September 22, 2022 • 56 mins
John Terzian is the owner and co-founder of The h.wood Group, which is an LA based hospitality & lifestyle marketing company with an iconic portfolio of luxury nightlife and restaurant venues.
John was a former USC Football walk-on back in the early 2000's. He joins the show to discuss the direct correlation his walk-on journey has had with his current successes.
John and Noah discuss:
- Being tormented as a walk-on
- Friendship with Drake
- Working for Kobe Bryant's agent
- Skill that propelled him most
- Law School teaching him to speak
- His failures then vs. now
...Book recommendations....Studying entrepreneurs....Having a foundation....Finding stability....Paul Hackett/Pete Carrol....& so much more!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Walkie talkies is a production of I heeart radio and
the college athletes network. Hello Gang, yeah, walkie talkies gang,
(00:28):
welcome into walkie talkies podcast. You're listening to w TC
e twenty, which is our fake radio code for Walkie
Talking podcast episode twenty, just because it sounds good and
I like it. Man, this one special today and I'm
gonna tell you why. First of all, I'm gonna thank
you all for choosing walkie talking podcast today. We are
here on the college athletes network, featured on IHEART radio,
and I'm your host. No, what Buano. Now, as for
(00:50):
the reasons to why today's episode is special, because it's
always a good feat when we complete another set of
ten episodes, with this being our twentieth episode in our
sixteen different guests on the show. And the other thing
making this episode special is because we have an the
really big time former walk on, John Terzian, who is
the owner and Co founder of the H Wood Group,
(01:10):
which is a Los Angeles based hospitality and lifestyle company
with a diversified portfolio of upscale nightlife and restaurant venues.
John just so happened to be a former walk on
for the USC Football Program we played quarterback for two
years back in the early, early two thousand's. Man Today's
conversation with John was super dope for a lot of reasons.
But you know, John felt that his days as a
(01:30):
walk on have a direct correlation with the success he's
having now. You know, H Wood Group has generated north
of fifty million dollars in revenue and John says their
five year plan is they hope to hit the three
to four hundred million mark in the next five years
and eventually, you know, making it a billion dollar company
being a long term plan as they start to merge
into the hotel business, which we get into now. John
(01:51):
and I go from dissecting his journey from walk on
to law school, to his events company he ran during
Undergrad and law school, up to his early failures leading
up to h wood and all the way into top
tier business advice from the mindset of a guy who's
currently building an empire. So really cool stuff, especially for me.
You know, I really like to consider myself a young
entrepreneur and as a young guy fresh out of college,
(02:11):
you know, it was just refreshing to be able to
have this conversation with someone like John and be able
to pick his brain and just get some good business
nuggets from him, all while hearing about, you know, his
journey as a walk on and what helped propel him
to the heights he's reached now, which is what the
show is meant to do, man, highlight, you know, people
like this who have made successes, you know, after their
roles as walk on. So really good stuff coming up.
(02:33):
Last few things before we get into it. Some small
show announcements to follow after the interview in my episode Outro,
with a little update on the show for those interested.
And the last thing is to please make sure you
are subscribed to walkie talk podcast and passing these amazing
walk on journeys along to anyone that you think may
enjoy them, uh, and also leaving the show review following
(02:54):
us on social media for video highlights of every episode.
You can find us on twitter, instagram and TIKTOK AT
W T Z podcast. Those are all really, really appreciated.
All right, I swear that's all for me. Let's jump
into my full conversation with former USC quarterback, walk on,
an owner and Co founder of the H Wood Group,
John Terzian. How are you, man, good man, how you doing? Good,
(03:16):
good so, to start us off, you were USC quarterback
walk on and it was roughly around early two thousand's. Uh.
Carson Palmer was the starting cornerback. It was like around
that time period, if I'm correct. So what were those years?
Did you play all four years? What was what was
the whole dynamic? No, it's that it's actually a pretty
funny story, Um, and it's probably fitting for my my
(03:38):
life and almost representative of how what I'm doing now
came about. H Wood Um. So I went to, you know,
born and raised in Los Angeles. Um, ironically, my entire
family is wasn't his die hard USC and USC alumni,
but growing up I was like the black sheep and
(04:00):
was obsessed with Michigan. Um. Fab Five era was my uh.
I played both basketball and football, even though football was
more of my sport. I went to a high school
um in l a called Harvard Westlake and, you know,
I was the quarterback for it. Was a starting quarterback
for both my junior and senior year, and my senior
(04:21):
year my tight end was the kind of became the
number one guy in the country. His name was Alex Holmes,
still one of my one of my closest friends to
date and I was graduating. He was. He was a sophomore. Actually,
he had two more years. No, yeah, he had. He
was a junior. Yeah, he had a year year after
me in high school and I was graduating and Um,
(04:44):
you know, I went I got recruited to smaller schools
for football. Um, so I went to I went to view.
That my you know, my whole life was was football,
and so I was going to go to like a
cornell or just, but there was a bunch of smaller
schools when took visits and Um, you know, just it
didn't feel right. I ended up getting into Michigan and
(05:05):
I was gonna go walk on. I got my background
actually was also an artist, so I got a scholarship
actually on art. I went to visit Michigan, you know,
loved it, decided to go, decided to accept and just
off a whim, because I had gotten into USC as well, decide,
(05:25):
you know, I was going to give up my football days.
went to USC just with a friend for who was
already there as at a party, and I was like
I'm never going anywhere else. It was the greatest school.
So I took back my Michigan or I've you know,
rescinded my Michigan Thing, accepted USC and I was like,
you know, I'm just gonna have fun and it's gonna
(05:45):
be a college student. It was hard on me because
sports for my whole life went there. You know, was
got pretty active with the schools and the fraternity got
really big and, you know, planning social, social events and things,
because it just kind of was my nature being from
L A. and then I get a call from at
the time it was actually Hackett, who was the coach,
(06:09):
and I don't I literally thought it was like a
crank call, and he was like hey, you know, can
we have a talk? It's Paul Hackett. It's like we
really want you to walk on the team, you know,
and and they had known me from high, high school,
but I was never, you know, I wasn't looked at
to recruit and so I found I found it kind
of weird they wanted me in my freshman year and
in the middle of freshman year and it turns out
(06:30):
they really wanted Alex Holmes, who was the tight end
high school, and he said he'll only come to USC
if I play on the team. So I agreed to
so I was an invited walk on Alex obviously joined there.
So I played my sophomore junior year. Um, to this
day I credit so much of what I'm doing in
(06:52):
life with that. I mean those were the hardest most
amazing days. I mean it was five am workouts, class,
three PM practice, than film at night. And I was
the so it was Carson Palmer, who was an amazing guy.
They're all amazing, but Carson, Mike Van Rab Coors, Matt
Castle Than Me. So I was I was the fourth
(07:16):
and I just got annihilated in practice. Did you ever
play like? Did you ever get in the Games? Like?
I never got in the game. Um, I was great
in practice. I got at the arm and I was
always you know, but it was honestly incredible learning experience
and it was great. And then I had too many concussions.
I didn't get to that later, but I s thought
(07:37):
my senior year and went to work for a sports
agent and I had started my whole event company out
of this. But yeah, I was. I was in those
seasons and Packett was the coach and when I left
I had with the spring ball was Pete Carroll was
coming in. Uh, then that was a new era. So
you went two years and you you went to the
Sports Agency your senior year. What? Like? What do you
(07:59):
credit what you're doing now to? Like that? You look
back at that walk on experience, like you said, if
it wasn't for this, you know, there's so much you
take with you. Like was it the hard regimented schedule?
Like yeah, a couple of things. I had no business,
with my size and whatever, being on that team and
I earned my keep, and I mean I got annihilated
(08:21):
every day I got you know, I'll never forget. At
Oseron was the Lineman, defensive lineman coach, and he would
stop practice and just torment me. Um, it was. It
was actually pretty embarrassing, Um, but it teaches you to
have that tenacity, teaches you to come back, it teaches
you at all odds. You know too, too, and I
(08:43):
have to say Carol, you know, really was a different
type of coach. He was embracing everyone, Hack Itt, I
hate to say. It was awful to me and awful
to walk on. Um, you had to really like you know, Um,
you know, the players were amazing, the best. I still
have relationships from there. And then why? Why credit what
I'm doing today to that? was because I got really
(09:04):
known for. The one thing they started to respect me
the front of the Athletics Office was, you know, on
like kind of a whim because I was from l a.
They had me entertained some recruits and I did, and
I put together a whole fun you know houting or whatever.
Recruits all signed because of me and then it became
a thing. So I basically created what became h wood
(09:26):
out of that with the recruiting process and parties and
a Combo, and then created a whole events company that
grew really big and even when I went to work
for I worn't. I worked for R and tell Um
um my senior year, who was Kobe's agent. So I
was I was actually Kobe's like assistant Um for that
senior year. I still had the whole parties and I
(09:47):
was forming what eventually became Hwood. I went to law
school because you didn't know at the time, though, that
it was h wood, like it was just it was.
It was the foundational steps of like what was to come. Yeah,
I had all walks of life because of my background.
L A. Sports are know, just a whole different you know,
unlike most people, I had just all walks of life.
(10:09):
And I was good at putting stuff together, but I
did not know I was gonna end up going into
what I'm doing. I thought even at that time I
really was into the sports agent Thingum, but you know, uh,
it led me to what I'm doing. Yeah, so you
you mentioned Hackett treated you like Shit. Uh, that's that's
a pretty common thing that, you know, walk on's experience,
(10:30):
which is what I was going to kind of bleed into,
is Um. You know, why did you stick it out?
We only did two years, so I guess it wasn't,
you know, you had a better opportunity. But was there
not the noticeable differences from you and the rest of
the guys that Hackett kind of made a parent treating
you like ship? What? Is there an example so people
can kind of understand, like, well, what does he mean
when he says, you know, something like that? And first
(10:51):
of all, I wouldn't have stopped. I had to. When
you get I had three concussions in the same year.
So they actually I actually kind of had to stop, Um,
my senior year. Um, but no, it was it was
just like a few things, like Hackett never even barely
let me suit up for the walk on. So you know,
(11:13):
there's probably fifteen of US whatever for the Home Games,
which you're allowed to do. They really wanted to show you,
you know, and then I never cared about having a
Red Jersey or whatever, but they really wanted you annihilated.
And then maybe several conversations of like what you know, just,
you know what, I'm surprised you're even still here like
stuff like that, where it's like, I can tell you.
(11:34):
Carol was the opposite and he really loved you know.
At the end of the day, I just when you
asked why I was there, Ay, my my arm was
just as good as anyone to be there. So I
was doing well in practice for them, Um, and I
love football and I love the guys. The team was there,
all great to me there, you know, it wasn't it
wasn't them, it was the coaching. and to me, the
(11:56):
other thing I learned was it was top down. So
because Hackett behaved that way, all the other coaches felt
like they could. If the other we reverse, they follow suit. Yeah,
and so looking back on it, it's like, you know,
why be like that? You know, you got you got
kids loving to play the game, you know, and you've
got you know, really camaraderie and it was just a
(12:18):
weird thing. And then you see the difference in the
team when Carol came in and was the complete opposite.
The team was incredible, you know. Yeah, they they set
the tone. And I actually talked to Rudy Rudiger, the
movie Rudy Um, and he you know, he said I
asked him because he said that he would be by
the way, oh, really great. Yeah, and he used to
(12:40):
say that. Here he was saying the same thing about
like coaches treating him like that, and I just posed
the question, because he's older, as to like why is
that the case? And he pretty much just said because
the coach is a loser, like he takes his ship
out on the kid. And you know, so you'd say
a good or bad experience overall for you. You know,
those two years you spent in the program amazing. Um,
(13:01):
best experience, even with all the ship, even with all that,
because you know what it really I don't think you
could get that type of life lesson that early. Um,
there's nothing that stops me. So what do you? Yeah,
what do you? I don't mean to interrupt you. What
just like the preparation that that, you know, eating ship
gave you. Like. What was it? Mental? It was the mental,
(13:27):
mental thing, because I think it could. I think that
the ups and downs, the Ebbs and flows of an entrepreneur,
which which or business man. I shouldn't take away from anyone,
but any aspect of that, are not taught or talked
about enough in school and I think if I didn't
have the background that I did with what I went
(13:48):
through with SC football, I probably would have broken at
some point with because I had a lot of crazy,
sad failures and downs with what I'm doing with h wood,
especially early on, and I think if I didn't have
that mental back own and what I know, you know
at the very end of the day, that I can
(14:08):
believe in myself that I can get through anything, Um,
no matter what anyone thinks or says or does, I
think I would have broken. I really do and I
think most people do. So I really credit that UH
totally overall. That doesn't mean I should have been treated
like Shil I think. I think the thing in itself,
the the regiment, the schedule, the getting hits, all all
(14:30):
of that, I think in it in itself is enough.
