Blaze Your Own Trail - S2: Episode 8: From Crushing Car Sales to Real Estate Domination With Jas Takhar

Episode Date: May 19, 2020

Toronto native, Jas Takhar, has been in the sales and service industry for over 25 years.  Soon after deciding to try his hand in real estate, he co-founded the REC, and in the course of 15 years, has successfully propelled his team to the 1st place position in Canada under Royal LePage. With 25 realtors and 10 support staff, the team advises and assists over 700 buyers, sellers and investors, yearly, across the Greater Toronto Area, resulting in a total of over $1.5B in transactions.  Jas’ area of expertise is in helping investors build out their real estate portfolios.  Wanting to share his knowledge and experience with the masses, he wrote a book titled Real Estate Intelligence, which teaches others how to buy or sell real estate on their own. Furthering his pursuit to educate and motivate, he now hosts one of the top business podcasts in the country, the REC Experience; here he interviews guests who share their success stories on real estate investing, entrepreneurship and leadership.  He also hosts a daily Instagram Live show called “Nite Cap with Jas” where he answers his follower’s most frequently asked questions.  His hope is to provide inspiring content to aid others in removing the friction for their own life, in order to help them get from where they are to where they want to be. In this episode we discuss: Jas' upbringing How he was in school What his first job was Who his mentors were How he got into Real Estate What his company does His podcast the REC Experience Connect with Jas on all platforms: https://linktr.ee/jastakhar13 Be sure to follow us on IG for more content: https://www.instagram.com/jordanjmendoza/ Installing strategic sales systems & processes will stop the constant revenue rollercoaster you might be facing which is attainable through our 6 Week Blazing Business Revenue Coaching ProgramBook a discovery call with Jordan now to learn more! Are you an entrepreneur?Join my FREE Group Coaching Community where we have live calls, Q&A and more! Our Trailblazer Ecosystem also enables you to network with other entrepreneurs and creator hub eliminates multiple subscriptions and logins creating a one stop shop to take action!Use code: FOUNDING100 for 12 months access FREE and Founding pricing for life! (While Supplies Last)Join now! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, everyone. Can't wait to share this amazing episode with Jazz TACR with you. He's a salesman at heart, done all types of different sales from newspaper sales to car sales. And now he has one of the top real estate agencies in Canada. So can't wait for you to listen. And I will chat with you right after. Hello, everyone. And welcome to the Blaze Your Own Trail podcast. This is your host, Jordan Mendoza. And I've got a very special guest with me today. his name is Jazz Takar. And I'm going to give him just a second to give us a quick intro into who he is and what he does. Thanks for having me on, Jordan. I really appreciate it, man. And thank you for putting out so much content and educating and leading and being a trailblazer yourself. And so thank you for that, my man.

As you mentioned, my name is Jazz Tacker. I'm from Toronto, Canada. I manage a team of 25 realtors in the real estate business here in the Toronto area. Myself and my team, we just finished 2019 with helping a little over 700 buyers, sellers, and then investors, which got us and awarded us the number one team within Royal LePage, Canada, which is approximately 18,000 realtors. It's very similar to your KW, your Keller Williams over on the state side there. And I manage a team of 10 support staff as well, which consists of admin, but also my media squad.

I produce approximately 20 to 25 pieces of content daily right across all different platforms. But I'm that kid that loves school, but didn't really like class much. So I don't have a formal education. My education came from audio books, books, seminars. I just divulge that stuff. That's the way that I learned myself. And I'm proud to say that I also have a podcast that just got nominated as Canada's one of Canada's top podcast talking about real estate entrepreneurship and leadership. I love that, man.

What a great intro. And I think we're new best friends now, bro. because I'm in that same boat. I hated school with a passion. If it was PE weight training, I loved it, drama, I loved it. But everything else, it was almost like my head was in a cloud because I was thinking about the next candy bar I was going to go sell after school. You know what I'm saying?

And so I can definitely relate to that. And so on my show, you know, what I like to do is rewind because kudos to all your success today. But what my audience is interested in is what did you have to do to get there? So let's take it back to the formative year. So where exactly did you grow up for elementary and middle school? And what kind of kid were you back then? So I grew up in a small little area called Rexdale, which really has a bad rap just because of the crime that went on there. But a lot of successful people came out of Rexill.

You know, when you're dealing with tough times and you're in a tough environment, the strong. the cream always kind of rises rises to the top. In fact, Robert Hervecichek, one of the shark tanks, is originally from Rexdale when he came into Canada. And my parents, my father was a taxi driver. My mother was a factory worker household income of maybe like $45,000, $50,000, but they raised myself and my two older brothers. I have an older brother who's five years from me, apart from me, and my eldest is 10 years. And that's always a healthy reminder. I tell people that you're closer to the bottom than you are to the top when you have two older brothers because they'll whip you into shape real quick. And but on the other, on the flip

side of some of the physical battles we had was a lot of mentorship. And I'm very blessed to have had them in my life, lots of lots of love, but grew up in an immigrant family, um, which, where, you know, buying, buying clothes and sneakers, and that wasn't something that was top of mind on my parents' mind. It was like, yeah, let's make sure that you get pizza day at school. So it's, it's, you don't look as bad around the kids that are getting it. Or you don't feel as bad. Went to, got into high school, man, and I knew right away, like, I can't wait to get out of this.

