August 28, 2025 • 17 mins
Most people follow the map that’s already drawn. But the real breakthroughs — in business, in life, in legacy — happen when you create your own. In this episode of The Secret Sauce Podcast, Chad and Lacey explore what it really means to take the road less traveled. From Sarah Blakely’s Spanx empire to redefining how lenders and Realtors connect, you’ll learn why differentiation isn’t optional, how to rebuild stale processes from scratch, and why fulfillment is the best ROI.
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Episode Transcript
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Chad (00:00):
Oh, that turned that one off Recording Yep.
Lacey (00:03):
Record Water, water Clap, let's go.
Oh man, I drained that.
Chad (00:11):
Neary, neary, will you grab me a little water?
Lacey (00:16):
I didn't drink any of this.
Chad (00:18):
Oh, that's from there, thank you.
Lacey (00:21):
Whatever, I watched her backwash in it, hocked a woogie
in it, don't care.
Chad (00:34):
all right, so you want me to start with this hook, yep,
and that lighting.
I can hardly read.
All right, we ready.
All right, let's do this.
Can I ask one question reallyquick?
Yeah, no, you wouldn't knowthis your iphone neary.
Lacey (00:47):
How do I make it real fast?
How to make it where it doesn'tlike shut the background light
down and it doesn't go into um?
There's a setting like how longuntil it goes into um
background.
Do you know I'm talking about?
Yeah, it's she'll do it in twoseconds.
(01:07):
Yep, auto lock, boom, look inthere.
Never love you.
Yeah, thank you so much allright because I kept trying to
hit it to make sure it wouldn'tdo that can I clap now?
Whenever you want.
I've been waiting on you.
Chad (01:26):
She does not.
She did not say that.
Every successful entrepreneurI've met has this in common they
did something that didn't makesense until it did.
What if the fastest way forwardIsn't the obvious one?
(01:47):
What if the most scalable,fulfilling and legacy building
moves are hiding in the weeds onthe unbeaten path?
Welcome back, guys.
This week we want to talk alittle bit about taking the path
less traveled.
Uh, I know this episode kind oflike as we were outlining it.
It spoke to you a little bit,right.
(02:07):
Is there anything specific thatlike you're like?
Oh man, I'm excited to talkabout that.
Lacey (02:14):
I thought we're doing this at the end.
Chad (02:15):
No, not, I wasn't trying to get that story.
We can start again.
Lacey (02:18):
Okay, I'm so sorry.
What do you want me to say?
Chad (02:20):
right there, I'm just trying to pull you into like, oh
yeah, like I was excited aboutthis because, or like this spoke
to me.
Lacey (02:27):
Oh, I wasn't ready for that, that's okay.
I'm like no, no, no, we're notdoing my story right now, didn't
?
Chad (02:30):
know, I had to just like give you everything.
Lacey (02:32):
Everything, yeah, everything Redo.
Chad (02:37):
Well, okay.
Lacey (02:47):
So are we going to jump right into the sarah blakely?
Chad (02:49):
thing then.
Yeah, I mean, I don't know whatthis robert frost is.
Lacey (02:50):
He wrote robert frost, two roads diverge.
I didn't chat gpt did?
Chad (02:51):
you didn't even read this.
Lacey (02:52):
Yeah, it's like pick one okay I do love that quote though
yeah, what you did in thebeginning is fine.
You just pointed it to me.
I wasn't ready.
I didn't know what you wantedall right, we'll start again.
Chad (03:09):
Um man, I wish I had my phone, will you?
Uh, you probably don't want togoogle something for me right
now, do you, I can't, I justwhat's the path less traveled,
quote do you want me to chat?
Uh, two, two roads diverging awood.
Quote the full one it's tworoads diverging a wood, and I
took the path less traveled by,and for it made all the
difference in something likethat.
Lacey (03:30):
I've never heard of this before, so you've never heard
that.
No Two roads diverge, that'sall you have to do.
Chad (03:38):
Full quote.
Lacey (03:48):
Two roads diverge in a wood and I took the one less
traveled by and that has madeall the difference, and that has
made all the difference, okaythis line comes from robert
frost's poem the road not taken.
Two roads diverge in a wood andI took the one less traveled by
and that has made all thedifference.
Good to know.
Chad (04:10):
Okay.
Lacey (04:12):
Now we're ready.
Chad (04:13):
Okay, we're going to start again.
Did you like the intro?
Lacey (04:18):
I did.
Is it too long?
No, you did the welcome backafter it, which I was thinking,
oh, he forgot the welcome back.
And then you did it, so Ithought it was good.
Chad (04:25):
Yeah, I just wanted to kind of like, right.
No, I like it Okay.
Lacey (04:28):
I was not ready for anything.
Chad (04:34):
I can't read that.
Okay, Every successfulentrepreneur I've met has this
in common they did somethingthat didn't make sense Until it
did.
What if the fastest way forwardisn't the obvious one?
What if the most scalable,fulfilling and legacy-building
moves are hiding in the weeds ofthe unbeaten path?
Lacey (04:56):
In the weeds.
Chad (04:58):
Welcome back everybody.
We are talking about the pathless traveled this week.
I'm excited about this one.
It's a little bit not like hey,this one tactic or this one
strategy.
It's a little bit more of likehey, this one tactic or this one
strategy.
