Latest / Mortgage Marketing Radio / How this Loan Officer Gets Over 60% of Her Business from YouTube with Jennifer Beeston

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How this Loan Officer Gets Over 60% of Her Business from YouTube with Jennifer Beeston · Mortgage Marketing Radio

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1:03
Hey, listeners, welcome to this episode of Mortgage Marketing Radio.
1:13
So thrilled you've chosen to tune in and I think you'll be glad you've tuned in to this
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particular episode.
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If you haven't yet joined our private Facebook group, Jasper Podcast listeners, take a
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You get back to your desk or on your phone if you're driving and go over to Facebook and
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We'd love to have you in there, show up, say hello and we're going to be doing some
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So if you down for that, go check it out Facebook and search Mortgage Marketing Radio and
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Okay, cool.
2:04
So let's talk about this episode.
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So this episode is a long time in the making and I'm just thrilled to be able to capture
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some of this person's time and it probably took over a year, I think, to get this interview
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actually scheduled, but it was well worth it.
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And this is for you.
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If you in particular are looking to YouTube as a place for you to grow your presence online
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for you to perhaps generate your own organic leads, you know, if if YouTube is a potential
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place for you with your content strategy in the coming year, this episode and this person
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is somebody you should follow.
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So who am I talking about?
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I talked about Jennifer Beaston, she's with Guaranteed Ray up in the California Bay area and
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is a rock star, super woman in many different ways.
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First and foremost, in terms of production, last year, she did over $200 million.
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I don't have the unit count handy, but you'll hear it in the interview.
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So she talks about how many units she did.
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It's quite a lot.
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I just put it that way.
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But the other thing that's important and relevant for our conversation is, as you know,
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I always ask, what's your number one source of business?
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It's the first time in over, I think, well, put it this way in 200 different episodes
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in almost five years of interviewing pop producers.
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This is the first time anybody has said to me, YouTube.
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So the number one source of business for Jennifer Beaston is YouTube.
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And she gets an amazing amount of applications.
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There I say, not leads applications from YouTube to the tune of over 80, let's say, right?
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For a month.
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I'm causing her purposely so that you can let that sink in.
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These are people who go to Jennifer's channel because they're searching for content on YouTube
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for specific information.
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It could be related to Vielone, it could be related to how to shop lenders.
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It could be readily related to obviously mortgages.
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It could be related to pre-approvals, so on and so forth.
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You know, VA is definitely a passion and a specialty for her, actually, here about.
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But the point is, is that four years ago, she made a decision, right?
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She made a decision that she wanted to diversify her sources of business
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and not be so dependent upon real estate agents and chose to go with YouTube.
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And went all in and had a lot of sweat equity in.
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And it has paid off for her in a big way.
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And the links to her channel will be in their show notes.
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But to give you some stats, okay, she's been doing this four years.
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She's got 17,000 subscribers.
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In the last 30 days, she's had 158,000 views across 10 videos.
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And the lifetime, the total lifetime is just about to cross four million views
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and 257 videos.
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She's posting, I think, two or three videos a week.
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And she's stepping that up to four videos a week this year.
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And you can go to her channel.
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You'll see some of the view counts she's getting on video,
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such as three signs you're not ready to buy at home.
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Almost 3,000 views.
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How to rate shop lenders, almost 2,000 views.
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January 2021 mortgage update, 3,000 views.
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VA loans, the full truth, 87,000 views from nine months ago.
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So if you're considering YouTube, you've got to listen to this episode with an open mind.
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And once again, I'm gracious for her to be able to make time.
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She's incredibly busy and slammed.
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So as I said, we're going to put links in the show notes to her channel.
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Check it out.
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She's doing some great things with the topics.
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And by the way, if you want to know what's working or what's resonating with people in terms
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of what are they most interested in learning more about, it's watch the views, watch the
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views, and of course the duration, which you can't see, but on your own channel, right?
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Anyway, so without further ado, let's bring on my very special guest.
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I'm thrilled to have Jennifer Beaston.
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Let's get into this week's show.
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Jennifer, welcome to the show.
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Thank you.
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Thank you so much for being here.
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This has been a long time coming about a year, I think.
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Grateful.
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Grateful and excited because you are doing something in the industry as a mortgage professional
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that very few, I think, have done so far.
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And that is from my perspective, you know what I'm talking about?
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Don't pretend you don't know.
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From my perspective, that is built an amazing presence online in particular from what
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I gather on YouTube.
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Does that bear?
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No, I mean, I'm definitely unique in that aspect.
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Okay, what I don't know about you, if you wouldn't mind, just real quick update.
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Last year's number is volume and units, so I know you're like, 100%, what'd you do?
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So last year I did 205,546 units.
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Awesome.
