How Lee Edward Smith & Katherine Aguilar Turned Dance, Culture & Real Estate Into an Empire

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex

Episode Title: How Lee Edward Smith & Katherine Aguilar Turned Dance, Culture & Real Estate Into an Empire
Date: December 4, 2025
Host: Paul Alex Espinoza
Guests: Lee Edward Smith & Katherine (Kat) Aguilar

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Episode Overview

This episode features an inspiring conversation with Lee Edward Smith and Katherine Aguilar—a married couple who transformed their shared passion for Latin dance and entertainment into a thriving empire that now connects dance, culture, and commercial real estate. Host Paul Alex explores their journey from professional performers and entrepreneurs to event producers, investors, and community builders, spotlighting how their unique background and collaborative mindset fueled their transition to the world of high-level business and networking.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Origins and Entrepreneurial Mindset

• Kat and Lee’s Early Roots:

  • Both met as professional Latin dancers, already successful independently.
  • Kat’s entrepreneurial spirit began at 15, influenced by her father who was in real estate.
  • Lee started as a magician at 11, later performing on 600 college campuses with multiple touring shows.

  "We both found each other when we were already both professional... what happened when we actually came together... it just skyrocketed us." – Kat (03:00)

2. Building a Powerhouse Duo

• Strengthening Through Partnership:

  • Married for 10 years, together as partners for 17.
  • Their relationship thrives on humor, teamwork, and supporting each other’s growth.
  • Both lean on each other to balance the demands of entrepreneurship and family.

  "We always push each other forward. If one of us is rolling the other person up the hill... that's the beautiful part in our relationship." – Kat (19:42)

3. From Dance & Entertainment to Real Estate: The Pivot

• Navigating Industry Shifts & Life Changes:

  • COVID shut down live events—their primary source of income—forcing them to innovate.
  • Transitioned from physical events to virtual shows (e.g., College Lip Sync Battle), which became their highest-grossing year.
  • The birth of their children became a defining moment, motivating them to seek stability and greater wealth through real estate.

  "There comes a pivotal moment. And I think for us, it definitely was our kids being born." – Lee (10:24)
  "When events shut down... we pivoted to virtual, which not a lot of people did." – Kat (11:22)

4. Embracing Networking and Building Abundance

• Event Production as Community Building:

  • Lee and Kat create spaces (e.g., DCBX festival, Rhythm Investor Summit) where entrepreneurs, dancers, and billionaires connect.
  • Emphasize the importance of collaboration over competition and the power of genuine connection.

  "People are people. They want to experience, they want to have fun... Our gift is bringing people together. That's what we do." – Lee (08:26)

• Overcoming Hesitation:

  • Kat candidly shares her discomfort entering new business circles, especially as a woman/minority.
  • Lee highlights how taking bold, sometimes imperfect, action opened doors they hadn’t imagined.

  "I was doing this commercial real estate thing... I realized I'm the only woman and usually only the minority in the room." – Kat (24:30)
  "Let's tell them we have a keynote. This keynote doesn't exist, by the way… Two days later, they message us... 'How would you like 25 mins on Sunday on our main stage, right after Patrick Bet-David?'" – Lee (29:32)

5. The Importance of Mentorship & Strategic ‘Giving’

• Paying to Play & the Value of Proximity:

  • Initially skeptical about paid mentorships and masterminds, Kat discusses how investing in mentorship brought shortcuts and meaningful connections.
  • Lee breaks down how they leveraged their unique background to offer value, leading to major speaking opportunities.

  "I was always a skeptic... and then I actually paid to play. And it unlocked a lot of shortcuts." – Kat (34:48)
  "Sometimes you're gonna ask, and then you're gonna receive, and then you have to deliver." – Lee (30:50)

6. Practical Networking Advice

• How to Meet High Net-Worth Individuals:

  • Frequent places where high-level people gather (country clubs, private events, even elevators at big conferences).
  • Be willing to start conversations, even if it feels uncomfortable—magic (and big deals) often happens in unexpected moments.

  "We got off on 47. They're like, 'Let’s have a drink.' They're some of our best friends. This is the classic elevator pitch. If we don't open our mouths… we waste that 40 seconds, it's a change." – Lee (41:22)

• Collaboration Over Competition:

  • Small business owners and entrepreneurs must drop the scarcity mindset.
  • Cooperation accelerates growth far faster than siloed competition.

  "What we're not doing in our communities a lot is not collaborating because we think we're all competition.” – Kat (45:31)

7. Team Building and Leadership

• Scaling Beyond the Duo:

  • The hardest part is finding reliable people and letting go of the urge to ‘do it all’.
  • Their event teams are small but have incredible loyalty, some working together for 16+ years.

  "We’ve only built a very small team of 20 people now... And all of our people... they’ve been with us for years." – Kat (51:18)

8. Personal Brand and Evolving Identity

• Embracing Change and Experimentation:

  • Your personal essence is more important than your business logo or title—people connect to who you are.
  • Both Lee and Kat have shifted roles (visionary/integrator) based on the needs of evolving ventures.

  "You can evolve... People get in, they're in love with the person, not with the logo... starting entrepreneurs get hung up on that all the time." – Kat (36:51)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On Entrepreneurship & Surviving COVID:

"That year, it was actually our highest grossing year in 20 years on the market. We did over 220 universities—on this virtual show."
—Lee (15:14)

On Networking and the Power of Giving:

"You can't be afraid to ask... sometimes you're gonna ask, and then you're gonna receive, and then you have to deliver."
—Lee (30:50)

On Collaboration:

"I would lean in on collaboration... sure that you are true to yourself and who you want in your vibe and your tribe."
—Kat (60:03)

On Personal Brand:

"Personal brand is like, I mean, it's like a cliche to say that, but it's really, that's really what it is."
—Kat (37:19)

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Important Timestamps

• 03:00 — How Kat & Lee met and the power of merging skillsets
• 10:24 — The birth of their children as a turning point
• 11:22–15:23 — Pivoting to virtual shows & creative problem-solving during COVID
• 17:56 — The brutal risks and rewards of event production
• 22:54 — Evolving from a scarcity mindset to abundance in business
• 29:32 — Faking it until you make it: pitching their first keynote (Find Your Rhythm)
• 33:16 — The power of proximity and referrals (Pace Morby’s endorsement)
• 41:22 — Lee’s ‘elevator pitch’ story leading to million-dollar relationships
• 45:31 — The need for greater collaboration among entrepreneurs
• 51:18 — Insights on building and leading a loyal team
• 60:03 — Kat’s closing advice for entrepreneurs seeking to find their rhythm

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Actionable Takeaways

• Collaboration beats competition; build connections by being genuine and helpful.
• Leverage your unique background; your “weird” combination of skills is often your greatest asset.
• Don’t wait to be ready—take imperfect action and add value to every room you enter.
• Adapt and pivot quickly in the face of crisis (e.g., COVID, business shifts).
• Invest in mentorship and environments where opportunities can multiply.
• Start conversations everywhere (even the elevator!) and be open to serendipity.
• Prioritize your personal brand—people invest in people, not just businesses.

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Closing Words of Wisdom

"The biggest gift I can give you guys as budding entrepreneurs: keep moving forward, keep moving forward and really lean in on the power of connection. Because that's really where, in our experience, we've leveled up." —Kat (61:09)

"The one thing that's consistent is you... what is the essence of you and how can you take that and move other people with that beat?" —Lee (61:15)

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Connect with Lee & Kat

• Instagram: @rhythminvestor
• Website: rhythminvestor.com
• Event Info: Find Your Rhythm Wealth Summit (August, with smaller curated events throughout the year)

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Missed the episode? This summary provides you with the core stories, strategies, and motivation you need to find your rhythm and level up on your own path.

Transcript

[Kat]

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Wow, he's a little sick today.

[Lee]

That's.

[Paul Alex]

What the hell just happened?

[Lee]

Anyone that's an event producer, you sign on the dotted line and you start negative 600,000. It's the dumbest business ever.

[Paul Alex]

My event's only on Saturday. I mean, I'm just saying.

[Lee]

And we were like, wait a second.

[Paul Alex]

You're like, we have access to all these people. They're all millionaires. Yeah, billionaires.

[Kat]

So we.

