🏙️ “LIVE with Ryan Serhant” — The Theater Kid Who Sold Manhattan (Uncensored)

Summary

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Podcast Summary: The Best One Yet

Episode: 🏙️ “LIVE with Ryan Serhant” — The Theater Kid Who Sold Manhattan (Uncensored)

Date: April 10, 2026
Hosts: Jack Crivici-Kramer & Nick Martell
Guest: Ryan Serhant (Founder & CEO of Serhant, star of Netflix’s “Owning Manhattan,” author, entrepreneur)

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Episode Overview

In this energetic, candid, and highly quotable live interview, real estate mogul Ryan Serhant unpacks his journey from awkward “theater kid” to the top marketer and dealmaker in New York real estate. The hosts dig deep into Ryan’s origin story, personal habits, philosophies on success and failure, thoughts on the current real estate market, and his unique, business-minded approach to reality TV. Listeners will leave with actionable advice on confidence, time management, building relationships, and selling anything to anyone.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Early Years: The Theater Kid Origin Story

[02:22]

• Ryan’s background: Born in Texas, raised near Boston, not from a business or finance background, but grew up with a love for storytelling due to frequent moves and struggles with fitting in.
• Theater was a refuge: “The theater kids were really weird and so was I. And it was just a...a much more comfortable environment for me to be in.” — Ryan Serhant [02:43]

2. The Power of Storytelling and Improv in Sales

[04:36]

• “Sales for me is…storytelling. It’s just storytelling. My superpower is storytelling. In terms of like my skill set, my superpower as an operator is capacity.” — Ryan Serhant [04:36]
• Improv and thick skin are key. Theater background trained him to deal with constant rejection.

3. Cultivating Unshakeable Confidence

[05:58]

• Ryan rejects the myth of innate confidence: “I don’t think I have a confidence. I think no one knows what they’re doing, but some people just do it anyway.” — Ryan Serhant [06:18]
• Write a letter to your future self every year—visualize who you aim to be.
  • “The mentor is you, 12 months from today… the person I look up to is myself in the future. That guy better fucking crush it, because if he doesn’t, I’m gonna be really, really pissed off.” — Ryan Serhant [07:06]
• Professionals act by commitment, not by mood.

4. The Business of Being Different

[08:28]

• “All salespeople…you cannot work for me if you do not go and take a full improv class.” — Ryan Serhant [08:28]
• Emphasizes improv as an essential tool for building empathy and enthusiasm in sales.

5. Handling Failure and Building Resilience

[09:44], [13:38]

• “My pickup line in business: ‘Hey, my name’s Ryan and I absolutely hate that I don’t know you.’” — Ryan Serhant [09:15]
• His approach to rejection: winners lose more than losers.
• “My job is to lose…every win is bonus.”
• Mental resilience hack: Write your reactions and feelings about failure into your calendar 30 days ahead, check later, and note that time heals or changes the importance:
  • “If something bad happens… I go on my calendar, right… and I just unload... 30 days go by, and I see the ‘read me’… I fixed it, something better happened, or I just don’t care anymore.” — Ryan Serhant [13:38]

6. The Long View: The “70-Year-Old” Photo

[14:10]

• Ryan keeps a photo of himself at age 70 as a reminder to never utter “shoulda, coulda, woulda.”
• “That’s who I’m working for. That’s your boss.” — Ryan Serhant [15:12]

7. Real Estate: Should You Rent or Buy?

[16:32]

• “If you can afford a down payment and you can afford the monthly payments, you should own. If you can’t…you should rent. You’re either paying your mortgage or someone else’s mortgage. It’s really, really that simple.” — Ryan Serhant [16:39]
• There’s no housing crisis, but perhaps an affordability crisis.
• Encourages side hustles, entrepreneurship, and betting on yourself to increase income.

8. Taking Risks and Changing Course

[19:03]

• Shifted from theater to real estate during personal financial crisis—ran out of money after trying several gigs (including hand modeling).
• His hand modeling “paid $150 an hour in cash… I was rich. And for a short period of time.”
• Began real estate career the day of Lehman Brothers’ collapse: “Day one…Lehman Brothers files for bankruptcy that morning. And that’s how I got into real estate.” — Ryan Serhant [20:59]

9. Reality TV as a Business Engine

[24:27]

• Ryan treats TV as an organic lead funnel and brand builder, not just for fame:
  • “I don’t just go on reality TV to…be known or be famous or to sell toasters. Right. You sell the house for the toaster.” — Ryan Serhant [24:27]
• The reality TV grind: “Million Dollar Listing... it would take a year to film each season and it would come out the next year. It’s a massive job.”
• Reality vs. scripted TV: “The shows are story, but they’re not script… the best stuff is stranger than fiction.” — Ryan Serhant [28:59]

10. The Golden Rule, Kindness, and Building Bridges

[30:05]

• Kindness is a business strategy:
  • “If all you do is blow up bridges because of ego, then…there will be no bridges and you will drown and you will die…You kill bees with honey. You play to their egos, and then you get to laugh and smile all the way to the bank.” — Ryan Serhant [31:03]

