1 00:00:05.100 --> 00:00:07.050 Allyson Berger: It doesn't seem like COVID slowed your business 2 00:00:07.050 --> 00:00:09.750 down, you were out there making calls and things are happening. 3 00:00:09.810 --> 00:00:11.790 James Celifarco: Yep, phones are ringing, which we're doing the 4 00:00:11.790 --> 00:00:14.760 best we can, you know, did a lot of work with PPP. We got people 5 00:00:14.760 --> 00:00:17.100 coming back into the office. It's just good to be here with 6 00:00:17.100 --> 00:00:19.590 everybody. And it's it's exciting. 7 00:00:19.750 --> 00:00:21.820 Allyson Berger: Yeah, we're happy to have you here. You 8 00:00:21.820 --> 00:00:24.520 pride yourselves on making things happen in 48 hours has 9 00:00:24.520 --> 00:00:27.340 COVID slowed that down a bit? Are you still keeping that time 10 00:00:27.340 --> 00:00:27.580 in? 11 00:00:27.640 --> 00:00:30.010 John Celifarco: At the beginning of COVID I'd say things slowed 12 00:00:30.010 --> 00:00:32.740 down a little bit. We are back to normal timing on things now. 13 00:00:32.740 --> 00:00:36.280 Things that are a, it's a new normal, but it's not a bad 14 00:00:36.280 --> 00:00:36.670 normal. 15 00:00:36.700 --> 00:00:38.050 Allyson Berger: Yeah. What do you think? 16 00:00:38.560 --> 00:00:41.170 James Celifarco: Well, I think that, you know, the phones are 17 00:00:41.170 --> 00:00:43.630 ringing again. So we're happy to talk to our clients that we've 18 00:00:43.630 --> 00:00:46.420 had for years. We're happy that our lead sources are starting to 19 00:00:46.420 --> 00:00:49.960 get us some new clients. But like John said, it's a new 20 00:00:49.960 --> 00:00:53.380 normal, you gotta you got to change with the times so we're 21 00:00:53.380 --> 00:00:53.860 ready for it. 22 00:00:53.890 --> 00:00:56.050 Allyson Berger: Right. We got to keep it moving. And we're in 23 00:00:56.080 --> 00:00:58.930 midtown Manhattan life is here. We're doing things. 24 00:00:59.410 --> 00:01:01.300 John Celifarco: Yeah. It's I mean, it's a little weird 25 00:01:01.300 --> 00:01:04.960 walking through the streets. It's not like it used to be. But 26 00:01:04.990 --> 00:01:07.870 not having been in the city in probably five, six months. It's 27 00:01:07.870 --> 00:01:10.750 really good. Just to be back and see that things are starting to 28 00:01:10.750 --> 00:01:11.800 get back to where they should be. 29 00:01:11.830 --> 00:01:13.360 Allyson Berger: Yeah. Do you still feel the vibe and the 30 00:01:13.360 --> 00:01:14.290 energy of New York? 31 00:01:14.350 --> 00:01:17.650 James Celifarco: Yeah. I'm glad that Sean announced the new, the 32 00:01:17.650 --> 00:01:20.560 new deBanked event coming in December, I cannot wait for it. 33 00:01:21.160 --> 00:01:22.540 So that's something to look forward to. 34 00:01:22.930 --> 00:01:24.460 Allyson Berger: Events are always a good thing. I mean, 35 00:01:24.460 --> 00:01:27.340 we're together now people want to see each other right? 36 00:01:27.490 --> 00:01:30.940 John Celifarco: Oh, definitely. It's Zoom was great to help us 37 00:01:30.940 --> 00:01:33.280 get us through this whole thing. But to actually be in a room 38 00:01:33.280 --> 00:01:36.070 with people. There's a different energy, different ability to get 39 00:01:36.070 --> 00:01:38.140 things done than when there's not a computer screen between 40 00:01:38.140 --> 00:01:38.320 you. 41 00:01:38.560 --> 00:01:40.810 Allyson Berger: Was it weird adjusting to doing business via 42 00:01:40.810 --> 00:01:41.230 Zoom? 43 00:01:41.930 --> 00:01:44.390 James Celifarco: You have no choice. You know, it's survival 44 00:01:44.390 --> 00:01:48.200 of the fittest. So whatever we had to do to get clients in and 45 00:01:48.200 --> 00:01:52.070 clients funded. If it was Zoom, if it was over the phone, 46 00:01:52.070 --> 00:01:54.410 whatever's got to be done. We got to conduct business. 