What's your favorite memory of Ravens and Steelers? Why do the Ravens really don't even need to trade for a superstar wide receiver? What can there's Bryan contribute to these Ravens and how quickly will him and Lamar build a rapport? These and many many more questions on this episode of NFL Questions from subscribers. This is a series where you can ask me any NFL question you want to based off of any NFL team and we answer it in a video just like this. If you want to be part of NFL Questions from subscribers just send me an email to teamkeepitclean at gmail.com with your question and we will be answering the best questions in videos of questions from subscribers throughout each week and again make sure you send it to the correct email send it to teamkeepitclean at gmail.com and you'll hopefully get your question put in the video or it'll be on the podcast too. Make sure you check out the podcast channel. This teamkeepitclean podcast is down below in the description it's also on anchor it's on Spotify so make sure you check that out. Teamkeepitclean we got some good questions as we always do because y'all always send in fire. But again questions from subscribers is changing because it's just impossible for me to fit everything every question in even throughout the week so I'm just going to be picking some of the best questions and I'm going to try to still do as many as I can but just some of the best of the best so it's not a lot of repeat questions it's not a lot of repetitive questions and whatnot but some really good questions get answered in these videos so I appreciate y'all I love y'all and please please please be patient with the process because we're still trying to figure some things out trying to still make this as efficient as we can but anyway let's do it. First question came from my guy jrgweb he said what's your favorite memory of Raven versus Steelers? I will always love Tori Smith after dropping a TD on Sunday football then catching the game winning touchdown on that same drive I think in Pittsburgh. Hope all is well. Greg from Be More. Yeah mines is that same one. It's that same one and the reason that it's the same one is because for the longest Ravens just they had an asterix every time they beat the Steelers before that game because first it was that they couldn't beat the Steelers then it was they couldn't beat the Steelers with Big Ben in the lineup as a starter then they couldn't beat the Steelers in Pittsburgh with Big Ben as a starter in the lineup and then it was just always something man but that was the game where it was no excuses it was no Big Ben he played in the game he started and finished the whole game and the the Ravens finally got that monkey off of their back and I think that was huge because in the first game of the season they blew the Steelers out I think like 35 to seven and I think they they had they forced seven turnovers in that game like it was just crazy man but it was oh it was I remember that game watching it on opening week I was at a sports balls in Brew's room and man it was just fun anyway um with the Ravens and the Steelers that would be my favorite memory too because it was just them getting over the hump and that let me know like okay these dudes they can do it next question came from Tamaris J she said I ain't graven hope all is well with you and the fam really enjoyed the video because you keep a realistic view of the team that being said I have an unpopular opinion who these are always funny she said the Ravens don't need to go out and get a superstar wide receiver I know that is the sexy thing to do and everyone wants to be like Kansas City but that is not the philosophy of this team here's the order I think they should go before the trade deadline she said number one offensive line mainly right guard I know you talked about this already if the line plays better than the run game is better which allows for more play action to help our wide receivers get open so yeah that was um before they started making moves well they made a move for unique um this was one that I felt like was the most important thing was fixing that offensive line now I didn't really envision them trading for an offensive lineman because I think they'll roll with what they got but I think this is the most important move that needs to be made is fixing that offensive line and what I think the Ravens are gonna do is just end up waiting it out and hopefully Tyree Phillips is fully healthy I know he's expected to play this week um so they oh they're gonna be trying to mess with that rookie's head Steelers are gonna be throwing everything at him and the Ravens offensive line so this is going to be I know that they are their most recent video their hype video with baptism by fire so this is definitely gonna be there for Tyree Phillips uh number two she said tighten I think this pic will kind of fix the line play plus pass catching I mean LJ had three tight ends last year and you saw the numbers yeah he you know he loves the tight ends because this can help uh it's an extra offense of lineman potentially um it's an extra pass catcher like you said and it can make the offense look a bit less predictable so that's a good one too and number three one that I haven't been talking about enough but there is a sort of need there is db most of the teams that are looking to go to the playoffs outside of the Titans have three good wide receivers and a tight end I think we will need more help especially with Jimmy playing more snaps and his injury history that's a good point because you never want to go into a season thinking oh man what if this guy gets hurt what if that guy gets hurt but at the same time you gots to be ready for that you got to be ready for it and with jimmy smith we know how it goes he's been hurt a lot he's missed a lot of games throughout the entirety of his career due to injury um and some suspension too but mostly due to injury uh and now he's older so injuries don't get better with age now he's been fine so far he has been a little banged up but you it's good to stay ready and then she said sorry this is so long but I'm a little all I'm a little over all the ghost sign insert big name wire see for here even if we did they would not put up numbers because of g-roll uh he is not known for airing it out plus we might um we might move on from him anyway since his history shows he is only good with mobile quarterbacks for two years or so keep doing what you're doing man and go ravens and hashtag team keep it clean appreciate it Tamaris um and yeah I was just talking I was on a podcast with uh east west podcast network um just last night and we were talking about the same thing I was like I said it's crazy because with g-roll yeah it's been usually he gets a good a good two years out of the quarterback in the system and then after that a kind of flat lines and he had Tyrone Taylor it happened there he had Colin Kaepernick and but the thing with him is that one thing that I found very interesting is that he's had success with those guys he's had success with Tyrone and Kaep and obviously Lamar Jackson but he's never been promoted to being a head coach just something to think about next question came from my guy Cody he said I'm a new subscriber and this is my first question from subs so although the ravens have a lot of raw talent on their roster they've been making moves for a lot of veteran players and our team is pretty old in general what does the future of the ravens roster look like as some of the guys like Kaleas and Ingram start to regress uh can't wait for the next episode appreciate you man I appreciate you Cody thank you um I think the future of the roster to me uh Mark Ingram gone Jimmy Smith gone Levine gone Jude on gone uh Kaleas Campbell depending on how this season goes I think that'll determine what happens with Kaleas Campbell Ravens when the Superbowl I think Kaleas Campbell he's gone I think he retires the Superbowl champion and he's out but if they don't they will but if they didn't then I think he will come back another year so a Kaleas camp there whoo that one's um I think that one's on the fence right now that one's on the fence uh some other older players um they have LJ Fort for this year because they gave him a one-year contract extension so uh depending on how they feel about Malik Harris I really like LJ Fort I don't want him to go anywhere really um but I think due to the business side I think they would they could end up going with their young boys um and who else we got on offensive side Matt Scurra I think he's going I think he'll cash out elsewhere we also have there's Bryant that's still up in the air I think a lot just depends on how he does when he does come in the game whenever that's going to be um Willie Snead he's going after this year uh DJ Fluca oh now that Ronnie Stanley is resigned I think that DJ Fluca he could be going after this year um depending on what happened with Ronnie Stanley I thought DJ Fluca may have a chance to stay but I think he'll probably be going um and that's oh RG3 I think he'll be going after this year as well so I think a lot a lot of things on the Ravens are going to change from this year to next but that's how every season is every season you do have some veteran players that they get up there a little old in the tooth or whatnot um but you need that you you need veterans because yeah your team could be super young and whatnot but you need that experience too you need that leadership and that's exactly what veterans provide so Ravens they just need to continue to do a good job of mixing the young talent uh with the veterans as well next question came from my guy Anthony L he said with our passing attack being ranked 31st in the league how much do you think Dez can contribute assuming that and hoping that he'll be on the active roster pretty soon well it just uh it just all depends man it depends on uh what they're gonna do it it depends on how they're gonna use them and it just depends on if Lamar is going to be looking for him I think Lamar is almost forced to look for Dez Brian because Dez Brian is gonna be there underneath he's gonna be underneath guy yeah I don't see him going out deep you never know though you never know because he's gonna be hungry man he is going to be hungry man so with Dez Brian but his attitude not a I'm not saying I'm not saying he has a bad attitude but his attitude his demeanor is going to cause Lamar to have to pass him the ball and his just his presence and this is a good thing there this is a good thing and this is not him being a me me me receiver because I mean he really ain't got no choice uh we're in doing that because this is like kind of his last chance but at the same time he's a guy that's been there he's a guy that's done that so he can give Lamar a safety blanket he can give Lamar somebody that he can trust he can give Lamar somebody that's going to fight for him this guy like Dez Brian is really going to fight for Lamar because he this is his job man this is his career getting back on track so of course he's gonna have this quarterback's back and this is one of the teams that he wanted this to go down with y'all remember when we when he picked out those teams he said if he could come back he would pick either the Patriots or the Saints or the Ravens and there was one more team I forgot who that other team was but the thing that stood out to me when he picked those teams as teams that he would want to play for again I think maybe it was the Cowboys or something like that but the thing that stuck stuck out to me was that this was Tom Brady because he was on the Patriots at the time this was Drew Brees and if the Cowboys were that other team I don't remember for sure but if it was it was Dak Prescott but these were guys who were established in the league and Dez Brian also put Lamar Jackson in with those guys not necessarily saying that Lamar was on those guys level but he put Lamar Jackson with those guys as guys he would want to play with so that really stood out to me about Dez Bryant when he had said that a little while back so Dez he's gonna just bring a lot of energy on this team he's gonna he's gonna bring it man because he has that energy because he's been waiting for this moment for so long and the thing about Dez Bryant which he brings to this team he's a guy that initially it may be a tiny tiny bit but I think he'll get over it fast but the moment won't be too big for him because he's been he obviously hasn't had a lot of playoff success but he got a lot of experience man he got a lot of experience in the NFL so with the other receivers sometimes it can seem like the moment is too big for them sometimes because sometimes they tend to fade in the big moments like Mark Andrews in a big games it's like hey what what's going on and that's not a shot at Mark Andrews at all and there's no disrespect to him