Trading Secrets - 312. TJ Palma: Love Island Fame, Airbnb Income, Reality TV & The Business of Influence

Episode Date: July 6, 2026

This week, Jason is joined by Love Island USA Season 7 star, real estate entrepreneur, and former National Champion baseball player, TJ Palma, for a conversation about building a $35,000-a-month Airbnb business, monetizing nearly 500,000 social media followers, leveraging reality TV into long-term wealth, and why personal branding has become one of the most valuable business assets in 2026. TJ reflects on his journey from college baseball player to entrepreneur, sharing how he discovered content creation at a young age, built a YouTube channel before becoming an influencer, and eventually turned his passion for real estate into a thriving short-term rental business. He explains why he believed social media could become a powerful business tool long before it became mainstream, and how those early experiences helped prepare him for life in the spotlight. Jason and TJ dive into the reality of building a business from scratch, including how TJ got started with Airbnb arbitrage, furnished his first properties using 0% interest credit cards, negotiated with landlords, and scaled from one rental to a business generating more than $35,000 per month. TJ also breaks down the economics behind short-term rentals, why larger homes outperform smaller properties, and how he's expanded beyond Airbnb into property management, boutique hotels, interior design, and real estate investing. The conversation also explores TJ's experience on Love Island USA, from the extensive casting process and flying to Fiji without knowing if he'd make the show to navigating relationships while cameras rolled 24/7. TJ opens up about dealing with anxiety, public criticism, and the pressure of having millions of viewers judge every decision, while explaining how the experience ultimately helped him become more confident both personally and professionally. Jason and TJ also discuss what happens after reality TV, including how TJ grew from just a few thousand Instagram followers to nearly half a million, how he evaluates brand partnerships, and why he's focused on building businesses that outlast social media trends. He shares how he's turned his online audience into long-term revenue through strategic partnerships, educational content, and businesses that align with his personal brand. Beyond business, TJ reflects on financial discipline, entrepreneurship, and building wealth in your twenties. He explains why he continues reinvesting into real estate, how he approaches risk, the importance of surrounding yourself with ambitious people, and why creating multiple income streams has always been his long-term goal. TJ also shares what's next, including expanding his real estate portfolio, growing his hospitality and design businesses, teaching others how to build successful Airbnb companies, and why he'd love another opportunity in reality television with shows like The Traitors or Dancing With the Stars. From building a $35,000-a-month Airbnb business to leveraging reality TV into long-term wealth, TJ reveals what it really takes to build a business, grow a personal brand, and create opportunities that last long after the cameras stop rolling. TJ reveals all this and so much more in another episode you can't afford to miss! Subscribe to the Trading Secrets podcast! Host: Jason Tartick Audio: John Gurney Video: Marc Colcer Guest: TJ Palma Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by Accenture. When your advertising operations fall out of sync, everything else follows. Spotify and Accenture are working together to reinvent the rhythm of ad sales, using automation, analytics, and smarter workflows to simplify campaign delivery and access better data across the business. The result? Less time spent on operations, more time connecting brands with the moments and fandoms that matter most. Learn more at Accenture.com slash Spotify.

Welcome back to another episode of Trading Secrets. Today we're joined by someone you might know from your Peacock Watch list. It's T.J. Palma, Love Island, USA Season 7 cast member, currently starring in Love Island Beyond the Villa Season 2. And quietly, one of the most interesting entrepreneurial stories to come on reality TV in a while. Before he stepped foot into the villa, he had already built a short-term rental business that went from zero to $35,000 a month in under six months. He's a 2024 national champion baseball player, University of Tampa

Grand, founder of real estate company operating up and down the East Coast. Love Island didn't make TJ an entrepreneur just gave him a platform to build on. He went from 5,000 Instagram followers to nearly half a million overnight and he's used every single one of them to grow a real business in authentic way. Guys, this is all at the age of 24. We're talking about how to build real wealth while building a personal brand, the short-term rental playbook and how reality TV changes your business. DJ, welcome to trade secrets, man. Wow. Thanks, Jason. I appreciate you having me on. I'm excited for this one. Yeah, absolutely. I got, God gives people some behind the scenes. We just had your mom on. She's a fan

of The Bachelor, which we love. So we love that, but we're going to be talking a lot of Love Island here. Before we get into Love Island, though, I think it's pretty cool that you were already in the content game, right? Like, you're trying to build your Airbnb business up. And that's one of the ways in which Love Island found you. Talk to me about more how they found you and what that business looked like before Love Island hit you. Yeah. So I started the short-term rental company when I was graduating college in 2024. Towards the end of 2023, beginning of 2024, I started posting content because I, you know, you know, throughout middle school and high school, I always thought content and like social media was going to be huge.

And I thought it was an easy way to get all these eyes on your business. So I wanted to start doing that before Love Island and everything, you know, before I even thought about going on it. So I was posting, you know, while I was playing baseball, I was posting baseball videos and how to do this and stuff like that. And then I was also doing the Airbnb stuff. So, you know, craziest guest experience or like story and things like that, letting people know how to how to run this business. And Love Island reached out to me when I was 20 years old, I was too young for the show. And then the next three years, it was just back and forth. And then finally made it on for season seven last year, last summer.

So, yeah. I love it. We have a lot of millennials that listen to this podcast. And I'm just curious, like when you're in college and, you know, you're doing the content game and you have foresight, like you said, in middle school, high school. Is that pretty common, like amongst your peers? Is that what people are talking about in middle school and high school and college and trying to get that content going?

I don't think so. I think I was very, I don't know. I was a weird kid. I used to have a YouTube channel. I used to play a lot of video games. And that's when my content really started was when I was in middle school. I had a YouTube channel playing video games. And I used to get made fun of for it.

