#3 You Are Limitless with HGTV’s Seth O Byrne
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Itunes – www.TonyJavier.com/itunes
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Guest Bio: Seth O Byrne is a luxury Realtor that specializes in Multi-Million Dollar luxury homes. He is the star of HGTV’s Hop Properties San Diego.
More about him – www.TonyJavier.com/sethobyrne
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Show Transcription:
Tony (00:01):
Alright. Cool. Alright. We have Mr. Seth O Byrne on the line. Seth is a rockstar mega agent who sells a lot of multimillion-dollar houses in San Diego. He’s also the star of HGTVs Hot Property San Diego, almost forgot the name. Seth is an awesome guy. You’re going to love it. We have some good stuff for us. So what is going on with you today? Seth?
Seth (00:25):
I’m here, man. I am, uh, I’m excited to be on this. Uh, had a good breakfast, uh, did some pushups. I’ve been watching actually some reruns from HGTV and I realized I needed to work on my pectoral muscles and my, my dad bods. So, uh, I actually have been very much seriously, you know, working out every day. So I got a good workout in, life is good. We’re, we’re selling a lot of Real Estate right now, even in, you know, in a weird 2020 markets.
Tony (00:52):
So I, uh, I’m trying to religiously take my mornings very seriously. So it’s been a good, but good, good start to the day. Awesome man. So a little backstory set that I met last year, we were selling a house in San Diego and got in contact with him, immediately, you know, loved him and his team there. They were awesome. Uh, and we’ve become friends, uh, through the whole process and stayed in touch. And, uh, you know, I think at the point that we met, you were getting ready to start filming, I believe you were filming at the time. So tell us a little bit about how you got started real estate, how you got the show, I guess just tell us, you know, your background and we’ll kind of go from there.
Seth (01:32):
Yeah, yeah, for sure. For sure. Yeah. So, um, you know, I got into real estate sort of backwards, um, which is probably the way that most people find themselves in real estate. Um, I knew I wanted to, uh, be in business in some capacity. Uh, I came down to the university of San Diego, you know, I started taking courses in, um, you know, in English, I’m a creative writer. It’s actually become a big part of my real estate practice straight writing, but I really love creative writing. I love literature, I love sharing stories. And so I came down to the university of San Diego and you know, started studying, um, English with a business minor because I needed sort of a parachute should, uh, you know, this whole idea of becoming an English professor in a knitted sweater, didn’t pan out. And, uh, a couple years into school at the university of San Diego. I had a friend who encouraged me to get a weekend job for beer money, basically, you know, making coffee for real estate agents. And so I did it and I loved it. And, uh, it was a great way to make a, you know, a couple bucks every weekend. And, uh, it was, it became like a ritual of mine. You know, every, every Saturday morning I would wake up at 6:00 AM and I would go, you know, you know, I would, I would wash off whatever beer bong beer was on me. I would put on, you know, my dad’s suit that he lend me right. When I went off to college every Saturday and Sunday wear the same stupid suit. And, and I would, uh, you know, sit at the front desk of this office, where they were selling $10 million, $20 million homes. And, uh, I would, you know, listen to national public radio and do creative writing. And then when people would walk in, I would say, can I get you a coffee?
Seth (03:23):
But because I was around all these people, um, that were in the residential real estate world, and these were really diverse, interesting people that all had these really wonderful backstories. Um, and they were very, very successful. Um, I got very interested, but I got interested in the same way. I get interested in everything because I’m a storyteller. I loved the stories. You know, these were, you know, Housewives that went through horrible divorces and had to try to make something of themselves and become the sole breadwinner for their children. And they went out and they became overnight successes and household names in real estate. These were, you know, there was a woman there that barely spoke English. That was from Japan. She came over, um, under some pretty, uh, wild means to get here to San Diego and had nothing, no money and nothing to show for herself when she came here from Japan. Um, and then very quickly became the go to for the entire community, uh, in the basically mid nineties, all the way to the mid two thousands. She became, if you were, if you were coming from Asia, any Asian country, and you wanted to buy something in San Diego County, she was the woman that you called and she spoke multiple languages and she became a wildly successful person. Um, all the way to, you know, there was a guy out of our office that was completely blind and he sold $15 million a year in real estate. And he could never see the things he was selling. And I thought to myself, what a wonderful industry, where everyone came to the table with their own baggage. But if you were willing to just work through whatever challenges you had, you could become a success in this business. And to me, I, I loved that about real estate. To me, that felt just universally American, this idea that you could become something from nothing. And so, um, I quickly got really fascinated about the idea and I thought to myself, well, maybe I could do this. And, and then I started realizing what it would cost to stay in San Diego when I was out of college. And I said, maybe I need to do this.
