May 30, 2024 • 35 mins
What if you could transform your career from nightlife to strategic entrepreneurship? Join us as we uncover the journey of Ace Pacheco, a former VIP host at Wynn Nightlife who leveraged his industry connections to build a thriving business empire. Ace shares the pivotal moments that allowed him to cross the bridge from the glitz of Vegas nightlife to earning respect in the world of high-end investments and finance. Learn how Ace's innate people skills and relentless determination helped him overcome the challenges of reinventing himself and gaining mentorship from influential leaders.
In a city known for its vices, Ace reveals his blueprint for success in the subprime personal loan sector and the high-end luxury goods market. Discover how innovative marketing strategies, such as Google ads and street-level promotions, played a crucial role in attracting customers to his finance business. Ace also provides valuable insights into the investment potential of luxury watches and designer items, shedding light on post-COVID market trends and the profitability of such ventures. This episode offers a rich tapestry of strategies for navigating multiple business landscapes in dynamic industries.
But there's more to Ace's story than just business. We explore the shifting nightlife scene in Vegas, where high-end dining experiences are giving traditional nightclubs a run for their money. Dive into Ace's perspective on the evolving entertainment hub, the rise of sports teams, and the importance of a strong hospitality team. Lastly, Ace opens up about balancing business with family life, emphasizing the importance of mentorship, financial knowledge, and family values. With an open-door policy for those seeking advice, Ace's journey is both inspiring and filled with practical wisdom. Tune in now for a compelling conversation that blends strategic insights with heartfelt advice.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Welcome to Vegas Circle Podcast with your hosts,
Paki and Chris.
We are people who arepassionate about business,
success and culture, and this isour platform to showcase people
in our city who make it happen.
On today's podcast, we're goingto be exploring the journey of
breaking free from the nightlifeindustry to pursue strategic
investments and cultivating athriving family life.
Welcome to the CircleEntrepreneur Investor, Ace
(00:32):
Pachico.
I've got to say it, the rightway.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Thank you guys for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
I really appreciate it.
This is long overdue, man, longoverdue.
We connected probably I don'teven know what three or four
years ago now, at least right.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Where was the connection?
Was it through Blake, wayne orVaughn?
Yeah, 100% Blake.
I think it was Blake.
It was Blake, I think, when youwere working at Wynn Nightlife
and then through that, obviouslyknowing a lot of the same
people, jay Sean, natalia, a lotof the same people that we know
.
Peter Cross.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
But man am you know the success I have, the position
I'm in and thankful to be herewith you guys and you know I'm a
big fan of the show.
Obviously I've seen Jay Seanand Natalia and Peter's episode.
And these guys are people Ilook up to, as well as my
friends, so I was excited to behere.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
You know, one of the things that I saw that I was
reading about you 40 under 40night life professional.
Back back in the day I thinkthey wrote an article on you and
I love the statement that youhad.
You were talking about don'tlet anybody outwork you and I
feel like that's what you'vereally set your template and
your foundation of beinginvolved in so many different
fields right and building yournetwork.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
But let's just talk about kind of like your
transition from the nightlifeindustry to entrepreneurship and
what that's been all about andwhy you did that, in my opinion,
when you're working in Vegasnightlife and you're a host
cocktail waitress, whatever itmay be, I mean you have access
to just the titans of industrythat come to this city weekend
(01:52):
after weekend, especiallyworking at the one in Encore.
I mean, that's just the who'swho that gets to stay there.
And you know, something thathas always resonated with me has
been your network is reallyyour net worth.
So I've tried as much as Icould just to cultivate as many
relationships with all thesedifferent people who are
successful in differentbusinesses, and I looked up to
every one of them and a lot ofpeople that work in nightlife.
You know, it's almost like whenyou work in the restaurant
(02:14):
business you make such greatmoney, it's like all right,
what's the next step?
And you make a great living herein Vegas being a nightlife host
, being a cocktail waitress, butwhat is that next step?
And there really isn't a seguewhen you're working in nightlife
to become a casino executive, acasino host, a convention
services director, whatever itmay be, that's it.
You're working in nightlife andthat's the box you're in, and I
always just refused to acceptthe circumstances that that was
(02:37):
going to be my it.
I was never just going to bejust a nightlife host, and I
networked, I used a lot of therelationships I had and took a
lot of business advice.
And here I am today where Ihave my hands in many different
things and I'm able to, you know, have the life I have now and
support the family that I haveand provide for them.
Ultimately, that's what's mostimportant.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Yeah, we had a couple of different people on that
were in similar situations.
Right that they did thistransition from being in the
nightlife to entrepreneurship.
All of them, I think, have thesame kind of mindset the fact
that you are in this networkinghub.
Do you think that networkingpart of your personality has
always been there, or do youhave to develop that in the
nightlife scene?
I think you either have it oryou don't.
Yeah, me and Paki talk aboutthat a lot because he has it.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
I don't.
I don't think that's somethingthat is, you just have it, and
someone that I always looked upto that was a past guest of this
podcast was Jay Sean.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
He's the best I've ever seen.
I told you that with my faceand when.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
I started working at Win Nightlife Jay Sean was it.
You know what I mean.
So I followed his footsteps.
I looked at what he did.
I looked at what Natalia did.
A lot of these people therewere a lot of big hosts in the
city that paved the way for guyslike me to come up and be here.
It's something that you have tobe a people person.
I think you got to have thosestreet smarts.
(03:51):
You have to be able to walkinto a room and recognize who
the influences are, who thetastemakers are, and organically
create a rapport with thatperson.
Anybody can just walk up tosomebody.
I'm Andrew, I work at the Wind.
Here's my business card.
How do you really make thatconnection?
And that's something you eitherhave or you don't.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
And as you're kind of making that transition because
you're developing theserelationships but now you're
deciding I want to branch off, Iwant to be an entrepreneur.
These are people that aremeeting you in different
environments.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
It's a fun environment.
Now you're like, hey, can youhelp me with some business
advice?
Can you mentor me?
Or can you provide me someguidance like how do you make
that shift?
You know that's a challenge.
Yeah, how do you have abillionaire, you know, investor
from god knows where?
Look at you as not just anightlife vip host this isn't
just the guy that I can call.
I need a dinner reservation or anightclub reservation to go see
chain smokers at xs.
That's something that I thinkyou have to cater to each and
every individual relationshipand you just got to nonstop keep
(04:50):
banging on that door until theyopen it for you.
You have to, that's true,because they're not going to
give it to you.
No one's going to give it toyou.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
And you kind of transitioned, at least with your
background, with nightlife,right.
So you transitioned from Wynnto Zouk and I think that's what
you took care of me one timeover at Zoo and then
transitioned to Fountain Blueand all of that.
When did you like fully, youknow, laser focus and say, okay,
this is really what I want todo?
Like I want to get in thebusiness for myself.
Like when did you make thatdecision?
Was it during a period whereyou just you know what I mean.
(05:19):
Just kept adding.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
I think really what happened was COVID, you know.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
I think when COVID happened.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
I think that just readjusted everybody's vision
and perspective Like all right,what am I doing?
What's next?
And the whole city shut down.
There was nothing going on andit got to a point where I was
just very, very successful witheverything I accomplished at the
win, everything I remember,like yesterday, I wrote down
everything that I wanted to doand I accomplished that, and it
(05:48):
got to a point where thatpassion just wasn't't there
anymore.
It's like that challenge wasn'tthere.
I'm extremely competitive person, extremely competitive, and you
know, as a nightlife host, youwant to get the biggest client
in every night.
You want to get the biggestspend we get paid based on our
sales.
Of course you want to, you know, have the highest sales and you
know when that passion is gone.
You've done all that already.
It's like, alright, what's next?
And that's what led me to gointo resorts world.
I was very close to ron and um.
(06:10):
I had an opportunity to run avip team from there and kind of
you know, teach a group of vipos, kind of what I was able to do
as an individual at the win.
You know we were successfulthere.
We had some nights where it wasreally through some great
parties and you know we own thecity on a lot of different
nights, with Travis Scott, withPost Malone, with Tiesto.
But from there it was like allright, my family's coming
(06:33):
together, my sons are growing.
I need to be there for them.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
And being a businessman, being an
entrepreneur, obviously givesyou that lifestyle where you can
not be at the club until 3 amevery night and wake up at 7 am
and take my son to school, andthat's that's where I'm at and
it gets all, it gets whole fast,I don't know waking up, getting
the three, two or three hours.
Yeah, sleep all the time I'm inbed every night at 8, 39
o'clock oh wow, okay, that's notlike Chris.
(06:59):
Yeah, it's not like Chris.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
DJ's like go on till 1 1 30.
You know now, every night I'min bed by 8, 30, 9 o'clock, like
that.
I wake up every morning 6, 30,7 am, bring my son to school and
go on about my day.
I need to learn that.
I still go to bed late as best,you still wake up early.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Yeah, I still have no sleep.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
So let's talk about kind of you know some of the
companies you've invested inRight.
So one of them is the privateaccess.
Cash Right says cash right,yeah.
So can you kind of talk aboutwhat you do with that setup is
for loans and things along thoselines, right Titles and things
like that.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
So I'm working at the wind.
I was, fortunate to you know,meet someone as an individual,
become a mentor to me.
He's a business partner of mine.
He was a very big gambler atthe wind and he was it.
He took me under his wing andkind of showed me the ropes.
And again back to COVID.
I had a lot of goodconversations with him hey,
what's next?
What am I going to do?
And he was actually involved inthat business, in the personal
(07:51):
loan business in Texas, and wejust started talking.
