What if getting hit by a car could be the best thing that ever happened to you? For Jason Yarusi, this seemingly catastrophic moment became the catalyst that transformed his life from angry, unfulfilled NYC bartender to multimillion-dollar real estate investor and mentor.
In this riveting conversation with Grant McGaugh, Jason reveals how rock bottom became his foundation for extraordinary success. Born and raised in New Jersey, Jason found himself working dead-end jobs in Manhattan, blaming everyone but himself for his circumstances. Then came the night that changed everything – flying through the air after being struck by a vehicle, his first thought in the hospital was getting back to the job he hated to make rent. This jarring realization forced him to confront a powerful question: would he continue accepting chaos and complaining, or finally take control of his destiny?
Jason walks us through his remarkable journey from small, intentional changes to massive transformation. From owning bars and restaurants to helping scale his family's construction business after Hurricane Sandy, he continually bumped against the same limitation – being "the cog in the wheel" that prevented true freedom. Everything changed when he discovered apartment building investing as a solution to the time-freedom problem, building teams and systems that could operate without his constant presence.
The conversation delves deep into the mindset shifts that powered Jason's success: understanding the difference between working IN versus ON your business, learning to let go of perfectionism, surrounding yourself with capable team members, and viewing problems as opportunities rather than obstacles. Now with over 30 real estate transactions totaling more than $300 million, Jason shares how his Live 100 program helps others transform their lives through accountability, self-awareness, and strategic action.
Whether you're struggling to break free from limiting circumstances or looking to scale your existing business beyond dependence on your personal time, this episode offers actionable insights on building sustainable success. Connect with Jason through the Live 100 podcast or visit jasonyarusi.com to learn how you can apply these principles to your own journey.
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Follow The Brand! We hope you enjoyed learning about the latest marketing trends and strategies in Personal Branding, Business and Career Development, Financial Empowerment, Technology Innovation, and Executive Presence. To keep up with the latest insights and updates from us, be sure to follow us at 5starbdm.com. See you next time on Follow The Brand!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome everybody to the Fellow Brand Podcast.
This is Grant McGaugh.
I'm down here in Miami, florida, but we're going to take it all
the way up to Tennessee.
Now, you know, when I thinkabout Tennessee, you can't help
but think about, you know,things like the Grand Ole Opry.
You've got, you know, you'vegot the Tennessee Titans up
there.
You've got the home of Elvis,but there's also some other
(00:23):
people up there.
You got the home of Elvis, butthere's also some other people
up there.
Jason Yerusi is going to talkto us about his journey, about
his passion, about his skillsets and how he's been doing
this at such a high level.
He's a multi-millionaire in thereal estate realm.
He's probably got some otherbusinesses that he does as well,
but he teaches other people howthey can take what they have,
(00:48):
get to a focus area and drawthemselves to a successful
outcome.
So, jason, you'd like tointroduce yourself, sure?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
sure.
So thanks for having me.
I appreciate you having me hereon the show.
And yes, I am down here inTennessee.
I live in Murfreesboro,tennessee, but I was born and
raised in New Jersey, so I foundmyself to Tennessee in a pretty
non-traditional route.
So, born and raised in NewJersey, you know, during my
formative years I had a lot ofloss in my life and it really
set me up to just not have.
You know, I was always a shykid and so I left high school,
(01:21):
just not with a lot ofconfidence.
Just a lot of my energy wasjust zapped out of me of just
all these things that had justhappened.
Went to college and ended upgetting a finance degree based
on I had a girlfriend at thetime.
Her mom was like you're good atmath, right, why don't you do a
business degree, right?
Just trying to point me in somedirection because I was just
kind of lost, right.
Well, I left college and justdidn't want to do anything with
(01:41):
finance and so I ended up movinginto New York City where I
spent the better part of adecade living there, just
working a bunch of odd jobs,working in restaurants and bars
and all these just not reallyfulfilling things and I was very
unhappy with everything I wasdoing.
I was blaming everybody else.
I was blaming, you know, myupbringing, my college, my
surrounding and just everybody'sfault, but myself, right, I
(02:02):
wasn't really leading my lifeuntil one night.
I was leaving work 2.33 in themorning and got on my bike to
ride across the city to head tomy apartment, just angry at the
world.
And out of nowhere, a flash oflight came out.
And next thing, I know, I'mflying in the air because I was
hit by a car and turns out, Iget pulled out of the street by
these kids who were speakingFrench.
(02:23):
I had no idea what they weresaying.
They were pulling me out of thestreet because Manhattan was
coming alive, the light wasturning green.
And next thing, you know, I'min an ambulance going to the
hospital because I had gotten abroken shoulder.
I eventually had a pin in mywrist, some stitches in my face,
and I finally, in a day, leavethe hospital and the only
(02:51):
thought in my mind was like man,I need to get back to this job
that I despise because I need tomake money for rent.
And there was this moment ofpause where I was like okay,
let's have a clear thought here.
You've just been hit by a carand all you can think about is
that you have to get back tothis job.
Part of the reason that you arejust so unhappy with your life
is, you know, working this joband this is all you can think
about getting back to.
And so I made a pact withmyself Okay, if I'm going to do
that, then I have to say I'mokay with the chaos of the of
(03:14):
the results I'm getting and justbe fine with it and stop
complaining.
Or I can start doing somethingdifferent.
And I started to do somethingdifferent, but the thing was I
just didn't know what that wasright.
I'm sure many people listeningis like I want to change my life
but I don't know how to rightand that was the big sticking
point for me is I didn't knowwhat I didn't know right.
(03:36):
So I just started to do thingsdifferent from what I was doing.
Instead of staying up late,drinking at the end of the night
, you know I'd start to go backat a reasonable time.
Start staying up late drinkingat the end of the night, you
know I'd start to go back at areasonable time.
Start to get up earlier, startto get in a workout pattern,
start to read books, just startto do things that started to
give me some semblance ofpositivity in my life.
And, lo and behold, littlesteps turned into bigger steps
(03:56):
and it just started to gain somepositive momentum.
So I went from working behindthe bar to owning a bar and a
restaurant in New York City.
I opened and sold a brewery inNew York City and then, lo and
behold, about 2010,.
2011,.
Hurricane Sandy happened on theEast Coast, decimated the East
Coast and my father he's retired, but he had a small family
(04:20):
business that dealt with veryintricate construction projects
that were detailed, towardsflooding, right, and so his
business overnight went from,you know, 12 calls a month to a
thousand calls a day.
So my now wife and my littlebrother and myself, we moved out
to New Jersey and we startedhelping dad grow the family
(04:40):
business, and there was a lot oflife lessons there.
Right, we're a bunch ofItalians trying to get along and
and you know we there are abunch of, you know of clashing,
but at the same part, we wereable to take that business and
scale that business to to a veryhigh level and eventually
getting my father to retire.
But lo and behold, throughoutthis whole process, what kept
happening is that I kept beingthe cog in the wheel.
(05:03):
I kept being the thing that washolding everything back,
because everything I was doingwas very transactional.
I had to be there working,doing the sales job, working
these very detailed constructionprojects, or even working at
the restaurant or working at thebar.
It constantly took me as beingpart of the process.
If I wanted a day off, therewould be no revenue.
That was the tie I was into.
If we didn't work, there was nofunds revenue right, that was
(05:24):
the tie I was into.
If we didn't work, there was nofunds.
Well, at the time, you know, mywife was pregnant with our first
child and we just kept lookingat ourselves saying we have no
time.
If there was 25 hours in a day,we could have used them.
Right.
If there was eight days in aweek, we could have used them.
So we just kept searching, likewhat is the solution here for
us?
To get back our time, get backour day, get back our life, to
(05:46):
be able to choose our life,instead of having a life really
chosen for us.
And we came upon real estate andit's this pretty big blue ocean
in the world of real estate.
You know, you could be a realestate agent, you could flip
homes, you could wholesale homes, you can do Airbnbs and we
started to try it, all right,just not knowing what was the
right fit.
And things were going, they weregoing well, but it wasn't
(06:10):
hitting the mold because westill had no time, because we
were running the Home Depot, youknow, meeting clients, you know
, going to meet contractors,right, doing all this very
active work, until one day Iheard on a podcast like this
someone who was buying apartmentbuildings and that was that
light bulb moment that hit mebecause I understood that we
could go and form a team andhelp this investment forward by
(06:33):
building the right teams,building the right processes
that ultimately would keep usfrom having to do all the
day-to-day.
