The Secret To Systematizing Your Credit Repair Business With Seth Mitchell

Our guest today is Seth Mitchell. He came from little money and humble beginnings, and I think he's a genius because he's grown his business by doing really clever things that you're going to want to know about. And today, he's going to tell us the secrets that he used to systemize his business, reduce his work, and build a credit repair business that now makes millions. So the big question is this. How can we take our passion for helping people with their credit and turn it into a successful business without taking loans, without spending a fortune by bootstrapping it from nothing so we can help the most people and still become highly profitable? That is the question, and this podcast will give you the answer. My name is Daniel Rosen, and welcome to Credit Repair Business Secrets. Hey, credit heroes. I am so excited. Our guest today is amazing. He grew up with very humble beginnings, which I'm hoping he's going to tell us about today. And now he's one of our credit repair millionaires. He's also got a background in engineering, used his engineering skills and applied them to systemize his business, and he's going to tell us about that as well and a whole lot more. He's very inspiring. I think you're going to learn a lot today of really clever ways to grow and scale your business. Please welcome to the podcast, Mr. Seth Mitchell. Hey, Seth. Welcome to the podcast.

Hey, appreciate you inviting me on.

I'm super excited you had the time for us. Thanks for being here.

Oh, yeah, no problem. No problem at all.

So for people who don't know your story, which is an amazing story, can you tell everybody what your life was like when you were young?

Oh, sure. You know, I definitely always tell people I kind of had a humble background, humble beginnings. I remember growing up, you know, not having a whole lot. You know, my mom was a single parent. She worked at McDonald's for most of my high school years, and she was just trying to make ends meet, you know, trying to, you know, make sure that I grew up with a house of love. But as far as materialistic things, definitely did not have the pleasure of those things. My dad, he was. He went to prison when I was 8 years old, and, you know, he got out when I was 19. He was able to see me graduate from college, but, you know, he went back to jail after that point. And so, you know, kind of growing up, you know, trying to find my own way, not necessarily having a father figure. You know, I had to kind of rely on people in the community. You know, my granddad was very influential in my life, you know, and so just being able to have an appreciation to kind of, you know, where I am right now versus where I came from is definitely, you know, something that I cherish. And I try to, you know, even teach my daughters, you know, that even though they don't really have that, you know, I won't say pleasure, because that probably wasn't the best words, but, you know, that experience, you know, kind of growing up, you still have to appreciate the small things in life and be, you know, appreciative of what you have and what you've been blessed with. So I kind of went to college, and I think that, you know, growing up the way that I did with the lack of resources that I have had, kind of gave me the drive and the passion, you know, to want.

More out of life.

You know, when you see other people doing other things, you're not. I was always, you know, in the impression of being happy for other people and not being envious, but at the same time trying to figure out exactly, you know, well, how did you get to where you got, and how are you able to take these vacations and these trips and different things like that. And, you know, just kind of carved out my own way, you know, to kind of get to where I am now.

And what did you study in college?

So I went to Auburn University, War Eagle to all my Auburn fans that may be listening to this podcast. But I studied in electrical engineering there and, you know, got my degree and went into the electric power utility industry out of college.

Wow. So how did you go from there into credit repair? What happened?

That's an interesting story as well. So, like I was saying, you know, I believe myself to be very ambitious, and, you know, I wanted to try different things. And so reading a few books, going to a couple of seminars, I got into the real estate industry and thought that, you know, I wanted to be a big time real estate investor. And, you know, everything started out great. You know, I was making progress. And then the recession in 2006, 7 and 8 kind of hit, and it took me with it, to say the least. You know, definitely that was a trying time in my life, you know, had, you know, bad credit through the foreclosures and trying to figure my way out of all of those different things. I actually reached out to a credit repair company initially, you know, and just didn't feel like they had the heart of a teacher, you know, because not only, you know, was I kind of looking for, obviously to fix my credit, but at the same time, you know, no one ever taught me about credit and didn't really understand. Like, I remember getting my first mortgage and I showed up at the place and the guy was like, you know, well, in order for you get the money, you have to sign here. And I being the engineer, you start asking question, well, what's this? What's that? And he's like, look, if you don't sign it, you don't hit the loan. So never really understood how qualified and what a FICO score was or anything like that. And after going through the foreclosures and, you know, you find out that your credit isn't good anymore and people aren't willing to give you money, then you have even more questions. And so that's what I started asking. Credit repair company is like, hey, don't worry about it, you know, we'll do what we need to do on our side. You get some things deleted and we'll get these things off your credit and you can move on and move forward. But I really don't feel like if individual doesn't get the proper education that they're going to be able to move forward, you know, later on and you'll find yourself right back into the same spot that you were in when you initially needed the service to begin with. So I kind of started doing my own research, learning a little bit more about the industry, trying to figure out exactly how this mysterious thing called FICO really works, and then started telling my friends and family, you know, about it and all that. You know, anytime you learn something new, you want to spread the word and spread, you know, to other people. And they're like, man, really, you know, can you help me? And after you get a few more of those, can you help me? And you're like, well, maybe I can, you know, do something with this business. And when I first started out, you know, we. I was just using Excel, you know, trying to keep, you know, names, numbers and letters and different things like that. You know, we didn't have the fancy credit repair cloud software to work with back when I initially got started in this business, but it really was, you know, kind of grassroots levels. Like there wasn't anything special fancy and great. Me and my wife were laughing probably a couple of weeks ago. I was just going through some old files on my computer, found some old letters, and then found my. Our original first logo with Priority Finance Solutions. Like, man, do you realize what this looked like, you know, back then? So to say the least? We've come a long way, but that's kind of, you know, how I got my start was really I needed to help myself.

