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The Best One Yet

10 Apr 2026 · 34m · 19 chapters

Episode artwork

🏙️ “LIVE with Ryan Serhant” — The Theater Kid Who Sold Manhattan (Uncensored)

In short

Ryan Serhant, founder/CEO of Serhant and star of Netflix’s Owning Manhattan, explains how theater-trained storytelling, confidence tactics, and “rent vs buy” rules drive luxury real estate sales, plus how reality TV functions as a lead engine.

Guests

Ryan Serhant (grew up outside Boston; NESCAC school; English literature at Hamilton; theater/performance background; started as a hand model in Equinox/T-Mobile ads; sold $10B+ in property; built Serhant brokerage; launched an AI sales app; author; venture capital/education businesses; former headliner on Million Dollar Listing for nine seasons).

Key claims

Confidence comes from acting anyway, writing “letters to future self,” and treating time as money via 15-minute blocks. In real estate, own if you can afford down payment and monthly payments; otherwise rent. Failure is part of the job (“your job is to lose”).

Notable examples

Gray at 16 while trying to sell in NYC; firing an agent on camera (Jonathan) during Owning Manhattan; cold-email line “I hate that I don’t know you yet.”

Written by AI. May contain mistakes.

Chapters

1:45

Ryan's Background as a Theater Kid

Ryan shares how his upbringing and theater background shaped his approach to real estate.

“Have you managed to watch any of the show?”
2:37

The Power of Storytelling in Sales

Ryan discusses the importance of storytelling and improvisation in real estate sales.

“Yeah, I was born in Texas, and then I grew up outside Boston.”
5:50

Building Confidence and Overcoming Rejection

Ryan shares strategies for gaining confidence and handling rejection in life and business.

“So let's talk about that confidence level.”
6:45

Letters to Your Future Self

Ryan explains his method of writing letters to his future self to build confidence.

“And so the advice I give to a lot of people who don't have confidence is a couple things.”
7:42

Improv Classes for Professionals

Ryan advocates for salespeople to take improv classes to enhance their skills.

“And so that's a big tip for anyone who's trying to build relentless confidence in the moment.”
8:53

Mindset Shifts and Handling Loss

Ryan discusses the mindset required to handle failures and learn from them in business.

“You're just going to do nothing with it.”
11:50

Reflections on Life and Purpose

Ryan and the hosts reflect on life's purpose and the human condition.

“And no one knows what to do in that moment.”
14:02

The Philosophy of Time and Existence

Explore the existential questions of life and personal motivation.

“You know, if you think about it, he's hacked time.”
15:00

Real Estate Market Insights

Ryan shares his thoughts on the current real estate market dynamics.

“And now it's no longer just to procreate, right?”
16:10

Navigating Housing Affordability

Discussing the challenges of housing affordability and personal choices.

“Yeah, we're going to ask you more about you, but we want to ask a question about our audience.”
Show all 19 chapters
17:58

The Evolution of Work and Economic Reality

Ryan discusses the shift in work culture and economic opportunities.

“and that went out the window a long, long, long time ago.”
18:52

Ryan's Journey into Real Estate

Ryan recounts his unique path from theater to thriving in real estate.

“You took a big risk because we were talking before you were a head model.”
21:06

Reality TV Insights

Discussing the unseen challenges and realities of being on reality TV.

“And what thing, I mean, that is an incredible story.”
24:28

The Reality of Reality TV Production

Ryan explains the hard work and creativity behind producing reality shows.

“Owning Manhattan, the Netflix show, is my fifth reality TV show.”
28:00

Firing Jonathan on Camera

Learn about the challenges of filming a reality show while dealing with personnel issues.

“The idea, the story, the initial pitch was, hey, here's the cast.”
29:00

The Importance of Kindness in Business

Discover how kindness can impact business relationships and success.

“Do the guys ever say, wow, that was such a boring episode.”
29:55

Managing Time Effectively

Understand the strategies behind effective time management and productivity.

“And your number one rule is kindness and the golden rule.”
31:35

Rapid Fire Questions with Ryan

Get quick insights into Ryan's views on New York City and beyond.

“We call our audience of Yetis and Besties.”
34:01

Final Thoughts and Parting Questions

Explore Ryan's reflections on various engaging questions posed at the end of the interview.

“Ryan, we're going to hit you with some rapid-fire questions.”
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Transcript

Automatic transcript. May contain errors.