[Lee]

I gotta get to the. This is like the climax of. This was my. Oh, like my ocean moment. And I'm like, let's tell them we have a keynote. This keynote doesn't exist, by the way. We just put a blurb and a little clip. Two days later, they message us back and they're like, how would you like 25 minutes on Sunday on our main stage right after Patrick, Ben, David.

[Paul Alex]

No way.

Guys, welcome back to Level Up Podcast. This is Paul, Alex. Guys, we have a very special interview here, okay? I'm going to introduce you to power couple that in investing, salsa and bachata dancing. Okay? That's actually one of my favorite hobbies to do when I was in my 20s, guys. You know nightclub? No Dance. Impress the ladies, babe. I'm kidding. Okay. With that being said, guys, this is gonna be a very interesting interview because we actually met at Paul Hutchinson's the billionaires charity event here in Miami for the Sound of Freedom movie. As you guys know, we interviewed Paul a couple weeks back, but this pirate couple is actually going to talk about how they met before the success, all that good stuff. As you guys know, the interviews here are phenomenal. With that being said, welcome to the show, guys.

[Kat]

Thank you.

[Lee]

Thank you, Paul.

[Kat]

We're so happy to be here, and it's an honor. We love your work and, yeah, we just want to share our story, so we're excited. Thank you for having us.

[Paul Alex]

No, absolutely. Thank you guys for coming. I know you guys are super duper busy. You guys just had that remarkable event.

[Lee]

Oh, my gosh. Yeah, we are. We're just coming out of The. The ashes and like a phoenix where we're here in Miami with two under two. Just one day in, one day out. But when you gave us the invite, we're like, for Paul, Alex, we'll move mountain.

[Kat]

We're coming all day long. All day long.

[Paul Alex]

I appreciate that, guys. So for the people that don't know you, who are you guys? Okay, and what do you guys tell us a little bit about your background and then what you're currently doing right now?

[Kat]

Sure, sure. I'll start.

[Lee]

Sure. Ladies first.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[Kat]

You know, and we come as a duo always. And so we've worked together now and we've been married for 10 years. We just celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary.

[Paul Alex]

Congratulations, love.

[Kat]

And we've been together for 17 years working as entrepreneurs.

[Lee]

And so you could actually say I'm sorry to Paul.

[Kat]

And this is how we. How we always love to like, keep our relationship fresh. He just makes me laugh all the time. It's just we're so. We're always on that vibe. So, yeah, we, you know, just both of us really connected on an entrepreneurial level because what happened was, you know, we were both killing it as entrepreneurs and working so hard in our own merits and in our own skills, and we just magically met. And Lee could probably elaborate a little bit more on that, but what happened was we just converged and it just skyrocketed us. And so now, you know, we did start as Latin, professional Latin dancers. We both found each other when we were already both professional and giving lessons and touring and all that stuff. But what happened when we actually came together? We were getting out of relationships and we were like, we don't want to, like, start this long term relationship thing again. We're just gonna do business and just chill and just like.

[Lee]

Well, that was. That was Kat's idea.

[Kat]

Okay. The truth comes out then.

[Lee]

I mean, business and, you know, a little fun too.

[Kat]

But we ended up just, you know, really hitting it off. We were both working at that point, countless hours. I had a 9 to 5 working with lawyers and working with.

I share a similar story with you that I started at 15 and a half working because I saw like the value of not just going to school, but also, like really, like getting hands on.

[Paul Alex]

Absolutely.

[Kat]

And so my journey started with my dad being an entrepreneur and then growing upon that, being like, I need to work, I need to make money, I need to learn. And so by the time I met Lee, I was already on a 9 to 5 job. I was actually. I actually had opened my own dance studio. So I was an entrepreneur as well. And as soon as I would finish work from 5 to 10, I would also teach Latin dance lessons. And so it was like a 60 hour work.

[Lee]

Yeah. And I would say when I met Cat, I was like, because I've been working as an entertainment entrepreneur from the age of 11, I actually was a professional magician.

[Kat]

He's a little sick today.

[Paul Alex]

You got a million bugging out right now. He's just like, what the hell just happened?

[Lee]

Yeah, I always tell people, sometimes it goes the other way. So you're lucky.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah, yeah.

[Lee]

But, you know, that would have been awesome.

It's now a PG13 show.

[Kat]

Yeah, yeah.

[Lee]

But I started with magic and you know, really, for me, entertainment, you know, entertainment as a, as an entrepreneur has been something I've been doing since 10 or 11. So by the time I was 13, I was doing magic shows in the Poconos. There was one from Brooklyn, but there was one kid in seventh grade who was like, also doing choir checks. And you're like, dude, you're on my turf. But we created this two man comedy magic show. And by 16 we were getting hired across the country doing magic conventions. So which are like geeky white guys doing magic tricks kind of. Yeah. But it was fun. It was fun back then in the 90s and. And we would go do those magic shows. And then I went to George Mason on a public speaking scholarship. And here we are. We've been on 600 college campuses. We have seven shows still touring the country. So lot of entertainment, a lot of entrepreneurship.

[Paul Alex]

So let's go back to. You guys are both from New York or what part? Where did you guys actually meet?

[Kat]

So we actually met in Northern Virginia. Yeah. Washington, D.C. metro area. I've grown up and lived there my whole life. And so let me bring this closer. And so. And so, you know, living there, Lee actually transplanted. He, you know, went to George Mason. We both went to George Mason University. And so I've always been there, but my mom is from El Salvador, my dad is from Peru, and so they met there in the nation's capital and then, you know, and then grew our family there. But I'm from Northern Virginia, Leah's from Brooklyn.

[Lee]

Yeah, but we're.

[Kat]

But we're naturally just lovers of traveling. And so honestly, like, we have, you know, that bug in us that even now with having two kids, two babies at that, in diapers, of course, you know, we still make it really prevalent to take them with us and do that. So we've kind of evolved as we have Evolved as a couple. You know, we went from Latin dancing, professional Latin dancing, and, and really being really great business operators and business owners. That was really the crux of it. Even though we were in the limelight as professional Latin dancers to organizers of festivals and major events. And, you know, you mentioned the rhythm find your rhythm investor summit that just happened two weeks ago. And.

What'S happened is essentially as we've leveled up with our stuff that has been happening in our business, we bring everybody for the ride. And we've been telling people, you need to live in abundance. You need to join those we love, to share what we learn so other people can lift up. And then we, as soon as we started having kids, we ended up going back into our roots, which was commercial real estate. My dad is in real estate. And so that kind of led us back into this journey of entrepreneurship again.

[Lee]

And it's funny, as much as we've tried to keep those worlds separate, it's interesting because it's actually like our usp. It's what people, you know, when we do our keynote, which is called Find you'd Rhythm, we open up and I flip cat and, you know, it's like, come up with a better opener than that, you know, it's a great opener, man. It's a great opener, you know, and.

[Kat]

This whole concept and how many speakers can say that they can flip their wife.

[Lee]

Yeah, that's true.

[Paul Alex]

Sorry, babe.

[Lee]

But, you know, but that's the interesting thing. Like, I mean, we were crazy enough to think about building a investor conference off of a Latin dance festival. But the magic to what we do is really bringing people into our, into our room and having them connect. And we just said, let's just kind of take that energy and bring it to a little bit of a, of a different, of a different room. But people are people. They want to experience, they want to have fun. I mean, we had two billionaires and the co founder of Priceline on our party buses going across the city. So it's a beautiful thing when you realize human connection, I think, is really the main thing. And we are naturally. Our gift is bringing people together. That's what we do.

[Paul Alex]

Absolutely. You guys are big networkers. I mean, that's why, I guess we, we all got attracted to each other, the charity, because naturally, you know, you guys can communicate, I could communicate. So it's just meant to be. So let's take a deeper dive into actually like the mindset and the psychology of you guys being Latin dancers, you guys making that your niche initially. And then Transitioning into real estate. So who had the idea? What was the transition? What was that aha moment? Because for most people, there's a lot of people probably going to be watching this that are like, well, I'm really good at this specific hobby, but how can I make that into a business? Right. People just don't think like that. So I have the perfect couple here. That transition from land and dancing to real estate, but then now throwing events and now connected with billionaires. Unheard of. So what was that pivotal time in your guys's life? What happened? Paint the picture.

[Kat]

You want me to take it or you take it?

