Ep. 53 Levi Blum - Harnessing LinkedIn for Commercial Real Estate Success and Entrepreneurial Growth
February 13, 2025 • 24 mins
What happens when a tech-savvy individual transitions into the world of commercial real estate debt? Discover the fascinating journey of Levi Blum, who went from selling office equipment to building his own debt financing LLC, proving that resilience and adaptability are key ingredients to entrepreneurial success. Levi shares how he harnessed the power of LinkedIn to establish his brand and build connections in the industry. His insights provide a roadmap for using social media as a strategic tool in business development, especially in times of uncertainty like the COVID-19 pandemic.
The art of building relationships is about more than just hitting sales quotas. In a candid discussion, we unravel the transformative power of genuine connections that extend beyond immediate transactions. Levi and I share personal anecdotes to highlight how a shift from traditional sales tactics to a more relational approach can foster meaningful interactions. LinkedIn emerges as a powerful platform for nurturing these connections, offering opportunities for serendipitous introductions and long-term collaborations that provide both personal and professional rewards.
Networking is more than a buzzword; it’s a lifeline to professional development and personal growth. Levi emphasizes the importance of mentorship and engaging with professionals on LinkedIn, encouraging listeners to be proactive in seeking guidance and forming industry connections. Join us as we cultivate a community where reaching out leads to valuable learning experiences and relationships. Levi’s invitation to connect underscores the supportive network available to those ready to take the leap into entrepreneurship and beyond.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Heather Ewing.
Welcome to Heather Ewing, theCRE Rundown.
I am your host, heather Ewing,and today, from beautiful
Brooklyn, new York, I have noneother than Levi Bloom.
He is a commercial real estatedebt expert.
Levi, welcome Levi.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Bloom.
Hi, good morning Heather.
Thank you very much for havingme.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Heather Ewing.
Definitely, it's my pleasure.
So let's get into the backstory.
We've connected throughLinkedIn and share a little bit
more with my audience of how yougot into lending.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Great question.
I started many years ago 20plus years ago working in sales.
I like the idea of doing salesbecause it's basically
connecting with people uh,people you never met before,
like me and you, we never met,we didn't go to school together
and um and connecting withpeople, getting to know sorry,
(00:56):
getting to know what people doyou know, business, how they got
started that's something that Ilike very much.
Networking I like that verymuch as well.
As you know, I'm very active onLinkedIn and I did it.
I started in the technologyindustry also started in 2003,
2002, as working for a companythat was leasing office
(01:17):
equipment to businesses.
This is a very hard sell.
I don't recommend that toanyone.
I mean, and eventually thatindustry became very, you know,
commodities-based.
Nobody really cares what kindof brand.
You can show off your watch orcar and they sit at a barbecue
and show off their copier.
(01:38):
You know, have a Canon, youhave a Xerox, you know it's
pretty much the same as long asthey do the same thing Pass
paper from the first one side tothe other side.
Eventually, that industryturned into IT services and
document management.
I was in it for 18, 19 yearsand I was dying to get out of it
.
A year and a half before COVID,somebody introduced me to debt
(02:00):
financing.
And they're like you don't haveto quit your day job, you can
do that on the side.
I was working for a very tinycompany one person, you know one
, there was two people in thecompany.
Um, I learned a lot aboutfinancing and I was happy to be
able to, at five o'clock goingto other networking meetings,
since I was trying to get out ofthat industry to talk about,
(02:21):
you know, financing.
And then what happened is whenyou talk to a cfo or an investor
to get access to financing,even if you're not in the
business today to get financing,everybody listens to you,
they'll give you five minutes,versus when I used to talk to
people about it services, mostpeople were like you know, you
have to talk to my it person.
I have no idea what.
You know, I'm relying to one,one person.
(02:42):
Right?
I felt like you know, I wasvery tempted to, you know, to do
that full time.
But you know I have a family, Ihave a wife and five children,
so you can just quit your job.
And then covid came, arrived,came whatever was sent to us,
whatever, and everything closeddown, especially in new york
city, and I'm like.
This is basically a messagethat I have to.
(03:05):
You know, I might as well getstarted on my own business
instead of just sitting aroundand, unfortunately, listen to.
You know a lot of bad news andyou know we lost a lot of people
during covid.
It was a chaos, especially innew york, um, so I opened up an
llc, um, as you can see, I'm not20 years old, I'm, you know, 50
years old.
So I had to learn how to usesocial media properly.
(03:26):
I used linkedin before, but Ihad no clue how to use it.
So this is a message that Iwant to pass on.
Also.
You know, those uh tools, likeyou know, linkedin and other
social media do work to you know, to connect with people and
maybe to, um, you know, to getyour name out there, um, but
there's a way of doing it that'sgoing to work and there's
(03:46):
another way of doing it that'snot going to work.
So I had to take a coupleclasses and I had the time, you
know, fortunately, kobe, we're,all you know, indoors and I took
a couple classes.
I learned how to do posting, howto post, what to post about.
You know, uh, how to connectwith people, how to get to
connection to maybe aconversation on a DM and then
the goal is to finish on a Zoommeeting.
(04:08):
It's not going to work all thetime, but the goal is basically
post a lot.
So you create a name out there.
So people I'm going to reachout to you, connect to you and
you're going to say who's thisguy, levi Bloom.
They're going to Google my nameon LinkedIn and they're going
to see that I'm very activeevery day, monday through Friday
, most of the weeks I am posting, and they're going to see that
(04:29):
my posts are usually betweenreal estate, investment,
financing and entrepreneur.
Well, entrepreneur is a very,not easy job, you know.
