Hayim Mizrachi on Making the Time

Alana Muller:    Welcome to Enterprise.ing, a podcast from Enterprise Bank & Trust, that's empowering business leaders, one conversation at a time. We'll hear from different business leaders about how they've found success in cultivating their professional networks and keeping them healthy and strong. I'm your host, Alana Muller, an entrepreneurial executive leader whose primary focus is to connect, inspire, and empower community. We at Enterprise Bank & Trust. Thank you for tuning into another episode.
    Hi listeners. Welcome back to another episode of Enterprise.ing. I want to welcome today's special guest, Hayim Mizrachi. He is a partner and president of MDL Group where he oversees all brokerage activity, including sales and leasing. MDL Group is the leading commercial real estate services provider in Southern Nevada and provides services, including property management, brokerage and leasing, real estate investment advisory, construction management and development services. Hayim is also host of an award-winning podcast, Takeaways, where he shares his takeaways from events that he attends throughout the year, and people who have influenced him throughout his life. Hayim, welcome to Enterprise.ing.

Hayim Mizrachi:    Thank you so much. And I have to say, I'm currently the president of an association called NAIOP, which is the Commercial Real Estate Development Association... Sorry, the Association for the Commercial Real Estate Development Community. And we had our awards dinner, first time back from COVID, 650 people in the room and the hired MC played the piano and sang some songs. And one of the songs he sang was, it was a riff off of Shallow, Lady Gaga song.

Alana Muller:    Yes.
Hayim Mizrachi:    And it was, "Is it NAIOP or is it NAOLP? Is it N A I O P?" And he up did this whole thing, because no one knows how to say NAIOP. And then the second part of the song is, is it Hayim or is it, Hayim? How do you say your name?" And I have to say, all the times I've been introduced in my life, it's very, very seldom that I get introduced properly. You introduced me with the Haa, Hayim, so thank you.

Alana Muller:    You know what? I'm genetically wired for it. Yeah. Genetically wired for it. It was my pleasure. And honestly, I tell people I was blessed with the name Alana Muller, and I'm typically more surprised when people get it right than when they get it wrong. So you and I are kindred spirits. I get it.

Hayim Mizrachi:    How do they butcher your name?

Alana Muller:    Oh, every way possible. Alanna, Elena, Alona, some other things that I don't want to say on air. So many other ways, but it's Alana, like banana my whole life. So you can probably relate to that. Yeah?

Hayim Mizrachi:    Yep.

Alana Muller:    So what I want to do is, I know that you have been active in the real estate community in Las Vegas since obtaining your CCIM designation. And you'll have to tell me what that is, but you got that early in your career. And I want to know a little bit more about MDL Group.

Hayim Mizrachi:    Absolutely. The alphabet soup of commercial real estate. I talked about NAIOP is an acronym, CCIM is another acronym. It stands for a Certified Commercial Investment Member. It's a professional designation for commercial real estate. Residential realtors have a lot of designations that they get. They sit for a course and learn some things. And then they get letters behind their names that mean something. CCIM is one of those, in the commercial world, that means something. Four classes, each one's a week long. There's a negotiations class, an ethics class. And then you have to put together a portfolio of experience. So it's not just like you sit for courses, you actually have to back it up with real life application. And then you sit for an exam that they give you six hours for it, which I walked in thinking, "Hey, I don't need six."
    And my buddy who was proctoring, tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Hayim, just take your time." And I used up pretty much all, but two minutes of the six hours that was allotted to do the exam. So it's a big deal. Those of us that have it, have earned it. And what it did for me is, it took me in my career from being a young agent that, my clients have 20, 30 years of real estate experience, because they've owned real estate and I've got the energy to apply and they're telling me here's how we're going to do it. But going through CCIM you learn how to look at things differently. And I really evolved from a young agent or just accepting, here's how to do it to starting asking them, "Well, have you looked at it like this? And have you thought about that?" And I went from being just an order taker, so to speak, to an advisor to my clients. That's what's the CCIM designation has done. There's several others. That's the one that I got early in my career and that's the one I have.