47 00:01:54.530 --> 00:01:55.010 Allyson Berger: Yeah. 48 00:01:55.040 --> 00:01:58.040 John Celifarco: Yeah, no, at the beginning, there really was no 49 00:01:58.040 --> 00:02:00.890 choice. So if it was weird or not didn't matter, it was find a 50 00:02:00.890 --> 00:02:03.950 way to make it work, get used to it. But now that we're moving 51 00:02:03.980 --> 00:02:07.310 out of that, and there's some in person meetings happening, it's 52 00:02:07.310 --> 00:02:09.260 nice to get that human contact back. 53 00:02:09.290 --> 00:02:10.910 Allyson Berger: So people are coming to the office to meet 54 00:02:10.910 --> 00:02:11.270 with you? 55 00:02:11.510 --> 00:02:14.180 John Celifarco: They're starting to I mean, it's definitely a 56 00:02:14.180 --> 00:02:18.500 different sort of vibe, I mean, masks and all that. But it's 57 00:02:18.500 --> 00:02:21.530 nice, just to know that you have that ability that you could say 58 00:02:21.530 --> 00:02:24.890 come to the office or have a meeting outside six months ago, 59 00:02:24.890 --> 00:02:27.800 that wasn't even an option to be able to say that. And some deals 60 00:02:27.800 --> 00:02:30.530 get closed a little easier when you could meet somebody face to 61 00:02:30.530 --> 00:02:30.950 face. 62 00:02:31.010 --> 00:02:33.500 Allyson Berger: Right. How have you seen the the needs for these 63 00:02:33.500 --> 00:02:35.330 businesses change over time? 64 00:02:35.930 --> 00:02:38.720 James Celifarco: Oh, well, their income is really down, you know, 65 00:02:38.720 --> 00:02:42.470 so they need money. You know, whether it's through PPP or 66 00:02:42.470 --> 00:02:48.710 EIDL, or MCA or SBA, it's just hearing their story and 67 00:02:49.190 --> 00:02:52.130 providing the service. So it's everybody has a different story. 68 00:02:52.130 --> 00:02:55.310 And you have to be really open to their situation. 69 00:02:55.760 --> 00:02:57.440 Allyson Berger: And we're so excited to hear more about your 70 00:02:57.440 --> 00:02:59.810 story, the brothers in business. 71 00:03:00.680 --> 00:03:03.170 John Celifarco: Thank you very much. No, we, we love deBanked 72 00:03:03.200 --> 00:03:06.110 We've been working with Sean for a long time. So anytime we get 73 00:03:06.110 --> 00:03:09.200 the ability to come on and have a conversation with him about 74 00:03:09.200 --> 00:03:11.630 the industry and just what's going on. We look forward to it 75 00:03:11.630 --> 00:03:12.020 a lot. 76 00:03:12.080 --> 00:03:13.790 Allyson Berger: Yeah, it's exciting, fun, and then you end 77 00:03:13.790 --> 00:03:14.810 up with trouble like me. 78 00:03:15.110 --> 00:03:17.630 James Celifarco: I'm looking forward to trouble. Anything but 79 00:03:17.630 --> 00:03:20.360 staying in the house. So trouble is fine. And maybe Sean will 80 00:03:20.360 --> 00:03:25.490 teach me a little fashion advice. That jacket is 81 00:03:25.490 --> 00:03:26.150 everything, man. 82 00:03:26.180 --> 00:03:28.760 Allyson Berger: Yeah, he Spring has sprung for him. It's about 83 00:03:28.760 --> 00:03:30.740 your time to you know, get the colors going. 84 00:03:30.750 --> 00:03:33.570 James Celifarco: I look a lot like Johny Fernandez. So I'm 85 00:03:33.570 --> 00:03:37.260 trying to look like Johny but I gotta shop with Sean shops. 86 00:03:37.290 --> 00:03:39.270 John Celifarco: I don't know, I don't think I could pull off the 87 00:03:39.270 --> 00:03:41.610 jacket like Sean does. I think I'll leave that to him. 88 00:03:41.820 --> 00:03:43.800 Allyson Berger: That's all right. He's the boss anyway, 89 00:03:43.800 --> 00:03:48.000 right. But it's great to have you be a part of our family and 90 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:50.910 get things going and talk and then you'll head into the hot 91 00:03:50.910 --> 00:03:51.240 seat. 92 00:03:51.570 --> 00:03:53.190 John Celifarco: Thank you so much. We look forward to being 93 00:03:53.190 --> 00:03:53.430 here. 94 00:03:53.940 --> 00:03:55.530 Allyson Berger: Alight, guys. Stay tuned, there's more to come 95 00:03:55.530 --> 00:03:56.550 on deBanked live. 96 00:03:58.310 --> 00:04:00.620 Kevin Travers: Hey, so it's deBanked. TV live. You guys had 97 00:04:00.650 --> 00:04:03.320 a little behind the scenes with James and Johnson, Celifarco 98 00:04:03.320 --> 00:04:06.140 from Horizon Financial Group. But now we're going in with our 99 00:04:06.140 --> 00:04:09.170 sit down just conversation. So this is my first time finally 100 00:04:09.170 --> 00:04:11.360 meeting brokers from the industry after a year of 101 00:04:11.360 --> 00:04:13.910 quarantine. And even in the greenroom, they were taking 102 00:04:13.910 --> 00:04:16.370 calls left and right. So tell me how have you guys managed 103 00:04:16.550 --> 00:04:18.230 working in one of the worst years ever? 104 00:04:19.530 --> 00:04:21.810 John Celifarco: I