00:00.090 --> 00:02.656
Johny Fernandez: Hey, what's
going on everyone, and welcome

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to deBanked News. I'm Johny Fernandez.

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Sean Murray: And I'm Sean
Murray.

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Speaker 1: If you're looking to
grow your ISO business, your

00:16.950 --> 00:20.070
broker business, your funding
business, this is the event to

00:20.070 --> 00:20.520
be at.

00:21.990 --> 00:23.790
Speaker 2: There's tons of
networking.

00:23.850 --> 00:26.040
Speaker 3: Whether or not you're
a funder, you're a broker,

00:26.040 --> 00:28.590
you're a service provider,
you're the media. It's really

00:28.590 --> 00:29.580
wonderful to be here.

00:39.990 --> 00:42.450
Sean Murray: Okay, hello,
everybody. My name is Sean

00:42.450 --> 00:44.940
Murray with deBanked. Thank you
for your patience and waiting

00:44.940 --> 00:45.720
for us today.

00:46.020 --> 00:48.150
Johny Fernandez: And I'm Johny
Fernandez. And as you can see,

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we are not in the studio, we're
in a different location today,

00:51.690 --> 00:54.750
here in midtown Manhattan,
because today is going to be an

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awesome day where we have a day
full of live interviews planned

00:58.680 --> 01:01.860
out, but we'll get to that in a
little bit. But Sean, let's kind

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of go into what we usually go
into. Let's talk about the daily

01:06.600 --> 01:09.510
news and kind of, you know, the
different topics that we've been

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talking about for the last week
or in the last couple of days.

01:13.500 --> 01:16.590
Sure. So Sean, first thing,
let's start talking about COVID

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recovery. I mean, that's
obviously on everyone's mind.

01:19.620 --> 01:21.660
And that's something everyone's
been talking about with the

01:21.660 --> 01:25.140
vaccine. But also, you know, in
the business, in the industry,

01:25.140 --> 01:28.650
and just in general here in New
York and across the country.

01:29.430 --> 01:32.850
Let's talk about number one, how
we've seen businesses affected

01:32.850 --> 01:36.390
because of COVID. And then we'll
talk about the comeback, the

01:36.390 --> 01:39.900
recovery aspect of it, because
here in New York, we have seen

01:39.900 --> 01:42.510
that, you know, there are a lot
of businesses that are shut

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down. So it's definitely
something that's impacted, you

01:45.630 --> 01:48.780
know, the city and the economy
across the board.

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Sean Murray: Sure, yeah. And
when you were talking about what

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we've been talking about, what
Johny's referring to is that

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we've been live streaming,
technically, for the last few

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months. Yeah. Right. This is our
first off site, live stream,

02:00.720 --> 02:03.090
we've actually been doing this
every Monday and Wednesday for

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the last few months, we usually
do it around 1215. So if you

02:06.060 --> 02:09.510
ever want to tune in, you can go
to debanked.com/tv. And you can

02:09.510 --> 02:12.480
tune in and you can watch Johny
and I anytime for free. You

02:12.480 --> 02:14.580
don't have to register, you
don't need to subscribe. You

02:14.580 --> 02:17.970
don't need Zoom. It's usually
Johny and I. And so we've been

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talking about different things
throughout the last few months.

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And now here we are off site
kind of in celebration of the

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COVID era starting to wind down.
Yeah. And you were mentioning

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about businesses being impacted
and how it's affected New York.

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And what's interesting is that
we've been in it. Yeah. In New

02:37.230 --> 02:37.920
York, right.

02:37.920 --> 02:38.670
Johny Fernandez: From the start.

02:38.700 --> 02:39.360
Sean Murray: From the start.

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Johny Fernandez: Do you I
remember it like looking back

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when we when this kind of thing,
that we did not know what it was

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started last year. You know, we
like you got everyone in the

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office together and said, hey,
we're gonna go ahead and take

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two weeks off, and, you know,
hopefully come back. But those

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two weeks turned into the
longest year ever. Yeah. And now

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we're back though now things are
things are starting to wind you

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know down, especially the last
couple of weeks with, you know,

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the the amount of vaccines that
people have been able to get and

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then just I don't know about
you, but for me specifically

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here in New York, you know, it's
just been different seeing

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spring come around and seeing
the winter really kind of come

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to a close because that also put
a huge damper on just life in

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general here. But now things are
starting to kind of seem more

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alive and the weather's great,
and you walk outside. But one

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thing that is very interesting
is seeing like when you do walk

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outside how different companies
and how different businesses

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are, are no longer there. But
there's also a sense and a

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feeling of hope that new things
are coming along.

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Sean Murray: Sure. Yeah. And I
don't remember what article it

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was. But I saw a stat that said,
like one out of every six, New

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York City restaurants has
already gone out of business,

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but that the rate of new
restaurants starting up in New

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York has actually doubled over
what it normally is. And so

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that's great from an economic
standpoint, but I think as it

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pertains to our audience, who is
heavily invested in the business

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finance industry, that it's in a
huge opportunity. And that's

04:25.320 --> 04:29.160
because typically, if you're a
small business, you need a large

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track record, a lot of time to
go and get a bank loan. Yeah.

04:32.880 --> 04:36.060
Right. And if you're starting
up, if this is the year you

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started up, and you're like, you
know, I here like, I'm helping I

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started my restaurant. Yeah. I'm
gonna go get a loan from a bank.

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They're gonna find out pretty
quickly, you know what I mean,

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that banks aren't going to lend
to a startup. Yeah. And so what

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we're going to find as we begin
this recovery is a lot of

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startups who are going to come
out of the woodwork and be

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applying for capital for the
very first time and that's a

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huge opportunity for the
business. You the you know, the

04:59.670 --> 05:01.830
alternative nonbank business
finance industry.

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Johny Fernandez: Yeah. And I
think it's interesting to also

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point out that, you know, there,
there has been different things

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going on in New York. And
something like me and my

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girlfriend were discussing
yesterday, for example, is that,

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you know, New York always
changes, but specifically with

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COVID. And how it hit New York,
it has revolutionized and it has

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changed how New York operates, I
believe so. But some people

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would say it may be in a good
way some people may or may not

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fully agree. And, you know,
we've seen people leave to go to

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other states. But I think
overall, the New York recovery,

05:36.180 --> 05:39.960
specifically for COVID, because
of COVID, is going to be

05:39.960 --> 05:43.140
something completely different.
And I think it's going to change

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New York, and it's going to
change, New York in a unique

05:45.570 --> 05:49.260
way. And I think like you said,
we are going to see different

05:49.290 --> 05:52.470
businesses come back to New
York, and they're going to be

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probably a lot of startups. You
know, there was an article that

05:55.080 --> 05:59.280
I did read that businesses and
you know, millennials are now

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this is their opportunity to
come into the city and enjoy it

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at a cheaper price. Sure. And
it's definitely an opportunity

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for business owners, like you
said, to start something, and

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also, you know, take advantage
of alternative finance if they

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can't get the funding from a
bank. So Sean, let me ask you

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this, when it comes to having
people in the industry, utilize

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this specific opportunity to
help other businesses really

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capitalize on making sure they
get funded correctly. What would

06:34.680 --> 06:37.800
you say to that, like, what
would you say to the people in

06:37.800 --> 06:42.600
the industry that are trying to,
you know, maybe feel stuck right

06:42.600 --> 06:46.530
now and or aren't getting enough
leads? Or, you know, are trying

06:46.530 --> 06:47.310
to survive?

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Sean Murray: Yeah. Well, I mean,
that's, that's a, that's a long,

06:50.250 --> 06:52.770
you know that's a long topic,
right. And we have some guests

06:52.770 --> 06:56.640
today, who will probably weigh
in on that. But, you know, we

06:56.640 --> 07:00.390
just had the COVID winter. And
it's kind of twofold, because

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you have businesses whose
revenues dropped down

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significantly, and that heavily
impacted their ability to get

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funding, but you also had PPP,
and the EIDL program, and

07:08.700 --> 07:11.730
imagine competing against a free
government grant. It's like

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impossible. Yeah. In fact, the
whole concept of a free

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government grant or forgivable
loan is what it really is, isn't

07:19.380 --> 07:22.830
really supposed to exist, right?
And yet, it did in the last

07:22.830 --> 07:25.200
year. And so if you're a broker
out there, and you struggled,

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it's kind of it goes back to
what I said before, is going to

07:28.560 --> 07:32.970
get better, a lot better,
because PPP will be over, EIDL

07:33.060 --> 07:35.310
will be over. And then you're
gonna have all these new

07:35.310 --> 07:38.400
businesses that are going to
come in, that are not going to

07:38.400 --> 07:41.460
have a track record, to go to a
bank, and they're going to need

07:41.490 --> 07:44.880
alternative finance. So I had
been saying it since the very

07:44.880 --> 07:47.040
beginning, that we're going to
have the largest demand for

07:47.040 --> 07:51.270
capital that we've ever had,
ever had, you know what I mean,

07:51.300 --> 07:54.180
once this is all over, and you
mentioned something about

07:54.210 --> 07:57.570
millennials moving into the
city, in the wake of COVID, I

07:57.570 --> 08:02.550
actually moved to the city to
Manhattan in 2008. Okay. The

08:02.550 --> 08:04.590
whole city was, you know,
clearing out because of the

08:04.590 --> 08:07.890
financial crisis. Yeah. Rent
plummeted. And guess what? I

08:07.890 --> 08:10.020
moved right in. Yeah. You know
what I mean, so, you know, they

08:10.020 --> 08:12.540
were talking about the death of
New York City back then, in

08:12.540 --> 08:15.480
terms of, you know, housing and
all that stuff. But for me as a

08:15.480 --> 08:19.380
young person, in those days, I
moved right in. So I think right

08:19.380 --> 08:21.210
now, if you're a broker out
there, and you're struggling, I

08:21.210 --> 08:25.800
think, just hold on, and I think
you're in for, for pretty good

08:25.800 --> 08:26.220
times.

08:26.250 --> 08:28.110
Johny Fernandez: Yeah. And let
me ask you this, Sean, like, do

08:28.110 --> 08:33.330
you think that brokers, you
know, in the industry, but also

08:33.330 --> 08:36.570
people that are moving here, new
business owners, when do you

08:36.570 --> 08:42.810
think they will need this
assistance from, you know, I

08:42.810 --> 08:46.560
feel like everyone can benefit
from everyone. So when will the

08:46.560 --> 08:48.900
brokers need the assistance of
the new businesses, new

08:48.900 --> 08:51.510
businesses, need the assistance
of the new brokers? Do you think

08:51.510 --> 08:53.970
it's something that if you're
watching this right now, you

08:53.970 --> 08:58.110
should join in immediately and
start taking advantage of these

08:58.140 --> 09:00.870
opportunities? Because even
though COVID isn't over, but we

09:00.870 --> 09:05.460
are starting to see the cusp,
end of you know, what COVID.

09:05.460 --> 09:11.310
Like I guess a hardcore COVID,
time. So what would you say?

09:11.310 --> 09:14.490
What do you think people should
start jumping in and really

09:14.490 --> 09:17.130
starting to seize advantage and
start looking ahead or start

09:17.130 --> 09:18.780
focusing on what they've lost?

09:19.740 --> 09:22.050
Sean Murray: Well, I don't think
anyone should be looking back at

09:22.050 --> 09:24.030
what they've lost. I think it
doesn't make any sense to look,

09:24.390 --> 09:28.080
you know, look in the past and
only look forward. And as far as

09:28.110 --> 09:32.040
should they just jump in. I
think it's gonna depend on the

09:32.040 --> 09:34.380
geography of the country that
you're focusing on and on the

09:34.380 --> 09:37.080
industry that you're focusing
on, because we've already seen

09:37.080 --> 09:40.680
in Miami that the economy has
kind of already rejuvenated

09:40.680 --> 09:43.050
itself there, right? And as for
a business owner, when are they

09:43.050 --> 09:45.780
going to when are they going to
go and apply for this capital? I

09:45.780 --> 09:49.710
think part of it is going to be
as soon as they realize that

09:49.710 --> 09:53.070
they are that they need the
employees and that they need the

09:53.070 --> 09:57.660
inventory. Because a lot of
these vendors out there who are

09:57.660 --> 09:59.670
selling the supplies to
restaurants, they're gonna want

09:59.670 --> 10:03.060
to get paid in cash even I mean,
I don't know how forgiving

10:03.060 --> 10:05.160
they're going to be with terms
and stuff and stuff like that.

10:05.160 --> 10:07.290
So they might say, I'll take you
on, but I need to get paid in

10:07.290 --> 10:09.210
cash, the restaurant or the
business it doesn't have to be a

10:09.210 --> 10:11.880
restaurant, it's like, well, I
really need the cash upfront,

10:11.880 --> 10:13.740
I'm going to turn it all over
and make a lot of money. Yeah.

10:13.770 --> 10:16.140
That's the time when they're
going to go out and get funding

10:16.140 --> 10:19.080
from an alternative finance
provider. Same with employees, a

10:19.080 --> 10:22.830
lot of the companies that at
least in the New York area that

10:22.830 --> 10:26.100
survive, they really, you know,
they downsized substantially.

10:26.850 --> 10:30.900
And once they realized they are
going back to full capacity,

10:30.900 --> 10:33.600
it's going to create a hiring
boom, but it doesn't mean you.

10:34.020 --> 10:36.720
You all of a sudden have all the
money to hire. Yeah. You kind of

10:36.720 --> 10:39.720
need the money first. Yeah. It's
risky to just hire someone

10:39.870 --> 10:42.780
hoping that you will make the
money quick enough. To make the

10:42.780 --> 10:45.450
first payroll. Yeah. Right. Like
you have to you kind of have to

10:45.480 --> 10:48.570
get the money first, then do the
hiring, and then hope everything

10:48.570 --> 10:51.840
else. I mean, that's what I
would do. Personally. And, you

10:51.840 --> 10:54.660
know, we we mentioned before
we've both been here. Yeah.

10:54.660 --> 10:55.110
Through COVID.

10:55.140 --> 10:55.800
Johny Fernandez: Through whole
thing.

10:55.800 --> 10:56.730
Sean Murray: Through the whole
thing, right? And.

10:56.790 --> 10:59.670
Johny Fernandez: We didn't
leave, to think about that is

10:59.670 --> 11:02.730
wild to me, because we literally
did not leave, at all.

11:02.730 --> 11:04.590
Sean Murray: Yeah, well, a
little disclaimer, I did leave

11:04.590 --> 11:10.380
for from March or March, March
to June, and then I came back.

11:10.620 --> 11:13.860
And I've been taking the subway
ever since. So since June of

11:13.860 --> 11:16.200
2020. I've been taking the
subway and I took the subway to

11:16.200 --> 11:17.250
the studio here today.

11:17.790 --> 11:19.860
Johny Fernandez: So talk about
that, I also took the subway

11:19.890 --> 11:25.740
here to Manhattan. What was your
experience ike? What is New

11:25.740 --> 11:29.700
York, in your eyes, I mean, you
know, going into the office and

11:29.700 --> 11:32.220
going home, what has it felt
like for you?

11:32.490 --> 11:34.200
Sean Murray: Well, in the
beginning, it was weird, because

11:34.230 --> 11:36.480
there were times when I was
actually the only person on a

11:36.480 --> 11:40.500
train car. Yeah. And usually,
that's a really bad sign. You do

11:40.500 --> 11:43.350
not want to be the only guy in a
train car. Because that means

11:43.350 --> 11:45.900
something bad happened in that
train car. And you don't want to

11:45.900 --> 11:49.230
be in that car. But there were a
lot of train cars like that, and

11:49.230 --> 11:51.420
nothing bad happened in them.
And and then I started to worry.

11:51.450 --> 11:53.550
Should I be worried that I'm
alone in the train car? You

11:53.550 --> 11:54.960
know, because something
happened? Yeah. You know what I

11:54.960 --> 11:58.500
mean, so I and I took pictures
and I have some video footage

11:58.530 --> 12:01.200
where you know, I'm like, took
360 degree shots. I'm like, here

12:01.200 --> 12:05.640
I am on a train by myself. Yeah.
But that has started to change

12:05.850 --> 12:08.460
substantially. I noticed it
around the holidays where people

12:08.460 --> 12:11.730
started to pick back up. Yeah.
And ride and ride the train. And

12:11.730 --> 12:16.800
then today I took the took the
the B train. Yeah. And, you

12:16.800 --> 12:20.160
know, it wasn't like what it
was, but I thought it was pretty

12:20.160 --> 12:22.770
full. Yeah. You know, I mean,
like, people were standing, you

12:22.770 --> 12:24.600
didn't have to get. Yeah. You
didn't get a seat.

12:24.600 --> 12:27.810
Johny Fernandez: Yeah. So it's
funny, because I think I believe

12:27.810 --> 12:30.900
I've had a very similar
experience to you being here,

12:30.930 --> 12:34.470
you know, locked down in my
apartment, when everything went

12:34.470 --> 12:37.980
down last year, and then seeing
the city progress. And then like

12:37.980 --> 12:41.040
all the changes, you know, we
went from like, I used to live

12:41.040 --> 12:45.090
close to the park. So I would
see like no one outside, and it

12:45.090 --> 12:47.970
was the craziest thing. But then
from there, like I would see

12:47.970 --> 12:51.600
people starting to come. And I
think a big factor is definitely

12:51.600 --> 12:54.450
the weather, the weather is a
huge factor when people come out

12:54.450 --> 12:58.470
here specifically. So you know,
last summer, things were a lot

12:58.470 --> 13:01.440
different things were a lot
livey, but a lot more live. But

13:01.440 --> 13:04.050
I also did notice that people
were a lot cautious. They were

13:04.050 --> 13:07.920
super cautious about moving, you
know, and being close to people.

13:07.920 --> 13:12.120
But as time progressed, and now
that we're here, it definitely

13:12.120 --> 13:15.990
feels a lot different, because I
feel like people have finally

13:15.990 --> 13:19.710
been able to relax a little bit.
Yeah. But also, like you said,

13:19.950 --> 13:22.950
the transportation getting in a
cab, you know, getting on the

13:22.950 --> 13:26.670
bus, you know, it's definitely
different because now, similar

13:26.670 --> 13:29.580
experience to you, I had to take
the blue line, you know, the A,

13:29.970 --> 13:33.330
and then I transfer. And it was
very interesting, because there

13:33.330 --> 13:36.810
was no room to sit, you know,
and I think that's a really good

13:36.810 --> 13:40.380
indicator of you know, what
exactly is going on in regards

13:40.380 --> 13:44.160
to number one people going back
to work. Sure. And then also

13:44.220 --> 13:47.670
people being comfortable to take
public transportation or to take

13:47.940 --> 13:50.700
something as simple as a cab.
Like, I feel, I felt like that

13:50.700 --> 13:54.150
was something that people were
also very nervous about doing.

