COPING 19

In this episode of COPING 19, I talk to Sam Liebman a very successful real estate developer in New York. He didn't have an easy start to life. He was raised in a very negative environment, and he had a lot of challenges. I wanted to talk to him about how his past helped him deal with the difficulties that the COVID-19 Pandemic brought. Also how COVID gave him the time to complete his passion project, which was writing the book, Harvard Can't Teach What You Learn From The Streets, which comes out next year in 2022.

INTRO: [00:00:06] Now that some things seem back to normal during this past year and a half, it has been something like out of a horror film. We are kind of all getting back to seeing a lot of people in person, having events like weddings, having concerts. It feels like a dream almost, that we're going back to what we knew before. So I still wanted to continue the conversation with entrepreneurs to see where is their business going now. And there's a new post-pandemic world as we start to get out of it. And what lessons did they learn throughout this tough time that they're going to carry on into their business for years to come? Joining me now, I'm Jennifer Lee for season three of COPING19. [00:00:54][47.5]

JEN: [00:01:00] Every day when I turn on Instagram or any type of social media or even the TV, I'm starting to see signs of life getting back to normal. I know we still have our struggles with this pandemic. Cases are going up in other countries. Cases are going up a little bit here, right in B.C., in Canada. But I think it's something that we're going to be seeing a lot. The pandemic is unfortunately not going to go away with just a snap of a finger, which I know we all wish would, but it is getting a little bit better. And one thing that I really liked this past week was the fact the Olympics started. I know there is controversy around that as well. In Japan currently, right now, their numbers are going up. So a lot of people feel that the games should not be taking place. But the one thing they say about the Olympics is it feels hopeful this year. It feels like we're getting a little bit back to normal. And it's so nice to see the athletes just doing what they do best. They already had to wait a year to show us their skills and to just see their pure determination even after the games is postponed by a year. It's amazing and it's so inspiring because we've all gone through this huge challenge, which, of course, is covid-19. And we could learn a lot from the athletes, just their mental state they have to be in to win the medals and to be so disciplined in their respective area. And it's so nice to just kind of watch all the footage from the Olympics. And I'm not just meaning the athletes but on a lot of the news stations. They're showing the families of the athletes on Zoom and other video chat software because obviously there are no spectators, no travellers allowed in Japan right now. So your family can't go with you to cheer you on. So it's just nice to see the togetherness. And they're showing full stadiums, especially here in Canada, of people that are cheering on their favourite athletes. And when they win, it's so exciting, like the whole room is like in up-roar. So it's so nice to have that togetherness and to see people overcome challenges to realize their dreams. And that's why I'm really excited to talk to my next guest, Sam Liebman, who is a very successful real estate developer in New York. He didn't have an easy start to life. He was in a very negative environment while growing up, and he had a lot of challenges. So I want to talk to him about how we overcome them. And even just in the past few years, did he learn anything from his tough upbringing that really helped him during the pandemic? Because a pandemic, just like it wasn't good for all of us, was also not good for him and his business. And we're going to get into that as well. He also has a really great book that's coming out in January. Twenty twenty-two. And it's Harvard. Can't Teach What You Learn From The Streets. And I love the name of it. So we're going to get all into that. But of course, everyone has a beginning and I love to learn where everybody starts from. So, Sam, tell us who you are and where it all started. [00:04:13][193.3]

