April 30, 2023 • 29 mins
Rupesh shares his journey and his secret to his tremendous success on social media. We discuss how his parents as immigrants have shaped him and the evolution in thinking from generation to generation. Rupesh also offers advice on dealing with setbacks and challenges, building networks and finding inspiration and passion.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
David Kong (00:02):
Greetings.
I am David Kong, the founder andprincipal of D E I advisors.
We are a nonprofit dedicated toself-empowerment.
We are fortunate to have RupeshPatel on our show today.
Rupesh was just recognized by IA C, Orlando as the 2022 male
business professional of theyear.
(00:24):
Rupesh was also recognized asone of the top 100.
Most powerful people in globalhospitality by International
Hospitality Institute.
Congratulations and welcome tothe show, Rupesh.
Rupesh Patel (00:38):
Thank you Mr.
Kong.
It's a pleasure being here andI'm so happy that we can connect
again.
We connected a while back andwhen I got that email from you,
I was like, wow, this isawesome, man.
I love what you're doing, so I'msuper excited to be on the show.
David Kong (00:49):
Thank you, Rupesh.
I've always been impressed withyou.
I'm delighted to have you on theshow.
Now Ru you have an interestingcareer.
Not only do you own and managehotels, you also branched out
and started a very popular showon LinkedIn during the pandemic.
Can we start by talking aboutyour journey and some of the key
inflection points?
Rupesh Patel (01:09):
Yeah, absolutely.
Man I've been doing the hotelbusiness since we bought our
first motel in south Florida in1989.
I grew up in Houston, Texas, andeven then my parents were.
Entrepreneurs.
They started their first Indiangrocery chain in Houston, Texas.
And I saw the hard work that myfamily put in, and then we sold
(01:29):
everything.
And one day my dad's Hey, we'removing to Florida.
And I was like, what about allmy friends?
And what about, how that goes?
And we moved, yeah, one summer Isaid bye to all my friends that
we, that I grew up with and.
We moved and lived in a 50 roommotel, connected to a old school
bar that if, from the eightiesthere'd be fights in the middle
(01:50):
of the night and you can hearall of that and the jukebox
playing and all of those things.
Yeah.
And yeah, waking up in themiddle of the night and renting
rooms, cleaning rooms, doing allthe things when you, that you do
when you have a family that youknow that lives on property.
And yeah, we did all of thosethings and It was a fun journey
and, been doing it ever since.
And then in 2000 2000, or is it2000?
Yeah, it is.
(02:11):
In 2002 we had an opportunity totake over a property in Daytona
Beach, Florida for family.
And my wife and my family areboth in the hotel business.
So we had that opportunity wherewe both understood the business
and we lived on property in anold travel lodge.
And the journey kind of goesfrom there and, We of course
learned a lot of lessons, thenmade a lot of mistakes, and we
(02:32):
continue growing here today.
And, fast forward just to acouple years ago the pandemic,
really hit all of us, includingmyself.
I lost my father in the duringthe pandemic.
He had covid and passed awayafter 45 days being in the
hospital.
And, prior to that, six monthsprior to that, I actually
started a show.
Where we said, you know what,and I've thought about this idea
for maybe 10 years about hostinga podcast.
(02:54):
It wasn't live video, but it washosting a podcast.
And 10 years ago, actually, or12 years ago, I bought all the
equipment.
I spent$5,000 buying all theequipment.
And then guess what happens?
I get scared and I don't doanything.
Or that idea was just it, I hadthat itch for 10 years and I was
like, you know what?
I'm already sharing stuff onsocial and people are liking it.
(03:15):
I should go and get that ideaand bring it back.
And so right before thepandemic, I started a
hospitality live with RUpassion.
It just blew up, people are athome and they wanted to learn
and new people coming into theindustry wanted to learn.
So started a show and, we did130.
Six or 37 weeks in a row everyWednesday.
And it was a lot of funconnecting with folks like
(03:36):
yourself.
You shared a lot of interestingand great tips for people that
are new to the industry or beenveterans.
So thank you so much for thatand I'm excited to continue
sharing.
David Kong (03:47):
It's great.
I love your show, by the way.
It was very entertaining, veryinsightful.
I love all the guests that youhad on the show.
Really enjoyed it.
It's a shame that you no longerdo that full-time.
Not every week anyway, right?
Rupesh Patel (04:01):
Yeah.
Now it's every couple months aswe, go to a conference or have a
special guest that comes in andsome of those things.
But I'm, right now I'm reallyfocused on the hotel side of
things, investing side ofthings.
And of course, my number one mynumber one priority in my life
is my family.
And, as my kids get older, Ihave two kids in high school and
one kid in elementary, andthey're getting big.
Pretty fast.
(04:22):
And so I always spent a lot oftime with them and and do all
the things that, maybe I didn'tget to do with my, my father,
cuz he worked all day long.
And I think you could understandthat and a lot of people
watching can understand that,our family did what they could
to survive it in the UnitedStates.
And some things.
Weren't the American way, whichwas okay with us.
And now thinking about it withmy own family, I'm like, I
(04:44):
understand my dad now more thanI did back then.
Did you get that too?
David Kong (04:48):
Of course.
Now I get it, and pretty soon myson and my daughter would say,
now I get it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No I love that.
Let's talk about your secretsto, so your social media
success.
Your show was so popular.
When I watched it, I see severalhundred people watch it live.
(05:08):
Plus I don't know how many,thousands and thousands of
people watch it afterwards.
Absolutely.
Tell us what the secret is.
Rupesh Patel (05:14):
Really there is no secret.
I didn't make any rules up.
I just saw what was happening onother platforms.
And I said, you know whatLinkedIn is doing this live
platform.
It's new.
Let's just put myself out there.
And that's what I did.
I just threw myself out therenot knowing what to do, not
knowing how to become a, how tospeak live on the internet.
And I was scared actually.
(05:35):
If you look at the first, likefive episodes, 10 episodes, I
was nervous as heck, and Ididn't know what to do, but I
kept cool and kept it going and,there are no real secrets, I
feel like in business or inlife.
You just go and you follow thejourney as you feel good about
it.
And Th there are, of course Ipost a couple times a day.
I connect with a lot ofdifferent people.
(05:55):
I have interesting people thathave maybe a bigger following
than I have, like you do, bringthem on a and, share the
journey.
And when you're authentic toyourself and to your audience.
People are attracted to that.
And I think that's reallyimportant when you know,
especially on LinkedIn andsocial.
On LinkedIn, it's bus, it's abusiness platform and people
(06:16):
think we just need to sell, andtry to get return on our
efforts.
And sometimes it's not likethat.
I'm not on LinkedIn to make adollar, I'm here to inspire
people.
I'm here to share about ourindustry, and.
And yeah, I get the benefits onthe other side of investing with
hotels or investing orconnecting with different
people, but that's not what I doon social.
And that's a actually, that,that could be a secret where
(06:37):
people don't understand thatit's not just about selling, but
it's really attracting peoplethat are similar to you or that
are in alignment with yourgoals.
And your goals aren't to sell,number one.
It's to really make thatconnection.
That's what social media'sabout.
Yeah.
David Kong (06:53):
No, I love it.
First and foremost, it's thecontent and you do have genuine,
sincere, and relevant content toyour viewers.
That's why you have yourfoundation to be successful.
