Episode 1400: Interview with Karim Kerachni about His Journey to Running Mulitple Businesses as a Digital Nomad

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Thanks for joining us on episode 1, 400 of the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

[00:00:07] Karim Kerachni: I'm Karim QKeracni and I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence, and impact the world. By using your time, your talent, and your treasures to live out your calling. Having the ability to live your own calling in life, in business, and in faith is key.

[00:00:28] And one way to be inspired is to listen to this. The Inspired Stewardship Podcast with my friend, Scott Maderer

[00:00:46] uh, it is difficult to all of a sudden start praying five times a day at specific times, removing from your life all those bad things and bad habits that you've been doing a decade or more. But putting those [00:01:00] efforts paid out right away, uh, in ways that I did not, you know, expect it would. And

[00:01:06] Scott Maderer: Welcome and thank you for joining us on the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

[00:01:11] If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent, and your treasures for your true calling. In the Inspired Stewardship Podcast, you will learn to invest in yourself, invest in others, and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.

[00:01:40] In this podcast episode, I interview Kareem Karichni. I asked Kareem about his journey to entrepreneurship as a digital nomad. I also asked Kareem how his faith journey intersected with his business journey. And Kareem also shares with you how growth and balance come through a process. I've got a new [00:02:00] book coming out called Inspired Living.

[00:02:02] Assembling the puzzle of your call by mastering your time, your talent, and your treasures. You can find out more about it and sign up for getting more information over@inspiredstewardship.com. Inspired Living. That's inspired stewardship.com Inspired living with over 13 years of experience in sales and management across North America and France.

[00:02:28] Kareem found his true calling in launching new ventures, creating systems and processes and business development at large. Kareem. He is an entrepreneur more than a business owner, because once the business is up and running, he feels the need to move on to the next project. While he was managing a small crew selling home automation across Canada, he then decided to start a residential and commercial cleaning company in 2018 because the demand was there in eastern Canada, and it quickly grew into a couple of cities across [00:03:00] Canada and half a million in yearly revenue.

[00:03:03] While at the end of the day, it required very little of his involvement as the owner. In 2022, he decided to sell the majority stock in that corporation and is now focusing on his newest venture, Franchise Development in Massachusetts, for the company PropertyGuys. com. He intends to expand that model across New England by 2030.

[00:03:24] And it's focused on making a lasting change in the real estate industry. And he's doing all of this while traveling around the world, having been in six countries over the past 12 months, welcome to the show, Kareem.

[00:03:38] Karim Kerachni: Hey, thank you, Scott. Thanks for having me. I'm very excited to be here.

[00:03:42] Scott Maderer: Absolutely. So I talked a little bit in the intro about some of the work you've done in the past, some of the journey that you've had to doing the work that you do now with PropertyGuys, but I always like to talk about intros as It's almost like the Instagram photo of our life, [00:04:00] right?

[00:04:00] We always want to make sure we frame it just right so that we've got all the good stuff and none of the other stuff. And yet there's always a lot more to our journey than just that. So can you unpack a little bit of what's not in your intro that brought you to where you are today?

[00:04:17] Karim Kerachni: Yeah to make it quick I started my my studies and my career in in France career in first in sales, then I moved to Canada because I was born in Canada, had the citizenship, so I chose to move to Canada and I continued in sales before moving on to management.

[00:04:35] And that resulted to me starting my first business, which is the cleaning company. in Halifax, opening another branch in Ottawa. Now we're working on opening a new branch in Toronto. That's the next clue. I haven't talked about it yet on any other show. And so this business has been growing and, but starting a business made me realize that, There are other ways to start a business.

[00:04:59] You [00:05:00] don't have to start from scratch. And that's how I discovered this amazing franchise model, which is propertyguides. com. I wanted to be involved with them, but I also did not see myself as a franchisee for various reasons in terms of personality and more how would you say a wild wild card.

[00:05:18] So I'm not that good at following a system, but I really like the idea of having some systems that are already set. And and perfected that people who want to start a business, whether it is their first or their tenth can follow and be successful. It's not rocket science. They just have to follow the process give their their best and be successful.