Like, this is not the way I learn. I need extra time. Not that I had a, like, a learning disability. was never diagnosed with anything like that, but I just felt it. I knew it that I needed more time. And it was the subject. So you spoke about PE, for example, I got like high 90s in that. Everything else was 52, 53. Like I was just passing, barely passing because my passion wasn't there. My passion from a very young age, you know, paper boy, then figured out that I could get some other routes and and delegate them to my friends and take a little cut because I was the

guy who was kind of brokering the deal for them with with the newspaper company and it's always been sales and service man I'm proud to say I've been in sales and service for 25 years now yeah and I've been in the same when I was 14 I got a job I grew up in Oregon the Oregonian newspaper a guy put an ad and he was looking for it really was like eighth graders And he drove us around, dropped us off in neighborhoods. And we had to knock on about 100 doors a day, trying to get people to sign up for the newspaper. And when I tell you, that experience at 14 is still with me today. I mean, all the fundamentals of how to read people, how to relate to people, eye contact, how to handle adversity.

When you're 14 and you get 100 freaking doors smacked in your face, you grow some tough skin real quick. You know, we are definitely kindred souls, man. Like you mentioned it earlier, because I feel you. You took me back right away. Like, you know, if you do have a 14-year-old, a 12-year-old now, I think that's one of the best places to get them to start because they'll have to think on their feet. Because before you knocked on that door,

you were already starting to think. You remember, Jordan? Like, you're starting to think, like, hey, what am I going to say? Where can I build some rapport? Okay, I see some flowers. I see a car. Like, you're looking around because when they opened that, door, you're trying to build that rapport within the first two, three, eight seconds, because we all know

when you're in like sales, once you can build rapport, then the product or the service becomes kind of an aftermath. It's an afterthought. And it just becomes kind of like a byproduct. You generally will get that sale or service signed because you were able to build rapport on a different level. That's exactly it, man. And you hit it on the head. You look for flags. You would look for anything that would give you the upper hand when that door open, right? And I mean, when you get people that are like, like, I felt bad too because it's like, you just woke up my kid. I was like, oh man, like I did not, that wasn't my intention at all. So like you said, you had to get good at thinking on your feet because most of the time. And listen, I really think about this a lot

because I think that people tell us no because it's natural. If you think about when you were a kid, What happened when you're like four or five in the oven was hot? What did your parents say? No, don't touch the stove. It's hot. When you wanted an extra piece of candy, no, you can't have candy. It's bedtime. No, you can't do this.

No, you can't do that. So I think as humans, we're literally wired naturally to say no. Like, that's the first instinct as a human being is to just say no. Even you and I, like we're in, we're on that side of the coin. But then when you and I walk into a store and the sales associate says, hi, Jordan, can I help you? the first thing you say still is no. You know, most of the time, right? Where, like, when I went into car sales after,

where I learned really quickly, like, I didn't even give the opportunity for people to say no, because it was like, hey, Jordan, I know that you're here to just look around. I just wanted to let you know. I'm right around the corner there. Whenever you're ready, just literally flag me. And that's it.

Because I wanted to get that guard dropped right away. They expected me to ask, hey, Jordan, did you need a hand with anything? did you need anything? And so you're always trying to find ways to kind of flip the script, so to speak. Yeah, you got to be creative. That's what I tell people all the time in sales is like, you've got to be creative, right? Because creativity is what is what separates you from the rest of the pack. You know, I teach my sales teams now. Like COVID-19, it's literally fundamentally affected the world in the way that we do business. So I've now been building content to teach people how to sell

virtually. And I would love to hear in a little bit once we get back to current time, I would love to see what you're doing and how you all are creatively developing content to help people sell in this time when a lot of people are saying, like, what do we do? We're going to lose our business and things like that. So before we go there, after high school, what was the first move? You know, I know you didn't want to go to college. We already know that. So what was it? And also, I'm really curious to see, you know, what your parents, perspective was and were they behind you? Were they there supporting you? Because as we know, there's a lot of folks that unfortunately dictate what kids do versus allow them to have their own

opinion. So I would be really, really curious to hear about that. For sure. So once I got out of high school, I was just picking up kind of odd jobs. I walked into a restaurant asked if I could kind of be the server or a cashier, anything. Like what do you need? And the guy said, no problem. And come on in and I was probably yeah right around a 17 18 years old and and he calls me in the next day I go in he hands me an apron and he goes just go over to the back and I'm like yeah no problem I'm thinking I'm going to wash dishes and he says no you're going to go to the friar and I was like friar oh man like you know we were talking off air Jordan like I'm a mama boy too I'm the youngest of three right like I'm like oh I've never touched this stuff and I was like what am I supposed to do he's like

no problem man you just grab the fries and you you open up the pack and I'm like okay I did all that And within 10 seconds, a drop of oil came on my forearm. And I never felt that in my life before. And I looked at it and I was like, oh, that hurts. I took off the apron. I gave it back to the gentleman and said, thank you for the opportunity, but this ain't me. Like, I can't do this. And kudos and hats off to anybody and everybody who does.

And I went to the Yellow Pages and I called every single business that was there, furniture stores, you name it, like car sales, even at a young age, I couldn't get in at that age. And then I got hooked up with an agency, like a human resource agency. And they put me in touch with a bank. We have like six major banks in Canada. And it was with one of the banks. I got into kind of like a telephone banking and online banking was just starting to kind of get started. And it was, like, that's where I learned telephone skills. I got that job. I was there for about three years.