11. Time Management: The “Thousand-Minute Rule”

[31:59]

• Ryan breaks his day into 15-min blocks, tracks ~1,000 productive minutes daily.
  • “So every day I wake up with a fresh thousand dollars in my bank. Bank of time…It forces me to look at my time like money.” — Ryan Serhant [32:53]

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• “Ryan won’t just sell you this pen. He will sell you this penthouse.” — Nick [00:56]
• “My job is to lose. Every win is bonus.” — Ryan Serhant [12:00]
• “That’s who I’m working for. That’s your boss. The 70-year-old version of you.” — Ryan Serhant [15:12]
• “You kill bees with honey. You play to their egos, and then you get to laugh and smile all the way to the bank.” — Ryan Serhant [31:12]
• “If you can afford the down payment and monthly payments, you should own. If not, you should rent.” — Ryan Serhant [16:39]
• “I break my day down…about a thousand minutes a day to be productive… every day I wake up with a fresh thousand dollars in my bank of time.” — Ryan Serhant [32:53]

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Rapid Fire (Key Timestamps & Responses)

• Best neighborhood in NYC?
  “Soho.” [34:10]
• Most undervalued NYC neighborhood?
  “East Village.” [34:42]
• Next up-and-coming city?
  “Bluffton, South Carolina… If you want to invest in multifamily, everyone here will make a killing.” [34:49]
• Best reality TV character?
  “Bethenny Frankel.” [35:35]
• Best leader in business? “Myself as a 70-year-old.” [35:44]
• Favorite book? “Project Hail Mary” by Andy Weir. [35:54]
• Top NYC restaurant? “Pilos, a Greek restaurant in the East Village.” [37:00]
• If you had a stock ticker, what would it be? “SIR? SELL. Sold.” [37:31]

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Useful Timestamps

• [02:22] – Ryan’s theater kid background and family history
• [04:36] – Sales, storytelling, and improv as superpowers
• [06:18] – The truth about confidence and the “future self” hack
• [09:15] – Business pickup line & building new connections
• [13:38] – The “read me” calendar trick for resilience
• [14:10] – The motivational power of a 70-year-old self photo
• [16:32] – The rent vs. buy equation in today’s market
• [19:03] – The leap from hand model to real estate agent
• [24:27] – Reality TV as business infrastructure
• [30:05] – Kindness, bridges, and leadership philosophy
• [31:59] – The “Thousand-Minute Rule” for time mastery
• [34:10-37:40] – Rapid fire: NYC, reality TV, favorite book, restaurant, ticker symbol

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Episode Tone

The episode is lively, irreverent, candid, and packed with actionable wisdom dispensed with humor and enthusiasm. Ryan’s signature confidence shines through, but he remains self-aware, approachable, and unfiltered, making even daunting concepts (like confidence and reinvention) feel accessible.

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Conclusion

This episode is essential listening for anyone interested in entrepreneurship, personal branding, sales, real estate, or just building a bigger, bolder life. Ryan Serhant’s journey, practical frameworks, and memorable one-liners provide inspiration and tools for Yetis—and anyone else ready to “sell” themselves and maximize their 1,000 minutes a day.

Transcript

[Jack]

Yetis, open your open houses. Prep that pre qualified letter and zip

[Nick]

up your Zillow, because tonight's guest will make you want to buy something you absolutely cannot afford.

[Jack]

New York real estate. It's a sport. And today's guest, who we're hanging out with is its mvp.

[Nick]

Ryan Sarhant didn't just survive New York City. He branded it, bundled it, and bought it.

[Jack]

This guy sold over 10 billion bucks in property. That's more than a lift.

[Nick]

He has built a brokerage business that is booming. He has a Netflix show. He launched an AI sales app, Jack.

[Jack]

He's got a New York Times bestseller. He's an education business entrepreneur. And in addition to his two arms, he's got a venture capital and he can pass 30 miles, baby.

[Nick]

If your buddy watches a lot of Bravo, he definitely knows Ryan because he headlined nine seasons of Million Dollar Listing.

[Jack]

And at the end of the day, Ryan Serhant is the ultimate marketer's marketer's marketer.

[Nick]

You can measure his confidence in square footage.

[Jack]

Yes, you can. Because Ryan won't just sell you this pen. He will sell you this penthouse.

[Nick]

When Kim Kardashian needs a condo, Kris Jenner calls Sirhant.

[Jack]

That's right. And, Jack, how exactly did Mr. Ryan climb to the top?

[Nick]

Not by intimidating. By inspiring.

[Jack]

So, besties, today, Ryan Sirhant will tell us how to sell anything to anyone in any market.

[Nick]

He'll tell us whether you should buy or rent or whether. There's a totally different question and why

[Jack]

going gray is the greatest asset of all, baby.

[Nick]

Besties, please welcome the pharaoh of floor plans, the freak of final offers, the

[Jack]

patron saint of the power handshake, Ryan

[Nick]

Serhant is the founder and CEO of Sirhant and the star of Netflix's Owning Manhattan.

[Jack]

And today's interview with Ryan is the best one yet. Give it up.