And I eventually, like, deleted it towards the end of high school because I was just like embarrassed, basically. But it was always in the back of my mind. I was always, you know, trying to figure out what was the next best thing, whether, you know, I'm sure you heard of drop shipping and like all these different business models. And I was always researching. always trying to hustle throughout my early years and eventually, you know, led me to where I am today. So, yeah, blessed. You got to love it. You got to love it. The Instagram game, it's

blown up for you. It's blown up for all businesses, all the creator economy. It's, it's wild to see the growth. And obviously, you're ahead of your time. You also mentioned that you were bullied. I listened to the Harry Jousie episode where you talked about how being bullied actually prepared you for some of the madness after TV lit. So we'll talk. We'll get into that. Yeah. But, Before we do get into that, though, talk to me about how they, you mentioned they found you when you were younger and you passed and you're in a relationship. You know, what does that process look like? And when you did decide to actually pursue the reality TV game, talk to me about the business

interviews or a lot of people listening that are curious, like how that works. What was like the interview process like? What kind of wild questions did they ask you? And how do you even prepare for that? Yeah. It's a crazy process. You know, from my understanding, I think it's different for everyone because, you know, they reach out to people way early in the process.

Some people super late. So I was fortunate enough to start early. So when I got reached out to the last time, you know, months before the show started, winter of like 2024. And, you know, it was just a simple DM. Like, hey, are you still interested in like, what do you want to do this again? Or like go through the process. So I was like, yeah, screw it.

Like, I don't know. At that time, you don't really like, I didn't think I was going to make it on. So I'm like, yeah, let's go on this interview, you know, like, who cares? whatever. So I went on the first FaceTime. It was just kind of like, you know, hey, who are you? They wanted to see if you look like, what you look like in pictures and, you know, get a little sense about you and see if it would even be worth having you go to the next, you know, the real interview. So it was quick and I went through that interview. It was pretty easy. It was just, you know, about yourself. And then I would probably say there's another five, four to five

interviews after that with like executive producers and the network and, and, and, and, you know, Peacock and every step of the way, they introduced more people that have to like you and think you'd be a good fit. So it was kind of, it was surreal. Each step of the way, you know, all right, you have this interview next week. You pass that interview. I don't know. It was almost like, I didn't think I was going to make it, but I'm like, ah, let's do it. Let's just see. So, you know, eventually they flew me out to L.A. and I did an in-person interview, I think maybe a month before the show started. And then I got a call, like a couple days before they wanted me to fly out to Fiji. And I flew out to Fiji, got my phone, you know, taken from, from me within, like, the first day.

And, you know, I was in that hotel waiting, waiting to go on. But even in the hotel in Fiji, you know, you still don't know if you're going on. So it was always in the back of my mind, like, ah, you know, I'm, I might not get it. I might not get it. So it was, yeah, it was one of those. But it was a wild, long experience process. I remember back in the bachelor days, I've told the story before, like, there was this weird circumstance where I had to pick a question out of a hat. the answer was a lion. All of a sudden, I'm in the middle of a room singing Lion King.

Like was there anything crazy about your interview process or like, was there anything? The other thing too, I think about like when I go interview for let's just say it's a consulting job, right? Like I'm bringing a different version of me than when I go and interview for a reality show. Like as far as like strategy, did, did you dial in TJ at a different level for those interviews? Oh, I think so. Like I would try to like get amped up before the interview. like I was blasting music just trying to, because I had anxiety. Like I still have anxiety. Even jumping on this, you get a little bit of anxiety.

Of course. Yeah. I just really try to, I don't know, like get in that mindset, that mode and just try to be like my, my normal self when I'm comfortable and with my friends like joking around or just trying to be that version of myself and just be as like real and authentic as possible. I didn't want to think of it as like a business meeting because at the end of the day like these people that are interviewing you don't want to see like the two. TJ, TJ's here for an interview, you know.

They want to see who you actually are. They want to see that funny personality. They want to see the jokes you make. You know, who is actually TJ and not just like prepared. But I think they always asked like, for example, I was sitting on my desk in my room and they would just ask like, oh, what's that behind you or like what's over there? And you had to like talk about it. For example, I have a whiteboard in my room at home and they were asking me.

Me too. Big whiteboard guy. I got a big one over there. Yeah, I'm a big whiteboard guy. So I had a ton of stuff written on it. It was right behind me. And they were asking about it. I had to show them what was on it.

There were some things. Come on, give me something. What was out there? Oh, man, I don't know. Maybe I don't know. Some girl wrote something on the whiteboard like years ago. And, you know, when I was interviewing and they were asking me about that story and what happened with her. Do you talk to her?

Like stuff like that. And they ask a lot of wild dating questions, a worst first date, you know, stuff like that. But it was definitely a cool, different experience, not what I thought was going to happen whatsoever.

I love it. Now, you obviously have to make the decision to go on. And when you go on, you put your business at the backseat. We're going to get to your business in one second. A question I do have for you in the process is just like, do you know if you'll be in OG or,

your bombshell or do is it just like you you don't know when it's going to happen or how it's going to happen or if it's going to happen yeah my for me specifically I had no idea they they told me like towards the end which looking back I realized not that they were set on me but they kept telling me like I'm in the mix for sure like I'm in the mix but I didn't really understand what that meant I realize like okay like they have me in this puzzle piece they just don't know where they're going to use me kind of kind of deal they didn't specifically say when where you know they did tell me like going in like years before they kept people in the hotel for a lot longer than they should have so they're trying to like minimize that so if they if they're you know if they're

if they're flying you out they want to use you within you know a couple weeks instead of you know a month and a half you know so yeah they didn't specifically tell me I know for other people um like my girlfriend she she knew that she wasn't going to be OG because they flew her out a couple days before she went on the show and the show was already filming. So I think it's different, you know, different situations. But I did get flown out like when the main cast was getting announced. So there was a potential, I think, but, you know, not explicitly like told me. Okay, cool.

It's always interesting to hear that stuff. Now, you got a big decision, right? So you fly out and then you have your business to, you know, where your career might look like. What else are you going to pursue? You decide to go. You know, I think about the progression of the. of just the creator space and reality TV.

But at the time you decide to go, one, you already know about the creator economy and you had YouTube, you've always been interested. But now at this point, it's got, it's so transparent, right? I think 2026 top 50 Forbes creators annually, just those 50 in one year made a billion dollars. So it's just like so out there. Yeah.

