← Wake Up to Wealth
Wake Up to Wealth
From Scarcity to Success- Jeff Crisalli on Wealth, Leadership, and the Entrepreneurial Mindset
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- [00:03]
A
This is Wake up to Wealth, a podcast dedicated to helping you change the way you think about wealth. And now, here's your host, Brandon Briningham.
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B
Hey, everybody. This next segment is brought to you by my good friends at Accruity. Now, if you run a business, most business owners neglect their back office and they don't even know where to go or who to trust when it comes to their financials or CPA or taxes. That's where Crudy comes in. You can trust them, they can give you advice, and they understand the back office. Listen, you're not running a business correctly if you don't have a hold of this. And it's really hard to trust people that are out there. And most CPAs frankly work for the IRS and don't work for you. That's not the case with Accruity. Check my good friends out at Accruity for any needs that you have when it comes to helping with your back office, getting your book straight, getting your taxes correct, and they guide you and give you advice, which most firms don't. So check out my guys at Accruity. Tell them I sent you. Hey, what's up, everybody? We are back with another episode of Wake up to Wealth. And thank you guys again so much. I know open the show every time for you guys. Liking subscribing, downloading the show. As of yesterday, we are number four in the United States in investing. You know, Prof. G, Dave Ramsey and Bloomberg are the three ahead of us, which is remarkable, to say the least, that you guys have supported the show to make us one of the biggest in the United States without a huge budget, without a huge studio behind us, without any famous people behind us. So it's just been us coming, putting out good content, you guys supporting it. So I can't thank you enough. Continue to support us. If you like the show, leave us a good review like and subscribe, tell your friends about it because I want to keep it the way that it is where, you know, we, we're not going to a big studio. We've been approached by big studios. But I don't want to give up control and I want to keep coming on here, giving you guys good information, bringing on cool people and sharing information for you guys to wake up the wealth. So again, thank you guys so much. I'm honored and humbled that you guys have supported us. We're north of 120,000 downloads per episode and that could not be without the support of all of you guys. So thank you so much. And again today, we've got another friend of mine, another entrepreneur, good guy, work together at EXP and do a whole bunch of cool shit at EXP and he's got pretty colored background of being an entrepreneur. And that's my good friend Jeff.
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C
Chris, Ellie.
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B
So, hey Jeff, I appreciate you being on here with us today. And you're a VP at EXP for my listeners. I know that you do a lot of things and you wear a lot of hats. Tell us kind of what, what do you do day to day?
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C
Yeah, you know, Brandon, thank you so much, you know, for coming on here. I do consider you a friend as well as a colleague. And you know, we've got a, we've secured a really nice relationship over the last couple of months and you know, so I thank you for, you know, not only your, you know, your business acumen, but being able to call you a friend. So. And I appreciate today's opportunity. Right. This is, you know, a great opportunity for me personally and for exp, our brokerage, our brand. So as a vice president exp, I get to run the business of exp, everything outside of Core Realty. Right. So I work a few different things. Number one is I oversee a few of our joint venture partnerships. So we have a joint venture with a mortgage company, Success Lending. We have a JV with a health care company called Clearwater. So I oversee our joint venture relationships. Secondarily, we have a division inside EXP called Revenos. Revynos is a lead aggregator. So we've got relationships through, you know, all different types of companies, affinity companies, relocation companies. And specifically I run Investment Services which caters to the Wall Streets. Right. Caters to the large institutional homeowners. 10, 20, 80,000 homes. I oversee that division as well as the REO division. So what happens in the investment services is we handle on a national level and not to the agent. There's a corporate layer in there where we support acquisitions dispositions. And just this year till end of last year, we are now playing a large role in the btr, the build to rent space where these large developers are coming in. You know exactly that they're building homes to rent. And we are sitting EXP agents and teams inside those communities to act as the on site leasing agent. Right. So as a caveat, what that does for these institutions is it lowers their cost because they have no sga. Right. They don't have the employee factor anymore. And I know agents are entrepreneurial and they're incentivized to close leases for them. Right. I'm going to go On Brandon. So I apologize.
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B
Yeah, go ahead.
