Transscript: This meeting is being recorded. All right. Fantastic. Here we are today, it is our fourth meeting of the month. And so that means our agenda today is admin and Finance Administration in finance. Sure, a couple of things real quick, and then open it up for q&a. And obviously on this call every week, you can ask any question you want. But before we get started, then let me do this. Let me pause, recording. Alright, so admin, the finance, these are two very important things when it comes to building a small business. And in the Dropbox folder, under Resources, you will see a a thing called for list business systems exercise, I highly recommend you access that download the template, customize it, make it your own, go through the video. It's one of those things that you'll do pretty much for the rest of your business life. There's going to be things that you do. And when you're first starting out, you're everything you are the you know, Chief Financial Officer, you are the administrative assistant, the salesperson, the marketing person, the service delivery person, you hold every role in the company. Over time, you're gonna get to a point if you ever want to grow and expand where you're going to need to either automate, delegate or outsource certain things that you do and that for this exercise will be the place that you want to reference. So a couple other resources is I would access and this and subscribe to system ology and put this in chat window. I'm gonna copy paste the link. Let me actually do this. Let me go to share my screen here. This is being recorded. So go to System ology.com. Okay, so as long as you.com David Jennings wrote a book called system ology used to be for well over 40 years. Well, I can't say that for a fact. I've only known Michael Gerber for 23 years. But the E Myth was the Holy Grail as far as business processes and systems for many, many, many years. Okay. Michael Gerber wrote the book called The E Myth and then ultimately the book E Myth revisited. David Jennings was a protege of his and has released a system last year called system ology Michael Gerber actually wrote the foreword to it. But the difference between the two is E Myth is really geared towards companies that are multimillion dollar companies. And you know, beyond this homology the way he wrote it is really designed for a startup business all the way through multimillion dollar companies. So he has some real practical exercises in his book and his systems, highly recommend this guy, and follow his stuff when it comes to creating your business processes and systems. The person I know personally personally wrote a book called clockwork is a guy named Mike McCalla wits. excellent book, I use that with multiple clients of mine. And multiple clients of mine have gotten their businesses to the point where it runs like clockwork without them. Okay, so those are two really good resources. Once you once you feel like you're at a point where hey, I might need a virtual assistant then I'm going to refer you to my buddy Andy Sharma. Okay, let me stop sharing real quick. Um, I'm gonna put this in the chat window. And his name is Andy Sharma is the founder of a service called get virtual services. Okay, so I'm gonna put his email in here. Services virtual while it correctly services.com got a tremendous amount of VAs in India gives you pretty much any VA that you want for five to $5.50 an hour. The reason you want to start off with the foremost exercise you're gonna find is there certain things that you're just gonna not want to do anymore. Answer email, respond to email, do market research of, you know, maintain your CRM. I mean, there's so many different things Ultimately, you're gonna want to outsource, you're gonna want to have somebody else to do it, it doesn't justify the cost of a, a full time w two employee. Now, once you find that you're getting to a point where you need a lot of interaction, you need a lot of control, you need instant access to someone, that's when you want to start looking at hiring a W two employee. But before you even get there, if you use the for list exercise, if you use the systems outlined in system ology, and clockwork, when you're ready for that time, then you already have all the training and all the systems and everything done before you even need it. Okay, and that's one of the things that I would recommend. Now we're also talking about finance and there's two things that I want to give you today about finance every single small business in my opinion should be on profits first by Mike McCalla wits Okay, so if you're not familiar with it, go to profits first to see if profits first bye bye mic on this and I can probably access the mic countless here we go profits first Mike McCalla wits Thank you share my screen in just a second Okay, so let me share my screen here. I recommend you connect with go to Mike McCalla wits.com. Okay, and click on profits first aid here and go up here, click on this down to tools. First, horses thing is not going popups on this frickin site free resources. Every one of his books has a access to the resources here. So profits first is right here. And you'll want to access this