[00:05:41] So that's why I've been wanting to to to be involved in the franchise industry. That resulted in in me becoming franchise developer for PropertyGuys. com in Massachusetts, and I'm helping with other states. And. That's going to be my next 10 years, at least, because I'm very passionate about that and the value that it's [00:06:00] bringing to people, not only the clients, but also the franchisee.

[00:06:04] So if you want to compound the amount of value you can bring, sell some businesses, sell some franchises, because you're changing the life of the new franchise owner, and they're going to be changing the life of hundreds of people a year through their franchise. So that's. Pretty exciting and a great way to wake up when you think about that.

[00:06:24] Scott Maderer: So you talked to in the intro about how you're doing the work, you're running the business, you're working with the franchise and all of that, but you're also traveling and doing other other things as well. And I think that's probably a little surprising to some people because usually when we think of a business owner, we think of somebody who's quote, walking into the shop every day, right?

[00:06:46] And turning on the lights and running the business. So how do you see you mentioned just a second ago, being a wild card, being a little bit being somebody who likes to be out there. How have you managed to [00:07:00] merge both the entrepreneurial business, the franchise business, and then your desire to travel and be a free spirit and that kind of thing?

[00:07:09] Karim Kerachni: Yeah, that's a great question. And the short answer, it's not easy. It does take time. It does take some being adaptable on figuring things out and making mistakes and so on. But on my end, yeah, as you mentioned, it is one of my passion to actually explore the world, travel discover new cultures and countries, but not just traveling for a week, but living in with those locals and really experiencing those those cultures.

[00:07:43] And on top of that, trying to bring some value, not just business wise, but also on my personal. life to to those people, whether it is volunteering, whether it is teaching through religious aspect and so on. How do you combine those two? [00:08:00] It does take some time. So very, and very specifically for my my first business, I started creating systems and processes in order to remove myself from the model from the business, from the doing not by laziness, not even necessarily in order to go travel, but actually, cause in I believe that's the best way for a business to grow is for the owner.

[00:08:25] to remove himself from the path from the way I get out of the way and let you know the staff and the management do their work. If you have some good systems in place, they will grow. Your business and you will have the time and energy and so on to open new branches to start all their ventures and so on and so forth.

[00:08:46] It's been a big focus of mine from day one to, to create the systems processes and delegating and automating as much as possible for the growth of the business. But also in the back of my mind I always been [00:09:00] thinking of traveling remotely. And sorry, working remotely and traveling and working at the same time, digital nomad type of lifestyle.

[00:09:10] And that ended up. working out quite well. Even my second business, right off the bat I built it in order for me to not have to be physically in my session set especially since I have such a large territory to to grow property guys in. I, even if I were, I was there physically, it would not have added that much value.

[00:09:33] And so I started, this business with the idea and pretty much the business plan to, do all my marketing and advertising and sales and networking and so on and so forth from home first, not on the road. but Once you have that organized and like a well oiled machine.

[00:09:52] pretty much nothing prevents you from taking the show on the road. You just have to adapt to the time zones. You have to adapt your life. I don't, I have a very [00:10:00] atypical lifestyle, right now we're, as we're speaking, it's 10 p. m. I'm going to work until 1 a. m. I Sleep about three hours at night.

[00:10:07] I work a couple more hours in the morning and then I have the rest of the day free to go explore and volunteering and so on. so That's nuts. But but on my end that's what makes me happy and content. I, it gives me anxiety just thinking about being in an office for even just five hours a day.

[00:10:30] Not to mention 678 hours or more. That's what actually makes me happy and content and therefore actually makes me more productive. Because I, I do have that good work life balance, the few, the the I still work six, seven hours a day on average, sometimes a little bit less but during those hours I'm a lot more productive, I have my, my, my head in the game, I think because I'm satisfied with that work life [00:11:00] balance and where I am.

[00:11:01] in Life. Does that make sense? So it's in a way putting putting your happiness first, which leads to success instead of the other way around, which is, I think, a big mistake that a lot of people make, which is to focus on reaching that success. Whatever that means. for you It can be a certain threshold, a certain job, a certain, a raise whatever, when you reach that threshold, you will be happy, but actually you're never going to be happy this way, because there will always be a next step.

[00:11:33] So you get a reverse the equation.

[00:11:36] Scott Maderer: Yeah. I'll give an example out of my own industry. So I work with a lot of coaches who are getting into the coaching business and I helped mentored and grow them. And a lot of times, one of the questions they'll ask is what ideal client should I focus on so that I can make money?

