Murtzcellanious: Murtz Jaffer Interviews Apprentice Winner Kendra Todd

You may remember Kendra Todd as the woman that won The Apprentice. I remember her as being the only interview that I never posted. You see, I interviewed Kendra right after she won The Apprentice, and it was a phenomenal conversation. However, I was so backlogged with interviews that had to be posted that season (considering the opus interrogations I had with Kristen Kirchner and Audrey Evans), that I just ran out of time to transcribe Kendra’s and it never went up. I still have the tape somewhere, if anyone wants to volunteer. In any event, Kendra was gracious enough to let me interview her again as she recently has released a new book, Risk & Grow Rich: Making Millions In Real Estate.

This one was particularly fun to do because it was done in person, while I was in Florida in July. We met at a cool restaurant in Lantana, and it was great. We matched each other point for point and the results are legendary. I promised myself that I would keep it quick this time so that the typing wouldn’t be horrendous. Let’s see what happened.

Murtz Jaffer: Don’t worry, it’s going to be quick and painless.

Kendra Todd: His idea of quick is like two hours.

MJ: No, don’t worry. This time it’s going to be quick because this time I know what I am doing. I am not going to keep going because I know I have to type this all out and that’s why I never posted the last one!

KT: I am just busting your chops. I have to have a little fun with you.

MJ: It’s fine. You can have all the fun you want. Can you tell me what you have been up to since the show ended?

KT: Since the show ended, well let’s see. I worked with Carolyn Kepcher up at Trump National (Golf Club) at Briarcliff Manor for three months. And let me tell you that she is one of the most phenomenal women I have ever met. She’s an angel, and she’s tough and she works so hard and she has the most amazing family and she deals with everything so beautifully. She’s so classy. She’s just wonderful.

MJ: And did you go back to MyHouse after that?

KT: And then after that, I flew back down to Florida and started working on the mansion. $125 million mansion renovation and it’s fantastic. It’s pretty amazing. We finished in June.

MJ: And that was the end of your stuff with Trump? Now it’s back to your own thing? Aside from the appearances and the finales… is there still a day-to-day involvement with Trump?

KT: What was fortunate for me with the show was that all the stars aligned for me that night that I won, because I am the only winner who’s literally in real estate as my industry which is Donald Trump’s main business. The project was 20 minutes away from my own offices and I was able to do both. I was able to streamline and make his project just one of my projects that I was working on, so while I am not on some payroll anymore… I am still involved. I still have a presence with the organization, I am still doing things because it’s just a natural fit. And so it’s worked out so well for me.

MJ: Now one of the questions that I had was on the last Apprentice, they had Lee and Sean and one of the tasks for the winner was to work on some property in New York (where Lee is from) and you won, and you got to work on something in Florida. Do they kind of tailor the assignments to the final two? Or is it just luck?

KT: No, not at all. I just think that sometimes, things happen that work for everyone, that are a good fit. I know that there is a lot of conspiracy out there. A lot of people on the blogs think that you know a lot of it is fixed and it is not. It’s not. I mean, take it from somebody who was there. There are people who they probably thought would make it to the end but screw up and they get fired. The only thing that they can control is how long our tasks are. They can’t control what we do. So the fact that I was from Florida, that was just perfect because he had just bought that house about four months beforehand. You have to understand that part of it is an element of being able to advertise Trump’s projects and maybe that project wouldn’t have been one of the final two jobs that were offered, but because I was in Florida, they thought it would be a good fit. Who knows? I have no idea. But the fact of the matter is that it worked well for everyone and out of all of the winners, I feel really fortunate because that’s been the most high-profile project. I mean, I got to go on Cribs! You know? I mean that was the highlight! It actually was pretty cool. I got on VH-1 and I got to bring Forbes Magazine and Wall Street Journal and all these fantastic publications that I really respect to the house. It’s been really great. It’s been great for everybody.

MJ: Would you say that you worked primarily under Carolyn and how much was Donald involved in what you did on the property?

