On this Episode, Aaron sits down with Robert Rivani, real estate agent and content creator.. Known for his flashy, unique personal branding, Robert has made waves in the commercial real estate arena with his company, Black Lion Investment Group, focusing on revitalizing commercial properties with stylish, unorthodox renovations.
Today, you’ll be hearing from Robert Rivani, real estate agent and content creator.. Known for his flashy, unique personal branding, Robert has made waves in the commercial real estate arena with his company, Black Lion Investment group, focusing on revitalizing commercial properties with stylish, unorthodox renovations.
Aaron and Robert discuss his start in entrepreneurship, his presence on social media, and how the purchase and creation of his dream home, Castle Rivani, elevated his success. Robert shares the ups and downs of his career, and how he stands out in the often un-sexy world of commercial real estate.
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About Robert:
Robert Rivani, President of Black Lion Investment Group, is an accomplished American entrepreneur, renowned for his contributions in retail entertainment and real estate development. Born in 1990, Rivani's journey began with the sale of his teenage footwear company for an impressive $150,000. During the 2008 economic downturn, Rivani capitalized on opportunities within his family's property management firm, uncovering potential in acquiring and revitalizing low-cost properties for resale. His expertise expanded from Georgia to Wisconsin, Illinois, and Texas, marked by a mastery of the 1031 exchange. Notably, he founded Black Lion Investment Group in 2014, a name symbolizing his unique approach to real estate. Under his leadership, the company has achieved over $500 million in real estate transactions across the US, consistently doubling growth. Rivani's innovative spirit thrives, demonstrated by his transformation of vacant spaces into thriving retail and entertainment landmarks that foster community benefits. Inspired by Miami's vibrant lifestyle, he concentrates on entertainment-focused projects across South Florida. Rivani's dedication to shaping trends rather than following them ensures a dynamic future as he invests another $100+ million into the region.
Beyond his professional pursuits, Rivani embraces disciplined routines and athletic dedication, particularly in tennis and basketball. He cherishes quality time with his wife, global travel, and culinary exploration.
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Quotes:
“Learn from your mistakes. Don't be afraid to ask questions, and don't be afraid to hire the right team. Having the right team is the most important thing to create the future for yourself, because if you think you’ll be a one man show and become a billionaire, it's never gonna happen.” - Robert Rivani
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Time Stamps:
(0:50) How Robert is a stand-out
(3:05) Letting his personality speak through his properties
(6:16) Bringing Miami’s flare to a failing property in New Jersey
(11:00) Robert’s young hustle in designer shoes
(14:00) Advice for young commercial real estate agents
(16:12) Working hard for your happiness
(18:57) A catalyst for growth on social media
(24:10) Evolving as an entrepreneur
(27:20) Being confident as a new entrepreneur
(29:57) Robert’s best and worst investments
(34:43) What’s next for Robert
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Connect with Robert Rivani:
www.instagram.com/robert_rivani
www.linkedin.com/in/robertrivani/
Follow Estate Media:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/estatemediaus/
https://www.youtube.com/@estatemediaus
Connect with Aaron:
https://www.tiktok.com/@aarongrushowhomes
https://www.instagram.com/aarongrushowhomes
https://www.youtube.com/@aarongrushowhomes
https://www.linkedin.com/in/423/
https://aarongrushowhomes.com/
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[00:00:00] Aaron: Today on The Standouts, we have entrepreneur, commercial real estate extraordinaire, live from Castle Rivani, Robert Rivani. It doesn't matter what you do for a living. Standing out requires a high level of creativity, a healthy dose of ambition, and sheer grit. This is The Standouts, a show where we discuss, explore, and strategize what it takes to achieve the extraordinary.
[00:00:27] Aaron: It's about finding your edge and learning how to leverage that for your own success. I'm your host, Aaron Gruscio. Get ready to be inspired to blaze your own path. Today on The Standouts, we have entrepreneur and well known face in the world of commercial real estate, Robert Rivani. Thanks for being here, man. I appreciate it.
[00:00:46] Robert: My pleasure. Thank you for having me.
[00:00:48] Aaron: Of course. Uh, this podcast is all about standing out, you know, doing things differently, how to separate yourself from the rest in such a saturated world. And I think you are a prime example of someone doing just that. Because of the beard and the mohawk?
[00:01:00] Aaron: Exactly. No, you have a great look to you. I appreciate it. You know, when I think people think, uh, commercial real estate, they don't necessarily... Head towards someone who is building a big personal brand for themselves and trying to stand out and, um, you know, reinvent the wheel. Now, I'm not saying that you're necessarily reinventing the wheel, but I think you're doing things a bit differently and it's clearly, uh, shown in your success. I mean, at 33 years old. 50, 500 million?
[00:01:32] Robert: 500 million in deals.
[00:01:33] Aaron: That's incredible man.
[00:01:35] Robert: To your point, I don't even think it's recreating the wheel. I think it's creating the wheel. Commercial real estate is not sexy. It's not fun. Residential is a lot more fun, and a lot more, you know, when people come out of school, like, I want to be a realtor, a broker, and I want to sell homes.
[00:01:47] Robert: I don't think anyone comes and says, I want to sell shopping centers, or I want to redo a property with Walmart and Home Depot, and it's just not, you know, the fun thing. Part of my excitement and why I'm doing more of this Um, you know, the stuff in marketing is to explore something to people that, Hey, there is another genre of real estate that you can do, that can be exciting, that can be fun.