The mental stuff was definitely, I opening. I don't exactly
wish anyone to go through that, but I do think
it helped me, you know. Yeah, I think most most
people that I get the chance to speak to kind
of have similar views of like you know that what
it did to my mental made my my skin thicker
(14:50):
and it kind of just gives you like, I don't know,
a thicker shield of armor, I guess you could call it.
Because like, like, what what are you not used to? Um,
because of all the ship that you you saw at
such a young age, like you said. So I don't
really want to focus on the walk on stuff as
much because, you know, you only did two years and,
more so you know the aftermath of Undergrad uh, take
(15:10):
it in the direction of how that walk on experience
helped you in any way, you know, building this empire
within the service industry, which is obviously one of the
most competitive industries to be successful in. All right, but
a quick break before we dive into John's law school
journey and the beginning stages of the H Wood Group.
So don't go anywhere. In the meantime, if you want
to subscribe to the podcast and find us on social
media's for video highlights of every episode, you can do
(15:31):
that at W T Z podcast, on Instagram, tiktok and twitter.
There's seriously so, so much more to come throughout this conversation,
so stay put through this quick break and we'll be
right back. Welcome back into episode twenty of Wacky talking podcast.
I'm your host. No Banna. Remember to click that subscribe
button and follow the podcast on social media's at w
(15:54):
TC podcast for video highlights of every episode. And let's
bring back in John Terzy in. Um. So you go
to pepperdine law school. A couple of quick things. You
can answer them quickly. What made you go to law school?
Did you use a law degree at all? Did you
know you weren't going to use the law degree? Um,
what was the case with you know why you decided
to do that? I didn't know what I wanted to
(16:14):
do in life and I'm from a family of lawyers
and having a law background was always a thing of hey,
you can do anything that you set your mind too.
I I looked up to some entrepreneurs, uh that I
had studied, and I kind of always knew I wanted
to be an entrepreneur and and a lot of the
underlying factors I saw as they actually had a law
(16:37):
degrees versus business, and then I thought also, possibly, not possibly.
I think the lead thing for me was to be
a sports agent because of all my ties to the team.
You know, at the time I had gotten so close
because I had, you know, with Mike Williams and it
was the Reggie Bush era, you know, and so there
was all these guys that I was close, close with,
(16:57):
you know, Paula Malou and all great guys, and in
my mind it's like there's something there. So I just,
you know, I went because of that. Um, I would
say law school is another example of what I went
through with football. For a guy like me, for an
artistic mind, it was probably more grueling and hard than
the football walk on football years. UH, first year of
(17:20):
law school I wouldn't wish upon anyone as well, Um,
you know, and it was it's great behindsight, because it
taught me how to read and think differently. I think
most important, it taught me how to speak, because you
the socratic method really, you know, challenges a person to
speak and I think it's the most important thing you
(17:41):
can learn and know and figure figure out. I was
never going to be a lawyer. The whole I knew
that and that was okay. It was just for the background. Um,
the whole time I worked for both. I always had jobs.
So I had my events company the whole time and
then I also was interning for aren't tell Um, the
sports agent, and Um I did a thing with Sony,
(18:03):
the president, the chairman of Sony. So I had all
these different worlds that I was kind of doing the
entire time of law school. Wow. So briefly rewind on
the Paulamalu, the Reggie Bush. You were around for all
of that. You were out of USC and at Pepperdine.
But what part of you? What? What? How were you
in the mix of? You know, some of those players,
with some of those players. Paul Malla was on the team.
(18:25):
was on the team with me. He was the he
was the safety, but I was the heavy recruiter putting
the stuff together for recruiting. When Reggie was was Reggie
Bush and Mike Williams and that whole class were incoming
basically line art. But where were you at there? You
were still part of the team when they came in. No,
I was. I was a senior then then, uh, I
(18:48):
was a senior in college and then first year out,
I think it was okay, okay, I lined up like that.
I was still doing that, I was still helping the recruiting.
That's because I was doing or became that's an interesting
role to have, like a like benefit that team, because
you weren't really getting anything in return, I guess, directly
from them, but you were on the flip side because
(19:10):
you were building relationships with some of these guys. Yeah,
and I also I never look at I never look
at stuff like that. It's just if I love it,
you know, and I love USC and I love it,
like I said, like, yeah, I have to build relationship
with the guys and then, you know, that was really
why why I was doing I was good at it.
Did you have any debt from your time at USC
or law school, like, because obviously, as a walk on
(19:32):
you don't get a scholarship, and then law school is
law school. So did you have any debt you had
to pay back? No, I didn't. I lived at home
with my parents. Um, I was able to get I
was able to get law school um covered for them.
No housing and none of that. And then I also
was making like good money off of my events company,
this promotion company, so I was in a good situation
(19:54):
on that, but you know, I gotten debt later with uh,
the first part of h wood. Yeah, so you you say,
though I've heard you speak in some other of you
is just about like you know you're the eternal optimist
and you'll take on the world. And you know, what
was the vision during law school? You're like doing this
events company. You don't really know what you're doing. You
(20:15):
want to be an entrepreneur, but did you have a
vision after law school for the direction you wanted to
kind of take your life in? No, I still didn't
know fully I just I knew that I wanted to
be I wanted to do something special and different and
make a difference in whatever field or whatever I'm doing.
I just didn't fully know. And I was good with people,
(20:36):
as good relationships. I couldn't. I didn't pass the bar
Um as a very low time for me. Um, I
had no idea what I was gonna do. I couldn't.
I applied to a ton of the jobs. Couldn't get
a job anywhere, ironically. So it was. It was tough.
I didn't fully know. I, you know, luckily had a
(20:57):
great relationship with the friend of mine who was was
starting to become a uh, he was a DJ and
I was friends with his manager, who was a guy
that was going to become his lawyer and manager, and
his name was Dj am and he was like the
first celebrity Dj and he was like just come you know,
you have a good you have a law background, you
have an heart background, come brand me. And then so
that's what I started. I just had nothing to do.
(21:18):
It was leving ahold of my parents and I was
out of law school at the time. And so that's
twenty four, because I went straight from law from college.
You got a law school way younger than most people, right. Yeah,
I went straight to law school. I was twenty one
in law school too. Three, yes, so when I graduated
(21:39):
that year, Um, and yeah, because I started. It was
my last year of law school and I was like,
I don't know what I'm gonna do. I started talking
to a m took the bar, didn't pass it, took
the bar again, didn't pass it, and I was just
super down, you know. And so that was tough. And
so I credit am because I threw myself into you know,
(22:03):
his world was deejaying and clubs and one of one
of you know, critical things that I did was create
this nightclub around him that or I co created with
with his manager, Larry, and it was called L A X,
and so I was like, you know, I was every job.
I was the janitor, I collected the cash, I helped
do the marketing, I helped bring in, you know, I
(22:25):
did everything, and I traveled with him that entire year.
I was, you know, in every city, everything with him,
watching everything Um and that, I think, that's when I
started aform. I didn't want to do that. What I
what I wanted to do was bring people together and
build spaces, and that's when I had the idea to
open a nightclub. But my big picture was always to
(22:45):
open a hotel. So I gave it right and I'm
I'm gonna get to that quickly, but I want to
briefly touch on something with like starting up a business,
starting like, you know, something that just starts as a
thought in your head. I feel like there's a lot
of resistance and everyone's everyday lives. You know, we want
to do this, we want to do that, but everybody
just has no clue where to start, like what at
starting point is, and they struggle with the resistance to
(23:06):
just go and do it. So for you, what was
your starting point like when trying to get into the
service industry space? Like how do you know? So you
just said, though, like that was the start for h wood,
but how did you know, when you were going to
start it, what to do? Like it was like what
you know? What's the first four things? The first two
things you gotta go and do? I didn't know and
I didn't have anyone teach me and I didn't have
(23:28):
you know, I just I knew that I could. The
one difference, the one thing I will say is I
do tell everyone don't do stuff for money. Do stuff
because you believe in and love it, and money will
follow Um. And in this case it was a similar thing.
I saw the landscape, because I lived and breathe that
nightlife world. I saw that I could do something different,
(23:50):
and so, you know, what I needed to do, at
least in my instance, was find a find a space,
find a venue, have the concept, which I did in
my mind, and you know, and raise the money. And
so I scrapped together from like fifty different, I think
probably fifty different friends and family, you know, which was
(24:13):
really hard to do. My first place which ended up
opening in two thousand six or seven. Yeah, now you
get money from them, which is probably somewhat awkward and
uncomfortable asking for once, once you're successful and you know,
they see that it's a go, it's a thing, it's working,
(24:34):
you reimburse them and then you move forward and start
to take your profit and go from there. Yeah, you do.
You do a split. But my my first three things
were complete flops and so I lost all the money, Um,
including my including my families, and it was it was
just the worst times of all time. So then where
did you go from there? You lose the money and
(24:54):
it's like what the Fund is next? Yeah, so, I
mean the difference. The one thing I'll say is, and
I do always stress, is that I always I and
everyone you know that I is successful, should play the
long game. I was very above board. I didn't, you know,
we were amazing and we had a built great we
built great places. We didn't like do anything wrong or,
(25:17):
you know, we didn't fully know how to operate well.
So it was just a matter of we had great crowds,
great sales, just did not operate and lost money. Had
had noise issues, had cops issues. It was a whole thing.
So I think I was a little young and and, Um,
very ambitious, and so it was. You know, it was actually,
(25:39):
in hindsight, a good setback because it caused me to
really say, Hey, I gotta like learn the business. Um.
So I went back to my partner and I, Brian,
you know, decided to go back to the promoting situation
and build our based back and build some you know,
money back, and so we did that and, Um, when
(26:00):
you say, uh, you know what kind of caused me
to get back? I was never going to do anything
about what I'm doing now. I had that type of tenacity.
So nothing was stopping me and I knew, I just
knew I was going to be able to and I
needed that moment to do it again. Like there was
never a plan B for you. It was always no
plan B, Plan Eight. It's impossible for plan eight to fail.
(26:21):
Type of thing. I mean remember when my parents asked
me what I was going to do and if I
was going to start looking for jobs, and I thought
they were out of their minds, you know, because you
know and they're like, well, you know, at this point,
you're how old was I when this was all I
think I was like twenty eight at that point, when
like everything had had, you know, twenty nine one of those,
(26:43):
and I just knew that I was going to find
I had to I had to win. So I also
I listened to a couple of interviews just to prepare,
and I heard you say something about just like lacking
in mentorship and how you, you know, ideally like to
be a mentor to some of the people, you know, interns,
younger people that work for h wood. Um, do you
(27:04):
think that the lack of mentorship kind of derailed your progress?
Like maybe at twenty eight you don't fail. Maybe that
failure happens at six and now you're successful by like
was there a m was there a hindrance in the
in the growth and the progression of h wood, like
getting to h wood and the success of it, because
you didn't have any mentorship? It's a tough question. It's
(27:26):
good question. I don't know. It could it could be
one of the other it also could have it also
could be part of my success because I'm so driven
to when and I'm so and I wouldn't and it's
almost like I don't owe anyone anything, and they almost
had like this Kobe mentality of like, no one's done
anything for me, I'm gonna do it and and I'll
(27:48):
give back, you know, when I make a type of
thing like so it was like that type of drive.
But you but yeah, I think if I did have
like the right mentor in that business, and you know,
great family, great, there's none of them were entrepreneurs. If
I had that, could have it could have been a
lot more knowledge and what you know, a lot, a
lot better of a ride in that regard. It's a
(28:10):
good it's a good point. So, Um, you mentioned the
hotel thing and I did see that hotels are the
end goals for you guys. Um, how far away would
you say h wood is from that? Uh, not far.
