So in packing for Aspen, you bring big boots, big coats that have a cowboy hat. It's like Devin Dummer come to life. And it's just the way it is there. It's sort of like costumes, like Aspen Mountain costumes. It's like a rich person's playground with costumes, but it's really not only a rich person's playground because it's very You'll see ski lift operators hanging out with billionaires, and that's
kind of what's cool about it. There are aspects of the Hampton's and Montalk that are like that, where you have fishermen hanging out with Jimmy Buffett rest in peace. So I get on the plane and I'm wearing along to the floor faux fur but looks like a real fur, like multi colored jacket, you know, like beige, black white.
It looks like.
It just looks like some version of an animal and it's it's not real. But I'm wearing a gray, like light gray, ten gallon cowboy hat and these high hybrid cowboy boots, like hybrid fashion cowboy boots.
I've got my air mes bag.
I'm with Brinn and I look at her and I said, I'm that asshole.
Like because she was.
I just said, anyone we knock into, anything we do wrong, any suitcase we put above, we're gonna stand out because we look like New York assholes. Like that's just what this is. So you gotta know who you are and where you fit in. And sometimes like when I'm an asspen, I'm that asshole.
When I go on vacation, I'm in costume. When I go to St.
Barts, I'm wearing all different colors. I go to Puerto Rico, I'm wearing different types of all different colors. When I go to Miami, I'm dressed like a hobag slut. Like when I go to Vegas, I'm dressed like a different West Coast version of a hoe bag slut. It's just when in Rome do as the Romans do. When an
aspen dressed like an asshole. Because I'm going home to pajamas and someone saw my ring on the chair lift and was like, oh my god, what if you lose it here or whatever, I go, listen, whatever this is, it's all bs, it's all a show. It's all going in the like I'm not taking it in the ground with me. So when we're all going into the box, who gives a shit. I'm in pajamas ninety percent of the time from TJ Max, hanging with my dogs.
I leave the house, I go on the mountain.
I'm wearing everything I own, tough shit, I don't care what it looks like. And I'm equally comfortable at the dollar Store as I am Arimez.
I love them both equally.
I'm an equal opportunity consumer, wearer an asshole. And reflecting upon my conversation with Ryan sirhan we we're talking, he and I about an apartment that he listed for me, and he had for a while. There was a girl that worked for him who was showing the apartment. He's got a big business and he has to be able to delegate, and he insisted that the apartment was listed
for six point five million dollars. I had another guy, a very successful agent, a competitor of his, also say that the apartment should be listed for six point five million dollars. It was interesting because it was history repeating itself because I had a dispute with Frederick years before where I believe it was the same number, and Frederick said that I needed to list something for six point five and I was pretty firm on seven million. I
wasn't bullish or delusional. I just actually thought, as a consumer that that's what the value was. And I'm pretty good at kind of knowing the value of things in my mind. I just kind of see something and determine what it should be worth, what it should cost. Of course, things can be overpriced, and there's a premium for certain things, but I have a knack for pricing, and I think
there's a psychology to pricing. So Ryan, I went with Ryan for six and a half million, and it just bugged me because I really thought it was worth seven million, and that's a lot of money the difference there. So he listed it for several months and it didn't sell, and then I decided to change to a less forward facing, a less famous, certainly broker, a more conservative broker, someone who is just a little quieter and reserved and had a style that aligned with me. I was polite with Ryan,
of course I like Ryan. I respect Ryan. I would never make Ryan look bad. It's undeniable, indisputable. He's successful and deserves it. He and Frederick both have come so far and both are very charismatic and electric salesmen and they have built incredible businesses, very different businesses, but they're both successful and you can't take that away from them. They have monetized and capitalized on a reality television experience in a way that is admirable. Not unlike Mauricio in
the real estate business. But I was pretty firm, again with Ryan, like I was with Frederick, in my mind that it was seven million. So when I ended up doing this deal with another broker, I'll tell you his name.
His name is Noble.