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C
Vision in EXP called EXP Solutions. And what that is is we strike national deals with providers of services to our real estate agent base. So think of. Build a sign. Think of, you know, different companies like that. So I'm part of the team that will manage those, relate those current relationships, help, you know, help speak about those on stage and promote those opportunities. And then I also figure out, like, if a solution fits well in the EXP ecosystem. So that's kind of, Brandon, my day to day.
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B
So EXP obviously is a big company and you're in a very prominent position. So kind of take us before this. Like, what did you. What did you do to get to this point? Right, because you didn't wake up one day and become a vp?
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C
No, I'll tell you, I scratched and I clawed and I. And you know, I had street fights and Wall street conversations, right? So, you know, I've always, always been an entrepreneur. You know, I say that I've never had a real job, you know, up until I started to work, you know, for corporate America. But, you know, way back when I started a construction company, and I can't hammer two boards together, but what I could do is coordinate and I can drive sales and I can create relationships where people trusted me to bring the right resources in to build a deck or build a house. And, you know, what happened was I scaled that to doing national rollouts for retailers. I did store revamps for Old Navy friendlies. And when I tell you again, I had no experience in the construction business, but I knew a lot of people in that industry, and I said, wow, I think I could do this right? And I did that, and it was great. My entry into real estate was again, being in the construction business. I was working with flippers and I was working with new home builders, and I said, I might as well get this real estate license. So I got that. And being an entrepreneurial, I didn't go work for a brokerage. Not only because I didn't want to work for someone, but I didn't. I kind of didn't know what the brokerage world was. I really didn't know the ins and outs of what real estate agents do. So I said to my attorney, hey, I want to start my own brokerage. He's like, well, you're in New Jersey. You can't. You got to be licensed for three years. You got to be a broker, you know, blah, blah. I said, well, tell me about this broker of record thing. So I said, well, can I hire one and he's like, I guess so. Nobody ever asked me that before. So I said, okay, I'm going to hire one. So I went out, I found a broker, I made her the broker of record for my real estate company. And I owned a real estate agency, right. You know, it's things like that, you know. And then concurrently, I had a construction management firm where I started to develop. I was the sweat equity partner, not the money partner at the time, and I was building commercial shopping centers. So I developed three shopping centers and then I actually did the tenant fit out, and then I did the lease up for those and then I did the property management for those. So, you know, Brandon, I think having an entrepreneurial mindset, if you said to me, tomorrow, Jeff, we're going to, we're going to start an airline, all right, we'll get some pilots, we'll get some planes, we'll leave some hanger space, like so. That mindset, Brandon, I think you can do anything in business if you've got grit, the determination and that entrepreneurial spirit.
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B
So what do you think is kind of one of the biggest lessons, you know, going, going through all that to then where you are today, you know, managing. I mean, you're talking tens of millions of dollars in revenue and people and I mean, it's a, it's a tall, tall order. You're overseeing, you know, how did you, like, what do you think is kind of, I'm sure a ton of lessons, but like, what do you think is one of your biggest lessons you've learned kind of through this journey as an entrepreneur?
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C
You know, I'll tell you, that's a great question because as an entrepreneur and one of the things I didn't like about being kind of a solo entrepreneur was I had nobody to bounce ideas off of, right? I look in the mirror, Jeff, what do you think of this idea? Right? And I had no other feedback. I only had my own experience. I only had my own research. Research. One of the things that I pride myself on is I love to learn and I love to think, right? So, and by learning, I don't just mean research. I don't just mean, you know, the large language models. I don't just mean Google. What I mean is learning from people. So I, you know, I manage a lot of people and I deal with a lot of people at my level and above. And one of the things I do is I listen a lot, right? Then I form my opinion and I'm not afraid to ask questions, right? So before I make Any big decision, right? I work it out in my brain, but then I'll ask for the input, not even of people that are direct stakeholders in that decision, but other people, right? Because everybody comes to the table with a different perspective, with a different experience, right? So seek the knowledge of others. Trust your gut, right? Trust yourself, but then seek the knowledge of others and think. Don't react and think through the issue. And normally. Listen, we all make mistakes, right? I make mistakes every day. But, you know, you'll normally end up in a place where you. Even if you're half right, you'll fit. You'll make that decision, right?
