Listen to the interview here!
Toni Reece: Hi there. This is Toni Reece. Welcome to the Get Inspired! Project for Berks County Living Magazine. Today I have Brad Weisman with me. Hi, Brad.
Brad Weisman: Hi. How are you doing?
Toni: I’m doing great. Brad, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Brad: My name is Brad Weisman, as you said. My main thing in life is real estate as far as my occupation. I’ve been a realtor for 21 years. Currently my business is residing at Coldwell Banker Select Professionals here in Wyomissing. I enjoy doing that. It’s a great time. That’s my real estate plug.
Toni: Okay. Let’s go in the Project.
Brad: Sure.
Toni: What does inspiration mean to you?
Brad: Inspiration – what does it mean to me? I think about who inspires me when I think of inspiration. I think about people along the way that have inspired me. My parents, obviously; people that are in my life. That’s what I’m thinking about inspiration.
Toni: When you think about who inspires you – because we will get to that as one of the questions – but when you think about people who inspire you, what is happening that they’re doing that makes you feel inspired?
Brad: I think they’re doing things that I think are the right things to do, and I think they’re doing things that I want to emulate and I want to be able to move forward doing. It’s forming your character and your morals and all those things. When I think about inspiration, I think about, like I said, it has to do with who I want to be or what I see myself as.
Toni: Okay, so inspiration for you really means character.
Brad: Character. Oh my gosh, yes. Definitely. Inspiration is funny. I never, ever look at inspiration as something for my work as much so as for who I am as a person. I’m more concerned about who I am as a person than I am concerned about who I am as a realtor. Going into showing up, if I show up the right way as a person, everything else falls into place.
Toni: That’s a great lead-in to the next question. How do you put the meaning of inspiration for you into practice here in Berks County?
Brad: By enhancing the lives of as many people as I can that I can come in touch with. My way to inspire, my way of doing things is I try to get involved with as many things that inspire me, and try to make a difference in those things, whether it be the Animal Rescue League – I’m on the Board there. The things I’m involved in. Animal Rescue League. I love animals. Love my dog to death. I’m involved in the mental health association, the Greater Reading Mental Health Alliance. That is something that is close to me because of some of the mental illness that I went through at times in my life. It’s the things that are close to me that I get involved with. I say, “You know what? This meant something to me or means something to me. I want to be able to help other people that are needing these services.”
Toni: In doing so, does that build your character?
Brad: Absolutely, I would think so. It makes me feel better going to bed at night knowing that I did the most I could do for everybody that I came in touch with that day.
Toni: To make a difference.
Brad: To make a difference. Absolutely.
Toni: So that is truly what inspiration means to you. To make a difference. Building character.
Brad: Yes, absolutely.
Toni: Starting with you first.
Brad: Absolutely.
Toni: Who in Berks County inspires you?
Brad: Who in Berks County inspires me? There’s many people. I would say my friends, my circle of influence that I hang out with. It’s even somebody like Eric Weaknecht, who is the Sherriff of Berks County. He’s just a great guy. I had the pleasure of meeting him and becoming friends with him over the past six or seven years because of buying a house through me. He inspires me because of his leadership ability; his ability to go from just a typical person in Berks County to being the sheriff. It takes a lot.
There’s a lot of people that inspire me. Jeff Woyotovich is somebody that inspired me when I first met him. I look at all the things he has done for nonprofits and things like that. He’s somebody that inspired me. Al Boscov – somebody as successful as that. I think anybody that’s doing things like that.
Many of the people that I’ve had on my “How You Show Up” podcast inspire me. Elizabeth and her son, Seth. Talk about inspiration – an 8-year-old having brain cancer and worried about whether he’s going to go to Halloween parties that night. Those are the people that inspire me. That’s why I like doing those things, because it makes me want to get up and do things.
Toni: I want to go back, too, because your first inclination to the answer of the first question, which is, “What does inspiration mean to you?” you spoke about your parents.
Brad: Absolutely.
Toni: I just want to circle back to that. What is it about your parents since you went there right out of the gate that inspires you?
Brad: Because they’re that foundation, that rock, that thing that’s always there. They have been there since day one and that’s for real, and never, ever wavered in their love and support ever in my 43 years of being alive. Never. That to me is amazing and inspirational, and that’s what I want to be as a father for my daughter. They’re still together after 46 years. Just amazing. In today’s world, that’s amazing. Everything they do is inspirational to me.
Toni: That is really cool that you can say that about your parents.
Brad: Thank you.
Toni: What do you want your legacy to be?
Brad: My legacy. That’s a tough one. I had said before some of the things I think are values. If you’re at your funeral and it’s standing room only, the only problem with that is you don’t know it. That’s the only problem with that. I just want people to know that I was sincere, that every time I did something I did it because I meant it completely; that I always had their best interest as much as possible in mind. Obviously I’m human, so there’s times where the ego gets involved and there’s selfishness that gets involved. I wouldn’t be human if it wasn’t for that, but I try not to let those things direct my decision-making in life.
I try to constantly be putting myself in other people’s shoes and saying, “How does it feel for them to be going through what they’re going through right now?” Yes, maybe the way they’re treating me isn’t the right way, but let’s take the emphasis off of me and put it on them and say, “This is why they’re treating me this way is because they’re going through this situation that I could never understand – or maybe I do understand it, and now it makes sense why they’re treating me this way.” I want people just to know that I’m compassionate and understanding, and always there to help whenever I can.
Toni: The legacy question trips people up, because they think about it as after they’re gone. Although you can't be at your funeral …
Brad: Standing room only …
Toni: Standing room only, right! But you can think of your legacy as your living legacy.
Brad: Absolutely.
Toni: You are living your legacy. Thank you for doing the work that you’re doing and making a difference.
Brad: Thank you.
Toni: Thank you for showing up for the Get Inspired! Project.
Brad: No problem. It was great.
