Transcription
[Music] Hey there, you're listening to The Way Podcast with Dino Cutsy Matis. And today's guest is Mike Benton, all the way out of Florida. So, he's a good friend of mine, and I know his his past. Um, and I know how much of a hustler he is. I know everything he's been through to be successful. So, I want to get him to come on. And what we're going to do is ask him a series of questions. It's going to really just tell us who he is today. We're going to take us, he's going to take us all the way back to day one when he first got started, and why he got started, and walk through all the milestones through his journey back to today. Again, so Mike, welcome to the show.
Thanks for having me, man. Good buddy. Um, just excited to go through it.
Yeah, fantastic. So, Mike, start by just telling everybody who you are today.
Today, I'm Division President for a company called Responsive Mortgage. And we're a, uh, B-coastal company partnering with mortgage lenders and real estate offices around the country to, uh, help them bring a better experience to, uh, their partners and clients.
And how long have you been in the mortgage business?
I've been in the real estate and mortgage industry since '03. I didn't originate my first loan on my own until March of 2019.
Okay. So, so really not, not that long, even though you've been in the business in industry for a while.
Not that long actually originating loans. And, and I know in that short period of time, you've come a long way. I mean, you've done quite a bit. Um, I've never actually been able to, I've never met somebody that has the ability to turn it on as fast as you can turn things on. Like, when you put your mind to something, you're a hustler, man.
I do appreciate that about you. You know, I think the same business principles work across most industries, espe- especially ours, right? Like, you know, if you show up and you grind and you do what you say you're going to do, I mean, it's, it's not rocket science.
Or I couldn't do it. Yeah. So, listen, dude, I'm gonna, I'm gonna ask you a series of questions. And really, what I'm trying to do is I'm trying to find similarities in all of the different guests that we have, right? Like, there's sometimes morning routine that everybody does. What I've noticed is not necessarily what the morning routine is, but it's the fact that everybody has a morning routine. Or maybe a nighttime routine, or whatever it is. I'm gonna ask you just kind of all these different questions. And for all you listening, what I want you to do is go back, listen to a bunch of the other shows, and start picking out, you know, things that these super successful people are doing. And, and the reason why is because success leaves behind clues. So, with that said, right? I mean, go listen to what it is they're doing and start emulating some of this stuff if you want to be successful at doing loans, and hopefully at being a, a good, upstanding member of the of society, hopefully at being a good husband and a father, and everything else, because all of it is kind of included here. It's not just how to do more loans.
So, Mike, with, with that said, I'm gonna ask you kind of a, just some quick, easy questions, and then we're gonna kind of go back to the first day, okay? So, first, do you have a morning routine?
I would say, have a consistent wakeup time of, you know, 5:00 AM to 5:30. And then typically, right, not every day, but I would say I usually dive in, you know, to the Bible first. And then, you know, my, take the dogs out. And then, you know, I'm pretty, um, I would say that, you know, fitness is a big priority in my life. So, I typically work out six to seven days a week, and always in the morning.
So, is it that way every day?
I would say probably 95% of my days are made up of, you know, faith and fitness, um, before 8:00 AM. I've already, you know, touched my spiritual life, touched my, you know, physical life before I get to sit behind this desk for the next 12 hours.
Yeah, so let me, let me ask you, why, you know, I mean, that's, that's a big commitment, right? And you got to wake up extra early to do that. Why is that so important to you?
I think that's, uh, I mean, it's, it's just priorities and habit, man. I mean, it's just, it's been part of my life for 20 plus years of, you know, doing the same thing that's keeps me, I guess, somewhat sane, if that's, if that's possible. But, uh, it's, you know, just setting the foundation for, for the rest of my day. I mean, it's getting the work done. It's, you know, you see progress, especially in the fitness side of, you know, with nutrition and working out, you can see the, the ebb and flows. And just like it works a lot like business, right? The more you put into it, if you're monitoring your progress with nutrition and diet and, you know, the gym, you can definitely see the results.
Do you have, I know you said you read the Bible every day. Do you have, um, a favorite book in the past that you've, that you've read?
