Welcome to a new episode of The Founder Podcast! Today, we're excited to have real estate investor and entrepreneur Jerome Maldonado joining us. Jerome has built an impressive $600 million real estate portfolio over the past 28 years, focusing on sustainable and workforce housing. What's fascinating about Jerome's journey is his unique perspective on working with immigrant business partners versus those from the US. He believes immigrants who aren't "jacked up" by the US education system often make better partners, as they're more eager to learn. Dive into Jerome's insights and lessons learned over his 30+ years in the industry and discover a new perspective on education. Highlights:  "You know, what's great about America is that I love and I tell people, this is I'll take an immigrant as a business partner over somebody from the United States nine times out of 10." "If I would have known 10 years prior that people would have really believed in me, I would have grown exponentially." "What I caught it big is when we're going to the 2008 recession, I bought a bunch of subway stores." Timestamps: 00:00 - Introduction 03:42 - Scaling Through Outside Capital  05:07 - Lessons Learned Over 28 Years in Real Estate  11:21 - Dealing with "Bottom of the Barrel" Employees  15:00 - Navigating Economic Challenges  21:00 - Dealing with Investor Emotions  24:40 - Adapting Strategies Amidst Rising Costs  27:51 - Transitioning to a More Hands-Off Role  37:59 - The Curious Case of American Food 50:16 - Jerome’s Tips for Better Relationships01:02:30 - Jerome’s Future Goals and Plans 01:12:50 - The Power of Enjoying the Now & Conclusion Looking to scale your business? Want to learn directly from the same team that helped me sell my last business for 9 figures? Click this link below to check out how you can work with us. ⁠https://nextlevelhomepros.com/grow-home-service-vsl⁠  Join my community - Founder Acceleration ⁠⁠https://www.founderacceleration.com⁠  ⁠ Apply for our next Mastermind: h⁠ttps://⁠www.thefoundermastermind.com⁠ ⁠  Golf with Chris: h⁠ttps://⁠www.golfwithchris.com⁠ ⁠  Watch my latest Podcast Apple- ⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-founder-podcast/id1687030281S⁠ ⁠ Spotify- ⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/1e0cL2vI1JAtQrojSOA7D2⁠ ⁠ YouTube - @thefounderspodcast