EP 633 - Mike Miedler On The 121% Rule For Success

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This is the no Closer show where you get the latest developments in distressed note investing and learn the secrets of how you can control millions of dollars worth of property for pennies on the dollar. Get educated and entertained by someone who has closed thousands of deals and lives to support you in achieving the same. Now, here's your host, CEO of We Close notes, Scott Carson.

Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening, everybody. Welcome to this episode of the Nook Closer Show. As always, Scott Carson. Excited to be here with you today. Even more jacked up. We've got somebody on here who you never know. You're one degree away from a lot of people these days. And I got an email a couple of weeks ago from a buddy of mine, one of the first podcasts I was ever on, over a decade ago. And that led to me speaking to the National Associated Realtors Conference in New Orleans years ago. And we stayed in touch with the guy. And I get a phone call and an email from my buddy Peter Mosk over and says, hey, man, I'm in New Jersey here. And I was wanting to know if you'd like to have my buddy and boss come on your podcast. I was like, who's that? He's like, told me. I was like, yes, let's get this done. So we are honored to have The President and CEO, somebody who is in charge of 136,000 plus personalities across the country. Mike Mehler joins us this morning. What's going on, Mike? How you doing, man?

Hey, Scott. Really appreciate the invite, man. This is going to be fun. And like I said, congratulations to you on all the success. You know, as you and I were talking earlier, it's all about, you know, kind of focusing and dominating in a specific area. And you've been so great over the years. So thanks for the invite to the show. This is gonna be fun.

Yeah, man. Nope. Thank you very much. They say nothing. Everybody loves it when you succeed. They don't see the day in, day out grind. Right. You know, the episodes, the errors, the mistakes and that learning curve. And I know that's always been kind of a big pride in what you have done in your career. Cause you've been with C21 over 21 years, or just, just beyond 20. You celebrated earlier this year, didn't you? Correct?

Yeah, yeah. It's been. I think it's getting on 22 now. Started back in early 1998, which is. I kind of joke around people, Scott. I said, you know, like, everybody, I kind of got started at the ground level in the mail Room and, you know, have just learned a whole bunch and have had the great fortune of meeting a lot of great people in this industry and asking a lot of questions.

Yeah, that's awesome. What's been the biggest surprise for you when you think back? Because you have grown. You've been there a long time. It may not be too big a surprise because you've been around with, but what's been the biggest surprise? Becoming the president and CEO.

Yeah. You know, I mean, I think one of the cool things about real estate, and this is what I love about the industry so much, is that as much as has changed, right? So much different technology, so many different people entering the space. I mean, you know, you talk a little bit about just some of the investors who have come into it, whether it be from a tech side or actually investing in residential real estate. You know, as much as has changed, a lot has stayed the same, right? Because at the end of the day, this is literally the largest financial purchase most people are going to make in a lifetime. And it's so emotionally attached to them, their family, their most intimate moments where they're gonna raise their kids. And I think people think that the real estate, as they call it, transaction, it's difficult when you go through the experience. There's a lot to navigate, right. From the legal side, the financial side, all that stuff. And I think at the end of the day, what hasn't changed is that people are still looking for that trusted advisor, somebody who's gonna be there for them and really create an experience through the process. Because, you know, there's 180 steps in this process depending on what, you know, country or state or city you're in. And, you know, you got to have a really good expert on your side in order to navigate that. So, you know, as much has changed, there's a lot that's really stayed the same, which is kind of interesting to me.

Yeah, it's definitely, I would agree, 100% with most people, it is their biggest investment. And when we talk with new investors coming into the market, like, well, I've never bought an investment problem. Oh, you have. You bought your primary residence. You've been a real estate investor since you started that. And a lot of people have a tendency to discount that. I'm like, no, no, no. That's the biggest learning curve is when you're buying a house, it can be intimidating. It's not all about paint and carpet and the landscaping. It is about curb appeal a lot of times, but it's still getting through that process. And I think we're in such a weird place right now with historic interest rates being low, demand very high. I know it's high up where you're at. It's high where we're at. Very little inventory out there. Where do you see the biggest opportunity for your agents in today's market? I know every state and city is a little bit different, but if you could think about an untapped aspect of your agents or in the real estate field right now for your agents, what would you say that is right now?