13:54.360 --> 13:57.450
But it was a safer way than
riding the train. And I've been

13:57.450 --> 14:02.340
in situations like you where I
was also, you know, the only one

14:02.370 --> 14:06.060
in the, you know, the subway car
that is just like me, by me by

14:06.060 --> 14:11.070
myself. So it was also very
interesting seeing that, you

14:11.070 --> 14:13.320
know, at certain times that
you're just the only one there

14:13.320 --> 14:15.990
and I think I've gotten used to
that. But now I have to

14:16.110 --> 14:19.920
reprogram my mind and realize
that like this may have been a

14:19.920 --> 14:22.980
once in a lifetime thing. Yeah.
Seeing New York like this. And

14:22.980 --> 14:24.360
now things are coming back.

14:24.390 --> 14:25.890
Sean Murray: Yeah. You mentioned
something about people getting

14:25.890 --> 14:28.260
more comfortable. I want to give
a special shout out to all the

14:28.260 --> 14:31.260
people I saw on the sidewalk
this morning with the mask down

14:31.260 --> 14:33.780
smoking old fashioned
cigarrettes, just blowing the

14:33.780 --> 14:36.390
smoke around. I was like
alright. We're back. Yeah that's

14:36.390 --> 14:38.880
a sign. Like that's the sign.
That's the recovery. That is the

14:38.880 --> 14:41.040
recovery. The New York recovery
looks like this with smoke

14:41.040 --> 14:43.260
blowing. Yeah, I was like
alright, we're back baby.

14:43.260 --> 14:45.360
Johny Fernandez: We're back.
We're back. Let's do it. And

14:45.360 --> 14:47.940
it's exciting to see the city
come back. You know, it's

14:47.940 --> 14:51.780
exciting to feel the energy and
I went to Times Square because I

14:51.780 --> 14:57.660
had a friend visit from college
and we went to Times Square and

14:57.660 --> 15:01.710
it was packed. It was crazy
because the first time in

15:02.250 --> 15:06.510
probably maybe six months that
I've seen it, that pack where

15:06.510 --> 15:10.200
you're like, literally having to
fight your way from 42nd Street

15:10.230 --> 15:14.580
just to get in and like, kind of
move around. And it felt like

15:14.640 --> 15:17.520
old times, even though it wasn't
and you know, there's still the

15:17.520 --> 15:20.670
pandemic going on, but it felt
like old times, and it was

15:20.670 --> 15:24.150
great. It was great to see just
the city, you know, start

15:24.180 --> 15:25.440
coming, becoming alive again.

15:25.470 --> 15:28.440
Sean Murray: Yeah. And, you
know, that's good, because a lot

15:28.440 --> 15:30.330
of people been working from
home. And I think that we'll

15:30.330 --> 15:33.810
find a lot of people return to
the office. Yeah. And I think

15:33.810 --> 15:37.680
that what we're going to see is,
we're going to see brokers

15:38.040 --> 15:42.390
return into the business. I said
on I said on social media before

15:42.420 --> 15:45.750
that, the brokers will come
back, and a lot of them never

15:45.750 --> 15:49.080
left. But interestingly enough,
and this is a stat, I haven't

15:49.080 --> 15:53.190
told anybody, but people want to
know how many how many people

15:53.220 --> 15:57.180
left or are gone, right? Well,
we happen to run the

15:57.210 --> 16:01.680
DailyFunder, which is a great,
which is a great way to measure

16:02.100 --> 16:05.700
that activity. Yeah. And we sent
out, here's what we did, we sent

16:05.700 --> 16:10.890
out an email in March of 2020.
Okay. And then, without adding

16:10.890 --> 16:15.840
anyone to the email list, from
then until March 2021. So this

16:15.840 --> 16:17.730
doesn't include any of the new
people that have joined

16:17.760 --> 16:21.180
DailyFunder since we then send
out a second email. Okay. Right.

16:21.660 --> 16:25.050
And we've just to see, you know,
for a variety different reasons,

16:25.050 --> 16:28.140
but one was to monitor how many
of these people don't exist

16:28.140 --> 16:32.070
anymore. Yeah. And it was about
seven and a half percent of the

16:32.070 --> 16:35.790
audience. It was. I mean,
that's, that's significant.

16:35.910 --> 16:38.610
We're we're talking about
hundreds, hundreds of. And these

16:38.610 --> 16:41.250
are, these are the accounts.
These are the email addresses

16:41.250 --> 16:44.730
that no longer exist, right. So
there was more brokers that left

16:44.730 --> 16:48.030
the business who whose domains
haven't expired, or you know

16:48.030 --> 16:50.010
what I mean, or they haven't
cancelled them. Those are ones

16:50.010 --> 16:52.350
that have lapsed to the point
where their domains don't exist

16:52.350 --> 16:55.350
anymore. Seven and a half
percent, is what was what fell

16:55.350 --> 16:58.860
off. Now we've gained a lot of
new followers on onDailyFunder

16:58.890 --> 17:01.260
since and we've seen a huge
influx, I don't want to say

17:01.260 --> 17:06.990
huge, but an influx. Yeah. Of
brokers joining DailyFunder. And

17:07.590 --> 17:11.100
that brings us back to well,
people are joining joining the

17:11.100 --> 17:12.900
business. Yeah. For the first
time.

17:12.930 --> 17:14.760
Johny Fernandez: Yeah. Well, I
was gonna ask you this, I think

17:14.760 --> 17:18.000
that that's a perfect segue for
the next conversation that we

17:18.000 --> 17:22.230
want to have is if a new broker
joins the business within this

17:22.230 --> 17:25.950
year, which has been a crazy
year, what would your piece of

17:25.950 --> 17:30.060
advice be for that new broker a
day in the life of a new broker?

17:30.060 --> 17:33.450
Like, how do you get started?
How do you, you know, pretty

17:33.450 --> 17:37.080
much gain these leads? How do
you compete with number one,

17:37.200 --> 17:40.080
everyone else that was here
before you, but also in a time

17:40.080 --> 17:43.920
that is very unique, that no
one's really, really had an

17:43.920 --> 17:46.470
instruction manual, about how to
navigate?

17:46.620 --> 17:48.870
Sean Murray: Yeah, well, it's a
little bit of a different period

17:48.870 --> 17:51.930
of time starting to be a broker
now, I said a long time ago,

17:51.930 --> 17:55.050
probably at this point six,
seven years ago, if you only

17:55.050 --> 17:58.290
have a couple 1000 bucks in
startup capital, don't start a

17:58.290 --> 18:00.570
broker company, because you're
gonna find out that the cost,

18:00.930 --> 18:03.300
you know the learning curve is
enormous. You have all these

18:03.330 --> 18:06.210
other costs that come with
running a shop that are

18:06.210 --> 18:10.410
enormous, you're going to have
to pay out something in attorney

18:10.410 --> 18:14.400
fees or something. So if it's
just a couple 1000 bucks, I

18:14.400 --> 18:17.790
would, you should go work
somewhere, you should go work

18:17.790 --> 18:20.340
for a broker shop, but you
shouldn't start a broker shop.

18:21.390 --> 18:24.180
And we were just talking about
this, just, you know, I don't

18:24.180 --> 18:26.010
think we've done on video, but
we were talking about what does

18:26.010 --> 18:30.420
it take for a broker to start
up? And it's as simple as, you

18:30.420 --> 18:35.520
know, a phone, an email, and
leads and also a relationship

18:35.520 --> 18:40.470
with the funder, right? And five
years ago, you know what else

18:40.470 --> 18:43.770
was there? What other piece of
it was to that whole thing? It

18:43.770 --> 18:46.560
was you were competing against
other brokers. Yeah. Right. And

18:46.560 --> 18:49.350
leads were expensive. You were
competing against other brokers.

18:49.530 --> 18:51.960
And what's changed now,
especially after COVID? You say,

18:51.960 --> 18:55.260
well, how is it any different? I
think one of the main

18:55.260 --> 18:58.110
differences is that you're not
just competing against other

18:58.140 --> 19:00.930
brokers or you know or funders,
right? You're not just

19:00.930 --> 19:05.040
competing, you know, against
other people. And I don't want

19:05.040 --> 19:09.180
to say you're competing against,
you know, tech, right? Yeah. But

19:09.180 --> 19:12.240
you're competing against a
button, like an actual button,

19:12.750 --> 19:15.780
that now exists in a lot of
software that business owners

19:15.780 --> 19:18.990
use. Yeah. Whether it be an
inventory thing, a point of

19:18.990 --> 19:22.620
sale, a credit card processing
thing. It's pretty common now to

19:22.620 --> 19:26.220
see a button. Yeah. I've seen it
in Square Yeah. You know, you

19:26.220 --> 19:29.580
can swipe a card or you can key
enter a card, and then or the

19:29.580 --> 19:33.900
capital button, and it will tell
you how much you're pre approved

19:33.900 --> 19:36.690
for and you just click it and
you're funded. And that's it.

19:36.930 --> 19:39.630
Right so if you're, if you're a
broker, you now need to compete

19:39.870 --> 19:42.540
against that and you need to
find out you need to figure out

19:42.690 --> 19:45.570
if your product is competing
against it, or if your product

19:45.600 --> 19:49.560
is an add on to it. Are you the
broker that comes in that says

19:49.680 --> 19:52.650
what you got through Square, or
Stripe or you know what any of

19:52.650 --> 19:55.890
these companies was it not
enough and can I help you with

19:55.890 --> 19:59.880
additional? Or if you believe to
be if you believe yourself to be

19:59.880 --> 20:03.330
competing against those
customers, how do you reach that

20:03.360 --> 20:06.780
reach them in such a way that
they trust you more or that

20:06.780 --> 20:11.340
they, I feel like one of and
this, this is a larger

20:11.340 --> 20:14.640
discussion. But one thing that
you could potentially use as a

20:14.640 --> 20:18.180
broker is to convince somebody
that it's better to have

20:18.180 --> 20:20.490
somebody to hold your hand
through the whole thing and

20:20.490 --> 20:24.960
compete for a better deal versus
whatever the machine, you know,

20:24.960 --> 20:27.360
the software, the button is
giving you because if you click

20:27.360 --> 20:30.990
the button, oftentimes there's
nobody there to guide you

20:30.990 --> 20:33.090
through anything. And I don't
think there's any competing

20:33.090 --> 20:35.160
offers presented to you. It's
kind of like, here's what you're

20:35.160 --> 20:37.800
approved for. Do you want it
yes, fund, right? And so if

20:37.800 --> 20:40.860
you're a broker, and maybe it's
about proving your value of

20:40.860 --> 20:43.470
working with a person who could
potentially get you some

20:43.500 --> 20:46.860
something better, and also talk
to you through the whole thing,

20:46.890 --> 20:50.550
because I know, you know, when
you get the fine print, and

20:50.610 --> 20:53.070
it's, you know, they brag about
how you can do it all from your

20:53.070 --> 20:56.400
smartphone. And are you signing
like a 20 page contract on the

20:56.400 --> 20:58.140
smartphone? You know what I
mean? Yeah. Do you really know

20:58.140 --> 21:01.050
all the terms? Yeah. I don't,
maybe, you know, maybe they do.

21:01.080 --> 21:01.560
I don't know.

21:01.560 --> 21:04.500
Johny Fernandez: I mean, yeah.
But it's also like,

21:04.650 --> 21:07.080
realistically speaking, like,
usually you just scroll

21:07.290 --> 21:09.300
everything down, and then you
just don't even read it.

21:09.330 --> 21:10.860
Sean Murray: You just yeah, it's
like when you sign the, you

21:10.860 --> 21:13.080
know, the new license, the new
license agreement, right? Yeah.

21:13.110 --> 21:16.380
Like when you download anything
that's like, did you accept the

21:16.380 --> 21:18.780
terms? It's like when Facebook
updates. Yeah. And you're like,

21:18.780 --> 21:20.850
I just want to get to my
Facebook. Yeah. And it's just

21:20.850 --> 21:23.670
like, do you agree to this new
100 page of like, you know,

21:23.670 --> 21:26.310
surrendering your identity to
Facebook? And you're like, yes,

21:26.340 --> 21:27.600
because I want to post a
picture.

21:27.660 --> 21:32.220
Johny Fernandez: Yeah. Yeah, no,
that's it's great advice. And,

21:32.430 --> 21:34.500
and I think throughout the rest
of the day, we're also going to

21:34.500 --> 21:38.220
be hearing about different
tactics and just advice from the

21:38.220 --> 21:40.380
different people we have. So
Sean, let's go ahead and just

21:40.380 --> 21:43.950
walk people through what people
and what our viewers can expect

21:44.370 --> 21:46.590
today for the rest of the day.
And what we have planned in the

21:46.590 --> 21:46.980
agenda.

21:47.010 --> 21:48.960
Sean Murray: Yeah, so it's, this
is a two and a half hour event.

21:48.960 --> 21:52.290
So this is going to be over by
about one o'clock. One o'clock.

21:52.950 --> 21:56.520
We have two brokers and funder
here with us today. We have

21:56.550 --> 22:00.930
Horizon Financial Group, we have
United Capital Source, those are

22:00.930 --> 22:03.810
from the broker end. And then we
have Central Diligence Group

22:04.140 --> 22:07.020
from the funder side. So Horizon
Financial Group will go first.

22:07.380 --> 22:10.440
These are not presentations.
Yeah. These are these are these

22:10.440 --> 22:13.500
are conversations, there will be
an interviewer. It is for the

22:13.500 --> 22:16.290
most part, unscripted, there
hasn't been any rehearsing, or

22:16.290 --> 22:18.060
any or anything like that. So
it'll it'll be an open

22:18.060 --> 22:21.000
discussion, you get to pick the
brains of the brokers and and of

22:21.000 --> 22:24.240
the funder. Yeah. And there will
be some content that's played in

22:24.240 --> 22:28.920
between that as well. And this,
you know, this isn't necessarily

22:28.950 --> 22:33.180
an event. In fact, this is just
a way for us to, you know, bring

22:33.180 --> 22:35.640
you back into the industry,
right? Because it's the spring,

22:35.640 --> 22:38.580
it's new beginning. And if you
want to keep following these

22:38.580 --> 22:40.920
type of things, well, you can do
that every day or not every day,

22:40.920 --> 22:44.370
every Monday and Wednesday. Tune
in you can hear from Johny and I

22:44.400 --> 22:46.380
sometimes we will have guests
there. And if you want to be a

22:46.380 --> 22:48.960
guest you can you can reach out.
Reach out to us. Yeah.

22:49.230 --> 22:51.450
Johny Fernandez: So and
obviously if you know viewers

22:51.450 --> 22:55.110
have any ideas or they have they
want any they want to take you

22:55.110 --> 22:57.750
know, any input and give it to
us hand it over to us.

22:57.900 --> 23:02.130
Definitely reach out online,
email us, and really let us know

23:02.130 --> 23:04.950
because we definitely want to
hear from our viewers and kind

23:04.950 --> 23:10.110
of really start a relationship
with them and us and really give

23:10.110 --> 23:13.230
them what they would like too
and like you said it's kind of

23:13.260 --> 23:16.680
like your, your jacket, things
are blooming. So.

23:16.710 --> 23:18.420
Sean Murray: Yeah, my jacket
bloomed this morning.

23:19.950 --> 23:21.930
Johny Fernandez: What was your
reaction when you left the

23:21.930 --> 23:22.410
house?

23:22.500 --> 23:27.120
Sean Murray: I got some, you
know, eye rolls. And even some

23:27.150 --> 23:30.150
well, not on the subway. Okay.
On the subway. Yeah, I look this

23:30.150 --> 23:34.080
is. This is New York. This is
the normal getup, right? Nobody

23:34.080 --> 23:36.150
batted an eye. That's how you
know we're back.

23:36.180 --> 23:39.030
Johny Fernandez: That's how you
know we're back yeah, people. I

23:39.030 --> 23:41.940
had a performance on my subway
today. You did? Yeah. Okay.

23:41.940 --> 23:44.310
Yeah. So that's how you know New
York is back. So.

23:44.340 --> 23:45.000
Sean Murray: Nice.

23:45.030 --> 23:45.930
Johny Fernandez: Hopefully soon.

23:45.990 --> 23:48.600
Sean Murray: Oh, I want to give
a plug. Because here we are

23:48.600 --> 23:52.080
doing this live stream. And for
those of for those of you who

23:52.080 --> 23:55.080
are wondering, when are we going
to be all together in person.

23:55.290 --> 23:58.200
Well we're going to have Broker
Fair, our biggest event it's

23:58.200 --> 24:00.720
going to come back to New York.
We're in New York right now. But

24:00.720 --> 24:03.450
we want all of you to come back
to New York on December sixth,

24:03.540 --> 24:06.480
at convenient Brookfield Place
in lower Manhattan, you can go

24:06.480 --> 24:10.200
to brokerfair.org To learn more
information and also register to

24:10.200 --> 24:13.920
get a ticket. And so, you know,
this is just this is you know,

24:13.920 --> 24:16.260
this is not a virtual event.
This is not really even an

24:16.260 --> 24:20.700
event. Yeah. The event is coming
in person, massive event and

24:20.700 --> 24:21.330
Broker Fair.

24:21.360 --> 24:23.640
Johny Fernandez: What's what's
great about that is that that is

24:23.640 --> 24:27.840
going to be, you know, just a
preview of next year when

24:27.840 --> 24:30.810
hopefully things get back to
normal and we can all be

24:30.810 --> 24:34.620
together again, and we can all
kind of get back to what we

24:34.620 --> 24:38.490
knew. But I feel like this is
going to be next year's just

24:38.490 --> 24:42.210
going to be a way for us to
reunite and be better than what

24:42.210 --> 24:45.750
we were before. Yeah. So,
totally exciting. It's an

24:45.750 --> 24:47.550
exciting time, I think it's an
exciting time.

