The Padernacht Podcast

Most people think buying a franchise means stepping into an established system and letting the business run itself. Judy’s experience as the “Fruit Queen” tells a very different story.

In this episode of the Padernacht Podcast, Steven sits down with entrepreneur and longtime Edible Arrangements franchise owner Judy to talk about growing up inside her family’s restaurant, building multiple franchise locations, developing her own personal brand, navigating failure, and eventually becoming #1 in New York.

Judy explains how the lessons she learned at her family’s restaurant, Umberto’s, shaped the way she runs her business today. Customer service came first, everyone had to know how to do every job, and when something needed to get done, the owner stepped in. She eventually brought that same mentality into the franchise world, describing how she turned an Edible Arrangements location into something that felt more like a mom-and-pop business.

They also break down how the “Fruit Queen” brand started almost by accident and eventually became one of the smartest marketing decisions she made. Instead of only promoting the franchise, Judy built an identity around herself that helped her stand out among other franchise owners and create a stronger connection with customers.

Judy shares the reality of rapid business growth, including opening three stores within one year, managing multiple payrolls, insurance policies, teams, and locations, and eventually operating four stores at once. But some of the most important decisions came when she started closing locations.

At the time, closing stores felt like failure. Looking back, Judy explains why those failures became some of the most important moments in her career. Consolidating the business ultimately helped her become #1 in New York and reinforced one of the biggest lessons she has learned as an entrepreneur: everything is fixable.

They also discuss why everyone should work in hospitality at some point, what business owners can learn from serving customers, the realities of franchise ownership, learning to use social media after years of avoiding the camera, and the unexpected TikTok video that generated more than 2.1 million views only a month into creating content.

Judy also shares what she would tell her 17-year-old self, why entrepreneurs cannot be afraid of failure, and why she hopes her legacy is not simply being remembered as someone who worked hard, but as someone who fell down, got back up, and helped other people do the same.

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What happens when someone who spent years troubleshooting one of the largest aircraft in the world starts applying that same mindset to the human brain and nervous system?

In this episode of The Padernacht Podcast: Brick by Brick, Steven sits down with Daniel Sears an Air Force veteran whose story moves from maintaining the massive C-5 Galaxy to studying human performance, meditation, neurofeedback, nervous system regulation, recovery, and the creation of Neurogenesis.

He talks about what it was actually like to work on the C-5, an aircraft he describes as essentially a building that somehow flies, and the complex troubleshooting required to keep it operational.

The conversation then goes much deeper.

Daniel opens up about growing up with dyslexia, dysgraphia, ADHD, and anxiety, and how some of the same attention challenges that caused problems earlier in life later became useful in the Air Force when he was working hands-on with complex aircraft systems.

After leaving the military, his life changed again. He became a stay-at-home father, continued his education, worked in real estate, went through divorce, and eventually found meditation during one of the most difficult periods of his life.

That experience led him deeper into neurofeedback, brainwave training, recovery, and nervous system regulation.

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What happens when you stop letting your career define who you are?
Michael DeSimone is a corporate attorney and vice president at a Fortune 50 insurance company, but that is only one part of his story. He is also an actor, fitness enthusiast, father, sports memorabilia collector, and someone who has deliberately pushed himself far outside of the identity he once had.

In this episode of The Padernacht Podcast: Brick by Brick, Steven sits down with Mike to talk about how COVID became a turning point in his life. What started with reclaiming the hours he once spent commuting led to a physical transformation, fitness magazine features, professional acting opportunities, and a level of confidence he says has even improved his work as an attorney.

They also get into time management, fatherhood, networking, sports memorabilia, getting started in acting, dealing with rejection, personal legacy, and why being willing to get uncomfortable can completely change the direction of your life.

Mike’s story is a reminder that your profession may be part of your identity, but it does not have to be the entirety of it.

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Most business owners know they should be creating content. Far fewer know how to turn that content into attention, authority, relationships, and actual business.