If you want to become anentrepreneur, to think that you
can actually, you know, go onvacation and let your 10 workers
work for you.
That's not the way mostsuccessful, successful people
(04:50):
started.
The first few years you got towork very hard.
It's you and yourself only, soit's very lonely sometimes and
then when you go through a toughtime, it's you and the walls
and yourself.
And I think and I made a lot ofgood connection on LinkedIn
people that I follow they areyou know that I keep in touch
with and they, you know, theygive you people.
(05:10):
You know they're there a lot oftimes to give you a boost and
you know, and help you to stay,you know, above ground when
things are shaky.
Right, I have two people that Ifollow, mostly, like you know,
real estate investors.
So you have to be very focusedwho you want to connect with.
I didn't connect with myneighbors or the person that I
went to school with.
I connected mainly with realestate investors all over the
(05:33):
country New York, I'm in America, sorry and then I do follow a
few people.
There are some LinkedIn gurusand I take a lot of tips from
them.
And here we are and that's howme and you connected it and
we're friends now.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Exactly.
Well, I think that's a neatthing too, Kind of like we were
talking about a little bitbefore.
Linkedin is such.
It's like the emporium right ofall these different asset
classes, different career arenas, synergistic opportunities, and
it's a really nice way to learnabout people, to start
connecting, and that's also withthe podcast that I love having
(06:12):
this, because you get to havethose conversations and really
understand what does each persontruly do and how can you best
help them, and also how can youhelp your clients by connecting
them.
You know, whether it's yourselfor other people that I've met
through LinkedIn, that it's aterrific resource.
And you had mentioned alsoabout entrepreneurship and I
(06:35):
think there's such a buzz aboutit.
You hear the infamous take theleap and things of that nature
being where you are at now right, You've been in it for a few
years You're understanding moreof the ropes, making changes,
systems, things of that naturewhat's advice that you would
give for someone that might becontemplating entrepreneurship
(06:56):
or is maybe new to?
Speaker 2 (06:57):
the game.
So, number one I'm going to saythings the way they are.
You know it's not going to bean easy ride.
Number one I had I 20 plusyears of sales background and I
think sales is important becauseyou're always selling.
Number one marketing I had tolearn myself.
You know a lot of aboutmarketing, that's.
(07:18):
You know.
Marketing can be putting a postI mean you had.
There's a way of doing it thatpeople want to read about it
because it's going to beinteresting.
Um, it's a lot of um.
You have to stay positive.
Your mindset is basically 70percent of what the day is going
to look like.
So if you wake up in themorning and you're like I don't
(07:41):
see how I'm able to close onedeal or make a new connection,
your day is going to go bad.
I used to.
In my early days I used toalways look like you know it's
already 12 o'clock, I only havefive hours to work.
That's really too late.
Should I work?
Is it worth it?
What I changed the way I'mthinking today is more like.
(08:02):
You know it's 12 o'clock.
I've been on my desk since 7.30.
I spend X hours.
You know six hours already andI've connected with people and I
started also to celebrate notreally a celebration, but I
started to also um celebratingeven make it one connection,
like we're having today, thismeeting me and you.
(08:23):
This is something that I checkinto my you know daily task.
That's gonna get me closer tomy end goal.
My end goal is not to sell youanything, as you can tell people
that are listening and watchingus.
I haven't mentioned a wordabout why you should be doing a
business with me, and wementioned that before we started
recording.
It is on LinkedIn.
(08:45):
The goal is to network.
So a lot of time I would reachout to people that are following
me or they comment on my postand I'm like let's jump on a you
know 10 minute or you know 10minute five minutes um zoom
meeting just to get to know eachother.
I'm not going to sell youanything.
If you need financing, I willlet you know what I do but my
goal is and I've discovereddiscover so much about people
(09:10):
once you're on a Zoom meetingtogether, which a lot of time
ended up me being able to dosome introduction.
So three weeks ago which isvery funny I spoke to a
commercial real estate agentfrom Atlanta, georgia.
That same day in the afternoonI was talking to a new real
estate investor in Atlanta,georgia.
(09:35):
I'm like would you be happy tomake a connection with a
commercial agent and thecommercial agent would you be
happy to speak to an investorwhich is locally?
And they were both very happy.
And then the connection andwhatever happened happened.
So my point is a lot of times wedo not connect with people with
the mindset that you knowyou're looking to close a deal,
(09:56):
because if you have that mindsetyou're going to get burned very
easily, very quickly.
Of course you want to connectwith people that you know you
have something in common, so youknow you're in the real estate.
You know you.
As far as I think, I rememberyou do commercial leasing real
estate.
You deal with investors.
I deal with people that might belooking to purchase some
(10:17):
commercial real estate inMilwaukee.
This is where you are locatedand that's the goal.
I mean as of today.
You're not buying personal realestate.
You're not going to reach outto me and I'm not moving to
Milwaukee either.
I mean as of now, so there's noneed.
We're not going to do out to meand I'm not moving to milwaukee
either.
I mean as of now.
So there's no need.
We're not going to do businesstogether, but what we can do is
refer people to each other and Ithink this is the goal of
(10:37):
linkedin.
That's why I like it a lot andmy goal is to you know, be able
to have, you know, three, fourmeetings daily and then, the
main thing I will tell somebodyonce you have a meeting, put all
the information on on theM soyou have a summary.
So when I speak to you nexttime, I'm not going to be like
you know, fresh new conversation, I'm going to say you know,
(10:59):
last time you spoke to me, we'reabout to take you out to the
soccer game.
And how was it?
You know, whatever maybe theconversation, you just write a
small summary.
