From US Olympian to Mortgage Leader

What is up, my friend Jeff Zimfer. Welcome to this episode of the Mortgage Marketing Radio podcast. I am back in the studio back from where you're curious back from my road trip. I went to Nashville, went to Gatlinburg, went to Kentucky, did a lot of cool stuff and while I was on that trip early, I stopped to buy and visited with my friend Brian Covey and we had a podcast discussion all about the winning mindset in the challenging market. Stay tuned for that coming up in just a moment but before we get there I want to share with you of course a couple of wins from the week which are part of what's happening in our small group community of mortgage professionals that are gathering together every single week to lead with education to attract versus chase realtors and generate business. There's no cool calling, no chasing, no paying for leads. You actually attract agents to attend your classes virtually and in person and you deliver a impactful message and content that helps them solve a problem which by the way is the number one secret if you will right is stop selling start helping help agents solve problems. Of course we have the NAR situation coming up in just a couple of weeks August 17th is the deadline for that so we've been doing a lot of this class which is wing strategies for buyers agents where we're sharing with agents scripting dialogues positioning personal branding social media content that they can simply swipe and deploy and we're also showing them how we as mortgage professionals help them level up their buyer consultation their buyer presentation and deliver more value to their buyers and it's going great it's a matter of fact two quick stories one from Tiffany who shared last week on our call that it was definitely the most engaging class she's done agents really enjoyed hearing each other strategies on the various topics one agent mentioned she loves the class loves that Tiffany hosts these classes because it allows her to learn and network from other agents who are actually producing. See guys you know you become the preeminent brand right when you're doing more than just being a vendor right being a solicitor when you're leading with education we're facilitating engagement conversations and you're leveling up the group. Your personal brand gets leveled up your value is increased in the eyes of those agents and people are attracted to value so to close this out with Tiffany Tiffany had just based on a couple of days after class she had a immediately three follow up meetings and secured and executed a purchase contract she's already prepping for the next class and also shout out to my man Ori Ori what's up Ori shared on our call last Friday that he is he has three. Buyers under contract right now that came out of him teaching the same class also guys this is the perfect opportunity to get out in front of this huge news item around the NAR situation and trust me agents are looking for direction and looking for somebody who's a lighthouse and a guide and you can leverage our content and process to help you facilitate that engagement those conversations with leads to referrals is it right for you I don't know it's not right for everybody you've got to be producing a loan officer doing. You know at least three loans closing per month right we like to see about two to three million per month on average closing however that works out for you either volume units you have to have been in the business at least a couple of years you have to be coachable you have to be willing to follow a process show up to our Friday calls and you've got to be willing to give it at least three to six months to pay off so if that doesn't sound like you then don't. Follow this web link that's in this podcast if that's not you do not go to mortgage marketing pro sorry mortgage marketing dot pro right mortgage marketing dot pro to schedule call with me personally we'll get acquainted we'll find out for fit for each other and we'll tell you all about the platform and see if see if it's the right fit mortgage marketing dot pro. Okay as I said my special guest this week is I did a live in person podcast at this amazing podcast studio in downtown Nashville it was called the success factory and got together with my man Brian Kovie who we've known each other for gosh I know it's got to be at least eight years or so but Brian's amazing professional in so many different ways first of all the dude is fit as hell and I'm definitely wanting to write. Model some of that and keep my fitness goals in line in place but Brian is a former pro soccer player former US Olympic team member he played for the University of Memphis where he earned a starting role as a freshman in captain honors all four years he set multiple records including saves in a single game shout outs shutouts in a row and minutes with no goals allowed that's right Brian was a gold tender right and what we talk about is a correlations from sports to business. And the routine routines have its best practices of the top one percent how to build your personal brand what ingredients go into a personal brand and more good stuff for you to sharpen the saw as we close out twenty twenty four strong make sure you check the links in the show notes for all the resources and to go follow Brian on LinkedIn elsewhere so without further do let's get into this week's show Brian welcome to show what's up Jeff welcome to Nashville I had to fly to Nashville to get you on the show. Well I would say it's easier with three kids and traveler they come to Nashville we'll book it out and we're going to make it happen. This actually has been a long time coming this conversation because obviously we've been in the mortgage space seeing each other crossing paths for many years as a matter of fact I remember years ago I don't know if you remember you and I were both at movement for a period of time and there was a there was a thing in a movement event or something but we're in the same hotel. I don't know if you remember that and I saw you walking across the lobby which I did not come out and say hi to you at that time so I apologize. Oh I'm the feeling you know the good thing is I don't remember much sometimes it's like I don't I