Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hey, everybody. Welcome to the more to Life real estate investing podcast. I'm here with a super, super guest, and we're actually here, first time filming on site, exp. Hamilton location in the spark office. So a really, really cool spot to film with. A really, really cool dude, Nick. Regina, welcome to the more Life podcast.
[00:00:26] Speaker B: Thank you for having me on. Yeah, I'm very grateful and privileged to be here.
[00:00:29] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:00:30] Speaker B: Thank you for everyone that's tuned in right now, feeling grateful that you're spending your time watching, because we know everyone's busy, busy, busy, and back to back to back with just life these days. So thank.
[00:00:43] Speaker A: You. Know, Nick, I normally have real estate really focused topics on real estate investing and whatnot, and real estate investors. And we're stepping outside of that today because you're a pretty unique guest in that you have a really amazing story that I have come to known from a mutual friend, Robert, who introduced us together.
And I wanted to have you on the podcast to kind of break up the monotony of always just having real estate investors on. And that's it and nothing more. And, oh, I've bought and I've sold so many this and that. Guys, I really want you to feel the energy from this story and this transition of life, really, from the beginning, the middle where you are today and stuff like that. So I just want to keep it loose and maybe take us from the beginning how Nick started in this journey.
[00:01:45] Speaker B: Yeah, okay. For sure. And thank you for breaking the mold in regards to what the podcast is known for and what you do regularly with it and having me on to go outside of the box, that's special. So I appreciate the opportunity.
Yeah. So I guess we could start it when I started working, right?
[00:02:03] Speaker A: Yeah, back in the day with your previous career.
[00:02:07] Speaker B: Okay, previous career, yeah. So 13 years old, I started working, and I was always really passionate about the nightlife piece after I got introduced to it. And that was from my cousin who owned the news cafe. And that was on Dundas or Dupont. I always get those, but no, now I'm pretty certain it was on Dundas. And, yeah, it was a cool little restaurant where a lot of the club owners and the people that were in the nightlife entertainment industry would go dine at prior to them going to their clubs, and it just became a hotspot before they would go and open their clubs and operate them and be there. And that's when the club scene was at its pinnacle. That's when the clubs like money and inside and plastique and paparazzi was popping. And, I mean, arguably, Toronto had the hottest nightlife scene in all of Canada. Could potentially even be part of a discussion when it comes to North America. And people would travel to Toronto for that scene. I caught the tail end of it. You were in the midst of it, right? And I was talking to your wife a little bit about it as well.
[00:03:16] Speaker A: That's where we met, actually, my wife and I. Paparazzi.
[00:03:19] Speaker B: Yeah. She was telling me the story. I was like, man, those are, like, those are the best days for nightlife. They'll never exist again, in my opinion, just because the scene has shifted for many different reasons. But, yeah, so all those club owners, right, and all those guys and their girlfriends and their wives and their friends would come by and they would dine there, and I was like, starstruck. I was like, holy smokes, man. These guys are the coolest guys in the world. And I just kind of wanted to be around them. I wanted to hang and hear what they were saying. So I'd be in the back, and I was a bus boy at the time. That's how I started off. $6 minimum wage, cash. And I was given about six, 7 hours a night, and I was working about three, four nights a week at that time. So on the weekends and even during the week, they were there, too. And a lot of other people that I'd got to meet, but I'd always wear a blazer and a dress shirt and dress.
[00:04:10] Speaker A: How old are you?
[00:04:11] Speaker B: I'm 13 at the time. And I'd be, like, fired up to be washing dishes. And then if you take a towel, you get that shine out of it. So I would always shine the cutlery in the glass and the plates, and I would ask the chef if I can bring out the cutlery in the glass so that they could see me, and he's like, yeah, man, I'll go for it. Right? I guess looking back on it now, being the older ones are probably like, this is a buzz. This young kid's all excited to.
[00:04:38] Speaker A: It's got to be blazer on.
[00:04:41] Speaker B: There's all the steam coming out the blazer.
Yeah, that long story short, I used to go up to the tables and whip out the forks and the knives and the glassware, and they'd buz out the guys at the table and be like, this kid's hilarious, right? They got it. He just wants to hang. So they'd give me tips. They'd talk to me or come sit down, kid, or meet my girlfriend, or I'd be at the table to be tossing jokes around, and again, I was a bit starstruck. I thought they were the coolest guys in the world. That's where my love and passion really started for you.
[00:05:13] Speaker A: Seen the movie goodfellas?
[00:05:15] Speaker B: Yeah, of course, bro. Like, twice minimum.
[00:05:18] Speaker A: Remember at the start when those guys were young and they started going out and hustling for whoever?
[00:05:25] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:05:26] Speaker A: Starting to remind me of that picture.
[00:05:28] Speaker B: You in the blazer with some high.
[00:05:30] Speaker A: Rollers around you, and you're hustling.
[00:05:33] Speaker B: Yeah. All right. Yeah. The young cat in the crew, for sure.
That's where I fell in love with it, and I became very passionate about it. Long, long story short, I moved on to promote. I did a little bit of promoting in high school, where there was a really popular promotion company called Supreme Promotions, and that was run by Marco del Duca, that was run by Jay Callie and a couple other dudes, Mike Thomasetti, that was the head of it. And they essentially were the older guys that would take on the venue and work it so that they would promote it and fill it. Right. So they had their younger runners, and I was one of the young runners, and they kind of put me on and showed me the ropes in regards to how to fly her. We would flyer all girl schools. We were all an all guy school. My parents thought that that would help out. I went to an all guy school, right? Yeah. I was showing up.