Tony (05:34):
That’s super interesting because, you know, we talk a lot or I talk a lot about surrounding yourself with the right people. And so you just happen to be in a place where you had success with people, you were seeing multimillion dollar houses being sold. You were seeing people that, you know, maybe didn’t have, you know, someone that was blind, someone that was from out of the country. I mean, these people didn’t have nessasarily a hand up and they somehow figured out how to make money in real estate. So what would happen, do you think if you wouldn’t have been immersed in that? I mean, where do you think it would have led you, had you not gotten exposed to that?
Seth (06:10):
Well, you know, I definitely think I probably would have stayed on my path. I think I woulduh, you know, hopefully if things went well for me, I would be at a call, you know, It’d be at a university right now, you know, teaching, you know, Chaucer or teaching, you know, Ernest Hemingway, I think I would be teaching kids about literature and I think I would be very happy, honestly. I think, I think it would be very happy. Yeah. I do believe that there would be a piece missing in me that I have now, which is this entrepreneurial spirit where, you know, Real estate really became a, um, a, a launchpad to explore all these other things. Um, and I think that I would become, you know, I don’t think I would have ever been as fulfilled as I am today. Absolutely not. Yeah. I don’t think I’d be living under a bridge or, you know, or selling Oranges on the side of the freeway. But I do, I do think I would be in a very different place than if I got involved in real estate and entrepreneurship. Right.
Tony (07:12):
But you’re a smart guy. I’m sure. At some point, even if you were making the amount of money that you wanted to make, you would’ve taken that and figured something out with it. Cause you know, a lot of people say, well, I can’t do, you know, I can’t make money at XYZ because of whatever. You know, someone said it pretty well. They’re like, if you like talking to people, how do you make money with it? Well, Oprah Winfrey became a multibillionaire by talking to people and doing it well. Right. So really you just gotta do what you do well and, and figure out how to, how to make a good living out of it. So, um, so one of the things that I loved about working with you and your team is that you, I guess your, I don’t wanna say philosophy, but the way that your team worked is similar to how my real estate team works. And the fact that, um, you know, I’m, I’m pretty hands off now. You’re very hands on and meeting your clients. But when we met, you came and looked at the house, you evaluated our house. And then from that time until the house closed, like, I didn’t talk to you that much, you know, I dealt with your team, right. You stepped in when you need it to, when you felt like, Hey, something might be going wrong or inspect, you know, that kind of thing. So tell us how you developed that. Because a lot of people, especially in real estate, they work nights and weekends, they do every single thing in their business. And that’s one of the things that I love teaching and, uh, getting to other business owners, especially those real estate is how to develop a team to do most of the work for you. And you do what you’re good at, which for you is meeting with clients and, and having that interaction. You’re not a paper kind of guy from what I can tell. So tell us how you evolved into that. Like, is that something you came up with, did you learn that from someone else? Tell us about that.
Seth (08:56):
I am a social creature. Um, I have gotten a little bit more introverted as I’ve gotten older, but I am a wildly extroverted person. And so, um, that helped me in real estate because real estate is the business of enjoying your time that you spend with people and being good to people and having fun with people and people going. I like the experience of being, I like how I feel when I’m around this person, I would like to buy something with them or sell something with them. So that helped me, that also instructed how I sold real estate because being a very extroverted person, I don’t like playing, you know, I need to play team sports, right? I have to be around other people. So, you know, when you get into residential real estate, you very quickly learn that it is much more difficult to succeed than you thought it was and you, you also realize that that is a very lonely thing to be involved in your failure is really tough to experience on your own, you know, but if you fail and you can call someone and they can give you, you know, some, some thoughtful words or, uh, they’ve got access to a really nice liquor cabinet, um, you, you can get through really horrible failures with friendship. And so I very quickly was like, listen, I need people around me where I can, you know, I can, you know, shoulders to cry on. And, and also people to help inspire me. So I very quickly, like I got my real estate license in 2004 and, and about 60 days later, I hired my first buyer’s agent. And I had never even sold a home. She, by the way, at the time had no idea that I’d never sold a real estate. I was walking the walk and talking the talk, but I had no idea what I was doing. Um, and then I hired my first assistant and I, I didn’t have, I didn’t have two months of her salary saved up. I literally, at the end of the next month, if I didn’t sell something, she was out right. And an escrow is 30 days. So that means I was like, I got four weeks to make sure I don’t fire this person and my buyer’s agents going to quit on me. Right. So I think, um, I was very gutsy in the beginning and, but when it came to, you know, the formation of the team and really treating this like a business that can run on its own, um, I just didn’t like playing the sport of salesmanship on my own. And so I think the comradery was what got me into it, but what kept me in it was it gave me the freedom to also enjoy my life. And as someone who is really enamored by stories and literature and this, you know, the passion for life, you cannot enjoy the good things in life. If you’re always working now, I am kind of working a lot, but when I work, I get to now have the freedom to do the things I, and when I want to turn it off and enjoy life, um, my team allows me to do that. So, um, I, I had my first employee before I had my first transaction. So if that tells you how much I’m committed to the idea of, you know, having a team around me, I mean, that’s, I dunno what tells you that better?
