Escaping the Drift with John Gafford - How to Get Involved in Politics | with Manny Kess. EP 51

Episode Date: June 5, 2022

Manny Kess, a successful businessman and community leader, tells you how to get involved in politics. Politics can be a great way to make a difference in your community and country. But it's not always easy to know where to start. In this video, Manny Kess shares his reasonsfor getting involved in politics and making the biggest impact possible.The Power Move podcast stands to be one of the top sources of knowledge and insights, specifically into real estate and entrepreneurship out there! Not to mention tons of coverage of topical events and insights into our non-commercial lives as well…➡️ Learn and burn Entrepreneurship from serial entrepreneur John Gafford and his band of mayhem makers. From stripper poles to the oval office, business lessons are everywhere. *************✅ Follow The Power Move with John Gafford on social media:Instagram ▶️ https://www.instagram.com/thejohnmgaffordFacebook ▶️ https://www.facebook.com/gafford2/

from the art of the deal to keeping it real live from the simply vegas studios it's the power move with john gafford back again back again back again welcome back to the power move i am john gafford i'm your host if you're a huge colt fan or maybe a huge Chris fan, again, maybe today's not your day. Colt decided to take his family to somewhere in California, I don't know, Universal or something, and Connell is doing lawyer stuff, stuck in a mediation, I guess. So he is stuck there today.

But that doesn't matter because it doesn't matter that it's just you and I here today because it's not just you and I here today. Actually, we have my friend Manny Kess here in studio who is running for the office of Nevada State Treasurer. Now, before you turn this off and think that it's going to be, man, I don't want to hear some guy pitch me for 30, 45 minutes about why I should be treasurer. I don't want to do this. That's not what we're doing today. We're going to talk a little bit about that. But again, success leaves clues. Success is out there everywhere. And my job is to get you the best information I can to make you more successful. And a dude that's built a successful business that's run for state treasurer probably knows a thing or two. That's

what I'm going to guess anyway. So welcome to the studio. Manny, how are you, buddy? John, I'm great. Excited to be here. Thanks for your time. Glad you could be here. So, man, what we're going to do today, you know, if you haven't done a lot of these, I'm sure you've been. You've been everywhere in the state, running for treasurer, doing all this stuff. Man, I'm going to dig a little bit into you, man.

I'm going to try to figure out what makes you tick. And again, the purpose of this is to try to find some of those clues, those little breadcrumbs, those little snippets that you may have left behind that did this. But, you know, first of all, I got to talk about, you know, welcome back from Memorial Day weekend if you had that this weekend, if you did that. I got to tell you, Vegas was Vegas. Vegas was Vegas. I didn't leave the house. That's how I did Memorial Day weekend. I don't know.

How was your Memorial Day weekend, Manny? What was it? I mean, mine was crazy. One of my companies is one of the largest hospitality companies in Vegas. So we were slammed, but for me it was kind of half work and then more work campaigning. So it was nonstop.

Just nonstop the whole weekend. So let's back up. So your main business is one of your companies is the large hospitality business. So let's talk about that. What does that business do and what exactly does it do? Sure. So we have, I own one of the largest hospitality companies in Vegas.

What we do is we plan people's trips to Vegas from all over the world, whether it's two people or 2000. You contact us, Hey, we're coming in. These are our dates, hotel rooms, restaurants rooms restaurants shows nightclubs pool parties shooting guns in the desert whatever you want to do we set it up and we create a custom itinerary for your group so the ultimate concierge i guess is a good way to put it is what you are absolutely you're like you're like you're like you're like the ultimate freelance host you're not beholden to one casino if you will exactly you can do whatever you want cater for the client

yes cater for the client so it doesn't matter Like a lot of hotel casino hosts try to keep those people on property as much as possible. You're looking for the best possible experience, regardless of where that may be. Yeah. The best experience for the client. Well, let's back up, dude. Cause, cause obviously you built a pretty amazing business there. And I knew I met you as owning that business. That's how I met you first of of all. But again, where did this all start? Where did you grow up? Where did this start? Let's go back to young man, if you will.

Well, I'm from New York originally. What part of New York? From Queens, Bayside, Queens. From Queens. So you're from Bayside. Yes. What did your parents do? What did your parents do?

Well, my father passed away when I was in college, but before he passed, he was in the taxicab business in New York. Taxicab? Did he own a medallion? He had many medallions. Oh my God. So if you don't know, so for those who don't know what that business is, okay, first of all, so now that doesn't exist. Okay. That's good. How did your dad wind up with a couple of a doubt? Cause medallions in New York are like a hundred thousand dollars, right? Well, they, they were a lot more at some point because it was, cause it it was that's the right to own it and to operate a cab you have to have this medallion stamped literally into the hood of the cab if i'm exactly correctly no you're right absolutely right and you had to be somewhat connected to get those medallions i think

manny is that accurate no that's not i come on to work hard it's like it's like buying a house but it's a it's an asset because you keep paying the mortgage when you keep working the tax account. So how many medallions did your dad have? At his peak, he owned 50. 50? Yes. And he had a fleet of another like 100 that he managed. That's amazing.

Yeah. So you're saying that the value of those medallions dropped? Yes, since Uber and Lyft are gone. I mean, the value went up to, I think it was like at its peak, $700,000, $800,000 per medallion. But now, they're not worth their weighting in gold. So dad was a hard worker, man. Dad was a

hustler. He came from Greece and never stopped. Came from Greece. And what did mom do? Stay-at-home mom. Stay-at-home mom. So how many brothers and sisters? One sister. That's it. A Greek family with one sister? That's it? Yeah, two of us. You know, because dad was too busy making those taxi and sisters? One sister. That's it. A Greek family with one sister? That's it? Two of us.

