1 00:00:19.710 --> 00:00:21.600 Johny Fernandez: Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Broker 2 00:00:21.600 --> 00:00:25.950 Fair 2021. We're finally here, the big day is here. I'm Johny 3 00:00:25.950 --> 00:00:28.860 Fernandez and I will be walking you through the whole day 4 00:00:28.980 --> 00:00:31.860 regarding the events and also the different conversations that 5 00:00:31.860 --> 00:00:36.060 will be happening here at Broker Fair 2021 Live from New York 6 00:00:36.060 --> 00:00:39.750 City. So as of right now we are, we are just moments away from 7 00:00:39.750 --> 00:00:43.860 the first session with Oz Konar. Now he will be leading off the 8 00:00:43.860 --> 00:00:48.660 conversation here with brokers across this entire conference. 9 00:00:48.660 --> 00:00:52.680 Now, we are also going to hear from our CEO and president Sean 10 00:00:52.680 --> 00:00:55.320 Murray. And then we're gonna have different conversations 11 00:00:55.320 --> 00:00:58.020 throughout the day with different people, also different 12 00:00:58.020 --> 00:01:02.280 topics with different panels of regarding the industry and the 13 00:01:02.280 --> 00:01:06.090 Broker Broker Fair. So we do know that today specifically is 14 00:01:06.090 --> 00:01:09.390 gonna be involving a lot of different brokers and also it's 15 00:01:09.390 --> 00:01:13.650 very broker mindset. So meaning that the conversations are 16 00:01:13.650 --> 00:01:17.310 regarding brokers and how to move forward in the industry. So 17 00:01:17.310 --> 00:01:20.010 it's going to be an exciting time today. And we also have 18 00:01:20.010 --> 00:01:22.560 different surprises coming up throughout the day. So it's 19 00:01:22.560 --> 00:01:25.590 definitely going to be exciting. And also, you're going to hear 20 00:01:25.590 --> 00:01:28.860 from different people that are here from across the country, 21 00:01:29.160 --> 00:01:33.000 talking to us regarding the event and also regarding their 22 00:01:33.000 --> 00:01:37.620 experience here. So we did kick off yesterday, the event with 23 00:01:37.650 --> 00:01:40.530 the pre show at The Malt House here in the Financial District. 24 00:01:40.620 --> 00:01:43.140 And that was an awesome event because people were able to have 25 00:01:43.140 --> 00:01:46.110 conversations and meet and network. So if you were not 26 00:01:46.110 --> 00:01:49.290 there yesterday, you definitely, we are going to be able to check 27 00:01:49.290 --> 00:01:53.370 out the different pictures and videos regarding that event. But 28 00:01:53.370 --> 00:01:56.580 for today, the event is going to start at around 910 with the 29 00:01:56.580 --> 00:01:59.790 welcome. And then we're going to kick off things with Oz Konar, 30 00:01:59.820 --> 00:02:02.220 he is going to be the first speaker. And throughout the day, 31 00:02:02.220 --> 00:02:04.890 like I said, we'll be having different conversations along 32 00:02:04.890 --> 00:02:08.880 with different networking events downstairs in this area. And 33 00:02:08.880 --> 00:02:11.640 we're also going to give you guys a clips, see give you guys 34 00:02:11.640 --> 00:02:15.120 clips of different things that are going to be going on, such 35 00:02:15.120 --> 00:02:17.700 as you know, the networking events, and also the different 36 00:02:17.700 --> 00:02:20.040 conversation. So let's talk a little bit about the 37 00:02:20.040 --> 00:02:22.890 conversations and topics that are going to be discussed today. 38 00:02:23.040 --> 00:02:26.100 That's going to range from things like New York law, but 39 00:02:26.100 --> 00:02:29.280 like exactly what that means in regards to the different laws 40 00:02:29.280 --> 00:02:34.440 that are going to be taking place later on next year. So 41 00:02:34.440 --> 00:02:36.150 that's going to be a conversation that's going to be 42 00:02:36.150 --> 00:02:39.390 very heavily focused on brokers, that's going to be happening 43 00:02:39.390 --> 00:02:41.910 today. And then the other big thing that's going to happen in 44 00:02:41.910 --> 00:02:45.900 about 30 to 40 minutes or so is a conversation regarding broker 45 00:02:45.900 --> 00:02:49.290 culture and what that means, what that means, especially in a 46 00:02:49.290 --> 00:02:53.040 time, like 2021. So these are all the conversations, you know, 47 00:02:53.040 --> 00:02:57.060 some of the conversations are gonna happen in regards to just 48 00:02:57.060 --> 00:03:01.320 the broker culture and the broker mindset that we have here 49 00:03:01.350 --> 00:03:04.890 today at Broker Fair 2021. And one of the other exciting things 50 00:03:04.890 --> 00:03:08.700 that I'm really excited to show you guys is the different 51 00:03:08.700 --> 00:03:10.560 speakers that are going to be here we have speakers from 52 00:03:10.560 --> 00:03:13.920 across the country that are here specifically for Broker Fair to 53 00:03:13.920 --> 00:03:17.820 share their advice and their topics regarding the broker 54 00:03:17.820 --> 00:03:22.800 culture and the you know, MCA space and the industry. So 55 00:03:22.800 --> 00:03:24.540 something that was really interesting is that I've had a 56 00:03:24.540 --> 00:03:26.640 lot of people approaching yesterday saying that they are 57 00:03:26.640 --> 00:03:29.700 excited to be here, because it's changed in the last two years. 58 00:03:29.700 --> 00:03:32.730 And this is the first time that they're here in person to be 59 00:03:32.730 --> 00:03:35.220 able to have a conversation with different people. And with 60 00:03:35.220 --> 00:03:37.710 different people in the industry, whether they're new, 61 00:03:37.740 --> 00:03:39.750 whether they're current business owners, or whether you've been 62 00:03:39.750 --> 00:03:43.500 in the business. For years, they're excited to be back here 63 00:03:43.500 --> 00:03:47.370 in this space. I did speak with people from coming from as far 64 00:03:47.370 --> 00:03:50.580 as Canada, all the way from California, and obviously here 65 00:03:50.580 --> 00:03:53.460 in New York City. So it's definitely very exciting. So 66 00:03:53.520 --> 00:03:56.370 like I said, we're going to walk you guys through the entire day, 67 00:03:56.430 --> 00:03:58.050 we're going to be talking to different people, we're going to 68 00:03:58.050 --> 00:04:01.380 be talking to different speakers that are going to be part of the 69 00:04:01.380 --> 00:04:04.980 panel. So we're also going to give you guys a little glimpse 70 00:04:05.190 --> 00:04:09.180 and little sneak peeks of the rooms of the conversations that 71 00:04:09.180 --> 00:04:12.300 are going to be happening in the different panels in the 72 00:04:12.300 --> 00:04:16.650 different rooms here across the convenient location where we are 73 00:04:16.650 --> 00:04:20.640 at. So of course, for more of that definitely tune in. And 74 00:04:20.670 --> 00:04:23.820 we're also going to have conversations with people about 75 00:04:23.820 --> 00:04:26.490 their experience here and what that looks like. So that's 76 00:04:26.490 --> 00:04:28.890 definitely something that we're excited to show you guys. And 77 00:04:29.370 --> 00:04:32.880 coming to the scene right now is the man the myth, the legend 78 00:04:32.880 --> 00:04:35.250 Sean Murray, Sean, why don't you pick up the mic? We'll have a 79 00:04:35.250 --> 00:04:39.030 quick conversation with you. So Sean, Broker Fair is finally 80 00:04:39.030 --> 00:04:41.190 here. It's exciting. Why don't you move a little bit forward? 81 00:04:41.790 --> 00:04:44.430 So Broker Fair is finally here. It's exciting. It's finally 82 00:04:44.430 --> 00:04:48.780 happening. So what's from the people that are here? The people 83 00:04:48.780 --> 00:04:51.720 that you spoke with yesterday? What exactly have they been 84 00:04:51.720 --> 00:04:55.710 saying like, how are they feeling? What's the vibe of the 85 00:04:55.710 --> 00:04:58.110 room and the events of ours for the people that are watching 86 00:04:58.110 --> 00:04:58.440 online? 87 00:04:58.440 --> 00:05:01.050 Sean Murray: Sure yeah. So I think a lot of people surprised 88 00:05:01.050 --> 00:05:03.960 that so many people are actually coming back together and doing 89 00:05:03.960 --> 00:05:06.750 it all in person. It's one thing to talk about it and say you're 90 00:05:06.750 --> 00:05:09.180 going to be back in person. It's another thing to see it all 91 00:05:09.180 --> 00:05:11.910 happen. Right and actually meet with the people. Yeah, right. 92 00:05:11.940 --> 00:05:15.510 There's a huge difference between online and virtual and 93 00:05:15.510 --> 00:05:18.390 zoom. Right. And I think people are not only are they shocked 94 00:05:18.390 --> 00:05:21.990 that so many people are here already and doing it again. But 95 00:05:22.110 --> 00:05:25.080 they're realizing how good it feels to be back in person. 96 00:05:25.290 --> 00:05:27.480 Shaking hands. Yeah. You know what I mean, like, the 97 00:05:27.480 --> 00:05:30.810 atmosphere right now is not is not, you know, elbow, elbow, 98 00:05:30.810 --> 00:05:33.390 elbow. Yeah. I've been shaking hands. It feels it feels like 99 00:05:33.390 --> 00:05:35.070 2019. Yeah. All over again. 100 00:05:35.100 --> 00:05:37.740 Johny Fernandez: So what's been the biggest conversation 101 00:05:37.740 --> 00:05:40.680 regarding what people are anticipating the most, for 102 00:05:40.680 --> 00:05:42.120 today? Specifically. 103 00:05:42.240 --> 00:05:44.730 Sean Murray: You know, actually, a lot of people are here to 104 00:05:44.730 --> 00:05:47.220 learn more than anything else. It's been such a long period of 105 00:05:47.220 --> 00:05:50.790 time that they're actually here to find out, you know, what they 106 00:05:50.790 --> 00:05:54.450 need to know for the future. People are excited about the 2pm 107 00:05:54.450 --> 00:05:57.420 training to get the certification. Some people are 108 00:05:57.420 --> 00:06:01.080 referring to the session, that's classes. Yeah. You know, they're 109 00:06:01.080 --> 00:06:04.860 eager to find out what they need to know, regulation wise, what 110 00:06:04.890 --> 00:06:07.800 they need to know, sales wise, marketing wise. And so that's 111 00:06:07.800 --> 00:06:09.240 what I'm hearing from everybody so far. 112 00:06:09.360 --> 00:06:10.800 Johny Fernandez: So let's talk a little bit about the 113 00:06:10.800 --> 00:06:13.080 certification. If people are here, and they're watching, or 114 00:06:13.080 --> 00:06:15.990 they're late, or whatever the case is, the certification is 115 00:06:15.990 --> 00:06:18.840 being offered here, just just for today, it's a free 116 00:06:18.840 --> 00:06:21.930 certification. What exactly is it? And how is it gonna benefit 117 00:06:21.930 --> 00:06:23.670 brokers? In the future? 118 00:06:23.700 --> 00:06:25.890 Sean Murray: Yeah, you know, the amazing thing is that it's 119 00:06:25.890 --> 00:06:28.680 normally not free. So if you're like, oh, it's some sort of free 120 00:06:28.680 --> 00:06:31.830 certification, it's only free for this particular event, you 121 00:06:31.830 --> 00:06:35.280 usually have to pay for it. It's like a few $100. So we're lucky 122 00:06:35.280 --> 00:06:38.490 to have it available to people for free today, like a one time 123 00:06:38.490 --> 00:06:40.410 only thing, who knows, maybe we'll have it again in the 124 00:06:40.410 --> 00:06:44.220 future. But now the organization just rolled it out. The SVFA. If 125 00:06:44.220 --> 00:06:47.280 anyone's not familiar with it, it is the Small Business Finance 126 00:06:47.280 --> 00:06:49.710 Association. It's the largest trade group of small business 127 00:06:49.710 --> 00:06:53.250 finance companies in the country. And this certification 128 00:06:53.250 --> 00:06:55.590 is not just for brokers, if you're an underwriter, if you're 129 00:06:55.620 --> 00:06:58.350 in you're an admin, if you're you know, in collections, 130 00:06:58.470 --> 00:06:59.760 doesn't matter who it is, you can be not, you know, 131 00:06:59.760 --> 00:07:02.940 underwriters sales, any level, of the entire organization 132 00:07:02.940 --> 00:07:05.520 within the small business finance industry, this 133 00:07:05.550 --> 00:07:09.090 certification would definitely help you. And again, it's 134 00:07:09.090 --> 00:07:12.120 normally not free. So if you're looking at it as like, oh it's a 135 00:07:12.120 --> 00:07:15.300 free certification. It's just complimentary to this particular 136 00:07:15.300 --> 00:07:17.640 event. That's something that we landed and helped to make happen 137 00:07:17.730 --> 00:07:19.380 for the people who came all this way to be here. 138 00:07:19.500 --> 00:07:22.650 Johny Fernandez: So let's talk a little bit about the the panels, 139 00:07:22.710 --> 00:07:26.490 specifically the New York law panel and that conversation. 140 00:07:26.520 --> 00:07:29.040 I've had people talk to me about they approached me yesterday, 141 00:07:29.220 --> 00:07:30.840 they're really excited about that, because they want to know 142 00:07:30.840 --> 00:07:33.210 a little bit more about, you know, how that's gonna affect 143 00:07:33.210 --> 00:07:36.300 them, what's really going to happen, just like the different 144 00:07:36.300 --> 00:07:39.600 regulations and license like just everything. Let's talk a 145 00:07:39.600 --> 00:07:41.760 little bit about that, because that's an important one. What 146 00:07:41.760 --> 00:07:45.390 can people expect when they go to that specific panel 147 00:07:45.390 --> 00:07:48.300 discussion? And who's going to be there? Let's talk a little 148 00:07:48.300 --> 00:07:48.810 bit about that. 149 00:07:48.840 --> 00:07:50.910 Sean Murray: Yeah. So we have two great attorneys during that 150 00:07:50.910 --> 00:07:53.040 session, normally, the legal panel, it's just for the 151 00:07:53.040 --> 00:07:55.260 executives, you know, the top level people to kind of figure 152 00:07:55.260 --> 00:07:57.720 out what's going on with any to know, are their contracts, 153 00:07:57.720 --> 00:08:01.080 collection practices, etc. Right now, we're at a point of like, 154 00:08:01.080 --> 00:08:04.980 it's an extra existential event in the industry. Yeah, a new law 155 00:08:04.980 --> 00:08:09.000 that was passed in, in New York. It's not a bill. It's not a 156 00:08:09.000 --> 00:08:12.480 proposal. It's the law. And I think we're going to find out 157 00:08:12.480 --> 00:08:15.270 today more than before, whether or not it will actually make 158 00:08:15.270 --> 00:08:18.720 sense to continue doing business at all, in the state of New 159 00:08:18.720 --> 00:08:21.180 York. Yeah, I've mentioned to you before, when we do deBanked, 160 00:08:21.390 --> 00:08:25.620 you know, TV, TV from the studio, that lawyers typically 161 00:08:25.620 --> 00:08:28.290 do not speak in absolutes. So I don't know, if they're gonna go 162 00:08:28.290 --> 00:08:31.350 up and tell us like, you can't do this. 100% Yeah, or whatever. 163 00:08:31.440 --> 00:08:35.340 But I think we're gonna find out more than before, what course of 164 00:08:35.340 --> 00:08:38.250 action we should be taking, you know, like a likelihood of what 165 00:08:38.250 --> 00:08:41.160 we should do. Yeah, based upon the the facts that are already 166 00:08:41.160 --> 00:08:41.460 known. 167 00:08:41.610 --> 00:08:43.770 Johny Fernandez: So let's talk a little bit about the other panel 168 00:08:43.770 --> 00:08:46.500 discussions. We have broker culture coming up. So what 169 00:08:46.500 --> 00:08:49.500 exactly when people had that to that one, that's gonna be about 170 00:08:49.500 --> 00:08:51.990 30 minutes. What can people expect regarding that? 171 00:08:52.200 --> 00:08:54.450 Sean Murray: Yeah, so that's a what's interesting about that, 172 00:08:54.450 --> 00:08:59.070 one is how to build like a sales office from scratch. We have top 173 00:08:59.070 --> 00:09:01.440 executives from some of the biggest broker shops in the 174 00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:05.130 country. And they tell us how culture plays a role. And 175 00:09:05.130 --> 00:09:07.740 starting up a business like that. It's one thing to just 176 00:09:07.740 --> 00:09:10.320 say, Hey, I have an office I have leads, you know, I hired 177 00:09:10.320 --> 00:09:12.990 some guy from Craigslist or whatever. That's not gonna make 178 00:09:12.990 --> 00:09:15.960 a successful company. There's a lot of different pieces that go 179 00:09:15.960 --> 00:09:19.500 into creating like a successful operation. Yeah, and we're gonna 180 00:09:19.500 --> 00:09:22.710 hear it from people who are known for their cultural aspect 181 00:09:22.710 --> 00:09:23.460 and success. 182 00:09:23.460 --> 00:09:26.040 Johny Fernandez: Yeah. So I mean, as you can see, like we 183 00:09:26.040 --> 00:09:28.320 were seeing people are starting to come up you know, they're 184 00:09:28.350 --> 00:09:31.470 people are waiting for the main you know, welcome big welcome. 185 00:09:31.680 --> 00:09:35.880 So what have people told you about just being here in person? 186 00:09:36.180 --> 00:09:38.700 What's been their reaction yesterday, we were at The Malt 187 00:09:38.700 --> 00:09:41.820 House for the pre show. What's been, you know, kind of their 188 00:09:41.820 --> 00:09:45.180 comments to you. After two years of not doing this of not being 189 00:09:45.180 --> 00:09:46.230 able to do this in person. 190 00:09:46.320 --> 00:09:48.330 Sean Murray: People are real excited last night went better 191 00:09:48.330 --> 00:09:51.300 than I even expected people were just had, they had a great time. 192 00:09:51.780 --> 00:09:53.940 The event was only for two hours, but I don't know if you 193 00:09:53.940 --> 00:09:56.640 were there late, but it spilled out into the sidewalk and it 194 00:09:56.640 --> 00:09:58.500 seemed like almost like the after party was outside of the 195 00:09:58.500 --> 00:10:00.780 streets of Manhattan. Yeah, people didn't want to leave. 196 00:10:00.870 --> 00:10:04.590 Right? Our event was only two hours. Yeah. I feel like outside 197 00:10:04.590 --> 00:10:07.170 of the venue, people were there for like another two hours. They 198 00:10:07.170 --> 00:10:10.350 were reluctant to, to go home. They wanted it to keep, you 199 00:10:10.350 --> 00:10:13.320 know, to continue going. We're fortunate that we have a whole 200 00:10:13.320 --> 00:10:17.400 day here to continue it. Yeah. Right. So people are excited. 201 00:10:17.430 --> 00:10:19.980 I'm happy. I'm excited. In fact, I gotta I gotta step off right 202 00:10:19.980 --> 00:10:22.230 now cause we're about to go do the opening session. But all 203 00:10:22.230 --> 00:10:23.820 right, Johnny. It's always great. 204 00:10:24.360 --> 00:10:26.250 Johny Fernandez: It's always great to be with you. I'm 205 00:10:26.250 --> 00:10:29.640 excited. The energy here, it's just amazing. Because you go 206 00:10:29.670 --> 00:10:31.800 here, we're just excited to be here. And they're, they're 207 00:10:31.800 --> 00:10:35.250 excited. Like everyone's smiling. It's like 2019 all over 208 00:10:35.250 --> 00:10:38.790 again. It is it is so All right. So go ahead, and we're gonna let 209 00:10:38.790 --> 00:10:43.890 you go. And we'll we'll see you later. All right, thank you. All 210 00:10:43.890 --> 00:10:47.850 right. All right. We'll see you later. All right, ladies, 211 00:10:47.850 --> 00:10:50.880 gentlemen, that was Sean Murray. So for opening sessions are 212 00:10:50.880 --> 00:10:53.340 about to start within the next couple of minutes. So we're 213 00:10:53.340 --> 00:10:55.860 going to step aside for a little bit, and we're gonna go check 214 00:10:55.860 --> 00:10:58.770 that out. But again, we're gonna be here throughout the morning 215 00:10:58.830 --> 00:11:01.860 and throughout the day, to give you guys a walkthrough of 216 00:11:01.860 --> 00:11:05.070 everything that's going on, from the different conversations to 217 00:11:05.160 --> 00:11:07.710 the different discussions that are happening inside the main 218 00:11:07.710 --> 00:11:10.110 room. So definitely tune in, we'll give you guys some 219 00:11:10.200 --> 00:11:12.570 exclusive video and some exclusive content. And then 220 00:11:12.570 --> 00:11:15.840 we're also going to speak to the different speakers that will be 221 00:11:16.290 --> 00:11:20.730 going to the stage and also talk to the different attendees, as 222 00:11:20.730 --> 00:11:23.400 they kind of walk through the entire day, and chat with them 223 00:11:23.400 --> 00:11:28.650 and give their perspective of Broker Fair 2021. So for right 224 00:11:28.650 --> 00:11:31.470 now, we're going to step aside we'll be back give or take in 225 00:11:31.470 --> 00:11:35.430 about probably 30 to 40 minutes, so make sure to tune in. But in 226 00:11:35.430 --> 00:11:37.020 the meantime, enjoy this video. 227 00:11:45.300 --> 00:11:47.730 Oz Konar: Well I think people notice that the old the jack of 228 00:11:47.730 --> 00:11:50.640 all trades mentality doesn't really work. You need to niche 229 00:11:50.640 --> 00:11:54.420 down on specific skill sets for you to claim your mountain. If 230 00:11:54.420 --> 00:11:56.610 you're trying to claim the biggest mountain that becomes a 231 00:11:56.610 --> 00:12:00.660 problem until 2020. That was okay, you can get by but now we 232 00:12:00.660 --> 00:12:03.780 know that if you want to survive and thrive, that's more 233 00:12:03.780 --> 00:12:06.540 important. Obviously, you need to define what it is that that's 234 00:12:06.540 --> 00:12:09.390 gonna make the biggest impact and the biggest ROI on your 235 00:12:09.390 --> 00:12:11.790 investment or your time and your money and resources. 236 00:12:11.820 --> 00:12:13.650 Johny Fernandez: Yeah, so for people out here that they're 237 00:12:13.650 --> 00:12:17.250 watching from home, right, what piece of advice you'd give them 238 00:12:17.400 --> 00:12:20.400 regarding this specific skill that they should be going at? 239 00:12:20.700 --> 00:12:22.650 Oz Konar: Well, I think they should definitely cling to a 240 00:12:22.680 --> 00:12:24.870 business loan brokerage industry, this industry has been 241 00:12:24.870 --> 00:12:28.200 booming for a long time. And, and the future is brighter 242 00:12:28.200 --> 00:12:30.600 because of what's happening with the traditional banks, right? 243 00:12:30.870 --> 00:12:33.300 The one thing that people need to focus on I know it's such a 244 00:12:33.330 --> 00:12:36.750 still a broad word is online marketing. So if you're not 245 00:12:36.750 --> 00:12:39.390 involved with online marketing, any type of online marketing and 246 00:12:39.390 --> 00:12:42.420 within online marketing, unless you're niching down into one of 247 00:12:42.420 --> 00:12:45.600 the categories, it could be YouTube ads, Facebook ads, and 248 00:12:45.600 --> 00:12:48.120 Tik Tok ads you're going to have great difficulty because the 249 00:12:48.120 --> 00:12:49.980 landscape is changing really fast. 250 00:12:50.130 --> 00:12:52.410 Johny Fernandez: So let's talk a little bit about that when when 251 00:12:52.410 --> 00:12:56.220 it comes to this, the landscape changing fast and people having 252 00:12:56.220 --> 00:12:59.790 to adjust pretty much right, you know, every six months or every 253 00:12:59.790 --> 00:13:02.490 year. What do you say to that and someone that's had that's 254 00:13:02.880 --> 00:13:05.130 that's struggling adjusting? 255 00:13:05.280 --> 00:13:07.980 Oz Konar: Yeah, I mean, every change is difficult, right? So 256 00:13:07.980 --> 00:13:10.260 that happens to everyone, whenever something changes so 257 00:13:10.260 --> 00:13:13.200 fast, people will struggle. That's the part of my talk, I 258 00:13:13.200 --> 00:13:17.640 want to show them how they can adjust because the the key is to 259 00:13:17.730 --> 00:13:21.240 learn the skill of learning a new skill. Otherwise, you jump 260 00:13:21.240 --> 00:13:23.760 from Tik Tok one day thinking that that's gonna be the big 261 00:13:23.760 --> 00:13:25.950 thing and it changes to something else, then you're 262 00:13:25.950 --> 00:13:29.850 like, wait, I wasted all this time on this very one tool. Now 263 00:13:29.850 --> 00:13:32.820 this changed. But if you can follow patterns, it makes your 264 00:13:32.820 --> 00:13:35.580 job a lot easier to survive and thrive as a business loan 265 00:13:35.580 --> 00:13:36.000 broker. 266 00:13:56.970 --> 00:13:59.040 Josh Feinberg: So that's, you know, in my opinion, as far as 267 00:13:59.040 --> 00:14:01.530 building culture, you got to ask the people around you because 268 00:14:01.530 --> 00:14:03.630 they're going to be able to tell you, for us at Everlasting 269 00:14:03.630 --> 00:14:07.620 Capital, you know, we've created a family, every single person at 270 00:14:07.620 --> 00:14:10.290 our office feels like we're family. But what happens in 271 00:14:10.290 --> 00:14:12.300 families, there's fights, there's arguments, there's 272 00:14:12.300 --> 00:14:16.230 laughter, right? But that's really the culture that we built 273 00:14:16.230 --> 00:14:19.200 is, you know, we're together more than we are with families, 274 00:14:19.350 --> 00:14:22.350 right. So being able to build a family culture and being able 275 00:14:22.350 --> 00:14:26.010 to, you know, reward people when they do really well, or train 276 00:14:26.010 --> 00:14:28.650 them when they're struggling, you know, as far as culture 277 00:14:28.650 --> 00:14:28.860 goes. 278 00:14:30.900 --> 00:14:33.390 Johny Fernandez: All right, so go ahead and tell me your 279 00:14:33.390 --> 00:14:33.840 company. 280 00:14:34.620 --> 00:14:36.720 Josh Feinberg: My company is Everlasting Capital. 