Brandon Steiner is a serial entrepreneur and the founder of Steiner Sports, one of the most successful sports memorabilia companies in the world. In this episode, Brandon shares his story of overcoming adversity and reinventing himself after losing the rights to his company name. He talks about the importance of staying positive and focused, and never giving up on your dreams.
Key Takeaways
Resources Mentioned
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About our Guest:
Brandon Steiner is a serial entrepreneur and the founder of Steiner Sports, one of the most successful sports memorabilia companies in the world. He has worked with some of the biggest names in sports, including the Yankees, the Cowboys, and Michael Jordan. After losing the rights to his company name in 2018, Brandon reinvented himself and founded a new company, Steinertainment. He is a motivational speaker and author of the book "I'm Still Standing."
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00;00;00;13 - 00;00;10;04
Steven Pesavento
Welcome back to the name Your numbers show presented by the investor mindset. I'm Steven passive and joined today. I have Brandon Steiner in the studio. How you doing today, Brandon?
00;00;10;06 - 00;00;16;08
Brandon Steiner
Awesome. Thanks for having me today. And I like the mindset because it's everything.
00;00;16;10 - 00;00;44;05
Steven Pesavento
It's the foundation of everything. And as a guy who sold $50 million worth of dirt, you built a number of businesses, you exited, you had wins, you had losses along the way. I'm really excited to talk about that experience and that wisdom that you gained through doing so. So let's start off on on on a note around one of the biggest challenges that you probably experienced was building a massive business, selling it, and then losing the rights to the name of the company.
00;00;44;10 - 00;00;47;06
Steven Pesavento
Tell me what happened and and what that was like.
00;00;47;08 - 00;01;10;22
Brandon Steiner
Well, you start a business with 4000 bucks and you're building your $50 million empire and really a game changer for the industry, taking our business and turning it into an industry which is a challenge, You know, 30 years, it was a 30 plus year run. And, you know, it's exhausting when you just think about it. But it was also epic.
00;01;10;22 - 00;01;27;01
Brandon Steiner
Like, I think that, you know, I get a lot of emails when I got kind of pushed out and I had sold my company to a very big conglomerate. So I kind of did make my own bed there. And, you know, you're always at risk when you sell your company, you sell your baby, even though they say they love you and they got to keep you forever.
00;01;27;01 - 00;01;47;07
Brandon Steiner
And I didn't stay for 20 years after I sold it. But you never know what's going to happen. It was very painful. But, you know, you get all these emails about motivation, you know, you know, pick yourself up. You know, it's not what happens. It's how hard you get. It's whether you can get up. And but I think the best email I got was from a friend of mine, Susan Sly, who said, sometimes you got to blow up what?
00;01;47;07 - 00;02;03;26
Brandon Steiner
You got to make room for the next thing. Mm. And, you know, behind every rainstorm is a rainbow, you know, all that stuff. But I do believe that. I think I think God gave me a lot of sides to get the hell out of there. And so I want to do something bigger, better, different. And, you know, when you work for a big company, things start to slow down.
00;02;03;29 - 00;02;28;08
Brandon Steiner
You're in more forecasting, more meetings, you lose your sense of entrepreneurship to what I felt So at the time when I you know, it's hard to say if Steiner Sports know that I'm not part of Steiner sports but I knew at some bigger and better to do question is I have the stamina at 60 to do it could I get reinvented Can I get real excited about what I wanted to do because I knew what I wanted to do at the time I was trying to buy the company back.
00;02;28;08 - 00;02;47;06
Brandon Steiner
So when I tell people, like when you get a punch in the face, first of all, it hurts frickin painful. I'm not going to sit here and make you, Oh, yeah, it hurt. And there were days, you know, following that, I had to pick myself up off the floor. And that was a successful day just getting out of bed.
00;02;47;09 - 00;03;01;16
Brandon Steiner
But I knew right away that this was going to be something great. I did know that in the back of my head. So, you know, God's God is he's helping me. You know, it's like, you know, I didn't do it on my own. So he's like, I'm just push you out because I know you got some better to do.
00;03;01;19 - 00;03;17;15
Brandon Steiner
And so I am so grateful because I'm four years now out and this probably will be bigger than Steiner, which, you know, if you asked me four years ago, I was like, I hope that I can just get a new business open because, you know, you just have been a while since I opened something and started some brand new.
00;03;17;17 - 00;03;23;08
Brandon Steiner
Yeah. And so it's been amazing and the new company has been amazing. But.
00;03;23;10 - 00;03;53;24
Steven Pesavento
You know, there's a there's a moment there's a moment when you spend your life building something. You literally develop new ideas, new products, new services. You listen to what the customer needs, what they want, and you've built that and you gave that to them and you attached your name to it. What was it? What was it like that moment that you realized that that not only the company that you built, but your whole identity that was tied up in it was what was no longer yours?
00;03;53;27 - 00;04;19;09
Brandon Steiner
I was I was angry with myself. I was angry at myself. You feel shame, You know, You feel shame because you felt like I let my employees down and they get pushed out and I let my customers down because now they're confused and they invested so much in my brand. I mean, you know, this was not just, you know, you pick up you know, there are people that throw your house is designer.
00;04;19;09 - 00;04;35;09
Brandon Steiner
You know, it was my vision, my view, the players, they met. So, you know, it was I've never gotten I mean, I think what got me out of bed was I've got hundreds of emails like I've never sent the CEO. They moved on from a company a note that said, I want to thank you. You meant a lot to me.
