HEATHER EWING: The CRE RUNdown
Are you intrigued by Commercial Real Estate? Join Heather Ewing, CCIM each week as she dives into CRE trends, Deals, and Developments throughout Madison, WI. Learn the crucial role of Mindset in CRE and Marathons! Success leaves Clues.
HEATHER EWING: The CRE RUNdown
Ep. 60 Gabe Einhorn — The Inner Game of CRE: Resilience, Discipline & Drive to Build
This episode features an inspiring conversation with Gabe Einhorn, a rising commercial real estate professional and founder of the faith-based clothing brand “Praise.” Gabe shares the highs and lows of his journey, like going 14 months without closing a deal, and how resilience, faith, and authenticity have shaped his approach to business.
He opens up about the dream that sparked his brand, which uses scripture to unite people across beliefs, and reflects on the surprising warmth of the CRE community. Gabe also talks about balancing business with spirituality and fitness, highlighting how his morning routine grounds him through the pressures of entrepreneurship.
Tune in for a refreshing perspective on purpose-driven work, building trust over transactions, and staying grounded through both challenges and success.
Welcome to Heather Ewing, the CRE Rundown Today from lovely New York. I have Gabe, and Gabe help me in pronouncing your name.
Speaker 2:Gabe Einhorn.
Speaker 1:Einhorn. Remember that name, folks, because he is going places as seen on his LinkedIn, so you're going to want to check him out and that's how we connected and what I loved about you from the start, Gabe, is one you've got great energy. Two, you actually reached out in a fun, non-boring five paragraph thing of hey, let's jump on a quick call. I'm all about something quick and getting to know someone, so welcome.
Speaker 2:For sure. Thank you for having me. It's actually funny you said that because I started on LinkedIn about a year and a half ago, two years ago, and before I started posting, I just started sending cold DMS and I've been trial and error sending you know the longer form things, trying to sell people, in the initial like cold DM, and then, just the last couple of months, as I started gaining more connections and traction, I was just like let me just send a simple like great to connect, would love to hop on a call. Like let me just send a simple like great to connect, would love to hop on a call? Like make it short and quick If you're down.
Speaker 1:Say like yes, if not, like it's what it is, you know. So that's how we jumped on a call, because a lot of times I do get these long things and it's delete, delete, delete and um, that's where it was fun having that quick conversation, and I think one of the things that I love about you is that you share videos of New York, just like I love sharing these great videos of Madison Wisconsin.
Speaker 2:For sure. Yeah, there's so much in New York and, as I started once, I started posting regular posts, then I started posting some pictures, adding it in, and then I was like I want to post some videos. I'm in New York City I don't really sell buildings necessarily in New York City but there's so much to see, so much to do. I feel like making some video series on that could be a super cool thing just to spread, and people would like it. So just decided to do that. And people kind of get a little confused like oh, are you selling those properties? Like no, I'm not selling Hudson Yards, that's above my pay grade, but it's a cool video to make.
Speaker 1:So I went for it, that'd be a Bob Knackle.
Speaker 2:One right no-transcript.
Speaker 1:Think about definitely so share with our audience here a little bit more about you for those that have not yet met you yeah for sure.
Speaker 2:So a little bit about me. I'm working in commercial real estate. My my main job is arranging debt financing for commercial real estate. We're doing deals across the country. Been doing it for about two years now, so I'm no expert in any sense. My main goal is just to build networks, more connections, and build that trust to help out clients. I'm not going to sell you over like, oh, I'm better than this guy or that guy because, look, he's been doing it for 20 years. I've been doing it for two years. You know he's got a lot more experience and knowledge than me, but I'm dedicated to the client, building a real, true relationship, someone that you enjoy working with and that will get the job done for you.
Speaker 2:So that's what I'm doing during the day and since this past summer I started my clothing brand Praise, trying to spread the importance of prayer and belief in God. It kind of came across as an idea in a dream this past summer, which is kind of crazy. Sounds like I made it up, but it did, and it's just in such a crazy world where there's so much negativity and division, I thought it could be a way to bring people together from different backgrounds and religions through one shared belief of just God, or even a higher power, something that's controlling the world, that's greater than us. We're not controlling the world. I can't decide what's happening tomorrow. You can't decide what's happening tomorrow. It's not in our hands. There's something greater than us and we can all share that. Whether we're Christian, muslim, catholic, jewish, we can all share that. Whether we're, you know, christian, muslim, catholic, jewish, um, we can all share that belief. So that's kind of the goal around the brand um.
Speaker 2:I love it so yeah, it's been a fun ride I think to your point, though.
