Building A Business

The business world today is, like I said, is a lot different than it was those days. In many ways, it's a lot easier. In many ways, it's a lot harder. Competition today is is is probably a little bit stiffer, more difficult in a sense, not from the competition itself itself, but from the regulations source. >> Today to get a license in a healthcare facility is 3 and 12 to 4 years. >> My days, I got it in 3 months. There's a big difference. Bureaucracy today is just horrible. But you got to live with it. There's nothing else you can do with it. >> Welcome to the Middle Class Podcast. I know we've been a little bit out of commission for a while. This is uh this a couple months since our last filming. Um but it's really a privilege and a pleasure to have Mr. Alex Adelman, uh, former former mayor of Lawrence, um, which we'll probably want to hear about amongst many other things. Um, pleasure and privilege to have you as a guest on the podcast. And the theme of the podcast today is about how to build a business correctly, building a business. And that's something that Alex can definitely shed light on for us and teach us and help us um, with. And I really, really am looking forward to this podcast. and I think all our listeners are going to benefit from it tremendously and I can't wait to get right into it. So, Alex, um why don't we start with just the basic background of uh you know where you're coming from. I know you weren't born in in America. You've come you've a very amazing story. So, let's start with that introducing that. >> Yeah, thank thank you for having me first of all. Um I I was born in Romania. came to America when I was 13 years old and that was basically it. Uh we grew up in Baltimore for a while, went to yeshiva there, went to school there until I was about 17, 18. Then I went out of town on yeshiva. I ended up in Lakewood on my later years and I got married and I moved to Borough Park. That's the short version of my life, >> so to speak. >> So So wow. So Romania, that's a country in Europe. >> That's a country in Europe. Yeah. It's like >> sorry for anyone who doesn't know it's not Rome, it's Romania. >> It's Romania. That's correct. You know, our generations. >> So, um, wow. So, what how old were you when you came again from Romania? >> Well, we left Romania when I was 9 years old, but we were living in Paris for about a year and a half and, uh, we lived in Amsterdam for almost two years. So, by the time we got here, I was 13 years old. >> So, and when you were in America, you grew up in Baltimore. >> I grew up in Baltimore basically for a couple of years till I was about 15, 16, 17. Then I want yeshiva out of town. >> Which one? That was yeshiva in Connecticut at that time of mafi. >> Oh. >> And then after that I went to uh Lakewood. While I was in in Mafi yes in Connecticut I went to college there for a while. Kunapia college which was the original way it opened up. It was a business school of Yale. Yale University opened up the school at that time and I went there for about two and a half years. I got some education as far as uh you know general knowledge of what's going on in the business world very helpful to a certain extent but uh mostly basically you you get to learn on your own experience rather than book stuff. >> Mhm. >> Book stuff is fine if you want to you know go by the book so to speak if you want to deviate a little bit and and do something on your own is that book help that book smart does not help you much unfortunately. >> Yeah. So I want to get very much into that. So um but before just to understand Lakewood so you went to B med and you were by Cutler at that point >> Cutler >> at that point it was >> yeah was nifted two years before >> oh wow so what was Lakewood I'm curious what was Lakewood like then how many people were in the yeshiva >> in Lakewood at that time they had about 350 bakarami uh they had about a coil of about 150 yalites about 150 175 yungalite and uh single guys and the rest were married coer guys. It was a smaller yeshiva compared to what it is today. Today 78,000 bramite. It's a different world today. >> Mhm. >> But it was sort of a more smaller yeshiva. It was more individual we had. It was a very interesting it was a different type of life than it was today. Different type of yeshiva different type of learning those days. It was more or less you know you you knew everybody there basically. It's not today. You know, you can sit in the base of medish for 5 years, not know the other half of the base of madrish. It's a different world today. >> I mean, one of my stories is that I didn't even know my karus's name till like 3 months into this man. >> Yeah, it's possible. >> It's the same thing in me. You're shal. >> Yeah, it's a cholen pot. >> Yeah. >> So, this is important for our listeners because they go through those life stages where they're learning and then they go to work. So, again, how old were you when you were in Lakewood at that point? I was uh 18, 19, 20 at I got married when I was 20, a little bit older than 20. Um and uh and I we moved to Boro Park. >> So >> my wife is originally from Long Beach, Long Island, and then we moved to Boro Park. We lived in Boro Park and I started looking for a business. I started looking for a job immediately right after the and uh I've done a few things in my life before I was able to go into my own business. Uh but uh you know I done some jewelry salesmanship. I was working for jewelry company. I used to go out of town selling jewelry and I worked for a tuxedo place uh as a manager for a while and I just tried different things to see what what and where what I was suitable for and what I like to do. >> Right? >> Basically a search situation for a couple years after marriage. You search for different things, different options, what's available out there just to get an idea until you find your own niche. Basically, that's what it was. >> Yeah. So, that's important because I again I want to focus on the building of the business and a lot of those things that you went through are part of the journey, right? To be able to get something that you want to do and are successful at. >> So, right after you got married, um you started exploring. What was um you said you were in college for a period of time. When when did that take place? >> How old? >> That took place when I was uh 18 and 19. 17 18 actually. >> Uhhuh. >> Okay. I I graduated when I was 17 and then I went to college went to night school night school there. Uh and doing during the day I went to yeshiva and I did that for about two years. Basically business the the courses that I've taken at that time was business and marketing. That was the name of the course. Uh there was some basic knowledge that I acquired from it. No question about it. But it wasn't much helpful. Maybe if I stayed there longer, perhaps I could have picked up more knowledge. But I found that the knowledge that I had picked up really was not useful in the business world per se. Right. So, okay. So, we're at the stage now. So, you you were learning for a while um picking up some business knowledge and now you go out into the world of business. Um can you describe the feeling um that you had when you entered the world and started exploring? Were you did you feel lost? Did you feel confident? How did you be able to >> Well, it's interesting because uh I was more or less a person that had a lot of confidence even when I was a younger age. So, when I went on to the business world, it wasn't any any news or any shocking situations where I, you know, I I, you know, I sort of shocked myself. I was confident in what I was doing. I always knew what I