But then I learned quickly in the banking industry, they weren't moving people that didn't have that formal degree. And, you know, I'm sitting next to people and who have a degree. But we were meant to, like, you had to, like, ask to sell mortgages and lines of credits and loans on the phone. And I was doing really well because of that, you know, I just had it in me, right? It's kind of been in my DNA forever. I was really good at it, but they weren't willing to move me up.

And I said, you know what? I called my brother just in a conversation. He was a personal trainer at that time, training the owner of a guy here in Canada of car dealers. And he has about eight, nine car dealerships. He said, bring your brother over. And I went there to just wash cars. I was like, I just want in this dealership and I'll work my way up. put me into the used car dealership first two days sold a couple of cars he's like buddy come over

to the new car dealer uh showroom and then the rest was history man i've been there for i was there sorry for about three years started hearing about real estate i wanted to invest into real estate um and and and i got my license uh exactly 15 years ago and never looked back that is awesome And so you said something and it was, you know, I realized that this wasn't for me, right? And how old were you at that point? I would have been 17-ish, John, right around there. So I always find it interesting and I'm super curious. So what really gave that to you?

Because, you know, to be 17, most of us in 17, we just want money, right? You want money to buy, like, I wanted to go buy CDs at Tower Records. and you were like, yep, I'm out, you know? So what do you think it was? Would you think that was from like your upbringing or what gave you that? First and foremost, it was the pain. The pain of that hot burning oil was like, I never want to feel this again. Like legit, never want to feel this again.

But I also had, I just had so much love and support from my family, my parents, my father, my mother, my two older brothers. you know, my eldest brother has a degree. But my father never really put any pressure on me. He never really did. I think he just realized like, okay, man, this guy's the youngest. The teachers I've been telling him forever, there's something wrong with your kid. Like he can't sit down for a very long time. So I think he just kind of understood, you know what?

He'll be fine. He'll figure it out. And so at that time, once I felt that, I was like, what am I doing? Like this just, when I went back and made those calls, that gave me a rush. I liked it because I knew, looking back now, I can say it was really knowing the fact that I was doing something that was hard,

which meant that there wasn't going to be a lot of competition. But at 17, I wouldn't be able to put those thoughts together and really put it into words. But I'm sure, I'm sure at one point, I knew that making these calls will get me to the next job. It will get me to something that, I'm very passionate about. Because remember, when I was making those calls,

I wasn't just calling, like, I wasn't calling manual labor places. I was calling places where I was gonna be around people. And so I needed that. I needed like, I still, till this day, need to be around a lot of people because I just, the collaboration, the creativity goes to the next level when I have a lot of people around me.

And I guess it was the thirst for knowledge, man. I wanted to learn from people as well. And then we'll talk about a little bit later if you want the mentors that I, that I was lucky to have because I always knew that go after, go after a place and work at a place where somebody's already done what you wanted to do. Absolutely. No, that's, that's really great. And I was, I was actually going to ask you, you know, at that dealership, right, you know, went from the used car to the new car. I was going to ask you, who was the biggest influencer for you in that three-year span that you were there.

So that was exactly at 20-21-ish, and it was the owner. He took me in like a son until this day, Paul Policero. If you look at the Polycaro Automated Group, they are like the biggest in the country. But he took me under his wing. He has a couple of sons, a couple of daughters. But he just, it was one of those things, man. He loved me.

I speak to him on a regular basis. And I don't know what it was. he saw something in me, there was hunger, there was passion, and obviously raw talent. It was like, like, you know, it wasn't just all the mentors. I had some raw talent. And I think he felt like maybe it was just a right time in his life where he thought, he felt like he could mold me as well now and help in the molding of who I've become now. But it was definitely the owner.

This guy, you know, he taught me how to how to respect people. He taught me work ethic, hard, like hard work. daily consistently. He was already number, like all his dealerships were number one in the country at that time, but he came in every single day like they were at the bottom. And to have that foresight on a daily basis to see it was something that I'll never forget. That's awesome. Yeah, he sounds like not just a mentor, but really like another father figure, right? And that's super impactful, especially for someone that had his own kids. Yeah. And like my parents didn't have education either. Like my father has a grade 11 education from back home. My mother grade four education.

You know, my mom definitely is like a human calculator because she just dealt with all the finances at home. But from like a true like formal education, my parents didn't have that, right? And so and so to at that time, I never even thought about it, man. Like like he definitely was like another father figure because I spent so much time at the dealership. You're there 12 hours a day, six days a week, right? That's it. And you said something super interesting earlier, and before I forget about it, you said that, you know, you think your dad just realized that college wasn't for you. Now, so I'm a father of four. We talked about this off there. And I have three kids that are in, you know, two in elementary.

One's a freshman in high school. And I get what he's talking about because there's one of them I know is going to go to college for sure. But I know, like, she gets straight A's. You don't have to ask you to do homework. You know what I'm saying? Like you just know. And the other ones, I'm like, I don't know. But, you know, as long as they're happy.

You know what I'm saying? So when you said that, like, that's exactly what I thought about. And I was like, I get your dad, man. I get it. Yeah, man. For sure, for sure. He just, he just, like, I mentioned he wasn't educated. Taxi driver.

But the one thing, no matter what he did. And he worked long hours, man, like 12 hours, 13, 14, 14, 15 hours sometimes a day. Because you can imagine, you're a taxi driver. to drive around and you're waiting in line and all that. But the one thing he always did that I still remember, no matter what, every single night, he would come into my bed, give me a kiss and kind of just whisper in our language, just like I love you. Every single night.

