How to Take it Personal and Win in Business with David Grutman

A New York-Nuskiger city of the Kirstlich-Nach-Kersich-Mect.

But there's still a few people here. That's better. You can get one of the greatest tests that you've ever heard about in cheeset, cheeset, cheeset, cheeset. Yet some greatest tests. Time for the 18-year.

Kauff-O-Kas-Mong-Ablades-Raises in Unia-Forex. And so long, the fore-hard-hard-hard-hard-hard-hard-hard-hard-hard-hard-hard-hard-hard-hard-hard-hard-hard-hard-hard-hard-hard-hard-hard-hard-hard.

“You should always build a company that doesn't have a company that can always fight.”

Not having a part time anymore. A business that's not run properly or set up properly for an accident is probably not running well anyway. That's how you gain real well. Try to find deals where you have equity and not just a fee.

I've had many moments in my life where I could have gone left or right, and I decided to just say,

"Let's just keep going forward." We try to create ecosystems where they all feed each other. If I'm having that in one property, it lets us hyper-focused on the guest. It doesn't seem as just a restaurant tour or just a nightclub owner. They see me as an entrepreneur that's going to help them with their lives.

I'm very protective over people, and I send them my deal flow. We're adding value to people's lives. That's a coupon that's going to come back. The one thing they don't really talk about with you and college how important it is, and what it means to own an IP.

I also won't do a deal with somebody if I don't own the IP as part of it. You're listening to Mick Unplugd hosted by the one and only Mick Hunt. This is where purpose meets power and story-spark transformation. Mick takes you beyond the motivation and into meaning. Helping you discover your because and becoming unstoppable.

I'm Rudy Rush and trust me. You're in the right place. Let's get Unplugd. Ladies and gentlemen, today's guest is an expert of experts. He has a new book I'll take it personal that not only is a blueprint for mentality.

It's a blueprint for strategy. It's a blueprint of life when you read it from beginning to end. He's going to talk to us about this book. The reason behind the book, he's the founder of Group Hospitality. He is a trailblazer, he's visionary, he's an influential entrepreneur.

Ladies and gentlemen, I welcome Mr. David Graham. David, how are you doing today, brother? Great. Thanks for having me, by the way. Thank you, Mick. No, thank you, brother.

Before we get into the book, because I'm going to tell you the reason I initially connected with the book. But before we get there, I love opening the show, asking my guest about what I call their becaughts. That thing that's deeper than your wife.

Like if I were to ask you about your wife, you might say your kids. And then when I say, but why are they your wife? That sentence usually starts off with well-becaughts that not die. And I care about that.

So if I were to say David, all of the amazing things that you're doing,

“all the things that you've done for people, what's your becaughts?”

Why do you keep doing the things that you do? You know, as soon as I accomplished something, I want to try to take something else on, again, I have very high ADD, so for me, it's, you know, what's next? What can I do differently than my predecessors or, you know, my competitors? And I think for this one, in particular, the book, I'm really on this mission to try to build

legacy as I'm getting older now. And I think if I did do the book now, and I did it after I retired, it wouldn't just be, it wouldn't be relevant to people as much as, as I'm in it today. Yeah, I love it, man, and you're so right. And I see your becaughts and everything that you do, right?

You know, with group hospitality, expanding from Miami, into Vegas, and just kind of taking over and like the things that you do there with your business, man. Like, talk to us about, you know, a little bit about what your hospitality company does and, like, that big expansion that I have it to take over the world. So we were able to do poppy steak, commoto, live, and live beach all under one roof,

which is the fountain blue Las Vegas, and we tried to build an ecosystem for ourselves here in Miami, so to be able to do it in one property in Las Vegas where, you know, we captured you for dinner, you'll have a drink afterwards at another one of our restaurants and then go right up the live, or you can start your day to live beach, take a nap, then go eat a poppy steak, go to Commoto, and then go to live afterwards. We tried to create ecosystems where they all feed each other.

“And I think by having that in one property, let's just hyper focus on the guest.”

It does. And I will tell you, there's no property like yours. You know, I was just talking to some of my friends and they were talking about it and all the things that you do, you know, talking to a Chris Vaughce, a Robert Irvine, a Damon John, and like your name comes up.

I'll just say it. This will be a Mick Hunt unplug truth right here.

I think there are a lot of property owners. There are a lot of folks that don't look at the actual experience of the individual. They say they do, but they don't really put themselves in those shoes. And I think you nailed that because every aspect of all the things that you do, it's like you're looking at it from the true experience standpoint.

“And I think that's what makes you one of the most successful people in the world, bro.”