get the book I highly recommend you use the book, my clients, Jackson sands, I'll just use them as an example. We've worked with them for four years now. Four and a half years actually, they want to put them on province first followed it to the tee, their engineering firm civil engineering firm. They followed it to the letter they have followed it to the letter from day one. And as a result of business has always been profitable. They always have to pay their taxes on time, they always have a nest egg set aside for any type of downturn any type of opportunity to buy another company or hire an employee. Just it's a great way to do business finances. So their testimony and I have every client every client that works with me one on one is nonprofits first. It is a great great system and will keep you out of trouble with the IRS and the s and will always make sure that you're profitable and that you make smart investments into your business, and so forth. Now, the other thing that I run across is most business owners, they don't know how to read financial statements. They just don't, most people don't. So I would highly recommend you getting subscription to parental labs. And one of the best courses I've ever seen to explain how to read financial statements for small business owners. They have a module in here called How to read financial statements. So again, forever labs.com pparetolabs.com You could do a free trial go in there and watch the course and then not sign up for it pricing like $9 and something cents a month and it's got great educational modules for small business owners. But I used to refer to other things that our reading base this is the first one I have found that literally nails it and it makes it simple to understand for small business owners. So our lesson for today as far as finance Getting profits first by Mike McCalla wits go through the systems implemented in your business. Also go to Peretta labs.com. And watch the How to read financial statements. I can tell you from personal experience from coaching lots and lots of people and even new clients that have come on board recently, that had been a bit I got a claim to come on board recently, he's been in business for almost 20 years well over $1.5 million a year in revenue and does not know how to read a financial statement. Okay. So you can get to the point where you're making hundreds of 1000s of dollars a year and millions of dollars a year in revenue and not know how to read a financial statement. But the consequence of this person not knowing how to read a financial statement is he followed the advice of the bookkeeper, as far as taxes are concerned and overpaid his taxes by $94,685. Last year. Okay, so huge mistake. And so now he knows how to read the financial statement and will never be taken advantage of ever again. So these are a couple of different resources, highly recommend them. And there you go. So let's want to open it up. And if you want to be heard, either unmute yourself, tell us who you are. And you can either talk about what we've talked about today, as far as admin and finance. And Joe, since you're new here today, it's a mastermind group. So keep in mind this is being recorded, can it be accessed by everybody that's a part of the group. So keep that in mind when you're asking questions is your you know, we're here to help you. Everybody here is going to help one another. Everybody in here has probably got some ideas about your problem, challenge, opportunity, whatever. You can comment or talk about what we've talked about today as far as admin and finance, or you can ask whatever question you want, or any business challenge that you have or opportunity. And we're gonna mastermind on that together. So with that said, I'll open it up to first come first serve who wants to go first today? Go ahead. And Jack. Hey. So one thing I was looking at with finances recently, too, so I just attended a an ITE summit down in Florida for a couple days. And they had an interesting stat that. So we're a managed service provider. So again, essentially, we're an outsourced IT department for someone, they had a stat from a company scale pad that 31% of MSPs weren't profitable in q1 of this year. And that blew my mind that the number is so high. Now, I'm glad we're not there. But also, the other issue becomes with some of these people is understanding when you, like you said, if you're trying to be smart financially to when you are getting vendor fatigue, and when you're actually improving your solution to because that number was like astounding to me to see that that many people are I like think if one out of three is losing control of that, that's a bad looks at two and cybersecurity becoming more involved. So you need to do your homework to make sure you're educated enough to that you because if you go out of business, you don't do your clients or their businesses any favors that point to so looking at a lot of the community, I try and see what are best practices. And I also look at, he's a bad example here. A lot of times when my brother grown up, I knew I could look at what he did to see what not to do. And it was a really good way for me to not in trouble