Yeah, I mean, I honestly, I think the opportunity comes in just making sure that you're serving the client properly. I mean, if you look at what really the best agents do, the ones who've been around this business forever, the ones who continue to get repeat and referral business, it's because they are, again, they're providing that experience throughout the process and they earn that, that business back. I mean, I think, you know, the opportunity to me is just to be out there working. There's, as you said, it's, it's such a weird time. And I, you know, I kind of reflect on the last eight months and think about, you know, back in March when I was talking with our top agents and our top brokers, not just, not just around the country, but, you know, the folks that we have, we got, you know, it's close to 4,000 offices, like 30,000 professionals in China. Right. Who was the first one into this? And when you talk to anybody around the globe, I think the opportunity is the same. It's like you don't know what's going to happen from a business perspective, but you got to stay in touch with your clients, you got to stay in touch with your community. You got to continue to be out there working. And I think I'm hearing from some of our top real estate professionals, they're having the best year that they ever had because they never took their foot off the gas. And they remained out there working in a safe manner, in a healthy manner. You know, they had to figure out how to do things virtually. We as an industry pivoted really quick. Right, Scott? I mean, if you think about how fast we've moved forward as a real estate profession in the last nine months, like even from just a notary perspective, allowing and states pushing forward and allowing notarizations online versus in person, I think we've come a really long way. And I think the opportunity and the ones who seized it were the folks who were just out there for their clients out there for their community, educating people about what's happening in the market and just being there for them, really.

Yeah. It's definitely caused a lot of people having to pivot and start thinking outside the box how to continue with that communication. Communication is key in any aspect of real estate, Whether it's buying a house, a mortgage, investing whatever it might be. You've got to keep that communication factor up. And people had to learn how to pivot. I mean, who doesn't wish they bought a lot of Zoom stock back in January, you know what I mean?

Exactly.

Now, you guys, I heard on a previous episode as I was researching and getting some more stuff there, that you guys have really embraced. It may have changed since that episode, but really in place Facebook workplace to help with that communication. Is that correct?

We have. You know, it was a venture that we. We went into about 18 to 24 months ago. And I'll be honest with you. You know, Scott, like, communication, as you say, is key. No matter what aspect of your life, right. Whether it's with your wife, over where the kids have to go on the calendar, or in a business setting, you always got to constantly be communicating. I think Facebook workplace and Facebook in general, it's the normal medium that everybody naturally gravitates to and everybody already knows. And so we decided from a business perspective, the best way to knit together our community. And just to be clear, 85 countries, in fact, you know, we just pushed into Italy, so soon it'll be 86, 147,000 sales professionals around the globe. And the best thing about our network, honestly, Scott, is all of the expertise and all of the experience of all these folks across the globe. And so, you know, we figured, what better way to knit them together, not just from a business perspective, but from a social perspective, a mastermind perspective, a coaching, a training. And by the way, they share a lot of deals and referrals across the board through Facebook, right? So, you know, what better, what more natural platform to kind of weave your organization together when you're that large than Facebook, right? And we've done it, and it's been a hit. And, you know, I can't even tell you the amount of video that I've been posting now in the last nine months there to communicate with people.

Well, that's the beautiful thing, I think video is the wave. It's been the wave for a while that you've got to embrace that in your marketing, in your communication, not only with your clients, but also in your output post. You know, the whole idea of one on one conversations. I mean, there's nothing wrong with exchanging business cards, but that one conversations to the masses that leads to those valuable one on one phone calls, conversations and meetings with your potential clients or buyers or sellers. Right.

And Scott, I know you've been a pioneer on that front, right? Probably way out ahead of a lot of people. I mean, podcasting and videoing for years. But like a lot of people in general, especially real estate professionals, they're uncomfortable being on video, right? But they've realized, I think in the last nine months, hey, I don't have to be perfect. Like, you know, I don't have to be extremely well scripted. I don't have to look, you know, my hair is perfect, like for, for Hollywood and all that other stuff. I, you know, I can communicate to people how they want to be communicated with and just be natural about it. So it's been really fun to watch.