Alana Muller:    And I love the way that it's been consultative for you. It's been made you into a great consultant, which is so fabulous.

Hayim Mizrachi:    Yeah. I went from my clients saying, "All right, we're going to do this deal", to, they won't do the deal without asking me first, what do I think? Which adds a lot of value to them. And I know your show's about relationships. I'll dovetail the CCIM story into a relationship story, one of the most important relationships in my career and in my life. So my business partner and I partnered up in 2007, he's somebody that I knew from BBYO. I'm assuming you know what that is. B'nai B'rith Youth Organization.

Alana Muller:    Of course I do. Yes, my whole life, my son's whole life. This was ingrained. I love that.

Hayim Mizrachi:    Yeah. It's a Jewish high school youth group for the listeners who might not know. And I met my business partner then, we were 14 and 15 years old. He moved from Phoenix to Las Vegas and went to UNLV, I'm a year older than him. So we went through high school youth group together, through college together. And then, separately got into real estate, but then partnered up in 2007. So when he and I were both testing for our CCIM designations, the chapter president at the time, was this woman named Carol Cline-Ong. Carol founded this company called MDL Group in 1989, here in Las Vegas. So we started our relationship with Carol because she was the president, she pinned us, she gently shepherded us from the ballroom where we took our exam after five hours and 58 minutes for me and I was pale and my mind was melted.
    She said, "Please sit at the bar. And what are you drinking?" And made sure that we were all good. Like I mentioned, pinned us. And then we started a business relationship together. MDL has always been a market leading, commercial property management company. And the company that I was at before, we didn't have a property management division. So when asking, "Who can we refer clients to? Trusting that they wouldn't poach our clients for the sale or for the lease, Carol was the first one that comes to mind. Anybody who knows Carol knows integrity is just tattooed on her forehead. So we started with CCIM.
    It led to a referral relationship. That company that I was at, sold to a private equity firm and the private equity people a few months later said, "Hey, we're doing what private equity does, which is cutting things that aren't core and your office isn't core." It was orderly, it was a big boy decision. But at the time, Jared and I were looking for a new home and Carol and Kurt, her co-founding partner said, "We've always been interested in doing something with you guys. So if you're willing to come to MDL as our partners, we'd love to have you." And that's where we are now, is here. I've been here for nine years.

Alana Muller:    That's so cool.

Hayim Mizrachi:    Yeah. It gave us that relationship too.

Alana Muller:    So cool. So Hayim, I have to admit, I am particularly excited to be speaking today with a fellow podcaster, especially given that your topic, like mine, is so focused on relationships. How did you get started with your podcast, Takeaways, and how has your relationship base contributed to the podcast success?

Hayim Mizrachi:    I got started as a consumer and a listener of podcasts. And somewhere along the line, I got this bug in my brain, "Hey, I should do this too." And Tim Ferris is one of the podcasters that I was listening to. And he has this quote, it's, "You really need to have an itch that you are scratching, something that you need to get out into the world because it's less painful, more enjoyable, but often less painful for you to get out into the world, than to keep it in your own head." I don't know if you can relate to that, but it was that. It grew so big in my head, I just had to get it out. I love that because having a podcast is work. I did it as a hobby. It's work, and you have to have that pain of getting it out of your head that's bigger than the pain of not doing it.
    That's how I started. Second part to your question. It's all about relationships for me. The whole premise of my podcast, it's called Takeaways, and takeaways from people who have influenced me. So I get to go back and say, first episode, Rick Meyers. Rick is a developer in town. He taught the first class of a program that I did early in my career through NAIOP. It was called the Developing Leaders Institute. You can imagine I'm a young broker, I'm meeting this big time developer and he's teaching this three hour class, really about life and development. And he gets to be my first guest. And I've got 30 other examples of those relationships as episodes so far.

Alana Muller:    So great. One of the things that is inspiring about that is that, there have been people in your life that you can point to the support that they've given you, the mentorship that they've given you and they're difference makers. And for those of us who have had the good fortune to have difference makers in our lives, we never forget them. We never forget them. And to that end, what I'd love to hear from you a little bit about is, how are some ways that you make connections mutually beneficial? You've talked a lot about these figures in your life who have propped you up, who have urged you on, how do you give back and show that mutual appreciation? And have you served as a mentor? And how are you making sure that others in your life benefit from your knowledge and your zealotry around relationship building?

