamic
way. And going through all of those experiences, traveling, being free, doing whatever you
want to now, you speaking so highly of this experience, gets me excited.
You know, I don't have a family yet, you know, and I don't have kids. And the life I live is a
lifestyle that's closer to yours. Like I'm traveling all the time.
I'm traveling, I'm focused on my business. I work seven days a week. I work all the time and I
love it.
But then when I try to understand what it's like to have kids, I ask to people that I admire and I
align with the way they live their lives and seeing their reaction is quite surprising, interesting.
And I don't think I'm there in a sense that I don't think I fully grasp it. Like I fully feel everything
you're saying and that gets me excited.
But for some reason, I can't quite wrap my head around it or I cannot tangibilize it yet. You
know what it is? I'll tell you, having kids is this. No matter what, seeing them every day resets
your love for them.
No matter what they did the day before, no matter what, you see them and you just have a
great feeling of love and happiness. And that's like real unconditional love. Your parents could
say the same thing about you, how they feel when they see you growing up and everything.
And that's what it is. And when you have somebody that stems out of you, it's part of you and
that you're able to mold and educate and formulate and shape their mind and protect and love.
It's so many emotions that you want to be with them, or at least I personally want to be with my
kids every moment of every single day and spend time with them and hug them and be with
them.
And it was just such a great thing. I always tell my kids this weird thing that I'm like, that they
saved me from myself. And they don't understand it and I don't understand it either.
But I think they've grounded me I think that they give me a reason to be better every day and a
reason to shift my life and shift my perspectives. When you're young, you're like, you're always
thinking about, let's say what other people think or this or that or how you're going to position
yourself or think of all this nonsense. But when you have kids, the only thing I think about is my
kids.
And that's great. And I really believe if you do give that love and that happiness and all these
emotions to your kids, like they give you 10 times more. You become their world.
And that feeling of that love for you is something that you've never felt either. So it's just, I
mean, like you know how it is. When you were young, the biggest fear in your life is losing one
of your parents.
The love you had for your mom and your dad, I'm not saying you don't love them now, but of
course we're older, we have different responsibilities. We have different views on everything.
But when you're young, your whole world is your parents.
I mean, for sure, growing up, I received a lot of love from my parents. In fact, I retired them and
they're here with me in LA. And we're a small close family.
But just seeing how it impacted you is quite powerful. Oh, it's amazing. And I know you don't
choose your words lightly.
And I can tell it's like your life was before your kids and after your kids. It's almost like there's
two significant chapters in your life. You're right.
Everything else after my kids but you know what else is going to impact that you have kids?
Your parents. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
They're going to love that kid more than they love you. I have no doubt. And they slightly tease
me, then they see how much I work.
They're like, you know what? We're not going to bother. Yeah, of course. I mean, you're still very
young.
You're super successful. You're on the path of so many things. I do understand where you're
going.
But I'm just going to say this. Whatever is meant to be, is meant to be. When it happens, it
happens.
That's all it is. My only concern going into this is that if I'm going to have a family, I want to
make sure I do it right. And I really give the attention, the love, the respect it deserves.
And I'm in a place in my life where I can afford to be a little bit selfish on my goals and things
that I'm pursuing right now. But I'm so actually excited for that part of my life as well. Like I see
this, that's going to be another chapter and I want to live that chapter to its full potential as
well.
I actually don't look at that like it doesn't scare me. I just want to make sure when I get to that
stage of my life, I do a really good job. That's a bigger concern for me.
I want to be there for my kids and I want to really enjoy that process. And I want to make a
positive impact in their life as well. I'm a bit of a perfectionist.
So I think it is going to be one of the most important decisions I'll ever make in my life. So I
want to make sure I do it right and I do my best. But I'll tell you something, no matter what,
you'll do your best.
I mean, that's how it is. I understand where you're coming from. You're like, listen, I don't want
to have, I'm not saying you don't want to have now, but you're prioritizing your career and you
feel that if you have kids now, your kids would be at a disadvantage because you wouldn't be
able to dedicate all the time that you would like to because you have so many things going on.
