Pay It Forward: "Pick an Area of Expertise and Become an Expert at It"
"The best and most surprising lesson that I have learned is that anything can happen. You can’t take anything for granted because what can happen, will happen– whether that’s in life or in business," says Robert Nelson, president of Nelson Management Group.
Robert Nelson, president of Nelson Management Group, Forest Hills, NY
Robert Nelson has owned and/or managed more than 8,000 units of multifamily housing during the past 35 years. He is also one of the founding partners of Global One Investments, a real estate investment firm. Recently, Nelson worked on the ground-up construction of two new mixed-income towers encompassing 435 units in the Soundview section of the Bronx.
What has been the biggest challenge in your particular role/? How have you overcome those obstacles? As an investor, owner, and operator of multifamily real estate, I’ve become an expert in the world of operating apartment buildings, but along the way have built a successful company in order to manage and operate these buildings—which is not something I thought that I would ever do, and has proven to be quite the challenge. I create value by being hands-on in the granular day-to-day aspects of running these building. As we began to scale, this became an increasingly difficult task due to the immense amount of time required. We now own and operate 23 buildings and more than 4,000 units, causing time management to among the most critical challenges I face every day. As I’ve gained experience with this new reality, I’ve learned to trust my team and focus my time on the most important tasks.
What about your current role/position at the company are you most happy with? What makes me the happiest as an owner is being able to buy this low-to-moderate income or workforce housing buildings and treating them in the same manner I would with a luxury apartment building. That is and has always been the goal: creating luxury sector amenities and giving tenants more than what they might expect and a place that they can be proud of.
What is the best piece of advice you have received that has helped you succeed in your industry? Also, do you have any advice specifically for the next generation? The best piece of advice I was given is to pick an area of expertise and become an expert at it. Don’t try to be a jack of all trades. For example, if you injure your hand, you should go to see a hand specialist– you don’t just go to an orthopedist. My goal has been to become a “specialist” in the industry of workforce housing, and by sticking to this path, I’ve earned a reputation as a leader in this space. I would give the same advice to the next generation – to become a specialist and learn as much as you can.
Would you advise any younger person to begin a career in CRE? I would recommend the younger generation to get involved in commercial real estate because it can be a rewarding career, but my advice would be that you need to understand the guts of the industry and hone in on the granular details that help you make better decisions overall in the investments. To get a foothold in the industry, you need to roll up your sleeves and really get an understanding of the details that make up the whole. I would also reiterate the same advice that I received – which is to become an expert in your field, and that there is no substitute for hard work.
Please share with us the best lessons learned or a surprising component of your unique journey. Or share an initiative that you are working on that you are most proud of. The best and most surprising lesson that I have learned is that anything can happen. You can’t take anything for granted because what can happen, will happen– whether that’s in life or in business. There are risks in business every single day, but there are also rewards that come with those risks.
In your opinion, what takeaways did we learn from the COVID-19 crisis? I think it’s fair to assume that 99% of people could not have expected in their wildest dreams for COVID-19 to hit the way that it did. The fallout and everything that came after it was extremely unexpected. Luckily, there were a lot of lessons that came from it – the most prominent being to always expect the unexpected, and that you can never be too prepared for what’s next.
What three words/terms would you use to describe your work mindset?
- Tenacious
- Keep calm
- “If you don’t succeed at first, try, try again”
I think about these mantras with every deal that I do and would describe the way I do deals as tenacious. When starting out, my dad first told me that trying to do deals can be tricky, but just to learn to stick with it, and just because something doesn’t work out at first, it doesn’t mean it won’t. Keep coming back to it.