[Lee]

I mean, I'll start and I'll let you finish it, because it was really cat surgery. But, but. But I think for us, you know, when you're going. When you're climbing a mountain, right. You're climbing a mountain. And we're all trying to attain that. That next goal or that next.

[Kat]

Level.

[Lee]

Whatever the level we're trying to get to, there comes, like, the pivotal moment. And I think for us, it definitely was our kids being born. Ironically, this is being shot on Labor Day. Our son was born on Labor Day three years ago. Not to this day, but it was on Labor Day. And for us, we said, you know, we were on the road 175 days out of the year, touring, doing shows. So it was really like, our lifestyle was amazing. I think at some points we said, you know, we love our life. Like, we're having a fun. We're having fun. But when we had our kids, it was like, that was the pivotal moment where it was our. I don't want to say wake up call, but it was like, okay, now we really got to put this into. Into gear and. And kind of go back to the roots of, you know, real estate, which is, you know, where Kat's family.

[Kat]

Yeah, I think. I think there was a lot of soul searching there because also, there was a pivotal moment also that Covid happened. And if, you know, events. Events shut down.

[Lee]

Yeah.

[Kat]

And so at that point, we were just starting to have to be thinking about having kids. And then it's like, oh, my God, our world. We actually were able to pivot because we're just quick like that. And we attribute to our agents also that helped us out. But we pivoted to virtual, which not a lot of people did. People were like, busking on social media, like entertainers.

[Lee]

And in fact, we'll give you access to Gringos can dance. And if you want to have a great date night with your wife, it's called flirting on the floor. Latin dance date night 21 moves. So it's like Netflix and chill, but Latin.

[Kat]

We were, we didn't have anything to do during COVID I mean, the first month it was like, oh, this is just going to blow over. And like we were just having the best times of our life, having dinner and just chilling. And then afterwards you're like, oh no, like, we need to make money, you know? So that was a pivotal point.

[Paul Alex]

So a critical incident had to happen in order for you guys to be like, oh my God. Yeah. Was. Was the Latin dancing at that time that you guys were doing? You guys were traveling the world, having a great time. You love your life. But was that your only source of income at the time?

[Kat]

It was that and then also producing events.

[Lee]

Okay.

[Kat]

And then DC and our shows.

[Lee]

We have 3,000 silent headphones. We have a brand called shirt up to show.

[Kat]

So basically everything around, like being in person.

[Paul Alex]

Being in person, right? Yeah. H2H. Human to human interaction.

[Kat]

Right. And everything was shut down. It was just like.

[Lee]

But we had, we had two crazy stepping stones. One was so we're sitting around, we're talking to our agents and we're like.

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This whole.

[Lee]

Our show is called Salsa Magic, which I started in 2002. And the whole point of that was at that point in 2000, like 2000, it was like they would get the magic show and then we'd do some Latin dancing, and that's the name just stuck for all these years.

[Paul Alex]

That's awesome.

[Kat]

Yeah.

[Lee]

But we were like, what about if we did this lip sync show and called it College Lip Sync Battle? And we just green screened the hell out of our studio and we just. Our agents were like, yeah, let's. Let's try it out. And that year, it was actually our highest grossing year in 20 years on the market. We did over 220 universities.

[Paul Alex]

Wow.

[Lee]

On this virtual show, there was that we started a hot sauce brand called Gringito Sauce. I mean, we had time on our hands, but, you know, those were like, entrepreneurial.

[Kat]

Like, creativity also blossoms because, you know, you're in just one place, you're isolated, and then we could actually brainstorm together. And I mean, and Lee is a marketing genius as well. And so it was just such a great vibe also. Even though it was also like, hey, this is also a wake up call, but it was also like a creative revival at the same time, which is.

[Paul Alex]

Cool combination of things. What I'm hearing is, you know, you had. You guys had your back against the wall. Everything you guys had built, you're like, okay.

The world is frozen. Yeah, now we, we have to pivot. As in true entrepreneurship, you know, spirit, you do have to pivot. And you guys were solution driven. So what was that day that you were like, all right, we're going to get into wholesale or we're going to get into real estate.

[Kat]

Yeah. I think we were done basically with the idea of like, okay, this is not going to blow over. And I can't remember, like, a specific day, but I think what the. What the one thing was that we already preparing prior to Covid to start a family. And then this happened and we go and we're like, how are we going to do this and sustain a little kid? And then, you know, we wanted to have more kids. And so we're like, how is this going to happen? And so I, as a, as mommy, you know, I turned into this mommy mode already before I even had my kids. And I was just like, oh my God, like, I don't want this to happen the same way that my parents happen. Struggling. I don't want my kids to. And this is something that I proclaimed when I was like in my teens, right? Where it's like, I'm gonna do a step up. I'm gonna like, I see my, you know, at some points in my journey as, even as a kid, as an adolescent, I was taken out of certain activities because they couldn't pay. Right. And so I was like, I never want my kids to feel that way ever. So we're gonna be set, we're gonna have all the, all the solutions done. Like, and then we're here and I'm.

[Paul Alex]

Like, man, as a kid, it's so simple.

[Kat]

Yeah. And then it's like. And then I was like, oh, I'm gonna be a millionaire. I'm gonna be. I had aspirations, but at the same. Now it's like, oh my God, we're in our mid-30s now.

[Paul Alex]

Life happens fast.

[Lee]

Yeah.

[Kat]

What do we do?

[Lee]

Yeah, and we, we both live the very middle life lifestyle, middle class lifestyle. And, and I. Maybe I'm having a middle life crisis right now. I don't know. But anyway, but at that point it was like, you know, we wanted to like Cat said, I think we wanted to find that next level for our, for our kids. And we realized, you know, the entertainment side of things, it's a beautiful industry, but it's, there's so many as I, this is my famous saying is like, there's no ceiling, but there's no floor.

[Paul Alex]

Right?

[Lee]

Right. So you can go. When things get bad, they can get pretty bad. And, and anyone that's an event producer, anyone that's thinking of being an event producer out there, you know, it's a crazy business because you, you sign it, you sign on the dotted line and you start negative 600, 000. It's the dumbest business ever.

[Kat]

The expenses.

[Lee]

But then you're 17 years.

[Paul Alex]

My event's only on Saturday. I mean, hey.

[Lee]

Yeah, I mean, I, I see, you know, there's, you know, when you have the drive. But after 17 years, you think like to, to people are like, why don't you do another event in another city? I'm like, if. If we are paid to produce it all day long. But, you know, it's just. There's so much.

[Kat]

A lot of risk. Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

Capital intensive.

[Lee]

Yeah, you're leveraging.

[Paul Alex]

You're leveraging a lot. A lot of logistics. A lot of risk.

[Lee]

And it's energy, you know, you're. They're constantly giving energy to the crowd, to the people. And then, you know, you're like, all right, this. This energy is gonna come back one day maybe, you know, so it's, It's, It's. It's part of the journey. But I think the kids we had, we got two dogs. Like, everyone knows during the pandemic, they lived. And then we said, all right, we're good.

[Paul Alex]

No, but you're right, you know, everybody became a dog mom or dog dad for sure. Yeah, 100%.

[Kat]

We started fostering, which he thought was.

[Paul Alex]

Was.

[Kat]

And he was like, you're crazy. And I'm like, well, we need to help and save the planet and, like, help these dogs in the kennel.

[Paul Alex]

Why not?

[Kat]

Why not?

[Paul Alex]

They need a home, too.

[Kat]

We're busy freaking on.

[Lee]

We're going to farmers market. Like, there were a couple farmers markets open in Virginia. It wasn't like here in Florida, where covet didn't happen and went on vacation, but in other parts, in other parts of the country, I guess it existed. And so we were at farmers markets with the dogs, like, selling our hot sauce. It was crazy times doing this lip sync show.

[Kat]

I mean, I think. I think the one thing that we always are, you know, that our strong suit is we lean on each other. And so we always push each other forward. If one of us is like, you know, hey, hey, hey. One of us, like, is rolling the other person up the hill, you know, and so that's the beautiful part in our relationship and that in our partnership, too, because you. It's. Marriage is a working thing. People think that.

[Paul Alex]

It's like.

[Kat]

It's like, oh, you're married. And then all of a sudden it's going to be like, happy and flowers all day long.

