Prior to getting into real estate, I owned a company called Youth Entertainment Services. The first letter of each of those words is Y-E-S, so yes. Imagine that, FresYes, and then Youth Entertainment Services, so kind of part of how I came up with the name of FresYes. What I did for Youth Entertainment Services is I provided a service to people. We rented out interactive games, rock climbing walls, sumo wrestling suits, giant inflatable slides, bungee runs, Velcro wall. We rented out interactive games to company parties, school functions, churches, all types of different events.
I got into that business as a result of being a clown and a magician and juggler before that. That’s what I did. I went to people’s homes, I went to people’s businesses, I went to fairs, carnivals, large events. I walked on stilts, I juggled, I did magic shows, I did closeup magic. I did all kinds of things to entertain people. One of those things you learn when you entertain people is reading them, is looking them in the eye, and that’s what we did when we rented out interactive games, and just different obviously than one-on-one, but still serving people.
Prior to that, every job I had…Well, almost every job. I did work in a lumber mill and a few other manual labor jobs, but primarily everything I did before that was working at a restaurant, dishwasher, busser, waiter. What else did I do? Managed a restaurant. I worked in the service industry. I served people. I’m a very good waiter, very good. I would routinely get better reviews and more tips than anybody else that I was working with, and why is that?
It was because I listened. I made eye contact. I built a rapport. Was I great day one? No, I’m sure I wasn’t. Did I get better in time? Yes, because I learned how to build rapport quicker and better, building deeper relationships with people that are just sitting at a table ordering some nachos. It can be done when you genuinely care about how somebody feels, but it’s interesting to me how this all wrapped together and prepared me for who I am today, the position I have in the community today, the position I have in my business today.
It’s, again, serving people. It’s finding a way to give them joy. It’s giving them what they want prior or instead of giving me necessarily what I want. If I can help them find joy, I’m happy, I feel fulfilled, and that’s really what it’s always been for me my entire professional career.
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