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Key Factors RealEstateAF
Educational Podcast for Consumers, Mortgage & Real Estate Industry Professionals. We'll Talk About It All! Key Factors podcast, powered by https://ReviewMyMortgage.com . Your Host Mark Jones invites Industry Pros to help uncover & educate on the key factors of various topics. There’s something for everyone so let us be your guides and get educated. Subscribe & Follow on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Facebook, Instagram, & all other podcasting platforms. Host : Mark A Jones Founder of ReviewMyMortgage.comProducing Branch MangerSr. Loan Officer. NMLS ID# 513437NMLS Consumer Access: http://www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org/Powered by ReviewMyMortgage.com
Key Factors RealEstateAF
Learn from My Mistakes - Moses Thatcher's Journey from Unemployment to Real Estate Success
Imagine being laid off from a stable job at the Bank of San Antonio while raising a family. That's exactly what Moses Thatcher faced, and his emotional journey from frustration to resilience is nothing short of inspiring. Listen as he opens up about the challenges of unemployment, the unwavering support from his family, and how he balanced the responsibilities of child support while embarking on a new career in real estate. Moses' story is a testament to the power of adaptability and determination in the face of adversity.
Starting a new career with minimal financial resources is daunting, but Moses proves that it's possible with the right mindset and sacrifices. From cutting out luxuries to prioritizing essentials, learn about the practical decisions that paved the way for his success in real estate. We also tackle the importance of authenticity in business, the pitfalls of superficial success, and the critical role of building supportive professional relationships. Through practical business strategies and personal growth stories, discover how investing in oneself and others can lead to genuine success and fulfillment.
Key Factors Podcast is Powered by ReviewMyMortgage.com
Host: Mark Jones | Sr. Loan Officer | NMLS# 513437
If you would like to work with Mark on your next home purchase or as a partner visit iThink Mortgage.
I didn't realize there's different strains of it the one that, like, puts you to sleep and one that, like, gives you, like, a little upper.
Speaker 2:So sativa is what I on the regular, because it is an upper, essentially same concept as Adderall and in my eyes it's a semi replacement for that Cause. If not, I'd be on a heavy dose of Adderall um Indica Indica indica into couch. That's what they kind of relate it to. I don't ever smoke that, nor do I ever eat it. Why? Because you metabolize it completely different you could have. Let's see, the new craze is gummies, or whatever edibles and edibles but.
Speaker 2:But it's got 500 milligrams. Ok, but nobody knows the strength of. And another guy attorney, doctor, teacher up to Colorado. We went, instead of going to strip club and all this other stuff, like normal people do, we went on weed tours.
Speaker 1:Nice wine tour of cannabis we went to all the distributors.
Speaker 2:We went to all of the grow houses. Most of the grow houses were literally across the street from the police station and we got out of the first one and it was like holy shit. And then they explained it to us. Where's the safest place to keep? Something like this, right across the street Makes perfect sense. So we took cooking classes, we took grow.
Speaker 2:I mean it was like the most educational tour that I had ever done such a science too and from that point there was no buying it from off the streets or my homeboy, you know the sketchy meetup.
Speaker 1:No, there's no parking lot. Yeah there's no way, yeah, I, I had went to. I remember I was in a, I was in la and I saw my buddy from high school and I was like what's up, man? Like what are you doing? And it was around thanksgiving time and like, yeah, he's like me and my group of friends. We fly up here during Thanksgiving and we eat nothing but infused everything, their whole Thanksgiving meal, every part of it, from like the gravy to the butter to like everything has infused.
Speaker 2:Oh, my God.
Speaker 1:So I was like, I was like a scientist, Like yeah, dude, it's awesome.
Speaker 2:I was like your body, so you'll take 30, 45, sometimes an hour for you to feel it and you'll feel it all day, whereas opposed to if you smoke it, inhaling it, you're able to drink water and you'll be good.
Speaker 1:I thought about doing it because I never sleep, man, I never sleep. I thought about doing that Like, and I was like you know, should I, should I smoke something? I was like I don't know man, and then so then it gets to a point where I was like where do I even buy weed? At Like I'm 36, and I'm like do I hit my social media and look for some weed?
Speaker 2:Find a trusted person that gets it from a distributor legally. There's got to be an app for this shit. Yeah, I mean, it's just like when you buy any kind of food, it has the ingredients on the back Exactly what's in there they have to.
Speaker 1:Yeah, my oldest system brought me back some um some weed pills for sleep particularly. They're, like it's in the looks, professional as hell, exactly like you said. Yeah, it has ingredients or anything, so I tried that and that was awesome. So that worked out. But, like I said, I've never I've probably smoked weed like seven times in my life never been I honestly so.
Speaker 2:A buddy of mine, a very good friend, owns an insurance company, very productive member of society. The whole nine yards brought me some microdose pills, mushrooms, and the goal was to replace Adderall with that. Because we had read I mean, I've done all the research possible on it, everybody in damn Silicon Valley is doing it Microdosing. I'm not. I've never done mushrooms and tripped out, not never. Some peyote, yeah, no, now I wouldn't mind going to take a trip to do that.
Speaker 1:Me and my wife go in and stay in a hut or whatever Mike Tyson credits himself to going and doing a peyote thing and he's like it saved my life and I was like I might be on to something.
Speaker 2:But then he also calls pigeons.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I remember your study subject shouldn't be.
Speaker 2:Mike Tyson at Facts.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. Well, we are back with part two. Everybody, this is Key Factors Podcast, real Estate, af and the AF stands for and finance, and we are still sponsored by reviewmymortgagecom, the largest index of mortgage programs in the nation. And I've got my friend Moses Thatcher here. We had a pretty in-depth conversation on the previous discussion and we didn't have enough time. I wanted to continue diving deeper into Moses' story and his journey because I feel like his journey, his story, is very relatable to many out there in our industry. It's a lot of stuff that we don't necessarily talk about out loud. Many people keep it inside the trials and tribulations and struggles that they've had. So it gives you a little bit of hope. It gives you a little bit of confidence to hear his story and be able to know that there is someone just like you that is doing big things and continuing to push forward past the failures. So, moses, good morning, good day, how are you?
Speaker 1:Good morning brother, I'm good. Great weekend, so it was good.
Speaker 2:Good deal. Um, so the last time we had uh left off, we were talking about you transitioning into real estate and at that time you basically dived in and used your sphere of influence because you had a pretty large network. Do you want to take it from there? I mean, what happened right when you let's talk about your first year in real estate? What was that like?
Speaker 1:So first year in real estate man is tough, like you hear these people you talk about. Hey, you got to have X amount of savings put away before you dive into real estate and it's very frowned upon our industry to be like you got to be full time or not, yeah, and so that was one of the biggest things they kept telling me and I was like dude, like how are you going to put away like my expenses? I multiplied that by three. I was like I'm not going to save that right now, working at a bank and I was doing the nightlife business. So when I did it at that time, my wife at the time was three or four months pregnant and I started real estate school.