I think that comes with by being in our venue, you know, by having dinner with friends in my venues, right? So I catch a lot of things. I'm just like, it's music's too loud to even enjoy this experience. Or I'm just hearing everyone's conversation. It's just not enough. It just depends. And like how the food comes, what's the sequence of service? How is the team interacting with each other? Is the lighting going down at the right moment? Is it going up to a whole thing, right?

So you want to know all these touching points. And I think about the details more than anything. So it's all about the details. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Now we're going to go to the book.

And I'm going to give you another unplug truth. And I'm going to ask you for one. So when I first saw the

book, I was grabbed by the title. Take it personal. And here's why. I'm a UNC tar heal, right? Which means I love Michael Jordan. Which means we all watched the last dance. And we saw all the memes of Jordan saying, and I took that personally. Well, when you are wired the way that I'm going to say, I'm wired that Michael Jordan's wired the way that David's wired. You do take these personal. And that's kind of like the chip on our shoulder to to provide the best experience,

to be the best business leaders that we can be, to be the best people in life that we could be. So now I want to get it from you. Talk to me about when you decided that this was going to be the title of the book and why you chose that title. Well, it's really something that I focus in with my team so much. Like if I see a guest that I know that we take care of all the time doing their birthday party at another venue and not hours. And I'm like, or somebody I'm like,

even like a team member. By the way, let alone I've seen team members do a birthday somewhere else. And I'm like, are you crazy? Are you insane? Are you insane? Right.

“Actually, I get to get it. And in like, listen, I think it's to my core. I look at the window”

at the restaurant next to poppy steak and see if my friends are in there. Yeah. Not my rest. You know, I talk about that in the book. And I'm on it. I'll go like this in the window to the person. I'm like, if you could be next door, then you could be in my spot. And I think as as your relationships build with people, they know how much you take it personal. I want them to

have that second thought before they go somewhere else. At least be troubled with it. At least

not enjoy their meal completely because they know I'm upset. Right. Right. You know, one of my favorite chapters in the book is chapter two and it's building an ecosystem. And you know, I had this conversation with all of my people about, you know, your circle and that ecosystem that you call it. And we had a team meeting on Monday where we dissected chapter two. And I could talk about it all day long, but we have the author here. So I'd love for you to talk to us about the importance of building

ecosystem and the foundational structure of building that ecosystem. So I mean, it's a great thing. I think it stems from relationships. I think it stems for how do you curate that? How do you curate that experience for people when they come to your city when they come to your home and they come to whatever? Yeah. Let me ask you a question. What did your team get out of it? What they got was everyone that we interact with. We control an experience because they're going to have one

either way it goes. So are you going to be the one that controls it? Or are you going to let someone else decide the experience that they're going to have? And so for us and our ecosystem and understanding it was, what do we all do that's uniquely the thing that no one else can do? What is it that we do individually? Right? But no one else can do. And then when we put that together as a team, what makes

“us the most unaffable team that exists in what we do? And that's what everyone got up. So what”

everyone started understanding was to create this ecosystem. It starts with you when understanding that unique talent or gift that you have that no one else can do because at the end of the day, everyone's going to have an experience. It's just more of did you control that experience?

it kind of takes the thought process out of the guest to have to be concerned about it as well,

right? Because you know if we're for programming your night for you and we say this is what we think the best night of your life to be. And you have trust with us that that earns trust too and it

“comes over time, right? So yeah. And that's why it's good. And also, even if it's not one of my places”

but it's something that I think they should go see or do or something like that, you also want to plant this because if it's just, if it's just, I might send them to an experience at super blue, which is this museum that has installation. Not mine but you want them to go experience other things. You don't want it to just be a sales job of just your spots too. You want to say, hey listen, I really want to direct the best day and night for you ever. I love that. I love that. And I know

you don't say this and I'm going to step away from the book for a moment just because you're someone who I followed forever and it kind of does coincide with the book a little bit but I like hot takes, right? I'm just going to say this. There's not a lot of people that can do what you do, right? When I think of D.G. and I talk about, again, Damon John talks about you, Chris Boss talks about you, Robert Irvine talks about you. We go to the book. You've got Tom Brady Serena Williams,

Oh, by the way, Kim Kardashian does the Ford and intro. What makes D.G.