but that's just how it's been and in the in the big games a lot of these guys they just they disappear and then some of them they disappear and just in other games too so we cannot have that especially in big games so Dez Bryant brings that energy and brings that passion and brings that that competitive nature that the Ravens need so it'll be fun so as far as what he can contribute oh he can contribute plenty and those are just some of the things but as far as on the field he gives Lamar somebody that um he's had some drop issues now so let's not let's not forget that but he's also a playmaker as well he's been a playmaker but he brings somebody that just will hold hold the other receivers accountable and it can help the other receivers and hold itself accountable too but we just need that his his just that demeanor man we're missing it and he said uh do you think Lamar will eventually have the same chemistry with Dez as he does with Hollywood and Andrews well if Dez Bryant gets open in Lamar's season yeah I think so but it's gonna be a work in progress I don't expect things to be oh man they they just clicking right out the gate I mean we would love that I would love that y'all would love that we would all love it but they just gotta find ways to get Dez involved early so he can get any jitters out and then get back in a groove of things so he can take that first hit so he can break that first tackle so he can get all the first out the way they gotta get him involved early so he's not out there cold so he can get hot early on and when he's catching more and more passes that confidence getting built up then it'd be nice to get that old dez back next question came from my guy el horsey he said engraving I start most of my days off with the youtube vids uh I'm a subscriber and follow you on facebook as well I love your work bro I appreciate it man and I do I remember seeing when I first signed up for facebook I remember seeing you a lot on there so I appreciate you big time man thank you for that uh and he said my question is from your perspective what do you think our most pressing need is after getting uh Yannick and Gakwe uh as for me I'm thinking right God thanks for all you're doing keep up the good work bro appreciate it man uh Raymond's most pressing need right now after Yannick uh yeah I I agree I think it's taking care of that offensive line um really just better play from the interior of the offensive line because I don't anticipate them trading for anybody but getting better play from their interior offensive line main mainly Matt scorer and Tyree Phillips just the the center in the guard position um they just both of them have to be better uh so again hopefully after this buy week they've been looking at some things they've been correcting some things making some adjustments here and there um because they they both got the size to do it they got the smart they got the ability to do it they just gotta click they just got a gel they just gotta put it together on the field so that would be uh what I think is the Raven's most pressing need at this moment next question came from a guy phenomenal hustle sports uh and this is a popular question amongst team keeping clean some that we've uh uh dabbled in dabbled in over the past couple of months but certainly as the season has been going the way that it's been going we talked about a little bit more uh and he said what's up in Graven love the channel bro hope all is well appreciate it man he said the question I have is do you think we should move Boykin to tight end he blocks really well and is a solid pass catcher that will bring back those three tight end sets and also open up more playing time for Devin Duvenay thanks again bro and team keep it clean so yeah again I I would not I don't anticipate them making a permanent move for Miles Boykin but I certainly wouldn't mind it at all uh Miles Boykin of course we know what he can do we we know what Miles Boykin can do especially as a blocker um but if he was a tight end then I think he would be guaranteed to get all the catches that he's not getting right now because you know he would be around the middle of the field a lot more often and Lamar loves them tight ends he loves them tight ends so yeah this would give the Ravens a chance to continue to use his blocking ability that they ran and rave so much about and he is a good blocker but he would also be able to get more involved in the game and then you could bring back the three tight end sets you don't got to trade for Zach Erts you ain't got to bring back Hayden Hurst you could try with Miles Boykin at tight end as that third guy you ain't got to make a call to the Raiders for Darren Waller uh you ain't got to do none of that because you would already have somebody on a roster and then like you said Devin Duvenay sitting there waiting waiting and we know that Devin Duvenay we know this dude can fly we know he can fly and the thing about him see man for this Ravens and Steelers game Devin Duvenay is built perfect for these games because he's fast but he's strong too he's strong he got some muscle on him so he is built for this Raven Steelers rivalry man he is perfect for it so I really do hope they get him a lot more involved than they have been but moving Miles Boykin at tight end at least temporarily just on some plays here and there it could help just really open this thing up for everybody because Miles he still got the speed now Ravens don't really use it but he still got that speed and again big frame so if they put him at tight end it would be an adjustment but I think just do a little by little you ain't got to make this just rash decision okay Miles Boykin you moving to tight end no just put him in there for some plays a few plays throughout the game and just get him used to it and see how it goes I think it could work out well man I think I think it really could the last question on this episode NFL questions from subscribers came from my boy Jordan D he said engraving what's up it's Jordan big blessing to you and your fan appreciate you he said thanks for telling the EDC to get unique I know he joked that EDC is a part of Team Kiwi Clean but after the unique trade now I know for sure for a fact that EDC watches Team Kiwi Clean hey hey you never know man yay but he said Steve Vashati made a lot of money owning a staffing agency that is where the Ravens got the philosophy to hire from within on defense for the most part the Ravens have elevated coaches from assistant positions to defensive coordinator if you look back wink Martindale was a linebacker's coach my favorite defensive coordinator Rex Ryan was also a linebacker's coach who was elevated to defensive coordinator in my opinion this is why on the defensive side of the ball the Baltimore Ravens have excelled tremendously that's true because oh he said it already continuity brings success and yeah I agree with that because yeah the Ravens on the defensive side of the ball that that's what they've been known for and they always hire from within hire from within hire from within hire from within and they keep doing that for the most part and they keep promoting guys so when you promote somebody from within that gives you that consistency because you don't have to make any drastic changes to whatever side of the ball that you got promoted from whether it's offensive defense you can still stick with pretty much the same thing but you can put your own tweaks on it so yeah that's a good point anyway he said in my opinion this is why our offense has not excelled over the years in the same way our defense has excelled over the years offensively during the Joe Flacco era we went through a plethora of offensive coordinators I do believe this affected the growth of Joe Flacco having to learn a new offensive system with new terminologies for the most part every season I didn't know I didn't remember that with Joe Flacco he actually had the same offensive coordinator for like the first five years I believe with Cameron Cameron but after that then that's when it started getting tipsy terry and shaky and whatnot but anyway with that being said if the Ravens were to fire Greg Roman as offensive coordinator what assistant coach on the offensive side of the ball would you hire as his replacement if they were to fire Greg Roman I don't I don't see them firing Greg Roman I would think that he would get a head coaching job hopefully this could be the this could be the year because hopefully the Ravens they went to Superbowl and then everybody's looking at their coordinators like oh okay that one over there yeah come in you're coming with me um but with Greg Roman if he were to move on uh whether fire or hired somewhere else I think that uh some candidates for offensive coordinator would be great how do I say Greg Coley would be David Coley or James Urban and again for the exact reasons that you said and I've been saying that same thing because some people have asked about this the possibility of Greg Roman moving on um I think either one of those guys would be the if they didn't go with him I think that James Urban would be a bigger candidate to go with Greg Roman but I know my god Nitro made a very good point about that because the grass isn't always greener because James Urban say for instance Greg Greg Roman goes to goes to any situation where say you get safe instance he gets hired by the Jets this and this is just using them as an example but if he goes to a situation to where um Greg Roman gets hired by the Jets and he like hey James come with me come on come be my my offensive coordinator you're not going to be a QB coach no more for the Ravens he'd be an offensive coordinator for me pay raise hey you get to call the shots and you ride it with me now let's go how about it and then he may look James Urban may look over at Greg Roman situation with the Jets and be like oh no I don't want to go there that that that team they they are the exact opposite of consistency people get fired over there every couple of months I don't want to go there I won't have any job security there I don't want it so that when when I when I initially when I thought about Greg Roman leaving I automatically thought okay James Urban gonna roll with him and he still could but it all it just all depends on the situation but again from within for the Ravens on the offensive side of the ball I think it would be either David Cully or James Urban if Greg Roman was to bounce and he said I'm a huge fan of Wink Martindale Blitz is in all oh that was a little bit petty all right he said for the sake of this conversation if Wink moved on from the Ravens who should the Ravens elevate on the defensive coaching staff um now that for that uh I feel so bad because I just I watched the Ravens presser from a couple of days I'm recording this on a Friday evening by the way Friday October 30th on at about 8 30 watch the Ravens presser from a couple of days ago and their linebackers coach he was speaking and I didn't I didn't know who he was and I do not remember his name so my apologies and I don't I don't say I didn't remember his name in a disrespectful way because it's not that I just did not know who it was so that was just me and my uh my ignorance with that um but I would say him because again like you said promoting from within promoting from within and I believe Wink was a lot I want to say he was a linebacker's coach before with like Suggs and him I want I'm pretty sure he was so again that would be a guy from within getting the job and again you don't got to change too much but again I'm sure they would change their own stuff and put their own little spin on things because again when Wink was a linebacker's coach for the Ravens I believe and you see a big difference between him and ah the guy we had before Dean Peace Dean Peace because with Dean Peace Dean Peace was not a bad defensive coordinator but just situationally he was bad and in different situations he played scared and just it just ah he wasn't a bad defensive coordinator overall though because Ravens defenses were still always pretty good um but they they just the the situational football just it was a little rough there for him so anyway I would say Ravens linebacker coach just to continue that trend


It's not the summer without the boardwalk, so it's not something that you need to just completely stay, you know, be nervous about when you're going to the beach. I think if you just prepare yourself well enough, any kind of fruit that's being sold, you're definitely getting the fiber, the vitamins that come with fruit. If it's chocolate covered, if it's dark chocolate, you can get the benefits of antioxidants and still kind of get the craving out. Saltwater taffy, if you have like two pieces, it's not a healthy option, but it's a lower calorie option. Snow cones have less sugar than like the ice cream that you would get.