do remember the events that's being together right right anyways it's been a long time coming you've got a book published since then conversations with Kobe that's what happened today conversations so obviously coming out here on the plane I was able to do some prep but for those who may not be familiar with you or what do you want to tell the listeners about who Brian is what's y'all about. Oh man I'm going to start with him a family man okay married 22 years next month we got three amazing kids basically they're old of 17. Starting the college journey we got Davis are 15 year old and then Henry's are eight year old about to be nine and so with Nicole and I always share this journey is you know we met right after I'd finished my pro soccer days and so I played college and that was my life up until then and I found my way into not being able to get a job and so I fell into consumer finance with Wells Fargo financial and then fell in love with my friends one to buy homes I wanted to buy a house I had no idea how to do it and I was going to figure out how to do that so now I say I'm able to help people create net worth and wealth through real estate and through making smart investments in those two decades plus that I've learned lessons. How do I help them do that and mortgages the tool real estate the tool but also just fully looking at how do you help people win at life and I think that's the game we all want. Yeah I know we're going to talk more about that because I was you know in following you and your content on social media you know I don't know if you do this but you try and get an assessment of what's somebody about right like what is their main thing and I see that you clearly lead with like leadership you know understanding like I have written down here if you don't mind I'm going to reference my notes for today's conversation routines habits and best practices of the top 1%. So that's going to be kind of like a headline we probably go back to during this conversation but I thought it would be interesting because you know maybe you I don't know if you feel like you've told the story too much about your soccer days but when I heard it I was like no I want to bring this to the surface because I think it's part of like what who you are you know what I mean so I have written down that you were a former pro soccer player and former U.S. Olympic team member which heads up shocking hello like tell us about that man that the Olympics are happening right now as we're doing this. Yeah so I was fortunate at the U15 there's national teams just like U15 U16 U17 like all these different ages. Basically bring in the best players from across the country and I lived in Memphis and so is a few of us that we got invited to the pool right you make your state team then your state team you go 12 states they picked the best players from those states and I was fortunate enough at early age I got picked up they saw some talent and well I realized through that journey I needed one get more physically fit which is part of why my mindset you'll see me share what I do is one of the things I need to work on wasn't necessarily my soccer game it was being physically fit it was my mindset so I was fortunate enough to go on and you'll see the Olympics you'll see these are under 23 right you're going to have younger players and I was able to make the pool in the squad I did not make the final team to go on and so it's lessons in life of right there's always another level you're always striving for something but I look back those days to be able to make those teams and to be part of that and to be exposed to greatness and even the pro rankings like it's one thing to make college the percentages are low people actually get to go to college I was able to play all four years captain our last two years and things I share people to go it's why I'm so fascinated and still curious about leadership because as a captain of a soccer team with new players coming the seniors graduating like how do you bring people together yeah I just I love that aspect and I just took what I learned in team sports and now apply to business so did you get a scholarship for soccer and for college okay okay is that so you said you made what was the different levels you the final team right you made a certain level and then unfortunately you didn't make the next one Olympic team was I wanted not make the final roster final roster to get to go there and there's Olympic team that you see now yeah yeah but you also see like the U.S. men's national team and there's the junior squads we would call them right there's the senior squad you'll see that go to the world cup yeah somebody doesn't understand the difference is you've all this like basically preparation of the younger players right hoping one day that they'll make the senior squad which is the one that you see the middle of the world cup so do you watch a lot of soccer still yourself I don't think it's a lot people probably said it every day a lot every day yeah yeah I would say if you come into our house there is a high probability I'm watching soccer really yeah do you have a favorite team international or so I support Nashville here but I've always been a Manchester United fan just from the 90s and the days that were there it's been a rough ride through some years our daughter loves Liverpool which is fascinating and then you throw in my brother laws a huge arsenal fan so you might watch as premier league yeah it's usually my favorite the fights ensue it's just hard not to love them but then you go okay there's the Bundesliga right and you can watch all these leagues soccer is everywhere but I've poured in since we're here in Nashville that that's my course local so it's interesting did you watch the the Beckham documentary on Netflix course a few times a few times it's it's it's funny I watched that and it's really probably the most I've ever gotten educated about soccer if you will from that angle but I have to say you know some people would say that I have a man crush on David Beckham now you know you wouldn't be alone in that okay thank you right I mean come on now yeah dude's cool but anyway the point being is it is it gave me this huge appreciation for soccer that I had never