Hello and welcome to the Grand Line Review, your source for everything One Piece. And today we have quite an information dump because we are going to be naming every member of the Roger Pirates, or at least every member that we know of, which happens to be a fair few more than you may remember. At the time of this recording, I believe that we have now 32 confirmed members of the Roger Pirates, not counting Douglas Bullard of One Piece Stampede because he is not cannon and is therefore stricken not only from the record, but from our minds as well. Because we have a lot of information to take here today and we really don't need him clogging us up. In fact, the one and only thing we do need to go on this journey is to begin by pressing that gorgeous red subscribe button for the Grand Line Review, which will allow you to receive regular One Piece content uploaded straight into your YouTube feed, a highly recommended practice. And also because I am a self-sill, I also have a new channel called Team Pokemon, which is all about experiencing the wonderful world of Pokemon through the eyes of a 30 year old passive aggressive retail worker. So even if you're not a Pokemon fan, this new channel is quite fun. So I hope to see you over there as well. Link in the description. But enough of this treacherous, non-One Piece business, it's time for some Roger Pirate madness. But the last thing I do need to do is issue something of a soft spoiler warning for anime only watches. This video is going to contain new information for you. However, I would strongly argue that nothing we're about to go through is actually a spoiler. Basically what's happened is through a combination of the manga and other canon related media, we now know the names and designs of effectively Roger's entire crew. It won't ruin your anime experience, but if you insist on going in as blindly as possible, then well, this is your warning. But we're going to begin this video by going over our usual suspects because no exploration of the Roger Pirates would be complete without recognizing this crew was led by Goldie Roger, the one and only figure in the history of the world to have been hailed as the pirate king and the man who kickstarted the golden age of piracy as we know it. And since we're all well and truly familiar with him, let's continue. Backing up Roger was first made by Silver's Rayleigh, also known as the Dark King, and a figure who we are quite familiar with in modern times, having been Luffy's Harky Instructor, a ship coater of Sabotee, and a confirmed Kizaru stopper. After him comes a much more mysterious entity named Scoppa Gabon, a man who is very consistently featured in the flashbacks of the Roger Pirates and is implied to be a heavily important figure within the crew. Together with Roger and Rayleigh, he may form the third part of the Roger Pirates' own monster trio and I anxiously await the day that we get to know a bit more about him because right now all we know is that he likes axes. Then of course we do have the two younglings of the crew, the apprentice pirate, Shanks and Buggy, one of whom would go on to become a world renowned emperor of the sea and the other would go on to become a world renowned meme. And as for the other well-known duo of the Roger Pirates, we also have Inorashi and Nekomomushi, the current dual leaders of the Mink tribe who more or less arbitrarily joined the Roger Pirates, although it should be noted that these two left the crew before they landed at Laugh Tale. Similarly, Kozuki Tokyo was a member of the Roger Pirates alongside Odin, but just as with the cat and the dog, she was not present for the culminating moment of these pirates. But the important reason why these three were on board to begin with is due to following our next member, being Kozuki Odin, a man who is rapidly becoming one of the most integral characters in One Piece as we know it and unlike his vassals and wife, Odin did make it to Laugh Tale. And of course we cannot forget our final usual suspect being Crocus, the invaluable doctor who was able to keep Roger alive long enough to circumnavigate the globe and become the pirate king and currently Crocus serves as something of a whale caretaker at Reverse Mountain, which is indeed an intriguing retirement hobby. And at this point you might be thinking that we've come close to the conclusion of what we know of this crew, but in reality we still have roughly 22 members of the Roger Pirates left to go through because yes, this crew was incredibly massive, at least compared to that of the Straw Hats anyway, and the following slew of members were all named by Oda in the SPS of volume 96 if you're curious about where this information comes from. But let's hop into things immediately with Nozdon, a very curious figure who you may know by a different name actually, because this character has been given another official name, which is Seagull. And that came to us through the one piece deep blue data book. However, as of the SPS of volume 96, Oda has changed his mind and he is now Nozdon, all hail Nozdon, a man who we know very little about except for a perpetually angry and or shocked expression that dons his face at all times. And out of everyone else we're about to explore though Nozdon is admittedly certainly one of the more consistently shown members of the Roger Pirates. But next up we have a character who often gets confused for Nozdon and or Seagull, but this guy's name here is Sunbell. And as it happens, he and Nozdon are both burly, round-faced dude guys. But the fun fact we have about Sunbell is that he is a fisherman who wields a trident in battle, none of which is evident in this particular picture, given how he just looks like a portly human. But Sunbell does indeed have web tans and is apparently quite the powerhouse in terms of raw strength. Moving along to our next member, we have Taro who would appear to be a blade user having been shown wielding both a sword and a knife. And I should mention that Taro is someone who has been suspected by the fan base of being a younger Douglas bullet. But without going into anything too deeply, this has been proven to be incorrect. Although he does often get pictured with a very similar attitude to Mr. Non-Canon Bullet. Then we have another swordsman named Dorengo who appears to use a two-sword style in combat. He's also a very, you know, smiley guy in general who has almost always been depicted with his trademark one-piece determined grin. He also has a pretty simplistic yet cool design with a spiky hair bandana combination. And on the other end of that design spectrum now would be Peter Mu, who has much more of a portly aristocrat feel about him. Peter Mu has been depicted as one of the shortest members of the crew, which may explain why he seems to be always grumpy, short men, syndrome and all. And in terms of his skill set, Peter Mu chooses to use a rifle in combat, indicating that he may or may not be something of a marksman, which is interesting given how much he seems to resemble a musketeer. And he is certainly one of the more unexpected designs of the Roger Pirates from my perspective. But now we have another fairly short member of the crew being Millie Pine, who out of context very much resembles a giant of Elbaugh. Although taking his actual height into account, it actually makes him seem more like a traditional dwarf.  And despite not being a giant, I would be very, very surprised if Millie Pine did not have some sort of history with Elbaugh or at least fascination with their culture because everything about him so far just screams Viking, which is a visual element generally reserved for the residents of Elbaugh. So maybe he was like the Usopp equivalent of the Roger Pirates. Taking a look at someone significantly more suave now, we have Ghanryu coming into this exploration with a perfectly sculpted set of facial hair and an all around air of elegance that the last few members have really very much gone against. With that said, Ghanryu appears to be a straight up brawler and chooses to fight donning spiked gloves. So in my mind, he is something of a gentlemanly boxer. Then we have CB Gallant. What does CB stand for? Hmm, I don't know. Maybe it stands for cool bro or maybe it's chode bearer. I don't know, the potential is endless. What I will say though is that this guy has a helmet that is very reminiscent of the Corridor Coliseum Gladiators with that sort of spotty patterning to it. So we may even have a native dress rosin aboard the Roger Pirates. And just to add some circumstantial evidence to this, CB Gallant carries a sword on his back which is a very trademark Corridor Gladiator thing to do. And most characters in One Piece tend to carry their blades on their side unless they're just too massive to do so like Mihawk's Yoru for example. And now for something completely different we have Don Quino, not to be confused with Daringo. And this is a particularly jolly chap, isn't he? Who seems to enjoy the lifestyle of an old sea captain. We don't really know how or even if he fights but he does seem to enjoy both eating and smoking his pipe, preferably at the same time but not eating the pipe. I just realized what I said there. Eating, food and smoking his pipe. To contrast on Quino we also have Mr. Mammora who appears to be quite the thin man and yet another swordsman of the Roger Pirates. His head seems to be one of the more geometrically extreme ones of the crew. As in very One Piece typical background character style Oda is not afraid to go quite goofy with this guy giving him some very pointy features particularly in the nose, chin and lip region. Although speaking of pointy noses we now have my favorite name of the bunch being Moon Isaac Jr. Who is clearly the son of Moon Isaac Sr. And the most notable thing about this character apart from that continent of a nose he sports is that he shares a character trait with Chopper being very weak to compliments and not really knowing how to accept them. Instead he just becomes very easily flustered. He has a very sort of nobility turned pirate look about him and I could see Moon Isaac Jr. having been royalty or at least mine a nobility of any given kingdom but choosing to give up that life for the pirating world for reasons. He's just very, you know, schmick and well maintained which does tend to suggest a higher economic class upbringing in this series. Then we have Yui, a character who is quite difficult to make out in this picture actually but he seems to be a tall slender man wearing a cloak with some very gravity defying hair. That kind of reminds me of all of the weird citizens of Clockwork Island from that second One Piece movie which is so, so very old that I doubt many people these days have actually seen it. It's a pretty fun one though. And coming up next is Ran Graham who much like Scoppa Gabon is apparently an axe wielder in combat.  And I'm not sure if those swirls on his chest, some sort of funky tattoo or just manly, manly chest hair or actually maybe it's just like a low hanging necklace. Look, I'm gonna leave the choice up to you. And now I apologize for the quality of this picture but when it comes to Mugren we don't have a lot of options available. He is one of the most background of this series of primarily background characters and he really only displays the classic qualities of a typical joyous pirate. Fun fact though, he has a rank and was referred to as Colonel Mugren by Oda so he may have some sort of military background not within the Marines though because they don't use the Colonel ranking. Next up is another more aristocratic looking member because we have a surprising amount of those but it is Max Marx. And very importantly for whatever reason each letter in Max is capitalized whilst Marx is just normal. And in fact, Oda actually uses the English letters MAX in the name which is a very popular use of English in Japanese actually so it's probably emphasizing that this guy thinks quite highly of himself and he does give me that sort of Frankie super vibe. For someone a bit more downplayed though we can turn to Spencer who seems to embody the typical cool guy sort of design and actually he's sort of like a strange combination of Cavendish and Trafalgar Law. So I imagine that if the Roger Pirates were ever thoroughly expanded upon he would become an easy fan favorite. And then we also have the super happy Bancro who in this image kind of looks like a Tantara dwarf but he's just a really short man whose collared shirt makes him look like an elf in Santa's workshop. Meanwhile, this rather mean looking sailor's name is Bloomerene and he borders on being one of the most stereotypical pirates I think we've ever seen in one piece with his bandana and horizontal striped shirt. Plus he also has a chin which looks like it could act as a bridge between entire islands. And for quite possibly the most casual member of the Roger Pirates we've seen thus far may I introduce you to Erio and really he just looks like a middle-aged dad on vacation, a vacation to Laugh Tale I suppose which sounds pretty amazing. But now here's Rowing whose jagged mouth reminds me a bit of Scotch, that member of the Beast Pirates who we see every now and then. And Rowing also seems to adopt some sort of archeologist chic having come dressed in his best archeological dig ware.  Intriguing little combat fact about this guy though is that he carries both a rifle and claw style weapons on his hands making him quite the versatile little being adept at both long-range and short-range combat. And finally we have Yaman who has both the longest hair and thinnest legs in the crew in addition to being a spear user. And Yaman very much evokes a sense of the Shandian tribe which would make some potential sense given that the Roger Pirates did go to Sky Pier so perhaps they recruited him there. But Yaman is also very interesting because he was only showcased in the SPS volume 96. So Oda very specifically added him there and Yaman has not been shown in the actual series as of yet in any way shape or form. So all right we did it. That is a complete roster of the Roger Pirates. I don't expect you to remember all of their names and I don't expect me to remember all of their names but I guess that is what this video will eternally exist as a reminder of. So I hope you got some value out of this and please do let me know which of these fun figures is your favorite in the comments below. And just in general what do you guys think? Please do leave your thoughts in the comments below or even join my Discord server. And if you'd like to see more videos like this then please do go and check out some of my other content or even subscribe to the channel for more glorious one-piece business uploaded straight into your YouTube feed. But for now this has been the Grand Line Review and I'll see you next time.