I mean, I would say that like, you know, my my go-to is probably definitely Proverbs. And every day's definitely my dad. It's funny, my dad sent me a text today. I think he's on like day 2,700 streak. But for me, you know, it ebbs and flows of what I'm reading and, you know, why I'm reading it. But, you know, I try to, you know, touch that side of my life every day.
What about a, like a business book or self-help book or any other kind of book? What, what would you recommend is a great book out there?
Oh, like what's, what's one of my, um, what's one of my go-to? I mean, I'm old school, like, you know, the one that, uh, I'd recommend is "How to Win Friends and Influence People" because I think that's, you know, teaches you kind of the basics. It's one of the first courses I took out of college as well. That's, it's, it's a really good one. Old school, especially. So, if any millennials under, they under 40 are listening, they, I don't even know if they're familiar with that book.
Yeah, I don't think, you know, when you take out the personal connection with people, sometimes they're not used to having to win friends, influence people. Probably what, uh, what about like a, a quote? Do you have a favorite quote?
I mean, it's probably from my dad. It's like, "Do today's work today, and tomorrow will take care of itself." And it's a, it's a principle that you can really live by and pretty much what I live by.
So, let's go back to day one. Why did you get into the mortgage business? How old were you, um, you know, how'd you get into it?
Well, I mean, I got my real estate license in 2004. And as I, you know, build up my invest, I, I switched really quick from, I wouldn't say quick, but just from real estate in, uh, representing buyers and sellers to investing and got into development. And then the, you know, the 2008 to 2010 Great Recession hit, and I, uh, lost it all and had to battle back. So, um, started buying foreclosures. And my partner, a few years down the road, was in the mortgage business and built that. We built our investment business up, you know, to to a nice level, sold it. And he said, "Hey, you know, why don't you come work for me?" And he started teaching me the business in 2016. And then in '18, when I moved to Colorado, I decided to kind of go out on my own. And even though I hadn't originated a loan completely A to Z on my loan, I was gonna start my own company. So that's what I did.
That's, that's kind of, that's how I got in. And I was, uh, 40 at the time. Not, not to take you back to bad times, right? But 2008 was a bad time. And for a lot of people listening, they know what I'm talking about. Um, for some of the new people, you know, they, they will never know how bad that was. Um, but today's bad is, is in some eyes, just as bad, right? Um, and let's go back to what happened back then, and what it took for you to get out of it, because, you know, there was a lot of people that were so devastated, they just kind of got paralyzed, and they didn't do anything, right? They didn't, they didn't get out of it, they never made it out. And there's some people I know that they did, but they went from being a top-producing loan officer to maybe closing one a month, right? Because they never moved forward with what was happening. So, let's, let's take you back there, just because it was a bad time. And, and I want everybody, the only reason why Mike, is because right now is a bad time for a lot of people. So I want to offer some sort of motivation that, you know, it, it can get worse, right? Like, pe- people have really experienced some hardship, and there is a tomorrow. And if you do things right, right, if you have the right mindset, tomorrow can actually be sunny. So, let's go back there and kind of walk us through a little bit of that, because you said you lost everything, and then you said you started building. I, I don't know how you start building when you've lost everything. What, you, you did something.
Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, what I did is, Lisa can tell you the story like she remembers, you know, '08, '09. Um, you know, basically just when, when I was, didn't lose everything, I was negative everything. So, basically trying to battle back was hitting the phones, and short sales and foreclosures were big that at that time. So, hitting the phones, I think in 2009, I can't, it was either '08 or '09, I sold 70 plus homes. So, I did that by, you know, picking up the phone, "Hey Dino, it's Mike Benton at Exit Realty." Um, and started a conversation. And you said no, I picked up the phone again. And you do that 100 to 150 times a day, you probably get 10, 48 nos, but the two people that said yes would meet with me, and hopefully I'd close one of those two, and I'd be off to the races. So, that's, that's what I did for, you know, probably 24 straight months.
So, that's pure grinding?
Just pure grind. Pure grind. No leads, no nothing. Just a, I don't know, it wasn't a phone book because we were definitely still, we were, we were on the computer and I was looking numbers up, but I mean, it was, I, I didn't even have a dialer. I was just hand-dialing on my cell phone.