SAM: [00:04:14] My name is Sam Liebman and I was a Jewish kid from Brooklyn with empty pockets, grew up in a dysfunctional family. And against all odds, you know, I'm working hard, I'm the real rags to riches story. They told me, you know, basically, my father was just psychologically abusive, wasn't physically abusive, but he was mentally abusive. Just his favourite answer to anything I wanted was, I'm sorry, I can't help you. So I since 12, at least not before, I've always been on my own and I like I say, I'm the product of the streets of Canarsie, Brooklyn, which is like the mafia minor leagues. I mean, they wrote a famous book about some of my acquaintances and friends growing up called Murder Machine. You can get that it's out. And a lot of the people you know, I had a summer camp I called Camp Concrete, so it was a backyard at P.S. 114. And of the 25 kids that went there, I can name 18 that are in jail for the rest of their lives for murder or dead. It takes a certain time, especially being a Jewish kid and a little Jewish kid with a big mouth to survive that. There's a lot of things you have to learn, hold street smarts. And I'd use those street smarts through my entire career. And that's why I wrote the book. We can teach what you learn from the streets because to become successful, I believe you need street smarts. And the traditional education in that package is what made me successful. So, you know, I was a horrible student, not because I was dumb, but because I just didn't want to go back to my house. I was so ashamed of the house and the condition. I used to walk around the block till the kids left to go into my house. I don't want you to give me any issues, OK? But it was tough growing up. It really was and would make matters worse. My grandmother on my father's side had 13 grandchildren and they used to have family circles, like to get everybody together close, but all they did was have everyone antagonize everyone. I'll just tell you two quick things. You know, I used to want to go to my Uncle Jack and really look forward to it and ring the doorbell one time. And I heard here comes the shit from Canarsie. And, you know, all that negativity brings you down. But I had a lot of self-esteem. I was good at sports. And I always felt that if the next guy could do it, I could do it. And another time in school, I remember in 11th grade, my math teacher stopped the class and said, everybody, look at Sam Liebman. He's going to be driving a truck for the rest of his life and I deserved it. OK, but the irony is he quit teaching in a few years and opened up Tropicana routes. So I hope it influences decisions. And then, you know, in college, I had no idea what I wanted to do. First, I was pre-med because it sounded good. I went to Brooklyn College and made sounds great to me girls, at least for the first year, you didn't have to be a doctor. You just have to say, I wanted to be a doctor. And that worked. And I was in psychology. Let's see computers. They said I had no idea. And at that time in the 70s, either you became a doctor, lawyer, accountant. Well, that's what you wound up being, basically. And I feel bad for kids now. And it's a whole new set of rules with the Internet. And kids are having a tough challenge, really learning what they want to do or expecting what to do in the schools. Do not prepare yourself for this. So in my sophomore year in college, when I took accounting one, I had my first epiphany, and that was due to a professor named Professor Robert Miners. And I give him credit for my academic call. It appears to me this guy was awesome. He was a stand-up comedian. He used to come into the lecture hall of about fifty kids. The first day he walked down, he had a sign underneath his briefcase and he put a sign on on the blackboard, said, fuck, now avoid the rush. Has anybody got a girlfriend? Raise your hand, get rid of her. You're not going to have time to see you got to study, study, study. But everybody knew it was a show. But with this teacher did was he would dictate a difficult concept with an example. And by writing it down, he used to say a little circle the room. OK, scholars write this down. And what it did was it made the knowledge go through your head. And I'd walk out of there with five to ten pages of notes and read them and reread them. And it replaced the textbook. And he was by no means an easy teacher. And he really enabled me to use that technique of writing things down to learn how to study. And again, I passed the CPA test, which is one of the hardest tests to do. Then I work in accounting firms for five years learning that which I think is a very valuable thing to do if you want to do it. And then I got a break in nineteen eighty-two. There was a very well-known attorney named Robert Liebe and he was starting a development company. It's now called Mountain Development Corp., a very big company in New Jersey. We started out I got hired with Bob, myself and a secretary named. Candy is in a small office in West Orange, New Jersey, and now he has like twenty-two million square feet in five different states. So at twenty-seven years old, I got what I call a Harvard education. So that's my story. [00:09:54][339.5]

JEN: [00:09:54] I could just listen to you because you're such a fascinating history. And I relate to so many things that you said because I know back in my day when I went to school, I had a teacher tell me I wasn't very good at English. I had a Grade 10 teacher. And they literally told me that, like, you're never going to university, you're never accomplishing anything. And I graduated with a degree in and it was not just in high honour. So, you know, maybe it made me push myself a little harder, but I was like, I'm going to prove that person wrong. No clue what happened to them. I don't know if they're maybe still teaching English, [00:10:25][30.7]

SAM: [00:10:26] but did not put a fire in your belly when someone said you can't do it. [00:10:29][3.0]

JEN: [00:10:30] Yeah, I am actually should thank them for that. Yeah. [00:10:32][2.6]

SAM: [00:10:33] Yeah. You should send them a thank you note. I mean, when someone told me you can't do it or who are you to do it, which happened a lot, especially with my family. Who the hell do you think you are. Oh, it's crazy. That was based on their own insecurity. But that doesn't matter. It hurts. And we need positive role models and not negative ones. And I'll tell you, on my other side of the family, my mom's side, it was just the opposite. You know, we didn't get to see them much because they lived in Jersey far away. My father wouldn't take us, but it was the Braff family, Harold Braff, who passed away two years ago. We were very close and he had three sons and a daughter. And we would go to their house and they made us feel so welcome. They made us feel so welcome that we felt something's wrong here. We had a dream like that, Sam. Eat more, eat more. You know, and one of the kids growing up is the famous actor is Zach Braff. [00:11:25][52.0]

JEN: [00:11:26] Oh, he seems like a lovely guy. [00:11:28][1.9]

SAM: [00:11:28] He's a great guy, but they live in California now and they're all doing well. But it was just the opposite. We rejected it. One side of the family and totally loved and accepted from the other side gave us mixed messages. But a lot of people grow up in these areas. And worst and the most important things I had self-esteem. They try to break me, but they couldn't do it and it was hard. So growing up on the street, you know, you have to really learn a certain curriculum of street smarts to get your spine-tingling. And that's what I try to teach people, you know, buying buildings. When I was an account, by the way, I've done so many businesses. I've learned about all these businesses. I've always stayed in the background. And I would read everything because I was so afraid. I never wanted to depend on anybody else. So I read all the leases that the lawyers did. I read all the architect reports and then I got to really master them. And then that really helped me by knowing everything. Being a student of the game, a gym rat, that's what I try to preach to people. Be the best you can be. So you don't have to rely on other people. That gives you confidence [00:12:32][64.0]

JEN: [00:12:33] since you have really great business wisdom and you love sharing your business philosophies. I know that's one thing that inspired you to write the book. Harvard Can't Teach What You Learn From The Streets, but there are so many different books about real estate out there. So what makes your book different? [00:12:50][17.0]