This is the SF Productions podcast network The stars salute themselves from the pop culture bunker. I'm Mindy and I'm Mark You can check out our audio podcast how I got my way to read comics on iTunes or on our website sfpodcastnetwork.com Now the Academy Awards are going to air February 24th So let's take a look at some of the nominees now I want to make it clear that we're basing our opinions on having seen almost none of the movies like most people I think probably most of the Academy voters don't see I don't think they do either So first off before we get into the actual nominees We want to go through the formula that you can determine if you've not seen the movie who is likely to win, right? now First checkbox is is it Meryl Streep right then is this actor actress recently deceased or about to die for example Very old, right Did they is there multiple nominations with no win for that particular actor actress? Well, you know, then you think about Susan, right? The Susan Lucia award. Exactly. Exactly Did this actor actress play a character with a handicap or a really ugly character when they're not really ugly, right?  Yeah, right So moving on to the nominees supporting actress Amy Adams for the master Sally field for Lincoln and Hathaway for Les Miserables Helen Hunt for the sessions Jackie Weaver silver linings playbook, you know, Les Miserables is a musical. That's right. It is I heard that. Yes. Oh Well based on this I probably pick in Hathaway Okay. And why is that? Well, historical drama, right costume drama. Yes.  So in effect, she plays somebody ugly. That's true. Okay And Sally field is already won Right. And I think Amy Adams anything for the master is probably out because the whole Scientology crowd is making sure that doesn't get much of anything I'm shocked it even got nominated So Helen Hunt the sessions, I don't think anybody saw that Silver linings playbook already has a bunch of other nominations So and that's a really mixed movie to a lot of people hate it and a lot of people like it I've had decided if I'm gonna see it yet or not So we're going with Anne Hathaway. Anne Hathaway is my pick supporting actor Alan Arkin in Argo Robert DeNiro and silver linings playbook Philip Seymour Hoffman in the master Tommy Lee Jones in Lincoln Kristoff Waltz in Django Unchained Well, you got historical costume drama for Tommy Lee Jones And for Kristoff Waltz. That's true And technically you've got the whole liberal Hollywood thing Wanting to talk about this story about foreign intrigue. So you got Argo. Yeah And again, I'm taking I'm taking Robert DeNiro off off the board because of silver linings playbook and so many other nominees for it. Yes So, uh, we're taking the master out automatically Yeah Okay, so that leaves Lincoln Django Unchained and Argo Django Unchained. I think too weird for you. I don't know see I'm gonna pick Kristoff Waltz Wow, okay, and this is why because I think this is a safe category for it to win something in Okay, and they'll want to give it something. Oh, yeah, because yeah, that's true. I think you're not going to see any other for that Yeah, I I I think that makes sense. I think it's yeah, I think it's I was thinking more Tommy Lee Jones That's possible. That's really possible, but I'm sort of leaning towards Kristoff Waltz. We can split on that. Yeah, we'll split on that Actress Jessica Chastainford Syrodark 30 Jennifer Lawrence for silver linings playbook Emmanuel Riva for a more Some Wallace for Beast of the Southern Wild Naomi Watts and the impossible Well, I'm gonna put Beast of the Southern Wild out. I think she's too young to win. Yes, absolutely I think that that would be unlikely and no one's heard of Emmanuel Riva before so I think she's out Uh, Naomi Watts, this was the only thing he got nominated for I don't see that happening Um, I think you're looking at Jennifer Lawrence. That's my opinion. She's already won some of the other major awards Yeah, I would think so and Jennifer um, Jessica Chastain, didn't she just win for the help or something recently? Uh, I could have that's possible. I don't know. Yeah, I'm thinking Jennifer Lawrence on this one But that might be outside of our normal scope of rules. Right. This was kind of a weird category. Yeah Actor Bradley Cooper silver linings playbook Daniel Day-Lewis Lincoln Hugh Jackman les Miserables Yeah, uh, Joaquin Phoenix in the master and Zenzel Washington in flight. I think Daniel Day-Lewis has his life Yeah, I think so historical drama guy dies at the end Yeah Biography And everybody loves Daniel Day-Lewis is how he gets into these roles. So yeah, I think that's pretty much a lock Best picture Okay, there are a lot of there are a lot. There are too many frankly They wanted they wanted to open it up and I think there's just too many now We have Amor Argo beast of the southern wild Django Unchained les Miserables You have to quit saying that I guess life of pie Lincoln silver linings playbook and zero dark 30 Again, okay, you got historical drama and biography going for Lincoln And I think even though you have that for Django Unchained that that's just too weird for the academy too weird for the academy um I don't think silver linings playbook. I think that that uh Jennifer Lawrence is going to win that one. So I don't think you're going to see that one for best picture um zero dark 30 It's uh, it's controversial. I think Lincoln will take it. I I think more and more it's more likely to see Lincoln I I don't see Another one taken that we're not could talk about any of the other ones, right? Yeah, because Well, we don't know more legitimate awards, right? Yes. We're just guessing yes, and only movie we've seen is Lincoln. That's right Sorry, there you go. You can check out our audio podcast how I got my way free comics on itunes or on our website sfpodcastnetwork.com From the pop culture bunker. I'm indy and I'm mark. Thanks for watching


Don't argue with a narcissist. Do this instead to outsmart them. Don't waste your time arguing with the narcissist. Don't waste your time trying to get them to see your point of view. You will never beat them at that game. Because they've had a lot of practice. They've been doing it for years. They know exactly what they need to do to provoke you, to confuse you and make you doubt yourself.  They will go all out to avoid accountability and evade the consequences of their actions. So there is no point arguing with them. It's not going to change anything. You're not going to win. They want you to fight them. They want you to push back. Because it gives them supply. It makes them feel powerful and in control. It feeds their ego. So if you want to outsmart the narcissist, you need to stop arguing with them. You need to stop giving them attention. Because you're giving them exactly what they want. You're making them feel important. Which is why you need to be indifferent. You need to show disinterest. Instead of resisting their attack. Because when you resist it gives them fuel. It motivates them. But when you act indifferent, they're not getting anything out of it. So then there's no incentive for them to continue on their course of action. They may just give up and leave you alone. To outsmart the narcissist, you need to understand that they are very insecure. They're shame based people who are doing everything they can to avoid reflecting on their shame. By understanding that, you now know what motivates them. They're trying to avoid reflecting on their feelings of fear and shame. On losing their sense of the false reality that they have created inside their minds. Which is why they always have to be right. They always have to be in control. They always have to maintain their authority over you. Because they need you to support their false reality without your support if falls apart. And then they're forced to reflect on the truth that they're trying to reject and deny. But you should never reveal this information to them. You should never tell the narcissist what you know about them. You should never tell them that you believe that a narcissist. Because by doing that you're putting all of your cars on the table. You're giving them the advantage. You're giving them the opportunity to be 10 steps ahead of you. Disabotage whatever you're trying to accomplish. Which is why you need to use stealth and secrecy. Because it gives you an advantage when you catch them by surprise. It puts you in a position of control. And the narcissist does not want you to feel in control. They want to trigger you. They want to get under your skin. They want you to react. Because then they've got you wrapped around their thumb. They've got you under their spell. Which gives them supply. It makes them feel in control. And as long as they're able to leech off you. They're never going to leave you alone. Because you're feeding them. You're keeping them alive. Narcissists are cowards. They lack the courage to endure dangerous and unpleasant things. They act tough and fearless. But if you stand up to them they will begin to back down. They're driven by their own fear, shame and insecurities. So you need to act in support of yourself. Because that's the only way that they're going to respect you.  They will seek to harm, intimidate and coerce you. They will try to frighten you into doing what they want. But if you stand firm and refuse to surrender your advantage. They will begin to back down. Don't argue with a narcissist. Do this instead to outsmart them. Develop certainty in your abilities and correctness. Be self-confident. Don't give them the reaction they're looking for. Show them you're not afraid. And then they will back down. Because they're actually more afraid of you than you are of them. Which is why they're trying to intimidate you. Because they see you as a threat. And they're hoping that you will submit under pressure. Thank you for watching. I hope this video resonated with you. Please like, comment, share and subscribe. If you would like to donate. My PayPal link is in the video description. Coaching Inquiries. You can email me at coaching.nagcify.co.uk. Thank you for watching and I'll talk to you soon.