wanted to do. uh I had a certain amount of of of push on my own and willingness to want to try things the things that I enjoy things that I wanted to do and so that's how I uh started doing different things in different businesses. So confidence and that's key. I think you feel that having the confidence and the ability to be a little bit I don't know use the word aggressive or pushy or what would be the correct word? >> All those all those words are good useful words but I don't know if it it means anything to it. I think that you have to have a real confidence in yourself and if you want to go into business not everybody is suitable for business. Okay that's a fact of life. Some people are more suitable to become attorneys. Other people are suit to become lawyers and not everybody's suit to become a businessman. Uh just like uh just like a salesman has a certain act to be a salesman. You can't take a guy who's shy and bashful to put him out at me become a salesman. It doesn't work. It doesn't work. >> Uh you have to know what you want to do and you have to know what you appreciate and you have to know what you like to do and what you're capable of doing. That's the most important analysis of yourself. Whenever you get married, you have to figure out what you want to do with your life. In order to do that, you have to analyze yourself basically. Am I capable of being a salesman? Am I capable of going to college, becoming a lawyer, an accountant? Uh I want to go into business. I want to open up a garage, you know, I want to sell uh you know uh items on for you know that I want to do. Uh it's it's a different type of a situation in each and every instance and not everybody suitable for every instance. So it'd be good for a person at that age to sort of analyze themsel for lack of a better word obviously to just to see what am I capable of doing? What do I like to do? >> If you like something that you want to do, you'd be much more successful than if something is pushed on to you to make you do it. >> So obviously if you enjoy a certain particular type of a of of adventure, maybe you should go into that kind of a business which that suits your talent, suits your capabilities and maybe that's the way to go, >> right? So there's different actions, different angles for different people, >> right? So like, so when you first of all, I would love to understand what gave you confidence in life like what was it something with with your upbringing or it was natural? What what would you say? >> You know, I grew up in Romania where u where you know, you didn't have the regular things of same kid growing up in America. It was a different world there. And uh so we learned to be tough. Mhm. We learned how to deal for ourselves and how to work for ourselves and how to get things done that we wanted to have. And those things, I guess, give you a certain amount of character. Here in America, every three-year-old, every four-year-old, every 5-year-old has everything handed to them. You know, when they're 7, 8, 9 years old, you know, everything's handed to them. When they're 10, 15 years old, everything's handed to them. European attitude is a little bit different in the sense that people have to work for certain things. You wanted a certain thing, you went out and you worked for it. >> You wanted a new bike, you went out and sold newspapers until we got enough money to go buy a new bike. Uh in America, that's very rare when that happens, right? >> Most of our a neighbors and friends actually, you know, don't have to go through all that. Uh daddy buys you everything, you know. So that's a problem in a certain way because, you know, they got used to that comfort level. >> Right. Right. So, so that uh that's a different culture that you end up using it to help. So, you're saying when you started in the world of business to me um there's two ways like you could have a lot of confidence in yourself and want to want to succeed but you could also feel very lost and you're saying you came in with the mindset of not feeling very lost very you came in feeling very confident in working on something that you wanted to do. Absolutely. I I I uh I was confident in the sense that I knew what I wanted to do. I knew I saw different opportunities that came up. U you know for instance I had a situation where I worked in a tuxedo place for after I finished my jewelry business for a while for 6 to 8 months and then I when I came into that company worked as an assistant manager and the manager's been there for like 30 years. He had a certain way of doing things. I went over to the boss one day and I told him after a couple of weeks I would prefer if he could let me do this and this way this and that way sort of you know quite differently than the manager and I don't want to upset him >> but I think he's doing things you know sort of as backwards. >> Um and he talked to me and he looked at me and he said let's give it a try. And we ended up uh after doing that the way I wanted to do it uh ended up actually saving one and a half employees. He was very happy at that time because one and a half employees cost him a fortune of money. >> One and a half employees. >> Yes. Because it was not because what happened was timewise we saved a certain amount of time. So we're able to take that employee that was doing that particular task put him to someplace else. >> So it was some almost like you know uh 60 hours a week of time >> which was taken away from this particular task of packaging and put someplace else. >> So he liked it. He wanted it. He told me then after a while that the manager is looking to retire if I want to stay a business I want to work there for for him part-time full-time you know he was offered to give me a full-time position there as a manager once the manager retires uh I was not interested in working there I was just interested in just getting some experience in the world of business and I wanted to move on >> tuxedos wasn't your life goal >> tuxedo was not my idea of being there as a manager for the rest of my life no >> gotcha so um I would ask one quick question because that was a different world back then. Was there less competition when you started in business back then? Do you see there being less competition in whatever industry you're going in back then more than it is today or >> I I don't think so. I think I think uh it's probably more difficult to certain things in business today than it was those days because of controls and regulations and rules and all of that other stuff. Uh-huh. >> Uh but but as competition is concerned, there's competition in every business. Uh you know, after a while, I went into the situation where where I was offered a a a small partnership uh running a facility, the healthcare facility, uh which I took on because I was interested in that in a long-term basis. I felt that the the healthcare industry is something that was solid future in business that was made a lot of sense. Uh I was offered a small partnership with a with the intent that I was going to be the manager of a facility. Uh my father-in-law helped me out to become a partner over there and he was an investor and I had two other partners that were investors in it and I was basically the workhorse. They were much older and I was the one that was running the business and I was the one that was doing all the work. And uh the facility that we bought at that time was a small bed facility, 53 beds, was basically losing about $2,000 a month. >> Right. I'm sure you know, Alex, today the healthcare industry is uh probably one of the most popular Jewish businesses. >> Yes, it is. And so I I know I cut you off there, but I wanted