You know, because dad was too busy making those taxi cabs go. Exactly. That's what happened. Making oil changes happen. Making oil changes happen. So I always ask this to all the successful people that we have on the show. I always ask this one question, which was, what was the first hustle, man? Like, what was the first, okay, how old were you? And what was the first way that you realized that, okay, I can make some money doing this and you were doing it what was it

well my first hustle was working for my dad when i was like 12 and 13 years old i was pumping putting gas in the taxi cabs cleaning them you know i said he he operated over 150 180 medallions so big lot cleaning the lot i mean it was a lot of grunt work but at the time i was making 50 bucks a week which was you know big money for a kid great money for a kid it might be considered child slave labor now but back then you know so that was my first hustle but then as i got into high school i worked at macy's part-time you know when i wasn't playing soccer or in school i worked at macy's so that was my first my first quote unquote real job as the best dressed kid in high school because I got my discounts.

I got a polo and Tommy Hilfiger back then. So I basically worked to be able to get your clothes. Were you an athlete growing up in Macy's? Yeah, I played soccer through college. You played soccer through college. So you're on scholarship? Well, I went to Naval Academy. So technically you're not on scholarship, but I was one of their blue chip recruit athletes.

Yes. So you went to the Naval Academy. I did. So what was that process like? Was that something you always knew you wanted to do? No, never. No, it just kind of fell into, how'd that happen? When I got into high school,

we're just looking at different schools through a friend. They were like, you should look at the service academies. And I just did my research. And back then, you know, there was no Google google so just went online and got a brochure and aol was a thing back then and it was just it was beautiful the camaraderie the teamwork and the history was great so i just i went to the air force academy in colorado springs toured their campus it was pretty awesome and then we drove to annapolis because it was four hour drive from the house and we just sat around with my dad.

I'm like, all right, well, I'd rather have you drive four hours to come see me play soccer than a three-hour flight. Sure. It was not easy. You have to get a congressional, senatorial, presidential nomination,

which is extremely, extremely painful. Yeah, so how does a kid whose dad owns a bunch of medallions come up with that? I was very active in my church. So my priest, you know, there are a lot of Greeks in New York. So my priest did us a favor, called our congressman and said, hey, I want to recommend one of the kids at our church for you to consider.

So I went and read a letter, met with the congressman, showed him all the stuff that I did. He didn't care about the grades. He didn't care about the soccer. He cared about all the community stuff that I did. I was in church every Sunday. I played for the Greek League. I went, okay, I'll tell you something that no one else knows.

Oh, let's get, here we go. Boom. See, that's what we do here on the Power Move. We got a break for the moment. I sang in high school. What is it? You sang in high school? I sang in high school.

So I would go. Tell me it was a boy band, dude. Come on, come on, boy band. High school chorus. Come on. Okay, chorus. Same thing. But, you know, one minute I'm. High school chorus. Come on. Okay, chorus. Same thing. But, you know, one minute I'm this, you know, soccer player, big jock,

and the next minute I'm singing in choruses. But we travel around. We go to, you know, elderly homes. We go to hospitals. So we did a lot of charity work. Yeah. So he was impressed that I was very well-rounded at that point as a high schooler. And I had a job.

And he was like, how do you do all this? And I had a job. I worked. You're not supposed to work more than 14 hours in high school back then. Yeah. I was doing 20 And I had a job. And he was like, how do you do all this? And I had a job. I worked, you're not supposed to work more than 14 hours in high school back then. I was doing 20, 25 hours a week.

So I literally would go four hours a day on the weekend because I didn't have school. I'd work an eight hour day. And he was just like, how do you fit this all in? I'm like,

well, five hours of sleep. So let me ask you, so was that you being self-driven or were your parents driving you? Oh, no, no. My dad worked day to night. So no, it was me being driven.

I wanted to outpace him and catch him one day and I wouldn't take no for an answer. I was like, give me more. Yeah. So you feel like your dad set that bar that you were chasing? Yeah. I mean, my dad immigrated from Greece with nothing and he was very successful, but it was because he worked 16, 18 hour days. He didn't know what a holiday was yeah so i wanted to to reach that plateau and i wanted to you know

surpass it so when you hear so let me ask you a question so going from that story let's hearing that it must drive you bat crazy when people say there's no opportunity in this country oh my god yeah especially I mean, come on. You have five, six-year-old kids opening up presents, making millions of dollars on the internet. Evan, I watched some of those videos myself. It's incredible. So yeah, it's so easy now to make money.

It's a lot easier than it was when we were growing up because we didn't have all the technology. We didn't have the internet at our fingertips like you do now. So it's crazy to me. Yes, it's easy to make money if you apply yourself. So you're in Annapolis. Did you graduate from Annapolis?

No, I didn't. My father passed away my freshman year. So I completed my freshman year and then I left and I went home and I started working. I could have turned my back and just gone. But no, I had to go home, start working, take care of the family and just, I couldn't do it. It just wasn't right.

Did you take over dad's business? No, my dad got out of the cab business right before he passed. The writing was on the wall, the things were changing. So unfortunately not. I started working and then I ended up buying a restaurant

about a year after I went home. So I got into- In New York? Yeah, in New york completely yeah in new york completely different than like my family we were never in restaurants so just an opportunity for that presented itself my uncle was like hey come in and invest originally i was going to invest but like most greek people it was three partners the two elderly ones got into a fight they're like you got to buy me out i ended up that's got nothing to do with people being greek by the way i went from a passive investor to a majority owner of a restaurant and i was like all right i'm They're like, you got to buy me out. I ended up buying one out. That's got nothing to do with people being Greek, by the way. Let me tell you.

I went from a passive investor to a majority owner of a restaurant. And I was like, all right, I'm going to learn about restaurants now. Let's figure this out. So what did you learn from running the restaurant that helped you in your later life? I mean, because I came from the restaurant industry too. Well, for me, it was, you know, I literally would clean the toilet. I would freaking cut carrots. I would do everything.

And people are sitting there going, you own this place? Why are you cleaning the bathroom like because somebody's got to do it yeah there's no shame in work yeah and what i learned was again you've got to look at things from different perspectives so i had every chicken purveyor come in and not only show me what kind of chicken they had and compare the cost but i wanted to know who they were serving in the area. Because you can't tell me I'm 10 cents cheaper, but I don't service anyone in Manhattan. I'm only servicing people in, let's say, Jersey. Right.