[00:11:53] and I'm Like, no what ideal client do you want to work with? [00:12:00] Go work with them and we'll figure out a way to make money on the other end but if you're just looking for the money, then you end up working with somebody that you can't stand working with. Why would you want to create that as a business for the rest of it, for the next 10 years, that's miserable.

[00:12:15] And you'd usually don't make the money anyway.

[00:12:20] Karim Kerachni: That's true. And even if you do, you're not happy. So what's the point? That's what you're saying is very true for the client and for your team. If you're building a business, it is because you don't want to be, you, you don't want to have that, quote unquote normal, life.

[00:12:37] I don't want to, I don't like calling it a normal life, but you don't want to show up

[00:12:41] Scott Maderer: in the office and work from eight to five and that kind of

[00:12:45] Karim Kerachni: thing. That's not what you want to create the work environment and, and opportunities and, everything surrounding your business that you're satisfied with.

[00:12:56] That doesn't mean that, the work will be easy or that building a business is easy, [00:13:00] but you want to create all the the conditions that would, that satisfy you. So the people you work with, the people you work. in terms of employees and in terms of clients, what you do, how you do it and so on and so forth.

[00:13:15] If any of those factors make you miserable, as you mentioned, what's the point? that's very True. Yeah.

[00:13:24] Scott Maderer: A lot of people go into business and actually just create a job for themselves instead of creating their ideal business. And then they're not happy about it. so you Mentioned earlier that as you travel, one of the things that you're doing is teaching someone on religion and doing that.

[00:13:41] And we talk a lot about faith on the podcast as well. Can you talk a little bit about your faith journey and how that has intersected and helped you focus on, following your passion and doing the things that really drive you the way you do?

[00:13:57] Karim Kerachni: Yeah, that's a great question. [00:14:00] So I have to say, first off, I'm a Muslim.

[00:14:03] I, I'm a believer in, in Islam. I know that You have had some interviewees that were Muslims as well. I haven't Listened to all the episodes yet, but, my journey has been very atypical, in the sense of I did grow up. in a Muslim family, my parents are pious, Muslims they pray and fast and so on, but personally growing up in France, I think that's the main reason why I've never been religious, I haven't really, paid attention, and and, France is a secular country, so I guess I was somewhat secular, meaning I was Muslim by name, I knew that I was that I was a Muslim, but I wasn't doing almost, anything in terms of practice.

[00:14:51] and That was all the way to 20, what was it? 2018. so I was [00:15:00] 28 at that time, 27, 28. and A few things happened, prior to my reconversion, quote, unquote, the reconversion, because I made the decision at that point to actually accept Islam by choice instead of just by, because I was, I grew up, in, in that faith.

[00:15:19] so what happened Is, and I'm going to make it brief because that's not really the most important, but a few things opened my eyes. the death of My best friend at the time, all of a sudden, very healthy guy, nothing wrong with him, but all of a sudden he passed away, and that's something that, really shocked me, in in in, in the sense of made me think, hey, you know what, that could have been me.

[00:15:44] because we were the Same age. and if That was me, I knew that the life I was leading was not good in every way from, from what, what is expected, by from us by God. so I knew That I would have been in [00:16:00] trouble and not just that, that made me, start, that started to make me think, about what I was doing.

[00:16:06] what was the Point of what I was doing, in my life. I'm talking about. partying and drinking and girls and all those things. Where was that leading me? and Another thing, as I was, having those those thoughts a few months later, another thing happened. I was in a music festival, so you can imagine, the, this environment and at the exact same times, my parents were going to, to hedge, which is pilgrimage to Mecca, which is one of the five pillars of Islam.

[00:16:35] It's something that you have to do. once in your life. if you have the Means physically, financially, and so on. So one of the best things that you can do in life. And I was in the worst environment and it was the exact same week. And that also, gave me an electroshock. and as Soon as I came back, I've decided to, to turn up my life around, [00:17:00] 180.

[00:17:00] and In Islam, it's actually pretty easy to, to do that. You have to sincerely ask for forgiveness for everything you've done. And that forgiveness is granted to you. You have to have that, that, that confidence, God or Allah has the same thing told us that, each time we ask for forgiveness, sincerely, and we regret what we've done, we will be forgiven.