In the first part of the module, we're going to be learning about the physical and chemical properties of laserite and hawaina, the two blue minerals that make up the blue part of the matrix of the lapis lazuli, and discuss some of the conditions under which they form and are found in nature, which will lead us up to the next part of the class where we'll go more deeply into the art history and how these materials were processed and used for the creation of art materials.


The same ones that are complaining about no inventory last year. They're complaining about too much inventory this year. I, I've been saying that for a while. I'm like, Hey, so when is the right time to buy? You know, if, if like, it's too hot and it's too competitive, that's not the time to buy. And then now it's not competitive enough. Nobody's interested. All right. So I got Ricky Caruth on the show. What up, man? What up, dude? Happy to have you here. Yeah, good to be here. Thanks for having me. Yeah, dude. So beyond being on the podcast, what brings you to these parts of Vegas from Alabama? Dude, you know what? I'm actually out here. We're, we're at EXP kind of course. I'm doing a couple of breakout sessions and stuff, but something I didn't tell you while I go Wednesday is our five year anniversary. Me and my wife. Oh, nice. So it's kind of a, see, I bring my family of where I go. Okay. The 12 events I was telling you we did this year, brought my wife and three year old with me. Oh, just one kid? Mm hmm. Three year old. Wow. Yeah. So we make it a little mini bay, bay K every time. So, yeah, it's nice right now until she goes to school. But, uh, yeah, dude, I love it out here because I get two hours. Yeah. So I'm up at three. I'm reading. I'm working out. I'm doing on with social media stuff and the rest of the world still going to sleep. Oh yeah. In Vegas, we're about to go to sleep for sure. That's cool, man.  You're on the side that I could never figure out, which was being a realtor for those who don't know who you are. Give them a little feedback. Yeah. No, I, um, I grew up in Gulf Shores, Alabama. And people don't know that we have a beach in Alabama, but it's some of the most beautiful beaches you've ever seen. Have you ever seen pictures of it? No. Yeah. You should Google Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, Alabama. It's right on the Florida line. So I got my Alabama license and Florida license. I do about 10% of my deals in Florida.  My dad had a roofing company. Yeah. Okay. My dad had a roofing business. And it was cool because he owned it and he was a laborer of it. Right. So it's like, I got to watch him run his own business and the work ethic behind running it and working in it. Right. Right. Same thing with my mom. She had a hair salon. She cut hair and owned the business. So I didn't realize it growing up. I kind of was brought up in this entrepreneurial, hard work, you know, dream big kind of scenario. So it was kind of cool, but he roofed houses and he got me and my brother out there when we were really, really little and we were cleaning job sites when we were eight, nine years old, laying shingles when I was 13. So I did that for a long time.  What'd you play in? What position? Linebacker, outside linebacker. And I, it was in Missouri, right? 18 hours. I was 17. So I played for a year. I came back. I went to a community college. I went to Alabama and I fell to history class. I went to another school that took my real estate license. So I went to four different colleges in two years, fell to history class and said college is just, this ain't for me. This ain't it for me.  Then you got to find somewhere to work in 90 days. Then you got to take, then you got to take your post license and all this stuff. I was like, I don't know if I want to do this. I'm, this is way too much commitment for me at that time. Cause cause I knew that whatever, whatever I do, I'm all in on, right? You know, just all or nothing. And so I didn't, whenever I make a decision, I want to make sure that that's the decision that I really, cause I don't, I very rarely turn back once I make that decision. And so that's what got me in real estate. Cause I came back after that roofed houses for three days and I was like, I'm going to try real estate.  This is enough. Yeah, but I did a lot of different jobs, tons of different things growing up and everything. But when I got into real estate, it took me eight months to get my first deal.  I got off the roof. I said, see you dad. I'm a retired dude. I'm going to sell houses and I worked full time for 30 days, didn't sell anything, went back to the roof and said, Hey dad, I'm back, did that for seven more months. They'd real estate on the side, finally got a deal and I started closing to a month and, you know, started really rolling. And that was 2003. So, you know, the market really started cranking like towards the end of 2003, 2004, 2004 was probably the craziest year. It was just like the year we just had last year, really. Um, and everything went nuts. And I made a lot of money just young to help young. I was 22, 23, yeah, 24. And, um, made all that money. It was a million bucks I had and I was buying and flipping properties left and right because you could buy anything, you could buy anything and turn around and make a ton of money. And I was borrowing to do it, you know, because I was going bigger and bigger, I would flip and then take that money and go down on something bigger or three or four homes. And I was just flipping and flopping. And that's what happens when the market does that, you know, the people that don't know what's going on. They flip all the way, put theirself on all that debt and then turn around when the market crashes and really have nowhere to run. So that all came crumbling down.  So we, we really didn't, you know, like the golden role was buy real estate, but nobody told me there was a right and a wrong way to buy real estate. You know, I should have been buying rentals and just sitting on them. Mm hmm. Um, you know, then I would have been okay. So I learned that lesson. And, uh, but anyway, I went back to roofing. So here I am back again. Yeah. Yeah. In 2005, January, 2005, I saw my last condo and, uh, went back to roofing. But then I had my own brokerage. Well, okay. So let me, let's take a step back here.  You know, I got to declare bankruptcy or something. You know, I've thought about this, this scenario. And in my mind, I'm like, well, now I've got my content, my influence. I could build it back up really fast.  But I was never at the point where I was like so successful. And then like having to just go back to that. Like I couldn't imagine how was that? It was very humbling. Yeah. I mean, it was really humbling, but honestly, I lost everything. Like houses, cars, um, I was sleeping in my car. Wow. So one of my, one of my ex-girlfriends gave me her beat up car. Like it was beat, it was a four contour. And like, I, when I was driving it, I had to ride the, whenever I passed the cop, I had to ride the brakes a little to have, to have the tail lights on because the tail lights didn't work. I had to ride the brake lights so that they wouldn't see. I didn't have tail lights. That's how bad it was. The passenger door went open. We had a boom box in the back so we could listen to music. But I slept in that car, um, many different nights. I was eating out of people's Ridge Ragers and stuff. That's how bad it got during that time. Hmm. Um, so listen, like, and this is what I tell new agents too. A lot of time that are part-time agents, you know, because they want to go full-time so bad. I want to go full-time. And I'm like, well, wait a minute.  Okay.  Your life is not going to change a bit from what it is right now, as far as your daily routine and what you're trying to do and what you're trying to accomplish. So when it went back the other way for me, I'm, I'm like, you know, like for me, I've got, it's such ingrained of a hard work ethic through my dad that it wasn't nothing to me. Like it doesn't matter to me if I woke up and was selling real estate or if I was waking up, playing shingles, like I didn't, you're going to put the work in. I could care less what I was doing. And honestly, during that time I was in my mid-20s. So there were guys that were 40, 50s and 60s and even 70s that were around me that went through the same thing. They were doing the same thing. They were flipping, flopping and lost everything, right? And they, they went through that and I was sitting there watching in my mid-20s, like, you know, thank God, because that I wasn't in my fifties losing everything, starting over, you know, in my fifties and sixties. You know, I was thanking God every day, like thank you for allowing this to happen to me in my mid-20s where I could take it, learn from it, figure out what I did wrong because that's the thing. Once you tell me something one time, that is it, it's over. You don't have to tell me again. So when I lost everything, I was like, okay, you know, I'll go roof houses, figure it out. And guess what I did? Dude, I went and worked on an oil rig. Like Alaska or something? No, I was actually in Mississippi. So they travel around, it was on land and they drill for natural gas all over the state of Mississippi, all over or whatever. And I went out there for a year. That was 2007. So I roofed houses and stuff. And I was actually serving tables too. I was roofing serving tables at night. And like, mind you, I didn't have any bills at this time. It was like, people were like, why are you doing this? But I just didn't care. You know, I'm just like, let me get as much money as I can. But why not just go sell more real estate as an agent? Because I didn't understand what I understand now. See, what I understand now is that closings happen every single day, forever, no matter what the market does. Like, like you look at right now, there's agents out there complaining about interest rates and buyers in the fence and stuff like that. Meanwhile, 80% of the same amount of deals are happening from last year, 80%. And last year was nuts. 6.1 million. We'll probably hit 4.8 million this year. And like in 2008, it was 4 million. But it's that mind shift of realizing that. And so that's when it hit me like a ton of bricks because I was on the oil rig and I was still trying to figure out where I went on real estate. And there was a guy that sold like 30 properties in 2007 or 2006. And he was my original mentor. And I was like, bro, how in the world did you do this?  You know, he taught me all that stuff, how to get the numbers, what to say, scripts, postcards, letters, emails and all that stuff. 