Polynomials are the analogues of the whole numbers, and what that means is that all the arithmetic you can do with the whole numbers corresponds to algebra you can do with polynomials. We can add, subtract, multiply, and now let's divide. To begin with, the division of polynomial expressions relies on the following ideas from the arithmetic of fractions. For b not equal to zero, a divided by b is the same as the fraction a over b, and for cd not equal to zero, a b over cd is the same as a over c times b over d. So let's consider 15x to the third divided by 3x squared. Now the first thing to recognize here is that there's a number of multiplications and divisions in this statement, so let's break those apart. 15x cubed is the same as 15 times x cubed, and 3x squared is the same as 3 times x squared. So now let's consider our order of operations. Exponents are supposed to be taken care of first, so we have to evaluate x to the third, which is x to the third, and likewise x to the second is just x to the second. We still have the operations 15 times x to the third and 3 times x to the second, but here it's important to remember multiplication and division are performed at the same time and from left to right, so we have to perform this multiplication 15 times x to the third first. So just as a reminder that we're supposed to do this first, let's throw that inside a set of parentheses, then multiply. Arithmetic is bookkeeping algebra generalized arithmetic, so everything else that we had before is still there. We still have divide by 3 times x squared. And again, multiplication and division are performed at the same time from left to right. We encounter this divide by 3, so we have to take care of the 15x cubed divided by 3 first. And again, to emphasize that, we'll throw it inside a set of parentheses. So 15x to the third divided by 3, well, a quotient can be rewritten as a fraction. So 15x cubed divided by 3 can be rewritten as 15x cubed over 3. And as long as our numerator and denominator are factors, we can split the factors into separate fractions. So we'll take the numbers as one fraction, 15 over 3, and well, the only thing left is the x cubed. We had it before, we still have it, and we can simplify. This fraction 15 over 3, well, that's the same as 15 divided by 3, which is 5, and we still have the x to the third. And so this 15x to the third divided by 3 is the same as 5x to the third, and we still have our x squared. And finally, we can multiply x to the third times x to the second, because remember in exponential expressions, if the base is the same, we can add the exponents. So we can simplify this last product to be 5x to the fifth. Now to see the difference that a set of parentheses makes, let's take a look at 15x to the third divided by parentheses 3x squared. So again, any quotient can be rewritten as a fraction. As long as the numerator and denominator are products, we can break the fraction apart into a product of fractions. So again, we have 15 times and 3 times, so we can split off the 15 over 3. And what's left over is x to the third over x to the second. We can find 15 over 3 again. Since we have a quotient of exponential expressions, we can apply our quotient rule for exponents, and that gives us x to power 1. And while we could write x to the first power, remember that any number raised to the power 1 is going to just be the number itself. Or we could take something more complicated, 30x to the fifth y squared divided by 12x squared y to the seventh. So we can rewrite the division as a fraction. The numerator and denominator consist of terms that are multiplied together, so we can split the fraction apart and rewrite it as a product of fractions. And we can then try to simplify each part separately. So let's take a look at that first fraction, 30 over 12, and see what we can do to simplify it. So remember, if there's a common factor in numerator and denominator, we can remove it. So 30 is 6 times 5, and 12 is 6 times 2. So we can remove the common factor and reduce the fraction. And equals means replaceable, so instead of 30, 12s, I'll write 5 halves. This next fraction, x to the fifth over x to the second, I can use the quotient rule for exponents to simplify that. So that's going to be x to the power 5 minus 2, otherwise known as x to the third. The last fraction, y to the second over y to the seventh. So we can use the quotient rule for exponents to simplify. And while there's nothing really wrong with this expression, we do prefer to avoid negative exponents. So remember 1 over a to the k is the same thing as a to the power minus k. So we can rewrite this expression y to minus 5 as 1 over y to the fifth. And finally we can multiply all of our terms together. And it's useful to remember if I multiply a factor times a fraction, the factor becomes a numerator and the denominator becomes the denominator. So this product 5 halves times x to the third times 1 over y to the fifth becomes 5x to the third over 2y to the fifth.


Hey, what's up everybody? Rikki Kruth here. Welcome back to my channel. Welcome to Zero Diamond show number six. I got Ben Steven with me up in Michigan. This guy is crushing it up there. He's been following the Zero Diamond program for what about a year, Ben? Just under hard for 44, 43 weeks. And I tracked that just off my weekly email. That's how I know when I jump on board. You are just under a year in the Zero Diamond like full all in program. Yes. It's starting to get wild. It's in a good way. It's really snowballing just like you said it would from day number one. So it's exciting. It's truly exciting. Just to put everything into perspective like you last year, this year up to February, January, where you closed more than you did all year last year. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. I was probably at like 20k closed. I made 13k my first year in real state full disclosure. I'm not trying to deter anybody from the industry because it is a great industry but keep your side job, keep your primary job until you get a database. I could go on and on but I had a cash runway because I had I deployed and was making good money overseas. I built up my cash runway to make the jump and I burned through darn near all that cash almost so scary but I just kept following your principles and it's starting to work. So now you don't feel like it's as scary anymore? I'm not saying it's not scary might not be the correct word. It was scary because I was running out of my runway on that first year. Yeah that's what I'm saying like you're out of that you feel confident that you don't have to worry about if you're going to make it in real estate or if you're going to run out of that money you feel confident in your financial you know stronghold. Yeah no absolutely I have a ways to go obviously we all do but I feel that this industry is viable now all thanks to what you taught me. Last year when I wasn't following your stuff the first six months I closed two deals and I was getting so frustrated at my desk just sitting at floor time I was breaking pens I was like this is garbage what am I doing and then I I went and tried to sell solar door to door for two months I completely got out of the real estate industry and then that wasn't for me and then I just dove in straight up all the way jumped in feet first with your content after that door to door solar kick and it's been it's been spooling up. So you got in real estate and then in the first six months or so you sell two properties and you say this isn't cut and try to sell solar panels door to door for two months right? Two months yeah two months that's why I learned how to talk to people cold Yeah I knocked on thousands of doors out in Maryland and that selling solar is a tough sale you got to be good and I got good quick I was good at that job I just didn't like a few of the aspects of it I love my buddy he brought me over and said hey come check this out it's lucrative I could see I could see that it was going to be lucrative if I stuck it out but it just wasn't for me some of the structures and I just I found you back in 2016 I said if I'm coming back to real estate in St. Joe, Michigan I'm jumping full on board with what this Ricky Caruth guy has been telling me to do all along so and that's what I decided to do and now the fruits of my labor are starting to starting to sprout here so let's talk about the fruits of your labor so last year you closed $13,000 worth of commissions you did that in January and February but where do you stand right now like what have you closed this year what do you have pending what do you have listed I have my numbers for you and I know I talked about this with you a little earlier but for all you listening if you don't know your numbers get your numbers it's important because if you're not measuring it you're not seeing results either way it's so what you focus on expands that's a real thing so what I've closed to date so far this year is 2,860,550 and that's 15 units and I know 15 doesn't seem like a lot but it's starting to get exponentially bigger than last year from three four units my average median sales price is around in my area is around 200 when I won the trip out to Gulf Shores I guessed a little higher I thought it was like 280 but it's really closer to 200 so 2,860,000 closed so far current properties under contract I have eight houses and the rest are land for 15 and that's for excuse me I take that back current properties under contract are eight and those are all houses on the buy side and the sell side for 1.6 million and I have 12 active listings for 2.4 million listed so it's if I told myself that I'd be in this position a year ago talking to myself a year ago I'd be like dude no way you're you have a long way to go but a whole year I mean it starts to compound yeah it's like I was saying about okay so when you look at this and you think oh that's okay or whatever right but the thing is you have to look at the spike in growth the spike in activity yes you know you have to look at it like on a table you know like a stock and you have to see the stock of Ben Steven and then you see how it was right here for a while and now all of a sudden it came up a little bit and all of a sudden boom yeah it's spiked up a little bit now we're right here okay now what we have now is called momentum yes okay and this is where the snowball really starts to get interesting because when you start to accumulate the clients who know you like you trust you you're building these lifelong relationships of people who are going to do deal after deal after deal give you all their friends and family you're going to treat them like family then they're going to turn around and give you all their friends and family and the snowball just turns into a monster you're experiencing the very very very front end of this huge snowball that you're creating do you feel it oh yeah I feel it and people are telling me like straight to my face when I'm sitting with them in front of the listing paperwork then you feel like you're one of our best friends so your effect I'm definitely hitting that vibe with people and it feels good I mean I'm grateful for it I can't imagine like again talking to myself last year if I could talk to that guy I would say no way it's not possible but this next month Ricky the next 30 days I'm going to be closing 30k in commissions I'm just like that's unbelievable that's going to put you that's going to put you in such a comfortable spot to not only like provide for your family and like congrats on your second child man thank you and congrats to you as well man little girl on the way that's that smile dude congrats that's