Born in Ukraine, Oleg moved to the United States in 1979 as his family sought the American Dream.
Oleg studied biology at York College and upon graduation began working in Pharmaceutical sales, and was a Regional Sales Director for a fortune 100 Pharmaceutical Company for several years. However, deep down, Oleg knew his true passion was and is real estate. He bought his first investment property in 1999 and quickly became captivated with the entire real estate market. He expanded his portfolio from New Jersey to Nevada and then on to Arizona, quickly seeing his return on investments.
When Oleg moved out West, he realized he didn’t just want to be an investor, he wanted to give other people the same opportunity he has had. He loves working not only with buyers, but sellers and investors as well. Oleg has been in real estate for over ten years as it continues to be his dream career.
Contact Oleg:
[Podcast Transcript Using Artificial Intelligence]
Umar Hameed 0:01
Are you ready to become awesomer? Hello everyone! My name is Umar Hameed, I'm your host on The No Limits Selling Podcast, where industry leaders share their tips, strategies and advice on how you can become better, stronger, faster. Just before we get started, I've got a question for you, do you have a negative voice inside your head? We all do, right? I'm gonna help you remove that voice and under 30 days guaranteed, not only remove it, but transform it. So instead of the voice that sabotages you, there's one that propels you to much higher levels of performance and success. There's a link in the show notes, click on it to find out more. All right! Let's get started.
Umar Hameed 0:39
Hello everybody, welcome to another episode of The No Limits Selling Podcast. And today we have Oleg Bortman with us today. He is the Co-Founder of Brokery. Sounds like bakery, but it's better because they give you a house to do the baking in. Oleg, welcome to the show.
Oleg Bortman 0:56
Umar, thank you so much for having me on this beautiful Friday before a long holiday weekend.
Umar Hameed 1:00
Yeah, it's gonna be great. This is one of those few holidays that the US and Canada share. Like you know, Canadians are trying to be overachievers. So you have Thanksgiving a month for the American [garbled]. So before we came online, you would ask me, you know, "Where are you from?" I said, "I'm from Baltimore. I left there." And you went, "[Garbled] too dangerous." But I just want to do a shout out to Baltimore. Baltimore is an amazing city. Beautiful people and they're so obsessed with neighborhoods. There's 228 neighborhoods in Baltimore. And if you go to any other city in the world, and they say, "Where do you live?" You go, "Hey, your [garbled] northern Parkway, two major intersections," and the Baltimore people go, "Where's that? I don't get it. What's the name of that neighborhood?" And it's like, "Oh, it's Lake Walker," they're like, "Oh, Lake Walker." And so communities big. And if you go to certain neighborhoods, you can get shot. But that's in any city, but a beautiful, beautiful place. And we're in the world that you, Oleg?
Oleg Bortman 1:00
I'm in beautiful Phoenix, Arizona. Been out here since 2007, about 15 years and I absolutely love it now.
Umar Hameed 2:05
It's kind of a blessing of America, right? There's like so many different vibes and climates. And it's a big country and you can decide where you want to live. And easily get in the car, get on a plane and a helicopter and just get to wherever you want to go.
Oleg Bortman 2:19
But I don't know if I can get into helicopter I can't afford one of those travel days. But however, yes, America is amazing. I grew up in New Jersey and in the east coast. So not familiar with Baltimore. It's a great place to be the East Coast is great. But I do love Phoenix. Phoenix is definitely my home. The weather, we have sunshine, like 360 days out of the year. Yeah, mountains, hiking, biking, whatever you want to do. So I do call Phoenix, my new home.
Umar Hameed 2:48
Brilliant. And one of the things I'm not sure other countries do this, but something crazy about America, is minding your own business, driving down the highway and this sign, "World's Biggest Donut" or "World's Biggest Crater." And you have to pull over and go there and eat donuts or buy souvenirs and all that hokey shit, I love it.
Oleg Bortman 3:05
Yeah.
Umar Hameed 3:06
Do they have that in other countries too? Or is it just like Americana?
Oleg Bortman 3:09
I think is Americana. And I was born in Ukraine. So I came over at that time was the Soviet Union. I came over in the late 70s. And even when I went back and visited, no one's bragging about the high rise, living style or the desolate neighborhoods here. I think you're right, every state, every city has to be known for something even go to like New Mexico. And you drive by the UFO area like, 'Oh, the UFO diner or.."
Umar Hameed 3:34
Area 34, Yeah. So you came over from Ukraine when it was part of the Soviet Union.