had before his story I don't know what do you say because you know there's a little bit of um I know we're off a side track right now but I just think it's an interesting conversation because you're one who's got experience yeah how would you rank him as a player for me you look at what he overcame and he was the most loved player the most hated player all within everything he's done and then I look at what he's done outside of his playing days and to me what's your legacy after you've played and going and doing the inner Miami coming to MLS and having that for thought to go I'm going to open a team one day and he's brought messy to the United States like you can't arguably you can't say there's not been a bigger event that's had a ripple effect and you look at the players he's bringing in their top of the league right now of their conference so look at Beckham and go how can you be the one that falls down as the most hated player for your country yeah and yet you rise up when you know everyone in your country you not to play yeah not to succeed and he rose through it then you go what is he done breaking cultural boundaries outside of soccer to me outside of the game right because arguably he was one of the best players for England he scored one of the most epic goals to keep them alive yeah but look what he's done off the field yeah to me that's the complete package that I'm so impressed by and there's a lot of lessons in there we'll probably continue to double tap on that but to your point about the whole most hated um I don't think I've I know of another example in sports where the fans so to speak right were so vocal and brutal like if anybody's listeners you have not seen that documentary that is a lesson in as you just illustrated overcoming like being as low I think as you could possibly be imagine being in a mortgage business and all your referral partners hate you right all your customers hate you and then I don't hate you but they're actually posting about you that you suck online on social media and if you walk into an office building at a remax they're all shouting saying you suck go home yeah like how do you come back from that man and your own team yeah and your own team taking the red card and then then you know blaming him however people want to frame that up you go your own team doesn't want you to come back they're going like are you risk to us like do we want like we don't know what to do with you right and yet he just continued to talk about he's crazy man that's what about watching is I'm like hold that guy is so resilient and it must have been you saw it in there like how dark those moments were yet what do you think of what what was it refresh my memory and what brought him back what won the crowd back over in the team back over when he scored the epic free kick towards the end ascending through in the woke up so after the red card that was the big catastrophic piece and then you'll hear bend it like back of the movie right and all that and his free kicks were one that now people mimic and they learn but he was really a pioneer in that of like the way he was able to hit the ball over and curve over a wall and score and when he scored that everyone was like wow now we love him again right right you know I mean it's the heroes journey that we all go through heroes journey exactly it's such an amazing document you all should watch it because there's a lot of lessons in life and business and all that kind of stuff so anyway I could I could talk about it for the next 30 minutes but all right let's get let's correlate that actually because I have written down I believe this might be something that you said the correlations from sports to business are everywhere and it's how you lead what do you mean by that so I think for most people they've played some organized sport right doesn't mean you have to play professional I said little league like my my experience may not be your experience what I can share with you though is the collegiate and pro experience that's in business as well like you start somewhere and then through time for some people it takes them longer to learn the lessons that are there one of the biggest ones for me has always been consistency doesn't matter what you're doing what sport you're in you have to realize that consistency wins right I know we're at the greatness factory so coach bird always talks about this is long obedience in the same direction hmm now I've changed that over the past few years listen to one of my mentors Andy Frazzella says aggressive patience so you take long obedience in the same direction so that's the patience side but aggressive patience means you're going to take actions outside of your comfort zone outside of your bubble every day you're going to push the limits of what's possible imagine if we hadn't done that mortgage honestly more because we know that language yeah what if we hadn't innovated on products technology how we actually do business virtually now what if we had not innovated on that and we were still trying to do business like we did 20 years ago yeah I don't think we'd be successful I know I know I wouldn't look at our team and so I say sports and business correlate because you have to be a great team player you have to be coachable the best people I've worked with and I always look at myself to go am I being coachable because the people that are coachable will listen to feedback and realize even if someone gives you feedback you may not agree with it hurts your feelings if you haven't received that in life you will yeah are you listening with the lesson is are you willing to take feedback from people to learn and grow and growth is painful I always equated to working out you break down your muscles you're lifting weights you're doing things you're breaking down your muscles to rebuild them yeah which the rebuilding is the nutrition the recovery what you do after you're stretching right all of that well what are you doing in business today to grow that's outside of your comfort zone making sales calls showing up on social and then what are you doing to recover are you auditing the film like athletes do that's a great point there so many people don't audit the film or you know role play and you