to just so I just wanted to iterate it though that you're saying that if someone, let's say, has confidence and a passion for a certain thing, they should pursue that and the competitive landscape or whatever it is is what it is. It's not the kind of thing you you even thought about. >> If you have a passion for certain things, you you'll continue doing it no matter what. Uh competition is always competition. Every business, you tell me a business there's no competition, that's not a business. >> So things aren't different. And I always thought things are different today because of so much information that's available and everyone's coming up with the next invention. So I thought today competition is like much worse than it was uh >> not really. Not really. There's there's a lot more information available today than it was years ago. Obviously you know you got the chat GPT and you got everything else available today which we never had in those days. M >> you wanted to look up something, you had to go out and do the research yourself. And and healthcare at that time was something that was just coming up. And it was an interesting business for me because I enjoyed that. I enjoyed people care and I enjoyed management in general. I thought I had a good knack for it and I did. Um we bought this 53 bed facility with three partners and myself and and after a year and a half I built it up to made it 120 bed facility. After two years, two and a half years >> from 53 to 120, >> right? From 53 beds to 120 bed facility, it became more than double the value obviously, >> right? >> And it was started to make money actually. Okay. Because 53 beds was very small facility and we worked at it and I worked at it very hard for a couple years. It was very profitable. It was fine. It was okay. And I I had offers from other partners that wanted to take me on as partners to go into a different industry. I did that. I ended up with two three facilities in 5 years. >> Right. And this took place. Let's just go back to the timeline. This took place. You had been in the jewelry business for you said >> and this was in this was in the early '7s 71 72 73 in those days, >> right? And this was how how how old were you at that point? >> At that time then I was 22 23 24. So in the healthcare, so you've been in business for about two, three years before you moved into the healthcare space. >> About two years. About two years. About the third year, I was already in the healthcare business. >> Right. Cuz I'm bringing that out because I know with uh you know, my generation, you know, I think being successful requires a lot of patience. Right. I think Right. You're not an overnight su success, right? It took you tried one thing. >> Exactly. And I remember you telling me this maybe we can share that also about the jewelry business how you worked very hard on ple making sure your customers were happy right is that >> yeah that was that was a major thing because I used to I jewelry business was competitive at those days okay that was competitive right >> it wasn't competitive because everybody used to sell jewelry to everybody jewelry was a big item worked on 47 street for for a cup company have two part two brothers and they needed a salesman I took took over the line from an elderly person that was a salesman prior to me being a salesman there and he had a tremendous reputation in certain type of jewelry opals which was very popular those days and I picked up the line and I started to go out and sell follow up the customers that he had in the interim I looked at other customers as well so I did pretty well I I those days I used to make between $300 to $500 a week which was a lot of money in 197071 won. It was a lot of money those days. My rent was $75 a month. >> Uhhuh. >> Okay. >> And you were married at this point. >> I was married at this point. I had uh you know child on the way. >> Wow. >> And uh my my my my alternate side of the street parking in Burough Park cost me $200 a month because I never was there in time to move the car to the other side of the street. >> That was >> so that cost me more money than my rent those days. >> But it's a that's that's the fact. The the reality of it is that you know after a while you work at different things different uh types of businesses you get to see what type of business has the least amount of competition what you prefer to do what you like to do right >> and that's how I ended up in the healthcare business I liked that business it was a good business and something that future did >> so when you were in the jewelry business and you were selling jewelry did you consider would you say that you were working very hard like >> I was working very hard because I wanted to make money I wanted to get money I wanted to save money. I had no money >> and obviously I wanted to save money and I wanted to be able to to to invest obviously in something that I wanted to purchase eventually >> and uh obviously those days you know you you you made very little money >> wasn't much to save on it >> right >> I was fortunate because I did very well in the jewelry business >> how did you do well and and when you were in the times that things were very very hard what did you say to yourself to keep pushing >> to have a lot customers that were out of town and the out of town was less competitive than Manhattan or Brooklyn or Queens. I used to go out of town three, four times a week. Used to go to Rochester one day to K Jewelers. >> You took the train. >> I took the plane. Uh I had a clergy discount at that time. 50% clergy discount. >> Clergy. >> Yeah. Because at those days, Eastern Airline going back now. I don't know how many people remember this. >> Eastern Airlines had a deal. If you were clergy, you got 50% discount. And you were a clergy. >> I was a clergy because I was in Linquist. So I had a clergy card >> and I got a 50% discount. So I used to go to Rochester for a day to take to look at some major customer. They had big retail outlets over there. I went to Buffalo one day. Uh I went to Philadelphia one day. Used to do that three, four times a month. And I used to come back with uh with 7 8 $10,000 worth of orders. That was 10% for me. That was my commission. 10% commission on >> 10% commission there's no salary. So when when things were very difficult in the business that you were in, what kept you going or it was just something you said I have to do this. So >> well I did this like I said I did this for almost a year and a half, two years. And um I did it. Some weeks were good, some weeks were not, some weeks we made more money, other weeks we made less money. But the fact of the matter was you you plugged on and you moved on and you did it. In the interim I was looking at other businesses, looking at other things that I was interested doing. I got tired of traveling basically, >> right? >> And and local business was not as lucrative as going out of town. So, uh when then I went after that, I told my uh my my boss that I was not interested being a salesman anymore. He offered me a partnership >> to be a salesman and to be a partner. >> I was not interested in jewelry business. I found the jewelry business to be very competitive in a sense that there was a lot of people making the same ring. You know, you had to just have a niche to make it at, you know, better than everybody else. Was not in something that I was interested in doing. I was interested in doing it because I had nothing else to do at that time. >> Right. >> Then I went to the tuxedo business for a while. Like I said, as a manager that wasn't there I wasn't there for a long time either because I really was not interested. Then