Breaking Bread with Tom Papa - Episode 202 - Barbara Corcoran

Episode Date: April 9, 2024

Tom Papa talks with Barbara Corcoran about her extraordinary journey from a humble beginning to becoming a real estate mogul. They delve into Barbara's early life challenges, her transition into the real estate industry with just a $1,000 loan, and how she navigated her way through the ups and downs to build a successful business. Barbara shares insights into the importance of resilience, the power of believing in oneself, and the significant role that luck and timing played in her career. This episode not only highlights Barbara's professional achievements but also her personal philosophy on life and success.   Thank you to our pals at AURA.COM. Go to AURA.COM/PAPA to sign up for a 14-day trial and start protecting yourself and your loved ones today,   Also, thank you to our pals at HELIXSLEEP.COM. Go to HELIXSLEEP.COM/PAPA to get up to 20% off your mattress and two free pillows.   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Barbara: Barbara Corcoran, Founder of The Corcoran Group & Shark and Executive Producer on ABC’s "Shark Tank" Barbara Corcoran’s credits include straight D’s in high school and college and 20 jobs by the time she turned 23. It was her next job that would make her one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the country: She borrowed $1,000 and quit her job as a waitress to start a tiny real estate company in New York City. The Corcoran Group, the largest and best-known brand in the brokerage business, building the largest and best-known brand in the business.   Corcoran is the author of the best seller “Shark Tales: How I Turned $1,000 into a Billion Dollar Business!” and host of top business podcast “Business Unusual with Barbara Corcoran.”   Corcoran is a motivational and inspirational speaker. She is a frequent small business and real estate contributor on every major network. Corcoran has been an investor/Shark for the past eleven seasons on ABC’s four-time Emmy award winning show, Shark Tank, investing in over 100 businesses to date. Follow Barbara on Twitter, TikTok and Instagram @BarbaraCorcoran.   About Tom:  Tom Papa, a celebrated stand-up comedian with over 20 years in the industry, has made significant strides in film, television, radio, podcasts, and live performances. Notably, he's a regular on "The Joe Rogan Experience" and various late-night TV shows. Papa's literary skills are evident in his books “We’re All In This Together” and "You’re Doing Great!: And Other Reasons To Stay Alive," a collection of essays, and "Your Dad Stole My Rake: And Other Family Dilemmas," a comedic look at family life. His latest stand-up specials are “Tom Papa: What A Day!” and "Tom Papa: You’re Doing Great!" on Netflix.   Beyond comedy, Papa's engagements extend to hosting "What A Joke With Papa And Fortune" on SiriusXM and appearing on NPR's "Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me." His love for baking led to hosting the Food Network series "Baked." As an actor, he's worked with notable figures like Rob Zombie and Steven Soderbergh and has appeared in several films and TV shows, including the HBO film "Behind the Candelabra." Additionally, Papa has contributed as a writer to projects like "Bee Movie" and various TV series. Residing in Los Angeles with his family, Papa continues to balance his professional life with personal interests like baking.   Get in touch with or go see Tom live on stage!   Radio, Podcasts and more: https://linktr.ee/tompapa/ Website - http://tompapa.com/ Instagram -  https://www.instagram.com/tompapa Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/tompapa Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/comediantompapa   #TomPapa #breakingbreadwithTomPapa Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Hey, don't you know? It's also a show. I was told I'd have bread. You better have it here. Well, I'm in from L.A. And I couldn't bring the bread. No excuse. I'm out of here.

Well, this is going to be the beginning of a friendship, so I will get you bread. I did bring you croissants from Vesuvio. You don't have to eat them now. You can bring them home. You can live your life the way you want to live. Thank you so much. But I love them, and their croissants are... I've never had them, but I've heard about it.

They're so good. Down on Spring Street. Butter, mostly butter. Mostly butter. So it makes them great. So good. I was having a croissant at the hotel with my wife, and she asked for butter to put on the butter crissette.

I would do that too. So good. Yeah. Did she? She did. I was like, yeah, it's all butter. You don't need more butter. She's like, I need more butter.

No, such thing is too much better. You worked in a diner when you were young. Yeah, one of my best jobs. Amazing. Fort Lee. Fort Lee. Yeah. So I'm a Jersey kid.

You are? Where in Jersey? Bergen County up in Wilcliffe Lake. Oh, that's... Come on. You were in the expensive area. Woodcliffe Lake was. Park Ridge wasn't. In New Jersey, the expensive and the not expensive. Yeah, yeah.

We moved from the not expensive to the slightly more expensive. But we were the people who weren't rich living in the more expensive. Oh, that can make you feel poor, actually. It did make you feel poor, but it also gave you a little pride. Why? About what? You were just like, I bought my own car. Oh, sure.

I think you meant pride about my dad's poor. My mom's poor. I'm ashamed. Yeah, no, they worked hard. They were successful. But no, just like with all the other kids, getting everything for free. Yeah. Everyone would go to camp.

Yeah. And then I would just swim in the pool, the older kids. Sure, it's more normally. I'm more normal livelihood. Yeah. Yeah. But you had a lot more brothers and sisters than I did. Yeah.

Pretty much the same. You know, we all worked at our house. I thank God. we worked. I think that's as good as getting yourself a car, buying yourself a car, to be able to have you own money and have it in your hand and buy what you want. Now, how did you learn that? My mother and father, we all worked from the time we were 11, all 10 of us. Right. And we were expected to have a job. Yeah. But we learned it, I guess, because they role modeled hard work so much. When your parents do that, you feel like you're supposed to work hard. What did they do?

My dad was a printing press foreman in the day, and at night he watched those brown trucks. UPS or whatever. Oh, really? But mother was a housewife. Oh, wow. Yeah.

And, uh, that's all she did. That's all she did. That's all. Nothing else. Lazy woman. What's like growing up with 10 kids? It's better than having the 10 kids.

That's for sure. But, uh, it's a lot of, it's a lot of, it was a lot of fun. It was crowded. It was always chaotic. Uh,

you didn't know what was happening next. You didn't have enough space. So you got along with people. You didn't argue. you because the fights were too obvious. Right. So you really grew up in a little town of your own. And so we were really prepared for going out to life.

I mean, it didn't seem, when I went out to the real world, it didn't see much difference than being in the house, really. Where were you in the... Second oldest and the smartest. It's really true. You were the smartest? No, I wasn't. I was a dumb kid.

Myself, my brother John and my brother Eddie were all terrible students. Right. Couldn't learn to read or write. However, the three of us, I think, have the best personality because we use it on mouths, you know, it compensating. Irish? Yeah, very much. You think anybody but Irish would have 10 kids? I know.

And the year and a half apart, Catholic, and using the Pope's rhythm method to the day. Very successful. Yeah. Yeah, I loved when we would get around the Irish kids in my town, the Irish kids, they always had. people from the clergy coming over to for dinner for dinner yeah and it's like when i'd be in church and you hear these guys and they're just kind of like doing the sermons it was like you're trying to stay awake you wouldn't want them for dinner right then you get to dinner and they're drinking and having this they're the funniest people you ever met they really are they were great guys we had one

we had two priests that ran out church one who was very conservative my mother never invited him over he was boring yeah she invited the younger priests he was always with us for a Sunday dinner but he always brought his knitting. And I even remember as a little kid, Father Guterrell is knitting all the time. He's knitting, knitting. And finally, when I was about 12th, I think he's gay.

Don't you say that about our priest? He was gay. He left. He became a gay man, came out of the closet. He's knitting. Big guy, but great knitter. That's so funny. Who is the funniest in the family?

My brother John. Yeah. Yeah, because he was most outrageous and didn't care what he had to say. And it was always saying the wrong things, doing the wrong things and near getting arrest. Well, actually, he did get arrested. My father put him in jail because the moonshine, the local police station where my father's

brother was the captain of the police. And he crashed his truck backwards into the window of the police station, moon them, and pulled out and didn't think he'd get caught while he was caught. He moved. Yeah. He and his wife. So he crashed into the police up in and then his apology was to moon them and then take off. And take off.

He thought that was the funniest thing, but he had more antics than you could imagine. Yeah. Yeah. He kept us all laughing. Oh, those are the best. Yeah. Those are the best. Those are the best people in life in the end. You remember who kept you laughing.

Don't you feel? Oh, yeah. It was such affection. Yeah. 100%. It's such a treasure to have someone add joy to your life. Yeah. It's just plain out silliness.

