WEBVTT - Barbara Corcoran 0:00:01.680 --> 0:00:05.680 Welcome back to another episode of Big Money Energy, where 0:00:05.720 --> 0:00:09.119 we talk to super successful and self made people to 0:00:09.200 --> 0:00:12.240 find out exactly how they did it, how they went 0:00:12.320 --> 0:00:15.160 from nothing to something. I'm Ryan sit Heerhant and today 0:00:15.160 --> 0:00:18.120 I'm joined by one of the stars of a d C. S. 0:00:18.120 --> 0:00:23.400 Shark t, a best selling author and extremely successful businesswoman, 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:27.440 Barbara Corkran. We discuss how growing up in a family 0:00:27.760 --> 0:00:31.000 but ten kids teaches you how to survive in a 0:00:31.080 --> 0:00:35.160 competitive business like real estate, why New York real estate 0:00:35.200 --> 0:00:38.360 will stay strong even in a down economy, and the 0:00:38.440 --> 0:00:43.599 golden ticket to building a successful company. Let's get into it. 0:00:44.080 --> 0:00:56.160 Welcome to another episode. Nice to be here. Thank you 0:00:56.240 --> 0:00:59.080 so much for coming in. You were, um, the first 0:00:59.280 --> 0:01:02.560 Corkoran quote unquote agent. Well, also the first Corkoran to 0:01:02.600 --> 0:01:09.000 come into our new office here. I have a thousand 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:11.200 questions I want to ask you, and most of the 0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:12.960 people who work with me, especially a lot of the 0:01:12.959 --> 0:01:15.120 women who work with me, when they found out that 0:01:15.120 --> 0:01:17.920 you were coming in here on my phone. I've turned 0:01:17.959 --> 0:01:19.920 it off now so there's no issues. I could ask 0:01:19.959 --> 0:01:22.960 you questions for ten hours because they have so many. 0:01:23.040 --> 0:01:26.280 One of our agents, actually Rachel and San Francisco nearly 0:01:26.319 --> 0:01:28.039 jumped on a plane just so she could be here 0:01:28.080 --> 0:01:30.440 to meet you. I think you spoke at Barklay's a 0:01:30.480 --> 0:01:32.560 while ago when she was working on the trading floor there, 0:01:32.560 --> 0:01:34.479 and you changed her life. And I hear that from 0:01:34.520 --> 0:01:36.800 a lot of people, which is really really incredible. So 0:01:37.040 --> 0:01:39.039 good on you for doing that. Before I get into 0:01:39.160 --> 0:01:40.759 a lot of the real estate questions that I have 0:01:41.040 --> 0:01:43.960 UM and obviously shark tank questions and and everything that 0:01:44.000 --> 0:01:45.360 I think goes through my mind about you, I want 0:01:45.360 --> 0:01:48.600 to go back for a second because I have three 0:01:48.600 --> 0:01:51.880 sisters and two brothers. UM. I was born in Houston, Texas, 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:55.600 grew up there, bounced around Long Island outside Boston Way 0:01:55.640 --> 0:01:57.680 before I ever came to New York, and I was 0:01:57.920 --> 0:02:01.400 basically the middle child at older city blings UM. And 0:02:01.400 --> 0:02:03.240 then I had my little baby brother, and so I 0:02:03.280 --> 0:02:06.760 had that kind of like I guess middle child syndrome, 0:02:06.800 --> 0:02:08.760 even though I didn't think I did when I was 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:11.639 growing up. But you're one of ten curious what's a 0:02:11.720 --> 0:02:15.400 middle child syndrome. Middle child syndrome is like, is the 0:02:15.440 --> 0:02:17.680 kid in the middle who doesn't get all the attention 0:02:17.720 --> 0:02:20.040 because they were the first born and they're not treated 0:02:20.080 --> 0:02:22.200 like a baby because they're the last born. They're the 0:02:22.200 --> 0:02:24.160 one in the middle who like, okay did you eat, 0:02:24.360 --> 0:02:26.160 you ate? Okay, great, you're gonna live. Or you went 0:02:26.200 --> 0:02:28.080 to school, okay, great, you're gonna live. And so you 0:02:28.080 --> 0:02:30.120 have to figure out things on your own. It's a 0:02:30.160 --> 0:02:33.000 real I read about it once, I would think it 0:02:33.000 --> 0:02:35.120 would be the best position. I was a middle child. 