Nothing to Public CEO | Brian J. Esposito

Rick Jordan  

What’s shaking? Hey, I’m Rick Jordan. Today, we’re going all in cool, my man. So we’ll just, yeah, dude, we’ll just, hell, jump right into it, man.

 

Brian J. Esposito  

Rock and roll.

 

Rick Jordan  

Yeah. So what’s up with the top 10 CEO rankings?

 

Brian J. Esposito  

You know, from with that. Honored to be the fourth year in a row this year closes on the 31st of December. And think of it like an American Idol. There’s people that submit you to this pretty, pretty credible agency, and then you got to get votes. And obviously, the work that you do adds value and credibility. So all the media that I do in the news releases, building all the companies inside of my private holdings, and then what we’re building in the public company, so honored and humbled that I got a little bit of a spotlight on me, and then it boils down to who I am and my integrity, my ethics, my business acumen, that helps keep me in favor and helps keep me being invited back into many rooms over and over again, for sure. 

 

Rick Jordan  

Brother, that’s awesome. I mean, it’s a, it’s not often because, I mean, it’s, I’m the CEO of a public company also. And I discovered that it’s a very small Nick group, yeah. You know, there’s not many of us that are out there. And I gotta ask you, like, from one CEO and another, did you ever have an intention, like, from the beginning, to be a public company,

 

Brian J. Esposito  

no, but that’s the fallacy, right? 

 

Rick Jordan  

Though, it’s like everyone thinks like, Oh, yeah. These guys always say, you know, always have it in their minds, like, that’s the direction that I’m going,

 

Brian J. Esposito  

I guess. So. I mean, some people for sure that I’ve met, I don’t know how they got that from the womb, but for me, it’s, I love creating value, taking over as CEO of dlmi, bringing that value to shareholders, and having it being transparent and in real time, that’s what excites me, because a lot of the stuff that I’ve done in my private companies and holdings, it’s you don’t know about it, right? And the values, either this the top stakeholders or the partnerships that you put together, but to have a wide and growing shareholder base and then them loving what you’re doing and holding on to what you’re doing. So my goal here is to create the next Berkshire Hathaway class, a stock. That’s how I envision having a strong balance sheet and rewarding these shareholders. So it’s exciting, and I cherish this, this moment in my career, very much. Yeah,

 

Rick Jordan  

Yeah,that’s Inc, that’s incredible, man. I mean, how far into it? I’m curious, because, I mean, even with founding the company that I have right now reach out, it was, you know, how long was it, 13 years into its existence that we went public, and I had not a thought in the world about taking it public until about 10 or 11 years in, Yeah,

 

Brian J. Esposito  

So I took over this one that’s been in existence since 1954 just the way that it was structured, very low flow, very controlled. A lot of these companies have billions of shares out there. You don’t know who has them, and they’re just constantly dumping this was a unique structure and vehicle that really mimicked what I was doing in my private career. So to answer your question, very longly, it’s been a public company since 1954 but what we’re doing now, the value that we’re creating, is kind of the heights it’s ever seen in its history. That’s cool.

 

Rick Jordan  

So how did you get involved in the pub co then, because, I mean, I reverse merge, like we took the private company and then went public. You’re saying that your company was in existence since 1954 probably before them, but was public since 1954

 

Brian J. Esposito  

Correct? Yeah, the Salt Lake City. So I don’t know if you’ve experienced this in your career, but I’ve always been pitched these garbage public vehicles that are just pump and dump, right? You see these things all the time. They can’t get out of their own way, and they’re they’re just marketing machines to take advantage of people. When I got introduced to this one, and saw what, how it was structured, and the vision of its owner, Michael Reynolds, who kept this thing alive. Him and I aligned. He’s 79 years old. He thinks old school balance sheets. You want to be in business, you need revenues. You want to stay in business, need to be profitable. Business. Need to be profitable. Dividend distribution. How do you create value? So why I love the public vehicle is you have that capability of valuable paper, right, that people may or may not want, and you can really help fuel the growth of companies, acquiring companies, merging with companies. When you have that liquid paper, or that valuable paper, or perceived value paper. So for what I’ve always done in my career, and identifying maybe distressed assets or companies that need a little help, a little guidance or an introduction here or there, you can take something from zero to hero if you have the right network and the right strategy and the right team, and now doing that here with the LMI is really putting that on steroids, because you have that direct to market response on the deals that you make or the opportunities that you create,that’s cool.