24:47.580 --> 24:49.740
Sean Murray: And to that end
when you talk about next year.

24:49.770 --> 24:54.030
We'll be back in Miami in 2022.
We do not have a date yet so

24:54.060 --> 24:57.630
stay tuned for that but Miami
we'll be back we have not

24:57.630 --> 24:59.580
forgotten Miami in fact, you've
been in Miami.

25:00.270 --> 25:02.220
Johny Fernandez: A few times.
Yeah. And it's really

25:02.220 --> 25:05.520
interesting seeing just how
things are going down there and

25:05.640 --> 25:10.080
for the business aspect of
things to also just seeing, like

25:10.110 --> 25:13.440
the community and the vibrancy
of Miami, so Miami is definitely

25:13.440 --> 25:16.440
back. And they're excited to
have us. I mean, everywhere, you

25:16.440 --> 25:19.050
know, within the industry,
everyone knows deBanked.

25:19.050 --> 25:22.560
Everyone knows, Sean Murray,
everyone knows, you know, we

25:22.560 --> 25:25.890
have a couple of surprises when
Miami happens, you know, and

25:26.130 --> 25:30.240
it'll be exciting. So yeah, so
again, it's an excitement just

25:30.240 --> 25:33.600
like your jacket. And we'll
definitely be seeing everyone

25:33.960 --> 25:38.610
soon. And again, for deBanked
News Live. I'm Johny Fernandez.

25:39.420 --> 25:40.320
Sean Murray: And I'm Sean
Murray.

25:40.410 --> 25:42.750
Johny Fernandez: And we'll see
you guys next time in the

25:42.750 --> 25:45.720
studio. But for now, stay tuned.
Because there's definitely more

25:45.720 --> 25:46.710
exciting things coming up.

25:55.410 --> 25:57.360
Allyson Berger: It doesn't seem
like COVID slowed your business

25:57.360 --> 26:00.090
down. You were out there making
calls and things are happening.

26:00.120 --> 26:02.100
James Celifarco: Yep. phones are
ringing, which we're doing the

26:02.100 --> 26:05.070
best we can, you know, did a lot
of work with PPP. We got people

26:05.070 --> 26:07.410
coming back into the office.
It's just good to be here with

26:07.410 --> 26:09.870
everybody. And it's it's
exciting.

26:10.050 --> 26:12.120
Allyson Berger: Yeah, we're
happy to have you here. You

26:12.120 --> 26:14.820
pride yourselves on making
things happen in 48 hours. Has

26:14.820 --> 26:17.640
COVID slowed that down a bit?
Are you still keeping that time

26:17.640 --> 26:17.880
in?

26:17.940 --> 26:20.310
John Celifarco: At the beginning
of COVID, I'd say things slowed

26:20.310 --> 26:23.040
down a little but we are back to
normal timing on things now.

26:23.070 --> 26:26.970
Things are, it's a new normal,
but it's not a bad normal.

26:27.000 --> 26:28.350
Allyson Berger: Yeah. What do
you think?

26:28.860 --> 26:31.470
James Celifarco: Well, I think
that, you know, the phones are

26:31.470 --> 26:33.930
ringing again. So we're happy to
talk to our clients that we've

26:33.930 --> 26:36.720
had for years. We're happy that
our lead sources are starting to

26:36.720 --> 26:40.260
get us some new clients. But
like John said, it's a new

26:40.260 --> 26:43.680
normal, you gotta you got to
change with the time so we're

26:43.680 --> 26:44.160
ready for it.

26:44.220 --> 26:46.320
Allyson Berger: Right, we got to
keep it moving. And we're in

26:46.350 --> 26:49.230
midtown Manhattan life is here.
We're doing things.

26:49.710 --> 26:51.600
John Celifarco: Yeah it's I
mean, it's a little weird

26:51.600 --> 26:55.140
walking through the streets.
It's not like it used to be. But

26:55.260 --> 26:58.170
not having been in the city in
probably five, six months. It's

26:58.170 --> 27:01.050
really good, just to be back and
see that things are starting to

27:01.050 --> 27:02.100
get back to where they should
be.

27:02.130 --> 27:03.690
Allyson Berger: Yeah. Do you
still feel the vibe and the

27:03.690 --> 27:04.590
energy of New York?

27:04.650 --> 27:07.950
James Celifarco: Yeah. I'm glad
that Sean announced the new, the

27:07.950 --> 27:10.860
new deBanked event coming in
December, I cannot wait for it.

27:11.460 --> 27:12.840
So that's something to look
forward to.

27:13.230 --> 27:14.760
Allyson Berger: Events are
always a good thing. I mean,

27:14.760 --> 27:17.640
we're together now people want
to see each other right?

27:17.790 --> 27:21.240
John Celifarco: Oh, definitely.
It's Zoom was great to help us

27:21.240 --> 27:23.580
get us through this whole thing.
But to actually be in a room

27:23.580 --> 27:26.370
with people. There's a different
energy, different ability to get

27:26.370 --> 27:28.410
things done than when there's
not a computer screen between

27:28.410 --> 27:28.620
you.

27:28.860 --> 27:31.110
Allyson Berger: Was it weird
adjusting to doing business via

27:31.110 --> 27:31.530
Zoom?

27:32.220 --> 27:34.680
James Celifarco: You have no
choice. You know, it's survival

27:34.680 --> 27:38.520
of the fittest. So whatever we
had to do to get clients in and

27:38.520 --> 27:42.360
clients funded. If it was Zoom,
if it was over the phone,

27:42.360 --> 27:44.700
whatever's gotta be done. We had
we gotta conduct business.

27:44.850 --> 27:45.300
Allyson Berger: Yeah.

27:45.330 --> 27:48.330
John Celifarco: Yeah, no, at the
beginning, there really was no

27:48.330 --> 27:51.180
choice. So if it was weird or
not didn't matter, it was find a

27:51.180 --> 27:54.240
way to make it work, get used to
it. But now that we're moving

27:54.270 --> 27:57.630
out of that, and there's some in
person meetings happening, it's

27:57.630 --> 27:59.580
nice to get that human contact
back.

27:59.610 --> 28:01.230
Allyson Berger: So people are
coming to the office to meet

28:01.230 --> 28:01.560
with you?

28:01.800 --> 28:04.500
John Celifarco: They're starting
to I mean, it's definitely a

28:04.500 --> 28:08.790
different sort of vibe, I'm in
masks and all that. But it's

28:08.790 --> 28:11.850
nice just to know that you have
that ability that you could say

28:11.850 --> 28:15.180
come to the office or have a
meeting outside six months ago,

28:15.180 --> 28:18.090
that wasn't even an option to be
able to say that. And some deals

28:18.090 --> 28:20.820
get closed a little easier when
you could meet somebody face to

28:20.820 --> 28:21.270
face.

28:21.300 --> 28:23.790
Allyson Berger: Right. How have
you seen the the needs for these

28:23.790 --> 28:25.620
businesses change over time?

28:26.220 --> 28:29.010
James Celifarco: Oh, well, their
income is really down, you know,

28:29.010 --> 28:32.760
so they need money. You know,
whether it's through PPP or

28:32.760 --> 28:39.030
EIDL, or MCA or SBA, it's just
hearing their story and

28:39.510 --> 28:42.450
providing the service. So it's
everybody has a different story.

28:42.450 --> 28:45.630
And you have to be really open
to their situation.

28:46.050 --> 28:47.730
Allyson Berger: And we're so
excited to hear more about your

28:47.730 --> 28:50.100
story, the brothers in business.

28:50.970 --> 28:53.460
John Celifarco: Thank you very
much. No, we we love deBanked,

28:53.520 --> 28:56.430
we've been working with Sean for
a long time. So anytime we get

28:56.430 --> 28:59.520
the ability to come on and have
a conversation with him about

28:59.520 --> 29:01.950
the industry and just what's
going on. We look forward to it

29:01.950 --> 29:02.310
a lot.

29:02.370 --> 29:04.080
Allyson Berger: Yeah, it's
exciting, fun, and then you end

29:04.080 --> 29:05.100
up with trouble like me.

29:05.430 --> 29:07.920
James Celifarco: I'm looking
forward to trouble. Anything but

29:07.920 --> 29:10.650
staying in the house. So trouble
is fine. And maybe Sean will

29:10.650 --> 29:15.780
teach me a little fashion
advice. That jacket is

29:15.780 --> 29:16.440
everything, man.

29:16.470 --> 29:19.050
Allyson Berger: Yeah, he Spring
has sprung for him. It's about

29:19.050 --> 29:21.030
your time to you know, get the
colors going.

29:21.060 --> 29:23.880
James Celifarco: I look a lot
like Johny Fernandez. So I'm

29:23.880 --> 29:27.240
trying to look like Johny but I
gotta shop with where Sean

29:27.240 --> 29:27.540
shops.

29:27.570 --> 29:29.580
John Celifarco: I don't know. I
don't think I could pull off the

29:29.580 --> 29:31.890
jacket like Sean does. I think
I'll leave that to him.

29:32.130 --> 29:35.760
Allyson Berger: That's alright.
He's the boss anyway, right. But

29:35.760 --> 29:38.730
it's great to have you be a part
of our family and get things

29:38.730 --> 29:41.520
going and talk and then you'll
head into the hot seat.

29:41.850 --> 29:43.500
John Celifarco: Thank you so
much. We look forward to being

29:43.500 --> 29:43.740
here.

29:44.010 --> 29:46.410
Alright, guys. Stay tuned,
there's more to come on deBanked

29:46.410 --> 29:46.860
live.

29:48.600 --> 29:50.970
Kevin Travers: Hey, so it's
deBanked TV live. You guys had a

29:50.970 --> 29:53.880
little behind the scenes with
James and Johnson Celifarco from

29:53.910 --> 29:56.940
Horizon Financial Group. But now
we're going in with our sit down

29:56.940 --> 29:59.820
just conversation. So this is my
first time finally meeting

29:59.850 --> 30:02.910
brokers from the industry after
a year of quarantine. And even

30:02.910 --> 30:05.160
in the greenroom, they were
taking calls left and right. So

30:05.160 --> 30:07.740
tell me how have you guys
managed working in one of the

30:07.740 --> 30:08.520
worst years ever?

30:09.840 --> 30:12.090
John Celifarco: I would say
definitely kept us on our toes.

30:13.320 --> 30:18.030
The industry was changing so
fast between what's going on

30:18.030 --> 30:20.910
with our clients and how fast
their business fell off, and

30:20.910 --> 30:24.630
what their needs were, and what
funders in the industry were

30:24.630 --> 30:29.250
offering, because of that, I
would say I learned, I didn't

30:29.250 --> 30:32.490
think there was so much more to
learn. But because of new

30:32.490 --> 30:36.240
products, different things that
our clients needed, we had to

30:36.240 --> 30:39.960
learn a lot more in order to
fulfill their needs, especially

30:39.960 --> 30:43.890
with a lot of the government
programs, PPP,  EIDL, a year

30:43.890 --> 30:47.550
ago, none of this existed. So we
both had to learn it very quick,

30:47.640 --> 30:50.970
and then be able to explain it
to our customers, for the ones

30:50.970 --> 30:54.960
that needed that as well as 20
million other problems and

30:54.960 --> 30:57.870
things that you never would have
expected to come up in such a

30:57.870 --> 30:58.770
short period of time.

30:59.100 --> 31:01.740
James Celifarco: You know, I
think we're in a service

31:01.740 --> 31:03.510
industry. So we're trying to
service other people's

31:03.510 --> 31:06.540
businesses, but we're looking at
each other try to help our own

31:06.540 --> 31:10.470
business. So, you know, it's
tough for us as a business

31:10.470 --> 31:13.110
ourselves. But then you have
other people coming to us for

31:13.110 --> 31:16.860
answers. So not just, you know,
trying to help other people, but

31:16.950 --> 31:18.570
trying for us to stay in
business as well.

31:18.600 --> 31:21.510
John Celifarco: Yeah, I mean,
just so many funders at the very

31:21.510 --> 31:25.020
beginning, stopped funding. So
then it was finding who you

31:25.020 --> 31:28.710
could get deals done with. And
then as people came back, I

31:28.710 --> 31:32.370
mean, we're both in the industry
going on 10 years, 11 years

31:32.370 --> 31:35.850
each. And you think you
understand our product, and then

31:36.660 --> 31:39.330
underwriting all these things
change at the beginning of PPP,

31:39.330 --> 31:42.540
and we had to relearn how things
were getting done, and then be

31:42.540 --> 31:45.090
able to be good at it so that we
could deliver for our customers.

31:45.090 --> 31:49.350
So it was it was definitely an
interesting year to say the

31:49.350 --> 31:50.100
least.

31:50.400 --> 31:53.310
James Celifarco: We we really
relied on other people in the

31:53.310 --> 31:56.970
industry as well. So we'd call
up, you know, other partners,

31:57.120 --> 32:00.270
what are these banks doing? What
kind of restrictions are in

32:00.270 --> 32:04.230
place? Who are they funding? Who
aren't they funding? So just

32:04.260 --> 32:07.230
being an open source of
education back and forth.

32:07.230 --> 32:08.910
John Celifarco: Definitely being
in the industry, as long as we

32:08.910 --> 32:12.330
have, relationships, being able
to call up somebody that I trust

32:12.330 --> 32:14.880
and say, is this what you're
seeing, or them being able to

32:14.880 --> 32:18.870
call me. Yeah bounce ideas off
of each other was a huge help

32:19.140 --> 32:20.400
getting through this whole time.

32:21.330 --> 32:23.400
Kevin Travers: Absolutely. And I
know, one of the things that

32:23.430 --> 32:25.950
sort of sets you guys apart is
you have an in person, sort of

32:25.950 --> 32:29.400
brick and mortar branch in
Brooklyn. And I wonder what I

32:29.400 --> 32:31.980
mean, what has it been like
having to deal with closers and

32:31.980 --> 32:34.830
openings? How has that affected
your experience, and also the

32:34.830 --> 32:37.680
experience of many people you do
deals with who have their own

32:37.680 --> 32:39.180
branches or businesses in
person?

32:39.690 --> 32:42.420
James Celifarco: Well, you know,
it's great, because people

32:42.450 --> 32:46.500
always would just come in, just
stop in and if something went

32:46.500 --> 32:48.630
wrong with their POS system or
the credit card, or they wanted

32:48.630 --> 32:52.260
to discuss SBA, all that
stopped, you know, we, you know,

32:52.260 --> 32:54.240
they didn't want to come in, we
didn't want to have people in,

32:55.200 --> 32:57.870
John was in the office for most
of the time. And, you know,

32:57.900 --> 33:00.300
everybody else was working from
home, I got a, you know, family

33:00.300 --> 33:02.970
at home. So I was doing the
whole homeschooling thing. And

33:03.960 --> 33:07.110
so it was it was different, you
know, we that brick and mortar

33:07.110 --> 33:09.990
thing that we had to our
advantage really went to the

33:09.990 --> 33:13.500
wayside when you know, couldn't
have people in so people were

33:13.500 --> 33:15.390
opening the door grabbing a
card, you know, we were having

33:15.390 --> 33:17.370
conversations outside, but it it
changed.

33:17.820 --> 33:20.160
John Celifarco: Yeah, I mean,
people, someone come in ask

33:20.160 --> 33:23.580
about credit card processing,
ask about an SBA loan, that

33:23.610 --> 33:26.190
completely stopped. But now you
get a lot more someone knock on

33:26.190 --> 33:28.770
the door, take three steps back
and be like, oh, could I get a

33:28.770 --> 33:32.010
card? Do you do this type of
thing. And definitely a few more

33:32.010 --> 33:36.000
conversations out in the street
on the sidewalk, then, instead

33:36.000 --> 33:39.090
of in the office, but again,
things are coming back. Now we

33:39.090 --> 33:42.810
have more people coming into the
office we have, we're able to go

33:42.810 --> 33:45.150
to other people's offices, six
months ago, that wasn't even

33:45.300 --> 33:48.630
possible. So every day, it's
getting a little bit more and

33:48.630 --> 33:50.280
more back to normal. So that's a
good thing.

33:50.280 --> 33:51.780
James Celifarco: We do a lot of
work with the community too. And

33:51.870 --> 33:54.570
so we have a park down the block
from us. So anytime something's

33:54.570 --> 33:57.150
going on. We see a lot of people
from the community at the park

33:57.150 --> 34:00.630
and we'll show other business
owners are there too. So events

34:00.630 --> 34:02.880
and stuff like that. So a lot of
things are happening outside,

34:02.880 --> 34:04.740
things are starting to open back
up the community starting to

34:04.740 --> 34:06.900
buzz again. So a lot to look
forward to.

34:07.740 --> 34:09.840
John Celifarco: I'm just ready
for it to get back to normal

34:09.840 --> 34:14.130
every day, we get a little bit
closer. And we see it in

34:14.130 --> 34:17.370
business, our phones every
month, the phones are ringing

34:17.370 --> 34:21.000
more and more. when this first
started, at the very beginning

34:21.000 --> 34:25.140
of the pandemic, everybody was
so worried about how to keep

34:25.140 --> 34:29.160
their business alive, its I mean
business fell off. Probably

34:29.160 --> 34:32.880
those first couple of months it
may have been with like 80%. But

34:32.910 --> 34:36.540
as each month it's gotten busier
and busier, and now we're almost

34:36.540 --> 34:39.450
back to normal. And with a lot
of the new products and stuff

34:39.450 --> 34:42.600
that we didn't even offer at the
beginning. There's whole new

34:42.630 --> 34:45.660
parts of our business that may
not have existed if it wasn't

34:45.660 --> 34:49.380
for the pandemic it definitely
made us think outside the box to

34:49.380 --> 34:51.810
expand our business in some new
directions.

34:52.050 --> 34:54.240
Kevin Travers: Yeah, and about
that there's the paycheck

34:54.270 --> 34:57.780
protection program we're on.
This year. There was a new round

34:57.780 --> 35:00.360
released for this year, but
that's a major thing funders or

35:00.450 --> 35:04.440
brokers had to deal with is how
to either offer programming

35:04.440 --> 35:07.170
through that or products. How
have you guys sort of adapted to

35:07.170 --> 35:10.320
this new environment with the
PPP program? And is there any

35:10.320 --> 35:11.880
new deals or anything things you
worked on?