[Paul Alex]

Not at all.

[Kat]

It's a compromise all the time. And so we are. We understand each other. We're better best friends. And then really, when we started thinking about kids, you know, naturally we were, you know, I was freaking out. I was like, how are you gonna do this?

[Paul Alex]

Right?

[Kat]

And I wanted to reach a different level. I wanted to be secure. And I much like everybody. They want to. They want their kids to be secure.

[Paul Alex]

They want stability. Yeah, correct.

[Kat]

And so that's what really brought me, brought me back personally to real estate now because I come from a real estate family. My dad is a broker. He has a residential brokerage. The first thing that always pops up whenever anything happens or whenever there's any downfall in any business or anything, any problem, my dad goes, get your real estate license, become a realtor again and do that. And I did that at freaking 18 when he asked me to. And I was good at it. But I hated losing my weekends.

[Paul Alex]

Correct.

[Kat]

And so I was like, no, I can't do that job. I did it. I made bank when I was 18. But at the same time I was like, no. Told my dad. I was like, I love you, but I can't get back into that job. I feel some like there's something else. And then what happened was, you know, I started just working on myself and going on podcasts and seeing what the opportunities was. Now it didn't take me like, you know, one month to then figure out that I wanted to do commercial, but it did. It took me probably like a couple years to really figure out and even up until now where hitting our stride and. Exactly. Working with billionaires, multimillionaires, family offices, sovereign wealth funds. But that's. It's been a journey, you know, it wasn't just like, oh, all of a sudden. I tried wholesaling. I tried, you know, I thought about fixing and flipping. Then we renovated a part of our house and we were like, no, that's not gonna be. So you had to kind of try it and fail.

[Lee]

Yeah.

[Kat]

But then be like, okay. And not fail. But I mean like be like, I don't like that.

[Lee]

No, no. Fail forward, fail forward.

[Kat]

Right. And then be like, I like, like I did it. And we always do things with 110. But it's not something that was meant for me.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah. And then fulfill you.

[Kat]

It didn't fulfill. And then. So then we ended up getting into, you know, our connections and just relying on conversations with other people. And that's really what opened it up. Because before it was like, oh, we're always in this competition mindset.

[Paul Alex]

Correct.

[Kat]

Like, you know, oh, that person isn't going to talk to me about their business because they see me as a competitor and vice versa. Right. Might be somebody in that mindset. But then when you actually speak to somebody who's in abundance, oh my God, like you have some and then you start trading notes and then all this stuff. And they could be in the same freaking business as you, but they see eye to eye with you as a Like a friend that, like, really just wants to push you along and you help each other. And that really was the key.

[Lee]

And I think kind of the marriage was we were already at these major events, Formula One, Art Basel, Davos, doing production or doing our programs or shows, and we were like, wait a second. I didn't drink the Kool Aid as quickly because I was just like.

[Kat]

He was in event mode.

[Lee]

I was like, yeah, this is great, but we still have seven shows touring the country. Someone's got to run the circus.

[Kat]

And this was after we got out of COVID Yeah. So everything came back. Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

Your mind wasn't, hey, let me take this opportunity while I'm at these events and go network for business.

[Lee]

Well, yeah, we just.

[Paul Alex]

You were just focused more at the event. Yeah.

[Lee]

And I think that that, that light bulb moment was. We were there and we were like, wait a second.

[Paul Alex]

You're like, we have access to all these people. They're all millionaires, billionaires.

[Lee]

And so, you know, it's like I started carrying like my. My fire wallet. And I. Because I stopped doing magic, by the way, for probably until Liam was born, his first birthday. And she's like, we're gonna hire a 40 year old magician. I'm like, hell no. I'm the F. And 40 year old magician.

[Paul Alex]

I could do it.

[Lee]

And.

[Kat]

And he's great at magic.

[Lee]

And we started like, just. We're like, let's just go into the room. And all of a sudden we were. We were like, holy crap. We had no idea. Like, it's almost like we could have figured this out a decade ago. We just weren't looking. And.

[Kat]

Oh, my God. I just remembered that one event, remember? I. You actually wore, I think, this same jacket.

[Lee]

This is my lucky jacket.

[Kat]

Oh, my God. And I got this jacket.

[Lee]

I gotta. Yeah, you're gonna tell the story.

[Kat]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, first. Well, you could tell the second part. I'll tell the first part. So the first part where I was going to mention is like, when we went to that event, he.

[Lee]

I have more than one jacket, Paul.

[Kat]

Yeah. Oh, and many rhinestones. And so what happens was basically, you know, I was. I was doing this commercial real estate thing and I'm going. And I'm like, I'm going to be in this. And then I realized, like, I'm only the only woman and usually only the minority in the room in a lot of these conversations. And we're talking, like, at some point I got into just great mentorship and great friends and with people that were doing bigger business. And it vibed a lot better with my personality and what I wanted to accomplish. Not on the money side, but because of the connections. It was a lot of respect there.

[Lee]

Right.

[Kat]

It was a lot of, of. I'm not going to cut you out. This is about abundance, not competition. And so it was a good, it was a good place for the love that I had to share. Right. Because sometimes you need it to reciprocate. And, and when you start to feel that from other people, like, then it really, really, you really start to lift up. So a lot of times people ask and they're like, well, how do you become friends with a millionaire? No, it's about becoming friends. Forget the money side. It's about like, there could be millionaires that are horrible, there could be people that are just amazing. But you have to find your tribe because there's every single type of person. So anyways, but.

[Lee]

So you brought me as your wing.

[Kat]

Yeah. I told him, I was like, I really need you because I was feeling very like not confident in my own skin as well.

[Paul Alex]

Because it's a new thing and that's okay.

[Lee]

Young.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah, it happens.

[Kat]

Yeah. And I was just like. And I was being vulnerable and I told Leah, I was like, I need you there. I need you to be my wing wing guy. Like, I need you to.

[Paul Alex]

What are your thoughts?

[Lee]

Yeah. So I find the. I don't have many jackets I can wear to a business meeting. You know, think Latin dancer, magician. It's something sparkles. But I wore this jacket and this jacket, this guy Paul came up to us and he said, I love your jacket. We started a conversation and that conversation opened the door to pavan, which literally, it opened for the first year. It literally opened up our entire circle.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[Lee]

And I mean more than the jacket. But the point is, is it was just, it was just a lot of magic happening.

[Kat]

It was. And, and he was like, when we got out of that event, so we went to this event, it was a lot of ultra high net worth people. We were there to, to, you know, really network and amplify one of the deals that we were working on, which was ground up construction for multifamily 780 some units. And then we, we went there and we're like, we're gonna find somebody to, to, you know, help further along this business. And then so I'm like, I need you to be my wingman. You go this way of the room. Just like we would work a room in a dance setting. Like you go dance over there on the this side. Of the ballroom. I'll go stand on this side, and then we'll meet sometime in the middle and converge. And we worked it that same way.

[Lee]

And she cared. And I didn't give two.

[Kat]

Two crap.

[Lee]

I cared too much.

[Kat]

I cared too much about what I was gonna say, how I was gonna say. And he was just like, I'm just.

[Lee]

Gonna be leaning the flow.

[Kat]

Yeah.

[Lee]

I was like, I feel magic tricks rolling through.

[Paul Alex]

That's the best way to do it. Mind you guys, for majority of these interviews that we do on this podcast, we literally just go with the flow.

[Kat]

Which is the best way.

[Paul Alex]

Some people, they're. They're like, dude, how do you think of, like, all these questions and ideas to ask for people? Like, they're like, I would be so nervous. I was like, nah, dude, you just do it so many times that it just comes out naturally. Yeah, right?

[Kat]

Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

But quick question just to go back to actually letting us know that you weren't feeling 100% going to these events by your. I think that's powerful. I think that's very powerful. Because a lot of people, they're not even willing to go to their very first business conference because they feel like, well, I'm not prepared. I'm not a millionaire.

[Lee]

Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

I'm not even an entrepreneur.

[Lee]

Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

They might be a 9 to 5 or they might be working at. We had a guest the other day here that worked at Trader Joe's.

[Lee]

Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

And he was just like, dude, I didn't know what I wanted to do, but I was in such a, you know, a time in my life that I had so much pain that I forced myself to do it. So it feels like you guys were put back against the wall.

