June 24, 2025 • 23 mins
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▶️ Watch this episode on YouTube
***
EPISODE DESCRIPTION
In this episode, Mike shares the next 3 fundamentals of "The 30 Steps of Success", a new series aimed at helping listeners in their own business journey. Drawing on over 30 years of his own experience, each episode will contain a deep dive on 2-3 topics that have led to the success Mike has today. He believes that by implementing some of these steps, listeners can revolutionize their career and build a sustainable, referral-based business.
Steps that are discussed:
→ Relationships & Networking: Building & maintaining authentic, sincere, & meaningful relationships will enrich your life & business, the importance of connecting with colleagues and attending industry events, and how the best investment you can make is in yourself.
→ Handwritten Notes: Handwritten notes and small gestures, despite being considered "old school," can significantly strengthen professional connections and goodwill, and the impact of personal touches in a digital age.
→ Time Management: Hiring the right people on your team and putting your ego aside to effectively delegate tasks to give you more time & energy, and how freeing yourself to work more on your business as opposed to in your business will help you grow.
***
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🎙️ Old School, New World Podcast: Old School, New World: The Life of An Entrepreneur
📺 Old School, New World YouTube: @OldSchoolNewWorld
📸 Old School, New World Instagram: @OldSchoolNewWorld
***
CONNECT WITH MIKE
📸 Mike Dias' Instagram: @migueldias26
👥 Mike Dias' Facebook: @Mike.Dias.9231
***
CONNECT WITH DNA LENDING GROUP
🔗 DNA Lending Group Website: www.dnalendinggroup.com
📸 DNA Lending Group Instagram: @DNALendingGroup
📋 DNA Lending Group LinkedIn: @DNALendingGroup
👥 DNA Lending Group Facebook: @DNALendingGroup
⏰ DNA Lending Group TikTok: @DNALendingGroup
***
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:10):
Hello, everyone, and welcome toepisode number 11 of Old School,
New World, The Life of anEntrepreneur.
I'm your host, I'm Mike Diaz.
So in today's episode, we are
going to continue on with the 30steps.
of success.
If you haven't subscribed yet, my
only ask is please subscribe andlike so you continue to get
(00:32):
notifications of every episodethat comes out.
Spotify, Apple Podcasts, the linkswill be available on our IG page.
This just helps us continue togrow our podcast.
to help others, to achieve thedreams that they're after.
You know, I'm a big believer thatit's so important to give back.
And this is what we are doing withepisode number 11 on the 30 Steps
(00:53):
to Success, volume three.
So we have covered six so far.
So it's the CRM, the follow -up,sell the benefits, knowledge, sell
yourself, be yourself, and askeffective questions.
In today's episode, we're going tobe covering the next three,
relationships slash networking,handwritten notes, and time
(01:14):
management.
Funny enough, the last two are
sort of tied together, and I'llexplain that to you as we go
through.
So let's start off with
relationships slash networking.
I will say I've been in the
business 14 years as a broker, 31years in the industry, in the
financial service industry.
And one thing I wish I had done
(01:37):
better, did a really good job whenI was at the banks, TV in Scotia,
probably didn't do it as well whenI became a broker.
And that's, you know, therelationship piece.
And not only with clients andfriends.
But just sort of creating myrelationship with my network,
because I was what I consider orcall a lone wolf.
And there's a lot of differentreasons.
I'm not going to dive into any ofthat today with you guys.
(01:58):
But it was something that if Icould go back to my younger self
to work on those early on, andthat's just because it helps you
build out.
What I'm now attempting to build
is our brokerage, DNA LendingGroup, the parent company of old
school in the world.
So the relationship piece, let's
start off with, of course, one ofthe most important relationships
we're going to have.
And relationships are very much
the best ships that you can find,whether that's friendships or even
(02:19):
just your clients.
Those are important.
So relationships, when it comes toour clients and our friends, you
know, it's so important to makesure we foster the relationship,
that we provide something thatthey will never forget.
Because really, you know, in ourbusiness and some of the success
that comes from a referral basedbusiness is having your clients
and friends and to a degree, yourreferral partners be your biggest
(02:41):
advocates.
You know, being your advocate, you
know, it's easier said than done,but they really have to get to
know you.
And how do you do that?
Again, it's to build therelationship.
Sometimes, you know, it's funny.
There's a misconception that, you
know, you got to.
dive in and find out everything
you need to know about the personthat you're helping and serving at
(03:04):
the very beginning but no you knowrelationships are grown over time
just like think about when you'redating you know you're not going
to you know find out everythingabout the person but it's
important to gradually build andget to know them over time and you
do that with small and big thingsyou know of course at the
beginning you're going to be openup You're going to be a little
more vulnerable.
Maybe, you know, tell them a
(03:25):
little bit about yourself.
Ordinarily wouldn't, but you want
them to get to know who you are.
Big things can be, you know, maybe
some wounds you may have sufferedfrom as a child or something that
you've identified and, you know,maybe something that holds you
back.
You want to be open.
That's part of the vulnerability.
Taking those steps.
will help build the relationshipyou have with your client and your
friends.
You know, friends, we say friends,
you know, it could beacquaintances as well and
(03:48):
fostering them and nurturing themis, you know, it could be
something as simple as if you havea friend, you think about them for
no real reason, except they popinto your head.
But I find that works really welland they really love it is, you
know, send them a text.
Hey, Sam, I've been thinking about
you.
Just wanted to say hi, hope you're
well.
You know, something as small as
that goes a long way.
(04:08):
But the key, Like we've talked
about sell yourself, be yourself.
The authenticity aspect of that
step is you got to genuinely wantto reach out and say hi for no
reason.
So that's really important.