Oleg Bortman 3:40
That's correct.
Umar Hameed 3:41
So what was something? Let me give you an example then I'll come back to the question. I was listening to this interview about this holocaust survivor. And she had gone to the camps. And she said, "You know, we still had joy there. Like there was like celebrations and there was like all this horrible stuff going on. But there was still some joy there as well." And most people were like, "No, no, it's horrible. It was the worst thing ever and it was," but humans create this amazing connections. The question to you is this, what was some of the things that Americans didn't know about Ukraine that were wonderful and beautiful, even in the Soviet Union that you were, what did they think of Ukraine back then and what were they missing that you could say, you know, "Wait a minute, there was some magic there as well"?
Oleg Bortman 4:23
Yeah, you know, it's interesting. As I came over, I was a little kid is about three and a half years old. It actually two days ago, August 31, was when we landed in America.
Umar Hameed 4:32
Oh.
Oleg Bortman 4:33
In New Jersey. So 43 years ago, my mom sent me a text and I was like, she taught I'm 43. I'm like, "Mom, I'm 46."
Umar Hameed 4:40
"But you don't look a day over 43, Honey."
Oleg Bortman 4:43
That's right. And she's like, No, no, this is we came over here 43 years ago. What people what I loved about the Ukrainian culture is really the they're like glue. They stick together through thick and thin and they don't forget.
Umar Hameed 4:56
Meaning?
Oleg Bortman 5:00
So, meaning like in America, our attention span is seven seconds like a car deal. A car makes a bad car and all these people get that accidents three years ago, three weeks later their stock is through the roof, everyone forgot about it.
Umar Hameed 5:14
Yep.
Oleg Bortman 5:15
The culture in the Soviet Union Ukraine. If you hurt my neighbor 300 years ago, my great grandfather told my grandfather, told my parents...
Umar Hameed 5:24
It's in the list, to the book I wrote it there.
Oleg Bortman 5:27
You know, so they might give me forgive you a little bit, but they won't ever forget. Because they don't want history to repeat itself.
Umar Hameed 5:34
Yeah.
Oleg Bortman 5:35
And I think that talks a lot about culture, obviously, the you know, the disaster. But that culture, the neighborhood, like you could go, every everyone lived in like high rises in that area called ghettos. The ghettos are just high rise, apartments.
Umar Hameed 5:51
Yeah.
Oleg Bortman 5:51
There's 30-storeys high, and there's 3000 people and everybody lives together. You can go to work and your neighbor will watch your kid for you. And you're...
Umar Hameed 6:00
[Garbled], yeah.
Oleg Bortman 6:02
Totally. Like when we came here, and I got married, my wife is from Phoenix. And she's like, "Oh, tell me you know about this person." I'm like, "Oh, that's my cousin, my cousin, my cousin." She's like, "You don't have 82 cousins."
Umar Hameed 6:12
Yes, you do.
Oleg Bortman 6:16
[Garbled] style of a culture, that that is just absolutely amazing, different parts of the world.
Umar Hameed 6:20
You know, what's going to interesting is, this is probably true in India too. But in Pakistan, in Pakistan, you have your your mom. And then she has a sister, there's a different title for a younger sister, and an older sister. So it's not just aunt they've got a specific title. Same thing for her brothers and different names for your father, sisters, older and younger and brothers. So the relationships, when you say this is my mom who somebody else understands, oh, father's side, older brother, which is [garbled]. So let's talk about how your Ukrainian heritage informed you as a businessman, you as a realtor, you as an investor, how did that change how you showed up in life?
Oleg Bortman 7:02
Yeah, so. Yeah, it did. I mean, we came over as Jewish immigrants in 1979, the borders closed [garbled]. So we literally landed in August, we wanted to come in January, we weren't coming to America. So my parents gave everything up. We didn't have a lot. But to give up, you know, even a little bit was a lot.
Umar Hameed 7:21
Oh, yeah.
Oleg Bortman 7:21
We didn't have the language. My mom was 30, my dad was 42, my sister was about about three years older than me. No English, we were sponsored out here. So we only knew hard work, character, and to work harder than the next person. That's the only way you survive. Definitely gotta learn how to hustle. You got to figure out how to put bread on your table. You know, so we're used to working 12-14-16 hour a days. That's just how the culture is. You're out there hustling, meeting your neighbors. So I grew up, went to public schools, got a degree in bio pre-med, went to college. Because every every immigrant, especially Jewish immigrants, the kid...