0:00Ryan Serhant: Yetis, open your open houses, prep that pre-qualified letter, and zip up your Zillow. Because tonight's guest will make you want to buy something you absolutely cannot afford. New York real estate. It's a sport. And today's guest who we're hanging out with is its MVP. Ryan Serhant didn't just survive New York City. He branded it, bundled it, and bought it. This guy has sold over 10 billion bucks in property. That's more than a lift. He has built a brokerage business that is booming. He has a Netflix show. He launched an AI sales app. Jack, he's got a New York Times bestseller. He's an education business entrepreneur.

0:38Ryan Serhant: And in addition to his two arms, he's got a venture capital arm. And he can pass. Baby, baby. If your buddy watches a lot of Bravo, he definitely knows Ryan. Because he headlined nine seasons of Million Dollar List. And at the end of the day, Ryan Serhant is the ultimate marketer's marketer's marketer. You can measure his confidence in square footage. Yes. you can because Ryan won't just sell you this pen, he will sell you this penthouse. When Kim Kardashian needs a condo, Kris Jenner calls Sirhan. That's right. And Jack, how exactly did Mr. Ryan climb to the top? Not by intimidating, by inspiring.

1:12Ryan Serhant: So besties, today Ryan Sirhan will tell us how to sell anything to anyone in any market. He'll tell us whether you should buy or rent or whether there's a totally different question. And why going gray is the greatest asset of all, baby. Besties, please welcome the pharaoh of floor plans, the freak of final offers, the patron saint of the power handshake. Ryan Serhant is the founder and CEO of Serhant and the star of Netflix's Owning Manhattan. And today's interview with Ryan is the best one yet. Give it up. Hey. Thank you so much for coming. Thank you for seeing you. Thank you for listening to you.

1:52Hey, everybody. Hey, besties and yetis. How are you? Are we sitting? Am I standing? I don't know what to do. We're sitting.

1:59Ryan Serhant: We're sitting. Okay. Have you managed to watch any of the show? Our show? Your show? We've been watching your show. My show I watch only, exclusively, all day, every day. Your show a little bit, yeah. No, that's fair. But it's good you watch your show every day because it's kind of like game tape. Because the cool thing we love about Ryan is that Ryan didn't start as some business MBA grad. Ryan's a theater kid. Yeah. Yes. So you grew up just outside of Boston. Yes. You went to a NESCAC school, like we did. Yes. You're a cacker. And you went to performing arts camp when you were a kid. Yeah. Can you tell us, what did you learn about performing arts that helps you with real estate?

2:36Ryan Serhant: And can you put it in the format of a cringy LinkedIn post?

2:43Yeah, I was born in Texas, and then I grew up outside Boston. I have three, yeah. I have three sisters and two brothers, and they're all in finance, except for me. And I just like telling stories and pretending to be other people. I think because I was very overweight, and I had rash acne growing up, and we moved eight times before I hit fourth grade. And so I always had to make new friends. And the theater kids were really weird. And so was I, and it was a much more comfortable environment for me to be in. And I'm not really good with balls. I don't mean that. I'm not throwing. throwing balls

3:19Ryan Serhant: that's what I mean and so like I didn't have the arm and so sports and I also like I hate wasting time even when I was a little kid and so like going out on the baseball field when I was like in third grade I'm like I'm not going pro so why would I do this like this is a waste of my time football like every sport sounds like fun wasn't happening no I like having fun I'm a good fucking time I just don't I just don't like unproductive fun You know, life is short. And so I did theater, and then I went to Hamilton in upstate New York. And my dad said I had to have a real major, and so I chose English literature, which is a rough language for me.

4:01But then I've written three books since then, because Hamilton's a writing intensive school. And so you have to write all day, every day. It's a lot. I was a theater major, and you write everything. Oh, yeah.

4:12Ryan Serhant: New York Times bestselling books, right? Oh, yeah. The first one, yeah. Congrats. The other fun thing about you being a theater kid is that you end up moving to New York, and your big break, well, your pre-big break is, Ryan actually started as a hand model. Yes. Yeah, that was how you kicked things off. Look at those knuckles. Yeah. Not many people know this, but if you've seen the Equinox ads, if you've seen the T-Mobile ads, that's Ryan holding it. Not all of them. It's not all my hands. Every phone. Yeah, like I didn't even answer your first question. the you know sales sales for me is you know it's storytelling it's just storytelling so like my superpower is storytelling you know in terms of like my my skill set my superpower as a as an operator is capacity like I'm able to do a significant amount where my competitors do far far less but storytelling is improv right so you play improv games all day long when you do theater when you come to New York City you also build a really really thick skin and so like I didn't know it at the time, but coming to New York to try to do theater, to make no money, to do free Romeo and Juliet on the West Side Highway to think maybe someone would see me, and you get rejected to your face because of your face, or, you know, because, like, I was 22, and I went gray when I was 16, and so that's a weird thing when you're trying to go out and pretend to be another 22-year-old, but in real estate, right, no one knows how old I am, and they're like, you, how long you've been doing this?