[Ryan Serhant]

Hey, thank you so much for calling. Hey, everybody. Hey, besties and yetis.

[Jack]

How are you?

[Ryan Serhant]

Are we sitting? Am I standing?

[Nick]

We're sitting.

[Jack]

We're sitting.

[Ryan Serhant]

Okay.

[Nick]

Have you managed to watch any of the show? Our show?

[Ryan Serhant]

Your show?

[Jack]

We've been watching our show.

[Ryan Serhant]

My show. I watch only exclusively all day, every day. Your show? A little bit. Yeah.

[Jack]

No, that's.

[Nick]

That's fair.

[Jack]

But it's good you watch your show every day because it's kind of like. It's kind of like game tape. Because the cool thing we love about Ryan is that Ryan didn't start as, like, some business MBA grad. Ryan's a theater kid. Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yes.

[Nick]

So you grew up just Outside of Boston?

[Ryan Serhant]

Yes.

[Nick]

You went to a Nescac school like we did?

[Ryan Serhant]

Yes.

[Nick]

You're a Kacker and you went to performing arts camp when you were a kid?

[Jack]

Yeah.

[Nick]

Can you tell us what did you learn about performing arts that helps you with real estate?

[Jack]

And can you put it in the format of a cringy LinkedIn post?

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah. I was born in Texas and then I grew up outside Boston. I have three. Yeah, I have three sisters and two brothers and they're all in finance except for me. And I just like telling stories and pretending to be other people, I think, because I was, I was, I was pretty. I was very overweight and I had rash acne growing up and we moved eight times before I hit fourth grade. And so I always had to make new friends and the theater kids were really weird and so was I And it was just a. It was a much more comfortable environment for me to be in. And I'm not really good with balls. I don't mean I'm not throwing. Throwing balls.

[Jack]

Thanks for sprinkling on the contest.

[Ryan Serhant]

That's what I mean. And so like I didn't have the army and so sports. And I also like, I hate wasting time, even when I was a little kid. And so like going out on the baseball field when I was like in third grade, I'm like, I'm not going pro, so why would I do this? Like, this is a waste of my time. Football, like every sport sounds like fun wasn't happening. No, I like having fun. I'm a good time. I'm a good fucking time. I just don't like unproductive fun. Yeah. You know, life is short. So I. So I did theater and then I went to Hamilton in upstate New York and my dad said I had to have like a real major. And so I chose English literature, which is a rough. A rough language for me. And that's. But then I've written three books since then because it's a. Hamilton's a writing intensive school and so you have to write all day every day. It's a lot. I was a theater major and it's a rewrite everything.

[Jack]

Oh yeah.

[Nick]

New York Times best selling books, right? Oh yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

The first one. Yeah.

[Nick]

Congrats.

[Jack]

The other fun thing about you being a theater kid is that you end up moving to New York and your big break. Well, your pre break break is. Ryan actually started as a hand model.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yes. Yeah.

[Jack]

That was how you kick things off.

[Nick]

Look at those knuckles.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah.

[Jack]

Not many people know this, but if you've seen the EQUINOX ads. Have you seen the T mobile ads? That's Ryan holding it.

[Ryan Serhant]

Not all of them. Not. It's not, it's not all my phone. Yeah, like, I, I didn't even answer your first question. The, you know, sales, Sales for me is, you know, it'. Storytelling. It's just storytelling. So, like, my superpower is storytelling. You know, in terms of like my, my skill set, my superpower as a, as an operator is capacity. Like, I'm able to do a significant amount where my competitors do far, far less. But storytelling is improv. Right? So you play improv games all day long. When you do theater, when you come to New York City, you also build a really, really thick skin. And so like, I didn't know it at the time, but coming to New York to try to do theater, to make no money, to, to do free Romeo and Juliet on the west side highway, to think maybe someone would see me. And you get rejected to your face because of your face or, you know, because like I was 22 and I went gray when I was 16. And so that's a weird thing when you're trying to go out and pretend to be another 22 year old. But in real estate, right. No one knows how old I am. And they're like, you, how long you been doing this? I'm like, a long, A long time. A long time. I can't you tell? You know, and then I would just change the subject really, really fast. No. And then they would buy an apartment they can't afford and then I'd move on to the next one.

[Jack]

So, so let's talk about like that, that confidence level. So how do you, if you don't have that confidence, you're facing rejection. Like, what do you say to yourself?

[Ryan Serhant]

What do you say to yourself?

[Nick]

Yeah, what specifically? A lot of people wish they had your confidence. Myself, they do.

[Jack]

Well, how, how can people, where is

[Nick]

it get the confidence to go do something they're nervous to do?

[Ryan Serhant]

Just ask Chachi and it'll lie to you like Sam Altman, Right.

[Nick]

Did. Which many faces?

[Jack]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

End of the world. Listen, I, I don't think I have a confidence. I think, I think no one knows what they're doing, but some people just do it anyway.