Yeah. To not take it that seriously is so important. To be irreverent. Boy, was he irreverent. Yeah, the irreverent part is. He would every Sunday as a grown man drive. down you don't know edgewater in new jersey or do you it's a long distance away from where you grow up he would drive down the river road which was the main artery in the whole town it was two

miles long and he would be butt naked on a harley davidson stone drunk and everybody in the town along the way would call the police and say john's at it again and the police would come make him pull over his bike and he would get in the front seat they'd always say the same thing the cops tell me this they'd say to him john what's wrong with you but they took him home put him to bed and brought his bike home. So everybody loved him. Oh my God. Now did he work? Oh, he's a roofer. He was a roofer. And he had a great routine if I might share it with you. He said he used to hang a lot of fancy roofs and the fancy guys, especially in the finance field, always gave him a hard time. Because when he came down to get the second half of his check, the guys would say, I'm not sure.

You know, that's a lot of money for what you did and blah. And he said, oh, you don't think it's worth it. No problem at all. And he said to his two men who worked with him, hey, go up and take off the roof. He said, people ran for their checkbook so fast. So everything you did was, was like watching your own TV show. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I have to say, I was saying this to my wife this morning when I was coming to see you was, there's a lot of things that have accumulated through time now on Instagram and self-health and all these ways of conducting yourself in business and the way that you work. and all this kind of stuff.

It's so much of it. But you were not reading that stuff when you were. I wasn't a good reader. It wasn't available. It was, but you were, how did you find the answers in a world where the answers weren't in your phone, in your palm? Well, how did we all find the answers? The people who did the best, I believe, without any answers

or anyone to look forward to, to give them the guidance, acted themselves. I think when you act yourself, people recognize as a real deal, the genuineness of it, and they accept whatever style you're putting forth, whatever you're saying. They just accept it on face value because you are very much on face value. So I think all these theories are very helpful to a lot of people. They're formulas that they could mimic, formulas that they could get confident in themselves about. But I also think if you're just true to yourself, things work out for you. People like it, you know?

It's weird how everybody else has a sense of when you're honest. Oh, yeah. Don't you think you can't fool anybody? No. Yeah. I'm not honest. I don't know what you're thinking. Yeah.

But I just want you to know I'm not honest. No, I got that. Okay. I got that 100%. No, but it is true. Like, especially when, if a politician comes along and all of a sudden starts speaking truthfully, everybody leans in. Of course.

It's kind of like breaking the side. And it might be bullshit too. But from what you could see, you lean in because you think it's genuine. Yeah. Yeah. Bill Clinton had that gift. Yeah. As did Obama.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Giuliani in the early days. In the early days, he was great before he lost his marbles. Yeah. Before this other version showed up. God, who was that guy? I don't know.

It's such a strange thing to be when you tell people, because if you were here during New York, in New York during that time. Great leader at that time. Great leader. And then you try and tell. that to people that didn't grow up here and they're like wait that guy with the stuff coming down yeah exactly yeah but he was great he was the right man at the right time he really was yeah he was he was so when you were growing up did you what was your idea of the city at the time when you were we never went

to the city i had a boyfriend who met me at the fortly diner who ultimately gave me a thousand dollars did give it to me loaned me a thousand dollars that i never paid him back to start my business but What was I saying? What were you asking? Ramon Simone. Yeah, Ramon Simone, but you asked something before. When you were a kid, when you grew up in New Jersey, there's this thing across the river. Oh, yeah, called the city.

Thank you. Yeah, this Wizard of Oz. You got me back on track. Yeah, this Wizard of Oz. We never went to the city. We weren't allowed to go to the city. So I went there first when I was 24. Real?

And it was magical. And it didn't take me long. First time? I loved it. First time ever. And I fell in love with it right away. Yeah. Well, when you're a kid, you tend to fall in love with the excitement.

of the city and I was one of those kids. Yeah, I know. The minute you get in, it was just. I knew I would never go back to New Jersey ever, ever again, which I have, but I wouldn't go back for a good 10 years, I'd say. Yeah. So I could see the Empire State Building from my desk, like way in the distance through when I was a kid.

Wow. How could that from New Jersey? Yeah, from Wilcliffe Lake. Wow. Like in the distance, just peeking out. Wow. See it. I can't imagine that.

I just sitting there and think, boy, I should be there. Well, stop bragging because I saw from my bedroom, which fronted on the Hudson River the entire city. You think I'd be curious to go there or ask my parents, why don't we have a go there? No. We saw it all spread out, but you never wanted to go there. It was for other people. You know, the city was different.

Yeah, it was a whole different thing. Yeah. So who cooked in a house full of 10? My mom. Your mom. Three square meals a day and had a habit of setting the table for the next. next meal. So you never went into the house where the table was and said. Really? And everyone we'd eat together? Always. You were commanded to eat at six o'clock sharp. Really? Yeah. Everybody.

I got the best seat. I was to my mother's right. Like I was on the bench on that corner. Uh-huh. And my mother was here. And what was great about it is I was right next to the refrigerator. So I threw away all my peas and vegetables that didn't want behind the refrigerator. And my brother John sat next to me and he said, I was never left-handed. I just pretended I was left-handed since I was little kids. So dad stopped hitting me because he was sitting next to my father on the other end. The father would whack him like this. Yeah. John seems like a lot of fun. Oh, yeah. I wish he was still here. Yeah. Did he have a job? Did he ever get hold down a job? Oh, he ran his own business. He was a local roofer. Yeah. He was very successful. Yeah. He pulled it off. He endeared people to him no matter where he went,

you know. Yeah. Yeah. The wit. Yeah, the wit is wonderful. Were your parents? parents that way? My mother was very quick-witted. My father's somewhat, not so much, a little bit more of a serious man. Yeah. Yeah, but everybody at that table, every meal, competed with comedy. Yeah. They did. Just to get attention. That's the only way you would get attention from anybody. Right. Yeah. Yeah. So there's a lot of back and forth. But that's also an Irish trait, I think. The jabbing, the sarcasm can be very mean at times. I've learned not to use it with other adult people later in my life because some people really get offended but I like to explain no that means I like you if I'm insulting you I like you you know yeah yeah I know exactly it's a little different yeah that is kind

of the thing that's going on now culturally is that you that ribbing of each other is yeah it's a celebration it's yes it's why we're all together we're like why human beings yeah you ignore each other oh it's so cruel to ignore somebody yeah yeah it's very interesting uh so you didn't go until 24. So tell me about the Fort Lee Diner. I was very curious about that. Well, I had one counter. I was in charge. There were eight little seats there. And then Gloria, she was a competitor. She had the other counter and she got most of the business because Gloria, I'm not exaggerating. If I said she was a dead ringer for Dolly Part and she was really, she even the beehive bonnet hair and everything, but she had two giant breasts and she carried two

coffee cups in each hand, two more double stacked on her breast. But I'm not making this show up. Yeah, buying her way through the doors and the guys were, so she was my competitor, which I did not like. Because she had many more tips than I did. I could, I recognize that. But I tied ribbons on my pigtails. My mother's advice, she said, stay how you are. I was complaining at her one night.

She said, stay how you are. Put ribbons on your pigtails and just be as sweet as you are. She said, because men like the great white virgin as much as they do the bombshell. I didn't really understand it then, but she was right. And that's the night Ramon Simone walked into the diner. Yeah, tell me about Ramon's one. I've heard you talk about this. What a story. What a story? He was good looking in my book.

One look at him, I knew I'd lose my virginity right away. He had dark olive skin, check black hair with a lot of grease and so it went really straight. He had a tie on, a real shirt on. It was a suit. And I was like, oh, I want to, the best part. He had a navy blue avated shade so you really couldn't see his eyes. Oh, man. And boy, did he turn it?

me on. How old is he? He was 10 years old than me. 10 years older. He was 34 around there. So he just struts in. Mature man wearing a real suit, wanting to sit at my counter. And he's not interested in getting coffee off of boobs? Not at all. He ignored her all the way.

He was after me. And he offered me a ride home. And that was the beginning of him being my boyfriend, much to my mother's dismay. Right. She didn't like Ramon. No. He looks different than us. He was too old for me.

He wasn't Catholic. Right. Where's he from? The Basque country, he told me. He said, that's not what we want. Basque country here. I don't even know what it is, you know? Yeah, no, he wasn't for me, according to my mom.

Was he Italian? No, he said he was Basque. Oh, Basque, which is a part of Spain. He explained that to me. I didn't know what it was. But actually, when I got to know his mother, many years later, five years later or so, and was living with his three girls, we went to Vise's mother with the three girls. and she told me he was Puerto Rican.