5:39I'm like, a long, a long time. A long time. Can't you tell? And then I would just change the subject really, really fast and nobody would know and then they would buy an apartment they can't afford and then I'd move on to the next one.

5:50Ryan Serhant: So let's talk about that confidence level. So how do you, if you don't have that confidence, you're facing rejection, what do you say to yourself? What do you say to yourself? Yeah, what specifically, a lot of people wish they had your confidence myself. They do. Well, how? How can people get the confidence to go do something they're nervous to do? Just ask ChatGPT and it'll lie to you like Sam Altman, right? Did you read that article? Which one? Oh, The Many Faces? Yeah. Yeah. End of the world. Listen, I don't think I have confidence. I think no one knows what they're doing, but some people just do it anyway.

6:33And when I realized that, It's like, oh, so what's the worst thing that can happen if I just try? And I'd rather regret all the things I tried than all the things I did than the things I never tried. And so the advice I give to a lot of people who don't have confidence is a couple things. One, you have to write letters to future self. Really, really big believer in writing a manifest destiny memo to yourself one year in advance every year. Because it will change. And if you're realistic about it and you write out, this is who I am 12 months from today. I weigh this much. I have this much money.

7:09I had sex this many. It could be as detailed as you can, as uncomfortable as you can. Because most people lie to themselves first before they lie to everybody else. Because if you can lie to yourself, you can spin a tale that'll make it hard for you to wake up in the morning. But you can fix that by having this mentor. And the mentor is you 12 months from today. The person I look up to is myself in the future. That guy better fucking crush it. Because if he doesn't, I'm going to be really, really pissed off. And so that's a big tip for anyone who's trying to build relentless confidence in the moment.

7:48Because then you can put on that guy's pants or her pants. And you get to go to work in a costume. And you don't have to do it as yourself. I wake up, I'm wearing a suit right now. I don't want to. I don't like love suits, but I wake up and I put on like, today I'm Ryan, the CEO and the broker. I'm going to go out there and get it done whether I feel like it or not. And I think that, you know, professionals, people who show up every day and get the work done, they make decisions based on their commitments. Amateurs, everybody else make decisions based on how they feel.

8:21Ryan Serhant: Honestly, Ryan, you're making a wonderful case just to connect it from our first question of why every MBA should be taking an acting class, frankly. I force everyone, all sales people, you cannot work for me if you do not go and take a full improv class. If you can't get on a stage in front of people and get uncomfortable about your grandmother on fire, on Mars, except you met her on Tinder and now it's weird, what do you do? If you can't work through that, then you can't have enthusiasm, you can't match that with empathy, and then what's the point of an education? You're just going to do nothing with it.

8:54You've got to be able to have conversation.

8:56Ryan Serhant: Ryan, I know you say yes to a lot of opportunities, maybe fewer today than you used to. How do you handle failures and misses? And like, what do you do when you go up to, before you were married, you went up to the bar, had a pickup line, got rejected. How do you handle failure? That didn't happen to me that often. No, my pickup line with girls is the same pickup line I have in business today. It is super simple. I did this last night at the 86 at a restaurant in the village to Jeff Zucker, who I've never met before. He ran NBC. I saw him walk in. He's now the CEO of a subsidiary of Redbird. They buy media companies, et cetera.

9:37Same thing. Hey, my name is Ryan, and I absolutely hate that I don't know you.

9:44Ryan Serhant: Monarch. Yeah, it is. Happy tax season to all those who celebrate. It's like March Madness, but it's April Madness. Tax season is actually the one time of the year most Americans review their finances. Yeah, but it shouldn't be. Monarch is all your accounts linked for a real-time look at your financial future, available anytime. I started using Monarch just once a month for when I pay my bills. But now, almost daily. Checking my net worth, my investments, and my transactions. Jack actually is a problem. I have to get him off this thing. Yeti, we think you should simplify your finances with Monarch.

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10:42Ryan Serhant: And use code T-Boy at Monarch.com for half off your first year. That's 50 % off at Monarch.com, code T-Boy. ZipRecruiter. All right, Yeti's first hire we ever made. She was a fan. She wrote a newsletter version of our show. You remember that, Jack? I remember reading her writing sample on the flight, and I was almost in tears, Nick, because this newsletter we were writing as a passion, it was clearly a passion for her as well. She even knew what a profit puppy was, and we were sold as soon as she put it in the newsletter. We were sold because she didn't just have the skills and qualifications.