 

Rick Jordan  

So did you do the same thing as I did a reverse merge? You took one of your private companies, just

 

Brian J. Esposito  

took over the company as CEO. We changed the entire structure and vision of the company. So the structure here is all. Old School GE model. So dlmi will be the parent umbrella our equity holders or our stockholders. Underneath that are industry agnostic subsidiaries or assets that we’ve identified that we want to bring inside of the umbrella. And then what’s made us famous in the market is my work over the last 10 years in things like regulated digital assets or security tokens, and implementing that into our business model. So I do believe we created the future model of all public companies, of how you grow and build these companies or these assets, and how you pipe in a regulated security token to help fuel the growth of these companies.

 

Rick Jordan  

Yeah, so the subs then, because, I mean, you’ve got the umbrella right, which is dlmi, and then the subs underneath that, you’re saying they’re industry agnostic, so they really don’t have anything to do with each other when you when you go out and grab them,

 

Brian J. Esposito  

they may or may not. You know the way that I built my private holdings, Esposito and Alex enterprises. That’s 23 plus years of me identifying, building and acquiring companies. So that has over 110 entities in it, and over 25 different industries. So it is this little mini GE structure that I did in my private career, and now replicating that in the public company, and how I see it as you fuel and identify these companies, our board is ridiculous. These are icons in different industries that are supporting my vision and what we’re doing here. So we have access to all these different great industries, and then taking an asset that’s valued at x, bringing in our tools, reach and resources to make it valued at a multiple of x, so it boosts our balance sheets and creates additional value for our shareholders. And then we our strategy is okay. Now we have this model. Let’s invite in a licensed and regulated way, international investors that have always identified or seen public companies, or they’ve seen assets that they want to own, but they never had a chance to so with that security token component, that blockchain component, we allow new ways of liquidity in creating more assets and more cash value to our balance sheet or to those companies, and then the model is either stay there and earn for our shareholders and our parent umbrella, or we spend them off to be their own standalone IPO moment. All of that has been done before. It’s not really done present day. There’s a whole mentality. The thing that we’re doing different is that regulated security token component, which we’ve all seen now with the likes of Black Rock and securitizing. What they’re doing this is work that I’ve been focused on over the last 10 years and now including it into the dlmi business model,

 

Rick Jordan  

yeah. When did you take over the pubco?

 

Brian J. Esposito  

How long ago? August of 2023 okay,

 

Rick Jordan  

yeah, so just a little over a year. I thought it was recent for sure. Yeah, yeah. And if it’s anything like me, I mean, because the public vehicle, I used to do what I did, similar scenario, right? Like Old, old brand, young links, ice cream Corporation, very cool. Yeah. You know, over 100 years old at this point. You know, of course, the symbol in the in the the symbol change in the name change are in progress with with FINRA. And, you know, it’s been paused while we get some of our reverse merger filings in place, which has been just a freaking nightmare this last year, dude has done just a stupid storm in the auditing industry and everything else that goes along with that. But it’s, uh, it’s so intriguing, because taking these, these brands that have been, you know, decades old, and doing something really cool with them. I mean, it’s like a an ice cream company becomes a cyber security company. You know, it’s like a company from 1954 gets involved in blockchain. It’s, it’s so cool how these things can morph, but it’s a lot of individuals don’t even understand. You know, when you look at Google, right, or you look at Nest, and those are actually not the public companies, you know, everyone says, oh, Google is public. Well, Google is actually a subsidiary, yeah. You know of alphabet exactly, you know. So similar scenario. It’s like, what does a search engine have to do with a thermostat, right? You know, that’s why I’m asking you the questions. I mean, we’ve got listeners on the show, you know, all over the world, and all different variances of business, and even just you know, consumers that you know, go to work somewhere, you know, in like a law firm or something like that. It’s like a lot of these concepts are just lost on the general public as a whole. So if somebody’s looking to get invested into dlmi, you know, or into right now, it’s y CRM, you know, understanding that that might not exactly be that’s just the parents, yeah, that’s up there, you know. And you look at from your perspective, it’s like you you have something that’s a little bit more unique, but more than what I have, but also somewhat similar to even alphabet. How alphabet has all of these different subsidiaries

 

Brian J. Esposito  

comparison? Yeah, for sure. You

 

