Joseph Jerome is co-founder of JEMB Realty, a powerhouse in real estate with a diverse portfolio spanning the U.S. and Canada. With over 40 years in the industry, Joey shares how he built a thriving real estate business, the lessons he learned from early struggles, and why reputation is everything in business.
We dive into his humble beginnings—starting out in his family’s deli and running a DJ business before stepping into real estate. Joey talks about the importance of people skills, how he navigated major market downturns, and the strategic shifts that helped him build a resilient and diversified company.
Beyond business, Joey is deeply involved in community leadership. He discusses his work with AIPAC, UJA, and the Sephardic Community Center, why giving back is essential, and how young professionals can start making an impact.
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Transcript
Victor M. Braca: The following is a conversation between myself and Joey Jerome, co-founder of JMB Realty, a powerhouse in real estate with a portfolio that stretches across the US and Canada. JMB has been involved in major deals ranging from office towers and retail centers to residential and industrial developments worth hundreds of millions.
But Joey’s story isn’t just about real estate. As you’re about to hear, he started out working in his family’s deli, built a thriving DJ business as a teenager, and carried those people skills into a career that’s been defined by smart deals, resilience through market downturns, and a deep commitment to community. In this episode, we dive deep into the key lessons he’s learned over 40 years in business: why reputation is everything, how to navigate economic crises, the importance of diversifying your investments, and so much more.
We also talk about his passion for giving back, from his leadership at the Sephardic Community Center to his work with AIPAC and the UJA Federation. I’m Victor Braca, and Momentum is where I dive deep with exceptional leaders to uncover the key decisions, defining moments, and lessons that propel them to success and how those insights can inspire your journey forward. If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, a young professional looking to break into real estate, or just somebody who wants to know what it takes to build a lasting legacy, this episode is packed with insights you won’t want to miss. You’re going to love it. Let’s get into it.
This episode is sponsored by the Hedaya Capital Group.
Joey Jerome, welcome to Momentum.
Joey Jerome: Thank you. Thank you for having me.
Victor M. Braca: Thank you for being here, for taking the time. How you doing this morning, first of all?
Joey Jerome: Doing great, looking forward to this. Momentum has been a great inspiration for a lot of people, so I’m looking forward to today.
Victor M. Braca: Thank God. Yeah, and I’m very excited. So, for anybody who doesn’t know you—which I’m sure is not many people in the community—give me a quick rundown. Who are you, what do you do in business, and what do you get yourself involved in in terms of community initiatives?
Joey Jerome: So, I’m in the real estate business. I’ve been there for 40 years. I’ve learned a lot in the business aspects of real estate. I didn’t start there. I really started—my father had a very famous deli called Lou’s Deli on Kings Highway, and I worked there with my parents, may they rest in peace.
From there, I became a disc jockey. I did a lot of parties and a lot of weddings for probably your parents’ age and people that may watch this that will remember those days. I did it for about 13 years. Between those two experiences, I really learned how to deal with people and learned how to handle myself in very different types of settings with different personalities.
Victor M. Braca: Nice. So you had like a service-based job, which is working at the deli, and then you ran your own sort of business with the DJing.
Joey Jerome: It was my own business, and I did it for, like I said, about 13 years.
Victor M. Braca: Nice. And in terms of community, give me a quick overview of what you’re involved in. We’ll dive into each of these afterwards.
Joey Jerome: Okay, so I’ve been involved in the Sephardic Center; it’s been my life for over 40 years. I’m involved in AIPAC; I believe in their mission and their help for Israel. And I believe very strongly in UJA Federation; they’ve been a supporter of the Center for over 40 years and Jewish causes all over the world. So I’m involved and on the board there as well.
Victor M. Braca: Beautiful. Great. And I could imagine—you know, you have business, and success in business is always not something to be understated—but I can imagine that nonprofit, the giving back aspect of your life, is what really brings you meaning.
Joey Jerome: Well, you know what, in the charity world and giving back to our community, nobody has the time—you make the time. We had founders of the community that struggled to make a living, and they made the time. We have these unbelievable institutions: our yeshivas, our shuls. Those were all more of the brainchild of all these people that gave back to the community, that made the time to do what needed to be done for the community.