The other thing with clients andbuilding the relationship, you
know, what you can do is again,back to one of the other steps.
So if you're starting to notice apattern, they're all tied
together, you know, so one leadsto the other, the other one leads
(04:31):
to another and vice versa.
And they go backwards in some
degree.
So when you're doing maybe a
follow -up with your client, youknow, through your CRM that, you
know, they enjoyed a book or theywere talking about starting a
business.
Do small things to continue to
build on.
Nothing to do with what you're
selling as an entrepreneur.
In our case, mortgages.
It just has to do something withyou.
You took note.
(04:51):
You remembered what came up.
You came across something and youfound the time and you were
willing and wanted to from here.
Not from here.
from here to let them know, hey,you know, I was thinking about
you.
I came across this.
You know, that happened to me whenI was first building out my
brokerage late 2023, beginning of2024.
Certain individuals started toresonate with me.
(05:13):
And I spoke to someone, ScottPeckford.
In fact, shout out to Scott, ifhe's listening at all.
He randomly sent me a book calledBuy Back Your Time by Dan Martell.
But funny thing, how things lineup, I was already thinking about
things that was in the book.
I read the book.
It really accelerated.
And what did I do in turn?
I recently did it for an agent.
(05:33):
I sent him this book.
I sent it to a friend of minewho's in the automotive business.
He started his own business, senthim the book, sent it to another
entrepreneur who's an owner of F45down on Lakeshore.
Because it's not that I waslooking to get anything out of
them.
I was really looking just to share
what somebody shared with me.
And that builds on the
relationship.
So you never know when someone's
going to come across and add somevalue.
And that's the other thing, right?If you're looking to build on your
(05:56):
relationship, clients, friends,personal, just be sure when you're
reaching out in those ways,there's value you're adding.
And that's why it's so importantwhen you're building
relationships, don't be buildingthem.
Because you're hoping to getsomething out of them.
You're only doing it because youwant them to help.
You know, you're expectingsomething back from them.
The expectation of gettingsomething back, to be honest,
(06:18):
should be zero.
You should never expect anything
in return.
Just, you know, gratitude,
respect.
You know, they don't even have to
like you.
But, you know, the hope is they'll
respect you because you're doingthings with integrity.
You're doing it from the heart.
So those are really important to
keep in mind as you go throughbuilding the relationships.
And then, of course, relationshipsare tied to networking.
(06:38):
You know, being a lone wolf, likeI said earlier, for me, it was
comfortable.
And, you know, and I've said it's
important to get comfortable withbeing uncomfortable and
networking.
So I was a lone wolf.
So I felt, oh, I can't go to theseseminars or these presentations or
these other things that werehappening where networking takes
place because I was on my own.
Didn't want to do that, to be
quite frank, until I started.
(07:00):
And I know even more so now
starting being a lending group.
that it's important to get out
there.
That's how people get to know you.
You know, you might see me andlisten to me, but you don't really
know me unless I'm putting myselfout there.
You know, I'm at a trade show andI'm there, you know, talking about
DNA Lending Group, what werepresent, what our principles and
values are.
(07:21):
So networking is an important part
in any real industry, especiallythe mortgage industry.
We have a lot of amazing peoplethat support us, that want the
best for us.
You know, you want to be
surrounded by folks and colleaguesthat cheer you on.
that support what you're doing,that they lift you up, as they
say, because those are the qualitythat you want to find in others as
you continue throughout yourjourney in this mortgage industry.
Now, it can be in any salesindustry or any business.
(07:41):
Again, Our podcast, Old School NewWorld, is based to help encourage
entrepreneurs to figure outcertain things and things that
have worked well.
So networking, whether it's going
to the events that mortgageprofessionals of Canada have,
whether it's a lender function,whether it's if you're with one of
the networks.
One of the annual events that they
have, you know, a lot of theevents that happen are across
(08:02):
Canada, right?So sometimes it can be Vancouver
and sometimes in Ottawa, Montreal,Toronto.
You know, a lot of agents say, oh,you know, if there's a cost, you
know, I have to go to BC or I haveto go to Ottawa, I have to pay for
a hotel and I have to fly aflight.
Remember, the best investment youcan make.
is in yourself.
And I have a philosophy about
(08:24):
advertising.
People spend all this money going
to try and get new deals and tryto generate leads.
They go spend money onadvertising, Google leads,
whatever it is.
That was never my philosophy.
I'd rather invest, whether it's inmyself and my education and what I
was learning and wanted to do, orthe networking, going to events,
or I would spend things on clientsthat I've helped and served.
to show them my appreciation andhow much I appreciate them and how
(08:45):
grateful I am.
Whether it's a small, we'll talk
about hadn't written notes,whether it's a hadn't written note
or whether it's a gift card, spendmoney there.
You do that with enough clients.
Some people have an advertising
budget of, you know, 15, 20, 25,000.
You do that enough times withenough clients, you're going to
spend that same money, but on thepeople that you already have
helped and served.
(09:05):
You know, why go chase for
something that you may or may notget?
When you can really show peoplehow much you love them, how much
you appreciate them, becausethey've really put food on your
table.
Because remember, in our industry,
we're 100 % commission -based.
So unless we're closing out a
transaction, that doesn't work outvery well for us in the long term.
So that's why it's really, reallyimportant to show that
(09:27):
appreciation.
So when you're going to these
conferences and thinking, oh, Ijust don't want to spend that
money, the $3 ,000 or the $2 ,500,whatever cost it is.
Think about the reward you'regoing to get from it and the
people that you will meet.
Again, relationship slash
networking is so, so important.
You might meet someone that's, you
know, a private lender.
But then, you know, two months
(09:47):
later, you come across a deal thatthat private lender can actually
help you help your client.