Ricky needed a little girl even the model I'm just kidding girl is going to be really good for you yeah I want to super excited actually this is probably going to be the last show in this studio we're turning this into the nursery tomorrow internet providers coming by to move rooms and we're going to start making that transition so we're super excited man but but back to the real estate yeah yeah I think that uh what do you think okay why do you think that the zero to diamond system is so effective because it's real I mean I was talking to a guy the other day and I know you teach scripts and everything but it's just your scripts are real and when I was talking to this guy that was saying hey how do you doorknock and all that I listened to his script it was verbatim you but it just sounded a little scripty still so I think I think it just is the genuine connection once you understand how to talk to people with your approach it's it's real but it takes it takes work to get to that spot where it is slash feels real for people because I could tell when that guy was pitching me doing his his script I go it just felt robotic and I hear I hear you saying that on your coaching calls as well and I'm starting to understand because I'm getting I'm leveling up and I'm understanding the tone and making people feel comfortable with the quote unquote script it's it is a script but it's not a script it's connecting with people and and that's why it's so effective it and truly it boils down to the relationship over the transaction and I know that's your bread and butter plus the constant pounding of the weekly email and it's a tactful it's a tactful hit on them it's not like pounding them to death but I got a little long winded on that answer but did that answer make sense no yeah it did I mean it all boils down to the fact that what I'm doing is I've created a script that if you understand the intent behind the script and then you can use the F E yes right to make people feel comfortable with you okay then you take the script see the problem is training mainstream training you know is is I've said it many many times or put us in a box and say that this is how you say it this is how you handle every single prospect this is how you follow up exactly on every single you know situation but it can't be because everybody has a different situation prospects need to buy in six months in three months right now people need to sell right now they need to sell because of this they need to sell because of that it's always a completely there's no two deals that are exactly the same so how can we say this is exactly what you say to every prospect this is exactly how you follow up with every single prospect and what I've done is I've taken a script and turned it into a series of questions to design to read people and figure out how we can actually help them because that's that's the intent is helping them see what I think is really interesting is how most training programs are set up to just try to find the motivated people that want to buy or sell something today yes right and that's what I find so interesting because I don't really care if they want to buy or sell something today you know what I mean I want to know I don't want to know what I can't do for them like I don't want to know that they don't want to buy or sell today I want to know when they do want to buy or sell something and then I want to help them develop a game plan around their particular scenario involving me as their agent right to help them accomplish that goal whether it's to buy or sell in three months two years a year tomorrow whenever so I just feel like that that's the key to all this is taking what I'm doing and then going behind the scenes of it and understand why I'm doing it yes and I was talking about this too like because I'm a coach who is actually selling I'm a coach who is still in the game selling a hundred properties a year and now I've put out so much content so now I'm at this place where I'm like you know what quit listening to what I'm saying and just start doing what I'm doing right you know what I mean so I don't know I just kind of got on my soapbox right then too because the whole thing is around like why I'm doing this is because of the industry and the way that they're training agents and I want agents to understand it's about connecting with people you know what I mean so I'm just glad that you came on board and like you're one of the many that get what I'm saying and are applying it and using it and now look man your snowball is just getting to this place where you can actually you can probably take a snapshot of your business and predict where you're going to be in six months yes predict where you're going to be in a year in two years right in five years that's what we want you know what I'm saying that's we want a predictable business that it doesn't matter what the market does like the market can crash tomorrow that's fine we know what to do we're going to adapt we're in a changing market right now we're in a different market right now than we were six months a year ago we was talking about this before the show and I love it because now we're in this new market and I have adapted to it and now I'm still trying to get my bearings of exactly how to get to the point where I'm closing and listing as much as I was six months to a year ago but I'm right there I've almost made all the little tweaks in my business that I need to the the momentum it's always about adapting it's always about tweaking it's always about figuring out what works and what doesn't work because there's a thing the market never stays the same the market's always changing are you guys seeing a different kind of market now than you did a year ago or even six months ago up there you know on the whole probably but since I started from such humble beginnings and it's starting to snowball for me I'm as busy as I've ever been so I don't really feel that slow down in my personal market also our markets a little different because we are Chicago's playground because we're just 100 miles to the east so we're a little insulated and protected in that way but as a slow down no because I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off I mean a good way because well it's not a slow down it's not a slow down necessarily they're wrong it's more of like a market shift just a change of of the market the market's always changing and morphing into a different market you know what I mean I can tell you this is the first cycle I saw because I was in Maryland and I missed all that building that I could have been doing in those two months and it was definitely like a market shift it was the buyers are there's transactions actually happening well I know transactions happen every day but there's a lot more transactions happening so there's been definitely a summer shift for us for sure it's busy it's productive what do you think when people when you see comments in the Facebook group or you know just agents in general talking about now business and talking about how you know this creates now business that creates now business or how do I get now business they need now business they want business right now they want to close deals what pops in your head what do you think of when you hear or see stuff like that we talked about this on the last podcast I was on with you now business is everything if you're wanting now business everything is now business let me just put that out there everything is now business but if you want like immediate business go knock on 150 doors a day until you get some now business in the meantime be getting everybody's email address that you connect with and put them in the constant contact for the now business six months from now eight months from now two years from now so if you're complaining about now business make your 500 dials a day make your 200 door knocks a day you'll find now business but in the meantime have the foresight to gather contact information and stay in touch with those people weekly via your system that's what I think about now business yeah yeah you said it perfectly there there's there's no such thing as like now business or later business or this person's motivated that you'd only want motivated people listen everybody you talk to every property owner is going to do a deal in the future whether they know it or not and yeah yeah of course even the older even the older generation that thinks I'm going to be here forever no they are like I've seen it so many times they'll live another 20 years longer than they thought and they end up moving three more times yep what would you tell a brand new agent that's that's brand new they just got their license right now today because I get this all the time people DM me on Instagram and say I just got my license you know what are your what is your words of advice and so you being a brand new agent still in my opinion who is who is you know crossed over you have crossed over been into you know a salesman who who is who has a very promising future in the business 87% of real estate agents fail and you look like you are not going to be one of those agents that have to fail thanks to you truly coming from someone who looks like they're not going to fail in the business but still very new you know new in this market in this era of technology in the way everything is what would you tell a brand new agent because I don't necessarily know exactly I can tell you what I think but I have never I've never been a new agent in today's air you know what I mean of technology and how different everything is because when I started there was no Zillow Facebook none of that stuff so how do you how did you break through the distractions of of all the technology and all the stuff getting thrown at new agents and all the stuff how did you how did you get through and get past all those distractions get to the point where you have a very like you say viable business and looks like you have a very bright future number one I have to thank I have to give God credit I wouldn't be here without the grace I experienced about two years ago I'll leave it at that I got to give it to my faith and a strong church and I'll be here with God second I have to give it up to my wife she is the most supportive person so if you have a spouse or a girlfriend or you're living with somebody or a boyfriend or a spouse they need to be a hundred percent on board and support you in this because the first year depending on your market and your activity it could be tough it could be tough so number one God number two have a supportive spouse boyfriend girlfriend because if they're against against you, it's not gonna happen. You can attest to that with Carlin. If Carlin was not your advocate, it'd be hard. And probably be hard. It would be, it would be, yeah. I wanna say, man, that's a good one because Carlin, man, especially with me doing the coaching in the real estate, I'm traveling all over the world speaking and stuff. She's super, super supportive. And if she wasn't, I literally would not be here right now, I wouldn't be here doing the show with you. So very good point. So God, wife, spouse, significant other. Now to the nuts and bolts, not that those aren't nuts and bolts things, but you either need to have, I had a year's worth of cash saved up from my previous job. And I was looking out on the horizon at real estate. I met you, I talked to you when I was, it was 2017, I reached out to you from Northeast Africa while I was out under deployment, flying defense drones. And I was like, I need to get out of here. I'm away from my family. So I reached out to you and I saw the force like I'm going