11:13Ryan Serhant: She had the motivation. So besties, if you're hiring, you want a candidate who's passionate about your role, but you can't get that insight from a resume unless you post your job at ZipRecruiter. And now you can try it for free at ZipRecruiter.com slash TBOI. ZipRecruiter's powerful matching technology finds qualified candidates ASAP. And ZipRecruiter has a new feature that shows you the most interested qualified candidates first, so you meet the right people faster. Find candidates who really want your job on ZipRecruiter. Four out of five employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a qualified candidate within the first day.

11:44Ryan Serhant: Try it for free at ZipRecruiter.com slash tboy. That's ZipRecruiter.com slash tboy. Meet your match on ZipRecruiter. And no one knows what to do in that moment. And you can do a super quick follow-up. Works in the bar incredibly well. And you can put spins on it. Like, I hate that my life doesn't have you in it. And I just wanted you to know that. And then you walk away. And the walk away is incredibly powerful. Right? So you do the same thing in business. And I do this in cold emails. My name is Ryan Serhant. I'm the CEO and founder of this. I had to reach out to you because I hate that I don't know you yet.

12:24And life is about relationships. And people respond. You should all use it. And you should pay me for that. That I just gave you. But failure happens all the time. Listen. It's winners lose so much more than losers lose. You just got to bring that in. And my job as a salesperson, I don't have a salary. I'm a 1099 independent contractor. My job is to lose. If you switch the mindset to know that every day your job is to lose, that's your base salary. Every win is bonus. And then I'll do a couple things to get through the mental trauma of losing. One thing I'll do is I'll go into my, Like if something bad happens right now or you get dumped or you didn't get that job, instead of allowing it to affect your day, your month, your year, you go on your calendar, right?

13:12If it happened right now. So 8.45 p.m., Wednesday the 8th, so 30 days from today. And I'd say, read me. And I don't waste money on a therapist. I just unload in the notes. And I'm like, this motherfucker, right? Did this. Right? And I just unload because what happens is 30 days go by and I get to that day and I see the read me and I'm like, oh God. Because now I don't remember what it was. And I open it and one of a couple things happens. One, I fixed it. Two, something better happened since then. Or three, I just don't care anymore because time heals all wounds. And so the act of doing the read me in the calendar builds up that mental muscle memory to get over loss while you're typing and you just move on.

14:01Ryan Serhant: I mean, Ryan's basically hacked time. You know, if you think about it, he's hacked time. I mean, a little detail we know about you is you actually keep a photo of yourself at the age of 70. I have so many photos of myself. You guys should come to our clubhouse in Soho. So many. But he does that, I assume, to make that person proud, to think about that person. Uh, hold.

14:26Um, a little bit of like, who, like, do you ever just feel like, like, what are we doing? Like, why? Like, why do we do stuff? Like, who invented all this shit? Like, why, why do I get, why do I, why do we not all just go to Montana? Like, why would I not just do that? Why is our species, and I think it's a species problem, through evolution incentivized for more? And now it's no longer just to procreate, right? Now it's just to do more. And it's, what was your question? I don't really know.

15:09Ryan Serhant: The 70-year-old version of you, though. I don't really know. That's what you're impressed by. Yeah, because that's who I'm working for. Yeah, that's who you're working for. That's your boss. I was 20 years old yesterday. It happened so fast. That's my boss. That's who I work for. And it just reminds me, like, ah, right, because I'm going to be that guy. And I never, ever, ever want to utter the words like I shoulda, I coulda, or I woulda. And I think that memoirs, books, no one reads a book just about good times. You don't watch a movie that's just about stuff. You read it because there's trauma, there's drama, there's messy middles, and there's recovery and how they got through that.

15:50So anything that's rough, tough, bad, failure, I just like, oh, this is so awful, and I think I'm going to die. This is probably the middle of chapter six, though. And it's going to be fine. We're going to figure it out. It's going to be okay. Well, speaking of Ryan's job, we should maybe talk about the real estate question some of our Yetis had.

16:10Ryan Serhant: Yeah, we're going to ask you more about you, but we want to ask a question about our audience. Everyone is in the real estate market. You're the real estate master. Rent or buy is the question. Prices are at all-time highs. Rents are at all-time highs. Interest rates are at 40-year highs. Even when you adjust for inflation, it's such an expensive time. What's your take on this real estate market? Nick's, I used to own and now we rent. We've kind of done something many people would see as a reverse, but it made sense. I think if you can afford a down payment and you can afford the monthly payments, you should own.