[00:02:06] Robert: And you can be yourself doing it too, because in commercial real estate, everyone's usually suit, tie, have to act a certain way, but I'm this guy, Middle Eastern, mohawk, beard, have fun with it, do crazy things on social media, and it's, and it's exciting.
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[00:02:58] Aaron: I think you're a really creative guy.
[00:03:00] Robert: Appreciate that.
[00:03:01] Aaron: How do you translate that creativity into commercial real estate?
[00:03:05] Robert: You know, in the beginning, you had to start at the bare bones of just trying to make money, and that was like the focus for any person that's coming out in this industry, is like, okay, I want to figure out my way of going about it, so...
[00:03:15] Robert: I followed the the tune of everybody others to how to build real estate, but it was after a point where especially in the Miami market where I'm very much so focused now is like letting my personality speak through my properties and redevelopment. So like when you look at this room that we're in, what I call the jungle room, this was my test fit kitchen, let's call it, for one of my properties, Wynwood Jungle.
[00:03:34] Robert: So I designed this room and I'm like, oh, this looks great. Now let's put it into a commercial property. Yeah, and you know one thing that's really important for my industry that hasn't been done for a while is the whole social media effect bringing in attention for a property for people to get excited about it and come shop there and what I mean by that When I did this room, um, when I said, okay, I'm going to be spending, this room cost me about 100, 000 in fake flowers.
[00:03:58] Robert: And I said, look, I'm going to take this to a shopping center that was about two, three times the size of this. And it cost me close to 400, 000 in fake florals that I put into commercial property. Like, that's absurd. People do paint, some lipstick, and I wanted something different, but why did I want something different?
[00:04:13] Robert: I'm like, imagine all the people that will come. That will just put up their phone and take a video of it and share on Instagram, on TikTok, on YouTube, or whatever it is, that it's just going to go viral.
[00:04:24] Aaron: Yeah.
[00:04:24] Robert: Lucky have it, it went viral and now we get almost 500 people a day, a day, coming through just a normal property, taking videos and sharing with their friends and families and it's helped our customers, I mean our tenants.
[00:04:36] Robert: 30 40 percent because ultimately, unlike residential, I'm trying to make my tenants successful. So whatever I could do to be successful in a property to make my tenants more successful is just success all around for everybody. So that's where I kind of collaborated the two, the two different worlds of commercial real estate with, you know, social media and marketing.
[00:04:52] Aaron: You mentioned virality and like telling a story about your specific property. I think that's really important in sort of all industries, all businesses, um, if, if we're able to capture attention, because ultimately I think that's what it's, it's all about, right? Capturing that attention.
[00:05:09] Robert: More attention means more sales.
[00:05:10] Aaron: Exactly.
[00:05:11] Robert: 100%.
[00:05:12] Aaron: Yeah.
[00:05:12] Robert: And the better, like, people are like, well, why do you care if your tenants do better? I'm like, well, one, that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. You want your tenants to be successful so they can pay your rent. Yeah. But imagine if a tenant sales doubles, will their rent double? That they can pay the landlord?
[00:05:25] Robert: Probably, they're doing exponentially better, that means you do exponentially better, so if you can get more eyeballs at the property and make that investment for your tenants to be more successful, and it ends up being more successful for you, it's a win win for everybody. I think that's the biggest problem with a lot of people when it comes to redevelopment of projects, is they always have the me first mentality versus my tenants first, and that doesn't work when you're trying to be, you know, uberly successful and try to break records, um, for lease, for lease agreements in the commercial world, especially in a world that once upon a time everyone was like, We were having retail destruction and an apocalypse and retails failing and that was all nonsense.
[00:05:58] Robert: And we're proving time and time again, if you have the ability to reinvent yourself and stand out from the other hundred retail properties, that you can be the game changer in the industry. And that's what my brand black line is.
[00:06:08] Aaron: I love that. I'm curious your process for sourcing these opportunities. Do you look at potential projects as opportunities to really, uh, stand out?
[00:06:20] Aaron: Can you be different undergoing some sort of development at this type of property? Like, how can I make this stand out from the rest? Is that part of your, you know, thought process when you're looking for these opportunities?
[00:06:32] Robert: For sure. If the property doesn't have the ability to stand out or have the ability to be different, typically there's no, you know, if the property had failed for a reason in the past, why do I think I'm going to be the one to be able to come in and be more successful with it?
[00:06:44] Robert: For example, I bought a property in New Jersey for 50 million a year and a half ago or so. And it's a super regional power center. The property was falling apart, the anchor tenants were leaving. And I told myself, okay, well, why wasn't this property successful? Well, the owner didn't spend any money in improvements, didn't spend any money to, for marketing, didn't, you know, make the property look appealing where customers are going to want to come.
[00:07:05] Robert: So I took the, a modified version of my floral design. Like you can't take something that's sexy and trendy in South Florida and in Miami area and take that to like Flaunders, New Jersey where the property is. But I'm like, let me give it a little bit of flair. And if you can imagine, I go to a local municipality, and I'm like, and this area is like, full of snow, and it's, and it's, you know, a typical American city where things are just very flat for the most part.
[00:07:26] Aaron: Yeah.
[00:07:27] Robert: And I'm like, we're gonna do fake florals, and we're gonna have twinkle lights on the building, we're gonna make it sexy, we're gonna make it fun, and it was a huge gamble. Mm hmm. Like, because these typical corporations want a very cookie cutter kind of facade and look. And when we rolled it out with renderings, we got the biggest buzz of attention from national chains.