Bingo. Right? And you'd be surprised. Time is going to come out.
I know. You know, it's going to, instead of doing two hour podcasts, we'll do 20 minutes. I know,
I know.
We're going at it. I love this. Yeah, I have like, it's still so many questions for you.
I have nothing to do. My kids are at a play date. They don't want to know nothing about me.
I love it. I love it. Well, you've lived in LA for 16 years.
Yes. I've been here for the last six years. And it's an interesting city.
The way this city moves, how it operates, where its energy comes from. And I feel like it's going
through a bit of a transition right now. Hollywood, politics, taxes, safety.
And there are many other things that I can talk about. And all these factors are contributing to
the way the city's moving today and how it's reshaping itself. And knowing the eye you have
when it comes to understanding and analyzing situations and environments, I feel like you have
a very unique perspective on LA.
You lived here. You operated businesses here. You raised your family here.
And you're still living in LA. Yeah. What do you think about the current status of the city? I
mean, listen, post-COVID, I'm not going to lie, LA has been a bit of a mess, right? You've nailed
on so many things, whether it be safety, whether it be taxes in California, whether it be, you
know, our local representation in politics.
You know, so many things have upset so many people in so many different ways, whether it be
even, I remember until recently, we had a conversation about our DA, right, Gascon, and how
many laws he's changed, how trespassing was no longer a criminal offense, but a
misdemeanor, you know, theft. There was a, now that I think they brought it back the threshold
to $900, there was at a point that people could do anything. You're going to certain parts, and
then you have homelessness as an issue overall, right? And you just, it just felt like the city
became degenerate.
Everything just became worse. I mean, if you look at Beverly Hills, which the only reason I'm
isolating the Beverly Hills is it has its own police department, right? And it's only, it's like
technically, because of its, you know, fast response police department and its security services,
you're supposed, there's a greater sense of security in Beverly Hills than anything else. You
have, I was driving down Beverly two, three weeks ago, and I saw a very famous influencer,
YouTuber get robbed at gunpoint.
You know? I know who you're talking about. Yeah, my kids saw it. My kids were like, look, what's
happening? Yeah, yeah, I'm like, you didn't see anything.
There's nothing going on. I didn't even notice. I was like, it happened, and they saw it, and then
I see it on the news, and I was like, wow, this happened here? Like, like I was right there.
People, you know, it's very, and very many things, like when I go home, I try to see who follows
me. When I, I used to have, I have a driveway, a pretty long driveway, so I used to go home and
not care if my gate closes behind me. Now I have to double check, like I have to stop in my car,
make sure that the gate is closing, make sure there's nobody there.
You know, every time now I have like a package delivery or anything, I have to triple check, like
what's this conditions? Who is it? Who's coming to my property? Who are you? Your credentials,
you know, there is that sense. So LA is struggling from an image standpoint, you know, because
at the end of the day, we're paying a lot of taxes, and people are just upset with what we're
doing with the taxes, whether it be the LA fires or the repercussions of LA fires or, you know,
this lack of safety. So yeah, I mean, LA's not at a down point, but you know, there's something
in tourism called the tourism life cycle, right? So everything has an up and a down, right? And
are we on a downward spiral of the cycle, let's say for LA? Possibly.
At the same time, while all of this is happening, is real estate prices have gone through the roof.
So it's not like you were attracting anybody to move here. Like who wants to come and move
and spend X amount of money? You know, it's hard, but LA is LA.
I mean, in North America, United States, you know, there's many great cities. Don't get me
wrong. But if you look at like historical cities, you're looking at LA, New York, Miami, right? From
an international perspective.
Correct. And then LA is still the hub of entertainment of the world. Hollywood is the hub of
entertainment in the world.
It's sad what's happened to Malibu, but you know, we're just going to have to rebuild. Yep. And
LA is here to stay in the long run, but it's about keeping your chips on the table.