16:45If you can't afford the down payment and you can't afford the monthlies, you should rent. I think you're either paying your mortgage or you're paying someone else's mortgage. And it's really, really that simple. I think that there is no housing crisis. everyone in here lives somewhere pretty sure maybe you don't live where you want to live that's a you problem but everybody I know has a house they might just not have the house or the bed or the room or the block or the street or the town or the city or the country that they want to be in is there an affordability crisis yep possibly really really difficult to prove pricing is absolutely higher than it used to be and it will always be so.

17:35Ryan Serhant: Relative to income. Sure. But also, there's never been a better time on earth to make money in multiple streams. You have to remember, our parents I don't know, I can't see everyone here is the same because I can't see you. Our parents had an American dream of one job, 2.2 kids, a pension. and that went out the window a long, long, long time ago. Now, no one is at fault for having one job, a side hustle, a flipping thing you do on YouTube, etc. You're betting anything on Kalshi and you're making four different types of dollars and that's okay. Creators are a multi, multi, multi-billion dollar economy now and no one gives a shit.

18:22It's totally fine. And I think that, and it's probably weird to say this, but if you don't like your job and you're not making enough money, quit and go get another one or work for yourself or set up an LLC and sell something and make yourself uncomfortable because that is a meme because that is where the magic happens.

18:46Ryan Serhant: You're talking about risk at the end of the day. You're saying bet on yourself which is a beautiful thing that we all celebrate. You took a big risk because we were talking before you were a head model. you made a pivot during the financial crisis to real estate. That was a big risk that you took. How did you calculate that? I ran out of money. I think people confuse speed bumps with brick walls. And I had a dream. I wanted to do theater. I wasn't even thinking TV, movies. It was theater. I liked being on stage. It was the only thing I was okay at. I wasn't even good or great. I was okay. And it was better than anything else that I was doing.

19:28And I came to New York to try it. My grandfather had died. Left me$20 ,000. I put into two CDs of$10 ,000 a piece. And I was like, that'll last me seven years. And I did side gigs, et cetera. And I was hand modeling, which paid me$150 an hour in cash.

19:45Ryan Serhant: Just FYI. Like, I was rich. And for a short period of time, you know, I was a very, very big hand model. because I played piano when I was a kid and I have very, very long and very, very skilled fingers. And I could hold a phone, a Blackberry or a Palm Trio without really, really putting pressure on my knuckles. And this is real. And I don't have veins or varicose or anything like that. And so anyway, and so then in the summer of 2008, I'd completely drawn down on my CDs and I was living in Koreatown and I was sharing a bathroom with 38 Korean guys and like I was that or it was get a job, go back to school or move home and my parents were in Colorado by that point and I was like if I move to Colorado I will never leave and if I can figure out how to stay in New York City I'll do it and my friend said listen, theater is sales.

20:45It is a transfer of enthusiasm to the audience or a transfer of enthusiasm to your clients, just post ads on Craigslist, and how much money do you need to make to survive? And I was like, I don't know. I did the math. It was$2 ,000 a month. So if I could make$2 ,000 a month, I could survive. I got my license day one, September 15th, 2008, Lehman Brothers files for bankruptcy that morning. And that's how I got into real estate. Wow. And what thing, I mean, that is an incredible story. Yeah. It was the worst time ever, but it was also the best time ever. And 12 years later, we started our company that we now run.

21:18So, Sirhant, on September 15th, 2020. And not on purpose. It's just, I was going to do it on July 1st, 2020. But then it was a very dark time, if anyone remembers, at that time. And especially in New York City. So, I had to buy myself a couple months. But we did it. And it was like the worst time to start a business. I was on the news. I was on CNBC, Jim Cray, everybody. And everyone was like, are you, did you have short COVID or long COVID? Because no one is starting a business right now. I'm like, I don't know, man. And ignorance is bliss onward and forward. And it was the absolute best time to start.

21:54Ryan Serhant: Also, at that same time you're starting a company, you've also had that point totally taken off when it came to reality TV and being present. Yeah, your fame by that point was the gift of Andy Cohen. The kingmaker. Can you tell us, after 11 seasons of reality television, what do people not know about reality TV that they should?

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23:57Ryan Serhant: And second, by reducing the number of accidents altogether. Samsara's AI reduces crash rates by, get this, nearly 75%. The best way to combat fraud is with proof. Samsara AI gives you that proof. Unlike your buddy Timmy, this wingman, it actually saves you money. Don't wait for the next accident to take action. Head to samsara.com slash tboy today to request a free demo and see how Samsara brings visibility and safety to your operations. That's samsara.com slash tboy. Samsara. Operate smarter. My approach to it, I think, has always been different from everybody else's. Owning Manhattan, the Netflix show, is my fifth reality TV show.