SAM: [00:12:51] I'm not a motivational preacher teacher. I'm not going to tell you that after this book you're going to win the lottery without buying a ticket or brain surgery made easier. I need whatever these guys do. You know, these motivational preacher teaches. What I will tell you is that after reading this book, my promise is that your knowledge of real estate will increase exponentially. I pronounce that right. That's the promise. If they're reading the book, your knowledge of real estate will increase exponentially. And that's my goal to do that, not to make you rich right away, not to do this, but to do that. And people who are already working in a real estate-related field, OK, you know, accountants, lawyers, doctors who invest people in the management companies will benefit tremendously, as well as people that want to get into real estate. Through the years, many people have said to me, I want to get into real estate. I said, well, why don't you? And the answer, of course, is I wouldn't know where to start. I'm hoping that my book is a start. [00:13:50][59.5]

JEN: [00:13:52] That's why I want to talk to you about TV, because I think, like you said, by picking up your book, you're going to learn it's not you're going to pick up the book and you're going to be mega-rich tomorrow. And I think that's one of the misconceptions about real estate. I know here because there's a lot of reality TV shows that are not paying them down. I know here in Canada, a lot of people are like, oh, I want their lifestyle. I want to be like flying on a jet tomorrow. So I'm going to get into real estate. And then they realize it's a lot of hard work to get clients. You need to know a lot of stuff. Do you want to talk a little bit about that? [00:14:21][29.2]

SAM: [00:14:21] That's one of the reasons I wrote the book. You got to learn the fundamentals. You got to master the fundamentals. Why don't lawyers and accountants who were advising me on real estate buy property here? They know a lot about real estate, but this fear, how do you get over that fear? We have to have someone almost take you by the hand. OK, and bring you and learn what it's like to be in closing, to negotiate a deal, to what? To lookout for these motivational preacher teachers. It's easy right away. Quickly look at the words they use quickly. Right away. It's easy. Anyone could see it. Monkey see, monkey. Do you know, learn while you're sleeping. Brain surgery made it easy to learn in your spare time. This is craziness. I coined the saying welcome to the new millennium with instant gratification takes too long. People have no patience. I'll give you a perfect example. Turn on a three-year-old computer that when you bought it was wow, this is state of the art. This is going to change my life. And now you're on it. You're going, come on, move process. What's taking so long? Right. We have become conditioned to immediate gratification and it's not like that. Learning and doing well is a process. And what's going on now in the marketplace in real estate is really crazy. You got to know your stuff. You've got to have been beaten up a few times. You got to be in the foxholes. You've got to learn. [00:15:47][85.6]

JEN: [00:15:48] And you can tell us a little bit about how you came up with the book because I know you said you started to write it during covid. So was there a moment of like, oh, I have time now. I'm going to do this? [00:15:56][8.5]

SAM: [00:15:57] A little tip that I always did. So when I was young, I didn't have a record player, OK? So I found one in someone's garbage. And I put it on at work. The problem is you had to put your ear right on the record player to hear it, and I love to sing and I have a horrible voice. Can't carry a tune, but I love to sing. There are many showers that would have needed acoustic equipment. OK, so make it a long story short. I'd have to make up my own words because I couldn't hear the words. So I'd be walking around the streets humming and singing to myself with different words. By doing that, I developed the skill of being able to write lyrics. And I'll tell you one thing. This is a little bragging, so I can't sing, dance or play an instrument. But I wrote twenty-one songs with an Emmy-winning producer and one song that I wrote. You can look it up in my upstairs bathroom called Here We Are. Paul McCartney picked to be the opening song to his wedding to Heather Mills. Wow. But what I'm bringing up is I used to come up with words of sayings that I thought were good. I wrote them all on a piece of paper and put them in a box. And then about 10 years ago, I said, I want to write a book first, called it Lessons in Life and this. And this. And this. And then I saw the difference. You know where I am. And I live in Rosslyn, a pretty wealthy area. And everybody there was talking about the Ivy League schools. Everything was, oh, you're going to this school. That school is no good. I was disgusting. So I said, you know, it's a very it's great accomplishment to be to go to an Ivy League school. It is. But it's not the end-all. It doesn't mean that life is guaranteed success. You need street smarts. You need other things. And so I came up with Harvard. Can't teach what you learn from the streets. I just started writing little pieces of a little piece of it and then they would throw buildings. Here are another five buildings to buy. So I put it on the side. Here's another. And then during the pandemic, I had a lot of downtimes. It was a horrible time, but I, I basically finished it. I use the pandemic instead of sitting there feeling sorry for myself, I used it productively to get something done. By the way, there are so many creative people out there, they just don't do it. They don't take the chance to do it, write it down, put your ideas in a box, and then when you're ready to write something, you pull these things up. So I came up with that. So I did that, OK? I wrote and finished the book and then I threw a whole lot of whatever. I got a big publisher. [00:18:31][153.2]

JEN: [00:18:31] I had ideas all the time and I'd never write them down [00:18:34][2.3]