And that's, that's getting beyond the fact that people aren't there to see you. They're there to see the house or see the property for the most part. I know I've had these conversations with realtors. Years ago, we were actually here. Austin is a hot market, so we were actually doing walkthrough videos with a business partner of mine who was a realtor. I'm not a realtor, but doing walkthrough videos from, I say Betty Bluehairs, you know who I'm talking about. You know, hey, let's do a walkthrough video of it and we'll market it. And we were getting buyers from California and other coasts coming into Austin. All those videos is embracing aspect of the thing. And I've seen a lot of agents who have really, their market skyrockets because they've embraced that, the virtual showings, the virtual releases, all that kind of stuff, because it is such faster pace environment economy these days, huh?

And you're right, People were ahead of the game in that regard. And, you know, there was a lot of agents who were able to kind of like adopt that technology in their business. There's a lot that had to pivot really quickly in March, right? I mean, you know, we, as a Century 21 brand, you know, we went out and taught a class on, you know, doing a tour from your couch, and we put a virtual open house component on our website so that people could now consume their property the way that they wanted to in a safe manner. So, yeah, we all had to pivot. But the folks who were out in front of that, you know, they really had A great head start over these last few months.

You talk about 121% of philosophy or have a. Can you explain that a little bit more? I was doing a little research on that. Can you share a little bit about what that is?

Yeah, I mean, you know, at century 21, we believe in defying mediocrity and delivering extraordinary experiences. And, you know, we have a saying called the 121% rule. And I think, you know, whether you were a real estate sales professional or, you know, like my daughter who's on her, you know, trying out for her tennis team or whatnot, no matter what aspect of your life, I think there's three really basic components that will lead you to continue to have success and push yourself further. And I call it the 121% rule. And the first 50% is your mindset, right? I mean, for all of us, you gotta wake up every single day grateful, showing gratitude to the people around you and the folks that you work with or love or live with, and just being mentally positive about the day. Looking at the glasses half full versus half empty. And I think there's really some awesome ways to do that. In fact, we just had our top agent event last week and we had this two awesome speakers. And one of them, Dr. E, who hails out of Chicago, you know, she's been on the Today show and all these things. But I mean, I think there's just really simplistic ways to do that. And one of them is just spending some time for yourself and thinking about what you want to accomplish, right? Whether that's meditating or doing yoga or taking a walk around the house, or, you know, if it's exercise, whatever it is, you just, you need to spend a little bit of time for yourself. And the other thing is, Scott, you gotta, you gotta hang around other people who are mentally positive and mentally strong and are winners and are trying to up their game. Because, you know, you can sit and turn on the news and get yourself really depressed these days, right? Like, who has time for that? And the truth of the matter is that if you have a great strong mindset and you're starting out your day and you're starting out your life in the right direction and you're gonna have a huge head start the next 50%, right? I mean, would you agree with that 100%?

You've got to surround yourself with like minded individuals. And if you're around stinking thinking, you got stinking thinking. And it's all, you know, that's the thing. You never Know, any day that you wake up, you're not six feet below ground, it's a good day. You know, I think you probably. I can sense a little bit of Zig Ziglar here in that. In your thing, or Michael Gerber. I know you're a big fan of the E. Myth as well out there as well. Are you still starting your days with everything going on with your normal run?

I do, man. In fact, I did a bunch this morning. I'm actually training for a very big personal goal with a few of my great century 21 brokers and agents who kind of dared me into it. And I've been training really hard. The one blessing from COVID is that I've had time. I've not been on a lot of airplanes, and I've been able to put in more time on that front. So, yes, thanks for asking.

What's that goal? Come on, man. You can't tease us like that. What's the goal you're working toward?

So a couple of great brokers and agents and professionals, a gentleman named Greg Harrelson down in Myrtle beach and Adam Obersky and Nick Sloane up in Detroit. They saw the Iron Cowboy with me. We had him as a big speaker for us. He's on Netflix. I don't know if you've seen his great guy. It's amazing, right? This is a guy who went out and he did 50 Ironmen in 50 days in 50 states, and Nike and Under Armour told him, it's physically impossible. You can't do it. No human can. And he wound up accomplishing it. So anyway, he did a phenomenal speech for us last year, and literally a year ago, probably to the day, and after the. After the event, these guys said, hey, we're going to do an Ironman. You got to get in on it. And I was like, oh, my God, I don't think I could do that. And they were like, oh, come on. That's the difference between varsity and jv. And I said, oh, my God. I think I have to dig in and really push myself outside of my comfort zone. And believe it or not, Florida, the Florida Ironman is still on, and it happens next week. And in a week from today, I'll be traveling down there to try to make it happen. So we'll see.