would say it definitely kept us on our toes. 105 00:04:23.010 --> 00:04:27.720 The industry was changing so fast. between what's going on 106 00:04:27.720 --> 00:04:30.630 with our clients and how fast their business fell off, and 107 00:04:30.630 --> 00:04:34.350 what their needs were and what funders in the industry were 108 00:04:34.350 --> 00:04:38.970 offering because of that. I would say I learned I didn't 109 00:04:38.970 --> 00:04:42.180 think there was so much more to learn. But because of new 110 00:04:42.180 --> 00:04:45.930 products, different things that our clients needed, we had to 111 00:04:45.930 --> 00:04:49.650 learn a lot more in order to fulfill their needs, especially 112 00:04:49.650 --> 00:04:53.790 with a lot of the government programs PPP EIDL. A year ago, 113 00:04:53.790 --> 00:04:57.570 none of this existed. So we both had to learn it very quick and 114 00:04:57.570 --> 00:05:00.810 then be able to explain it to our customers. For the ones that 115 00:05:00.810 --> 00:05:04.680 needed that, as well as 20 million other problems and 116 00:05:04.680 --> 00:05:07.590 things that you never would have expected to come up in such a 117 00:05:07.590 --> 00:05:08.460 short period of time. 118 00:05:08.460 --> 00:05:11.450 James Celifarco: You know, I think we're in a service 119 00:05:11.450 --> 00:05:13.220 industry. So we're trying to service other people's 120 00:05:13.220 --> 00:05:16.250 businesses, but we're looking at each other try to help our own 121 00:05:16.250 --> 00:05:20.150 business. So, you know, it's tough for us as a business 122 00:05:20.150 --> 00:05:22.820 ourselves. But then you have other people coming to us for 123 00:05:22.820 --> 00:05:26.540 answers. So not just, you know, trying to help other people, but 124 00:05:26.660 --> 00:05:28.280 trying for us to stay in business as well. 125 00:05:28.310 --> 00:05:31.220 John Celifarco: Yeah, I mean, just so many funders at the very 126 00:05:31.220 --> 00:05:34.730 beginning, stopped funding. So then it was finding who you 127 00:05:34.730 --> 00:05:38.420 could get deals done with. And then as people came back, I 128 00:05:38.420 --> 00:05:42.050 mean, we're both in the industry going on 10 years, 11 years 129 00:05:42.050 --> 00:05:45.560 each. And you think you understand a product, and then 130 00:05:46.370 --> 00:05:49.010 underwriting all these things change at the beginning of PPP, 131 00:05:49.010 --> 00:05:52.220 and we had to relearn how things were getting done, and then be 132 00:05:52.220 --> 00:05:54.800 able to be good at it so that we could deliver for our customers. 133 00:05:54.800 --> 00:05:59.060 So it was a, it was definitely an interesting year, to say the 134 00:05:59.060 --> 00:05:59.720 least. 135 00:06:00.110 --> 00:06:03.020 James Celifarco: We we really relied on other people in the 136 00:06:03.020 --> 00:06:06.680 industry as well. So we'd call up, you know, other partners, 137 00:06:06.830 --> 00:06:09.980 what are these banks doing? What kind of restrictions are in 138 00:06:09.980 --> 00:06:13.910 place? Who are they funding? Who aren't they funding? So just 139 00:06:13.940 --> 00:06:16.940 being an open source of education back and forth. 140 00:06:16.940 --> 00:06:18.620 John Celifarco: Definitely being in the industry, as long as we 141 00:06:18.620 --> 00:06:22.040 have relationships, being able to call up somebody that I trust 142 00:06:22.040 --> 00:06:24.560 and say, is this what you're seeing, or them being able to 143 00:06:24.560 --> 00:06:28.580 call me, bounce ideas off of each other was a huge help 144 00:06:28.850 --> 00:06:30.110 getting through this whole time. 145 00:06:31.020 --> 00:06:33.090 Kevin Travers: Absolutely. And I know, one of the things that 146 00:06:33.120 --> 00:06:35.670 sort of sets you guys apart is you have an in person, sort of 147 00:06:35.670 --> 00:06:39.090 brick and mortar branch in Brooklyn. And I wonder what I 148 00:06:39.090 --> 00:06:41.670 mean, what has it been like having to deal with closers and 149 00:06:41.670 --> 00:06:44.520 openings? How has that affected your experience, and also, the 150 00:06:44.520 --> 00:06:47.370 experience of many people you do deals with who have their own 151 00:06:47.370 --> 00:06:48.900 branches or businesses in person? 