Well, why? Maybe your quality is not good. So you just have to be able to look at things, decipher what's real, what's not. And in the restaurant business, it's all about making profit margins. So you have to save wherever you can. Two cents here, four cents there. Oh, no. No, no. You know, it's all about making profit margins. So you have to save wherever you can. Two cents here, four cents there. It adds up. No, no.

You know, it's funny. I was reading a book, The Pocket MBA, I guess, was the book I was reading not too long ago. I was reading all of this stuff and it's funny. I don't think there's any business out there that prepares you more for running any other business

more than the restaurant business. Because you've got more KPIs in that business, which is key performance indicators, which for those of you that don't know that phrase, what a KPI is, is essentially a place where your business can either get bogged down or accelerate to profitability. It's essentially what it is. But you've got all these different little places in your business when you look at it as a system and you're trying to improve either efficiency or cost or drive more revenue. And when you look at a restaurant, when you look at that industry, if you're a restaurant manager, I applaud you. I'm going to give you a bit of advice.

I'm going to congratulate you, number one, for being in that industry. And then I'm going to warn you about something else in that industry coming up because I thought about this too. Now, if you're running a restaurant, you're dealing with incredibly difficult labor costs, incredibly difficult. You've got to be able to – I mean the difference between being profitable in a restaurant is sometimes cutting cooks exactly at the right time. It's sometimes cutting waitstaff exactly at the right time. But if you cut waitstaff at the wrong time, then all of a sudden now you're short and then the customer experience suffers I eat we just went to lunch and it was on it I think both of us coming out of the industry can understand that you know at two o'clock. It was uncharacteristically Busy for this restaurant at this time and I happen to know the manager and I asked him I said how many people he got

On he said one. I was like, oh boy and what happened our food took over 40 minutes for 40 minutes for a salad and you know and i'm not bashing i understand that but it's moments like that that really test you as an entrepreneur so you're running very difficult labor costs then you're running a moving target on food costs because produce changes cost depending on the weather depending on everything else i mean you look at the cost of produce i mean or poultry everything like you just said chicken i mean the reason that a lot of restaurants are failing right now is because the chicken cost is through the roof if you didn't know that i mean like i think it was like wing stop it was like oh try our new brand new spicy thighs and everybody's like no don't want that and that was out of necessity you know i mean

they did that because they had to do that because they can't get chicken wings, but you're running very expensive, uh, you know, very hard to control cogs and cost of goods that you have, you know, a lot of outside sources there. Then you're running a customer service business where people have very high expectations and they, they have the general idea of how long things should take you know i think people i think after about 15 minutes people start looking around where's my food well the best and worst thing that ever happened here is to us is yelp yeah you know people don't go on yelp to say oh this place is awesome it's usually a complaint so it's an unfair advantage i know yeah you're right i, the hard cost of operating a restaurant

is what make or break you. It's incredibly difficult. Payroll, overhead, like I said, food costs, those things are hard costs. I mean, nowadays, some people can fluctuate online. You can change your prices. But when I did it almost 20 years ago, you had a menu.

You're not reprinting menus every single day. So your price is your price. So if chicken goes up or if, you know a menu. You're not reprinting menus every single day. So your price is your price. So if chicken goes up or if, you know, like you said, if lettuce goes up, you're eating less profit. You're not going to tell your staff, I'm sorry, I'm going to pay you a dollar less an hour. It's not happening. So it's a business where you have to really be on top of it. And when you're not there, you know, people say you're getting robbed. No, you just, your opportunity and efficiency goes down. That's it. Well, and you also, this was the warning I was going to give you. I thought about this the other day, which is if you are in the restaurant business, and I know a lot of people that make a bunch of money, waiting tables,

bartending, standing in front of the nightclubs, get people in, whatever the hell they do. And in Vegas, a lot of they do. And in Vegas, a lot of those people have something in common, which is pretty good looking people, pretty decent looking, pretty good looking, decent looking crop of people hanging out in front of those restaurants.

Well, here's my advice. You better do something to get into management as quickly as you can, even though it's not as profitable. And the reason that you want to get in management is because you want to save your money and open your own place because here's what's going to happen. And the reason that you want to get a management is because you want to save your money and open your own place.

Because here's what's going to happen. You are going to ugly out of the job that you have. It's true. Ain't nobody paying a 55-year-old woman $200,000 a year to bring a sparkler and a bottle of Grey Goose to a table. It ain't going to happen, right? That's just not going to happen. You're going to ugly out of the job,

especially if you're in a place like Vegas. You're getting the power of truth, not the power of move right now. This is a truth. This is a power of move. But if you are in management and you get stuck in management, if you get stuck there without saving your money because they pay you pretty well and, hey, man, I can go to this place and I get comps and I get this and I get that. I did this, man.

I did this. I made this mistake so I can speak to this. I got stuck and I got out cool to the job. I got out cooled and then I got stuck where I was just, you know, there are other people that would do what I knew how to do cheaper than I would do it. And then it becomes very difficult to get another gig. So if you were going to stay in the restaurant business, even though you didn't, but for those of you listening to this, that might be in it. If you're in that business, get into management strictly with the goal of saving your money to learn the information you need to open your own place. Cause if you don't got your own place, you're eventually going to

be in real trouble because you're not learning any other practical skills are going to translate to anything else. And what's incredible. And people should know this. Once you have one, it's not hard to go to two, three, or four. No, it's not. Because it's like, okay, here's my model. It's working. And you shouldn't look at one because if you have four,

you get better pricing. You have a lot more flexibility. You can control, you have more staff that can work and be more flexible to you. Leverage. Oh my God, yeah. Leverage is a great word in most businesses,

whether it's real estate, whether it's restaurants. But people, like you said, get, leverage is a great word in most businesses, whether it's real estate, whether it's restaurants. But people, like you said, get comfortable. They open up one place and they're making good money and they can take a day off when they want. And it's like, okay, that's it. No, if you really want to build wealth, expand. Yeah, you got it.