A couple that we startedinvesting about 800 to 900 miles
away from where we lived.
So we started that in 2016,2017.
We brought a large apartmentbuilding in Louisville, kentucky
, while we were living in NewJersey, and then we just started
(06:54):
to repeat that process andslowly but surely, we've done a
little over 30 transactions todate, a little over 300 million
of real estate, as we've nowaccumulated a number of
apartment complexes down here inthe Southeast, where we now
moved.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
You know I love that because what I heard there was
what I call two origin storiesand what I mean by origin story,
and someone alluded to this tome and I really latched onto it
because I think there are originstories or certain pivots in
everyone's life that are pivotal, meaning their life change.
(07:32):
They could change what you'redoing for a decade or more.
The fact that first of all, yougot hit by a car no one wants
that, but that happened but itchanged your awareness.
But that happened, but itchanged your awareness, it
changed your mindset.
You started to think outside ofthe box you were in and then it
got you into the familybusiness.
Now, another big, giant, pivotalpoint Hurricane Sandy.
(07:55):
Who doesn't remember that?
A hurricane hitting New YorkCity.
That's something straight outof a comic book, right?
However, that happened, thathappened and it was devastating
and it's a life-changing event,but it changed your life even
more.
And then you started like allright.
Then this is the pivotal pointand I want people to really
understand, especially whenthey're an entrepreneur, because
(08:17):
it happens over and over again.
You have to understand thedifference between you being a
W-2 worker and what a trueentrepreneur does.
Are you working in the businessor are you working on the
business?
And I heard you saying thislike you were working in the
business, and if you don't workin the business, there is no
business.
Well, that is what almost wewould call like a solopreneur or
(08:40):
something to that effect, thathow people are associated and
then we start getting to what atrue entrepreneur is.
And I read this one book.
I'll never forget that, andthey talked about how McDonald's
franchises started and thatthey had a formula and they had
a process in place thateverybody, or everyone, every
(09:04):
worker, like within McDonald's,had a certain standard operating
procedure, right?
So whether you're on the fries,you're on the front desk or
you're sweeping the floors,everyone had their way of doing
it.
And the whole point of themanager is I need to be able to
have that as a repeatableprocess, that I can kind of like
plug and play certainindividuals so that I'm not the
(09:25):
one doing the fries and sweepingthe floor and I'm doing all the
work.
And you found that through realestate, Say, hey, I'm going to
free myself up, I can free upsome capital, I've got some
money.
How can I have money work forme instead of against me?
That's beautiful.
That's beautiful that you foundthat.
(09:46):
It takes time.
Not everybody does but you wereawake.
You're aware You're doing that.
Talk to us now.
Now you've built the business,You've got 30 transactions.
These are multimillion dollarreal estate holdings that you
have.
What have you learned throughthat now?
Speaker 2 (10:09):
You know, again, you don't know what you don't know.
And sometimes, when we try toassume that we know everything,
that's where we don't getanywhere.
Right, because you alwaysassume that you know the answer.
Right, and so many times thepart about putting good people
around me has really helped thebusiness forward.
Right, the limitation for thefirst couple of transactions,
(10:31):
because it was just my wife andmyself.
Right, and so we would go, youknow, be making the connections
with the brokers right, with thebankers right.
Also talking to investors.
Right, to be part of thetransaction and in the meantime,
when we brought the deal, thenworking with the property
management company.
So, again, there's only two ofus and we're trying to do all
these different roles together.
(10:51):
Right, and so what happens isthat if I'm underwriting a deal,
I'm not talking to brokers.
If I'm talking to the banker,then we're not working with the
property management company.
If my wife's talking to theinvestors, then we're not
sending out the communications.
Right, because it was always usas the linchpin in the deal and
that worked until it didn't.
Right, you could do that forone deal, for two deals, but
then we started to have a couplehundred units that we were
(11:14):
having as part of our portfolio.
We had to look at ourselvesreally truly and say, okay, if
we want to grow, we need to getout of our own way, because
we're trying to hold on to allthese things.
It's like that part of like youwant to do everything a hundred
percent perfect.
But if there's 10 things to doand you do only one of them, 100
perfect.
And you did zero percent on theother nine.
(11:35):
Right where, in fact, as anentrepreneur, you have to
understand that you can surroundyourself with with some great
people and they might be an 88on one or a 92 on another right
trying their hardest where maybeyou could do it 100, but it's
not something that needs to bedone as 100, it just needs to be
done.
And because you were in the way,not letting somebody else do
anything, that you held backyour own self from being
(11:56):
successful because you're tryingto have this resemblance of
perfection.
So we had to make the choice togrow.
We had to build a team right,so we had to bring on, basically
select, critical people as partof our process.
You know everyone, from help,from sales to marketing, to to
leasing, to asset management,that now are part of our team,
(12:18):
because what that does is itallows them to do a lot of the
day-to-day, while we focus onwhere the company is going,
because that's the biggest pieceis.
Even if we're doing all thosepieces, I'm missing the forward
look and being able to focus onthe future of the company.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
But now you're valuable.
I like what you said, thatthat's another big epiphany.
I want my audience to trulyunderstand this as they're on
their entrepreneurial journey.
You start out in thatsolopreneur mindset but to truly
make that transition to theentrepreneurial mindset and
(12:53):
having financial acumen andunderstanding how private equity
looks at businesses, you needto understand this Because when
they look at your business, youcould be making a million
dollars or so, but how are youmaking the million dollars?
If they take Jason out of theequation, is there still a
million dollars there?
Because if there's not, thatlowers your valuation.
(13:16):
And I know you're in the realestate world.
You understand valuation andwhatnot.
But when you have a team puttogether and that you have a
scaled or scaling business, thatshows that you've got runway,
you've got a backlog, you've gotthings that are happening and
it's just not dependent on justone or two people, now that's a
(13:38):
business that people will investin and you attract those kind
of people that you need in yourlife to grow and expand to that
multi-million dollar, to thatmulti-billion dollar mark that
you want to get to.
But it is a process.
Now you have a community thatyou're building out called Live
(13:59):
100.
Tell us about that.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
So I got back to a lot of people asking me for help
.
Just really just growing withinthemselves Could be, just
personally, could be with realestate, and it really had to put
me in a big position.
I have to go back and look atwhat I did, because I just
started doing it and I startedasking myself like, okay, I'm
just I went through all thesesteps, like what were these
steps I took?
(14:22):
And so Live 100 came on threefoundational blocks, you know
breaking my bad habits so I canbuild the future I want and then
magnify the momentum of theresults I'm going to get.
Right, and it looked on nineprinciples One, being self-aware
.
Right, I wasn't showing up.
If you get back to how I wasshowing up, you know, when I got
hit by a car before that moment, right, I was showing up in a
(14:42):
really negative way.
Right, I was very critical.
I was not.
You know, I had a lot of rage,a lot of anger.
I just I wasn't.
You know, I felt guilty aboutnot being able to go out there
and so on.
So I just had all these partsthat weren't someone who would
be successful right, because Iwas doing things, of someone who
was just getting the results Iwas getting right.
So I had to be self-aware ofhow I was showing up.
(15:03):
And then next I had to own itright and I say, okay, fine,
that's how you're showing up,that's how you're showing up.
You need to own this right nowso you can change it.
And then, after I had to startpositioning myself for greatness
, right.
So position myself forgreatness.
So I could say the future Jason, what does the future Jason do
today?
Like, how does he show up today?
Like that person who's outthere being successful?
How would that person show upin a moment?
(15:24):
Because today you're showing upas this, that person shows up
like that.
And when you can choose that,then you can start mastering
meaningful habits and ritualsthat really set you up for
success and then justintentionally execute.
But along the way you have to beuncomfortably brave to what's
going to happen, because as youstart to change right, you're
basically washing away the oldyou because you're changing to
(15:46):
the new you or the person thathas that success.
So you have to be brave towhat's going to happen, because
you might have people that don'tlike the new you, because maybe
you're going away from aversion that they were used to,
or maybe you're going to facesome challenges, you're going to
face some setbacks.
So you have to be brave to this, to just not stop because, as a
part, there's going to be 15,50, 100,000 things that are
(16:07):
going to try and get in your way, but you have to understand
that's part of your growingprocess getting in your way but
you have to understand that'spart of your growing process.