Wow, that's really cool. It just sort of organically happened. So you started getting these people saying, can you help me too? When you started repairing their credit, but you're doing it all manually. What was that like?

I don't know what kind of podcast this is, so I will tone down my words, but it wasn't fun.

It's anything goes. You can say anything here, but tell us about doing it manually versus software. What was it really like?

It was definitely hell to say. I remember having letters stacked on the floor and licking envelopes and trying to keep up with who, you know, you mailed off this month and you know, what letters you need to send out and everything else is very chaotic. And again, being an engineer, I don't like chaos. Like, I like things to flow logically, you know, step one, step two, step three, abc. And I really could not figure out a good way to be able to do that, you know, at the time. And as you begin to scale, those problems get even worse, you know, so when you start with, you know, one or two clients, not that bad, 10 to 20, not that bad. But you hit, I kind of feel like that 100 to 150 threshold, you have to have processes in place to be able to handle that type of, you know, business flow and just monthly transactions and everything else. And so when we first initially started out handling everything manually, you know, I even had my little baby at the time. Angela was 2. You know, she was licking envelopes and putting stamps on letters and everything. And you know, people think I'm joking, but I was serious because she had a lot of slobber. So it was okay. She was very efficient. But at the same time that's not a good way to run and operate your business. But I know that a lot of first time listeners and people in the business will be listening to the podcast. So I will say this at the same time, do not be ashamed of small beginnings because you may have to kind of set things up that way just due to your circumstances. And it's okay. I'm a real big believer as add things as you get the capacity to be able to do them at the same time. Of us want the pretty shiny business versus just the grind of trying to get everything up and running and you have to bootstrap it sometimes and it may not look the best, but as long as you're getting good results, that's all that really matters at the end of the day.

Absolutely. So I know your business is very, very different than other people's businesses out there. And you've created really clever ways to automate and systemize it. And I know that also gives you a lot more time to spend with your family, with your daughters and your wife. Can you give us some examples of processes that you've implemented? Because they're really, really clever.

Oh yeah, sure. So one of the first things that we did back when we first got started was, you know, basically using Zaps in order to, you know, automate a lot of the front end transactions. So when someone would enroll into the services, you know, you want them to have them come in and have an automated way to intake them, them. So whatever systems you have in to get business, you know, clients, you know, once they get ready to sign, being able to transfer that information from, you know, wherever they're coming in at, into CRC is very beneficial, you know, on the front end and then having a follow up behind that. So again, you know, a lot of things have changed since I think I got started with CRC in 2014, 2015 or so somewhere. So you guys have made a lot of progress. So a lot of things that I built initially, you guys kind of came in and, you know, did some things with your own software that those things are kind of obsolete now, you know, in our processes. So appreciate that. But at the same time you could have did a little bit sooner than that. No, I'm just kidding. But yes, anything that I feel that is manual, that can be automated, whether that's, you know, especially data entry, like that's something that no one should be doing. You shouldn't be handwriting notes or putting, you know, typing in people's names, addresses, phone numbers and different things of that nature. When there's tools out there to kind of get people in because they're time savers. Like one of the things I learned in this business is that, you know, we always hear time is money, but the more time you're spending on tasks that really are not generating any revenue and just a part of the process and you can cut those things out, the better off you are. And it allows you to scale because again, you know, typing 10 names is different than typing a thousand.

Now you mentioned Zaps. I bet a lot of people out there listening don't know what that means. Can you break that down?

Oh, sure. So Zaps is a company called Zapier.com. you go there for the non techies. It's definitely, you know, something that I would recommend because you can kind of, you know, see your workflows and everything systematically. And there's a lot of basically software. So just think about it like apps. So there's a bunch of different apps. And Zapier allows one app to talk to another app. So, you know, CRC is an Apple. And then things like Excel and Zoho and Mailchimp and a lot of other apps out there. Zapier allows them to speak the same language without you knowing a lot of code and everything like, because even given the fact that I'm an engineer, I never like, you know, computer software encoding or anything to that nature. So this gives the, I would say novice user an opportunity to do some things from a technology standpoint that they otherwise would probably have to pay thousands and thousands of dollars to, to kind of create.

Can you give us some other practical examples of things Zaps can do for you?