SAM: [00:18:35] Write them down, write them down. They're probably great ideas. And even if you have ideas for shows, you know, you might forget it or, you know, write them down. [00:18:43][8.3]

JEN: [00:18:44] OK, OK. I have to start writing things down. I could be missing out on some, like, multimillion-dollar opportunities. And, you know, I've heard this before. A lot of successful people I have run into. They say that when they wake up in the middle of the night, they have a little notepad right beside their bed and then they write down their idea. It's got to get in the habit of doing that. And, hey, maybe a lot of us had a lot of ideas come up during covid. It's been a really tough time. As you said, I totally agree with you. You can either sit there and do nothing during covid or you could try to do something. And it's great that you started to write the book. [00:19:20][36.2]

SAM: [00:19:20] Talk about covid last year was a horrible year, not just like anybody I'm talking about financial. I've lost millions of dollars last year. [00:19:29][8.4]

JEN: [00:19:29] That's why I like that you're so open. I wanted to touch on that because, like, going back to, like you said, the fundamentals. I think the other thing people forget is like, yeah, you could be really good at real estate development, but if something uncontrollable like covid hits, you know, there are things that you don't plan for. [00:19:29][0.0]

SAM: [00:19:46] It was horrible. OK, but one of the things is by mastering the fundamentals, which I did, by learning good times, bad times, being beaten up a few times and getting the experience. I knew how to handle it. Let's talk about that. So you had PP money for people, don't get me wrong there is a lot of people who are struggling. PP money was what they gave businesses, but it didn't apply to any real estate, anything, OK? So what they did was, let's say I have a retail center and I have three restaurants, whatever, the restaurants got cheap money. And what they had to do was use that money to pay the employees, basically, and they got help. But even with the help, restaurants couldn't make it. So I have a shopping center in Irving, a good part of Irving, Texas. I had three restaurants in there. Everything was great. Covid, hey, I have two vacancies. I had to know how to get a deferral from the bank, but that doesn't help me because I have to pay it. But in the meantime, the tenancy with the PP, they couldn't pay and they went out. Now I'm left with two vacancies. I not only lose the rent, but I have to pay the expenses. It hurt. It hurt a little loss of money. Now, if I was the type of owner that refinance I get a lot of people who didn't have big mortgages. They couldn't survive. There's no way you could survive. Imagine owning hotels, 10 hotels where they're all vacant. That means you've got to come out of your pocket every day and put money and put money in. Well, no matter how rich you are after a while, you can't do it. You've also seen the value of your property decrease. And it was just a very tough time. And it's tough, as I'm saying, I have it financially. So many people had it so worse. I know people dying. I knew you know, so I don't want to, you know, dismiss that or, you know, mitigate the importance of that. It was horrible people's lives and everything. But I'm just talking about economics, it was a rough, rough year. [00:21:54][128.6]

JEN: [00:21:55] A lot of students right now and I know a lot of people that are maybe a little bit older, too, like in their 40s or 50s who have lost their career because of the pandemic and depending on whatever industry they're in. So do you have any advice for people that are kind of thinking like, oh, no, like maybe I chose the wrong thing, I coming in and spin this around? [00:22:13][18.4]

SAM: [00:22:14] Well, it's not just older people. It's younger people. [00:22:17][2.8]

JEN: [00:22:17] Yeah, I feel for them. The people that were in studies, maybe in tourism and they're like, oh, now this is going to take a while for it to come back. I don't know what to do. [00:22:25][7.2]

SAM: [00:22:26] Yeah, that's a very big question. And not only that, but, you know, people are not going to go back to the office. It's just not going to happen. I know people that say, well, it's not people going to work remotely. So, you know, it depends on the position you're in. If you're in your 40s or 50s, you have a wife, a house with a mortgage and kids. You know, it's an issue. You might take a job that you don't love, but you might need to pay the bills for those people. What I would say is and I'm not trying to I'm really don't mean to push a book or push anything was that was a third or fourth reason to do my course because I thought people who are working can take this online and learn real estate instead of going into sales and flipping houses, which I don't really think is a career. I think it's just you know, I don't believe that's the way you build wealth. The other way is, you know, what your passion is, you know, really see what your passion is. And when I try to tell people, kids, especially kids who want internships, I interview the kid first. And a lot of kids want to go into something that's wrong for them. Like they're not they don't have sales skills. One kid wants to be a financial planner. OK, so there are two types, there are financial planners that make money because they know how to sell and get clients. And then there are other ones that do the grunt work, the analysis and everything else. So what are you, young man? Do you have sales skills? Are you comfortable selling? Shyness can cost you money. I always said, OK, but what do you have or are you more analytical? Do you like being in the background you like? Now, if you like being in the background and you don't want to do sales or you can't, then don't go into something that you know is going to require sales. OK, go into something that requires analytical skills where you'll be happy and the company will be happy. Find out where you are in your own head. Don't fool yourself and look for you know, I want to make a million dollars. I'll be a financial planner. OK, you have to have entrepreneurial skills to be an entrepreneur. Not everybody is equipped to be an entrepreneur. Three things to be an entrepreneur, you need to have three sets of skills. You need to be an entrepreneur, general skills, managing skills and technical skills. And why nine out of 10 businesses fail is because they don't possess all three. And if you don't have all three, then you have to partner with someone that has the other two. So have a realistic dream now for people that are younger, who are really more who I work with, the younger people and the ones that I try to really help, I try to identify the strengths and weaknesses and let them know what they think about it. Think about what I'm telling you. I hire people. I said I wouldn't hire you for what you're telling me you like for this position, but you would be great in this position. OK, and another problem is millennials. You know, they have a different work ethic than my generation. And I love millennials, [00:25:33][187.5]

