Episode 11 | Why We Do What We Do: AJ Fernandez San Lotano

Yo yo yo yo yo. Welcome back to the Sticks and Stones podcast. Sticks and Stones is the podcast where we bring serious cigar smokers together with serious dealmakers. Welcome to episode 11. Why we do what we do. I'm very excited about this about this episode because there's so much to talk about. There's so much to talk about. But this is sticks and stones, right? So what are we going to talk about first? what we are enjoying tonight. This is the AJ Fernandez, which by the way, [ __ ] love this guy. AJ Fernandez is a magician in the cigar world. Completely love him. This is the San Lotano Reququum. This is phenomenal. Now, I had a really bad experience with this cigar when I first smoked it many years ago. I like it now, which I was really shocked because I have yet to find a cigar I didn't like of AJ Fernandez. So, the San Lotano, Reququum, Maduro, and 12-year Isle of Sky blended scotch, which I am not, if you follow any of my stuff, I am not usually a blended scotch guy. I'm usually a single malt guy, but the wonderful people at Total Wine and More turned me on to this stuff, and it is fantastic. Is Sky 12ear. And I've got my king cube. So to all of my beautiful people out there, cheers. That's good stuff. And it's not even It's not even cold yet. All right, so we've got this thing clipped. We got a clippy clippy. We got our sippy sippy lighty lighty. Okay, guys. Why we do what we do? First thing, cigars and cigar smoking. Why do we do what we do? And I I have possibly a slighter different take on the cigar world. cigar smoking, the cigar industry, you know, what have you. So, I would venture to say that the majority of cigar smokers out there are going to say I enjoy cigars because I have a high stress job and I like the mellow effect of the nicotine that cigars give me. I like being able to go someplace and chill out and enjoy a nice tobacco product. I'm retired and I like a cigar when I'm golfing or I like it I like it for the chill out factor. And all of those are valid valid points. Why do I smoke cigars? I've been smoking cigars for 20 plus years. I love the cigar world for all of those factors. I do have a very high stress job. Do I need to smoke two to five cigars a day? And I do mean I literally mean maybe not two every single day, but one cigar every single day without fail. That is for sure. But on average, it could be anywhere from two to to five. And I will say this that I made the horrific mistake of smoking in the previous car I was driving back when I was brokering real estate in New Jersey. And New Jersey is a much smaller state compared to Texas. So you can drive the entire state of New Jersey from, you know, top to bottom in about 3 hours. And I service the entire state. So I would do a lot of driving. And when I was driving, I did a lot of smoking. So it was a really bad decision to do that because my Suburban smelled like hell. Nobody ever wanted to get in to climb into my car to go for a drive anywhere cuz it really did smell like hell after a while. you know, you're smoking and I guarantee you I smoke I smoked at least three cigars a day in that car. Um because I would get up in the morning and I would leave for my day and it could start at the office which was a 25 30 minute drive or it could have started in South Jersey where it was like a 2-hour drive. So I was constantly driving. I put roughly 50,000 miles a year on my car on my vehicles. So, I was doing a lot of smoking and a lot of driving. Do I need to smoke that many? Absolutely not. Nobody does. It is a high stress job. I do like the mellowing, the the the calming effects of the tobacco, but I really do love the cigar in itself. But here's an aspect that maybe a lot of people haven't really thought of, but when you are an entrepreneur, you really you have it's kind of like involuntary. you think of stuff like this from beginning to end. There are so many people involved in the cigar rolling industry from the people that are cultivating or making the seeds, finding the seeds, cultivating the seeds to planting the seeds to harvesting the seeds, processing the tobacos, all the way down to rolling and marketing and distribution. There are thousands of employees. And if you like what you do, if you love your hobby, if you love your enjoyment of something, do you want that to end? I wouldn't think so. And if you stop consuming the product, people are going to go out of business. That's just the long and the short of it. And it's a whole domino effect. I would I would venture to say the cigar company itself would go out of business first because they're going to sell as much product as they can to the distributors and wholesalers and all that and then it'll trickle down into the the brick and mortars. So the cigar company would go out of business first and then eventually all of the product will be sold out and you'll never see it again. Like do you want that to happen? I don't want that to happen. So I am supporting the industry, the industry that I love and you can't support the industry without buying the product. So, yes, I am constantly at a cigar shop, lounge, whatever. And I do frequent them and I purchase as often as I possibly can. That definitely sounds like a something like a Chinook, some sort of some sort of hilo with with a turbine engine on it. So, that's