Try something at least once. He said it rule applies to everything. Buddha came out and he just look at the flower and he walked away. Why would you take picture of the flower? You have to go there at 4:00 in the morning. It's like the Bantley of residential brands in real estate. If it would be that easy, everybody would do it. I would be probably billionaire by now. And how do you explain to a skeptic, especially business people, that meditations is not a waste of time? [Music] Welcome to Frequency of Wealth podcast where we explore how meditations and spirituality amplify business success. My name is Nikita Judv. Today we have a special guest, my very good friend Yuri Vanstein. Hi Nikita, it's my pleasure to be here with you. We're glad to have you. Yuri have spent 14 years working for IBM as an executive then quit the corporate job to go into real estate. He brought one of the most luxurious real estate companies in the world, Angel Walkers, to North Carolina. Was one of the first ones in America, I believe. And later he transitioned to run his own firm in real estate. He's a commercial developer. He've grown his uh brokerage company to over 80 agents. He probably touched every aspect of real estate from residential to multif family and commercial. Uh there is to touch. So Yuri is one of the very few entrepreneurs that I know that combines meditation and spiritual practices uh to make million-dollar deals. So we have a lot of questions for him today because we're all very curious to know how exactly you can use these spiritual practices to create extraordinary amount of wealth for yourself. Yuri, welcome again and we're happy to get started with you. Thank you Nikita. It's a great introduction. So very proud to be here with you. So a better first question. You used to work for IBM. Don't you be honest. Don't you regret living the security and the safety of corporate job, very high paying job working in New York City on Wall Street to go into become entrepreneur and work for yourself? No, I never had one single regret about that. There were some difficult times and hard times, but not even once uh since I left IBM. um I had uh any regrets about it. Uh tell me about your first major uh risk that you've taken if it's different from quitting your IBM job. A risk with real estate or just risk in general risk in your uh business life. Oh, I've I've taken uh many different risks and I started different companies and some of them were successful and uh some of them were a flap and I made a lot of mistakes and um I've learned a great deal of things from my mistakes. As a matter of fact, I probably learn more from my mistakes than I I did from um uh my successes. Um any specific example? Yeah. What is what was your biggest mistake? I guess my biggest mistake is to um begin or jump on different enterprises and businesses before I did more research uh and and partner with uh some people that I didn't uh do uh uh background check on or did any um any or or I I knew them really well. In my later years, I realized that it is really important to know who you're working with and decide how do you want to spend your time or what kind of business you want to start. So, it sounds like an advice is would be to do proper due diligence on your business partners before getting into bed and doing business with them, right? doing the proper due diligence on anything you do without uh you know jumping and do it um you know without proper understanding what the business is, how much your involvement is, what each partner is responsible for and have that conversation up front versus you know get in a bed with someone and then figuring out that this is not the right partner or this is not the business you want to be in. So it sounds like there's misalignment of expectations and also in clarity who is supposed to be doing what. So how can you tell a good partner from a bad? Is it purely checking out their past history and doing background search on them or is it intuition? Is it gut feeling? Like is it their behavior? It's not necessarily good or bad partner. Is it the person that you really connect with? uh in our language do do you have energy going in both directions with that partner right the same person that doesn't uh have a connection with you may have perfect connection with somebody else so it's just who do you feel comfortable with what does your gut feeling tells you it's like uh you know similar to dating you know when you when you meet someone um sometimes you you know this is the right person so you just kind of you know hold hands and then you dance and you know and then uh you decide if you want to continue the relationship. If you don't it doesn't mean that this is a bad person or bad partner. Uh it just means that this is not the right person for you. So definitely listen to gut feelings and um you know do your due diligence. So it sounds like it's uh it's it has to be a balance of both. It's to see if their energy is aligned with yours. if you're a match, not necessarily that they're a bad person. Uh they're just a wrong person for you in this particular case. Is that correct? Yeah, that's that's a good uh summary. But also having conversations up front versus, you know, having them after you get into the business, it's really important to understand what uh each partners brings to the table, what the responsibilities are. Um and it's really important to discuss it beforehand versus you know after you started uh your business. Sounds like uh a lot of I've heard it said before by somebody a lot of unhappiness of man come from having drawn