I went to the healthcare business and I stuck with that pretty much for a long time. So what did you see in the healthcare business that said you know what this is something I want to I want to do? >> I like the healthcare business because it's something that was needed as people were getting older. There was more and more need for for for for healthcare facilities. Uh there was different types of of facilities that was available those days. There was a nursing home, there was adult care, there was a a psychiatric facilities, there was many many different aspects of the facilities. It involved management which I had a very comfortable feeling of doing it, managing people. >> It involved uh uh uh uh a lot of uh construction which I was very good at. I was very handy, very capable of doing that. And overall the building itself was something that had to be managed well. And so overall I felt comfortable in all those areas and that's how I really got into it and that's how I really went into it and uh I did very well with it. So the model at that point in time in healthcare was similar to today. Basically the more beds you have the more money comes >> obviously. Yeah. More facilities you have the more income you have the more money you make. Obviously that's the same thing. >> But at that time the industry was very shaky. The rates were very low. I got involved with a state association which was very inoperative. there was a bunch of people that were having little associations uh in in in different parts of Long Island and New York and Brooklyn had an association. So, it was really not much of an association. I decided with two other fellows and that we said we're going to open up an association to get most of our our adult care facilities into that association. And we worked very hard for about a year until we got a group of people to agree to pay dues and to work an association. And then we devel we had one guy that became president of the association and we we we we got a lot of other clients from different parts of uh New York, Long Island and joined our association. >> So what do I'm sorry to cut. So what's the association? What does that mean? >> Basically association did what? They had a collective amount of facilities that went and negotiated with the state for rates, better rules and regulations. Certain rules and regulation that we want to implement. Uh rates was a major factor. The Medicaid rates was very low. they got a higher rate. Uh they implemented certain rules and regulation. Some of we agreed with some of it we fought. Uh we that we introduced other regulations which we thought was very helpful to the industry. So that was the purpose of the association and association went on for a while. It became grew and grew. We got at one point almost 90 facilities that were member of the association. Eventually I became the president of the association and we ran the association for about six seven years was very successful and then I gave it up somebody else became president and I moved on. >> Yeah. So so this the association structure and again that that means I think at that time also a lot of the revenue let's say in in healthcare was from Medicaid the insurance >> was Medicaid insurance and private pay. >> Private pay similar to today really. >> Yeah. Very basically. Yes. Mhm. >> Uh so after you moved on as from the association you left healthcare or >> No, I was in the healthcare for quite a long time. >> So how many years? >> Even even I'm still in the healthcare business. >> You still Okay. >> Yeah. I developed other businesses in the as we went along but basically I'm still in the healthcare business. I still have facilities that I own that I leased out. My son is running two other facilities and I have two other facilities that's leased out to somebody else. And I have other businesses that I went into over the years and and I gave up administration of the my facilities a long time ago. I hired administrators that rent the facilities for me and eventually I leased it out. So when someone builds a business, a big piece of it is scaling, right? As you grow and you get bigger. So how were you able to do that from 53 beds to 120 beds to becoming president of an association? How did you scale that and be able to handle all that additional uh >> a lot of work, a lot of hours, and a lot of patience. >> And basically, that's what it takes. >> And I used to get up at uh 7:00 in the morning and go do I used to go from Davening straight to the office and I didn't get home till 10:00 at night. >> Right. Mhm. >> But but you were able >> that was a routine day >> and and so but I know there's also the ability to be able to delegate, right? So how how were you able to you probably have to hand off some of the >> Well, of course many of the issue many of the things that had to be done on a daily basis, I delegated. I had a secretary that uh you know followed up on many of the paperwork requirements. I had other managers. I had a kitchen manager. I had administrators that I told delegated certain things to them. They let them run it. I supervised them on a regular basis. We had regular meetings with them to make sure that they do the right job and the right thing and and and as things went on, it became more and more situation where they developed their own knowledge and they were trained well and we got other administrators that came and assisted administrators. We trained them as well and they became also the venture administrators on other facilities. >> So it was an ongoing process. I mean >> the the whole fact in the business is you have to put in your hours and you have to have your patience. You can't get rich overnight. >> You know, you have to have the due diligence and you have to study at the situation and you have to work at it very hard. Like I said, I used to leave the house at 7:00 in the morning and not get home till 10:00 at night. >> Right. And I'm I'm very I want to just take a little step back really for all our listeners. I you know, I appreciate Alex. you know, a lot of these things you've done, but it's important that we emphasize all of the stages that you went through from really you started from scratch. I mean, you didn't have you didn't even get married and be supported. It sound like >> No, >> no, no one's no one supported. >> No one supported you in Kuddle. uh you start literally you know pedled wares around the country or and you started from from scratch and built and built and built and I want everyone to appreciate and see how the stages every stage of that journey went you know it's uh so back to where we were before so the uh when you were growing the business um did you find it hard to delegate to other people to do certain things? Oh, no. Uh, not really. I mean, I had a choice either do everything myself or have somebody else do it for me. So, obviously, I chose for somebody else to have it do it for me because I just possibly could not do everything by myself, right? >> You know, I couldn't rip myself apart. I had a facility in Far Rockway where I started with and I had a facility out in Bohemia, Long Island, which I started construction there. And from there, I had a facility in Havstra, New York. Okay. So I don't know if you know anywhere of any distances but it used to go from far away to to to Bohemia Long Island was an hour and from Bohemia Long Island to go to Havstra and New York was an hour and a half. >> Oh wow. >> So I used to do this like three times you know three different locations almost on a daily basis. Okay. That's why I got home at 10:00 at night and I used to have administrators in different facilities. that I used to