What it walked me through, like there's got to be some of that thinking. If I can land this show, my life will change. From a business perspective, an analytical perspective, of how much of that played into the decision making. Yeah, I mean, I think I went into it with like good pure intentions. And like I, you know, one of the questions they asked me like going on, like interviewing, like why, why do you want to find love on the show? And I was always just like I felt like dating in the real world like just wasn't it for me,

like going to bars and like trying to pick up girls. I just didn't like that. And I never found any success with it. So I was like, let's try this crazy fun experiment where I could try to find a love of my life potentially. So that was the main reason. But I, you know, watching this season before, yeah, there was a couple people that like blew up from the show and they had a ton of success. But like, majority of the people don't. So like I was trying to go into it with the expectation like, hey, I'm just going to have a good fun time, meet possibly my girlfriend, eventual potential wife.

So that was like my main focus. But if I get, you know, the engagement, the following from that as well, it's a double win-win for me. But I also didn't know the extent of how big the show was going to be. I don't think anybody knew how big last season was going to be. So it wasn't something to expect whatsoever. Yeah, it's a good point. I will get into it a little bit after we touch real estate, but there is something to like the recipe of Love Island and what it's done in the last two seasons.

I don't think we've seen reality stars get the kind of jump. Yeah. Yourself and Iris, O'Landria, it's like, it's what? It is. I don't think we've ever seen a reality start in that short period of time, get that kind of jump. And I'll be curious your perspective from a business angle on it. Before we get into that, though, let's go back to the real estate game. So you're in college, you're grinding, you're building this real estate business. Talk to me about just the nuts and bolts of it. Like how much capital you're raising? What is it looking like? How do you get started? Just give me the whole business model of what it looked like and where it was before you left for Love Island. Yeah, for sure. Before I even started interviewing for Love Island, I was always like, you know, I majored in entrepreneurship and I always was trying different business models. I wasn't inventing, you know, products per se, but, you know, I was selling on Amazon and I had a woman's clothing brand. And then I eventually stumbled on Airbnb Arbitrage. And that's where I mainly start. Now I own properties and we do management as well, but I started specifically with Airbnb Arbitrage because I figured it was the best way for someone in my position to get into real estate without having,

the large capital to buy a home because, you know, I'm 20, I was 23 at the time. I didn't have a normal job. Like I wasn't making a ton of money where I could just invest it all in the home and buy a home myself. So the initial steps was what I do, I find homes on Zillow up for rent. And that's what I started doing. And then I would sublease them, you know, obviously getting the permission from the homeowner, sub-leasing them and making the difference. And we use platforms like Airbnbbbooking.com, on VRBO. We kind of use everything now. And then from there, we used a lot. And when I say we, it's my business partner and I. So that helped with the transition on going on Love Island, because I did have a partner. It's not like I left this business in the dust without me.

But when we get these properties, we use all zero percent interests like credit cards, financing to furnish the homes. And we'll have like anywhere from 12 to 18 months to pay that off. And we're usually like broke even five, six months down the line. So I did that with my MBA, actually. I took out an 18 month, 0% interest rate credit card on my MBA, put it on my credit card, dot the points, paid it off. Talk to me real quickly about this model. So you go to Zillow, you find a property that is up for rent. You look for a good deal. I'm curious what you define as a good deal.

Then you will actually rent it and then you sub-lease it at a premium and then you take the difference. How are you finding out if, one, it's a good deal? And then two, what are some of the strategies to find that second rent-ter? at a premium. Yeah, yeah. So we started, I think it's different for everyone that does Airbnb arbitrage. I know somebody that targets apartment complexes, like really cheap apartments, and they're able to furnish it super nice and make it look clean, and then they're able to charge that premium and make easy cash. Maybe they rents $1,500 to $2,000, but they're maybe pulling $3,000, and they're making $8 to $900. But for us, we target single family homes that are on the bigger side,

anywhere from four plus beds. So we're able to sleep more people and we'll pack it out with amenities. We'll put a hot tub in there. We look for properties with a pool. We've built some mini golf, you know, mini, mini, mini,

small ones in the backyard. Just to make it stand out. And I think that there's a direct correlation with the amount of people that you could sleep, the amenities that you have in comparison to the amount of money that you'll make. So if we could find a property, you know, maybe it's a four bedroom in Tampa for $3,500.

a month. And the pictures don't look as nice. It has potential. Maybe it has a big backyard where we could put a hot tub, a gazebo, and make it look really nice and sleep a lot of people. So we'll take that four or five bedroom house. And, you know, for example, we have a house with the five bedrooms that sleeps 20 people. Pull out beds, rollaway beds. There's a bunk bed room in there as well. So, you know, that house sleeps a lot of soccer teams. And we had a girls volleyball team sleep in the there. So all different types of, you know, guess. But that's how we're able to charge that premium. It's just like, very well, see more people. It'd be a better experience, more amenities. And yeah. That's pretty cool. So the strategy there makes perfect sense as you're taking what's already there. You're creating a win for the actual real estate owner. You don't have to put any capital on the table other than just giving it a facelift, get it better pictures, get it rented out of premium. When you're going into this model, like what's your goal? What do you? What do you? you trying to achieve from a margin perspective? What's a typical margin do you look like when

you're arbitraging right? Honestly, we double the rent, I would say, on every home. Yeah. So that would be the goal. Now we're, you know, we manage a hotel in Fort Lauderdale and it's a little different. We take, you know, a percentage for managing that. But let's say we did start getting into arbitraged units like in multifamily. Maybe the margin is going to be a lot slimmer. Like I said before my buddy that does the apartments maybe the rents $1,500 to $2,000, but he's only making $8,900 on the unit. But single family homes, it's a lot, the margin is a lot bigger, but also your risk and your expenses are bigger as well. Like we're furnishing homes, you know, for like $20,000. So with an apartment, you can furnish it for maybe $4,000, $6,000. So there's not as much capital. You have to go

into, you know, leasing apartment buildings or units instead of single family. Makes sense. And then you said you're now managing hotels. So that's part of your business line of income generation. What is that model like? Yeah, it's basically the same thing, short-term rental management. So we do this with single-family homes. We do this with a boutique hotel in Fort Lauderdale. And yeah, it's basically we just take a management fee. And we do the same operations that we would do for Airbnb arbitrage for ourselves, but for other people. So say you owned a home, instead of us renting it from you for $3,000, we'll list it for you, we'll design it for you, you pay for the furniture and the expenses and whatnot, and we'll just

take 15 to 20% a month after cleaning and expenses like that. So if you've mastered this management model and then you're like nailing the whole Airbnb arbitrage, the last step of this equation then is to ask. actually raise the capital to buy it yourself because you're giving so much margin on the table. Have you guys started to do that yet? Yes. So I'm actually going through. I've been trying to document as much as possible because I'm not physically in Florida right now.