Tony (12:12):
No, that’s awesome. You had a vision before you even really, uh, really did your, your first transaction. That’s, that’s pretty sweet. Cause you know, like I said, a lot of, a lot of, um, a lot of realtors they in, in businesses in general. So I keep saying kind of real estate, but business in general, they, they wear so many hats and they feel like they have to, I mean, I was there and you, you said something that really resonated because when, when I went through a tough time, in 2010, I had to fire my whole staff. And at that point I didn’t really have anybody to lean on at that point, you know? And, and then I had a rocky point a little bit later in my career and it was much easier cause I had really good people that were surrounding me, uh, to help lift me up and kind of get me back on my feet a lot quicker. So that kind of resonated when you said that having like failing with people is a lot better than failing on your own. So having those good people to pick you up and, you know, give you a shout, a whiskey and say, let’s, let’s get going and make this thing happen. Right.
Seth (13:09):
Yeah. A hundred percent. And like, you know, I think that, um, you know, I always believe that nothing in life that’s worth doing is worth doing alone. You know, I enjoy my quiet time, but I think generally life is a team sport and so business should be no different.
Tony (13:28):
Yeah. Well, good stuff, man. So what, what are some other keys to success? So obviously, you know, you’ve got a great personality, so, you know, you know, we were attracted to you right away. It was like, you could just tell that you were just fun to be around and had good spirit. Um, you know, you’ve got a great team. Like what else has, I guess, gotten you to where you are now?
Seth (13:49):
Yeah. So I outwork the people I compete with all day long. Like you just, it’s really hard to compete with someone who just won’t quit. Like, I just work and I work and I work and I work and I work in work. And, you know, I think, that is something that people love making like, memes about and posting on Instagram about hard work and hustle. And they love listening to like Tony Robbins or like Gary Vaynerchuk podcasts, and they get really jacked up. Um, but it’s really different when you’re hardwired to work and I’m just hardwired to work. I don’t stop until I’m done. And, and I think that’s another thing is like, you know, when I was younger, I wasn’t wired the same way. I had a lot of books that were like half read in my life. Um, both literally and figuratively, I didn’t have a problem without finishing things. Something snapped in my head. And I don’t know when it happened. Exactly. Can’t pinpoint it perfectly. although it’d be a much better story. If I can tell you this one day it happened, but it just, something happened where I just have to finish things. I start, I have to complete them. And, um, it, it’s funny cause I was just on, uh, on the phone with, my business partner, Mia Tidwell, and we were talking about this undertaking. We have a new show that we’re producing for Amazon and we’re in the middle of doing it and we’re producing the show and hosting the show. And so there’s a lot of work that goes into this, um, by the way, in the middle of selling like 12 houses a month. So I mean, this is, you know, this is a lot of workload and, um, you know, I told her, I go, you know, what’s so funny is I feel like with success partially the most successful people have some really crazy things going on in their head. And their work is actually just a symptom of like a mental disorder. And, and I’m one of those people. I never wanted to admit it, but I really am one of those people where I have, you know, I just have to do stuff. I have to make stuff. I have to create stuff. I have to feel like I’m accomplishing things. Like I measure my life based on what have I done recently that brought something new into the world. I want to make things out of nowhere. And so, um, I think when you’re hardwired that way you just, you don’t measure your effort like other people do.
