How To Be A Real-Life SuperHero With Real Estate
How To Be A Real-Life SUPERHERO With Real Estate
How can business owners turn obsessions into success?
I'm really big on energy and understanding who you are at your core. For me, at my core, it's about hard work. It's like a positive obsession. Everyone can have vices or habits, but I channel mine into positive obsessions. Growing up, I got really good at basketball. I'm 6'7 now, but I was 6'5 at 14, and I was nationally ranked. In my first high school game, we flew out to Akron, Ohio, to play against LeBron James. That was my introduction to high school basketball.
What made me good, when I think back on it, was an obsession with practice. I'd be at home with a basketball, dribbling, making moves—just obsessed with putting in the work. And when you put in the work, success is guaranteed. After injuries ended my basketball career, I had to rediscover who I was at my core. I realized that I'm someone who's positively obsessed with mastering something through repetition. Once I get good at it, I’m in "domination mode," continuing to push myself.
Now, my mission is financial wellness—helping others become financially free. So many people are stuck in jobs they hate, working for bosses they don’t even like. It’s miserable. My job is to help them transform. I want to turn people into Superman, where their work uniform is just a disguise, and deep down, they’re ready to take flight and do what they’re truly passionate about. Helping people on that journey is what I love to do every day.
How can business owners stay connected to customer needs for growth?
The best decision I made was being intentional about staying on the front lines. Many of us, especially in sales, have done cold calling and been directly involved with consumers. When you're on the front lines, you learn the most about the customer—what makes them tick, their pain points, fears, and doubts. This allows you to redesign your product to meet their needs.
In real estate, staying on the front lines helped me think outside the box. For example, I started creating co-living spaces by taking a single-family property with three bedrooms and one bathroom and transforming it into three master suites with a shared kitchen. This setup meets the needs of today's renters, especially millennials, who don’t cook much and prefer all-inclusive, affordable studio-like spaces.
Many young adults can't afford traditional single-family rent, but they will co-live in shared spaces with utilities and internet included. By reinventing how people live, I was able to increase rent from $1,300 to $3,000 a month for the same property because it aligned with what renters actually want.
The real value in any organization lies on the front lines. Even if you've stepped back from direct involvement, you need to spend time with your salespeople. They’re the ones interacting with customers and providing the feedback that can transform your business and drive exponential growth.
What can business owners learn from setbacks in real estate development?
My toughest learning point, or make-or-break moment in this business, was when I fell in love with full-gut renovations. Something in my core told me this was the path. I had played basketball at LaSalle University for a year before transferring to Columbia, so I returned to Philly and bought three shells on a rough block. It was a C or D-class neighborhood but three blocks from LaSalle University, which made me think it had potential. They had just built a shopping center, so I saw it as a gold mine.
One property was a burnout, another was a teardown, meaning the first floor had collapsed into the basement, and the third was just a shell. I made a big mistake by hiring the cheapest contractor, who eventually ran off with $40,000 to $50,000 and barely did any work.
That setback taught me a valuable lesson. I don’t let obstacles or pain points hold me back; they exist to teach you something. That experience pushed me to learn everything about construction. I became my own general contractor to ensure it wouldn’t happen again. Once I gained that knowledge, I made it my mission to share it so others wouldn't face the same issues.
Although I’ve lost over half a million to a million dollars in this business, I proudly wear those losses because they have shaped me. I’ve learned from them, and I give that knowledge back to others. My biggest loss turned into one of my greatest motivators.
What key principles should business owners learn from mentors?
You need to get mentors—people who have lived it before. Find someone who is either 10 years ahead of you in business or life. They can show you the path and give you the mindset needed to succeed. It's not about the visible signs of success like cars, jewelry, or vacations—that's irrelevant. What's important is their mindset: what they feed their mind, what they listen to, what they believe, and their core principles.
You need mentors who can help you develop that mindset. Feed your mind daily because what you put in determines your output. If you feel like you don’t have the right mindset, find someone who does and ask them simple questions: "What do you read? What do you listen to?" Then start reading and listening to what they do. You'll naturally begin to manifest your own version of their success because it's part of your input.
Mentorship is a shortcut. With the right principle, you can shortcut 20 or 30 years of learning. They don’t need to give you a complete blueprint—just one key principle that you stick to, and you’ll be successful. There’s no doubt about it.
Why should business owners apply equal effort in business and personal life?
One of the principles my father taught me, and it’s stuck with me, is this: how you do anything is how you do everything. He applied it to schoolwork, telling me that how I approached my studies should be the same as how I approached basketball. He wanted me to carry that same level of effort into everything I do. I’ve kept that with me throughout my life.
This applies to business as well. If you're obsessed with your business, you should be just as dedicated to your family, your children, their upbringing, their happiness, and their well-being. If you're not equally committed to those things, then you’re just going through the motions. If you slack in your family life, you'll likely slack in your business as well.
This is why. I push myself in the gym, even in the cold, because I know that how I handle those tough moments is how I’ll handle challenges in other areas of life, whether it’s in business or with my family. I believe in giving my all—running as hard as I can for as long as I can. When I need a break, I’ll take it, but only after I’ve left everything on the court. That’s how I approach life, and it’s how I’ll keep going. It's just who I am.
How can business owners control their mental input to stay focused?
The way the human mind is wired, we're constantly reacting to stimuli from our environment. With social media and other distractions, we’re experiencing something humans have never faced before. Because of this, it's crucial to focus on what you feed your mind. Whatever you put in becomes your initial reaction unless you've trained yourself to avoid reacting automatically.
This requires intentional work, such as practicing mindfulness or transcendental meditation, to create space between stimulus and reaction. Most people haven’t done this work, and many never will. As a result, they constantly react to their environment based on their input. For example, someone raised in a war zone may react more violently than someone from the suburbs because of the differences in their environment.
That’s why it’s so important to have the right input. Today, the algorithm is constantly feeding us content, much of which may not be helpful or aligned with what we want. You need to be intentional about what you allow into your mind. This is why platforms like this one are valuable—because they give you more control over your input. You know what you're getting, and you can trust that it’s valuable and beneficial. In today's world, that's everything.
*This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.*
