Scaling Your Real Estate Success

Brian's a real estate rockstar! He led a team in Indianapolis that crushed over 250 deals a year, and now his expertise empowers investors nationwide. As COO of The Collective Genius, a leading real estate investing community, Brian shares the secrets to scaling your success. Don't miss his insights!

Episode Transcript

Mike (00:00):
All right, everyone, welcome to the Real Estate Game

(00:02):
Changers show.
I'm your host, Mike McKay, basedin Jacksonville, Florida, and
each and every week we do thisshow with people who are
changing the game of real estateall over the country.
For anyone in the Jacksonvillearea who's in sales and is maybe
thinking about getting into realestate.
We are looking for people tojoin our acquisitions team.
If that sounds like you send mea DM on Instagram and let's

(00:24):
talk.
Uh, this week on the show, wehave Brian Snider.
Brian, welcome to the show.

Brian (00:30):
Yeah.
Happy to be here, Mike.
Thanks for, uh, thanks forhaving me.
So this is a, that's exciting.
So it was our first chance toreally connect.
I've known of you for a while,but it's great to connect on
here and things.
So that's great, man.

Mike (00:40):
Yeah, likewise.
Um, so for the people who don'tknow you, could you share a
little bit about how you gotinto the real estate business
and how that's kind of led youto where you are today?

Brian (00:52):
Yeah, for sure.
So I've had about, uh, my realestate experience has been about
an eight year journey now.
So I'm a former middle schoolmath teacher, um, taught.
Middle school math for forever,it feels like and was supposed
to be a principal.
And once I started doing thatand realized that was like the
worst job in the world.
So I wanted to do something elseand I got connected with my
buddy, uh, Brett song grass, um,who was running a real estate

(01:14):
investing company, just awholesale company, a wholesale,
wholetail company inIndianapolis, Indiana, um, was
connected with him and startedkind of just working for him.
And honestly, it's kind ofworked my way up.
Bye.
Basically work in every positionwithin the business.
So I've done everything frommarketing to acquisitions, to
lead management, to dispo, toCOO, and then eventually took

(01:35):
over CEO for Brett.
And, uh, he kind of moved in theowner's box.
And at that point I starteddoing some, uh, we were working
with Gary Harper from a sharperbusiness solutions.
So they were our business coachand phenomenal coaches and
stuff.
And with my teaching background,he kind of asked me.
You know, if I wanted to justkind of come on board with them
and help them do some coachingand, and helping out other
businesses, that's my passion isjust helping people in general.

(01:57):
So I started doing that withhim.
And so I was running Brett'scompany and doing some coaching
on the side.
At the same time, we weremembers of, uh, of collective of
the collective genius.
So I started, uh, also kind ofjust working with them a little
bit more and facilitating someof their events as a lot of my
coaching clients were in CG.
So I just, I loved helping themand.
Want to help out more with that.
And, um, at the same time, it's,uh, kind of got to the point

(02:20):
where I realized that, Hey, myjourney is probably not
necessarily the real estateside.
I wasn't really passionate aboutreal estate itself.
Um, love the vehicle that it is.
Love making money, love theproblem solving, loved all that
part of it.
But I really just enjoy growingpeople and growing businesses.
So.
That point, uh, CG actually hada position opened, uh, for, uh,
for COO.
So I, I, Brett and I decided,decided to part ways and kind of

(02:43):
left that real estate businessand, and went to work with, uh,
CG as their COO full time andhave absolutely loved it.
So right now I'm currently, mywife and I got our own little
side of the real estate businessgoing on when it comes to like
lending and funding deals herein Indianapolis for flips or for
fixing flips and stuff.
But, um, the majority of my timeright now is working with.
Real estate investors from allacross the nation when it comes

(03:04):
to growing their team, scalingtheir businesses and things like
that, which is absolutely what Ilove doing.

Mike (03:11):
Cool.
I'm curious.
What was the first position thatyou worked in, in the wholesale
company?

Brian (03:17):
I, uh, started off doing some marketing and running our
local meetup.
Um, so we, uh, we were buyingthat.
So buying from other wholesalerswas our number one Legion or
lead channel for, you know, Ithink it still is actually in
Brett's business and things, butwe ran a local media that
basically taught otherwholesalers how to get started
and how to wholesale.
And realistically, what we werereally doing is we were training

(03:39):
other, we were training birddogs to go out and find deals
for us.
And.
They would go out and find thedeals and they didn't really
have that dispo side of theirbusiness built out.
So we would, we would buy the,and we were the biggest buyer in
Indianapolis at the time anyway.
So we would buy most of thedeals and do that.
So I started off, my first jobwas doing the marketing and
figuring that out.
And then like kind of runningtheir meetup.
So essentially teaching otherpeople how to wholesale, even

(04:00):
though I had no idea whatwholesaling was or how to do it
or anything I've mentioned,that's like all of us, all the
coaches right now.

Mike (04:07):
Yeah, sure.

Brian (04:09):
No, I caught on to it pretty quick, but realized it's
just like with, I mean, with myteaching background, that's what
it was.
It wasn't about like, Hey, youdon't, I don't want to teach the
whole wholesaling process.
I'm going to learn one facet ofhow to wholesale and I'm going
to, I'm going to go deep on it.
And then, then I would teach itin the meetup along with Brett
and the team and things likethat.
So it worked out really well forus.

Mike (04:27):
Huh?
Yeah, that's, that's kind ofinteresting.
So how would you guys like, um,how would you market that like
meet up to fill that room toultimately create all those,
those bird dogs for you guys?

Brian (04:40):
Yeah, we would, um, you know, really we had a, we got a,
we had a pretty good location.
It was a cool location, youknow, where people kind of
wanted to go and things likethat.
It wasn't like a classroomsetting or a boring, you know,
seminar room or anything likethat.
So we've got a cool, a cool spotto have it, but then we would
really just kind of put it outon meetup.
com and we had a, you know, ourFacebook page and we partnered
with the local Ria as well.

(05:02):
And kind of, you know, so theywould, they would put it out
there and things and, um, youYou know, for the most part, a
lot of people will look at usand be like, man, what are you
guys doing?
You're just, you're trainingyour competition.
And I mean, we, we really lookedat it as like, it's a way for us
to give back a way for us tohelp out.
But like I said, it just createda ton of opportunity and a ton
of deals for us and things too.
So, um, the way we put it outthere, we just, we picked one

(05:22):
facet of wholesaling and, andreally just kind of dug into
that and went deep on that eachmonth.
And we'd have, you know, one isthe last Wednesday of every
month.
And we, You know, we would saylike, Hey, this week we're going
to talk about, you know, leadgeneration.
So how to, you know, if you havea, you know, how to get it, how
to develop a list and what youdo with that list.
And, you know, andrealistically, if we, we would
do that, this, we would do thesame thing next year.

(05:43):
We would mean the next year, wewould just teach it a different
way.
It's it's all, there's only likefive or six lessons when it
comes to wholesaling.
It's just teaching them in adifferent things.
And we'd always have specialguests on of like, Hey, here's
some, here's some titlecompanies that you should be
working with.
Cause they know what a, what awholesale deal is and they know
how to.
They had to do, they know how todo innovation or whatever it is.
And, you know, things like that,where, you know, we partner with

(06:05):
the right people and we have, wehave a really good reputation or
we had a really good reputationhere in Indianapolis and Brett
still does.
And so we had some greatpartners and really just kind of
put it out there, but.
I think anytime in thisbusiness, when it comes to your
sellers, your buyers, yourlenders, or whoever you're
working with, if you approach itfrom the educational standpoint,
and as a go giver, you're,you're going to get it back to

(06:26):
you.
It's going to come back to youin a way.
And that's, you know, that's,that's where my heart is.
And that's, that's what I trulybelieve.
And I've seen it happen over andover again.
So.

Mike (06:35):
Did you guys also end up hiring anyone from those events
that you?
That you did.

Brian (06:40):
We did actually, uh, our, uh, Brett's his best
acquisitions guy.
Who's been with us, been withBrett for probably actually he
started not soon after I didreally, he's, he's, he's been
with Brett for about seven yearsnow.
And he's probably has boughtBrett over.
Probably over a thousand dealseasily in those seven years and
stuff like that.
So, um, but yeah, we've, wesource great way to source

(07:02):
talent, great way to, you know,just find deals and find, find
lenders as well.
And a little bit of everything.