In this episode of the Padernacht Podcast, Steven sits down with entrepreneur and business strategist Francis Volpe to break down how business owners can build a stronger brand, create content that actually fits who they are, use AI more effectively, and turn their expertise into opportunities.

Francis explains why asking “What content should I make?” may be the wrong question. Instead, start with: “What do I want to be known for?”
They also discuss why constantly consuming books and podcasts can eventually become another form of procrastination, why speed and volume matter when developing a skill, and why getting your reps in is often more valuable than waiting until everything is perfect.

For real estate professionals, they break down a practical strategy for becoming the “mayor” of your local market by building relationships with local businesses, creating community-focused content, establishing authority, and turning that attention into referrals.

Francis also shares how one professional went from roughly 500 YouTube subscribers to nearly 8,000, generating more than 1.9 million views by turning decades of expertise into useful, easy-to-understand content.

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He spent 12 years perfecting a technique he first sketched on a whiteboard in one all-night session as a first-year PhD student — and it's now becoming the foundation for how doctors will scan brain function for the first time in medicine. On this episode, MRI physicist and neuroscientist Prantik Kundu breaks down ME-ICA, the method he invented to filter noise out of brain scans, the newly-discovered "stop circuit" his lab is publishing on this summer, and why he left a faculty position at Mount Sinai to build a startup that gives ordinary people a map of their own brain.

We also go back — growing up in Flushing, Queens, the son of Bengali immigrants; running server infrastructure at 15; being a student in downtown Manhattan on 9/11 and what that day permanently changed about how he trusts institutions; and the unlikely path through a Jesuit college, a PhD at Cambridge in a program co-founded by Dr. Anthony Fauci, and a faculty post he landed by skipping the traditional postdoc route entirely.

Prantik is the co-inventor of ME-ICA, a widely-used method for denoising fMRI data, and the founder of i3 (eyethree.ai) — a company using a 25-minute MRI scan and an AI-guided app to help people understand their own brain's strengths, limits, and long-term trajectory, from performance to Parkinson's to early signs of cognitive decline.

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Anthony Raimo sold drugs as a teenager at Fordham Prep, walked in on his uncle's overdose at age 5, and watched his grandfather die of cancer at 14. Today, at 25, he runs Trident Corporate Housing — a rental arbitrage business currently working with the Houston Astros and in talks with the New York Yankees — and Raimo Renovations, a full-scale general contracting firm.

Topics covered:

0:00 — Season 2 intro and episode preview
2:28 — Who Anthony was before he became a business owner
4:04 — Where the self-development mindset actually came from
6:01 — His father, a union carpenter, and lessons learned working with his hands
8:17 — The party years: alcohol, weed, and finding control
11:21 — Give yourself grace
12:35 — Social media: the gift and the curse
13:53 — Creator or consumer: rebuilding your own algorithm
15:52 — What happened in his life to bring him here
16:43 — Death and addiction: walking in on his uncle at age five
17:23 — Watching his grandfather die of cancer at 14
17:43 — Growing up around family dysfunction and substance use
20:43 — The truth behind everyone’s highlight reel
22:18 — You never know who’s watching
22:36 — His first failed business: real estate wholesaling
24:13 — The Florida flip that went wrong: a water line nobody could find
25:20 — Going $30K into debt to learn commercial real estate
25:57 — Raising $5 million in pledges that never actually closed
26:57 — Meeting his business partner and pivoting to corporate housing
27:15 — Why traveling construction crews and sports teams, not vacation renters
28:16 — What rental arbitrage actually is
29:09 — Already working with the Astros, in talks with the Yankees
29:35 — Why “failure” might be the wrong word for any of this
32:21 — When he decided to share his trauma publicly
34:47 — Is God using him as an instrument?
36:04 — His roller-coaster relationship with faith
40:28 — When he felt furthest from God
41:47 — The moment things started to turn around
43:15 — Choice, consequence, and why it’s not God’s fault
45:33 — The one book he’d recommend: The Daily Stoic
46:49 — His biggest fear: letting himself down
47:17 — What he wishes he knew years ago: build genuine relationships
47:46 — Legacy: what he wants people to say about him
51:06 — Raimo Renovations and the roof giveaway
55:00 — How to reach Anthony Raimo

