Follow The Brand Podcast with Host Grant McGaugh

From Rock Bottom to Real Estate Royalty: The $300 Million Transformation That Redefines Entrepreneurial Grit

• Grant McGaugh CEO 5 STAR BDM • Season 2 • Episode 36

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What if getting hit by a car could be the best thing that ever happened to you? For Jason Yarusi, this seemingly catastrophic moment became the catalyst that transformed his life from angry, unfulfilled NYC bartender to multimillion-dollar real estate investor and mentor.

In this riveting conversation with Grant McGaugh, Jason reveals how rock bottom became his foundation for extraordinary success. Born and raised in New Jersey, Jason found himself working dead-end jobs in Manhattan, blaming everyone but himself for his circumstances. Then came the night that changed everything – flying through the air after being struck by a vehicle, his first thought in the hospital was getting back to the job he hated to make rent. This jarring realization forced him to confront a powerful question: would he continue accepting chaos and complaining, or finally take control of his destiny?

Jason walks us through his remarkable journey from small, intentional changes to massive transformation. From owning bars and restaurants to helping scale his family's construction business after Hurricane Sandy, he continually bumped against the same limitation – being "the cog in the wheel" that prevented true freedom. Everything changed when he discovered apartment building investing as a solution to the time-freedom problem, building teams and systems that could operate without his constant presence.

The conversation delves deep into the mindset shifts that powered Jason's success: understanding the difference between working IN versus ON your business, learning to let go of perfectionism, surrounding yourself with capable team members, and viewing problems as opportunities rather than obstacles. Now with over 30 real estate transactions totaling more than $300 million, Jason shares how his Live 100 program helps others transform their lives through accountability, self-awareness, and strategic action.

Whether you're struggling to break free from limiting circumstances or looking to scale your existing business beyond dependence on your personal time, this episode offers actionable insights on building sustainable success. Connect with Jason through the Live 100 podcast or visit jasonyarusi.com to learn how you can apply these principles to your own journey.

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Follow The Brand! We hope you enjoyed learning about the latest marketing trends and strategies in Personal Branding, Business and Career Development, Financial Empowerment, Technology Innovation, and Executive Presence. To keep up with the latest insights and updates from us, be sure to follow us at 5starbdm.com. See you next time on Follow The Brand!

Speaker 1:

Welcome everybody to the Fellow Brand Podcast. This is Grant McGaugh. I'm down here in Miami, florida, but we're going to take it all the way up to Tennessee. Now, you know, when I think about Tennessee, you can't help but think about, you know, things like the Grand Ole Opry. You've got, you know, you've got the Tennessee Titans up there. You've got the home of Elvis, but there's also some other people up there. You got the home of Elvis, but there's also some other people up there. Jason Yerusi is going to talk to us about his journey, about his passion, about his skill sets and how he's been doing this at such a high level. He's a multi-millionaire in the real estate realm. He's probably got some other businesses that he does as well, but he teaches other people how they can take what they have, get to a focus area and draw themselves to a successful outcome. So, jason, you'd like to introduce yourself, sure?

Speaker 2:

sure. So thanks for having me. I appreciate you having me here on the show. And yes, I am down here in Tennessee.

Speaker 2:

I live in Murfreesboro, tennessee, but I was born and raised in New Jersey, so I found myself to Tennessee in a pretty non-traditional route. So, born and raised in New Jersey, you know, during my formative years I had a lot of loss in my life and it really set me up to just not have. You know, I was always a shy kid and so I left high school, just not with a lot of confidence. Just a lot of my energy was just zapped out of me of just all these things that had just happened. Went to college and ended up getting a finance degree based on I had a girlfriend at the time. Her mom was like you're good at math, right, why don't you do a business degree, right? Just trying to point me in some direction because I was just kind of lost, right. Well, I left college and just didn't want to do anything with finance and so I ended up moving into New York City where I spent the better part of a decade living there, just working a bunch of odd jobs, working in restaurants and bars and all these just not really fulfilling things and I was very unhappy with everything I was doing. I was blaming everybody else. I was blaming, you know, my upbringing, my college, my surrounding and just everybody's fault, but myself, right, I wasn't really leading my life until one night.