So it's going to be acontinuation of the first or
second or third conversation.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
I agree, and I think that level of thoughtfulness
goes a long ways and it alsoties into kind of you know what
you're saying is it's much moreof a relationship based journey
and I think you know, when youhear of sales from back in the
day, I think it was very muchlike push, you know, kind of
like you're shoveling youragenda and kind of stuffing it
(11:33):
Right and someone's supposed toaccept it, whereas now I think
it is much more relational andto me that's the interesting
part, right, instead of justshooting everything everywhere,
of really getting to know peopleand understanding what they do,
how they do it, what'shappening in life, maybe pivotal
(11:53):
moments of time, upcomingtravels, adventures, things of
that nature and I think sales isone large adventure and, if you
do like forming relationshipsand getting outside of your
comfort zone and learning andall these different things, it
can be a really rich andrewarding arena.
And, as you had mentionedearlier, with entrepreneurship
(12:16):
tied in with sales, it can bestressful, it can be lonely,
especially in the beginning andall those different things.
But now that you're settled in,what would you say helps you to
de-stress after these busy days?
Speaker 2 (12:31):
What helps me?
I mean, as I mentioned, I justlook back at my day and instead
of just looking like how manyquotes that I put together and
how many deals that I closedespecially in the real estate
environment, which 2024 is alittle bit rough year for all of
us rates went up.
I mean, last week I had fourclients that were looking to
refinance.
I put the best numbers that Iwas able to put together.
(12:53):
The numbers did not add upproperly and there's nothing I
could have done, and last yearwas a lot of those.
What I was looking at, I wasgoing through my CRM and I was
looking through it and I saw howmany deals I was involved did
not close, but how many deals Iwas involved last year which did
not close.
And it gave me a little comfort, basically to make me realize
(13:15):
that I am working.
I'm working very hard, you know.
I'm also very consistent.
That's my personality.
I'm very disciplined.
So I'm up at the same timeevery morning, you know, and
then by 7.30, my post goes outand I start doing whatever I'm
supposed to do and I go straightto 12 o'clock and then I think
you have to, not only being onLinkedIn just to see how many
(13:36):
sales you're going to make.
Because if you focus on salesonly and it's something that I
had to work on myself so Ireally can talk about it Like
before, when I worked in thecorporate world, I worked for a
family-owned business and thenfrom there I went to work for
Fortune 500.
Everything was quota.
What you're holding, if you'renot meeting quota next year,
next month, we're going to giveyou a warning letter.
(13:57):
And I realized with the stressthat was in that environment,
you cannot be productive Versuswhen you work for yourself.
As long as you're truthful toyourself, you get up in the
morning, you do work, you havesome kind of a schedule.
What I recommend is to do theimportant things from 7.30 till
12, which is where your head isthe most clear.
(14:18):
So this is where I'm going to bedoing, you know, connecting
with people, commenting, becausecommenting is very tiring, it's
not exciting.
I will tell people the processis not meant to be exciting.
So you get, keep excited.
You know, get yourself excitedis when you think and you
realize that this is part of thejourney and the process will
(14:39):
take you to where you want toget eventually.
That's what keeps me going,because, let's be be real,
commenting is not.
You know it's hard.
You got to read I try tocomment on, you know.
Let's say you know 60, 70 posts, posts, I reply, I reply.
I reply to everybody that putsa comment on my post.
So it's a lot of reading andyou cannot just say thumbs up
because you know whatever youput in, that's what you're going
(15:01):
to get back.
So if it comes up every timesomebody put a comment on your,
on your post.
You people are not going tohang around.
You know the goal of it is tostart a conversation.
That's the goal and I wouldtell people when you comment on
somebody's post, if you have aquestion, ask the question in
the comment and this is wherethe person is going to start
(15:23):
replying.
I did it this morning with alinkedin guru his name is
jasmine alec, I think so and Icommented.
The first thing in the morningwas like 7 am.
I saw my phone.
You know it comes up.
Don't think it comes up on myphone, it's the LinkedIn.
When the LinkedIn post comes upand I commented, he replied we
had like five, six, you know,basically back and forth, and
(15:46):
then other people that saw ustalking to each other, they put
some also some, some thumbs upetc.
So the goal is that just it'scommenting is fine.
Of course you know we're gonnahave a question you rather have.
You know, good question is justask a question, just to put a
question there.
But I think it's very importantto start a conversation in the
comments and hopefully morepeople get involved and this is
(16:06):
people.
You know people, people can seeyou as the expert you know.
For you would be commercial.
You know agents for a certainarea.
For me would be like debtfinancing, and others might be
other things as well.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Right, it creates almost like a mini forum within
the post itself and certainquestions to your point or
information really do gettraction and they take off.
So it builds an energy of itsown and it is kind of fun, to
your point, of seeing all rightyou started with this element
and where different people'squestions or comments shift it
(16:38):
to.
So it is a great way to learnand highlight expertise without
being salesy, right.
So it's sharing those stories,as you do, and I also enjoy
seeing people's stories of howthey help people and where they
started, the steps that theytook and the end result, and I
think that's very meaningfulalso because people that might
(16:59):
be new to LinkedIn it also helpsthem to see there's a format
and a pattern and a rhythm,because, as the old adage,
success leaves clues.
It does, and I would say, asuperpower is definitely
discipline and consistency, andthat's something I have in
common with you too of withoutit, I just don't know how people
(17:20):
are ever going to get wherethey want to, and I, when I
reflect back into my own life inthe earlier years, I was not
consistent and I wasn'tdisciplined.
So it makes sense.
So it's like, oh, thankgoodness.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Yeah, I think when I was working for larger companies
.
