For this week’s episode, we’re back with another interview with an old friend of mine, Jason Yarusi—CEO and founder of Yarusi Holdings, ultra-marathon runner, family man, and host of two successful podcasts: The Multifamily Podcast and The Jason & Pili Podcast. With all of these roles on his plate, how does he manage to do it all? One of the habits that have led Jason to success is having a clear vision of where he wants to be, and knowing what steps to take to get there. However, this is almost always easier said than done, especially for entrepreneurs who are struggling to determine what their next step should be. If you are in the same boat, fret not. Jason Yarusi is here with us to share wisdom on what you need to do to reach your goals—and surprisingly, it doesn’t involve knowing all the steps that you need to take. Jason is an extremely disciplined athlete and business owner. If you want to learn more about his lifestyle and how you can adopt the same habits into your life, press play and listen as we delve into topics about multifamily real estate, perseverance, goal-setting, and networking.
For this week’s episode, we’re back with another interview with an old friend of mine, Jason Yarusi—CEO and founder of Yarusi Holdings, ultra-marathon runner, family man, and host of two successful podcasts: The Multifamily Podcast and The Jason & Pili Podcast. With all of these roles on his plate, how does he manage to do it all?
One of the habits that have led Jason to success is having a clear vision of where he wants to be, and knowing what steps to take to get there. However, this is almost always easier said than done, especially for entrepreneurs who are struggling to determine what their next step should be. If you are in the same boat, fret not. Jason Yarusi is here with us to share wisdom on what you need to do to reach your goals—and surprisingly, it doesn’t involve knowing all the steps that you need to take.
Jason is an extremely disciplined athlete and business owner. If you want to learn more about his lifestyle and how you can adopt the same habits into your life, press play and listen as we delve into topics about multifamily real estate, perseverance, goal-setting, and networking.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
1. Create goals and steps that are actionable.
2. You won’t need to know all of the steps towards your goal—all you need to know is the next step to keep yourself in line.
3. Focus on your wins.
4. Your network can help you accomplish so much more.
LINKS
Jason Yarusi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-yarusi-08b9a426
Jason Yarusi on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jasonyarusi?lang=en
Yarusi Holdings Website: www.yarusiholdings.com
Steven: [00:00:01] Transitioning to Emily, today's guest has been through the process making hard decisions and moving his business from first focusing on flipping houses and lifting houses to now building a multifamily Empire. We're going to be diving in his flight and some very valuable tips that you can use no matter what you're doing in the business to help you grow personally and professionally. Let's get right to it.
INTRO: [00:00:34] This is The Investor Mindset Podcasts and I'm Steven Pesavento. For as long as I can remember, I've been obsessed with understanding how we can think better, how we can be better, and how we can do better. And each episode we explore lessons on motivation and mindset for the most successful real estate investors and entrepreneurs in the nation. Today's episode is sponsored by Vonfinch Capital. If you're interested in investing alongside me in the same type of real estate opportunities that I personally invest in, then head over to Vonfinch Capital and join their private investor network. You can do so at Vonfinch.com/invest. Join me on that next deal and I look forward to seeing you on the inside.
Steven: [00:01:22] Welcome back to The Investor Mindset Podcast. I'm your host Steven Pesavento and I'm very excited today we have Jason Yarusi in the studio with us today. How are you doing today Jason?
Jason: [00:01:33] Doing awesome, man. And yeah, I'm looking forward to when I actually can be in the studio again, face to face because it's been a bit since we've actually been in person out in the conversation. So psyched to be here, man, good to chat. How are you doing?
Steven: [00:01:44] It’s been too long and that is what the feeling is. I feel like almost everybody is feeling as we're heading into mid-year of 2021. As we've been continuing to explore and dive into change, but we're going to talk about that and more. But for you guys who don't know, Jason, he's the founder of Yarusi Holdings with his wife pili. They have over 75 million in assets under management across 850 multifamily units. He's an avid ultra-runner, and workout enthusiasm. He's the host of the multifamily live podcast, and the Jason and pili project. And he wakes up at 4:32am every day. We'll get into that I'm sure. And as an aspiring ukulele player, he is an incredible family man. He's been doing a lot of great things and we actually connected back in 2016, at one of the very first real estate conferences, actually the very first real estate conference I had ever been to and we've been friends ever since. So I'm excited to dive into things.