Mike (07:09):
Yeah.
I, and I know like youmentioned, we're talking a bit
offline and you mentioned alittle here, one of your
passions is kind of growingpeople and businesses.
And obviously, you know, reallygrowing the business is a lot of
times hiring the people andgrowing the people.
And interestingly enough, we hadthe first part of our quarterly
meeting earlier and we weretalking about how, you know, we

(07:31):
want to make it a focus for thisquarter to like, just build a
system to attract amazingtalent.
And I'm, I'm curious what.
You've done on on that side alittle bit of a selfish
question, but

Brian (07:42):
No, that's no, that's all good.
I think it's because I thinkit's something that we, that a
lot of.
People, especially when you havea smaller business or even a
growing business, you don't kindof put the effort into it.
It's the reality is, is that Iknow me, you, anybody that's
going to listen to this oranything like that, we're always
looking for the next deal.
Why not always be looking forthe next lender looking, be
looking for the next buyer, alsobe looking for the next team

(08:04):
member.
Um, I mean, if I go out to eatand I have an amazing experience
with a waiter or waitress orsomething like that, I'm going
to get their information becauseI never know what position I
might need in the future.
Or if somebody is phenomenal insomething, I mean, I, I never
really, you know, coaching wise,I never say like, Hey, don't,
don't hire position unless youneed it.
But there have been instanceswhere the right talent has come

(08:26):
across my plate and I've like,you know what, I, I want to try
to get them in the mix in someway.
Maybe it's not full time rightnow.
Let's try it out for a littlebit and see what happens.
But, um, the reality is, is thatwe're all one higher away from
completely changing our businessaround.
So, and it's.
If you get that right personthat can come in and, and, and
do that, I think it's, I thinkit's, you know, it's, it's, it's

(08:47):
going to make a world ofdifference in your business and
stuff.
So I think it's one of thosethings of, as you were talking
about a quarterly meeting, andI'm sure you guys talked about
KPIs today and Hey, how manyleads do we have coming in?
How many deals do we get?
It's the same thing as like, youknow, as a, as a leader, I would
challenge you like.
Hey, maybe you need to have aKPI on a weekly basis or a
monthly basis where you, howmany conversations did you have

(09:07):
with potential new hires?
Um, and so it's something that Ithink is, you know, as a, as a
CEO or a leader of a business, Ithink that's something we should
always be focused on of, youknow, I always, even if I don't
have a hire right now, I'm goingto always look to build my bench
of, you know, if there's always,you know, and, uh, I know kind
of, I revert back to this with,when I was with Brett on our

(09:28):
acquisition, you know, or on ouraccountability chart.
I would have, you know, therewere 11 people in our business
and different facets and whetherit was a everything from a
virtual assistant up to the CEO,I had a transition plan in place
for every single person thatposition.
So, hey, if I lost my directorof ops, here's what would
happen.
The next three months, here'swho replaced them.
Here's some potential targets.

(09:50):
I have somebody that could comein and do that job as well and
things.
So, um, cause if you losesomebody, it can be detrimental
to your business, but also, youknow, being able to have that
venture gain some, or havesomebody that could possibly
come in and fill it can really.
Can really make a difference aswell.

Mike (10:04):
Yeah, were you do outside of the events was obviously
brought you like a lot of peoplewere you guys doing anything
else kind of?
Unique to attract talent.

Brian (10:14):
Um, I think it's just it's, it's getting out there and
talking to people about it, youknow, time, whatever.
I kind of realized that of like,I, I'm not a big networker.
Like if you put me in a biggroup of people, like I'm going
to shy away and kind of be awallflower a little bit.
But if I can go to.
An event, like I mentionedbefore, of like kind of meeting
with or working with the localareas.
So I'd always volunteer like,Hey, I'd rather I'd rather be on

(10:36):
stage.
Like, give me, let me do apresentation.
Let me do something like that.
So anytime I ever had anopportunity to speak beyond a
podcast or go to a presentation,I would take it and kind of
challenge myself to go do thatstuff because I wasn't the best
at networking, but Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
If I stood on stage and gave apresentation, people are just
going to come up and talk to meafterwards.
So that was my way to network.
That was my way to kind of looklike, Hey, I'm the, you know,

(10:57):
I'm the expert in this or I knowwhat I'm talking about or
whatever it is.
And I'd have people alwaysapproach me.
So it was a good way for me tonumber one, give back, but also
have people that come up and thepeople that are going to
approach me and the people thatare going to talk to me after.
A presentation or a podcast oran event like that, there's
people I probably want to talkto because they're going to be
the, they're, they're going tobe the people that are going to

(11:18):
go after and go get it anyway.
So why don't I talk to you?
So it was a, it was a great wayfor us to do.
And Brett has the same mindsetof like, Hey, let's, you know,
we always, if we're looking forsomebody, all right, let's go,
let's go to the local Rio.
Let's, you know, volunteer to dothis.
Let's, you know, let's sponsorthe cocktail hour.
Let's, let's do a presentationor see where we can see where we
can give back a little bit.
And we always, it's a great,great way to source talent.

(11:40):
Also, it's always.
You know, working with ourpartners of, uh, talking to
title companies, talking toattorneys, talking to people
like that.
They're talking to anybody thatwe work with within the real
estate space.
They're, they're connected withso many people and talking to so
many people as well, that theymight have, they might know of
somebody or things like that.
So, I always like to say too,it's re if you're in real estate

(12:01):
in some way, everybody,everybody is like, they're like
one out of every three peoplethat you talk to is going to be
in real estate in some way, orthey're going to know somebody
in real estate.
If you go out and have a drinkat a bar and you mentioned real
estate, more than likely there'sthree people with the, at that,
at that bar, somebody's gonna belike, Oh yeah, I just, you know,
I just got my license last week.
I'm looking to do this.

(12:21):
So talk about it, put your stuffthere and you'll, you'll, you'll
find people and there's always,always a great way to spark up a
conversation within real estate.
Okay.

Mike (12:30):
Yeah.
So obviously one part is hiringthe people, but then the other
part you mentioned is kind ofgrowing the people.
So what were some things thatyou implemented once you had
someone great hired to help themgrow and then to help them grow
the company?

Brian (12:47):
Yeah, that's it's a great question.
That's super important becauseI've seen a lot of See, a lot of
people, that's where they kindof struggle a little bit.
If you have, if you hire greattalent, you're going to lose
great talent.
If you don't have kind of thesystems and processes or the
playbooks in place for them tocome in and be successful.
Um, so I always say one of twothings of like, when you're
hiring somebody, you're going topay for it in some way.

(13:08):
You're either going to pay forit with price.
Uh, where maybe you want to hiresomebody, if you don't have the
processor system in place, yougot to hire them at a higher
price tag to come in and theyhave the experience.
So you're basically going tohire the experience to come in
and kind of build that up foryou or not.
And if you don't have that, yougot to hire, you got to
basically pay for it with time.
So you got to be able to havethe time to put the, you know,

(13:29):
to train them and put the timein and, and work with them and
stuff.
So kind of always for me, Ialways kind of looked at it as
like a, a weekly schedule.
Anybody I always hire and stillto this day, anybody I hire,
like they start off of like,Hey, here's your schedule for
the first week.
And we're going to work with ithere day one.
Here's our time blocks.
Here's what we're going to doand put this together.
Here's, we're going to watchthis video.
Here's, we're going to do this.

(13:50):
And, um, I work with themthrough that, but.
You know, within a real estatecompany and kind of what I've.
My experience and stuff Irealized to have, like training
wise, if I'm hiring a leadmanager, I know it's going to
take them 45 days till they're,you know, kind of on their,
where they can be on their ownand, you know, kind of be their
training schedule for anacquisition manager is probably
going to take, you know, it'sgoing to take 90 days for them

(14:12):
to be kind of autonomous and,you know, out from underneath my
wing and they're getting dealson their own and stuff.
So being realistic with thetimelines when it comes to the
training and, and things, um, Mytraining approach is always,
we're going to, I'm going, I'mgoing to show you how to do it
and then we're going to do ittogether.
And then you have to show itback to me.
And basically you have to kindof pass the test by showing me
that you can do it and thingslike that as well.

(14:34):
So I think it's, I think it'salways really easily to.
Put somebody in place of like,Oh yeah, I'm just gonna, I'm
going to tell you this andexpect them to get it and then
for them to be off on their own.
And I know I've made thatmistake multiple times and we, I
think we all have, or you hirethat great salesperson and
you're like, Oh, they're man,they're great at sales.
They're going to be, you know,they they're catching on pretty
quick and you just kind of turnthem loose and all of a sudden

(14:55):
they're lost and they don't knowwhat they're doing or breaking
the process or whatever it maybe.
So I think just before you.
You know, as you're, as you'rehiring somebody and bringing on
talent, either having theplaybook in place before, um,
you bring them on or you aredeveloping that playbook along
with them.
So, you know, you know, and theyknow what they're doing at any
given time.

Mike (15:16):
How are you deciding, um, when to make that like you
mentioned, there's two types ofhires, right?
You can either kind of pay moreand get someone with the
experience or, you know, you'vegot to pay with it with your
time.
How are you deciding forposition?
Okay, I'm going to go with theexperience or I'm going to go
with time.

Brian (15:35):
I think it's always, I found that this is not a great
answer for this question, but Ifound like the smaller my
business is, is a little bitmore of, I'm probably going to
need to pay for it with my timebecause.
I don't know.
I don't know what I don't know.
I can, I maybe don't, maybe Idon't have the funds or the
budget to pay for it at a higherlevel to hire that experience,
but also I don't know whatreally experience I need.

(15:57):
I don't know what that processshould really look like because
I have a growing business.
Um, but the, the, The higher,you know, more than my business
is developed, I'm more dialedinto what I need and what I
have.
So at this point, like rightnow, we're currently looking for
a, you know, a director of salesto come in and work with our
sales team.
Um, and we're, we're hiring forexperience.

