Today, we're joined by Connor Bartley. Connor is a Senior Business Development Consultant at loanDepot from the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex in Texas, who's been recruiting professionals for almost 2 decades. Connor has built a big following on LinkedIn around bringing value and education to Loan Officers, and is also a 2-time pie eating contest winner.
Connor is here to discuss: → The strategy he's used to grow his LinkedIn profile, the mistakes he's learnt from, and how leverages it for networking. → Why he did his "100 Podcasts in 100 Days" challenge, and how he's educating himself as a recruiter to provide value to Loan Officers. → And how focusing on leadership, development, and the sharing of information and tactics with Loan Officers will lead to loyalty and better recruiting for teams and brokerages.
loanDepot Website: www.loandepot.com
Connor Bartley's LinkedIn: @ConnorBartley
Learn more about the Direct to Consumer LO Accelerator here.
Loans On Demand Website: www.loansondemand.io
Loans On Demand YouTube: @LoansOnDemand
Loans On Demand Instagram: @loansondemand
Luke Shankula's Facebook: @LukeShankula
Luke Shankula's LinkedIn: @LukeShankula
Luke Shankula's Instagram: @lukeshankula
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
podcast, the show where we flipthe real estate status quo on its
head and put loan officers intothe driver's seat.
We give you all the tools,strategies, resources, and mindset
needed to modernize your mortgagebusiness and thrive.
My name is Luke Shankula, aka LongForm Luke, and this is the Loans
On Demand podcast.
going on?
Welcome to the Loans On Demandpodcast, the show where we help
(00:25):
loan officers flip the status quoon real estate agents to put loan
officers in the driver's seat.
And man, I'm excited for today's
episode because we have a LinkedIninfluencer with us today.
His name is Connor Bartley.
He is a business development
manager or partner at Loan Depot.
Really cool guy.
I've actually met him on LinkedIn.
And so I'm just messing around.
He's an influencer, but he reallyis.
(00:45):
I mean, he's got a lot of coolthings he's doing on there.
So man, welcome to the show.
I'm excited to have you.
Happy to be here, Luke.
Yeah, it's gonna be a lot of fun.
Let's do it.
Let's rock and roll, man.
Well, I was going to introduce youletting people know that you are a
two time pie eating champion.
So tell us a little bit about
that.
And then just give us a background
who you are, man.
Yeah, absolutely.
Absolutely.
So quick background, I'm a senior
business development partner overhere at Loan Depot.
(01:06):
I've been doing that for almostseven years.
I support region four for us,which is Texas and Oklahoma, and I
help with the recruiting needs ofthe region, whether it's adding
loan officers to existing branchesor opening new ones.
But that's just a part of me.
And that's why I include all those
different things on my LinkedInprofile, because, you know, at the
end of the day, yeah, we all havejobs, but there are other things
(01:29):
that make us interesting and otherthings that we love and like to
do.
And yeah, the pie eating contest,
that was a fun time in life.
Where I live, the community I'm
in, it's a city called ULIS herein Texas.
It's just right in the middle ofDallas and Fort Worth.
And every year they have an annualArbor Days celebration.
So sometime in April.
And it's, you know, it's at the
rec center and you've got thetents that are up and all the food
(01:51):
and all this stuff.
And they give away little pine
tree saplings.
And it's just when you have little
kids and you just don't know whatto do that weekend, it's something
to go to, right?And so we went there and it was
probably around 2018.
I think we'd been a couple of
years before.
So we looked here a while.
And this was the first time theywere going to have an eating
contest.
And, you know, I've always kind of
been curious about doing one.
Like, how would I do?
(02:12):
Right.
You know, you see these at these
festivals and you're like, I coulddo that.
Maybe You you see these at thesefestivals and you're I could do
that.
know, like, I could, you know,
compete.
Maybe I you compete.
could, know, So I turned to mywife and I I'm going say, to hon,
do that.
But I promise afterward I'll start
getting into shape.
Right.
So anyway, I enter into thecontest.
I've got my Chuck Norris shirt onyou and, know, it's got all the
fun Chuck Norris jokes.
Like he starts a fire rubbing two
(02:32):
ice cubes together, all thisstuff.
I just thought it was appropriatefor the event.
And they bring out apple pies.
You have five minutes to eat as
much as you could.
behind your back couldn't use your
hands oh wow you know and theyjust start the time and you just
dig in man and you know the trickto it really is first of all i had
some help because i would sayabout 80 of my competitors were
children so that that helps rightso i mean like two or three other
(02:52):
adults, and then, you know, abunch of other kids that were just
having fun.
But yeah, so I just dug in, just
got covered in apple pie, cameback the next year to defend my
title.
Second year was a little closer,
but I still won.
And then COVID came, the festival
was gone for two years.
So I like to say that I was a
four-year champion, right?Because no one beat me for two
(03:14):
more years.
But then when it came back, I
actually showed up and lost.
And that was tough.
So I've retired.
Now, if the right circumstances
present themselves, I might comeout of retirement.
But no, I the guy that beat me,like he's a local legend.
Now, later that day, he won thepizza eating contest, too.
So how do you compete with it it'sokay to lose to the greatest right
it's like losing one-on-oneagainst michael jordan or kobe
(03:35):
bryant like you feel good aboutthat right it's okay but uh yeah
that was a lot do you good aboutthat right it's okay but uh yeah
that was a lot of fun that'spretty funny man yeah and
obviously if someone could eat allthat pie and then also eat pizza
that's probably someone who maybeis a professional you know eater
or just someone that loves to eatman because that's a lot of
freaking food to eat man but let'sget a little bit get a little bit
more serious.
He was ringer.
(03:56):
He's a ringer.
Yeah, exactly.
The ringer, man.
They brought in the ringer to beat
you, man.
Otherwise, you would have been
three years in a row, right?I mean, obviously, that's awesome,
man.
And I love that you share that
kind of stuff because obviously,one of the things with platforms
like LinkedIn, even from myperspective is, and I think I told
you this via the DMs we werechatting a little bit was
LinkedIn's hard for me, man.
My favorite platform, I use
Facebook a lot.
I share memes.
I share jokes.
I share stuff like that.
And I feel like I go on LinkedIn.
(04:17):
It's just like all super stuffy
and like people wearing suits andI don't wear suits.
You know, I'm wearing a hoodieright now and a hat.
Like, you know, I got out ofcorporate for a reason.
So I didn't have to do that kindof stuff.
And so what I like about some ofthe content you share is it is a
lot more authentic and cool andchill and stuff like that.
So talk a little bit about likeyour journey with LinkedIn.
What sort of got you?I mean, it sounds like you've been
doing LinkedIn for a while, but Iknow you've been growing a lot
(04:39):
over the last year, two years.
And what's been that strategy?
And why have you sort of gone sohard into LinkedIn?
ringer.
Yeah, So about a year and a half
ago, I decided, you know, AlecHansen, Josh Pitts, Brian Covey.
I mean, you see these guys, theytalk about it all the time.
And I thought to myself, well,would that work for somebody who
does what I do?You know, and so I got real heavy
into it probably about, I want tosay September of 2022.
Okay.
And a lot of what I was posting,
man, I was doing it all wrong.
(05:01):
Like I was talking about my
company.
I was talking about recruiting.
I was just pitching, pitching,pitching.
And then after about a year ofdoing that and really at the one
year anniversary, LinkedIn isgreat because it gives you all
these analytics.
You can see the impression, the
amount of engagement, you get tosee all the data.
And I looked at it and I said,okay, well, what if I shifted
(05:21):
strategy just a little bit?And so I just switched over to a
one post a day strategy, butengaging way more with other
people's content.
So, you know, posting thoughtful
comments, liking, reaching outthrough the DMs and all of that.
And I mean, more than doubledeverything when it came to all the
analytics of LinkedIn.
So really the trick is you got to
be a part of the community.
And that actually is where my
comfort zone really is.
(05:42):
I guess if you want to call it a
strategy to bring value andhighlight LinkedIn.
So how hard it is and howvulnerable you get when you're
posting content.
That's authentic and not just
hiding behind the value props ofyour company or your successes,
right?But if you're going to go and bear
all and be vulnerable and share alittle bit about like your life
(06:02):
and your failures, and you want toshare your goals and dreams so
that you're held accountable tothem, just get that forced
accountability.
That's kind of a big deal.
And so when I see someone elsedoing that, I really want to
support that and get behind thattoo.
And that's a part of why I do theHigh Five Fridays.
Not only is it helpful for otherpeople to see what others in the
(06:24):
industry are posting and to getexposed to some great content
creators that are out there.
You're one of them, Brian View,
Amir Saeed.
There's a lot of them, right?
But not everybody knows becausethey come on, they see what you
see, right?They see the stuffed shirt.
They see all of the pitchingthat's going on.
People talking about the lastthing they closed or the last
award they won.
They tune out because it doesn't
feel authentic.
But if you really dig into the
(06:49):
platform, there is so much freecoaching going on out there.
Right, right.
So many great value posts being
shared.
In fact, I think that's how I
found you, Luke, was I reached outto the network and said, share
with me people who post valuablecontent.
And you were someone that wasrecommended.
And I put together the starter kitfor people who are on LinkedIn and
the mortgage industry that don'tknow who to follow so that they
can get some real valuable stuffin their feed.
So anyway, but it's a coolplatform.
(07:10):
I've really formed some greatrelationships through it and get
to know a lot of cool people andget to be on podcasts from time to
time.
So it's been a fun ride.
Well, that's pretty cool, man.
Because obviously, like you even
said, I mean, you know, people arestarting to ask you to be on
podcasts and things like that.
And honestly, like, I feel like
this platform and to be completelytransparent to everybody who's
(07:32):
listening, I have 20,000 followerson LinkedIn, but only because I
have spent the last five yearsautomating the crap out of my, you
know, auto follows and autothings.
And like, everything is all like,I have an automation in the
background.
It used to be, you could add a
hundred people a day.
And now you got to add a hundred
people a week, I think is what itis now.
And so, you know, I've just beendoing that for years and then auto
spamming people.
(07:52):
And so I completely changed that,
you know, process and I still addpeople.
I still have that going on, but myinitial thing is just kind of a
joke.
It's like, Hey, like, you know,
here's a thinly veiled pitch.
And people love it.
It's just basically just jokingabout what everybody's doing on
this platform and saying, I'mgoing to throw some dad jokes at
you.
And hey, if you want to go ahead
and join our Facebook group.
And that's really it.
Very, very soft, nothing crazy.