35:11.910 --> 35:14.100
John Celifarco: Well, there was
two rounds, the first round that

35:14.100 --> 35:17.400
came out last year, nobody knew
what it was. So we really

35:17.400 --> 35:19.890
weren't very involved in that we
were just sort of like learning,

35:19.890 --> 35:24.270
getting information. But what we
saw was that with the government

35:24.300 --> 35:27.810
offering all this low cost or
free money, people weren't

35:27.810 --> 35:30.780
looking for more conventional
types of money that we were

35:30.780 --> 35:34.020
offering. So when the second
round came out, we wanted to be

35:34.020 --> 35:37.620
more involved with it. So we got
as much information as we spent

35:37.620 --> 35:40.200
a lot of time figuring out A
where we could get the deals

35:40.200 --> 35:44.220
done. And then also how we could
bring deals in so that we could

35:44.250 --> 35:48.030
try to capitalize on it, we
signed some good deals, we had

35:48.030 --> 35:51.510
some good partners, and it's
been, it's really been the focus

35:51.510 --> 35:54.090
of our business for the last two
or three months just being able

35:54.090 --> 35:56.160
to process as many of these as
possible.

35:57.210 --> 36:00.270
James Celifarco: We brought a
lot of deals in you know, and

36:00.270 --> 36:02.850
it's giving us the opportunity
to work with a ton of new

36:02.850 --> 36:06.450
businesses that we, you know,
wouldn't have access to, without

36:06.450 --> 36:09.420
PPP, now that they're in we have
their information, we're talking

36:09.420 --> 36:11.790
to them about, you know, cross
selling them different products,

36:11.790 --> 36:15.660
credit card processing, or MCAs,
it's giving us a good

36:15.660 --> 36:18.930
opportunity to have access to a
ton of data that we can now

36:18.930 --> 36:19.530
market to.

36:19.800 --> 36:21.750
John Celifarco: It's a whole new
pool of customers that we

36:21.750 --> 36:24.750
wouldn't have had if it wasn't
for this. And now they trust us,

36:24.750 --> 36:28.020
we were able to help them
through this hard time. And

36:28.140 --> 36:31.320
doing a doing that for them.
Now, next time they need

36:31.320 --> 36:35.340
something if it's short term
financing, an SBA loan, that

36:35.340 --> 36:37.230
credit card machine isn't
working, they need new credit

36:37.230 --> 36:40.950
card processor, now, they know
us, they'll come back to us. So

36:41.220 --> 36:46.620
it's definitely been something
we never even thought of before

36:46.620 --> 36:48.630
that's now become a very big
part of our business.

36:48.750 --> 36:50.010
Kevin Travers: Absolutely.
That's, I mean, that's great to

36:50.010 --> 36:51.780
hear. Is there any major deals
you guys would like to talk

36:51.780 --> 36:52.860
about through PPP, or?

36:53.730 --> 36:56.010
James Celifarco: Well, we did
strike a deal with the Uber

36:56.010 --> 36:59.580
union. And we're working with
all the Uber drivers on their

36:59.580 --> 37:03.810
PPP loans. So there are, they're
independent contractors, and

37:03.810 --> 37:08.250
they're, they use their schedule
C to get a PPP loan. So we're

37:08.250 --> 37:11.040
working with them. And you know,
we're talking about 1000s, and

37:11.040 --> 37:14.370
the drivers all through the
city. So it's been a huge

37:14.370 --> 37:15.720
opportunity for us. So.

37:15.900 --> 37:19.140
John Celifarco: That's been the
biggest, I mean, probably six,

37:19.140 --> 37:23.190
7000 of those applications
alone. And that's without even

37:23.190 --> 37:27.450
talking about the regular
customers that we got. So that

37:27.450 --> 37:29.760
was a huge deal for us. And
hopefully we're doing a good job

37:29.760 --> 37:33.780
by helping them get the money
they need. And whatever comes of

37:33.780 --> 37:35.730
it, just help us grow in the
future.

37:36.660 --> 37:39.540
Kevin Travers: Awesome. Well, I
guess we're gonna move to some

37:39.540 --> 37:42.210
bonus round questions. More auot
because I'm finally meeting

37:42.210 --> 37:44.850
brokers in person. Yeah. But I
guess I first want to ask like

37:44.880 --> 37:48.510
is, in this day and age is
coffee still for closers, or I

37:48.510 --> 37:52.080
Janene, our events coordinator.
Keeping it together, she said

37:52.080 --> 37:53.190
it's more like Irish coffees.

37:54.180 --> 37:56.070
John Celifarco: Coffees, for
everybody, if you were able to

37:56.070 --> 37:59.130
get through the pandemic without
drinking coffee. I don't even

37:59.130 --> 38:00.210
know how that's possible.

38:00.210 --> 38:01.680
James Celifarco: I don't care if
you're an open or closer or a

38:01.680 --> 38:03.960
secretary that you're bringing
in business, I'll give you

38:04.230 --> 38:08.010
anything you want. Bourbon,
coffee, water, anything you want

38:08.010 --> 38:10.740
at your desk is A okay in my
book.

38:12.000 --> 38:14.760
Kevin Travers: Absolutely. And I
guess sort of on that vein, I've

38:14.760 --> 38:17.400
been looking through all the
necessary background reading

38:17.550 --> 38:20.250
would buy me movies about
brokers, and Wall Street's is

38:20.250 --> 38:24.510
running like a boiler room a
thing that's possible in 2021 or

38:24.540 --> 38:25.020
2020?

38:25.020 --> 38:27.600
John Celifarco: There are
companies out there that do that

38:27.600 --> 38:32.250
sort of thing that was never, I
never liked doing business that

38:32.250 --> 38:35.370
way, it was we're more
relationship driven. We want to

38:35.370 --> 38:38.580
know our customers, be able to
give them a good experience.

38:39.090 --> 38:41.880
There are companies out there
that have huge call, call

38:41.880 --> 38:47.220
centers, big floors, very that
type of thing. But that was

38:47.220 --> 38:49.920
never, I didn't come up working
for a company like that. And

38:49.920 --> 38:52.590
then when we went out on our
own, that wasn't the type of

38:52.590 --> 38:53.520
deal that we wanted.

38:53.550 --> 38:56.190
James Celifarco: We always went
with service services, our whole

38:56.190 --> 38:59.310
thing. So we're the kind of guys
that we don't schedule calls,

38:59.310 --> 39:02.430
you can stop in our office, you
can call our cell phones, very,

39:02.430 --> 39:05.340
very informal. And I think it
goes a long way when people feel

39:05.340 --> 39:07.380
comfortable with their
businesses, is their most prized

39:07.380 --> 39:09.840
possession. These are small
business owners, they live,

39:09.870 --> 39:12.690
breathe and eat everything about
their business. So for them to

39:12.690 --> 39:16.260
trust you with a lot of time
commercial mortgages, you're

39:16.260 --> 39:18.810
dealing with their biggest
asset, their their buildings,

39:18.810 --> 39:22.020
and their homes and their loans.
And this is a very, very

39:22.020 --> 39:25.350
intimate thing. So you got to
you know, you can't be that,

39:26.040 --> 39:28.560
that. That type of style, I
guess.

39:28.590 --> 39:30.420
John Celifarco: And it could
work for some people just not

39:30.420 --> 39:31.320
for us, I would say.

39:32.220 --> 39:37.830
Kevin Travers: Cool. Well, good.
I guess if you were a young

39:38.130 --> 39:40.920
broker starting out, how would
you what would you have to do to

39:40.920 --> 39:42.600
make a million dollars in a
year?

39:43.410 --> 39:45.540
James Celifarco: I guess it's
all relative, I would say I

39:45.540 --> 39:46.110
mean, I.

39:46.230 --> 39:49.710
John Celifarco: A young broker
starting out. If you're coming

39:49.710 --> 39:52.140
in with the hope of making a
million dollars your first year

39:52.140 --> 39:55.110
you're getting into the wrong
business. I mean, the most

39:55.110 --> 39:57.660
important thing for a new broker
is go work for a company. We're

39:57.660 --> 39:59.880
going to learn your craft learn
the right way to do this.

39:59.880 --> 40:03.660
business, if you have the know
how, if you work for the right

40:03.660 --> 40:06.300
company, if you learn the right
way to do things, the money's

40:06.300 --> 40:09.300
going to come. If you're good at
what you do, you will make money

40:09.300 --> 40:12.210
in this industry. But if you
walk in looking for a quick

40:12.210 --> 40:16.140
buck, just walk in and make a
million dollars right away. I

40:16.140 --> 40:18.570
don't care if it's this industry
or another industry, that's not

40:18.570 --> 40:21.000
just not the right way to come
in and look at something.

40:21.240 --> 40:22.830
James Celifarco: And it's all
it's also relative, you know, if

40:22.830 --> 40:26.430
you're making a million dollars,
but you spend the 950. You know,

40:26.460 --> 40:28.800
it's, you know, a lot of people
make a lot of money, but they're

40:28.800 --> 40:32.220
also spending tons and tons of
money to do it. So it's all

40:32.220 --> 40:32.640
relative.

40:34.320 --> 40:37.710
John Celifarco: It's also how do
you want to live, some people

40:37.710 --> 40:41.070
are very happy, you can make a
ton of money, but you have to

40:41.070 --> 40:44.190
work a million hours to do it.
Some people may want are happy

40:44.190 --> 40:48.210
making a good living with and
having some an outside life. So

40:48.210 --> 40:51.570
I guess it again, comes down to
what's most important to each

40:51.570 --> 40:52.500
individual person.

40:54.180 --> 40:56.220
Kevin Travers: Cool, well,
what's important to each and

40:56.220 --> 40:58.290
every person what I guess
speaking about that, what has

40:58.290 --> 41:02.520
kept you drawn towards the
broker, sort of salesman,

41:02.550 --> 41:05.700
lifestyle, going into work,
trying to make money, leave

41:05.700 --> 41:07.680
work, put in time, tell me about
it.

41:07.710 --> 41:11.580
John Celifarco: What drew me to
it originally, is, I always like

41:11.580 --> 41:15.270
to eat what you kill. If you put
in the work, excuse me, if you

41:15.270 --> 41:18.450
put in the work, if you work
hard, you're good at what you

41:18.450 --> 41:22.320
do, you're gonna make money, it
didn't require somebody else

41:22.320 --> 41:25.980
giving you a promotion, or
somebody else giving me a raise.

41:26.460 --> 41:29.370
Any dollar I ever made in this
industry is I earned it, I

41:29.370 --> 41:33.210
worked for it, and I got it. And
that was what always brought me

41:33.210 --> 41:34.950
back and what I always liked
about it.

41:35.220 --> 41:37.500
James Celifarco: You're in
charge of your paycheck, exactly

41:37.500 --> 41:40.980
what John said, I'm driven by my
family, you know, I got mouths

41:40.980 --> 41:44.790
to feed. And if I got to make
150 calls a day, that's what I

41:44.790 --> 41:47.550
got to do. This is you know,
I've been doing this 10 years

41:47.580 --> 41:52.020
now, or probably longer than
that. But this is my, this is my

41:52.020 --> 41:54.810
industry, you know, so this is
what I have to make it work. So

41:55.050 --> 41:57.900
if it's, I gotta call this lead,
I gotta get that paperwork in, I

41:57.900 --> 42:00.330
gotta get it submitted, I gotta
get it approved, I gotta get

42:00.330 --> 42:03.270
funded, I gotta keep this
relationship going, I gotta find

42:03.270 --> 42:05.610
the leads, I gotta be the
accountant, I gotta keep the

42:05.610 --> 42:08.190
website running, you know, you
got to wear all the hats, and

42:08.190 --> 42:11.130
you got to get it done. It's,
it's, like I said, I got a

42:11.130 --> 42:13.530
family to support. So that's
what drives me.

42:15.000 --> 42:18.390
Kevin Travers: And learning, I
guess, it must take an

42:18.420 --> 42:21.240
experience to learn how to sort
of manage all that is there any

42:21.480 --> 42:23.700
sort of advice you have about
through the years things you

42:23.700 --> 42:26.940
picked up, learned, mistakes
made about how to, obviously

42:26.940 --> 42:28.380
stay alive through a pandemic so
far?

42:28.650 --> 42:30.990
John Celifarco: Don't be scared
to make mistakes, I think is

42:30.990 --> 42:34.650
really good advice. We've tried
a million different things.

42:34.650 --> 42:37.830
Since we've gone into business,
some have worked and made us a

42:37.830 --> 42:41.130
lot of money, some have failed,
and they didn't. But always be

42:41.130 --> 42:44.910
willing to try something new
look at a new technology, a new

42:45.150 --> 42:48.630
lead. So it's a new product.
Sometimes it works, sometimes it

42:48.630 --> 42:51.960
doesn't. But most of the times
it doesn't. But you can't be,

42:51.990 --> 42:54.390
you can't be scared, you can't
be scared of failure, you got to

42:54.390 --> 42:59.850
be willing to try new things.
Look for the next big thing and

42:59.850 --> 43:03.360
try to stay out in front of the
industry. That is always

43:03.360 --> 43:05.730
changing, keep your ear to the
ground know what's going on.

43:05.820 --> 43:08.070
James Celifarco: There's always
lead sources, you know, you

43:08.070 --> 43:11.550
could try 10 lead sources, and
you could invest all this money

43:11.550 --> 43:14.310
and you know, you wasted money.
But if you find one lead source

43:14.310 --> 43:17.160
of out of it, they could supply
you with lead for years to come.

43:17.160 --> 43:20.400
So, to talk on John's point, you
got to be willing to take

43:20.400 --> 43:23.550
chances, spend money to find the
right relationships.

43:23.580 --> 43:27.120
John Celifarco: Yeah it's and be
willing to grow. Don't put

43:27.120 --> 43:31.260
yourself into like one box. We
started as strictly an MCA

43:31.260 --> 43:34.920
company, and we grew into SBA
loans and credit card

43:34.920 --> 43:39.120
processing. Now we're doing PPP
as time changes, who knows what

43:39.120 --> 43:41.700
the next thing that we're going
to have to learn or grow into is

43:41.700 --> 43:46.200
but you need to be willing to
grow and stay at stay ahead of

43:46.200 --> 43:46.650
the curve.

43:47.190 --> 43:49.650
Kevin Travers: And staying ahead
of the curve is I guess, just

43:49.650 --> 43:52.170
what you got to do to stay
treading water this year, but

43:52.200 --> 43:55.050
it's almost over soon. And we're
opening up soon, hopefully.

43:55.200 --> 43:55.860
James Celifarco: Cheers to that.

43:56.370 --> 43:57.930
John Celifarco: Yeah, looking
forward to it and looking

43:57.930 --> 44:01.470
forward to the event is great
news. December 6, everybody's

44:01.470 --> 44:04.530
gonna be back together again.
And looking forward to that.

44:04.530 --> 44:06.330
James Celifarco: Yeah, been too
long since we were at one of

44:06.330 --> 44:08.550
those events. We could see
everybody's faces see what's

44:08.550 --> 44:09.060
going on.

44:09.090 --> 44:10.170
John Celifarco: And get down to
Miami

44:13.800 --> 44:15.360
Kevin Travers: Were you heckling
Sean off screen here?

44:16.980 --> 44:18.330
John Celifarco: Book a Miami
event, please.

44:20.490 --> 44:21.810
Kevin Travers: Well, I can't
wait. I've never been to one of

44:21.810 --> 44:24.510
the events before but I'm so
excited to go and it was so

44:24.510 --> 44:28.650
great meeting and speaking with
both of you guys. And well I

44:28.650 --> 44:29.970
can't wait to see what comes
next.

44:30.300 --> 44:32.910
John Celifarco: Thank you so
much for having us, really happy

44:32.910 --> 44:37.500
to be here and be part of this,
our first, deBanked TV live, was

44:37.500 --> 44:37.860
that?

44:38.160 --> 44:38.610
Kevin Travers: That's right.

44:38.640 --> 44:39.660
John Celifarco: Okay, there it
is.

44:43.980 --> 44:45.720
Allyson Berger: Hey, everyone
Allyson Berger here for

44:45.750 --> 44:49.800
deBanked, we are live in midtown
Manhattan. I am now joined with

44:49.800 --> 44:52.320
the lovely Jared of United
Capital Source. How're you

44:52.320 --> 44:52.800
doing?

44:52.920 --> 44:54.000
Jared Weitz: Great. Thank you.
How are you?

44:54.120 --> 44:56.550
Allyson Berger: I'm fantastic.
I'm so happy to have you here.

44:56.580 --> 44:57.390
Jared Weitz: Thanks for having
me.

44:57.720 --> 45:01.860
Allyson Berger: It's so nice to
be in person. Doing things live

45:02.070 --> 45:04.230
in real life. And not virtually.

45:04.350 --> 45:06.930
Jared Weitz: Yeah, used to Zoom
calls most of these days, but

45:06.930 --> 45:08.610
this is my first in person,
which is nice.

45:08.670 --> 45:11.370
Allyson Berger: Oh, I'm so
honored to be the first person

45:11.370 --> 45:14.910
for you. So how has it been
doing things so virtually?

45:15.270 --> 45:18.270
Jared Weitz: I'm not so much of
a virtual guy or a Zoom guy more

45:18.270 --> 45:22.020
of an in person guy. So I've had
a difficult time adjusting to

45:22.020 --> 45:24.510
Zooms. But my team's doing
great.

45:24.960 --> 45:27.000
Allyson Berger: That's
fantastic. Is it coming back to

45:27.000 --> 45:30.060
life a little bit more? Are you
moving away from the virtual?

45:30.960 --> 45:33.210
Jared Weitz: So we've had
actually our new sales and our

45:33.210 --> 45:36.630
renewals in office, and we've
had our operations accounting

45:36.630 --> 45:38.250
and marketing out of the office.

45:38.730 --> 45:39.870
Allyson Berger: So it's a little
balance.

45:39.900 --> 45:40.890
Jared Weitz: We've had a good
hybrid.

45:41.130 --> 45:43.080
Allyson Berger: That's great.
And do you see yourself going

45:43.080 --> 45:45.750
full back to normal anytime
soon?

45:45.960 --> 45:47.310
Jared Weitz: I think we're gonna
keep this hybrid going.

45:47.610 --> 45:48.960
Allyson Berger: Really? And why
is that?