[Jack]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

And I like when I realized that, it's like, oh, so what's the worst thing that can happen if I just try? Right. And I'd rather regret all the things I tried than, you know, all the things I did than the things I never tried. And so the advice I give To a lot of people who don't have confidence is a couple of things. One, you have to write letters to future self. Really, really big believer in writing a manifest destiny memo to yourself one year in advance every, every year, right? Because it will change. And if you're realistic about it and you write out, this is who I am 12 months from today. I weigh this much, I have this much money, I had sex. This many could be as detailed as you can, as uncomfortable as you can. Because most people lie to themselves first before they lie to everybody else. Because if you can lie to yourself, you can spin a tail that'll make it hard for you to wake up in the morning. But you can fix that by having this mentor, and the mentor is you 12 months from today. Like, the person I look up to is myself in the future, right? That guy better fucking crush it, because if he doesn't, I'm gonna be really, really pissed off. And so that's, that's, that's a big tip for anyone who's trying to, to build relentless confidence in moment. Because then you can put on that guy's pants or her pants, and you get to go to work in a costume and you don't have to do it as yourself. Like, I wake up. Like, I don't wanna. I'm wearing a suit right now. I don't want to. I don't like love suits. But I wake up and I put on like, today, I'm Ryan, the CEO and the broker. I'm gonn and get it done whether I feel like it or not. And I think that, you know, professionals, people who show up every day and get the work done, they make decisions based on their commitments. Amateurs. Everybody else make decisions based on how they feel.

[Jack]

Honestly, Ryan, you're making a wonderful case. Just to connect it from our first question of why every MBA should be taking an acting class, frankly, I force everyone.

[Ryan Serhant]

All salespeople like you cannot work for me if you do not go and take a full improv class.

[Jack]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

Like, if you can't get on a stage in front of people and get uncomfortable about your grandmother on Fire on Mars, except you met her on Tinder and now it's weird. What do you do? Like, if you can't work through that, then, like, you can't, you can't have enthusiasm. You can't match that with empathy. Right? And then what's the point of an education? Like, you're just going to do nothing with it. Like, you got to be able to have conversation.

[Nick]

Ryan, I know you say yes to a lot of opportunities. Maybe fewer today than you used to. How do you. How do you handle failures and misses and like, what do you do when

[Jack]

you go up to.

[Nick]

Before you were married? You went up to the bar, had a pickup line, got rejected. How do you handle failure?

[Ryan Serhant]

That didn't happen to me that often. My pickup line with. With girls is the same pickup line I have in. In business today. It is super simple. I did this last night at the 86 at a restaurant in the Village to Jeff Zucker, who I've never met before. He ran NBC. I saw him walk in. He's now the CEO of a subsidiary of Redbird. They buy media companies, et cetera. Same thing. Hey, my name's Ryan and I absolutely hate that I don't know you.

[Nick]

Monarch.

[Jack]

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[Nick]

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[Jack]

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[Nick]

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[Jack]

Jack actually is a problem. I have to get him off this thing.

[Nick]

Yet he's.

[Jack]

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[Nick]

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[Jack]

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[Nick]

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[Jack]

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[Nick]

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[Jack]

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[Nick]

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[Jack]

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[Nick]

ZipRecruiter.

[Ryan Serhant]

All right.

[Jack]

Yeti's first hire we ever made. She was a fan. She wrote a newsletter version of our show. You remember that, Jack?

[Nick]

I remember reading her writing sample on the flight and I was almost in tears, Nick, because this newsletter we were writing as a passion. It was clearly a passion for her as well.

[Jack]

She even knew what like a profit puppy was. And we were sold as soon as

[Nick]

she put it in the newsletter. We were sold because she didn't just have the skills and qualifications she had the motivation.

[Jack]

Sebasties if you're hiring, you want a candidate who's passionate about your role. But you can't get that insight from a resume unless you post your job at ZipRecruiter.

[Nick]

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[Jack]

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[Nick]

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[Jack]

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[Nick]

Four out of five employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a qualified candidate within the first day.

[Jack]

Try it for free at ZipRecruiter.com tboy

[Nick]

that's ZipRecruiter.com tby meet your match on

[Ryan Serhant]

ZipRecruiter and no one knows what to do in that moment and you can do a super quick follow up. Works in the bar incredibly well and you can put spins on it. Like I hate that my life doesn't have you in it and I just wanted you to know that. And then you walk away. And the walk away is incredibly powerful. Right? So you do the same thing in business. Like I, and I do this in cold emails. You know, my name is Ryan Serhit. I'm the CEO and founder of this. I just, I had to reach out to you because I hate that I don't know you yet and life is about relationships and people respond, you should all use it and you should pay me for that that I just, I just gave you. But failure happens all the time. Listen, it's. Winners lose so much more than losers lose. Like you just got to bring that in. And my job as a salesperson, like I don't have a salary, you know, I'm a 1099 independent contractor. My job is to lose. If you switch the mindset to know that every day your job is to lose, that's your base salary. Every win is bonus. And then I'll do a couple things to get through like the, the mental trauma of losing. Like one thing I'll do is I'll go into my like if something bad happens right now or you get dumped or you didn't get that job instead of allowing it to affect your day, your month or year, you go on your calendar right? If it happened right now. So 8:45pm Wednesday the 8th. So you know, 30 days from today. And I'd say read me. And I, I don't waste money on a therapist. I just unload in the notes and I'm like this, right. Did this and right. And they just unload. Because what happens is 30 days go by and I get to that day and I see the readme and I'm like, oh God. Because now I don't remember.