So, let me ask you this, you, you said that year you closed 70, uh, transactions, right? 70. Lost you, I don't recall the exact number, but I know it was over 70. So, losing everything, how do you lose everything when you're closing 70 transactions? I mean, you couldn't have saved it with that. It's a lot of business, man.
No, I mean, that, you know, if it was a million dollar problem, yes, but it was a $50 million plus problem. So, when you've accumulated real estate in multiple states, um, with multiple partners and multiple types of loans, um, definitely the complexity level increases significantly.
So, closing 70, 70 plus transactions, were you doing that all on your own, or did you have staff to help you?
I had one administrative assistant. So, she was the paperwork person, I was the salesperson.
And let me ask you this, the new you, the more mature you, put in that same exact situation, would you do anything different?
Uh, the only, I think the only thing I would have probably done differently is maybe going a little more all in on the foreclosure with the ARs at the time. I backed off the ARs and went more towards the buying side of the foreclosures. I probably would have just gone all in on sales and not, not invested as much. You know, but that's, that was my passion from really from 2006 to, you know, once I started to get some cash back to start investing again, 2010. So, I just went right back to what I knew. But knowing what I know today, I would have made more money, um, just going all in on foreclosures at the time.
And, and why did you get out of that and into loans?
Because I had sold that business and I, uh, probably, you know, it was harder to scale and lack of, you know, not wanting to experience what I had experienced. And good question, by the way. 2010, so when we started to look to kind of slowly exit, it was '17. And yeah, we've had a huge runway since '17 and, um, picked up the business. But, you know, just a, wanting to move in a different direction.
Did you not enjoy doing that parts of it?
I enjoyed, I think it's like any business, there's parts you enjoy and there's parts that are tougher than than others. So, no, I enjoyed it.
And then you made a big move, right? Out of, out of the East Coast over to Colorado. It's interesting because one of the questions I ask towards the end is, if I took you, picked you up and dropped you off somewhere where you didn't know anybody, how would you, how would you get business going? Now, we don't have to hypothetically do that because you, you already did it, not that long ago, in Colorado.
Yeah, I've done it twice in the past, uh, what is it? So, 2019, my first full year in Colorado, '23. So, all within, you know, four to five years, I've done two different cities. Dropped me off, new cities, not knowing less than three, four people.
So, let's, let's start with Colorado then, because that's, that's really interesting, right? So, now you're in Colorado, you're in the mortgage space instead of the real estate space, and, um, you really don't even know how to do loans all that well. What did you do? How'd you get going?
I had a bunch of open houses every weekend. That's how I did it. So, just every Saturday, every Sunday, pulled up a list on, uh, Zillow or Redfin. I mean, the same strategy will work today, by the way, in any market across the country. And went and visited Realtors. And who's, who's best to talk to a Realtor than a previous Realtor? Somebody that understands what they're going through, sitting by themselves at an open house on a Sunday when no one's come by.
So, let's, let's, um, enhance that a little bit, right? Like, there's loan officers listening right now, was saying, "Okay, I'll, I'll do that. I'll get off my butt and go, uh, visit some open houses." But what do I say when I get in there? I mean, is it, do I have to get all dressed up? Do I just be casual? Do I act like I want to come look at the house and strike up a conversation? Do I just come in, say, "Man, I'm in the mortgage business. I'm gonna, can I sit here with you and help you sell?" Or, "I'll do the open house." I mean, what do you do?
No, I mean, another good question. But, uh, I think being honest is key in any relationship. And never, "Hey, I'm just in the neighborhood." Unless you're just in the neighborhood, that's cool. Like, "Hey, if you're leaving your house and you do see an open house, I mean, and you're a loan officer and you don't stop by, it's kind of, you're doing yourself a disservice." But that being said, I mean, you're, the answer to your question is, I, uh, my strategy number one, it's consistency. You can't just do it once. I mean, we did it for literally like 18 months in a row. Um, now, I hired somebody after four to six months to start to take over that role for me. But, um, I just said, "Hey, I'm Mike, you know, new to Colorado Springs and the mortgage business. You want to come say hello?" And that's how I started every conversation.
So, you, you just introduced yourself? You didn't come off with like, this big pitch?