00;04;35;15 - 00;04;53;16
Brandon Steiner
I'm so sorry to see you go. Thank you for taking all my money. I got hundreds of letters, emails. I mean, I'm not talking about a couple of lines. And that's where where the loyalty was. And when I tell people, like, if you're in business, you try to develop a customer base, you're not going to be in business forever.
00;04;53;22 - 00;05;13;05
Brandon Steiner
But when you build a fan base, which is what I always had every intention of doing, that was what really gave me the inspiration is the customers I knew were going to be loyal and they were going to come back and they were going to follow my vision because I put everything into it. How they felt when they opened up a box of stuff that I sent them and all the different things I would do for my customers.
00;05;13;05 - 00;05;16;29
Brandon Steiner
I was very hands on as a CEO and I don't regret one day of that.
00;05;16;29 - 00;05;40;07
Steven Pesavento
So there's something really, really powerful about there's something super powerful about realizing that like you gave everything you did, everything you possibly could, and even though the business no longer was yours, I mean, you sold it, you made that decision, and then it ends up falling through later on where you no longer have that control. And, you know, you're trying to you're trying to pull it back.
00;05;40;07 - 00;06;05;17
Steven Pesavento
But I bet it felt incredible to get those messages from people knowing that you made an impact on their life. And this is a challenge that a lot of people go through, whether it's the challenges of business. I'm I've gone through many of them, where so much of who you are is tied up in that business. And then it's almost a point like like you were describing, you're experiencing where you have to realize, like your identity is actually not the business.
00;06;05;20 - 00;06;17;07
Steven Pesavento
What, what, what, what's the lesson that you can share with others to avoid being in that hole that they can start, you know, having that self-discovery and awareness before they get there?
00;06;17;14 - 00;06;41;03
Brandon Steiner
It's a slippery slope. And, you know, I'm not I'm not alone when I go through this, the first thing I would say is there's no reason to do anything that you're doing. There's no reason to do anything you're doing without putting your all in it. And you know, I always tell people it's it's a love fest. You know, if you're in business and you have a service or a product you're providing, it needs to be a love fest and the customers need to be first.
00;06;41;05 - 00;06;57;29
Brandon Steiner
And if you're not like when I go to a Yankee game, it's no longer me sitting back having a couple beers. It's people all night and I get that, you know what I mean? That that's the commitment you make. But I think you got to figure out, and I should have done a better job at this in separating what I do and who I was.
00;06;58;01 - 00;07;20;26
Brandon Steiner
And I became such a large figure, you know, in my own right, I mean, and maybe in my own mind. But, you know, I became a large figure because you're associated with a lot of big names. The Yankees, the Cowboys, them. And you kind of lose a sense of yourself. And people don't look at you like your brand is kind of look at you as, oh, you're the guy, that stuff.
00;07;20;28 - 00;07;34;27
Brandon Steiner
But I always say, like, I never wanted to be successful. I always wanted to be extraordinary. But even more so, I wanted to be the only, you know, when people talk about me, I mean, there's not many people who've done what I've done at the level I've done it and for the length of time that I did it.
00;07;34;29 - 00;08;05;10
Brandon Steiner
So I'm grateful for that. That was a gift to get there. I don't recommend it. You know, it's really important to remember what you do. It doesn't have to be who you are. I've now created much more that this is when I've created this new company. I've kind of try to move away from everything being so hinged on my name, be my personality, so I can enjoy my life a little bit more and give my family a little more peace about, you know, they've had enough of the Steiner the Steiner athletes, you know, the athletes in the house.
00;08;05;15 - 00;08;20;13
Brandon Steiner
I mean, it's epic. But then it's so and so. It's you know, it got complicated. I remember my son saying to me, and I've been in so many games with my son. I've been in so many games, but my son said, you know, dad, it's not that much fun to go to a game with you anymore. And I cried.
00;08;20;13 - 00;08;36;03
Brandon Steiner
I was like, I understood what he was saying because we never had a minute where we're working interrupted. And there's a million people that I point at wanted to go talk to me. And in all fairness, if you become a little bit of a public figure, you have to understand that's the gift you get. You know, I've made a lot of money.
00;08;36;03 - 00;08;52;26
Brandon Steiner
I did a lot. You know, if you're going to go and take all the fanfare that you owe the benefits, you got to pay the price. And I'm not going to sit there in a stadium and not service and talk to people that are, to me, the opportunity to sit in the seat, kind of sit at. But it's a really it's a really interesting thing as you get older.
00;08;52;26 - 00;09;14;00
Brandon Steiner
And one of these I my third book Living all purpose I talked about is that you have to prepare. I wish I had done a better job, but I was starting to prepare for the unique success that you're planning on having and what you're going to do after it, because it comes quick and this is where you kind of grow, you know, you kind of grow yourself out of business and you get you kind of work your way out of the business.
00;09;14;00 - 00;09;34;23
Brandon Steiner
You have nowhere to go because you can't. People you just did, but you haven't you don't have a plan for the next step and you hit really high points. You've made a lot of money. But the whole point of making a lot of money and having a lot of success is to do something with it and use your influence to make an impact, to help others and to do something that's going to make a difference and be able to enjoy your life.
00;09;34;25 - 00;09;37;24
Brandon Steiner
I'm working on it. It's a work in progress.
00;09;37;26 - 00;09;56;03
Steven Pesavento
Well, there's there's such a great book that I'm reading and rereading called Strength of Strength by Arthur Brooks and the whole point of the book and how this relates to investing in mindset. The whole point of the book is that in your life you're going to be the best at what you do for a certain period of time, depending on the career you're in.
