1 00:00:03.120 --> 00:00:05.460 Johny Fernandez: Welcome back, you guys. We are live here from 2 00:00:05.460 --> 00:00:10.200 Bonita Springs at the 21st annual SEAA annual conference. 3 00:00:10.230 --> 00:00:11.280 Sean, do you hear that? 4 00:00:11.460 --> 00:00:13.020 Sean Murray: I do I hear music playing already. 5 00:00:13.200 --> 00:00:14.610 Johny Fernandez: It's it's coming to life. 6 00:00:14.640 --> 00:00:15.000 Sean Murray: Yeah. 7 00:00:15.000 --> 00:00:15.250 Johny Fernandez: We're back in full swing. We got Sean, Toucan 8 00:00:15.250 --> 00:00:15.630 Johny Fernandez: We're back 9 00:00:15.630 --> 00:00:15.900 Sean Murray: Yeah. 10 00:00:18.720 --> 00:00:24.180 Sean or Tou Sean. Yeah. And Johny Fernandez here, Sean. I 11 00:00:24.180 --> 00:00:27.780 love the music. It's vibrant energy. Yeah. So Sean real 12 00:00:27.780 --> 00:00:31.290 quick, let's really, really quick recap. So we've talked to 13 00:00:31.290 --> 00:00:35.370 different people in the payment world, kind of what they've told 14 00:00:35.400 --> 00:00:39.660 us about just being here. And also just overall, how they've 15 00:00:39.690 --> 00:00:43.350 moved forward after a crazy year. So you spoke with Shawn. 16 00:00:43.380 --> 00:00:45.330 Yeah. Go ahead and walk us through that not this Sean 17 00:00:45.330 --> 00:00:46.650 there's another. Go ahead. 18 00:00:46.660 --> 00:00:48.730 Sean Murray: The other Shawn, Shawn Smith from Dedicated. 19 00:00:48.730 --> 00:00:50.410 Yeah, we were just talking earlier if you if you didn't 20 00:00:50.410 --> 00:00:53.530 catch it before, what was interesting about his firm is 21 00:00:53.530 --> 00:00:56.350 that he works in the collections field, and you might think 22 00:00:56.350 --> 00:00:58.510 intuitively, that collections probably did pretty good, 23 00:00:59.050 --> 00:01:01.930 because of COVID. Because a lot of people probably had to stop 24 00:01:01.930 --> 00:01:03.520 their payments, pause their payments, and that would be a 25 00:01:03.520 --> 00:01:05.680 good opportunity for a collections firm. He actually 26 00:01:05.680 --> 00:01:09.070 said his company grew by three times. And he went from 30 27 00:01:09.070 --> 00:01:13.540 employees to 90 employees. Now that's like a massive increase. 28 00:01:13.540 --> 00:01:18.040 Yeah. And part of it, it wasn't just people needing to go on 29 00:01:18.070 --> 00:01:21.970 collection plans or whatever. It was also, lending companies, 30 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:26.350 funding companies, who realized that their own internal customer 31 00:01:26.350 --> 00:01:29.830 support could not manage collections. So he saw a huge 32 00:01:29.830 --> 00:01:32.380 inflow for when he was telling me from companies managing their 33 00:01:32.380 --> 00:01:35.350 internal collections. And then finally, finally, using the 34 00:01:35.350 --> 00:01:37.510 resources of a third party collections companies, he said, 35 00:01:37.510 --> 00:01:39.820 that was like a really big part of it. Because if you work in 36 00:01:39.820 --> 00:01:43.600 the financial field, people like to bring things in house, not 37 00:01:43.600 --> 00:01:47.020 bring things, you know, to a third party where you might lose 38 00:01:47.020 --> 00:01:49.930 some of the control over your data, it might cost you more, 39 00:01:50.230 --> 00:01:52.930 but when COVID hit I think people said, okay, we can't do 40 00:01:52.930 --> 00:01:55.450 this on our own. And so his company actually grew by triple, 41 00:01:55.480 --> 00:01:57.040 which I thought was unbelievable. 42 00:01:57.040 --> 00:01:59.800 Johny Fernandez: Yeah. And same thing, with Sam Shapiro from 43 00:01:59.830 --> 00:02:03.340 Fundomate, similar situation, you know, he was actually, you 44 00:02:03.340 --> 00:02:06.100 know, COVID, hit, you know, they kind of had to kind of figure 45 00:02:06.100 --> 00:02:08.890 out what they were gonna do, they panicked, but as COVID 46 00:02:08.890 --> 00:02:12.550 started to go on, and that year and a half, he also, you know, 47 00:02:12.550 --> 00:02:15.640 pretty much ended up recovering and growing. And now they're 48 00:02:15.640 --> 00:02:18.010 kind of moving on to different projects. And it's really 49 00:02:18.010 --> 00:02:21.100 interesting to see that many people that we've talked to here 50 00:02:21.190 --> 00:02:25.420 in the world in the cash payment world, in the sorry, credit 51 00:02:25.420 --> 00:02:28.690 payment world, that they are really looking forward to what's 52 00:02:28.690 --> 00:02:28.850 Sean Murray: This is the cash conference, right. Cash 53 00:02:28.850 --> 00:02:28.900 coming up. 54 00:02:30.446 --> 00:02:33.483 conference. Only can only cash, here. Yeah, that's it. Yeah no, 55 00:02:33.531 --> 00:02:34.110 no payments. 