And that stuck with me till this day, you know? And he wasn't able to give me a lot from the perspective of, like, education. We didn't really have conversations because he was always working. But never have I thought, oh, my God, my dad didn't. love me. No, he gave me the utmost love and support because he was like, don't want to, you do what's going to make you happy. Just make sure that you work, like, do something, work at something. Keep on moving the needle. You'll find your place. I love that. And for the audience is listening, that that is the way, in my opinion, you should raise your kids, right? Because,

you know, there's too many folks out there, I think that pressure, they put so much pressure on their kids to do things that their kids absolutely hate. And then they end up growing up living a life that they don't even, that they've created for themselves based on something that they don't even enjoy. And to me, that's such a massive, like, mistake. I actually think, I actually think it's an insecurity from the parents' perspective because they're concerned with their neighbors or their group, their, like the society, the circle that they run in is going to say.

because if Jordan's kids are doing so well and my kids are not now, so I'm going to try to push what I think success is, because it looks like Jordan's kids are successful, and my kids are not. And so you start to push your own insecurities, possibly on your kids. I see that a lot. It's very, very unfortunate, because as we were speaking off air, look, it's a disservice if the world doesn't get to see all of Jordan's,

uniqueness or my kids uniqueness or my uniqueness because that's what we need in this world we need leaders we need we need people to hone in on what they're talented like that like that raw talent what they have as a raw talent and what once they become obsessed about daily daily work I think I think that's when you see extra no extraordinary people that's where we get the Steve jobs we get the Bill Gates we get the Kobe Bryant's and I know your listeners might not like that so sorry. But you also get, you know, you get the Jeff Bezos of the world because they're living in their uniqueness. That's exactly it. And, you know, we are in a keeping up with the Jones's society. And it's been like that for, I remember

like going to suburbia as a door-to-door salesman and seeing one basketball hoop at this house, two doors down another back. Like, who needs six basketball hoops in a cul-de-sac? They only got it because they're a neighbor had. You know what I'm saying? So this is something that's been out there forever. Yeah. And look, it's so funny that you mentioned that because in the town that I'm from, like Rexdale,

we had one guy with a basketball net. But you know what that did? We all congregated around his house. A, he became the cool kid on the block. Still know him, still hang out with him. But we all played together. We were all together. Yeah, we got into fights with each other and all that.

But you build some social thickness, like in terms like you built some skin you know what i mean from from from those kind of interactions you learn how to work together you got to figure it out you play three on three you got to learn how to how to make sure everybody's in the game and and and so yeah like i see it now man i see it now i'm in the real estate business i see it all the time every other house has a hockey net in Canada um every other house obviously does also have a basketball net right like um for what and then you see the kids there's nobody playing on them that's exactly yeah it's just a bunch of a bunch of piles of metal, you know. All right. So three years at the dealership. Yeah. It had to be hard to leave.

So let's talk about that a little bit because here's this guy, father figure, invested so much in you, taught you lessons that I'm sure you're using today in your business. So what was that experience like having to, because I'm sure it was like, you know, you didn't want to disappoint him. So how was that conversation with him letting him know you're going somewhere else? one of the worst days of my life and it took me probably 15 times before I actually got into his office. And so what I mean by that is I would walk to his office and then I would walk back. And that happened at least 15 times because I was like, how am I going to get these words out? What am I going to like, you know, I rehearsed it the night before in the morning. I'm like,

okay, I'm ready. Like, this is going to be easy. Man, it's Paul. He's my guy. Like, no worries. But it took me about 15 times, man. But I went in. there and he said to me, jazz, you're meant for this. You go do that, but understand one thing and remember one thing that those doors right there, they're always open for you. You come back. And that was like a huge weight off my shoulders because I was like, not only was he okay with it, but he was actually giving me a nudge to do it. He had the confidence in me. And sometimes, look, I mean, sitting here now, I ooze of self-confidence. But that's where it got built, right? Like that's where it kind of started.

Because when I knew and I heard those words that this is what you're meant to do, it's time for you to progress. Like let's go. Go to the next stage of your life. It was very reassuring. And so that was by far one of the toughest days. Got my license in real estate. And within three months, I picked up a new mentor.

It's just meant to be like life happens like that, right? And he mentored me and took me under his wing for 13 years. and he passed away a couple of years ago, but tragically. And it just works funny. Life works funny, man. We were talking off here again, right? Like, opportunity is everywhere. You just need to get in the way of it.

That's it, man. And I would say that he at the dealership gave you foundational confidence, right? Like it was literally a foundation for you. And it was almost like permission to be. yourself in the next thing you were going into you know and that really had to have propelled you and set you up to be mentored oh yes for sure because the one number but the number one thing if you want to be mentored is you better be coachable you better be coachable and and i know you know you understand what that means jordan because you're a coach and and probably what you see most

stuff is is people have so much raw talent. They have the talent. They have the work ethic. Or for some reason, they're just not coachable. And it's like, oh, can't you understand, man? Like Tiger Woods has a coach or had a coach, you know? Like Jordan had a coach. Phil Jackson was kind of his guy.

Like, it's different when you're coachable and you have a coach. They're seeing you from the outside. And so they're seeing the swing happen a little bit different. They're hearing your conversation. where you're not able to hear it for yourself because it's tough to self-reflect sometimes, but you need to be coachable for sure. Absolutely. And coaches also see things in people that they don't see it themselves, right?