[00:07:42] Robert: We ended up signing four national chain 30, 000 square foot boxes in less than a year. It's amazing. And it was like, did this actually work? Like, no way, they actually went for it and they went against the norm. And, you know, these big corporations are starting to realize that they need to attract the younger customers, too.
[00:07:56] Robert: They want those customers. Those are customers spending money. And you need to get it from everybody if you want to be successful. And they, you see, like, they're paying a lot of influencers, these big corporations, to do things on TikTok.
[00:08:06] Aaron: Yep.
[00:08:06] Robert: To support the brand and to promote the brand. And that's kind of, like, merging the two was a gamble for an institutional developer like myself that's trying to break the norm, but it ended up working out. And I think like any developer, you sometimes have to take calculated risks if you want to be next level in it.
[00:08:22] Aaron: Definitely. You're putting a lot of effort into growing your own personal brand.
[00:08:27] Aaron: Um, do you see that being effective in commercial real estate? Why is that so important to you?
[00:08:32] Robert: Yeah, I mean, look, I think... Like, any brand that you, that you name, one of the big brands, like, when you associate a brand, you associate a certain level of quality and a certain level of, of excitement when it comes to the asset.
[00:08:42] Aaron: Yup.
[00:08:43] Robert: So, for example, in Miami, if I'm buying a restaurant building, everyone's like, well, that's going to be the next hotspot I've signed, you know, Delilah, Gecko, Sec, you know, all these different brands that, that people got excited about, and like, well, if Robert's going to create another one of these, then that develops a hype in the area.
[00:08:58] Robert: Um, so whenever I bought this, you know, this entire street block in, in Miami Beach, in, in South of Fifth, we ended up signing Catch, this restaurant tour, Gaia from Dubai, and Philippe Chao from New York. And I created Synergy by saying, look, BlackLine is going to buy this block. We're going to make it sexy.
[00:09:12] Robert: We're going to make it fun. And everyone bought into that vision. Now, if there wasn't a person behind the brand that people could believe and trust in, would that have been done? Maybe, maybe not. It's been empty for eight years, but as soon as I bought it, I filled it up. So I think there's definitely value when you have somebody that you have faith in behind the development that says, look.
[00:09:28] Robert: I trust Robert's going to put his best foot forward and get this done, and the biggest way to get exposure to that is social media, and to be able to show that. Like, I didn't have a public social media account up until like 18 months ago. I didn't see the value in why would you want to be a big, you know, social media person when you're trying to lease up small shops based in Wisconsin, uh, or Chicago.
[00:09:46] Robert: It just wasn't as valuable. When you're getting to these higher ticket, more profiled properties, it's very, very important to have that kind of, uh, that brand recognition when it comes to the market.
[00:09:55] Aaron: Definitely. Yeah, I couldn't agree more, honestly. Um, I'm curious about your upbringing and sort of what led to who you are today.
[00:10:03] Aaron: I know you sold a shoe company when you were a teenager for six figures. I'd love to hear a bit more about that. How did that come into fruition?
[00:10:09] Robert: Yeah. So like every kid, um, well, most kids, you have this hustler mentality. I didn't grow up wealthy and I wanted to make, uh, as much money as I could and I, but before I wanted to make as much money as I could, I wanted to be the cool kid in school and have Jordans and all these different sneakers, but I couldn't really afford to own 10 at a time.
[00:10:26] Robert: So, um, you know, when I'd go and buy them in a store, I'd go look at what they'd be on, uh, on for sale online and you'd be like, well, I bought them for 150, but they're going for 250 cause they're just rare. So I wait, this is a business. What if I just bought two of them? And then if I can make 100 bucks on one, then the shoe that I bought only cost me 50 bucks.
[00:10:42] Robert: So I'm like, ah, there's something there. So I just slowly but surely started buying shoes, um, and flipping them on eBay. And after a while, the flipping game became really popular, so you couldn't buy more than two at a time. So you'd have to, like, hire friends. So I'd say, okay, well, this shoe can make me 100 bucks, but I pay my friend 50 bucks to stay.
[00:11:00] Robert: Do you know, like, when people stay overnight on Nakeytown? Like, you sleep on the floor the whole nine yards, so you do that. Tents, the whole nine yards. So I pay my boy 50 bucks, I'm like, okay, cool. You're going to stay overnight with me. I'm going to give you 50 and then I'm going to keep the other 50. And then, um, there was a point where I was making almost 10 to 15,000 dollars a month off this, just flipping shoe after shoe after shoe until one day, some guys like, Hey, I see all the shoes you're selling all the time.
[00:11:21] Robert: And I would keep my personalized collection. I would be the sneaker head that. I would stack them all over my bedroom, I'd have them on my bed, I'd lick the bottom of the soles to make them, make sure people knew they were authentic. Like, I was, like, dedicated as f*** into it. And, uh, one guy's like, hey, I'm gonna buy your entire collection for north of six figures, and I'm like, How am I really gonna give this up?
[00:11:40] Robert: I think I was 18 or 19 at the time, like, 150, 200 thousand bucks, I'm like, All right, it's time to move on. Yeah. And that was the, that was a shoe game. That was a shoe industry.
[00:11:48] Aaron: I love that. I'm curious what you learned from that experience. And if you still apply certain principles that went into selling those shoes into your real estate business today.
[00:11:58] Robert: For sure. I mean, it's, it's more of like the core principles of understanding business. Like the simple thing of saying, I'm going to hire my friend and pay him 50 bucks so I can still make more money. And, and, you know, I hired more and more people at the time to stay overnight because it just, you know, being able to expand.