152 00:06:49.410 --> 00:06:52.080 James Celifarco: Well, you know, it's great, because people 153 00:06:52.110 --> 00:06:56.190 always would just come in, just stop in and if something went 154 00:06:56.190 --> 00:06:58.320 wrong with their POS system, or the credit card, or they wanted 155 00:06:58.320 --> 00:07:01.950 to discuss SBA, all that stopped, you know, we, you know, 156 00:07:01.950 --> 00:07:03.930 they didn't want to come in, we didn't want to have people in, 157 00:07:04.920 --> 00:07:07.530 John was in the office for most of the time. And, you know, 158 00:07:07.590 --> 00:07:09.660 everybody else was working from home, I got a, you know, a 159 00:07:09.660 --> 00:07:12.480 family at home. So I was doing the whole homeschooling thing. 160 00:07:12.480 --> 00:07:16.560 And so it was, it was different, you know, we that brick and 161 00:07:16.560 --> 00:07:19.680 mortar thing that we had to our advantage really went to the 162 00:07:19.680 --> 00:07:23.220 wayside when, you know, couldn't have people in so people were 163 00:07:23.220 --> 00:07:25.080 opening the door grabbing a card, you know, we were having 164 00:07:25.080 --> 00:07:26.820 conversations outside, but it. 165 00:07:27.510 --> 00:07:29.850 John Celifarco: Yeah, I mean, people would someone come in ask 166 00:07:29.850 --> 00:07:33.300 about credit card processing, ask about an SBA loan, that 167 00:07:33.330 --> 00:07:35.910 completely stopped. But now you get a lot more someone knock on 168 00:07:35.910 --> 00:07:38.490 the door, take three steps back and be like, oh, can I get a 169 00:07:38.490 --> 00:07:41.700 card? Do you do this? Type of thing. And definitely a few more 170 00:07:41.700 --> 00:07:45.690 conversations out in the street on the sidewalk, then, instead 171 00:07:45.690 --> 00:07:48.810 of in the office, but again, things are coming back. Now we 172 00:07:48.810 --> 00:07:52.530 have more people coming into the office we have, we're able to go 173 00:07:52.530 --> 00:07:54.840 to other people's offices six months ago, that was even 174 00:07:55.020 --> 00:07:58.350 possible. So every day, it's getting a little bit more and 175 00:07:58.350 --> 00:07:59.970 more back to normal. So that's a good thing. 176 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:01.530 James Celifarco: We do a lot of work with the community too. And 177 00:08:01.560 --> 00:08:04.290 so we have a park down the block from us. So anytime something's 178 00:08:04.290 --> 00:08:06.870 going on, we see a lot of people from the community at the park 179 00:08:06.870 --> 00:08:10.320 and we'll show other business owners are there too. So events 180 00:08:10.320 --> 00:08:12.570 and stuff like that. So a lot of things are happening outside, 181 00:08:12.570 --> 00:08:14.430 things are starting to open back up the community starting to 182 00:08:14.430 --> 00:08:16.590 buzz again. So a lot to look forward to. 183 00:08:16.590 --> 00:08:19.540 John Celifarco: I'm just ready for it to get back to normal 184 00:08:19.540 --> 00:08:23.830 every day, we get a little bit closer. And we see it in 185 00:08:23.830 --> 00:08:27.070 business, our phones every month, the phones are ringing 186 00:08:27.070 --> 00:08:30.700 more and more. when this first started, at the very beginning 187 00:08:30.700 --> 00:08:34.840 of the pandemic, everybody was so worried about how to keep 188 00:08:34.840 --> 00:08:38.860 their business alive, it's I mean business fell off. Probably 189 00:08:38.860 --> 00:08:42.580 those first couple of months, it may have been off like 80%. But 190 00:08:42.610 --> 00:08:46.240 as each month it's gotten busier and busier, and now we're almost 191 00:08:46.240 --> 00:08:49.150 back to normal. And with a lot of the new products and stuff 192 00:08:49.150 --> 00:08:52.300 that we didn't even offer at the beginning. There's a whole new 193 00:08:52.330 --> 00:08:55.360 parts of our business that may not have existed if it wasn't 194 00:08:55.360 --> 00:08:59.080 for the pandemic, it definitely made us think outside the box to 195 00:08:59.080 --> 00:09:01.510 expand our business in some new directions. 