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Congratulations, by the way.
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That's fun.
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Yeah, I was pretty excited.
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Sure.
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What's the number one source of business at this point?
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It's you two.
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All right.
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See?
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I mean, like, I would say 60% of my business is social media driven and then past client
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referrals.
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We still have realtors in the mix, but it's not anywhere like it was three years ago.
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What do you mean?
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What's happened there?
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Why is that?
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Well, it takes time to build, right?
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That's what everyone in the industry doesn't like realize because with social media, usually
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people are like, oh, yeah, I'm going to do it.
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I'm going to make so much money doing it.
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They do it twice.
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They get two likes and they're done.
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Right?
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Because I've been working on this for, I don't know if I'm on year four now, you know,
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being really consistent.
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And so my whole business before that, like, I've been doing, you know, not 200 million,
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but, you know, 50 million, 70 million in that ballpark for a long time.
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But up until recently, it was realtor driven and past clients.
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Yeah.
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Did you make a conscious choice to try and pivot away from that?
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Yeah.
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100%.
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100%.
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It's a couple different things.
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You know, I have some realtor partners that I really like that I think are amazing people
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and I love doing deals with them.
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But when you're fully dependent on realtor's, you're also dependent on realtor's that maybe
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terrible people with horrible ethics that make you want to kill yourself every time they
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call.
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Right?
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And I made a conscious choice that, you know, I've been doing this long enough, right?
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Because I'm at year 14, you're 13 or 14.
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And at some point, it first you're learning everything, right?
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But at some point, you have to make a lifestyle change.
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And what is that?
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Is it, you know, it's some people love the realtor game, they don't mind, you know, it's
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like a realtor is like trying to take advantage of the client and they're like, oh, you
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know, it just doesn't, but for me, I've always been that person that fights for the underdog.
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Yeah.
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The beautiful thing about where I moved into is a big portion of it.
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There's so many different factors that went into it, but a lot of it was talking to a
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woman who deals with professional women and I was lost because I was like, I'm, you
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know, why am I doing this anymore?
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And I think at the time I was doing, I'd gone from like 50 to 70 and that was really
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tough.
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That anytime you jump even a little, it hurts.
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She's like, Jen, you have a voice.
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Why don't you use it?
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I was like, oh, that's a good point.
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Like if I can actually make a difference in this industry, well, then it's it, then it's
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interesting.
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Then it's going to keep me in the business.
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Then I'm going to wash up to work because every single day I show up now, you know, yeah,
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my business is doing great.
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We get so many clients.
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It's amazing, but what's also amazing is beyond the clients that come to me.
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I get emails from people saying, Hey, Jen, you helped me so much.
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I closed on my house.
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These aren't even my clients, but they watched the videos.
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They felt empowered.
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They utilized my tips in order to not be taken advantage of.
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And to me, that's rewarding because it's like you're going to work, but you're also doing
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good in the world.
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And in a world that's pretty dark right now, any, any little bit of light you can get.
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Why would it you?
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Well, you found a way to take this, this quote job, if you will, or career of being a
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mortgage professional and get fulfillment out of it, right?
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Yeah.
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Like you're giving back in a way through your education.
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Yep.
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100 percent.
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Love that.
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So four years ago, you, you, what, what made you wake up and go, hmm, social media?
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And why was it YouTube for you versus something else?
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Well, so beyond, you know, that you have a voice use in it.
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I had a realtor who I built my business with, you know, for, for years.
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Like I had multiples, but he was like the one.
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And he is brilliant at coming up with what the next wave was.
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And he was doing video and he was like, Jen, you know, be, because I met with clients
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oh god, in six years, you cannot pay me to meet anyone in person.
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And it's just because it's really inefficient, but it's also because I had that incident
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years back.
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Ladies, do not meet with clients alone that I don't even play anymore.
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It's like you want to meet with me, going to use someone else.
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Yeah.
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I should start doing videos to clients just being like, hey, it's Jennifer, I just looked
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at your long blah, blah, blah.
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And at the time, I was super offended by it because I was like, great, you're not happy
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with my service.
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I already do everything.
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And I answered you on my honeymoon, right?
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To talk to you about a refi now you want me to send up personal videos to clients, right?
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So I, um, yeah, I decided that I wasn't going to do personal videos.
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I was going to do YouTube and then it became this passion project of like, okay, what can
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we tweak?
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So for you, it wasn't necessarily an awareness of, hey, YouTube is a search engine, right?
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That whole thing?
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Well, I mean, look, there's also a whole factor that my son, you know, who's 16 now, he
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lived on YouTube.
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And I was like, you know, I had this real under pressure in me.
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I had this lady saying you have a voice.
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I was watching my son and I was like, okay, let's see what happens.
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And it's turned out well.