You know, and not cashing out or moving out or doing whatever it is. America is still America,
greatest city on earth. LA happens to be one of the greatest cities in this country.
So, you know, it's up to you to weather it out and maximize and seek out the opportunities
because there's always opportunities everywhere. Maybe they're not as. Attractive.
Attractive or easily readable. Like, you know, maybe you'd have to filter through. Yeah, but they
are there.
Right. And, you know, you just have to be there for that. No, I think you said it.
Well, I think. The the people of LA needs to they need to weather this out and it is going
through a transformation. And I use this analogy the other day.
LA is like this big, powerful car. It's not a city that runs on little fuel. It runs on a lot of fuel.
It is built on entertainment. It's built around this glamorous lifestyle. When you think of LA, you
think of sunshine, great weather, palm trees, ocean, entertainment.
But as some of these things pulled back, such as Hollywood or maybe not many businesses are
coming here because of the laws and taxes and all that stuff. It has killed this city's momentum
with lack of momentum. This city doesn't know how to operate.
It's like it only knows how to run a lot of fuel, not on little fuel. So it's kind of finding its new
grounds. It's its new place.
I'm curious to see what's going to happen. I mean, I really enjoy living here. Yes, there are some
difficulties and challenges and taxes don't help.
And running a business here is certainly difficult. There's no denying that. I mean, it's costly.
It's difficult. It's litigious. It is litigious.
They're litigious. And but LA is still LA. I think it's going to be here for many years to come.
And we'll see what happens. Yeah. No, I mean, it's going nowhere.
Yeah, that's how it is. And it's like whatever you do, just buy low, sell high, you know, don't be
stuck with anything. So even that from a real estate perspective, if you're buying a house, make
sure you're not, you know, because we've been going on this past 10 years.
LA has been growing, you know, at a certain percentage, a certain clip year on year out. Right
now we're reaching out that the percentage is growing is less and less. But there's still
opportunities, still things.
But like you said, weather it out. Still great. My kids love it here.
You know, I just wouldn't. Initially, I would like to see the safety issue resolved. I think the safety
issue, you resolve that first.
And then everything else sort of falls into place. If safety was in place and we get a 25 to 30%
tax and legal break, watch the city boom again in matter of literally a few years. Of course.
Like you will not be able to stop the momentum that this city will get. Literally, those three
things. I agree.
If we get like a little tax break, you know, or like whatever it be, federal or statewide, and then
we have that safety thing. I mean, that's why politics people don't realize. People are always
talking about United States, the president and everything else.
What's very important in this country is local politics. How the people represent because those
are the changes you really feel on a day to day basis. People talk about tariffs and big things
like that.
But local politics, very important. So researcher candidate that best suits, you know, your
thought process that suits the city, you know, and vote for that. Definitely.
Great. Agreed. What are some of the projects that you're working on right now or businesses
you're starting? I'm starting a YouTube channel showcasing real estate.
Done. I love that. I know you're working on a new franchise.
Yeah. So if you want to talk about that. I mean, so I invested in a QSR chicken franchise and
we're trying to bring it to L.A., California.
So it's a chicken fast food. And we're trying to launch that. And, you know, we've had a series of
setbacks just because of a commercial real estate is another game.
That's one thing you see that's very interesting. Because I'm proficient in residential real estate.
But when it comes to commercial.
It's a different world. It's a different world. Yep.
And it's and it's bananas. You know, it is bananas. So just navigating through that has been a
learning curve for me.
I don't know if it's the agents who their approach is completely different. And or if it's compared
to residential agents or if it's landlords, you know, and I keep telling this to everybody. Like, I
remember looking for properties and you're looking for $20,000 a month rent, right? And they
want like 10 years of tax records and everything and all that.
And, you know, you'd be going and go to the agent and I'd be going to and I've had a couple of
scraps of agents. I'm like, listen, I'm going to tell you this is how it's going to go. You're going to
as a landlord, you just want to know that your customer has enough money to pay the rent.