[00:06:29] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:29] Speaker B: So they thought it would help out, and then I would cause less trouble. Right. They didn't put me around girls. It made it worse. Right.
Yeah. This is where I got a few more stripes on my belt that I probably wouldn't have got if I went to a coed school, but loved the experience.
We'd go to all girl schools and grab a bunch of flyers and flood the schools, right. During the time where they would be going into different classes in that intermission time. Right. And there'd be all these girls in the hallway and screaming, and we're throwing flyers around everywhere. Teachers are chasing us out of the school.
[00:07:04] Speaker A: They're calling.
[00:07:07] Speaker B: But the whole thing was, if you caused that much of a scene, they were all talking about it because there was no social media back then for people to film. And then it became the talk of the day. And then there's all these flyers everywhere, and the principals making these announcements. So it worked because everyone's like, hey, we got to go to this party.
There's not much hype on it, and it was the shem boys that were known for the promotion aspect of it with the supreme place. So, anyway, learned how to hustle, learn how to build up a guest list, learn how to host while I was in the club and entertain these guests, learn how to really find creative ways to promote, right, and bring community together. And then from there, I started bartending at 1819 and 18. And it was at eat my martini on College street. It was a very popular martini bar, had 140 martinis, the biggest martini menu known to men from what I understand, right. And yeah, it had everything on there. And it was a really cool spot when college was popping, right, when college was just at its pinnacle too, right.
And was doing a lot of the promotion stuff with the bartending I was tending to the bar, but as my guests were there, I was entertaining them, having conversation with them. Then I was bringing my friends, my family, my network that I had met through promoting. I was meeting new people in there and they were coming back for me. And the spot, the spot was amazing. The cocktails were great, the martinis were special, the music was dope, the owners were sick, but I was like a little form of entertainment, so they were drawn to that as well. And yeah, I was kind of like filling up half the venue and on an ongoing basis and didn't have a guest list because I wasn't a promoter, nor was that place known for hiring promoters, but it was naturally happening. So I'm like, you know what, I want to give this promotion thing a shot, but I want to run the company now and start it and bring on my soldiers. And I think I got what it takes because I've kind of been doing the bus boy thing, the bartending, the promoting. I built up a good network. So let's give it. Let's give it a shot. So I bartended for four years, all the way up until 22 and 21 and a half, 22. And then I started the company at the tail end there. It was called NRG, the Nicaragina group. And our first gig was right across the street at a small lounge called Callisto at the time. And yeah, long story short, I put together a few of my buddies that I knew had awesome networks as well. And I said, okay, we're going to do this, man. We're going to build up guest lists, we're going to book booths, and we're going to slam whatever venue we go into and we're not going to not slam it. We're not going to be those promoters that leave half of it empty kind of thing and have a flop party. We're going to jam it. So we took it very serious and that's because I was just really, again, passionate about it and had a big vision for what it is that I wanted to do with it. And that was ultimately own and operate these nightclubs, like those guys that I met when I was 13 and these big, big scale events. I wanted to be that guy. And I mean, long story short, it did turn into that fully, and I had manifested it and it came alive 100% to what it is that I had envisioned. And at that time, I guess without knowing, I didn't understand what manifesting was. I didn't know that if you really live into the feeling of being in the future and being where it is you want to be and accomplishing what it is you wanted to accomplish, that that's the key to manifesting. And I was doing that naturally, unconsciously, I think. Right. And yeah, it all came live and happened, but I mean, starting at that little lounge and then slamming it, moving on to the bigger venues, on college. Filling them, filling them, filling them. Never had a flop. The army kept growing because I always treated my guys properly.
I always take care of my team and the people that I'm surrounded by before I take care of myself. And they know that and they could feel that, and they can understand that. So they'll run through walls for me, just like I'll run through for them. And that's till the day I die. Any business that I'm going into, any friendship that I have, any family that's with me, that's how I roll. And yeah, even if I die a very poor man one day because of it, I'm okay with that. I'm happy. That's the way I looked out for my crew, and they felt that, and they worked hard, and there's no I in team. We all did it together. So I can't take the blame for all of its successes and what I was able to accomplish. I had a badass team that followed me around everywhere and would listen to my instructions and would always over deliver what the expectation was. So we slammed venue after venue after venue to the point where it came to if you were able to fill the venue up, you were able to leverage equity of these nightclubs. So there was like a lineup of the hottest nightclub owners at the time that had big portfolios and had been in the business for a while and had seen our talent and had seen our capability and hadn't seen much like it before. From all their mouths, they said, this is very different, what you've done here and what you're doing. And we want it to be that we partner. And I had a handful of the biggest guys with the biggest names downtown want me to be partners with them. And I chose one that I aligned with. And all the other guys I have lots of love and respect for too. Still do till this day. And they're my homies and I pay them a lot of respect. So no love lost there, but I just really aligned with one of them and he was my operator. I was the promotion arm. I take care of the marketing, the promotion, the celebrity booking, the advertisement and creating the culture around the establishment. And then they would.