00;09;56;05 - 00;10;28;19
Steven Pesavento
And as you get later in life, you gain a different set of skills, you gain a set of wisdom, and maybe that strength that got you to be able to build the business or the career that you have created is not going to be the same on that next chapter later in life. And I bring this up because I think it's so important for everybody, whether you're young, whether you're in the middle of your career, whether you're at a later stage of it, to be aware that that change is coming so that you can prepare for it and be open to what's next.
00;10;28;19 - 00;10;46;08
Steven Pesavento
Because as we're talking about creating the life you want, whether that's through investing, through business, through your career, you have to be aware of what those different chapters look like and brand. And you're at a point in your career where you made a lot of money, you had a lot of fun, you made a lot of impact, and now you're at that next chapter.
00;10;46;10 - 00;10;59;26
Steven Pesavento
How have you gone about looking at sharing that wisdom that you created to help other people along the path? Because this seems to be a common theme as people move to that next chapter to be able to help the next generation move their way out.
00;11;00;03 - 00;11;23;22
Brandon Steiner
And, you know, there's a lot of people just living a lot longer. There's another book called Transitions, which is another great book is Moments of Time. But, you know, I'm working on a fourth book. I'm doing ride alongs with police, and I'm writing a book about living with a police officer and talking about urban policing and the difficulties of it and how we need to all adjust so we don't keep having the problems we have in inner cities like don't have it now.
00;11;23;29 - 00;11;53;12
Brandon Steiner
It's causing a tremendous disruption in our country, most importantly, causing us to have a little bit of a lack of it being safe. I mean, after your health and your family, being safe is critical. You know, you don't want your kids to go to school. You don't want to go get on a train and not be safe. And we need our police at their best and we need to figure out how to get them to be their best at the same time, having people in these inner cities, in these communities to be okay, to voice need to be heard.
00;11;53;15 - 00;12;09;29
Brandon Steiner
So, you know, I'm out with police around police cars in the middle of the night, driving around, seeing what was going on, extremely dangerous, brutal, crazy. But I'm hoping I come up with a compelling story that can make a difference. The other thing is, like I've been doing it for a while, but all my books, you know, I've written three.
00;12;10;01 - 00;12;28;29
Brandon Steiner
This is the fourth in all, my speaking part of that money go to different charities. At this point, this company, everything we do has a charity component. I can afford to do that. So, you know, I mean, I'm a good fundraiser. I'm not that great on my hands on like my wife goes, she helps kids read. She goes to a foodbank once a week.
00;12;29;01 - 00;12;47;03
Brandon Steiner
I'm just not good at that. You know what I mean? I'm But I'm good at raising money for the foodbank and getting them a bunch of, you know, truckloads of food. And so I'd rather go do that or rather go help a lot of the athletes I work with. I'm trying to drive their charities when I speak. I always incorporate a charity component part of my see and I think.
00;12;47;03 - 00;13;11;11
Steven Pesavento
What you're doing, what you're doing every time you speak, Brandon, you're sharing wisdom. I mean, you made a business that was valued at $50 million. You sold $50 million worth of dirt. You built something that was extraordinary. And although you're at a new chapter, I mean, every time, even in the little quips that you're sharing here, is it going to help somebody else move to the next level?
00;13;11;14 - 00;13;30;18
Steven Pesavento
So when it comes to deciding to go at this again, I mean, you've probably made it maybe you had a different expectation of how much money you were going to make. And I see you nodding along. So what is it that really gets you wanting to get back in the saddle and not just kick back and enjoy all the money that you made.
00;13;30;20 - 00;13;47;05
Brandon Steiner
You know, enjoying all the money you make? Like a few things. I was waiting for this moment to do that. That would be very foolish because I don't even know where I know what tomorrow is. So you? No, I'm not a money guy. Like the money. You know, I like winning the game. You make money to win the game.
00;13;47;07 - 00;14;07;06
Brandon Steiner
The game gets played in business. You want to win, you want to make money. But, you know, after a while, you realize that money only Obviously, money does get you happiness, but it will decrease your unhappiness. It will decrease some of that stuff that's bothering you. I mean, I can go to a doctor a lot easier, get a slightly better hotel room, maybe get to sit in the first class.
00;14;07;08 - 00;14;24;16
Brandon Steiner
But, you know, for me, like, I love the business. I love the business I created, I love the industry and the impact of and I love what I could do for kids, the impact of the stuff that I create and the things I do and allow for kids, even if it's bringing players. I do a lot of the kids stuff because that's how my mind works.
00;14;24;16 - 00;14;46;07
Brandon Steiner
Like an 11 year old dusit tastic, curious. So I love thinking like an 11 year old and I love doing a lot of stuff for 11 year olds, even though it's not the most moneymaking part of their course. I always feel like that's my future customer too. So I'm always thinking like an 11 year old because, you know, once, like once I feel like I've connected with them, it keeps me kind of fresh and it keeps me young.
00;14;46;09 - 00;15;04;20
Brandon Steiner
I like the business. I work really hard to be the best at what I do. And I think that when you work really hard to be the best, where you do the goal one day is not that not have to do it when you're really good at it. I'm really good at something and I enjoy doing it because I'm really good at it.
00;15;04;23 - 00;15;24;21
Brandon Steiner
But, you know, I tell you, the people that are listening out there is that it's really important to find hobbies. It's really important to differentiate yourself, love it. And I would try it. You know, I've been trying for like 15 years when I was I wrote my last book trying to find hobbies other than I'm really good at making money and really good at the sports stuff.