why I favor the cigar world. I mean, if you think about it and you break it down, there's so many people involved in the industry. And if you are an entrepreneur, if you have ever employed people, it is such a huge responsibility on you that in essence you hold people's livelihoods in your hand. You know, you're paying their payroll, you're paying their benefits, you're you're responsible for all the human resources stuff and you know, managing all of that and compliance and everything else. Now, I don't I don't know what the the laws and the rules and the compliance are in places like Estle, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic, but I'm sure there's something there's there's something there. So, as an entrepreneur, as a business owner, you sit there and say, "Okay, you know, these people are employing thousands of people." You know, I've never had companies where I've employed that many people, but employing any amount of people. There's training involved. There's, you know, payroll taxes. There's employer liability issues. There's benefits. There's, you know, health insurance, dental insurance, you know, all of this stuff, paid time off. There's so many things that you have to deal with as an employer that without your support, without the money that they make from selling their product to you, they go out of business. Who wants that? Who wants anybody to go out of business? I don't want anybody going out of business. I got to say, guys, on a on a sidebar, but not really a sidebar because this is sticks and stones. I take it back, man. Anything this guy AJ Fernandez rolls is just it's gold, man. If anybody knows of the El Pulo that is not a box press and is a little bit bigger of a ring size, I would love to know where to get them. I haven't seen any shops that have them in the Houston market. That is if they're even making them. I don't know. But why we do what we do? As anyone may know, I am a commercial real estate broker. I broker will be in three different states very soon. Two right now adding a third very shortly. Why do I do what I do? Why did I choose commercial real estate? Well, commercial real estate, like I've said, I am an entrepreneur. I have done many things in many different industries. And as an entrepreneur, you get involved in opportunities and you go down that path to see where that opportunity can lead. Sometimes it leads into a venture, a business. Sometimes it leads into a project where you get in, you make some money and and you get out. And I've done everything in between. I have built businesses. I've gotten in in and out of projects. I have had successful businesses, like wildly successful businesses. I've had business failures. And I've had everything in between. So, I have enough experience and enough connections in every industry you could possibly think of from industrial food manufacturing to military contracting, aerospace, and everywhere in between. Why did I choose commercial real estate? I'm glad you asked. I'll tell you. Commercial real estate is unlike me. Most people do focus in one demographic, in one market. I'm just so used to working in such diverse such spread out markets that I can I can do multiple states with a relative level of ease. But however, real estate in general will keep you localized. So it it brings you home every night. And I have children. I have a family. And for many many years in my career, I have been working in a professional capacity for a very long time. And I have been in careers where I was in an airplane every single week, multiple airplanes every single week. I would travel so much that I would forget sometimes what market I was in. I would forget what state or city I was in. I hated doing that. I mean, it sounds great. It sounds fun. As a young man, as a single man, yeah, I could see that being a lot of fun. But be that as it may, even that only lasts a bit of time because you are constantly living in airports. You are constantly eating at shitty restaurants. You are constantly meeting a myriad of people in sort of a ferris wheel and merry ground. It's just constant and it's very hard to make stable relationships like that and it's just tough. It's very very tough. So I decided what can I do that leverages my my professionalism, my experience, helps people and can afford me to live a lifestyle that I can give my family a decent living. And that answer was real estate. And as real estate and keeps me local, that's that was one of the biggest things. Keeps me local. You know, not having to be in an airplane every week would be awesome. So, the answer was real estate. And for me, the residential world is just not for me. It's far too personal. There's a lot of things that differ in that world than the commercial world. So, it was it was always commercial for me. Being an entrepreneur, I've always been in real estate and having to buy my commercial real estate or lease it or, you know, lease it out. So, you know, rent it, whatever. So it was just it was second nature and it's kind of what I've always been in for you know since 2008. That is why what that is why I do what I do professionally. But that begs me to ask questions of myself and a lot of people that I meet. Why do we do what we do? What gathers a person or makes a person go from one thing to another? Because I know a lot of people and I you know