I mean we we we've been in the in the
mix of getting, you know, currently right now. So definitely
a big, big aspect for us. You know, we're in
(28:33):
deep expansion mode on both Delilah and Nice Guy. Um,
those are like because we're opening in multiple cities. Um,
but a very close second and at the same time
as is our first hotel and it'll start in Cali
and then probably, like you were doing with the club's
expand and expand, it will be in. WE HAVE TO
START IT IN L A. Okay, last break here. Right
(28:54):
when we come back, John goes into his relationship with
drake and being name dropped by him. What skill has
helped propel him the most his failures then versus now
having stability, building your foundation, studying entrepreneurs and really so,
so much more in the home stretch that you will enjoy,
no doubt. So don't go anywhere, we'll be right back.
Welcome back into episode twenty of Wakie Tucky podcast. Remember
(29:18):
to click that subscribe button and follow the pod on
social media's at w TC podcast. And let's get into
the home stretch with John Terze Um. So something funny
that I came across and I didn't really put the
two together until, you know, I sat down and put
the script together. But you know, rappers name drop athletes
and celebs all the time. It's always a big deal,
you know, for the athlete and whatnot, and you had
(29:39):
a version of that with drake shouting out Delilah's and
Champagne poetry on certified lover boy. I'm not sure you
know how big of a track listener you are. I'm
sure I know. I think you're probably friends with him
and exited him. But like when you heard, when you
heard the bar you know, did your eyes light up?
Was it like Oh, you know, because you know when
he has the Kevin Durant Line, when he has all
these other lines, it's like, oh, fucking hey, like it's sick.
(30:01):
So for you it had to be a similar feeling. Yeah,
I mean it was. I knew it was. I mean
he's he's one of my close, close friends and I
and I think you know we've we've been been in
it together for a long time. I credit a lot
of h wood and Delilah success to him. Um. So, yes,
it's amazing. It's always amazing to hear and it is
(30:23):
a major, major thing and uh, you know, I never
downplay that. It's a big deal and really and really
cool and special. How do you Um, you know, you
said you credit a lot of it to drake. How
does that formulate? Like where's the where's the origins of
like drake and you kind of connecting and him endorsing
Delilah's and it going from there? It's kind of what
(30:44):
I said earlier with the kind of the long game.
I don't at the end of the day. It's about
people in relationships and until I've built everything and and
I love that. And I ended up getting introduced to
drake through a mutual friend about twelve years ago when he,
you know, he had just like his first album was
(31:04):
coming out, or just can come out, I think, Um,
and we just hit it off as friends like that's
that's it. And we stayed super close and then any
time in be in L A, we do stuff together.
You know, his whole team, with his manager of future Angelo,
and they're all the whole Oveo crew, is is, you know,
I'm best friends with and so, you know, it's been
(31:26):
now a long time. It's been a decade plus now.
Would just would you say he's one of your favorite
rappers or you biased? I'm very biased, but I also
feel it's an unbiased statement as well. So yeah, I
I don't know drake, but I would say that. Yeah,
I mean I completely agree. So, Um, would you say
there's any other celebrities you know that you're close with,
(31:50):
like drake, because of what your job, untail, is, where
the relationship was maybe, uh, just as organic as the
one with drake, or maybe, like it happened in a
different way, but you have, you know, special relationships with
whom else that are you would consider big time celebrities
based on what you do? Yeah, I do. I mean,
I'm gonna give you an annoying answer. I don't talk
about it, uh so yet. But yes, there are a
(32:14):
handful of super close friends that our celebrities. But the
Nice thing is is the reason I think we're so
close was because it started before they were, as you know,
who they are. In a lot of ways, that's something
that money can't buy and business can't buy and friendship
is is actually genuine. Um. So it's one of those
(32:34):
things that that it's, like I said earlier, it's like
it all comes down to just playing the long game
and actually caring and being a good person, you know,
and that's that's what it is. It's funny because, like,
you got, you know, walked all over by Hackett and
like from an early age, like I guess, weren't really
shown how to treat people correctly, but you were still
(32:54):
able to always like, you know, keep in mind like
what meant, what it meant to you to like give
to people, treat people the right way, have relationships, build
meaningful relationships, like and then to be able to like
build a business off of like your ability to, like
you said, in law school you learned how to, uh,
you know, communicate with people and really speak and then
to kind of bring those together, and then you build
(33:17):
this company based off like your ability to, you know,
galvanate the troops and bring people together and into a common,
common space. Um, did you think that that was something
that was going to be the catalyst for you, or
did you think like there maybe be a different skill
of yours that was going to make you, know, your
entrepreneurs entrepreneurship journey, as successful as it is? I don't
(33:40):
think I knew anything. I think what I knew, I
think the one thing I knew early on, naturally, which
is a really healthy thing to know and I think
it's it's more and more talked about now, was I
didn't think I knew. Actually, more than that, I knew
that I didn't know everything. I didn't I didn't know.
(34:02):
I knew I needed to like have experts around me,
and I think that was a major aspect and in
my mind, Um, I knew I wasn't going to be
I'm not the richest, I'm not the best looking, I'm
not the smartest. I think that one of those things that,
like I was like, you know, the one thing someone
can't ever take from me is out working them, and so,
(34:26):
you know, that was where I think, if to answer
your question earlier, what I did early on think was, hey,
I'm going to be able to outwork anyone, meaning I
will work longer, harder, smarter Um than anybody, and no
one's no one can take that from me. That's one
thing that, like that's just gotta be in you. You Go,
(34:46):
you can do it, you know, and that was a
big thing for me. A personal question that I have
for you would be, you know, you outwork people. You
know you you, you bet on that part of it.
But like, is there any point in your mind where,
like you know you can't do it or you don't
know what you're doing, or you have to get to
a point where, like you know you're you're messing up?
(35:07):
Like you said, you had your failures, but like when
did you get to the point where you had just
a strategic mindset and everything you did it was like, okay,
I'm not going to make that move because there's not
a strategy behind it, like there's not enough research and
shipped behind it that's gonna tell me like, yeah, it's
going to produce x, Y and Z. for me it's
just going to produce. You know, it's a it's a
whim if it produces anything. Like when do you get
to a point where you know, you know you're doing
(35:30):
things on a day to day basis and there's just
nothing but strategy involved and you know strategy behind it?
I think. I think I'm big on learning from failures
and I think it's easier said than done, but that's
that's where it when I had some, when I had
some colossal early failures, I knew each time, and, by
the way, still have failures, and each time I learned
(35:51):
from it. And you can go one of two ways.
You can bury your head in the stand and be
upset about it or fight it or whatever, or you
can actually learn from it. And so when you learn
from it, what it actually means, is what you just
asked me, is you learn the strategic moves to not
be in that situation again. So if a venue fails,
(36:12):
why did it fail? If an event flopped, why did
it flop? And you actually can pick pick apart what
it is and you avoid that strategically. In the future
is there? Is it an exact science? No, but is
there a good amount of lessons to be learned in
a good amount of strategy? Yes. What would you say?
It would be like a small or a version of
a failure that h wood could experience at the stage
(36:35):
it's at now. You know, verse maybe when you started
where it doesn't you know, maybe it hurts, but it's
like it's an easier bounce back than it would have been. Well,
I don't know. If anything, I mean it's it's it's tough.
I mean we make everything I'm doing is a risk.
It's it's very similar to like the you know, I
like in it a lot, to the film business, which
(36:55):
I don't think people realize. You could have the greatest idea, cast, director, writer,
money behind it, you don't know if it's going to
be successful. Film, there's no there's there's no world where
you can predict. So a restaurant, a nightclub, hotel is
very similar. I can have all the pieces together of
(37:16):
all the right moves and you just don't know. And
so you know, it's a lot like, I guess, Golf,
even though I'm not a golfer. The better you get
means that you're doing less awful shots, you know, meaning
like you're you're not out there doing crazy. So in
this case, for specifically hospitality, what I'm talking about, I've
(37:38):
been in it long enough and my part and my
team as where I know, you know how the roomies
have feel and the layout needs of field and the
lighting and the decor or the service and and also
that just comes from experience and learning from what works
and what doesn't right. Um, so, if you don't mind
answering this, obviously you know, I guess it's h Wood's
(37:59):
net worth or your net worth is thirty five to
fifty million dollars. Is what you guys have done in revenue. Um,
if you could ballpark it, or if if you're willing
to answer it's no problem. If you're not, like what
do you what's the estimated growth you see, you know,
once the hotel business opens, like, where do you see
the empire going to from a dollar signed perspective? I guess. Yeah,
(38:20):
so h Woo's revenue was north of that. Um, uh.
And then I think sky's and I wanted to be
a billion dollar company. I wanted to be doing I
want revenue to be you know, above my my goal,
my immediate goal, is to be revenue above, you know,
three million year. You know that's that's a five year
(38:42):
plan type of thing. H but you know, more important
than revenue is profit. Is even done. So I think
that's the key in our business. It's a very hard
it's a it's a, it's a it's a restaurant business.
Is Very tough to profit, and so that matters much
more than revenue. Okay, it's interesting. I mean, do you
(39:04):
think five year plan? Probably, I mean because you said
that you failed at eight, so you're thirty seven now. Right. Okay, Google,
maybe I was looking at an old article. Um. Anyway,
a couple of quick hitters and then we can wrap
it up. What are what would you say are some
of the coolest perks that come along with your job? Uh,
(39:26):
you know that, I don't know. You tell me. I
can't even give me. I can't give an example. Like
is it, you know, going golfing with O B j?
Is it fucking riding on a yacht? Like, what are
the cool perks that like my man Odello, I do? Um,
I think, I think I have the coolest. I don't
even view it as a job. It's life. Uh. You know,
(39:47):
I get to do and see some of the coolest
things in experience really create, you know, help create some
of the coolest moments. Um, you know, on my wall alone,
for example, you know, we, you know, we're drake. We
needed to do a thing in las ve Vegas and,
you know, help help put together. Him Performing on the
(40:08):
Bellaggio fountains and being out on the fountains and no
one's ever done it before is like one of so
many examples where it's like people, you know, would give
anything to do stuff like that and I do it regularly.
So it's a very fun thing and it's actually an
important question you have, because I have to sometimes remember
that when you're in the thick of the world, is that,
(40:29):
at the very end of the day, it's it's it's cool. Um.
I also love just having my my restaurants and stuff.
I'm in my family and I live and breathe them.
I I eat at them five, six nights a week
and it's very cool and I don't ever take it
for granted that we have like a cheers, like a
like atmosphere. That's super cool. Do you Um, do you
(40:49):
like with the with the restaurants and stuff. You should
you eat their five six nights a week, like, I mean,
is there no home cooked meals going on? Is it?
Is that the is that the version of the home
cooked meal? Yeah, that's true. We do. If we do,
the other nights are home. Um, what celebrity would you
say you were surprised most by showing up to one
(41:10):
of your establishments where you you know, I didn't expect
that Holy Shit moment. You know, I never talked about celebrities.
I will say one. One thing for you. Was The
coolest thing to me was when Martha Stewart and snoop
were eating a nice guy lone years ago and it
was like the first time anyone had seemed. It was
(41:32):
before they're like people knew about the relationship. was very cool. Yeah,
if you yeah, there as people. Um. Last two. Do
you read any books that have sholped, helped shape your
perspective in Your Business Mindset, whether it was ten years ago,
fifteen years ago or two days ago, like are you?
Are you a book reader? Does that? Is that something
(41:52):
that helps you, know, Um, advance your thinking? I think
it does. You know, I should read a lot more.
I used to a lot more I asked. I actually
used to read a ton of philosophy. Um. I've Read
Art of war like five times. Um, so that's a
huge aspect. Um. I currently am reading The Walt Disney biography,
which I would my friend Um got for me and
(42:14):
I would encourage any person, but definitely any aspiring entrepreneur,
to read, Um, probably the coolest story and best story
you could read. Yeah, I think a lot of that
shapes shapes you. I think it helps quite a bit.