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Yeah, more than well, but there were a lot of years there, you know, well, I know, I've
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really, you've, you've obviously kind of, if I could use the word matured or evolved
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in terms of your presence on YouTube, but like one, your thumbnails, you've, you've
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recently leveled those up in a really awesome way.
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By the way, I don't know if you've seen any improvements in your wakes and views since
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changing the thumbnails.
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Uh, it's just like, it's totally different.
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So one of the big things I've done and there's been a progression is I've hired different
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people to help me out throughout the entire time because there's no way you can run your
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business, run a YouTube channel, film content, have a family, like good, good life.
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Right.
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And so I don't know if it's, I think the thumbnails help.
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I think it's also that I'm very niche oriented in certain ways and that's providing awareness.
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Um, but I have a catalog now where if you're a first time home buyer, people binge watch.
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So they're watching, you know, 50 to 60 videos.
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And by that time, you know, they know who you are as a person and if they, they gel with
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you, they're sold.
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So yeah, thumbnails are important, but what's more important than the thumbnail is the content
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and how much content you have to back it up.
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Because if you have one good video, you might get clients from it, but they have nothing
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to verify your consistency as a person and people want to know who you are.
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All right.
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Let's break this down.
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You said your normal and source of business is, is YouTube.
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So, and I know what happens over time is all of a sudden people start reaching out.
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Hey, we watched your videos.
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We want to talk.
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So like, what does that look like on a monthly basis?
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How many of those inquiries you're getting?
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Oh, I mean, I think month to date, we've probably had about 178 applications.
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All right.
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Right.
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Applications.
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That's what you know some calls.
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Yeah.
14:18
No kidding.
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That's awesome.
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So in one month, basically, because it's, it's the last week of January, 178 apps.
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That's amazing.
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And by the way, just to clarify, tell me if this is correct.
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A lot of those people are already quote, pre-sold on you.
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Well, they know me.
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I mean, if you've watched, if you've been with me for a couple of years or you watched
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15 videos, my temperament's very consistent.
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Like, I have the same principles so they know what they're getting.
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And that's, that's lovely because I'm not a sugar cookie when it comes to, you know,
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of those 178 or 176 apps, maybe 80 will qualify.
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Right.
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I get people very early in the home journey.
15:00
Yeah.
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You know, they want to figure out if they have a chance.
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So, you know, they know I'm not going to be a sugar cookie about it.
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And that's why they're coming to me because they want me to say, hey, you're really close.
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But, you know, you need more money or what the hell are you doing with your credit?
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Or really an overdraft?
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Come on.
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We talked about that.
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Ah, I love that.
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So you just mean yourself.
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Yeah.
15:20
Hello, people.
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You've heard that that's the game, but yourself.
15:23
Yeah.
15:24
Yeah.
15:25
Yeah, right.
15:26
Okay.
15:27
So that's amazing.
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How much time then do you spend on coming up with content?
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Number one.
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Um, not as much as you would think and it's something that actually I've been, um, I feel
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like I need to do a better job, like in all honesty because I kind, I do whatever I'm
15:46
feeling at the moment.
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I take notes throughout the week, like, okay, I'm seeing this a lot.
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I talk to my team now, you know, I've had to staff up from one assistant last year to
15:55
now I've got, you know, four, right?
15:57
There's no way you can get through the apps.
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It's impossible.
15:59
Um, so I'll ask, like, what are we hearing consistently?
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And I do my content based on what I'm seeing.
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I also do my content when I get met, which I, you know, that's always, if I see something
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happen that I don't think is right, I definitely do a video about it.
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But probably in terms of coming up with content less than an hour early, and I don't
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script, which is pretty obvious.
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Uh, well, I mean, you've gotten really good at it.
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So I mean, I don't watch a ton of your videos because it's like, oh, clearly she knows
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what she's doing.
16:31
Yeah.
16:32
What I mean, um, all right.
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So an hour, are you batch filming or how do you do that?
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Hence, sometimes I do a couple in a day, sometimes I do a day by day, it just depends.
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Sure.
16:42
Interesting.
16:43
Um, and then do outsourced the editing, um, everything's filmed in one take.
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So I trim the front.
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I trim the back and then it goes to my guy who adds captions and does the thumbnails and
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ultimately post it due to keywords and that kind of stuff.
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I have a guy that does that does it.
16:59
Okay.
17:00
Cool.
17:01
Right.
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So you're just, you're focused.
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You're in your lane, which is creating the content.
17:04
Yeah.
17:05
I'm trying to become an SEO wizard.
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Um, doesn't feel like the best use of my time.
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I'll hack.
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No.
17:10
No, no, no.
17:11
Yeah.