And then now over the last couple
(08:12):
of weeks slash months, honestly,I've just been doing a lot of just
browsing because I used to justlike, I'd get on, I'd post and I'd
leave and it'd be crickets.
It's like the same stuff that I
post on Facebook that gets 50, 100likes, that gets 40, 50, 100
engagements.
I post on LinkedIn, nothing,
crickets.
I'm like, what the heck, right?
And so I'm like talking to some ofthese guys, like, you know, Dan, I
don't know how to say his lastname, Smokosis, whatever,
Smokosis.
So I was talking with him and I
(08:34):
was like, you know, and he startedtalking about it while engaging
with people like, oh, like justlike with Facebook.
Oh, okay.
That's what I tell people with
Facebook as well.
And then you talked about it.
And Brian, I had Brian view on andyou know, he said the same thing.
Those are the consistentstrategies that I keep hearing is
it comes down to engaging with thepeople that are one putting out
content, but again, just being ahuman, right.
And so many times, like, becausethis is a different sort of
(08:56):
platform, I'm treating it likeeverybody else is like, it is a
business platform, right?So we just treat it like a
business platform or stuffy, butit's not really these humans are
humans.
And human behavior doesn't really
change.
Yeah, I mean, I think you do
adjust what you post on theplatform a little bit.
You know, I don't know that Iwould post memes all the time,
like I do on Facebook.
But still, I do think there's
opportunities to post a lot moreof the organic, authentic content
as well.
But then a little bit more of the
education, which I find seems towork pretty well for a lot of
(09:19):
people is really just bringingvalue, value, value and showing in
the post exactly what you can doto grow your business and things
like that.
So that's one thing that I found
that you have been doing a lot ofis bringing a lot of value.
Then also you're showcasing a lotof people.
So I'm interested to hear aboutyour podcast journey, man.
You've been doing this like ahundred podcasts in a hundred
days.
Talk about that.
And how are you finding a hundredloan officer podcasts?
I don't even think there is ahundred loan officer podcasts.
(09:39):
100 do repeat from time to time.
Okay.
So now that I'm on kind of likethe back half of it, we're
probably going to start going backto some of the well on a few other
shows and things like that.
But I started that really just
because I felt it was respectful.
And what I mean by that is I
recruit loan officers.
Sure.
So I need to understand what aloan officer does, what it's like
to be a loan officer.
(10:00):
Like I'll probably never fund a
loan.
I don't know if there'll ever be a
circumstance where I go ahead andget licensed and go through that.
But I heard something the otherday, and it was on a podcast, and
they mentioned that Wally Elbiari,who's out here in the DFW area,
$200 million producer, mentionedearly in his career that he wanted
to be the best realtor to neversell a house.
And what he meant by that was, I'mgoing to go get educated like a
realtor.
I'm going to understand what
realtor problems are so I can helpsolve realtor problems.
(10:21):
And that to me is like, that'swhat I'm doing.
I want to be the best loan officerto never fund a loan.
I want to understand what it'slike to go through this grind and
be able to provide some valuableinsight from experts in this
industry to other loan officersthat I talk to.
Because if I'm not worth knowing,what's the point, right?
Like if I can't give you somethingwhen I give you a call, you know
(10:42):
what I do, a lot of people justtell me no, because they're not
ready, right?Like that's the grind of
recruiting.
A lot of people just, they're not
ready for it.
They don't know it's not worth
their time at that time, making amove in the mortgage industry.
It sucks.
It's hard.
It's a pain in the butt and a lotof moving parts.
So to want to do that or to be, Iguess, talked into that, which I
(11:03):
never would want to do, but towant to go through that process,
it takes a while.
And so along the way, I want to be
able to provide value and besomebody that you see my phone
number pop up and go, let's seewhat Connor's got for me today.
Right.
And so I started that journey and
yeah, it's been awesome.
Like just listening to the
different perspectives of thisindustry.
I've listened to a lot ofdifferent podcasts.
(11:24):
There's one with, it was likemortgage moms.
And that was kind of neat becausethey talked about being moms and
their families along withmortgages.
I listened to one of a guy aboutlike new housing legislation in
New Hampshire, which, you know, Imean, like, what do I have to do
with New Hampshire?But at the same time, like I can
see the value in that platform fora loan officer to say, hey, have
one of your local representativeson a show with you and talk about
legislation and get that news outto your agents.
(11:44):
And that's providing value to yournetwork of people.
And then, of course, you've gotthe longstanding shows like yours
and Alec Hansen's Modern LoaningPlaybook.
And there's a lot of them outthere.
So Mortgage Marketing Radio, thosetypes of shows.
And so I love to listen to thedifferent guests.
I love to hear their stories.
And yeah, it just gives me a lot
of valuable insight for me intothe type of people that I talk to
day to day.
And like I said, it all goes back
(12:04):
to respect.
Like, I feel like it's what I
should be doing.
If I'm not studying this business,
then I'm just, you know, throwingvalue props at you and hoping
something sticks at the wall.
And I just don't feel like that's
good recruiting.
So, you know, it's just part of my
growth and journey.
And so I not just part of my
growth and journey.
I agree, man.
And something we talk about insales, you know, when I'm doing
(12:29):
coaching on sales and things likethat is like most salespeople
think that the most valuable partof a sales is like the pitch.
And the truth is that is probablythe least important part of the
sale, right?What really matters, and honestly,
recruiting is a form of sales,really everything is a form of
sales, right?Like, you know, finding your wife
is a form of sales, likeeverything we do is pretty much a
form of sales or persuasion.
(12:49):
And so from that perspective,
sales really is identifying aproblem and providing a solution.
If you don't identify the problemthat someone has, how do you
provide a solution to thatproblem?
And so without understanding theprospects that you're going after,
how can you give them the solutionto their problems?
Because you don't know theirproblems.
And so I think that's supervaluable for you.
And we talk about this a lot witheven loan officers.
So many loan officers have this...
(13:09):
I don't call it this.
It's not some I-coin, but it'scalled the curse of knowledge.
You think that people know moreabout the thing you do than they
actually do.
I mean, even from a marketing
perspective, I'll start talkingabout stuff like pixels and unique
value propositions and uniquemechanisms and things like that.
People are like, Oh, what are youtalking about?
Right.
And it's like, Oh crap.
Like let's boil it down tomarketing 101.
The same thing that loan officersdo all the time.
DTI, LTV.
Like I want to educate these
people.
It's like, yes, you want to
educate your prospects.
(13:30):
But when you start to use words
they don't understand, they feeltalked down to instead of
educated, right?So like you're using all these big
words, like no, they just feeloverwhelmed.
What they need is a leader.
is a need a leader to guide them
to the promised land, right?They want someone that's going to
show up and hold their hand andput them in the best position for
themselves, right?And a lot of times people hide
(13:51):
behind, I'm not a salesperson.
The truth is you are a salesperson
first, because if you're not, thenyou don't deserve to get paid 5,
10, 15 grand on a loan.
I'm sorry, you don't.
Those people get paid because ofthe value they bring, which is new
deals.
They don't get paid because they
educate people.
Because if not, then teachers will
get paid a lot more money and theydon't.
So again, I think that's supervaluable and something that we can
all learn from.
(14:11):
And I think the same thing when
I'm thinking from a marketingperspective, when I'm marketing
the consumer, what's in it for me,that's always the concept that I
think about is like, what is theconsumer thinking when they see
this ad?What is the consumer thinking when
they see this post?Like, what can I do that's going
to spark an interest, but you haveto get in their shoes.
And so you're doing that samething, going through these
podcasts, talking to loan officersevery day, having masterminds,
(14:32):
bringing them value.
And that's something that, if I
can be frank, the mortgageindustry is terrible, for the most
part, at actually giving peopletangible value and educating them
on how to get more business.
And I'll point to this.
I used to be an AE at a reversemortgage company.
And a new CEO came in and he'slike, well, what can we do to help
you?I said, man, I would love some
more training.
I would love to learn more like
scripting and sales training andyada, yada.
He's like, yeah, companies don'treally do that anymore.
(14:52):
And I was like, oh, I was like,this is going to go great.
Of course, business ended upimploding and we got laid off in
2017 and here we are.
But I realized as I started my
business, I would never do that.
It's like, no, like the truth is,
people are not educated.
What are most loan officers
taught?Go talk to real estate agents.
What do they say?How do they do it?
What's the value prop?How do you create a value prop?
What's your offer?How do you stand out from other
(15:14):
people?Oh, I have good rates.
I answer my phone and you don'thave good service.
Like that's your job description.
That's not your value proposition.
So when you're sharing thisinformation, like what are you
sort of thinking about from thatperspective when you are posting
this Yeah.
So I try to always keep in mind
that I don't do this job.
And when I have my mastermind and
I'm talking with loan officers,and I always start that by saying,
(15:36):
listen, out of respect for you,I'm not trying to tell anybody
what to do.
But I study this business in a way
that I can try to bring ideas thatI've learned from other top
producers.
Like these are proven things that
have worked for someone else.
And I just want to share.
And hopefully that'll bring youvalue and maybe trigger an idea of
your own or something that youwant to pursue.
And I can point you in a directionor maybe help make a connection
for you to that person that canhelp you along that journey.
(15:57):
And for me, that's really what'sanother benefit to LinkedIn is
just getting connected with peopleto where I can make those
connections for folks where it'slike, hey, I just heard a great
podcast today about annualmortgage reviews and how to
leverage those to help partnerwith your agents more effectively
and really bring value to thatrelationship and also get more
referrals from previous customers,right?
And is that something you'retrying to do these days?
No?Well, listen, let me connect you
with so-and-so loan officer sothat they can share with you how
(16:17):
to walk through that.
Because if that's something you're
interested in, it will bring youvalue and they can share, you
know, how and the scripting thatthey've done.
So when I bring that to a loanofficer, I always want to make
sure that I'm not trying to be,you know, the end all be all
expert, because I don't implementthese strategies for myself,
right?Now, some of them are translatable
to what I do.
And so I do take some of this and
(16:39):
put it into my own business.
But it's really about just
learning what other people aredoing and saying, hey, I've heard
that come up a few times.
But I want to touch on something
you mentioned, Luke, which is justthe industry as a whole isn't
great at educating their loanofficers.
I would agree with that.
That's why we see the average age
be so high in the industry.
I think I saw a stat the other day
(16:59):
that it had dropped from somewherein the 50s to somewhere in the mid
40s, but that was like 2021numbers.
My guess is we're probably closeto high 40s, low 50s now, because
you got to imagine a lot of youngpeople got into the business to
hit that refi boom, and then maybethey got right back.