or not get injured or do a lot of things. It was like one after another like a bad like, stories character like alright, just don't do what Jeff does. So I look at a lot of vendors that I could see where they would fall into that. And I try and get away from that. Like, it's a constant reminder to stay away from that 31%. So I learned a lot what I don't like but yeah, the vendor, have the right amount, but not too much the point where it's a detriment to you or your clients at that point. I mean, it's amazing how many small business owners don't pay attention to their financial statements. And don't understand how to read them and make decisions based off of the bank balance. And they get themselves in trouble. And so my recommendation for all small business owners is especially when you're first getting started, is set aside my dates. I like the fifth and unlike the 20th. So when I'm first starting any company, and I'm on my seventh now, I always set aside the fifth and the 20th of the month for one solid hour. And that's when I do my bookkeeping, and I do my accounting, okay. You don't need you know, you should probably use QuickBooks. I mean there's all kinds The financial systems out there, but it's like it, right like Jackson. I mean, I, when I own the four different IT companies I have clients all the time going well, what about? What about this type of firewall? You know, this type of firewall is a lot less expensive than SonicWALL. Or it's less expensive than Cisco. And I go, Yeah, you're absolutely right. Now, biggest challenge that you're gonna have, is finding support for that when you actually need it. Now, and so it's not about what it costs you today, it's about what it costs you down the road to own it and support it. QuickBooks does the same thing. There's all kinds of different accounting systems out there. But when you start getting off the beaten path from the go to accounting system, which is QuickBooks in the business world, no problem, you can do that. But then you don't have to find a bookkeeper that's willing to help you and support you. Okay. And, you know, when 85 to 90% of the world, small business owners are on QuickBooks. Probably should stick with that. So that would be my suggestion there. But you set aside, you know, the fifth and the 20th of the year on bookkeeping. No, I'm not going to get into bookkeeping or ease out here. If you go back to last month's recording, when I had Francesco on she gave us a lot of really good information on how to do bookkeeping in your business in the beginning, and how to transition to a bookkeeper, ultimately once you need it. But really, it's not understanding financial statements and understanding bookkeeping, not understanding how to read those and then they make financial decisions. The other thing that Mike McCalla wits points out in his book is a most small business owners take 100% of their profits and they put it back into the business and as a result 1015 years down the road they're still doing that and then they wonder why everybody else in the company seems to have a life and a vacation and is enjoying the fruits of the business but the owner is not known because it's a trap. And so that's why I would highly recommend it. Good input man. Who would like to go next you're gonna need to unmute yourself press star six on your phone you're still on mute go on mute There you go. There we go out turn it down on the are you there hanging up on the phone actually we can hear you through the computer all right. Gotcha All right. What's up what's on your mind by Are you there yep Can you hear me okay? Are you okay can hear you can you hear us? Entry Door mute. Your or your reconnecting to audio? Who else has something you want to go over? Microphone Kevin. No, I don't really have anything to go over. How's business? It's good. I'm started last week. So I had an agent a while ago asked me to send him rate updates twice a week, Monday and Friday. And so I decided to just start sending that to everybody. So I have probably 250 300 agents that I'm starting to send that to. So my goal is to, I was trying to do 20 a day. But my goal is to do, I'm going to try to do all of them today, and then maybe hit them again, towards the end of the week. You go, how's the did you connect with Jeff? I understand you connected with Jeff or not on the Uber stuff, right? Yes, I did connect with him. He gave Yeah, he gave me some ideas. I'm still not quite making the money that he is. But it could be I didn't ask him, it could be the kind of the tear that he's at. But you know, I did some of the things that he said I was already doing. And then he gave me some other other things to do. And then my wife and I just sent her a bought a hybrid. So I can stop hoovering in my truck soon. So that will help bring in a lot more money there. And feel free to be a super, super helpful guy. Feel free to reach out to him if you have any more questions or clarification. Yeah, that's kind of that's what kind of well, that's one of the things that sparked me with, you know, reaching out to so many agents, because because I don't want to have to keep doing that. I want I'd like to be able to do that just