17:12
Um, yeah, I mean, it's just, it's just, it, I always use your channel as an example
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oftentimes, like you, you, I don't know if you know Karen Carr in the real estate space.
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So use her as well, but there's very few elbows that are leveling up on YouTube for those
17:27
that don't know.
17:28
I'm going to put links in the show.
17:29
It's obviously, but you got 17,000 subscribers currently and like you said, over about four
17:33
years.
17:34
Um, I used to buddy, you used to buddy, you know, I feel like I've had two buddy at some
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point.
17:42
I mean, I'm going to be really honest.
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I'm so checked out from that because the, like, I mean, like last year I did, you know,
17:50
200 million, the year before I did 80 or 70.
17:53
So like, I don't even have, I don't even know where I am in those days because I'm just
17:57
trying to make sure we close the deals.
17:59
Yeah.
18:00
Okay.
18:01
So total lifetime views, almost four million.
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You're about to pass a milestone.
18:03
Did you get that plaque from YouTube yet?
18:05
Right.
18:06
I do not have any plaques.
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I'm very hurt.
18:09
Need to call them.
18:10
I think in the last 30 days, this is saying you've had 158,000 views over 10,000.
18:15
Yeah.
18:16
That's like, that's James Brown, that's, that's James Brown level.
18:22
Yeah.
18:23
I mean, it's, it's not the most exciting topic, right?
18:29
So I'm always thrilled when I get any views.
18:32
It is the most exciting topic.
18:34
The fact that you can get, what was the apps?
18:36
How many apps?
18:37
A hundred and?
18:38
Yeah.
18:39
A hundred and six.
18:41
That's in a month exclusively from YouTube.
18:43
You didn't pay for it.
18:44
Well, let's, let's put a caveat in there.
18:46
That's also past client referrals, right?
18:49
So that's where we are for the month, but I mean, look, social media is a big crux of my
18:56
business.
18:57
But what I'll say to every single person when I say it upfront is if you're not comfortable
19:01
with it, good luck.
19:03
And if you're not willing to put in the work, it is another job.
19:06
It is not, you know, if you think you're going to film three videos and suddenly be doing
19:11
200 million, you're not.
19:13
So if you have the diligence, the effort, the energy, and you want to give back and give
19:18
valuable information, go for it.
19:21
If you think you're going to overnight get a billion apps and everything, it's a really
19:25
long road.
19:26
So you said something that if you aren't comfortable with social media, good luck.
19:30
Do you mean by that?
19:31
Good luck and you're fading away.
19:33
Like if you're not comfortable, it's really tough to do, you know, the videos consistently
19:41
and all of that, if you're not comfortable on your own skin, you have to have a certain
19:44
level of confidence.
19:45
If you can fake confidence, do it.
19:47
That's what I did.
19:48
I mean, if you look at some of my first videos, they are rough.
19:51
By year one, though, I'm the most confident person you'll ever meet.
19:54
And at this point, I mean, it's fake until you make it, right?
19:58
But there's people who try to force themselves into social media because they think it's
20:02
a gravy train, but they're like scripted and it's like, it's just torture.
20:08
It's like, look, it's like, if you put me in a room of realtors or networking, it's
20:13
torture.
20:14
I will fail.
20:15
Do not put me in a room with people, please.
20:17
COVID.
20:18
You're still involved with realtors.
20:20
I'm just curious, then what do you do?
20:22
How do you work realtors today, if at all?
20:24
I do a really good job.
20:26
Transaction wise.
20:28
I mean, that's the thing, and I think that that's one of the frustrations that I have and
20:33
why I moved away from realtor business is because loan officers are jobs are not easy.
20:38
And anyone who says being an mortgage originator, especially with the guidelines that are going
20:42
on right now, is easy.
20:44
It's not.
20:45
And it was always frustrated me about the whole point is realtors are like, you know, you
20:50
could be the best law officer in the world.
20:52
It would be quite a great rate and close-up transaction on time.
20:55
And there's a lot of realtors that are like, well, what else are you going to give me?
20:59
Right.
21:00
And so I've chosen to work with realtors who are like, oh my god, we took great care of
21:04
my client.
21:05
You close on time.
21:06
I know I can call you.
21:08
You'll answer the phone.
21:09
I love you.
21:10
Yeah.
21:11
Right.
21:12
I don't do like any events.
21:14
I don't send gifts.
21:16
I don't do any of that stuff because I mean, guys, here's the thing, like we can market
21:23
just like realtors.
21:24
There's no reason a mortgage lender, like people boys relied on realtors to go get the
21:28
business, but we can market just like them.
21:31
Mm-hmm.
21:32
Yeah.
21:33
Did you get on YouTube or social in general because you felt that if you didn't, you'd be missing
21:41
out?
21:42
No.