Rick Jordan  

bet isn’t Sonos owned by alphabet as well. Now, at this point, there is a speaker coming, I think so, yeah, but there’s so many. I mean, I almost want to look it up, as we’re talking, but there’s so many sub companies of Google, or, sorry, of alphabet, and Google would be one of them. But like I said, a search engine, you know, or email or something has nothing to do with a thermostat. It’s kind of cool. But what are some of the Give me an example, like industry now. Give me like, two or three examples. Couples of some of the Yeah, a

 

Brian J. Esposito  

lot of them are being announced, so I got to be careful how I can describe them. But heavy TV, film and media going very heavy in commercial real estate. That’s where we are here. We’re actually embedded in Colliers internationally, here in the Salt Lake City headquarters, and we’re working together on what does the future of commercial real estate look like with organization aspect, or fractionalized ownership of these assets I’m seeing the world. I don’t believe in the current value of the stock market or this. People are hurting out in the streets. The price is so crazy. So I’m out there working in the tranches every day for my entire career. So I know what’s happening in the world. I see for rent signs in very highly trafficked areas. I see building vacancies mimicking what they were in 2007 and understanding in the few years time was 7 trillion of commercial paper that’s maturing in the US alone. That’s a big problem. Banks don’t want those properties back, and they’re the valuation of these buildings are not sustainable. But when you look at fractionalized ownership of these buildings, or tokenization and the program and license exchanges and the license digital asset exchanges that we’re part of, how do you bring liquidity to that building and give ownership to the 99% around the world never had a chance to buy into these things? That’s what we’re really excited about. And we’re going to be repeating this entire model across all the industries that I have experience in, and then across all the industries that are advisors, that are supporting us, that have tremendous successful experience in.

 

Rick Jordan  

That’s really cool. Yeah, while you were giving us that, that different outlook on really what, what your public company has for the subsidiaries I was taking a look here, Waze is another subsidiary of Google. Yeah, it’s a navigation platform, right? That’s been around forever, so. And the one that surprised me, it wasn’t so nice, but the one that really surprised me when I took a look at this, because there’s lots of them, right? But Fitbit is one.

 

Brian J. Esposito  

They can take every bit of data from you that they can.

 

Rick Jordan  

And you know, that’s a good point man, because that’s kind of the common thread, right? If you take a look at a lot of Google’s or alphabet subsidiaries, the common thread across the board is really the gathering of data, you know, and deploying that data. Yeah? One could say that, yeah, absolutely. So if you had to identify, do you have a common thread across even though they’re industry agnostic, but is there a common thread or even a common purpose that you could identify across all the different companies? Yeah, it’s

 

Brian J. Esposito  

bringing more efficiencies and higher margins to these companies, and then taking and identifying assets that we feel are undervalued and putting it into our program and creating or unlocking additional value. So that’s the common thread. There’s a humanitarian play here where we want to allow access to create wealth for households and never had a chance to buy into it. And the reality is, if you got a good Morgan Stanley account, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs account, your broker will call you one day and say, I have an IPO loan free to make even more money. But everybody’s phone is not ringing with that opportunity. So you want to bring education to the global and how do you get involved in buying into businesses or assets or real world assets? How do you do it legally and correctly with regulatory and how do you create some additional income or wealth into a household that never had that opportunity. That’s how you help people feel better about themselves, feel stronger about themselves, and have more confidence. And we believe if people have that, and we can be a small component of that, the world can ultimately start to Domino and become a more positive and more pleasurable space. People are living in fear and anxiety, and it doesn’t matter. Every day you go on your phone, you look online, and you’re going to be hit with something that’s going to freak you out or scare you. It’s hard to perform and feel good about yourself in that environment. But if you can have some sort of financial security, or a chance to create financial security, then you have a chance to be a better person and kind of get yourself out of the situation, you mean, made them born into, yeah, well, that’s

 