“uniquely different from people in your category? I think because they don't see me as just a restaurant”

tour or just a nightclub owner, they see me as an entrepreneur that's going to help them with their lives. I think they all know over time, I'm very productive over people. That's one and I send them my deal flow. I go, hey, I look at this new brand. I think I negotiated a great deal. I want to come in with me on the same thing that I negotiated. I'm pretty good at it now and I think it comes over time. I also think I try to add value for those anybody that you talked to, they'll say,

I just try to add value. I talk about a lot in the book. It's just being a great connector and don't be a gatekeeper. I hate these gatekeeper people. Same, right? Someone's like, oh, do you know that person? If they think there's any kind of monetary situation that you're going to benefit from their connection, they want a piece of it. That just sets the wrong way to look at things. And it pays off 10 times more than whatever that little thing is that you're trying to make that

10% of, and I talk about, oh, when they're like, make sure you see me on all conversations with them. I'm like, who wants, I don't even, I barely have time to read all my emails. I'm going to tell you to go see me on a conversation with somebody because there might be some monetary exchange between two people, who wants to live like that? Dude, I love that. And when I read the book, another gatekeeper type that came to mind is the friend that doesn't want you to become closer

to that celebrity or influencer than they are, right? It's like, I'm tight with DG, but I don't

“want you to be tight, though. And it's like, bro, like, two out, man. I feel like, what is this about?”

But that person, I think, is worse than the financial game gatekeeper. Right, guys. That wrong. Like, I listen, I'm friends with some, some very, let's say wealthy people that have a

lot of amazing toys. Yeah. Yeah, it's this, that the other. I've definitely introduced some

big celebrities to some great billionaires that say, and they've gone and gone on their boat, separately than me. And I'm like, people are like, wow, so and so is on that yacht. And you're not there and go, great. Right. I mean, like, okay, like, I'm not, I'm not the celebrity handler. Like, like, I'm slapping their friends if they meet you. And by the way, the person that they're on the boat with is an amazing person, they should be hanging out with them. It's great.

Right. Right. Yeah. To me, that is the worst person that it makes sense. We're at how people's perspective is so focused on that. Right. And like, oh, you're, you're, you're not part of that. I'm like, I'm like, I'm part of it. Just fine. Like, it's okay. Yeah. I might be a portrait. I might mis Vivek. It's, it's okay. Yeah. And over the way. I'd thinner too. Like, okay, there might be a dinner right. I'm not okay. Yeah. So I want to have their own relationships. And that's even more powerful.

No, absolutely. And I would say, I respect you in this way, because you and I are a lot alike.

Like, I don't need to take a picture with someone to show that I'm cooler tightly. I actually never

friends. Oh, no, I love, I love, I love. I love content. Don't fool yourself, my man. No, you love content. But you're doing it in a different way, though. You're, you're not proving, you don't do content to say, oh, look, I'm hanging out with Warren Buffett. You know, everyone knows everything. Everyone talks. Like, first things, I let them do the engagement. There's many times, but with some of the biggest, and there's no feel. Okay. Okay.

Like, everyone's so thirsty to get that one picture that one thing, like, there's going to be another time, my man. Like, it's okay. Like, no, I would rather, you're not asking. And like, I have, I have friends and my that, you know, they're, Dave, you went to dinner with someone, so you, you know, nobody knows. Okay. But you know what, there'll be 50 other times that I'm going to have dinner with this person. And, you know, okay, maybe one time, who cares? Yeah. Yeah.

Who knows? And then, by the way, you sit so much more powerful with that celebrity or that person

by not doing that than doing it. Like, it puts you, it elevates you on a different level. They're just that, what, you know, hey, do you mind? No. No. But then when it comes time,

“that you need some help. Hey, Kim, can you do a forward for me after when he's something years?”

Do you mind? No. No problem. That's it, man. Like, and I would say, I would rather pick David's mind, pick his brain, ask him a really good question, then to take a selfie to prove that I was hanging out with, right? Like, for me, that's, that's like, now, do I have pictures with celebrities in the floor? So, yes. But usually someone else took them, right? But you don't see me grabbing my phone say, hey, yeah, what David today, like, I don't need that. I'd rather take those two

sets and ask you a question. And listen, everyone's different. Some people, why did you contact with you? They're like, hey, please, let's do something fun, let's do a, let's do something great, let's show three. Happy to. By the way, awesome. And some people just don't. And it's okay. No, yep. So, I want to go to a different part now. I call it the room. And I'm actually in a conversation right now. All this podcast, looking him in the eye,

of the guy that creates the best experiences ever, that creates the rooms. Because to me, and in the book, David, you talk about relationships all through it and how important they are, how to build them, how to maintain them, how to invest in them. And the best relationships I've ever had, the best advice I've ever gotten was because I was in a room, right? I was in a moment, I was in a place. We were having a conversation that experienced the ambiance was right. And I can

remember those moments like they were yesterday. I'd love for you to talk about, was there a room for you? Was there a moment for you when you realize relationships matter the most, or was there a

“specific conversation that you can remember because you were in the right room at the right time?”