Umar Hameed 8:04
The doctor.
Oleg Bortman 8:05
Doctor or lawyer, that's my only two options. So you can understand.
Umar Hameed 8:10
So are you saying that Will Smith is a Ukrainian Jew? Because, you know, one of the things he talks about is, "There's better actors than me, but no one's gonna outwork me." You know, he means and he believes that. So maybe he is a Jewish Ukrainian guy, I don't know.
Oleg Bortman 8:27
It's funny, we just did a [garbled] and this question out, you know, I'll throw out there, it's kind of out there. One of those DNA tests, and I came back as 100%. European Jew,
Umar Hameed 8:37
Right.
Oleg Bortman 8:37
How can you tell by my blood that I'm Jewish? like they don't know, Muslim ,Catholic.
Umar Hameed 8:42
Yeah.
Oleg Bortman 8:42
So it could be your Ukrainian Jew, for all we know.
Umar Hameed 8:46
Amazing times where we live in where we can actually find lost siblings that we didn't know even existed with this kind of technology.
Oleg Bortman 8:53
Amazing. So we, yeah, so you, so we landed here in New Jersey. And suddenly my mom got a job. My dad got a job not speaking the language. My dad was a sheetmetal mechanic. We would go to work at six o'clock in the morning, come back at five or six at night. My mom would, she was a seamstress. She didn't know how to sew in, in Soviet Union at the time, but she learned because she had to put bread on the table. So work ethic that is I think it's in our blood. You don't have a choice. As an immigrant you come here, you're gonna outwork everybody. So you add that plus the opportunities, just knowing that if you work harder than your neighbor, you will actually make more money than your neighbor.
Umar Hameed 9:33
Yes.
Oleg Bortman 9:34
In Soviet Union, Ukraine at a time, you could work harder than the other 3000 neighbors and you're all getting paid the same. Whatever the government says, "Here's your check for 500 bucks," subsidized housing, lower, we all pay the same for electric bills. It doesn't matter if you're a doctor, teacher, you might make an extra $5 a month, but we're all making the same.
Umar Hameed 9:54
Well, that's proven not to work so well.
Oleg Bortman 9:56
Oh, 100%.
Umar Hameed 9:57
Right now you're a Co-Founder at the Brokery and why don't you call it the Brokery? That's such a kick ass amazing name. I really like it a lot. It kind of makes it more approachable.
Oleg Bortman 10:07
Thank you. Um, yeah, so my business partner Tucker. He's, he's the brains behind the marketing and design. I'm more of the social bunny, the sales guy. So we were looking at rebranding. We bought out our broker in 2017. Her name was very niche. So we started, Tucker, you know, he's a, he's brilliant when it comes to markets, he comes up all these names. And then he comes up with a word of the Brokery. And I was like, "Huh," and I was wondering about the story behind the name.
Umar Hameed 10:39
Right.
Oleg Bortman 10:40
So if you look at the story that Brokery, back in the day, when people started going from east to west. Every little town that had a real estate office, when the cowboys were going across looking for gold, that real estate office was called the Baroquery. So that's where...
Umar Hameed 10:57
interesting.So yeah, good heritage.
Oleg Bortman 10:59
Yes. So that's where real estate was traded was at the Brokery. So when he said it, I was like, "Oh, my God," and just like I got, you know, it resonated with me. I'm like, This is amazing. It's open to all. Anybody can come in as you would please. And you can have a luxury home, if you have any, any style home any price point. But the story of the brokerage is what all resonated and that's why the name stuck.
Umar Hameed 11:24
Brilliant. So how many agents do you have in your brokerage?
Oleg Bortman 11:27
So right now we have about 40 agents. We have three offices, we just bought our first one in Scottsdale, we're...
Umar Hameed 11:33
Nice.
Oleg Bortman 11:33
...renovating that as well. So we're expanding into our fourth. And it's a great time, you know, people are like, "Oh, my God," "The market, the market," "The pandemic," all the stuff. In the middle of pandemic, we bought our third office two years ago, and now we're expanding into our fourth. What's, what's the great thing about America, and we talk about limitless sales, is every day is an opportunity for somebody to grow. I don't care about cycles. I'm not here to buy, I mean, if I could buy a lottery ticket and win a billion dollars on megamillions, it'd be great. But I'm on the long term play. So every day, there's always an opportunity. If you have a business plan, and a business structure isn't always an opportunity for 5-10-30 years from now growth. So that's why we're still buying in the market. That's so crazy all over the place.