The problem is, even if you'reconsistent but you have so much
stress in your head because yourmanager wants to see your
numbers, it's all numbersoriented, like.
One thing which I didn't likeabout working those places is
you come on time in the morning,they don't really care.
You leave after everybodybecause you work, you make the
most phone calls, they don'tcare.
(17:54):
It's all about number.
I'm like you know, I didn'tfeel like it was a very fair
environment, so that's why I'mhappy where I am and I can me
wrong.
It's.
You know, in some ways I haveother stress because you're
relying on you making sales inorder to make some income.
Um, I'm personally with, withmy sales background and my
personality, I do know how toconnect and something that I
(18:17):
have, whether I was born with itor whatever, developed that
much later.
Then I may be able to connectwith people that I never met
before and have a greatconversation and at the end of
the conversation we feel like,you know, we can pretty much we
can be friends even if we don'tdo business together.
So that's what I, you know, andI think also LinkedIn people
not to realize it's not going tobe an overnight.
(18:37):
You know become.
You know become wealthy orcreate.
You know a become.
You know become wealthy orcreate, you know, a 10,000
network around you.
You know, overnight it's goingto take time, it's going to.
You have to prove yourself andyou know, just celebrate Bless.
You Celebrate small things.
You know I made five newconnections today.
I sent out you know X amount of,you know, dms.
(19:01):
And one thing that I postedyesterday which didn't have too
many reaction, but I figure itwas a super bowl and sundays.
You know gary v is saying tosomebody was trying, somebody
was trying to get in touch withinvestors to get some you know
funds basically, and gary toldthem, like how many dms you sent
out per day?
The guy says 25.
So guy replies 25, it's notgoing to get you anywhere.
(19:24):
You know, send out 70, 60, 80.
He mentioned 100.
It's also another thing thattakes very, you know, a lot of
time.
What I do.
I have templates that I alreadypre, you know, put together on
the word documents.
So I have a first message, asecond message, what if they don
, what if they reply, and so onand so forth.
But it takes time, it's notautomated and it takes a lot of
(19:47):
time.
You have to, you know, and it'snot fun at all.
You just have to keep on doingit.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
But I think at the same time, you know kudos to you
, because we've all had thatwhere you connect with someone
and then suddenly you get thislaundry list type of text back
and it's like, oh, you know, I'mlike how did I fall for that
one?
And it's just like you wantnothing to do with it after that
, because it's a big turnoff.
And I agree with you completelyof building the relationships,
(20:15):
and it takes time and and thatit is gratifying for that reason
too.
But as we wrap this up, Levi,you've got your pros and cons
right of social media.
What, to you, does living fullymean?
What is that fuel within youthat keeps you being disciplined
(20:36):
and consistent in helping allyour great clients?
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Number one I like helping people.
I mean when I close a, when Ifinance a deal whether it's a
single family, four units, youknow, 20, 40 units I like to go
through the process.
It's very fulfilling when youhelp somebody who came, whether
they have experience or noexperience.
They came up to me, which meansthat they have some kind of
(21:01):
trust whether it's from LinkedIn, from other places, referrals
and they pretty much feelcomfortable doing business with
me.
And when I take those peoplefrom point A all the way to
point Z, there's a satisfactionabout closing a deal.
I feel like I'm part of theteam that closed the deal
together with them.
(21:23):
Right, right, the way I work isthree people involved in the
transaction is myself a borrowerand the wholesaler that I work
with who underwrites my deals.
So what happens when threepeople are involved is less a
chance for things to fallthrough the cracks.
So if something goes wrong, I'mthe only one that can look in
the mirror and say you know,there was a mess up, I have to
fix it, instead of only one thatcan look in the mirror and say
(21:46):
you know, there was a mess up, Ihave, I have to fix it, instead
of waiting for other people.
You know, this guy went onvacation, this lady's not
feeling well, this man is onhospital, which I had that in
the past when I was working forlarger companies.
So I like that much, very much.
Um, I'm, I, I feel that I haveit with, you know, within me to
succeed.
Uh, not that I'm better thananybody else, but I feel like
you know, I work me to succeed.
Not that I'm better thananybody else, but I feel like,
you know, I'm working very hard.
I have the sales background andI believe in myself as well.
(22:10):
I like my product.
I love closing a deal,financing a property, and you
know there's a big satisfactionto that and I think that's what
keeps me going.
And besides work, I mean I havea family.
I tried to take care of myself.
We spoke, you know I'm notgonna have time.
We spoke about, you know,running also.
So you right about running,which I've been slacking then
lately because of the cold.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Well, if you need a plan, you know who to reach out
to happy to help.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Thank, you, thank you very much and that's what keeps
me going every day.
I mean, in the 2024 was the oneof my worst year and every day
you know I was very consistent7.30,.
I had my post going out,connecting, commenting, and
hopefully the goal is forwhatever seeds that I plant in
(22:56):
2024 should see the.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
I know I should see the fruit of my labor in 2025.
And I have no doubt that youwill so with the great attitude
and the discipline and theconsistency I know you'll hit
that goal.
So yes, levi, thank you so muchfor joining me today.
Please share.
How can people best connectwith you?
Speaker 2 (23:14):
And other ways.
I mean LinkedIn has all myinformation, my phone number, my
email address, you know.
Look up Levi Bloom,l-e-v-i-b-l-u-m.
You can look me up if you reachout to me.
If you have a question aboutfinancing, I'm not pushy, I'm
(23:34):
not going to force you to dobusiness with me.
If you're looking for a quote, Ican give you a quote on a
smaller project.
I can give you a quote in fiveminutes.