(16:18):
Like, I don't want, I don't wantsomebody like I want somebody
that has done it before at ahigher level business.
That has, you know, they've beenthrough, you know, they've been
through the ringer.
They've, they've led a salesteam.
I want to see what they're, youknow, that they've taken a
company at this EBITDA that thisEBITDA, like I want, like I'm,
I'm hiring specifically forexperience and stuff like that.
So I think it's something thatcomes with, I think it comes

(16:38):
with the level of businessyou're at and also kind of a
little bit of what your capacityis.
You know, time wise as well.
Some, you know, if you don'thave the capacity to, to hire
somebody and train them up,they're, they're probably going
to fail.
So you might need to, you know,pay for, you know, pay for that,
pay a little bit more for theexperience and stuff.
But, um, like I'll say where Isee, you know, Another factor

(17:01):
I'd say with this and where Isee people maybe make a lot of
mistakes is where they thinkthat they're, they want to kind
of hire for the air pay that payfor the experience.
But instead of paying for theexperience, they bring on a
partner, like, Oh, we're goingto partner together.
And then it's, that's, that'sgoing to, so that's going to
solve everything and stuff likethat.
Cause they'll, that's, that'swhere I see it.
Get a little, get a little, geta little bit funky.

(17:22):
I'd rather say, Hey, why don'tyou pay for the experience for a
year and see how it works outand then decide if that, if that
partnership is really what youguys want and stuff.
So,

Mike (17:30):
Yeah.
Maybe go on a date or two beforeyou get

Brian (17:32):
you know, we won't.
Yeah.

Mike (17:36):
Um, you were saying offline, um, that, you know,
obviously you guys were buying alot of deals wholesale, but
primarily you were actuallyclosing on everything, but then
selling it off market to yourbuyer's list.
Mm-Hmm.

Brian (17:49):
Yeah.
So we would sell, we would, youknow, we're wholetailers, you
know, for the most part of whatwe were doing, where we would,
um, buy a property, clean itout, and then we would sell it
either on, off, off market or onmarket.
So just depending on what ourbuyers did and one of the
reasons that we probably couldhave wholesale a lot of those to
off, you know, to off marketbuyers, but it allowed us to
control it just a little bitmore allowed us to, we felt like

(18:11):
we were able to, we were able toclean it out and take better
pictures.
We just felt like it was abetter product.
Um, we never had to worry about.
Something happened at theclosing table that day where the
seller maybe backs out or gets,you know, Oh, I need a couple
extra days or there's a lenderinvolved or anything like that
that messed up So we just kindof you know We would just take
them down and then we would youknow Clean it out and then sell

(18:33):
it that way and stuff.
Um also allowed us to do somecreative things of like Maybe we
couldn't get the price for that.
We wanted Um cash so we wouldyou know, sell it create, you
know with with finding withowner financing on the back end
So, you know, we'd sell it withUm, Hey, a certain amount down
and then hold the node.
And then we could either, youknow, sometimes we would just
treat that like a wholesale dealalmost too, or we would just
sell the note on the back endand, you know, make just as much

(18:54):
profit.
Um, so let's have a couple, acouple, you know, different
things too.
Also a lot, like by owning ittoo, it'll, it made Dispo super
easy.
Cause we would just, we ownedit.
We just cleaned out, we wouldjust put a lock box on it.
Then people could just go walkthe property whenever we don't
have to worry about doingshowings and lining up with the
seller.
So.
Did we maybe have a little bitmore money in the deal because

(19:17):
we had to use capital to, totake it down sometimes?
Yes.
But I think we ended up gettingit more on the back end, but
really it was about control forus and being able to do whatever
we wanted with it.

Mike (19:28):
What, um, like what percentage of when would you
sell, like, off market and whatpercentage of'em would you,
would you end up putting on theMLS?

Brian (19:35):
Well, it's probably, I would say we would usually put
just about everything on theMLS, but then we would sell
probably what we sold on marketversus off market or with an
agent or without an agent.
I'd say it's about 50 50.
So

Mike (19:45):
Meaning you would like flat fee it, or meaning you
would, or.

Brian (19:49):
no, we would pay like a, just a regular, you know,
buyer's agent fee.
Um, well now it's, that'scompletely, that's completely
different stuff.
And back in the day when you dothat, but, uh, no, we just,
yeah.
So if we were, it was on themarket, we would, you know, pay
whatever the agent, you know,whatever the agent commission
was that we agreed to and put iton there and do that.
But if we sold it off market, wewould never have that.
So

Mike (20:09):
Were you doing 50 percent of them you were selling off
market or, and then 50 percentwe're on.

Brian (20:15):
yeah.
Or just to, yeah, to just abuyer without a buyer, without
an agent.

Mike (20:22):
Gotcha.
Gotcha.
And then like, how did youdetermine like, if you were
going to try to sell it offmarket versus throwing it up on
the MLS?

Brian (20:32):
Whoever gave us the best deal.
So I'll say this.
It was usually

Mike (20:36):
both.

Brian (20:37):
it'd be on the market, but sometimes we'd have a buyer
for it.
That wasn't that didn't find iton it.
They would just reach out to uson the, off the buyers list or
something like that.
So they didn't have an agent andthey weren't affiliated.
And we just, we just saw it thatway.

Mike (20:48):
Got it.
So you were doing both at thesame time.
It wasn't try off market firstand then listed or vice versa.
Okay.
Interesting.

Brian (20:55):
We had a, we had a, we had a, we did a pretty good job
at Dispo where we had a prettyserious VIP list where we would,
you know, give them first crackat all of our deals.
And if we got the, you know, ifwe got the deal that we wanted
to right away, we would, wewouldn't haggle over like, Hey,
send us your, Biggest and bestoffer or anything.
It was kind of more just like,okay, you, you're going to pay
what we asked for.
Yeah.
We'll give you, we'll give youthe deal.
Um, and stuff.

(21:16):
So we give them, like, we giveour VIPs, you know, maybe a day
to make that decision on if theywanted it or not.
And then if we didn't, then we'dput it on the market.
So, um,

Mike (21:25):
What were some challenges that you faced as that business
was scaling up?

Brian (21:33):
I think always, um, I think always with any business,
it's, it's the same, it's, youknow, it comes down to this,
the, you know, making sure youhave enough leads.
Um, that's always, everybodyalways wants more leads.
That's always a big thing, but Iwill say that probably in my,
you know, coaching a lot ofbusinesses and stuff like that,
I would say eight out of 10times.
That people are needing moreleads.

(21:53):
It's really, it's usually a leadmanagement problem more than a
lead problem.
We always want more leads.
We can never have enough leads.
That's everybody and stuff likethat, but really kind of the
management of your leads andkind of how you're handling your
leads is a little bit moreimportant than, you know, kind
of the amount of leads you havecoming in.
So we all have.
Deals in our system that aresitting there that could, we can
make a, turn a profit on andstuff.

(22:13):
That's, you know, same for thebest businesses out there.
They'll say the same thing.
It's election time right now.
A ton of people are saying, Hey,we're going to pull back on our
marketing and we're going tofocus on the deals that are in
our system because we knowthey're there right now.
We know there's a lot in there.
So, um, you know, kind ofworking with the leads, the
leads management is always onething.
Um, and then I think it's, Youknow, the other thing is, is

(22:33):
really, it's always capital,making sure you have enough
capital, making sure, especiallyif we're taking enough deals
down, it's like, okay, do we,you know, do we, we're, you
know, using a lot of our ownfunds.
We kind of created a fund too,where we had people, you know,
that we had private money thatwe're working a lot with.
It was a higher price property.
And it's kind of always that onething of, I think it's actually,
I'll take this back of likereally the, one of the biggest

(22:53):
issues.
And I see a lot of people.
Having struggled with this islike when they try to do a deal
outside of our outside of yourbuyer's box, when you're like,
kind of know that, Hey, this is,this is our bread and butter.
This is 80 percent of our deals,but, you know, Indianapolis, 80
percent of our deals was inbetween, you know, 100, 000 and,
you know, 200, 000 kind of rightin that sweet spot right there,

(23:14):
but, oh, okay.
This 800, 000, you know, cookie,you know, this, this, this big
house, that's 800, 000 comesacross our plate.
Oh, it's a great deal.
We can figure it out.
We don't know that market.
We don't have a buyer for that.
We don't know what, you know, wedon't understand how capital it
takes to do that.
So I think sometimes it's alwaysbeen a growing business is
always trying to stretch thatbuyer's box and trying to figure

(23:34):
things out is always a toughthing and stuff.
But, um, I'd say in reality is agrowing business.
What you're always, what isalways the biggest Issue.
And the biggest trouble, thething that most people have is
it's, it's training your talentand keeping your talent and, you
know, leveling up your talent asyou come down to.
So I think I've realized of witha successful business is what I

(23:56):
see.
A lot of businesses, when youstart off in real estate,
you're, you are a marketing andsales business for the most
part, and that's what a lot ofpeople kind of think of it,
especially starting off, butthen you hopefully, eventually
most people get to the pointwhere you turn it and it's not
no longer a marketing and salesbusiness.
It's a people business.
So, and what I mean by that isthat you're not necessarily as a

(24:16):
leader, you're not necessarilyfocused on, Hey, determining
your marketing and determineyour leads and you know, how are
the sales going and stuff likethat.
But you are managing the peoplethat are doing those things for
you.
And once you can kind of diveinto that and get that turned
around and turn those dials theright way, get the right people
in those spots, that's when yourbusiness can just take off.