It's a little bit more of likea mindset maybe, yeah, yeah but
it speaks to me like my.
One of my absolute mostfavorite quotes is uh, robert
(05:18):
frost, um, from a book.
But uh, it's, two roads divergedinto wood and I chose the one
less traveled by and it made allthe difference made all the
difference and that's what we'retalking about this week is um
that typically the people thatyou're seeing having super high
levels of success have taken adifferent path.
(05:40):
If you want to take the petsame path as everybody else,
you're probably going to get thesame results as everybody else,
unless you do it like in acrazy, unique way.
But, typically, the best way todo it is to just blaze your own
path right, take a differentpath.
So I love it.
I love it.
I think we should just jumpright into it.
We were talking about differentstories that we could tell, and
(06:03):
there was a famous one that Iknow spoke to you.
So we were talking about thefounder of Spanx.
Lacey (06:12):
Sarah Blakely right, I love Spanx.
They're the best thing everinvented.
And you know when we startedtalking about this yes, you know
, we talked about her and it'ssuch a good story behind it
because she definitely took theroad not or less traveled for
sure, right, like, and I didn'teven know that it started
(06:33):
actually not with shapewear, itstarted with pantyhose and
that's where she started seeingthat here here's a problem that
that people wearing this haveand then she just kept on and
she kept on.
Her story is actually reallycool, like it's.
It's really fascinating on hernot taking money from outside
people and how she got help andhow it turned into shapewear the
(06:54):
best shapewear.
Chad (06:55):
And kind of created her own industry.
Lacey (06:57):
Completely, and you know cause.
It used to be in the past thatshapewear was super
uncomfortable, I mean likecorsets and stuff like that that
you know um and and everybodygot away from it.
But she wanted something thatwould help but also be
comfortable and be fashionabletoo, right.
Fashionable?
Yeah, and she is.
I mean, I mean I own.
You know, most people think ofSpanx and they think of just um,
(07:18):
but they, they have everythingnow dresses and like really nice
cat.
I mean casual, but also I meana lot of my work wear is from
Spanx, but it's really goodquality.
But she just completely blazedthis path and did what everybody
else said is not going to work.
Don't do it.
Chad (07:38):
No one would give her money.
Lacey (07:39):
Nobody, yeah, no money, and she had to go through and
figure it out.
In fact, here I just want tolike.
This part was really, reallycool.
Chad (07:46):
All right.
Well, you look this up.
This episode is brought to youby Spanx.
I'm just kidding.
We don't have that kind ofmoney.
We don't have that kind ofviewership.
Lacey (07:53):
Okay, so how she changed the industry.
We already talked about that.
She disrupted a stale category,so very old fashioned,
uncomfortable.
She brought a modern,empowering body, positive, take
on this.
But it did open and create anew market.
She changed branding and I doremember this.
When it started coming out shewas direct, funny, relatable.
(08:17):
She took away that we neededthe models.
You know these beautiful,perfect models.
Chad (08:23):
That nobody could relate to that nobody could relate to.
Lacey (08:25):
Yeah, and nobody had done that before.
And again, she did it allwithout any sort of funding.
So she was rejected, she wasunderestimated and really just
out of her depth on paper.
But she outworked the systemand she changed it and thank you
, because it's now somethingthat I absolutely love.
But just a cool story to kindof put this in context context
(08:49):
of why, like why, did RobertFrost say that it was the best
thing he ever did was take theroad less traveled?
Chad (08:58):
I just think that that's where most people find their
fulfillment, because it's likethere's not as much joy in just
going the same path as everybodyelse, right, and there's big
impact in that.
Yeah, I think there's a.
There's a ton of reasons, too,and we can get into that, but I
wanted to make this a little biteven more relatable.
If you can't relate to SarahBlakely, who now has a brand
(09:19):
worth, you know, billions,billions, okay, how do we relate
this to lenders and realtors inour space?
Or just small business, small,single entrepreneurs, right?
So you've got a story in this,I'm sure, right?
Lacey (09:34):
Yeah, you know, you asked me when was that moment?
You know, when we were tryingto talk about this.
And I'll tell you.
I was on a phone call withanother lender who I'm good
friends with.
We coached years and years agotogether we were both students
together and just chatting withhim and figuring out you know
how's he doing.
And he said actually Lisa,things are different.
(09:55):
I shut down all my office space.
He's like I had $8,000 monthly.
Shut it all down, sendeverybody home.
Everybody works at home.
Now I work at home and I loveit.
Chad (10:06):
And I grew up works at home.
Lacey (10:07):
now I work at home and I love it and I was what he's
saying.
Yeah, he said I love my family,I got more family time.
I do everything, zoom and allthis stuff.
And he's not the first one I'veheard.
Chad (10:14):
I've heard a lot of people do that and we already know
brokers do that right, like realestate is going that I mean so
much virtual, like there's a lotof brokers that are building
their whole model on beingvirtual 100, yeah, and not, and.
Lacey (10:26):
And real estate agents have to.
I mean, they go out in thefield so much more.
They go out and show and they,you know, look at houses and
stuff like that.
Um, whereas us, like we have tobe, you know, in our computer
and working on thingsconsistently.
But yeah, he all went home, Isent everybody home and it works
for him and he loves it andhe's not, like I said, the first
person I've heard doing this.