281 00:14:36.810 --> 00:14:38.160 Johny Fernandez: And your name is? 282 00:14:38.490 --> 00:14:41.880 Josh Feinberg: Josh Feinberg. And I also am part of Equipment 283 00:14:41.880 --> 00:14:44.430 Broker School and EquipmentFinancingLeads.com 284 00:14:44.550 --> 00:14:48.060 Johny Fernandez: Alright, so you you just spoken on a panel, you 285 00:14:48.060 --> 00:14:51.210 know, regarding broker culture, kind of walk me through the big 286 00:14:51.210 --> 00:14:53.730 takeaway from that entire conversation that you guys had. 287 00:14:53.760 --> 00:14:57.240 Josh Feinberg: You know, I think the big topic that was held and 288 00:14:57.240 --> 00:15:00.030 a lot of the questions that we got even asked after the panel 289 00:15:00.120 --> 00:15:02.970 was talking about hiring. And you know, making sure that 290 00:15:02.970 --> 00:15:05.580 you're hiring the right people, but not only hiring the right 291 00:15:05.580 --> 00:15:08.820 people, but also getting rid of the people that are in your 292 00:15:08.820 --> 00:15:12.090 company that could be toxic to your culture. And I think that's 293 00:15:12.090 --> 00:15:16.050 one of the biggest topics in our industry, that really isn't 294 00:15:16.050 --> 00:15:19.800 talked about enough. Because building a company scaling a 295 00:15:19.800 --> 00:15:24.060 brokerage is difficult as is, but then when you actually add 296 00:15:24.060 --> 00:15:28.020 in, you know, bad eggs into the mix, and you have to think about 297 00:15:28.020 --> 00:15:30.660 culture. You know, I think it's really important to, you know, 298 00:15:30.690 --> 00:15:31.500 focus on that. 299 00:15:31.530 --> 00:15:34.920 Johny Fernandez: So go ahead and walk me through I mean, 2020 was 300 00:15:34.950 --> 00:15:37.590 an interesting year, cause now you have to kind of adjust to 301 00:15:37.590 --> 00:15:39.870 everyone's needs. Some people want to work from home, some 302 00:15:39.870 --> 00:15:41.880 people don't want to come to the office. Yeah. Kind of what's 303 00:15:41.880 --> 00:15:44.220 been the big takeaway from the people that were presenting at 304 00:15:44.520 --> 00:15:47.430 the broker culture panel? What was your takeaway regarding 305 00:15:47.430 --> 00:15:47.790 that? 306 00:15:49.080 --> 00:15:51.060 Josh Feinberg: I mean, the takeaway was to really, you 307 00:15:51.060 --> 00:15:54.420 know, build a fun culture. I mean, the takeaway is building a 308 00:15:54.420 --> 00:15:58.890 fun culture. You know, 2020 was a crazy year. And it's really 309 00:15:58.890 --> 00:16:02.970 hard to, you know, talk about culture. One of the questions 310 00:16:02.970 --> 00:16:05.640 actually, that you asked, as you brought that up, was, how do you 311 00:16:05.700 --> 00:16:09.570 deal with culture in a remote learning area? And there wasn't 312 00:16:09.570 --> 00:16:11.940 an answer from any of us, because we don't we don't work 313 00:16:11.940 --> 00:16:15.300 remote. And it's really kind of difficult to be able to build 314 00:16:15.300 --> 00:16:17.160 culture. I mean, I'm sure there's a way but we weren't 315 00:16:17.160 --> 00:16:18.090 able to answer that. 316 00:16:18.120 --> 00:16:20.670 Johny Fernandez: Yeah. So let's talk a little bit about the 317 00:16:20.670 --> 00:16:24.240 experience here so far. I mean, you were back here, we're back 318 00:16:24.240 --> 00:16:27.930 in person, everyone is happy to be kind of walk me through 319 00:16:27.930 --> 00:16:29.670 what's been the experience for you? 320 00:16:30.210 --> 00:16:31.950 Josh Feinberg: The experience here has been amazing, man. 321 00:16:32.250 --> 00:16:35.220 We're back in person, I look around. And it's just everyone's 322 00:16:35.220 --> 00:16:39.720 smiling, having fun. And last night, we had the pre reception 323 00:16:39.720 --> 00:16:42.000 show, and it was so good. I mean, it was so good. We're 324 00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:44.790 catching up with a bunch of people that I haven't seen in a 325 00:16:44.790 --> 00:16:49.140 long time, meeting a bunch of new faces and making really good 326 00:16:49.140 --> 00:16:51.840 business connections. I mean, that's really what it's about 327 00:16:51.960 --> 00:16:54.300 is, you know, connecting with old friends making new 328 00:16:54.300 --> 00:16:57.330 connections and, you know, building each other up, because 329 00:16:57.330 --> 00:16:59.610 I think that's the most important thing is building each 330 00:16:59.610 --> 00:17:02.400 other up, because we're not the biggest industry in the world. 331 00:17:03.000 --> 00:17:05.160 So we need to be there for each other and really help each other 332 00:17:05.160 --> 00:17:05.490 out. 333 00:17:05.609 --> 00:17:07.349 Johny Fernandez: So kind of walk me through, there's a lot of new 334 00:17:07.349 --> 00:17:10.709 people that are new to the industry. Yeah. So what's been 335 00:17:10.739 --> 00:17:13.529 like the conversation you've had with them, for the new people 336 00:17:13.529 --> 00:17:17.219 that have never been to a Broker Fair, or that have seen the 337 00:17:17.219 --> 00:17:20.819 industry through just being remote and being in quarantine? 338 00:17:21.329 --> 00:17:24.959 Josh Feinberg: Um, I think I've talked to a couple specific, 339 00:17:25.289 --> 00:17:28.079 yeah, a couple brand new brokers that are coming in, that are 340 00:17:28.079 --> 00:17:31.409 really, really struggling getting started. And, you know, 341 00:17:31.409 --> 00:17:34.109 I was really happy to be able to share some advice and learn what 342 00:17:34.109 --> 00:17:37.829 they're, you know, doing wrong, and really trying to help them 343 00:17:37.859 --> 00:17:40.949 grow. Because I've been in a lot of the new broker shoes, you 344 00:17:40.949 --> 00:17:43.649 know, I started from absolutely nothing in a basement with three 345 00:17:43.649 --> 00:17:47.519 grand, and, you know, built Everlasting and Equipment Broker 346 00:17:47.519 --> 00:17:50.249 School to what it is today. So I have the ability of being able 347 00:17:50.249 --> 00:17:54.179 to share my experience. And you know, who would I be if I wasn't 348 00:17:54.179 --> 00:17:56.489 able to share that experience with other people to help them 349 00:17:56.489 --> 00:17:58.439 get to the next level? You know, it wouldn't be fair. 350 00:17:58.560 --> 00:18:00.630 Johny Fernandez: Yeah. So what would you tell people that are 351 00:18:00.630 --> 00:18:03.810 watching this about being here in person, if they didn't get a 352 00:18:03.810 --> 00:18:04.560 chance to be here? 353 00:18:04.950 --> 00:18:08.850 Josh Feinberg: If you're not here, especially for an in 354 00:18:08.850 --> 00:18:13.080 person deBanked event, you have to come. There's so much to 355 00:18:13.110 --> 00:18:16.230 experience, it's so much fun. And there's so many great people 356 00:18:16.230 --> 00:18:18.630 that are willing to help you get to the next level, you have to 357 00:18:18.630 --> 00:18:22.350 come to them in person I mean the one in Miami. That was a 358 00:18:22.350 --> 00:18:26.280 great announcement. I mean, I am so excited to go to Miami, 359 00:18:26.490 --> 00:18:31.530 obviously, to hang out with you, obviously. But no, just going to 360 00:18:31.530 --> 00:18:34.350 Miami, man, it's gonna be a great time. And the turnout here 361 00:18:34.350 --> 00:18:37.200 is incredible. I mean, this is one of the biggest ones I've 362 00:18:37.200 --> 00:18:39.510 seen. And it's just amazing. 363 00:18:39.540 --> 00:18:41.880 Johny Fernandez: Yeah. So what's the panel that you're most 364 00:18:41.880 --> 00:18:45.360 looking forward to? You know, just regarding like, either 365 00:18:45.360 --> 00:18:47.760 learning or like taking away something? What what are you 366 00:18:47.760 --> 00:18:49.320 most looking forward to for today? 367 00:18:50.220 --> 00:18:52.920 Josh Feinberg: Um, I can't even think of what other panels I've 368 00:18:52.920 --> 00:18:56.010 been just talking with everyone. Okay. I can't it slipped my mind 369 00:18:56.010 --> 00:18:58.200 on what the other panels are today, but I'm going to be 370 00:18:58.200 --> 00:19:01.860 joining them. I would say, I like Jared Weitz a lot. He's a 371 00:19:01.860 --> 00:19:05.460 great guy. And I think he's speaking later on today. And I'm 372 00:19:05.460 --> 00:19:06.720 looking forward to hearing him speak. 373 00:19:06.810 --> 00:19:08.310 Johny Fernandez: Cool, alright, man. Well, thanks so much for 374 00:19:08.310 --> 00:19:10.770 your time. All right. Again, ladies and gentlemen, 375 00:19:10.920 --> 00:19:15.150 Everlasting Capital, Josh Feinberg. Alright, 376 00:19:15.210 --> 00:19:18.810 Josh Feinberg: And I do have the NFT of Sean. There you go. If 377 00:19:18.810 --> 00:19:21.330 any if anybody's looking for an NFT signed by Sean. 378 00:19:41.520 --> 00:19:44.310 John Celifarco: John Celifarco Managing Partner of Horizons 379 00:19:44.310 --> 00:19:44.880 Funding Group. 380 00:19:45.030 --> 00:19:47.430 James Celifarco: James Celifarco Horizon Funding Group. 381 00:19:47.700 --> 00:19:50.670 John Celifarco: My job is basically with a middleman. I 382 00:19:50.670 --> 00:19:53.970 have I find the customer find out what they want and then 383 00:19:53.970 --> 00:19:57.450 place them with a company that could give them what they need, 384 00:19:57.450 --> 00:20:00.900 whatever that product is. If it's an MCA, if it's equipment 385 00:20:00.900 --> 00:20:05.040 financing, if it's a commercial backed real estate transaction, 386 00:20:05.310 --> 00:20:08.850 the majority of our business is MCA is in cash advance for the 387 00:20:08.850 --> 00:20:11.910 three months, at the beginning of this year, January, February, 388 00:20:11.910 --> 00:20:15.240 March, were probably three of the strongest months we've ever 389 00:20:15.240 --> 00:20:18.540 had a lot of marketing, a lot of things that we were putting into 390 00:20:18.540 --> 00:20:22.080 place at the end of last year, really was coming into fruition 391 00:20:22.080 --> 00:20:26.310 and our business was doing excellent. And then COVID hit. 392 00:20:26.730 --> 00:20:29.940 And for lack of a better term was basically like a bomb going 393 00:20:29.940 --> 00:20:30.210 off. 394 00:20:30.240 --> 00:20:32.820 Johny Fernandez: The brothers say they had to act quickly, if 395 00:20:32.820 --> 00:20:34.080 they wanted to stay open. 396 00:20:34.560 --> 00:20:37.470 James Celifarco: It was really tough, we were down 60 or 70% at 397 00:20:37.470 --> 00:20:41.040 one point, we really had to readjust our thinking and 398 00:20:41.430 --> 00:20:46.200 readjust our business model, whether it be marketing, or, you 399 00:20:46.200 --> 00:20:48.720 know, just getting the clients to, you know, pick up the phone, 400 00:20:48.750 --> 00:20:51.240 and really just have a conversation with them, we had 401 00:20:51.240 --> 00:20:54.240 to adjust. And it's been tough, but we're better for it. 402 00:20:54.450 --> 00:20:56.970 John Celifarco: Especially since COVID, we've definitely expanded 403 00:20:56.970 --> 00:21:00.990 our products, offering a little more stuff just because with 404 00:21:00.990 --> 00:21:03.690 changing times, we needed to make sure that we were giving 405 00:21:03.690 --> 00:21:06.480 our customers every opportunity to work with us and not go work 406 00:21:06.480 --> 00:21:07.320 with somebody else. 407 00:21:07.350 --> 00:21:09.000 James Celifarco: We were getting different requests. It wasn't 408 00:21:09.000 --> 00:21:12.690 just for a quick financing package, whether somebody needs 409 00:21:12.690 --> 00:21:15.780 to refinance their home, or refinance their business 410 00:21:15.810 --> 00:21:19.200 property or get some equipment that they needed. It wasn't just 411 00:21:19.200 --> 00:21:22.740 the conversation of I need, you know, 20 or 30, or $50,000, just 412 00:21:22.740 --> 00:21:26.460 for example, quickly, there was you know, there was other needs, 413 00:21:26.460 --> 00:21:29.160 and we needed to find partners that could fulfill those needs 414 00:21:29.160 --> 00:21:29.580 quickly. 415 00:21:30.030 --> 00:21:32.520 Johny Fernandez: They say a key element to making sure their 416 00:21:32.520 --> 00:21:36.030 business stayed afloat, was incorporating new technology and 417 00:21:36.030 --> 00:21:40.020 ideas while maintaining old business relationships. How 418 00:21:40.020 --> 00:21:42.750 exactly has technology been implemented in Horizon, 419 00:21:42.750 --> 00:21:43.710 especially during this time? 420 00:21:45.090 --> 00:21:47.730 John Celifarco: Well, we're lucky we were able to find 421 00:21:47.760 --> 00:21:50.550 another company that we work with, that helped us a lot the 422 00:21:50.610 --> 00:21:53.910 name of the company was Babylon Solutions. And what they were 423 00:21:53.910 --> 00:21:58.350 able to do is set us up with a CRM, that not only helped us 424 00:21:58.350 --> 00:22:02.640 track our existing deals, but new deals, working with our 425 00:22:02.640 --> 00:22:06.900 partners, ways to get submissions from them, helped 426 00:22:06.900 --> 00:22:10.590 tremendously with our renewal business, having a decent sized 427 00:22:10.590 --> 00:22:13.320 book of business working with so many people, sometimes it's hard 428 00:22:13.320 --> 00:22:17.400 to keep track of when it's time to contact a client, again, to 429 00:22:17.400 --> 00:22:21.210 do new business or where they're at in their current deal. And 430 00:22:21.210 --> 00:22:24.810 with the right systems in place, by putting this in place, we're 431 00:22:24.810 --> 00:22:27.810 able to do more with less. 432 00:22:27.900 --> 00:22:29.550 James Celifarco: A lot of times you'll see in the cash advance 433 00:22:29.550 --> 00:22:32.400 industry people, you know, keep very to themselves. And, you 434 00:22:32.400 --> 00:22:36.450 know, won't talk about partners and marketing and, and funders, 435 00:22:36.450 --> 00:22:39.810 and we're the complete opposite. We are an open book, we want 436 00:22:39.810 --> 00:22:41.790 everybody to know everything that we're doing. And we think 437 00:22:41.790 --> 00:22:45.120 that, you know, having this open relationship with our partners 438 00:22:45.120 --> 00:22:48.660 it gains trust, but it also, you know, you see the problems that 439 00:22:48.660 --> 00:22:50.850 I'm trying to figure out, and we see the problems that our 440 00:22:50.850 --> 00:22:53.760 partners are trying to figure out openly, and we get to the 441 00:22:53.760 --> 00:22:54.630 bottom of it quickly. 442 00:22:54.690 --> 00:22:56.340 Johny Fernandez: Is there opportunity in real estate? 443 00:22:56.490 --> 00:22:59.580 James Celifarco: Yeah, so brokers really can't leave money 444 00:22:59.580 --> 00:23:02.340 on the table at this point. You know, if they have a client that 445 00:23:02.340 --> 00:23:04.920 is looking for a real estate backed transaction, they should 446 00:23:04.920 --> 00:23:07.860 be able to, you know, place that transaction, there is money in 447 00:23:07.860 --> 00:23:12.540 it, you know, the, the deal takes longer to get done, the 448 00:23:12.540 --> 00:23:16.230 paperwork is longer. But there is absolutely a great 449 00:23:16.230 --> 00:23:19.380 opportunity, you put these deals in the hopper, so to speak. And 450 00:23:19.380 --> 00:23:21.300 then three, four months later, you're not going to make the 10% 451 00:23:21.630 --> 00:23:24.780 that you used to or the, you know, 8% on an MCA, you make a 452 00:23:24.780 --> 00:23:26.610 couple of points, you know, you're working with multiple 453 00:23:26.610 --> 00:23:29.490 people. But these deals, you know, you put them in the 454 00:23:29.490 --> 00:23:31.740 hopper, like we say, and, you know, three, four months later, 455 00:23:31.740 --> 00:23:32.280 they come around. 456 00:23:32.430 --> 00:23:34.170 Johny Fernandez: Talk to me about the future of the company 457 00:23:34.590 --> 00:23:35.730 in the next couple of months. 458 00:23:35.790 --> 00:23:37.980 James Celifarco: It's really John and I hitting the phones, 459 00:23:38.010 --> 00:23:41.040 we are on the front lines, and we are the ones calling the 460 00:23:41.040 --> 00:23:44.130 merchant introducing ourselves doing the introductory call and 461 00:23:44.160 --> 00:23:46.530 you know, holding their hand from the first funding but 462 00:23:46.620 --> 00:23:49.830 anybody can get paperwork in it's about keeping a client 463 00:23:49.830 --> 00:23:52.440 after the first funding and and being able to sell them 464 00:23:52.440 --> 00:23:55.590 different products. So yeah, you might be able to sell them one, 465 00:23:55.620 --> 00:23:59.850 you know, one MCA, but can you manage that relationship for you 466 00:23:59.850 --> 00:24:02.370 know, I have clients for one client I had for the last 12 467 00:24:02.400 --> 00:24:06.390 years. I have clients for the last 10 years. And it's about 468 00:24:06.420 --> 00:24:09.150 you know, sending that person a Christmas card and, you know, 469 00:24:09.150 --> 00:24:12.510 really forming relationship with that client and your partners, 470 00:24:12.540 --> 00:24:13.530 not just your clients. 471 00:24:14.070 --> 00:24:16.380 Johny Fernandez: Johnny Fernandez deBanked News 472 00:24:23.880 --> 00:24:25.830 John Celifarco: Alright, you guys, welcome back. So I'm here 473 00:24:25.830 --> 00:24:29.100 with John Celifarco from Horizon Funding Group. How's it going? 474 00:24:29.100 --> 00:24:30.060 Johny Fernandez: Good. How are you? 475 00:24:30.090 --> 00:24:32.100 John Celifarco: I am good and very happy to be back at Broker 476 00:24:32.100 --> 00:24:35.100 Fair, finally, it's been a well it's been a minute. 477 00:24:35.640 --> 00:24:37.920 Johny Fernandez: So let's talk about your expectations. I mean, 478 00:24:37.950 --> 00:24:41.100 everyone's back here. Things feel like they're back. It's 479 00:24:41.100 --> 00:24:44.580 2019 all over again. Walk me through what your expectations 480 00:24:44.580 --> 00:24:45.270 are for today. 481 00:24:45.360 --> 00:24:47.340 John Celifarco: Just reconnecting with people. It's 482 00:24:47.340 --> 00:24:50.280 been so long since you've been able to see people in person. 483 00:24:50.310 --> 00:24:53.880 Yeah. You try to get a feel for where all the companies are at 484 00:24:53.880 --> 00:24:56.370 how they've moved through COVID and what the future holds. 485 00:24:56.400 --> 00:24:58.350 Johny Fernandez: So let's talk about Horizon. Where are you 486 00:24:58.350 --> 00:25:01.890 guys at how's business going? Let's talk about like all the 487 00:25:01.890 --> 00:25:05.250 new implications you put in when we last spoke, what's the 488 00:25:05.250 --> 00:25:05.670 update? 489 00:25:06.180 --> 00:25:10.260 John Celifarco: What is up? Thank God, all of the things 490 00:25:10.260 --> 00:25:13.440 that we put in place to help us get through COVID. Most of them 491 00:25:13.650 --> 00:25:18.480 have worked out, they've panned out deals are funding. And 492 00:25:18.510 --> 00:25:21.300 things are looking good, the future's bright. I mean, it was 493 00:25:21.450 --> 00:25:25.290 a tough go there for a little while. But all in all, we ended 494 00:25:25.290 --> 00:25:28.560 up I think better for it. We found out we could do some 495 00:25:28.560 --> 00:25:32.400 things we didn't know we could do. We trimmed some fat in 496 00:25:32.400 --> 00:25:36.270 places where we weren't being as profitable. And all in all, 497 00:25:36.270 --> 00:25:38.520 we've come out of COVID a better company. 498 00:25:38.790 --> 00:25:40.470 Johny Fernandez: So let's talk about today. There's different 499 00:25:40.470 --> 00:25:43.620 panels going on. There's a broker culture panel going on. 500 00:25:43.710 --> 00:25:45.930 There's discussions about New York law, there's just a whole 501 00:25:45.930 --> 00:25:49.080 bunch of different topics, what are you looking forward to the 502 00:25:49.080 --> 00:25:49.440 most? 503 00:25:49.470 --> 00:25:52.710 John Celifarco: I gotta say, the law, one I'm very interested 504 00:25:52.710 --> 00:25:56.250 with the, with the new law coming out in New York, that can 505 00:25:56.250 --> 00:26:01.200 really affect us and everybody in general. And then also the 506 00:26:01.200 --> 00:26:04.380 great debate. That's always a great time seeing some of the 507 00:26:04.380 --> 00:26:08.250 leaders of the industry talk and sort of go back and forth on 508 00:26:08.280 --> 00:26:09.360 where the future holds. 509 00:26:09.420 --> 00:26:10.950 Johny Fernandez: Awesome. All right. Well, thanks so much 510 00:26:10.950 --> 00:26:13.230 John Celifarco: My absolute pleasure, sir. Always great to 511 00:26:13.230 --> 00:26:13.410 seeing you. 512 00:26:13.440 --> 00:26:15.570 Johny Fernandez: Likewise, all right, you guys. That's it for 513 00:26:15.570 --> 00:26:19.380 us while we take a quick break and tune in in a little while. 514 00:26:20.970 --> 00:26:21.630 John Celifarco: Thank you, sir. 515 00:26:21.630 --> 00:26:22.050 Johny Fernandez: Thank you. 516 00:26:24.600 --> 00:26:26.880 Most of the day that we're gonna be talking to different people. 517 00:26:27.600 --> 00:26:30.210 You know, from the industry, we have Matthew right here, 518 00:26:30.210 --> 00:26:31.260 Matthew, how's it going, man? 519 00:26:32.040 --> 00:26:34.020 Matthew Feit: How you doing sir? Good. I'm Matthew Feit High 520 00:26:34.020 --> 00:26:34.980 Power Capital. 521 00:26:35.160 --> 00:26:36.060 Johny Fernandez: All right, Matthew. 522 00:26:36.090 --> 00:26:37.200 Matthew Feit: Really happy to be here. 523 00:26:37.230 --> 00:26:39.180 Johny Fernandez: Thank you so much for being with us. So go 524 00:26:39.180 --> 00:26:42.030 ahead and walk us through what's the takeaway so far, I mean, 525 00:26:42.060 --> 00:26:44.850 it's, it's still early in the morning, there's a lot of people 526 00:26:44.850 --> 00:26:45.990 here, walk me through. 527 00:26:46.020 --> 00:26:48.420 Matthew Feit: It's it's overwhelming, a little bit. 528 00:26:48.450 --> 00:26:51.900 There's a lot going on. But there's a lot of energy in this 529 00:26:51.900 --> 00:26:55.050 room, and you could just feel it, you know, and business is 530 00:26:55.050 --> 00:26:58.020 happening. We're we're here in the belly of the beast. You 531 00:26:58.020 --> 00:27:01.650 know, we came from we're we're, from central New Jersey, we're 532 00:27:01.680 --> 00:27:04.590 we're on the Jersey Shore. And we came all the way out here 533 00:27:04.590 --> 00:27:07.020 just to be here. And it means a lot to myself and my team that's 534 00:27:07.020 --> 00:27:07.650 here as well. 535 00:27:07.770 --> 00:27:09.600 Johny Fernandez: So Matthew, what is the one panel you're 536 00:27:09.600 --> 00:27:11.010 looking forward to the most? 537 00:27:11.280 --> 00:27:13.830 Matthew Feit: I don't know. You know what, I'm just so open 538 00:27:13.830 --> 00:27:17.250 minded right now, I haven't put too much focus on one specific 539 00:27:17.250 --> 00:27:21.420 thing. But uh, I always love the debate. The debate is very cool. 540 00:27:21.450 --> 00:27:26.850 Back in 2019, at the Roosevelt Hotel, that debate was so it was 541 00:27:26.850 --> 00:27:29.820 just groundbreaking. You know, it was like, so the minds were 542 00:27:29.820 --> 00:27:32.040 in the building. And it was awesome. 543 00:27:32.070 --> 00:27:34.290 Johny Fernandez: So for the industry, I mean, in the last 544 00:27:34.290 --> 00:27:37.380 years, it's changed drastically, the world's changed. So coming 545 00:27:37.380 --> 00:27:39.660 back to something like this, what have you noticed what's 546 00:27:39.660 --> 00:27:42.120 been your big takeaway in regards to just talking to 547 00:27:42.120 --> 00:27:44.340 different people in the industry, what's been your 548 00:27:44.340 --> 00:27:44.850 takeaway? 549 00:27:44.910 --> 00:27:49.260 Matthew Feit: Things are back to about 90% normal numbers are 550 00:27:49.260 --> 00:27:53.340 leveling off a lot. And the good thing is that business is 551 00:27:53.340 --> 00:27:56.910 happening again, you know, a lot of the fear is starting to 552 00:27:56.970 --> 00:28:00.450 subside. Thankfully, for us, because you can't keep small 553 00:28:00.450 --> 00:28:04.200 business down. You can't keep America down. And the backbone 554 00:28:04.200 --> 00:28:07.800 of this is small business. So things are just getting back to 555 00:28:07.800 --> 00:28:09.030 normal in a great way you know. 556 00:28:09.030 --> 00:28:10.980 Johny Fernandez: So there's a lot of new people here that have 557 00:28:10.980 --> 00:28:14.130 never been to Broker Fair that they've never, you know, ever, 558 00:28:14.130 --> 00:28:16.830 like really been inside the industry in person. They've been 559 00:28:16.830 --> 00:28:19.860 doing it online. Yeah. So have you met a couple of those guys? 560 00:28:19.860 --> 00:28:20.850 And what have they told you? 561 00:28:21.000 --> 00:28:22.800 Matthew Feit: You know what, I just kind of got here a couple 562 00:28:22.800 --> 00:28:25.770 minutes ago, I haven't met, there's just so many new people. 563 00:28:25.860 --> 00:28:29.100 And it's a good thing. You know, it's tough when the market is 564 00:28:29.100 --> 00:28:32.700 extremely saturated, but it's okay, because as companies 565 00:28:32.700 --> 00:28:35.940 leave, they come and, you know, everything is just working in a 566 00:28:35.940 --> 00:28:38.640 way where it's just moving forward again, and we were at a 567 00:28:38.640 --> 00:28:42.300 standstill for a while and now that we're moving forward, we 568 00:28:42.300 --> 00:28:44.490 have a lot to look forward to, we have a lot to be excited 569 00:28:44.490 --> 00:28:45.960 about in 2022. 570 00:28:46.170 --> 00:28:48.420 Johny Fernandez: So let's kind of walk me through your goals. I 571 00:28:48.420 --> 00:28:51.690 mean, 2021's wrapping up, what's 2022 gonna look like? 572 00:28:51.810 --> 00:28:54.660 Matthew Feit: We want to get back at a just elevated numbers, 573 00:28:54.660 --> 00:28:58.710 get our numbers back to we're doing you know, from my shop, if 574 00:28:58.710 --> 00:29:02.970 we're doing 25, 30 deals a month, I have a smaller shop, we 575 00:29:02.970 --> 00:29:06.300 originate every single deal. So when we originate deals, it's 576 00:29:06.300 --> 00:29:10.200 not as it's not as easy as I had, you know, 15 or 20 guys in 577 00:29:10.200 --> 00:29:12.990 the room. It's just me and a small team. So we want to get 578 00:29:12.990 --> 00:29:17.370 our numbers back to where they were before COVID like 2019 and 579 00:29:17.430 --> 00:29:21.150 but better. Yeah. Just just bigger, just more more of a 580 00:29:21.150 --> 00:29:23.850 solid foundation now of going through all this stuff. 581 00:29:23.880 --> 00:29:26.130 Johny Fernandez: Yeah. So kind of walk me through I mean, 582 00:29:26.130 --> 00:29:27.840 what's your expectation for today? 583 00:29:28.200 --> 00:29:31.590 Matthew Feit: Today I just want to learn, absorb you know, 584 00:29:31.590 --> 00:29:35.130 network, meet with some new lenders have fun a lot of my 585 00:29:35.130 --> 00:29:37.710 friends are here. These aren't just people I do business with a 586 00:29:37.710 --> 00:29:41.100 lot of these people are friends. You know, I love deBanked I love 587 00:29:41.100 --> 00:29:44.490 the the media outlet, the process, I'm on the website 588 00:29:44.490 --> 00:29:47.970 every single day. So I just want to just absorb everything and 589 00:29:47.970 --> 00:29:48.690 just enjoy it. 590 00:29:49.170 --> 00:29:51.270 Johny Fernandez: And as someone from a smaller business, I mean 591 00:29:51.270 --> 00:29:53.940 what do you want to see more of when it comes to the media 592 00:29:53.940 --> 00:29:54.750 aspect of deBanked? 593 00:29:55.230 --> 00:29:58.140 Matthew Feit: I want I want coverage. I don't want there to 594 00:29:58.140 --> 00:30:02.100 be a stigma because I think A lot of people forget that we 595 00:30:02.100 --> 00:30:05.790 lend money to high risk businesses. So our rates aren't 596 00:30:05.790 --> 00:30:10.230 bank rates were alternative. But we give people a chance, and I 597 00:30:10.230 --> 00:30:12.150 think people should give us a chance too. 598 00:30:12.690 --> 00:30:16.260 Johny Fernandez: So let's talk a little bit about people watching 599 00:30:16.260 --> 00:30:18.750 that are new to the industry. You know, you've been doing it 600 00:30:18.750 --> 00:30:21.150 for a little bit, but people that are brand new what advice 601 00:30:21.150 --> 00:30:22.380 would you have to them if they're watching right now? 602 00:30:22.380 --> 00:30:25.650 Matthew Feit: I would say, Look, just put your head down, focus, 603 00:30:25.770 --> 00:30:29.880 focus on your client. Don't worry about the deal by deal, 604 00:30:29.910 --> 00:30:34.050 focus on the prospect. Start there, build your client base, 605 00:30:34.110 --> 00:30:39.840 and just treat them right. Just have good business practices, 606 00:30:39.870 --> 00:30:43.380 you know, work honestly. And the results will come. But if you 607 00:30:43.380 --> 00:30:46.680 focus on the sale and not the prospect, you're not going to be 608 00:30:46.680 --> 00:30:47.280 as successful. 609 00:30:47.460 --> 00:30:50.430 Johny Fernandez: Yeah. And then overall, I mean, did you going 610 00:30:50.430 --> 00:30:53.190 into the pre show coming here? People are here, everyone's 611 00:30:53.190 --> 00:30:56.430 excited. Yes. How would describe the energy that you that you 612 00:30:56.430 --> 00:30:56.970 feel here? 613 00:30:57.000 --> 00:31:00.000 Matthew Feit: It's just it's almost like nerve wracking a 614 00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:03.210 little bit, but it's just so great to see everyone out and 615 00:31:03.210 --> 00:31:07.200 about and just together, because although everyone's scattered 616 00:31:07.200 --> 00:31:10.500 all over the place, we're still here right now. And right now is 617 00:31:10.500 --> 00:31:14.160 all that matters, that we're in a phase of growing again, and 618 00:31:14.160 --> 00:31:17.430 it's just a really awesome thing that the turnout is great this 619 00:31:17.430 --> 00:31:20.100 year. I can't wait for it to continue going. 