You're either growing or dying, man. Those are the two options that you get. And that's why any business I have, when I look at the numbers and they're stagnant, it freaks me out. Even if the numbers are great, and they're stagnant it freaks me out even if the numbers are great if they're stagnant i'm like oh shit yeah how can i grow and then like you know you look at all these different things and like i'm i'm taking a flight tomorrow so uh you know i got a long layover in houston and i've got my books and my podcast but i'm gonna go on net on netflix see if there's anything to watch and one of them was like the rise and fall of abercrombie and

fitch and i'm watching this and i'm like oh i'm totally gonna watch this and i'm gonna watch on Netflix, see if there's anything to watch. And one of them was like the rise and fall of Abercrombie and Fitch. And I'm watching this and I'm like, Oh, I'm totally going to watch this and I'm going to watch it because how quickly that brand got to the top of all brands and then fell off a planet. And here I am, as I look at the stats in Vegas and I'm like, Oh,

simply Vegas offices. Number one, number three. Hmm. I mean, dude, I got nowhere to go, but down,

right. If I don't work my ass off every day to maintain everything that we do Number three, I mean, dude, I got nowhere to go but down, right? If I don't work my ass off every day to maintain everything that we do here and grow it, somebody's going to come knock me off the perch because that's what happens. It's life. It's when you're on the top. So back to, so you're running the Greek restaurant now. You do that. Was it a Greek restaurant or just a restaurant?

Mediterranean. Mediterranean restaurant. How are you doing that? So you're running that. How long, how old were you when this happened? So you're just one year of school, so you're probably 21, I'm guessing, at this spot. When I took over the restaurant, it was in 2002. Okay.

So at the time, I was 23, 24. And we had it up until 2010. People forget what happened in 08 with that huge economic collapse. I don't think anybody forgets that. A lot of younger listeners are like, what happened in 08 with that huge economic collapse. I don't think anybody forgets that. A lot of younger listeners are like, what happened in 08? So when the economic collapse happened, at that time, I had the restaurant

and then I had multiple, I had four rental properties, all in Florida, coincidentally. So I had passive income. Why Florida? Did you spend time there? How'd that happen? Well, I'm from New York.

I spent time there. You go there in the winter just to get away, get some sun, but also there was this good opportunity. There were Orlando and Miami at the time were growing cities. And it was just great opportunity. What year did you buy these properties? Between like probably 05 and 08.

So you just started the restaurant not too long then. Yeah, the restaurant was in 2002. Okay. And how old were you when you bought these properties? I was in my mid to late 20s. Mid to late okay got it right cool got it so the oa economic collapse happens and new york where you come to ghost town were you 100 on those properties you 100 levered it's not that i was 100 levered i did what i did was i put down 30% in everything that I bought. Oh, good for you. Because I wanted positive cash flow, and I wanted my money to work for me. And my goal at the time was I want to have 10 in 24 months.

So let me start with these four, build some equity, get some rent and roll coming in, and then I can say, okay, look, now give me some leverage and buy more. Unfortunately, it was the worst time to do that because a couple years later, everything fell apart. Everything fell apart. So 2008, the collapse happens.

And what drives me crazy is we gave billions to the financial institutions and the banks that, I don't want to blame them, created it, because there are many reasons why the bubble burst, but they were involved in the collapse. The banks? Yes. Oh, sure they were. Well, they were incentivized by collapse the banks yes oh sure they were well

they were incentivized by the u.s government depending who you ask right so small businesses like myself especially new york we ended up getting tax bills because they had to fill their budget city was dead no one was coming to new york you have all these banks going under and they're like uh-oh so by 2010 i, I fought like 18 months to keep it alive. It just wasn't working. Closed the restaurant, and I got this huge tax bill. So I went from being a millionaire and successful in 17, I'm not 17, in 2007, to being broke and bankrupt 2010.

Well, I don't think they're, I think that story's pretty congruent with a lot of people, I think. Back then, absolutely. I mean, millions of people, right? So here's the, did you let the properties go before? Yeah, I had to. I mean, each one of them was north of $600,000. And then in a matter of a few months, they were less than $300,000 each.

And I'm sitting there going, I'm not going to pay at the time like $11,000 a month in mortgages. No one's paying rent. So it didn't make sense. We didn't know how long it was going to take. And thank God, because it took years to come back so i would have been bleeding a buck and a quarter or more a year and i didn't have that money yep so the decision was what do you do next do i start something new in new york or do i go elsewhere and luckily for me one of my buddies from new york had moved to vegas and he was doing really well. So when I was talking to people, what should I do?

He's like, you need to come out here. Cost of living is a third of New York. No state income tax. And here, if you make a dollar, there's something left. So what did Manny do? Packed up, broke, I had like a grant to my name, came cross country. I started here. Started working for a company for a year.

Again, that's a story that's been a lot of Vegas success success stories started exactly like that my whole family in new york i came solo started working in a hospitality company got my feet wet learned the way that where'd you start what was your first gig i worked at wet republic okay at the pool i was a host at the time it was a company called amg it was a small company but they were growing they had pure nightclub which was very very famous back at that time. They had a- Famous for the wrong reasons. Yeah. Dick's Last Resort. They had some stuff, but great ownership. They were hungry. They were growing. So I worked for them for a year and then I ended up starting my own company. And what

happened was when you work for one company, you have to push those properties. Yeah. Well, that's what we talked about when we first started. Exactly. So I saw that there was a gap there. You know what? If John from Texas comes to Vegas and wants to go out for three days, maybe he doesn't want to go to Pure every night or go to work in public every night.

He might want to go to XS. He might want to go shoot guns in the desert. He might want to go around the racetrack with some exotic cars. Well can't do that because i have to work here and there yeah so i started my own company in 2012 in 10 short years one of the largest hospitality companies in vegas and this is what's important people don't understand it didn't happen overnight i didn't make money for the first six months nobody wanted to pay you nobody wanted to do what they're like, show me. Right. So you got to take clients out and not make money and grow your reputation.

And it's all word of mouth. I had no money for marketing. So you grew. Okay. So you started this out. You started your company. Yep. I'm guessing you probably, you probably, you made it head to vacant.

Did you make an investment in a website? At least did we get a website up or not in the beginning? I just, honestly, I just filed it, started open a corporation, filed the paperwork, LLC and some business cards. That was it. Yeah? Not in the beginning. Honestly, I just started opening a corporation, filed the paperwork. LLC and some business cards, that was it? Yeah, in the beginning. And then I just started telling people, hey, I'll take you out. Didn't make any money. What people?