00;15;24;26 - 00;15;35;17
Brandon Steiner
I play guitar, play a lot of basketball. I definitely figured out a way to do more stuff like going to museums. Concerts with my wife used to not be my favorite things, stuff like that.
00;15;35;20 - 00;15;53;07
Steven Pesavento
So to really distill that down in case anyone in the audience missed it, I mean, that belief is really powerful belief. It's not about the money, it's about playing the game. I'm a guy who I love playing the game. I'm trying to learn hobbies. I'm a little bit younger than you, but I haven't really been focused at all.
00;15;53;15 - 00;16;13;26
Steven Pesavento
Everything's been about business. Everything in my whole life has been about business. It's been fun. But yet there is a part of me who, you know, had an experience a few years ago where I lost someone really close to me. And and that made me realize like, oh, we don't know how long we have. And sometimes we can end up focusing all of our energy in things that don't actually matter.
00;16;13;29 - 00;16;27;16
Steven Pesavento
But when you think about it from that belief that I'm hearing from you, you know, it's the game, right? You're in it because you love playing it and however you can keep playing it is the way to fully live your life to the fullest.
00;16;27;19 - 00;16;33;01
Brandon Steiner
Is rich. And he has his we have a high level of success. Get you.
00;16;33;03 - 00;16;34;07
Steven Pesavento
Yeah.
00;16;34;09 - 00;16;57;04
Brandon Steiner
That's really important. Really important. It gets you. I don't do business with people I don't like. I don't do business with people that break my chops and don't do business where they're not going to appreciate the work, the creative and the services that myself, my company provides. Whereas before I had a number to hit, if it made me enough money, I would suck wind.
00;16;57;04 - 00;17;09;02
Brandon Steiner
I would do it, and I would say, okay, I've just got to grind it out and do it now. I don't have the tolerance for it. If you break my chops, I'll give you a warning and then next time is blocking you. And I'm saying, let me give you a couple numbers to call some people that can help you.
00;17;09;09 - 00;17;26;04
Brandon Steiner
I'm not your guy and I don't have any I don't have a problem with it, okay? Because I'm making money for people I've ever met, you know? I mean, it's not like, Oh, wow, I just had my go home, honey. I had a great day. I made a lot of money. There's the checkbook in the drawer. There's a deposit slip.
00;17;26;07 - 00;17;49;17
Brandon Steiner
And can you have the dishwasher and maybe walk the dog right now? Like we we can't go home and say, Oh, you know, honey, we have more money because our kids are going to the best schools. We have a great house. We have what we need. And matter of fact, the glass is now more than full. So, you know, for me, it's like the difference we can make is, you know, make sure that I don't come home aggravated, don't come home upset.
00;17;49;17 - 00;18;12;05
Brandon Steiner
That's not allowed. That's enables me to keep working. And I like that rule that my wife that I set up, I don't come on. We start bitching. They retire then and that's fair. So I make sure I keep everything really positive. And then what I do is, you know, I'm always going to charity hang on me because I know that even if things are not exactly perfect, I know that somehow somebody is getting help out of this because that's why we here.
00;18;12;05 - 00;18;28;18
Brandon Steiner
There's only two reasons why we here. One is to grow, get better. So I'm still learning. I got a bunch of smart kids. I'm like one of these older guys that's I love the kids. They're smarter than me and little lazy. Sometimes you need a kick in the butt, but they can get shit done so much faster than me.
00;18;28;21 - 00;18;46;26
Brandon Steiner
And they always they're inspiring, almost, especially on the tech end. So, you know, you got to grow, you got to learn. I'm still learning every day, so that gives me happiness. And then also you got to, you know, you got to have gratitude. You have to increase your level of gratitude. I think that people get confused about gratitude and what that is.
00;18;46;26 - 00;19;08;20
Brandon Steiner
But happiness resides on the corner and across the crushed streets of happiness. I mean, gratitude and growth. So for me, when I look at gratitude now, I said, Well, it's nice talking to you on this pie, but there's a lot of things that are happening right now enable us to have this conversation. And I spend more time now digging a little deeper on that instead of just how we had a nice car.
00;19;08;21 - 00;19;22;12
Brandon Steiner
It's nice we got this computer thing that we're able to talk with each other. But now I know there's a lot of people responsible for even setting this up. Somebody introduced me to you. Somebody is going to take this thing and edit it. Somebody's going to post it. You know, there's a whole bunch of things that are happening.
00;19;22;12 - 00;19;41;17
Brandon Steiner
I much my level of gratitude is so much higher. And if anything, I'm just mad at myself for not even having a higher level of gratitude earlier on. But I can't fix that. But I don't want a day go by without thanking the people that enabled my day to be great today and really showing that gratitude.
00;19;41;19 - 00;20;05;15
Steven Pesavento
I think that's a really powerful way of of thinking. You know, I always talk about growth giving and gratitude being some of the most important things to to carry in your life. Because at the end of the day, it's, you know, it's about those things that end up leading to more happiness. There's something else, a belief that I heard you talk about in a speech, and it was about enjoying the things that you used to not enjoy, which you kind of tell us a little bit more about that.
00;20;05;18 - 00;20;18;17
Brandon Steiner
Well, I think, first of all, you got to learn to love the things that that really some of the worst things that's happening. You got to learn to love them. And I was going to say back to the beginning of the conversation, as much as I hated what happened to me at the end of Steiner, I've learned to love it.
