Latest / Real Estate for Real Life / Episode 17 • How Top Businesses Scale Without the Founder Doing Everything with Johnny Ibrahim

Transcript

Episode 17 • How Top Businesses Scale Without the Founder Doing Everything with Johnny Ibrahim · Real Estate for Real Life

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  On Real Estate for Real Life podcasts, we sit down with
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  standout business leaders to unpack what's actually working.
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  How they scale, lead teams, win clients and build businesses
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  that last. We're your hosts.
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  I'm Courtney Gauchman. And I'm Ryan Wilson.
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  Thanks for tuning in. Welcome.
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  We are here with Johnny Ibraham, Head of Business Development for
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  the Shant Benosian team at Guaranteed Right.
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  Thanks for joining us, my man. Thanks for having me, I'm pumped
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  to be here. Yes, we're excited to have you
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  on. You are a character.
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  You have so much amazing energy and you are just absolutely
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  incredible at what you do. Right?
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  Thank you. Your role is, I think one of the
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  most dynamic and interesting roles a company can hire for.
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  And that's why we want to have you on because there's a lot of
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  entrepreneurs that want to build their business and talk about
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  growth and talk about the scaling.
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  One of the major things is, is knowing that fine line between
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  when they need to relinquish control and stop trying to
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  service and sell to everyone and they hire Someone Like You,
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  right? So we want to hear a little bit
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  more about kind of what your role actually entails, what your
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  measurables are, So what you're held accountable to, and then
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  how you actually stick to that. Yeah, it's like 10 questions and
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  so. No, no, just tell me everything.
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  Yeah, so I've been on the team. Oh my God, it's been I, I think
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  9 to 10 years. Ryan, you were probably one of
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  the first Realtors I met at your broker Open for in Bedford.
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  Yes, sandwich. I brought the sandwiches. 64
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  Kalal Rd. Jeez, good memory.
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  The Sandwich Man. Yeah.
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  I mean, so I kind of started on the team as a sales assistant,
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  right? And obviously those are the
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  people that help the loan officers, but follow through
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  like more like they're really, really helpful on the team.
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  But it came to a point where I got a lot of text messages from
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  Sean saying pop in where I'm like, all right, like he's like,
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  you screwed up again on the numbers.
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  I'm like, I have a ADD so I can't be restricted into an
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  office. And then I remember this.
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  I was like, I should think about on the car right here.
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  I'm like the first event he sent me to by myself.
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  Remember it was like Midsummer 80°, I mean a little bit hotter
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  Spirit of Boston. It was the area boat cruise
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  hundreds of agents. I have, I don't know anyone is
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  I'm, you know, I'm scared of my mind because I'm like, what am I
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  supposed to do? But then like, I remember
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  meeting a bunch of people and next day go, Sean, here's some
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  business cards of people and him looking at me like almost like
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  not expecting to fail, but like more like intrigue, like how do
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  you do this? And then it kind of worked.
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  I work with my previous boss, Nikki.
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  And then you little by little, I grew that out with her.
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  And then once she kind of veered off, I became I, we had Nico.
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  So I have a great team with me, Nico, Lexi and Jeff.
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  So they've been amazing. And I mean more since how we've
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  grown together. They've been with me now for Oh
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  my God, Nico's been at least five years, Lexi past year.
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  Jeff was on and off the team, but back for the past year.
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  And I'm trying to answer all the questions at once, but you know,
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  the role kind of shifted and now I'm the head of it.
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  And it's been, it's a lot of learning.
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  I think I'm not perfect at it at all, but I've learned from Sean,
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  who I think is one of the best at it.
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  And I feel like people look at, I mean, I look at it as a
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  relationship business. It's not sales, it's
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  relationships. Because at the end of the day,
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  doesn't matter who you are or where you are, like people want
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  to work with who they actually like, trust, feel comfortable
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  with, you're going to talk about personal life.
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  You're going to have to be vulnerable and I, I've done that
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  with a lot of the different agents we work with.
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  Even you guys like we have a personal relationship outside of
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  I guess business like that's what it is.
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  It's personal. So and then to keep
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  accountability obviously like I have a leadership EOS each week
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  with Sean, Lisa, Liam and Ally and.
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  For people who don't know EOS Entrepreneurial.
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  Operating system, I always get the acronym wrong.
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  Yeah. So we, we do that every week on
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  Wednesdays and then I have the same, a different one with my
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  biz dev crew on Monday mornings. And it's not perfect, but I feel
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  like we're getting better at it. And you have structure to it.
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  And what's cool is now that each of them have grown like they're
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  all doing their own things, mean their own agents, their own
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  relationships. And it's, it was awesome.
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  I guess they were in four different places at once.
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  You're seeing a ton of people and at the same time, like shot
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  was doing his thing. So I think that you could see it
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  from a growth standpoint. It's like allows you to expand,
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  grow and, and really scale the business.
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  And so that's really what Sean's done over the past.
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  I mean, his since inception of being a loan officer is really,
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  he's seen the value in it because he knows like that's how
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  he started his business. Remember him telling me he's
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  like, dude, seven days a week I was out and about just grinding.
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  And I think that it shows. I mean, he's obviously built a
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  massive following and now we're at a point where it's like, all
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  right, we're doing a substantial amount of volume, which is
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  great. We have a good amount of
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  relationships. Like it's like, but there's a
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  lot of other loan officers like the value.
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  What can we add for value? Other people just can't.
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  And I see that business development to me is like the
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  biggest game changer because we can be hosting agents while the
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  loan officers in office, just on the phone with clients.
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  They're doing what they're good at.
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  I'm doing what I'm good at. I maintain those relationships
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  and I'm staying in contact, staying in front of people,
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  adding a ton of value with the people that we work with and
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  just upping the ante like yesterday with Courtney, we were
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  with Courtney and operations people on different teams.
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  Leader, sorry. And you know, the biggest thing
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  was I know no other team that's doing that.
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  And I think that was huge. We had, you know, 20 people in a
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  room talking about shop, about the business, what's happening,
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  the current market, what people are seeing.
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  And I think that's massive to being in front of.
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  And then we do like 18 of those. We have classes, we have all
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  these different things, tools like what can we do to offer
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  value for the people that we work with?
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  What can we do to help grow their business at the same time
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  too so. What you guys do a phenomenal
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  job of, and this is what you're completely explaining, is you
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  segment each aspect of the business, right?
