SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to the Loan Originator Pulse, the show for loan officers who want to know what's actually working in the market right now. I'm Fort Elaine Schaefer, and every episode I'm going to sit down with originators and industry voices who are in the trenches, and we get into the real tactics behind the numbers, the plays, the tools, and the habits driving today's top production. The pulse is produced by MMI1. So we use real production data to find the people worth learning from. And every conversation is built to send you back to your desk with at least one thing you can try this week. So let's get into it. Guys, welcome in. You are joining us for our first episode of the Alone Originator Pulse new podcast that we are hosting here with MMI1. And the reason for this podcast is to bring in folks that are honestly just really just making huge strides in success in the market, really showing, you know, that we can definitely see who's winning. We want to hear why they're winning. We want to hear what they're doing. So again, the loan originator pulse is going to focus on that. We are going to focus on those individuals that we can all learn from. And from that, I will say, um, let's kind of you know get started. My name is Courtney Lane Schaeffers, um, VP of Growth and Client Advocacy here at MMI. And um, and I get to spend so much time with our customers. I get to spend so much time with all of the teams that work here in MMI. And um I get to spend a ton of time with folks in the industry, um, at industry events, talking to folks. And um, and so that is why um I want to point out that it was just a no-brainer um coming off some of the events that we've been doing for my first um amazing guest, I might add, um, Joel Gonzalez is our first inaugural guest to the Loan Originator Pulse. And you guys, um, we are in for a treat. So we are going to chat today. We're gonna go through just, you know, kind of gonna pepper Joel with some questions so that you guys can take away some um great intel, hopefully some nuggets that are really gonna work in your business, make a difference. And um, and so you guys, Joel Gonzalez with more lending. Um, I will give you a little snippet here. So, Joel, you closed, I think it was 78, 80 units last year. You're on target to do the same this year. You're looking at about probably about 46 units that you've closed thus far. Um, last year, I think that totaled a little over 40 mil, 41 plus mil, right? And this year, again, you're right on target to do the same. Um, you guys, if you don't know who Joel is and you don't know the group here at More Lending, um, Joel, give everybody a 20-second version of your business. What are you doing? Where are you? What is More Lending? Who are you?

SPEAKER_00 3:15

Absolutely. So uh number one, thank you for having me on this podcast, right? I'm always uh honored to be as invited to be as the first guest, right? So thank you very much for that. But um, yeah, my name's Joel. I'm the executive vice president of sales and marketing here at More Lending. Uh More Lending is a small brokerage uh based out of Miami, Florida, right now. Well, small-ish, but now we're we're we're mini-correspondent, uh moving into a correspondent level, particularly here in Florida, but expanding across multiple states now in the U.S. So currently, as of this last year, we were a $250 million shop, and we've been acquiring some other small brokerages that come under the more lending umbrella right now, to next year moving into a space where we'll be a $1.3 billion uh mortgage shop, right? So we're kind of we're we're in expansion mode right now, which is why I think this conversation is so fitting because we're helping a lot of loan officers tap into their true potential, earn more money, and close more deals.

SPEAKER_01 4:13

Awesome. Well, and and so let's let's expand on that a little bit. So today, what does your book of business look like today? Are you focused more on purchase? Um, how is that in reference to ReFi? Um, again, what's your referral business like? You know, are you self-generated? Like kind of talk to us about what you're doing and what you're coaching your team there to do because obviously they have an amazing coach right smack dab in their building with them. Um, so um, so talk to me about what that business looks like for you.