Rick Jordan  

a good ride to go, man, let’s, let’s steer the conversation that direction, because it’s a, I can’t remember who I was talking to the other day, but I was talking about this, and they were actually rather surprised, you know, because here I am the CEO of a public company, and I think they Were talking about donating some things to a local church, or going out to buy some gifts to donate to a church, was like a giving tree program. And when you’re talking about philanthropy, you know, that way, you know, some kids in the church could have Christmas, in essence, right? Because sometimes Christmas is related to the traditional gift giving, you know, getting together with family, and I said, Oh yeah, I remember that because when I was young, you know, that’s, I was a recipient of those things. I remember it was like two or three years in a row where, you know, there, there was no money within my my family growing up to be able to even buy Christmas gifts, and the church that we were a part of would bring Christmas gifts to us. Oh, nice. You know, it’s phenomenal. And it was, I wish I remember who I was talking to, but they’re like, That was you, like, you that have it. I’m like, Oh my gosh. It’s like, growing up, it’s like, my dad sold term life insurance in the ghetto, my mom for extra cash, you know, ran a daycare, in essence, out of the house, watched like, six or seven kids for cash, and it’s like, now it’s like, that’s one of the reasons why, dude, it’s, it’s, it’s never lost on me, the gratefulness of where I’m at and how much I want to be able to help others to get to whatever point that is in their lives that makes them content, happy, feel like they’ve quote, unquote made it, you know. And it’s because, let’s be real. It’s like, I don’t ever feel like I’ve made it, man, you know, just because I’m constantly pushing forward. And yeah, exactly. But if we dude, if we observe Brian, if we take like, this zoomed out view of our lives, it’s like, exactly. And so many would be like, Oh, they made it,

 

Brian J. Esposito  

yeah. Well, we’re not motivated by the money. Like, you know what it’s like. That’s the difference, bro. Seriously, yeah, yeah. And you the fact that you remember where you came from, it seems easy for you, but, my God, I’ve met nine out of 10 people that I meet that have wealth. No, either they don’t want to remember where they came from, or they’re completely oblivious to where they came from, which is unfortunate, because it causes this disconnected reality. Yeah,

 

Rick Jordan  

right on. I think it applies to so many things, man, because I mean even even tipping at a restaurant as an example, it’s like, and it’s really here, and probably Canada, right? Northern America is from. What I understand is really where most of the tipping culture in the world exists, you know, not really outside of here, but I mean, even, you know, dinner the other night, you know, I’m getting ready to travel. I’m at O’Hare, which, by the way, the best restaurant at O’Hare Airport in Chicago is actually not in the airport. It’s in the Hilton that’s attached to it. It’s a steak house. So I’m there, and I, you know, I don’t remember the name of it, dude, but I mean, you go and it’s like, this old school steak house that there’s like, mahogany all over the walls. It looks beautiful. It is incredible. Yeah, I got to remember the name of this thing. And I remembered, I just know it’s there. And that’s where I go if I have extra time, that’s where I eat at my own airport, not in the airport. I’m not eating the chilis or whatever it is. So much sodium, whatever. When I’m there, it’s like, you know, I go to fill it out. And it’s like, especially this time of year, brother, it’s like, seriously, around the holidays, and it’s like, I am going extra if it’s 30% 40% and then I’ll, I’ll get a notification for my credit card company, you know, Capital One is really good, exactly, yeah. It’s like, yeah, because the tip actually goes into them separately. Like, did you mean to tip 40% like, I get those notifications. I’m like, Yeah, I actually did, you know, because it’s, but that’s, that’s the generosity, of course, as well, when you come from not much, yeah, you know. And it’s like, you hit it head on in the midst of my rant is that it’s not about the money. No, of course, we’re going to make money. And there’s a big reason to make a lot of money, I think it’s to have more resources, you know, to be able to do other things that align with your purpose. Yeah, yeah. And plus, let’s be real, the more money, quite literally, we’re talking public company wise, the more money that’s involved do, the more stress that’s on us, too. 

 

Brian J. Esposito  

Oh, my goodness, always perform more than your last quarter. You never how good were you to me in the past? It’s how good are you to you now and then in the future, which is okay, because it continues to motivate us and inspire us to always go out and create value and do and do wonderful things. You know, I was curious to ask you the the I love that you talked about, the the service industry, because I’m ridiculously over generous in that. In that space, in 2016 a drunk driver hit me in a car accident in Nashville, and was a domino effect for me to losing everything and having to rebuild my entire little empire to where I am today. But even during those times when I had nothing, I it’s just in your DNA, right? I still people. I still wanted to give more than I had and it and what, maybe you can relate to this. People ask me, like, what I want, but it’s my birthday or Christmas. There’s nothing that I want, not that, not in an obnoxious way, like I have everything because I had nothing, and I’ve been through this journey like you have. Yeah, it’s not important to me. I don’t need a collection of watches or a collection of cars or these tokens of my success. I’d rather just go out there and bust my ass and keep evolving and do everything I can to help warranted people. That’s the key. Totally warranted people, not the wrong people, because that just creates more chaos and noise for your life.

