Don’t Be a Passive Realtor! Create Your Own Opportunities — Ryan McKee, CA & Greg Iverson, MO

 | 00:00:28:04 | 
 | Hey, everybody thinks start shooting in today. And just as a reminder, if you do enjoy the concept, we set up one of the podcast providers and leave us a review. The more news we get, the better quality guests will get. And today we have some of the highest production that we've ever had on the show. We have over $300 million in sales on the show right now.

 | 00:00:48:03 | 
 | We have Greg Iverson of the Iverson neighborhood alone, Saint Louis, Missouri. Greg did over 900 loans last year, 150 million in sales. Then we also have Ryan Key in Southern California, top area realtor who did over 165 units at a normal price point. You don't always get that in California. So I'm super excited to have both Ryan and Greg on the call with us.

 | 00:01:10:06 | 
 | We don't always get to people and the reason I'm really excited up to people here is these are two guys who have done a really well in cultivating referral based businesses. Greg and Ryan have done business together, even though they're 25 states away, and now I know both of them. So I'm super excited to get some of the advice that they both are able to provide us.

 | 00:01:29:05 | 
 | So Greg and Ryan, welcome to the show today. Thanks, Matt.

 | 00:01:33:12 | 
 | Thank you for having us.

 | 00:01:35:19 | 
 | So, Greg, I want to I want to start with you really quick. How did you connect with Ryan in the first place and what kind of walk us through how we ended, how we ended up here today talking? Yeah, absolutely. So Ryan and I coach with the core training nationally together. He's obviously on the realtor side. I'm on the lender side, but we got to know each other through that as well as our our wives have hit it off and and pulled that.

 | 00:02:01:12 | 
 | You know, what struck me with Ryan is how big of a producer he is yet how down to earth. Yes I've really been able to connect with him that way. And you know at the same time here in just the last seven months, been able to refer some of our clients buying in Southern California. And I've just been blown away by not just the way he's built his business based on referrals, but the follow ups and taking care of the client.

 | 00:02:28:09 | 
 | You know, it's just super refreshing that you know, how he treats them. And it's it's ultimately an extension of of me at the end of the day for making that referral so well and I think there's something deeper there too it really increases your your total network and the amount of people that you're able to serve by being able to market the fact that your team, you know, your realtor team, your lender team is able to service people all around the country, Right.

 | 00:02:56:23 | 
 | Because now you have that story about a amazing, amazing transaction that your client had with Ryan. And you can share that story in email or on social media that, hey, we help clients in Southern California. And now that's one more group of people that you can truly help with, help with. And also because Ryan has a lot of the same personality attributes as you, it's such a perfect referral because those clients get the same general experience, whether they're working with you and one of your agents in in Missouri or whether they're working with with Ryan and his team in Southern California, where the weather might be just a little bit better.

 | 00:03:34:05 | 
 | It's a touch better today, probably. Yeah. But just to know that it's almost as if I'm working with my neighbor, you know, even though he's obviously in a much warmer place than I am as it stands today. But, you know, at the same time, Matt, why I'm excited to be on here today is I you know, I've really been looking for ways to bring value to, you know, other realtors, other business owners that we work with here in C Louis and a lot of the, you know, strategies and just overall operating philosophies that Ryan has, I think will bring a lot of value to others that we that we work with.

 | 00:04:10:24 | 
 | And that's why I'm super excited to be on this set. It's funny because the podcast used to be called before before you and I talked about it the first time around. It used to be called marketing in other markets because every agent, every lender, every real professional out there, I think, secretly wants to know what people are doing in other places rather than just copying what agents are doing by that.

 | 00:04:30:06 | 
 | And although the fundamentals are the same everywhere, people have a morbid curiosity for what top producing agent in California is doing. That's what I was just going to say, Matt, and I think it's the best part about it. And as it relates to the value in our market and obviously, Ryan, I'll jump in to that here just a few minutes.