JEN: [00:25:35] That's my generation. [00:25:36][1.0]

SAM: [00:25:37] My son Michael is was a film major. He's a talented kid, couldn't get a job. So now he's with me in the real estate business. He wanted no part of it at first, and now he pretty much loves it. But I'll tell you one story that might help. I have a six-month rule that I've always used in my life. When Michael was ten, he was doing nothing for the summer. He never wanted to go to sleep away-camp. I said, not doing anything for the summer. What do you want to do? So a friend of mine who is someone that had a tennis camp, which had very advanced players, I said, Michael, go to tennis, try and see if you like it. I'm not going. I hate tennis. You never played. How do you know he goes the first day? Comes home. I'm in the kitchen. I said, Michael, how was it? He goes, Look at me, he's dripping. I said You want to go back? He says I don't know. I said, Well, I'll tell you what. You've been signed up for a month. You're going, OK, if you don't like it after a month, I'll never mention tennis again. And so help me God. He became one of the best players, top 50 in Long Island. He teaches at a very prestigious country club, loves tennis. He's going to use it for the rest of his life. So a lot of people give up too early. So this in little league with a kid didn't do right away to do well in baseball. So he quit baseball, went to soccer, didn't do well at soccer, quit soccer, and the parents encouraged it. You know, give yourself six months, see if you like it. Don't bitch and complain to six months when the six months are over, then decide. And then you can look the right to do what you want. [00:27:17][100.1]

JEN: [00:27:18] So that is the best ever. I think that a lot of people do that now, too, with the whole, like, social media thing because they see everybody living these really cool lives. So they want that instant gratification like you were mentioning at the beginning. And I always tell people, like I've been the radio announcer eight years traditionally and then the last few years podcasting. But it's it takes a long time to get to where I am. Like, people always be like, well, why do you sound like you're not like it? Like you didn't hear me, like many, many years ago where I was frustrated and questioning why I was doing this. It takes so long and I think a lot of people give up way too fast. [00:27:55][37.6]

SAM: [00:27:56] Well, you know, you say it takes so long. It really it really does. And it's the quality of the time you put into learning. You know, there are people that can spend an hour and really get something and other people daydream for the hour and it's four hours to get nothing. You have to get good study habits. That's why I learn to write things down because my type because once goes through my head, it went through my head. That works for me. Maybe not for everybody else. Everybody's got to find the best way to get it through your head so you understand it. And to many people, give up way too early. So, you know, you have to take understand where you are, your strengths, your weaknesses if you can make your weaknesses stronger. I had a lot of weaknesses that I had to work on a lot. And every day I learn something new. [00:28:48][52.2]

JEN: [00:28:49] And you're starting new things like you said, that you're starting a school, keep tell us a little bit about that. [00:28:54][4.5]

SAM: [00:28:54] Yeah, we are forming a school called Street Success Real Estate Academy. It's going to be an online academy. And I think it's going to be really I haven't seen anything like it. By the way, I want to mention one thing I don't know of any four-year degree in real estate, any university has a four-year degree in real estate and they have real estate courses. And to the best of my ability, I've looked at all of them. They're not going to teach you what I'm going to teach you or what needs to be done. They'll teach you theory models, other things. But there's no I think Syracuse is trying to do something, but there's no four-year degree in real estate. Now, real estate is changing from a trade to a profession. The days when the immigrant comes here with no money and buy a building and then on the whole block, those days are gone. Everything is so sophisticated. Every owner knows what this building is. Pretty much where are the brokers are bombarding them with telling them how much they could get if you give them the listing. And, you know, today you need to be more specialized and more sophisticated. So where you got two big firms now, like a lot of the big management companies like I with like acid living Rascoe, you know, these are some of the biggest companies in the country. They hire people now from Ivy League schools. You know, and it's becoming so sophisticated that you've got to really become more corporate and become more specialized and learn more. And there are no schools. I can't believe there are no schools that come up with a real estate graduate degree, a real one that I see. So there is a niche that I'm trying to fill as best I can. So what we're doing that's different than everyone else is we're going to give you the street smart, real life. Here's how you buy a building. Here's a real building that I own. OK, I'm opening up my books to you. Here's another building that we own. Here's a retail building. We own a shopping center, an industrial building as we go on. And we're going to make it affordable. So I want to teach inner-city kids how to build up their own neighbourhoods. And these are really the goals look, I have made thank God I've made enough money. I want to make more. But that's not that is not the primary reason I'm doing this. The primary reason is to use my creativity, help people. That's it. And anyone who knows me will say that you know, I just like teaching. I like the smile when someone says, I really learned something from you. I just really that's my thing. [00:31:32][158.0]