No, never. No, it was just a, "Hey, you know, what's your name? Has traffic?" Just like, general curiosity. I, after the first couple of coming open, I, I decided to, uh, stop by Dunkin' Donuts after like, a couple, maybe after even the first day, maybe the very second day I started doing it. I started to go by Dunkin' Donuts and I would get either 10 or 12 dozen like minis, you know, those little boxes. So, I would come and later on, like after like months of doing this, they used to call us the "Donut Men." You know, because we would, I would come in, stop by, start to see some familiar faces. If you do it like, you know, 26 weeks in a row, and then by the 50th week, you definitely see the familiar faces at the same open houses. But we just come in and introduce myself and be curious to, you know, how, how they were doing, who they were, and then build a relationship and get their card. And on Monday, you know, I would shoot them a call or text and, "Hey Dino, great to meet you at your open house. Congrats on whatever. Build a relationship. Would love to link up with you, you know, this week, take you to coffee or meet you for lunch." And in 2019, I went on anywhere from, again, I don't know the exact numbers, 150 to 200, 200 one-on-one Realtor appointments. And by 2020, we're, you know, before rates had fallen, closing 20 loans a month in Colorado.
So, I'm gonna, I'm gonna pause and regurgitate some of this because if, if you're doing something else right now and you're listening to this on the side, I want you to stop whatever it is you're doing. And I, I want you to to go back and listen to Mike and everything he did. There's a few key points that I want to point out. Is one, consistency. Right? Actually, may back up. Number one, do things even if it's out of your comfort zone. And I love the idea of, and I've, I've used this, you didn't say it, but I've used it multiple times. When your back is against the wall, that's when sometimes you're just forced to do things. Don't, don't wait until your back's up against the wall, right? Get out of your comfort zone and go do these things. So, do that. Number one. Number two, consistency. Don't just do something that didn't work and stop, right? You got to keep doing it and keep doing it. Number three, and, and this is super important. Mike, Mike said he followed up. Yeah. Everybody stop for a second, right? He followed up. It's not that hard. But I can speak firsthand knowledge. I've done a lot of things, and when I didn't follow up, I can look back now and say, "What a waste of time that was." My own fault, though. I went through the effort of trying something, but I didn't make the effort to follow up and keep following up because I bet you anything, Mike didn't stop with the first follow-up. He kept going and going and going because he's relentless. So, be relentless in this pursuit. If you're up against the wall and you need to get going, and, and Mike, I, I commend you for that, right? I mean, I know you well enough to, to laugh because I know how relentless you can be. But guys, if you're struggling right now in the mortgage industry, right? If you're saying, "There's not a lot of loans out there," I can tell you right now that that's total BS. There's plenty of loans out there. You just have to be the guy that's getting them. Mike, how many loans did you close last month? And I know you're not even concentrating on this anymore, but how many loans did you?
My team and I, we have three loan partners. We close between 17 and 21. I, because again, the reason why I say I don't know how many funded in, you know, one, one of my partners' names, we, we generated 17 to 21 closings personally. So, I, I would have to say that's a pretty good amount of loans. And if you could even do a, you know, an eighth of that, you'd be pretty, pretty happy. So, get out there and hustle.
So, Mike, okay, now you're, you're in Colorado, you're doing open houses. Um, you get a little lucky. The rates drop, and it's like any knucklehead can actually make money at this point in their career, right? So, are you able, because this is, this is a true, like, I would see this as potential, you know, killer in people's business. A lot of people are good at going out and getting the business, and then they're terrible at managing it. They're terrible at having a great customer experience. They're terrible at asking for referrals and getting repeat business, right? And, and they don't know how to manage the backend. How are you at this backend side of it?
Uh, today, I would say I'm one of the best. I mean, in 2020, I would say that, uh, I had a lot of room for improvement. That's why I reached out to you. And was it 2020 or '21? Actually, great, great story. Tell everybody how we met.