Speaker 1:I was doing, like I said, business bank from eight to five, real estate school from six to 10. So I was doing that and then on top of along the lines it's Okay and so along, probably like five courses in four courses in I'm doing my quarterly meetings with my bank. Ah, so I think they get wind that I'm doing this real estate classes. So, like I said, my wife at the time was pregnant.
Speaker 2:And you were at the credit union at that time.
Speaker 1:No at that time I was at the Bank of San Antonio.
Speaker 2:Okay, gotcha yeah the bank of San Antonio.
Speaker 1:I'm telling you I hated the job, which probably helped me go get outside of conversation with Scott Maloof. And then I was like you know what man? I need to go do this because I'm never going to own this bank like we talked about. So I'm like I'm probably four to five classes in and I knew my I was going to save all my PTO, finish real estate school and kind of be like, hey, I'm going to dive into real estate while I'm doing this.
Speaker 2:And get paid.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. And then so I did my quarterly meeting and this sucks, and this very much resonates in my head. So I do this quarterly meeting. They say, hey, we're good, you're doing awesome, so on and so on, like, hey, we met the quotas, so forth, I'm going to get my quarterly bonus, awesome. And then fast forward three days later.
Speaker 1:I was married at the time and then so my wife was at her appointment and one thing about it is I didn't miss appointments. Okay, all the sonograms, all the checkups, all that stuff, like I was there and I liked being there, sure. So I remember in the morning we had a checkup, like just a normal checkup, and we're here checking on our baby girl, and then my boss texted me hey, before you head to the branch, come to the main location. Mine is two days after our quarterly meeting. So I didn't think much of it, sure. So I was like cool, I swing by, swing by. I stopped and then I'm sitting down. No, I'm good, like what's going on? She's like whoa, we gotta let you go. I was like what the fuck? Yeah, I was like I was like whoa, what's going on? I was like we just had our quarterly meeting. We talked about promotions and bonuses, like what's going on. She's like, well, there's been some complaints and something along those lines and it would be full transparency. She's like, hey, we heard some complaints about we told you about being on your phone too much, or we told you about doing so on and so on, being distracted. Um, at the time I was running my promotion business, so I still, you know, I'd still check on social media updates and all that, but either way, yeah, of course. So, either way, it was, we gotta let you go.
Speaker 1:And I was like my daughter is about to be born in like three to four months, wow. And then I remember, like, walking out the, walking out the, my office, the, the main location, sitting in my car, I teared up because naturally, I'm like, I'm like now I'm like damn, like I can't, I gotta go find another job immediately. And I I've been in financing for a while, so I was like I could go find another job at a bank. But it hit me pretty hard because I'm dude like I have. My son at the time was two or three and I was just like dude, like I've never been unemployed, wow. And it's like so what the hell do I do? I'm like, I'm obviously I'm like I'm not gonna finish this real estate shit yeah because I need to focus on this.
Speaker 1:And I remember sitting there because I got to go tell my like I told you I was married. I got my wife at the time like hey. I got like oh, and then so I'm sitting there and I sat through a little pity party for a little bit, got on on the phone with unemployment and I was just like hey. So I sat there, got on the plane that took care of that, like start the process. Then I had to go tell her.
Speaker 2:Talk about uncertainty. All of a sudden, it was like you were standing there and the rug was just pulled from under you and you doing. The natural reaction was OK, I feel like shit, I'm going to wallow in this for a moment. And then I got to figure out what to do from here. So you jumped on unemployment, got that stuff set up. Then what?
Speaker 1:So I had the conversation with her and, fortunate, like fortunate at the time we were good, we were really good and she says, hey, don't go back to work, do what you need to do. So I changed, I knocked out the last couple of classes, did my testing, so forth and so forth. We're living off of my nightlife business, okay, and then we're living off of unemployment, gotcha. So now we fast forward a month or two before my daughter was born Super stressful pregnancy.
Speaker 1:She was a nurse at the time. They put her on bed rest and she had just started her job at the hospital. So she didn't. You had to be there for a certain time before you uh start to the short-term, to uh dissipate and right, yeah. So she didn't have that and I'm now, mind you, my world is freaking out because, oh, we're gonna make it. We had that nest egg where she could work and you know, like my unemployment, my extra income, that's taken out.
Speaker 1:So now I got two car payments um, pretty much a rent at the time, her expenses and I was on, you know, my son. I'm proud of it. I was on child support, like yeah, but I pride myself on put myself on child support. Never missed a payment. That's my boy like, that's I. That was never a question, you did your part. Yeah, I was like. I was like dude, this, what the fuck do I do? I don't know. If you say fuck, fuck, fuck, so I'm like what the fuck man, like you know, kicked in the nuts and so did all my sign up for everything. And then y'all know like, and I tell people we're talking to realtors is real estate is a very expensive hobby to fail at it really is.
Speaker 2:It really is now. Can you matter of fact, this is a good little short segment to squeeze in here. Why is that? Why is real estate an expensive hobby to fail at?
Speaker 1:Because, absolutely so, when you dive in, you got to get. You got to become. What is it with the board of realtors?
Speaker 2:You got to be part of the board you got to get.
Speaker 1:you obviously pay your license. You pay the classes, the license, your testing, your dues, all your. Then you got to be part of the board of realtors, so you got to pay those initial startup fees and you pretty much, when you're check to check and even at that, and you say I got to pay and I think at the time it was like $800 to start off everything I'm like holy crap, man, that's a kick to the stomach and I'm going to do a quick shout out, because even with the brokerage I chose, I chose a brokerage that focused on strictly training. I worked with Keller Williams. Heritage is where I dove in at. Back then they had what Bold. They had Ignite. So Ignite, your startup is kind of pricey, but it's a six-week course that's taught by high-producing agents of how to do open houses, how to do cold calling, how to ever it. Pretty much, it's high-producing agents that say, hey, I run a $20 million business. Here's the, the keys to it. It's up to you if you want to drive it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I knew. I knew I could get business. I didn't know what the hell I was going to do when I got business, though, whatever it may be. So I had to make that decision of. I've shopped brokerages of mom and pop ones that are transaction. Transaction based yeah, meaning they'll charge me 250 per transaction, but you pay for what you get no structure, no support, whatever. So I was like I got to make this investment. It wasn't an expense, I had to look at it as an investment. I dove into Keller Williams Heritage. I didn't have the money to start at the board because you got to do the initial for the border road. Sure, I didn't have the money for that. And Keller Williams Heritage startups Right. Scott Malove literally wrote me a check and I believe it was like $890-something. He said, hey, this is it, go ahead and start.
Speaker 2:Talk about making deposits into people.
Speaker 1:We talked about this. I gave him credit for that. I was like Scott doesn't have to do that. Scott could look at me as like we had kind of the same circle. If I keep, him out of the mix, that's easily another 50, 60 transactions every year, or whatever sure just from the same sphere.