00;20;18;20 - 00;20;35;11
Brandon Steiner
And when you get back and have gratitude for everything, which includes some of the worst thing that's happened to you is always gratitude. That's what's enabled me to go build something that's probably going to bigger than Steiner, which is way beyond my wildest imagination that putting this thing together. Now, I may have something even bigger than anything I've ever created.
00;20;35;13 - 00;20;55;22
Brandon Steiner
I give it credit for me finding, you know, gratitude for the worst day it's ever happened to me. But I think what you got to do is you got to look at the things first. So you got to know who's important. You got to know what's important, and you got to do what's important, who's important every day. And even if it's something that you don't like and don't enjoy it, you got to learn to love it.
00;20;55;22 - 00;21;10;26
Brandon Steiner
My wife loves to go to the theater. She likes to go to the symphony. She loves to go to museums. I don't like doing those things as of ten years ago, but I've learned to love doing those things because they're important to her and she's important to me. I've got to learn to love the things that she loves.
00;21;11;03 - 00;21;30;07
Brandon Steiner
I mean, a lot of guys, all my wife wants to go to that thing. I'm not doing it. I'm like, I hear you. I hear you. I don't want to go to the museum, some art museum. I don't. But my wife loves it. So I'm going to learn to love it. And I get to reprogram my mindset because that's why I'm here, to enjoy my time with the most important person.
00;21;30;10 - 00;21;51;23
Brandon Steiner
So I go with you. I know you don't want to do this, and now I'm going to go. Let's go. I won't go to Shakespeare. There's a couple of things I won't do, but, you know, there's a lot more that I will do because I think I think that gets you out of the habit of just being the one dimensional person, which is just a person who goes, I make a lot of money so I don't have to do the things my wife wants to do or my kids want to do.
00;21;51;25 - 00;22;07;25
Brandon Steiner
And I've just learned to make the things that I don't like, my favorite things and love to love and work to love them. I've also learned to love that worst thing that's ever happened to me. Now. Like if you talk to me right after the thing happened at the end of Steiner, I'd be like, I was devastated, miserable.
00;22;07;25 - 00;22;27;03
Brandon Steiner
I wanted to kill those people. Now I'm like, So thankful, grateful, Love them. Thank you for doing that. Appreciate it. I don't love losing my name because you know my name and I put my heart and soul into that name. But it's fine. It's still got my name. People know who I am, and I've actually found a place.
00;22;27;05 - 00;22;45;12
Brandon Steiner
It took a while, but I found a place that you can find gratitude. I find, you know, I forgive them. I give them mercy for having to do what they did the way they did it. But I'm good. Matter of fact, I'm more than good. And I think sometimes you have to say to yourself, like, am I enough about enough?
00;22;45;12 - 00;23;05;23
Brandon Steiner
I guess I'm enough. And it's been really fun going through the process on the latter part of this at the beginning, you know, you got to dig deeper. You got to figure out what you're all about and what's important. And I definitely got on the road. I just got to deep. I mean, I was just so committed to my business, the industry, every minute of every day.
00;23;05;23 - 00;23;20;23
Brandon Steiner
And now I feel like I'm a lot more balanced and I feel like I have a little bit better perspective to maybe finish out my life in a much more balanced, positive way with the people that matter the most. And I got to tell you, I just said that in a quick moment, but that ain't easy. It's hard.
00;23;20;25 - 00;23;41;04
Steven Pesavento
There's so there's so much freedom in that we we often will hold on to things because our ego says, hey, this was wrong, or I'm angry about that. And it's like, great. Feel all those feelings, empty out that cup and then refill it with all the things that you can be grateful for. And at first it doesn't feel like there's anything.
00;23;41;04 - 00;23;59;29
Steven Pesavento
Maybe it's just the sun's up, maybe it's you get to live another day, but eventually it really does free you. There's there's something that you mentioned. I want to take a little side quests for my own personal benefit. I had the gift of having two loving parents that hate each other, got divorced and multiple marriages and many examples of bad relationships I've spent.
00;24;00;03 - 00;24;36;15
Steven Pesavento
The gift that I received was I've spent the last ten years of my life asking people who've been married for a long time this question. And so I'd love to do a little side question and ask it to you. And, you know, other than this great advice to learn to love the things you don't enjoy, if you were going to go back and talk to a younger version of yourself right when you were getting married, with all of the years of experience that you have in your marriage, all the good and the bad, what advice would you give to that younger self when it comes to starting and holding on to, you know, a great
00;24;36;15 - 00;24;38;23
Steven Pesavento
marriage and a great relationship?
00;24;38;26 - 00;25;03;25
Brandon Steiner
Well, you know, marriage is it's a rocky you know, it's a marathon, first of all, not a sprint. And you need approach that way. But I mean, I just can't believe there's not a lot more condensed versions of how to be a better husband. It took me a while to really get committed to that, but I always wanted to be one because I grew up in a single family home and, you know, you don't want to live in a mishmash where, you know, you can't figure out how to keep your family together working.
00;25;03;25 - 00;25;27;05
Brandon Steiner
Right? But I think, you know, communication so important and compromise is probably right there. And number two, obviously were trust. But you know what? One of the main things I've learned is that you have to share dual everything, assume nothing. So, you know, I sit down my wife once a week and I go over my schedule to make sure she's totally in sync with everything I'm doing.
00;25;27;05 - 00;25;41;17
Brandon Steiner
So assuming that she's going to know she knows the nights, I'm going to come home a little later, she knows the mornings I'm staying home, She knows the mornings I'm leaving at the crack of dawn. She knows when I'm traveling a week or two at a time so she can make plans and she's just not home doing nothing.