have additional money, but I don't want to have to rely on that. And so much of my time, is kind of revolved around hoovering at this point. So I'm just I need to do whatever I need to do to get away from that. Yeah, I mean, one of the things that you and Kevin may want to consider is starting your own love tip group, or even your own BNI group. Those groups are typically started by a mortgage person, or an insurance person or a realtor, because once the group starts, those three slots are always taken, they're never available. Yeah, very rarely do they ever come open. And it's almost like you that's how a lot of these groups got started. is from a realtor or mortgage person or property and casualty insurance person that could not find an open slot and somebody else's group. Yeah. The other one is you guys can start your own group. Okay, so there is a there is a mortgage person, she I think she's a realtor. And instead of starting her own BNI group or her own whatever, she started her own networking type group and you know, they meet the hybrid model they meet in person once a month in LinkedIn and then they meet via zoom or phone on the other week so they actually only physically meet in person once a month she brings in a speaker but she's grown that group now to 15 members but those types of groups work very well for for your you guys this category because there's lots of handyman out there there's lots of home services out there and you know once you get them in your network because you guys feed each other business saya you're back on your phone press star six let's see if that works this time airmen so on your on your phone let's see how do we solve this problem 30 Your speakers down all the way on your computer then unmute yourself on your phone right Kevin, do anything you want to go over one just is figuring that out I understand. I've looked at profit first read the book. Maybe it listened to the book. Either way I've been through it, where I'm challenged. Honestly, is that the markets a little slower than it was last year? And so we're trying to kind of pare back on expenses and things like that. So I don't feel like the planning, like I have the slush fund I had last year to plan with. So I'm not quite sure how you make more money out of less money. No, I get we've seen one of the things that the bookkeeper firm, the Francesca had mentioned last last month when we're talking about profits first, right? Is she doesn't have any of our clients open up multiple accounts, isn't doing it at all. Right? She has them basically have two accounts, one called savings and one is the main checking account. And though in the savings account, she breaks it out in the spreadsheet, so that we only have one account to reconcile, and which makes total sense. Right, so I personally followed her advice and got rid of three accounts and got rid of the other two or the other, the other bank and like, makes so much more sense, I don't need to be spending all this extra money on banks bank fees, when all I really need is two accounts in the spreadsheet. So it worked out really, really well. As far as making money. With the economy being soft is especially in the mortgage place, mortgage industry is all about lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of contacts. You know, getting your hustle one that other mortgage people are not going to do not gonna do but still comes down to relationships, contacts, meeting new people, keeping your expenses as low as possible, looking for any angle to develop relationships with like, a pest control person, a landscape person, all these different places and say, hey, if I refer you into my client, if I if I go out and get you a client for landscaping, right, you're gonna charge a monthly fee? How much of that you're going to give me? How much of that? Are you gonna give me? Or you're gonna have to give me a qualified referral? I don't I don't believe in the Give me but I do believe in the referring me somebody? I think we're reciprocity I think makes sense. Oh, yeah, yeah. And I manage both types of relationships in place. But I've been through three economic downturns. And the first one, burn me really hard. And I learned it's like, wait, I have this massive network. I'm gonna continue to go out and get new clients, regardless, I'm going to have go out and hustle and sell and clothes and, and so forth. And I'm in a position to refer people to my clients, because they have a know, like, and trust factor there. And so the networking relationships I've developed over the years is a reciprocal referral relationship is one. You know, and if you can't do that, that's not a problem. But if I refer your business in there, then I'm going to want to pursue a charge. Otherwise, I got plenty of other people out there in the market that will play ball in that in that way. Yeah. And that's just me. My wife will never do that. This is not in her DNA. It's not in her model. T will refer the, you know, people all day long and not care about anything in return. No. And and that's her. And I have a high resourceful driving force. And that's, that's my DNA, you know, and so you got to look at okay, what can you