Speaker 1:That's right, and he absolutely didn't have to do that. So scott cut me a check, said pay me back on your first transaction, whatever it may be, spread it out, I don't care so. But mind you, at the time when I'm doing this, by the time I finished classes, by the time I finished, everything's registered my my unemployment's running out. I remember coming back home my cable was out. Um, I didn't have money for cable, I didn't have money for certain things, and I think we had like 134 dollars on our bank account when I started ignite. Wow, um, for keller williams heritage, and it's that is humbling that you cut back.
Speaker 1:I'm the type of person if I don't have the money, then I'm gonna cut back on expenses, like yeah I won't get, won't get a haircut, like I'm obviously not shopping, I'm not eating out as much or whatever it is, I'm not, you know. So restart started when I started Keller Williams and real estate, I had $134 and I was like I'm not going to pay a cable bill or I'm not going to pay something that I don't, and it's very humbling to pay those things just so that they can appease the onlookers, whereas you have enough, or had enough at that time.
Speaker 2:Um, I guess self-awareness that you said I don't care, this is what's important. I'm going to halt that, halt that. Halt that this is what matters to me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, man, you can't. There's faking it till you make it to an extent and then it can't be realistic. Absolutely Like, if, like. If my now haircuts runner I'm running like 45, $50 a haircut and I was like, and that's not that.
Speaker 2:Damn. And now I know why I cut my hair.
Speaker 1:It's a, it's a, it's a curse, it's a beautiful head of hair.
Speaker 1:So, um, but when you, when I, when I weigh you down is now that my daughter's being born and she had like a real big stomach issue where she had to have the most freaking top secret infant meal in the world, like this freaking one is a formula, baby formula, and so Medicaid wouldn't even cover it. I remember it was Alimentum Damn, if I can't spell it, that means I don't want it. So it's called Alimentum and this thing for the small can costs like $45 to $50. It doesn't cover my Medicaid and I'm like all right, should I go get a $40 haircut or is my little girl going to eat? It's not even a question.
Speaker 1:So stuff like that you just got to be aware of. And I tell people all the time and I don't judge anybody, because who in the hell am I to judge anybody but I took the off-brand stuff of that. I see friends who are like hey, I'm broke, I don't have this, I don't have that. I'm like, bro, you smoke a pack of cigarettes a day. That's right, that shit ain't cheap, absolutely god forbid. You've cut back a smoking habit so you could make sure this. You know it's.
Speaker 1:So it's like 50 60 a week absolutely, if that yeah, that's you and so, and, and then we talked about the weed thing. That's right and it, and it's very exciting. I know some of the most successful people, including yourself, that smoke weeds. That stigma is out the window, but there's obviously those people that need it and whatever it is, but there are plenty of folks out there that do it and are not productive.
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely, and that is what gives it the bad name. Absolutely.
Speaker 1:And it gives it a stigma of like oh, you're just a pothead, you're just going to sit at home and eat munchies all day and play video games, but guess what they were going to do that regardless. No matter what. That's a mental thing. So that's. I see people like that.
Speaker 2:I'm like, bro, like maybe, if you're out here, maybe pride, but I also know I'd rather have a job at Whataburger than be broke, see, and that speaks so high of volumes because folks in that similar situation, with that similar upbringing, with the similar surrounding club life, all that stuff, could have resorted to stealing, robbing, cheating, etc, etc. But not at all. Like you didn't sway, not a bit. I'm gonna go make money legally and it doesn't matter what I have to do to do it, but I'm gonna do it yeah, well you, you got a whole body full of money.
Speaker 1:You better go sell plasma before you absolutely.
Speaker 2:Well, you go steal some shit.
Speaker 1:You better go donate some plasma across my never crossed my mind.
Speaker 2:But shit like that. I'm like, bro, you got to start getting creative with this. What were those experiments that they used to do? The case studies, cedra.
Speaker 1:Sign them up. I've done that shit twice. I don't care. But yeah, no, I tell people all the time I was like you got to be either content or what do you want to do. It's a mindset thing. But no, I tell people all the time I'm not. Before I go ask anybody for money, I'm going to go donate my money to my blood right now, that's right. So, so at these plasma people, I'm dropping the plug. Guys, any money, go ahead and donate that shit. That's right. But I never want to resort to soy. I had to cut back on things and to me it's common sense, and I realize that some common sense is my common sense is not different than everyone else's.
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 1:So the way you comprehend things, or I comprehend things, is completely different. But yeah, it's a very expensive hobby and we're dead broke, super broke and, mind you, I got to walk through a real estate office where people are wearing Rolexes and pulling up in Mercedes and beautiful like owners driving a Lambo, yeah, and I'm walking in like damn, I think I might use my last $20 for gas, yeah. So if that's not sink or swim, then what the hell is it?
Speaker 2:I agree, I agree, and in some cases folks would see that and envy and I hate that word envy and Would hate on, et cetera or they can see it and be very motivated, not knowing that person's journey or their story and seeing them drive in a Lamborghini, but knowing that it ain't easy to get where you are, sir.
Speaker 1:So I always one of my favorite songs in the world and I play religiously when I'm having a bad day is J Cole Love yours, love yours. There's beauty in the struggle, ugliness and the success. I think it's the most beautiful thing in the world, because it's easy to look at someone and be like oh man, like I want that shit, like, and so why why can't I have it? Why not me? Why it's easy to fall into this, why not me? Shit?
Speaker 1:absolutely and that's so like you become this victim and you victimize yourself. And he's narrow, he just brings you down like you're never going to get it.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:I don't care, you got to manifest it. I'm real big on manifesting now. I thought it was real corny in the beginning. I'm sitting there talking to myself and it's actually. It plays out. Man, you trick your brain into something your brain would be like all right, let's do this shit, it's true. Resonates with me is uh mirror by uh lil wayne. That one I cry when I hear that song. Yeah, it's awesome like that. But it's crazy how something like that relates to it. Right, I'm telling you that jay cole thing where I'm just like, man like and it makes.
Speaker 1:And then you sit back and there's beauty in the struggle, like, oh man, it's like it's, it's such a beautiful struggle that's right and in the moment it sucks because you're getting kicked in the nuts and once to get kicked in the nuts and then when you look back you're like man without that, it is not here you to have the thicker skin to make the choice of this way or that way.
Speaker 2:That's what separates the folks that make it or are aspiring to make it and the ones that make excuses and blame everybody else.
Speaker 1:It's always an excuse and you look, you got to look in the mirror, like, and it's like we and I had a real long talk. When I don't want to get off subject, I had a long talk with my son yesterday. Okay, and I'll make it quick. We're out playing in the yard and he's on him and my daughter on a slip and slide and I was like, same as Simon says, a slip, and slide JC, we got to get one of those for the summer.