It’s true. And if we look at everything that we enjoy—all the opportunity we have in the community, all the social services that you see, all the agencies, whether it be shuls or mikvahs or yeshivas, the Center, and all of these institutions, SBH, the Food Fund, the Cancer Center—all these institutions that are there to help our community were started by volunteers that gave up themselves and made the time to make a difference. Nobody has the time, but they make the time and they prioritize what’s important.
Victor M. Braca: Exactly. So tell me, at what age did you start working at your parents’ deli shop?
Joey Jerome: When I was six years old.
Victor M. Braca: Six years old? So you’re a worker from day one.
Joey Jerome: From day one. I waited on tables, I worked behind the counter, I mopped the floors, I cleaned the dishes. I did everything that there was to do. It was myself, my brother, and my parents, may they rest in peace.
Victor M. Braca: So I want to paraphrase Marshall Mizrahi. He was in one of the earlier episodes of the podcast, and he said he heard everyone should have a service job at some point in their lives, whether it be a waiter or a bartender or a cashier, a clerk, something like that. How do you think that job put you forward for the people skills you built up and the business acumen you built up later in life?
Joey Jerome: I think it’s important to start at the base, at the starting point of any business, and learn the business as you go through. So in the deli, it was really learning how to deal with people and how to serve people. Once you know how to handle yourself with people, that transcends to all businesses. So it was very important at a young age to learn how to handle myself and deal with people. You get a lot of different personalities—some more pleasant than others, some a little difficult—but you learn how to navigate, and that’s a lesson for life.
Victor M. Braca: Working in real estate, it’s a people business at the end of the day, and you have to know how to deal with different types of people. Do you feel like you’ve picked up those skills when you were a cashier or clerk at the deli?
Joey Jerome: I think so. Dealing with people, like I said, goes through your whole life. In other words, you deal with situations, you deal with people, but you have to know how to handle it. Through the experiences of working the deli and also being a disc jockey, it gave me the opportunity to see a lot of different personalities and know how to handle myself.
Victor M. Braca: For sure. So tell me about the time period where you were a DJ. You started the business yourself. How old were you when you started DJing?
Joey Jerome: I was 14 years old.
Victor M. Braca: Young.
Joey Jerome: And I was very young, and I started doing small parties. The business developed into a really great business because you were with people when they’re at their best and their happy times. So when you’re with them, it’s just happy, and it’s nice to be associated with happy occasions. I was always associated with parties and simchas and just good times. So I think that that was a great time in my life, and I learned a lot from it by bringing the knowledge from the deli of dealing with people through that other business and carrying it forward.
Victor M. Braca: Interesting how once you’re the serviceman for these simchas—these happy events—you’re associated with the happiness. I never thought of it like that, but it’s really true.
Joey Jerome: Sure. Someone once told me that. They said, “You know, when I see you, I think of a party and I think of a happy occasion.”
Victor M. Braca: It’s a great compliment.
Joey Jerome: It was a great compliment, and that was told to me it’s got to be at least 50 years ago, and I still remember it.
Victor M. Braca: That’s great. So you’re 14 when you started the DJ business, and you’re doing it throughout high school. What does it look like after high school for you?
Joey Jerome: Well, it was a lot of work because I would work in my father’s store, and then I would go at night—Saturday night—to do parties and Sunday mornings, and then work again. It was a difficult time, but it was, like I said, an invaluable time for me to learn and develop my own business. The disc jockey business for me was a life-changing option, and I really enjoyed it.
Victor M. Braca: I want to zoom in on the fact that a DJ is a creative business. It’s a creative field in which you can merge your passion, your hobbies, and making money, right? And being successful. What would you say to young adults? Because a lot of young adults—I’m 18, for example, and a lot of people my age, a lot of my friends—are worried about, “Am I going to have to choose between making money and doing what I love? Is there some intersection of those two things?” What do you say to those young adults?
Joey Jerome: I say the most important thing is to do what you love first. If you like what you do, you can really build on it. I think if you’re in a job or you’re in a direction that you’re not happy with, you’re never going to want to put 100% into it. I think it’s very important to love what you do.
Victor M. Braca: Do you agree with “follow your passion”?
Joey Jerome: Yeah, because your passion will lead to something that you love. So it’s very important to do that. When I go to work, if I didn’t like what I did, I wouldn’t do as much as I do with the passion that I have for sure.