You know one to four units veryquickly.
So you have an idea, kind offinal quote, of course, but you
have an idea.
Like my monthly payment will be$3,000.
I'm making an offer for Xamount.
So and then, if you're talkingabout larger project, which I
(23:55):
work with agencies, that willtake a little more time than
just you know five minutes.
But look out, you know, look meup on LinkedIn.
Reach out to me, even if youhave a question.
I don't mind answering question.
Even if you don't haveexperience, I don't mind
educating you a little bit.
So feel free to reach out,connect with me and looking
forward to be out there onLinkedIn and connect with more
(24:16):
people.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Perfect.
Well, Levi, thank you again forjoining me.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
My pleasure.
Thank you for inviting me.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
You bet Bye-bye.
Heather Ewing.
Welcome to Heather Ewing, theCRE Rundown.
I am your host, heather Ewing,and today, from beautiful
Brooklyn, new York, I have noneother than Levi Bloom.
He is a commercial real estatedebt expert.
Levi, welcome Levi.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Bloom.
Hi, good morning Heather.
Thank you very much for havingme.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Heather Ewing.
Definitely, it's my pleasure.
So let's get into the backstory.
We've connected throughLinkedIn and share a little bit
more with my audience of how yougot into lending.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Great question.
I started many years ago 20plus years ago working in sales.
I like the idea of doing salesbecause it's basically
connecting with people uh,people you never met before,
like me and you, we never met,we didn't go to school together
and um and connecting withpeople, getting to know sorry,
(00:56):
getting to know what people doyou know, business, how they got
started that's something that Ilike very much.
Networking I like that verymuch as well.
As you know, I'm very active onLinkedIn and I did it.
I started in the technologyindustry also started in 2003,
2002, as working for a companythat was leasing office
(01:17):
equipment to businesses.
This is a very hard sell.
I don't recommend that toanyone.
I mean, and eventually thatindustry became very, you know,
commodities-based.
Nobody really cares what kindof brand.
You can show off your watch orcar and they sit at a barbecue
and show off their copier.
(01:38):
You know, have a Canon, youhave a Xerox, you know it's
pretty much the same as long asthey do the same thing Pass
paper from the first one side tothe other side.
Eventually, that industryturned into IT services and
document management.
I was in it for 18, 19 yearsand I was dying to get out of it
.
A year and a half before COVID,somebody introduced me to debt
(02:00):
financing.
And they're like you don't haveto quit your day job, you can
do that on the side.
I was working for a very tinycompany one person, you know one
, there was two people in thecompany.
Um, I learned a lot aboutfinancing and I was happy to be
able to, at five o'clock goingto other networking meetings,
since I was trying to get out ofthat industry to talk about,
(02:21):
you know, financing.
And then what happened is whenyou talk to a cfo or an investor
to get access to financing,even if you're not in the
business today to get financing,everybody listens to you,
they'll give you five minutes,versus when I used to talk to
people about it services, mostpeople were like you know, you
have to talk to my it person.
I have no idea what.
You know, I'm relying to one,one person.
(02:42):
Right?
I felt like you know, I wasvery tempted to, you know, to do
that full time.
But you know I have a family, Ihave a wife and five children,
so you can just quit your job.
And then covid came, arrived,came whatever was sent to us,
whatever, and everything closeddown, especially in new york
city, and I'm like.
This is basically a messagethat I have to.
(03:05):
You know, I might as well getstarted on my own business
instead of just sitting aroundand, unfortunately, listen to.
You know a lot of bad news andyou know we lost a lot of people
during covid.
It was a chaos, especially innew york, um, so I opened up an
llc, um, as you can see, I'm not20 years old, I'm, you know, 50
years old.
So I had to learn how to usesocial media properly.
(03:26):
I used linkedin before, but Ihad no clue how to use it.
So this is a message that Iwant to pass on.
Also.
You know, those uh tools, likeyou know, linkedin and other
social media do work to you know, to connect with people and
maybe to, um, you know, to getyour name out there, um, but
there's a way of doing it that'sgoing to work and there's
(03:46):
another way of doing it that'snot going to work.
So I had to take a coupleclasses and I had the time, you
know, fortunately, kobe, we're,all you know, indoors and I took
a couple classes.
I learned how to do posting, howto post, what to post about.
You know, uh, how to connectwith people, how to get to
connection to maybe aconversation on a DM and then
the goal is to finish on a Zoommeeting.
(04:08):
It's not going to work all thetime, but the goal is basically
post a lot.
So you create a name out there.
So people I'm going to reachout to you, connect to you and
you're going to say who's thisguy, levi Bloom.
They're going to Google my nameon LinkedIn and they're going
to see that I'm very activeevery day, monday through Friday
, most of the weeks I am posting, and they're going to see that
(04:29):
my posts are usually betweenreal estate, investment,
financing and entrepreneur.
Well, entrepreneur is a very,not easy job, you know.
If you want to become anentrepreneur, to think that you
can actually, you know, go onvacation and let your 10 workers
work for you.
That's not the way mostsuccessful, successful people
(04:50):
started.
The first few years you got towork very hard.
It's you and yourself only, soit's very lonely sometimes and
then when you go through a toughtime, it's you and the walls
and yourself.
And I think and I made a lot ofgood connection on LinkedIn
people that I follow they areyou know that I keep in touch
with and they, you know, theygive you people.
(05:10):
You know they're there a lot oftimes to give you a boost and
you know, and help you to stay,you know, above ground when
things are shaky.
Right, I have two people that Ifollow, mostly, like you know,
real estate investors.
So you have to be very focusedwho you want to connect with.