He grew up on 145th Street, not in Spain. And I thought, what a routine. I didn't mind that at all. I thought what a good story. Yeah, what a good character you created. Because I thought her name was Simone. I called him Mrs. Simone. She said, don't call me Mrs. Simone.

It's Simon. I said, why is it Simon? This is Simone. She said, that's my second husband. I said, you mean, are you really his mother? Yes. It was just so confusing. And that's how I found out he'd,

grew up in Harlem. Wow. He's made up a story for himself. But he made up a life for himself. Yeah. And he was for me at that very young, impressionable age, going to be impressed with anyone who was semi-accomplished and mature. What he represented to me is that you could be who you want.

Right. So I didn't hold it against him anyway when I found out certain things were a little exaggerated about everything. Because I thought, good for him. He's getting the whole world to fall for him. He's making himself who he wants. And he became very, I wouldn't say wealthy, but he became very comfortable building one family houses. And it was because he really had the gift of gab to raise funds, to get along with people, to talk someone into buying the house and adding more things to the house.

He was great. He was great role model for me. So what are you thinking at that age when you meet him? Do you have a dream at that point? Are you thinking of where you want to go or you're just going? No, I did. I had one goal. I didn't want to get pregnant. Right.

Everybody in my high school at that time, just about everybody was married within three months after high school. And they had babies within a year, year and a half. And I remember sitting in my house and that's not for me. I didn't know what was for me. But I figured that's not for me. I don't want to stay in each water my whole life and have children. And I don't know why I felt that way because my mother was a very loving mother and

ran a very good household. So you'd think I would have wanted to emulate that. But I didn't identify with that. And Ramon presented another life to me in New York City. Yeah, an escape. Where did you take you first? Do you remember? Barberson Hotel for women.

It paid for a week, which was really nice. My mother didn't like that either. She said he was turning me into a prostitute, which was ridiculous. He wasn't. But he gave me $100. Chris $100 bill. I still remember the sound on when he passed it to me. Yeah.

And he said, go buy yourself. a real New York outfit. That's pretty sexy. It was so storybook. Yeah. Well, I felt like I was in a storybook from that day forward because I went to Blueingdale's, which is four blocks south on Lexington, and I bought myself top to bottom a lavender outfit.

And I felt like the It Girl. Yeah. Oh, man. Yeah. Did you feel comfortable immediately? Like when you're walking on the street. I belong here. I was singing Georgia Girl.

Hey there, Georgia Girl. I was the It Girl, you know, like Mary Tyler Warren that day. Watch me, watch me. Immediately. Yeah, immediately. Yeah. That's great. Probably because somebody else was paying my bill and I didn't have to worry about rent for that week.

Yeah. But there is something about this town. Yes. Some people never get a handle on it. And some people know immediately that this is their home. You think it's that black and white? People don't have to grow into it or anything. Yeah, there's that, yeah, there's an instinct.

There's like a, there's a certain type of person that says this is for me. Yeah, bring it on. Yeah. But it is a great town. I mean, what I noticed about this town right away, and I've never changed my mind on it, it really is welcoming to the newcomer. That's one. And the other thing I really like about it, it didn't, well, from where I said anyway,

I seem to think that it didn't care who you were, where you're from, what your credentials are. You know, it's just a town that's practical, like, what can you do for me? That's what the town wanted. What could you do? Yeah. Even when you went on the job interviews, can you type? Do you know, short hand, do you know? You know, it was just very practical.

And that was very appealing to me. Nothing esoteric about it. Right. Yeah. And if you were already as a young kid working really hard and... Just another job. And you've got the wit and the wherewithal from being in a big family. Yeah.

You're kind of like... It was a bigger town. It was almost like a prep school for this. Oh, yeah. No, it was a large prep school because I could go into any building I wanted that had an apartment for rent and I could open the door, get the key from the super, the doormen, open the door. Like, it's like all of them. New York belonged to me. Yeah.

Yeah. It just didn't even seem like work. And that's what he did. He was in... No, he was building one family houses in New Jersey when I met him. And he stayed in New Jersey, building one family houses. Oh, so how did you start... He gave me $1,000 as a loan, and he said he would own 51%, I'd own 49%.

And that seemed fine to me. And I ran the brokerage business, and he continued in his business building houses. Yeah. But the brokerage business, did you build it from scratch? Yes, well, with $1,000 that counts. Right, right, yeah. At first it was just me. But it was under his guidance, was he saying?

Well, he always gave me guidance. Basically, I have to tell you, the guidance he gave me was interesting. You can do it. That's about it. That's it. You can do it. You're smart. You can do it.

Yeah. Maybe he just didn't want to do any of the work himself. Right. But I was complimented every day. Yeah, I can do it. I can do it. Yeah. So it really worked out.

So there was no thought in your mind of like, I'm going to get into real estate, I'm going to do this. No, it was Ramon Simone's idea. And if he had suggested something else, I probably would have jumped into that. Right. Because my attitude was I had 20 jobs already. I thought, why not? I'll try another one.

You know, I'd get another job if I don't like it. And I didn't take it seriously. However, what I should have taken seriously, I had never worked for myself. The minute I worked for myself didn't have to report on time, I was always in early. Right. The minute I'd work for myself, I pushed myself harder than I ever pushed myself. on any job. And so I was meant to work for myself. It was beautiful working for myself. Yeah. That was not lost on me. I knew I had found my home. Right. Wow. Yeah. How quickly did you

start having a people work for you? Almost immediately. Yeah. I made my first commission check of $348 and I only had $1,000. So I now had $13.48 minus some advertising I was paying for. And then I immediately took my check and went and bought my fellow with the whole check, a fancy coat of Bergdorf Goodman's. And it was the best move I could have made because it covered up my clothes that weren't looking very good. They were still from New Jersey. Nothing against New Jersey, but my part of New Jersey is that's not a good sign

wearing those clothes. But this gorgeous, really, well, most people would say disgustingly gaudy coat, covered my whole body almost down to my ankles with the fake fur and the fake fur and the bone buttons and the, wow. But you know what? I was confident in that coat. Yeah. I knew when I put that coat on I was going to be the Queen of New York real estate.

I knew it as sure as I knew my name. I could see myself in living color. And it started with that coat. I had that coat on. People were adoring me. People were kissing my ring like they kiss the Palm Pope. I had a lot of people working for me. People were asking my opinion.

I saw the whole movie in my head. And I really didn't think that it wouldn't come true, not for a second in my whole career. Amazing. Yeah. It's better than a business plan to have a picture, I think, for a lot of people. Yeah. Yeah. It's amazing because it just happens.

It just happens. It didn't happen for me at the Fort Lee Diner. I'm going to be an incredible wages. I want to run a great diner. I never had that thought of working for myself, really. Yeah. Yeah. Man, do you think that it's, is it, was it destiny?

Was it? I don't know if I believe about destiny, but I, no, probably not. I don't think people had destiners. I think when I hear the word destiny, I think it's already been decided miss. Yeah. You know, so I don't think I thought that way. Yeah. And what do you attribute it to?

Luck? Part luck. What if I hadn't met Ray in the diner that night? Would some of the guy loan me $1,000 or for me a ride home? I don't know. Maybe I got it. Yeah. A lot of lucky things happened to me.

Yeah. Tremendous luck. I opened my business first in an apartment with two roommates, which everybody got roommates through the, what was the name of that whole paper? the Greenwich Village Paper? Oh, the Village Voice? Yeah, the Village. List of roommates wanting roommates.

So I got two roommates and I opened my business there. So I met my customers on my couch and I would take them out and show them apartments. But I got a lucky break. I had a phony customer. I called into me once and I sensed she was not who she claimed. Just felt in my bones. But I also felt in my bones there's something important about this lady who's pretending to be a customer. So I pulled out the dog.

is that the expression. I really went fancy art, showed her all over in New York, explained everything, like the perfect dream agent. And it turns out she ran the whole relocation department for Merlidge. And from that day forward, she sent me every customer.

I just was taking people in like cookies. They're coming, but meeting them on my couch. And I'm sorry, I got off course. I want to tell you about the good luck. The good luck was I had so many young men from Citibank meeting me all day long on my couch.

Right. That's the super. I thought I was a prostitute. And John Campagna, who on the building, evicted me. And I found the eviction notice. But in meeting John Campania, trying to convince him, I'm not a prostitute, always paid my rent. The girls always give me the rent.