That's awesome, man. Congratulations on that. It's all about. Part of. It's about the journey before you get to the finish line, right.

And there's so much learning in between. And that leads me to the second part of the 121 rule. It's the second component, Scott, and I think you would agree with this wholeheartedly. It's all about continuing to increase your skills and your knowledge, no matter what business you're in, what line of work, what you're trying to accomplish, whether you're a reader or you're listening to podcasts, or you're going to other people for mentorship and trying to figure out how to take that next step and get out of that comfort zone, you always got to be learning, right? And so again, whether you're trying out for the tennis team or you're trying to be a better sales professional, you got to constantly educate yourself, especially in this market. Things have changed for real estate professionals. You had to learn about virtual tours, you had to learn zoom. You had to. You know, there's a lot of things we had to learn over the last eight months, and you got to continue to do that. I always say this business is in rocket science, and there's nothing you can't teach yourself in order to have success in real estate. So that's the second component. And I know you agree because you're trying to educate people every week, every day through your podcast, right?

That's correct.

And then the last 21%, and probably the most important is just going out there and working, doing the activities like getting up and actually creating a list for yourself and going out and doing things that are going to put you into a position for you to achieve your personal goals and for you to achieve your why. And putting that plan into effect every single day, you know, whatever the scheduling is that allows you to do it, you just got to get up and do it.

That's the truth. It's a lot of the same things over and over again, but it's those nuts and bolts that build the biggest companies. It all comes down to the individual pivots or the nuts and bolts and washers that build these skyscrapers as success. If you don't have that, you never build anything big, right?

I love that. I love that. A great analogy, Scott.

You can use it, man. I'll let you use it. Just gotta give it credit. Three times. All right, I will. Now, you guys have done an amazing job of pivoting, but what would you say to those out there, those naysayers that think that the, the realtor, the broker, is going to go the way of technologies and takeover and replace realtors out there?

Yeah, I mean, I. Look, as I said earlier, you know, we're a 50 year old brand. We've got a tremendous consumer awareness from, you know, literally hundreds and thousands of offices and agents who have been part of our system and come and gone over 50 years. Right. And I think, as I said earlier, to open up, you know, there's been billions of dollars, is it safe to say, to be that, that have been poured into the real estate industry from a tech side. And people always talk about, oh, you know, AI or disruption or technology is going to disintermediate the real estate professional. And, you know, it's going to go the same way that, you know, travel's gone or whatever, these other different industries. And the truth of the matter is that over the last few years, people are using agents more now than they ever have, even in the 80s and 90s. And the reason being is because, like I said earlier, Scott, like the business of completing a real estate purchase or sale is a difficult one. And there's a lot of different steps in the process. There's a lot of different nuances depending on what market you're in. There's a lot of different people that you have to corral in the process.

Right.

I always say real estate professionals, they're. They're not just market knowledge experts, they're not just great negotiators, but they're also like contractors. They're also psychiatrists. They're also marriage counselors, they're movers. Listen to this. This is a great story. We had a gal down in Florida, Iva Suarez, right. Who. This is probably a couple of weeks into the pandemic. She had to marry a couple at her office in order for them to qualify for the mortgage. Cause they were planning on getting married. They just couldn't do it because of COVID She wound up marrying them at their office in order for them to close on their home that day. I mean, like, where else do you hear those types of stories but the real estate industry, Right. And so, you know, we don't get enough credit for everything that we have to do in the process of delivering the dream of home ownership in this country. And quite candidly, Scott, how much incremental financial kind of activity that happens around the real estate transaction, whether it's title, mortgage, moving, Home Depot, Lowe's, the local shops and restaurants, whatever it is, when people move to a marketplace, there's a lot that goes on that spreads economic activity throughout the community.