Yeah, and we went on to own seven nightclubs, two of which were in Miami, Wynwood, the art district there, downtown, which is a really cool spot, and five in Toronto. Went on to have the biggest New Year's event for seven years in a row at Liberty grand, year after year after year called countdown 5000 people. Plus we had an awesome Halloween party. And obviously I've had other strategic partners as well on some of these ventures. One of them, his name is Masmo, who was on a lot of these ventures and brought me into some, someone I looked up to in the, you know, Paul was my partner on the operating end and a few other strategic partners that played a vital role in it all. So again, no, I in team, right? It was all of us together. But yeah, we smashed it. At the end of the career, I had won promoter of the year nine out of ten years. The only year we didn't win it was the first year we were in business because we didn't know Toronto nightclub awards were a thing. Then we won it the other nine. And then the last three years I won nightclub owner of the year, which was nice, right, to be recognized in front of all these legendary operators and to go up there and pick up the award was pretty badass. But I blame them all, again on teaching me, on how to operate. So that award was more for all them than it was me, because again, always salute the OGs. Guys rub off on the young bucks and yeah, man, I loved it. I loved it and I had a lot of fun. I made a lot of money.
[00:14:36] Speaker A: Stop you there.
[00:14:37] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:14:40] Speaker A: I want to rewind a little bit.
[00:14:42] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:14:43] Speaker A: So for example, you had the biggest New Year's Eve party ever.
[00:14:48] Speaker B: Yeah, consecutively, seven years in a row.
[00:14:51] Speaker A: Not knowing anything about that game.
What would that New Year's Eve party generate as far as dollars and cents for you?
[00:15:01] Speaker B: Yeah. So with that New Year's Eve party, we didn't own the venue, right? It was Liberty grand and the Liberty group. So Nick di Donato and Di Donato, they're the owners of the venue. Same people who manage and control Castelloma, Chibo, a bunch of other awesome venues. We were just the promotion, marketing, talent, booking arm.
[00:15:19] Speaker A: But from charge them a fee?
[00:15:22] Speaker B: No. So we would take the venue, they would operate it, we would promote it. Nobody charges anyone anything. We take the door and the ticket revenue, they take the bar. So what we would get on the ticket revenue side of things that was in and around half a million bucks.
[00:15:38] Speaker A: Just that one night.
[00:15:40] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:15:40] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:15:43] Speaker B: We came in with expenses, too, though, right? Yeah. It's not all profit army in the country. Arguably, at that time, I'd booked Tory Lanez. I'd had him two years, we're good buddies. And had him on the show twice. I had Baca from the Ovo crew. We had some really big house DJs and talent. So that come with a cost, but, yeah, half a million gross one night. Yeah.
[00:16:05] Speaker A: Amazing.
[00:16:06] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:07] Speaker A: So things are going really well.
[00:16:08] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:08] Speaker A: You got seven clubs making tons of money. Things are going really well.
Then what happens?
[00:16:17] Speaker B: Yeah. So then it was always in the cards for me that I wanted to be a family man, that I wanted to be a husband. And then I wanted to tie the knot with my wife, who was by my side since I was 19 and had seen me through it all and stuck by my side. Right. So, with that being said, when I had my first kid, we were living downtown in a condo across from both clubs that were on King west. Right, which was the popular strip, still is, for clubbing. And, yeah, me and my wife were living there, and she was pregnant, and it was like, okay, we're going to start this family now, right? Yeah. Then we went on to buy a house in the neighborhood by Shem. Right. And started renovating it. And that's where we were going to raise and grow our family. And my wife got pregnant with our second mila. Right. And at that point in time, again, long, long story short, I had tried to make it so that I can operate it from more of a corporate side of things and during the day and not be involved so much in the nightlife piece and stay away from certain things that I was trying to avoid because I wanted to have a regular schedule. I wanted to blend in with society, not just be a night owl. Right. Because you're going during the night and the day. The long, long days. But I couldn't make that happen. I was struggling in a big way, and I couldn't make that work. And I had fallen flattened on my face a few times trying to. So I was faced with the decision.
I was faced with the ultimatum, get out of the industry or else. Right. And it was a no brainer for me. And I knew the day was coming because my number one why in this world is to be the best possible dad that I can be. And I knew that with that schedule and that life and that just overall, everything about it, about it was not going to allow me to do that. Right. So my weekends, I need, my evenings, I need. I need to be that I can be at home with my family and with them on the holidays, and those were all the hot times for the clubs. Right. Like, all the time you would be with your family. That's when the nightclubs are popping. Right. So I had to get out and I had to make that. The decision was easy because of my. Why. But the transition was hard. Right? Yeah, but that's at the end of, I think it was twelve years.
[00:18:50] Speaker A: It's been twelve years.
[00:18:51] Speaker B: It was a twelve year go at it hard.
[00:18:57] Speaker A: And when did you change careers?
[00:19:01] Speaker B: 2020. So 2019, it was a full year exit strategy just before COVID Yeah, it was a full year timing. Yeah, no doubt, man. Thank you.
You know what?
[00:19:11] Speaker A: Through the time, that better than.
