Escaping the Drift with John Gafford
Resilience and Networking: Bek Lover's Journey from Finance to Podcasting Success
Wed, 12 Feb 2025
Back in the days when mega clubs like Exit and Tunnel ruled New York City's nightlife, I was just a college student trying to navigate the vibrant but costly world of music, art, and community. Those experiences taught me the power of networking, a skill that Bek Lover, our remarkable guest for this episode, has honed to perfection. Bek's journey from a finance career to podcasting stardom wasn't easy, but it was fueled by a deep appreciation for the resilience instilled in him as a first-generation Albanian American. Join us as Bek recounts how his family's resilience against oppressive regimes shaped his perspective on freedom and opportunity in America. Our conversation with Bek takes a reflective detour into the realm of real estate and the need to prioritize local issues over international aid. We touch on the political climate in places like California and how emotional connections play a crucial role in both politics and sales. Bek shares invaluable insights on real estate investing, emphasizing strategies that avoid emotional attachment to property prices. Alongside, we explore the shifting dynamics of nightlife, where younger generations are redefining social habits by moving away from traditional alcohol-centric experiences. As we continue, Bek opens up about his personal growth, focusing on the importance of leveraging networks for success and finding courage amidst fear. By turning personal pain into creative power, Bek's podcast has resonated with millions, inspiring stories of resilience and transformation. From the challenges of breaking away from unhealthy habits to the triumph of nurturing genuine connections, this episode is a heartfelt testament to embracing authentic paths. Bek's message is clear: take risks, embrace challenges, and discover fulfillment by aligning life with true values and passions. CHAPTERS (00:00) - Overcoming Adversity and Building Networks (08:56) - Real Estate Investing and Market Trends (17:06) - Diving Into New York Nightlife (26:23) - Leveraging Networks for Success (31:23) - The Future of Socializing and Nightlife" (34:27) - Life Lessons and Personal Growth (44:55) - Journey to Inspire and Overcome (54:51) - Finding Courage and Embracing Purpose 💬 Did you enjoy this podcast episode? Tell us all about it in the comment section below! ☑️ If you liked this video, consider subscribing to Escaping The Drift with John Gafford ************* 💯 About John Gafford: After appearing on NBC's "The Apprentice", John relocated to the Las Vegas Valley and founded several successful companies in the real estate space. ➡️ The Gafford Group at Simply Vegas, top 1% of all REALTORS nationwide in terms of production. Simply Vegas, a 500 agent brokerage with billions in annual sales Clear Title, a 7-figure full-service title and escrow company. ➡️ Streamline Home Loans - An independent mortgage bank with more than 100 loan officers. The Simply Group, A national expansion vehicle partnering with large brokers across the country to vertically integrate their real estate brokerages. ************* ✅ Follow John Gafford on social media: Instagram ▶️ / thejohngafford Facebook ▶️ / gafford2 🎧 Stream The Escaping The Drift Podcast with John Gafford Episode here: Listen On Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7cWN80gtZ4m4wl3DqQoJmK?si=2d60fd72329d44a9 Listen On Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/escaping-the-drift-with-john-gafford/id1582927283 ************* #escapingthedrift #beklover #networking #nightlife #newyorkcity #music #art #community #albania #resilience #freedom #opportunity #realestate #investing #markettrends #california #emotionalconnections #socializing #personalgrowth #podcasting #courage
Chapter 1: How can overcoming adversity lead to networking success?
If you're up against adversity, there is, it just takes, like you heard how quickly this dude's life turned around. Never give up. It could turn around for you. It is Basie voice. Never give up. Never surrender. Never surrender.
We will not go silently into the night.
And now, Escaping the Drift, the show designed to get you from where you are to where you want to be. I'm John Gafford, and I have a knack for getting extraordinary achievers to drop their secrets to help you on a path to greatness. So stop drifting along, escape the drift, and it's time to start. Welcome back to the program, everybody. Today in the studio, man, I got a banger for you.