Yeah, it totally does. I agree with it. And that's why it's such a great barometer of where everything is going. But I'm going to pivot A little bit here because with what we're doing in the stressed debt markets and looking back, I mean, I just got some numbers in that we pull on a quarterly basis as banks are filing their quarterly reports with the FDIC and the default numbers are up from 85 billion in over 90 day lates across the country to over $100 billion. I think we're going to see the national default rate jump above 10% where it's at 8.22% across the country. It's higher actually in your neck of the woods than it is in other parts of the country. You know, when we're looking back at that, we have an hourglass and kind of see the history of what happened in 2010 with 15 million homeowners underwater as approaching that, you know, steps are you guys doing or looking at to, I don't want to say take advantage of that market, but helping clients out that are facing foreclosures or going through the big D, and we don't mean Dallas because of distress and job loss. What are some of the things that C21 is doing to try to help your agents prepare for that kind of that tsunami of deals that we think, or tsunami of listings or foreclosures or short sales coming down the pipeline?

I mean, look, we have a tremendous amount of professionals who are absolutely versed and experienced in, you know, short sales and reo. You know, they, they did a ton of work on it. Hundreds and thousands of deals as you can imagine, through 2008 through 2012. You know, we have a, what I would call a small mastermind group that's looking at, you know, where the market is headed. And I do think, you know, to me, I'd rather see folks kind of like, you know, helping people through a short sale. And we people who are doing that currently right now. Right. I mean, you know, it'll be interesting to see what happens with all the moratoriums that the government's put in place. Are they going to get extensions? Is that the right thing for the marketplace? You know, I was just reading how Invitation Homes and some of these other big, you know, investment companies are moving in and raising, you know, millions and billions of dollars. So it'll be interesting. I think it's a natural cyclical circle, unfortunately, that we have to deal with as an economy and as a business and as a soc. That doesn't mean that I want to see people evicted or moved out of their homes or any of those things full on hard times. But you know, I think as real estate Professionals, we have to be out there, again, educating consumers on what their options are. And if people do have, you know, an issue in, you know, where they're going to be getting their next payment on their mortgage from or that they are looking at potentially a foreclosure situation, speak to a real estate professional who's versed in having these conversations. Because, look, I mean, you know, banks don't, you know, banks want to figure out a win win for everybody. And, you know, we have a group out of LA who have done a tremendous amount of short sales throughout the country and, you know, they're trying to help spread that education throughout the Century 21 network. And, you know, hopefully we'll be able to help and continue to, you know, keep people in their homes. That said, Scott, I mean, you know, like, the market is really moving in the right direction and, you know, I think we have the highest home ownership rate than we have in like, you know, 12 or 13 years since 2008. So, you know, we'll see what happens. It's going to be, like I said, a natural evolution in my mind.

Yeah, that's the great thing. The highest homeownership level and we also have the highest savings level, which is kind of is people stocking money away the Most is what, 85. Usually it's people are like one missed paycheck away from everything. Now they're socking money away not knowing what's going on. So great opportunities out there to move money into real estate or investments or second homes or other things to bring in some cash flow.

That's the good news. And the scary part, you think to yourself, like, I know me personally, right? I mean, I'm not spending any more money on gas. I'm not spending any more money on getting on flights, in hotels, you know, at sporting events. All these things we used to do as a society, you know, that that's going to cause a ripple effect for unemployment. But I do think the economy is pivoting. Like, there are certainly winners and losers in this space. I think people are reimagining themselves and businesses are, you know, reimagining themselves. I just read a great article where, you know, folks said, hey, look, I used to be in this line of work. I don't think that's the future for the economy. I moved into something else and they've started a career there. So. So the unemployment numbers seem to be going in the right direction. We'll just have to continue to see what this virus does.

Yeah, I agree. It's interesting to See what will happen with the elections as well. That moratorium is gonna be extended if Trump wins or not, if he loses or what happens, whoever goes into there. I think the biggest thing is a lot of people are, I'm gonna wait till after the elections. Don't wait. The best time to buy a house was 30 years ago, and today. Exactly what it is. Right.

I mean, look at mortgage rates, as you said earlier. I mean, they're at a generational point which would save you hundreds and thousands and depending on the size of your property, you know, over a lifetime. I mean, look, your purchase power could never be stronger. And the other point here, Scott, is that, you know, you got 90 million millennials who are out there who are literally starting families, and now they're not renting in New York City, they're buying, you know, they're buying suburban homes out in New Jersey and Connecticut. And so I think there's a real interesting tsunami on that front with 16 million new household formations from 2015 until 2025, which is more than we've seen in four decades. So it's going to be interesting to see where we go on that front.