620 00:31:20.130 --> 00:31:22.020 Johnny Fernandez: Yeah. Awesome. Well, Matthew, thank you so much 621 00:31:22.200 --> 00:31:23.880 appreciate your time and enjoy the event. 622 00:31:23.880 --> 00:31:24.180 Matthew Feit: Thank you. 623 00:31:24.510 --> 00:31:26.550 Johny Fernandez: I mean, where you're from, and where's your 624 00:31:26.550 --> 00:31:28.470 business based? What's the name of your business? 625 00:31:28.500 --> 00:31:30.540 Lorenzo Bowman: Okay, I'm actually my name's Lorenzo 626 00:31:30.540 --> 00:31:33.990 Bowman, I happen to be a relationship manager here at 627 00:31:34.500 --> 00:31:37.410 Credibly. And we are a direct lender. 628 00:31:37.530 --> 00:31:39.360 Johny Fernandez: Alright, so kind of walk me through what's 629 00:31:39.360 --> 00:31:40.740 been your experience here so far? 630 00:31:40.920 --> 00:31:43.620 Lorenzo Bowman: So far? It's been rather good. I mean, this 631 00:31:43.620 --> 00:31:47.790 is my first official one going, going to a deBanked one. I'm 632 00:31:47.790 --> 00:31:53.610 currently I'm getting deal subscriptions, you know, as a 633 00:31:53.610 --> 00:31:56.040 broker, as a lender, you want me to hold this up a little 634 00:31:56.040 --> 00:31:56.250 higher? 635 00:31:56.340 --> 00:31:56.940 Johny Fernandez: A little bit Yeah. 636 00:31:56.940 --> 00:32:01.710 Lorenzo Bowman: Okay, great. Okay. Yeah. This is new, first 637 00:32:01.710 --> 00:32:08.100 time actually, I've done small business lending seminars at the 638 00:32:08.100 --> 00:32:12.060 Javits Center. Okay. But as coming here, as a broker, or as 639 00:32:12.060 --> 00:32:15.510 a lender, this is my first time and the experience has been very 640 00:32:15.510 --> 00:32:19.260 nice. It's nice to actually talking to a lot of the people 641 00:32:19.470 --> 00:32:24.120 that you never get to see on the phone. You know, and I think 642 00:32:24.120 --> 00:32:26.370 this is a great thing for our industry overall. Because a lot 643 00:32:26.370 --> 00:32:29.370 of time, we rarely get to see each other, given the pandemic 644 00:32:29.370 --> 00:32:32.100 and what's going on, people just aren't moving around like they 645 00:32:32.100 --> 00:32:34.560 used to. So this has been good for the industry I believe. 646 00:32:34.560 --> 00:32:36.090 Johny Fernandez: So kind of walk me through, I mean, there's 647 00:32:36.090 --> 00:32:38.130 different panels that are going to be going on different 648 00:32:38.130 --> 00:32:40.710 conversations that are going to be going on today. What are you 649 00:32:40.710 --> 00:32:41.970 looking forward to the most? 650 00:32:42.000 --> 00:32:44.760 Lorenzo Bowman: Really, since it's my first time, I'm going to 651 00:32:44.760 --> 00:32:48.900 be like a sponge, I'm gonna try to get to see as many experts 652 00:32:49.050 --> 00:32:52.320 speak about their our industry, what they anticipate what's 653 00:32:52.320 --> 00:32:55.380 going to happen, given the pandemic, and especially with 654 00:32:55.380 --> 00:33:00.030 this new variant that's coming on. How do they see brokers and 655 00:33:00.030 --> 00:33:03.840 funders, how that's gonna impact the industry overall. So really, 656 00:33:04.260 --> 00:33:08.970 I'm just here just to open up, find out what's coming down the 657 00:33:08.970 --> 00:33:11.220 road, as far as from the experts. 658 00:33:11.250 --> 00:33:13.200 Johny Fernandez: So kind of walk me through, you're someone that 659 00:33:13.200 --> 00:33:15.690 you're in relationship management, what's been the 660 00:33:15.690 --> 00:33:18.570 biggest change that you've seen the last year and a half? And 661 00:33:18.570 --> 00:33:21.540 then seeing a year ahead, do you think it's going to continue? Do 662 00:33:21.540 --> 00:33:23.550 you think it's going to change kind of walk me through your 663 00:33:23.550 --> 00:33:24.270 experience? 664 00:33:24.270 --> 00:33:27.870 Lorenzo Bowman: Okay, well, from my perspective, what I'm hearing 665 00:33:27.870 --> 00:33:32.040 from my sofa is, things have slowed down during the pandemic, 666 00:33:32.190 --> 00:33:35.280 the biggest reason why business owners can't do the things that 667 00:33:35.280 --> 00:33:38.580 they used to do, which is forecast, you can't forecast, 668 00:33:38.880 --> 00:33:41.880 therefore, you can't determine how much money you need. So 669 00:33:41.880 --> 00:33:45.480 therefore, brokers have to work a little harder, and find that 670 00:33:45.480 --> 00:33:50.670 business that hasn't been really that severely impacted by the 671 00:33:50.700 --> 00:33:54.990 pandemic. Because as we all know, our product is simply 672 00:33:54.990 --> 00:33:58.770 based on cost of capital versus the return on the investment. 673 00:33:59.100 --> 00:34:02.010 And for a lot of people, it was kind of difficult, because the 674 00:34:02.010 --> 00:34:04.950 government was given the money. So business owners were like, 675 00:34:04.950 --> 00:34:07.920 wait, we don't need any real capital, you can just get the 676 00:34:07.920 --> 00:34:11.520 government money, but not really understanding that's going to 677 00:34:11.520 --> 00:34:16.440 run out. So we have to somehow introduce them to how to use our 678 00:34:16.440 --> 00:34:20.880 product all over again, and the impact it's had on their bank 679 00:34:20.880 --> 00:34:24.240 statements as well, and what needs to be done moving forward. 680 00:34:24.330 --> 00:34:28.020 So my job pretty much was to really just find out where 681 00:34:28.020 --> 00:34:31.620 they're at. Yeah, letting them know if in fact, they need me to 682 00:34:31.620 --> 00:34:36.570 assist with working with their business owners. As the as the 683 00:34:36.570 --> 00:34:39.510 direct lender, making their customers feel a lot more 684 00:34:39.510 --> 00:34:42.960 comfortable knowing the fact that we are the source that's 685 00:34:42.960 --> 00:34:45.630 working with your contact to get you the capital that you need. 686 00:34:45.630 --> 00:34:48.240 Johny Fernandez: So let's talk a little about about you and where 687 00:34:48.240 --> 00:34:51.540 your business is at for 2022 what is the goal? What are you 688 00:34:51.540 --> 00:34:52.290 guys trying to accomplish? 689 00:34:52.679 --> 00:34:54.779 Lorenzo Bowman: Well me as an individual. What I'm trying to 690 00:34:54.779 --> 00:35:00.269 do is make sure that my brokers understand it's not about just 691 00:35:00.269 --> 00:35:04.319 submitting deals to us it's about submitting deals that are 692 00:35:04.319 --> 00:35:08.039 fundable. That's number one. Number two, understanding the 693 00:35:08.039 --> 00:35:13.319 product to where their business owners can actually benefit from 694 00:35:13.319 --> 00:35:16.949 our product, not only from their perspective, but from our 695 00:35:16.949 --> 00:35:21.329 perspective as well, because we are tier one vendor, A, B paper. 696 00:35:21.659 --> 00:35:26.699 And so my goal was to make sure the more conversions that we 697 00:35:26.699 --> 00:35:31.949 have for our business, as far as the ISOs, the more money they 698 00:35:31.949 --> 00:35:36.599 make. And so my goal is to really train, and provide some 699 00:35:36.599 --> 00:35:41.429 insight, along with letting them know that we're here for them 700 00:35:41.459 --> 00:35:46.079 for whatever they need us to do to help them convert more deals. 701 00:35:46.109 --> 00:35:48.029 That's the main goal. That's the main goal. 702 00:35:48.060 --> 00:35:51.030 Johny Fernandez: So being here today, I mean, there everyone's 703 00:35:51.030 --> 00:35:53.250 here, there's a different there's a lot of discussions, 704 00:35:53.400 --> 00:35:56.010 there's a lot of panels, what do you expect out of the end of the 705 00:35:56.010 --> 00:35:56.340 day? 706 00:35:58.470 --> 00:36:00.270 Lorenzo Bowman: a whole new experience it's a learning 707 00:36:00.270 --> 00:36:04.260 experience. Because you guys have brought people on board to 708 00:36:04.260 --> 00:36:08.430 really provide some insight into their perspective of what they 709 00:36:08.460 --> 00:36:12.630 anticipate. And this is going to be so for us, or for me, 710 00:36:12.660 --> 00:36:16.410 particularly being new to this right here. I'm really looking 711 00:36:16.410 --> 00:36:18.120 forward to it. I really am. 712 00:36:18.870 --> 00:36:21.210 And what do you what would you say to people watching this that 713 00:36:21.210 --> 00:36:23.490 are not here today, in person? 714 00:36:23.850 --> 00:36:25.980 You're missing out on a great opportunity to meet a whole 715 00:36:25.980 --> 00:36:28.710 bunch of good people. And have a good time. 716 00:36:30.090 --> 00:36:31.890 Johny Fernandez: Thank you so much appreciate it Lorenzo. 717 00:36:49.260 --> 00:36:52.710 Sonia Alvelo: Guests that we actually spoke with, they are in 718 00:36:52.710 --> 00:36:56.670 everybody's mind right now. You know, and Sean, I love Shawn and 719 00:36:56.670 --> 00:37:00.450 the opportunity with deBanked. Being here and talking about 720 00:37:00.480 --> 00:37:04.620 everything that is going on right now is just is fresh air, 721 00:37:04.620 --> 00:37:08.490 you know? Well, we talked a little bit about everything we 722 00:37:08.490 --> 00:37:15.810 talked about the process about, you know, with the PPP loans and 723 00:37:15.810 --> 00:37:19.860 how that it was, it will change in the industry actually. 724 00:37:21.660 --> 00:37:25.470 Closing costs, I mean, it was James actually was really detail 725 00:37:25.470 --> 00:37:28.740 on the questions. And I think that we went a little bit over a 726 00:37:28.740 --> 00:37:32.610 little bit everything that we had in mind. So it helped me 727 00:37:32.730 --> 00:37:36.630 say, you know, say a lot of things about, about the funding 728 00:37:36.630 --> 00:37:38.700 industry, especially for the Latino community. 729 00:37:39.210 --> 00:37:42.180 Speaker 1: So why are these topics important right now for 730 00:37:42.780 --> 00:37:45.750 people in the industry, and people trying to get clients and 731 00:37:45.750 --> 00:37:47.580 people trying to build up a business why are these topics? 732 00:37:47.580 --> 00:37:50.100 Sonia Alvelo: One relationships, you know, obviously, you know, 733 00:37:50.100 --> 00:37:53.460 you come over here and you talk to everybody and you get to know 734 00:37:53.490 --> 00:37:57.450 whether, the lenders, the ISOs the new ideas, you know, what 735 00:37:57.450 --> 00:38:01.440 they're what are they doing what they have to offer, so it's a 736 00:38:01.470 --> 00:38:04.650 huge opportunity for everybody who comes over here, regardless 737 00:38:04.680 --> 00:38:06.630 if they are in the panel or not? 738 00:38:07.290 --> 00:38:09.420 Speaker 1: What are you getting out of this event this Broker 739 00:38:09.420 --> 00:38:09.510 Fair? 740 00:38:09.900 --> 00:38:13.980 Sonia Alvelo: Um, you know, what other people's they will see it 741 00:38:13.980 --> 00:38:18.480 as a exposure, but connections, it just, it's all about 742 00:38:18.480 --> 00:38:23.070 connections, it's all about that lender or that ISO of that if 743 00:38:23.070 --> 00:38:27.540 they have any, any deals that they you know, for me 744 00:38:27.600 --> 00:38:30.480 specifically it's for the Latino community or Latino Spanish 745 00:38:30.690 --> 00:38:33.540 community if they have anything that I can actually help them 746 00:38:33.540 --> 00:38:35.460 with, and, and connection. 747 00:38:35.880 --> 00:38:37.200 Speaker 1: Why are connections so importnat? 748 00:38:37.200 --> 00:38:39.600 Sonia Alvelo: It's super important in this industry. It 749 00:38:39.600 --> 00:38:43.260 just, you know, having that lender and you know, not deal 750 00:38:43.260 --> 00:38:45.690 with them over the phone, you know, come come and shake their 751 00:38:45.690 --> 00:38:49.140 hands and just talk to them and let them know your worries or 752 00:38:49.140 --> 00:38:54.000 what can they you know, if they can actually do something better 753 00:38:54.780 --> 00:38:59.490 to make possible those deals come through others or those 754 00:38:59.490 --> 00:39:01.890 deals, funded. You know, it just that communication is super 755 00:39:01.890 --> 00:39:05.850 important for me. It's just this is a huge opportunity for my 756 00:39:05.850 --> 00:39:09.570 company and for everybody else's. So I hope everybody gets 757 00:39:09.570 --> 00:39:12.900 the chance to say hi and talk to everybody and just, you know, 758 00:39:12.900 --> 00:39:15.540 see what it's all about and come back next year. 759 00:39:21.750 --> 00:39:22.410 Johny Fernandez: Nice to meet you. 760 00:39:22.410 --> 00:39:23.250 Amanda Kingsley: Nice to meet you too. 761 00:39:23.280 --> 00:39:25.080 Johny Fernandez: So Amanda, let's go ahead and walk me 762 00:39:25.080 --> 00:39:27.810 through where what business are you with and where is home for 763 00:39:27.810 --> 00:39:28.080 you guys? 764 00:39:28.350 --> 00:39:30.150 Amanda Kingsley: My company is called The Confident Broker. 765 00:39:30.180 --> 00:39:33.600 We're in Central Florida and we help other brokers connect and 766 00:39:33.600 --> 00:39:35.550 validate different funding companies so they can be 767 00:39:35.550 --> 00:39:37.410 confident when they're working in small businesses. 768 00:39:37.440 --> 00:39:38.910 Johny Fernandez: Awesome. So Amanda, what's been your 769 00:39:38.910 --> 00:39:41.070 experience so far here at the event? 770 00:39:41.100 --> 00:39:45.000 Amanda Kingsley: I love it. It I would described as the first day 771 00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:48.330 school after being in summer vacation for so long. Everybody 772 00:39:48.330 --> 00:39:52.260 seeing each other connecting all over again. And it's just a good 773 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:55.200 experience for everybody to see each other other than just being 774 00:39:55.200 --> 00:39:56.520 online all the time. So. 775 00:39:56.550 --> 00:39:58.200 Johny Fernandez: So your experience has been different 776 00:39:58.200 --> 00:40:02.190 Florida has been open things have been relatively normal 777 00:40:02.190 --> 00:40:05.220 compared to up north. So kind of walk me through the last year, 778 00:40:05.220 --> 00:40:07.590 what have you see in the Central Florida market? 779 00:40:07.800 --> 00:40:12.210 Amanda Kingsley: Um, it's it's different than Miami, right? 780 00:40:12.240 --> 00:40:15.090 Because everybody's very used to that we're in one of the top 781 00:40:15.090 --> 00:40:17.820 growing places in Florida. So small business is actually 782 00:40:17.820 --> 00:40:21.300 thriving over there, everybody is more helping each other out. 783 00:40:21.360 --> 00:40:25.950 We have bigger corporations coming in. But it's more of your 784 00:40:25.950 --> 00:40:30.360 State Farm type of service companies that are growing. So I 785 00:40:30.360 --> 00:40:33.990 see that more where I am versus like the bigger cities. Yeah. 786 00:40:34.020 --> 00:40:36.450 Johny Fernandez: So go ahead and walk me through. I mean, here 787 00:40:36.450 --> 00:40:38.790 this event, people are in person, you know you're 788 00:40:38.790 --> 00:40:41.880 networking, everyone's here, kind of walk me through what 789 00:40:41.880 --> 00:40:44.370 what the vibe is so far, for people that are watching at 790 00:40:44.370 --> 00:40:44.700 home? 791 00:40:44.730 --> 00:40:46.770 Amanda Kingsley: I think it's great. I think everybody's 792 00:40:46.770 --> 00:40:50.010 really excited to see each other. Um, everybody's looking 793 00:40:50.010 --> 00:40:53.520 to connect with more people. You know, during the past year, 794 00:40:53.520 --> 00:40:57.660 everybody's getting phone calls, emails, nobody knows who they 795 00:40:57.660 --> 00:41:00.630 are, other than their logo, it's good to put a face to the logo. 796 00:41:00.840 --> 00:41:01.800 Let's just put it that way. 797 00:41:01.830 --> 00:41:03.840 Johny Fernandez: So we have a lot of different panels, and we 798 00:41:03.840 --> 00:41:05.910 have a lot of different conversations that are going to 799 00:41:05.910 --> 00:41:07.980 be going on, what are you looking forward to the most? 800 00:41:08.280 --> 00:41:10.590 Amanda Kingsley: Broker culture, that was definitely one. 801 00:41:10.620 --> 00:41:11.820 Johny Fernandez: What was your take away from that? 802 00:41:11.970 --> 00:41:17.100 Amanda Kingsley: Um, what is there to take away from it? Just 803 00:41:17.100 --> 00:41:20.220 the culture part, I think building individually within 804 00:41:20.220 --> 00:41:23.460 your team and building up that culture and just spreading that 805 00:41:23.460 --> 00:41:27.300 out showing people what you're really supposed to be as a 806 00:41:27.300 --> 00:41:30.720 business owner, as a leader and leading your team together. I 807 00:41:30.720 --> 00:41:33.090 think that should be something everybody should take from. 808 00:41:33.210 --> 00:41:36.510 You're not just, you know, a one off broker sales agent on the 809 00:41:36.510 --> 00:41:37.860 phone. It's more than that. 810 00:41:38.820 --> 00:41:40.440 Johny Fernandez: And then what are you looking forward to what 811 00:41:40.440 --> 00:41:42.510 other one because that one just happened? Yes. Which other ones 812 00:41:42.510 --> 00:41:43.200 are you looking forward to? 813 00:41:43.230 --> 00:41:46.320 Amanda Kingsley: Um, I don't know, a little bit of 814 00:41:46.320 --> 00:41:49.170 everything. I think everybody's kind of swarming around here. 815 00:41:49.200 --> 00:41:52.350 I'm more looking forward to just seeing people's faces and seeing 816 00:41:52.350 --> 00:41:55.920 what they're looking forward to. So if I could, you know, slip 817 00:41:55.920 --> 00:41:58.320 myself in I would be everywhere at once. Yeah. 818 00:41:58.320 --> 00:42:00.030 Johny Fernandez: So and kind of walk me through what's some of 819 00:42:00.030 --> 00:42:02.400 the changes that you've seen since you started in the 820 00:42:02.400 --> 00:42:03.330 industry till now? 821 00:42:03.600 --> 00:42:06.210 Amanda Kingsley: It's been eight years, okay. Okay. And back 822 00:42:06.240 --> 00:42:10.500 eight years ago, it was more of the credit card splits, ACH just 823 00:42:10.500 --> 00:42:15.240 started happening. So you're seeing a lot of I want to say 824 00:42:15.240 --> 00:42:19.260 more risk underwriting. I believe that there should be a 825 00:42:19.260 --> 00:42:23.010 more look at that. The risk and the underwriting portion. So I 826 00:42:23.010 --> 00:42:26.520 think that's the biggest change. I think paying somebody 15% 827 00:42:26.520 --> 00:42:29.730 commission's isn't really the way to go. It's more about buy 828 00:42:29.730 --> 00:42:34.260 rates. And how you look at the deal. Yeah, yeah, I think that's 829 00:42:34.260 --> 00:42:35.310 the big difference now. 830 00:42:35.340 --> 00:42:37.800 Johny Fernandez: Yeah. Awesome. Well, Amanda, thank you so much 831 00:42:37.800 --> 00:42:41.220 for your time. Appreciate it. So no problem. And what part of 832 00:42:41.220 --> 00:42:42.900 Central Florida where in Central Florida? 833 00:42:42.900 --> 00:42:44.820 Amanda Kingsley: Melbourne. Okay. Melbourne, Florida. 834 00:42:44.820 --> 00:42:46.860 Johny Fernandez: So if you're watching from Florida. You have 835 00:42:46.890 --> 00:42:49.320 Melbourne. Do you want to give a shout out to the people from 836 00:42:49.320 --> 00:42:49.800 Florida? 837 00:42:49.830 --> 00:42:53.580 Amanda Kingsley: Yeah, sure. Hi, Florida. I love it here. I'm 838 00:42:53.580 --> 00:42:55.290 sorry. You should have came here. So. 839 00:42:55.290 --> 00:42:57.030 Johny Fernandez: So one quick question, what would you tell 840 00:42:57.030 --> 00:43:00.030 people that are not here in person about this event? 841 00:43:00.960 --> 00:43:03.330 Amanda Kingsley: I love this event. I like the one in Miami 842 00:43:03.330 --> 00:43:06.000 too, especially if you just want to travel back and forth. New 843 00:43:06.000 --> 00:43:09.720 York is always going to be home. You have everybody here. I think 844 00:43:09.720 --> 00:43:12.330 everybody should, you know, definitely look into it next 845 00:43:12.330 --> 00:43:15.240 year. You have more than just MCA. I think if you're building 846 00:43:15.240 --> 00:43:18.360 your company, merchant cash advance as the incubator until 847 00:43:18.360 --> 00:43:22.860 you get to you know loans, SBA gradually move your merchants to 848 00:43:22.860 --> 00:43:25.560 better places. You have everybody that you could meet 849 00:43:25.560 --> 00:43:27.990 and kind of grow how you can so yeah. 850 00:43:27.990 --> 00:43:29.730 Johny Fernandez: Awesome. All right. Well, thank you so much, 851 00:43:29.730 --> 00:43:30.750 Amanda. Appreciate your time. 852 00:43:46.020 --> 00:43:50.310 James Webster started in the industry back in 2007. And he's 853 00:43:50.310 --> 00:43:54.240 now CEO of Fraud Financial, a commercial finance brokerage 854 00:43:54.240 --> 00:43:55.680 that's in the middle of expanding. 855 00:43:55.770 --> 00:43:58.440 James Webster: We are a commercial business lending 856 00:43:58.470 --> 00:44:03.990 firm, broker broker to all businesses across the country. 857 00:44:04.320 --> 00:44:09.810 We offer SBA financing, Merchant Cash Advance, working capital 858 00:44:09.810 --> 00:44:15.930 loans, line of credits, AR financing, and we're 38 inside 859 00:44:15.930 --> 00:44:19.980 in the office, and building out an external sales team and an 860 00:44:20.010 --> 00:44:25.830 external platform that will have the ability to be at about three 861 00:44:25.830 --> 00:44:29.340 to 500 outside the office all over the country. 862 00:44:29.640 --> 00:44:31.620 Johny Fernandez: Webster says his goal is to help business 863 00:44:31.620 --> 00:44:35.370 owners grow their business and becoming a successful broker has 864 00:44:35.370 --> 00:44:35.970 been a journey. 865 00:44:36.240 --> 00:44:39.870 James Webster: I started in 2007 is when I started in the 866 00:44:39.870 --> 00:44:42.990 industry. I was in consumer mortgages. So residential 867 00:44:42.990 --> 00:44:46.170 mortgage industry. I saw the writing on the wall at that 868 00:44:46.170 --> 00:44:52.320 point before the meltdown in 08, 09 was looking for another 869 00:44:52.740 --> 00:44:55.650 opportunity. I was working for somebody at that point working 870 00:44:55.650 --> 00:44:59.010 for a bank always wanted to be in business for myself, but 871 00:44:59.880 --> 00:45:02.370 wasn't sure exactly which way to go. 872 00:45:02.580 --> 00:45:04.590 Johny Fernandez: Webster says his advice to brokers in the 873 00:45:04.590 --> 00:45:08.160 industry is to stay focused and build a solid foundation. 874 00:45:08.430 --> 00:45:10.950 James Webster: Started very small, I've always believed in 875 00:45:10.950 --> 00:45:13.830 building a strong foundation and the amount of clients that we 876 00:45:13.830 --> 00:45:16.680 have that we can continue to build on is always been, it's 877 00:45:16.680 --> 00:45:18.060 always been important to me. 878 00:45:18.270 --> 00:45:20.400 Johny Fernandez: He says business owners should also plan 879 00:45:20.400 --> 00:45:24.150 to expand and have a vision. That's what he did. And when 880 00:45:24.150 --> 00:45:28.080 2020 came, like many business owners, he had to adjust. What 881 00:45:28.080 --> 00:45:31.680 advice would you have to other brokers, people in the industry 882 00:45:31.680 --> 00:45:37.260 about surviving? Number one, something like a pandemic, and 883 00:45:37.260 --> 00:45:40.110 then also just moving forward and future goals. 884 00:45:40.230 --> 00:45:42.660 James Webster: Stay nimble, and your work ethics have to kick 885 00:45:42.660 --> 00:45:46.350 up. I haven't done this these amount of hours and probably 886 00:45:46.350 --> 00:45:49.260 since the beginning. Again, it was a tough year, tough 18 887 00:45:49.260 --> 00:45:51.570 months, but you know, we see the light at the end of the tunnel, 888 00:45:51.630 --> 00:45:55.890 we're more focused now on marketing for our, towards new 889 00:45:55.890 --> 00:46:02.100 partners. And what can we do for them, to to help them with their 890 00:46:02.100 --> 00:46:04.830 marketing to get the message out to their networks into their 891 00:46:04.830 --> 00:46:05.490 client base. 892 00:46:05.520 --> 00:46:07.980 Johny Fernandez: As a broker you got you have guys in the office, 893 00:46:07.980 --> 00:46:10.290 you know, they're working they're making calls, good ahead 894 00:46:10.290 --> 00:46:12.930 and walk me through, like, obviously, you're not going to 895 00:46:12.930 --> 00:46:16.860 have the secret sauce to the ultimate success. But you know, 896 00:46:16.890 --> 00:46:20.850 just the day to day functions of how you as a broker, you know, 897 00:46:20.850 --> 00:46:23.250 are functioning, how you guys are functioning, how you guys 898 00:46:23.250 --> 00:46:26.040 are hitting the ground running walk me through just the day to 899 00:46:26.040 --> 00:46:26.430 day. 900 00:46:26.520 --> 00:46:29.580 James Webster: Being in the industry since 2007 having 901 00:46:29.730 --> 00:46:33.270 people that have been with me for 10 plus years, and most over 902 00:46:33.270 --> 00:46:38.820 five is part of our success. We are transparent to the client, 903 00:46:39.030 --> 00:46:42.090 we give the client the options that are best suited for them, 904 00:46:42.300 --> 00:46:45.240 what they're looking for, we have the options that we have 905 00:46:45.240 --> 00:46:47.520 and the lenders we work with, we have some pretty aggressive 906 00:46:47.520 --> 00:46:52.800 pricing. We've worked out some some good programs for our 907 00:46:52.800 --> 00:46:56.100 clients. And we tried to give all of our clients the best 908 00:46:56.100 --> 00:46:58.680 possible program that they're approved for, and try and get 909 00:46:58.680 --> 00:47:01.620 them as close to what they're looking for as possible. 910 00:47:01.890 --> 00:47:05.070 Johny Fernandez: Fast forward to 2021 Webster and his team are 911 00:47:05.070 --> 00:47:07.740 now working out of Rock Financials newest headquarters 912 00:47:07.740 --> 00:47:10.710 in Long Island, New York, while the world muled whether the 913 00:47:10.710 --> 00:47:14.430 future would be remote or virtual, Webster is going big on 914 00:47:14.460 --> 00:47:15.990 in person office space. 915 00:47:16.020 --> 00:47:18.540 James Webster: I'm building this company for the future, I'm not 916 00:47:18.540 --> 00:47:20.670 building it for the next year or two. I'm building it for the 917 00:47:20.670 --> 00:47:23.790 next 20 to 30. But it's helping as many clients as we can going 918 00:47:23.790 --> 00:47:28.230 into the future. It's how many clients are we able to connect 919 00:47:28.230 --> 00:47:31.710 with and really educate, consult, and really help bring 920 00:47:31.710 --> 00:47:32.700 them into the future. 921 00:47:32.940 --> 00:47:34.980 Johny Fernandez: Webster says growing into a powerhouse in the 922 00:47:34.980 --> 00:47:38.280 industry has not been easy. His advice to other people getting 923 00:47:38.280 --> 00:47:39.720 into the industry is simple. 924 00:47:39.810 --> 00:47:41.340 James Webster: If you have no clue what you're doing, if 925 00:47:41.340 --> 00:47:43.800 you're first in the space, I'd say find the right organization 926 00:47:43.830 --> 00:47:46.980 find a good company that has a good reputation that's been 927 00:47:46.980 --> 00:47:49.860 around and can help pave the way for you in the future. 