I meet so many people in every walk of life being in real estate. That's one of the beauty parts of being in real estate. You meet so many different people depending on the asset class that you're you're listing and people that you're talking to and buyers and things. You meet so many different people. And I ask this question all the time. How did you start out and how how did you end? And most of the time it doesn't start the same way. It doesn't start and finish the same way. So I mean recently I found out that somebody that I knew, you know, good good prominent businessman started off as a young man getting into college. He wanted to go into theology cuz he wanted to be someone of the ministry. He wanted to be a preacher, pastor, whatever. The deciding point was he realized that his public speaking skills weren't really that good. So, you know, if you have some really good skills or character traits or whatever, but you're shitty at other things, but those things that you're kind of shitty at really kill that career, you got to pivot. So, he pivoted and went into business. And, you know, it it worked out for him. And I was just like, "Wow, man. That's that's pretty crazy, you know, to to hear that story that you went from, you know, one complete like theology. He wanted to be a man of the cloth to go into that and into business and owning businesses and real estate and whatever. It's crazy. Very close friend of mine and has a very big part of my real estate business and my podcast and everything else. Started off in in contracts administration as a degree and not a practicing attorney but a legal degree. Started off doing contracts administration looking at pretty bigiz contracts. um o of all different kinds of contract you like vendor contracts, supplier contracts, business opportunities and things like that and then pivoted because his passion was like snowboarding and skateboarding and eskate and all that type stuff. and he built one of the East Coast's most prominent and largest one of the experts in the repair and service of the Onehe which is like that skateboard with a motorized electric tire in the middle. The guy's phenomenal at it, you know, and it that was like his passion and that's like that's like a total 180, man. To go from contracts administration to that, it's a total 180. But, you know, it's it's his passion and stories like that really intrigue me. I love [ __ ] like that because it speaks to a person's character, their soul, their heart, you know, and I have done some research, right? This is I mean, this blew my mind. So, I hope it blows your mind why we do what we do. And some of these people, you know exactly what they do. There's two on here that you're probably not not going to know who who they are. You're not going to know who they are and what they do. But let's start from the top. Morgan Freeman, one of the most wildly known voices on the face of the [ __ ] planet. Born June 1st, 1937. Started out as a young man enlisting in the Air Force in 1955. So that's 18 years old. When he was 18, he enlisted in the Air Force. Started his acting career 1964. I don't even have to tell you the movies that this guy's played in. I don't have to. But if you don't know Schindler's List, boom. One of the most iconic voices ever to grace the entertainment industry. You go from the armed forces into the entertainment. He didn't just do film. He's done like, you know, plays and a bunch of other stuff. That's huge. That's absolutely huge. Morgan Freeman blew my mind. Jeff Bezos. That's got to be a name that the entire [ __ ] planet knows. Okay. Mr. Amazon, born January 12th, 1964. Graduated Princeton University, prestigious Ivy League College. He worked for Fitel, which was a fintech company in 1986, which, you know, who the hell knew that fintech existed in 1986? I mean, you wouldn't think because it's financial technology, but I guess I guess they had, you know, technologies back in '86 as well. Then he worked at Banker's Trust from 1988 to 1990. And from 1990 to 94, he worked at De Shaw, a hedge fund, and started Amazon. July of 1994. Talk about a pivot. Talk about why we do what we do. How do you go from getting a degree from Princeton University, doing banking, doing fintech, being in a hedge fund, and then turning around and starting one of the biggest companies in the damn world because he started off just selling books. That was the idea, selling books online. You know, this 1984 or 1994 rather, the internet wasn't publicly around yet. 1996 around is when the internet really caught fire. I remember building my first website 1996. Now he's got Amazon everything. There's Amazon Pharmacy. There's they bought Whole Foods. So they own a ger. They he's in Blue Horizon space exploration which he had a little bit of of that inkling when he was a younger man. So many areas of life. Jeff Bezos has affected your life as a citizen of the planet. Good, bad, or indifferent. You can't take that away from him. Whether you love him or hate him, he has affected your life because from your [ __ ] couch, you can order whatever you need. And now it can be delivered within hours depending on where your nearest Amazon distribution center is. Jeff Bezos, guys, why we do what we do. If he would not have had whatever turned him into Amazon. And and I think I was reading the the Wikipedia. I think it had