Latest / The Elite Real Estate Podcast / Funding the Deal: Marcus Younan on Lending Strategy, Speed & Winning in Today’s Market

Transcript

Funding the Deal: Marcus Younan on Lending Strategy, Speed & Winning in Today’s Market · The Elite Real Estate Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: What's up everyone and welcome back to another episode of the Elite Real Estate Podcast.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_01: Real estate mindset marketing momentum.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Jimmy Nelson, and today we are coming to you live from the Royal Old Insurance here right here in Clean Council, Michigan.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_01: Big shout out to the entire team here.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: Royal Old is more than just an insurance agent.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: You can check them out at RoyalOldInsurance.com or live 2383535.
• 0:30
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• 0:35
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• 0:43
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• 0:46
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• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: We're glad you're here.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: Do me a favor, hit that like button, drop a comment, and share this with a friend, and make sure you're subscribed so you never miss an episode.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: Alright, guys, let's get locked in.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: We've got a Powerhouse show lined up today.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: And if you're in business in real estate or just building something big, this one is the weekend.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: Good morning.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: Good morning, Mary.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome back into the Elite Real Estate Podcast, where we're joined every Friday morning by fabulous guests, and uh we're getting excited every Friday morning to kick off our weekend um to get ready for this.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: We are, you know, real estate-wise, everybody's like, it's the weekend.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, it really doesn't matter in our business.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm super excited.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: I have an in-house guest today.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: Marcus Union from Apex Lending is joining me, and I appreciate you dropping in, my friend.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: How are you?
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: I'm good.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: I'm good, Jimmy.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for having me, and I'm uh excited to be on this.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, man.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: I I could we you know, we talked probably a year ago to try to get you on, and then it was like, all right, how do we figure this thing out?
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: But and then here you are.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: Here we are, man.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: Here we are.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: Everything uh takes time.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: Good things take time.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: We talked yesterday, and I was like, man, we were talking about some really good topics yesterday.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I gotta stop talking to him right now because I want to save it for the morning.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: Save all the juice for the I'm like, man, we had a good conversation yesterday, and I was like, no, I gotta save this for the morning because I don't want to ruin it all.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, 100%, man.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: That's why sometimes when I have people in, I don't even like to like talk in the hallway or anything.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: Just because you lose some of that, the just the realness of this conversation, right?
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: So that's what this all is about, and it's about making people better and helping agents and loan officers and entrepreneurs just in general, yeah, just get better.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: So that's that's our whole goal today.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: So introduce yourself, my man, Apex Lending.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, how long have you been in the business?
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, man.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: So uh once again, it's a pleasure being on here, Jimmy.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate you for having me.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, so uh low mortgage loan officer, uh Apex Lending.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'm the owner, been in business for about six years now.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: I joined uh primetime COVID, so 2020.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm a COVID loan officer, you know, for all those guys out there in the business they know.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: Interesting times, yeah, exactly.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's funny because like you know how they say like you're like COVID babies, you know, for the babies that are COVID.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm a COVID loan officer, rates were at an all-time low, right?
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: And um uh that's kind of how I got in.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Rates were low when I came in, and you know, reef it was a huge refinance boom.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so I never imagined myself, by the way, being in mortgages.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like that I feel like everybody says that actually.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Real estate and mortgages.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like nobody planned on it.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: Nobody brought up going, I want to be a loan officer.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly, exactly.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: So it kind of fell on my lap.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I used to actually like do more of like construction, or I was gonna, you know, go to college and be a PA and be in the medical field.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then this kind of fell on my lap, and then I got into it and I found a new passion that I didn't know that I had, and kind of a new skill that I didn't know I was gonna be good at.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it's the communication and service and all this good stuff, right?
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: So got in and then uh worked with a couple different companies.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then I ran into a great mentor of mine that kind of changed my the direction of where I was headed.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we kind of grew that and it became kind of a big thing.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: And then after that, you know, we kind of went sideways with that and took a different direction.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: And now here we are, we started Apex.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I started Apex in November of 2023.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and a lot of people ask, like, oh, how did you come up with the name?
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: You know, because it's like yeah, it's not a common somebody said on the uh we were talking about I said something about Apex yesterday, and somebody said Apex?
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, no, Apex.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and every time Apex, and it's like it's oh, it's Apex.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: So um, so yeah, so I was trying to come up with a name and coming up, I never knew how hard it was to come up with a name for something.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like whether you're doing a podcast or a company, whatever the case is.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I was sitting there and it's been like three hours now, and I'm like, man, I cannot get a name, and like it was bothering me.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I was like, you know what?
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna write down the core values of what it takes to be a successful loan officer, and then I'm just gonna take the first letter of each word and then just make a name out of it.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, also like an acronym.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: And then that's what I took, you know, I wrote it on my whiteboard, and it was availability, flexibility, experience, and then experts.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I know, and everyone says, like, oh, you you spelled experts wrong.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, you know, yeah, like it's a play on words, you know, with the ex is expert.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: And the ex always looks cool in a in a in a logo, right?
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly, exactly.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so that's the cool factor there.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: But um, yeah, being available, being flexible, um, being get making sure everybody has a good experience, and then just simply being an expert.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's kind of what we stand for.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, I feel like people overcomplicate, overcomplicate it, but it really just that's all it takes.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: So um that that was the beginning of Aphex, man.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: So it's been about two, three years now.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: I love it, man.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like you know, again, like the take chargedness of just like I'm gonna do this thing.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: Well, so you had plans to be a PA, right?
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: School, all that stuff.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: What was the trigger to get you into mortgages?
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's a great question.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: So for the longest time, I've always been a part of a company, obviously.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: But like, even the company that I had with my mentor, we're kind of in a way partners.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: But until I left that and I joined somebody and I joined another company, right?
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I joined this company, and the guy the guy that I used to work for, once I realized that he can do it, no disrespect to this guy, right?
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: But once I realized I'm like, wait, if this guy can do it, what is stopping me from doing this?
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: Because it just kept joining companies, but I realized I was limiting myself, and I didn't realize it.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so one day I just woke up and I was like, oh my gosh.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: Because I started with that company when there were three people, and then ultimately I mean within a couple months, they were at 20, 25 people, right?
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: And then the operation started being successful, and then I I sat back one day and I'm like, wait, what am I doing?
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, you know, I love this company, but it's like at the end of the day, uh if this guy can do it, I can do it.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I realized I was limiting myself the whole time.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: So then that's where I had to take that leap of faith where I was like, you know what?
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: I think this is this is right, I think it's time, I think I've gained the knowledge, I think I've got the experience, I think I have the the connections and the networking, and I'm like, you know what, we're just gonna go for it.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and I took that leap of faith.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but I took somebody to to motivate me to show me that like anybody can do this, yeah, you know?
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so it's it's weird sometimes, right?
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: Like you see other people do some things and you're like, wait a minute, I could do that, yeah, right?
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly that.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I mean my journey into real estate too.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I I came in to the to real estate as a as a productivity coach.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't have my real estate license yet.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: So they hired me as a coach before I even had a real estate license.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: Now I did I was at Quick and so I was at mortgage doing mortgages.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: So I came into this role of uh in real estate, and so I started coaching these realtors, and I'm watching all these realtors have their success coaching when I'm like, give me that license, man.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: Give me that license, let me figure this thing.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: I figured it out, right?
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: I just figured it out a little bit differently.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: So it's sort of similar, right?
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's yeah, you start to figure things out and look around, and you're like, I could do this thing, I think.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, 100%, you know.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: And and what I realized like in that moment was a lot of people limit themselves.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: You know, like I never understood the, you know, you heard the saying to me, like you versus you, you know, I never really understood it.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like I used to hear it and I'm like, yeah, all right.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: But like things don't hit you until you actually go through it.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: And that's when it hit me, where I was like, okay, now I really I'm like, I looked at myself and I'm like, all right, it's you versus you now.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's like the only reason why I'm not taking that leap of faith, or the only reason why I'm afraid to make that first step is because of nobody other than myself.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's where I started like look looking into a lot of reading a lot of books, um, started learning about self-limiting beliefs and all these things, and that's where it just my life changed.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: And um, I started realizing in a lot of people that that's how it is.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're listening to this, if you have any fear or doubt, you have to remove that fear and doubt.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like when you remove the fear and doubt, that's when the world just opens up for you.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel like a lot of people deal with that.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so uh whoever's listening to this right now, I hope it helps.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: I love that, man.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: And so let me what was the what was the what was the book or books that threw you into this?