I I very much study that and I very much
study art. So those are some major aspects. Um. Two
(42:35):
more the to rewind slightly, you said the business side
of it. When you were doing, you know, the water
found at the Bolaggio with drake, like it's hard to
enjoy it sometimes, like you have to check back in
with yourself, and that's probably, like do you correlate that
to the like the you know, the stress and the
pressure of making sure it goes well, it gets set up,
it happens, people are like, you know, you accomplish it
(42:56):
and then you like then you can sit back and
enjoy it. Is that why you have to like do
that check back in, because, like, you spend all the
time just being, you know, a wiry fuck of like
I gotta get I said, I gotta get this done,
like you know, I don't know how you work and
if it's like crazy like that, but you know what
I mean, where it's like once it's completed, then you
feel that sense of relief, of like satisfaction. We did it. Yeah, yeah,
some version of that. I I try to be the
(43:19):
calm the calm version of what you just said. It's
a lot of stress. I don't mean to call you
a wiry funk, I wasn't. Well, it's an important thing
because I've had to learn over the years to be
poised even in the key, is to be poised in
the in the most frantic moments, Um, as a as
a leader. So even internally when I'm, you know, kind
(43:41):
of going crazy, it's important for others to see the calmness.
Um just hard on an individual, you know, and that's
a big check. Yeah, big thing for a leader too
would be to you know, stay calm rally the troops,
like if the leaders rattled and spiraled like, I don't
see how your you know, your teammates can remember. Would
not be too very easy to talk about that. It's
(44:03):
it's another thing when you're actually in it, you know,
and so that's the difference. Um. You said earlier you
had entrepreneurs that you looked up to. Would you name
a couple one too, and why? You know what they did,
how they inspired you. Um. I mean I always looked
up to Steve Jobs, Um, just for all the obvious reasons.
(44:26):
That was a big, big one, because he was a
creative mind in a business setting and did things his way. Um.
I had actually always looked up to rick crusoe, Um,
ironically now and I was reading for mayor, but his
entrepreneurialism was a whole thing and how he created Grove
and everything, and it was a lot closer to home.
(44:46):
Went to USC went to pepperdine, so it was a
thing for me. Um, there's a good amount that I've studied.
I I truly I would encourage people to study the
backgrounds of entrepreneurs because, whether whether good or bad, it's
very good hearing and seeing what people have done, because
you just take, whether you know it or not, you
(45:06):
take tidbits of everything. It's like reading. The thing isn't
is fascinating. You know. I try to watch, like any
Youtube interview I see that like a successful entrepreneur isn't.
Like Mark Cuban would be my main example, just because
I'm a big NBA Fan. He obviously owns the Dallas Mavericks.
Like and I feel like the commonality among like a
(45:28):
lot of you big time successful entrepreneurs is that, like
you all at one point were like heavily eating ship,
like you know, you're living in a like Mark Cuban
was saying he lived in a room with six guys,
slept on the floor to have a bed, like had
no money, it's like, and he was like twenty six
or something. So it's like, I feel like the common
(45:49):
the common ground for all of you, is that, like
there really is that make or break point where it's like,
you know, is this going to happen? And I think
like well, I would like to know what you think about,
like what it is that you know why you see
all the people who are really down in the dirt
like that are able to lie, you know, rise up
like the rocks seven bucks productions, because he had seven
bucks in his pocket, like he was able to create
(46:12):
his own empire. So, like what is it? What is
the like? There's that commonality between all of you, but
what's the common ground that like lifts all of you up?
It's a definitely an underlying common thing which I was
unaware of, you know, going through it. So it's it's
you know, I wish I had known more. I would
have been more helpful. Um, I think it's just it's
(46:33):
probably something the people that come out on the other
side of it. It probably is is because they have
that drive to get to what they're doing, you know,
and people that don't, it's not that's not there. What
they should be doing, you know, at the end of
the day, and that's, I think, a tough thing. I think.
I talked to a lot of people that are starting
businesses and I gotta say nine out of ten are
(46:54):
doing it for the wrong reason and I think, I
think the minute they get one setback, let alone too
or in my case, you know, ten may be out.
What's the wrong reason? Money? It could be a bunch
of things. Money is the leader, h fame glory because
they think it's the right thing. Um. But yes, it's
(47:16):
usually following the dollar and it's very, very hard two
separate that mindset because at the end of the day,
everything has to make money. Don't don't get me wrong,
you know, it's just it's the way you if it's
all for that, when you when you hit that that
big bump in the road, you're you're not coming out
(47:38):
of it and you're not going to be the the
our Cuban version. So how do you separate it, though,
like how would you say you separate you know, while
you're starting up and it's like I like this, I
enjoy what I'm doing and I want to make money
doing it. But you know, if you if that's your
own like, if you can't get that out of the
forefront of your head, to be your main intent, to
(47:58):
not be your main intention, like, how do you separated?
Be Doing what I'm doing if I wasn't making money? Yes, so,
at the end of the day, I bet you all
those entrepreneurs we're talking about are pretty simple men in
the end of the day, or some women, Um, in
that they love what they're doing and and no matter what,
(48:19):
they'd be doing it. You know, Um, and I know,
I know it sounds corny and sounds crazy, but it's true.
You know, at no time, once I got into what
I'm doing, which I view myself as an entrepreneur, not
in hospitality. I view myself as a person that creates
spaces and has places for people to live in. Once
I got a taste of that and once I really
(48:40):
I wasn't doing anything else. And No, it didn't matter what, what,
you know, as long as I could afford to like
live and eat, that's all I really needed. Yeah, yeah,
that's cool, because I think sometimes like something that you know,
early stages. I'm only twenty three. I think I struggle
with like a version of that of like, you know,
you see where your parents are at and you're like, well,
if I can just get these tasks done and do
(49:01):
this and do that, like I could help them out,
and you lose sight of like well, I am doing
it because I enjoy it. You know, it's not just
to make the money, it's not just to like, you know,
make your you know, your mom and your dad's life
a little bit easier. Like you are doing it because
you enjoy it. But I think like the goals of like,
you know, your your end goal, of like what you
see yourself doing with the money kind of gets in
the way of like, you know, just attacking the everyday
(49:24):
grind and doing it out of enjoyment. Yeah, and I don't.
I don't want to sound crazy. It's it's okay to
have those goals that are monetarily. I didn't. I weirdly
did not have that. It was more about winning. It
was more about having a place of people love. In
your case, why are you doing this? Why are you
doing podcasts right now just to put out, you know,
(49:45):
I had a bad walk on experience, so kind of
just to like hear the versions of like what a
person like you went through that was able to propel
you to know, you know, where you are now, or
like a guy like rudy selling his film, like Andre,
Andre Drammond wasn't really a walk on, but I did
interview him. But all like the you know, interesting stories
of like guys rows who have had, you know, rough
(50:06):
times and they've been able to just like turn it in,
like parlay they're terrible four or five years of college
into something you know that they would have never dreamed
but you're doing it because you like doing it. Like yeah,
that would be the abbreviated answer answer. I do like podcasting. Yeah,
I mean that's that's the that's the short answer. That's
(50:27):
the very immediate short answer. What I'm saying is you're
you're doing this because you're genuine, I can tell, genuinely interested,
you genuinely wanted this. Isn't because you think you're going
to get some sponsor deal off of this interview with
me right now, like this is more your your you know.
So to me, that is the that's the essence of
(50:48):
what one should do. Obviously, I'm making it abbreviated and simplifying,
but I believe that that is what is an underlying
common denominator for a lot of the successful entrepreneurs is
they had great setbacks, all of them. I don't know
a single person with that successful that didn't have an
insane failure or setback and nothing was stopping them. What
(51:11):
would you say about like just, you know, fully building
your foundation, because I think, like you know, you can't
build the house until the foundation is in so, like,
once you have your foundation built, you know, but the
point of getting it built, like the patients that comes
with it, the diligence, like how it's obviously just a mentality,
but like what do you like, how do you feel
about like you know, because at one point you didn't
(51:32):
have your foundation built. It was like, you know, you're
still right, it's still rocky, it's still up and down
and then you get to that point where, okay, like
ships in place, where now each pillar can kind of
go straight up like well, the the short answer to
that was I didn't have the foundation built. I built
it along the way and, to be honest, it was
(51:53):
a big issue, but I was moving so fast and
building company and it's a common thing is you have
to play catch up. So I will the pandemic, uh,
definitely one of the hardest situations for anyone. Little but
specifically the restaurant hospitality business was just really, really rough.
(52:15):
Silver lining of it and I, like I said on
the internal optimists was I would say it really caused
me and my partner and us to focus on the
real foundation, which we thought we had but we didn't
for our business. So you're talking now, only three years
ago that I started to really get into the foundation
of what should have been and is now, Um and
(52:38):
I don't know, I think it would have taken a
while for us to get to that if we didn't
have that moment. Is that what gave you the stability?
Like three years ago, you finally had it in place
and now you guys were like maybe a little bit
more stable. Um, yeah, I think so. But you know
my mindset, because of because of the failures I've had,
I never feel stable. Never feel stable. How do you?
(53:00):
How do you? How do you even like feel comfortable operating?
Like don't you want some sort of stability? You of
like you know, this is okay at least, like these
six things are okay. I can go worry about these three,
like you know what I mean, like you don't need
any any sort of that. I think maybe one should.
The Way I am is I in the minute I
think like that, it's gonna be something's gonna it's not
going to operate to the level of ship interesting. It's
(53:26):
definitely not fun in that regard. I've had to just
learn that. That is my mentality, but it's definitely my
mentality and it's it's it's because I've never wanted to
ever go back to any sort of failure that I've had. Yeah,
no doubt. All right, literal last question. I heard you
only listen to the G C group chat podcast. What
do I gotta do to make Walkie Talkies podcast? Uh,
(53:49):
the second one you listen to on your on your
planes and on all your travel, travel time. I got you.
Those are those are my guys. Appreciate that. So now
you will be the other one I listened to. Appreciate it, man,
I know, I know, we're limited for time, so I
can't thank you enough for, you know, just the time
you gave me and, you know, even the advice along
the way. You really are a prime example of, you know,
(54:09):
former walk on's achieving more then most of their scholarship
teammates end up doing, aside from the ones who go
and play in the NFL Um and just epitomizing what
walk ons are like, you know, even if it was
only for two years. Uh, just like shows what you
can really do with the role and how the role
can set you up for the success that you've had.
There's really no limit on, you know, what can be done. Um,
(54:30):
so I was happy to have you on the podcast.
Appreciate you being a part of the walkie talkies gang
and uh, I really appreciate it, man. Thank you. Appreciate
you all right, walkie talkies gang. That's a rap for
W T Z E. Twenty episode. Twenty episodes in the book. Man,
that's great stuff. Uh. Appreciate everybody who's been along this
twenty episode journey. I did squeeze a couple of extra
(54:51):
questions out of John Because I had to while I could,
and I'm glad I did. Really grateful for his time
and him coming on. I hope everyone who listened enjoyed
and was able to take something away from John's journey
and his perspective. Now, as for the quick show update,
I'll be doing some small additional episodes on walkie talkie
podcast with some featured zone episodes, that's what they're going
(55:12):
to be called, where I myself, alongside my older brother Greg,
will be zoning in on some key topics and sports
here throughout this upcoming sports season and beyond. The zone
episodes will be fairly short conversational, opinionated and factual from
Greg and Eile some current issues, topics and debates disagreements
between the two of US within the sports world. These
zone episodes will be in addition to our walkie talkies interviews.