928 00:47:49.920 --> 00:47:52.620 Johny Fernandez: And his advice for his peers in the business is 929 00:47:52.620 --> 00:47:54.480 to create a positive work environment. 930 00:47:54.510 --> 00:47:56.370 James Webster: The office has always just been a place that 931 00:47:56.370 --> 00:47:59.400 we're spending multiple hours here a day, sometimes here more 932 00:47:59.400 --> 00:48:02.670 than at home. Although we don't see our clients face to face, we 933 00:48:02.670 --> 00:48:05.430 have to come to a place to work every day. And I want that to be 934 00:48:05.430 --> 00:48:08.220 a place where everybody enjoys and they want to be in there and 935 00:48:08.220 --> 00:48:10.320 they're proud of that they go there and work out of there. 936 00:48:10.530 --> 00:48:12.690 Johny Fernandez: In Long Island, I'm Johny Fernandez with 937 00:48:12.690 --> 00:48:13.680 deBanked News. 938 00:48:14.460 --> 00:48:25.020 All right you guys, welcome back now I am with Paul from I'm here 939 00:48:25.020 --> 00:48:28.080 with Paul with Life Capital. So Paul, kind of walk me through I 940 00:48:28.080 --> 00:48:30.960 mean, we're back. You know, we're not halfway through the 941 00:48:30.960 --> 00:48:33.000 day. But what's been your experience so far here? 942 00:48:33.030 --> 00:48:35.100 Paul Boxer: Let me tell you something. I am so excited 943 00:48:35.100 --> 00:48:38.610 Johny. I'm gonna say Boom shakalaka we're back in person, 944 00:48:38.730 --> 00:48:43.530 New York City Broker Fair, I did not think this day will happen, 945 00:48:43.740 --> 00:48:46.980 you have any idea how sad I was. When what is almost two years 946 00:48:46.980 --> 00:48:51.870 ago now. We're canceled than we have the online Fair, which is 947 00:48:51.870 --> 00:48:56.040 very cool and amazing. But to be back in person, shaking people's 948 00:48:56.040 --> 00:49:01.350 hands, networking, doing business, and hearing amazing 949 00:49:01.560 --> 00:49:04.890 conferences, lectures here in New York City at Broker Fair. 950 00:49:05.820 --> 00:49:07.080 Mind blown. 951 00:49:07.740 --> 00:49:10.110 Johny Fernandez: So kind of walk me through I mean, we have 952 00:49:10.110 --> 00:49:12.300 different panels, we have different conversations going 953 00:49:12.300 --> 00:49:16.350 around across the entire place, kind of walk me through what are 954 00:49:16.350 --> 00:49:17.730 you most looking forward to today? 955 00:49:18.060 --> 00:49:20.460 Paul Boxer: Okay, so most looking forward to the great 956 00:49:20.460 --> 00:49:24.690 debate, learning a lot and understanding what other amazing 957 00:49:24.690 --> 00:49:27.990 people in the industry have learned have to say, have to 958 00:49:27.990 --> 00:49:29.790 teach cause we could all learn from each other, we could all 959 00:49:29.790 --> 00:49:33.450 help each other grow. But besides that, just the walking 960 00:49:33.450 --> 00:49:37.590 up and down the hallway here, bumping into everybody, shaking 961 00:49:37.590 --> 00:49:40.860 hands of people introduce yourself, that networking aspect 962 00:49:40.980 --> 00:49:45.870 that you get in an in person event is just pure, amazing, and 963 00:49:45.870 --> 00:49:48.300 the growth of business that you get from it. And those 964 00:49:48.300 --> 00:49:51.750 relationships you make for the future is why I'm here and why I 965 00:49:51.750 --> 00:49:55.200 believe and why I tell everybody, this is the event you 966 00:49:55.200 --> 00:49:55.950 have to be at. 967 00:49:55.980 --> 00:49:57.870 Johny Fernandez: So gotta walk me through. I mean, at the end 968 00:49:57.870 --> 00:50:00.150 of the day, there's some people that are watching from home they 969 00:50:00.150 --> 00:50:03.120 were not able to make it. What advice? Would you tell them? 970 00:50:03.330 --> 00:50:05.550 That the people that are not here? What would you tell them? 971 00:50:05.640 --> 00:50:09.420 Paul Boxer: Be here next event, whether it's in Miami, whether 972 00:50:09.420 --> 00:50:12.420 it's next year. Whatever surprises that you guys have up 973 00:50:12.420 --> 00:50:15.480 your sleeves with events throughout the year, be at an in 974 00:50:15.480 --> 00:50:20.160 person event here at Broker Fair whether as I said, here, Miami, 975 00:50:20.160 --> 00:50:23.640 whatever else you have up your sleeve, there's nothing like 976 00:50:23.670 --> 00:50:26.880 that in person networking, learning of being here. 977 00:50:26.910 --> 00:50:29.010 Johny Fernandez: So what surprised you the most so far 978 00:50:29.010 --> 00:50:29.460 today? 979 00:50:29.970 --> 00:50:34.080 Paul Boxer: Honestly, I heard it's sold out, I knew it sold 980 00:50:34.080 --> 00:50:37.770 out. But when you come here, and then in reality, you see people 981 00:50:37.860 --> 00:50:41.010 that you've been emailing, calling, texting, but you've 982 00:50:41.010 --> 00:50:44.400 never met them in person and to actually meet them, and to talk 983 00:50:44.400 --> 00:50:47.310 to them, see how genuine they are on wanting to help 984 00:50:47.310 --> 00:50:52.020 businesses grow, to help people thrive, like Thrive Capital, but 985 00:50:52.050 --> 00:50:55.890 you're actually getting to learn a lot about them and learn a lot 986 00:50:55.890 --> 00:50:59.700 about the industry. Where on an ordinary day, that would not 987 00:50:59.700 --> 00:51:00.150 happen. 988 00:51:00.300 --> 00:51:02.400 Johny Fernandez: So kind of walk me through what are your plans, 989 00:51:02.400 --> 00:51:04.680 what's Thrive Capital's plans for 2022? 990 00:51:05.280 --> 00:51:09.090 Paul Boxer: So our plan has always been to be who we are, we 991 00:51:09.090 --> 00:51:13.980 are customer based customer centric company, a direct funder 992 00:51:14.010 --> 00:51:17.820 that we want to see our ISO partners grow, we want to help 993 00:51:17.820 --> 00:51:20.400 them thrive, we want to help those relationships. So what we 994 00:51:20.400 --> 00:51:22.950 do is we make ourselves available to each and every one 995 00:51:22.950 --> 00:51:27.210 of our ISO brokers to help you fund as much as possible to help 996 00:51:27.210 --> 00:51:30.000 you grow. And we want to see you want to see those relationships 997 00:51:30.150 --> 00:51:33.720 grow as well. There are so many more brokers in the industry 998 00:51:33.720 --> 00:51:36.810 here. I've met so many people who are new to the industry, and 999 00:51:36.810 --> 00:51:40.320 they need that guidance. And we want to be that funder to help 1000 00:51:40.320 --> 00:51:43.980 guide them through this amazing industry of cash advance and to 1001 00:51:43.980 --> 00:51:46.530 help them fund and grow and thrive with us. 1002 00:51:46.560 --> 00:51:48.270 Johny Fernandez: So you said it right now that there's a lot of 1003 00:51:48.270 --> 00:51:51.870 new people here, but if there's someone new watching right now, 1004 00:51:51.900 --> 00:51:53.130 what advice would you give to them? 1005 00:51:53.400 --> 00:51:55.350 Paul Boxer: What advice would I give to them? Well, you know 1006 00:51:55.350 --> 00:52:00.390 what, get involved with deBanked. Get involved with 1007 00:52:00.390 --> 00:52:04.410 Broker Fair, see their online resources, learn from them. They 1008 00:52:04.410 --> 00:52:08.130 have amazing funders who they talk about who they help new 1009 00:52:08.130 --> 00:52:13.440 brokers navigating this amazing ocean of cash advance, listen to 1010 00:52:13.440 --> 00:52:19.170 what is being said, get involved with deBanked, register, learn 1011 00:52:19.170 --> 00:52:23.550 from them, and really just let that be the path to growth. 1012 00:52:24.150 --> 00:52:25.980 Johny Fernandez: Anything else you want to say any shout outs 1013 00:52:25.980 --> 00:52:26.520 you want to give? 1014 00:52:26.550 --> 00:52:29.580 Paul Boxer: Shout outs, I just want to honestly, Johny not to 1015 00:52:29.580 --> 00:52:32.280 pat yourself on the back cause I do watch you all the time. But a 1016 00:52:32.280 --> 00:52:36.330 huge shout out to the entire deBanked team, to putting this 1017 00:52:36.330 --> 00:52:39.450 together over here, Broker Fair 2021 that we're back in person. 1018 00:52:39.570 --> 00:52:42.930 Without you, we wouldn't be able to grow and thrive. So thank 1019 00:52:42.930 --> 00:52:45.540 you, Sean Murray, and your entire team for making this a 1020 00:52:45.540 --> 00:52:47.220 reality. Thank you so much. 1021 00:52:47.250 --> 00:52:48.210 Johny Fernandez: Awesome. Thank you, man. 1022 00:52:48.210 --> 00:52:50.190 Paul Boxer: Thank you, Johny be well, a pleasure, thank you. 1023 00:53:02.730 --> 00:53:04.770 Trey Markel: Broker Fair, especially the New York one, I 1024 00:53:04.770 --> 00:53:06.810 got to give it to Sean Murray, the whole deBanked team. It's 1025 00:53:06.810 --> 00:53:09.300 just a fabulous show. It brings everyone together in the 1026 00:53:09.300 --> 00:53:11.760 community. People are closing deals, we haven't seen each 1027 00:53:11.760 --> 00:53:14.040 other for a little while. There's new technology coming 1028 00:53:14.040 --> 00:53:16.380 out. There's new funders and brokers coming to the floor. So 1029 00:53:16.380 --> 00:53:18.690 this is a great way to bring everyone together, shake some 1030 00:53:18.690 --> 00:53:20.700 hands, do some business and you know, keep it going. 1031 00:53:21.060 --> 00:53:23.580 Speaker 1: What's been your biggest takeaway from this 1032 00:53:23.610 --> 00:53:24.540 experience so far? 1033 00:53:25.110 --> 00:53:26.670 Trey Markel: The biggest takeaway I think I get from 1034 00:53:26.670 --> 00:53:29.130 Broker Fair is kind of the knowledge and what everyone's up 1035 00:53:29.130 --> 00:53:31.110 to. Right. So we're a tech company. We're not a broker, 1036 00:53:31.110 --> 00:53:33.360 we're a funder Centric Software offers, you know, technology 1037 00:53:33.360 --> 00:53:36.480 into the industry. And the takeaway is really the feedback 1038 00:53:36.480 --> 00:53:38.850 for us, you know, hey, clients, how are you doing? What kind of 1039 00:53:38.850 --> 00:53:40.800 feedback do you have in the software? How's the software 1040 00:53:40.800 --> 00:53:43.650 been going? Are you diving deep into the software? So for tech 1041 00:53:43.650 --> 00:53:46.080 companies like us, it's like, hey, guys, what's what's going 1042 00:53:46.080 --> 00:53:48.690 on? How do you feel about what's going on? How can we help you do 1043 00:53:48.690 --> 00:53:50.880 more? And that's some of the big learning stuff that we take away 1044 00:53:50.880 --> 00:53:52.020 every year from Broker Fair. 1045 00:53:52.500 --> 00:53:55.470 Speaker 1: Okay, and what are you looking forward to most at 1046 00:53:55.470 --> 00:53:56.430 this event for sure? 1047 00:53:57.480 --> 00:53:59.700 Trey Markel: You know, I always look forward to you know, 1048 00:53:59.700 --> 00:54:02.610 shaking hands and seeing both current clients and seeing new 1049 00:54:02.610 --> 00:54:05.700 clients. It's always great to see what's new in the industry, 1050 00:54:05.700 --> 00:54:08.700 what people are up to. So just just, you know, shaking hands 1051 00:54:08.700 --> 00:54:11.070 with people that we've seen, or haven't seen for a little while 1052 00:54:11.070 --> 00:54:15.510 now. And getting to getting to know new customers is what I 1053 00:54:15.510 --> 00:54:16.650 always look forward to every year. 1054 00:54:17.100 --> 00:54:18.540 Speaker 1: Now you did the tech talk, right? 1055 00:54:18.570 --> 00:54:19.140 Trey Markel: I did. Yeah. 1056 00:54:19.440 --> 00:54:20.850 Speaker 1: How did this tech talk go? 1057 00:54:21.450 --> 00:54:23.220 Trey Markel: The tech talk went really, really good. We always 1058 00:54:23.220 --> 00:54:25.260 hope that there's more people that show up every year as 1059 00:54:25.260 --> 00:54:27.540 always, but it was really great this year was really special for 1060 00:54:27.540 --> 00:54:30.150 Centric Software because we launched some really, really new 1061 00:54:30.270 --> 00:54:33.390 groundbreaking technology for the industry to help clients 1062 00:54:33.390 --> 00:54:36.900 become more engaged with their clients. So it was it was really 1063 00:54:36.900 --> 00:54:39.090 great. You know, if you kind of look at the eyes of people as I 1064 00:54:39.090 --> 00:54:41.520 was talking and I was saying certain things. You can see kind 1065 00:54:41.520 --> 00:54:43.950 of the eyes perk up a little bit because some of the new tech 1066 00:54:43.950 --> 00:54:45.870 that we're dropping is it's pretty cool stuff. 1067 00:54:46.140 --> 00:54:48.750 Speaker 1: Do you think coming here and speaking doing your 1068 00:54:48.780 --> 00:54:53.490 tech talk, helps your business grow through like connections or 1069 00:54:53.640 --> 00:54:57.540 helps you prove to potential clients or potential employees? 1070 00:54:57.780 --> 00:55:00.330 Trey Markel: Yeah, speaking at Broker Fair, always helps the 1071 00:55:00.330 --> 00:55:03.840 brand always helps the business gets our new releases out there. 1072 00:55:04.200 --> 00:55:06.630 It's always nice for me to show face with current customers and 1073 00:55:06.630 --> 00:55:10.500 potential customers. But we love coming here. We love speaking, 1074 00:55:10.590 --> 00:55:12.960 it helps with marketing lead Gen, it helps with the brand. 1075 00:55:13.080 --> 00:55:15.660 And it also helps with the community. You know, I don't 1076 00:55:15.660 --> 00:55:18.150 care what industry you're in, it's all about community, and 1077 00:55:18.150 --> 00:55:19.920 Centrex always wants to be a part of that community. 1078 00:55:22.650 --> 00:55:23.580 Josh Feinberg: Virginia Rivera. 1079 00:55:23.610 --> 00:55:24.180 Virginia Rivera: Yes. 1080 00:55:24.540 --> 00:55:27.210 Johny Fernandez: Go ahead. Let's talk to me. Where are you? 1081 00:55:27.240 --> 00:55:29.430 Where's comfort? Where's home base for your company? 1082 00:55:29.640 --> 00:55:32.550 Virginia Rivera: Well, I, I'm very excited Puerto Rico. Okay. 1083 00:55:32.580 --> 00:55:35.460 So Latin financial will be opening very soon in Puerto 1084 00:55:35.460 --> 00:55:37.020 Rico, and I'm their person. 1085 00:55:37.170 --> 00:55:39.450 Johny Fernandez: Awesome, let's talk a little bit about the 1086 00:55:39.450 --> 00:55:43.770 Hispanic community. You know, Puerto Rico, I've talked to 1087 00:55:43.770 --> 00:55:46.380 different people here. They're saying that that is a growing 1088 00:55:46.380 --> 00:55:49.380 sector right now. Walk me through that and walk me through 1089 00:55:49.380 --> 00:55:52.170 meaning everyone here that knows about you and how they're 1090 00:55:52.170 --> 00:55:52.890 willing to help you. 1091 00:55:53.220 --> 00:55:54.840 Virginia Rivera: Well you know what, what's really exciting 1092 00:55:54.840 --> 00:55:58.320 about Puerto Rico is that we are in a renaissance period, 1093 00:55:58.530 --> 00:56:02.310 everybody's discovering that you don't need a passport, that you 1094 00:56:02.310 --> 00:56:05.790 pay with dollars, and that there's incredible real estate. 1095 00:56:05.790 --> 00:56:08.820 But more importantly, we're very open, we have a really great 1096 00:56:08.850 --> 00:56:12.270 ecosystem an entrepreneurial ecosystem. So startups are 1097 00:56:12.270 --> 00:56:15.570 amazing technology. There's a hub that's huge, and it's 1098 00:56:15.570 --> 00:56:19.050 growing. And you know, what, their incentives, there's some 1099 00:56:19.050 --> 00:56:24.180 tax incentives. So if you're looking to loan to fund, we are 1100 00:56:24.210 --> 00:56:27.720 the little little island that has so many people really ready 1101 00:56:27.720 --> 00:56:31.950 to explode and grow, I have to say that this event is 1102 00:56:32.010 --> 00:56:34.980 wonderful, my family, their bankers, and their 1103 00:56:34.980 --> 00:56:38.760 entrepreneurs. And this is my first time in the Broker Fair. 1104 00:56:38.760 --> 00:56:42.420 And I'm so excited, because everybody has this incredible 1105 00:56:42.630 --> 00:56:48.150 mindset of growing, I think, after the pandemic, you know, we 1106 00:56:48.150 --> 00:56:50.790 didn't really know what was gonna happen, but thanks to the 1107 00:56:50.790 --> 00:56:55.440 small alternative lenders, small and medium, and we are able to 1108 00:56:55.440 --> 00:56:58.110 really grow. So I've been an entrepreneur for a long time. 1109 00:56:58.200 --> 00:57:00.600 And now I'm getting into this finance sector. And I'm really 1110 00:57:00.600 --> 00:57:01.500 excited about it. 1111 00:57:01.530 --> 00:57:03.690 Johny Fernandez: So what's your expectation for today? I mean, 1112 00:57:03.690 --> 00:57:06.240 there's literally people from across the country so kind of 1113 00:57:06.240 --> 00:57:08.010 walk me through that. What's your expectation? 1114 00:57:08.160 --> 00:57:10.890 Virginia Rivera: Well, networking is number one. So we 1115 00:57:10.890 --> 00:57:15.360 got in really early, and my CEO, Sonia Alvelo is with me. And 1116 00:57:15.360 --> 00:57:18.360 we've been shaking hands and talking to everybody, we know 1117 00:57:18.510 --> 00:57:22.020 that what we do is wonderful. And we're just looking for other 1118 00:57:22.020 --> 00:57:25.320 lenders that are really looking at the same way we're looking at 1119 00:57:25.320 --> 00:57:29.760 what the prospects are. People need what we have. And I think 1120 00:57:29.760 --> 00:57:33.090 that any great entrepreneur knows that if you have a need, 1121 00:57:33.120 --> 00:57:35.910 you just have to find a solution. So when you marry that 1122 00:57:35.910 --> 00:57:38.010 with funding, it's a win win. 1123 00:57:38.070 --> 00:57:40.080 Johny Fernandez: So there's a lot of conversation going on 1124 00:57:40.080 --> 00:57:43.530 today, discussions, different panels, kind of walk me through, 1125 00:57:43.560 --> 00:57:45.570 which one are you most looking forward to? 1126 00:57:45.750 --> 00:57:48.540 Virginia Rivera: Well, I have to tell you, I've been to three and 1127 00:57:48.540 --> 00:57:51.690 they have been top notch. The first one, I love the great 1128 00:57:51.690 --> 00:57:54.900 debate, it was really wonderful, because you had different 1129 00:57:54.900 --> 00:57:59.220 sectors represented. I also just had the one with the funding the 1130 00:57:59.220 --> 00:58:03.420 seven figure funding, it blows your mind, if you're really 1131 00:58:03.420 --> 00:58:07.440 narrow down what your niche is. It's like riches are in the 1132 00:58:07.440 --> 00:58:11.250 niches. So I love that. And earlier today, we talked about, 1133 00:58:11.490 --> 00:58:16.110 give yourself 20 hours to learn something new, and that is gonna 1134 00:58:16.110 --> 00:58:19.590 pay off. So I've learned already three. And I think most 1135 00:58:19.590 --> 00:58:22.050 importantly, is the networking aspect of it really getting to 1136 00:58:22.050 --> 00:58:25.470 know people. We have a few people that we have our eyes on. 1137 00:58:25.590 --> 00:58:30.690 So we're hoping to see them and I know that already for you and 1138 00:58:30.690 --> 00:58:31.590 talk to everyone here. 1139 00:58:31.740 --> 00:58:36.870 Johny Fernandez: So let's talk, there's a lot of people here 1140 00:58:36.960 --> 00:58:38.760 that they're new to the industry, they're people that 1141 00:58:38.760 --> 00:58:43.620 are watching online as someone that's fairly green in this 1142 00:58:43.620 --> 00:58:46.230 industry, what advice would you have? And what advice have you 1143 00:58:46.230 --> 00:58:46.650 been given? 1144 00:58:47.250 --> 00:58:49.530 Virginia Rivera: Well, you know what, I have to say that having 1145 00:58:49.530 --> 00:58:52.800 another woman in the industry has been really great to have as 1146 00:58:52.800 --> 00:58:57.300 a mentor. I just heard when she was talking personalization, 1147 00:58:57.510 --> 00:59:00.840 really net, look, you know, technology is great. But you 1148 00:59:00.840 --> 00:59:05.040 can't lose that human factor. We talk about AI really 1149 00:59:05.040 --> 00:59:08.040 substituting people, you know what, you use it, but you also 1150 00:59:08.040 --> 00:59:10.020 have to remember that people want to know there's somebody 1151 00:59:10.020 --> 00:59:13.140 else on the other side. So I think to anybody who's starting 1152 00:59:13.140 --> 00:59:17.250 like me, go that route, get to know people, let them know what 1153 00:59:17.250 --> 00:59:20.490 you can do for them. Tell them about what your benefits are. 1154 00:59:20.730 --> 00:59:23.760 And I think that you will really succeed because we need that 1155 00:59:23.760 --> 00:59:25.140 special human touch. 1156 00:59:25.770 --> 00:59:27.510 Johny Fernandez: What would you say to people that want to work 1157 00:59:27.510 --> 00:59:30.570 with you in Puerto Rico that want to head to the island that 1158 00:59:30.570 --> 00:59:33.330 want to start or people that are watching this that are already 1159 00:59:33.330 --> 00:59:34.770 in Puerto Rico? What would you say to that? 1160 00:59:35.160 --> 00:59:38.100 Virginia Rivera: I say you know what we are in our best moment. 1161 00:59:38.370 --> 00:59:42.720 And don't be afraid to think big. Don't be afraid to really 1162 00:59:42.750 --> 00:59:45.420 go out there. There are people out there that want to help you 1163 00:59:45.420 --> 00:59:47.670 that want to fund your entrepreneur, your business, 1164 00:59:47.820 --> 00:59:52.710 your enterprise, and to funders, you know what? Continue funding, 1165 00:59:52.800 --> 00:59:58.560 small businesses, women led businesses and so Latino 1166 00:59:58.560 --> 00:59:59.250 businesses. 1167 00:59:59.370 --> 01:00:01.590 Johny Fernandez: Let's talk about being a women in this 1168 01:00:01.590 --> 01:00:05.010 industry being a woman, a business woman? What advice 1169 01:00:05.010 --> 01:00:07.290 would you have to females watching this that either are 1170 01:00:07.320 --> 01:00:13.680 scared or hesitant to kind of go inside this men dominated game? 1171 01:00:13.920 --> 01:00:16.680 Virginia Rivera: You know what we just heard two great speakers 1172 01:00:16.680 --> 01:00:20.460 say the same thing. You may not get anywhere your first month 1173 01:00:20.460 --> 01:00:23.280 your second month your third month, maybe you're your 10th 1174 01:00:23.280 --> 01:00:26.730 lead, or your telled call call, but you have to keep you have to 1175 01:00:26.730 --> 01:00:30.720 stay there. Because that number 20. Number 30. May be the right 1176 01:00:30.720 --> 01:00:35.910 one. But most importantly, women we really need females in the 1177 01:00:36.120 --> 01:00:40.680 financial spectrum, we really need you involved. Oh you know 1178 01:00:40.680 --> 01:00:46.530 what women pay very well. We're very responsible. And the truth 1179 01:00:46.530 --> 01:00:51.570 of the matter is that only 2% of the financing globally goes to 1180 01:00:51.570 --> 01:00:55.530 women led businesses. So we have great opportunity. More women 1181 01:00:55.530 --> 01:00:58.770 means more representation. And more women really saying you 1182 01:00:58.770 --> 01:01:01.320 know what, I'm gonna go with her. She's sort of like me, she 1183 01:01:01.320 --> 01:01:02.310 gets going 1184 01:01:04.770 --> 01:01:07.680 Johny Fernandez: Last question which what event? Or what are 1185 01:01:07.680 --> 01:01:09.810 you looking forward to the most today? 1186 01:01:10.620 --> 01:01:12.750 Virginia Rivera: Okay, well, it already happened. But I'm not 1187 01:01:12.750 --> 01:01:15.870 leaving. I'm not leaving. I really wanted to see the great 1188 01:01:15.870 --> 01:01:21.270 debate. We had one female, which was Sonia. And then I had on the 1189 01:01:21.270 --> 01:01:28.140 other the other three gentlemen. Us we had brokers, we had ISOs. 1190 01:01:28.230 --> 01:01:30.990 And we had funders. So the fact that we could actually see in 1191 01:01:30.990 --> 01:01:34.590 one panel, every different perspective was wonderful. Now I 1192 01:01:34.590 --> 01:01:37.680 am really looking forward to just know this is a great 1193 01:01:37.680 --> 01:01:41.070 opportunity the sponsors events downstairs is something I'm 1194 01:01:41.070 --> 01:01:43.230 really looking forward to because you get to talk again, 1195 01:01:43.410 --> 01:01:46.890 that human factor, I will get to talk to people that I've only 1196 01:01:46.890 --> 01:01:49.950 seen online, now I'll get to see them one on one. 1197 01:01:50.490 --> 01:01:51.660 Johny Fernandez: All right. Well, Virginia, thank you for 1198 01:01:51.660 --> 01:01:51.900 your time. 1199 01:01:51.900 --> 01:01:52.500 Virginia Rivera: Thank you. 1200 01:01:52.500 --> 01:01:55.230 Johny Fernandez: And good luck, we're definitely rooting for 1201 01:01:55.230 --> 01:01:57.900 you. We're proud of you. And we're excited to see what is 1202 01:01:57.900 --> 01:01:58.950 gonna happen in Puerto Rico. 1203 01:01:59.010 --> 01:02:00.300 Virginia Rivera: I'm so excited. Thank you. 1204 01:02:01.530 --> 01:02:04.170 Johny Fernandez: So kind of talk to me, you're an underwriter, 1205 01:02:04.200 --> 01:02:06.660 you're a senior underwriter being in an event like this, 1206 01:02:06.660 --> 01:02:07.800 what does it mean for you? 1207 01:02:08.610 --> 01:02:11.040 Isaiah Clark: It's awesome, you know, being able to continue to 1208 01:02:11.190 --> 01:02:14.160 help different businesses and connect with other brokers that 1209 01:02:14.160 --> 01:02:17.730 can, you know, help us branch continue to branch out all over 1210 01:02:17.730 --> 01:02:20.790 the country, and six different businesses. That's why we're 1211 01:02:20.790 --> 01:02:21.090 here. 1212 01:02:21.120 --> 01:02:24.000 Johny Fernandez: So kind of walk me through where home base is 1213 01:02:24.000 --> 01:02:26.670 for your company and how long have you been underwriting for? 1214 01:02:27.030 --> 01:02:28.560 Isaiah Clark: I've been underwriting for about two 1215 01:02:28.560 --> 01:02:33.060 years. We're based in Hartford, but we've but we service loans 1216 01:02:33.060 --> 01:02:37.470 all over the country. Mainly focusing on MCAs I'm part of the 1217 01:02:37.470 --> 01:02:41.370 GM funding direct side of general merchant funding, okay, 1218 01:02:41.760 --> 01:02:44.820 so the other side would be more of the more of where the brokers 1219 01:02:45.240 --> 01:02:48.870 communicate with other lenders as well. But my side particular 1220 01:02:48.870 --> 01:02:53.220 we are the in house lending portion. So we can fund deals up 1221 01:02:53.220 --> 01:02:57.540 to 50,000 for the time being terms as long as terms of up to 1222 01:02:57.540 --> 01:03:01.920 120 days, things like that, but it definitely depends more on 1223 01:03:01.920 --> 01:03:04.860 the deal and you know, how we can can help this specific 1224 01:03:04.920 --> 01:03:05.430 business. 1225 01:03:05.460 --> 01:03:07.440 Johny Fernandez: So let's talk a little bit about this event. I 1226 01:03:07.440 --> 01:03:10.350 mean, what's been your what's your expectation for this day? I 1227 01:03:10.350 --> 01:03:12.690 mean, this has been in the works for two years, you know, we have 1228 01:03:12.690 --> 01:03:15.300 people from all across the industry so what's your 1229 01:03:15.300 --> 01:03:16.350 expectation for today? 1230 01:03:16.920 --> 01:03:20.130 Isaiah Clark: Just getting a lot of business cars out a lot of a 1231 01:03:20.130 --> 01:03:23.220 lot of our name out you know, a lot of it's a lot of 1232 01:03:23.250 --> 01:03:26.970 opportunities here to speak with people and brokers all over the 1233 01:03:26.970 --> 01:03:30.300 fair that we don't speak to on a regular basis. So definitely 1234 01:03:30.300 --> 01:03:31.470 trying to take advantage of that. 1235 01:03:31.530 --> 01:03:34.290 Johny Fernandez: Awesome and then so far what's been the big 1236 01:03:34.770 --> 01:03:37.740 debate the panel the discussion that you're looking forward to 1237 01:03:37.740 --> 01:03:38.400 the most? 1238 01:03:39.540 --> 01:03:41.760 Isaiah Clark: The discussion I'm looking. 