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Meet the TripleMint Team: Eric Barron

by | Mar 7, 2016

This week we sat down with Chief Revenue Officer Eric Barron. We learned about his colored career and family and got some sound advice.

Where are you from?

I grew up in Brooklyn.

A New Yorker through and through.

Yes. Brooklyn, New York, not Brooklyn, Kansas. Wait no, there’s a Manhattan Kansas. But yes, I grew up in Brooklyn, New York.

Did you ever leave New York or have you been a New Yorker all your life?

Well, I went to school in St. Louis – Washington University. I also did a semester abroad in London. As soon as I graduated I came right back to work for ABC Sports.

What did you do at ABC Sports?

My parents always said I should follow my passions and make my passion my career. I graduated with a psychology major and I knew I was not going to get my Masters or go for a Phd. Like many young adults who are undecided, I contemplated law school and getting an MBA. I didn’t want to take “the safe route” if I wasn’t passionate about something, so I did ad sales at ABC. Mainly on the radio. And I decided that was the wrong direction for me and ended up falling into the mortgage industry right around 92.

When did you shift to residential real estate?header

I started in the late 90s. I wasn’t sure where my passions lied – it wasn’t like I had a passion for the mortgage industry. It was an opportunity to have some big upside in earning potential. It was a business that involved a lot of networking. It was a sales job. I’m proud to say I’m a salesman. Any time that I can use my skills to engage other people and be around other people is the part of my day I enjoy the most – connecting with others. In the late 90s, while heading up sales for New York mortgage, I started to do a bunch of sales training for real estate agents. That took on a life of its own for about 4 or 5 years. I started doing more and more of that all throughout the Tristate area for dozens of real estate companies. It was something that I found extremely interesting. It was around this time I was introduced to D.I.S.C. personalities and behavioral styles. So I started getting interested in human behavior and how it related to the sales process. I did training for the real estate industry all the way up until I left the mortgage business in 2007. The I went full-fledged into consulting.

How did you end up at TripleMint?

After 2007, I asked myself, “where do my passions lie?” I had a big affinity for what I considered to be the young adult genre, so I did two things at the time. I did coaching and training for the real estate industry. At the same time, I launched a business to focus on college-to-career transitions, working with alumni associations on a number of things from leadership and networking to individual brand identity and communications skills. It was fun while it lasted, but when you have a family and two kids it’s hard to travel around college campuses. So I started really getting back into consulting. I did consulting for a number of top 10 companies here in the city. I did a little M&A work in the real estate industry. And then Keller-Williams approached me in 2011 to take over their Manhattan operations. It was not something I was particularly looking for – I don’t have a strong affinity for large companies and bureaucracy. That being said, a lot of the underlying principles Keller stands for were intriguing and if there were ever a time in my life I was going to dip my toe in the water of a large company, I might as well do it now. At the time, there were around 150 agents. When I left we had about 550 agents. We were in the top 5 for profitability in the world. In under 4 years. It was a great run at a great company. There were many things I wanted to accomplish in the real estate industry and that’s not easy to do working at a large company.

I met David and Phil through a common friend. I believe it was Teri Rogers, who’s the founder of Brick Underground. She told me, “you gotta meet these kids.” This was two years ago and at that time they must have been 25 and 26 as opposed to 27 and 28. We met and I introduced them to the Keller model and thought there might be synergies there. We kept in contact over the past two years. When I decided to part ways with Keller in the fall of last year, they were one of the companies I reconnected with to see what they were up to. I started consulting for them in the fall. And it was a good marriage. They’re really smart and have a lot of great ideas of what they want to accomplish. I had 20+ years of boots on the ground real estate knowledge and national and international outlooks on the industry. We dated, basically.

Things worked out?

We determined that it was a good fit to move forward. It would be a good relationship to get married.

So on the note of marriage, what’s your family like?

I have two kids. One, Zachary, is in 3rd grade and the other, Jacqueline, is in 6th grade. This October will be my 15 year wedding anniversary. I lived in the city for 17-18 years, and as the kids got older we decided to move out to the South Orange, New Jersey area. So we’re out there now and actually surviving.

Since you’ve lived in the city so long, what’s your favorite neighborhood?

I’ve lived in two main areas: the 80’s on the Upper West Side –

Great area.

– and downtown on Pearl Street by the seaport. Those are the two areas I’ve lived in. It’s funny, we moved out of the city because – well do we really want to say I moved out of the city because of people pollution and tourists? And the construction? Haha. “Eric Barron rails on Manhattan in the Julep Blog.”

What is my favorite neighborhood? I would say Madison Square Park and Flat Iron and then pretty much anything south of 23rd street. For years I never really had an office north of 23rd street, so I don’t spend a lot of time in midtown or uptown anymore.

How are you liking the Times Square location then, with the tourists and pollution?

You know what, this location works. It’s a 6 minute walk from Penn Station so at this stage in my life it couldn’t be better. For commuting purposes, it’s phenomenal.


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What do you like to do in your free time?

What do I do in my free time? Wow. I play fantasy football, religiously. I love fantasy football. Obviously, I spend a lot of time with my kids. My daughter plays softball and my son plays tennis, lacrosse and baseball. I work out, but not obsessively. I definitely hit the gym anytime between 2-4 days a week. What else do I do in my free time? That’s a damn good question. Once you get kids, you don’t do much with your free time. Those are my three things.

What’s something that most people don’t know about you?

That’s a very deep question. You could have asked my favorite food or favorite color. I’m a pretty open book.

We like this question. It stumps most people.

It’s a tough question to ask an open person. A lot of people don’t know that I’m an only child.

Also, people tend to think because I’m so energetic that I’m typically half-full. I’m a high driver. A high driver’s mentality is “well if I don’t do it, it’s not going to get done right.” So, if the attitude is, “everyone else is an idiot,” then that’s a pessimistic view on life. So, I would say that I’m more pessimistic than optimistic and I’m working on that part of myself. My wife is optimistic versus pessimistic.

Balance. Last question, what advice would you give to your younger self?

I would say, “Stop worrying because most things work out. Be more diligent and efficient with your time. Seek out a couple of really good entrepreneurial mentors.”

It’s good advice for us since we’re young.

Haha yeah. We sweat the small stuff. It’s so freaking ridiculous. It’s so inconsequential.

Ready to make a move?
Let’s get started.

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