(55:33):
No worries, these amazing stories won't go anywhere. Um, just
making a small edition with brother Greg because I think
you listeners will enjoy these walkie talkie zone episodes as
well and just adding another piece to the show. So
really nothing major, just something that you can all look
out for in the coming weeks, coming months, um. And
that's it for today. I want to thank you all
for listening and make sure you are subscribed to walkie
(55:55):
talkies podcast. If you enjoyed, if you can get notified
every time a new episode drops. You can also find
us on social media, Youtube, instagram, tiktok and twitter. At you,
T Z podcast. Appreciate you all listen and make sure,
if you enjoy it again, you share this episode to
a friend who you think would also enjoy and could
get something from this. Word of mouth is very, very
beneficial for the walkie talkie podcast family. So again I
(56:17):
want to thank you all for listening, for sharing, subscribing
and you can look out for the next episode release state,
whether it be an interview with a former walk on
or it be our first edition of the zone episodes,
on social media, where we will post all episode release
dates and more. Thank you again, everyone, and remember, got
(56:37):
us something you. Walkie talkies is a production of I
heart radio and the college athletes network. For more podcasts
from my heart radio, visit the I heart radio APP,
apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts,
Walkie talkies is a production of I heeart radio and
the college athletes network. Hello Gang, yeah, walkie talkies gang,
(00:28):
welcome into walkie talkies podcast. You're listening to w TC
e twenty, which is our fake radio code for Walkie
Talking podcast episode twenty, just because it sounds good and
I like it. Man, this one special today and I'm
gonna tell you why. First of all, I'm gonna thank
you all for choosing walkie talking podcast today. We are
here on the college athletes network, featured on IHEART radio,
and I'm your host. No, what Buano. Now, as for
(00:50):
the reasons to why today's episode is special, because it's
always a good feat when we complete another set of
ten episodes, with this being our twentieth episode in our
sixteen different guests on the show. And the other thing
making this episode special is because we have an the
really big time former walk on, John Terzian, who is
the owner and Co founder of the H Wood Group,
(01:10):
which is a Los Angeles based hospitality and lifestyle company
with a diversified portfolio of upscale nightlife and restaurant venues.
John just so happened to be a former walk on
for the USC Football Program we played quarterback for two
years back in the early, early two thousand's. Man Today's
conversation with John was super dope for a lot of reasons.
But you know, John felt that his days as a
(01:30):
walk on have a direct correlation with the success he's
having now. You know, H Wood Group has generated north
of fifty million dollars in revenue and John says their
five year plan is they hope to hit the three
to four hundred million mark in the next five years
and eventually, you know, making it a billion dollar company
being a long term plan as they start to merge
into the hotel business, which we get into now. John
(01:51):
and I go from dissecting his journey from walk on
to law school, to his events company he ran during
Undergrad and law school, up to his early failures leading
up to h wood and all the way into top
tier business advice from the mindset of a guy who's
currently building an empire. So really cool stuff, especially for me.
You know, I really like to consider myself a young
entrepreneur and as a young guy fresh out of college,
(02:11):
you know, it was just refreshing to be able to
have this conversation with someone like John and be able
to pick his brain and just get some good business
nuggets from him, all while hearing about, you know, his
journey as a walk on and what helped propel him
to the heights he's reached now, which is what the
show is meant to do, man, highlight, you know, people
like this who have made successes, you know, after their
roles as walk on. So really good stuff coming up.
(02:33):
Last few things before we get into it. Some small
show announcements to follow after the interview in my episode Outro,
with a little update on the show for those interested.
And the last thing is to please make sure you
are subscribed to walkie talk podcast and passing these amazing
walk on journeys along to anyone that you think may
enjoy them, uh, and also leaving the show review following
(02:54):
us on social media for video highlights of every episode.
You can find us on twitter, instagram and TIKTOK AT
W T Z podcast. Those are all really, really appreciated.
All right, I swear that's all for me. Let's jump
into my full conversation with former USC quarterback, walk on,
an owner and Co founder of the H Wood Group,
John Terzian. How are you, man, good man, how you doing? Good,
(03:16):
good so, to start us off, you were USC quarterback
walk on and it was roughly around early two thousand's. Uh.
Carson Palmer was the starting cornerback. It was like around
that time period, if I'm correct. So what were those years?
Did you play all four years? What was what was
the whole dynamic? No, it's that it's actually a pretty
funny story, Um, and it's probably fitting for my my
(03:38):
life and almost representative of how what I'm doing now
came about. H Wood Um. So I went to, you know,
born and raised in Los Angeles. Um, ironically, my entire
family is wasn't his die hard USC and USC alumni,
but growing up I was like the black sheep and
(04:00):
was obsessed with Michigan. Um. Fab Five era was my uh.
I played both basketball and football, even though football was
more of my sport. I went to a high school
um in l a called Harvard Westlake and, you know,
I was the quarterback for it. Was a starting quarterback
for both my junior and senior year, and my senior
(04:21):
year my tight end was the kind of became the
number one guy in the country. His name was Alex Holmes,
still one of my one of my closest friends to
date and I was graduating. He was. He was a sophomore. Actually,
he had two more years. No, yeah, he had. He
was a junior. Yeah, he had a year year after
me in high school and I was graduating and Um,
(04:44):
you know, I went I got recruited to smaller schools
for football. Um, so I went to I went to view.
That my you know, my whole life was was football,
and so I was going to go to like a
cornell or just, but there was a bunch of smaller
schools when took visits and Um, you know, just it
didn't feel right. I ended up getting into Michigan and
(05:05):
I was gonna go walk on. I got my background
actually was also an artist, so I got a scholarship
actually on art. I went to visit Michigan, you know,
loved it, decided to go, decided to accept and just
off a whim, because I had gotten into USC as well, decide,
(05:25):
you know, I was going to give up my football days.
went to USC just with a friend for who was
already there as at a party, and I was like
I'm never going anywhere else. It was the greatest school.
So I took back my Michigan or I've you know,
rescinded my Michigan Thing, accepted USC and I was like,
you know, I'm just gonna have fun and it's gonna
(05:45):
be a college student. It was hard on me because
sports for my whole life went there. You know, was
got pretty active with the schools and the fraternity got
really big and, you know, planning social, social events and things,
because it just kind of was my nature being from
L A. and then I get a call from at
the time it was actually Hackett, who was the coach,
(06:09):
and I don't I literally thought it was like a
crank call, and he was like hey, you know, can
we have a talk? It's Paul Hackett. It's like we
really want you to walk on the team, you know,
and and they had known me from high, high school,
but I was never, you know, I wasn't looked at
to recruit and so I found I found it kind
of weird they wanted me in my freshman year and
in the middle of freshman year and it turns out
(06:30):
they really wanted Alex Holmes, who was the tight end
high school, and he said he'll only come to USC
if I play on the team. So I agreed to
so I was an invited walk on Alex obviously joined there.
So I played my sophomore junior year. Um, to this
day I credit so much of what I'm doing in
(06:52):
life with that. I mean those were the hardest most
amazing days. I mean it was five am workouts, class,
three PM practice, than film at night. And I was
the so it was Carson Palmer, who was an amazing guy.
They're all amazing, but Carson, Mike Van Rab Coors, Matt
Castle Than Me. So I was I was the fourth
(07:16):
and I just got annihilated in practice. Did you ever
play like? Did you ever get in the Games? Like?
I never got in the game. Um, I was great
in practice. I got at the arm and I was
always you know, but it was honestly incredible learning experience
and it was great. And then I had too many concussions.
I didn't get to that later, but I s thought
(07:37):
my senior year and went to work for a sports
agent and I had started my whole event company out
of this. But yeah, I was. I was in those
seasons and Packett was the coach and when I left
I had with the spring ball was Pete Carroll was
coming in. Uh, then that was a new era. So
you went two years and you you went to the
Sports Agency your senior year. What? Like? What do you
(07:59):
credit what you're doing now to? Like that? You look
back at that walk on experience, like you said, if
it wasn't for this, you know, there's so much you
take with you. Like was it the hard regimented schedule?
Like yeah, a couple of things. I had no business,
with my size and whatever, being on that team and
I earned my keep, and I mean I got annihilated
(08:21):
every day I got you know, I'll never forget. At
Oseron was the Lineman, defensive lineman coach, and he would
stop practice and just torment me. Um, it was. It
was actually pretty embarrassing, Um, but it teaches you to
have that tenacity, teaches you to come back, it teaches
you at all odds. You know too, too, and I
(08:43):
have to say Carol, you know, really was a different
type of coach. He was embracing everyone, Hack Itt, I
hate to say. It was awful to me and awful
to walk on. Um, you had to really like you know, Um,
you know, the players were amazing, the best. I still
have relationships from there. And then why? Why credit what
I'm doing today to that? was because I got really
(09:04):
known for. The one thing they started to respect me
the front of the Athletics Office was, you know, on
like kind of a whim because I was from l a.
They had me entertained some recruits and I did, and
I put together a whole fun you know houting or whatever.
Recruits all signed because of me and then it became
a thing. So I basically created what became h wood
(09:26):
out of that with the recruiting process and parties and
a Combo, and then created a whole events company that
grew really big and even when I went to work
for I worn't. I worked for R and tell Um
um my senior year, who was Kobe's agent. So I
was I was actually Kobe's like assistant Um for that
senior year. I still had the whole parties and I
(09:47):
was forming what eventually became Hwood. I went to law
school because you didn't know at the time, though, that
it was h wood, like it was just it was.
It was the foundational steps of like what was to come. Yeah,
I had all walks of life because of my background.
L A. Sports are know, just a whole different you know,
unlike most people, I had just all walks of life.
(10:09):
And I was good at putting stuff together, but I
did not know I was gonna end up going into
what I'm doing. I thought even at that time I
really was into the sports agent Thingum, but you know, uh,
it led me to what I'm doing. Yeah, so you
you mentioned Hackett treated you like Shit. Uh, that's that's
a pretty common thing that, you know, walk on's experience,
(10:30):
which is what I was going to kind of bleed into,
is Um. You know, why did you stick it out?
We only did two years, so I guess it wasn't,
you know, you had a better opportunity. But was there
not the noticeable differences from you and the rest of
the guys that Hackett kind of made a parent treating
you like ship? What? Is there an example so people
can kind of understand, like, well, what does he mean
when he says, you know, something like that? And first
(10:51):
of all, I wouldn't have stopped. I had to. When
you get I had three concussions in the same year.
So they actually I actually kind of had to stop, Um,
my senior year. Um, but no, it was it was
just like a few things, like Hackett never even barely
let me suit up for the walk on. So you know,
(11:13):
there's probably fifteen of US whatever for the Home Games,
which you're allowed to do. They really wanted to show you,
you know, and then I never cared about having a
Red Jersey or whatever, but they really wanted you annihilated.
And then maybe several conversations of like what you know, just,
you know what, I'm surprised you're even still here like
stuff like that, where it's like, I can tell you.
(11:34):
Carol was the opposite and he really loved you know.
At the end of the day, I just when you
asked why I was there, Ay, my my arm was
just as good as anyone to be there. So I
was doing well in practice for them, Um, and I
love football and I love the guys. The team was there,
all great to me there, you know, it wasn't it
wasn't them, it was the coaching. and to me, the
(11:56):
other thing I learned was it was top down. So
because Hackett behaved that way, all the other coaches felt
like they could. If the other we reverse, they follow suit. Yeah,
and so looking back on it, it's like, you know,
why be like that? You know, you got you got
kids loving to play the game, you know, and you've
got you know, really camaraderie and it was just a
(12:18):
weird thing. And then you see the difference in the
team when Carol came in and was the complete opposite.
The team was incredible, you know. Yeah, they they set
the tone. And I actually talked to Rudy Rudiger, the
movie Rudy Um, and he you know, he said I
asked him because he said that he would be by
the way, oh, really great. Yeah, and he used to
(12:40):
say that. Here he was saying the same thing about
like coaches treating him like that, and I just posed
the question, because he's older, as to like why is
that the case? And he pretty much just said because
the coach is a loser, like he takes his ship
out on the kid. And you know, so you'd say
a good or bad experience overall for you. You know,
those two years you spent in the program amazing. Um,
(13:01):
best experience, even with all the ship, even with all that,
because you know what it really I don't think you
could get that type of life lesson that early. Um,
there's nothing that stops me. So what do you? Yeah,
what do you? I don't mean to interrupt you. What
just like the preparation that that, you know, eating ship
gave you. Like. What was it? Mental? It was the mental,
(13:27):
mental thing, because I think it could. I think that
the ups and downs, the Ebbs and flows of an entrepreneur,
which which or business man. I shouldn't take away from anyone,
but any aspect of that, are not taught or talked
about enough in school and I think if I didn't
have the background that I did with what I went
(13:48):
through with SC football, I probably would have broken at
some point with because I had a lot of crazy,
sad failures and downs with what I'm doing with h wood,
especially early on, and I think if I didn't have
that mental back own and what I know, you know
at the very end of the day, that I can
(14:08):
believe in myself that I can get through anything, Um,
no matter what anyone thinks or says or does, I
think I would have broken. I really do and I
think most people do. So I really credit that UH
totally overall. That doesn't mean I should have been treated
like Shil I think. I think the thing in itself,
the the regiment, the schedule, the getting hits, all all
(14:30):
of that, I think in it in itself is enough.