[00:17:22] Which is amazing. You don't have to go to anyone. You don't have to do anything specific except that. talking to God Directly, open heart, open mind, and and you basically start fresh. And actually more than that, one thing that I learned at that time, because I was starting to actually learn purposefully, about my religion I learned that not only were forgiven blank slates, everything that we've done, but on top of that, we might even have all our sins turned into good deeds.

[00:17:49] So our scale is not just. It is full of good deeds. And that's from, the generosity and the mercy of, of God. and And that's something that actually [00:18:00] blew my mind. I remember, learning that I was listening to, YouTube video a lecture, and I stopped the car on the side and I made Toba or I asked for forgiveness and said, yeah, that exact moment, so I'm talking about six months after my, my friend.

[00:18:15] died in a Couple of weeks after, that, that music festival. So everything happened back to back, pretty much, in the grand scale of things. Anyhow, and it just so happened now to answer your question, so that was just some background, but now to answer your question, it just so happened that The following week, I was actually scheduled to move from Calgary, which is out west in Canada, to Halifax and pretty much start a new life over there for a work opportunity and a personal opportunity that I had there.

[00:18:44] So starting fresh, without any bad influences, a brand new city where I pretty much didn't know anyone, and it just so happened that the apartment that I rented, from Calgary, in Halifax. So without even investigate, I just rented [00:19:00] it from someone, was five minutes away from the largest, mosque in Eastern Canada.

[00:19:06] call That a coincidence. It's a coincidence. No, that was just a coincidence. Just as I was, starting to become religious and learning more about my faith and starting praying consistently and reading the Quran and even learning the Quran and so on. I happen to live five minutes from the, from a great mosque with great people in it.

[00:19:26] I had no More bad influences around me and a whole bunch of new good influences around me. and I also quickly decided to start a business because I saw big opportunity and things were made so easy for me. looking back, I Can't even believe how things, turned out so easy, so quickly, it started growing, really quickly.

[00:19:48] and All Of that I do attribute it to the fact that, hey, I made a change. I decided to make a change. I actually took the steps to make that change. it is difficult to All of a sudden start [00:20:00] praying five times a day at specific times, and removing from your life all those. bad things and bad habits that you've been doing for, a decade or more.

[00:20:10] but Putting those efforts paid out right away, in ways that I did not, expect it would. And by the way, all of that is not anecdotal. all of that is Actually anecdotal. Thank you. All of that is actually promised to us by God, whether it is in the Quran or in the Sunnah. So in the teachings from Prophet Muhammad, there are many verses that actually say exactly this.

[00:20:38] If you leave, if you. leave something That, is bad for the sake of God, he will replace it with, something much better and by ways that you would not, expect it to come from. I'm paraphrasing here. I lived It and I've lived it even, I'm not gonna, go with my entire life story, but I've lived it even many times [00:21:00] afterward, afterwards when I decided to get married, and so on and so forth.

[00:21:04] Not sure If I fully unanswered your questions. I, I really opened up here. . No, it, it

[00:21:13] Scott Maderer: does. and I wanna point out to People too, because, I know you, like you mentioned my background is and I'm Christian and that's my background. But at the same time, what I think a lot of folks if they would listen, will realize is, we've had other people on the show as well who's had a journey very similar to your journey.

[00:21:35] regardless of whether they're Muslim, whether they're Christian, whether they're Jewish, whether they're another faith that, and I'm always encouraging people to look for the common ground as opposed to what's different. in other words Yeah, there is, there are there things that are different.

[00:21:51] Yeah, there are, but there's also a lot of things that are in common. And I think that journey in that moment that you had, where you had that one, two. [00:22:00] almost one, two, three punch recognizing that, hey, something's not right with my life. And let me turn back to something that I know is there, and, because it sounds like you always knew God was there.

[00:22:18] You always knew there was faith there. You always knew there was religion there. You had roots, you had something there, but you had almost deliberately moved away. And then you had that deliberate choice of moving back. absolutely. I think that's something that a

[00:22:34] Karim Kerachni: lot of people can resonate with. To add to that, to add to that's a very good point that you made because, yeah, I always, and that's I think the reason why, maybe one of the reasons why God chose not to let me, go in a spiral in that lifestyle I was in, but, very much saved me and there is no other term.