[Jack]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

Where it was. And I open it and one of a couple things happens. One, I fixed it. Two, something better happened since then. Or three, I just don't care anymore because time heals all wounds. And so the act of doing the read me in the calendar builds up that mental muscle memory to get over loss while you're typing and you just move on.

[Jack]

I mean, Ryan's basically hacked time. You know, if you think about. He's hacked time. I mean a little detail we know about you is you actually keep a photo of yourself at the age of 70.

[Ryan Serhant]

I have so many photos of myself. You guys should come to our clubhouse in Soho. So many.

[Jack]

But he does that, I assume to make that person proud, to think about that person.

[Ryan Serhant]

Hold. A little bit of like who do you ever just feel like, like what are we doing? Like why. Like why do we do stuff? Like who invented all this shit? Like why, why do I get. Why do I. Why do we not all just go to Montana? Like why would I not just do that? Like where, why, why is our species. And I think it's a species problem through evolution incentivized for more. Like it's. And it now it's no longer just to procreate right now it's just to do more. And it's. What was your question?

[Jack]

The 70 year old version of you. That's what you're impressed by?

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah, because like that's, that's who I'm working for. That's your boss. I, I was, you know, I was 20 years old yesterday. Like I just, it happens so fast. That's my boss, that's who I work for. And it just reminds me like, ah, right. Because I'm gonna be that guy. And I never wanna, I never ever, ever want to utter the words like I shoulda, I coulda or I woulda, you know. And I think that like memoirs, like books, like there no one reads a book just about good times. Like you don't watch a movie, that's just about stuff like you, you, you, you read it because there's trauma, there's drama, there's messy middles and there's recovery and how they got through that. So anything that's rough, tough, bad, failure, I just like, oh, this is so awful and I think I'm gonna die. This is probably the middle of chapter six though, right? And I'm gonna get. And it's gonna be fine. We're gonna, we're gonna figure it out. It's gonna be okay.

[Jack]

Well, speaking of Ryan's job, we should maybe talk about the real estate question some of our yetis had.

[Nick]

Yeah, we're gonna ask you more about you, but we want to ask a question about our audience. Everyone is in the real estate market. You're the real estate master. Rent or buy is the question. Prices are at all time highs. Rents are at all time highs. Interest rates are at 40 year highs.

[Jack]

Even when you adjust for inflation. It's such an expensive time.

[Nick]

What's your take on this real estate market?

[Jack]

Nick's I used to own and now we rent. We've kind of done something many people would see as a reverse, but it made sense.

[Ryan Serhant]

I think if you can afford a down payment and you can afford the monthly payments, you should own. If you can't afford the down payment and you can't afford the monthlies, you should rent. I think you're either paying your mortgage or you're paying someone else's mortgage. And it's really, really that simple. I think that there is no housing crisis. Anyone. Everyone in here lives somewhere pretty sure. Maybe you don't live where you want to live. That's a you problem. But everybody I know has a house. They might just not have the house or the bed or the room or the block or the street or the town or the city or the country that they want to be in. Right? Is there an affordability crisis? Yep, yep, possibly. It's really, really difficult to prove. Pricing is absolutely higher than it used to be and it will always be so, right.

[Nick]

Relative to income, sure.

[Ryan Serhant]

But also, there's never been a better time on earth to make money in multiple streams. You have to remember, like our parents, I don't know how I can't see everyone here is the same because I can't see you. But like our parents had an American dream of one job, 2.2 kids, a pension, and that went out the window a long, long, long time ago. Right now no one is at fault for having one job, a side hustle, a flipping thing you do on, etc. You're, you're, you're betting, you know anything on call sheet and you're making four different types of dollars. And that's okay, right? Creators are a multi, multi, multi billion dollar economy. Now, and no one. No one gives a shit. It's totally fine. And I think that. And it's probably weird to say this, but, like, if you don't like your job, you're not making enough money, quit and go get another one or work for yourself or set up an llc and then sell something and make yourself uncomfortable, because that is a meme. Because that is where the magic happens.

[Jack]

Like, you know, you took a. You're talking about risk. At the end of the day, you're saying, bet on yourself, which is a

[Nick]

beautiful thing that we all celebrate.

[Jack]

You know, you took a big risk because we were talking before, you know, you were a head model. You made a pivot during the financial crisis to real estate. That was a big risk that you took. How did you calculate that?