Mike (24:35):
Yeah, what do you like for you guys?
Like, once was there like a, Iguess, kind of challenges that
came at like a certain amount ofvolume.
Would you say like, okay, once Ihit this amount, I hit, I hit
this wall or maybe you see a lotof people run into a wall when
they hit a certain amount ofvolume.

Brian (24:54):
Yeah.
I think it's a, you know, one ofthe things that I see, you know,
with it happened with ourbusiness and I see with
businesses all the time, it'skind of the number of, The
number of appointments that anacquisition manager can go on.
So I think like reallyrealistically, if you, and I
acquisition manager shouldprobably not be going on more
than three appointments in aday.
So really two is probably theright number for them to go on.

(25:15):
So if they're going on 10 to 12appointments a week, that's a
great week for them.
That's a week that they can.
They can, you know, spend anhour with the seller at their
house and get a good, go througha good, have a good walk through
and connect with them, build arapport, also do their follow up
and stuff like that.
Um, but then you're always, youknow, pushing, going back to
that, what we're talking about,everybody wants more leads.
So then you push on that, that,you know, the levers to get more

(25:38):
leads in all of a sudden they'reup to like 15, 18 and they're,
Conversion rates suffer andthings like that.
So then it's balancing.
Okay.
Now we need another, we needanother acquisition manager, but
we're at capacity.
So we'd have the right way totrain them and things like that.
I think that's always kind of anumber.
I always look at it as like, ifmy acquisition managers can,

(25:58):
they should be going on, youknow, 12 appointments a week.
And then that's, that's.
If it's sufficient with that onthe display side, we kind of
felt, you know, kind of did thesame thing of like our dispo
person, they could handle about30, you know, basically 30
properties a month if they couldsell like right around.
And once they got above 30selling 30 properties a month,
that's when they really kind ofstarted to.

(26:20):
Not necessarily struggle, buttheir, you know, their, um,
their conversations or maybetheir, their follow up with
their buyers and stuff like thatwasn't going quick enough, or
they weren't, they weren'twaiting on enough offers on
deals and they were kind oftaking the first offer they
could get and, and things likethat.
Same thing on the transactioncoordinator side.
We kind of saw that like once,uh, you know, once we started
doing more than like 40transactions in a month.

(26:42):
It's 20 on the buy side, 20 onthe sales side.
That's when they got a littletapped out and stuff too.
So that's where we kind ofneeded to, you know, bring on
another transaction coordinatorand things.
Yeah.

Mike (26:51):
Gotcha.
That's kind of like hittingcapacity for people.
And then, you know, they kind ofperformance drops because, you
know, they only got so much theycan do realistically.

Brian (26:59):
Yeah, exactly.
So, and I shared before, I'm aformer math teacher, so I try to
turn everything into a mathproblem.
And that's why I always justapproach business in general.
Like if I, if I can turn it intoa math problem, then I can
figure it out.
And I just know, then I just,you know, Push or pull, whatever
way I need to.

Mike (27:14):
Gotcha.
Um, and then you said earlier,like, um, a lot of the people
that you work with.
Um, like when you're coachingthem, they, they run into a lot
of issues on the lead.
It's usually not number ofleads, but it's like the lead
management's their problem.
Um, what are the specificchallenges that you see the most
often with people in their leadmanagement?

Brian (27:37):
Um, I think it's, uh, one of the things that we always saw
was that I think people ask forprice too quickly.
Um, I would rather kind of holdback on that a little bit and
just really, I would, I want todig into the motivation a little
bit more of the reality is, andthat's kind of, that was always
my approach with it, is like ifsomebody has a house that they
want to sell, I want to, I wantan appointment set.

(27:58):
Like I want to go take a look atit.
I'm not worried about whatthey're.
With our prices, because if Ican get, if I can be in person,
talk with them, see what's goingon with it, it's sometimes the
price doesn't make a differenceof what it is.
Maybe we can work it out.
Maybe we can't, but I still wantto go meet with them in person
and get a feel for what's goingon and things.
And so I got, so I feel like alot of times maybe with the lead

(28:20):
manager, people aredisqualifying a little too
quickly.
Because they're like, Oh man,they're asking for like, you
know, Zillow, you know, theZestiman is, is, uh, you know,
150, 000 and they're asking one80.
I still, I still want to go seethat property.
Like I'm, I'm, I'm okay with it.
I still want to get in personbecause we never know what the
actual price is.

(28:40):
They, they, they're, they'rejust going what they see on, on
Zillow or something like that.
They don't actually know whatthe house, what the house is
worth or what their situationis, or, you know, what's going
on with it.
So I want to go have aconversation with them, talk to
them, see what's going on and,um, you know, get a feel for it.
And if, if Anything, even if wedon't do the deal, I'm okay with
it because that's a chance formy acquisition guy to go out

(29:00):
there and practice their skillson evaluating a house, figuring
out what the target, you know,price point would be having a
conversation with somebody,getting to connect with somebody
and when, and I mean, all, allin all, it's an, it's an
opportunity to help somebody of,you know, We've all been in a
situation where sometimes our,our seller, our sellers are all,
they're going through something,all of them.

(29:21):
I mean, all of'em are, whetherit's they've inherited a house
and they don't know what to dowith it, or they're just, they
can, they can't take care oftheir repairs.
They're upside down on theirmortgage or whatever it is.
They're, they're in, they needsomebody to talk to.
They need somebody to help'emout, and that's what we're in
this, hopefully that's what mostof people are in this business
for, is to help them help youknow, their sellers out of a
situation and help their buyersget.
Um, new properties and thenalso, you know, help their

(29:42):
lenders out with whatever it is.
So, um, uh, when it come back tokind of the lead management side
of things, if there's a, youknow, I would always look at,
like, I always want to know whatmy lead to appointment ratio was
and what that, you know, whatthat percentage for conversion
was.
And I'm always going to.
Just get, you know, a littlebit, 1 percent better, 1 percent
better.
And you know, if you can gofrom, if you're getting so many

(30:03):
leads in a week and you can setappointments for, you know, 50
percent of those and actually goon those appointments, not give
your acquisition managers achance to cancel them on their
own.
Like now there's appointmentsset, you go on it and things
like that.
You're going to do a lot moredeals.

Mike (30:16):
Is that, is it, was that your rule that they, that they
just go, they don't get to calland

Brian (30:22):
Oh yeah, yeah.
If the lead manager sets anappointment, yeah, the
acquisition manager has to go onit.
So like I said, even if it's,cause if, if you leave it to the
acquisition manager, they'regoing to be like, ah, it's,
that's, that's an hour away orthat's not, that doesn't look
like a deal.
No, man, it's, it's, it's, it'sgo, let's see if we can get it.
And you know, that's what we're,that's, that's down to two back
to that problem of like, no, ifthey're going on 10 to 12

(30:43):
appointments a week, they shouldbe able to do that.
Like it's don't, don't cancelthose appointments because you,
you still got to hit.
You guys still got to hit yournumber of going on this 10 to 12
appointments a week.

Mike (30:52):
Yeah.
What is your criteria?
I mean, obviously you don't paythat much attention to price,
but is there any criteria youhave besides that they are
considering maybe selling foryou to set that appointment?

Brian (31:04):
Yeah.
I think if it's, you know, ourbig things were just that if it
was, if, if they have a, if theyhave a house that they, that
they want to sell, there is sometype of a motive motivation.
And then it's, it's, it's withinour buy box of, I want to, I,
you know, I, I want to go seeit.
So, um, there were a lot oftimes I would actually, when I,
when I was in that role, whenI'm looking at like kind of
doing that, I'd never, I'd neverwant to know the price until I'm

(31:24):
in the appointment.
So that's something I wouldnever ask until I'd actually go
on an appointment, have thatconversation there.
So I don't want to have anypreconceived notion.
A lot of people are going todisagree with me on that and
argue with me on that.
I hundred percent agree.
That's okay.
That's, I understand that andthings, but I, that's something
that I don't, I'm not worriedabout right now in the moment.
I just want to know, Hey, do youhave a house?
Is it okay?
What's the, you know, what'syour situation.

(31:46):
And then if you're, if you'reopen to selling it and it's
something that fits inside ofour buy box, if I think I have a
buyer for it, if I think I canhelp them out in some way, I
want to go see it.

Mike (31:55):
Yeah.
It's funny you say that iClashhas a lot of people on that too,
which is I have a rule, which iswe don't ask price on the phone.
They can bring it up and we'llput it in the notes if they
bring it up.
Sure.
But we don't ask, it doesn'tmatter because like, you know,
people will say, well, I wantone 80 and, you know,
salesperson might say, oh,that's too high.
It's like, but if you wereselling your house, would you,

(32:17):
would you immediately tellsomeone like the lowest amount
or like, would you try to get alittle more?
I mean, everyone wants a littlemore.
I mean, it's just human nature.

Brian (32:25):
Right.
Right.
Yeah, exactly.