 | 00:04:46:23 | 
 | But what he is doing is not unique to Southern California. While the real estate looks different, the weather looks different. Why? I am really thrilled that he's on with us is it's the same things we're doing here in Saint Louis that the top producing realtors in Saint Louis are the ones that aspire to be top producers. It's not reinventing the wheel, you know, And we'll hear that from Ryan, but it's not market specific.

 | 00:05:11:13 | 
 | It's it's basic principles, basic fundamentals done correctly, you know, with a lot of attention to care and detail done correctly every single time it works and in every market, thousand percent. So Ryan, better want to give you a chance to talk because I know Greg and I are blockers but what quick we can deduction so you told me before the call you did 165 units in California last year, which, you know, usually when we think of California real estate, we're thinking of like an agent who does $320 million listings.

 | 00:05:42:19 | 
 | And there's it's hard to take a lot of takeaways there because their business doesn't seem like it like the rest of the world. But you actually did a huge amount of units. And shockingly enough, I didn't realize that you could even buy a house in Southern California for, you know, 3 to $600000. Walk me through where you came from, how you got your start in the real estate industry and kind of where where you are now, team size, all that stuff.

 | 00:06:08:21 | 
 | Absolutely. So and it if I can ever get to a point where I can do three three deals and it's 20 million apiece, then that's a whole different show and one to get there.

 | 00:06:19:18 | 
 | I'm sure someone listening here has a $20 million deal to refer to you. So guys, if you have a $20 million deal and refer to Ryan, he's qualified, he's ready and he will be appreciative to.

 | 00:06:29:04 | 
 | Now just putting it out there in the atmosphere. Right? So but yeah, thank you for that. So, you know, my journey in real estate has been has been absolutely amazing. You know, like I was telling you, I made the wonderful decision to enter into the field of real estate in 2008. So like many of you know, many of the other decisions I've made in life, you know, it's one of the questionable ones that it actually worked out for me very well.

 | 00:06:54:10 | 
 | But, you know, I come from a family of realtors, luckily. So I was exposed to the business at an early age. My dad's actually been a broker for 32 years at this point. And I've been really, really lucky to learn every aspect of the business, you know, anywhere from the contracting side. I learned how to Ricky properties and, you know, things of that nature all the way up to higher level activities that I was able to watch my dad do.

 | 00:07:20:22 | 
 | So having that exposure is something.

 | 00:07:22:19 | 
 | Honestly you can't really pay for but wasn't right.

 | 00:07:25:01 | 
 | Then.

 | 00:07:25:07 | 
 | I guess I just have to like dive deeper on this one because this is a theme that comes up in every single show that we do with top performing realtors, whether whether you're young or old, what area of the country. Everybody became a master in their craft. You did it by observing the business through your dad, through your grandfather, and then working on every aspect of the transaction.

 | 00:07:47:12 | 
 | Right. You mentioned the key thing. You mentioned everything, all the all the paperwork. But I hear this from people. If your family wasn't in real estate, there's teams that you can join, there's admin work you can do first, you can you have to really immerse yourself in real estate, become an expert before you're able to get to the level of production that that you're that you write and and Gregor interface.

 | 00:08:06:09 | 
 | So I just had to interrupt you because that comes up every time and I want to make sure people really understand that becoming a master is such a critical part along the journey.

 | 00:08:14:16 | 
 | 100%. And that also for me is critical and who I allied myself where. So that's the reason why I'm aligned with Greg is because somebody like Greg is going to be at the top of his field, but also in a market that I don't currently, currently service and have. I can't drive to Saint Louis from California to actively serve as clients.

 | 00:08:35:01 | 
 | The beauty of our network is that we've been able to connect with each other to offer a high level, higher level of service to clients that both him and I may not have access to, but it expands our businesses in ways that most other agents just don't even think about. There's so much opportunity just in what him and I could do.

 | 00:08:53:08 | 
 | So having that, you know, is huge, but also surrounding ourselves by people that are always in a higher level than where him and I are at is amazing. I'm very proud of the volume and what we've created as a business. But I surround myself by people that make my business look minuscule. And I think that that's what's allowed me to always keep chasing that next higher up level and keep searching for that.

 | 00:09:19:01 | 
 | You know that next level.