[Ryan Serhant]

I ran out of money. I think people confuse speed bumps with brick walls. And, like, I had a dream. I wanted to do theater. I wasn't even thinking TV movies. Like, it was theater. I liked being on stage. It was the only thing I was okay at. I wasn't even good or great. I was okay. And it was better than anything else that I was doing. And I came to New York to try it. My grandfather had died, left me $20,000. I put into two CDs of $10,000 a piece of. And I was like, that'll last me seven years. And I did side gigs, et cetera. And I was hand modeling, which paid me $150 an hour in cash, just FYI. Like, I was rich. And for a short period of time, you know, I was a very, very big hand model because I played piano when I was a kid, and I have very, very long and very, very skilled fingers. And I could hold a phone, a BlackBerry or a Palm Treo without. Without really, really putting pressure on my knuckles. And this is real. And I don't have, like. I don't have veins or varicose or anything like that. And so anyway. And so then in the summer of 2008, I completely drawn down on my CDs, and I was living in Koreatown, and I was sharing a bathroom with 38 Korean guys. And, like, I was that or it was to get a job. Yeah. Go back to school or move home. And my parents were in Colorado by that point, and I was like, if I move to Colorado, I will never leave. And if I can figure out how to stay in New York City, I'll do it. And my friend said, listen, theater is sales. It is a transfer of enthusiasm to the audience or a transfer of enthusiasm to your clients. Just post ads on Craigslist. And how much money do you need to make to survive? And it's like, I don't know. I did the Math. It was 2,000 bucks a month. So if I can make $2,000 a month, I could survive. I got my license. Day one, September 15, 2008. Lehman Brothers files for bankruptcy that morning. And that's how I got into real estate. Wow.

[Jack]

And what thing. I mean, that is an incredible story.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah, it was the worst time ever, but it was also the best time ever. And 12 years later, we started our company that we now run so Sirhant, on September 15, 2020. And not on purpose. It just. I was going to do it on July 1, 2020, but then it was a very dark time, if anyone remembers at that time, and especially in New York City. So I had to buy myself a couple months, but we did it. It was like the worst time to start a business. I was on the news, I was on cnbc, Jim Crave, everybody and everyone was like, are you. Do you have short Covid or long Covid? Because no one is starting a business right now. And I'm like, I don't know, man. Ignorance is bliss. Onward and forward. And it was the absolute, absolute best time to start.

[Jack]

You also, at that same time, you're starting a company. You've also had at that point, totally taken off when it came to reality TV and being present.

[Nick]

Yeah, your fame by that point was the gift of Andy Cohen, the kingmaker. Can you tell us what is it after. After 11 seasons of reality television, what do people not know about reality TV that they should.

[Jack]

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[Nick]

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[Jack]

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[Nick]

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[Jack]

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[Jack]

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[Ryan Serhant]

My approach to it, I think has always been different from everybody else's. Like owning Manhattan. The Netflix show is my fifth reality TV show. Wow. It is an organic lead. It's a lead funnel for me. Like it is business. I treat it as business. And I don't just go on reality TV to. To be known or be famous or to sell toasters. Right. You sell the house for the toaster. And, and I use it to build awareness and to really kind of manufacture like a lead engine that way. I think it's an. It's so much work. Million dollar listing I did for 10 years. I auditioned for it in 2010. We finished our final season in 2022. Right. We. It would take a year to film each season and it would come out the next year. Wow. And it would take, it takes. It's your. I mean, it's, it's, it's a massive job.

[Nick]

Why is it so much work? I mean, reality. Can't you just live?

[Ryan Serhant]

No, because there's. There's budgets and, you know, other people involved, and they. And there's a process. Right. Like the real world. And I think the Osbornes on MTV were the last. Last true reality docu, where they just put up cameras everywhere, film for a month. Whatever happens, happens, and that's what we'll do. But then, you know, it's really, really expensive to create scripted. The only reason there's so much reality is just because it's cheaper and you don't have to pay residuals. Right. I mean, with streaming now, obviously, all that stuff goes away anyway. But that's why it took over. I was doing a couple episodes of as the World Turns, a soap opera back in the day, and I remember, like, that was canceled, I don't think because of me, but it was canceled. And they put reruns of Dog the Bounty Hunter, and it just made more money. Yeah, it's just an economic.

[Jack]

We've talked about the reality. We talked about the business model of reality TV last week, how a scripted show has 10 times higher costs. But that's also the burdens on you because you are the screenwriter. You are the content.

[Nick]

How much screenwriting are you doing? Are you pitching the next episode?

[Ryan Serhant]

No, no, no, no, no. It's storied. So, like, you. You sat. We sat with Netflix, and I said, I have an idea for a show called Sirhant. And they're like, people don't know what a Sirhant is in Mumbai. So we're gonna go owning Manhattan now. They do, but, you know, and we said, I think we should follow the comings and goings of the agents who are in New York City in this kind of clubhouse concept that we created. And there will be drama. Right. But it'll be like if Succession met, Vanderpump rules with a dash of. Of Gossip Girl. Like, you know, and that's interesting. And that's what the show is.

[Nick]

I was gonna say Hard Knocks.

[Jack]

Yeah, it's like football Hard Knocks.

[Ryan Serhant]

No, no, like football.

[Nick]

Like, instead of the New York Giants, it's Sirhant.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah, yeah.

[Nick]

And instead of taking on The Eagles, it's 200am yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah, sure.

[Jack]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

I appreciate you doing your research. Yes, yes. Yeah. But it's. It's hard. It's a. It's. It's a significant amount of work, and then in reality, it is all on you. Like our. You know, we have a. A production company within Sirhan called Sirhan Studios and they. We do all of the marketing, all of the work. Like our content engine is. It's all on us. It's not on the studios.