But there's a house I just bought in Tampa. And it's pretty new on the inside, but we're renovating the whole backyard, pickleball court, mini golf. It already has a pool or put a little fire pit shot up to Love Island. But yeah, just making it really nice. And I've been documenting the whole process and just showing people what it looks like. How long does it take and whatnot? But that'll be, you know, the first real property that's solely by myself.

I've done flips before with friends. I've done rentals with friends, but this will be solely by myself. So that's the three steps, yeah. That's the three steps. Talk to me about this. If you look at the Grammy or the Oscar of your real estate history, you go to your real estate resume, and you're like, this is the moment. This is how much we made.

This was the one I still talk about. Like, what is that? deal. So my, it's crazy to even say, but my first Airbnb arbitrage deal, my first one, the rent, we still have it until this day. I think this is year three, we're coming up on year three. We pay 42.50 a month in rent. The best month it's ever done was $17,000. Jesus. Unbelievable. That's incredible. Granted, busy season, you know, and that doesn't happen every month, but definitely a highlight for sure. Okay. So in that example, you're talking about like a 13k difference, 13K margin on a monthly basis. But we talk about it on this show all the time. We have

big creators on this show all the time. The money, it's very open about what people are making in the content game, right? 13, 14,000, you could make that in a very quick deal and doing something a very, very small lift. For sure. How do you, like, you have to look at opportunities. You have to look at opportunity cost of time at this point, right? Like your brand is only moving up right now. Your content game is on fire. Like how do you decide where and when you spend time knowing that the margins and actually your brand connected to the Love Island fans is so much greater than the margins of grinding the real estate game? Yeah, for sure. For me, I think, you know, for one, a lot of my content is about my Airbnb stuff. So it goes, it's seamless. So when I'm working on this property

that I just bought, I can also implement the Airbnb software that I use and do a brand deal with them. So it's very easy since I do do a lot of real estate content. It's easy to combine the two with the brand deals. Like, for example, I'm doing a deal with hospitable, which is the software we use for our management system. And we use that. It goes seamlessly. So for me to make a video about that is basically what I do anyway. So I do have a partner in the business. He runs a lot of like, the onboarding new properties and finding new properties and the sales of it. I'll do like all the online, you know, techy stuff, the pricing, the, you know, listing, the management, all that, managing the team. So that's what I do. And a lot of it's online. So I'm grateful that I'm able to

be in Jersey right now while the properties are in Florida and I'm able to manage from here. It's brilliant. Like combining that brand with your current brand, like marrying the brands of what was versus what is now and putting them together. It's genius and it'll go a long way. Then you step into reality TV, right? I mean, a whole different ballgame than real estate. Knowing what you know now about now being on two shows, what is one thing you would have told yourself day one,

A, T.J, you should know this, do this differently. You should not care what other people think. I think, like, going into both shows, you know, at the end of the day, you could be as comfortable. in front of a camera as possible, but you'll always know that it's there. And I had a hard time just being myself, because I felt like I had these walls up to the camera, to the people around me, and I didn't want to be myself, and I was uncomfortable, and I didn't know what people would think of me. And that's, like, the biggest thing that I wish, like, I could have got over or

really worked through. I think throughout the second show, towards the end, you could see my personality kind of shine a little bit, because at that point, we've already filmed five episodes. It's been months. So people are starting to see that personality inside of me that I wouldn't have shown. But being on this podcast right now, like, TJ two years ago couldn't do this. I couldn't stand in front of a classroom and give a speech. I was that nervous. I had that much anxiety. I would stutter. I wouldn't be able to, you know, look up and look at the people in the crowd. So for me to even just go on the two shows has been like a great accomplishment for me because it's, you know, proving to myself that I'm facing these fears and I'm working through this and there's progress,

you know. When you're ready to start your business, Northwest Registered Agent helps you do more than just file paperwork. You get all the tools to build a real business identity from day one, a business address, website, phone number, operating agreement, free guides and more at no extra cost. Northwest Registered Agent has been helping small business owners and entrepreneurs launch and grow businesses for nearly 30 years. They're the largest registered agent in LLC service in the U.S. with over 1,500 corporate guides, real people who know your local laws and can help you and your business every step of the way.

When you form your business with Northwest, you get a complete business identity, not just a stack of vendors to deal with. That includes a registered agent service, a business address, operating agreement, domain, website, professional email, phone number, and built-in privacy. With Northwest, your business is set up to stand on its own from day one. That means your home address, personal email, and phone number to stay private. And you can sign up for a free account to begin managing your business with lawyer-drafted operating agreements. I'm telling you, when I started my businesses, I wish this was in place. I wish.

And that's why I love promoting it. And I think it's a trading secret for anyone out there. Don't pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars for what you can get from Northwest for free. Just visit Northwest registered agent.com slash trading secrets free and start using free resources to build something amazing. Get more with Northwest Registered Agent at Northwest Registeredagent.com slash trading secrets free. Yeah, and it's such a, that element of business is so important, right?

That element of like presentation and doing all that stuff, it's like there's a lot of people that are listening to this right now that struggle probably with the same thing, whether it's their big presentation quarterly or their big sales pitch or even presenting to their boss, their accomplishments, those aren't easy conversations. What's a trading secret you got for them? Like, how do you overcome that?