So I'd be curious what the newnumber is these days.
But from where I sit, I tell themanagers that I work with, it's
(17:22):
not about the value prop of thecompany you work for.
That supports what you do.
But if you're talking with a
potential loan officer aboutjoining your team and coming over
to work with you, it's all aboutyou and how the company supports
your vision for that.
But you better come to that
conversation with a plan.
Yes.
You better show that loan officer,this is how we're going to help.
And not just be, we've got goodtech and we can close your loans
(17:43):
on time.
And we've got all these products
and good rates.
Like that's just price of
admission, right?Every Yes.
worth a lick can do all thosethings.
So now it's about localleadership.
And what does that local leaderbring to the table to inspire that
loan officer to support them?Some LOs just need a frontline
manager.
Somebody will be in their
pipeline, somebody will help themstructure deals, that sort of
thing.
They just need that extra layer of
(18:05):
support.
Others need somebody that can
really be their guide and say,hey, these are the plans that
we're going to implement to grow.
And if you follow me, it'll work
and I'll hold you accountable toit.
And so that's where I feel likethere's a big gap in mortgage
recruiting is that there's alittle too much reliance on value
props and not actual value.
And so I would encourage anybody
who's a recruiting leader outthere, and this is inspired by
(18:27):
Richard Milligan, who's a greatrecruiting coach out there, but
just define your value as a leaderand be prepared to lay that out to
a recruit.
They may not see the value and
that's fine.
The ones that do will be inspired
by you, be attracted to what youdo.
And, you know, you've got a chanceto have a really loyal person join
(18:50):
your team and you can't trade thatfor the world.
I mean, we can go out there andbuy all the talent we want, right?
And throw out big sign on bonusesand go back to 2020 and say,
here's a bunch of money.
But we've seen how that's played
out, right?We've seen folks come and go and
that sort of thing.
And so it really does boil down
to, hey, how are you going toreally set me up for success?
(19:12):
And that just boils down to localleadership.
I that because I agree.
I mean, just to call out some
people in the industry.
I mean, there are some of those
leaders that attempt to gatekeepthe good information as a way to
hold value so that, you know, oh,and I don't want them to leave if
they have this thing.
And it's like, OK, well, that is
not leadership.
That is being a little I'm not
(19:33):
going to say it.
That is being badly.
That to me is like the biggestslap in the face that you don't
really have true value.
And so instead of bringing value,
you want to hide the good thingsbecause you don't want them to
leave and go somewhere else,right?
I'm going to hide this thing fromthem.
I'm going to hide this other thingfrom them.
I'm going to show them this, butthis is like, oh, I came up with
(19:56):
this myself.
It's like, no, give them
everything.
Because guess what?
Once they find out that you didn'tactually do that thing, they're
going to leave, right?I mean, and you talk about paying
people.
We've seen MSAs, we've seen the
signing bonuses.
Money brings you short term
business.
But in my opinion, and we've seen
a lot of companies doing the wholeget licensed, get your real estate
agent license and pay them 50bips.
(20:17):
In my head, I get it.
It's a hard market.
But those are all short termstrategies that are all going to
backfire in the future.
Because guess what?
When the business gets busy, like,do you really want to be paying
your real estate agents 50 bips onevery deal and mr loan officer now
all of a sudden you're only making60 bips per deal because now you
have to give up 50 of your bips togive it to this real estate agent
(20:39):
that didn't really do anythingother than give you the deal now
all of a sudden how do you marketyour business i don't know to me
it's like a short-term side ofthings so many guys got into solar
as well cool like now you've takenyour eyes off of the price instead
of getting better at sales,instead of getting better at your
systems, instead of getting betterat getting more clients, you're
looking at things that are like,oh, I made money today.
And I get it.
(20:59):
It's a tough market.
We've had, you know, two of thetoughest years in recent history,
if not maybe ever it's hard, but Ithink thinking from a perspective
of a long-term game is alwaysgoing to lead to better results.
And I honestly didn't expect thisconversation to go this And I love
that it I mean, way.
did.
I don't know, maybe I shouldn't betalking about this stuff, but I've
seen right?it, I've talked to thousands of
loan officers, branch managers,regionals, district owners, like
over the last five, six years,like I have seen every model under
(21:20):
the sun.
I see the value in all of them.
You know, you see the brokers, yousee the retail, you see the big
banks, you see the little banks.
Everyone has their own value and
everybody has their flaws andeverybody has their upsides.
In my head, it's like the peoplethat come out on top are the
people that are true leaders thatshow up and bring value without
necessarily looking for gain.
Yes, the ulterior motive at the
end of the day, you're postingvaluable stuff.
(21:41):
It's like, hey, I post valuablestuff because I want people to
come to me.
I want people to be attracted to
me and maybe they'll work with me.
But that's not necessarily the
entire intention.
It's like, I want to bring value
to this industry.
I'm assuming that's kind of how
you see it.
I don't Yeah.
I mean, I work one very small partof the country, but LinkedIn is a
national platform, right?So like I'm not in it just for
recruiting loan officers in Texasand Oklahoma.
I mean, this is just my way ofshowing appreciation to the
business and really trying tobring value to this industry.
(22:03):
Like I said, I'll never originatea loan, but if I can help someone
originate one or give them a goodidea to grow, I mean, that's a
cool feeling, right?But I would say this, Luke, if
somebody's lacking leadership, andI know it may sound like an overly
simplified thing to do, but Ihonestly would encourage somebody
to just find two podcasts andlisten to them every week.
Go follow good people on LinkedInand just is their posts.
I mean, that could be thedifference in 10 loans a year for
(22:27):
you, right?Like just finding those ideas that
you're not getting.
You know, during COVID in 2020,
everybody went to work from homeand some people haven't even
returned, you know?And so they're still working at
the house.
They're still going about this
thing on their own.
And for some, that's their
preferred way of doing it.
They like to have that autonomy.
They really want to, you know,just kind of be left alone.
They've been doing it long enough.
They feel like they've got, you
know, it all under control andsome do.
And then others, I would say like,if you're lacking that
interpersonal opportunity tobounce ideas off of somebody or
(22:49):
whatever it is, or there's a gapin leadership and you just don't
feel like you're getting it, justfind it yourself.
Like the resources are out there.
There's really no excuse.
Right, absolutely, man.
And I actually shared this the
other day and I said like, I mean,I'm on a mission to give
everything away, right?All the secrets, because it was
funny, I saw a post in a group,and someone was asking, it was a
real estate group.
Because at one point in my career,
(23:09):
I worked with real estate agents,we don't anymore.
But we did at one point, I'm stillin a bunch of real estate groups.
And someone said, Hey, like, canyou share an ad?
And there was a guy was like, Oh,check out my results.
And the person was like, Oh, butyou didn't share the ad.
And he's like, Oh, well, thatwon't be for free.
And I said, here's some differentad copy variations.
The secret is not the ad copy.
(23:30):
The secret is on conversion.
There's a lot of other things thatmatter.
You just need to execute.
I made a post the other day too
that talked about like most peopledon't lack information.
They lack execution.
But the real truth is you need to
take action.
And one of my favorite quotes is
by Derek Sivers.
If more information was the
answer, we'd all be billionaireswith six-pack abs.
(23:51):
So this is not about information.
YouTube is a thing.
You can literally learn anything.
You can learn AI.
You can learn ads.
You can learn Google My Business
strategies.
You can learn how to rank on
YouTube.
You can learn how to create a
YouTube channel.
There's no limit to what you can
learn on these platforms.
You just got to take just truth So
this is not about Yeah.
(24:12):
Well, and so the way I came up
with a solo tag, the solutionoriented loan officer, you know,
I've been having conversationswith folks that were really kind
of depressing because everybodywas just so ultra focused on rates
and inventory and things likethat.
And I remember even talking withone person who said, you know,
like, I've been through the grind,Connor, like, I've been doing this
for 20 years.
I'm just not going to go do it
(24:33):
again.
And so I was getting kind of
frustrated, you know, just withhow down everybody was, you know.
And then I had anotherconversation that was completely
different.
Somebody who was a lot more, you
know, focused on, they weretelling me how they were getting
business out of their database.
How in the world are you getting
business out of your database fullof people at 2%, 3%, 4% and rates
and rates are seven or eight,right?
Well, they're making the calls,like they're actually taking the
action and they're having thoseconversations.
(24:53):
And so I'm walking my dog and I'mthinking, you know, I love
acronyms and I'm just trying tothink, how can I make this
relatable to people?Like this kind of loan officer,
just that conversation stuck withme.
And I'm thinking, LO, okay, well,what's a word that ends with And
And so I'm like, okay, solo,solution-oriented.
Okay, so just connect the dots.
Sure.
And then, you know, I rememberseeing an old Instagram reel of a
guy at a campfire with a red Solocup.
And, you know, he's like, check itout.
You know, when it's full, itdoesn't melt.
And it doesn't.
You know, you put it in the fire,
(25:13):
it won't melt.
I've tested it.
It I'm sure if you keep it inthere long it But if it's works.
I it's it doesn't And it enough,will.
You put it in the empty, it won'tmean, full, I've tested It melt.
works.
doesn't.
fire, melt.
I'm it.
sure if you keep it in there longenough, it will.
But if it's empty, I mean, it'sinstant.
It melts right away.
And so the concept is the
solution-oriented loan operating.
(25:34):
They're constantly getting more
knowledge about products orprospecting.
Or they're looking at data.
They're adding value.
They're learning how to teach aclass.
They're learning how to callbroker owners and say, hey, can I
get in front of your next meeting?They're learning how to do these
things while everyone else is apolo and they're problem obsessed
loan officers.
And they're just talking about
rates and inventory.
Oh, boy.
And so I really wanted to try andfind the solos of the world and
(25:56):
build some kind of community withthem.
And so I put together these smallmastermind groups where we're
getting together over zoom andjust talking about loan officer
stuff, right?Like customer experience,
database, reviews, things likethat.
I just show up, man.
Like I just show up and ask a
couple of questions and let theloan officers talk because I want
them to, you get the most know,value out of officers talk because
I want them to get the most valueout of it.
(26:17):
But I keep it to five, six, 10,and most people per Zoom.
But it's just about thecollaboration.
But you're absolutely right.
This is where I was they're just
the comment that it's aboutexecution and taking action, and
it's not about information.
And that's totally true.
The top producers will tell youtheir entire playbook.
The best producers in thisbusiness have no problem sharing
with you what they did or how theygot there because they know how
hard it was and how few peoplewill ever actually do it.
(26:38):
And so you can learn a lot, butit's all about applying what you
learn.