And of course all the otherthings that you do just cream on
the cake.
It's really well done.
I miss no shows.
Oh, I
Rupesh Patel (07:11):
miss it too.
I get op or I get.
Calls like at least once everycouple weeks and say, Hey, are
you still doing the show?
I would love to be on a show.
I would love to suggest a guestand, oh I, maybe I might bring
it back.
What do you think?
David Kong (07:25):
My special request?
Absolutely.
Let's talk about the fact thatyou've interviewed a lot of very
successful people, and what aresome of the common qualities
that you've observed through allthese very successful people?
Rupesh Patel (07:39):
Yeah.
From, from the CEO of HiltonKristen Setta, to anybody that
we've got brought on to, on, onthe show or on my social media,
it's the one thing of just notquitting when you get that
first.
No, and I think that's been thedriver for almost every single
person that I've interviewed is.
We don't take no for an answer.
We keep going until we actuallyget a yes.
(07:59):
And so I'm teaching that to mykids now, where if you get a no
for the first 10 times, guesswhat?
Maybe that 11th time might be ayes.
And you're top of mind.
And so I think that's thebiggest quality is keep going
even though you might get somefailures that or some some tough
positions as you're trying toreach your goals.
David Kong (08:18):
That's true.
Yeah.
You have to be persistent inpursuing your dreams.
Yeah, no doubt about that.
What are some of the otherqualities?
Rupesh Patel (08:25):
Oh, there, from other folks that I've learned
just keeping it going isprobably the number one thing.
But I would say just not notfeeling bad about yourself.
And a lot of times you're like Idon't think I'm good enough for
this position, or I don't thinkI'm good enough to reach my
goals.
And I think that's, The internaldouble that's speaking to you,
(08:46):
and maybe not focusing all onthose negativity, I think that's
a positive that you can keepgoing with not focusing on the
bad side of things.
And sometimes that stuff candrag you down and put you into
the dumps.
And I've seen that where, youknow what?
We're gonna keep it going.
We're gonna stay positive.
And even though we have to gothrough these different
challenges I feel like a lot ofthose folks that we've
interviewed, Did that and theysaid, you know what, we're gonna
(09:07):
stay positive.
I'm gonna surround myself withamazing people that helped me
grow cuz I feel like, we don't,I didn't, whatever I'm doing
right now, I didn't do it bymyself.
I had, I.
Thousands of people helped me.
I had dozens of people that werementors that helped me grow to
the position I am right now.
And, all the differentopportunities I get.
I can't say it was myself.
I can't take that credit.
(09:28):
But, it's really surroundingyourself by amazing people that
are gonna help you grow, thatare happy for you to see you
successful.
And I love that.
I, when we did that speech acouple weeks ago at the I A C
gala where, you know, theypresented and I was shocked.
Male Business professional ofthe year for 2022.
Congratulations again.
Thank you.
I said I.
We gotta keep ourselves going.
And you surround yourself withpeople that you know, care, that
(09:51):
are kind and that want, wannasee you grow.
And that's what I've been doing.
I've been taking all thosenegative people and putting it
aside and really focusing onpeople that are gonna help me.
And I, I'm so fortunate that wehave a great group of mentors
that I reach out to almost dailyto get advice from.
Yeah.
David Kong (10:09):
Let's talk about your parents.
For a minute, you have immigrantparents.
You talked about the humblebeginning and how you worked
hard and you pursue the Americandream.
How has having immigrant parentsshaped you?
Rupesh Patel (10:23):
Yeah, so I look at it and I compare this to my kids
right now that didn't see thestruggles that my parents went
through that I saw, right?
So having Amer immigrant parentscoming to the United States and,
I was born in England and Imoved here when I was six months
old.
So I was along the journey withthem as they grew their business
and as they created a life herein the United States.
(10:44):
And so I saw that they justworked hard.
It didn't matter what time ofthe day it was, we're just gonna
work hard.
We're gonna work extra hard.
We're gonna go above and beyondthe maybe the normal person or
the person that's already beenhere for 20 years, 30 years, 50
years, they just did that extrastep and I think that's, Why a
lot of us are successful is wego above and beyond and we care.
(11:04):
Care about going that extrastep, not just doing a hundred
percent, but going that extra10%.
And I think that is a lessonI've learned is just work hard.
David Kong (11:14):
Yeah.
No, that work ethic isphenomenal.
I see that in a lot of secondgeneration.
They learn that from theirparents.
Yeah.
That's well said.
Yeah.
Now, you are obviously broughtup in this country and.
You probably think differentlyand do things differently than
your parents would you mind toelaborate on that evolution in
thinking?
Rupesh Patel (11:33):
Yeah.
Y I've watched my parentsstruggle with just simple things
like, I understand now that wehad to watch our pennies.
We had to watch these differentthings on expenses when we're
running the motel.
But there are opportunities togrow the business and I think
that's the evolution of, fromgeneration to generation, they
see maybe using our education ormaybe using our networking or
(11:53):
using social media or usinganother concept to grow our
business.
And I think That's the beauty ofjust, the next generation is
they're gonna take your stepthat you took and take it to the
next step.
And I think that's what we'velearned is, yeah, they struggled
and they've worked really hardand now how can we make, how can
we run our business maybe alittle bit smarter than they
did, and maybe have freedom tospend some time with our
(12:14):
families, spend some time doingthis, getting experiences,
taking a vacation, which wenever did growing up.
And I think I'm proud that theydid work hard because it's given
us the opportunity to do what welove to do right now.
But I think that evolution isgonna continue as, my kids
hopefully take over a businessor we continue growing.
I think the next generation'sgonna think differently than
(12:35):
maybe I am even right now.
David Kong (12:37):
Yeah, no, I, the one thing that I enjoy doing when I
go to, for example, the AsianAmerican Hotel and this
association meetings, Is allthese young people the next
generation people, your age nowis now assuming the family's
business and they're far moreaggressive and they're far more
willing to take risk.
(12:57):
And therefore they have growntheir company in such an amazing
way.
It's really gratifying to seethey are no longer the, the
conservative type that.
Want to make sure that we arefrugal in every way.
They are far more aggressive inthat way.
So no doubt you're the same way.
And it's great to see thatevolution in thinking from
(13:18):
generation to generation.
They're achieving tremendoussuccess.
That's, but we don't forget theroots, right?
Rupesh Patel (13:24):
No.
We could never forget the roots.
And, we, and hopefully we couldteach our roots not make our
kids feel bad about, oh, youdidn't learn, you didn't
struggle, but teach them what wewent through, right?
Somebody taught me that a whileback.
They're like they're like whyaren't you having your kids?
Go through the same strugglesthat you did, or your parents
said no, it's the evolution thatwe wanted something better for
(13:44):
our kids.
And so I don't want my kids tostruggle in the same way my
parents did, or maybe somethings that we did.
They need to continue growingand they just need to understand
the story.
I think that's
David Kong (13:54):
right.
No, the values our parentstaught us, we can never forget.
Yeah.
Let's switch gears and talkabout the challenges that women
in other minority face in ourindustry.
Our industry has made some veryencouraging progress and at the
same time we continue to facechallenges in trying to achieve
the sea level positions.
(14:17):
What's your take on thischallenge?
Rupesh Patel (14:19):
Yeah.
