Rupesh shares his journey and his secret to his tremendous success on social media. We discuss how his parents as immigrants have shaped him and the evolution in thinking from generation to generation. Rupesh also offers advice on dealing with setbacks and challenges, building networks and finding inspiration and passion.
Rupesh shares his journey and his secret to his tremendous success on social media. We discuss how his parents as immigrants have shaped him and the evolution in thinking from generation to generation. Rupesh also offers advice on dealing with setbacks and challenges, building networks and finding inspiration and passion.
Greetings. I am David Kong, the founder and principal of D E I advisors. We are a nonprofit dedicated to self-empowerment. We are fortunate to have Rupesh Patel on our show today. Rupesh was just recognized by I A C, Orlando as the 2022 male business professional of the year. Rupesh was also recognized as one of the top 100. Most powerful people in global hospitality by International Hospitality Institute. Congratulations and welcome to the show, Rupesh.
Rupesh Patel:Thank you Mr. Kong. It's a pleasure being here and I'm so happy that we can connect again. We connected a while back and when I got that email from you, I was like, wow, this is awesome, man. I love what you're doing, so I'm super excited to be on the show.
David Kong:Thank you, Rupesh. I've always been impressed with you. I'm delighted to have you on the show. Now Ru you have an interesting career. Not only do you own and manage hotels, you also branched out and started a very popular show on LinkedIn during the pandemic. Can we start by talking about your journey and some of the key inflection points?
Rupesh Patel:Yeah, absolutely. Man I've been doing the hotel business since we bought our first motel in south Florida in 1989. I grew up in Houston, Texas, and even then my parents were. Entrepreneurs. They started their first Indian grocery chain in Houston, Texas. And I saw the hard work that my family put in, and then we sold everything. And one day my dad's Hey, we're moving to Florida. And I was like, what about all my friends? And what about, how that goes? And we moved, yeah, one summer I said bye to all my friends that we, that I grew up with and. We moved and lived in a 50 room motel, connected to a old school bar that if, from the eighties there'd be fights in the middle of the night and you can hear all of that and the jukebox playing and all of those things. Yeah. And yeah, waking up in the middle of the night and renting rooms, cleaning rooms, doing all the things when you, that you do when you have a family that you know that lives on property. And yeah, we did all of those things and It was a fun journey and, been doing it ever since. And then in 2000 2000, or is it 2000? Yeah, it is. In 2002 we had an opportunity to take over a property in Daytona Beach, Florida for family. And my wife and my family are both in the hotel business. So we had that opportunity where we both understood the business and we lived on property in an old travel lodge. And the journey kind of goes from there and, We of course learned a lot of lessons, then made a lot of mistakes, and we continue growing here today. And, fast forward just to a couple years ago the pandemic, really hit all of us, including myself. I lost my father in the during the pandemic. He had covid and passed away after 45 days being in the hospital. And, prior to that, six months prior to that, I actually started a show. Where we said, you know what, and I've thought about this idea for maybe 10 years about hosting a podcast. It wasn't live video, but it was hosting a podcast. And 10 years ago, actually, or 12 years ago, I bought all the equipment. I spent$5,000 buying all the equipment. And then guess what happens? I get scared and I don't do anything. Or that idea was just it, I had that itch for 10 years and I was like, you know what? I'm already sharing stuff on social and people are liking it. I should go and get that idea and bring it back. And so right before the pandemic, I started a hospitality live with RU passion. It just blew up, people are at home and they wanted to learn and new people coming into the industry wanted to learn. So started a show and, we did 130. Six or 37 weeks in a row every Wednesday. And it was a lot of fun connecting with folks like yourself. You shared a lot of interesting and great tips for people that are new to the industry or been veterans. So thank you so much for that and I'm excited to continue sharing.
David Kong:It's great. I love your show, by the way. It was very entertaining, very insightful. I love all the guests that you had on the show. Really enjoyed it. It's a shame that you no longer do that full-time. Not every week anyway, right?