But you wouldn't have had that
relationship unless you decided toinvest in yourself.
I'm attending a conference, forexample, in Montreal in the middle
of September called Elevate.
Good friend of mine, Surajan.
Super great guy.
I've known him for several years
now.
He started his first conference a
year ago.
This is the second.
(10:07):
And I'll be attending as a VIP.
You know, I spent the money to go,
actually bought two VIP tickets.
Andy Elliott is the main person
there, main guest.
There's other lineups.
But I'm excited about it, not onlyfor the presenters and what I'm
going to learn from them, butbeing around a group of like
-minded people, networking, havinga common goal, sharing ideas back
and forth, sitting at the table.
(10:29):
Because without putting yourself
out there, networking, buildingrelationships, you will not have a
seat at the table.
So important to remember all that
in terms of relationships andnetworking.
Hopefully you took a little bitout of that, but it's a really,
really important piece.
In anything we do, again, whether
it's in your personal life, youhave to have strong relationships,
your spouse, your parents, yourchildren, those relationships have
(10:50):
to be tight and strong.
Whether it's in your professional
life with clients and making surethat they understand and feel you
and they hear you and theyunderstand that you have their
best interests at heart.
And then friends, meaning in the
professional or personal, youknow, you want to have those
relationships be strong and asstable as possible because it'll
elevate you and bring you upwardsto where you want to go.
(11:12):
So based on all we're doing, thatwould be step number seven.
So step number eight.
Now, this one you might think is a
bit wild.
Handwritten notes.
Yes, I still do them.
Yes, I write them myself.
You don't always have thehandwriting, but you might have
another way of doing it.
But I think it is one of the
(11:32):
nicest things you can do because,you know, in today's world, and
this is why, you know, the podcastis old school, old school writing
notes, new world.
Everybody thinks it's all digital.
Why this is so important?You know, we have to remember the
principles and values fromyesteryear and how much impact
they can still have today.
You know, when you're helping and
serving someone and you've donesuch a great job and you're asking
(11:53):
for a referral, you know, you'vecalled them for a post -funding
call.
Again, talk all about this in the
follow -up.
And then you manage to find the
time and you want to from here,not here, from here, meaning the
heart, not the head.
And you write a thank you card and
maybe attach, I reimburse clientsand friends appraisals as part of
(12:15):
my thank you.
But it's the handwriting that's
important.
Because remember, Canada Post,
you're in Canada, so Canada Post,they're on strike.
That means mail still goes around.
Obviously, things get sent around
Canada all the time.
And one thing people will always,
whether they're young or they'reold, they always love to open
something up.
Especially if it has a message of
thanks.
and appreciation and, you know,
(12:35):
goodwill.
They're always open to receiving
it.
And I'll give you an example.
Again, back to you telling storiesand you're trying to convey a
message.
When we were all in grade school,
you know, Valentine's Day comes upas an idea.
We used to, at least in my school,you know, we used to have
Valentine's, Ray Dole, you'd be myValentine.
And then we'd pass around theclass.
Everybody loved that.
(12:56):
We were young kids.
Sometimes you have to forget it'sokay to be childlike.
It's so important to remember thatwe're all big kids.
And so when we were doing thatexchange, there was a feeling
that's created by going, doingback and forth.
Some of you might have storiesabout, oh, you know, I liked
Susie.
I passed her up a note, passed it
to my friend in front of me,passed it to her friend, passed it
(13:20):
to her.
It's notes, handwritten notes.
So they go a long way.
You know, families that are
abroad, globally for that matter,when does the most cards go out?
Christmas cards.
So they're saying, you know, Merry
Christmas.
We miss a lot of families put
pictures of their families.
They mail it out.
That all comes through mail.
You know, and they keep it.
(13:41):
Some people still have, you know,nice, really old ones that keep,
they put them on their tree.
Sometimes cards come, you know, my
mom would do this quite a bitwhere our Christmas tree, she
would put up and she would put thecards that would come from your
relatives, friends and, and haveit on the tree for the Christmas
cards from yesteryear.
So writing and putting together a
(14:02):
handwritten, a note, showing yourthanks and appreciation and just
saying, thank you goes along with,they may never tell you.
Oh, you know, like that was areally meaningful card, but they
don't have to because it doesn'tmatter if they do or not.
Because back to you have to do itfrom the heart, not the head.
You know that you're doing itbecause you just want to say thank
you.
And that alone is, I feel, you
(14:25):
know, important to be in youreveryday practice or, you know,
keep on tying everything's intoDNA, but it's in your DNA.
You know, we are all born goodpeople.
you know and so we want to makesure that we have other people
feel what we're doing so it's abit old school yes some people you
know they say oh mike you know howdo you find the time guys i help
and serve anywhere between 100 to150 clients now a lot of some are
single like individualtransactions it's a couple so
(14:46):
let's call it out of the 150 let'srun down let's just say 70 thank
you cards like how do you findtime to write the thank you cards
this is a good lead -in to timemanagement.
I just find it because I know it'simportant.
It literally, guys, if you'reclosing 10 transactions a month,
20 transactions, you might besending on average 12 thank you
(15:07):
cards a day.
Maybe you, in your calendar, okay,
on this date, I'm running allthese thank you cards.
I know brokers that send theirChristmas cards.
They pick out a day and they haveall the ones that they want and
they send it out for that's partof their, how they build rapport
and connect with clients and showtheir appreciation.
So you just carve out a bit oftime to do the handwritten notes.
(15:31):
Because it's funny, the smallestthings sometimes lead to the
biggest results.
So something as small as three or
four sentences in the thank youcard can lead to greater
opportunities and greater thingsthat happen down the road.