do? Like, I also refer a ton of stuff where I don't get anything in return, nor do I expect it. Now, my thing is, I just wanted to be able to get my client's needs met. That's, and that's, I, that's, I'm in line with that. And I also want you to refer me not because I'm going to give you 100 bucks or 500 bucks, I want you to refer me because I'm the best person for your client. Actually, exactly. So I mean, people that refer me to a client I always give them a referral fee and a percentage of the ongoing revenue I just do that just because that's who I am. No, I would not have gotten the the sale otherwise I would not have gotten a new client otherwise. Yeah, sure. And so but Uh, you know, if I can't reciprocate a referral to them, then I am going to reciprocate money to them. No, but I want people to get rewarded for referring the business, that's just how I've always operated my entire business career. I don't ever put myself in a situation where I'm gonna refer you in to my client, because there's a back end deal for me, or not a fit for my client I'm not referring in, that's just all I wrote. Like, if you're gonna take care, you know, it's like the Gary's a guy in my, in my lap timber. And he holds category of life insurance. And, like, hey, you know, you should go and talk to every single person in this group, and at least sit down and review their life insurance policy with them. And, you know, explain to them what they actually have, and what is going on, you know, what's gonna happen in the event of a death or whatever, if there's anything there for you great, but at least they're going to have an experience of what it's like to work with, you know, and I said, start with me, man, I said, I'm actively looking to get a different policy on myself and my son, okay? And I says, but I'm not gonna chase you to sit down to have you sell me life insurance, you're gonna have to reach out to me and walk me through your process. The benefit is, is I get to walk through your process. And I get to understand, you know, what, my own referral, you know, if I refer you a friend, a colleague, a client, or whatever, I get to see firsthand what they're going to go through, which is going to help me actually refer you more business. That was January. Right? Right. Now we're getting ready to go into the month of August. He's attempted to sit down with me, I think, two times. Now. And you know, two of the times I'm like I had to reschedule but it wasn't a sense of urgency to reschedule. So finally, my client, who is in the insurance industry, reaches out to me and says, Hey, man, I've got to get two life insurance policies done by the end of June to hit this bonus with farmers. You know, let me review you and, you know, who can you refer me to? I go, I happen to be in the market to do that. And so she said, Well, let's hop on a call. And she took down all my information and, and, you know, ran me through the process, and we did it all. Next thing, you know, a week later, she needs me to sit down with her and go over them and make a decision on which policy I want and get my bank information and submit it. And I'm like, so I scheduled meetings, candidly, I had to cancel it, she she pursued me like a freakin Bulldog for a week. You know, like, she wouldn't let go. And so I finally said, okay, okay, Maggie, I'll take the time, right. So I get on the call. And we finish up the process. She gets the banking information, and I got two life insurance policies, and she hit her goal. Now, what's the difference between the two? The difference between the two is I would have bought from you the one. Okay. I like both people. Right. But I gave this guy literally a bird in the hand. And the follow up, I wouldn't want my client to go through that follow up process at all. Yeah, I didn't feel pursued, I didn't feel special, I didn't feel wanted or needed as a potential customer. You know, and as a result, he didn't get the business. I select the guy, but I probably won't refer the guy now. And so it's important when you get a referral, to take really, really good care of them and consistently follow up. And so the mortgage and the real estate business where it's at as an industry as a whole, every single relationship you've ever had in your entire life. All you got to do is right, how can I help? How can I help? How can I help? How can I help? How can I help? How can I help somebody who's got somebody somewhere has got a need that you can probably connect somebody to to help them and you're going to be at the top line with them on how they can help you know, property insurance, mortgage real estate, nothing's new under the sun there when mortgage rates were 22% in the in the in the 80s, early 80s People still sold and bought homes. But they there wasn't that many people around that understood. Hey, I Got to beef up my relationship. Activity, I need to go out and talk to more and more people and see how I can serve more people. Because the more you serve in your industry, the more is going to come back. And it's that way in every industry. No, you people that get that get the most are the ones that give the most. And so, meeting new people every day, it's like