[Nick]

Can you tell us the secret of how the next episode's drama is gonna happen?

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah. How was it? The best stuff just. Just happens organically, and then you just. You just follow it. Like on season one of Owning Manhattan, you know, there's a guy covered in tattoos who was an agent who was on the show. His name is Jonathan. And you know, the idea, the story, like the initial pitch was, hey, here's the cast. It's going to be super cool to watch a guy who looks like that go from, like bad boy to the greatest salesperson ever. And I'll train him and we're going to film that and he's going to sell. I don't know, he'll sell something for $20 million and it'll be awesome. And he looks like the next generation, right? He looks like kids today and tattoos and.

[Jack]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

But he went from bad boy to, like, worst guy ever. So on camera, we. And it was. It was a strain on the business, like it was. And we just followed it real time. And I was like, I have to let him go. But I. But we're doing this reality. Okay. So Jonathan, meet me at the edge at Hudson Yards. And there's cameras there, and I had to fire him live on camera. Like, it's awful and uncomfortable and you can see it in my face. But it's just. It just happens. And that was not planned. And so the shows are story, but they're not script. I wish, man. I wish. It would make life so much easier.

[Jack]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

If we could script. But the best stuff is stranger than fiction.

[Jack]

Yeah.

[Nick]

Do the guys ever say, wow, that was such a boring episode. Can we redo that one tomorrow, Netflix?

[Ryan Serhant]

No, because you shoot only Manhattan. We shoot for six months, like, straight. And then they just take all the best stuff and they edit it and they smash it all together.

[Jack]

You know, your. Your style on the show, Ryan, and just for as long as we've been following you aligns with something we were talking about with our own branding earlier. Being brighter. You know, it's about making people happier and making people smarter at the same time. And we were kind of curious, like, have. You know, you've also described yourself as a people pleaser, which Jack is a people pleaser too. Has that ever been challenging for you? Because Jack and I talk about this a lot of, like, you know, when I feel like Ram like Jack, you know, they're our partner. We don't have to, like, give them that for free.

[Nick]

He's also preaching the golden rule.

[Jack]

Yeah, he is preaching the golden rule.

[Nick]

The one rule we learned in kindergarten. I'm just. You know, what fascinates me is, you know, real estate in New York City. The former real estate New York City king was Donald Trump. And your number one rule is kindness. And the golden rule. Has being kind ever come back to bite you?

[Ryan Serhant]

Yes. Yeah, I think you have to be kind, but. But tough. Like, you just. You just don't want to be an asshole because the. You don't want people to not want to work with you. Like, you want to build bridges everywhere so that you get to decide 10 years from now, good thing I built all those bridges. Which bridge do I want to go over? If all you do is blow up bridges because of ego, then. Then there will be no bridges and you will drown and you will die. Unless you have an incredibly intense skill set of either. You're the greatest fundraiser of all time, you're the greatest networker for all time. You're a technologist genius, you know, like there. And you can kind of buy the right to be the worst person of all time. And it is what it is. I can't do that. And so. And I'd rather people just not hate me, you know, I'd rather just be nice and work with great people. But you have to be tough, and you have to be. And you have to understand that this is a two way street and we're going to be fair. And if it's. If the other side is being really, really tough on you, you can be polite and tough back. And I'll tell people all the time, you kill bees with honey. Kill them with honey. You play to their egos, and then you get to laugh and smile all the way to the bank.

[Jack]

Yeah.

[Nick]

I think that's also key to how you've hired 1500 agents.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah, those are all my little profit puppies. Yes, right. My individual little profit puppies.

[Nick]

You could have gone with worker bees. I love that you said, we like it.

[Jack]

We like it.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah.

[Jack]

You know, and this audience you were speaking to, you know, we call our audience of yetis and besties, you know, they're ambitious zillennials at the end of the day. And you're running this executive style and doing all this hiring with like six companies. We covered your AI app on our show like a year and a half ago, which was so exciting. What are the tactics for how you do all of this, like on a daily basis, the time, minute by minute, how do you break it down?

[Ryan Serhant]

I have a thousand minute rule.

[Jack]

Okay.

[Ryan Serhant]

Harvard Business School wrote a case study actually, and published it. And when they reached out to me, I was like, I thought they were going to talk about like content to community, commerce and how we've done that for luxury and all that stuff. And you're like, no, the most interesting thing about you is how you manage your time. Like, oh, okay. And then they like followed me for six months. It was nuts. But I, I break my day down. This is why I'm married. Because this was never work in, in the bar now, because this is what I would talk about. It is just so embarrassing. But in order to be the most productive, I break my day down to 14, 40 minutes a day. Everyone's days are different. I get it. But on average, you'll have about a thousand minutes a day to be productive. Right? Now, some people are single moms with five kids and that's not the case. Which I understand. Some people are 22 and should get off their ass and they have more time.