Being in the business for a longtime, you've seen that, when you
go to conferences, when you goto different events, when you go
to corporate offices, it'susually a lot of men there.
There's not a lot of other folksthat are, there's no folks like
me in the corporate office.
And maybe that's changed here inthe last 20 years.
But I think there's a lot ofchallenges that we've all faced,
including women.
And I'm seeing that, you guysat.
(14:41):
D e I advisors are doing, takingthose strides to, help these
folks or these different groupsthat didn't get a chance.
And I'm, thank you for that.
David Kong (14:50):
Yeah, no, that's that's a lot of work to be done.
And our organization is aboutself-empowerment.
I think the companies areimplementing wonderful programs
to help recruit talent and.
Develop them and elevating themto, to high level positions.
But it start with e everythingstarts with the personal
(15:10):
motivation and personalempowerment.
So that's what our organizationis about.
And advisors like you, coming ona show and sharing your
experiences is invaluable for ofus trying to get ahead.
Now, you mentioned earlier aboutfeeling uncomfortable sometimes
and feeling like you don't fitin those negative thoughts.
That happens a lot to women inminority groups.
(15:34):
And what's your advice on how weshould handle
Rupesh Patel (15:39):
that?
Yeah.
To, to women in minorities andincluding myself.
Even now I still feel like whenI walk into a room and it's all
a certain, Genre or whatever, I,you feel like, how can you step
in and have a voice in thatroom?
And a lot of times it's thatinner demonn that, that, that is
killing your vibe.
I think especially right nowwhere there's a lot of people
(15:59):
that we want include, there's alot of corporations that want to
include you into it, but I feellike a lot of times ourselves we
have that negative thought inour mind we don't fit in here.
Maybe you can think aboutputting yourself and having a
voice and maybe speaking out alittle bit.
Or standing up in the room.
And just being noticed.
And I think that's one thingthat, women and minorities feel
(16:21):
like they don't have it, but Ithink a lot of times, Right now,
especially with, like I said,there's a lot of different
opportunities that we should bestanding up and saying hey, I'm
here.
I just wanted to introducemyself and be noticed.
I think that's important whenyou don't, when you don't stand
up, you don't get noticed.
David Kong (16:36):
That's true.
You, we have to stand up andspeak out.
That's talk about personally thedefeats and setbacks we face at
times.
Obviously that's difficult and.
Patel probably has had fairshare of setbacks and
disappointments.
What are some of the lessonsyou've learned?
Rupesh Patel (16:58):
Yeah, we go back to, back to the earlier
conversation is just don't quit.
And I've learned that these areeven me being here on your show,
I've had to learn to be thisway.
I, growing up, I was prettyquiet.
I was an introvert.
And you c you can't believethat, but I was, and I had to
put myself out there.
And.
I've learned these traits fromother folks around me.
(17:20):
So even in high school I sawfriends DJing and I was like I
would love to do that.
And my, if my friends are doingit, why can't I, even though I'm
an introvert, right?
And so I just put myself outthere and I got opportunities
because I put myself out there.
And sometimes I didn't get thegig the gig.
But, I just kept it going and Isaid, you know what?
I'm not gonna stop until Ireached that goal of whatever it
(17:40):
was at that time.
Even now, there's.
Every day in the hotel business,there's setbacks.
Something doesn't go your way orin business or in daily life.
Nothing's gonna, noteverything's gonna go your way
and you could consider that asetback or just a learning
lesson.
And so I've taken these lessonsand said, you know what?
How can I.
Stay positive and keep myselfgoing.
(18:00):
And I reach out to a lot offriends often for advice, a lot.
And sometimes they're like youjust call me five times this
past week.
And I have friends that actuallyare really cool about that.
And yeah.
And, but I don't know,something, I reach out to people
and, sometimes they don't know'em, they maybe reach out to
somebody else.
And so your network is huge.
And so if you're going through asetback, reach out to people.
(18:23):
Even though it's a dumbquestion, which.
There isn't a dumb question anda lot of times for me, I don't
know the answer to everything.
And so I might say I don't knowit.
And I think that's advice too,where you don't have to know
every single thing.
Yeah.
David Kong (18:37):
And those are three wonderful lessons.
Setbacks and disappointments areactually learning opportunities
makes you stronger and betterfor the next time.
And, You have to believe in yourgoals and sometimes when you're
set back, when you're facesetback, you have to continue to
believe in it and fight for it.
Yeah.
If you don't fight for it, Idon't know who else would fight
(18:58):
for it.
Yeah.
And the last thing you saidabout seeking advice, I'd really
believe in that.
If you don't know something,just ask.
They are plenty of people whocan offer their very expedite at
advice and they're willing tohelp.
So just ask.
Those are three very good
Rupesh Patel (19:13):
advice.
Yeah.
Even strangers, there are peopleout there.
That are retired or they havelearned a lot and they've been
successful, they just wannashare their knowledge with
somebody else, right?
Yeah.
If one person says no, guesswhat?
There's 50 other people thatwill are willing to help you.
And don't just say because it'sone person shot you down, that
the world's over and you'renever gonna get help.
(19:35):
You're never gonna grow.
And I think that's That's alesson in itself where you go
out and reach out to otherfolks, right?
David Kong (19:40):
Yeah I do believe in that and my experience is such
that I believe in just asking,you might get one or two people
that say no, but you got plenty.
Others that would say, I'm happyto help.
Yeah, no, definitely.
Let's talk about your approachto challenges.
What's your approach?
Rupesh Patel (19:59):
So it depends on if it's hotel operations, I have
a different approach.
If it's life, I have a differentapproach.
If it's anything else.
But, my approach is don't quit.
Keep it going.
And, that's been, I feel likethis is like the theme for this
interview.
It's just keep it going.
And a lot of times if it's thehotel operation side, I think of
three other ways of.
Correcting or fixing the currentchallenge that we're going
(20:21):
through, right?
It's not just let's give anexample.
If it's a plumbing issue, yourwater heater went down.
I don't just call one plumber, Icall three or four of'em, and
the first person that shows upis the person that's gonna get
the job right?
And so I do that with a lot of.
Things in my life where it's notjust one direction, it's not
just one and done, but I makesure that I have planned A, B,
(20:43):
C, D, and sometimes it's notgood that I have all these
different plans, but often theseare how you, I approach
challenges is with is differentways of solving that,
David Kong (20:52):
that challenge.
Yeah, don't quit.
It is just very good advice.
And secondly, always having aplan B or plan C and being
willing to try things out isanother good advice.
Thanks for sharing that.
Yeah, absolutely.
Now, Ropa, you're not very old,it's been some time since you
started in the business.
What's your advice to youryounger self if you're able to
(21:13):
give it, what do you tell yourkids?
Rupesh Patel (21:16):
Don't be afraid.
Of a lot of different things.
I think growing up in thebusiness, you're so used to this
one way that your parents did itand that you can't think bigger
than that bubble that you're in.
And sometimes you just need toget outta that bubble and go see
the, maybe the world or go seehow other people do it.
So I, if I was, I.
20 years ago or 25 years ago, Iwould probably go learn from
(21:38):
other folks and seeing howthey're doing it instead of
trying to make up the rules orlearn on the way, which was
still interesting.
But it'd be for folks that areyounger right now, go ask people
how they grew and learn fromthem.
And I think that's just advicethat, that is priceless.