24:36It is an organic lead. It's a lead funnel for me. It is business. I treat it as business. And I don't just go on reality TV to be known or be famous or to sell toasters. So the house for the toaster. And I use it to build awareness and to really kind of manufacture a lead engine that way. I think it's so much work. Million Dollar Listing, I did for 10 years. I auditioned for it in 2010. We finished our final season in 2022. It would take a year to film each season, and it would come out the next year.

25:22It's a massive job.

25:24Ryan Serhant: Why is it so much work? I mean, reality. Can't you just live? No, because there's budgets. And, you know, other people involved. And there's a process, right? Like the real world, and I think the Osbournes on MTV were the last, last true reality docu where they just put up cameras everywhere, film for a month. Whatever happens, happens, and that's what we'll do. But then, you know, it's really, really expensive to create scripted. The only reason there's so much reality is just because it's cheaper, and you don't have to pay residuals, right? I mean, with streaming now, obviously, all of that stuff goes away anyway.

26:01but that's why it took over. I was doing a couple episodes of As the World Turns, a soap opera back in the day, and I remember that was canceled. I don't think because of me, but it was canceled, and they put reruns of Dog the Bounty Hunter, and it just made more money. It's just an economic decision.

26:18Ryan Serhant: We've talked about the reality. We talked about the business model of reality TV last week, how a scripted show has 10 times higher costs, but that's also the burdens on you because you are the screenwriter. You are the content. How much screenwriting are you doing? Are you pitching the next episode? No, no, no, no, no. It's story. So we sat on Netflix and I said, I have an idea for a show called House of Serhant. And they were like, people don't know what Serhant is in Mumbai, so we're going to go owning Manhattan. I was like, fine. Now they do. But, you know, and we said, I think we should follow the comings and goings of the agents who are in New York City in this kind of clubhouse concept that we created.

26:58And there will be drama, right? but it'll be like if succession met Vanderpump rules with a dash of Gossip Girl. And that's interesting. And that's what the show is.

27:12Ryan Serhant: I was going to say Hard Knocks. It's like football Hard Knocks. No, no, no. Like football. Like instead of the New York Giants it's Serhant. And instead of taking on the Eagles it's 200 Amsterdam. Yeah, sure. I appreciate you doing your research. Yes. Yeah, but it's hard. It's a significant amount of work. And in reality, it is all on you. We have a production company within Sirhan called Sirhan Studios, and we do all of the marketing, all of the work. Our content engine, it's all on us. It's not on the studios at all. Can you tell us the secret of how the next episode's drama is going to happen?

27:50Ryan Serhant: Yeah, how it's created. No, the best stuff just happens organically, and then you just follow it. On season one of Owning Manhattan, there was a guy covered in tattoos who was an agent who was on the show. His name was Jonathan. The idea, the story, the initial pitch was, hey, here's the cast. It's going to be super cool to watch a guy who looks like that go from bad boy to the greatest salesperson ever. I'll train him and we're going to film that. He'll sell something for$20 million and it'll be awesome. He looks like the next generation. right? He looks like kids today and tattoos. Yeah. But he went from bad boy to like worst guy ever.

28:30So on camera, and it was a strain on the business. And we just followed it real time. And I was like, I have to let him go. But we're doing this reality. Okay. So Jonathan, meet me at the edge at Hudson Yards. And there's cameras there. And I had to fire him live. On camera. Like it's awful and uncomfortable and you can see it in my face, but it just happens and that was not planned. So the shows are a story, but they're not script. I wish, man. I wish. It would make life so much easier if we could script, but the best stuff is stranger than fiction.

29:03Ryan Serhant: Yeah. Do the guys ever say, wow, that was such a boring episode. Can we redo that one tomorrow? Netflix, no, because you shoot, Only Manhattan, we shoot for six months, like straight, and then they just take all the best stuff and they edit it and they smash it all together. You know, your style on the show, Ryan, and just for as long as we've been following you, aligns with something we were talking about with our own branding earlier, being brighter. It's about making people happier and making people smarter at the same time. And we were kind of curious, like, you've also described yourself as a people pleaser, which Jack is a people pleaser too.