I try to get this group of people
together to collaborate because Iknow they'll actually apply what
they do.
And it'll be cool to see what
comes of it.
But yeah, the solo loan officer
for me is just thatsolution-oriented one.
(26:58):
And I've enjoyed really talking tothem because those are exciting
conversations.
You can pick it up on somebody
almost immediately if they're inthat kind of mindset or category.
Those are so energizing.
Yeah, man.
And it's true, man.
Being a facilitator or a connector
is value man i mean that's anotherway that you're bringing value is
by being a connector and being afacilitator so that's freaking
amazing man the things we talkedabout man we see that a lot
especially in the last two yearsright i mean we see a lot of
people that i mean again i talk toloan officers every day one of the
biggest things of coaching that wedo is you know get your mindset
(27:19):
right right and you know i waseven having a coaching call with
someone a while back you know isaid what's your morning right?
you And, I was even know, having acoaching call with someone a while
you know, back, I said, what'syour morning routine look like?
They're like, well, I need somemore loans.
I need strategy.
I'm like, bro, like, I'm not going
to give you any tactics becausethe truth is like any amount of
(27:40):
tactics, you're not going toimplement any of the tactics or
strategies until you have yourmind right.
So what's your morning routinelook like?
What time are you getting up inthe morning?
Are you going to the gym?Are you listening to positive
things first thing in the morning?What does that look like?
(28:00):
getting up Oh, at You 7.30.
I'm going know, straight to the
office and getting into the Areyou listening gym.
to positive things first thing inthe morning?
What does that look like?getting up Oh, at 7.30.
You're not going straight to theoffice and getting into the grind.
I'm like, okay, well, you're nottaking care of yourself.
And until you take care ofyourself and your mind, no amount
of tactics and strategies andlistening to podcasts and watching
YouTube videos, you're just notgoing to take action.
(28:20):
Or if you do, you're not going totake action for enough consistency
over time where you get results.
And so it all starts with getting
your mind right, getting in tunewith what you need as a human
being.
And not like, again, a lot of
times we're trying to pour out ofan empty cup.
We need to fill our cup first.
I think as a parent, as a business
owner, as a loan officer, there'sall the different buckets that you
(28:43):
have to sort of pour out of.
And it's like, okay, well,
sometimes we pour everything intowork and sort of neglect our
family.
And then sometimes we neglect
ourselves, which then means weneglect everything.
And so again, like, I think thebig thing too, just to take from
this conversation is yes, there'saction that needs to be taken.
But at the same time, you arerequired to take care of yourself
(29:05):
first, because you cannot givefrom an empty cup.
I don't know what your thoughtsare on I mean, my thoughts on that
would be, I think you can fillyour cup by filling the cup of
others.
You know, I mean, that's where it
starts for me.
I really enjoy bringing awareness
to people that are doing goodthings, you know, and that helps
me feel good.
It gives me energy to do the other
things for me.
And I think there is a lot of
focus in our culture on, you know,me first, me first.
But I think you are puttingyourself first when you put others
first.
You know what I mean?
It sounds counterintuitive, but atthe same time, like, that does
bring joy.
Like, that's what, you know, my
(29:26):
faith teaches me, and that's whatI subscribe to.
And so I really do want to bringothers, you know, lift them up,
fill them up, and that helps mestay energized.
And then, I mean, just good thingshappen from that.
But I do agree with your pointthat if you don't have the
disciplines there, then it is hardto trust that they're going to put
the work in with what you givethem.
Right.
So, you know, somebody does really
need to make the decision that Iam willing to do this work.
I see how important it is.
I understand it's going to be
hard.
And just embrace that.
The problem that I think a lot ofpeople run into, Luke, is they
think if they just get that onetip, that one strategy, it's going
(29:46):
to change everything, right?Yeah.
And it'll be magic and it'll bethe hack, exactly.
What they don't embrace is howmuch it's going to suck along the
way.
Yeah.
And that it's going to be hard andthat you've got to be prepared for
those challenges and look forwardto the challenge and say, hey, I'm
looking forward to this hard thingthat I'm about to do because I'm
future.
And along the way, I know it's
going to be difficult.
But, you know, fear is failure to
(30:06):
know that everything is all right,right?
Something like that, like failingto know everything is all right.
That's the acronym.
And so everything is all right.
Like, I know finances may betight.
I know things may be difficult.
But things typically have a way of
working out if you just do thework and you've got to take action
with the expectation of results.
You can't just expect to make 50
calls and magically something'sgoing to happen.
Like you need to be able tomeasure what you're doing and know
(30:27):
whether or not you're doing goodactions or bad actions.
Right.
if you have that expectation and
you're taking action, you've gotyour mind right.
I totally agree with you, man.
Like it's all about mindset in the
beginning.
And then it's just getting started
and taking that journey.
For me, it's about, you know,
helping others first and thenseeing where that takes me because
that's a fun ride.
So I like to just sort of sit back
and see where it goes.
Love man.
(30:48):
it, Yeah, that's important.
And I agree, man, with everything
you said.
I do think that giving back to
people is great.
But I think there is sort of a
balance of like, okay, well, atsome point, you do have to, you
know, refill yourself up.
And maybe for you, it is a big
energizer.
It's not always a big energizer
for everyone either.
Right.
So sometimes like, you know, it'slike, what is the energizer for
(31:09):
you?I play disc golf twice a week, I
go to the gym, I do these things.
And you know, the gym doesn't
really fill me up.
It helps my mind.
But it doesn't really like, giveme that release where I was like
playing a little bit of disc golf,just being out in God's nature.
And you know, breathing fresh airis always good, man.
So for fun, man.
So how long have you been doing
(31:32):
disc Well, I played in college,not in college, but I played while
I was in college.
I used to go disc golfing.
And then I stopped for like 10years, had kids, all that fun
stuff.
And so I started playing 21 in
2021.
I was burnt out, man, the business
had grown for three, four years ina row, like just massively.
And, you know, externally,everything felt great.
But internally, I was burnt out,miserable, I hated the business, I
(31:55):
hated everything about it.
So disc golf, really, I think I
want to say it saved me, but itsaved me, right?
Like it was something that took mymind off, it allowed me to do
something fun.
And so I think for everybody, you
know, find what that is, right?Maybe for Connor, it is having
these masterminds that does fillthem up, right?
(32:16):
But for you, it might be the gymor golfing or whatever, right?
Jiu-Jitsu.
I mean, whatever it is that makes
you turn your brain off and have alittle bit of time in your own
sort of realm where you can justchill.
I think it's super important.
You know, what is a strategy or
tactic?One of the things maybe you've
(32:37):
learned from the podcast or fromthe masterminds, if there is one
thing that you would recommendright now for them to go out and
get business, what is one thingthat you've learned over the last
six, 12 months that they could thelast six, 12 months that they
could implement?So maybe this is a personal
favorite of mine because I enjoylike public speaking and being in
front of crowds, which I know israre for a lot of people, but I
(33:00):
love Jeff Zempers, you know,approach to teaching classes.
I think that's so smart.
You know, I've listened to a
couple of iterations of this.
We've got Denise Donahue, the
mortgage nerd, who talked about,you know, calling the broker
owner, getting, you know, added onto the last 10 or 15 minutes
there, existing meetings so thatyou're not having to go through
rigmarole and hosting and doingall that.
And then like learning one, two,three, maybe five topics that you
(33:20):
could teach a class on.
I was talking to a guy the other
day, yesterday.
He's a former police officer and
he's teaching classes.
And I said, man, you're a former
police officer.
Have you ever thought about just
teaching a class aboutself-defense?
think Yeah.
And just being aware, you know,
for these agents that are goinginto houses all by themselves.
And he was like, man, that is agreat idea.
So like those are just ways tohelp you increase your value and
get in front of a large group ofpeople all at once and be the
(33:41):
authority in front of that group.
You know, I think for me, that is
an awesome way to build yournetwork and just continue to build
relationships that shouldhopefully pay dividends in the
future for in it, man.
If someone wanted to connect with
you online, what is the best waythat they can connect you?
Yeah, just find me on LinkedIn,Connor Bartley.
He's the best way to get Yeah,man.
The LinkedIn influencer, Connor,I'm going to have to add you on
Facebook.
So you can see that I don't always
have my post.
I'm not there.
Oh, well, nevermind then I guess.
(34:02):
Sorry.
Yeah, it's not good for you, man.
That's a time suck.
So you just spend your time onLinkedIn.
That's good.
Awesome, man.
Thank you so much for your timetoday.
It's been huge, huge value.
And again, my biggest takeaways
from what you've talked about,especially from a LinkedIn
perspective is, I mean, let's goback to what you said.
Sometimes you're taking the wrongaction.
But what's most important aboutwhat you did is you took action,
right?Maybe at the beginning you were
like, hey, you know what?I'm just going to throw stuff up
(34:24):
there.
I'm going to take action.
You're like, you know what?Let me revisit this strategy.
I think LinkedIn still can work,but let's try it this way.
And clearly it's working.
So to me, that's a huge aha for
anybody who is listening to this.
It's like, it may not be the
platform that's the problem.
It may just be your content sucks.
Let's be honest, right?It may just be that you're not
engaging with people.
It may be those things, right?
(34:46):
Well, people say that all thetime.
Oh, leads suck.
Or, you know, I can't get business
from Facebook.
I can't get business from
LinkedIn.
LinkedIn sucks.
I mean, I've been one that saysLinkedIn sucks, right?
Like, you know, it's so hard toget engagement, but it's not.
I just wasn't spending time thatis appropriate on that platform.
We're not engaging with people.
people and you know, it shows.
And so, you know, thinking aboutfrom that perspective, like maybe
you've tried something for sixmonths and it's not working.
Maybe you should abandon it.
(35:07):
Sure.
Or maybe you should reevaluateyour strategy.
Maybe you're calling 50 people aweek and you're not getting
anywhere.
Maybe you should reevaluate your
strategy.
Maybe there's a better way to do
it.
Maybe your sales process sucks,
right?I don't know.
I don't know what you're doing.
But again, start thinking about
that from that perspective, andreally start to improve on that.
(35:27):
In addition to that, if you'reusing LinkedIn, my other takeaway
was consistency in posting, butmore importantly, consistently in
engaging with other people.
Building that network is really
going to come from consistentlyengaging with other people, right?
And so man, thank you so much foreverything you did today.
Any last words before we closeout?
so much for No, man, I justappreciate the opportunity to join
(35:47):
you on this.
And, you know, I hope everyone
else out there stays encouraged.