Yeah, definitely. In major areas, like where you're living at, where I'm at, the need for affordable housing has never been bigger. So if you can find something in the outskirts, we have the same thing. People would rather drive an hour, sitting an hour in traffic to buy a bigger house versus a small condo downtown Austin. And like you said, a lot of people want to get out of those populated areas, so they've got a little bit of space to breathe or for the elbow space. You know what I mean?

Yeah, well, I mean, not only that, but like, you know, again, I don't know how long it lasts, Scott, but, like, you know, do people actually have to sit in that hour of traffic every day now? Some do. I mean, there's a lot of industries that do, but maybe some can do it two days a week versus five, and it makes it more bearable. Right. I think that's an interesting kind of effect of all this.

Yeah. Those extra basements and extra bedrooms or those garages that turn into. I know you've been working in your basement for a while, if I remember correct.

I joke with people. You know, it's my basement, it's my home office, it's my home gym. Literally, this is at the table where I eat my lunch. So it's my cafeteria. At about 6 o' clock at night, it turns into one of my daughter's dance studios. So it's like, you know, it's a playroom. It's the laundry room.

That have a lot of value in those extra rooms or those extra living rooms or whatever you can find us.

No doubt.

With you striving to become president and CEO, I know that that's not exactly what you thought you would be. I think you were a big Fox Mulder fan growing up and thought you'd be that. Is that correct?

Yeah, I was. Mean, I probably have the actual, you know, CDs from like. Like before Netflix was popular, you know, I had CDs from almost every season laying around here in the basement somewhere. But, yeah, I used to love X Files, so.

But going to where you're at now, has there been a mentor along the way, Somebody you reach out to when you're. Because I'm a big believer that shit flows uphill, not. You shouldn't let shit flow downhill. Right. Is there somebody that you reach out to on a regular basis to talk to, just to vent to, really be mentored by? I'm sure you've had amazing mentors along the way because you wouldn't be where you're at without that. I can tell you. Well, who's somebody you reach out to or listen to or talk to on a regular basis?

No. Thanks for saying that. I mean, you know, I literally just believe it or not, texted Alex Perillo, who was the recent, or the former, I should say, CEO of the Real G Franchise Group, which again, W.E. century 21, Coldwell Banker era, Sotheby's, Better Homes and Gardens, etc. You know, it's his birthday today and I wished him a happy birthday. But there's so many people in my life, as I told you, that I've spoken and met so many awesome entrepreneurs in this business from every corner of the globe. And depending on what topic it is, like you mentioned short sales before. I've got a guy in LA, a dear friend, his name is Ellie, with Century 21 Peak, who's a master at short sales. And when I need to think about something along those lines, I reach out to him. So, depending on the topic is who I reach out to. But you know what's been Even great? Former CEOs of Century 21, Rick Davidson. I heard from Tom Coons just literally a few days ago. We were talking about something on the business front. So I'm reaching out to anybody that I can get some knowledge from. And I'd be remiss if I didn't say Mike Ferri, who is a big coach in the industry who I've learned a lot from, probably pulled a lot of that 121% rule out of. But there's just been a lot of folks who've helped educate me and have been really great in all the inquisitive, you know, discussions that I've had with them. So thanks for asking. But there's been so many.

Yeah, I know. And I think that's one common denominator I see from successful people is they listen and they're coachable to other people that they strive. And I've always found those that are successful are often the most giving of their time that want to help support those that are on the climbing that ladder or working towards those goals. Right.

Mike, I love that you said that because I think the very best leaders in this industry and probably anywhere, they are so selfless and want, they get real joy and just drive out of seeing other people succeed. And that's what, you know, I think that's a common denominator for any great leader in this industry and for all the great brokers inside of century 21 is they, they. They get more out of pushing other people to do their very best and their best work than they do about their own.

