Latest / Real Estate for Real Life / Episode 16 • What Every Entrepreneur Can Learn from the Hospitality Industry with Jason Pound

Transcript

Episode 16 • What Every Entrepreneur Can Learn from the Hospitality Industry with Jason Pound · Real Estate for Real Life

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  On Real Estate for Real Life podcasts, we sit down with
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  standout business leaders to unpack what's actually working,
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  how they scale, lead. Teams win.
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  Clients and build businesses that.
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  Last, we're your hosts. I'm Courtney Gauchman.
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  And I'm Ryan Wilson, thanks for tuning in.
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  Welcome back. Filling in for Courtney Gauchman
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  today is agent on Wilson Group. Jimmy Chow, welcome.
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  Welcome. Thank you.
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  It's my first podcast. I'm really excited.
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  We're popped to have you. And who did you?
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  Who did you bring along? So today, not really an agent
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  for Wilson Group, but I'm also a Business development manager for
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  Finesse Hospitality Services. And today we have our founder,
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  Jason Pound here to speak to us. Good.
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  Morning and thanks for bringing me in guys.
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  I'm looking forward to talk to you, but.
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  Awesome. Pumped to.
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  Have you heard a lot about you from Jimmy?
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  You're a legend. So tell us.
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  I mean, you've built this big business nine years ago.
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  How did it all get started? Give us.
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  A little run. So let me just tell you a little
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  bit of what we do. Yeah.
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  I run a company that's called Finance Hospitality Services
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  that was based in forced and foremost on coat and luggage
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  check services in Boston. And it started at the convention
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  centers. It started at the, well, what's
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  now the MCEC, but it started at the BCEC in the beginning.
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  And it was handling the coat and luggage as simple as that, or
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  what people thought was as simple as that at that
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  Convention Center. Yep.
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  Yeah. One thing you I remember you
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  mentioned in when we were chatting earlier is you take
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  these simple transactional experiences and make them like a
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  luxury experience for the person that go through it.
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  So you take what most people just considered like this simple
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  thing and you make it this great experience.
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  Well, it's true. I mean, in all reality,
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  everybody else saw that as, oh, I'm going to drop off my coat.
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  And the people that I saw weren't at the level that I
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  would expect and be comfortable with.
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  So I brought in my own team of people, elevated the services
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  and created an experience, and that's really what made the
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  things change, and that's where everything started.
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  Yeah. So it's really like you base
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  everything on customer service. That's all it is.
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  It's hospitality and that actually I do change that word
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  too because a lot of people talk customer service.
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  But to me, customer service is customer service.
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  That's what you get at the grocery store.
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  We deliver hospitality and a lot of people think it's funny.
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  Finesse Hospitality Cocheck. Right.
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  It's on purpose. It's not by accident.
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  People need to understand the level of importance of that
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  position, right? It's the first and last thing
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  people see. Right.
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  That sets them up for a great experience at whatever event
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  they're going to or conference or whatever the case might be.
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  Well, and over the years, what's also happened is guests will
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  give me and my team feedback on their experience and I'm able to
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  parlay that back to the client. And it's not it's not feedback
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  clients often get. And so that really helps them
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  become better at what they're doing as well, because I have
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  that relationship with them that I can reach out.
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  Right. That that adds a whole nother
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  value that I didn't even contemplate that you're getting
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  now value. So the company that hires you to
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  put on their big event, you're now giving them valuable
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  information the following days after the event that they can
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  use to then implement in their business to improve it.
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  Well, in the beginning I didn't really think of it that way, but
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  it actually happened with one of our clients called Yankee
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  Dental. This older gentleman came up and
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  gave me some feedback at coat check directly that I gave back
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  to the client. Come to find out he was the
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  founding Dr. of that convention. So they were able to utilize
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  that to adjust some things to make it more what he wanted to
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  see as a, as a tone of like respect.
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  That's cool. That's really cool that that
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  happened that way. Wow.
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  So go ahead, I. Don't know I was going to say,
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  but you know, part of that, what you were mentioning is, is that
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  feedback, but it's based on that relationship, you know, talk
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  about your relationship with your clients and how do you
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  foster that. Well, that's what's interesting
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  about it is I have every single client I had in 2017 I have
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  today. Some of them I put on contract
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  through 20-30 years ago. They come back to me year after
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  year, time after time for events and they refer me to other
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  people because we have that open communication.
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  I not only elevate the experience, but I learn from
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  them and I become better at what I do as it does my team.
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  So that's really where it comes from.
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  You know, clients hire us directly.
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  They don't hire us through an event planner typically.
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  And that's not what it's not the way things usually work.