00;25;41;19 - 00;26;00;05
Brandon Steiner
I've learned to just share more of what's going on in my head and I think that sometimes with guys it's harder. Women are a lot easier to do that, but guys struggle sometimes, too. That's kind of interesting, but I've learned to schedule these things like I know in my mind every Sunday I'm going to go get my wife and I'm going to make sure I go over the schedule.
00;26;00;05 - 00;26;18;02
Brandon Steiner
And the second thing is, when I go out, my wife and this is not I mean, this is just the best advice that I could give anybody, and that is I don't take my cell phone with my wife. I go out with my wife whenever we go anywhere. And usually we go out many times. But on Friday and Saturday night, I never take my cell phone with me.
00;26;18;05 - 00;26;39;09
Brandon Steiner
And then we go out during the day on the weekends and take my cell phone with me and I'm with my family and don't take my cell phone with me. And I'm like, if I can't go find those four or 5 hours of time to get disconnected, then shoot me because I don't care what you say. You bring the phone with you, you start checking in, you go to the bathroom, you're under the table.
00;26;39;11 - 00;27;06;01
Brandon Steiner
And I think that's been the best adjustment that I made in about ten years ago, is to stop with the damn cell phone. I'm a big I'm on the phone a lot, mom emails a lot. But when I'm out with my wife, she knows she has my undivided attention to talk about anything she wants. So during the week she may run some by me, but she knows come the weekend or when we go out, any time we go out for dinner, she knows my undivided attention for those two or 3 hours and that's been a game changer for me.
00;27;06;03 - 00;27;11;04
Steven Pesavento
Yeah, That presence that you're able to get from that I'm sure is really powerful.
00;27;11;06 - 00;27;26;21
Brandon Steiner
It's extremely important and the other excuse that the other mistake that I probably made a lot being a problem solver, when you're a CEO and you're running a company is, you know, you want to solve all the problems. But I think we're especially with women, especially my wife's a very bright woman, a hell of a lot smarter than me, frankly.
00;27;26;23 - 00;27;53;03
Brandon Steiner
And when she comes through the problem, problems like I had to learn to shut up, you know, you're not really asking for your help. She just wants you to listen. And I've learned now to shut up and listen. And after she says, What do you think? Or can you give me some advice? I listen, I sympathize and I digest and sort of try to solve the problem, which most of the time my wife or capable of solving a problem than I am.
00;27;53;03 - 00;28;12;25
Brandon Steiner
But I guess that she's a lot smarter than me. But I've learned that, you know, when your kids come to you and you and your wife comes to you just listening and not giving up, I would say I'm smart. I can solve every problem. I'm a speaker. I've written books. I, I manage a 100 people now in your home with your family, You're intimate.
00;28;12;27 - 00;28;17;17
Brandon Steiner
You know, you've got to just be a listener and you're kind of a consultant.
00;28;17;20 - 00;28;42;18
Steven Pesavento
Well, I really appreciate you sharing that. I feel like there's some really powerful wisdom for me to be able to take back home, but also, I think for everyone listening. So to get off the side quests back on track when it comes to your life, you've built, you know, amazing business. You're in the process of building additional businesses, you've written books, you've done speaking, you've obviously made a lot of money from an income standpoint in these different places.
00;28;42;18 - 00;28;58;06
Steven Pesavento
I'm sure you built wealth from the business standpoint, What what impact has investing made and what type of investments have you found have been in the best alignment for you to be able to build not only wealth but also income from those investments?
00;28;58;13 - 00;29;23;24
Brandon Steiner
I know you're going to think I'm crazy, but I love real estate. And in the virus, when I was just so focused on my business, I had so many opportunities coming at me. Those opportunities, I got a better shot knocking me out than me actually grabbing. I'm running with them. And I mean, just because we become a little bit of a name, people just want to be partners with you and they'll give you an unbelievable deal to say, I'm partners with Brandon Steiner and I just wouldn't pay attention.
00;29;23;24 - 00;29;43;19
Brandon Steiner
I was so locked in when the virus hit. I started, you know, I did a couple of speeches for a couple of real estate things. I just started getting into that. So I love the real estate. Came to reoccurring revenue model, investing in investing in a couple of real estate offices. I vested real estate in a mortgage bank, investing in a radio station, investing at a festival.
00;29;43;21 - 00;30;00;15
Brandon Steiner
You know, stuff that I where I know the people, I like the people and I feel like I could trust them. They're going to run a good business and you're not going to be shut out. But I love if you can find a good real estate partner that knows what they're doing. Just like any other business, it's fun.
00;30;00;15 - 00;30;20;11
Brandon Steiner
I mean, because you go, you buy and sell out. You buy new stuff. I find it very fascinating, the whole dramatic, different things you can do with real estate. So I just happened it God took me there and give me an idea here. I didn't know that my new company was going to work. The virus happened really right after I started the new company.
00;30;20;18 - 00;30;38;27
Brandon Steiner
So, yeah, I'm working hard to build a new company. But this guy who Williams says, you know, wanted me to do a speech and did a speech, called me up. The next day is like, I need to hire you. And I literally went into his office. We just hit it off. We just hit it off. And, you know, he's managing 2000 brokers, eight company offices in New York, Tri-State area.
00;30;38;27 - 00;30;54;09
Brandon Steiner
And I literally went to his office once and usually a day or day and a half a week for no money, no pay. I did a couple little talks. He paid me a little bit of money. I just sat there and learned a lesson about the real estate business, and he was happy to share me, bring people in.
