Episode 11 - Jeremy Girior - On Adventure and Life Lessons

Young Han (00:00):
So she had to sign this like document saying, I'll not blame my mom, but I'm like, you know, an adult forcing me to play piano.

Jeremy Giroir (00:06):
I don't see a light out the end of the tunnel of this getting any easier, you know, don't let something that you can't do hold you back from all of the other things that you can do.

Young Han (00:24):
Hey guys, I'm young, a full-time dad and a full-time professional with the goal to become the best parent possible. The girl dad show is my journey interviewing fellow working parents aspiring to be both good at work and parenting. I'm gonna do this by gathering and sharing unfiltered perspectives. My guest to join me as I research parenthood one interview at a time, Jeremy, what's going on, man. Thanks for joining my podcast.

Jeremy Giroir (00:49):
How's it going young. Thanks for having me man.

Young Han (00:51):
I love that you get to be on this podcast during your escapades here. I know you're on a really big journey right now. Well, I'd love to unpack that just one second, but just so our listeners know who you are. Why don't you tell us what you do for a living and, and what you're working on right now?

Jeremy Giroir (01:06):
That's a tough question. What I do for a living it's the last, like the last like five years have been pretty crazy for me sold a company at the end of 2016. We were making countertops as a stone fabrication company. And since then I've kind of transitioned into real estate. So I started investing in multifamily real estate, like apartment complexes. And then by accident kind of came into a, a development deal with a colleague from EO Austin entrepreneurs organization, which is a global organization of entrepreneurs. But the Austin chapter met a friend there that was working on this RV resort slash glamping campground that we're now developing that, and really have gotten super excited about being in this industry and building a brand around it and building a recognizable brand, basically in, in the industry and providing a service and a product that really doesn't exist yet. Yeah,

Young Han (02:10):
You're, you're definitely underselling what you're working on quite a bit here. And I gotta, I gotta put up a little bit deeper, so everyone understands how cool you are and what, what you're actually building here. And this is actually how we met, right? We met at your new RV glamping park that you're building, it's like 30 acres on top of a hill with the beautiful view here, Justin Liberty hill down the street. And the scope of the project is pretty massive. It it's pretty massive deal, right? Yeah. Like you're, you're going for it. You're you're going for the full Monte here with this deal. Yeah.

Jeremy Giroir (02:42):
It's, it's definitely the biggest project I've ever worked on. And, and like you said, I mean the property is amazing. I mean, I think it's probably the best slice of real estate in Liberty hill. It's a beautiful cliff view river view on a cliff. So hill country views. Yeah. Then the scope of the project, you know, in total, including the price of the land, you know, we're looking at about a $20 million build out. So definitely the biggest project I've ever worked on and super exciting. I mean, amenities are gonna be, you know, we're gonna have a, a cool, like great lodge. That'll be kind of the epicenter of the property that, that we want people to just kind of conglomerate around and hang out and kind of like a beer garden or like wine yard type atmosphere, you know, with games and stuff like that. We'll have an amphitheater for screening movies or bands to play and just all kinds of, we're probably gonna do pickle ball cuz that's the new rage these days never even heard of it. So we'll have <laugh> no kidding. No, what is it? It's so it's, it's played on like a smaller tennis court. So it's kind of like a combination of, I guess like ping pong and tennis. Nice.

Young Han (03:51):
Let's go play. I still gotta go into the the part of the river that your property lines up into still. We gotta plan that out, but when you get back from your trip yeah. And you're gonna also do a huge restaurant and kind of looking over the, over the view too, right?

Jeremy Giroir (04:05):
TBD on the restaurant, we wanna have some sort of a food and beverage option. We would love to be able to do like a restaurant that if we could open up to the public and have people come out there as well, as in addition to the people that are staying there, the issue we're running into is just, we don't have enough property to do that to, for the parking. So, you know, we're trying to maximize land use as much as we can and, you know, focus on people who are staying there as much as possible. So it's, you know, we gotta cut corner somewhere, gotta make sacrifices somewhere. So we'll have some sort of food and beverage option, but if it's gonna be a full on restaurant, it's just not sure yet.

Young Han (04:44):
It's, it's either ways it's still gonna be amazing. I mean, the property is just incredible. I love how it's like on top of this hill and you can overlook all of Liberty hill and beyond. And then I love how it kind of like goes down that ravine and like nest right up against the river. Oh my gosh. And that little dam that blocks the little watering hole it's it's per I mean, it's just like, I can already see all these people just enjoying that piece of land so much. And it being like a destination, you know, you're gonna put Liberty hill on the map with this, this, this, this business. Yeah. Just so everyone knows what to expect is you start building this out. What's the name of the name of the park?

Jeremy Giroir (05:18):
So that's also something we haven't even officially released. We did come up up with a new name whenever we purchased the property, we originally were calling it blue hole and it's because of that swimming hole in the property it's it was just known around town. It's called blue hole. So we started calling it that with the intention of possibly using that name and calling it blue hole RV resort. But know we, we hired a very intelligent marketing and branding company. That's been walking us through all kinds of cool stuff and they really have dissuaded us from using that name because there's also a blue hole in Georgetown. And then there's also the blue hole in Wimberley and both of those are larger and have a bigger footprint online and that sort of stuff. So to kind of make us a little more unique, we came up with a new name, which, you know, we haven't even released to our investors yet.