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  Right. It's like a true, you clearly
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  even just talking for a couple minutes have like a true
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  entrepreneur mindset where you're thinking long term,
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  you're not thinking about, all right, this is just another
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  deal. This is just another coat check
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  or back check. This is long term deals.
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  This is decades down the road fostering that relationship to
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  get more business and as you said, referrals.
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  Right. And if you talk about, you know,
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  relationships, that's how I have my luxury clients.
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  I also work with the Newburgh Hotel, the Omni Seaport and the
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  Hilton Park Plaza. I'm the exclusive provider
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  there. And it all starts through Omni,
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  because I knew the people at Omni who moved in there from
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  other hotels, I had a personal professional relationship with
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  them, and that's where things started and that's where things
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  have stayed all these years. That's awesome.
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  Let's rewind a little. So back when you're thinking
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  about starting this business, what kind of gave you that idea
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  to kind of get this thing going and get it off the ground nine
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  years ago? Well, I had been running, I had
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  been running the company that had the exclusive contract for
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  this service at the convention Centers for a while.
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  And I left and a few months later I had a call from the
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  Convention Center saying that that relationship was no longer
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  and asked me if I would come in and service the clients to make
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  sure things that happened properly.
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  They also made it clear they weren't going to do another
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  exclusive relationship. But that got me in the door.
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  I had three months where I was the only person people could use
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  and now I'm the only person people do.
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  Use. That's impressive.
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  And obviously you do that based on the result and producing a
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  really good product. So how do you, you know, you
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  used to run it and then now you started on your own nine years
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  ago and got your foot in the door and now you're the
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  exclusive for these people. How do you make that consistency
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  happen over and over again to make sure that you're providing
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  that high level service? It's setting up the company
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  differently than other people do, and most of the time in
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  convention centers, it's temporary agencies, especially
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  here in Boston. I'm an employer.
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  I'm invitation only, and that's how I started.
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  Invitation only for Coach X sounded funny to people at first
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  like Coach X invitation only. Yes it is.
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  But what's evolved over the years is I'm invitation only for
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  clients as well. I don't post ads, I don't know
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  looking for clients. They're brought to me by my
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  current clients and that's how we've grown so and it used to be
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  me, but now it's this person, it's the company.
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  So it's not just Jason anymore in my relationships.
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  That's where it started, but I'm just part of the process now.
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  That's. Really cool.
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  So you, you've, you've built a pretty big business now you have
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  now have other people, Jimmy one being involved.
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  How have you kind of developed people over the years to help
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  them grow in in your business, to grow your overall business?
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  Well, what is interesting is seeing people skill set and
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  seeing what they're passionate about first.
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  Jimmy is a head of business development, loves going out
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  there. He likes to talk, he likes to
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  interact with people. And if he loves what he's doing,
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  he is your best, I'll say salesperson.
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  But he is like he sells the business because he believes in
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  it. I also have Betty Salami, who's
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  my head of concierge services. Betty is a rock star in the
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  city. Well known as Boston Betty.
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  She was the chef concierge at the World Trade Center.
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  She was also involved with a lot of other projects around Boston,
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  one of which was starting the Greater Boston Concierge
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  Association. And now she works for me and
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  Frank Dipasquale. Oh yeah.
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  And so having people like Jimmy, having people like Betty, she
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  Betty brought on her friend Anna.
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  Anna is a long term veteran of the concierge world, but she
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  also has a tech background. She's also multilingual.
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  So we're having people that are multilingual professionals doing
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  Co check. Yep.
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  And from there, Betty's husband works for us, my wife works for
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  us, Anna's daughter works for us.
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  It's become, you know, that invitation has spread out
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  through our networks and we find individuals strictly the ones
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  that really have that innate love for hospitality, the ones
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  that get that emotional reward when they know they've done
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  someone a good job or provided a service or had that thank you or
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  made that smile happen. So that's why we think imitation
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  only is important because you have to have that hospitality,
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  firing yourself, that mindset, what you were born with, and
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  then the tools and the training and the skills and the
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  operations that comes. But when you have that mindset,
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  it comes much easier. And especially with a great team
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  like ours who all try to support each other.
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  Impressive what you guys have built.
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  That's very cool. I mean we obviously with our
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  business, you know, we we look at it as well, I mean maybe not
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  customer service as you just described that.
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  I like the way you described that, but the hospitality we
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  have to give to our clients is, is the same thing because we
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  want them coming back. We want them from the day we
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  meet them to the closing day. We want them to feel good about
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  the entire transaction. So what other, what other
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  industries are you? Are you taking this into this
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  hospitality and and such to to help with?
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  I know you do a lot of charity work.
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  I do you know, an interesting you brought up over the feeling
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  Part 1 of the biggest things I always go back to is people
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  remember how you you make them feel.