How did you find the people? Well, I mean, from New York, I had friends, business owners. I had people that worked on Wall Street. I had a couple of professional athletes that were buddies of mine at the time. So just my network. I mean, I moved here in 2011. So when I moved here in 2011. So when I moved here, I was 33 years old. Let me ask you this. How many phone numbers and names in your

phone? Thousands, thousands, many of them. Well, here's the, here's the lesson. The lesson here is people don't understand the power of network until they don't have one. And they don't realize that they need one until they need one. So if you are somebody that's listening to this, anytime you connect with anybody, get them in your phone, get them in your phone. And so let's say you meet, I just want to hear what you say about this. Let's say you meet somebody new. What's the best way to get them in your phone and be memorable? What do you do? Well, it depends how I mean it, but usually when it comes to hospitality companies,

like, hey, what do you do? What do you do in Vegas? And they're like, oh, I'm here for a convention. Okay, what do you do? And then I connect with them as to what they're here for and what I do. So let's just say the real estate convention, ICSC. Huge convention. I'm like, oh, well, I work with this person with this company.

And that person, they're like, wait, how do you know them? What do you do? I'm like, well, I own this hospitality company, and with this company. And that person is like, wait, how do you know them? What do you do? I'm like, well, I own this hospitality company. And I set up this person's dinner here and I did that. And that's how I hook them because where's the common ground? Right. So when I say I work with, you know, SRS Real Estate, or when I say I work with this one and that one,

they're like, oh, wait, because they're in that world. Yep. You know, when it's a car show. When I say, yeah, I work with this car company and this rim company and this dealership company they're saying wait how do you know them yep and this is what i do i i do it the same i do it the same way in a different way but the same way you know what i'll do is if i meet somebody no matter what they do i'm like oh do you know this person that might be somehow related to maybe be able to help them like no i don't know that person oh dude dude, you should really know them.

Here, give me your number, I'll connect you. And then I'll get their number on my phone and then I'll immediately connect them. Like, hey, this is so-and-so, they do this. Figure you guys maybe wanna chat. And then when that gets done, then I'll send an individual video text message, follow up later, like, hey man,

it was really great to meet you. If you ever need anything else, you let me know. Because I think the best way to build your network, and I say this from stage every time I speak pretty much, is if you want to be somebody of extreme value, get known as the person that knows how to connect the dots for others. And if you do it with no expectation of reciprocation,

people will gravitate towards you. I mean, I don't know who I was watching the other day. I think it was maybe Dave Metzler said something I thought was so smart. He says, you know, give with no expectation of reciprocation. He's like, if you are trying to figure out what you're going to get back, you're trading. You're not giving. Yeah, you lost.

You're trading. And I love that thought. And it's so true to how I build my network and how I have thousands of people on my phone and why I can, you know, pretty much whatever you need, I can connect you with somebody that can probably make it happen. And expanded on that. I mean, let's be real. What I do, A is not rocket science and B, there are probably a hundred companies in Las Vegas that do what I do.

I didn't get to where I am by being mediocre and not paying attention. And to this, to this point now where we deal with, you know, a third of the NFL players in the league and a quarter of the NBA, and that's not bragging. It's, no, you work hard. You take care of someone and they refer their friends. And then you become the person. Oh, dude, look, you don't have to tell how well you hook people up to me.

Look, for those of you who don't know, I have exceptional Vegas night night tickets i like to believe exceptional and guess what asshole's sitting in front of me this this asshole over here that's it i right i see his mug like four rows in front of me i'm like oh this is just great although i personally i feel i can see more from my seats than you can there you go i'm gonna stick with that but uh yeah but you hit the nail on the head you what? It's about putting in what you can't, not expecting a return. And what I tell people is give out what you would expect in return. Yeah.

So if you treat others the way that you want to be treated, they're always going to be happy. Yeah. That's the reality. The golden rule. And people forget it all the time. Or the best gold rule. He who makes the gold makes the rules. Yeah, I try to tell my wife that. It doesn't fly. She doesn't like that rule. And people forget it all the time. Or the best golden rule, he who makes the gold makes the rules.

Yeah, I try to tell my wife that. It doesn't fly. She doesn't like that rule. She throws that one right back at me. So let me ask you this. You move here, the company's doing great. Obviously, everything's going wonderful. And then this weird thing happens, which I see now you're going to run for treasurer of the state of Nevada.

Okay? How does that happen? Walk me through the decision process to do that. Sure. I mean, full disclosure, I've never wanted to be in politics. And let's be honest, no one grows up wanting to be a treasurer. It's not the sexy job to have. But the reality is I currently own 11 companies.

And I say that for a reason. January of 2020, life is great. Traveling the world, doing whatever I want. I have zero bosses. And then March comes around and we have this global pandemic. And I'm sure, like me, you're like, oh my God, what's going to happen? Yeah, like everybody. And then 60 days later, I quickly realized,

depending on what state I lived in, I'm either going to die a horrible death or I'm going to thrive. If you lived in California, New York, Vegas, North Carolina, you're going to die. Yeah. If you live in Florida, Arizona, or Texas, not only are you not going to die, but you're going to thrive. So I'm sitting there going, okay, that doesn't make sense. Then July comes around, 2020, and our governor of Nevada says, okay, we're going to have an essential and a non-essential list. If you're a casino owner, you're essential.

If you're a church, you're not essential. If you're a dispensary, you're essential. If you're a barber, have a beauty salon, or a small business owner, you're not essential. And I'm sitting there sitting on wait a minute i own all these companies and my staff are all non-essential so we can earn a living but if i worked at walmart i'm essential so covid isn't going to kill me at walmart yeah but if i go to my barber get a haircut we're both dead i think the best meme i saw was the guy in like the baskin robbins ice cream cone outfit and

it said how the f of my essential that's what it said there you go buddy you know who put it great and it's funny i just met ted cruz about a month ago he spoke here and he was like so we got to wear a mask and we go on this plane and you're basically touching elbows with the person next to you who's a stranger and if you take the mask off you're gonna die but if you grab a peanut covid no longer exists your mask can come off and you can eat your peanuts as soon as you put the peanut down put your mask back on but you know what cures covid a diet coke you grab that diet coke and the mask comes off and i'm sitting there going, this is what we've been fed for two years? So back to why I'm doing this. I applied for a PPP loan. In my hospitality company, I had 14 employees.