Speaker 2:

I was leaving work 2.33 in the morning and got on my bike to ride across the city to head to my apartment, just angry at the world. And out of nowhere, a flash of light came out. And next thing, I know, I'm flying in the air because I was hit by a car and turns out, I get pulled out of the street by these kids who were speaking French. I had no idea what they were saying. They were pulling me out of the street because Manhattan was coming alive, the light was turning green. And next thing, you know, I'm in an ambulance going to the hospital because I had gotten a broken shoulder.

Speaker 2:

I eventually had a pin in my wrist, some stitches in my face, and I finally, in a day, leave the hospital and the only thought in my mind was like man, I need to get back to this job that I despise because I need to make money for rent. And there was this moment of pause where I was like okay, let's have a clear thought here. You've just been hit by a car and all you can think about is that you have to get back to this job. Part of the reason that you are just so unhappy with your life is, you know, working this job and this is all you can think about getting back to. And so I made a pact with myself Okay, if I'm going to do that, then I have to say I'm okay with the chaos of the of the results I'm getting and just be fine with it and stop complaining. Or I can start doing something different.

Speaker 2:

And I started to do something different, but the thing was I just didn't know what that was right. I'm sure many people listening is like I want to change my life but I don't know how to right and that was the big sticking point for me is I didn't know what I didn't know right. So I just started to do things different from what I was doing. Instead of staying up late, drinking at the end of the night, you know I'd start to go back at a reasonable time. Start staying up late drinking at the end of the night, you know I'd start to go back at a reasonable time. Start to get up earlier, start to get in a workout pattern, start to read books, just start to do things that started to give me some semblance of positivity in my life. And, lo and behold, little steps turned into bigger steps and it just started to gain some positive momentum. So I went from working behind the bar to owning a bar and a restaurant in New York City.

Speaker 2:

I opened and sold a brewery in New York City and then, lo and behold, about 2010,. 2011,. Hurricane Sandy happened on the East Coast, decimated the East Coast and my father he's retired, but he had a small family business that dealt with very intricate construction projects that were detailed, towards flooding, right, and so his business overnight went from, you know, 12 calls a month to a thousand calls a day. So my now wife and my little brother and myself, we moved out to New Jersey and we started helping dad grow the family business, and there was a lot of life lessons there. Right, we're a bunch of Italians trying to get along and and you know we there are a bunch of, you know of clashing, but at the same part, we were able to take that business and scale that business to to a very high level and eventually getting my father to retire.

Speaker 2:

But lo and behold, throughout this whole process, what kept happening is that I kept being the cog in the wheel. I kept being the thing that was holding everything back, because everything I was doing was very transactional. I had to be there working, doing the sales job, working these very detailed construction projects, or even working at the restaurant or working at the bar. It constantly took me as being part of the process. If I wanted a day off, there would be no revenue. That was the tie I was into. If we didn't work, there was no funds revenue right, that was the tie I was into. If we didn't work, there was no funds.

Speaker 2:

Well, at the time, you know, my wife was pregnant with our first child and we just kept looking at ourselves saying we have no time. If there was 25 hours in a day, we could have used them. Right. If there was eight days in a week, we could have used them. So we just kept searching, like what is the solution here for us? To get back our time, get back our day, get back our life, to be able to choose our life, instead of having a life really chosen for us.

Speaker 2:

And we came upon real estate and it's this pretty big blue ocean in the world of real estate.

Speaker 2:

You know, you could be a real estate agent, you could flip homes, you could wholesale homes, you can do Airbnbs and we started to try it, all right, just not knowing what was the right fit.