[00:22:57] is Because I [00:23:00] still always had that belief. I knew that, Layla had a loss. So there is only one God. I knew that I was Muslim. I've Never said that I was, I didn't believe in God or that I was anything else. So I had that very basic, which is the base of Islam. There is only one God. Mohammed is his prophet.

[00:23:15] And final messenger. The Quran is, the last and direct word of God. So those core beliefs. I had them. I didn't understand. I had all the knowledge that surround, all of that. but I had this core belief And I think that's the reason why I ended up, being saved and everything happens for a reason.

[00:23:34] So this life journey, I don't necessarily regret it in the sense that it actually. helped me in many ways. Now to see, I do, I do preach. It's called Dawa. It's calling people to Islam. And actually, I think I'm in a very, in a great position because I see both sides. I see the, the, Denizen.

[00:23:56] No, it isn't basically that lifestyle that, some people, [00:24:00] YOLO type of lifestyle where we live only where I just want to follow my pleasure and my emotions. And, my desires and so on. I've lived that. I know what you're Thinking. I know, the way you're thinking. And and I also, lived now for the past, what six, seven years, as a trying to be the most pious Muslim possible, very practicing and so on.

[00:24:22] Learning about my religion, teaching others. And, I've seen both sides and I, I know the, the how, how to say how uneven it is, how much better it is to have to lead, a pious life. And from a business standpoint as well, cause I wanted to lead to that, being ethical.

[00:24:45] trying to be constantly honest trying to be always grateful for what you have, not, not, blaming God or others for whatever happens to you, because you know that what's happening to you is for your own good. Eventually, [00:25:00] everything happens for a reason. It's all, there is a decree.

[00:25:02] and so all of That's what actually gives you peace. That's why one of the definition of Islam is peace through submission to God because it actually gives a ton of peace of mind and peace to your life, even if you have a ton of trials and tribulations and difficulties. But you know why this is happening to you.

[00:25:22] You know how to overcome them and stay strong and so on. so just to Conclude on this, I think. A lot of people, whether Muslim or other faith is to link to what you just said, are either complacent where they are in life or lost with what to do with their lives. And I highly advise anyone to actually, look for the truth and actually educate yourself and learn.

[00:25:50] and if you do that sincerely with an Open heart, and I'm sure you would agree, you will, come across the truth and you will hopefully accept it if you have the humbleness to [00:26:00] do Absolutely. absolutely. and I think You just touched on something too of that your faith is part of what is giving you that piece to, cause again, you've been in business, you've been an entrepreneur, you've traveled, you've done all these, I, without asking, I know everything has not gone perfectly.

[00:26:27] Scott Maderer: My, my joke to people is, yeah, your life has had struggles. You're over the age of three, it's pretty much a guarantee. So how do you Interject or how do you use your faith and then other things to keep yourself you know, connected, humbled, motivated, when the things aren't going right, because that happens in the world.

[00:26:53] So what do you plug into? do you turn to your faith? Do you turn to other Things? what do you plug [00:27:00] into when you Have those periods where it isn't going well?

[00:27:05] Karim Kerachni: That's an excellent question. so many things right now Came to mind. I'd like to lead with, with one thing is that Islam is not, just, something one thing, part of your life where, you know, you, you have your sport, you have your family, you have your work and you have your spirituality and, Islam is a way of life.

[00:27:28] So everything is linked. to, to the religion and to God and worshiping God, meaning not only, obviously as we have those five daily prayers and the reason why we had five daily prayers at five specific time of the day, it is actually, one of the wisdom is to keep you not only straight and in line, all day long and every few hours but on top of that, it's also [00:28:00] pressure relief pain relief.

[00:28:01] It's a way to connect, and I'm saying five times a day. A few people know that five is the minimum. Those are the mandatory ones. Typically, an average Muslim prays at least, I would say 10 to 15 times a day. it's not long. Each prayer is about Two to four minutes, five minutes. but, but As I was saying, it is a healing for your body, for your soul.

[00:28:24] it is, a sort of meditation. A lot of people Are into meditation nowadays. it is the best type of Meditation because you're connecting directly with God. you're complaining about What's going on, in your life, the trouble that you have. Not complaining. the sense of why do you do that to me?