[00:19:13] Speaker B: And I blame it on God. Through the process, I've continued to build my spirituality side of things and my connection with my higher power. And God is what I'll tip my hat to in a lot of scenarios where that isn't luck. That's him saying you're up against a pretty tough nut. Let me throw you a few bones that you're going to need on your way out kind of vibe. Right. So, yeah, that's definitely something that I did luck out on, if you want to call it that, or the big man upstairs was taking care of me. Right. So 2019, it was a full year exit strategy because I was very hands on with all the operating businesses within and very much so the face of a lot of them. So I wanted to do right by my partners and give them the right amount of time to be able to take on the reins and steer it into the right direction as opposed to just throwing my hands up. So, yeah, 2020 was. Those were my last set of parties where I had two parties in my two clubs and the party at the New Year's Eve event there at Liberty grand again, and I threw in the towel right after that. That was it. Yeah. So now what? Four years? Yeah.
[00:20:16] Speaker A: So 2020, you make the decision, or before that you made the decision, you leave in 2020.
You help out your partners before you leave the business.
Was it a direct ban into the financial world, so to speak? Or was there a time you sat on the couch and thought, okay, what am I going to do now?
[00:20:38] Speaker B: Yeah, no, I was, bam.
That's how I roll, man. You know what I mean? I dive 2ft first and fully into whatever I'm doing. Six gear, pin it, let's go. No time to waste. I can't sit around and think. I just start to feel guilty.
[00:20:55] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:20:56] Speaker B: Like, I'm not doing anything and I should be. I'm not wired that way. Right. Yeah, I know. That was a big part of my dad's doing and my mom's doing, right. With knowing that back in the day, school wasn't school and me weren't going to jive. So they're like, get your butt to work kind of vibe and build up a solid work ethic, because whatever it is you end up doing, you just got to be really hardworking. Right? And I think that stems from the european background, Mina Knowles and what they thought to be.
And what I think to be the right thing to do is whatever you're going to do, put your heart into it, put your mind to it, and giver and go, all or nothing. And good things will come of it if you're good to people while you're doing it. Right? So, yeah, that's what I did. I got out and it was like, hey, this is what we're going to do, is what I'm going to do, and let's go.
[00:21:48] Speaker A: All right, so the decisions made. You're going. You're going hard. You made a ton of money, safe to say we don't need details. But you made a ton of money in your previous career in the club district. Only seven clubs. Time to bounce for your why and your family and move on to the next chapter. So tell everybody.
And this is very sincere to me because there was a point in time in my life, as, you know, where I bounced from what I love to do. And ever since I was in JK, do you remember when you're in elementary school in JK, when used to sit on the carpet in the classroom and the police officer used to come in and kind of give little talks, put your hand out when you cross the street, look both ways. So ever since I was in JK sk, grade one, whatever, you're sitting in the corner with all your buddies on the carpet, and here's the policeman, he comes in your classroom, and I never forget, like this guy. His name was officer Norm. I don't even know if he's alive now, but I never forget he had the shiniest boots, you know what I mean? His gun belt was shiny, and he had the gun, and he was such a polished. He was like somebody out of a magazine. Everything was so polished and neat and prim and proper. And I remember looking up at this fucking guy. Part of my language, but I look up at this guy, I've never heard you square before.
I look at this guy, and I'm like, wow, I want to be him. Like, he's my superman. Wow, I want to do that.
[00:23:30] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:23:31] Speaker A: And ever since I was there, no matter how many times my parents, anybody that I knew asked me, so what do you want to do? Like, what are you going to do after you're done school? I'd always say, I want to be a police officer. I want to be a cop. I want to be a police officer. Never changed throughout my whole childhood.
[00:23:48] Speaker B: There you go. And you did it. You manifested.
[00:23:50] Speaker A: So we grew into that, and I was successful, and I got on at 23.
[00:23:56] Speaker B: Anyway, that's tough.
[00:23:57] Speaker A: Yeah, I got on at 23, and at that time, it was even tougher because they were hiring all minorities, and it was quite difficult to get in. So it took me a couple of tries. But anyways, long story short, how I resonate with what your transition, too, is. I loved being a cop. I had an amazing time.
I did well. I spent very little time in a cruiser. I was more undercover and plain clothes for years. Great. I've seen and done things that the average person will never see or do. Right, just being on the job.
[00:24:35] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:24:37] Speaker A: And this podcast is about Nick, not me. So I'll sum my shit up pretty quick.
I transitioned out of my dream career for a bunch of different reasons, but mostly because I wanted more to life, hence the name of the podcast. But I wanted more to life. And as much as I'd loved being a police officer, we had different reasons, obviously, for switching careers.
I wanted more to life for me and my family. And I knew that I had stumbled onto real estate investing, and I knew that was my engine to get me there.
[00:25:18] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:25:18] Speaker A: Right. So even though I left behind a lot of great people, a lot of great memories, I was nervous, but I was all in, too. It was like, okay, if I'm going to leave police, then I'm going to make this real estate thing a full time thing.
[00:25:36] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:25:37] Speaker A: And again, all in.
[00:25:39] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:25:41] Speaker A: So the light bulb goes off. However, talk to us about why the financial district where you are. How did that all.
[00:25:56] Speaker B: Yeah, because selling money is sexy age.