Young Han (06:12):
So to say what it is, this is about parenting. So feel free to hold your business secrets yourself for now. Yeah, absolutely.

Jeremy Giroir (06:19):
But we are really excited about, about the name and the brand that we're building. And maybe next time we talk I'll.

Young Han (06:24):
When you're ready to share it, I'm happy to be your vehicle for announcing things. If you want with my, you know, small following that I'm building as of right now, but I am really interested about hearing what you do and what you work on, because I love the way that you're navigating your professional career. Cuz you're also, you're also a father, right?

Jeremy Giroir (06:43):
Yep. We have a 16 month old little girl and she's just freaking amazing. She is so fun.

Young Han (06:50):
That's awesome. Yeah. And I love that you have a a kid and you're like, you're, you're building out this real estate business and you have all sorts of different ways of like, like making money work for you. And you've really switched gears from having a service based cabinetry business to really like full on in the deep end on real estate. Right.

Jeremy Giroir (07:09):
It's been a pretty big transition, definitely in how my days are run, you know, and how I spend my time. I'm trying to be certainly a lot more intentional of, of how spend my time, which has, you know, pluses and minuses. Right. I think I'm probably less productive from like a daily standpoint feeling like I got a whole lot of stuff done, but I think I'm getting the bigger things done better. Yeah. I'm

Young Han (07:31):
Like when I first met you, I was like, oh my gosh, this guy has, is working on the coolest project I've ever heard of. And we were like touring your 30 acres on you're a little, like a souped up golf cart. I remember that thing that was like, it looked like he was ready for like a war. It was awesome.

Jeremy Giroir (07:46):
Oh yeah. No. What put you to work changing? The flat that's right. 

Young Han (07:50):
Thats right. And I even offered my services. I was like, I wanna work for you. I wanna work here. This is so cool. And it was like I'll sweep I'll I'll make a mean coffee. And you said, no, you said no

Jeremy Giroir (08:02):
I don't think I said no.

Young Han (08:04):
Yeah. I don't think you said no, either. You just said we'll think about it. Very good. So I, I just, I, I also think it's really important to talk about like how you are currently working, but you're also traveling, right? Like you're doing something really unique. I, I know you mentioned, I can't remember exactly what spark, but I talked to you, we're starting to talk about real estate and kind of getting into the mechanics of it where like you were kind of mentoring me and teaching me and then you're like, Hey, I'm just gonna be out of pocket for, I think you said like almost a year or is that like six months? I can't remember exactly what you're doing here, but you're not in Liberty hill right now.

Jeremy Giroir (08:35):
Not in Liberty hill. We're not in Texas anymore. Although we haven't made it far yet. So we're starting an RV journey that really has no time end. So we, you know, we put, we put our house on the market to lease. So we have some renters in our house. They have a year lease. So there is, you know, a potential stop point after a year. But my wife and I have kind of chatted, like, you know, we'll live the RV lifestyle until it no longer suits us. You know, we're not necessarily gonna be out of pocket, but we'll certainly be a little less available and, or a little less connected, but we've only made it to Louisiana so far. So I grew up in south Louisiana and Lafayette and that's where we are now. We're actually in my, in my parents' house. And right now I'm, cramed in my dad's like little workshop to try to get a quiet space with internet <laugh> to do this interview, but we'll be here probably another couple weeks. We're getting some stuff tidied up on the RV before we officially, you know, out. And that's been a whole adventure in and of itself just getting the RV ready.

Young Han (09:40):
Well like anything in life, in, in business. I think that it's always riddled with things that go wrong. Right? It's like Murphy's law, right? You, you, you just have to expect that a certain percentage of things won't go to plan. And I think that's part of the journey and, and part of those people that, that are able to navigate and still make it happen. Right. You don't get deterred by it.

Jeremy Giroir (09:58):
Yeah, for sure. I mean, that's, you know, it's making the most of everything, right. It's like, yeah, we've been at my parents' house for, you know, over a month. I'm nearly 40 years old. The last thing I wanted to do was have a baby and move in with my parents, but that's kind of how it happened and, but you know, it's also, I, I just know, you know, in 20 or, or 30 or 40 years when we're looking back, like these are, this is gonna be a moment. They will be like, you know, that looks kind of cool. We got to spend a month with my parents. They got to hang out with E time that they just wouldn't have gotten with her. That's right. So, you know, there's certainly some, some silver lining to the fact that, you know, we're quote unquote stranded.

Young Han (10:34):
No, it's awesome. I think it's great. I mean, what's better than grandparents, right? I mean, kids cherish those memories. My, my grandparents, oh my grandparents, sorry. My parents are super Remis right now because we decided to move to Texas and we have no family here. We just did it because really just economics, mostly and coming from California. But yeah, they miss our, they miss their grandkids a lot. And, and like, when you talk to my kids about their grandparents, you know, they miss them a lot as well. And so that time is super valuable. I think it's like, you know, when I think about when I was a kid growing up, my grandparents spoiled me rotten, you know, and it was just like, they were like so much cooler than my parents. Right.

Jeremy Giroir (11:13):
So it's like, it's gonna be a great experience for them, right.