to do with he was he was scouring the market and at the time book sales were like 2003% um profit or an increase in profit or something something of that nature. So then decided to sell books online because the internet was his big thing coming about and that's how but if he had not done that where would we be today? I don't know because you have to admit Amazon's very convenient for your life and I would venture to say your family's life. Okay, next person. Depending on your tastes you may know who this person is. Vera Wang and I would venture to say most women know who this person is. She creates wedding gowns of women's dreams. born June 27th, 1949. Graduated Sarah Lawrence University. Started out as a figure skater. Started out as a figure skater and has become one of the globes most recognized names in fashion. She's all over the fashion world. You name it, she's been there. She's her designs have been on every walk, every catwalk in every market around God's green earth. started from figure skating. How many figure skaters have made the leap from competitive skating to global domination in fashion? Only one that I know of. The next person, Alm Say, this guy was working two different cooking jobs when the guy was shot. And I believe the family is they are Muslim. And apparently they I you know moved from a Muslim country to Scarsboro, Canada, which is like from what I understand in reading the documentation, all of the back background of this story, Scarsboro is one of the highest populations of Muslim community in Canada. And this guy gets shot in Scarsboro and paralyzed being bound to a wheelchair for life. He's not going to walk again. And instead of giving up, this guy opened up two restaurants, one brickandmortar, wheelchair friendly, and a wheelchair friendly food truck that is wildly successful. Talk about something that would trigger you from going from one thing to another. I mean, how more catastrophic can you get than getting shot and paralyzed as a young person? I believe uh the article said it was he was 27 when this happened to him. You're walking home from work and visiting some neighborhood friends and you get shot and paralyzed and instead of saying woe is me, having a chip on your shoulder, the world owes me something. started two wildly successful restaurants. Amazing. The final person that I've noted, and again, this is something that something in this person's life triggered something that pivoted them into a completely different role, Sarah Moresy. After a near fatal car accident in 2007, she transitioned from a project manager at an investment bank. She was an investment banker and from what I understand a pretty successful one too. Pivoted to health and wellness. She founded a clinic with over 200 practice practitioners in her health and wellness clinic. And I believe this is in Europe. Why we do what we do guys. If the one thing that I can say from this episode is first of all life is so temporary but life is fragile. Anything could happen at a moment's notice. And it all depends on your reaction to that event that can change things. Morgan Freeman went from being in the Air Force to being one of the most recognized actors and voice actors this world has ever known. Jeff Bezos went from banking and hedge funds to Amazon, one of the richest people in the entire world. Vera Wang went from competitive ice skating to one of the most recognized fashion designers on planet Earth. Allem say got shot and is creating culinary masterpieces in a way that caters to someone that he can relate to, someone in a wheelchair. Sarah Moresy almost died and that changed her viewpoint in life from investment banking to health and wellness. What does that make you think about your life? What does that make you think about what you can accomplish? I know it's corny and it's an adage. It's it's like sky's is the limit. And it really can be. The sky really can be your only boundary if that's the way you look at it. Why do we do what we do? I also think that it's the love of something. You have to love what you're doing if you want to do it long term. If I interviewed commercial professionals or I'm sorry, if I interviewed 100 real estate professionals, do you think that I would get 100 stories of I woke up like this? Everything is great. I love life. My job is awesome. Everything comes easy to me. Listings just fall out of the sky. Buyers just fall out of the sky. It's so easy. Anyone can do it. No, I guarantee you I will not get any one out of 100 people to tell me that. I guarantee that. But when you love something and you have a passion for it, some of the things that are not so great about your career, you end up overlooking it because of some of the great things that it brings to your life. I can speak for myself being an entrepreneur, being someone who has owned businesses, run businesses, I have needed real estate. And if you're in any kind of a business, whether it's office space, whether it's retail, whether it's warehouse distribution or manufacturing, assembly, and industrial, you are going to need real estate in one way, shape, form, or fashion. And I I have I have needed real estate through many stages of my career and my life. And don't get me wrong, there are a lot of great professionals out there, but I have dealt with a lot of piss poor brokers. And I said that there's got to be