Yeah, so I was, again, I think that if you're listening to this podcast, I think you're really smart, no matter what stage of your career you are, because I think the lack of, um, education, you know, yes, you can read a lot of great things in books, but where I've learned the most is from others who have been done something before me, better than me, and have, have learned from, like, Dino. So, I heard a podcast that was on Quick and Loans Podcast, called "Just Look Dino's Number Up." Easy to find. I mean, loan officers, you can Google any of us, and if you can't find our cell phones, that's a problem. Probably. And just picked up the phone and said, "Hey, you know, hey Dino, loved your story. Can you tell me a little bit about your gifting program?" But I think the big difference between, you know, what unsuccessful people do and successful people do is implementation, right? So, all these books, all these, I mean, there's a million ways to grow your business, right? But once I learned how your gift program, and thankful to this day, how gracious you have been as a friend and a mentor and a colleague, is I implemented it. And, um, getting ready to reimplement it actually at a smaller scale. Um, I went all in. And, you know, I think it, I mean, I think we were doing seven gifts from pre-approval to post-close. It was six or seven. Um, so, yeah, that's how I met Dino. And it's, um, it was really cool, and it, it helped continue to grow our business, and it, uh, it got us quite a few referrals. When we would lose to a new construction builder in Colorado Springs, often times someone had already received a couple gifts, and they would call me and like, "Hey, this, you know, this builder lender is offering me 20K or 15,000." Said, "Oh, I think, you know, you should go with that builder's lender because it's gonna save you a lot of money. Can't beat it." But really appreciate the opportunity. Would love to stay in touch with you. Shoot me your loan estimate, happy to review it, make sure you're getting the very best deal possible. She, you know, then a day later, they're like, "Oh, you still sent me this K?" Because they're on like autopilot until they either don't close or close and call me back. "Hey man, like, can't believe I can't. Do you need me to send this gift back to you?" Um, I said, "No." And then next thing you know, you know, somebody would be like, "Oh, my neighbor's refining though. You can call him. Here's his number." So, definitely helped me generate a lot of business.
First of all, uh, the gifting program, you guys, we call it "Always Present" over here at Ethos Lending. And it is a game changer. We won't go into that now, that's a, that's a whole other podcast in itself. Um, but what I want to point out here is that Mike listened to a podcast, absorbed everything in it, and wasn't satisfied. He wanted more. So, what did he do? Picked up the phone and reached out. I would very much encourage you to do the same thing. Now, I'm not saying me or Mike are your personality, your style of doing business, that's fine. But there is somebody out there that you've heard that. Call them. Who cares how big they are, right? Who cares? Call them. You never know. I, I think you'll find the majority of the people that do a lot of business, that are successful, actually want to help people. Yeah, they have an abundant mentality. There's plenty out there.
All right, so let's, let's move on now. So, you, you are crushing it. Um, at the same time, I'm gonna say, got lucky, 'cause we all did, when the rates dropped as much as they did. It just, it was, I, I remember telling my wife, uh, you know, I mean, she's lived through enough refi booms where she kind of knows. And, you know, you let Dino work, right? I mean, this is, this is when you can start asking for gifts and other things, right? But you can't ask until after it's done. But the refi booms, I've always explained, are kind of like a CPA at tax time. Only we never know what tax time is, right? We never know when it's gonna happen. And when it is, you drop everything and you grind, you hustle, right? You close as many loans as you can that period of time. This was no typical, you know, tax time type situation where you, you grind for three to six months. I mean, it was, it was several years of grinding. So, we, we all got lucky, but we all, some of us worked too hard, some of us burned out, some of us, you know, all sorts of things. And we also learned a lot about, you know, our strengths and our weaknesses. And, and there's a lot to kind of go through and, and I think just analyze, right? I know for me, I never valued work-life balance. I was always, I loved work. I mean, to me, work was was fun. I, I really enjoyed. I got somebody asked me one time, like, "When do you, when do you get your high?" You know, is it when, when that check comes? Is it? And I'm like, "It's not even when the deal funds. It's when I get the referral." To me, the high was somebody referred me. Once I got that, I just assumed it was gonna close, right? Everybody has their own little thing. But, but your system has to be dialed. Every aspect of it, right? And, and all of it matters, all the way down to, you know, your, your work schedule. Because if you don't have a consistent time that you're gonna wake up, a consistent time you're gonna work out, a consistent time you're gonna start work, and a consistent time you're gonna leave work, then something's gonna fall apart in your life. And most of the time, that is your family. And all too often, you'll find people in the mortgage business don't stay married for very long. So, I would encourage you, if you're early in your career, that you figure this piece pie out early on, right? And you figure out your priorities early on. Believe it or not, that, you know, the, the money and all that stuff. I, I'll give just one example, right? Because I've been married twice. First time didn't last as long. Second time, I'm doing great, and I expect I'll continue staying married. Um, but I've kind of figured out this work-life balance a little bit more. So, I was such a grinder, and I'll turn around and say that, you know, work-life balance to me didn't matter. She had to put up with it, right? Because this is what I did. And, and I made more money because of it. But then I ended up getting divorced, and that cost me a fortune. And then I paid child support for years and years and years. And, and I did the math. I'm sure she never listens to these. So, I did the math. It was like $945,000 over that period of time. So, don't tell me that I made more money by grinding because I did. That's tax-free money in child support. So, if you want a different perspective of how to look at things, I'm telling you right now, it's not worth it. Get your work-life balance in line and know what's important in your life.