And that gives you that confidence to keep going, right, and creates that momentum. So, all right, entered in, got your new mentor. First off, you know, so sorry for your loss. Whenever you lose anybody, I don't care how long it is. it's still impactful. So sorry, sorry to hear that you lost him. So what would you say is the best advice he gave you during the time that he mentored you before his tragic passage? You know, two years, two days before he passed away, we put on a lot of live events. And we went like wine and cheeses, networking events, just meeting people. He was, he was the front.

He was my business partner. He became my business partner while he was, he was my mentor. Two days before he passes away, he's walking into, like walking into front of the stage. And he looks over to me and he's like, Chad, it's your time now. Like, you should be doing this. And I look over him at a man. I laugh. I was like, where are you going? What do I have to worry about?

Like, you're the, this is your role. You're up at the front of the stage. And then I handle all the kind of the lead flow. That was my role. He passes away. And that's, like, I knew. Like, I heard that voice. And I was like, okay, it is my time.

I was with him for 13 years. He gave me everything that he possibly could give me in terms of teaching me the business, teaching me, teaching me how to lead a team. It was my time. So just him saying, jazz, this is your, it's your turn now. If you're ready for it, same thing as Paul mentioned. It was like that second boost of confidence I needed. Yeah, man.

And that's very serendipitous, right? That's just like, you know, it was a, again, the second time someone gave you permission to take the reins, you know? And again, he didn't know he wouldn't be here two days later. And you didn't know he'd be gone. But, you know, like those words, like words are so powerful, man. And when you have people that are positive and speak things into you, it's just a, it's, there's just no limit to what the possibilities are. Especially somebody that I was with for such a long time. And this was, he became a big brother to me, right? Like, he was like my third older.

brother. We went through a lot within that 13 years. We had some other partners that actually took us for a little over 650 grand. We've made all that back and much more. But we went through so, like we were in the trenches together. But for him to say those words a couple of days before his passing, I knew like in fact, if he was still alive, chances are he would be on this podcast with you because that was just his role. I never really was the guy in front of the camera. I was never the guy in the media. That wasn't what I did. Who knows? I mean, if he was here, we could have still been doing it together. Who knows? But I had to take this to the next level now. Like, now we're a lot more global, like definitely more national than we ever been. But it was the

foundation that he put into place. Awesome. Okay. So let's talk, you know, in the days after, his passing, you know, what were, what like in your head was, you know, the first couple moves, right? So what were you thinking about? And what did you do that really has led the groundwork for you guys, you know, being that top agency in Canada? So, like, it just took a, it took a few weeks just to kind of, for the cloud to even slightly, slightly start to dissipate, right? Like, I was, I was just her. Disbelief. I've had a couple of people pass away earlier on in my life. So I understood the concept of death. Like I got that. I understood that. But it was just like, ugh, like, it was so sudden. It didn't make sense. None of it made sense to me, specifically like with his

passing. Within three weeks, we lost a couple of our biggest clients. So now I lost my business partner, lost my mentor, lost my best friend, big brother. Within three weeks, we lose a couple of our top clients that refer us a lot of business. And so now you're getting kicked while you're on the ground, right? Understandably so. And no knock on any of our clients at that time. But like, I'm sitting there thinking, this is, like, I'm done. I legit sat when I got that call and said to myself, you know what, I think it's time. Like, I don't need this anymore. I looked over at the top of my cabinet. There's a picture of my two boys and there was a bankers box just with files in it. And I looked over to the bankers box. I was like, oh, wow, this is like, you know,

a scene from a movie. Like people, when they get fired, they walk around, they walk out with their bankers box. I was like, I don't even need that. I have nothing. I don't even, I don't have a computer. I do everything on my phone. I was like, I don't even have anything. I'm just going to take that picture of my boys and bring that home within the same. breath, it was like, I laughed to myself saying, that's not going to happen. This is part of your story now. This is part of your story. Now you have the opportunity. The event happened. Now, whatever your responses is what's going to be, what's going to determine the outcome. So I use a formula, which is event, E plus R equals O. Event plus your response to it is what will determine the

outcome. And I knew I was in the R right now. I was like, whatever, which way I respond, will be my story. And from that day on, I've never looked back. And the first thing we did, the day after, I went to my team and I said, guys, look, I don't know how this is going to turn out and like when it's going to start to feel back, like we're going to get back to normal. But the one thing I know we need to do is get back to basics. And the basics of this business that we're in, which is in the real estate business,

which is sales and service, is people. and we need to now, I need everyone here to just get me the files. Like I'm going right into the dirt in the micro of what we did that day, going back to basics. Just get me all the clients that we've ever done business with for the last 15 years. And I'm going to single-handedly call every single one of them. And that's what I did for the next month and a half. I didn't look for any new business.

I called everyone that did business with us and said, Jordan, I'm still here. Thanks for doing business with us in the past. I want you to know I'm not closing up shop and I'm going to continue this. And if you ever need any advice when it comes to buying, selling, or investing, I hope you reach out to us. And within two and a half years, at that time we were number 12 in the country and we got to number one, man. It was really going back to basics, which is just reaching out to people, meeting people,

letting them know that you're open for business. I love that, man. And it's so funny that you say that because when, when COVID happened, of course, like everyone's freaking out. What am I going to do? Business is going to, like, I'm going to lose business. I'm going to do this. And I was like, this is cool.