45:49.710 --> 45:53.880
Jared Weitz: You know, sales for
me is more of an in person day

45:53.880 --> 45:56.850
to day, I think you have a
better handle on what your peers

45:56.850 --> 45:59.760
are doing. And what's happening
through different funders

45:59.760 --> 46:02.970
changing their rules and
guidelines. When you're at home,

46:02.970 --> 46:05.430
I just for me, as well, it just
felt like I was more out of

46:05.430 --> 46:09.420
touch with everyone. Right?
Right. My marketing team and my

46:09.420 --> 46:12.510
accounting team, my operations
team, they more so work on their

46:12.510 --> 46:15.630
own anyway. So they're used to
working in that environment and

46:15.630 --> 46:17.730
can work at home easier.

46:18.000 --> 46:19.620
Allyson Berger: It's
interesting, you know, everyone

46:19.620 --> 46:22.860
has a different outlook on how
life has changed, and what's

46:22.860 --> 46:25.350
better for them and what's
easier for them. But it's nice

46:25.350 --> 46:27.900
that you're so aware of how your
team does better in different

46:27.900 --> 46:28.440
avenues.

46:28.650 --> 46:31.950
Jared Weitz: Yeah, absolutely. I
try to look at myself and how

46:32.310 --> 46:34.710
I'm feeling about my day and my
workday, and then just

46:35.040 --> 46:36.960
understand how my team would
also feel about that.

46:37.140 --> 46:38.880
Allyson Berger: Yeah, and I'm
glad you thought today's gonna

46:38.880 --> 46:40.680
be a light day. You didn't know
I was gonna hit you with some

46:40.680 --> 46:41.850
hard hitting questions.

46:42.000 --> 46:43.470
Jared Weitz: No, so far it's
been okay.

46:44.670 --> 46:46.290
Allyson Berger: It goes light
and then hard. You never know

46:46.290 --> 46:48.900
what's gonna pop out, especially
when we're doing live events.

46:48.990 --> 46:50.550
Jared Weitz: Yeah, I'll take it
whatever you guys have.

46:51.180 --> 46:53.340
Allyson Berger: Do you see a
live events happening anytime

46:53.340 --> 46:55.170
soon? How do you feel about
attending them?

46:55.440 --> 47:00.060
Jared Weitz: Yeah, I think live
events. I'm thinking more toward

47:00.060 --> 47:02.580
the end of the year, as the
vaccine rolls out more. I think

47:02.820 --> 47:06.240
people will definitely want to
attend them in some fashion and

47:06.240 --> 47:09.540
probably have to do some color
coding to understand how close

47:09.570 --> 47:10.950
you are allowed to get to
certain people.

47:11.010 --> 47:12.990
Allyson Berger: Yeah, we're both
in black. So I guess we're

47:12.990 --> 47:14.040
allowed to be a little closer.

47:14.070 --> 47:15.900
Jared Weitz: Yeah, black means
only one foot apart.

47:16.050 --> 47:18.090
Allyson Berger: Oh, okay.
Perfect. That works out. Great.

47:18.240 --> 47:21.600
So how has your business model
change? I know, we talked about

47:21.600 --> 47:25.020
Office, how, who, who's where
working? But how has your

47:25.020 --> 47:27.120
business model changed
throughout this past year?

47:27.810 --> 47:30.030
Jared Weitz: Our model has not
really changed. Actually,

47:30.030 --> 47:32.370
throughout the year, we've
always been a marketplace broker

47:32.370 --> 47:36.450
that was able to produce
different offers and products.

47:36.450 --> 47:41.040
And so as one product, you know,
may have been slower, we were

47:41.040 --> 47:43.740
able to just look at others. And
thankfully, we were able to

47:43.950 --> 47:47.160
participate in the PPP program
and help a lot of businesses and

47:47.160 --> 47:47.970
save a lot of jobs.

47:48.030 --> 47:49.710
Allyson Berger: That's
fantastic. I mean, we all need a

47:49.710 --> 47:50.670
little help these days.

47:50.820 --> 47:52.560
Jared Weitz: Yeah, me included.
I'll take it.

47:53.190 --> 47:54.900
Allyson Berger: I'm not there
for your help, though. I'm there

47:54.900 --> 47:59.820
for everyone else. But that's so
fantastic. So where do you see

47:59.850 --> 48:00.840
the future going?

48:02.010 --> 48:04.590
Jared Weitz: You know, for us
we'll continue to hire and we'll

48:04.590 --> 48:08.070
continue to grow out our
multiproduct channel. I think

48:08.070 --> 48:13.500
that the business loan landscape
is becoming more normalized, as

48:13.500 --> 48:17.550
this vaccine does rollout and as
this PPP program finishes.

48:17.790 --> 48:20.130
Allyson Berger: That's great.
It's good to hear see a positive

48:20.130 --> 48:21.360
light at the end of the tunnel.

48:21.390 --> 48:22.470
Jared Weitz: Yeah, absolutely.

48:22.980 --> 48:25.440
Allyson Berger: Fantastic. Well,
Sean's wearing different colors.

48:25.440 --> 48:27.000
Everyone else is wearing
different colors. So you're

48:27.000 --> 48:29.220
gonna have to figure out the new
color coding on how close you

48:29.220 --> 48:30.570
can get can get to them.

48:30.720 --> 48:32.460
Jared Weitz: I'll figure it out
with Sean, we'll do a winking

48:32.460 --> 48:33.000
system.

48:33.090 --> 48:36.540
Allyson Berger: Oh, that sounds
exciting. Alright. Well, stay

48:36.540 --> 48:39.090
tuned, everyone, there's more to
come from deBanked live.

48:45.060 --> 48:47.640
Johny Fernandez: So Jared, let's
go ahead and talk a little bit

48:47.640 --> 48:51.390
about your background, your
business. The first question is

48:51.390 --> 48:54.630
going to be let's start from the
beginning. You know, you're a

48:54.660 --> 48:59.160
born and raised Brooklyn, boy.
And you you went to college at

48:59.160 --> 49:04.230
St. John's, you know, you also
ended up going to the south. And

49:04.230 --> 49:07.470
then you ended up back here in
New York. So walk us through how

49:07.470 --> 49:12.030
you went from, you know, doing
these normal jobs. You know,

49:12.030 --> 49:14.940
where you were a teacher at one
point, you know you also worked

49:14.940 --> 49:18.990
at the JCC. When you were in New
Orleans. You also ended up in

49:18.990 --> 49:22.590
plumbing. So from that to where
you're at now, let's let's kind

49:22.590 --> 49:23.700
of go back to that a little bit.

49:23.730 --> 49:26.280
Jared Weitz: Yeah, definitely.
You know, I think like most of

49:26.280 --> 49:28.770
us in school, you're just trying
to figure out what your actual

49:28.770 --> 49:33.330
passion is. And I just had a lot
of things that I really enjoyed

49:33.330 --> 49:37.740
doing. And I just remember
always loving to stay busy. And

49:37.740 --> 49:41.460
so I always had multiple jobs at
once and coming from a big

49:41.460 --> 49:44.070
family, it was important to be
able to provide for myself as

49:44.070 --> 49:47.550
well. You know, mom and dad had
a lot of my younger siblings to

49:47.550 --> 49:50.940
take care of. And so like my
first working papers were at

49:50.940 --> 49:55.260
like 13 years old. My first job
was at McDonald's. And, you

49:55.260 --> 49:59.430
know, from there I had so many
different different careers and

49:59.610 --> 50:03.900
jobs. And then through college,
I was just taking any job that

50:03.900 --> 50:06.870
was paying a certain amount so I
can pay my way. That's really

50:06.870 --> 50:10.320
what the mindset was. And so
that's how I ended up in so many

50:10.320 --> 50:13.590
different industries throughout,
it was all different pay levels

50:13.830 --> 50:18.570
to really be able to pay for my
education. So I followed a girl

50:18.570 --> 50:21.630
to the South that I thought I
would end up with and then

50:22.170 --> 50:25.440
didn't end up there. I met
Hurricane Katrina. So then I had

50:25.440 --> 50:29.490
to come back to St. John's. And
I had to do some more schooling

50:29.490 --> 50:33.480
over there and kind of start
from scratch because I had lost

50:33.480 --> 50:37.800
everything in the hurricane. And
so I was going to school and I

50:37.800 --> 50:41.700
was working at night as a valet.
And one of the guys that I had

50:41.700 --> 50:45.180
been Val laying for said, Hey,
why don't you get a job with me

50:45.180 --> 50:47.940
in the plumbers union. My name
is Jean Cardoza. I own Cardoza

50:47.940 --> 50:50.190
plumbing, and it was one of the
largest plumbing outfits in the

50:50.190 --> 50:54.180
city. And so once I just
understood the opportunity, and

50:54.180 --> 50:56.850
then it could really schooling,
I just said yes, I was literally

50:56.850 --> 51:00.090
in his office the next morning,
and I signed my paperwork, and I

51:00.090 --> 51:02.640
was in the union. And so I was
working in the day, and then I

51:02.640 --> 51:06.330
was going to school at night.
And then I was still valeting at

51:06.330 --> 51:09.690
night. And then one of my
buddies that I was laying with

51:09.690 --> 51:14.490
got a job in the city at
Merchant Cash and Capital, which

51:14.490 --> 51:18.360
was later biz fi, and they were
hiring new people. And he had

51:18.360 --> 51:21.180
said to me, you know, you gotta
meet this guy, Steve shine down,

51:21.390 --> 51:24.480
he's super charismatic, like
this company is gonna blow up.

51:24.900 --> 51:27.600
And I'm like, you know, I'm
doing pretty good in the Union,

51:27.600 --> 51:32.370
and I'm probably gonna finish
out and become a teacher. And I

51:32.370 --> 51:34.530
remember talking to one of the
guys in the Union about the

51:34.530 --> 51:36.750
opportunity, and he's like,
You're crazy. If you don't meet

51:36.750 --> 51:41.670
that guy. I'm like, really why?
He's like, Jared, I told my son

51:41.670 --> 51:44.610
to go be a doctor, don't don't
be a plumber. And he showed me

51:44.610 --> 51:48.270
his hands. And his hands were
like this. And he said, you

51:48.270 --> 51:52.470
know, 30 years of plumbing do
and it just kind of stood out to

51:52.470 --> 51:56.520
me, you know, and it made me
want to go meet this guy. And,

51:56.550 --> 52:01.200
and I met Steve and Mike was
right, he was super charismatic.

52:01.200 --> 52:04.770
And I really believed in the
vision. And so I took a shot

52:04.770 --> 52:08.880
again, and I shelved my book for
90 days in the union. And I

52:08.880 --> 52:12.720
tried this job out for 90 days.
And after 60 days, I was pretty

52:12.720 --> 52:17.190
sure that it was for me, and I
left the union. And I just

52:17.190 --> 52:20.220
started working full time at
this company. And I really put

52:20.400 --> 52:25.380
200 of myself 200% of myself
into it. And I started in

52:25.380 --> 52:30.300
underwriting. I worked my way up
to business development. And

52:30.300 --> 52:33.150
then I co founded their inside
sales division next level

52:33.150 --> 52:37.410
funding, they had made me a 10%
owner of it, I was, you know, I

52:37.410 --> 52:40.050
really hit the roof, I was like
you really made it, you know, I

52:40.050 --> 52:44.400
was 25 at the time, 26. And so
it was a pretty big deal for me.

52:45.510 --> 52:48.510
Most of the peers that I had
started there with, I watched

52:48.510 --> 52:50.760
them all leaving and kind of
going on their own in the

52:50.760 --> 52:55.260
industry. And that just hadn't
really dawned on me. And then

52:55.260 --> 52:58.980
one day I was talking to Steve,
and he was explaining to me that

52:59.250 --> 53:01.290
as they were building the
company out, they needed some

53:01.290 --> 53:04.170
more gray haired folks he had
said, which really just meant

53:04.170 --> 53:07.890
people with experience, to build
and be on their board. And he

53:07.890 --> 53:10.020
was kind of nicely telling me
like you're not going to be a

53:10.020 --> 53:13.950
board member anytime soon. And
so we just worked out a deal

53:13.950 --> 53:16.140
where I sold my shares back to
him and I went on my own with

53:16.140 --> 53:20.970
United Capital Source at the end
of 2010. And then from there,

53:20.970 --> 53:24.780
it's it's been a pretty wild
ride for almost 11 years.

53:25.680 --> 53:29.010
Johny Fernandez: That's wild.
Yeah, that is wild. So Jared,

53:29.010 --> 53:31.500
something that I've noticed
about you just talking with you

53:31.530 --> 53:35.460
and reading up on you is that
you took different risks in

53:35.460 --> 53:40.050
life. Yeah. 2020 has obviously
been a big part of many people

53:40.050 --> 53:44.940
taking a risk, and being scared
of starting from scratch from

53:44.970 --> 53:47.940
like building your way back up.
So what advice do you have to

53:47.940 --> 53:50.790
someone that is either new to
the business, or that is

53:50.790 --> 53:53.310
thinking about starting in the
business? Or that is thinking

53:53.310 --> 53:56.220
about just taking a risk like
you did? What advice would you

53:56.220 --> 53:56.640
give them?

53:57.060 --> 53:58.650
Jared Weitz: You know, the first
thing I would say is to just,

53:59.100 --> 54:03.060
for me a lot of the risks that I
took, thankfully, I was at a

54:03.060 --> 54:06.120
eugenic place in my life as
well. I wasn't married yet. I

54:06.120 --> 54:10.380
didn't have any kids yet. And so
I also felt kind of bold enough

54:10.380 --> 54:14.310
to do that. So I would
definitely take that into

54:14.310 --> 54:17.730
consideration today. But more
importantly, I would say if you

54:17.730 --> 54:22.440
have a skill set, and you have a
real desire and will to succeed,

54:22.860 --> 54:25.320
I don't think there's much that
would stop you these days from

54:25.320 --> 54:27.750
going on your own and being
entrepreneurial and starting a

54:27.750 --> 54:32.790
business. The one thing I will
say is that you will be tested

54:32.850 --> 54:36.630
time and time again, whether it
be with a world pandemic or some

54:36.630 --> 54:40.260
of your largest partners closing
some of your closest employees

54:40.260 --> 54:44.550
leaving. So you really have to
have like zero quit in you if

54:44.550 --> 54:46.110
you're going to take this path.

54:47.520 --> 54:50.310
Johny Fernandez: And what would
you say in regards to people

54:50.310 --> 54:52.920
that are trying to figure out
what their next step is and how

54:52.920 --> 54:56.220
to maneuver? You know a next
step, whether it's whether it's

54:56.220 --> 54:59.820
in the business or whether it's
just doing something new in

54:59.820 --> 55:00.240
general.

55:00.840 --> 55:04.170
Jared Weitz: I think if someone
has an entrepreneurial spirit,

55:04.290 --> 55:06.870
and they look at what they're
good at and what they like

55:06.870 --> 55:10.320
doing, and then look at the
different industries of what

55:10.320 --> 55:14.610
that looks like, they can pretty
easily I think, create a plan to

55:14.610 --> 55:18.300
start something. And something
that I did, you know, I had

55:18.300 --> 55:22.200
emptied my 401K, and I had
emptied my savings at the time

55:22.200 --> 55:25.980
to start United. And so it was,
it was really an all in move for

55:25.980 --> 55:26.310
me.

55:27.300 --> 55:29.250
Johny Fernandez: So at this
point, you know, you had you

55:29.250 --> 55:34.050
couldn't just, you couldn't quit
it, you know, there was no

55:34.050 --> 55:34.890
option for failure.

55:34.920 --> 55:37.260
Jared Weitz: There is no quit.
Yeah, after 11 years,

55:37.260 --> 55:40.830
thankfully, I can say that, you
know, I've bootstrapped this

55:40.830 --> 55:45.360
business, we have not had any
loans, and we have no debt. You

55:45.360 --> 55:48.240
know, I've grown this business
from all the dollars that it's

55:48.240 --> 55:50.970
earned itself. Most of my staff
that started there is actually

55:50.970 --> 55:53.760
still there with me, the average
employee tenure is about eight

55:53.760 --> 55:54.510
and a half years.

55:55.020 --> 55:56.640
Johny Fernandez: So what do you
think? Why do you think your

55:56.640 --> 56:00.240
business specifically is
different? And people have been

56:00.240 --> 56:03.150
able to stay there long. And
also, you know, you guys haven't

56:03.150 --> 56:06.810
had to close, because of
something like the pandemic,

56:06.810 --> 56:09.600
what do you think has made you
successful in regards to being a

56:09.600 --> 56:10.230
business owner?

56:11.100 --> 56:15.330
Jared Weitz: You know, I watch a
lot of different shows and

56:15.330 --> 56:17.010
reading different books on
business. And one person that I

56:17.010 --> 56:20.940
really admire is Marcus Lemonis.
And he talks a lot about people

56:20.940 --> 56:25.590
process and product, right. And
so in an industry like ours,

56:25.590 --> 56:30.990
where everyone has access to a
certain product, right, you

56:30.990 --> 56:33.720
really have to differentiate
yourself with people in process.

56:34.200 --> 56:37.050
And so for me, what
differentiates us definitely is

56:37.050 --> 56:40.890
our people, you know, I focused
on building a culture versus a

56:40.890 --> 56:44.400
business. And I think that is
what has made us successful on

56:44.400 --> 56:49.290
the on the people side. And then
our process, you know, a lot of

56:49.290 --> 56:53.730
people in the industry throw
around the word fintech. We're a

56:53.730 --> 56:56.820
finance brokerage. We're not a
tech company. But we have some

56:56.820 --> 56:59.340
really cool tech built, and we
have some really cool technology

56:59.340 --> 57:01.590
that enables us to make our
process faster.

57:01.920 --> 57:04.110
Johny Fernandez: So what advice
would you have to someone that

57:04.140 --> 57:08.040
is in the business that's fairly
young? What advice would you

57:08.040 --> 57:11.970
have to them about moving up
about just trying to get ahead?