56 00:02:34.110 --> 00:02:36.610 Johny Fernandez: No payments. But it's interesting to see how 57 00:02:36.610 --> 00:02:40.690 like, this whole world is changing the way we live our 58 00:02:40.690 --> 00:02:44.500 life, because of what's happened to us. Now. Everything's credit 59 00:02:44.500 --> 00:02:46.810 payment, you know, everything is, you know, kind of like what 60 00:02:46.810 --> 00:02:49.840 we talked about just, you know, through a credit card, or the 61 00:02:49.840 --> 00:02:53.020 different forms of payment, whether it's similar to a Square 62 00:02:53.050 --> 00:02:56.860 or a Venmo, or anything of that nature, and seeing how quickly 63 00:02:56.860 --> 00:02:59.680 things have accelerated from, you know, people like a taxi 64 00:02:59.680 --> 00:03:02.470 driver, not wanting to take credit to now like, that's 65 00:03:02.560 --> 00:03:04.630 pretty much the only thing they see, that's the only thing they 66 00:03:04.630 --> 00:03:06.970 use nowadays, especially in places like New York, where 67 00:03:06.970 --> 00:03:09.850 we're from. So it's really interesting to see that. And 68 00:03:09.850 --> 00:03:12.460 also, I think, something that we've heard from different 69 00:03:12.460 --> 00:03:15.580 people that we've talked to whether it was here on set or 70 00:03:15.760 --> 00:03:18.430 out, like, you know, just talking to people in the 71 00:03:18.430 --> 00:03:21.640 reception area, that people are excited to be here. They want to 72 00:03:21.640 --> 00:03:24.850 be here, you know, and we did speak with the event organizers, 73 00:03:24.850 --> 00:03:29.140 one of the guys from the board of directors, Derek, and he also 74 00:03:29.140 --> 00:03:32.470 chatted with us about that there's more than 900 plus 75 00:03:32.470 --> 00:03:33.580 people here alone. 76 00:03:33.540 --> 00:03:35.161 Sean Murray: I think he said over 1000, when you count 77 00:03:35.161 --> 00:03:37.140 walkins. Yeah. When he when he count the walkins. 78 00:03:37.140 --> 00:03:39.250 Johny Fernandez: So yeah, it's interesting. And you can really 79 00:03:39.250 --> 00:03:43.120 start, people can really start seeing just a difference, and 80 00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:46.120 where the world is going now that, you know, there's things 81 00:03:46.120 --> 00:03:48.850 like the vaccine and the restrictions are being lifted. 82 00:03:48.940 --> 00:03:52.120 He himself said that, you know, last minute, people were still 83 00:03:52.150 --> 00:03:55.930 wanting to sign up, there were walkins. And then also there was 84 00:03:56.290 --> 00:04:00.730 just a change in how they were doing things on a daily basis. 85 00:04:00.820 --> 00:04:04.240 So something we mentioned is that the event space is back, 86 00:04:04.330 --> 00:04:07.450 you know, these type of events, people want to be here. And I 87 00:04:07.450 --> 00:04:09.760 think that's something we've talked about before in the 88 00:04:09.760 --> 00:04:13.780 different shows that we've done that people are tired of Zoom, 89 00:04:13.840 --> 00:04:17.800 even the owner of Zoom is Zoomed out, and people want to do this 90 00:04:17.800 --> 00:04:21.520 we, we've seen this area right behind us packed with people, 91 00:04:21.640 --> 00:04:23.920 you know, people are enjoying themselves. And I think that 92 00:04:23.920 --> 00:04:27.610 what's what we've miss out on the most is that people actually 93 00:04:27.610 --> 00:04:30.280 want to be with other people and networking and being in the 94 00:04:30.280 --> 00:04:33.130 flesh. I've heard people tell you, oh my gosh, you're Sean 95 00:04:33.130 --> 00:04:37.150 Murray in the flesh in person. So that's definitely exciting. 96 00:04:37.150 --> 00:04:39.130 And it's definitely the vibe we've been picking up since 97 00:04:39.130 --> 00:04:42.700 we've been here. And it's going to be exciting for tomorrow too 98 00:04:42.820 --> 00:04:45.040 you know, different exhibits that are going to be happening 99 00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:47.620 exhibit halls that are going to be happening, the educational 100 00:04:47.620 --> 00:04:51.220 aspects of it, and also the networking. They have over 90 101 00:04:51.220 --> 00:04:55.810 booths here alone. So that's something you know that to take 102 00:04:55.810 --> 00:04:58.690 into consideration if you are coming and then also the 103 00:04:58.690 --> 00:05:02.050 different protocols that they put in place you know, despite 104 00:05:02.140 --> 00:05:04.750 this feeling normal, they're also taking into consideration 105 00:05:04.750 --> 00:05:07.690 that not everyone may feel like that, which is why we have our 106 00:05:07.690 --> 00:05:10.810 stickers. Yeah. We there's a yellow one, there's a red one, 107 00:05:10.960 --> 00:05:13.420 there's a purple one, there's a green one, each of them 108 00:05:13.420 --> 00:05:16.390 signifying something different. So this one have pretty much 109 00:05:16.450 --> 00:05:16.930 says. 110 00:05:16.960 --> 00:05:17.710 Sean Murray: This means you are. 111 00:05:17.740 --> 00:05:18.460 Johny Fernandez: Ready to party. 