In that card, you may want toreiterate, they really appreciate
you.
And if you have anyone you care
about, we'd love an opportunity tohelp and serve them.
You'd appreciate a referral.
There's different ways, but again,
(15:51):
it has to come from the heart.
I keep on saying this.
You'll find this episode talking alot about the heart because these
actions that we take to help andserve and to build what we're
doing for others, we're inservice.
And so it always has to come fromthe right place.
So let's push into timemanagement.
Talk a little bit about that.
(16:12):
For all the young entrepreneurs
out there in any industry you'rein, one thing that's really
changed my business.
And I'm just fortunate enough to
have a great team around me.
Melanie, who has started with me
in 2018 as my associate, is now myexecutive associate.
Sean, another amazing asset andamazing human for the business and
myself personally.
But they allow me to manage my
time.
This could apply to men and women,
(16:32):
but I know men.
You know, I had to.
And with Melanie, it was easier.
I love Melanie to death.
Everybody that knows me knows howmuch I love her.
And she's the absolute best, myright hand.
So blessed to have.
It's one of God's wings, as I say
all the time, that she came to mein 2018 via a good friend of mine
who referred to over.
(16:52):
She's looking for work.
And just to show you that, youknow, you don't have to be in the
mortgage space to be successful.
She was working for TELUS, it was
on mat leave with her first child,and then was looking for work,
wanted to do something different,and then landed with me.
So in her transition, once she hadher twins, I needed to find
something different for herbecause I couldn't expect her to
(17:15):
be, you know, raising a youngfamily and being an associate,
which revolves essentially theunderwriting piece, following up
the clients, document collectionand such.
So through Scott Petford, thatbook came in, I was already
thinking about things.
And finally, The third person the
same week, and this is almost ninemonths ago that Melanie has been
as a role in the executiveassociate role, asked me, oh, you
(17:38):
know, when's Melanie coming back?And it was like the third person
the same week.
And I thought to myself, wait a
minute, boom, it's like a lightbulb went off.
I know it.
I'm going to offer her this
executive associate positionbecause I've been thinking about
different things.
And this book, Buy Back Your Time
by Dan Martel, talks about hiringthe right people to free up your
time so you can do.
myself, the things that light me
up.
You know, being able to have
Melanie and Sean allow me to havecreated Old School New World.
(18:00):
It allows me the time to recordthese types of episodes, episodes
where I have guests, where I'mhearing their stories and I get to
hear from their life story andwhat the challenges, successes
they had.
When Scott sent me that book and
that book talked about it, thatlight bulb went off, I hired her.
And again, as I say, the rest ishistory.
Melanie looks after my calendars,sets up calls and visits with me
or meetings.
If you want to call, I call them
visits.
She makes sure everything's
(18:21):
running super smoothly on thebackend, super seamless for DNA.
But what she allows me to do isthe things that light me up and
Sean does as well, but she doesmore because my email was eating
me up.
And so I was being sucked into my
email.
It's almost like a rabbit hole.
You go in, you start, you'reworking something.
Oh, I have to do this one, thisone, or this one.
Before you know it, you know, anhour and a half has passed and you
(18:43):
still haven't finished the stuffthat yet started.
So the idea of, I was sayingbefore about, you know, for men in
particular, and I had to, is parkthe ego.
I had to say, hey, Mr. Eagle, goodto see you again.
You know, I need to park you in myback pocket because I need to let
go of control.
I was lucky enough to find Melanie
(19:05):
and it was easier for me to dothat, much easier.
It wasn't hard at all, to behonest.
But hopefully you can find someonelike that and they might need to
work on it.
But as entrepreneurs, in order to
have better time management, youcan't allow your energy to be
sucked out of you doing thingsthat is better handled by someone
else.
So you can spend the time doing
the things that are going to growyour business.
(19:25):
So there's a saying, are youworking in your business?
Are you working?on your business.
And when you're working in yourbusiness, you're doing all the
things, you know, the emails, thecalendar, setting of calls, taking
calls, you know, having discoverycalls, all kinds of different
things.
You're not working on your
business.
So how do you do that?
Find and surround yourself byindividuals.
And then you don't have to have abusiness to hire.
(19:46):
You can be a mortgage agent.
two, three years in the business,
you're starting to grow.
You can hire an associate, someone
to handle some of the paperwork,the document fulfillment.
If you train them well, or maybethey can bring with them some
experience of underwriting, theycan do the underwriting piece and
the fulfillment because that willallow you then more time to do
other things that are helping youto work on your business.
Because remember, whether you'rewith DNA Lending Group, whether
you're with another brokerage,whether you're with a network, you
are an entrepreneur.
(20:06):
You are your business.
Yes, you have, you know, yournetworks has branding and you
still are your business.
You know, there's very few I've
found and branding does help.
Don't get me wrong in terms of,
oh, you know, I've heard of, youknow, Mortgage Center Canada.
I've heard of DLC.
I've heard of, you know, Mortgage
Architects and Mortgage Alliance,you know, Verical.
But typically when you're beingreferred, they're not referring,
(20:28):
you know, Mortgage Center, DLC.
They're referring Mike Diaz, Joe
Smith, whoever it might be.
They're referring the individual.
So you have to work on yourbusiness and bringing in the right
people.
You're not hiring for your
business.
You're hiring to grow your
business because you're going tobe able to take things off your
table.
But again, it requires you to park
the eagle because you know theeagle is going to call.
It's not like the eagle is notaround.
(20:49):
It's going to go, hey, Mayor Mike,how you doing?
It's the eagle calling.
Good to see you.
Always pick it up if the egocalls, always.
And have a conversation.
Oh, nice to see you.
Yeah, I've dealt with that.
I'm okay.