In the real estate business, I love the creativity in this business. One thing that’s important is that you set your goals that you can achieve and that are not too high. So it’s important not to try to climb the whole mountain the first day; try to do it gradually and say, “Okay, this is my plateau. I want to try to get here,” and then from there you make your next plateau. You can’t set your expectations so high that they’re not achievable for you because that leads to failure, really, in my opinion.
Victor M. Braca: I actually agree with that. It’s interesting that you mentioned goals because I hear two conflicting bits of advice sometimes. Number one: set your goals super high, aim for the stars, shoot for the—whatever the saying is. And if you fall short of those very high goals, at least you accomplished a lot. But then there’s the other side, more of what you’re saying, which is set your goals small, take the small, easy, achievable wins, and it’ll motivate you further. What do you think of how those two play into each other?
Joey Jerome: I just think that when you set your goal that’s achievable and you reach it, it’s a very gratifying experience, and you feel good about yourself. “Wow, I made it to this point. I made my goal. I reached my plateau. I can do anything.” But if I make the goal so high that it’s hard to achieve it, I think that’s a disincentive to being happy with what you want to do. It’s like at that point, why even try? I’m not even going to make any progress towards it. If you don’t reach it, it’s a failure. So why would you want that?
Victor M. Braca: So did you DJ full-time following high school? Did you go to college?
Joey Jerome: I went to college during the day, but like I said, I worked with my father in his store and then at night I did disc jockey work and on the weekends. So I did both.
Victor M. Braca: And did you know you wanted to go into real estate at that point or not yet?
Joey Jerome: No, I didn’t know. I didn’t get into real estate until after I got married.
Victor M. Braca: Got it. So take me through your college days to when you got into real estate. You were working for your father, you’re doing the DJ business. At what point did you get into real estate?
Joey Jerome: When I got married, my father-in-law was starting in real estate and I was very interested in it. We started to build a business—well, it’s almost 43 years ago. So that’s how it really started: through my marriage and my father-in-law starting in the real estate world.
Victor M. Braca: Tell me a little bit about growing the company in the early stages. There are so many real estate companies out there, and I know that so many young adults in the community are interested in real estate; they want to get into that field. But how do you set yourself apart?
Joey Jerome: Well, for us, as a family-run company, we set ourselves apart by being on every showing. In other words, when somebody comes to see your property, if they’re dealing with the owner instead of an agent or somebody that works for them, it makes a very big difference because they know they’re dealing with the top people in the company. So that was part of our success at the very beginning in the infancy.
It’s very, very important, I think, for the real estate business—there’s so many aspects of it that you have to find your niche, really, where you want to be. There could be construction, finance, leasing, acquisition. There are so many different areas in real estate; I think you need to really focus in on it.
At the very beginning, I focused in on leasing when I first started, and that’s where I really got my feet wet. In leasing, when you’re leasing to a doctor or a lawyer or an architect or any different business, you learn what their requirements are, what they need in their real estate. So you learn their business while you’re negotiating with them. So it really gives you an insight into how different businesses are run.
Victor M. Braca: And do you think that’s important? Having this full picture—the well-rounded approach to business—and having the picture of how different businesses are run. You think that helps you deal with people? That helps you land new clients and make new deals?
Joey Jerome: Well, you build a reputation through honesty and through being respectful and being helpful. I think that’s how you build any business: by reputation. Because that transcends and goes to the next guy. You know, if you deal with somebody—”Oh, you know, what did you do?” “Well, I dealt with this guy and he was very good to me.”
Over the next—I mean, we’re doing it 40 years—we’ve developed a reputation that we treat people right and we’re honest, and they know that they’re getting what they’re bargaining for in our business.
Victor M. Braca: How much do you value reputation for you personally and your business? Because I hear from a lot of people that reputation is the most important thing that they’ve had to uphold throughout their time in business. What do you think about that?
Joey Jerome: Absolutely the truth. Your reputation is everything. You could have money and lose it. You could have no money. But all that doesn’t matter if you have a good reputation; that transcends everything. It’s the most important thing in your life, whether it be in your personal life or your business life. Your reputation is absolutely everything.
Victor M. Braca: If you had to look back at your career in business, all the way from the days working at the deli and what you learned there—how to manage people, how to interact with people—up until today where you guys have an established company, what are the top couple things that have stuck with you that have put you ahead? Reputation is one of them. What else?