David Kong (21:56):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Sometimes where, especially whenwe, when I was younger, I used
to be shy.
Just to really feeluncomfortable about asking
people for help, but we shouldask people for help and for
advice.
That's very good.
Yeah.
And get outta
Rupesh Patel (22:10):
bubble.
Not get outta your zone.
Get outta your car.
Yeah, that's right.
Get outta our film.
Yeah.
You're in your hotel then.
That's all you know.
And if you can get out and govisit another hotel, go visit
another city and see whatthey're doing.
I love that.
And I wish I had learned that along time ago, like to go get.
Ideas and advice from otherpeople.
Or other businesses.
David Kong (22:29):
Yeah.
Always broaden your horizon andthat brought us your
perspectives.
When you go and there's anotherhotel, you find out new ways of
doing things.
That's very good advice.
Yeah.
You talked earlier about yourbeing an introvert, which I
don't believe at all, becauseanyone who's seen Rupesh Patel,
(22:50):
And any trade shells would seeRupa working the world.
You are one of the best innetworking.
So I'm gonna ask you for youradvice on networking.
Rupesh Patel (23:00):
Yeah.
Somebody told me this 10 or 15years ago, mean 10 years ago,
they said, listen, we all wakeup the same way.
You get out of bed, you brushyour teeth, we're all the same
people, we all have the sameemotions.
So you going up to somebody andthinking that they're better
than you.
Is probably wrong.
And they're probably thinkingthey're probably as scared as
much as you are to meet you,right?
And so I said, you know what?
(23:21):
You're right.
We're all, we all.
We all wake up the same way,right?
We have, we go to sleep and wakeup.
And if it's a CEO o of a majorco corporation or if it's a
billionaire for or anybody thatyou're in a room with go up to
them and just introduceyourself.
And I got to learn that.
And even now I get a little shyand you don't think that's true,
but I wasn't interview avert andI had to learn this to get out
(23:41):
and really make a difference inwhat my goals are as far as
being an advocate for theindustry.
Sharing my ideas all thesethings, I, they were just like
burning inside me and I wantedto get it out.
And the only way you could do itis through networking and
connecting with people, right?
And it's a learned skill thatanybody can, put themselves or
put that, put themselves in theposition of just connecting with
a lot of different people.
(24:02):
And it's not what you know, it'swho you know a lot of the times.
And so I've, and I've seen that,I've seen that happen in the
last few years where, I am goingto this hotel, or I'm doing
this, or I want this connection.
It's not what I knew, cuz Iprobably know something about
something, but it, I, it wasthat person that reached out to
me or was that third personaway, that reached out to that
(24:25):
person, said, Hey, pressure'scoming to this city or whatever,
can you help'em out?
And that's happened so manytimes.
And so your network is your networth actually, that's a saying
that a lot of people say, and itis true that, the more people
the easier it is in business.
David Kong (24:39):
Oh, for sure.
I love it that you said network.
Your network is a net worth.
It is so true in so many ways.
Definitely.
And it is true that it getseasier as you practice it, but
you've gotta go on and do it.
Rupesh Patel (24:52):
Yeah, and it's not just at conventions, it's on
social media.
It's Reaching out to people,cold calls, any of those things,
it's not just one thing.
And there's so many differentgroups right now with Meetup and
all these different websiteswhere you can connect with
like-minded people even withinthe hotel business, right?
And I know on social media, soconnect with a lot of people and
that's what's gonna help you.
In your next POS career or yournext position, or your next part
(25:16):
of your journey in your life.
And if you're retiring or ifyou're just starting out, make a
lot of connections.
And the most important thing isdon't burn that bridge.
David Kong (25:25):
Yeah.
That's good advice too.
Don't have a burn that bridge.
Don't burn
Rupesh Patel (25:28):
your bridge.
Don't burn that bridge toanybody.
Yeah.
And you can part ways in a kindway, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I think that's important.
David Kong (25:35):
Yeah, that's a very good point.
Now show us aboutself-empowerment.
So finding inspiration andfinding a passion to pursue your
dreams is important.
So how do you find yourinspiration and your passion?
Rupesh Patel (25:50):
For me, it's just wake, for me, I.
I wanted to share the successesthat I had at my hotel.
We became the number one hotel.
We became hotel hotel of theyear nominee for a certain brand
and became number one in the inthe market on, on TripAdvisor.
And I wanted to share how we gotthere because there's other
people when I would go to aregional meeting for our hotels
(26:11):
and they'd be like how did youget to number one on this
particular website or whatever?
And I was like, I wanna sharethis stuff, right?
And I get a lot of energy justfrom doing that, right?
And so if you find somethingthat gives you, that you feel
like is makes you feel reallygood, that's a passion, right?
And that's a purpose on maybeyou could turn this passion
thing into something that couldturn into a business or turn
into something that isvolunteering or whatever.
(26:33):
Whatever I do on social media isnot for me to make money off of.
It's because I'm reallypassionate about sharing what's
happening in the industry.
What is How we can all grow andcuz I've seen a lot of success
in the things I've done, how doI share that with other folks?
And I might post a poll up aboutcertain things just to get the
conversation going.
And that's, I found passion.
Passion from that.
(26:53):
So what energizes you?
What makes you wake up everysingle morning, say, I wanna
continue doing this and then getrid of all the things or some of
the things that you really don'tlike.
So I didn't like certain partparts of my business.
I handed it off to other folks.
I could do it better than Icould.
And actually I've had a lotmore, even though like simple
thing is like accounting, Iwould do all the accounting for
(27:14):
hotels and I didn't really likeit, right?
And so I said, you know what,I'm gonna hire somebody.
And let them take care of theaccounting side of things.
And I still look at the numbersevery single day, but I don't
have to focus on the daily,those repetitive things.
And so that gave me a lot ofenergy to do, go focus on other
things and cleared my brain fromthat.
(27:35):
That part where that was justdragging me down.
And I get it's inspiration andthen I find a lot of passion
from tho that energy that I getfrom other folks too.
Like in, in the networking side,I get a lot of energy from
people.
Is that weird?
David Kong (27:48):
No, it's not.
It's I think I read somewherethat extroverts are people that
derive energy from interactingwith people.
Introverts are the ones thatfeel like the energy is set and
they interact with other people.
So we are definitely anextrovert.
I tell you that.
Rupesh Patel (28:05):
I've learned it.
David Kong (28:08):
That's good advice.
And we're coming to the end ofthe show, regrettably, that's
have one more piece of advicefrom you.
If you were to say, offer someadvice to women and other
minority groups, what would youlike to say to
Rupesh Patel (28:22):
them?
Stand up, put, stand up and putyourself out there.
Put yourself out there, anddon't be afraid that you're
gonna be judged.
I feel like we're our own worstenemies when we talk about
judging our own self.
But stand up and get out thereand show that you are ready to
make a difference in whateveryou have that you're passionate
about or whatever your purposeis or whatever your goals are.
(28:44):
Just I feel like if you don'tstand up, then you don't have a
place in.
In that particular area thatyou're, that you wanna focus on.
And stand up and put yourselfout there.
That's great.
And other people that are gonnasupport you too.
David Kong (28:59):
That's great advice.
Stand up and put yourself outthere.
Make a difference.
That's great.
Thank you Rupa.
That's the end of our show.
For the audience that turned in,we thank you.