196 00:09:01.780 --> 00:09:03.910 Kevin Travers: Yeah, and about that there's the paycheck 197 00:09:03.970 --> 00:09:07.480 protection program we're on this year, there was a new round 198 00:09:07.480 --> 00:09:10.060 released for this year. But that's a major thing funders or 199 00:09:10.150 --> 00:09:14.140 brokers had to deal with is had to either offer programming 200 00:09:14.140 --> 00:09:16.870 through that or products. How have you guys sort of adapted to 201 00:09:16.870 --> 00:09:20.020 this new environment with the PPP program? And is there any 202 00:09:20.020 --> 00:09:21.580 new deals or anything things you've worked on? 203 00:09:21.580 --> 00:09:23.790 John Celifarco: Well, there was two rounds, the first round that 204 00:09:23.790 --> 00:09:27.090 came out last year, nobody knew what it was. So we really 205 00:09:27.090 --> 00:09:29.610 weren't very involved in that we were just sort of like learning, 206 00:09:29.610 --> 00:09:33.960 getting information. But what we saw was that with the government 207 00:09:33.990 --> 00:09:37.530 offering all of this low cost or free money, people weren't 208 00:09:37.530 --> 00:09:40.470 looking for more conventional types of money that we were 209 00:09:40.470 --> 00:09:43.710 offering. So when this second round came out, we wanted to be 210 00:09:43.710 --> 00:09:47.340 more involved with it. So we got as much information as we spent 211 00:09:47.340 --> 00:09:49.890 a lot of time figuring ou,t A where we could get the deals 212 00:09:49.890 --> 00:09:53.910 done, and then also how we could bring deals in so that we could 213 00:09:53.940 --> 00:09:57.720 try to capitalize on it. We signed some good deals, we had 214 00:09:57.720 --> 00:10:01.230 some good partners, and it's been, it's really been the focus 215 00:10:01.230 --> 00:10:03.990 of our business for last two or three months is being able to 216 00:10:04.020 --> 00:10:05.850 process as many of these as possible. 217 00:10:06.900 --> 00:10:09.960 James Celifarco: We brought a lot of deals in, you know, and 218 00:10:09.960 --> 00:10:12.570 it's giving us the opportunity to work with a ton of new 219 00:10:12.570 --> 00:10:16.170 businesses that we, you know, wouldn't have access to, without 220 00:10:16.170 --> 00:10:18.780 PPP. Now that they're in, we have their information, we're 221 00:10:18.780 --> 00:10:21.120 talking to them about, you know, cross selling them different 222 00:10:21.120 --> 00:10:24.360 products, credit card processing, or MCAs, it's giving 223 00:10:24.360 --> 00:10:28.350 us a good opportunity to have access to a ton of data that we 224 00:10:28.350 --> 00:10:29.220 can now market to. 225 00:10:29.490 --> 00:10:31.440 John Celifarco: It's a whole new pool of customers that we 226 00:10:31.440 --> 00:10:34.440 wouldn't have had if it wasn't for this. And now they trust us, 227 00:10:34.440 --> 00:10:37.710 we were able to help them through this hard time. And 228 00:10:37.860 --> 00:10:41.040 doing a doing that for them. Now, next time they need 229 00:10:41.040 --> 00:10:45.030 something if it's short term financing, an SBA loan, that 230 00:10:45.030 --> 00:10:46.920 credit card machine isn't working, they need new credit 231 00:10:46.920 --> 00:10:50.670 card processor, now, they know us, they'll come back to us. So 232 00:10:50.910 --> 00:10:56.340 it's definitely been something we never even thought of before 233 00:10:56.340 --> 00:10:58.410 that's now become a very big part of our business. 234 00:10:58.410 --> 00:10:59.710 Kevin Travers: Absolutely. That's, I mean, that's great to 235 00:10:59.710 --> 00:11:01.480 hear, is there any major deals you guys would like to talk 236 00:11:01.480 --> 00:11:02.560 about through PPP, or? 237 00:11:03.430 --> 00:11:06.130 James Celifarco: Well, we did strike a deal with Uber union. 238 00:11:06.250 --> 00:11:09.970 And we're working with all the Uber drivers on their PPP loans. 239 00:11:09.970 --> 00:11:13.510 So there are, they're independent contractors and 240 00:11:13.510 --> 00:11:17.950 their, they use their schedule C to get a PPP loan. So we're 241 00:11:17.950 --> 00:11:20.800 working with them, and you know, talking about 1000s, in the 242 00:11:20.800 --> 00:11:24.760 drivers all through the city. So it's been a huge opportunity for 243 00:11:24.760 --> 00:11:25.420 us. So. 244 00:11:25.600 --> 00:11:28.840 John Celifarco: That's been the biggest, I mean, probably six, 245 00:11:28.840 --> 00:11:32.890 7000 of those applications alone. And that's without even 246 00:11:32.890 --> 00:11:37.150 talking about the regular customers that we got. So that 247 00:11:37.150 --> 00:11:39.280 was a huge deal for us. And hopefully, we're doing a good 248 00:11:39.280 --> 00:11:42.820 job of helping them get the money they need, and whatever 249 00:11:43.000 --> 00:11:45.430 comes of it, just help us grow in the future. 