Digital Marketer Hits Rock Bottom - The DM Clips

So I go and I work at ing, and it was crazy. And this was back when, you know, if you had a pulse, you could qualify for a mortgage. This is, like, during the height of, like, the real estate boom. This is, like 2005 ish. And, you know, I had this headset on, and literally, you would hear a beep. There'd be someone on the phone, and you'd either have to sign them up for an orange savings account where you got a whopping 2% interest rate, or you had to get them to apply for a mortgage. And it was nonstop. There was no answering the phone. Beep on the phone, they hang up, beep, another person on the phone. I was on the phone nonstop, and I would work overtime. And I remember I got my first paycheck, and I was expecting all of this money, and it came back at, like, half of what I thought it was going to be. And that was the first time that I was exposed to taxes. I was like, what in the hell happened to my money? Like, it was nothing. And I was like, I was so mad. I remember they would list it in on every single call, and they would do everything they can to find one little thing you did wrong or said in a sentence where they could dock you. So I never would end up earning any of the bonuses. So one day, a cousin of mine, he comes down and meets me for lunch, and he tells me he made something like 17 or 19 thousand dollars that month. And. And I start telling him. He goes, well, what do you do? And I tell him that, you know, I help these people get bank accounts or I help them apply for a mortgage. And he goes, well, how much in real estate volume do you have? I had like 50 million to, like, 100 million in loans, like, applications. And what would happen is we would get the application, and then they would give those to the broker who was making all the money. But I didn't know any better. I just was helping them get these applications. And he goes, dude, if you would have done that where I work, you would make, like, $100,000 or even more. And I'm like, for the year? He's no, for the month. I'm like, when do I quit? So literally, I'm like, can you get me an interview? He's like, I'll try. I didn't even wait for him to tell me if he can get an interview. I went in the next week, and I did two things. I went to the manager, and I remember I asked the manager how much he made, and he said, he made $52,000. And I said, how long have you worked there? He said, I've worked there for eight years. And I remember I looked out of the window and that Ing was right. Like, I believe in Century City. And I remember seeing all these Escalades and night cars and Lamborghinis, and I was like, 52,000 after eight years is not going to get me that. And I was like, hey, I'm sorry to tell you I quit. So I quit right there on the spot. And I had $600 to my name and a car that was running on its last leg. And I had to move back to the OC from LA because this brokerage that my cousin worked for was in Orange County. So I called my dad, I need to move back home. Is it cool? And. And he goes, absolutely. It sounded good until I realized that I was going to have to go back and collide with, at the time, my stepmom, who we didn't get along so well. And I'm not going to bash her because, you know, there were some good times with her as well, but this was just an awkward time. I think her and my dad were kind of going through a few things here or there, and she made it tough. For example, she goes, all right, well, you need to hang your clothes in the garage. Like, there was these. We had these, like, little, I don't know, kind of closet things in our garage. And she's like, you need to go put your clothes in there. I'm like, so you're telling me that I need to go to the garage to get my clothes? There's a closet right here. Can I move the clothes that are in the closet to the garage and switch it? She goes, no. And I'm like, I'm out of here. So I had $600. I remember I packed everything into my car. I was pretty mad. It was just. I was like, this isn't going to work. We're going to class. And I drove to South Orange county, to Irvine. And this was before. It was nice. And all the nice apartment buildings and all the beautiful home that are there today. There was this apartment building that was just coming up. It was amazing. And I remember there was a sign on it that said $200 deposit and like a free month rent or something like that. And I'm like, Well, I got $600. Let me just go in there and see. I had no idea where I was gonna stay. Anyhow, I go to this apartment, and I have no idea how I get this apartment. I have to give them $200. I don't have to pay rent for 45 days. So the next week I have the interview. I go into this interview for this brokerage, not even knowing that I have the job. Start talking to the guy, and he goes, okay, we can definitely hire you, but you can't start for two weeks. And I go, okay, great. And I start to walk out of that meeting and I turn around and I go, oh, I just have a question before I leave. Is it cool if I just start working now, like before my two weeks? He's like, yeah, well, you won't get your base salary and, like, you won't get, you know, all the benefits and stuff. I'm like, I don't care. They were paying, like a $2,000 draw. I'm like, I don't care. I just want to get started because I remember I only had 45 days to basically make money to pay this rent, which was, I think $1,600 at the time. And he goes, yeah, I guess that's fine. And then I turn back around again. I go, if I do, I Forget the number. 