It's on time, blah, blah, blah. I told him the story of how his renting apartment for a lot of money by one of his competitors. I didn't know it was a competitor. Another Italian man. I'm talking a mile a minute, right? I'll slow down. No, this is great. Oh, a little fast.

I didn't know where I'm going. Okay. But when I met John Campania, he was so handsome, and I convinced him I was a prostitute. I said, you know, Joe Jafuni, I'm getting him on his rent, $3.80 a month for a one-bedroom. You're only asking for $3.20 a month? Because I told Joe Jafuni, if he would build a wall between the living room and the L-shaped, we could position it as a one-bedroom in den. And he put all walls up in his house and gave me the building that I lived in,

and he gave me an exclusive on the whole building. Was that a lucky break? If he hadn't evicted me, I wouldn't have gotten my first listing. You know, that was my first exclusive listing. So I had a lot of luck along the way. Right. Everywhere I had luck, really. Yeah.

Yeah. I do think it plays a big part in life. You also have to work your luck like crazy. Yeah. But you have to have breaks. You have to have breaks, of course. You do have to have breaks. Yeah.

I guess you'd make it somehow anyway with no breaks, but you'd have to be discouraged after time. Yeah. But it's so interesting that you just kind of, it seems. from the story you're telling me, you found your place. Oh, I did. Immediately. Like you had. But, you know, in hindsight, because I work with so many young entrepreneurs today, Tom,

I really believe I could be an entrepreneur in any business now. I really think there's their common traits that people succeed in business. And if they don't have them, they don't. Right. So I think, I'll tell you about it, before that I want to say, but I think I wound up in real estate because that's where I wound up. but I could have done something, plumbing supply or legal services or something.

It's all the same routine, you know, and building a business, kind of the same routine. In answer to your question, what are the commentary, it's the most important one. My book, most people wouldn't agree with me,

is the ability to take a hit. Not just in work, but in life, I mean, if you can't get back up. Yeah. So I really look for people who I think will take a hit hard

and get back up. And when they don't, you know, they never make it. They might have the big dream. They might work the ESO for a while, but in the end, they don't make it. You almost have to be too stupid to lay low when you get hit.

You almost have to be stupid enough to get back up and say, hit me again, you know? Not literally, but I think it's that kind of an attitude toward bumps along the way. Could you, when you start building your company and expanding and hiring more people, could you see that trade in people? Not at first, until I learned to look for it. You know, real estate is a hiring of real estate agents is not so easy because agents don't come in as salesmen and say, I have a great record.

They come in as housewives, kids just went back to school. They come in because they didn't succeed at their last job and they're trying something new. So there's no track record on sales. So I really made a point of trying to figure out how do you identify talent? Not based on the past history because you really don't have much to go on, you know? Yeah. So I would just really listen, really listen hard. And I had a little trick I did.

Well, maybe not call it a trick, but it certainly let me separate people. The thing I would do is I would listen to the person, the interview. And after they had wound down a bit, I'd let them talk a while to get a feeling for the person down. I say, would you like me to share with you what the two traits that are essential to real estate age that I found in my office so far? Yes, yes, yes. They always say yes. They never say no, right? Then I say, well, the first trait really is a great deal of empathy, and I could tell you're a genius at empathy.

You have to know, read between the lines. When people tell you black, you know, they really mean blue, blah, blah, blah, blah. And give them examples. And people would say, that's right. I'm that way. I never had a single soul who said, I have no empathy. So I would just lie about that right away, just moves it up. And then I said, but the other trait, I have to say, I'm not getting it from you at all.

What trade is that? I said, no drive, no ego. No, no killer instinct. And then I had two different responses. People would sit there and say, no, I have a killer instinct. I have a drive. You know, I'm a drive. I was on the committee at school.

I'm like, oh, I'm out of here. The people who you wanted to hire, you could feel the vibe. They wanted to come across before you finish your line. I want to kill you. You're hired. They didn't take it well. They were insulted personally to be told they weren't aggressive. And aggressiveness in sales.

Yeah. Is key. Yeah. Yeah. And then taking the hit is more key, if there's such as word is more key. Right. You know, just like getting yourself back up, getting yourself back up. Because it's a business of rejection.

It's a mental game more than anything else. Yeah. So you think you had that beyond business, that trait, being able to get back up again? Did I have it? Yeah. That's my specialty. Yeah. I'm at my best, if you insult me.

I mean, thank God, when I ended the business with Ramon's, Simone because he married my secretary. And I know that sounds vicious that I had to end it, but I just couldn't stand and see him and go kissy-kissy every day. So you were romantically involved with Romance-O-Hum? Oh, he was my boyfriend and my partner for seven years. I was a mother to his three children, yeah, for sure. Oh, really?

Oh, yeah, we were deeply involved. I can't even say looking back deeply in love as embarrassing as that might sound. I never thought about it. It was just productive, you know, worked somehow on a lot of levels. Yeah. So that's the way it was, but I now lost my thought of where I wanted. I go, what was I just saying? It was an important thought.

I'm sure. Oh, yeah. This is what I wanted to say to you. I'm so good at being knocked down, really, because when I discovered that, was Ramon Simone said to me, you'll never succeed without me because he was angry that day. I don't blame him. He should have been angry because I hit him broadside. Why was he angry?

Because I said, we're ending the business today. No, but that doesn't have to do with business. That's his personal line. Right. I said, we're ending the business today. You're going to pick the first salesperson. I'm going to pick the second. We have 14 sales.

people, we'll divide them down the middle, we'll go our separate ways. It happens this morning. Wow. And he said, you'll never succeed without me. And I'll tell you, honest to God, Tom, I knew better than I knew my name, that I would rather die than let him not, you know, see me crawl, not succeed or anything like that. Yeah, or stay under. And that's when I realized I was pretty good at insult.

Right. And yet if he had, I wonder sometimes if he had said to me, oh, you're incredible. Look what you've done yourself. This isn't all me, honey. You're great at it. I probably wouldn't be a business. Right. It was just to show him that I kept coming back, you know.

Yeah. Yeah. Was he aware of what you were doing once you split? The point your business was? Pretty much because we were competitors in the same field. And then he stayed in business about three years with his new wife as his partner. And then they went out of business, but it was a very tough real estate cycle. It was in 1970s of city was going bankrupt.

Yeah. People didn't want to live here. It was just a rough time to succeed. Yeah. What was the apartment scene like then? What was... It was wild. Yeah.

What was the Upper West Side like? No one wanted to live there. No one wanted to live in the upper. I got a listing at the Dakota, an older man, 14-roomed Dakota. And they had to take the listing. The price was zero. He was willing to give it away for zero if someone would assume the maintenance, which at that time was 17.

I think $1,700 a month, which would be like, what would it be now? I don't know what that it equates to. But I'm telling you, you could buy an apartment on Fifth Avenue, say, what was $100,000. And on Central Park West, just the other side of the park, it was like $22,000. Nobody wanted Central Park West until John Leonard moved in. Boy, that changed everything. It was a whole different world. It was a ring-controlled town.

It was a walk-up town. Yeah. You didn't have many dormant buildings. You had no co-ops. You had the conversion boom in the 80s where everything that was a rental was converted into a sale overnight. I remember reading New York Magazine on the cover. It was a cartoon. It was a mother bird throwing a baby bird out of a nest.

And the caption said a sign she was holding, sorry, going co-op. But the whole city was going co-op. But you know what it did for me as a young business owner? It enlarged my market. They were producing product. for me to sell. I didn't know it at the time. Right. But I couldn't even keep up with the city growth. I had to run like hell to keep up with it, you know?

Jeez. So that was good timing. Again, luck. Yeah. I just happened to be in New York at that time. Yeah. And were people changing their mindset? At what point were people deciding, no, this is a place we should live. Yeah. It was in the, when did Donald Trump put up Trump Tower? Around the early 80s somewhere there. Right.

Okay. I remember I was at a real estate conference. a giant conference in San Francisco one year. And people usually say, well, where do you sell real estate? And I would have answered the same way in New York City. And up to that point, everybody sits to me, people live in New York City. What's it like? Like, they thought I was out of my mind because all they saw was the blood and the crime on TV every night. And people, like, felt sorry for me.

And then about the time that Donald Trump put it up, first it was actually first put up the hotel on 42nd Street early. I went to the same conference in some of this city, I think Chicago, and I'd say, oh, yeah, I sell in New York City. Wow, it must be exciting. Like, what happened? Same person, same job. It was like, suddenly it became a great place that everybody wanted to be a part of. What? Because of what he did, you think?