I didn't connect with myneighbors or the person that I
went to school with.
I connected mainly with realestate investors all over the
(05:33):
country New York, I'm in America, sorry and then I do follow a
few people.
There are some LinkedIn gurusand I take a lot of tips from
them.
And here we are and that's howme and you connected it and
we're friends now.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Exactly.
Well, I think that's a neatthing too, Kind of like we were
talking about a little bitbefore.
Linkedin is such.
It's like the emporium right ofall these different asset
classes, different career arenas, synergistic opportunities, and
it's a really nice way to learnabout people, to start
connecting, and that's also withthe podcast that I love having
(06:12):
this, because you get to havethose conversations and really
understand what does each persontruly do and how can you best
help them, and also how can youhelp your clients by connecting
them.
You know, whether it's yourselfor other people that I've met
through LinkedIn, that it's aterrific resource.
And you had mentioned alsoabout entrepreneurship and I
(06:35):
think there's such a buzz aboutit.
You hear the infamous take theleap and things of that nature
being where you are at now right, You've been in it for a few
years You're understanding moreof the ropes, making changes,
systems, things of that naturewhat's advice that you would
give for someone that might becontemplating entrepreneurship
(06:56):
or is maybe new to?
Speaker 2 (06:57):
the game.
So, number one I'm going to saythings the way they are.
You know it's not going to bean easy ride.
Number one I had I 20 plusyears of sales background and I
think sales is important becauseyou're always selling.
Number one marketing I had tolearn myself.
You know a lot of aboutmarketing, that's.
(07:18):
You know.
Marketing can be putting a postI mean you had.
There's a way of doing it thatpeople want to read about it
because it's going to beinteresting.
Um, it's a lot of um.
You have to stay positive.
Your mindset is basically 70percent of what the day is going
to look like.
So if you wake up in themorning and you're like I don't
(07:41):
see how I'm able to close onedeal or make a new connection,
your day is going to go bad.
I used to.
In my early days I used toalways look like you know it's
already 12 o'clock, I only havefive hours to work.
That's really too late.
Should I work?
Is it worth it?
What I changed the way I'mthinking today is more like.
(08:02):
You know it's 12 o'clock.
I've been on my desk since 7.30.
I spend X hours.
You know six hours already andI've connected with people and I
started also to celebrate notreally a celebration, but I
started to also um celebratingeven make it one connection,
like we're having today, thismeeting me and you.
(08:23):
This is something that I checkinto my you know daily task.
That's gonna get me closer tomy end goal.
My end goal is not to sell youanything, as you can tell people
that are listening and watchingus.
I haven't mentioned a wordabout why you should be doing a
business with me, and wementioned that before we started
recording.
It is on LinkedIn.
(08:45):
The goal is to network.
So a lot of time I would reachout to people that are following
me or they comment on my postand I'm like let's jump on a you
know 10 minute or you know 10minute five minutes um zoom
meeting just to get to know eachother.
I'm not going to sell youanything.
If you need financing, I willlet you know what I do but my
goal is and I've discovereddiscover so much about people
(09:10):
once you're on a Zoom meetingtogether, which a lot of time
ended up me being able to dosome introduction.
So three weeks ago which isvery funny I spoke to a
commercial real estate agentfrom Atlanta, georgia.
That same day in the afternoonI was talking to a new real
estate investor in Atlanta,georgia.
(09:35):
I'm like would you be happy tomake a connection with a
commercial agent and thecommercial agent would you be
happy to speak to an investorwhich is locally?
And they were both very happy.
And then the connection andwhatever happened happened.
So my point is a lot of times wedo not connect with people with
the mindset that you knowyou're looking to close a deal,
(09:56):
because if you have that mindsetyou're going to get burned very
easily, very quickly.
Of course you want to connectwith people that you know you
have something in common, so youknow you're in the real estate.
You know you.
As far as I think, I rememberyou do commercial leasing real
estate.
You deal with investors.
I deal with people that might belooking to purchase some
(10:17):
commercial real estate inMilwaukee.
This is where you are locatedand that's the goal.
I mean as of today.
You're not buying personal realestate.
You're not going to reach outto me and I'm not moving to
Milwaukee either.
I mean as of now, so there's noneed.
We're not going to do out to meand I'm not moving to milwaukee
either.
I mean as of now.
So there's no need.
We're not going to do businesstogether, but what we can do is
refer people to each other and Ithink this is the goal of
(10:37):
linkedin.
That's why I like it a lot andmy goal is to you know, be able
to have, you know, three, fourmeetings daily and then, the
main thing I will tell somebodyonce you have a meeting, put all
the information on on theM soyou have a summary.
So when I speak to you nexttime, I'm not going to be like
you know, fresh new conversation, I'm going to say you know,
(10:59):
last time you spoke to me, we'reabout to take you out to the
soccer game.
And how was it?
You know, whatever maybe theconversation, you just write a
small summary.
So it's going to be acontinuation of the first or
second or third conversation.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
I agree, and I think that level of thoughtfulness
goes a long ways and it alsoties into kind of you know what
you're saying is it's much moreof a relationship based journey
and I think you know, when youhear of sales from back in the
day, I think it was very muchlike push, you know, kind of
like you're shoveling youragenda and kind of stuffing it
(11:33):
Right and someone's supposed toaccept it, whereas now I think
it is much more relational andto me that's the interesting
part, right, instead of justshooting everything everywhere,
of really getting to know peopleand understanding what they do,
how they do it, what'shappening in life, maybe pivotal
(11:53):
moments of time, upcomingtravels, adventures, things of
that nature and I think sales isone large adventure and, if you
do like forming relationshipsand getting outside of your
comfort zone and learning andall these different things, it
can be a really rich andrewarding arena.