Young Han (11:16):
That being said, let's talk about your childhood. It, if you don't mind, I feel like so much of parenting has a lot to do with how you were brought up in my opinion. And it'd be really great to hear what your childhood was like.

Jeremy Giroir (11:26):
It was perfect. Like it was, I was blessed you know, I'm youngest of three kids. I have two older sisters. And I mean, I think the, the biggest thing that, you know, thinking back, like, I just always felt encouraged. Like I never felt like I was stifled in my creativity or that I couldn't do something. And I don't mean from like a material standpoint or like a, I wanna go play with my friends. It was more of like, you can achieve anything kind of encouragement. And it was it, you know, it's not like moments, specific moments that I remember. I just always remember having that confidence and backed up by my parents of like, I could do whatever I put my mind to it. And, you know, I think that's something I, I really, you know, our, I guess that lesson I really want to try to instill in my kids, you know, or, or, you know, that's what I bring as like a top priority as my new job, as a parent is to kind of try to instill that abundance mindset that anything is possible with a little hard work and dedication.

Young Han (12:31):
How do you think they did that?

Jeremy Giroir (12:33):
You know, I think by focusing on the positive things, instead of trying to like correct and re like redirecting instead of stopping, you know, and I guess a good example would be, you know, like a hot stove or maybe a hot, stove's not a bad one. Cause that's like a danger thing. But you know, if the kids like digging in something you don't want 'em to dig in, instead of being like, Hey, don't do that. I think it's little things of, Hey, did you see this over here? That could be fun to play with, you know, kind of try to avoiding the no and avoiding, like stopping a kid in their tracks. I think it was little things like that, or even, you know, whatever I'm older and in school or having frustration with its homework or sports, I think it was always like focusing on the things that I did really well and really encouraging me down a path that they could see that I was enjoying as opposed to, you know, beating myself up over something that I either didn't enjoy or wasn't getting energy from.

Young Han (13:31):
Oh, wow. From an early on, like, even when you're in your teens, they were like encouraging you to double down on your strengths versus like work on your weaknesses.

Jeremy Giroir (13:39):
Yeah. You know, if I made a commitment to something, there was certainly like the encouragement of you need to follow that through. Even though if you don't like doing this, you know, you made a commitment and you need to stand up to that commitment. But I think they were very good at focusing on the strengths and not necessarily ignoring we weaknesses, but really trying to put the attention on the strengths of like, you know, don't let something that you can't do hold you back from all of the other things that you can do.

Young Han (14:05):
I love that. Yeah. I was just talking to Mike, my siblings about this the other day, we, we did a, we did like a little video, not a montage, but like a video diary to our father. And we're all I asked them all my siblings to answer two questions, you know? Like, what do you appreciate most about dad and what was the biggest lesson? And it was really fun because as we were going through this, I was like, my answer was that it was like this idea of perseverance and anything was possible. Right. And that's what I said. I appreciated the most about him. And it's like, when I was thinking about and going, like, how am I gonna teach that to my kid? I actually didn't know how to put my thumb on it. I'm like, how am I gonna teach my kids how to have that.

Young Han (14:42):
Right. And so it's like really interesting to hear your thoughts on like, maybe it's the behaviors of like encouraging, you know alternate routes or like, Hey, if you can't solve it that way, let's solve it this way. Or like teaching them kind of like redirection or pivoting or another try and a different different model or different optimization. So that's a really interesting way of doing that. Cause I was kind of in a conundrum, this cuz this was just the other day where it's like doing this father's day video and I'm like, I actually appreciate 'em a lot for that, but I have no idea how I'm gonna replicate it and no idea how he made me appreciate it for that. So I, I thank you for sharing me one of your tactics for, for doing that.

Jeremy Giroir (15:16):
Yeah. Yeah. And you know, and you saying that actually it makes me think of probably the, a big lesson that I learned from my dad wasn't even, you know what I was saying just now of how I could see him trying to encourage me. I think it was more just watching him. Right. It's like the do, as I do, as I say, not as I do is not a very good way to teach anybody anything cuz especially with kids, I think kids are always watching that's but it's like, I, I saw my dad just, I mean working his off, you know, I mean, as a kid, like he was working on an NBA, he always had a side gig at work and eventually you, he was offered, I was probably 12 years old and he was offered to transfer. Again, we were in south Louisiana, his company was moving from south Louisiana to Houston. It's an oil company. He was offered a great package to transfer and you know, he turned it down to go on his own and do his own thing. And just watching him go through those steps and then seeing his level of both financial us and happiness after, you know, going out on his own and really following his heart. I think it's those types of things that probably taught me more lessons than, you know, anything that he specifically said to me, it was more of like just observing what he was doing.

Young Han (16:25):
Yeah. No, I completely agree. Like you have to role model the behavior that you want. I mean, I I've been learning a lot about that as well too. And it's like the constant theme that come up as I do more and more of these interviews. It's like, you have to like think about things in the sense of like nature and nurture, right? Like certain things like you're gonna like impart just by being, you know, and, and, and you're right. These kids are sponges. I mean, my, yeah. My kids pick up the most random phrases in words. And I'm like, where would they learn that? But like they're saying it because we're saying it right. Can't remember something, I don't know what she said. Oh, there was a bad word that she said, she, I think she learned the word. And like she, and then we giggled because it was so funny the first time Lily said it and because she got a response from us, she made a whole song out of it saying, oh God, it was like the funniest thing ever.