I think there was a businessfor sale here in Las Vegas and I
wanted to potentially buy itand he gave me the advice,
helped me go in that directionand we started Private Access
Cash and it's a personal loanbusiness.
Obviously it's subprime lending, it's high interest rates.
What I'm trying to do is kindof create a business where it
(08:12):
doesn't have that stigma, whereyou walk in and get a payday
loan.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
It's low interest rate.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
It's discreet, it's private.
We're here to help people getfrom point A to point B.
Not everybody can walk intoBank of America and say I got a
$5,000 personal loan, they don'thave that 700 FICO score, or
maybe they don't make the incomeon paper, and that's what we're
involved with right now.
Oh, that's powerful.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Yeah, so you can do smaller loans right.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Absolutely.
The average loan is like $300to $500.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Oh, that's excellent, yeah, and so that must be like
clockwork in.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Vegas.
For sure, it started officiallya year ago and it officially a
year ago and I think just lastmonth, we did 20k in revenue.
So I mean the business isscaling every single month.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
Yeah, that's fantastic.
What kind of challenges do yourun into?
Because that's, you know, ahard business model to jump into
.
Now you're doing interest rates, bank loans, financing, etc.
There's a lot of differentcredit screening.
It's not necessarily like arestaurant, something easy to
jump into quickly.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
I'm so intrigued by the world of finance and all the
different facets that come fromthis one business that I'm in
right now.
The biggest challenge isgetting people approved right.
I think in this city it's goingto cultivate an environment
where people are going tooverextend themselves with the
gambling and all the differentvices that are in this city.
So I think that's the biggestchallenge is keeping people
within their safety net, so tospeak.
(09:25):
But that's regulated by thestate, so it's not too bad.
And of course, there's adefault.
It's like a 20% default rateand things like that.
But you know it's just a onesmall step into multiple
businesses.
I look at a business likeDollar Loan Center.
He has 60 different locations,I think, throughout the entire
state.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
I mean, imagine the revenue that guy does.
Yeah, and he's branded himselfvery very, very well, yeah,
don't be, brokecom.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Yeah, for sure that's a good one.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
So how do you guys market yourself?
How do people know about it?
Is it mainly online?
Do you guys like brick andmortar?
Yeah, the brick and mortarstore, tropicana 215.
Oh, okay, I got a billboard.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
I just drove by on the way here, oh, okay.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
That was a nice investment.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
It's funny.
I get to see my billboard andthen right across is Marshmallow
at XS.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
That's where you bought that.
How cool is that?
Speaker 2 (10:10):
That's hilarious so yeah, I have that business a lot
of Google ads, a lot ofmarketing, a lot of flyers.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
I even got the one guy on the corner of the street
with the billboard, kind offlipping it, dancing, getting
people in there.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
So at the end of the day, I think in this market with
Vegas, everyone's always goingto need some kind of personal
finance assistant, one way oranother and if I can provide
that, provide that in an organicand you know a positive way.
I'm all about it.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Yeah, that's awesome, and so you branched out with
multiple things.
The jewelry too, I know, is abig thing, right?
So you got involved, is it?
Is it XS?
Speaker 2 (10:45):
XL Jewelers.
My boy, Michael.
I'm a director of sales with XLJewelers.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Okay, so you guys handle a lot of the luxury stuff
.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Okay, jewelry watches , birkin bags.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Chanel bags.
Stop talking about the Birkinbags.
My wife said it, but that'swhat you guys have there.
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Absolutely so.
I've always been an enthusiastfor high-end watches and Rolexes
and things like that.
And I remember when I was inNightlight Post and you would
meet someone for the first time,like your first impression is
everything.
Just the first time you meetsomebody, you see the watch on
their wrist.
So what kind of watches is it?
Is it a Rolex?
Is it a Patek Philippe, AP?
And that's kind of what startedthat passion for that market and
(11:23):
help people get their firstwatch, help people get different
pieces of jewelry and Birkinsand things like that.
I like the high-end items, ofcourse.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
I get it.
Talk about the investing rightBecause we were talking about
art earlier with the giants likeAlicia Keys and Swiss Beats but
do people really buy watchesfor specifically investment
because the resale value isunreal?
Is that what you see?
A lot of Two years ago themarket was crazy.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
you could buy a hundred thousand dollar watch,
sit on it, wear it every day andsell it for 110 000 into the
month I mean the market wascrazy.
After covid it was like thatwith everything cars over, msrp,
watches, jewelry, art, birkinsof what?
Thirty thousand dollars, Ithink they're 10k retail, wow.
So, um, now, absolutely, youcan definitely buy now as a
buyer's market for sure, becauseeverything has come down like
(12:11):
everything else.
So you can definitely buy acollection of watches, sit on
them and almost I think I saw astat somewhere where watches
have um outperformed the s&p 500over the past like 10 years oh
wow, I saw that somewhere Ithink I saw on tiktok.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
That's unreal.
Are you seeing it like become,you know, harder and harder to
sell these higher-end watches,like now that it is kind of
starting to come down, and maybe, you know, the people that are
wealthy are kind of holding casha little bit longer, not
splurging on some of theseancillary, you know.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
So I'm a good point, especially with everything going
on.
Yeah, right now I think peopleare starting to buckle down a
little bit.
We still see a lot of the high,high net worth individuals
buying very, very, veryexpensive items.
You can't walk into the Rolexstore at Crystals or a Patek
Philippe store or even a RichardMille store and just buy a
watch.
It's hard.
A lot of these watches arediscontinued.
(12:58):
A lot of these items are very,very hard to get and if we have
that access to certain high-enditems and make it easy, I think
the right people are going tobuy it still.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
And is high-end items and make it easy.
I think the right people aregoing to buy it still.
And is that the business model?
You know you buy it fromsomebody trying to offload it
and then you know, obviouslyfind another seller for that
item like that.
Maybe you have a waiting list.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Yeah, it is a secondary market.
I'm not a fan of, you know.
I think these, these, um, howdo I word this?
I think, like the gray market,dealers almost have like a
stigma against some of them, andI'm not a fan of of people who
will misrepresent themselves tohave a relationship with an
authorized dealer with Rolex orProtect Philippe, to purchase an
item and turn around and flipit.
(13:35):
I've never been a fan of that,but I think there are people
that you know have certain itemsand they need to unload them
for whatever it may be, and youneed to sell it somewhere.
So that's how we acquire ouritems, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
And it's kind of like .
It's like a lot of sourcing,because it seems like there may
be a person looking for aspecific watch, right, oh,
absolutely.
And maybe they can't accessthis watch now you have to go
and source that watch for aspecific buyer.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Yeah, there's WhatsApp chats and there's
Facebook groups and you know,calls for certain watches and
really connect with some dealersout in New York.
And this is life.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
I need to learn, because I don't know anything
about that.
It's fun, yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
I keep seeing more.
So how is it like track, Likeyou get these high-end $100,000
watches $200,000.
Like how do they do the wholesetup?
Is it cold?
I mean, how do you know thatit's real?
I guess it's the best way toput it.
Oh, like how is it real, likeauthenticated, and there's a
reason A really well-knowndealer that I respect.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
He always says that you don't actually buy the watch
, you buy it for the dealer.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
You're buying the dealer.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
It's all about reputation.
You know a lot of people willco-sign for you and vouch for
you and I've never had an issuewhen it comes to that, as long
as you're dealing with reputablepeople Got it.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
So that's the, and I'm not trying to make fun of
Rick Ross, but you know talkingabout Rick Ross, I don't know if
you recently in the news.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Yeah, of course that's true.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
That is true, so that was a fake watch or replica.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
So here's how it is right.
It's not an authentic factoryPatek Philippe watch.
I think it was.
I think it was the AP or it wasthe Patek Philippe.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
It was the green animal watch.
Yeah, I think it was AP.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
The watch is not made by AP.
That watch is have a watch anda dealer or high-end jeweler
will make that custom.
It's still an expensive item.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
It's still yeah, amazing but it's not a not the
three million dollars that youwould really pay for okay that
watch is not worth three milliondollars absolutely not, but I
heard it was like 20 grand and Iwas like what?
Speaker 2 (15:20):
but that's in.
That's what these rappers aredealing with.
Like these, bust down day-daterolexes and things like that and
bust-down Cartier watches.
They're not authentic.
Save your money.
Go buy yourself a $10,000,$12,000 Submariner factory Rolex
.
No diamonds, no, nothing.
That's what you need.
That's going to hold its value.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Forever.
Yeah, that's what I heard.
That's a great investment piece.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
You don't want to buy the $5,000, $10,000 Cartier.
Watch that a dealer's puttinglab-grown diamonds all over and
it's great and it's flashy andit looks great, but it's not
classic.
It's not authentic, it's notwhat you want.
I'm glad you said the dealerpart it's not timeless.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
Rolex is a timeless piece, but I'm glad you said
that the dealer is the mostimportant.
I'm glad you're saying that,and that's what I was trying to.
Are looking for differentthings to invest in that hold
value, and these Birkin bags I'munderstanding too.
They're holding their valuealso.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Yeah, there's a gentleman in town that would be
great for this podcast.
Okay, his name is Michael Mack.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
I don't think I know him.
He owns.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Mack's Pawn and Jewelry yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
I've seen Mack's Pawn .
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Yes, I think he has the second biggest collection of
Birkins in the world.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Oh my goodness, He'd be grateful for this episode.
And the bags are justridiculous.
You know how much Birkins gofor?
Nah, it's unreal $25,000,$30,000.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Damn, really that much for a bag.
