The Hustle Soundtrack with Ben Barbic
In this episode of Keep Hustling, host Aaron Gordon sits down with Ben Barbic, a recording artist, author, and real estate broker out of San Jose, for a conversation that starts with a pile of weight plates. Ben's house burned down in a forest fire when he was five. The plates in the garage were the only thing that survived, so he sandblasted them and lifted with them all through his teens. He still has them. Two years after the family rebuilt, an earthquake took the house again, the day before his tenth birthday. What he pulled out of all that was less toughness than a pattern: build, lose, build back better. It is why a song that does not land is just a reason to write the next one. Aaron and Ben get into finding purpose in pain without pretending to feel good about it, why progress beats goals, and how music became the one place Ben has ever felt fully in control. He closes on the line that has stayed with him for years: the more I practice, the luckier I get.
Get To Know Ben Barbic
Ben Barbic is a recording artist, author, and real estate broker based in San Jose, California. His memoir, Rise & Climb: Finding Purpose Through Pain, is out now. He has closed more than $250 million in real estate through his brokerage, and he has spent decades working across music, fitness, real estate, and personal development.
His music blends reggae and hip-hop. He records and produces out of Where Dreams Sail Studios, where he has worked with reggae legends and with artists nobody has heard of yet, and his songs reach listeners worldwide through streaming playlists. He released an official soundtrack album alongside the memoir, with songs written to match its chapters.
Rise & Climb is written for high performers and for anyone in the middle of rebuilding. Barbic's own rebuilding started early. A forest fire took his family's house when he was five, and the only things that came through it were the weight plates in the garage. He sandblasted them and lifted with them through his teens. Two years after the family rebuilt, an earthquake took the house again, the day before his tenth birthday.
What came out of that was a habit rather than a slogan: build, lose, build back better. He credits a great uncle who was still curious into his nineties with showing him what staying at something actually looks like.
He keeps a daily practice of gym work and mountain climbing, and he has read more than five hundred books. He speaks and mentors people working through hard stretches, and his position is that nobody has to pick one path.
Both of his children are musicians releasing their own work, his son on jazz piano and his daughter as a singer. A song by the three of them has not happened yet, but he says it is in order.
3 Key Listener Takeaways
1. Harness the discomfort instead of numbing it. Ben's advice for anyone in pain does not start with feeling better about it. The energy inside discontent is usable fuel. The move is to add one small thing you actually want for yourself, a walk, a run, anything, rather than reaching for whatever dulls it. It does not have to be a grand undertaking and you do not have to be happy about it.
2. Progress beats goals. He believes in goals, but he lives on progress, which is why he does not plan on retiring from what he is trying to accomplish. Framed that way, a song that does not land is a reason to make the next one rather than evidence the work was wrong.
3. The more you practice, the luckier you get. His closing quote, and his answer to anyone who calls somebody else's success luck. Keep showing up at the thing and the breaks start arriving. That is not luck. That is volume.
Show Overview
00:00 Meet Ben Barbic
05:55 The moments that shape you before you notice
09:29 Why a setback flips a switch instead of shutting one off
10:27 What to do when you are the one in pain
14:07 Music as the place he goes when life is chaos
18:01 What makes an artist easy to produce
21:37 The emotional spectrum we all share
24:28 The closing quote