SPEAKER_00 4:47

Yeah, absolutely. So my business is about 99% uh purchase. I I I want to say 95, some refines have been creeping in here and there, but 95% purchase. Uh the reality is we've I have focused extremely heavy on referral partnerships and uh relationship-driven business here. I have never in my life paid for uh a dollar of advertising. I've never in my life paid for a single um a single lead, a single ad, whatever you can call it. I think the most I've ever paid for was social media handling by a videographer or something like that. So completely true, 100% organic. We still to this day do not pay for any leads for the company, right? So I have coached and I have built my business off of creating relationships, organic relationships, of doing the things that my people that people do not like, right? Uh I think I hear people hear the word cold call and they get very scared of that word because they're like, oh no, I'm not doing that. I actually built my business off of cold calls. I would legitimately call up realtors. Um now I've expanded that from realtors to other businesses, right? Uh, where we're we're targeting lucrative referral partners that have uh different opportunities for us, right? So I'm coaching my team right now, I think on two primary things. You know, we went over something with them that was extremely interesting, right? Which was, hey, let's focus on one thing you want to do to the end of this year. That one thing that you want to change. And let's hold each other accountable. A lot of the coaching that I do is not even um, I would say coaching. Yes, I'm helping them and giving strategies, giving tips, but it's a lot more of holding them accountable because I've noticed that I I didn't do anything fancy. I didn't build my business with the newest technology, the newest silver bullet, nothing. I mean, I'll even tell you my cold call script back then was awful. But I just stuck to it. I mean, hey, I'm gonna call 10 to 20 people every single day. I'm gonna post, I'm gonna do my comments, I'm gonna make sure that I'm talking to clients, I'm meeting with people, I'm just gonna make sure that I'm doing this every single day. And the results will speak for themselves. So that that's kind of what I'm coaching my team on doing is the little things, the very boring things that we've forgotten about. And it's so funny that you mentioned that because Roy was literally like, um, he's like, you know, all the things you're doing today is what we used to do back then for to gain business. And it's kind of almost like the digitization of things brought it over and changed everything. But at the end of the day, we're just kind of going back to our roots.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

Yeah. So so that's perfect because as we talk about getting into more of a um, you know, really tactful, you know, process and and way of thinking. Um, you know, I know your business. I want everyone else to know your business, right? Um, but you and I have spoken so much. So I do know that you are very much the person that is like, hey, I am gonna cold call, I am gonna go find new leads, you know, whether those leads are referral partners or whether they are clients, right? Um, you know, that are going to be borrowers. Um, because, you know, I know one of the things that we've talked about most recently is, you know, you even using the new MMI1 mobile app and how that's actually surfaced up people from a borrower standpoint when you're looking at your, you know, your contacts in that phone. Um, so whether we are looking at referrals, you know, so referral business, new partners, right? Or whether we are looking at those borrowers that you're bringing in that are new leads, um, and then going back to coaching and what you're saying to your folks, um, let's talk about what does that look like? So from the time you get that lead, what are those touch points? Like, so, you know, if you're talking about referral partners, that's obviously different because they're not doing applications, right? You know, a borrower's doing an application, but kind of talk to me about both of those um types of leads and what does that process look like for you? I know we talked about scripts and you know things of that nature, but kind of dig deeper a little bit into the tactful side of that.

SPEAKER_00 9:04

Got it. And uh are you are you asking, are you primarily referencing um clients when I get a client referral in, what are my touch points with them or like a referral, a realtor referral partner?

SPEAKER_01 9:17

Because I know you work both angles, right? So I know you very much work the new lead as far as like this is a new referral partner lead.

SPEAKER_00 9:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:25

But then furthermore, just like we were talking about with the MMI1 mobile app, you know, now that your all your contacts, you know, are syncing, right? You may possibly have brand new leads that you didn't even know you had from a borrower standpoint. So what would your touch points look like on either side of those? So those are two different versions of leads, but what does that look like for you?