Jason: [00:02:39] Yeah, that's crazy. We're just talking about that and that was my first real estate conference just on the opposite side of the country. So in New Jersey said, we came across this group, this was a pili had of course, our first kid, we were looking for ways to get an act in real estate. I found this group I said, this would be awesome for you to get engaged with pili and when she did, there was this event coming up. But we had a--Sophia was pregnant with our second child. So I went out to the event, met you, met a ton of other great friends that we still have today. And yeah, rest is history, man.
Steven: [00:03:11] The rest is history and it's crazy to think we had you on for Episode Four that came out back in 2019 in April 2019. So if anyone wants to go back and listen to an earlier version of this conversation, where we both come, you can dive back in Episode Four. But you know, your business has been one that's been incredible as I've been following you for many years, you started out when I had met you, you're working both doing house flips, while also lifting houses and a family business and doing some frankly, heavy construction. And over the last few years, we've seen you within our group of friends be somebody who was one of the first people to step back into the multifamily space and then as you slowly have been transitioning all of your effort and focus there. And so I'd love to talk a little bit about how that business has changed and scaled over time and what led to some of the decisions to be able to let go of things that were working in order to be able to step fully into this space that you're in today.
Jason: [00:04:14] So that's always that question. And sometimes you have that defining moment and sometimes you don't and sometimes you start stacking everything because you don't know that next question, that next step or where you're going to go. So as we met of course flipping, doing some wholesaling, doing some Airbnb on top of that, we were of course running this family construction business and the business had gone nuts. I know we talked about it before because of Hurricane Sandy and it was fun helping dad really just ramp up his business. We had come from a lot of different spaces, of course and a lot of different fields. So we knew this was a season, but this wasn't our ultimate step in our journey. So we were just trying to figure it out like a lot of people do and we started buying some rentals out of state and that was really accelerating for us and exciting but it wasn't scalable, we couldn't do this at a point where we knew we were going to be able to buy 50 duplexes in a certain area, it just wasn't something that was going to be full circle. So I came upon people buying large apartment buildings, it was something that really clicked for me really just said, Okay, here's a way that we can do what we've done in the past, take businesses that weren't performing, and make them perform better. So we looked at this and said, okay, you buy a building that's got the economies of scale, because maybe you have 50, 100, and 200 people under one roof and you can move small leavers, which just has a massive effect across this big building. That was back Of course, prior to when I was on the last show back in 2017, we bought our first 94 units and that was just the eye opener of what you can do and how you can scale and how you can grow. So we've gone all in on that from a lot of different points. In the beginning, we were still helping on the family business and a big part but, we've continued to step out and step out and step out as we could let the business really evolved to what it is today for my dad, him and my brother really doing great things out there and now we're really full in on multifamily.
Steven: [00:06:02] Yeah, and it's one of those things where it's hard when you have something in front of you that you're good at, that you're succeeding at, but and you're working with other people and as you get more and more clear on your goals and values and what's important to you, it can be difficult to make that decision for yourself to step away from what was working phenomenally in order to be able to create what you want to create so definitely, many inspirations for you on that. Stepping in and obviously, there's been a lot of growth that you've been able to see over the past couple of years but how have you gone about finding that key focus today? And overall, what had you land in this position to say, Yep, I'm going to go all in on one thing?