 | 00:09:21:00 | 
 | I love that. So out of the, I don't know, 165. You did. You did. You did it all yourself. What's what's your team size.

 | 00:09:27:04 | 
 | Yeah. You know, so it's it's myself I have the team of seven so all of my team are going to be operational. So in our world, Greg and I, our world, we call those ERP ones. It's a real estate partner. So it's anything from a transaction coordinator to an administrative assistant. But I have four operational team members that are really my foundation.

 | 00:09:48:06 | 
 | And then I've got myself and two other salespeople. So just with three of us on sales, we were able to, you know, facilitate 165 transactions. You know, we like to call ourselves more of a lean and mean sales team, but we are very process driven, very dialed in, very doctor and nurse in our procedures on how we're able to offer that level of service to 165 families and still do it efficiently.

 | 00:10:16:04 | 
 | Well, then I think especially, you know, 2022 right now coming in 23, I think being lean and making sure that the people on your team are busy and productive is huge because I think so many of these teams out there because of the crazy demand in the market for showings in the last couple of years, a lot of these teams are sitting pretty bloated right now and people do not operate at the level they should be when they're not busy.

 | 00:10:41:11 | 
 | I mean, I want to keep all of my people as busy as possible up to the point where they're not happy. But shockingly, people that are busy, that are making more money operate better and figure it out and then systems come systems up, too. I absolutely love hearing that. So I know when you got started, Ryan, something that I really was interested in is that obviously was oh eight and that was a crazy market.

 | 00:11:04:20 | 
 | Right now in 2022 for many people is also a crazy market in a totally different way. But you caught you killed it your first year. I mean, you made over $100,000 in 2008 when all of your colleagues were going out of business. Obviously different market than today. But like, how did you do that and what what types of things did you ever do?

 | 00:11:25:17 | 
 | I think a lot of people today need to figure out what what unique opportunities they can leverage in the market we're in to get to the next level. But tell us about what you did back then and we're that lucky for you.

 | 00:11:37:00 | 
 | Yeah, no, absolutely. So I mean, in 2008, a big truth be told is I didn't do anything very special like first year other than having a ton of tenacity and just a blue collar mentality.

 | 00:11:49:05 | 
 | And that's pretty. That's pretty special. Don't feel good about yourself. Okay.

 | 00:11:53:00 | 
 | Well, appreciate that. Yeah. I mean, I you know, I for me, it wasn't anything groundbreaking in in in technology or my approach is I'm not I'm not the type that's going to come up with the great ideas. But if you give me a plan, I can implement the plan and just do the work. But that the truth will be behind my success at least the first year 2008.

 | 00:12:12:10 | 
 | My you know, my my dad has.

 | 00:12:13:20 | 
 | Been available.

 | 00:12:14:06 | 
 | For 30 plus years. Is also was involved with the Oreo cycle. So he he worked with banks and asset management companies and had this large portfolio of properties that they needed to liquidate. So really it was a timing thing for me. You know, he had three he was listing 3 to 400 properties a year. And in the same scale of what I'm operating now, you know, he had a very small team and, you know, there's only so much bandwidth.

 | 00:12:39:13 | 
 | So it did make sense for me to come on. And, you know, the first year it was very easy. The sales were coming my way. He would hand me files and my my training. The first year was here of 20 files. I don't have time to train you, but don't screw it up. Right. So that was my training procedure for year.

 | 00:12:58:10 | 
 | I, I train travel by phone. Yeah, right. Sounds like most people's training. Right. So, you know, it was it was beneficial. And the fact that I was forced to learn and, you know, I learned a lot of good things and I learned a lot about things. Unfortunately. And, you know, through that, I wouldn't change any of it because it's made me who I am today.

 | 00:13:19:11 | 
 | But ultimately, the biggest lesson that I learned was in 2008, 2009, I learned my first lesson at real estate, and that's that the business is extremely cyclical. And just when you think you know what to expect, it will change. Because I thought that's how it was going to be every single year. You know, we were we were, you know, making 100 grand your first year.