Joey Jerome: Going through difficult times. I think that every business has its ups and downs, and if you understand what happened during the down cycle, you’ll know how to avoid it next time around. I think it’s very important to know: when things go wrong, why did they go wrong? What did we do wrong? What happened? And more importantly, once you find that out, to remember that because you want to avoid it happening again in the future. So that’s, I think, very critical and why we succeeded—because we did go through many different downturns and we learn from each one what not to do the next time and we take that forward. And that’s, I think, the most important thing.
Victor M. Braca: Can you share an example of a downturn that you went through? Maybe in the beginning you didn’t realize the lesson you had to learn, but later in your career you look back and say, “I made that mistake that time, I’m not going to do that again.” What was the biggest failure of your career?
Joey Jerome: I think the biggest failure of my career was in the late 80s when the whole market just collapsed. So it really wasn’t a result of what I did or anybody did; just the whole market collapsed.
Victor M. Braca: Circumstance.
Joey Jerome: Yeah, the stock market went down hundreds of points, and real estate was really in a tailspin. There was no leasing, there were no sales. Everything kind of just stopped. What I learned from that experience is: you know, there are downturns. Things don’t always go up. Things are not always as rosy as you read them in the paper—”he bought it for X and he sold it for Y.” There are other aspects and there are other downturns that happen. So it doesn’t always go to plan.
But I think that going through an adjustment in your business is so important for the next go-around. That downturn that we had in the late 80s helped me find what to do and what not to do in the future.
Victor M. Braca: And how old were you at that point?
Joey Jerome: Not my age now! I’ll do the math. I was 28. Relatively young to go through something like that, but an invaluable experience. Like I said, it’s an invaluable experience because I think everybody you speak to—every business—has a downturn or an adjustment or something that doesn’t go right. It doesn’t matter what business it is; it happens to everybody.
So I think that’s a skill that, no matter what industry you’re in—real estate, retail, wholesale, marketing, media—you have to be able to [navigate]. There’s always disappointment, there’s always failure. It never goes exactly as planned. But like I said, you have to be ready for it and you have to be ready to know the next time to try to avoid the pitfalls that you may have experienced.
Victor M. Braca: Do you think at the moment you realize that? When the market’s going down hundreds of points and the real estate market is also going down hundreds of points, do you think you realize at the time, “I’m going to learn from this and I’m not going to make this mistake again,” or are you just engulfed in the conflict of it?
Joey Jerome: It was very, very difficult. Almost seven years of a down market.
Victor M. Braca: Wow.
Joey Jerome: So, you know, you’re in survival mode at that point. When you’re in survival mode, you have to see what works, see what doesn’t work. And for us, with Hashem’s help, we got out of it, and I knew once we got out of it how to chart the course going forward. We changed everything we did.
For example, at one point we had a huge portfolio in downtown Manhattan—millions of square feet. When the downturn came, it hit downtown very badly. From that experience we said, “You know what, we’re not going to put too many eggs in one basket. We’re going to differentiate marketplaces—maybe out of state. Maybe it’s not residential, maybe it’s commercial, maybe it’s retail, maybe it’s industrial.” We’re going to diversify our risk.
And that’s what we did after we got out of the downturn. We went to different property types, different states. We went to Canada, we went to Florida, we went to Pennsylvania—went to all different places because we learned from the downturn that having too much in one basket is not the right way to operate.
Victor M. Braca: Yeah, for sure. I mean, I just love how you took that lesson directly from a setback that you experienced. The proof is in the pudding today looking at your portfolio. I didn’t notice one common theme among, “Oh, all this is retail” or “All this is a certain type.”
Joey Jerome: That’s by design. That’s exactly by design because, like I said, we want to make sure if there’s a downturn in New Jersey or New York or Montreal or wherever we are, that we’re not so overly leveraged with properties in that specific marketplace. So you’ll see all the different product types of real estate, different businesses. Diversification was very important for us, and that’s what we took out of the big downturn of the late 80s for sure.
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Let’s get back into it. We spoke about reputation and how you have to uphold a good reputation at the end of the day. For a young person who wants to get into real estate—I mean, they’re just starting out, they’re a blank slate, they have no reputation yet—how do you advise them to start? I think a lot of people are intimidated by the big numbers and the huge companies who are controlling so much of the real estate in, let’s say, New York for example. What’s the first step you would tell somebody to take?