everybody that you transport. For you, Michael, every person you meet on Uber, you know, making their ride with you super special. Getting into a conversation with them if they want to. And then, you know, let them know that, hey, you have a network. Like every single one of you, who was on the live call, or listening to the recording between myself, Jack and everybody else here. We all have every single need covered from anybody that ever asked us for. They'll be you know, some you know a guy if you know a gal, you know this person, do you know that person? I know if I don't know I can reach out to Kevin I can reach out to Jack I can reach out to Michael I can reach out to just I can reach out to anybody in this mastermind group or anybody in my network and find somebody to meet that mean. And what has served me very well in the.com, bomb guy. That was in early 2000s, the 2008 crash during the COVID thing, the only thing that really saved my butt through all of that was I got back to power base networking. All of you have access to in the Dropbox folder. It is the Holy Grail in anything. Relationships. Oh, to help Kevin. Yeah. What I'm taking from what you said is look deeper into my network. And what my notes were, were to go deeper in what my network might need. So that's what I that's my notes. So thank you. That means some action items for both you and Mike and Jack. And Josiah. Is any of you can set up a zoom call with me or go and say, Hey, let's meet for coffee, or let's go have lunch and sit down and say, Hey, let's talk about your network. John, who in your cell phone right now, who in your network do you think would be a good fit for you to introduce me. And because I'm there at the appointment at that time for that specific purpose, I will without my cell phone and I'll go through how you should call this person who should call this person call this first call this versus call this person should call this person should call this person now. And you'll walk away with a bunch of people to call. I told that to every single person in my leftover salmon how I met both of you. Right Stephanie Evans referred me to Cam villa. Cam Villa hired me to speak at that event that you guys attended, which is how I met both of you. Until this exact same strategy to Stephanie Emmons and Deputy Emma's and I meet every single Tuesday in love tip, but she has yet to call me up and sit me down to access my network and go through who I think she can refer me to. So as a result, how many referrals do I give Stephanie? None. I can I sit down and think about it. But I'm busy just like she is, um, definitely gives her it's like my VIP group. I had my client Alan Reeves in that group for eight once. I've worked with him for seven years. We meet every week as a client at the time. He's in a in the business of it. And you know how many people were referred to each other? Figure out why we've never sat down and actually focused on it. No, if my group I have a banker, her name is Serena Anderson. And we once a month over lunch. And you know how many referrals we give each other on about an average about four or five months. If we did not meet for lunch probably wouldn't give each other referrals because we're both freaking busy as shit. No. And so there's a lesson there. Right? All you need is for power partners with one a week. Invest in that relationship and you will Get a lot, as many referrals as you want. So that's just my two cents for that. And, and all of us can do that this week. Now, in fact, let's see here, it gets messages here. I'll have to let you figure it's a bit far from Jersey. But you know what, we can always hop on a zoom Call, man. Yeah. You and I should talk anyways, because I in my youth group over the weekend, Don gartman who has been in it for probably longer than I've been alive, well know where he and I are about the same age. He wants to really blow up as it business, he knows that I own four previous IT companies. And he's a super engineer. And I'm like, You know what, I might be open to that. Now, I never thought I'd ever build another IT company. But I'm going to be in a partner with him. Which means that we're going to need a superstar like you and your company to so there's all kinds of opportunity there. Sure. So I had a I guess a power base question. And what are what are some things or suggestions you do? So this recurring call doesn't fall into stagnation or something where someone finds the two other than the easy answer providing value? Are there things that you say that that if you were to teach someone else to do a power partner base or power partner launch or something like that? What are some some things you tell them? Hey, listen, it's not just the first time you sit there and try and see how we can help each other. But how do you make it so it's a reoccurring This is why we sit down? What are some some tips you'd give for avoiding that falling into just another thing on the calendar? But great question, great question. Um, in the Dropbox folder, there is a folder called poi, there's a folder called power base strategy. Our base strategy is a must, I'll just be honest, unless you turn it into an actual