Rupesh Patel:Yeah. Now it's every couple months as we, go to a conference or have a special guest that comes in and some of those things. But I'm, right now I'm really focused on the hotel side of things, investing side of things. And of course, my number one my number one priority in my life is my family. And, as my kids get older, I have two kids in high school and one kid in elementary, and they're getting big. Pretty fast. And so I always spent a lot of time with them and and do all the things that, maybe I didn't get to do with my, my father, cuz he worked all day long. And I think you could understand that and a lot of people watching can understand that, our family did what they could to survive it in the United States. And some things. Weren't the American way, which was okay with us. And now thinking about it with my own family, I'm like, I understand my dad now more than I did back then. Did you get that too?
David Kong:Of course. Now I get it, and pretty soon my son and my daughter would say, now I get it. Yeah. Yeah. No I love that. Let's talk about your secrets to, so your social media success. Your show was so popular. When I watched it, I see several hundred people watch it live. Plus I don't know how many, thousands and thousands of people watch it afterwards. Absolutely. Tell us what the secret is.
Rupesh Patel:Really there is no secret. I didn't make any rules up. I just saw what was happening on other platforms. And I said, you know what LinkedIn is doing this live platform. It's new. Let's just put myself out there. And that's what I did. I just threw myself out there not knowing what to do, not knowing how to become a, how to speak live on the internet. And I was scared actually. If you look at the first, like five episodes, 10 episodes, I was nervous as heck, and I didn't know what to do, but I kept cool and kept it going and, there are no real secrets, I feel like in business or in life. You just go and you follow the journey as you feel good about it. And Th there are, of course I post a couple times a day. I connect with a lot of different people. I have interesting people that have maybe a bigger following than I have, like you do, bring them on a and, share the journey. And when you're authentic to yourself and to your audience. People are attracted to that. And I think that's really important when you know, especially on LinkedIn and social. On LinkedIn, it's bus, it's a business platform and people think we just need to sell, and try to get return on our efforts. And sometimes it's not like that. I'm not on LinkedIn to make a dollar, I'm here to inspire people. I'm here to share about our industry, and. And yeah, I get the benefits on the other side of investing with hotels or investing or connecting with different people, but that's not what I do on social. And that's a actually, that, that could be a secret where people don't understand that it's not just about selling, but it's really attracting people that are similar to you or that are in alignment with your goals. And your goals aren't to sell, number one. It's to really make that connection. That's what social media's about. Yeah.
David Kong:No, I love it. First and foremost, it's the content and you do have genuine, sincere, and relevant content to your viewers. That's why you have your foundation to be successful. And of course all the other things that you do just cream on the cake. It's really well done. I miss no shows. Oh, I
Rupesh Patel:miss it too. I get op or I get. Calls like at least once every couple weeks and say, Hey, are you still doing the show? I would love to be on a show. I would love to suggest a guest and, oh I, maybe I might bring it back. What do you think?
David Kong:My special request? Absolutely. Let's talk about the fact that you've interviewed a lot of very successful people, and what are some of the common qualities that you've observed through all these very successful people?
Rupesh Patel:Yeah. From, from the CEO of Hilton Kristen Setta, to anybody that we've got brought on to, on, on the show or on my social media, it's the one thing of just not quitting when you get that first. No, and I think that's been the driver for almost every single person that I've interviewed is. We don't take no for an answer. We keep going until we actually get a yes. And so I'm teaching that to my kids now, where if you get a no for the first 10 times, guess what? Maybe that 11th time might be a yes. And you're top of mind. And so I think that's the biggest quality is keep going even though you might get some failures that or some some tough positions as you're trying to reach your goals.
David Kong:That's true. Yeah. You have to be persistent in pursuing your dreams. Yeah, no doubt about that. What are some of the other qualities?
Rupesh Patel:Oh, there, from other folks that I've learned just keeping it going is probably the number one thing. But I would say just not not feeling bad about yourself. And a lot of times you're like I don't think I'm good enough for this position, or I don't think I'm good enough to reach my goals. And I think that's, The internal double that's speaking to you, and maybe not focusing all on those negativity, I think that's a positive that you can keep going with not focusing on the bad side of things. And sometimes that stuff can drag you down and put you into the dumps. And I've seen that where, you know what? We're gonna keep it going. We're gonna stay positive. And even though we have to go through these different challenges I feel like a lot of those folks that we've interviewed, Did that and they said, you know what, we're gonna stay positive. I'm gonna surround myself with amazing people that helped me grow cuz I feel like, we don't, I didn't, whatever I'm doing right now, I didn't do it by myself. I had, I. Thousands of people helped me. I had dozens of people that were mentors that helped me grow to the position I am right now. And, all the different opportunities I get. I can't say it was myself. I can't take that credit. But, it's really surrounding yourself by amazing people that are gonna help you grow, that are happy for you to see you successful. And I love that. I, when we did that speech a couple weeks ago at the I A C gala where, you know, they presented and I was shocked. Male Business professional of the year for 2022. Congratulations again. Thank you. I said I. We gotta keep ourselves going. And you surround yourself with people that you know, care, that are kind and that want, wanna see you grow. And that's what I've been doing. I've been taking all those negative people and putting it aside and really focusing on people that are gonna help me. And I, I'm so fortunate that we have a great group of mentors that I reach out to almost daily to get advice from. Yeah.