Speaker 2:

And things were going, they were going well, but it wasn't hitting the mold because we still had no time, because we were running the Home Depot, you know, meeting clients, you know, going to meet contractors, right, doing all this very active work, until one day I heard on a podcast like this someone who was buying apartment buildings and that was that light bulb moment that hit me because I understood that we could go and form a team and help this investment forward by building the right teams, building the right processes that ultimately would keep us from having to do all the day-to-day. A couple that we started investing about 800 to 900 miles away from where we lived. So we started that in 2016, 2017. We brought a large apartment building in Louisville, kentucky, while we were living in New Jersey, and then we just started to repeat that process and slowly but surely, we've done a little over 30 transactions to date, a little over 300 million of real estate, as we've now accumulated a number of apartment complexes down here in the Southeast, where we now moved.

Speaker 1:

You know I love that because what I heard there was what I call two origin stories and what I mean by origin story, and someone alluded to this to me and I really latched onto it because I think there are origin stories or certain pivots in everyone's life that are pivotal, meaning their life change. They could change what you're doing for a decade or more. The fact that first of all, you got hit by a car no one wants that, but that happened but it changed your awareness. But that happened, but it changed your awareness, it changed your mindset. You started to think outside of the box you were in and then it got you into the family business.

Speaker 1:

Now, another big, giant, pivotal point Hurricane Sandy. Who doesn't remember that? A hurricane hitting New York City. That's something straight out of a comic book, right? However, that happened, that happened and it was devastating and it's a life-changing event, but it changed your life even more. And then you started like all right.

Speaker 1:

Then this is the pivotal point and I want people to really understand, especially when they're an entrepreneur, because it happens over and over again. You have to understand the difference between you being a W-2 worker and what a true entrepreneur does. Are you working in the business or are you working on the business? And I heard you saying this like you were working in the business, and if you don't work in the business, there is no business. Well, that is what almost we would call like a solopreneur or something to that effect, that how people are associated and then we start getting to what a true entrepreneur is.

Speaker 1:

And I read this one book. I'll never forget that, and they talked about how McDonald's franchises started and that they had a formula and they had a process in place that everybody, or everyone, every worker, like within McDonald's, had a certain standard operating procedure, right? So whether you're on the fries, you're on the front desk or you're sweeping the floors, everyone had their way of doing it. And the whole point of the manager is I need to be able to have that as a repeatable process, that I can kind of like plug and play certain individuals so that I'm not the one doing the fries and sweeping the floor and I'm doing all the work.

Speaker 1:

And you found that through real estate, Say, hey, I'm going to free myself up, I can free up some capital, I've got some money. How can I have money work for me instead of against me? That's beautiful. That's beautiful that you found that. It takes time. Not everybody does but you were awake. You're aware You're doing that. Talk to us now. Now you've built the business, You've got 30 transactions. These are multimillion dollar real estate holdings that you have. What have you learned through that now?

Speaker 2:

You know, again, you don't know what you don't know. And sometimes, when we try to assume that we know everything, that's where we don't get anywhere. Right, because you always assume that you know the answer. Right, and so many times the part about putting good people around me has really helped the business forward. Right, the limitation for the first couple of transactions, because it was just my wife and myself. Right, and so we would go, you know, be making the connections with the brokers right, with the bankers right. Also talking to investors. Right, to be part of the transaction and in the meantime, when we brought the deal, then working with the property management company. So, again, there's only two of us and we're trying to do all these different roles together. Right, and so what happens is that if I'm underwriting a deal, I'm not talking to brokers. If I'm talking to the banker, then we're not working with the property management company. If my wife's talking to the investors, then we're not sending out the communications.

Speaker 2:

Right, because it was always us as the linchpin in the deal and that worked until it didn't. Right, you could do that for one deal, for two deals, but then we started to have a couple hundred units that we were having as part of our portfolio. We had to look at ourselves really truly and say, okay, if we want to grow, we need to get out of our own way, because we're trying to hold on to all these things. It's like that part of like you want to do everything a hundred percent perfect. But if there's 10 things to do and you do only one of them, 100 perfect. And you did zero percent on the other nine.

