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Show Summary
In this episode of the Real Estate Pros podcast, host Q Edmonds interviews George Dubec, known as “The Ultimate Networker.” Dubec shares his journey from running a successful podcast streaming company to becoming an entrepreneur focused on investment opportunities. He discusses the unique structure of America’s Real Deal, the challenges of executing deals, and the importance of networking in business. The conversation also touches on future goals for the show, including international expansion and the significance of building relationships in the business world.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
George Dubec (00:00)
Now, this is the cool part, Quentin. We have a studio audience of eight to 10 accredited investors that can also invest. And number three, we offer the business entity the chance to be on a crowdfunding platform where the viewing audience for a hundred dollar minimum can also invest in the deal. And it’s kind of like ⁓ you guys are familiar with fractional real estate, right? Where people just buy small chunks, units of a project.So the crowdfunding aspect is sort of like that. And then the fourth idea is to go into our public, I’m sorry, private stock exchange. And they don’t have to be a public company where people can buy and sell stock in their business. So that’s very, very cool. And everybody is a win-win situation.
Quentin (02:22)
everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I am your host, Q Edmonds. And y’all know what I’m say. I’m excited to be here. And I’m really excited to be here today about our guest. We was talking a little bit and he has let me know about some initiatives that he’s involved in. And one of the great things that we’re talking about and I think we’re gonna dive into today is something called America’s Real Deal.I know you heard of Shark Tank, right? This is something like Shark Tank on steroids, right? America’s real deal. And he’s helping investors and investors are helping him. And so I want him to talk about the synergy of how it works, but I am super excited to introduce you guys to Mr. Dubec. How you doing today,
George Dubec (03:13)
Hey, I’m doing good today. ⁓ I’m just glad to be alive and glad to be working on great projects and helping people make money and invest money and find real projects. So, and I know that Quentin, you’re with a real estate group, you guys focused on real estate and that’s part of what I do also is I help people raise money and I help people get money for projects. So.Quentin (03:41)
Absolutely.Absolutely. I love it. Yeah.
George Dubec (03:43)
So an America’s real deal islike you said, shark tank on steroids and anybody out there that has investment needs in real estate projects are eligible to come on the show.
Quentin (03:56)
Yeah, I love it. love it. Listen, well, you’re going to understand this when I say this. We’re going to have a good, bad show, right? We’re going to take every good thing out of this show and every bad thing, we’re going to turn it into good. And so I know you understand that. I don’t listen to fire like what, but I know you get it. So you started telling us. And so I do, want you to take us on a journey. Tell us what your main focus is these days. Maybe tell us how you got started and how you wound up where you are right now.George Dubec (04:26)
Well, ⁓ I’m a retired businessman. my company is called serious streaming. My wife and partner still run the company. We’re the second largest podcast streaming company, radio streaming company in the U S. Called serious streaming and I retired. I wanted to become more entrepreneurial and get involved in a lot of other things in life. And, this particular America’s real deal fell on my lap. I got referred to it and it blew me away because we’re in our second season right now.And it’s again, it’s a very strong investment related show.
And what we do is work with only revenue producing projects. Okay. We’re not doing startups. People looking for seed money would not be eligible. So any business organization or entity, no matter what it is, whether it’s a product, the service, real estate, any kind of a project that already is producing at least a million dollars in gross revenue within the last year.
is eligible and qualifies to showcase to our investors. And once we vet the company out and they qualify and they are producing revenue and they’re looking for expansion money or they’re looking to ⁓ grow the business in other areas and they need funding, then they can come on to show. And we’ve got four to five sharks. We call them icons.