And if you enjoy the show, wehope you will join us on our
website.
D I advisors dot bok will helpto see you a bit.
Thanks very much and bye-bye.
(29:21):
Thank you.
Greetings.
I am David Kong, the founder andprincipal of D E I advisors.
We are a nonprofit dedicated toself-empowerment.
We are fortunate to have RupeshPatel on our show today.
Rupesh was just recognized by IA C, Orlando as the 2022 male
business professional of theyear.
(00:24):
Rupesh was also recognized asone of the top 100.
Most powerful people in globalhospitality by International
Hospitality Institute.
Congratulations and welcome tothe show, Rupesh.
Rupesh Patel (00:38):
Thank you Mr.
Kong.
It's a pleasure being here andI'm so happy that we can connect
again.
We connected a while back andwhen I got that email from you,
I was like, wow, this isawesome, man.
I love what you're doing, so I'msuper excited to be on the show.
David Kong (00:49):
Thank you, Rupesh.
I've always been impressed withyou.
I'm delighted to have you on theshow.
Now Ru you have an interestingcareer.
Not only do you own and managehotels, you also branched out
and started a very popular showon LinkedIn during the pandemic.
Can we start by talking aboutyour journey and some of the key
inflection points?
Rupesh Patel (01:09):
Yeah, absolutely.
Man I've been doing the hotelbusiness since we bought our
first motel in south Florida in1989.
I grew up in Houston, Texas, andeven then my parents were.
Entrepreneurs.
They started their first Indiangrocery chain in Houston, Texas.
And I saw the hard work that myfamily put in, and then we sold
(01:29):
everything.
And one day my dad's Hey, we'removing to Florida.
And I was like, what about allmy friends?
And what about, how that goes?
And we moved, yeah, one summer Isaid bye to all my friends that
we, that I grew up with and.
We moved and lived in a 50 roommotel, connected to a old school
bar that if, from the eightiesthere'd be fights in the middle
(01:50):
of the night and you can hearall of that and the jukebox
playing and all of those things.
Yeah.
And yeah, waking up in themiddle of the night and renting
rooms, cleaning rooms, doing allthe things when you, that you do
when you have a family that youknow that lives on property.
And yeah, we did all of thosethings and It was a fun journey
and, been doing it ever since.
And then in 2000 2000, or is it2000?
Yeah, it is.
(02:11):
In 2002 we had an opportunity totake over a property in Daytona
Beach, Florida for family.
And my wife and my family areboth in the hotel business.
So we had that opportunity wherewe both understood the business
and we lived on property in anold travel lodge.
And the journey kind of goesfrom there and, We of course
learned a lot of lessons, thenmade a lot of mistakes, and we
(02:32):
continue growing here today.
And, fast forward just to acouple years ago the pandemic,
really hit all of us, includingmyself.
I lost my father in the duringthe pandemic.
He had covid and passed awayafter 45 days being in the
hospital.
And, prior to that, six monthsprior to that, I actually
started a show.
Where we said, you know what,and I've thought about this idea
for maybe 10 years about hostinga podcast.
(02:54):
It wasn't live video, but it washosting a podcast.
And 10 years ago, actually, or12 years ago, I bought all the
equipment.
I spent$5,000 buying all theequipment.
And then guess what happens?
I get scared and I don't doanything.
Or that idea was just it, I hadthat itch for 10 years and I was
like, you know what?
I'm already sharing stuff onsocial and people are liking it.
(03:15):
I should go and get that ideaand bring it back.
And so right before thepandemic, I started a
hospitality live with RUpassion.
It just blew up, people are athome and they wanted to learn
and new people coming into theindustry wanted to learn.
So started a show and, we did130.
Six or 37 weeks in a row everyWednesday.
And it was a lot of funconnecting with folks like
(03:36):
yourself.
You shared a lot of interestingand great tips for people that
are new to the industry or beenveterans.
So thank you so much for thatand I'm excited to continue
sharing.
David Kong (03:47):
It's great.
I love your show, by the way.
It was very entertaining, veryinsightful.
I love all the guests that youhad on the show.
Really enjoyed it.
It's a shame that you no longerdo that full-time.
Not every week anyway, right?
Rupesh Patel (04:01):
Yeah.
Now it's every couple months aswe, go to a conference or have a
special guest that comes in andsome of those things.
But I'm, right now I'm reallyfocused on the hotel side of
things, investing side ofthings.
And of course, my number one mynumber one priority in my life
is my family.
And, as my kids get older, Ihave two kids in high school and
one kid in elementary, andthey're getting big.
Pretty fast.
(04:22):
And so I always spent a lot oftime with them and and do all
the things that, maybe I didn'tget to do with my, my father,
cuz he worked all day long.
And I think you could understandthat and a lot of people
watching can understand that,our family did what they could
to survive it in the UnitedStates.
And some things.
Weren't the American way, whichwas okay with us.
And now thinking about it withmy own family, I'm like, I
(04:44):
understand my dad now more thanI did back then.
Did you get that too?
David Kong (04:48):
Of course.
Now I get it, and pretty soon myson and my daughter would say,
now I get it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No I love that.
Let's talk about your secretsto, so your social media
success.
Your show was so popular.
When I watched it, I see severalhundred people watch it live.
(05:08):
Plus I don't know how many,thousands and thousands of
people watch it afterwards.
Absolutely.
Tell us what the secret is.
Rupesh Patel (05:14):
Really there is no secret.
I didn't make any rules up.
I just saw what was happening onother platforms.
And I said, you know whatLinkedIn is doing this live
platform.
It's new.
Let's just put myself out there.
And that's what I did.
I just threw myself out therenot knowing what to do, not
knowing how to become a, how tospeak live on the internet.
And I was scared actually.
(05:35):
If you look at the first, likefive episodes, 10 episodes, I
was nervous as heck, and Ididn't know what to do, but I
kept cool and kept it going and,there are no real secrets, I
feel like in business or inlife.
You just go and you follow thejourney as you feel good about
it.
And Th there are, of course Ipost a couple times a day.
I connect with a lot ofdifferent people.
(05:55):
I have interesting people thathave maybe a bigger following
than I have, like you do, bringthem on a and, share the
journey.
And when you're authentic toyourself and to your audience.
People are attracted to that.
And I think that's reallyimportant when you know,
especially on LinkedIn andsocial.
On LinkedIn, it's bus, it's abusiness platform and people
(06:16):
think we just need to sell, andtry to get return on our
efforts.
And sometimes it's not likethat.
I'm not on LinkedIn to make adollar, I'm here to inspire
people.
I'm here to share about ourindustry, and.
And yeah, I get the benefits onthe other side of investing with
hotels or investing orconnecting with different
people, but that's not what I doon social.
And that's a actually, that,that could be a secret where
(06:37):
people don't understand thatit's not just about selling, but
it's really attracting peoplethat are similar to you or that
are in alignment with yourgoals.
And your goals aren't to sell,number one.
It's to really make thatconnection.
That's what social media'sabout.
Yeah.
David Kong (06:53):
No, I love it.
First and foremost, it's thecontent and you do have genuine,
sincere, and relevant content toyour viewers.
That's why you have yourfoundation to be successful.
And of course all the otherthings that you do just cream on
the cake.
It's really well done.
I miss no shows.
Oh, I
Rupesh Patel (07:11):
miss it too.