21:43
I had no idea when it would become it, you know, it just started and then I'm one of those
21:49
people where I don't give up easily and I got, you know, some pretty decent feedback
21:56
in the beginning and then it just kind of snowballed and at this point, it's like,
22:01
you know, if people ask me, when are you going to retire, well, I'm going to retire when
22:06
the spread that you see between lenders on VA, when that spread gets a lot thinner, that's
22:13
not retired.
22:14
But as long as we're seeing, you know, on a VA loan, because that is my passion, if
22:19
you're seeing a lender charge 4% for what another lender is charging 2.375, and this lender
22:24
is still getting business, my job is not done.
22:27
Got it.
22:29
So, so you're passionate about VA?
22:32
Why?
22:33
Because they're totally taking advantage of it and it's ridiculous.
22:36
You know, it's one of those segments of our industry where lenders step on the margins
22:41
to make up for stuff like giving wealthy people discounts, you know, and these are the
22:46
people who are risking their lives to protect all of us.
22:49
But then when you actually dig in and it's like, I know you have new loan officers that
22:54
listen probably, guys, go look at rates on a VA loan, just go online, I want you to look
22:59
at 10 different companies and ask your boss, he worked on margins that these guys are making
23:05
if they're charging this much, right, get really educated about it, educate borrowers
23:10
on it, you know, and my dad and grandfather were in the Navy, but it's really just from
23:17
a standpoint of, I'm in the Bay Area where we see a lot of, you know, private banking.
23:22
Oh, if you have $500,000, we'll give you this lower rate.
23:26
If you have this, we'll give you this.
23:27
If you work at this company, we'll give you this.
23:29
And then I was watching what was happening with our military active duty in veterans and
23:33
I was like, but they're charging, wait, so they're giving a rich person 2.5 and they're
23:38
charging the veteran 4% when the rate should be, you know, 2 and a quarter.
23:44
How is this right?
23:46
Excellent point.
23:48
I don't know.
23:49
There's a lot of things screwed up about how we treat our veterans when they come back.
23:52
Well, and I mean, like, it's just a margin game, right?
23:54
And I know that there's a lot of lenders and there's always been this rumor in the industry
23:59
that, you know, oh, you know, if they're gutty lenders, they make more, right?
24:03
People have been told for years that if you're setting up your compensation, if you do mostly
24:08
VA or FHA, you can set your compensation higher.
24:12
My whole goal is to make it so that changes.
24:14
I'm not trying to take people's jobs away.
24:16
I'm not trying to make people poor.
24:18
I'm just trying to make it so that we're being fair.
24:20
Yeah, no, I love it.
24:21
That's a good angle.
24:22
And you've probably educated a lot of people with your videos on that.
24:26
It is a lot of learning how to shop rates is something we cover a lot and why it's important.
24:32
Yeah, fantastic.
24:33
It's just me, people that shop rates.
24:37
How do you handle, though, the classic realtor objection to VA buyers?
24:42
Two different ways.
24:47
So education, right?
24:49
We tell them that it's not horrible.
24:51
It's not bad.
24:51
So like, let's say I have the buyer, because my buyers are coming to me most of the time.
24:56
They're not coming through the builder.
24:57
Yeah.
24:58
So if I'm talking to the buyer and they're telling you, look, the realtor's telling me,
25:01
I'm never going to get a house this through that.
25:03
I'll talk to the realtor.
25:04
I'll gauge their experience.
25:06
A lot of times what I'll see is realtor's who are brand new, they don't know anything
25:11
about VA.
25:12
They just know it's harder than conventional, which it's not, but it can be harder to get
25:16
accepted.
25:17
So they push back on the veteran, oh, you need a qualify for conventional or you have
25:20
people who maybe did a VA in 1980, 1980.
25:24
So I talk to them and we talk about why it's not a problem, we talk about, let me call
25:28
the listing agent.
25:29
Let me tell them about the one-time closing in 25 days.
25:32
Let me tell them what to be afraid of, what not to be afraid of.
25:35
Because if the realtor will not budge, I will encourage them to go to the builder.
25:41
Interesting.
25:42
So I imagine you are handing out a fair amount of buyer leads to agents.
25:48
At this point, I actually work with a company called projectbowler.org, where it's run
25:54
by this guy named Matt.
25:55
Matt's a former Navy recruiter, really good guy.
25:58
He's been in real estate, he's been in mortgage.
26:02
And what he does is he actually hooks up the VA buyers with agents that understands VA.
26:10
So what he does is he'll have an interview with the buyer, talk to them about what they
26:14
like, what their personality is, all that stuff.
26:17
Then he looks in the local area for the best realtor and he interviews them.
26:20
Doesn't class the buyer anything?
26:22
Yes, he gets referral fee, but he gives a portion of that back.