 

Rick Jordan  

No joke. And now that you’re talking, it’s like when you look at it, I mean, we’re recording this right today, December 17, but I’m going to make sure that this one publishes now before Christmas, because I had no intention the conversation going this way, dude. But it’s awesome that it is because it it’s a similar scenario. And you know, my son, my 14 year old son, the other day, was talking about. You know, I never know what to what to get. Dad, because he has anything he wants, and he also, you know, goes out to get anything that he might want. And it’s like, you know, some of those things. It’s like when you when you truly know a person, and when you put thoughts into spending time with them. But this is the difference. It’s like gift giving, like, can you shift that into thinking I’m going to give them a smile? What can I do around a gift that will actually bring a smile to their face when they when they open this thing and dude, for something like that? I mean, I’ve had people get me a bottle of wine, you know, that’s it, you know, it’s like, oh, thank you. And it’s like, and it’s because they know it’s a wine that I like. So there’s thought that went into it for them to just be like, Hey, I thought about you, and I appreciate you being in my life, you know, or even something as simple, I remember my daughter, young, young, young, young, like, five or six years old. And of course, at the time, my wife, she helped her with that, but just a box of Andy’s mints, nice. Seriously, you know? Because it’s like, I’ve got some over there too. And it’s like, I’ve had people give me these, you know? It’s like, that’s, it’s so simple, yeah? But it’s like, Oh, you thought about me ecxatly

 

Brian J. Esposito  

That’s all it is. It’s the value of the gift. It’s the value of the time, the effort and being conscious to know what you may like. And that, to me, that’s, that’s a bond, right? That’s a true friend, yeah?

 

Rick Jordan  

Yep, for sure. You know. I mean, I have no idea what you like, but after, I was looking on Amazon the other day to be able to, like, ship something, to just break somebody’s up, but dude, on there, I have to get like, 18 boxes in a shipment. Can’t just get like a $2 a $2 Brian, to have 18 boxes of Andy’s men show up.

 

Brian J. Esposito  

Was a nice moment the other day. And I just have me reflect, and I don’t like to talk about anything, but I was at a Cheesecake Factory in like a busy shopping mall. Had a great, great early dinner, and we’re leaving, and there was this older couple, I would assume, as the wife was in a wheelchair, and my husband was was behind there and and I don’t blame people in this situation. It was it’s holiday season. Everybody’s looking down on the phone. They just kept walking past these people. So I turned around, I could tell they needed some sort of help. The guy couldn’t hold the door open to exit and also get his wife out, because it wasn’t an automatic door, and nobody even acknowledged them. So I walked over and pushed people, escorted people sided. I was like, let’s, let’s get these people out. So held the door open for them. They were so grateful. They lit up like the smile that you’re talking but then I watched them go down the street. I don’t know if they would have done this or not. It’s the whole Pay It Forward thing. But then I watched her, as we were crossing the crosswalk, lean over and give a homeless guy there to go, and then I saw him light up. And it was like this really nice, magical domino moment of maybe that sparked something. Maybe it didn’t even ever do that anyway, but it was nice to be a part of that little bit of bliss in a few people’s moments of their busy lives.

 

Rick Jordan  

Yeah, no joke, I think a lot of people miss out on that too. You know, from a it’s there are years, I mean, quite literally, going back to my childhood, to where it’s like, I don’t, I don’t know if my parents, you know, got gifts during those years. I was talking about where we didn’t really have money to have that traditional Christmas ourselves, yeah. But I do remember them consistently being generous with anything that came up with, with their time, especially with their time, you know, with with any sort of help somebody might need, if it’s monetary or even giving a ride somewhere, you know, it’s like those little things, man. And it’s huge, yeah. And it carries over into this, you know. So, example, like, let’s go back to public company as well. You know, just hired a new salesperson about six weeks ago. She’s a badass. She’s already crushing it, you know. And, you know, within just a couple weeks, closed a quarter of a million dollar deal, you know. And it’s a, yeah, just, just hungry and going after it, you know. And the way that we’re set up with semi monthly pay periods, you know, so it’s, it’s twice a month, is sometimes when somebody gets hired at a specific point, it’s like three weeks until their first check, you know, and going into the to the end of the season, here again, the end of the year with this holiday season, I’m like, Well, talking with Our our human resources. Like, well, just check with her and see if she might want to have that advance exactly, yeah, you’re doing like, a 5050, so she can have half of her first check that’s supposed to come three weeks from now, and have it one week from now, you know, or a couple days from now, and see if that might help her shifting jobs and all that. And she came back, and she was like, Oh, thank you. Thank you. And the human, she’s like, Well, that was all Rick, wow. And it’s like, that’s, he’s just thinking that way. And I think that when you grow up the way that I did, or like you, you know, going from quite literally nothing to even public CEO, it’s a different mindset. Man. Yeah, I get it from. You. There’s no sense of entitlement with you.