Jason: [00:06:45] You start with the little steps, like even getting up in the morning, create these little wins in your day, create these little wins in your life, and you create goals and create steps that are actionable. Many times you'll hear like, I want to make a million dollars or I want to go and buy 1000 units. But without context of, what's the step? What's the idea to get there? So for us even right now, like go right now we're going to get an LOY out a week, right. So I don't know where that goes. I don't know what the big format is there but we have to build back to continue to have at least three to four conversations each week with brokers three to four conversations each week with property managers with investors. So we continue to build that Rolodex of deal flow coming in to where we have deals in front of us that we can make offers and then the big over rushing goal, it would be to go under contract and close one deal a quarter for the 2021 and that was our goal in 2020 worked out in its own odd way. We closed on one deal in the first quarter and closed on three in the last quarter. So it happened, but it was just us putting the steps in play to saying okay, instead of saying, Let's get a deal done each quarter, and then you know, you'll find ways to procrastinate or put that off or wait to the last minute to go after it. Well, let's do actual steps with those actual steps. Okay, I put an offer out each week, get out? Are we going to have a number of conversations each day, throughout the week? So we can have enough lead generation to know that there's offers in front of us for us to go out there? And of course put otherwise on?
Steven: [00:08:10] Yeah, and that's so, so important because when you're starting out with a clear vision of where you want to land, then you can start mapping out what are those steps, those actions, those things that I can do on a daily or weekly or monthly basis that are going to help get me there? And then how do I actually check in? What are the KPIs and for you, in this instance, you're talking about the number of LOYs that you'd be getting out per week? How can I check in to understand that I'm actually meeting that expectation of getting there, and that my belief that these actions are going to lead to that are actually true? And what tweaks Do I need to make along the way? So that's really amazing. You know, for listeners, we've been talking a lot lately about your superpower, what is the thing that ends up being the thing that you are absolutely the best at, the thing that you are both good at and people recognize that you're good at? And the thing that you do better than most other people? So with that question out there, Jason, what do you believe your superpower is?
Jason: [00:09:10] So my wife would say I'm stubborn, and I'm pretty good at being stubborn when I know that there's a right answer. And I'm sure she's laughing right over there is that I'm stubborn to a point that if I believe there's a yes out there, I'm going to keep finding out how to ask the question to the right person to get to that yes. And that's a lot of the points is that so many times in life, we'll take the first no and just say, Okay, I guess it's a no, but maybe that person that you asked a question to either didn't know the answer wasn't a position to say yes. Didn't ultimately understand the question fully or just wasn't the right person in general, right. And so that happens a lot where you have to make sure you can continue to get better at your questions so you can get better answers and you get better results. So it's a constant testing. Part of it with me running every day is that you get up and you're starving to a point that there's things that you don't want to do every day. Running is something I do but it's not what I want to do every day and some days just don't feel like it but you have to get out there and do it and that's a lot of being stubborn in your approach. If you find that this is something that you want to do, have value, there's not going to be the perfect day, there will be great days, there'll be no great days, but in between, you'll find the lessons from the bad days, so you can appreciate the great days.
Steven: [00:10:16] Yeah, and that discipline is so key and it's something that you have clearly been able to develop over that time, the stubbornness, the perseverance, but that discipline is really what allows you to be able to go out and do all these things, while having a full family and spending time, quality time with them. I think that's something that's really, really valuable. And it actually brings me when you're talking about this, it makes me be reminded about some of the reasons that so many successful CEOs and executives spend their time ultra-marathon running, doing Iron Man's doing competitive races, it's because they're putting themselves in a situation that forces them to be able to grow, to be able to recognize that where they are now, they're capable of more and that's possible. How has that kind of activity made an impact on your personal life as well as your business?