No, I think it was. He was the first, and it caused media attention, because, as you know, he was always good at media. But everybody was building new condominings. So they were no more conversions. Everything was going up new. It just exploded the city, but they couldn't keep up with the rate of numbers of people coming here, especially young people. Right. They come from all over the United States wanting to make their dream come true.

And they were right. It's the best city, so open to change. It's the right place to start a business, you know? It's amazing to think that at one point it wasn't. That it... I think maybe it always was. Yeah. Because change is the middle name here.

Mm-hmm. But I think collectively people didn't recognize it. When you were running around during that time in some of the neighborhoods in the 70s and the blackouts and the crime and the punchline, you're single, attractive, making money running around. Did you? So attractive, Ramon Metina and Married her. Well, we never liked her much anyway. We don't like her. She wasn't funny at all.

No, no, no, not, not. But, like, how did you feel walking around the streets of New York at that time? You know, believe in it. Was it the youthful thing of, like, you don't even clock what you're living in? No, you know what for me, it was so dirty and gritty and filled with interest. Like, everything was different and interesting and changing. And even the newspaper guy on 86th Street changed like every fourth month. A new shop went in.

What? What I'm the old guy I just made friends with, you know? Yeah. No, but I always saw walking around the city like it was a movie set. I mean, I know about movies and such. I never saw them. But I felt like I was a character playing in a cast, a bunch of people living in the city, and I was so happy to be part of it, you know?

It was like a drift-up. It sucked me up. Yeah, yeah, just another character. And still the truth, that's the same experience. If you talk to a young person who's just moved here, and older people will tell you the city's not the same. It's blah, blah, blah, blah. It's bullshit.

The young people have that same starry-eyed like wonderment about the city. And they're taking on face value. Yeah. I'm noticing that since the pandemic. Yes, very much. The older crowd is like a little shaken and a little like, oh. It's not the same anymore. And then you go downtown wherever the young people are hanging out and it's a lift.

It's a lot of. Yes. Real estate question. The one thing I had a meeting this morning in midtown and there's not, you're not, Oh, gosh. You're not shoulders to shoulder with all the business people swimming upstream. It's not there. It's back in the middle of the week.

Yeah, Wednesday at 10 o'clock. Is that going to come back, you think? I don't think so. You don't think so. Something will have to be done about the commercial real estate for sure. Yeah. Because it's 30% of it. Well, not 30%.

I think the real figure is 20% of it's vacant. How do you keep a building up and pay the bank mortgage, pay the expenses. With 20% vacancy, and a lot of your tenants don't even paying the rent. I don't know. The banks are being very friendly

to the developers right now, but I wouldn't want to be around when the shit hits the fan because I just don't believe the volume of people are coming back to McTown. They're just not going to do it. What for?

Think about it. People have been trying so hard to get people back. And the businesses are working with people being in their homes in New Jersey. Not as good as when they're at your office, in my opinion. I don't think so either, and I don't work in an office, but I just being around other people. Oh, big difference. Huge difference. Yeah. I mean, some companies are coming down pretty hard on it.

Yeah, they're trying. But I mean, it's not here. No. It's just like someone pull the plug out, right? Yeah. I mean, it's better now than it was two years ago. But still, it's like someone pull the plug out, right? Yeah. Yeah. But you say someone pull the plug out on that in Midtown, Downtown Manhattan, where there's lot of offices, you know, offices to be gotten. Yeah. But no one's pulled a plug out on restaurants, theater. Mm-hmm. Welcoming new people to the city.

Yeah. High prices for housing. Yeah. Stand-alone. Why isn't housing? Why is housing? Because everybody wants it. Everybody owes.

It's just a finite in New York. You have to believe in New York City. I bought properties over time because I was, I felt I had to buy them because I was looking for office space and couldn't find any in rough neighborhoods. So I would buy the building. just to get an office. Right. And every one of them became worth a lot of money.

A lot of money. Happenstance. But it's always true of the city. You can't not have confidence in the city. It reinvents itself again and again and again. Many people don't trust the city, particularly people in real estate, say it's not the same.

It's crazy. I have learned to trust the city. Always somebody who wants it. Always. Always. I mean, there's no breaks. My daughter's graduating college. Uh-oh.

Coming back in and looking around. like where to live in New York. Get ready to help her with rent. I know. I just learned that this morning. Oh, you'll learn it. Oh, no.

You should have not shown up. No. What's wrong with you, Tom? Didn't you know better? You know what you were going for. I had no idea. I'm like, well, she's graduating college. Well, that's off my bank roll.

Oh, no. You're ready. Wait as she announced if she's going to start a business and could you give her $100,000. I know. Send her to Shark Tank. Have you ever searched your name on a search engine? If not, you may be surprised by the amount of personal information available online about you. Your full legal name, email, home address,

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Say, not me, honey. How did you like your time with Shark Tank? I didn't in the first couple of years. I found very stressful. You did? Really rough on me. I constantly had a cold sore on my lip because, No, because my nervousness came out on my lip for some reason.

So I couldn't smile, it would crack it, it was just terrible. Because I couldn't be heard. I had all men on the set before Lori came. And Lori is a stronger voice than the men, really. And I have kind of a light voice when I'm in a crowd. I don't mean to. And they wouldn't let me have a word in. Moor right over.

I was embarrassed because I couldn't get my questions or comments. It was terrible. Nothing changed like I had a realization. and nothing like that. But then maybe five years into it, I thought when I said, I got to pretend I'm a guy. And it helped me.

Really? Yeah, it did help me. I'm going to pretend I'm a guy. Yeah. Did you ever feel that earlier in your career? No. When you were doing your thing, like it didn't seem like.

I never thought of myself as a girl, and I competed in a man's world because everything was owned by the men and worked by women. But no, I never thought of myself as, I thought of myself as a competitor. I never thought of myself as a girl or a woman. or anything like that. But on the Sharktime set,

I felt very much like the girl. The girl. That is so strange. You go through the tough world of New York real estate and not have that feeling. Yeah, but Hollywood. Honestly, I think doing anything in the Hollywood kind of world is harder.

Thank God I had found my confidence and built a successful business before I went to Hollywood. It would have screwed up my brain terribly. I mean, you question yourself. You try and improve. people are kissing your butt or treating you separately like you're famous. Yeah. And other people are against you.

It's just a warped out world. But I knew who I was by that point. Right. But thank God I did because it would have been just a terrible job. But it's turned out to be, I think, my best job ever. Yeah. I mean, to be able to, you know, it's your person. What you build was personality driven.

It was you. And to have more of you and more people know you. Oh, it's not that where I get the satisfaction. Oh, it's not? No, not at all. What is it? What I get my satisfaction is choosing these entrepreneurs that get my investment and working with them. Oh, really?

Because I get to do with them, what I did as a young entrepreneur myself, opening my eyes in the morning and saying, what do we got today? Right. And living in their shoes again and again, the beginning of years. And those are the most fun years. If you talk to anybody building a business, you can't help it to recollect them and say, remember when? Well, I get that. Remember when in real. real time every day working with people.

So I think, boy, did I get lucky. How many companies? Oh, I don't even, I keep trying. Probably 120 or 30 maybe. Whoa. But that doesn't mean I work with all those people. Yeah. I work with probably about a third of them.

Right. Wow, that's a big number. Whoever I think really has the ability to really succeed. Yeah. It seems a little cruel in a way. Like if I think someone's never going to make it, I don't want to spend my time. And maybe I should give them equal time. but I don't want to waste my time.

I don't have the time. So I justify myself. Let me work with the winners who's got it. Yeah. Yeah. That's got to be a cool thing when you were kind of analyzing it. Just dealing with people, hiring people, learning personality. That's my favorite.

Walk out like that. Oh, you mean on the show? You had to have that experience of how to size up. How much of it is the idea? How much of it is the person? It's all the people. For me, it's all the people. I don't care about the idea.

Sometimes I don't even understand it. Oh, really? And I bought into good people whose idea was terrible and I felt it, but I kept it to myself. And then it blew up and they started something else and I was their partner. And it was the right idea. So it really is the person. It always is the person, you know? Like a bob and weave and be.

You have to be a salesman. Yeah. For sure. I never saw anyone succeed who didn't know how to sell. Right. They might not call it sales. They might call it personality, enthusiasm, persistent. They have all kinds of labels, but what it really is is sales.