[00:12:12] Robert: So you, you learn some management, you, you learn and appreciate where you come from. Like sleeping on a sidewalk in the cold ass nights overnight was not fun. It's miserable, but you appreciate those times and you, you, you have a much more importance for the value of your money. Um, I don't raise money for my company.
[00:12:28] Robert: I don't go to outside investors. I don't, or, um, or do like this online crowdsourcing. It's all my money. And I know what my money is worth and where I had to come from to make it. So you, you know, having those, uh, those feelings of when you're struggling to, to make it to now, it's like you have a better sense and comfort of, of, of who you want to be and, and how to spend it.
[00:12:46] Robert: Um, so look, I think entrepreneurship is, is extremely important. And that's something I tell my wife when we want to raise kids, like... I almost want to put them in a hustle, like, you want to make money, then you're going to clean your room, you're going to do this, and I'm going to pay you, because it just teaches you the time value of money and the importance of working for something, versus just like, here's a thousand bucks, go do whatever you want, because that will apply when you want to have your own business, when you hire your employees, when you want to remodel a property, you have to like, don't get me wrong, like, whenever I redevelop a house or a property, and you know this probably better than anyone, you can't just go spend whatever you want on a property, if not, the investment is not going to make sense. Right.
[00:13:19] Robert: So it's how you use your money is very, very important. I think that in the shoe business, when margins are 50 bucks a shoe, you have to be very tight with how you spend it.
[00:13:27] Aaron: Definitely. No, I, I really appreciate that. And I'm curious what advice you would give to someone who's looking to start an entrepreneurial venture or getting into commercial real estate.
[00:13:37] Aaron: Um, anything off the top of your mind that you would, you know, share immediately.
[00:13:41] Robert: Look, the first thing I say is do not get, because I have people on Instagram, I have probably a thousand kids a week reaching out, what should I be able to do in my first thing? Don't get bought into these things of these online gurus and like just get into real estate buy your first thing No, yeah, go work for somebody even if it's for free go be an intern go obtain knowledge and no offense the residential world Residential is a lot easier than commercial.
[00:14:06] Aaron: Yeah.
[00:14:06] Robert: You know you run normal comps in an area Um, you know, price per square foot, what it could sell for, this, that, the other. When you're in commercial, you have to worry about so many legal things, environmental concerns, tenant leases, what the rules are of those tenant leases, what neighboring properties do to affect your property.
[00:14:20] Robert: Like, there's so much that goes into it. So when people are like, hey, I got a million bucks, I want to invest. I'm like, look, slow your roll, go learn from somebody, take an internship or work as a broker or property manager, um, to be the person you want to be because that is what... I did when I first started.
[00:14:36] Robert: I was a bookkeeper, I entered phones, then I went to property management, then I went to leasing, and then when you start to develop your knowledge base in every single aspect of the company, that's the best way you can be the best version of yourself when it comes to being a developer.
[00:14:48] Aaron: Yeah, definitely. I love that.
[00:14:50] Aaron: Yeah, I think there's a lot of people, um, on the younger side who want to just go dive headfirst into something. Um, me included, but learning from mentors and people who have done it before you is such a critical factor in, in I think one's success. Who have you looked up to? Throughout, you know, your experience doing commercial real estate and just being an entrepreneurial person in general who are some mentors you've had and people you've looked up to.
[00:15:19] Robert: You know what's crazy? I, I, none. Yeah? You know, because when you look into commercial real estate, there's not a face. Right. There's never been a face. In residential, you have so many brokers that are like, this guy's just badass, he's crushing it. Like, when do you hear of like a commercial real estate broker or commercial real estate developer being like that guy?
[00:15:36] Aaron: Yeah.
[00:15:37] Robert: I don't know, like, I'm still in the industry and I don't know many people that are like, well, this guy, just because usually it's run by institutions or these big REITs that control it and there's never really a face. It's like a board or a company or a public company. And that was a struggle because you always ask yourself, like, I wish I had somebody I could look up to, like, he did this, he did that, learn from his playbook.
[00:15:55] Robert: And it was like, really wasn't. So I mean, like for me, it was just, I would look at people that. We're the best in their game, whether it was Michael Jordan or, or Kobe Bryant and the work ethic. That's like the biggest thing that I, that I looked into people is like the work ethic. And I think that's one of the biggest fundamental issues with the younger generation right now.
[00:16:12] Robert: You want quick success. You want quick hits. Like, I'm going to put a million dollars in crypto and be a billionaire tomorrow. Like, f *** you, dude. Okay. Yeah. Maybe the one in a million will do that, but you have to actually struggle. You have to like, it's going to take years. Real estate is a long term play.
[00:16:24] Robert: It's one of the oldest professions in the world. And you're not just going to be an instantaneous millionaire. It doesn't work like that. You can scrawl quickly, but you need to learn the basics. You need to put in some serious hard f ***.
[00:16:35] Aaron: Definitely. Yeah, I've heard you say once, you know, anything that comes quick or easy, it's not going to last very long.
[00:16:40] Robert: Name me one thing in your life that comes easy that ends up having given you endless happiness from it. Nothing. It's like all the things that have lasted a long time, owning a home like this, or, or 15 f *** years to get there, and you have to put in the blood, sweat, and tears. If not, it's not going to last.
[00:16:56] Aaron: Yeah.