And, you know, we've got a lot of
hard work to do ahead of us.
So good luck to everyone out
there.
Awesome.
Thank you so much for your timetoday, Connor.
And for anybody who is interestedin learning more about how you can
help flip the status quo on realestate go agents, to
flipthestatusquo.com.
Thank you so much for listening
time today, And Connor.
(36:08):
for anybody who is interested in
learning more about how you canhelp flip the status quo on real
estate go agents, to flip thestatus quo.com.
Thank you so much for listeningand have a great day.
Thank you for tuning into theloans on demand podcast on loans
on demand podcast.com.
podcast, the show where we flipthe real estate status quo on its
head and put loan officers intothe driver's seat.
We give you all the tools,strategies, resources, and mindset
needed to modernize your mortgagebusiness and thrive.
My name is Luke Shankula, aka LongForm Luke, and this is the Loans
On Demand podcast.
going on?
Welcome to the Loans On Demandpodcast, the show where we help
(00:25):
loan officers flip the status quoon real estate agents to put loan
officers in the driver's seat.
And man, I'm excited for today's
episode because we have a LinkedIninfluencer with us today.
His name is Connor Bartley.
He is a business development
manager or partner at Loan Depot.
Really cool guy.
I've actually met him on LinkedIn.
And so I'm just messing around.
He's an influencer, but he reallyis.
(00:45):
I mean, he's got a lot of coolthings he's doing on there.
So man, welcome to the show.
I'm excited to have you.
Happy to be here, Luke.
Yeah, it's gonna be a lot of fun.
Let's do it.
Let's rock and roll, man.
Well, I was going to introduce youletting people know that you are a
two time pie eating champion.
So tell us a little bit about
that.
And then just give us a background
who you are, man.
Yeah, absolutely.
Absolutely.
So quick background, I'm a senior
business development partner overhere at Loan Depot.
(01:06):
I've been doing that for almostseven years.
I support region four for us,which is Texas and Oklahoma, and I
help with the recruiting needs ofthe region, whether it's adding
loan officers to existing branchesor opening new ones.
But that's just a part of me.
And that's why I include all those
different things on my LinkedInprofile, because, you know, at the
end of the day, yeah, we all havejobs, but there are other things
(01:29):
that make us interesting and otherthings that we love and like to
do.
And yeah, the pie eating contest,
that was a fun time in life.
Where I live, the community I'm
in, it's a city called ULIS herein Texas.
It's just right in the middle ofDallas and Fort Worth.
And every year they have an annualArbor Days celebration.
So sometime in April.
And it's, you know, it's at the
rec center and you've got thetents that are up and all the food
(01:51):
and all this stuff.
And they give away little pine
tree saplings.
And it's just when you have little
kids and you just don't know whatto do that weekend, it's something
to go to, right?And so we went there and it was
probably around 2018.
I think we'd been a couple of
years before.
So we looked here a while.
And this was the first time theywere going to have an eating
contest.
And, you know, I've always kind of
been curious about doing one.
Like, how would I do?
(02:12):
Right.
You know, you see these at these
festivals and you're like, I coulddo that.
Maybe You you see these at thesefestivals and you're I could do
that.
know, like, I could, you know,
compete.
Maybe I you compete.
could, know, So I turned to mywife and I I'm going say, to hon,
do that.
But I promise afterward I'll start
getting into shape.
Right.
So anyway, I enter into thecontest.
I've got my Chuck Norris shirt onyou and, know, it's got all the
fun Chuck Norris jokes.
Like he starts a fire rubbing two
(02:32):
ice cubes together, all thisstuff.
I just thought it was appropriatefor the event.
And they bring out apple pies.
You have five minutes to eat as
much as you could.
behind your back couldn't use your
hands oh wow you know and theyjust start the time and you just
dig in man and you know the trickto it really is first of all i had
some help because i would sayabout 80 of my competitors were
children so that that helps rightso i mean like two or three other
(02:52):
adults, and then, you know, abunch of other kids that were just
having fun.
But yeah, so I just dug in, just
got covered in apple pie, cameback the next year to defend my
title.
Second year was a little closer,
but I still won.
And then COVID came, the festival
was gone for two years.
So I like to say that I was a
four-year champion, right?Because no one beat me for two
(03:14):
more years.
But then when it came back, I
actually showed up and lost.
And that was tough.
So I've retired.
Now, if the right circumstances
present themselves, I might comeout of retirement.
But no, I the guy that beat me,like he's a local legend.
Now, later that day, he won thepizza eating contest, too.
So how do you compete with it it'sokay to lose to the greatest right
it's like losing one-on-oneagainst michael jordan or kobe
(03:35):
bryant like you feel good aboutthat right it's okay but uh yeah
that was a lot do you good aboutthat right it's okay but uh yeah
that was a lot of fun that'spretty funny man yeah and
obviously if someone could eat allthat pie and then also eat pizza
that's probably someone who maybeis a professional you know eater
or just someone that loves to eatman because that's a lot of
freaking food to eat man but let'sget a little bit get a little bit
more serious.
He was ringer.
(03:56):
He's a ringer.
Yeah, exactly.
The ringer, man.
They brought in the ringer to beat
you, man.
Otherwise, you would have been
three years in a row, right?I mean, obviously, that's awesome,
man.
And I love that you share that
kind of stuff because obviously,one of the things with platforms
like LinkedIn, even from myperspective is, and I think I told
you this via the DMs we werechatting a little bit was
LinkedIn's hard for me, man.
My favorite platform, I use
Facebook a lot.
I share memes.
I share jokes.
I share stuff like that.
And I feel like I go on LinkedIn.
(04:17):
It's just like all super stuffy
and like people wearing suits andI don't wear suits.
You know, I'm wearing a hoodieright now and a hat.
Like, you know, I got out ofcorporate for a reason.
So I didn't have to do that kindof stuff.
And so what I like about some ofthe content you share is it is a
lot more authentic and cool andchill and stuff like that.
So talk a little bit about likeyour journey with LinkedIn.
What sort of got you?I mean, it sounds like you've been
doing LinkedIn for a while, but Iknow you've been growing a lot
(04:39):
over the last year, two years.
And what's been that strategy?
And why have you sort of gone sohard into LinkedIn?
ringer.
Yeah, So about a year and a half
ago, I decided, you know, AlecHansen, Josh Pitts, Brian Covey.
I mean, you see these guys, theytalk about it all the time.
And I thought to myself, well,would that work for somebody who
does what I do?You know, and so I got real heavy
into it probably about, I want tosay September of 2022.
Okay.
And a lot of what I was posting,
man, I was doing it all wrong.
(05:01):
Like I was talking about my
company.
I was talking about recruiting.
I was just pitching, pitching,pitching.
And then after about a year ofdoing that and really at the one
year anniversary, LinkedIn isgreat because it gives you all
these analytics.
You can see the impression, the
amount of engagement, you get tosee all the data.
And I looked at it and I said,okay, well, what if I shifted
(05:21):
strategy just a little bit?And so I just switched over to a
one post a day strategy, butengaging way more with other
people's content.
So, you know, posting thoughtful
comments, liking, reaching outthrough the DMs and all of that.
And I mean, more than doubledeverything when it came to all the
analytics of LinkedIn.
So really the trick is you got to
be a part of the community.
And that actually is where my
comfort zone really is.
(05:42):
I guess if you want to call it a
strategy to bring value andhighlight LinkedIn.
So how hard it is and howvulnerable you get when you're
posting content.
That's authentic and not just
hiding behind the value props ofyour company or your successes,
right?But if you're going to go and bear
all and be vulnerable and share alittle bit about like your life
(06:02):
and your failures, and you want toshare your goals and dreams so
that you're held accountable tothem, just get that forced
accountability.
That's kind of a big deal.
And so when I see someone elsedoing that, I really want to
support that and get behind thattoo.
And that's a part of why I do theHigh Five Fridays.
Not only is it helpful for otherpeople to see what others in the
(06:24):
industry are posting and to getexposed to some great content
creators that are out there.
You're one of them, Brian View,
Amir Saeed.
There's a lot of them, right?
But not everybody knows becausethey come on, they see what you
see, right?They see the stuffed shirt.
They see all of the pitchingthat's going on.
People talking about the lastthing they closed or the last
award they won.
They tune out because it doesn't
feel authentic.
But if you really dig into the
(06:49):
platform, there is so much freecoaching going on out there.
Right, right.
So many great value posts being
shared.
In fact, I think that's how I
found you, Luke, was I reached outto the network and said, share
with me people who post valuablecontent.
And you were someone that wasrecommended.
And I put together the starter kitfor people who are on LinkedIn and
the mortgage industry that don'tknow who to follow so that they
can get some real valuable stuffin their feed.
So anyway, but it's a coolplatform.
(07:10):
I've really formed some greatrelationships through it and get
to know a lot of cool people andget to be on podcasts from time to
time.
So it's been a fun ride.
Well, that's pretty cool, man.
Because obviously, like you even
said, I mean, you know, people arestarting to ask you to be on
podcasts and things like that.
And honestly, like, I feel like
this platform and to be completelytransparent to everybody who's
(07:32):
listening, I have 20,000 followerson LinkedIn, but only because I
have spent the last five yearsautomating the crap out of my, you
know, auto follows and autothings.
And like, everything is all like,I have an automation in the
background.
It used to be, you could add a
hundred people a day.
And now you got to add a hundred
people a week, I think is what itis now.
And so, you know, I've just beendoing that for years and then auto
spamming people.
(07:52):
And so I completely changed that,
you know, process and I still addpeople.
I still have that going on, but myinitial thing is just kind of a
joke.
It's like, Hey, like, you know,
here's a thinly veiled pitch.
And people love it.
It's just basically just jokingabout what everybody's doing on
this platform and saying, I'mgoing to throw some dad jokes at
you.
And hey, if you want to go ahead
and join our Facebook group.
And that's really it.
Very, very soft, nothing crazy.
And then now over the last couple
(08:12):
of weeks slash months, honestly,I've just been doing a lot of just
browsing because I used to justlike, I'd get on, I'd post and I'd
leave and it'd be crickets.
It's like the same stuff that I
post on Facebook that gets 50, 100likes, that gets 40, 50, 100
engagements.
I post on LinkedIn, nothing,
crickets.
I'm like, what the heck, right?
And so I'm like talking to some ofthese guys, like, you know, Dan, I
don't know how to say his lastname, Smokosis, whatever,
Smokosis.
So I was talking with him and I
(08:34):
was like, you know, and he startedtalking about it while engaging
with people like, oh, like justlike with Facebook.