[00:28:42] But hey, here is my situation. I am weak. I am nothing, in front of you, please help me on. You can help me this type of complaining. and so all of that Okay. to come back to to, to your question Not only as I said, heals your [00:29:00] soul, heals your body brings blessings to your life.

[00:29:03] Obviously, the more good you do. You can expect, to be rewarded in the afterlife. That's where our focus in is, sorry, but we are also, being rewarded here in, in some ways with every, we know that there is an A or sorry, a verse in the Quran, in the manual, which means with every difficulty comes ease.

[00:29:24] and it's repeated indeed with every Difficulty comes ease. in the malice for you, sir And and that whatever is happening to you in terms of difficulties and tribulation, it is meant to be for. Good that will come all of us have had experiences with something happened to us that was unpleasant, but that actually led us to growth in some ways to meeting, someone to, to, to something positive and a lot more positive afterwards.

[00:29:57] if you have that conviction that Everything that [00:30:00] happens to you is for a good reason, this leads you to be patient. and patience is a huge aspect of Islam. this leads you to, to be Grateful to God. It's it's odd when you have a challenge, you're being grateful.

[00:30:16] Yeah, you're grateful for all the good things that you have. Say, hey, I'm going to give you a concrete example. Not long ago, a couple of weeks ago, I, I hurt myself with my bike and basically my toenail got removed. You can imagine the pain. And to this day, it hasn't grown back. And I was limping for a while and so on.

[00:30:37] very unpleasant. But this actually made me, led Me to remind myself, Hey, I have nine other toes that are fine and I have 10 other fingers that are fine. So I was very grateful for that. It's a very small example, but really just to give clarity to what I'm saying whatever is happening to us we have so much, it's.[00:31:00]

[00:31:00] It's you cannot even count the amount of blessing we have in our life from our health to our wealth, our family, the country you live in, whatever it might be, you really cannot count it. so any small thing Don't should make you grateful for what you have.

[00:31:18] and, and lastly, we also Know that in Islam, even the smallest, pain or anxiety or suffering of any kind stress and so on will actually is a way if we are patient and faithful, it is a way to expiate our sins in this life. So every second that you spend having any kind of pain, is actually expiating your sins and elevating basically your rank in, in paradise.

[00:31:50] So I also remembering that. You can imagine when you know that with conviction, you can imagine how this, brings, it's really not that bad [00:32:00] type of mentality. It brings a lot of peace. so everything that all those examples are for your personal Life and your business, yes, you can have a big challenge, lose a big client, whatever it might be.

[00:32:11] I know that it is for a good reason. I'm going to be patient. I'm going to be grateful for all the other clients that I have. I know that God will reward, will replace that one with. five other clients or maybe a whole other business or Maybe, whatever it might be. and so having all those convictions make you Zoom through life with, without fear or with, less fear, less stress, less anxiety and so on.

[00:32:37] And similarly in business.

[00:32:42] Scott Maderer: So I've got a few questions that I like to ask all of my guests. But before I go there, is there anything else about, this journey that you've been on and the the work that you do, that you would like to share with the listener?

[00:32:58] Karim Kerachni: Yeah. [00:33:00] to link back to, pretty much everything That we we talked about, and I know we touched on that on a lot of things.

[00:33:05] I'd like to mention again, because I think it is very important To everyone to actually educate themselves. on their faith and on others. And that was also one of the purpose of us having that conversation today. Because to be honest I very rarely open up on my past on my personal past, as I did.

[00:33:23] I think it's actually the first time, I've done that on any show. So that's another excuse. and the reason I did that is not to talk about Myself because that has no benefit, but really to inspire others to realize that. whatever is happening to you, is not the end of the world and you should try to look at it from outside the box, try to to understand instead of lamenting on what's going on try to find your purpose.

[00:33:51] Cause at the end of the day, we're on this earth for a very short period of time on the in the great scale of things, the time that you spend [00:34:00] living, is. So much smaller than the time that you spend dead. we were unexistent, we live a very short time, 80 Years, 90 years, 100 years at best, and then we're gonna be dead for hundreds of years.

[00:34:12] So try to use this time efficiently, not wasting your life in things that really don't bring any value to you, to the world, and try to figure out what is the purpose of, of your life and the purpose of life in general as you and I know, as believers, the purpose is in the afterlife, it's not here but you have to know that and have that conviction and so doing that, I do believe that doing that research for the truth and accepting it and living it, Is the primary, the only purpose of this life.