Yeah, so we talked about the intake. They can also create calendar invites for, you know, your audit process. If you were doing that in the. And you want to automatically schedule an audit for them, you can use Zaps for that as well. So they can go, you know, create the Zap, set up the appointment. You don't have to touch it. You'll get an email, they'll get an email and the time will be scheduled. You can send out reminders. One of the big functions that we use in our day to day is text messaging. There's a couple different platforms or apps that's out there that you can plug into, but text messages, when someone signs up, they get a text from us saying, hey, we got everything successfully. Here's a little quick outline of what you should expect. And we did an audio recording. So they get a little link that they can kind of hear what the next steps are. You know, a lot of the customer service in of you answering questions, you want to try to get that, you know, in a video or audio version or something that you can automatically send out to someone to cut down on the questions that you may catch on the back end or what. Usually people want to know, now that I paid you, what can I expect in the next 30 to 45 days? So if you can automate that and record it and send it out in a text message through a Zap, that just makes everything a lot easier.

And, and to me, I think all that communication makes the service a lot more transparent. And I bet it helps with. Am I right that it helps with your client retention?

Exactly. People don't want to feel like they're in a black hole. And this Is one lesson that I learned just being in business in general, especially in this business, that your customer service is your biggest cost, but it's also your biggest benefit. And the more communication that you can have with your clients. And that's not to say that you need to talk to them day, because they will talk to you every day. They don't mind. But at the same time, you know, touching in, you know, on a seven day rolling schedule or 14 day rolling something periodically, it makes them feel like you're, you know, in this fight with them and you're not just waiting 30 days for the credit bureaus to respond back and then sending out another round of letters or something to that nature. So I recommend anybody that if you're not doing that, please start today.

Absolutely. Now, I know another one of your processes is pretty cool and it enables you to not have to be sending off and licking stamps and doing all of that. Can you tell us about that?

Yeah, sure. So I told you my pain point was, you know, really when I was looking at the letters being stacked up and everything. So we contacted the company, they're based out of India, but they don't have, because I know a couple people doing some things a little bit differently. So what we did is that we had them write a program for us. So we take PDFs, they scan them, you know, through OCR and they can catch, you know, name, address and everything like that. Now how that works on the back end, I don't know. I just know it works, you know, so whatever the program looks like, they take the letters from CRC once you print them, and then they put them in a zip file and they send them to a company that basically mass produce and mails everything out. And that's all automated. So every night is basically a batch file that runs at 12:01 and by 1:00 clock that next morning, those files are sitting at the mail processor's computer. And then they just print out on a systematic basis. And the mail processor sends us, you know, a report that says these people went out. We take that, we tag them and then we send a letter saying, hey, that your letters have been mailed, you know, on such and such date to the client. So there's a lot of different types of companies that are out there that's doing that. But so I think I'll talk more in general, the pieces that you need. So you would either need someone who's processing the letters and I would definitely recommend outsourcing even if they have physical people that's doing them and. Or, you know, talk to them about writing a program to batch file these letters. We chose to mail hours in the United States just due to HIPAA laws and different things of that nature. Again, you know, I'm not a lawyer, no attorney, but, you know, I would recommend that you talk to someone just to make sure that you're covered, you know, in that area. So that, that was just kind of our own personal opinion about that. But, you know, either way, you don't want to be the person who's mailing out the letters. If you're planning on scaling your business, if it's going to be 50 clients a year, you probably could manage. But if you're thinking that you want to turn this thing into something big, and if you listen to this podcast, I'm going to assume that you are, you definitely want to make sure that you're outsourcing that part of the process.

Super cool. And I remember you saying that this brought your dispute letter cost to about $3.17 per client.

Yep, exactly total. That's amazing.

Including all that labor that's outsourced labor.

Stamps, letters, envelope, and getting to the credit bureaus. Now, that doesn't include. Because I know a lot of people like to send their letters certified. They have an option where you can send it certified, but for me, they send us a tracking report every month. So we don't necessarily need that because the only reason why you really send them certified is to prove that you mailed them. So that's not an issue for us. Not to say that you should or shouldn't do it, but at the same time, you know, that cost where on General, I think when I started, if you just include my time, we're probably around more 6, $7 or something like that. So if you can get those costs down, you can do some interesting things with pricing models and different things of that nature on the back end. It opens the door up to a lot.

Super cool. Are you doing any other outsourcing any other parts of your business to other companies or people?

We were doing the customer service in that didn't work out too well. Just because there's a. I mean, there's not really a systematic approach to credit and credit repair and what people want to know, it typically starts off well, when did you send my letters? And then it's like you having a financial advisor, you know, kind of talk through problems or maybe even a counselor. So that wasn't the best approach. So what we tried to do, I think, you know, we've talked a couple different times, but we did more in the B2B Arena. So a lot of our clients come from other business owners that have some type of credit need with their clients in some shape, form or fashion. So they typically now handle all the customer service piece. We figured out that that's just not a good vertical for us to be in and trying to take on. Especially when you add the caveat that they're also someone else's client. And that's how they got to us. So we try to keep all our clients to take care of their own clients, if you will.