(10:46):
And it was in that moment thatI said I'm going to be different
and I'm going to be the lastoffice standing.
If it's me, I'm going to holdspace still in a professional
environment where people canstill come in and meet and see
that I'm a real human, be bellyto belly, be able to go through
(11:08):
the process, really learn theirstory, understand things.
And I love Zoom.
I think it was great.
It came out, you know, when weneeded it the most, with COVID
and everything, and it's betterthan a phone call.
But it doesn't replace thebelly to belly.
Chad (11:24):
It doesn't replace the human experience of connection
with people Absolutely.
Lacey (11:34):
And in this part of my career, I love that, I love that
piece.
I don't want it.
That's the last thing I want tolose.
And so if I have to be the lastoffice like I want to, I want
to.
That's what my, my differentpath will be is I will be still
having an office and meetingpeople and directing them.
Chad (11:46):
You're not going to be the last one standing.
I don't think, because I willbe you're going to outbid me.
Maybe I'm older though.
Lacey (11:52):
So I could retire.
So yeah, I should win this one.
Chad (11:55):
But I'm I'm a hundred percent with you on uh, making
sure that we've got space forpeople and for our teams too.
Right Like the, thecollaboration of our having
office space for us all to gettogether.
Uh Collaboration of our havingoffice space for us all to get
together.
Again, the human experience isconnection and personal
experiences.
So I'm with you 100%, but I dothink that is our industry is
going the hard charging in theopposite direction and
(12:17):
everything's going to automationand we're like I still like
some of those things, for sure.
Lacey (12:23):
But yeah, I definitely want to be there.
What about you?
What would be your story?
Chad (12:32):
Well, I would say the one that I thought of that hits the
most is probably in relation tothis podcast I was thinking
about.
I still remember Mondays iswhen we're supposed to call
realtors, right, andeverything's called more
realtors.
Cold call, just everything byphone, just call, call, call.
And it made me like you'vealways hated depressed to think
(12:54):
about it like I didn't want togo to work anymore, uh, and so I
was like, okay, how can I, howcan I go a different way but
still try to get a similarresult?
And uh, in a roundabout way,it's how the roadshow version of
the podcast was uh, born, wasborn yeah, I was thinking about.
Okay, like how can I get infront of different agents that I
(13:15):
want to connect with on apersonal level, that I have
something that makes you great,what your secret sauce is, and
ask you some thought provokingquestions?
Um, that they would say thatpeople would want to say yes,
(13:41):
they'd want to meet with me, anduh.
So I'm hard charging in thatdirection.
I know you are too.
Lacey (13:46):
Yeah, it was a brilliant idea, chad.
I just want to talk about thatfor a second Cause.
When you brought this up andsaid, hey, this is what I'm
thinking, just a brilliant idea,for, like, there's so many
reasons it's so brilliant, butit was different than everything
that we were thinking with thepodcast.
It was definitely differentthan what we do, you know, in
(14:07):
the mortgage side and how wework on lead gen and spend time
in our green time, and it hasbeen fun, like it's so much fun.
It's so much fun and it's againthese questions and stuff like
you learn so much more aboutpeople, you feel so much more
connected with people.
You get to hear their storymore and what makes them who
(14:27):
they are versus A means to anend.
Yeah, Like versus.
Hey, how was your weekend?
Did you have any open house?
Chad (14:34):
How can I get a referral from you?
Lacey (14:36):
Yeah.
Chad (14:36):
Right, yeah, then it was always I had to come up with
some reason to call so I couldtry to get something from them
instead of just giving you know.
Uh, giving them a space, givingthem opportunity to share, yeah
, tell their story Exactly, yeah, so.
I've loved it.
It gives me a lot of energy,and so that's my best example, I
(14:57):
think right now.
Lacey (14:57):
It's a great example of blazing your own path, for sure.
Chad (15:00):
So let's talk about a few reasons why somebody should do
this.
I just came up with three.
I think we can make this apretty quick episode.
But differentiation createsdemand, right?
So you got to zig one other zag, I would say, like it's an
action, like identify one areawhere you've been blending in in
(15:21):
your industry and then try tofigure out how do I stand out,
how do I make this different?
You've got to createdifferentiation, and the best
way to do that is to take adifferent path, right?
Lacey (15:32):
Okay, hold on.
Let's stop on that for a second.
Let's talk about-.
Trying to keep this short andsweet, I know, but that's really
, really good, and you're goingto have to go listen to our
other couple of podcasts thatwe've filmed, but we talked a
lot about doing the same thingthat everybody else is doing.
So let's say, if I'm a realestate agent and I'm posting the
same things, or a lender wetalked about lenders and real
(15:54):
estate agents always post, justsold just closed.
Another home Just listed Justlisted the same, like are you
blending in here?
So that your one question justsays identify an area where
you're blending in and figureout how to not blend in anymore.
That's so easy, Like instantly.
I'm thinking of two or threethings that I do constantly,
that I blend in.
So great tactic.
Chad (16:14):
A great way to do it is through storytelling.
We did an episode on that.
We'll put it in the show notes,yeah, so definitely check that
out, all right.
Number two innovation lives inisolation.
Breakthroughs come fromoriginal thinking, so rebuild
one normal process from scratch,and this is like something
you're already doing.
