Meet Shmuel Siegel | Commercial Real Estate Broker | Transformational Coach

We had the good fortune of connecting with Shmuel Siegel and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Shmuel, what role has risk played in your life or career?
What is risk in business? Risk is any time you are dealing with an unknown outcome. Simply put, if I knew exactly what the result of an action would be, there would be no risk involved, rather an informed decision. Therefore, weighting in all the options, potential outcomes, pitfalls, and minimize the margin of risk is key to having risk play in your favor. Unfortunately for me, this was not always the case.

When I first started my business, I took on too much risk, because I had no financial ground to stand on, and when starting a business or venture, there needs to be a lot of solid foundation. Risks should be taken with extreme caution, and one should never risk something they cannot afford to lose. Understanding how to use risk to work in your favor, and to use it as leverage, and calculated leverage at that, is essential for true success.

Sales is great, but sales does not always promise, well, a sale. Understanding how to create multiple streams of income, from multiple sources is key. It’s important to understand that even when success comes, we should not allow ourselves to live beyond our means. Wasting money on luxuries is taking on major risks on our financial health and creates unneeded overhead and tons of problems. Keep your expenses low, your income high, and always exceed your income to your expenses. At the end of the day, no one cares what car you drive, or what clothes you wear, all those things will come in the right time if you so wish for them. Everything takes time to build, and building a strong business especially. Remember to focus on money now, before money later. Coming to the world of sales and business from a place of power and confidence is more powerful than any name, or clothes you wear, people can feel your energy, that is more important than wasting money on overpriced products. Always remember, the strongest negotiating position is the ability to walk away, coming from a place of power will let you take on calculated risk, the type of risk that will help you get ahead.

What should our readers know about your business?
I guess I can say that I have several businesses now. How I got here was not easy at all. When I first became an entrepreneur, I was way over confident in my abilities to succeed. Confidence is great, don’t get me wrong, but when confidence gets in the way of realistic expectations, and the time it takes to build something, it can be destructive. Though I had a couple good years, Covid-19 (so cliché, but its true!) really took me down, I tried scrambling back up but couldn’t find the business to do so. 3 huge loans later, and major credit card debt, I was completely stuck. I must say, if it wasn’t for my best friend that I mentioned previously, Danielle Levy, I don’t know where I would be today. Being able to look back at ourselves, introspect and understand that we are doing something wrong is so essential and important for success. She told me that without minimizing liabilities, and building a business from a place of strength rather than weakness and being desperate, it will just not work. So I started over again basically. Took up low paying jobs, worked nights, days, weekends to get ahead. No job was beneath me, I think I applied to over 100 jobs, and no one was looking for work, so I asked friends, I told them I was in trouble, and I can help with things here and there. Some of my closest friends hired me for some work, just so I can get back on top. I hustled and built it all over again. I am still building, constantly becoming better and refining my systems and how I do everything. I understand that I need to be in love with the journey, that building a company to be strong and efficient, slowly, is better than expanding too quickly. I am happy with the work that I do, and the services that I can provide my clients and customers. We are constantly getting better, and excited for the journey ahead for us.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I love this question.

We would start with my home, Oak Park, CA. The mountain views, birds, it is so tranquil and the perfect place to start. We would take a walk down the trails to the little stream, and visit the Duck and Dog parks off of Kanan. Next day we would go down to Santa Monica, we would spend the day at the beach and go to the ONYX Rooftop Bar on Ocean at night, the place (for no apparent reason because its such a classy nice place) is usually empty, so its a great place to have solid conversations and connect. I would also take this friend to Woodley Lakes Golf Course (by far my favorite), to lunch at Cast Away in Burbank, and dinner at Hummus Bar. I would spend the night with them in Encino, which is my second home, and dine at Tel Aviv Grill. Of course, no trip to LA would be complete without visiting the Getty Center, and the Getty Villa. If my friend still has energy left, we would go meet at Douglas Emmett’s Sherman Oak’s Galleria and grab a coffee at the Starbucks. Finally, we would end the trip at Harriet’s Rooftop, I love the place, love the vibe, love everything about it.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
As I mentioned in my first answer, Danielle Levy literally came to my rescue and helped me become the person I am today. If it was not for her guidance, tough love, encouragement, brain-storming sessions and never giving up on me even when I was stubborn and not wanting to listen, I would simply not be where I am today.

I once told myself, when your whole body is kicking and screaming DO NOT LISTEN!! This is the time to listen, simply because, change is difficult, and when the mind is refusing change, that is the point of breaking bad habits, and becoming the best person that you can be. Danielle, thank you for making me the person that I am, I could not have done it without you.

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