into real estate. So I was just banking all my money, banking all my money, banking all my money. I saved up about 50, 60K to make this jump. So I got out of the deployment and went into St. Joe, Michigan with my nest egg and started hitting real estate. So you either have to have a lot of money, relatively a lot of money, a year's worth, or you need to have a solid job that can pay your now bills while you're working on the real estate side of things. That's important. And I know there's a lot of people that don't have that luxury of having the money. So keep your job and make your phone calls when you can or knock on doors when you can. And then the other thing is support from your broker. If your broker doesn't support you or they're chopping you off by the knees, you need to get out of there. You need to go somewhere where they are going to nurture you, help you, train you, so you understand the paperwork side of things. There's a learning curve here. You can't just plug in and go. You need to have a good mentor. And my mentor is you and a guy named Mike Barber. He grabbed on to me. After Maryland, I said, Mike, will you help me? Will you help me on the listing side and teach me these things? So he co-listed properties with me on my first four months. And he was splitting properties with me. And I was grateful. I'll be forever grateful for him because without him, I'd probably be out of the business today. So God, wife, cash, job, support from broker and a mentor, whether that's Ricky. But you need Ricky's stuff, but you also need a mentor with boots on the ground, somebody that can sit down with you and look over a buy-sell with you, look over a listing agreement with you, show you how to go into a listing agreement and get through and get from that stuff. And then last is Ricky Caruth. Follow his, this is an older one, but follow his 90-day action plan. I carry this around in my backpack. And then action. You gotta do this. You can't just sit here and look at this. You gotta do it. So I got long-winded again there, but I'm gonna sum it up. God, supportive spouse, cash or job, mentor with boots on the ground with a supportive broker, Ricky Caruth and action. And that's exactly what I'd do if I lost everything today. I'd probably have to go get a job and I'd start knocking on doors and making calls and follow those items that I just listed out. That's exactly what I did when I lost everything and went to zero. I just went and started roofing houses the next day. Finally landed that job on the oil rig, but I wasn't knocking on doors and making calls because I didn't realize closings happened every day. I didn't have Ricky Caruth in my corner telling me, this is what you need to do. Like closings are still happening. You know what I mean? Yeah. So like, if I wish I did, I wish I did have somebody telling me what was really going on. It took me having to figure, I had to figure all the stuff out on my own. God bless you, man. I wouldn't have been able to figure it out. You hacked through the forest for us. Yeah. I'm just following you. I'm just copying your stuff. Right, right. Now I had to figure all the stuff that you're copying. I literally had to figure it all out on my own after like a decade and a half. You know what I mean? Yeah.  But no, that's what made you, dude. That's what made you. Oh no, no. I wouldn't take any of it back. I know, I know, I know. Yeah, like I was so happy when I lost everything. It's not even funny, you know? Like I knew, I knew what was going to happen because it's like Gary V says sometimes about, you know, if you're that good, then you don't have anything to worry about. Like it will, you know, it's going to happen for you.  Now it's all about patience. Putting that work in and being patient. I love what you talked about, number one, with the faith. You know, me and Carlin go to church every Sunday, but like outside of the necessarily, you know, faith, the religion, right? There's also a part of that that plays in the business and being faithful in the fact that you understand that closings happen every day and business is unlimited. And sometimes when you have less pending deals, then you still have that faith. Like you can't let it get the best of you mentally and start getting down because you don't have as many under contract as you did three months ago, right?  No, you should just maintain that faith that deals are going to happen if you're doing what you're supposed to do, you know? So sending out the weekly email is faith. I mean, it's just reaping what you sow. And it's the consistency. And I know if I send that weekly email out, I have faith it's going to bring me business, no doubt in my mind, whether it's a day from now or two years from now. Have you, like how many transactions would you say came from the fact that you, or how many people did you connect with that you started sending the weekly email to that kind of came back to you after a little while? There's like five under contract right now from the weekly email alone. I told, I think I mentioned this story on the podcast, but I knocked on a gal's door on Halloween and I had a real good connection with her. I got her email, stayed in touch. She opened up the weekly email for three months, called me out of the blue, said, Ben, I'm ready to list and buy. And I said, forgive me, I don't remember your name. Just like you said, you set them in there and you quote unquote, forget about them. Yeah. So that's happened five or six times now. It's unbelievable. And I know that's going to continue to happen. It's predictable now, you know? Exactly. You know what's going to happen. When you're putting the work in and you see the formula, you know what's going to happen. There's no guessing. This isn't a guessing game. No. And it makes everything super simple. Also, man, about the mentor, like the boots on the ground mentor, like your broker or an agent that's going to help you in your market. You need that. That's really crucial. I'm glad you brought that up because I can only take you so far in terms of how to build your business, motivation, how to get you there. But every market is so different. The paperwork that is required is so different for every market. Even if you go to the same different companies in the same market, it's different paperwork. Oh yeah. And then every market has different MLS you got to learn. You know, for the most part, there's a lot of different kinds of MLSs. There's also different ways to kind of like try to gauge the comps and try to figure out what properties are worth. Right. I think you need somebody who's in your market that will show you the ropes on how to price properties in your market, how to write contracts in your market, how to do this, how to do that. But what I want you guys to be really careful of is trying to learn all that stuff up front. I think it should be almost a learn as you go type thing because it doesn't matter if you know how to write a contract if you don't have any clients to write the contract for. I've seen so many agents come in and they'll spend weeks and weeks and weeks learning how to write the contract, right? And they won't make any calls. They won't do anything to create business but they want to have that contract. They want to know everything about it inside now before they even try to get a client. It's like you don't need to know any of that stuff until you have a client. Once you have the client, you should have an agent or broker in place. And as soon as you get that lead that says I'm ready to write an offer, I'm ready to list a property, you can call the broker or agent and say, hey, I've got somebody that wants to write this offer or write this listing up, I need you. And then they come, you do it together, they help you through the process. You really, really need that. I had that when I started. Even if your split is crappy at starting out, if you're learning and you have a, if you found a supporter broker slash mentor that is are teaching you how to do this, you latch onto them until you feel comfortable to fly on your own for sure. I mean, I'd be dead in the water without Mike, so. No, you have to have it. Like you have somebody to help you through that stage of learning the basics of your market paperwork, comps and stuff like that. And also putting in the action, like it's okay to watch and listen and learn, you know all this stuff, but then dude, hardly anyone is putting in the work, right? And that's the main ingredient. And that's why I created the levels. That's why I created Jim, Emerald, Ruby, Sapphires, all the way up to Diamond making a million dollars a year because I wanted to take people who are doing, who have already completed the 90 day action plan, who are doing the weekly email, who are making the calls and actually putting in the work. And having a call with them to make sure they understand the philosophies and that they really want Diamond, and then putting them in a separate Facebook group so that I could spend more time with them to help them get to Diamond. I think it's a great idea. And so that's why I did it because I noticed that there was a big divide in the group with people who are just talking and then there are people who are actually doing. You know what I mean? Let me ask you this, how many people, and it's unfair to ask you to put a number on it, but how many people do you think aren't doing the weekly email that are in your group? Probably a lot. Do you think? I really don't know because I think the people that aren't doing the emails and they're not doing, you know, not putting the work in, I'm not really hearing from them.  But there's 17,000 people. Let's put it this way. There's 17,000 people that are signed up on the Zero to Diamond website right now. Nice. And there's probably, there's like 10% of those who are signed up for constant contacts. But that doesn't really mean anything necessarily because they could be using a different service to do the weekly email. And then even if they are signed up for constant contacts, that doesn't mean they're actually doing the email. So I don't really have any statistics there, but I'll tell you this, it's way lower than it should be. Yeah. Right? Because people want everything right now and they don't realize how quickly you can do deals. If you start doing these long-term actions, you'll understand how quickly the money starts to come in if you approach it from this long-term mindset and start taking those long-term actions.  