And then, as you do that, youhave to accelerate your growth
as you start building throughthis so you can have this
awe-inspiring rise.
Right, and that's part of theprocess of the program is
allowing people to understandupon their journey is that their
starting line today is wherethey are.
They don't need to be, you know, someone different from where
(16:28):
they are.
They have everything they needto get started.
We just have to choose wheretheir starting line is and what
that first step is to take andwhen people can take that first
step and get the confidence itallows them to push themselves
down the pike to really thegoals that they're looking to
seek, because where most getstuck is that they look at the
big picture and it's so scarybecause it's so different, right
(16:49):
?
So I want to go, start abusiness, make a million dollars
, start a podcast right, it'sthis result of you know, oh, I
start a podcast, I need to have100,000 listeners by tomorrow,
right?
And then they're like, oh, I'mjust never going to start, I'll
never get there, so they justwon't even start.
Right, well, we start buildingthe foundation to get you on the
road to start, because what Ifound upon myself is that I've
(17:09):
never learned anything by notdoing anything.
Right, so inaction gets youbasically no results.
We can agree on that.
But if you take a step, you'regoing to learn something.
You're either going to learnthat it was the absolute wrong
way, so, okay, let's stop andturn around and go the other way
.
Or you take a step and maybeit's kind of off path, but it's
on the right way, but it's offpath.
So now you can be versatile andpivot.
(17:30):
Or it's on the right way, Okay,take another one.
Right, but we have to take someaction to get feedback so we
can react to that feedback toget the results we want.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
I love that and I'm going to pick one word that I
liked on that.
What you just stated, that wasaccountability.
You accepted the situation, youaccepted the creator of that
situation and you accepted theidea that you were going to
change it.
You were accountable.
I really like that.
(18:01):
The other thing I liked thatyou stated there's a desired
state that you want to get to.
What does that look like?
And it could be awe-inspiring.
I always use an analogy ofgetting to the top of the
mountain right.
When you're at the bottom ofthe mountain, yeah, it looks
very, very intimidating.
How am I going to get there?
(18:23):
But when you can step back alittle bit, even in your own
life, let's step back five yearsago, 10 years ago.
What was the mountain then thatyou had to traverse?
And you start to realize thatyou have traversed some hills
and some challenges and somemountains in your own life
already.
Now this is a differentchallenge, it's a different
(18:45):
mountain, but you can get there.
If, again, you have what I callalmost a superhero moment.
Jason had that superhero moment.
He's like man.
What are you talking about?
The superhero moment is he hadthese pivotal changes.
And then how did he go into thephone booth and come out on the
(19:06):
other side a changed individual.
Can you imagine your dad sayinglike wow, thank you, jason.
I knew he came on another sideof that phone booth changed,
because he accepted who he was,he was accountable for who he
was.
But then what was hissuperpower?
Superpower was his mindset.
(19:27):
He came out of that phone boothwith a completely different
mindset than he was before,let's say when he had that
accident some years ago.
And because he did that, nowhe's capable of scaling the
mountain and he's doing that ata high level and he's showing
other people how they can do it.
(19:48):
When you're in service forothers, kudos to you for being
in service to others.
Hey, I got out of my own way.
I can show you how to get outof your own way if you are
accountable for the situation.
I want you to tell me moreabout your business so our
audience can truly understandwhat it is that what you do and
(20:10):
the big problem that you solve.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
So from a real estate perspective, I'll talk to that
because that would be the firstone.
From a real estate perspective,we simply look for
opportunities where housing isnot being run well, right, so
it's just not a great place tolive, and we look to buy the
apartment community where it'snot either being managed well or
the property itself, thephysical assets not being
treated well, and we go and makeit a better place to live.
And when we make it a betterplace to live, you know tenants
(20:38):
can have a more happierlivelihood living in a great
place, so they're willing to paythe market rent or what would
be approachable for the market,which again creates more cash
flow for the property, whichentails better returns for our
investors.
So, simply put, we makesomething a better place to live
which makes happier tenants,which produces more income and
produces more cashflow for ourinvestors.
From my part, with Live 100,it's really a leadership program
(21:01):
where you're leading yourself,you're learning to lead yourself
and just talking to what youwere talking about before, one
of the most fulfilling things iswhen I come with someone and
we're facing this problem, right, it looks like Mount Everest,
right, and we're never going toget past it.
And then, a month from now,we're so far past it we don't
even remember it and it's just aspeed bump because we're on to
our next Mount Everest that'stwo times higher.
Right, and that's the power ofjust working on problems and
(21:24):
helping people through theprogram is that we learn to work
on ourselves first.
That allows us to be moredisciplined, to look at problems
for what they are right.
They're a problem that needs asolution and usually we work on.
Is this a five-year problem,meaning am I going to remember
this five years from now?
And if it's not, then what'sthe issue?
Let's just get through it,right.
If it's something that it'sgoing to be critical and it's
going to be a major change inour whole world, fine, let's
(21:46):
work through the process tounderstand the steps right.
What are the strengths of this?
What are the weaknesses of this?
How can we use this to ouradvantage?
Or is this something that weneed to avoid?
Right, and typically part.
We just need to work through itright.
You know, ryan Holiday has theobstacles the way, and most of
us are fearful that to look atthe obstacle is something that
we need to go through.
(22:07):
But we grow through it.
Right, we go through it and wegrow through it and with working
with individuals, we help themlearn themselves so they're
better prepared for when thesechallenges come.
That's a hard thing.
Most of ourselves, we don't seeourselves for how we truly
could be.
We think of ourselves in a waywhether it's actually true or
(22:27):
most of not we're not.
I'm too scared to do this.
I'm not confident enough.
I can't speak well.
I'm not confident enough.
I can't speak well.
Right, I'm not intelligentenough to go start a business.
I don't know enough to go outthere and do sales.
Right that we always tellourselves the answer right,
without actually givingourselves the ability to take
control and truly find theanswer.
And when you truly go after it,you know, yeah, maybe once in a
(22:50):
while it's just not right foryou, but at least you got rid of
it, at least you tried and know, and that's powerful.
Then now we know not to do thatand we don't have to think
about it a decade from now.
And or you, you figure out thatyou can.
You can do.
It Just took you.
Just took you putting theeffort in.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Got a question for you.
First of all, I like everythingyou have stated.
I really like that characterbehind you, Bart Simpson.
He's been around for a longtime.
I can't believe the longevity.
Is that Bart behind you?
Speaker 2 (23:19):
No, it's actually my kids come to the office every
once in a while.
I usually see Legos, and so myyoungest, my six-year-old, was
building Legos, I guess, and puta Lego statue in here, and I
just realized that when westarted I said I guess it's
going to stay so, but it lookslike.
It looks like Bart Simpson, Iguess it does.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
From behind.
Here I'm thinking Bart.
Right, Some people are on audio, some people on video, but it
looked like Bart Simpson.
Our reason I bring that up isbecause the cartoon's been
around for 25 years even longer.
I think it's the longestrunning show on television still
to date in syndicate.
It's an incredible feat.
I want to ask you about yourpersonal brand, as you think
(23:59):
that there's people that havecoaching programs.
There are people that have, youknow, real estate businesses.
Yes, but you have a specificreal estate and coaching
business that you are in.
It's the Jason way.
What is the secret sauce?
What makes you different?
What makes you come out of thatphone booth as Jason Yaroos,
(24:23):
just like the same person I justsaw on that sizzle reel, which
was so, so awesome?
How would you give us yourelevator pitch on the personal
brand that you carry every day?
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Where I find that many others get lost is that we
all want quick results right, Iwant quick results.
But the quick results come andthey go.
Because we don't have thefoundation built right, we go.
It's like 92% of New Year'sresolutions fail.
Why?
Because yesterday you weren'tsomething and today you say
you're going to lose 30 pounds,or today you're going to start
making 50 sales calls.
It's such a different fromwhere you were yesterday and
(24:56):
you're not prepared bothmentally and physically.
So what happens is that, evenif you get close to result, you
burn yourself out because youhaven't put in the training
right, you haven't put intoconsistency.
And so my conversation withpeople is that, listen, we can
get quick results, but it'sgoing to be hard for you to go
because you're not mentallyprepared, you're not physically
prepared, you're not spirituallyprepared, financially prepared,
you're not ready.