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  So you said you have people sitting in the office that are
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  just helping the actual clients. So the people that are getting
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  mortgages, right? Then there's you, Nico, Lexi,
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  Jeff, like that crew that's actually adding massive amounts
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  of value to the agents, right? And the agents essentially are
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  the ones that help feed you the clients.
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  And then you have the other aspect too, which is kind of
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  shot, right. So he's now doing his thing in
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  terms of running the business and overseeing the day-to-day
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  operations and the growth trajectory, that kind of thing.
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  And I think that what's so amazing about the way that that
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  structure is, is you allow everyone to tap into their
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  talent and then you keep in, you stay in your lane, right?
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  So you are fully responsible for building new relationships with
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  agents and then keeping and maintaining those relationships.
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  You talked a little bit about in the beginning you went to that
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  boat cruise or that boat party, right?
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  And you get all these business cards.
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  You are probably the best person I've ever seen in terms of
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  follow up and maintaining the relationships.
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  What are some of the things you do to structure your touch
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  points? I'm assuming ACRM is in place,
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  but like tell me more about that, how to stay so?
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  Diligent CRM I think is the most important thing to have in a
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  business because at the end of the day, like there's a lot of
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  people we meet with, a lot of people that like we work with in
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  general. And I think it's sorry, first
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  having the Monday meetings with my crew talking about what's
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  going on that week, who we're touch, you know who we're
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  touching and that's let's go back on that.
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  We're calling reaching out. To that Johnny.
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  Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what it is.
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  We. Get how you how?
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  You. Kid Johnny So.
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  No, it's a lot of touch. We're.
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  Reaching out to who are covering all this and I think it's having
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  AI can't think, Michael, what's the word being intentional, what
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  you're doing? But then like how for me, like
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  how I hold myself accountable, like I have a DDI mean it's bad,
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  but I mean the reality is I think I've had create a really
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  good routine for myself getting up early.
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  Like I'm sometimes for the most part now, even with a baby, like
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  I'm in the office by 6:37 AM by myself on purpose because I need
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  to clear my thoughts. I need to get ready for the day.
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  Like I want to have actual things I need to do each day.
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  Following up I think is the biggest thing that people lack,
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  right? And then I'm not perfect at all.
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  Like there's times like I'm not as consistent, but I think you
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  can go meet 1000 people the next day.
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  They have no clue what just happened unless you follow up.
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  And I think that's the biggest thing for business in any which
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  way. I mean, even with us, like
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  that's our issue is like if you followed up with every single
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  person you met, I mean business with quadruple it just is what
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  it is part of. Like it's top of mind and the
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  world we live in. There's so much advertise,
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  there's so much things coming at people every day that if you're
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  not top of mind, they forget about you the same way you guys
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  do a great job as with your previous clients, you're you
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  were giving them value, but you're always, always around
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  them. Whether it's e-mail, calling,
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  you're staying on top of people is the most important thing to
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  maintain that relationship. So they say a friend goes, oh,
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  you know, I'm looking to buy right now.
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  Oh, I know my realtor boom, right at the top.
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  I forget what the stat was. Someone said it yesterday, like
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  was it 90%? Like a higher percentage of
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  people don't use the same realtor twice.
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  I think it's 80%. Or something like something
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  similar to the lender. I'm assuming it's probably the
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  same type of thing. And then holding myself
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  accountable is just more so like just being diligent.
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  What I do, having a plan in place where utilizing the CRM
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  way more than ever. And it's like, and now I even
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  with AI, that's one thing I want to tap into is like, how can you
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  use AI to take things off your plate?
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  They're like mundane things where I can do what I'm best at.
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  And same with my team and everyone else just in the
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  business in general. I don't think AI takes away from
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  what you're good at. It takes these small little
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  tasks that like they're like easier task, get them off
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  because you're going to do what obviously keeps your business
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  going each day. Yeah, they answer that one,
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  yeah. No, you did that was that was
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  awesome. And honestly you're speaking our
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  language. This is the type of thing that
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  we talk about all the time. And I think to to your point,
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  almost any business needs this, right.
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  The follow up is the piece that if you actually do it, which I
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  don't know why it's so hard, but it is if you actually do it, you
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  will amplify your business growth.
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  And it's just one of those things where it's like it's one
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  of the easiest things to actually say.
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  That's how you grow, that's how you scale.
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  But unfortunately it's just not done consistently.
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  Doesn't and the key is consistently, because even if
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  you just follow up once, if you don't have the CRM to be able to
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  put them into and consistently follow up with them because
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  every person's timeline is different.
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  You meet with an agent that might be new to the business,
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  they might be ready to start sending you deals in 12 months
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  or two months, you know, but you need to consistently stay in
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  touch just like we do with our clients.
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  So when they are ready, they think of you, you're top of
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  mind, but not just ping them, you need to actually add value
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  like you guys do with events. Tell us a little bit about the
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  way you stay in touch with people.
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  So I kind of like booked the year out.
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  I mean, now that I've got like been the head of it for a few
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  years, I've kind of learned from Nikki.
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  I mean, I checked some great things that she did previously.
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  I'm like, all right, what can I like learn from that?
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  I see other people doing what has worked and what can we
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  double down on? So the one thing is thing that I
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  so obviously accelerate is our big event every year.
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  That's a massive to do. So the whole team's involved in
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  that, but that's the beginning of the year.
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  I think it's great. It's awesome.
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  You can see a lot of people, but that's not it.
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  Like it's one day. So then I follow up with
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  February through around May. We have collaborative lunches.
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  So I get 15 to 20 agents each, so two days a week for like 3
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  months in a room together over lunch.
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  Talk about, you know, what's working, what's not working the
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  business, everything that's going on in the current market
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  because the markets it's just it's wild.
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  Every year you can think it's this is going to happen.
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  We thought rates were going to go down.
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  Obviously that is not happening. I'm very sorry, but like you
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  just don't know and I can't. Predict the war, Johnny.
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  It's disappointing. Cause a ruckus, but like even
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  with the real estate market, like you can't, you can predict
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  a certain degree, but there's always things that kind of get
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  thrown in. I, I feel like a few years ago
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  as a buyer agency agreement, then it became the inspection
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  inspections and like things get thrown at like you have to be
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  able to combat that. So it's great.
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  So we see probably over 300 agents over the course of that,
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  that few months along with other things we're doing.
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  So I have that kind of based in then we do a lot of classes in
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  between. So that's like mass housing.