or having too many expectations. So would you say it's uh as now you've matured as a person uh and evolved over the years uh do you have more expectations and know exactly what you want or do you have less expectations uh from expectation from people or from myself? From people. Well, I I I have more expectations for myself. And then as I said before, uh having that energy and feeling comfortable with the person you were in, uh you and I talk about it in um just recently about checking the temperature in the room or or or the energy in the room. You walk in or you sit with someone and you kind of check your, you know, where your energy is and very quickly start to realize if you're in the right place or you're with the right person or, you know, you're making mistake. Um, you just need to, you know, look look inside and and and listen to your feelings. Listen to your feelings and and your gut feeling will tell you. Um, yeah. I I always say I always say that uh your feelings is the language of your soul. That's why we meditate so that we can quiet down the voice in the head so that we can be more observant and actually hear what our soul is telling us through the feelings experiences. So you brought England and Vulkers to Charlotte uh which is a international it's like the Bantley of residential brands in real estate and was it a pure cold calculation or where are you going more on your intuition? It was uh both. Um I started the angulent focus about 10 years ago uh uh when we were coming out from financial crisis and after financial crisis of 2008 2007 uh a lot of deals we have done were related to uh distressed u properties distress sales uh for closure short sales and so when I realized that economy is making a turn and uh there more high-end uh sales are you know coming online. Uh that was a time when I start thinking about to changing the brand and kind of uh start to focus on more um high-end uh real estate and so um angle focus come along and um you know I decided to jump on board and it was great decision. It was a very practical, pragmatic, very IBM engineer type of calculation. But I also use my gut feelings and I use my um feeling to decide. You've used your gut feelings to go after deals in the past. Have you ever walked away from a deal? Because even though the numbers look perfect on paper, but the gut telling you you told you you need to walk away. I I do it uh all the time. That's my first kind of check. um uh how do I feel about the deal? Um I don't even jump into the numbers if uh things don't feel or don't look uh right or the person I'm dealing with or people I'm dealing with um you know I can't uh align with or there is not the right energy going between us. At what point do you make the determination after visiting a property or just when you first hearing about it at what point the decision is made? I can't tell really at which point I make that decision but at any point during transaction um or making a deal I feel that there is something off uh I'm ready to walk away. Okay. You think it's always better to walk away? It's better always to walk away than get in the bed with something really um you know that's not going to work. There are a lot of deals out there and it just um there's always time to find the right deal at the right time and you have to feel good about it. Can you describe that feeling? What exactly that sensation that you feel when you know like okay here it comes. I need to walk away. you know there is a feeling there is that um um thin in your stomach uh I want to say but if you don't feel right about about something you'll you'll know it um there is you know something going on inside of your body there is something is happening with your energy you just need to uh listen to yourself and and uh really look inside and by the way meditation is a great place to uh go into when you not sure uh you know you're making a important decision and you need to you know decide are you going uh this direction or that direction right uh why don't you go into meditation and ask for guidance very often uh that guidance will come sometimes you wake up in the morning you have very clear understanding very clear picture of where you need to be and what what do we need to do? So how do exactly do you use meditation? You set an intention before going into meditation or you think about it when you are in the middle of it. Well, it's the best to set uh expectation or set u uh something up front before you even go into the meditation. So every time you start meditation, you need to have uh uh an intention an intention. when it was the first time you started meditating and and what attracted you to it as someone with a very technical background like yourself? You probably remember when uh I visited you in Miami and you invited me to um uh to go um uh to the beach and meditate and you know I never meditated before. I I I agreed and then later realized that we have to go there at 4:00 in the morning. You remember that? I do remember that. I didn't realize it was your first time. So, you were visiting me. I was living in Miami in Sunny Isles and you came to visit. I think it was another friend of ours. Yep. I went I said, "Hey, you guys wanted to go meditate." I said, "Sure. What's that?" I says, "Oh, just you'll see." And then, uh, by the way, it's at 4:00 a.m. in the morning. Yeah, that was that was it. And you know, I didn't want to back away from it. I I went on vacation. So, I didn't plan to wake up at 4, but I hastily agreed. And uh that was a great great time. I remember we actually shared the same meditation and