26:26
And what I've seen is that it's been such a better experience because for everyone,
26:31
the client is getting someone that understands VA, understands not to try to talk them out
26:36
of it and will get them into a house with VA.
26:38
It knows how to tell the seller about it.
26:40
So VA buyers you have, if I understand, then you're connecting them to projectbowler?
26:46
Yeah.
26:47
Interesting.
26:49
I asked that question because the other classic thing that we're told to do as loan
26:54
officers is generate buyer leads for your agents, that's a way to add value, you know?
26:58
I mean, if I was more local, that would make sense, but I'm licensed in 46 states now.
27:04
And it's been like, the business is coming from everywhere.
27:07
So it's like, one day we're like, wow, I guess a video hit in Ohio, cool.
27:11
I don't know agents in every county, every city, every state.
27:16
And so it's a beautiful thing to have someone who's, you know, out there looking for them
27:22
to do this so that we're not being like, well, go to Zillow, see who does the most and
27:27
then try to guess.
27:28
Right.
27:29
Got it.
27:30
Yes.
27:31
We're realtors like you more if you feed them, of course, but at the same point, I mean.
27:36
Well, for those listening that haven't done what you've done or looking at social media,
27:41
I mean, that's just another reason if you need one of like why it makes sense to have a
27:45
brand on social.
27:46
You know?
27:47
For sure.
27:48
I know we're tied on time.
27:51
So are you also trying to repurpose any of your YouTube content to other, I guess you've
27:55
got the Instagram platform.
27:57
Are you conscious?
27:58
Interesting.
27:59
I don't know.
28:00
I mean, I try to do it on.
28:01
I try to put it on other platforms.
28:02
You know, we'll throw it up on LinkedIn for fun.
28:03
It will go up on Instagram.
28:04
I actually do get some business off of Instagram, which is interesting to me, but it's not like
28:15
the same.
28:16
I'm totally eating crap on TikTok right now.
28:20
If you want to watch a fail, you can follow me on that.
28:24
Look, I think with a lot of these different social media platforms, if you're interested in
28:28
social, if you care about what you're doing, if you can provide something of value, that's
28:33
the trick.
28:34
Don't sell, give them something.
28:38
Worst case scenario is you've done some good in the world, best case scenario that you're
28:42
client.
28:43
Then social media is great.
28:45
Any platform, just you have to be able to have a sense of humor and not be upset if you
28:49
get 12 views.
28:50
Yeah.
28:51
Yeah.
28:52
Like I said, you have to be comfortable, you know, kind of in your own skin, but also be comfortable
28:57
being uncomfortable because you have a lot to learn yet.
28:59
Yeah.
29:00
Well, and you have to have a good sense of humor about like, look, guys, we're talking about
29:04
mortgages.
29:05
Like, you are not going to, you're not going to get the views of a 22 year old bikini
29:09
model.
29:10
Sorry.
29:11
Like, if you do your makeup and do mortgage ships, maybe, but I don't know if that's going
29:15
to give you a good client base, you know.
29:17
So you want to think this stuff through and not just fall into trends.
29:20
You go to your about section real quick.
29:22
I'm curious about your process, like how you move leads from YouTube to application.
29:29
How does that typically happen for you?
29:31
Are you directing people to your website to apply?
29:34
Um, I usually like to start with a phone call.
29:36
So I'm a big fan of Calendly because I wanted to talk to people and know what their goals
29:41
are, you know, what's their purpose in buying a house.
29:43
If now is the right time, you know, I start off trying to figure out credit income.
29:47
So usually I want to talk to everyone before they thought an application.
29:50
Um, so we usually direct them to my calendar, then to the app, because the thing is,
29:56
it sucks to get, you know, sometimes we get apps and they will close back.
30:01
And then once, you know, like two months later, they'll be like, oh, yeah, I was talking to 42
30:06
lenders and we're like, that one's a terrible waste of time.
30:09
Right. Right.
30:10
Um, so in order for people to get on your calendar, how do they do that?
30:14
Did they have to call you?
30:15
No, there's links.
30:16
There should be links in every video.
30:18
If you go into the sections, it has the Calendly.
30:20
And then if someone, and in every video, I tell people, hey, what call text email me, you know,
30:26
they have every single way to get in touch.
30:28
And then if they're texting me on a weekend, I'll be like, hey, can you pick a time for my calendar that works for you?
30:33
But I mean, if there's something bad happening, like someone's in a loan going sideways with another lender,
30:39
of course, I'll pick up the phone and talk to them immediately.
30:43
Yeah.
30:44
Yeah, yeah.
30:45
And now that I've clicked through to an individual video, I can see your link to Calendly plus people can text you.
30:49
And of course, you're being smart and linking them back to other helpful videos on YouTube.