a better way to do this. There has to be a better level of service than what I'm getting right now. And that is one of the main reasons why I do what I do. Because I know what it's like. I know what it's like to call up a broker and for them not to answer you. I know what it's like to call up a real estate professional and they don't really know everything about the listing that you're calling on. They're ill-prepared is a better way to say it. I know what that's like. I know what it's like to deal with a a real estate professional that is more concerned about what they're going to make at the closing table than your wants and needs. I hear horror stories about people that just recently I talked to somebody that is in the process of closing on something, a property that they own. Their lawyer hasn't looked at any of the contracts. Their broker hasn't looked at any of the any of the documentation. And I'm like, what the hell's going on? Why isn't anyone fighting for you? And that is why I do what I do. I know what it's like. I have walked in your shoes. I have seen your side of the fence. And when you need something, when you need that piece of real estate to make your life live and your family thrive because that's your business, that's the that that will be the place where you make your money. That can't be more important. That is the most important thing to your life at that point. And I know what it's like to have professionals that don't care. That is why I do what I do. Is real estate an easy industry? No, not at all. If you are in real estate, you are constantly prospecting. You are constantly out there. You are you have to be on. You have to be on at all times. There is never a point in time when you are off because and especially in commercial, the attrition rate on deals are so much higher than residential. If you think that you have something in the bag and you're, you know, you're counting the eggs in your basket, you're going to have a lot of premature omelets because that basket is going to fall and all them all them eggs are going to crack. And if you don't have a backup basket with other eggs in it, you're toast. So, is it easy? No, it's not easy. It's not the easiest thing I've ever done. That's for sure. But there's nothing else or there's there's nothing that compares to it. The real estate field, there's nothing else that compares to it in getting that sense of accomplishment. You helped an individual or you helped a company achieve their goal, that level of accomplishment, that sense of accomplishment. There's nothing like it. and why I do this the cigar thing. I guess in a sense it's also a sense of accomplishment. You know, a cigar is is very much like music. And I I tell this to a lot of people cuz a lot of people who know that I'm an avid cigar smoker will ask me, "What is my favorite cigar?" And I'll tell you the exact same answer I tell everyone. I will tell you the same thing I tell everyone. I don't have a favorite. I have a go-to for a specific mood. I have a go-to for something that if I'm planning on having a steak, I know what I'm going to be smoking after. If if I'm going to be smoking a a specific, rather if I'm going to be drinking a specific drink, if I'm if I'm going for scotch that evening or bourbon or tequila or gin, I have an idea of what I'm smoking. So, I don't have a favorite or a go-to. What more beautiful thing can you get? I mean, this is it's a natural product that grows out of the ground and gives you a sense of relaxation and calming and so many people have been involved in this product to get it into your hand. You have to appreciate that. I mean, even if you don't like cigars, even if you hate cigars, if you hate tobacco product in general, you would have to respect the fact that so many people went into getting this into your hand. And there's livelihoods in those people getting this into your hand. And if there are teams of people that are not there, this doesn't get into your hand. If the people are there, if the people the teams are not there that plant the seeds or grow the seeds and then plant the seeds, harvest the seeds, learn how to blend these different tobacos, this is not making it into your hand. So it's not to say that for the majority of companies that this can be done by one person. It can't. It would be impossible. If it was a oneperson organization, they would make three cigars in an entire year. I think the question why we do what we do is so intriguing. It's so thoughtprovoking that I don't know why more people don't ask that question. I mean, I have spoken about five different people of note. people that you know some of you listening or watching may know, but there's so many people out there that I know that you know that you know personally you may be you may deal with on a regular basis that you know their story but a lot of people don't. You know their story on how they started from one thing and pivoted and changed to something else. Or maybe you know someone that knew from the very beginning as a kid, I'm going to be a lawyer. I'm going to be a doctor. I'm going to be an astronaut and they did it. Maybe you know someone like that. Not to say that there's no small level of respect there as well. But we all have motives. We all have drives. We all have passions that make us do what we do. Unless you're just one of those