Joey Jerome: Intern. Do an internship. Go to different people in the real estate business and network with them so they can get you into an internship at one of the companies that they do business with. I’ve done that with a lot of people that have called me. They wanted to get into the business; they didn’t know what area. So I would help them and put them in touch with people that we knew in this specific area. Somebody wanted to be in finance—whoever we dealt with in finance, we introduced them. Somebody was into leasing—we’d introduce them to people that we know in leasing, construction, or all different aspects of the business.
That’s how you start. You start by learning from the bottom the different aspects of the business. And my advice would be to call somebody that you know in the real estate business, let them help you network and introduce you to people, because it’s going to be hard to cold call somebody if you’re just a young person starting out. But if it’s somebody that’s been in the business as many years as we have, you know, we have certain contacts that we can leverage to help. And I’ve done that for a lot of people in our community.
Victor M. Braca: Sounds like you’re very willing to use your network to help other people grow theirs.
Joey Jerome: That’s what life is all about. You always have to give back, whether it be in charity or in helping somebody young get their feet wet and get them in the right direction.
Victor M. Braca: Amazing. So let’s shift that to giving back and to getting involved in nonprofit charity initiatives. You mentioned before what you’re involved in—AIPAC, the UJA, and the Center are really your main thing. You’re very much involved, and it sounds like that’s really where your purpose in life comes from. Why is that so important to you?
Joey Jerome: If you’re fortunate enough to give back, I think it’s incumbent upon you to do that because I think Hashem has a role for everybody. If He gives you the wherewithal to help others, there’s no greater payback for yourself than giving back to the community, giving back to others. Like I said, our community is built on that. It’s built on people giving back, and that’s why our community is so wonderful—because we care about each other. Whenever there’s a need, there’s a new institution, there’s a new social services organization. The community does that. I mean, we’re very unique. We’re insular, but we help each other, and there’s nothing I think our community won’t do for the rest of the members of our own community.
Victor M. Braca: 100%. It’s beautiful. You could even see that coming out when you mentioned how you were offering to people your network in order to expand theirs.
Joey Jerome: I come from very modest means. Very modest means. I know how hard it is to get started and to get your feet wet and get direction. So if I can help get someone through that period, which is sometimes a little difficult, I think it’s very gratifying.
Victor M. Braca: Amazing. Are you able to share a personal story as to why you got involved?
Joey Jerome: Well, you know what, when I was young, I used to watch these giants of our community—you may not know them, but may they rest in peace—Ralph Gindi, Eddie Sitt, and the Hidary’s. They would come to our shuls and they’d make these drives for the shul or UJA or whatever they were doing. I used to say, “What are they doing that for?” And someone told me they’re doing it to help the community.
I said, “You know what, if I’m ever in a position, I want to be like those guys. I want to try to help.” And as it turns out, years later when I was 16 or 17, I was called to a meeting to start a youth organization because we didn’t have a center; we didn’t have any place to meet. So I joined this committee that—the main purpose was getting the youth together. It was called CCY, Council of Concerned Youth. We’d make parties, we’d make ski trips, tennis tournaments—we’d do things to keep the community together and the youth together. When I started there, I enjoyed it, and that’s what started me feeling good about giving back to the community.
So that was really an important aspect in the start of my community service. We’re talking 1976. I just, you know, I was lucky enough to be asked onto a committee. At the time—I’ll tell you one thing on that—we put on a play. Usually, they raise like $5,000-$6,000. I raised like $25,000. Because I had the time during the day—I used to work at night as the disc jockey—I had time during the day to raise money, and I raised money for this play. It just brought together 50 to 75 or 100 people working together on the play—people in the play, people behind the scenes, the sets. When you see the fruits of your labor giving back and you raised all this money and it’s going to help other people in the community, there’s no better feeling in the world. You get more out of it than you put in. It’s just a tremendous self-gratifying experience.
Victor M. Braca: To zero in on the fact that what giving back can do for you—how it can make you feel—I think it’s important to note that. Everyone mentions giving back is a nice thing, you’ll help other people, which is very true, but you’ll also help yourself in ways you can’t even imagine. And it’s not only money; it’s time.
Joey Jerome: For sure. When I say giving back, it’s great if you’re in a position to help, but there’s no more gratifying experience than knowing that your actions helped somebody else in the community. So when I walk into the Center, which is like I said my life for 40 years, and I see young kids, adults, young men and women, seniors… to think that I had a little part in making their day better, for me, you get so much out of it. Much more than you can imagine.