112 00:05:18.460 --> 00:05:20.820 Sean Murray: Ready to party. Yeah, I got all my shots. So you 113 00:05:20.820 --> 00:05:23.730 know, this isn't this isn't me just being bold you know this is 114 00:05:23.730 --> 00:05:26.400 me doing what I was supposed to do. And, and being you know 115 00:05:26.400 --> 00:05:31.140 completely safe and secure and embracing, you know, embracing 116 00:05:31.140 --> 00:05:33.450 the normal that I, you know, took the time to consider. 117 00:05:33.480 --> 00:05:34.920 Johny Fernandez: Yeah and same thing I've taken the proper 118 00:05:34.920 --> 00:05:37.800 precautions that I'd probably wear the green, the green 119 00:05:37.800 --> 00:05:40.980 sticker, you know, ready to talk to people. And something that 120 00:05:40.980 --> 00:05:44.100 I've seen very interesting here is that, you know, something as 121 00:05:44.130 --> 00:05:48.360 simple as a simple handshake. I see people's faces light up so 122 00:05:48.360 --> 00:05:51.540 much, because now we're back in person. And that's something 123 00:05:51.540 --> 00:05:53.430 that they haven't been able to do. And many people probably 124 00:05:53.430 --> 00:05:56.610 thought, will we still be able to ever do something like this? 125 00:05:56.640 --> 00:05:58.230 Sean Murray: Some people are holding on extra tight. 126 00:05:58.230 --> 00:05:58.500 Sean Murray: It used to be a format used to be a format. Hey, 127 00:05:58.500 --> 00:05:58.620 Johny Fernandez: Extra tight. 128 00:06:01.360 --> 00:06:04.960 how's it going? But now it's like, oh, it's so good to see 129 00:06:04.990 --> 00:06:10.150 you. It's like, oh, wow, oh your real, you know what I mean? It's 130 00:06:10.150 --> 00:06:11.860 the two handed. You know, it's the two handed. 131 00:06:11.860 --> 00:06:14.110 Johny Fernandez: But that's literally the phrase of the 132 00:06:14.110 --> 00:06:17.350 evening is wow, you're real. Yeah. Because people have come 133 00:06:17.350 --> 00:06:20.530 up to you and told you that. Yeah. So you went Toucan Sam, or 134 00:06:20.530 --> 00:06:24.970 Tou Sean? Yeah. Two Sean's, you know, you guys are a hit 135 00:06:24.970 --> 00:06:28.660 tonight. It's, that shirts a hit tonight. This shirts okay. That 136 00:06:28.660 --> 00:06:32.110 shirt is definitely your wife is probably so proud of you right 137 00:06:32.110 --> 00:06:34.220 Sean Murray: I don't well, I don't know what she thinks about 138 00:06:34.220 --> 00:06:34.350 now. 139 00:06:34.350 --> 00:06:36.470 me right now. I guess I guess we'll find out afterwards, 140 00:06:36.470 --> 00:06:40.130 especially given some events that happened earlier. But, you 141 00:06:40.130 --> 00:06:43.040 know, when we're not on camera, we are having some sidebar 142 00:06:43.040 --> 00:06:46.190 conversations here. And I keep using the word anecdotal, but I 143 00:06:46.190 --> 00:06:50.540 think it's appropriate to use, because these type of events, 144 00:06:50.540 --> 00:06:54.170 you get the best best anecdotal evidence before the statistical 145 00:06:54.170 --> 00:06:56.750 evidence come in to tell you that tells you what's happening. 146 00:06:56.960 --> 00:07:00.350 You find out what's happening in person at a show. Yeah. Right. 147 00:07:00.410 --> 00:07:04.430 So people would ask me all the time, Sean, how do you have your 148 00:07:04.430 --> 00:07:08.750 posts, so tight, you know, on the industry, right? How are you 149 00:07:08.750 --> 00:07:11.600 so dialed in? Yeah. Well, because I go to the shows, 150 00:07:11.720 --> 00:07:14.360 before you've gotten your quarterly report, or whatever it 151 00:07:14.360 --> 00:07:17.510 is, whoever you paid to get your data from. I already know 152 00:07:17.510 --> 00:07:19.010 because I already I already went to these shows. And I talked to 153 00:07:19.010 --> 00:07:21.470 him. I'm not patting myself on the back, right. Yeah. But I'm 154 00:07:21.470 --> 00:07:24.050 saying going to these type of events, makes all the difference 155 00:07:24.050 --> 00:07:26.780 in the world to find out what people are saying, right. And 156 00:07:26.810 --> 00:07:30.230 some of the anecdotal conversations I've had, are 157 00:07:30.230 --> 00:07:33.500 alluding to the fact that it's not just a, oh, we're 158 00:07:33.500 --> 00:07:36.920 recovering. I'm starting to hear some people say that it's 159 00:07:36.920 --> 00:07:40.610 already starting to look bigger than what it was before. 