Umar Hameed 12:22
Brilliant. So what do you do to make your agents fearless, bolder and more confident?
Oleg Bortman 12:28
Yeah, so coaching and mentoring is one of the key things. So I was in pharmaceuticals for over 15 years have been in a lot of in sales, probably about 25 years. My wife, my mom would say I've been in sales since I was born. I was sold on something so. [Garbled]. So I have 40 plus years of sales. So I I'm a huge believer in education, and sharing successes. So we do a lot of coaching and mentoring. We do a lot of one on one business coaching here. Everyone has a business plan, real estate's one of those things. In Arizona, if you want to be a realtor, you can go take a nine day Crash Course. And take a state test fingerprints and be licensed within three weeks, right?
Umar Hameed 13:11
Wow.
Oleg Bortman 13:11
It's crazy. And then also you're, you're like an advisor or consultant like for somebody for $4 million house or $50,000, you don't even know how to write a contract, but you could be licensed. So and that's and then people see it on TV million dollar listings, the Sunset one, I don't want...
Umar Hameed 13:27
It looks so easy.
Oleg Bortman 13:28
So easy. And they show the potential commission's of 300,000 or $80,000. But that's not the reality. So I do a lot of business coaching and business training here. So when you make that check for 50,000, 5000 or 300,000, you don't go buy a Ferrari.
Umar Hameed 13:46
Oh, yeah.
Oleg Bortman 13:46
When it goes in crap. It hasn't been cashed yet. So we're very big on on how to plan for 3-5-10-30-year business.
Umar Hameed 13:55
You know what's interesting is Mark Wahlberg, the actor?
Oleg Bortman 14:00
Yes.
Umar Hameed 14:00
He used to be Marky Mark, the rap singer.
Oleg Bortman 14:03
Yes.
Umar Hameed 14:04
And they did this TV show called, Entourage. I'm not sure if you saw it.
Oleg Bortman 14:07
It's one of my favorites of all times on HBO.
Umar Hameed 14:10
Which I love that. But he was telling the interview saying, you know, when he was like a rapper, he'd get like a really big fat check. And they'd go buy a Lamborghini and not have enough money for the insurance. And he said, "You know what, I always had this mentality, more money's coming, don't worry about it." You know, you could just spend like a maniac and then he got a lot smarter later but so let's talk about this. Like they could be in your single days. They could have been like somebody super attractive in a bar that you went, "Oh my God, I gotta meet that person." And you could have somebody else that you want to meet that could be attractive or not, but it's just like, I want to be friends with them. And that person that you want to be friends with you go up and say, "Hey, I'm Oleg," and have a great conversation and make friends. But if it was somebody that you really wanted, and there was a romantic thing, this likelihood that you go, "Hi, my name's [stuttering]" because it would change the dynamics of it. And so people have issues around, we'll call it sex. Another area is money.
Oleg Bortman 15:05
Yep.
Umar Hameed 15:06
Like, I want that $300,000 commission. But sometimes when they get it, they make dumb decisions, not because they're idiots because they feel uncomfortable with that much money. So the relationship with money is really important. So how do you help agents that you have, don't name names, that you can see, you know, that person has some money issues. Like they're smart, they're intelligent, they can do what they want, but they've got this like, scarcity mentality or issues like that. If you've come across that in the past, how did you handle it?
Oleg Bortman 15:36
It's a great question. I do come across quite a bit, we get agents that are coming over to us with a lot of debt, right? We call them the $30,000 millionaire, they got their BMW, they drive around in Scottsdale, and they make, excuse me 60-$70,000 a year. So they come over the credit cards at 20,000. They're like, "Oh, my God, I need this transaction," so they're running around all over the place trying to get it. So what I try to do as we sit down, and as, as we create their business plan, we first and foremost, sit down and not all agents are open to it. Some people are like, "Yes, oh, like I need help on a financial disaster," when they get money. And some are like, "Oh, I'm not going to tell you my situation," those that are open...
Umar Hameed 16:19
[Garbled]. You're not seeing these cards.
Oleg Bortman 16:21
Totally right. Those that are open till we sit down and say, "Okay, let's start from the basics. How much is your rent?" "How much is your...?" So we [garbled]?
Umar Hameed 16:29
What's you not?
Oleg Bortman 16:30
That's right. Right, we call it like, we call it the BAM, bare, bare minimum of what you need to make to...
Umar Hameed 16:36
Yeah.