These are people that have a high net worth of over $50 million. And we also have some celebrities. You remember Byron Scott from the Lakers? Yeah. You know, he was a coach. He was with the dream team back in the day with Larry Bird and Johnson. He’s one of our ⁓ celebrity investors. So that’s the kind of caliber of people that we’re working with. Then
Quentin (06:45)
I sure do, you sure?George Dubec (07:01)
Now, this is the cool part, Quentin. We have a studio audience of eight to 10 accredited investors that can also invest. And number three, we offer the business entity the chance to be on a crowdfunding platform where the viewing audience for a hundred dollar minimum can also invest in the deal. And it’s kind of like ⁓ you guys are familiar with fractional real estate, right? Where people just buy small chunks, units of a project.So the crowdfunding aspect is sort of like that. And then the fourth idea is to go into our
I’m sorry, private stock exchange. And they don’t have to be a public company where people can buy and sell stock in their business. So that’s very, very cool. And everybody is a win-win situation.
And by the way, all the investors have to put up money in advance toward investing in anybody that showcases.
It’s not like somebody comes on there and it’s a pig in a poke and they come on and they don’t get any money. It’s already pre-scripted, let’s call it, in advance where they are going to get funded by somebody, somehow. So that’s it in a nutshell.
Quentin (08:11)
Yeah. Yeah.Yeah. No, man, it sounds exciting. I’m definitely going to look to tune in. And so you’re on the advisory board. So I guess I’m asking from your perspective, like what’s been the key to kind of keeping this thing running smoothly? I know y’all kind of got processes in place, recruitment processes. Like what’s been the key to, it sounds like you’re going on two years. So what’s keeping this thing running the way it is?
George Dubec (08:42)
Well, basically it’s the network of people that are gravitating toward the whole thing. know, it’s like anything that starts out. You know, I think Shark Tank’s been around 16, 17 years maybe, I don’t know, longer. So we’re at that pioneering stage and we’re picking up momentum now. We’re going to be filming season two in October. We’re going to have six shows. There’s going to be 18 business entities that are going to be presenting.Quentin (08:53)
YeahGeorge Dubec (09:10)
And then we probably got about 30 some investors and we’re going to shoot it all in one week in park city, Utah at the end of October. And then we’re going to start working on season three. And like I said, we’re going to also have specialty shows, Quentin, like we’re going to have sports figures are going to come on, promoting their businesses, different famous athletes. we’re going to have real estate show. We’re going to have ⁓ an AI show, you know, today AI is a big market.right? Exploding. There’s AI businesses coming out of the woodwork. Then you have the whole cryptocurrency world. There’s all kinds of projects going on with crypto and Bitcoin and blockchain. So yeah, it’s exciting. So what’s great about what I do is I get privy to all kinds of really cool brand new businesses and startups and technology.
I mean, the stuff that I come across every day is mind blowing.
Quentin (10:43)
Yeah, yeah, I can onlyGeorge Dubec (10:45)
You know, cause the generalpublic isn’t looking for this stuff, but I, I get it all the time. In fact, there’s a couple of websites that people can go to to get access to all kinds of brand new businesses. One is called startup engine. Have you heard of that startup engine.com? And the other one is called we funder.com. And these are both a business, lot of startups, but also a lot of mature companies. They go to we funder.
Quentin (10:59)
I have not.George Dubec (11:13)
and startup engine and they’re crowdfunding. So what these companies do is they get listed in the database of startup engine or we funder. then just regular people again can invest in these companies at a small amount, like a hundred dollars a pop. And you can get part of a major brand new technology company. So those are really exciting things. Yeah. So, ⁓Quentin (11:30)
Yeah, yeah.Yeah, man, I love this. is, yeah, I’m sorry. Keep going. I’m sorry.
George Dubec (11:42)
And then we have other TV shows that are now burgeoning from Shark Tank. have America’s Real Deal. We have another one called Elevator Pitch, where people can do startups. ⁓ This one’s really cool. You get in an elevator, a fake elevator in the studio, and you go in there with the host, within three to five minutes, you got to explain your business. And then they let you out of the elevator.and you stand in front of a bunch of investors and they play back your video of your pitch. And so you got to explain everything in three to five minutes and then they decide if they want to invest in your business. So that’s pretty cool.
Quentin (12:15)
Yeah.Okay.
⁓ man, man, these ideas sound amazing.
