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Rick Kaplan host of the nEREJ/NYREJ Podcast interviews George Hanna of Smart Income Lifestyle Inc.   

SmartincomeLifestyle.com

George discuss how most business owners don't actually own a business — they own a job with overhead. I built my career around fixing that.
My mission is to build businesses that outgrow their owners. I developed Business Ascension™, a discipline for transforming owner-dependent companies into scalable, asset-based enterprises — ones capable of growing, transferring, and creating value beyond the founder.
Through my work, I identified what I call Execution Drift™ — the hidden, often invisible gap between what should happen in a business and what actually happens day to day. Left unaddressed, this drift is what quietly caps growth and traps owners in their own operations.
The solution I created to close that gap is Execution Certainty™ — the ability for a business to execute consistently, predictably, and profitably, without the owner needing to be at the center of everything. I install this through a proprietary framework I developed called the S.A.P.E. Method™:

Systemize — turn tribal knowledge into repeatable process
Assetize — convert the business itself into a transferable asset
Profitize — engineer profitability that doesn't rely on owner hustle
Enterprise — build the structure of a true, standalone enterprise

The result for the businesses I work with: companies that no longer depend on their owner for growth, profitability, or execution — freeing the owner and multiplying the value of what they built.
My work comes down to three things: Build value. Multiply value. Preserve value.

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Rick Kaplan host of NEREJ/NYREJ Podcast interviews Frank Flynn of Flynn Law Group and Dave Barrett of RCM Services.  
Dave Barrett
[email protected]                 
RCM  Services
617-787-5800

Frank Flynn
[email protected]
Flynn Law Group
flynnlaw-ne.com
617-988-0633
Dave Barrett & Frank Flynn talk rent control, tenant landlord issues

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Rick Kaplan host of the NEREJ/NYREJ podcast interviews Matt Shortsleeve with Solect Energy.   www.solect.com

Matt has over a decade of experience, Matt has successfully developed more than 100 solar and energy storage projects for municipalities, school districts, state agencies, and businesses. His expertise encompasses a wide range of solutions, including rooftop, canopy, ground-mounted systems, and large-scale, multi-megawatt renewable energy and storage infrastructures.

In addition to project development, he manages legislative and regulatory affairs, advocating for policies and frameworks that advance a clean energy economy powered by a modernized electric grid.

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Rick Kaplan host of NEREJ/NYREJ Podcast interviews Leo Young of Cornell Communities.  www.cornellcommunities.com   

Leo Young is the Founder & Managing Partner of Cornell Communities, a private equity real estate firm revitalizing manufactured housing communities across eight states. With more than $75M in real estate transactions, institutional private equity experience, and hands-on operational leadership, he expands access to affordable housing while generating disciplined, risk-managed returns for accredited investors.

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Rick Kaplan Host of the NEREJ/NYREJ Podcast interviews Gino Barbaro of Jake & Gino Barbaro 360. As a multifamily investor, entrepreneur, and co-founder of Jake & Gino, Gino brings a hands-on perspective built from actively acquiring, managing, and scaling multifamily assets through changing market cycles and interest rate environments.

He values conversations that go beyond theory and provide listeners with actionable lessons from real-world experience. Your audience of commercial real estate professionals, investors, and operators would benefit from discussions around portfolio scaling, operational challenges, value-add execution, investor mindset, and long-term business growth within multifamily real estate.

Gino also enjoys sharing lessons learned from building businesses, educating investors, and helping others create sustainable wealth and legacy through disciplined real estate investing.

Over the years, I’ve been directly involved in acquiring, managing, and scaling a substantial multifamily portfolio, focusing on value-add strategies and operational efficiency. Alongside my investing career, I’ve helped educate thousands of students and investors through the Jake & Gino platform, where we teach practical, real-world principles of buying and operating multifamily real estate.

I’m also a Certified Money Coach®, and I’m passionate about helping people develop not just better investing skills, but also a healthier relationship with money and long-term wealth building. My work is centered around bridging the gap between strategy and execution in real estate investing, especially for small to mid-sized operators looking to scale effectively.