And in a nutshell, that's essentially what I'm doing, right? It's one of the oldest trades in the world. It is one of the two. And people are always going to need money, right. And to be in the middle of that and facilitate it, it's not going anywhere, number one. Number two, when you're looking at it from that angle and you could shift your perspective, then you can get more excited about it in regards to the whole selling money thing. And I had built up a lot of relationships with promoters that were amazing. Promoters, great at building community, would help me slam these clubs and the natural progression in nightlife at that time. And I don't know if it still is, but they would turn into realtors because they had this community, this network. They were done with the industry, too. So how do I leverage that now? And a lot of them went into real estate. It became a thing, right? So I was like, okay, instead of me going to compete with them, let me go serve them. They've worked for my clubs, I've built up a relationship with them. I've been so good to them, I could just carry these relationships forward in this space. So right when I got off, right when I got out, I called all my boys, I was like, yo, I'm in the industry now. You know what I mean? But I'm the one on the other end, right, doing the financing piece, they're like, oh, Nikki, okay, sick. So right off the bat, it was like, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And it got off to an awesome start because people trust you, right? And they have that relationship with you that no matter what age he's doing, he's got it. And he puts his word behind it. I'm solid. He's going to look after me. And that's how people trusted me. That's how people trust everyone out there that has made a solid name for themselves. Is that whether it's a mortgage or getting me into a nightclub and providing an experience? Nikki's always had my back. He's always bent over backwards. He's always given me white glove. He's always made me feel like I'm important because they are. So he's going to do the same for me in mortgages, because at the end of the day, my license permits me to do a lot of what every other broker is allowed to do, right? So where's my value proposition? Where is my value at? What makes me different, right? And there's a few things obviously. But that's one of them, right? Is I have a solid name out there because I've done right by people and I've, you know what I mean? Always held my word down. Right. Yeah. And that's why it got off to a good start. Right off the bat, I had some solid relationships in place from there, and still to this day. You met my friend the other day and partner, you know, he's my partner on the fund. Michael's my partner on Spark, and he was my right hand man with NRG the last three years. Joined me on that venture, the insurance vertical that Sandra heads off. I met her in the disco, too, you know what? Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah.
Everyone that I'm surrounded by now still to this day, there's a lot of history there with them knowing me in the hospitality industry, right. And that continues to happen. Right. So I do stress to any young entrepreneurs that are listening in right now, it doesn't matter about what's going on at that specific moment in time in the industry that you're in, in the situation and people you're dealing with, just always, please, always do right by people. Just don't be a dick. Don't fuck people over. Don't go back on your word. Take it on the chin, turn the cheek, forgive, give back, be good. Because that reputation will follow you, right? And it'll follow you forever, and it'll do you right once upon a time, and it'll serve you right. And sometimes it's okay doing, wrapping your head around what a little short term loss may look like for some long term gain, right? And if that's sucking it up and being the bigger man, then do that. I encourage you to. It'll work for you, right. Because there's also a lot of that that I've done in my time that I'm glad I did, because people come full circle. They realize that they were wrong and that you were the bigger man. And that comes back, the universe will reward you, right?
[00:30:13] Speaker A: And you're living proof of it. So look at it now. We'll fast forward a little bit, but now tell us about all the verticals you have under your group of companies, starting from spark to all of them. So here's a guy that, like he said, 13 years old, blazer, scrubbing wine glasses and getting them nice and polished. Club owner of seven very profitable high profile nightclubs in Toronto and Miami, throws in the towel, right? Makes his money, but throws in the towel for his family so he could be a dad and a husband.
Where are you now with this whole vertical? I like to say Costco.
[00:30:59] Speaker B: Yeah, right. Yeah, sure.
[00:31:01] Speaker A: Same kind of mentality with his group of companies. Tell us about that.
[00:31:05] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure. I've always been big on building an umbrella of companies and having the verticals are the subsidiary companies that one are complementary to the next. Right. And it's not too far off the beaten path and something that is in a different sector or industry. So they're all to do with the financial industry and sector and different industries within. So spark Financial Group is the umbrella. And then there's spark mortgages being one vertical where we facilitate schedule a bank schedule banks and the lender and pair them with the board. Residential, residential, commercial, agricultural, construction, financing. We do it all right. Our license allows us to. And we got some amazing relationships with some solid lenders that do us right and do our clients right on an ongoing. And spark mortgages was the first vertical underneath the portfolio. The second vertical is spark insurance, and that is general insurance. And now we've just added a life component as well that we're going to be introducing in the next quarter. And that makes us a full service insurance vertical as well. So anything from car or auto, home, commercial, construction, bonds, jewelry, life insurance policies, wills, we're doing that all.