We'll just do it virtually. You know, like, we'll figure it out. I'll build the content. I'll teach people how to do it and we'll build it virtually. But I said, you know what, this is a perfect opportunity for us to reach out to our current residents and say, how can we help you? How can we serve you? How can we add value to you?

Because guess, guess where they're not going outside? So, right, you know what I'm saying? They're not going anywhere. They're there. We know they're there. So let's focus on them. Who cares? Of course we want new business, but let's focus on who we have.

And it's so brilliant that you did that because what that showed those people is that you care. Right. You know, the my angelou quote, people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. Yeah. And your literal two months was predicated on showing them that we're not going anywhere. We care. and when we're here for you. And to me, that means everything.

Look, it's called sales and service for a reason. You need to serve people. You need to, and so now, I mean, experience is an amazing thing. So once we had our lockdown here in Toronto, Canada, once it was announced, it's three weeks of this recording, a month almost now. First thing we did that it was on a Monday on the Tuesday morning. It wasn't even like a thought I had to have to do.

It was almost like second nature. It was almost like brushing your teeth in the morning. I was like, let's call everyone again. And all we're going to do is ask how we can serve them. Do you need somebody to pick up your groceries? Like, we know that you might have a problem. Even if you don't need us to pick up your groceries, do you know somebody that might know somebody?

Like we're here. We're not in hunting mode anymore in terms of sales and business. Even today, like right now, we're in farming mode. I'm planting seeds. I'm planting seeds for when we get out of this. Because we're going to get out of this. It's just a matter of time when we do. Are you going to, what was your strong?

worry when you got out of this, right? Like three months from now, two months from now, whenever that time period is, you're going to be able to look back and either say, I'm glad I did or I wish I had. But you have the opportunity to say one of the two. That's it. No, and I love that. And I had a guy on the show. I think you know what David Meltzer is, but he said something to me, man, and it just, you know how someone says something and you're just like, I'm putting that in my phone. I'm going to write it up. on my mirror like it just sticks with you. So he said that his goal in life and business is to plant seeds for trees that he will never sit under. Yeah. And when he said that, man, it was like goose

bumps, like, you know, the hair of my arms stood up and I was like, that's how I want it. That's the type of human I want to be. And it sounds like that's the type of human that you are. So kudos to that, man. Look, man, I'm looking for legacy, you know, like I'm playing this for a very, very long long term like i have enough i have more than i ever thought i was going to have um and now it's about and it's a funny thing that happens but now it's all about getting other people what they want and that funny thing that does happen you'll get way more than you ever thought you that that you were going to have right and so it really comes down to serving people getting like helping them find their happiness helping them find their why because you know when when you watch someone

And Jordan, I know you can attest to this man. Like when you watch someone, when that light switch, that light bulb gets turned on, and you even had maybe, maybe just like a little smidgen of something to do with it, it's a feeling that if I put a million bucks in your pocket right now, it'd feel good for a bit, but it's not as long lasting as that feeling when you saw somebody's light bulb go off in their head. Oh, man. I can relate to that so much.

So I have the opportunity to teach a six-month leadership program every year. It rotates from Atlanta to D.C. And when I tell you, that is the most rewarding thing that I do for work. And it's those aha moments. It's taking someone that walks in on that first session, has zero expectations. And then at the end of the program, they say that you've literally changed their life. Like, to me, that means everything. You know, that's worth way more than money.

Oh, for sure. I mean, that's leadership in an essence, right, when you make other leaders. And it's not about making people follow you. It's about creating more leaders. That's exactly it. All right. So let's fast forward a little bit. You had the pivotal moment happen. You went into farming mode, right? You built back up to number one. So what took place after that and just give the audience a little context around, you know, when you actually started to create content for your business and then what led you eventually into starting your show? So just before my partner passed away, two years before he passed away, we had a radio show that was right across Ontario, which is the province that we're in. And I started to see that at that time, and we as a business started to see the benefits of having a radio show.

You just get credibility. you get your foot in the door in meetings, meetings that you normally wouldn't get into because you're able to say that you have a host of a national, actually went national at one time syndicated show. And so, but it got too expensive. It was costing us about $200,000 a year. And so we decided to kind of stop it.

So then when he passes away, we go back to basics, and I heard this word called podcast. I was like, what the heck is a podcast? I've never heard this before. So I Google it. Find out that you speak in a mic and you can distribute that. That can go out to the world. And it's free to set up.

And all you really need from an equipment perspective is really a headset. I mean, we get a little fancier now with some nice mics and I see what you have. My studios built out like that at the office. But it all started for me anyways with a $75 mic that I picked up. and I was able to speak to the world about anything I wanted to. And I decided for it to be real estate entrepreneurship, because I like speaking and learning from other entrepreneurs, the ups and downs, the struggles, the successes, and leaders.

And because I didn't have that formal education and the way that I learned was through books, audiobooks, as well as seminars, I wanted people to be flies on the wall of conversations, I was already having with industry leaders. And so that's why I tag it. I tag along like leadership, people in leadership for the show. It changed and really revolutionized our business.

You put out content consistently and daily that's valuable. You will meet people that more than, you'll meet more people than you ever imagine. Because now you're right across the world. And, you know, again, you and I were talking a little bit of, off air about the circle being so small when you're producing content. You know, I got listeners in Australia, in Nigeria, like not people that I'm going to do any business with, but they're learning and they're returning listeners and viewers. And so it's nice to be touching people right across the world.