You can go back in the backpocket.
And that will, again, help youmanage your time.
And energy will start to be inmore abundance because you're not
spending all of your time andenergy on something that doesn't
(21:10):
serve you.
You've now brought in good people.
that they can take and probably dobetter than you do.
You know, Melanie, I love her somuch because she does really good.
She's really good with managingthose things.
Then again, it adds to the layersof what I'm able to do and the
time management piece, along withhaving more energy to do those
(21:31):
things, goes a long way.
I can't stress that enough.
So that's our episode for today.
So episode number 11, volume
number three of the 30 steps ofsuccess we have covered.
relationships slash networks,handwritten notes, and time
management.
As I said in the beginning,
please, if you haven't subscribed,please subscribe and like to
follow along.
Share our podcast, you know, ask
folks to subscribe.
It would mean a great deal.
(21:54):
Appreciate you guys a great deal.
Thank you for tuning in and
listening.
And we'll talk again soon.
Hello, everyone, and welcome toepisode number 11 of Old School,
New World, The Life of anEntrepreneur.
I'm your host, I'm Mike Diaz.
So in today's episode, we are
going to continue on with the 30steps.
of success.
If you haven't subscribed yet, my
only ask is please subscribe andlike so you continue to get
(00:32):
notifications of every episodethat comes out.
Spotify, Apple Podcasts, the linkswill be available on our IG page.
This just helps us continue togrow our podcast.
to help others, to achieve thedreams that they're after.
You know, I'm a big believer thatit's so important to give back.
And this is what we are doing withepisode number 11 on the 30 Steps
(00:53):
to Success, volume three.
So we have covered six so far.
So it's the CRM, the follow -up,sell the benefits, knowledge, sell
yourself, be yourself, and askeffective questions.
In today's episode, we're going tobe covering the next three,
relationships slash networking,handwritten notes, and time
(01:14):
management.
Funny enough, the last two are
sort of tied together, and I'llexplain that to you as we go
through.
So let's start off with
relationships slash networking.
I will say I've been in the
business 14 years as a broker, 31years in the industry, in the
financial service industry.
And one thing I wish I had done
(01:37):
better, did a really good job whenI was at the banks, TV in Scotia,
probably didn't do it as well whenI became a broker.
And that's, you know, therelationship piece.
And not only with clients andfriends.
But just sort of creating myrelationship with my network,
because I was what I consider orcall a lone wolf.
And there's a lot of differentreasons.
I'm not going to dive into any ofthat today with you guys.
(01:58):
But it was something that if Icould go back to my younger self
to work on those early on, andthat's just because it helps you
build out.
What I'm now attempting to build
is our brokerage, DNA LendingGroup, the parent company of old
school in the world.
So the relationship piece, let's
start off with, of course, one ofthe most important relationships
we're going to have.
And relationships are very much
the best ships that you can find,whether that's friendships or even
(02:19):
just your clients.
Those are important.
So relationships, when it comes toour clients and our friends, you
know, it's so important to makesure we foster the relationship,
that we provide something thatthey will never forget.
Because really, you know, in ourbusiness and some of the success
that comes from a referral basedbusiness is having your clients
and friends and to a degree, yourreferral partners be your biggest
(02:41):
advocates.
You know, being your advocate, you
know, it's easier said than done,but they really have to get to
know you.
And how do you do that?
Again, it's to build therelationship.
Sometimes, you know, it's funny.
There's a misconception that, you
know, you got to.
dive in and find out everything
you need to know about the personthat you're helping and serving at
(03:04):
the very beginning but no you knowrelationships are grown over time
just like think about when you'redating you know you're not going
to you know find out everythingabout the person but it's
important to gradually build andget to know them over time and you
do that with small and big thingsyou know of course at the
beginning you're going to be openup You're going to be a little
more vulnerable.
Maybe, you know, tell them a
(03:25):
little bit about yourself.
Ordinarily wouldn't, but you want
them to get to know who you are.
Big things can be, you know, maybe
some wounds you may have sufferedfrom as a child or something that
you've identified and, you know,maybe something that holds you
back.
You want to be open.
That's part of the vulnerability.
Taking those steps.
will help build the relationshipyou have with your client and your
friends.
You know, friends, we say friends,
you know, it could beacquaintances as well and
(03:48):
fostering them and nurturing themis, you know, it could be
something as simple as if you havea friend, you think about them for
no real reason, except they popinto your head.
But I find that works really welland they really love it is, you
know, send them a text.
Hey, Sam, I've been thinking about
you.
Just wanted to say hi, hope you're
well.
You know, something as small as
that goes a long way.
(04:08):
But the key, Like we've talked
about sell yourself, be yourself.
The authenticity aspect of that
step is you got to genuinely wantto reach out and say hi for no
reason.
So that's really important.
The other thing with clients andbuilding the relationship, you
know, what you can do is again,back to one of the other steps.
So if you're starting to notice apattern, they're all tied
together, you know, so one leadsto the other, the other one leads
(04:31):
to another and vice versa.
And they go backwards in some
degree.
So when you're doing maybe a
follow -up with your client, youknow, through your CRM that, you
know, they enjoyed a book or theywere talking about starting a
business.
Do small things to continue to
build on.
Nothing to do with what you're
selling as an entrepreneur.
In our case, mortgages.
It just has to do something withyou.
You took note.
(04:51):
You remembered what came up.
You came across something and youfound the time and you were
willing and wanted to from here.
Not from here.
from here to let them know, hey,you know, I was thinking about
you.
I came across this.
You know, that happened to me whenI was first building out my
brokerage late 2023, beginning of2024.
Certain individuals started toresonate with me.
(05:13):
And I spoke to someone, ScottPeckford.