And then the third vertical is a fund. We have two funds that stem off of that one vertical. One is a small equity debt fund that's essentially a syndication that'll take on properties and lend on the debt side. And then one is just a debt fund where we take on investors money and we invest it into private mortgages on real estate. Right. So, yeah, very secured. And those are the three main verticals, right. There's a lot of subsidiary companies within and that stem off of those verticals and divisions and hierarchies and charts like I've seen you guys have, which is so refreshing. When you and Vanessa came to present that day, it was brilliant. I was like, oh, here's another thing we align on, right. They get know and then they're doing it and they're doing an awesome job at doing it as well. So, yeah, very refreshing to see that. But, yeah. Different organizational charge systems and processes built within the hierarchy. The chain of command, the subsidiary companies that stem off of those three verticals in the umbrella. Right. But the beautiful thing is about when you're vertically integrating is that you're not leaving money on the table, is the way I like to put it. So if you're trusting us to do something as big as a transaction as your mortgage, then why don't you let us quote your home and auto as well? We've already have all your information on your application, and we've gone as far as going to the extent of getting your noas, for that matter. Right. So give us a little bit more permission here, and we'll get you a quote on your home and auto, and we'll probably bundle it up and beat what you have in place right now. Right? And, yeah, with that being said, it's almost like, again, not going too far off the beaten path. You're already there. It's already happening, right? Or when we're looking at the fund vertical now, it's like, okay, well, now they're coming to us for their insurance, and they're coming to us for their mortgages. Now they start to poke around and ask about investments and how they can grow their wealth and how they can build up their network, their net worth, and it's like, yeah, okay, cool. You got equity in the home. Let's tap it for a refi and let's pump it in the fund, and let's get you making money on the bank's money. And even if you got any other money lying around and kicking around, you got to put that to work these days. And the reason being, it was beautiful what was said there, too, a little bit earlier on in our workshop session. In the workshop that take place where your average household income these days, on average. And then what we know the cost of living to be and how there's that massive gap. So nowadays you have to put your money to work for you. This isn't know genius thing that only Robert Kawasaki knows from rich dad, poor dad. Like, we all got to get with it. We all got to put those dollars to work for us because that's another source of income, another source of revenue that's going to help contribute to the household income. Right. And fill that gap in, because it's scary what's going on these days out there. So, yeah, I was like, yeah, let's get a fund going, and let's help people put their money to work for them. Because now we're being looked at as the financial experts. Right, with the other two verticals. So those are the three. And right now we're good with those three.
We're chasing a billion dollar evaluation. So for that being said, based on our EBITDA and our multiple, we need to do about 650,000,000 annually in reoccurring revenue. And we're well on our way. But we're still far away. Right. So our goal is to not only be. It's not to be a big fish in a small pond, it's to actually be a small pond and a small fish in a big pond and take our talents to different marketplaces. Right. And that's why we're in South Florida right now. Right. And we're starting off in. Yeah, because the market cap over there and the market share over there and the density of Florida, the tax laws in Florida. Oh, man. We could do a whole other podcast about Florida, but that's the first market that we ventured off and out of Toronto with, and we want to take a piece of that action because there's some big scuttle down there.
Absolutely.
[00:36:33] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely.
Where do I start? So you got the mortgage piece, you got the insurance piece, the private lending, basically everything under one roof when it comes to financing. The financing world is all under spark, period. And you have your different verticals from there. Let's talk about growth, because we touched upon this more on a personal level the other day, but growth, you have gone. So this idea comes into play. You leave the nightclub district industry, you get into selling money, and let's talk about how many people you had when you started. Where's Spark now with respect to your team, and I've been to your headquarters in very, very impressive organization there, to say the least. But let's talk about growth.
[00:37:32] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:37:32] Speaker A: And here's guys. Like, if you have anything that you take from this mindset, and like Nick said, jumping in with both feet and working your ass off and working hard and doing right by people and pushing the limits mindset, everything.
Here's proof in the pudding. So let's talk about growth. What's the growth spark has been under or gone through in the last few years?
[00:38:00] Speaker B: Yeah, so we started off in. We're just coming up on our fourth fiscal year right now. Right. So this is four years.
You know, it was me and my partner Mikey, the founding partners, and we were in a small boardroom in Vaughn, off of West Creek that was maybe a little bit bigger than this room. And we had both of our desks and a boardroom table in it.
[00:38:20] Speaker A: You and Mike.
[00:38:21] Speaker B: Me and Mikey. That's it. Yeah, we bootstrapped it. We didn't have no investor come put in money.
[00:38:27] Speaker A: Just you and him?
[00:38:27] Speaker B: Yeah, just me and him. Right. And working the network and putting our money in there and just going hard with it.
We love what we.
You know, that's something. Know, you got to figure out how to love what you do. Right. Or you got to get out of it, and then you got to find what it is you love to do. Because then, I know it may sound cliche or redundant here, but it's truly the case that once you find what it is you love to do, you'll never work another day in your life. Right. And that saying is 100% true. So we're clocking in big days, right? Like, lots of hours. We're clocking in on the weekend. And the growth that we've seen right now, we're five brokerages, three in the GTA, two south of the border. We're at just nearing 30 employees. And from last year to this year alone, we added 165% gross revenue to the top line. And that's without our asset category. Right. That's just our operating businesses within the verticals, within the umbrella. Right. And we're on pace to do that again in the first quarter or, sorry, the first month and a half, and what we see for the next month and a half, and then what's in the pipeline for after that. It's very easy to track, too, with the fund and the insurance piece, with the renewals and stuff. We're on track to go for the same type of growth.
That's something that we're pretty pumped up about. I think we might even hit 200% growth this year because of, again, the team and them being awesome and us continuing to align ourselves with partners and bring on new market share.
But, yeah, that's in a nutshell. Right? That's amazing.
[00:40:11] Speaker A: So you and Mikey in a boardroom office or a small office about this size and a table now you're at 30 strong, 30 plus strong.
[00:40:21] Speaker B: Full time, too? We don't have full time. We don't have an agent model that's all in house.