[00:16:57] Robert: Unless you got really lucky and bought Bitcoin or some shit, which if you did I'm jealous, but you know, that's it's it's it's it's it's the truth.
[00:17:04] Aaron: Yeah, no, and and I sort of apply that same principle to you know, content creation and social media strategy you can.
[00:17:12] Robert: Look at you. Why are you doing what you you want to find a different angle in the business?
[00:17:16] Aaron: Yeah.
[00:17:17] Robert: And that's what I that's what I did. It's yeah, you know, we everybody that becomes Rich or Creates Inventions. They're just finding a better angle.
[00:17:23] Aaron: Yeah.
[00:17:23] Robert: But it doesn't come overnight. It takes so much trial and error, so much exploration, um, and consistency. For sure.
[00:17:30] Aaron: You know, you cannot grow online without being consistent, and I think you're doing a great job at being consistent.
[00:17:35] Aaron: But there's so many people who get a little taste because, you know, platforms like TikTok and, um, you know, Instagram Reels give that little dopamine hit. And try and, you know, keep people involved by giving them, you know, a little bit of a, of a platform at times, you know, you get a video with 10, 000 views and you're like, Oh my God, this is amazing.
[00:17:57] Robert: Right.
[00:17:58] Aaron: But realistically, like that's not super valuable. That's not going to last. In order to create something, you got to do it over and over.
[00:18:04] Robert: Yeah. And the biggest, you know, fundamental issue with a lot of these people that, cause it's crazy. Like I have people that DM me that have millions of followers and you think like, Well, they must be super successful.
[00:18:13] Aaron: Yeah.
[00:18:14] Robert: They're not.
[00:18:15] Aaron: No.
[00:18:15] Robert: Because you're getting views, but what are you converting that to? How are you converting that to money? Yeah, you can get brand deals, you can get that stuff, but if you're trying to be a hundred millionaire or billionaire, there's very, very few people that are making content creation into a billion dollar industry for themselves as an individual.
[00:18:28] Aaron: A hundred percent.
[00:18:28] Robert: It's very difficult.
[00:18:29] Aaron: I am not one of those people. I'm trying to figure out how to get there. Right. Um, but, and yeah, I think this, this podcast is, is. The next step for me. Um, I think authenticity and value driven content is super important, and I critiquing myself, have not done enough of that.
[00:18:47] Aaron: So I hope to really provide a lot more value to my audience through this and be a bit more authentic. Be yourself and real. Yeah.
[00:18:55] Robert: Look, do you know I struggled with being myself for so many years? Because you're always scared of perception of your peers, right? Like, what if I walk into a listing and I, or for, for me, in a development and I'm sitting there with a bunch of tenants and I'm the.
[00:19:07] Robert: I'm a guy with the mohawk and the beard and I look the way I do and then everyone's in a suit and tie. And, and I was like, it was bad for a while. I was like, who the f*** is Joker? Is he serious? Is his dad rich? Like, who gave him the money? How dare he? And it got to the point where it's like, I just don't give a s*** anymore.
[00:19:22] Robert: And I think people appreciate that, you know? A lot of people are scared sometimes to be themselves because of what others have to say. And I just came to the point where like, I just don't give a s*** anymore. And accept me for who I am and watch me by my results and appreciate my results versus judging me on appearance.
[00:19:35] Aaron: Yeah.
[00:19:36] Robert: And frankly, it's just, it is what it is at this point. And I think social media helps further, you know, implicate that to really show what you've done. Because a lot of people talk it could be a game, but if you can prove it day in and day out, if you're coming here and adding value for people, that's what's most important and what people appreciate.
[00:19:50] Aaron: Totally. Yeah, I completely agree. So you mentioned you've only been putting a lot of effort into your content creation for, you know, a little over a year now. Um, what was, you know, the inspiration behind that? What was the catalyst behind, okay, I want to create more of a, you know, personal brand online and create content?
[00:20:07] Robert: Great question. Um, a couple of different aspects. So like I mentioned earlier, in commercial real estate, it was never a sexy, fun, public social media thing. Nobody really cared. Um, but whenever I, you know, made a very big pivot, I almost sold. Half of my portfolio during COVID and made a pivot because I was worried about what the economy was going to happen during COVID and I happened to stumble upon the city that, you know, I ended up falling in love with now that I moved to, which is Miami and Miami is a very social media geared city.
[00:20:36] Robert: And, you know, you'd see a lot of people posting about going out to events and parties and, and, and, and having a good time. And the sector that I got into was hospitality. So something just clicked where I'm like. Okay, what if I can start leasing these properties and make showing my properties as fun and exciting things and maybe that will get tenants attention because they could think this is the next hotspot.
[00:20:57] Aaron: Yeah.
[00:20:57] Robert: And, you know, call it luck, call it madness. It worked out. Um, I'm probably the largest hospitality developer now in Miami and what people really look forward to is this whole, like, what's Robert's next thing? What's he going to show on social media? And a lot of the times now for leasing purposes, which is what it turned into the most part is.
[00:21:17] Robert: A funnel for, for I got, I don't need brokers all the time now for some deals. Someone just hit me up and say, Rob, I love this property. I want it. Or people will say, Hey, look, God, look at what Robert did at that corner. That was so ugly. And a developer would hit me up and say, Hey, let's collaborate. Let's partner.
[00:21:31] Robert: I'll sell you my ground floor condo retail. So that way you can make my apartment building above me sexier. Yeah. So it was a business funnel for me, um, for getting deals. And the exposure of like, well, what if I, what if somebody in Texas sees my social media account and has a property that I'm not thinking about, that he wants me to come collaborate on, that makes money for me.