1239 01:03:41.790 --> 01:03:44.880 Johny Fernandez: Like New York law we also have like the big 1240 01:03:44.880 --> 01:03:47.850 broker culture event, you know, we have the main event so is 1241 01:03:47.850 --> 01:03:50.490 there anyone that specifically you're you're looking forward to 1242 01:03:50.490 --> 01:03:50.700 the most? 1243 01:03:51.750 --> 01:03:54.600 Isaiah Clark: Particularly the broker culture. I'm an 1244 01:03:54.600 --> 01:03:57.840 underwriter myself so the more I get familiar with how they work 1245 01:03:57.840 --> 01:04:00.300 and how they like things you know better for both of us. 1246 01:04:00.330 --> 01:04:02.130 Johny Fernandez: Awesome All right, well, thank you so much 1247 01:04:02.130 --> 01:04:02.670 for your time 1248 01:04:02.760 --> 01:04:03.780 Isaiah Clark: I appreciate it as well. 1249 01:04:05.460 --> 01:04:07.440 Johny Fernandez: Other alternative assets like using 1250 01:04:07.470 --> 01:04:11.760 art or Babe Ruth cards or you know other cool things? 1251 01:04:31.770 --> 01:04:34.860 Tell you from firsthand that downstairs, it definitely has 1252 01:04:35.250 --> 01:04:38.400 been packed out with, you know, different people networking and 1253 01:04:38.400 --> 01:04:41.190 making sure that they take advantage of the opportunity to 1254 01:04:41.190 --> 01:04:44.670 come here to Broker Fair 2021. Something that I have learned is 1255 01:04:44.670 --> 01:04:47.760 that this is the one place where you know, a face actually gets 1256 01:04:47.760 --> 01:04:51.150 to meet the person behind the email be behind the phone call. 1257 01:04:51.270 --> 01:04:53.100 So that's something that a lot of people have said that they 1258 01:04:53.100 --> 01:04:55.890 really love about this event is the networking experience that 1259 01:04:55.890 --> 01:04:58.740 you do have. So like I've been mentioning, we talked a lot 1260 01:04:58.740 --> 01:05:01.170 about the different panels that have gone on. Right now the 1261 01:05:01.170 --> 01:05:03.810 panel that's currently going on right behind me is a panel 1262 01:05:03.960 --> 01:05:07.890 regarding New York law. And they have, we have been able to bring 1263 01:05:07.890 --> 01:05:11.880 in lawyers to discuss a little bit more about how the new law 1264 01:05:11.880 --> 01:05:14.040 that will be going into effect next year will actually be 1265 01:05:14.040 --> 01:05:17.610 impacting the industry. And if any people, and if any brokers 1266 01:05:17.610 --> 01:05:21.450 or lenders have questions, they can definitely go and discuss it 1267 01:05:21.450 --> 01:05:23.790 with the lawyers that are here. And if they have any questions, 1268 01:05:23.910 --> 01:05:26.610 they can talk about it. And that's going to be this that's 1269 01:05:26.610 --> 01:05:29.070 being discussed as we speak right now. So the other thing 1270 01:05:29.070 --> 01:05:31.350 that we know, we can say that we've been talking to different 1271 01:05:31.350 --> 01:05:34.950 people, and getting their experience regarding different, 1272 01:05:35.460 --> 01:05:37.920 different conversations that have happened throughout the 1273 01:05:37.920 --> 01:05:41.520 day. So one of the things that I also heard was that a lot of 1274 01:05:41.520 --> 01:05:44.910 people did enjoy the new technology, conversation that's 1275 01:05:44.910 --> 01:05:48.540 going on just how business is being done. And also creating a 1276 01:05:48.540 --> 01:05:52.230 better culture, especially in a time like this, that after 2020, 1277 01:05:52.470 --> 01:05:56.400 a lot of people had to move and adjust how they do business. So 1278 01:05:56.400 --> 01:05:59.490 that was another interesting topic that a lot of people did 1279 01:05:59.490 --> 01:06:02.520 enjoy, because of the simple fact that, you know, things are 1280 01:06:02.520 --> 01:06:05.400 changing in this industry in this space within the last two 1281 01:06:05.400 --> 01:06:09.570 years. So people are excited for it. And one thing I can say is 1282 01:06:09.570 --> 01:06:12.870 that this is event that's going on here in New York, but we did 1283 01:06:12.870 --> 01:06:16.980 just announce that in March, March 24, to be exact Miami 1284 01:06:16.980 --> 01:06:20.400 Connect will be happening. So deBanked, Miami Connect will be 1285 01:06:20.400 --> 01:06:22.920 going on again, and that is something that's coming back. So 1286 01:06:22.920 --> 01:06:25.890 that's gonna be happening March 24. If you are watching this and 1287 01:06:25.890 --> 01:06:28.110 you are interested, we're going to be posting more information 1288 01:06:28.260 --> 01:06:31.740 regarding the actual tickets and that information. So you can 1289 01:06:31.740 --> 01:06:35.610 definitely log on. And definitely check out when that 1290 01:06:35.610 --> 01:06:38.850 will take place, and how you can reserve your tickets. So all 1291 01:06:38.850 --> 01:06:42.720 that information will be going online. So we also have been 1292 01:06:42.720 --> 01:06:47.400 talking to different speakers, either on the panels or 1293 01:06:47.400 --> 01:06:50.820 different speakers that will be going on in the main discussion 1294 01:06:50.820 --> 01:06:53.460 hall area. And one thing that they did tell me is that they're 1295 01:06:53.460 --> 01:06:56.520 excited to pretty much give their wealth of knowledge and 1296 01:06:56.520 --> 01:07:00.030 pass it along to the people that are here. So it's very exciting. 1297 01:07:00.030 --> 01:07:03.090 It's a very exciting time. So we're gonna continue to walk you 1298 01:07:03.090 --> 01:07:06.000 guys through the event and talk to different people. So you 1299 01:07:06.000 --> 01:07:08.580 don't want to miss out on that. So stay tuned, because we're 1300 01:07:08.580 --> 01:07:09.000 gonna be right. 1301 01:07:18.000 --> 01:07:19.950 All right, you guys, welcome back. So I'm here with Shawn 1302 01:07:19.950 --> 01:07:23.460 Smith from dedicated commercial. So Shawn, kind of walk me 1303 01:07:23.460 --> 01:07:26.310 through your expectations for today and what it's been like 1304 01:07:26.310 --> 01:07:28.380 being here, at Broker Fair 2021? 1305 01:07:29.010 --> 01:07:31.680 Shawn Smith: Well, I think there's obviously excitement in 1306 01:07:31.680 --> 01:07:35.730 the air, we're back in person expectation is that by the end 1307 01:07:35.730 --> 01:07:37.680 of the day, I'm gonna lose my voice. Because we've been 1308 01:07:37.680 --> 01:07:42.570 talking so much. It's loud. It's exciting. But yeah, it's Broker 1309 01:07:42.570 --> 01:07:45.150 Fair has always been the key event of the year in our space. 1310 01:07:45.150 --> 01:07:49.410 Right. So just happy to be back in person. Glad Sean got the 1311 01:07:49.410 --> 01:07:50.040 event done. 1312 01:07:50.730 --> 01:07:52.470 Johny Fernandez: So there's a lot of different discussions and 1313 01:07:52.470 --> 01:07:54.810 different panels that are going to be happening. Which one are 1314 01:07:54.810 --> 01:07:56.190 you looking forward to the most? 1315 01:07:57.030 --> 01:08:00.030 Shawn Smith: Well, I mean, I'm biased to Sean. So I was happy 1316 01:08:00.030 --> 01:08:04.710 to see him kick the event off. But for me, you know, honors, 1317 01:08:05.070 --> 01:08:09.720 got a great talk. Think your Sean was talking about going to 1318 01:08:09.720 --> 01:08:14.430 that next. And, you know, it really attending, it's hard 1319 01:08:14.430 --> 01:08:16.560 because you're bouncing between the networking and the talking, 1320 01:08:16.560 --> 01:08:20.220 right? So it's, it's you come and go, try to make as many of 1321 01:08:20.220 --> 01:08:22.770 them as you can, but half the time you're stuck. You're doing 1322 01:08:22.770 --> 01:08:25.290 business, you know, I mean, that's so you make it to every 1323 01:08:25.290 --> 01:08:26.250 every one that you can. 1324 01:08:26.460 --> 01:08:29.070 Johny Fernandez: So kind of walk us through in a quick sentence 1325 01:08:29.070 --> 01:08:31.710 or two how your business is going, and what changes you've 1326 01:08:31.710 --> 01:08:32.010 seen. 1327 01:08:33.060 --> 01:08:36.750 Shawn Smith: Yeah, so basically, you had with PPP last year, 1328 01:08:37.320 --> 01:08:40.560 there was just a big in small business, a lot of those people 1329 01:08:40.560 --> 01:08:44.610 use those funds to resolve any debt that they had. And now 1330 01:08:44.610 --> 01:08:47.220 they're going out. Everybody's growing, everybody's writing a 1331 01:08:47.220 --> 01:08:50.850 lot of new deals. So right now, defaults are down, fraud is up, 1332 01:08:50.850 --> 01:08:54.630 though. So our legal team has grown from two to eight people 1333 01:08:54.630 --> 01:08:58.470 in the last year, just because of that side, as well as a lot 1334 01:08:58.470 --> 01:09:03.180 of UCC work has grown. So I'm seeing a pretty stable, little 1335 01:09:03.180 --> 01:09:07.980 uptick in defaults, but nothing to be alarmed about. I don't 1336 01:09:07.980 --> 01:09:10.680 think if you're a funder, I'm not overly worried about that. 1337 01:09:10.890 --> 01:09:15.480 But fraud is definitely something to reel in and really 1338 01:09:15.480 --> 01:09:18.030 get tight with underwriting standards and things like that. 1339 01:09:18.030 --> 01:09:20.820 Because if it gets to me, it was something that got missed on 1340 01:09:20.820 --> 01:09:23.820 underwriting typically. Right, so we're coming into mitigate 1341 01:09:23.820 --> 01:09:24.660 loss at that point. 1342 01:09:24.810 --> 01:09:27.240 Johny Fernandez: So let's talk about wrapping up. 2021. What 1343 01:09:27.240 --> 01:09:30.450 are your expectations for 2022 going into the new year? 1344 01:09:31.050 --> 01:09:32.790 Shawn Smith: I think it's gonna be a really strong year for 1345 01:09:32.790 --> 01:09:35.250 funders, they're going to write a lot of deals, they're going to 1346 01:09:35.250 --> 01:09:40.020 be the biggest challenge for them is is hiring right if they 1347 01:09:40.020 --> 01:09:43.950 can't grow fast enough. And ultimately, I think it's just 1348 01:09:43.950 --> 01:09:46.710 gonna be a strong year of growth for them. For me, we're closing 1349 01:09:46.710 --> 01:09:50.250 strong, this will be the best year we've ever had coming off 1350 01:09:50.250 --> 01:09:53.520 of the best year we've ever had before that so we're growing by 1351 01:09:53.520 --> 01:09:57.240 50 to 200% year over year. So what's good for the funders is 1352 01:09:57.240 --> 01:10:01.530 good for us. Ultimately, there's still work and 2022 is shaping 1353 01:10:01.530 --> 01:10:04.350 up to be another strong year, I guess. 1354 01:10:04.380 --> 01:10:06.270 Johny Fernandez: So for people watching, what would you tell 1355 01:10:06.270 --> 01:10:09.330 them in regards to being here and, you know, just your 1356 01:10:09.330 --> 01:10:09.720 experience. 1357 01:10:16.020 --> 01:10:18.450 Sean Murray: I travel over 30 times a year to events. So we 1358 01:10:18.450 --> 01:10:21.000 serve as banks, leasing companies, Fin Tech companies, 1359 01:10:21.360 --> 01:10:25.290 this is the number one event I go to. And I'm not I'm not just 1360 01:10:25.290 --> 01:10:27.450 saying that because we're hanging out here it's literally 1361 01:10:27.450 --> 01:10:31.350 the number one event because it's the spot for the industry. 1362 01:10:32.040 --> 01:10:36.270 You got to be here, you know, the networking is literally the 1363 01:10:36.270 --> 01:10:39.120 best they do all year. And the nice thing is, people are so 1364 01:10:39.120 --> 01:10:43.770 excited to be back in person. That just every conversation is 1365 01:10:43.770 --> 01:10:45.720 exciting, because it's like, hey, I haven't seen you in two 1366 01:10:45.720 --> 01:10:48.270 years or hey, nice to meet you. Everybody's open. Everybody 1367 01:10:48.270 --> 01:10:51.930 wants to talk business. So you know, it's just an event to be 1368 01:10:51.930 --> 01:10:54.150 at, it's always been great for us. We're always happy to be a 1369 01:10:54.150 --> 01:10:55.320 sponsor and be a part of it. 1370 01:10:55.350 --> 01:10:56.970 Johny Fernandez: Awesome well thank you so much for your time. 1371 01:10:57.000 --> 01:10:57.810 Yeah, thank you Johny. 1372 01:10:57.840 --> 01:11:01.530 No problem. Thank you guys. And like, like we've been talking 1373 01:11:01.530 --> 01:11:03.990 about, we've been having different topics and different 1374 01:11:03.990 --> 01:11:06.660 conversations with different discussions. And we're going to 1375 01:11:06.660 --> 01:11:10.980 go to a video now regarding Oz Konar. He is this first speaker 1376 01:11:10.980 --> 01:11:13.470 in the main hall right now. And he's gonna give us a little 1377 01:11:13.470 --> 01:11:17.190 quick conversation and a little quick discussion regarding what 1378 01:11:17.190 --> 01:11:20.280 he's speaking about to the people live here today in 1379 01:11:20.280 --> 01:11:20.940 person, let's take. 1380 01:11:23.450 --> 01:11:26.450 Brooke Brown: Lendini's a big funder in the space. We figured 1381 01:11:26.450 --> 01:11:28.430 this would be a great opportunity to connect with 1382 01:11:28.430 --> 01:11:32.390 brokers, get some new brokers in the industry, get them to work 1383 01:11:32.390 --> 01:11:35.600 with us, kind of spread the word about Lendini and our products, 1384 01:11:36.380 --> 01:11:38.690 the type of deals that we like to look for the type of people 1385 01:11:38.690 --> 01:11:41.120 that we like to work with, we figured it'd be a great chance 1386 01:11:41.120 --> 01:11:42.800 of networking. And yeah. 1387 01:11:42.860 --> 01:11:44.480 Speaker 1: How has networking gone today? 1388 01:11:44.810 --> 01:11:45.590 Brooke Brown: How was I'm sorry. 1389 01:11:45.680 --> 01:11:47.090 Speaker 1: How has networking gone today? 1390 01:11:47.330 --> 01:11:49.460 Brooke Brown: It's gone great. I mean, everyone's super friendly 1391 01:11:49.460 --> 01:11:51.980 here. Everyone's kind of here for the same reason everybody 1392 01:11:51.980 --> 01:11:55.280 wants to network. So we've met a lot of new brokers, a lot of 1393 01:11:55.280 --> 01:11:57.530 people excited about the merchant cash advance space, 1394 01:11:58.070 --> 01:12:00.890 people that are excited to work with Lendini. They know our 1395 01:12:00.890 --> 01:12:03.620 paper, they know what we're about. They know how we work and 1396 01:12:03.620 --> 01:12:05.570 how we like to work. So they're excited to work with us, and 1397 01:12:05.570 --> 01:12:06.530 we're excited to work with them. 1398 01:12:07.190 --> 01:12:08.870 Speaker 1: And how are you feeling about the event? 1399 01:12:09.140 --> 01:12:10.790 Brooke Brown: I'm loving it. I think it's great. I'm having a 1400 01:12:10.790 --> 01:12:14.060 great time. I mean, a lot of great new people. You know, 1401 01:12:14.060 --> 01:12:16.790 something important in this industry is not only are you 1402 01:12:16.790 --> 01:12:19.250 networking with, with business relationships it's a lot of 1403 01:12:19.250 --> 01:12:21.140 you're making personal relationships too and that makes 1404 01:12:21.140 --> 01:12:24.440 that business relationship more important and more effective. 1405 01:12:24.440 --> 01:12:26.660 And yeah, I think it's a great, great turnout, I'm really happy 1406 01:12:26.660 --> 01:12:26.990 about it. 1407 01:12:27.260 --> 01:12:29.930 Speaker 1: And why is this is a valuable tool for this industry? 1408 01:12:30.200 --> 01:12:32.270 Brooke Brown: It's a valuable tool, because you know, the bulk 1409 01:12:32.270 --> 01:12:35.570 of this industry is revolved around making those connections. 1410 01:12:35.570 --> 01:12:38.180 So this is the perfect way to get face to face with people in 1411 01:12:38.180 --> 01:12:41.240 the space. Kind of get to know everybody network, make 1412 01:12:41.240 --> 01:12:43.820 connections. And yeah, I think that's the most important. 1413 01:12:44.000 --> 01:12:46.250 Speaker 1: And what is this company do? What do you guys do? 1414 01:12:46.430 --> 01:12:50.450 Brooke Brown: Were a funder. So we like BC paper. That's yeah, 1415 01:12:50.450 --> 01:12:51.860 we're a funder in the merchant cash advance. 1416 01:12:51.860 --> 01:12:53.750 Rolonna Taylor: We chose deBanked because we're a full 1417 01:12:53.750 --> 01:12:57.620 service collections agency. And deBanked has always been a great 1418 01:12:57.620 --> 01:13:02.810 platform for us to reach out to potential clients. We are 1419 01:13:02.810 --> 01:13:08.240 experts in the MCA relm and we see deBanked as that perfect 1420 01:13:08.240 --> 01:13:10.370 opportunity to really put ourselves out there with an 1421 01:13:10.370 --> 01:13:14.270 amazing company who really supports our industry. 1422 01:13:15.440 --> 01:13:17.270 Speaker 1: And how are you feeling about this event so far? 1423 01:13:17.570 --> 01:13:20.600 Rolonna Taylor: It's been absolutely amazing, we felt very 1424 01:13:20.600 --> 01:13:24.170 comfortable, we we're able to interact with everyone on a one 1425 01:13:24.170 --> 01:13:28.670 on one personal level. Um, we met people who we feel like 1426 01:13:28.670 --> 01:13:32.390 we'll work with for years to come. And we really appreciate 1427 01:13:32.390 --> 01:13:35.330 the experience all around, it's been very enjoyable. 1428 01:13:36.050 --> 01:13:38.330 Speaker 1: And why is this a valuable tool in the industry? 1429 01:13:39.080 --> 01:13:42.620 Rolonna Taylor: Um with everything going on in the world 1430 01:13:42.620 --> 01:13:47.540 today, most people have moved to using the internet only. This is 1431 01:13:47.540 --> 01:13:51.800 a great face to face way to really meet people and shake 1432 01:13:51.800 --> 01:13:55.250 hands. And I feel like face to face relationships last a lot 1433 01:13:55.250 --> 01:13:58.610 longer than just meeting people online. So this is very 1434 01:13:58.610 --> 01:14:02.060 important. And I'm very, very glad that we were able to do it 1435 01:14:02.060 --> 01:14:04.970 this year. I know last year, we weren't able to get together 1436 01:14:04.970 --> 01:14:08.300 like this because of COVID. So this year, we had to be here and 1437 01:14:08.300 --> 01:14:09.560 we're so happy that we did. 1438 01:14:11.120 --> 01:14:12.500 Amanda Kingsley: We're just always looking to partner with 1439 01:14:12.500 --> 01:14:16.670 new lenders in the space and try to offer due diligence to 1440 01:14:16.880 --> 01:14:19.340 people. And I think this is a great opportunity right now to 1441 01:14:19.340 --> 01:14:21.350 find new people because there's a lot of capital in the 1442 01:14:21.350 --> 01:14:23.630 marketplace that people are looking to deploy. And I think 1443 01:14:23.630 --> 01:14:26.120 there's a lot of opportunity for new players to enter the game. 1444 01:14:27.440 --> 01:14:29.450 Speaker 1: And how are you feeling about this event so far? 1445 01:14:29.849 --> 01:14:31.229 Amanda Kingsley: I think it's been great. The turnout 1446 01:14:31.229 --> 01:14:34.109 obviously is really positive. It's the busiest event we've 1447 01:14:34.109 --> 01:14:37.709 ever had here with deBanked. We went to the Broker Fair in Miami 1448 01:14:37.709 --> 01:14:41.279 last year, maybe deBanked Connect. And I think it was 1449 01:14:41.279 --> 01:14:43.469 about half this attendance. So we've been able to connect with 1450 01:14:43.469 --> 01:14:45.059 a lot more people and it's been awesome. 1451 01:14:46.650 --> 01:14:48.780 Speaker 1: Have you and your company been able to make a lot 1452 01:14:48.780 --> 01:14:50.730 of connections with potential clients? 1453 01:14:51.180 --> 01:14:52.830 Amanda Kingsley: Absolutely. Yeah. We've seen a lot of new 1454 01:14:52.830 --> 01:14:55.320 faces here that we've never heard of before and been able to 1455 01:14:55.320 --> 01:14:57.750 connect with a lot of new people and also exploring different 1456 01:14:57.750 --> 01:15:00.990 avenues that we weren't even necessarily aware of so I think 1457 01:15:00.990 --> 01:15:01.920 it's been really positive. 1458 01:15:03.090 --> 01:15:05.340 Speaker 1: And why do you think this is a valuable tool for this 1459 01:15:05.340 --> 01:15:05.730 industry? 1460 01:15:06.840 --> 01:15:08.520 Amanda Kingsley: I mean, it's a really valuable tool because 1461 01:15:08.520 --> 01:15:10.890 everybody can get together and kind of learn from each other 1462 01:15:10.890 --> 01:15:13.320 and not feel quite as competitive, you know, really 1463 01:15:13.320 --> 01:15:17.700 learn some new ideas, ideas and ways to innovate, and just meet 1464 01:15:17.700 --> 01:15:18.210 new people. 1465 01:15:21.960 --> 01:15:23.760 Josh Feinberg: It's been an amazing experience, the 1466 01:15:23.760 --> 01:15:27.090 relationships that come together and see each other once a year, 1467 01:15:27.150 --> 01:15:30.420 the new relationships that are being built the opportunity to 1468 01:15:30.420 --> 01:15:33.600 learn what's out there, the events that are being put on, 1469 01:15:33.900 --> 01:15:38.040 it's a great opportunity to come into one place from brokers all 1470 01:15:38.040 --> 01:15:41.190 across the country, funders all across the country, and get 1471 01:15:41.190 --> 01:15:42.210 together and cross pollinate. 1472 01:15:42.990 --> 01:15:44.760 Speaker 1: And what's been your biggest takeaway so far? 1473 01:15:45.300 --> 01:15:46.980 Josh Feinberg: Biggest takeaway is this, this industry's 1474 01:15:46.980 --> 01:15:50.370 thriving. There's brokers getting into the space, there's 1475 01:15:50.430 --> 01:15:52.830 lenders that are continuing to invest in the space, there's 1476 01:15:52.830 --> 01:15:56.160 software platforms that are coming into the space. There's 1477 01:15:56.160 --> 01:15:58.890 the technology and evolution in this industry's continued to 1478 01:15:58.920 --> 01:15:59.520 thrive. 1479 01:16:00.510 --> 01:16:02.790 Speaker 1: And what are you looking forward to most here 1480 01:16:02.790 --> 01:16:03.210 today? 1481 01:16:04.410 --> 01:16:06.660 Josh Feinberg: Continuing to build the relationships, seeing 1482 01:16:06.660 --> 01:16:09.270 what new products are out there, see what new technology is out 1483 01:16:09.270 --> 01:16:12.480 there. And understanding that this is a great opportunity for 1484 01:16:12.480 --> 01:16:14.910 us to get together and learn from each other. 1485 01:16:15.540 --> 01:16:18.270 Speaker 1: Now, what now you were part of that group? What 1486 01:16:18.270 --> 01:16:20.280 was that group speaking before that panel? 1487 01:16:20.550 --> 01:16:23.190 Josh Feinberg: Yeah, so that was the funders in the business. 1488 01:16:23.310 --> 01:16:26.730 Speaker 1: Okay. So tell me about that panel. Exactly. What 1489 01:16:26.730 --> 01:16:29.430 did you talk about? Why do you think that panel was important 1490 01:16:29.430 --> 01:16:32.730 for this event? Are you trying to help people with that a panel 1491 01:16:32.730 --> 01:16:33.900 like that explained to me that panel. 1492 01:16:33.900 --> 01:16:36.199 Josh Feinberg: Absolutely. So I believe that panel is the only 1493 01:16:36.252 --> 01:16:39.403 panel that had all lenders on it, not just brokers, but all 1494 01:16:39.456 --> 01:16:42.874 lenders and the moderator Jared Weitz is a broker. So it's great 1495 01:16:42.927 --> 01:16:46.344 that he moderated than us three up there as lenders. And I think 1496 01:16:46.398 --> 01:16:49.441 it's important for brokers to understand what lenders how 1497 01:16:49.495 --> 01:16:52.538 lenders view, the space, the lenses that we see the world 1498 01:16:52.592 --> 01:16:55.742 through how we interact and work with the brokers. And it's 1499 01:16:55.795 --> 01:16:58.999 important that they hear what's important to us. That way we 1500 01:16:59.052 --> 01:17:02.310 continue to build those relationships and keep them stronger. 1501 01:17:03.360 --> 01:17:06.510 Speaker 1: So do you think that panel was a success as far as 1502 01:17:06.510 --> 01:17:08.130 getting connections? 1503 01:17:08.720 --> 01:17:10.340 Josh Feinberg: Absolutely, probably the best panel of all 1504 01:17:10.340 --> 01:17:15.440 time. That was a great panel because there is great questions 1505 01:17:15.440 --> 01:17:18.140 that were being asked by the moderator. And we talked through 1506 01:17:18.140 --> 01:17:21.260 how we view our business which is important for brokers to know 1507 01:17:21.410 --> 01:17:24.260 because the more that they know about our business, the more 1508 01:17:24.260 --> 01:17:26.510 they can place paper appropriately. The more that we 1509 01:17:26.510 --> 01:17:29.450 can build a relationship we can build a book and we continue to 1510 01:17:29.450 --> 01:17:30.950 be both successful at the same time. 1511 01:17:44.670 --> 01:17:47.400 Kosha Dillz: Sorry, anyways, my name is Kosha Dillz I'm a 40 1512 01:17:47.400 --> 01:17:50.850 year old bald rapper from Bushwick, Brooklyn, nice to be 1513 01:17:50.850 --> 01:17:51.690 at the Broker Fair. 1514 01:17:52.830 --> 01:17:56.070 People represent I gotta jump below God looking at me really 1515 01:17:56.070 --> 01:17:59.700 weird in the front row. I might have to walk around, talk it 1516 01:17:59.700 --> 01:18:02.130 down. People be like Dillz' you're elevated and you're off 1517 01:18:02.130 --> 01:18:06.090 the ground. No one ever act like this at the Indiegogo speaker 1518 01:18:06.090 --> 01:18:10.740 when I rap like this hands in the air man I noticed him. I 1519 01:18:10.740 --> 01:18:14.760 could sell it and you put onto yoga. Everybody focused and it's 1520 01:18:14.760 --> 01:18:18.990 chill. Your boss is here. I hope I get a record deal. Amavi I'm 1521 01:18:18.990 --> 01:18:24.300 off bein 200 hunid. You got paid here, I paid $1,400 just for 1522 01:18:24.300 --> 01:18:27.120 repairs, and it's offbeat. But it's really good, cause it's 1523 01:18:27.120 --> 01:18:28.320 really great coffee. 1524 01:18:30.480 --> 01:18:32.610 Johny Fernandez: So we are checking in with Sean Murray. 1525 01:18:32.700 --> 01:18:35.220 We're not in the studio in Brooklyn. We're actually in 1526 01:18:35.220 --> 01:18:38.850 Manhattan here at Broker Fair. 2021. We finally made it. We're 1527 01:18:38.850 --> 01:18:43.110 here. So Sean, it's check in moment. We're halfway done. So 1528 01:18:43.140 --> 01:18:47.460 let's talk about so far. What are your thoughts on how 1529 01:18:47.460 --> 01:18:48.540 everything's gone so far? 1530 01:18:49.110 --> 01:18:51.600 Sean Murray: I you know, it's been an interesting day. Yeah. 1531 01:18:51.630 --> 01:18:54.840 These things are kind of a blur, in a way, especially for me you 1532 01:18:54.840 --> 01:18:58.200 know, I'm going from one room to another shaking a lot of hands. 1533 01:18:58.200 --> 01:19:02.040 Yeah. You know, answering calls and texts. People told me they 1534 01:19:02.040 --> 01:19:04.500 didn't get a ticket or something. And they need me to 1535 01:19:04.500 --> 01:19:08.280 do something. So it's kind of like a whirlwind, right. Then 1536 01:19:08.280 --> 01:19:12.510 we're live, live at Broker Fair, right? Yeah. And just moments 1537 01:19:12.510 --> 01:19:14.400 ago, we just had a rap concert. 1538 01:19:14.430 --> 01:19:16.110 Johny Fernandez: Yeah, with Kosha Dillz. 1539 01:19:16.110 --> 01:19:17.350 Sean Murray: There's no other way to describe it. We just had 1540 01:19:17.350 --> 01:19:21.550 a rap concert at Broker Fair. We had a legitimate real rapper, 1541 01:19:21.910 --> 01:19:26.770 Kosha Dillz. And he is currently famous right now because he has 1542 01:19:26.770 --> 01:19:31.660 the top song playing on like, on Z 100. They aired it on hot 97 1543 01:19:31.660 --> 01:19:34.900 it's a Hanukkah song. And in fact, the whole nation of 1544 01:19:34.900 --> 01:19:37.990 Israel, the Twitter account, Israel's Twitter account, 1545 01:19:38.230 --> 01:19:41.710 tweeted out a link to his music video. So this guy is a hot 1546 01:19:41.710 --> 01:19:44.470 commodity right now and where is he today? 