But we can get there.
You want to get there tomorrow.
(25:16):
We can go and get that.
But what's the rush?
If this is the life you want tolive, you want to live 100, you
want to make a fulfilling lifethat you can keep, that you can
live forever, then let's buildthe work, let's build the
foundation so you can have thesustainability to get the life
you want.
Because, like I say, if you'regoing to, you know most.
We look at things as the shortterm, as the goal is the end.
(25:40):
Right, if I made a milliondollars or I lose 30 pounds, we
act like life stops.
Right then.
And then the next day happensright, because we forget that we
have to live the life as thatperson, right?
So, if you are going to lose 30pounds, well, how do I show up
when I lose 30 pounds?
Right.
And what we do is we prepareyou to be that person, because
many times people lose that 30pounds and gain it right back
because they don't know how tooperate as themselves when
they're there.
They don't know how to be thatperson when they're there
(26:02):
because they haven't put in thedisciplined work to just
understand who they need to be,to show up as that person who's
lost that weight.
So we prepare you to be readyfor the future.
You of who you deserve to be,one step at a time.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
I'm going to ask you this question how old were you
or how many years ago was itthat you had the accident?
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Oh man, so that's probably been 14 years, because
about 2000,.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
It was right before standards about 2009, ish give
or take, oh yeah, so aboutalmost 15 years ago, because
what I just heard you say islike you were talking to that
person that you were 15 yearsago and and look what you have
become, uh, in that period oftime.
And look at all those differentchallenges and experiences and
(26:55):
getting married and havingchildren and having businesses
and moving, and all that hasgotten you right here in what
you're on the Follow BrandPodcast, and you are doing a
fantastic job of coaching us allup and letting us know, because
we are in this quick fix kindof mental state to everybody.
(27:17):
I can just pull up, you know,to wherever I want to get to and
, in order to go, give me anumber one to go right.
And then boom, here you go,poof there, it is no worry, can
you drive off?
And it's really not like that.
I think every entrepreneur,every successful person you talk
to, they started at the bottomof that mountain and they only
(27:39):
came with the few clothes thatthey have or what do they have
with them.
But they wanted to ascend tothat level but they had the
moxie and the grit and it's like, okay, you know what I've been
to the bottom, the moxie and thegrit and it's like, okay, you
know what I've been through.
I've been to the bottom, thesuper bottom, whatever that was.
I already know what that is andif I weren't more of that, I
(27:59):
can just stop now, because Ialready got that.
But I don't want that, I'm sickof that.
How do I break free and moveforward?
Man, that's like you know.
It looks very simple.
When Superman comes out, clarkKent jumps into that phone booth
and he just comes out with thatcape.
Do you realize?
When he goes into that phonebooth, it's actually about 15
(28:22):
years before he comes back out.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
That's right.
Yeah, that's right.
You know, I find my 10-year-oldhe's really into that.
He wants to create a bigbusiness, he wants to create a
mech, he wants to do all thesethings.
He has all these grandambitions and I was like, I'm
full support.
But my rationale to him is thatyou will get where you want by
choosing the biggest problems tosolve and that's going to have
(28:47):
the most impact.
Because when we look atproblems as simply, oh, I have a
problem.
Right, because impact.
Because when we look at problemsas simply, oh, I have a problem
.
Right, because most of theworld right, and many people and
I'm sure a lot of listenershave people in their life that
are constantly coming to themwith problems.
Right, because they seeeverything as a problem.
They don't look at the solutionfor it.
And then the ones who are mostsuccessful come with the
solution.
Right, you know, who knew thatwe were going to need Zoom to be
(29:07):
able to have this communicationhere, to be able to do a
podcast?
Right, like someone solved thatproblem, right, you know, video
chatting right.
Okay, problem solved.
Right.
Think of anything.
The automobile, right, you knowthey thought, okay, wait, the
automobile, how are we going toneed this, right?
Or you look at AI how AI isgoing to come.
People are solving problems insuch a fast pace that others are
like, oh, this is somethinginsurmountable, I'll never be
(29:29):
able to get past it.
Well, there's someone on theother side of that saying, well,
oh, what a problem.
Oh, if a lot of people havethis problem, if I can find that
solution, how valuable is thatgoing to be?
And when we can start lookingat that from a point of
perspective as an entrepreneur,you say, huh, okay, the problem
is right now for my real estatebusiness.
Right, you cannot build housingfast enough.
Over the course of 2020 to 2030, we need 16 and a half million
(29:51):
homes and we're only on pace tobuild about 11 million.
So we're short on homes.
And no one's building an oldhome, right, they're only
building new homes.
But middle America, right, theworkforce housing is the area
that most people need to beserved.
Right, but they're onlybuilding new housing, which is
putting even more pressure onthe people that are workforce
housing.
So if I can find apartmentcommunities and make them better
(30:12):
places to live, they're goingto be targeted at workforce
housing.
It's going to be somethingthat's constantly in supply or
constantly in demand, right.
So we look at that as that's oursolution to a problem that
exists, right?
Well, ask yourself in yourgeneral vicinity, what are the
problems that you're looking atas a problem?
Can you just basically changeyour mindset to say, okay, if
(30:32):
that's the problem, what is thesolution?
Right, and you can do that fromeverything, like the time in
your day, or you know, themeetings that you're having or
the job that you're having.
Right, if you're looking at itas a problem, what's the
solution?
And if you can look ateverything from the opposite,
sometimes it doesn't provide theresult, but it gives you the
good argument for whether or notthere's a better candidate for
(30:52):
what you to do, or you're in theright place, because sometimes
we're actually in the rightplace.
It's just hard and you're likeman, this is just tough, okay,
well, yeah, because why would itbe easy, right?
If every day was just 75 andsunny, and it was always sunny
out, we wouldn't appreciate itbeing 75 and sunny 100%.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
Talk to somebody in Miami.
I definitely appreciate it, butit's not always 75.
Sometimes it's 85 and muggy, soit actually changes a lot.
But it depends on theenvironment that you are in and
it's the assignment.
And that's what I would ask myaudience Are you accepting the
assignment that life has givenyou?
(31:33):
And if you've accepted theassignment, then you have
accepted the accountability thatthis is my assignment.
This is what I need to do andthis is how I'm going to achieve
my life goal.
Now, if you want to hide fromthat and make excuses and run
around, I used to talk to a lotof different people and they
(31:56):
would ask me about you know lifeand life purposes.
I said your purpose is right infront of you.
You just have to choose toaccept it or not.
So, almost like that, that,that um, a movie that came out,
you know, mission impossible.
If you decide to accept thismission, right.
So you have to accept themission.
And if you accept the mission,then you've got to do that
(32:19):
assessment that you did.
Do you have the capabilities toaccomplish this goal as you are
right now, or are you going toneed a coach?
Are you going to need somebody?
Most likely anybody that'saccomplished anything in life
has had some kind of mentor,some type of coach, somebody
who's shown them the way, andthen they are able to then
accomplish their life's purpose.
(32:40):
This has been a wonderfulconversation with you, jason,
and before I leave you, I wantto give you a couple of things.
I want you to tell us what youhaven't told us, just in case
there's something else on yourmind that you definitely want to
get across to the audience andtell us how your experience has
been while you've been a gueston the Follow Brand Show.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
Yeah, so really enjoyed this.
Great questions, great talktrack.
Super.
Appreciate you having me on.
It's been a very fun episode totalk about a lot of things that
I don't always get to dive into, so this has been a fantastic
conversation, you know.
A leaving point is that rightnow, as you're listening, you do
not need something else.
(33:21):
You just need to look atyourself where you are and then
make the move right, becauseI've heard too many times that,
well, once I have this, or onceI have that right, or once this
happens or that happens, thenI'll do this right, but you're
just setting up roadblocks thatare just imaginary at the moment
.
Right, if it's that importantto make the change, you will
(33:45):
find the time right.
It's like if you know somethinghappened right now that was
critical, right, you know, likeyou know whatever, right, I
would find the time to go dealwith it.
Right, because it was acritical part.
So you have to look at whereyou want to go and say how
critical is this?
And if it's critical, you'regoing to find the time, you're
going to find the route and ifwe can help you, you want to go
(34:07):
over and talk with us to see ifwe can help you, as believe in
you that you have the permissionto go out there and seek the
life you want.