Yeah, I don't know about thatIn Florida.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
I think somebody's like 100 grand Mother's.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Day is coming around the corner, yeah let's stop this
conversation now.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
So then you also got Daydream Experience right.
Are kind of orchestratingbetween is it the New York
market, miami market and thenVegas market.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
So that's owned by a gentleman named Brian Lee.
Okay, Really really successfulVIP host here in Vegas Worked at
Marquee.
That's where he really came up,oh yeah, yeah yeah, and he came
out and he created his ownindependent hosting company.
In my opinion, he has the bestindependent company in Vegas
history.
That says a lot, a lot of Ace.
Okay, brian, he's legitimate,okay, and you know he's killing
(17:08):
it.
He has connections all over theworld and he's creating.
You know anybody can go aheadand book a nightlife table at
Live in Miami or Eleven orExcess, whatever it may be, but
he really goes above and beyond.
From the moment you know thatcustomer or guest arrives to the
leave, he has everything set upYachts, dinners, nightclubs,
(17:29):
shows, shows, whatever it may be.
So obviously I'm not workingspecifically for a nightclub
anymore so I still have, youknow, a lot of high-end
clientele that I want to takecare of whenever they come to
vegas.
So I partnered up with brian andI work with him directly.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
That's what's up so where are you guys focused on?
Speaker 2 (17:39):
just any experiences, restaurants, the whole nine
yeah, anywhere, any, any, any,uh key event that's going on
throughout the world, whetherit's in n Nabeela, whether it's
in, you know, f1, whatever itmay be.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
Okay, you know, down here on the ground, you know we
don't get to see a lot of thishigh-end experience, you know
how many people are legitimatelydoing this on a consistent
basis.
Is it like five a night, 50 anight, 10,000 a night?
Like well, what is like thatreal number of people who could
really afford to do these typeof things that you see doing it
consistently Every weekend?
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Really wow.
There was a gentleman this pastweekend that just spent
$400,000 at a nightclub.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
Damn must be nice At a dayclub $400,000.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Jeez, it happens all the time, that's unreal.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
That's why you never know who you're dealing with.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
It's going to walk to that front door.
You never know who you'respeaking to.
Don't judge somebody how theylook.
This person is a CEO of a meatprocessing company in Nebraska
and you know he's worth ahundred million dollars and
you'll never know.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
And they stay below the radar for a reason.
Yeah, that's unreal.
Yeah, what do you see happeningin Vegas now, because I mean
the growth has been unreal,right, and especially the next
five to seven years, do youcontinue to see?
You know more, you know clubsand things like that, opening up
more lounges and things likethat?
Like what do you see happening?
Speaker 2 (19:00):
You know, I was so excited to be on this podcast to
answer that question rightthere.
Because I I was so excited tobe on this podcast to answer
that question right therebecause I can really just keep
it 100.
Yeah, I want to know and Idon't have any political
affiliations or anything likethat.
I don't have to keep itcorporate anymore.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
That's why I'm asking you, because I know you're
going to give it to me real.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
I was really excited for this podcast.
Okay, in my opinion, I thinkoutside of Wynn Nightlife
there's a lot of mediocrity innightlife in Vegas, I think a
lot, of, a lot of everything isgoing towards, you know,
restaurants supper clubs,lounges things like Delilah.
I think a lot more people willhave a better experience in
Delilah, having a high-enddinner and being there the
(19:35):
entire night, rather than goingto a nightclub and spending ten,
twenty thousand dollars.
I can't disagree with you yeah,I think where the city's going
is, um, you know, the city'sgoing in a great direction.
Where we're going with theRaiders, obviously put us on the
map.
Aces, oakland A's are coming.
Basketball team will be hereeventually.
I mean imagine being in NewYork or Boston 30 years ago.
(19:57):
I think that's where Vegas isright now, and I think there's
going to be so much opportunityin everything outside of
nightlife and outside ofhospitality and just in general
it was a great time to be ayoung executive in Vegas, yeah
absolutely.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
I'm glad you saying that.
I'm sorry to cut you out.
Like you said, boston right.
Like Boston Harbor right, whatthey've done to the Boston
Harbor.
I was just there a few weeksago and it's I like doing.
We love going to these like theDelilahs and the nice high-end
restaurants, and now they'rehaving DJs and stuff at all
these spots and you have a vibelike a lounge while you're
(20:31):
eating, which I absolutely loveShout out to Ed and Joe Kane and
all those guys.
The entertainment group andRandy Greenstein Yep, you know
all those cats.
Yeah, I love what they're doingout there.
I got my start with those guys.
I opened up a restaurant forthem in Boston years ago.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Red Lantern.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Okay, that's what's up.
Okay, yeah, we're going to talk, we'll keep it on Vegas, but
shout out to Bosno because Ilove what they're doing, because
just seeing the high end andyou see the luck, like you were
just saying, like how wind youcan tell when you walk in the
wind you see the details and youfeel the luxury of there and
the vibe there.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
I noticed that when I was in harbor, like they got
some nice stuff there reallyreally nice so, but I'm sorry no
, no, it just seems like it isbecoming more and more
challenging to break into that,like you know.
So everybody is comfortablegoing to where they're tried and
true are.
So you're seeing it like youprobably know more than I do,
but from the outside it lookslike you know.
Zook maybe ran into somechallenges, found blues running
into some challenges, so how?
Speaker 2 (21:21):
are you?
Speaker 3 (21:21):
know, are those things?
Is it saturated too much or isit just not the same experience?
Speaker 2 (21:25):
No, what it is, you've got to have the right
people there in the verybeginning and I would compare it
to an NFL team.
You've got to have the rightspecial teams coordinator.
You've got to have the rightdefensive coordinator, the right
head coach, the right owners,the autonomy to do what you guys
got to do.
And I worked at the Wynn.
I came up at the Wynn soeverything I know is the Wynn,
(21:46):
so I got to see firsthand when Ileft the Wynn and go open up,
you know work at Zouk and someof these other operations in the
city.
You just see how dysfunctionalthey are.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
They really do, you know, I mean, the Wynn just does
not miss.
They don't, is it?
Speaker 2 (22:01):
just like throwing a bunch of a lot of things.
You know you really got to havethe right people there that
understand what hospitality is.
You got to have the rightpeople, the right operators and
operators there from the verybeginning, the not to execute on
on any given night.
Now you're paying these dealersa lot of money, a lot of money,
a big break even, you know, andit from the team of vipos that
are soldiers working that cityand working their phones and
(22:23):
getting the best customers inthere and they're fighting with
other vipos that are othernightclubs for that those same
customers.
Right, you got to have thewaitresses there ready to upsell
and provide the best experienceand you know you got to have
the right operations team.
You got to have the rightmarketing team.
There's so many different partsthat that create this one unit
and it's hard.
It's a hard business to getinto, you know, and these dj
(22:44):
prices keep getting higher andhigher and break that's what I
wanted to add, higher and higher.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
I mean how, how could they make a return off if
you're having like a blackcoffee or whoever it is, come in
or drake for you know, for areason, you know for evening?
How can they make a return offthat they're paying a million,
two million, 2.5 million?
Speaker 3 (23:00):
are they even trying to?
Are they trying to get theminto the casino?
Outside of the win, they're notmaking money, that's a good
point let's just be real.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
That's a very good point.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
The win.
They're profitable absolutely,oh yeah, 100% Win.
Night life is profitable.
A lot of these other clubs,don't you see it?
With Live Right Now and Fouland Blue, I mean they are
struggling.
That's not the impression theywanted to make.
You know, coming into Vegas andand Zucrop had its challenges
at first and you know, I thinkthat we were able to kind of
(23:28):
push through some of thosechallenges and still created
some successful nights.
But even there I'm sure theirnumber is not where they want it
to be quite yet.
You know, and you know Ron's nolonger there at Zuc is more on
the hotel side, so that's that'sa big blow to them firsthand.
You know the win.
Really, they just capitalizeyeah, every event.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
They really do, they do a great job yeah it's steve
went you know the guy was agenius.
We're all here because of stevewent at the end of the day, do
these like nightclubs?
Are they owned by the casino orare they renting out of space
for the casino, like how?
Speaker 2 (23:59):
does that?
A lot of these nightclubsaren't owned by the actual hotel
and it really does help whenthe nightclub is owned by the
hotel.
Um, it's not like that withwith zook.
It's not like that with a lotof the tal group properties.
Um, when xs is owned by, whengod, okay, that makes no
difference so when it has itseyes on it, when it has its own
people there, and from the topdown they're running it oh god.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
So you're a win employee at the wind.
You're a Zouk employee whenyou're at Resorts World.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Yeah, zouk was a little different.
Zouk was owned by, you know, ktLim's son, so it's a little
different.
But you know that's one of thereasons why Wynn does so well
that it's owned by Wynn.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
That makes sense because you're at a turning
point, you know, family man,like you're saying, going to bed
at 8.30, 9 o'clock now, what'skeeping you in the hunt right
now?
What are you really focused on?
You know, trying to accomplishmaybe over the next five years?
Speaker 2 (24:50):
or so.
When I wake up, first thing Ido every single day is just all
about my sons.
It's all about legacy.
It's all about them 1000% you,their future safe, having their
future secure and having a lastname they're proud of.
That's what it's all about forme right now.
You know I've been very, veryfortunate in this city.
I've been very lucky.
I work with some great people.
(25:11):
I'm blessed to be here.
I'm blessed to be here with youguys talking about.
You know the story of how I gothere, but it's all about them
right now.
It's all about the family.
Yeah, it, yeah it really is.
(25:37):
That's awesome.
You know, what else are youlooking at as far as investing
in or getting into differentindustries right now?
What else is on your radar?