 

Brian J. Esposito  

 Brother, no, sometimes I feel alone, right? Because everybody else seems to have that. Yeah, I like our connection, even in this quick conversation, though, I I often crave depth with people, and it’s hard to find like I find it in the 70 plus year old population is, I think they always raised with different error in different situations. Those are the people I connect with, and I just sit there and absorb what they’re saying, like learning. But it’s nice to find a kindred spirit like you out in the world, and I’m excited to see where our friendship goes to totally brother

 

Rick Jordan  

and I have Kevin Harrington, who is, you know, the OG shark from Shark Tank, is on my board. We’ve had a friendship now, geez, four years, five years. I love telling the story where he he said no to me for like, two years straight to doing business with me, you know. And so I like presented him with everything. He’s like, Oh, this is a bold idea. I like bold ideas. But I just talked to him last week about some plans going into the next year, and called him, then text them, and he’s like, I’m actually in New York right now with, with my family, you know, with my son and my grandkids, and I’m just having a good time. He’s like, it’ll be hard to actually, like, get an hour meeting, but I’ll just call, you know, like, tomorrow or something. So when we’re talking on the phone, I mean, a lot of the conversation is just personal stuff. He’s like, Yeah, I love spending time with with my family and all that. He’s like, I tried to as much as I could during the years, but he’s like, still I gotta, like, he’s like, buddy. He’s like, I gotta break away still and take care of biz. But it’s, it’s so cool because I look at him along the lines of our conversation, it’s like, I’ve never seen him. Here’s a dude that’s worth like, a half a billion dollars, right? And has, you know, built over 20 companies with $100 million or more in revenue, you know, has been involved with so many different products, billions in sales with the as seen on TV stuff, and yet still down to earth in no sense of entitlement whatsoever. And I look at him, it’s like, he’s, I think 66 or 67 now, and it’s like, I’m never going to retire, dude. I know I’m never going to retire, but I think I want to transition. And he’s who I’m looking up to right now. It’s like when I’m 20 years to my senior, you know, because I’m 45 now, that’s what I want to be doing with my life, spending time with family, the fact

 

Brian J. Esposito  

you have that visual to identify the road you want to be on this. It helps. You know, a lot of people don’t have that. They just have to figure it out. And who wants to waste time figuring out? So for sure,

 

Rick Jordan  

be great. Let’s be real too real talk, because I’m all about straight, real talk. It’d be great to be worth a half a billion dollars too. Yeah, and

 

Brian J. Esposito  

I don’t see it, not in your cards. I think you’re fine. You’re well on them, well on the nerves.

 

Rick Jordan  

Well, thanks, brother. I’m sure you have the same feeling, because it’s like, it’s, uh, we’re going towards stuff, and it’s like, Winning is important to me too. Yeah, I mean, just as much as generosity is, but in order to be super generous, you also have to win. In order to win, you have to be super generous. Yeah, it’s a symbiotic relationship,

 

Brian J. Esposito  

but again, generous with the right resources, right the right people, like I used to co sign for people’s homes when I was building my first few companies, and help my employees and CO sign for their cars, give advancements, pay 100% of their health insurance. You know, I don’t blame them, during my journey where I lost everything, all these people that I helped and supported and fueled, I couldn’t get an hour out of them, and it was very disheartening. And I could have went in the corner and became a very negative and angry and bitter person, but I am thankful I was smart enough knowing well, that’s not going to solve me, coming back and fighting back and learning how to earn again. It was just okay. Grateful that lady hit me because she could have killed somebody. And I’m grateful that she hit me because my world and my model had to be completely destroyed so I can rebuild it correctly. I would never have been able to piece mail to where I am today, or, you know, fix things here. Don’t fix it. It had to be destroyed, and I had to be of the right mindset to still like people, which was very difficult during my experiences, because that’s my value, the way that I connect with people. People want to be around me. I’m humorous. I always find a solution. That was one of my biggest values. Why I got invited into crazy rooms, because I used to laugh. If you’re calling me to help you, then you really are screwed. But the reality was, the way that I think and the way that I strategize is very unique, and that’s a that’s a very big value. So I use that to help me rebuild and create this amazing arsenal of talent like you have around you, and you only get that if you’re a good, decent person, that you can fake it a little bit and screw people here and there, and there, and you can get some support of high levels, but that’s not sustainable. Yeah, the fact that you have these icons around you is a testament to you as who you are, as a person, your soul, your integrity, your business acumen, and you’re going to surpass these people, and they’re going to be happy for you when you do, because you’re surrounding yourself with the right people. 