Victor M. Braca: Beautiful. What do you say to young adults who feel like they have to choose between giving back—doing good—and doing well in business? Making money versus volunteering. What do you say to those people?
Joey Jerome: When you’re young, I think you really have to focus on your direction in life. You should find something that you like because you don’t know whether you like it until you’re really into it and you’re doing it. Giving back could come a little later. But I think once you put yourself on a path and a direction that you really like and you like what you’re doing, at least you know what your direction is. Now you can take some time off to give back, but I think first you need to put yourself on the right footing. I think that’s important to give you self-confidence and direction.
Victor M. Braca: I like that you didn’t take the approach of saying, “try to squeeze in both.” I think to choose the business and your direction in the beginning and then to shift into giving back once you have that liberty is important. A lot of young adults feel the pressure—everybody in our community is involved in some way, shape, or form—and people are inspired, but they also feel the pressure of, “I have to get involved, I have to do something.” That’s a good thing because it inspires and pushes people, but it can also be demoralizing for young people.
Joey Jerome: Yeah, like I said, I think it’s important that you get your path straightened out and then, with every opportunity you have as you’re going along that path, you do give back. But pressure is the worst thing that a young adult can have because you have so much on your head, you have so many decisions to make, you have so much ahead of you that you don’t need additional pressure. That’s my belief.
Victor M. Braca: Your son Lewis is now the president of the Center. I want to ask you, in pertaining to that, what values do you think you raised him with, or what do you think you instilled in him as he was growing up to make him want to get involved, to inspire him to take action in the community?
Joey Jerome: I think children emulate what they see. What he saw in our family was a dedication to giving back. He saw it from myself, he saw it from my wife, he saw it from my father-in-law and my mother-in-law, may they rest in peace. My dad and my mom were all involved in different charities and doing things for the community. So like I said, I think it’s important that he saw that, and I think he just took that and said, “Okay, my father and my mother did it, my whole family has done it, I’m going to do the same thing.”
Victor M. Braca: It sounds like the message for parents—future parents—is lead by example.
Joey Jerome: It’s everything. You probably do exactly what your mom and dad do and you say, “That’s how I’m supposed to do it,” because that’s how it works. You do what you see your parents do. I think that’s instilled in him and my other children—that we always have to give back and if you have the opportunity to do so, it’s important.
Victor M. Braca: What do you think about “getting lucky”? I hear this phrase a lot, “I got lucky.” One thing I’ve spoken about this with my father a lot and he says, “I don’t think it’s luck. I think you have to be ready.” Obviously Hashgacha and you have to do your Hishtadlut, but I think you have to be ready to get lucky. You have to be ready for God to put you in the right place at the right time and take advantage of that opportunity. What do you think about that?
Joey Jerome: Well, you have to be ready to be lucky, yes, that would be great. But you also have to know how to handle being lucky. You know, it’s not all… I really believe in Hashem’s will, and I think that that’s a very big aspect of why somebody’s successful. I think He’s predetermined who should do what and how successful they should be. So it’s great to be successful, but it’s more important to know how to deal with the success and use it correctly.
Victor M. Braca: I like that. And using it correctly in terms of: success begets more success and also community and getting involved.
Joey Jerome: Yeah, and you can’t get too cocky that you’re the most successful guy out there, that you’re invincible. I don’t believe that at all.
Victor M. Braca: That’s never a healthy mindset.
Joey Jerome: Oh no, it’s a recipe for no longer being as successful as you could be. So it’s good to be humble sometimes and take your success as it comes. It’s just important not to think that that’s the be-all and end-all of everything. There’s always more you could do and you could always be more successful, but like I said, you just got to know how to handle the success and channel it the right way.
Victor M. Braca: There’s always people you could learn from. So being cocky towards somebody is not going to—obviously, one, that’s going to damage your reputation, and number two, you can genuinely learn something from that person even if they’re a junior to you.
Joey Jerome: I learn—I’m still learning every day when I see people and I interact with people. You should never have the thought process that you know everything, even at my age. I’m still learning things. Things change, by the way. Just because you did something one way 10 years ago doesn’t mean that it works today. Even something you did last year. Technology changes, things change. You have to always, always know that there’s a better way of doing things and you have to know how to adapt and change, for sure, even though you were successful in the past. It’s important to know that you have to just change with times.