You know, I think I've had the right mentors around me as well that talk about that so much. And I think because I was in only two, I really took relationships so, so delicate with it. And I knew by seeing people that ruined relationships or played the short game and didn't go

and just wanted to capitalize on the press for that one second, or they put people in bad situations,

and I'm just looking at people like, why would you do that? Why do you like, it's to me, I've had many moments in my life where I could have gone left or right and I decided to just say, let's just keep going forward. And there you go. It's something that a lot of people only see tomorrow, they only see today and they don't see tomorrow and it bothers me because, like, just to give you a thing, I'm talking to a DJ about re-uping his contract at that live. And, you know, in Vegas,

they sign you to two, three-year deals. And another Christina's offering more money than I am, because it's just a bigger casino, it's a bigger this, it's a bigger this. And the manager is saying to me, hey, I know everything you've done with this DJ, with this relationship, you've done

enough stuff that we could never imagine. But this is generational wealth for this DJ.

If he takes this deal, Dave, and I'm like, are you fucking insane to say to me,

“generational wealth, like, that's what you think of your client, that this much money, which is,”

it's a good amount of money, but it's not generational wealth. Like, what you think generational, what you think generational wealth is, and what I think generational wealth is might be two different things. Right. But I think this, I think if your guy is with me, he's going to have real generational wealth and not what the short little game is. And stop talking about your guy like that. Like,

about doing something else. But don't bring up the terminology generational wealth, because I think it downplays your guy, and it makes you think you don't really know your guy well enough, or don't have enough, or don't think he has the ability that I think he has. Yeah. And that bothered me a lot. And when I talked to the DJ, I said, your team just told me about generational wealth. And I'm like, I'm sorry, my man. I think if I hear that term again, discussing you,

I'm going to lose my mind. And he was like, same thing, David, they keep saying this to me. And I'm like, I'm just getting stuck. Like, we're just getting started. Like, there's not a listen, I understand that entertainment stuff like that might be considered like a quarter back or sports athlete, where you only have this certain amount of time. I get it. Because at the end of the day, you really, you know, trolls, what's hot next in blah, blah, blah. Yeah, I love it, dude.

It's just like, to me, it's like, stop using, I hate when people position themselves like that. Yeah. And that's, yeah. And that kind of goes into something and one of the chapters, and I have a highlight of here, chapter eight, which is something that, again, my team, and I also discuss, which is your name is everything and you break down the importance of intellectual property, how to do that. And I actually just yesterday had a conversation with my IP attorney on just some things.

Because most people don't understand one, yes, your name. But there's a lot of things that you do.

“There's a lot of frameworks that you have that you should protect and that you need to think”

about building it. So I'd love for you to talk about the importance of building creating IP and breaking down something. Yeah, what we're talking about is intellectual property. And just to clear, so your audience knows, when we say name, we don't mean just David Gretman. We're talking about, let's say, live, get go, come on, all names, right? Right. Or it could be David Gretman, too, right? That being said, it's the one thing they don't really talk about with you and college,

how important it is and what it means to own an IP. And as I build a restaurant for the first time, as I thought a single unit, which I've been able to grow to three and hopefully more venues,

that the IP is what the most important thing is. I also won't do a deal with somebody if I don't

own the IP as part of it. Because, you know, and I talk about there, Louis Vuitton, you know, they wanted me to do an LV lovers bar, but I don't have any equity in LV, where they give me equity in an LV lovers bar, go. And they're like, you're crazy. It's going to make your life so cool. I'm like, I'm as cool as I'm going to be, let me own my brands. And if I'm going to be cool, if I'm going to be the one that's going to make it cool, then I need to share in that IP.

“And you have to be very careful who you let into your IP. Certain times it should just be your IP.”

And certain times if you have a partner that's going to bring as much value as you are helping build it from the ground up, then should they share in the IP or not. And I think some people don't care about IP. Developers, I think, that are building high rises. If they can put a brand on their building and they can charge a little bit more for square foot, they don't care what that IP is. But I think they're helping you build your IP, which is how you look at deals and saying,

how do I keep building that IP through other people's marketing assets? Amen. Which leads to the natural follow-up of that, which is the exit, right? And having an exit strategy, I learned from Damon John personally, Mick, don't build a business without thinking about it

and building it as if you were going to sell it or exit from. Even if you never plan to,

that needs to be the mindset of building it because it's going to help you actually make better decisions. And then I go read, take it personal. And what does David grew up in saying? Pretty much the same damn thing, right? Like you've got to prepare, even if you're not going to exit, you've got to build as if you are because it does help you make better decisions. And then you actually give some really cool advice just on exit strategies in general. So talk to us a little