Yeah, I think brokers. Brokers definitely need a big shout out because like you said, not only are they dealing with a regular business, but they're also oftentimes, like you said, psychologists, marriage counselors, business coaches, adult babysitters, when they run different offices. Right now, one of the great things that we see a lot, obviously, is investors coming out there. Anything specifically that you have done, taking over C21 to kind of embrace the investors that they're doing? A little bit more than just your retail buyers.

Yeah, I mean, we should probably be more mature in that space, meaning looking towards investors. Investors from a real G perspective, we have a whole business development group that looks at that arm and helps as a realty company. We have 300,000 agents across the globe and just so many offices. And so we have more of a real component that kind of looks at that business and how we can help from a corporate perspective. But we're always out there trying to figure out how we can help anybody on a massive scale. Right. So from a local investor standpoint, that's a whole different discussion because we've got agents in every nook and cranny of this great country helping serve what I would call more mom and pop investors. And they do a phenomenal job at counseling them, educating them on cap rates and all those Other great things that go along with the process. But again, I think to your point, there's nothing like somebody who knows the local market and what's happening. And so be sure to be in touch with somebody who really understands the intricacies of whether it's the zip code or even more on a smaller micro market, because they'll really be able to help you kind of figure out what your investment strategy should be in a local place.

I love that you say that, Mike, because with us buying distressed debt in portfolios all across the country, that's the number one person that I tell people you've got to develop those local relationships, that people have their pulse on the market. Yeah, you can jump on NAR RPR and pull a real property report, which is like about as good as Zillow. But before you close, you got to put eyes on the property. You have somebody that local that understands, always have the person pulling the value for you be the person that's looking at the property, knows what's going on. Because there are so many different intricacies going out there. I know that you guys have been working on a piece of software too, to kind of match up with all the different MLs and due diligence and title aspect too. How's that going?

Yeah, so we kind of equate it to like the Domino's Pizza tracker, right? You know, and you laugh and people kind of joke around. They're like, oh my God, that's interesting. Right? But, but Domino's just has this awesome customer experience. I look, I don't, I never eat Domino's pizza. My kids would, but I wouldn't. But that said, like, the experience for the customer is phenomenal. They've crushed it. Right? You know, you order from your phone and you know exactly where it is in the process. They're okay, they're putting the pepperoni on it now. Okay, it's in the oven. Okay, it's about to be boxed. Okay. It's. It's three streets away. And that same mindset, that same concept is what we want to try to bring clarity and transparency to the end consumer in a very easy to use app based program that people can understand where they're at and let their agent and anybody else who's involved in the process know through an emoji, a smiley face or a sad face, like, I'm either happy with this or I'm not happy with this and be able to communicate. You said it earlier, communication is the most important and most essential thing in any business. Relationship. And I think this would hopefully help add some transparency in an otherwise digital world.

I love it. I love it. I love it. You've got a busy plate. Not only training for an ironman, but handling everything that's going on. Dealing with COVID and the craziness of this. Who would have thought? We're nine months into something that we thought would be 90 days. As for a lot of people thought, right. What are some big goals or something that you've got on the horizon for next year for you and for the company that you're really excited about?

Yeah, I mean, it's great. So I think our number one goal is we continue to focus on growth, whether that's growth for our agents and bringing them more business through leads and platforms that we're developing, or whether that's taking our brokers and helping them again, leverage their scale and grow out to other marketplaces. I was just on the phone, literally before this with a company from Idaho who's done a phenomenal job over the last call it year or two. They've moved literally 63 spaces in our office rankings, talking about their growth and just the trends and trajectory. And I think, you know, taking great entrepreneurs and giving them the platform and foundation to then go ahead and grow their businesses and is what we ultimately aim at at century 21. And at the end of the day, honestly, Scott, the way you do that, the way you grow an agent's business or a broker's business, is helping them deliver extraordinary experiences to the consumer. So that's what we've got our eye on. And if we can continue to tout that message to consumers and to our sales professionals, we'll be in a great spot.

Yeah, sounds great. Now, I know that you're a fan of rock and roll music. Are you a more of a big hair or a grunge fan? Cause I think you're a big fan of the Pearl Goat, Pearl Jam Soundgarden kind of thing, Right?