Gotcha. Yeah. And for everyone to know, I understand you and since we saw you last, you've now begun doing outsourcing for other credit repair companies and you're doing all their back end processing. What does that look like?

Well, it's actually what happened and kudos to you all for marketing and everything else. But you know, once the millionaires heirs club thing, you know, kind of took off, people, you know, either from CRC Cloud or just people on Facebook, you know, they all want to reach out and all want to, you know, hey, what are you doing? And everything like that, which that's, that's perfect and great and everything. But what I found out is that one, we weren't really set up for coaching calls and that wasn't really my niche. And I was like, well, should I get into it? And I'm like, well, that's not really what I like to do. You know, I like to help people, but you know, to have business and charging, I haven't really got to that place yet. I feel like, you know, people help me and I need to help other people, but at the same time that becomes time consuming. So what we decided to do was instead of trying to build, you know, basically our infrastructure and back end is just say, hey, you're already using crc. All the things that we've already set up plugs into all of these different things. All we really need is a username and a password and we can basically do the same thing for you that we're doing for ourselves and kind of cut cost and everything else. Because I think most people, when they get involved in this business, they just want to go out and help and they're good marketers, you know, and the back end is just, it slows them down and they probably could go out and get a lot more, you know, clients and customers and being able to pay a small nominal fee not to have to deal with that side of it and just Know that things are being, you know, taken care of just makes it a lot easier, you know, for them and for us versus, you know, every. It's almost like people like customized solutions. So when we first started talking to people, you know, it was like, well, we want to do this. And now we don't want a text message, we would rather have an email. And again, it was just easier for us to kind of take over the process and just, hey, we'll handle the back end and you handle the front end.

Yeah, it makes a lot of sense because some people are really good at sales and bringing people in, but they don't have the organizational mind and the time to do all that processing. So that's super cool. They can plug into your system.

Exactly, exactly.

Wow, that's amazing. Yeah, I'm a big fan of outsourcing of all sorts of things now. But you're still got your own financial services company going as well at the same time, correct?

Yeah, so we do a lot with home ownership. So we have a home buying program that a lot of our clients come to us on a day to day basis. You know, they're looking to buy a home and these people probably start off with anywhere from 500 to 550 credit scores. So they essentially are 912 even 18 months out from buying a home. And a lot of times, you know, realtors and mortgage brokers, you know, they're worried about the next 30 days, not the next nine to 12 months, and trying to help somebody walk through that process because realistically it's not beneficial for them, you know, at the end of the day. Now some, you know, will walk through a client process like that, but they're not going to be that ingrained. For those individuals, knowing that, hey, credit is a piece of the home buying process, but there's a lot of other things that we kind of got to have in place as well in order to really get you ready. And we form those relationships with the particular realtor that they may be using, letting them know that, hey, this is who we are, this is what we're trying to do. And then being able to send them back to them without them having to spend any money on the front end and meaning the realtor kind of selling leads. Because I think, you know, again, a lot of people starting this business, oh, I'm going to talk to every realtor in town and I need you to send me all your reject clients and everything else and we'll send them back. And a lot of times, you know, that's a Hard sale for realtors because their brand and who they are and their trust factor is the biggest thing. So if they don't know you and you haven't really took the time to kind of get to know them, that transaction is a very hard sale for them.

Got it. Okay. Fascinating. At the last credit repair expo, you talked about the difference between growing a business and scaling a business. Can you give us some examples of these differences?

Yeah, sure. So again, if you're new to the credit repair business and you maybe have your first client, you don't have any clients, you know, there's a lot of different things that you're probably trying to research, figure out, you know, what letters do I send, when do I send them again, what's the Fair Credit Reporting act and all those other things that are definitely important to our industry, you know, but as you're going to do that, you know, what you have to start asking yourself is, you know, what do you want the end goal to be? You know, are you building, you know, a 5,000 square foot house or is this just the little, you know, worksheet is going to be in the back and a lot of planning and everything else depending on which scope of work you're trying to do, kind of goes into that. So when you're growing your business, you're just trying to get the next sale and, you know, want to make sure that you're taking the necessary steps, then you're doing all aspects of business. You're the marketer, you're the customer service, you're, you know, mailing the letters and doing all those other things. But when you kind of go from growing to scaling and you hit that critical mass point that we were talking about earlier, that hundred to 150 clients, you want to make sure that you're either outsourcing or you have processes, procedures. I think Derek calls them SOPs. I think that must be a military thing. That was a new one for me.

Standard operating procedures.