57:12.990 --> 57:16.020
Jared Weitz: I say that someone
should look to partner with a

57:16.020 --> 57:20.520
larger firm, and learn the
business and understand what

57:20.520 --> 57:25.350
their growth pattern is going to
be. And learn from a mentor. You

57:25.350 --> 57:28.560
know, that's why I think I was
able to be successful, you know,

57:28.560 --> 57:31.260
I did start my business on my
own. But I had this background

57:31.260 --> 57:36.120
from MCC. And I worked with some
of the most talented people. And

57:36.120 --> 57:39.090
still to this day, you know, I
talked to Steve Shinebam, I

57:39.090 --> 57:41.910
bounce things off him. And I
think it's important to have

57:41.910 --> 57:45.810
business mentors that enable you
to stay on your path.

57:46.590 --> 57:48.750
Johny Fernandez: Really
interesting question that I've

57:48.750 --> 57:50.880
seen, you know, not only in this
industry, but in other

57:50.880 --> 57:52.740
industries, is how do you not
burn out?

57:54.090 --> 57:56.880
Jared Weitz: That's a difficult
question. You know, sometimes

57:56.880 --> 57:59.430
you'll feel like you are burnt
out, right. And I think that's

58:00.180 --> 58:04.740
just part of the job. I actually
don't have an answer for why I'm

58:04.740 --> 58:07.500
not burned out with the amount
of hours I work, I feel like I

58:07.500 --> 58:11.370
should be I just, it really goes
back to having that zero, quit.

58:11.370 --> 58:13.050
I just I don't really think
about that to be honest, it's

58:13.050 --> 58:16.110
really not even in my head. I
don't think about how many hours

58:16.110 --> 58:19.800
I work a day, or how many hours
I worked this week, I focus on

58:19.800 --> 58:23.340
goals. So as long as I'm just
reaching those goals, I'm not

58:23.340 --> 58:24.330
too focused on much else.

58:24.840 --> 58:27.330
Johny Fernandez: That's awesome.
So moving forward, you know, the

58:27.600 --> 58:31.710
business in general, you know,
the business, the industry, what

58:31.710 --> 58:36.000
exactly do you think is going to
happen in the future, and also,

58:36.090 --> 58:39.390
how has business had to adapt
and change because of something

58:39.390 --> 58:40.350
like the pandemic?

58:40.950 --> 58:45.330
Jared Weitz: So I think the
future for the finance industry

58:45.660 --> 58:48.810
is always bright. And you know
why I say that is because I

58:48.810 --> 58:52.470
believe in entrepreneural. I
believe in entrepreneurship. But

58:52.470 --> 58:54.990
I also believe in small
business. And I know that 52% of

58:54.990 --> 58:57.990
the economy is small business.
And so that just doesn't go away

58:57.990 --> 59:02.100
tomorrow, whether there's a
pandemic or not, right. And so,

59:02.610 --> 59:06.930
today, what I see happening in
our industry is that states will

59:06.930 --> 59:09.300
come in and they'll create some
more regulation around what's

59:09.300 --> 59:11.880
happening. I think that's
positive for the industry.

59:11.880 --> 59:16.170
Right? Once a set of regulations
is in place, there's nothing to

59:16.170 --> 59:19.800
really worry about nothing
looming. I think disclosures

59:20.310 --> 59:23.520
will become more and more potent
in our in our industry, whether

59:23.520 --> 59:28.110
it be commission rate and term.
And I think that brokers are

59:28.110 --> 59:32.820
really going to have to become
really familiar with privacy

59:32.820 --> 59:38.160
laws, privacy guidelines, and
data disclosures, because that's

59:38.160 --> 59:40.770
coming down the pipe, as I see
from different states as well.

59:41.040 --> 59:42.750
Johny Fernandez: So speaking
about that, I know there has

59:42.750 --> 59:45.870
been different states that have
put different that have wanted

59:45.870 --> 59:48.330
to pass different bills,
different laws into place, you

59:48.330 --> 59:51.240
know, pretty much hindering the
business from moving forward or

59:51.360 --> 59:55.830
putting different, tying down
brokers and having them follow

59:55.830 --> 59:59.100
different rules. What would be
your advice, you know, for

59:59.100 --> 01:00:02.640
someone that's just starting out
about, you know, working around

01:00:02.640 --> 01:00:07.800
these different rules, different
hurdles that someone like you

01:00:07.830 --> 01:00:10.590
didn't really have to go through
because it was in place.

01:00:10.920 --> 01:00:14.730
Jared Weitz: You know, I think
for us, we've always focused on

01:00:14.730 --> 01:00:18.270
being a consultative brokerage.
And so we've never hidden

01:00:18.690 --> 01:00:23.790
anything about our pricing or
our term or our product. And so

01:00:23.910 --> 01:00:27.030
if there were disclosures that
were to come out, we've already

01:00:27.030 --> 01:00:30.180
been operating that way. And
we've already been selling that

01:00:30.180 --> 01:00:33.540
way. And so if you're doing the
right thing, and you're being

01:00:33.570 --> 01:00:36.840
honest with your clients, any of
these things aren't really an

01:00:36.840 --> 01:00:40.860
issue for you. It's the lenders
that are going to have a little

01:00:40.860 --> 01:00:44.430
bit more of an issue with their
borrowing base and their cost of

01:00:44.430 --> 01:00:49.410
capital if there are certain cap
on rate and term for them. In

01:00:49.410 --> 01:00:52.590
turn, that trickles down to the
brokers a bit. But there's other

01:00:52.590 --> 01:00:56.040
folks and products coming out
like American Express's Kabbage,

01:00:56.040 --> 01:01:01.740
and those guys are coming back
out. Folks like Idea, folks like

01:01:01.740 --> 01:01:04.380
business backer in headway, you
know, most of these people are

01:01:04.380 --> 01:01:07.470
already following the
guidelines. So when these things

01:01:07.470 --> 01:01:09.630
come out, it's already that
you're working that way.

01:01:09.720 --> 01:01:12.870
Johny Fernandez: Yeah. So
obviously, 2020 was a big year,

01:01:12.900 --> 01:01:16.170
and it changed a lot of people
changed the way businesses work.

01:01:16.440 --> 01:01:20.580
So from what you can say, for
the future for you guys, what

01:01:20.580 --> 01:01:21.420
does that look like?

01:01:22.200 --> 01:01:25.140
Jared Weitz: You know, we'll
continue to operate as a

01:01:25.140 --> 01:01:29.370
marketplace and offer multiple
products. Equipment Financing

01:01:29.370 --> 01:01:33.240
has become bigger, as I see
right now, as is, you know, the

01:01:33.240 --> 01:01:37.620
SBA loans. I think as the
government loans calm down, our

01:01:37.620 --> 01:01:42.210
industry will begin to tick back
up. And for us, that is the

01:01:42.210 --> 01:01:46.920
focus, is just understanding
what product is going to be the

01:01:46.920 --> 01:01:49.170
best at the time for our clients
and then pushing it there.

01:01:49.950 --> 01:01:52.050
Johny Fernandez: And then what
advice would you have to people

01:01:52.050 --> 01:01:54.990
that are wanting to get into the
business, the industry?

01:01:55.530 --> 01:01:58.200
Jared Weitz: I think it's a good
industry to get into, but I

01:01:58.200 --> 01:02:04.890
think that there are areas of it
that you can get caught in a bad

01:02:04.890 --> 01:02:09.300
way. And so I would say to align
yourself with some of the best

01:02:09.300 --> 01:02:11.880
folks in the industry. And you
can probably find a lot of those

01:02:12.150 --> 01:02:16.980
people on the SBFA's website,
and on deBanked's website, where

01:02:16.980 --> 01:02:20.010
you can see all of the different
funders and brokers and their

01:02:20.010 --> 01:02:23.100
ratings and what they're doing.
And I would say there's who you

01:02:23.100 --> 01:02:25.140
really align yourself with over
the next two years.

01:02:25.740 --> 01:02:28.920
Johny Fernandez: So in regards
to moving forward, just how you

01:02:28.920 --> 01:02:32.460
guys do business? Do you, how do
you think that's going to

01:02:32.460 --> 01:02:35.490
change? Or not only you, but
just the industry in general, do

01:02:35.490 --> 01:02:38.640
you think there's gonna be any
changes because of COVID-19?

01:02:38.640 --> 01:02:42.990
Because of the pandemic, do you
think, do you believe that the

01:02:42.990 --> 01:02:47.010
industry has to kind of evolve
and change? Or what are your

01:02:47.010 --> 01:02:48.360
thoughts? And what are your
views on that?

01:02:48.690 --> 01:02:51.960
Jared Weitz: So I think that a
lot of brokers and funders as

01:02:51.960 --> 01:02:54.930
well will continue the hybrid
model of working from home and

01:02:54.930 --> 01:02:58.320
also having some in the office,
right. I know a lot of funders

01:02:58.320 --> 01:03:01.260
are getting rid of office space
and finding that their

01:03:01.260 --> 01:03:04.080
operations and underwriting are
able to work well from home. So

01:03:04.080 --> 01:03:07.650
I think that the way that people
work will continue to change, I

01:03:07.650 --> 01:03:12.150
think the products that we sell,
will not change the pricing and

01:03:12.150 --> 01:03:14.520
the terms of them and the
disclosures around them will

01:03:14.520 --> 01:03:15.090
change.

01:03:15.840 --> 01:03:18.120
Johny Fernandez: That's awesome.
And it's interesting in regards

01:03:18.120 --> 01:03:21.270
to, you know, starting something
from the ground up for someone

01:03:21.270 --> 01:03:24.480
that just is starting, what
would be your best advice to in

01:03:24.480 --> 01:03:28.140
regards to financing, something
like that, and trying to bring

01:03:28.140 --> 01:03:31.290
the money to be able to start
from the ground up?

01:03:31.710 --> 01:03:36.330
Jared Weitz: I think starting
from the ground up, is is is

01:03:36.330 --> 01:03:39.030
really great, because there's
nothing like that initial grind

01:03:39.030 --> 01:03:43.470
and really learning from your
mistakes. I will say that in

01:03:43.470 --> 01:03:46.680
this time, you should be
especially careful with capital.

01:03:46.680 --> 01:03:50.130
And you should really understand
and have a plan for you know,

01:03:50.130 --> 01:03:53.190
your first initial six months,
but try to plan to have at least

01:03:53.220 --> 01:03:56.310
12 months of operating capital,
if you're going to go out on

01:03:56.310 --> 01:03:59.100
your own and start this way,
especially during this time, I

01:03:59.100 --> 01:04:01.500
will say that you have a benefit
because you don't need office

01:04:01.500 --> 01:04:05.010
space. And a lot of people are
working from home. And so you

01:04:05.010 --> 01:04:07.200
can probably save a little on
your SG and A costs.

01:04:07.530 --> 01:04:10.050
Johny Fernandez: And someone,
someone watching these two that

01:04:10.050 --> 01:04:13.080
are watching this set, see you
and see your success that our

01:04:13.080 --> 01:04:17.040
business owners already that are
in the game, what advice would

01:04:17.040 --> 01:04:20.130
you have for them in regards to
just trying to get through the

01:04:20.130 --> 01:04:23.940
rest of this pandemic and just
moving forward?

01:04:24.270 --> 01:04:26.760
Jared Weitz: I think in general,
the same as me, anytime you see

01:04:26.760 --> 01:04:30.330
someone that level of success,
you're likely not seeing what

01:04:30.330 --> 01:04:33.810
they're doing to achieve that
success. And so I would say that

01:04:34.560 --> 01:04:36.990
everyone, whatever level of
success you're at, you're

01:04:36.990 --> 01:04:41.040
working really hard. And the
advice I would give to anyone is

01:04:41.070 --> 01:04:44.370
you have to work really hard all
the time to stay on your own and

01:04:44.370 --> 01:04:45.780
be in your own business and be
successful.

01:04:45.960 --> 01:04:48.510
Johny Fernandez: So when you say
like working hard and just

01:04:48.510 --> 01:04:52.500
grinding, what do you think has
helped you kind of eliminate

01:04:52.890 --> 01:04:56.430
time wasters or eliminate things
that number one, people that

01:04:56.430 --> 01:05:01.710
waste your time but also just
techniques or or habits that,

01:05:01.740 --> 01:05:04.020
you know, have pretty much made
you productive.

01:05:04.140 --> 01:05:06.630
Jared Weitz: You know, most of
the things that I've learned are

01:05:06.630 --> 01:05:10.650
from the mistakes I've actually
made. So I can tell you that,

01:05:10.650 --> 01:05:12.690
you know, a lot of the good
processes that I've come up with

01:05:12.690 --> 01:05:16.650
is because I've worked through
the bad processes first. And

01:05:16.650 --> 01:05:18.270
that's what I think people are
going to go through, you know,

01:05:18.270 --> 01:05:21.780
it's difficult to tell someone,
this works best for you, because

01:05:21.780 --> 01:05:25.500
you're not them. And you're not
in that in that area. Even in

01:05:25.500 --> 01:05:27.810
our sales floor, you know, we
don't have scripts, because I

01:05:27.810 --> 01:05:31.440
don't think there's one way to
kind of sell and operate. So I

01:05:31.440 --> 01:05:36.420
think that there's an overall
looming bunch of rules that you

01:05:36.420 --> 01:05:39.210
should follow. But then you have
to kind of make it into your

01:05:39.210 --> 01:05:42.630
own. So for me, I understand,
don't waste your time, follow a

01:05:42.630 --> 01:05:46.050
schedule, have a strategy, I use
different apps that helped me

01:05:46.050 --> 01:05:50.040
follow my time and schedule. So
it's difficult to operate

01:05:50.040 --> 01:05:50.490
loosely.

01:05:50.550 --> 01:05:52.860
Johny Fernandez: Yeah. So really
quick, because we have to wrap

01:05:52.860 --> 01:05:56.190
up soon, what apps do you use,
and what time do you wake up?

01:05:56.850 --> 01:05:59.400
Jared Weitz: So I generally wake
up about 430, five o'clock every

01:05:59.400 --> 01:06:04.080
day. And then I'm generally
going to bed between 11 and

01:06:04.080 --> 01:06:04.890
12pm.

01:06:05.880 --> 01:06:06.870
Johny Fernandez: So very little
sleep.

01:06:06.930 --> 01:06:10.230
Jared Weitz: So a little bit of
sleep, but I've not ever been

01:06:10.230 --> 01:06:14.010
someone that was someone that
slept or rested a lot, you know,

01:06:14.190 --> 01:06:18.870
so that's not for me. And the
apps that I use, I can tell you,

01:06:19.260 --> 01:06:22.950
I use my iCalendar for almost
everything that I do with my

01:06:22.950 --> 01:06:29.760
alerts. I also use LastPass,
which is huge for me, because

01:06:29.760 --> 01:06:32.310
it's an encryption software for
all my passwords that I need to

01:06:32.310 --> 01:06:35.550
get into. Okay. So that actually
is big. I don't know any of my

01:06:35.550 --> 01:06:39.000
own passwords. They're all in
this thing, you know. And that's

01:06:39.000 --> 01:06:42.990
a time saver, and also a data
protector for me. And so those

01:06:42.990 --> 01:06:46.530
are like my two biggest apps and
scan easy and sign anywhere.

01:06:46.860 --> 01:06:48.630
Johny Fernandez: Awesome. I'll
definitely take that one into

01:06:48.630 --> 01:06:51.210
consideration too. Alright,
Jared, thanks so much for

01:06:51.210 --> 01:06:51.690
joining us.

01:06:51.690 --> 01:06:52.320
Jared Weitz: Thanks for having
me.

01:06:52.410 --> 01:06:53.640
Johny Fernandez: And you guys.
Thank you guys so much for

01:06:53.640 --> 01:06:56.430
joining us. Again. I'm Johny
Fernandez here with Jared Weitz.

01:06:56.580 --> 01:06:57.570
We'll see you guys next time.

01:07:04.770 --> 01:07:06.780
Allyson Berger: Hey, everyone
Allyson Berger here for

01:07:06.810 --> 01:07:10.860
deBanked. We are live in midtown
Manhattan. I am now with Andrew

01:07:10.860 --> 01:07:13.140
and Nick of the Central
Diligence Group. How're you guys

01:07:13.140 --> 01:07:13.590
doing?

01:07:13.770 --> 01:07:15.240
Nick Gregory: We're doing great,
nice to meet you.

01:07:15.390 --> 01:07:16.350
Allyson Berger: You too.

01:07:16.650 --> 01:07:17.430
Andrew Hernandez: Nice to meet
you as well.

01:07:18.060 --> 01:07:19.950
Allyson Berger: So we are going
to keep this fast and simple.

01:07:19.950 --> 01:07:22.590
Just like your business motto.
Have you been keeping things

01:07:22.590 --> 01:07:24.720
fast and simple throughout this
past year?

01:07:24.900 --> 01:07:26.580
Nick Gregory: Absolutely.
Without a doubt.

01:07:27.000 --> 01:07:27.690
Allyson Berger: Do you agree?

01:07:28.680 --> 01:07:30.690
Andrew Hernandez: As much as we
can with everything going on.

01:07:30.900 --> 01:07:32.940
Allyson Berger: Has it? How has
it changed for you guys?

01:07:34.110 --> 01:07:36.810
Nick Gregory: Well, we've had to
obviously adapt to the company

01:07:36.810 --> 01:07:40.260
culture and people working
remote and trying to work

01:07:40.260 --> 01:07:43.530
through problems and issues
through you know, social media

01:07:43.530 --> 01:07:45.390
and other types of chat
platforms.

01:07:45.840 --> 01:07:47.580
Allyson Berger: It sounded like
when we were chatting earlier

01:07:47.580 --> 01:07:50.010
that it's been a little
difficult at times to do things

01:07:50.010 --> 01:07:52.140
virtually. How has that been for
you?

01:07:53.970 --> 01:07:57.000
Andrew Hernandez: So we did a
couple months working from home,

01:07:57.000 --> 01:07:59.940
everybody was working from home.
A few of us got back into the

01:07:59.940 --> 01:08:03.870
office in July. And eventually
the whole office was backed by

01:08:03.870 --> 01:08:06.660
October. It's just easier to
work from home doing what we do.

01:08:07.290 --> 01:08:10.920
Easy to communicate. We tried
the Zooms. We tried the chats

01:08:10.920 --> 01:08:14.040
and whatnot. But ultimately, we
all like being together anyway.

01:08:14.040 --> 01:08:15.030
So works out.

01:08:15.360 --> 01:08:18.000
Allyson Berger: It is nice being
people to people, face to face

01:08:18.000 --> 01:08:20.490
it, and it must help your
business doing things face to

01:08:20.490 --> 01:08:20.880
face.