Young Han (17:08):
And it's like so hilarious, but it goes back to the whole idea that they're, they're listening and they're watching everything that we're doing. And then it goes back to the same adage of like actions always speak louder than words and over time. Yeah. You know, there's certain things that you can coach and teach and like I groom them for, but there's always gonna be the things that are just soaked in through just watching you and, and role modeling that behavior. And, and they're basically picking up the world from you. Does this kind of like RV ERI while you're embarking on this massive business journey? Like, is this planned, is this because of your kid or is this kind of like a, a personal thing? Like what, what, what, what started that? Because I, I feel like, I feel like this blue hole, I'm gonna put quotes on it because I know you're gonna rename it here, but blue hole, Liberty hill is a pretty massive undertaking and it's an undertaking you've never done before.

Young Han (17:57):
So first and foremost, kudos to you for having the gumption and the courageousness to take that leap of faith, you know, put together $20 million project by 30 acres and have the quite frankly audacity to build out, you know, a premium glamping business in a random town called Liberty hill, Texas. I love it. I mean the whole concept just blows my mind. I love you so much for even like being that courageous and just so entrepreneurial, but I get really like confounded when I think about you just like going and now I'm gonna go on a one year RV trip, put my family into this while I'm traveling different places. And what sparked that.

Jeremy Giroir (18:35):
Yeah. Well, first of all, I, I appreciate your kind words it's inspiring to hear and motivating for sure. So I guess it's a combination of a, a lot of stars aligning for one, you know, I think it was, it's something that I've wanted to do for a long time. It's been on my bucket list of, you know, taking an, a us RV trip for a long time. I mean, it's something that even before my wife and I were married, I let her know that this isn't our future. <Laugh> like, I want to do this. And then I think like getting into the RV industry again by accident was just kind of, it was a kick in the butt of like, man, if I'm starting this business, like what better way to understand the mindset of our consumer than to really live that life. So that was another piece of encouragement.

Jeremy Giroir (19:29):
I love that third was, you know, the, the age of my daughter, you know, is she's not yet in school. You know, she has friends from like, you know, daycare type stuff, but, you know, we're not ripping her away from, you know, education that, or her friends that she's kind of built routines. So she's at an age where we felt like it's a pretty decent age. Like, you know, it'll be difficult on us because that we're gonna not have any sort of childcare help. But I think it'll, it's a good age for her to do it in that, you know, I don't feel like she's missing out on, you know, a quote unquote normal life that she would've had. You know, another thing is, you know, I'm just, I'm very lucky with my partners. And, you know, some of that was being very clear with, you know, the duties and obligations that I would take on as part of this project, but also just finding a partner who enjoys the aspects of the business that like need to be done, you know, boots on the ground.

Jeremy Giroir (20:26):
So a lot of what I'm doing doesn't necessarily need me to be there. It would certainly be, you know, I'd probably add more value if I was able to go there every day. And I think in the long run, you know, I, I will spend more time there and more time in all of our facilities, but it's kind of a, I think it's an investment in our business as a whole of getting to do this and really stepping into the, the shoes of our customer. And then the last thing was, you know, one of my, you know, again, I said the last five years has been pretty different for me. Like I would say my, I wouldn't say my personality has changed since I sold my company, but it's certainly shifted. And my priorities have become much more intentional. And like now I have, you know, mission and personal mottos and stuff like that.

Jeremy Giroir (21:10):
And one of my mottos is live right now and cuz I've been, you know, good at delaying gratification in, in my life. And I think that led to, you know, the small amount of success I've had is, you know, I let's save a ton of money and always focus on, you know, where I'm going. Then I was not good at celebrating little wins and you know, enjoying the process as much as I could have. So I'm really trying to live now and it's still a balance, right? I'm not gonna go blow all the money I have and you know, party it up and then, you know, start all over. But I am trying to be more intentional with like, this is something I wanted to do. The SAR seemed to, to be aligned that this is a good time to do it. There will never be a perfect time to do it. And I have a great supportive wife who this is pretty far outside of her comfort zone, but that's, that's all for it. So couldn't say no, that's amazing, man.

Young Han (22:01):
I love it. And I love that motto. Is that something that you came up after you sold your business or is that something that you came up with as you start to near the, your 40

Jeremy Giroir (22:08):
Years old combination of both? I guess, yeah, just kind of the inner search that I was doing after I started my business and was just kind sold my business and was trying to figure out the next step and you know, how I wanted to spend my time really your

Young Han (22:24):
Cabinetry business was successful. Right. I mean, obviously you were able to create a fairly sizeable outcome for that. Why did you sell it? What prompted

Jeremy Giroir (22:32):
That? Yeah, so it was countertops. So we're making countertops for newly, mostly newly built homes around the Austin area. Yeah. So I mean, I think I sold it, you know, I, I asked myself this question a lot because that business is doing really, really well now. I, I did not have the brain capacity at the time to bring that business to the level that I wanted to bring it to. And I didn't have the network of people in that I have now to help me along the way. You know, like I mentioned before, you know, my dad was, you know, he did his own thing and he ran his own businesses, you know, for, I don't know, two decades now, I guess, but his level of expertise got me kind of, he was my mentor. I mean, he was basically a full time free employee for that company, you know, working remotely.