I get op or I get.
Calls like at least once everycouple weeks and say, Hey, are
you still doing the show?
I would love to be on a show.
I would love to suggest a guestand, oh I, maybe I might bring
it back.
What do you think?
David Kong (07:25):
My special request?
Absolutely.
Let's talk about the fact thatyou've interviewed a lot of very
successful people, and what aresome of the common qualities
that you've observed through allthese very successful people?
Rupesh Patel (07:39):
Yeah.
From, from the CEO of HiltonKristen Setta, to anybody that
we've got brought on to, on, onthe show or on my social media,
it's the one thing of just notquitting when you get that
first.
No, and I think that's been thedriver for almost every single
person that I've interviewed is.
We don't take no for an answer.
We keep going until we actuallyget a yes.
(07:59):
And so I'm teaching that to mykids now, where if you get a no
for the first 10 times, guesswhat?
Maybe that 11th time might be ayes.
And you're top of mind.
And so I think that's thebiggest quality is keep going
even though you might get somefailures that or some some tough
positions as you're trying toreach your goals.
David Kong (08:18):
That's true.
Yeah.
You have to be persistent inpursuing your dreams.
Yeah, no doubt about that.
What are some of the otherqualities?
Rupesh Patel (08:25):
Oh, there, from other folks that I've learned
just keeping it going isprobably the number one thing.
But I would say just not notfeeling bad about yourself.
And a lot of times you're like Idon't think I'm good enough for
this position, or I don't thinkI'm good enough to reach my
goals.
And I think that's, The internaldouble that's speaking to you,
(08:46):
and maybe not focusing all onthose negativity, I think that's
a positive that you can keepgoing with not focusing on the
bad side of things.
And sometimes that stuff candrag you down and put you into
the dumps.
And I've seen that where, youknow what?
We're gonna keep it going.
We're gonna stay positive.
And even though we have to gothrough these different
challenges I feel like a lot ofthose folks that we've
interviewed, Did that and theysaid, you know what, we're gonna
(09:07):
stay positive.
I'm gonna surround myself withamazing people that helped me
grow cuz I feel like, we don't,I didn't, whatever I'm doing
right now, I didn't do it bymyself.
I had, I.
Thousands of people helped me.
I had dozens of people that werementors that helped me grow to
the position I am right now.
And, all the differentopportunities I get.
I can't say it was myself.
I can't take that credit.
(09:28):
But, it's really surroundingyourself by amazing people that
are gonna help you grow, thatare happy for you to see you
successful.
And I love that.
I, when we did that speech acouple weeks ago at the I A C
gala where, you know, theypresented and I was shocked.
Male Business professional ofthe year for 2022.
Congratulations again.
Thank you.
I said I.
We gotta keep ourselves going.
And you surround yourself withpeople that you know, care, that
(09:51):
are kind and that want, wannasee you grow.
And that's what I've been doing.
I've been taking all thosenegative people and putting it
aside and really focusing onpeople that are gonna help me.
And I, I'm so fortunate that wehave a great group of mentors
that I reach out to almost dailyto get advice from.
Yeah.
David Kong (10:09):
Let's talk about your parents.
For a minute, you have immigrantparents.
You talked about the humblebeginning and how you worked
hard and you pursue the Americandream.
How has having immigrant parentsshaped you?
Rupesh Patel (10:23):
Yeah, so I look at it and I compare this to my kids
right now that didn't see thestruggles that my parents went
through that I saw, right?
So having Amer immigrant parentscoming to the United States and,
I was born in England and Imoved here when I was six months
old.
So I was along the journey withthem as they grew their business
and as they created a life herein the United States.
(10:44):
And so I saw that they justworked hard.
It didn't matter what time ofthe day it was, we're just gonna
work hard.
We're gonna work extra hard.
We're gonna go above and beyondthe maybe the normal person or
the person that's already beenhere for 20 years, 30 years, 50
years, they just did that extrastep and I think that's, Why a
lot of us are successful is wego above and beyond and we care.
(11:04):
Care about going that extrastep, not just doing a hundred
percent, but going that extra10%.
And I think that is a lessonI've learned is just work hard.
David Kong (11:14):
Yeah.
No, that work ethic isphenomenal.
I see that in a lot of secondgeneration.
They learn that from theirparents.
Yeah.
That's well said.
Yeah.
Now, you are obviously broughtup in this country and.
You probably think differentlyand do things differently than
your parents would you mind toelaborate on that evolution in
thinking?
Rupesh Patel (11:33):
Yeah.
Y I've watched my parentsstruggle with just simple things
like, I understand now that wehad to watch our pennies.
We had to watch these differentthings on expenses when we're
running the motel.
But there are opportunities togrow the business and I think
that's the evolution of, fromgeneration to generation, they
see maybe using our education ormaybe using our networking or
(11:53):
using social media or usinganother concept to grow our
business.
And I think That's the beauty ofjust, the next generation is
they're gonna take your stepthat you took and take it to the
next step.
And I think that's what we'velearned is, yeah, they struggled
and they've worked really hardand now how can we make, how can
we run our business maybe alittle bit smarter than they
did, and maybe have freedom tospend some time with our
(12:14):
families, spend some time doingthis, getting experiences,
taking a vacation, which wenever did growing up.
And I think I'm proud that theydid work hard because it's given
us the opportunity to do what welove to do right now.
But I think that evolution isgonna continue as, my kids
hopefully take over a businessor we continue growing.
I think the next generation'sgonna think differently than
(12:35):
maybe I am even right now.
David Kong (12:37):
Yeah, no, I, the one thing that I enjoy doing when I
go to, for example, the AsianAmerican Hotel and this
association meetings, Is allthese young people the next
generation people, your age nowis now assuming the family's
business and they're far moreaggressive and they're far more
willing to take risk.
(12:57):
And therefore they have growntheir company in such an amazing
way.
It's really gratifying to seethey are no longer the, the
conservative type that.
Want to make sure that we arefrugal in every way.
They are far more aggressive inthat way.
So no doubt you're the same way.
And it's great to see thatevolution in thinking from
(13:18):
generation to generation.
They're achieving tremendoussuccess.
That's, but we don't forget theroots, right?
Rupesh Patel (13:24):
No.
We could never forget the roots.
And, we, and hopefully we couldteach our roots not make our
kids feel bad about, oh, youdidn't learn, you didn't
struggle, but teach them what wewent through, right?
Somebody taught me that a whileback.
They're like they're like whyaren't you having your kids?
Go through the same strugglesthat you did, or your parents
said no, it's the evolution thatwe wanted something better for
(13:44):
our kids.
And so I don't want my kids tostruggle in the same way my
parents did, or maybe somethings that we did.
They need to continue growingand they just need to understand
the story.
I think that's
David Kong (13:54):
right.
No, the values our parentstaught us, we can never forget.
Yeah.
Let's switch gears and talkabout the challenges that women
in other minority face in ourindustry.
Our industry has made some veryencouraging progress and at the
same time we continue to facechallenges in trying to achieve
the sea level positions.
(14:17):
What's your take on thischallenge?
Rupesh Patel (14:19):
Yeah.
Being in the business for a longtime, you've seen that, when you
go to conferences, when you goto different events, when you go
to corporate offices, it'susually a lot of men there.
There's not a lot of other folksthat are, there's no folks like
me in the corporate office.