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um the number one book.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: Well, for the first book is the Bible.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that I there's a lot of different verses in there that I've started learning.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: But the second one is uh the game of life and how to play it.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: The game of life and how to play it.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: I forgot who it's by, I think Florence something.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: It was written in 1940.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: And it basically just talks about the power of your mind.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: And it just talks about how the world is literally in between your two ears.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's your mind.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: And it talks about how your mind can.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: And it's funny because another experience that I had that taught me the power of the mind was I never knew what a like panic attack was, anxiety attack.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: I never knew what that was.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, oh, you know, like I don't know, that's it's a myth.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, that's not a thing.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: But uh or it's weak, yeah, or it's weak, yeah, like whatever.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, men we're told different, right?
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: Like we're told differently.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like we can't have that stuff because we're exactly right.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: Literally, yeah.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: So when I learned about what anxiety attacks and panic attacks were, when I went through it myself, I was like, holy we can't we can't cuss on here, right?
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'll keep it clean.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, holy smokes, yeah.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: The um like your brain literally convinces itself that you're having whatever, like a heart attack.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and then it starts having the symptoms of as if you're having a heart attack.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: So I was like, oh my gosh, like if your if your mind can do that to your own body and convince yourself of you having a heart attack, and then you start getting the symptoms of that, well, that's the negative side of it, right?
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: But what if you flip it to the positive side?
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: Well, what can you do with your mind if you believe that you can do anything?
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: Or if you believe that, you know, you're good at X, Y, and Z, or you can do this, right?
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: Or you will do it, or you will be successful.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: And so all these things, you know, like having uh positive affirmations.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: All these things I started learning about.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: And that book really opened up my eyes to the power of the mind.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I recommend that book for everybody.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's on YouTube.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: The game of life and how to play it.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's on YouTube, it's free.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's it's the best book.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: Changed my life.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it was written in 1940, right?
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, which is crazy.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's crazy.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean it's it's it's nuts, but it at the same point, like how important it is to, like you said, shift, make that mind shift to the to to to figure out how to do this the without there's always gonna be stress.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: That doesn't matter.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: Well no matter what we do.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: If if if you're whatever job you have or career you're in, there's always gonna be some sort of stressor.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um but how how do you handle that stress?
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like what does that look like?
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: Because look, you're closing a lot of deals, right?
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: You're you've got now you've got eight now, you've got uh loan officers working for you.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: So now people don't understand that part either.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: The stress that you add to yourself because now you have other people depending on you.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's a lot.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: 100%.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's a lot.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, man, that's a that's a good question.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: How do I handle stress?
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: To be honest with you, a few different ways.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: The first thing is God.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like, if if I didn't have my faith, I would be nothing.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: I'd be like frickin' dust right now, right?
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because of all the fear and the doubt and all this good stuff.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you had that in your mind, you're you're just gonna get crumbled.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I've gotten crumbled before, right?
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure we all have.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: But it's made me stronger.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so the first thing is God, but the second thing is I look back in my life and moments when I thought that the world was ending, and then I realized that nothing ended up happening.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know what I'm saying?
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you gotta remind yourself of who you are, where you're from, where you're going, and who you are.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: And in moments of stress, that helps me the most because I start thinking back and I'm like, okay, so right now I'm going through XYZ.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like the world is ending.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going through the struggle.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: There's so much stress, everything's falling apart.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: But then I'll look back and I'll be like, oh, but I remember the time that I thought this last year when this was happening, but I'm still here and I'm fine.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, but I remember when this happened and I was at rock bottom and I figured it out and I made it out and now I'm here.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: So you kind of start building that self-confidence to make yourself stronger, to remind yourself, because sometimes you forget who you are.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like a lot of us and a lot of people have been through a lot and they don't realize it.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: They're stronger than they they really think they are.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes you gotta be reminded of that.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: And then the third thing is kind of plays into the same uh circle where it's like talk to your talk to somebody.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: Talk to somebody, talk to your close circle, somebody that's gonna remind you of who you who you are, somebody that's gonna give you good advice, someone that's gonna um, you know, maybe give you positive energy that you can kind of feed into your brain, but it's all about your surroundings.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: And if your surroundings are just constant motivation, constant posity, constant reminder of who you are, Jimmy, or who whoever's listening to this, if it's if that's all you have, then you just build the strength and you become solid.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: And now anything that comes your way, you can handle it, right?
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: So it's God, it's reminding yourself of who you are, take a step back because the world is not gonna end.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: And then the third thing is surround yourself with the right people that can also give you good external energy, right?
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: And um, that's kind of how I go about it, really.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's a three-step process.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: Easy, right?
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, literally, you know what I mean?
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: Three-step process, take a step back, you know, relax, take a deep breath.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and um just know that you you're stronger than you than you think you are, you know?
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: So man, like if that if people aren't positive after what after listening to this, you know, either today or later on, yeah, um, they gotta check themselves.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: That is a thing.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: What is and you know, it's like again, we we deal with a lot of stuff, right?
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of you got a lot of moving parts, right?
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: You got you got realtors breathing down your neck, you've got clients breathing down your neck that are complaining about their realtor, or the realtor is complaining about the client.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: You get you like the all right, you have to have sit both of them down in some way, right?
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I always say the same thing about the loan officers.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I gotta sit the loan officer and the client down again because man, this loan officer just doesn't get it.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: But it's funny in our industry, and I and I've said this for a long time, we we really uh run so parallel, right?
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: Loan officers and real estate agents.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: Without you guys, we don't get deals closed.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: And without us, you don't get deals, right?
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: So, but it's so funny how wide that gap is sometimes with communication and and you know, whatever else.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like how and everybody points the finger.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody's like, it's the loan officer's fault.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: The loan officer says the real estate doesn't know what they're doing.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so but but how have you shrunk that gap?
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how have you gotten closer with your real estate agent?
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_01: Because I know you have some phenomenal real estate um, you know, relationships.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so how have you shrunk that gap?
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: That's a great question.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the biggest thing is obviously the communication aspect, but what I realized too, Jimmy, is I realized that you in in in this business, when you're working with a real estate agent, it's it's an actual partnership, right?
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I never realized that.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I didn't think like that before.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: But I was like, oh, okay, you know, here's an agent, right?
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna provide value, and then they're gonna send me business, we're gonna close some deals, and then uh we'll see where it goes.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: But I didn't realize that, like, okay, we're actually doing business together, right?
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so the same way that I would go into business with, for, for example, my partners right now is the same way that I got to treat the agent, where it's like, hey, let's let's have a talk, right?
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, what are your principles?
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: What are your values?
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: How do you operate in business?
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get let's get some things solidified so we have a good foundation before we begin and start doing business and helping these clients.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: Because if we want to give these clients a good experience, we need to be on the same page.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: So it's the communication, but more importantly, we you have to align with and values with these agents.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like, for example, my values is availability, right?
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: Being flexible on who you can help, giving everybody a great experience and being an expert.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna work with an agent that's not available because I'm always available, right?
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: If someone texts me, I respond immediately.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now, when I work with an agent and I'm texting them and they're not responding to me immediately, well, that's that's a red flag for me, right?
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's a value that I stand by that if you're not there with me, you know, communicating as much as I do, for example, with clients, right?
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: Then we're not gonna work well together, you know.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: So then boom, there's a gap, right?
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: So these gaps, you gotta close them out by aligning in values, aligning in principles on the way that you do business.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: What you know, what is your goal?
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: What is your vision?
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: Some agents, and every agent has a different vision, right?
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: Some agents are like, yeah, I want to do, you know, um, I'm a stay-at-home mom and I want to do one or two deals a month.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, as deals come, that's great.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: Some agents are like, hey, I'm 23 years old, I want to be a millionaire, I want to go at it, I need to get business, I need to be out there, open houses, this, this, and that.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: So now it's like, what's your vision?
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: And does my vision align with your vision?
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: And then if they somewhat align and we we align with principles and values, then you just close the gap and now you have a great partnership where you guys can really scale.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: So you guys just gotta be on the same page.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's really what it comes down to.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: And it's it's it's the same thing um when I talk about like working with a client, right?
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta have that client consultation, right?