Speaker 1:I think we just talked about our bodies falling apart from waking up. Imagine we slept wrong. Our back hurts. Imagine us not. Imagine it. So, um, so we're out here playing. I was like cutting the grass and they decided to want to play outside while I'm cutting the grass. Sounds like cool, set it up. And we do. Simon says on the slip and slide and my son is an awesome dancer, okay, super. I'm telling. I question the kids my if I'm his dad, because he's from my mom, right no, I know his mom, so I'm like he definitely got his rhythm from somewhere.
Speaker 1:It's crazy as hell, but he's awesome. He's got awesome. He's got a high energy, real bright energy. Both my kids I love it because I have bright energy. Okay, awesome, like so. And I'm like simon says do the floss. And my kid he's killed the floss. Like he used to love it and now this was money. This was like five years ago. He used to love dancing, but now he's like doing the floss. He's like dad, this is embarrassing. And I was like no, like hey, it's just me, you and and your sister out here.
Speaker 1:I said but I don't care, what's embarrassing you having fun. And he's like, yes, I said well, who gives a fuck? I said embarrassing. And I told him I was like, and I explained to him you know what comparison is? And I explained what comparison is and I told him I explained what a thief is outside of, like stealing something physically. I said comparison is a thief of joy. Yes, sir, have you sat here and compared yourself and you thought because someone said this isn't cool or this isn't fun, or you're a loser or that's stupid, so you're going to be miserable your whole life. And I emphasize that. To him and my daughter I said hey, y'all have bright lights. Yeah, you sit here and dim your light for everyone who said something if you want to live, I'm like no, and I excuse the language because I will talk to my kids like this, not at them. Obviously, I would never curse at my kids. I'm like fuck them. Anyone ever wants you to ever be less than who you are. Fuck them and you go enjoy your life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and the idea behind cussing in front of your kids, et cetera. My parents cussed in front of me, but they did it when it was um the right time and the right emphasis to drive home a point. And my brother and I, we got the point. Yeah, we didn't go to school, cussing etc, um, but when it was time for us to emphasize our point. Now, as an adult, we know what we can use in regards to the articulation of the point. You know.
Speaker 1:So that's what I told him. Man, do you like a comparison? That's everything. Yeah, like, like I said to the cars, to the real estate business for the while, for the longest time, I was like looking out of the realtors and I was like, well, I've been in the same, I've been in the business the same time as them. Like why are they closing more deals than me? Why closing more deals than me? Why are they doing this? Why?
Speaker 1:I'm like what do I need to do better? Like in my closings. My first closing was 118 000 house, I think. After my splits, my commission was like 1800. Yeah, and, mind you, if you do and this is off subject, since I was struggling with money if you do your paperwork right, when you're asking for benefits, like like food stamps, yeah, don't do it because these don't cut. You also thought 1800 was good enough to cut my whole family off on food stamps, which I'm like I got a friend who's got like 12 kids and I'm just like whoa man, so don't do it correctly if you're going to get hit. So I report it. I think I'm doing everything the right way.
Speaker 1:They cut that off very fast $1,800. I was like all right man.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:But anyway, so we compared stuff.
Speaker 2:In addition, that money is $1,099.
Speaker 1:So you're self-employed? Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Maybe you weren't supposed to. I should have done it.
Speaker 1:No, and at the time they just asked me to do an update of banks, like hey, give me a new bank statement deposit, and I was like they cut it off immediately and I was just like man, dude, like this sucks, because I really need this, right, I'm not out here not trying to work.
Speaker 1:I'm not trying out here trying to live off the system yeah and that's where it comes into like why me, why me, and I know the so and so who gets so many benefits? And like, hey, man, just lock in. You know. What you got to do then when I learned is I can't have my food coming into my kid's mouth, my mouth and my family's mouth based off of what's going to be given to me. That's right, go get it Aimed into that. So that comparison thing is real estate. When I came into real estate guys, this is what I tell new realtors is don't put these blinders on and be yourself. First six months of real estate, I thought I had to wear a collared shirt or a suit Shit dude, my first five years.
Speaker 2:I felt that way when you're broke you don't have to do that. I was younger and I would imagine you too. Same concept how are people going to respect me? See me, that whole fake it till you make it concept I've got to dress to the nines even though I didn't have the money yet to do that kind of stuff. But yeah, you are 100% correct.
Speaker 1:I almost feel like we should floss just to show your son that it don't matter. I'm telling you I had no rhythm, like I can't floss if I wanted my life to pin on it. So that's so. When it comes down to you, it's like I had to like realize. It's like real estate is you got to make it yourself.
Speaker 1:When I tell, when I, when you asked me to be part of this podcast, I always told myself I got to get really better at telling my story, not because I want to be praised or something, because someone's sitting there watching this, I'm like shit, that was me, like I was on. I was on assistance. Yeah, not because I was being lazy, just life happened. That's right, I was on assistance. I had this impression that I knew I had to be certain I had to be this image in real estate and I was like no man, I'm going to walk in with a polo shirt or t-shirt and show the tattoos and I'm going to wear the Nikes and I could walk my office.
Speaker 1:Now I'm extremely approachable. I run my business off being approachable and I run my business of mentorship. If any realtor knows, they could call me and I'm going to answer. I'm going to answer a question. Don't care what brokerage you're with or whatnot. So I had to get. I wanted to stop comparing myself because, like I said, comparison is a thief of joy. Yes, like I said, comparison is a thief of joy, yes, and you're never going to be happy if you're just sitting there watching someone else.
Speaker 2:That's so true. And another key factor of what you were saying there is those that are just getting into real estate and doing the fake it till you make it concept. It may not work for you up front, simply because your sphere of influence is who you're going to end up doing business with initially and your sphere of influence is used to seeing you a certain way, used to talking to you a certain way. If you change that up, it appears very fake. I'm not saying that you don't need to look good, speak well and make yourself up, but at the same time, if you start wearing a suit every day, showing your buddy houses, what do you think that they're going to think? Are they better than me? Or is this a new dress code or something like that? Be yourself. Now I'm not saying to go around wearing shorts, board shorts, tank tops, things of that nature, shorts, board shorts, tank tops, things of that nature until you make it and you're able to do those things. But the idea behind that is be yourself, be yourself, and read the room.
Speaker 1:I know a client. I know that I got to wear a collared shirt and long sleeve and or a suit. I know a client I could show up in a T-shirt and jeans and whatever it may be. So read the room, have some common sense, and I throw the word common sense out so loosely, but then you realize that common sense is not very common. So what you do is read the room and then know who you're working with. I know who I can't curse in front of. I know how to conduct business. But in-game is, if you know what the hell you're talking about, people will look past a lot of certain things.
Speaker 2:Very true.
Speaker 1:So if you're knowledgeable what it is, then you could get away with showing tattoos or something. Now imagine if you look like an asshole and you have no problem and treat them like an asshole. You act like an asshole, treat them like an asshole. You don't know anything about the business. And then they're going to say, oh, they don't like me because of the way I dress or the way I talk, Like no, it's because you don't know what the hell you're doing.