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B
What do you think is. And this is a loaded question. What do you think is, you know, one of the biggest mistakes you've made in kind of your journey, in your entrepreneurial journey?
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You know, Brandon, I think I was very reactive in my entrepreneurial journey, right? I reacted first and I thought second. So as I've matured as a person,
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B
as do most entrepreneurs, right?
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So again, you know, as I've matured as a person and as a businessman and as a business leader, I've learned patience, right? So that's really a huge lesson. And the other thing I think I've. I've. I'm. And I'm still learning every day is that emotional intelligence, right? Because as entrepreneurs, right, we are. Listen, if you can't do this, get out of my way and I'll do it myself, right? And. And that's part of the, you know, the emotional intelligence of being able to connect with people and see things from their perspective, as opposed to my result. Because everybody's got a different journey to get to the result, right?
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B
Mm. Yeah. No, I love that. So you being, obviously, you're an entrepreneur, right? So you have a view that's different, where you're coming into a big company where your life was not just being in an employee, right? So you come in, you're now responsible for, I don't know, a lot of people, right? You know, you're responsible for a lot of money. You're responsible for a lot of decisions. So you now have an inside look of how a big company like EXP works, right? So it doesn't just happen by luck, right? To get as big as EXP Is to recruit the talent that they're recruiting. You know, all the things we know. What have you kind of. What have you learned being at a company like this, that you're like, oh, my gosh, like, you know, this is. This is part of the magic. This is why it Works like, what have you seen that you've learned? Being in your seat and having this purview that's different now, you know, being at exp.
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C
Yeah. You know, working for big companies, it's all about the C suite and the level below the C suite. They set the tone. Right. You know, our CEO Leo Pareja, Glenn Sanford, our founder, both have been on
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the podcast, by the way.
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C
Great. Yeah. So, you know, and my boss, right, the person that I report to, gives me the Runway and the leeway because he has trust in my decision making to make those entrepreneurial decisions and to see them through. But you know, Glenn, Leo and I report to a gentleman by the name of Kyle Kittleson. They all are about empowering the people that work for them to make the decision. Right. And to. And to see that decision through. There's no my. I am not micromanaged at all. So I think that it's about getting the right people in the right seats and empowering them to make decisions. Because if I had to go to, you know, Kyle and he had to go to Leo, or there was, you know, if I was lower on the totem pole and there were four levels that had to get approvals like that is. Is a cog in the wheel. It is a clogged pipe. Right. So, you know, giving the people that you know that are key leaders the ability to make decisions and see them through and trust those decisions, I think that's what certainly has propelled me in my career. But what kind of sets EXP apart from not only other brokerages, but from other companies of our size?
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B
Yeah. What else do you think it. It. You know, so just my two cents on this. And you certainly can. I want your opinion, you know, for a company the size EXP is, which I'm just a believer in, this is idea to implementation is. Is where you're going to live or die. You know, taken in a way that once a decision is made, you know, people got to be involved, legal, that kind of stuff, because we're a publicly traded company. But I've seen, at least in my purview, IDEA to implementation is fast. Right. What'd you. What would you say?
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C
Yeah, you know, I would say, Brandon, there's. There's different circumstances, right. When. When we're making decisions that impact, you know, 78,000 agents throughout the entire United States. Right. And we're making decisions as a publicly traded entity. Right. And we've got a matrix that before we make those what I'll call global decisions, you know, there there's legal compliance. Right. There's SEC compliance.
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B
Sure.
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C
There is. RESPA compliance. Right. So. So those things, I will tell you that they're. They're made quickly only because those stakeholders that are in that decision are of the same mindset. Right?
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B
Yeah.
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This is the thing. We got to get it here, and if I'm in the middle, I got to look at it, analyze it, and pass it to the next person. Right. So. So what I will say is it's the process is speedy, but there's a process. Right. So of course, that's how I'll categorize that.
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Yeah. It's operational efficiency. We make a decision fast, but we've got an operational efficiency behind it to get it implemented so that we check all the boxes and shit gets done.
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That's right. Yeah. For sure.