One for. Well, guess what they don't tell you? If you're not on payroll, you're not eligible. All my employees are independent contractors. But their employees were eligible individually they were not eligible in the beginning and they were not they had to have a corporation and file independently later which none of them did they'll just file their taxes as themselves so 15 of Nevadans are independent contractors so again we, we had no say, we, our elected officials decided,

those people don't matter. So I'm sitting there going, hold on, you are elected official, your job is to protect and help your constituents, but all you're doing is dividing us and saying you're essential and you're not. And then you're telling people, oh, if you're not on payroll, you also don't care about you. You don't qualify for anything. He's like, what? So I decided, you know what? I'm not doing anything right now.

I'm yelling at the TV every single day. Let me get into this. Let me change this because no one's doing it. So here's an interesting question because I think a lot of people were probably at home yelling at the TV. There's a lot of people that would probably like to get involved. How hard was the process of actually running for office? Super simple. What is that exact process in the mess?

Super simple. Let me tell you. All you need is to spend a couple of hundred bucks and file. But that is the last step. The first step, you could do it as simply as printing up some posters or getting some business cards. What I did was I hired a campaign team. I said, I'm going to do this.

I put a hundred grand into a bank account. I said, all right, let's get started. I researched it. You need a campaign team because they organize your life and they tell you what to do. Hired a company. We're off to the races.

Got business cards. Got some literature. Got some stuff ready. And then I just start making calls. Hey, I'm Andy Kess. I'm running for office. I want your support. Just start going to meetings.

Get your name out there. It's that simple. Now, you might say, hey, I don't have 100 grand. You don't need it to start i did it because i was committed and serious i'm like if i do this if i make this monetary investment in six months or in a year i'm not going to get cold feet yeah because we all know it's not easy burn the bridges buddy and for a penny and for a penny and for a pound so all you really need is to say hey i want to do this and then you can start i, I've met candidates that have no campaign team

and that have spent like two grand in just getting business cards and some flyers. So why treasurer? That's a great question because I have a business background over 23 years. I know a lot about stretching a dollar.

I know a lot about payroll. I know about hiring and firing. I know how to pick up where things don't add up. Well, what does a treasurer do? You're basically the CFO. You're managing money. You're overseeing money.

And what's important in our state is the last several treasurers we've had haven't really cared, haven't done much. They haven't, like, revolutionized the position. So I was like, I can really make a change here. And you're going to say, why? Well, we handle things like unclaimed property. We have over $900 million in unclaimed property right now. Let me tell you something. It's a lot of money to be sitting there during a pandemic

and we're not actively trying to get that back in people's hands. It's their money. We have the worst education K-12 in the nation. 50 why do you think that is i i have an opinion there's a few reasons but i don't want to guess i want to know so i want to audit well i'll tell you my opinion go ahead tell me this is my this is why we have the worst education it all has to do with the casinos okay no and i'm going to tell I'm going to tell you why. This is why. Because Mary goes to school.

Her dream her entire life is to be a third grade teacher. It's what she wants to do. So she goes to college. She gets her degree in education. And then I'm pretty sure, as I've heard, Vegas has some pretty decent incentives for moving to Nevada to become a teacher. Right?

So she does. She moves here. She lives in Vegas. Oh, my God. I'm moving to Vegas. become a teacher. Right? So she does. She moves here. She lives in Vegas. Oh my God, I'm moving to Vegas. Living in Vegas, how exciting. Going to live my dream, be a third grade teacher. It's going to be amazing. Moves here.

Mary meets Kimberly. Kimberly works at Hakkasan. Kimberly carries bottles to a table with a sparkler. Kimberly makes $250,000 a year carrying bottles and a sparkler and Mary makes 40 grand. Guess who's working at the pool next summer? There he is. I don't think we can keep good teachers because I think, and I think that is the same with valets. I think that's the same with any tipped position in Vegas. I think it draws away. So I think that's 50% of the equation.

The other 50% of the equation is if you look at the sheer number of people we have that work in the hospitality industry in this town as parents that do not value education as much as they should. Don't worry about it, son. Dad's going to get you a job at MGM in the Valley with me when you're 18. Don't worry about it. We'll get you a job in a culinary union. Not enough emphasis is paid on education for the state.

Not enough emphasis is paid on education by Nevadans. That's the problem. Well, you know what? I love the fact that I can actually say this to you. Okay. I think you're wrong. Okay, perfect. Okay, great.

That's what we're here for. Yes, obviously there is some of that, but I think it's a much smaller percentage. And Kimberly is not making a quarter million dollars. Really? She's not? No. What's Kimberly making?

She's making $100 to $150, depending on where she's working. Okay. Depends on the size of the sparkler. There you go. But here is really the issue. The issue is, number one, we have the worst education. So young professionals are not moving here. No. They don't want to come here. The issue is, number one, we have the worst education. So young professionals are not moving here.

No. They don't want to come here because automatically they've got to put their kids in private school. Yeah. Number two, teachers are underpaid here. And number three, why are you going to move to a state where this year alone we had 5 000 cases of major crimes in schools our teachers yeah that's a beat up attack that's a mess and and the kids are not even getting arrested so we are not protecting our teachers and you might say well isn't that happening nationally i'm not focused on nationally i'm focused on our state so we we need to. Let me ask you this. Yeah.

Weren't we supposed to get weed revenue to solve the educational problems? We did get weed revenue to solve the educational problems. But what happened was we had an original pool of money that went to education. So we were told let's legalize marijuana and we're going to get more money. Well, the marijuana money is there this money is gone is gone and no one knows where it's going that's the problem yeah we spent two billion dollars a year in education in our state per pupil we spend the same amount of money as florida florida's top 10 in the nation. We're 50th. So the problem is not we don't have money.