know as that example it makes me think of that quote by Nick Sabin you may know it better than I I think I remember half of it where like you know good players want to be coach great players want to be corrected I think something like that similar to that yeah and you also go on to say great players don't tolerate low standards yeah yeah so all right so we're an interesting time in the mortgage business right it's you know low inventory high interest rates affordabilities an issue transactions are down you what's what's your what's your role at revolution mortgage executive vice president okay so you're working a lot are you interacting with the loan officers the guys and gals on the on the streets daily basis those the leaders attracting talent in when they come in making sure they're successful they run P&L so there's this other side of running a business while you're originating loans yeah doing business development so what what's the vibe you're getting you know we're in a different spot and I'll share this post today right because we're recording this I shared with our bodies you know last quarter we did 822 million right congratulations for us it's amazing that's the team in the last year we did you know 1.65 billion right so we have this massive growth but I attribute that to it's a few things it's hiring the right people knowing who is your company built for I think a lot of companies in the mortgage space or guilty of this I've been guilty you hire anybody based on the production you don't hire based on characteristics and skill sets right think about sports again this is another sports analogy wise I always go back to this is a great sports team like I may be a great player for this team I fit in their system you put me on another team you move me over to a different league yeah I am no longer as effective as I was doesn't mean I'm a bad player it just means I don't fit yeah so I look at the success we're having is because we've hired the right people we put them in the right environment and structure to help them be successful yeah and the better we tell our story and have a clear vision the more people and go that's for me or that's not for me what is the environment to be successful for you know an originator in today's world and is everybody right for that environment oh that's good so revolution or just in general yeah this is I mean it layers over revolution right so yeah in general what do you think is the right environment because I often get the question maybe you do as well people hit me and they're like hey man I'm looking for a change or something right and so by the way the first the first thing I say I think you'll appreciate this and this came out of for me personally my time at movement with Casey being at the home the first thing I advise people to look at when there's considering a changes leadership right so how would you advise anybody considering a change in this market what what should they look for I think the leadership matters because it's the direction of the company yeah as you need to find alignment there but you also need to realize is leadership over time their vision for the company could change yeah because you need to understand where they're going ask the questions and always ask people is what's your end game with this like what is your vision over the next year five years ten years and you need to understand they can't articulate it that lack of clarity is going to create a lot of bumps in the road so if they say here's your cards here's your laptop and good look at them that's our vision I think leadership matters there but more importantly this is where most people lose sight of this is I think your local leadership who you spend the most time with it's like when they say the five people you spend the most time with out of that's probably one or two who you spend the most time with and that's where operations matters in this world because a lot of people in mortgage today forget yes selling is important yes building relationships important but if you don't have the right team in the right alignment I mean how many times have I heard someone say you've heard it well this process fantastic best processor ever you give them to another team and they're like I don't like the way that he or she works like this this isn't for me so find what works for you and I believe people need to be more entrepreneurial based gone are the days of your company it's going to help you get leads they're going to provide everything for you that you're going to rely on your company for you to be successful you have to realize this is an entrepreneurial journey you're the CEO of your business wherever you fit into that loan officer branch manager whatever your role is are you approaching as if you're the CEO do you make decisions based on that whether it's pricing marketing how you show up on social what's the opportunity cost of you not making the calls that are there are you learning your products and programs are you a true pro and I hear this today actually talking to a real state agent on the way over here referral I sent and she was telling about how bad the communication was with another lender and so I should they're flipping the customer to us just I couldn't get a call back for two and three days in this market Jeff in this market a loan officer won't call back with updates well I would venture to guess they don't come back with updates because it's bad news well now we've determined that within two hours and by the way we're not going to be able to do the loan but imagine people not working on their skills if you were an athlete and you didn't improve from your freshman year to your senior year how many colleges would pick you up doesn't happen and we don't look at our journey and our career as if every year is a building block to get better where do you need to get better you have to take that self-assessment and be aware and then put people around you right environment right support and get better yeah you mentioned I think you said something to the effect of I brought up revolution mortgage and right what should people be looking for did you say something like you know that might not be the best example you're talking about what's different I