we walked for over an hour uh on the beach in the dark and uh uh after we ended meditation we uh uh had a sunrise and uh we laid down on the sand on the beach and it was nobody. It was very quiet and the feeling was just amazing and uh uh you know you and I we talk a lot about it and then you invited me for some retreats and you know here we are. Yeah. So uh so you sounds like what attracted you is you enjoyed the feeling that you had after having done it. I had to overcome my um initial uh hesitation and uh you know thank thanks to you because of my respect to you I trusted you know your word and um uh you know uh giving it giving it a try but the feeling was truly truly amazing feeling uh after we finished that meditation it's different feeling and you know getting you know achieving something. It it reminded me of the feeling when we uh summit Kilamjara for example when you you know put really really hard work in in in getting something that you really desired and you put a lot of ef effort in it and then uh you know when you have it this is the feeling. This is this rush. This is this excitement that you achieve something and really all we did is just walk on the beach and lay down. Sounds like it's uh creates it really generates the feeling of worthiness, accomplishment, right? Fulfillment. So you feel very very worth worthy of receiving I guess right after having done that because those things you describe when you do something very difficult like summoning a mountain you feel very worthy at the end and that feeling of joy and pride and accomplishment. You nailed it, man. Yeah. You know I start my morning routine at 4:00 in the morning uh with meditation, exercising stuff. What what does your routine look like? So my routine is evolving. Um I'm always trying to uh you know learning new things and uh add some more things to my uh routine as well. Um I do wake up very early often. You know you and I we meditate often uh at 4:00 in the morning when you visit or I visit. Um and I love it. This is you know amazing feeling great time. Um but uh you know recently I integrated a few new things to my morning routine. For example, I do uh red light therapy now uh while I meditate and uh I I need to work out at least six times, you know, most of the week, seven times a week in the morning. I do breathing exercises now in the morning as well. So I have a lot of things that I pack in my uh morning routine. So anywhere from about 4:30 in the morning until about 8:30 4 hours uh about 4 hours but that's between going to the gym um doing breathing red light therapy meditation. But don't you agree that that's kind of the most important hours a day that you spend on yourself? This is one of my most important and and mo most favorite time of the day when I can just wake up in the morning. There is no uh phone calls. There is nothing that really bothers you. Um and I'm not even preparing for for for this upcoming day. I'm just kind of going inside and go with the flow. Go go go go go with my flow. Right. I'm I'm looking inside of me and I'm trying to uh uh feel uh one of the meditations by the way I do uh in the morning uh is uh body electric uh where you go through all uh energy uh centers and uh one of my favorite things is to feel where in my body which energy center needs some some support and of love and and and help and uh you know focus on that energy center and what happens when you focus on that particular part of your body. Yeah. The where you put your uh thoughts that's where your energy goes and flows right. So um you generate uh um you move your energies towards that that part of your body that uh needs some some love and attention and by doing it you uh you you know you heal it. You you give it energy uh and it heals. Do you have any different or specific routine before you go into important meeting or negotiations? I don't have any um routines uh anymore. Um not that I ever was uh really, you know, had any routines, but in the past there were some deals or some um uh business meetings that would be so important that would uh uh you know, crush me. I found a way to uh not put myself in situations where any particular deal deal is so important that it will uh you know ruin me or crush me or change my uh change my career. So every uh approach or or or business opportunity that comes along I'm very calm. I am prepared. Um I come from uh point where you know I can walk away from any deal uh that I'm ultimate flex ultimate flex ability to walk away and not giving a [ __ ] if the deal happens or not. Right. Yeah. This is one of the really important things that I've learned uh during my business career is not to uh have any deal that you can walk away from um not to get involved in those kind of deals. Every deal you need to be prepared if you don't feel something is not right or numbers don't work or your gut feeling is not there. Uh you need to be able to walk from any one of them. So how do you explain to a skeptic especially business people that meditations is not a waste of time? You know, I truly feel that whenever, you know, a person is ready, the the the teacher will will come. And uh more you're going to try to convince somebody, you know, of of a way of, you know, meditate or whatever your spiritual practice is, the more people will reject you. Um I think the the way uh to approach that is you know share your thoughts and ideas like you did with me and uh you know if if they're interested to use that practice that spiritual uh awakening then they'll start using it but it has to be the right time for that particular individual uh