160 00:07:40.610 --> 00:07:40.750 Johny Fernandez: And I think something that we've heard 161 00:07:40.750 --> 00:07:42.070 people say here is that there's a comeback, that the comeback is 162 00:07:42.070 --> 00:07:43.090 here, we've talked about it before. But people are saying 163 00:07:43.090 --> 00:07:48.730 like you know, like, this is bigger. It's bigger. Bigger than 164 00:07:51.550 --> 00:07:54.070 the comeback. And this is something that they are ready to 165 00:07:54.070 --> 00:07:57.670 go full force, people here are ready to start working to 166 00:07:57.670 --> 00:08:01.420 recover from what they lost, and then even build off of that. So 167 00:08:01.480 --> 00:08:05.980 I think that within itself is very exciting to see. And to see 168 00:08:05.980 --> 00:08:08.740 people here down in South Florida, we've seen people that 169 00:08:08.740 --> 00:08:10.990 are from Florida, that are from New York, that are from 170 00:08:11.110 --> 00:08:14.020 Minneapolis, you know, from all over the country here 171 00:08:14.020 --> 00:08:17.170 specifically. And I think it's also interesting just to see how 172 00:08:17.170 --> 00:08:20.380 people have their mindset and where their minds are at not 173 00:08:20.380 --> 00:08:22.990 only when it comes to networking, but also with their 174 00:08:22.990 --> 00:08:25.600 business. And pretty much the pattern, like we've been saying 175 00:08:25.600 --> 00:08:28.060 is that they want to come back and they want to make sure that 176 00:08:28.090 --> 00:08:30.910 people are here, and they're ready to work, and they're ready 177 00:08:30.910 --> 00:08:34.900 to grow this, this, this space into something bigger than what 178 00:08:34.900 --> 00:08:36.160 it originally was. 179 00:08:36.220 --> 00:08:37.540 Sean Murray: You know, what could be challenging, though, 180 00:08:37.540 --> 00:08:39.580 about all that everyone wants to grow and get bigger. And this 181 00:08:39.580 --> 00:08:41.860 is, again, anecdotal evidence, but it's something I heard when 182 00:08:41.860 --> 00:08:45.550 I was in Miami last week, is that it's actually everyone's 183 00:08:45.550 --> 00:08:49.630 hiring, it seems like, but it's actually hard to get people to 184 00:08:49.630 --> 00:08:50.470 come work for you. 185 00:08:50.470 --> 00:08:52.430 Johny Fernandez: Well, and I think that goes back to what 186 00:08:52.430 --> 00:08:55.610 we've talked about before, just a simple fact that, you know, 187 00:08:55.640 --> 00:08:58.580 maybe, you know, moving, wanting to work remote, there's 188 00:08:58.580 --> 00:09:01.460 different factors that play into that. Maybe they're getting paid 189 00:09:01.460 --> 00:09:04.760 more on unemployment. So there's different factors. But I think 190 00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:08.600 what we can see and what we can say confidently is that people 191 00:09:08.600 --> 00:09:12.050 are hiring, the business is growing. Yeah. And now it's up 192 00:09:12.050 --> 00:09:15.650 to the individual employees that or people that are looking for a 193 00:09:15.650 --> 00:09:18.860 job, it's up to them what they want to do with, you know, 194 00:09:18.860 --> 00:09:20.990 what's out there, because the fact is that there is a 195 00:09:20.990 --> 00:09:24.170 comeback, people are ready to hit the ground running. 196 00:09:24.170 --> 00:09:26.310 Sean Murray: Yeah. You know, part of that might be 197 00:09:26.580 --> 00:09:29.070 unemployment benefits, you know, finally running the course, 198 00:09:29.310 --> 00:09:32.520 perhaps not doing any more stimulus. I'm not against any of 199 00:09:32.520 --> 00:09:35.910 those things in general. But I heard that it has impeded hiring 200 00:09:36.060 --> 00:09:38.670 in this particular field and the alternative finance field, I 201 00:09:38.670 --> 00:09:42.060 heard that that has been a barrier to getting people to 202 00:09:42.060 --> 00:09:46.200 come on board. And so you have firms, small companies, well 203 00:09:46.200 --> 00:09:50.190 large and small, that are facing that challenge of what do you do 204 00:09:50.490 --> 00:09:53.430 when you have a lot of availability? Yeah. And nobody 205 00:09:53.430 --> 00:09:55.740 wants to come work for you. And I've heard that the restaurant 206 00:09:55.740 --> 00:09:59.160 industry has also been quite, hit quite hard on that note as 207 00:09:59.160 --> 00:10:01.650 well and that