That's it. Who cares about all this paperwork that you're asking me to submit and compile with
my accountant? You just have to show that you're, you know, eligible to pay. Exactly.
That's all you want. Yeah. I'd be like, no, this is not how commercial.
I'm like, listen, do you have these conversations with your landlords? They're like, no. I'm like,
exactly. You don't know what you're doing.
I'm telling you because I am a landlord. You just want to know who has a sustainable vision and
who could pay because the last thing you want as a commercial person is somebody to default.
Yeah.
And they're like, no, that's not how it works. So, you know, dealing with commercial agents has
been like the setbacks. But now we're coming out.
We had good news yesterday. We finally closed on a couple of locations and we're going to be
opening it. The people we've had have also a problem in California with QSR.
They've raised the minimum wage to $20, right? And then people were like, oh, my God, how's
QSR? And this is what you've seen like statewide. So many of these places are shutting down,
right? Yeah. Because people are thinking about this minimum wage as an obstacle, their labor
costs, their margins, things like that.
It's just expensive to operate a business. It is. It is.
I mean, that's what makes California difficult, right? But then, you know, the potential of having
a business here is great. So we're doing that. We're launching that.
We're launching it with a friend of mine who's the manager of it. And a couple of NBA players.
And we have a couple of NBA players involved as well.
So that's going to be exciting. But one thing that I didn't anticipate is how time consuming all of
this was. Yeah.
Aside with everything else, you know, I think I got a bit greedy. I got greedy. My eyes were too
big.
You know, I thought I had enough time to be a good dad. And do all these things. And do all
these things.
And trying to squeeze a vacation here or there. How do you manage it all? Compartmentalize.
Tell me more.
That's what I do. You compartmentalize everything. You try to make little steps in everything in
the right direction.
And then you have like, you know, certain hour blocks during your day dedicated for certain
things. Right. And as long as like you don't overwhelm yourself with those hour blocks and you
have a certain cut off time, you never feel that.
And another thing that Jeff Bezos always says, and I remember, stress, there's no such thing as
stress. Stress is when you delay things and you don't. You don't adjust anything.
Yeah. And you don't take care of it in a timely manner. And that's what stress comes from.
And it's true. Because if you address everything in a timely manner, you have no stress. You
know, stress comes from like, why did I get back to that person? Next thing you know, it's a
week, two weeks, three weeks.
You're like, oh my God. And then you have all this built up stress. For whatever, even when
you're in school, that's how you get stressed out.
When you delay all your homework for the last day, that's the only reason you're stressed. So
try to take care of the things that need to be taken care of in a timely manner and
compartmentalize. You know.
Now, I'm curious. Obviously, you know me pretty well. That's right.
You see, like in the last few years, I've been really focused on scaling the business, starting
different ventures and kind of keeping this massive ship moving. I'm doing my best, but I know
you have a very unique perspective and you get to see me from the outside. Yeah.
What, do you have any advice for me? Listen, I think between me and you, one reason I
gravitate towards you is because I think you've got an excellent head on your shoulders. You
have a good thought process. You're smart.
You're analytic. You don't overextend yourself. And another thing that you do is that, like we
said before, you're curious.
You don't have an ego. So you're always listening. You know, some things are trial and error.
You know, I'm not going to lie. No one has a perfect road map on anything, right? And that's
why an advice that I can give to anybody is don't listen to too many people. And the reason why
I don't listen to too many people either is that I can live with my mistakes.
But if somebody helped me back, you know, or told me not to do something and it turned out
to be a great thing, you know, you know, you can always blame them. And I keep thinking of a
case that I did to somebody. I had a friend of mine, the French gentleman I spoke about, Ulrich,
who is a friend of my brother's.
We had a conversation. He came to LA in 2012. And he had just exited a company, huge
company.
And he was on the news. He was everywhere. He could raise all the money he wanted.
And he's like, what should I do with my life now? I'm like, I don't know. What do you want to do?