“bit about that, brother. You should always build a company that that's why IP is very important,”

that you're not going to have a mess if you do exit. You're trying to tie up all these people that are part of your IP. You want to try to get a clean. I think as you do these deals with partners that they know that they have a drag along with you or a tag along where they can come along for the ride as well. But I also think, listen, you should know the business that that feels like

a public company could always buy or when you go to sell it, if you're not buttoned up,

which that's how business should be, button up and have to be in a public company. That it's not mom and pop time anymore. Like these are your businesses, right? You have to build it that if somebody's going to exit now. Let's say you said you're never going to exit that business. And maybe

ability to be able to just step in there and run your business. I don't think a business that's not run properly or set up properly for an exit or that is probably not running well anyway.

“I think it's all, like listen, you need to, you need everything firing. And I think what”

that's what's desirable to people that even want to look at your business is, is it set up pop, is it a mom and pop shop? And if it's a mom and pop shop, is it least set up accordingly? But it's not about for me the money on that one particular venue. It's about the eight times, 10 times 12 times multiple on those businesses as you build. Absolutely. That's how you gain real wealth.

That's why I always tell people, try to find deals where you have equity and not just a fee.

That's it. That's it. Dave, man. I know how busy you are and I'm honored that you would spend a few minutes. Okay, we're still important. Thank you for having me. No, man. You mean the world to me. So I got to get you out of here with my unplugged five. So my rapid fire five. But before I do that, I'm going to say this again. This is the book. Zoom in. Take it personally. Yes. Go get this book. I don't care who you are. I don't care what you do. I'll sell in Dave offline. Like my oldest son,

who's a football coach loves this book. And has given this book to his players because there's a lot of life in here. The relationship building doesn't matter what you do, right? Like the coaching, the even though you can't exit a coaching business, right? But you can build a team as if those players are moving on, right? Like because that's the future of what happens. So are you building a culture? Are you putting in principles and values and what you do? So this book

is that important, bro? And adding value to those athletes, right? Giving, like, that's it. Right? You're adding value to people's lives. That's a coupon that's going to come back. Exactly.

Exactly. So this unplugged by it. Ready? First question. How does a normal guy like me

throw a party at live? Who do I need to know? Who do I need to know to make that happen? Well, it just depends on how big of a party we're throwing here. We talked a couple of tables. We're talking about renting the whole venue. Let's just say a few tables. And then we have great VIP hosts at the front. We have a great program for that. We're happy to help you. And you can also even go

“online and pick your particular tables. Now, buy your particular tables. That's what I wanted to”

hear. Go online. That link will actually be in the description. Oh, I like that. Question number two, how are you using AI in your businesses today? So now we have AI talking. When you when you go to ticketing or UDM or Instagram, it's AI talking to you. And we're not, you know, so it's telling you, you know, tables, prices, minimums. And it's also saying, can I please book that dinner reservations for you before live at Poppy State Costa, Donna Commodo? Yeah, go any of that stuff. And it's really

helping people curate their own night via AI. Yeah. Within my ecosystem. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Very cool. Question three, the coolest party that you've thrown. What would that cool party be? I know you got some stories. So it's going to be hard to pick out one, but give me one that's coming to mind now. I think when the Miami heat, when the the championship, I think that was probably the coolest thing. They brought the trophy to live. There it is. There it is. What's the one thing

you're most proud of to date? You know, my my kid and my loving relationship with my wife. My family is really special. And I love that the world sees how special my family. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Last question. When the book of David grew up in being made, what's one or two words that you

want to define you in that book? Well, first it needs to say that I'm a New York Times best seller.

Let's let's just start there. No. I had a value. I had a value. Yes, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, this is David Gruttman. I would say it's as simple as this. Just go Google them, right? Follow Google them. Get the book. Buy the book. Get the book. And here's here's how cool this book is for me. David, I'm going to do this. I'm going to buy 20 copies of the book. Wow. And the first 20 people on Instagram that message me take it person. I'm going to give you a copy of

“the book because it's going to change your life. And let me know how you like the book. That's what I”

care about. There it is. And that was going to be the follow-up. So if you're one of the 20 that get the book, here's why I need you to do take a picture of yourself with the book and highlight something that was really cool or less than that you learned or something you're going to implement

I appreciate your brother. Thank you so much. I appreciate you. Take care guys. You got it. Bye.

“That's another powerful conversation on Mick Unplug. If this episode moved you and I'm sure it”

did, follow the show wherever you listen, share it with someone who needs that spark and leave

it review. So more people can find there because I'm really rushed and until next time,

stay driven, stay focused and stay unplugged.