This is a dude that cut his teeth and became, I mean, impresario? Is that a word we want to use? I mean, this is a dude that became a legend in the nightlife scene in New York City. And just literally through that avenue, just, I mean, knows everybody on earth. It's crazy. As I'm flipping through his face, I was flipping through his Instagram before he came on.
I'm like, yep, no, that dude, that, that dude. Oh, there's Ted Donick. He's at a dinner at Craig's. Oh yeah. Okay. Yeah. No, that's, I mean, knows everybody knows everybody and his ability to network and use that can only be dwarfed. in reality, by his ability to overcome some serious adversities in his life. So if you're somebody that is dealing with some issues, this dude's going to inspire you.
If you're somebody that wants to understand how to grow your network and monetize that thing at the next level, this is the podcast for you today. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the studio. This is Beck Lover. Beck, what's up, dude?
What's going on, brother? It's good to be out here in Vegas, Super Bowl weekend. Yeah, man. Nice to meet you. Beautiful office, man. Thank you. I appreciate that. Nice operation. Nice studio, man. I can tell you, you're serious about this. You're not some rinky-dink podcast or how I started. No. In the back of a room somewhere.
You look at my first episodes, you're like, but see, people don't understand that. You've got to take risks in life.
So you have the podcast. We're going to get to all the backstory stuff in a second. So your podcast too. Did you start it for the same reason I did, just to kind of build your network? No. No? Why'd you start your podcast?
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Chapter 2: What are essential strategies for real estate investing?
I went through a very difficult time. I lost what I call my brother. Some people like to troll. It's sad. It's usually people that actually know me and know what I call my brother. It was my mom's brother. It was my uncle. He was 10 years older than me. If I was the prince of nightlife, he was the king of nightlife. And I lost him in 2013.
And even though I'd been through many horrible things in my life, right? Like I'm a first generation Albanian American, right? So I was born in the US. My family, you know, fought against communism in Albania. And it was the most isolated country in all of, not just Europe, the world at one point. Worse than North Korea today. No one was ever allowed in or out.
You would have never had Dennis Rodman playing basketball. Like he went to North Korea or my friend, Wally Green, who went to play ping pong on an exhibition tour. Fascinating person. No one was allowed in or out for 50 years. My grandfather and my great grandfather, God rest his soul, fought to the last bullet. They didn't have no reinforcements, no nothing.
You know, the communists were supplied by the Soviets and, you know, the, you know. The Iron Curtain. And unfortunately, my people were isolated from the world for a very long time. We have a very tragic history, our people. And I think some of that's embedded in our DNA as Albanian Americans. We're very pro-American. And that's before communism took over because America actually saved Albania.
I got to tell you. So my grandparents actually moved here from Hungary, from Budapest in the 40s, right? My mother, first generation American, same thing. And Americans that don't take for granted what we have in this country, right? It's disgusting. So a couple of years ago, we went to Budapest. We happened to be there. To me, Budapest is the most beautiful city in Europe. I love it.
It's gorgeous, right? It's gorgeous. So we're there, and we happen to be there for Hungarian Independence Day. And I'm like, oh, sweet. This is going to be great, right? We'll eat hot dogs. There'll be celebrations and all this stuff. Dude, no. It was a million people walking down, which is essentially their Champs-Élysées, right? Walking to what's Heroes Square in dead silence.
And then you realize these people haven't been free that long. So when you walk by, they call it the Museum of Horrors where the Nazis occupied it and then the communists occupied it. Yeah, my uncle got killed in there. Not like 200, 300 years, some generational thing. It's like, dude, this happened when I was a kid and I can remember this. And I think you're right.
I think people that have that frame of reference have a different understanding and love for this country.
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Chapter 3: What is the evolution of New York nightlife?
Second, third, fourth, fifth generation Americans. do not realize the gift and the opportunity that they have. More importantly, they're falling into these traps of division, which have galvanized both the left and the right. And if we take the people out of it and just focus on the leaders of both sides in our country here in America, both have harmed this nation.