Exactly. Yeah. So you want to make sure you have those things in place so as you're taking on more clients, that your business doesn't start busting at the seams from an operational standpoint. Because that's the depth of a lot of businesses that they go out and they start doing great things, but they don't have the infrastructure in place to really start taking on that massive growth and massive scaling, you know, and I don't, I don't think Daniel will mind, but I've kind of seen, you know, even credit repair cloud grow, you know, in that capacity and you know, you putting different things in place to be able to take on what you all are doing now with all the tremendous success. And I went through the same thing and, you know, trying to figure out a bunch of late nights of, you know, like, man, this is not going to continue to work. And you just try to hold it together. And I call that the growing stage, but the scalability stage is really, you know, putting those things in place. And I recommend anybody to, you know, do those things on the front end. Now, that's not tied to money. You know, a lot of times people want to throw money at different things and think that that's kind of preparing them for scalability, but it's really looking at your business from an operational standpoint and saying, hey, if I got a thousand people coming in today, can these processes, procedures, workflows, handle a thousand people coming in? And if the answer is no, and that's where you want to be, then you need to start putting those things in place to be able to handle the thousand people coming in. Because it happens quick. You know, there's a lot of new credit CRC millionaires that I've seen, you know, come across even since I was honored for that. So don't think that just because today you only got two or three clients that you're working with that 30 days, 60, 90 days from now won't turn four or 500, because it will.

Right. What would you say to the people out there who think they can do it all as like a one man band?

Well, the fact that I laugh probably lets you know where I'm going with this. That again. Yes, you probably, if they're in that place, they're probably thinking that they're saving money. You know, you only can do so much. I like to say we got 24 hours. But if you got a, you know, spouse, family, kids, dogs, pets, other family members, your time every day is going to be cut short. So one thing I learned very early on through some of my early endeavors is that, you know, you have to be able to leverage other people's times and other people's efforts. And if you're not able to do that, then, you know, at the end of the day you can only do so much. So, you know, you have a team, I have a team. Every credit replayer, cloud millionaire that you would talk to and you would let you know that they're leveraging other people's time and other people's efforts. So we're not, you know, on an island, we Reach out to one another, you know, try to bounce ideas off. The CRC group is probably a good testament to that. So not only just from, you know, leveraging other people's time and effort just for your knowledge base and standpoint, because, you know, I don't know it all, you know, I just happen to have the right opportunities and was prepared for them when they came across, you know, my table. Doesn't mean that I'm an expert. You know, I just try to work hard, you know, try to be honest and try to be fair, but then at the same time be open to new ideas and new ways of doing things.

That's really good advice. It's funny you mentioned that you started with Credit repair cloud in 2014. Back at that time I was trying to be a one man band. I was everything. I was Tammy on support, if you ever wrote support tickets, I was everything. And from the stress I put on £100 and it nearly killed me. And so when Keenan came on board, he got me to start offloading things. And now I'd never be able to even do this podcast or drive our business if I hadn't offloaded everything on other people. And I know you've done the same. What's that process been like for you?

Oh, it's been fulfilling. I mean, again, like you said, the stress levels to be able to. I remember very vividly we were at Disney. We go to, to Disney with the girls for Christmas every year. And this particular one is kind of when the company really kind of started taking off and I was so frustrated. My wife was definitely frustrated, you know, because while everybody else was having fun, I was in the hotel room still trying to get out letters and, you know, do different things like that. So, you know, where I really wasn't able to work on the business because I was working in the business. And I came back from that trip making a real conscious effort. That was right after the first CRC conference in la. You know, I heard Derek, you know, kind of talk about some of his automation. I was like, I have to, you know, do something different in order to be able to step away and be able to do more. Because if you get caught in that cycle, man, it is definitely dangerous. And like you said, it will kill you. So Keenan, you know, I know you're listening as well. Appreciate you saving Daniel, because that was going to be rough. And I remember having a couple of conversations with Tammy and she was very, hey, stay out of customer service. Daniel, I don't think that's your forte.

No we would get support tickets. That said, Tammy is a bitch.

I can relate sometimes, but. But yeah, it's definitely something that, you know, have to make a conscious effort to be able to, you know, do the things that you're good at. We're not good at everything. And find someone who can plug in in those gaps for you. Fill in the gaps.

Right, exactly. Because entrepreneurs often think that they can do everything, and you gotta start hiring people who are better at it than you. I mean, I'm always saying, I hire people that are smarter than me. And you feel the same?

Oh, yeah, I definitely feel the same way. I don't want to be the smartest man in the room and definitely don't want to be the smartest man on the team, you know, because we all have different skill sets. So a lot of times the smartest person isn't necessarily the best suited for the particular task at hand. You know, I. I've been around a lot of engineers that are great, you know, from a technical standpoint, but they couldn't sell, you know, wet paper bags.

Right.

You know, so at the same time, you get. You just got to figure out what, you know, what do you need on your team and kind of fit where you are and where you want to go.

Yeah. And then free yourself so that you can even just be the face of the business. Plus being the captain of the ship.

Exactly.

You can't be down below rowing.

No, not at all.

Now, at the last credit repair expo, you were on stage and you were amazing and you talked about, you said inconsistency in your pricing structure will make it challenging to scale your business. So how do you simplify your pricing structure?