250 00:11:45.430 --> 00:11:49.260 Kevin Travers: Awesome. Well, I guess we're gonna move to some 251 00:11:49.260 --> 00:11:51.930 bonus round questions more about because I'm finally meeting 252 00:11:51.930 --> 00:11:55.680 brokers in person. But I guess I first want to ask like is, in 253 00:11:55.680 --> 00:11:58.620 this day and age is coffee, still for closers or a Janene, 254 00:11:58.620 --> 00:12:02.040 our events coordinator. Keeping it together, she said it's more 255 00:12:02.040 --> 00:12:03.420 like Irish coffees, for closers. 256 00:12:03.870 --> 00:12:05.790 John Celifarco: Coffees for everybody, if you were able to 257 00:12:05.790 --> 00:12:08.850 get through the pandemic without drinking coffee, I don't even 258 00:12:08.850 --> 00:12:09.900 know how that's possible. 259 00:12:09.900 --> 00:12:11.370 James Celifarco: I don't care if you're an open or closed or a 260 00:12:11.370 --> 00:12:14.400 secretary, if you're bringing in business, I'll give you anything 261 00:12:14.400 --> 00:12:18.180 you want. Bourbon, coffee, water, anything you want at your 262 00:12:18.180 --> 00:12:20.430 desk is A okay in my book. 263 00:12:21.630 --> 00:12:24.630 Kevin Travers: Absolutely. And I guess sort of on that vein, I'm 264 00:12:24.660 --> 00:12:27.090 looking through all the necessary background reading 265 00:12:27.270 --> 00:12:29.940 would buy me movies about brokers, and Wall Street's is 266 00:12:29.940 --> 00:12:34.740 running like a boiler room thing that's possible in 2021 or 2020? 267 00:12:34.740 --> 00:12:37.290 John Celifarco: There are companies out there that do that 268 00:12:37.290 --> 00:12:41.970 sort of thing that was never, I never liked doing business that 269 00:12:41.970 --> 00:12:45.060 way, it was we're more relationship driven. We want to 270 00:12:45.060 --> 00:12:48.270 know our customers, be able to give them a good experience. 271 00:12:48.780 --> 00:12:51.570 There are companies out there that have huge call, call 272 00:12:51.570 --> 00:12:56.940 centers, big flaws, very that type of thing. But that was 273 00:12:56.940 --> 00:12:59.640 never, I didn't come up working for a company like that. And 274 00:12:59.640 --> 00:13:02.280 then when we went out on our own, that wasn't the type of 275 00:13:02.280 --> 00:13:03.210 deal that we wanted. 276 00:13:03.270 --> 00:13:05.910 James Celifarco: We always went with service services, our whole 277 00:13:05.910 --> 00:13:09.000 thing. So we're the kind of guys that we don't schedule calls, 278 00:13:09.000 --> 00:13:12.120 you can stop in our office, you can call our cell phones, very, 279 00:13:12.120 --> 00:13:15.030 very informal. And I think it goes a long way when people feel 280 00:13:15.030 --> 00:13:17.580 comfortable with their business is their most prized possession. 281 00:13:17.670 --> 00:13:20.370 These are small business owners, they live, breathe and eat 282 00:13:20.400 --> 00:13:24.630 everything about their business. So for them to trust you with a 283 00:13:24.630 --> 00:13:26.370 lot of time commercial mortgages, you're dealing with 284 00:13:26.370 --> 00:13:29.670 their biggest asset, their their buildings, and their homes and 285 00:13:29.670 --> 00:13:33.420 their loans. And this is a very, very intimate thing. So you got 286 00:13:33.420 --> 00:13:37.890 to you know, you can't be that, that. That type of style. I 287 00:13:37.890 --> 00:13:38.250 guess. 288 00:13:38.280 --> 00:13:40.530 John Celifarco: It could work for some people just not for us, 289 00:13:40.530 --> 00:13:41.010 I would say. 290 00:13:41.940 --> 00:13:48.180 Kevin Travers: Cool. Good. I guess if you were a young broker 291 00:13:48.180 --> 00:13:50.610 starting out, how would you? What would you have to do to 292 00:13:50.610 --> 00:13:52.290 make a million dollars in a year? 293 00:13:53.110 --> 00:13:55.240 James Celifarco: I guess it's all relative, I would say I 294 00:13:55.240 --> 00:13:55.900 mean, I. 295 00:13:55.900 --> 00:13:59.410 John Celifarco: A young broker starting out, if you're coming 296 00:13:59.410 --> 00:14:01.660 in with the hope of making a million dollars, your first 297 00:14:01.660 --> 00:14:04.810 year, you're