Jeremy Giroir (23:28):
And so it was like he was my sounding board for everything, but his level of expertise was kind of also outsized with that business. You know, we had 25 employees at our largest, you know, I had managed more than that at a previous job. My dad had managed employees, but not that many. And also it was a different type of employee and he had never really scaled a business to, you know, instill systems and processes, the stuff he do he did was, you know, on his own, he would have, my sister was working with him, helping him. So I think I just got stressed out and, you know, I had grown the company over three X in less than four years in every almost facet you can think of revenue, profit, number of employees putting in new technology. So I had made a lot of headway and it was like, you know, I felt like, man, I've just been sprinting for almost four years now.

Jeremy Giroir (24:22):
And I, I don't see a light that at the end of the tunnel of this getting any easier. Mm. And was just like, let me see, you know, I, I added a tremendous amount of value and it was like, you know, let me just see what I can get for it. And I approached a business broker, actually the one that I bought it from and he, he valued the business before I gave him any sort of inclination what I wanted for it. And he gave me a number that higher than I would've like than I was thinking in my head. So I was like, you know what, let's just go ahead and do it and I'll figure out something to do after <laugh>. That's

Young Han (24:55):
Awesome. So a certain point came where it just didn't make sense for the time that it was gonna take you to keep scaling it or even to operate it because of your self-awareness around skillset. Yeah.

Jeremy Giroir (25:06):
I think it was, it was probably more just the stress load of like, I knew where I wanted to go. I knew the structure I wanted to build, but I, I didn't at the time have the network or the knowledge to do it. And I didn't even feel like I had the time to like back out of the business to like go find those people or like read book or anything. It's like, I just felt so in the weeds, in that company and ironically, you know, I ended up joining the entrepreneurs organization like two months or something before I sold the company. And that has now been one, I mean the most valuable, it was the most valuable organization I've ever joined. Had I joined it a year before sold the company. I mean, I don't know, you know, that's a tough question, but the resources to build the structure that I wanted were certainly available within that organization.

Young Han (25:56):
Totally, totally. Cuz then you got the mentorship and the network, right. That you were mentioning where you could pull from that network of people that have done that could have been a sounding board. Yeah. Isn't that always the case, right. Yeah.

Jeremy Giroir (26:07):
Right. And, and there's, there's so much value in just like talking to another entrepreneur or business owner about like successes and struggles that, you know, my, I did, I didn't really have that many entrepreneur friends, you know? So I, whenever I would talk to friends about their jobs, it's like, you know, you can certainly try to find some common ground with people, but it's different. And it's just like a different level of aha that you get when somebody is also doing, taking the similar risks or having the same rewards and just understands the, the struggle that you live with that hits me right here, like right in my heart. 

Young Han (26:39):
Like  I, yeah. There's like, I talk to my wife about this all the time about like, you know, very vulnerably like that. I feel very lonely sometimes, you know? Cause I don't feel like it's as often that I get to meet someone that actually like connects, you know, it's, it's much rare. Let's just say that it's a lot rare to find someone that you feel like, oh cool. I can just like talk, you know, and just be myself and just share stories and it's okay. We can like unpack knowledge together and unpack stories. That connection is very far and few between you get used to it. Right. But it is a really lovely journey, it can be anyways. Yeah. Are you, are you looking for your kid to be an entrepreneur?

Jeremy Giroir (27:17):
I'm trying my best to have zero expectations of that. Nice. You know, I, I, I want ultimate her to find joy and peace and contentment and whenever she does do, I think it'd be cool. Of course. I mean, cuz you know, that's a skillset. I feel like I could help her with right. Like that's an area I know a lot about. So I, I would personally probably feel valuable if she wanted to do that. But if it's not something she wants to do, I mean, and I will try my hardest to encourage her and the paths that she wants to go.

Young Han (27:48):
I love that. You're so open and thoughtful about it sounds like you're very self aware sounds like you do a lot of introspection. Cuz my wife had to check me. I mean I was like basically forcing my kids to be musicians. Cause I desperately want them to be musician and she had to like check me to say like, Hey, like we should also like, you know, figure out if they're actually interested in this and like let them kind of grow into it and give them options. And I'm like, no, we need to have them play music and sing songs with me. We need to be a YouTube sensation, a dad and two daughter singing songs on YouTube. It's gonna be amazing. Now I just have like this personal desire, like this goal for them to play music with me. Right. Like I just like, I can envision it. Like Christmas is like 10, 15 years from now. We're all just gathered around the piano or guitar, like all playing music and everyone plays an instrument or multiples. I don't know. It's just like this thing that I want, you know, it's like,

Jeremy Giroir (28:38):
It would be really cool. Cool. It'd be really cool. 