think you were alluding to something about what's different at revolution so ours is a complete P&L model which means you're an owner of your business right so the branch leaders the people that are very different but I'll tell you we are very collaborative and everybody's in house you don't outsource things which means you have great relationships with people and all got it too is eliminating the layers that have been traditional and other organizations means need to be self-sufficient right in the sense of that and so our environment we provide you with the tools and resources but we're also not a micro managing like many banks will do yeah is there very much like just it's I came up in it so I can say the contrast is there the people that thrive in our world want to be successful they want the best they demand the best from us to give them everything from compliance marketing operations everything they need to win with product program but they realize the person making the call and building the relationship is the loan officer in the street yeah okay so I'm going to read a quote to you if I may by our mutual friend Renee Rodriguez and if Renee is listening shout out here's what Renee said everyone needs a Brian Covey in their life someone who not only believes in you but also is consistently pushing you to grow he leads by example in all he does which is my favorite part about him I have never seen a better relationship builder in all my years it's pretty humbling from a guy that I consider a mentor and is helped me break through some barriers myself yeah right right I sounds like you went through his various events amplify and all that same as well I think I can remember crying from the front of the room three times at the time I'll go back again and the amp con you know going back again and you surround yourself people like that because every time I spend time with Renee I learn something and I feel better as a result yeah you improve you level up yes you gain a little bit more knowledge maybe a little bit more I think you gain a little bit more understanding about yourself okay let's go here a little more understanding about yourself so you can feel more comfortable in your place in the world we think about that I think that's part of what amplify is is understanding who are you and he starts from a place of what makes you unique yeah and I think a lot of people struggle with that I struggle with it at first like yeah what does make me you right well I might unique yeah and then when you start to own that I mean it's very much like I know we're talking about brand builders before we start all that's like when you own your uniqueness then that uniqueness allows you to serve people and and Roy shares this quote I love and he talks about your most powerfully positioned to serve the person you once were so when you understand who you are uniquely you're uniquely qualified because experiences and life events and what you've done to go help the people they're in the spot that you once were yeah I like that so how does that play out for you that particular quote leadership it's why my when I moved out of production I have said and it's the coach in me I mean look when I couldn't get a job I was coaching soccer right when I was playing soccer I was still coaching for fun I still coach like it's how I'm why I like it you enjoy I love it I think it's who God designed me to be in the sense of coaches do it for the passion I mean how many times have I volunteered to coach just because it's free and I just go I love the potential in people especially youth athletes that don't see it yet and I know in my life all it takes is one coach to believe in you true that's good point after agree with that as well can take one person to make a shift in your life one word one conversation yeah changes you so back to this quote from Renee I've never seen a better relationship builder in all my years what would you share with loan officers who are listening right now you know we know this is particularly with referral partners and you know clients it's a relationship relationship connection business any advice or tips that you would want to provide on you know how do you create those relationships so I'll use one Dave Meltzer share this with me so I can't take credit but every time you get a chance to talk to somebody be more interested than interesting we're all guilty loans we think we have the best thing ever we want to sell sell sell we want to tell that realtor how great we are what I found when you ask questions if you don't know how to do this well you need to learn it because it is a skill for most of us were wired to tell people about who we are but imagine being so interested about that real estate agent financial plan or builder whoever it is that you know so much about them that when it comes time where you go you know what I think I can help you well I've listened for 20 minutes 30 minutes whatever it is 10 minutes even if you listen well yes the right questions they've told you what their problems are and what they're looking for right and then you're able to say you know it sounds like you have a problem that I can help you with and I think most loans has come from a standpoint of how much do we sell rate product program people even sell service they're like speed well if I'm on the other side of that are those my criteria to choose you right haven't even asked yeah so assumptions Phil Jones says this one of our friends right now I say it's malpractice like we're we're giving people the prescription without doing any diagnosis what's any joke so I guess imagine walking in the doctor's office they're like hey you know what Jeff you just need this right I'm not even going to ask you what your symptoms are anything that's there but you know what I've just been seeing this going around like I'm just going to give you this medicine this is going to fix you and cure you this is how loan offs are show up today in the lower percentile the best build personal brands they show up and they're consistent and they build relationships I believe this is where ubiquitous that I was taught years and years ago you need to show up where your clients show up where customers potentially could find you and