[00:21:50] Robert: Well, how am I gonna get to that person? Social media. There's just no other way. Like, the grassroots marketing of pounding on the pavement or just putting up stuff on, uh, on articles online. It's not nearly as intriguing. You can't get nearly as many eyeballs. Because not only do you have to get the eyeballs of that person that could bring the business, but what if their son or their brother's watching something like.
[00:22:11] Aaron: Exactly.
[00:22:11] Robert: Look at this guy. You should link up with this guy. Like, I've had so many collaborations, but you should link up with this guy because I saw him on Instagram or something and that's what it is. It's eyeballs.
[00:22:20] Aaron: Yeah, you just never know who's watching your content.
[00:22:23] Robert: You never, you never know. And then I had a little birdie in my ear, my wife, um, who I, you know, I give a lot of my success and, uh, and thanks to for, for pushing me.
[00:22:32] Robert: Uh, because like, Rob, you're, you're polarizing. You don't realize, like, you have a polarizing figure. I'm like, what do you mean? I'm just a guy. Like, what are you talking about? It's like, no. You need to, you need to do this, and, um, it, you know, it worked out great. Could've gone really bad, right, cause you can expose yourself and people, like, don't get me wrong, I have people talking shit about me all the time, like, Daddy's money, he looks like a buffoon, he looks like this guy from Street Fighter, whatever the fuck it is, like, it's cool, haters ain't gonna hate.
[00:22:56] Aaron: How do you overcome that? You know, negative talk and...
[00:23:01] Robert: I let my bank account talk for me. I let my success talk for me.
[00:23:05] Aaron: There you go.
[00:23:05] Robert: Like, haters are going to hate. And you haters as fuel. Like, haters are going to want to see your demise. And it's great. It's like, look, talk all the s*** you want while you're sitting at your couch, uh, watching TV and getting fat and doing nothing with your life.
[00:23:18] Robert: Like, and that's kind of like the mentality I have. Like, if you're doing good work, let your work speak for itself. You know, I'm not there bashing and retweeting or whatever with people and going at it with them because you're bored. Like, I let my work and my, and, and the fan base that, that is supporting and is like, there's so many people that are like, Robert, you're my inspiration being, you know, in your thirties, young thirties.
[00:23:38] Robert: 'cause most of these real estate guys in their fifties and sixties. Yeah. It's, you're in your thirties, you're being yourself. Uh, thank you for showing me the path. I want to do it in my own way. And that gives me inspiration. So I pay attention to that, not the nonsense background noise..
[00:23:51] Aaron: Have you ever, you know, seriously questioned yourself, like, am I doing the right thing here?
[00:23:57] Aaron: Am I heading in the right direction with content or, or commercial real estate? I'm just curious, you know, some of some, you know, speed bumps or anything that made you have a second thought and sort of like how you overcame those.
[00:24:12] Robert: I question myself every single day of my life. I feel like every entrepreneur needs to question themselves to evolve because if you don't evolve, you'll die.
[00:24:20] Robert: It's Darwin's theory. And that's, you know, that's one of my main ways of success is making sure that I pay attention that Am I getting stagnant? Am I getting dull? Am I being the boring guy? Am I not always trying to evolve? And, and for me, that, you know, questioning yourself, like, Am I providing enough support for my team to be the best team that they can be, so that way I can be the best person that I can be?
[00:24:41] Robert: Am I remodeling the properties the best way for the community so that they'll love it? Am I reaching out to the community enough? You always have to ask yourself these questions in order to keep being the better version of yourself. And look, there's roadblocks all the time. There's tons of times where I've made mistakes.
[00:24:55] Robert: My goddammit and like instead of getting hard on myself, which I do for the most part you learn from those mistakes quickly
[00:25:02] Aaron: Yeah.
[00:25:03] Robert: Very quickly. And then like they're like for example, I bought this property in San Diego go on a tangent for a second I didn't realize that I should get a certain environmental report to test for it being an Indian burial site
[00:25:15] Aaron: Hmm.
[00:25:15] Robert: How the f*** am I supposed to know to test for it?
[00:25:18] Robert: Like you'll test for your standard, you know contamination issue this that the other was an Indian burial site And there's like arrowheads or stuff on the side. I had no idea. Come to find out that you have to go through special testing, that'll take a year, cost me over half a million dollars, and I had to pay an Indian reservation to come on site, pay them 10, 000 a month just to monitor the construction of the work.
[00:25:38] Robert: This whole debacle cost me 2 million. Extra on the project. Almost wiped out my entire profit margin. I was questioning everything that I thought I was as a developer that how'd you miss this, how'd you not catch this. All these things just went through my head. But what I learned from it is that you're only human.
[00:25:53] Robert: You're gonna make mistakes. It's just don't make the mistakes twice. And that's the key. Make the mistake once, and don't be afraid to ask questions. Like every time when it comes to buying properties, well now I have an entire legal team. So I learned from that mistake real fast. I have two attorneys on staff now.
[00:26:08] Robert: So anytime there's anything kind of questioning, now I have my people now that will say, okay, watch out for this, watch out for that because, if you think you're going to be an entrepreneur in your company, and you're going to be the smartest at every single position, you're a moron. And that's the one thing where people are like, I can do it better than anyone.