0:02:35.320 --> 0:02:37.760 I knew it. See, I knew it. You get to 0:02:37.760 --> 0:02:40.680 be yourself, no expectations on the top or the bottom. 0:02:40.720 --> 0:02:43.480 It's terrific. Spot, dude, where you pushed a lot as 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:45.720 the middle child, or their heavy expectations on you. Do 0:02:45.760 --> 0:02:47.880 you remember any of that from your brothers and sisters? 0:02:48.080 --> 0:02:49.680 Not at all. The way I saw it, I had 0:02:49.680 --> 0:02:52.359 an older sister on one side of me who protected 0:02:52.360 --> 0:02:55.160 me off from the top, and I had a younger 0:02:55.200 --> 0:02:57.480 brother on the other side of me, and he protected 0:02:57.520 --> 0:02:59.360 me from anything that was going to come from the bottom. 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:02.600 I would never switch my my seat. But what's great 0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:06.639 about growing up with ten kids, which is an advantage 0:03:06.639 --> 0:03:09.040 to every child, I think, is you only have two 0:03:09.080 --> 0:03:11.399 parents to go around. You have ten kids who want attention, 0:03:11.800 --> 0:03:14.480 so you learn how to compete. Yes, and if I 0:03:14.520 --> 0:03:16.800 were to say one thing that prepared me for the 0:03:16.840 --> 0:03:19.760 real estate career that I enjoyed it was the ability 0:03:19.800 --> 0:03:22.720 to compete, and I learned it at home. And how 0:03:22.720 --> 0:03:26.400 did I compete. I became the most creative child, so 0:03:26.440 --> 0:03:28.480 I could put on every game on the streets that 0:03:28.560 --> 0:03:30.400 happen in our neighborhood, and I was in charge. I 0:03:30.400 --> 0:03:33.120 could open up rock stores and sell rocks. I could 0:03:33.120 --> 0:03:35.520 put on Broadway shows in the basement on rainy day. 0:03:36.000 --> 0:03:39.440 I could get my parents attention, and that was a 0:03:39.560 --> 0:03:43.400 huge advantage going into this crazy, wacky competitive business that 0:03:43.440 --> 0:03:45.600 we're both in. Don't you think that's a big part 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:50.160 of being the middle child, because you're not guaranteed attention. 0:03:50.800 --> 0:03:54.000 I think that's a big deal. And for us in 0:03:54.040 --> 0:03:56.120 the real estate business, in the sales business, and the 0:03:56.160 --> 0:03:59.520 television business, all day long, I'm trying to figure out 0:03:59.560 --> 0:04:02.240 how to get more attention from our clients. Are developers, 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:05.680 are agents. The people were pitching, And as you say 0:04:05.680 --> 0:04:08.280 that about putting on shows and figuring out things to do, 0:04:08.440 --> 0:04:11.680 I'm reminded of all the times I got my little 0:04:11.680 --> 0:04:14.240 brother to do things with me, to perform in front 0:04:14.240 --> 0:04:16.760 of my parents, like magic shows, you know, we'd make 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:19.480 little movies, and my little brother I had forced him 0:04:19.520 --> 0:04:21.080 to do it so that there always could be attention 0:04:21.080 --> 0:04:22.719 because I didn't. I didn't have the throwing arm. My 0:04:22.760 --> 0:04:24.800 older brother had the throwing arm. He was the quarterback. 0:04:24.839 --> 0:04:26.839 My little brother had the throwing arm, he was the pitcher. 0:04:27.600 --> 0:04:31.240 And then I was just in the middle left. And 0:04:31.279 --> 0:04:33.440 you're nicer than I because you shared the limelight with 0:04:33.480 --> 0:04:35.880 your brother at least. I was never that way. If 0:04:35.920 --> 0:04:38.240 any of my sibling student anything for me, like my 0:04:38.279 --> 0:04:41.400 sister marriaging made my bed every day. My students did 0:04:41.520 --> 0:04:44.480 my dish night. I never shared the credit. He was like, 0:04:44.640 --> 0:04:46.719 what do I do to get them to do the 0:04:46.760 --> 0:04:48.719 dishes for me? How my dish night? And all you 0:04:48.760 --> 0:04:50.640 had to do is compliment them when they were doing 0:04:50.640 --> 0:04:53.480 the dishes the night before. How do you do those 