Victor M. Braca: Guys, I want to interrupt the episode for just a quick second to ask you, please, if you’re enjoying this conversation so far, which I know I am, please leave a like, leave a comment. I love your feedback. But most importantly, share this episode with somebody who you think would enjoy it. Anybody—a friend, a cousin, an acquaintance, a parent—whoever it is, please just share the episode. We’re trying to grow Momentum as large as possible, and I want you to be a part of that. Join the mission, join the community, and be sure to stick around because Joey shares some amazing stories and advice as we go through the episode. Let’s get back to it.
You said pressure is the worst thing for a young adult. How does one deal with that?
Joey Jerome: Well, you should have a support system in your parents and your family, older brothers or older sisters that you can confide in and say, “I’m having a problem with this thing, give me some direction, give me some help, give me some guidance.” I think that comes from within the family. I think it’s very important to use the family unit to help you through difficulties or pressures or things like that. Or somebody that you look up to that could be a close friend or somebody that you think could help you.
Victor M. Braca: What do you think—I mean, obviously having a real estate company and dealing with people and meeting so many people across all ages and many different industries—what do you think are some key skills that young adults, either soft skills or hard skills, can build up today to start getting ahead in their careers?
Joey Jerome: You have to be a good listener. You have to be a very good listener, and you let people talk and you hear what they say. That’s important. But what’s equally important: if you hear something that you don’t understand, you ask a question. Because if you don’t, and the topic comes up again and you don’t know what they’re talking about, it’s a problem. So between listening and then asking, I think is very critical for any young adult, or anybody for that matter, to understand what’s happening around you and what’s happening in the environment that you’re talking about, whatever it may be—real estate or any business.
I think it’s important to listen and then ask. I always find that when the boss or the CEO or the founder says you should ask questions, it’s because a lot of times the employee or the intern will feel intimidated by the questions that they might be asking. “Should I ask? I’m supposed to know that.” But if you don’t ask and you don’t know, that will come back to haunt you later on. Because if you’re building on something—if there’s a first level of things that you’re learning and you don’t know something—when you get to the next level, if you don’t know the first level, you’re going to fall behind.
So it’s always important. I would never be embarrassed to ask a question. Nobody can fault you for wanting to know the right information, the right answer on any topic, especially if they know you’re a young adult trying to get into a new business. Somebody who doesn’t ask any questions, I would have—as the boss—more issues with. Because if you know everything, what are you sitting there for?
Victor M. Braca: Amazing, and I think every young adult should take that advice. That’s a great piece of advice. What’s wrong with asking a question? Nobody could look at you funny; you’re not supposed to know everything. Like I said, if you did know everything, you wouldn’t be sitting where you are, you’d be sitting in the boss’s seat.
Do you have any favorite books or articles or quotes that you find yourself either going back to or recommending to other people that taught you skills, changed your mindset, or put you ahead in any way?
Joey Jerome: Not books, no. I’m more built on my experience with dealing with people more, and building on the experience that they have and what you learn from interacting with people. Real-time, I think, for me was more important.
Victor M. Braca: I want to ask you for your momentum moment, which is basically the moment where the script flipped or you realize that what you were doing was starting to gain momentum. It doesn’t have to be one moment, but if you can choose one…
Joey Jerome: I’m thinking—I’m going to go back to that downturn. I remember the day after the seven years was over that we had the first positive thing that happened in our business. We had this building that we owned that we were almost losing, and we were able to—I don’t know how we did it, but again with Hashem’s help—we were able to do what we had to do to save the building.
I said, “Wow, this is like a major turning point for us because it’s the first good thing that’s happened in seven years.” That to me—if you want—that’s like the aha moment. I knew from that point that things were turning for us and we’d get out of this downturn that really took a toll on not only us but everybody in our business. To me, that was one of the big turning points, and from there Hashem has been on our side and helped us build. So it’s not exactly the same thing as these two [other examples], but for me I remember the day that that happened and it was a very important moment for us.
Victor M. Braca: Do you think that that was a proof of concept for you that you can go through hard times and it’ll end up turning around eventually?
Joey Jerome: Well, most times it does. Sometimes it doesn’t; sometimes it just doesn’t work. But that was a turning point after so many years of having all these different things happening. It was a positive result of something, and then all of a sudden from there something else good happened, and it just started to turn. It turned the tide.