1547 01:19:44.500 --> 01:19:47.320 Johny Fernandez: He's at Broker Fair 2021 1548 01:19:47.530 --> 01:19:49.360 Sean Murray: And you know what's crazy? I don't know. I don't 1549 01:19:49.360 --> 01:19:51.820 know if it will happen. Okay, but it's possible that he might 1550 01:19:51.820 --> 01:19:55.510 be able to join you in a little while. Okay. He said he's going 1551 01:19:55.510 --> 01:19:58.870 to come back. He hasn't left the premises, yet. Kosha Kosha 1552 01:19:58.900 --> 01:20:02.110 Dillz. Okay. Potentially potentially might be stepping 1553 01:20:02.110 --> 01:20:06.820 onto the red carpet to do a live interview. Yeah. All right. So 1554 01:20:06.820 --> 01:20:10.330 you know, it's interesting. He described himself as a bald 40 1555 01:20:10.360 --> 01:20:14.080 year old white rapper or whatever. But it works for him. 1556 01:20:14.080 --> 01:20:15.580 It's like, part of his character. 1557 01:20:15.580 --> 01:20:17.350 Johny Fernandez: He had some really good rhymes too. 1558 01:20:17.500 --> 01:20:18.010 Sean Murray: He did. 1559 01:20:18.040 --> 01:20:19.570 Johny Fernandez: I have some good rhymes I might like. 1560 01:20:19.600 --> 01:20:21.460 Sean Murray: He did. You know, I'm gonna, I'm gonna ask if we 1561 01:20:21.460 --> 01:20:23.890 can make some of it part of like, our official theme song 1562 01:20:23.890 --> 01:20:25.690 for future years or something. I don't know. 1563 01:20:25.690 --> 01:20:26.730 Johny Fernandez: We should make a music video. 1564 01:20:26.740 --> 01:20:28.120 Sean Murray: Broker Fair music video. 1565 01:20:28.300 --> 01:20:29.140 Johny Fernandez: Oh, that'd be great. 1566 01:20:29.140 --> 01:20:30.310 Sean Murray: Yeah he had some good lines in there. 1567 01:20:30.700 --> 01:20:32.380 Johny Fernandez: So Sean, listen, I've talked to a lot of 1568 01:20:32.380 --> 01:20:36.700 people, their big takeaway has been just being in person having 1569 01:20:36.700 --> 01:20:39.190 that impersonal relationship. You know, everyone's done with 1570 01:20:39.190 --> 01:20:41.440 Zoom meetings. Everyone's done with all that. So now the 1571 01:20:41.440 --> 01:20:45.250 biggest the big takeaway is they like being here in person. So 1572 01:20:45.580 --> 01:20:48.040 the amount of people that have showed up, does it surprise you? 1573 01:20:49.270 --> 01:20:53.110 Sean Murray: Yes, it did. It did. It did surprise me. In the 1574 01:20:53.110 --> 01:20:55.060 morning. You know, we had a lot of people who were kind of 1575 01:20:55.150 --> 01:20:57.520 dragging themselves out of out of bed. Cause a lot of people 1576 01:20:57.520 --> 01:21:00.220 were kind of partying I think last night. Now the place is 1577 01:21:00.220 --> 01:21:02.530 overflowing. We have a lot of people downstairs right now. And 1578 01:21:02.530 --> 01:21:05.620 actually, I think I think I think you need to be on stage in 1579 01:21:05.620 --> 01:21:08.710 the next room. If you need to be on stage. Okay. I will. I will 1580 01:21:08.710 --> 01:21:09.850 be back. Yeah, you know, I 1581 01:21:09.880 --> 01:21:11.140 Johny Fernandez: We'll cut this live you guys. 1582 01:21:11.140 --> 01:21:14.060 Sean Murray: I'll stay I'll stay on if you, is it okay, if I stay 1583 01:21:14.060 --> 01:21:16.970 on. Okay, cool. Yeah, thank goodness, we have producers. You 1584 01:21:16.970 --> 01:21:20.210 know, we're just producing this show, literally on the fly. Here 1585 01:21:20.210 --> 01:21:22.850 I am getting interviewed by Johny Fernandez, but he's being 1586 01:21:22.850 --> 01:21:25.880 summoned to the stage to do introductions, you know, just 1587 01:21:25.880 --> 01:21:29.240 one thing after another. A lot of things are happening here. We 1588 01:21:29.240 --> 01:21:31.820 had a couple great panels this morning, we had to broker 1589 01:21:31.820 --> 01:21:35.720 culture panel that started around 910. That room was 1590 01:21:35.720 --> 01:21:39.380 packed, that room was fully packed. The general session room 1591 01:21:39.380 --> 01:21:42.260 has been awesome. All day long. We had Slava Rubin, who's the 1592 01:21:42.410 --> 01:21:46.760 founder of Indiegogo was on stage just a moment ago, he did 1593 01:21:46.760 --> 01:21:50.030 a presentation for about 25, 30 minutes. And I sat down with him 1594 01:21:50.210 --> 01:21:53.780 and did a little bit of a Q&A. And it's interesting because we 1595 01:21:53.780 --> 01:21:56.840 talked a lot about crypto, believe it or not, it seemed to 1596 01:21:56.840 --> 01:22:00.410 be the topic of discussion. Because part of his whole spiel 1597 01:22:00.650 --> 01:22:05.600 was that we need to be thinking about what the future thinkers 1598 01:22:05.600 --> 01:22:08.390 are all about. That might sound ridiculous now and I don't think 1599 01:22:08.390 --> 01:22:11.540 people think crypto is ridiculous anymore. But there 1600 01:22:11.540 --> 01:22:14.000 are elements of it that are that do come across as kind of 1601 01:22:14.000 --> 01:22:17.000 ridiculous. And concepts like web three, who people are just 1602 01:22:17.000 --> 01:22:21.350 not believers in it, and stuff. And so he kind of with his 1603 01:22:21.350 --> 01:22:24.020 background, he like I said he was the founder of Indiegogo was 1604 01:22:24.050 --> 01:22:27.500 able to kind of articulate and communicate the value of those 1605 01:22:27.500 --> 01:22:31.430 things. He said he was basically all in on crypto. And it's not 1606 01:22:31.430 --> 01:22:34.040 about like, you know, do you buy a Bitcoin do you buy Ethereum? 1607 01:22:34.040 --> 01:22:37.550 Do you buy you know, whatever, Solana. It's about just betting 1608 01:22:37.550 --> 01:22:40.370 on the movement and betting on the entire thing all together. 1609 01:22:40.550 --> 01:22:44.240 And that's how you will propel yourself to the future. And what 1610 01:22:44.240 --> 01:22:47.420 was also good about that particular session is that there 1611 01:22:47.420 --> 01:22:50.090 was a lot of engagement from the audience itself. We did have 1612 01:22:50.330 --> 01:22:54.200 people who asked him questions, and they were asking questions 1613 01:22:54.200 --> 01:22:57.170 about Bitcoin and the blockchain. And there were there 1614 01:22:57.170 --> 01:22:58.940 were people talking about whether or not securities laws 1615 01:22:59.000 --> 01:23:02.510 would play a role in and stuff and so hey, we got we got Kosha 1616 01:23:02.540 --> 01:23:05.720 Dillz. And I was just talking, I was just talking about you all 1617 01:23:05.720 --> 01:23:08.450 saying that you just did a present. You know, why not? Why 1618 01:23:08.450 --> 01:23:10.880 don't know why I'm saying presentation. You did a rap. A 1619 01:23:10.880 --> 01:23:15.140 very cool freestyle rap. Mm hmm. It was awesome. And did you come 1620 01:23:15.140 --> 01:23:18.290 up with that, like on the fly, or did you like, did you work on 1621 01:23:18.290 --> 01:23:18.890 that at home? 1622 01:23:19.100 --> 01:23:22.460 Kosha Dillz: On the fly, but like, flown a lot, you know, so 1623 01:23:22.460 --> 01:23:24.890 I know, some of the moves up there when you're flying. Okay. 1624 01:23:24.920 --> 01:23:30.560 Does that make sense? It does. So, yeah, I think I have one 1625 01:23:30.560 --> 01:23:34.130 line. I'm like, throw your hands in the air, especially if you're 1626 01:23:34.130 --> 01:23:35.870 sitting in a chair, cause everyone's sitting, you know 1627 01:23:35.870 --> 01:23:36.980 what I mean it's kinda like. 1628 01:23:37.010 --> 01:23:39.260 Sean Murray: You got to get the energy. Got to get them up. It's 1629 01:23:39.260 --> 01:23:40.760 the middle of the afternoon, like you said. 1630 01:23:40.760 --> 01:23:42.380 Kosha Dillz: And when I was like, rapping on those chairs, I 1631 01:23:42.380 --> 01:23:44.480 started walking around. I thought, man, these are some 1632 01:23:44.480 --> 01:23:47.090 sturdy chairs. You know, I've rapped on some very unsturdy 1633 01:23:47.090 --> 01:23:49.820 chairs. So that could go either way. Yeah, could have been 1634 01:23:49.820 --> 01:23:52.580 amazing. Wouldn't it be amazing. Like a guy, man, you know, 1635 01:23:52.610 --> 01:23:57.680 wipped it, man. But um. So how's it going? 1636 01:23:57.890 --> 01:23:59.870 Sean Murray: It's going well, you know, you got a you got a 1637 01:23:59.900 --> 01:24:03.260 like a hot new single. It's like trending everywhere right now. 1638 01:24:03.290 --> 01:24:05.810 It is. So tell me about that video. And that song. 1639 01:24:05.810 --> 01:24:08.960 Kosha Dillz: Um, so we've been working on this Adam Sandler 1640 01:24:08.960 --> 01:24:13.640 remix song. And with my buddy in this scene, black he's a black 1641 01:24:13.640 --> 01:24:20.180 Orthodox Jewish rapper from Jerusalem. Yeah. And he we have 1642 01:24:20.180 --> 01:24:23.210 a tour it starts tonight at SOB it's in New York City, it's a 1643 01:24:23.210 --> 01:24:28.880 very famous venue. We're going all around America. He was like 1644 01:24:28.910 --> 01:24:32.180 yo, we need to do this I sent him the first verse he sent the 1645 01:24:32.180 --> 01:24:36.440 next one back did the hook was like make the hook better. And 1646 01:24:37.250 --> 01:24:40.730 now that the hook is there, and we shot the video on 1647 01:24:40.730 --> 01:24:44.900 Thanksgiving. Yeah. By Sunday we had the video uploaded turned 1648 01:24:44.900 --> 01:24:49.700 around and the rest of the world was like whoa. Yeah. We got on Z 1649 01:24:49.700 --> 01:24:53.060 100. Yeah. Went from rapping outside MSG to having songs on Z 1650 01:24:53.060 --> 01:24:55.430 100 was kind of a level up. 1651 01:24:55.450 --> 01:24:57.160 Sean Murray: Yeah. So now I understand cause you explained 1652 01:24:57.160 --> 01:25:00.790 it. You know, you said, We outside till we inside. We're 1653 01:25:00.790 --> 01:25:02.890 outside till we're inside. I know that was your line, but 1654 01:25:02.890 --> 01:25:05.650 like once you explained it now I totally get it because you're 1655 01:25:05.650 --> 01:25:08.110 literally in here, we're literally here on like, you 1656 01:25:08.110 --> 01:25:13.300 know, a live stream for deBanked at Broker Fair Kosha Dillz 1657 01:25:13.330 --> 01:25:16.990 actually just did a, a freestyle rap at our show. 1658 01:25:16.990 --> 01:25:20.470 Kosha Dillz: And well, and how I got here was that I did it at 1659 01:25:20.470 --> 01:25:23.860 the NFC NYC. Yeah. And now one of your journalists came and 1660 01:25:23.860 --> 01:25:26.710 interviewed me, and that the article did so well, we talked 1661 01:25:26.710 --> 01:25:30.100 about turning the moment into an NFT, about viral moments 1662 01:25:30.100 --> 01:25:33.100 becoming NFTs about my moments becoming that, and there's so 1663 01:25:33.100 --> 01:25:35.470 many moments that didn't make it right. There are so many moments 1664 01:25:35.470 --> 01:25:38.170 that you don't know about that I want people to know. And sort of 1665 01:25:38.170 --> 01:25:41.020 that when you gain in a buzz around yourself, that you could 1666 01:25:41.020 --> 01:25:44.350 get the opportunity to tell your story. Someone said, once told 1667 01:25:44.350 --> 01:25:46.240 me, there's a million dollars out there for everyone, but it's 1668 01:25:46.240 --> 01:25:49.210 your job to go find it. And there's like, people that tell 1669 01:25:49.210 --> 01:25:52.210 stories, and they their platforms are so big, but it's 1670 01:25:52.210 --> 01:25:55.630 your job to tell your story. It's not you know what I mean. 1671 01:25:55.660 --> 01:25:58.840 Yeah. Like I'm saying it's my job to tell my story, it's not 1672 01:25:58.840 --> 01:26:01.870 your job, right. So I have to do whatever I can to gain that 1673 01:26:01.870 --> 01:26:06.220 attention. So I get the best representation of me. And now 1674 01:26:06.220 --> 01:26:09.640 I'm here like I was outside I snuck into this conference those 1675 01:26:09.640 --> 01:26:14.440 two made me stop. Yeah. I got interviewed in your in your 1676 01:26:14.440 --> 01:26:16.990 magazine. And now I got invited here. And here we are in the red 1677 01:26:16.990 --> 01:26:23.380 carpet. So it's the same and that could work for a shop. 1678 01:26:23.380 --> 01:26:28.060 Right? Yeah. Madison Square Garden. You know, radio station, 1679 01:26:28.270 --> 01:26:32.230 baseball player, as you know, walking onto the teams you know, 1680 01:26:32.230 --> 01:26:34.450 and there's drafting people, but you know, you could walk if 1681 01:26:34.450 --> 01:26:37.510 you're good enough. Walk on. Yeah. And that's just it's just 1682 01:26:37.510 --> 01:26:38.830 like a theme for life. 1683 01:26:39.370 --> 01:26:41.770 Sean Murray: So do you have like a crypto wallet? Cause let's say 1684 01:26:41.770 --> 01:26:45.310 we do take and the performance you gave out there and we turn 1685 01:26:45.310 --> 01:26:48.670 it into an NFT. Let's say we put it into an NFT. Is there a way 1686 01:26:48.670 --> 01:26:50.680 to send you the NFT? Do you have that capability? 1687 01:26:50.690 --> 01:26:52.400 Kosha Dillz: Yeah, yeah, I have wallet? You know what I mean, I 1688 01:26:52.400 --> 01:26:55.040 don't have Metamask I have Portas different different kind 1689 01:26:55.040 --> 01:26:57.710 of wallet. But I mean, it's easy to get a Metamask wallet. 1690 01:26:58.580 --> 01:27:00.770 Remember your 12 words, you know, you have to get it. So 1691 01:27:00.770 --> 01:27:01.340 yeah. 1692 01:27:01.340 --> 01:27:02.930 Sean Murray: You can't share it. You can't share them with 1693 01:27:02.930 --> 01:27:03.440 anybody. 1694 01:27:03.860 --> 01:27:06.770 Kosha Dillz: No but I mean, I want that to become I think it's 1695 01:27:06.770 --> 01:27:09.560 a prime example. And I think the way you guys did it, I was 1696 01:27:09.560 --> 01:27:14.300 seeing everything up there was just awesome. I just felt very 1697 01:27:14.630 --> 01:27:17.390 what an honor, you know, to be presenting in front of very 1698 01:27:17.390 --> 01:27:20.660 successful people that consider myself successful. 1699 01:27:20.690 --> 01:27:24.110 Sean Murray: Yeah. I mean, hey, you know, we wanted you to be 1700 01:27:24.110 --> 01:27:26.990 here. We reached out to you. So I think you're pretty successful 1701 01:27:26.990 --> 01:27:30.380 right now. You know, I really, really appreciate you being part 1702 01:27:30.380 --> 01:27:32.330 of this. And you mentioned earlier that there you have like 1703 01:27:32.330 --> 01:27:35.060 a show that you're performing at later tonight. Is that right? 1704 01:27:35.420 --> 01:27:37.730 Kosha Dillz: Yeah, the guy on the scene black and myself. We 1705 01:27:37.730 --> 01:27:38.420 have a show. 1706 01:27:38.480 --> 01:27:40.310 Sean Murray: Were you guys friends from like before, like? 1707 01:27:40.330 --> 01:27:43.150 Kosha Dillz: I knew him for many years. Yeah. But we never really 1708 01:27:43.150 --> 01:27:47.590 worked together we just kind of knew each other. And he now has 1709 01:27:47.590 --> 01:27:52.060 just really taken off. He sells really great and it's like his 1710 01:27:52.060 --> 01:27:54.490 first ticketed tour. I'm supporting it. We're like the 1711 01:27:54.490 --> 01:27:56.980 Jewish rappers together. Yeah. Things we're doing it's just not 1712 01:27:56.980 --> 01:27:59.920 everything I'm about. But definitely a big part of my 1713 01:27:59.920 --> 01:28:04.060 identity is Jewish. So I made the Hanukkah song 2.0. Yeah. So 1714 01:28:04.120 --> 01:28:07.180 this is sort of a culmination of the buzz of our song. And this 1715 01:28:07.180 --> 01:28:10.270 perfect timing right it's all about timing. I think the most 1716 01:28:10.630 --> 01:28:14.200 successful people have ever told me working with you is all about 1717 01:28:14.200 --> 01:28:17.440 timing. Right? Everyone wants to do something with you just don't 1718 01:28:17.440 --> 01:28:21.490 have enough time. Yeah. So tonight is the first night of 1719 01:28:21.490 --> 01:28:24.670 the tour. We have been playing shows before that, but they're 1720 01:28:24.670 --> 01:28:28.510 more private. But this is the first public show. SOB's 1721 01:28:28.540 --> 01:28:33.100 tonight, eight o'clock. And get to do the Hanukkah song 2.0. 1722 01:28:33.370 --> 01:28:36.850 Yeah. Hot 97, Z 100, 1075. It's, 1723 01:28:37.210 --> 01:28:38.680 Sean Murray: You know, you got everyone listening to it. Not 1724 01:28:38.680 --> 01:28:39.820 just Jewish people, everyone's listening. 1725 01:28:39.820 --> 01:28:42.910 Kosha Dillz: I know everyone. It's a catchy song. And listen, 1726 01:28:42.910 --> 01:28:45.850 pop writers songwriters always wish to have songs on the 1727 01:28:45.850 --> 01:28:50.200 stations. Yeah. So for me to have to write that hook. And to 1728 01:28:50.200 --> 01:28:53.650 do that was like, made me feel really good. Because it doubled 1729 01:28:53.650 --> 01:28:56.590 down on like, I know, I'm good. You know, and sometimes you need 1730 01:28:57.100 --> 01:29:02.080 public affirmation to know, to reassure you. Yeah. But if you 1731 01:29:02.080 --> 01:29:06.970 don't get that, keep going. And that's the concept of we outside 1732 01:29:06.970 --> 01:29:09.910 till we inside. Right. We outside is the choice. Many 1733 01:29:09.910 --> 01:29:13.090 people could go, you know, this is just, you know, to make sure. 1734 01:29:13.420 --> 01:29:16.840 For me, it's like, I could get a job or this app, but I feel like 1735 01:29:16.840 --> 01:29:19.510 I'd be selling myself short. Yeah. So it's not worth it. 1736 01:29:19.510 --> 01:29:19.840 Yeah. 1737 01:29:19.979 --> 01:29:21.419 Sean Murray: You know, there's a lot of people here who think 1738 01:29:21.419 --> 01:29:24.209 that way, there's a lot of entrepreneurial people who, you 1739 01:29:24.209 --> 01:29:26.159 know, who started working in finance, but just had like a 1740 01:29:26.159 --> 01:29:28.769 work from home job. They wanted to just have unlimited 1741 01:29:28.769 --> 01:29:32.999 potential, and just do things their own way and learn and 1742 01:29:32.999 --> 01:29:35.939 stuff like that. And so, you know, you seem to be on the same 1743 01:29:35.939 --> 01:29:36.599 wavelength. 1744 01:29:36.810 --> 01:29:38.610 Kosha Dillz: I think when you when you think like that, and 1745 01:29:38.610 --> 01:29:40.290 that's okay. There's nothing wrong with that, because there's 1746 01:29:40.290 --> 01:29:42.600 like a place for everybody in this army of life, right? 1747 01:29:42.600 --> 01:29:46.770 Everyone plays their position in this army. But for myself, I 1748 01:29:46.770 --> 01:29:50.520 thought, if there's more potential, you know, to do it 1749 01:29:50.520 --> 01:29:55.860 this way, and then this is more structured. But the you could 1750 01:29:55.860 --> 01:30:00.180 have exponential growth and be up here, but you're most likely 1751 01:30:00.180 --> 01:30:02.700 guaranteed to be lower than a lot of your peers in the 1752 01:30:02.700 --> 01:30:06.210 beginning. And there's no guarantee to when this beginning 1753 01:30:06.210 --> 01:30:08.700 could end for me, I've been rapping forever I should I have 1754 01:30:08.730 --> 01:30:13.950 many of my friends went from 70 people at a show to 7000. Me, I 1755 01:30:13.950 --> 01:30:17.910 seem to stay at 70 and now it's you know, growing and growing 1756 01:30:17.910 --> 01:30:20.760 and growing. But everyone has their own journey just like 1757 01:30:20.760 --> 01:30:24.450 yourself and people here watching. So I'm happy to just 1758 01:30:24.450 --> 01:30:25.980 share a little bit of mine with everyone. 1759 01:30:26.190 --> 01:30:28.320 Sean Murray: Well, Kosha thank you very much for being here 1760 01:30:28.320 --> 01:30:32.040 live at Broker Fair, really appreciate it. And, yeah, 1761 01:30:32.160 --> 01:30:33.840 hopefully we'll hear from more from you soon. 1762 01:30:33.960 --> 01:30:36.240 Kosha Dillz: I hope to travel with you guys take the show on 1763 01:30:36.240 --> 01:30:38.580 the road guys, let's go. 1764 01:30:41.580 --> 01:30:43.710 Johny Fernandez: We're gonna announce next I can see that 1765 01:30:43.710 --> 01:30:46.710 they are on stage, they are people who are in the in the 1766 01:30:46.710 --> 01:30:47.490 funding area. 1767 01:31:10.340 --> 01:31:13.160 Experience so far at the Broker Fair has been nothing but 1768 01:31:13.160 --> 01:31:16.910 positive. You know, I'm taking in a lot of I came specifically 1769 01:31:16.910 --> 01:31:19.520 to be able to network a little bit, and to be able to take in 1770 01:31:19.520 --> 01:31:23.090 some, you know, pick some brokers brains on how they 1771 01:31:23.120 --> 01:31:26.900 integrate their CRMs and how they coach their own people. So, 1772 01:31:26.930 --> 01:31:28.310 so yeah, it's been it's been really good. 1773 01:31:28.340 --> 01:31:30.020 Speaker 1: What have you learned picking brains? 1774 01:31:30.450 --> 01:31:32.640 Sergio Zamudio: What have I learned, I've learned that I 1775 01:31:32.640 --> 01:31:35.790 work a little bit differently than other brokers. So what I've 1776 01:31:35.790 --> 01:31:40.800 learned is that certain brokers are utilizing CRMs that are pure 1777 01:31:40.800 --> 01:31:45.000 access for the people under them. And then obviously, you 1778 01:31:45.000 --> 01:31:48.450 know, how they coach their own people and how they keep up, you 1779 01:31:48.450 --> 01:31:50.640 know, the culture that they're building amongst their own 1780 01:31:50.640 --> 01:31:54.480 brokerage. And then obviously, the biggest takeaway is what 1781 01:31:54.480 --> 01:31:58.530 funders are expecting from us, you know, as a whole, and what 1782 01:31:58.530 --> 01:32:02.010 they want to keep doing moving forward to be able to fund more 1783 01:32:02.340 --> 01:32:02.970 the right way. 1784 01:32:04.290 --> 01:32:06.780 Speaker 1: And what are you looking forward to most? 1785 01:32:07.740 --> 01:32:09.510 Sergio Zamudio: What am I looking forward to most, I 1786 01:32:09.510 --> 01:32:13.800 think, just to be able to network as much as I can to be 1787 01:32:13.800 --> 01:32:17.430 able to meet a lot of people in the industry and put our name 1788 01:32:17.430 --> 01:32:20.280 out there. Because you know, I think what's so great about what 1789 01:32:20.280 --> 01:32:23.880 we do, you know, at Tip Top Capital, or the small brokerage 1790 01:32:23.880 --> 01:32:27.060 that we are, as I'm really proud to be a part of it, and I'm 1791 01:32:27.090 --> 01:32:29.730 looking to grow it as much as I can. And I just want to get our 1792 01:32:29.730 --> 01:32:31.020 name out there as much as possible. 1793 01:32:31.020 --> 01:32:33.990 Speaker 1: Do you think an event like this helps you grow your 1794 01:32:33.990 --> 01:32:37.350 business and helps you network with the people that maybe is 1795 01:32:37.350 --> 01:32:38.520 doing it a lot more revenue?? 1796 01:32:38.960 --> 01:32:41.330 Sergio Zamudio: Yeah, absolutely. I think the event 1797 01:32:41.330 --> 01:32:44.330 like this, it's obviously going to help me grow as an individual 1798 01:32:44.330 --> 01:32:47.750 and know how to coach my people. And then moving forward the 1799 01:32:47.750 --> 01:32:50.750 oncoming years and stuff like that. And we'll be able to be 1800 01:32:50.750 --> 01:32:53.330 able to work together one another that way, if I ever need 1801 01:32:53.330 --> 01:32:56.330 assistance in any situation that I come across in the brokerage 1802 01:32:56.360 --> 01:32:58.790 that I'm running, is, you know, just being able to make a phone 1803 01:32:58.790 --> 01:33:00.860 call super phone call with other people that I've networked in 1804 01:33:00.860 --> 01:33:01.130 here. 1805 01:33:09.830 --> 01:33:11.930 Mark Cerminaro: We've been doing this for a long time, we've seen 1806 01:33:11.930 --> 01:33:15.560 ups and downs throughout the the industry, you know, we're coming 1807 01:33:15.560 --> 01:33:17.870 out of an unprecedented time. And it's an opportunity for us 1808 01:33:17.870 --> 01:33:20.060 to share from the inside some of the things that we saw during 1809 01:33:20.060 --> 01:33:22.820 COVID, as well as how we're approaching the market now, how 1810 01:33:22.820 --> 01:33:25.580 the macro economics look like from a capital standpoint, but 1811 01:33:25.580 --> 01:33:28.550 it's really to give individuals an insight into what we see from 1812 01:33:28.550 --> 01:33:30.890 the lending side of things. It's an important piece, because 1813 01:33:30.890 --> 01:33:33.860 obviously, we're in an era where there's still a lot of concerns, 1814 01:33:34.100 --> 01:33:37.280 not just with the economy, but with COVID. And we want to try 1815 01:33:37.280 --> 01:33:40.400 to help brokers and individuals get the best pathway to have the 1816 01:33:40.400 --> 01:33:42.500 most success, kind of given the current market environment. 1817 01:33:42.720 --> 01:33:44.340 Johny Fernandez: Got it. And let's, let's talk a little bit 1818 01:33:44.340 --> 01:33:47.850 about you know, when people that are watching this, this 1819 01:33:47.850 --> 01:33:49.890 interview, specifically, they're not going to be out in the 1820 01:33:49.890 --> 01:33:53.160 audience. So what can you share with them about what you're 1821 01:33:53.160 --> 01:33:53.820 going to be speaking? 1822 01:33:53.970 --> 01:33:55.500 Mark Cerminaro: Yeah, um, you know, there's tremendous amount 1823 01:33:55.500 --> 01:33:58.020 of opportunity right now, you know, the market is extremely 1824 01:33:58.020 --> 01:34:01.530 competitive. Overall, we're seeing a much larger appetite 1825 01:34:01.530 --> 01:34:03.870 for individuals looking for capital. You know, as we've 1826 01:34:03.870 --> 01:34:07.200 moved away from PPP, and EIDL, you're losing some of the rate 1827 01:34:07.200 --> 01:34:09.690 sensitivity that a lot of individuals had. So they're much 1828 01:34:09.690 --> 01:34:11.970 more actionable, they've gained a lot more confidence in the 1829 01:34:11.970 --> 01:34:14.100 economy, while they still have concerns, they're still looking 1830 01:34:14.100 --> 01:34:16.890 for the opportunity to grow, a lot of avenues are still closed 1831 01:34:16.890 --> 01:34:19.860 off to them, because of COVID. So it's a really great time to 1832 01:34:19.860 --> 01:34:22.380 position yourself to be able to find the right solutions for 1833 01:34:22.380 --> 01:34:25.170 businesses. The best piece of advice I could give is don't 1834 01:34:25.170 --> 01:34:27.960 focus on the short term. Build your practice for the long term, 1835 01:34:27.990 --> 01:34:30.120 invest in your business that will allow you to be more 1836 01:34:30.120 --> 01:34:32.760 sustainable, should we see more ups and downs in the future? 1837 01:34:32.880 --> 01:34:34.770 It'll give you the ability to work through all those and be 1838 01:34:34.770 --> 01:34:36.180 able to become successful on the other side. 1839 01:34:46.080 --> 01:34:47.010 Josh Feinberg: Virginia Rivera. 1840 01:34:47.070 --> 01:34:47.640 Virginia Rivera: Yes. 1841 01:34:48.000 --> 01:34:50.670 Johny Fernandez: Go ahead. Let's talk to me. Where are you? 1842 01:34:50.700 --> 01:34:52.890 Where's company? Where's home base for your company? 1843 01:34:53.070 --> 01:34:56.040 Virginia Rivera: Well, I I'm very excited Puerto Rico. Okay, 1844 01:34:56.040 --> 01:34:58.920 so Latin financial will be opening very soon in Puerto 1845 01:34:58.920 --> 01:35:00.450 Rico, and I'm there person. 