How do I just tear it down andcompletely start over and
(16:36):
rebuild something that isdifferent by design?
It is different, right, andlike a thought process, for that
would be maybe your buyerconsultation is the same as
everybody.
As an agent, your buyerconsultation is the same as
everybody else's, or?
Lacey (16:50):
your lead intake process.
Chad (16:51):
Yeah, because everybody's taught a blanket like hey,
here's how to do it, here's asuccessful blueprint for doing
it.
But once everybody startstaking that blueprint, it starts
to blend in.
Lacey (17:02):
Sure, and you got all the ideas and you know what the
outcome is.
But to tear that down and justto start from new, like you
already know now, the skillright when you're taught, they
teach you that.
So you know all those skills.
But now you know all thoseskills, so rip it down, start
over, be creative.
Chad (17:17):
Yeah, what do I want the customer to feel?
Right Is the way I look at thatwhen I'm doing it and I've
started rebuilding down a lot oflike tearing down and
rebuilding processes that areall with that in mind.
Like how do I want the customerto feel at the end of that
experience, at the end of thatinteraction, versus what
information do I want to deliverto them?
Right, because the informationis going to be pretty much
(17:38):
similar in most people's buyerconsultation or lead intake or
whatever.
It's going to be very, verysimilar.
So that's the DNA that mostpeople are going to have.
But if you tear it down and sayokay, how do I invoke a feeling
in it?
How do I make them leave therethinking, man, I feel really
heard and seen and like a warm,fuzzy feeling.
Lacey (17:56):
Yep Right.
Chad (17:59):
I really heard and seen and like a warm fuzzy feeling,
right, I like it.
Um.
Last but not least, numberthree fulfillment allows
authenticity.
So aligned action equalslasting pride.
So when you create somethingthat is yours, you're gonna be
way more proud of it thanimplementing something that
somebody else does.
So I know that seems a littleweird, because we're on here on
a podcast talking to how to helppeople build big businesses and
live big lives.
So we're not just giving youone blueprint, right?
(18:21):
Because then it's not yours.
So I think this episode isunique because it does go
against the grain.
It does talk about, like, goand create something that is
your own and take someframeworks of other people, but
make something that is patentlyyours that you can be really,
really proud of.
You can get monomaniacal aboutit and just think, like, how do
I make this so unique to me?
And that's where you're goingto be like obsessed with the
(18:42):
details to a point where, whenyou implement that, you're going
to be so proud of it and thatpride shows, yeah, cause you
enjoy it.
And your customers are going tofeel it.
Lacey (18:53):
Mm-hmm, I think about you a lot actually when you you say
this, because and I know theinitial thought came from the
book Unreasonable Hospitalities.
But when you read that book,Chad, it changed you and it it.
This is where I could see youTearing everything down and
recreating it.
Chad (19:11):
Yeah.
Lacey (19:11):
And 100 percent wanting to really have an impact and
change.
If I'm going to, if I'm goingto be spending this time with
this client or this referralpartner or whatever, what's the
impact that we're going to havein this time frame?
Because it changed you and youwant impact in life and
everything that you do becauseof that.
And the book didn't like it'snot an exact tells you how to do
(19:35):
any of that right.
Like it just gave you the start, the ideas behind it.
Chad (19:39):
It lit the fire.
For sure I would say Like itlit the flame and then we've
been fanning it really hardsince then and making it our own
.
Lacey (19:46):
But you've been so much happier, you've been so much
passionate, like back to lovingeverything, because we've done
this a long time, like it, sothat one right there is, like I
can see that living andbreathing inside of you.
Chad (20:00):
Absolutely.
It's something I'm super, superproud of.
I think that we've we arecreating an experience that is
unlike any other in the mortgagespace.
Uh, and like I will take thatto my grave I truly believe that
it's an experience that isunlike any other and that's
something that I can be reallyreally proud about.
I have my team can be reallyreally proud about, and it is
something that, like, we alltalk about.
It's like, man, this is superfulfilling Yep, right.
(20:23):
And it's hard to get superfulfillment and joy and
everything out of using somebodyelse's blueprint that everybody
else is using.
Yeah, right, that's great,thank you.
Lacey (20:33):
I appreciate it.
It's a perfect example.
Yeah.
Chad (20:36):
So, closing reflection, you know the road less traveled
doesn't just make all thedifference, it makes you
different.
So I think that's a gooddifferentiation.
Yes, it makes all thedifference.
Yes, it makes a difference totake the path less traveled, but
it really does.
Is makes you different.
It makes you stand out in adifferent way, right?
So my call to action on this Iwould just want to leave
(20:58):
somebody a takeaway, like okay,what can I do right now?
We've given a couple alreadylike tear some stuff down,
whatever.
But the very easiest one isjust take one off-road decision
this week and make it and thenshare it.
I'd love to hear about it.
We'd love to hear about it.
If you can make one decision,make it your own, take a path
less traveled, do it.
Let us know.
Lacey (21:19):
Share it.
Yeah, we'd love to hear it.
We'd love to hear it.
I, the one you said about,think of one area where you're
blending in.
That's like I'm alreadythinking.
I'm thinking of tons, um, butI'm going to narrow one in.
I'm going to text you this week, chad.
Chad (21:32):
All right, I'm going to hold you to it.