And I remember that he came up and he told me, I want to create a delivery food service
company, right? And I was like, what kind of bullshit is that? There's so many delivery food
service companies. What are you talking about? I remember him for a week trying to convince
me about a delivery food.
And this is pre-Uber, by the way, right? And I kept telling him, what are you talking about? It's
been done. And I convinced him to not do it. I literally convinced him to not do it.
And from that moment, and I keep reading it because now if you look at the UK, they just
Deliveroo, just sold to DoorDash for 600 million plus. Another Turkish company, competitor
Yemek Sepeti sold to another company. Another, you know, 500 million dollars.
And I keep thinking that and this is like pre-Uber days. And I keep every time I read one of these
success stories, you're like, I'm like, I heard this from this guy before any of these businesses.
And he had not only the knowledge or the reputation and the finances to go out and start one
of these.
Pull it off. And pull it off. And I remember telling him.
So now I realize, don't listen to too many people, right? Listen to yourself. Listen to your gut.
Listen to your gut.
Try. And you know better than anybody else. And if it works, I've always come from a place from
humility, right? And if it works, it works great.
And that's my advice. Like so many people like try to get a perspective and some people get it
wrong. And that's that.
You know, I was thinking about him just now this whole week with all these purchases, Uber
eats this, that. And I was like, damn. And I keep thinking, imagine I had never told him
eventually he got a great job working for another company and he had a great exit.
But nowhere close if he had actually done this delivery service. And then of course, there's so
many hypotheticals. Would he have succeeded? What market would he have chosen? So on, so
forth.
Blah, blah, blah. And it's all hearsay. But I keep thinking if that was me and somebody told me
not to do that, I'd held them responsible their whole life.
No, I agree. Good advice. What is the best advice you've ever received? The best advice I've ever
received? Wow, that's a great question.
I'm not gonna lie. I don't, I don't know. I don't know.
How I've lived my life is through what I've resented in other people. You know, like I saw people
do things and I was like, oh, I didn't agree with it. And I tried to do the opposite.
So not dealing through, let's say my mistakes, but other people's mistakes. Really learning from
them. Yes.
I was like, you see, they failed because of that. So if I do something, I won't do it like that. And
do that.
I'm not saying that it makes you fail proof. There's so many things you can learn, you know?
Yeah. But, and there's so many things.
But just, I guess the ethos that I think is the best advice that I live by is don't be afraid to try.
Yeah. Don't be afraid to try.
Whatever it is. I was just in Korea like around three weeks ago on spring break with my kids and
I saw a product in Korea. Right now, all of the hype in Korea and skin product is this product
called PDRN.
I don't know if you're familiar with it, right? So anyways, Korea is at the forefront of everything
cosmetic. So PDRN is made using salmon and trout sperm, right? Okay. Hyaluronic acid and
things like that.
But it is the best moisturizer you've ever used in your life. You put a drop on it. I don't know.
Look this up. Oh, you have to look it up. But what was funny is that I was looking at, when I first
arrived, I see the brand and it says, it's not a brand, but it says PDRN and I just read porn, right?
Then I was like, what is this product? And then I was thinking, oh no, it's actually PDRN.
And I was thinking, oh my God, there's so many branding ideas that you can use that it makes it
look like that you could bring to the United States. And I was like, oh, I'm going to be launching
a PDRN line. And I was thinking about the branding about it.
I have no idea about anything. And I was like, who do you do? And then the comp... Where do
you find this product? And how do you manufacture it? How do you manufacture it? Back to the
black hole. Exactly.
And I did the whole thing, like from you finding the chemist, to the compounding factory, to
getting the OTC FDA clearance, to registering the company, to doing that, all the multitude
process. And then I was thinking, okay, once you have that, how do you launch, right? Yeah.
And I'm not saying I'm doing it, but right now, do I think that everyone's going to be using a
PDRN product in America in the next year? For sure.
So are you ahead of the curve? Maybe, but it was great. Gotcha. Well, I feel like if people
watched this podcast till the end, I feel like a lot of people admire individuals who live the very
free, exciting life.