It just takes you right.
It takes you more than anythingelse 100%, man.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Thanks for leaving us with that great thought, the
wisdom, the knowledge and thejourney that you shared.
I really appreciate talking toyou.
I would have never thought Ididn't hear the Jersey accent.
Did anybody else hear theJersey accent?
I didn't hear the Jersey accent.
I think he's been down there inTennessee for a while, so
that's been wonderful.
(34:38):
Before you leave us, you got totell us how to get in touch
with you.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
Sure, sure, Again, appreciate you having me on the
show.
You can find me at the Live 100podcast.
It's very short, six to eightminute quips just talking about
the feeling of the day, helpingyou get momentum, helping you
live your Live 100 journey.
Or if you want to learn aboutworking with us, go over to
jasonyarusicom.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
Oh, that's wonderful, and your entire audience.
Please tune in to all theepisodes of Follow the Brand
that is at the number five.
That's five-star BDM B forbrand, d for development
infomancerscom.
This has been wonderful.
I can't wait to see you.
Welcome everybody to the Fellow Brand Podcast.
This is Grant McGaugh.
I'm down here in Miami, florida, but we're going to take it all
the way up to Tennessee.
Now, you know, when I thinkabout Tennessee, you can't help
but think about, you know,things like the Grand Ole Opry.
You've got, you know, you'vegot the Tennessee Titans up
there.
You've got the home of Elvis,but there's also some other
(00:23):
people up there.
You got the home of Elvis, butthere's also some other people
up there.
Jason Yerusi is going to talkto us about his journey, about
his passion, about his skillsets and how he's been doing
this at such a high level.
He's a multi-millionaire in thereal estate realm.
He's probably got some otherbusinesses that he does as well,
but he teaches other people howthey can take what they have,
(00:48):
get to a focus area and drawthemselves to a successful
outcome.
So, jason, you'd like tointroduce yourself, sure?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
sure.
So thanks for having me.
I appreciate you having me hereon the show.
And yes, I am down here inTennessee.
I live in Murfreesboro,tennessee, but I was born and
raised in New Jersey, so I foundmyself to Tennessee in a pretty
non-traditional route.
So, born and raised in NewJersey, you know, during my
formative years I had a lot ofloss in my life and it really
set me up to just not have.
You know, I was always a shykid and so I left high school,
(01:21):
just not with a lot ofconfidence.
Just a lot of my energy wasjust zapped out of me of just
all these things that had justhappened.
Went to college and ended upgetting a finance degree based
on I had a girlfriend at thetime.
Her mom was like you're good atmath, right, why don't you do a
business degree, right?
Just trying to point me in somedirection because I was just
kind of lost, right.
Well, I left college and justdidn't want to do anything with
(01:41):
finance and so I ended up movinginto New York City where I
spent the better part of adecade living there, just
working a bunch of odd jobs,working in restaurants and bars
and all these just not reallyfulfilling things and I was very
unhappy with everything I wasdoing.
I was blaming everybody else.
I was blaming, you know, myupbringing, my college, my
surrounding and just everybody'sfault, but myself, right, I
(02:02):
wasn't really leading my lifeuntil one night.
I was leaving work 2.33 in themorning and got on my bike to
ride across the city to head tomy apartment, just angry at the
world.
And out of nowhere, a flash oflight came out.
And next thing, I know, I'mflying in the air because I was
hit by a car and turns out, Iget pulled out of the street by
these kids who were speakingFrench.
(02:23):
I had no idea what they weresaying.
They were pulling me out of thestreet because Manhattan was
coming alive, the light wasturning green.
And next thing, you know, I'min an ambulance going to the
hospital because I had gotten abroken shoulder.
I eventually had a pin in mywrist, some stitches in my face,
and I finally, in a day, leavethe hospital and the only
(02:51):
thought in my mind was like man,I need to get back to this job
that I despise because I need tomake money for rent.
And there was this moment ofpause where I was like okay,
let's have a clear thought here.
You've just been hit by a carand all you can think about is
that you have to get back tothis job.
Part of the reason that you arejust so unhappy with your life
is, you know, working this joband this is all you can think
about getting back to.
And so I made a pact withmyself Okay, if I'm going to do
that, then I have to say I'mokay with the chaos of the of
(03:14):
the results I'm getting and justbe fine with it and stop
complaining.
Or I can start doing somethingdifferent.
And I started to do somethingdifferent, but the thing was I
just didn't know what that wasright.
I'm sure many people listeningis like I want to change my life
but I don't know how to rightand that was the big sticking
point for me is I didn't knowwhat I didn't know right.
(03:36):
So I just started to do thingsdifferent from what I was doing.
Instead of staying up late,drinking at the end of the night
, you know I'd start to go backat a reasonable time.
Start staying up late drinkingat the end of the night, you
know I'd start to go back at areasonable time.
Start to get up earlier, startto get in a workout pattern,
start to read books, just startto do things that started to
give me some semblance ofpositivity in my life.
And, lo and behold, littlesteps turned into bigger steps
(03:56):
and it just started to gain somepositive momentum.
So I went from working behindthe bar to owning a bar and a
restaurant in New York City.
I opened and sold a brewery inNew York City and then, lo and
behold, about 2010,.
2011,.
Hurricane Sandy happened on theEast Coast, decimated the East
Coast and my father he's retired, but he had a small family
(04:20):
business that dealt with veryintricate construction projects
that were detailed, towardsflooding, right, and so his
business overnight went from,you know, 12 calls a month to a
thousand calls a day.
So my now wife and my littlebrother and myself, we moved out
to New Jersey and we startedhelping dad grow the family
(04:40):
business, and there was a lot oflife lessons there.
Right, we're a bunch ofItalians trying to get along and
and you know we there are abunch of, you know of clashing,
but at the same part, we wereable to take that business and
scale that business to to a veryhigh level and eventually
getting my father to retire.
But lo and behold, throughoutthis whole process, what kept
happening is that I kept beingthe cog in the wheel.
(05:03):
I kept being the thing that washolding everything back,
because everything I was doingwas very transactional.
I had to be there working,doing the sales job, working
these very detailed constructionprojects, or even working at
the restaurant or working at thebar.
It constantly took me as beingpart of the process.
If I wanted a day off, therewould be no revenue.
That was the tie I was into.
If we didn't work, there was nofunds revenue right, that was
(05:24):
the tie I was into.
If we didn't work, there was nofunds.
Well, at the time, you know, mywife was pregnant with our first
child and we just kept lookingat ourselves saying we have no
time.
If there was 25 hours in a day,we could have used them.
Right.
If there was eight days in aweek, we could have used them.
So we just kept searching, likewhat is the solution here for
us?
To get back our time, get backour day, get back our life, to
(05:46):
be able to choose our life,instead of having a life really
chosen for us.
And we came upon real estate andit's this pretty big blue ocean
in the world of real estate.
You know, you could be a realestate agent, you could flip
homes, you could wholesale homes, you can do Airbnbs and we
started to try it, all right,just not knowing what was the
right fit.
And things were going, they weregoing well, but it wasn't
(06:10):
hitting the mold because westill had no time, because we
were running the Home Depot, youknow, meeting clients, you know
, going to meet contractors,right, doing all this very
active work, until one day Iheard on a podcast like this
someone who was buying apartmentbuildings and that was that
light bulb moment that hit mebecause I understood that we
could go and form a team andhelp this investment forward by
(06:33):
building the right teams,building the right processes
that ultimately would keep usfrom having to do all the
day-to-day.
A couple that we startedinvesting about 800 to 900 miles
away from where we lived.
So we started that in 2016,2017.
We brought a large apartmentbuilding in Louisville, kentucky
, while we were living in NewJersey, and then we just started
(06:54):
to repeat that process andslowly but surely, we've done a
little over 30 transactions todate, a little over 300 million
of real estate, as we've nowaccumulated a number of
apartment complexes down here inthe Southeast, where we now
moved.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
You know I love that because what I heard there was
what I call two origin storiesand what I mean by origin story,
and someone alluded to this tome and I really latched onto it
because I think there are originstories or certain pivots in
everyone's life that are pivotal, meaning their life change.
(07:32):
They could change what you'redoing for a decade or more.
The fact that first of all, yougot hit by a car no one wants
that, but that happened but itchanged your awareness.
But that happened, but itchanged your awareness, it
changed your mindset.