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_01: To make sure that you're aligned with that client, that that client makes sense.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and not again, I've had this conversation with people from different industries, right?
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: Dentists, doctors, lawyers, um, real estate agents, obviously.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: But like not every client is for me.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I can't, I can't, you can't do a loan for everybody.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it would be nice.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah, for sure.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: But there are those people out there like, I don't know if I want to work with that person.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: Even just a client, right?
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I mean, it's you know, things have changed on the mortgage side because you guys don't get as much face to face as you once got.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: No, right at all.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: So, and a lot of times they don't even want to face to face with you, right?
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, I don't know.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: No, nowadays even like they there's like uh chat banking where a loan will go from A to Z literally all through just texting.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's crazy.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's crazy to me.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, because I you're a talker.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, right?
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like that, but that's how we build relationships, right?
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's how I that's how I build relationships.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: You know, nothing drives me more crazy.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: I was I'm working on a I was working on a deal this week with a client with an agent.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, she texted me.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_01: And as soon as the text came in, I called her.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: She didn't answer.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, you just text me.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_01: Pick up your phone.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: Like we're trying to we're trying to work on a deal here, right?
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's you want me to text this whole long thing.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: Like just pick up the phone and let me talk you through this.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: Quick little 30-second, one minute, boom, boom, boom.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: I don't even need, I don't need a whole hour of you.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_01: I just need like let me talk, let's talk through this and see if we can get so answer your phone.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, 100%.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: That is the worst.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: When they just text in you just call, then they'll answer.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's like I know you're staring at me calling you, right?
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you literally just text me.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: Pick up your freaking phone.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's true.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but no, that drives me crazy.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: But you guys don't get that a lot.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you guys don't get that face to face a lot.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_01: And now it's like you said, it's made it even worse because now I can I can just do everything through chat.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: I don't even need to talk to anybody.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, literally, 100%.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so that's something that we've had to kind of like adapt to and get good at, right?
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: Is um is building the relationship over the phone, you know?
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: Because I'm an in-person guy, honestly.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like I like shaking hands, I like you know, face-to-face and um, you know, body language and all this great stuff.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: So um, so over the phone, it is a little bit of a different ball game, you know what I mean?
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you definitely have to go about it a certain way.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: Because face-to-face and over the phone is very different.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: So, but yeah, we don't get that as much as you guys do.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, yeah, that's that's huge for us, right?
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: We get that FaceTime.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: So we've talked a lot about you know your faith, right?
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: Your your reading and all.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: What is what's a day in the life?
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I know I got you out of I got you out in the office early this morning.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: When we talked, you're like 7:30, the more like because what's your what's your daily routine look like?
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so daily routine, weekdays is very normal, right?
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: I don't I don't try to do anything too crazy.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm usually in bed by 10, 10.30.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: I wake up at about 6, 6.30, try to get in the office by 7.30, 7.45.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, our start time is 8 a.m.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: So we everyone tries to get in at 7.45.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: I try to get in at 7:30.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, wake up, do my thing, go to the office, um, prep, right?
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: Come in, look at my notes.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I've been a big, big, big uh proponent of like a notebook and like pen and paper, you know?
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: Uh changed my life, by the way.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: I have a notebook for everything.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: Shout out to Austin Chevron.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: He he put me on.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: You know Austin, right?
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's the reason I have a notebook in that bag right away.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_01: Nice.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, 100%.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, ever since I've been doing that, it's been life-changing.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like everything that I think of or anything that I do, if I'm writing it down, because and he took he taught me something, and it was your mind, your brain is not created to remember, it was created for you to create and be creative with it, right?
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: So, like I've always had all these things in my mind trying to remember, but when you write it down, it's like you just get it off your mind.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: So now your mind is clear.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: You have mental capacity now for other things.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so I come in in the morning and I review everything from the day before, right?
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: Because you know, we build a to-do list throughout the day.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and then some get checked off and some don't.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: So now I need to make sure, well, what's a priority?
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: What's like urgent, and then what's something that like I can work on when I have a minute, right?
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: So now I go over if there's anything that we're that we're urgent or prioritize on what needs to get done today, right?
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: Circle those things, go through.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: Then I'll make a new to-do list.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: And if I have anything new to do today, and what and then same thing, re-prioritize what I need to do today, and then get the to do to-do list ready, right?
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then usually from 7 45 to 8, it's me walking around talking to the team, saying, you know, how's it going?
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: Good morning, you know, how's your room speech, get everybody going?
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they start having their huddles because this is really the only time where I get to mingle with the team.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: Other than that, once 8 a.m.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: hits, it's like, all right, I'm in the office, and then it's it's you know, hitting the phones or you know, obviously, you know how it is, emails and all this great stuff.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I get to communicate with the team, um, and then they'll run their huddles, right?
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: And then I'll run my little huddle.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: I have a huddle of uh four.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: People right now.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: We have four people for purchase.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh okay.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: So the company overall, we're at 72 people, and then there's five of us that do the purchases uh at Apex.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um run my little huddle, give them a tidbit, whatever, and then the day begins.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: Right now, I'm it's it's me looking at my to-do list, looking at my emails, looking at any projects I have, um, calling some clients, calling some leads, the important ones, following up with pre-approvals.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: So depending on the day, that we have uh theme days.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: So, like if it's a Monday, I'm calling my pre-approvals over the weekend to see um you know if they you know if they need anything from me.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, Fridays is calling all the agents, letting them know, hey, I'm available for the weekend, or calling the pre-approvals.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, do you need any quotes?
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: Any homes you're looking at this weekend?
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then Tuesday through Thursday, it's all called calling new leads.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then that's pretty much it, man.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: I I I take a lunch at noon, and then it's really it's me just kind of running around all over the place throughout the day.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'll have a meeting over here, I'll go to there.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then it's me just following my calendar, you know.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I just try to follow my calendar to the T.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and usually stuff always comes up.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's the that's the crazy thing about our business, right?
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: We can never have a strict, straight schedule.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: We try.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we try.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm a I'm a big like I'm a time blocker, right?
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_01: Like try to figure out how to do these things.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_01: But like, so so that's where I've gone back to my morning protected time, right?
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: Just like you're talking about, like my call block, right?
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's my protected morning time.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like I can't mess with that time.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: Like that has to, you know, whether you're prospecting two, three hours, you have to protect that two, three hours.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_01: Because then the rest of the day can go haywire.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know what I mean?
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: The rest of the day can go nuts, yeah, right?
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: So that's a huge thing.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_01: And and then you're drinking uh seven gallons of water a day.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I try to drink a lot of water.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_01: So water's important.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_01: It is, it's very, very important.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, so's coffee.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, oh yeah, so's coffee too, man.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh wouldn't be able to do this, do this job without it.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, man.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_01: Two this this holds two cups.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, right?
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: So I get two cups to start.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_01: Then I'll usually switch over to water for a while.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_01: And then you sometimes in the afternoon I'll go back to the two cups.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes people ask me, like, man, how do you stay so motivated on my coffee?
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_01: There's no secret.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_01: It's no secret, it's coffee.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's coffee, bro.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_01: I'm telling you.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: That's funny.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: But one thing I wanted to throw in there too, Jimmy, it's very important for every anybody listening.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_00: Is um another thing that I've heard, and I forgot, um, I might be wrong, but I think Brian Tracy, I don't know, he's an old, he's an older guy.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's his name, but I'm gonna make sure.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um he like the the three words of do it now.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: Do it now, do it now, do it now, that has helped me.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's so simple though, right?
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's so simple.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: You might hear it and you're like, oh, that's pretty freaking simple.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: Do it.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: That guy.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like just do it now, do it now, do it now.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of times what happens when I used to do is something would come up on my mind for me to do, right?
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: And then I would write it down, be like, all right, I'll do it later.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: And then another thing will come up, all right, I'll do it later.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: Because at the end of the day, everything is urgent, everything is important, right?
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: So, like lately, I've been addicted to urgency.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I've been trying to train my mind, that everything is urgent, everything needs to get done now.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: And it's that mindset of those three words is literally do it now and just do it now, right?
