1 00:00:00.020 --> 00:00:04.480 Now we have another legend, man. The myth, the legend. My man, 2 00:00:04.480 --> 00:00:06.320 James Sofar. I told your brother. Yes. Your, 3 00:00:06.320 --> 00:00:09.680 your last name and your name is a household name in art in our, in my house. Oh, 4 00:00:09.680 --> 00:00:10.513 yes. Yeah. 5 00:00:10.630 --> 00:00:12.760 Well, uh, I have to talk about your name. Uh, 6 00:00:12.880 --> 00:00:17.200 I saw you on the morning news and I'm sitting there with my family and all of a 7 00:00:17.200 --> 00:00:19.720 sudden Johnny Fernandez pops up on its Channel seven, 8 00:00:19.780 --> 00:00:22.800 and I couldn't have been more excited for you. I went to text you, 9 00:00:22.800 --> 00:00:23.880 but I don't wanna bother. I knew you were, 10 00:00:23.900 --> 00:00:26.160 You should have texted me next time you do a text Me. I don't. All right. 11 00:00:26.180 --> 00:00:29.080 So for those that don't know you, what's your name? And, uh, well, 12 00:00:29.120 --> 00:00:31.240 I know your name, but what's your name and who are you with? 13 00:00:31.480 --> 00:00:35.480 I am James Sal Farco. I am the managing partner at Horizon Funding Group. And, 14 00:00:35.660 --> 00:00:38.360 uh, we've been there since 2009, so, 15 00:00:38.420 --> 00:00:42.200 So no, it's like over a decade. Yep. How crazy is that? 16 00:00:42.350 --> 00:00:45.200 Yeah. So, uh, I mean, a lot of the guys that started that long ago, 17 00:00:45.220 --> 00:00:48.360 we came up together, you know, I started in oh six, uh, 18 00:00:48.360 --> 00:00:51.080 with a lot of the guys in this room, and then oh nine, you know, 19 00:00:51.080 --> 00:00:53.960 a lot of us went out, out on our own and just been chugging along since, man. 20 00:00:54.140 --> 00:00:57.360 So, listen, you, you are a veteran all right. In this industry. Yes. 21 00:00:58.220 --> 00:01:02.440 And the importance of making sure that you stay afloat and that you don't close 22 00:01:02.440 --> 00:01:04.880 your business and that you adjust and that, you know, 23 00:01:04.880 --> 00:01:07.240 you kind of stay up to date with everything that's going on. Yeah. 24 00:01:07.740 --> 00:01:08.573 How do you do that? 25 00:01:09.080 --> 00:01:11.640 I think it starts with reputation. Um, you know, 26 00:01:11.640 --> 00:01:14.120 it takes a lifetime to build and a second to lose. Um, 27 00:01:14.460 --> 00:01:19.120 you gotta be able to put your reputation on the line every single day and, uh, 28 00:01:19.210 --> 00:01:20.920 stand by your work. And that's what we do, 29 00:01:20.920 --> 00:01:22.880 whether it's with a merchant or with a partner, 30 00:01:23.260 --> 00:01:27.080 you have to just always maintain that, you know, reputation. I think. 31 00:01:27.500 --> 00:01:30.280 So there's a lot of different topics that are being discussed today just 32 00:01:30.550 --> 00:01:31.560 regarding I, 33 00:01:31.740 --> 00:01:34.800 the way I would say it's like it's maneuvering this industry because there's so 34 00:01:34.800 --> 00:01:37.480 much change going on. What topic are you most interested today? 35 00:01:38.580 --> 00:01:41.400 Uh, well, I think that there's a ton of new banks and I, 36 00:01:41.400 --> 00:01:44.320 you see a lot of brokers, you know, new brokers in the industry, 37 00:01:44.320 --> 00:01:46.320 just signing up with so many banks and, you know, 38 00:01:46.320 --> 00:01:48.480 getting a lot of iso agreements and signing up, signing up. 39 00:01:48.720 --> 00:01:52.960 I think really just working on a couple of relationships and getting stronger 40 00:01:52.960 --> 00:01:56.280 relationships with the banks that you're comfortable with is very important. 41 00:01:56.280 --> 00:02:00.600 Talking to 'em about bonuses and talking to 'em about changes and bad debt, uh, 42 00:02:00.630 --> 00:02:04.360 just fortifying those relationships, I think is very important today. And, 43 00:02:04.360 --> 00:02:05.960 and just meeting with your main partners. That's, 44 00:02:05.960 --> 00:02:07.240 that's what I've been spending the day doing. 45 00:02:07.540 --> 00:02:08.840 So overall, I mean, is there, 46 00:02:08.840 --> 00:02:11.080 is there anyone here that you're looking forward to meeting? 47 00:02:11.180 --> 00:02:14.600 Is there anything that you're, like, any topic that you're looking forward to, 48 00:02:14.600 --> 00:02:16.720 like hearing what, what's your thought process? I, 49 00:02:16.880 --> 00:02:20.840 I, you know, there's a lot of, uh, rumbling in the room about E R C E R T C, 50 00:02:21.060 --> 00:02:25.080 and, uh, you know, I, I, I, I'd like to see what other people are doing with it. 51 00:02:25.260 --> 00:02:28.400 Um, John and I, we, we brought an accountant in in-house and we, 52 00:02:28.400 --> 00:02:30.320 we started doing it in-house. Uh, 53 00:02:30.320 --> 00:02:33.280 I know that a lot of people are outsourcing that, that kind of work. 54 00:02:33.380 --> 00:02:36.320 So I'm curious to see what other brokers are doing with that, 55 00:02:36.320 --> 00:02:38.240 because our merchants are asking us about it, 56 00:02:38.500 --> 00:02:41.800 so we have to be able to service it, uh, so they don't go somewhere else. So, 57 00:02:41.900 --> 00:02:45.240 um, servicing E R c, uh, is something that I'm gonna keep my ear to the ground. 58 00:02:45.350 --> 00:02:45.980 Awesome. 59 00:02:45.980 --> 00:02:48.280 All right. Well thank you so much for your time, brother. Appreciate it. 60 00:02:48.660 --> 00:02:51.520 Go ahead and enjoy the day. Go ahead and enjoy what we have to.