delegate authorities that I used to supervise them and there was a lot of things involved in the healthcare facility. There was food ordering, there was there was maintenance of the building, there was there was management of the staff, there was a management of the patients, uh food ordering, a kitchen, you know, there was a many many different aspects of a healthcare facility that I was involved with and I trained people for it. Okay. The cook that I hired had to be trained. He came from a restaurant >> and you trained and I trained him. >> Okay. and and and and and and the dietician trained the cook how he has to cook in order to meet the dietary requirements for certain caloric intakes for certain patients. So this was all a part of training. I learned it on my own. Okay. But I once I learned it, I was able to teach somebody else to do it. >> Right. >> And that's what it was. >> Right. So uh did you you had partners at some point in this >> I had at one point 12 partners. >> Okay. I want to so I want to talk about that a second. Tell me um or tell everyone how a good partnership is created and structured if you can give a basic. >> I had no choice because I had no money. So I took in partners after a while they took me in because they heard I was a good worker. >> So they took me in as being their workers so to speak and for that I got a small piece of the pie. >> Right. >> Okay. So that's the way it went. And so I bought a second facility. I took in two partners and I didn't want to take any other partners because they were really not interested in going any further than into this business. I took two other partners of that facility who laid out substantial amount of monies. We bought a property out in Bohemia, Long Island. Uh and a 7 and 12 acre property and I started filing for plans and permits. All that cost a fortune of money and then we at that time we put in about a million and a half dollars into construction, buying the property and started to work, >> right? I hired a a construction company to do the job and um and they everything went along fine for about six months into the construction. Then all of a sudden I started getting letters from the subcontractors that haven't been paid. I'm going to put a lean on the job and that was electrician. And then a week later I got a call from a plumber that I haven't been paid. And all of a sudden, I got myself into a situation where I had a meeting with a construction guy with a builder. As what's going on? I got a letter from this guy, this guy. You know, I haven't paid him. They going to lean the job. What am I going to do? It's ridiculous. Well, don't worry about it. We'll take care of it. This, that, and the other thing. This went on and before I turn around, there was a half a million dollars worth of leans on my building. >> The bank stopped giving more money. >> And I went to the bank and I told them what the situation was. And I told him, I got rid of the contractor. I got all the subs working for me now directly and I ran the job and I finished the construction of 175 bed facility myself. >> It took me a year. >> Oh wow. Wow. So at when you were building the facilities and the business um you pro you borrowed a lot from the banks. I'm assuming >> I borrowed at that time $3.5 million which is a lot of money. And do you have recommendation for someone who's financing a lot how much they should have in equity and cash and >> see the banks usually don't give you more than 40 more than 60% loan loan to value ratio. >> Okay? So you have to have at least 40% of your own money invested or your partnership money whatever the case may be >> and the banks will give you 60%. Today it's a little different you know today sometimes they give you 75% also right >> and they charge you higher interest and so it's a different situation >> right right okay as a so as far as the partnership was concerned I mean do you you got along with your partners >> I got along with them to certain extent uh they did nothing I did all the work and they came in and they uh found sometimes to uh praise me sometimes to criticize me I guess was a part of their duties >> uh but after a while I got a situation where I started getting a different partners group in and and some of my partners decided to retire. I bought out their interest with a different group of partnersh >> and little by little I managed to get a higher partnership rate. Okay, more percentage in the business and I bought some all of these partners out eventually. I right now ended up having three partners after having 12 partners after 10 years of going on in the business back and forth and buying different pieces of parcels and one facility I did on my own. side has substantial cash coming in to be able to get by pay off all the other partners and that's what I did >> 10 years. So when would you say so from start to finish when did you say you hit the point where you were profitable and then to the point where you would say um you know you hit like success how how long was that process? I don't know if I hit success even now. You know, there's no end to success. >> I mean, there's no end to right. >> But to the point where you're, you know, let's say very profitable like how long did that take? I want people >> 15 years. >> Yeah. I would say about 15 years where I was able to say that I'm comfortable with what I'm doing. Uh I'm making a decent living. Um I am I am satisfied the way my companies were doing. uh you know I I I I u I was felt a certain amount of accomplishment you know 15 years 16 years uh I did okay I felt good I felt good about it okay >> right right I just again I want to emphasize that to the business uh owner people people that are building their businesses that it can take a very long time till you see what you want to see right 15 years from start to finish that's a >> it's it's it's a long life in business It's a struggle. >> It's a struggle. >> But again, you know, you have to you have to you have to be with it. If you want to if you want to have success in life, you got to stick to it. >> You got to stick to it. >> And you know, you don't get rich overnight, >> right? >> Okay. The same people that get rich overnight get very poor overnight very fast also, right? >> So that's not it's not a motto to follow. Uh to be diligent in the business, you have to work hard. There's no question about it. You have to work hard. You have to work with common sense. And if you don't know something, go out getting advice before you do something. it doesn't cost you a lot of money, >> right? >> So, uh, asking advice from people is not an embarrassment. I've done that many of times. >> Well, that's a good point. What would you say? Like you had mentors and >> I had certain people and mentors in in the healthcare industry that I went to and I asked a question and I asked them to follow up on me. I asked for recommendations uh for for partnerships. I asked recommendations uh in certain in certain types of of banks who deal with and construction companies. I've gotten a lot of information, a lot of help from other people in the industry. Uh I was more or less the the youngest guy going into the industry those days. Everybody was twice my age. >> Wow. >> You know, so they looked upon me as a as the new kid on the block, so to speak. So I got some help from some of these people >> and it helped me a lot a great deal obviously. >> So and let me know if you're okay answering this. What about mistakes? Do you see that you made some mistakes? >> Oh yes. I'm not embarrassed to say I made mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes. >> And we could talk about them uh >> and what you