And maybe that's changed here inthe last 20 years.
But I think there's a lot ofchallenges that we've all faced,
including women.
And I'm seeing that, you guysat.
(14:41):
D e I advisors are doing, takingthose strides to, help these
folks or these different groupsthat didn't get a chance.
And I'm, thank you for that.
David Kong (14:50):
Yeah, no, that's that's a lot of work to be done.
And our organization is aboutself-empowerment.
I think the companies areimplementing wonderful programs
to help recruit talent and.
Develop them and elevating themto, to high level positions.
But it start with e everythingstarts with the personal
(15:10):
motivation and personalempowerment.
So that's what our organizationis about.
And advisors like you, coming ona show and sharing your
experiences is invaluable for ofus trying to get ahead.
Now, you mentioned earlier aboutfeeling uncomfortable sometimes
and feeling like you don't fitin those negative thoughts.
That happens a lot to women inminority groups.
(15:34):
And what's your advice on how weshould handle
Rupesh Patel (15:39):
that?
Yeah.
To, to women in minorities andincluding myself.
Even now I still feel like whenI walk into a room and it's all
a certain, Genre or whatever, I,you feel like, how can you step
in and have a voice in thatroom?
And a lot of times it's thatinner demonn that, that, that is
killing your vibe.
I think especially right nowwhere there's a lot of people
(15:59):
that we want include, there's alot of corporations that want to
include you into it, but I feellike a lot of times ourselves we
have that negative thought inour mind we don't fit in here.
Maybe you can think aboutputting yourself and having a
voice and maybe speaking out alittle bit.
Or standing up in the room.
And just being noticed.
And I think that's one thingthat, women and minorities feel
(16:21):
like they don't have it, but Ithink a lot of times, Right now,
especially with, like I said,there's a lot of different
opportunities that we should bestanding up and saying hey, I'm
here.
I just wanted to introducemyself and be noticed.
I think that's important whenyou don't, when you don't stand
up, you don't get noticed.
David Kong (16:36):
That's true.
You, we have to stand up andspeak out.
That's talk about personally thedefeats and setbacks we face at
times.
Obviously that's difficult and.
Patel probably has had fairshare of setbacks and
disappointments.
What are some of the lessonsyou've learned?
Rupesh Patel (16:58):
Yeah, we go back to, back to the earlier
conversation is just don't quit.
And I've learned that these areeven me being here on your show,
I've had to learn to be thisway.
I, growing up, I was prettyquiet.
I was an introvert.
And you c you can't believethat, but I was, and I had to
put myself out there.
And.
I've learned these traits fromother folks around me.
(17:20):
So even in high school I sawfriends DJing and I was like I
would love to do that.
And my, if my friends are doingit, why can't I, even though I'm
an introvert, right?
And so I just put myself outthere and I got opportunities
because I put myself out there.
And sometimes I didn't get thegig the gig.
But, I just kept it going and Isaid, you know what?
I'm not gonna stop until Ireached that goal of whatever it
(17:40):
was at that time.
Even now, there's.
Every day in the hotel business,there's setbacks.
Something doesn't go your way orin business or in daily life.
Nothing's gonna, noteverything's gonna go your way
and you could consider that asetback or just a learning
lesson.
And so I've taken these lessonsand said, you know what?
How can I.
Stay positive and keep myselfgoing.
(18:00):
And I reach out to a lot offriends often for advice, a lot.
And sometimes they're like youjust call me five times this
past week.
And I have friends that actuallyare really cool about that.
And yeah.
And, but I don't know,something, I reach out to people
and, sometimes they don't know'em, they maybe reach out to
somebody else.
And so your network is huge.
And so if you're going through asetback, reach out to people.
(18:23):
Even though it's a dumbquestion, which.
There isn't a dumb question anda lot of times for me, I don't
know the answer to everything.
And so I might say I don't knowit.
And I think that's advice too,where you don't have to know
every single thing.
Yeah.
David Kong (18:37):
And those are three wonderful lessons.
Setbacks and disappointments areactually learning opportunities
makes you stronger and betterfor the next time.
And, You have to believe in yourgoals and sometimes when you're
set back, when you're facesetback, you have to continue to
believe in it and fight for it.
Yeah.
If you don't fight for it, Idon't know who else would fight
(18:58):
for it.
Yeah.
And the last thing you saidabout seeking advice, I'd really
believe in that.
If you don't know something,just ask.
They are plenty of people whocan offer their very expedite at
advice and they're willing tohelp.
So just ask.
Those are three very good
Rupesh Patel (19:13):
advice.
Yeah.
Even strangers, there are peopleout there.
That are retired or they havelearned a lot and they've been
successful, they just wannashare their knowledge with
somebody else, right?
Yeah.
If one person says no, guesswhat?
There's 50 other people thatwill are willing to help you.
And don't just say because it'sone person shot you down, that
the world's over and you'renever gonna get help.
(19:35):
You're never gonna grow.
And I think that's That's alesson in itself where you go
out and reach out to otherfolks, right?
David Kong (19:40):
Yeah I do believe in that and my experience is such
that I believe in just asking,you might get one or two people
that say no, but you got plenty.
Others that would say, I'm happyto help.
Yeah, no, definitely.
Let's talk about your approachto challenges.
What's your approach?
Rupesh Patel (19:59):
So it depends on if it's hotel operations, I have
a different approach.
If it's life, I have a differentapproach.
If it's anything else.
But, my approach is don't quit.
Keep it going.
And, that's been, I feel likethis is like the theme for this
interview.
It's just keep it going.
And a lot of times if it's thehotel operation side, I think of
three other ways of.
Correcting or fixing the currentchallenge that we're going
(20:21):
through, right?
It's not just let's give anexample.
If it's a plumbing issue, yourwater heater went down.
I don't just call one plumber, Icall three or four of'em, and
the first person that shows upis the person that's gonna get
the job right?
And so I do that with a lot of.
Things in my life where it's notjust one direction, it's not
just one and done, but I makesure that I have planned A, B,
(20:43):
C, D, and sometimes it's notgood that I have all these
different plans, but often theseare how you, I approach
challenges is with is differentways of solving that,
David Kong (20:52):
that challenge.
Yeah, don't quit.
It is just very good advice.
And secondly, always having aplan B or plan C and being
willing to try things out isanother good advice.
Thanks for sharing that.
Yeah, absolutely.
Now, Ropa, you're not very old,it's been some time since you
started in the business.
What's your advice to youryounger self if you're able to
(21:13):
give it, what do you tell yourkids?
Rupesh Patel (21:16):
Don't be afraid.
Of a lot of different things.
I think growing up in thebusiness, you're so used to this
one way that your parents did itand that you can't think bigger
than that bubble that you're in.
And sometimes you just need toget outta that bubble and go see
the, maybe the world or go seehow other people do it.
So I, if I was, I.
20 years ago or 25 years ago, Iwould probably go learn from
(21:38):
other folks and seeing howthey're doing it instead of
trying to make up the rules orlearn on the way, which was
still interesting.
But it'd be for folks that areyounger right now, go ask people
how they grew and learn fromthem.
And I think that's just advicethat, that is priceless.
David Kong (21:56):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Sometimes where, especially whenwe, when I was younger, I used
to be shy.
Just to really feeluncomfortable about asking
people for help, but we shouldask people for help and for
advice.