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Rick Kaplan Host of the NEREJ/ NYREJ Podcast interviews Benjamin Stef of Nexa Lending.  www.fundingfreedom.net    

Ben talks about really unique, high-leverage loan programs that most investors don't know about that can help them scale faster.  We've been able to scale our mortgage business to multiple six figures in less than 6 months all while keeping margins low in order to benefit the investors and their pockets. At this point I've been invited to many other podcasts and speaking engagements sharing the knowledge my team and I have. Because we work with so many real estate investors at a high level across the country, we get to see a lot of strategies that work and a lot of strategies that don't work, coupled with having mortgage and lending knowledge, so we know how to structure deals to make sense on paper.

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Rick Kaplan Host of NEREJ/ NYREJ Podcast Interviews Jens Nielsen of Open Doors Capital. 

 Jens spent 27 years in IT and telecom before transitioning full-time into real estate investing and coaching.

Since 2016 I've been a partner in over 2,700 apartment units and 100,000+ square feet of commercial real estate, and I’ve raised over $10M in private capital.

Over the past few years, I’ve also shifted focus toward industrial and other commercial assets, while helping investors and business owners improve decision-making, operations, and long-term strategy.

What’s shaped me most isn’t just the growth—it’s navigating challenging deals, lender negotiations, and market shifts, which has forced me to become more disciplined around risk and capital preservation.
Tells us what you would like to discuss on the show? ’d focus on how commercial real estate investors can adapt right now, especially as traditional multifamily deals have become harder to make work:

Pivoting Across Asset Classes
How investors can move into areas like light industrial or niche commercial to continue finding value.
What Actually Works in Today’s Market
Adjusting underwriting, debt strategy, and hold periods in a higher-rate environment.
Risk Management from an Operator’s Perspective
Lessons from managing through tough deals, working with lenders, and protecting investor capital.

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Rick Kaplan host of the NEREJ/NYREJ Podcast interview with Rod Santomassimo of The Massimo Group.      massimo.coach   
Rod Santomassimo is the founder of The Massimo Group, the leading coaching organization for commercial real estate brokers worldwide. He is a five-time bestselling author, a patented inventor, a former division one athlete, and a two-time recipient of Duke University’s MBA Alumni of the Year award. Globe St. and ALM Media have also named Rod a "Best Boss in Commercial Real Estate,” a recognition that reflects both his leadership and the culture he has built.

Rod helps brokers earn more in less time by immersing them in the people, processes, and platforms proven to drive exponential growth. He’s leading the way in integrating AI into commercial real estate, assisting his clients in streamlining their work and securing more opportunities faster.
Outside the office, Rod spends time with his wife of 30 years and their two grown children.

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Rick Kaplan host of NEREJ/NYREJ Podcast interviews David Fields CEO of AcquiOS.          Acquios.ai    

David Talks about how AI is fundamentally changing the speed and quality of commercial real estate deal analysis and what that means for acquisitions teams right now. Specifically: how firms are going from receiving 50+ broker emails a week and spending 5–10 hours per deal on underwriting to getting first-cut models in minutes, in their own templates. I'd also want to touch on the difference between AI tools that track your pipeline versus AI that actually tells you what a deal is worth. And I think your audience would find it interesting to hear how the platform learns from a firm's historical deals so that the 11th deal you underwrite is smarter than the first, essentially building a proprietary knowledge base that compounds over time. Happy to also get into the practical side: what does human-in-the-loop AI actually look like, and how do investment professionals stay in control while moving dramatically faster.

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Rick Kaplan host of the NEREJ/NYREJ Podcast interviews Dave Ellis of Ellis Realty Advisors  http://ellisrealtyadvisors.com 

Dave works with businesses, developers, landlords, tenants, and investors to understand and anticipate their business needs. He aims to create real estate solutions that help clients succeed. He grew up swinging a hammer next to his father, building homes on the South Shore. He is always looking at all sides of the market and is proud to provide outstanding service to buyers and sellers, adding insight, creativity, and value to help clients achieve their vision.

Ellis Realty Advisors is establishing Hingham's 4 Pond Park as a new hub for business collaboration on the South Shore. It will also serve as the firm's new headquarters. Dave will discuss what the project will mean for the future of Ellis Realty and the South Shore.