Seth (16:19):
And the best example I’ve ever given was I was on a podcast recently. And I said, do you remember when you were young and you were like 10 years old and you had really great abs, well, you had really great abs because you didn’t love eating. You just ate because you needed to like, you needed energy. And then you, you, you exercising, you, weren’t working out, we’re playing on the jungle gym. Like you just played and played and played and played and played. And so in your mind, you, you didn’t, I see it as working out. You didn’t see it as the thing you had to do, like exercise was life playing was exercise and exercise was playing. Then suddenly something happens around our twenties or thirties where we go, I have to go to the gym and I can’t eat that extra cookie. And I have to go there for 30 minutes and I can’t be done at 20 minutes or 29 minutes. I have to be done at 30 minutes. And then I’ve got to do my cooldown. And then I’ve got like, you create all these artificial things around exercise and suddenly guess what? It’s not interesting exercising anymore. It sucks. It becomes a burden. And so what happens is your belly gets weird and your, you lose your cool ten-year-old abs. And so I think what’s interesting for me with work is I don’t categorize effort as this thing I have to do. I’ve gotten myself into a place where the thing I have to do is the thing I want to do. And so I don’t go, okay, I’ve put in my eight hours today, I go, I can’t to see this project through. And if I have to stay up till 4:00 AM or, you know, fake go to sleep with my wife at 10:00 PM and then, and then secretly wake up at 1:00 AM. So I can work on this project I’m excited about. I do that all the time, all the time, man. My wife’s always like, you know, I mean like some people worry about their husbands, like racing off to go meet a mistress. My wife’s like, are you really on the laptop again, dude, I can hear your typing, like let me sleep. And so, so for me, I found a way to do things. I love enough that again, I’m playing on jungle gym bars, right? I’m not, I’m no longer in a space in my life where I’m forcing myself to work so that I can bring home money so I can pay my electricity bill. And, and that is a really special place to be in life. And I think anyone who’s, you know, who is watching or listening, I think the first, the first key to success in my mind is do something you love doing. And if you don’t love what you’re doing, you should not spend more time getting good at something you hate. You should spend all of your effort trying to figure out how to do something you love.
Tony (18:53):
Yeah. So it’s interesting because a lot of what I teach in my mastermind events and my, anything I do with teaching and, and talking to entrepreneurs, it’s about working less. And the reason being typically is because they do so much in their business that they get like now, now you, and Tony Robbins and Oprah Winfrey, like these people that I see that work a lot that are energetic at the end of the day, that is different because you know, if you’re doing what you love, if you work 18 hours a day and you do what you love and you’re energized at the end of the day, there’s nothing wrong with that. Right. And so when I, when I was working 18 hours a day, uh, you know, 10 years ago, uh, it was me doing a lot of the things that I didn’t love to do. So if I worked an 18 hour day, I was tired. Like I was just wiped out, but I can now work. You know, I typically don’t work more than an eight hour day. I’ve just kind of wired myself. Finally, just say, you know what, I’m going to fit everything in eight hours. Yeah. I do work 10 to 12 hours by choice working on, you know, stuff that I love. I’m much more energized by the end of the day. So it’s kind of like, you’re, you’re touching on a lot of the things that I love seeing with, you know, entrepreneurs, you know, by, uh, doing what they love by having a great team behind them. So, you know, you’re talking about a lot of, a lot of stuff that, you know, I feel like people need to hear because you arrive Gary Vee, Chuck, and all those. They talk about grinding and being the first in, in the office and the last out and all that. And some of that is fine, but if you’re not loving it, man, it’s just, it’s going to wear away at you, no matter how much money you’re making and no matter how much you accomplish.
Seth (20:37):
Yeah. A hundred, a hundred percent. And you know, even with our 12 transactions a month, you know, you gotta remember, you know, I’ve now 16 employees. If I include my production team, that’s creating our content in our show. Like I spend probably an hour a day on hardcore transaction behind the scenes work and then probably two hours a day on communication. The rest of my day, I spent an hour this morning doing a video for Instagram story where I was juggling and talking about what’s going on in the market as a fun little thing to share on Instagram, that was an hour of work. Right. And I got, you know, over 2000 views of that video in less than three hours and including two direct messages for leads, I’m as excited about the lead as the fact that I was able to juggle for a minute and 26 seconds while I told everyone what’s going on in the marketplace. That gives me joy. So is that work? Yes. Does it have an economic payout? Yes. Is it silly that I got, I’m getting paid to juggle on camera? Yes, it’s weird. But I found a weird way where my weirdness could, could create economic values. So I think, I think social media for me is a real key here because, um, I like having a voice. I love sharing a voice. I love using that voice for, to make people laugh, to make people think something. And when I’m in that lane again, that is, I would rather spend my personal time doing that than most of the things I do in my personal time, other than hanging out with my family. So, you know, if I, if I didn’t have a wife and kids I’d be working 20 hour days because I found something I truly love, I just know, as a responsibility of a parent and a husband, like you gotta shut it down. Right.