Jason: [00:11:10] So you set parameters for yourself where it gives you clarity, and for me when running I get my best ideas because I'm not to a point where there's technology going off at a mile a minute, so much noise, so much distraction, to have a moment for myself to get my time, get my composure, so I can come back to the day. But with ultra-marathon running, you don't know what you haven't done yet and that's like a lot with life is that before I ran 100 miles, I didn't know how to run 100 miles. But if I focus on 100 miles, I would have probably stopped myself to the goal because it would have been too far from where I've gone before. So the goal became, okay, how can I make this actionable because even like training for a marathon, maybe we'll get up to some 20 mile races or 20 mile runs prior to the marathon, but for 100 mile race, it's not like you're doing a couple 80s or a couple of 90s prior to the race. You're basically saying, okay, I have to figure out how to have the trajectory to go there. And then you actually--it's pretty true and you hear that said a lot, but it's actually the first 50 miles, your legs and last 50 miles your mind. Where if you think about getting to the 100 yeah, you might just scare yourself off the cliff and not even start especially like mile one, I only have 99 left you that's like a lot of their goals. We get focused on the overarching ends, and forget about okay, all I have to do in my mile one is get to mile two, what I have to do in mile two is get to mile three and long behold, you start turning around and here you are at mile 50. And then for that, maybe it's not a mile anymore, maybe you just have to get to the bridge or towards your steps or get that treat. Now you're at mile 90 and you start turning around again, okay, maybe I can just get another 10 steps, another five steps, but that's a lot like entrepreneurship, it's path is going to be unknown because you haven't done it before. But saying, okay, can I just get to that next pivot point, that next place, that next part to just say, okay, I'm here, what do I do now? And if we can all have that context in our business and our life, it will keep us going without the fear of saying, okay, I'm so far from my goal, there's always other people that potentially so far are ahead of me or I don't know all the steps in the middle. Well, you don't and you won't need to know all the steps. All you need to know is okay, what is this next step I have to do right now to keep me in line with where I'm going towards my goal.
Steven: [00:13:23] Yeah. And it's so clear that when you're training yourself in your daily activity, within the workouts and the routines and those things that you're doing that is going to end up playing into your business, and the discipline that it's going to take to be able to succeed there. Now, when people hear about something like ultra-marathon running, or doing competitive sports, like this wall, running a business while having a family, there's a lot of limiting beliefs that end up coming up for people. And one of those questions, probably, that everyone's thinking of themselves is how do you find the time? How do you make the time? How do you set aside your ability to be able to go out and run 20 miles, because for some people, they're just trying to find 10 minutes to get a workout in. And for you, you've been able to really design a way of thinking to be able to go out and train on a regular basis.
Jason: [00:14:18] So first thing that comes to mind is I think, even like meditation, like if you don't have two minutes to meditate, you need an hour. And that's the same thing with even running. We all say we're so short on time, but waste an hour and a half trying to figure out what after breakfast and lunch is, or will be on social media for seven hours a day on Facebook or some of these other apps or fill in the blank. So if you want to do it and you set priorities for what needs to be done, you have the time, you're just choosing to use your time in a different way. Because there are people out there doing it and I find myself that there's time I've wasted the day to and to build that back and say okay, well is that time being useful? And can I erase it so I eat consistently same things I wear pretty much pattern Have clothing each day, I take out some of these decisions that just aren't important to me and then I get a couple of minutes back here and there where I can use that efficiently for other stuff, where potentially I could have made that excuse while I'm too busy because I'm doing x when in fact, I'm not looking at the in be tweens of where my time is to really maximize on calendar.
Steven: [00:15:22] Yeah, yeah, that's really big because we're all making those decisions on a regular basis. Many of them we don't even know that we're making because they're actually the habits that we've made decisions in the past and then we're continuously doing those things over and over again. But it's actually breaking those habits. So for you, as somebody who's been so committed to this, I think this is so valuable for investors and business owners to understand that I really want to belabor the point, what is it for you that you've done to be able to break some of those habits and reinstall these new ones, these new ways of being, so that you can really step into that?