Speaker 2:That's on the money.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's all, and so that's. And so that's when real estate that was tough. Man Like you, you look at people and like, well, I want to sell this much, I want to sell this much, and and it's just like, what am I doing wrong? And then you start to question it and, like I said, expensive, expensive hobby because you're paying quarterly dues for to have access to MLS and then you're paying a monthly payment.
Speaker 1:That's right for that and like, mind you, when you're going broke, like, hey, a hundred dollar office bill or 150 office bill, and you're like, damn, like am I not gonna be able to eat this week because I'm, I'm and you're not selling, if you're not selling anything, that makes it even worse. Now you got to have some, some guts to go with this.
Speaker 2:And then yeah, you're just digging the hole because the first several transactions are. You're trying to break even.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was called to the curb. I was like I got to get around this curb, I got to run this curb and I'd be comfortable, I'd be comfortable and no man, that shit's tough Like, it's not fun at all. Like in the first year at first, I started like in January, finishing night, I think, I did my first transaction, like two to three months in my first year, first nine months, I call it nine months. I made like $60,000. Okay, that's bad, which is not bad compared to like me leaving a job that was probably paying like 50, correct, 45. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:And so I was like, okay, this I think I could do this At that point, leaving a job that was 50,000 max potential earning, whether you're making commission or not at the bank, and being able to jump into something brand new and foreign to you for the most part, taking the training, taking the coaching, um, absorbing as much of that and then taking it and put that in motion and surpassing what you've made prior years probably gave you a lot of confidence.
Speaker 1:Oh, absolutely that, if that. So I remember closing one of my larger deals. I at the time, like year two I think, I had like a fifteen thousand dollar commission check, okay, and uh, title it was a dr horton house and so their old office was off a 1604 and like stone oak yeah I remember like their office to close was probably about yeah, right for twin oaks. So bank of san antonio was on the other side of twin oaks. Yeah, it was yeah, so I remember.
Speaker 2:It's still there. I could see it.
Speaker 1:And I'm like I just made $15,000 and I helped someone accomplish a really big goal of theirs, probably about 200 yards from a place where I sat and I was just dying, because if you're not growing, you're dying, it's true. And it's just one of the biggest blessings in the world, because I knew I wasn't ever going to own the bank and we're going to hit that ceiling and every quarter I was going to get that badass pizza party that's right, so that's right um, I, I it.
Speaker 1:it hit me that I was like you know, man, like this, there's a beauty in the struggle, is a blessing that this happened. And like now, now that's motivation, yeah. And then, and this is never, and I, when I talk numbers, I don't like talking numbers to like close friends, I gotta like be, we gotta be close before I'm like, hey, this isn't a brag, because everything could come off as a brag. And then when I remember when I made my first like hundred thousand in real estate, and then like I think my first full year, I think I, I before pre write-offs and all that, I think it was like 145. Right, and I was like, holy crap, man. Like I make a really good money, right, and I've never had this money. I'm not even one of my family's ever had this type of money. So you become, you don't know how to act.
Speaker 2:I'll. I can relate to that on many levels. I mean, we've friends that we went to high school with, friends that we meet after high school, etc. And all the while they continue doing what they're doing. Nothing wrong with it. But some become teachers, some become coaches, some become different things and they're seeing the progression and hats off to those day one guys and gals that still support what we do and learn from what my mistakes are, et cetera. And and motivate and and um, aren't haters, I'll just put it that way.
Speaker 2:But there was a certain point in time that we were all sitting around campfire talking shit, uh, and it came out like Mark, how much money do you make? And it was like well, why do you ask? Well, because I mean, you just bought another house and you're constantly changing your car and da-da-da-da-da. I'm like guys, I was doing that before, I was making this kind of money, but I can tell you my income has completely changed, and telling them that didn't change the way that they viewed me and that was the coolest feeling. Now flip over to a different segment of friends and I would never have that conversation with them, because it's like so every time we go out there's a reason why I'm picking up the tabs Mark's got it.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:No, and that's, and that's huge man, your circle of friends is big. Yeah, and to this day I I credit a lot of series, re-reference Justin Vitek because he opened up my eyes to a lot of bigger pictures of stuff that's easily attainable just as long as you work hard. Yes, sir, and to this day, I remember I had a pretty decent check come in, probably about two weeks ago and my new I've been real estate going on year seven, eight, and I still call them and I still see them pretty heavy. I called him and say, bro, I just, you know, I just deposited this cool ass check and I just thank you and it's because it's the it's. Without that, those conversations with certain people, then it just doesn't happen. It makes everything.
Speaker 1:So it's true, it's, it's awesome and I get to share that and I thank them because sometimes and like, for example, like you when you talked about it- like people assume like, oh, you got it, mark's got his life figured out, right, we don't need to talk to Mark, we don't need to check on Mark, mark's good, mark's got money we don't got. So I think in your positions and like Justin and yourself, and like sometimes you, hey, people want to get checked on and no one ever just assumes that your life is great.
Speaker 2:And you know what? I'll take that a step further. Everybody assumes that we've got it, but at the same time, there are times where I may not have it. Concept why Because the market has tanked. I've been spending my money keeping my employees employed. Tanked, I've been spending my money keeping my employees employed, um, I've been spending money the marketing lead generation continuing to come in so my loan officers can have leads to come in. I dropped my pay down, um, so that they can have higher pay.
Speaker 1:The struggle continues when you take bigger steps.
Speaker 2:Uh, no one sees that.
Speaker 1:No one sees that they see you got a new car, there you go. You know what I mean? Like no one's. But then no one knows that what deal you had set up with your cars and what if it's a lease, whatever it is. But no, it's easy to have someone be like, oh he's got it, like he's just got a new car, like he doesn't, you don't. How many employees do you?
Speaker 2:have as of.
Speaker 1:I think we're 10, 10 total, so not that you Including operations, so not that you sit there and do every single thing for your employees, because they're obviously they're very knowledgeable, they're very great at what they do and if you find value in them, that's why you brought them in. But that's 10 livelihoods you took on.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and I take that very, very seriously. That's huge, yeah. And, as a matter of fact, when I opened my own shop my real own shop, I think mortgage all the while I've been spending extra money on review my mortgage with zero return just yet because we haven't truly launched it. We're waiting for a tech tool that we broke off from that to. Also, it's going through beta with total expert, but when I switched over, my income dropped substantially. Why? Because I'm the one that's taking the risk. All the startup expenses, I mean. It costs damn near 300 grand just to get this place running day one. Yeah, you know.
Speaker 1:And so people and you took on 10 livelihoods of that's, that's, that's their life you got, you're pretty much having your hand.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Now imagine if you didn't have this infrastructure and you're going to say I got this cool office in La Quintera, Come work with me and you're good at what you do. No, you're taking on that responsibility and you're a man that takes pride in that, like you said. I've always said it I don't want 100 agents on my team.