You know, he started following me in November. He has closed a million a month this year so far. Man. Yeah. He went from selling a couple here and there to he's closed a million a month every month in 2019. Good. So he's almost to six million closed right now. I mean, from November and then January, start closing a million a month from calling and doing the weekly email and it's snowballing. Yep. How much, how quicker do you want your business to start growing and money to start coming in, you know? Amen. It's crazy. Now that guy I made cold calls with in Tennessee the other day, Friday, Nathan Lilly, he is 22 years old. He got in the business literally a month and a half ago. Yeah. A month and a, did you see those calls? No, I missed those calls. Oh dude, you should watch them, man. They're pretty funny. He's got a real accent. What's his name again? Nathan Lilly. All right. Yeah. I'll check it out. He made live calls Friday, but he's been in the business a month and a half. Yeah. Four listings and two are pending. Oh my gosh. Month and a half. And he said that I'm the only, I'm the only one that he, I'm all he knows in terms of how to build real estate because he's only been in the business for a year and a half and he found me somewhere started following. He's going to help a lot of people and make a lot of money. He's so good, man. He did, there was a couple of wrong numbers. You should have seen him. He just went right in for it and got the business. Good. Like it was crazy how he, you know, he's fearless on the phone. That's the way you have to be, man, because what I've realized is that sitting back watching a lot of these people who have these excuses and they complain and they don't make any sales. What I've realized is that they are creating what they fear. Yep. If they fear they're not, they're not going to make it. They don't make it. If they fear they're not going to have a good phone call session. They don't have a good call session. If they fear people are going to hang up on them. If they fear the market's going to crash. If they fear this, if they fear that, those are the things that happen to you, right? It's all perspective. So, but if you, if you sit here and say, I'm going to have a great call session. I'm going to sell a lot of properties. I don't care if people hang up on me. You know, I don't care if the market crashes and you focus on the positives, right? And you're fearless about it. Then that's what happens to you. You succeed. Yep. You know what I mean? It's just crazy.  You create your reality. And I don't mean to get too crunchy, but you're saying that the way you see it is the way it will be. No, no doubt. That's, that's just the way it is. So, man, I want to hear. Now we, we did this last time, but I want to go through this again because this is straight gold, man.  Because the way that you've tweaked it and the way that you do it, this door knocking script, I want to, I want to hear this thing again because it's just pure genius, the way that you took my script, my circle prospecting script, you tweet it for door knocking, you took your experience from door knocking the solar panels, right? And then turned it into this incredible conversation that you have and have sold so much property, door knocking. So let me hear it. Well, let me show you this first and I'll show you what I leave on the doors. I thought about this. I know it's probably reversed here, but I have my business card state and then this is just I value relationships over transactions every single time and what in the world can I do for you? So this is, so this is like a package you leave with them? Yeah, I leave this on every door and the cool thing is rather than a voicemail, I don't know what the stats are with people are calling with the voicemails. Probably not a great callback rate, but I get people calling me back with this almost every week, say you dropped a flyer off at my door, can you come do a CMA for me? I'd like, yeah, I'd love to. And then I go back, do the CMA, get their email right in the constant contact. So this is just a branding thing. So it's a picture of me and a couple of nice reviews, a little bio letter on myself so they get to know me. Don't make this too long if you're gonna do this short and sweet, simple. They don't want your whole life story. The recent market activity just, it's really basic. It's just an MLS printout of what's sold in and around their neighborhood in the last year. And then a couple MLS sheets, that's it. Sometimes I don't even add the MLS sheets because it starts, if there's 20 properties sold next to their house, I just do the list because I don't wanna print off 20 extra copies. So I'm gonna do this, I'll ask you just to, don't even say anything and I'll kind of talk, I'll talk the way through the script the way I do it. Is that all right? You wanna like role play it? No, no role play and I'll kind of explain and pause and what I'm doing to connect with these folks. How's your connection, you good? Yeah. Okay, cool. So I'll just go, I go knock, knock, knock and then I'm gonna try to get into the camera a little closer.  I'm not doing anything but this is non-threatening. When they see my shoulder, they're like, okay, this guy's not gonna, he's not threatening.  Good, good. Well, my name's Ben, I'm a local real estate agent. Don't worry, I'm not trying to get you to sell your house, I promise. If they smile there, Ricky, I know I'm gonna have a normal conversation with them.  I close the gap, I give them something. Then I step back and I say, and I'm just seeing if there's anything that I could do for you now or in the future.  I listen, 98% of the time they say, no thanks, I'm good, I appreciate it. They posture towards the door. I say, I gotcha, well let me ask you this, then I'll get out of your hair. If you were to make a real estate move, do you have an agent that you would use? And then they say, no. And then this is where I've kinda, this is really important here because I was feeling a little too scripty. I just kinda step back, I take a breath and I say, because genuinely this is how I feel. Ricky, I'd love to be able to help you in the future if you ever need anything. And they say, great, I'm gonna get you out of here.  And they say, great, thanks. Would it be okay if I stayed in touch with you? And they say, sure, Ben, that'd be great. When they say that I look right down at my yellow pad. I don't look at them anymore. I say, wonderful, what's your first name? Thanks, Ricky, what's a good email address for ya? And then after I get the email address, I just thank him. I say, thank you for being open-minded and friendly. I appreciate it, if you need anything in the future, real estate or not, you have my card, Give me a call.  They invite me in. I have a drink or whatever, you know? I'll just talk to them, connect with them. So I know that was kind of chopped up and I was explaining what I would do, but that's gotten me like 400 emails off the doors. Yeah, it's crazy. It took a while to learn that though. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No dude, it's just, you've got it down to an art where even down to the body language, when you knock, you just kind of step away. Oh yeah. Very non-threatening.  And then it's a really smooth conversation. I really love it, man. That's why I wanted to bring you back to go through that again for people that didn't hear it the first time. I got crushed in my first neighborhoods. Don't get me wrong, crushed. I was using some wax scripts and I got beat. Just for the, just for education, I've never heard this. What script were you using? I can't even remember, like what three things are you looking for in an agent? They don't want to be talking to somebody at their door. So don't say that stuff. Act like you're getting out of there quick.  Just use your script, but just tweak it a little. And I'm not knocking the weather part either, but I've tried the weather on the doors. They don't want to talk about the weather because they're like, who is knocking on my door? Like who is this? I don't know this guy. So that's why I just, I take that objection right away, try to get them to laugh. Hey, I'm not trying to get you to sell your house, I promise. That's kind of like the weather part, you know? That breaks it. Exactly, exactly. So you've also made a lot of cold calls though, right? Yeah. Yeah. So you used the weather part with the calls? Yeah, that helps big time. The other day when I was doing four sale by owners, I've been tracking a guy for quite a long time and I used your script verbatim with Hal. He, I said, hey, I just use your script. And I said, great weather we're having, it's awfully rainy. He's like, yeah, we need a let up. But then I went, hey, I don't want to take up too much of your time Hal, reason for my call. Saw that your property expired and I didn't know if there was anything I could do for you. And then I let him talk. I'd love to be able to help you in the future and I listed it the next day. So it's. People want to buy and sell. Yes. You don't have to try to figure out how to force people into buying or selling property. No. They already want to do it. You know what I mean? So that's a prime example right there. You literally, like, our job is to get into the conversations and to get the conversation moving and when they start talking, when you get them talking, that's when you know that they're starting to feel comfortable with you. Oh, yeah.  I saw that your house expired and if there's anything in the world I could do for you and then he just started talking, what all was he telling you? He's like, yeah, we had, we were for sale by owner a little bit. We started out high. We went with this guy. He didn't follow up with us. Da, da, da, da, da, da. I just let him talk, let him talk. Was taking mental notes on what he needed, what he wanted out of an agent and he said, yeah, we want to get it on the market as soon as possible. You want to go meet me at the house so you can see it again. I was like, sure, I haven't seen it in about a year and I just printed up the paperwork and brought it and we got it done right then and there. Sometimes it goes smooth like that. Sometimes it doesn't, you know? And if you're not making the calls, you're not going to get the easy ones. Right. You know, there's going to be tough ones. There's going to be easy ones. There's going to be, you know, bad ones, good ones. You know, you have to take the good with the bad. So I guess this guy wasn't getting calls from a bunch of other agents or did he say that other agents had called him? Well, no, he didn't say that, but he remembered me and you know why he remembered me? He door knocked his house. Well, I did door knock his house. I left him a $5 gift card to a donut shop. He opted to go with another agent. So he was for sale by owner for like six months, couldn't sell it, went with this agent for a year, couldn't sell it, but he was getting the weekly email for the entire term. And then he goes, yeah, I look at your emails every week. I was like, beautiful. That's what sold the deal, man. I just didn't, I didn't do anything other than the weekly email and connect with the guy. So you, so hold on. So you door knocked a house, you got an email. He listed with someone else. This was just a random door knock? No, he was listed on Zillow as four sale by owner. Okay, okay, okay. So you, so you door knocked it for sale by owner. You didn't call him first, right? No, I called him first. Okay, you called him and door knocked him. Okay, you called him, he didn't answer, so you door knocked him? No, he answered and said, well, we're just trying to still four sale by owner. If you want to preview the property, sure you can. I said, wonderful. We didn't get previewing, but I did drop off a listing packet at his door with a $5 gift card because he told me where he lived and everything. So that's kind of how that went. I know that was kind of vague, but four sale by owner for six months, I tried getting him, wouldn't let me do it, listed with another agent, and he remembered me from the $5 gift card, the listing packet, the weekly email, and he converted. So, okay, this is just wild. I mean, this is how it works. It's like a spider web, and this is the, that comes back through the snowball. So, so this all kind of came to be when you, and you watched it, and then you called him when it expired, or you were just calling random expires. I called him the day after expired. Okay, so you like watched this listing like a hawk? I just checked the hot sheet every day. I was like, oh shoot, there's that property. I'll give him a call. He was in my phone from the four sale by owner. I said, hell, anything I can do for you. Beautiful. Do you watch the hot sheet every day? New listings, pinnings, closing, stuff like that? Yes. There's some