that has no drive or passion or whatever and you just don't give a [ __ ] And I, you know, I guess that's fine to each their own. But I would venture to say that anybody doing what they're doing, anybody who ventures out and takes the risk in starting a business, starting a product, starting a restaurant, starting a venture of some kind, a teaching academy, whatever it may be, there has to be something within you that is driving you, that passion, that desire. If you're a cigar maker, you know, there's a collaboration of of Room 101 that the guys that started, you know, one of the guys that started Room 101 was a jewelry maker, then got into cigars, and it's like one of the best cigars you can get, like the Farsay, and you know, there's a bunch of sticks that Room 101 makes, the Johnny Tobacon. These are phenomenal sticks. You have to love what you do. You have to have a passion for what you do. Cigars is no different. Like I don't I don't think you wake up in the morning and say, you know what, I'm going to start a cigar company. It's not something that you just do, you know? You have to have a drive toward it. You have to have a passion for it. I would imagine that you have to have some kind of background in it. I mean, you can't just jump out of bed one day and say, "Hey, I'm going to do this. I'm going to make cigars." Would I love to do that? Sure. But I know for a fact that I would make a piss poor cigar. It's not my strong suit. It's not my strong point. not something that I would be really well doing. Why we do what we do? You ever ask yourself that question? Have you ever asked yourself why am I doing this? Or you may get asked that question. Why are you doing this? Why are you doing what you're doing? Why are you starting this business? Why are you taking on this client? Why did you take on this project? It's a valid question. Have you ever asked that question of yourself? I ask myself that question all the time. But have you really digged deep and asked yourself why do you do what you do? I have these thoughtprovoking questions all the time. You know even no matter how minuscule it is, no matter how granular it is, there has to be a why. You know the big why that everyone talks about what is your why? Why are you doing this? Why are you doing that thing? Maybe it's competitive sports. Why are you doing that? And I I would hope and I know in this world and in today's age that we're in a lot of this changed and a lot of viewpoints have changed and I see people do some of the craziest some of the Barrett despicable things for money. I would say and I would hope that a lot of your motivations are not monetary. You know, when you're looking at professional sports athletes, soccer players, American football players, baseball players, most of these people, you see them on the field of battle, you see them on the baseball diamond, you see them on the grid iron, you see them on the soccer field. You don't know what it went into getting there. You don't know the strives. You don't know the hours in the gym working out and tuning their bodies up to being at that professional level. You don't know what what went into that. But I can with a fair level of certainty started off as children on the recess field out at recess or on the pee-wee league diamond baseball diamond or the pee-wee league football team. I would venture to say that a huge part of those people that are playing professional sports and getting paid wild amounts of money initially started with the love of that game, the love of that sport. Do I think eventually it gets down to monetary? I'm going to be rich and famous one day. Yeah, I think a huge portion of those people that are training and are in high school sports and collegiate sports. I think for a lot of them the goal is professional sports because you get to be inundated and everything that glitters is gold and you're seeing everyone signing these hundred million dollar contracts and multiund million dollar contracts and you're seeing all these people playing professional sports and making a tremendous amount of money and they own huge mansions out in exotic places of the world. Yeah, that that becomes enticing to anyone. But I would say that it started with the love of that game for the most part. I'm not saying everybody's like that, but I'm I'm saying for the most part, I would think why we do what we do. I mean, I would say that passion plays a big part in a lot of things. I would say desire, drive plays in a lot of things. Cigars, you know, Steve Saka and the Dun Barton uh tobacco company or the Fuente family from Arturo Fuente or the Placencia family from Placencia Cigars. They grow seed and they roll for every literally every cigar company in the world. You have to have a passion to do that. I mean, that's not just something that you want to do because it's a monetary thing. I would say that these companies make a fair amount of profit, but I don't think that's the gist of it. I don't think that's that's the the end all beall or the where all beall. I think that these people have a passion for the product that they grow and the product that they roll and they have a sense of pride. They're proud of what they put out. And I would think in any walk of life, in any profession, that you should be proud in the product that you put out. Do you go that extra mile for your clients? Do