Speaker 2:

Right where, in fact, as an entrepreneur, you have to understand that you can surround yourself with with some great people and they might be an 88 on one or a 92 on another right trying their hardest where maybe you could do it 100, but it's not something that needs to be done as 100, it just needs to be done.

Speaker 2:

And because you were in the way, not letting somebody else do anything, that you held back your own self from being successful because you're trying to have this resemblance of perfection. So we had to make the choice to grow. We had to build a team right, so we had to bring on, basically select, critical people as part of our process. You know everyone, from help, from sales to marketing, to to leasing, to asset management, that now are part of our team, because what that does is it allows them to do a lot of the day-to-day, while we focus on where the company is going, because that's the biggest piece is. Even if we're doing all those pieces, I'm missing the forward look and being able to focus on the future of the company.

Speaker 1:

But now you're valuable. I like what you said, that that's another big epiphany. I want my audience to truly understand this as they're on their entrepreneurial journey. You start out in that solopreneur mindset but to truly make that transition to the entrepreneurial mindset and having financial acumen and understanding how private equity looks at businesses, you need to understand this Because when they look at your business, you could be making a million dollars or so, but how are you making the million dollars? If they take Jason out of the equation, is there still a million dollars there? Because if there's not, that lowers your valuation.

Speaker 1:

And I know you're in the real estate world. You understand valuation and whatnot. But when you have a team put together and that you have a scaled or scaling business, that shows that you've got runway, you've got a backlog, you've got things that are happening and it's just not dependent on just one or two people, now that's a business that people will invest in and you attract those kind of people that you need in your life to grow and expand to that multi-million dollar, to that multi-billion dollar mark that you want to get to. But it is a process. Now you have a community that you're building out called Live 100. Tell us about that. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

So I got back to a lot of people asking me for help. Just really just growing within themselves Could be, just personally, could be with real estate, and it really had to put me in a big position. I have to go back and look at what I did, because I just started doing it and I started asking myself like, okay, I'm just I went through all these steps, like what were these steps I took? And so Live 100 came on three foundational blocks, you know breaking my bad habits so I can build the future I want and then magnify the momentum of the results I'm going to get. Right, and it looked on nine principles One, being self-aware. Right, I wasn't showing up.

Speaker 2:

If you get back to how I was showing up, you know, when I got hit by a car before that moment, right, I was showing up in a really negative way. Right, I was very critical. I was not. You know, I had a lot of rage, a lot of anger. I just I wasn't. You know, I felt guilty about not being able to go out there and so on. So I just had all these parts that weren't someone who would be successful right, because I was doing things, of someone who was just getting the results I was getting right. So I had to be self-aware of how I was showing up. And then next I had to own it right and I say, okay, fine, that's how you're showing up, that's how you're showing up. You need to own this right now so you can change it. And then, after I had to start positioning myself for greatness, right. So position myself for greatness. So I could say the future Jason, what does the future Jason do today? Like, how does he show up today? Like that person who's out there being successful? How would that person show up in a moment? Because today you're showing up as this, that person shows up like that. And when you can choose that, then you can start mastering meaningful habits and rituals that really set you up for success and then just intentionally execute.

Speaker 2:

But along the way you have to be uncomfortably brave to what's going to happen, because as you start to change right, you're basically washing away the old you because you're changing to the new you or the person that has that success. So you have to be brave to what's going to happen, because you might have people that don't like the new you, because maybe you're going away from a version that they were used to, or maybe you're going to face some challenges, you're going to face some setbacks. So you have to be brave to this, to just not stop because, as a part, there's going to be 15, 50, 100,000 things that are going to try and get in your way, but you have to understand that's part of your growing process getting in your way but you have to understand that's part of your growing process. And then, as you do that, you have to accelerate your growth as you start building through this so you can have this awe-inspiring rise. Right, and that's part of the process of the program is allowing people to understand upon their journey is that their starting line today is where they are. They don't need to be, you know, someone different from where they are. They have everything they need to get started.