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  We have a class on next Friday because all these new products
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  are coming out. This we want to just offer
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  classes. We had Ricky Bellevue come in
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  two weeks ago and he's a massive developer.
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  Like we had a full house on that.
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  So like agents can take away like do we gain anything?
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  No, I might just it's a giveaway.
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  It's great to see the agents we work with and offering value
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  because some of them are interested in like flipping and
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  doing that. And so that rent control is
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  another thing not thrown in the pool.
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  So I like the classes that we do.
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  I mean we, I mean trying to. Think I mean John as you, as you
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  think of things like Shant Lamacchia who are good friends
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  and run these massive businesses.
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  They've always said, and this stuck with me years ago when I
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  used to listen to them say it, education attracts and you guys
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  are educating your clients, which is agents, as well as
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  obviously the people that are, you know, giving what that
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  you're giving loans to. But you're educating them on the
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  process, on the products, on what their options are.
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  Because again, it's not selling, it's educating them on what the
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  situation is. And then when the time comes for
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  them to need a loan or pass a buyer to you guys, they're going
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  to thank you because you guys were actually adding value. 100%
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  And I think now more than ever, you have to offer more and more
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  value with everything you do because at the end of the day,
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  like people are getting stepping up in every capacity in the
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  business on both ends of it. And like we just like, what else
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  can we do? What else?
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  Just coming up with more ideas, more things.
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  And how do we stay on top of, you know, Oh my God, stay on top
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  of people, like staying on top of mine.
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  I think these acronyms are getting wrong, but I think that
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  that's the most important thing. Like I still want to do some
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  more things for the second-half of the year, but we're planning
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  ahead and that's all I do. I used the previous year as the
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  road map to the next year. It's like, all right, this
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  worked, let's double down. And there's just so much more
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  things I want to do now more than ever.
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  So the value that you guys add is it's just honestly, it's,
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  it's top level, top tier. We strive to be able to do that
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  for our clients as well, too, right?
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  So it's the same thing that you're explaining is stuff that
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  we also do. And I think in any business, if
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  you're willing to give away your knowledge, your expertise, and
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  just honestly, the ability to make people feel more
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  comfortable. You mentioned trust, right?
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  For them to know like and trust you, ultimately you have to give
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  something to gain that trust, right?
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  Trust doesn't just come for free.
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  So I love that you spend all this time.
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  I'm doing all of that. What keeps you motivated?
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  Is it seeing the numbers come in, the ROI from these events?
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  Is it just the event itself? Like I want to hear about that
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  part. I get like a natural high out of
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  things I like being on. A.
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  The socialization. Yeah, I love that.
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  Like, that's my big. I get like a natural high out of
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  seeing people. It's the weirdest thing.
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  But like, then as soon as I get home, I'm like, I don't want to
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  see anybody, but I don't know. I think I'm proud to be on
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  Sean's team. So we are cousins and like, I
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  think I've seen him do all these things for years.
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  And even at his age status, the as much success as he had is
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  he's had sorry, like it's he's still grinding.
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  And I'm like, if if your, your leader is grinding at a point
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  where they don't really have to. And like he is a machine.
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  I was thinking, I was laughing like he's like AI, like he just
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  keeps going and he's like, and his mind is like 10 years in the
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  future, like where where we can grow this.
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  And I think being around the people that I work with, like I
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  do like their family to certain degree, like I'm close to all
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  the people that we work with and I feel like we're all striving
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  to be better and how can we grow this?
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  How can we be better for everyone?
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  And I, I don't know, that kind of pushes me.
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  And then obviously family wise does too.
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  And I think it's like, obviously I want more to my life and I
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  don't know, I just, I, I just love what I do truly like.
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  And I think like, what would I do otherwise?
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  I don't know. I like, I think this job frame
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  is so different than what I thought I was ever going to be
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  doing, but it was a natural fit. It worked out perfectly and the
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  timing of it worked out perfectly.
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  Remember reaching out at Shot like in boxing him and I'd see
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  shot like every few years, like a family gathering.
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  Didn't barely know him. It's funny like stories within
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  the family, like Shot was going to be a famous football player.
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  I remember my dad saying he was going to go to Egypt to play,
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  which is 100% lie. Like he played at Bentley and
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  that was it. I don't know why that sucked.
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  My dad made-up some things, but like I remember reaching out to
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  Shot, not knowing who he was. My older brother's like Mike,
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  you you got Michael was like, you got to work for this guy.
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  Like he's a machine. And then it kind of all struck
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  in and then in seeing the people around him in awe sometimes like
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  of what he's done, like his name is Karen, like he's a man of his
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  word. Like his name on a pre approval
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  was massive. We've heard Ron talk about that.
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  And it's like, because he's put in the work, has grown the
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  business the right way, has done right by people.
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  And it's like, oh wow, like we can take us to a massive level.
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  And I think it's more so just helping the families.
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  I get like on our end. It's, it's, it's, it's not
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  transactional. Like you're helping families
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  sometimes for the first time in the generation buying a house.
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  You guys the same thing. It's, it's, that's the
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  meaningful part of it. And I think on the other end,
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  it's like, I care about the Realtors a ton.
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  Like personal relationships with something happens in a life,
• 16:34
  like helping them in any which way we can.
• 16:36
  And I think that that's important.
• 16:37
  Part of me I know, like in Johnson, it's the clients, like
• 16:40
  look at me families, we can help out.
• 16:42
  It doesn't. It doesn't shock me that the
• 16:43
  main crux of what you're saying as far as what motivates you is
• 16:47
  actually caring about people. Yeah, which doesn't surprise me
• 16:50
  in just knowing you because anyone that's around you, you
• 16:53
  give off amazing energy. People like to be around you.
• 16:57
  You're a fun guy to be around, but you're also super
• 16:59
  knowledgeable about your craft in the business in general.
• 17:02
  So that's that's, that doesn't surprise me at all.
• 17:04
  And that's impressive because to run a business and to build a
• 17:08
  business like that, you really have to care or it's not going
• 17:11
  to be able to sustain long term. People are going to see through
• 17:13
  that really quickly. So that's evident with you.
• 17:15
  No one's ever going to be surprised about that.
• 17:17
  So no, that's huge. But how do you avoid?
• 17:19
  So you work a lot, shot works a lot, your team works a lot.
• 17:22
  That's what we do in this business real estate.
• 17:24
  It's, it's not just opening doors.