1846 01:35:00.630 --> 01:35:02.910 Johny Fernandez: Awesome. Let's talk a little bit about the 1847 01:35:02.910 --> 01:35:07.230 Hispanic community. You know, Puerto Rico, I've talked to 1848 01:35:07.230 --> 01:35:09.810 different people here. They're saying that that is a growing 1849 01:35:09.810 --> 01:35:12.810 sector right now. Walk me through that and walk me through 1850 01:35:12.810 --> 01:35:15.840 meeting everyone here that knows about you and how they want to 1851 01:35:15.840 --> 01:35:16.290 help you. 1852 01:35:16.660 --> 01:35:18.280 Virginia Rivera: Well, you know what, what's really exciting 1853 01:35:18.280 --> 01:35:21.730 about Puerto Rico is that we are in a renaissance period, 1854 01:35:21.970 --> 01:35:25.750 everybody's discovering that you don't need a passport, that you 1855 01:35:25.750 --> 01:35:29.230 pay with dollars, and that there's incredible real estate. 1856 01:35:29.230 --> 01:35:32.260 But more importantly, we're very open, we have a really great 1857 01:35:32.290 --> 01:35:35.710 ecosystem an entrepreneurial ecosystem. So startups are 1858 01:35:35.710 --> 01:35:39.010 amazing technology. There's a hub that's huge, and it's 1859 01:35:39.010 --> 01:35:42.490 growing. And you know, what, their incentives, there's some 1860 01:35:42.490 --> 01:35:47.620 tax incentives. So if you're looking to loan, to fund, we are 1861 01:35:47.650 --> 01:35:51.160 the little little island that has so many people really ready 1862 01:35:51.160 --> 01:35:55.390 to explode and grow, I have to say that this event is 1863 01:35:55.450 --> 01:35:58.420 wonderful, my family, they're bankers, and they're 1864 01:35:58.420 --> 01:36:02.200 entrepreneurs, and this is my first time in the Broker Fair. 1865 01:36:02.200 --> 01:36:05.860 And I'm so excited, because everybody has this incredible 1866 01:36:06.070 --> 01:36:11.590 mindset of growing, I think, after the pandemic, you know, we 1867 01:36:11.590 --> 01:36:14.230 didn't really know what was gonna happen, but thanks to the 1868 01:36:14.230 --> 01:36:18.880 small alternative lenders, small and medium, and we are able to 1869 01:36:18.880 --> 01:36:21.550 really grow. So I've been an entrepreneur for a long time. 1870 01:36:21.640 --> 01:36:24.070 And now I'm getting into this finance sector. And I'm really 1871 01:36:24.070 --> 01:36:24.940 excited about it. 1872 01:36:24.990 --> 01:36:27.150 Johny Fernandez: So what's your expectation for today? I mean, 1873 01:36:27.150 --> 01:36:29.670 there's literally people from across the country so kind of 1874 01:36:29.670 --> 01:36:31.440 walk me through that and what's your expectation? 1875 01:36:31.590 --> 01:36:34.350 Virginia Rivera: Well, networking is number one. So we 1876 01:36:34.350 --> 01:36:38.790 got in really early, and my CEO, Sonia Alvelo is with me. And 1877 01:36:38.790 --> 01:36:41.790 we've been shaking hands and talking to everybody, we know 1878 01:36:41.940 --> 01:36:45.450 that what we do is wonderful. And we're just looking for other 1879 01:36:45.450 --> 01:36:48.780 lenders that are really looking at the same way we're looking at 1880 01:36:48.780 --> 01:36:53.190 what the prospects are. People need what we have. And I think 1881 01:36:53.190 --> 01:36:56.520 that any great entrepreneur knows that if you have a need, 1882 01:36:56.550 --> 01:36:59.340 you just have to find a solution. So when you marry that 1883 01:36:59.340 --> 01:37:01.440 with funding, it's a win win. 1884 01:37:01.500 --> 01:37:03.540 Johny Fernandez: So there's a lot of conversation going on 1885 01:37:03.540 --> 01:37:06.990 today, discussions, different panels, kind of walk me through, 1886 01:37:07.020 --> 01:37:09.000 which one are you most looking forward to? 1887 01:37:09.210 --> 01:37:12.000 Virginia Rivera: Well, I have to tell you, I've been to three and 1888 01:37:12.000 --> 01:37:15.120 they have been top notch. The first one, I love the great 1889 01:37:15.120 --> 01:37:18.330 debate, it was really wonderful, because you had different 1890 01:37:18.330 --> 01:37:22.650 sectors represented. I also just had the one with the funding the 1891 01:37:22.650 --> 01:37:27.300 seven figure funding, it blows your mind, if you really narrow 1892 01:37:27.300 --> 01:37:31.410 down what your niche is. It's like riches are in the niches. 1893 01:37:31.440 --> 01:37:35.310 So I love that. And earlier today, we talked about, give 1894 01:37:35.310 --> 01:37:39.540 yourself 20 hours to learn something new, and that is gonna 1895 01:37:39.540 --> 01:37:43.020 pay off. So I've learned already three. And I think most 1896 01:37:43.020 --> 01:37:45.510 importantly, is the networking aspect of it really getting to 1897 01:37:45.510 --> 01:37:48.900 know people. We have a few people that we have our eyes on. 1898 01:37:49.050 --> 01:37:54.150 So we're hoping to see them and I know that already for you and 1899 01:37:54.150 --> 01:37:55.050 talk to everyone here. 1900 01:37:55.050 --> 01:37:59.680 Johny Fernandez: So let's talk about something. There's a lot 1901 01:37:59.680 --> 01:38:01.750 of people here that they're new to the industry, there are 1902 01:38:01.750 --> 01:38:06.370 people that are watching online. As someone that's fairly green 1903 01:38:06.580 --> 01:38:09.430 in this industry, what advice would you have? And what advice 1904 01:38:09.430 --> 01:38:10.090 have you been given? 1905 01:38:10.680 --> 01:38:12.990 Virginia Rivera: Well, you know what, I have to say that having 1906 01:38:12.990 --> 01:38:16.230 another woman in the industry has been really great to have as 1907 01:38:16.230 --> 01:38:20.760 a mentor. I just heard when she was talking personalization, 1908 01:38:20.940 --> 01:38:24.900 really net, you know, technology is great. But you can't lose 1909 01:38:24.900 --> 01:38:29.550 that human factor. We talk about AI really substituting people, 1910 01:38:29.550 --> 01:38:32.220 you know what, you use it, but you also have to remember that 1911 01:38:32.220 --> 01:38:34.500 people want to know there's somebody else on the other side. 1912 01:38:34.710 --> 01:38:38.670 So I think to anybody who started like me, go that route, 1913 01:38:38.850 --> 01:38:41.700 get to know people, let them know what you can do for them. 1914 01:38:41.820 --> 01:38:44.940 Tell them about what your benefits are. And I think that 1915 01:38:44.970 --> 01:38:48.090 you will really succeed because we need that special human 1916 01:38:48.090 --> 01:38:48.600 touch. 1917 01:38:49.200 --> 01:38:50.940 Johny Fernandez: What would you say to people that want to work 1918 01:38:50.940 --> 01:38:54.000 with you in Puerto Rico that want to head to the island that 1919 01:38:54.000 --> 01:38:56.760 want to start or people that are watching this that are already 1920 01:38:56.760 --> 01:38:58.200 in Puerto Rico? What would you say to that? 1921 01:38:58.620 --> 01:39:01.560 Virginia Rivera: I say you know what we are in our best moment. 1922 01:39:01.800 --> 01:39:06.150 And don't be afraid to think big. Don't be afraid to really 1923 01:39:06.210 --> 01:39:08.880 go out there. There are people out there that want to help you 1924 01:39:08.880 --> 01:39:11.100 that want to fund your entrepreneur, your business, 1925 01:39:11.280 --> 01:39:16.140 your enterprise and to funders, you know what? continue funding 1926 01:39:16.230 --> 01:39:21.990 small businesses, women led businesses and so Latino 1927 01:39:21.990 --> 01:39:22.710 businesses 1928 01:39:22.800 --> 01:39:25.020 Johny Fernandez: Let's talk about being a woman in this 1929 01:39:25.020 --> 01:39:28.470 industry, being a woman, a business women, what advice 1930 01:39:28.470 --> 01:39:30.720 would you have for females watching this that either aren't 1931 01:39:30.780 --> 01:39:37.020 scared or hesitant to go inside this men dominated game? 1932 01:39:37.360 --> 01:39:40.120 Virginia Rivera: You know what we just heard two great speakers 1933 01:39:40.120 --> 01:39:43.900 say the same thing. You may not get anywhere your first month 1934 01:39:43.900 --> 01:39:47.290 your second month your third month, maybe your your 10th lead 1935 01:39:47.440 --> 01:39:50.470 or your tell cold call but you have to keep you have to stay 1936 01:39:50.470 --> 01:39:54.610 there because that number 20 Number 30 may be the right one, 1937 01:39:54.760 --> 01:39:59.350 but most importantly women we really need females in the 1938 01:39:59.530 --> 01:40:04.120 financial spectrum, we really need you involved. Oh you know 1939 01:40:04.120 --> 01:40:09.970 what women pay very well, we're very responsible. And the truth 1940 01:40:09.970 --> 01:40:15.010 of the matter is that only 2% of the financing globally goes to 1941 01:40:15.010 --> 01:40:18.970 women led businesses. So we have great opportunity. More women 1942 01:40:18.970 --> 01:40:22.210 means more representation. And more woman really saying, you 1943 01:40:22.210 --> 01:40:24.760 know what, I'm going to go with her. She's sort of like me, she 1944 01:40:24.760 --> 01:40:25.750 gets going. 1945 01:40:28.210 --> 01:40:31.030 Johny Fernandez: Last question, which what event? Or what panel 1946 01:40:31.030 --> 01:40:33.250 are you looking forward to the most today? 1947 01:40:34.060 --> 01:40:36.190 Virginia Rivera: Okay, well, it already happened. But I'm not 1948 01:40:36.190 --> 01:40:40.000 leaving, not leaving. I really wanted to see the great debate. 1949 01:40:40.750 --> 01:40:44.710 We had one female, which was Sonia. And then I had on the 1950 01:40:44.710 --> 01:40:51.580 other the other three gentlemen. As we had brokers, we had ISOs. 1951 01:40:51.670 --> 01:40:54.850 And we had funders. So the fact that we can actually see in one 1952 01:40:54.850 --> 01:40:58.030 panel, every different perspective was wonderful. Now I 1953 01:40:58.030 --> 01:41:01.120 am really looking forward to just know this is a great 1954 01:41:01.120 --> 01:41:04.510 opportunity, the sponsors events downstairs, it's something I'm 1955 01:41:04.510 --> 01:41:06.670 really looking forward to because you get to talk again, 1956 01:41:06.850 --> 01:41:10.330 that human factor, I will get to talk to people that I've only 1957 01:41:10.330 --> 01:41:13.390 seen online now I'll get to see them one on one. 1958 01:41:13.930 --> 01:41:15.100 Johny Fernandez: All right. Well, Virginia, thank you for 1959 01:41:15.100 --> 01:41:17.440 your time. Thank you, and good luck, and we're definitely 1960 01:41:18.070 --> 01:41:20.620 rooting for you. We're proud of you. And we're excited to see 1961 01:41:20.620 --> 01:41:22.390 what is gonna happen in Puerto Rico. 1962 01:41:22.450 --> 01:41:23.740 Virginia Rivera: I'm so excited. Thank you, 1963 01:41:23.740 --> 01:41:25.630 Johny Fernandez: So Carl, walk me through where's home base for 1964 01:41:25.630 --> 01:41:26.410 you, for your company? 1965 01:41:26.410 --> 01:41:28.420 Carl Brabander: Oh boy, our company's operations are based 1966 01:41:28.420 --> 01:41:32.110 in Atlanta, Georgia. We have offices in Montreal, Canada, as 1967 01:41:32.110 --> 01:41:33.850 well, which, which is where I'm based in. 1968 01:41:33.850 --> 01:41:37.120 Johnny Fernandez: Okay, so. So are you Finding Financial? 1969 01:41:37.270 --> 01:41:37.720 Carl Brabander: Yes. 1970 01:41:37.750 --> 01:41:40.300 Johny Fernandez: So an event like this, what's been the big 1971 01:41:40.300 --> 01:41:43.120 takeaway so far for you, you know, meeting everyone here. And 1972 01:41:43.120 --> 01:41:43.960 then at the preshow? 1973 01:41:45.250 --> 01:41:48.220 Carl Brabander: Well, for me, it's my first Broker Fair. It's 1974 01:41:48.220 --> 01:41:50.590 great to see everyone coming back, you know, post COVID, 1975 01:41:50.710 --> 01:41:53.140 feeling the buzz and, and talking to people and just 1976 01:41:53.140 --> 01:41:55.480 knowing that we're all feeling the same thing that there's a 1977 01:41:55.720 --> 01:41:58.960 really a groundswell of the economy coming back small 1978 01:41:58.960 --> 01:42:02.200 businesses coming back with demand for funding stronger than 1979 01:42:02.200 --> 01:42:06.580 ever. So it's, it's a very positive vibe, and a very, 1980 01:42:06.580 --> 01:42:08.680 really great first first experience. 1981 01:42:08.710 --> 01:42:11.050 Johny Fernandez: So there's been a lot of different panels that 1982 01:42:11.050 --> 01:42:14.230 are going to be going on different, what are you looking 1983 01:42:14.230 --> 01:42:15.730 forward to specifically? 1984 01:42:16.150 --> 01:42:18.130 Carl Brabander: I was really looking forward to Centrex 1985 01:42:18.160 --> 01:42:21.400 Technology. Okay. Solutions, which I just saw it was great. 1986 01:42:21.430 --> 01:42:22.930 Johny Fernandez: Kind of walk me through what was your takeaway 1987 01:42:22.930 --> 01:42:23.290 with that one? 1988 01:42:23.290 --> 01:42:24.830 Carl Brabander: Yeah, well, what they're doing is they're 1989 01:42:24.830 --> 01:42:26.990 empowering, what they're doing is they're empowering this 1990 01:42:26.990 --> 01:42:32.660 ecosystem of lenders and brokers to be able to, to do a lot more 1991 01:42:32.660 --> 01:42:38.420 as far as like, I mean, I'm happy to see, because anytime 1992 01:42:38.420 --> 01:42:41.870 the ecosystem is thriving, it's a good sign for everybody. 1993 01:42:41.870 --> 01:42:46.460 Right? So again, it's, it's I think my biggest takeaway is 1994 01:42:46.460 --> 01:42:51.020 just how incredibly strong the industry has come back already. 1995 01:42:51.620 --> 01:42:54.260 And we're seeing it continue to, to build momentum. So. 1996 01:42:54.410 --> 01:42:56.330 Johny Fernandez: So kind of walk me through I mean, there's 1997 01:42:56.330 --> 01:42:59.600 people from across the country here, I mean it's jam packed, 1998 01:43:00.410 --> 01:43:03.470 what do you actually network with these people and meet with 1999 01:43:03.470 --> 01:43:06.650 these people and see them face to face versus just online? 2000 01:43:07.400 --> 01:43:09.230 Carl Brabander: It makes a huge difference, obviously. And you 2001 01:43:09.230 --> 01:43:11.960 know, starting off with an event like we did last night as well, 2002 01:43:11.960 --> 01:43:17.450 it was a really nice icebreaker. You know, I mean, I think, as a 2003 01:43:17.450 --> 01:43:22.250 lender I'm surprised how many other lenders are here, you 2004 01:43:22.250 --> 01:43:27.770 know, so, we're, but it's great to meet them. I mean, to say, in 2005 01:43:27.770 --> 01:43:30.650 many industries, you might feel this like, friendly competition, 2006 01:43:30.650 --> 01:43:33.050 right. But it's really what it is. It's friendly. I think we 2007 01:43:33.050 --> 01:43:36.050 inspire each other. It's good to make new friends. I mean, in 2008 01:43:36.050 --> 01:43:40.100 terms of brokers. I'm looking forward to seeing some of the 2009 01:43:40.100 --> 01:43:44.210 bigger it's hard to read these name tags from a distance. So 2010 01:43:44.660 --> 01:43:47.300 I'm gonna keep hunting for them and the crabs here. Too many 2011 01:43:47.300 --> 01:43:47.630 people. 2012 01:43:47.660 --> 01:43:52.460 Johny Fernandez: Yeah. So lastly, I'm not here. 2013 01:43:52.580 --> 01:43:52.970 Carl Brabander: Yep. 2014 01:43:53.240 --> 01:43:55.790 Johny Fernandez: What would you tell them about Broker Fair 2021 2015 01:43:56.420 --> 01:43:57.320 In a sentence? 2016 01:43:58.100 --> 01:44:00.800 Carl Brabander: Look every industry, every industry needs 2017 01:44:00.800 --> 01:44:02.930 an opportunity like this to get together and feed off each 2018 01:44:02.930 --> 01:44:07.490 other's energy. And I think having seen this in many across 2019 01:44:07.490 --> 01:44:09.770 many different industries, I would say Broker Fair is a 2020 01:44:09.770 --> 01:44:12.200 really, you guys have done an awesome job of bringing the 2021 01:44:12.200 --> 01:44:17.630 right people around and creating the right energy. Big takeaway. 2022 01:44:18.440 --> 01:44:20.540 Don't sit near the doors when you're trying to listen to 2023 01:44:20.540 --> 01:44:23.630 someone talk. Yeah. There's too much noise. Yeah. Too much 2024 01:44:23.630 --> 01:44:24.200 excitement. 2025 01:44:24.420 --> 01:44:26.130 Johny Fernandez: Awesome. All right. Well, thank you so much 2026 01:44:26.130 --> 01:44:27.060 for your time. Appreciate it. 2027 01:44:27.060 --> 01:44:27.540 Carl Brabander: Thank you Johny. 2028 01:44:27.570 --> 01:44:28.290 Johny Fernandez: How are you? 2029 01:44:28.350 --> 01:44:29.490 Nayelie Santos: Everything is good and you? 2030 01:44:29.520 --> 01:44:32.310 Johny Fernandez: Doing well. Thank you so much. So remind me 2031 01:44:32.340 --> 01:44:34.170 how do you pronounce me I want to say correctly. 2032 01:44:34.590 --> 01:44:35.040 Nayelie Santos: Nayelie. 2033 01:44:35.070 --> 01:44:38.400 Johny Fernandez: Nayelie, all right. So Nayelie you are from 2034 01:44:38.400 --> 01:44:41.250 business market finders. Where are you guys based out of? 2035 01:44:41.670 --> 01:44:43.770 Nayelie Santos: Were Beijing and Dominican Republic right now, 2036 01:44:43.770 --> 01:44:45.690 but we weren't I mean with one here. 2037 01:44:45.750 --> 01:44:47.670 Johny Fernandez: Okay. So kind of walk me through. I mean, 2038 01:44:47.670 --> 01:44:49.290 what's been your experience here so far? 2039 01:44:49.710 --> 01:44:53.130 Nayelie Santos: Um guess good. We've been talking with the 2040 01:44:53.130 --> 01:44:57.030 lenders we are focusing is finding customers. So we want to 2041 01:44:57.030 --> 01:45:00.390 grow that part of the business. We do MCA. 2042 01:45:00.659 --> 01:45:02.729 Johny Fernandez: So we've talked to a lot of people, you know, 2043 01:45:02.729 --> 01:45:06.029 they have different types of industries, like they want to 2044 01:45:06.029 --> 01:45:09.569 focus on different niches. So for the Hispanic market kind of 2045 01:45:09.569 --> 01:45:12.059 walk us through the growth that you've seen in the last couple 2046 01:45:12.059 --> 01:45:12.689 of years. 2047 01:45:12.810 --> 01:45:16.260 Nayelie Santos: Well, our top industries are construction, 2048 01:45:16.860 --> 01:45:22.020 trucking and restaurants. But they have been growing a lot in, 2049 01:45:22.290 --> 01:45:25.410 in cleaning industries, and just all of that. 2050 01:45:25.480 --> 01:45:28.840 Johny Fernandez: So kind of walk me through today, what have you 2051 01:45:28.840 --> 01:45:31.360 experienced being here connecting with everyone kind of 2052 01:45:31.360 --> 01:45:32.290 walk me through that. 2053 01:45:32.470 --> 01:45:35.320 Nayelie Santos: Oh, it's been amazing. I mean, I've known a 2054 01:45:35.320 --> 01:45:39.220 lot of lenders who are in like, they want to know more about the 2055 01:45:39.220 --> 01:45:43.360 Hispanic merchants that we work with. And it's been amazing. 2056 01:45:43.390 --> 01:45:45.520 Johny Fernandez: Yeah. So what can you say to people that are 2057 01:45:45.520 --> 01:45:48.460 not here that are watching online about this event? 2058 01:45:48.970 --> 01:45:51.100 Nayelie Santos: Oh wow, just come here. Just do the 2059 01:45:51.100 --> 01:45:54.700 networking and get to know more about what we do and what the 2060 01:45:54.760 --> 01:45:55.810 other brokers do. 2061 01:45:56.050 --> 01:45:58.420 Johny Fernandez: So kind of walk me through for 2022, what are 2062 01:45:58.420 --> 01:46:00.280 the goals of your of your of your company? 2063 01:46:00.580 --> 01:46:04.330 Nayelie Santos: Oh, we want to become like direct lenders. And 2064 01:46:04.360 --> 01:46:06.610 also get to more people. 2065 01:46:06.850 --> 01:46:08.860 Johny Fernandez: Yeah. Awesome. Awesome. Well, thank you so 2066 01:46:08.860 --> 01:46:11.650 much. I appreciate it so much. So you can go ahead and enjoy 2067 01:46:11.650 --> 01:46:14.110 the event while we were talking other people. 2068 01:46:36.900 --> 01:46:40.530 All right. So go ahead and say a name for me. 2069 01:46:40.570 --> 01:46:41.290 Neema Farhang: Neema Farhang. 2070 01:46:42.390 --> 01:46:43.320 Johny Fernandez: Where is home for you? 2071 01:46:43.500 --> 01:46:44.940 Neema Farhang: Southern California, Orange County. 2072 01:46:44.990 --> 01:46:47.780 Johny Fernandez: All right. So kind of walk me through your 2073 01:46:47.780 --> 01:46:50.780 experience here so far? What's it been like? Have you been 2074 01:46:50.780 --> 01:46:52.460 having fun? What's been your big takeaway? 2075 01:46:52.490 --> 01:46:55.250 Neema Farhang: Know a lot of fun, great takeaways, some great 2076 01:46:55.250 --> 01:46:59.660 speakers, I think I've got an opportunity to put the face to 2077 01:46:59.660 --> 01:47:01.760 the name, if you will, for a lot of people I've been working with 2078 01:47:01.760 --> 01:47:06.080 for the past seven years, and seeing new faces familiar faces, 2079 01:47:06.230 --> 01:47:08.600 after being shut down for like over two years, not seeing 2080 01:47:08.600 --> 01:47:11.120 everyone face to face, this is a great opportunity to drum up new 2081 01:47:11.120 --> 01:47:14.630 business and, and talk about how we can work together better. So 2082 01:47:14.630 --> 01:47:15.050 it was good. 2083 01:47:15.050 --> 01:47:16.890 Johnny Fernandez: So you've been in this space for a while. 2084 01:47:16.920 --> 01:47:19.020 There's a lot of new people here. You know, we've talked to 2085 01:47:19.020 --> 01:47:22.050 them, we've seen them. So what advice would you have for them 2086 01:47:22.080 --> 01:47:25.020 in this first Broker Fair event that they that they've attended? 2087 01:47:25.170 --> 01:47:27.780 Neema Farhang: put yourself out there take risk, meet as much 2088 01:47:27.780 --> 01:47:33.360 people as you can, and just be able to just be able to network. 2089 01:47:33.360 --> 01:47:35.610 I mean, what this what is this event for? It's it's a network, 2090 01:47:35.610 --> 01:47:37.680 meet people and gain knowledge from other people and ask 2091 01:47:37.680 --> 01:47:40.830 questions, not a lot of hard questions are being asked. But 2092 01:47:40.830 --> 01:47:43.050 if you put yourself out there and ask those tough questions, 2093 01:47:43.170 --> 01:47:45.660 and the things you need help on, people will answer your call. 2094 01:47:45.690 --> 01:47:47.460 Johny Fernandez: That's awesome. Yeah. So in regards to the 2095 01:47:47.460 --> 01:47:50.730 different discussions and the different panels, what exactly 2096 01:47:50.730 --> 01:47:52.200 was your favorite panel so far? 2097 01:47:52.200 --> 01:47:55.900 Neema Farhang: Holy smokes, we they had a guy come out, founder 2098 01:47:55.900 --> 01:48:01.450 of Indiegogo. Slava. Slava, oh my god, that presentation blew 2099 01:48:01.450 --> 01:48:05.410 my mind to the end of the universe and back. The guy was a 2100 01:48:05.410 --> 01:48:09.310 freaking genius. Everything he said I was just, I was just 2101 01:48:09.310 --> 01:48:11.290 dying. Everything he said I couldn't believe it was 2102 01:48:11.290 --> 01:48:15.520 absolutely stunning information. The guy was so smart. So 2103 01:48:15.520 --> 01:48:18.160 articulate, talking about our industry, where it's going and 2104 01:48:18.160 --> 01:48:22.930 where we are at currently within the realm of just our cycle of 2105 01:48:22.930 --> 01:48:26.260 technology and growth and innovation. And that was really 2106 01:48:26.260 --> 01:48:28.450 good stuff. I love the blockchain and how it's going to 2107 01:48:28.450 --> 01:48:31.090 be relating to FinTech and what we're doing. And that was really 2108 01:48:31.090 --> 01:48:31.140 Johnny Fernandez: So going home, I mean, what's going to be your 2109 01:48:31.140 --> 01:48:31.510 cool stuff. 2110 01:48:31.510 --> 01:48:35.740 big takeaway from the entire experience? 2111 01:48:35.840 --> 01:48:38.330 Neema Farhang: Definitely that the definitely the presentation 2112 01:48:38.330 --> 01:48:41.810 with Slava's really cool. It helps me make future decisions 2113 01:48:41.810 --> 01:48:45.290 for our company based on that presentation and what I know 2114 01:48:45.290 --> 01:48:47.900 about blockchain and all that kind of good stuff that's coming 2115 01:48:47.900 --> 01:48:50.600 around the corner, but definitely made some good 2116 01:48:50.600 --> 01:48:52.880 contacts here. Some great lenders that we're going to be 2117 01:48:52.880 --> 01:48:56.690 starting to work with now. So definitely good stuff. A lot of 2118 01:48:56.690 --> 01:48:57.950 product offerings out there nowadays. 2119 01:48:57.960 --> 01:48:59.430 Johny Fernandez: Awesome. Well, thank you so much for your time, 2120 01:48:59.430 --> 01:49:02.520 man. Thank you, appreciate it. And good luck back home man, 2121 01:49:02.520 --> 01:49:03.270 flying back home. 2122 01:49:06.180 --> 01:49:09.900 Kind of walk me through being here at Broker Fair, what's been 2123 01:49:09.900 --> 01:49:11.700 the one thing that you've taken away so far? 2124 01:49:12.110 --> 01:49:15.680 Andrew Serrano: Yeah. So for. And, you know, I've been out 2125 01:49:15.680 --> 01:49:18.560 doing this seven going on eight years. Number one thing is 2126 01:49:18.560 --> 01:49:20.690 connections in this business, you need to know who you're 2127 01:49:20.690 --> 01:49:24.350 working with. It's good to make that face to face connection, 2128 01:49:24.350 --> 01:49:29.780 especially because, you know, from the sales side to even the 2129 01:49:29.780 --> 01:49:33.890 B, you know, B2B us amongst each other. There's a lot of phone. 2130 01:49:34.100 --> 01:49:38.300 So when you have the opportunity to put a face to a name, you 2131 01:49:38.300 --> 01:49:40.640 know, even afterwards, sometimes people hang out, do other 2132 01:49:40.640 --> 01:49:43.520 things, have dinner, go out. So it's really about making 2133 01:49:43.520 --> 01:49:46.970 connections but also updating each other, finding out what's 2134 01:49:46.970 --> 01:49:50.900 working for certain people. What's not working, so it's just 2135 01:49:50.900 --> 01:49:53.750 a good time, man. Good to be back after COVID too. 2136 01:49:53.780 --> 01:49:55.670 Johnny Fernandez: Yeah, no, for sure. So where's your company 2137 01:49:55.670 --> 01:49:56.240 based out of? 2138 01:49:56.300 --> 01:49:57.620 Andrew Serrano: We are based out of Brooklyn, New York. 2139 01:49:57.620 --> 01:49:59.840 Johny Fernandez: Alright so, in New York City, there's a lot of 2140 01:49:59.840 --> 01:50:03.020 changes going on. So like, just in general with everything 2141 01:50:03.020 --> 01:50:05.600 that's going on, what's the one thing that you're looking for in 2142 01:50:05.600 --> 01:50:07.790 regards to knowledge? Like, what are you, what's your takeaway 2143 01:50:07.790 --> 01:50:09.800 from being in a place like this after COVID? 2144 01:50:09.840 --> 01:50:12.360 Andrew Serrano: Yes, well, well, that's the big thing. Because 2145 01:50:12.360 --> 01:50:15.540 right now we've seen a large shift in the industry, where 2146 01:50:15.600 --> 01:50:18.540 especially because, you know, as we both know, Uncle Sam has been 2147 01:50:18.540 --> 01:50:22.380 very generous recently with what they've been offering. A lot of 2148 01:50:22.380 --> 01:50:25.860 it right now is, as we transition from that a lot of 2149 01:50:25.860 --> 01:50:27.990 these programs are ending at the end of the year, whatever the 2150 01:50:27.990 --> 01:50:34.140 case is, how do we kind of get back to basics right now? Even 2151 01:50:34.140 --> 01:50:36.120 the sale, things are a lot different. But how do we get 2152 01:50:36.120 --> 01:50:39.270 back to basics? How do we get back to where we were, you know, 2153 01:50:39.300 --> 01:50:40.050 two years ago? 2154 01:50:40.200 --> 01:50:42.300 Johny Fernandez: Yeah. So what are you looking, what panel are 2155 01:50:42.300 --> 01:50:43.740 you looking forward to the most? 2156 01:50:44.250 --> 01:50:48.420 Andrew Serrano: You know, I, for me, it's definitely always 2157 01:50:48.510 --> 01:50:53.880 generally technology. Because I like to know. You know, there's 2158 01:50:53.880 --> 01:50:56.310 always new technology, always there's ways that we're 2159 01:50:56.310 --> 01:51:01.830 integrating technology different. Back office programs, 2160 01:51:01.860 --> 01:51:05.490 software, so for me, it's always anything that has to do with, 2161 01:51:05.880 --> 01:51:10.500 you know, whether it's lead generation, or to even like I 2162 01:51:10.500 --> 01:51:14.550 said, the back office. Yeah. It's just that that's it for me. 2163 01:51:14.660 --> 01:51:16.640 Johny Fernandez: So what advice would you say to someone that 2164 01:51:16.640 --> 01:51:19.250 isn't here that's watching online about just this whole 2165 01:51:19.250 --> 01:51:20.060 experience? 