It’s not like you’re having a lot of fun doing what you do. And so let me ask you this because I’m sure you have ⁓ stories. I mean, so many stories. And so when we normally ask investors or just people that’s in real estate, like there’s moments when like deals go sideways, moments when they have to pivot fast. And so from your lens, are there times with your involvement that you kind of got to, you know,
What’s some things that you’ve seen where you kind of have to pivot fast or maybe, you know, change things around or go about it, you know, a different way? Have you had moments like that, you know, of kind of adversity in a sense?
George Dubec (13:03)
Yeah, well, listen, Quint, most deals never get executed. ⁓ You know, there’s a lot of talk, handshaking, pat on the back, but then you sit down with the attorneys and the legal paperwork. And I’d say probably, I’m just using a general scope of things, but I’d say 90 % of all the deals out there and all these startup events and networking and people meeting people, referring people, probably 90 % of deals never happen, especially with startup.Quentin (13:31)
Yeah, gotcha.Yeah. Yeah.
George Dubec (13:34)
I mean, in fact, I know one statistic, Mark Cuban, who’s famous for Shark Tank. He actually stated that he lost over $20 billion in investing in all over the years, investing in all those startups. But the cool part about it is he probably made way over $20 billion by being on the show. By being Mark Cuban.Quentin (13:56)
Yeah, got you. Yeah.Yeah. Yeah. Wow.
George Dubec (14:01)
In fact,you know, this is another cool thing about the Shark Tank guys. You know, Damon Johns, the other shark. He has the program where you have to pay him $30,000 to come into your business and sit down with you and your staff for one hour with Damon Johns. $30,000. It’s like, even if he loses money investing in a deal in Shark Tank.
Quentin (14:08)
The full bull guy, yeah?George Dubec (14:29)
He’s going around the country collecting $30,000 a pop. I’ll take that gig anytime.Quentin (14:34)
Absolutely.Absolutely. You talking about Shark Tank being the prime lead generator, right? Like, you’re getting all kinds of opportunities all across the board in so many different ways. So no, absolutely. I understand that. Wow.
George Dubec (14:50)
Well,that’s why I tell people if you have the opportunity as a business entity to get on any of these shows,
just to be on the show and the exposure is phenomenal. So like I said, know, people should be beating my door down saying, how do I get on America’s real deal? How can I take advantage of this? You know?
Quentin (15:40)
Yeah, absolutely.Yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah. Now I get it for sure. I hear you for sure. So let me ask you this. What’s the real next goal with Americans Real Deal?
George Dubec (16:01)
Well, what we’re doing now is the next we’re on Roku right now. We’re streaming on Roku. And then we’re doing negotiating with some other streaming channels. And of course we want to get on broadcast TV, like one of the major networks. So we’re in negotiation for that. And then Quentin, we’re also doing work toward getting licensing rights in England, Germany, India, and Dubai.Quentin (16:06)
Okay, got you.Gotcha.
George Dubec (16:28)
All these other countries want a similar version of what we’re doing to take to their countries. It’s kind of like, what is it? America’s got talent. have, you know, British have talent. ⁓ German have. I mean, those shows have then, you know, proliferated all over the world. So we were looking to not only get on broadcast TV and expand our horizon, but go international also.Quentin (16:34)
Catch you.Yeah.
Dup.
Yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that’s, I think that’s huge. The fact that like you said, going international, getting licensed in these other countries, it sounds like you guys are on the move already doing things, big things, but it sounds like you’re building up and revving up for even bigger things. And so, yeah. And so I guess I’ll ask this, know, I’m kind of tailor making these questions specifically for you because you have such a unique lens. We’re trying to offer, you know, this value within this real estate space.