In fact, shout out to Scott, ifhe's listening at all.
He randomly sent me a book calledBuy Back Your Time by Dan Martell.
But funny thing, how things lineup, I was already thinking about
things that was in the book.
I read the book.
It really accelerated.
And what did I do in turn?
I recently did it for an agent.
(05:33):
I sent him this book.
I sent it to a friend of minewho's in the automotive business.
He started his own business, senthim the book, sent it to another
entrepreneur who's an owner of F45down on Lakeshore.
Because it's not that I waslooking to get anything out of
them.
I was really looking just to share
what somebody shared with me.
And that builds on the
relationship.
So you never know when someone's
going to come across and add somevalue.
And that's the other thing, right?If you're looking to build on your
(05:56):
relationship, clients, friends,personal, just be sure when you're
reaching out in those ways,there's value you're adding.
And that's why it's so importantwhen you're building
relationships, don't be buildingthem.
Because you're hoping to getsomething out of them.
You're only doing it because youwant them to help.
You know, you're expectingsomething back from them.
The expectation of gettingsomething back, to be honest,
(06:18):
should be zero.
You should never expect anything
in return.
Just, you know, gratitude,
respect.
You know, they don't even have to
like you.
But, you know, the hope is they'll
respect you because you're doingthings with integrity.
You're doing it from the heart.
So those are really important to
keep in mind as you go throughbuilding the relationships.
And then, of course, relationshipsare tied to networking.
(06:38):
You know, being a lone wolf, likeI said earlier, for me, it was
comfortable.
And, you know, and I've said it's
important to get comfortable withbeing uncomfortable and
networking.
So I was a lone wolf.
So I felt, oh, I can't go to theseseminars or these presentations or
these other things that werehappening where networking takes
place because I was on my own.
Didn't want to do that, to be
quite frank, until I started.
(07:00):
And I know even more so now
starting being a lending group.
that it's important to get out
there.
That's how people get to know you.
You know, you might see me andlisten to me, but you don't really
know me unless I'm putting myselfout there.
You know, I'm at a trade show andI'm there, you know, talking about
DNA Lending Group, what werepresent, what our principles and
values are.
(07:21):
So networking is an important part
in any real industry, especiallythe mortgage industry.
We have a lot of amazing peoplethat support us, that want the
best for us.
You know, you want to be
surrounded by folks and colleaguesthat cheer you on.
that support what you're doing,that they lift you up, as they
say, because those are the qualitythat you want to find in others as
you continue throughout yourjourney in this mortgage industry.
Now, it can be in any salesindustry or any business.
(07:41):
Again, Our podcast, Old School NewWorld, is based to help encourage
entrepreneurs to figure outcertain things and things that
have worked well.
So networking, whether it's going
to the events that mortgageprofessionals of Canada have,
whether it's a lender function,whether it's if you're with one of
the networks.
One of the annual events that they
have, you know, a lot of theevents that happen are across
(08:02):
Canada, right?So sometimes it can be Vancouver
and sometimes in Ottawa, Montreal,Toronto.
You know, a lot of agents say, oh,you know, if there's a cost, you
know, I have to go to BC or I haveto go to Ottawa, I have to pay for
a hotel and I have to fly aflight.
Remember, the best investment youcan make.
is in yourself.
And I have a philosophy about
(08:24):
advertising.
People spend all this money going
to try and get new deals and tryto generate leads.
They go spend money onadvertising, Google leads,
whatever it is.
That was never my philosophy.
I'd rather invest, whether it's inmyself and my education and what I
was learning and wanted to do, orthe networking, going to events,
or I would spend things on clientsthat I've helped and served.
to show them my appreciation andhow much I appreciate them and how
(08:45):
grateful I am.
Whether it's a small, we'll talk
about hadn't written notes,whether it's a hadn't written note
or whether it's a gift card, spendmoney there.
You do that with enough clients.
Some people have an advertising
budget of, you know, 15, 20, 25,000.
You do that enough times withenough clients, you're going to
spend that same money, but on thepeople that you already have
helped and served.
(09:05):
You know, why go chase for
something that you may or may notget?
When you can really show peoplehow much you love them, how much
you appreciate them, becausethey've really put food on your
table.
Because remember, in our industry,
we're 100 % commission -based.
So unless we're closing out a
transaction, that doesn't work outvery well for us in the long term.
So that's why it's really, reallyimportant to show that
(09:27):
appreciation.
So when you're going to these
conferences and thinking, oh, Ijust don't want to spend that
money, the $3 ,000 or the $2 ,500,whatever cost it is.
Think about the reward you'regoing to get from it and the
people that you will meet.
Again, relationship slash
networking is so, so important.
You might meet someone that's, you
know, a private lender.
But then, you know, two months
(09:47):
later, you come across a deal thatthat private lender can actually
help you help your client.
But you wouldn't have had that
relationship unless you decided toinvest in yourself.
I'm attending a conference, forexample, in Montreal in the middle
of September called Elevate.
Good friend of mine, Surajan.
Super great guy.
I've known him for several years
now.
He started his first conference a
year ago.
This is the second.
(10:07):
And I'll be attending as a VIP.
You know, I spent the money to go,
actually bought two VIP tickets.
Andy Elliott is the main person
there, main guest.
There's other lineups.
But I'm excited about it, not onlyfor the presenters and what I'm
going to learn from them, butbeing around a group of like
-minded people, networking, havinga common goal, sharing ideas back
and forth, sitting at the table.
(10:29):
Because without putting yourself
out there, networking, buildingrelationships, you will not have a
seat at the table.
So important to remember all that
in terms of relationships andnetworking.
Hopefully you took a little bitout of that, but it's a really,
really important piece.