You started to think outside ofthe box you were in and then it
got you into the familybusiness.
Now, another big, giant, pivotalpoint Hurricane Sandy.
(07:55):
Who doesn't remember that?
A hurricane hitting New YorkCity.
That's something straight outof a comic book, right?
However, that happened, thathappened and it was devastating
and it's a life-changing event,but it changed your life even
more.
And then you started like allright.
Then this is the pivotal pointand I want people to really
understand, especially whenthey're an entrepreneur, because
(08:17):
it happens over and over again.
You have to understand thedifference between you being a
W-2 worker and what a trueentrepreneur does.
Are you working in the businessor are you working on the
business?
And I heard you saying thislike you were working in the
business, and if you don't workin the business, there is no
business.
Well, that is what almost wewould call like a solopreneur or
(08:40):
something to that effect, thathow people are associated and
then we start getting to what atrue entrepreneur is.
And I read this one book.
I'll never forget that, andthey talked about how McDonald's
franchises started and thatthey had a formula and they had
a process in place thateverybody, or everyone, every
(09:04):
worker, like within McDonald's,had a certain standard operating
procedure, right?
So whether you're on the fries,you're on the front desk or
you're sweeping the floors,everyone had their way of doing
it.
And the whole point of themanager is I need to be able to
have that as a repeatableprocess, that I can kind of like
plug and play certainindividuals so that I'm not the
(09:25):
one doing the fries and sweepingthe floor and I'm doing all the
work.
And you found that through realestate, Say, hey, I'm going to
free myself up, I can free upsome capital, I've got some
money.
How can I have money work forme instead of against me?
That's beautiful.
That's beautiful that you foundthat.
(09:46):
It takes time.
Not everybody does but you wereawake.
You're aware You're doing that.
Talk to us now.
Now you've built the business,You've got 30 transactions.
These are multimillion dollarreal estate holdings that you
have.
What have you learned throughthat now?
Speaker 2 (10:09):
You know, again, you don't know what you don't know.
And sometimes, when we try toassume that we know everything,
that's where we don't getanywhere.
Right, because you alwaysassume that you know the answer.
Right, and so many times thepart about putting good people
around me has really helped thebusiness forward.
Right, the limitation for thefirst couple of transactions,
(10:31):
because it was just my wife andmyself.
Right, and so we would go, youknow, be making the connections
with the brokers right, with thebankers right.
Also talking to investors.
Right, to be part of thetransaction and in the meantime,
when we brought the deal, thenworking with the property
management company.
So, again, there's only two ofus and we're trying to do all
these different roles together.
(10:51):
Right, and so what happens isthat if I'm underwriting a deal,
I'm not talking to brokers.
If I'm talking to the banker,then we're not working with the
property management company.
If my wife's talking to theinvestors, then we're not
sending out the communications.
Right, because it was always usas the linchpin in the deal and
that worked until it didn't.
Right, you could do that forone deal, for two deals, but
then we started to have a couplehundred units that we were
(11:14):
having as part of our portfolio.
We had to look at ourselvesreally truly and say, okay, if
we want to grow, we need to getout of our own way, because
we're trying to hold on to allthese things.
It's like that part of like youwant to do everything a hundred
percent perfect.
But if there's 10 things to doand you do only one of them, 100
perfect.
And you did zero percent on theother nine.
(11:35):
Right where, in fact, as anentrepreneur, you have to
understand that you can surroundyourself with with some great
people and they might be an 88on one or a 92 on another right
trying their hardest where maybeyou could do it 100, but it's
not something that needs to bedone as 100, it just needs to be
done.
And because you were in the way,not letting somebody else do
anything, that you held backyour own self from being
(11:56):
successful because you're tryingto have this resemblance of
perfection.
So we had to make the choice togrow.
We had to build a team right,so we had to bring on, basically
select, critical people as partof our process.
You know everyone, from help,from sales to marketing, to to
leasing, to asset management,that now are part of our team,
(12:18):
because what that does is itallows them to do a lot of the
day-to-day, while we focus onwhere the company is going,
because that's the biggest pieceis.
Even if we're doing all thosepieces, I'm missing the forward
look and being able to focus onthe future of the company.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
But now you're valuable.
I like what you said, thatthat's another big epiphany.
I want my audience to trulyunderstand this as they're on
their entrepreneurial journey.
You start out in thatsolopreneur mindset but to truly
make that transition to theentrepreneurial mindset and
(12:53):
having financial acumen andunderstanding how private equity
looks at businesses, you needto understand this Because when
they look at your business, youcould be making a million
dollars or so, but how are youmaking the million dollars?
If they take Jason out of theequation, is there still a
million dollars there?
Because if there's not, thatlowers your valuation.
(13:16):
And I know you're in the realestate world.
You understand valuation andwhatnot.
But when you have a team puttogether and that you have a
scaled or scaling business, thatshows that you've got runway,
you've got a backlog, you've gotthings that are happening and
it's just not dependent on justone or two people, now that's a
(13:38):
business that people will investin and you attract those kind
of people that you need in yourlife to grow and expand to that
multi-million dollar, to thatmulti-billion dollar mark that
you want to get to.
But it is a process.
Now you have a community thatyou're building out called Live
(13:59):
100.
Tell us about that.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
So I got back to a lot of people asking me for help
.
Just really just growing withinthemselves Could be, just
personally, could be with realestate, and it really had to put
me in a big position.
I have to go back and look atwhat I did, because I just
started doing it and I startedasking myself like, okay, I'm
just I went through all thesesteps, like what were these
steps I took?
(14:22):
And so Live 100 came on threefoundational blocks, you know
breaking my bad habits so I canbuild the future I want and then
magnify the momentum of theresults I'm going to get.
Right, and it looked on nineprinciples One, being self-aware
.
Right, I wasn't showing up.
If you get back to how I wasshowing up, you know, when I got
hit by a car before that moment, right, I was showing up in a
(14:42):
really negative way.
Right, I was very critical.
I was not.
You know, I had a lot of rage,a lot of anger.
I just I wasn't.
You know, I felt guilty aboutnot being able to go out there
and so on.
So I just had all these partsthat weren't someone who would
be successful right, because Iwas doing things, of someone who
was just getting the results Iwas getting right.
So I had to be self-aware ofhow I was showing up.
(15:03):
And then next I had to own itright and I say, okay, fine,
that's how you're showing up,that's how you're showing up.
You need to own this right nowso you can change it.
And then, after I had to startpositioning myself for greatness
, right.
So position myself forgreatness.
So I could say the future Jason, what does the future Jason do
today?
Like, how does he show up today?
Like that person who's outthere being successful?
How would that person show upin a moment?
(15:24):
Because today you're showing upas this, that person shows up
like that.
And when you can choose that,then you can start mastering
meaningful habits and ritualsthat really set you up for
success and then justintentionally execute.
But along the way you have to beuncomfortably brave to what's
going to happen, because as youstart to change right, you're
basically washing away the oldyou because you're changing to
(15:46):
the new you or the person thathas that success.
So you have to be brave towhat's going to happen, because
you might have people that don'tlike the new you, because maybe
you're going away from aversion that they were used to,
or maybe you're going to facesome challenges, you're going to
face some setbacks.
So you have to be brave to this, to just not stop because, as a
part, there's going to be 15,50, 100,000 things that are
(16:07):
going to try and get in your way, but you have to understand
that's part of your growingprocess getting in your way but
you have to understand that'spart of your growing process.
And then, as you do that, youhave to accelerate your growth
as you start building throughthis so you can have this
awe-inspiring rise.
Right, and that's part of theprocess of the program is
allowing people to understandupon their journey is that their
starting line today is wherethey are.
They don't need to be, you know, someone different from where
(16:28):
they are.
They have everything they needto get started.
We just have to choose wheretheir starting line is and what
that first step is to take andwhen people can take that first
step and get the confidence itallows them to push themselves
down the pike to really thegoals that they're looking to
seek, because where most getstuck is that they look at the
big picture and it's so scarybecause it's so different, right
(16:49):
?
So I want to go, start abusiness, make a million dollars
, start a podcast right, it'sthis result of you know, oh, I
start a podcast, I need to have100,000 listeners by tomorrow,
right?
And then they're like, oh, I'mjust never going to start, I'll
never get there, so they justwon't even start.