to jump in when they're ready. Right. When when they're ready, right? You don't want to force your ways on people and says hey whatever you believe before you shouldn't believe in you should believe in this whatever the new thing but you know I think what often happens is somebody had a very uh bad deal or difficult deal or they lost a lot of money and that's where the most vulnerable is and that's where they're soul most open to try something else try something different so that day on on the beach in uh South Florida. What made you open to be willing to do a 4 hour 4:00 a.m. morning meditation with me? I would think if anybody else other than you would suggest something like that, I would probably not go for it. So, it was my respect to you um you know having you as a friend uh being your guest and uh being open-minded to try something else. Right. that I did have my you know concerns and uh I really didn't believe in it but uh just um you know I have a rule uh try something at least once okay and so that was that was he said rule applies to everything so one of the uh practice I do meditation called changing boxes it's where I use it to shift realities to solve problems or to eliminate conflicts out of my life do you have something similar that you do or how do you resolve conflicts uh change in boxes is a good one. Um I I do uh use that meditation as well. And uh that this is where you um kind of uh find a way either from unpleasant situation or you want to find a way to get in in in in a different box per se uh to move from where you are to you know to a new reality. I wish I would be much better at at this because I would resolve uh make make a lot of uh um uh other you know advancements and other things. Um but I I've have been successful a number of times um in changing boxes and it feels great. Um, are you any of those examples you're willing to share where it's like it's the there's no question that you are the ones who've changed the reality? Yeah, there's no questions that I'm the one because when you truly believe in something and you start feeling it and you, you know, go in this new box or you go in this new dimension or this new reality and you start, you see yourself there, you see how you dressed, how it smells, how it feels. Uh you you you see yourself in that reality. you will be you end up there. It's just hard work. It might not happen right away. It might not happen the first time, but being persistent and and and and making that feeling uh will eventually move you in that. So, what do you tell to somebody who tries that to try shifting realities to a parallel dimension uh where it's a different version of circumstances and it doesn't work for them. Nothing changes. What do you tell them? I tell them try harder, try again. So, they're just not uh good enough. If you do it that easy, everybody would do it. You know, I would be probably billionaire by now and uh uh you know doing a lot of other uh things since you started doing meditation practices and other spiritual work because you've done other type of retreats as well. How much would you say you I know it wasn't the goal but how much as a byproduct of this work would you say your networks have changed? Yes. So um I think what have changed uh with me going to uh this more spiritual world and and and different realities that I don't care about you know how much money in my bank account anymore. uh something that was really important to me in the past. Uh now with my you know understanding of uh of the world uh have have shaped it has actually changed in a way where you know I start to value the power of now more than power of uh wealth or you know power of um money. So living from the world of abundance where and I'm not saying that I I haven't gotten uh you know more you know wealthier. I became way more wealthy. It was just a byproduct of me not focusing on, you know, how much money do I have in my bank account by focusing on, you know, how can I be happy and what do I do for the world and what uh, you know, what can I do for others is actually, you know, changing my my my, you know, uh, bank account, which is crazy. Yeah. Isn't it funny that as soon as like you stop caring about it and you don't focus on it, it grows on trees, right? Uh you just the floodgates open up. That's exactly right. And to me it was I I couldn't understand it in the past but now it's so clear to me that um by focusing on you know your your your internal uh happiness uh by doing things that really um you know you enjoy doing will really bring you you know everything you want including including wealth.
So you have three sons, Yuri, right? Some of them still live with you. They're teenagers and some of them already have grown up and off to the world on their own. So how do you plan to pass down the wisdom that you've acquired to them? It's a you know difficult very difficult question and you know you and I were in mastermind and we talk about our families and uh we talk about you know how wealth and how to pass our wisdom to uh our kids and future generations. And one thing that I've I've learned is that you know uh by thinking or by behaving in a way that you're smarter than your kids, you will push them away. So I stop thinking or pretending that I am wiser, smarter than my kids because in many ways my kids are smarter smarter than me. there's just different things that we know and I try to come to uh you know approach those issues as uh from the point of unconditional love. By the way, what a you know perfect way to practice unconditional love, right? You and I, we know in our