0:04:53.520 --> 0:04:57.800 dishes so well? So you were nicer sibling than I. 0:04:57.920 --> 0:04:59.920 You shared the credit, not for me. I was at 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:03.159 to get the attention. Yeah, that's short and simple. So 0:05:03.279 --> 0:05:07.159 that competitive nature you you think you graduate college and 0:05:07.680 --> 0:05:10.440 you get into real estate. But one question I have 0:05:10.520 --> 0:05:12.080 because I don't know what the answer is, That's why 0:05:12.080 --> 0:05:14.480 I'm asking it is a lot of us I think 0:05:14.520 --> 0:05:16.880 who got into the real estate business. It wasn't our 0:05:16.880 --> 0:05:19.680 first choice. It was kind of okay, I could try this, 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:22.640 let's see what happens, or do something else. Where would 0:05:22.680 --> 0:05:25.680 you be today had you not said, okay, I'll get 0:05:25.680 --> 0:05:28.680 into real estate. Who knows, Maybe I'd be a waitress 0:05:28.720 --> 0:05:31.320 still at before league dinner where I really Is that 0:05:31.360 --> 0:05:34.560 a real answer? Nobody? You never know. But I imagine 0:05:34.600 --> 0:05:36.599 I would own a chain of dinners today because I 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:38.520 always thought I was smarter than my boss, that I 0:05:38.520 --> 0:05:40.520 could run the dinner a little bit better if only 0:05:40.560 --> 0:05:43.520 given the chance. But where would I be? I think 0:05:43.520 --> 0:05:45.200 I would have been in some kind of a career, 0:05:45.360 --> 0:05:47.919 making publicity and using my mouth to make a living, 0:05:48.560 --> 0:05:54.359 and probably advertising, public relations, maybe even politics, anything that 0:05:54.400 --> 0:05:57.279 I could swede people with my ability to sell, and 0:05:57.360 --> 0:05:59.280 you know as well as I do. If you can 0:05:59.320 --> 0:06:02.919 sell well, can pretty much enter any field and do well, 0:06:03.640 --> 0:06:06.120 because there's always a need for salesman in every spot. 0:06:06.200 --> 0:06:08.600 You know, when I say salesman, it sounds like it's 0:06:08.640 --> 0:06:13.120 not so important, but it's essential to every business. You 0:06:13.120 --> 0:06:15.320 can't sell a product of service, you don't have a business. 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:17.880 So I think I would have just been leading something 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:21.400 using my mouth to lead. And you've always been a 0:06:21.440 --> 0:06:24.240 good talker. I was a good talker outside of school, 0:06:24.240 --> 0:06:26.080 but in school I didn't say a word because I 0:06:26.120 --> 0:06:28.440 never had the answer. So it depended on the forum. 0:06:28.520 --> 0:06:30.320 But in my twenty two jobs I had before a 0:06:30.360 --> 0:06:33.760 star real estate, my gift in each of those jobs 0:06:33.839 --> 0:06:37.480 was I could talk. I could talk, yeah for sure. Yeah. 0:06:37.520 --> 0:06:40.240 And why did you stick it out? I mean, I 0:06:40.279 --> 0:06:45.880 can't imagine your position in the nineteen seventies getting into 0:06:46.080 --> 0:06:49.800 the real estate business, which I was not around. Then 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:52.520 you missed a great time. How did you muscle through that? 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:54.920 Because I think people listening to this now they think 0:06:54.960 --> 0:06:58.200 things are tough now, but they don't know what it 0:06:58.240 --> 0:07:01.480 was like for you building your career and your entire business. 0:07:01.720 --> 0:07:04.479 What got you out of bed every day when you 0:07:04.600 --> 0:07:07.239 had a bad day or you lost agents, lost deals. 