[Lee]

Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

You know, and you guys, like, we're going to make this happen.

[Kat]

Oh, yeah.

[Lee]

Yeah. And the thing is, is, like, so here's the moment. I freaked out. Fast forward about eight months from there. We. We were going to go to Clever Summit, which happens right here in Miami, outside Miami.

[Paul Alex]

It's a real estate conference.

[Lee]

Yeah, real estate conference. And we're part of sub 2. So we ended up getting this free ticket. So they. This guy Malachi calls us and he says, hey, why don't you upgrade to vip? And I was like, that's amazing. I was like, you know, maybe we can add some value to your guys conference. So I go with the reverse sell. I love.

[Paul Alex]

I love that. So, guys, you see what Lee just did there? He said, let me add some value. See, most people, when they go ahead and just like, you guys said earlier, you know, how do you make friends with a millionaire? You had that friend that asked you that, right? And the right approach is like, no, you don't want to make friends with millionaires. You just want to make friends, because you never know where that relationship might lead. That one person might not be a millionaire, but guess what? They might know. A room full of multimillionaires. And that's how it happens.

[Lee]

Yeah.

[Kat]

And that's exactly what's been our vibe. It's like we've been attracting, so we.

[Lee]

I gotta get to the. This is like the climax of the story. This is just the beginning. I'm sorry. This is. I just want to tell you, I've been holding it.

[Kat]

I know my husband.

[Lee]

This was my. Oh, like, my ocean moment. So we go back and forth, and I'm like. He's like, all right. He's like, look, I don't. I'm like, I'll. We'll buy the vip. So I want to give. I know he's making a commission, but I'm like, get us that email. So he gets us to the email, and I'm pitching our silent headphones this experience. And then I'm like, you know what? Let's. Let's tell them we have a keynote. This keynote doesn't exist, by the way. We're going to call it find your rhythm. We're going to talk about our journey as Latin dancers and how we moved on in real estate.

[Paul Alex]

Boom.

[Lee]

And then we just put a blurb and a little clip, and then about two days later, they message us back, and they're like, how do you guys. How would you. Like, 25 minutes on Sunday on our main stage, right after Patrick, Ben, David.

[Paul Alex]

No way.

[Lee]

Yeah. And that. That was our first conference that we ever spoke on a stage. I mean, we've been speaking on stages our whole life.

[Kat]

Right.

[Lee]

But speaking on a stage to realtor and entrepreneurs, that. That worried me. Now, we were in Miami, right outside of Miami, So we did bring in. We had our world champion friends. So we. We kind of brought it all together. But I was freaking out because I'm like, holy crap. Now. And. And I think it's the greatest upsell. Like, it was just. That's an amazing thing to happen. But if you're not afraid. If you.

[Kat]

You can't be afraid to asking.

[Lee]

Yeah, but sometimes you're gonna ask, and then you're gonna receive, and then you have to deliver. And so that was my oh, crap moment.

[Paul Alex]

That's.

[Lee]

That's.

[Paul Alex]

That's great advice. There, man. I mean, what you took is in perfect action because majority of entrepreneurs, you know, I. I deal with a lot of beginner entrepreneurs that do business with me and my associates. And the number one thing that we see is like, well, I don't think. I just, I'm not ready. I'm not ready. But see, you went ahead, you're like, hey, I want to add some value. Give me the emails on the spot. You thought, hey, let's do a keynote, even though we may not be prepared, but let's see what they say. Yeah, you execute it and then, boom, you got it. Yeah, I love that.

[Kat]

It was insane. And you know what's crazy? That was a pivotal moment also, personally for me, because what happened there, it was almost like second nature because I was speaking on a topic that was about, like leveling up and it was about, you know, basically amplifying, you know, and kind of what we're talking about here, where it was like, get into that mindset. And the second that I stepped on that stage, like, usually as a dancer, you always have butterflies. No matter what. When you step on a stage, you're doing a pose and you're doing a three minute routine. Routine. I've always had butterflies or like, you know, some. Some nervousness. Right when I stepped on that stage, I felt so confident, you know, he was. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Listening to this podcast. Smart move. Being financially savvy. Smart move. Another smart move. Having State Farm help you create a competitive price when you choose to bundle home and auto bundling. Just another way to save with a personal price price plan. Like a good neighbor. State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts, and savings and eligibility vary by state. Lee was a little bit more like, okay. Like, he's a production guy. He's like fixing our slides. I'm like, cool as a cucumber. I'm like, whatever happens up there happens. Like, I'm good. I got this. And it was like a. It was like a pivotal moment that it was like, okay, like, I've been working at this for several years now. Like, I'm supposed to be on this stage. I'm ready. And I was just like. And then we flipped and it was beautiful.

[Lee]

And dancers and, you know, the whole, the whole. Your network is your network. So. Kobe Sperber, right?

[Kat]

Yeah, yeah, he.

[Lee]

He owns that event. And Pace Morby had just spoke at our conference and we, we thanked Kobe backstage. Right after the. We went on and he's like, don't thank me. He's like, thank Pace Morby. Because I called him being like, who the hell are these guys? And Pace vouched for us.

[Paul Alex]

That's the way it goes, man.

[Lee]

You know, so master networker. And he was just at our event, like, he had been on our stage. So the. Is like, if you stay in the game, you may not be on the field.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[Lee]

But you just stay in close proximity. Good things are going to happen.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah. And I mean, it's a cliche saying, and I always say this. The most cliche things that we heard growing up, it's always true. You know, your network is really your net worth. It really is. Because if you guys weren't sub 2, which is Pace's mastermind group. Correct. He wouldn't have vouched.

[Kat]

Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

That's just the way it goes. And that directly ties into investing in self education, investing in yourself, investing in mentorships.

[Lee]

Yes.

[Paul Alex]

Because if that connection would have got you that deal. And that's a big. That's a big keynote, man. Usually, guys, for beginner entrepreneurs. You guys are watching this, are listening to this. Those big keynote speeches at those conferences, they go for literally tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars, depending on the size of the audience, who the presenter is, who's running the event, you know, easily. Right.

[Kat]

And not even that the competition is hot. It's like, if you get past the competition, competition, you know, it's like there's so much. But the other thing is, like, you know, with. With Pace and with this, these communities and everything, the. The one biggest thing is like, you know, the access also, like, you're talking about paying mentorships. And I. And I was always a skeptic. I was always. I'm like, I'm not paying a guru that I can get, like, the same YouTube content for free and all that stuff.

[Paul Alex]

I love that many. Yeah, you go, girl.

[Lee]

Go, go.

[Paul Alex]

No, no, no.

[Kat]

But then I. Then I switched modes. I was like, you know, the skeptic. And then I actually paid to play. And it unlocked a lot of shortcuts. And that's really what it is. You can go the long way and try to figure out your own road and dig your own path. But then if you actually have somebody, like a pace to lift you up, if you like all of our billionaire friends. That's the beautiful thing. When they came to our conference, they actually were there because they wanted to add value to our audience. And actually. And what was the Most beautiful thing is we picked the people that were the go givers, you know, the people that vibe with us, the ones that share in love and abundance. And what happened was basically they were out in the crowd, like majority of the time. So the audience, the raves that were on the reviews were like, I can't believe that I just spoke to seven billionaires at your conference and multiple multi millionaires and family offices. Because they were just in the hallway and they wanted to talk to me like, how do you get that kind of access? And I'm like, honestly, it's just love and abundance. I showed them love, they show love back. It reciprocates. And they're here now. You know, it's freaking insane.

[Lee]

You know, Paul, earlier you were saying, you know, for, for your fans and people that are watching, how do you take that, that passion project and, and con and convert it into something? And, and really I was just thinking about this. But whatever.

You'Re into, you know, whatever that passion project is or whatever that foundation is, once you build the foundation, it's concrete, right? It's always there. So that is a piece of who you are. It's your order, it's your essence. And that could be the unique. If Cat and I were just going at Clever Summit because we're like, yeah, we're, we're talking about our journey as entrepreneurs. Like, there's no hook. So, so fine. You know, even if it, I mean, Latin dance into real estate is pretty unique, right? It doesn't make a lot of sense Lens. But then you, you know, find your rhythm. Rhythm investor. You know, the beat to finding your business, you know, you can Play. You know, ChatGPT is a beautiful thing even before.