Mike (32:28):
So what, um, so now kind of like talk about, well, I
think we were really talkingabout it more offline, but you
mentioned it briefly here.
So I think it was early 2023,you said.
You kind of made the transitionout of the business, um, out of
the real estate business andobviously moved over to being
the COO of collective genius.
You want to talk a little bitabout, you know, why you decided

(32:50):
to make that move and kind ofwhat thing, what has changed for
you since then?

Brian (32:56):
Yeah.
So, um, I need a lot of thingshave changed for me, a hundred
percent and stuff like that.
But, uh, for me it was, youknow, I kind of mentioned of, I
realized that real estate isjust a vehicle for me.
It wasn't like a passion for meof buying and selling houses.
Like if I'd never went onanother appointment or sold
another house, I would actuallybe okay with that.
Um, what I really enjoy doingis, is growing people, growing

(33:17):
businesses.
And I like new challenges too.
It was something that.
Um, kind of Brett and I were ina situation where he was, he was
kind of thinking that, you know,wanted to scale the business
back a little bit.
I'm somebody that wants to keeprunning as fast as I can when it
comes to business and things.
So it's kind of time for us to,you know, maybe go our different
ways.
And we're still great friendsand it worked out okay.
And he's doing, he's doinggreat.

(33:38):
I'm doing great.
Um, so it's all good.
But, uh, for me, it wassomething that I wanted to give
back in some way.
I like, you know, I like theeducate.
I said, I'm an educator.
That's who I am.
That's where I kind of, I knowthat's where I belong.
Um, so I want to be able to helppeople out of, I know a lot of
the guests that you've had onyour, on your show or our CG
members.
And I'm connecting, I think youjust had like Cody Dover on and

(34:00):
counsel Glenn and, you know,people like that, that, you
know, I love, I love, I justcounsel and I were texting each
other last week on just onsomething and things.
So of being able to help peoplelike that, that's what I really
enjoy doing.
In my role now, like I'velearned so much about, about
business that I didn't come fromthe corporate world or anything
like that.
And I realizing that like, Ihave, I have a lot of fun doing

(34:21):
that kind of stuff of learninghow to grow businesses.
And when I look at a lot ofpeople that are NCG or a lot of
people in our real estate worldin general, a lot of people that
you're connected with andyou're, I mean, you're probably
one of these people too, oflike, we're also, we were, we
know we're hustlers and we knowhow we learn how to make some
money and then we like, we getgood at it.
And then all of a sudden we havea team.
And we have a business, butwe've never had, we've never

(34:43):
been trained on how to run abusiness or, you know, what
numbers to look at or how totrain people correctly, or, you
know, even develop talent orhire people or things like that
is, is kind of funny.
I was at a seminar, um, last,last year, and there was about
200 people in the room and, uh,Cameron Harold was on stage and,
you know, he's a, um, He was theCOO of 1 800 GOT JUNK, and so

(35:07):
he's been COO of multiple bigbusinesses and stuff.
But he asked the people in theroom of, Hey, how many of you
entrepreneurs, you know, of the200 people in there, how many of
you entrepreneurs have ever beenthrough a training on how to
hire somebody?
And there were like four peopleout of the 200 that stood up and
things, but that's the realityof us as entrepreneurs and
business owners and real estateinvestors.
I'm like, we've never beenthrough that.

(35:28):
Um, and it's pretty integral toour businesses.
We want to continue to grow and,and scale and things.
So I just really enjoy that partof it.
Um, so, um, you know, my, mylife is very different now, so
I'm not really, I'm not lookingat deals too much anymore unless
my wife and I are lending on it.
And I'm actually, she's, she'sdoing a great job with that.
And I'm kind of taught her howto.
You know, over, you know,underwrite a deal and things

(35:50):
like that.
But for me, it's, it's, it'shelping people out and growing
our business.
And I've hired, you know, fivepeople in the last three months
on team CG, and we're continuingto grow and get better and be
able to give back to our membersas much as possible.
And our memberships are growing.
We've got four different productlevels now, and then.
Um, partner it up with, withfamily mastermind too.
So we kind of have a fifth onethat we're, you know, with, with

(36:12):
all of our products and thingsthat we have, we have over 650
members across the nation anddoing all remarkable things and
stuff.
So I get to have an impact and,you know, just like I used to
have an impact on my students, Iget to have an impact on a lot
of our members as well, which Ijust absolutely love.

Mike (36:27):
What are some of the things that you've learned since
you made that transition thatyou maybe wish you knew when you
were running a real estatebusiness?

Brian (36:36):
Oh, that's how to, how to how to maybe I just had an
interview and how to like, howto like, like actually have a
process for interviewing now,which is good.
And I get to work with people onthat and kind of teach them
that.
So one of the things that I lookat is like, we used to have an
interview was like, Oh, I'll gofor a cup of coffee or go for a
drink with somebody and have agood conversation.
Oh, I like them.
I'm going to hire them.

(36:57):
Um, other than like, Oh, whatare your actual skills?
And what are you, what have youdone?
And.
You know, using a personalityassessment, like the, being able
to use the predictive index toknow, okay.
This person on paper, like,okay, they're probably, they're,
they're suited for this role,but they're also probably suited
for longevity within this rolebecause it fits into their
natural state of who they are.

(37:18):
Like, if I'm a buddy that, youknow, if I look at a, at a
predictive index and I see thatthere's somebody that if they're
super social and that they needto be around people, I can't put
them in a box where they're,they're working remotely from
home without anybody in office.
And they're just on the phoneall day long or they're not,
they're going to be that for along time and stuff.
So.
Being able to do things likethat, but even know how to, um,

(37:40):
you know, how to write up, howto write up a job description,
how to, you know, ask questionsduring that interview and just
things like that, I think is, isI, I really enjoy doing that.
I'm still need to get a lotbetter at that, but that's
something I've definitelylearned a lot around and it's,
it's made a huge difference.

Mike (37:56):
what would you have changed about your kind of
interview?
I mean, I obviously have a realinterview.
Um, but like, besides that,like, what, like, what would you
have made your hiring processkind of knowing what you know
now?
What would you have changed?

Brian (38:08):
One of the biggest things I've really started doing is,
uh, you know, our.
Interview process now isusually, usually is a three, you
know, three or four interviews,um, where they're meeting with
multiple people.
You know, the first one is kindof a, get to know you, making
sure they understand the roleand the expectations.
And the second one is usuallylike a panel interview where I
have like, you know, three orfour people on the team, um,
kind of interviewing them atonce and asking different

(38:30):
questions, getting a feel fromthem, but then something I've
always started doing too.
After that second interview, Igive them an assignment.
I see, I want to see how theywork.
I want to see how they think.
So I give them, you know, givethem something to do.
If it's even if it's, if youknow, I'm just hiring a lead
manager, I just, you know, hiredan SDR.
That's kind of like, you know, alead manager and, you know, the
business world where, but I,I've given him something to do

(38:52):
where he's calling some people.
I want to, I want to listen tohim.
I hear you.
He is on the phone.
I want to hear how he talks whenI hear how he thinks, how he
transitions, how he overcomesthis objection and stuff like
that.
So.
I could do that in the first 30days, 60 days within the job.
But if I can get that, if I canget a glimpse of that right from
the start, I'm going to takethat.
Um, I just hired in a, you know,kind of a, in a, at an

(39:12):
administrative assistant formyself, but I gave her a couple
projects of like, Hey, here'ssomething, here's a, here's a
brain dump of my thoughts.
I want you to take this braindump and I want you to create a
presentation for in Canada.
And like, she took that and didit and things.
So it's like, Oh, I need to,for, for somebody to be
successful working underneath meis my assistant.
I need them.
I need to be able to do a braindump.
On a video or a Vox or somethinglike that.

(39:33):
And then they need to be able totake my thoughts and, and come
through with it.
If they have a bunch ofquestions that need me to sit
down and work with them throughthings, that's probably not the
right person for me in thatsituation.
Um, so being able to give, Ithink that's, that's one of the
biggest things I've learned islike giving them an assignment
to do of some kind, just so Ican see their thought process
and how they work and how theythink and stuff.
It's been, that's been huge.

Mike (39:54):
What's your final round interview look like now for
roles?

Brian (39:58):
Final round interview is with the, uh, it's like, it's
with, it's with the owner or theleader of the business where
it's just, it's, it's literallyabout culture.
It's like, Hey, you understandthat, like, you're going to make
sure that you've, you've ahundred percent fit the core
values of the business.
Um, but you also understand theculture for us.
It's like, you know, it's kindof a little bit of a, of a come
to Jesus where it's like, Hey,are you.

(40:18):
Tell me about, are you, are youa winner or are you not a
winner?
Do you want to win or how, howbad do you want to win?
Kind of things like that.
Like we're, we're a fun team.
We're not like that.
It's kind of sounds like we'recut through it a little bit, but
realizing that like, Hey, we'relike, we need somebody that's
going to come on here.
And they're going to, if I, if Igive you one, two and three
things to do, you're going to doone, two and three, and maybe

(40:38):
even a fourth.
To make sure like that's thetype of person that we're
working for look or looking forand that's kind of what we're
doing in that last interview tomake sure they fit the culture
and they're the person that'sgoing to kind of do that a
little bit.