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and when you operate that way, that's where I've realized like now my days are are efficient.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: Now I'm maximizing my efficiency every single day.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: Because everything I that comes at uh comes at me, I'm doing it right then and there and getting it off my plate.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not even gonna have I'm not even gonna write it down on my to do list.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: Because once I write it down on a to do list, it's like, oh, I have it there, I can do it later.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: But just do it now.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: So if there's if there's one thing you take away from this, I feel like, especially in sales or in our business, because we don't have a straight schedule, it's just do it now.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_01: So one of the things I found is it's um it's the three D's, right?
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_01: Do delegate or delete.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: I like that.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, do delegate or delete.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_01: Like I love that.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: Because it is come things come up, right?
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_01: But again, can I can I just do it right now and get it out of the way?
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_01: Your point.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_01: Can I delegate it to something else?
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: Like, is there somebody else on my team that can do this?
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_01: Is there somebody else in my organization that can do this task?
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_01: Is there somebody else that I'm surrounded with that can do this?
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_01: Or it's not worth my time doing it and I'm just gonna delete it.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I'm just gonna I'm just gonna delete it.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_01: So those three the three D's, right?
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_01: So you you work on deals every day, right?
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like deals are coming in, but what's the most in your experience, what's the most common thing that kills a deal when it comes in?
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: The most common thing that kills a deal it just happened yesterday.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: And it's people opening up new credit or or or like opening up new lines of credit while they're in process for a mortgage.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_00: I kid you not literally yesterday, a client signed for a new Mercedes for$1,500 a month, and we had to rework the file.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: We we still saved it, we got it done, but it was a big bump in the road.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: And it's people, once they get in the mortgage process, they don't realize that how important it is that I I keep it simple and I tell them, hey, if there's anything else throughout this process that requires you to pull credit, do not do it and call me first, you know, because right, they're they're first time homebuyers or or they're second home buyers, but they're not all well versed, obviously educated about mortgages and how it works, right?
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like a simple credit pull for let's say they're pulling out a new credit card so they can pay for the furniture, right?
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: Or a new car or whatever the case is, right?
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_00: They're getting a new house.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like they want to get everything ready.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_00: And uh a simple credit pool can literally ruin your chances of getting that house, just destroy it, right?
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so it's very important that they do not apply for new credit while they're in the process of buying a new house.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: That's the biggest thing.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_01: And what they don't understand, it probably changes rate too, right?
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean it could, it could definitely change the rate, yeah, you know.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because if we have to change programs or whatever we have to do to fix it, sometimes the repercussion is hey, you might have to take a little bit of a higher rate.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, at the end of the day, that's kind of the the number one thing that I see is is pulling out new debt while they're in process.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I mean that's kind of the biggest one, really.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I mean, that's the biggest thing that that causes false through.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's it's interesting, it's an interesting place, right?
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's with what in what people don't understand, the general public doesn't really know what we do, right?
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_01: They they assume what we do, yeah, right.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_01: Or they think they know it is, or they think they know it is, or they went in a chat GPD, and but then what does a loan officer do?
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: And it tells them what the loan officer does.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it doesn't tell them what it took to get there, one, or to be successful, right?
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because again, I used to train safe, right?
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_01: So when and if people don't get the work that goes into taking safe.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's not easy.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's not.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's not.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, it's it's crazy.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: We have a lot of people right now studying uh for the test.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_00: And um, yeah, it's definitely not easy.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_00: These guys are stressed out, yeah, you know.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and then it it's it's some sort of like final thing.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_01: If you don't pass, it's like then what do I do?
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_01: Do I take it again?
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_01: Is this not for me?
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_01: You know, because the hard part is safe is similar to the real estate exam.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like once you get past that part, right?
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_01: Then what because you could you go back and pass safe right now?
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_01: I need about two weeks of studying.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely not.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because what you do real life is not on that test.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: No, it has not no correlation, right?
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe a little bit.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_00: A little bit, right?
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_01: Because I like for the real estate exam, it's the same thing.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, right?
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's our it's ethics, laws.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_01: So you but a lot of that's common sense.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_01: I would think.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_01: But it's kind of like the same thing, right?
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_01: So people don't understand the stress that goes into that to then learn how to sell after that.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_00: Because I feel like the test is like um it's all the laws and the guidelines, it's all it's the book.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_00: And then now when you get into the real life, it's like, okay, now you gotta actually like it's a whole different ballgame.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of like studying on how to get a six-pack abs and what how it works and how your body works and how your food and all this great stuff and what workouts and how it affects the abs.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_00: But then when you actually go and do it, right, you have to actually do the work now.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: So when you um when you get up there on the field, you know the guidelines and stuff, but now how do you translate that into getting business, or how do you translate that into helping clients?
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the hard that's the hard part.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_00: I think they're equally as hard, honestly, but that that is uh the safe is definitely is not easy.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of these clients, that's kind of uh that's what they think is they're just using Chat GPT.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh there's two minutes of Chat GPT, they think that it covers for all the experiences that we've had.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, and that's something that that actually is is crazy that uh I've been talking to a lot of people about is like how how good it chat GPT is or AI in general, but then also obviously the negatives.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it gives some some like wrong information.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it most definitely does.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it does.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I realize they actually gears towards it sometimes gears towards the answer that you want, if that makes sense.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_00: It does.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because it's learning you.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, exactly.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_01: I've been using it for a while, it's learned you.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, and it's going it's going to lean your way.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_01: Unless you do what I do and I tell it to be har a harsh critic of mine.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_01: So if I tell it to be a harsh critic of mine, and I tell you what, it is not nice.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like it it is not once you once you release that that harness from it and tell it not to be it, shoot me straight, tell me straightforward.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_01: I don't I want clear and transparent communication with you.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_01: I want you to hold me accountable.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_01: That and it just like That's a great idea.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_01: It'll just light you up.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna do that one.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it will tell it be a harsh critic.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, it doesn't feel good.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like if you were to tell it, if you were to go into chat or Claude or whatever one you're using, I've kind of I'm swaying over to Claude more.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_00: I've heard a lot of people are.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, sorry, chat.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but at the same point, it's if you if you go in there and say, all right, you know, you know, you know me, I'm Marcus, Aphex Lending, put in your website.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, this is what my business did last year, this is what we're on pace for this year.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_01: As a very harsh critic and a an experienced mortgage officer, I want you to dissect my business, tell me the top ten things that I need to work on, and don't hold back.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_01: That's a good idea.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_01: And it will light you up.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_01: Really?
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_01: Like a coach.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_01: You always have like a coach.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_01: 100%.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like an AI coach.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_01: The the difficulty is, and Nick Krem from the Krem Institute of AI, he and I talked about this at when he was here for um the conference.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the rally.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_01: And um he said that it'll do it'll do that, it'll do that part, right?
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_01: The difficulty is then you have to go do it.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_01: So it is like a coach, it'll tell you what to do, but it's not standing over you going or checking.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_01: It'll check, and you can even set it so you can you can check back in with it because it'll tell me like the way I have mindset up, it'll tell me come back tomorrow and tell me what we did today.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_01: So I have to go, but I have to go back.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you have to go back in.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_01: I have to go back in, log in, tell it what I did.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and then the hard part about that is I have to be honest with chat now.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_01: Like I gotta tell it what I did yesterday.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and if I didn't hit the numbers or things that I wanted to do, it holds me accountable and says, Well, that's not getting you any closer to the goals you talked about.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so you need to get back in there today and go.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_01: It just cooks your life.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_01: It does.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_01: It does.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_01: It just flames you.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it does.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_01: That's funny.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, there there could be some use there.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, uh, for some people out there, accountability, that's a big thing.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_01: It is, you know what I mean?
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_01: It is, and it's like that accountability piece, it's there.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_01: But again, we talk about this with AI, and the dangerous part about AI is it'll build you a fantastic business plan, it'll do tell you what to do, workouts, it'll do all the things.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_01: You still have to go do it.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_01: And we we trick ourselves thinking, oh, I worked today.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you just did some prompts and chat.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know what I mean?
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_01: Like you didn't really actually.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_01: All you did is go back and forth with AI.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you didn't actually do anything, right?
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_01: It didn't promote your business, you didn't do anything, and so it you get caught in that cycle.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, right.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_01: We say this a lot of times.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and a lot of times the agents that I'm coaching, it's it's they worry about the marketing pieces too, right?
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_01: Well, my social media, I gotta do this.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that's is what how many deals have you gotten some from social media?
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_01: None.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_01: Then not stop worrying about social media.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right?