Tony (22:25):
Yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah. So, you know, I’m kind of the same way where I only work. I probably only work about five hours of my core business a week and I spend the rest of the time on stuff like this and creating new businesses and creativity. So, you know, it’s, it’s interesting how you can take something that kind of boosts up where you need to be and gives you that foundation, that platform. And then you can take the extra time if you set it up, right. To be able to do more things that you love, that inspire you, that motivate you. Cause you’re, you’re inspired a lot of people. I mean, whether you, whether you know it or not, I mean, you mean on your TV show, you putting your stuff on social media, like you’re inspiring people and you, it’s probably more fulfilling than selling a house. Right.
Seth (23:15):
It really is and I think the thing that, that I’ve had to be somewhat sensitive towards is as I’m now in these kinds of these, these other verticals, um, which, which are exciting to me because I love new things, you know, uh, I have to be a little bit sensitive to just making sure that my database and my sphere of influence don’t believe that I’ve left the world of real estate. And you know, I’ve worked really hard in the last couple of months and I’ve done a lot of work in the last of weeks that that is centered around, Hey, like I’m not a public speaker, I’m not, you know, I’m not a TV host. Um, I’m not a television producer, um, which I am all of those things, but like I’m a real estate agent at my core. Right.I’m a guy, right? I’m a husband, I’m a wife and I’m a realtor and it’s like in that order. Right. And so, and then all these other things are really great, but they’re, but I need to remind my database that those things are, those things are supportive and they’re ancillary to helping people buy and sell real estate. Um, but you know, as an aside, yes, I love being a public speaker. I love inspiring people through social media and absolutely 100% I am a person just because of the way I’m wired. It is more gratifying to me to get these messages that I get on social media from, you know, I just got one from a guy who, you know, is a transgender black man in San Francisco who saw me on Instagram a couple of years ago. I agreed to have coffee with him and talk him through him, wanting to get into residential real estate as a transgender African-American at the time man, now, woman. Not only did I take that lunch and bought hi,m lunch at the university club, which is obviously a really fancy place in downtown San Diego, which I thought would really inspire him to think about what success could feel like. But, um, you know, I’ve been, he’s been steadily following my content over the last couple of years. He’s like you having your own voice has helped me create my own voice. He sent me this wonderful direct message. And he goes, you don’t know how much you have changed my life just by you being you and you being, you gives me permission to be me and, um, dude, there’s no dollars that will ever touch that. Um and to me, yes, that is much more gratifying. I still have to remember that I sell real estate because I also have my own life I need to fund. And I also really have a passion for selling homes and working with clients, but like, yeah, dude, that I was like, I’m even saying it I’m almost like tearing up right now. Like I literally almost cried when I read it. It was, it was so beautiful.
Tony (26:01):
Yeah. That’s sweet man. So, let’s transition to the TV show. So Hot Properties San Diego.. So if you guys haven’t DVR to DVR, it’s actually pretty cool show. So like some of their shows are kind of, you know, they’re cheesy, they’re dramatic and you can tell.. I think your guys are really authentic. So I really appreciate that part of it. So tell us about that. So like, you know, I hear a lot of people in the real estate industry, you know, they, they want to have their own show. Right. That’s like the Holy grail of like making it, people feel like, so I guess tell us about that. Like, what did that feel like? Was it as good as you thought it was going to be? What, like, would you do it again? And if you did, what would you do differently? I guess?