• 17:26
  They're sending over the pre approval like there's a million
• 17:29
  more steps behind that, but how do you avoid burnout knowing the
• 17:32
  amount of hours and nights and weekends and so on that you
• 17:34
  work? Just like a burnout, I mean,
• 17:37
  prior to the baby and my leg injury, like I like, I mean, I
• 17:40
  think it was just having a routine, working out.
• 17:43
  I know it's not like that to me was like kept me motivated.
• 17:45
  And then I, yeah, then I look forward to like personal things.
• 17:48
  Like this week, I'm going to my mom, my parents house, my mom's,
• 17:50
  I'm going to hang out with her, bring the baby over.
• 17:52
  Like I just kind of pushed myself for it.
• 17:54
  Like, all right, let's let's the week's happening.
• 17:56
  I have something personal to look forward to.
• 17:59
  That's kind of, I know it sounds like a dumb answer, but it's
• 18:01
  like that motivates me. But I like like next week we
• 18:04
  have a few events. Like I'm actually pumped to go.
• 18:06
  Yeah. So I don't know.
• 18:07
  I don't there is burnout. Like if I need to take the sleep
• 18:10
  in or something is what I'll do it, but I don't really.
• 18:12
  But I guess if you love what you do, it doesn't feel like.
• 18:15
  That's what I was going to say. I think that you're in the
• 18:17
  perfect role for your personality.
• 18:19
  And I think Sean's really lucky to have hired such a good
• 18:22
  cousin. Yeah, but but honestly, he it's
• 18:25
  not that you're a cousin. Like he hired a person who is
• 18:28
  really well fit and well suited for this role.
• 18:31
  And ultimately that's what I think is the most impressive
• 18:33
  piece of the head of business development role.
• 18:35
  And then the people that are under you, right, that are in
• 18:37
  the business development world, you have to have the the right
• 18:40
  personality for this because to your point, right, it's you're
• 18:44
  creatively thinking of how to add value at all times.
• 18:46
  So you're educating all of the agents.
• 18:49
  You have so many different lives in your hands, right?
• 18:52
  You were mentioning how you guys love and thrive off of helping
• 18:55
  the clients, but your clients are also Realtors.
• 18:58
  And the more you help them, the more they also can help their
• 19:01
  own families and then they help more families.
• 19:04
  So it's just this amazing trickle down effect.
• 19:06
  And I think that you're in this role where you're an extrovert,
• 19:09
  clearly you do an incredible job of building and deepening
• 19:12
  relationships. And then you're a hustler.
• 19:15
  Like you stay on top of things. You don't just let things like
• 19:17
  fall between the cracks. And you actually like, you know,
• 19:21
  like you said, Shawn's a man of his word.
• 19:22
  Well, you clearly are too, right?
• 19:24
  Like you put things in your CRM and then you follow back up with
• 19:27
  people, you stay on top of people.
• 19:28
  You act like you truly care. That must be somewhat genuine,
• 19:31
  right? Because it comes across really
• 19:33
  well. That being said though, I think
• 19:35
  one of the other really unique things about you is you're
• 19:38
  incredibly entertaining and people enjoy also kind of
• 19:42
  following and watching and being a part of your world too.
• 19:45
  So while you're constantly giving, you're also really
• 19:47
  interesting yourself too. You have what, 15,000 followers
• 19:51
  on social? Media.
• 19:53
  Yeah, so tell us, how have you also simultaneously built up
• 19:57
  this like social media world too?
• 20:00
  Right before COVID or COVID times.
• 20:02
  My older brother Matt has probably like 50-60 thousand
• 20:05
  followers. He's just trying to the
• 20:06
  conditioning coach and like man, like you can definitely monetize
• 20:09
  off this. No, no, no, no, that's all
• 20:11
  right. So what I would do and honestly
• 20:13
  was following Realtors every day.
• 20:16
  You guys always have meeting them and seeing them in events
• 20:17
  anyway. But like following John's
• 20:19
  followers. And then it got to a point where
• 20:21
  I got to 10,000 like, all right, what do you do with this?
• 20:24
  And I've been stagnant since. But during code I would inbox
• 20:27
  liquor companies and like, Oh my God, how funny would that be?
• 20:30
  Like, I don't know, to teach myself how to record videos,
• 20:33
  edit them, collaborate with these liquor companies.
• 20:36
  And at the time I was living at home and like, you know, Bud
• 20:38
  Light sent me something. My dad's like who's how did you?
• 20:42
  I said dad, I don't know. It's let's do a review on it.
• 20:44
  And then little by little, like they're not like bigger name
• 20:48
  companies, like all these hard seltzers shipping to the house.
• 20:51
  And I would get my family involved and mostly my wife, who
• 20:54
  everyone knows at this point, like I do reviews with her.
• 20:57
  It'd be goofy, funny. It's like a one minute video,
• 21:01
  but then I would start doing funnier videos with her.
• 21:02
  And then it kind of grew. And I remember one point, we're
• 21:05
  at an event and one of the Realtors goes up to me is like,
• 21:08
  I know you are my God, I follow you and your wife and I'm like,
• 21:11
  not that famous by any means, but that's it.
• 21:13
  Like that's kind of how I grew it, which I've been stagnant for
• 21:15
  a while, but I definitely want to get back to doing that
• 21:18
  because I thought they were fun to do.
• 21:19
  And then at a time, like I think video content was getting bigger
• 21:22
  and Instagram was getting bigger, I more just want to
• 21:25
  learn how to edit videos. I sucked at the beginning, but
• 21:28
  then now I'm pretty solid at doing it.
• 21:30
  I just haven't really done any videos lately.
• 21:32
  I'm sorry because it's a baby. I mean, now the baby, the.
• 21:35
  Baby. Well, now you're gonna get the
• 21:36
  baby and. Your fans want it.
• 21:38
  I know I know people ask about it.
• 21:40
  I know I need to start doing more.
• 21:41
  I wanted to do other videos with shot at one point, like doing
• 21:43
  Watertown reviews at different restaurants.
• 21:45
  Guys haven't moved some. Armenian guest guest judges.
• 21:49
  Love to do that. So I mean, like, that was one of
• 21:51
  my ideas, but Devon, get back on the content.
• 21:53
  But yeah, the all I did was follow people every day.
• 21:55
  It wasn't doing anything like hard.