 | 00:13:38:24 | 
 | And of course, this was 2008 when 100 grand was a little bit different. But still, it was now that that was the most money I'd ever made. A year I came from a job making 35,000 a year to first year in real estate and 100 grand and thought, Man, this is it. This is easy money. Well, the next year, everything went away.

 | 00:13:56:04 | 
 | They started changing the fort, the foreclosure rules in California, and we had moratoriums. And I went from 100 grand down to I don't even I mean, maybe 30. I'm making less than what I made before. And and it significantly changed. So I learned at that point that I needed to also know who my my clients were, know who that who I was going to be working with in real estate as opposed to waiting for business to come my way.

 | 00:14:21:19 | 
 | I needed to learn how to be proactive and start hunting and finding who where the opportunities were. Well.

 | 00:14:46:11 | 
 | I'm just going to take a guess here. I probably met with 3 to 4000 agents over the last ten years, and you have agents who find a great opportunity like that. Get super busy right out of the gate. Awesome, right? You super excited, Then I would venture to say that 90% of those people or more don't actually put the time into developing their own database even once, whatever you want to call it, because they didn't need to, because they had that business coming in.

 | 00:15:11:01 | 
 | What it So what I'm starting to hear from you is that you're too rolled around. Something shifted or changed and you're like, Holy crap, I need to put myself as the master of my own destiny. What did you do? How did you start building your sphere? What did that look like for you?

 | 00:15:25:22 | 
 | Yeah, you know, absolutely. I think so. Once I identified who it was that I wanted to start working with, for me, it was primarily investors and retail clients, and that's where I felt like I did the best. That's when I had the most access to in my market. It was identifying for me who I was going to be chasing and working with.

 | 00:15:41:19 | 
 | So once I did that, then I, like you said, I started to create a database. Now of course it's changed over the course of the years. When I first started it was a notepad, right? So here's all the investors that I worked with. But what I would do is if an investment property, let's say it's a flip property, something that's a fixer that you know, maybe needs a little bit of rehab, that it could be put back on the market.

 | 00:16:02:22 | 
 | The opportunity for me as an agent is I can help an investor procure that on the purchasing side potentially get a commission there. And then as they renovate the property, they're going to need to liquidate this property. So it's two opportunities. And for me, I figured out that if I could create those opportunities, expose it to these investors and, you know, like Greg was talking about, a big part of who I now is in communication and follow up so many of these investors, I may send them a great opportunity.

 | 00:16:34:06 | 
 | They get busy and they miss it. Well, if I don't follow up, then I've missed an opportunity and so of bank. So I had to create these systems where I'm developing these relationships and helping helping them to help me, in essence. Right.

 | 00:16:47:06 | 
 | So we'll going to have to pause there again, because what are the words that I think you wanted to say, that you didn't actually say it because you're a nicer guy than I am is your follow up sucks. The reason you're not getting the deals you want is because you sent an email, your client didn't respond and you countered the opportunity off what you should be doing.

 | 00:17:06:08 | 
 | What I'm getting that you do, Ryan, is you call them the opportunity. You send them a video about the opportunity. You follow up again and again and again to make sure that they fully get it. But also, even if that opportunity isn't right for them, you're wowing them with your communication and they're sure as heck going to call you when they find a different opportunity or when they want and have the capacity to take on one of your opportunities.

 | 00:17:28:03 | 
 | Yeah, 100%. I mean, one of my best investors today last year alone saw and I calculate this because I feel like if I know the value that I'm bringing, but also that's a conversation that him and I can have. We're in mutual alignment as far as how we can help each other right now. I Brian, this this particular gentleman, we did almost 20 transactions together just last year.

 | 00:17:51:12 | 
 | Keep in mind he's netting anywhere between ten, 20 plus percent per transaction. We do so, you know, he he netted over $1,000,000 just from a relationship with me. Now, I didn't quite get the same, but that's okay, right? That's he's a he's a piece of, you know, one of many investors that I work with. But the thing is, is to for me as an agent, to be able to do 20 transactions like you said, where if my median price point is $500,000, I've got a very, very strict agreement with this particular investor that he's going to get the cream of the crop from me.