 

Rick Jordan  

Well, thank you, brother. Sure. I’m sure you are too my man. And it’s, uh,

 

Brian J. Esposito  

I think so, yeah. I mean, I think the numbers are, every 1000 people I meet, there’s one decent one. So that’s, that’s, you track that for real, pretty close.

 

Rick Jordan  

That’s interesting. I’ve never tracked that. I mean, that’s, we talked about data points earlier. Do like, that’s, that’s an interesting data point, and you measure that 

 

Brian J. Esposito  

I should rephrase always say it because out of emotion, they’re not right for me, good or bad people. I’m not here judging anybody. But what’s right for me? I need to make sure I always align with ethics, integrity. I need people have empathy like from what you’ve been through, yeah, you understand empathy. You’re over-tipping on waitresses and waiters you’re out there helping people because of what you’ve been through. If I don’t sense that from somebody, I don’t care if we can make a billion dollars together, I will not spend a single second of my time.

 

Rick Jordan  

Yeah, I’m with you. Yep, it’s a good it’s a good juxtaposition you’re talking about here, too. Because as you were talking about literally everything you just said, I start to think it’s like, there is a, there is a group who would be listening to this, or seeing this, you know, if this is on social, if this is a clip that we share to where it’s like, oh, look at these guys. You know, the public CEO is talking about, you know, being able to give money to other people. And it’s like, look at them. It’s like, what are they doing this for? A badge of honor? Are they doing this, you know, to boast about what they’re doing? And it’s like, no. It’s like, all of this is like people that give anonymously. I think there’s times for that, you know. And this is my view on anonymous giving versus actually talking about it, which is what we’re doing right now. I think if you talk about it, it can encourage other people to do the same thing, yeah, you know, because we can nudge those who might be a little bit on the fence to where it’s like, you know, you just gave 20% you know, anybody listening right now or watching, right? You just gave 20% what if you bumped it up to 25 right? Just for the next month?

 

Brian J. Esposito  

You Know, Because people, but it changes and impacts greatly. 

 

Rick Jordan  

Yeah, right on. I mean, there’s times it’s where it’s like, a server will come back, going back going back to the service, and just feel like, I just wanted to tell you, thank you,

 

Brian J. Esposito  

Yeah, how? Because I know that industry very well, hospitality, f&b, I will sit there, and I will take time to do the guest surveys, because it really impacts them, and I’ll make sure they get to wait or waitresses name again. I’m a little bit crazy. I’ll connect with the CEO of a company that I may not be connected with, and I will give them an entire paragraph of how great that person. Keep an eye out on them. They’re a rock star, and I emphasize with my companies, of why I’m reaching out to she goes. I need that inbound with my own companies. I need people to tell me who are the ones that I may be missing or may not spend enough time with that are important and are valuable that really take a sense of pride and ownership in their job. Those are the people that I need others to tell me about and identify with, because it’s that old saying, you’re only show me what you’re doing when nobody’s looking right. That’s when you know the true integrity and character of somebody. But I will say, whenever anybody talks about anonymous giving, I always think of the exceptional Larry David episode, when everybody knows who donated the anonymous wing of a hospital, I think our museum. Oh, that’s right, yeah. 