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  That's what's important. And so I took that into working
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  with Community Work Services, which is a nonprofit in Boston.
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  It's actually the oldest, one of the oldest nonprofits in Boston.
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  It was started by a woman. I started working with them the
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  day I started Finesse. I was helping them consult on on
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  at your service training and job readiness because I have a
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  background in that. I was starting a new business.
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  I was asked to do something, so I did it and working alongside
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  of them harbored another new relationship.
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  I've worked with them for years, both placing people.
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  I helped plan their gala with Betty's help.
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  I also, when I took over community, when I took over the
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  islands and I did that. They actually became our
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  caterer. Oh cool.
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  So it's taking those relationships on a face value,
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  but then building them up and finding out what else can I do
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  for them and then finding out what they can do for us, right?
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  Going along with that entrepreneurial mindset, you
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  mentioned the islands, I know that was a kind of a pivot for
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  us with hospitality. It still fell under that
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  umbrella, but it came through with community work services and
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  talk about, you know, how they came to be and how we that
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  partnership worked and what we, you know, kind of give back to
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  that. Well, what's great about the
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  islands was I've worked with gourmet caterers for many years
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  and I know them well and they were looking to have someone
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  replace them out on Boston Harbor Islands, both Georgia's
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  and Spectacle Islands doing the concessions post COVID and they
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  introduced me to Boston Harbor now.
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  And while I don't have a food background and nor do I work in
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  food, I have an understanding of business, I have an
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  understanding of food and I had the right connections.
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  So I took over post COVID as the first vendor to offer
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  concessions on those islands. I started out with George's and
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  Spectacle Island and I stayed out there for four years.
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  That's awesome. So taking one business and one
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  thing you mentioned when you were talking about your charity
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  work, you said you started it the same day as you started
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  finesse. Yes, that was a two week
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  commitment that ended up we're nine years and running now.
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  Which I think from just any younger entrepreneurs, business
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  people that are watching and listening, you did something and
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  you took a chance not knowing what any future outcome would
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  be. You didn't know if this was
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  going to be helpful for your business.
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  You were helping out a charity, you were doing some things and
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  then next thing you know that leads you to different
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  relationships that are getting you on the islands or doing
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  this. And one thing I think a lot of
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  people are short sighted about in business is they don't
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  realize that yes, you might be working for free for this thing
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  or that thing or learning this, but that's going to lead you to
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  much bigger opportunities that if you didn't do that and didn't
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  take that chance and you were short sighted about it, you
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  might not get that opportunity down the road.
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  So. It's very true.
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  I mean, I think that I would love to tell you that I've
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  always had that mindset and to an extent I have.
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  But really that really honed in for me.
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  I got sober in 2016. You know, I stopped drinking,
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  and that changed how I looked at things.
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  It wasn't about what I could get from people.
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  I used to listen to people talk so that I could get what I
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  wanted. But in recovery, I've learned to
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  listen, to learn. I've learned to become involved.
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  I mean, I always tell people I put a dollar in a basket and I
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  got my life back. So that's just how I look at
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  things now is what can I put into someone else's basket not
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  worrying about what I'm going to get back because look what I
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  have got back. I'm sober 10 years.
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  I'm in business, I'm reliable. Yeah, that's a great mindset.
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  And a lot of people go through their whole life without getting
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  that gift of understanding how important that is for life.
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  So tell us more about that. Like, that's incredible.
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  Sober for 10 years, you know, How has that changed your
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  outlook on things from a business standpoint, personal
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  standpoint? It took out that, you know, I
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  used to use this from the Wiffum.
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  What's in it for me? That was a big thing for me
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  throughout my life. And I would find jobs and I
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  would grow with a company that I would move down and and move
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  around to new companies to try to build them.
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  But in recovery, it taught me stick with something.
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  Reset when you need to focus on one thing, listen to what other
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  people need and you when you become frustrated with other
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  people, because I do right, find out what it is within me that's
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  frustrating me. And that's translating that into
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  business. It's finding other people's pain
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  points. What are their pain points and
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  how can I fix them? Code check specifically the
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  Convention Center prior to me would have to run down the
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  Convention Center employees leadership director when there
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  was a large coat check. It was always a mess prior to
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  me, they would have to run down and help the coat check company.
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  So they'd have to help the person they hired to do a job do
• 12:42
  their job. And Diane, who walks around the
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  building now is she's a new CEO of the building.
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  And she said to me she's like, and every time she passes by
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  with him like this is Jason. He and ever since he's been in
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  this building, I've never had to lift a finger at Cocheck.
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  I mean, that's a great compliment.
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  It's great. She's my reference so.