In anything we do, again, whether
it's in your personal life, youhave to have strong relationships,
your spouse, your parents, yourchildren, those relationships have
(10:50):
to be tight and strong.
Whether it's in your professional
life with clients and making surethat they understand and feel you
and they hear you and theyunderstand that you have their
best interests at heart.
And then friends, meaning in the
professional or personal, youknow, you want to have those
relationships be strong and asstable as possible because it'll
elevate you and bring you upwardsto where you want to go.
(11:12):
So based on all we're doing, thatwould be step number seven.
So step number eight.
Now, this one you might think is a
bit wild.
Handwritten notes.
Yes, I still do them.
Yes, I write them myself.
You don't always have thehandwriting, but you might have
another way of doing it.
But I think it is one of the
(11:32):
nicest things you can do because,you know, in today's world, and
this is why, you know, the podcastis old school, old school writing
notes, new world.
Everybody thinks it's all digital.
Why this is so important?You know, we have to remember the
principles and values fromyesteryear and how much impact
they can still have today.
You know, when you're helping and
serving someone and you've donesuch a great job and you're asking
(11:53):
for a referral, you know, you'vecalled them for a post -funding
call.
Again, talk all about this in the
follow -up.
And then you manage to find the
time and you want to from here,not here, from here, meaning the
heart, not the head.
And you write a thank you card and
maybe attach, I reimburse clientsand friends appraisals as part of
(12:15):
my thank you.
But it's the handwriting that's
important.
Because remember, Canada Post,
you're in Canada, so Canada Post,they're on strike.
That means mail still goes around.
Obviously, things get sent around
Canada all the time.
And one thing people will always,
whether they're young or they'reold, they always love to open
something up.
Especially if it has a message of
thanks.
and appreciation and, you know,
(12:35):
goodwill.
They're always open to receiving
it.
And I'll give you an example.
Again, back to you telling storiesand you're trying to convey a
message.
When we were all in grade school,
you know, Valentine's Day comes upas an idea.
We used to, at least in my school,you know, we used to have
Valentine's, Ray Dole, you'd be myValentine.
And then we'd pass around theclass.
Everybody loved that.
(12:56):
We were young kids.
Sometimes you have to forget it'sokay to be childlike.
It's so important to remember thatwe're all big kids.
And so when we were doing thatexchange, there was a feeling
that's created by going, doingback and forth.
Some of you might have storiesabout, oh, you know, I liked
Susie.
I passed her up a note, passed it
to my friend in front of me,passed it to her friend, passed it
(13:20):
to her.
It's notes, handwritten notes.
So they go a long way.
You know, families that are
abroad, globally for that matter,when does the most cards go out?
Christmas cards.
So they're saying, you know, Merry
Christmas.
We miss a lot of families put
pictures of their families.
They mail it out.
That all comes through mail.
You know, and they keep it.
(13:41):
Some people still have, you know,nice, really old ones that keep,
they put them on their tree.
Sometimes cards come, you know, my
mom would do this quite a bitwhere our Christmas tree, she
would put up and she would put thecards that would come from your
relatives, friends and, and haveit on the tree for the Christmas
cards from yesteryear.
So writing and putting together a
(14:02):
handwritten, a note, showing yourthanks and appreciation and just
saying, thank you goes along with,they may never tell you.
Oh, you know, like that was areally meaningful card, but they
don't have to because it doesn'tmatter if they do or not.
Because back to you have to do itfrom the heart, not the head.
You know that you're doing itbecause you just want to say thank
you.
And that alone is, I feel, you
(14:25):
know, important to be in youreveryday practice or, you know,
keep on tying everything's intoDNA, but it's in your DNA.
You know, we are all born goodpeople.
you know and so we want to makesure that we have other people
feel what we're doing so it's abit old school yes some people you
know they say oh mike you know howdo you find the time guys i help
and serve anywhere between 100 to150 clients now a lot of some are
single like individualtransactions it's a couple so
(14:46):
let's call it out of the 150 let'srun down let's just say 70 thank
you cards like how do you findtime to write the thank you cards
this is a good lead -in to timemanagement.
I just find it because I know it'simportant.
It literally, guys, if you'reclosing 10 transactions a month,
20 transactions, you might besending on average 12 thank you
(15:07):
cards a day.
Maybe you, in your calendar, okay,
on this date, I'm running allthese thank you cards.
I know brokers that send theirChristmas cards.
They pick out a day and they haveall the ones that they want and
they send it out for that's partof their, how they build rapport
and connect with clients and showtheir appreciation.
So you just carve out a bit oftime to do the handwritten notes.
(15:31):
Because it's funny, the smallestthings sometimes lead to the
biggest results.
So something as small as three or
four sentences in the thank youcard can lead to greater
opportunities and greater thingsthat happen down the road.
In that card, you may want toreiterate, they really appreciate
you.
And if you have anyone you care
about, we'd love an opportunity tohelp and serve them.
You'd appreciate a referral.
There's different ways, but again,
(15:51):
it has to come from the heart.
I keep on saying this.
You'll find this episode talking alot about the heart because these
actions that we take to help andserve and to build what we're
doing for others, we're inservice.
And so it always has to come fromthe right place.
So let's push into timemanagement.
Talk a little bit about that.
(16:12):
For all the young entrepreneurs
out there in any industry you'rein, one thing that's really
changed my business.
And I'm just fortunate enough to
have a great team around me.
Melanie, who has started with me
in 2018 as my associate, is now myexecutive associate.
Sean, another amazing asset andamazing human for the business and
myself personally.
But they allow me to manage my
time.
This could apply to men and women,
(16:32):
but I know men.
You know, I had to.
And with Melanie, it was easier.
I love Melanie to death.