system. It will only it will only be valuable when you actually need it. Right. And so, power base is one of those things where if you can find a way to create a system out of it, which good system that I've used for years is I put it on my list to contact one person in my power base every day. One keep it's gotta keep it simple, right? One person and in my CRM, I have a group called power base. And so I purposely systematically add people to now power base in its purest form it's simply the me take off my field background I also had a fun trivia question while I looked at that I don't know if you know the answer this one a new one the Gino in the first record cyber crime attack was first recorded cyber cyber crime attack no 1962 per se no Well, fun fact that I know you know, military's had the the internet around for way longer than we had access to it. So power base in its purest form. And I go back to March. He was like the second party in March. Definitely after March 13 2020. Because March 13 2020 is when COVID hit everybody got locked down everything just you know, really started getting locked down at that point. Grant Cardone led a an emergency meeting the following week. And he says the number the only thing that's going to work at this point is power base strategy. And the your marketing. Anything that you do want to be wise is not going to work because you cannot compete against this virus in the presidential election. You just don't have enough money. So here's power base in its in its purest form. I go to my phone get my phone, right click on contacts, right, go to contacts. Come my contacts. Okay. I start scrolling until I hit somebody I actually know in this case is going to be Shawn Abercrombie. Okay. Unfortunately, in his contact on my phone, I don't have his cell number. So I'm gonna go on to the next one. And it's going to be the same guy that was there three years ago when I did this, Ryan Akerlund. I know him. Okay, I used to be a CEO for the company he worked for. So when I did this strategy three years ago, because I grant told me to do it, so I did it. I just press dial. I didn't have a script. Didn't have any, any pre planned pitch. Okay. I just called up Brian. I said, Hey, man, Ryan. What's going on? John? Pyron. He goes, Hey, what's up, John? It's been a long time I go. Yeah, well, 2020 I stopped working with this company. 2016. Okay, so it's been four years. So yeah, man. It's been a long time, dude. Hey, I was just going through my phone contacts here. And your name came up. And I felt like give me a call and see. How's it How are things with you, man? How's it going? Man are doing great, man. I'm working at this place. Now. I got gotten married. I got a kid now. My really? Wow. He goes yeah, now I'm actually I got a higher level of certification. And it I'm having a really, really good time. I know you guys still live down in Stockton? Yeah, we still live down in Stockton. antastic, man, so how'd you and your wife meet? You know, after I think about two more questions. And what I'm after here is he's going to ultimately ask about me. Okay, so catch me up to you, John, how's it going? Man, it's going great. Right now, the number one rule here is everything's going to be positive when it comes to my side of the fence. Thanks. Everything's going great man. I got married since the last time we talked. You know, literally married. You know, I prayed about this, this person to come into my life. I broke up with her seven times before marrying her because I wasn't sure that she was for one. And I want us to women girls standing up to me until you talk back to me. And we started laughing then I go, but I'm married, I married a very strong woman who is become one of my really good friends. And I said, the other thing I'm really excited about is my business. And here's what I'm doing now. You know, like back then I was doing that when you and I last talk. And where I have have grown it to is this. I said out of curiosity? Do you know anybody that you think would be a good fit for me? My personality type? You know how I talk? You know me? Is there anybody that I can connect with? They don't have to have an actual need. Just somebody I can connect with to say, Hey, Ryan, tells me you're a good person. And Ryan likes you. And I thought you might be a fit there. Anybody knows? Now, I really don't know anybody off the top of my head. But let me think about it. I'm like, Okay, fantastic. Here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna send you an email. Let me get your current email. So he gave me his current email. And, and I said, if I want to send you something in the mail, what's your what's your current mailing address? So I got his all his updated information, gave him my updated information. And I sent him an email. And hey, it was great talking to you. Great catching up. Here's some of the information link to my website. And love to reconnect. Next week, I'm going to be thinking about anybody that I can refer you just let me know who or what you're looking for. If there's any need that you have. I have a pretty big network now. And then here's my referral form. If you think of anybody that can