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  You're doing a job at a high level.
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  It is because seeing things in something that others don't,
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  right? And that ties back to my
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  recovery, seeing something in myself that I hadn't seen
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  before. That's, that's great.
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  One of the things you mentioned is, and I think about it a lot,
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  when you're having these conversations with people and
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  you're trying to get in a relationship with them because
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  frankly, you're trying to understand them to see if you
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  can help them. You're asking questions.
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  Most people ask questions and they listen and they listen and
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  listen. They listen just so they can
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  respond. But if you're frankly listening
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  to actually understand where they're coming from and
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  understand how you can help, you actually might be able to help
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  instead of just looking to react, which I think a lot of
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  salespeople do. And that's how you get the right
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  business. Not every business is the right
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  business. Not every piece of business is
• 13:39
  right for anybody. But by listening, you learn.
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  And that's how I got into, that's how I got into the
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  islands. That's how I got involved with
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  custom without community work services.
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  It was because other people referred me to them.
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  I don't look for business. And it's not because I'm, I
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  don't have to look for business. I mean, I don't.
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  In reality, people bring it to me because of the people I have.
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  It's not about me. At times it is because it has to
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  be, but it's about the people I have doing their job day in and
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  day out. My people are on time, they're
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  early, they focus and people know that.
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  People seek them out year after year.
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  That's great. How do you how do you find these
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  people and how do you train these people?
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  So the finding these people is my network.
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  You know, I started out with maybe 20 employees, all people I
• 14:21
  knew. And once people got in there and
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  people just think, oh, because you pay more, Yeah, that's part
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  of it, not going to lie. People like to get paid, right?
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  But people also like people that show up on time, people that put
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  in the same level of effort that they do.
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  And that's something that in that industry wasn't happening
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  before me. It wasn't consistent.
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  So that's how I get good people because then good people bring
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  on more good people. Betty who I mentioned her
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  husband works there. Jimmy mentioned, well, her
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  sister works there, Her sister's husband works there.
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  You know, nepotism is a, it's like it's on the application,
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  but it's actually not an application.
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  But like everybody's, my own daughter works here.
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  She started at 8 years old stealing money that she was
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  counting, I'm pretty sure. And, and you know, now she still
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  works here, right? So that's really what it is, is,
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  is bringing those people on and keeping them because they get
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  treated well. And in the beginning, it was
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  buying people lunch and, and doing different little things
• 15:09
  like that. But now I'm harboring a
• 15:11
  relationship with a company that handles water.
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  And they're going to provide me with water not only for my
• 15:16
  staff, but to hand out to promote their water.
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  And it's not just any water. I won't mention them right now,
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  but it's a water that I believe in.
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  And then recovery water's kind of important.
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  Other things are dangerous. Yeah.
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  So let's just say, I mean, we're, you know, always trying
• 15:29
  to find a different way to utilize Kochak and that first
• 15:31
  impression and last impression experience.
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  And really a lot of the attendees that come up don't
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  expect the level of hospitality and cordial and friendliness
• 15:39
  from us. So they stay, they chat with us
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  for a while. They ask us about the city and
• 15:42
  where to go. If we see that they have some
• 15:44
  suitcases, you know, help them get to the airport.
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  But often times our, our, our clients and guests, you know,
• 15:52
  there's opportunities, there's FaceTime there.
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  And so we've tried to take this, you know, small transactional
• 15:57
  piece and make it into a great experience.
• 15:59
  But also now there's business aspects to it.
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  Can you talk about some of the other aspects that we're we're
• 16:03
  working on as far as using our tickets and using our exposure
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  there? Well, that's great.
• 16:07
  You know it did. It started out with code check,
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  but then it became bags, right. People carry bags and people are
• 16:12
  carrying more bags. So we take those.
• 16:13
  So that extended our business first and foremost from a
• 16:16
  seasonal business to long term. We have events in June, July,
• 16:19
  and August. As a coat check company, we have
• 16:22
  specialized tickets. A lot of people order their
• 16:23
  tickets off of Amazon and they're zero to 500, yellow,
• 16:26
  blue-green. I have a specific vendor that
• 16:29
  only provides the tickets to branded with my name, but the
• 16:32
  bag tickets have an elastic loop, so they properly attached
• 16:34
  to a bag so they don't damage it.
• 16:36
  Then after a while I realized, well, if my marketing is on one
• 16:38
  side, why can't someone else's marketing be on the other side?
• 16:41
  So one of my first people with that was Stubby's in the
• 16:44
  Seaport. They're open till 3:00 AM, so I
• 16:46
  put their QR code to their ordering system on the back of
• 16:49
  my tickets because every code that leaves my possession has a
• 16:52
  ticket in its pocket with that QR code.