David Kong:Let's talk about your parents. For a minute, you have immigrant parents. You talked about the humble beginning and how you worked hard and you pursue the American dream. How has having immigrant parents shaped you?
Rupesh Patel:Yeah, so I look at it and I compare this to my kids right now that didn't see the struggles that my parents went through that I saw, right? So having Amer immigrant parents coming to the United States and, I was born in England and I moved here when I was six months old. So I was along the journey with them as they grew their business and as they created a life here in the United States. And so I saw that they just worked hard. It didn't matter what time of the day it was, we're just gonna work hard. We're gonna work extra hard. We're gonna go above and beyond the maybe the normal person or the person that's already been here for 20 years, 30 years, 50 years, they just did that extra step and I think that's, Why a lot of us are successful is we go above and beyond and we care. Care about going that extra step, not just doing a hundred percent, but going that extra 10%. And I think that is a lesson I've learned is just work hard.
David Kong:Yeah. No, that work ethic is phenomenal. I see that in a lot of second generation. They learn that from their parents. Yeah. That's well said. Yeah. Now, you are obviously brought up in this country and. You probably think differently and do things differently than your parents would you mind to elaborate on that evolution in thinking?
Rupesh Patel:Yeah. Y I've watched my parents struggle with just simple things like, I understand now that we had to watch our pennies. We had to watch these different things on expenses when we're running the motel. But there are opportunities to grow the business and I think that's the evolution of, from generation to generation, they see maybe using our education or maybe using our networking or using social media or using another concept to grow our business. And I think That's the beauty of just, the next generation is they're gonna take your step that you took and take it to the next step. And I think that's what we've learned is, yeah, they struggled and they've worked really hard and now how can we make, how can we run our business maybe a little bit smarter than they did, and maybe have freedom to spend some time with our families, spend some time doing this, getting experiences, taking a vacation, which we never did growing up. And I think I'm proud that they did work hard because it's given us the opportunity to do what we love to do right now. But I think that evolution is gonna continue as, my kids hopefully take over a business or we continue growing. I think the next generation's gonna think differently than maybe I am even right now.
David Kong:Yeah, no, I, the one thing that I enjoy doing when I go to, for example, the Asian American Hotel and this association meetings, Is all these young people the next generation people, your age now is now assuming the family's business and they're far more aggressive and they're far more willing to take risk. And therefore they have grown their company in such an amazing way. It's really gratifying to see they are no longer the, the conservative type that. Want to make sure that we are frugal in every way. They are far more aggressive in that way. So no doubt you're the same way. And it's great to see that evolution in thinking from generation to generation. They're achieving tremendous success. That's, but we don't forget the roots, right?
Rupesh Patel:No. We could never forget the roots. And, we, and hopefully we could teach our roots not make our kids feel bad about, oh, you didn't learn, you didn't struggle, but teach them what we went through, right? Somebody taught me that a while back. They're like they're like why aren't you having your kids? Go through the same struggles that you did, or your parents said no, it's the evolution that we wanted something better for our kids. And so I don't want my kids to struggle in the same way my parents did, or maybe some things that we did. They need to continue growing and they just need to understand the story. I think that's
David Kong:right. No, the values our parents taught us, we can never forget. Yeah. Let's switch gears and talk about the challenges that women in other minority face in our industry. Our industry has made some very encouraging progress and at the same time we continue to face challenges in trying to achieve the sea level positions. What's your take on this challenge?