You get people on your side, customers on your side. You track people in. You get your employees to come along with you. You nurture talent. I mean, all that is sales. Yeah. I think it sells. Is the story true about how you got your apartment?

Oh, the current apartment, my penthouse. Yeah. Of course it's true. Yeah. I love that story. My wife really loves that story. We're New Yorkers and now we're in L.A. Yeah.

And we're always plotting our return. Uh-oh. You're being priced out while you're... I know it was a terrible mistake. You're going to be running to catch up. I know. Don't come to me for help. Come on.

I'm not giving you any money. You're going to be giving you daughter money. I don't need money. I just need tips. Tell me what's the next hot neighborhood. Oh, yeah. Where should I go? I just wrote down what I decide.

Would you believe it's on my hand? Because I always forget the name. Oh, you don't want to live there. I'm talking about investing. Ridgewood and Queens is the hottest place in the world right now. Really? Phenomenal. Yeah.

What happened was it's hopping like crazy. The money is going, coming into it. The creative community is moving in. Investment bankers are moving in. It was purchased recently, like the last seven or eight years was purchased by the Russians, Russian, old families with not a lot of money, put all their money there. Italians and also the Baltic area, whatever those people are called. All those houses were built and turned into four-story houses.

Boy, is that rocket and rolling. You should go there at night and see what's happening. Really? You think Brooklyn's hot. You should try Queens. Is it snobbish to think I only want to be in Manhattan? Not at all. You're practical.

You don't have to go across a goddamn bridge. I love Manhattan. Yeah, you spend your time in New Jersey. What do you want to go across a bridge for? Exactly. That whole Brooklyn Renaissance was lost on me. But you've got to be downtown because you're kind of a hip guy. You would love downtown?

You wouldn't be happy. You think I'm hip? Oh, yeah. That's good. With that little bit of hair, the stuff you're pulling off. I'm just joking with you. I hope you don't mind. You started off saying I don't need new hair.

I meant it. But this is an opportunity for a choke. I can take it. Who is that? Who is laughing out loud? That's your fans. You're making fans. Electric.

Are you still Catholic? Well, I didn't denounce the faith, so I guess I am. Did you give up anything for Lent? Hell no, I'm not putting that ash on my head. That is a weird day. You know, my mother made us go to church. Monday through Friday. Monday through Friday.

We had Saturday off and went to church on Sunday. Whoa. Since I got out of Edgewater, I've never gone to church. I've had, I've put in my dues. Yeah, I think that's a lifetime of. Yeah, for sure. I'm going to heaven no matter what. Yeah, exactly.

Wow. Every day. Every day. Yeah, they have seven o'clock mass. Wow. Yeah. So we get all those kids out of the house. Out of the house.

Well, the youngest ones. Before school. Before school. Yeah. You're out by eight. School started quarter to nine. Yeah. Jeez.

You're already dressed. for school, so you just went over to school. Oh, man. I think in hindsight, it was an attempt to get us out of the house. That's all it was. I know. Get it over with. Let's move out.

That's incredible. How old did your parents live to? My mom died, I guess, when she was 85, that's 10 years old than me now. Right. And my father died a year after her. Wow. Yeah. Yeah.

You never prepare to lose your parents. No. Whether you like them. Well, you don't. Yeah. I find people have a very hard time. It kind of really makes you an orphan for the first time. I really feel, you're supposed to feel like, well, finally you're really the adult for

the first time? No, I feel more like a child who's an orphan. Really? It's a different kind of feeling about it from me. Yeah. Yeah, I want them back. Yeah. Especially my mom.

My dad, ah, my mom, yes. Yeah. What would she cook? She wasn't a good cook. She wasn't. But you know what? Think about it. She put three meals on the table.

Always at the table set. Always a hot meal. Well, unless at school she made it's peanut butter jelly. We went to school. Right. But she prepared meals every day. So she wasn't a good cook. She served me one more stuffed pepper.

Like stuffed pepper. When I used to come home and visit her, she'd make me stuffed pepper. I know you love this stuff. Oh, I love that stuffed pepper. No, but she had many other. traits that more than made up for her frozen vegetables and overmashed potato. Fish sticks on Friday night because she was against the religion to eat meat. That's right.

A scam developed by the Pope. But she had many other qualities that were incredible. She was very well organized. We had a two-bedroom flat, 10 kids. Everything was in its place. And I never were confined by neatness, but she just had systems of everything. Everything had a place, everything. and you had to abide by it.

You felt like you were living inside of a Swiss clock, actually. Wow. That's so funny because my knee-jerk reaction when you describe being with all these children is just chaos. Yeah. It's just madness and shoes everywhere. No, not really. Because she cracked the whip or snap her fingers and you know what your job was. Wow.

And the more important trait she had, which I will always from, I even knew it was wonderful when I was a little kid. Yeah. She had the ability to bring out your job. your best. She would always tell you what your gift was. And each kid had a special gift. So you she didn't tell you Mary's gift was when Ellen got or anything. Everybody had a special gift. So for example, and she would announce it when we came home from a Holy Name Hospital, when the baby came home with her from the hospital, she'd say, meet you. Like she'd say to me, I remember I was, I guess eight or nine at the time, she said, meet your brother, Tom. He's going to be

an incredible dancer. Yeah, really? And that was based on the fact. he had really fat legs who was kicking like hell. And would you believe my brother Tom became a ballet dance for the Alvin'alli dance theater? But I'm not saying she was like 150% accurate. Whatever she called out for each of us, we became that person. She constantly told us, oh, for me, I think she was rubbing the bottle, bottom of the barrel a little bit. She said, Barbara Ann, you have a wonderful imagination. You just have a wonderful imagination.

And so when I came home from that sister from hell, Sister Stella Marie, who told me I've always be stupid, which really was so terrifying for a young child to hear. How old were you? Third grade. Beginning of third grade. You'll always be a stupid. She's been a hair on a chin, which I have now,

so I don't know why I would criticize her. But she said that in a way that I believed her. But when I came home crying and told my mother, she said, don't even worry about it. You've a wonderful imagination. You don't have to learn to read her right. You could just fill in the blanks with your imagination. Jeez.

And you know what? Even though many people would say that's not maybe the best parenting, but she had no time to teach me, really. Yeah. You can't hire a tutor in our house, right? So, but God bless her soul, she made me believe it. And I went out feeling strong about it, you know? She's really strong about it.

And she did that with every child. Yes. And she was close to being right with me because if she had tried to pin on an occupation with a wonderful imagination, all the bullshit in the world. She always told me, you're such a bullshit. And she was right. She should have said, you're going to be a real estate broker. But she never called it.

Did she seize becoming success? Yes, of course. She did. Yeah. But in her mind, every one of her children, I'm not trying to schmooze it over, but it was really her success. Right. And all the kids of my family financially did very well.

Most of them started their own business. And so she didn't really have any kids that were dysfunctional. Yeah. What turned out problematic. And if she kept my brother John out of jail, she could do anything because he almost went to, well, he did one time ago. But he should have been in jail much younger, you know? Yeah. Yeah.

It's amazing that he ended up with a business after mooning the cops. Maybe it's moaning people from the roof. I never saw it. Maybe it continued. How important. Are other people in your story? So important. I mean, because it seems like

had some pretty impactful. Well, my mother was incredibly impactful by role modeling and because she believed to me. And she even went so far, I say, you're a genius. You're a genius. Don't pay attention. You're a genius. I'm like, I am.

Well, what does a genius feel like to do? So I didn't quite know. But the idea that she had that confidence, that was the most important person. Yeah. My father was important because he taught us about insubordination, he would get fired from his job, his printing press foreman job, probably every third, fourth month, and come home. And this is important to my mother,

she had to feed her kids. And he would come home, we'd all gather around the table, and say, guess what kids we all knew? You were fired? He goes, yeah, I told Mrs. Stoney to take that job and shove it up with her. Moon don't shine. Yeah, he was like, John Wayne at our table, you know? Amazing. So, but he had, hated working for people. I'm sure there was nothing wrong with the parade of men he worked for. But he never liked them when they told him what to do. Right. And so he was insubordinate, we'd get fired. Right. I'm sure he wanted it that way. But he interviewed well. He always got another job within two or three months. He was working again. We were eating well again. Right.