The mental stuff was definitely, I opening. I don't exactly
wish anyone to go through that, but I do think
it helped me, you know. Yeah, I think most most
people that I get the chance to speak to kind
of have similar views of like you know that what
it did to my mental made my my skin thicker
(14:50):
and it kind of just gives you like, I don't know,
a thicker shield of armor, I guess you could call it.
Because like, like, what what are you not used to? Um,
because of all the ship that you you saw at
such a young age, like you said. So I don't
really want to focus on the walk on stuff as
much because, you know, you only did two years and,
more so you know the aftermath of Undergrad uh, take
(15:10):
it in the direction of how that walk on experience
helped you in any way, you know, building this empire
within the service industry, which is obviously one of the
most competitive industries to be successful in. All right, but
a quick break before we dive into John's law school
journey and the beginning stages of the H Wood Group.
So don't go anywhere. In the meantime, if you want
to subscribe to the podcast and find us on social
media's for video highlights of every episode, you can do
(15:31):
that at W T Z podcast, on Instagram, tiktok and twitter.
There's seriously so, so much more to come throughout this conversation,
so stay put through this quick break and we'll be
right back. Welcome back into episode twenty of Wacky talking podcast.
I'm your host. No Banna. Remember to click that subscribe
button and follow the podcast on social media's at w
(15:54):
TC podcast for video highlights of every episode. And let's
bring back in John Terzy in. Um. So you go
to pepperdine law school. A couple of quick things. You
can answer them quickly. What made you go to law school?
Did you use a law degree at all? Did you
know you weren't going to use the law degree? Um,
what was the case with you know why you decided
to do that? I didn't know what I wanted to
(16:14):
do in life and I'm from a family of lawyers
and having a law background was always a thing of hey,
you can do anything that you set your mind too.
I I looked up to some entrepreneurs, uh that I
had studied, and I kind of always knew I wanted
to be an entrepreneur and and a lot of the
underlying factors I saw as they actually had a law
(16:37):
degrees versus business, and then I thought also, possibly, not possibly.
I think the lead thing for me was to be
a sports agent because of all my ties to the team.
You know, at the time I had gotten so close
because I had, you know, with Mike Williams and it
was the Reggie Bush era, you know, and so there
was all these guys that I was close, close with,
(16:57):
you know, Paula Malou and all great guys, and in
my mind it's like there's something there. So I just,
you know, I went because of that. Um, I would
say law school is another example of what I went
through with football. For a guy like me, for an
artistic mind, it was probably more grueling and hard than
the football walk on football years. UH, first year of
(17:20):
law school I wouldn't wish upon anyone as well, Um,
you know, and it was it's great behindsight, because it
taught me how to read and think differently. I think
most important, it taught me how to speak, because you
the socratic method really, you know, challenges a person to
speak and I think it's the most important thing you
(17:41):
can learn and know and figure figure out. I was
never going to be a lawyer. The whole I knew
that and that was okay. It was just for the background. Um,
the whole time I worked for both. I always had jobs.
So I had my events company the whole time and
then I also was interning for aren't tell Um, the
sports agent, and Um I did a thing with Sony,
(18:03):
the president, the chairman of Sony. So I had all
these different worlds that I was kind of doing the
entire time of law school. Wow. So briefly rewind on
the Paulamalu, the Reggie Bush. You were around for all
of that. You were out of USC and at Pepperdine.
But what part of you? What? What? How were you
in the mix of? You know, some of those players,
with some of those players. Paul Malla was on the team.
(18:25):
was on the team with me. He was the he
was the safety, but I was the heavy recruiter putting
the stuff together for recruiting. When Reggie was was Reggie
Bush and Mike Williams and that whole class were incoming
basically line art. But where were you at there? You
were still part of the team when they came in. No,
I was. I was a senior then then, uh, I
(18:48):
was a senior in college and then first year out,
I think it was okay, okay, I lined up like that.
I was still doing that, I was still helping the recruiting.
That's because I was doing or became that's an interesting
role to have, like a like benefit that team, because
you weren't really getting anything in return, I guess, directly
from them, but you were on the flip side because
(19:10):
you were building relationships with some of these guys. Yeah,
and I also I never look at I never look
at stuff like that. It's just if I love it,
you know, and I love USC and I love it,
like I said, like, yeah, I have to build relationship
with the guys and then, you know, that was really
why why I was doing I was good at it.
Did you have any debt from your time at USC
or law school, like, because obviously, as a walk on
(19:32):
you don't get a scholarship, and then law school is
law school. So did you have any debt you had
to pay back? No, I didn't. I lived at home
with my parents. Um, I was able to get I
was able to get law school um covered for them.
No housing and none of that. And then I also
was making like good money off of my events company,
this promotion company, so I was in a good situation
(19:54):
on that, but you know, I gotten debt later with uh,
the first part of h wood. Yeah, so you you say,
though I've heard you speak in some other of you
is just about like you know you're the eternal optimist
and you'll take on the world. And you know, what
was the vision during law school? You're like doing this
events company. You don't really know what you're doing. You
(20:15):
want to be an entrepreneur, but did you have a
vision after law school for the direction you wanted to
kind of take your life in? No, I still didn't
know fully I just I knew that I wanted to
be I wanted to do something special and different and
make a difference in whatever field or whatever I'm doing.
I just didn't fully know. And I was good with people,
(20:36):
as good relationships. I couldn't. I didn't pass the bar
Um as a very low time for me. Um, I
had no idea what I was gonna do. I couldn't.
I applied to a ton of the jobs. Couldn't get
a job anywhere, ironically. So it was. It was tough.
I didn't fully know. I, you know, luckily had a
(20:57):
great relationship with the friend of mine who was was
starting to become a uh, he was a DJ and
I was friends with his manager, who was a guy
that was going to become his lawyer and manager, and
his name was Dj am and he was like the
first celebrity Dj and he was like just come you know,
you have a good you have a law background, you
have an heart background, come brand me. And then so
that's what I started. I just had nothing to do.
(21:18):
It was leving ahold of my parents and I was
out of law school at the time. And so that's
twenty four, because I went straight from law from college.
You got a law school way younger than most people, right. Yeah,
I went straight to law school. I was twenty one
in law school too. Three, yes, so when I graduated
(21:39):
that year, Um, and yeah, because I started. It was
my last year of law school and I was like,
I don't know what I'm gonna do. I started talking
to a m took the bar, didn't pass it, took
the bar again, didn't pass it, and I was just
super down, you know. And so that was tough. And
so I credit am because I threw myself into you know,
(22:03):
his world was deejaying and clubs and one of one
of you know, critical things that I did was create
this nightclub around him that or I co created with
with his manager, Larry, and it was called L A X,
and so I was like, you know, I was every job.
I was the janitor, I collected the cash, I helped
do the marketing, I helped bring in, you know, I
(22:25):
did everything, and I traveled with him that entire year.
I was, you know, in every city, everything with him,
watching everything Um and that, I think, that's when I
started aform. I didn't want to do that. What I
what I wanted to do was bring people together and
build spaces, and that's when I had the idea to
open a nightclub. But my big picture was always to
(22:45):
open a hotel. So I gave it right and I'm
I'm gonna get to that quickly, but I want to
briefly touch on something with like starting up a business,
starting like, you know, something that just starts as a
thought in your head. I feel like there's a lot
of resistance and everyone's everyday lives. You know, we want
to do this, we want to do that, but everybody
just has no clue where to start, like what at
starting point is, and they struggle with the resistance to
(23:06):
just go and do it. So for you, what was
your starting point like when trying to get into the
service industry space? Like how do you know? So you
just said, though, like that was the start for h wood,
but how did you know, when you were going to
start it, what to do? Like it was like what
you know? What's the first four things? The first two
things you gotta go and do? I didn't know and
I didn't have anyone teach me and I didn't have
(23:28):
you know, I just I knew that I could. The
one difference, the one thing I will say is I
do tell everyone don't do stuff for money. Do stuff
because you believe in and love it, and money will
follow Um. And in this case it was a similar thing.
I saw the landscape, because I lived and breathe that
nightlife world. I saw that I could do something different,
(23:50):
and so, you know, what I needed to do, at
least in my instance, was find a find a space,
find a venue, have the concept, which I did in
my mind, and you know, and raise the money. And
so I scrapped together from like fifty different, I think
probably fifty different friends and family, you know, which was
(24:13):
really hard to do. My first place which ended up
opening in two thousand six or seven. Yeah, now you
get money from them, which is probably somewhat awkward and
uncomfortable asking for once, once you're successful and you know,
they see that it's a go, it's a thing, it's working,
(24:34):
you reimburse them and then you move forward and start
to take your profit and go from there. Yeah, you do.
You do a split. But my my first three things
were complete flops and so I lost all the money, Um,
including my including my families, and it was it was
just the worst times of all time. So then where
did you go from there? You lose the money and
(24:54):
it's like what the Fund is next? Yeah, so, I
mean the difference. The one thing I'll say is, and
I do always stress, is that I always I and
everyone you know that I is successful, should play the
long game. I was very above board. I didn't, you know,
we were amazing and we had a built great we
built great places. We didn't like do anything wrong or,
(25:17):
you know, we didn't fully know how to operate well.
So it was just a matter of we had great crowds,
great sales, just did not operate and lost money. Had
had noise issues, had cops issues. It was a whole thing.
So I think I was a little young and and, Um,
very ambitious, and so it was. You know, it was actually,
(25:39):
in hindsight, a good setback because it caused me to
really say, Hey, I gotta like learn the business. Um.
So I went back to my partner and I, Brian,
you know, decided to go back to the promoting situation
and build our based back and build some you know,
money back, and so we did that and, Um, when
(26:00):
you say, uh, you know what kind of caused me
to get back? I was never going to do anything
about what I'm doing now. I had that type of tenacity.
So nothing was stopping me and I knew, I just
knew I was going to be able to and I
needed that moment to do it again. Like there was
never a plan B for you. It was always no
plan B, Plan Eight. It's impossible for plan eight to fail.
(26:21):
Type of thing. I mean remember when my parents asked
me what I was going to do and if I
was going to start looking for jobs, and I thought
they were out of their minds, you know, because you
know and they're like, well, you know, at this point,
you're how old was I when this was all I
think I was like twenty eight at that point, when
like everything had had, you know, twenty nine one of those,
(26:43):
and I just knew that I was going to find
I had to I had to win. So I also
I listened to a couple of interviews just to prepare,
and I heard you say something about just like lacking
in mentorship and how you, you know, ideally like to
be a mentor to some of the people, you know, interns,
younger people that work for h wood. Um, do you
(27:04):
think that the lack of mentorship kind of derailed your progress?
Like maybe at twenty eight you don't fail. Maybe that
failure happens at six and now you're successful by like
was there a m was there a hindrance in the
in the growth and the progression of h wood, like
getting to h wood and the success of it, because
you didn't have any mentorship? It's a tough question. It's
(27:26):
good question. I don't know. It could it could be
one of the other it also could have it also
could be part of my success because I'm so driven
to when and I'm so and I wouldn't and it's
almost like I don't owe anyone anything, and they almost
had like this Kobe mentality of like, no one's done
anything for me, I'm gonna do it and and I'll
(27:48):
give back, you know, when I make a type of
thing like so it was like that type of drive.
But you but yeah, I think if I did have
like the right mentor in that business, and you know,
great family, great, there's none of them were entrepreneurs. If
I had that, could have it could have been a
lot more knowledge and what you know, a lot, a
lot better of a ride in that regard. It's a
(28:10):
good it's a good point. So, Um, you mentioned the
hotel thing and I did see that hotels are the
end goals for you guys. Um, how far away would
you say h wood is from that? Uh, not far.