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like if you've gotten no deals from it, um, then don't worry about it.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, right.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I love that you said that, Jimmy, is because I've been the the the statement I keep repeating to my team is is this moving the needle?
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel like a lot of times when you ask that question, like they'll come to my office and say, Hey Marcus, I'm working on, and I'm like, before you begin, ask yourself, is this moving the needle?
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_00: And then they'll think and be like, yeah, this is a waste of time.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_00: Let me just get back to work.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I'll be honest, I was having a convo with an agent the other day, and we're talking about doing like some some uh some mailers or some email drip campaigns.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, I said, what about like cold calling?
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_00: What about hitting the phones?
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, you know what, man?
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_00: I don't, you know, the cold calling, it's uh it's not me.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I have my referrals, I have my clients, and I'm like, I had to tell them the truth, and I said, listen, bro, the email drip campaigns and the mailers, I said, that's like the cherry on top, that's like the sprinkles on top of the cake.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but the real cake is hitting the phones and having conversations, right?
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, is is is mailing, is doing mailers, they're good.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_00: There's there's lead source there, right?
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah um and is doing email drip campaigns, yeah, you might get a couple leads.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_00: But the meat and potatoes is we gotta hop on the phones and we gotta call these clients and and have conversations, right?
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_00: And the email is not gonna get you business.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_00: A mailer might get you business, but what I'm what I'm realizing is a lot of people don't think in terms of what's moving the needle, right?
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I I mean the best thing to move the needle is like what you said earlier is we're talkers, so why don't we go and talk?
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_00: Have this communication with these clients.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_00: We have to.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's the name of the game.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_00: So um, so yeah, a lot of people are on II and they're just you know having a convo with AI and what can I do?
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I think it's it's actually um it's it's it's science, I think it's proven by science.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like when you speak on things that you're gonna do, you get the same dopamine effect as if you already did it.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_00: Which is why they say you shouldn't speak before you do, right?
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_00: When like if I was to sit here and say, Oh, I'm gonna do all these great things, I'm gonna leave here feeling good, you know?
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_00: But I didn't actually do it, right?
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so you're supposed to get the dopamine when you actually do it rather than just speaking on it.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I feel like that's what's happening with AI, and you're getting all excited.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, oh, I'm gonna, oh, this business plan, and oh, we're gonna do this.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_00: They're getting that dopamine effect while they're just chatting with AI, and then nothing ends up happening.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_00: So I feel like it's really good that you mentioned that.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and it's no different too, then like you and I have seen Tony Robbins, right?
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_01: UWM Live and Tony Robbins a couple times.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_01: And same thing, you leave Tony Robbins like fired off, man.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I want to run through a wall.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_01: Except it's five o'clock, everybody's going out to dinner, and so you go out to dinner with everybody, and then third Friday hits around, and you're like, what am I supposed to be doing again?
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so it's hard, and it's you know, putting on events like you know, we just did the rally, and so it's one of the things I talked about on stage at the rally was like if you see somebody on the stage that resonates with you, go talk to them, find them in the crowd, go talk to them.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_01: That's one.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_01: But the second thing is because if we go to these mastermind events, if we go to these things, we get inundated with all this information, and then we want to put it all in our business.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, well, does that even align with what I'm doing?
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, it's like it sounds like a great idea, but do I even want to do that?
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_01: Leo Pereja, our CEO for EXP, said something to me one time.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_01: He said, he spent, I think it was fifteen thousand dollars to learn a part of the business he didn't want to do.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_01: And I go, wow, it was it cost you fifteen.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_01: He goes, it actually probably saved me hundreds.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's great.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_01: Because once I learned I once I learned I didn't want to do that, yeah, I spent 15 grand to do to start implementing and learn it, but it probably saved me hundreds of thousands of wasted money trying to do something I didn't it didn't align with me.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, wow, that was deep.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, he said it actually probably saved me hundreds of thousands because I didn't want to but between the stress of doing it, was it gonna actually work?
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_01: If your heart's really not in it, is it really gonna work?
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um if you're if you you you it it's making you money, yeah, but it is it worth that time and effort?
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_01: Is it can I are people buying into it or no?
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_01: Are they gonna look at me differently when I'm doing this?
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_01: Because it does it affect my other clients, right?
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_01: If I start doing this part of a business, does it affect my other my other clients like, wait a minute, I don't want to work with you anymore.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_01: That that's weird.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_01: So there there's a lot of thought processes that go into that.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_01: So when you do get all all this information, it's kind of like be cautious of what you're trying to implement in your business.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_01: Does it align with what you're trying to do?
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, does it move the needle?
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's a cost to everything.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's basically what you're saying.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_00: There's a cost to everything.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like if you do this, well, you're gonna be costing this.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and that's okay, it's just what is it that you want?
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know what I'm saying?
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_01: Because like your point with the with the mailers, right?
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_01: The mailers, the drip campaigns, they're all important.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_01: But so is the phone, right?
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_01: Now, if you're mailing and then you're calling that person and then you're emailing that person, now you've now you're stacking this per now, you're staying in front of this person all the time.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's one thing Gary Keller said a long time ago, right?
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's being top of mind with someone.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're if so the emails and the mailers work if you call them.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_01: They don't work if you don't.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_01: Because what do you do with it when you get a mailer at your house?
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_00: I look at it and then I toss it.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_00: It goes right in this recycle bit.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_00: I toss it, yeah, literally.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_00: You know?
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_00: And if it's if it's real estate or mortgage, I'll actually look it because obviously I'm in the business, right?
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_00: But um, but I mean, I can only imagine if I saw it, maybe read the name or saw it, whatever, tossed it.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_00: But then later I got a call.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Hey, did you get my mailer by the way?
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_00: I sent it over to you.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, boom, like it.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_00: Now you subconsciously planted a seat with the mailer, right?
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_00: And then now you call and said, Hey, did you get it?
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_00: So now you have that, you just you just uh had a two touch points with that client, and you can have the opportunity to earn their business.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's one of the things I talk about with um with Justin with connection is um you know the these dynamic um we were talking, we we did we're gonna do some dynamic QR codes, right?
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_01: And we're gonna send them out on mailers.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_01: So when somebody scans it, it comes back right into the system and we know where it came from.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_01: Like we'll know the address that we sent that one to.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, nice.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_00: I was talking to somebody the other day about that.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we'll know the address that it sent from.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_01: So now we know what what who's responding, yeah, right?
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_01: Who scanned that QR code, what address scanned that QR code.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_01: So it's pretty, it's pretty like not technology's another thing, right?
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but you can get lost in it.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, 100%.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_00: You know, yeah, there's so many cool, there's so many tools and stuff out there.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, what I realized is I I always I was always trying to find, I realize that I don't utilize some of the tools I already have to the fullest extent.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that's another thing too.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, when you're on your like there's a system you've been using forever, and then you actually like look into it a little bit more, and you're like, oh wow, I didn't know I could do that.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow, that can this is possible.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_00: Like I didn't know this system could do this.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_00: I was looking for it elsewhere.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_00: So like utilizing your your tools, like knowing what you have in front of you is something I've been trying to work on.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_00: Because me, I'm always like, all right, on to the next thing.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_00: All right, on to the next biggest.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_00: What's the next biggest tool?
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_00: But I never realized that right in front of me, my tool right here can I'm just not using it the right, the right way.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_00: Correct.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_00: Or to the fullest extent.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_00: So technology, I mean, there's always there's always new stuff.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_00: Always new stuff, always something new.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know, the AI piece, right?
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody's got, well, you got to use this AI.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, well, okay, why?
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know what I mean?
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_00: There's always no new AI, too.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, always a new AI, right?
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_01: And the funny thing is, there it's it's I was just talking to my wife last night about this.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_01: Everything is moving so fast, right?
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_01: Everything is moving with with AI, everything is just warp speed right now.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_01: So, what was cool like three to six months ago is not cool anymore.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know what I mean?
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like with technology, with AI.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta keep up.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_01: You could they gotta keep up, and each one's coming up with a new thing, right?
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like Claude is really good at building websites, it's phenomenal.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_01: I built five websites in a half an hour the other night.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_01: No way, yeah.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_01: And they came out absolutely incredible.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_01: There were some tweaks to be made.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_01: Really?