Let your price be your price. I know a lot of people think that price is what's going to get people in. And then to some degree, that is true. Obviously, I think if you're trying to charge $10,000 for credit repair services, no one's going to come to your business. But, you know, if you're talking to, you know, person A and you tell them $49, and then person C is 79, and you don't really have a real consistent, you know, process on pricing, then you're not going to be able to scale because if it changes every time you talk to somebody, guess what? That's a stopgap. So you want to make sure that you are comfortable and you're providing the value that whatever your price is and whatever structure that you kind of come up with, you know, to be able to scale. I know a Lot of people are doing paper delete. That's a big thing now as well. Or if you charge monthly, whatever that is, and if you say, hey, we're going to charge $99 a month, it's $99. And that doesn't matter if you're talking to your mom or if you're talking to somebody you don't know. And that's something in business that, you know, a lot of times people have a hard time with, you know. But I'm a big fan of Chick Fil A. I don't know if they're out in California where you are.

They are.

Oh, perfect. Well, you guys are spoiled rotten now. But, you know, when you go into a Chick Fil A, those prices are the price. You know, no one's going in and saying, well, hey, my cousin works here, you know, I want, you know, a discount. And if they are, they're probably not getting it. And you have to treat your business the same way even though they know you at the same time. Again, if you're going to grow in and scale it, then you're going to have to make sure that your prices, you know, kind of stay consistent. Because I see a lot of people like, well, they may want to run a special, and then that special turns into free, and then they don't feel confident. Because I talk to a lot of people like, well, I just don't feel confident charging people. And it's like, but if you don't charge, then you're not going to be in business long. So how is this going to work? But being comfortable and knowing that you have value to the marketplace and you adding value to the marketplace. Marketplace, and your price is, you know, what it is.

Got it. I'm curious, I know you work with realtors. What are the other ways. What are the many ways that you get clients?

Sure. So, yeah, we kind of talked about the real estate aspect. Another thing that we do a lot with is with car dealerships and a lot of furniture stores have been one of our biggest new verticals, you know, that may offer, you know, the 90 day, same as cash and different things like that. But again, our approach is not so much the back end. Oh, well, this person didn't qualify for the service. Maybe they did, you know, but at the same time, if they're going to these places seeking credit, they probably don't have the best credit to start with. And it's an added value to the business. So in that particular example, what we do is basically offer, you know, a back end Product. So, hey, you come by a mattress and you get, you know, 90 days of credit, repair services. So three letters. It doesn't really cost the business that much. It doesn't cost us that much. I told you. Our price in that is, again, we're roughly $15 for three months worth of service, and we charge the business 60, $65.

Wow, that's really clever.

Yeah. So, you know, different approaches like that, you know, kind of keep us out of the, what I would consider the normal market. So, you know, when you start going to real estate agents and you say, hey, I can help people with credit, they probably got hit up by 10, 11. When I go talk to these furniture stores or, you know, make a zoom meeting or call is new to them. Like, they're like, well, how does this actually work? And, you know, and they can be. The way we sell them is that, you know, you're going to be the only one in town to be able to say that, hey, you're helping your community by helping, you know, people their credit when they buy a mattress or they buy, you know, a new bed or a new living room suit, you know, because again, the customer leaves with what they want it to begin with. You know, the financing may not necessarily be the best, but on the back end, they have someone that's helping them work. And then at the end of the 90 days, because we all understand that it may take longer than that, then we just follow back up with those clients and say, hey, this is where you are right now. If you want to continue the services, then you can continue. And that kind of keeps your revenue, or in our case, our revenue kind of going, you know, and moving forward as well.

Wow, that's really, really cool. And then are you also getting a lot of clients from word of mouth, from the existing clients and happy clients?

Yeah. So a lot of times, you know, for us, we always ask the other business owners, because the good thing about that is people know people. So, you know, we always ask them, do they know anyone else that, you know, they may kind of be able to take advantage of these services, you know, that we're offering now, depending on if they feel like it's gonna create competition. A little hesitant, you know, at first. But at the same time, you know, word of mouth is probably one of our biggest, you know, marketing tools. We don't do a lot of, you know, ads and different things like that, even on Facebook, mainly because we have had enough business kind of coming in from, you know, either people that we know in relationships, in our Sense our leads are basically people who are coming in from the marketing that these other businesses are doing. So it's definitely not necessarily prototypical, probably for most people's business profile in this industry, but it's a way that we've been able to carve out a niche, you know, in the marketplace that's kind of helped us out.

What I think is cool about that is a lot of people out there listening who are probably getting their business going or about to launch or having struggles. Many people think they have to spend a lot of money in advertising. I think this is real proof that you don't.