So, anyways, back to you, Mike. So, so let's keep going now, right? We're past the refi boom. Um, you've, you've done quite a bit to just get, get better at what you do. You've, uh, you've systematized several different things. And then I'm just gonna say, because I know you well enough, you decided you didn't like the cold weather as much as you like the warm weather. So, you just picked up and moved, and you're now back in Florida. And you switched companies. And, and I don't know if you even want to talk about that or why or what, but you ended up somewhere and you're just gangbusters now.
Yeah, so I, um, I think, you know, I think it's leader. You know, people say people don't leave companies, people leave leaders. Again, no matter, listen, like the mortgage industry, as as a whole, has gone through a lot over the past three years. And, um, different companies have different priorities. And, you know, I appreciate a lot of the folks that I've worked with over the past three to five years, and there's a lot of great companies out there, yours being one, mine being one. Um, but for me, you know, moving back to Florida was twofold. First, it was about getting my girls, my wife, and my daughter back to warm weather. My life looks like very similar to what how it looked in Colorado, except for instead of on the weekends hitting the slopes, I'm hitting the beach, you know, with long walks on the beach as opposed to maybe skiing down a mountain. Um, love them both, but, you know, I can get to the beach in probably three to five minutes, where I took me three to five hours to get to the mountains. So, from that work-life balance standpoint, I was unable to get to the mountains as easily. Um, so maybe if I had lived in Aspen, I might not have moved. But, you know, so, yeah, back in Florida. The, um, you know, I ended up, this is a kind of a lesson of never burn a bridge. Is I ended up going back to where I started my mortgage career, Goldstar Financial, um, and partnered with them, them allowing me to build a platform out under my own brand, running it as close to my own way with guardrails, um, where I could scale multi-state as quickly as possible. And it's, you know, we started the company, Responsive Mortgage, powered by Goldstar, this past July. And even with a headwind, we're aiming to find some really good partners and build it as in a way as, you know, quickly, but with as a strong foundation as possible.
And what are you doing different now?
What am I doing different? I mean, my, you know, I would say the biggest difference now is, um, you know, a lot of long-term relationships. I, uh, you know, we're partners. My partner's, you know, the biggest real estate coach in the country now, and happens to coach the number one loan officer in the country as well. So, you know, his marketing influence and his influence over the team is pretty great. So, the doors that he can open for us relationship-wise are pretty big. That's one of the biggest differences. Another partner, Preston Gannon, who I've been friends with for 20 years and started real estate with in South Carolina in 2004, and he started in '03, developed a, you know, real estate portal to compete against Rocket Homes and let's say Zillow and Realtor.com, EasyHomeSearch.com, has opened up some other opportunities for, you know, for other Realtor relationships and loan officers who want to grow their business. And lastly, is, you know, biggest pieces, you know, John says it pretty frequently, which is, "What's the one thing that'll change everything for you?" And that was just giving up alcohol. So, if you pair those things all together, then you have a recipe for success.