It's misappropriation of funds. I mean, I do think that it's the flashing light. And obviously, you know, if you can go in there, valet's making $70,000, $80,000 a year. I mean, it's a great living, and you don't need a college degree to be a valet. So, yeah, some of that does affect people in culinary union. People that are in it, they want their kids in it.

I mean, great benefits, but the reality is it's so much deeper. And it's the fact that we're graduating seniors with an eighth grade education. And then people are not taking advantage of millennium scholarship funds. They're not taking advantage of college savings plans where parents can put money in now and guarantee their kids can go to state schools because that money that they're going to put in now over the 17, 18 years appreciates. People aren't doing it. So that's the problem. So what's happening? People are getting educated here, high school, and then they're leaving, going out of state someplace else.

And they don't come back. No. We have to do better and adding to that cost of living in las vegas and in nevada in general is going up every single year taxes are going up so texas and arizona and florida are very very enticing right yeah all right mr mr mr politician man what is the uh what is nevada's Mr. Politician, man. What is Nevada's fix for the gas prices right now? What's our fix? Oh, man. What say you, Mr. Treasurer?

I don't think I can say that on the air with the fixes, but the reality is we have people in Congress and we have people running our country that don't care about us. They're career politicians that only care about one thing, making their own money. And I'm going to give you a fun fact. What is the number one held stock in Congress?

Number one held? Halliburton, maybe? No. Exxon? No. What? Pfizer. Pfizer.

Oh, well, there you go. What was the number one drug that got approved in America during the pandemic? There you go. Pfizer. So we have to get rid of these career politicians and let's get new blood,

preferably business owners that don't need the money or the job and want to help create change. Well, let me ask you this because there's a lot of speculation about this. You look at what, they always talk about what Pelosi's worth and all this stuff.

And I don't even know if you can answer this. I'm just going to ask a question. What she's worth is insane. No, my question is, how much more do you think Steve Sisolak has worked today before he took over the governor's mansion? How much more do you think he worked today? Clearly, a lot.

A lot. I mean, like you said, Mitch McConnell, Pelosi, they're making a quarter million dollars a year. 20, 25 years later, they're worth 50, 70, 80 million dollars. I don't need to be a rocket scientist to understand that a quarter million times 20 does not equal 50 to 80 million yeah they're not that good with money doesn't happen doesn't happen well let me ask you this because you were you were running unopposed for treasure for the longest time and then there was a little shift there at the end that little we'll call it the march surprise if you will well where michelle

fiori who is a we'll call her embattled, I guess is a good word, city council person for Vegas. I mean, always seems to be fighting with somebody for something. I mean, I don't know. That's just, I think that's a word I would put on her is embattled, you know. She decided she was trying to run for governor. And I guess that didn't go well. So then it was like, uh, I really want to be elected official,

so I'm going to switch gears and I'll be treasurer. So she jumped into your race. How was that day? I mean, quite frankly, that day sucked because 15 months I was running on a post. I had no primary at the time. And I was the golden child for the party. They're like, you're young, you're energetic you're successful businessman oh man we're gonna get behind you and everyone's rallying behind me yeah and then and you said it perfectly well i last day of filing gets opponent and it's

like wait a minute you were running for one thing you talked about something else so you've just changed your mind several times and you know what's america you can do what you want but it just it was a very smart strategic play on her part she went from a primary with 15 candidates to a primary with two candidates her and i yeah so it showed me that politics really is ugly a lot of politicians don't care about anyone but themselves they just want to keep the crown and keep getting that free check. Well, you said something that was really interesting to me when you threw out the numbers of registered voters in Nevada. Because I made this thing.

Because, like, dude, you know, here's the deal. When I read this and I saw this happen, my first thought was, ah, crap. And that sucks because this is going to hurt Manny because, you know, like it or not, I mean, if you make the news for the good reasons or the wrong reasons, people still start to remember your name. And a lot of times when you're looking down a ballot and there's a bunch of names you don't know, you see one that pops off the page. Most voters don't take a second to remember, is this a good memory or is this a bad memory? It's just, yep, recognize that one. I'm going to check that box. I've been in line for

half an hour. I want to get out of here. Yeah just want to go just want to be dumb for the day and uh they just check the box and move along and i think that when i when i heard this i was like oh man because the name recognition so me you know i kind of automatically thought like well this is going to be it you know this is going to be done and i asked you a question right when you showed up today you know and i, and I was asking it off the air. I wasn't expecting to get a nonsense. And I want you to give the same answer you gave me.

And I was like, how bad does this screw you up? I mean, what's the chances of you even pulling this out? Because I assumed if you don't win Clark County, where this person was a council person, if you don't win Clark County, you're completely screwed. That's what I thought. Right. And then what was the answer you gave me? Because I thought it was good.

So yeah, the reality is, again, this is a Republican primary, right? So we're focused on that. Republicans are in third place in Nevada. First place are the Democrats. Second place are independents. Independents outnumber registered Republicans. And then third place are the Republicans.

So even though Clark County has 70% of the voters, the majority of the voters in Clark County are Democrats and independents. When you the voters the majority of the voters in clark county are democrats and independents when you go to the the rest of the state so clark county's got 2.1 million residents the rest of the state has 1 million residents yeah rest of the state 75 conservative yeah so you you win the rest of the state you're in a really good position to win well well the good news for you, I think running for treasurer is I think really you just have to run a

platform, a fiscal conservative. And we talk about this a lot on this show. We talk about how unfortunate it is. The two party system in America, we have unfortunate. That system is where if you have to draw a line and unfortunately as a politician,

it's almost like you've got to be for a bunch of shit that you may not be for just because that happens to be the color of your armband. And that sucks. And the good news, when I heard how many, you know, 600,000 plus registered independents there are, I'm like, there's probably a lot of people in that group that might be fiscally conservative, but yet somewhat socially open or liberal. Not quite crazy out there libertarian, but just in general have a different set of values. And the fact that you are, and I really hope people will start to vote the candidate, not the party,

you know, find out what people actually think about things. And I hope there will be a point in the future where, where candidates can actually not be, not be beholden to have to agree with shit that they might not agree with just because it's what the party does yeah i love to expand on that yeah this is the thing that i tell people i've been saying 17 months i don't work for the republican party currently we have a democrat treasurer i did not like what the treasurer did for our state and i don't like the direction that the Democrats are going nationally.