So my father was in New Jersey, New Jersey, Nedgewater, but my father was impactful, not like my mother was for me. And then Ray Simone was impactful. Even Tina taking the secretary, taking Ray alone away was impactful because it was not for that. I wouldn't have started the Corcoran group. I wouldn't have started again. So there's a reason for everything. All right. So we can like her a little bit. Yeah. And then you know who's been most impactful in my life, honestly even beyond my mother? The team of people I've always had around me, whoever they were, whether they be Corcoran group, my media people now, whatever. I get so much. satisfaction and I get a lot of drive from people around me.

Like, look at how good they are. Look what they're doing. Like, I rise to the occasion. Right. So that keeps you on the ball too, I think. You know, if you get good people around you all the time. Right. Yeah.

Yeah. And it comes, starts to feed you. Yeah, they feed you. They really do feed you. And working in a team, well, maybe not everybody, but I'm from a big family. So working without a team, I couldn't imagine how horrible that would be. Do you have natural energy? Where's this energy?

Yes. I have natural. You have natural. You wake up in the morning and you go. Yes, I do. I can't wait to get up. But I get that from my mother. When do you go to bed?

I'm not as good as I should be. Because I don't sleep so well. I sleep like five hours, which is good for me. I went through a lot of years where I couldn't sleep more than two hours. But I function well. Really? A lot of people don't need a lot of sleep. Yeah.

But I look terrible. I want to look better by sleeping more. That's really what I was after. I was thinking that this morning. I had to go to, you know, I come in from L.A. I have excuse. but it takes my face like another hour and a half to wake up after I've woken up. Do you ever give yourself a mask, a stringent mask?

No. Maybe try it. I'll send you some. All right. I do have some. You do? Will you really use it? I don't want to waste.

I will use it. Okay. I'll send it too. I'll use it. You send me a picture of proof with the mask. I will 100%. Yes, then I'm going to do stuff. I'm ready to go.

My face is like, oh, no, it makes you feel so refreshed. It's great. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, I'll take it. Because you always had that. When you're over 40, you feel like you have a, an old face because you do.

What makes you think I'm over 40? Because you look at. Yeah, you're right. You have that white soap coming out of your beard. Yeah, the beard is new. I'm taking it out for a test drive. Really? Seriously?

Yeah. Well, I don't like beards at all. You don't? No, but I like yours. Oh, interesting. You know why? Because there's none on top. I know what you're going to say.

This what? Because there's no hair on top. No. You're down here because there's no hair. You know, you offer that so quickly, you interrupt my thought. Now, why do I like your beard? because it's minimal. I don't like a beer that like extends a face in the neck.

I like it when it looks just rough and sexy versus I got a beard. Right. Yeah. You hear that guys? But keep this clipped down here. Yeah. When men let that go, it looks creepy. Yeah, it looks creepy.

And the back deck here too. And people see you more from the side than they do see you for much. Don't say that. It is true. People take pictures of me on stage. They're always from the side. Well, you don't want them looking and ask scrappy. edge here.

Yeah. It's true. Do you ever work out? You never had to? I work out three mornings a week for one hour flat. You do? I have since the day. I gave birth to my son when I was 46. I've been on it for a lot of years.

Right. I hate it. You hate it. I don't like any day I work out. I really don't. You think you'd get used to after I'll go, hey, I know the benefit. Yeah. Let me enjoy it, but no, I do not like it.

What's your treat when you, when you've done something that you're proud of and you get to eat or drink something. Oh, I eat and drink whatever I want because I lose weight so easily. I have to really keep on the weight. Really? You have to work to keep on the weight. Yeah. Oh, it sounds like a gift. You might think so. Yeah. But what would you rather look like when you're getting older? Too fat or too thin? I say too fat. Oh, too thin. No. You know why? If you're thin, especially being a woman, you're too thin, you look drawn. And I've had, when I've dropped 10 pounds easily, not meaning to, my friends, friends have said, is she well? people thinking that well right so yeah i'd rather be fat and healthy yeah but i don't think there's

that many fat and healthies there's not a lot of fats that are uh around a real fat no i'm just talking about pleasantly chump chubby yeah that's nice right versus unpleasantly thin right i don't know i like thin thin looks good in clothes uh you might say so like a nice suit well for that you buy yourself a hanger and hang on a hanger. Get the same effect. But no, thin doesn't look good in clothes. I even thought lately I'm aware when I buy something, does it have a little, well, this doesn't.

How did I buy this by mistake? Well, I usually like to have a little pad. Uh-huh. Makes my, you know, shoulders go a little bigger. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. I like thin.

You only like thin because you're probably, concerned about putting on weight. Right. But if you were thin like me and looking emaciated at times, you wish you were chubby. So what is the, what is, is there a treat that you like? What's like your favorite food? I could eat guacamole probably two quarts of it in one sitting, but I get very sick in my stomach. With hummus with lime chips.

Lime chips. Oh. Perfect combination. Hummus is another one with carrots. I get, I eat so much I get sick. Yeah. Literally. I have that backstage at my show.

hummus. What hummus? What's your breath like? Awful. But I'm on the road. But I'm not allowed to be near people. It's dangerous. You're pretty close to me. I thought about that. I thought about that last night. That's why I didn't have a garlic. Really? Seriously? Well, thank you for that. You smell lovely to me. Thank you. Well, I hope that we get to meet again and I can bring you some bread. Will you eat the bread? You better bring me that goddamn bread, you promised me. You gave me the cost. but you said you'd bring me the bread. So don't say if I could bring you the bread.

Well, you have to allow me into your life. To bring me the bread? Why don't just mail it to me? I don't need to see you again. Well, then you're not getting the bread. Is this a seduction call? Call it what you will. It's a seduction call.

I can't believe at my age. Somebody's seducing me. Keep it coming. Keep it coming. I haven't heard these words in a while. All right. So I have to go to Ridgewood, Queens, to get my next apartment. I don't want to go.

No, you're not going to live there. I thought you were to ask about areas to invest. I can invest out there, okay. Yeah, first find yourself an apartment because it might cost you more than you think. Okay. Save your investment for your second step. I'm in L.A. I've got this house in L.A.

We're in L.A., because I kind of know L.A. work out there. In the Hollywood Hills. Yeah, sure. It's a nice area. You're going to miss the weather. Yeah, I know. You really will.

You don't think as much as you will. I know. The dead of winter. If we end up having to come back, is it the kind of, is it smart to just rent a place here that you go come to a couple months out of the year? Sure, you should.

Rent it small. You don't have to own them both, right? No, rent something as small and cheap as you could get it that has a little charm, like a little walk-up. Mm-hmm. And one of these blocks, you'd love it. You'd be living a romantic life again. You have a, if you have a house in L.A.,

you know, I don't have to impress anybody. You're impressive by saying, I got a tiny life. little pan in L.A. in New York. Yeah. And you would be happy. Is you wife particular? Is she what? Particular? No. Oh. She's a Jersey kid. I'll say get her on the page with you. Yeah. I don't know if she's a Saddlebrook Jersey kid. She's, uh, Park Ridge. Parkridge even worse. She's fancy. No, that's not fancy. You sure? Yeah. Parkridge, I think it's pretty nice. They're rough and tumble. Oh, are they really? Yeah. Okay. So she's not fancy. Yeah, she's not. The only hard part is going to be

getting the apartment and not telling her I have the apartment. No way. You wouldn't. I'm going to call and tell her. You wouldn't dare. Secret to unhappiness and marriage, don't you dare. No. Do rent something short term and see how you like it.

Don't sell your house in L.A. Yeah. No. No. Keep it. Of course. Just for a short term. Big deal.

What's a year or two? Yeah. All right. I'll keep it. You probably won't live that long to get that feeling looking at you. No, not really. You look healthy enough. But if I brought my tarot cards, I could read cards and told you when you're going to die.

Do you read cards? Yes, I do pretty well. Yeah. Oh, all right. Maybe we shouldn't hang out. Why, you don't like cards? I don't like to know that stuff. You don't like to know the good stuff?

Is there good? Yeah. What to be afraid of. What to be cautious about. Who might come into your life. Right. When your wife is going to leave you? Right.

How much money your daughter is going to ask you for? Yeah. You have all these answers? I have them all. You do? Do I, these are my cards? Why did you bring these? Why did I bring these?

Yeah. I don't know. They're always fun. Do you want me to read your cards? All right. Okay. Let me move the Bible. It's a little weird that they just appeared.

Yeah, it's even weird to me. Someone who doesn't believe in destiny. No. What did you plan this? Did you ask them about this already? No. Oh, okay. You got me going.