Oleg Bortman 16:36
...survive. The A stands for something else, but...
Umar Hameed 16:40
Yeah.
Oleg Bortman 16:43
So and I don't know if I'm allowed to use those words. So I don't want to get you and me in trouble on the air.
Umar Hameed 16:48
Of course not.
Oleg Bortman 16:49
So, so we sit down and some agents literally come in, and they think they're like, "Oh, my overhead is 1000 bucks," but they're actually spending $4,500 a month. And I'm like, well...
Umar Hameed 17:00
Pause right there. Pause right there. So that is a perfect example of beliefs around money, where if they just did simple arithmetic, they know. But they're deluded themselves, "That's just 1000 a month," and they really believe it.
Oleg Bortman 17:12
That's right.
Umar Hameed 17:12
It's amazing that capacity for self delusion. And we all have blinders in different areas of our life. And people that are going, "How could somebody do that?" And it's like, "Well, let me ask you about your life and where you have your blinders." But anyway, please go on. It's just astounds me how we can delude ourselves.
Oleg Bortman 17:28
It's amazing. So we sit down and we talk about it, because they're like, "Oh, you go out and I'm single I go on a Friday," I said, "How much is your average built bar tat?" "Oh, well, I buy around." "I mean, so much you how many rounds you buy." And then you start looking at credit cards, like, "Oh, my God, I spent 5000-4000." I said, "Well, that's what you're in debt for 25,000." I said, "By the end of the year, right, you're gonna you're gonna be debt 50,000," which is gonna be. So, so we start figuring out like, "Do you need do you need this?" "Do you need that?" they started cutting things out. I said, "Or you don't to be penny pincher, you could just go out and work hard. You work one day a week, I do two open houses and you expect to make 300,000." I said, "I'll work for you. You pay me 300 grand, I'll work two days a week, like you do and expect to make 300,000," like, "Well, I won't pay you that much." "Of course not." So then it's you know, they don't have the self motivation, or the self accountability to get up every day like you were I and go work 12 or 14 hours, it wasn't instilled in them. So then we started saying, "Alright, you want to spend $5,000 a month, you need to sell X amount, that 3% commission minus the colebrook for the house, this is what you have to do." And then we started working backwards, like, "Okay, so if you work," you talked about the bar, this is saying I do this in that scenario, all the time, "When I was younger and single, you know, just math, just regular numbers. If I went up to 10 girls, and I never looked good, I would get least, even if I was awful at sales." [Garbled]. Yeah, well, right 10%. So that's what we would just start working backwards like, if you want to close X amount, you need to meet 30 people this month. And in sales, you'll close three of them. And that's how we start doing one at a time. So we first figure out what their overhead is. And then we figure out, "Don't tell me you want to make, Okay, you want to make 300,000, are you now willing to work five days a week, eight hours a day to make that money?" And if you are we then search, then you know, after 45-60 days to get one deal in contract a second, a third. And now, now the big check comes in, right? Now they get a check for 40-$50,000. That's working for three months. And they're like, "Oh my God, I want to upgrade my car." I'm like, "No...no...no...no...no, this is the business plan you and I sat down and signed off on. Your first thing you had to pay is your credit card because it's 14% interest and your car..."
Umar Hameed 19:43
If you're lucky if it's 14%, yeah.
Oleg Bortman 19:45
Right. Yeah. It can be 22%. I said, "And your car is at 299. So first we agree this is what you signed that you're going to start paying this off. You cannot buy a new car until all of this is paid off. And then you have six months of savings in your bank accounts. Now you're starting to get financial freedom." And that's what we I do with so many agents here, one at a time. And now then a you know, then a year old and a half later, they finally buy a house, their whole life changes.
Umar Hameed 20:11
So two things there. Number one, you could see somebody that's struggling, they're earning $70,000 a year, they're in debt, credit cards off the charts. And then they start earning $200,000 a year, most people will just have a higher quality of life and still be in debt, unless the guy discipline like what you're describing. And here's something that's kind of sobering. So like, I want you to do this, if you're brave enough to do it, next time, you're in the downtown streets of which city is it?
Oleg Bortman 20:36
Phoenix.
Umar Hameed 20:37
Phoenix, and you see a homeless person go up and look at their cup. And if they have $10 in their cup, you can give them a big hug and say, "Congratulations, you're rich than 25% of all Americans," because of their people with a much higher standard of living. But if you take a look at the debt they have versus what it's worth, they're in negative territory, and a homeless person with 10 bucks is richer than 25% of all Americans, which is just shocking.