SPEAKER_00 9:46

Got it. So yeah, for the realtor referral partner, I mean, I I'm not gonna say I invented this, right? But I do have a seven touch point system that I have. Um and I and I will, when a realtor refers me a lead, see, we're very specific. A lot of things that loan officers don't do is they don't teach their agents how to refer them. So we're very specific on that. We're very, hey, refer me through a group chat, refer me through an email introduction, refer me like this. The reason we do that is because we have systematically created a, I don't want to say system again, but we systematically created a system that basically can increase a conversion rate for the realtor and convert 10% more of their clients. And we actually show them this, right? We show them, hey, if you work with us, we can increase your conversion rate by 10%. And because we've increased your conversion rate by 10%, we're actually going to get you more business and make you more money, right? That's a value proposition that I have to my realtor partners that not many lenders can say that they do, right? So we contact them seven days in a row, usually speaking, that we will share the info with uh the realtor throughout that transaction, right? But we actually do a variance of a call, of a call. We actually do a variance of a call, an email, and a text message, all three in one thing, right? And we we find this particularly easy because our realtors referring to deal, we have it plugged into our system and on our CRM, and our CRM just reminds us, right? And we work based off of our tasks. It's really not that hard. You know, a lot of the database and the outreach is done by my team. They're very good at it and they work very based off the system. It cannot be diluted. It's gotta have some nature about it. So we contact them about seven days in a row. Once we start getting things going, it's usually about an every two-a-day touch point on them where they're either in doc reporting status, approval status, whatever they are, all the way up until they're in pre-approved status. Once they're pre-approved, we will meet with them in person like this over a Zoom call, which not a lot of loan officers like to do. People are just sending out loan estimates. No, we don't believe in that. We lock in and we sit down with them and we go over the most important purchase of their life. And um that's pretty much how it goes on that one. Then the as far as the MMI one app, if there's opportunity that presents itself, like I said, very big on calls, right? So for me, it's about, hey, can I make 10 to 20 dials every single day? And the MMI one app has really just created opportunity for me to do that, right? Like it's sometimes you just sit there and you're like, okay, who should I call on my phone? The MMI one app literally tells you who to call on your phone. So it makes my life way easier where I can just literally pick up my phone and say, hey, I'm gonna make these 10 dials and just have conversations. You'd be surprised that just having conversations does for your business. And I don't think a lot of people have enough conversations throughout the day to really create new opportunities. And it happens through the least likely of events. And I really just think, hey, get out there, make conversations, use the phone to its uh to its advantage. And and that's that's how we reach out, free touch points, trade opportunity, and kind of a little bit more tactical on that.

SPEAKER_01 12:54

So that leads me to another question. So um, you know, not everyone likes to pick up the phone and make a phone call, right? Um you know, crazy, right? We are in this this stage. I mean, you know, there before SMS, it was like everybody just resort, you know, resorted to email. It was like nobody wanted to pick up the phone anymore, everybody wanted to email, right? And then obviously, then, you know, now it was so much easier to, you know, text folks and everybody has their phone in their hands. So I'm always gonna text someone. Again, mixed in with email and text, we could do video, right? I mean, so you can still be very personable. You can put yourself out there in a video, you can make it, you know, where your face is actually in front of them. So again, you're very much top of mind, right? But at the end of the day of a phone call with someone, right? When you really spend time with someone on the phone, I mean, I still feel like that really does make a difference, right? However, I'm gonna ask you a little something about that because a lot of people won't pick up a phone if they don't know the number, right? So if you're calling someone for the first time, a lot of people are gonna screen that, they're gonna wait, they're gonna call you back later, you know, et cetera, et cetera, right? So, um, so anyways, just kind of talk to me about your communication style and and how you make sure you get that person on the phone, or you know, what's your difference? Like, like everybody's so worried about AI taking over the human touch, right? At the end of the day, I don't, I mean, I I think it enhances the ability to communicate, but I don't think it's ever gonna replace the human touch. But talk to me about that.

SPEAKER_00 14:40

No, I think uh uh, I mean, how do I get people to answer the phone, right? So I mean, a lot of times they see my name and they're like, yo, I gotta answer. I'm just kidding. But um no, I have to answer. What are you talking about? Uh listen, I to me, it's uh, you know, if we're talking about realtor partners, right? And and and realtor connections and people referral partners, right? Basically let's talk about realtors, right? A lot of realtors are not gonna answer the phone. Um and it's it's quite shocking to me because you're in the real estate business, right? What if that's a client calling you? It it drives me nuts, right? Um, so they they sometimes just don't answer, and that's okay. And that's perfectly fine. Um, we actually use this really cool tool uh called the voicemail, right? And a lot of people are not using that these days. It's just it's crazy, right? But we leave an enticing voicemail, right? And the voicemail should have curiosity, enthusiasm, should have some level of enticement to give me a call back, right? So we will leave them a voicemail and a text usage to listen to that voicemail, right? Because we want them to hear from our voice, right? And then, you know, from there they either give us a call back or they don't, right? But from after that point, it's I don't take that personally. I have what we call persistence. I'm going to call you over and over and over until you tell me, please stop calling me, or I'm going to fly to Miami and meet you personally, right? Like, like until or until they blocked me. Listen, how many people have I been blocked by? Countless people, right? Countless people. And I don't take any offense to that whatsoever. I'm here to build a business. And the difference between me and that other person is I'm not chasing that person. And I don't feel like I am beneath that realtor. I'm calling realtors that have done 10, 20 deals in the last 12 months. Well, guess what? I did four times your volume. I am the true prize and I really want to help you. I I've always told my people when you have a product that you're selling, if you believe in that product, if you believe that that product can realistically help the other person, how much better can you sell that product? So if I believe in the fact that, hey, that realtor that is on the other side of my call, that person that's on the other side of my call is going to truly benefit from a phone call with me, from talking to me, from actually having conversations with me, right? And actually working with me, I almost get upset for them that they didn't answer the call. Like I'm almost like, you guys are missing out on serious opportunity here. So my calls are with conviction, my calls are with Area, right? And listen, I do think AI is coming and we're actually partnering with AI in a lot of different ways to help streamline the parts that are not human connection. Cause at the end of the day, clients want to meet with humans. I don't, I do think that there is a certain percentage of the market that will effectively be able to buy a home without a human touch. That's already been proven. Um, and I'm not knocking that. And I think it will continue to grow as we become more digitized, right? But I do not think that that it will be the entire market. And that's fine, it's just market consolidation. But can you use AI to streamline the other parts of your business you don't need to be in to help scale you bigger, scale you farther, and help you grow as a loan officer? Today, in my days, I you're the fourth face-to-face I have today. This today, this morning I had a breakfast, I had uh a podcast with another real estate agent, I had a luncheon networking event in the middle of the day, and then now I'm doing this, and then gonna end off my day with probably doing a little bit of follow-up and that's it. But that's what my days look like. AI can't do this. So if my days look like this, then I can have the opportunity where AI will not replace me because I have AI doing the stuff that requires me to be in front of a computer.