 | 00:18:27:05 | 
 | So if he wants the best opportunities, my expectation is I want the listing back every single time. I think that's, you know, fair to be said, as if I'm creating the opportunity, I want to, you know, guarantee you we get it back. But here's the kicker is I've told him my commission rate is 6%. And, you know, unless it's a very extenuating circumstance, one off type of thing, I'm expecting 6% every time.

 | 00:18:51:03 | 
 | So run that in your projections when you're figuring out if you can make this work. And, you know, in some cases, you know, that can be in Soho or gets you know, we're able to offer different compensation to other brokers, maybe it's only need to offer 2% in the last two years when properties are flying off the shelf.

 | 00:19:07:06 | 
 | So it's created an opportunity where I can make up the 4% commission on the properties that I'm relisting. So on a $500,000 property for percent commission, you can do the math. It makes it to where it's a very profitable relationship, where they are benefiting at a high level and then also I'm able to benefit and it's just something that is we just maintain that relationship.

 | 00:19:31:15 | 
 | I'm always looking not.

 | 00:19:33:13 | 
 | You're not I'm sorry, can I just add something to that real quick? So you've found a way to offer value as opposed to price at the end of the day, you know, so you you're bringing so much value to him. You don't it's not a cut rate price type of a transaction. And and I just I would understand that it makes perfect sense.

 | 00:19:53:02 | 
 | Quarter percent. Yeah. You know, and it it's it's really something where you know the pricing the commission part of that that that conversation never comes up because this person knows the amount of value that they get by staying loyal to, you know, the agreement that we've had. It doesn't have to change because it works so well for both of us.

 | 00:20:15:06 | 
 | What I've seen in the past as and soon as we decide to change that and and they say, Hey, Ryan, it's been great. We've done 20 transactions together. I really knew you increase my profit margins and I need you to do it for less. They know that there's going to be 20 other investors in line that would love to have the same opportunity.

 | 00:20:33:03 | 
 | So, you know, it's it's maintaining the.

 | 00:20:36:07 | 
 | That.

 | 00:20:36:21 | 
 | You're.

 | 00:20:37:00 | 
 | You're you're keeping yourself in the driver's seat. Right. You are not a passive realtor that is waiting for customers to jump. Then you are not acting as a commodity. You are controlling that opportunity and you then become a magnet because people want to surround that, want want to come to you for that opportunity. And I think too many salespeople have not figured a way to offer true value to their clients.

 | 00:21:00:14 | 
 | It's just fascinating. I think the profile of a general buyer and seller has really changed over the last ten years, and it's that, you know, I'm I'm 35 years old. I don't need I shouldn't say I don't need a realtor to find me, you know, a house that's already on Zillow. What I need someone to do because I need them to show me and open my eyes to the opportunity that a property that's already listed has.

 | 00:21:25:12 | 
 | Or find me an off market deal, find me something else, but like finding a property and then walking them through the opportunity in detail which Ryan I know is exactly what you do. That's sort of what Riverdale should be doing. Like if your clients are buying and own homes on Zillow and then just sending you an email that says they show me this house, you're a wallboard, our employee, you're not you're not worth a $30,000 commission.

 | 00:21:48:03 | 
 | But if you're contacting them with the opportunity, they're not shopping you. They're not interviewing for other agents. You're you're literally ensuring that the transaction stays with you. And any transaction partners that are offering an equal value with you on that transaction.

 | 00:22:02:22 | 
 | Yeah, 100%. You know, and I'm glad that you mentioned that. So something that's been very beneficial for me as an agent with my look, you know, so if Greg is in my market, Greg is my lender partner, then something that I've incorporated with some of my investment properties is obviously this is a it's a vacant property that needs to go on the market and it's a motivated seller.

 | 00:22:22:24 | 
 | Now with that, there's an opportunity for my business partner. So Greg is my lender partner. My, my value to Greg is I'm going to create opportunities for Greg that he may not have options to as well to. So you know, we put financing signs on on the properties. We do something called a cross qualification where if I get an offer, I'm going to send it to Greg and his team and saying, Hey, I need you to meet this buyer.