• 21:56
  I think what's what's cool and interesting about that is
• 21:59
  obviously that was something that just kind of filled your
• 22:01
  cup from a hobby perspective, but it's also, you mentioned
• 22:04
  being top of mind. Your presence on social media,
• 22:07
  though, is another huge impact in you staying top of mind,
• 22:09
  right? So while you're exhausting all
• 22:12
  these efforts of you going to places and being at events and
• 22:14
  hosting events and just being so physically present, you can also
• 22:18
  simultaneously work your social media on the back end too and
• 22:21
  have people constantly seeing you there.
• 22:23
  And I think that that's another really impressive tool that you
• 22:26
  use that also leads to the success of people just knowing
• 22:30
  who you are. Everyone knows, obviously we
• 22:31
  just call you Johnny, right? Like we don't even need to say
• 22:34
  your last name. And with a name like John, it's
• 22:36
  not like it's a unique name, right?
• 22:38
  There's plenty of John's out there.
• 22:39
  But Johnny and everyone in this industry knows who you are.
• 22:43
  And I think that that's a really remarkable presence that you've
• 22:46
  created. And a lot of that has to do with
• 22:48
  both of those features like working together to stay so top
• 22:52
  of mind. I was.
• 22:52
  Going to say, like, funny enough, my name is just John,
• 22:55
  which is not for this podcast, but I remember joining Sean's
• 22:57
  team. He started calling me Johnny.
• 22:59
  And then they kind of stuck. I'm like, I'm not going to, I'm
• 23:01
  not going to tell him what to do.
• 23:03
  You know it. That's when it started.
• 23:04
  My name is John. Like it's never, never Johnny
• 23:07
  ever at any given time until I joined a team stage name and he
• 23:11
  started calling me. Now I said, well, it's kind of
• 23:12
  easy because no one knows how to say my last name.
• 23:14
  I said let's just I'll just stick with that.
• 23:16
  And then back on the social piece.
• 23:17
  I think that's the biggest thing when I talked to a ton of
• 23:20
  agents, some are against social media, others you guys crush on
• 23:23
  social. Like it is the most undervalued
• 23:27
  thing. People like some people that
• 23:28
  don't use it like it's free advertisement shows people
• 23:32
  about, you know, people are not in a bad way, like the sold
• 23:36
  signs, all that type of stuff is great.
• 23:38
  But people want to know, hey, I'm working with Ryan.
• 23:40
  Ryan's a father. He has three kids.
• 23:42
  He's this Courtney has twins. They have two little kids.
• 23:44
  Like they want to know the personal side of the business.
• 23:47
  Like that's what some people I'm like, they don't understand like
• 23:49
  that that is the business interacting, posting stories.
• 23:53
  You know, I, I comment and like inbox a ton of people every day
• 23:57
  on purpose, because then it's like top of mind and they look
• 23:59
  at my page and it's just like, it keeps like going, Hey, how
• 24:01
  you been? What, And then it just picks up
• 24:04
  conversations. And I think for you guys too,
• 24:05
  I'm assuming it's the same thing's happened to me.
• 24:07
  But like, because I've gone to high school with like a finance
• 24:11
  Raymond Pedrick, he's a financial advisor, went to high
• 24:13
  school with him. We, I haven't seen him in years.
• 24:16
  He just sent a client our way just on social media, like we
• 24:19
  connect it and boom, you've definitely had previous friends,
• 24:23
  family and such on social media. So that's why I think it's such
• 24:26
  you need to use it like it's, it's so important this day and
• 24:29
  age. It's how people stay top of mind
• 24:31
  and then just remember what you do so.
• 24:34
  I think a lot of people that do say I don't want to use it and
• 24:38
  they have a kind of this negative connotation with it.
• 24:41
  I think they're realistically speaking, they're feeling like
• 24:44
  it's an over share or like they have to do something that's
• 24:47
  still out of their comfort zone. But I do strongly feel like it's
• 24:51
  one of those things. You are not sharing depth.
• 24:55
  You're sharing events, activities, hobbies, right?
• 25:00
  To me, it's like you don't know who I am as a person from social
• 25:03
  media, but you know things about me, you know my interests.
• 25:06
  And I think that people are taking it so deep when they want
• 25:09
  to refuse to use it. It's like that's not you giving
• 25:12
  yourself away on the Internet. It's you just sharing hobbies
• 25:15
  and being like minded with other people.
• 25:17
  And then it becomes a platform where you really can actually
• 25:20
  connect with people about the things you like, right?
• 25:22
  There's nothing bad about that. And I think that if you take it
• 25:25
  for what it is, which it is face valued is a more superficial
• 25:29
  tool, right? Like we're not getting into like
• 25:31
  a deep conversations. Hopefully don't use it for that
• 25:33
  when you're in business, right? But it's like you don't have to
• 25:36
  get into all these problematic like conversations.
• 25:40
  Just use it for the basic needs, which is show the things you
• 25:43
  like, keep it positive, keep it a space that is going to
• 25:47
  actually get you connection to other people.
• 25:49
  And I think that from there, it's, it's a really amazing tool
• 25:53
  to say, Oh, cool, I get to see your son Leo all the time,
• 25:56
  right? He's already three months old.
• 25:57
  It's going to be really amazing to get to see his, his growth,
• 26:00
  right? Like at that age, they grow so
• 26:02
  fast. And it's going to be really fun
• 26:03
  when he starts babbling and talking and you start actually
• 26:06
  to posting more videos, Johnny, because we all want that, right?
• 26:09
  But it's one of those things that it's really fun.
• 26:11
  And then it makes us feel more connected to you because it's
• 26:13
  like, Oh, you're a dad now. I've been a mom for six years.
• 26:15
  Like there's so many more things now that we can talk about.
• 26:18
  And that's going to get you another whole demographic of
• 26:21
  people that are going to be able to relate to you now, right?
• 26:23
  And I think that that's something that the more we
• 26:26
  utilize that for what it really is and like less like avoiding
• 26:30
  it, I think that you're going to find business is just so much
• 26:33
  easier, right? Like because you're not avoiding
• 26:35
  something that's just such a convenient tool for connection.
• 26:39
  Quick question, switching gears a little bit, how do you keep
• 26:43
  your team? So now that you're a leader,
• 26:44
  you've been a leader for, you know, head of business
• 26:46
  development for a couple years now, how do you keep your team
• 26:49
  motivated? I think it's hard, right?