• 16:55
  So not only does IT support another local business, but I
• 16:58
  also had them pay for that. So it paid for the one piece of
• 17:01
  overhead I have, which are those tickets and that's how we've
• 17:04
  grown that business in, in that aspect and being available in
• 17:07
  one small way. That's that's really smart.
• 17:10
  I mean, great marketing idea for sure.
• 17:12
  So, and it cuts your overhead. How do you, what else do you do?
• 17:16
  Because at the end of the day, you get hired by one of these
• 17:18
  convention centers or hotels to check bags and coats, whatever
• 17:24
  the case may be, and you're putting them away.
• 17:27
  It's a volume game. So, you know, I don't know how
• 17:29
  many, if it's the type of thing where all right, if it's this
• 17:31
  number of garments, it's this price or this or that, but how
• 17:35
  do you scale something like that?
• 17:36
  It's really, there's two different ways.
• 17:38
  There's two types of people don't realize this.
• 17:39
  There's two types of code check. There's a hosted code check
• 17:41
  where someone paid, the sponsor pays for it and we base our
• 17:45
  staffing on the number of attendees.
• 17:46
  Now after doing it for 10 years, I know the attendees, I know how
• 17:49
  to staff it. So I bill them an hourly rate,
• 17:52
  correct, You know, so that's how that works.
• 17:54
  The other side of it is there's the cash aspect, which most I
• 17:57
  think I'm the only one actually that does that.
• 17:59
  If a client wants to have a cash code check where they charge the
• 18:02
  attendees, I create the same system but with a guarantee.
• 18:05
  So they I still make my money. I don't have to worry about
• 18:08
  losing, but it lowers their cost.
• 18:10
  That's how it started. But again, over the years, going
• 18:12
  back to the marketing piece, I've gotten people to sponsor
• 18:15
  the tickets and sponsor the event by utilizing that ticket.
• 18:18
  So now I've lowered my clients cost and once you lower
• 18:20
  someone's cost, they're looking to tell you everybody else.
• 18:22
  And in the beginning I made code check, not free, but affordable,
• 18:28
  but a better experience than most had.
• 18:30
  And that's really what changed the game and that's how things
• 18:32
  worked out for us. It's looking for those
• 18:34
  opportunities. So how do you this is, and this
• 18:36
  is probably something you train, but maybe it's just an 8 as
• 18:39
  well. But like, how do you, how do you
• 18:41
  convey or how do you show your clients and your staff what an
• 18:44
  average experience is to an unforgettable experience?
• 18:48
  Like how do you change that level?
• 18:50
  I think that's pretty easy. I mean, we've all checked coats
• 18:52
  in the world, and when you Google code check, I don't think
• 18:54
  you find many good experiences listed, right?
• 18:57
  But when you Google Code Check Boston, my name comes up first,
• 19:00
  and that says it all. And why does it come up first?
• 19:03
  Yes, it's the people that we have, but it's the systems we
• 19:05
  have in place. And I can thank Jimmy for that.
• 19:07
  We created a manual on code check, right?
• 19:09
  And it has diagrams of how things are supposed to go, how
• 19:11
  the tables are set up, how the bags are put in order, how the
• 19:14
  codes are put in order. But The funny thing about that
• 19:16
  is that's at the end of the manual.
• 19:19
  So not only is a company who does code check of a manual,
• 19:22
  most of the manuals about service, about expectations and
• 19:26
  I don't have to repeat it, you know people read it.
• 19:28
  Right. What's the what's the level of
• 19:30
  service, because everyone could in any line of work, I don't
• 19:34
  care what business you're in, could in in increase their their
• 19:37
  customer service, their experience?
• 19:39
  How? What's something that people
• 19:40
  don't think about that? Did it add to your level
• 19:43
  experience? One simple phrase really does is
• 19:45
  I like to say that we're a my pleasure company and a no
• 19:48
  problem world. A lot of people in today's
• 19:50
  society say that oh, thank you, no problem, no problem.
• 19:52
  Don't want to hear no problem. That's a negative connotation.
• 19:55
  But when we say my pleasure people stop, Nancy, who works
• 19:58
  for me, says thank you for using our services.
• 20:00
  We appreciate working with. It's those personal touches.
• 20:03
  That make a big deal. I, at larger events, put someone
• 20:06
  out as a line greeter. Do I really need a greeter at
• 20:09
  code check? No.
• 20:10
  I could just let the line be there like everybody else.
• 20:11
  But why don't I have a line if I don't need one?
• 20:14
  Because I have someone out there greeting people, timing the line
• 20:17
  on my end so I know how long things are taking, but also
• 20:20
  making people seem like that time is less.