2007, I sit down with him like, OK, how did you do this? Everybody else is leaving the business, leaving town, doing other things. I'm out of business. How did you sell 30 properties when the market's basically nothing? And so I went to his house. He's like, I'll show you this big elaborate thing. Sit down. He made this whole production, everything. And basically it was emails, phone calls, letters, all the same stuff. Yeah. Right. So it hit me like a ton of bricks. I was like, wait a minute. And then I was looking at MLS and my county records. And I realized that some of my clients that I represented, you know, were still buying and selling stuff when I was on the oil rig. Hmm. And that's what hit me like a ton of bricks. And I realized it's about people. That was the moment that I was like, this is this is a people business, because if I would have maintained because see back then you could literally do that. I could make 15 phone calls and make like 20 grand because somebody wanted to sell and make 200,000 today. That's what was happening. Your prices were going up so much. I could make 10 phone calls and say he wants to make 100 grand, 150, 200. Somebody would take me up on it. Well, when they did, they would do the deal. It was selling a day we would close and I'd never hear from them. They're not going to buy back into that market at this entire price. This was a second home for them anyway. So I didn't have to build relationships. I could just go make 10 more phone calls and make another 20 or just trying to one and done it. Essentially like I wasn't trying to I got in the business to help people. But when I was thrown into that environment, that's the way it was. And so that's what I was born into. And that's the way I thought real estate was done. I didn't realize the long term, you know, approach and building these relationships and realizing it's about repeats and referrals and stuff like that. So fast forward to 2007. I realized that's where the mistake I made. Right. I was telling you about the weekly email and stuff. That's when I started doing that. Every single Wednesday since 2007, I've done a weekly email. So so when I came back in 2008, I got laid off from the old rig and I got back and I was already like trying to sell real estate and I actually had a couple of things under contract set to close. I remember a week before my first closing, which was actually two closings on the same day, I had a bar of 500 bucks from my dad just to make it through that neck that last week before those closings happened. And then it was over because the conversations I was having with my prospects and clients at that time was a totally different ball game because now I understood it was about people and like they could tell I cared about them and I wasn't trying to get a deal done or sell them or close them. I was just trying to listen to them about what they wanted and that's when everything changed. And I wrote when I realized it was more about kind of trying to like build extended family rather than just do deals and whatever. It was about like building lifelong relationships. You know what I mean? So yeah, that was the turning point for me. And then I blew up from that point. Yeah, it's funny, man, because in all business, right, take being a realtor out of it, right? You have multiple ways to generate revenue. You can generate revenue through new leads and new customers and clients. That's the most expensive way because you're trying to go get somebody who may not know who you are. You got to sell them on yourself or your company. And you know, hopefully you provide a great service and then later on down the road, you can hope for a referral. But you know, the second and third way is take the clients you already have, get referrals from them because you're already doing a great job for them, hopefully, or get them to buy more from you, right? Like they're already in your ecosystem. And you know, it's one thing I've thought about a lot with just running my ecosystem of businesses is like, OK, if I've already got this audience, these column leads and I give them a product that they want and need and I do such a good job, how do I then get them another product that they like and need? How do I get them to tell their friends about it? How do I incentivize them in the right way? Give them an affiliate, let them make money with me, right? And and also join in and helping their friends and family and everything else. And it's made me really reevaluate like our I don't want to say like customer support, but like our customer, I guess you would call it success. How do we generate more success for them and let them share their success with their friends and family? And you hear about this as a realtor all the time. But even for me, we were talking about my career as a realtor. It sucked.  I just was like, yep, I'm done. This is it for me. I didn't do it the way I want it. I'm out and I remember everyone would always tell me, hey, you need you need referrals, you need this. And I'm like, how do I get a referral if I have nobody? Right. But you had mentioned prior to the podcast like, look, I haven't done prospecting since 2017, but I cold called and did everything for 10 years straight. I built up my client base and from there, now all I got to do is just a weekly email, just do follow ups. I'll never have to prospect a new client again to continue to just make the money and, you know, sell the amount of homes I want to sell. Yeah, no, it's that's that's the age old problem, too, is most even just salespeople outside of real estate. They either focus on just the new clients or just the old clients. Right. Right. They don't they don't focus on both and why I was so dangerous and built, you know, so quickly as is I did both. I was like, OK, how do I go out and get new clients and how do I take care of my existing clients? And most agents only do one or the other and they end up being average, right? Because once you build your database up as an agent to a certain income level and you stop prospecting, then you plateau right there. Like, and that's why you see a lot of agents that make one hundred fifty two hundred fifty all the time. All they make is to they never break that that next level. And it's because they did they did great work in the beginning to get there. But then they figured they thought, oh, I made it, you know, and it'll keep growing without me having to do all this hard labor to get there. But that's just not the case. And it's a mirage because you're closing deals and you feel like, oh, it's fixing to break out, but it never happens. So you've got to continue pushing the prospecting envelope until you've hit that level of income. Like, really need to kind of go past it just a little bit, like continue prospecting. You hit the income you want. Let's say it's a million dollars. You keep prospecting a little more, right?  I mean, that's what happened to me. I've seen it happen to many other agents. But the magic that that really makes it happen, though, it's how you're remarketing to that database. Right. Right. And so for me, like the weekly email was everything. And that's what the guy told me when I went to his house in 2007. He was like, or he showed me these emails he was doing. I was like, oh, my God, this is genius. Because it was like, you know, prices on the beach are half off and it was really good at crafting these emails. And that sparked me to create my own email. And honestly, back then there were so many foreclosures. So many clients said, send me a weekly list of foreclosures. This out started, they said, send me a weekly list of foreclosures. Like, I don't know, like 20 or 30 people said that. I started sending weekly list of foreclosures.  So I sent it to my whole database. And then as the foreclosures went away, and I would always have other market statistics in there, it eventually morphed into just a market update kind of thing. But where agents make a big mistake with this is they hire a company to do like really generic emails or they don't put any personality behind the content. They just like, it's just cold, hard numbers or facts or listings or whatever. And they don't do anything to tell any stories or, you know, to give their two cents or opinions on stuff. And that's where a lot of agents are putting in the work, but they're not seeing the results, is they're not... I wouldn't even say they're putting in the work, to be honest. Some of them are. So that's like, there is a percentage of agents who work extremely hard that don't see the results. And it's one little tweak here and there. There's plenty of agents that don't work. You got me there, but there are a lot of agents who do spend their wills, but they don't want to spend the time on the things that matter. And this is, let me say this, so, you know, because we're talking about an email, which is content, right? And that's one thing for me. I've been creating content now, like video content, social media content for the past about two and a half years. And I wasn't sending any emails until like this year. Dude.  I get one like every hour. Exactly. It's just like my content. Like it's pure just shotgun all day. But no, what happened was I was like, dude, email doesn't work. And, you know, I ended up golfing with a guy. He paid me to golf. He was an email marketer and his company was doing 10 million a year in emails, like as far as their affiliates and how much revenue they're generating from just email. He goes, Ryan, you don't get it, dude. You're I don't get how you're this smart and you don't understand what email is. He's like email is content. He's like, if you like, he's like, you may not like reading emails, Ryan, but lots of people like getting their newsletters, offers, other things. They love reading emails. He's like, you're leaving millions on the table, not emailing people. And I was like, all right, you email people for me then and we'll do a Rev Split and let's go. And then, dude, sure enough, that first month of doing emails, six figures was attracted just from his emails. I was like, dang, that's crazy. But the reason I bring that up is because I've seen the agents have those templates and stuff and they're super generic. Here's the market update. Or you'll have literally like four emails or five with the same subject line, different agents at the same time. I don't know if you've seen that. Yep, yep. It's the same email from the same generic company about how to cook shrimp etouffée or. Well, and it goes back to your point of like, this was my point is they're not working because obviously they're doing like an automated service with that. But you see the same thing with social media content where somebody will just make like some generic post that sucks.  Why am I not going because you're not you're not putting in the work and to kind of like the point of content and why it's important, right? You're talking about you nurtured your list for so many years. You wrote these great emails, you provided value and people were staying up to date with you and converting, whether it's from the email or just from emails you sent years ago, right? And for me, contents, the same thing. Like if I make videos, people are getting value every single day. They're staying up to speed. And then, you know, when the time is right, they're going to buy whatever it is they're going to buy. Email is a social media platform. Yeah, like that. I view it as a social media platform. It's a place where you you post original, consistent content. Right. And the more consistent it is, it's an extension of you. So people are like, like I did it every Wednesday, right? So it's just like social media. But when people see the consistency, right, then they start to realize this person is consistent. They're dependable, they're hardworking, they're knowledgeable, professional. This is somebody I want to do some business with. Same thing with social media. They see you post so many times a day. They're like, this is a hard worker. This is somebody who has integrity. But yeah, it's the time that you spend. What I found is the more time I waste on people investing into people, the more money I made and people don't want to spend the time to sit down and actually craft an email or a piece of social media content around their opinions, right? And that means they have to think, you know, about something long enough and then put it on paper or put it in a piece of content. And that's literally the difference in people following them and and wanting to do business with them and not when they see you know, when people see generic content, you know, it's almost like they run away. Yeah, there's no value in this. No. When you were learning to write emails, this was something new for me, too. Like for years, you know, I'd hear people talk about copywriting and they copyright like, what are they talking about? Like a trademark or something? First time I heard that, I was like, OK, tell me tell me what this is. Yeah.  