Black, and he had my style and he said, I agree with you. I think it's I think it was probably six nine nine nine. I'm just rounding it up for ease of conversation. But so he agreed that it was seven million. And this was in the pandemic. The city wasn't that popular. It was starting to turn a little,
but it still was not back. They were trying to say that the market was challenging when to get something for a good deal, but trying to say that the market was back when trying to get people to buy. So you know, if you're sitting there trying to sell an apartment, you don't know which way is up and
what's really happening. But For some reason, I just thought that this particular apartment, this unique and beautiful apartment, was the kind of apartment that a certain type of person walks in just wants it, knows they want it, and that they're going to pay the ask and lo and behold a customer like myself who goes in and pays
the ask for what they want. Came in very shortly after listing it and took the apartment for seven million dollars and took a lot of the furniture, which is a plus, because the furniture is sometimes a pain in the ass. You don't want to deal with it. You got to move it somewhere. It's going to cause more to move it. Furniture is not that expensive anymore, and you just kind of want to, like not have another thing to deal with and fight over, you know, a
cashmir blanket, as Ryan and I discussed. So I did find a seven million dollar buyer. And this whole story and the reflection upon this story is to say that, like the chapter in my book, A Place of Yes says, never assume anyone is smarter than you. They could be a professional at the subject, they could be a doctor, they could be a travel agent. They could be a philosopher, they could be anything.
A chef.
Doesn't mean you're a genius and that you're better than any hedge fund trader at money or you know, chef at a recipe. It just means that don't assume that someone's smarter than you. If you just listen to what everybody else says, you would maybe lose five hundred thousand dollars in a transaction. So go with your gut because I never assume anyone is smarter. I double check, triple check, and I ultimately go with my gut. After doing my research,
I crowdsource and ultimately make my own decision. People don't really thank for gifts, particularly holiday gifts, And what I've found really interesting is employees almost never thank for holiday bonuses.
It's so interesting.
I mean, I've given bonuses that are ten thousand dollars. It could be five percent of someone's salary, ten percent of someone's salary. I've given bonuses to people that are new and employees for some reason do not thank for bonuses. And it's a mistake because employers would be more apt to give bonuses more often or that are larger in size if there is a thank you, and I don't know if the psychology behind it is embarrassment or entitlement.
It doesn't feel like entitlement because often it's someone that didn't believe that they were going to even get a bonus. But I've found that employees particularly don't thank for bonuses and gifts. There are many exceptions, but that's what I've found over the years. I want to give a shout out to Jill Martin, who some of you may know, if you don't, she is on the Today Show. She has many different apparel and home goods lines on QVC.
She just got married in the past couple of years after a breakup with this man that she really loved. Then she saw the air in her ways or saw the light, and they both decided to get back together. And then they got married in a fairytale wedding. And then she was diagnosed with breast cancer. I've known her for years and I texted her. We've been texting back and forth ever since she was diagnosed. Just how you
doing today, just checking in, et cetera. But like, it wasn't entirely real to me until I read this article about her talking about going and getting wigs and that she had done a story on it, and I went over onto her social media and looked at her story, and Bynn was laying with me and said, Mama, did she lose her eyelashes? Because I think her lashes or her brows like and she, you know, did not look the same. Like she's looked like it's taken a toll
on her. It feels like the medicine is either swelling or it's just you know, she looks tired, obviously. And I spoke to someone who I know in common with her who said, I said, how is she doing? And they said, she's doing as well as she could possibly be doing.
But I don't. I don't.
Things don't register with me until I get hit over the head with them. Either it's denial or I am suppressing it, or it's my subconscious not wanting to realize what, you know, she's really really going through. Like it's a concept, but it's not something that's totally real to me. And when I saw that article, and then I saw her story on her going for wigs, and I.
Saw her talking about all the people.
That have reached out to her, it just became real that she's in a fight, Like now I understand why they say you're a survivor, Like you're in a fight for your life. You know, you're going into radiation every day, Like it sounds traumatizing.
What kind of nightmares must you have?
What are you thinking about, like mortality and what the meaning of life is and why this happened to you and her mother had it and like I just feel for her. I really just and in closing out twenty twenty three, it's making me feel guilty for feeling grateful.
I'm on vacation with my daughter.
We're in Turks and Kkos, we've been you know, an Aspen, and I just I feel like the sense of guilt and yeah, people say you're supposed to be living, but then like I feel bad for a living while she you know, going through it. I just and Brynn was like, Mama,
that's so sad. And it hit Britt too. Brinna knows her, but like she didn't really realize because you just say to somebody, somebody has cancer, but someone doesn't realize until they see it, like you really understand it, And I guess just take a moment of pause for people in your life who are struggling, or you know, for her husband who's going through it with her, for his support of her.
It just is really.
It sounds really sad and really hard, and it breaks my heart. And I'm sure she'll be okay and she's gonna get through this, and she is a fighter and a survivor, but it just seems extremely taxing and just it's very upsetting. So the meaning that I take from it is just to be centered, be in the moment, focus on what's important, try to really just appreciate family and being centered and love. And it's hard. We're superficial creatures.
We're on vacation, We're worried about ourselves. We worried about presents and used resolutions. And this is just a shout out to Jill Martin because she's in the fight of her life