learned from them. >> Yeah, I of course I learned from them. I I made mistakes in the sense that uh that I've lost money on certain deals. I lost money on on cert some deals that that I thought was going to be successful and profitful. They were not. >> Uh I had a facility out in Belleport, Long Island that I leased out, brand new facility that I leased. I put a manager in there. I filled up the facility eventually 160 bed facility. It didn't work out simply because of the distance was tremendously very far. Uh my administrator was not good. I fired him. I got another administrator. Didn't do much better. I fired him as well. I ended up being the administrator for two months there. Used to travel every morning from Far Rocko out to Belleport, Long Island, which was a trip. >> Where is Where is >> an hour and a half? You know where river River Riverhead is? >> Riverhead. Oh wow. So this is about 20 minutes from Riverhead >> Eastern way out. >> It was way out in the end of the world. And so so I did that. That was a mistake I did. But I learned I learned and after a while decided to sell the facility. >> What was the mistake? What would you say hiring? >> The mistake was that there was inapt inapph. >> Okay. Inapp management. Also the facility was located in such a place where was difficult for patients to get to. It was an industrial area. Uh many people did not want to put their parents into that particular area. It was far away from residential neighborhoods. It was in a factory area. Uh was not the best location for the building to be at. But it was there. It was ready made. So I bought it. I went into it. I leased it. And after a while, I bought the building and I managing it for two couple years. I was not successful getting a decent manager. And while after a while, I sold the facility and I made a couple of dollars on it. So I made all my aggravation back plus I had money left over from the grief. >> So it worked out there at the end but again there was a mistake. >> Right. Right. So why would you say you know off the top of your head um why some businesses or businessmen succeed and some fail? >> I would say perseverance, working hard and using a little common sense. >> That's right. >> And those are three things that are very necessary in a business. Not, like I said before, and I don't want to sound repetitive, but not everybody's cut out for everything in life. You know, you have to have a certain personality and and a and a and a a knowledge of certain things to be able to go into certain businesses. Uh some businesses are suitable for one person may not be suitable for other people. The different types of p businesses are suitable for different people. I am to like the healthcare business because it was a people business. I like to deal with people. I enjoy dealing with people. Uh I enjoy seeing the fact that the parent that children came to see their parents and they were happy and satisfied with the services that they received gave me a certain amount of satisfaction. Um you know those are the things that certain people enjoy. You know uh like I said you know the the the business world today is like I said is a lot different than it was those days. In many ways it's a lot easier. In many ways it's a lot harder. Mhm. >> Competition today is is is probably a little bit stiffer, more difficult in a sense, not from the competition itself itself, but from the regulation source, >> rules and regulations and so on. Uh today to get a license in a healthcare facility is three and a half to four years. >> Right? >> My days I got it in 3 months. >> Uhhuh. >> It was a big difference. >> Bureaucracy today is just horrible. But you got to live with it. There's nothing else you can do with it. >> Right. But even in your journey, right? uh you know it took you some time to figure out what you wanted to do even right you tried your hand here hand there >> exactly it's the only way to know >> people people I think sometimes feel that they have this magical career that's floating around somewhere and they just have to grab it but meanwhile you have to discover >> those people looking for the magical things that happened to them you know for 5 10 15 20 years before they turn around end up to be 45 years old >> and >> and they're still looking >> they're still looking you have to be willing to go through a discovery process, right? >> Well, you have to really analyze yourself >> and see what is your preference in life and that's where it starts. And again, you know, there's there's no big magic to business. The magic to business is perseverance and hard work. >> Right. Right. >> And if you were willing to put the time and effort into it, you could be successful at it. If not, >> Right. So, what other businesses I know you were very involved. Let's start with um I don't know if maybe you don't want to bring this up, but I knew you were involved with Rivlab busing. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. So, how was that? Because I >> Well, I bought that company. I bought the Rivlab bus company, school buses. I bought a school bus company because of the fact that I subcontracted. I had a daycare treatment program that I contracted with some of my facilities patients going out to daycare programs and and I used Rivlab bus. I used 10 of their buses and I continuously had problem with the bus company showing up on time. This that and the other thing. I went over to the manager one day. I said to him, "What's going on here? You know, I hire I'm contracting you from 10 buses a day. Cost me x amount of dollars and you're not showing up on time. I'm losing business. You know what's going on?" Well, he tells me his whole life story that he had trouble with his aunt and uncle who are partners of his and his father died and left him part of the business, but his aunt and uncle are really the majority owners. got trouble with them, this that and the other thing. I said to him, "Are they looking to sell?" He said, "Maybe they're looking to sell." I said, "Why don't you buy them out?" I don't have any money to buy them out. So, I said, "Tell you what, let me go talk to them. Let me see if they're willing to sell out." And eventually they sold out. I bought the company >> Rivla. This was >> Riva. This was Riva bus company. That time the company had about 90 buses. >> And And where did they work? They worked at >> They basically did schools. They did the local Yeshivas. They did >> uh uh uh some public schools they had as contract. It was a business that was going, you know, struggling, going along along. >> Uh I bought the company. I invested about $3 $400,000 in new equipment and so on. And the garage was in shambles. Had to be a new garage because there was doing the work on the buses was over there in the garage itself. So I revamped the garage and we we started getting more business and I ended up buying 10 new buses every month for the next 3 months. Oh wow. >> So we bought 30 new buses. Actually it wasn't new. It was used but it was in good condition >> and we refurbished and we cleaned them up. We painted them and so on and we started go out and get more business. In the interim I had more use for my some of those buses myself from my own business because I had developed a a day treatment program. We used to take patients from different facilities to a daycare program. And so I needed instead of 10 bus, I needed like at this point like 17 or 18 buses that I used on a daily basis. So I sort of paid myself to the bus company from the nursing home. I paid myself to hire the buses and for the day programs, you know. >> So that's how I ended up owning the company Rivlad >> and and you sold