I got to tell you the world offinance really, really gets me
going.
You know I'm looking into, likemerchant cash advances.
Where you know Jason Griggs, wecreated a company called JA
Homes.
We're just buying single familyhomes, rented them out, holding
them for the long term.
My goal is to buy threeinvestment properties this year.
I've already bought three withhim in the first quarter.
So we're on pace to have 10 bythe end of the year.
So anything with real estate,anything that creates an ROI
(26:01):
that's what it's all about forme.
Anything that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
I love the art of the deal, the art of the business
deal.
I love that.
Yeah, it's interesting.
You talked about finance.
Like I've been, I wouldn't wantI need to go back and get a
degree just in finance, becausethat's what rules the world Like
.
There's like four entities thatrule the world as we know them
it's media, it's finance, it'syou know what's happening on
Wall Street, but finance is likeit seems like everything.
If you can learn the details ofwhat's behind that, it just
helps you with everything.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
If I go back in time, I would have gone to an Ivy
League school.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
I would have been an investment banker?
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Yeah for sure I would have done in a heartbeat.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
Yeah, there's so many avenues you can make money in
finance.
There's not just one way,because if you understand the
numbers, you can make everythingwork.
Like you said, you can make anydeal work.
You can make a business deal, areal estate deal, a loan deal
Any deal works if you understandfinance and just so much
opportunity in the city rightnow.
So much, and everybody wantsmoney and people want to spend
it For sure.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Did you see what the CEO of NVIDIA was talking about
recently?
I don't know if you saw that.
I didn't even know how much now.
It's probably trillions ofdollars.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
now they're like the third largest company.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Yeah, they're unreal, but I love what he was saying
and the reason why I'm sayingthis is because of the vibe from
being from the East Coast.
It's a hardworking town,especially like New England, and
I love what he was sayingespecially I've got two boys
just like yourself is he wastalking about suffering and he
hopes people really go throughthat, because that's what makes
you like literally takes you tothe next level of suffering and
(27:30):
learning what that suffering isabout and that resilience
basically matters.
So if you get a chance, checkout his little speech that he
just did recently.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
I couldn't agree with him more.
Yeah, it's powerful.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
It's super powerful.
So mentorship is very importantto me, right, and I know you
talked a lot about some of yourmentors.
You know, obviously, that'sbeing in Vegas Circle, who's in
your circle that's speaking inyour life now that's kind of
helping you and guiding you, youknow, going in the right
direction a billionaire.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Okay, and you?
Know, he's been very, verysuccessful with his companies
that he's that he's createdground up.
He's in the oil business intexas, okay texas, okay, you
know, and he sold, I think, twoor three different companies now
for well over, you know,billion dollars.
Oh wow he's like 41 years old,jeez, damn okay.
So I mean any, any advice whenit comes to business or life or
anything.
I go to him, for you knowthere's a relationship I was
able to um to have from the wind.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Yeah, okay, what's one nugget that he shared with
you?
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Again don't let anyone outwork you.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Don't let anyone ever outwork you yeah.
You know I'll, that's my numberone.
No mantra is someone out thereis outworking you.
Someone out there is younger,hungrier broker and they're
coming.
Yeah, for real.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
I love that, love that.
What else is a business adviceyou could kind of leave?
You know, our listeners out onis, you know, maybe they're
thinking about starting theirown business.
You know, what was one nuggetthat you could share with them,
just from your?
Speaker 2 (28:54):
perspective, someone I always looked up to to help
get my start.
The one with Sean Christie.
Okay, he was on a podcast nottoo feed the soul and you just
got to check the ego at the doorand I've been guilty of it.
You know a little bit ofsuccess.
It's easy to get complacent andget a little bit of ego and you
know, take your foot off thegas just a little bit.
(29:14):
You just can never stop.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
I agree.
I did want to ask you aboutwhat family means to you, man,
because I know me and you talkeda lot about family a little bit
, but just for you know, youngparents out there, right, like
all of us, have got kids at thetable and we all struggle with
different things.
We're all trying to work to tryto make sure we manage our time
a lot better, but what'ssomething that you're doing to
kind of manage your time andtrying to make sure that the
(29:38):
home, uh, it's still home andyour energy is good there, but
you're still involved in so manydifferent things.
What's one tip you could sharefor somebody on that?
Speaker 2 (29:45):
You know, I think growing up I saw my father
struggle.
I saw my family struggle.
You know I remember what it waslike to go to church on a
Sunday morning and you know, sitdown in the aisle and see other
families come in, you know,better dressed than us.
You know, and even almost lookdown on us in some ways.
That's something I never toldanybody and that's something
that's always kind of been myfire.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
I'm not going to let anyone judge me.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
I'm not going to earn my respect and I think that I
come from a long line of manydifferent people, that men whose
last name didn't necessarilyopen doors and they did what
they had to do to make sure thatlast name opened doors.
You better believe you know mysons when they get older their
last name will open doors.
That's what's up and um, youknow I just try to be present as
much as possible.
You got to be present.
You know it's hard to have that, not that phone on you text and
(30:35):
email and scroll on everylittle thing that you can do.
Yeah, that phone away.
And you know you gotta bepresent.
You gotta have that, thatfamily life that's secure.
You gotta have that family lifethat's about love and, um, you
know I'm blessed to have, youknow, a wife with amalia.
That provides that.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
Yeah, I love it because you you really speaking
the truth, like when we weretalking on the phone a couple
weeks back.
Right, we were setting up ourtime for both of our kids to be
sleeping talking yeah, you knowto be after that man, so I I'm
glad you brought that up.
Man is putting the phone down.
We talk about all the time athome, man, like when we're
eating.
Look, put the phone down, man,or we're out to eat, you know,
let's stop for a second andlet's enjoy this.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
And it's hard because my number one tray is, you know
, my, my, uh, my motivation.
I'm always so driven right Iwant to go go, go.
I don't want to miss out onanything, but sometimes you just
got to stop and like even thistrip to Disney yesterday, like I
needed that.
Just to stop, smell the rosesand just be like, look around
you Like you're doing good youcan relax for a little bit.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
That's awesome, man.
We always ask all our guests.
I know you probably got somegems too, from all the places
you've been to but what's onerestaurant you can give us a gem
of yours that you like, thatyou can recommend in Vegas?
Speaker 2 (31:42):
It's so cliche and.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
I hate to say it but it's Carbone.
Okay, okay, I wasn't expectingyou to say Carbone, it really is
.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Why Carbone?
It has a special place in myheart because when.
I started here in Vegas.
I worked at a restaurant calledBotero.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
Ah, okay, familiar with Botero.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
Yeah, that's where Jarnan is.
Yeah, that was a steakhouse,bot A steakhouse.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
Botero was one of our favorite sponsors.
We used to go there all thetime.
I was mad when they closed down.
Yeah, Botero was fun.
What they were trying to do wascreate that vibe dining like
SDK and things like that.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
When I first moved here it was a struggle.
I couldn't get a job anywhereand I was very, very lucky that
I was able to get a job atBotero Lunch.
My background is in hospitality.
I was a waiter I was a server assoon as you come to Vegas.
You want to work in the finedining restaurants.
You want to get in the union.
You want to make $100,000 ayear.
You're set.
There's no other place in theworld that you want to work
(32:29):
other than Vegas.
When you're in the hospitalityindustry, I couldn't get a job
anywhere, for whatever reason.
I would go in these meetings,suit it up.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
I got this.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
I couldn't get a job anywhere and I had interviews
everywhere.
Prime Steakhouse, STK SWSteakhouse, at the win with Brad
Brown, is a dear friend of minenow today.
So I couldn't get a job nowhereand I got lucky.
And I got a job at Botero Lunchand I came from the seaport
working at Del Frisco in Boston$18 million a year
steakhouse, killing it.
(33:04):
I was a sommelier there.
All the athletes know me,celebrities know me, they're
texting me when they need areservation.
And, humbly, I got a job atBotero Lunch, you know serving
hot dogs and chicken fingers andworking from 10 to 12.
And so that whole staff, whenthey closed down Botero, that
whole staff went to Carbone.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
So these were the people that kind of took me
under their wing.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
That embraced me.
I didn't know anybody in thiscity that had no friends, and
those were my friends.
So, that whole staff of Carbone.
That's why it's a special placein my heart.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
And I take my son there all the time.
He's four years old.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
I think they have a.
No, I don't eat pasta and makea mess.
Carbone is good.
I'm not going to.
I don't disagree.
I just I thought you were goingto say something else, but
Carbone is really good, so it'shard to get a reservation there
too, man.
So yeah, that's what I said.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
That's what I said.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
Man, I appreciate you , man.
This is good to hang out withyou for a little bit.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
But what do you want to leave short?
Yeah, no, and I think thatthere's just such an opportunity
to be in this city right now,the way that it's growing.
I agree with you know what youcan do.
You can change your whole life.
No, never accept yourcircumstances for what they are
and definitely let someone elsetell you what your circumstances
are, who you are, who you canbe for real and just take
advantage of it and just if youcan dream it, you can do it.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
Simple as that Because.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
I shouldn't be here.
I came here as a fine diningserver, got a job at Botero
Lunch.
Somehow I got lucky and wasable to get a job at XS and
Encore Beach Club, became a very, very successful VIP host and I
live a very, very blessed lifethat I'm thankful for, and I
shouldn't be here.
The odds were against me andblessed life that I'm thankful
for and I shouldn't be here.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
The odds were against me, and I did it.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
That's what's up, man , if I can do it, anybody can do
it.
You just can't let anyoneoutwork you.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
You can't Well keep paying attention to ACE man.