Right. Copy. Yeah. And I'm like, I still don't get it.  That's what copywriting is. And I'm like, oh, OK. And I quickly learned how to like start writing copy. And, you know, I don't write my emails today, but, you know, I learned how to write blogs and post and, you know, give value, but still kind of lead the reader in a way at which whatever I was trying to lead them, right, whether it was for a sale sales pitch or whether there was no called action at all. I was just like, hey, if you like this, subscribe to the email list, whatever, right. It's funny because my email guy, he was like, OK, so I kind of know your style for your emails. Like I can write them because you speak copywriting. He's like, that's what your your videos are. You speak in that way. Anyway, I'm like, all right, whatever, like, let's roll. How did you learn? Dude, it was literally just listening to my clients like like I is the same thing with you, right? You you read the comments. Yeah. Right. And you kind of get a gauge of what's working, what's not working and then makes you want to do more of what's working. And it's a it's a long process. And again, that's something nobody wants to go through. They don't want to go through, you know, like we were talking earlier, you know, really to hit the algorithm of these platforms, you got to post a lot of consistent content for lots of months where really you have zero traction and people think it's not working and they kind of quit doing it. But that's literally given the platform a chance to figure you out enough to put you in front of the right people. It's the same thing here.  I would just take all that in consideration. So it took a while and I write all my emails for my coaching business. You know, I do about about one a day. I write those myself. Yeah. I write the copy for those. I mean, I'll I'll sit down to come up with an idea, write it out, send it out right then. So I operate a little bit differently. But it's just trial and error. Man, I mean, there is a gift to it. Yeah, like there is a little bit of DNA in there, right? You have this knack, this little bit of it factor. But more so, it's just listening and then putting in the time to get the feedback, you know, to and then continue doing the things that give them what they want. Yeah, we I read a book this year called Copywriting Secrets. I forget who wrote it, but he's like Russell Brunson's copywriter. So if anybody's trying to figure out how to write copy and become more persuasive and how you write, it's actually going to help you become a better salesperson, too. Because yeah, for me, if I'm trying to think about how I'm going to sell something or have somebody take an action that I'd like them to take, I first start thinking about it. And then I'll write it down, write like some scripting and some bullet points. And then I'll be like, OK, sequentially, this would take somebody through the progression to get them ready to take this action. And so that book does a really good job of kind of breaking it down and giving you ideas of how to start writing, which then turns into speaking as well. Right. Right. It's called what? Copywriting Secrets. Copywriting Secrets. Yeah. Yeah. Check it out. So you were telling me before the podcast, you know, you've got four different million dollar businesses now. What are they again? So I've got real estate investing. Yeah. I've got real estate coaching for real estate agents. I've got my traditional sales and brokerage. Yeah. Yeah. And you got a new one coming out soon, too. Mortgage mortgage. Yeah. That's going to be the that's the home run. It's going to be the home run. That's that's. Why do you think mortgage is so much bigger than all those? Well, I don't necessarily. I just think it's bigger for me personally. OK. I just feel that the connections I've made, you know, so far through the coaching, I mean, I know so many big, massive brokers around the country and team leaders and stuff like that. Just the connections that I've made that I could parlay into this business, whereas I don't know anything else to sell those guys right now. Right. You know, how do you get one of those guys because they all already have their own lender, their own title? How do you get people to convert?  And then the mortgage guys is hoping they send them business. But there's no incentive to send the business. The mortgage guy is going to pay that fee. Maybe the broker sends a couple of deals or whatever, but it's nothing to speak of, right?  Then you've got JV. The problem with JV is that a professional for a real estate broker, right? I don't know what you know about mortgages, but the compliance on the mortgage side is horrendous. Yeah. If you go from if you can go from a mortgage, you know, run on a mortgage company to a real estate brokerage, easy because it's so lax, right, compared to mortgage. But mortgage is crazy. Right? It's a jungle. It's way above the pay grade. And so when you have a JV, it's like now that real estate broker has all those compliance situations they have to deal with as the owner of that company, right? As a part owner of that company, along with all the liability expenses, all the crazy stuff. So that option for me is not really an option. So so our option like our value proposition is go get licensed and we can pay you half a percent on all the mortgage business that you bring our way and we handle everything on the back end where you don't have to worry about any of that stuff, right? We take on all that stuff for you.  All you have to do is put the application in, right? And then that was the deal we cut with ours. With the do it. My good license. Yeah, 50 percent. I mean, 50 basis points. Yeah, deal. Yeah. I mean, I mean, it's the best scenario for all parties because the mortgage got more. Everybody's incentives are aligned. Exactly. Exactly. The JV for me doesn't work. The MSA doesn't work.  And and we are we already have people ready, you know. So we're going to attack Florida, New Jersey and Texas first. And then we'll it'll take us about two years to get 50 states.  You're going to have to get an office out here. It's the only state that it's one of the only states that makes you have an office for mortgage. Yeah, there's a couple. Yeah, actually, there's a there after the pandemic, there was a lot of states that that went away. Yeah, but there's still there's still a couple states that they want you to like in Florida, you have to live within 100 miles of an office. So once we get three or four different offices, then we'll have the whole state covered. Got it. But yeah, the mortgage is a mortgage is wild. There's a lot of twists and turns and compliance and regulations over there that, you know, coming from the real estate world. You know, it's a whole different ballgame. That's why I want to really dig in and learn this from the position that I'm at with this company. And, you know, the end game is to own the servicing company. You know, why the servicing company? You own the assets like you own the houses, right? You own the paper, you own the houses and that's where the money's at. That's where you can really own something. You can really own something that you could do whatever you want in terms of, you know, IPO, sell. I mean, you've really got something when you own the assets. So, you know, I'm also looking at insurance. Yeah.  Funny story, you bring up insurance. I was telling you about the email guy I golfed with. Ironically, so, for those who don't know, I don't talk about it a ton on the podcast, but the only one-on-one consulting I do is Golf With Me Day.  And I swear to you, it's booked. Like, anytime it's available, it's booked. And I don't even talk about it. You go with just one person? Two. Yeah. So, yeah, someone arrived with me for nine holes, then I'll arrive with the other guy for nine. I mean, we're playing the whole round together. Everybody's chilling. Yeah. We have lunch and all that stuff. But I make the joke that I'm a professional golfer because I've been paid. Like, I get paid a lot more than most pros. So, I've made at least a few hundred thousand golfing. But actually, I've made millions golfing because of the people- The relationships. Yeah. Like, email guys, just one guy, right? Right.  Yeah. So, he's made a lot from his five grand investment. Five grand investment, yeah. But the cool thing is, I- So, when I first started, it was 2,500 bucks. I just put an Instagram story out. I was like, I don't know if people are going to do this or not, but let's throw it out there. You do it once a month? No. So, well, when I first did it, 20 people signed up in the first day. I was like, holy crap, people really want to do this. So, he raised the price because it was just so much demand. So, I had to fill all those 20 in the next couple of months and then took a few months off because I'm like, this is too much golf. And then, the only time I promote it is the day that I do it. I'm like, hey, I just golf with this guy, hit him up because I give him a little shout out, too, to help him out. And from there, it just always gets leads from that, one post. So, long story short, insurance. That was what made me bring this up. An insurance guy came to golf with me and we started talking about health insurance and whole life and all these different forms of insurance, property insurance. And really liked the guy. He sponsored a couple of my events. He's gotten a ton of clients from everything. But we were in talks and he was like, dude, what's it going to take for you to become an owner in our insurance company? And I start just thinking about it and digging into the numbers and everything else. This would be like, I wouldn't have to buy in. This would be putting me into it. And not even a JV deal, but everything. And the more I looked at it, the more I was like, I think at some point I'll do insurance because you need it on everything. But right now, I have too many things at work. I couldn't give it the right amount of attention. Yeah, it's like Warren Buffett. Yeah, as I said, he's like, you are going to have insurance.  You can't go sell that. Right. The agents could leave tomorrow. A real mortgage brokerage, balance is zero. All LOs could leave. Those companies on a smaller scale, I mean, once you franchise, make a corporation, you've got something. But insurance, there's cash flow there. Right? Right. And it can sell for a multiple. That's why I, you know, and I've got some, I'm dabbling in that to see if I can't put something together to build a board of directors to go acquire insurance companies. Because I know a guy that does it, right? Mm-hmm. And he's really successful with it. And he's taught me a lot about it. So, would you stay in the real estate space with property insurance? Or would you be going like everything? Anything, whatever, like he just bought one that all they insure 18 willers. Right? And so, like, he looks at every deal, I mean, every deal, every company, it just depends on what they do and how they're set up. And, you know, it could be anything. So, um... Yeah, I interviewed Patrick Bedavin a few months ago. And he had just sold his insurance company for, I forgot what the reported figure was, but it was multi-nine figures. A lot of money in insurance. Yeah. No, he's something, dude. Honestly, I don't think he really believes, like, you can tell me if you're right. I don't think he actually believes that the real estate market is going to crash as hard as he says. I just do not believe. I mean, he was really smart to play it out like he did. Did you go to the vault? Mm-hmm. How was it? Well, I interviewed him for my show. Right. But I mean, his... Yeah, but I went to his... Oh, I didn't go to his event. No, I went to his office for the actual vault podcast. Right. Yeah. No, I saw that you interviewed him and stuff right after that, right after he did that big webinar and stuff. I don't know. And his thing about that is inventory, right? Mm-hmm. Inventory just went down. Yeah. From July to August, National Association of Realtors, it went down about 2%. Right.  