it recently. >> I sold it two years of I know six years later, >> right? >> Six years later I have sold the company. Uh there was the whole turnaround in the industry in the school bus system where where many companies that were smaller companies had were consolidated by purchase they bought out by a bigger company >> right >> and so it didn't make any sense for me to stay in business because the day treatment program was minimally reduced almost to nothing. So the only purpose I had for the company was to do the day treatment program for my own business. But no longer came a situation where I needed it. So I figured I sold out. I sold the company to a major company that had like they're in 15 states that basically was sold out to them. >> So would you consider that Riv was a good investment or >> it was a it was an investment that that was very useful for my purposes at that time. >> Uh it didn't make a lot of money but it certainly covered all the expenses and I employed you know over 125 people there and I employed three guys that were Sharma Chavez and so it worked well in that sense >> right? So it was service your other business. >> There was another business but the other the offshoot was that I I benefited my other companies >> right >> and made some money on the sale. I made some money. >> Right. Um so what else were you were you involved in? I know you have also an ambulance company. >> Yeah. Is that >> we start up the ambulance company? >> How does that work? How do you what's the basics of that business? Well, I had a lot of patients and I noticed a lot of my patient were being picked up by ambulletes from my place to go to the doctor's office for appointments and so on. So, I said to myself one day I'm looking out the office and I see three ambulance build up in front of my facility. Picked up three different patients. Said to myself, why do I let these companies do it? Why don't I do open up an ambulance company myself? Let me do it for myself. What's the problem? >> Well, who who pays the ambulances in those? >> It's a Medicaid charge. It's an insurance and all sorts of insurance. Medicaid, Medicare. It was also third party insuranceances that were paid. So I decided to go and find out what does it take to get a license. I started digging and found out find a company that had a license in Staten Island that they never used. It's sitting around and made quite a few phone calls. I bought the license from them. I transferred the license to my name and I bought one ambullet. My wife was the first driver of that ambullet and she got a commercial license. She got a commercial license and she was the first driver that we had an ambulance. I had the company got other customers and other businesses. We had 160 ambulance after 3 years. >> Wow. And you so you basically said to Medicaid, Medicare that you have an ambullet license company that's licensed and you >> Well, it wasn't it didn't depend on them. We had to go out and get business from different facilities that needs different types of ambulances. Ambulance, right? >> For instance, I had the Belleview contract for a long time Bel Manhattan discharge patients that we used to go there, pick up patients and bring them to the five burrows, >> right? And and what was your pitch? So your pitch was >> our pitch was that we provide you this service, good service where we even offered a Belleview 24-hour day service, okay, which was very helpful for them because the other company didn't want to offer it. We lost money on the 24-hour service, but we also had a lot of day service. So, at the night time, they had to have two or three ambulance sitting there and hardly maybe one or two times the ambulance went out and we got build for it, right? >> The other two are sitting around doing nothing all night. So, that was a big advantage for us because we got the day contract. So, that's how we ended up there. We also did a lot of business with dialysis centers. We get good service. We picked out the patients on time, delivered the patients on time and so on. So, we were doing okay. We had like I said we did very well in the business. Uh we we we uh until co co came along and a lot of the business sort of dropped out. Patients had to go with uh with cabs rather than with ambulletes and so that took a lot of toll on the business. So we ended up with about 40 40 uh vehicles after the uh co and that's what we kept it out till now. Today we're running at 40 vehicles or so. We do day treatments and so on and different types of operations. Right. And I I see a pattern that you know you were in the healthc care uh industry and you were thinking about out of box ideas of how to branch that out really and build businesses from there. >> It all stemmed from the healthcare industry. The ambulad business came from a healthcare industry. I had at one point 1500 employees. So I decided to open up a payroll company. Did my own payroll the company called StaffPro. Uh right now we're in 15 states and we're doing uh quite a bit of companies and quite a bit of business. >> Wow. >> Thank God. >> Right. So I think that's a good point to emphasize how when you're in a business, you can expand within that business, but just think >> expansion. Yeah. Horizontal expansion. >> Horizontal uh just moving. You see an opportunity in the payroll space. So make your own payroll company. Basically that's how it's uh >> that's how it started. Um so yeah a question just um to understand why you were going through this journey Alex how how what role did your wife play and was she instrumental in in your success? >> Well let me just tell you without my wife I couldn't have done what I've done. Okay. She was uh of course taking care of three kids at home by herself. Uh shopping everything the household had to be done. She did basically everything. I used to come home 8:30, 9:00, 10:00 at night. You know, I was dead tired. And the next morning, I was up at 7:00 and gone. So, she did basically all the housework, everything had to be done. Take the kids to school, take kids to the doctor, and so on and so forth. Without her, there's no way I could have done this. >> And um and it's amazing how you're emotional about it. Um I mean, that's we should all, you know, digest it for a little bit. Um, but what about like giving you like psychological support, emotional support throughout your journey? >> She gave me all of the support. Yeah. At times when you weren't sure what you were supposed to do, she gave you encouragement. >> Absolutely. She encouraged me to stick with it because it's something that I wanted to do. She encouraged me to stick with it and work it out and she gave me some advice on occasion and it was all very helpful. Like I said, you know, uh, having somebody at home that can be helpful and have be able to sit down and have a talk out about certain things. There's nothing like it. It's unbelievable. And I was very lucky to have her, my wife. >> Right. So people people should understand and hear that when you're building a business, >> I mean, I can say it also, especially when you're building a business, you need >> the support of the spouse. I don't think not only is it is it needed, I think it's necess it's necessary. >> Absolutely necessary. No question about it. >> And it wouldn't work if you know I'm assuming like you're saying it wouldn't have worked without her support and >> and um so that's another piece of important advice. >> It is. >> Yeah. I know now also you're in solar power. How did that >> it was that that was a simply an investment that people came to me 10 years ago and uh wanted me to invest with them. I saw the good opportunity. Solar is a free