• 26:52
  Like I think we thought like the business would be a little bit
• 26:56
  different this year. I think it's like having
• 26:58
  personal relationships with all of them.
• 27:00
  That's even that's everything. I say something, it sounds
• 27:02
  worse, but like no, I think it's like having one on ones with
• 27:05
  them, keep them pumped up. Like I also like treat them.
• 27:08
  They're a peer of mine. Like they work with me not for I
• 27:11
  know that they work for me, but they work with me and like being
• 27:14
  fun with things. I'm not like overworking all of
• 27:16
  them. Like I'm not like a like a
• 27:17
  soldier on them. I think it's like they work
• 27:20
  their asses off. They do an amazing job and I
• 27:23
  think they know what like the outcome is too.
• 27:24
  And they feel the same way about it.
• 27:26
  Are is everyday perfect? No, we're not.
• 27:28
  Like it's like I remember like Nico and Jeff went to like the
• 27:30
  haymakers for Hope last week and like, are they exhausted the
• 27:34
  next day? Yeah, 100%.
• 27:35
  But it's like they had a fun time at the event.
• 27:36
  They went with two Realtors and I think you were there and it's
• 27:39
  a great event. It's like, for a good cause.
• 27:40
  And it's like I think they all have a work life balance.
• 27:45
  Not like, like we all, you know, divide and conquer with things.
• 27:49
  I think we all believe in the same goals ahead and if they
• 27:54
  didn't believe in that, they wouldn't be here.
• 27:56
  That's an honest answer. Like everyone wants to be on the
• 27:58
  team. They're pumped where they work.
• 28:01
  It's a fun environment. It's a young environment.
• 28:03
  We've got a lot of young people on the team.
• 28:04
  I think that's where it's you can all help each other out.
• 28:07
  I think that's how I feel and I they've been awesome.
• 28:10
  That's awesome. How so this year, which is not
• 28:12
  what any of us predicted from the mortgage side, from the the
• 28:15
  number of sales side. So it's challenging in our
• 28:18
  industry right now. There's no two ways about it.
• 28:21
  How do you you know, in those times which are difficult, how
• 28:24
  do you keep them upbeat? How do you keep the morale high?
• 28:26
  Well, you got Sean. I mean, I mean, honestly, Sean
• 28:28
  comes in, he's like, hey, guys, when I was on the flight the
• 28:30
  other day, I was thinking about XY and Z and I think I keep them
• 28:33
  pumped up, but they're also self motivating too.
• 28:37
  And then Sean, I I can't, I give him all the credit because he's
• 28:40
  an animal, because he's always forward to thinking like even me
• 28:43
  and me and Liam was a sales manager.
• 28:45
  I was talking to him last night till we were, we were talking on
• 28:47
  the phone for an hour when I was in the driveway, I was in for an
• 28:50
  hour and they were texting all night for different ideas.
• 28:52
  I think it's like we all kind of feel the same way.
• 28:54
  Like maybe sometimes as a team, like sometimes you butt heads.
• 28:58
  But I think when you look back for a second, like we have the
• 29:00
  same goals. Like I think you, you all see
• 29:03
  the vision and I shot crates that vision.
• 29:06
  Like guys, I'll take you to the promised land.
• 29:08
  I mean, I'm being sarcastic on that, but like he's done
• 29:11
  something. No other loan officer in the
• 29:12
  world is done. First of all, he didn't even
• 29:15
  speak English until he like, like his story is insane.
• 29:18
  And now he's a president of a company.
• 29:20
  It's like, I believe whatever he drinks, I need to drink.
• 29:22
  It's a Watertown water. And it's I think that's if your
• 29:26
  leader is just, he's working like either the way he's doing
• 29:30
  things at his pace at this level, it has that like triple
• 29:35
  effect with everyone else because you're believing in this
• 29:37
  thing. Same thing with you guys, with
• 29:38
  your team. Like everyone believes in what
• 29:39
  you're doing because you just keep growing.
• 29:42
  It's how can we keep being better and start to be better.
• 29:44
  I think that's a massive piece of it.
• 29:46
  I love that. So obviously you mentioned it,
• 29:49
  it's a trickle down effect. It starts at the top, right?
• 29:51
  Like so he's creating this vision, casting the vision.
• 29:54
  And it seems like there's a lot of autonomy too for you and your
• 29:57
  team to now, like you said, divide and conquer and just kind
• 30:00
  of start getting creative and execute on these things.
• 30:03
  For an entrepreneur who's listening, who has not hired
• 30:06
  someone in business development yet, right?
• 30:08
  Is there any advice that you could give them in terms of how
• 30:11
  they make that hire and how like at what point do they start to
• 30:15
  give that autonomy to them, right?
• 30:17
  Like first they're they're going to need to cast the vision, I
• 30:19
  assume right and set the tone and the stage.
• 30:22
  But are there any good tips that you can give for how they would
• 30:25
  hire this role? I've had a lot of conversations
• 30:28
  with different companies probably every every year I do.
• 30:32
  It's a different type of role. But I think when you can step
• 30:34
  back and say all right, like what am I good at?
• 30:36
  I mean, not saying Sean's not good.
• 30:37
  I mean, he's crushing it when he people person, but I think it's
• 30:40
  like, all right, if I can be in the office doing X what you're
• 30:44
  the best AT and you can trust people on your team with
• 30:48
  relationships and almost actually making it easier for
• 30:52
  you to see those relationships. I think it's worth every cent.
• 30:55
  And I mean that like sincerely, like I think it's I look on the
• 30:58
  team. All right, we have a great team.
• 30:59
  Everyone knows their role, they know what they're doing, but biz
• 31:02
  debit it's it's the relationships.
• 31:04
  I mean, like that is business. It's not sales.
• 31:06
  I mean, like I was like, listen to hormones of the day.
• 31:09
  It's it's relationship business. How can you have someone build
• 31:13
  your relationships, grow those and stay on top of those people?
• 31:17
  Oh my God. And I think that at a point like
• 31:20
  shot didn't even know he needed it at the time.
• 31:23
  Then he got Nikki and it kind of worked out perfectly.
• 31:25
  And then I I kind of joined on it.
• 31:26
  It worked out even like, you know, at the same time, even
• 31:28
  better. The position is like you need
• 31:30
  someone ADD that like loves to see you.
• 31:33
  Need Psych Eval? Yeah, probably.