JEN: [00:31:32] I love it. And I love learning so much. And I love it when people teach things. And I can just tell that you get, say, teaching other people. So I think it's super important to spread the knowledge that you have and you're obviously doing that in many different ways. One more question before we go, because the pandemic obviously hit all of us very hard. I know that I learned a lot about myself during the pandemic. Is there anything new that you learned about yourself? [00:32:01][28.8]

SAM: [00:32:02] Learned that the value of mastering those fundamentals, you know, and the experience have? That helped me a lot because I became a student of my game, as they say, how learning and reinforcing, learning and being prepared for anything. I always remember the winning team in a Super Bowl when they were interviewed and they lost. The loser would say, we did everything. They were prepared for everything we did. There was nothing that worked. Those are the winning teams. So I believe I learned about the importance of over preparation and on a personal level. I'm very nostalgic and I'm constantly looking back at my life at certain things that happen. And the interesting I did not answer your question, but one of the things is self-healing. I now see the reason why certain things happened, like the family being, mean to me, that wasn't because I was no good. That was because of me. It was on them. It was on them that me so a lot of the things I look back at my father and say he was just mentally ill, he wasn't good, couldn't help it, you know, so it's a self-healing. So I think the answer is I'm very comfortable in my own skin now. And that wasn't always the case. And I think it was a culmination of being successful and putting in the hard work and saying, I'm a good person. That's the first thing, you know, you got to say you're a good person. You want to be a good person. I mean, I'm very opinionated, but I respect everybody. And I'm very excited about not saying I want to retire and play golf, but that I want it now at 65, do things and have the energy to do that. I mean, that's the most unrehearsed, honest answer I can give you. [00:34:01][118.8]

JEN: [00:34:02] I think it's great. My dad is 72 and he is still on the job site running our business, and it's because he loves it. He says he'll never quit. So we'll see what happens as he gets older. But, you know, you can't you can do anything at any age. Not to sound cliche, but. [00:34:17][14.8]

SAM: [00:34:17] Yeah, I mean, yeah. And, you know, there are a lot of people that just you know, when I was young, the big thing was in my father's sixty-five, they used to brag. I mean, I got 20 years in the bank, you know, everyone just wanted to retire and now it's like retire and do what? And there are a lot of people that can retire because of what went on at the stock. I remember five years ago people are saying, yeah, my retirement dream, just as stocks went in the toilet, now the stocks are up again. I call it the biggest legalized casino in the world. I think the most important thing is to really have self-esteem and do what you want to do. [00:34:55][37.2]

JEN: [00:34:56] So when does your book come out for everybody that's going to want to read it? [00:34:59][3.0]

SAM: [00:34:59] It's scheduled to come out the first week in January 2022. It's by made for success in Ingrams. The publisher, it's called Hovick Can't Teach What You Learn from the Streets by Sam Ledman. And if anybody wants to get in touch with me, there's a website there were all putting together. It's called Sam Lieberman dot com. And that will be up by September. [00:35:18][19.3]

JEN: [00:35:20] Well, thank you so much for joining me today. [00:35:21][1.9]

SAM: [00:35:22] Very happy to be with you. Perfect. [00:35:24][1.9]

JEN: [00:35:24] Thank you so much. Thank you for joining us [00:35:27][2.8]

OUTRO: [00:35:27] for season three of Coping Nineteen. If you want to learn more about the show, all you have to do is go over to podcast consulting DOT, see where you can also get tips and tricks on how to make your own podcast and also get exposure for your business and brand with the podcast. Also, if you want to hear more episodes, please follow us on Spotify, Apple podcasts, Amazon podcasts and Google podcasts. Talk to you next time. [00:35:27][0.0]

[2068.9]

In this episode, I talk to Hector Bremner, Chief Executive Officer at Avricore. Hector has had a fantastic career; he has been in marketing, politics and now is working in healthcare. An important field that we need more than ever as we deal with COVID. Especially start-up companies like Avricore who are making revolutionary advancements in the medical technology field. 

In our discussion, we cover:

• How a start-up like Avricore dealt with COVID-19.

• What type of rapid testing does Avricore offer?

• We talk about their product Health Tab and how it will help the suffering travel industry.

• How the company was able to pivot during the Pandemic.

• What the Avricore team learned during the Pandemic that helped them to grow the company.

Follow Jennifer-Lee as she interviews Hector Bremner, in another episode of COVID-19.

COPING 19 is an optimistic look at entrepreneurship during the COVID-19 Pandemic. What are small businesses and freelancers doing to pivot their businesses into this new world? Don't forget this is the time for business owners to be creative. There is no roadmap for this situation; the possibilities of how people run their companies are endless. Advances in medical technology have been tremendous during COVID-19 and will continue to grow after the Pandemic. Find out what Avricore is and how their technology advancements will help the general public as we head out of COVID-19.  

On May 5, 2021, there was an announcement that Broadway shows in New York, with guidance from Governor Andrew Cuomo, will resume ticket sales in May 2021 for Fall 2021 performances.