Locally, we're becoming the authority. We really are becoming the authority. We don't sell, like I don't sell on anything on the podcast. I lead fully with education. In fact, I teach people how to buy their own home, teach them how to sell their own home, teach them how to invest on their own. Because I know 98% of people will use a service of a realtor. And if they liked the way that I produced, the way that I presented the content, they'll use me.

And if they don't, that's okay. They can use their cousin, Charlie. But I'm not looking for that. Like a lot of people in my business are worried that, jazz, it doesn't make sense. Why are you teaching people how to sell a home? because I'm like only 2% of people will ever do it. Like why we focused on the 2%? There's 98% of people in Canada nationally.

98% of people who buy seller invested in real estate, they use the service of a realtor. So I want to lead with education and really kind of become the authority through branding and the branding's done through the content. That's it. And hands down, people do business with people they like, they know and they trust.

Period at the end. Right. So if you're adding value to other people, like you said earlier, that comes back 10, 20, 30 times, especially when you're doing it from a servant leadership heart, right? Reciprocity, I'm a firm believer in it. You know, like, I have people ask me all the time to like, how come you give people, it's like Jerry things with people for free. I was like, because that's the right thing to do.

It's a lot, man, like gravity. I'm not being a good human being. You know what I'm saying? and people try to like demonize me for. I'm like, listen, I know what's going to happen. Like, something may not happen today, but like I might get a call a year from now from somebody that's been following me

or listening to the show that I didn't even know about. And that's what it's all about. You know, it's about impacting people's lives in a positive way. It always comes back tenfold, especially if your intent is right, right? Like, I'm very offensive. in my content. That's just feedback that I get back. And a funny thing has happened, right?

Like, there's been, I'm sure, thousands of people who don't call me or text me or DM me because they're like, I don't like the way that he looks or I don't like the way that he speaks. And that's amazing from my business perspective because I'm wasting no time with anybody and I'm not wasting their time. Right. And so the people who are coming to my office, to me, meet with me, they've already got a little sense of me already. There's no way there's anyone who gets to, like, that we have, I have a coffee with for an initial consultation that has not seen a piece of my content. If they still came to see me after they saw a couple of pieces of content or one piece of content, that means that there's a little bit of a connection already, right? And so otherwise,

they would have said, forget it, we're going to cancel disappointment. I don't like the fact that jazz wears either a t-shirt or a sweater every day. Like, I don't wear a shirt. I don't wear a suit because I don't actually physically go show homes that my team helps with that but I do all my meetings all my call in fact we don't call them meetings we call them coffees because it's like 15 20 minutes it's all done in my office slash studio I turn the office into a studio because I'm that much more productive I get to do it all in the same place and if somebody doesn't like the fact that they're not going to see somebody in a suit that's okay and nothing wrong with people who wear suits It's like, if you're comfortable with that, great.

I'm comfortable the way that I'm comfortable in my own skin now, that I think people are, it's starting to rub off on people. And like I said, once they say yes to the coffee and they actually show up, we've already built some rapport. And so closing deals, for example, the numbers just shot through the roof because of the credibility. Bro, I feel you on the suits, man, because I had to wear suits for like eight years. So once I got into a corporate role and they were like, you don't have to wear a suit anymore.

I was like, yes. That was like one of the best days of my life, you know, so now weddings, funerals and the daddy daughter dance, that's the only time you're going to see me in a suit. You know what I'm saying? Like that, that's it. So I feel you on that. And it's just not me. You know, like you would actually be inauthentic wearing a suit because you don't like it. You know what I'm saying? So I love that, man. So let's go ahead. Yeah, go ahead. I was going to say like it helps me. Like I don't even think in the morning about what I'm wearing.

I have like literally like maybe I don't know, probably be 18, 20 of these shirts. I have another 1820 sweaters. They're all kind of branded with my company. And I just pick and choose what color. Half the time it doesn't match my pants. Like I'll come in. My team will all make fun of me. I'm kind of the brunt of the joke in that stuff.

They're like jazz, you know you're not supposed to wear that color with that color. I was like, I never got that. memo like i don't know like i literally grab a pair of jeans that are clean i grab a shirt that's clean and um out like i don't even spend any bandwidth on figuring out what i'm wearing like if we go to a wedding when we go to weddings or feelings my wife will lay it out like i'm old school like she just she's like no no no you're not picking i'm gonna pick and i'm like no problem money you put that suit out on the bed lay it out i'll wear it whatever it is but um when it's when it's work time i just want my t-shirt i want my sweater and let me just go

to work. I don't have to spend any time thinking about what I'm going to be wearing for the day. Yeah, man. My wife roast me all the time for not matching, bro. Like, she, it drives her insane. You know, it drives her insane. And I'm like, listen, I've been doing this since the 80s. Like, you're not going to change that about me. You know what I'm saying? All right. So let's go ahead and let's give the audience some value from the real estate front. Okay. So what would you say for listeners out there that, you know, maybe they're renters right now and they're thinking about purchasing their first property. So what would you say the five tips that you would share with the audience to get started in that dream of home ownership? Well, first understand

if it's your first property and this is your first tip that don't try to find your dream home in like for your first home. Get into the market. Stomack. the least home, the least home possible. So what do I mean by that? Don't try to keep up with the Joneses. In Brampton here, which is a city, a small suburb of Toronto. There's a lot of Indian people.