 

Rick Jordan  

Classic episode, if  you want to for sure. Man, yep, it’s a I love it. It’s like, give strong give more than what you think you can possibly give and give visibly. When you give visibly, you will be able to have an army behind you. They’ll be like, yeah, maybe I can do that too, or maybe I can do a little more, you know, because look over there, it’s great. You know, the you talk about the power of community, and almost like the same vibrations and energy that exists in that when you give visibly, other people see that, and they’re like, oh, look, take a look at that. Because if you’re giving anonymously, dude, it’s almost going to be like an anonymous recipient. You won’t be able to see the result of something like that, and we’re not doing it for that. But if other people see the results, it’s true of that visible giving, it’s true, they’re gonna see the visible result

 

Brian J. Esposito  

influence, and you can, you can inspire people to give that that’s where you get the multiplier. Yeah, yeah, right on. You’re right. I agree with that. I love it, bro, like you have to be consistent and strategic, strategic about it. Not just, not just say it’s Christmas, I’ll give. And then you feel like you did your good deed. Just throw a thing up to God and say, Look what I just did. And then forget about the next 11 months. I don’t know if that’s impactful. It’s got to be part of your daily routine of some capacity.

 

Rick Jordan  

yeah. There’s ways to pick that out too, right? It’s like, if I have an opportunity to as an example, because I very much support all the men and women in our armed forces in the country, big time. It’s a heartfelt thing of mine. So if I see it’s, it’s interesting, because I look at the Vietnam vets, you know, right, or the Korean War, and a lot of them wear the hats. Just gonna say, yeah, right on.

 

Brian J. Esposito  

So I mean, you’ll walk up and I will shake their hand and thank them, and when they feel acknowledged, oh my god, you feel that kind of energy,

 

Rick Jordan  

totally, totally bro dude, I will grab their check. Like, yeah, it’s in. This is an anchor point for me. It’s like, whenever I see somebody and I’m in a restaurant, and it’s going, this is a restaurant thing, maybe I’m hungry. Maybe that’s why today, yeah, right on. When I see them in a restaurant, I’ll always like, hey, you need to send their bill to me, you know, or at least swipe my card on this, you know, that way you can close it out. If it’s a, you know, table service, or whatever it is, or, you know, if it’s in line, if the person’s in front of me at line, I will step ahead and then be like, No, this is on me today. Thank you for everything that you’ve done.

 

Brian J. Esposito  

You’ve gotten the life done that so many times, especially in Starbucks. For some reason, I always see a group of soldiers, a lot of them in their in their in their uniforms. And when I do that, I get so upset because they’re shocked. I know it’s like, these are the people why we are where we are today, why we have our limbs, and why we what we can do, like, it’s because of them, and the fact that they’re not feeling on top of the world and loved by at least Americans. And I, I understand if you don’t like guns, and you don’t, you don’t want to see the war, but we are the country we are because of these men and women, and you have to respect and then show them respect. And whenever somebody does the opposite, it’s very I get so offended, it’s awful.

 

Rick Jordan  

Yeah, with you,

 

Brian J. Esposito  

I’ll tell I tell you what I think.

 

 

I think we’re gonna wrap up there. And, dude, I’d love to just dedicate this episode to because I think about everybody who’s serving here and abroad, and I’ve actually never done this before, either, man, because, I mean, just as you were talking about that, you know, just the visibility and that they don’t have, it’s like, here’s a platform. Let’s bring some attention to him for Christmas. Absolutely, yeah, because there’s so many that are not home with their families.

 

Brian J. Esposito  

And Jon Stewart does this, remarkably, the comedian daily show how like he stands up for our veterans. He goes to Congress. He’s out there pounding his chest. Did the same thing for 911 victims like people like him. We need more of and you have icons like him with a voice, but the power is people like us right on the ground. If 1000s of us, or hundreds of 1000s of us, do that and support that, if we can, we can change things.

 

Rick Jordan  

Yeah, well, to everyone out there, thank you for keeping us safe. You know, Brian and I are here just to give another voice, give visibility to you to for a great, Merry Christmas, and hopefully even when you come out. You know, if you’re in there for career, that’s awesome. Go for it, yeah? If you’re not, you know, hit Brian and I up, maybe we can get you on the path. There’s so many cool entrepreneurs, dude that have come out of the military as well. You know, in the next phase

 

Brian J. Esposito  

of their life, on the line for your country. Yeah, Mary, will have you any of our companies helping us grow, because you’re the caliber of people that will that companies and entrepreneurs meet around them right on.

 

Rick Jordan  

Brian, thanks for coming on, man, and thanks for getting deep with me today too. 

 

Brian J. Esposito

Yeah, that was deep. Thank you, Kyle, and you’re doing amazing. Your show’s amazing, and anything I can ever do to help you with your company and initiates on the phone call away.

 

Rick Jordan  

Awesome. Thanks, brother. Thanks, man.