Fascinating news for the theatre industry because Broadway has been dark for over a year. The future for this iconic world attraction was looking bleak as time went by. No one was certain how or when live performance in New York would be back? The future of the performing arts has been uncertain in many parts of the world, even here in Vancouver, Canada. The film industry has resumed business as usual with COVID 19 health measures in place. However, live performance is still on hold until further notice.

My background before broadcasting is theatre, and I love watching and being part of a live performance. That's why watching the stories about Broadway going dark is a complex idea to grasp. Broadway in New York is the place everyone goes to see the top theatre shows and performers. When I went to theatre school, many students had an aspiration to be part of a Broadway Show. This iconic New York staple employs many performers, but also many businesses around the theatre buildings.

So in the next episode, I had to talk to someone who lives in New York and has worked on Broadway. I wanted to know the truth about what COVID has done to this beloved industry. So I had the pleasure of interviewing Lisa Morris, who is co-producer of the musical Prom.

Listen to her explain what is happening during the Broadway shut down and how it will eventually re-build. Find out in another episode of COPING 19.

In this episode, I talk to Victor Dolhai Film and Theatre actor about the current state of the arts during COVID-19

In our discussion, we cover:

• How have performers been affected during COVID-19

• As a theatre performer how Victor kept up with his craft during this unprecedented time.

• What advice he’d give to aspiring theatre performers during this challenging time?

• What was it like for Victor to be part of a film in a virtual film festival?

• What does he feel will be the future of the arts after COVID?

• What is a positive lesson he has learned during COVID?

COPING 19 is an optimistic look at entrepreneurship during the COVID-19 Pandemic. What are small businesses and freelancers doing to pivot their businesses into this new world? Don't forget this is the time for business owners to be creative. There is no roadmap for this situation; the possibilities of how people run their companies are endless. New content on streaming services is what has got a lot of us through the pandemic. But we are missing one essential part of the art, and that is live performance. What will theatre and concerts look like after COVID-19 Find out in this next episode of COPING 19?

“The one thing I realized is theatre is not going anywhere. Theatre has been around for 1000 years, and it will continue to be around. Because basically theatre is storytelling and storytelling is at the core of who we are!”

I never thought I would see a world event that would put the art of live performance on pause. COVID-19 has changed the way we watch content we stream from the safety of our homes, but we are missing that live element. That is why it is essential to hear from actors like Victor that have made a living from the arts be optimistic about the future of theatre in the post-pandemic world. Theatre has been around forever and has lived through plagues, other viruses, and war. Theatre will come back when the time is right, and I think people will respect the art form more, knowing what it is like to live in a world with no live performance—also knowing that live shows can be gone in seconds. A world without live performance and creativity is a dull world, and I can not wait to see the ideas that have been brewing during this pause; and I'm excited to see new shows by different voices when the theatre reopens.

In this episode, I talk to Bernie, Florido CEO of Cocoflo Innovations.

In our discussion, we cover:

• What was Bernie's “ah-ha moment” when coming up with the idea for Cocoflo.

• How his background in law enforcement and construction lead him to create Cocoflo.

• What advice he’d give to aspiring tech entrepreneurs.

• What is a smart city?

• What it's like to have a relatively new business during a pandemic.

• What is a positive lesson he has learned during COVID?

COPING 19 is an optimistic look at entrepreneurship during the COVID-19 Pandemic. What are small businesses and freelancers doing to pivot their businesses into this new world? Don't forget this is the time for business owners to be creative. There is no roadmap for this situation; the possibilities of how people run their companies are endless. Technology gives entrepreneurs chances to adapt their business to this new reality. One day we will take a step back and see the new ideas, new companies, new career paths that emerge from COVID-19.

City halls produce a lot of paper during a year—everything from parking tickets to building permits, etc. There is a lot of paper that goes in and out of our municipal halls. However, COVID 19 is starting to change that. Different digital solutions are on the rise to limit face-to-face interaction with city halls closed to the public. One up-and-coming tech company in the digital space of lessening city halls' day-to-day paper tasks is Cocoflo Innovations. Their app helps cities like Fort St John and others minimize the in-person tasks, like pay parking tickets and utilities, etc., allowing the residents to pay for municipal fines and documents over an app. 

"For the community having the convenience of being able to conduct any city hall business from your phone. You no longer have to get in your car and drive to city hall and line up." 

This company was created before the Pandemic and has been running for over a year. So it's still a new company, and I wanted to know how they are dealing with the Pandemic since they are still a relatively new business. 

"People are resilient; we adapt, we overcome, and people seem to re-access their priorities."

That's why I had to interview Bernie Florido CEO of Cocoflo Innovations. I wanted to know more about their revolutionizing software, and more about their journey as a new business during COVID.

I wanted to know more about their revolutionizing software and more about their journey as a new business during COVID.

COPING 19 is an optimistic look at entrepreneurship during the COVID-19 Pandemic. What are small businesses and freelancers doing to pivot their businesses into this new world? Don't forget this is the time for business owners to be creative. There is no roadmap for this situation; the possibilities on how people run their companies are endless. Technology gives entrepreneurs chances to adapt their business to this new reality. One day we will take a step back and see the new ideas, new companies, new career paths that emerge from COVID-19. 