0:07:07.560 --> 0:07:09.640 I don't think I ever had the thought for a 0:07:09.720 --> 0:07:12.640 moment that I might fail. And the reason for it 0:07:12.680 --> 0:07:15.280 was I was so busy building that I had no 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:18.520 time to give anything any thought. And much like a 0:07:18.600 --> 0:07:21.360 teenager that gets in trouble if the hands aren't busy, 0:07:21.720 --> 0:07:24.480 my mind was so occupied with building that business every 0:07:24.560 --> 0:07:27.200 day that I never had the thought that it could fail. 0:07:28.000 --> 0:07:31.160 There was one juncture where I actually, I guess I'd 0:07:31.160 --> 0:07:33.440 have to admit that I warmed up to the thought 0:07:33.440 --> 0:07:35.520 of going out of business. And I don't know what 0:07:35.680 --> 0:07:38.160 year it was, but nothing was going on. Two thirds 0:07:38.160 --> 0:07:40.760 of the competitors in New York City were down. I 0:07:40.800 --> 0:07:44.360 had no cash, I had no receivables, I had whining salespeople, 0:07:45.120 --> 0:07:48.760 and I actually thought of actually announcing the business was closing. 0:07:48.760 --> 0:07:53.960 I tried everything, but funny enough about adversity right popped 0:07:53.960 --> 0:07:55.920 into my head the one day, one price sale, and 0:07:55.960 --> 0:07:58.840 I made a million dollars one week later in two hours, 0:07:59.640 --> 0:08:02.720 selling eighty eight unwanted apartments at the same price to 0:08:02.800 --> 0:08:05.200 a line of people that didn't know they wanted to 0:08:05.200 --> 0:08:09.320 buy until they were going fast and boom. I opened 0:08:09.360 --> 0:08:12.160 another office that same week, as my competitors continue to 0:08:12.160 --> 0:08:15.160 go out of business. That was probably the only eleventh 0:08:15.280 --> 0:08:18.040 hour do rest I had, but thank god I did, 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:22.080 because you never know what you're made of until the 0:08:22.120 --> 0:08:24.400 chips are against the wall. That's where you find your 0:08:24.440 --> 0:08:28.320 greatest courage, or you find your greatest graciousness to admit 0:08:28.360 --> 0:08:29.920 defeat one or the other. But you only have a 0:08:29.960 --> 0:08:32.840 black or a white way to go, And unfortunately, I 0:08:32.880 --> 0:08:35.880 thought of a creative idea, as I always thought somehow 0:08:36.640 --> 0:08:39.120 to save the day, so to speak. I created a 0:08:39.200 --> 0:08:42.320 market that everybody said was not there. And I must 0:08:42.320 --> 0:08:45.200 be honest, I was half surprised by myself. I thought 0:08:45.240 --> 0:08:48.640 it could work. It can't work, but let's get a shot, 0:08:49.320 --> 0:08:51.760 throw it against the wall and see what happens. But 0:08:51.880 --> 0:08:54.599 that morning, when I went around to a makeshift temporary 0:08:54.640 --> 0:08:57.839 office on eighty three Street and First Avenue and saw 0:08:58.200 --> 0:09:01.800 two hundred some odd people eating in line for apartments 0:09:01.880 --> 0:09:05.760 that nobody wanted the day before, my holy ship look 0:09:05.800 --> 0:09:08.680 at this, and uh, of course I was smart enough 0:09:08.720 --> 0:09:11.880 to have pre signed contracts and giants stacks that people 0:09:11.920 --> 0:09:14.679 walked in and say they're going fast. Nobody asked who 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:19.160 signed those contracts? Are the real contracts? But there's something 0:09:19.280 --> 0:09:22.839 very alluring in the real sales concept in markets and 0:09:23.480 --> 0:09:26.720 markets that everybody wants what everybody wants, and nobody wants 0:09:26.720 --> 0:09:28.960 what nobody wants. So we took the nobody's and made 0:09:28.960 --> 0:09:40.880 them somebody, and everybody wanted them that morning. How did 0:09:40.920 --> 0:09:43.160 you convince the developer to do that sale? And to 0:09:43.200 --> 0:09:45.439 do that at those price points. I mean, I think, 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:48.600 but all the developers I have now right where post COVID, 0:09:48.920 --> 0:09:51.559 there's a lot going on. There's and there's a mass 0:09:51.679 --> 0:09:54.559 oversupply of new condo inventory. You could see a lot 0:09:54.559 --> 0:09:57.520 of it from our window here in Tribeca. There's stalled 0:09:57.559 --> 0:10:00.960 projects left and rights, and I wish I could go 0:10:00.960 --> 0:10:02.440 to all of them and say, hey, here's the thing. 