But now it's starting to flatten out and come down. And honestly, I think it went up just because interest rates, of course, but people were asking too much. The market cooled off a little bit. I mean, it was bound to happen. Yeah. You know, when I interviewed him, I played obviously devil's advocate a lot. And I'm like, Pat, I mean, did. Look, how's it going to fall? Like, you know the government's going to do something to bail us out. You know that, you know, there's still no inventory. All these people got 2% mortgages. They're selling. You know, like where's the inventory coming from? They can't build. Supplies are too expensive. Explain to me how it's going to hit the market. And you know, that's kind of, I think where we're at is like, yeah, there are people who would sell if rates were the same. But they can't, what are they going to do? We're not really building any houses either. Right. You know, like the inventory is not coming. There's no rentals. I mean, it's just like, okay, it's got to crash. But then you look at the data and you're like, well, how? I mean, I get it that we're in a recession and interest rates are shooting up and, you know, the stock market is down and all that stuff. But I mean, even when you look at, did you watch Dave Ramsey's take on that? A few months ago, I saw a clip that he said. I mean, if you look at when interest rates shot up back in the early 80s, whatever, prices didn't go down during that time, during that crazy time. I mean, there was a couple of little flattening moments, but nothing, it didn't decline. You know, in 2008 was the only time that prices went down. Now, right now prices are down, but that's kind of seasonal, right? So now I'm sitting back saying, okay, you know, and it's been more than seasonal, like they're down a little bit more than your regular down. And of course, last year and year before, it didn't go down at all. But now we're seeing inventory come back down, right? And it's kind of balancing out. So that makes me very interested to see, you know, moving forward into next year and, you know, Q2, what real estate prices are going to do, you know, or how far, like, are we at the bottom? You know, because I think we're somewhere close, if you ask me. Yeah, if you ask me, the moment they start lowering rates again, which has to be within the next, my guess, six months, they're just, everybody's going to go back to being happy. Yeah. Yeah. And we'll still have hardly anything to sell because they're not going to lower them back to what they were. No, no.  And if I say down, I mean, it might go to the sixes, the fives. Yeah. Might touch high fours or something. That's it. It's not going to go back where it was. So it creates a very interesting place.  I mean, that was near an all-time high as far as transactions in a year. And it's, you know, for a year like that, where there was no inventory, you know, and buyers were fighting over properties and stuff. And hardly anybody wanted to sell. You know, there was really no, like, still had 6.1 million transactions, 4.8 this year. I just, I think that we've got a really great run, you know. I think people's perspectives are just so skewed from the last two years.  Too much Patrick Beck David. Like too much social media headlines. Yeah. People trying to, you know, make it seem a certain way.  That means 80% of the same amount of people are buying this year. That's massive. Yeah. You know, I'm more of a 80% full than a 20%. Yeah. Well, to your point too, right, if you are a long-term investor, you know, flipping will have its risk during times like this. But if you're going to keep a rental for the long haul, it doesn't really matter what happens, right? Whatever you buy today, as long as you know that you can sustain the mortgage however you choose, you're fine. OK. You got a house, right? You're like, I don't want to buy interest rates. OK. Well, this is a house you love. You're probably going to live there three to five years to 10 years. What does it matter? Right. Right? If interest rates go down, you can re-fi. Yep. Right?  Right? That cash flow is going to stay the same no matter if prices go down, interest rates fluctuate. You know, you've got a solid investment there as low risk as possible. What does it matter if prices go down or interest rates go down or it doesn't matter, right? And that's the point I'm trying to make to real estate agents right now, you know, or even buyers. Right? But what does it matter? You know, I'm trying to put two and two together like, what's worst case scenario here? You know, and like you said, the only downfall is if you're trying to sell it in six months. Yeah. Or you're trying to sell it in a year. But who's trying to do that? Right? There's such a small percentage of people are doing that. Now, if you're flipping, that's another thing. But if you're flipping, you're getting deals way under. Yeah. You know, so, like, I mean, I'm in the middle of three or four flips right now. I'm always flipping, flipping houses. And, you know, I always buy them way under market. Yeah. So even if it drops, it's all right. Break even. And I'm okay. And I'm also okay with keeping that property and using it as a rental in doomsday scenarios. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? So I just, I don't get the pandemonium out there amongst buyers and some of these agents. Honestly. I think a lot of it's just excuses and fear. And like you said, a lot of social media. The same ones that are complaining about no inventory last year. They're complaining about too much inventory this year. I've been saying that for a while. I'm like, hey, so when is the right time to buy? You know, if, like, it's too hot and it's too competitive, that's not the time to buy. And then now it's not competitive enough. Nobody's interested. Is there the sweet neutral spot where it's like, yeah, there's people interested, but it's not too crazy. The market's incredible right now. Oh yeah. If you're an investor, it's great. For anybody. Yeah. Agents, buyers, sellers, everybody. Dude, the market is incredible. Right. In my opinion, this is like as good as it gets because last year was too much of a seller's market. The buyers had zero leverage. It was too much out of whack. This year it's like, this is the way it's supposed to be. And sellers are still getting a really high price, you know, historically. I hadn't went down that much. You know, there's still plenty of demand. Agents are still, I mean, it's, to me, this is the perfect scenario, honestly, right now for everybody, you know. Yeah, no 100%. So as a guy who's going to start a mortgage company, you know, I can't help but think like mortgage companies right now are just taking a beating because, you know, they can't refi. Nobody wants to refi right now. Like, and that was a huge percentage of their volume the last two years. Like, what are you thinking about? No, this, we like that because, you know, we're, you know, a lot of these mortgage companies overstaffed. Yeah. To take care of the refi boom. Right. And we're coming in and we're not overstaffed. Yeah, they're going to, they're going to feel the pain. You guys are coming in. Right. We're coming in starting from this point. Yeah. And we're able to look at it for what it is and not build our company around what it, you know, what it was, which is what every other company had to do. They had to staff up to take care of all the business. You know, it's, it's the way, it's the way of the world, man. But no, I'm happy about the timing on this because I was telling you this is two years in the making, you know, for, you know, launching this company. And for me, you know, thank God that we didn't because we, because, you know, me and some of our partners were like, wanted to do it two years ago, you know, while the boom was happening. Right. But it's almost like now looking back, thank God, because now the, our business model is something that we feel so great about. And we've already went through, now we're starting, you know, at this starting point where it's only up from here. Right. You know, so we're in a good position. You know, that's another reason why I'm really excited about it is because of the timing in the market. That's awesome. Yeah. Yeah. I've been wondering that a lot for these current lenders. I'm like, man, dude, that's rough. Transactions are down. No more refis. But, you know, this is the same thing. I tell all of our students housekeeping to go, look guys, the last two years have been insane. Like if you didn't stash money away, I don't know what to tell you. Right. Like you can't get mad when you make, you know, 40, 50 grand extra on these flips every time because the market was so crazy. And then all of a sudden now, you know, you might have to break even or take a loss or like that's part of the game of just investing. Like once things get reset, you got to kind of pay the price and then you reset again and you start buying accordingly now how the market is today. Right. And hopefully they learn from that, you know, because that was like me when I got in real estate and the boom was happening, made that money, lost it, didn't know, you know, why me kind of deal same thing. They got in when the boom was happening, you know, and they thought, well, this is how this is how flipping works. 50 grand per hour and and now the reality is kind of hitting them. But hopefully they learn from it and they they adjust their business model and their mindset around it and and they don't quit. That's the same. That's because honestly, this is the best time, you know, for flip flippers, everyone.  For sure. You guys hear that? Ricky says, call them if you're scared. You want to quit? Yeah. I answer every single message on Instagram. It's been like three hours a day. Dang. I know it's not. Dude, I do the I do the strangest things, man. I do the strangest things. They're DM and having fun. I do. But it's people like crying out, man. Yeah. Like they have situations and I can't give it to somebody else because, you know, like, you know, the answer. Yeah. You know, so I feel obligated. But yeah. That's awesome. I'm getting flipping or real estate, like because my mission as a free real estate coach from day one is to reduce the value rate in the real estate industry one agent at a time. That's our mission statement. So I've got like 22 certified coaches, zero diamond coaches. We coach one on one for free. Like it's it's something, right?  We I've got an entire team behind it.  So what made you want to do that? Because of everything I went through, you know, everything I went through, bro. It was, you know, going through everything, going back to roofing, working on Ulrich, like, and then realizing that if I would have just known it was about people from day one. Yeah. That that I wouldn't have went through all that.  And and honestly, I lost $100,000 a year for two years when I first started coaching.  Right. But every mess I would get messages from people telling me how much it was helping and stuff. And that's what kind of kept me going.    