 | 00:22:47:10 | 
 | And that way, if for whatever reason the lender that they're working with can't perform their job, I'm going to create an opportunity where you can take this file and close it, and it's a benefit to my seller, but also to me. And you would think, I mean, you guys would not believe I need offers and we start the cross qualification process.

 | 00:23:06:18 | 
 | The buyer doesn't even know who their lender is or they don't even really care who their lender is. They get a chance to talk to somebody like Greg and Greg tells them how, you know, just in communication. So opportunities like you were tell it about hey did you know here's where interest rates are you can only put it you can leverage your cash if you put down this as opposed to business and he wins them over many, many times because of the level of who we partner with.

 | 00:23:29:20 | 
 | Somebody like Greg, there's an opportunity that can be had there just by being connected. So that's another huge thing I look for is how can I also bring my partners in to create opportunities that are mutually beneficial but also brings value to my seller to.

 | 00:23:46:05 | 
 | Well, all of that. And I mean, we talk about we talk about creating value and exercise that I've been coaching my agent partners to work on for the last year is to simply go through your database and go through every single person and do a five minute critical thinking exercise to think, How could I add value to this person based on what they do for a living, based on their family, based on where they live, based on their financial situation, and then second, second, not first?

 | 00:24:10:18 | 
 | What kind of value could they offer to me? And then when you have your phone call with them, when you have your in-person meeting, your coffee, your break bread, whatever you want to call it, pitched the idea like walk them through what that could look like, what so many of us just put someone in our system and then put them on a 12 year drip campaign that your corporate office made for you.

 | 00:24:27:23 | 
 | That's why you suck. That's why you're not doing any business to put it, to put it bluntly. So find the value. And Ryan, you're doing that Now, I know we don't have all day because you probably want to enjoy the beautiful Southern California weather. But you mentioned Bomba. I love Bob. It's been a great system forever. AT you use it really, really well, not only for your investors, but also your clients.

 | 00:24:49:12 | 
 | So walk us through how long we've been on Bob and kind of what your strategy is, because I think a lot of people out there would will love to incorporate it in the same way that you have.

 | 00:24:59:13 | 
 | Yeah, I know, absolutely. So what I love about LA Land is the capability. You can embed a video into an email, you can send it out to the masses. For me, it's also about data and analytics. So if I'm like you said it, I don't want to just send out a canned email and have to be another one that falls into somebody's junk, you know, jot folders or something along those lines.

 | 00:25:23:19 | 
 | I want engagement. I want them to know or at least feel like it's coming directly from me and not from a team member or not from anybody else. So I'm looking at authenticity. I'm looking at engagement. Bob is also a very, very cost effective option. So from a business standpoint of looking at the cost effectiveness, I'm looking at ease of use.

 | 00:25:43:01 | 
 | And like I said, I don't get I don't get an override from Bob Long for saying this. Literally. I'm looking at what's going to make my life easier. Help me scale that business, help me to stay engaged with my clients. And Bob has been the best platform that you can do. Code video. Bob Either of them are about the same problems just been when I've used and it's worked well for me for over five years.

 | 00:26:04:05 | 
 | So, you know.

 | 00:26:05:17 | 
 | We all love the.

 | 00:26:06:15 | 
 | Yeah. And we group, you know, we do like you were saying, we group our whether it's past clients, I put everybody into tags and groups. So if I want to send a just an email only to my past clients inviting them to a client a bet. So we just had a PI that in November and a Santa Claus event in December.

 | 00:26:26:01 | 
 | Super easy and time effective for me to grab all of our past clients because they're they're tagged as past clients. Shoot a quick video, send a quick email, send the invite as well too, and then track engagement. How many people are opening it? Did they look at it? Did they watch the video? Right. So it just creates a system where we can, like you said, stay engaged with our clients so that we can, you know, make sure that they know what's coming up with us.

 | 00:26:51:24 | 
 | And it gives us easy communication.

 | 00:26:54:15 | 
 | And I you mentioned for your investor clients, you do a really great job of sending them opportunities via Bob. What what are those videos look like and how are you somebody.