One side started war after war after war, The other ones continued. They didn't stop it either. They continued financing these conflicts all around the world that were not beneficial to the American people at all.
As someone that walked out of underneath the World Trade Center Plaza on the day it was attacked and saw those buildings collapse in front of his eyes and then told by George Bush Jr., we're going to take out the Taliban. Here we are 24 years later. They're back in power. armed more than ever. We've been paying them. With our guns. Paying them billions of dollars.
Forget just the arms that we have. The billions of dollars. So people on the right could say, well, what was the right that started that side? And again, I lean towards the right. Yeah. And then the left pushing ideology that's just against simple common sense, focusing on one microscope of this entire nation, which is that community that has like 50 different letters.
Yeah.
And putting everyone into echo chambers and then saying this side is going to destroy this side and that side is going to destroy this side and divided our nation in half. Both sides are guilty for that. And we are sitting here on the precipice of one of the most critical issues
most dangerous times literally in American history where I've sensed that literally this nation could have erupted into open conflict like what you saw in Yugoslavia, which you've seen in other places where society collapses. People don't realize how fragile society is until it's not anymore.
And that's what's scary as a first-generation American, as someone, I swear to God, was so proud to be American, man. Like when I would go to Europe, I would hold my head up high. And now I'm ashamed, bro.
I'm embarrassed, not because of my fellow brothers and sisters, but because of these leaders that have used our name, have used our goodwill, have used our sweat to do things that not only hurt the world, but have hurt us as Americans. And we need to wake up, man. It's like every four years we have the choice between Coke or Pepsi and we're diabetic.
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Chapter 4: How do you leverage networks for personal and professional growth?
Well, I think you got water sitting in the White House right now with what's going on with Elon Musk and Doge, I think.
Listen, I like a lot of what they're doing. I like a lot of what they're doing. I'm just talking in general up until this point. where we are today.
I agree, but I think it's getting harder for, for some of these, like, for example, this morning, and I never, dude, I almost never talk politics on the show, but this morning I saw something that was so, so insane to me.
That was crazy, which was on all the news channels this morning, you had Maxine Walters and some other democratic representative standing outside the department of education, like demanding to get in as some kind of weird protest to the Doge cuts. But my thing was like, what are you going to do if they let you in? Like what? Like this is all just a dog and pony show.
And it's, it's going to be such a ridiculous dog and pony show. Cause I don't know anybody in America. Like I literally don't know anybody that I know on both sides of the aisle that is not seeing the,
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Chapter 5: What does the future of socializing and nightlife look like?
Now, obviously, my friends on the left are a little quieter about some of it, but I know anybody that's seeing some of the cuts they're making and some of this insane stuff that's been getting spent, they can go, well, you know what? Wait a second. I think that might have been a good idea. We need to send that money out of here.
Like you, being from Albania, let me ask you this, because this is a good question for you. Seeing what an impoverished country or knowing what an impoverished country can be like. Or the poorest country in Europe. Right. So this is a great question for you because now you love America. It's great, American citizen, but you know how the other world is.
It is my opinion, and this is just my opinion, and again, my frame of reference is born, raised, lived here, everything else, that we should not send $1 to any other country on this planet until every single veteran in this country is taken care of.
Chapter 6: What life lessons can lead to personal growth?
I fully agree, number one. And number two, until we pay off our debt on top of that. But I have family that served in Iraq. Shout out to Brian, okay? He's like my brother. Brian from Dallas, two tours in Fallujah, Albanian-American, born and raised, right? We're very proud to be a part of American society, but we're not proud of the last 20 years, man. I'm ashamed, bro.
We're worried about some of the most ridiculous things right now. You know? Why are we worried about half of... I'm not saying that a minority should not be heard or have rights. I'm not even... Like, I believe because we guarantee everyone the right to pursue happiness or whatever, that's great.
And private matters, like your private parts and what you want to do with them should be a private matter. Why are you pushing this on children? People like Gavin Newsom. I'll call him out all day. You're worried about children in California chopping off their wee-wee. Why don't you worry about Skid Row? Why don't you worry about all the homeless? Why don't you worry about the fires?