you go and sit there for a real estate inspection when you don't have to? It's not in your job description. Are you willing to do that for your clients? What new products are you thinking of? What new cigars are you thinking? What blend? Oh man, if I we blended this and that, what would that taste like? What what experience would that happen out of that if doctors didn't have passion for what they do for healing people saving people you know transplant probably would have never happened artificial organs probably would have never happened that have saved millions you know uncounted lives I believe that if that level of passion were not in the legal world the legal careers that somebody protecting a a people protecting a business going through the law going through precedent protecting their clients. Maybe some things would have never been created. Some laws would have never been created. Civil rights, you know, Ramsay Clark wrote the civil law. If he didn't have a passion, if he didn't give a [ __ ] if he didn't care, that wouldn't exist today. I have had some interaction with Mr. Clark and I know he's very passionate and he's very caring and he's very heartfelt to protected classes of people but if he had not been that caring and passionate and desire to help people how many untold lives would have not been affected. I mean, these are the things that I think of. If a lot of the people that you love seeing on the screen, like Morgan Freeman, Leonardo DiCaprio, all these, you know, named bigname, maybe not so bigname actors and actresses, if they didn't have that passion, if they didn't have that drive to be the best that they could, would you be entertained? Would you laugh? Would you cry? Would it provoke thought to say, "I never thought of that." storytellers, artists, authors, if they don't do what they do, would you not be affected? Take one of the the greatest books you've ever read, if that author didn't write that book, what would that do to your life? A house that your children grew up in and maybe it was a difficult purchase. Maybe, you know, there were a lot of people fighting for that house. If your real estate professional didn't do all or he or she could have done and fought and had the passion to get you what you wanted to accomplish your goal, how would your kids have been raised? You know, it's it's it's very true in residential real estate, location, location, location. So, if you did not live in that location, if you didn't live in that neighborhood, if you didn't live in that school district, if you didn't live in that area, would your children's lives been affected differently? I would venture to say yes. I would venture to say absolutely. So why do you do what you do? Have you ever asked yourself that question? Why do you wake up in the morning? Why do you get out of bed? I have a lot of reasons and I've given some of them here on this episode. But if you don't have a good reason, you're not doing the right thing and you should start questioning yourself. You should start asking that question. Why am I doing what I'm doing? I loved this episode. This concept, this thought just spurred so much creativity and learning about people that I didn't know stuff about like Morgan Freeman or Jeff Bezos or Vera Wang. I didn't know this about these people, but they're household names. People know these names. It makes you wonder. And I'm very much an extrovert. I'm a people person, and I like asking these questions, and I ask these questions all the time of different people, you know, different walks of life. And that's part of why I do what I do as well because when you're in the real estate field, it's part of the questions you ask. Who are you? What do you do? What is your business do? What are your goals? What are your visions? These are the questions that you should be asking your clients or potential clients. And it's something that I do on a daily basis. And I think it's what makes our world so colorful. It's why I think it's so enjoyable. And don't get me wrong, there's a lot of dark, nasty, and dirty [ __ ] out there. And there's a lot of bad people doing bad things, but you also have a lot of good people doing a lot of good things. And that's why there are things like the Nobel Peace Prize. And that's why there are so many humanitarian, not just awards, but there's a lot of humanitarian efforts and things like that. I think that if we don't beg the question why we do what we do, we can end up in a really dark place, in a really unproductive place, in a really bad place for ourselves, for our families, for our lives, for others. You don't seem to understand until you kind of grab onto this question and you dig deeper and delve into it that I guess in in the end result, your life affects so many others. Your life not just affects you, but it your family, your children, your children will see the way you live and they will undoubtedly mimic that. A lot of people when they have drive, it's because someone that they grew up around had drive. Your life will touch so many others people's lives that if you don't ask the question, why am I doing what I'm doing? It may lead to a life very underwhelming. I don't know. That's just my two cents. I hope you got something out of this. I know I did. But this is all I have for this episode. For Sticks and Stones, I pray that you stay blessed.