Rupesh Patel:Yeah. Being in the business for a long time, you've seen that, when you go to conferences, when you go to different events, when you go to corporate offices, it's usually a lot of men there. There's not a lot of other folks that are, there's no folks like me in the corporate office. And maybe that's changed here in the last 20 years. But I think there's a lot of challenges that we've all faced, including women. And I'm seeing that, you guys at. D e I advisors are doing, taking those strides to, help these folks or these different groups that didn't get a chance. And I'm, thank you for that.
David Kong:Yeah, no, that's that's a lot of work to be done. And our organization is about self-empowerment. I think the companies are implementing wonderful programs to help recruit talent and. Develop them and elevating them to, to high level positions. But it start with e everything starts with the personal motivation and personal empowerment. So that's what our organization is about. And advisors like you, coming on a show and sharing your experiences is invaluable for of us trying to get ahead. Now, you mentioned earlier about feeling uncomfortable sometimes and feeling like you don't fit in those negative thoughts. That happens a lot to women in minority groups. And what's your advice on how we should handle
Rupesh Patel:that? Yeah. To, to women in minorities and including myself. Even now I still feel like when I walk into a room and it's all a certain, Genre or whatever, I, you feel like, how can you step in and have a voice in that room? And a lot of times it's that inner demonn that, that, that is killing your vibe. I think especially right now where there's a lot of people that we want include, there's a lot of corporations that want to include you into it, but I feel like a lot of times ourselves we have that negative thought in our mind we don't fit in here. Maybe you can think about putting yourself and having a voice and maybe speaking out a little bit. Or standing up in the room. And just being noticed. And I think that's one thing that, women and minorities feel like they don't have it, but I think a lot of times, Right now, especially with, like I said, there's a lot of different opportunities that we should be standing up and saying hey, I'm here. I just wanted to introduce myself and be noticed. I think that's important when you don't, when you don't stand up, you don't get noticed.
David Kong:That's true. You, we have to stand up and speak out. That's talk about personally the defeats and setbacks we face at times. Obviously that's difficult and. Patel probably has had fair share of setbacks and disappointments. What are some of the lessons you've learned?
Rupesh Patel:Yeah, we go back to, back to the earlier conversation is just don't quit. And I've learned that these are even me being here on your show, I've had to learn to be this way. I, growing up, I was pretty quiet. I was an introvert. And you c you can't believe that, but I was, and I had to put myself out there. And. I've learned these traits from other folks around me. So even in high school I saw friends DJing and I was like I would love to do that. And my, if my friends are doing it, why can't I, even though I'm an introvert, right? And so I just put myself out there and I got opportunities because I put myself out there. And sometimes I didn't get the gig the gig. But, I just kept it going and I said, you know what? I'm not gonna stop until I reached that goal of whatever it was at that time. Even now, there's. Every day in the hotel business, there's setbacks. Something doesn't go your way or in business or in daily life. Nothing's gonna, not everything's gonna go your way and you could consider that a setback or just a learning lesson. And so I've taken these lessons and said, you know what? How can I. Stay positive and keep myself going. And I reach out to a lot of friends often for advice, a lot. And sometimes they're like you just call me five times this past week. And I have friends that actually are really cool about that. And yeah. And, but I don't know, something, I reach out to people and, sometimes they don't know'em, they maybe reach out to somebody else. And so your network is huge. And so if you're going through a setback, reach out to people. Even though it's a dumb question, which. There isn't a dumb question and a lot of times for me, I don't know the answer to everything. And so I might say I don't know it. And I think that's advice too, where you don't have to know every single thing. Yeah.
David Kong:And those are three wonderful lessons. Setbacks and disappointments are actually learning opportunities makes you stronger and better for the next time. And, You have to believe in your goals and sometimes when you're set back, when you're face setback, you have to continue to believe in it and fight for it. Yeah. If you don't fight for it, I don't know who else would fight for it. Yeah. And the last thing you said about seeking advice, I'd really believe in that. If you don't know something, just ask. They are plenty of people who can offer their very expedite at advice and they're willing to help. So just ask. Those are three very good
Rupesh Patel:advice. Yeah. Even strangers, there are people out there. That are retired or they have learned a lot and they've been successful, they just wanna share their knowledge with somebody else, right? Yeah. If one person says no, guess what? There's 50 other people that will are willing to help you. And don't just say because it's one person shot you down, that the world's over and you're never gonna get help. You're never gonna grow. And I think that's That's a lesson in itself where you go out and reach out to other folks, right?