• 20:22
  People don't like to wait. We know that I don't like to
• 20:25
  wait. Especially at the end of an
• 20:26
  event. And I don't check codes anywhere
• 20:28
  and look except it's mine because I know I'm going to be
• 20:31
  disappointed. Right by those simple phrases,
• 20:33
  it reminds me of something you wrote in the the the write up
• 20:36
  prior to this, this podcast is you wrote something along the
• 20:39
  lines of like, we're passionate about it and that shows.
• 20:44
  Absolutely. I mean, if you're not passionate
• 20:47
  about Cocheck and doing that, then you don't work for me.
• 20:50
  And it's because it's not about Kojak.
• 20:52
  It's about the people involved with Kojak.
• 20:54
  And it's not about my people only.
• 20:55
  It's the people on the other side of that table who walk up
• 20:58
  year after year. Like, Jason, how are you?
• 21:00
  You know, we just ended up working with a large client for
• 21:02
  Nike and a volleyball tournament because of our reputation.
• 21:05
  That's really what it's about. It's not a reputation for Kojak.
• 21:08
  Yes, we're very good at it and we're excellent at it.
• 21:10
  And everybody else put their mind to it.
• 21:12
  They could be good at it and excellent people.
• 21:15
  Ask me. Oh, by giving out the manual,
• 21:17
  couldn't someone steal your idea?
• 21:19
  They could steal the idea. They can't steal the people,
• 21:21
  right? They'll never do it as well as I
• 21:23
  do. Love that confidence.
• 21:25
  What is the what would you say if, if anything, like where is
• 21:30
  this industry going? Obviously we have a lot of
• 21:32
  technology changing things. Is there a gap that you see?
• 21:38
  Is this industry always going to need the human touch, which I
• 21:40
  think it will along with our industry, but where?
• 21:43
  Where do you see as a gap that you professionally could?
• 21:46
  Improve on I appreciate you asking what the real gap is that
• 21:48
  experience, right? Because I've seen it.
• 21:50
  So we do coat check and but people walk up and say, you
• 21:53
  know, your coat check staff is better than my registration
• 21:55
  staff. Yeah, I understand that.
• 21:57
  Can you do a registration right. So now I do registration.
• 22:00
  I have been for years and what used to be a 10 people at a
• 22:02
  registration desk doing all the manual and greeting.
• 22:05
  Now it's three people a registration desk before chaos
• 22:09
  check insurance, right. Guess who's still getting hired?
• 22:11
  Me. So now maybe I have less people
• 22:15
  on site than other people. But it's not a volume game.
• 22:19
  And you mentioned that earlier. It's volume for me.
• 22:20
  It's not a volume game. It's being present in making an
• 22:24
  experience. It's an experience game.
• 22:27
  You know, other people, other companies bill significantly
• 22:29
  less than I do, so they need more people to make money.
• 22:33
  I need my people. Yeah, I'm not greedy.
• 22:35
  I get what I need to and I pay them well to do it, and that's
• 22:40
  the real difference. So we're staying relevant while
• 22:42
  other people are kind of starting to fall off.
• 22:44
  That's. Great.
• 22:44
  And just piggybacking off that, you know, you mentioned, you
• 22:47
  know, how, how do we scale? Well, you know, part of it is,
• 22:49
  you know, it is a volume game and a certain amount of service
• 22:52
  and how does our team see, you know, understand what luxury
• 22:54
  service is versus it isn't. And what Jason said is we're
• 22:57
  scaling with our existing clients, the ones that have been
• 22:59
  with us since 2017, who are contracted to 2031 of our
• 23:03
  clients brought us out to the California Conference of Women
• 23:06
  for after doing the Massachusetts Conference of
• 23:07
  Women for five years. They wanted us out there.
• 23:10
  So and with all of our existing clients, we can see we're
• 23:14
  getting registration because our luxury service was far better
• 23:17
  than the registration they had last year.
• 23:19
  So our scene can see it by exhuming it and demonstrating
• 23:21
  themselves, setting the high bar in the convention centers of the
• 23:24
  hotels that we work in. It's awesome.
• 23:26
  Our clients scale us. Yeah, we just did a.
• 23:29
  Registration. Yeah.
• 23:30
  Well, we did an event for bio, a bio client at the MFA and two
• 23:34
  days later I got a call that a certain very important person in
• 23:36
  this world was doing an event at the Convention Center for bio
• 23:39
  and they needed my service over there.
• 23:41
  So they called that person. That's how it happens.
• 23:44
  And we, and again you like you said, we do other services.
• 23:47
  We consult, you know, we, we've consulted different people.