spiritual practices that this is the highest and most uh you know desired emotion that you can achieve, right? It's very difficult to get there. But unconditional love is the one that um you know most spiritual uh leaders are um you know going to and how easy is it try to practice that on on your own kids right and that that's where I'm coming from I basically talk to my kids about you know whatever happen I'm going to love them unconditionally they can always come to me And if I have a teaching opportunity, I I use that uh to uh to share my wisdom. I don't presume or I don't, you know, expect it to be accepted by them. I don't pretend that I write, but I try to find that moment to share uh to share it with them. I actually have really good example. If you have time, I can share with you. Recently, I had a uh one- on-one trip with my um uh son uh Max. Uh he just turned 19 years old and uh we did great uh trip together to spend some time um overseas and um one of the nights we just decide to take a walk and um um you know go go in the park. And so we pass in this this bush and and there is a a flower in that bush and I slow down and uh you know uh look at that that flower and actually took a picture right so my 19 years old he kind of you know laughed and he's like why would you take a uh you know picture of a flower you know it was interesting because just a few days before I uh read about um silence sermon. Did you hear about that? Um this is when uh Buddha came out for sermon and he held the um uh flower. He didn't say a word. So he spent whatever time he usually spends on the sermon and uh he would just looking at the flower, right? And then he turned around and he left. And so only one uh disciple understood what it was all about. So he smiled. Everybody was just, you know, in in disbelief. You know what just happened? Buddha came out and he just looked at the flower and he walked away. And so I kept walking with my son and I and and then I said, you know, did you hear that story? He's like, no. And so I told him the story. And then they said, you know, you realize you can look at that flower and you can express pretty much every emotion. You know, you can't be sad and you know, because that flower will die or um you know, somebody will cut it off or you can laugh and you know, you can uh be sad and so pretty much all range of emotion can can go just looking at the flower, right? And he looked at me, he kind of, you know, shrugged off and we kept walking. And then we went to a restaurant. And so we spent couple of hours walking together and talking and then quiet. And then we were coming back and he was in front of me. We were passing back to, you know, same bush and he slowed down and he looked at that bush and he took a picture of the flower. You know, we didn't talk about it again. So you know to me it was you know that moment where he might never remember that right we never discussed that again but I think he will and maybe at someday he'll say you know um my dad was telling me a story about this silence uh sermon and uh you know tell to his kids. So, but this is this is the way I've learned to kind of pass my wisdom to um uh to my kids or to frankly to anybody else. You know, you ask me before uh what what do I tell to uh young entrepreneur or um you know young young businessman? You know, if they want to listen, there's always a way to uh tell a story. And it could be a quiet story by the way. It doesn't have to be um in words. It could be just you know being together watching you doing things. It could be just uh you know energy flowing between you guys and uh uh you know that person can have a great lesson from it. So what kind of a advice would you give to yourself as a 20-year-old self? I think the biggest thing I could have done when I was 20 uh to be more successful or frankly happier because you know all all we you know when we say we want to be successful really what we want to be in in uh while we here is to be happy right and many of us think that by acquiring wealth is that what's going to make us happy and that that's a big mistake by the way. But uh one thing that I've learned is to check your ego against anything you're planning to do or anything you're doing is going to go a long way to make you happier. Meaning that check like are you doing this particular investment? Are you doing this particular career move for the right reasons or is this ego driving your decision or is this because then or is that soul driving your decision? Is that what you were saying? Yes. So, you know, ego is often especially for me being 20 years old and I see uh similar situation with uh uh even with my kids and uh younger younger people that ego is driving their decision, right? how people going to look at me because you know I have this watch or I have this car or I have this uh shoes whatever that is. And um by getting rid of your ego will help them to go you know further away uh and achieve more than they would uh otherwise. Do you um also implement meditation practices uh or any kind of other spiritual practices at work uh with your team with your employees? I encourage uh people and my partners and people I work with uh to do. But again my um my philosophy is if person is ready they'll they'll have a teacher. um if they're not ready, there is really uh nothing. I've heard it said before somewhere when the student is ready, the teacher the teacher will show up will show up. Yeah. But there is another ending to that story. What is it? Uh I don't remember. I think it's something like if uh if the teacher doesn't show up, it means