0:10:02.440 --> 0:10:05.160 We're gonna lower all prices to a million bucks a unit, 0:10:05.320 --> 0:10:07.760 down from whatever their schedule A prices are, and let's 0:10:07.800 --> 0:10:10.200 get it going. But they would have lender push back. 0:10:10.320 --> 0:10:12.920 It would say it would be tough. How did you 0:10:12.960 --> 0:10:15.079 do that? I'll tell you it's defeating you on it. 0:10:15.120 --> 0:10:17.800 If I might say, is your own limitation of things, 0:10:17.840 --> 0:10:20.040 it can't be done. There is a way. There's always 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:23.160 a way. Um. What you have to appreciate more than 0:10:23.200 --> 0:10:27.360 anything in a terrible market is everyone's needy. And so 0:10:27.440 --> 0:10:29.960 the same guys that wouldn't be opened something a year 0:10:30.000 --> 0:10:33.600 before when things are rosy totally open. I mean, I 0:10:33.880 --> 0:10:38.320 had those units owned by Equitable Insurance, very powerful company 0:10:38.360 --> 0:10:41.080 in town at that point, financing the job along with 0:10:41.160 --> 0:10:44.800 Bernie Mendick, who was the biggest developer that day. But 0:10:44.960 --> 0:10:47.839 they had nothing to lose by trying something. They had 0:10:47.920 --> 0:10:49.959 nothing in hand, and Bank him nothing in hand, and 0:10:50.040 --> 0:10:53.360 Developer and nothing in hand. And so it was like, hey, listen, 0:10:54.000 --> 0:10:57.160 we're not lowering the prices. We're evening out the prices, 0:10:57.160 --> 0:10:59.319 because it doesn't make sense that people could grabble one 0:10:59.320 --> 0:11:01.360 bit and two bed in my studio at the same price, 0:11:02.080 --> 0:11:04.319 and once the two bedrooms one bedrooms go, believe it 0:11:04.400 --> 0:11:06.000 or not, if there's not enough to go around people 0:11:06.000 --> 0:11:08.760 who want the studios. And that's exactly what happened. There 0:11:08.800 --> 0:11:11.200 were level prices and you had to wait in line, 0:11:11.200 --> 0:11:14.640 and there wasn't enough to go around, and so they 0:11:14.679 --> 0:11:16.920 took a shot at it because what did they have 0:11:17.040 --> 0:11:19.760 to lose. All I asked them to do was to 0:11:19.800 --> 0:11:22.800 give me two years free maintenance because I needed a 0:11:22.840 --> 0:11:25.240 sales incentive. And why did they give me two years 0:11:25.280 --> 0:11:28.080 free maintenance Because they weren't going to sell those soccers 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:29.880 for two years anyway, and they knew it, And so 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:32.240 what was I really asking for. I was just taking 0:11:32.240 --> 0:11:35.720 the cards and reshuffling the deck. And they gave me 0:11:35.800 --> 0:11:40.280 a shot, and it worked, and it worked and they 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:43.320 got out of trouble. I made a million, little boy 0:11:43.400 --> 0:11:46.360 a million. I made my million dollars plus and I 0:11:46.400 --> 0:11:49.400 was able to stay in business. Thank god. You've got 0:11:49.400 --> 0:11:51.640 to revisit your story here if you don't mind my saying. 0:11:51.640 --> 0:11:53.079 You could addit this out as you want, but you've 0:11:53.080 --> 0:11:55.520 got to read story. You had said on this one. 0:11:56.120 --> 0:11:58.960 Come on, look at everywhere I look, there's a problem. 0:11:59.000 --> 0:12:01.080 There's a problem you And I think if you were 0:12:01.120 --> 0:12:03.520 to ask the brokerage community in New York City now, 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:06.520 they probably know us mostly for our out of the 0:12:06.559 --> 0:12:09.640 box ideas and creative thinking. We were doing auctions in 0:12:09.720 --> 0:12:14.000 the city by lowering prices to below cost numbers to 0:12:14.120 --> 0:12:17.120 freeze out the marketplace so that Street Easy would be 0:12:17.280 --> 0:12:21.119 completely useless, so that buyers wouldn't pay attention to other inventory. 