And, as you had mentionedearlier, with entrepreneurship
(12:16):
tied in with sales, it can bestressful, it can be lonely,
especially in the beginning andall those different things.
But now that you're settled in,what would you say helps you to
de-stress after these busy days?
Speaker 2 (12:31):
What helps me?
I mean, as I mentioned, I justlook back at my day and instead
of just looking like how manyquotes that I put together and
how many deals that I closedespecially in the real estate
environment, which 2024 is alittle bit rough year for all of
us rates went up.
I mean, last week I had fourclients that were looking to
refinance.
I put the best numbers that Iwas able to put together.
(12:53):
The numbers did not add upproperly and there's nothing I
could have done, and last yearwas a lot of those.
What I was looking at, I wasgoing through my CRM and I was
looking through it and I saw howmany deals I was involved did
not close, but how many deals Iwas involved last year which did
not close.
And it gave me a little comfort, basically to make me realize
(13:15):
that I am working.
I'm working very hard, you know.
I'm also very consistent.
That's my personality.
I'm very disciplined.
So I'm up at the same timeevery morning, you know, and
then by 7.30, my post goes outand I start doing whatever I'm
supposed to do and I go straightto 12 o'clock and then I think
you have to, not only being onLinkedIn just to see how many
(13:36):
sales you're going to make.
Because if you focus on salesonly and it's something that I
had to work on myself so Ireally can talk about it Like
before, when I worked in thecorporate world, I worked for a
family-owned business and thenfrom there I went to work for
Fortune 500.
Everything was quota.
What you're holding, if you'renot meeting quota next year,
next month, we're going to giveyou a warning letter.
(13:57):
And I realized with the stressthat was in that environment,
you cannot be productive Versuswhen you work for yourself.
As long as you're truthful toyourself, you get up in the
morning, you do work, you havesome kind of a schedule.
What I recommend is to do theimportant things from 7.30 till
12, which is where your head isthe most clear.
(14:18):
So this is where I'm going to bedoing, you know, connecting
with people, commenting, becausecommenting is very tiring, it's
not exciting.
I will tell people the processis not meant to be exciting.
So you get, keep excited.
You know, get yourself excitedis when you think and you
realize that this is part of thejourney and the process will
(14:39):
take you to where you want toget eventually.
That's what keeps me going,because, let's be be real,
commenting is not.
You know it's hard.
You got to read I try tocomment on, you know.
Let's say you know 60, 70 posts, posts, I reply, I reply.
I reply to everybody that putsa comment on my post.
So it's a lot of reading andyou cannot just say thumbs up
because you know whatever youput in, that's what you're going
(15:01):
to get back.
So if it comes up every timesomebody put a comment on your,
on your post.
You people are not going tohang around.
You know the goal of it is tostart a conversation.
That's the goal and I wouldtell people when you comment on
somebody's post, if you have aquestion, ask the question in
the comment and this is wherethe person is going to start
(15:23):
replying.
I did it this morning with alinkedin guru his name is
jasmine alec, I think so and Icommented.
The first thing in the morningwas like 7 am.
I saw my phone.
You know it comes up.
Don't think it comes up on myphone, it's the LinkedIn.
When the LinkedIn post comes upand I commented, he replied we
had like five, six, you know,basically back and forth, and
(15:46):
then other people that saw ustalking to each other, they put
some also some, some thumbs upetc.
So the goal is that just it'scommenting is fine.
Of course you know we're gonnahave a question you rather have.
You know, good question is justask a question, just to put a
question there.
But I think it's very importantto start a conversation in the
comments and hopefully morepeople get involved and this is
(16:06):
people.
You know people, people can seeyou as the expert you know.
For you would be commercial.
You know agents for a certainarea.
For me would be like debtfinancing, and others might be
other things as well.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Right, it creates almost like a mini forum within
the post itself and certainquestions to your point or
information really do gettraction and they take off.
So it builds an energy of itsown and it is kind of fun, to
your point, of seeing all rightyou started with this element
and where different people'squestions or comments shift it
(16:38):
to.
So it is a great way to learnand highlight expertise without
being salesy, right.
So it's sharing those stories,as you do, and I also enjoy
seeing people's stories of howthey help people and where they
started, the steps that theytook and the end result, and I
think that's very meaningfulalso because people that might
(16:59):
be new to LinkedIn it also helpsthem to see there's a format
and a pattern and a rhythm,because, as the old adage,
success leaves clues.
It does, and I would say, asuperpower is definitely
discipline and consistency, andthat's something I have in
common with you too of withoutit, I just don't know how people
(17:20):
are ever going to get wherethey want to, and I, when I
reflect back into my own life inthe earlier years, I was not
consistent and I wasn'tdisciplined.
So it makes sense.
So it's like, oh, thankgoodness.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Yeah, I think when I was working for larger companies
.
The problem is, even if you'reconsistent but you have so much
stress in your head because yourmanager wants to see your
numbers, it's all numbersoriented, like.
One thing which I didn't likeabout working those places is
you come on time in the morning,they don't really care.
You leave after everybodybecause you work, you make the
most phone calls, they don'tcare.
(17:54):
It's all about number.
I'm like you know, I didn'tfeel like it was a very fair
environment, so that's why I'mhappy where I am and I can me
wrong.
It's.
You know, in some ways I haveother stress because you're
relying on you making sales inorder to make some income.
Um, I'm personally with, withmy sales background and my
personality, I do know how toconnect and something that I
(18:17):
have, whether I was born with itor whatever, developed that
much later.