• 31:37
  But I think it's you have to figure out what you're good at
• 31:39
  and if, if Sean can spend more time doing X, how can he scale
• 31:43
  that business? How can he do a better job on
• 31:46
  both ends of it? I mean, Sean still comes to a
• 31:48
  lot of things we do, but he's like, all right, like he is an
• 31:51
  incredible loan officer. And so like that I think at a
• 31:54
  point where he can't like, hey, I'm a great loan officer.
• 31:55
  I love to see people, but if I can do both and have someone
• 31:58
  else like we're wearing, you know, 5 or 6 places just at the
• 32:01
  same time, that is like incredible.
• 32:03
  And I, I think that's if you want someone to be at more play,
• 32:07
  you want to basically divide and conquer and have someone, I
• 32:11
  can't even think of the words, but like having shot, being five
• 32:13
  place at once is massive for your business because you're
• 32:16
  able to see way more people at once.
• 32:18
  That's the reality of it. You need more people
• 32:20
  representing your brand who can actually go out and be trusted
• 32:23
  to do so, right? I think the biggest thing that I
• 32:26
  take away from all of the the stuff that we've learned from
• 32:29
  you from this conversation is that the leader himself or
• 32:32
  herself, right, has to be confident enough and set their
• 32:37
  ego aside to say Johnny is going to do this maybe differently
• 32:41
  than he would do it right? Because he's still a people
• 32:43
  person too. But he trusts you and gives you
• 32:46
  the autonomy to be able to go out there and represent his team
• 32:50
  brand to such a high level. Obviously, he set the standards,
• 32:54
  he set the vision and ultimately you then helping to hire and
• 32:58
  helping to have people under you to then now grow it even larger.
• 33:02
  I think from an entrepreneurial standpoint, this is the one
• 33:05
  piece that I think ego can get in the way with them being able
• 33:09
  to hire this role, right? Because they want to be the ones
• 33:12
  doing that. They want to be the ones having
• 33:13
  the relationships. But Sean has this brilliant
• 33:16
  business mind and he's able to work on what he's really good at
• 33:19
  and then say, hey, there are other people that are really
• 33:21
  good at this other space, right? This other piece of things.
• 33:24
  And I think that that's where watching you and your team
• 33:27
  continue to to grow, but also stay at the top.
• 33:30
  That's another piece that's like absolutely mind blowing is how
• 33:33
  you guys have stayed at the top for so long.
• 33:36
  And yeah, that's incredible. 10 years and that's just all due to
• 33:40
  the fact that like you guys have structured the team so well by
• 33:44
  saying everyone has a lane and everyone stays in their lane and
• 33:48
  then they just absolutely crush that.
• 33:51
  Then I didn't add on this like like you guys are obviously on
• 33:53
  the team too. Like it's like Ryan was great to
• 33:55
  a certain point, but having a team, it's like you can able to
• 33:58
  do so much more and it allows a work life balance too.
• 34:01
  And like it's, it's OK. Like having a team and trusting
• 34:04
  them. You have amazing agents on the
• 34:05
  team that have grown and that they're successful.
• 34:08
  It's like that's what it's all about.
• 34:09
  It can't just be one person doing it 24/7.
• 34:12
  You're going to burn out. You're you're not going to be as
• 34:14
  good as you think you are. Eagles going to get involved.
• 34:16
  I think that's the one thing is about shot like he grew the team
• 34:19
  early on and it's always grown it.
• 34:22
  And it's like you have to have that in order to grow your
• 34:24
  business. You have to hire the right
• 34:26
  people and trust them that they're going to make mistakes.
• 34:28
  I mean, I made 1000 mistakes, but I've also grown learn from
• 34:31
  those. I've gotten better at it.
• 34:33
  You know, I've taken the constructive criticism from him
• 34:35
  and, and you know what, now I feel like we're just in my mind,
• 34:38
  like there's so much more to grow and helping the people on
• 34:41
  my team do the same thing that I did.
• 34:44
  And I think that that is the biggest thing as a leader you
• 34:47
  can do is trust in the people on your team because that becomes a
• 34:52
  better relationship with them as well.
• 34:55
  Yeah, it is. I mean, to scale just in general
• 34:57
  for any company, you need to put the people in the right seat on
• 35:01
  the bus to not only what they're good at, but what they're
• 35:03
  passionate about. You're very good at business
• 35:06
  development, but you're also very passionate about it.
• 35:09
  And you're wanting to keep that champion Ocean name to the
• 35:11
  highest, highest level, which obviously you've done for 10
• 35:13
  plus years now, which is very, very impressive.
• 35:17
  So this has been an unbelievable talk.
• 35:19
  Is there anything one thing that you think the listeners should
• 35:22
  absolutely know about, about Johnny, about the business that
• 35:28
  we should wrap up with? I want to wrap up with the
• 35:29
  injury because a lot of. People not bring this up A.
• 35:32
  Lot of people asked about it. I'll I'll make a nice long
• 35:35
  story. Short, this is good.
• 35:36
  So it's the end of the day at Accelerate.
• 35:38
  Everyone is left and my wife's texting like, hey, when are you
• 35:40
  coming home? And like, I was like, oh, you
• 35:42
  know, we're going to go home. I'll be fine.
• 35:44
  At the time, she's nine months pregnant, just mind you on that
• 35:47
  one. And so Sean was going to say,
• 35:49
  hey, we're going to take a big picture on the turf.
• 35:53
  We're talking Gillette. Stadium, by the way, Gillette.
• 35:56
  Stadium, Yeah. Set the scene, buddy.
• 35:57
  It's cold out, there's ice everywhere.
• 36:00
  So stupid. Thinking back, I'm in a suit in
• 36:02
  Jordans and I remember Lexi recording Lexi's on business
• 36:06
  development. She's recording me like, but
• 36:08
  like go on the field and like I wasn't really thinking anything
• 36:11
  of it. I'm like just happy, excited.
• 36:13
  At the end of the day. We had, you know, 1200 people at
• 36:15
  the event, probably more and literally Mar sit on our team
• 36:20
  almost like dunks on the goal post and like, I can, I can do
• 36:24
  that. That's that's not hard, but not
• 36:26
  actually think I'm actually going to touch it.
• 36:28
  Long story short, I run lightly, Hopshot says.
• 36:32
  I didn't get that much off the ground.
• 36:35
  Keeping you humble. All my body weight hits back, I
• 36:38
  slip and my leg, I don't know what at the time, but like
• 36:41
  snaps. My knee snaps.