So, if you don't mind, I'd love to talk about that a little bit. Um, you know, that's, that's a big deal for a lot of people, especially in this industry. There's, there's a lot, you know, going on there that, that I don't think people even realize. And, you know, let's call it drug and alcohol abuse, right? Drug abuse, the whole next level, I get it. Um, and if you got that, I think you got to get that under control. Um, but alcohol is, is that one that's socially acceptable, right? It's, it's one that people leave work at night, come home, and think they need a drink to relax, right? And then they go, go out maybe on the weekends, whatever. If you're the guy that can turn it on or off, I think that's okay. I, I happen to be that guy. I can, I can turn it off as soon as I need to turn it off. But I know there's a lot of people out there that just don't know how to turn it off. And, and Mike, you know, we've talked a lot about this before, and, you know, you, you had become that guy that couldn't turn it off. But, but you were successful, so nobody thought anything of it, right? But you knew, your wife knew, and your business knew. Even though you were successful, there's this next level. And I remember you, and I'm gonna mess up the quote a little bit, but, but you said to me one time when all this was happening, you're like, "If I had given up alcohol years ago, I probably would have had, you know, millions of dollars in the bank right now" because of how much more you put into life, right? Not just work and everything, but life in general, when you're clear-minded. So, tell us just about how you got to that point, and why, and, and if you can, just, you know, on top of your story, make it a bit of an encouraging story for somebody that might be sitting here thinking, "I, I do have a problem."
Yeah, I mean, again, I think if you're, hey, I'm a big believer, if you, if you need Dry January or, um, you know, again, if you think it's a problem, it's probably a problem, right? So, if it's crossing your mind that you may, you know, have too many drinks, then it's probably a problem. I, I'm a firm believer today that either things are adding value to your life or taking them away. And, you know, I just look at alcohol in a way that it was only taking away from my family, from my finances, from my fitness, from the way I, you know, was able to stand up as a leader, leader of myself first and foremost, but, you know, in addition to my team. Um, so, again, you know, it's, it's a situation of, it wasn't the first time I tried to stop, it's just the last time. So, it's, um, you know, things, you know, happen in a life, you know, hey, for a reason. And it just looks totally different. And, you know, this time around, I just feel that, you know, I am a big believer that, you know, once, once God takes something away or adds it to your life, then it's our job to fulfill it. And I just, you know, never had the urge since I stopped. So, that's the, the beauty of my position. Again, um, putting people in my life like Alex Chapl, who I owe so much to of, you know, coaching me fitness, and who again, I mentioned it, you can't go further than than somebody if someone's leading you and they haven't gone further than you, you know, where are you getting that leadership from? Alec had, you know, walked in similar shoes, John walked in similar shoes, and, you know, the people, and they had overcome it and had overcome it for many years. And just, you know, hitch my wagon to people that have already been there and done that, and it's been paying off.
Mike, I appreciate you very much. I appreciate you being so open and honest about everything. And, um, I, I truly believe there's people that are listening to this right now and thinking, you know, they need to make a change in their life. And I think you're a great positive role model for that. Um, guys, you know, we're gonna have all of Mike's information down in the show notes and the website and everything. So, encourage you to to step out as he did when he first, um, heard me on a podcast and just called me. And aside from learning something for me, um, we also became really good friends. And you never know what's gonna come of something unless you make the first move to to do it. So, also, I want to encourage you to, uh, be a little bit more like like Mike in the, the way of, uh, stepping out of your comfort zone, being aggressive with things, following up. I remember that's a really huge one. And, um, and, you know, faith and fitness are equally as important. And, you know, Mike, thank you so much for being on the show.
Yeah, thanks for having me, man. I, I really appreciate it and look forward to continuing our our friendship and look forward to hearing more of your episodes.
Yeah, so for anybody listening, you know, we, Mike, if you're, uh, actually, he's trying to go all over and he's a friend, but a direct competitor now. But what the heck, uh, he's gonna, he's also looking to recruit and grow his company. It's Responsive Mortgage. You can look him up. Um, but if you want a really great place to work, instead, come to Ethos Lending and, and get, uh, get some coaching for me directly. Just kidding there, Mike. But seriously, guys, you know, Mike left a company for something better. And if you're stuck in a place that you think is holding you back, you're stuck in a place where the leadership, um, you're not happy with what they're doing, then don't be afraid to make a move. Make a move. Make a change. Do something that's gonna better your life. So, thank you guys for listening. Appreciate it. This is The Way Podcast, and, uh, we're here to empower, equip, and educate you every step of the way to do loans the way they should be done. Thanks a lot. We'll see you next [Music] time.