days that I can't see them all, just because you get bogged down and you're doing other business when you get busy. But yeah, generally, I check it every day. I think that's so key, man, to like keep up with the day to day, new listings, closed sales, pinning sales, withdrawals, expires. Even if you don't really do anything with it, all that data is going into your mind. Oh yeah. And it's becoming second nature that you just know. You know what's for sale. You know what's closing. You know what's pinning, days on the market, price per square foot. You just know all this stuff. Oh yeah. And then every once in a while, you'll see something like that. And it'll be like, oh yeah, I need to call this guy. Like, oh, sometimes when I'm looking and I'll see stuff that closed, I'll think, wait a minute, I know like three people in that neighborhood. It gives me a reason to call them. Oh yeah. Hey, just thinking about you, this house or condo or whatever and your subdivision or complex just sold, I was just thinking about you. Is there anything I could do for you? Perfect. It gives you a reason to reconnect, you know? Oh yeah. Yeah, no doubt. So that was a plethora of things. That was a cold call, basically a doorknock and weekly email. And that's a winning formula right there. And that's now a business. Yeah. How long did that take to come to be? That took like a year and two months. Wow. I have two months. A year and two months ago? Yeah. Wow. Well, no, no, excuse me. 10 months ago probably because he's only been getting the, I've only been sending the weekly email out for 42 weeks or so. So 10 months. Someone else. Yeah. OK, so give me your, give me your, like how, what time do you wake up in the morning? I've been getting up at like, with the kid, depends five, six, 30 or so. And do you work out? I got to get better. I've been getting busy and the working out's been going by the wayside. But I need to get back on the working out train. Yeah. I mean, sometimes, sometimes you waver away because you're trying to build this business. Yeah. And then you have a, and then you have a couple of kids. So I'll leave you, man. Everything kind of gets haywire for a second. But however, I've found the people that are successful, they make working out like you may leave it for a second, but it's always in the back of your mind that you're going to come back to it, and you're going to make it a priority in your life. OK. I'm going to get back to the gym. I've been out of it for like a month and a half. But yes, I work out. OK. That's not too long. OK, what's your week? What's your weekly schedule? Like, do you have a set schedule, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday?  What do you do? I don't have a super set schedule, but the end of the day, 4 o'clock till 8 o'clock, if I don't have anything going on, I'm going to be going to hit 50 to 100 doors. At 4 o'clock? 4 o'clock PM. That's when people. How long does it take you to hit 100 doors? Depends. That's if you're talking to people, you can't do 100 doors in a day. If you're talking to people and connecting a lot, you might be able to do 50 a day. Like how many hours is that? 2 to 3, hour and a half to 3 hours somewhere in there. Last year, when I was going really hard on the doors, I was going from 4 till 8. I'd have a stack of papers this big, and I would just be, I was just bombing neighborhoods and just pulling email addresses left and right. So it depends. But 50 doors, I'd give yourself 2 hours. Don't try to rush it, though. You got to connect with the people. You don't rush it. If they invite me and I'm going in, I'm not saying, oh, I got to hit my numbers. I think one of the biggest problems with people that are new to cold calling or new to door knocking is that they're just kind of going through the motions, and they're trying to get to that end result, which is an email address or an appointment or whatever it is that you're focused on.  Or we're thinking about this, and you just kind of like move right past that and you try to follow the script kind of robotically that kind of stage. You have to listen to kind of be watching out for those little opportunities of people mentioning other little things. And if you can listen deep enough and hear those opportunities and then start asking questions about those opportunities and get them talking about this other thing going on, like this lot down the road they're thinking about selling or that they said they might sell in a year. Like a lot of people are like, OK, let's stay in touch. What's your email? No, let's talk about the year. Let's talk about why they want to sell in a year. Let's talk about what's going on with that situation. And it helps us go deeper with the relationship and the connection right then. You just said it. You got to find their why. What's their motivation? Let me tell you a quick story. I door knocked a door five months ago. He lives just across the street from me. He has a lot for sale. And it's $30,000, $40,000 lot. And I still have yet to get that listing. I'm going to be getting that listing. But he invited me over. And lo and behold, he has his daughter and his son-in-law living in the house that had a transaction just fall through. And he invited me out. We talked about listing a lot. And then he said, let me introduce you to my daughter and son-in-law here. They need another real estate agent. So that was off a door knock, weekly email, and then pursuing why he wanted to sell led to another buyer transaction. But I was sitting in their backyard sipping coffee like I was an old-time friend. It's awesome how it works. And you just have to listen to people. Be the last to speak. Let them speak. Yeah, like I was saying, you were saying, don't try to rush through it. No. And I just want to emphasize that. Don't rush through it. Listen to what they're saying. Try to find the hidden gems within these conversations that will allow you to go deeper and show them how much you actually care with your intent. So like I said, man, so when you get to the office, since you don't have a set schedule money through Friday, you don't have a routine, a weekly routine, what do you do when you get to the office? I'm doing admin stuff right now, which is I'm learning. And it's kind of bogging me down right now, because I have all this business coming in. I have to split documents and dot loop, and I have to send a title company, and I have to upload listings. It's pretty fluid, my schedule right now. Plus, with the three-month-old and the two and a half-year-old, it can get wild. So there's no super set schedule right now. It's kind of just working chaos, which is working for me right now. But I still prioritize the doors. Jessica is starting to take off two days, or she's going to be, my mother-in-law is going to be taking off two days from work. She's semi-retired. Jessica is going to come in and start doing my admin work for me with dot loop and contracts and putting in listings, stuff that is really tedious for me. And I can just go make calls and knock on doors for those two days. That's what you need. So are you? So the reason that, so you love door knocking, that's how you got going. And then it started snowing through the winter, and you can't really knock doors. So you started calling. I started with antibiotics. Yeah, so you started calling, but now it's warm back up. So now are you just door knocking, or you're door knocking and calling? What do you think your percentage is? Just door knocking right now. Yeah, that's your thing. You're just in the door knocker. I actually canceled the Red X a couple of months ago because I've just been on the doors. Yeah. And it feels inefficient, but what I'm finding is it's not, because, and I'm not knocking the calling. Calling works, no doubt about it, but I just reap so many, I just get so many email addresses when I go knock. I can go get seven to 10 email addresses today in a neighborhood in an hour and a half or so.  I mean, that's the name of the game, brother. Yeah, amen. Okay, so you're just door knocking. So, and then you do that about four o'clock in the afternoon? Yes, that's, and then you start getting, you'll interrupt people at dinner and stuff, and it's, you just got to move right through that. Just stick to it, connect with them, you know? When you approach them like, hey, I don't want to take up too much of your time, da-da-da-da-da, here's some stuff, just, you know, you want to stay in touch, it's a lot.  Amen, man. And then I remember something that you told me a long time ago. You said once you start getting busy and you feel like you're missing your prospecting time, enjoy going on that listing appointment, enjoy going to show that property, because that's why we prospect and work. So obviously try to try your hardest to get your prospecting in, but if you don't hit it that one day, don't beat yourself up and get back on the train the next day. If you don't hit it that one day because you're going on a listing appointment, or because you're showing property, not because you didn't feel like it and you went home to watch Netflix for a couple hours. Right, yeah, screw that, don't do that. Right, if you miss the call session or the door knocking session because you have a listing appointment or a lunch appointment with a big client or you're showing property all day, those are good reasons to miss a prospecting session, but like Ben said, don't let that throw you off for the rest of the week, get right back on the wagon. So I've got a question Ben asked, I mean, Marie asked, Ben, how many email addresses are you currently sending your weekly email to? Curious how many email addresses you've gained since you went back into real estate? 610, I sit at Constant Contact right now and when I started with Ricky 43 weeks ago, I was at like 150. And that's through any email address I get is going into Constant Contact, anyone that I come across, so open house people. But the bulk of that's come from door knocking. It's been like 400, 450, 500 email addresses from door knocking. I have to put another caveat on that. Every one of those people that I've connected with on the door got a handwritten card from me with a business card, Kressie Everett. That's my broker name. Says, dear so and so, if you need anything in the future, reach out anytime, I'd be honored to serve you. PS, thanks for being kind and open-minded. All the best, God bless Ben. And then I put in another, a different customer review sheet like that in with that letter. So it's been a lot of, it seems inefficient but all this inefficiency is starting to turn into business for me. Yeah. So where do you think, like now you're at a point where like we talked about, you can almost predict where your business is going. Yeah. And when you say 400 email addresses, these are not Zilla leads. No. These are Facebook leads that never called you back. These are property owners who literally voice to voice gave you their private information to please stay in touch with them for the day that they wanna buy and sell multiple properties, right? Yes. There's nothing better. These aren't, this isn't a database of 400 Facebook leads that you got off a Facebook ad, they clicked something. These are people, real people that already on the type of property that you want to sell, right? This is the way that you build a business. This is it. So over 44 weeks, how many of our weeks it is, 400 email addresses, that's 10 a week. Yeah. On average, okay? So if you get 10 a week from here on out, that's assuming that you don't get any better, you just do the exact same status quo where you are right now. If you pick up 10 a week moving forward in a year, you're gonna have over, well, I mean, you're gonna get, let's say 500 in a year, 500 a year, okay? So in a couple of years, like in like three years, you're gonna have 1500 people on that database. And that's not to mention the snowball of the people out of that group that refer people to you, that now their email address goes in there and then the more people from the open houses and the buyer leads you get from sign calls and online leads that are free because you have all the listings and all that stuff. That's not to mention all that.  