being ubiquitous as showing up as your true self educating and forming showing what you do inside the office outside the office testimonials proof like who are you because I think just making calls like we were all taught to do early in our career no longer can get you the access to build relationships because I think about this if the average person a day I think it's some two hours three hours on social media well they're there shouldn't I be there and I think about that is engaging comments it doesn't mean your posts building relationships what Renee's speaking to is something that I did very tactically that I'll give someone is I have a top 25 and they're people that I want to have deeper relationships with okay and I will intentionally go in and I will comment on their posts and I will get so curious and intrigued out what's going on their life right so if I haven't seen you in three months but I followed what you're doing I know what's happening with your daughter I know where she's going I know what you're doing in your business I know where you've traveled to do you think that make a better conversation when I see you next yeah I mean I think about as I sit here and listen to you you know when I'm looking at my notes and preparing for this podcast you know I'm like as we said at the opener you and I have known each other from a distance right we could run into each other at events and share stages or whatnot but I don't know a lot about Brian right so I had to prep and you know dig in and want to know more about Brian because it makes for a better conversation and it makes me really curious and I think doing it just now yeah exactly right and I think that's like in the context of like if you're meeting with referral partners or you can do this easier with referral partners than consumers typically but yeah do a little research right look them up and find out oh you don't like this dude played soccer at a high level and as a matter of fact tell me if this is correct you were a bass player at your church is that correct yeah got a few hidden talent out there but do you still hit the bass or what I do my daughter is actually our oldest or 17-year-old she wanted to learn that and so really yeah so we got a four-string one of my older ones I'm like I'm gonna I'm gonna teach you that but that was for me early on in life that was the creative side of me I'm a left-handed guy so I have this creative side same here yeah and and base for me I mean thank goodness my parents I'm never forget they went and got me a little small amp and a bass and I still keep up with my bass teacher Neil Bowen shout out to him he's ever listen he does listen to the shows that I'm on Niels doing these videos lately and I'm watching who he is and where he is in his life but I ran into him I don't think by coincidence whatsoever at a music shop and I'm in there and he's just playing and I'm like mesmerized like how do you do this how did you play that he said oh man I teach lessons I was probably 12 years old he's probably 20 you know at that point and he would teach bass lessons and he learned from the great Victor Wooten if anybody keeps up with bass Baylor Fleck in the Fleck tones he's like literally one of the greatest bass players ever wow he was learning from him in Nashville so he had a great teacher but I share a lot with people like if you want to get graded anything you go and you learn from a teacher tell you grow yeah that's why we do these podcasts right so we learn from others and then hopefully bring that message to a larger audience the bass that's interesting and then you have a daughter who's playing the bass yeah so I've got seen as we connect on family mine my two boys if you're listening 22 and 20 one was the lead singer in his college band up at Cal Poly Slow band called Magnolia which is now disbanded because they graduated but and the other one is actually in music production so that's why the whole conversation around like rap and all that jazz and you know Henry introducing me to all these you'll see he's like as a matter of fact I always like to give him the shout out he did my bumper music on the podcast the intro that people listen to so anyway keep it going Jackson and now he's doing some video editing for me but yeah it's cool to involve the kids right in the creative endeavors that's right all right so back to the conversation around the correlation between sports and business last glance at my notes here I don't want to I don't want to overlook I mean just the fact that you right were able to compete for being on the Olympic team says a lot but right let's just grab the notes here right a role when you were freshman captain honors all four years you set multiple records you were a goalie I was a goalkeeper okay goal keeper is that the correct yeah sorry you can goalkeeper yeah so people call goalie but yeah all right yeah us layman call it a goal that's right so you set multiple records including saves in a single game shutouts in a row and minutes with no goals allowed what did you do that's a baller yeah I told you about my freshman year started off on a highlight reel of like we had five games in a row and we didn't give up a goal wow that's a good it was yeah apparently some record right and you're not you don't play for the record people that play at that level understand like you're playing to win every minute never game and I remember the newscast came out and they're interviewing all of us there and it was wild I'm like how old are you at this time so I was 18 going into 18 when you're banging these records yeah and just turn 19 actually going into my freshman year that's awesome yeah really cool I tell you this is I came in and fought for that spot was not promised right coming in as a freshman you had to fight for and I fought so hard I tell you this is part of who I am is one of the training sessions we would train in Memphis obviously the humanity the heat in August and I trained so hard one of the days in the afternoon I passed out literally and they took me inside got two IVs really yeah and I was cramping everyone full body cramp you've never experienced it I don't advise it but I share that story with people because what are you willing to get what you