George Dubec (17:10)
yeah.Quentin (17:24)
So I want to ask you a little bit about relationships. Like over the years of doing what you’ve done, you know, even building a market’s next real deal. What’s been, what has been like building relationships and growing your network? Like what’s made the biggest difference for you within that atmosphere?George Dubec (17:41)
Well, of course I wrote a book called Ultimate Networking. That’s one of my expertise. I’m considered a national expert in business and social networking and family networking. There’s three aspects of networking, business, social and family. In fact, Quentin, I found my wife using my social network. Everybody loves this story. Okay. This is think back in 1979. I had a three piece white suit, black shirt, gold chains.Quentin (18:01)
Wow. Wow.George Dubec (18:11)
A big mop of hair, I had a smoky and abandoned firebird. I was, remember Saturday Night Fever?Quentin (18:17)
Yes, sir. Absolutely.George Dubec (18:19)
That was me. I was Saturday night fever man, back in the day. But anyway, I couldn’t really, I always wound up with the wrong girls. I was always with bimbos, okay? On my own. I’d walk into the club and I’d look for the hottest chick, right? So I said, but those aren’t the girls I want to marry. So what I did is I made a list of everything I wanted in the opposite sex. Personality traits, background experience, deal makers, deal breakers.Quentin (18:23)
Let’s go!Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
George Dubec (18:48)
I gave the list to my 10 best male friends who are meeting women all the time. And three months later, my best friend calls me up, introduces me to my now wife. We’ve been married 46 years. So that’s called social networking. And I teach that. I used to teach that to people. That’s the best way to find a date or a mate.Quentin (19:09)
Yes, sir. Listen, you had it figured out before. A lot of these platforms had it figured out.George Dubec (19:15)
⁓ this is way before the internet on speed dating, online dating. Now I built my own free matchmaking service.Quentin (19:23)
Come on, man. That’s how you do it, man. It’s no, you said yourself before we got started. It’s so many things that you’ve been involved in, so many perspectives that you come from. so, man, I really, I really thank you for sharing today. I thank you for telling us about the America’s next, America’s real deal. Let me not mess the name up. And so listen, we’re coming towards the end, but I want to give you a chance if there’s any kind of other inspiration or education.or maybe some final words you wanted to say to the audience before we kind of wrap up.
George Dubec (19:56)
Well,what I recommend and I teach this to all the young people, even my kids, they’re going to college is to start a database every day. I put in five to maybe 10 names of people I meet. Like I went to a networking event last night. I got 10 contacts and I put them into a database. put all their contact information in categories like lawyers, real estate people, single people, people that like events.
And my database right now, just within the last few years is like over 17,000 people. So I recommend the most important thing in your life is who you know and who knows you. And you keep building a relationship through your database, through your network. And then you start helping other people. The key is to help people that you meet. Not ask them for, ⁓ to become your customer right away. Try to help each other, refer people to other people. That that’s a key.
Quentin (20:43)
Yeah. Yeah.Come on. Yeah. Yeah.
George Dubec (20:54)
Networking, building your database, building relationships, no matter what business you’re in, that’s key to be successful.Quentin (21:03)
Absolutely. But there you have it. You heard it there, Mr. George Dubec. Man, thank you so much. Listen, before we wrap, if someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, maybe collaborate with you, what’s the best way for them to reach out to you?George Dubec (21:17)
Yeah, just go to my website. It’s called the ultimate networker.com. That’s all one word. T H E the ultimate networker.com and sign up to get on my, into my database. There’s a form on there. You can fill it out and, ⁓ you know, you can find out where my books are on Amazon and, go to my, my website and I’ll be more than happy to talk to anybody. ⁓ if you want to call me up direct.I got an open line. 24-7. I’m open for business.
Quentin (21:50)
Absolutely. Well, listen, y’all heard him, Mr. George. Dubec, sir, thank you. This has been fun. I want to thank you for your story, for your unique perspective, for your lens, for your time. This is great. I know our listeners actually is going to find a lot of value out of this conversation. So I just want to thank you for being here today.George Dubec (22:09)
All right, Quentin, it was a pleasure. I enjoyed it.Quentin (22:11)
Absolutely. Well, listen, everyone, you’ve heard it. Listen, you got value out of this conversation. You never know who we’re going to have on the show. So in order to keep up, just make sure you’re subscribed. Just hit the little bell, hit the little button. That way you can always come back and be right on time. All right. So thank you again, Mr. George and to everyone else. We will see you on the next time.