David Kong:Yeah I do believe in that and my experience is such that I believe in just asking, you might get one or two people that say no, but you got plenty. Others that would say, I'm happy to help. Yeah, no, definitely. Let's talk about your approach to challenges. What's your approach?
Rupesh Patel:So it depends on if it's hotel operations, I have a different approach. If it's life, I have a different approach. If it's anything else. But, my approach is don't quit. Keep it going. And, that's been, I feel like this is like the theme for this interview. It's just keep it going. And a lot of times if it's the hotel operation side, I think of three other ways of. Correcting or fixing the current challenge that we're going through, right? It's not just let's give an example. If it's a plumbing issue, your water heater went down. I don't just call one plumber, I call three or four of'em, and the first person that shows up is the person that's gonna get the job right? And so I do that with a lot of. Things in my life where it's not just one direction, it's not just one and done, but I make sure that I have planned A, B, C, D, and sometimes it's not good that I have all these different plans, but often these are how you, I approach challenges is with is different ways of solving that,
David Kong:that challenge. Yeah, don't quit. It is just very good advice. And secondly, always having a plan B or plan C and being willing to try things out is another good advice. Thanks for sharing that. Yeah, absolutely. Now, Ropa, you're not very old, it's been some time since you started in the business. What's your advice to your younger self if you're able to give it, what do you tell your kids?
Rupesh Patel:Don't be afraid. Of a lot of different things. I think growing up in the business, you're so used to this one way that your parents did it and that you can't think bigger than that bubble that you're in. And sometimes you just need to get outta that bubble and go see the, maybe the world or go see how other people do it. So I, if I was, I. 20 years ago or 25 years ago, I would probably go learn from other folks and seeing how they're doing it instead of trying to make up the rules or learn on the way, which was still interesting. But it'd be for folks that are younger right now, go ask people how they grew and learn from them. And I think that's just advice that, that is priceless.
David Kong:Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes where, especially when we, when I was younger, I used to be shy. Just to really feel uncomfortable about asking people for help, but we should ask people for help and for advice. That's very good. Yeah. And get outta
Rupesh Patel:bubble. Not get outta your zone. Get outta your car. Yeah, that's right. Get outta our film. Yeah. You're in your hotel then. That's all you know. And if you can get out and go visit another hotel, go visit another city and see what they're doing. I love that. And I wish I had learned that a long time ago, like to go get. Ideas and advice from other people. Or other businesses.
David Kong:Yeah. Always broaden your horizon and that brought us your perspectives. When you go and there's another hotel, you find out new ways of doing things. That's very good advice. Yeah. You talked earlier about your being an introvert, which I don't believe at all, because anyone who's seen Rupesh Patel, And any trade shells would see Rupa working the world. You are one of the best in networking. So I'm gonna ask you for your advice on networking.
Rupesh Patel:Yeah. Somebody told me this 10 or 15 years ago, mean 10 years ago, they said, listen, we all wake up the same way. You get out of bed, you brush your teeth, we're all the same people, we all have the same emotions. So you going up to somebody and thinking that they're better than you. Is probably wrong. And they're probably thinking they're probably as scared as much as you are to meet you, right? And so I said, you know what? You're right. We're all, we all. We all wake up the same way, right? We have, we go to sleep and wake up. And if it's a CEO o of a major co corporation or if it's a billionaire for or anybody that you're in a room with go up to them and just introduce yourself. And I got to learn that. And even now I get a little shy and you don't think that's true, but I wasn't interview avert and I had to learn this to get out and really make a difference in what my goals are as far as being an advocate for the industry. Sharing my ideas all these things, I, they were just like burning inside me and I wanted to get it out. And the only way you could do it is through networking and connecting with people, right? And it's a learned skill that anybody can, put themselves or put that, put themselves in the position of just connecting with a lot of different people. And it's not what you know, it's who you know a lot of the times. And so I've, and I've seen that, I've seen that happen in the last few years where, I am going to this hotel, or I'm doing this, or I want this connection. It's not what I knew, cuz I probably know something about something, but it, I, it was that person that reached out to me or was that third person away, that reached out to that person, said, Hey, pressure's coming to this city or whatever, can you help'em out? And that's happened so many times. And so your network is your net worth actually, that's a saying that a lot of people say, and it is true that, the more people the easier it is in business.