• 23:49
  We consulted Lipoli companies years ago out in Lawrence.
• 23:53
  They were starting a building for residential clients and they
• 23:56
  couldn't find someone to teach and train their residential
• 24:00
  concierges and and nobody would do it for them.
• 24:03
  Right. What you, as I mean you have to
• 24:05
  train a staff to give that level of experience.
• 24:08
  Like how do you do that? Do you personally train them?
• 24:10
  Who, who, who does this? So I think it starts with, yes,
• 24:12
  you have to train the staff, but you have to Rev the right
• 24:14
  people. I think a lot of people think
• 24:16
  anybody's trainable and that's not the case.
• 24:18
  So I do work with the training and I am part of it.
• 24:21
  But I have Betty, I have Jimmy, I have Anna, I have other leads
• 24:24
  that are also part of that training process.
• 24:27
  Even in the consulting aspect I'm getting, I mentioned
• 24:29
  earlier, it used to be me, right?
• 24:30
  It's not me anymore. I'm part of the process, but the
• 24:32
  people around me use the systems that we have.
• 24:35
  We actually consulted years ago and trained at a mass port.
• 24:38
  A lot of people don't know that Logan Airport was my client for
• 24:42
  four years pre COVID training. All of their customer service
• 24:45
  associates Coat check company got that contract right.
• 24:49
  How do you, I mean, speaking about training, like how do you
• 24:51
  train yourself to think that way, to constantly think of that
• 24:55
  mindset? In essence, you either have it
• 24:56
  or you don't. To start with.
• 24:57
  If you don't have it, don't try to make it.
• 25:00
  And also finding that in people's Jimmy has his skill,
• 25:03
  right? So I, I emphasize on that skill,
• 25:05
  but just because someone doesn't have that skill, what skill do
• 25:08
  they have? And if they can contribute to
• 25:09
  the process, put them to their potential.
• 25:11
  You know, I talk a lot about we have a bar, right?
• 25:14
  And some people exceed that bar all the time.
• 25:17
  But I can't be disappointed in the people that meet the bar,
• 25:20
  right? Because they're meeting the bar,
• 25:21
  they're meeting my expectations. And sometimes people don't get
• 25:24
  that. They also hire or keep people
• 25:26
  that don't meet the bar 'cause they're more focused on the
• 25:29
  revenue. The revenue will come if you
• 25:31
  have the right people and I think this is proof of it,
• 25:33
  right, Right. This is cool.
• 25:34
  I mean, it's, it's amazing what you guys have done is you take
• 25:37
  this simple transactional piece of business and turn it into
• 25:40
  this amazing guest experience, which I just learned today
• 25:44
  actually based on feedback you get can give a huge piece of
• 25:48
  valuable information to the people putting on this event.
• 25:51
  And it's not just about the coat checked bag check.
• 25:53
  It's, it's much bigger than that and it makes those people leave
• 25:57
  feeling better about the event that they were just in and that
• 25:59
  that's because of you guys. So.
• 26:01
  Great. Appreciate that.
• 26:01
  Thank you. It's, it's, it's quite an honor
• 26:03
  to be part of this process. I mean, we've been in so many
• 26:06
  and we still are in so many different industries tend to be
• 26:09
  brought there by people, not to have to push your way in.
• 26:12
  It makes a big difference when you're welcomed in someone's
• 26:14
  house, they're a lot nicer to you.
• 26:15
  Yeah, I mean, it's, it's much easier working with people that
• 26:17
  are referred to you, which is the lifeline of our business as
• 26:20
  well versus, you know, OK, grinding cold call and stuff
• 26:23
  like that. You're getting the the intro and
• 26:26
  said, hey, Jason and Jimmy took care of me, you got to hire
• 26:29
  them. Well, that's that's an in the
• 26:30
  door that you know, now you just need to meet their expectations,
• 26:32
  which we know you'll exceed. I have a perfect example of that
• 26:35
  at the end too. Like we recently received a
• 26:37
  call. Everybody knows FIFA's come into
• 26:39
  town, but we received a call from a certain group of people
• 26:42
  that are doing AVIP experience, so to speak.
• 26:46
  And my name, our name was brought up.
• 26:48
  And then they had to have a follow up Zoom call with the
• 26:51
  other people that were invited to this project to further
• 26:54
  explain it because some people didn't get it.
• 26:56
  And in that call, my name and Jimmy's name was specific.
• 26:59
  Like we want to run like Jason and Jimmy were there.
• 27:02
  We don't want this all sorts. We know.
• 27:03
  And I talked to the person afterwards like we thought it'd
• 27:05
  be a great fit for you. Now, whether we get the piece of
• 27:07
  business or not, I don't know. But I've done my part and I
• 27:10
  think that's the other piece. Do your part.