We call it, don't try to keep up with the things, with your neighbors, to try to get the bigger home. Get into the market stomach the least amount of home. So if it's you and two kids, can you get away with maybe a two bedroom condo? And the reason is, is because you'll start to build up equity

over time. What you really want to do is get the least a home amount possible, lower purchase price, which will determine a lower down payment, and then you invest the rest. So start there. It's a mindset thing. Don't try to keep up with your friends. Don't try to keep up with society in general. You get the smallest home that you possibly can live with for a four, five, six year period. Second thing is sit down with an independent mortgage broker. They're actually the most important person. I like to think I'm the most important person in the process, but I'm not. It really is the mortgage person.

He or she is the money person. They're the one who's going to determine not what your purchase, like how much of a mortgage you can get, that's obviously their job. But more importantly, the monthly costs. So most people think about, okay, the home is half a million dollars. Yeah, but depending on the interest rate, we would, want to look at what is it going to cost you every single month, not just your mortgage payment, but the property tax, if it's a condo, the condo fees or maintenance fees, all your utilities,

your internet, your phone, your car insurance. So you need to budget. The budget will determine the area that you can look into. Then you want to start with, then the area that you're going to look at, you want to get a specific realtor, in my opinion, in that area. Now, you can do it on your own. You can Google it, you can YouTube it. But like here in Canada, it doesn't cost you to work with a realtor because their fee is paid by the seller of the home. So you're getting all the education, all the experience, the negotiations, which is the most important part, in my opinion, in the process, because they're going to be able to objectively do the negotiations for you. You don't pay them a fee for all that. But when you're looking for a realtor, get a realtor in the

specific area that you're looking for. Not just because, you know, if you have a cousin Charlie that just got their real estate license or has been licensed for a very long time, but they work on the other side of, of the state or the province or the city, they're not going to know the intricacies of the market in that subdivision in that area. Then you want to make sure that you get a lawyer involved right away. because a lawyer, like a real estate lawyer, unlike a corporate lawyer or a criminal lawyer, you don't pay them by the amount of times you call them or you email them.

It's a one-time fee. So you might as well get them involved really like way before you actually need them because you can have them review the contracts that the independent mortgage broker gives you. you can have them review the contracts that the realtor gives you. So have that person really on part of your real estate all-star team, so to speak, ahead of schedule. And then I think the final tip I would give somebody is make sure that you start to consider how to build on an investment portfolio.

And what I mean by that is lock down your first home, but always try to have in your mind in the back of your mind that you should at least get one income property. And the reason I say that is because, you know, here in Canada, we have pension funds and pension plans, like when you turn 65. And so, and I know you guys have like some sort of that kind of fund or pension plan in the states as well. But we, how do we know that's going to be around? Do not, do not, you know, don't think that the government's always going to give us the handout at the end. Build it for yourself. And if you were to, if you were to, invest in an income property over 25 years it's going to be paid off and somebody else is going

to pay it off for you because you're going to rent it out. So get that control for yourself and your own family. Don't leave it in anyone else's hands. I love that, man. Those are some awesome tips. And I know the the audience, especially, you know, future homeowners are definitely going to enjoy that. So I appreciate you sharing. And this episode has definitely been great. So tell everybody about your show and where they can find it. And then also where people can get in touch with you because, you know, from what I've learned about you over the last 45 minutes to an hour is you are super down to earth, you're relatable, you're likable guy. And so people that listen to this are also going to realize that. And they may say, you know, how can I get in touch with Jeff?

So go ahead first tell us about your show and then where everyone can get in touch with you. I appreciate that. And thanks for that, Jordan. and I really, really appreciate it. The show's name is REC Experience. You can find it on any podcast platform, or if you search it on YouTube, just search REC experience.

Really talk to all guys and gals in real estate, entrepreneurship, and leadership. To personally find me, I think you can pick kind of your own platform and the easiest way to do that is to go to jazz takar.ca, that's J-A-S-A-S. T-A-K-H-A-R-C-A-J-A-S-T-A-H-A-R-C-A. You choose the platform.

As I mentioned, I do 20 to 25 pieces of content daily through video, audio, and the written word, and you can kind of pick whatever you want and what you're comfortable, how you like to consume content, you can find it all on that page. Awesome, man. Well, you have definitely blazed your own trail. Congrats on all the success. But more importantly, congrats on being a great human being, right?

And I know you're a father as well. And, you know, somebody like you leading the organization you lead, I know they're in good hands because I know where your heart's at. And that's what's most impactful, man. So I really, really appreciate you taking the time out of your day. And I know we'll definitely stay connected and chat.

And who knows, man, maybe I would come on your show at some point. I would love it. Sure. That'd be amazing. So, hey, everyone, that was Jazz. Tachar. Sorry for slaughtering your name at the beginning. But thanks so much for coming on, man.

Thanks so much for having me. Don't worry about the last name, everyone. I go numb to it anyways. Listen, it doesn't matter what you call me, just call me. But I really, really appreciate the kind words and reaching out to me and having me on. And definitely we'll do a collaboration. I'm going into season six in October, and we'll make it happen. happen, my man. I mean, I want you to share your story to my listeners and viewers as well. Thank you again for having me, Jordan.

Absolutely, my friend. Wow, what an amazing episode with Jazz Taccar. I hope you all got some value out of that. The guy has definitely been on a journey and it's clear to see why he's successful. If you haven't subscribed yet, please subscribe to the show and tell all your friends about it. We want to add as much value as we can through each of the episode. So please share it. If you haven't reviewed it and rated it on iTunes, please do that as well. And I can't wait to chat with you on the next episode.