David Kong:Oh, for sure. I love it that you said network. Your network is a net worth. It is so true in so many ways. Definitely. And it is true that it gets easier as you practice it, but you've gotta go on and do it.
Rupesh Patel:Yeah, and it's not just at conventions, it's on social media. It's Reaching out to people, cold calls, any of those things, it's not just one thing. And there's so many different groups right now with Meetup and all these different websites where you can connect with like-minded people even within the hotel business, right? And I know on social media, so connect with a lot of people and that's what's gonna help you. In your next POS career or your next position, or your next part of your journey in your life. And if you're retiring or if you're just starting out, make a lot of connections. And the most important thing is don't burn that bridge.
David Kong:Yeah. That's good advice too. Don't have a burn that bridge. Don't burn
Rupesh Patel:your bridge. Don't burn that bridge to anybody. Yeah. And you can part ways in a kind way, right? Yeah. Yeah. And I think that's important.
David Kong:Yeah, that's a very good point. Now show us about self-empowerment. So finding inspiration and finding a passion to pursue your dreams is important. So how do you find your inspiration and your passion?
Rupesh Patel:For me, it's just wake, for me, I. I wanted to share the successes that I had at my hotel. We became the number one hotel. We became hotel hotel of the year nominee for a certain brand and became number one in the in the market on, on TripAdvisor. And I wanted to share how we got there because there's other people when I would go to a regional meeting for our hotels and they'd be like how did you get to number one on this particular website or whatever? And I was like, I wanna share this stuff, right? And I get a lot of energy just from doing that, right? And so if you find something that gives you, that you feel like is makes you feel really good, that's a passion, right? And that's a purpose on maybe you could turn this passion thing into something that could turn into a business or turn into something that is volunteering or whatever. Whatever I do on social media is not for me to make money off of. It's because I'm really passionate about sharing what's happening in the industry. What is How we can all grow and cuz I've seen a lot of success in the things I've done, how do I share that with other folks? And I might post a poll up about certain things just to get the conversation going. And that's, I found passion. Passion from that. So what energizes you? What makes you wake up every single morning, say, I wanna continue doing this and then get rid of all the things or some of the things that you really don't like. So I didn't like certain part parts of my business. I handed it off to other folks. I could do it better than I could. And actually I've had a lot more, even though like simple thing is like accounting, I would do all the accounting for hotels and I didn't really like it, right? And so I said, you know what, I'm gonna hire somebody. And let them take care of the accounting side of things. And I still look at the numbers every single day, but I don't have to focus on the daily, those repetitive things. And so that gave me a lot of energy to do, go focus on other things and cleared my brain from that. That part where that was just dragging me down. And I get it's inspiration and then I find a lot of passion from tho that energy that I get from other folks too. Like in, in the networking side, I get a lot of energy from people. Is that weird?
David Kong:No, it's not. It's I think I read somewhere that extroverts are people that derive energy from interacting with people. Introverts are the ones that feel like the energy is set and they interact with other people. So we are definitely an extrovert. I tell you that.
Rupesh Patel:I've learned it.
David Kong:That's good advice. And we're coming to the end of the show, regrettably, that's have one more piece of advice from you. If you were to say, offer some advice to women and other minority groups, what would you like to say to
Rupesh Patel:them? Stand up, put, stand up and put yourself out there. Put yourself out there, and don't be afraid that you're gonna be judged. I feel like we're our own worst enemies when we talk about judging our own self. But stand up and get out there and show that you are ready to make a difference in whatever you have that you're passionate about or whatever your purpose is or whatever your goals are. Just I feel like if you don't stand up, then you don't have a place in. In that particular area that you're, that you wanna focus on. And stand up and put yourself out there. That's great. And other people that are gonna support you too.
David Kong:That's great advice. Stand up and put yourself out there. Make a difference. That's great. Thank you Rupa. That's the end of our show. For the audience that turned in, we thank you. And if you enjoy the show, we hope you will join us on our website. D I advisors dot bok will help to see you a bit. Thanks very much and bye-bye. Thank you.