What have you done? So honestly, it's really jumping in the deep end. There's a saying, the line will always chase you if you run from it. But if you face it, you know, you got to meet it where it's at. So for me, it was literally, I took it to the extreme. Obviously, I went on national television and put myself really in the deep end. But it's, you know, for example, that presentation, maybe it's presenting to a group of friends. And maybe it's not in front of your whole board.

at first, but maybe it's in front of your friends. Now you're getting a little less nervous about it. You're more prepared about it. So it's just, it's really, it comes down to facing it and not running away from it. I've seen it in my own life. The only way it has gotten better is to realize you have that anxiety, that nervousness, and sit with it, realize that it's going to get better and just jump, jump into it. I always ran away from it. I remember specifically the Love Island therapist. Shout out to her. She changed my life. because she told me, I was always one to say, no, I don't have anxiety. Because if I told myself I didn't have it, I felt like it would go away, but it never did. And she made me realize that I have to

realize I have it, understand why it's happening, and go through it and just push through it. And that's really helped me progress and get where I am today. And, you know, it's gotten a lot better. Yeah, I think that's bang on. It's like, acknowledge that it's real, that it's happening. And then once you acknowledge it, it's like, it's okay that it's there. It doesn't have the fight that it's there. It's there. Also, by the way, anyone listening to this, like going on a first date or giving a speech, that's a little nerve-wracking.

I remember when back in the day, like, when you're on your show and you know that the world, like the country's watching it, and then you're on a date. And then there's these cameras everywhere, these producers everywhere, and you've got to go in for a kiss. You're like, if I get denied, this is going, I haven't lived

this town forever. The heart rate, like if I was wearing it, they should, oh my God, they should do a sponsorship where they put the beats per minute like the golfers. The heart rate beats per minute like on a first episode, it's off the charts. It's just, it's a tough position to be in. Then I think your element of the show, which is just absolutely nuts, is this component that it's live and that it's your likeability that actually is what allows you to continue to go further in it. I heard on the Harry's podcast, you talked a little bit about how the edit kind of irritated you a little bit. But just talk to me

about this fast because I do think it connects to business and careers is people. People, feel as though if they don't find a way to make people like them, they won't succeed. When you're on the show, what type of pressure do you feel knowing that it's a live audience voting for you? And how did that play into some of your behaviors and decision making? And would you have done things different knowing that that did play into it? Yeah. I think it's super nerve-wracking, man. I mean, you don't have your phone. You don't have any connection to the outside. So that thought of what does everyone else think of me is really, it's there, especially when we do challenges where it's like, all right, America's voting or America said this. Now it's like, why did they say that?

Did they see something I didn't see? Did that person do something behind my back? Or did I say something that looks a certain way? So I know for me, for example, when I got voted in the bottom three, like I knew for sure I didn't do anything. I didn't say anything bad to anyone. I didn't do anything mean. I didn't screw anybody over. So for me to hear that, I was like, what is going on?

Like, there has to be something. But it's TV at the end of the day. They got to make the best show. But it was always in the back of my head. I don't think it changed what I would have done. I mean, I think I would have just been more myself. I just wasn't myself. I wasn't like the funny outgoing, TJ.

I was more like the quiet, like let them figure it out, not, I won't give my input type of TJ. And that's like the only thing I'd really change was just, you know, share my opinion more, help people when needed and speak my mind. And yeah, just be myself. No, it's legit. And then I think also too, like that paranoia factor, you're like, wait, I've been the bad, I've been me, a good version of me. And now I'm in the bomb three. So then you start getting paranoid. You're like looking everywhere. What producers? I mean, it's a real thing. It sets in. Yeah. Big thing. And we're taught, it's kind of like a theme of this episode a little bit is

this idea of like communication and like working into your style communication and understanding it. I got to ask you about this one. This year it does feel like on the season 8 that it's just the communication of the men is not good. And it's not being received well and it shouldn't be. And you had to deal with this in these circumstances. You have to deal with it in business and you had to deal with it. Obviously, you're a pepe situation. So what do you think these guys could be doing differently as it relates to effectively

communicating when you're in these hard positions? Because it just feels like there's just a huge miss. this season versus your season, and it's obviously something you also have to do in an entrepreneurial world. Yeah, I think that's one of the reasons why maybe we didn't do movie night my season is because a lot of people my season were like, okay, this happened. I'm going to tell you, but even if it was bad, whether it was bad or good, they said it. So I think that's why they didn't do movie night my season. I think this season, there's a lot of when it's just me and this person, I say something, but talking to this person, it's completely different. I think, you know, obviously,

Obviously, they just have to tell the truth when, like, being put in that situation, like I said, whether it's good or bad. Because at the end of the day, like the people, the whole world is watching, you know, so they're going to see both sides. The person in the villa that you're trying to keep it away from might not see it at first, but everybody on the outside sees both conversations. So it's maybe they lost track of that and it's kind of slipped from their minds because, you know, the cameras are hidden. Sometimes you're probably like, hey, maybe they didn't get that. or, you know, I said that low enough so the mic didn't get it. But in reality, like, they're prepared. The producers are prepared.

The show's prepared. They're going to get everything. And yeah, I just wish the guys would be a little more just telling the truth. And yeah. In business, too, that serves the same, right? Just put it on the table. I feel like whether people didn't like it or like it, that's always something you did. Right.

You're always like, I'm going to keep it real. I'm going to tell you what I'm here for and what I want. And this is what it is, right? So just rip it and grip it. I mean, with the Airbnb business, a lot of people, especially with the Airbnb arbitrage model, a lot of landlords when they hear like, hey, you're going to sub lease my property to these people on Airbnb, VRBO. Like, I don't, why don't I just do that myself? Or like, these people are going to ruin the property. But I think it's more of a, it's a trust factor at the end of the day.

They have to, these property owners have to trust who I am, what I'm doing, and how I run this business. So just being super transparent and open with them. We have some owners that check in with us weekly or monthly. We have some owners, like the first property I was telling you about that made $17,000. Yeah. He lives in Taiwan. I've never met him a day in my life. And he hits us up once a year, literally.