Connect with Anthony:
Instagram: @anthony.raimo
Websites: raimorenovations.com | tridentcorporatehousing.com

Book a free real estate consultation with Steven:

📞 (607) 669-3361

🌐 Visit Website

 📸 Instagram: @steve_pad

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In this episode of The Padernacht Podcast: Brick by Brick, Steven sits down with Michelle Sultanaj — known professionally as Sultana Taj — a former flight attendant turned professional belly dancer of nearly 20 years, a tarot card reader, and someone currently training to become a death doula.

 This one goes everywhere: from a chance encounter with a dancer on a study-abroad trip in Spain, to hustling for gigs in hookah lounges before social media existed, to a live tarot reading on camera, to an honest conversation about planning for death as an act of love for the people you leave behind.

Topics covered:

[9:22] How she discovered belly dancing

[11:04] The greatest joy of performing

[15:26] Live band vs. playlist

[24:16] Her mentor Jihan and "sacred belly dance"

[25:52] Hustling for gigs before social media existed

[30:24] The database she's never had — and the dream that told her to build one

[31:53] Steven's business lesson: building an email list from scratch

[36:59] What tarot actually is (and isn't)

[38:22] A live reading on the future of the podcast: the 10 of Cups

[44:52] Training to become a death doula

[46:15] What a death doula actually does

[49:03] Steven's own ethical will

[52:19] Why planning for death matters

[55:53] Legacy: how she wants to be remembered

 Connect with Michelle (Sultana Taj):

Website: sultanataj.com | Instagram: @sultanataj | Facebook: Sultanataj Belly Dancer

Book a free real estate consultation with Steven:

📞 (607) 669-3361

🌐 Visit Website

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In this episode of The Padernacht Podcast: Brick by Brick, Steven sits down with a friend of over 20 years Michael Chernick, Business Development Director in the energy industry.

Before any of that, Michael ran a struggling candy bouquet franchise, coached high school basketball, and dabbled in vending machines and Amway — until a customer connection led him into inside sales at a family-owned heating oil company. 15 years, a company acquisition, and a full CRM rebuild later, he's telling the whole story including the real estate crossover most people never think about: buried oil tanks, ESCO scams, and what actually stalls a closing.

Topics covered:
[0:15] How the candy bouquet franchise started
[1:52] The $1,000 magazine ad that generated 2 sales
[3:23] Biggest lessons from running the candy franchise
[6:00] Making the leap into inside sales
[8:52] Why he hired mostly women for phone sales
[11:10] Becoming the top salesperson — and the friction that came with it
[14:38] Coaching new realtors: the #1 trait that matters — coachability
[17:11] Self-education: books, mentors, "university on wheels"
[20:20] The Magic of Thinking Big — the role of mindset
[24:04] The company sale — losing 3 of 7 team members in year one
[26:55] Choosing a smaller, family-owned company over more money
[29:01] Building a CRM and marketing foundation from scratch
[30:56] What an ESCO is and how people get bait-and-switched
[36:19] Why realtors call him about buried oil tanks and biofuel
[37:33] ProGuard tank insurance and $100K remediation coverage
[38:56] A real $250,000 remediation story that stalled a closing
[40:56] The teacher appears when the student is ready
[41:56] Two types of people: excuses or making it happen
[48:15] Legacy: what he wants to be remembered for
[49:56] Advice to a new college grad figuring out their path

Reach Michael on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michaelbchernick/

Book a free real estate consultation with Steven:
📞 (607) 669-3361
🌐 smprealty.com
Instagram: @steve_pad

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In this episode of The Padernacht Podcast: Brick by Brick, Steven Padernacht sits down with Jessica Galeas — a Bronx-raised early childhood and special education teacher who spent 20 years carrying a story she was finally ready to tell.