Then I may be able to connectwith people that I never met
before and have a greatconversation and at the end of
the conversation we feel like,you know, we can pretty much we
can be friends even if we don'tdo business together.
So that's what I, you know, andI think also LinkedIn people
not to realize it's not going tobe an overnight.
(18:37):
You know become.
You know become wealthy orcreate.
You know a become.
You know become wealthy orcreate, you know, a 10,000
network around you.
You know, overnight it's goingto take time, it's going to.
You have to prove yourself andyou know, just celebrate Bless.
You Celebrate small things.
You know I made five newconnections today.
I sent out you know X amount of,you know, dms.
(19:01):
And one thing that I postedyesterday which didn't have too
many reaction, but I figure itwas a super bowl and sundays.
You know gary v is saying tosomebody was trying, somebody
was trying to get in touch withinvestors to get some you know
funds basically, and gary toldthem, like how many dms you sent
out per day?
The guy says 25.
So guy replies 25, it's notgoing to get you anywhere.
(19:24):
You know, send out 70, 60, 80.
He mentioned 100.
It's also another thing thattakes very, you know, a lot of
time.
What I do.
I have templates that I alreadypre, you know, put together on
the word documents.
So I have a first message, asecond message, what if they don
, what if they reply, and so onand so forth.
But it takes time, it's notautomated and it takes a lot of
(19:47):
time.
You have to, you know, and it'snot fun at all.
You just have to keep on doingit.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
But I think at the same time, you know kudos to you
, because we've all had thatwhere you connect with someone
and then suddenly you get thislaundry list type of text back
and it's like, oh, you know, I'mlike how did I fall for that
one?
And it's just like you wantnothing to do with it after that
, because it's a big turnoff.
And I agree with you completelyof building the relationships,
(20:15):
and it takes time and and thatit is gratifying for that reason
too.
But as we wrap this up, Levi,you've got your pros and cons
right of social media.
What, to you, does living fullymean?
What is that fuel within youthat keeps you being disciplined
(20:36):
and consistent in helping allyour great clients?
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Number one I like helping people.
I mean when I close a, when Ifinance a deal whether it's a
single family, four units, youknow, 20, 40 units I like to go
through the process.
It's very fulfilling when youhelp somebody who came, whether
they have experience or noexperience.
They came up to me, which meansthat they have some kind of
(21:01):
trust whether it's from LinkedIn, from other places, referrals
and they pretty much feelcomfortable doing business with
me.
And when I take those peoplefrom point A all the way to
point Z, there's a satisfactionabout closing a deal.
I feel like I'm part of theteam that closed the deal
together with them.
(21:23):
Right, right, the way I work isthree people involved in the
transaction is myself a borrowerand the wholesaler that I work
with who underwrites my deals.
So what happens when threepeople are involved is less a
chance for things to fallthrough the cracks.
So if something goes wrong, I'mthe only one that can look in
the mirror and say you know,there was a mess up, I have to
fix it, instead of only one thatcan look in the mirror and say
(21:46):
you know, there was a mess up, Ihave, I have to fix it, instead
of waiting for other people.
You know, this guy went onvacation, this lady's not
feeling well, this man is onhospital, which I had that in
the past when I was working forlarger companies.
So I like that much, very much.
Um, I'm, I, I feel that I haveit with, you know, within me to
succeed.
Uh, not that I'm better thananybody else, but I feel like
you know, I work me to succeed.
Not that I'm better thananybody else, but I feel like,
you know, I'm working very hard.
I have the sales background andI believe in myself as well.
(22:10):
I like my product.
I love closing a deal,financing a property, and you
know there's a big satisfactionto that and I think that's what
keeps me going.
And besides work, I mean I havea family.
I tried to take care of myself.
We spoke, you know I'm notgonna have time.
We spoke about, you know,running also.
So you right about running,which I've been slacking then
lately because of the cold.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Well, if you need a plan, you know who to reach out
to happy to help.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Thank, you, thank you very much and that's what keeps
me going every day.
I mean, in the 2024 was the oneof my worst year and every day
you know I was very consistent7.30,.
I had my post going out,connecting, commenting, and
hopefully the goal is forwhatever seeds that I plant in
(22:56):
2024 should see the.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
I know I should see the fruit of my labor in 2025.
And I have no doubt that youwill so with the great attitude
and the discipline and theconsistency I know you'll hit
that goal.
So yes, levi, thank you so muchfor joining me today.
Please share.
How can people best connectwith you?
Speaker 2 (23:14):
And other ways.
I mean LinkedIn has all myinformation, my phone number, my
email address, you know.
Look up Levi Bloom,l-e-v-i-b-l-u-m.
You can look me up if you reachout to me.
If you have a question aboutfinancing, I'm not pushy, I'm
(23:34):
not going to force you to dobusiness with me.
If you're looking for a quote, Ican give you a quote on a
smaller project.
I can give you a quote in fiveminutes.
You know one to four units veryquickly.
So you have an idea, kind offinal quote, of course, but you
have an idea.
Like my monthly payment will be$3,000.
I'm making an offer for Xamount.
So and then, if you're talkingabout larger project, which I
(23:55):
work with agencies, that willtake a little more time than
just you know five minutes.
But look out, you know, look meup on LinkedIn.
Reach out to me, even if youhave a question.
I don't mind answering question.
Even if you don't haveexperience, I don't mind
educating you a little bit.
So feel free to reach out,connect with me and looking
forward to be out there onLinkedIn and connect with more
(24:16):
people.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Perfect.
Well, Levi, thank you again forjoining me.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
My pleasure.
Thank you for inviting me.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
You bet Bye-bye.
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