They're they're opening back up, everyone 208 00:10:01.680 --> 00:10:03.780 everyone wants to go to restaurants again. But in terms 209 00:10:03.780 --> 00:10:06.840 of getting people to do that work, it's they're having a much 210 00:10:06.840 --> 00:10:11.100 tougher time. And that kind of feeds back into the funding 211 00:10:11.100 --> 00:10:14.430 world. Because people need capital to grow, they have all 212 00:10:14.430 --> 00:10:18.750 the other tools to grow, right. So if your job is to expand, and 213 00:10:18.750 --> 00:10:21.240 you get this money and you want to hire, and you can't hire, you 214 00:10:21.240 --> 00:10:23.700 know what I mean, like, you need every everything, in the chain 215 00:10:23.730 --> 00:10:27.450 everything in the chain needs to, to work. But on that note, 216 00:10:27.450 --> 00:10:30.180 though, I am still hearing despite the hiring challenges 217 00:10:30.180 --> 00:10:33.090 that are going on out there, that people already reporting 218 00:10:33.240 --> 00:10:36.780 numbers that far surpass their expectations, and in some cases 219 00:10:36.780 --> 00:10:40.170 already exceeding where some people were in 2019. You know, 220 00:10:40.170 --> 00:10:44.370 we we were just talking earlier that companies like, Dedicated, 221 00:10:44.400 --> 00:10:46.260 they tripled during COVID. 222 00:10:46.260 --> 00:10:46.450 Yeah, no thank you, no part of that. Yeah. 223 00:10:46.450 --> 00:10:48.056 Johny Fernandez: And it's interesting, because like you 224 00:10:48.105 --> 00:10:51.133 said, like, they did not expect that. And even the turnout for 225 00:10:51.182 --> 00:10:53.917 something as simple as this event. In the beginning, the 226 00:10:53.966 --> 00:10:56.897 event organizers specifically said, oh, we're gonna probably 227 00:10:56.946 --> 00:10:59.974 reach 700. And then they started seeing the patterns that were 228 00:11:00.023 --> 00:11:03.003 coming on. And they're like, no, wait a minute, this might go 229 00:11:03.052 --> 00:11:05.983 from 900 plus, because of how fast just everything is moving 230 00:11:06.031 --> 00:11:09.011 all of a sudden and just the growth. And just the simple fact 231 00:11:09.060 --> 00:11:11.942 that people, I believe, from what we've seen throughout the 232 00:11:11.991 --> 00:11:14.775 last couple of months that people want to get out of that 233 00:11:14.824 --> 00:11:17.608 normal, you know, that COVID world, people want to forget 234 00:11:17.657 --> 00:11:20.490 about that and move on with their life. And never remember 235 00:11:20.539 --> 00:11:23.225 any of this. And that's something we talked about, that 236 00:11:23.225 --> 00:11:23.274 So it's interesting. And businesses are growing at the 237 00:11:23.274 --> 00:11:25.912 once all this changes and restrictions are lifted, and 238 00:11:25.961 --> 00:11:28.941 things are back normal. We don't want to remember any of this 239 00:11:28.989 --> 00:11:31.823 ever again. Yeah. Cause I stress. Yeah. Like I don't and I 240 00:11:31.823 --> 00:11:31.871 end of the day. Yeah. And it's exciting to see that, but also 241 00:11:31.871 --> 00:11:35.046 don't know if you feel that way. But I'm ready to move on with my 242 00:11:35.095 --> 00:11:35.340 life. 243 00:11:42.970 --> 00:11:46.810 employment and that aspect, you know, that also kind of got has 244 00:11:46.810 --> 00:11:49.120 to go hand in hand. So definitely something for people 245 00:11:49.120 --> 00:11:52.300 to look into if they want a job. And if they're looking for a 246 00:11:52.300 --> 00:11:55.840 job. This space. They're hiring, they're growing, and they're 247 00:11:55.840 --> 00:11:58.030 gonna keep on growing and they've already grown. 248 00:11:58.420 --> 00:12:00.520 Sean Murray: Yeah. And it's true. 249 00:12:00.550 --> 00:12:01.810 Johny Fernandez: Yeah, I'm excited. 250 00:12:01.840 --> 00:12:03.760 Sean Murray: Yeah. You know, I guess we'll, I guess we'll find 251 00:12:03.760 --> 00:12:07.540 out what happens. You know, New York is coming roaring back. 252 00:12:08.320 --> 00:12:09.790 Miami felt like it was back. 253 00:12:09.820 --> 00:12:10.240 Johny Fernandez: Yeah. 254 00:12:10.330 --> 00:12:10.750 Sean Murray: Like. 255 00:12:10.750 --> 00:12:11.920 Johny Fernandez: Like, two years ago. 256 00:12:11.920 --> 00:12:15.520 Sean Murray: Yeah. Yeah, Miami has been back, been back, you 257 00:12:15.520 --> 00:12:19.390 know, for a while. So I guess we'll just continue to see. 258 00:12:19.420 --> 00:12:20.410 Yeah. As time goes on. 259 00:12:20.540 --> 00:12:23.030 Johny Fernandez: And I think as we continue to go throughout the 260 00:12:23.030 --> 00:12:26.000 next couple of hours, and we're here at the