01:08:21.149 --> 01:08:23.699
Nick Gregory: Absolutely. Yeah.
I mean, it's it's very difficult

01:08:23.699 --> 01:08:27.209
now that even just to, you know,
cultivate the relationships that

01:08:27.209 --> 01:08:30.779
we've had, for so many years,
it's just you know, we're

01:08:30.779 --> 01:08:33.149
working through it. We're
working through it as much as we

01:08:33.149 --> 01:08:33.839
can. So.

01:08:34.290 --> 01:08:35.700
Allyson Berger: You guys have
been doing great. I mean, you're

01:08:35.700 --> 01:08:39.120
here right now to tell us all
about it. How do you see things

01:08:39.120 --> 01:08:40.140
going in the future?

01:08:41.340 --> 01:08:44.250
Andrew Hernandez: We think this
is a good, you know,

01:08:44.400 --> 01:08:47.460
reassessment of everything
that's going on with just small

01:08:47.460 --> 01:08:51.210
business in general, we've made
the changes to and adapted to

01:08:51.210 --> 01:08:55.350
what's going on, in terms of,
you know, what's going forward?

01:08:55.380 --> 01:08:56.700
I don't have a crystal ball.
But.

01:08:56.729 --> 01:08:57.659
Allyson Berger: Wait, you don't?

01:08:58.109 --> 01:09:00.419
Andrew Hernandez: Unfortunately
not. But we're doing our best.

01:09:00.809 --> 01:09:03.089
You know, we're always talking
to each other communication is

01:09:03.089 --> 01:09:06.239
key with not only ourselves,
other funders, other brokers in

01:09:06.239 --> 01:09:08.819
the industry, and looking to
build on those relationships

01:09:08.819 --> 01:09:11.339
that we've cultivated over not
just this time, but over the

01:09:11.339 --> 01:09:11.699
years.

01:09:12.270 --> 01:09:14.610
Allyson Berger: Most definitely.
And I wish you had that crystal

01:09:14.610 --> 01:09:17.520
ball, it would help out with a
lot of things. Do you see

01:09:17.520 --> 01:09:18.420
anything happening?

01:09:18.810 --> 01:09:22.020
Nick Gregory: I think we're
definitely at a at a moment

01:09:22.020 --> 01:09:25.050
where we're going to springboard
forward from here. You know,

01:09:25.110 --> 01:09:28.440
there's constant media news with
different variants coming out

01:09:28.440 --> 01:09:31.260
and everyone's getting
vaccinated and not vaccinated. I

01:09:31.260 --> 01:09:34.200
think eventually we'll get to a
plateau of, you know, kind of

01:09:34.200 --> 01:09:37.260
somewhat normalcy, but you know,
it's going to take time, but

01:09:37.260 --> 01:09:39.960
we've been pushing through and,
you know, trudging forward as

01:09:39.960 --> 01:09:41.730
much as we can over the past
several months,

01:09:42.060 --> 01:09:43.920
Allyson Berger: Of course, and I
mean, we're here right now.

01:09:43.950 --> 01:09:46.950
We're live in person. I feel
like this is a good step

01:09:46.950 --> 01:09:47.460
forward.

01:09:47.880 --> 01:09:49.020
Nick Gregory: Oh, 100%. Yeah.

01:09:49.979 --> 01:09:51.539
Andrew Hernandez: Absolutely. It
feels good to be back. The

01:09:51.539 --> 01:09:54.989
weather's nice. Good to just be
around people again, people we

01:09:54.989 --> 01:09:55.709
know. So.

01:09:56.040 --> 01:09:59.010
Allyson Berger: Right. Of course
you're most welcome. How do you

01:09:59.010 --> 01:10:00.780
feel about New York coming back?

01:10:02.220 --> 01:10:04.110
Andrew Hernandez: Little by
little, like I said, we've been

01:10:04.110 --> 01:10:07.740
back in the office since late
June, early July. And we've seen

01:10:07.740 --> 01:10:10.800
the progress that, you know, has
been happening over the past 10

01:10:10.800 --> 01:10:14.100
months or so. And we think it's
gonna bounce back, New York

01:10:14.100 --> 01:10:16.410
always bounces back. So we're
looking forward to it.

01:10:16.860 --> 01:10:18.840
Allyson Berger: I definitely
agree, we got to see the hope.

01:10:18.840 --> 01:10:22.170
Well, I'm gonna let you bounce
to the next hot seat. So you can

01:10:22.200 --> 01:10:24.780
get into some more about your
story and what you guys have

01:10:24.780 --> 01:10:27.480
going on. So stay tuned,
everyone, there's more to come

01:10:27.480 --> 01:10:28.680
from deBanked live.

01:10:35.220 --> 01:10:37.650
Kevin Travers: So here we are,
again at deBanked TV live. Now,

01:10:37.650 --> 01:10:39.990
Allyson, started to introduce
these two from behind the

01:10:39.990 --> 01:10:42.990
scenes, but we're here with
Andrew Hernandez and Nick

01:10:42.990 --> 01:10:47.430
Gregory from Central Diligence
Group. And how's it going, guys,

01:10:47.430 --> 01:10:49.620
I hope your family and friends
are staying safe and healthy in

01:10:49.620 --> 01:10:53.790
this time. What can you tell me
about, how long have you been

01:10:53.790 --> 01:10:55.080
open and working in the office?

01:10:55.650 --> 01:10:59.580
Andrew Hernandez: We started to
come back late June, early July.

01:10:59.940 --> 01:11:03.720
And once everybody got
comfortable with everything, the

01:11:03.720 --> 01:11:08.010
whole office was back by about
October. So it's been a slow

01:11:08.100 --> 01:11:11.400
progression towards that. But I
think everybody now is

01:11:11.430 --> 01:11:13.800
comfortable with everything.
It's better to be back in the

01:11:13.800 --> 01:11:17.460
office for us. I think everybody
has realized that as we've been

01:11:17.490 --> 01:11:20.730
going through it. We tried the
Zoom chats, we tried the chats,

01:11:20.760 --> 01:11:24.510
the regular chats. And
ultimately, I think the

01:11:24.510 --> 01:11:27.210
communication is just better
being all in one place.

01:11:29.340 --> 01:11:31.830
Nick Gregory: Yeah, no, I would
definitely agree with that. I

01:11:31.830 --> 01:11:35.640
think the human interaction of
you know, being face to face,

01:11:35.820 --> 01:11:38.490
especially in our type of
business where we actually need

01:11:38.670 --> 01:11:41.400
to interact with the underwriter
and, you know, you convey your

01:11:41.400 --> 01:11:44.670
message a little bit more
effectively in person as opposed

01:11:44.670 --> 01:11:48.600
to, you know, discussing a deal
or talking about a file over a

01:11:48.600 --> 01:11:52.380
chat, you know, for that matter.
So it's definitely more of a

01:11:52.410 --> 01:11:55.110
collective approach when working
on certain files.

01:11:55.260 --> 01:11:55.740
Andrew Hernandez: Exactly.

01:11:56.490 --> 01:11:59.340
Kevin Travers: And speaking of,
I guess, trying to adapt this

01:11:59.340 --> 01:12:02.820
year, how has underwriting
changed or had to maybe

01:12:02.820 --> 01:12:06.750
accelerate, or what changes have
you looked at through your

01:12:06.750 --> 01:12:07.830
underwriting process this year?

01:12:08.730 --> 01:12:11.130
Andrew Hernandez: I think one of
the, you know, in terms of

01:12:11.130 --> 01:12:13.620
underwriting, especially for
alternative financing, in

01:12:13.620 --> 01:12:19.290
general, the criteria is always
changing, you're always kind of

01:12:19.590 --> 01:12:23.580
looking to see what's going on
in the world. And COVID-19

01:12:23.610 --> 01:12:27.480
really kind of took that to the
next level, there was multiple

01:12:27.480 --> 01:12:29.400
changes that needed to be made,
and they needed to be, they

01:12:29.400 --> 01:12:33.030
needed to be made quickly. And
we had to pay attention to what

01:12:33.030 --> 01:12:38.160
was going on. And, you know,
things change over time, as you

01:12:38.160 --> 01:12:40.800
know, what an essential business
was in one state wasn't an

01:12:40.800 --> 01:12:43.650
essential business in another
state. And that made things a

01:12:43.650 --> 01:12:47.040
little tough, but not only with
us, you know, and our other

01:12:47.040 --> 01:12:51.240
partners, our actual
underwriters, our employees had

01:12:51.300 --> 01:12:54.660
very much to say, and kept track
of everything, and they provided

01:12:54.660 --> 01:12:58.620
their feedback to get us better
in, you know, underwriting and

01:12:58.620 --> 01:12:59.580
doing our diligence.

01:13:01.380 --> 01:13:03.780
Nick Gregory: Yeah, for sure.
No, I was just to kind of add on

01:13:03.780 --> 01:13:08.670
to that. I think, prior to the
pandemic, and working remote, we

01:13:08.670 --> 01:13:12.210
were definitely looking at files
in a more traditional manner,

01:13:13.020 --> 01:13:16.620
you know, what kind of business
they were dealing with what kind

01:13:16.620 --> 01:13:20.070
of FICO score, what kind of cash
flow, etc., things of that sort,

01:13:20.400 --> 01:13:23.670
and just kind of placing them in
different boxes and risk

01:13:23.670 --> 01:13:26.910
associating that, you know,
accordingly. I think, you know,

01:13:26.910 --> 01:13:30.930
as things have kind of evolved
through this, this, you know,

01:13:30.960 --> 01:13:35.550
era, if you will, we've we've
definitely had to shift gears

01:13:35.550 --> 01:13:38.880
and look at businesses that are,
you know, were high risk before,

01:13:38.880 --> 01:13:40.980
and now they're, you know,
deemed essential, you know,

01:13:40.980 --> 01:13:44.280
trucking for example, you know,
you hear that industry thrown

01:13:44.280 --> 01:13:46.950
around, and nobody wants to
touch trucking and everything is

01:13:46.950 --> 01:13:51.300
just, you know, let's keep it
to, you know, tier one, retail

01:13:51.300 --> 01:13:55.020
shops, but those are actually
becoming more problematic, at

01:13:55.020 --> 01:13:58.290
least now in the short term than
they were before. So we've

01:13:58.290 --> 01:14:01.080
definitely had to shift gears
and kind of look at deals a

01:14:01.080 --> 01:14:02.970
little bit differently.
Definitely.

01:14:04.200 --> 01:14:05.820
Kevin Travers: And I guess,
talking about shifting gears,

01:14:05.820 --> 01:14:09.150
how did you guys look through
staffing and finding your

01:14:09.150 --> 01:14:12.090
training new underwriters, I
that has to be different, when

01:14:12.390 --> 01:14:14.730
suddenly, were a lot of the
world's remote.

01:14:16.380 --> 01:14:19.170
Andrew Hernandez: Definitely
makes things difficult. And it

01:14:19.170 --> 01:14:23.130
always depends on, you know, the
position that you're hiring for.

01:14:23.130 --> 01:14:26.520
Obviously, if you're you know,
underwriting in, especially

01:14:26.520 --> 01:14:29.880
again, and whether it's MCA or
alternative financing, um, it's

01:14:29.880 --> 01:14:32.730
a very particular thing and
you're looking for someone

01:14:32.730 --> 01:14:35.700
that's kind of going to fit with
the whole team. And at the same

01:14:35.700 --> 01:14:40.410
time, you know, somebody that's
gonna want to be in the office,

01:14:40.410 --> 01:14:43.230
and that was very challenging
for us. I think Nick can speak

01:14:43.230 --> 01:14:46.500
to that in terms of bringing
people in and making sure that

01:14:46.530 --> 01:14:49.410
they were comfortable with being
in the office again, so.

01:14:50.520 --> 01:14:53.160
Nick Gregory: Sure, yeah. I
mean, definitely from from an HR

01:14:53.160 --> 01:14:55.860
standpoint, you know, there's
you're dealing with the

01:14:56.370 --> 01:14:59.880
implicant the implications that
were, you know, obviously dealt

01:14:59.880 --> 01:15:04.740
to us, and just trying to adapt
from a company culture. And now

01:15:04.740 --> 01:15:07.440
everybody's working remote and
everyone's in their own silo

01:15:07.440 --> 01:15:10.680
and, you know, working
independently. And from a

01:15:10.680 --> 01:15:14.160
management stand, we're dealing
with underwriting files. So it's

01:15:14.160 --> 01:15:19.920
it's very, very simple in that
regard. But at the same time,

01:15:20.310 --> 01:15:23.880
like I said earlier, to, to work
through a deal and to work

01:15:23.880 --> 01:15:27.570
through a file and to really
kind of pin pin the, you know,

01:15:27.570 --> 01:15:30.240
the high points and the low
points and discuss if this is

01:15:30.240 --> 01:15:33.030
something that we want to
approve or not. That's where we

01:15:33.030 --> 01:15:35.970
had to adapt and make certain,
you know, fine, fine tuned

01:15:36.000 --> 01:15:37.200
adjustments, if you will.

01:15:38.430 --> 01:15:40.710
Kevin Travers: And I guess,
knowing how to adapt is what you

01:15:40.710 --> 01:15:42.930
guys are good at, you've been
around underwriting for a very

01:15:42.930 --> 01:15:45.240
long time, what can you tell me?
I mean, what's kept you afloat?

01:15:45.270 --> 01:15:47.580
You have to be making good
decisions if you're underwriting

01:15:47.580 --> 01:15:48.060
for this long.

01:15:49.200 --> 01:15:52.080
Andrew Hernandez: Yeah, you
know, as far as kind of what we

01:15:52.080 --> 01:15:56.040
touched on earlier, it really
comes down to being able to

01:15:56.070 --> 01:15:59.670
adapt to whatever's going on,
and making those changes in your

01:15:59.670 --> 01:16:02.220
underwriting criteria, and what
you're looking for always

01:16:02.220 --> 01:16:06.330
learning new data sources that
become available, you know, your

01:16:06.330 --> 01:16:08.940
own internal information,
whether, you know, just

01:16:08.940 --> 01:16:12.270
performance on your own
portfolio, what you hear from

01:16:12.300 --> 01:16:15.870
other funders or other brokers
that are obviously in the space,

01:16:15.870 --> 01:16:18.480
and what's going on, what they
what they hear from their

01:16:18.480 --> 01:16:23.700
clients. So, taking all that
into account is always, you

01:16:23.700 --> 01:16:27.660
know, it changes the criteria
from month to month, week to

01:16:27.660 --> 01:16:31.050
week. And we you have to be
willing to do that, in order to

01:16:31.050 --> 01:16:31.560
keep going.

01:16:33.630 --> 01:16:36.360
Nick Gregory: Sure, yeah. I
mean, you know, obviously,

01:16:36.930 --> 01:16:40.350
making sure you have a pretty
sound collections process is

01:16:40.350 --> 01:16:45.660
also imperative, especially
during, during COVID. And, you

01:16:45.660 --> 01:16:49.380
know, we tend to try to
understand the situation with

01:16:49.380 --> 01:16:53.490
each merchant independently, and
not just throw them into one

01:16:53.490 --> 01:16:56.700
specific box, everybody's in a
different location, dealing with

01:16:56.700 --> 01:16:59.970
different circumstances, but
collectively as a whole, we

01:16:59.970 --> 01:17:02.640
understand what's going on. So
we've been trying to work, you

01:17:02.640 --> 01:17:04.980
know, those files we can and,
you know, keep those

01:17:04.980 --> 01:17:07.890
relationships strong. So I think
that's, you know, the other side

01:17:07.890 --> 01:17:08.160
of it.

01:17:08.250 --> 01:17:09.360
Kevin Travers: You need an
enforcer.

01:17:09.540 --> 01:17:09.960
Nick Gregory: Yeah.

01:17:10.950 --> 01:17:13.230
Andrew Hernandez: Absolutely.
Ultimately, you need somebody

01:17:13.230 --> 01:17:17.550
that understand what's going on.
As Nick said, every business has

01:17:17.550 --> 01:17:20.040
its own individual, you're
dealing with an individual, for

01:17:20.040 --> 01:17:22.830
the most part, and especially
with these small businesses, and

01:17:22.830 --> 01:17:25.170
everybody has their story, and
you have to be willing to work

01:17:25.170 --> 01:17:29.280
with them. You know, everybody's
in the same boat. So just

01:17:29.340 --> 01:17:30.390
understanding that it's key.

01:17:31.650 --> 01:17:33.780
Kevin Travers: Now, what do you
have to, working with an

01:17:33.780 --> 01:17:36.840
individual, a lot of your work
is sort of sifting through

01:17:36.870 --> 01:17:40.590
making sure the deals you agree
to are deals that are, I mean,

01:17:40.590 --> 01:17:44.730
get a profit. Go ahead. So how,
I guess on the other side, what

01:17:44.730 --> 01:17:48.630
can a broker do to sort of bring
the most attractive, the most

01:17:48.630 --> 01:17:51.510
likely to get funded deal to you
guys, what sort of stands out

01:17:51.510 --> 01:17:54.300
when looking through stuff that,
you know, this is gonna make

01:17:54.300 --> 01:17:54.600
money?

01:17:56.760 --> 01:17:59.130
Andrew Hernandez: I think in
terms of kind of touching back

01:17:59.130 --> 01:18:02.520
on the collections aspect, and,
you know, understanding the

01:18:02.520 --> 01:18:05.790
client's needs, I think that's
key for a broker understanding

01:18:05.790 --> 01:18:08.340
that, you know, what do they
need, what are they gonna use

01:18:08.340 --> 01:18:11.490
the funds for? Is this the right
product for them, spending more

01:18:11.490 --> 01:18:14.730
time with them to understand
that makes our job easier as

01:18:14.730 --> 01:18:18.750
well. And, you know, it's
something that that's how we

01:18:18.750 --> 01:18:22.080
build our relationships,
understanding our client's

01:18:22.080 --> 01:18:25.920
needs, which are the brokers,
and building on that, so they,

01:18:25.950 --> 01:18:28.020
you know, if they do the same
thing, I think we'll all be

01:18:28.020 --> 01:18:29.580
very, very successful. So.