That's very good.
Yeah.
And get outta
Rupesh Patel (22:10):
bubble.
Not get outta your zone.
Get outta your car.
Yeah, that's right.
Get outta our film.
Yeah.
You're in your hotel then.
That's all you know.
And if you can get out and govisit another hotel, go visit
another city and see whatthey're doing.
I love that.
And I wish I had learned that along time ago, like to go get.
Ideas and advice from otherpeople.
Or other businesses.
David Kong (22:29):
Yeah.
Always broaden your horizon andthat brought us your
perspectives.
When you go and there's anotherhotel, you find out new ways of
doing things.
That's very good advice.
Yeah.
You talked earlier about yourbeing an introvert, which I
don't believe at all, becauseanyone who's seen Rupesh Patel,
(22:50):
And any trade shells would seeRupa working the world.
You are one of the best innetworking.
So I'm gonna ask you for youradvice on networking.
Rupesh Patel (23:00):
Yeah.
Somebody told me this 10 or 15years ago, mean 10 years ago,
they said, listen, we all wakeup the same way.
You get out of bed, you brushyour teeth, we're all the same
people, we all have the sameemotions.
So you going up to somebody andthinking that they're better
than you.
Is probably wrong.
And they're probably thinkingthey're probably as scared as
much as you are to meet you,right?
And so I said, you know what?
(23:21):
You're right.
We're all, we all.
We all wake up the same way,right?
We have, we go to sleep and wakeup.
And if it's a CEO o of a majorco corporation or if it's a
billionaire for or anybody thatyou're in a room with go up to
them and just introduceyourself.
And I got to learn that.
And even now I get a little shyand you don't think that's true,
but I wasn't interview avert andI had to learn this to get out
(23:41):
and really make a difference inwhat my goals are as far as
being an advocate for theindustry.
Sharing my ideas all thesethings, I, they were just like
burning inside me and I wantedto get it out.
And the only way you could do itis through networking and
connecting with people, right?
And it's a learned skill thatanybody can, put themselves or
put that, put themselves in theposition of just connecting with
a lot of different people.
(24:02):
And it's not what you know, it'swho you know a lot of the times.
And so I've, and I've seen that,I've seen that happen in the
last few years where, I am goingto this hotel, or I'm doing
this, or I want this connection.
It's not what I knew, cuz Iprobably know something about
something, but it, I, it wasthat person that reached out to
me or was that third personaway, that reached out to that
(24:25):
person, said, Hey, pressure'scoming to this city or whatever,
can you help'em out?
And that's happened so manytimes.
And so your network is your networth actually, that's a saying
that a lot of people say, and itis true that, the more people
the easier it is in business.
David Kong (24:39):
Oh, for sure.
I love it that you said network.
Your network is a net worth.
It is so true in so many ways.
Definitely.
And it is true that it getseasier as you practice it, but
you've gotta go on and do it.
Rupesh Patel (24:52):
Yeah, and it's not just at conventions, it's on
social media.
It's Reaching out to people,cold calls, any of those things,
it's not just one thing.
And there's so many differentgroups right now with Meetup and
all these different websiteswhere you can connect with
like-minded people even withinthe hotel business, right?
And I know on social media, soconnect with a lot of people and
that's what's gonna help you.
In your next POS career or yournext position, or your next part
(25:16):
of your journey in your life.
And if you're retiring or ifyou're just starting out, make a
lot of connections.
And the most important thing isdon't burn that bridge.
David Kong (25:25):
Yeah.
That's good advice too.
Don't have a burn that bridge.
Don't burn
Rupesh Patel (25:28):
your bridge.
Don't burn that bridge toanybody.
Yeah.
And you can part ways in a kindway, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I think that's important.
David Kong (25:35):
Yeah, that's a very good point.
Now show us aboutself-empowerment.
So finding inspiration andfinding a passion to pursue your
dreams is important.
So how do you find yourinspiration and your passion?
Rupesh Patel (25:50):
For me, it's just wake, for me, I.
I wanted to share the successesthat I had at my hotel.
We became the number one hotel.
We became hotel hotel of theyear nominee for a certain brand
and became number one in the inthe market on, on TripAdvisor.
And I wanted to share how we gotthere because there's other
people when I would go to aregional meeting for our hotels
(26:11):
and they'd be like how did youget to number one on this
particular website or whatever?
And I was like, I wanna sharethis stuff, right?
And I get a lot of energy justfrom doing that, right?
And so if you find somethingthat gives you, that you feel
like is makes you feel reallygood, that's a passion, right?
And that's a purpose on maybeyou could turn this passion
thing into something that couldturn into a business or turn
into something that isvolunteering or whatever.
(26:33):
Whatever I do on social media isnot for me to make money off of.
It's because I'm reallypassionate about sharing what's
happening in the industry.
What is How we can all grow andcuz I've seen a lot of success
in the things I've done, how doI share that with other folks?
And I might post a poll up aboutcertain things just to get the
conversation going.
And that's, I found passion.
Passion from that.
(26:53):
So what energizes you?
What makes you wake up everysingle morning, say, I wanna
continue doing this and then getrid of all the things or some of
the things that you really don'tlike.
So I didn't like certain partparts of my business.
I handed it off to other folks.
I could do it better than Icould.
And actually I've had a lotmore, even though like simple
thing is like accounting, Iwould do all the accounting for
(27:14):
hotels and I didn't really likeit, right?
And so I said, you know what,I'm gonna hire somebody.
And let them take care of theaccounting side of things.
And I still look at the numbersevery single day, but I don't
have to focus on the daily,those repetitive things.
And so that gave me a lot ofenergy to do, go focus on other
things and cleared my brain fromthat.
(27:35):
That part where that was justdragging me down.
And I get it's inspiration andthen I find a lot of passion
from tho that energy that I getfrom other folks too.
Like in, in the networking side,I get a lot of energy from
people.
Is that weird?
David Kong (27:48):
No, it's not.
It's I think I read somewherethat extroverts are people that
derive energy from interactingwith people.
Introverts are the ones thatfeel like the energy is set and
they interact with other people.
So we are definitely anextrovert.
I tell you that.
Rupesh Patel (28:05):
I've learned it.
David Kong (28:08):
That's good advice.
And we're coming to the end ofthe show, regrettably, that's
have one more piece of advicefrom you.
If you were to say, offer someadvice to women and other
minority groups, what would youlike to say to
Rupesh Patel (28:22):
them?
Stand up, put, stand up and putyourself out there.
Put yourself out there, anddon't be afraid that you're
gonna be judged.
I feel like we're our own worstenemies when we talk about
judging our own self.
But stand up and get out thereand show that you are ready to
make a difference in whateveryou have that you're passionate
about or whatever your purposeis or whatever your goals are.
(28:44):
Just I feel like if you don'tstand up, then you don't have a
place in.
In that particular area thatyou're, that you wanna focus on.
And stand up and put yourselfout there.
That's great.
And other people that are gonnasupport you too.
David Kong (28:59):
That's great advice.
Stand up and put yourself outthere.
Make a difference.
That's great.
Thank you Rupa.
That's the end of our show.
For the audience that turned in,we thank you.
And if you enjoy the show, wehope you will join us on our
website.
D I advisors dot bok will helpto see you a bit.
Thanks very much and bye-bye.
(29:21):
Thank you.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.