No, with technology today, I mean, it's really simple as identifying, you know, the business owner or whoever may be in their business development department. That's who we usually call and ask for. And they're like, I don't have anybody here by that. But that just kind of gets the conversation started. But. And then just setting up, you know, a zoom meeting or a quick phone call. I know a lot of people like to go out to lunches and do all these extra things, but these people are busy. So if you can just get them on the call for 10 to 15 minutes, kind of go through your spiel, it saves you time, money, gas and everything else. And you're able to probably get in front of them a lot faster than you would even want to their business establishment trying to wait on them. So I usually just word of advice, because I know people will say, oh, yep, I'm going to implement this, you know, reach out call. You're probably going to get a customer service person. Just ask them, you know, is there anybody there that you can talk to, you know, that works with their, you know, commercial or business development department? And they'll say, well, we don't have anybody. What do you need? You know, most of the times you just tell them that you have a way that you can add some value to their current clients. Then once you're able to get on the phone with the decision maker, it's just a quick, hey, all I need is 10 to 15 minutes. I think this would be a good product for you. You know, we're in this particular town, you know, reaching out to other business owners. You know, do you have some time now or do you have a time over the next couple of days? They give you an appointment, you call them back. And not a whole lot of sales pitchy stuff like just get down to the business. This is a product. This is, you know, the added value to your business. This is how much it's going to cost and let them make a decision and move on to the next one. You'll probably get 20 to 30 no's and just circle back because again, it's going to be new to them. No one's reaching out, I promise you. No one's reaching out to them, asking them this. They usually want something in return, one way or the other. And you don't have to be real, you know, creative with your sales pitch. It's really a direct approach.

Do you show them results, like pictures of people's results, things like that?

Well, I don't do that just because I don't feel like it really means a whole lot, you know, one way or the other. What I feel in that case is people trying to say, you know, this does work. It's enough proof in the industry that it works, you know. And then the other thing, I was at a training, and the guy, I don't know who it was now, but anyway, he was like, so what happens if they don't get those results? You know, you kind of set expectation because granted, everybody's not going to get their 10 deletions, you know, in the first 30 days if that happened, you know, so there's no point of setting those type of expectations, and you don't really have any control over that. One of my biggest mottos is control what you can control. And what I can control is, is that, hey, we're going to be consistent on mailing out the letters. You're going to get your results, and we're going to make sure that we did everything on our end that we said we would do, because the credit bureaus, as we know, they can do whatever they want to do. So I don't want to play. I don't want to play that game. And that's not to say that if you are doing that, listening to this podcast, that you're the worst. It's just something that we don't choose to do.

That's really good, actionable advice. I really appreciate that. I know everybody out there is appreciating that. You mentioned just a moment ago that you were at a training. Do you attend trainings and live events frequently?

Oh, yes, we usually go to at least one a quarter. I try to go to a couple, you know, again, I know I don't know everything, so I like to go and, you know, get other ideas. I like to network, meet different people at the first CRC conference, you know, to kind of help, you know, me, you know, in just some of the Things that I was trying to do. That's why I met Derek Harper at, you know, so any type of event where there's like minded individuals in the room is something that I definitely promote. Me and my wife will be out in California in March, you know, at a conference. So there's always different things that are out there. You know, again, I think the biggest value is in, you know, meeting the people that are attending, in getting the information from, you know, business leaders and experts and, you know, different people in those particular industries that you're in and the knowledge base. So I definitely recommend you doing it more often than not.

Absolutely. If anything to just be around like minded people. I really think that's a shortcut to success. And we, Keenan and I, we go to lots of trainings ourselves as well.

Yeah, I saw that big award you got a couple of weeks ago.

That was at the Club ClickFunnels event.

Yeah.

And we go to trainings with them to learn marketing and we go to trainings to learn how to structure a business and how to build a team and set goals and all that kind of stuff. What was that last training you were at that you mentioned?

The last one that I was at was it was a real estate convention out in Florida. Yeah, we were in Florida, in Miami. We were trying to get some information on some real estate funding. Again, trying to figure out, I don't know if you're familiar with Trio and then there's a couple other companies that are basically, they're kind of like rent to own programs, but, you know, they'll allow customers to kind of get in into the house, they will buy it and then, you know, basically provide the funding on the backing. And so we're trying to form some relationships to where we can kind of implement something similar into, you know, our process and get people, you know, into the home. Because like I was saying earlier, you know, a lot of people that come to us, they're looking, you know, 12, 18 months down the road. But if we can set some things up to where they can get into the house that they want now and start paying for it and have that sense of ownership, you know, in a real true rent to own program, not one that's just high rent and you know, they don't have any real path to home ownership on the back end. That's what we were looking for. Just trying to make some connections there.

That's really, really cool. Okay, now we're going to start a new tradition here on the podcast. We're going to go into A rapid fire round of questions. Are you ready?

Wait a minute. So I get to be the guinea pig? Yeah. All right, go for it. I'm ready.

Okay, Seth, if you could go back in time, what do you know now that you wish you had known when you first started?

Not to get into customer service.

Okay, good answer. Anything else that you wish you had known when you first started?

I think when I first started that. Don't get so caught up in the details of the disputing process. You know, what letters to mail and do I need to go in and be an investigator and really dive into the details of the letters? A whole lot. Like, I think that. I know I wasted a lot of time, and I hate to say it that way because I know that's gonna offend me some people in this industry. But at the same time, you know, understanding the laws and make sure you're protecting yourself and your clients is one thing, but really being a forensic reporter on the credit repair process is not necessary.

I agree. What's the most important lesson you've learned as a business owner?