[00:34:49] There is nothing else important beside besides that. So I'm really trying to highlight, that from my past experience on the fact that, it's, [00:35:00] primordial, extremely important.

[00:35:04] Scott Maderer: my brand is inspired stewardship and I use that word Stewardship a lot. And yet that's one of those words that like leadership, like a lot of other words, it means different things to different people.

[00:35:16] And so I just like to ask my guests, when you hear the word stewardship, what does that word mean to you? Shepard.

[00:35:26] Karim Kerachni: That's the first word that, that, that comes to mind. I was going to say leadership, but since you mentioned it it's actually More, leadership in the sense of of guidance.

[00:35:37] and, and trying to lead your life in the best way And to bring, to surround yourself with people, that you, you guide on. towards the right path, if that makes sense. So that's, I actually, to be honest, I don't even know exactly the definition of stewardship, but that's really what comes to mind.

[00:35:57] And I think it's important. It's an important concept, [00:36:00] in business and very much in life and in, in religion. as I was telling you earlier, one of the things that I like to do, everywhere I am, but specifically as I'm traveling is to to bring value to people around including, in religion, anything, whether it is a Quran.

[00:36:20] Or the Sunnah, so the teaching of Prophet Muhammad, or, how to lead a better life, everything that I learned from my life to try to share it as much as I can, as wide as I can and, I believe this is a form of stewardship.

[00:36:42] Scott Maderer: This is my favorite question. imagine for a minute, I had this magic machine and with this Machine, I could pull you from where you are today and transport you into the future. Maybe 150, maybe 250 years. But through the power of this machine, you were able to look back and see your entire [00:37:00] life and see all of the connections, all of the ripples, all of the impacts you've left behind.

[00:37:06] What impact do you hope you've left in the world?

[00:37:10] Karim Kerachni: Wow, that's a, that's an amazing question. So if you allow me I'm going to, to link that again to, to another Hadith, another saying of, Prophet Muhammad which is very important also, to us. so this thing from, Prophet Muhammad, and I'm going to, to Paraphrase it.

[00:37:31] And when we say Prophet Muhammad, I have to add peace be upon him, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. when you die, when a Muslim dies, all His deeds stop except for three. Continuous charity. So ongoing charity. If you Have, for example, some charity that is ongoing, and continues to repose benefits, re benefit in, in people's lives, even after your death.

[00:37:59] So you [00:38:00] do continue to keep to get the reward from, that one, charity, that one action beneficial knowledge when you have shared beneficial knowledge with others and it benefited them and then they benefited their kids and their grandkids and their community and so on and so forth.

[00:38:15] All those rewards will come on your scale, even after your death and a pious offspring that, prays for you or prays for God to have mercy on you and to elevate you. All of that. continues on your scale. even after your death, and I'm talking until the day of judgment. So for hundreds or thousands of dozens of thousands of years, until the end of time, you can imagine the effect.

[00:38:40] It's very much compound effect. it's a big thing in finance. in religion, it is something Huge as well. It's you cannot even imagine the amount. to Answer your question, those are the three things that My focus are on, in terms of, Long term, very long term. So you [00:39:00] mentioned 150 years, but let's say a thousand years.

[00:39:02] I would like to still see the benefit from, those deeds that I'm doing in my short life, still having some effect thousands of years later. And concretely, what does that mean? That means, I do give to mosques, for example, to build, a new mosque or to maintain a mosque. I'd like to see that mosque still exist or new mosque, existing But within them.

[00:39:26] Having people who have learned the religion, who have prayed in it, all those rewards on my scale, and then they will also build other mosques and teach Qur'an and, spread the religion and so on and so forth. Similarly, with very valuable knowledge, it can be knowledge of religion or even else, any valuable knowledge you brought to others, that having effect generation after generations, millions of people who benefited from such some, maybe some inputs that I have given right now in this conversation, hopefully that have touched That has that one person and it's going to spread over generation to [00:40:00] millions of people and similarly with my offsprings, and, all the next generation from my family.