Oleg Bortman 21:02
Shocking. And I believe it, you're 100%, right. It's unbelievable. And...
Umar Hameed 21:07
You told me a while that but I'm 100% right, that happened?
Oleg Bortman 21:11
Give me your phone number I'll text it right now.
Umar Hameed 21:15
So Oleg, you seem like a really smart guy and care for your agents, in order for you to be relevant, I suspect that you are always learning and getting better at what you do. So what are some of the areas that you've improved in the past? And what are you looking to improve now to be better, stronger, faster, Oleg?
Oleg Bortman 21:34
Yeah. So I, you know, it's interesting, in that I have, I feel I have evolved, at least on the global scale of how global noise and global economics impacts us as a as a as American and in the...
Umar Hameed 21:53
Market, yeah.
Oleg Bortman 21:54
Yeah, for sure. So obviously, the strength of a dollar, or the weakness of a dollar. What's going on in New York actually does not transposed to what happens here in Phoenix. So I'm, I'm very diligent on understanding population growth, migration patterns, their sub markets, what kind of industries are crucial or moving to our area. So living in Phoenix, when we came back here, my wife is from here in 2007. Phoenix is primarily driven by vacationers, people like to golf, resorts, and this was a real estate, those were the that was the industry. So if real estate went down or tourism went down, we were screwed. In the last eight to ten years, we've gotten so many chip companies coming out here or expanding, so what does that mean? Like State Farm, obviously, it's an insurance but they bought out all of [garbled]. And he brought like 1500, high paying executives.
Umar Hameed 22:55
Right.
Oleg Bortman 22:56
[Garbled] make six figure jobs, that gives him instability in the market. Intel is doing a $20 billion expansion with a B. You know, many jobs and houses and money's coming. Taiwanese semiconductors coming here $12 billion. So as I understand the economics of even if Arizona is a state, it helps me help my agents when they're talking to buyers, they're like, "Oh, it's a bubble, another crash." So there's all this noise I heard it on, on, on this news channel, or that news channel doesn't matter what news channel, recession, all these fear mongering going on all the time. There's some facts to it very little, the rest is all noise. And then you got to look at really well, that's I understand it may happen in New York, or California, because it's been shut down for two years, and they don't want to reopen for whatever reason. But reality is everyone's coming here.
Umar Hameed 23:52
Yep. And the market is going to be boosted up because of that.
Oleg Bortman 23:55
That's exactly right. So I look at it more of a economic thing versus just what I'm hearing on TV anymore.
Umar Hameed 24:02
You know, what's kind of interesting to me is your job as a leader oftentimes, is your confidence in the people that you lead allows them to leverage it and be braver. And so a critical element of leadership is just having that information being grounded and being that person to lean on, which, you know, just allows people to reach their potential.
Oleg Bortman 24:25
Thank you. Yeah, I think I agree with you. If you see weakness in your leader...
Umar Hameed 24:26
Yeah.
Oleg Bortman 24:32
Right. It's like, even presidents of countries or of other countries. When the war broke out with Ukraine, America offered the Lensky a flight out. If he flew out, forget about Ukraine. It's over.
Umar Hameed 24:46
Yeah.
Oleg Bortman 24:46
He's staying like, so you're 100% right, it's all the leader has to, but you as a leader to I believe in Umar you have many more years of experience than me. The leader has to be confident and share the true knowledge you can read through BS.
Umar Hameed 25:04
So ultimately, what leads to a really kick-ass amazing team is one people have to trust in themselves, they have to trust in their teammates, and that's including you. They have to trust in the processes. And that needs to be a kick-ass amazing vision. And when you do that, that's when you get real power and stability. And doesn't matter what's happening in the market, people stay true to what the vision is, and the mission is. So yeah, absolutely. And I think Ukraine is an interesting example of leadership, even looking at the leadership from the US towards Ukraine. It's not where it needs to be.
Oleg Bortman 25:39
Correct.
Umar Hameed 25:40
And so it's like, you know, we're sending them money in arms and stuff, which is, you know, absolutely needed like it would be all over without that. And, of course, what they're doing in the country itself, just standing up and staying true to what they want to do is, you know, have a free country.
Oleg Bortman 25:54
Yes, absolutely. That's, and I think this is human beings, there's a billion of us on this planet. We are so blessed here in America, because for at least still, today we can, we can talk about our freedoms.
Umar Hameed 26:08
Yes.