So they're all salaried. There's some net profit share there. There's some incentive, and some of them have made partners. Some of them are incentivized from different areas depending on their division.
[00:40:36] Speaker A: Right.
[00:40:37] Speaker B: Yeah. I'm a big believer in don't clip people's wings. If they want to grow and they want to see it, that they can continue to make more money and take on more responsibility, then why wouldn't you allow them to do that, especially if you're going for growth as well? So in very short periods of time, people have made partner. People are doing well on deals that they're closing and kickbacks that they're making, and title changes are happening on an ongoing basis. Salaries are getting pumped on an ongoing basis. It's wonderful to see.
It's awesome when someone spreads their wings and you can see them kind of come out of their shell and you know where they started and you know where they are, and you're just so proud of them, and you're just like.
[00:41:19] Speaker A: Yeah, kind of like Karina, right?
[00:41:22] Speaker B: Yeah. Is that what happened? That's what's going on.
[00:41:24] Speaker A: We're going to put her on the podcast next.
[00:41:26] Speaker B: Nice.
[00:41:28] Speaker A: Yeah. For those watching, I don't know if you can see Karina on the camera there, but Karina came to us fresh out of university, majored in communications and new media.
[00:41:40] Speaker B: Nice.
[00:41:40] Speaker A: And right out of McMaster here, and we gave her a shot to start doing our. What, thanks to me. Thanks to Vanessa. I think Vanessa interviewed Karina first, and then she's like, yeah, I think she's good. I think you need to interview her. I think I like her this and that and, yeah. So Karina gave her a shot. We were her first gig right out of university.
[00:42:08] Speaker B: Nice.
[00:42:08] Speaker A: And she was with us for just over a year. Right. And then she comes to me and she says, I'm ready to spread my wings, and I still want to work with you and everything, and I want to still be in your building, but I want to start my own company within the building, essentially. So she spread her wings, and now I've been helping her, and she's done a good job.
Get clients. How many clients you got? Three or four now.
[00:42:39] Speaker B: Congratulations.
[00:42:41] Speaker A: Yeah. So it's going, and it's all hers.
So spread your wing story. There's one good story to share with you.
[00:42:50] Speaker B: Yeah, you could tell the way you buzz around the office, the way you're smiling, the way you interact, like you got your backpack. Me and Bianca were talking, fucking strapped up cameras. I'm like, shit, I felt like she was the american military at that.
The way she's getting down, I'm like, she fucking loves serious. Yeah, that's good. It's good.
[00:43:08] Speaker A: Serious.
[00:43:09] Speaker B: Yeah, it's good.
Me and B were talking about that shit. That girl's fucking hardcore, man. But that's what happens when you love what you do. That's what happens when you take it seriously. You just drowned out what other people think and what the noise are, and you're just like, let's go.
And it ends up working out so good on you.
[00:43:30] Speaker A: So let's talk about.
We got about 510 minutes, but let's send off or kind of get to the end. Talk about your locations now. So I mentioned your headquarters is in Vaughn. Right near Vaughn Mills Mall, you have another spot where?
[00:43:48] Speaker B: Here.
Exp.
[00:43:50] Speaker A: Hamilton. Yeah, that's a given.
[00:43:52] Speaker B: Port credit.
[00:43:53] Speaker A: And then you're in Port credit office as well. Exp. Port credit, yeah.
[00:43:57] Speaker B: And then Fort Lauderdale there. We have two locations in Oakland and on La Solas. So that's like downtown Fort Lauderdale in the financial district and ten minutes out from there. And we do want to make our way around the whole state. There's still Miami. We want to go to West Palm. We're going to get to. And then we want to go to Texas and Dubai. Probably Dubai first. And then Texas.
[00:44:22] Speaker A: Amazing.
[00:44:23] Speaker B: Yeah. Just because. What a fucking emerging market that is, right?
Great for taxes.
Yeah. Those are the next two markets. But again, lots of work to do south of the border in Florida to start. So you don't want to bite off more than you could chew. And you can only grow as fast as your revs are. And you got to always maintain that healthy bottom line, and you got to make sure that it's done in a way where it's not organized chaos. Right. So continuing to structure the portfolio and the business so that it makes sense and people show up and they enjoy themselves as opposed to being like, yeah, we're growing and the brand is sexy and everyone knows us, but fuck, life is chaotic. When I walk in there, I don't want that kind of environment. I'll literally, and I have and I will continue to, if I ever have to again, intentionally stunt the company's growth so that I could go back to the drawing board, rejig it, put it into motion, see that everyone's happy, and then move it forward. Because then at that point, it's just a greed thing, it's an ego thing. We got to get to a billion. We got to get to a billion. Well, how's everyone doing? How are we feeling? We good? We still family? Everyone's still loving one another.
We're playing on an all star team, too, so sometimes people got to get snipped. That's part of the job, too. Tough conversations. You can't have other people on the team that are next to all stars. And the all stars are like, what the fuck is this guy doing on the bench? And it'll rub their balls the wrong way. So you got it. You got to make those line adjustments. Excuse my language. Right? I get a little bit too hard. Sports analogy. But that's what happens. You know what I mean? They're going to be like, what's this guy doing here? What's this girl doing here? If they're slacking and they're not showing up, they're not being the best version of the cells, they're not putting in the overtime work, they're not doing what we were doing. They don't align. You got to make those adjustments. And sometimes there's some bad apples that get in to the operation you do. So again, right.
