Meet Joshua Jacobs | Real Estate Investor and Brokerage

We had the good fortune of connecting with Joshua Jacobs and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Joshua, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I knew long ago that I wanted to own my own business at some point. I’m too entrepreneurial to work in a big office environment. I also wanted to be able to create jobs and help my people make money and have a great work environment. To me, that’s the most exciting part of owning a business. Being an entrepreneur is very difficult and there are tremendous highs and lows, but also incredibly rewarding.

What should our readers know about your business?
The Blue Ox Group is a commercial real estate brokerage and investment firm. I’ve been in the business since 1996 and made the leap of faith to start this business in the heart of the Covid pandemic in June of 2020. Starting a business at that time was very difficult with all the uncertainty around the world and our business was getting hit from a lot of directions. Tenants were struggling as they were closed and the property landlords had the same problem. The lenders helped out and settled things down, which gave us the opportunity to pass the savings along to the tenants and keep them in business.

The Blue Ox name came from a fable about Paul Bunyan finding his best friend, Babe the Blue Ox, in the snow and together they joined forces and accomplished legendary things. The story meant a lot to me because it identified exactly what I wanted out of a company and the team I built to make it go ’round. If you work together and build a culture of teamwork, you can be better than anyone and do legendary things. That’s the foundation of our company and culture. After 4 years, I can honestly tell you that it’s going exactly as I was hoping at that time. We have an incredible group of people and clients that trust us to help with their projects.
Our business is lots of fun and very rewarding. We help retail and restaurant tenants find new locations, we lease retail projects and buy/sell all types of commercial real estate and land. In many instances, we invest in these projects with our clients, and develop projects on our own as well.

Nothing is easy when you start a business. We put our heads down and created something pretty awesome and a lot of our past clients came with us and let us help execute their ideas and developments. Over the past few years, I’ve learned a ton. First, having the right people by your side is immeasurable. I surrounded myself with great people that had my best interests at heart, as I do for them. I also realized how hard it is to hire – and hire the right people. I never wanted to grow to be big. I grow to just have great people by my side that can help our company be the best at what we do and be great in the office. I learned that the top producer that’s a culture negative needs to go and that’s hard to do. There are lots of companies that get bogged down in that issue and can’t fire the people that don’t fit.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Wow, this is tough. The city of Houston may be one of the best food cities in the country. We have some of the best fusion food and lots of places I love. I definitely have some “staples” when it comes to the Houston food scene. The Original Carrabba’s on Kirby Drive arguably has one of the best steaks in the city. I know that may be controversial, but it’s true. Mein in Chinatown is some of the best Chinese food. I love Uchi, but there are about 1o unbelievable sushi spots, including Aiko and Ume, which are great! So many places now have incredible bars and unique cocktails, but my go-to would be Anvil in the Montrose area. For a chill time hanging out with friends on a nice day, I’d definitely pick Kirby Ice House. I love sports, so I definitely enjoy hitting up an Astros or Texans game and a cool dinner spot.
During the day, I love to mountain bike in Memorial Park, which doubles as a great hangout spot too. For shopping, I think Rice Village is maybe the best shopping in all of Houston and getting better! It’s a great central spot to shop, dine, hang out and walk around Rice University as well.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My wife! She has been a rock and supporter of mine for the last 22 years and pushes me to be the best version of myself. She does so much for the family and our friends and is a generous person. She allowed me to have the flexibility in my job to work long hours, lots of dinners, travel for work, etc. I certainly wouldn’t have the career I have had without her support and encouragement while holding down the fort at home with the kids.

Another one is my Entrepreneurs Organization forum, which I’ve been in for the past 12 years. It’s an incredible group of entrepreneurs that strategize and help each other through experience sharing. Together, we have all grown and built great businesses. There is so much to learn from others who are experiencing similar issues in their businesses.

Website: www.blueoxgroup.com

Instagram: theblueoxgroup

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/theblueoxgroup

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blueoxgroup/

Image Credits
Josh Jacobs