Speaker 1:It's not even the fact that, first off, I don't want to babysit 100 personalities, which more power to people who have that. But it's also like that's 100 houses that I'm almost responsible for, and if I can't give you the time you need to succeed in this business, then I'm doing a discredit to you. Not that I don't want to work with you. It's like it's not fair to you. So when you were out in real estate, find a great mentor. But you got to remember that mentors have their own house they got to maintain.
Speaker 2:Man, JC, I think that has been mentioned. The last three discussions back to back to back and you hit it home. The idea is find a mentor, have nothing wrong with that, but if you are going to take time from that mentor and that mentor is going to take time from them, make sure you are trading something of value, whether it is your time, whether it whatever it is, trade in value Absolutely Time and effort and just respect of their time Absolutely.
Speaker 1:And like so, when I would have an agent on my team and say, hey, how do I do this, this and this? I'm like, hey, I'll show you, let's go, I'm going to lead you to the water. All the training I did Ignite, whatever it may have been, I was like this is where we got. We have all these resources. So, before you approach me on how to do something, but please take a shot in the dark on how to do it, there's too many resources out here not to do it. So when I tell this to new agents because they think the business is easy, someone told me this. I was like there's a lot of realtors coming in. A lot of people ask me all the time hey, how to become a realtor? I want to become a realtor, I want to become a realtor. It's not easy. Success is simple. It's not easy, I agree. Success is very simple.
Speaker 2:There is a simple formula that is very difficult to apply.
Speaker 1:And the difficult part is half the part is getting up. That's true. Once you get up and actually start it, that's half the battle. Yes sir, you'll be surprised how many people don't want to get up and start the battle.
Speaker 2:Like me on Saturday.
Speaker 1:And you've got a schedule that's awesome and I'm sitting here like a caveman on fire, like your wife doesn't get mad at you.
Speaker 1:Your kids, don't come and bother you. I'm like a caveman. I'm like, holy shit, mark's unlocked a whole new thing of it. So that's your thing, you have a system and then that's all. So I told the new agents I was like hey, partner with someone who's like-minded, and I had a very good accountable group Shout out to like Brad Burns, anthony Wyatt, danny Momin, greg Foster, like these guys. Yeah, y'all came up around the same time. We started Ignite together and I'm sorry if I'm missing some of these, but their toolers like well, there were strong suits were, mine weren't, and then we just use each other's attributes to form, help each other out. Brad burns helped me write my first contract and we sat through the same damn contract how fucking cool is that, yeah.
Speaker 1:So we sat through the same contract class and I'm like, hey, brad, so what is earnest money? Again, wow and like so you know what I mean. And but like so my strong suits were something that he benefited off of, whatever his social media at the time.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So that we use, we help each other. Like that, we had a circle group called like, the round table, like the, you know the nights, the round night, the table of the round night, whatever. Find someone who's not your friend? Yeah, like, obviously you got to get along with you, you got to like them, but you don't want a friend who's going to pat your back when you're doing half-ass work. You want a friend who's going to pull your card and be like hey, did you make your calls? Yeah, are we going to make your calls? Hey, you said you're going to be here at 9am. Yeah, absolutely, you could lead someone to water. It doesn't mean they're going to drink this shit.
Speaker 2:I actually always say you can lead a horse to water, but you'll never be able to hold that horse's head down. Absolutely, the will is too strong the other way yeah and you've got to find like-minded individuals.
Speaker 1:And then we look back and I tell all these people, like what we've talked about it, briefly, is in the moment life is kicking you on the nuts and you think, man, let me throw this pity party and I don't want to do anything because it's why me, why me? And you look back and the struggles of when I had $134 in my bank account and I'm like, and that moment my world is burning.
Speaker 2:Moses, if you walk in my office right now, I've got two things that are constant reminders and I will always keep them there. I've got a uh ramen noodles, uh, uh, uh shrimp flavor, literally pinned up on the wall next to my computer, and I've got a big brass number two. And the brass number two was given to me by a veteran loan officer when I first got into the industry after my first year, and he said Mark, you're, you're going to be a badass in this business. I can already see it. You don't know really what you're doing, but you are closing business and you're helping people, he said, but never forget the story about the lion and the gazelle. Every morning the lion wakes up, every morning the gazelle wakes up, and if either one of them isn't chasing the other or running away from the other, somebody's going to go starving or somebody's going to die. Yeah, so there's always somebody better. Number two Absolutely, bro.
Speaker 1:See, that's beautiful, like that's just the way it is. It's like we. When I got with these people, like we it just, and once you have that good infrastructure of people, it's just awesome. It's true, because now we look back, like I said, we look back and I'm like, hey, man, at the time I had $134. That just sucked Right, but I thought the world was burning down and I have awesome conversations now that have a lot of clarity going on in my world.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I have a really good friend. Her name's Stephanie Okay, and I remember probably who's a really great friend, and so she went through some struggles and she went through some times where she got let go from her work and her world was just burning and a lot of tears going on. But then I look back now and I had a conversation with her maybe a couple weeks ago. She just got promoted. She was a nurse, she just got promoted to a director my highest up view Manager director, whatever it may be. I forgot just got promoted to a director of, like my highest up your manager director, whatever it may be. I forgot. My apologies, but I'm like hey, like HBS, yeah, pretty much.
Speaker 2:And I'm just like.
Speaker 1:Hey man, remember when you were, your world was crashing. He had no money in your pocket and you just needed to. You needed some help and she's tearing up. And she's tearing up and she's like I didn't think about it. I said no like, think about it, enjoy it, celebrate this shit.
Speaker 2:And that, if you can constantly remind yourself of that, it allows the wins to truly be appreciated.
Speaker 1:Oh, the wins make it so much better because you change the way you look at things and things you look at change. Yeah, it's easy in that moment to look at things as your world is done Correct, and then you look back and you're like, no, this is an opportunity for me to do better.
Speaker 2:Amen.
Speaker 1:And so that's real big, and I'm real big on reminding people of like hey man, I love this. My biggest thing about myself is I love seeing people win.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:You got it. When I see people, whether it be be hey, they bought a house, and they tell me, man, you know my bad, bro, like their first sensing is you know, I have a friend or family members. A realtor said, bro, you bought a fucking house. That's right, how cool is that? Yeah, like, who cares? You're the first person, you're family buy a house. That is cool. Yeah, and that's, and that's where everything I'm and I'm just like hey, remember this, remember that. Like dude, like, how cool is this? So that's so everything. And I'm just like, hey, remember this, remember that. Like dude, like, how cool is this? So you've got to surround yourself with people who clap as loud when you're winning, when they're winning, just whatever it may be. So that's a real big deal for me.
Speaker 2:Okay, wow, Dude another.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know, we're fire. No, we're fire, fire, fire.
Speaker 2:I love this as a matter of fact. So okay, so we've talked about your first year, um in the business, um, we've talked about your success there. Jc, how much time are we at? We probably got another 20 minutes or so. Holy shit, how many more minutes we have. 45 minutes, oh, we got about 15.