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Another question I'll ask you just because I just see this myself, is, you know, I coach a lot of the top agents in the United States, done business with them, a lot of the top investors, agents, entrepreneurs, you name it. And a lot of them, I can. I can say they have two to three of the same traits. So you have the experience now at EXP for talking to different agents, team owners. Like, what do you think if there was one or two traits that you've said, I see this repeatedly, and these people that I deal with and, and interact with at exp, what do you think that is?
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C
Probably reacting to the word no. Right? Because you can react to the word no negatively, or you can react to the word no. Say, okay, if I can't do it this way, let me see if I could do it this way. And if I can't do it that way, if I get another no, then I'm going to do it this way. Right. So I think reacting to the word no is what I see in entrepreneurs, in EXP specifically. And I also think plugging in and understanding the resources that you have being part of exp, Right. We're not just any other broker brokerage, Right. We are a platform to give real estate teams and agents the tools to build wealth. Right. I mean, that's just what we are, Right. We're not a brokerage, you know. You know, for all intents and purposes, that. That's how. How I see it.
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B
Got it. So the. I like the no answer, taking EXP aside, right. Because not everybody started here, right. A lot of people that, that you interact with came from somewhere else. What's another trait? You see that how everyone is kind of similar, and I'm talking top of the food chain, the. The best agents and the best teams you deal with. What. What is another trait you see that's a similarity between all of them.
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C
A sense of community. Right. We're a virtual brokerage, but we have, like, quarterly mastermind sessions where those top people and, you know, Brandon, you've been out. You're at every one of them. So am I. Right? So it's the collaboration. It's getting in the room with the people that are excelling at your level or above. It's listening to the leaders that are given the ability to speak to that audience. Right. So it's leaning into the ideas, being open, and everyone in that room is to say, wow, you know, maybe there's a different way to do two plus two. Right? So I. I think the collaboration in the room, room with the, like, individuals is huge.
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B
So, yeah, I, you know, I would wholeheartedly, you know, agree with you that getting in the right room, compressing time, getting around the right folks is one thing that no matter what brand you're at or where you're at of something that will make you really successful. So I couldn't agree with you more than that. Two more questions before we wrap up. Yeah. You know, you've seen a lot of different sides of the business, right? Investing, construction, commercial, you know, being on the corporate side now, you know, overseeing a lot of people, like, give our listeners just, you know, some words of wisdom of they want to build that empire. If they want to get to a level that me and you are at, like, just give them some advice of what you think, how they should get there.
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C
Wow. You know, I. I could use that advice. Right. What I would say is, you know, be deliberate in your actions. Right. Try to. To try to do activities that make you money or refine your systems. Don't waste time. And I don't mean don't take a day off or don't take a vacation. What I mean is, when you're in work mode, be very deliberate with your actions.
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B
I love that. Oh, you know what? I can't let you leave without talking about this, because I'm a big believer in this, and I'm a big believer in health as wealth. Everybody that knows me knows me well of the autoimmune journey I had to go through and the health that I've had to go through. You've lost how much. How much weight have you lost?
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I've lost 53 pounds this year.
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B
Holy, dude. And number one, congratulations.
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You look great. Thank you.
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B
But number two, how'd you do? How did you. Like, somebody hears that and it's like, I know you didn't smoke crack, so how did you do it?
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C
You know, Brandon, I didn't even put two and two together. I was deliberate in my weight loss journey, right? I listen, I'm Italian. Every. Every meal was a celebration to me, and I changed my relationship food. So it wasn't just about, you know, being on a diet. I changed my lifestyle, right? So at the start of it, before I even started to work out, I said, I got to change food. I was a nighttime snacker. I'm a salt guy, not a sweet guy, right? So it was overindulging at every meal, eating the wrong foods. The weight loss journey is more about what you put in your mouth than how many times you go to the gym or walk, right? So I was really strict at the beginning of the journey. Then I started to add in walking, right? I would walk. I started two miles, right? Then I went three miles. Now when I go for a walk, I'll put my AirPods in. I'll take my phone calls. But yesterday I did four. It was beautiful. Here I live in New Jersey. It was beautiful. I did 4 miles, 4.1 miles. The day before, again, it was, you know, it was four miles. I am now at the gym doing weight training at least three days a week. So today I was at the gym early morning. I'll work hard today. End of the day, it's beautiful. I'll walk again probably three miles today, right? So I, you know, I am now, you know, I've reversed so many health issues that I had sleep apnea, my blood pressure, all those things are gone. I had a fatty liver gone. My liver function is great. So, you know, I have added years to my life. I feel great. I look different. People notice. And I'll tell you, it feels great.