I've been chopping it up withhim for a while, man, so I'm,
I'm I'm going to say thismotivating, you know, like I
told you before on the phone.
So, uh, appreciate you.
And where can people check youout?
Check you out with your socialhandles?
Speaker 2 (35:04):
People can reach out to you, Ace Pachico, on
Instagram.
I'm a very, very accessible.
You know I've never been thatperson that a lot of individuals
in the city reach out to foradvice or a phone call or lunch.
My door's always open.
I'm always happy to share anyadvice, help out any way I can.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
Yeah, well, appreciate sitting down with you
, man, and check us out atVegasArtcom, so subscribe with
us, man.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
So thanks a lot, man.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
Thank you Thank you guys Appreciate it.
That was really good.
Thank you guys.
Welcome to Vegas Circle Podcast with your hosts,
Paki and Chris.
We are people who arepassionate about business,
success and culture, and this isour platform to showcase people
in our city who make it happen.
On today's podcast, we're goingto be exploring the journey of
breaking free from the nightlifeindustry to pursue strategic
investments and cultivating athriving family life.
Welcome to the CircleEntrepreneur Investor, Ace
(00:32):
Pachico.
I've got to say it, the rightway.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Thank you guys for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
I really appreciate it.
This is long overdue, man, longoverdue.
We connected probably I don'teven know what three or four
years ago now, at least right.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Where was the connection?
Was it through Blake, wayne orVaughn?
Yeah, 100% Blake.
I think it was Blake.
It was Blake, I think, when youwere working at Wynn Nightlife
and then through that, obviouslyknowing a lot of the same
people, jay Sean, natalia, a lotof the same people that we know
.
Peter Cross.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
But man am you know the success I have, the position
I'm in and thankful to be herewith you guys and you know I'm a
big fan of the show.
Obviously I've seen Jay Seanand Natalia and Peter's episode.
And these guys are people Ilook up to, as well as my
friends, so I was excited to behere.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
You know, one of the things that I saw that I was
reading about you 40 under 40night life professional.
Back back in the day I thinkthey wrote an article on you and
I love the statement that youhad.
You were talking about don'tlet anybody outwork you and I
feel like that's what you'vereally set your template and
your foundation of beinginvolved in so many different
fields right and building yournetwork.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
But let's just talk about kind of like your
transition from the nightlifeindustry to entrepreneurship and
what that's been all about andwhy you did that, in my opinion,
when you're working in Vegasnightlife and you're a host
cocktail waitress, whatever itmay be, I mean you have access
to just the titans of industrythat come to this city weekend
(01:52):
after weekend, especiallyworking at the one in Encore.
I mean, that's just the who'swho that gets to stay there.
And you know, something thathas always resonated with me has
been your network is reallyyour net worth.
So I've tried as much as Icould just to cultivate as many
relationships with all thesedifferent people who are
successful in differentbusinesses, and I looked up to
every one of them and a lot ofpeople that work in nightlife.
You know, it's almost like whenyou work in the restaurant
(02:14):
business you make such greatmoney, it's like all right,
what's the next step?
And you make a great living herein Vegas being a nightlife host
, being a cocktail waitress, butwhat is that next step?
And there really isn't a seguewhen you're working in nightlife
to become a casino executive, acasino host, a convention
services director, whatever itmay be, that's it.
You're working in nightlife andthat's the box you're in, and I
always just refused to acceptthe circumstances that that was
(02:37):
going to be my it.
I was never just going to bejust a nightlife host, and I
networked, I used a lot of therelationships I had and took a
lot of business advice.
And here I am today where Ihave my hands in many different
things and I'm able to, you know, have the life I have now and
support the family that I haveand provide for them.
Ultimately, that's what's mostimportant.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Yeah, we had a couple of different people on that
were in similar situations.
Right that they did thistransition from being in the
nightlife to entrepreneurship.
All of them, I think, have thesame kind of mindset the fact
that you are in this networkinghub.
Do you think that networkingpart of your personality has
always been there, or do youhave to develop that in the
nightlife scene?
I think you either have it oryou don't.
Yeah, me and Paki talk aboutthat a lot because he has it.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
I don't.
I don't think that's somethingthat is, you just have it, and
someone that I always looked upto that was a past guest of this
podcast was Jay Sean.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
He's the best I've ever seen.
I told you that with my faceand when.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
I started working at Win Nightlife Jay Sean was it.
You know what I mean.
So I followed his footsteps.
I looked at what he did.
I looked at what Natalia did.
A lot of these people therewere a lot of big hosts in the
city that paved the way for guyslike me to come up and be here.
It's something that you have tobe a people person.
I think you got to have thosestreet smarts.
(03:51):
You have to be able to walkinto a room and recognize who
the influences are, who thetastemakers are, and organically
create a rapport with thatperson.
Anybody can just walk up tosomebody.
I'm Andrew, I work at the Wind.
Here's my business card.
How do you really make thatconnection?
And that's something you eitherhave or you don't.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
And as you're kind of making that transition because
you're developing theserelationships but now you're
deciding I want to branch off, Iwant to be an entrepreneur.
These are people that aremeeting you in different
environments.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
It's a fun environment.
Now you're like, hey, can youhelp me with some business
advice?
Can you mentor me?
Or can you provide me someguidance like how do you make
that shift?
You know that's a challenge.
Yeah, how do you have abillionaire, you know, investor
from god knows where?
Look at you as not just anightlife vip host this isn't
just the guy that I can call.
I need a dinner reservation or anightclub reservation to go see
chain smokers at xs.
That's something that I thinkyou have to cater to each and
every individual relationshipand you just got to nonstop keep
(04:50):
banging on that door until theyopen it for you.
You have to, that's true,because they're not going to
give it to you.
No one's going to give it toyou.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
And you kind of transitioned, at least with your
background, with nightlife,right.
So you transitioned from Wynnto Zouk and I think that's what
you took care of me one timeover at Zoo and then
transitioned to Fountain Blueand all of that.
When did you like fully, youknow, laser focus and say, okay,
this is really what I want todo?
Like I want to get in thebusiness for myself.
Like when did you make thatdecision?
Was it during a period whereyou just you know what I mean.
(05:19):
Just kept adding.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
I think really what happened was COVID, you know.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
I think when COVID happened.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
I think that just readjusted everybody's vision
and perspective Like all right,what am I doing?
What's next?
And the whole city shut down.
There was nothing going on andit got to a point where I was
just very, very successful witheverything I accomplished at the
win, everything I remember,like yesterday, I wrote down
everything that I wanted to doand I accomplished that, and it
(05:48):
got to a point where thatpassion just wasn't't there
anymore.
It's like that challenge wasn'tthere.
I'm extremely competitive person, extremely competitive, and you
know, as a nightlife host, youwant to get the biggest client
in every night.
You want to get the biggestspend we get paid based on our
sales.
Of course you want to, you know, have the highest sales and you
know when that passion is gone.
You've done all that already.
It's like, alright, what's next?
And that's what led me to gointo resorts world.
I was very close to ron and um.
(06:10):
I had an opportunity to run avip team from there and kind of
you know, teach a group of vipos, kind of what I was able to do
as an individual at the win.
You know we were successfulthere.
We had some nights where it wasreally through some great
parties and you know we own thecity on a lot of different
nights, with Travis Scott, withPost Malone, with Tiesto.
But from there it was like allright, my family's coming
(06:33):
together, my sons are growing.
I need to be there for them.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
And being a businessman, being an
entrepreneur, obviously givesyou that lifestyle where you can
not be at the club until 3 amevery night and wake up at 7 am
and take my son to school, andthat's that's where I'm at and
it gets all, it gets whole fast,I don't know waking up, getting
the three, two or three hours.
Yeah, sleep all the time I'm inbed every night at 8, 39
o'clock oh wow, okay, that's notlike Chris.
(06:59):
Yeah, it's not like Chris.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
DJ's like go on till 1 1 30.
You know now, every night I'min bed by 8, 30, 9 o'clock, like
that.
I wake up every morning 6, 30,7 am, bring my son to school and
go on about my day.
I need to learn that.
I still go to bed late as best,you still wake up early.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Yeah, I still have no sleep.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
So let's talk about kind of you know some of the
companies you've invested inRight.
So one of them is the privateaccess.
Cash Right says cash right,yeah.
So can you kind of talk aboutwhat you do with that setup is
for loans and things along thoselines, right Titles and things
like that.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
So I'm working at the wind.
I was, fortunate to you know,meet someone as an individual,
become a mentor to me.
He's a business partner of mine.
He was a very big gambler atthe wind and he was it.
He took me under his wing andkind of showed me the ropes.
And again back to COVID.
I had a lot of goodconversations with him hey,
what's next?
What am I going to do?
And he was actually involved inthat business, in the personal
(07:51):
loan business in Texas, and wejust started talking.
I think there was a businessfor sale here in Las Vegas and I
wanted to potentially buy itand he gave me the advice,
helped me go in that directionand we started Private Access
Cash and it's a personal loanbusiness.
Obviously it's subprime lending, it's high interest rates.
What I'm trying to do is kindof create a business where it
(08:12):
doesn't have that stigma, whereyou walk in and get a payday
loan.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
It's low interest rate.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
It's discreet, it's private.
We're here to help people getfrom point A to point B.
Not everybody can walk intoBank of America and say I got a
$5,000 personal loan, they don'thave that 700 FICO score, or
maybe they don't make the incomeon paper, and that's what we're
involved with right now.
Oh, that's powerful.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Yeah, so you can do smaller loans right.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Absolutely.