Speaker 1:I think people get stuck on titles, whether it's various religions or careers, this and that right. And when you strip away everything else, it's really finding peace and and that connection, in whatever it is and in any form, right. And you know, as far as the clothing coming up into a dream, that's how a lot of my earlier oil paintings For those that don't know, I used to have an oil painting business many years ago when I went through my early midlife crisis in my 30s, but that's where I would get different ideas for it, and you hear of a lot of the artists and creative people throughout time. The dream state is when you know your your ordinary mind is out and you really are opening up to a lot more. So I think that's great. And now with the clothing line, what do you offer?
Speaker 2:So right now we have t-shirts, hoodies, crew necks and sweatpants, and that's probably will remain like that. I'm not sure if we'll roll out shorts. We're going on some hats too, so I mean, you could put something on everything. I think the staple is the t-shirt, because that's going to have the biblical quote on the back. I think the staple is the t-shirt because that's going to have the biblical quote on the back. I'm going to do different releases based on different motivational biblical quotes that connect me and connect to other people. The shirt that I'm wearing now says a wise man falls seven times and rises again. That's just a worldwide quote. Whether you follow any religion or you just know good quotes, that's definitely one of them and that's the goal to put those on the back of the shirts and have people you know be proud to actually wear their faith.
Speaker 1:So right Definitely and I think to your point, gabe is that people can relate to challenges in life getting back up, and some get back up and some don't. Like I've always said that life's earlier experiences the the really challenging ones, that it either buries you or it gives you wings. Exactly, and I think it's really as people move through the healing process of different things that that's where they do cultivate the wins, if you want to say, and it gives them that forward momentum. And that ties in perfectly with commercial real estate, because you know, being new to the field, right, and I'm, I haven't been in it 20, 30 years, but I've been in it since 2010. And there's always opportunities to learn, to grow, and the more you learn, you realize how little you know. And let's face it, right, deal terms are long and you can really go through a myriad of different experiences in one deal.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've seen that a lot so far. Just getting started I mean my first 14 months I didn't even close a deal. And you get so excited, we get assigned terms, you start moving the process and then that deal falls through and this deal falls through and that goes wrong, and there's so many things that go wrong. And if you're not built for things to go wrong and bounce back from it, then you're not built for this industry and it's, I mean, in life in general. I'm sure most industries, like you're going to deal with setbacks and failures. And if you're not, if you don't have the ability and the grit the I forgot, like the word that I want to use but the strength to bounce back, you know you're not going to, you're going to have a hard time succeeding in anything.
Speaker 1:That's so true and that's where I say to that entrepreneurship, which is what we're all in, where it's really defining is that not only do you take the hit, the learning lesson right, which is great for the future, but when you're going through it, let's face it, it is not pretty. Other arenas where in commercial, there's fewer deals and they're more sizable, versus even residential or other types of sales, where if you miss one, two, three, maybe 10, it's not as big of a deal, but due to the time parameters and dollar amounts, yeah, you learn once and it's a tough learning curve. So, I agree, you don't mess around with that. What else are you observing, being newer to the arena, that might have contradicted, if you want to say to the sales right of why this arena is so great, or maybe just expectations that you had? What's something for people maybe that are interested in getting into it, whether they're young, whether this is a second, third, fourth career, what might be something that you can share with them that will be helpful.
Speaker 2:Yeah for sure. So I mean, the first thing that comes to my mind is, you know, a perception that I don't know if it's worldwide or you know people think like this. But when I first started in real estate, I was a little bit intimidated. You kind of think like, oh, people who work in real estate like they're scary. You know they're not friendly and I've had my fair share of people who you know weren't so open or nice. You know whether it was a cold call, event, whatever, everyone has their, you know, their, their moments.
Speaker 2:But really just how open and you know, like nice people are in the industry, like it's, it's a much more tight knit community than most industries. You know you have accounting and finance and all this stuff where there's hundreds of thousands, millions of people doing it. The real estate industry, yes, it's big and you know I haven't even touched a percentage of, you know, the real estate industry in the United States. But, like from the people in the smaller groups that I've interacted with, whether it's in New York City or even, you know, on LinkedIn, social media, so many people open just to you know, getting on calls with me. You know answering advice, whether it's at events, meeting up like so. So many people are open just to giving back and it's much easier to build connections than I expected. I thought it would be much more difficult, you know, to put yourself out there and you know get rejected and obviously it's part of the process. But I think it's a very underratedly warm space where there's a lot of good people, like really good people.
Speaker 1:I agree. I think it's extremely relationship-based and I think that's also again due to the long deal terms and things of that nature and I remember when I got into it as well of people are really open, and I think also we all remember, no matter how long we've been in it, how hard you had to work.
Speaker 2:When.