00;30;54;14 - 00;31;11;10
Brandon Steiner
And we got this deal. Look at this, look at that. And I felt like I was I mean, I do believe that people are placed here for a reason. And I felt like this guy was a really good guy, You know, here he is. Invites me in to the company. I'm doing some coaching for him, I'm doing some speaking.
00;31;11;12 - 00;31;32;16
Brandon Steiner
And here I am investing a year and a half, even on my level with no money, nothing, just to learn the business, just to see how it works. And now here I am, investing in real estate, investing in properties. So I tell people like, well, it's now it's never too late to be, you know, to learn something new, to get involved with something, especially when you meet somebody is really good at what they do.
00;31;32;19 - 00;31;53;20
Brandon Steiner
Like you meet somebody like yourself, It's like you're really good at what you do. You know, you're buying buildings, you refurbishing, like you got an opportunity to meet somebody like you and your opportunity to partner up on some things. It's a blessing. Never take it for granted. When I meet somebody that's great at something, whatever it is, I know that's a blessing and I never want to take that for granted because not everybody is great at something.
00;31;53;23 - 00;32;05;10
Brandon Steiner
So when you meet somebody, it's great. It's something, it's a ride. And that's what I did. And so I like the real estate game. I think it's worth putting some of your portfolio in that. What is it that you invest?
00;32;05;11 - 00;32;24;01
Steven Pesavento
What is it? What is it that you and then I want to hear? What what else do you invest in? Obviously, I'm sold on real estate, have dedicated my career to it. What is it that you found that that really lines up for you? I mean, you've been a business guy, you've sold a bunch of products. It's all been about, you know, incremental profit over a long period of time.
00;32;24;08 - 00;32;27;09
Steven Pesavento
What attracts you to buy real estate?
00;32;27;12 - 00;32;46;20
Brandon Steiner
I like the upside. I like the reoccurring opportunity and also like the it's not the minute to minute grind. Yeah, I'm a builder and I like to look forward. I don't mind talking about something right now with you that's going to happen five years from now. That doesn't bother me. So Brand, we're not going to make money for five years.
00;32;46;21 - 00;33;02;10
Brandon Steiner
That's right. But in five years of my plan, we're going to kill it. Love that I don't have to make money today on something. Let's build something over the next three or four years and build love that even more than anything. And I like that would realize that you could do that with property development. You could do that with certain investments.
00;33;02;12 - 00;33;25;17
Brandon Steiner
I'm not I'm not a big real estate flipper. You know, I don't like to buy and flip, buy and flip. And I think people do really well on that. But I've invested in some properties that I trust a part enough of my daughter and some properties and all and my other son in South Dakota. Yeah, I just, you know, I like I like it and it's fun and and you can kind of get in and out of stuff, you know, and then you can leverage that stuff.
00;33;25;17 - 00;33;46;01
Brandon Steiner
All this stuff you read about and watch on these videos. That true? You can put some money, make a little more money than leverage that out, buy more. You know, you could build a wealth and it's a fun game to play. And now I'm playing with a guy that is really the two people I'm partnered up with on the real estate are really smart and I enjoy that smartness.
00;33;46;04 - 00;34;07;03
Steven Pesavento
Yeah, it's so key. Something you mentioned is the people, right? You're investing in those people who have that experience. They happen to be doing that specific strategy or that specific investment product. But at the end of the day, you've got that trust in those people and you're going to put your money behind it. And as a result, you know, not everything is going to be blue sky.
00;34;07;03 - 00;34;22;08
Steven Pesavento
There's going to be chances or opportunities where things don't go well, maybe you break even, maybe you lose money. But if you do enough deals, it always will come out where you're going to be making a profit. And as long as you're doing it, the right people, you know that it's being done. Well.
00;34;22;10 - 00;34;39;13
Brandon Steiner
I agree. I mean, I just think you can't get yourself too crazy. You know, you invest in things that you can always afford to take a loss. You know, I don't like making investments that's going to you know, it's going to take my heart out. You know, I lose sleep. I always make investments and things that I could afford.
00;34;39;15 - 00;34;58;09
Brandon Steiner
I'm enjoying the potential upside, but I could deal with the loss if it happens. And that's that kind of keeps you kind of saying, Frank, that I see people have lost their life savings. I mean, I did invest my life savings. And Steiner I mean, it came to a point in time, like I put everything on. STEINER If it didn't work out at this particular moment of time, I would have lost everything.
00;34;58;11 - 00;35;12;07
Brandon Steiner
And I think there are points in time when, you know, you bet on yourself. And but, you know, I think when I get to outside investments, you know, I have a stay rich and then there's the get rich kind of program and then I take some of that money. That's my. Okay, let's play around. Let's let's see what we want to do.
00;35;12;09 - 00;35;34;15
Brandon Steiner
I'm not a huge risk taker, but I'm more about investing in people. And it's been fun. I mean, business is supposed to be fun and it's gotten difficult. Business out there is difficult for a bunch of different reasons and there's been a lot of challenges and more changes than ever. But I will tell you this I've never seen more entrepreneurism in the wings, the young ones especially.
00;35;34;15 - 00;35;53;29
Brandon Steiner
But all the way through we're about to we just dealt with more change we've ever dealt with and more coming, which means more opportunity, more ability to take that change and make it better. I would say you don't want to be an event. You want to be an approver. So when you have you see days as people are inventing all kinds of different ideas, but you can improve once those ideas pop in.