30:54
Man, licensed in how many states?
30:56
46.
30:58
And I got most of them last year.
31:00
But I have to tell you guys, like it, like just, you know, pieces of advice for young mortgage loan officers.
31:08
First of all, guys, you should go to my channel because it has everything that's ever happened in mortgage.
31:12
And you'll learn about, you know, mortgage insurance.
31:14
Why you shouldn't do FHA?
31:15
Why conventional is better?
31:16
All that stuff.
31:17
But like if you guys learn your guidelines, you know, stay on top of it.
31:23
Don't sell your soul to your business partners, right?
31:27
Don't do an ethical stuff in order to keep someone giving you business.
31:32
Keep in mind that the person you work for is the client, not the realtor, not the financial planner.
31:39
It's the client.
31:41
There's so many people in this industry that do their business differently.
31:45
But the key thing for all the successful people, because, you know, I'm at a company where you throw a rock.
31:52
And you hit a hundred million dollar producer.
31:54
They are all client first, which is huge.
31:57
And if you're in a state like California, you better get your licenses because people are moving.
32:03
Exactly.
32:04
Very smart play.
32:05
And again, I think you're ahead of the curve there because other like operative mega producers, I guess I'll call people who do your kind of volume.
32:12
That's one of the ways they're continuing to grow their business is going to others.
32:16
Yeah.
32:17
Well, it's 100%.
32:18
Because it's like, look, if you're focusing on just a local market, you are stuck with what that local market has.
32:24
So I really started getting my licenses because I have these years where I was going up to it.
32:29
You know, I thought I did a hundred million.
32:31
And then my business was closed from September on because fires.
32:35
Yeah, right.
32:36
Oh, yeah.
32:37
I get shut down for four to six months in California, do fires every single year now.
32:41
So, you know, you have a good relationship, you have a great transaction in Texas, keep the realtor.
32:47
Right.
32:48
Well, and again, back to the whole reason of social media.
32:50
It's like today, like when I started in 2003, there's no way you could have really grown to other states as easily as you can today.
32:58
But out content and YouTube, you can do use keywords and tags and run ads, you know, to attract people in different markets.
33:06
So only makes sense if you want to grow.
33:08
Hey, if there's someone that's hungry wants to go into social media and is licensed in a bunch of states, they should be targeting USDA.
33:16
Yeah, why?
33:17
Yeah, for some hungry and loan officer that hears this target USDA do a ton of videos on it, be licensed in a bunch of states.
33:25
It's because USDA is one of the best loans out there. No one knows how to do it.
33:29
I want to target it because I don't have processors that specialize in it.
33:33
But if I did, I would be all over it.
33:36
It's very easy to learn.
33:38
Yeah, very few people are after it. So it's very little competition.
33:43
And clearly, you're an example of people fairly need to meet, well, you don't meet face to face, but you're also not seeing a negative impact your business by not meeting people.
33:54
No, I mean, look, and when I get people that are like, well, I want to meet with my lender, you know, face to face.
34:00
Why don't you do that?
34:01
I'm always like, if you're going to take a day off, I want you to spend it with your kids or playing golf or having a life, not watching me read your tax returns.
34:09
It's super boring. There's nothing you're going to get from meeting me, except for me making bad jokes.
34:15
That's it.
34:17
Like doing like zoom consults with any errors all over the phone.
34:21
So no zoom, we actually talked about that because I've got a guy on my team that's like, Jen, if we did zoom, we would convert so much more.
34:28
And I was like, we are not doing zoom.
34:31
And here's why it takes more time, right?
34:36
But it's also like, I think guys like zoom, but I don't think women do.
34:40
Well, because you feel you have to be ready and all that I get it. Yeah.
34:44
Where's guys like my husband? He does all his meetings on zoom. He loves it. I hate zoom. Like this is painful.
34:51
I know. I appreciate you going through this.
34:53
No, I get it. And plus you're somebody who's scaling in a large way in terms of units as well. And so time is money. You know, so to speak.
35:00
Yeah. Well, I mean, like you can give really good service without, you know, a lot of this stuff is being faced out.
35:08
So people don't even have the bandwidth anymore. I was on the phone with someone who specializes in TikTok the other day, because I was just wondering why it's such so much.
35:16
And he was letting me know that it was because my videos were terrible and too long. They're 60 seconds. He's like 30 seconds. You get 30 seconds. That's it. 30 seconds.
35:27
Are you looking at it as a potential business source?
35:31
I don't know yet. I'm looking at it because I think it's interesting. I think clubhouse is very interesting as well.
35:38
I think clubhouse, if you're not comfortable in the cameras, probably a knock it out of the park.
35:44
If I was newer in my career and had more bandwidth, because like honestly guys, I'm working like 16 hours a day right now, it's bad.