you know the student is past the teacher. And I need to look it up. But yeah, interesting you made that analogy. So there's a practice you can do like a lot of people say like hey I don't like we all live very busy lives and so for somebody who is very very busy and you are a busy person yourself you're writing multiple companies having many different development projects going on at the same time. So what can you do quick practice in the office or that also can somebody who has a very busy schedule they can do quickly to to change their state. One thing that I' I've learned uh what which was um you know changed my changed my perspective on things is that you can't have positive and negative emotion at the same time. They just can't exist uh uh at the same time in your body or or thoughts for that reason too. So you cannot have positive and negative thoughts at the same time or feelings. So if you want to change how you feel and what you think, you just start thinking about something positive. And one easy way is to think about gratitude. There is always somebody around that you can be thankful for. Um it could be your mother, it could be a significant other, it could be you know person around you, it could be somebody who just um smiled to you. Every time you just generate gratitude emotion all other emotions will will not be able to disappear in the same place. I think so if I understood it correctly whenever you feel down or depressed or upset about something just try to shift your focus and think about something that you are grateful for. Yes. And even if you don't feel uh sad, you know, it's just a daily practice to be thankful for for uh for something to somebody. Is the is the gratitude uh and things you're grateful for a part of your morning routine that you've talked about earlier? I often do um gratitude and it could be very quick one. It could be 5 10 minutes in the song after my workout. Um it could be before I go to bed is just um you know I want to fall asleep uh smiling and in order to and and it's truly changing your whole night. It's changing your attitude. It's changing you know how you wake up in the morning. If you wake up with a smile on your on your face and by thinking about something good that happened during the day uh for being thankful to someone or for something uh even for yourself or you know carrying on or doing some kind of exercise or doing something that you know you overcame or you wouldn't have done otherwise and then you smile and just fall asleep and that's a great way. It could sounds like it could affect the quality of your sleep as well. It it affects quality of sleep and quality of your life as well. Do you have a special place that your place of power where you go to do your practices or is it could be anywhere? Could be anywhere. It could be driving. Uh so funny you say driving. This is the second time today when somebody, you know, right before you, I had my wife in the studio and I asked her what's her most common meditation practice and I said it's while driving. I said I didn't know there was such a thing as a a driving meditation because you know we have a sitting down meditation, walking meditation, laying down meditation, but there is apparently a driving meditation as well. So, but it doesn't have to be an hour, you know, it could be just a minute. It could be very short. Again, you just think about something that uh make you happy today or do something that uh even for a driver that uh you know tried to cut you off and you just kind of smile and and and uh you know shake your hand and it just makes you feel feel better. um you know and and again it could be 30 seconds could be qu obviously you can go in in a in a long meditation as well especially if you want to change boxes and you want to get yourself in a different reality it might take longer to to get there but just to change your uh uh mood and your feeling uh it could be could be you know very quick uh nice thought quick question coffee or meditation meditation after coffee. Your last deal, intuition or pure calculation? Uh, intuition for sure. And if you had $100 million right now in cash, what would you do with $100 million? $100 million. I tell you, I would change them for 100 million smiles, you would donate it and says, "Hey, I'll give you each." I don't know if I would donate a dollar if you smiled back at me. Uh, I don't know what I would do, but I would uh do something. Uh I think uh $100 million would worth of 100 million smiles. That's a good answer. I like that.
Yuri, it's been incredible. Thank you for uh joining me on this podcast. Uh the idea is to try to ask you questions and retrieve answers out of you that hopefully will give people clues um of when somebody who has achieved ultra high level of net worth and success how they think and so that you can start recognizing a pattern for yourself. I think you started noticing a trend. It's a more about the feeling and how we think and how we feel that creates our state of being that ultimately going to yield uh and lead you to having a life that you deserve that you dream of. So uh hopefully you got some very good nuggets out of this uh interview and again thank you for watching. Yuri, what's if somebody wanted to get in touch with you, what's the best way for them to get a hold of you? The best way is to send me an email at yuri yuri at uh estatevc.com.
yuri estatevc.com. So you've been watching the Frequency of Wealth podcast and we had a special guest Yuri Venstein here with us. So if you like it, please subscribe and be on the lookout for the next episodes.