00;35;53;29 - 00;36;15;01
Brandon Steiner
And that's where I see this next generation doing the baby boomer generation. They did a lot of good stuff, but now there's room to come up, clean up behind them and improve a lot of that stuff and make it a lot better. And that's kind of like the excitement I see now in this country. My one thing that I'm nervous about, that there are more small businesses closing than opening in this country every year.
00;36;15;03 - 00;36;33;28
Brandon Steiner
And I think it's really important we support small business and realize that that is the backbone. A big part of the American dream is being able to open up a small business so we can't get too caught up in some of the big dogs and making sure we support the guy down the street because that those are those are that's what this country is all about.
00;36;34;00 - 00;36;58;23
Brandon Steiner
And that's why I started, you know, small little guy. And so I try to keep that kind of balanced mindset. I think we all need to support entrepreneurism more than we do, you know, not just do what's easy, convenient, simple, fast. But there is something to be said about being loyal and supporting what's going on in your neighborhood, supporting the guy who lives next door.
00;36;58;26 - 00;37;15;11
Steven Pesavento
Yeah, I think that's really powerful. And to be honest, Brandon, there's so much more I want to get to do. You've got so much wisdom, and I wish we had hours and hours to to dive even deeper. Before I get into the last question, what do you share with the audience now? They can follow along. You've got a very active social channel.
00;37;15;11 - 00;37;20;12
Steven Pesavento
You've got a lot of books. What's the best way for people to dig more into branded.
00;37;20;14 - 00;37;46;22
Brandon Steiner
You can dig into branding on LinkedIn. I love them length and I answer all the questions. You just follow me. You can't buy Facebook or Brandon Starkey com it gets all the information my book is free I collect will exchange dot com. If you have anything you want to sell buy sell go on the exchange. And if you need to find out what you have, what it's worth but you know I mean I mean I'm easy to get a hold of and I usually try to respond I want to finish on one quick story if you don't mind.
00;37;46;24 - 00;37;50;10
Brandon Steiner
Please. Do you know who Jack Taylor is?
00;37;50;12 - 00;37;51;15
Steven Pesavento
Now, tell me.
00;37;51;17 - 00;38;11;21
Brandon Steiner
Jack Taylor is the founder of Enterprise Rent-A-Car. Now, Jack Taylor was in the Navy named Enterprise after the Enterprise was one of the boats he was on. And when he got out of the Navy, he went to go work for Cadillac dealership. And he realized that a lot of people are coming in because they had a problem with their car, you know, it was broken or come to an accident.
00;38;11;24 - 00;38;34;19
Brandon Steiner
So he asked the owner if he could rent out his iPad for cars and lease out the cars when people needed a car. He started with four cars, went to eight, went to 12. And then obviously, you know, Enterprise is bigger than the next three biggest rental car agencies all combined. He may they may be bigger than all the Rent-A-Car agencies combined, bigger than Hertz Avis budget add them all together, size bigger.
00;38;34;21 - 00;38;59;29
Brandon Steiner
But what's shocking about it is this what I love about this story that is, do you know what percentage of people that just go to the counter and rent that car at Enterprise? It's their overall business. You know, Taurus comes in and off the airplane. You need a car, you of it. It's only 15%, 85% of the people that go to Enterprise's replacement cars, they're the collision shop insurance.
00;38;59;29 - 00;39;30;11
Brandon Steiner
They recommend Enterprise. You go to a dealership, your car's all messed up. They never you go to any of these places, you'll see the sign for enterprise. 85% of a rental car business is with replacement cars. So when Jack Taylor got into the business and there were other rental car agencies, he didn't look at his business as a simple would people go get a car meant that he got his head on a swivel because riches are in the niches and he found a niche that was completely different where everyone else was doing and he killed it.
00;39;30;13 - 00;39;51;04
Brandon Steiner
I mean, you're talking about a $30 billion company still family owned. I mean, I love that because a lot of times people dummied down the business to rent and a simplified. So I'm just doing insurance, you know, I just I'm just a broker of real estate. Well, no, no, no. Get your head on a swivel. There's another way to look at your business every day, twice on Sunday.
00;39;51;06 - 00;40;14;10
Brandon Steiner
If you take enough time and study the business, what's going on around you? There's always another angle. I know the interest rates are a little higher right now. If you want to go home and cry about it, go ahead. But when the waters get rough, the sharks keep swimming and the guppies die. The sharks find a way. The people that are in the business to win and compete, they get their and I swim when they think about a different way to do it.
00;40;14;12 - 00;40;36;14
Brandon Steiner
So I ask the people out there, it's like, that's a simple story. You get a rent a car agency who doesn't really rent cars on a day to day basis. That's not where most of their revenue comes. But he figured out a way and he went after it. And he's the number one worldwide rental car. See, there's no reason why you can't look at your business, whether it be real estate insurance, whatever it is, and figure out another way to do your business and completely blow it up.
00;40;36;15 - 00;40;52;04
Brandon Steiner
Those opportunities are there. And that's the beautiful thing about the business in this country. And that's why I looked at my business when I if you go look up, you'll see I didn't look at the collectible thing the way anybody else was looking at it. And hence, you know, what an opportunity, what an epic run.
00;40;52;07 - 00;41;09;18
Steven Pesavento
What great advice about business, what great advice about life. So much wisdom. Brandon Steiner go to Brandon Steiner dot com to find out more information get his books go follow him on Instagram and LinkedIn. Thanks so much for joining me Brandon. I really appreciate it. I look forward to the next time we get to spend some time together.