[00:40:06] If I'm blessed to have some kids similarly for them to be pious people, to be righteous people, to be honest people generous people, grateful and so on. And all of those all of those reward. and effect. I'd like to see them hundreds and thousands of years From now.

[00:40:26] Scott Maderer: So what's coming next?

[00:40:27] What's, on the roadmap as we kick off year 2024 and move into

[00:40:31] Karim Kerachni: the year? Personally, that's a tough question on my, on the personal side, because we're still, right now we're in Malaysia. I haven't mentioned it. We've been in Malaysia, my wife and I. for six months and we're still undecided. Shall we, should we come back to, to, to Canada or maybe Massachusetts?

[00:40:49] should we stay here a little bit longer or else? There are other options that we are, that we're weighing. it's going to be. [00:41:00] We're gonna be somewhere. I cannot guarantee where, but we're probably going to be, continue traveling, for, for a little while at least until we have kids and we might want to settle down at some point.

[00:41:13] Okay. So from a that's from a personal on the personal side, on the business side, my focus is on propertyguys. com, and expanding their franchises, all across New England. So right now my focus is but I do want to take the business. all the way, on the whole East Coast, or at least New England.

[00:41:33] being able to do that, I'm very grateful to be able to do that remotely. For as long as possible. Maybe eventually I will have to relocate To Massachusetts or New England. But for now, I'm able to do that remotely, and I'm very much enjoying it. So I'm going to try to double down on that and my cleaning business in Canada.

[00:41:52] I'm actually in process of selling it. so Hopefully by 2024, we should have [00:42:00] That whole venture sold. So we would have closed on five years of operating and growing that cleaning business. and hopefully, by then it's going to be taken over by, a new Owner that will be more hands on and will take even better care of it, than me.

[00:42:17] being so far away.

[00:42:19] Scott Maderer: So you can find out more about Kareem and the work that he does with PropertyGuys over at info. propertyguys. com slash mass for Massachusetts. Of course, I'll have a link to that in the show notes as well. Kareem, why don't you share a little bit more with the listeners about PropertyGuys and what they can do, what they could learn if they reach out to you about that business.

[00:42:43] Karim Kerachni: 100%. Thank you for asking. So PropertyGuys. com in a nutshell, it is a 25 year old business. So it's a, it's not new. it's a business that is there to disrupt the real estate industry and has been As I said, for a couple of decades now. and the idea is to allow [00:43:00] property buyers and sellers To buy and sell, but for a fraction of what it typically costs.

[00:43:07] There is no commission. All the services that they need and that they want are included in a package, and that package is a one time flat fee, typically in the four, five, or six grand range. Doesn't matter the type of property. It can be a two million dollar property. You can sell it for five grand. And that includes not only, the work from, a realtor having the listing on, on the MLS, all the exporter, the marketing, the lawyer, the stager, the photographer everything you need.

[00:43:33] Is included in that package. So that's very much a revolutionary model. And so what I do with property guys is to bring that model to New England and doing that by, finding some franchisee. So some people who are willing to buy a franchise, own a franchise being a business. So they own a piece of the map where they are exclusive, where they operate under the property as model [00:44:00] and systems and processes which have been perfected for over 25 years.

[00:44:04] So those franchisees are typically real estate agents or real estate professionals. but not exclusively. even any aspiring entrepreneurs can be a great fit, but Specifically for real estate professionals, it is an amazing fit because it allowed them to stand out from the crowd, to do things differently, to be exclusive, and, bottom line to, to make a much higher income than most agents for a lot less prospecting, a lot more flexibility.

[00:44:32] So it's a very, advantageous model. It's a great model to, to be a part of. very grateful to be a part of. So anyone who wants to, to learn more, the, the link that you mentioned, or simply by Googling my name, I'm the only one with that name. So you can find me on LinkedIn. you can find, my website and, and this show and other shows.

[00:44:51] So Don't hesitate to reach out. Thanks so much.[00:45:00]

[00:45:02] Scott Maderer: Thanks so much for listening to the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen. but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoyed this episode please do us a favor. Go over to inspired stewardship.

[00:45:26] com slash iTunes rate. All one word. iTunes rate. It'll take you through how to leave a rating and review and how to make sure you're subscribed to the podcast so that you can get every episode as it comes out in your feed. Until next time, invest your time, your talent, and your treasures. Develop your influence and impact the world.[00:46:00]

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