Oh, okay.
That's what I tell people with
Facebook as well.
And then you talked about it.
And Brian, I had Brian view on andyou know, he said the same thing.
Those are the consistentstrategies that I keep hearing is
it comes down to engaging with thepeople that are one putting out
content, but again, just being ahuman, right.
And so many times, like, becausethis is a different sort of
(08:56):
platform, I'm treating it likeeverybody else is like, it is a
business platform, right?So we just treat it like a
business platform or stuffy, butit's not really these humans are
humans.
And human behavior doesn't really
change.
Yeah, I mean, I think you do
adjust what you post on theplatform a little bit.
You know, I don't know that Iwould post memes all the time,
like I do on Facebook.
But still, I do think there's
opportunities to post a lot moreof the organic, authentic content
as well.
But then a little bit more of the
education, which I find seems towork pretty well for a lot of
(09:19):
people is really just bringingvalue, value, value and showing in
the post exactly what you can doto grow your business and things
like that.
So that's one thing that I found
that you have been doing a lot ofis bringing a lot of value.
Then also you're showcasing a lotof people.
So I'm interested to hear aboutyour podcast journey, man.
You've been doing this like ahundred podcasts in a hundred
days.
Talk about that.
And how are you finding a hundredloan officer podcasts?
I don't even think there is ahundred loan officer podcasts.
(09:39):
100 do repeat from time to time.
Okay.
So now that I'm on kind of likethe back half of it, we're
probably going to start going backto some of the well on a few other
shows and things like that.
But I started that really just
because I felt it was respectful.
And what I mean by that is I
recruit loan officers.
Sure.
So I need to understand what aloan officer does, what it's like
to be a loan officer.
(10:00):
Like I'll probably never fund a
loan.
I don't know if there'll ever be a
circumstance where I go ahead andget licensed and go through that.
But I heard something the otherday, and it was on a podcast, and
they mentioned that Wally Elbiari,who's out here in the DFW area,
$200 million producer, mentionedearly in his career that he wanted
to be the best realtor to neversell a house.
And what he meant by that was, I'mgoing to go get educated like a
realtor.
I'm going to understand what
realtor problems are so I can helpsolve realtor problems.
(10:21):
And that to me is like, that'swhat I'm doing.
I want to be the best loan officerto never fund a loan.
I want to understand what it'slike to go through this grind and
be able to provide some valuableinsight from experts in this
industry to other loan officersthat I talk to.
Because if I'm not worth knowing,what's the point, right?
Like if I can't give you somethingwhen I give you a call, you know
(10:42):
what I do, a lot of people justtell me no, because they're not
ready, right?Like that's the grind of
recruiting.
A lot of people just, they're not
ready for it.
They don't know it's not worth
their time at that time, making amove in the mortgage industry.
It sucks.
It's hard.
It's a pain in the butt and a lotof moving parts.
So to want to do that or to be, Iguess, talked into that, which I
(11:03):
never would want to do, but towant to go through that process,
it takes a while.
And so along the way, I want to be
able to provide value and besomebody that you see my phone
number pop up and go, let's seewhat Connor's got for me today.
Right.
And so I started that journey and
yeah, it's been awesome.
Like just listening to the
different perspectives of thisindustry.
I've listened to a lot ofdifferent podcasts.
(11:24):
There's one with, it was likemortgage moms.
And that was kind of neat becausethey talked about being moms and
their families along withmortgages.
I listened to one of a guy aboutlike new housing legislation in
New Hampshire, which, you know, Imean, like, what do I have to do
with New Hampshire?But at the same time, like I can
see the value in that platform fora loan officer to say, hey, have
one of your local representativeson a show with you and talk about
legislation and get that news outto your agents.
(11:44):
And that's providing value to yournetwork of people.
And then, of course, you've gotthe longstanding shows like yours
and Alec Hansen's Modern LoaningPlaybook.
And there's a lot of them outthere.
So Mortgage Marketing Radio, thosetypes of shows.
And so I love to listen to thedifferent guests.
I love to hear their stories.
And yeah, it just gives me a lot
of valuable insight for me intothe type of people that I talk to
day to day.
And like I said, it all goes back
(12:04):
to respect.
Like, I feel like it's what I
should be doing.
If I'm not studying this business,
then I'm just, you know, throwingvalue props at you and hoping
something sticks at the wall.
And I just don't feel like that's
good recruiting.
So, you know, it's just part of my
growth and journey.
And so I not just part of my
growth and journey.
I agree, man.
And something we talk about insales, you know, when I'm doing
(12:29):
coaching on sales and things likethat is like most salespeople
think that the most valuable partof a sales is like the pitch.
And the truth is that is probablythe least important part of the
sale, right?What really matters, and honestly,
recruiting is a form of sales,really everything is a form of
sales, right?Like, you know, finding your wife
is a form of sales, likeeverything we do is pretty much a
form of sales or persuasion.
(12:49):
And so from that perspective,
sales really is identifying aproblem and providing a solution.
If you don't identify the problemthat someone has, how do you
provide a solution to thatproblem?
And so without understanding theprospects that you're going after,
how can you give them the solutionto their problems?
Because you don't know theirproblems.
And so I think that's supervaluable for you.
And we talk about this a lot witheven loan officers.
So many loan officers have this...
(13:09):
I don't call it this.
It's not some I-coin, but it'scalled the curse of knowledge.
You think that people know moreabout the thing you do than they
actually do.
I mean, even from a marketing
perspective, I'll start talkingabout stuff like pixels and unique
value propositions and uniquemechanisms and things like that.
People are like, Oh, what are youtalking about?
Right.
And it's like, Oh crap.
Like let's boil it down tomarketing 101.
The same thing that loan officersdo all the time.
DTI, LTV.
Like I want to educate these
people.
It's like, yes, you want to
educate your prospects.
(13:30):
But when you start to use words
they don't understand, they feeltalked down to instead of
educated, right?So like you're using all these big
words, like no, they just feeloverwhelmed.
What they need is a leader.
is a need a leader to guide them
to the promised land, right?They want someone that's going to
show up and hold their hand andput them in the best position for
themselves, right?And a lot of times people hide
(13:51):
behind, I'm not a salesperson.
The truth is you are a salesperson
first, because if you're not, thenyou don't deserve to get paid 5,
10, 15 grand on a loan.
I'm sorry, you don't.
Those people get paid because ofthe value they bring, which is new
deals.
They don't get paid because they
educate people.
Because if not, then teachers will
get paid a lot more money and theydon't.
So again, I think that's supervaluable and something that we can
all learn from.
(14:11):
And I think the same thing when
I'm thinking from a marketingperspective, when I'm marketing
the consumer, what's in it for me,that's always the concept that I
think about is like, what is theconsumer thinking when they see
this ad?What is the consumer thinking when
they see this post?Like, what can I do that's going
to spark an interest, but you haveto get in their shoes.
And so you're doing that samething, going through these
podcasts, talking to loan officersevery day, having masterminds,
(14:32):
bringing them value.
And that's something that, if I
can be frank, the mortgageindustry is terrible, for the most
part, at actually giving peopletangible value and educating them
on how to get more business.
And I'll point to this.
I used to be an AE at a reversemortgage company.
And a new CEO came in and he'slike, well, what can we do to help
you?I said, man, I would love some
more training.
I would love to learn more like
scripting and sales training andyada, yada.
He's like, yeah, companies don'treally do that anymore.
(14:52):
And I was like, oh, I was like,this is going to go great.
Of course, business ended upimploding and we got laid off in
2017 and here we are.
But I realized as I started my
business, I would never do that.
It's like, no, like the truth is,
people are not educated.
What are most loan officers
taught?Go talk to real estate agents.
What do they say?How do they do it?
What's the value prop?How do you create a value prop?
What's your offer?How do you stand out from other
(15:14):
people?Oh, I have good rates.
I answer my phone and you don'thave good service.
Like that's your job description.
That's not your value proposition.
So when you're sharing thisinformation, like what are you
sort of thinking about from thatperspective when you are posting
this Yeah.
So I try to always keep in mind
that I don't do this job.
And when I have my mastermind and
I'm talking with loan officers,and I always start that by saying,
(15:36):
listen, out of respect for you,I'm not trying to tell anybody
what to do.
But I study this business in a way
that I can try to bring ideas thatI've learned from other top
producers.
Like these are proven things that
have worked for someone else.
And I just want to share.
And hopefully that'll bring youvalue and maybe trigger an idea of
your own or something that youwant to pursue.
And I can point you in a directionor maybe help make a connection
for you to that person that canhelp you along that journey.
(15:57):
And for me, that's really what'sanother benefit to LinkedIn is
just getting connected with peopleto where I can make those
connections for folks where it'slike, hey, I just heard a great
podcast today about annualmortgage reviews and how to
leverage those to help partnerwith your agents more effectively
and really bring value to thatrelationship and also get more
referrals from previous customers,right?
And is that something you'retrying to do these days?
No?Well, listen, let me connect you
with so-and-so loan officer sothat they can share with you how
(16:17):
to walk through that.
Because if that's something you're
interested in, it will bring youvalue and they can share, you
know, how and the scripting thatthey've done.
So when I bring that to a loanofficer, I always want to make
sure that I'm not trying to be,you know, the end all be all
expert, because I don't implementthese strategies for myself,
right?Now, some of them are translatable
to what I do.
And so I do take some of this and
(16:39):
put it into my own business.
But it's really about just
learning what other people aredoing and saying, hey, I've heard
that come up a few times.
But I want to touch on something
you mentioned, Luke, which is justthe industry as a whole isn't
great at educating their loanofficers.
I would agree with that.
That's why we see the average age
be so high in the industry.
I think I saw a stat the other day
(16:59):
that it had dropped from somewherein the 50s to somewhere in the mid
40s, but that was like 2021numbers.
My guess is we're probably closeto high 40s, low 50s now, because
you got to imagine a lot of youngpeople got into the business to
hit that refi boom, and then maybethey got right back.
So I'd be curious what the newnumber is these days.
But from where I sit, I tell themanagers that I work with, it's
(17:22):
not about the value prop of thecompany you work for.
That supports what you do.
But if you're talking with a
potential loan officer aboutjoining your team and coming over
to work with you, it's all aboutyou and how the company supports
your vision for that.
But you better come to that
conversation with a plan.
Yes.
You better show that loan officer,this is how we're going to help.
And not just be, we've got goodtech and we can close your loans
(17:43):
on time.
And we've got all these products
and good rates.
Like that's just price of
admission, right?Every Yes.
worth a lick can do all thosethings.