Speaker 2:

We just have to choose where their starting line is and what that first step is to take and when people can take that first step and get the confidence it allows them to push themselves down the pike to really the goals that they're looking to seek, because where most get stuck is that they look at the big picture and it's so scary because it's so different, right?

Speaker 2:

So I want to go, start a business, make a million dollars, start a podcast right, it's this result of you know, oh, I start a podcast, I need to have 100,000 listeners by tomorrow, right? And then they're like, oh, I'm just never going to start, I'll never get there, so they just won't even start. Right, well, we start building the foundation to get you on the road to start, because what I found upon myself is that I've never learned anything by not doing anything. Right, so inaction gets you basically no results. We can agree on that.

Speaker 2:

But if you take a step, you're going to learn something. You're either going to learn that it was the absolute wrong way, so, okay, let's stop and turn around and go the other way. Or you take a step and maybe it's kind of off path, but it's on the right way, but it's off path. So now you can be versatile and pivot. Or it's on the right way, Okay, take another one. Right, but we have to take some action to get feedback so we can react to that feedback to get the results we want.

Speaker 1:

I love that and I'm going to pick one word that I liked on that. What you just stated, that was accountability. You accepted the situation, you accepted the creator of that situation and you accepted the idea that you were going to change it. You were accountable. I really like that. The other thing I liked that you stated there's a desired state that you want to get to.

Speaker 1:

What does that look like? And it could be awe-inspiring. I always use an analogy of getting to the top of the mountain right. When you're at the bottom of the mountain, yeah, it looks very, very intimidating. How am I going to get there?

Speaker 1:

But when you can step back a little bit, even in your own life, let's step back five years ago, 10 years ago. What was the mountain then that you had to traverse? And you start to realize that you have traversed some hills and some challenges and some mountains in your own life already. Now this is a different challenge, it's a different mountain, but you can get there. If, again, you have what I call almost a superhero moment.

Speaker 1:

Jason had that superhero moment. He's like man. What are you talking about? The superhero moment is he had these pivotal changes. And then how did he go into the phone booth and come out on the other side a changed individual. Can you imagine your dad saying like wow, thank you, jason.

Speaker 1:

I knew he came on another side of that phone booth changed, because he accepted who he was, he was accountable for who he was. But then what was his superpower? Superpower was his mindset. He came out of that phone booth with a completely different mindset than he was before, let's say when he had that accident some years ago. And because he did that, now he's capable of scaling the mountain and he's doing that at a high level and he's showing other people how they can do it. When you're in service for others, kudos to you for being in service to others. Hey, I got out of my own way. I can show you how to get out of your own way if you are accountable for the situation. I want you to tell me more about your business so our audience can truly understand what it is that what you do and the big problem that you solve.

Speaker 2:

So from a real estate perspective, I'll talk to that because that would be the first one. From a real estate perspective, we simply look for opportunities where housing is not being run well, right, so it's just not a great place to live, and we look to buy the apartment community where it's not either being managed well or the property itself, the physical assets not being treated well, and we go and make it a better place to live. And when we make it a better place to live, you know tenants can have a more happier livelihood living in a great place, so they're willing to pay the market rent or what would be approachable for the market, which again creates more cash flow for the property, which entails better returns for our investors. So, simply put, we make something a better place to live which makes happier tenants, which produces more income and produces more cashflow for our investors. From my part, with Live 100, it's really a leadership program where you're leading yourself, you're learning to lead yourself and just talking to what you were talking about before, one of the most fulfilling things is when I come with someone and we're facing this problem, right, it looks like Mount Everest, right, and we're never going to get past it. And then, a month from now, we're so far past it we don't even remember it and it's just a speed bump because we're on to our next Mount Everest that's two times higher. Right, and that's the power of just working on problems and helping people through the program is that we learn to work on ourselves first. That allows us to be more disciplined, to look at problems for what they are right. They're a problem that needs a solution and usually we work on. Is this a five-year problem, meaning am I going to remember this five years from now? And if it's not, then what's the issue? Let's just get through it, right. If it's something that it's going to be critical and it's going to be a major change in our whole world, fine, let's work through the process to understand the steps right. What are the strengths of this? What are the weaknesses of this? How can we use this to our advantage? Or is this something that we need to avoid? Right, and typically part. We just need to work through it right. You know, ryan Holiday has the obstacles the way, and most of us are fearful that to look at the obstacle is something that we need to go through. But we grow through it. Right, we go through it and we grow through it and with working with individuals, we help them learn themselves so they're better prepared for when these challenges come.