Now we have all been in this for a year, and I would like to know the answer to this question: how are parents with busy careers still coping with COIVD? Many parents have to change the way they do their jobs and the way they parent their children. We have learned so many things about ourselves about our jobs and close contacts. Let's face it; this has been a learning curve for everyone. We are adjusting to new restrictions constantly, and then we have the added pressure of our jobs and families. So how does one person handle their job and family being home all the time because of the pandemic?

That’s why I wanted to interview my next guest, Pam Bhatti lawyer, mother and wife. I wanted to know how she deals with the pandemic and what it is like to do her job from home. A lot of industries have changed how they have conducted business through COVID-19. How has COVID-19 affected the sector of law? I find all this out in the next episode of COPING-19.

Real estate is always a hot topic in Vancouver. Even before the pandemic, this was the number one topic everyone talks about. Real estate is continuously featured on the news. Now that we are a full year into the pandemic, Vancouver's real estate has not slowed down. The market now is HOT! HOT! HOT! So if a pandemic can't topple the real estate market in Vancouver, then nothing will. This was a topic that I had to have a discussion about. So that is why I talked to Brandon Blue from the Rennie Real Estate Group. He is a very experienced realtor that knows how to guide his buyers and sellers through this crazy market. I wanted his opinion about the real estate market during COVID. What trends is he starting to see, and what type of practices are he and the other real estate agents putting in place to keep clients safe. Join us for this hot topic that everyone is fascinated by in another episode of COPING 19.

After being in the pandemic for over a year, many different industries have had to adapt and develop creative solutions. Film festivals are events that can not happen in person at the moment. Too many people grace these global stages, so there has to be a different way of hosting these significant events for the time being. I'm so glad we currently live in a technology era where many of these industries can continue to go on. For film festivals, they have held their film festivals online, which is great because people can still witness beautiful independent films. I know online film festivals are not the same as being there in person and seeing a crowd react to your creative work. However, as we move into a post-pandemic world, there will hopefully be a combo of in-person and virtual because virtual film festivals allow more people to see these beautiful films created by very talented people. So it's very nice to have both options to include more people in the world of film festivals.

I wanted to learn more about the online film festival world and know what the future looks like post-pandemic. In this episode, I talk to Shanyn Maguire, former Broadcaster turned Film Producer. She is President of Pendulum films and her fantastic team, and they have a short film called PLATONIC gaining a lot of buzz. The new film is directed by the very talented Krit Komkrichwarakool. Please find out more on their Instagram @pendulumfilms

TikTok exploded during COVID-19. People became more and more interested in creating a podcast or video YouTube Channels during the Pandemic. In this episode, we explore content creation mediums. I brought in video marketing expert Rami Mikhail who is the owner of Rami Films. He has a self-serve YouTube Studio where business can record their videos. He also produces and edits videos for various companies. We discuss how he pivoted his company during COVID-19 and how technology continuously improves, and more people become their own videographer and editor. Does he worry he will lose business? Because if people can do it themselves, they might not need his services. His answer will surprise you!

During COVID, many people created videos and podcasts because they had the time, and it kept them going during restrictions and was a form of entertainment. How does someone like Rami generate a business around these creative content endeavors and keep it going post-pandemic? We find out in the next episode of COPING-19.

Rami and I examine how social media continues to change our lives and influence how we market ourselves and companies even during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Social media is here to stay and will continuously evolve. We will all adapt to the various new ideas and technologies as the world continues to figure out the virus and re-build after the Pandemic is over.

As we all know, the Summer Olympics 2020 in Tokyo didn't happen. This large global event is to occur in July of this year. As we get closer to the summer months of 2021, the big question is whether they will happen. The answer right now is yes. Today March 9th, it was announced Tokyo is going ahead without any world spectators. Which makes sense because we know a lot of countries are only allowing travel for essential reasons. Even though there is a vaccine, it's probably not a great idea yet, to have a whole bunch of people travel into one country for an event. At least it looks like the Olympics are going ahead. I know Florida was willing to help out if Tokyo could not host them this year. Many possible solutions were being looked at so the Olympics didn't have to cancel.

I feel watching sports is something we need in our lives right now. We need something to look forward to; there is only so many Netflix and other streaming services you can binge. Sport is much more than just watching a team or individual compete, it's about crowds coming together and supporting those athletes. That is a major simple thing we haven't been able to do during this pandemic is to gather. Without crowds, let's face it the Olympics won't be the same. But at least it's a solution for now until the world returns to some state of normal.

In this episode, I talk to Mark Hatton UK Winter Olympic athlete, about what it's like to be a part of the global event, what he feels will happen with these upcoming summer games and the future of this world sporting event post-pandemic. So many questions to ask, and I'm fascinated by this topic because, in my life, I have never have witnessed an event of this magnitude be postponed. After seeing an Olympics in my hometown of Vancouver, I have been hooked on the games ever since. I have so many questions for Mark, and I know this will be a great episode.