So now it's about localleadership.
And what does that local leaderbring to the table to inspire that
loan officer to support them?Some LOs just need a frontline
manager.
Somebody will be in their
pipeline, somebody will help themstructure deals, that sort of
thing.
They just need that extra layer of
(18:05):
support.
Others need somebody that can
really be their guide and say,hey, these are the plans that
we're going to implement to grow.
And if you follow me, it'll work
and I'll hold you accountable toit.
And so that's where I feel likethere's a big gap in mortgage
recruiting is that there's alittle too much reliance on value
props and not actual value.
And so I would encourage anybody
who's a recruiting leader outthere, and this is inspired by
(18:27):
Richard Milligan, who's a greatrecruiting coach out there, but
just define your value as a leaderand be prepared to lay that out to
a recruit.
They may not see the value and
that's fine.
The ones that do will be inspired
by you, be attracted to what youdo.
And, you know, you've got a chanceto have a really loyal person join
(18:50):
your team and you can't trade thatfor the world.
I mean, we can go out there andbuy all the talent we want, right?
And throw out big sign on bonusesand go back to 2020 and say,
here's a bunch of money.
But we've seen how that's played
out, right?We've seen folks come and go and
that sort of thing.
And so it really does boil down
to, hey, how are you going toreally set me up for success?
(19:12):
And that just boils down to localleadership.
I that because I agree.
I mean, just to call out some
people in the industry.
I mean, there are some of those
leaders that attempt to gatekeepthe good information as a way to
hold value so that, you know, oh,and I don't want them to leave if
they have this thing.
And it's like, OK, well, that is
not leadership.
That is being a little I'm not
(19:33):
going to say it.
That is being badly.
That to me is like the biggestslap in the face that you don't
really have true value.
And so instead of bringing value,
you want to hide the good thingsbecause you don't want them to
leave and go somewhere else,right?
I'm going to hide this thing fromthem.
I'm going to hide this other thingfrom them.
I'm going to show them this, butthis is like, oh, I came up with
(19:56):
this myself.
It's like, no, give them
everything.
Because guess what?
Once they find out that you didn'tactually do that thing, they're
going to leave, right?I mean, and you talk about paying
people.
We've seen MSAs, we've seen the
signing bonuses.
Money brings you short term
business.
But in my opinion, and we've seen
a lot of companies doing the wholeget licensed, get your real estate
agent license and pay them 50bips.
(20:17):
In my head, I get it.
It's a hard market.
But those are all short termstrategies that are all going to
backfire in the future.
Because guess what?
When the business gets busy, like,do you really want to be paying
your real estate agents 50 bips onevery deal and mr loan officer now
all of a sudden you're only making60 bips per deal because now you
have to give up 50 of your bips togive it to this real estate agent
(20:39):
that didn't really do anythingother than give you the deal now
all of a sudden how do you marketyour business i don't know to me
it's like a short-term side ofthings so many guys got into solar
as well cool like now you've takenyour eyes off of the price instead
of getting better at sales,instead of getting better at your
systems, instead of getting betterat getting more clients, you're
looking at things that are like,oh, I made money today.
And I get it.
(20:59):
It's a tough market.
We've had, you know, two of thetoughest years in recent history,
if not maybe ever it's hard, but Ithink thinking from a perspective
of a long-term game is alwaysgoing to lead to better results.
And I honestly didn't expect thisconversation to go this And I love
that it I mean, way.
did.
I don't know, maybe I shouldn't betalking about this stuff, but I've
seen right?it, I've talked to thousands of
loan officers, branch managers,regionals, district owners, like
over the last five, six years,like I have seen every model under
(21:20):
the sun.
I see the value in all of them.
You know, you see the brokers, yousee the retail, you see the big
banks, you see the little banks.
Everyone has their own value and
everybody has their flaws andeverybody has their upsides.
In my head, it's like the peoplethat come out on top are the
people that are true leaders thatshow up and bring value without
necessarily looking for gain.
Yes, the ulterior motive at the
end of the day, you're postingvaluable stuff.
(21:41):
It's like, hey, I post valuablestuff because I want people to
come to me.
I want people to be attracted to
me and maybe they'll work with me.
But that's not necessarily the
entire intention.
It's like, I want to bring value
to this industry.
I'm assuming that's kind of how
you see it.
I don't Yeah.
I mean, I work one very small partof the country, but LinkedIn is a
national platform, right?So like I'm not in it just for
recruiting loan officers in Texasand Oklahoma.
I mean, this is just my way ofshowing appreciation to the
business and really trying tobring value to this industry.
(22:03):
Like I said, I'll never originatea loan, but if I can help someone
originate one or give them a goodidea to grow, I mean, that's a
cool feeling, right?But I would say this, Luke, if
somebody's lacking leadership, andI know it may sound like an overly
simplified thing to do, but Ihonestly would encourage somebody
to just find two podcasts andlisten to them every week.
Go follow good people on LinkedInand just is their posts.
I mean, that could be thedifference in 10 loans a year for
(22:27):
you, right?Like just finding those ideas that
you're not getting.
You know, during COVID in 2020,
everybody went to work from homeand some people haven't even
returned, you know?And so they're still working at
the house.
They're still going about this
thing on their own.
And for some, that's their
preferred way of doing it.
They like to have that autonomy.
They really want to, you know,just kind of be left alone.
They've been doing it long enough.
They feel like they've got, you
know, it all under control andsome do.
And then others, I would say like,if you're lacking that
interpersonal opportunity tobounce ideas off of somebody or
(22:49):
whatever it is, or there's a gapin leadership and you just don't
feel like you're getting it, justfind it yourself.
Like the resources are out there.
There's really no excuse.
Right, absolutely, man.
And I actually shared this the
other day and I said like, I mean,I'm on a mission to give
everything away, right?All the secrets, because it was
funny, I saw a post in a group,and someone was asking, it was a
real estate group.
Because at one point in my career,
(23:09):
I worked with real estate agents,we don't anymore.
But we did at one point, I'm stillin a bunch of real estate groups.
And someone said, Hey, like, canyou share an ad?
And there was a guy was like, Oh,check out my results.
And the person was like, Oh, butyou didn't share the ad.
And he's like, Oh, well, thatwon't be for free.
And I said, here's some differentad copy variations.
The secret is not the ad copy.
(23:30):
The secret is on conversion.
There's a lot of other things thatmatter.
You just need to execute.
I made a post the other day too
that talked about like most peopledon't lack information.
They lack execution.
But the real truth is you need to
take action.
And one of my favorite quotes is
by Derek Sivers.
If more information was the
answer, we'd all be billionaireswith six-pack abs.
(23:51):
So this is not about information.
YouTube is a thing.
You can literally learn anything.
You can learn AI.
You can learn ads.
You can learn Google My Business
strategies.
You can learn how to rank on
YouTube.
You can learn how to create a
YouTube channel.
There's no limit to what you can
learn on these platforms.
You just got to take just truth So
this is not about Yeah.
(24:12):
Well, and so the way I came up
with a solo tag, the solutionoriented loan officer, you know,
I've been having conversationswith folks that were really kind
of depressing because everybodywas just so ultra focused on rates
and inventory and things likethat.
And I remember even talking withone person who said, you know,
like, I've been through the grind,Connor, like, I've been doing this
for 20 years.
I'm just not going to go do it
(24:33):
again.
And so I was getting kind of
frustrated, you know, just withhow down everybody was, you know.
And then I had anotherconversation that was completely
different.
Somebody who was a lot more, you
know, focused on, they weretelling me how they were getting
business out of their database.
How in the world are you getting
business out of your database fullof people at 2%, 3%, 4% and rates
and rates are seven or eight,right?
Well, they're making the calls,like they're actually taking the
action and they're having thoseconversations.
(24:53):
And so I'm walking my dog and I'mthinking, you know, I love
acronyms and I'm just trying tothink, how can I make this
relatable to people?Like this kind of loan officer,
just that conversation stuck withme.
And I'm thinking, LO, okay, well,what's a word that ends with And
And so I'm like, okay, solo,solution-oriented.
Okay, so just connect the dots.
Sure.
And then, you know, I rememberseeing an old Instagram reel of a
guy at a campfire with a red Solocup.
And, you know, he's like, check itout.
You know, when it's full, itdoesn't melt.
And it doesn't.
You know, you put it in the fire,
(25:13):
it won't melt.
I've tested it.
It I'm sure if you keep it inthere long it But if it's works.
I it's it doesn't And it enough,will.
You put it in the empty, it won'tmean, full, I've tested It melt.
works.
doesn't.
fire, melt.
I'm it.
sure if you keep it in there longenough, it will.
But if it's empty, I mean, it'sinstant.
It melts right away.
And so the concept is the
solution-oriented loan operating.
(25:34):
They're constantly getting more
knowledge about products orprospecting.
Or they're looking at data.
They're adding value.
They're learning how to teach aclass.
They're learning how to callbroker owners and say, hey, can I
get in front of your next meeting?They're learning how to do these
things while everyone else is apolo and they're problem obsessed
loan officers.
And they're just talking about
rates and inventory.
Oh, boy.
And so I really wanted to try andfind the solos of the world and
(25:56):
build some kind of community withthem.
And so I put together these smallmastermind groups where we're
getting together over zoom andjust talking about loan officer
stuff, right?Like customer experience,
database, reviews, things likethat.
I just show up, man.
Like I just show up and ask a
couple of questions and let theloan officers talk because I want
them to, you get the most know,value out of officers talk because
I want them to get the most valueout of it.
(26:17):
But I keep it to five, six, 10,and most people per Zoom.
But it's just about thecollaboration.
But you're absolutely right.
This is where I was they're just
the comment that it's aboutexecution and taking action, and
it's not about information.
And that's totally true.
The top producers will tell youtheir entire playbook.
The best producers in thisbusiness have no problem sharing
with you what they did or how theygot there because they know how
hard it was and how few peoplewill ever actually do it.
(26:38):
And so you can learn a lot, butit's all about applying what you
learn.
I try to get this group of people
together to collaborate because Iknow they'll actually apply what
they do.
And it'll be cool to see what
comes of it.
But yeah, the solo loan officer
for me is just thatsolution-oriented one.
(26:58):
And I've enjoyed really talking tothem because those are exciting
conversations.
You can pick it up on somebody
almost immediately if they're inthat kind of mindset or category.
Those are so energizing.
Yeah, man.
And it's true, man.