50 million in volume. Whatever the number was, I was doing at Ing. Is it true that you guys paid 3% or whatever the percentage is, and I could make 100,000? And they, like, they start busting up, laughing at me like, yeah, you'd make that. I guess no one's doing that kind of math or numbers. And I go, one more thing. What do I need to do to be the number one in this office? He goes, you just need to make more calls than anyone else. I go, okay, got it. Alright, where do I sit? So he tells me where to sit. I got the job. And I remember before I left that day, I went around to all of the people that worked in that office and I said, do you guys have leads that I can call? Because I was blown away at everybody just standing around. Like, everybody was just standing around talking. And what would happen is in the beginning of the day, they would come to you and they would hand you these fresh leads, like Internet leads. And this is where I started to, like, understand lead generation a little bit. And everybody wanted the fresh leads. You get two to three a day, and they would call them, and then they'd put the ones that people weren't answering away. So by the end of the day, I had. My desk was stacked full of leads, and I remember I went home, I had an air mattress and I had a little TV for those of you who can remember. With a little VCR at the bottom. And I remember I went to the store with my little $400 I had left to my name, and I bought, like, some peanut butter and jelly and some cereal. And I cried myself to sleep that night. I was like, I don't know how the hell. The clock is ticking. I've got 30 days. I don't have any money. This is gonna be crazy. So I go back in and I just make calls. I just bust my butt. I do just what that guy said. Make more calls than anyone else. By the time I actually got the job, which was two weeks later, I already had seven loans submitted in the pipeline and closed. I don't know exactly how many, three or four. And my first check, literally, like a week before I had to pay rent, was like $6,700, $6,700. And I went and I bought some couches, and I moved my air mattress to the bedroom, and I was moving on up like the Jeffersons. You know what was crazy about that time was, anywhere you go in life, there's always mentors and people that you can learn from. You know, One of my favorite quotes today is that the wise learns more from the fool than the fool learns from the wise. And there was this guy, and this was. I would consider him my first real mentor in real estate. Even though, like, I had some. My cousins at the time were great. I would bug them all the time, and I'd, like, call them and be like, can you just role play on the phone with me? And they'd be like, okay. And we would role play mortgages, and. But there was this one guy, he was doing like, $30,000 a month at the time. And at the time, that was, like, the most money I ever had seen. And by this time, you know, I was pretty good. I was one of the top loan officers in the company, but no one was touching this guy. Where I was doing four to six deals a month, this guy was literally doing 10 to 15. And one time I see him out and he's eating dinner at this place. It's kind of like a. Like a bar, lounge, club type place. And he calls me over and he, long story short, tells me he's leaving. And I could not believe that. A guy that had everything. This guy was making all the money. He had the, like, cool cubicle, like, the tall one that nobody could see in. All the managers loved him. He was killing it and, you know, benefits and all this stuff, was going to leave and start his own thing. And he asked Me to go with him. And I was like, man, you know, I'm doing pretty good here. I mean, at this point, I'm doing, you know, at least 10 grand, 10 to 15 grand a month. And I'm like, all right, well, if this guy is willing to leave this situation, I'm willing to, you know, roll the dice and go with them. So we go to this office, and I remember I went in and I'm like, dude, can you, like, teach me how you are doing it? And this is a lesson for everybody watching it. You just have to go figure out and find the people that are, you know, doing well and pick. Pick their brain, because you'll be shocked. There's always these little details, kind of like what I'm sharing with you, you know, on these episodes that can change your life. And I'm like, how was it that you were dominating? They were giving you, like, extra leads, right? No, somebody was. You were. You were, like, getting extra deals given to you? No, I mean, it was. He didn't cheat. He showed me the strategy. And if this was a real estate show, I'd get into explaining to what he actually taught in great detail. But I will tell you the key point, and it's the point in business, and anything you do. He said, ultimately, what I do is I expose everything to my clients. So I tell them the good and bad, how we make money, how we come up with the rate, and I give them the absolute best deal possible. I'm not trying to make extra money. You know, for example, if you are trying to get a deal alone or something like that, and you go, no, that. That's too high. Typically they'll come back and try to lower the fees. He's like, I don't do that. I give them the best deal and that's it. And I explain to them what the other people are going to do before they do it, and that's how I do it. There's a little bit more into that, but the key point to this is, you know, do good. You know, buy your clients, and good things will happen to you. So ultimately, after he shared with me these strategies, I went on in that very first month, closed over 10 deals for the first time in my life, made a lot of money, bought my first house, and I was off and rolling. So after that, it seemed like overnight I start making more money, buying more things and spending money faster than it was coming in and getting these crazy offers. I started having people approach me to start these, what they call net branch opportunities. And I go off. And within, like, literally seven months of being in the real estate industry, I now have my own little company, and at one point, up to 30 loan officers and things are rolling. And then it happens. Literally overnight, it happened. It felt like I got punched in the face. The recession hit.