Young Han (28:39):
I'd be so happy. But like the problem is like I catch myself all the time, like forcing it on them, you know? And like it's like, I don't know. And in some ways it's okay. Right. Because if that's part of like who you are as a family, then that's just like matter of fact, and some of that comes from nature and some of that comes from nurture and all that good stuff, but it's really interesting that you kind of take that take of like, Hey, like actively trying to hold back on it. Cuz my wife is actively doing that as well too. She's like, Hey, let's actively try who they are and like what they, what they're interested in. And I'm a little more dominant than that. I think

Jeremy Giroir (29:10):
You know, and I don't think any school of thought is right or wrong. Right. But I, I believe choosing one is probably a better route than not choosing one, you know? And, and I think of like tiger woods is a great example of like, he was basically his father's vision. Right. Like, and his father just executed this vision and it turned out well in a lot of ways, but not so well in a lot of ways. Right. Like, yeah. I don't know tiger woods personally, but from what you can tell from the outside, there's certainly some personal struggle there, but like he's also achieved just, you know, insane things that the, a human body can do. Right, and then, you know, the other aspect of it is like, you know, I had like a aha moment, few years ago with my brother-in-law, you know, he's a musician actually. And he's, he's really good. I, but you know, never really made like a career of it and probably could've and probably would've really enjoyed that. And he made a comment about like, yeah, you know, growing up, I was always encouraged, like to play football and play sports. And it was like, I really wish like, but because his family wasn't really like encouraging do music, he found it on his own and kind of pursued it. And it was kind of like, Hey, stop playing your good tar that's you know, you should be at football practice. He was like, I really wish my parents would've like encouraged me to do music stuff, like skip the football all together, and so it's it, it just made me think of man. It's, it's just interesting how we can influence our kids. And you know, he, he had fun playing football and has friends from football, but like he really wished he in pursuing music. And how would his life be different? I mean, who knows? But I just, I would like to look at, I would like very able to feel like she's the one in the driver's seat of like, Hey, this is really fun. And I wanna spend my extracurricular time doing this and then we let her do that as opposed to no, I really think you should go and play sports or whatever it is because it's something I want you to do.

Young Han (31:04):
No, it's, it's really, really important. It's a funny story because I never even thought about it until you just said it. But I remember actually in like middle school, early high school, my mom had us all in piano lessons and all the kids got together and we were like, we don't wanna take piano lessons anymore. And she just was like, like, we, we created this like, like this pitch and this sales pitch, it was a main right. We're like very organized kids

Jeremy Giroir (31:27):
As an interview. Yeah, totally.

Young Han (31:28):
And my mom basically said to us when you're like 30 or 40 years old and you have kids and you know, you're gonna regret that you don't, you don't know how to play the piano. And we're like, we won't regret it. You know, we're telling we won't. So she had to sign this like document. We'll not blame my mom when I'm like, you know, an adult for not forcing me to play piano and we all signed it. Right. And so we all signed this contract with her and we all stopped playing piano. But it's really interesting cuz like three to six months later, I actually went back to my mom and said, mom, actually like, I, I kind of wanna learn piano. And she's like, is that, Hey, I know I told you, I signed it saying, I don't wanna learn piano, but now I like now that I don't have to, like, I want to, and it's so interesting because that's actually what sparked my love for, for music. And that's when I started learning piano and the other instruments, you know, and like just started kind of exploring music as like more of a passion, but it was because it was my choice maybe. And now that I think about what you just said in hindsight, that story comes up in this, it's kind of humorous to think about, you know, my mom making a sign of contract, but yeah. It's like, it's like, she gave me the choice accidentally or intentionally who knows how smart she was or you know, if that was just her protecting herself, who knows, but right. But it ended up, ended up that I ended up wanting to learn piano. And so she ended up spending a ton of different, different like amount of time and money, like getting me lessons and all these different instruments that I wanted to learn and, and sparked an interest in all through high school. Yeah. And isn't that weird? Like just think about that. Right? Like she almost reversed psychology. Psychology. Yeah. Right.

Jeremy Giroir (33:00):
Yeah.

Young Han (33:01):
Yeah. So I love it. I love that you're doing that, man. I think that's really clever. And I think that that's really Sage of you to be open ended about it. But I also like that you qualified it by saying, having something is better than nothing too. So you said that earlier, right. Where you said, if you are gonna say like, you know, being open ended is great, but also like making sure that you have something versus nothing thing. Am I putting words in your mouth now? Or is that not what you

Jeremy Giroir (33:21):
Said? Well, I guess I'm not following this something versus nothing or

Young Han (33:24):
What you're referring to. Oh, I thought that's what you said, but I could have been wrong.

Jeremy Giroir (33:29):
I think maybe you're referring to like the, the school of thought, like deciding on a school of thought, whether it's oh, maybe

Young Han (33:35):
That's what it was.

Jeremy Giroir (33:37):
Yeah. I think, yeah. I think that's maybe what referring back to which yeah.

Young Han (33:41):
Got it. Okay, cool. Well, that's great, man. I appreciate you sharing that. What do you think that success looks like for you as, as a career and as a, as an entrepreneur and as a dad, as a new dad, actually a year and a half in,

Jeremy Giroir (33:54):
I mean from career standpoint, you know, it actually kind of what you just said of, you know, you wanted to play piano and the energy that you bring to doing that when you want to do something is just so much different. You know? And so I think success to me in business is being at a point where I'm doing it because I want to not because I have to mm-hmm <affirmative>, you know, and I'm not backed into a corner. I'm not like, you know, trying to meet certain financial needs that I have to make, make X amount of dollars per year. You know? So I think getting to that point of truly wanting it, I think is, is how I view, you know, success in business. So it's not, you know, it's necessarily quantifiable. It's more of like the, what am I doing with my life question more so than, you know, you need to hit these metrics.