And to me, like hearing your story, you literally done everything that was in your mind. You
traveled, you lived in different countries and places to people out there who may seek this kind
of a lifestyle. What would be an advice or recommendation you can give them? Listen, like I
said, try.
I mean, right now, what's amazing is that we live in a day and age where you can monetize and
people are being held back for money reasons, which is a valid. Which is understandable. Yes, it
is valid.
It's a valid point. In this day and age, you can monetize anything and everything. You'd be
surprised.
I mean, you could be a bodybuilder and you monetize the gym prank videos, that gentleman
out of Dubai. And he's doing it incredibly well. But what was his journey? His journey was
himself uploading videos of him working out and figuring it out along the way.
And like any TV show or any Hollywood production, season six is not season one. You get
better. You have to start somewhere.
So just start, put your best foot forward. No one's going to care about the resources that you
have available. And just get better.
Because we have this image in our head of like, let's say I want to do whatever it is. I need to
start with like, you know, full operations, this, that. No, whatever you want to do, start with
whatever you have.
Just do it. Literally, we have an art piece on the other side and we couldn't hang it before you
come. I was like, you know what? We're starting.
We're shooting this episode. So it's so important to just get things started. Let's say when you
started, you started, let's say one day, you're like, you know, I'm going to start my first video.
And now in retrospect, maybe you look back at your first video. You're like, oh, how did I do
that? Oh, it's painful to watch, but I leave them up there for a reason just to show people you've
got to just start somewhere. That's where it is.
And that's how it is. And people have this fear of like thinking, oh, let's say somebody wants to
emulate you or be you. People think I need to start like Ennis.
I need 20 staff. I need this video. That's all you need.
You know, but they're thinking already seventh year in Ennis, eighth year in Ennis, but they
don't realize that there's a process in whatever you do. Right. And you start with whatever you
have, whatever business you decide to do and whatever, just follow your passions, follow
something you do like, because trust me, I've been in a job that I hated and time does not go
by.
It's endless. Find a passion of yours, something that you do like, and you'll be able to monetize
it with that love. Because at the end of the day, like you said, Ennis, you work seven days a
week.
You work a godly amount of hours, right? And if you didn't love what you were doing, It'd be so
hard. It'd be so hard. Right.
But since you love what you're doing, this is the reason you work godly hours, because you love
it and you're in it and you're invested and you're like, great. And you don't see time go by. You
just see, you know, building.
So it's like a painter doing his painting. If you hate it, I'll never go by. But another painter can
spend a year, two, three, four, five, you know, working on his masterpiece and that's how life is.
Find your perspective. So that's what I would recommend everybody. Find what you like to do
and just learn and figure it out.
I mean, you have some guys, and I know that a lot of my examples are coming from a contentbased thing. But you have a guy who I follow on Instagram. He's just doing home recipes with
an iPhone.
And, you know, now he has X amount of followers and he's segued into other opportunities and
everything. But this guy was just making a shepherd's pie and everybody seemed to love it. And
he was really good at it because that was his passion, you know.
And he was a student. I think you have other people doing other things, you know. And if you
love sports, like I was just speaking to somebody the other day.
I have a friend of mine whose son has loved sports and he wanted to become a movie director.
And I was like, listen, becoming a movie director is extremely tough. Yeah.
You know, I don't recommend it on anybody because, you know, it's a tough business. Anything
in the arts is just generally tough. And then he's like, well, I'm like, what's your other love? He's
like sports.
And now he has some sort of marketing influencer agency for sports. And he's doing crazy well
because he loves it. And he reaches out to people all day and gets deals, you know, gets the
things.
So it's just, just follow what you love and you can't go wrong, you know. I couldn't agree more.
Lorenzo, thank you so much for your time.
This conversation was a lot of fun. It's been a pleasure. Thank you so much for having me, you
know, and hope to see you in episode two.
Sounds good. Thank you.