Oleg Bortman 26:09
People born in other countries, you can't even speak up. You can't even leave the countries
Umar Hameed 26:15
Can't leave the country and say you can't speak up but next week, the secret police will come take you away, [garbled].
Oleg Bortman 26:23
Yeah, so the freedom. And that's the thing, like, you know, and you also, as I've gotten older, I'm very, very spiritual so I believe in a higher power the Man upstairs. And I thank Him every day for give me another day here on on the planet. And I think that has helped me ground myself to value time. The one thing we all have equal...
Umar Hameed 26:49
Is time.
Oleg Bortman 26:49
We were born as time. That's the only thing we're born equally as time. And so as I read more books, I have incredible business coach that challenges me all the time a great business partner. But I value my time, I have two kids now, my son just turned 11, my daughter is nine and a half.
Umar Hameed 27:06
Congratulations.
Oleg Bortman 27:07
Thank you beautiful wife, we just celebrated our 16 year anniversary yesterday. And I value my time as I get older, I value time more than I did when I was younger.
Umar Hameed 27:17
Yep.
Oleg Bortman 27:19
Because as I get older, I see more more friends, you know, life happens to them, and somebody passes away. And I'm like, "Oh, my gosh." So I'm spending now more time with those that want and have earned, for me to spend time with.
Umar Hameed 27:34
Right.
Oleg Bortman 27:35
And that's the freedom I get to choose who I spend time with. That's one of the key freedom options. I get to choose who I'm going to dedicate time of my day with somebody that I don't want to spend time with. So I, I'm one of them kucky, luckiest hard, hardworking person. But I absolutely love the freedom of now to choose who I donate my time on a daily basis.
Umar Hameed 27:57
And it's a conscious decision. And one of the things I'm struggling with right now is just remembering every interaction that I have, that I really need to come at it with love. And so once in a while during the day, I remember that it's like, you know, hey, like I was playing tennis today. And it was like, okay, as the ball is coming towards me, and I'm playing this person, I need to come at this from love. And what that does is allows me to slow my game down allows me to be better at what I'm doing. And do it in a way that doesn't have ego, but it just improves my game dramatically. And so that's one of the things I'm working on right now is just making that conscious decision in every interaction.That if we were together doesn't mean that hug you and kiss you, but unless you really want but...
Oleg Bortman 28:42
I am a hugger and kisser, by the way.
Umar Hameed 28:43
But how I show up for our meeting, it informs that. And if I change how I show up with the right intention, and it changes the way you show up because you can sense, "Hey, here's somebody that's coming at kind of a interesting kind way."
Oleg Bortman 28:58
Absolutely. Absolutely. I love it.
Umar Hameed 29:01
So before we part company, Oleg, I have three questions for you.
Oleg Bortman 29:05
Sure.
Umar Hameed 29:06
Number one, what specific thing in your life makes you happy?
Oleg Bortman 29:12
Everybody around me so my wife makes me happy. Every day I wake up on my own can get out of bed.
Umar Hameed 29:18
Yes.
Oleg Bortman 29:19
It's already it's...
Umar Hameed 29:20
A happy day.
Oleg Bortman 29:20
I like days made. It's my days made. I created a new, I guess model for myself. I was always been an optimist my whole life.
Umar Hameed 29:21
Yes.
Oleg Bortman 29:21
And you know, you're always you're saying my, my cup is half full.
Umar Hameed 29:35
Yes.
Oleg Bortman 29:36
We had a team meeting a few months ago and I was like, "You know what, actually, my cup is not helpful anymore. My cup is always full."
Umar Hameed 29:43
I love it.
Oleg Bortman 29:45
So just waking up every day is what makes me happy.
Umar Hameed 29:49
Ah, brilliant. So I've got a friend of mine. We're having lunch and he's talking about his wife, who sounds a little pessimistic and I happen to be drinking water out of the glass and it was, you know, half full and I go, "Is she a, my glass is half empty kind of girl?" he says, "No, there is no glass, there is no water, we're gonna die of thirst kind of girl."
Oleg Bortman 30:06
I agree completely, my glasses always full.
Umar Hameed 30:11
I love it.
Oleg Bortman 30:13
I'm the happiest person you'll meet.
Umar Hameed 30:15
And you know, one thing that's kind of interesting is that makes you fricking contagious, which is a blessing.
Oleg Bortman 30:22
Thank you.
Umar Hameed 30:23
Number two, what's one mind hack or technique that you'd like to share with people that would allow them to have happier, more fulfilling lives?