 | 00:27:05:22 | 
 | Yeah you know so it for me it's something super simple right? So let's say that I've got the three that's coming up. That's a perfect flip opportunity for an investor. Quick video no more than 30 seconds, a quick overview of the property here. We have a single story. It's three bedrooms. It's two baths, is located here in Riverside of California.

 | 00:27:25:13 | 
 | You know, approximate repair value is going to be around $50,000. Here's what's the approximate RB or Astor after repair value. I'm just setting them up with the specs of the property and setting them up with here's the potential investment, here's a potential return so they can make a very quick decision. I don't give them everything. I don't give them too much information because at the end of the day I want them to contact me, right?

 | 00:27:49:11 | 
 | So I'm going to give them enough to where they're engaged. If they're engaged, they're going to raise their hand. We're going to reach out to them because at the end of the day, I still need to hold the information so that there's a reason for them to connect.

 | 00:28:01:02 | 
 | So.

 | 00:28:02:04 | 
 | Yeah, we can do that. And then same same premise on this is if I'm able to scale this out to 20 different investors and then I get five investors that raised their hand, I've created a scenario where we can kind of cherry pick who's going to have the best terms, who we want to do, we want to write an offer.

 | 00:28:17:19 | 
 | So then with my team, whoever is writing that offer has the best chance of getting an accepted deal. So we like to leverage out those opportunities.

 | 00:28:26:05 | 
 | I love that. What what about your past clients and babies?

 | 00:28:29:17 | 
 | Yes. Yeah. So, you know, obviously with me, the ideas are somebody that I am very engaged with on on it at a high level. My pipes in my life are the all the top people. Greg is one of my VP's all the the people that I want to live life with. We connect on a, a personal level, like Greg was saying, our wives connect.

 | 00:28:47:09 | 
 | So if we're ever, you know, and we're quite often to where we were at these different destinations is we want our wives to hang out. We want to go have, you know, have chances where we can hang out as couples or so. In order for me to do that, then Greg needs to know what's going on with me in my life.

 | 00:29:03:08 | 
 | So we send out a written form. It's called A Letter of the Heart, where we tell people more about us as people, right? Not just the business side. So, you know, I want Greg to know or other VIPs to know what's going on in my life other than the business side. So we have that connection. So if this is the relationship ship, you know, if my business is built on relationships, then it needs to have that component.

 | 00:29:28:12 | 
 | So I like to utilize programs like Bon Bon to to really scale out the idea so you can send out VIP videos. A mentor of Greg and I, his name is Rick Ruby, one of the guys that we've learned probably the most about every aspect of our business. He sends out VIP video to everybody and Joe says, Here's what's going on.

 | 00:29:50:07 | 
 | My life. Here's one Do it for Christmas. Here's what's going on with my wife. Here's what's going on with my kids. It's a super quick way to engage. Keep everybody posted. And then if you add some sort of a call to action with it, like, hey, I'm struggling with this, can you send me a text message and let me know how you got through with this?

 | 00:30:07:20 | 
 | You're creating engagement much more than just a typical email.

 | 00:30:12:04 | 
 | Well, then I think that's a huge message for everybody out there is you have to not every time, but add opportunities for engagement like open ended questions that that your average customer could answer. Because if you it's not all about getting a referral or getting a lead off every email you send out to everybody, you use that it's just about creating engagement.

 | 00:30:30:03 | 
 | Because if they're engaging with you about X topic, they're certainly going to engage with you in real estate. And I think that is that is a huge opportunity. So guys, the last thing you want to end with, I'll start with Greg Walk, walk me through one thing you're doing in this market to ensure that you have a killer.

 | 00:30:48:21 | 
 | 23 Well, I mean, almost to kick back to what Ryan just said, I'm spending time getting deeper with clients, referral partners. You know, the the unfortunate part and there were many unfortunate parts of COVID is, you know, we lost touch with people in the personal side of things, especially in business was was taken away from us. And so, you know, I'm really taking this time to spread holiday cheer, but but more so just reconnect in a more of a calm, you know, personal environment type thing, you know, And I've always believed you.

