In this episode, we sit down with Nick Halaris, entrepreneur, investor, and host of The Nick Halaris Show, to explore how mindset shapes financial outcomes and why integrity is a true competitive advantage. Drawing from his experience leading Metros Capital and navigating hundreds of millions in real estate investments, Nick shares how disciplined thinking, long-term vision, and principled leadership create durable wealth in uncertain markets.
We dive into how sophisticated investors approach tax strategy as a proactive wealth-building tool rather than a reactive obligation, and why character ultimately compounds just like capital. This conversation goes beyond tactics and into philosophy — challenging founders, investors, and advisors to align profit with purpose, structure deals with intention, and build legacies that extend far beyond financial returns.
Episode Highlights Here:
Brett
Before we jump into this episode, I want to invite you to join our community to help you become a better steward scale to billions and ultimately give more or all of it away. All I want
you to do is to click the subscribe button right now. I love your support. It’s incredible to see your comments, and we’re just getting started. I can’t wait to go on this journey with you.
Thank you so much for subscribing. It means the world to me. Welcome to the build to billions podcast, where we got successful entrepreneurs and investors on their journey from millions to billions. We believe that the key to scaling and compounding wealth and life starts every single day with the mindset and practice of stewardship, of our ownership and applying billionaire biblical principles. Our ultimate goal is to help you scale and compound your wealth and likes, we give more all the way to help MVPs the most vulnerable people. My name is Brett Swarts, and I’ll be the host today, and each and every episode, we’re joined by some of the world’s top entrepreneurs, millionaires and billionaires, and they share their secrets, insights and wisdom, so we can all level up and make a bigger impact. I’m excited about our next guest. He’s out of California, and he is in the West Hollywood area, and he is on a mission to help us to build real estate with integrity. But also, he has a really diverse background as an investor in real estate, developer, civic leader and activist. He brings a unique real-world perspective on systems that shape our economy and society. His journey is marked by wins, losses, bold experiments and critical thinking, and he has fueled a relentless pursuit of insight and growth. He runs a podcast that he’ll share about share with us as well, but we’re looking forward to the guest today. Mr. Nick, hilarious. Nick, how we doing?
Nick
I’m doing great, man. Thanks so much for having me on the show. Looking forward to this conversation.
Brett
Absolutely. If our listeners get to know for the first time, would you give us this little bit more about your current focus?
Nick
Yeah, totally. I’ve been after kind of dabbling in some stuff law school, and didn’t really ever work as a lawyer, but became a lawyer and doing some stuff. I started as a real estate
entrepreneur in 2009 and have been doing that ever since. Have invested in everything fromsingle family foreclosures to large apartment buildings, to developing super luxury apartmentsand houses in Los Angeles, I, along the way, started a newsletter called profit plus, which hasbeen going, you know, five years running. And the goal of profit plus is to sort of share what I’mwhat I’ve learned along the way, and what I’m continuously learning about, how to besuccessful in this world without compromising your integrity, and so it’s been a really funproject. We have something like 20,000 readers now across the world, and there’s a sort of companion podcast called The Nicolas show, which is of the same vein, but maybe more diverse topics. Like, the focus of the show is to explore big issues, but through the lens of people who are trying to actually do something about them, rather than just having sort of a talking head opinion about it. So that’s what I’m up to.
Brett
Absolutely love it. That sounds great. And by the way, people want to learn and get connected with Nick. You can go to Nick, hilarious.com, I’m gonna spell it, H, A, l, a, r, i s.com, and you can check Nick out there. So, Nick, let’s before we dive into the topic at hand, which is real estate, wealth with integrity, I want to take one other step back, and I believe it’ll be all been given certain gifts in this life, and these gifts have been given to us to be a blessing, help to others. So, what do you feel like, maybe Nick, growing up, what was the one or two kinds of just, you know, natural God given gifts you feel that were given to you, and how does it help
Nick
You bless and bless people today. I love that question, and I love a lot. I’ve been I’ve been enjoying, kind of getting ready for this podcast, because there’s so much of your messaging that I really, really resonates with me. Like the stewardship and over ownership. I really, I really like that. I might have to borrow that. I’ll give you credit for it, but I might have to borrow that. And then the MVPs, like, I really, one of the realizations that I had along the way as I pursued the American dream is that we’re sort of told a lie by culture, right? Like the American culture is, like, you need to be successful, you need to get rich, and there’s no reference point to it. It’s just, it’s just, hey, just get rich. And maybe there’s some good to that. But along the way, you have to realize, or you should realize, that you’re here to help people. And so, you can pursue all those things. You can pursue that American dream, but do it in the right way, and there’s so many opportunities to serve other people and be successful at the same time. So that just background. Couple things I’ve been really good at, actually, oddly, I feel like the gift, one of the gifts I have is that I’m a really, I’m a good listener, and I’ve had it ever since I was a kid. I’m not really sure why, but I developed this, like, really pleasing sort of side of my personality where people are very comfortable opening up to me and sharing, you know, all kinds of issues that you’re dealing with.
Brett
So, if you like this little, short clip of the interview I just did, click over here to watch the full interview, and please don’t forget to subscribe. Thanks so much, everybody.
Watch the episode here:
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About Nick Halaris
Nick Halaris is an entrepreneur, investor, and thought leader focused on building wealth with purpose. He is the President of Metros Capital, a real estate investment firm specializing in multifamily and housing assets, and previously co-founded AH Capital, where he led large-scale investment and development initiatives through multiple market cycles. Over the course of his career, he has been involved in hundreds of millions of dollars in real estate transactions, combining disciplined underwriting with long-term strategic vision.
In addition to his investing work, Nick is the host of The Nick Halaris Show, where he explores leadership, civic responsibility, entrepreneurship, and the moral dimensions of capitalism. A graduate of the University of Michigan and Stanford Law School, he blends legal training, operating experience, and philosophical reflection to advocate for a model of success that integrates profitability, integrity, and meaningful impact.
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