getting into the wrong business. I mean, the most 298 00:14:04.810 --> 00:14:07.300 important thing for a new broker is go work for a company, where 299 00:14:07.300 --> 00:14:09.520 you're going to learn your craft, learn the right way to do 300 00:14:09.520 --> 00:14:13.360 business, if you have the know how if you work for the right 301 00:14:13.360 --> 00:14:16.000 company, if you learn the right way to do things, the money's 302 00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:19.000 going to come. If you're good at what you do, you will make money 303 00:14:19.000 --> 00:14:21.910 in this industry. But if you walk in looking for a quick 304 00:14:21.910 --> 00:14:25.840 buck, just walk in and make a million dollars right away. I 305 00:14:25.840 --> 00:14:28.270 don't care if it's this industry or another industry, that's not 306 00:14:28.270 --> 00:14:30.700 just not the right way to come in and look at something. 307 00:14:30.940 --> 00:14:32.290 James Celifarco: And it's all and it's also relative, you 308 00:14:32.290 --> 00:14:34.480 know, if you're making a million dollars, but you're spending 309 00:14:34.510 --> 00:14:38.080 950, you know, it's you know, a lot of people make a lot of 310 00:14:38.080 --> 00:14:40.630 money, but they're also spending tons and tons of money to do it. 311 00:14:41.320 --> 00:14:42.340 So it's all relative. 312 00:14:43.540 --> 00:14:47.140 John Celifarco: Yeah, it's also how do you want to live? Some 313 00:14:47.140 --> 00:14:50.680 people are very happy you could make a ton of money but you have 314 00:14:50.680 --> 00:14:53.590 to work a million hours to do it. Some people may want are 315 00:14:53.590 --> 00:14:57.490 happy making a good living with and having some an outside life. 316 00:14:57.520 --> 00:15:01.270 So I guess it again comes down to what's most important to each 317 00:15:01.270 --> 00:15:02.200 individual person? 318 00:15:03.880 --> 00:15:05.920 Kevin Travers: Cool, well, what's important to each and 319 00:15:05.920 --> 00:15:07.990 every person what I guess speaking about that what has 320 00:15:07.990 --> 00:15:12.220 kept you drawn towards the broker, sort of salesman 321 00:15:12.250 --> 00:15:15.430 lifestyle, going into work trying to make money, leave 322 00:15:15.430 --> 00:15:17.380 work, put in the time, tell me about it. 323 00:15:17.410 --> 00:15:21.280 John Celifarco: What drew me too It originally is. I always like 324 00:15:21.280 --> 00:15:24.970 to eat what you kill. If you put in the work, excuse me, if you 325 00:15:24.970 --> 00:15:28.150 put in the work, if you work hard, you're good at what you 326 00:15:28.150 --> 00:15:32.020 do, you're gonna make money, it didn't require somebody else 327 00:15:32.020 --> 00:15:35.680 giving you a promotion, or somebody else giving me a raise, 328 00:15:36.190 --> 00:15:39.340 any dollar I ever made in this industries, I earned it, I work 329 00:15:39.340 --> 00:15:43.240 for it, and I got it. And that was what always brought me back 330 00:15:43.240 --> 00:15:44.650 and what I always liked about it. 331 00:15:44.930 --> 00:15:47.210 James Celifarco: You're in charge of your paycheck, exactly 332 00:15:47.210 --> 00:15:50.690 what John said, I'm driven by my family, you know, I got mouths 333 00:15:50.690 --> 00:15:54.500 to feed. And if I got to make 150 calls a day, that's what I 334 00:15:54.500 --> 00:15:57.260 got to do. This is, you know, I've been doing this 10 years 335 00:15:57.290 --> 00:16:01.730 now, or probably longer than that. But this is my, this is my 336 00:16:01.730 --> 00:16:04.520 industry, you know, so this is what I have to make it work. So 337 00:16:04.760 --> 00:16:07.610 if it's, I gotta call this lead, I gotta get that paperwork in, I 338 00:16:07.610 --> 00:16:10.040 gotta get it submitted, I gotta get it approved, I gotta get 339 00:16:10.040 --> 00:16:12.740 funded, I gotta keep this relationship going. I got to 340 00:16:12.740 --> 00:16:15.320 find the leads, I gotta be the accountant, I gotta keep the 341 00:16:15.320 --> 00:16:17.900 website running, you know, you got to wear all the hats, and 342 00:16:17.900 --> 00:16:20.840 you got to get it done. It's, it's, like I said, I got a 343 00:16:20.840 --> 00:16:23.240 family to support. So that's what drives me. 344 00:16:24.680 --> 00:16:28.100 Kevin Travers: And learning, I guess, it must take in 345 00:16:28.130 --> 00:16:30.920 experience to learn how to sort of manage all that is there any 346 00:16:31.160 --> 00:16:33.410 sort of advice you have about through the years things you 347 00:16:33.410 --> 00:16:36.650 picked up learned, mistakes made, about how to, obviously 348 00:16:36.650 --> 00:16:38.120 stay alive through a pandemic so far? 349 00:16:38.360 --> 00:16:40.670 John Celifarco: Don't be scared to make mistakes, I think is 350 00:16:40.700 --> 00:16:44.360 really good advice. We've tried a million different things. 