KT: I worked with Carolyn on some projects up in Briarcliff in Westchester, New York for three months. That was totally unrelated to the mansion. What I did up there with her was I evaluated international development deals. I’m the one who got all the pitches piled up on my desk and I would sift through them and pass them along. I actually worked under George Ross for the mansion. And Mr. Trump surprisingly has an awful lot of involvement in his projects. I mean down to the stone that’s picked and the color of the walls and everything’s got to be perfect, which is one of the reasons why he is so successful.

MJ: Did he call in and say ‘Kendra, give me an update?’

KT: Oh yeah. All the time. Yeah, absolutely. And most of the renovations occurred during the winter and Mr. Trump was down at Marlago an awful lot so I got to see him probably every other week.

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MJ: Can you tell me more about the book, Risk & Grow Rich: Making Millions In Real Estate? How did you have time to do this because I figure, she’s got MyHouse, she’s got the Trump thing, she’s got the book…. how does it work? How many arms do you really have?

KT: I am an octopus. I have two that you can see and six that are invisible! That’s how I feel. Well, my business partner and I started developing that book a year before The Apprentice ever came out. And so we were about halfway done with it and when I won the show, we saw it as the perfect platform so we kind of fine-tuned and shifted some of the direction of the book and we were able to get it done in no time at all.

MJ: So were you balancing that with all the other stuff that you were doing? It wasn’t like you took three months off to write a book right?

KT: No, I just try to allocate time in a day. I would work on it after-hours.

MJ: In the book, you focus a lot on taking risks and taking good risks. How much of an impact has taking risk and taking good risks been on your career? Has it been the main source of your success? When you advise people, is taking risk the biggest thing?

KT: Well, you know I didn’t used to be so self-confident. I think there are very few people that are born ready to conquer the world. At the age of five, somebody knows they’re going to be the next President. That kid’s got something. I used to be very very scared of taking risks. I used to have to be in control of everything. I used to have to study everything and research and feel like I was 100 percent in control before I would take a chance on anything. Opportunities passed me by.

MJ: Can you give me an example like when you were younger? Was there anything that stood out?

KT>: It was just a general attitude, I took toward things. I was the skeptic. I was devil’s advocate who would say…

MJ: Well that’s why that won’t work…

KT: And that’s just a really unhealthy way of looking at things and I think I was about 20 when I realized that that’s just not the way to look at things. I think I saw myself in someone else and something just clicked in my head and I said ‘oh my god, that’s what I’m like.’ I had that attitude sometimes and then I just changed. I said you know what? You have to become comfortable with being uncomfortable, you have to just go for it. You have to live life and now I’m very carpe diem. Seize the day. Once I started to take some risks in my life, incredible things started to happen. I also made some mistakes. And so the book really explores the relationship between risk and how it is correlated with our level of self-confidence because the less self-confident we are, the more likely we are to take a risk or the more likely we are to receive risk as being negative. But there’s smart risk and then there’s gambling and they are two very different things so the book really explores our relationship to risk. How to better understand risk, lower risk and feel comfortable taking them because I just want people to feel alive. I just want people to go out there and if they have a dream, be able to put it into action and if I can inspire one person, just one person who reads the book, then I have done a good thing for mankind.

MJ: So what’s your theory on like Vegas? With people betting on roulette, is that a good risk or a bad risk? Do they have to be a shark?

KT: You have to understand the odds. That MIT team that figured out how to play the odds. It’s all about figuring out how to play the odds in whatever you do. It could even relate to if you have a crush on someone and you don’t have the guts to tell them that you like them because you’re risking that they might not like you. Well, you just need to learn how to analyze situations to determine whether or not it’s worth taking that risk.

MJ: One of the things that I found really interesting in the book is when you said that people automatically see risks as either opportunities or hazards. Why do you think people are like that? Why can’t there be sort of a balance in-between the two? Is that just carnal make-up?

KT: Yeah, I think human instinct especially as we grow older, is to ‘ooh, you know don’t touch that, it’ll burn your hand. Don’t touch the stove, it’ll burn your hand.’ We forgot that child-like ability to get on a bike with training wheels and practice and realize that mom and dad are going to take off the training wheels. I’m going to have to learn how to ride the bike without them and I’m probably going to fall down. Do you remember how scared you were, the first time they took the training wheels off?