Seth (26:45):
Yeah. So, Uh, it was significantly more work than I ever imagined. It would be like, I absolutely misunderstood the commitment we were making when we signed that contract with, um, HGTV and discovery channel management, cause the discovery channel owns HGTV and, um, it, along with another like 48 other channels. And, and so when, when I signed up for it, the excitement was huge because you know, I had for a very long time, I’ve always gotten this million dollar listing guy in San Diego, or you should have your own TV show and you know, you hear that over and over and over. And you’re like, yeah, no one else thinks that, but thanks unless you’re a network executive, uh, I’ll take the compliment, but it’s not going where. So I had filmed for three different shows over the last seven years. And then when painless productions approached us, they’re from Los Angeles when they approached us, um, they approached us because of all the video content that I create. And they’re like, you guys do fun stuff and you’re funny. And I think you’re approachable and you guys sell really fabulous multimillion dollar homes, but there’s something about you. It doesn’t feel douchey and HGTV wants to show high end real estate and the people around high end real estate in a way that’s not million dollar listing. Right. And, and by the way, I know the people on both shows on million dollar listing. And I think they’re wonderful human beings. I actually have really positive things to say about all of them. I personally absolutely look up to Ryan Serhant . I think he’s an amazing, amazing human being, um, and Fredrik Eklund as well as just incredible. And, but you know, they wanted to cut out the phony drama and they wanted to, to cut out the manufactured scenes and which would mean rather than filming a show in one month, they would film a show over eight months and they would wait for the situations actually occur when there was real humor. It was humor from us. It was a completely unscripted show. The scenes were, um, very genuine and it was a very real show. So, um, but it took eight months to capture all that, right. Rather than just pack in pack, you know, really the people are million dollar listing are more like actors, right. We were like really doing our job. Um, and so we created some, some of course manufactured situations, but the scenes, no one was telling us to say things and, and, uh, I felt good.
Tony (29:22):
And you could tell, you know, there’s some shows you can just tell, but I could, you know, you could tell that they’re manufactured. Right. I can tell you guys were just out there having fun and doing your thing. So…
Seth (29:30):
Yeah, a hundred percent. So yeah, when we got the opportunity, I was really excited when we had worked really hard to get to this point in our career. And this was, felt like a crescendo where like, Oh my God, this is really it. Um, you know, then the filming started and we were like, this is really hard. You know, we had to wake up at 5:30 to 6:00 AM, um, and be camera ready by 7:00 AM, 7:30 AM on set. Um, and you know, and then when I started to try packing and working out, actually, you know, I’m waking up at 4:30, which is crazy for me.
Tony (30:02):
And you had your son and he was 1 year old at the time, maybe even a little bit.
Seth (30:06):
Yeah, though the day my kid was born, we were in the hospital for a couple of days. And then like a week later we found out there, picked us up for a whole season. And so, you know, and at that time, my public speaking career had taken off. So, you know, I, you know, I flew to 34 cities for public speaking tour all over America and we got our TV show and I bought into a media company, which I’m the executive producer of. And we were, you know, now consistently doing 10 transactions a month, all within the same moment that my child was born. And, uh, one, it forced me to cut out everything I needed to. I completely shifted a lot of things that I did. And two, it made me be very thoughtful about what, where I spent my time inside of my obligations. Um, and, uh, that was a really very, very abrupt and very steep learning curve for me. I mean, about, and about 60 days I became a TV host, national public speaker and executive producer of my own TV show, uh, and, and a father. And I, I don’t know if I’ll ever go through that much growth in one period of time in my life and, and, and it really, I can tell you, one thing it did is it caused me to really doubt myself, but when I got through all the end of it, I’ve never been more confident in myself. Um, so that was really great, you know, I was like, man, it’s like running a marathon, right? Like you’re in the middle of a marathon and you’re like, I can’t do it. And you doubt yourself, but then when you did it, you’re like, I can do anything. So it was excellent. So, you know, when, when we started filming, you know, it was, uh, you know, we filmed 900 hours in 2019. you know, we had our son in 2018, that’s when we found out we had the show. Um, and you know, our son was, you know, a handful of months old when we were, you know, when we were filming the show and, um, we filmed yeah, I think, 900 hours in 2019, um, and sold, you know, a hundred million dollars in real estate. And it was just a lot, dude. It was a lot. And I was, we were on construction sites and I was doing listing calls from the port-a-potty cause it was the only place where I wouldn’t affect the production team that was filming in the other, you know, in the garage or the front yard. I was like an, a smelly, port-a-potty talking to someone about a $6 million house though. Just this, the hi-jinks we got into were so silly. Um, but it was great and, you know, being TV, it’s something that I’ve always wanted because I think we have a really cool story and to have 25 million people see our show to have, you know, we were the top 50 cable show on cable television in 2019, you know, one of the most successful first seasons in HGTVs history ever. Um, those are all amazing. And then, you know, as life does, COVID hit. And, you know, as of right now, HGTVs on pause with most, if not all of their season one shows, including by the way, Extreme Makeover, which was the most expensive show HGTV has ever done. Um, they basically had to push pause on everything because you just physically can’t have that many people in a space at one time right now, because of this pandemic that we’re going through. Um, so it’s really interesting, dude. They say TV is, is a very tough industry and real estate is a tough industry. I don’t know how in the heck I decided to make two of these my life, but, they are both very tough. There’s a lot of failure in this business and, and just like in real estate television, your failure is not necessarily yours. You know, we, we are not filming season 2 because of a virus that I think came from Wu Han. I don’t know, you know, like, so it’s, you have to have a little bit of sense of humor as you go through these experiences. For sure.