Speaker 2:

That's a hard thing. Most of ourselves, we don't see ourselves for how we truly could be. We think of ourselves in a way whether it's actually true or most of not we're not. I'm too scared to do this. I'm not confident enough. I can't speak well. I'm not confident enough. I can't speak well. Right, I'm not intelligent enough to go start a business. I don't know enough to go out there and do sales. Right that we always tell ourselves the answer right, without actually giving ourselves the ability to take control and truly find the answer. And when you truly go after it, you know, yeah, maybe once in a while it's just not right for you, but at least you got rid of it, at least you tried and know, and that's powerful. Then now we know not to do that and we don't have to think about it a decade from now. And or you, you figure out that you can. You can do. It Just took you. Just took you putting the effort in.

Speaker 1:

Got a question for you. First of all, I like everything you have stated. I really like that character behind you, Bart Simpson. He's been around for a long time. I can't believe the longevity. Is that Bart behind you?

Speaker 2:

No, it's actually my kids come to the office every once in a while. I usually see Legos, and so my youngest, my six-year-old, was building Legos, I guess, and put a Lego statue in here, and I just realized that when we started I said I guess it's going to stay so, but it looks like. It looks like Bart Simpson, I guess it does.

Speaker 1:

From behind. Here I'm thinking Bart. Right, Some people are on audio, some people on video, but it looked like Bart Simpson. Our reason I bring that up is because the cartoon's been around for 25 years even longer. I think it's the longest running show on television still to date in syndicate. It's an incredible feat. I want to ask you about your personal brand, as you think that there's people that have coaching programs. There are people that have, you know, real estate businesses. Yes, but you have a specific real estate and coaching business that you are in. It's the Jason way. What is the secret sauce? What makes you different? What makes you come out of that phone booth as Jason Yaroos, just like the same person I just saw on that sizzle reel, which was so, so awesome? How would you give us your elevator pitch on the personal brand that you carry every day?

Speaker 2:

Where I find that many others get lost is that we all want quick results right, I want quick results. But the quick results come and they go. Because we don't have the foundation built right, we go. It's like 92% of New Year's resolutions fail. Why? Because yesterday you weren't something and today you say you're going to lose 30 pounds, or today you're going to start making 50 sales calls. It's such a different from where you were yesterday and you're not prepared both mentally and physically. So what happens is that, even if you get close to result, you burn yourself out because you haven't put in the training right, you haven't put into consistency. And so my conversation with people is that, listen, we can get quick results, but it's going to be hard for you to go because you're not mentally prepared, you're not physically prepared, you're not spiritually prepared, financially prepared, you're not ready. But we can get there. You want to get there tomorrow. We can go and get that. But what's the rush? If this is the life you want to live, you want to live 100, you want to make a fulfilling life that you can keep, that you can live forever, then let's build the work, let's build the foundation so you can have the sustainability to get the life you want. Because, like I say, if you're going to, you know most.