[Paul Alex]

That's what makes you guys special.

[Lee]

Yeah.

[Kat]

And the other thing is, is. Is the other thing people get hooked on to like their Instagram name or their this. Like, you can evolve. Like, it didn't take me, it took. I, I had to go through the steps. So it's like if you don't like, like try something and then pivot just because you change your logo, you're not going to lose all the people. People get in, they're in love with the person, not with the freaking logo or the website or this. And people get hung up on that all the time as starting entrepreneurs.

[Paul Alex]

Personal brand. Yes.

[Lee]

Yeah.

[Kat]

Personal brand is like, I mean, it's like a cliche to say that, but it's really, that's really what it is.

[Paul Alex]

Like, it is, I always say, because, I mean, you guys have done Quite a few things now. Now you guys are hosting these massive events in business. And you guys just did your first one, correct? Comb the third. Dancing and all that jazz, right? Yeah. Which is great because that takes me back to. I'm like, dude, I haven't gone land and dancing in so long. And my wife's like, after the babies, we're going lan and dance. I was like, babe, it's perfect. Now we're able to go to this conference.

[Lee]

August could be like your first trip or the baby in December. They'll be like eight months. Yeah, dude, it's perfect. Perfect.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah, perfect.

[Lee]

Come right back out to dc.

[Paul Alex]

We will.

[Kat]

And. And the beautiful thing was that convergence. So this is actually the third year we're producing it. And what happened last year, which we loved, was that there was a convergence of, of our rhythm investors, which are, you know, part of our find your rhythm summit, a wealth summit into our DCBX festival, which we produced for 17 years. Now it's going to go on 18 years. And what ended up happening is you see the Latin dancer, you see these high level performing athletes in salsa, bachata, kizombazuk, all these different genres, representing their countries, representing their teams, representing where they're, where they came from, everything. And showing these multimillionaires, like another level expertise. These are experts in business. These are ninjas and titans in all these real estate and commodities and private equity and all that kind of stuff. And then you see the freaking titans that use their bodies to freaking kill it on the stage. And so they both valued each other also, and there was a nice convergence and then they can also work together. So what ended up happening after the aftermath, now we're two weeks out, is that all of our friends are doing deals together.

[Paul Alex]

Wow.

[Kat]

And for us, it's gratifying, it's beautiful. It's wonderful to see somebody supporting somebody else. But then also as connectors, we're building our ecosystem as well. And so when we have our specialty, our unique edge is the entertainment side, bridging those gaps. We've had a little bit of just in film and other parts, but those kind of connections that we've built over the last 17 years are coming back now. So somebody that like, you know, we were touring in Poland, you know, we were touring all over Europe at some points. Like, those are key people that now we're reconnecting with and rekindling and being like, hey guys, by the way, now we're in real estate, commercial real estate, and we're also doing private equity hey, we're helping startups, we're helping businesses fund like all these different things that we're doing here. Is there anyone you know in your circle? And all of a sudden the world just becomes so freaking small. But you have to have the conversation. And that's where I. Entrepreneurs sometimes are scared. They don't want to have the conversations because what's the worst that can happen? You can get a no or you feel bad, but then you feel, then you get the vibration of the next person that will lift you up and then it's like that you forget about that moment tenfold.

[Lee]

We have a lot of times, because I think we are definitely super connectors. We know how. And people are like, well, how do you meet these? Where do we start? That's something where a lot of people.

[Paul Alex]

Say, I think that's a good thing.

[Lee]

And then, yeah, so this is, this is a little golden nugget, right?

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[Lee]

I don't care if you're in, in Peoria, Illinois. And if you are, I'm sorry.

Having been to almost 650 cities across this country and you know, George Mason, our arch rival in public. I was there on a public speaking scholarship. Our arch rival was Bradley, which is Imperial. But anyway, long story short, wherever you think there's going to be a convergence of high net worth people, whether it's the local country club, whether, whether it's a private club, a cigar lounge, you know, that's the start. That's where you're going to start to connect with people that are, that are doing bigger things. And that's why deals get done on golf courses and at Davos and at.

[Kat]

Art Base and I don't even like golf. Like, I don't know, but I'll go, I'll go and I'll have a drink and have, have a good time and have good conversation, you know, and really it's about the people that are there.

[Lee]

It's right.

[Kat]

It's really about the people.

[Lee]

So get in the room, you know, go to the Ritz, sit at the bar, open, have a conversation. I will give this last, this last story because I think this is another important one. We were at one of our number one family offices. They have a $2.5 billion portfolio. We were at the Formula One. We get into the elevator in the Palazzo, walk in these two gentlemen. We were dressed up nice. They were dressed up nice. They had name tag that said IHG family office. Something. We said, oh, you're here for family office event. We had a family office that was, had 200 million to offshoot into hotels. Conversation, conversation, conversation. We got off on 47. They got off on 47. We're like, let's have a drink. They're like, no, come to our suite. That relationship started in an elevator at the Palazzo. We went and drove Lamborghinis. The next day on the. On the. The Vegas Speedway, we karaoke. Six months later, shoot. Invited us to his daughter's wedding in Montenegro. Yep.

[Paul Alex]

Yep.

[Lee]

They're some of our best friends.

[Kat]

We hang out with them all year. All year long.

[Lee]

This is the classic elevator pitch. If we don't open our mouths and have that conversation, if we're not the Formula One, if we're not in that elevator, if we waste that 40 seconds, it's. It's a change. So don't be afraid to start the conversation.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah, absolutely. You never know what door it might lead to. You know, When I first got in Digital Marketing in 2020, my first mentor, he was actually from Amsterdam. I actually invested in him because even though he was probably 10 years younger than me, he knew what I didn't know, which was digital marketing. Yeah. Right. And I feel like now people are like, they're starting to learn more about the e Learning space and masterminding. I mean, come on, guys. When we were growing up.

[Kat]

Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

Who used the word mentor? Yeah, exactly. Right. But we did have mentors. Our parents, co workers, supervisors. That would be like, hey, this is how you do it properly. I was a mentor.

[Lee]

Right.

[Paul Alex]

So I had ton of them. But just to go cut to chase that same mentor that. The very first one that I invested. Three years later, I get to speak at a keynote in Lisbon because of him, in front of European consultants. I'm like, this is pretty badass. Amazing. And then after we're driving race cars around Lisbon, and I'm like, dude, this is amazing. You got. I don't know how much money they have, but you had teams of people flying in their Porsches to go race on this racetrack. I'm, like, in awe. Like, I can't believe this is my life.

[Lee]

Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

But it's because I invested into someone. Yeah. So very similar. Very similar. You guys are an elevator. You guys are, like, hey, you know what? Let's go ahead and talk to them. What's gonna be the worst case scenario?

[Kat]

Right.

[Lee]

Yeah, Right. Also, on the receiving, they could have just shrugged and said, yay, nay. But they had such a warmth to them, and, you know, we knew those were our people.

[Kat]

Like, that energy. Yeah. And it reciprocated, and we've Hung out with Shud and Sartage. So many. And they're such, their family is so beautiful. And it's like, you know, we've been afforded some awesome opportunities and that kind of thing, but the other side, you know, because there's a lot of introverts too. And I considered myself an introvert for a long time now. I'm starting up.

[Lee]

She also says she's not, she says she's not a public speaker.

[Kat]

I'm both.

[Lee]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Kat]

We have a lot of similarities actually.

[Lee]

I mean, we are very introverted.

[Kat]

So I could be a very introverted. I could be extroverted. But, but on the introvert side, like, I can see people that are like, you know, even I can, I can even see family members like in my head being like, well, I'm never gonna like go up to somebody in an elevator and talk to them, right?

[Lee]

Yes.

[Kat]

Then collaborate with somebody. Because if you, if you vibe with somebody, it could be anybody from your, it could be anybody from your circle, your close friends. If that person has a gift of gab and they can like do that, make them your partner, like collaborate with them. That's, that's really how a lot of these things are happening with our billionaires, our multimillionaires, because they value that. Because it's not about like, oh, what do you have? It's not like anything of that. It's more like, what value can I give you to give me so we can amplify and spread our message even more. And so you think that you, you take that to the granular level, to the small business person. And what we're not doing there in our communities a lot is not collaborating because we think we're all competition. And so I see that in, in.