Speaker 2:We got about 15 20 minutes. So, um, let's see here into your first year, second year, third year, fourth year. You're having success, you're growing your business. Um, you're establishing your systems, you're putting things in place. You're getting referrals at this time instead of having to just go out and find all the business. Um. And then on our previous discussion, we skipped all the way to the flipping properties and investing and that kind of stuff. Can you touch briefly on that?
Speaker 1:So, yeah, it is. So. Once we business and then, cause I was real big, I didn't like leveraging anything out. I felt like no one could do it better than myself. I hate paperwork, I hate doing a lot of things, so after a while I started to leverage out TC work transaction coordinator work.
Speaker 1:Then I started leveraging out assistant work. Then I realized that I'm not good at hiring people. My first assistant, awesome, alexis, was cool, great. She's a very good personality, she's good at what she does, but we just didn't mesh. Cost me a lot of money learning that lesson because I made sure she got paid. Got paid really well, absolutely so. It's. It's a lot of failing forward. Yes, so my transaction coordinator who I had a great one, rachel Trueblood, was awesome because she was my friend and now was she was in the same brokerage as me. Now that I switch in brokerages, I'm learning that like I had to get an UTC and I'm like man, this sucks, because no one's gonna do it like it's true, but it's just, I had to start leveraging a lot of stuff out. So I tell people like, hey, if you find yourself, don't leverage it out, if you're just going to go home and sleep.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Start to leverage something out If it's taken away from your 20%, your 80%. You do your 80% of your 20%. We talked about this.
Speaker 2:And then so, if it out and matter of fact, that is a big thing in the mortgage business to have an assistant or a loan partner. Essentially, and going through the industry, I've seen many that are doing good production and want an assistant, want an assistant, they get an assistant and they do the same kind of production, as opposed to somebody that gets an assistant or a loan partner that doubles their production. Now, this that you're talking about, this concept, was it taught to you coaching or was it school of hard knocks?
Speaker 1:A lot of school hard knocks, but it was a lot of coaching, okay. So what? I'll tell you. When we started real estate, when they say, hey, if you got to hire a TC, do it. Yeah. But when you're going from commission to commission to barely survive, you tell me to pay $300 to someone else that I'm capable of doing, it's hard to leverage out yeah. And then after a while you're like, okay, I need to do this. And then the coaches like a Steve Collins, but someone who spoke leverage, leverage, leverage. But you also, you got to. If you're going to leverage something out, that means they're going to go hunting and you're going to come back and skinning. You better be, you better go hunt. Sound familiar, jc, you better go hunt.
Speaker 2:So has anybody taught you hold on, I'll tell you when. To throw it up? Jc, the focus funnel, because my coach taught this to me Boom, let's see if I can get a good image of it. I don't know what she's doing, but there we go. Okay, go ahead and throw it up on the screen. This reference the focus funnel, and my coach taught this to me. I was just like you. Nobody can do it as good as me. So I'm going to do it, and I found myself working tons of hours. Now I still work till probably 2 am every night, but I'm working on multiple businesses all throughout the day.
Speaker 2:This concept allowed me to do all of the things in addition to still have the life with my family and all that. But the idea is is you take all of the things that you do to complete your job, your career, your business, and you list it out. Then you take that list and you run it through this funnel. Anything that can be eliminated, get rid of it. Anything that can be automated, automate that son of a gun, especially now with the technology and AI and on all these different things. Then last or second to last is delegation. That's huge. It doesn't necessarily have to be someone as good as you, because there's a reason why you're doing you Right.
Speaker 2:Matter of fact, I recently hired a virtual assistant from India Dude best money I've ever spent, probably. He's a fantastic employee. All that good stuff, contract. But after you take it through the focus funnel and anything that's left you got to do, that's you, I mean. That is what your duties are, and it's up to you to decide. Am I doing it now or am I doing it later? That's now your prioritization list. That's on you and it's not as large as it used to be when it was just you. It's true, you're able to get a new task and realize, okay, this is going to help my business. Now, is that task need to be done by me, or can I automate it, delegate it, or does it even need to?
Speaker 1:be. It's not. Yeah, so it's leveraging out what needs to be done. Thanks, jc, that's what it is. So, like I said, steve Collins was real adamant on leverage out, leverage out. But if you're leveraging, you better get your ass back out there and doing what you're supposed to. Right and one like rule one of real estate is you're waking up, you're lead generating.
Speaker 2:Yes, sir.
Speaker 1:That's where you can't do any of this other stuff. If you're not lead generating, that's right. So that's when I learned that from lessons. Is you leverage it out because it was taken away from lead generating or appointments or whatever it may be, cause that's what it is. You got lead generate, you got to go on appointments and then you got to close the deals, whatever it is, but you got to keep building the pipeline. So that's all is you keep building this pipeline.
Speaker 2:That is so true. Well, I mean, you've had quite a bit of success in this industry and I know it's going to continue. I know that you're going to go through even more failures, but those failures are going to continue to make you a better person, better leader, better father, better partner all of those things, because that's just innate with what you've discovered thus far in your journey. And I think that your journey is going to touch many out there. I'm totally honest and I think that there's a reason why you have such a good following on social media. You're relatable. You relate to many people. I'm going to say this you relate to more people than most, because most people have gone through that kind of stuff and not made it out the other end like you have.
Speaker 1:And it can't be embarrassed, man. No, you can't be embarrassed. I talked to my clients and I'm like oh, I was like, hey, your credit score, like you know. They're like oh, I said, look, I've been there.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I had 500 credit score, because I know what the hell the credit score was Like don't, we're starting here Right, can't start, you can, yeah, and that's where I've always run my business. But it's also a lot of growing and growth because you could, like I told you I was a habitual denier of who I was. As a human Correct, my core values are I'm a giver before I'm a taker, and then, when it comes to real estate, it's just because I feel like it's easy to fake it, like fake the phone call. I'm a good person. I'm a good person because I'll donate a hundred turkeys during Thanksgiving, because I uh, during Christmas I donate so many gifts to the, to the kids.
Speaker 2:Or even worse. Let me put a social media post out that says praise God, praise this, praise that, and we know that you're a dirt bag. You're a shithead.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's right, you're a shithead and like so. I men and I would say men because that's who I'm trying to be a better man and people ask me that's who I'm trying to be a better man. And people ask me why is all these changes and how's it's helped me in real estate? Because it helps me get some clarity on my actions and how I speak and how I react to certain things and how I come from contribution. But as a man, when it comes down to have a seven year old little girl, princess, she brought me home. If she would have brought me home as her boyfriend, I would have been disgusted, and that's one of those things. If my son, who's 11 now, started to operate the way I did outside of the work ethic. I hope he has the work ethic. I hope I take that out of the picture as a human, as a man, as a grown man. If he was me, I would be disgusted. But if no one knows that, because it looks like I had it all well put together and because I could put off this image of, oh, he does this, he's great, he does that.