0:12:21.320 --> 0:12:22.679 They would just say, Okay, well, now I got to 0:12:22.720 --> 0:12:25.760 see what's going to happen to sixty eight seven Street, 0:12:25.800 --> 0:12:28.920 because somehow that just went from twelve to six. Something's 0:12:28.960 --> 0:12:31.560 going on, let's see. We would then drive traffic that 0:12:31.600 --> 0:12:33.880 way and put the price up, and then inventory to 0:12:33.920 --> 0:12:36.280 started changing, and then it didn't seem as exciting anymore, 0:12:36.320 --> 0:12:38.080 so we change it up over and over and over. 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:41.199 When did you open your second office because everyone's got 0:12:41.240 --> 0:12:43.240 there first. But when did you open your second The 0:12:43.280 --> 0:12:45.800 second office is the hardest office. I think I had 0:12:45.800 --> 0:12:48.680 fourteen offices when I sold. The second office is the 0:12:48.679 --> 0:12:50.959 hardest office. It was on the west side of one 0:12:50.960 --> 0:12:53.520 block from Z Bars, and it was the hardest office 0:12:53.520 --> 0:12:55.839 because I couldn't cut myself in half. I didn't realize 0:12:55.880 --> 0:12:57.959 until my second office that I was a power in 0:12:58.000 --> 0:12:59.920 the shop. I was a mother, I gave the love 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:02.760 of I drove the people, and I couldn't jump back 0:13:02.760 --> 0:13:05.560 and forth between East Side and West Side. But it 0:13:05.640 --> 0:13:08.760 was also my opportunity to learn the greatest lesson in 0:13:08.800 --> 0:13:12.240 my life. That is, I didn't have to multiply myself. 0:13:12.280 --> 0:13:14.640 I had to find someone with talent, and I hired 0:13:14.640 --> 0:13:18.600 Barbara brian Uh sweetheart of a woman. On first glance, 0:13:18.640 --> 0:13:20.640 you wouldn't think she was a powerhouse. She didn't have 0:13:20.720 --> 0:13:23.360 my style, but she knew how to love people the 0:13:23.360 --> 0:13:26.040 way I knew how to love, and she nurtured those 0:13:26.080 --> 0:13:29.200 salespeople to become a force on the West Side within 0:13:29.240 --> 0:13:32.320 two years Latin and after that, I had the golden 0:13:32.480 --> 0:13:37.000 ticket to building a giant company. Find the talent and 0:13:37.040 --> 0:13:39.720 then build an office around them. I never opened offices 0:13:39.760 --> 0:13:43.040 and looked for talent. I'd stumble into anybody in any 0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:46.120 walk of life and think, you know what, they would 0:13:46.160 --> 0:13:49.760 be a great mom, It's the key to a successful 0:13:49.920 --> 0:13:53.280 brokerage office, and they would be great at judging people. 0:13:53.920 --> 0:13:56.120 And then I'd open an office around that talent. And 0:13:56.160 --> 0:13:58.680 that's how I got in many marketplaces, simply because I 0:13:58.720 --> 0:14:01.319 found the talent first and build the walls around them. 0:14:01.880 --> 0:14:05.280 How many agents did you have at that time when 0:14:05.280 --> 0:14:08.280 I opened that second office, Probably I don't really recall, 0:14:08.400 --> 0:14:11.040 probably thirty thirty five maybe, And the goal was just 0:14:11.080 --> 0:14:13.360 to physically be on the other side of town, because 0:14:13.360 --> 0:14:16.880 you needed to have that convenient office location. Not really. 0:14:16.920 --> 0:14:20.280 There was a common belief at that time which had 0:14:20.320 --> 0:14:22.120 been true, but I could see it was no longer 0:14:22.160 --> 0:14:24.440 true that people wanted east side, wanted east side and 0:14:24.480 --> 0:14:28.040 people one west side. We have territories in town of 0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:31.200 brokerage firms did one territory versus another, But I could 0:14:31.200 --> 0:14:34.720 see those markets blending, and I wanted agents that knew 0:14:34.720 --> 0:14:37.760 both markets and new one did, and so we crossed 0:14:37.760 --> 0:14:41.640 fertilized across the park basically, and we were able to 0:14:41.680 --> 0:14:44.600 take clients from the east to the west and show 0:14:44.640 --> 0:14:46.960 the more stuff. And even if they thought they didn't 0:14:46.960 --> 0:14:49.480 want Central Park West, when they came in for Park Avenue, 0:14:49.640 --> 0:14:51.800 we seld them Central Park West because they'd get a 0:14:51.800 --> 0:14:53.840 park few that they didn't get on Park. And