benefit from my services, let me know. Boom, done. Right? Conversation, probably 510 minutes at the most. Next week, I followed up with him. caught up with him. He had a deed I referred him to somebody in Stockton and got his deed, Matt, I never got anything in return. Right? But I kept doing that process. And lo and behold, within about five conversations, I got a referral. And that's it may never come out of my connection with Ryan, but I can call him up at anytime now. At anytime, and just catch up with me. Right? That's power base in its purest form. Okay. Now if I wanted to create a system out of it, and this is what I learned by coaching other clients through COVID, Dax and Sam's was one of them. They grew during COVID. Okay, even though the world was falling apart, their business their competition got crushed. But the only thing that Shana Frank did is they agreed to call one person on their power base every single day during COVID. That's how their business grew. Okay, everybody else was shutting down. Because no new homes were a lot of construction people got got hit hard, not them. They invested in their power base. It's all they did. So there's train You know, in their, how they recommend you go through the training in the Dropbox folder on power base, it will work. Anytime you work it actually, what I've discovered with power base over the many years I've been doing it, it works whenever I work it. And if I'm getting too many referrals, I can always stop. Okay. As far as poi is concerned, that's a whole different animal. All if you follow the five part video series and put it in there, because I've taught it that 1000s of people, and you actually execute on that, and you turn it into a system, it will take you from start to momentum about 30 to 60 days. But once it's in place, don't miss it be with one poi every week, same time, same bat channel, every time you do it, the relationship gets better. It's better, it's better. It's better, you get more and more referrals. And so here's what poi is not getting ready to let go of somebody who wants to be who wanted to be OPI for me, okay, marketing guy, I gave him two people. Okay, he followed up with them, walk them through this process. And now he's gonna follow up with them. And he reached out to me this morning wanting me to see if there's anybody else that I can introduce him to. And I go, we need to talk. Because you haven't referred me to anybody. And that's, that's part of what a POA is, I sit down with a very specific purpose, I'm going to refer you business, you're going to refer me business. But we're at a stage and this is a brand new potential POA relationship I love the guy went through all the process with him, I think I would enjoy actually just hanging out with the dude. But when it comes to business, he's not going to refer me, I'm not going to give them another referral, we're not going to continue the relationship. And I will need a digital marketer in my referral network, because that's a strategic relationship. So the land the plane, is you sit down and you look at, okay, who are the four people that every single time I get a client, it's a client for them. In the same four people every time they get a client, it's a client for me. Okay, you're kind of symbiotically tied together. And that's how that relationship that POA network works very, very, very well. Right? If they very rarely, I don't think I've ever had a situation where I've exchanged money back and forth with the poi have never just don't do that for a pli. It's a reciprocal referral relationship is my choice. Because these people I meet with yours. Once I have one in place, I nurture the crap out of that relationship. And it'll serve you for many, many years. No. So in the mortgage space. Looking for a rock star, like in this case, Josiah, is in this area where you and Kevin and Michael are. And he's wondering as hungry and wanting to grow his business? Well, that means he's going to be in a new home at least 789 10 times a week. About 10 new customers a week. And if you guys have a POI relationship with Him, very easy for him to say, hey, oh, the chandelier looks good. You like how it got put up? Hey, by the way, you have a relationship with a good mortgage person. Because I got a really good relationship with the mortgage person I just like to give you his carton. No. And over time you guys develop that relationship in that's just an example of how a powerful poi network will work for you. That answer your question Jack. It answered a lot of questions. John. Can you hear? Okay, we are at the end of our time. So hopefully this call is valuable next week. I'll be sending out an agenda for next week because next week is our fifth Monday. And I'm going to block out probably a couple hours. You can be there for the old meaning you can drop in it's going to be a deep dive mastermind. We're going to talk about whatever problem challenge, plan opportunity that you want to talk about. And I'm going to spend as much time as you guys need on that Hall giving all of you coaching and consulting okay so be on the lookout for that I'll send you guys a coordinating plan document oh thanks Joe all right guys