Mike (40:50):
What kind of questions are you asking or how are you
structuring that interview tolike?
You get the truth, right?
Cause people can do well on aninterview and tell you what you
want to hear.
But like, how do you make surethat they are going to be the
winner?
Who's going to do one, two,three, and maybe four.

Brian (41:05):
Yeah.
Um, it's a lot of, you know, Iwant to hear like specific
situations.
Tell me about a time when orhey, If I, you know, Hey, here's
the situation.
You're like, what would you,what would you do here?
And, and, and things like that.
But, um, what I do really beforeevery interview now is, and I
have most of this built out fora lot of positions I've hired.
If I need to hire anothersalesperson, it's kind of

(41:25):
already built out for theprocess, but I'm always looking
at like, okay, for, for aparticular position, what are
the skills that this personneeds to be able to do?
So example, let's go back to anadministrative assistant.
If I'm hiring an administrativeassistant for my business, they
need to be organized.
They need to be able tounderstand directions.
Um, they need to be someone thatis, you know, great at, great at

(41:46):
typing, great at design.
They need to be creative andgreat at design for me.
Um, but I'm looking at thosetypes.
I'm right now like all theskills that I expect that person
to be able to have.
And then I come up with aquestion for each one of those
skills.
So if they need to be organized,you know, that's one of the
things where they need to beorganized and like, Hey, tell me
about a time, you know, at yourlast position or, you know,
position you had before whereyou had to take a project and

(42:08):
you had to like basically makesure everybody was on the same
page.
You had to organize the thoughtor organize everybody's process
to make sure that they knew whenthings were happening and it had
deadlines and you know, wherethey're, they're going to be
able to, you know, You know, BStheir way around it.
They're going to know, like, I'mgoing to be able to tell
whether, and you know, whetherthey've done it before, if they
have something even similarexperience or what, what that

(42:31):
was like, if they've been ableto, did they lead it or did they
take the, they take a backseaton that project or wherever
you'd be too.
So, um, but I just like to writedown the skills and then come up
with a question for each one ofthose.
That's usually a, how to, ortell me about when or something
like that.

Mike (42:45):
Gotcha.
I like that too.
I liked the one you said too,about, uh, giving them a
scenario and say, how would youhandle this?
Cause then you can see kind ofspot how they, how they think or
how quick they think.

Brian (42:55):
Yeah, exactly.
And I mean, that's a, you'rehiring a salesperson.
I mean, like, Hey, tell meabout, like, tell me what you've
been selling.
And I'm never gonna be theperson that's like, Hey, you
sell this pin to me or somethinglike that.
That's always, it's always like

Mike (43:07):
It's a ridiculous

Brian (43:07):
what we're selling before.
Like, what were some of theobjections that you heard?
Like, they're going to like, Ihired.
I'm not gonna throw anybodyunder the bus, but I hired
somebody before I've just, or Ididn't hire somebody.
I interviewed somebody before,but they were like, Oh no, I
don't know.
I never really had anyobjections.
Like, I don't know what kind ofearly sales role you were really
in then and stuff.
So it's kind of, it disqualifiedhimself right away because.

(43:32):
There's, if you're in a salesrole, you're going to, you're
going to have some failures.
You're not going to make everysale.
You're going to be able to tellme about that and tell me how,
man, what was that objectionthat you guys think it got the
best of you and you couldn'tovercome it or whatever it is.
Like every salesperson has that,has those stories.

Mike (43:46):
I remember I asked a salesperson in an interview one
time, I said, uh, tell me abouta deal you lost and what you
learned from it.
He said, I'd never lost a deal.
I said, that's just not true.
It's like, I've lost a milliondeals.
Like, it doesn't matter how goodyou are.
Like sometimes someone's in abad mood and you lose a deal.
Like that's something to learnthere.
Like, I don't believe that youwere in sales for three years
and didn't lose a deal.
Like

Brian (44:07):
right.
Yeah.
So you want, you want enoughappointments.
That's what that means or

Mike (44:12):
Yeah, that's true.
Yeah.
It's pre qualifying very hard.

Brian (44:16):
One for one.

Mike (44:17):
Yeah.
What else have you, uh, learnedsince you've kind of made this
transition that, you know,would, would have been amazing
to know when you were runningthe real estate company.

Brian (44:30):
Yeah.
I think it's, um, one of thebiggest things and, you know,
I've been talking a lot about itlately and it's something that
actually we haven't, so we CGpremier, we haven't met next
week and a lot of this, uh, alot of our events going to kind
of derive around this, but it's,uh, about having a, having a one
page plan, uh, sitting down withyour leaders and basically
derive, you know, coming up witha one page plan for your
business of what the, what itlooks like for the next year.

(44:52):
Um, not just clarity for us asleaders, but clarity for the
team members as well.
So.
Something that I, something thatI do with my one page plan.
That's a little bit differentthan a lot of the programs out
there.
It's like, we have our, we haveour core values.
We have our, our long term goalsand short term goals and things
like that.
And we have our KPIs on thereand things we want to hit next

(45:12):
year.
And I always come up with like,Hey, what are the, what are the
big focuses for the next year?
And, you know, we always havelike around 10.
Big, you know, they're biggerobjectives, bigger focuses and
things.
But something I do with thatthen is like on our one page
plan is I have an implementationschedule to where it's like,
okay, we come up with 10 thingsthat we're going to do for next
year, you know, by month, we'regoing to put in there, like when

(45:32):
we're going to do them.
And then it's like, what all,cause what always happens is we
come out of these.
You just went through this andyou know, things like that too.
You come out of this quarterlymeeting of like, wait, okay,
we've got these five things thatwe're going to do.
That's like, okay, when are wegoing to do them?
You know, it's, it's like, okay,what happened?
It needs to happen before, butwe, that's what we, we always do
is like, all right, let's saythat we're going to, let's say

(45:55):
next year we're going to hire alead manager.
All right.
We need to hire a lead managerin may.
So we're that our implementationschedule for may.
Then it's like, okay, what areall the things that need to
happen before that?
Well, okay.
I need to, I need to hire arecruiter.
I need to write the jobdescription.
I need to hire a recruiter.
Uh, that's going to take, that'sprobably need to happen like two
months before that.
So I need to start that inFebruary.
Um, everywhere.

(46:16):
I'm going to hire a recruiter.
I'm going to write the jobdescription.
All right.
Then in March, I'm going tointerview and things like that.
And then, you know, so it'sbasically like kind of putting
things throughout.
What that forces us to do is werealize it's like once we start
putting them on thatimplementation schedule is what
happens all the time is we seelike, oh, shoot, man.
And in April and May, we gotlike six things that are due in
April and May.

(46:36):
Like, that's not we need toprioritize that.
What takes the most priority?
Okay.
That that.
You know, that's, this is moreimportant than we need to
actually, we can't, sorry guys,is this, we can't do this in
April and May.
We need to push this back tolike third quarter because we
got too much stuff going onright there.
Um, but it's, you know,something that we're always able
to see what needs to happen likemonth by month.

(46:57):
We're able to see kind of whatneeds to happen at the end of
each month.
Um, and then kind of when thingsneed to get done, like kind of
when all the deadlines are andthen stuff, then we always put
on there too, like what's,what's going to be the revenue.
Factor afterwards.
So, okay.
If we're going to hire leadmanager in may, then probably,
all right, it's going to may,and then we're going to train

(47:18):
them up in June.
They're going to be kind of inthe mix in July.
August is really when we shouldstart to see the revenue change
from hiring that lead manager.
Just because I hire them in Maydoesn't mean it's going to
change my revenue or my bottomline in May.
It's probably, it's going tochange my bottom line.
It's going to drop a little bitbecause I'm paying that person,
but I'm not going to see thefruit on that until August.

(47:38):
So now I can forecast goingforward of like, okay, what's my
August going to look like?
What's my September going tolook like and things.
Um, so that's been a huge toolfor So we do that as a team.
And then that, that team onepage plan is essentially my one
page plan.
That's me as a COO.
That's my job to like, Hey, makesure this gets done.
And it's that taken care of.
And then what I do with thattoo, is each one of my team

(48:00):
members, they have their own onepage plan as well.
So my director of marketing,like I have a one page plan.
And then when we have our weeklymeeting, that's all we do.
We talk about, we just talkabout that one page plan.
All right.
What are we on track for?
What do we, we just go down foranything that's supposed to
happen in September.
Where are we at?
Is there, is this, is this on,on target, off target that we
need to push things back?
Do we need to prioritize thing?

(48:21):
I know I'm going to come up withsome crazy idea next week that
we need to put in that, that onthat one page or something new.
Then it's like, it's in thiskind of like, okay, what, if
we're going to put this onthere, What do we need to pull
off?
What do we need to push back?
Uh, okay.
No, no, this is this.
We need to keep this here.
It's more important, Brian.
You gotta, we gotta hold off onthat idea.
That's gotta wait until nextquarter.

Mike (48:44):
you guys like revisiting that also like quarterly as a
team and like, you know,changing what's, what's on that
one page plan or,

Brian (48:52):
Yeah.
So yeah, so we'll have aquarterly meeting and going
through that and making surethat, you know, things are
updated and we're honestly,we're, and we're, we're updating
it in real time.
Um, how we're going likeindividually.
So my, my CEO and I, we're goingthrough.
We're going through our team onepage plan every week.
That's, uh, that's, that's the,essentially the agenda for our
same page, me and my director ofmarketing.

