Gary Andriotis

Stick with your dreams and never lose hope because everything else will fall into place.

 

Gary Andriotis originally born in NYC moved from a young age with his parents to Athens Greece. Eventually, Gary would come back to NYC and move to Queens to attend Aviation High School in LIC, where he received his Regents Diploma along with his FAA Airframe and Power licenses. Gary then attended NYIT, an Engineers and Architects school, where he attained a double major of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. With some changes to the economy and layoffs at Grumman, Gary landed a full-time position with IBM, then various hedge funds and private banks before joining All Area Realty Services in 2006.

With well over 3 decades of professional experience, All Area Realty Services is one of New York City’s leading real estate management companies that specialize in full-service property management for cooperative and condominium boards in region of Manhattan.

Where did the idea for your company come from?

The name All Area Realty Services was the idea of Anastasios Magoulas, the CEO of All Area. Anastasios, or Tasos, was trying to think of a creative name that would have this company be the first listing on the yellow pages. Bear in mind that this was in 80’s before Google, so the yellow pages were the place to be found by prospective clients.

What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?

I start my day by visiting buildings with high-value construction projects, then I hit the office to review all the logs of computer transactions. I regularly checks the logged computer transactions to make sure that everything is running properly and efficiently.

How do you bring ideas to life?

I believe the first step to bringing ideas to life is having ideas in the first place. I thoroughly love to regularly read about technology triggering my inspiration and expanding my knowledge. With this consistent inspiration and with his 27 years of IT experience, I have been able to implement a multitude of systems in the day to day management procedures.

What’s one trend that excites you?

The most exciting current trend to Gary is alternative fuels. Elon Musk’s projects pertaining to alternate fuels such as the Tesla Project, SpaceX, and his overall business model are inspirational to me. It is two-fold for me because my love for space and energies go hand in hand. Many of the buildings managed under All Area Realty Services also face similar changes with today’s ever-changing requirements for LL87. The Local Law 87 requires buildings over 50,000 gross square feet to meet certain standards of the Greener, Greater Buildings Plan.

What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?

My most valued habit is my obsessive nature. My obsessions trigger drive, determination, and action. I believe that a lot of my success comes from being obsessive. It is the driving force on long nights of work and helps me overcome obstacles. I have been able to use my obsessions to my advantage to complete thousands of projects over my lifetime. Projects for IBM, Bear Stearns, and of course All Area Realty Services.

What advice would you give your younger self?

The advice I would give to my younger self is to never give up on his goals and aspirations. Stick with your dreams and never lose hope because everything else will fall into place.

Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.

I believe you should never be too rigid especially in relation to your end goal. Life has ups, downs, and twisted paths but everything always works out if you’re willing to be creative and go with the flow of life. I have previously worked at IBM, Bear Stearns, and ended up at All Area Realty. I went with the flow of life and ended in a place I love and has worked at for the past 11 years.

As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?

I do not consider myself an entrepreneur, that title is held to the likes of Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and Jeff Bezos. But one thing I would advise is to start early every day and try to beat your competition to the start.

What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?

I believe that the biggest and most effective strategy that has helped All Area Realty Services to grow is to nurture your relationship with your employees. Make the company as pleasurable as possible because happy workers take pride in their jobs, and thus want to work harder. A healthy, happy relationship with your employees is the key to any successful business.

What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?

The biggest mistake I made was making decisions without all the information. Once or twice over my career, I had made this mistake and the consequences were never good. So, take your time and learn all the facts before making any big decisions. I overcame these failures by staying positive about the situation at hand. Then, I turned them from mistakes to lessons and never made a blind decision again.

What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?

At this time I don’t have any business ideas I can share. But this isn’t out of greed or the protection of a grand idea. I am nervous that any idea I would share would make me sound a little crazy or maybe even entirely crazy.

What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?

I love spending time with family and friends. I have come to realize life is too short to spend time any other way. So the best $100 I spent recently was taking my wife and kids to see Goosebumps 2 in theaters the past weekend. Both my family and I loved it.

What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive? How do you use it?

The most valuable software I use at All Area is Yardi Voyager. At All Area, they use it to manage all their properties in all areas from accounting to leases. Yardi Voyager allows me to be the most productive because it covers all areas necessary to manage their properties.

What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?

I love old books. I’d highly recommend The Old Man and Sea by Ernest Hemingway. To me, it represents the struggle of one man all alone far from everything. I feel that this is a common struggle amongst all humans just many people don’t realize it. Rough times shape us into the strong, wise people we will become.

What is your favorite quote?

My favorite quote is from, The Old Man and Sea by Ernest Hemingway. “But man is not made for defeat,” he said. “A man can be destroyed but not defeated.” This is because through destruction comes rebirth. A man can’t be defeated, he is just reborn learning from the past and going on through life wiser.

Key learnings:

• To never give up on your dreams and trust everything will work out.
• Don’t be rigid in your goals life will bring you to where you need to be.
• All Area Realty Services cares about their employees and that is a secret to their success.

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