Right, well, we start buildingthe foundation to get you on the
road to start, because what Ifound upon myself is that I've
(17:09):
never learned anything by notdoing anything.
Right, so inaction gets youbasically no results.
We can agree on that.
But if you take a step, you'regoing to learn something.
You're either going to learnthat it was the absolute wrong
way, so, okay, let's stop andturn around and go the other way
.
Or you take a step and maybeit's kind of off path, but it's
on the right way, but it's offpath.
So now you can be versatile andpivot.
(17:30):
Or it's on the right way, Okay,take another one.
Right, but we have to take someaction to get feedback so we
can react to that feedback toget the results we want.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
I love that and I'm going to pick one word that I
liked on that.
What you just stated, that wasaccountability.
You accepted the situation, youaccepted the creator of that
situation and you accepted theidea that you were going to
change it.
You were accountable.
I really like that.
(18:01):
The other thing I liked thatyou stated there's a desired
state that you want to get to.
What does that look like?
And it could be awe-inspiring.
I always use an analogy ofgetting to the top of the
mountain right.
When you're at the bottom ofthe mountain, yeah, it looks
very, very intimidating.
How am I going to get there?
(18:23):
But when you can step back alittle bit, even in your own
life, let's step back five yearsago, 10 years ago.
What was the mountain then thatyou had to traverse?
And you start to realize thatyou have traversed some hills
and some challenges and somemountains in your own life
already.
Now this is a differentchallenge, it's a different
(18:45):
mountain, but you can get there.
If, again, you have what I callalmost a superhero moment.
Jason had that superhero moment.
He's like man.
What are you talking about?
The superhero moment is he hadthese pivotal changes.
And then how did he go into thephone booth and come out on the
(19:06):
other side a changed individual.
Can you imagine your dad sayinglike wow, thank you, jason.
I knew he came on another sideof that phone booth changed,
because he accepted who he was,he was accountable for who he
was.
But then what was hissuperpower?
Superpower was his mindset.
(19:27):
He came out of that phone boothwith a completely different
mindset than he was before,let's say when he had that
accident some years ago.
And because he did that, nowhe's capable of scaling the
mountain and he's doing that ata high level and he's showing
other people how they can do it.
(19:48):
When you're in service forothers, kudos to you for being
in service to others.
Hey, I got out of my own way.
I can show you how to get outof your own way if you are
accountable for the situation.
I want you to tell me moreabout your business so our
audience can truly understandwhat it is that what you do and
(20:10):
the big problem that you solve.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
So from a real estate perspective, I'll talk to that
because that would be the firstone.
From a real estate perspective,we simply look for
opportunities where housing isnot being run well, right, so
it's just not a great place tolive, and we look to buy the
apartment community where it'snot either being managed well or
the property itself, thephysical assets not being
treated well, and we go and makeit a better place to live.
And when we make it a betterplace to live, you know tenants
(20:38):
can have a more happierlivelihood living in a great
place, so they're willing to paythe market rent or what would
be approachable for the market,which again creates more cash
flow for the property, whichentails better returns for our
investors.
So, simply put, we makesomething a better place to live
which makes happier tenants,which produces more income and
produces more cashflow for ourinvestors.
From my part, with Live 100,it's really a leadership program
(21:01):
where you're leading yourself,you're learning to lead yourself
and just talking to what youwere talking about before, one
of the most fulfilling things iswhen I come with someone and
we're facing this problem, right, it looks like Mount Everest,
right, and we're never going toget past it.
And then, a month from now,we're so far past it we don't
even remember it and it's just aspeed bump because we're on to
our next Mount Everest that'stwo times higher.
Right, and that's the power ofjust working on problems and
(21:24):
helping people through theprogram is that we learn to work
on ourselves first.
That allows us to be moredisciplined, to look at problems
for what they are right.
They're a problem that needs asolution and usually we work on.
Is this a five-year problem,meaning am I going to remember
this five years from now?
And if it's not, then what'sthe issue?
Let's just get through it,right.
If it's something that it'sgoing to be critical and it's
going to be a major change inour whole world, fine, let's
(21:46):
work through the process tounderstand the steps right.
What are the strengths of this?
What are the weaknesses of this?
How can we use this to ouradvantage?
Or is this something that weneed to avoid?
Right, and typically part.
We just need to work through itright.
You know, ryan Holiday has theobstacles the way, and most of
us are fearful that to look atthe obstacle is something that
we need to go through.
(22:07):
But we grow through it.
Right, we go through it and wegrow through it and with working
with individuals, we help themlearn themselves so they're
better prepared for when thesechallenges come.
That's a hard thing.
Most of ourselves, we don't seeourselves for how we truly
could be.
We think of ourselves in a waywhether it's actually true or
(22:27):
most of not we're not.
I'm too scared to do this.
I'm not confident enough.
I can't speak well.
I'm not confident enough.
I can't speak well.
Right, I'm not intelligentenough to go start a business.
I don't know enough to go outthere and do sales.
Right that we always tellourselves the answer right,
without actually givingourselves the ability to take
control and truly find theanswer.
And when you truly go after it,you know, yeah, maybe once in a
(22:50):
while it's just not right foryou, but at least you got rid of
it, at least you tried and know, and that's powerful.
Then now we know not to do thatand we don't have to think
about it a decade from now.
And or you, you figure out thatyou can.
You can do.
It Just took you.
Just took you putting theeffort in.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Got a question for you.
First of all, I like everythingyou have stated.
I really like that characterbehind you, Bart Simpson.
He's been around for a longtime.
I can't believe the longevity.
Is that Bart behind you?
Speaker 2 (23:19):
No, it's actually my kids come to the office every
once in a while.
I usually see Legos, and so myyoungest, my six-year-old, was
building Legos, I guess, and puta Lego statue in here, and I
just realized that when westarted I said I guess it's
going to stay so, but it lookslike.
It looks like Bart Simpson, Iguess it does.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
From behind.
Here I'm thinking Bart.
Right, Some people are on audio, some people on video, but it
looked like Bart Simpson.
Our reason I bring that up isbecause the cartoon's been
around for 25 years even longer.
I think it's the longestrunning show on television still
to date in syndicate.
It's an incredible feat.
I want to ask you about yourpersonal brand, as you think
(23:59):
that there's people that havecoaching programs.
There are people that have, youknow, real estate businesses.
Yes, but you have a specificreal estate and coaching
business that you are in.
It's the Jason way.
What is the secret sauce?
What makes you different?
What makes you come out of thatphone booth as Jason Yaroos,
(24:23):
just like the same person I justsaw on that sizzle reel, which
was so, so awesome?
How would you give us yourelevator pitch on the personal
brand that you carry every day?
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Where I find that many others get lost is that we
all want quick results right, Iwant quick results.
But the quick results come andthey go.
Because we don't have thefoundation built right, we go.
It's like 92% of New Year'sresolutions fail.
Why?
Because yesterday you weren'tsomething and today you say
you're going to lose 30 pounds,or today you're going to start
making 50 sales calls.
It's such a different fromwhere you were yesterday and
(24:56):
you're not prepared bothmentally and physically.
So what happens is that, evenif you get close to result, you
burn yourself out because youhaven't put in the training
right, you haven't put intoconsistency.
And so my conversation withpeople is that, listen, we can
get quick results, but it'sgoing to be hard for you to go
because you're not mentallyprepared, you're not physically
prepared, you're not spirituallyprepared, financially prepared,
you're not ready.
But we can get there.
You want to get there tomorrow.
(25:16):
We can go and get that.
But what's the rush?
If this is the life you want tolive, you want to live 100, you
want to make a fulfilling lifethat you can keep, that you can
live forever, then let's buildthe work, let's build the
foundation so you can have thesustainability to get the life
you want.
Because, like I say, if you'regoing to, you know most.
We look at things as the shortterm, as the goal is the end.
(25:40):
Right, if I made a milliondollars or I lose 30 pounds, we
act like life stops.
Right then.
And then the next day happensright, because we forget that we
have to live the life as thatperson, right?
So, if you are going to lose 30pounds, well, how do I show up
when I lose 30 pounds?
Right.
And what we do is we prepareyou to be that person, because
many times people lose that 30pounds and gain it right back
because they don't know how tooperate as themselves when
they're there.
They don't know how to be thatperson when they're there
(26:02):
because they haven't put in thedisciplined work to just
understand who they need to be,to show up as that person who's
lost that weight.