(49:13):
That's our, that's our agendafor our same page meeting every
week, me and my eventscoordinator, same thing.
So we're going through all thatstuff.
So we're updating it kind of inreal time, um, within the
individuals on the team, butthen as a, as a whole team.
Now we're going to take a lookat the whole page, the whole
page.
How's it changed?
Here's where it was at thebeginning of the quarter.
Here's how it's done.
Here's what, here's some of thechanges that we made.

(49:34):
Here's some of the things thatwe need.
Hey, we need to discuss thisbecause we need to, we need to
vote as a team on what we'redoing here.
And if we need to do this andstuff, or, Hey, what are we
missing?
What are we hearing?
What are we hearing from ourcustomers?
What are we hearing from ourteam?
What do we need to change andthings like that?
So, um, yeah.
But then, I mean, really, andthen at the end of the year, we
go through a two for a, througha whole two day, you know, our
annual planning session is twodays long.

(49:55):
It's with the whole team and aperson, and we're doing all
kinds of stuff.
And really then after that, it'sit.
You know, all honesty, itprobably takes about six weeks
for me and my CEO to like dialin our one page plan of like,
how do we really want it?
And, you know, it comes to likeknowing exactly what's going to
be on there and what thatimplementation schedule looks
like and stuff.
It's a, it's a pretty longprocess, but it's a hundred

(50:17):
percent worth it because beingable to know what we're doing,
when we're doing it, like it'sgoing to allow us to be able to
forecast and really budget forwhat we need to next year.

Mike (50:26):
yeah, what's, uh, kind of the three year vision for
collective genius?

Brian (50:32):
Yeah.
So I think it's just, uh, youknow, love to add, you know,
more products and more people.
That's really what comes down togrow, grow in general.
So I'd love to essentially kindof grow through really kind of
three different things of, Hey,we can grow through more
products.
We just, this year we added on aproduct called CG CEO, uh, for
people.
Like truly in that CEO seat, Iknow is entrepreneurs.

(50:53):
We like to call ourselves CEOs.
Sometimes we have a team ofthree and we're leading a
business and doing a couple ofdeals, but, um, broke a little
bit, but we're those people thatlike, actually they have a, Hey,
they, they have, they have a,they have a business.
It, it makes this amount ofrevenue.
This, they have this.
You know, they're actually, theyhave a net worth of this X
amount of money and, and thingslike that.
And they're truly in that CEOseat where they have a, they

(51:15):
have a COO underneath them andthey have directors underneath
that and their business.
They're kind of out of the dayto day, their business and
things like that, but still wantto grow.
So, you know, we created thatthis year and it's, that's, it's
a great product.
Um, so far I'm doing really,really well.
So, you know, creating newproducts is always something
that we want to do.
And then we always want to gowith as well as, you know, the
more.
You know, the more people wehave, it's, it's something

(51:37):
that's really cool to see of wedo something at all of our
events that call it the go giverbelt of had our events of
somebody, whoever is the biggestgo giver.
Maybe they maybe had the bestpresentation or they just helped
out the most people or whatever.
We give that big championshipbelt stuff.
I'm out for that.
But the cool thing is to see,you know, the new people when
new people come into our, um,Yeah.
Into our communities and theyend up winning a belt at one of

(51:59):
their first two, um, events isreally cool to see.
It's like, it's just likegetting a new talent and new,
new people and new go givers andthings like that in our
community is really, reallycool.
So grow people.
And then honestly, when, when wegrow, you know, acquisition
wise, or even just bringing on,you know, partner and other
masterminds as well.
So if there's another mastermindout there and they're pretty
well and stuff, it's alwayssomething that we want to take a

(52:19):
look at of, Hey, let's, let's,let's bring you into the mix and
work together and stuff as well.
So that's kind of, you know, Ialways want to.
Um, grow it, grow it bigger.
And I'll be, I'll be completelyhonest if it's always when I say
growing bigger is always isgood.
But right now we need to getbetter before we get bigger.
So that's kind of our, our thinghere is it's, it's, it's

(52:40):
optimization before expansion.
So it's like, Hey, we got.
We hired a lot of people thisyear.
Um, you know, I think we'vebrought on maybe six or seven
new team members this year.
So it's, you know, we've, we'vegotten bigger, but now it's time
to get a little bit betterbefore we continue growing and
growing.
Cause that's the, you know, it'scomes down to making sure our
processes are, are in, aredialed in, our systems are
dialed in and we're treating ourmembers the right way and

(53:02):
they're getting the most out ofit and things.
That's the number one thing forus.

Mike (53:06):
And like the, like, I'm not actually like as familiar
with the other products that youguys have.
Is that like, just based onlike, like experience or are
there other ones that are like,like title focus, like CEO or
something like that, or?

Brian (53:20):
Yeah, it's a little bit.
It's based off experience andbased off of kind of a business
size a little bit.
So we have essentially we have,we have three product or we
have, um, you know, I'll talkabout kind of our, our, our five
products total vote within theCG realm.
We have four products right now.
We have one that's called CGelevate.
Um, that's for people that aredoing between, you know, 10 and
30 deals a year.
Um, they're a little bit morebusinesses, a lot of, a lot of

(53:42):
solopreneurs in there, or maybethey have, You know, one or two
team members or a couple of VAsor something like that.
But essentially that group isfor people that they, they know
how to make some money, but theydon't quite have a business yet.
They just don't, they're the,they're just on the verge.
You know, some of them are stillworking at W2, maybe they're
just, they're doing some deals,but they're, they, they're ready
to kind of, you know, turn thiscorner and I kind of turn it

(54:03):
into a business.
And then we have the people thatare in CG elevate.
Or I'm sorry, CG select withtheir, they're doing it between
like 30 and 75 deals a year.
Um, you know, I'm only doingthem between like, you know, 500
to 2 million in revenue andthings like that.
So there are people that they,they know how to make money.
They have, they, they have ateam of like three to five,
they, they have a business, butthey don't know how to run the

(54:24):
business yet.
So they don't know actually,Hey, how to like, just what
we've been talking about, likehow to, how to make those hires
and how to.
You know, how to run meetingsand that type of thing, and, you
know, dial in your KPIs and justget, you know, get better that
way.
It's really kind of in thatthey're in that they're in that
scaling phase of their businessand stuff.
So, um, then our next group, wehave the CG premier group, which
there are people that are doing,you know, 75 plus deals a year,

(54:46):
they're doing, you know, two, 2million in revenue.
And, you know, it's, that'sbright, nice business.
We're in that where we're doing250 deals a year and, you know,
multiple, you know, multipleniches are not kind of multiple
revenue streams.
And, um, you know, not, youknow, Do a multiple, have
multiple marketing channels andthings like that.
So, um, that was the originalCG.

(55:06):
That's kind of what it, where itstarted and that's been around
for a while and stuff.
And then now we have CG CEO,which is kind of just a step
above that.
So the premier members are kindof in that phase of like, Hey,
they're, they're growing theirbusiness and they're on the
verge of like truly becomingCEOs and really being in that
leadership seat.
And then once they kind of hitthat, then they can kind of move
into that CEO room and, andthings.

(55:27):
And then we're also, like Isaid, we have.
You know, partner with familymastermind and Matt Andrews and
stuff.
So we're, we're connected withthem and helping them out, which
that's kind of real estateinvestor adjacent where they're,
a lot of them are real estateinvestors, but they're, you
know, they're podcasters,they're educators, they're
service providers and, and, andthings like that, where they
kind of have their own groupand, and teach people if they're
want to learn more about realestate and do it better, or

(55:49):
provide a service for realestate investors, it's kind of
their own mastermind for themover there.

Mike (55:54):
What's the biggest challenge that you see people
facing who are trying to movefrom, I forget what the name of
the top level one was, butbasically to the CEO seat.
Like what's the, what's thechallenge that's like holding
most of them back?

Brian (56:07):
Themselves can't get out of their own way.
So it's, it's, um, and I meanthat in a nice way, cause we're,
I mean, we're all there, we allgo through it.
I've, I know I've, I've beenthere and stuff before where I
think, uh, no one's going to doit as good as me, or I can't
quite trust my team to do thisor.
Oh, everything's going well.
I'm going to jump back in andmess things up.
And we, we, sometimes we don'trealize that we do that.

(56:29):
Um, but a lot of times it's justrealizing it comes back to, you
know, hiring the right, you, ifyou hire the right people, allow
them to do what you hired themto do, and then truly lead them.
Um, leadership is really tough.
It's, it's, it's a really toughthing to do.
And as you, uh, you got, and Imentioned it before, if you get
to that point where it's nolonger a marketing and sales

(56:51):
business, it becomes a peoplebusiness.
Yeah.
And you're literally, you'reliterally in that seat where
it's all about just like, youknow, growing up, growing
opportunities for your businessand then putting the right
people in the right seats to beable to do the right thing.
Um, that's where when somebodycan get to that point, um, it's,
it's, it changes, changes theirlives, changes their business
and stuff.
But see so many times wherepeople, they, they still falter

(57:12):
a little bit of where.
Um, and something's messed upwith our PPC marketing and they
have to jump back in and theychange the vendor too quick
versus asking the rightquestions and leading the person
to, Hey, let's really figure itout.
Let's figure this out.
Is it really the PPC provider?
Or is it like our, why is ourconversion rate, you know, our
lead to appointment conversionrate?
Lower on here than it is on ourdirect mail.

