Mokhtar Jabli

Mokhtar “MJ” Jabli is a Moroccan businessman, real-estate investor and founder of The Nightfall Group, an exclusive residential rental and travel concierge company. After being homeless and then struggling to make ends meet, MJ began renting out his two-bedroom apartment in Long Beach, California. As he saw popularity rise, MJ expanded to additional properties, worked with celebrities from across the globe, and became a prominent figure within the hospitality and real estate industry all before turning 30. Within just a few years, MJ turned his entire life around and in his 20s, had already become an eight-figure millionaire. MJ shared his success story methods within his book, “Airbnb First Million,” which details how he made his first million dollars without ever owning real estate. As The Nightfall Group is based out of Beverly Hills, MJ frequently works and networks with other businesses in the area and his company is a part of the chairman circle of the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce. MJ has a bachelor’s degree in information technology from the International University of Rabat in Morocco and a master’s degree in finance from The National School of Computer Science for Industry and Business (ENSIIE) in Paris.

Where did the idea for The Nightfall Group come from?

When I moved to America, I was doing an internship where I was paid $2,000 per month and struggling to make ends meet in California. In an effort to generate some form of outside income, I began renting my room on Airbnb and started to become familiar with the process of rent arbitrage – the first booking I received was just $50, but it was money I needed. Bookings were steadily coming in and I began making meaningful connections with guests and other “hosts” within the Airbnb community. Seeing how well this was working, I dove deeper into the real estate industry and sought out additional opportunities to scale up the Airbnb business. I became involved with entire apartments then homes and high-end properties. From there, The Nightfall Group was born.

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

I wake up at 5:30 a.m. every day, to keep myself on a consistent schedule. I start my day by making an audit on the status of my goals and then heading out for a 15-minute run. From there, my morning routine is followed by breakfast, getting ready for the day and putting together a calendar that my team and I will follow throughout the day. This calendar outlines everything that needs to be done as well as goals that we need to achieve – I’m very goal oriented and this step is intrinsic to success. The consistency in my day stops there – after this, I travel all around between the office, showings at homes, meetings with clients and more.

How do you bring ideas to life?

I am not one to sit and wait for the “perfect moment” to implement an idea. Once I get an idea, I immediately start to plan next steps and execute right away.

What’s one trend that excites you?

High-end lifestyle management and luxury travel accommodations – it is a niche trend but one that is steadily growing and gaining more and more traction. There are so many avenues to explore within and I’m excited to dive deeper into it and see what more offerings The Nightfall Group can add to our roster for clients.

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

Completing tasks that take less than five minutes to do right away. It’s easy to push aside minute tasks to tackle bigger picture items, but I find it vastly more productive to knock out the easy line items first. That way you can give larger tasks your full attention.

What advice would you give your younger self?

Start working on yourself as soon as possible. This is best investment that you can ever do but something that many entrepreneurs put on the back-burner in place of company or business growth. Putting time and energy into yourself and your development early on will make you a more independent and secure business professional.

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

Time is non-refundable and incredibly precious. It’s important to think of your time as a valuable asset and make sure you’re putting it directly into something that will grow you as an individual. And as much as possible, put each second available towards self-improvement.

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

Self-improving. As a business leader, you need to constantly be growing and evolving for the success of not only yourself and your business, but also for your team. Everyone should look into ways to improve themselves whether that be taking additional classes to hone your skills, reading literature on an industry you’re interested in or even just taking time to plan out where you want to be in five years.

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

Self-success results in business success. If you are improving yourself and your knowledge, that will translate into your business improving as well. Especially for entrepreneurs and business owners, the success of s business relies and reflects their success.

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

In the beginning when creating The Nightfall Group, I was told “no” several times – either they thought my business idea was too lofty or they thought I didn’t have the experience to achieve success. Instead of listening to their thoughts, I used their input as fuel to energize my determination. Their words only made me work that much harder to prove them wrong and prove to myself that I can accomplish any dream I set my mind to.

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

With new technology and the popularity of food delivery platforms rising exponentially, I think there’s room for a new food delivery service using drones. Especially during COVID-19, this could be an additional way to decrease interpersonal contact.

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

I recently spent money for boxing and personal training lessons. It’s an amazing way to decrease stress and to keep my mind and body in top shape.

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

I actually created my own software after failing to work with well-known options that did not work for me. I like to stay as organized as possible and needed a software that custom fit my needs. I use it to organize my calendar, keep my goals in line and everything in between.

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

I recommend everyone read “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne. It is a great self-help book that has really helped me visualize and attack my professional and personal goals.

What is your favorite quote?

“A quitter one day is a quitter for life.” It may seem harsh, but you’ll never really know what you can accomplish unless you give it your all and don’t stop.

Key Learnings:

• Self-improvement is intrinsic. I’ve mentioned it several times because it truly is that important! Taking care of yourself, making yourself better and striving for more will only help you achieve your goals and your business evolve. It takes time but I believe this is time well spent.
• The only person stopping you from your goals is you. Similar to my own experience, there will always be naysayers and those who will tell you that you cannot do something. If I had listened to them, who knows where I would be now. Stay true to yourself, stick to your guns and strive to accomplish your goals.
• Time is incredibly valuable. 24 hours may seem like a large number but it’s actually very little time. Think of your time as money and make sure you’re spending it for experiences and knowledge that will support and empower you.