• 36:44
  I'm like, so I go down, everything's numb.
• 36:47
  And I remember like everyone looking at me like John, like
• 36:49
  stop messing around. And I'm like, I, I can't feel my
• 36:52
  leg and I'm scared out of my mind because you got to think
• 36:56
  I'm like 9. My wife's nine months pregnant.
• 36:58
  Like I'm going to be a father soon.
• 37:00
  She can't really move at the time.
• 37:02
  And I'm like, Oh my God. So Sean comes over and he's
• 37:05
  like, dude, like stop messing around.
• 37:06
  Like Sean, like I can't feel my leg.
• 37:09
  And then another loan officer comes on.
• 37:10
  His name is James. He's like, hey, dude, like I
• 37:12
  think you just like, I don't know, dude.
• 37:14
  Like, I think he's got to pop it back into place.
• 37:16
  Shot, the funniest thing he says to me.
• 37:17
  So it's like, yeah, dude, just go back.
• 37:19
  Like someone in Gillette will fix your knee.
• 37:21
  I think you got to pop your socket back.
• 37:22
  I've never gotten injured. I'm not athletic by any means.
• 37:25
  And long now, fast story short, the firefighters come in, they
• 37:30
  take me on a stretcher. And at that time I'm laughing
• 37:32
  because I'm like, all right, like Shot said, everything's
• 37:34
  going to be OK. Everything's going to be fine.
• 37:36
  It's going to pop back into place.
• 37:38
  I go into the hospital and all of a sudden, like the guys,
• 37:42
  they, they do X-rays on me is like, you're going to need
• 37:44
  surgery. And I've never like that moment
• 37:48
  to me was the worst feeling I've ever felt entirely.
• 37:51
  And like I'm on the phone and like Sean's calling me.
• 37:54
  I'm crying. I'm like, dude, I don't, I don't
• 37:56
  know what, I don't know any, but I don't even surge.
• 37:58
  I don't know, scared of my mind. Then I had to call my wife and
• 38:02
  she's like, what the fuck did you do?
• 38:04
  I'm like talking, I love you. I'm so, so sorry.
• 38:05
  But like she was supportive, had my dad picked me up and then
• 38:08
  luckily enough, like really good friends.
• 38:12
  Doug Gage, when I shout out to him, he ended up connecting with
• 38:15
  me that morning. One of his best friends.
• 38:18
  More like a surgeon liaison. You kind of you go through him,
• 38:21
  he connects to surgeons. He connected me with Lars
• 38:24
  Richardson, but also a realtor. Nevia reached out to me too.
• 38:29
  She didn't even, I mean, she knew who I was, but we didn't
• 38:31
  know each of that close up. She know who I work for and
• 38:33
  she's hard on social and one thing led to another.
• 38:37
  I got in with the number one surgeon for Oh my God Patella
• 38:41
  tendon and Dr. Lars Richardson. So X-rays the next day, surgery
• 38:46
  that Friday. My wife had our baby boy
• 38:49
  February 6th. So I'm like, what the IT was the
• 38:52
  craziest thing ever, but we're totally fine.
• 38:55
  Knees still a little fucked up, but we're getting through.
• 38:57
  It you seem agile. Yeah, totally fine.
• 38:59
  I just remember like the beginning, in the hospital, I'm
• 39:02
  getting wheeled in a wheelchair and Daria's like carrying all
• 39:04
  the luggage. I mean, you got, you know, like
• 39:07
  I'm such a piss of shit. A proud dad.
• 39:09
  And I'm like, what? And I remember her giving birth
• 39:11
  and I'm like, going to pass out. The woman had to get me off, put
• 39:14
  me on the couch. It was the craziest thing ever.
• 39:17
  But at the same time like it just it happened.
• 39:19
  It all good. Next year, I'm not going any.
• 39:22
  Other 2026 Unforgettable. It will be a great story to tell
• 39:25
  Leo as he grows up, right? Like it will be such an
• 39:28
  unforgettable story. Daria is obviously a queen for
• 39:32
  being able to handle all of that.
• 39:33
  So shout out to her. She is.
• 39:35
  But also, I mean, your business hasn't even skipped a beat,
• 39:39
  right? Like it's like you were like
• 39:40
  texting and calling us and like setting things up.
• 39:42
  And I'm like, wait, are you even at work?
• 39:44
  And you, like I never stopped twerking.
• 39:45
  No, I mean, I remember like being on the Oxys just for a
• 39:48
  couple weeks. I'm not a drug addict by any
• 39:50
  means. And I'm like being on some crazy
• 39:52
  on a Zoom which shot? And he's like, dude, you're not
• 39:54
  even here. I'm like, I don't know where I
• 39:56
  am. I don't like this stuff.
• 39:58
  I got it off, I threw it down the toilet.
• 40:00
  I can't take this stuff. But it was, no, I didn't skip a
• 40:03
  beat Lien people, I will say, like people were texting me
• 40:06
  non-stop. Great for business development,
• 40:09
  we're top of mind. Shot, like we should say.
• 40:10
  You're welcome, Sean. Like trying to have a business.
• 40:13
  Injury next year. And it was so, it was just so
• 40:15
  funny. But my team stepped up
• 40:16
  massively. That was the best part of having
• 40:19
  the team that I felt like, wow, like they knew I had the baby,
• 40:22
  but they knew I was like, you know, royally fucked.
• 40:24
  They stepped up in every which way.
• 40:26
  And it was the best feeling like that.
• 40:27
  That allows me to think like, all right, scaling is the way to
• 40:29
  do it. You have to, you have to have
• 40:30
  the people in place. But no, appreciate it now.
• 40:33
  Everything's going good. Baby's three months old,
• 40:35
  sleeping through the night. By the way, not a.
• 40:37
  Big deal. It's not a big deal. 7 to 6, I
• 40:41
  don't know. Wow.
• 40:41
  Home crib, second night in and no, but it's been awesome.
• 40:44
  And then I appreciate being on the podcast.
• 40:46
  This is awesome. Yeah, Johnny.
• 40:48
  This is this was awesome, not only brilliant at what you do
• 40:51
  business development, head of business development for the
• 40:54
  Champanosian team at Guaranteed Rate, but also most importantly,
• 40:57
  just an amazing human. And it's been great to get to
• 40:59
  know you over the years. So thank you.
• 41:00
  So thank you so much, man. We appreciate you.
• 41:02
  Boom.