(57:33):
And, you know, kind of reallykind of asking the right
questions and leading the,leading the team the right way.
So it's, you know, it comes backto what we, you know, what I
said before is we're, we'reentrepreneurs and we've grown,
we've grown this and we'rehustlers and we know how to make
money, but we've never really,you know, We don't know how to
really lead and be trained tolead and kind of be in that.
And that's what I love about CG.

(57:54):
It's you're putting the, you'reputting a situation where you're
around people that are goingthrough exactly what you're
going through in the moment, orthat have already been through
it.
And I can, I can be like, Brian,quit being a dummy.
Just let that, like, let yourdirector of marketing handle
that.
Like get it, like alone, letthem do this thing and stuff.
So.

Mike (58:13):
What, what do you see the people doing who are able to
elevate to CEO level?
Like obviously they're, they'regood leaders, but like what?
Like specifically?
Are they make some great leadersthat allows them to, like,
ascend to that level and, like,kind of stay at that level, not
kind of get back involved in theday to day.
Um,

Brian (58:34):
I think it's a couple of things is that they, they, they
never stop learning how to be abetter leader.
They're always, they're alwaysreading the books.
They're always going to the net,you know, doing the next thing
and stuff like that.
And not, you can, you can, thereis an overkill on that of like,
where you don't want to be theperson that has like, Oh, I just
read this book and Hey, we'regoing to do this this week.
And we're going to do this nextweek.
But they're the people thatit's.

(58:56):
You know, and I, I, I'll admit,I fell into this trap a long
time ago where I realized kindof back in the, you know, back
in high school, I was presidentof my class every year, and then
captain of the basketball teamand tennis team and stuff like
that.
And in college, I was presidentof my fraternity.
I was that person always said,Oh, I'm a natural leader.
I'm a born leader.
That's, that's a bunch of craplike you, like nobody's ever,

(59:16):
like you need to, there is someskills that fall into that, but
it's still, it's a skill thatyou need to develop.
Like you need to learn how to bea, how to be a leader.
What did, I mean, what did, whatdid John Maxwell do and what
does he like, what did, youknow, how did he get to be the
leader that he is?
And what did Liz Wiseman of likeher being at a point where she,
you know, wrote this bookmultipliers and what, how did

(59:37):
she develop that?
And all the reasons behind that,like you're reading these and
digging into them and it's just,it's in developing yourself as a
leader.
And so I think it's reallyimportant.
Um, the, the other thing thatreally separates them too, is
that they, they invest in theirpeople and in hiring the right
people.
Um, one of our, one of ourmembers, Phil green said this
the other day, and it reallystood, it stood out to me.

(59:58):
And he mentioned it like, uh,one of the things that he's
realized is like the emphasisthat he puts on recruiting for
his, for his business, uh,they've even talked about like,
you know, we talk about our realestate business and things like
that, of like, if you.
What if you took your bestacquisitions person and instead
of keeping them in acquisitions,what have you made them a
recruiter?
What if they went out there andrecruited the salespeople for

(01:00:20):
you and stuff like that.
That's the greatest sale thatyou could possibly have of
they're bringing on killersbecause sales sales talent knows
how to, they know how torecognize other sales talent and
stuff.
So I think it's the two things,it's two things that really
stand out to me of the peoplethat are kind of.
You know, at, in our CEO room orjust in businesses in general of
like, they, they always developthemselves as leaders and they

(01:00:41):
never stop like kind ofrecruiting and developing their
team and allowing their team tokind of do their thing.
They're going to bring the bestpeople underneath them.
So the things that are, there'sstill, it comes back to
leadership.
They're developing themselves asleaders and they're hiring
leaders to do things the rightway.

Mike (01:00:56):
that's yeah, that's a great point.
I like that.
You got to make you.
I think I, uh, he postedsomething on Instagram saying
that because I saw I rememberthat quote.
I put my best acquisitions guys,my recruiter.
I was like, man, that is genius.
I

Brian (01:01:11):
Hermosi, but, uh, Yeah,

Mike (01:01:13):
Whatever.

Brian (01:01:13):
we all think

Mike (01:01:15):
Everything's stolen from someone else usually at some
point or another.
So

Brian (01:01:20):
all the same stuff we all get it, you know, from other
people and stuff, but no, it'sall good.

Mike (01:01:24):
yeah.
Well, we're getting close to theend here and there's always two
questions I always like to askat the end.
Um, one will be a little, um,thinking back on your real
estate days, but what is thecraziest or most uncomfortable
situation that you everexperienced in a real estate
deal?

Brian (01:01:44):
Um, yeah, kind of the craziest, uh, crazy situation.
Uh, I think there's always,there's always some, man,
there's some good stories.
That's one of the things Ialways wish I would've wrote
down like all these stories andstuff.
I think we all could probablywrite a book and stuff, but one
of the funniest, one of thefunniest ones, I don't know how
really outlandish it is or crazyas it is, but one of our
acquisition guys, he kept goingto this house.
I think it was like, he'd beento the, he went, kept going to

(01:02:05):
this appointment.
And he'd been there.
So the third time, every timeyou go to this appointment.
He would knock on the door andtell lady, all this is, you
know, I'm here, I'm here for theappointment to walk your house.
So every time she say, I can'tcome to the door right now, I'm
naked.
So every single time she wasjust, she was like three, three,
like he literally tried to go tothe appointment three times and
every time she couldn't come tothe door cause she was naked.

(01:02:27):
So we decided that we would goahead and we would bought her a
bathrobe.
So the next time he went on theappointment and she said that
again, he's like, don't worry, Igot you a bathrobe.
So it so I can see the house andstuff.
So that's it.
Little, I think I, I find thatas amusing story.
Maybe not the craziest story oranything like that, but that one
always sticks out to me of justlike, there, that's one of the
first times like,'cause I waslike, I think my, like, that was

(01:02:50):
one of my first weeks in the, inthe business where it was just
like, man, there, there's this,you never know what you're gonna
come across on some of theseappointments and things like
that.
So, um, but no, that was, thatwas a funny one.

Mike (01:03:01):
The bathroom and let him in in the house, or

Brian (01:03:03):
It did.
It worked out?
It

Mike (01:03:05):
It did.
Okay.

Brian (01:03:06):
We got the deal.
We got the deal.

Mike (01:03:10):
I like it.
Um, so the 2nd question I alwaysask for the newer people
listening to the show, um, ifyou could go back in time and
give yourself 1 piece of advicewhen you were looking for that
1st real estate deal.
Knowing what you know now, whatwould you tell yourself?

Brian (01:03:30):
Yeah.
Um, I think it's, I think itwould be some along the lines of
just like, I spend more, spendmore time with a seller and just
like really build their rapport.
I think it's just like it, that,that first deal is always a
little bit elusive.
I think when you're going outthere and stuff, it's, it's one
of those things of you'realways.
You always, you think it's anumbers game of just like, I got
to go on, I got to go on moreappointments.
I got to go on this and that.

(01:03:50):
Like I know a hundred percent,like if, if I were to just like
spend a little bit more time onthat first appointment I went
on, I probably would have gotthat deal.
And I would actually like satdown and listen to the seller
and, and gone through, you know,understood where they're coming
from, have the empathy andreason with them and stuff like
that.
I think that's what I would comeback to.
Like, I always.
Try to, I was trying to get tothe point where you're just

(01:04:11):
like, okay, it's all the house,like here's your situation.
Here's the offer, like go on tothe next one and stuff.
So I just like getting, youknow, I think it's, it comes
down to if I would, I know if Iwould have spent a little bit
more time and that firstappointment I went to, I
probably would've got that deal.
So that's what I come back to.

Mike (01:04:26):
I think that's a, I think that's a great piece of advice.
Um, if people, uh, wanted toreach out to you after the show,
Brian, um, if they maybe havequestions about CG or thinking
about joining, I don't know ifyou're the right person to talk
to, but I guess who, how canpeople go about reaching out to
you if they want to,

Brian (01:04:42):
Somebody wants to join.
I'm more than happy to have thatconversation.
So

Mike (01:04:45):
I didn't know how it works.
So if you're your CEO, maybe youhave salespeople.
I don't know.

Brian (01:04:49):
I'll pass them off.
And I'll still have thatconversation, but, um, no, if
they can, they can hit me up atbrian at the collective genius.
com more than happy to talk tothem on there.
If they want to email me,there's my teams on top of it,
man.
So good stuff.
So got my email right there.
Um, or you can just, you know,reach out to me on social media,
Brian Snyder, um, on, onFacebook or the Indy Snyder on
Instagram.
We're happy to talk with any ofyour people and help them out

(01:05:11):
All

Mike (01:05:13):
Cool.
Well, awesome, man.
Thanks for being on the show.

Brian (01:05:16):
right.
Thank you.
Appreciate it.