Speaker 2:

We look at things as the short term, as the goal is the end. Right, if I made a million dollars or I lose 30 pounds, we act like life stops. Right then. And then the next day happens right, because we forget that we have to live the life as that person, right? So, if you are going to lose 30 pounds, well, how do I show up when I lose 30 pounds? Right. And what we do is we prepare you to be that person, because many times people lose that 30 pounds and gain it right back because they don't know how to operate as themselves when they're there. They don't know how to be that person when they're there because they haven't put in the disciplined work to just understand who they need to be, to show up as that person who's lost that weight. So we prepare you to be ready for the future. You of who you deserve to be, one step at a time.

Speaker 1:

I'm going to ask you this question how old were you or how many years ago was it that you had the accident?

Speaker 2:

Oh man, so that's probably been 14 years, because about 2000,.

Speaker 1:

It was right before standards about 2009, ish give or take, oh yeah, so about almost 15 years ago, because what I just heard you say is like you were talking to that person that you were 15 years ago and and look what you have become, uh, in that period of time. And look at all those different challenges and experiences and getting married and having children and having businesses and moving, and all that has gotten you right here in what you're on the Follow Brand Podcast, and you are doing a fantastic job of coaching us all up and letting us know, because we are in this quick fix kind of mental state to everybody. I can just pull up, you know, to wherever I want to get to and, in order to go, give me a number one to go right. And then boom, here you go, poof there, it is no worry, can you drive off? And it's really not like that.

Speaker 1:

I think every entrepreneur, every successful person you talk to, they started at the bottom of that mountain and they only came with the few clothes that they have or what do they have with them. But they wanted to ascend to that level but they had the moxie and the grit and it's like, okay, you know what I've been to the bottom, the moxie and the grit and it's like, okay, you know what I've been through. I've been to the bottom, the super bottom, whatever that was. I already know what that is and if I weren't more of that, I can just stop now, because I already got that. But I don't want that, I'm sick of that. How do I break free and move forward? Man, that's like you know. It looks very simple. When Superman comes out, clark Kent jumps into that phone booth and he just comes out with that cape. Do you realize? When he goes into that phone booth, it's actually about 15 years before he comes back out.

Speaker 2:

That's right. Yeah, that's right. You know, I find my 10-year-old he's really into that. He wants to create a big business, he wants to create a mech, he wants to do all these things. He has all these grand ambitions and I was like, I'm full support. But my rationale to him is that you will get where you want by choosing the biggest problems to solve and that's going to have the most impact. Because when we look at problems as simply, oh, I have a problem. Right, because impact.

Speaker 2:

Because when we look at problems as simply, oh, I have a problem. Right, because most of the world right, and many people and I'm sure a lot of listeners have people in their life that are constantly coming to them with problems. Right, because they see everything as a problem. They don't look at the solution for it. And then the ones who are most successful come with the solution. Right, you know, who knew that we were going to need Zoom to be able to have this communication here, to be able to do a podcast? Right, like someone solved that problem, right, you know, video chatting right. Okay, problem solved. Right. Think of anything. The automobile, right, you know they thought, okay, wait, the automobile, how are we going to need this, right? Or you look at AI how AI is going to come.

Speaker 2:

People are solving problems in such a fast pace that others are like, oh, this is something insurmountable, I'll never be able to get past it. Well, there's someone on the other side of that saying, well, oh, what a problem. Oh, if a lot of people have this problem, if I can find that solution, how valuable is that going to be? And when we can start looking at that from a point of perspective as an entrepreneur, you say, huh, okay, the problem is right now for my real estate business. Right, you cannot build housing fast enough. Over the course of 2020 to 2030, we need 16 and a half million homes and we're only on pace to build about 11 million. So we're short on homes. And no one's building an old home, right, they're only building new homes. But middle America, right, the workforce housing is the area that most people need to be served. Right, but they're only building new housing, which is putting even more pressure on the people that are workforce housing. So if I can find apartment communities and make them better places to live, they're going to be targeted at workforce housing. It's going to be something that's constantly in supply or constantly in demand, right.