So there's a mix of both. Some people want to be right there with you and know what's going on. And it's just being transparent and truthful 100% of the way. Yeah. I think it's also have your actions have to meet your verbiage, right? Exactly. When you're communicating to that owner, I think whether it's a reality show or whether it's business, there's so many people that could talk or talk. It's like, can you walk the

walk and can you build credibility within how you're walking the walk? Because that, I think, is what really means the most. When, Tiji, when you think about your business now, the real estate business, sometimes a poor edit or something you might not like can impact that. Has that had any impact? How is the real estate business grown posho? The amount of exposure that my business has gotten is tremendous. it's it's hard to fathom it but right now what i'm trying to do is just like convert that into you know at the end of the day money like real business so whether that's people reaching out about they want us to manage their Airbnb or they want to get involved with Airbnb they want to learn

how to do this they want us to design their properties we go so many different directions in terms of that so just trying to capture all that but all the eyes on the business alone it's just I mean, the local business is reaching out saying, hey, you know, I want to, I would love to do the turf in the backyard for you. And just that, trying to help other businesses as well. It's been super, super great. Can you put a premium on it? Like if you make it like a Love Island style home or if you like, have you ever done like a party where like different Love Islanders come to the property? Anything like that? I've never done that. That was one of my ideas because, you know, I was in that hotel in Fiji for three weeks. So I was writing down all these ideas. that I had and the Love Island Airbnb was one of them. I know somebody does it. I forget what state it's in. They don't call it Love Island because they'd probably get sued or something. But yeah, just like a little twist on it and make the rooms with the neon signs and stuff. I'm sure you could charge a premium for that. But I've never done like that appearance thing. Have a fellow Love Islander come in. Yeah, I think like you do some kind of like giveaway. I don't know. There's

something and like only one person would wear a contest. One person wins it. There's a big thing that promotes what you're doing. I don't know. I'm picking out loud here, but there's plenty of stuff you could do. How has, how is just like the monetization of building your actual brand on social media change since you got out of the villa? And is it what you expected and where have you been surprised by it? Yeah. So, you know, I got off the show last summer in July and I wasn't on the show for too long. So I gained a ton of followers exposure and whatnot, but people didn't really get a sense of who I was. Nobody that watched the show realized that I had a business or that I even won a national championship, like little things like that. So I think those first few months, it was really about

letting people in and letting people understand who T.J. is. T.J., oh, he does this. He does that. He's kind of funny. And I think that resonated with a lot of people, and that's when I gained majority of my following was like those months after when people realized, like, oh, T.J. isn't this guy that we saw for two days or, you know, a week on the show. that, you know, felt super uncomfortable and he didn't, you know, he felt like he was in his shell, but he's really this, like, outgoing person. So I didn't really do a lot of deals and stuff when I first came off the show. I think it was towards the end of 2025, beginning at 2026, when that really started for me, because I think it was more just like, I really honed in on the content,

and I really figured it out, figured it out, like, how to do it. My editing has gotten a lot better. My ideas have been gotten a lot better. So there is a jump. Like if you go back and look at my content from the end of last summer to now, it's completely different. And it's a lot. It looks like someone who does this for a living now. Like it looks presentable before it was just kind of slapped together, you know?

Yeah. What's crazy is now, like we were just when we were at Cannes going to different conferences and stuff, you're hearing about the fact that now CEOs of Fortune 500 companies will be required and mandated to understand content and be able to put content out, which is, like, it's crazy that that's the way the world is going. So I say that because it bridges the conversation to anyone listening here, whether you're starting a small pizza shop or you're a teacher, you're a nurse, like content is it? What is it about, like specifically give some of the listeners some trading secrets? Like, what is it about your editing that has changed that's working? Like, how is the content

game being adjusted based on what you're doing? Yeah, that's a, that's a really good question. I know for sure that for me, like, and I've always said this, there's a difference between like the trendy content and content that one sells or provides value. And I think you could get a lot of engagement or a lot of views with the trendy stuff, but that stuff doesn't really convert. And people aren't, maybe they're not going to follow you. Maybe they're not going to understand who you are. But the content where it's about your life, it's your advice, your opinions, you know, people get a real understanding about you and they're more likely to trust you, follow you, buy things from you. So no one's going to, if you just saw a viral clip of somebody online,

you're probably not going to buy something from them or you're not going to reach out about inquiring about how to do X, Y, and Z. But if they're following you because you're giving your opinions, your advice, all that stuff, it's much more personable. And that's really helped me a lot because at the end of the day, the trends get a lot of views, but what really matters is providing the value and helping people as well. Bang on. I literally say it all the time. People that chase virality, it's the equivalent of, you know, when you're driving and you see those people with like the store signs that say 80% off and they're swirling. It's like, okay, so you can create the attention. And that's what they're doing, right? But then once people are like, what do you swirl?

What's going on over there? Once they go into the store, it's like, all right, what's here? Like, what is, what's the product? Exactly. And why am I staying? And that's, I couldn't agree more with you. I ask this to you on your real estate side. I want to ask it now on your content side. What's your Oscar? What's your brand deal? Maybe the amount, the one thing that you're like,

I mean, I see you on commercials all over the place now. We got mayonnaise. You're ripping it. You got entrepreneurs stuff, food stuff all over. Thank you. So like, what's the one you're like,

yo, this is like, if I go to Harvard, I'm going to be like, this is the one I want to pitch and tell you guys about. Oh, dude. I mean, listen,

there's a lot of cool stories. I'll give two. like we landed a six-month deal with the Airbnb software and that's just like a huge deal super blessed and it goes right hand in hand with my business. But they met my mom before. I used to take her hairspray when I was like 1415, the Garnier hairspray and use it all the time. And I started tagging them months after the show and I reached out and we did a campaign or they reached out and we did a campaign together. So it came like full circle. Same thing with the mayonnaise, the helmet.

Like my dad loves that freaking mayonnaise. He makes PLTs all the time. But stories like that where it's just coming full circle and it's kind of like surreal to, you know, think about. But I've had a lot of great opportunities, blessings, but those are some of the highlights for sure. Is did you have a goal as far as like one day I want to make this much off content or anything like that as far as like a financial goal? I think for me like a big goal. like a big goal of mine was to lock in a few brands and companies that I really liked for longer terms. Like, for example, the six-month Airbnb software. I think that's better. Obviously,

it's guaranteed, you know, not guarantee, but guaranteed for six months. You have that six-month term. I think that's better than doing a one-off and making a ton more money because one, you actually use these products, but two, you want to also benefit the company. You know, you don't want to just do a one-off and like that's it. They paid you a chunk of change. You posted a video and now it's like, all right, so you guys never. You want to build these long-term relationships because at the end of the day, relationships really are the only thing that matters.