Speaker 1:I started, I didn't have a book of business either and I didn't have outside funding and things of that nature, so it was really it was brass tacks. It was a lot of grit and vision and, like yourself, there's a strong vision and you put the action in daily, whether you want to or not, right. And you put the action in daily, whether you want to or not, right. And I think a lot of people get sidetracked by oh, beautiful weather, right. Especially since New York and Wisconsin can get a little chilly.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I think it's one of those of it's really recommitting and I like to say it's almost like you resell yourself on the mission and the vision on a daily basis and, depending on what you're going through, it might be several times within a day For sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sometimes you wake up and you're just like I'm not built for this or I'm not ready for this. There's some days that are just longer, slower, deals aren't coming in or deals are falling through, and you're dealing with that stuff. One thing I want to ask you actually is I guess, now that you started in 2010, so it's about 15 years now in your real estate career, when in your career did you realize that like this was for you and like you were in it for the long run?
Speaker 1:Right, I would say so. The interesting thing is I started at the bottom, truly. So, even though I had two different business degrees, I had had that early you know path of trying a lot of different arenas. And so in 2010, I actually got in to real estate through First Weber as an admin.
Speaker 2:Okay, Because, I had my art business at the time.
Speaker 1:So I wanted something simple and stable that I didn't bring home, and that's where I got my sales license, and I never worked in residential. But I next transitioned to property management and I knew upfront that that would not be my heart's delight, but it kept me in the arena and I think what happens is a lot of people's egos get in the way where they would never have taken that type of position, nor the property management right. When you come from two business degrees, you made money, but what I learned early on is that sometimes you have to pay in to get what you want, and I was willing to do that, and that's that's the path that I took. And again, I built mine, and then I got into brokerage in 2014. And then it was retail restaurants and then mixed use developments from 15 forward, and then I started my firm Abstract on a beautiful month of April 2020. Ok, which?
Speaker 2:we all remember.
Speaker 1:So what? Yeah, for people that don't know me well, they'll realize there's a lot of grit and you can't. You can't tell people's backgrounds and what they've been able to do in life by just a glance, just like with a lot of people, I'm sure they see that you're younger and there's already the assumption that blank, blank, blank, blank For sure. Right. And so I think it's the athlete in me that just says we all start at the starting line and we all finish at the finish, and we'll see who comes out first.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's, that was my path and it's I really committed to it. I would say in 2015, when I was like, wow, you can bring food and shopping all into one, I'm like I was made for this. That's great, yeah. And then the developments uh, it's, it's art on a grand scale yeah so I'm working on a project right now where, talking about the design, how much, how many square feet of retail do we put in restaurants, all of this?
Speaker 2:so it's all of those basics that make me, but it's in a brick and mortar yeah, it's like, it's like a design and artwork on like the largest scale, like you can't make bigger art than you know. Making a massive property, uh, development like it's, uh, it's very cool. So tell me. I wanted to ask also a little bit more about your athletic background. So you said you I know we spoke about it um when we spoke a couple weeks ago um that you're very into running, right?
Speaker 1:Marathons yeah, we can. This can be a tag team podcast.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Um, yeah, exactly Marathons. Love them that. Um, I started getting into half marathons for stress 2015. Yeah, and I started sleeping as I ran more, and then your body would get used to that next level and it's like, oh, but need to add some more miles.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And that's how I ended up. Yeah, like 26 half marathons and now nine marathons, so it's great for stress. I learned early in life Bad habits. You need to choose habits that will actually fuel you forward. So what have you done, Gabe? What's your go-to for de-stressing?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm still trying to balance it out. I happen to be not like a stressed out person, but I put a lot of pressure on myself, like, thankfully, you know, my parents, my family, everyone has a lot of support for me. Just, you know, with whatever I want to do and I'm blessed to have that but just mentally, like I want to achieve so much and I put a lot of pressure on myself, which inherently causes a solid amount of stress. One way that's best for me to totally detox is when I play soccer. It's just a way to get out of everything.
Speaker 2:Your mind is just not on anything else, you're just focused on the game and then you get. Obviously, when you're having the better games, you're in a flow state, you know, like in any sport, and you know you're totally, you know enhanced and you know, entrenched into the game and it's just a getaway for you know, an hour, an hour and a half, you feel great Sometimes. Obviously, you know you don't feel great afterwards if you lose or you get injured or whatever. That's a great way I detox. So I play that. I'm playing in Israel in July for Team USA, that's fantastic.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So that's going to be probably my last competitive route because I finished up school a month ago and I'm not sure if I'm going to go back. I've played three years but I finished my MBA, so I don't know what I would go back to school for and if I have the time to go, like, play another year in college, because it's just a, it's a big commitment. So I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to put that extra energy towards if I decide, you know, after July that I'm done playing, you know, at a competitive level. I mean, I do still love going to the gym, I love playing basketball, soccer, so, whether it's even just at a recreational level level, maybe that's a good idea. It's just hard for me Because, as you know an athlete, I'm sure you know like there's a difference between running by yourself and running an actual race. So it's, like you know, the competition is not there if I go play in a pickup game in New York City versus playing in, you know, an intense competitive game. So yeah, trying to figure that out.