So if you look right there in the background, I've got. I'm a huge Pearl Jam fan. Have been since, you know, high school back in the 90s. And I've seen them live so many different times and been in mosh pits, believe it or not. But I'm a big grunge fan. I love all grunge music. And it's funny, it's generally on my playlist when I'm out running or doing something in the car, though. My kids hate it. Right. You know, what are we listening to, dad?

This is so what's your favorite. What's your favorite song? I gotta ask.

Gosh, I mean, I. I'd have to put. I'd have to put, you know, either black or yellow lead better up there. But I also like the real hard stuff, like from the original 10 album, like deep and Garden. And I just, you know, I love it all. Pearl Jams, they. I've had a lot of different experiences with that band over the years.

So it's been fun, you know, and they have evolved. Their sound has evolved in a variety of different fashions and always changing, not being stale. And I think we can learn a lot from that. Cause they've still been around for a while, you know, I was just talking with some of the other guys. Alive's one of my favorite. When I think of high school, I think of Alive. You know, that's what we were singing around the graduation bonfires and stuff like that.

Are you a grunge guy, too, Scott?

I like big hair and grunge. I mean, I graduated in 95, so I'm a big. I can't even think. You're. I. Guns N Roses.

Oh, yeah.

Motley Crue, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden. You know, one of the things I loved was the Westworld when they started doing the Soundgarden songs with Westworld in the background there for you. But, yeah, it's funny.

You got a great music scene in Austin, man. You know, you got. It's where it's at.

We love it here. It's really suffered with all the bars and restaurants really being. Shutting down. Sixth street is like a ghost town these days when it comes down to it. So. So it's interesting to see a lot of the musicians going to Zoom and doing virtual conference. Virtual calls. I mean, Metallica just did a nationwide virtual conference at the minor league baseball park here recently, just a couple weeks ago.

But I think you made a great point there, right? It's like people have to continue to evolve. Whether you're a rock band, a musician, a real estate professional. No matter what, you've got to evolve. You got to continue to teach yourself, learn new skills, and push forward. Because the world's changing constant.

Yeah, it is. One final question. One final question. I'll let you get back to your day. When is Axe gonna have you on Billings? They bring on so many great names around New York and New Jersey. I was like, they gotta have you on at some point.

You're well studied, dude, I gotta tell you. Very well studied. You know, my wife, I swear to God, she is like. I mean, like when I tell you up to date, up to date. She loves that show. So I got her into it and I used to watch it on flights and so I'm like actually a couple seasons, not seasons, but episodes behind her, so. But what a great show. I mean, another, another big interest of mine.

Yeah. You know, I think the biggest thing is, I think a lot of us that are in that finance, we like the billions, the wolf of Wall street, you know, money never sleeps, all that kind of stuff there. I was gonna say for Halloween, I was gonna ask you if you're gonna dress up as Jordan Belfort. Cause he kind of looked a little bit like Jordan, a little bit there. Oh, man.

Well, look, I really appreciate your time and being part of this. Like I said, I know you're a busy man and just with your listenership and everything you're trying to do to educate investors out there means a lot to them and it means a lot to the industry because it's an important component of it. So thanks.

Well, Mike, thank you so much for coming on, having fun with us today, sharing your journey, your message and what you're really pushing the C21 brand rheology out there and how you guys have pivoted and been a industry leader in being able to adapt and evolve with the ever changing times that we've been affected by with COVID and being a brand leader like you guys are at C21.

Appreciate the conversation, Scott.

Hey, same here, Mike. Hey, congratulations on completing the Ironman next week and kicking butt and taking names. All right, brother, make sure you love your name.

I love that you're putting it in my head that it's already done.

It is, brother. Be safe, man.

Thanks.

Alright guys, that's gonna wrap it up for this episode of the Note Closure show. Take what Mike said. Take that 121% rule and apply it to your life, to your investments, to your day in, day out activity. And I guarantee you'll come out feeling a lot better and be able to deal with issues and problems in a much more productive way by being able to see the positive, by being able to surround yourself and then just showing up in the day in date activities. I know sometimes it can be boring to show up and do the same things, but it builds the confidence, it builds the ability for you to succeed in an ever changing world and just showing up. Sometimes you just gotta get that momentum rocking and going with it's calling banks or reaching out and talking to investors or just doing videos and sharing stuff. So go out, take some action, buddy. And we'll see you all at the top, everybody. Bye.

Sa.