• 27:13
  Yeah, Show up, suit up and see what happens.
• 27:16
  Right. That's cool.
• 27:18
  That's cool. What is, you know, either of you
• 27:20
  guys or both of you at, you know, as entrepreneurs running
• 27:23
  this very successful Boston based business, what is one
• 27:27
  thing you'd want someone to take away, whether it be from an
• 27:29
  entrepreneurial standpoint, whether it be business
• 27:31
  standpoint, personal, whatever the case may be that they could
• 27:34
  take away from this? I think I'm going to deflect a
• 27:36
  Jimmy 1st and then add into it all right.
• 27:38
  Well, I mean, this all started because someone overlooked an
• 27:40
  opportunity and someone devalued or discredited a position that
• 27:44
  was a forward facing VIP, you know, introductory position,
• 27:48
  position, first impression. And so if someone, if everyone
• 27:51
  in different industries had a different mindset and had that
• 27:54
  hospitality mindset or that view, these opportunities
• 27:57
  wouldn't be overlooked as much. And there might be another code
• 27:59
  check opportunity out there. I think that we haven't seen,
• 28:02
  but maybe someone else has eyes on or has that purview that's
• 28:05
  being overlooked, that's not being monetized, not being, you
• 28:08
  know, put on that pedestal that it should be and not being, you
• 28:10
  know, you know, adaptable to, you know, creating a better
• 28:14
  experience for whoever it may be and whatever business or
• 28:16
  industry. But I'm sure there's little
• 28:17
  niches here and there and people are stepping over them or
• 28:20
  looking past them every day and they're right there.
• 28:21
  And you just have to have the right eyesight for it.
• 28:23
  I love that and obviously that goes hand in hand, which makes
• 28:26
  you an incredible real estate agent.
• 28:28
  Not only do you know real estate inside, note you've known that
• 28:30
  for many, many years, but now you have that next level of
• 28:34
  customer experience, which what buyer, seller, investor wouldn't
• 28:37
  want to get that? Absolutely.
• 28:38
  They know they're getting the knowledge in real estate, but
• 28:40
  then they get that experience as well as it's pretty impressive.
• 28:43
  That luxury service shines through.
• 28:44
  And then, I mean, I'm really happy that most of my buyers,
• 28:47
  sellers and clients become friends.
• 28:49
  But it all starts with, you know, cordial, you know,
• 28:51
  communication and respect and professionalism.
• 28:53
  That's awesome, man. And I think for me, coming from
• 28:55
  a different perspective as a business owner and founder, it's
• 28:58
  being able to reset when you need to, looking for those
• 29:01
  opportunities and seeing where people are accepting that
• 29:03
  mediocrity. But you can see that pain in
• 29:05
  their eye, right? Once you see that pain and you
• 29:07
  know you can solve that problem, follow it.
• 29:10
  And you might not get it the first time.
• 29:11
  I didn't and I get it the second time, but you'll get it if you
• 29:14
  keep at it. It lines up with my recovery.
• 29:16
  Like every day is a new day. Go in there with the right
• 29:19
  attitude, reset. I tell that to newcomers, don't
• 29:22
  worry about it. And the other thing is don't
• 29:23
  discredit your past experiences because that past experiences,
• 29:27
  that is what got me to the islands, right?
• 29:29
  You mentioned. Cheers.
• 29:30
  Cheers is what got me to run those islands for four years.
• 29:33
  I had nothing to do with fooded. Cheers.
• 29:35
  Name recognition, right? So always keep in mind your
• 29:39
  experience is useful in different areas and just look.
• 29:43
  If you look, you'll find it right.
• 29:45
  Experience is useful in different areas.
• 29:47
  I love that. And you've got a very impressive
• 29:49
  career and done a lot and you know, maybe just touching the
• 29:52
  surface based on based on where you're going and what you're
• 29:55
  getting. So I think that's pretty
• 29:56
  impressive. Thanks.
• 29:58
  How can we find you so on social media or website?
• 30:03
  If you Google FHS Boston, you will find us.
• 30:06
  If you go to fhsboston.com, that is our website.
• 30:09
  But we are on Instagram, we are on LinkedIn, I am on LinkedIn.
• 30:14
  We are everywhere. But when it comes to code check,
• 30:17
  just Google Code check Boston or best Code check Boston, I
• 30:21
  guarantee we'll come up first. I love it.
• 30:23
  That's great. Well, thank you so much for
• 30:25
  joining us both you guys. This is this is awesome.
• 30:28
  Really appreciate it and look forward to chatting more.
• 30:31
  Thank you so much. Appreciate your time of course.
• 30:32
  Thank you.