event, we'll 261 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:28.610 definitely be hearing from different people. So tomorrow, 262 00:12:28.610 --> 00:12:33.080 we'll be hearing from different people in this space and kind of 263 00:12:33.080 --> 00:12:35.540 see what they have to say about, you know, the future, their 264 00:12:35.540 --> 00:12:38.660 future, their growth. And I think we're we're gonna see 265 00:12:38.660 --> 00:12:41.660 similar patterns throughout the next couple of guests that we 266 00:12:41.660 --> 00:12:45.860 speak that we speak with, and also to hear the speakers of the 267 00:12:45.890 --> 00:12:48.320 different exhibits that are going to be happening, and kind 268 00:12:48.320 --> 00:12:51.470 of see what they say and how, check out the industry has 269 00:12:51.470 --> 00:12:55.280 changed and what it will be moving forwards. You know, how 270 00:12:55.310 --> 00:12:56.330 it will be moving forward. 271 00:12:56.360 --> 00:12:58.280 Sean Murray: Yeah, it will be interesting to see what happens 272 00:12:58.280 --> 00:13:02.060 later tonight. Yeah. Because happy hours, cocktail hours, big 273 00:13:02.060 --> 00:13:04.100 part of these events, you know, their an essential part of 274 00:13:04.100 --> 00:13:08.750 networking. And I know how it goes normally. Yeah. This is not 275 00:13:08.750 --> 00:13:13.550 baby steps to in person events. This isn't like, you know, like 276 00:13:13.580 --> 00:13:16.190 a meeting. Yeah. This isn't like 50 people got together, and 277 00:13:16.220 --> 00:13:20.930 we're trying out we went right from nothing to 1000 people. And 278 00:13:20.930 --> 00:13:24.470 I'm really curious to see how it all how it all plays out. And I 279 00:13:24.470 --> 00:13:28.190 hope people kind of kind of eased themselves into it. Yeah. 280 00:13:28.220 --> 00:13:29.960 And don't get too out of control. I'm not saying that 281 00:13:29.960 --> 00:13:32.870 they are here. But in terms of just generally, around the 282 00:13:32.870 --> 00:13:35.450 world, because I'm imagining this is Bonita, Bonita Springs, 283 00:13:35.450 --> 00:13:38.210 Florida. Yeah. I'm trying to think of what Vegas is going to 284 00:13:38.210 --> 00:13:38.660 be like. 285 00:13:39.230 --> 00:13:40.310 Johny Fernandez: What Miami is. 286 00:13:40.370 --> 00:13:41.210 Sean Murray: Miami's going to be like. 287 00:13:41.210 --> 00:13:43.010 Johny Fernandez: We already kind of know how that. Yeah. That's 288 00:13:43.010 --> 00:13:43.400 gone. 289 00:13:43.400 --> 00:13:44.120 Sean Murray: Yeah, New York. 290 00:13:44.210 --> 00:13:44.600 Johny Fernandez: New York. 291 00:13:45.500 --> 00:13:46.250 Sean Murray: It's already starting to get. 292 00:13:46.250 --> 00:13:49.100 Johny Fernandez: I feel like New York is like baby steps. We hit 293 00:13:49.100 --> 00:13:51.050 the ground running. So it is going to be interesting to see 294 00:13:51.080 --> 00:13:54.590 what happens. Yeah. And how, you know, everything progresses 295 00:13:54.590 --> 00:13:57.140 throughout the next couple of months. And, you know, in the 296 00:13:57.140 --> 00:13:59.600 next couple of hours, we'll definitely see how things turn 297 00:13:59.600 --> 00:14:02.270 out here. So it's definitely going to be interesting to see. 298 00:14:02.480 --> 00:14:05.180 Sean Murray: We are seeing a lot of capital raising. Yeah. We're 299 00:14:05.180 --> 00:14:10.430 seeing lines of credit. We're seeing acquisitions. I mean, so 300 00:14:10.430 --> 00:14:18.290 much that it's like it reminds me of the .com era in a way 301 00:14:18.350 --> 00:14:21.200 where it's just just so much so much. There's so much going on. 302 00:14:21.500 --> 00:14:24.050 And it's happening side by side with what's happening in the 303 00:14:24.050 --> 00:14:27.560 crypto market. Yeah. Right. So it's like, if you go on Twitter, 304 00:14:27.980 --> 00:14:30.860 it looks like 1000 deals are happening a day. Yeah. And it 305 00:14:30.860 --> 00:14:33.440 gets you like pumped up and excited. And there's a lot of 306 00:14:33.680 --> 00:14:37.130 reason for optimism. And I think that there was a period of time 307 00:14:37.130 --> 00:14:39.680 when in the alternative finance space where the capital raising 308 00:14:39.680 --> 00:14:43.520 kind of died down. We had this big, it was kinda like a bubble. 