want and in my life there's been times like that where I was willing to put it all online so again I I harken back to the whole Beckham story and I'm thinking back to like how old was he when he signed that contract with his coach like 15 or something oh yeah he was super young yeah yeah with Manchester United signed originally like incredibly young so you watch that you watch this this guy Beckham his dad's just you know it's kind of like the Tiger Woods thing bring in the kid up right along the way so where does that come for you though where does that competitive spirit get instilled is that nature nurture like can you identify that well I was fortunate my dad's a psychologist also the minister you know as a pastor and all of that always think about like he was the first one early on like playing at Christ Methodist day school like that was our chair so he was a soccer player no no not at all okay which is which is the craziest story is a basketball player huh one of my other loves was basketball clearly my height like at some point I did a you all the way through about 13 or 14 years old and in soccer took off that's when I made like the national team pool and they kind of pulled me I'm like I think soccer is going to be my jam right grow up in Memphis you realize very quickly you're like there's some great basketball players don't know that I was going to be one of them that wasn't but the hand I coordination taught me how to be a great goalkeeper and I sure like is like my my dad was the one that was out there just shooting baskets shooting baskets even though he was in a soccer player I was on the field now have a really cool side story of one of our first coaches you probably heard the name paylay yeah thanks so so paylay wasn't my coach but Paul wrote junior you should look him up one of the good American footballers yeah they got to play with paylay he was in Memphis wow his kids went to Christmouth at a state school so he came out he's kind of helping and I have these memories like we were super young right like five six years old and I think somewhere within there between my dad and my mom was always a hard worker my older brother was five years older and I would chase the older brother hmm I'm sorry if you have an older sibling you know what I'm talking about you want to play with them it doesn't matter that they're 10 years old in your five you're like dude I'm running with them right and you get your butt kicked yeah and then you just keep competing and so I think it was addressed through that yeah and I loved basketball and soccer were my main sports but I even tried football for a few years because I'm like man like I just I want to hit I want to run it's sitting back and it's always been for me is just to compete I think I think it's God's gift so it's kind of in your DNA a little bit that compete it was and it's nurtured over time I think it is when you're around the right coaches yeah one of my all-time favorite soccer coaches Richard played for the Polish national team came to the States and he was a goalkeeper for them right so I had this mentor right there with me in the training sessions were crazy like we did some results in the concrete we would dive over trash cans now share things with people they go that's a child abuse no we loved it yeah it made us who are and he produced probably three four professional level goalkeepers within a 10-year period and you go okay there's something to that we do things that were very unorthodox almost equate it to like Mr. Miyagi yeah it was so strange that people go what are you doing but yet he continually produced these great products and people yeah that's really cool yeah so you're very fortunate lucky right some would say to have those influences at a young age what you do with it always say is how many people did he coach they didn't true true it's like you know the seeds right sometimes they fall on fertile ground right that's very very interesting wow name of your podcast is finding your competitive edge is that correct it is all right how long have you been doing it so we started right before covid oh okay so four years yeah and we had started at a couple of in-person interviews and then Renee of course was one of the first ones that that we did virtually when everything locked down and so we're a hundred wow really forty hundred and hundred and fifty yeah still just jamming through and it's evolved yeah always wow that's fantastic man so if people want to tune in we're going to put links in the show notes defining competitive edge right a link to your book conversations with covid how to win at life no matter where you are now okay so here we are pretty much the six month mark of twenty twenty four we're gonna you know we're heading into the rest of this year arguably we're seeing some some relief on interest rates coming up what are you back to your team over there at revolution mortgage any kind of directional advice coaching for people to a finish strong be build that that runway of momentum for twenty twenty five all of this question this is one that I've been talking to our team about I've been sharing on some shows I've gone is is from Trent Shelton and so give him credit for this is protect your perspective there's a perspective and we're heading into a really noisy season with political warfare that's happening just call I mean doesn't matter what side you're on what you are going to vote like that's up to you but what I say to people is most right now don't have a strong enough mindset to protect their perspective what I mean by that is they're letting all this outside noise it could be there's not enough listings rates are still high maybe it'll get better in six months and so they're going to wait well you know what there's the election season so you know it's just it's not in my favor or you know just I don't have the products I need to win you know our rates are just out of whack today in this week and maybe I need to go to this company like maybe maybe that's going to be my silver bullet your perspective is your choice repeat that your perspective is your choice when you have a strong mindset you get to choose this is what I believe and this is why I believe it that's how you show up I'd always