All right. You have to ask me a question. You can't just be, tell me about my life. You have to ask me a question. Like, give me a topic. A topic. And then shuffle the cards. So the cards feel your spirit in them.

Ooh. How long have you been doing this? Since I was 23. Really? Yeah. Oh, boy. It's just a sport. That's all.

It's a lot of fun for teenagers, especially. Okay, what's your question? What's my question? Could be a general question, but it shouldn't be just be my life. Right. Okay. It's too broad. Like your cat.

Tell me about my cat. Tell me about my cat? No, I'm only kidding. Tell me about my kids. Oh, your kids, okay. It's a past of your children. Boy's a dreamer. I don't know if you have a boy.

I have two girls. Well, this sounds like a boy. Do you have one lesbian? To be determined. Okay. You know these kids nowadays. She's lesbian. They're all doing everything.

Let her know she's lesbian. All right. Which is no problem because she is a wonderful, wonderful spirit. Wonderful lesbian. Wonderful lesbian. You're definitely moving the death card. currently right on top without a doubt what does that mean means a change uh usually a geographical change you're going to be moving you're getting on your horse and you're leaving behind i am or they

are you are i am this would imply to me i'm jumping ahead i really shouldn't but this one implied to me right away yeah uh that you are definitely selling your la house you're not going to keep it you're going to leave everything behind real that's interesting i didn't get that impression from you speaking oh boy oh boy okay oh you work so hard for your money you still do like a young man yeah You haven't let up at all. No. Let me not jump forward. Let me go to the.

Oh, wait. I'm reading your cards. Hold it. What? You said my kids. You said, tell me about your kids. Yeah. Oh, forget it.

So this has nothing to do with me. Your kid is moving. Oh, yeah. Your kid works hard. Yeah. Yeah. Your lesbian daughter is a dreamer. Yes.

Okay. This is all making sense. Here we go. I'm so glad I don't have to move. All right. Also, the same girl worries a lot. She's a warrior. Hmm.

I wonder which one. I don't know. They don't tell me which one. They don't have names on them. Yeah. Okay. And again, a warrior in the evenings as well. She overthinks, overthinks whoever this girl is.

The problem is the one who really worries a lot, really likes dudes. But maybe she worries and doesn't tell me. Well, I don't know. That looks like a girl dressing like a lesbian. Yeah. Or a guy, right? Okay. Whatever.

Okay. Okay. All right. All right. Oh, hardworking. kids. Hard working. Yeah, they are both.

They both, well, I don't know which one. You really should have asked me about one. It would have been less, but it's too late now. You said my kids, okay? Oh, geez. All right. Look at how hard work. No, I don't want to.

Consistently hard worker, just like the picture shows. Not erratic in any way, which is lovely in a child. It gives you less worry. Okay. One of your children is definitely departing. I don't know where they're gone, but they're going to leave everything behind and go somewhere else. Well, one's graduating.

Oh, that one's graduating. would be that would qualify and these are all the beginnings for again it's difficult with both child so i'll say one one of your children narrow it down i don't want you because i already start out as the children yeah could be either one now i'm confused now i'm more nervous than when it started okay well anyway one of the children has a lot of opportunity okay they're going to have opportunity around them all the time it's just in nature they're not going to have to look for anything, things are going to appear for them that they could grab this, or grab that, or grab that.

They're just going to be surrounded by opportunity the whole life. This is a divorce. Divorce. Smack in the middle of the middle years, like 30-something. Really? Yeah, a divorce, a heartbreaker. Oh, boy. I never liked that guy.

You even know which guy is? Is she going to marry? I don't think so. I don't think we've met him yet, but I don't like him. Wait, you don't like someone you never met? Yeah. You're nuts. Okay.

Ooh, one of your children is going to marry a really rich man. Well, that's good. Big provider, but an older guy, like 10 years older. After the divorce? I don't know if it's the same one. Oh. And here it is again. It's a divorce again.

Another divorce. No, no, it does not. It's the same divorce. But I don't know if it's a, you know, I don't know when it's going to happen. But in older years, wait, maybe. recurring marriages maybe it could be another divorce because it happens much later right in the middle of years later years get divorced married actually it's going to be you divorcing your wife now you're hitting on me I'm only kidding I'm only kidding it's exciting we're gonna have bread

in my little apartment that no one knows about as long as your wife's not home that's right I'm only kidding what the cards said okay see here on the cards this is your dreamer here recurring as an older person whoever that I'm thinking you're It's your daughter. We don't really know. Mm-hmm. But dreaming, but working hard. Right.

You have a lot of money in your kids. That's good. They're going to provide for themselves easily. For themselves? It's not going to come home. It doesn't see dad's doing it. Well, no, this one rich guy, no, you don't appear. It's not a single mother or father card here.

Oh. Which is unusual. Usually that shows up as a queen or a king. Okay. There's hope. And again, this is starting another career later in life. This is your son for sure. I don't have a son.

Well, then I'll see a lesbian again. All right. She's very busy. Wait, am I going to get hate mail from the gay community? No, you didn't say anything bad. Okay, no, because I love lesbians. Yeah. I think I'm a lesbian.

Why would I mind them? All right. Whoever this child is, very generous. A lot of money makes a lot of money is a dreamer and it's giving away a lot of money. Wow. In our older years, his older years. Ah, the mother finally. And you shows up your wife.

Oh, and she has a black cat. Oh, she does really? I didn't even notice the black cat. No, but she is definitely the queen of beginnings again. And you notice in all the readings here, the beginnings showed up again and again, the opportunity. You know? So she's the queen of opportunity. So wait, what does my wife have to do?

Your mother has, your wife is a good luck charm. He's a good luck charm. To begin with, yep. She breeds opportunity around her. She might not take it herself, but it's in her genre or in her feel. so she gets all this opportunity. And she's not giving any of it to you, I see. I'm only kidding.

Maybe I should tell her about the apartment. And this is a departure again, leaving you home. Who's leaving now? I don't know, whatever kid that is. They leave a lot and come back a lot. You would have begged them tonight never to leave you. Obviously, they want to go somewhere and you don't want them to go. I don't.

Or do I? Well, if they're marrying a rich guy, then it's okay. Yeah, then making a good living. Stay close to these kids. Yeah. They could provide for you. Yeah. Yeah, I could see that.

How do you know? I can feel it from you. You can? That I work too hard? Yeah. Because you love you work. Because my face isn't waking up yet. No, not at all.

No, because you look like you really work your ass off at what you do. I do, but I like it. That's why you work your ass off. You love it. You love it. Maybe 99, 95% of it you love. It's got to be 5% that you don't, that I love. Otherwise, I'd be retired.

versus when you're going to retire. I'm afraid I'd be unhappy. I don't think so. Yeah. What would you do? Get in people's way. Really? Yeah.

It's not good. No, you have to be fully involved, I think, in whatever you do to be happy, you know? Yeah, I know when people, so I have friends

and now are starting to think about when they're going to retire. But I don't even think about it. I don't even think about it. It's not even an option. It's not in the cards. Ah, I like cards.

That was fun. You pull one card just for you, not your kids. Okay. Which one do you want? Not that one. No, I'm only kidding. Ace of Cups. There's two best cards in the deck.

Ace of Cups is one of them. Oh, yeah? Anything you want, have total fulfillment for them. Really? Not empty fulfillment, but totally fulfilled. You're going to be the kind of guy that's going to die in so you don't mourn for me. Really? Very much so.

apartment, beach house, you and me and Brett. Rich kids. Rich kids. This was really great. I knew I was going to enjoy this. Who brought these carts? Good job. Yeah.

Thank you. That's a good team. Wow. They think of everything. Yeah. That was amazing. Thank you so much. What else you brought?

This was really great. Anything you want to know from me? I was nervous in the first 20 minutes and it made me feel comfortable. Thanks. You're the best. Yeah. You are. Really great to me.

Same here. Are you really sending me the bread? Because I'm really sending you the mask. All right. It'll be a fair trade. I'll send you the bread. Can I trust you? Yes, you can.

Okay, good. I brought my bread to Gildas Club. You know, the Gildes Club. Yes, I hosted for them. And they asked me to bring some bread, Grand Rapids, Michigan. You're kidding. Yeah, and they auctioned it off. What did they get for it?

Two grand? No kidding. Yeah, for a loaf of bread. Wow. I'm happy you told me that. Send me the same bread. I want to brag to everybody. I know a guy who paid $2,000 to this. This is a $2,000 look of bread. Yeah.

Thanks, Barbara. Thank you so much.