energy. You can't get free energy today only by if you have a solar on your rooftop. So I thought it was a good business, a good invention and decided to become a partner. We opened up a factory. We ran it and we're still running it to certain extent. We have some competition today. A lot of people are in the business, >> but we're now looking to expand now for the second expansion, and we're doing okay with it. >> Right. >> Yeah. >> Right. Okay. Um, so we're almost uh at the conclusion. Um, I definitely learned a lot from here. I'm curious though to understand how the mayor of Lawrence uh position came about. What got you into that? >> Was that something a fun a side hustle? What was that? No, it was not a side hustle at all. Actually, I'm involved in many community matters, >> right? Okay. >> I wanted to speak about that a not really part of our theme, but I think it's a very helpful. >> I was involved many community matters and I saw certain things um that were not run the right way particularly the village of Lawrence at that time was not uh running the way it should be running at my opinion at least. and I decided to become a trustee. Actually, one of the the mayors, the for one of the former mayors asked me to become a trustee in the village of Lawrence. I was really hesitant at that time to do it. I got too many other things to do, but I figured it only takes like uh couple of hours a month. I said, "What the heck? Let me do it." And as a trustee, I learned more and more things about what's going on in the village of Lawrence. >> What does it mean a trustee? A trustee of what? >> The village of Lawrence has a mayor and four trustees. Basically, those are the people that run the office of the mayorship in the village of Lawrence. >> Uhhuh. >> And so I became a trustee. I became a trustee for uh four years. Okay. Then I ran for office of the mayor because the mayor retired. He insisted I should run for mayor and I did. I ran for mayor. I won uh the first time, second time, third time. >> How long is the term for as a mayor? >> The term is for two years. Three times for two years. And but in my case situation, I ended up having a fourth term, which was the most unusual thing that ever happened in the history of laws. That never happened before >> that anybody should have more than three terms. >> Oh wow. >> Three two two year three terms. >> And but I had a fourth year, fourth term. And we're successful. We brought a lot of things about. We improved the building department. We changed certain zoning laws on the village of Lawrence. uh we allowed the third floor height to be given to many people that wanted a bigger bigger house. Uh we protected the sidey yards and the environment in general. So we did a lot of things. We we improved the the finances in the village of Lawrence. We did a lot of things that was very beneficial for village of Lawrence. Uh when I left the village of Lawrence in excess of $12 million in a bank. >> Wow. So what did you who do you interact with as the mayor? You interact with politicians. We interacted with politicians in Nassau County on a constant basis. We interacted with the chief of police and the police department very heavily and very active for security purposes. Uh we installed cameras security purpose in all the 12 entrances into the village of Lawrence which is monitored on 24-hour day basis. Uh we worked very closely with the with the especially on the holidays where half of the lawns goes away for Passover holidays to have extra patrols for police department. Uh we've done a lot of uh other things in the village of Lawrence and paving the streets uh sewer system that were done the water department which improved a lot of the fire hydrants. A lot of fire hydrants did not have enough pressures. We made them install new ones for the safety of the people in case of a fire god forbid. We've done a lot of things. A tremendous amount of work that was done during my tenure as mayor. And I'm proud to saying that they the continuation is still going on, >> right? I mean, people don't know this. I I don't think people are realize or me personally see how the mayor of Lawrence actually does stuff for the village. You know, it's a you actually helped >> actually the mayor of Lawrence, which is now the mayor of Lawrence and when I was the mayor of Lawrence and the previous mayors, they all do for the village of Lawrence actually. That's their function. That's the job. >> Is is it a like a a good well-paying job or it's more volunteer work? >> I don't even We didn't even get a dollar a year. Nobody gets paid in the village of Lawrence as a mayor, as a trustees. Nobody gets paid. >> It's all volunteers. >> Wow. >> Yeah. >> Oh, wow. other villages do get paid and it get certain other health care benefits for the village of Lawrence is an honorary position. >> Uhhuh. So, >> so not only do you get the grief but you have to work for nothing as well. >> Well, thank you very much for that for for your service if that means anything. >> Yeah. >> What other just uh you know concluding soon but what other community matters were you involved in and what can you teach us our audience? What did you learn? I was involved in building the Dora project for two years of my time. >> Which project? >> The project that's now that was there before this new one started >> before the new one. >> Before the new one, the other four buildings that where we I built >> I was involved in TAG originally built the first auditorium in TAG in 1975. Wow. Way back then. >> I was involved from the beginning with Dora when we had like 65 kids. Okay. Uh, I was involved in SIKU. I was the one that got them the mortgage and built a building for them. >> Which one? The one on >> Sak on Beach N Street. >> One on Beach N Street. >> One Beach N. Yeah. We sold the building on Central Avenue, the old building. >> Right. Right. >> And we built a building on Beach N Street. We had We bought the property sitting there empty for four years and I get a call one day uh to see if I can do a help for them out. So, I helped them out. We ended up doing the construction and the and the and the mortgage. All within two years, the building was up. >> Right. I remember. >> Yeah. So I was involved in that. I've done other things. A few shs here and there, but you know that's what it is. You live in the community. It's a part of my life. >> We're Mayor Balines, right? That's all. >> Well, we do a lot of other functions. Sedokus, Mayor Balines. We do a which is a very worth organization in Israel taking care of orphans and Balines of course doesn't need introduction been around for almost 100 years, >> right? It's an organization in Israel that prepares a lot of people. >> Right. Okay. So, wrapping things up here, Alex, it was really again privilege, pleasure to have you. So much wisdom that you're Yeah. really. It's >> you know, it's a lot of uh life experience. Um but >> how would you end off um with a you know, message that you have for people specifically to to building a successful business and a successful life? Obviously, not everything's up to us, but you know, you lived through a lot and have done a lot to get to where you are today. What would you say a message is for people to to learn from that? >> Well, to work hard, of course, is a quite prerequisite if you want to be successful in life. Uh, be honest, be straight, say, and say till every day. >> Right. Okay. That's uh that's it. Yeah. Yeah. No, this you don't need to make it long and uh complicated. Thank you very much, Alex. And anyone who has uh comments, questions, please contact us and we'd love to hear some feedback. >> Okay. Thank you very much.