[Jack]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

So there's a blended average. And I break those minutes down into 15 minute blocks. Right. That way nothing is a two hour lunch that doesn't need to be a two hour lunch. Nothing is a one hour Zoom meeting that doesn't need to be a one hour Zoom. And it forces me to look at my time like money. So every day I wake up with a fresh thousand dollars in my bank. Bank of time. If someone ruins five minutes, I would not throw out $995. Right. You just wouldn't do that.

[Nick]

Yeah, right.

[Ryan Serhant]

If someone spat on five bucks. And it's been really, really, really helpful for me to prioritize time and just treat it like my absolute greatest asset. Which is what it is.

[Jack]

Well, Ryan, we have taken up 28 minutes, 19, 20, 21 seconds of your time. Jack, do we have one final question to squeeze in or you think we're going rapid fire?

[Nick]

70 year old AI Ryan, what is the most. What is he most proud of that you've accomplished his yacht?

[Ryan Serhant]

What else are we doing this for? Let's pivot for like, you know, I don't, I don't know.

[Nick]

Ryan, we're gonna hit you some rapid fire questions, okay? What is the best neighborhood in New York City? Who?

[Ryan Serhant]

What's the best neighborhood in New York City? I always go to my broker brain, you know, in which case I would say like the golden triangle of, you know, Fifth Avenue on the Upper east side. I am a big, big soho fan. I think it's a mixture of the Village and Tribeca. It's got touches of Gramercy. It's residential, it's retail, it's office. This, it's this melting pot in the center of the city. And my headquarters is there in the corner on West Broadway in Broome. Sold.

[Jack]

What do you think is most undervalued neighborhood in New York City?

[Ryan Serhant]

To keep your broker brain the East Village.

[Nick]

What is the next up and coming town or city not in New York?

[Ryan Serhant]

Bluffton, South Carolina. Job growth 100%. If you want to invest in multifamily, you, everyone here will make a killing. If you go to Bluffton, South Carolina and you go anywhere within a 30 minute driving distance of the Savannah, Georgia airport, more jobs are being created there than will be created in New York City for the next five years or during Mamdani. But you know, you know, Nick and

[Nick]

I think that bold and specific is the recipe for interesting. Yeah, that was extremely bold and extremely.

[Jack]

As soon as the words came out of your mouth, I thought you made up the town. Who is.

[Nick]

Who is.

[Jack]

It was that fast. It was that fast.

[Ryan Serhant]

Would you know, though? Love to. Would anybody know? It's real.

[Nick]

Who is the best reality TV character of all time?

[Ryan Serhant]

Bethany Frankel.

[Jack]

Who is the best leader in business? Maybe Bethany Frankel, the best leader in

[Ryan Serhant]

business of all time. In the history of the world.

[Jack]

Your fave?

[Ryan Serhant]

My fave? Myself as a 70 year old. I don't know.

[Jack]

The best book you've ever read.

[Ryan Serhant]

Best book I've ever read. Dude, I loved before the movie. Like, I love science fiction. I'm a big, big Andy Weir fan. Like, I'm a, I love Project Hail Mary as a, as a book. I don't know if that's the best book I've ever, I've ever read. In the movie. I really hate reading because it ruins movies for me. Right? Like, I don't. I just, just. I wish I hadn't have read that book so many times because for anyone who has read it, like there is, there's real stakes and there is humor, but there's a great match between stakes and humor that I just felt was like a little, just not, not as it wasn't, it wasn't as palpable in the film as it is in the book. But that's just me.

[Jack]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

No, no. And I'm right.

[Jack]

No, no. Jack read this book. Jack read this book on the Brooklyn Bridge and I've Been saying we got to pitch that to Netflix. And he was like, no, the book's better than whatever we want. Don't ruin it.

[Ryan Serhant]

Don't ruin it.

[Nick]

What's the best restaurant in New York City?

[Ryan Serhant]

What is the best restaurant in New York City? I. There is a Greek restaurant in the East Village called Pilos, which is a great.

[Jack]

Ryan's wife is Greek, by the way.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah.

[Jack]

So trust this guy.

[Ryan Serhant]

Like, yeah, Greek. Greek.

[Jack]

Yeah. Final question that we ask all of our fantastic guests.

[Nick]

If you were a publicly traded stock, what would your three or four letter ticker symbol be?

[Ryan Serhant]

Sir?

[Nick]

Sell.

[Ryan Serhant]

Sell. Sold. Sold.

[Jack]

Sold. Sold.

[Ryan Serhant]

Sold.

[Jack]

Sold. Sold.

[Ryan Serhant]

Sold.

[Jack]

Write that down.

[Ryan Serhant]

Where's Danny? I don't know where he is.

[Jack]

Where's. There he is.

[Ryan Serhant]

There's Danny.

[Jack]

Ryan, thank you so much for coming and spending your epic time with us. Your valuable time.

[Ryan Serhant]

That was incredible.

[Nick]

Thank you, man.

[Danny]

That was awesome.

[Ryan Serhant]

Thank you.

[Jack]

Can you ring the bell? Sure. Ryan's ringing the bell.

[Nick]

Draw hands.

[Jack]

There we go.

[Ryan Serhant]

Thank you so much.

[Danny]

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