[Paul Alex]

It'S a lot of separation.

[Lee]

Oh yeah.

[Kat]

And they, and, and not talking about things. And so we need to get past that so that then we can really amplify each other and help each other out. It's. Yeah.

[Lee]

And we just finished our conference and we took a week off and you know, we have our, you know, we have our crew that are helping move these deals along and you know, we come back like two weeks later and there's so many deals where, you know, we're the captains of the ship and of course we're creating an incredible experience, but we can't be on every floor. And so to see that motion happening, you have to, you know, I've been a one man show for a long time and then we were like a two person duo. And I Think we've done a lot, but at some point you're going to hit that plateau where you're like, like, okay, there's only so much you can do. And now with AI and Chachi, BT and you know, Upworks, I mean there's, if there's any time in history where you can literally leverage.

Bringing people power at a low cost, this is the time.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[Lee]

So find your tribe, build the tribe and, and, and collaborate. Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

I want to ask you this guy's question. Just hearing your story, it's amazing. Would you guys consider your partnership? One person's the visionary and one's the implementer.

[Kat]

So I don't know. I, I, you know, you know what's crazy for me is I'm really not a conformist. Like I, I like to challenge things and I hate labels. Even the mentor thing. You know why I don't want to be a speaker? Because I, I see that label as a speaker and I'm like, I don't.

[Lee]

Want to be the guru. Right.

[Paul Alex]

So I mean, but it just goes to it like you're under that umbrella.

[Kat]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, so I'm like, I'm like every time somebody is like who's a visionary and who's an integrator with us, I'm like, man, I don't know because I thought for a long time like he was visionary and I'm integrator. And now that we've kind of really dived really deep into like, you know, commercial real estate and then also commodities, private, all the, all the big deals that we're doing right now, like it's like we're both leading different fronts. So we're almost like multifaceted visionaries and integrators.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[Kat]

And it's not like, like I can't label myself as just an integrator anymore because that's what I see used to do for dcbx. I would do all the behind the scenes. I would run the volunteer program. 300 volunteers, you know, all the back end stuff and everything.

[Lee]

Which by the way is a 4,000 person event.

[Kat]

Yeah.

[Lee]

With people from 50 states and 19 countries. Oh. It's four days of 200 classes, Grammy nominated bands, world famous parties that go to 8am I mean it is a machine. Yeah, yeah. So Kat definitely had the harder job. I am not an integrator by any means. So I am, I'm the visionary guy. And but Kat is a visionary. She's just a visionary that also understands how to put the pieces of the.

[Paul Alex]

Puzzle hybrid, which is Great.

[Kat]

I think, yeah, I think I'm more of a hybrid. Yeah.

[Lee]

I'm not a hybrid.

[Kat]

He can't be a hybrid. You are straight visionary.

[Lee]

Yeah, yeah.

[Kat]

He doesn't read the instructions. And so I'll read them.

[Lee]

Yeah, I make the instructions. I have a saying. I said I don't stand in lines. I make. Make them. Yeah, I love that.

[Paul Alex]

I love that. No, me, myself, you know, very early on when I left law enforcement, I found out about myself the hard truth, that I'm a visionary guy. I'm not an implementer. I'm not. If you were to tell me, like, hey, dude, like, what are the finances on this part or what? What is the process on this? Or what are the SOPs? I'll be like, to be honest, I don't even know. Like, you know, I hire somebody that's smarter than me to go ahead and do it. So I think working logistics is a very hard job, but visionary in the very beginning. I like to start the fires. You know, let's go ahead and start these fires. Right. So I have to have that person that's overseeing, like, basically the ideas and to make sure, like, hey, dude, like, let's just continue to focus on the main source.

[Lee]

But it's all, it's all, you know, at some point it's it, it boils down to finance money.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah, yeah.

[Lee]

Obviously money buys us time and that's time to focus on the things you're good at. But when you're grassrooting an event, you know, I mean, there were years we, I feel like we cleaned bathrooms, set up dance floors. Like I tell our crew, I say at some point, I know this may suck, but just remember, Lee and Kat.

The metaphor is like, imagine we are like a two person football team that nine months out of the year, it's just us playing.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah, yeah.

[Lee]

And then you guys come in, we get a full team the last 90 days. And you're fresh. We're tired as hell.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[Lee]

And, and, you know, now we're balancing that out. But, you know, revenue is, is the magic, right? Finding that investor, finding someone that believe in you, setting up that spv, all of those guys. I feel like I'm talking.

[Kat]

Oh, my God.

[Lee]

He's like, she finds it so sexy when I'm like, investor. But, but, but, you know, because I've been slow to drink the Kool Aid, even though I have now. But, but it's, it's. The financial part is so important. Right. So how can you level up? How can you build more money so you can do exactly what you're good at, not what you have to do because you don't have the money to actually pay someone else to do it.

[Paul Alex]

No, absolutely. I think the number one pain point for a lot of beginner entrepreneurs is the money. Right. They're like, I don't have any money.

[Lee]

To go ahead and invest.

[Paul Alex]

So, I mean, I always say there's. There's two options, Right. It's either find people with the money.

[Kat]

Yep.

[Paul Alex]

Or just go with it and just do what I did 80 to 100 hours a week.

[Lee]

Yep. On.

[Paul Alex]

On what, you know, you can do. Save up and then invest in your own money. Bootstrap. Right? Yep. Question. So you guys have built teams. What. What is the biggest team you guys have built? Oof.

[Kat]

I think that would happen with DCBX. We. We've only built a very small team of 20 people now. 20 people that. That work very hard and do multiple jobs and multiple, you know, and. And all of our people that we have. Oh, my God. They been with us for years. I think. I think the longest has probably been Randy, and Randy's been with us almost the whole ride.

[Lee]

16 years.

[Kat]

Yeah, 16 years.

[Paul Alex]

And so that is awesome.

[Kat]

Yeah. Our senior events manager, Sandra. Shout out to Sandra. She's freaking amazing. She. She's been with us, I think, like, going on nine or ten years.

[Paul Alex]

Amazing.

[Kat]

Nine years.

[Paul Alex]

Amazing.

[Kat]

And so what. What we do do is, well, is we. We debrief after every. Every event. We. We make sure that everyone has an understanding of everyone else. Because also working in. In events and. And the events industry, there's all types of people, and so you have to know how to work with people. And so that team is definitely one of our strengths and has taught us a lot. But then doing events in general, you know, having 4,000 people in the house, that's also another, another, another.

[Lee]

It's almost like they're a team. They're. They're like a big, massive energy that you have to manage. I will say this, under your care.

[Kat]

Really.

[Lee]

What's interesting now is we, all of these collaborators that have come and come to the. The Find your Rhythm conference, like, they're. They're like, hey, we want to be on the Lee and Cat team or the Cat and Lee team. And that's beautiful because we're like, wow, you know, all these years of pitching and, like, having to pull people in, they see the value, they see the magic. You know, Lori, she literally.

[Kat]

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[Lee]

Coca Cola for everyone.

[Kat]

Pick up some Coca Cola at a store near you.

[Lee]

This episode is brought to you by White Claw Surge.

[Paul Alex]

Nice choice hitting up this podcast. No surprises. You're all about diving into tastes everyone in the room can enjoy.

[Lee]

Just like White Claw Surge.

[Paul Alex]

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[Lee]

Unleash White Claw Surge. Please drink responsibly.

[Paul Alex]

Hard seltzer with flavors. 8% alcohol by volume.

[Lee]

White Claw Seltzer works Chicago, Illinois.

She came to us after at DCBX and she was cheering and she's like, I never get like this, but she's like, there's such a genuineness to what you guys are producing here. There's such like. And she just, she started like, cheering.

[Kat]

And she's like, and this is a woman who is so well accomplished doing deals all over the world. And for her to say something of that nature and for her to be touched in that nature, I mean, this woman has done multimillion dollar deals.

[Lee]

We had the capitalist of the year of India, Dr. Bishna, on our party bus, you know, and she's like, you know, she's like, it's just, it's so beautiful. Like as, as much as dcbx when we started it, Standard stands for Duke Connect Be an experience. So we had a film festival within the event for seven years called the Global Impact Film Festival, that had films that short, films that made a global difference. We had a one day entrepreneurial conference, so. So we were trying to build like the south by Southwest model, but a little bit more on the cultural diversity vibe. So doing multiple things at once is something we obviously flourish at. But this idea of building an investor conference off a Latin dance festival, it was quite a few cocktails one night before we were like, well, you know what? We already have this event. We've already paid for the hotel shit. Why not bring a bunch of investors in and like, we'll open the show at a Latin dance. And it's like, like, how's that coming?