The average loan is like $300to $500.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Oh, that's excellent, yeah, and so that must be like
clockwork in.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Vegas.
For sure, it started officiallya year ago and it officially a
year ago and I think just lastmonth, we did 20k in revenue.
So I mean the business isscaling every single month.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
Yeah, that's fantastic.
What kind of challenges do yourun into?
Because that's, you know, ahard business model to jump into
.
Now you're doing interest rates, bank loans, financing, etc.
There's a lot of differentcredit screening.
It's not necessarily like arestaurant, something easy to
jump into quickly.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
I'm so intrigued by the world of finance and all the
different facets that come fromthis one business that I'm in
right now.
The biggest challenge isgetting people approved right.
I think in this city it's goingto cultivate an environment
where people are going tooverextend themselves with the
gambling and all the differentvices that are in this city.
So I think that's the biggestchallenge is keeping people
within their safety net, so tospeak.
(09:25):
But that's regulated by thestate, so it's not too bad.
And of course, there's adefault.
It's like a 20% default rateand things like that.
But you know it's just a onesmall step into multiple
businesses.
I look at a business likeDollar Loan Center.
He has 60 different locations,I think, throughout the entire
state.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
I mean, imagine the revenue that guy does.
Yeah, and he's branded himselfvery very, very well, yeah,
don't be, brokecom.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Yeah, for sure that's a good one.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
So how do you guys market yourself?
How do people know about it?
Is it mainly online?
Do you guys like brick andmortar?
Yeah, the brick and mortarstore, tropicana 215.
Oh, okay, I got a billboard.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
I just drove by on the way here, oh, okay.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
That was a nice investment.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
It's funny.
I get to see my billboard andthen right across is Marshmallow
at XS.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
That's where you bought that.
How cool is that?
Speaker 2 (10:10):
That's hilarious so yeah, I have that business a lot
of Google ads, a lot ofmarketing, a lot of flyers.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
I even got the one guy on the corner of the street
with the billboard, kind offlipping it, dancing, getting
people in there.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
So at the end of the day, I think in this market with
Vegas, everyone's always goingto need some kind of personal
finance assistant, one way oranother and if I can provide
that, provide that in an organicand you know a positive way.
I'm all about it.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Yeah, that's awesome, and so you branched out with
multiple things.
The jewelry too, I know, is abig thing, right?
So you got involved, is it?
Is it XS?
Speaker 2 (10:45):
XL Jewelers.
My boy, Michael.
I'm a director of sales with XLJewelers.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Okay, so you guys handle a lot of the luxury stuff
.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Okay, jewelry watches , birkin bags.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Chanel bags.
Stop talking about the Birkinbags.
My wife said it, but that'swhat you guys have there.
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Absolutely so.
I've always been an enthusiastfor high-end watches and Rolexes
and things like that.
And I remember when I was inNightlight Post and you would
meet someone for the first time,like your first impression is
everything.
Just the first time you meetsomebody, you see the watch on
their wrist.
So what kind of watches is it?
Is it a Rolex?
Is it a Patek Philippe, AP?
And that's kind of what startedthat passion for that market and
(11:23):
help people get their firstwatch, help people get different
pieces of jewelry and Birkinsand things like that.
I like the high-end items, ofcourse.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
I get it.
Talk about the investing rightBecause we were talking about
art earlier with the giants likeAlicia Keys and Swiss Beats but
do people really buy watchesfor specifically investment
because the resale value isunreal?
Is that what you see?
A lot of Two years ago themarket was crazy.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
you could buy a hundred thousand dollar watch,
sit on it, wear it every day andsell it for 110 000 into the
month I mean the market wascrazy.
After covid it was like thatwith everything cars over, msrp,
watches, jewelry, art, birkinsof what?
Thirty thousand dollars, Ithink they're 10k retail, wow.
So, um, now, absolutely, youcan definitely buy now as a
buyer's market for sure, becauseeverything has come down like
(12:11):
everything else.
So you can definitely buy acollection of watches, sit on
them and almost I think I saw astat somewhere where watches
have um outperformed the s&p 500over the past like 10 years oh
wow, I saw that somewhere Ithink I saw on tiktok.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
That's unreal.
Are you seeing it like become,you know, harder and harder to
sell these higher-end watches,like now that it is kind of
starting to come down, and maybe, you know, the people that are
wealthy are kind of holding casha little bit longer, not
splurging on some of theseancillary, you know.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
So I'm a good point, especially with everything going
on.
Yeah, right now I think peopleare starting to buckle down a
little bit.
We still see a lot of the high,high net worth individuals
buying very, very, veryexpensive items.
You can't walk into the Rolexstore at Crystals or a Patek
Philippe store or even a RichardMille store and just buy a
watch.
It's hard.
A lot of these watches arediscontinued.
(12:58):
A lot of these items are very,very hard to get and if we have
that access to certain high-enditems and make it easy, I think
the right people are going tobuy it still.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
And is high-end items and make it easy.
I think the right people aregoing to buy it still.
And is that the business model?
You know you buy it fromsomebody trying to offload it
and then you know, obviouslyfind another seller for that
item like that.
Maybe you have a waiting list.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Yeah, it is a secondary market.
I'm not a fan of, you know.
I think these, these, um, howdo I word this?
I think, like the gray market,dealers almost have like a
stigma against some of them, andI'm not a fan of of people who
will misrepresent themselves tohave a relationship with an
authorized dealer with Rolex orProtect Philippe, to purchase an
item and turn around and flipit.
(13:35):
I've never been a fan of that,but I think there are people
that you know have certain itemsand they need to unload them
for whatever it may be, and youneed to sell it somewhere.
So that's how we acquire ouritems, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
And it's kind of like .
It's like a lot of sourcing,because it seems like there may
be a person looking for aspecific watch, right, oh,
absolutely.
And maybe they can't accessthis watch now you have to go
and source that watch for aspecific buyer.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Yeah, there's WhatsApp chats and there's
Facebook groups and you know,calls for certain watches and
really connect with some dealersout in New York.
And this is life.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
I need to learn, because I don't know anything
about that.
It's fun, yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
I keep seeing more.
So how is it like track, Likeyou get these high-end $100,000
watches $200,000.
Like how do they do the wholesetup?
Is it cold?
I mean, how do you know thatit's real?
I guess it's the best way toput it.
Oh, like how is it real, likeauthenticated, and there's a
reason A really well-knowndealer that I respect.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
He always says that you don't actually buy the watch
, you buy it for the dealer.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
You're buying the dealer.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
It's all about reputation.
You know a lot of people willco-sign for you and vouch for
you and I've never had an issuewhen it comes to that, as long
as you're dealing with reputablepeople Got it.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
So that's the, and I'm not trying to make fun of
Rick Ross, but you know talkingabout Rick Ross, I don't know if
you recently in the news.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Yeah, of course that's true.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
That is true, so that was a fake watch or replica.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
So here's how it is right.
It's not an authentic factoryPatek Philippe watch.
I think it was.
I think it was the AP or it wasthe Patek Philippe.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
It was the green animal watch.
Yeah, I think it was AP.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
The watch is not made by AP.
That watch is have a watch anda dealer or high-end jeweler
will make that custom.
It's still an expensive item.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
It's still yeah, amazing but it's not a not the
three million dollars that youwould really pay for okay that
watch is not worth three milliondollars absolutely not, but I
heard it was like 20 grand and Iwas like what?
Speaker 2 (15:20):
but that's in.
That's what these rappers aredealing with.
Like these, bust down day-daterolexes and things like that and
bust-down Cartier watches.
They're not authentic.
Save your money.
Go buy yourself a $10,000,$12,000 Submariner factory Rolex
.
No diamonds, no, nothing.
That's what you need.
That's going to hold its value.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Forever.
Yeah, that's what I heard.
That's a great investment piece.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
You don't want to buy the $5,000, $10,000 Cartier.
Watch that a dealer's puttinglab-grown diamonds all over and
it's great and it's flashy andit looks great, but it's not
classic.
It's not authentic, it's notwhat you want.
I'm glad you said the dealerpart it's not timeless.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
Rolex is a timeless piece, but I'm glad you said
that the dealer is the mostimportant.
I'm glad you're saying that,and that's what I was trying to.
Are looking for differentthings to invest in that hold
value, and these Birkin bags I'munderstanding too.
They're holding their valuealso.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Yeah, there's a gentleman in town that would be
great for this podcast.
Okay, his name is Michael Mack.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
I don't think I know him.
He owns.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Mack's Pawn and Jewelry yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
I've seen Mack's Pawn .
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Yes, I think he has the second biggest collection of
Birkins in the world.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Oh my goodness, He'd be grateful for this episode.
And the bags are justridiculous.
You know how much Birkins gofor?
Nah, it's unreal $25,000,$30,000.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Damn, really that much for a bag.
Yeah, I don't know about thatIn Florida.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
I think somebody's like 100 grand Mother's.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Day is coming around the corner, yeah let's stop this
conversation now.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
So then you also got Daydream Experience right.
Are kind of orchestratingbetween is it the New York
market, miami market and thenVegas market.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
So that's owned by a gentleman named Brian Lee.
Okay, Really really successfulVIP host here in Vegas Worked at
Marquee.
That's where he really came up,oh yeah, yeah yeah, and he came
out and he created his ownindependent hosting company.
In my opinion, he has the bestindependent company in Vegas
history.
That says a lot, a lot of Ace.
Okay, brian, he's legitimate,okay, and you know he's killing
(17:08):
it.
He has connections all over theworld and he's creating.
You know anybody can go aheadand book a nightlife table at
Live in Miami or Eleven orExcess, whatever it may be, but
he really goes above and beyond.