Oleg Bortman 30:32
I think they need to do self reflection of how fortunate they are. Just to be alive.
Umar Hameed 30:40
Yeah.
Oleg Bortman 30:41
I've had friends that have a cancer and they beat it. You ever, we've all had a friend that had a almost like a situation they would have die.
Umar Hameed 30:49
Near-death experience. Yup.
Oleg Bortman 30:49
Right? And then they, and then you see them and they're like a whole new person. Why do you have to experience it for yourself to be almost dead, to experience the best part of life. If your friend tells you that happened to them, you don't have to also experience like, if someone invented a round tire doesn't mean I have to go invent another one, I can just make it better. So, so when I get experiences like that, I just some, I would say at least a couple of times a year, self reflect like, "Oh, my God, another story. I am so happy." And that reboots me like man, I really need to turn my optimism up a lot.
Umar Hameed 31:24
Love that. And ask your mother if were two brothers, because you know, that's my mindset as well. It's when people like why do you have to wait till the near-death experience to kind of go, "Wait a minute, why am I wasting my time here? I could be focused on XYZ and it could be starting the company or being there for your family," it's like, do so now and why wait. And the other thing that pisses me off beyond belief is you've heard stories like this. It's a, dad has died and Billy and John are at the funeral, and they haven't spoken in 30 years, because they're both Ukrainians. That's why because you know, "You wronged me 30 years ago," and it's it take the death of a parent for them to go, "Oh, my God, man, why are we doing this?" Like, let me smack you one and like, just forgive and accept people?
Oleg Bortman 32:12
Totally.
Umar Hameed 32:12
And here's the last question that could be the toughest. Are you ready?
Oleg Bortman 32:16
I'm sitting down.
Umar Hameed 32:17
All right. What's the question I should have asked you that I did not?
Oleg Bortman 32:23
What is my five, three to five year plan?
Umar Hameed 32:27
Hold on, Oleg, what's your three to five year plan?
Oleg Bortman 32:32
So I tried to put it in a nutshell I was. I'm a big fan of success...
Umar Hameed 32:38
Yes.
Oleg Bortman 32:39
...all around the world. So Elon Musk has been all over the radio, obviously, in the last couple of years more than than ever. And one thing that resonated me and I had to kind of take a step back and reflect was, Elon Musk was born in South Africa.
Umar Hameed 32:54
Yes.
Oleg Bortman 32:55
At the age of 50 becomes the richest person on the planet of eight billion people because the richest person. He wasn't given anything. He didn't inherit oil fields. They didn't inherit anything. So I'm walking around and trying to inspire my kids every day. And I'm like, "This is amazing. This guy at 20 years old comes to America, gets Pay Pal, sells it. Opens up this that gets Tesla, all this stuff." And so as I'm walking around, I tell my kids and and I'm a believer of manifesting like, if you will, you got to see it, to envision it to succeed it. So get to the office one day early in the morning, take out the trash. I still take out the trash at the office. I'm not I'm not too good for it. I'm walking and walking back. And I'm like, "Man, if he could be the richest person on the planet, by the time he's 50. At the age of 50, I'm going to be a billionaire. Not sure how I'm gonna get there yet. I haven't figured out the plan. However, that is now in my ingrained in my mind on that is my next goal." So within next three to five years, I'm going to be a billionaire. So I'm out there meeting new people, expanding my network, and having people challenge me and how I can grow my business to the next level. So my three to five year plan, which will be my kids remind me now because I'm gonna be 53 and a half years.
Umar Hameed 34:11
Right.
Oleg Bortman 34:12
And they go, "Dad you have a month less, less."
Umar Hameed 34:15
Come here.
Oleg Bortman 34:16
Exactly. Sounds like, "Dad, you got three years left." So that's my three year five, three to five year plan is expand my network. Work with people. Find great partners, so we're partners to each other. And we can all grow together successfully and get my first billion by the time of 50.
Umar Hameed 34:33
Love it. Oleg, this is the first of many conversations to come. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for being on the show. I really enjoyed our conversation and say hi to you, mom.
Oleg Bortman 34:44
Yeah. Thank you so much. Thank you for your time. Have a great weekend.
Umar Hameed 34:52
If you enjoyed this episode, please go to iTunes and leave a five-star rating. And if you're looking for more tools, go to my website at nolimitsselling.com. I've got a free mind training course there, that's going to teach you some insights from the world of Neuro-Linguistic Programming and that is the fastest way to get better results.