Hayim Mizrachi:    Professionally, I lead with that. How can I help you? Which, I have an episode with a friend of mine, Ray Lucero, who's in the community and ask me that question the first time we ever met. How can I help you? And I was like, "What?" He really caught me off guard, but that's the start of a relationship. What can I do to help you? And I just know it's going to come back. I don't have strings attached to it. The whole premise of the podcast, Takeaways, is that. I get to sit down with a person that has influenced me and talk about that influence. And in one way, say thank you. And another way, I'm sharing it with anybody who cares to listen. These are people that have literally changed my life's trajectory in one way or another.
    And I sit down with them anywhere from 45 minutes to three hours and talk about not just that, but other things that come out of it, and that's available for anybody. As you know, these podcasts don't run themselves, you put a lot of energy and effort into this. You have a team around you that puts a lot of energy and effort into this, and I'm happy to put energy and effort into it, to pass it along. And the last thing is that, absolutely I've been a mentor for UNLV's my Alma mater. They have a real estate school and every year they have a mentor/mentee program. And I always raise my hand. And if it's not send us one, it's send us three and we're happy to mentor anybody coming out of that program.

Alana Muller:    So fabulous. Okay. So I have to comment on a few things. You said one, I agree with, you creating a podcast, especially something that's relevant and meaningful for people that they want to listen to, that they want to take the however long, whether it's 15 minutes, an hour, two hours. What compels people to actually sit and listen? That is work. I have the great fortune, I work with an amazing podcast producer, Gabrielle Costales at Enterprise Bank, who makes sure that I'm prepared, that we have amazing guests like you, and just makes this so seamless. And I know that there's so much work going on behind the scenes. So a big shout out to Gabrielle, so I can totally appreciate and relate to what you said. The other thing that you talked about is this question about, what can I do to help you? And you and I have not had the chance to meet before, but I have to tell you that was a life changing question in my life.
    When I first began networking, I had not been doing any networking. I didn't perceive that I had the time. I thought I was just far too busy with my very important job, and didn't occurred to me that networking had to be part of the drill. And so, what was so shocking just as you've described, is the first five people I met with, they closed with that question. What can I do to help you? And it was a game changer. So when you describe that, that is your going in approach. I so appreciate you. And I appreciate the fact that you do that, because I think we often forget that and it's such a human thing.
    And the truth is people want to help, but we also have to have the courage and the wherewithal and the vision to say the words and to ask that question. So thank you for that. To that end, you talked about your involvement with UNLV and with mentoring in general. Hayim, I want to ask you about your volunteerism. I know that you've been very active in the Jewish community, in Las Vegas. How do you carve out time? How do you make the time to engage in the community? And in what ways has your interest in philanthropy and community contributed to your ability to build meaningful relationships?

Hayim Mizrachi:    So many answers in that question. First, I'll just say, you don't have the time, you make the time. It really is a mindset and it really is an intention. And I say that, that's my truth. And I say that to anybody who's listening. And I've heard, a couple weeks ago I'm talking with someone about volunteering and the comment, "Oh, I don't have the time." Give me a break. Nobody has the time. Everyone's busy. You make the time. You make the time for exercise in your life. You make the time for the meaningful relationships in your life. You make the time to volunteer. And the concept of Tikkun olam, it's a Hebrew saying to ‘repair the world.’ That's the premise. I grew up in Jewish, not just high school, but in youth groups and in the Jewish community.
    And it is my community, along with the broader community. And to me, it's a duty, an obligation and a privilege, mostly a privilege, to be able to volunteer and give back. And there are different ways to give back. We had a former Jewish Federation director that taught me this. You can give your time, treasure and talent, doesn't have to be any/or it can be any/or/and. You can give your time. You can give your treasure, if you have the money, if you're in the position to donate. And you can give your talent. And I like to give all three.