MJ: Totally…

KT: You knew you were going to bust your butt. You knew you were going to bleed, you knew what was going to happen but you wanted to learn how to ride the bike so bad, you were willing to take the risk. Because you knew eventually, with practice, you would be able to learn how to ride. We forget that same concept and how to apply it as adults. So I think we become risk-adverse because when you’re little, you don’t have people around you telling you that you can’t do that. You could get hurt doing that! You could lose money doing that! And then as we grow older, most people are risk-adverse and so even in real estate today, I talk to people in my sphere of influence who are like ‘oh, that’s risky, that won’t work here,’ ‘that’s illegal’ and we believe those people and we forget to think for ourselves and think you know what? I could be different. I can lead a different kind of life.

MJ: One of the things I really liked was the fact that you were pretty open about the stuff that worked, the stuff that didn’t work and one of the stories that I really liked was the one where Charles was talking about NoLineGrocery.com. Can you tell me a little bit more about that? What was it? Why didn’t it work and what did you guys learn from it?

KT: I think that the concept itself was really smart except for one fatal flaw—impulse shopping. When people go to the grocery store they go to get the five things on the list and then they buy 25 other things. And the profit margins weren’t as high as it was thought that they would be, and first of all, you have to move the product really fast because you have fresh produce and when you’re starting a business, it’s really difficult to gauge how much produce you should have versus how much volume of business you’re going to get and food started to go bad. It was just a combination of different things but you know, as long as you learn important lessons, there’s no such thing as a bad mistake. With mistakes, you learn something really positive from them and then you move on and it makes you a better business person.

MJ: One of the mistakes that you obviously didn’t make was your decision to leave Capture Life for MyHouse in 2002. What went behind that decision?

KT: The magazine industry is very glamorous and it’s very easy to gain access to the right people and the right parties and get the right interviews, and it’s really difficult to make money. You can really leverage and network with media and so when I got into real estate I was like you know what, if we form this radio show, not only will we be educating people, but it will allow us to do trade deals for expositions and trade shows and it will allow us to interview the right people to get content. It really worked. I built my whole business around doing media trade in order to educate and facilitate deals. It’s a very simple concept actually and it works really well.

MJ: Another interesting thing that you say is that risk is the father of reward and that that the mother of risk is timing. Can you explain that a bit more?

KT: You can have a risk that’s worth taking but if the timing is wrong, the odds are going to play against you. So when you’re analyzing whether or not to take risks, you can’t force the time, you have to make sure the timing is right. I bet everybody that reads this will be able to think of a time where they had a really good idea and the odds would have been in their favor, it’s just that the timing was crap. And it just all falls apart. And you’re like ‘oh, how could something so good go so bad?’ Because you have to understand every little element and aspect that plays on risk and environment is very important to anything as is timing.

MJ: Do you think that men and women take risks differently and what are the main differences?

KT: Well, you know generally speaking, men tend to dive off the cliff head first and think later. God bless men. And women tend to be really analytical and do their research and prepare. There’s no right or wrong way. The fact of the matter is there are some opportunities where you have to act first and think later. It doesn’t matter if you are a man or a woman. It doesn’t matter who you are, sometimes you just have to make a split decision and you have to go with your gut instinct. And then there are other times when you have the time to…

MJ: Look at all the p’s and q’s…

KT:: Right, exactly. Both approaches work in different circumstances.

MJ: Another interesting thing about the book was when you talked about Martha Stewart and how she was admonished because she was a woman. Do you think that if a guy had done that, it would have been the same sort of treatment or was that an isolated example?

KT: I think it was the fact that she was a celebrity. That’s what I think.

MJ: And you also said that you took risks from more of a male perspective? Or are there elements of both?

