Today we’d like to introduce you to Julian Porcino.
Hi Julian, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My path has never been a straight line, but looking back, every chapter seems to have been leading me to where I am now, which i can’t help but feel is exactly where I need to be.
I studied Interior Design at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and spent 6 years in the city, I started doing standard interior design projects freelance while I was still in school. When I graduated I decided it was time to try another city out, so I moved to Los Angeles, where I built a career in real estate, design, and property development. In just a few years, I sold over $100 million in residential real estate, started a home staging company with inventory for more than 30 homes, and worked alongside investors to design, market, and manage renovation projects.
From the outside, it looked like success. My income doubled year after year, eventually reaching seven figures. But with that growth came increasing responsibility, overhead, and pressure. I found myself working constantly, chasing the next milestone, and slowly drifting further away from the life I now realize that I actually wanted to be living.
Eventually, I made the decision to leave it all behind and move to Hudson, New York. This move spurred a spiritual journey, an awakening, time to connect with myself, I spent 6 weeks traveling through south east asia, and another six weeks traveling through europe picking up spiritual practices along the way.
That move changed everything. Upstate offered something I hadn’t realized I was missing: space. Space to breathe, to slow down, to reconnect with myself, and to build a life that wasn’t defined solely by productivity. It taught me how to simply be.
That experience in LA, and three years later (currently) having felt newly recovered from burn out – the work that I have done since I’ve been here, mainly styling homes for sale (using what is existing, and adding to create a staged environment), managing airbnbs, and finally reeling ready to get back into selling real estate (this was the main cause of my stress in LA) – The work I am doing here has allowed me to reflect on the success I had in LA and realize, my success in selling real estate came from the ‘experience’ that i created when people walked through the door – I sold many record setting homes in my market, and over 53 homes, in my short career there – $5Million total above asking for all properties.
My partner and his family have a farm, Ten Barn Farm, in Ghent NY and I have stepped in this season as the hospitality direct, and we have already seen a 35%+ growth in our first month open for the season.
All of these experiences have lead me to what I see as the next logical step in my carreer trajectory, hospitality — and i’ve realized, at the heart of everything I do is a simple belief: every element contributes to the experience, and ultimately, it is the experience that creates value. Whether I’m preparing a home for sale, designing a guest stay, or hosting a dinner on the farm, my goal is always the same — to create spaces that invite people to slow down, connect, and simply be – I would love to share my experience of burnout, and recreation with others in hopes that it could inspire them to just feel a little better!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
My dad once shared a quote with me “obstacles come in our way to instruct, not obstruct” As I look back I definitely believe this… I consider myself a lucky person, so it has been pretty smooth (besides me deciding to change things up) however the ability to listed to my intuition and know when something is not working for me, and pivot, leave some success behind in the quest for inner piece – looking back at it all it I view everything as a lesson, that has guided me to where I am now, which I feel is exactly where I need to be…
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
At 35, it feels I have already had the career of someone much older than myself – having working in traditional interior design, and then taking that into real estate, staging, project management, flipping houses etc – now I look back and I reflect on the success that I’ve had and I recognize, that I have accomplished so much as an industyy leader in LA, and now I am finally ready to take all of that experience and apply that to creating a beautiful and prosperous life in my new home in Upstate NY…
What sets me apart from others is that I truly do it all, I am a one stop shop – i blend knowledge and expertise in both design and business. And as I write one stop shop now, I rememeber, it trul is just me – at the peak of my career in LA I had 4 employees, but yet still did to much – so I have learned what works best for me, is to only take on the volume of work that I can personally handle, and skip the overhead of having employees.
What does success mean to you?
I had always know that 35, which I just turned in April was going to be my year – Previously I thought, I’m going to be so rich, I’m going to have the best body, shallow stuff, etc…. but now what I have realized is that I have had some many different experiences that have helped me grow, and allowed me to get to where I am now, which is simply a place of contentment, , happiness – a place where I can be true to myself, which is something I feel like a lot of people in this society are not — getting back to who you truly are, deep down, before all of the hardships of life imprinted upon you – that is true success 🙂
Contact Info:
- Website: https://julianporcino.com
- Instagram: justbeupstate