[00:26:22] Robert: Well, no, you're just an idiot in not hiring the right people. So I hire people that are smarter than me in every single position to make sure they watch out for things that they've been practicing for 20 years or 30 years because I'm not going to know certain things about the law or like this situation.
[00:26:36] Robert: So, you know, learn from your mistakes. Don't be afraid to ask questions and don't be afraid to hire the right team. I keep like, I'm impressed that having the right team is the most important thing to, to create the future for yourself because if you think it'd be a one man show and become a billionaire, It's never going to happen.
[00:26:51] Aaron: Yeah. I think you're totally correct. And I think it's a testament to who you are and, and you being sort of humble and recognizing you don't have all the answers. You don't know it all. So why not surround yourself with people who may have, you know, more expertise in one thing that you may not, you know, fully understand.
[00:27:11] Aaron: I think that's, you know. Every entrepreneur should take that into account, whatever they're building.
[00:27:17] Robert: You know, something that's, that's scary when you say question yourself and it's something I even questioned today because we're thinking about adding three more team members that a month ago I hadn't even thought about is, you know, having that balance of when you're an entrepreneur and the money's coming out of your bank account to hire a staff where like, can I really afford this extra hundred grand?
[00:27:34] Robert: Can I hire, can I afford this marketing person? Can I afford this, you know, this, this president of the company and handle day to day? You really have to think about taking a step back and saying, If I don't hire these people, I'll never be able to grow, and I'm getting in my own way.
[00:27:49] Aaron: Yeah.
[00:27:49] Robert: And like, don't be penny foolish, make a little bit less, and especially if you're trying for growth.
[00:27:53] Robert: Like growth, like, we did 250 million dollars in deals last year. And it's my own shop. I don't, like I said, I don't raise money. And it's like, okay, well, if I'm gonna do that kind of growth, why am I not gonna spend an extra couple hundred grand on a couple other employees to help that team's growth?
[00:28:07] Aaron: Yeah.
[00:28:07] Robert: And I still struggle with that. It's like, do I really need another person? Can I just do it myself?
[00:28:11] Aaron: Yeah.
[00:28:11] Robert: And then, like, you have that mentality in your head, but I, I'll, like, I'll begin to tell you, like, you will exhaust yourself, you will burn out. And that's the one thing in real estate where you see a lot of real estate guys are like, We get gray fast, we get exhausted, we get tired because it's always a constant grind.
[00:28:23] Robert: It's never nine to five. We don't have a nine to five job.
[00:28:25] Aaron: No, it never stops.
[00:28:27] Robert: 24 7. So whatever you can do to be the best version of yourself and give the things that are probably below your pay grade, let's call it, to other people, that's the best like advice I can give to any entrepreneur.
[00:28:36] Aaron: Yeah, no, I think that's smart. And yeah, someone like me who's newer in the, you know, luxury real estate space trying to make it, there's a lot of money on the table. And sometimes I'm confident enough to be like, okay, I can handle this transaction on myself, or I can, you know, secure this listing on myself. Um, but I recognize there are people who have been doing it a lot longer than me, i. e. my team leader, like Aaron Kerman, you know, one of the biggest agents in the world. Yeah, I'd lose half of my commission if I brought him on. But, I, I, I'm trying to, you know, remember that I'm still new at this and 50 percent of something is much better than 0 percent of, you know.
[00:29:14] Robert: I heard, I have my saying and I heard a very good saying that I say all the time, pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered.
[00:29:20] Robert: So, keep making money and keep always making money versus being greedy and it's better to have a slice of a watermelon than a grape. I like that. You know, and it's the truth because would I rather have 10 percent of a 5 billion dollar company or 100 percent of a 100 million dollar company? And it's like, there's only so much you can go and scale on your own.
[00:29:38] Robert: It's just, it's, it's just that difficult, especially in an industry. That's not a tech industry like ours. Our s***s slow paced. You want to close the deal? It's going to take 60 days, 90 days, 120 days. And it takes time and it's, and it's, and it's a tough struggle.
[00:29:52] Aaron: Definitely. Switching gears. I'm super curious. What has your worst investment been?
[00:29:58] Robert: God, that's a good question. Uh, the worst investment has ever been that property that I got my ass handed to me because of the, yeah, it was a bad situation. Yeah, I put like 10 million dollars into a deal and I ended up making like a million bucks. And it sucked. And it just, it was, it was bad.
[00:30:12] Robert: Thankfully, I've never lost money on a single deal in my entire life. That's amazing. So I like to keep that track record. Um, but that one was, that was, that was, it wasn't only the money, it was like, it was the pain and the suffering that you had to go through. Emotionally draining. It was emotionally draining.
[00:30:25] Robert: It wiped me out. Um, and, and those are the tough ones, but again, like, I'm thankful for it because when, when you learn things and you obtain that knowledge and don't make mistakes again, it changes the game.
[00:30:36] Aaron: A hundred percent. So what has been your most lucrative investment thus far?
[00:30:41] Robert: So like, what, on cash on cash, purchase price, total dollar amount?
[00:30:46] Robert: God, the most lucrative investment. Um, well, I'll start off from the beginning of time. Whenever I first got into commercial real estate, um, I put 700, 000 down on a deal. Um, this was back in like the early 2010s and stuff, whenever banks were just handing away properties. They're like, Robert, this property's suffering, we need someone to take it over, take it off our books.