And, you know, I've spent, man. I mean, it's hitting one year mark and we've spent like hundreds of thousands developing the software, the studio. We got a book coming out, all the staff. We send newsletters and it doesn't. I mean, people obviously come in through and then they end up buying stuff from getting, I guess, acclimated and everything. But like the wealthy way itself doesn't sell anything, you know, and I've created free courses and other things too. And like, I just have this vision similar to you have like, you saw all those realtors struggling and you were once there, you know, for me, I see all these entrepreneurs struggling with work life balance and, you know, they're just like work, work, work. And then they're out of shape. They have no faith.   Like I'm telling you, there's way more to life than that. Right. That's the message I'm trying to get out because it's not a message. A lot of people are really like talking about very often. Yeah. Yeah. And that's something I talk a lot about is lifestyle, quality of life. We did a survey. 75% get more listings close morning. 7 out of 10. Close more list. Get more listings, close more deals. 75% read more. 87% have better time management. And 98.8% say they enjoy being an agent more since going through my program. Wow. And then 98.8, that was the big one. And when I hear 87% better time management, because the whole thing was, dude, when I was selling 100 properties a year after I quit prospecting, I was literally working like five, 10 hours a week on my real estate business, closing 100 deals a year. Right.  And I'm just kind of managing the clients and service and stuff. Yep. Doing the deals, showing the property. Didn't take up a whole lot of time. And so, you know, 100 deals a year, million a year, 5, 10 hours a week in that business that I figured some systems out. I figured out how to live a great quality of life while still maintaining this great business. And so I really try to, you know, implement that in the program. And that's really big for us is quality of life, like knocking off at five, spending time with your family, weekend, stuff like that, but still accomplishing more, right? And being more efficient and putting systems in place and stuff like that. Right. So we're on the same page there.  You know? Yeah, I'm with you a hundred percent. You know, it's tough as an entrepreneur to turn it off, right? Like we always want to just dominate. You could work 24 seven, you know, 365 and never even scratch the surface. Yeah. If nobody forced you, most entrepreneurs would just keep it rolling. Oh yeah. What made you start doing content? Like where did the light bulb switch there? I wrote, well, what happened was Remax asked me to speak. Well, I'd already been kind of writing a book for years. I would write it. I would throw it away. It would start over and it was better the second time. I would throw it away, start over, did that like eight times and it was, it got to where it was pretty good because I wanted to tell my story, you know, losing it all homeless, coming back, you know, all that stuff. And I was in the middle of writing it and Remax asked me to speak. So I go to Biloxi, Mississippi. I'm in a suit. I never wear a suit. I'm in a suit.  They got me speaking last. Never spoke before. There's like eight speakers all day. I'm trembling. Yeah. Yeah. And I get up there. I'm sniffly. I'm kind of sick and everything, but I lay out this talk and explain everything I do and everything like that afterwards, bro. So many people came up to me saying how much they loved it and appreciated it and asking questions and stuff. And I was like, dude, I have something here. I need to finish the book. So I finished the book, gave it to the editor and I gave it to the editor and I was like, wait a minute. I forgot all this stuff. I wanted to put in the book. So I literally wrote a second book while he was editing the first and I traded them when he gave me the first. I'm like, OK, thanks. Go edit this. And he went edited the second one. So I put out two books in 2017, zero diamond and then list the last and how to survive every real estate market crash. And those books kind of took off. And then I was like, I want a coach. And so I just started trying to figure it out and believe it or not, I started out charging.  I did a thousand bucks. I did all kinds of different things trying to figure it all out. And it hit me because two things is the reason why I went free. I would have there was two, there was two big, you know, moments. One was, you know, I was looking at like my webinars where I'd have 300 people that register, 100 would show up and like one or two would sign up. Right. That's on me. Maybe I wasn't doing it right. Okay. But in my mind, I'm sitting here thinking 300 agents won't help. 100 really won't help. They spent time to come and one or two are kind of getting, you know, picking up what I'm put like they're going deeper into what I have. I want to help all 300. I was like, I needed to just open up everything. And two plus I was going on stage and like people that were paying me, I didn't want them to get mad because I would accidentally say something that they were paying for. Right. Right. And it was just, it just wasn't me. I wanted to be able to just tell everybody everything. And so that and plus that was about the time I started following Gary V. Yep. And I weren't really deep with his content. I just put it all together and one day it hit me. I was like, dude, free, you know, build the brand, have massive brand, build big businesses, help a lot of people. Done. I was making like 20 grand a month on the coaching.  I'm not charging anymore. I'm getting everything way for free. I brought them so much value. They were like, yes. They were like, go, go do it. You know, we're proud of you. You've helped us so much.  So, so that's, I forget the question, but it was a good story. Yeah. No, I was just asking like what made you get into content, but yeah. Well, that's what kind of led to it was just and so when I started coaching doing like weekly sessions and stuff, that was like, let me figure out Facebook. I took like three months and really tried to figure it out groups, posting all that Facebook page. And I was like, let me figure out Instagram. So I did it in stages and YouTube's really the one I think that really helped me grow the most at that time. I don't think a lot of guys were doing YouTube back then. No, there was far as real estate coach there was Joshua Smith. There was Brian Cassella. The guy was talking about Kevin Ward. There was a couple, but not a whole lot. Right. Then a lot of us kind of came on the scene. But, you know, for me, like one of my value props is like all these real estate coaching programs and stuff. Right. They've got this script and basically the script is like, hey, Mr. Miller, right. You don't know me. I don't know you, but will you sell your house today so I can make some money? Right. Yeah. And if you don't, then go ahead and give me all the names and numbers of your friends and family. You know, anybody you know that might want to buy or sell and so I can go and make me some money. And so for me, I saw that happening because in 2015, I made 600K, 14, I made 600K and 15. I was like, I'm going to do a mill. So I put together this plan. I was like, I'm going to make this many calls, get this many listings, make a million, right? So I started working the plan and come March, it looks like I'm going to make 600 again. And I was like, what is wrong with me? Like, why can't I do this? So I started like, researching, reading, developing, and I hired a coach, ended up hiring a coach and went through like a standard coaching program. Yeah. Like that's like, you know, the old school, you know, the way it's done, the once a week call and here's your scripts and here's your game plan and all that. And through that, I was like, I'm so messed up, man. Like, they're charging so much money to agents, teaching them stuff that you could learn on YouTube right over here, number one, right? Number two, the strategy is, hey, Mr. Seller, will you sell your house so I can make money even though you don't know me? And so my whole philosophy is around, hey, you know, I'm not here to see what I can do for me. I'm here to see what I can do for you. Right? Like, how are you? Right? I'm enjoying the days around the corner just soul. Something, is there anything I can do for you? Right? Right? And try to really let them know that I'm here for them. Right? Right? And so my program is focused on communication, right? How to talk to people because at the end of the day, I don't care where you get your leads or how you get your leads. I just want you to learn how to communicate with them in a manner that you're trying to figure out exactly what it is they're trying to do, what they want to do. Not, oh, well, you don't want to sell. Well, what if I could do this? Would you sell now? Right? I'm not trying to handle objections. I'm trying to take that objection and say, okay, this is what they want to do. Let me go deeper here with that and try to understand why that's what they're trying to do. Like, oh, you want to sell in six months? Great. What's got you thinking about selling in six months? Right? Well, what if I could do this? Would you sell now? Right? You know what I mean? And so I had to bring that. I wanted to bring my philosophy's mainstream. And so that's what I've been working towards, you know, this whole time is just all of my, my stuff is a 180 of what they're going to tell you, of what the mainstream coaches, trainers, brokers are telling agents. Everything I say is the exact opposite. Right? And so that, that's one reason why I kind of took steam is because I was bringing a different, it was totally different, a different spin on how to build your real estate business and give agents an option where they can actually be their self. Because that's the next thing that they're teaching them how to create these awkward conversations. It's not even them. And they, they did everything their broker and their coach told them and they don't succeed. They don't know why. Well, it's because you're not communicating with these people in a way that they can relate to you. And you sound like every other agent just trying to do a deal. Yeah. No, I think what you said about asking the right questions is applicable because I, you know, I, I tried to train our sales team for, you know, my first successful business house flipping, you know, when I would go on appointments with sellers, it was never like, hey, let me make you a low ball offer right here. You know, so I can win. It's always, hey, what's got you wanting to sell, right? Hey, six months, like you said, why six months? What's happening? Why is that significant to you? Right? I don't want to go like, what would happen if you don't sell? You know, all these things of just trying to understand the framework for what they're going through and who they are before you can really even offer them the best solution, which may not be you, right? Every, every situation with the props because, because agents are like, well, how do I follow up and how do I, what if they want to do this or that? Why don't know? Because I don't know why they're wanting to do that. I don't know if their daughters graduate in college or high school in three months and they want to downgrade or I don't, I don't know their situation. Yeah. And until I do, then I can't create that custom game plan around them. Yeah. Around what's best for them and how I can help them through that situation. Every single prospect and follow-up situation to me, that's another 180 thing with the mainstream coaching. They've got, here's how you follow up, right? Here's how you follow up. You call you Texas so many times and do this and that. How do you know that? Right. Every prospect situation is different, right? So