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B
Yeah. You know, so the point I want to make about that is when people, from a health perspective, you know, I think the struggle is number one. Consistency is difficult for anyone. But people look at this as this daunting task. I think what you just talked about is it's actually simple, right? You change your relationship with food. You started paying attention to what you're eating. You made sure you exercise, even if it's not gym, working out, you're walking every day. I'm assuming you probably are consuming a lot more water and sleeping better, which are. Oh, yeah, great component. Great, great components of all this. But I think it's. It's, you know, people. People have witnessed my health Journey of where I was almost bedridden to, you know, physically as strong as I've ever been. And people come up to me in the gym and they're like, man, how'd you do it? And I'll be like, how many times you've been in here this week? Oh, three. Do you see me every time you're in here? Yeah. I'm just consistent, right? I'm just consistent. I don't overcome. I don't over complicate it. So that's really cool that you've done that.
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C
Yeah. Thank you, man. Thank you. And it's about forming the positive habits and removing the bad habits. Right. So even if you go to the gym, I don't care if you can lift 10 pounds or 50 pounds. Lift the 10. Just do it all the time.
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B
Speak. Insistent.
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C
Schedule it. Right. Exactly. Exactly.
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B
Yeah. Awesome. Well, I always end the show with the same question to everybody. We call this show waking up to wealth. The premise behind this show was I grew up poor, was never taught about money correctly. And then when I started to make money and I got around people who had money, I realized there was a whole educational money that was hidden from this world. So wake up. The wealth is two things. To me. It is. I like to wake my audience up to wealth so they understand it. And then number two, I want to bring people on like you that can give them ideas and advice so they can go out and wake up and be wealthy one day. Wealth to everyone is different. And I ask everyone at the end of the show, what does waking up to wealth mean to you? And it's whatever your version is.
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C
You know, Brandon, I like, you grew up on the other side of the tracks, right? And we didn't have money. We had less than not having money growing up. And, you know, I come from a tough background. You know, waking up to wealth, the first thing that comes to my mind is accepting where you're at. And then if you don't like where it is, change it. And I will also say, brandon, I'm going to throw you a twist. It's waking up to health has changed my life.
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B
Look, you're going to have a thousand problems. You ain't got your health. You got one. Well, that's it. Well, I want to thank you so much. By the way, we're sitting in here, I'm in the dark. The power is going out on our building. But, you know, as entrepreneurs, we adjust and we keep moving. So interesting twist. That's never happened. But, dude, I want to thank you so much. I appreciate you for coming and spending time with us. I appreciate the relationship with you and I thank you for coming and pouring into my audience and thank you for being a guest with us today.
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C
Yeah, Brandon, again, thank you so much. Thank you everybody. I hope what I said resonated and you get a little bit of knowledge from it. So again, Brandon, thanks. Salt ya.
- [27:06]
B
Hey, this next segment is brought to you by my good friends at Rocketly AI. That is Rocket League AI. If you're in the real estate business, especially investment side, and you need a platform that can run your real estate business and talk to leads through AI when you're not able to talk to them and can qualify and get to all the leads you can't get to. Plus it has a amazing piece of technology with it called Lead Detector that helps get all the people that come to your site and not opt in to opt in to turn into a lead. These are my good friends at RocketLead AI. I'm part of this company as well. I use it to run my real estate business, my real estate investment business. Go check them out again. Rocket League AI. And thank you guys for sponsoring the segment.
- [27:56]
A
Thanks so much for tuning into this episode of Wake up to Wealth. We sure do appreciate it. If you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to the show wherever you consume podcasts. This way we'll get updates as new episodes become available. And if you feel so inclined, please leave us a review on Apple Podcast and tell your friends about the show. It is how new people find us. Until next time,
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C
Sam.