I can't wait, all right.
So just remember guys, thecrowd doesn't cheer for the one
who followed the map, they cheerfor the one who drew their own
map.
Nice, so go draw your own map,absolutely.
Thanks for listening guys,thanks guys, see you next time,
bye, bye.
Oh, that turned that one off Recording Yep.
Lacey (00:03):
Record Water, water Clap, let's go.
Oh man, I drained that.
Chad (00:11):
Neary, neary, will you grab me a little water?
Lacey (00:16):
I didn't drink any of this.
Chad (00:18):
Oh, that's from there, thank you.
Lacey (00:21):
Whatever, I watched her backwash in it, hocked a woogie
in it, don't care.
Chad (00:34):
all right, so you want me to start with this hook, yep,
and that lighting.
I can hardly read.
All right, we ready.
All right, let's do this.
Can I ask one question reallyquick?
Yeah, no, you wouldn't knowthis your iphone neary.
Lacey (00:47):
How do I make it real fast?
How to make it where it doesn'tlike shut the background light
down and it doesn't go into um?
There's a setting like how longuntil it goes into um
background.
Do you know I'm talking about?
Yeah, it's she'll do it in twoseconds.
(01:07):
Yep, auto lock, boom, look inthere.
Never love you.
Yeah, thank you so much allright because I kept trying to
hit it to make sure it wouldn'tdo that can I clap now?
Whenever you want.
I've been waiting on you.
Chad (01:26):
She does not.
She did not say that.
Every successful entrepreneurI've met has this in common they
did something that didn't makesense until it did.
What if the fastest way forwardIsn't the obvious one?
(01:47):
What if the most scalable,fulfilling and legacy building
moves are hiding in the weeds onthe unbeaten path?
Welcome back, guys.
This week we want to talk alittle bit about taking the path
less traveled.
Uh, I know this episode kind oflike as we were outlining it.
It spoke to you a little bit,right.
(02:07):
Is there anything specific thatlike you're like?
Oh man, I'm excited to talkabout that.
Lacey (02:14):
I thought we're doing this at the end.
Chad (02:15):
No, not, I wasn't trying to get that story.
We can start again.
Lacey (02:18):
Okay, I'm so sorry.
What do you want me to say?
Chad (02:20):
right there, I'm just trying to pull you into like, oh
yeah, like I was excited aboutthis because, or like this spoke
to me.
Lacey (02:27):
Oh, I wasn't ready for that, that's okay.
I'm like no, no, no, we're notdoing my story right now, didn't
?
Chad (02:30):
know, I had to just like give you everything.
Lacey (02:32):
Everything, yeah, everything Redo.
Chad (02:37):
Well, okay.
Lacey (02:47):
So are we going to jump right into the sarah blakely?
Chad (02:49):
thing then.
Yeah, I mean, I don't know whatthis robert frost is.
Lacey (02:50):
He wrote robert frost, two roads diverge.
I didn't chat gpt did?
Chad (02:51):
you didn't even read this.
Lacey (02:52):
Yeah, it's like pick one okay I do love that quote though
yeah, what you did in thebeginning is fine.
You just pointed it to me.
I wasn't ready.
I didn't know what you wantedall right, we'll start again.
Chad (03:09):
Um man, I wish I had my phone, will you?
Uh, you probably don't want togoogle something for me right
now, do you, I can't, I justwhat's the path less traveled,
quote do you want me to chat?
Uh, two, two roads diverging awood.
Quote the full one it's tworoads diverging a wood, and I
took the path less traveled by,and for it made all the
difference in something likethat.
Lacey (03:30):
I've never heard of this before, so you've never heard
that.
No Two roads diverge, that'sall you have to do.
Chad (03:38):
Full quote.
Lacey (03:48):
Two roads diverge in a wood and I took the one less
traveled by and that has madeall the difference, and that has
made all the difference, okaythis line comes from robert
frost's poem the road not taken.
Two roads diverge in a wood andI took the one less traveled by
and that has made all thedifference.
Good to know.
Chad (04:10):
Okay.
Lacey (04:12):
Now we're ready.
Chad (04:13):
Okay, we're going to start again.
Did you like the intro?
Lacey (04:18):
I did.
Is it too long?
No, you did the welcome backafter it, which I was thinking,
oh, he forgot the welcome back.
And then you did it, so Ithought it was good.
Chad (04:25):
Yeah, I just wanted to kind of like, right.
No, I like it Okay.
Lacey (04:28):
I was not ready for anything.
Chad (04:34):
I can't read that.
Okay, Every successfulentrepreneur I've met has this
in common they did somethingthat didn't make sense Until it
did.
What if the fastest way forwardisn't the obvious one?
What if the most scalable,fulfilling and legacy-building
moves are hiding in the weeds ofthe unbeaten path?
Lacey (04:56):
In the weeds.
Chad (04:58):
Welcome back everybody.
We are talking about the pathless traveled this week.
I'm excited about this one.
It's a little bit not like hey,this one tactic or this one
strategy.
It's a little bit more of likehey, this one tactic or this one
strategy.
It's a little bit more of likea mindset maybe, yeah, yeah but
it speaks to me like my.
One of my absolute mostfavorite quotes is uh, robert
(05:18):
frost, um, from a book.