309 00:14:43.940 --> 00:14:46.310 Right? It was the hot sexy thing. Everyone wanted to get a 310 00:14:46.310 --> 00:14:48.080 piece of it. They didn't understand it. They didn't know 311 00:14:48.080 --> 00:14:50.600 if it made money or not. But everyone was about scale. You 312 00:14:50.600 --> 00:14:53.210 know, how much can you fund whatever, and it just shot right 313 00:14:53.210 --> 00:14:58.010 up. Everyone got their fill, it came right down and we had that 314 00:14:58.100 --> 00:15:01.670 what we call really like the maturity phase. Yeah. And that's 315 00:15:01.670 --> 00:15:04.700 okay. It's okay. It's okay to go into the maturity phase because 316 00:15:04.700 --> 00:15:06.950 you can't be in an industry where you have hundreds of new 317 00:15:06.950 --> 00:15:10.340 players coming in every single day, forever. At some point, you 318 00:15:10.340 --> 00:15:12.650 got to have this weeding out process and it's just got to be 319 00:15:12.950 --> 00:15:15.860 your standard players. But all of a sudden, it's starting to 320 00:15:15.860 --> 00:15:18.920 feel like we're on that upswing again, because we're seeing new 321 00:15:18.920 --> 00:15:21.260 companies come in too. Yeah. I mean, we can see that just 322 00:15:21.260 --> 00:15:23.630 because I, you know, I see registrations on DailyFunder, 323 00:15:24.020 --> 00:15:26.780 registrations on deBanked, companies I've never heard of 324 00:15:26.780 --> 00:15:30.410 before. So when we say coming back, and you know, bigger than 325 00:15:30.410 --> 00:15:31.400 before and all this stuff. 326 00:15:31.640 --> 00:15:33.080 Johny Fernandez: That's literally what it means, because 327 00:15:33.080 --> 00:15:33.680 we're seeing it. 328 00:15:33.680 --> 00:15:36.110 Sean Murray: And it's yeah, it's not just the same old companies 329 00:15:36.110 --> 00:15:39.020 that are oh, we're doing, we're doing good. Now. We're literally 330 00:15:39.020 --> 00:15:42.650 seeing new players come into the space, we just reported on a 331 00:15:42.650 --> 00:15:45.680 company based out of California, they just raised a massive line 332 00:15:45.680 --> 00:15:49.010 of credit, I think it was around $20 million, extendable up to 333 00:15:49.070 --> 00:15:52.130 $30 million. This is their first line. This is this is a brand 334 00:15:52.130 --> 00:15:54.500 new company. Now the owners of the company have a lot of 335 00:15:54.500 --> 00:15:57.350 experience in the industry. Yeah. But they can start a brand 336 00:15:57.350 --> 00:16:02.390 new company. Now, post COVID and raise $20 million. I think that 337 00:16:02.390 --> 00:16:06.320 says a lot. Because the the wisdom was it's too late to 338 00:16:06.320 --> 00:16:09.050 start a company. You kind of missed the boat. But we're 339 00:16:09.050 --> 00:16:10.070 already seeing that's not the case. 340 00:16:10.070 --> 00:16:13.810 Johny Fernandez: Yeah. Well, now, I feel like now from what 341 00:16:13.810 --> 00:16:16.870 we've seen and what we've reported on, now's the time, if 342 00:16:16.870 --> 00:16:19.840 you want to start a business or get into whether it's this 343 00:16:19.840 --> 00:16:22.600 business, alternative finance, fintech, now's the time to do 344 00:16:22.600 --> 00:16:25.960 it. Because the boat is still there. Yeah. If people don't 345 00:16:25.960 --> 00:16:29.350 jump on it now. And they wait a year or two, the boat will have 346 00:16:29.350 --> 00:16:32.050 sailed already. And you know, they'll miss it. 347 00:16:32.110 --> 00:16:34.330 Sean Murray: Yeah, I think we said during one of these, one of 348 00:16:34.330 --> 00:16:39.280 these streams, is that people's mindset changed. Yeah. Because 349 00:16:39.280 --> 00:16:41.620 they realized that the world could kind of stopped at any 350 00:16:41.620 --> 00:16:46.090 time. Yeah. And you don't want to have regret. Yeah. Like, all 351 00:16:46.090 --> 00:16:48.100 of a sudden, all the things you want to do, you couldn't even do 352 00:16:48.130 --> 00:16:50.620 even if you wanted to do them. Yeah. So the opportunity was off 353 00:16:50.620 --> 00:16:54.550 the table. Now that the opportunity is here, again, I 354 00:16:54.550 --> 00:16:57.580 think that people should take it as a wake up call, like, it's 355 00:16:57.580 --> 00:16:59.950 now or never. Yeah. You're either going to do this, or 356 00:16:59.950 --> 00:17:01.930 you're not going to do this. And there are people doing it 357 00:17:01.930 --> 00:17:05.290 starting brand new companies, and raising money in industries 358 00:17:05.290 --> 00:17:08.020 that are quite mature that have been around for a while. So if 359 00:17:08.020 --> 00:17:10.300 you're out there wondering like, you know, maybe it's not a good 360 00:17:10.300 --> 00:17:13.120 time, this would probably be the last good time you'll ever have, 361 00:17:13.000 --> 00:17:16.870 Johny Fernandez: Yeah. And we literally got to a point in the 362 00:17:13.270 --> 00:17:13.870 to be honest. 