so 0:14:53.880 --> 0:14:57.480 we built bilingual I should lingual whatever that where it 0:14:57.600 --> 0:15:00.880 is agents who could talk both languages for And then 0:15:00.920 --> 0:15:03.440 we did the same thing down the village. People said 0:15:03.520 --> 0:15:05.840 the village Martin was not a purchasing market. I saw 0:15:06.000 --> 0:15:08.320 very differently. It was delicious down the village, and so 0:15:08.520 --> 0:15:12.560 ho then Brooklyn early. I mean, it's just that people 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:16.240 the customer change and the brokerage firms were the last 0:15:16.240 --> 0:15:20.160 ones to change their interpretation. And so we got ahead 0:15:20.360 --> 0:15:22.920 of the other firms because we listened to the customer 0:15:22.960 --> 0:15:25.440 and watch what their new habits were. And they were 0:15:25.440 --> 0:15:29.120 shopping everywhere. Not immediately, but little by little they started 0:15:29.120 --> 0:15:32.160 shopping everywhere. Today, you take the east side, west side, downtown, 0:15:32.240 --> 0:15:34.760 uptown Brooklyn. You've got to be versed in everything, as 0:15:34.760 --> 0:15:37.280 you well noticed, you so successfully do it. But in 0:15:37.280 --> 0:15:41.160 those days, no one believed that would happen. Since preposterous, 0:15:41.160 --> 0:15:43.880 but no one believed that would happen. It sounds so 0:15:43.920 --> 0:15:47.200 crazy now thinking about how you even sold real estate, 0:15:47.200 --> 0:15:50.120 then how would you generate leads? How would your business 0:15:50.160 --> 0:15:52.760 generate leads? At the time, was it mostly referral personal 0:15:52.800 --> 0:15:55.440 networking or people coming into the storefronts and going to 0:15:55.480 --> 0:15:58.440 the file cabinet. Well, initially we had no storefront and 0:15:58.480 --> 0:16:01.680 we were in whatever scrappy as we could possibly afford. 0:16:02.480 --> 0:16:06.320 We generated leads through advertising for them, and I had 0:16:06.320 --> 0:16:08.800 a simple ad. It sounds ridiculous because the New York 0:16:08.800 --> 0:16:12.320 Times Classified was the only billboard in town. There was 0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:16.440 no streets, no internet, nothing, and so the message was 0:16:16.600 --> 0:16:20.560 welcome to New York. And we trained people on that 0:16:20.680 --> 0:16:24.440 initial call how to be friendly. No one expected that 0:16:24.480 --> 0:16:26.800 from the city. We had friendly agents. And then the 0:16:26.800 --> 0:16:30.520 minute I could afford a corporate campaign, I relabeled my 0:16:30.600 --> 0:16:33.240 brokers the Power Brokers, but we took full page as 0:16:33.320 --> 0:16:36.560 out with them standing with their kids, the dogs, looking 0:16:36.680 --> 0:16:39.280 just like the people you'd like to hang out with. Okay, 0:16:39.280 --> 0:16:41.560 in Middle America more than New York City tough guy, 0:16:41.680 --> 0:16:44.200 and people broke into the image and they thought it 0:16:44.240 --> 0:16:46.520 would be nice to work with and they were right. 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:48.240 We were great to work and we had nice people 0:16:49.000 --> 0:16:51.480 and they weren't eating alive, which is what people thought 0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:53.160 was going to happen when they worked as an agent. 0:16:53.360 --> 0:16:57.200 So we encountered intuitive to what people expected, and my 0:16:57.320 --> 0:17:00.000 agents were groomed to be those people that we put 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:04.119 out there, which initially was kind of bullshit, eventually became true, 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:06.880 right like ever reason does. It was the scariest part 0:17:07.280 --> 0:17:10.120 about owning your own business because something I'm thinking about 0:17:10.200 --> 0:17:13.240 when you said you didn't have time to fail reminds 0:17:13.320 --> 0:17:15.720 me of obviously that book in the Financial Crisis and 0:17:15.840 --> 0:17:18.119 Too Big to Fail. But I like that, and we 0:17:18.280 --> 0:17:20.159 I think we operate in the