Being a facilitator or a connector
is value man i mean that's anotherway that you're bringing value is
by being a connector and being afacilitator so that's freaking
amazing man the things we talkedabout man we see that a lot
especially in the last two yearsright i mean we see a lot of
people that i mean again i talk toloan officers every day one of the
biggest things of coaching that wedo is you know get your mindset
(27:19):
right right and you know i waseven having a coaching call with
someone a while back you know isaid what's your morning right?
you And, I was even know, having acoaching call with someone a while
you know, back, I said, what'syour morning routine look like?
They're like, well, I need somemore loans.
I need strategy.
I'm like, bro, like, I'm not going
to give you any tactics becausethe truth is like any amount of
(27:40):
tactics, you're not going toimplement any of the tactics or
strategies until you have yourmind right.
So what's your morning routinelook like?
What time are you getting up inthe morning?
Are you going to the gym?Are you listening to positive
things first thing in the morning?What does that look like?
(28:00):
getting up Oh, at You 7.30.
I'm going know, straight to the
office and getting into the Areyou listening gym.
to positive things first thing inthe morning?
What does that look like?getting up Oh, at 7.30.
You're not going straight to theoffice and getting into the grind.
I'm like, okay, well, you're nottaking care of yourself.
And until you take care ofyourself and your mind, no amount
of tactics and strategies andlistening to podcasts and watching
YouTube videos, you're just notgoing to take action.
(28:20):
Or if you do, you're not going totake action for enough consistency
over time where you get results.
And so it all starts with getting
your mind right, getting in tunewith what you need as a human
being.
And not like, again, a lot of
times we're trying to pour out ofan empty cup.
We need to fill our cup first.
I think as a parent, as a business
owner, as a loan officer, there'sall the different buckets that you
(28:43):
have to sort of pour out of.
And it's like, okay, well,
sometimes we pour everything intowork and sort of neglect our
family.
And then sometimes we neglect
ourselves, which then means weneglect everything.
And so again, like, I think thebig thing too, just to take from
this conversation is yes, there'saction that needs to be taken.
But at the same time, you arerequired to take care of yourself
(29:05):
first, because you cannot givefrom an empty cup.
I don't know what your thoughtsare on I mean, my thoughts on that
would be, I think you can fillyour cup by filling the cup of
others.
You know, I mean, that's where it
starts for me.
I really enjoy bringing awareness
to people that are doing goodthings, you know, and that helps
me feel good.
It gives me energy to do the other
things for me.
And I think there is a lot of
focus in our culture on, you know,me first, me first.
But I think you are puttingyourself first when you put others
first.
You know what I mean?
It sounds counterintuitive, but atthe same time, like, that does
bring joy.
Like, that's what, you know, my
(29:26):
faith teaches me, and that's whatI subscribe to.
And so I really do want to bringothers, you know, lift them up,
fill them up, and that helps mestay energized.
And then, I mean, just good thingshappen from that.
But I do agree with your pointthat if you don't have the
disciplines there, then it is hardto trust that they're going to put
the work in with what you givethem.
Right.
So, you know, somebody does really
need to make the decision that Iam willing to do this work.
I see how important it is.
I understand it's going to be
hard.
And just embrace that.
The problem that I think a lot ofpeople run into, Luke, is they
think if they just get that onetip, that one strategy, it's going
(29:46):
to change everything, right?Yeah.
And it'll be magic and it'll bethe hack, exactly.
What they don't embrace is howmuch it's going to suck along the
way.
Yeah.
And that it's going to be hard andthat you've got to be prepared for
those challenges and look forwardto the challenge and say, hey, I'm
looking forward to this hard thingthat I'm about to do because I'm
future.
And along the way, I know it's
going to be difficult.
But, you know, fear is failure to
(30:06):
know that everything is all right,right?
Something like that, like failingto know everything is all right.
That's the acronym.
And so everything is all right.
Like, I know finances may betight.
I know things may be difficult.
But things typically have a way of
working out if you just do thework and you've got to take action
with the expectation of results.
You can't just expect to make 50
calls and magically something'sgoing to happen.
Like you need to be able tomeasure what you're doing and know
(30:27):
whether or not you're doing goodactions or bad actions.
Right.
if you have that expectation and
you're taking action, you've gotyour mind right.
I totally agree with you, man.
Like it's all about mindset in the
beginning.
And then it's just getting started
and taking that journey.
For me, it's about, you know,
helping others first and thenseeing where that takes me because
that's a fun ride.
So I like to just sort of sit back
and see where it goes.
Love man.
(30:48):
it, Yeah, that's important.
And I agree, man, with everything
you said.
I do think that giving back to
people is great.
But I think there is sort of a
balance of like, okay, well, atsome point, you do have to, you
know, refill yourself up.
And maybe for you, it is a big
energizer.
It's not always a big energizer
for everyone either.
Right.
So sometimes like, you know, it'slike, what is the energizer for
(31:09):
you?I play disc golf twice a week, I
go to the gym, I do these things.
And you know, the gym doesn't
really fill me up.
It helps my mind.
But it doesn't really like, giveme that release where I was like
playing a little bit of disc golf,just being out in God's nature.
And you know, breathing fresh airis always good, man.
So for fun, man.
So how long have you been doing
(31:32):
disc Well, I played in college,not in college, but I played while
I was in college.
I used to go disc golfing.
And then I stopped for like 10years, had kids, all that fun
stuff.
And so I started playing 21 in
2021.
I was burnt out, man, the business
had grown for three, four years ina row, like just massively.
And, you know, externally,everything felt great.
But internally, I was burnt out,miserable, I hated the business, I
(31:55):
hated everything about it.
So disc golf, really, I think I
want to say it saved me, but itsaved me, right?
Like it was something that took mymind off, it allowed me to do
something fun.
And so I think for everybody, you
know, find what that is, right?Maybe for Connor, it is having
these masterminds that does fillthem up, right?
(32:16):
But for you, it might be the gymor golfing or whatever, right?
Jiu-Jitsu.
I mean, whatever it is that makes
you turn your brain off and have alittle bit of time in your own
sort of realm where you can justchill.
I think it's super important.
You know, what is a strategy or
tactic?One of the things maybe you've
(32:37):
learned from the podcast or fromthe masterminds, if there is one
thing that you would recommendright now for them to go out and
get business, what is one thingthat you've learned over the last
six, 12 months that they could thelast six, 12 months that they
could implement?So maybe this is a personal
favorite of mine because I enjoylike public speaking and being in
front of crowds, which I know israre for a lot of people, but I
(33:00):
love Jeff Zempers, you know,approach to teaching classes.
I think that's so smart.
You know, I've listened to a
couple of iterations of this.
We've got Denise Donahue, the
mortgage nerd, who talked about,you know, calling the broker
owner, getting, you know, added onto the last 10 or 15 minutes
there, existing meetings so thatyou're not having to go through
rigmarole and hosting and doingall that.
And then like learning one, two,three, maybe five topics that you
(33:20):
could teach a class on.
I was talking to a guy the other
day, yesterday.
He's a former police officer and
he's teaching classes.
And I said, man, you're a former
police officer.
Have you ever thought about just
teaching a class aboutself-defense?
think Yeah.
And just being aware, you know,
for these agents that are goinginto houses all by themselves.
And he was like, man, that is agreat idea.
So like those are just ways tohelp you increase your value and
get in front of a large group ofpeople all at once and be the
(33:41):
authority in front of that group.
You know, I think for me, that is
an awesome way to build yournetwork and just continue to build
relationships that shouldhopefully pay dividends in the
future for in it, man.
If someone wanted to connect with
you online, what is the best waythat they can connect you?
Yeah, just find me on LinkedIn,Connor Bartley.
He's the best way to get Yeah,man.
The LinkedIn influencer, Connor,I'm going to have to add you on
Facebook.
So you can see that I don't always
have my post.
I'm not there.
Oh, well, nevermind then I guess.
(34:02):
Sorry.
Yeah, it's not good for you, man.
That's a time suck.
So you just spend your time onLinkedIn.
That's good.
Awesome, man.
Thank you so much for your timetoday.
It's been huge, huge value.
And again, my biggest takeaways
from what you've talked about,especially from a LinkedIn
perspective is, I mean, let's goback to what you said.
Sometimes you're taking the wrongaction.
But what's most important aboutwhat you did is you took action,
right?Maybe at the beginning you were
like, hey, you know what?I'm just going to throw stuff up
(34:24):
there.
I'm going to take action.
You're like, you know what?Let me revisit this strategy.
I think LinkedIn still can work,but let's try it this way.
And clearly it's working.
So to me, that's a huge aha for
anybody who is listening to this.
It's like, it may not be the
platform that's the problem.
It may just be your content sucks.
Let's be honest, right?It may just be that you're not
engaging with people.
It may be those things, right?
(34:46):
Well, people say that all thetime.
Oh, leads suck.
Or, you know, I can't get business
from Facebook.
I can't get business from
LinkedIn.
LinkedIn sucks.
I mean, I've been one that saysLinkedIn sucks, right?
Like, you know, it's so hard toget engagement, but it's not.
I just wasn't spending time thatis appropriate on that platform.
We're not engaging with people.
people and you know, it shows.
And so, you know, thinking aboutfrom that perspective, like maybe
you've tried something for sixmonths and it's not working.
Maybe you should abandon it.
(35:07):
Sure.
Or maybe you should reevaluateyour strategy.
Maybe you're calling 50 people aweek and you're not getting
anywhere.
Maybe you should reevaluate your
strategy.
Maybe there's a better way to do
it.
Maybe your sales process sucks,
right?I don't know.
I don't know what you're doing.
But again, start thinking about
that from that perspective, andreally start to improve on that.
(35:27):
In addition to that, if you'reusing LinkedIn, my other takeaway
was consistency in posting, butmore importantly, consistently in
engaging with other people.
Building that network is really
going to come from consistentlyengaging with other people, right?
And so man, thank you so much foreverything you did today.
Any last words before we closeout?
so much for No, man, I justappreciate the opportunity to join
(35:47):
you on this.
And, you know, I hope everyone
else out there stays encouraged.
And, you know, we've got a lot of
hard work to do ahead of us.
So good luck to everyone out
there.
Awesome.
Thank you so much for your timetoday, Connor.
And for anybody who is interestedin learning more about how you can
help flip the status quo on realestate go agents, to
flipthestatusquo.com.
Thank you so much for listening
time today, And Connor.
(36:08):
for anybody who is interested in
learning more about how you canhelp flip the status quo on real
estate go agents, to flip thestatus quo.com.
Thank you so much for listeningand have a great day.
Thank you for tuning into theloans on demand podcast on loans
on demand podcast.com.
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