363 00:17:16.870 --> 00:17:22.120 world where it sucked. And it's still kind of there, like, we're 364 00:17:22.510 --> 00:17:25.660 going back full swing into things. But we're not there yet. 365 00:17:25.660 --> 00:17:28.390 So this is the opportunity. And like I said, we've talked to a 366 00:17:28.390 --> 00:17:31.090 lot of these guys today. And they've said they're expanding 367 00:17:31.090 --> 00:17:33.880 and they're growing. And now's the time to hop on. Because if 368 00:17:33.880 --> 00:17:37.270 you don't, you're gonna lose the chance. Yeah. And like you said, 369 00:17:37.270 --> 00:17:39.790 it's the last time to do something like this. It's the 370 00:17:39.790 --> 00:17:44.110 last good chance. Yeah. So it's exciting. So we'll definitely 371 00:17:44.110 --> 00:17:46.870 keep everyone updated in regards to what to what tomorrow will 372 00:17:46.870 --> 00:17:49.330 bring tomorrow, we'll have a number of interviews with 373 00:17:49.330 --> 00:17:52.420 different people with different businesses and different, you 374 00:17:52.420 --> 00:17:55.030 know, people in this space. 375 00:17:55.030 --> 00:17:55.570 Sean Murray: You hear that? 376 00:17:55.570 --> 00:17:56.590 Johny Fernandez: I do. Do you hear that? 377 00:17:56.620 --> 00:17:56.920 Sean Murray: Yeah. 378 00:17:56.950 --> 00:17:59.290 Johny Fernandez: It's exciting. It's that's reception right now 379 00:17:59.290 --> 00:18:01.960 that's going on. And then throughout the day, we'll we'll 380 00:18:02.020 --> 00:18:04.720 give you guys some footage of what's going on inside there to 381 00:18:04.720 --> 00:18:08.050 show you guys just like the atmosphere that's going on. And 382 00:18:08.050 --> 00:18:11.620 then that will pretty much be what we will that will be what 383 00:18:11.770 --> 00:18:14.830 we will be bringing to you guys tomorrow. Yeah. And then Sean, 384 00:18:14.830 --> 00:18:17.710 hopefully, you wear another one of these exciting shirts. I'm 385 00:18:17.710 --> 00:18:18.490 excited to see what. 386 00:18:18.490 --> 00:18:19.870 Sean Murray: Oh, I got a whole wardrobe full. 387 00:18:21.700 --> 00:18:23.590 Johny Fernandez: And if you guys liked the show, you can comment 388 00:18:23.800 --> 00:18:26.980 on Twitter, on Facebook, you know, whatever, on deBanked. 389 00:18:27.010 --> 00:18:29.200 Send us an email about what you guys think about this shirt 390 00:18:29.200 --> 00:18:33.040 about Tou Sean. And that will be exciting. That will be it. I'm 391 00:18:33.040 --> 00:18:36.610 excited for the rest of this event. And you know, we'll see 392 00:18:36.610 --> 00:18:37.540 what happens tomorrow. 393 00:18:37.540 --> 00:18:39.849 Sean Murray: Yeah. No, I want to say thank you to the Southeast 394 00:18:39.895 --> 00:18:42.678 Acquirers for even having us here and allowing us to do this 395 00:18:42.725 --> 00:18:45.647 been a great benefit to us. We hope that the attendees like it, 396 00:18:45.694 --> 00:18:48.569 we hope that if you're watching it that you get some value out 397 00:18:48.616 --> 00:18:51.585 of it. You know we we just want to show you what's happening out 398 00:18:51.631 --> 00:18:54.229 there in the industry, that people are back together, we 399 00:18:54.275 --> 00:18:56.826 want to tell you what's happening in payments. It's all 400 00:18:56.873 --> 00:18:59.470 related. And so Southeast Acquirers, you know, thank you 401 00:18:59.517 --> 00:19:02.532 so much for having us here. It's a great show. The fact that they 402 00:19:02.578 --> 00:19:05.408 they've been able to put on a show with 1000 people, already. 403 00:19:05.454 --> 00:19:08.145 I mean, I gotta tell you, I don't think I don't think that 404 00:19:08.191 --> 00:19:11.020 we would have been capable to do to do something like that so 405 00:19:11.067 --> 00:19:13.664 soon. So I mean, you know, my hat is off to them. That's 406 00:19:13.711 --> 00:19:16.355 pretty amazing. So you know, great job. And they're doing 407 00:19:16.401 --> 00:19:18.350 awesome things, for the payments industry, 408 00:19:18.779 --> 00:19:20.631 Johny Fernandez: And we're excited to see you guys right 409 00:19:20.679 --> 00:19:23.576 here tomorrow morning. We'll be live streaming throughout the 410 00:19:23.624 --> 00:19:26.047 day. For more of that information. You can go ahead 411 00:19:26.094 --> 00:19:28.849 and check that out online. So for now, I'm Johny Franny's, 412 00:19:28.897 --> 00:19:30.750 here live from Bonita Springs, Florida. 413 00:19:31.499 --> 00:19:32.579 Sean Murray: I'll see you tomorrow. 414 00:19:32.579 --> 00:19:35.520 Johny Fernandez: And who is this guy? Tou Sean? 415 00:19:35.520 --> 00:19:37.290 Sean Murray: Tou Sean, Sean. 416 00:19:37.290 --> 00:19:38.520 Johny Fernandez: Alright, we'll see you guys next time.