KT: There’s definitely elements of both. This is true of all people. Once you hone your risk-taking ability, you learn to trust your first instinct, your gut. Almost any truly successful entrepreneur ill tell you that because it’s something that they have all told me when I have interviewed them. The best of the best. The only times looking back that I have regrets are the times that I didn’t listen to my gut instinct. I don’t think that’s more of like a male quality, I just think it comes with experience and time and raising your risk threshold.

MJ: How great was the Pontiac task on The Apprentice in terms of just exploiting everything that you know about risk? Everybody remembers that as Kendra’s biggest risk

KT: Yeah. I am surprised everybody remembers that task!

MJ: Even now. It’s like the most famous task on The Apprentice.

KT: I know! I had no idea. By the way, that car is really awesome. There was no choice. They (Craig and Tana) literally just left. And a lot of people came down on me and said a good leader should have been able to keep them…You know what? That’s a load of BS. Because at that point in the game, you’re there to win and when you’re there to win, you don’t go home. I didn’t need to spend extra time and energy convincing them to stay. It was up to them to want to be there. Plus, nothing went downhill. It wasn’t like everything fell apart and then they left, they just decided to go. But in any case, I just remember 7 AM in the morning and the sun was coming up and it was just me, and it was a really strange feeling. I felt sad. I felt betrayed. I felt abandoned. I really did. But at the same time, I also knew that as long as there is one man standing…

MJ: There’s one man standing…

KT: Or one woman. As long as there is one person standing, then the game is not over. It’s kind of like paintball. It could be three against one and the one can outshoot all three and still win. So I just did what I had to do. I didn’t really have a decision or a choice, it’s a good thing I knew what I was doing. That’s all I have to say. Because that could have ended very badly!

MJ: Do you think that in some twisted way, it actually helped you? Now, you’re near the end of the game and now you’re the person that stood up and won the task. Did it help inherently because I am sure at the time you were like ‘oh my god, they left me, what am I going to do?’

KT: No, I didn’t think ‘oh my god, they left me, what am I going to do?’ At all. Not for one second. I just felt betrayed. That’s really more of what it was. But I knew I could do it. I think where the stress came is that it all fell on me. If it was good, it was going to be great. If it was bad, all the fingers would point at me. Whether I was right or wrong.

MJ: And it would be shown on national TV too right?.

KT:: I don’t care about on TV. I could care less about that aspect. Trust me. I didn’t go on this show caring what other people thought of me.

MJ: Of course, but let’s say you made a bad decision. You don’t think that people would question whether they could work with you because you messed up that task on TV? That never crossed your mind?.

KT: Everybody messes up. Everyone screws up. Even the most successful people. There are just not cameras around to see it. We’re all human, and we’re all flawed and we all make mistakes, big and small. That didn’t play a part at all. I just turned it on and turned it up. And then after that, it did work in my favor because I developed a whole lot of self-confidence after that. I was like a train that was just going faster and faster and faster and I was building momentum and I couldn’t be slowed down after that because of the self-confidence that I got from it. So I guess in a way, I have to thank them.

MJ: Can you tell me what risk-diving is? We’re near the water so I have to ask you the diving question.

KT: It’s almost the same thing as jumping off the cliff. But it has more to do with fine-tuning your ability to risk dive. To just take the plunge, take the dive and go on your gut instinct after awhile. But of course that requires a whole other skill set.

MJ: You also offer tips on how to make your first million. Is there any one tip that you could tell people that sort of stands out above the others?

KT: It’s really tough because there’s not one thing that all millionaires do. But I will say that passion breeds success. And there’s so many people out there that have hobbies that they love where a whole day goes by and you don’t even realize it. You look at the clock and you’re like ‘oh my gosh, 12 hours have passed!’ And you’re good at something but you don’t think that you can make money out of it. That’s not true. You can make a business out of almost anything if you’re truly good at it. It’s all about just having the right packaging. If you’re passionate about something, if you don’t think that you have the business mindset, you should just partner up with somebody who does if they see the value in it and you can make anything a success if you think that you can. And if you love what you do. Because it’s the people who don’t look at work as work that are really successful and also happy. Part of achieving financial freedom is also achieving personal freedom. It’s not about the money. It’s about the personal time that it puts back in your life.