I mean we we we've been in the in the
mix of getting, you know, currently right now. So definitely
a big, big aspect for us. You know, we're in
(28:33):
deep expansion mode on both Delilah and Nice Guy. Um,
those are like because we're opening in multiple cities. Um,
but a very close second and at the same time
as is our first hotel and it'll start in Cali
and then probably, like you were doing with the club's
expand and expand, it will be in. WE HAVE TO
START IT IN L A. Okay, last break here. Right
(28:54):
when we come back, John goes into his relationship with
drake and being name dropped by him. What skill has
helped propel him the most his failures then versus now
having stability, building your foundation, studying entrepreneurs and really so,
so much more in the home stretch that you will enjoy,
no doubt. So don't go anywhere, we'll be right back.
Welcome back into episode twenty of Wakie Tucky podcast. Remember
(29:18):
to click that subscribe button and follow the pod on
social media's at w TC podcast. And let's get into
the home stretch with John Terze Um. So something funny
that I came across and I didn't really put the
two together until, you know, I sat down and put
the script together. But you know, rappers name drop athletes
and celebs all the time. It's always a big deal,
you know, for the athlete and whatnot, and you had
(29:39):
a version of that with drake shouting out Delilah's and
Champagne poetry on certified lover boy. I'm not sure you
know how big of a track listener you are. I'm
sure I know. I think you're probably friends with him
and exited him. But like when you heard, when you
heard the bar you know, did your eyes light up?
Was it like Oh, you know, because you know when
he has the Kevin Durant Line, when he has all
these other lines, it's like, oh, fucking hey, like it's sick.
(30:01):
So for you it had to be a similar feeling. Yeah,
I mean it was. I knew it was. I mean
he's he's one of my close, close friends and I
and I think you know we've we've been been in
it together for a long time. I credit a lot
of h wood and Delilah success to him. Um. So, yes,
it's amazing. It's always amazing to hear and it is
(30:23):
a major, major thing and uh, you know, I never
downplay that. It's a big deal and really and really
cool and special. How do you Um, you know, you
said you credit a lot of it to drake. How
does that formulate? Like where's the where's the origins of
like drake and you kind of connecting and him endorsing
Delilah's and it going from there? It's kind of what
(30:44):
I said earlier with the kind of the long game.
I don't at the end of the day. It's about
people in relationships and until I've built everything and and
I love that. And I ended up getting introduced to
drake through a mutual friend about twelve years ago when he,
you know, he had just like his first album was
(31:04):
coming out, or just can come out, I think, Um,
and we just hit it off as friends like that's
that's it. And we stayed super close and then any
time in be in L A, we do stuff together.
You know, his whole team, with his manager of future Angelo,
and they're all the whole Oveo crew, is is, you know,
I'm best friends with and so, you know, it's been
(31:26):
now a long time. It's been a decade plus now.
Would just would you say he's one of your favorite
rappers or you biased? I'm very biased, but I also
feel it's an unbiased statement as well. So yeah, I
I don't know drake, but I would say that. Yeah,
I mean I completely agree. So, Um, would you say
there's any other celebrities you know that you're close with,
(31:50):
like drake, because of what your job, untail, is, where
the relationship was maybe, uh, just as organic as the
one with drake, or maybe, like it happened in a
different way, but you have, you know, special relationships with
whom else that are you would consider big time celebrities
based on what you do? Yeah, I do. I mean,
I'm gonna give you an annoying answer. I don't talk
about it, uh so yet. But yes, there are a
(32:14):
handful of super close friends that our celebrities. But the
Nice thing is is the reason I think we're so
close was because it started before they were, as you know,
who they are. In a lot of ways, that's something
that money can't buy and business can't buy and friendship
is is actually genuine. Um. So it's one of those
(32:34):
things that that it's, like I said earlier, it's like
it all comes down to just playing the long game
and actually caring and being a good person, you know,
and that's that's what it is. It's funny because, like,
you got, you know, walked all over by Hackett and
like from an early age, like I guess, weren't really
shown how to treat people correctly, but you were still
(32:54):
able to always like, you know, keep in mind like
what meant, what it meant to you to like give
to people, treat people the right way, have relationships, build
meaningful relationships, like and then to be able to like
build a business off of like your ability to, like
you said, in law school you learned how to, uh,
you know, communicate with people and really speak and then
to kind of bring those together, and then you build
(33:17):
this company based off like your ability to, you know,
galvanate the troops and bring people together and into a common,
common space. Um, did you think that that was something
that was going to be the catalyst for you, or
did you think like there maybe be a different skill
of yours that was going to make you, know, your
entrepreneurs entrepreneurship journey, as successful as it is? I don't
(33:40):
think I knew anything. I think what I knew, I
think the one thing I knew early on, naturally, which
is a really healthy thing to know and I think
it's it's more and more talked about now, was I
didn't think I knew. Actually, more than that, I knew
that I didn't know everything. I didn't I didn't know.
(34:02):
I knew I needed to like have experts around me,
and I think that was a major aspect and in
my mind, Um, I knew I wasn't going to be
I'm not the richest, I'm not the best looking, I'm
not the smartest. I think that one of those things that,
like I was like, you know, the one thing someone
can't ever take from me is out working them, and so,
(34:26):
you know, that was where I think, if to answer
your question earlier, what I did early on think was, hey,
I'm going to be able to outwork anyone, meaning I
will work longer, harder, smarter Um than anybody, and no
one's no one can take that from me. That's one
thing that, like that's just gotta be in you. You Go,
(34:46):
you can do it, you know, and that was a
big thing for me. A personal question that I have
for you would be, you know, you outwork people. You
know you you, you bet on that part of it.
But like, is there any point in your mind where,
like you know you can't do it or you don't
know what you're doing, or you have to get to
a point where, like you know you're you're messing up?
(35:07):
Like you said, you had your failures, but like when
did you get to the point where you had just
a strategic mindset and everything you did it was like, okay,
I'm not going to make that move because there's not
a strategy behind it, like there's not enough research and
shipped behind it that's gonna tell me like, yeah, it's
going to produce x, Y and Z. for me it's
just going to produce. You know, it's a it's a
whim if it produces anything. Like when do you get
to a point where you know, you know you're doing
(35:30):
things on a day to day basis and there's just
nothing but strategy involved and you know strategy behind it?
I think. I think I'm big on learning from failures
and I think it's easier said than done, but that's
that's where it when I had some, when I had
some colossal early failures, I knew each time, and, by
the way, still have failures, and each time I learned
(35:51):
from it. And you can go one of two ways.
You can bury your head in the stand and be
upset about it or fight it or whatever, or you
can actually learn from it. And so when you learn
from it, what it actually means, is what you just
asked me, is you learn the strategic moves to not
be in that situation again. So if a venue fails,
(36:12):
why did it fail? If an event flopped, why did
it flop? And you actually can pick pick apart what
it is and you avoid that strategically. In the future
is there? Is it an exact science? No, but is
there a good amount of lessons to be learned in
a good amount of strategy? Yes. What would you say?
It would be like a small or a version of
a failure that h wood could experience at the stage
(36:35):
it's at now. You know, verse maybe when you started
where it doesn't you know, maybe it hurts, but it's
like it's an easier bounce back than it would have been. Well,
I don't know. If anything, I mean it's it's it's tough.
I mean we make everything I'm doing is a risk.
It's it's very similar to like the you know, I
like in it a lot, to the film business, which
(36:55):
I don't think people realize. You could have the greatest idea, cast, director, writer,
money behind it, you don't know if it's going to
be successful. Film, there's no there's there's no world where
you can predict. So a restaurant, a nightclub, hotel is
very similar. I can have all the pieces together of
(37:16):
all the right moves and you just don't know. And
so you know, it's a lot like, I guess, Golf,
even though I'm not a golfer. The better you get
means that you're doing less awful shots, you know, meaning
like you're you're not out there doing crazy. So in
this case, for specifically hospitality, what I'm talking about, I've
(37:38):
been in it long enough and my part and my
team as where I know, you know how the roomies
have feel and the layout needs of field and the
lighting and the decor or the service and and also
that just comes from experience and learning from what works
and what doesn't right. Um, so, if you don't mind
answering this, obviously you know, I guess it's h Wood's
(37:59):
net worth or your net worth is thirty five to
fifty million dollars. Is what you guys have done in revenue. Um,
if you could ballpark it, or if if you're willing
to answer it's no problem. If you're not, like what
do you what's the estimated growth you see, you know,
once the hotel business opens, like, where do you see
the empire going to from a dollar signed perspective? I guess. Yeah,
(38:20):
so h Woo's revenue was north of that. Um, uh.
And then I think sky's and I wanted to be
a billion dollar company. I wanted to be doing I
want revenue to be you know, above my my goal,
my immediate goal, is to be revenue above, you know,
three million year. You know that's that's a five year
(38:42):
plan type of thing. H but you know, more important
than revenue is profit. Is even done. So I think
that's the key in our business. It's a very hard
it's a it's a, it's a it's a restaurant business.
Is Very tough to profit, and so that matters much
more than revenue. Okay, it's interesting. I mean, do you
(39:04):
think five year plan? Probably, I mean because you said
that you failed at eight, so you're thirty seven now. Right. Okay, Google,
maybe I was looking at an old article. Um. Anyway,
a couple of quick hitters and then we can wrap
it up. What are what would you say are some
of the coolest perks that come along with your job? Uh,
(39:26):
you know that, I don't know. You tell me. I
can't even give me. I can't give an example. Like
is it, you know, going golfing with O B j?
Is it fucking riding on a yacht? Like, what are
the cool perks that like my man Odello, I do? Um,
I think, I think I have the coolest. I don't
even view it as a job. It's life. Uh. You know,
(39:47):
I get to do and see some of the coolest
things in experience really create, you know, help create some
of the coolest moments. Um, you know, on my wall alone,
for example, you know, we, you know, we're drake. We
needed to do a thing in las ve Vegas and,
you know, help help put together. Him Performing on the
(40:08):
Bellaggio fountains and being out on the fountains and no
one's ever done it before is like one of so
many examples where it's like people, you know, would give
anything to do stuff like that and I do it regularly.
So it's a very fun thing and it's actually an
important question you have, because I have to sometimes remember
that when you're in the thick of the world, is that,
(40:29):
at the very end of the day, it's it's it's cool. Um.
I also love just having my my restaurants and stuff.
I'm in my family and I live and breathe them.
I I eat at them five, six nights a week
and it's very cool and I don't ever take it
for granted that we have like a cheers, like a
like atmosphere. That's super cool. Do you Um, do you
(40:49):
like with the with the restaurants and stuff. You should
you eat their five six nights a week, like, I mean,
is there no home cooked meals going on? Is it?
Is that the is that the version of the home
cooked meal? Yeah, that's true. We do. If we do,
the other nights are home. Um, what celebrity would you
say you were surprised most by showing up to one
(41:10):
of your establishments where you you know, I didn't expect
that Holy Shit moment. You know, I never talked about celebrities.
I will say one. One thing for you. Was The
coolest thing to me was when Martha Stewart and snoop
were eating a nice guy lone years ago and it
was like the first time anyone had seemed. It was
(41:32):
before they're like people knew about the relationship. was very cool. Yeah,
if you yeah, there as people. Um. Last two. Do
you read any books that have sholped, helped shape your
perspective in Your Business Mindset, whether it was ten years ago,
fifteen years ago or two days ago, like are you?
Are you a book reader? Does that? Is that something
(41:52):
that helps you, know, Um, advance your thinking? I think
it does. You know, I should read a lot more.
I used to a lot more I asked. I actually
used to read a ton of philosophy. Um. I've Read
Art of war like five times. Um, so that's a
huge aspect. Um. I currently am reading The Walt Disney biography,
which I would my friend Um got for me and
(42:14):
I would encourage any person, but definitely any aspiring entrepreneur,
to read, Um, probably the coolest story and best story
you could read. Yeah, I think a lot of that
shapes shapes you. I think it helps quite a bit.