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, we're gonna talk after this.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, man, it's I need help.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's it was mind mind-blowing.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, a friend of mine down in Florida showed me, Tom Tillier, um, showed me this, and we jumped on a call and he was like walking me through, and I'm like, blew my mind.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_01: No way, blew my mind.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, what?
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like, and and then you know, talking to some other people, like web designers are trying to figure out how to use Claude, right?
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_01: Because it's better than better than me.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_01: Because that's the only thing that's gonna save them.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_01: Because now with this technology, I can go in and it literally like makes the buttons, gives it the place to go.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you I I threw a couple of my own pictures in there.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it put the my pictures in the website.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_01: It did I get I had a Google form in there, so when people land on there, they put their name information, it goes right into a Google sheet.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_01: Like and it built all this.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's crazy.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_01: I just put in there the links, my pictures, yeah, told it what I wanted, and then it came back to me and it didn't like I didn't like the color scheme.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I said, redo it, do the cut this color scheme, blah blah.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_00: If I tell you how much I just paid a I just paid a website developer literally two days ago, I just paid him.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_00: He's gonna talk to me.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_00: All right, I'm gonna see this.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna call this guy for a refund.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, you know what?
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, imagine that if he's using Claude right now to build your thing.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna if he if he is, this is gonna be crazy.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_01: This guy just made quick money, easier money.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's so funny.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_01: He's using Claude right now for sure.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, probably he did make it in two, three days.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, man, it's good, it's good.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_01: Two, three days, man.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_01: I could have had that done in 20 minutes.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, I made a ticket for this too.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know, I'm gonna I'm gonna check in with this guy.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's funny because it does it's again the technology's moving so fast.
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_00: Mm-hmm.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like that day old saying, like, you know, that we've been hearing always is uh AI won't take your job.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's about the people who are using AI will take your job.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_00: Correct.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and it's it's true, honestly.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's very true.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_01: And the other problem is too, here's here's the other problem that we're that I'm seeing is the the agents are getting lost in it too, right?
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_01: Because they're gonna they're trying to do AI and they're because they're avoiding calling people.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, right.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_01: They're avoiding calling people.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like, well, I'm working on my website today.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, well, you're gonna have that done in 15 minutes, yeah.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_01: Or pay somebody else to do it because I don't have time to do it, right?
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_01: And then stop being so over over analytical of it and trying to every well, if my hair is this and that one or if this is if I'm wearing not wearing the right thing that I was wearing the right.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_01: No one cares, really.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_01: Like, are you getting the information out there?
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_01: Are people landing out is it gaining attention or no?
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_01: Is it move the needle?
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_01: Is it moving the needle?
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_01: Is it moving the needle?
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_01: Are what you're doing right now today, is it moving the needle in your business?
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_00: 100%.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_01: And if it's not, stop it.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_00: 100%.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_00: And you have to be honest with yourself too.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's the hard part.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's the hard part.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, it's easy when someone tells you, like, hey, is this moving the needle?
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_00: All right, stop.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_00: But it's even harder when you're sitting there and you got to ask yourself, am I wasting time right now?
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like, hey, Marcus, like as if I'm talking to myself, Marcus, is Marcus wasting time right now?
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes you convince yourself that you're not just because you don't want to be, you don't want to be wrong.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody likes being wrong.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_00: Especially if it's like I said earlier, it's you versus you.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_00: So I started understanding these things.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_00: But I love the what you just said was the over-analytical, analysis, paralysis.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_00: If there's one thing that holds anybody back in life and anything you're doing, it's literally that.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's analysis, paralysis.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's you're overanalyzing, you're overthinking.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_00: Just do, just move.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_00: I would rather have a doer that fails a hundred times than the guy who doesn't do anything but does it only once.
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's like just just start doing and just start moving the needle.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_00: And you might not be going in the right direction, but you're going somewhere at least.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'd rather have the guy that's going somewhere but not staying stagnant.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_00: Stagnant, if you're not growing, you're dying.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_00: And the only way you grow is for failure.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_00: And the only way you fail is to do.
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_00: So just do.
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_01: One thing I always talked about too is is like if you watch a baby, right?
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_01: And the baby's learning how to walk.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_01: They take a couple steps, they fall down.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_01: They take a couple steps, they fall down.
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_01: They don't just quit and go, I'm not walking anymore.
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_01: They keep going, they fall down, they fall down.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_01: And I say it's a lot in business too.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like we fall down a lot.
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_01: But how do you you just gotta you gotta get back up and start take a few more steps, right?
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_01: 100%.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like you have to just have that somewhat grind in you a little bit.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, again, it especially with what we do, right?
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_01: Like you're a business owner, and that's not for everybody.
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that's not for everybody.
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's tough, right?
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_01: And especially now, how many people do you have at the office?
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_00: We're uh 72.
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_01: So you got 72 people that are counting on you to open that door every day.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's an added stressor.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_00: Big time.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_00: Big time.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_01: And then you got people that work for you that have families.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, family, kids.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, like I'm having one-on-ones every day.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_00: Where they're coming in out, hey Marcus, I'm not feeling it today.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_00: All right, well, I gotta be a motivator.
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I realize that's that's the biggest thing, is what I what I am in this business, is just a motivator or a coach, you know, just to continue like pushing these people, continue motivating them, continue reminding them of the vision, you know, all that, all that good stuff.
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_00: So um, yeah, when you're a business owner, you're not you're a business owner, you're a therapist, you're a coach, you're uh uh a mindset trainer, like all these things.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_00: So you're a psychologist, all those things, that's what you turn into.
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, marriage counselor, marriage counselor, yeah.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_00: You got that one right.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_00: So you're just everything now, and and you have and you have to, you have to be you have to be a chameleon and adapt to your people because everyone's different.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone has different situations, yeah, for sure.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's what makes it stressful.
• 47:51
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone has different personalities.
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_00: So now when you're uh a business owner or when you're a leader in general, whether a coach or anything is is uh you have to be adaptable, yeah.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and that's kind of the hardest part.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_01: A good thing, uh a good friend of mine, John Kitchens, told me um, we were talking about this with leadership, right?
• 48:07
  SPEAKER_01: And and we take a lot on.
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_01: And then, like you said, people come in my office every day, and and and we're talking about something, right?
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but he's like, you have to be the type of leader too that's like you take those drunk monkeys with you.
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like you can't leave them on my desk.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_01: Like you like, we'll talk about it, help you sort it out, but I can't keep them here.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_01: Like I can't keep them in here.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_01: I gotta give they they gotta take them back with them and sort out what they're doing with it.
• 48:30
  SPEAKER_01: Cause if because now the next person's gonna come in, and now I'm taking theirs on too, and then I'm taking the next.
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_01: And then as a leader, it starts to just like stack up.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, now I'm just taking all this on.
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like, yeah, I need to be there for my people a hundred percent, but I need to help them figure it out and then go, right?
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_01: Figure it out, then here's this back.
• 48:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like, here's you brought me this, I emptied it, go back and fill it up, right?
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's the thing, right?
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_01: Like, they hear you about this cup.
• 48:55
  SPEAKER_01: We emptied it, you talked about everything, go back and fill it up.
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_00: Man, I should have brought a notebook today, bro.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_00: I would have I would have had so many notes right now.
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's good that you drop it.
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_01: It's a good thing it's all being recorded.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, it's all recorded.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_00: There we go.
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'll just drop it in AI and it'll give me the whole transcript.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_01: There you go.
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_00: But uh yeah, you're dropping some real nuggets here, Jimmy.
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's good stuff.
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_01: No, man, and you are a motivator.
• 49:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like you are a motivator.
• 49:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like talking, you have so much energy, man.
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like and I can tell you're passionate about what you do, you're passionate about helping people, you know, and that's that's super important with what we do because it's not always a fun transaction.
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, no, it's not always like woo-hoo, I bought a house.
• 49:29
  SPEAKER_01: It's like F you, I bought a house.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, as long as it is like that, 100%.
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, 100%.
• 49:35
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where you just gotta, you know, have a uh keep your emotions in check, stay service oriented.
• 49:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's another thing, too, is like we're here to serve.
• 49:44
  SPEAKER_00: We like we literally serve people all day, and I realize the more you serve, the more that you earn.
• 49:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know what I'm saying?
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_00: So like we have to have a certain mentality, and sometimes that doesn't always go as planned.
• 49:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know what I mean?
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so that's definitely true.
• 49:57
  SPEAKER_00: What's been the hardest deal you've put together?