Why don't you worry about having water in your hydrants? There's no excuse for that. The most taxed state. California is the most beautiful state in our nation. It's run like garbage. My heart aches for these people, but if they're going to keep electing that, I don't feel bad for them. I got to sit there and say, I really don't feel bad for you guys at all.
Zero. Well, the megaphone gets louder the further out from the middle it gets.
But this is a person who shut your businesses down in 2019, who sat there and looked in the cameras and said, we were outdoors. While he kept people out of business while big box stores could stay in business, they ravaged our lives. The truth is out of the bag. Even the CIA is confirmed. Yes.
So all of us crazy people that wear tinfoil hats, we're not looking so crazy, but you're looking really stupid right now. Those of you that just can't wake up, wake up.
But I think the reason that he's getting elected is because the ideology of... Social importance, social matters, like you discussed, is so embedded from a young age to the people that live there that that's more important than the practical sense, practicality.
That's exactly what they do. They're hitting an emotional point, which is a sales tactic, right? Sure. Because emotion will override logic. Nine out of ten times.
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Chapter 7: How can personal experiences inspire and overcome challenges?
A lot. But the key is when you can find that emotional bond. Because when you're with a client who shows no emotion, the master will find. Because everyone has a bond, brother. Yeah. Everyone has a button. Whether you have a driver in the seat that you're trying to pitch or whatever, you got to find that. And that's always been my strategy. I always believe the sales made in the warm-up, bro.
It's not in the presentation. It's not the product at all. It's never the product, in my opinion. It's never the product. It's finding what makes this person tick and how can I attach that to this product.
Well, there's a very different, well, how do you think, what do you think about this and how do you feel about this are two very different questions and you got to know when to play those cards based on who you're talking to.
And if you do it wrong, you're going to have a very, very angry customer.
Yeah, you ask a super analytical client, how do you feel about this? He's going to be like, I don't care how I feel about the numbers, tell me it sucks.
You're going to have a very angry customer.
Yeah, I was in a meeting the other day and somebody asked me how I felt about something. I said, it doesn't matter how I feel. The market tells me it sucks. That's exactly what I said. The market is telling me this sucks. It's not any good.
And the price you're asking is absurd.
It doesn't matter how I feel.
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Chapter 8: What does it mean to find courage and embrace purpose?
Listen, that's what we talk about every time I tell anybody to go to a listing presentation for real estate. I always say the same thing. Never marry yourself as an agent to the price. Never do that, right? You've got to explain to people that this is how the markets work.
If we put it on the market, as long as an agent does their job and exposes it worldwide with high quality marketing, that pictures look great, images look great, 360 tour, all the things you're supposed to do. If nobody shows up, you're 10% off. People show up, but nobody writes an offer. You're 5% to 7%.
What about if you get three offers, but they fall through an attorney review because either A, they didn't get financing. Should you stay at that price? Yeah, yeah. So if I got three offers at, let's say, 1.5. Stay where you are. and it's only been publicly on the market for a week. Be patient. Yeah, stay where you are. Don't move it. Because he dropped and you look desperate.
No, no, don't move it. Leave where you are. So two offers were made privately, but they fell through. One, the attorney spooked them. I mean, it was full disclosure, but you said yes, and now you're worried about what your attorney says. It was a rent control property. It was nothing hidden from the prospective client. It was like, hey-
This is rent control, but there's some ways you can maneuver and do what you got to do. The right landlord is what to do. I did the same thing when I brought the property.
Yeah.
My rents were $800 for a two bedroom in North New Jersey. You understand?
I love how there's no New York exit at all until you start talking about rent control.
And I got them out. I got them all out legally. I got them out. And then guess what? I renovated and increased the rent by 50%. The new owner can do the same thing. These people don't have vision. Or they're trying to lowball. It's an investment property. It's not a place I live in or would live in.
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