29:35Ryan Serhant: Has that ever been challenging for you? Because Jack and I talk about this a lot, of like, you know, I have to like, I'm like, Jack, you know, They're our partner. We don't have to give them that for free. He's also preaching the golden rule. Yeah, he is preaching the golden rule. The one rule we learned in kindergarten. You know what fascinates me is real estate in New York City. The former real estate in New York City king was Donald Trump. And your number one rule is kindness and the golden rule. Has being kind ever come back to bite you? Yes. Yeah. I think you have to be kind but tough. you just don't want to be an asshole because you don't want people to not want to work with you you want to build bridges everywhere so that you get to decide 10 years from now good thing I built all those bridges which bridge do I want to go over if all you do is blow up bridges because of ego then there will be no bridges and you will drown and you will die unless you have an incredibly intense skill set of either you're the greatest fundraiser of all time you're the greatest networker of all time you're a technologist genius you know like they're and you can kind of buy the right to be the worst person of all time and it is what it is um uh i can't do that and so and i'd rather people just not hate me you know i'd rather just be nice and work with great people but you have to be tough and you have to be and you have to understand that this is a two-way street we're going to be fair and if it's if the other side is being really really tough on you you can be polite and tough back, and I'll tell people all the time, you kill bees with honey.

31:10Kill them with honey, you play to their egos, and then you get to laugh and smile all the way to the bank. Yeah.

31:19Ryan Serhant: I think that's also key to how you've hired 1 ,500 agents. Yeah. Those are all my little profit puppies. Yes. Right? They're all my individual little profit puppies. I'm like, come on. You could have gone with worker bees. I love that you said profit puppies. We like it. We like it. And this audience you were speaking to, We call our audience of Yetis and Besties. They're ambitious millennials at the end of the day. And you're running this executive style and doing all this hiring with six companies. We covered your AI app on our show a year and a half ago, which was so exciting. What are the tactics for how you do all of this?

31:53On a daily basis, the time, minute by minute,

31:57Ryan Serhant: how do you break it down? I have a thousand-minute rule. Harvard Business School wrote a case study, actually, and published it. And when they reached out to me, I thought they were going to talk about content to community commerce and how we've done that for luxury and all that stuff. And they're like, no. The most interesting thing about you is how you manage your time. Like, oh, okay. And then they followed me for six months. It was nuts. But I break my day down. This is why I'm married because this would never work in the bar now because this is what I would talk about. It is just so embarrassing.

32:33But in order to be the most productive, I break my day down to 1 ,440 minutes a day. Everyone's days are different. I get it. But on average, you'll have about 1 ,000 minutes a day to be productive, right? Now, some people are single moms with five kids, and that's not the case, which I understand. Some people are 22 and should get off their ass, and they have more time.

32:53Ryan Serhant: Yeah. So there's a blended average. And I break those minutes down into 15-minute blocks, right? That way, nothing is a two-hour lunch. That doesn't need to be a two-hour lunch. Yeah. Right? Nothing is a one-hour Zoom meeting that doesn't need to be a one-hour Zoom. And it forces me to look at my time like money. So every day I wake up with a fresh$1 ,000 on my bank of time. If someone ruins five minutes, I would not throw out$995. You just wouldn't do that. Yeah. If someone spat on five bucks. And it's been really, really, really helpful for me to prioritize time and just treat it like my absolute greatest asset, which is what it is.

33:31Ryan Serhant: Well, Ryan, we have taken up 28 minutes 21 seconds of your time Jack, do we have one final question to squeeze in or do you think we're going rapid fire? 70 year old AI Ryan What is he most proud of that you've accomplished? His yacht? What else are we doing this for? Let's pivot I don't know Ryan, we're going to hit you with some rapid-fire questions. Okay. What is the best neighborhood in New York City? Ooh. What's the best neighborhood in New York City? I always go to my broker brain, in which case I would say the golden triangle of Fifth Avenue on the Upper East Side. I am a big, big Soho fan.

34:23I think it's a mixture of the village and Tribeca. It's got touches of Gramercy. It's residential, it's retail, it's office. It's this melting pot in the center of the city. And my headquarters is there in the corner on West Broadway in Broome. Sold. What do you think is the most undervalued neighborhood in New York City to keep your broker brain? The East Village.

34:45Ryan Serhant: What is the next up-and-coming town or city not in New York? Bluffton, South Carolina. Job growth, 100%. If you want to invest in multifamily, everyone here will make a killing if you go to Bluffton, South Carolina and you go anywhere within a 30 minute driving distance of the Savannah, Georgia airport. More jobs are being created there than will be created in New York City for the next five years or during Mom Donnie. But you know. You know, Nick and I think that bold and specific is the recipe for interesting. Yeah. That was extremely bold and extremely specific. As soon as the words came out of your mouth, I thought you made up the town.