• 50:00
  SPEAKER_00: The hardest deal that I've put together for me, the hardest deals that I put together is usually when I have to save the loan.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm like, like I'm I have to be the fire, I have to play a firefighter or superman in this situation.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like sometimes agents will call me and say, Hey, um, actually, it happened uh last week.
• 50:17
  SPEAKER_00: I had a I had an agent call me and they're like, hey, I have a client, they went with Bank of America, they told him that his down payment was gonna be$75,000.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_00: That's his budget.
• 50:27
  SPEAKER_00: Now it's at$115,000.
• 50:29
  SPEAKER_00: So we need like we need to figure something out.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_00: And we need to close it this week.
• 50:33
  SPEAKER_00: And it was Monday, and he wants to close it on Friday.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_00: I and this is where I get excited.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_00: This is where I stand up, right?
• 50:39
  SPEAKER_00: I get up, I literally feel like Superman.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_00: I get up and I do bust on my chest.
• 50:43
  SPEAKER_00: All right, let's get to work.
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like, this is what excites me.
• 50:45
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I love a challenge and I love deals that kind of put your back against the wall because I love pressure.
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, lo and behold, I had literally had to sit there and dissect everything, right?
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_00: Because now every dollar counts.
• 50:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I have to figure out a way to get his down payment going from 115,000 down to 75,000, right?
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and now we just went to work and still get the same amount.
• 51:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
• 51:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and still get the same amount because you're closing on Friday.
• 51:13
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_01: So there is no more negotiation of getting the price down.
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_00: Literally, yeah, literally.
• 51:17
  SPEAKER_00: Back is against the wall.
• 51:18
  SPEAKER_00: We got to save the loan.
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_00: And um, lo and behold, we ended up saving it.
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't close Friday, but we closed Monday.
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_00: So within a week, we closed it, got a CTC, got it done.
• 51:28
  SPEAKER_00: But I let it just sit there for a good 30 minutes to an hour.
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's funny because I literally called one of the guys, I said, come in here, sit down and grab a pen and paper, because you're gonna see like this is gonna be really good for you to learn on how because this happens a lot, right?
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_00: I always have agents that call me and say, hey, you know, the client wanted to go with their bank, they they wouldn't budge, or they wanted to go with their credit union, and then everything that they told them was gonna happen ends up happening, right?
• 51:49
  SPEAKER_00: Because clients don't always always listen to the professionals, correct, right?
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_00: The real estate agents and all the officers, and then I have to come in here and save it, and and that was one of the craziest ones because it was just such a huge gap.
• 51:58
  SPEAKER_01: One of the things I find too is like you brought that up about not listening to us.
• 52:03
  SPEAKER_01: So my wife's a dental hygienist.
• 52:06
  SPEAKER_01: No one's ever gone into her and told her how to like clean teeth.
• 52:09
  SPEAKER_01: They just go in and sit down and then they're clean her teeth, right?
• 52:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like, or get a feeling or a crown or whatever they're good with.
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_01: We're going in to see her for.
• 52:16
  SPEAKER_01: No one's ever told her how to do it.
• 52:17
  SPEAKER_01: They just go in and expect her to do it.
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_01: Every freaking buddy tells us what to do.
• 52:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like, this is how you should do this.
• 52:23
  SPEAKER_01: Really?
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_01: That's how I should do it.
• 52:25
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, great.
• 52:26
  SPEAKER_01: That's how it goes.
• 52:27
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 52:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 52:28
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for the advice that a house that you've never sold or a loan that you've never closed.
• 52:32
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate that.
• 52:32
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, 100%.
• 52:33
  SPEAKER_00: 100%.
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_00: That happens.
• 52:35
  SPEAKER_00: If that, if if I had a dollar for every time that happened, I would be a millionaire.
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_00: Literally.
• 52:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 52:39
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, you're right.
• 52:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like doctors, dentists, lawyers, you nobody sits in front of them and says, Hey, you know, I think you should do this.
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_01: You don't go to the doctor and go, my finger hurts.
• 52:48
  SPEAKER_01: And he goes, Well, what about no, I it hurts when I this is why it hurts.
• 52:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, well, why are the doctor would be like, well, why are you here then?
• 52:53
  SPEAKER_01: Go out, get out of here.
• 52:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 52:55
  SPEAKER_00: 100%.
• 52:56
  SPEAKER_00: Well, now you're discrediting the 10, 12, 15 years that the doctor went through to get to that level.
• 53:02
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 53:03
  SPEAKER_00: And then it's like you come in and you just you did a quick Google search and now you want to come in here and you know what I'm saying?
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_00: So same thing with Russ, kind of like what we're talking about.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_00: When you go through the safe exam or you go through the real estate exam, you've sold or or closed hundreds of loans and you've been through so many different experiences, it's like you gotta just trust me.
• 53:18
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 53:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like I've been here and I've done this.
• 53:21
  SPEAKER_00: So um I think you know, I think at the end of the day, I think it's also about how you present yourself too.
• 53:26
  SPEAKER_00: I I do think that a lot some real estate agents and loan officers, they might not present themselves in the right way off the bat to then make sure that they set the tone for that relationship between the client.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know what I'm saying?
• 53:37
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that's uh that's very important as well.
• 53:39
  SPEAKER_01: What um so how was so last year, a little bit different, right?
• 53:45
  SPEAKER_01: How was your what did you did you hit your goals last year?
• 53:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like it was it was everything.
• 53:49
  SPEAKER_01: Last year, yeah.
• 53:50
  SPEAKER_00: We did we last year was a good, really good year for us.
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we we d we doubled and then tripled towards the end of the year in business.
• 53:56
  SPEAKER_00: Size and in business too.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_00: Last year was our biggest growth we've had.
• 54:00
  SPEAKER_00: You know, in 2023, uh well, technically I started like end of 2023 is when I formed the company, but January is when we I started, right?
• 54:08
  SPEAKER_00: So January 23.
• 54:09
  SPEAKER_00: From January till the end of the year in 2024, we started off with five people, lost all five, then we're at zero.
• 54:17
  SPEAKER_00: I recruited another five people, lost five, we're back to down to zero.
• 54:22
  SPEAKER_00: And this is me and my partner, by the way.
• 54:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 54:24
  SPEAKER_00: So, and then um, and then by the end of the year, we were at 20 people.
• 54:30
  SPEAKER_00: And then last year, by the end of last year, we were at 55 people, and then now we're at obviously 72.
• 54:36
  SPEAKER_00: That's incredible, yeah.
• 54:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so um, and obviously, as the it's it's funny because like we're we're moving offices, and every year we've had to move offices because we just continue growing.
• 54:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thank God a million times.
• 54:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, it's all about just trying to focus on doubling your own business.
• 54:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, because a lot of people like they like for example, though I I look at it like compounding.
• 54:56
  SPEAKER_00: You know, a lot of people, I did this too when I got in the business where you know I was around a guy who was closing 60, 70, 80 loans a month.
• 55:04
  SPEAKER_00: This guy was crazy.
• 55:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm sitting here doing two, and I'm looking at him and I'm like, man, I need to get to 60, 70, or 80.
• 55:11
  SPEAKER_00: But in reality, what I realize is how how successful people operate is they just focus on themselves, but they just focus on compounding their own.
• 55:18
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 55:18
  SPEAKER_00: You know how when you compound a dollar, you end up at a million and uh quick, yeah.
• 55:23
  SPEAKER_00: Where it's like, okay, if I'm at one, well, I'm gonna double it.
• 55:25
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's two.
• 55:26
  SPEAKER_00: If I'm gonna double it, that's four, double it, it's eight, and then sixteen.
• 55:30
  SPEAKER_00: And then now you're exponentially climbing.
• 55:32
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm looking at this mountain and I'm looking at this guy next to me, and I'm like, okay, I'm at two, I need to get to 60 or 70.
• 55:37
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna be depressed and you're gonna be very stressed out, and you won't even take the first step.
• 55:42
  SPEAKER_00: But when you just focus on your own yourself and just focus on getting better and compounding your own business, because you're on your own path, you know what I'm saying?
• 55:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, then that's how you kind of take that first step and then take baby steps and then just keep going.
• 55:53
  SPEAKER_00: So that's kind of the business mindset that we've had with Aphex is let's just focus on doubling our our business right now, right?