I I very much study that and I very much
study art. So those are some major aspects. Um. Two
(42:35):
more the to rewind slightly, you said the business side
of it. When you were doing, you know, the water
found at the Bolaggio with drake, like it's hard to
enjoy it sometimes, like you have to check back in
with yourself, and that's probably, like do you correlate that
to the like the you know, the stress and the
pressure of making sure it goes well, it gets set up,
it happens, people are like, you know, you accomplish it
(42:56):
and then you like then you can sit back and
enjoy it. Is that why you have to like do
that check back in, because, like, you spend all the
time just being, you know, a wiry fuck of like
I gotta get I said, I gotta get this done,
like you know, I don't know how you work and
if it's like crazy like that, but you know what
I mean, where it's like once it's completed, then you
feel that sense of relief, of like satisfaction. We did it. Yeah, yeah,
some version of that. I I try to be the
(43:19):
calm the calm version of what you just said. It's
a lot of stress. I don't mean to call you
a wiry funk, I wasn't. Well, it's an important thing
because I've had to learn over the years to be
poised even in the key, is to be poised in
the in the most frantic moments, Um, as a as
a leader. So even internally when I'm, you know, kind
(43:41):
of going crazy, it's important for others to see the calmness.
Um just hard on an individual, you know, and that's
a big check. Yeah, big thing for a leader too
would be to you know, stay calm rally the troops,
like if the leaders rattled and spiraled like, I don't
see how your you know, your teammates can remember. Would
not be too very easy to talk about that. It's
(44:03):
it's another thing when you're actually in it, you know,
and so that's the difference. Um. You said earlier you
had entrepreneurs that you looked up to. Would you name
a couple one too, and why? You know what they did,
how they inspired you. Um. I mean I always looked
up to Steve Jobs, Um, just for all the obvious reasons.
(44:26):
That was a big, big one, because he was a
creative mind in a business setting and did things his way. Um.
I had actually always looked up to rick crusoe, Um,
ironically now and I was reading for mayor, but his
entrepreneurialism was a whole thing and how he created Grove
and everything, and it was a lot closer to home.
(44:46):
Went to USC went to pepperdine, so it was a
thing for me. Um, there's a good amount that I've studied.
I I truly I would encourage people to study the
backgrounds of entrepreneurs because, whether whether good or bad, it's
very good hearing and seeing what people have done, because
you just take, whether you know it or not, you
(45:06):
take tidbits of everything. It's like reading. The thing isn't
is fascinating. You know. I try to watch, like any
Youtube interview I see that like a successful entrepreneur isn't.
Like Mark Cuban would be my main example, just because
I'm a big NBA Fan. He obviously owns the Dallas Mavericks.
Like and I feel like the commonality among like a
(45:28):
lot of you big time successful entrepreneurs is that, like
you all at one point were like heavily eating ship,
like you know, you're living in a like Mark Cuban
was saying he lived in a room with six guys,
slept on the floor to have a bed, like had
no money, it's like, and he was like twenty six
or something. So it's like, I feel like the common
(45:49):
the common ground for all of you, is that, like
there really is that make or break point where it's like,
you know, is this going to happen? And I think
like well, I would like to know what you think about,
like what it is that you know why you see
all the people who are really down in the dirt
like that are able to lie, you know, rise up
like the rocks seven bucks productions, because he had seven
bucks in his pocket, like he was able to create
(46:12):
his own empire. So, like what is it? What is
the like? There's that commonality between all of you, but
what's the common ground that like lifts all of you up?
It's a definitely an underlying common thing which I was
unaware of, you know, going through it. So it's it's
you know, I wish I had known more. I would
have been more helpful. Um, I think it's just it's
(46:33):
probably something the people that come out on the other
side of it. It probably is is because they have
that drive to get to what they're doing, you know,
and people that don't, it's not that's not there. What
they should be doing, you know, at the end of
the day, and that's, I think, a tough thing. I think.
I talked to a lot of people that are starting
businesses and I gotta say nine out of ten are
(46:54):
doing it for the wrong reason and I think, I
think the minute they get one setback, let alone too
or in my case, you know, ten may be out.
What's the wrong reason? Money? It could be a bunch
of things. Money is the leader, h fame glory because
they think it's the right thing. Um. But yes, it's
(47:16):
usually following the dollar and it's very, very hard two
separate that mindset because at the end of the day,
everything has to make money. Don't don't get me wrong,
you know, it's just it's the way you if it's
all for that, when you when you hit that that
big bump in the road, you're you're not coming out
(47:38):
of it and you're not going to be the the
our Cuban version. So how do you separate it, though,
like how would you say you separate you know, while
you're starting up and it's like I like this, I
enjoy what I'm doing and I want to make money
doing it. But you know, if you if that's your
own like, if you can't get that out of the
forefront of your head, to be your main intent, to
(47:58):
not be your main intention, like, how do you separated?
Be Doing what I'm doing if I wasn't making money? Yes, so,
at the end of the day, I bet you all
those entrepreneurs we're talking about are pretty simple men in
the end of the day, or some women, Um, in
that they love what they're doing and and no matter what,
(48:19):
they'd be doing it. You know, Um, and I know,
I know it sounds corny and sounds crazy, but it's true.
You know, at no time, once I got into what
I'm doing, which I view myself as an entrepreneur, not
in hospitality. I view myself as a person that creates
spaces and has places for people to live in. Once
I got a taste of that and once I really
(48:40):
I wasn't doing anything else. And No, it didn't matter what, what,
you know, as long as I could afford to like
live and eat, that's all I really needed. Yeah, yeah,
that's cool, because I think sometimes like something that you know,
early stages. I'm only twenty three. I think I struggle
with like a version of that of like, you know,
you see where your parents are at and you're like, well,
if I can just get these tasks done and do
(49:01):
this and do that, like I could help them out,
and you lose sight of like well, I am doing
it because I enjoy it. You know, it's not just
to make the money, it's not just to like, you know,
make your you know, your mom and your dad's life
a little bit easier. Like you are doing it because
you enjoy it. But I think like the goals of like,
you know, your your end goal, of like what you
see yourself doing with the money kind of gets in
the way of like, you know, just attacking the everyday
(49:24):
grind and doing it out of enjoyment. Yeah, and I don't.
I don't want to sound crazy. It's it's okay to
have those goals that are monetarily. I didn't. I weirdly
did not have that. It was more about winning. It
was more about having a place of people love. In
your case, why are you doing this? Why are you
doing podcasts right now just to put out, you know,
(49:45):
I had a bad walk on experience, so kind of
just to like hear the versions of like what a
person like you went through that was able to propel
you to know, you know, where you are now, or
like a guy like rudy selling his film, like Andre,
Andre Drammond wasn't really a walk on, but I did
interview him. But all like the you know, interesting stories
of like guys rows who have had, you know, rough
(50:06):
times and they've been able to just like turn it in,
like parlay they're terrible four or five years of college
into something you know that they would have never dreamed
but you're doing it because you like doing it. Like yeah,
that would be the abbreviated answer answer. I do like podcasting. Yeah,
I mean that's that's the that's the short answer. That's
(50:27):
the very immediate short answer. What I'm saying is you're
you're doing this because you're genuine, I can tell, genuinely interested,
you genuinely wanted this. Isn't because you think you're going
to get some sponsor deal off of this interview with
me right now, like this is more your your you know.
So to me, that is the that's the essence of
(50:48):
what one should do. Obviously, I'm making it abbreviated and simplifying,
but I believe that that is what is an underlying
common denominator for a lot of the successful entrepreneurs is
they had great setbacks, all of them. I don't know
a single person with that successful that didn't have an
insane failure or setback and nothing was stopping them. What
(51:11):
would you say about like just, you know, fully building
your foundation, because I think, like you know, you can't
build the house until the foundation is in so, like,
once you have your foundation built, you know, but the
point of getting it built, like the patients that comes
with it, the diligence, like how it's obviously just a mentality,
but like what do you like, how do you feel
about like you know, because at one point you didn't
(51:32):
have your foundation built. It was like, you know, you're
still right, it's still rocky, it's still up and down
and then you get to that point where, okay, like
ships in place, where now each pillar can kind of
go straight up like well, the the short answer to
that was I didn't have the foundation built. I built
it along the way and, to be honest, it was
(51:53):
a big issue, but I was moving so fast and
building company and it's a common thing is you have
to play catch up. So I will the pandemic, uh,
definitely one of the hardest situations for anyone. Little but
specifically the restaurant hospitality business was just really, really rough.
(52:15):
Silver lining of it and I, like I said on
the internal optimists was I would say it really caused
me and my partner and us to focus on the
real foundation, which we thought we had but we didn't
for our business. So you're talking now, only three years
ago that I started to really get into the foundation
of what should have been and is now, Um and
(52:38):
I don't know, I think it would have taken a
while for us to get to that if we didn't
have that moment. Is that what gave you the stability?
Like three years ago, you finally had it in place
and now you guys were like maybe a little bit
more stable. Um, yeah, I think so. But you know
my mindset, because of because of the failures I've had,
I never feel stable. Never feel stable. How do you?
(53:00):
How do you? How do you even like feel comfortable operating?
Like don't you want some sort of stability? You of
like you know, this is okay at least, like these
six things are okay. I can go worry about these three,
like you know what I mean, like you don't need
any any sort of that. I think maybe one should.
The Way I am is I in the minute I
think like that, it's gonna be something's gonna it's not
going to operate to the level of ship interesting. It's
(53:26):
definitely not fun in that regard. I've had to just
learn that. That is my mentality, but it's definitely my
mentality and it's it's it's because I've never wanted to
ever go back to any sort of failure that I've had. Yeah,
no doubt. All right, literal last question. I heard you
only listen to the G C group chat podcast. What
do I gotta do to make Walkie Talkies podcast? Uh,
(53:49):
the second one you listen to on your on your
planes and on all your travel, travel time. I got you.
Those are those are my guys. Appreciate that. So now
you will be the other one I listened to. Appreciate it, man,
I know, I know, we're limited for time, so I
can't thank you enough for, you know, just the time
you gave me and, you know, even the advice along
the way. You really are a prime example of, you know,
(54:09):
former walk on's achieving more then most of their scholarship
teammates end up doing, aside from the ones who go
and play in the NFL Um and just epitomizing what
walk ons are like, you know, even if it was
only for two years. Uh, just like shows what you
can really do with the role and how the role
can set you up for the success that you've had.
There's really no limit on, you know, what can be done. Um,
(54:30):
so I was happy to have you on the podcast.
Appreciate you being a part of the walkie talkies gang
and uh, I really appreciate it, man. Thank you. Appreciate
you all right, walkie talkies gang. That's a rap for
W T Z E. Twenty episode. Twenty episodes in the book. Man,
that's great stuff. Uh. Appreciate everybody who's been along this
twenty episode journey. I did squeeze a couple of extra
(54:51):
questions out of John Because I had to while I could,
and I'm glad I did. Really grateful for his time
and him coming on. I hope everyone who listened enjoyed
and was able to take something away from John's journey
and his perspective. Now, as for the quick show update,
I'll be doing some small additional episodes on walkie talkie
podcast with some featured zone episodes, that's what they're going
(55:12):
to be called, where I myself, alongside my older brother Greg,
will be zoning in on some key topics and sports
here throughout this upcoming sports season and beyond. The zone
episodes will be fairly short conversational, opinionated and factual from
Greg and Eile some current issues, topics and debates disagreements
between the two of US within the sports world. These
zone episodes will be in addition to our walkie talkies interviews.
(55:33):
No worries, these amazing stories won't go anywhere. Um, just
making a small edition with brother Greg because I think
you listeners will enjoy these walkie talkie zone episodes as
well and just adding another piece to the show. So
really nothing major, just something that you can all look
out for in the coming weeks, coming months, um. And
that's it for today. I want to thank you all
for listening and make sure you are subscribed to walkie
(55:55):
talkies podcast. If you enjoyed, if you can get notified
every time a new episode drops. You can also find
us on social media, Youtube, instagram, tiktok and twitter. At you,
T Z podcast. Appreciate you all listen and make sure,
if you enjoy it again, you share this episode to
a friend who you think would also enjoy and could
get something from this. Word of mouth is very, very
beneficial for the walkie talkie podcast family. So again I
(56:17):
want to thank you all for listening, for sharing, subscribing
and you can look out for the next episode release state,
whether it be an interview with a former walk on
or it be our first edition of the zone episodes,
on social media, where we will post all episode release
dates and more. Thank you again, everyone, and remember, got
(56:37):
us something you. Walkie talkies is a production of I
heart radio and the college athletes network. For more podcasts
from my heart radio, visit the I heart radio APP,
apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts,
Host
Noah Buono
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