Everybody that knows me knows howmuch I love her.
And she's the absolute best, myright hand.
So blessed to have.
It's one of God's wings, as I say
all the time, that she came to mein 2018 via a good friend of mine
who referred to over.
(16:52):
She's looking for work.
And just to show you that, youknow, you don't have to be in the
mortgage space to be successful.
She was working for TELUS, it was
on mat leave with her first child,and then was looking for work,
wanted to do something different,and then landed with me.
So in her transition, once she hadher twins, I needed to find
something different for herbecause I couldn't expect her to
(17:15):
be, you know, raising a youngfamily and being an associate,
which revolves essentially theunderwriting piece, following up
the clients, document collectionand such.
So through Scott Petford, thatbook came in, I was already
thinking about things.
And finally, The third person the
same week, and this is almost ninemonths ago that Melanie has been
as a role in the executiveassociate role, asked me, oh, you
(17:38):
know, when's Melanie coming back?And it was like the third person
the same week.
And I thought to myself, wait a
minute, boom, it's like a lightbulb went off.
I know it.
I'm going to offer her this
executive associate positionbecause I've been thinking about
different things.
And this book, Buy Back Your Time
by Dan Martel, talks about hiringthe right people to free up your
time so you can do.
myself, the things that light me
up.
You know, being able to have
Melanie and Sean allow me to havecreated Old School New World.
(18:00):
It allows me the time to recordthese types of episodes, episodes
where I have guests, where I'mhearing their stories and I get to
hear from their life story andwhat the challenges, successes
they had.
When Scott sent me that book and
that book talked about it, thatlight bulb went off, I hired her.
And again, as I say, the rest ishistory.
Melanie looks after my calendars,sets up calls and visits with me
or meetings.
If you want to call, I call them
visits.
She makes sure everything's
(18:21):
running super smoothly on thebackend, super seamless for DNA.
But what she allows me to do isthe things that light me up and
Sean does as well, but she doesmore because my email was eating
me up.
And so I was being sucked into my
email.
It's almost like a rabbit hole.
You go in, you start, you'reworking something.
Oh, I have to do this one, thisone, or this one.
Before you know it, you know, anhour and a half has passed and you
(18:43):
still haven't finished the stuffthat yet started.
So the idea of, I was sayingbefore about, you know, for men in
particular, and I had to, is parkthe ego.
I had to say, hey, Mr. Eagle, goodto see you again.
You know, I need to park you in myback pocket because I need to let
go of control.
I was lucky enough to find Melanie
(19:05):
and it was easier for me to dothat, much easier.
It wasn't hard at all, to behonest.
But hopefully you can find someonelike that and they might need to
work on it.
But as entrepreneurs, in order to
have better time management, youcan't allow your energy to be
sucked out of you doing thingsthat is better handled by someone
else.
So you can spend the time doing
the things that are going to growyour business.
(19:25):
So there's a saying, are youworking in your business?
Are you working?on your business.
And when you're working in yourbusiness, you're doing all the
things, you know, the emails, thecalendar, setting of calls, taking
calls, you know, having discoverycalls, all kinds of different
things.
You're not working on your
business.
So how do you do that?
Find and surround yourself byindividuals.
And then you don't have to have abusiness to hire.
(19:46):
You can be a mortgage agent.
two, three years in the business,
you're starting to grow.
You can hire an associate, someone
to handle some of the paperwork,the document fulfillment.
If you train them well, or maybethey can bring with them some
experience of underwriting, theycan do the underwriting piece and
the fulfillment because that willallow you then more time to do
other things that are helping youto work on your business.
Because remember, whether you'rewith DNA Lending Group, whether
you're with another brokerage,whether you're with a network, you
are an entrepreneur.
(20:06):
You are your business.
Yes, you have, you know, yournetworks has branding and you
still are your business.
You know, there's very few I've
found and branding does help.
Don't get me wrong in terms of,
oh, you know, I've heard of, youknow, Mortgage Center Canada.
I've heard of DLC.
I've heard of, you know, Mortgage
Architects and Mortgage Alliance,you know, Verical.
But typically when you're beingreferred, they're not referring,
(20:28):
you know, Mortgage Center, DLC.
They're referring Mike Diaz, Joe
Smith, whoever it might be.
They're referring the individual.
So you have to work on yourbusiness and bringing in the right
people.
You're not hiring for your
business.
You're hiring to grow your
business because you're going tobe able to take things off your
table.
But again, it requires you to park
the eagle because you know theeagle is going to call.
It's not like the eagle is notaround.
(20:49):
It's going to go, hey, Mayor Mike,how you doing?
It's the eagle calling.
Good to see you.
Always pick it up if the egocalls, always.
And have a conversation.
Oh, nice to see you.
Yeah, I've dealt with that.
I'm okay.
You can go back in the backpocket.
And that will, again, help youmanage your time.
And energy will start to be inmore abundance because you're not
spending all of your time andenergy on something that doesn't
(21:10):
serve you.
You've now brought in good people.
that they can take and probably dobetter than you do.
You know, Melanie, I love her somuch because she does really good.
She's really good with managingthose things.
Then again, it adds to the layersof what I'm able to do and the
time management piece, along withhaving more energy to do those
(21:31):
things, goes a long way.
I can't stress that enough.
So that's our episode for today.
So episode number 11, volume
number three of the 30 steps ofsuccess we have covered.
relationships slash networks,handwritten notes, and time
management.
As I said in the beginning,
please, if you haven't subscribed,please subscribe and like to
follow along.
Share our podcast, you know, ask
folks to subscribe.
It would mean a great deal.
(21:54):
Appreciate you guys a great deal.
Thank you for tuning in and
listening.
And we'll talk again soon.
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