But uh, it's, two roads divergedinto wood and I chose the one
less traveled by and it made allthe difference made all the
difference and that's what we'retalking about this week is um
that typically the people thatyou're seeing having super high
levels of success have taken adifferent path.
(05:40):
If you want to take the petsame path as everybody else,
you're probably going to get thesame results as everybody else,
unless you do it like in acrazy, unique way.
But, typically, the best way todo it is to just blaze your own
path right, take a differentpath.
So I love it.
I love it.
I think we should just jumpright into it.
We were talking about differentstories that we could tell, and
(06:03):
there was a famous one that Iknow spoke to you.
So we were talking about thefounder of Spanx.
Lacey (06:12):
Sarah Blakely right, I love Spanx.
They're the best thing everinvented.
And you know when we startedtalking about this yes, you know
, we talked about her and it'ssuch a good story behind it
because she definitely took theroad not or less traveled for
sure, right, like, and I didn'teven know that it started
(06:33):
actually not with shapewear, itstarted with pantyhose and
that's where she started seeingthat here here's a problem that
that people wearing this haveand then she just kept on and
she kept on.
Her story is actually reallycool, like it's.
It's really fascinating on hernot taking money from outside
people and how she got help andhow it turned into shapewear the
(06:54):
best shapewear.
Chad (06:55):
And kind of created her own industry.
Lacey (06:57):
Completely, and you know cause.
It used to be in the past thatshapewear was super
uncomfortable, I mean likecorsets and stuff like that that
you know um and and everybodygot away from it.
But she wanted something thatwould help but also be
comfortable and be fashionabletoo, right.
Fashionable?
Yeah, and she is.
I mean, I mean I own.
You know, most people think ofSpanx and they think of just um,
(07:18):
but they, they have everythingnow dresses and like really nice
cat.
I mean casual, but also I meana lot of my work wear is from
Spanx, but it's really goodquality.
But she just completely blazedthis path and did what everybody
else said is not going to work.
Don't do it.
Chad (07:38):
No one would give her money.
Lacey (07:39):
Nobody, yeah, no money, and she had to go through and
figure it out.
In fact, here I just want tolike.
This part was really, reallycool.
Chad (07:46):
All right.
Well, you look this up.
This episode is brought to youby Spanx.
I'm just kidding.
We don't have that kind ofmoney.
We don't have that kind ofviewership.
Lacey (07:53):
Okay, so how she changed the industry.
We already talked about that.
She disrupted a stale category,so very old fashioned,
uncomfortable.
She brought a modern,empowering body, positive, take
on this.
But it did open and create anew market.
She changed branding and I doremember this.
When it started coming out shewas direct, funny, relatable.
(08:17):
She took away that we neededthe models.
You know these beautiful,perfect models.
Chad (08:23):
That nobody could relate to that nobody could relate to.
Lacey (08:25):
Yeah, and nobody had done that before.
And again, she did it allwithout any sort of funding.
So she was rejected, she wasunderestimated and really just
out of her depth on paper.
But she outworked the systemand she changed it and thank you
, because it's now somethingthat I absolutely love.
But just a cool story to kindof put this in context context
(08:49):
of why, like why, did RobertFrost say that it was the best
thing he ever did was take theroad less traveled?
Chad (08:58):
I just think that that's where most people find their
fulfillment, because it's likethere's not as much joy in just
going the same path as everybodyelse, right, and there's big
impact in that.
Yeah, I think there's a.
There's a ton of reasons, too,and we can get into that, but I
wanted to make this a little biteven more relatable.
If you can't relate to SarahBlakely, who now has a brand
(09:19):
worth, you know, billions,billions, okay, how do we relate
this to lenders and realtors inour space?
Or just small business, small,single entrepreneurs, right?
So you've got a story in this,I'm sure, right?
Lacey (09:34):
Yeah, you know, you asked me when was that moment?
You know, when we were tryingto talk about this.
And I'll tell you.
I was on a phone call withanother lender who I'm good
friends with.
We coached years and years agotogether we were both students
together and just chatting withhim and figuring out you know
how's he doing.
And he said actually Lisa,things are different.
(09:55):
I shut down all my office space.
He's like I had $8,000 monthly.
Shut it all down, sendeverybody home.
Everybody works at home.
Now I work at home and I loveit.
Chad (10:06):
And I grew up works at home.
Lacey (10:07):
now I work at home and I love it and I was what he's
saying.
Yeah, he said I love my family,I got more family time.
I do everything, zoom and allthis stuff.
And he's not the first one I'veheard.
Chad (10:14):
I've heard a lot of people do that and we already know
brokers do that right, like realestate is going that I mean so
much virtual, like there's a lotof brokers that are building
their whole model on beingvirtual 100, yeah, and not, and.
Lacey (10:26):
And real estate agents have to.
I mean, they go out in thefield so much more.
They go out and show and they,you know, look at houses and
stuff like that.
Um, whereas us, like we have tobe, you know, in our computer
and working on thingsconsistently.
But yeah, he all went home, Isent everybody home and it works
for him and he loves it andhe's not, like I said, the first
person I've heard doing this.
(10:46):
And it was in that moment thatI said I'm going to be different
and I'm going to be the lastoffice standing.
If it's me, I'm going to holdspace still in a professional
environment where people canstill come in and meet and see
that I'm a real human, be bellyto belly, be able to go through
(11:08):
the process, really learn theirstory, understand things.