From the moment you know thatcustomer or guest arrives to the
leave, he has everything set upYachts, dinners, nightclubs,
(17:29):
shows, shows, whatever it may be.
So obviously I'm not workingspecifically for a nightclub
anymore so I still have, youknow, a lot of high-end
clientele that I want to takecare of whenever they come to
vegas.
So I partnered up with brian andI work with him directly.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
That's what's up so where are you guys focused on?
Speaker 2 (17:39):
just any experiences, restaurants, the whole nine
yeah, anywhere, any, any, any,uh key event that's going on
throughout the world, whetherit's in n Nabeela, whether it's
in, you know, f1, whatever itmay be.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
Okay, you know, down here on the ground, you know we
don't get to see a lot of thishigh-end experience, you know
how many people are legitimatelydoing this on a consistent
basis.
Is it like five a night, 50 anight, 10,000 a night?
Like well, what is like thatreal number of people who could
really afford to do these typeof things that you see doing it
consistently Every weekend?
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Really wow.
There was a gentleman this pastweekend that just spent
$400,000 at a nightclub.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
Damn must be nice At a dayclub $400,000.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Jeez, it happens all the time, that's unreal.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
That's why you never know who you're dealing with.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
It's going to walk to that front door.
You never know who you'respeaking to.
Don't judge somebody how theylook.
This person is a CEO of a meatprocessing company in Nebraska
and you know he's worth ahundred million dollars and
you'll never know.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
And they stay below the radar for a reason.
Yeah, that's unreal.
Yeah, what do you see happeningin Vegas now, because I mean
the growth has been unreal,right, and especially the next
five to seven years, do youcontinue to see?
You know more, you know clubsand things like that, opening up
more lounges and things likethat?
Like what do you see happening?
Speaker 2 (19:00):
You know, I was so excited to be on this podcast to
answer that question rightthere.
Because I I was so excited tobe on this podcast to answer
that question right therebecause I can really just keep
it 100.
Yeah, I want to know and Idon't have any political
affiliations or anything likethat.
I don't have to keep itcorporate anymore.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
That's why I'm asking you, because I know you're
going to give it to me real.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
I was really excited for this podcast.
Okay, in my opinion, I thinkoutside of Wynn Nightlife
there's a lot of mediocrity innightlife in Vegas, I think a
lot, of, a lot of everything isgoing towards, you know,
restaurants supper clubs,lounges things like Delilah.
I think a lot more people willhave a better experience in
Delilah, having a high-enddinner and being there the
(19:35):
entire night, rather than goingto a nightclub and spending ten,
twenty thousand dollars.
I can't disagree with you yeah,I think where the city's going
is, um, you know, the city'sgoing in a great direction.
Where we're going with theRaiders, obviously put us on the
map.
Aces, oakland A's are coming.
Basketball team will be hereeventually.
I mean imagine being in NewYork or Boston 30 years ago.
(19:57):
I think that's where Vegas isright now, and I think there's
going to be so much opportunityin everything outside of
nightlife and outside ofhospitality and just in general
it was a great time to be ayoung executive in Vegas, yeah
absolutely.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
I'm glad you saying that.
I'm sorry to cut you out.
Like you said, boston right.
Like Boston Harbor right, whatthey've done to the Boston
Harbor.
I was just there a few weeksago and it's I like doing.
We love going to these like theDelilahs and the nice high-end
restaurants, and now they'rehaving DJs and stuff at all
these spots and you have a vibelike a lounge while you're
(20:31):
eating, which I absolutely loveShout out to Ed and Joe Kane and
all those guys.
The entertainment group andRandy Greenstein Yep, you know
all those cats.
Yeah, I love what they're doingout there.
I got my start with those guys.
I opened up a restaurant forthem in Boston years ago.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Red Lantern.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Okay, that's what's up.
Okay, yeah, we're going to talk, we'll keep it on Vegas, but
shout out to Bosno because Ilove what they're doing, because
just seeing the high end andyou see the luck, like you were
just saying, like how wind youcan tell when you walk in the
wind you see the details and youfeel the luxury of there and
the vibe there.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
I noticed that when I was in harbor, like they got
some nice stuff there reallyreally nice so, but I'm sorry no
, no, it just seems like it isbecoming more and more
challenging to break into that,like you know.
So everybody is comfortablegoing to where they're tried and
true are.
So you're seeing it like youprobably know more than I do,
but from the outside it lookslike you know.
Zook maybe ran into somechallenges, found blues running
into some challenges, so how?
Speaker 2 (21:21):
are you?
Speaker 3 (21:21):
know, are those things?
Is it saturated too much or isit just not the same experience?
Speaker 2 (21:25):
No, what it is, you've got to have the right
people there in the verybeginning and I would compare it
to an NFL team.
You've got to have the rightspecial teams coordinator.
You've got to have the rightdefensive coordinator, the right
head coach, the right owners,the autonomy to do what you guys
got to do.
And I worked at the Wynn.
I came up at the Wynn soeverything I know is the Wynn,
(21:46):
so I got to see firsthand when Ileft the Wynn and go open up,
you know work at Zouk and someof these other operations in the
city.
You just see how dysfunctionalthey are.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
They really do, you know, I mean, the Wynn just does
not miss.
They don't, is it?
Speaker 2 (22:01):
just like throwing a bunch of a lot of things.
You know you really got to havethe right people there that
understand what hospitality is.
You got to have the rightpeople, the right operators and
operators there from the verybeginning, the not to execute on
on any given night.
Now you're paying these dealersa lot of money, a lot of money,
a big break even, you know, andit from the team of vipos that
are soldiers working that cityand working their phones and
(22:23):
getting the best customers inthere and they're fighting with
other vipos that are othernightclubs for that those same
customers.
Right, you got to have thewaitresses there ready to upsell
and provide the best experienceand you know you got to have
the right operations team.
You got to have the rightmarketing team.
There's so many different partsthat that create this one unit
and it's hard.
It's a hard business to getinto, you know, and these dj
(22:44):
prices keep getting higher andhigher and break that's what I
wanted to add, higher and higher.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
I mean how, how could they make a return off if
you're having like a blackcoffee or whoever it is, come in
or drake for you know, for areason, you know for evening?
How can they make a return offthat they're paying a million,
two million, 2.5 million?
Speaker 3 (23:00):
are they even trying to?
Are they trying to get theminto the casino?
Outside of the win, they're notmaking money, that's a good
point let's just be real.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
That's a very good point.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
The win.
They're profitable absolutely,oh yeah, 100% Win.
Night life is profitable.
A lot of these other clubs,don't you see it?
With Live Right Now and Fouland Blue, I mean they are
struggling.
That's not the impression theywanted to make.
You know, coming into Vegas andand Zucrop had its challenges
at first and you know, I thinkthat we were able to kind of
(23:28):
push through some of thosechallenges and still created
some successful nights.
But even there I'm sure theirnumber is not where they want it
to be quite yet.
You know, and you know Ron's nolonger there at Zuc is more on
the hotel side, so that's that'sa big blow to them firsthand.
You know the win.
Really, they just capitalizeyeah, every event.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
They really do, they do a great job yeah it's steve
went you know the guy was agenius.
We're all here because of stevewent at the end of the day, do
these like nightclubs?
Are they owned by the casino orare they renting out of space
for the casino, like how?
Speaker 2 (23:59):
does that?
A lot of these nightclubsaren't owned by the actual hotel
and it really does help whenthe nightclub is owned by the
hotel.
Um, it's not like that withwith zook.
It's not like that with a lotof the tal group properties.
Um, when xs is owned by, whengod, okay, that makes no
difference so when it has itseyes on it, when it has its own
people there, and from the topdown they're running it oh god.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
So you're a win employee at the wind.
You're a Zouk employee whenyou're at Resorts World.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Yeah, zouk was a little different.
Zouk was owned by, you know, ktLim's son, so it's a little
different.
But you know that's one of thereasons why Wynn does so well
that it's owned by Wynn.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
That makes sense because you're at a turning
point, you know, family man,like you're saying, going to bed
at 8.30, 9 o'clock now, what'skeeping you in the hunt right
now?
What are you really focused on?
You know, trying to accomplishmaybe over the next five years?
Speaker 2 (24:50):
or so.
When I wake up, first thing Ido every single day is just all
about my sons.
It's all about legacy.
It's all about them 1000% you,their future safe, having their
future secure and having a lastname they're proud of.
That's what it's all about forme right now.
You know I've been very, veryfortunate in this city.
I've been very lucky.
I work with some great people.
(25:11):
I'm blessed to be here.
I'm blessed to be here with youguys talking about.
You know the story of how I gothere, but it's all about them
right now.
It's all about the family.
Yeah, it, yeah it really is.
(25:37):
That's awesome.
You know, what else are youlooking at as far as investing
in or getting into differentindustries right now?
What else is on your radar?
I got to tell you the world offinance really, really gets me
going.
You know I'm looking into, likemerchant cash advances.
Where you know Jason Griggs, wecreated a company called JA
Homes.
We're just buying single familyhomes, rented them out, holding
them for the long term.
My goal is to buy threeinvestment properties this year.
I've already bought three withhim in the first quarter.
So we're on pace to have 10 bythe end of the year.
So anything with real estate,anything that creates an ROI
(26:01):
that's what it's all about forme.
Anything that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
I love the art of the deal, the art of the business
deal.
I love that.
Yeah, it's interesting.
You talked about finance.
Like I've been, I wouldn't wantI need to go back and get a
degree just in finance, becausethat's what rules the world Like
.