It's about pausing it. Understanding what people's wants, needs and desires are seeing that people are motivated and inspired, seeing that we're operating nice and lean and the bottom line is healthy and then it's moving it forward. Right. So we want to do it tastefully as well. Right. But those are the next markets that we have our sights set on.
[00:46:34] Speaker A: Amazing.
[00:46:34] Speaker B: We'll get there.
[00:46:35] Speaker A: Amazing.
[00:46:36] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:46:37] Speaker A: So the podcast is called more to life.
[00:46:40] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:46:42] Speaker A: When Nic Regina pictures more to life for Necrogena, what do you see leaving.
[00:46:52] Speaker B: This world a better place than I found it. And that means being good on a daily basis and staying aligned with my moral compass and having it be that every decision I make I'm going into consciously with everyone's best interest, not just mine. And right now, in my belief, there's a big war going on. Good versus evil. We're the good guys, as I like to say, and we're going to fight the fight and we're going to make sure we beat the bad guys. And we're continuing to recruit new soldiers. So if you want to join the good guys, pull up.
And not only to do my part on that end of things, but to give back at any chance I have. So philanthropic work is big with me. I'll always attach it to what it is I'm doing because there's just people that just simply can't do what we could do when we wake up every day. Some people aren't able to put their 2ft on the floor. Some people aren't able to think with a sound mind. Some people aren't able to give their wife a hug. Some people aren't able to put food on the table for their kids. And these are things that before you even step out your door and make a dollar or start up whatever car it is you drive, or put on whatever suit jacket is you may have, or strap up whatever watches on your wrist. These are things that are so beautiful and precious that you have to be extremely grateful for. So always being mindful of that. And then my time on this earth is going to end and I'm pumped up to join the big man upstairs when it does. But I got to leave behind some badass kids too, that are going to follow in my footsteps. So being an awesome dad so that they can continue to fight the fight and leave this place a better place than they found it, is my mission as well.
[00:48:34] Speaker A: Amazing.
[00:48:35] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:48:36] Speaker A: I get everything from.
I usually end my podcast with that one question. I ask every guest that one question. I get everything from what you just said to I want to own a jet, I want to own a yacht.
[00:48:51] Speaker B: Yeah, we'll do that shit too.
I want flying into the ocean and parachute out. We'll do a video one day about it.
[00:49:00] Speaker A: I love asking that question just to see the responses we get. And like I said, we get from one to ten and everything in between. But listen, you have a way about you. You have an amazing story.
Obviously, it seems like, and it's for a reason, this happens, but it seems like in your career, everything you've touched, and there may be some shortfalls, everybody has shortfalls along the yellow brick road, but it seems like everything you've touched has turned to gold, so to speak, from your previous career to where spark is now transitioning into, as you would say, selling money is sexy. And I commend you for that. And I applaud you for that, because, fuck, not everybody.
Some people try and maybe unfortunately don't succeed or just have the wrong vision or the wrong attitude, or maybe a little bit of bad luck or, I don't know, whatever word you want to use. But everything you seem to have put your head to, you've made something out of it. And obviously, spark is, like you said, probably going to hit with a bit of hard work, more than luck, 200% this year. So, guys, if you're listening, and I know this one went a little bit longer than normal, here's a guy that should be an inspiration and his story, from stepping out of outside of his comfort zone and making a lot of money in the club district to going into the financial world. And did you ever think, yeah, when you're running seven clubs and you're barely sleeping and you're up till five in the morning, did you ever think, fast forward however many years to today, you would own as many verticals with as many team members on your side? Did that ever cross your mind? Did you ever stop and think about that for a second in another industry? Yeah.
[00:51:04] Speaker B: No. And that's why I like, and if.
[00:51:07] Speaker A: I knew you back then, and I said, you know what, Nick? In eight years from now, you're going to be selling money and you're going to have a team of 30 and you're going to have a headquarters in Vaughn and it's going to be called spark financial. And you're going to have this and this and that.
Would you have thought that or you said, you're fucked?
[00:51:26] Speaker B: No. Yeah, I would say you're fucked. I'd say go back to Paparazzi and do a skinny moonwalk there. You're dizzy.
[00:51:35] Speaker A: Exactly. So, guys. Yeah, that's a wrap. And that's my point.
You have to go all in, as Nick said. And he's living proof of it. I'm living proof of it 15 years ago, while I was trying to fall asleep in a cruiser at three in the morning in the back of an industrial complex, sitting in my cruiser. And if you would have said to me, Adrian, would you own a massive empire of rental properties and buildings? I'd say the same thing. You're fucked. Yeah, I'm going to do this until I die and then, God willing, I have whatever else I have in my life. But, yeah, I would have said the same thing. So everything is possible, right?
[00:52:19] Speaker B: Yeah, 100%. Put your mind to it, have your heart lead you and put her in fucking 6th gear and pin it.
[00:52:27] Speaker A: Boom. Anyways, that's it. Nick, thanks again for being on the show.
[00:52:31] Speaker B: Thank you for having me.
[00:52:32] Speaker A: I hope you guys enjoyed that. And remember, if he can do it and I can do it, you can do it.
[00:52:40] Speaker B: Absolutely. Cheers.