SPEAKER_01 18:32

Yeah. Awesome. Well, uh a couple of things that you said. Um, first and foremost, um, the power of a voicemail still does matter, right? Um, and then to your point, you know, bringing curiosity, bringing that enthusiasm, bringing that value add instantly to that referral partner on the other end of the phone, right? Um again, if we're willing to give and really not ask anything in return, you know, especially initially, um I mean, why wouldn't someone want to be a part of that? And then what you reap as a benefit of that later is going to be the fact that you're gonna grow that relationship and you're ultimately gonna grow that business and and you're gonna share clients together, right? Um you know, but oftentimes, you know, people it's it's people go into something more about what's in it for me rather than what can I give and I'm going to receive tenfold because I'm I'm willing to give, right? Um, and then you also mentioned um, you know, believing in the product you're selling. Quite frankly, the product you're selling is one thing, believe in yourself, right? And you guys, that is a hundred percent why Joel is so, you know, great at what he does, is because he does it with such a sense of confidence and not arrogance. There's a difference, right? There's very much a difference between confidence and arrogance. And, you know, it being confident and knowing that you have something to offer and knowing that part of what you're offering is the fact that you are going to be a great partner, right? Um, is going to be noticed on the other end. And, you know, again, people want to do business with people like that. So um I love all of that. I love the fact that you're still talking about 10 to 20 calls a day. Um, you guys, he doesn't get where he is without doing this. So, you know, if you're listening and you know, you're thinking you're knocking it out of the park with five calls a day, I mean, you know, maybe just challenge yourself. Can you do 10? Right. And really challenge yourself and can you do 20? Um, so um, all right. Moving on, um, and kind of, you know, looking at the pulse of the market right now, right? Um, what do you think that the borrowers out there are most worried about right now? And then how do you handle that objection with those borrowers?