Her debut picture book, Tia is My Mami, is 95% autobiographical — the story of a little girl raised by her aunt after losing her mother. It's on kindergarten shelves now. And it almost never got written.

Jessica talks about teaching K–2nd grade for 15+ years, what social emotional learning really means for young kids, why blended and non-traditional families rarely see themselves in children's books, and what it took to finally stop being in her own way.

Topics covered:

[0:08] Introducing Jessica Galeas: teacher, mother, debut author

[2:48] What teaching early childhood and special ed actually looks like

[4:25] Social emotional learning (SEL) — what it is and why it matters

[7:03] Why SEL surged after COVID

[11:02] The books kids gravitate toward and why

[14:03] Parent-teacher relationships and why they matter

[17:03] How much extra work goes into being a teacher

[18:52] "You don't leave at 3:00. We earned those summers."

[21:22] Tia is My Mami — where the title comes from

[23:37] Writing about grief and loss for young children

[25:01] Steven reads the book — and the page that hits different

[26:18] Why she decided to put her story out into the world

[27:16] Writing as therapy and healing

[28:18] How she made time to write with three boys, a husband, and a 15-year career

[31:21] How her boys and husband reacted to reading the finished book

[35:49] What she would tell her younger, fearful self

[40:25] Growing up Puerto Rican and Dominican: strength, silence, and culture

[44:50] Her Tia and Abuela: the women who raised her

[48:22] Giving the book to her Tia over Thanksgiving

[52:08] Triple Hearts Books: why the name matters

[53:22] Are more books coming?

[55:34] What success looks like

[51:13] Who deserves credit nobody will think of: Jose

[54:17] The book description read aloud

Find the book on Amazon: search "Tia is My Mami" by Jessica Galeas

Instagram: @tripleheartsbooks | Email: [email protected]

 Book a free consultation with Steven

📞 (607) 669-3361

Instagram: @steve_pad

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In this episode of The Padernacht Podcast: Brick by Brick, Steven Padernacht sits down with Thomas — a Brooklyn landlord and engineer who has been fighting a squatter tenant in New York City housing court for nearly a decade, losing close to $300,000 in unpaid rent along the way.

Disclaimer: This show is built for open conversation. The views expressed by our guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Padernacht Podcast.

Thomas shares exactly how the system works, why judges can't seem to make a ruling, how legal aid funded by taxpayer money is being used to stall the case, and what two simple reforms would end the majority of these housing battles overnight.

A raw, honest conversation about what small landlords in New York City are actually dealing with.

Topics covered:

[0:08] The "8-Year Squatter" t-shirt — what it means

[0:58] The tenant: no rent paid since 2019

[2:07] The math: nearly $300,000 in lost rent

[2:40] How Tom is covering the bills — savings, 401k, his kids' jobs

[3:08] The reality of expenses vs. profits for a small NYC landlord

[4:31] Free market vs. rent-stabilized units explained

[9:03] The 516-page legal document filed one week before court

[13:00] Legal aid costs and who's actually paying for them

[18:05] "Your tax dollars are paying to fight against you"

[19:01] Five or six judges — and no ruling

[24:28] How Tom bought the building in 1988 and gutted it from scratch

[29:36] The political agenda behind NYC housing policy

[30:36] Politicians who refused to help — and one who stepped up

[34:21] How the case has affected his family, his kids' college funds, his retirement

[37:44] Professional tenants — people who never intend to pay rent

[44:03] Linda: the tenant Tom supported for years without charging rent

[54:00] How Linda's death turned everything sideways

[56:14] What Tom wants the public to understand

[57:42] The two-year eviction process — how the courts stack against owners

[1:00:41] Two reforms that would end 80% of housing cases

Book a free real estate consultation with Steven

📞 (607) 669-3361

🌐 Visit Website

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