And I love Zoom.
I think it was great.
It came out, you know, when weneeded it the most, with COVID
and everything, and it's betterthan a phone call.
But it doesn't replace thebelly to belly.
Chad (11:24):
It doesn't replace the human experience of connection
with people Absolutely.
Lacey (11:34):
And in this part of my career, I love that, I love that
piece.
I don't want it.
That's the last thing I want tolose.
And so if I have to be the lastoffice like I want to, I want
to.
That's what my, my differentpath will be is I will be still
having an office and meetingpeople and directing them.
Chad (11:46):
You're not going to be the last one standing.
I don't think, because I willbe you're going to outbid me.
Maybe I'm older though.
Lacey (11:52):
So I could retire.
So yeah, I should win this one.
Chad (11:55):
But I'm I'm a hundred percent with you on uh, making
sure that we've got space forpeople and for our teams too.
Right Like the, thecollaboration of our having
office space for us all to gettogether.
Uh Collaboration of our havingoffice space for us all to get
together.
Again, the human experience isconnection and personal
experiences.
So I'm with you 100%, but I dothink that is our industry is
going the hard charging in theopposite direction and
(12:17):
everything's going to automationand we're like I still like
some of those things, for sure.
Lacey (12:23):
But yeah, I definitely want to be there.
What about you?
What would be your story?
Chad (12:32):
Well, I would say the one that I thought of that hits the
most is probably in relation tothis podcast I was thinking
about.
I still remember Mondays iswhen we're supposed to call
realtors, right, andeverything's called more
realtors.
Cold call, just everything byphone, just call, call, call.
And it made me like you'vealways hated depressed to think
(12:54):
about it like I didn't want togo to work anymore, uh, and so I
was like, okay, how can I, howcan I go a different way but
still try to get a similarresult?
And uh, in a roundabout way,it's how the roadshow version of
the podcast was uh, born, wasborn yeah, I was thinking about.
Okay, like how can I get infront of different agents that I
(13:15):
want to connect with on apersonal level, that I have
something that makes you great,what your secret sauce is, and
ask you some thought provokingquestions?
Um, that they would say thatpeople would want to say yes,
(13:41):
they'd want to meet with me, anduh.
So I'm hard charging in thatdirection.
I know you are too.
Lacey (13:46):
Yeah, it was a brilliant idea, chad.
I just want to talk about thatfor a second Cause.
When you brought this up andsaid, hey, this is what I'm
thinking, just a brilliant idea,for, like, there's so many
reasons it's so brilliant, butit was different than everything
that we were thinking with thepodcast.
It was definitely differentthan what we do, you know, in
(14:07):
the mortgage side and how wework on lead gen and spend time
in our green time, and it hasbeen fun, like it's so much fun.
It's so much fun and it's againthese questions and stuff like
you learn so much more aboutpeople, you feel so much more
connected with people.
You get to hear their storymore and what makes them who
(14:27):
they are versus A means to anend.
Yeah, Like versus.
Hey, how was your weekend?
Did you have any open house?
Chad (14:34):
How can I get a referral from you?
Lacey (14:36):
Yeah.
Chad (14:36):
Right, yeah, then it was always I had to come up with
some reason to call so I couldtry to get something from them
instead of just giving you know.
Uh, giving them a space, givingthem opportunity to share, yeah
, tell their story Exactly, yeah, so.
I've loved it.
It gives me a lot of energy,and so that's my best example, I
(14:57):
think right now.
Lacey (14:57):
It's a great example of blazing your own path, for sure.
Chad (15:00):
So let's talk about a few reasons why somebody should do
this.
I just came up with three.
I think we can make this apretty quick episode.
But differentiation createsdemand, right?
So you got to zig one other zag, I would say, like it's an
action, like identify one areawhere you've been blending in in
(15:21):
your industry and then try tofigure out how do I stand out,
how do I make this different?
You've got to createdifferentiation, and the best
way to do that is to take adifferent path, right?
Lacey (15:32):
Okay, hold on.
Let's stop on that for a second.
Let's talk about-.
Trying to keep this short andsweet, I know, but that's really
, really good, and you're goingto have to go listen to our
other couple of podcasts thatwe've filmed, but we talked a
lot about doing the same thingthat everybody else is doing.
So let's say, if I'm a realestate agent and I'm posting the
same things, or a lender wetalked about lenders and real
(15:54):
estate agents always post, justsold just closed.
Another home Just listed Justlisted the same, like are you
blending in here?
So that your one question justsays identify an area where
you're blending in and figureout how to not blend in anymore.
That's so easy, Like instantly.
I'm thinking of two or threethings that I do constantly,
that I blend in.
So great tactic.
Chad (16:14):
A great way to do it is through storytelling.
We did an episode on that.
We'll put it in the show notes,yeah, so definitely check that
out, all right.
Number two innovation lives inisolation.
Breakthroughs come fromoriginal thinking, so rebuild
one normal process from scratch,and this is like something
you're already doing.
How do I just tear it down andcompletely start over and
(16:36):
rebuild something that isdifferent by design?
It is different, right, andlike a thought process, for that
would be maybe your buyerconsultation is the same as
everybody.
As an agent, your buyerconsultation is the same as
everybody else's, or?
