My producer, and good friend, Dave Aizer slid into the host seat this week and grilled me about the one edge that never goes out of style: running a company with rock-solid ethics.
I walk through how we grew YMP Real Estate from a single duplex to $1.5 billion in assets while raising 11 kids, why I’ve turned down seven-figure paydays that didn’t feel right, and how over-communicating lets me sleep soundly even on the craziest days.
What do business ethics mean to you:
You think about business, right? So, it’s like you gotta be ruthless and you gotta just do whatever it takes all the time. Uh, but what happens is what’s actually happening when you do that, and even if you have the upper hand on somebody else, on a negotiation or something that that’s going on, what ends up happening is that the next deal or your reputation down the road, what ends up happening is that they won’t call you.
When there’s something that needs to happen and they didn’t make the full commission, or they didn’t get what they felt they should get the other side. Um, again, you won’t get that, you won’t get that phone call. So, what’s actually happening
Give us an example of someone behaving unethically in business:
It was a large development site and I found the buyer and I was going to maybe work together with this buyer that my commission and I would put more money in. Because I buy existing properties and this is a development site, and I was gonna get involved with him and I found the buyer and put him with the seller, and the seller said, ‘No, you didn’t really find the buyer.’
And I probably lost several millions of dollars because I chose not to sue. I was in the right; I had all the emails and documentation and everything. Because I believe in the universe. I’ve seen it. It’s, it’s always the things that I work on, and I’ve said this a number of times, they never work out.
And the things that are meant for you; those are the things that work out. And every time that I take the high road and I choose to have peace. To have to be grateful for the things that I do have the next day, the next week, boom, an email: oh, there’s a wire for this, or theese insurance proceeds came through or something strange.
Who is someone you admire from an ethical perspective:
Warren Buffet. He knows what he knows, and he knows what he doesn’t know.
He allows the brains, the smart people, to do what they’re good at. And I believe that that’s ethical.
Like, there’s many things that I’m not good at. I spend most of my time looking for people that love doing what I’m not good at, and I’m open, and I’m curious, and I want to hear there’s no ego. If you, if you go with ego, ego to the up and ego to the down, which means. Everything’s on you. But if you’re collaborating with a team, the odds of success are that much better.
If someone is going to start a business with a sibling or a best friend, should there be a written agreement ahead of time:
Yes. A contract: I get 50% and you get 50%, because you think, well this is one my most cherished people. There’s no way there’s gonna be a problem about money five years down the road. But you think as best practice should always be something. Everything you go in, everything should be in writing with lawyers, no matter anything.
Because it avoids fights later. What happens in a scenario: brothers, and they get married and it could be one of the wives wants to go on vacation for a month or whatever she wants to do. In the end, it’s the wife. So, the boys are torn. You put things in writing, everybody understands what the story is, you know, down to the details.
What are you most grateful for:
I’m truly grateful to have a family and that they’re healthy and that you have the ability to provide for them all at the same time is actually very rare.
It’s very rare to be able to do that over a period of time. My hope and prayer is that that will continue. It’s constant juggling. I hope I’ll be healthy to do that. And I’m grateful today that that exists. That’s awesome.
What is the common denominator of a successful, ethically driven business:
You have to constantly focus on humility. Because again, we know nothing. And anybody that believes that they have a little bit of something and knowledge and understanding; I’ve watched it over one year, two years, five years … boom. The universe does that. It’s crazy. Keep your head down and be and be grateful.