Tony (34:06):
Yeah. So, you know, they say entrepreneurs, sometimes they just, you know, jump off a cliff and build wings on the way down. I see sometimes the way it is, man, you just got to jump into what, you know, you feel like is the right thing and what you want to do. And you know, if you’re tough, you figure it out. And if you don’t, that’s fine. You’ll, you know, you’ll find someone else eventually. So, but, uh, see the baby back there.
Seth (34:29):
Yeah, yeah. Baby’s back. Yeah, no, you’re completely right, man. I think one of the things with HGTV that I really got out of it that, that, you know, I was very real is, you know, I helped build this show as a content producer and as a producer, now for American dream TV, um, you know, HGTV saw me in a slightly different role and they’re like, Hey, you’re the on-camera talent. You’re the real estate agent. But like, you also know how to edit. You also know how to hold a camera. You also know all the technical aspects of filming, you know, even when, like when you and I worked together, like obviously like my lens, my lane is marketing through a camera. The camera is how we do everything now. And so, you know, when I could sit there and talk to them about, you know, literally talk to the DP about like, Hey, you know what, I think if you put the camera there, it might actually show this space a little bit better. Or guys, I have a funny idea for like, how to build this, this thing. Um, you know, what if I said this and, you know, if you’re like, that’s actually a great idea. And so what was cool about this? You know, and Mia and Andrew, my partners on the show were certainly just as involved, but for me, it was really fun because, you know, this is a, we, our show is a multimillion-dollar production. Um, you know, this is not a small production, there were 20 people on set every time we’d film. Um, w you know, for me to be able to be on the show, be the star of the show, and to be able to have actually a fingerprint on the show with, you know, the oldest and most successful TV network in America, um, you know, backed by a $7 billion network and be able to interact with TV executives all the time. I just, you know, you pinch yourself, you know, these opportunities don’t happen a lot in life. And I do believe just like our show that we’re launching home slice on Amazon. Like, we’re really excited about where we go next. And when, when we found out that, you know, season 2 of hot properties is you know, postponed until 2021 because of, because of the pandemic, you know, but of course we can self produce our own stuff because we can manage the crews. Um, you know, I talked to Mia and we were both really bombed, but I say, you know, maybe we’re thinking about this, the wrong way. Mia, maybe we’re thinking that getting our show on HGTV was the end of this great journey. Maybe we need to remember that, like, we’re still in our thirties, and this is the beginning of the journey. This, you know, these 20 years, it took me to get to here though 20 years feels like a lot. This is the beginning of the really good story. And we should look at this as a wonderful moment in our lives where we can, we can really do the big thing. And we were always just thinking too small. And I think that’s, we’re like super energized by that mindset. And I think that’s been great. You know, there’s this great quote that says, I didn’t come this far to come this far
Tony (37:42):
I like that because a lot of people and Tony Robbins put, it, puts it pretty well. He says, you know, astronauts, they’ve worked so hard to get on the moon and then they get on the moon and then they’re like, what’s next, right. When they get, they get depressed, because they feel like that’s the end of it. Right. I think successful people do that. Also. It’s a good thing, a bad thing, right. Because it’s like, you go to a point and you’re like, okay, I got there. And you’re just not as fulfilled as you thought you were going to be. Right. And so you look for the next thing. Uh, but there’s also that thing of, like, if you don’t look at what you can also create out of your success, that may be bigger and better, you can become complacent and be like, you know, what, nothing I do is going to make me feel fulfilled. So there’s a lot of good points there that, um, that I like, man. And, you know, I, I really like, you know what you’ve done. I, I admire your success. I admire everything you do. You’re a great family, man. I can tell you’re a great dad. Uh, so it’s been great having you on the show, man. I just, uh, I’m blessed to have met you and you guys did a great job on our house, man. We, uh, you know, some of you guys know the backstory behind it that know me well, but that it was a long journey at six months, that six month project ended up taking us 18 months and we were going to move into it and we decided to end up selling it for multiple reasons, mainly, you know, the, the top of the market and just money tied up into it and bad contractors and all that kind of stuff that you guys, you remember, you kind of remember that I’m sure, but you guys stepped up and really put some positive light onthat transaction. That was not fun. Um, you know, the last six months or so we were in itself.