Victor M. Braca: A great quote I heard one time, paraphrasing: “This too will pass,” good or bad. So you can learn from that on both sides.
Joey Jerome: “This too will pass.” That’s an old saying, it’s an old thing. Most of the time it does. Most of the time it does.
Victor M. Braca: Okay. Anything you think we didn’t cover that’s on your mind?
Joey Jerome: I just hope it resonates with young adults, because to me that’s—I’m very in tune with that. That’s when we did the “stoop talks.” I remember when we did the first one—one was on a Passover trip, we did one in my house in Jersey and there was like a hundred kids there asking different questions. To me, I love that feedback. I thought the feedback of hearing from young adults and asking questions [was great].
And I told them: don’t look at me today, look at where I was 30 years ago. That’s where you are, and that’s where we should talk about—where was I then? Don’t look at current [status]; you have to, because we’re going to put ourselves in the same time frame. I’m 30 years older than most of them, so it’s important to know: how do you get from here to there? I talked all about the plateaus and the downfalls and how things don’t go as planned—everything that we just talked about.
For me, the inspiration of having the kids… and I got calls after it, a lot of calls from different young adults. To me that was a very gratifying experience. So I hope it resonates and I hope this helps. I’m always there to answer any questions for anybody.
Victor M. Braca: That’s so nice. And for that invitation, thank you so much.
Joey Jerome: My pleasure. Thanks for choosing me. I hope, like I said, I hope we help the youth of our community because they’re our future.
Victor M. Braca: That’s the goal. They are the future for sure.
Joey Jerome: We are the future, you are the future. Without you, where would we be? Think about it. It’s everything handing down to the next generation to keep our beautiful community going. It’s all built on the youth.
Victor M. Braca: Beautiful. And that takes young adults taking initiative. I mean, that’s what’s required at the end of the day.
Joey Jerome: Absolutely. Absolutely.
Victor M. Braca: Okay, thank you. Awesome.
Joey’s story is a testament to resilience, adaptability, and the power of giving back. Here are three key takeaways from our conversation:
Number one: reputation and resilience define long-term success. Joey emphasized that reputation is everything in business. It’s built on honesty, treating people right, and following through on commitments. He also shared how weathering economic downturns, particularly the real estate crash of the late 80s, taught him invaluable lessons about adapting, learning from mistakes, and diversifying his portfolio to mitigate risk.
Number two: hands-on experience is irreplaceable. From working at his family’s deli at six years old to launching a DJ business as a teenager, Joey credited his early experiences with developing the people skills that later helped him succeed in real estate. I mean, at the end of the day, it’s a people business. He advises young professionals to start at the ground level, whether through internships or direct hands-on work, and overall build a deep understanding of their chosen field.
Number three: giving back is a responsibility, not an option. Joey believes that community involvement is an obligation, not just a choice. He highlighted that the institutions that we benefit from today exist because past generations made the time to build them. Whether through charity, mentorship, or helping others network, he stressed that success is most meaningful when it’s used to uplift those around you.
At the heart of Joey’s message is the idea that personal and professional growth go hand-in-hand with community impact. Young people must take the initiative to shape both their futures and the future of the community.
If you enjoyed this episode, I encourage you to check out my conversation with Joe Cayre. Joe is the founder of Midtown Equities, a real estate powerhouse. Some of their projects include Casa Cipriani, a partnership in the World Trade Center, and so much more. Joe tells us his entire story from growing up poor to eventually making hundred-million-dollar deals with companies like Universal, Walmart, Disney—the list goes on. You can find that episode linked in the show notes or search “Momentum Joe Cayre” on any podcast platform.
And with that said, guys, thank you so much for watching. I really hope you enjoyed this conversation with Joey Jerome. If you did enjoy it, leave a comment, text me, send me a DM—I would love to hear your feedback. Again, guys, I recently started the podcast and any feedback you have for me—if it’s something you like, something you don’t like, something you think I should add—anything, I’m all ears. Please send me a DM, leave a comment. I respond to all the comments; I’m not rich and famous enough yet that I don’t respond to all the comments, so leave a comment.
I want to thank the sponsor of today’s episode, the Hedaya Capital Group, once more. Again, visit their website at HedayaCapital.com to see how their financial services can help power your business. Guys, thank you so much for watching. Until next time.
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