SPEAKER_00 21:11

Yeah, so that's uh that's that's a tough one, right? So borrowers are obviously uh, I'm in Miami. So borrowers are are very obviously complaining about two things their monthly payment reality, right? Their monthly payment versus uh and interest rates, right? Interest rates directly affect their monthly payment, but also in Miami we have, I think, the highest home prices that's not California, maybe even New York, right? But Miami is just incredibly high and rising. And the cost of living is number one in the world or number two, I think, behind Los Angeles or San Diego, one of those two. But so the cost of things here continue to go up. The cost of a mortgage here, you're gonna spend $4,450. It is what it is every single month. And that's not an easy pill for people to swallow. So I think that's slow. Down them down a lot, right? But here's where I see a lot of the areas, right, that people have. It's can you explain to them that their monthly payment is not just a payment? See, when I go through my initial loan consultation, I'm very clear to go through the benefits of buying a house beside living in a house. It provides you, it's the first step to building financial freedom in the United States. Over 90% of millionaires are based on this, right? What tax benefits are you gonna get? How can building equity over the next five to 10 years be different than paying a lower rental payment? And what's the cost of waiting if you don't in the future, right? Can you directly explain this to your clients so when they see the $4,000 payment, they're not freaking out and they're understanding, okay, maybe I have to make this move for the better of my future. And I'd be honest with them, right? Hey, right now it hurts. In the next three or four or five years are gonna hurt. But I've never had a client, honestly, I don't, I think maybe two or three percent of my clients have missed their mortgage payments, fallen behind, something of that nature, where they really, hey, I uh my job went behind and I couldn't do it. Everybody figures out how to do it. Um, and I think correctly educating them, getting them prepared, and obviously taking your time with them. You know, I have at any given time 25 to 30 pre-approved clients just waiting on the sidelines and hey, we're not doing much with them, but we're calling them weekly. We're we're updating them on the market, right? We're making them feel more comfortable. We're we're with them every step of the way so that they do not feel like they are being left behind and we give them a piece of paper and we're walking away with them. We want them to feel like, hey, this is not just a transaction. We understand this is the biggest purchase you're probably gonna make in your life, and we are going to be there with you and correctly educate you on future things and put you in the right areas and give you strategies. Hey, here's some strategies to lower down that overall payment. This is how much money you would need, this is what you should do, and kind of educate themselves, educate them. On top of that, I need to be educated on what I'm educating them on as well. And that's a whole big factor that I have with them. So I think education is the biggest way that I get across the rebuttals of, oh my gosh, that payment is super high, or oh my gosh, interest rates are super high, oh my gosh, home prices are super high, they're never gonna wait for them to go down. Like that, that's one of a large objection that I get. I'm waiting for rates to go down, I'm waiting for prices to go down. And I have very real conversations like, hey, that's not gonna happen. Like if you're gonna continue, this is what it's gonna cost you to wait. You want to continue, sure, go ahead, but that's not gonna happen. And if you're gonna continue to wait, we'll have this conversation again in the year. And if they don't want to do that, hey, nurture pipeline, six month, three-month follow-up. Give them a call. Hey, you see home prices haven't come down. What are you doing? What are we doing? What are we doing? And that nurture goes on because not everybody's gonna be excited today, but you have to have a system that follows up with them.

SPEAKER_01 24:45

Yeah. Well, and while you might have said that there might be the opportunity to buy a home with no human involved, what you just said is why I think humans are still always going to be involved, right? I mean, I think it would be few and far between. Um, because I just think that again, this is the biggest purchase that someone is making, right? And I think we do need to empower the borrowers. We need to educate them. They need to feel like, you know, they have you know, again, like they're just not being told what to do. But like I mean, and and sometimes they really, I mean, let's face it, I mean, they kind of are because they really don't know what they're doing, right? Um, but if we give them the tools and we educate them and we empower them, then they feel more like they have made that decision and and they and they feel confident about that decision, right? Um, and that they're making that decision, you know, not just because someone told them to, but because they learned it, right? And and yes, I I know why I'm doing this, right? You know, so um so I do believe that that that is exactly why you can't replace Joel with just an online application, right? Um and I think that's also why you're so successful, is because of what you're offering um to those folks. Um additionally, you know, when you talk about um empowering and you talk about, you know, the market right now and why that education is so important, um, it's also even after they have made that purchase with you, right? It is continuing to stay in front of those folks. Because I mean, it's there's a cycle, right, of of how this all goes, right? And whether that's the cycle of how many years you're gonna stay in your home, whether that's the cycle of does the market push for, you know, a possible refi? Is it that someone decides that they can't really afford to move and it doesn't make sense? So now what kind of equity do I have? Because now I gotta move, you know, my parents in. So I need to build an, you know, an in-law suite. There's so many different things that happen, right? And how do you ensure that you're going to be that loan officer that they come back to and they don't go find someone else, right? So talk to me about what that continuing nurturing looks like for you and what is your touch point for that.