Knowing your numbers. And what I mean by that is, is knowing, you know, your expenses, you know, your profit margin, and making sure that those things make sense. We talked about pricing earlier, but another caveat to that is if you don't price your product right, you're not going to be able to scale and grow. It's going to basically strap you down and not allow you to do some of the other things that you need to do to be able to grow your business.

Good advice. Is there a book that changed your life or your business that you'd recommend?

Yeah, it's actually sitting on my desk. I just looked over here because I was like, it's sitting on my desk now. It's called the Dip by Seth Godwin that basically talks about knowing when to call it quits. You know, a lot of times we want to press on and press on, but there's a systematic formula to say, hey, you need to get out of this thing, because it's not working. So that's one of the. I got a lot of books, but that's one of the latest ones that's really, you know, been influential, I think, over the last probably 10 years or so of my life.

Oh, amazing.

Yeah, it's a short read, too. It's not even that many pages for the people who, you know, don't like to read a lot.

Super cool. What does business ownership mean to you?

You know, you're able to create and grow and make Decisions good, bad, or indifferent that, you know, impacts not only your life, but the people that's a part of your team and part of your business as well. I know that there's this. It seems like the year of the entrepreneur, or the decade of the entrepreneur, if you will. And that's all good and well, but. But at the same time, when you really take on entrepreneurship and being a business owner, you really are impacting other people's lives. And that's a lot of responsibility. And I take that seriously. And so, along with that, I think that having the flexibility to kind of change paths if I want to or kind of continue down this one to grow something bigger is something that I can appreciate.

Cool. Most successful people tend to have a morning routine. What's your morning routine?

Prior to getting up, getting the kids ready, I get up, you know, kind of go to the bathroom, you know, look in the mirror. I actually do do affirmations. So, you know, that. That is a thing for me.

Awesome.

And my wife, you know, we both, you know, kind of go through that whole process together every morning. And then the dog's usually barking, so I gotta take him out and let him do his business. And then after that, you know, I come back in and I just write down the five things that I wanna do to get done that day. And I just kind of take. Because this. Usually I get up around 5, 35, 45. So this is kind of an early start for me most days. But I try to, you know, say, hey, today these five things are going to get done no matter what else, and go through that process. And then it's, you know, chaos in the Mitchell household. So it's getting kids up. And, you know, I got one that loves to get up, got one that doesn't. So that morning routine, and after that point, you know, it's kind of up to them on how it's going to go one way or the other. And I drop the kids off and kind of come back and, you know, get to it.

I love that. And I love that you write the five intentions for the day. Keenan and I both do that. Well, he's better at it than me, but I'm working on it.

Yeah, you seem to be more of a free spirit, so I can see that.

I have a hard time in structure, but I'm working on it. But Keenan's very good with structure. And finally, what's your advice to anyone just starting out with a credit repair business?

Enjoy the process. You know, don't forget why you even decided to Start. Most people probably had the same story, similar mine, why they got started because their own credit was messed up or someone close to them's credit was messed up. So, you know, always remember that part of it. Because as much as, you know, we grow and we talk about all the great successes and everything else, what keeps me grounded is always looking back, you know, remembering that, you know, 21, 22 year old guy that wanted some help. That's what we try to express to our team to give to our clients is that most of these people, if they had another option, they probably wouldn't call us. So let's treat them as such, give them some value and try to educate them in the process. So definitely remember why you started.

That's good advice. And especially the making it fun and enjoying it. Hey, before we go, how can someone find out about your outsourcing services?

Sure, just reach out to me. Very simple. I'm on Instagram, but not that much. I'm trying. That's something I'm working on this year. But just go to Facebook. Seth Mitchell. Now there's a box of Seth Mitchell. That's not me, you know, so maybe you look for me in the CRC cloud Facebook group first. Just make sure you're reaching out to the right individual. Just inbox me, you know, I'll let you reach out to you, let you know kind of what we offer. If it's good, fit, great. If not, don't lick too many envelopes. I'm telling you it's going to get rough, but that's the easiest way to get to me and Obviously our website, priorityfinancesolutions.net but again, the easiest, quickest way is through Facebook.

Awesome. Well, I want to thank you so much for your time today, Seth. You're so awesome and inspiring and you have such great insights. I really appreciate you being here and thank you so much for, thank you.

For all the awesome things you're doing, you know, with the CRC credit Heroes. It's definitely a movement. I get excited. I know I don't have as much time to plug in as I would like to, but I'm still watching you, so don't worry.

Okay, well, thanks again and you guys, I hope you enjoyed this. And also remember this is a new podcast, so if you're enjoying what you're listening, please click below to subscribe and also rate and review us and that'll move us up the charts and we'll be able to reach a lot more people. And thank you again, Seth and you guys have a great day and keep changing lives. Want a fast track to creating an amazing business that helps people, changes lives, and makes you a great living in the process? Then I'd like to invite you to my free online training at Credit Repair Cloud. In this free training, you will learn how to get clients willing to pay you even if you're just starting out, how to get easy credit repair results without being an expert, and how to get all the clients you'll ever need without paying for advertising. Again, this training is absolutely free. Just visit creditrepaircloud.com freetraining.