[00:31:05] Robert: I'm like, cool, I'll buy it. Um, I put 700 grand down, it was a 3. 7 million purchase price. I spent about a million bucks in change on it and sold it for like 15 million bucks. So I made 10 million on like a 700, 000 investment and it took me like two and a half years. So I was like the biggest like cash on cash home run I'd probably ever hit in my entire life.
[00:31:23] Aaron: That's awesome.
[00:31:24] Robert: Yeah, but um, those days are far gone, um, uh, but no, like look, the shopping center world is very lucrative, thank God, I've made a very comfortable living, and um, I love my industry more because it's very hard, it's a barrier of entry for a lot of people to get into. Yeah. Right, like I feel very bad for you residential guys.
[00:31:39] Robert: It's like everybody sprouts up one day, I want to be a broker, and all the shows that came out, everyone's like a broker, and this, and that, it's like,
[00:31:45] Aaron: I have no idea.
[00:31:46] Robert: When was the last show you saw about like commercial real estate leasing and sales?
[00:31:49] Aaron: Yeah. So no totally and that's what I respect about you is as you've mentioned multiple times Commercial real estate not the most sexy thing out there residential real estate definitely more sexy But you know, you're you are making commercial real estate sexy.
[00:32:03] Aaron: Thank you. Like you you truly are doing.
[00:32:05] Robert: Be careful I'm coming for residential. I got a house on carbon beach. I'm flipping.
[00:32:08] Aaron: I love it Yeah, I mean that's that's what drew me to residential is I I felt as if there was more room for creativity
[00:32:16] Robert: Look, so like I said, I'm, I'm building and designing a house right now.
[00:32:19] Robert: It's 40 million bucks on carbon beach. And I, you know, I used to talk a lot of shit to people in residential, like you're just, you're developing a house. Like, give me a break. It's a joke. And I bought the house because of a dare. My friend, I bought a 20 million house because my friend dared me to know what my friend said, you are incapable of doing a house redevelopment.
[00:32:39] Robert: You won't be successful and you won't make money. Three weeks later, I bought a 20 million house on Carbon beach.
[00:32:44] Aaron: Yeah, I mean, beachfront property is as difficult as they, you know, come. Dealing with Coastal Commission here.
[00:32:49] Robert: Coastal Commission, this issue, that. So we gutted the house to the studs. I'm putting close to a thousand bucks a foot into this house because, like, I want to be a creative person.
[00:32:58] Robert: The problem with residential is being creative is very expensive.
[00:33:01] Aaron: Yeah.
[00:33:02] Robert: Like, marble slabs, and, and this finish, and that finish, and the door handles, and the flooring type, and we're building, like, a second floor jacuzzi overhanging a pond. Like, all this dysfunctional stuff because I want to be creative.
[00:33:13] Robert: Like, my f *** kitchen's costing me 300, 000. Like, you're throwing out these kinds of money where, like, for 300, 000, I can remodel an entire shopping center with ease. And I give a lot of credit for residential developers. It's not that easy. No. It is, it's really not.
[00:33:26] Aaron: Yeah.
[00:33:26] Robert: And these cities are mad, and they're slow, and it's depressing.
[00:33:30] Aaron: Yeah, LA building here right now is just, it's a nightmare.
[00:33:33] Robert: It's a nightmare.
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[00:34:37] Aaron: So, doing the Carbon Beach House, what's, what's next for Robert Rivani? Like, I know you're now living in, in Miami. You're selling this place in Beverly Hills. What's, what's, you
[00:34:48] Aaron: know, on the horizon for you?
[00:34:49] Robert: Yeah, I mean, it's going to be a mixed bag of everything, um, I always try to stick to what I know best, but with the markets always constantly changing, you know, me buying a house out of Newark on Carbon Beach was completely out of left field for the, the, the company, but...
[00:35:01] Robert: Um, just continuously expanding in an intelligent way in a volatile market. For me, I love recessions. Like, I'm like giddy right now. It's like, people are like, oh, the market, it's like my time to shine, baby. Like, let's do this. Like, this is exciting. Um, so the, you know, growing the hospitality part of the business, which is really big.
[00:35:16] Robert: We just last week bought a deal from the, um, the King of Qatar, which is really exciting to be able to do a deal with, you know, something that's awesome. Um, so blowing up the hospitality brands out South Florida. That's, you know, one part of the business that I'm super excited about. The big power centers and shopping centers, um, which, you know, was my bread and butter.
[00:35:35] Robert: Residential homes, I don't know, man. It's, uh, after this experience, it's been, it's been kind of tough. Um, but the future is, you know, growing the social brand is a big part of it. Continuously that, because that opens up doors. Like us sitting here right now, we would have probably never met if it wasn't for social media.
[00:35:48] Robert: And it's continuing to open up those doors, you know. TV shows, maybe building my own hotel, something along those lines. Fashion line. Wherever the world will take me.
[00:35:56] Aaron: I love it. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for being on the show. Really appreciate it.
[00:36:01] Robert: Thank you.
[00:36:01] Aaron: Pleasure meeting you. I will definitely be, uh, following your journey.
[00:36:05] Robert: I appreciate it. You gotta come out to Miami and see how it's better than L. A.
[00:36:07] Aaron: Absolutely. No, I, shoot, I love Miami. I visit whenever I can. Um, it's been a minute, but yeah. L. A. is not the easiest place to live in right now, but, look, this is home. Uh, I stand by L. A. and, uh, we'll see how long that lasts, but...
[00:36:21] Robert: Appreciate your time, brother.
[00:36:22] Aaron: Thanks, man. Appreciate it.
[00:36:23] Robert: Thanks.