Alana Muller:    I love that. That's just fabulous. And I think, whatever community we find ourselves, I think that you're right, we all have an obligation to our community or communities. So I think that's a lovely answer. Changing gears just a little bit. I know that you recently discovered distance running and that in fact, you completed your first half marathon earlier this year, and you'll be running a full marathon very soon. So I want to know how running has benefited you from a networking point of view. Have you formed a new set of relationships with others who share your interest in running?

Hayim Mizrachi:    Short answer, yes. It just came up in a way I didn't see coming. It was very interesting. Getting into an exercise routine, I'm 42 now. I started this journey again in my life when I turned 40, I've got three kids. So that's what took me off the routine, so to speak. And in getting back into this determination, I've got to get active, otherwise I'm going to turn 50 in a blink of an eye and I'm going to be unhealthy. I landed on running. Running just was the thing that I could do. And then, I made a goal run a half marathon and so on. But in that journey for me, one of my pieces of accountability is posting the activity on social media, for whatever reason, that gamifies my workouts or my training and it helps. So I started posting three mile run, five mile run.
    I decided to train for a half marathon. I hired a coach and on and on, and I just post, last night's post actually is, "We don't have time to exercise. We make time to exercise." So that's why that was so fresh from my mind. But now I'm posting. Now I'm posting and I'm posting and all of my network is seeing this, whoever's connected to me. And I was surprise. There's a developer in town, Jay Heller. He called me, he said, "Hey, I'm driving home. I want to drop off a commission check." And he's talking to me about, he used to run marathons. I never knew that about him. It serves as another point of connection with people that I know in a different way, around this.
    There's another guy that I serve on a board with, comes and drops off a book. Unexpectedly, I get the receptionist is saying, "Hey, Michael Newman is here to see you." Okay. And he brings me this book that he read 20 years ago when he started his running journey. So I have example after example, after example, because of my newfound interest in distance running and my posting about it, the common connection that I have with so many people now.

Alana Muller:    Yeah. What you're describing, whether it's running or baking or podcasts or whatever it is, what you're describing is this notion of the common point of connection. And just, if we can discover that with one another, it really makes such a difference. So Hayim, as we're wrapping up our conversation, I always have to ask one fun, final question. And that is, if you could meet with one person for a cup of coffee, who would it be and why?

Hayim Mizrachi:    Right now, my answer would be Seth Godin. Seth is an author. I think he has 17 best sellers. That's who it would be. He puts out so much good into the world, not just in his professional life, around marketing and other topics, just in general. He would be somebody that I would want to have coffee with. I'd love to have him on my podcast. And I think that would be probably an extraordinarily challenging interview to try to have a conversation that he hasn't had already, in the content that he puts out.

Alana Muller:    That's a great answer. So I'm excited to tell you, I've had the chance to meet Seth several times. And what I love about him is, he is exactly who you think he is. So there's no faking it until you make it with Seth. He is exactly who he is. And as you know, he's prolific, his sometimes more than daily blog is just great. It's one of the ones that I commit myself to reading every single day. So I love that you said that and I hope you get that interview. I think that would be fabulous. So I wanted to just say, thank you so much for being on today. It's been great and so many points of connection. And what I'd love to know is, how do our listeners learn more about you, about MDL Group and about your podcast, Takeaways?

Hayim Mizrachi:    You could find us at mdlgroup.com. On there is tab called Learning Center, within that is my blog and my podcast. So all that is there. You can find me on pretty much every social media, not TikTok. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, with my name, which hopefully is in the posting here, because it's not so easy to spell if you don't know how to spell it.

Alana Muller:    Well, Hayim Mizrachi, it has been wonderful to have you on Enterprise.ing. Delighted to know you, and I look forward to following your journey and following Takeaways.

Hayim Mizrachi:    Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.

Alana Muller:    Thanks for joining us this week on Enterprise.ing. Be sure to visit our website enterprisebank.com/podcast, to subscribe so you'll never miss an episode. If you found value in today's program, please consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or telling a friend about us. Enterprise.ing, powering business leaders. One conversation at a time.
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