 | 00:31:28:13 | 
 | You make enough friends and you take care of enough people. And the money plays in the backyard, you know, and the business will take care of itself. If I don't lead with, Hey, give me a loan. Hey, do this for me. But more so, you know, like Ryan said, who are you? You know, get to know them. What kind of value can I bring into your life?

 | 00:31:46:19 | 
 | What can maybe you coach me on and teach me on? And more than anything right now, it's it's just a good opportunity this time of year to really get get deeper and and really get to know people better. Whether it's first time getting to know them or you've just kind of lost touch over the last few years. I love about you, right?

 | 00:32:04:11 | 
 | Yeah. You know, very, very much on the same page. So I think like Greg was saying, what what Coben taught us is that relationships are everything. And, you know, we're coming from a at least in the real estate world, a very transactional last two years where we've been drinking from a firehose. I feel like the relationship component has been there because we don't have the bandwidth to offer that.

 | 00:32:25:23 | 
 | So what I'm focused on right now is the basics. So really I'm actually looking at how can I get that, How can I get better? How can I get just master the mundane and start doing the basics better? And for me, my mindset right now is it's separation season, right? So, you know, I know when Christmas is and I know when my my wife expects me to turn off my computer and when she expects me to stop looking at that.

 | 00:32:51:07 | 
 | But I'll tell you what, until the second that that happens, I'm going it 100 miles an hour through the end of this year. And, you know, I'm going to work hard. And then when it's time for me to unplug, I'm going to give it everything that I have to pay attention to that. So I'm all in and what I'm doing, I know when to put that in a box and move on to the next thing, but at the end of the day, the end of the day, you know, especially in the real estate industry, you know, if we've decided that we're going to the year is over right now, then, you know, for somebody like

 | 00:33:19:18 | 
 | me, you're going to give me an extra 3 to 4 days that my competition doesn't have. So I'm going to focus on that. I'm going to maximize and, you know, we're we're just looking at, you know, getting better and finishing off the year strong.

 | 00:33:32:05 | 
 | It's a great time to see some market share when most of our competitors, wherever we're orbited, are are eating cookies and taking their foot off the pedal. I mean, like I haven't had today's maybe like my slowest day for incoming emails from my B to be partners. It is. And that just tells me that most people have their foot off the gas.

 | 00:33:50:17 | 
 | That being said, this is the best possible time to call past clients. And a couple of weeks after the holidays is everybody was just with their brother, their cousin, whoever talking about real estate. This is when you want to be top of mind. More than ever the month before and the month after month after the holidays. Yeah. So 100%.

 | 00:34:08:23 | 
 | 100%. So, Ryan, if someone out there in the world had a referral for you, they have a client that they want to send that needs something in Southern California, how could someone find you? Get a hold of you connect with you.

 | 00:34:20:10 | 
 | Yeah. No thank you for for asking all that obviously is social media. We're on Facebook, we're on Instagram, you know, our website, which is my last name. It's Mickey already group dot com. That's the best way to find us on the web. And you can call the office line direct. We have kind of a one size fits all number for the office line which is 9513189188.

 | 00:34:45:20 | 
 | And that gets directly to the office and you know work with a team is ready. Like I said, we're not taking any days off.

 | 00:34:53:01 | 
 | So and Greg, if someone has a real estate or mortgage need in the Saint Louis area, how would they get all of you guys? Yeah, for sure. So on the Web Iverson mortgage dot com is the best way to find us social media we're out there as well or call me directly my my cell phone is 6367511068. I do answer it probably more than my wife would like me to.

 | 00:35:24:16 | 
 | But that's that's best way to judgment. I think someone someone listening out there should send Greg a text or call right now just to make sure he's on his game, but like, not giving me referrals. Ask him some good questions. I think. I think you'll be surprised at what kind of great information response you get. The guys, thank you so much for spending your time with me today.

 | 00:35:45:20 | 
 | I think we gave people some seriously awesome value and look forward to showing everyone who's some of our next guests in 23. Are you guys soon? And thanks so much, guys.