35:53
Like I have a treadmill. I don't think you guys can see it in my office because my husband thinks I'm going to die from sitting at my desk. Like it's dark.
36:01
So if I was newer, you know, the first thing is you need to work eight hours a day, even if you have nothing to do.
36:07
If you don't have stuff to do because you're new and you have like three transactions a month, get on clubhouse, do long chat, open for business.
36:15
You know, just sit there and answer any and all questions. And if you don't have to know all the answers, you just say, let me talk to you.
36:22
I'll get back with you. Let me put this on the list. What's the best email you've answered?
36:26
That's interesting. You mentioned that because I was asking other people about is there a consumer play for clubhouse and you just explained one.
36:34
Yeah, for sure.
36:37
You know, my colleagues in there talking about marketing or whatever, you know, I mean, it's not very consistent.
36:42
It's not it hasn't hit a consumer application yet, but I think it will.
36:47
Well, right, because people want and the thing I found out about YouTube is people are so hungry for information.
36:53
They just want to understand. And if you look at what we do as lenders, you know, as a as a industry.
37:00
It's not great for understanding, you know, what you get a flyer with three bullet points that doesn't tell you anything.
37:06
You have a console with a lender where they say, oh, you qualify for this.
37:10
How many of you guys are talking to them about their debt to income?
37:13
All right.
37:15
Coming on, but you should be right?
37:19
Absolutely. If you want to be, you know, it's all about differentiation.
37:22
You know, we keep hearing that word. It's a cliche, but that's one simple easy way is how many people actually, you know, it's like, is this a sales job?
37:28
Is this a business a career? What is it for you? You know, really for you.
37:32
It's a business, you know, and you're running it like one in a lot of different ways.
37:37
So hats off to you. Any big plans or changes coming up for you besides trying to survive.
37:42
How busy.
37:45
Regarding content strategy or anything.
37:48
So for content strategy, it's just worth the point.
37:51
Where if I want to get to the next level, I have to do more.
37:57
So it's going to go to four days a week.
38:00
Last year we switched to three. This is going to go to four days a week.
38:03
I'm going to start bringing money into it because money is something that's so important that we see buyer struggle with.
38:09
But then I mean, honestly, my biggest concern this year is making sure that I provide a client experience that lives up to what people expect.
38:20
And that is tough. If they've watched 50 hours of you, how do you ever live up to the person who's always happy in six minute increments?
38:31
If you don't think about that, but that is that is actually one of the newest challenges we have is how do you not.
38:37
I don't want to let anyone down on what they were expecting.
38:41
So it's like we started a book club last year when it was, you know, when stuff took long.
38:45
Like we're just trying to figure out like how to give people what they deserve.
38:50
What do you mean a book club for who?
38:52
Well, like, okay, you know how last year in the industry, it was like help with closing loans. It took a long time.
38:57
Yeah. So we were I was super worried about client happiness because I used to be the queen of like the 12 day clothes.
39:03
But suddenly, it's like 90 days to close a refinance. I'm sitting there going, oh my God, like how am I going to keep people entertained for 90 days.
39:11
So we like started a book club where we would send out a book and I do a video about, hey, this is why I love this book, you know, just little things to say, like, you know, oh look, here's a guaranteed rate.
39:23
You know, sanitizer stay safe during COVID still thinking about you. Thank you for your patience. I'm sorry. This is taking forever, but I'm thinking of you.
39:31
You know, just what would you want, right?
39:36
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And how did you send those videos out? It wasn't on your YouTube, right?
39:44
So I would upload it to YouTube and then they would have a special link and we have Matt on my team who have named the happiness coordinator.
39:53
And so Matt would send it in. It's funny because you know, sometimes people read the email, watch the video, read the book and buy like 10 more of those books, which was fun.
40:01
And then sometimes they'd be like, why the hell did you send me a book? And I keep knowing you're like, you're like, clearly you didn't watch the video or read the email, but yeah, look, you've just got to keep in mind the client.
40:13
Like it's not just about the dollars or the deals, but how do you make them not hate lenders?
40:19
Exactly, right? How do you take something that's a painful as I go into the dentist? How do you make going to the dentist enjoyable?
40:25
I mean, laughing gas helps, but outside of that, you know, I mean, if we could send laughing gas to everyone we would, but you know, the laws are so lame.
40:34
I think we can send CBD outside California.
40:37
No, that's brilliant. I love that idea. Okay.
40:40
Well, I know you're busy, crazy busy, and I know you've carved out this time just for this and I appreciate it very, very much.
40:46
Like I said, we're going to put links to your channel in the show notes. Listen to your units to do. If you like this episode, leave us a review and we'll see you on the next one.
40:53
Bye for now.
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