01:18:31.200 --> 01:18:32.970
Nick Gregory: Yeah no, I think
we do that from from both

01:18:32.970 --> 01:18:36.150
levels, actually, you know, from
the merchant side, you know, we

01:18:36.150 --> 01:18:39.420
want to bring those
relationships, you know, and

01:18:39.420 --> 01:18:43.410
expand those relationships over
many, many years, as long as the

01:18:43.410 --> 01:18:46.440
products the right fit, but at
the same time, we also want to,

01:18:46.470 --> 01:18:49.380
you know, cultivate those broker
relationships, which are hard

01:18:49.380 --> 01:18:52.650
during, you know, that's, that's
our, our niche, and, you know,

01:18:52.650 --> 01:18:55.710
we like to provide good customer
service, they can get on the

01:18:55.710 --> 01:18:57.600
phone with the underwriter, if
they have questions, they want

01:18:57.600 --> 01:19:00.750
to sort through certain issues,
or whatever may come up from a

01:19:00.750 --> 01:19:03.900
black and white standpoint, but
sometimes that black and white,

01:19:04.230 --> 01:19:06.840
you know, we're living in a gray
world. So, you know, that ends

01:19:06.840 --> 01:19:11.430
up getting, you know, through in
a very structured manner, where

01:19:11.430 --> 01:19:14.880
it runs through our checkpoints,
but you know, if it, if it hits

01:19:14.880 --> 01:19:19.440
all that those those data
points, and we kind of provide

01:19:19.440 --> 01:19:22.500
the right assessment, then yes,
ultimately, that's a that's a

01:19:22.500 --> 01:19:25.080
client we want to keep and some
someone that we're willing to

01:19:25.080 --> 01:19:27.840
work with. It's funny, because,
you know, yes, we've been doing

01:19:27.840 --> 01:19:30.420
this for so long, and the
businesses that you think are

01:19:30.690 --> 01:19:34.320
not going to pay back and not
going to perform actually do

01:19:34.320 --> 01:19:37.170
better than the ones that you
think so. You know, there's

01:19:37.200 --> 01:19:40.260
there's a fine line between
looking at just the data and

01:19:40.260 --> 01:19:42.510
understanding the business and
the relationship. So.

01:19:43.740 --> 01:19:46.560
Kevin Travers: And I guess part
of the changes of the this year

01:19:46.560 --> 01:19:50.760
is an increase in fraud, I
imagine, I mean, I get like two

01:19:50.760 --> 01:19:53.160
robo calls a day trying to steal
my bank information. So I can't

01:19:53.160 --> 01:19:57.030
imagine like well targeted fraud
attacks towards funders or in

01:19:57.030 --> 01:19:59.340
your industry. What can you tell
me about how you guys have

01:19:59.370 --> 01:20:02.490
managed and dealt with that new
or changing environment.

01:20:03.840 --> 01:20:06.120
Nick Gregory: I think just, you
know, from our underwriting

01:20:06.120 --> 01:20:09.870
practice, you know, once once a
file comes in, we do more of the

01:20:09.870 --> 01:20:12.510
heavy lifting up front, you
know, we don't just kind of run

01:20:12.510 --> 01:20:15.690
it through a quick process, send
out a contract and kind of

01:20:15.690 --> 01:20:18.450
handle the deal from there, we
do you know, more of that, that

01:20:18.450 --> 01:20:21.660
diligence and that analysis
upfront. So we kind of get a

01:20:21.660 --> 01:20:24.030
good handle as to what we're
working with who we're dealing

01:20:24.030 --> 01:20:28.200
with. But ultimately, we have
our checkpoints, sort of the pre

01:20:28.200 --> 01:20:30.960
approval all the way through the
underwrite to the, you know,

01:20:30.960 --> 01:20:34.170
contract being signed, and the
merchant interview. So we have

01:20:34.170 --> 01:20:37.470
different levels of, you know,
fraud checks, if you will. And

01:20:37.470 --> 01:20:40.350
some of the data sources that we
use are proprietary, I think

01:20:40.350 --> 01:20:42.990
that kind of gives us a little
bit of an edge to mitigate that,

01:20:43.020 --> 01:20:43.650
that fraud.

01:20:45.330 --> 01:20:47.850
Andrew Hernandez: Yeah, I think
part of it is or a key part of

01:20:47.850 --> 01:20:51.690
it is always having the manual
underwrite in place, it doesn't

01:20:51.690 --> 01:20:54.270
always have to be a full manual
underwrite. There's always

01:20:54.480 --> 01:20:57.840
pieces of that process that can
be automated. But you always

01:20:57.840 --> 01:21:01.770
need eyes on that. And again,
understanding what's really

01:21:01.770 --> 01:21:03.510
going on with the business, you
can look at all the data you

01:21:03.510 --> 01:21:08.970
want. You know, we've seen tons
of fraud from other parties just

01:21:08.970 --> 01:21:11.400
using data and kind of pushing
it through the process.

01:21:11.910 --> 01:21:14.730
Kevin Travers: Yes, speaking
about data, it's like,

01:21:15.000 --> 01:21:17.250
everything is automated this
year, but you're saying it's

01:21:17.250 --> 01:21:20.970
good to have still some hands on
approach. But speaking about

01:21:20.970 --> 01:21:24.540
data and tech, there's changes
this year that have seen

01:21:24.540 --> 01:21:28.290
automated process, automated
funding, do you think leaving

01:21:28.320 --> 01:21:31.710
from the pandemic, after this
are things going to change, are

01:21:31.710 --> 01:21:34.170
we're going to build back better
with a bunch of tech and

01:21:34.170 --> 01:21:36.420
automated process or are things
going to return to a lot the

01:21:36.420 --> 01:21:38.670
same with in person transaction?

01:21:39.030 --> 01:21:41.460
Nick Gregory: I think, you know,
as we kind of come out of this,

01:21:41.730 --> 01:21:44.460
you know, people talk about
going back, and you know, what's

01:21:44.460 --> 01:21:47.250
life like before, and I think
this is just the new norm, and

01:21:47.250 --> 01:21:49.740
what we have to adapt to, and
it's gonna take, you know,

01:21:49.740 --> 01:21:54.240
months, maybe, you know, a few
years before things get to more

01:21:54.240 --> 01:21:57.210
of a level playing field that
we're, you know, maybe

01:21:57.240 --> 01:21:59.730
comfortable with or accustomed
to, there's always going to be

01:21:59.730 --> 01:22:02.550
little nuances in between and,
you know, people have made

01:22:02.550 --> 01:22:05.400
shifts during this time, whether
it's from how they operate their

01:22:05.400 --> 01:22:07.890
own business, are they going
into the office? Do they

01:22:07.890 --> 01:22:10.350
realize, hey, you know, I'd
rather just work remote in

01:22:10.380 --> 01:22:13.620
Tahiti, as long as I got a WiFi
connection. I mean, these are,

01:22:13.650 --> 01:22:16.800
these are the the changes that
we're seeing, you know, in the

01:22:16.800 --> 01:22:21.030
landscape. And, you know, as far
as certain retail businesses,

01:22:21.030 --> 01:22:23.670
that we've probably
traditionally underwritten in

01:22:23.670 --> 01:22:26.940
the past, that have performed
well, we're not seeing too many

01:22:26.940 --> 01:22:29.820
of those right now, because
there's a longer curve to kind

01:22:29.820 --> 01:22:33.060
of getting them, you know, back
on track, and one that we're

01:22:33.060 --> 01:22:37.080
willing to really, you know,
overreach for, I think,

01:22:37.080 --> 01:22:40.590
collectively, just from the type
of paper that we've seen, you

01:22:40.590 --> 01:22:44.160
know, if you want to touch upon
that, you know, credit and

01:22:44.250 --> 01:22:45.840
certain pedigree of the client.

01:22:46.200 --> 01:22:51.450
Andrew Hernandez: Yeah, I think,
you know, similar to 2008, in a

01:22:51.450 --> 01:22:54.750
way, you know, when this
industry was still kind of in

01:22:54.750 --> 01:22:59.490
its infancy, you know, we
started to see back then, a

01:22:59.490 --> 01:23:04.170
higher quality candidate. We've
seen that 10 times over, I

01:23:04.170 --> 01:23:07.140
think, this time, this time
around, guys that normally

01:23:07.140 --> 01:23:10.170
wouldn't be applying for this
type of financing. Everybody was

01:23:10.170 --> 01:23:13.800
hurting, obviously, during this
time. And, you know, looking for

01:23:13.800 --> 01:23:18.990
those alternative financing
types. Definitely, you know, we

01:23:18.990 --> 01:23:22.230
got more of those. So, and
understanding their needs,

01:23:22.260 --> 01:23:25.260
obviously, is challenging, but,
you know, we got through it with

01:23:25.290 --> 01:23:26.130
our team. So.

01:23:27.360 --> 01:23:29.400
Kevin Travers: That's excellent.
And I know you guys are both

01:23:30.150 --> 01:23:32.880
living and working in New York
City. And we're now talking

01:23:32.880 --> 01:23:35.190
about building back better,
we're still trying to build back

01:23:35.190 --> 01:23:37.050
at all, we haven't opened up in
a while and we're still waiting

01:23:37.050 --> 01:23:40.890
for restaurants and stuff to or
bars or outdoor spaces. What can

01:23:40.890 --> 01:23:43.230
you tell me what it's like to
live in the pandemic in New York

01:23:43.230 --> 01:23:43.530
City?

01:23:45.400 --> 01:23:47.890
Andrew Hernandez: It's been,
it's been, it's been

01:23:47.980 --> 01:23:51.790
interesting. It's been it's
weird times for sure. Again, you

01:23:51.790 --> 01:23:54.370
know, back to when we first
started those first few months,

01:23:55.120 --> 01:23:58.900
the city was I've never seen the
city like that. New York City's,

01:23:58.960 --> 01:24:02.860
always. There's always something
going on. Morning, noon, night.

01:24:02.980 --> 01:24:07.870
And this time around, there was
completely dead ghost town. No

01:24:07.870 --> 01:24:11.620
walking to work or taking the
subway or whatever it was. You

01:24:11.620 --> 01:24:14.770
saw maybe a few other people
around. I think when we first

01:24:14.770 --> 01:24:19.030
got back to the office, you
know, our office building was 44

01:24:19.030 --> 01:24:24.160
stories. Only 15 people a day
were showing up, and we were

01:24:24.160 --> 01:24:29.920
about six of them. So yeah, it
was it was weird. But it was

01:24:30.070 --> 01:24:33.280
definitely an experience and we
got to live through it. And

01:24:33.310 --> 01:24:35.380
we're on the other side of it.
Almost so.

01:24:36.310 --> 01:24:38.230
Nick Gregory: Yeah, no, I mean,
I would definitely agree with

01:24:38.230 --> 01:24:42.430
that. Definitely a ghost town.
Not much going on. A lot of the

01:24:42.490 --> 01:24:45.580
normal lunch spots shut down.
Where am I supposed to do and

01:24:45.610 --> 01:24:47.830
you know, it just kind of
changes your whole you know, day

01:24:47.830 --> 01:24:52.090
to day. You know, at the same
time, I was happy to be back

01:24:52.120 --> 01:24:55.330
because I couldn't do the remote
work from home for so long.

01:24:55.540 --> 01:24:58.570
Maybe if I was on an island,
different circumstance, but you

01:24:58.570 --> 01:25:01.780
know, just going through that
that grind every day and kind of

01:25:01.780 --> 01:25:04.420
just being in your own, you
know, world. It definitely

01:25:04.420 --> 01:25:08.260
detaches you a lot, you know,
from from just interaction with

01:25:08.260 --> 01:25:11.440
people. And I think that's just
at a big point, you know, in our

01:25:11.440 --> 01:25:14.920
space and at least in what we do
in underwriting, we need that,

01:25:14.950 --> 01:25:18.370
that back and forth and just
kind of, you know, discussion,

01:25:18.370 --> 01:25:20.890
because that's how we succeed.
And we're able to look at deals

01:25:20.890 --> 01:25:22.810
and, you know, make the right
decision.

01:25:23.410 --> 01:25:25.180
Kevin Travers: Absolutely. As
soon as deBanked was able, we

01:25:25.180 --> 01:25:28.360
were in the office that
distance, but still at least

01:25:28.360 --> 01:25:30.940
sharing space together, because
that's sort of how that's how

01:25:30.940 --> 01:25:34.120
Seans used to doing business.
That's how that's how we do

01:25:34.120 --> 01:25:38.200
things in the world, as you
said, a lot of. Well on, I

01:25:38.200 --> 01:25:41.260
guess, working remote working
from remote or changing your

01:25:41.260 --> 01:25:43.660
working location, a lot of
people I mean, we've written

01:25:43.660 --> 01:25:47.530
stories like moving to Miami,
and do you think it's possible

01:25:47.530 --> 01:25:50.710
to I mean, have you thought
about moving or opening offices

01:25:50.710 --> 01:25:53.590
in Miami? Do you think it's
possible to like shift a New

01:25:53.590 --> 01:25:55.840
York style New York hustle
business all the way down to

01:25:55.840 --> 01:25:56.200
Miami?

01:25:57.690 --> 01:25:59.850
Andrew Hernandez: I think, I
mean, we've all thought about

01:25:59.850 --> 01:26:04.200
it. In the office. I think
there's some functions that

01:26:04.200 --> 01:26:08.400
could definitely be placed that
down in Florida. There's some

01:26:08.430 --> 01:26:12.570
that I think needs to be up here
to be honest. But yeah, we've

01:26:12.570 --> 01:26:16.350
always thought about, you know,
either a satellite office in

01:26:16.620 --> 01:26:20.130
Florida, California, you know,
to handle some more of the West

01:26:20.130 --> 01:26:24.060
Coast stuff, due to the time
difference and whatnot, but it's

01:26:24.060 --> 01:26:25.200
always a possibility.

01:26:26.260 --> 01:26:28.510
Nick Gregory: Yeah, I mean,
Florida is another another MCA

01:26:28.510 --> 01:26:32.800
hub. So there's definitely some
good talent down there. You

01:26:32.800 --> 01:26:35.530
know, something like Andrew
said, we've we have discussed

01:26:35.530 --> 01:26:39.010
briefly, but we have to make
sure everybody's on board, if we

01:26:39.010 --> 01:26:40.990
were going to do something like
that. I don't think that's a

01:26:41.230 --> 01:26:44.620
quick shift for us. You know,
we're kind of humming right now,

01:26:44.620 --> 01:26:47.410
with our current operation, I
think we're looking to grow and

01:26:47.410 --> 01:26:52.060
expand as things begin to
continually open up. And yeah,

01:26:52.060 --> 01:26:54.610
maybe in the future, we'll we'll
definitely consider that.

01:26:54.940 --> 01:26:57.640
Andrew Hernandez: Yeah, we're
about to sign a lease to stay in

01:26:57.640 --> 01:27:00.190
the city. So I don't think we're
gonna be going to Florida

01:27:00.190 --> 01:27:03.730
anytime soon, aside from maybe a
small office to support some

01:27:03.730 --> 01:27:04.360
people. But.

01:27:05.200 --> 01:27:06.760
Kevin Travers: Well as a New
York based business ourselves,

01:27:06.760 --> 01:27:10.780
that's good to hear. Talking
about opening up soon, what's

01:27:11.140 --> 01:27:14.140
what's what are you looking
forward to when the pandemic's

01:27:14.140 --> 01:27:15.970
long gone, and businesses back
to usual?

01:27:18.600 --> 01:27:20.340
Andrew Hernandez: Things like
this just being around other

01:27:20.340 --> 01:27:24.300
people. We haven't been in
contact with too many other

01:27:24.300 --> 01:27:28.440
people within the space for
quite a while now. And that's

01:27:28.590 --> 01:27:31.650
part of the business, you know,
the deBanked events that you

01:27:31.650 --> 01:27:35.220
guys have. That's, you know, we
look forward to those and I know

01:27:35.220 --> 01:27:38.610
you guys will be having one
later this year, hopefully. So,

01:27:38.820 --> 01:27:41.730
you know, what we welcome things
like that. And hopefully those

01:27:41.730 --> 01:27:43.740
are back to normal sooner than
later.

01:27:44.940 --> 01:27:45.930
Nick Gregory: Friday, happy
hour.

01:27:46.000 --> 01:27:46.650
A year spent indoors. Yeah.
Well, happy hours, hopefully

01:27:46.650 --> 01:27:46.830
Kevin Travers: Friday happy
hour?

01:27:46.830 --> 01:27:49.096
Nick Gregory: Yeah, we're
definitely missing out on that,

01:27:49.151 --> 01:27:52.482
you know, getting out is what
the weather's getting a little

01:27:52.537 --> 01:27:56.035
bit warmer. It'd be nice to you
know, kind of have some kind of

01:27:56.090 --> 01:27:59.143
social side of life these days.
So yeah, I think that's

01:27:59.199 --> 01:28:02.807
definitely something that we're,
we're all kind of, you know, you

01:28:02.863 --> 01:28:06.194
know, eeking towards and wanting
as, as the time progresses,

01:28:06.249 --> 01:28:09.635
because it's been over a year
now. So it's quite a it's quite

01:28:09.691 --> 01:28:10.080
a ride.

01:28:13.690 --> 01:28:18.730
coming soon. deBanked. Our event
is on December sixth. But

01:28:18.730 --> 01:28:20.740
otherwise, I guess we're signing
off. Thank you guys so much for

01:28:20.740 --> 01:28:21.310
coming on.

01:28:22.050 --> 01:28:22.950
Thank you. Thank you.

01:28:29.230 --> 01:28:30.580
Johny Fernandez: Hey, what's
going on everyone, and welcome

01:28:30.580 --> 01:28:32.380
to deBanked News. I'm Johny
Fernandez.

01:28:32.440 --> 01:28:33.010
Sean Murray: And I'm Sean
Murray.

01:28:41.610 --> 01:28:44.310
Speaker 1: If you're looking to
grow your ISO business, your

01:28:44.310 --> 01:28:47.430
broker business, your funding
business, this is the event to

01:28:47.430 --> 01:28:47.880
be at.

01:28:49.340 --> 01:28:51.710
Speaker 2: There's tons of
networking, whether or not

01:28:51.710 --> 01:28:54.020
you're a funder, you're a
broker, you're a service

01:28:54.020 --> 01:28:56.930
provider, you're the media. It's
really wonderful to be here.