same way. It's you know, 0:17:20.520 --> 0:17:22.639 on the fifteen minute mark all day long, just go, go, go, 0:17:22.760 --> 0:17:25.639 go go. The faster you go, the more you do that. 0:17:25.800 --> 0:17:27.480 We just don't have time to fail. It's going to 0:17:27.600 --> 0:17:30.800 work out, and our backs are up against walls, and 0:17:30.880 --> 0:17:33.680 we figure out what those walls are every day. But 0:17:34.080 --> 0:17:36.199 was it that day that you thought the business might 0:17:36.240 --> 0:17:39.080 go under and you created that market or was there 0:17:39.240 --> 0:17:41.800 there ever a general fear that the real estate market 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:44.879 might completely change and people not want to come to 0:17:44.960 --> 0:17:47.080 New York And I'm thinking about that obviously in a 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:49.760 post COVID world. Now well, banish that thead because it's 0:17:49.800 --> 0:17:51.600 just never gonna happen that people want to come to 0:17:51.680 --> 0:17:54.840 New York. Of course, um, I know because I've lived 0:17:54.920 --> 0:17:58.560 through probably four dramatic cycles in the years I was 0:17:58.600 --> 0:18:01.960 building my firm. Uh And I can tell you that 0:18:02.080 --> 0:18:05.040 everybody in the end comes to New York. It's one 0:18:05.080 --> 0:18:08.080 of those towns because it's built on change. You think 0:18:08.119 --> 0:18:10.040 about the essence of the heart of New York City 0:18:10.080 --> 0:18:13.560 has change, that's the heart, and so you have to 0:18:13.640 --> 0:18:16.960 expect change. So I watched many groups of people leaving 0:18:17.000 --> 0:18:20.000 New York. Corporate America left New York. We've never had 0:18:20.080 --> 0:18:24.320 corporations in New York ever. Again, everybody bought you into it. Yeah, yeah, 0:18:24.440 --> 0:18:26.600 Union Carbide went out, a few of the banks went out, 0:18:26.640 --> 0:18:29.639 and two years later they're back in h The Japanese 0:18:29.720 --> 0:18:33.800 are fueling on market, the highest prices in condo history. Left, 0:18:34.480 --> 0:18:37.840 The Chinese came home, scooped it all up. Okay, then 0:18:37.880 --> 0:18:41.200 they left, The Germans came in, and then the yuppies 0:18:41.280 --> 0:18:44.040 came in, and then though whatever, you know, if there's 0:18:44.080 --> 0:18:46.360 one thing you have to believe about New York, it's 0:18:46.359 --> 0:18:49.760 always here. The heartbeat of the city has changed without it, 0:18:49.920 --> 0:18:53.320 it wouldn't survive. It needs that flushing and flushing out 0:18:53.840 --> 0:18:56.680 all the time. And your markets fly up and down 0:18:56.720 --> 0:19:00.280 as a real stage and with it. But I saw 0:19:00.400 --> 0:19:03.920 that as an opportunity to make money because if nobody 0:19:04.000 --> 0:19:06.840 is changing, there's no deals. If it's a buyer's market, 0:19:06.880 --> 0:19:09.680 seller's mark up and down, there's always deals. There's always 0:19:09.680 --> 0:19:11.800 ability to make you six percent, which I know is 0:19:11.840 --> 0:19:14.720 diminished a bit today, but there's always an ability to 0:19:14.840 --> 0:19:16.479 make money. If you have changed, that's what you need 0:19:16.520 --> 0:19:25.960 a broker, no changing or new brokers. How did you 0:19:26.160 --> 0:19:29.520 leave your firm through those those recessions though you just 0:19:29.560 --> 0:19:33.240 said you went through four big market changes. As somebody 0:19:33.280 --> 0:19:36.520 who's leading a whole group with multiple offices and multiple 0:19:36.560 --> 0:19:39.040 other moms and people that are calling you every day. 0:19:39.320 --> 0:19:41.159 I know in the last time that we spoke, you 0:19:41.240 --> 0:19:43.320 mentioned a good part of your day was kind of 0:19:43.560 --> 0:19:48.200 nurturing your superstars. How did you keep the business excited? 0:19:48.200 --> 0:19:51.720 How did you keep people motivated when everyone was talking 0:19:51.720 --> 0:19:53.800 about how negative things are in the New York Times 0:19:53.840 --> 0:19:56.480 every day is saying how bad things are. I stay 0:19:56.640 --> 0:20:00.240