Brandon Jaradat | Neat
Founder of Neat
Brandon Jaradat is the founder of Neat, a short-term rental cleaning and property management company in Nashville, TN.
The Spark
Brandon didn’t grow up dreaming of cleaning rentals—he grew up watching his dad stress about keeping his job in corporate America. The constant restructures, the uncertainty, the burnout—it left a mark. His dad’s words stuck with him: “If you ever get the chance to build your own business, do it.”
The Shift
The turning point came when Brandon met a future business partner who had already bought a few short-term rentals. He offered mentorship and a chance to learn the industry from the inside. Instead of guessing, Brandon leaned in to learn. One mentor. One property. Then another. Alongside his business partners, Brandon built Neat from the ground up—not overnight, but brick by brick.
The Growth Mindset
Today, Neat manages over 100 properties across Nashville. For Brandon, the key to growth wasn’t just hustle—it was humility. He credits mentorship as the single most important factor in his success and urges aspiring entrepreneurs to “learn on someone else’s dime” before going solo. That year or two of under-studying can set the foundation for a business built to last.
“Apply for a job in the field you want to be in, and learn the ropes from the inside.”
-
My name's Brandon Jaradat. I'm the owner of Neat. We are a short-term rental, cleaning, and property management company in Nashville. One of the largest. We started about four years ago. It’s been a great experience to build my own company, learn throughout the years, and just teach myself and learn from other people in the organization or in the business of how to generate business, how to handle customers, how to increase our bookings. So it's been a very good experience.
When I was a kid actually, my dad worked in telecom in high-level positions and growing up I just watched him always stressed about his job, whether he was gonna have a job. Working in corporate America, they go through restructures every six to twelve months. And in those restructures, people, high-level people especially, will lose their job. And it’s out of their control just from companies restructuring. So I didn't ever wanna be in that position. So he told me at a young age if I ever had the chance to create my own business, that I should go for it and do it.
So that was always a seed planted in my mind growing up. I didn't know what that would be or what I would end up doing when I grew up and graduated college. But we wanted to have more of a life, be able to have control of our time. So that's really where that idea came from. Having said that, when I met, one of my business partners now. He had purchased a couple of short-term rentals himself. And had kinda learned the game. So he was more of a mentor to me. And when he learned that that's something that one of my other business partners and I were looking for to start our own business.
He brought us in, kind of showed us the ropes. And then again, a few years ago we started with one property, and then organically we grew and now we have a hundred listings, in Nashville. I think the thing that would allow someone to be successful in entrepreneurship, is one, finding a mentor or someone that they can learn from.
Luckily I've had that, over the past few years. Someone that has taught me quite a bit and brought me in and kind of showed me the ropes. My advice to someone who wants to be successful is find a mentor or if you have a field that you're looking to be successful in, or eventually start your own business, go learn on someone else's dime.
Apply for a job. Like for instance, if you were wanting to come to my field, if you want to learn property management, you go find a property management company and start out with them and learn the ropes from them, and then eventually you can branch out on your own. But just jumping from, you know, high school or college graduate to owning your own business is very tough.
But if you can just find someone to teach you the ropes or take a year or two and understudy someone, that’ll help you be successful.
Why We Share These Stories
We believe that celebrating Tennessee’s entrepreneurs will inspire the next generation of bold thinkers, risk-takers, and community builders. Entrepreneurs don’t forget where they come from—and they carry the power to transform not just their businesses, but entire neighborhoods, towns, and local economies. See more entrepreneur stories from the Patton Foundation.