There's like four entities thatrule the world as we know them
it's media, it's finance, it'syou know what's happening on
Wall Street, but finance is likeit seems like everything.
If you can learn the details ofwhat's behind that, it just
helps you with everything.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
If I go back in time, I would have gone to an Ivy
League school.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
I would have been an investment banker?
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Yeah for sure I would have done in a heartbeat.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
Yeah, there's so many avenues you can make money in
finance.
There's not just one way,because if you understand the
numbers, you can make everythingwork.
Like you said, you can make anydeal work.
You can make a business deal, areal estate deal, a loan deal
Any deal works if you understandfinance and just so much
opportunity in the city rightnow.
So much, and everybody wantsmoney and people want to spend
it For sure.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Did you see what the CEO of NVIDIA was talking about
recently?
I don't know if you saw that.
I didn't even know how much now.
It's probably trillions ofdollars.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
now they're like the third largest company.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Yeah, they're unreal, but I love what he was saying
and the reason why I'm sayingthis is because of the vibe from
being from the East Coast.
It's a hardworking town,especially like New England, and
I love what he was sayingespecially I've got two boys
just like yourself is he wastalking about suffering and he
hopes people really go throughthat, because that's what makes
you like literally takes you tothe next level of suffering and
(27:30):
learning what that suffering isabout and that resilience
basically matters.
So if you get a chance, checkout his little speech that he
just did recently.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
I couldn't agree with him more.
Yeah, it's powerful.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
It's super powerful.
So mentorship is very importantto me, right, and I know you
talked a lot about some of yourmentors.
You know, obviously, that'sbeing in Vegas Circle, who's in
your circle that's speaking inyour life now that's kind of
helping you and guiding you, youknow, going in the right
direction a billionaire.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Okay, and you?
Know, he's been very, verysuccessful with his companies
that he's that he's createdground up.
He's in the oil business intexas, okay texas, okay, you
know, and he sold, I think, twoor three different companies now
for well over, you know,billion dollars.
Oh wow he's like 41 years old,jeez, damn okay.
So I mean any, any advice whenit comes to business or life or
anything.
I go to him, for you knowthere's a relationship I was
able to um to have from the wind.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Yeah, okay, what's one nugget that he shared with
you?
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Again don't let anyone outwork you.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Don't let anyone ever outwork you yeah.
You know I'll, that's my numberone.
No mantra is someone out thereis outworking you.
Someone out there is younger,hungrier broker and they're
coming.
Yeah, for real.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
I love that, love that.
What else is a business adviceyou could kind of leave?
You know, our listeners out onis, you know, maybe they're
thinking about starting theirown business.
You know, what was one nuggetthat you could share with them,
just from your?
Speaker 2 (28:54):
perspective, someone I always looked up to to help
get my start.
The one with Sean Christie.
Okay, he was on a podcast nottoo feed the soul and you just
got to check the ego at the doorand I've been guilty of it.
You know a little bit ofsuccess.
It's easy to get complacent andget a little bit of ego and you
know, take your foot off thegas just a little bit.
(29:14):
You just can never stop.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
I agree.
I did want to ask you aboutwhat family means to you, man,
because I know me and you talkeda lot about family a little bit
, but just for you know, youngparents out there, right, like
all of us, have got kids at thetable and we all struggle with
different things.
We're all trying to work to tryto make sure we manage our time
a lot better, but what'ssomething that you're doing to
kind of manage your time andtrying to make sure that the
(29:38):
home, uh, it's still home andyour energy is good there, but
you're still involved in so manydifferent things.
What's one tip you could sharefor somebody on that?
Speaker 2 (29:45):
You know, I think growing up I saw my father
struggle.
I saw my family struggle.
You know I remember what it waslike to go to church on a
Sunday morning and you know, sitdown in the aisle and see other
families come in, you know,better dressed than us.
You know, and even almost lookdown on us in some ways.
That's something I never toldanybody and that's something
that's always kind of been myfire.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
I'm not going to let anyone judge me.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
I'm not going to earn my respect and I think that I
come from a long line of manydifferent people, that men whose
last name didn't necessarilyopen doors and they did what
they had to do to make sure thatlast name opened doors.
You better believe you know mysons when they get older their
last name will open doors.
That's what's up and um, youknow I just try to be present as
much as possible.
You got to be present.
You know it's hard to have that, not that phone on you text and
(30:35):
email and scroll on everylittle thing that you can do.
Yeah, that phone away.
And you know you gotta bepresent.
You gotta have that, thatfamily life that's secure.
You gotta have that family lifethat's about love and, um, you
know I'm blessed to have, youknow, a wife with amalia.
That provides that.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
Yeah, I love it because you you really speaking
the truth, like when we weretalking on the phone a couple
weeks back.
Right, we were setting up ourtime for both of our kids to be
sleeping talking yeah, you knowto be after that man, so I I'm
glad you brought that up.
Man is putting the phone down.
We talk about all the time athome, man, like when we're
eating.
Look, put the phone down, man,or we're out to eat, you know,
let's stop for a second andlet's enjoy this.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
And it's hard because my number one tray is, you know
, my, my, uh, my motivation.
I'm always so driven right Iwant to go go, go.
I don't want to miss out onanything, but sometimes you just
got to stop and like even thistrip to Disney yesterday, like I
needed that.
Just to stop, smell the rosesand just be like, look around
you Like you're doing good youcan relax for a little bit.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
That's awesome, man.
We always ask all our guests.
I know you probably got somegems too, from all the places
you've been to but what's onerestaurant you can give us a gem
of yours that you like, thatyou can recommend in Vegas?
Speaker 2 (31:42):
It's so cliche and.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
I hate to say it but it's Carbone.
Okay, okay, I wasn't expectingyou to say Carbone, it really is
.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Why Carbone?
It has a special place in myheart because when.
I started here in Vegas.
I worked at a restaurant calledBotero.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
Ah, okay, familiar with Botero.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
Yeah, that's where Jarnan is.
Yeah, that was a steakhouse,bot A steakhouse.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
Botero was one of our favorite sponsors.
We used to go there all thetime.
I was mad when they closed down.
Yeah, Botero was fun.
What they were trying to do wascreate that vibe dining like
SDK and things like that.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
When I first moved here it was a struggle.
I couldn't get a job anywhereand I was very, very lucky that
I was able to get a job atBotero Lunch.
My background is in hospitality.
I was a waiter I was a server assoon as you come to Vegas.
You want to work in the finedining restaurants.
You want to get in the union.
You want to make $100,000 ayear.
You're set.
There's no other place in theworld that you want to work
(32:29):
other than Vegas.
When you're in the hospitalityindustry, I couldn't get a job
anywhere, for whatever reason.
I would go in these meetings,suit it up.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
I got this.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
I couldn't get a job anywhere and I had interviews
everywhere.
Prime Steakhouse, STK SWSteakhouse, at the win with Brad
Brown, is a dear friend of minenow today.
So I couldn't get a job nowhereand I got lucky.
And I got a job at Botero Lunchand I came from the seaport
working at Del Frisco in Boston$18 million a year
steakhouse, killing it.
(33:04):
I was a sommelier there.
All the athletes know me,celebrities know me, they're
texting me when they need areservation.
And, humbly, I got a job atBotero Lunch, you know serving
hot dogs and chicken fingers andworking from 10 to 12.
And so that whole staff, whenthey closed down Botero, that
whole staff went to Carbone.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
So these were the people that kind of took me
under their wing.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
That embraced me.
I didn't know anybody in thiscity that had no friends, and
those were my friends.
So, that whole staff of Carbone.
That's why it's a special placein my heart.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
And I take my son there all the time.
He's four years old.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
I think they have a.
No, I don't eat pasta and makea mess.
Carbone is good.
I'm not going to.
I don't disagree.
I just I thought you were goingto say something else, but
Carbone is really good, so it'shard to get a reservation there
too, man.
So yeah, that's what I said.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
That's what I said.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
Man, I appreciate you , man.
This is good to hang out withyou for a little bit.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
But what do you want to leave short?
Yeah, no, and I think thatthere's just such an opportunity
to be in this city right now,the way that it's growing.
I agree with you know what youcan do.
You can change your whole life.
No, never accept yourcircumstances for what they are
and definitely let someone elsetell you what your circumstances
are, who you are, who you canbe for real and just take
advantage of it and just if youcan dream it, you can do it.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
Simple as that Because.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
I shouldn't be here.
I came here as a fine diningserver, got a job at Botero
Lunch.
Somehow I got lucky and wasable to get a job at XS and
Encore Beach Club, became a very, very successful VIP host and I
live a very, very blessed lifethat I'm thankful for, and I
shouldn't be here.
The odds were against me andblessed life that I'm thankful
for and I shouldn't be here.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
The odds were against me, and I did it.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
That's what's up, man , if I can do it, anybody can do
it.
You just can't let anyoneoutwork you.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
You can't Well keep paying attention to ACE man.
I've been chopping it up withhim for a while, man, so I'm,
I'm I'm going to say thismotivating, you know, like I
told you before on the phone.
So, uh, appreciate you.
And where can people check youout?
Check you out with your socialhandles?
Speaker 2 (35:04):
People can reach out to you, Ace Pachico, on
Instagram.
I'm a very, very accessible.
You know I've never been thatperson that a lot of individuals
in the city reach out to foradvice or a phone call or lunch.
My door's always open.
I'm always happy to share anyadvice, help out any way I can.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
Yeah, well, appreciate sitting down with you
, man, and check us out atVegasArtcom, so subscribe with
us, man.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
So thanks a lot, man.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
Thank you Thank you guys Appreciate it.
That was really good.
Thank you guys.
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