35:24Ryan Serhant: All right. Who is the best? It was that fast. Would you know, though? Would anybody know? Who is the best reality TV character of all time? Bethany Frankel. Who is the best leader in business? Maybe Bethany Frankel. The best leader in business of all time in the history of the world? Your fave. My fave? Myself as a 70-year-old. I don't know. The best book you've ever read? Best book I've ever read. Dude, I loved, before the movie, I love science fiction. I'm a big, big Andy Weir fan. I love Project Hail Mary as a book. I don't know if that's the best book I've ever read. And the movie? I really hate reading because it ruins movies for me.

36:15Right? I wish I hadn't have read that book so many times because for anyone who has read it, Like, there is, there's real stakes. And there is humor, but there's a great match between stakes and humor that I just felt was like a little, just not, not as, it wasn't as palpable in the film as it is in the book. But that's just me.

36:41Ryan Serhant: Yeah. Yeah, no, no. And I'm right. No, no, Jack read this book. Jack read this book on the Brooklyn Bridge, and I've been saying, we got to pitch that to Netflix. And he was like, no, the book's better than whatever we will make. Don't ruin it. Don't ruin it. Don't ruin it. What's the best restaurant in New York City?

37:00What is the best restaurant in New York City?

37:05There is a Greek restaurant in the East Village called Pilos, which is a great restaurant.

37:12Ryan Serhant: Ryan's wife is Greek, by the way. Yeah. So trust this guy. Yeah, Greek, Greek. Yeah. Final question that we ask all of our fantastic guests. If you were a publicly traded stock, what would your three or four letter ticker symbol be?

37:31Sir?

37:35Ryan Serhant: Sell? Sell? Sell? Sold? Sold? Sold! Sold! Sold! Sold! Sold! Sold! Don't write that down. Where's Danny? I don't know where he is. There he is. There's Danny. You're right. Ryan thank you so much for coming and spending your epic time with us your valuable time thank you can you ring the bell? Ryan's ringing the bell for the IVF draw hands there we go thank you so much

38:40We'll be right back.

38:47Last selection varies by location.

From the publisher

Rent or buy? The question of our generation…


And there’s no one more fun to answer it than Ryan Serhant, the viral silver-haired real estate broker-turned-influencer and host of Netflix’s “Owning Manhattan.”


So LIVE from our Sold Out show at Irving Plaza in New York City on our IPO Tour, we sat down with Ryan for our wildest interview yet.


Ryan turned his failed theater career (and hand-modeling side-hustle) into a real estate empire. He headlined 9 seasons of Bravo's Million Dollar Listing, is a NYT bestselling author, and founded SERHANT, the most ambitious brokerage in America.


Ryan knows Real Estate and Reality TV more than anyone else - So he opens up about why he thinks there is no housing crisis, drops an unfiltered answer to the rent vs. buy question, and shares the next real estate boomtown nobody is talking about (spoiler: SC).


Ryan is the ultimate marketer’s marketer — He won’t just sell you a pen, he’ll sell you a penthouse.


But Ryan also thinks more thoughtfully about his life, his career, and his time than anyone we’ve ever met. Like his 1,440-Minute Rule that Harvard Business School wrote a case study on. He shares the pickup line he uses on both billionaires and bar crowds. He told us why his job is to (shockingly) to lose, and what he learned from firing an agent live on Netflix's cameras.


Plus, it’s always fun to know the favorite restaurant and most under-valued neighborhood of America’s most famous real estate agent. Did we mention he made us laugh more than we made him laugh?


CHAPTERS:


00:00 Intro: Ryan Serhant Live at Irving Plaza NYC (IPO Tour)

02:17 Ryan Serhant's Origin Story: Theater Kid Turned Top NYC Broker

04:45 Ryan Serhant's Rule for Selling Literally Anything

05:48 How to Build Confidence: Ryan Serhant's Letter to Your Future Self

09:00 The Pickup Line Ryan Serhant Uses on Billionaires and in Bars

10:14 Ryan Serhant on Failure: Winners Lose More Than Losers

14:02 Rent vs. Buy: Ryan Serhant's Answer for Today's Real Estate Market

14:45 Why Ryan Serhant Says There Is No Housing Crisis in America

16:44 From Hand Model to $10 Billion in Real Estate: Ryan Serhant's Big Pivot

19:45 Inside Owning Manhattan: Ryan Serhant on Making Netflix's Real Estate Hit

27:25 The 1,000 Minute Rule: Ryan Serhant's Time System (As Studied by Harvard)

29:42 Rapid Fire with Ryan Serhant: Best NYC Neighborhood, Book & Restaurant

30:29 Ryan Serhant Picks the Next Real Estate Boomtown



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