Yeah, that's it. That's the name of the game. Long-term partnerships are great because they also provide good cash flow. I think you provide so much good value to that brand and it's just better than doing some of the one-offs, especially as you're integrating it into your real estate as your day-to-day work, which is awesome. For sure. I mentioned that like that could be a, Harvard business case study, and I talked about this early in our episode. But give me your take.

Like, you're back at the professor seat at Harvard, okay? And you're doing a lecture on this. You mentioned it that a lot of people on reality TV, it just doesn't work. I would say 90, 95% of things like you go on the show and that's done. You're part of that 5%. And then you have Iris, Elandria and Leah and some of these other stars from Love Island that have just become huge. You're the professor. What is the why? Do you got to do a business case? study and why people's brand, especially on Love Island, become a massive enterprise. What does that lecture from your vantage point look like knowing that like you're living in it every day? So I think 100% the overarching theme is like how people are invested in you, your journey,

who you are, your, your, my relationship, for example, there's so many people invested in that. I think Love Island, that's one of the reasons why Love Island is so big because the viewers, they see us making breakfast. They see all the conversations. They literally are almost living in the villa with you because they're seeing everything. So they feel attached to you, your journey, your relationship, the hardships you go through. If you made me cry, they're right there crying with me. I know people till this day come up to me and say, you know, when you got sent home and Iris was crying hysterical, like I was crying with her. And they feel that a year later. So I think Love Island does an insane job with getting people really invested in the people, the relationships, the journey,

the whole show together. And I think that translates into the real world. And some of the biggest people that have came out have capitalized off of really just getting people invested in what they do, their opinions, their advice, their way of life. So I think it's a blessing to have these people, again, invested in our lives. And, And I feel like we have a duty to do the best and provide the best information content. And yeah. I love that. Professor Palma, everyone, giving us the breakdown.

Hopefully that was good. That was good. Talk to me about this. Realty TV, you got two shows under your belt. Like when you look forward, you got a lot of businesses to manage, a lot of things to go. Like, do you have an idea? Like, do you want to go back on reality TV? Do you have like a show you would love to be on?

Like, what does the future of entertainment and your business look like? Yeah, I would for sure go on another show. I would love to go on like traders or dancing with the stars. I think some type of like game show would be super cool because one, you know, I love games. I love competing. I'm an athlete at heart. So I would love to do that. As far as business, I want to keep growing the real estate, keep buying properties. I think, you know, that's where like my head is is towards. And the Airbnb arbitrar's and the management is great. But if I could really buy these assets and build long term wealth, that's like my goal. And I'm in the mix of starting a design company where we will design Airbnb's, hotels, short-term rentals, restaurants, like anything above. Because there's a lot of companies that don't specifically cater towards short-term rentals or hotels or restaurants. So we're trying to fill that gap in the market. And that's something that we're looking to do. And on top of that, I've been teaching people how to do. this Airbnb stuff as well.

So I'm not exactly sure where I'm headed with that because it is very time consuming. I want to make sure everyone in there and that wants to learn is learning. So yeah, that's kind of where I'm at right now. So from a design perspective, is that interior you're saying? Like aesthetic almost? Yeah, from the layout to the amenities, I know like just off the top of my head that I can tell you that the properties that do extremely well for us are the like I said before, like they sleep more people and they have a nicer design. I could show you two houses that are exactly

the same. One sleeps more people. One has more amenities and one has bright colors and it looks aesthetically pleasing. That's going to make 10 times more than the property that has one bed in each room and just has like normal sheets and pillows and a design. I know for sure a lot of our homes that just have a hot tub, it adds $30 to $40 a night on the nightly rating. So I think it's different. And a lot of people don't know that. Some people think you just do Airbnb and throw random furniture in there and it's going to make a ton of money and it's, and it's not like that. I think it used to be like that, you know, after COVID and whatnot. But now it's kind of the point where you have to be a top host. Yeah, I think some of those, the hot tub thing I didn't know

about, but I think the hot tub is also probably five years ago. That was the same thing, 10 years ago. That was the same thing. And the funny part about these hot tubs and pools when you get an Airbnb is like half the time you don't use of. But it's like you see the picture. You love it. I think like one of the big differentiators too from your end on the design stuff is like a guy like me, right? I'll be 38 in October. I'm old as dirt. But I'm so I'm dying to know more. Like I hire a lot of Gen Zs because I'm like I'm. I'm like I hire a lot of Gen Zs because I'm like I'm. I'm like I'm. I'm like I hire a lot of Gen Z's. Because I want to know like what is the aesthetic. What does catch your eye? What doesn't catch your eye? And I think with your design business like playing into that too, like going to own business owners who are older and being like, listen, I live it, I breathe it. I'm in it. It's my entire brand. Like your design is it's dated. Like you scream millennial. You scream old. Like I want to hear that stuff. I feel like that side of the business can absolutely just absolutely take off. So that's cool that you got all that stuff going. Tell me about this. You got one person other than Iris. that you can partner up with.

They could be your business partner on any deal. It's got to be from Love Island. Who are you going to make your business partner? It's got to be from Love Island. Yep. Any Love Island? Like any season or my season? It could be any season.

You're like, that should be my business partner. We would crush it. I'm going to say Leah Ketab. That's a good one. And what's your why? My why is because she's absolutely killing it with her brand as well. And I think we have a similar mindset. I'm not sure if there's many people from Love Island that have started many businesses.

And I think she's one of the few that, you know, have and has that mindset. So it would be cool to share and grow. Great answer. Now, this book over here behind me, it's called Talk Money to Me. It's this marriage of love and money. You know, it's a real thing. There's a lot of action there. With you and Irish, you guys are working together.

You guys are grinding together. What do you guys, when you work as your enterprise, like together as a brand, like, What does that future look like and what are some learning lessons you've had? Yeah. Man, it's so cool. Being in this loving relationship and working together, it's like the best of both worlds. We're able to travel wherever, whenever together. And it's just like such a beautiful thing.