So we prepare you to be readyfor the future.
You of who you deserve to be,one step at a time.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
I'm going to ask you this question how old were you
or how many years ago was itthat you had the accident?
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Oh man, so that's probably been 14 years, because
about 2000,.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
It was right before standards about 2009, ish give
or take, oh yeah, so aboutalmost 15 years ago, because
what I just heard you say islike you were talking to that
person that you were 15 yearsago and and look what you have
become, uh, in that period oftime.
And look at all those differentchallenges and experiences and
(26:55):
getting married and havingchildren and having businesses
and moving, and all that hasgotten you right here in what
you're on the Follow BrandPodcast, and you are doing a
fantastic job of coaching us allup and letting us know, because
we are in this quick fix kindof mental state to everybody.
(27:17):
I can just pull up, you know,to wherever I want to get to and
, in order to go, give me anumber one to go right.
And then boom, here you go,poof there, it is no worry, can
you drive off?
And it's really not like that.
I think every entrepreneur,every successful person you talk
to, they started at the bottomof that mountain and they only
(27:39):
came with the few clothes thatthey have or what do they have
with them.
But they wanted to ascend tothat level but they had the
moxie and the grit and it's like, okay, you know what I've been
to the bottom, the moxie and thegrit and it's like, okay, you
know what I've been through.
I've been to the bottom, thesuper bottom, whatever that was.
I already know what that is andif I weren't more of that, I
(27:59):
can just stop now, because Ialready got that.
But I don't want that, I'm sickof that.
How do I break free and moveforward?
Man, that's like you know.
It looks very simple.
When Superman comes out, clarkKent jumps into that phone booth
and he just comes out with thatcape.
Do you realize?
When he goes into that phonebooth, it's actually about 15
(28:22):
years before he comes back out.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
That's right.
Yeah, that's right.
You know, I find my 10-year-oldhe's really into that.
He wants to create a bigbusiness, he wants to create a
mech, he wants to do all thesethings.
He has all these grandambitions and I was like, I'm
full support.
But my rationale to him is thatyou will get where you want by
choosing the biggest problems tosolve and that's going to have
(28:47):
the most impact.
Because when we look atproblems as simply, oh, I have a
problem.
Right, because impact.
Because when we look at problemsas simply, oh, I have a problem
.
Right, because most of theworld right, and many people and
I'm sure a lot of listenershave people in their life that
are constantly coming to themwith problems.
Right, because they seeeverything as a problem.
They don't look at the solutionfor it.
And then the ones who are mostsuccessful come with the
solution.
Right, you know, who knew thatwe were going to need Zoom to be
(29:07):
able to have this communicationhere, to be able to do a
podcast?
Right, like someone solved thatproblem, right, you know, video
chatting right.
Okay, problem solved.
Right.
Think of anything.
The automobile, right, you knowthey thought, okay, wait, the
automobile, how are we going toneed this, right?
Or you look at AI how AI isgoing to come.
People are solving problems insuch a fast pace that others are
like, oh, this is somethinginsurmountable, I'll never be
(29:29):
able to get past it.
Well, there's someone on theother side of that saying, well,
oh, what a problem.
Oh, if a lot of people havethis problem, if I can find that
solution, how valuable is thatgoing to be?
And when we can start lookingat that from a point of
perspective as an entrepreneur,you say, huh, okay, the problem
is right now for my real estatebusiness.
Right, you cannot build housingfast enough.
Over the course of 2020 to 2030, we need 16 and a half million
(29:51):
homes and we're only on pace tobuild about 11 million.
So we're short on homes.
And no one's building an oldhome, right, they're only
building new homes.
But middle America, right, theworkforce housing is the area
that most people need to beserved.
Right, but they're onlybuilding new housing, which is
putting even more pressure onthe people that are workforce
housing.
So if I can find apartmentcommunities and make them better
(30:12):
places to live, they're goingto be targeted at workforce
housing.
It's going to be somethingthat's constantly in supply or
constantly in demand, right.
So we look at that as that's oursolution to a problem that
exists, right?
Well, ask yourself in yourgeneral vicinity, what are the
problems that you're looking atas a problem?
Can you just basically changeyour mindset to say, okay, if
(30:32):
that's the problem, what is thesolution?
Right, and you can do that fromeverything, like the time in
your day, or you know, themeetings that you're having or
the job that you're having.
Right, if you're looking at itas a problem, what's the
solution?
And if you can look ateverything from the opposite,
sometimes it doesn't provide theresult, but it gives you the
good argument for whether or notthere's a better candidate for
(30:52):
what you to do, or you're in theright place, because sometimes
we're actually in the rightplace.
It's just hard and you're likeman, this is just tough, okay,
well, yeah, because why would itbe easy, right?
If every day was just 75 andsunny, and it was always sunny
out, we wouldn't appreciate itbeing 75 and sunny 100%.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
Talk to somebody in Miami.
I definitely appreciate it, butit's not always 75.
Sometimes it's 85 and muggy, soit actually changes a lot.
But it depends on theenvironment that you are in and
it's the assignment.
And that's what I would ask myaudience Are you accepting the
assignment that life has givenyou?
(31:33):
And if you've accepted theassignment, then you have
accepted the accountability thatthis is my assignment.
This is what I need to do andthis is how I'm going to achieve
my life goal.
Now, if you want to hide fromthat and make excuses and run
around, I used to talk to a lotof different people and they
(31:56):
would ask me about you know lifeand life purposes.
I said your purpose is right infront of you.
You just have to choose toaccept it or not.
So, almost like that, that,that um, a movie that came out,
you know, mission impossible.
If you decide to accept thismission, right.
So you have to accept themission.
And if you accept the mission,then you've got to do that
(32:19):
assessment that you did.
Do you have the capabilities toaccomplish this goal as you are
right now, or are you going toneed a coach?
Are you going to need somebody?
Most likely anybody that'saccomplished anything in life
has had some kind of mentor,some type of coach, somebody
who's shown them the way, andthen they are able to then
accomplish their life's purpose.
(32:40):
This has been a wonderfulconversation with you, jason,
and before I leave you, I wantto give you a couple of things.
I want you to tell us what youhaven't told us, just in case
there's something else on yourmind that you definitely want to
get across to the audience andtell us how your experience has
been while you've been a gueston the Follow Brand Show.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
Yeah, so really enjoyed this.
Great questions, great talktrack.
Super.
Appreciate you having me on.
It's been a very fun episode totalk about a lot of things that
I don't always get to dive into, so this has been a fantastic
conversation, you know.
A leaving point is that rightnow, as you're listening, you do
not need something else.
(33:21):
You just need to look atyourself where you are and then
make the move right, becauseI've heard too many times that,
well, once I have this, or onceI have that right, or once this
happens or that happens, thenI'll do this right, but you're
just setting up roadblocks thatare just imaginary at the moment
.
Right, if it's that importantto make the change, you will
(33:45):
find the time right.
It's like if you know somethinghappened right now that was
critical, right, you know, likeyou know whatever, right, I
would find the time to go dealwith it.
Right, because it was acritical part.
So you have to look at whereyou want to go and say how
critical is this?
And if it's critical, you'regoing to find the time, you're
going to find the route and ifwe can help you, you want to go
(34:07):
over and talk with us to see ifwe can help you, as believe in
you that you have the permissionto go out there and seek the
life you want.
It just takes you right.
It takes you more than anythingelse 100%, man.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Thanks for leaving us with that great thought, the
wisdom, the knowledge and thejourney that you shared.
I really appreciate talking toyou.
I would have never thought Ididn't hear the Jersey accent.
Did anybody else hear theJersey accent?
I didn't hear the Jersey accent.
I think he's been down there inTennessee for a while, so
that's been wonderful.
(34:38):
Before you leave us, you got totell us how to get in touch
with you.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
Sure, sure, Again, appreciate you having me on the
show.
You can find me at the Live 100podcast.
It's very short, six to eightminute quips just talking about
the feeling of the day, helpingyou get momentum, helping you
live your Live 100 journey.
Or if you want to learn aboutworking with us, go over to
jasonyarusicom.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
Oh, that's wonderful, and your entire audience.
Please tune in to all theepisodes of Follow the Brand
that is at the number five.
That's five-star BDM B forbrand, d for development
infomancerscom.
This has been wonderful.
I can't wait to see you.
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