Speaker 2:

So we look at that as that's our solution to a problem that exists, right? Well, ask yourself in your general vicinity, what are the problems that you're looking at as a problem? Can you just basically change your mindset to say, okay, if that's the problem, what is the solution? Right, and you can do that from everything, like the time in your day, or you know, the meetings that you're having or the job that you're having. Right, if you're looking at it as a problem, what's the solution? And if you can look at everything from the opposite, sometimes it doesn't provide the result, but it gives you the good argument for whether or not there's a better candidate for what you to do, or you're in the right place, because sometimes we're actually in the right place. It's just hard and you're like man, this is just tough, okay, well, yeah, because why would it be easy, right? If every day was just 75 and sunny, and it was always sunny out, we wouldn't appreciate it being 75 and sunny 100%.

Speaker 1:

Talk to somebody in Miami. I definitely appreciate it, but it's not always 75. Sometimes it's 85 and muggy, so it actually changes a lot. But it depends on the environment that you are in and it's the assignment. And that's what I would ask my audience Are you accepting the assignment that life has given you? And if you've accepted the assignment, then you have accepted the accountability that this is my assignment. This is what I need to do and this is how I'm going to achieve my life goal.

Speaker 1:

Now, if you want to hide from that and make excuses and run around, I used to talk to a lot of different people and they would ask me about you know life and life purposes. I said your purpose is right in front of you. You just have to choose to accept it or not. So, almost like that, that, that um, a movie that came out, you know, mission impossible. If you decide to accept this mission, right. So you have to accept the mission. And if you accept the mission, then you've got to do that assessment that you did.

Speaker 1:

Do you have the capabilities to accomplish this goal as you are right now, or are you going to need a coach? Are you going to need somebody? Most likely anybody that's accomplished anything in life has had some kind of mentor, some type of coach, somebody who's shown them the way, and then they are able to then accomplish their life's purpose. This has been a wonderful conversation with you, jason, and before I leave you, I want to give you a couple of things. I want you to tell us what you haven't told us, just in case there's something else on your mind that you definitely want to get across to the audience and tell us how your experience has been while you've been a guest on the Follow Brand Show.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so really enjoyed this. Great questions, great talk track. Super. Appreciate you having me on. It's been a very fun episode to talk about a lot of things that I don't always get to dive into, so this has been a fantastic conversation, you know.

Speaker 2:

A leaving point is that right now, as you're listening, you do not need something else.

Speaker 2:

You just need to look at yourself where you are and then make the move right, because I've heard too many times that, well, once I have this, or once I have that right, or once this happens or that happens, then I'll do this right, but you're just setting up roadblocks that are just imaginary at the moment. Right, if it's that important to make the change, you will find the time right. It's like if you know something happened right now that was critical, right, you know, like you know whatever, right, I would find the time to go deal with it. Right, because it was a critical part. So you have to look at where you want to go and say how critical is this? And if it's critical, you're going to find the time, you're going to find the route and if we can help you, you want to go over and talk with us to see if we can help you, as believe in you that you have the permission to go out there and seek the life you want. It just takes you right. It takes you more than anything else 100%, man.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for leaving us with that great thought, the wisdom, the knowledge and the journey that you shared. I really appreciate talking to you. I would have never thought I didn't hear the Jersey accent. Did anybody else hear the Jersey accent? I didn't hear the Jersey accent. I think he's been down there in Tennessee for a while, so that's been wonderful. Before you leave us, you got to tell us how to get in touch with you.

Speaker 2:

Sure, sure, Again, appreciate you having me on the show. You can find me at the Live 100 podcast. It's very short, six to eight minute quips just talking about the feeling of the day, helping you get momentum, helping you live your Live 100 journey. Or if you want to learn about working with us, go over to jasonyarusicom.

Speaker 1:

Oh, that's wonderful, and your entire audience. Please tune in to all the episodes of Follow the Brand that is at the number five. That's five-star BDM B for brand, d for development infomancerscom. This has been wonderful. I can't wait to see you.