Yep. That is powerful. That is number one status. That has been being the number one agent in the area status right there within the next two, within the next two years, I'm predicting it, you're gonna be the top selling agent in that market. Thank you. I gotta keep shoveling email addresses into constant contact and it's kinda, I'll be honest with you, I'm not scared but I'm looking at if and when I get constant contact up to 1500, I don't know how I'm gonna handle all the business by myself. You have to get a full-time assistant. Yeah.  It has to be a full-time assistant that is just a business relationship. We're there to get it done, somebody who is very highly motivated, that you pay them really well, that you have a long-term vision with this person, you have meetings, they know that they're there for the long run and they're there to accomplish the bigger goals and then when we do accomplish these bigger goals, everybody wins. Right. You know? And so you have to make that happen. You gotta get a good assistant. You need to get them pretty quick because literally if you would hire a full-time assistant, you would double your business overnight. Yeah, I could just be out on the doors and deal with it. All day, every day. Yeah. Yeah. I like how you're thinking, thinking big. Yeah. Yeah, well that's the first step to doubling your business. Once you get to your level and now we're doing, you know, 150k a year, it's time for an assistant so we can get that to 300. You know what I'm saying? The next year, you literally double your business because you can double the people, double the doors you're knocking. That's what it boils down to. Yeah, no, I hear you loud and clear. That's, I need to get on that. Chad Maynes just commented. The guy said that sold a million a month over the last this year. Yeah. As he just put another 2.5 million under contract in the last three weeks, all directly related to circle prospecting and weekly email. Nice. That's a beast. That's crushing it. Cool, man. Well, just wrapping up, thanks for doing this. Thank you for the opportunity. It's always a pleasure getting to spend some time with you. Yeah, I think this helped a lot of people because we touched on a lot of stuff. I think people really like to hear the inside stories, you know, the behind the scenes deals and how this happened and how that happened, Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Just do your weekly email, please. I plead with all you watching and in the group, just do it. And if you can't afford constant contact, get it, deliver some pizzas or pick up a job and do it because you're gonna make a whole lot more money in real estate eventually. Yeah. So just do it, follow Ricky's stuff. Just do it, man. We're gonna leave it right there. Thanks everybody for tuning in and watching today's show. If you guys need anything whatsoever, Ben has always been helpful to people in the group so you can reach out to him, reach out to me of course. I'm still, can you believe it, dude? I'm still answering every single DM on Instagram. I don't know how you're doing it.  You're beast. Crazy. He's still answering every single and like I'm nowhere near close to not being able to do it. You know what I mean? I'm still staying right on top of it. So if you guys need anything, hit me up there. Look out for the next video coming soon. I also have the 28-day program, the Rookie Crews Real Estate Challenge coming. One video a day for 28 days. I'm putting it together. I'm almost done with week one.  Put you right in a place to gain momentum just like Ben, just like Chad, just like all the other guys in the group that are seeing so much success. What do you think about, oh, Parker, man. Parker Gray. I like Parker a lot. I talked to him the other day. I actually sent a lead up his way. He's northeast of me about 40 miles. So I still talk to Parker. Yeah, he's funny, man. He's a good dude. Yeah, I like Parker a lot. Cool. I can't think of any other announcements. I'll be in El Paso Thursday. I'm coming to Charleston next month. Of course, we have the big one down in Dallas September 20th and 21st.  So that's gonna be a big, big two-day event of all the Joshua Smiths gonna be there. It's gonna be all the real estate influencers. It's gonna be a big, big deal there. Also, I have Vegas September 26th working on Atlanta. So I have all those in the works. So if you guys have any events or anywhere you want me to be, just reach out to me. I'll be glad to show up and do my thing there. So I love you guys. We'll talk to you soon. Peace. See ya, Ricky.


We are making a DIY headboard and it's all in the ground. Yeah, it's probably in my garden. Hey guys, today is May 10th and it is currently 12 10 p.m. We are on our way to Home Depot to get some wood because we are making a DIY headboard. Mine is for a twin XL, so I have like all the measurements for my bed. But I mean you can use this for any size bed, full queen, I don't know anything else. I've been wanting to make a headboard for a really long time like the wood pallet ones. Like I think they're so pretty and I don't like the dark brown stain. I'm going to try to go for like a gray like distressed looking one. I don't know how it's going to turn out and hopefully they have the stain color that I want because I looked in Walmart the other day and all they had was like dark browns and I just don't really want a dark brown. It's not like the vibe I'm going for in my room. My room colors are actually gray, blush pink, white and gold and stuff like that. Just like neutrals, you know. I'm a very visual person so I thought I would help you guys out by drawing a picture of this wood pallet for you guys in the dimensions. So first I'm going to start with the wood pallet itself. So just imagine this right here is a square. This is going to be 42 inches at the top. And this is going to be 42 inches right here. And you get that. So then we have our back beams in the back. And this will just help me draw kind of a straight tour line. That helps a lot. I should have probably done that before. And we're going to have two of those.  So the back beams that are going to be reaching the top all the way to the floor is 70 inches. So I actually went to the room I was going to be in and measured the bed. I am 5'3".  Because when I sit up I think I'm going to reach about here. So that's like perfect because I don't want my head like on the wall. I want it to be like on the headboard when I'm sitting up if that makes sense. And another quick thing that I wanted to share with you guys is that we actually had 7 wood pieces going down. And each of these wood pieces were 6 inches to make 42. So that actually worked out really well. So I hope this visual helped you guys out a little bit. And now let's get on to the fun part. Do you like these or do you like them? No, I think they're fine. Really? Yeah. How much is it? $1. $1. $1.5? $1.5. Is there anything cheaper? How much is this? We got 14 pieces in total because we wanted to do 7 on each headboard down. Shout out to Ryan for helping me build my board. I got the, what is it called? The backing. The beam for the back. What? The beam for the back. The beam for the back. We're going to go to aisle 5 to pick out some wood stain. We got 4 beams in total, so 2 for each. And these boards were just a little bit thicker than the other ones. We're looking at wood stains right now. I have my eye on this one right here.  This is like, you know, gray. I don't really want gray, but I definitely don't want like brown. This? Yeah, you're just looking at it. But that's like so gray. Even this is pretty. Like these. Carbon gray. What do you think? This one? That's actually really pretty. I can't pull it out. Oh, this one? Carbon gray or classic gray? I feel like... I don't like this gray. No, no. Do you think? Yeah, I want it just like a muted brown. Like a brown that I could turn like distressing gray. But I don't know, I think this is cute. This gives it a little bit more color. The other ones just kind of washed out, you know? It's like you didn't even paint it. Good? All right. Shall we do it? So we are going to get this. So it like waterproofs it and kind of gives like a tough finish on it so it won't get ruined. So the total for all of this was $50 and we're making two headboards. One for me and one for my roommate. So $25 each for a headboard is not so shabby. Time to load it up. So we got the wood. We're going to head back to his house. What did you measure? Dun dun dun. Put it behind here. Am I pressuring you? Yeah, that's going to do it. Look at that. Nice. Okay. Perfect. And you can always check it by bringing that down and let it fall right on. Just bisect the mark. There you go. I pushed it. Red thing in. That's it. Simple, simple, simple. So we're cutting the wood into 42 inch pieces. We have this cool saw. Very nice that we could use Ryan's grandpa's shed so we didn't have to buy anything extra because then that would have cost us like I don't even know how much more. So Ryan's measuring the back beams to 70 inches. So again the other wood pieces were 42 and then this back beam is 70. Spread these to the width of this. And side with side do you want more? Make a side more. You like that? Okay. Shoes, you want this on the left side, right side? Damn. All these decisions. You want to line these up at the top. Make sure it's flush on both sides. What's flush mean for all those non-carboners out there? There's no lip or anything. It's just one straight line. Okay. Screw. And what side screw are we using? Maybe it's a 1.5 inch. Like separate them like this. With the middle of this board. Okay. So that'll hold that one down right now. And then do the opposite of the side that you did up there. So put this one in the bottom. So you can either do them touching like this. So there's no, there's a little bit of space but there's no like gap. Or do a little bit of like opening like that. So it looks more like a pallet I guess. So I think we're going with though like a little bit open. Just like a teeny teeny little bit. It looks good. Yeah. Maybe it'll look more rustic feel but it's not like everything's exactly the same. Yeah. Yeah. When you're standing the wood go with the grains. So like the grain of the wood runs this way the most wood. Some of these. And the fish are all over. And then here. It doesn't matter what you do to it. You can go up and down, whatever. This is my time to shine. I've been feeling so helpless. And you can start with the light. Add more if you want to get it darker. Okay. Looks good. Is it cool like that or no? This is a polyurethane finish. It ultra fast drier time for your print resistance, period of building. And it's all on the ground. Yeah, I spilled it on my dog. All over your back. And me. Just want to rub it on. Just like you're stinging it. That's it. So it's being glossy. See the difference between there and there. And this is the finished headboard. So I hope this video helped you learn how to make one or gave you inspiration to make one because I think this will add so much to my dorm. And I can't wait to see everything together.