I think her and I have similar minds when it comes to like design. And she loves design. So we always thought about starting some kind of start small. Eventually, I think a huge goal would be doing some sort of HGTV show together. That would be a dream of ours. But starting small and maybe doing college apartments and redesigning and furnishing college apartments because that's kind of our target audience right now. I think that would be super cool.

Some lessons is, you know, especially in the public eye, I would say, stay true to who you are. And at the end of the day, I said it before, your relationships are all that really matter. At the end of the day, like all this outside noise and whatnot, it's going to pass. And as long as you guys are stable and you guys know where you're at and you guys aren't lining to each other, you're telling the truth and you're working through things, then that's all that really matters. I've learned a lot about being in the public eye.

And I'm still learning, man. I'm only a year out of this. And it's been a different world for me, but I'm getting used to it. I'm doing my best. Yeah, there's so much upside to it. And it's, there's like, we're so privileged to have had the opportunity and be in the space. And I know I've heard you on other shows say how great. grateful you are and it's just clear today that you are. But with that, there's a lot of,

there's definitely a lot of challenges, right? The noise, how does it impact you, the mental aspect of dealing with the noise? And it feels like you've dealt with that, like, pretty well. It's all, right? Is that a good read? Yeah, I think now 100% I do. I think when I first came out of the villa on the first show, and even after Beyond the Villa came out, I was really struggling with it. What are people thinking about me or like try to correct everyone's opinions or like maybe they saw something wrong and that didn't happen. I always tried to fix that. But I've realized taking a step back and realizing that people are always going to have opinions, whether they're positive or negative. And it's probably always going to be split. And it could be doing the best things in the world and it'll probably

always be split. So taking it day by day, I think a lot of it has gotten better for me because like I've been facing it. Like I said, like not running away from it and not trying to correct everybody's opinions. So it took a lot of getting used to. But I think I'm at the point where it's like, these people are going to say anything regardless. I don't even need it. Like I'm not even going to read it. I don't need to read it. I used to read the comments and stuff. Now it's like I know it's there. I don't even care. You know? Yeah. So I've gotten to the point where I'm okay. It's brilliant. We've had a couple contractors and employees of Barstool come on And they've talked about how Dave Portnoy would literally tell them, listen, I don't care if the comments love you or hate you in this business, you just need the comments.

And if you don't have comments, it means that you have nothing that anyone has an opinion on. And like, when I heard that, I'm like, back clicks. Like the day that it's like a hundred percent and only love or a hundred percent that it's like that's where you're not giving your best version, there's always going to be noise. You just have to deal with it. Exactly. You're killing it, especially at a young age. And then, you know, I think a big theme of this podcast has been communicating. And I like to play at Leah.

You think about what she's done as the COO of Skylar Beauty. She's killing it there. So I think that's a good pick. And it's really cool to see what you've done with real estate and continue to do. And I feel like in like five, 10 years from now, that level is going to be so, so big. Because it feels like you've done such a great job of layering it

and building it perfectly on a foundation now that will only propel it. So TJ, it's been awesome to have you on, man. But we got to wrap with the trading secret. It's one we wrap with with every, single guest. They give us one trading secret we couldn't learn from a professor, a TikTok tutorial, just through your experience. What can you leave us with? And it can't be what I said before, right? Yeah, I mean, you've already given us about 100 trading secrets, but it could be life. It could be like a quote you live by. It could just be something you're feeling off

the cup, just a trading secret that connects to people listening that they can be empowered by something from your own. Yeah, I'm a huge believer in manifestation. I'm a huge believer in if you truly believe something yourself that you will achieve something, get somewhere, you will do it and there will be nothing stopping you. If you have that burning desire and passion to do something, complete something, change someone's life, like you will do it and there will be nothing stopping you. And I think throughout my life, everything that I've done, I've either subconsciously or consciously have thought about it, you know, really focused

in on it, imagining what it would be like to be that person with all this influence or be the person that has all these properties in the successful business. So everything in my life has stemmed from that. And that's been an absolute game changer because if you don't believe it yourself, who will? I love it. It's a great trading secret. I just have one follow-up question to it. Is that something you do routinely? Is it something you do like every morning? Is it something you do once a week? How do you like, when do you actually do that in your head that I'm going to manifest it? So I used to do a ton of research on this and stuff.

I think a good book about this is Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. And I read that book like five times. It's, I journal a lot. I think, you know, before you go to bed and when you wake up in the morning, your brain is in a state of, I think it's called Theta. And it's when you're, you know, they say like from years one to five of a baby. Like, show me the baby. I'll show you the man.

Because when you're that young, you're super impressionable. and your brain is in the same state before you go to bed and when you first wake up in the morning. So, you know, I used to take it to the extreme. I used to have like affirmations stapled on my wall in Tampa when I was starting this business. And I really took it to the extreme. But I think a good starting place would be journaling

and clearing your brain and clearing your mind and just getting everything out on paper and writing down who you want to become, how you're going to do it and just, you know, maybe steps towards that. That's been an absolute game changer for me, for sure. Tija. I love it, man.

It's a lot of communication theme here, right? How you talk to yourself? How do you put other things out there? How do you talk to your loved ones? How you talk to people that you need to build respect with from a business perspective? So, so many trading secrets, man. It's great to have you on. But people need to know where to follow all your business activity and life activity.

So where can they find it all? Yeah. Everything on social media is T.J. Palma with an extra A. at the end because they didn't have just T.J. Palma. But that's where you can find everything. My Airbnb stuff is linked on my social medias as well. But yeah, thank you so much, Jason. I really appreciate it.

You killed it, my man. Thank you for being on this episode of Trading Secrets. Thank you. If you want a $3,000 a month payday for life, what would you feel free to do? Maybe take a long weekend, every weekend, or try a bunch of new hobbies. Would you feel free to upgrade and listen ad-free?

Don't worry. We get it. Every $20 ticket can win you $3,000 a month for life and supports life-saving cancer research at the Princess Margaret. Feel free to buy your Payday for Life ticket today. Raffle number 155-2194. Please play responsibly.