you've got to walk into every situation like a blank slate. Like, let me understand what you have going on so that then I can put together a plan to help you and put you ahead of every, you know, put you in the best position possible. Yeah. It's funny because we had our big event a couple of weeks ago and I had the VIP day here at the office and, you know, they would ask me questions. That's part of the day. And so many of the questions I just could not answer because I'm like, look, I don't know your situation. I don't know anything about your talent, your skills, how much time you have, what your end goal is with why you want to do this. Like it's impossible for me to say this is what you should do. My thing is though is how do you know this? How do you know that at your age? How did I learn that skill? Like, how do you realize that? Like, I'm just now learning this. I honestly, I don't know how I learned that skill, but I think it comes down from truly wanting to give the best advice, right? And because to your point, there's no blanket advice for anything. There's no proper way to prospect, right? You might be good at cold calling for hours a day and that might be your deal whereas somebody like me might just go make social media videos and that's the best way for me to prospect because people be like, I'm not a real estate agent. I'm like, I don't know. There's a million ways to do it. Now, speaking of real estate agents, right? Yeah. Now, let's think about that scenario. When you use social media to build your real estate business, the end goal of social media, the gatekeeper between you and a transaction with this human being is a real life conversation, right? Yep. And so, you know, there's plenty of businesses you don't talk to anyone. There's all kinds of stuff you can go out and, you know, not talking to anybody, but in real estate, for a real estate agent, that's totally different, yeah, right? And so, a lot of agents build their business on social media and that's awesome. And I highly suggest doing the same thing I do on social media for your real estate business, same thing you do on social media for your real estate business. Huge advocate of it. But at the end of the day, a lot of agents are taking it and, you know, they're just putting out content and then they're just kind of waiting for things to happen whereas like, the whole, the entire goal is a real-life conversation. Right? So when I realized that, I was like, and this is why I didn't use social media in my real estate business when I was building it, is because I knew the end result was a conversation anyway. Mm-hmm. Let me just work on my communication skills and then just go talk to every single property owner who owns the exact property I want to do business with, you know what I mean? And for me, that was a hack. Yeah. You know, around open houses, social media, networking events, buying Zillow leads. Yeah. All that stuff comes right back to just calling a list of people the next day. Yeah, just talking to people. Right? Right. And so I'm like, I can only have so many conversations in a day but I agree with you. Go build your business on social media but realize that the goal of it is to get into a conversation with someone. Show them who you are.  And if you can't get that warm and fuzzy, well, and I think that's why it's important too to talk to as many people as you can because you don't develop those communication skills overnight, right? No. You've gotten good at asking questions and you know, understanding people's situations, learning how to be empathetic, learning how to serve them and also because you are talking to so many people every day, you're not chasing the one client, right? You see people do that all the time. But this guy, he's like, you're not. Don't get to the next person. Get to the next person, right? And the more lines you have cast out there, it gives you the ability to turn down and work with the people you want to work with. Not even turn down but walk in every situation, not caring if you get the deal or not.  And so when you're working the, I call it the law of averages, but it's actually technically the law of large numbers, which means that the more of a random action that has just a random result, the more of that action you take over time, the more predictable the results are, right? I showed somebody actually was in a presentation I made for one company's called content empire and it was basically showing my growth on social media and it's just like there's no like viral moment. It's just like there was a couple of viral moments. There was, but if you look at the last year, it's just been like yeah, the last year. Yeah, steady growth. You can see that. It's, it hasn't been any yeah, massive movement movements. It's just the same actions every day. Just freaking we're making videos every day. So boom. Right.  Right. And you actually asked me, you said, do you like release them at specific times? Like what's the deal? I'm like, I don't do any just massive and you've got videos that get a hundred likes. Yep. Right. And it's like, wow, that's a lot. That's a really low number, you know, to your following. Then you got, then you've got, you know, it's the law of large numbers. Yep. You know where you're going to be over time. You can predict it if you're taking that action enough times. But if you're just putting out a few videos or making a couple phone calls or whatever, you will not, you can't predict with it. That's why And you're chasing it. You're just praying that that one time works because you don't have enough lines out there. And, you know, I remember I haven't been on seller appointments in a long time.  Right. And so I'd walk in with a totally different attitude than somebody who's super hungry. Yeah. And sellers and prospects can feel that like to this guy just really wants a deal. Whereas I'm like, Hey, so tell me about the house. Okay, cool. You know, well, I mean, here's our situation where house flipping company, we are not going to be the best offer. Let me tell you that first four months, you could go hire Ricky. He's going to get you way more for your house than I will. I straight up lead with that. Yeah. I'm like, I'll buy it right here. I see it with my own eyes.  I'm cool with any of it. Right. This is the offer. And if you don't want it, that's cool too. It's not going to hurt my feelings. Yeah. And that gets you more deals, right? Way more. That attitude. Way more. Walking in without any expectations, just trying to figure out, explain to them what's going on. That's why a lot of agents and this is, you know, long term thinking, you know, like, well, like, I've got an agent right now. He's like, how can you, you know, I need a plan to make $60,000 this year. Like, that's my goal is to make 60 grand and get out of this and do that.  I cannot predict that you're going to make 60 grand this year. Right. I said, but I can tell you based on what we're doing where you're going to be in three years. Yeah. In five years, I can predict on the money. I can tell you exactly where you're going to be.  But that, that's how you, you're where you are right now.  You were like, I see what you're doing. Like I can see where it's going. I go, where's it going?   And you're like, I can just see the long term of it by taking the consistent actions, the hard work, the innovating and not just it's massive. Yeah. It's massive.  Yeah. It's crazy.  Right. But, yeah, I see the long tell of this, you know, for guys like you and I, who understand, you know, the consistent actions over time, we're not getting 10,000 likes of video, like, 10,000 likes. Right. But that's another problem with social media. People don't understand what the real reach is. You know, like right now, like I get anywhere from, say, 200 to 1,000 likes per Instagram post. Right. I can go anywhere in the country and have 500 agents in an event for free. Right. And it's way harder to get people there for free than if they're paying. Right. I could go anywhere. We've done it. We did 12 of them this year. Right. We have 500 agents in that room, ready to see me, tell me how much I've changed their life. And so when agents or, you know, smaller time entrepreneurs, you know, they're posting on social and they have 50 to 100 likes or whatever, that's massive. Yeah. Like they don't, they don't understand. They're comparing themselves to the 10,000 like person or whatever.  You know, real estate agents, around the world, that's a small, that's a pretty small niche. When you narrow it down all the way to a local market. Oh, man. And that's your niche. You don't need many followers. That's what real estate agents have, right? This look, like their audience is so, like, if you're getting 30 likes of video, you're doing something. Well, I'll tell you, before I started going heavy on social media, I had about 10,000 Instagram followers, you know, right before the pandemic. That was it. TikTok, podcast, nothing. And with just that 10,000, which was to me, I'm like, I got a lot of followers. Like people know me, at least here in Las Vegas, they send me deals. They want to do JVs with me. You know, they'll lend me money. That 10,000, I was making seven figures a year with just that 10,000. Like, so you do not need a million followers like you're saying. And no, my posts weren't getting all these likes or anything, but people knew me. Right. No, I'm just so proud of it. And I hope somebody maybe you listening to this or watching this like realizes, you know that you don't have to be this massive influencer celebrity to build a really incredible business. Yeah. On the back of these platforms. 100%. Well, bro, I appreciate you coming on the podcast, man. It's been a lot of fun. It's good to finally meet you in person. Yeah, I love the office. We had a good time, guys.  Go join all of his free trainings, where can they find those? Zero to diamond.com. Zero to diamond.com. We will link to that down below. Check it out. And we'll catch you on the next episode. We're out. Peace.


Hello and welcome to the session. The given question says solve for x and the given quadratic equation is 4x square minus 2 times of a square plus b square into x plus a square into b square is equal to 0. Let's start with the solution. So let us write down the given equation where just 4x square minus 2 times of a square plus b square into x plus a square into b square is equal to 0. Or it can further be written as 4x square minus on opening the brackets we have 2 a square into x minus 2 times of b square into x plus a square into b square is equal to 0. Now we shall take the common factors from the first 2 terms and the last 2 terms. Thus it can further be written as taking 2x common from the first 2 terms we have 2x minus a square. Now taking minus b square common from the last 2 terms we have 2 times of x minus a square is equal to 0. Now taking 2x minus a square common it can further be written as 2x minus a square into 2x minus b square is equal to 0. Now as we know if the product of 2 numbers is equal to 0 so this implies either a is 0 or b is 0 so from here we can say that either minus a square is equal to 0 or 2x minus b square is equal to 0. Now to get the value of x let us source both these equations one by one starting with the first one which is 2x minus a square is equal to 0. So this implies that x is equal to a square divided by 2 and the second equation is 2x minus b square is equal to 0 and on solving we have x is equal to b square divided by 2. Hence our answer is on solving the given equations for x our answer is a square divided by 2 and b square divided by 2. So these two are the values of x this completes the session hope you understood it well bye and take care.