Speaker 1:Well, would you like a couple of questions to help you with that? Yeah, sure, okay, so I'm probably about twice your age, right? So, thinking at it from a different vantage point, what I would say is one fitness can be a big part of your life. Through many years I got into the solid running and racing at 40, right, and so I'm 51. And I'm a firm believer.
Speaker 1:I've done really well in commercial real estate as a result of staying fit and, to your point, you do process things differently. You also keep a really solid mindset, because you can't do well in sports with a sloppy mindset, for sure, right, and it also helps me. I focus on food as fuel, my hydration, all of those things, because, kind of like you at the soccer game, if you're not hydrated it's going to be painful and you do it once or maybe twice and you learn real quick of that. I will not put myself through that again. So they feed into each other really well and I think, especially as people age, when you combine the relationships with a strong mind, body, that's going to allow you to go a lot further and other people are going to tire in different ways and when people's health goes, you know they spent all of their, their focus, their energy and funds on that.
Speaker 1:Yeah it's sad, but it's a real part of life. So I would say, remember it's a marathon, not a sprint, and, you know, maybe as you're waking up one day or going to bed, ask yourself and feel into it, right, like I say, run it forward in your mind of who are you at different benchmarks of life and who are you and how do you feel and how does it translate to the other aspects of life if you are active, if you do play one more year, if you play several years through intramural or whatever types of things. So that would be my, my uh questions for you for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I think like I'm, I think I'm ready, like to kind of of hang it up on a competitive level. But I mean through all that I've gained a sense of importance through just fitness and health. I go to the gym every morning. If I don't go to the gym in the morning, either before or after I do my morning prayers, my day is not the same. It's part of my daily routine. So, like, even stuff like that, like that's with me now whether or not I'm still playing soccer, like I have that regimen of like the importance of getting in a morning workout, you know, getting my body moving, so that's something that like is very important. I just just the lessons I learned and obviously then you know, even if I'm not playing at a competitive level, like I could hone in some of that competitive energy and nature into, you know, the business world and into you know, hopefully future.
Speaker 2:You know, building a family and a lot of other things. So there's a there's a lot to think about, for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, I think you might be more clear than you realize. So watch this back and I think you'll know. So my last question for you, gabe this is the challenging one, but I think you'll roll right with us is what does living fully mean to you?
Speaker 2:That's a deep question.
Speaker 1:It is.
Speaker 2:It's honestly, it's something that I try to think about, especially like once you get into, you know the mix of business and the rush and you're just you're trying to do so many things at the same time, especially once I started the clothing brand and then things started ramping up with business.
Speaker 2:It's like I'm trying to do so many things at the same time.
Speaker 2:You don't even like stop to just breathe and be in the moment. So I think living fully is just living in the moment as much as you can. It's obviously easier said than done, and even people who say that they live in the moment, you know we're so caught up in our phones and in work and thinking about the next thing and the next thing. I think living fully for me is spending time with family and friends and, obviously, you know, honing in on my connection to God, doing something meaningful with my time and trying to live in the moment as much as possible and actually appreciating the here and now, instead of getting so caught up, which I tend to do a lot, because I want to accomplish so many things and there's so many things going through my mind that I'm always thinking about the next thing and the next thing. So the times that I actually am able to really appreciate what I'm doing at that time and it's something that I enjoy, that I'm doing, that's meaningful, I think that's living to the fullest.
Speaker 1:Perfect, and that is sage advice for us all. So, gabe, thank you so much for joining me today and share with our audience. How can they connect with you?
Speaker 2:For sure. Yeah, thank you for having me again. You can connect with me on LinkedIn Just look up Gabe Einhorn. It's the redhead guy on LinkedIn. I'm actually just got on Twitter also I think it's Einhorn Gabe, still trying to figure out that platform and on Instagram, youtube and Tik TOK. You can check out praise studios, p-r-a-y-s studios um, that's just for some more, uh, fun, faith-based content. Going around doing street interviews, asking people about god prayer, um, some some more meaningful stuff. So, uh, check it out and I appreciate you having me heather. You're back, babe. Thanks so much. Thank you, all right bye.