351 00:16:44.360 --> 00:16:47.510 Since we've gone into business, some have worked and made us a 352 00:16:47.510 --> 00:16:50.840 lot of money, some have failed, and they didn't. But always be 353 00:16:50.840 --> 00:16:54.620 willing to try something new, look at a new technology, a new 354 00:16:54.860 --> 00:16:58.340 lead. So it's a new product. Sometimes it works, sometimes it 355 00:16:58.340 --> 00:17:01.670 doesn't. But most of the times it doesn't. But you can't be, 356 00:17:01.700 --> 00:17:04.100 you can't be scared, you can't be scared of failure, you got to 357 00:17:04.100 --> 00:17:09.560 be willing to try new things. Look for the next big thing and 358 00:17:09.560 --> 00:17:13.040 try to stay out in front of the industry. That is always 359 00:17:13.040 --> 00:17:15.500 changing, keep your ear to the ground know what's going on. 360 00:17:15.540 --> 00:17:17.790 James Celifarco: There's always lead sources, you know, you 361 00:17:17.790 --> 00:17:19.410 could try 10 lead sources, and you could invest all this money 362 00:17:19.680 --> 00:17:24.030 and you know, you wasted money. But if you find one lead source 363 00:17:24.270 --> 00:17:27.240 out of it, they could supply you with lead for years to come. So, 364 00:17:27.690 --> 00:17:30.540 to talk on John's point, you got to be willing to take chances, 365 00:17:30.540 --> 00:17:33.240 spend money, to find the right relationships. 366 00:17:33.270 --> 00:17:36.810 John Celifarco: Yeah it's and be willing to grow. Don't put 367 00:17:36.810 --> 00:17:40.950 yourself into like one box, we started as strictly an MCA 368 00:17:40.950 --> 00:17:45.390 company, we grew into SBA loans and credit card processing. Now 369 00:17:45.390 --> 00:17:49.380 we're doing PPP as time changes, who knows what the next thing 370 00:17:49.380 --> 00:17:52.830 that we're gonna have to learn or grow into is but, you need to 371 00:17:52.830 --> 00:17:56.340 be willing to grow and stay stay ahead of the curve. 372 00:17:56.910 --> 00:17:58.650 James Celifarco: And staying ahead of the curve is, I guess, 373 00:17:58.920 --> 00:18:01.890 just what you got to do to stay treading water this year. But 374 00:18:01.890 --> 00:18:04.770 it's almost over soon. And we're opening up soon. Hopefully. 375 00:18:04.800 --> 00:18:05.580 John Celifarco: Here's to that. 376 00:18:06.060 --> 00:18:07.650 James Celifarco: Yeah, looking forward to it and looking 377 00:18:07.650 --> 00:18:10.710 forward to the event its great news. December sixth, 378 00:18:10.710 --> 00:18:13.770 everybody's going to be back together again. And looking 379 00:18:13.770 --> 00:18:14.160 forward to that. 380 00:18:14.160 --> 00:18:15.960 John Celifarco: Yeah, it's been too long since we were at at one 381 00:18:15.960 --> 00:18:18.240 of those events be could see everybody's faces. See what's 382 00:18:18.240 --> 00:18:18.750 going on. 383 00:18:18.780 --> 00:18:19.890 James Celifarco: And get down to Miami. 384 00:18:23.520 --> 00:18:25.050 Kevin Travers: Were you heckling Sean off screen here? 385 00:18:26.700 --> 00:18:28.050 John Celifarco: Book a Miami event, please. 386 00:18:30.190 --> 00:18:31.510 Kevin Travers: Well, I can't wait. I've never been to one of 387 00:18:31.510 --> 00:18:34.210 the events before but I am so excited to go and it was so 388 00:18:34.210 --> 00:18:38.350 great meeting and speaking with both of you guys. And well I 389 00:18:38.350 --> 00:18:39.670 can't wait to see what comes next. 390 00:18:39.730 --> 00:18:41.350 John Celifarco: Oh, thank you so much for having us. 391 00:18:41.740 --> 00:18:42.250 James Celifarco: Thank you very much. 392 00:18:42.250 --> 00:18:44.380 John Celifarco: Really happy to be here and be part of this. Our 393 00:18:44.380 --> 00:18:49.360 first, deBanked TV Live was that? Okay, there it is.