Lacey (16:50):
your lead intake process.
Chad (16:51):
Yeah, because everybody's taught a blanket like hey,
here's how to do it, here's asuccessful blueprint for doing
it.
But once everybody startstaking that blueprint, it starts
to blend in.
Lacey (17:02):
Sure, and you got all the ideas and you know what the
outcome is.
But to tear that down and justto start from new, like you
already know now, the skillright when you're taught, they
teach you that.
So you know all those skills.
But now you know all thoseskills, so rip it down, start
over, be creative.
Chad (17:17):
Yeah, what do I want the customer to feel?
Right Is the way I look at thatwhen I'm doing it and I've
started rebuilding down a lot oflike tearing down and
rebuilding processes that areall with that in mind.
Like how do I want the customerto feel at the end of that
experience, at the end of thatinteraction, versus what
information do I want to deliverto them?
Right, because the informationis going to be pretty much
(17:38):
similar in most people's buyerconsultation or lead intake or
whatever.
It's going to be very, verysimilar.
So that's the DNA that mostpeople are going to have.
But if you tear it down and sayokay, how do I invoke a feeling
in it?
How do I make them leave therethinking, man, I feel really
heard and seen and like a warm,fuzzy feeling.
Lacey (17:56):
Yep Right.
Chad (17:59):
I really heard and seen and like a warm fuzzy feeling,
right, I like it.
Um.
Last but not least, numberthree fulfillment allows
authenticity.
So aligned action equalslasting pride.
So when you create somethingthat is yours, you're gonna be
way more proud of it thanimplementing something that
somebody else does.
So I know that seems a littleweird, because we're on here on
a podcast talking to how to helppeople build big businesses and
live big lives.
So we're not just giving youone blueprint, right?
(18:21):
Because then it's not yours.
So I think this episode isunique because it does go
against the grain.
It does talk about, like, goand create something that is
your own and take someframeworks of other people, but
make something that is patentlyyours that you can be really,
really proud of.
You can get monomaniacal aboutit and just think, like, how do
I make this so unique to me?
And that's where you're goingto be like obsessed with the
(18:42):
details to a point where, whenyou implement that, you're going
to be so proud of it and thatpride shows, yeah, cause you
enjoy it.
And your customers are going tofeel it.
Lacey (18:53):
Mm-hmm, I think about you a lot actually when you you say
this, because and I know theinitial thought came from the
book Unreasonable Hospitalities.
But when you read that book,Chad, it changed you and it it.
This is where I could see youTearing everything down and
recreating it.
Chad (19:11):
Yeah.
Lacey (19:11):
And 100 percent wanting to really have an impact and
change.
If I'm going to, if I'm goingto be spending this time with
this client or this referralpartner or whatever, what's the
impact that we're going to havein this time frame?
Because it changed you and youwant impact in life and
everything that you do becauseof that.
And the book didn't like it'snot an exact tells you how to do
(19:35):
any of that right.
Like it just gave you the start, the ideas behind it.
Chad (19:39):
It lit the fire.
For sure I would say Like itlit the flame and then we've
been fanning it really hardsince then and making it our own
.
Lacey (19:46):
But you've been so much happier, you've been so much
passionate, like back to lovingeverything, because we've done
this a long time, like it, sothat one right there is, like I
can see that living andbreathing inside of you.
Chad (20:00):
Absolutely.
It's something I'm super, superproud of.
I think that we've we arecreating an experience that is
unlike any other in the mortgagespace.
Uh, and like I will take thatto my grave I truly believe that
it's an experience that isunlike any other and that's
something that I can be reallyreally proud about.
I have my team can be reallyreally proud about, and it is
something that, like, we alltalk about.
It's like, man, this is superfulfilling Yep, right.
(20:23):
And it's hard to get superfulfillment and joy and
everything out of using somebodyelse's blueprint that everybody
else is using.
Yeah, right, that's great,thank you.
Lacey (20:33):
I appreciate it.
It's a perfect example.
Yeah.
Chad (20:36):
So, closing reflection, you know the road less traveled
doesn't just make all thedifference, it makes you
different.
So I think that's a gooddifferentiation.
Yes, it makes all thedifference.
Yes, it makes a difference totake the path less traveled, but
it really does.
Is makes you different.
It makes you stand out in adifferent way, right?
So my call to action on this Iwould just want to leave
(20:58):
somebody a takeaway, like okay,what can I do right now?
We've given a couple alreadylike tear some stuff down,
whatever.
But the very easiest one isjust take one off-road decision
this week and make it and thenshare it.
I'd love to hear about it.
We'd love to hear about it.
If you can make one decision,make it your own, take a path
less traveled, do it.
Let us know.
Lacey (21:19):
Share it.
Yeah, we'd love to hear it.
We'd love to hear it.
I, the one you said about,think of one area where you're
blending in.
That's like I'm alreadythinking.
I'm thinking of tons, um, butI'm going to narrow one in.
I'm going to text you this week, chad.
Chad (21:32):
All right, I'm going to hold you to it.
I can't wait, all right.
So just remember guys, thecrowd doesn't cheer for the one
who followed the map, they cheerfor the one who drew their own
map.
Nice, so go draw your own map,absolutely.
Thanks for listening guys,thanks guys, see you next time,
bye, bye.
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