SPEAKER_00 27:16

Yeah, absolutely. That's a great, great question there. Um, so we do uh number one, I try to connect with all my clients on social media. I try to have them just connect with me on Facebook, uh, Instagram. Even if they want a client, just contact them from there and and and try to have that ability, right? Um, that's number one. Number two, we we do client calls every week. That's part of one of the days, and it's usually Thursdays, where I call my past clients. Like I'm I'm calling them, having conversations with them, and I'm just checking in on them. I got a client who he just told me he just got a job in Georgia. He's making 190K a year now. And I'm like, wow, and he just bought a house last year. You would never think that he would be somebody who's about to transact again, but he just made $190,000. His wife makes $60,000 and a house in Georgia where we're licensed. And I'm like, hey, you need when you're are you ready to say that? Yes, I am. It's like, well, you can use your FHA loan again. You can buy with 3.5% down again, and now we can help you purchase that because you're gonna qualify. Like, so that's an opportunity that was created because I decided to make that phone call again and stay up to date with my past clients. On top of that, you know, we do um, you know, uh we we do kind of review uh annual mortgage reviews where we go through their mortgage and say, hey, send over your mortgage statement, let's figure out what's happening, the equity in your house, all of these different areas, right? Um and I think with the MMI1 app now, right, and and with Bonzo specifically too, we can enrich their data. And we can enrich their data, we can find out key pieces of information, see if there's something that they can be having in that area, right? And then call with basically what I like to say is like a loaded gun, right? Where we're calling up with a loaded shotgun and we have ammo to go to them and speak with them on, right? And sometimes it's a check-in call. Hey, how are you doing, right? And uh another thing that's not a lot of people are using is email, right? Email newsletters. Yeah, there you get a ton of emails, you're probably not looking at it, but you just send an email. It doesn't cost you anything to send them out, it's free. And you're staying in front of on top of mine, so we send out a newsletter once a week to our client base, just talk to them, send it up. You know, we have a um post-closing nurture campaign. I think one of the biggest problems in our industry is we do not look at the at what we've done in the past and we treat it like if it's nothing. Um, and that's the biggest error. You just help somebody buy the biggest property of their house. How are they feeling 12 months later? Like, are they feeling good? Are they getting married? Is anything big in their life happening right now? I spoke to this girl that she purchased a house, they just got engaged, they're now getting married. Um, hey, I'm gonna send you a gift for the wedding. Like, uh and these are big milestones that they remember you for. And I will tell you something, Courtney. I, and this is where a lot of loan officers lose it, is I am very, very uninvolved in the loan transactions. Okay, I'm very, very uninvolved. What do I mean by that? I have a processor, I have a loan officer assistant that is reviewing everything that is going through the loan with them, and is and it's pretty much the person on top of the loan. And I do very key touch points, and they probably spoke to that person way more than I did. However, they remember who I am because of the actual conversations that we have. A lot of people don't want to give their business to an LOA or a processor and say, no, because I'm gonna lose it. That's a very false narrative because people will still be my clients, people are still calling me, people are still asking me the question, they're still seeing me as that point of contact. So I think that we have to get our minds and say, hey, these are awful people too. We have we have great transactions, let's treat them as friends, let's treat, you know, really good friends, three really good clients for really close people. That's kind of how we do the follow-up of the past clients.

SPEAKER_01 31:02

Yeah. Well, I mean, listen, I mean, your past clients, I mean, you know, what if, I mean, I'll give you a perfect example myself, right? If you had done my loan, right? And my 28 daughter, 28-year-old daughter and the next year decides to buy a home, right? Who am I gonna refer her to? I'm not gonna tell her to just go find someone, right? I'm gonna refer you to my daughter, you know, and or, you know, if I have a neighbor that says, you know, oh man, you know, we were really thinking about doing so-and-so, right? Well, if I'm extremely happy with the person that helped me, and then that person continues to stay top of mind, then I'm gonna continue to, you know, so every single one of those borrowers has a, you know, easily probably has five different people that they could refer you um to in the next, you know, however many years, right? Um there are I I'm sure there's some stats on that that I probably, you know, could spit out, but off the top of my head, I'm not remembering those. But um, but yeah, I would say that I mean, you know, that's just that's a huge thing that so many people forget. Because if you really think about it, a retention rate really averages only that of about 18, 20% at best, right? That people retain their own.

SPEAKER_00 32:22

It's it's awful. It's awful. And that's that's another pitch that I have to my realtor partners is that I say, hey, there will never be another realtor's um lawn sign going out in their yard to sell their house. Like I'm gonna know, like, hey, is that client that moved to Georgia? There's a possibility to sell their house. Hey, Mr. Realtor Partner, um, this person, this happened in their life event. Because guess what? Realtors are worse than us in doing that job. And it is absolutely mind-boggling. I say to realtors, you know, hey, what percentage of your of your business referral base? Oh, 80, 90%. And I was like, okay. And uh, are you following up with your past lines? No. And I was like, what are we, what are we doing? If that's 80% of your business, like, can you please?