• 56:00
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, we have a big mountain to climb, but if we just continue doubling and doubling and doubling, eventually we're gonna look back and think, wow, we climbed the mountain.
• 56:07
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, look how look how high we got, you know?
• 56:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so that's kind of the biggest thing I've give advice to anybody is just take the baby steps, don't look at the top of the mountain and stress yourself out.
• 56:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's it's it's being realistic too, right?
• 56:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 56:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um because you can't you can't um you can't boil the ocean, right?
• 56:24
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta you can boil it one pot at a time, but you can't boil the ocean.
• 56:27
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like to your point, like if I just double my business every year, where will I be in four or five years?
• 56:33
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 56:33
  SPEAKER_01: We a lot of times we want to skip right to the end.
• 56:35
  SPEAKER_01: We want to skip to that we want to skip to the have part, right?
• 56:38
  SPEAKER_01: I teach a lot of emotional intelligence, so be show do have, right?
• 56:42
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you gotta be you you gotta decide who you want to be, right?
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta show up like that person every day.
• 56:48
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta do the things that that person does every day to get to have what that person has.
• 56:53
  SPEAKER_01: You can't go, I want to be that person and get to the have.
• 56:56
  SPEAKER_01: There's the do and the show in between there, right?
• 56:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like you gotta do those two things in between.
• 57:00
  SPEAKER_01: 100%.
• 57:01
  SPEAKER_01: So, but like you're keeping it realistic, like to I'm just gonna double my business.
• 57:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm not worried about what UWM is doing, right?
• 57:08
  SPEAKER_01: Or what Joe Schmo broker next door is doing.
• 57:11
  SPEAKER_01: I'm worried about what Aphex is doing, and I'm keeping the the eye on my ball and not everybody else's.
• 57:16
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly, exactly.
• 57:17
  SPEAKER_00: 100%.
• 57:18
  SPEAKER_00: You have to, you have to stay focused on yourself.
• 57:20
  SPEAKER_00: So, what's your what's your goals for this year?
• 57:22
  SPEAKER_00: The goal is to double again.
• 57:23
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 57:24
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we want to double in business, but we want to so my my biggest thing is um one of the modto of Aphex, and it's you've watched the movie uh 300 Spartans.
• 57:33
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, it's one of my favorites.
• 57:34
  SPEAKER_00: I watched it a billion times.
• 57:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so so that's kind of like what we want to be for Aphex, right?
• 57:39
  SPEAKER_00: It was it was 300 Spartans that defeated an army of 4,000 or 5,000 Persians, right?
• 57:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's historic.
• 57:46
  SPEAKER_00: And that's kind of what we want to be.
• 57:47
  SPEAKER_00: We're focused on quality rather than the quantity of the people.
• 57:50
  SPEAKER_00: And in mortgage, it's very easy.
• 57:52
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, we we talked about this yesterday, actually.
• 57:53
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, we were talking about, yeah, like you know, you get licensed, all right, cool, you're hired, yeah.
• 57:58
  SPEAKER_00: But it doesn't stop there.
• 57:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's kind of where we're focused on is just because you have a license doesn't mean you're gonna get hired on my team, right?
• 58:06
  SPEAKER_00: I want to focus on the same thing.
• 58:08
  SPEAKER_00: What are your core values?
• 58:09
  SPEAKER_00: What are your principles?
• 58:10
  SPEAKER_00: What is your experience?
• 58:12
  SPEAKER_00: Tell me a time when you've taken feedback and implemented it and it worked.
• 58:15
  SPEAKER_00: Tell me a time where you've you've given feedback, right?
• 58:18
  SPEAKER_00: Because I want feedback and I I don't like being around people who are too afraid to give feedback.
• 58:22
  SPEAKER_00: So, like all these things, we're we're focused on picking the right people.
• 58:25
  SPEAKER_00: Honestly, whether you're licensed, whether you have no experience, whether you are, it doesn't matter where you're at in life, we'll take you on, we'll train you.
• 58:32
  SPEAKER_00: But I always ask for two things because we can train on anything.
• 58:35
  SPEAKER_00: We can train on how to sell, I can train on how to cold call, I can train on how to close, guidelines, mortgages, uh, whatever the case, I can motivate you, anything.
• 58:43
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, that's the last one.
• 58:45
  SPEAKER_00: Two things motivation to work and willingness to learn.
• 58:49
  SPEAKER_00: These two things I I've learned you cannot train on or you cannot implement in somebody.
• 58:54
  SPEAKER_00: If someone has enough motivation to work, I can't really do anything with that, right?
• 58:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's right, it's just dull.
• 58:59
  SPEAKER_00: I I can't, uh you know, I'm not here to motivate you every day to work.
• 59:01
  SPEAKER_00: Now, sometimes is there ups, there's downs where you need, you know, yeah, you need a little pep talk.
• 59:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 59:06
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody needs that, right?
• 59:07
  SPEAKER_00: But if you need a pep talk every single day, it's like, okay, if you don't have motivation to work, this is not gonna work out.
• 59:12
  SPEAKER_00: The second, and honestly, most important, is willingness to learn, right?
• 59:15
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of ego always gets in the way and ruins the potential of a lot of people, the pride.
• 59:20
  SPEAKER_00: If you have ego where you think you've made it or you think that you can't, you know there's nothing else to learn, or X, Y, and Z, then you're not gonna be a great fit for us.
• 59:27
  SPEAKER_00: So it's all about quality over quantity, where we want to have not necessarily the biggest team, but we want to be the highest producing team with the least amount of people, right?
• 59:37
  SPEAKER_00: So we what we focus on closings per loan officer.
• 59:40
  SPEAKER_00: So we take the average, right?
• 59:42
  SPEAKER_00: If we have you know 70 people, 50 of them are actual loan officers, 20 is operations, 50 of them, what do we what is the output of 50 loan officers?
• 59:50
  SPEAKER_00: Let's focus on leaning into the people we have now rather than just trying to recruit more and put them on the phones.
• 59:55
  SPEAKER_00: Because now you're just a company that hires anybody and everybody, and now it's a numbers game.
• 59:59
  SPEAKER_00: All right, just recruit, recruit, recruit, throw them on the phones, throw them on the phones.
• 1:00:02
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, this guy failed.
• 1:00:03
  SPEAKER_00: All right, it's a revolving door.
• 1:00:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I don't want to operate that way.
• 1:00:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:00:06
  SPEAKER_01: We literally talked about that yesterday.
• 1:00:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, literally.
• 1:00:08
  SPEAKER_00: You know?
• 1:00:08
  SPEAKER_00: We talked about that yesterday.
• 1:00:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we talked about that yesterday for sure.
• 1:00:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it's one of those things that we'll talk about in the future, too.
• 1:00:14
  SPEAKER_01: But uh, Tara Cody from Real Producers just said, Marcus is awesome, partner in Oakland and Macomb Real Producers.
• 1:00:19
  SPEAKER_01: Love you, Tara.
• 1:00:21
  SPEAKER_01: You're the best.
• 1:00:23
  SPEAKER_01: So, oh man, what a show.
• 1:00:25
  SPEAKER_01: I told you this hour goes by a lot faster than you think it would.
• 1:00:28
  SPEAKER_01: And we got to get you back, man, because it, you know, there's you're you're very motivational.
• 1:00:32
  SPEAKER_01: You're you're become a big time leader in this industry, man.
• 1:00:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I and I appreciate knowing you.
• 1:00:37
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 1:00:37
  SPEAKER_01: But like this is you got a lot of knowledge to drop, and you dropped it a lot of us today.
• 1:00:41
  SPEAKER_01: So I appreciate you coming on and doing it.
• 1:00:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, man.
• 1:00:43
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate you doing that for sure.
• 1:00:45
  SPEAKER_01: All right, guys, if you're in the business or looking to get in the business, here we are.
• 1:00:49
  SPEAKER_01: Check out eliteedgenetwork.com.
• 1:00:51
  SPEAKER_01: You can find uh the podcast everywhere you find podcasts, the elite real estate podcast.
• 1:00:55
  SPEAKER_01: Get to the YouTube channel, like and subscribe with the Elite Edge Network and the EliteEdge Network.com.
• 1:01:00
  SPEAKER_01: All right, guys, we are out.
• 1:01:01
  SPEAKER_01: We'll see you next Friday.