[Kat]

And people thought we were crazy.

[Lee]

They thought they were crazy.

[Kat]

Oh, they thought we were crazy. They're like, how are you going to mesh these two? Or even. Even to this day, the third, we were only in our third annual, right? Even the third annual, they were Some of our associates were just saying, hey, you're gonna put all these entrepreneurs and all these billionaires and multi millionaires in the same room? What? Like, usually like you, you should be charging a gajillion dollars. I'm like, no, these entrepreneurs actually need mentors like this, this, that are not only like one step ahead, but like 20 steps ahead of them because they also have a lot of knowledge. Like, shout out to Julio Gonzalez, who he's freaking. He. He's helping businesses with like grants from all over that are untapped. Billions of dollars that go straight to freaking. All these Fortune Fortune hundred companies just because they know how to write the grant.

[Lee]

They have the grant writers.

[Kat]

They know that they. And not. And these. On these small entrepreneurs, the small businesses, like my dad, like our, our, our families, our friends, like that all need the money. They can't access it because they can't write the grants. They don't or they can't. They don't want to sacrifice the money to actually pay somebody to do that, you know, expensive. It's expensive. And so like all these things now what we're doing is bridging that gap between all these entrepreneurs and the ultra high net worth. But the ones that want to share their journey, the ones that have the love and the abundance, the ones that want to be like, okay, you know, I'm going to give you time. What do you need? Okay, maybe, maybe I'm not the right. You know, this billionaire might not be the right person right now to mentor you personally one on one, like the care that you need, but maybe there's somebody along the line that I can introduce you to that you can collaborate with, that's also in your same journey that you guys can help each other out, you know. But the other side, going back to the receiving, is sometimes entrepreneurs need to be ready to receive also. And that's the only thing that I think is a hindrance for a lot of people that are like, I need to level up. But, but I put myself on the way. That was me. I was putting myself on the way. We thought DCBX was gonna be our legacy.

[Lee]

Well, I think it is a piece of our legacy.

[Kat]

Well, we thought that that was the end of our legacy. I should say we were gonna do that forever. This dance conference that gets thousands of people and we were gonna be world renowned for that. And we are, but it wasn't the end. Like, our chapter opened up after we started to think about kids and then surrounding ourselves with individuals that were like, guys, guys, you guys have a lot.

[Lee]

More to give to simplify.

[Kat]

Imagine that gift that we got. Like, that's why I'm such on a high still from this event because I'm like, I want other people to feel.

[Lee]

That gift, to simplify it, I think. Yeah. We help entrepreneurs, businesses, startups find their rhythm. And it's an open statement. Right? But it's really, everything has a beat, everything has a frequency, everything has a rhythm. And it's interesting because some of these new deals that are coming to us, they happen to do with, we have davi, which is headphones that are, they're like $27,000 headphones. They're like the Bugatti of headphones. But it's like we're finding deals that actually happen to do with music and rhythm. We're working with the World cup coming up. And so it's, that's, that's our journey. That's the rhythm. We're rolling. But everyone has a different vibe. And those billionaires, the seven of them that stand on the stage and Lee and Katie. Not billionaires, not yet. But we had a part where we left the audience. It's like, what's going to be your billion dollar moment? It's not always about the number. It's how you can take that step from 1 to 2, 2 to 4, 8 to 10. Right. The small ones don't do the math. It doesn't make sense.

[Paul Alex]

I love that, I love that. So guys, let's say we have people listening to the show and they're like, hey, do you guys do any type of mentorships? Do you guys? How can they get in, connect with you guys? Guys?

[Kat]

Yeah, no, we're not gurus.

No, no, no, we, we love collaboration and so on. On that side we, you know, you guys can follow us on our Instagram and, and for sure we'll be having a lot of high end events where we're bringing together entrepreneurs with all of our amazing friends that want to give that's upcoming and, and that's going to be all over the country and also all over the world. And so we have east coast, west coast events already in the books and then we have also Europe endeavors.

[Lee]

Yeah.

[Kat]

And a lot of.

[Lee]

So yeah, it's, it's at rhythm investor or rhythminvestor.com and really our, our focus, we have our conference in August which is our big one. But what we thought was, we said, wow, why not bring people on the journey to these incredible events. Now we can't bring 500 people, but 30, 40, 50 people that want to really experience these, these high level events, which, by the way, say if you hang out with us, you're going to have fun. There's going to be dancing, there's going to be, you know, diversifying, there's going to be, we're going to make sure you have fun, but also there's going to be just a wealth of knowledge in the room. And how can we as a, as a unit do deals together? Share, share. Everyone eats a little bit and bringing them along for the journey so we can find that rhythm together.

[Paul Alex]

Absolutely.

[Lee]

Rhythm investor, let's go.

[Paul Alex]

So, Lee and Cat, what are a couple words that you want to tell to the audience that people are going to be downloading this episode to level up? If they're, let's say, in the beginner stages of trying to find their rhythm, what would you tell them?

[Kat]

Yeah, so if you're trying to find your rhythm, I would definitely lean in on collaboration. I would lean in on speaking up and asking the right questions, not even the right question questions, any questions, and making sure that you are true to yourself and that you're true to who you want in your vibe and your tribe. Because that is also, we have to realize that it's not even about that person, it's about us and what we want to receive. And so as starting entrepreneurs, you have to open that door so that you could walk through it and then see what's on the other side. But without doing that, you know, we can't find our rhythm, we can't explore, we can't open our minds. And so the biggest gift that I can give you guys is as budding entrepreneurs, I've been there where I'm like struggling and I don't know where to start and you don't know where to, you know, move forward. This left, right, back, forward. You need to just keep moving forward, keep moving forward and really lean in on the power of connection. Because I think that's getting lost nowadays. And honestly, that's really where a lot of our experiences, in our experience, we've leveled up.

[Lee]

So thank you, wifey, for saying everything.

But I, I will, you know, I, I think it goes back to my journey and you know, when you're, when you have a gift and, and, and I think that's what you have to think about. You know, as an entrepreneur, I don't know what the statistic is. Paul probably knows of how many times you're going to change your ideas. But, but, you know, I know, I remember back in the day, it was like you're going to change your profession like it's like seven times, right? I think as an entrepreneur that's probably 70, right? The Wheelhouse is always going, you're always going to change ideas. But the one thing that is consistent is you. Right? And so what is that piece of you like? For me, it's magic. It's just very sexy hair. You know, it's wearing these, these fun jackets. You know, what is the essence of you and how can you take that? And if Kat and I wouldn't have had 20 years in entertainment, this whole find your rhythm component, it doesn't exist because you can't start from nothing without being able to have that foundation. So, you know, if you are coming from XY industry as a marketing exec and then you're starting your own brand, you're obviously going to have a great opportunity because you understand what it takes. You know, Len, who started Davi, he worked for Beats, right? So at the end of the day, just figure out what your gift is, what your USP is and ride that, Push it and find people that will support you. Meditate and take it to the next level. Find the beat that moves you and move other people with that beat.

[Paul Alex]

I love that. I love that. And guys, that is the level up with Kat and Lee. Guys, leave a five star review on Spotify, Apple Podcast and on YouTube. We have made it to number one in business in all categories, actually. What was it yesterday or today, Emilio? Yesterday. Yeah, that's right. Guys, let's go.

[Lee]

The pressure. I hope after this you don't go to number two. Damn it.

No, no.

[Paul Alex]

If anything, we'll stay there because of you guys.

[Kat]

I love it. Amplify it.

[Paul Alex]

So, guys, make sure to reach out to Lee and Kat on Instagram, make sure to check out their socials. We're going to drop it down in the description. And with that being said, guys, make sure to share this with somebody that you care about, that you love, that you want them to level up their mindset because that's the first thing that it takes to go into anything that you want to do in life. You got to find your rhythm. My name is Paul. Alex. This is the level up. We'll catch you on the next one. Peace.

Sa.