SPEAKER_01 33:03

Crazy, crazy. All right. So this is gonna be the section that I'm gonna rapid fire at you. So we're gonna go through this one a little quick. Um, we're gonna do a pulse check as we call it here. And so one app or tool that you can't live without.

SPEAKER_00 33:20

One app or tool that I can't live without is uh, well, the MMI one app is getting there. But the uh but it's definitely um what we call Isla. It's our AI transcription software. Um it transcribes our conversations um with clients, with realtor partners, with anybody, so that my entire team, I run a team of three right now, personal production team, by the way, um of three right now that are needing to understand what the next steps in my phone calls are without me having to tell them what those next steps in my phone call are. So I I think transcription service that AI transcribes and puts together in a cohesive way for you to actually demonstrate to your team is key.

SPEAKER_01 33:58

Awesome. One piece of advice for a first-year LO.

SPEAKER_00 34:05

One piece.

SPEAKER_01 34:06

It's tough. I know it's tough for you, Joe.

SPEAKER_00 34:08

Oh my gosh. One piece of advice uh that I have for a first year LO is oh my gosh, don't give up. That has to be the one. Don't give up. No matter how hard it gets, no matter how bleak it seems. Um, you this is the industry that you can make the most amount of money in um and have the most amount of fun in, however hard that it does seem awesome.

SPEAKER_01 34:33

All right. The last thing that made you rethink how you do your business.

SPEAKER_00 34:41

The last thing that made me rethink how I do my business. So I would say the the question is the most recent thing that's happened to me that has made me rethink how I do business. Oh gosh. Um that is that is a very, very difficult question. I can't pinpoint it, but um I think the last thing that that did it was um we uh honestly AI, like AI is made me rethink how I do a lot of my business. We were looking at hire an assistant uh because we had an assistant just actually leave, which actually made me dive deeper into AI, found a company that could help me build out a uh an assistance, uh sit a software situation that is actually going to help us uh over the long term take those mundane tasks, even from processing all the way up to initial contact with client and have AI kind of figure that out. So I'm like, that made me think a lot about okay, if I can eliminate every task that I don't want to do or shouldn't need to do that can be computer based, what can I focus on and where does my focus need to be on for my business, which essentially helped me transfer into this role of, hey, I'm gonna just be out of the office all the time on calls, on meetings, just meeting with people and trying to generate new business. I think that that's been the biggest mind-opening thing, the biggest project I'm working on right now.

SPEAKER_01 36:04

Awesome. All right. So as we do a few takeaways for our guest here. Um if a listener with us does one thing after this episode, what do you think it should be?

SPEAKER_00 36:18

The listener does one thing after this episode is number one, track their output. I think that's the biggest thing. Track your output. You can convince yourself that you're not tracking your output, make a list and make yourself a goal of how many calls I want to do every single day. Identify who the calls you're gonna make out to every single day, and smack 10 calls a day. I would even go to tell you five of those calls be to new people you've never met before and track all of that. You'll start to notice in six months. Hey, in six months, I've made probably close to 1200 calls, and this is the amount of business that I've generated. That would be that.

SPEAKER_01 36:57

Awesome. And if someone wants to find you, Joel, pick your brain some more and they want to connect with you. Can you tell our listening audience how they can get a hold of you?

SPEAKER_00 37:08

No, no, it's a lot of money to get a hold of me. No, I'm just kidding. Uh yes. Um, so they can find me on Instagram with Joel Gonzalez Official. Um, they can also um go to More Lending. I think I have my pages active there. They can reach out to me via email, Joel at morelending.com, and uh they can actually DM me whatever way they would like to reach out. Social Instagram is gonna be the best form or method of contact. Or they can call More Lending's number directly and ask for me, and uh that usually just patches right through my phone.

SPEAKER_01 37:38

Awesome. Well, Joel, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for being our inaugural guest on our new podcast. And um, for those of you listening, thank you so much for listening in. Join us again. Um, we will continue to have folks doing exactly what Joel did today, sharing insights with us, sharing their secret sauce, um, sharing um tactics that are going to help you grow your business and um and and ultimately um so that your name is on that leaderboard. Um, that's what we want to see for you guys. So join us next time for the Lone Originator Post, and we will see you then.