Jeremy Giroir (34:44):
It's really a feeling the second part of your question about parenting, you know, I, I'm gonna rip this off from a, an interview that I heard and I think we're trying to get better at like citing things that I hear. <Laugh> I think it's Jesse ITing the net jets got <affirmative>. I think it was an interview with him that he was basically asked a similar question of like, what is success? And you know, his answer was, you know, a crowded table in my seventies and eighties. And like I thought that was just, it blew my mind. I was like, man, that is exactly what I'm working for. You know, that's exactly what I want with, you know, raising kids is I want them to come back home, right? Like if it's Christmas or Thanksgiving or whatever, the reason is like they want to bring their spouse and their kids and they want to come home and they wanna sit around the dinner table because they just wanna be around us, you know, to me like that, that is the ultimate, like parenting successes, the kids or your kids wanting to bring your, their families back home.

Young Han (35:44):
That's awesome. That is really beautiful. Yeah. We'll have to find out where that quote is and who said it and where it came from, because we should definitely put that in the, in the notes. So I'll, I'll find, I'll find out for you as, so we can make sure we're citing that correctly, but that is beautiful, man. That is a really great way of qualifying success. Cuz I think it's like so funny about like, you know, like how we are in, in our careers right now, you know, like just go, go, go, what's next, you know how to make more money and, and then like you talk to like, you know, seasoned people or like older people and you know, not a single one of them says, oh, I wish I worked harder. Right. They always say like, you know, I wish I spent more time with my family and friends or I wish I spend more time with myself and it's like, yeah.

Young Han (36:25):
And then those are the years that you're gonna be like really like living, living, right. Cuz you're not living to work and all those other things. And so it's kind of like, what's the point of all, all of it. And having people around you is probably really great way of qualifying that I love at, Hey Jeremy, I'm gonna move this right into my rapid fire questions. If you don't mind, this has been really good, but I definitely be cognizant of your time. I know that you busy man and, and doing great things. So I'm gonna keep, keep my promise on timeliness here and fire off my rapid fire questions. So I basically like to ask every guest four questions. So there's some symmetry to the conversations and everyone gets a little flavor of you. That's uniformed everybody else. You ready for? 'em

Jeremy Giroir (37:04):
Okay. You just do it.

Young Han (37:06):
What advice do you have for other parents and soon to be parents?

Jeremy Giroir (37:09):
Oh man. The advice I, I have such a tough relationship with the word advice cuz, you know, I think everyone's situation is, is I just think everybody's situation is so unique that some things that work for some people are just absolutely asinine for tars that's. But, but I understand where you're coming from and I understand the point of this so, you know, if pressed, I guess like what's worked well so far and I I'm still a new parent, but for my wife and I, I feel like what's worked well so far is trying to match the level of curiosity and excitement that ERY has for the world. You know, trying to like view the world from her perspective. And it helps me and like, especially situations of say like we're in a rush to get out the door and we're trying to get in the car or something and you know, Ella is like picking flowers or following a butterfly. It's like, that's pretty magical. I probably should not interrupt that, you know? And so it helps me to, to not get frustrated when it's like, she's not doing something that I want her to do. So I guess, you know, if it were put in terms of advice of like, I just try to view the world from this curious child is experiencing most things for the first time.

Young Han (38:23):
I love that. Get to their level, you know, get to their level and like really like be, be present. That's great, man. If you can go back and tell yourself one thing before having kids, what would

Jeremy Giroir (38:33):
It be? I love how it's happened. So it's hard cuz like I think it it's just, yeah, it's perfect. And I love how everything happened, but I guess I would go and tell my younger self start a decade earlier. <Laugh> you know, like I'm 38 now. It would be, it would be nice to be 28 and have a toddler not 38 and have a toddler. Yeah,

Young Han (38:52):
No, totally. Yeah. I mean, I couldn't have kids when I, I mean, if he told me kids when I was 28, you would've, you couldn't have seen the back of me cause I ran so fast. Right. Like there's no way. Yeah. There's no way

Jeremy Giroir (39:03):
same. And, and you know, I didn't even know my wife when I was talking, there you go. It was like, it it's a completely different scenario. But if, if there was one little thing that I could keep everything else the same and tweak, that's probably what it

Young Han (39:15):
Would be. I feel you on that one, I just feel like it's so physically demanding and you want to be able to like keep up and yeah. And could sort of start sooner. Yeah. That's a good one.

Jeremy Giroir (39:24):
And then I think future too, right? Whenever she's 30 and 40 and 50, it's like, I wanna be around, you know, I want to, I wanna see her in those years too.