Jason: [00:15:55] Got a great win. So sometimes in life we just start to focus on the little things that are negative and we forget about the positive stuff. So you could have 23 hours, 57 minutes of positivity that great day, and then you'll go stub your toe, and the whole day will be set off because you just stubbed your toe. And then lots of times we'll focus on those little points in between that are just minor blips. But all of our attention will go there to negativity, and we'll go into the feast and famine mode, like, oh, the world is horrible because this small thing happens. Instead of saying, okay, what are all these good things that happened and focusing on that right is where our attention will go, that's what will build. So create those wins each day, get up, get my morning routine in, go and have my run at least I've set that up, I've created a window in the day. So where the next step will go, there might be some things that come up that are challenges but I always can track back that I got this done so I've created wins. And then you do that little win on top of another little win and all sudden his gigantic mounds of wins that you've been able to accumulate because now you're focusing on the wins and not just saying, you know, how this happened today, someone cut me off my car or XYZ, right. And that's where your attention will go when you've had so much other good stuff happening. But because of your mindset , you'll just keep finding ways to focus on the negative instead of taking in all the good that you're exposed to each and every day.
Steven: [00:17:18] Yeah, yeah, that's such good advice there, it's worth listening to a second time for sure. So shifting gears a little bit you're somebody who's going out, you're working on buying deals in competitive markets, and many people today from an operator perspective, or from an investor perspective, they're hearing about it from their operators they work with. They're hearing that it's even tougher to find great deals, that it's even tougher to be the one to win those great deals. So what have you found that you've been doing or what have you found that's helped you to stand out amongst the crowd?
Jason: [00:17:51] It's a good question. Its consistency again because you have to be there and continue to be there because you're not going to know when the right time is, you're going to just continue to do your actions to find the right time. So if I show up today, and me and the same person next to me, okay, maybe they have a stronger deal, maybe they have money, they’re happy to take lower returns with their money and maybe you fill in the blank. But for that point, me being consistent with our actions here as a team as an office, and as a firm going forward we know in rotation, we're going to put ourselves in the best position to eventually continue to have wins. And so do I know if that's tomorrow or next week or next year? No, I don't. But I do know it will come if we continue to put the motions in play.
Steven: [00:18:39] So what have been those motions for you that have ended up leading to you being able to win out when others haven't?
Jason: [00:18:46] Consistency and follow. So we had what, we had two deals last year that were third, fourth follow ups that one was a year after we first offered on it so that part right there. So we were pretty far out on that one. So that's pretty good in our face to say, just have to keep on the radar because time changes everything. Our thought that where we are today is not necessarily what would be the sellers’ motivation tomorrow. So typically don't assume that oh, well, I offered and supported before they didn't like it and then syllabi and a year later came to the same thought. So time changes everything, our first offer, our first property we had offered about six months prior and went back checked on our list and that was our first deal. But if we just offered and went away, we still might not have a deal today.
Steven: [00:19:41] That makes so much sense. So it's that persistence that you're talking about to continue to ask that question, to continue to follow up and find a way at a new time, with a new conversation, with a new way of asking, and a new way of presenting it that's really getting you to the front of the line because if the deal is still available, then there's got to be a way that you can change the scenario to be able to win that deal.
Jason: [00:20:04] Correct. So constant flow, constant interaction, and could be every couple of weeks, can be every couple of months but you check back on these because you don't know how time will change things. But it puts you in a position to, where it opens up new opportunities, especially if you're speaking with a broker because oh, so hey, what's happened to that property? Oh, okay, that would treat it well, what else are you working on? So it's constantly putting you in a frame of mind to be in a position to be ready when there's new opportunities that are available to you.
Steven: [00:20:29] Absolutely. So I'm curious, like as somebody who we obviously met through community, communities played a huge role in my development and the ability to do what I've been able to accomplish, I'd love to hear from you how has community and masterminds and being surrounded by other people who are driven and on the same path impacted or influenced the business and the success you've been having?
Jason: [00:20:52] It would be hard for me to give value to it, because it's been so valuable. You're only as good as your team and sure, maybe go out there and be a one man show for a minute and you can do some of that. We've done a couple of our transactions have been pure in just doing them and we'll put the whole deal together fine, you get it done. But it's more rewarding when it's with a team and you're able to maximize your approach because everyone is benefiting from being in their power position to be able to do what's best for the property. So growing, you constantly have these conversations, just like yourself, where we're chatting because we're finding synergies, how we can help each other because you do get bigger and better with where your resources come from. And your research sources come from your network. And so it may be that you have a question I'm able to help with or vice versa just because we've made this connection. We might not be intertwined at all on the projects we're doing but we may be able to help both benefit from going forward, just by now having the resources of the community we've built.