Seth (39:27):
Well, it’s interesting with real estate because real estate cuts to something, you know, there’s this great show on Apple TV called home, which I love, if you haven’t seen it, it’s a wonderful, wonderful TV show. And it’s about the personal aspects behind fabulous homes. Um, it’s a, it’s a lesser talked about thing is people who build fascinating homes are many times fascinating people. And, and they talk about the people as much as they talk about the homes. And it’s really, really well beautifully put together show. It’s very, very fun to watch. And, um, it’s very sincere to, it feels like a documentary, but, um, you know, home means so much to us, you know, it’s, it’s, you know, as, as we’re in the middle of, you know, you know, the LBGQT um, you know, this, this what happened obviously in the government with, with, with retaining rights in the workplace is we’re obviously in the middle of black lives matter. As we’re realizing how important civil rights are, I think as a realtor and as someone who understands what home means, civil rights and our freedom happen behind our front door, like inside of our home, is where we can be us. And all of our dreams go into that. That also means that when you have to sell a home, when you want to sell a home, when you sell a home that you’re excited about when someone passes away, when the divorce has happened, when, you know, someone loses a job in the middle of this recession that we’re in right now, and they have to sell a home, there’s a tremendous amount of emotions because not the property, but because what the home represents. And so I think, you know, as I’ve gotten older and bolder and a little chubbier, I’ve started to realize that one of the great gifts I have is like, I actually really understand now what home means. And, and it is not at all a transaction. It is way more than that. And, uh, I, but I have to say, you know, you, you put your fingerprints all over that home. And to this day, that is one of the most remarkable properties we’ve ever been a part of. You know, I mean, you know, like we’ve sold $20 million, you know, $15 million, $17 million homes that are just, you know, 20,000 square feet, you know, the homes on sea clubs, crap like that. But you know, many of those are just giant McMansions. What you built was a home that really had some like sincere beauty to it. And the design was like more than just good design. It was just, there was a real spirit, there was a soul to the house. So I think, you know, I think you, you, you really deserve a lot of credit for what you were able to create, but just like in your business, you create beautiful things and things that are that spark excitement and other people. And I think that’s part of the reason that you have been as successful as you have been. So I applaud you for the house. And I’d love to be over at your house, you know, at a party right now, rather than talking about it. I’m glad that when you look to sell it, I had an opportunity to be involved because it really was a remarkable property.
Tony (42:18):
Yeah. My wife still talks about that. And we, uh, we drive by it every once in a while. And, it was a great property. We put a lot, a lot of heart and love into it, but sometimes you just have to make a financial decision and we’ll find, we’ll find the next one. We’ll find, we’ll find one. We can put art or loving
Seth (42:34):
And this is, this is business, right? It goes down like this goes like this, go like this. And then, you know, we, we do the same thing, brother. We do the same thing. I chose not to buy a property. The home I’m in right now, we, we lease because we knew that the change in the marketplace was coming. Now, we didn’t know pandemic was coming, but we knew that the change in the marketplace was coming and we chose to pull back. And I chose to invest in this media company, which has been really good for me, but we chose to pull back and kind of wait on the sidelines. And my wife’s like, we need to build our house. We need to buy a house.
Tony (43:06):
Ah my wife is in my ear right now. When are we buying, when are we buying? I’m like, let’s just wait. Let’s just wait and see what the market, you know, we gotta, we gotta be smart about this.
Seth (43:14):
So patience is very important right now. And, and I do think too, as you look at what causes someone to be successful professionally, I think what causes someone to be successful emotionally and spiritually is it con sense of confidence in their life? And I think being smart with your expenses and smart with your dollars is the quickest way to enjoy your life. Because you know that thing that you spent all that money on, even if it’s a house that you live in gives you joy, but if it costs you your sense of peace psychologically, it’s not worth it. It’s too expensive.
Tony (43:51):
Totally, totally well, cool, man. Well, we could talk on and on for, you know, all day long and I really want to catch up with you more. Uh, we need to do this, this again soonman. We’ll have to get together and, uh, get the wives together.
Seth (44:04):
I love it, man. Thank you for having me on. I really appreciate it. I hope I brought some value.
Tony (44:09):
Absolutely, man, we’ll talk to you soon. All right, cool.
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