Young Han (39:32):
We gotta stay healthy. My friend. Yeah. Yeah. What's the most surprising thing that you learned about yourself becoming a parent

Jeremy Giroir (39:42):
That I am absolutely not in charge. Like it's, you know, I'm, if there's any area of tension in my wife and I's marriage it's because I'm like to control things. Mm-Hmm, you know, and which is a double-headed or double edged sword. Right. But recognizing that, like I'm, I'm a hundred percent not in charge. And here's an example of, you know, just the other day, a few weeks ago, you know, ERY had a dirty diaper and it's like trying to change her diaper and she won't let me change her diaper until I, I put a diaper on her little stuffed cow thing that we call Mumu and you know, she puts mumu on like the changing pad she's pointing to the, the doll, like change the doll's diaper. And that just takes a step back and start thinking like, if I were asking or if I needed to be cleaned down there, right. And somebody is gonna do me that favor, but no, I'm not gonna let them do me that favor. I'm gonna first demand that they do something else <laugh> before they have the privilege of wiping my buttand it's just like, man, you're like, yeah. All right. Yes. Ma'am do what you say

Young Han (40:53):
No, it's also really funny because you bring up a point, especially like, you know, for people that like, you know, run teams or run businesses, it's like trying to apply the same skills that make you successful in business. Do not apply in parenting at all. <Laugh> it actually like completely bad. Yeah. It's like the funniest thing ever. It's different. Yeah. It's like so different. It's so funny. That's great. And the last question I have to Jeremy is what's your all time favorite business book.

Jeremy Giroir (41:21):
Yeah. That's, that's a tough one too. There's so many good ones out there, but one that always just like rings a little bell in my mind. There's a book. I mean, it's probably been almost 20 years. Definitely. Over 15 years since I read it, it was probably one of the first business books that I read was good to great by Jim Collins, James Collins that I read in in college. And I think that book just like opened up the like human side of business that I didn't see before that of, oh, you can be success successful in business by being a good human being and not being like a bag, worried about profits and profits only. And, and I think that was just like my, whether it was right or wrong. Right. It was my preconceived notion of the business world was, well, if you're gonna be in business, you have to like wear sharp suits and be like hardcore and reading that book just made me realize like, oh no, you can be like a genuinely nice person. Who's trying to encourage people and trying to build something bigger than yourself or be part of something bigger than yourself. So I think that book's definitely one that, you know, rings a bell a lot for me. I need to go back and reread it.

Young Han (42:27):
Yeah. Now you're making me wanna reread it. I, I love that book as well. I have that one on my shelf, so that's really great. Thanks for sharing. Sure. I mean, thanks. This, this is awesome, man. Thank you so much for taking the time out of your travels and your journey here to, to talk to me about parenting and, and work and how you're navigating

Jeremy Giroir (42:42):
It all. Yeah, man, this is, this has been cool. Can I put a question back to you? Of course. So, you know, I, I know you're interviewed a, a handful of people so far. Like what are you seeing a common theme or what's some big nugget that you've taken away that you're like, yeah. Jeremy could benefit from knowing this. Yeah.

Young Han (43:02):
I've interviewed 12 people. So far 11, 12 people so far. Yeah. And so I don't know if necessarily anyone said anything the same, it's kind of interesting that like there's such a wide variety of raising ways of raising parents, right. I'm sorry, raising kids, sorry. There's no real, like one trick pony for parenting. And, and, and I think that's the biggest thing that I've learned is that like everyone does it the best way that they can and does it the way that they think is best for them and what I've noticed about people that are navigating successful careers and doing it though, are viscerally away though. Like they're viscerally aware of like the decisions that they're making. So that's the one thing that I have seen is like the people that are still growing their career and still actively trying to be a good parent are like aware when they're sacrificing this versus that.

Young Han (43:47):
And that's been kind of unique to see. Yeah, they're, they're like very conscious about the decisions of what they make and the impacts of it. The second thing that I've noticed as well is that they're just a huge lack of judgment. There's this kind of like, like deeper, like empathy that comes from, you know, understanding that like this is gonna be hard to, to, to, you know, grow your career. And in your case, you know, build a 30 acre glamping park while caravaning across the country while trying to RA you know, being a good down and raising your kid, you, I think there's this, like this sense of awareness that, you know, this is hard and, you know, just to have empathy and understanding for life and people. And I think that's, those are the two things that I've been able to pull from the 12 interviews that I've done so far. Hope that helps.

Jeremy Giroir (44:30):
I like that. Yeah. Those are great. I will keep those in my cross hares 

Young Han (44:33):
For sure. Even if this isn't successful, I'm not, I'm not gonna stop. I I'm like loving this, this project. This is like this, this project is like taking a life of its own. And I can already see like in five years, like, you know this, cause I've talked to you privately, but my goal is to be in real estate five years from now, I wanna be like, you, I wanna be like, full-time real estate, but now I've like deviated from that. Now I wanna be like 75% real estate and 25% podcast, cuz whether this is successful or not, I'm having so much fun just talking to people, you know, trying to navigate, you know, a successful career and that are also parents it's it's like, I don't know why it's so fun for me, but it's just been incredibly fun. So I'm not gonna stop and I'll keep learning. And as we continue our relationship, I'll share more insights with you as well.

Jeremy Giroir (45:16):
Yeah, for sure. I mean, I think this is a great project and I'm, I can't wait till you start putting 'em out there so I can absorb all the information. That sounds

Young Han (45:24):
Good, brother. Well, thank you so much again for taking the time and I will talk to you soon. Okay. Thanks.

Jeremy Giroir (45:30):
Young. Talk to you soon. Right,

Young Han (45:31):
Jeremy,

Young Han (45:32):
Thanks for tuning into another episode of the girl dad show. We really hope you enjoyed that interview. And as always, please take a moment to review, rate and subscribe. We'll see you next time.