Steven: [00:21:49] Yeah, that's so huge. That's so huge. It's such a good reminder because it's like by getting surrounded by other people who are doing what you want to do, who are also on the path, maybe some people who are further along on the path, maybe some who are behind. Together, you're all able to accomplish so much more and you never know where that relationship might go. It could be a quick meeting, it could be a partnership that happens five or 10 years down the line. I mean, we've both seen that happen within our own lives so it's such a beautiful reminder to listeners on that. So we've made it to one of my favorite parts of the show the growth rapid fire round, where the questions are quick, but your answers definitely don't need to be. Talk to me about success, how would you define success? And what is success to you?
Jason: [00:22:34] So if I look back, I want my kids to grow up to be really happy and just fulfilled with what they've done. And so if I can do things that can lead them to that point to give them the ability to be curious, and to really want to look at life in a way that maybe I wasn't ready to do at that point, that will be success.
Steven: [00:22:52] Yeah, that's beautiful. And habits, what are some of those Keystone habits, those things that you do on a daily or weekly basis that have led to you being able to create the foundation for that success?
Jason: [00:23:03] Like I said, run every day, don't plan it out, just out the door because sometimes we'll scare ourselves off the shelf, because say, Oh, I got to figure out a route to go. Just get out the door. And I put out--actually sometimes thinking about my clothes, if I know, I just do not feel like doing this, sometimes I'll have my shoes by the bed. But on that fact, just get out the door and don't look at the weather because that's another--just doesn't matter. Okay, it's cold, you're still running, if it's warm it's still running, it's raining it's still running, if it's sleeping, you're still running, doesn't matter. Just create the habits where you're not finding ways to create obstacles for you in your day.
Steven: [00:23:36] Making it so easy for you to do it. So once those shoes are on and you're dressed up, you're going to be heading out and getting that workout and that's definitely such a beautiful reminder. So inspiration, what impact have mentors made on your life? And how do you look at finding great mentors?
Jason: [00:23:54] When you're looking for him, you won't find them. But when you're ready, it just happens because you're put in position to have them in front of you. Because you know, there's a question that you can beat because many times we look at mentors. The other way is I need someone to mentor me and to guide me on every part. But mentorship is for you because you want to take action. And there's going to be little in betweens where they just are able to give you that little nudge and say okay, you're going in the right direction, but just a little nudge and then you're on your way. So they help you fill the gap so the roles you need to do to continue on the trajectory of where you're going.
Steven: [00:24:29] That's great. And so finishing on this Jason purpose, what drives you to live your best life every day?
Jason: [00:24:34] Building a family. It sounds easy to say but of course, you wake up, that's part of me even have to get up early because if I get up a little bit later than I would, I would have little kids all over me and then I want to get out the door. So you get up early, you go back and come back your smiling faces that are happy, want to do all kinds of little things that are discovering life. I mean that just sets up everything.
Steven: [00:24:56] That sounds magical. So this has been amazing. Where can people find out more about you and get in touch?
Jason: [00:25:01] Sure. Yeah, absolutely. So you can go over to Yarusi Holdings you'll find us there Jason Yarusi at Instagram, also find us there. We are doing the multifamily live events.com you'll have that coming up in June, a two day event over there so you can find us there. Feel free to reach out, happy to connect, love talking about mindset, of course and multifamily.
Steven: [00:25:21] Amazing. Thank you so much and I definitely look forward to the next time we get to hang out.
OUTRO: [00:25:30] Thank you for listening to The Investor Mindset Podcast. If you like what you heard, make sure to rate, review, subscribe and share with a friend. Head over to theinvestormindset.com to join the insider club where we share tools and strategies from the top investors and entrepreneurs and how to take it to the next level.