It's the same thing left to right. I work for the constituent. So I am not going to be beholden to some ideology or some person. And I say this all the time. Mitch McConnell does not represent me. These people, just because, like you said,

they're the same color armband we're not the same yeah and what's important to figure out within our state is that what works in nevada or doesn't might not work in california or new york so ted cruz people live in texas but you know what does it does that drive you nuts watching basically s Sisolak through the whole pandemic to say- We're not California. Whatever California does, I'm just gonna- California had a surplus- Oh my God, that drove me crazy.

During a pandemic. A surplus. And people don't know that because you're not told that. It drove me crazy watching that. So we need people that can A, win elections, and B, can work with the other side. Whatever party you're with, you have to be able to do what's best for your constituent.

And for me, it's a state level. I need to work with the assemblymen and women from both parties, whoever the governor is, and all the state senators. So I'm not going to be there with a MAGA hat and a pitchfork. That's not me.

I have my morals. I have a very strong backbone where I will not bend over for anyone, but I'm smart enough to know as a business owner who has companies that are all word of mouth that, you know what? I heard this saying as a kid, you catch a whole lot more flies with honey

than you do with poop. Sure. That's the reality. Poop catches, I think it's vinegar is a real statement. Poop catches a lot of flies. Well, not as many. But I got to tell you, Sure. That's the reality. Poop catches. I think it's vinegar is a real statement. Poop catches a lot of flies. Not as many. But I got to tell you, you know, I was, something happened in Vegas over the weekend and it made me think, I don't know why it always goes to the state or conscious of America,

which is if you don't live in, if you don't live in Vegas, um, we had an incident over the weekend on the Northbound 95, just down from my house in Henderson, where you had two rival motorcycle gangs in the middle of broad daylight shooting each other going down the interstate. Like seven people got killed. And I'm thinking to myself, these dudes are willing to, in broad daylight, shoot at each other because they have different colored vests on. And I thought, what a great micro example of America. You know, somebody says, how many people in this country are Democrats that somebody says, I'm a Republican, and they immediately hate them. How many people are Republicans and people say, I'm a Democrat, they immediately hate them. We got to get back to a place where we're listening to ideas and we're trying to progress ideas not just feeding in through i'm with these people

because we hate those people yeah my mom and i talked about this and because she's not really actively politically involved yeah but her son's running for office so i'm like mom when who's your favorite president she goes goes, Reagan. I go, okay. Back then when you voted for Reagan, did you like the other candidate? She goes, yeah, I just liked president Reagan better. He was an actor and a good looking guy, but I don't want to know. Okay. Now when you vote, what happens? She goes, I don't like either one. I go exactly. So 30, 40 years ago, you, you picked someone that you liked a little bit more than the other person.

Now you're picking who do you hate less. And that's the problem. Yeah. It wasn't that somebody woke up and said, oh my God, I love President Trump. Oh my God, I love Biden. It was like, who do I hate less? Because they're both very diverse

and have completely different messages yep and that's why like you said you hit the nail on the head our country instead of being together is very divided yeah and it's a shame why can't i be a republican and you'd be a democrat and us be friends and just have a conversation well and that's what we try to do on this show i mean we try to we try to you know i i know so many people that just fall in line with what a hand it's you look on social media right and you'll see like one of the gurus say something and then i mean i can literally set my watch by it 10 minutes later here come the videos with people just regurgitating the same bullshit the same nonsense and it's like you know

be a leader don't be a sheep and it's like bro you're being a sheep by by what are you doing like you're you're doing you're doing what you're saying don't do by doing it and it just i think that's the one thing i do hate about social media is it became imperative for some people for everybody everybody in America to have an opinion on everything, even when they have absolutely no fucking subject matter experts. I don't know what they're talking about. I mean, it's just like,

well, I was a COVID expert. Now I'm a monkey box expert. And it just, yeah, just, it never seems to end. Yeah.

International global war expert. Exactly. Just, it just goes on and on. Well, well, Manny, man, I appreciate you coming in today, man. man it's uh i look forward to seeing you hopefully win that primary i know i'm going to

vote for you and hopefully i will because again you know i want to vote for some good ideas and not just a party and yeah we need people that want to create change want to create something one thing i want everyone to know that right now is early voting so no matter who you want to vote for you need to use your voice yeah i want to be a voice for change so hopefully your listeners understand that we can't just keep electing career politicians and i'm going to leave you with with this quick story i told last week you have a mechanic that you love your car breaks down you go to your mechanic oil change you go to your mechanic flat tire go to your mechanic. Oil change, you go to your mechanic. Flat tire, you go to your mechanic. 10, 20 years, you love your mechanic.

One day your mechanic calls you and says, hey, I just bought a plane. Let me fly you to Utah. Are you going to get in the mechanic's plane? No. I'm going to say, show me your pilot's license. Show me how many hours you've flown, but also show me where you've flown.

Because if you flew around your neighborhood 100 times to qualify, I don't want you flying me to Utah. So just because some name you recognize or someone has held an office, it doesn't mean they're automatically great for a different office. And when it comes to like my opponent, she's been in politics for a dozen years. Doesn't mean she's going to be a great treasure. A quick Google search between me and her and then tell me, okay, Manny, I like you for X reasons or I like her for that reason.

I like that. Actually do some research. Don't just go and go with the name. Yeah. Go with what you actually do. Well, Manny, thanks so much, brother.

I hope you come back on when you win. And guys, I'm assuming the next time you see her, we'll have Connell and Colton unless they're off gallivanting or doing whatever trial they're doing.

So we'll see you next time. Hey, it's John Gafford. If you want to catch up more and see what we're doing, you can always go to thejohngafford.com where we'll share any links that we have, things we talked about on the show, as well as links to the YouTube where you can watch us live. And if you want to catch up with me on Instagram,

you can always follow me at TheJohnGafford. I'm here. Give me a shout.