say this alone officers if your perspective is the market sucks everything's hard I can't get anything done how many people want to work with you right it's very few and they wonder why real estate agents financial planners they wonder why people don't work with them and always says like back to Renee's quote is like one of the things that I I've really leaned in on it wasn't a gift was being positive and protecting my perspective of I have a dose of reality but also think about what could be what if what if I made these extra 10 calls today or this week what if I think I'm pretty good that I could build some relationships I could get a lead I could help someone I could solve a problem and I think that's where people stumble so protect your perspective the other is I'll give Rory credit for this because you know I always realize I learned from the best and then I figured how it works for a team Rory shared this at Niels event we all need to take a real hard look are we self focused and self centered or we service centered and service centered in the difference between these is if you're self centered you're going to know because you're thinking about your commission you're thinking about you know I got to go out there and I just got to go get another lead and I just got to go do this service centered is a game you can't lose you show up looking for people that might have a problem that you can help you ask questions to uncover what's really going on beneath the surface you slow down to build relationships and when you're service centered and you ask questions you're not jumping to sell you're actually solving problems that people already have and then you show up and think about your own life like Jeff I know this for me is like when I had a problem and I was clear on it and someone showed up and asked me questions I go hey what's going on Brian how are you doing with this how are you know that and they uncovered a problem they said hey have you thought about this how much better is that come across versus hey you know what now's the time to refinance rates have dropped a little bit I think it's phenomenal time you should just go refinance it's a great time to buy guys like rates are relatively historically low you see the difference what we say and how we say it is there the last one just kind of put a bow on it is I think people underestimate what they can actually accomplish by training and I just use the sports piece if you were to train every day even 30 minutes let's just give everybody 30 minutes that you got great at something could be social media marketing could be your content strategy could be writing if you want to do newsletters it could be you work on your database it could be follow up with your customers in a way that is unique you got great at something for 30 minutes maybe it's with AI today it's be real like lot happening in that space what if you got great at that in a month where would you be 90 days where would you be if you spent that many hours becoming great do you think you'd be better than your competition yeah because I know my competition isn't doing that right maybe the top 1% right right that's where people underestimate 90 days if you really want to be somewhere different you have to look back 90 days but you can start today wherever you are and get great at that one thing that's going to move your business forward I love that man those are two big takeaways I have from that which is slow down to build relationships and you know where can you take 30 minutes a day to get great at something yeah or get better and improve there's I think that's the other thing that we can get that competitive advantage in we can be better at like if we talk about transactions are down well we need to get better at conversions right we need to get better at building business or tracking business like all those things so where is pick that one to three things in your business that can move the needle for you right just conversations as well building relationships I love the fact I'm going to double tap on that whole slow down to build relationships thing because you know how people just come in they come rushing in right with their script and let's go 10 on three and boom boom boom boom all right here's your prescription right here's here's what I'm saying is some people are still operating at the speed at which we were busy in 2020 in 2021 and they're treating people that way and they rush them on and off even when you're taking an application are you slowing down because the reality is that maybe the one customer you talk to that day for a lot of loan officers it is right one a day yeah imagine if you went so deep with them that they loved you and they are ready where they did something or not said Jeff is my guy like if I have mortgage questions anyone asked me about a mortgage solution question problem I'm going to refer them to Jeff we don't go deep enough with that such a good point I think that's a good thing to put a cap on this conversation go deeper slow down to build relationships pick one thing you can get better at 30 minutes a day right get around other people who can help level you up just like today so for people who want to connect with you or do you suggest the best place for them to go new revamped website man shout out to our team breath in the crew there www.brinecovy.com it's got the book it's got the podcast it's got a new coaching group that we're launching it's got everything about revolution mortgage a lot of great resources it's everything from even you know 10x health I share some my health journey so if you're into that stuff I put everything on there Jeff just in a way that I go man what do people ask me about what are the things that I've been learning of the last 10 plus years and so the site it's got it all hit us up if something's resonated we'll link that up in the show notes as well as in because you also do some some great content on LinkedIn as well so we'll link it all up in the show notes Brian this has been awesome I'm glad we've made time for it thanks for coming to Nashville this is an awesome pleasure you know to do people if you're listening you like the show leave us a review all right we'll see you on the next one you