MJ: Why should people read the book?

KT: Why shouldn’t they is really the better question. Three-quarters of the book has nothing to do with real estate and everything to do with your relationship to risk. Being able to understand and just be a bigger risk-taker. Go out there and feel alive and take the risks but take them in with a positive and smart strategy. Just go for it. Live life. Have a dream, put it into action. Stop ‘shoulding’ all over yourselves. We all ‘should’ all over ourselves. That’s my new line. It’s the truth. I should do this. I should do that. How many people do you know? I have this great idea and they never do anything with it. I just want go out there and inspire one person to turn the should into the could and I did and look what happened.

MJ: What are you up to now? Same stuff. All MyHouse, all the time? Dominating the real estate world in Florida?

KT: Our company is growing. It’s been really successful. It’s a little bigger. We brought on a few more employees. But we’re a real boutique firm. Because of what we do. We really pride ourselves on our customer service. We’re really financial advisors for real estate investors and being a financial advisor requires walking people through the process, making them feel comfortable, really educating them. Not here, buy this, we’ll make a million bucks. That’s not the way we do things. A lot of dedication and time is spent on each client. It’s a small operation, but it’s a very successful one. I have a Yahoo real estate and finance column coming out in September and I just signed on as the host of an HGTV show. I can’t say what it’s about right now, but it’s launching in a few months. Done deal.

MJ: Can you tell me more about Kendra Todd, the person. I mean you seem like you are all business, all the time. Sometimes, I feel like you are larger than life. Apprentice. MyHouse. Book. HGTV Show. These are all really big words. What are you likes outside of the office, other than really cool guys from Toronto who know literally everything about reality television?

KT: Yes (laughs). Obviously I love the water. I mean whenever I get a chance, I skip down to the Keys and I go snorkeling and lobstering. And I am taking a Wild Women On The Water boating class. I just love being in the water. It’s like a whole other world out there and it’s like a mystery. I find that very spiritual and it’s a lot of fun. I love music. I have been to over 200 concerts. I used to travel with Phish in another life. I have a real affinity for Southern Rock and Dire Straits and Jethro Tull and Pink Floyd.

MJ: What’s your favorite band?

KT: The Beatles. Bob Marley. I love all that stuff.

MJ: And at home? Favorite show? Favorite book?

KT: Favorite book would probably be The Alchemist. It’s got a real positive message. My other favorite book was actually by a psychologist who applied Carl Jung’s theory of personality to prove that Jesus Christ was the perfect person and that was a pretty wild book. I love reading. I guess my third favorite book is Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. I read every page. It was painful but by the time I was done, I really liked that book.

MJ: And favorite TV show? You don’t have to say The Apprentice. You can say The Apprentice: Martha Stewart and I won’t hold it against you…

KT: It’s probably the female coming out in me but my favorite show of all time is Sex & The City. It’s the only show that I could just watch over and over and over. It’s just sexy and it’s raw. It’s so witty. If you really pay attention to the dialogue, their writers are just brilliant. I could never come up with anything like that. It’s just so hilarious. I just love that show and it holds good memories because in college, we used to sit around (all the girls) and just sit and watch it. There’s so little drama in it. It’s just a lot of sex. A lot of sex and shopping. It didn’t jump the shark ever. If you’re going to say that Sex & The City jumped the shark it was probably when Baryshnikov came into play her boyfriend. I was like, oh you gotta be kidding me.

MJ: Were you a Mr. Big fan?

KT: Of course.

MJ: That’s great, that’s perfect. Thanks Kendra.

KT: And then the rest of what you want to know about Kendra, you can get from the other interview….

MJ & KT At The Same Time: Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

MJ: You know, that’s how I am going to end it. Now everyone can e-mail me and say, Murtz, where’s that missing Kendra interview…Anyway, this was great. You know, you’re the one that kind of broke the mold for me. Like everyone else from the show. It’s like first name Bill, last name “from The Apprentice.” You’re like the first one that isn’t like Kendra – Apprentice Girl.

KT: So I am not Kendra, the Apprentice girl?