Speaker 1:There's some core value, there's some values that I was just diminished because I was out getting drunk. I was out doing this and I was out. But hey, I'm a good dad because I'm here, I never miss, no matter what. I've never been a bad dad. I love being a to dad. I didn't miss cheers. I didn't miss games. I didn't miss first day of schools. I don't miss meet the teachers. But my principles and my values weren't always showcased of the way of my actions Were you setting the right example?
Speaker 1:Exactly Like. Mind you, I was always there. People were like, oh, you're a great dad and it's easy to be like, oh yeah, like I know I am, because you know I took a picture on Facebook. But when it came down to and this is related to my life and my family and my business, I had to switch it. Real big is God, family business. I had to switch a lot of this stuff up because what I was saying out loud, I wasn't living, and that's how I'm starting to correlate it to real estate and I'm correlating it more to my family. But yeah, I had a lot of looks in the mirror of like you're a piece of shit and I'm not meaning like I didn't take from anyone, I didn't do anything, but I wasn't. I was not the man I thought I was in my head and I let the hype at times justify some of my actions. Wow, when you're a habitual justifier, anyone could justify anything.
Speaker 2:You are right, yes, sir.
Speaker 1:And so I had to realize that, when it comes to I needed some more clarity and it helped my business. It's starting to help my business anymore and I'm going to tell you real quick and I don't want to take too much time is in real estate as a single agent. It was always sold in between like seven to nine to 10 million off market, on market flips, whatever, without the flips. It's always been a producing agent at that as a single agent. Last year I sold 3.5 million because I was just ina really dark place, yeah, and I had to get out of it. I was in a really dark place. So I'm when, just because shit's bad, just because everything's going up, like you're gonna hit roller coaster, right there are peaks and valleys in this life.
Speaker 2:no one's immune to it. No, you're. You are correct. I mean even uh, I don't even know how to put this, but you're going to fall, you're going to fail. I don't care how high you are, you're going to fall again and again and again. And that's what this life is, I hope, intended to teach us is how to get back up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're going to get humbled, that's right, You're going to get humbled Like you're going to get hit in the the faces. You're going to get up that's right.
Speaker 2:So why? Why do you fall?
Speaker 1:so that you can get back kick in the ass real quick and that's what it was, and so I realized I had a. There's a lot of work-life balance, guys, and I'm tell you in real estate is, the more you say yes to what you're saying no to is probably more important. Wow, so I was saying yes to clients all the. I was taking phone calls at 10 o'clock, 11 o'clock at night. There's no. But I gave that perception that, hey, go ahead and call me, text me, whatever you on, I don't sleep, but I'm. When I was. Hey, you want to see a house? I got you walk away from a table, a dinner table with my kids, and I'm just like I'm gonna go show this house.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:And like back I was like what an asshole dude. Right Like they could wait. Right, my kid I'm not going to have this.
Speaker 2:I'm glad you said that there's a lot of folks out there that believe that you do have to jeopardize the things that you love in many cases to appease what pays for those things. Yeah, and if you believe in the value that you provide, I believe this is just me, my opinion that that customer will respect you even more.
Speaker 1:And I learned you set expectations. They don't know what they don't know. So when I have those initial conversations now, instead of saying, hey, you could text or call me anytime you want, and if you want to see a house, let's go, now I change it to hey, just so you know, if I don't respond, I'm probably with my kids. I'll get back to you when I can or the next day, and if you want to see a property, I need you to let me know at least 24 hours in advance before I go take a look at it, because it's going to take some scheduling and they respect it, instead of like, hey, I set this expectation.
Speaker 2:Like you want to see this property, like you know what I mean. So I had to start my scripts, had to change absolutely to better my life. And that that is your mindset changing and evolving into the new you. And is it really a new you? No, but we were intended to change. We were intended to evolve and get better. Um, setting expectations. That's huge. There's many agents, l entrepreneurs that don't know how to do that. They want to tell a lie and work around that lie versus just setting proper expectations and everybody can be on the same page and you'll learn real quick what your value is. Because if you're setting those expectations and, let's say, a customer says, oh, that's not good enough for me, no problem, maybe I'm not the right person for you.
Speaker 1:When I first started real estate they said, hey, sometimes you're going to fire clients. I'm like that's stupid, because I really need every single commission check possible. Then you realize, even no matter, there's no dollar amount that's worth your sanity.
Speaker 2:Amen to that.
Speaker 1:And there was no dollar amount worth what you're sacrificing. And I had a client tell me hey, you work for me. And we'll stop that real quick because it's hey, I love representing you. I'm here to get you the best deal, find you and drop all the knowledge I have, but I don't work for you. But I was like I want to be clear. I'm not trying to be confrontational, but let's be clear. We all have the same goal here I want to represent you, but I don't work for you. So I'm going to talk to me the way you would like to be taught.
Speaker 2:That's right. I work for my kids. I work for my future, I work with you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I'm here to help you. I'm here to represent you, but yeah, man, that's strong.
Speaker 2:Um, well, we had other stuff to go over market stuff, and I don't think we even need to get into it. Uh, moses, that was amazing man. Um, we, we don't kick it at all, yeah, I know, but I think that after this it might be something, because there's just so much relatability and maybe you just relate to a lot of people, but there are very distinct similarities between our upbringing, between the roads that we've gone down and where we are today, and I'm hoping and praying that you continue to show others the path that you're blazing. Um, I believe that you're going to continue to up your game and, uh, the idea behind what we do. You have the choice to do it for yourself, and that's good enough. And then there are some, like the Scott Maloose of the world, that love to take people with them Because, like I said in the first discussion, one man's success one man's success robs you of nothing.
Speaker 1:Absolutely man.
Speaker 2:Amen to that. Do you have anything to add to this brother?
Speaker 1:No man, it's been a pleasure and it's been an opportunity to be clear-headed and be in this, this state, when this conversations with you is one of them. It's been a great experience but I've, since we sat down last week, I've been on a high of talking about this. I was like dude, this was a really cool experience and, uh, hopefully do it again in the future and I think this is it's been great to. I want people to walk away from this and say like, okay, okay, if he could do it, I can do it, and I mean not like demeaning, like bringing down my light, but I'm simple minded man and very simple. But if I'm capable of doing something, that means anyone's stop subscribing, stop tuning in.
Speaker 2:It's not for you, for the others that do get bits and pieces that you can take and apply to life, or let a friend know, let a family member, somebody that you care about maybe you hear a little clip or something like that. Thank you, and in this episode, in this discussion, I believe that one of the most important things that I took out of it was it's super important to invest in people. I think that is one of the best investments, but there is no greater investment than investing in yourself. So, that being the case, guys, we will catch you on the next one.
Speaker 1:Someone has already done and is already doing what you want to do. And no, they didn't fall into a rich family to do so. They were not born lucky. You know you can be more, you can have more, do more, can be more. You know this. You wouldn't be listening otherwise, thank you.