2166 01:51:20.120 --> 01:51:22.190 Andrew Serrano: I would say, if you're not here, you should be. 2167 01:51:23.840 --> 01:51:26.960 But also, like I said, it's a beautiful experience. You get to 2168 01:51:27.080 --> 01:51:31.400 meet people from all over the country, because and it's 2169 01:51:31.400 --> 01:51:34.310 actually interesting, the way that they sell, let's say in 2170 01:51:34.310 --> 01:51:38.240 Texas, is not the same way that we sell here in New York. So 2171 01:51:38.270 --> 01:51:40.970 even to learn the different styles, different cultures, 2172 01:51:40.970 --> 01:51:43.400 different ways. You know, New Yorker's were very aggressive, 2173 01:51:43.430 --> 01:51:45.950 they might have a little bit more of an educational approach 2174 01:51:45.950 --> 01:51:48.740 in other parts of the country. So I just like to just see the 2175 01:51:48.740 --> 01:51:50.990 different styles. Yeah. Different people, you know. 2176 01:51:51.290 --> 01:51:52.910 Johny Fernandez: Awesome. All right, man. Well, thank you so 2177 01:51:52.910 --> 01:51:53.360 much for your time. 2178 01:51:53.360 --> 01:51:54.590 Once again Johny, thank you bro. 2179 01:52:04.140 --> 01:52:06.450 Alright, you guys, welcome back. So I'm here with Shawn Smith 2180 01:52:06.450 --> 01:52:09.840 from Dedicated Commercial. So Shawn, kind of walk me through 2181 01:52:09.840 --> 01:52:13.170 your expectations for today and what it's been like being here 2182 01:52:13.200 --> 01:52:14.520 at Broker Fair 2021? 2183 01:52:15.140 --> 01:52:17.810 Shawn Smith: Well, I think there's obviously excitement in 2184 01:52:17.810 --> 01:52:21.860 the air, we're back in person expectation is that by the end 2185 01:52:21.860 --> 01:52:23.810 of the day, I'm gonna lose my voice. Because we've been 2186 01:52:23.810 --> 01:52:28.700 talking so much. It's loud. It's exciting. But yeah, it's Broker 2187 01:52:28.700 --> 01:52:31.280 Fair has always been the key event of the year in our space. 2188 01:52:31.280 --> 01:52:35.570 Right? So just happy to be back in person. Glad Sean got the 2189 01:52:35.570 --> 01:52:36.200 event done. 2190 01:52:36.860 --> 01:52:38.630 Johny Fernandez: So there's a lot of different discussions and 2191 01:52:38.630 --> 01:52:40.940 different panels that are going to be happening. Which one are 2192 01:52:40.940 --> 01:52:42.350 you looking forward to the most? 2193 01:52:43.190 --> 01:52:46.160 Shawn Smith: Well, I mean, I'm biased to Sean. So I was happy 2194 01:52:46.160 --> 01:52:50.870 to see him kick the event off. But for me, you know, honors, 2195 01:52:51.230 --> 01:52:55.850 got a great talk. Think your Sean was talking about going to 2196 01:52:55.850 --> 01:53:00.560 that next. And, you know, it really attending, it's hard 2197 01:53:00.560 --> 01:53:02.690 because you're bouncing between the networking and the talking, 2198 01:53:02.690 --> 01:53:06.380 right? So it's, it's you come and go, try to make as many of 2199 01:53:06.380 --> 01:53:08.930 them as you can, but half the time you're stuck. You're doing 2200 01:53:08.930 --> 01:53:11.420 business, you know, I mean, that's so you make it to every 2201 01:53:11.420 --> 01:53:12.410 every one that you can. 2202 01:53:12.620 --> 01:53:15.200 Johny Fernandez: So kind of walk us through in a quick sentence 2203 01:53:15.200 --> 01:53:17.870 or two how your business is going, and what changes you've 2204 01:53:17.870 --> 01:53:18.170 seen. 2205 01:53:19.200 --> 01:53:22.890 Shawn Smith: Yeah, so basically, you had with PPP, last year, 2206 01:53:23.460 --> 01:53:26.700 there was just a big in small business, a lot of those people 2207 01:53:26.700 --> 01:53:30.750 use those funds to resolve any debt that they had. And now 2208 01:53:30.750 --> 01:53:33.360 they're going out. Everybody's growing, everybody's writing a 2209 01:53:33.360 --> 01:53:36.990 lot of new deals. So right now, defaults are down, fraud is up, 2210 01:53:36.990 --> 01:53:40.770 though. So our legal team has grown from two to eight people 2211 01:53:40.770 --> 01:53:44.610 in the last year, just because of that side, as well as a lot 2212 01:53:44.610 --> 01:53:49.320 of UCC work has grown. So I'm seeing a pretty stable, little 2213 01:53:49.320 --> 01:53:54.120 uptick in defaults, but nothing to be alarmed about I don't 2214 01:53:54.120 --> 01:53:56.820 think if you're a funder, I'm not overly worried about that. 2215 01:53:57.030 --> 01:54:01.620 But fraud is definitely something to reel in and really 2216 01:54:01.620 --> 01:54:04.170 get tight with underwriting standards and things like that. 2217 01:54:04.170 --> 01:54:06.960 Because if it gets to me, it was something that got missed on 2218 01:54:06.960 --> 01:54:09.990 underwriting typically. Right? So we're coming in to mitigate 2219 01:54:09.990 --> 01:54:10.800 loss at that point. 2220 01:54:10.950 --> 01:54:13.410 Johny Fernandez: So let's talk about wrapping up 2021. What are 2221 01:54:13.410 --> 01:54:16.620 your expectations for 2022 going into the new year? 2222 01:54:17.200 --> 01:54:18.940 Shawn Smith: I think it's gonna be a really strong year for 2223 01:54:18.940 --> 01:54:21.400 funders, they're going to write a lot of deals, they're going to 2224 01:54:21.400 --> 01:54:26.140 be the biggest challenge for them is is hiring right? If they 2225 01:54:26.140 --> 01:54:30.100 can't grow fast enough. And ultimately, I think it's just 2226 01:54:30.100 --> 01:54:32.860 gonna be a strong year growth for them. For me, we're closing 2227 01:54:32.860 --> 01:54:36.370 strong, this will be the best year we've ever had coming off 2228 01:54:36.370 --> 01:54:39.670 of the best year we've ever had before that so we're growing by 2229 01:54:39.670 --> 01:54:43.360 50 to 200% year over year. So what's good for the funders is 2230 01:54:43.360 --> 01:54:47.650 good for us. Ultimately, there's still work and 2022 is shaping 2231 01:54:47.650 --> 01:54:50.500 up to be another strong year I guess. 2232 01:54:50.530 --> 01:54:52.390 Johny Fernandez: So for people watching what would you tell 2233 01:54:52.390 --> 01:54:55.480 them in regards to being here and you know, just your 2234 01:54:55.480 --> 01:54:55.870 experience. 2235 01:55:02.170 --> 01:55:04.570 Shawn Smith: I travel over 30 times a year to events. So we 2236 01:55:04.570 --> 01:55:07.150 serve as banks, leasing companies, FinTech companies. 2237 01:55:07.510 --> 01:55:11.440 This is the number one event I go to. And I'm not, I'm not just 2238 01:55:11.440 --> 01:55:13.600 saying that because we're hanging out here it's literally 2239 01:55:13.600 --> 01:55:17.500 the number one event because it's the spot for the industry. 2240 01:55:18.190 --> 01:55:22.420 You got to be here, you know, the networking is literally the 2241 01:55:22.420 --> 01:55:25.270 best they do all year. And the nice thing is, people are so 2242 01:55:25.270 --> 01:55:29.920 excited to be back in person. That just every conversation is 2243 01:55:29.920 --> 01:55:31.870 exciting, because it's like, Hey, I haven't seen you two 2244 01:55:31.870 --> 01:55:34.390 years or Hey, nice to meet you. Everybody's open. Everybody 2245 01:55:34.390 --> 01:55:38.080 wants to talk business. So you know, it's just the event to be 2246 01:55:38.080 --> 01:55:40.270 at. It's always been great for us. We're always happy to be a 2247 01:55:40.270 --> 01:55:41.440 sponsor and be a part of it. 2248 01:55:41.500 --> 01:55:43.090 Johny Fernandez: Awesome well thank you so much for your time. 2249 01:55:43.120 --> 01:55:44.680 Shawn Smith: Yeah, thank you Johny, pleasure. 2250 01:55:44.710 --> 01:55:47.350 Johny Fernandez: Thank you guys. And like, like we've been 2251 01:55:47.350 --> 01:55:50.110 talking about we've been having different topics and different 2252 01:55:50.110 --> 01:55:52.810 conversations with different discussions. And we're going to 2253 01:55:52.810 --> 01:55:57.100 go to a video now regarding Oz Konar, he is the first speaker 2254 01:55:57.100 --> 01:55:59.590 in the main hall right now. And he's going to give us a little 2255 01:55:59.590 --> 01:56:03.340 quick conversation and a little quick discussion regarding what 2256 01:56:03.340 --> 01:56:06.910 he's speaking about. Some people live here today in person, let's 2257 01:56:06.910 --> 01:56:07.240 take a look. 2258 01:56:20.080 --> 01:56:24.010 For more than a decade, Better Accounting Solutions, CEO David 2259 01:56:24.040 --> 01:56:27.670 Roitblat has helped MCA companies manage their finances. 2260 01:56:27.990 --> 01:56:31.980 David Roitblat: Our main focus, right now with with the MCA 2261 01:56:31.980 --> 01:56:36.270 space, there are two ways of calculating or recognizing 2262 01:56:36.390 --> 01:56:40.740 income. Primarily, I mean, technically, you can like seven 2263 01:56:40.740 --> 01:56:43.380 ways of recognizing income for a funding company. But there are 2264 01:56:43.380 --> 01:56:47.760 two main ways of recognizing income and what we call cash and 2265 01:56:47.760 --> 01:56:50.490 accrual for the MCA space. 2266 01:56:50.520 --> 01:56:53.250 Johny Fernandez: Why is it important for an accountant to 2267 01:56:53.250 --> 01:56:55.800 have knowledge of this specific field? 2268 01:56:56.020 --> 01:56:59.050 David Roitblat: That's a good question because many, many 2269 01:56:59.080 --> 01:57:03.400 accountants, from very nice firms that I've spoken to in the 2270 01:57:03.400 --> 01:57:09.550 past, do not get the difference between an advance and a loan. 2271 01:57:10.060 --> 01:57:12.250 Johny Fernandez: He shared with me the importance of choosing 2272 01:57:12.250 --> 01:57:13.360 the right accounting firm. 2273 01:57:13.660 --> 01:57:16.900 David Roitblat: Most funders, after having a five minute 2274 01:57:16.900 --> 01:57:20.020 conversation with the whoever they're interviewing to do their 2275 01:57:20.020 --> 01:57:23.860 accounting, they'll know if they understand this space. The real 2276 01:57:23.860 --> 01:57:26.800 question is, even if they understand this space, will they 2277 01:57:26.800 --> 01:57:31.150 be able to book all that information at one time, so an 2278 01:57:31.150 --> 01:57:34.600 average company, let's say, they're funding 40, 50 deals a 2279 01:57:34.600 --> 01:57:40.570 month, the average deal, let's say is over seven months, you're 2280 01:57:40.570 --> 01:57:46.630 gonna have compounding 40 deals that every month, every deal, if 2281 01:57:46.660 --> 01:57:50.050 we're going to book everything every day, for the pay back, 2282 01:57:50.440 --> 01:57:55.000 you're gonna have a bunch of debits and credits that you have 2283 01:57:55.000 --> 01:57:56.200 to manually do. 2284 01:57:56.530 --> 01:57:58.480 Johny Fernandez: Roitblat explained how they can get the 2285 01:57:58.480 --> 01:58:01.090 data they need, and why it has to be corrected. 2286 01:58:01.360 --> 01:58:04.360 David Roitblat: The trick here is to know how to grab all that 2287 01:58:04.360 --> 01:58:08.440 data. And make it practical for one person to do that, if you 2288 01:58:08.440 --> 01:58:10.930 try to do that manually, you're going to have every day's work 2289 01:58:10.930 --> 01:58:14.440 is going to take you three months, our firm, Better 2290 01:58:14.440 --> 01:58:20.350 Accounting perfected the art of doing this. So we went into the 2291 01:58:20.350 --> 01:58:26.140 nitty gritty of each CRM system. And we grab all the data from 2292 01:58:26.140 --> 01:58:32.050 there, and we have Excel do 95% of the work for us. And then we 2293 01:58:32.050 --> 01:58:34.990 upload everything into QuickBooks. So that's how we 2294 01:58:34.990 --> 01:58:40.300 capture everything. I do want to point out, it is super important 2295 01:58:40.300 --> 01:58:44.560 we that Better Accounting Solutions mission every month, 2296 01:58:44.710 --> 01:58:48.340 let me repeat that Better Accounting Solutions mission is 2297 01:58:48.340 --> 01:58:53.020 to give every month a proper income statement and balance 2298 01:58:53.020 --> 01:58:56.380 sheet that our clients can make decisions off that they can rely 2299 01:58:56.380 --> 01:58:56.590 on. 2300 01:58:57.000 --> 01:58:59.400 Johny Fernandez: Is there anything particular to watch out 2301 01:58:59.400 --> 01:59:03.270 for or think about when it comes to booking syndication, for 2302 01:59:03.270 --> 01:59:03.810 example? 2303 01:59:04.440 --> 01:59:11.190 David Roitblat: So, yes, it's very important that you track 2304 01:59:11.190 --> 01:59:15.390 syndication, you know, to the T, because, you know, you're 2305 01:59:15.390 --> 01:59:17.190 dealing with someone else's money and you want you want to 2306 01:59:17.190 --> 01:59:20.190 make sure that if they ask for any reports, everything's gonna 2307 01:59:20.190 --> 01:59:24.900 come back perfect. And you pay them back the amount that 2308 01:59:24.900 --> 01:59:26.580 belongs to them, you didn't overpay them, you didn't 2309 01:59:26.580 --> 01:59:29.280 underpay them. If you overpay them chances are you're not 2310 01:59:29.280 --> 01:59:31.020 going to see that money again. If you underpay them you're 2311 01:59:31.020 --> 01:59:32.670 going to hear about it and you're probably not going to get 2312 01:59:32.700 --> 01:59:37.860 get any further funds from them. So it's very important to always 2313 01:59:37.860 --> 01:59:40.830 have everything that you post in the CRM system, starting from 2314 01:59:40.830 --> 01:59:44.220 the CRM system match exactly what you know what have 2315 01:59:44.220 --> 01:59:47.760 happened. In regards to syndication or paying back the 2316 01:59:47.760 --> 01:59:48.390 advances. 2317 01:59:48.690 --> 01:59:50.850 Johny Fernandez: Bad bookkeeping could jeopardize an entire 2318 01:59:50.850 --> 01:59:51.960 funding business. 2319 01:59:52.290 --> 01:59:54.270 David Roitblat: If you book things wrong, there's gonna be a 2320 01:59:54.270 --> 01:59:58.710 lot of upset people. Of course the funders are gonna be upset 2321 01:59:58.710 --> 02:00:02.670 but also there gonna lose the trust of all their syndicators 2322 02:00:03.480 --> 02:00:06.090 and they're gonna lose the trust of their investors the way they 2323 02:00:06.090 --> 02:00:10.380 file taxes is going to be wrong. So they may way overstate or 2324 02:00:10.380 --> 02:00:15.750 understate their taxes if they overstate, again, paying a lot 2325 02:00:15.750 --> 02:00:19.320 more taxes than they should. And now they have less capital 2326 02:00:19.320 --> 02:00:22.230 available to them. If they understate they may be paying 2327 02:00:22.530 --> 02:00:27.000 interest and penalties for overstating there there, it can 2328 02:00:27.000 --> 02:00:27.990 cause some legal issues. 2329 02:00:27.990 --> 02:00:30.180 Johny Fernandez: Let's talk about the software that funders 2330 02:00:30.180 --> 02:00:34.830 should be using to keep their books in good working order to 2331 02:00:34.830 --> 02:00:36.300 make sure things are organized. 2332 02:00:36.540 --> 02:00:39.720 David Roitblat: We currently work with five main CRM systems, 2333 02:00:39.780 --> 02:00:43.290 the end software is always going to be QuickBooks biased. So we 2334 02:00:43.290 --> 02:00:48.390 typically work now with Len SAS, MCA Track, MCA Suites, Centrex 2335 02:00:48.570 --> 02:00:53.010 and Orgmeter. And then some people have their own CRM 2336 02:00:53.010 --> 02:00:54.750 systems that they built on their own. And we've worked with that 2337 02:00:54.750 --> 02:00:58.830 as well. And we have many clients that built CRM systems 2338 02:00:58.830 --> 02:01:02.460 on Salesforce. And it's typically it's typically 2339 02:01:02.460 --> 02:01:06.150 customized for the client. But you know, there all more or less 2340 02:01:06.150 --> 02:01:09.690 the same if, if the client can use it, it's not rocket science, 2341 02:01:10.020 --> 02:01:12.270 we can, you know, we'll figure it out. Right now we're working 2342 02:01:12.270 --> 02:01:17.370 with those, the main those main five, CRM systems, we know them 2343 02:01:17.370 --> 02:01:21.330 inside out. And we're pretty satisfied with all of them. 2344 02:01:21.390 --> 02:01:23.340 Johny Fernandez: His advice for those looking to hire an 2345 02:01:23.340 --> 02:01:25.200 accountant is to choose wisely. 2346 02:01:25.360 --> 02:01:27.730 David Roitblat: The number one thing, before anybody hires an 2347 02:01:27.730 --> 02:01:31.150 accountant or bookkeeper, they should always make sure that 2348 02:01:31.150 --> 02:01:34.720 they understand the principles of accounting. And the reason 2349 02:01:34.720 --> 02:01:38.230 why that's so important is that when you when you book an item 2350 02:01:38.770 --> 02:01:41.770 in QuickBooks, and CRM system, eventually that ends up on the 2351 02:01:41.800 --> 02:01:44.920 income statement balance sheet. If you book the item wrong, 2352 02:01:46.090 --> 02:01:48.850 you're gonna mess up the income statement and balance sheet. If 2353 02:01:49.300 --> 02:01:51.820 the person you're hiring, understands accounting 2354 02:01:51.820 --> 02:01:57.010 principles, they're, they're not likely to make those same 2355 02:01:57.040 --> 02:02:01.480 typical bookkeeping mistakes. So that's number one, is to be more 2356 02:02:01.480 --> 02:02:06.490 specific with the MCA space, you want to make sure that the that 2357 02:02:06.520 --> 02:02:08.110 whoever you're hiring understands the difference 2358 02:02:08.110 --> 02:02:10.990 between a loan and the difference between an advance 2359 02:02:11.770 --> 02:02:16.210 and all parts of that they have to understand how syndicators 2360 02:02:16.630 --> 02:02:19.300 want to see their reports, they have to understand how Hedge 2361 02:02:19.300 --> 02:02:21.340 Funds wants to see their reports and they have to understand how 2362 02:02:21.760 --> 02:02:25.270 a typical investor wants to see their reports. And then of 2363 02:02:25.270 --> 02:02:27.760 course, they also have to understand how the owner of the 2364 02:02:27.760 --> 02:02:29.080 MCA wants to see their reports. 2365 02:02:29.260 --> 02:02:31.000 Johny Fernandez: Better Accounting Solutions office 2366 02:02:31.000 --> 02:02:34.570 never closed and Roitblat says he saw the way clients handled 2367 02:02:34.570 --> 02:02:35.050 COVID. 2368 02:02:35.050 --> 02:02:38.078 David Roitblat: During COVID, there were two ways of dealing 2369 02:02:38.147 --> 02:02:42.151 with the situation. Either you stopped funding, just until 2370 02:02:42.221 --> 02:02:46.501 things got better, you know, you want to make sure that you're 2371 02:02:46.571 --> 02:02:50.921 safe. Or you took advantage of the situation. And because there 2372 02:02:50.990 --> 02:02:55.271 was less supply of funders, the demand went up. So you're able 2373 02:02:55.340 --> 02:02:59.483 to charge a higher factor rate for a shorter period of time. 2374 02:02:59.552 --> 02:03:03.764 And be very picky on who you decide to approve. So my clients 2375 02:03:03.764 --> 02:03:03.833 And despite COVID changing the market Roitblat, predicts 2376 02:03:03.833 --> 02:03:08.990 that were funding during COVID, were earning three, four times 2377 02:03:08.990 --> 02:03:12.187 the frock profit per deal. Because of that, because it was 2378 02:03:12.256 --> 02:03:16.399 in a shorter period of time. So their turning over the funds 2379 02:03:16.468 --> 02:03:20.266 sooner, and they got safer clients, because there was a 2380 02:03:20.335 --> 02:03:24.340 very high demand and there wasn't a big supply of funders, 2381 02:03:24.409 --> 02:03:28.207 and they had less defaults. So all that played into the 2382 02:03:28.276 --> 02:03:32.280 compounding effect. So the clients that funded during that 2383 02:03:32.349 --> 02:03:36.630 period or the clients that they actually or the merchants that 2384 02:03:36.699 --> 02:03:40.635 they actually funded, they actually earned probably about 2385 02:03:40.704 --> 02:03:43.950 three times more, on average, over that period. 2386 02:03:46.910 --> 02:03:48.530 changes will continue to come. 2387 02:03:48.530 --> 02:03:52.417 So in my opinion, I don't think the markets settled yet. And we 2388 02:03:52.487 --> 02:03:56.553 keep on having these waves of the government infusing cash 2389 02:03:56.623 --> 02:04:00.900 into into the market. And when it's a good for MCA companies, 2390 02:04:00.970 --> 02:04:04.686 it's a good thing and a bad thing. It's a good thing, 2391 02:04:04.756 --> 02:04:08.893 because those merchants have more funds. So they're able to 2392 02:04:08.963 --> 02:04:13.029 pick a business and with that they're able to pay back, if 2393 02:04:13.099 --> 02:04:17.166 they're going through a hard time they're able to pay back 2394 02:04:17.236 --> 02:04:21.022 those advances on time and sooner. And so there's less 2395 02:04:21.092 --> 02:04:25.089 defaults, but it's not a good thing for MCA MCA companies 2396 02:04:25.159 --> 02:04:29.225 because when they're getting those advances, let's say SBA 2397 02:04:29.295 --> 02:04:33.432 loans or PPP loans and things like that, at that time, they 2398 02:04:33.502 --> 02:04:37.849 don't need advances from the MCA company. So we keep on seeing 2399 02:04:37.919 --> 02:04:42.056 these waves every time the government gives money there you 2400 02:04:42.126 --> 02:04:46.192 know that those months, we find that the MCA companies are 2401 02:04:46.262 --> 02:04:50.469 funding less. But the amount of funds that come back for the 2402 02:04:50.539 --> 02:04:54.956 following month or two or three usually is a better ratio on it 2403 02:04:55.026 --> 02:04:57.060 from a default point of view. 2404 02:04:57.060 --> 02:04:59.970 Johny Fernandez: And he shared what trends he's seen in the MCA 2405 02:04:59.970 --> 02:05:04.200 industry. So what trends are you seeing in the MCA industry right 2406 02:05:04.200 --> 02:05:04.560 now? 2407 02:05:05.080 --> 02:05:10.570 David Roitblat: I do see a lot of brokers at some point, become 2408 02:05:10.570 --> 02:05:14.770 funders. I'm seeing a lot of that. And it typically starts 2409 02:05:14.770 --> 02:05:17.710 with most brokers like to syndicate on their own deals, 2410 02:05:19.150 --> 02:05:22.480 which is acceptable, and it's beneficial for the merge for the 2411 02:05:22.480 --> 02:05:24.940 MCA company to allow them to do that, because they have skin in 2412 02:05:24.940 --> 02:05:27.040 the game, they're gonna make sure that they're bringing them 2413 02:05:27.340 --> 02:05:31.600 good deals. But at some point, the brokers see that they're 2414 02:05:31.720 --> 02:05:36.430 doing so well with syndicating on their own deals, they're 2415 02:05:36.430 --> 02:05:40.090 like, why shouldn't I open up my own company? Now, there are 2416 02:05:40.090 --> 02:05:42.670 issues that come with that. If you open up your own company, 2417 02:05:42.670 --> 02:05:44.740 you have to know how to underwrite, you have to have a 2418 02:05:44.740 --> 02:05:46.780 collections firm, you have to have a proper legal team, you 2419 02:05:46.780 --> 02:05:49.240 have to have a proper CRM system that's gonna track everything, 2420 02:05:49.660 --> 02:05:53.890 you have to have a proper accountant. That's why we 2421 02:05:53.950 --> 02:05:59.350 typically when we are approached by a broker that's looking to 2422 02:05:59.350 --> 02:06:03.070 open up an MCA firm, we will hold our hand through the that 2423 02:06:03.070 --> 02:06:08.170 entire process, we'll connect it will connect them to a legal 2424 02:06:08.170 --> 02:06:11.440 team, we'll connect them to a collections team, we'll collect 2425 02:06:11.440 --> 02:06:15.610 them to an underwriter, we may even connect them to investors 2426 02:06:15.640 --> 02:06:19.900 and syndicators so they can get off the ground. And of course, 2427 02:06:19.990 --> 02:06:23.410 we set them up with a proper bank that is friendly to the MCA 2428 02:06:23.440 --> 02:06:27.640 space, we'll set up a proper CRM system with proper Ach, whole 2429 02:06:27.700 --> 02:06:30.790 company or program, and that we'll make sure that everything 2430 02:06:30.850 --> 02:06:34.480 is smooth from the start. And then it's easier to get 2431 02:06:34.480 --> 02:06:37.390 investors, you can be in business for six months, and 2432 02:06:37.630 --> 02:06:40.810 bring in investors, I will we'll be happy to put in two to $5 2433 02:06:40.810 --> 02:06:43.720 million. If you have proper books, and you're set up 2434 02:06:43.720 --> 02:06:44.170 properly. 2435 02:06:44.260 --> 02:06:46.870 Johny Fernandez: His advice for new market entrants is to not 2436 02:06:46.870 --> 02:06:48.520 skimp on the nuts and bolts. 2437 02:06:48.520 --> 02:06:51.787 David Roitblat: It's super important that you have a good 2438 02:06:48.690 --> 02:06:51.867 And for someone who wants to be a broker? 2439 02:06:51.867 --> 02:06:55.945 relationship with your accountant. With your legal 2440 02:06:55.945 --> 02:07:00.582 team, you're set up properly from day one. So if something 2441 02:07:00.662 --> 02:07:05.539 happens, you're protected. If you don't do proper accounting, 2442 02:07:05.619 --> 02:07:10.016 a typical example that most people don't realize if you 2443 02:07:10.096 --> 02:07:14.973 spend personal expenses through your corporation bank account 2444 02:07:15.053 --> 02:07:20.010 and you get sued one day, the opposing attorney can argue that 2445 02:07:20.010 --> 02:07:41.300 And you're asking if someone's going to be a broker, and 2446 02:07:20.089 --> 02:07:24.727 you're using your your LLC or corporation as your personal 2447 02:07:24.727 --> 02:07:30.003 bank account, and you should not have the protection that an LLC, 2448 02:07:30.083 --> 02:07:34.480 you know, protects you, they'll kind of help pierce the 2449 02:07:34.560 --> 02:07:35.760 corporate veil. 2450 02:07:41.300 --> 02:07:43.040 they're going to get into that they want to know what they're 2451 02:07:43.040 --> 02:07:46.640 going to what they're really getting into. My advice would be 2452 02:07:46.670 --> 02:07:50.990 to really just sit at a brokerage firm for two days, 2453 02:07:51.440 --> 02:07:54.980 you'll understand very well what you're getting into. So, you 2454 02:07:54.980 --> 02:07:57.470 know, as long as you just say stand and listen to the 2455 02:07:57.470 --> 02:08:01.940 conversations, and listen how how the brokers deal with the 2456 02:08:01.940 --> 02:08:04.640 merchants, and then you'll know what you're getting into, you 2457 02:08:04.640 --> 02:08:07.700 know they'rethey're always the right way of doing things and 2458 02:08:07.700 --> 02:08:10.460 the wrong way of doing things. And you want, you may just you 2459 02:08:10.460 --> 02:08:15.170 may be at the wrong broker firm. And that might not be for you 2460 02:08:15.530 --> 02:08:18.740 try at another broker firm, they may be more honest, more 2461 02:08:18.770 --> 02:08:21.110 straightforward with their clients. And that's where 2462 02:08:21.110 --> 02:08:24.560 they're growing. So, you know, you'll just want to be careful 2463 02:08:24.560 --> 02:08:26.750 and who you're going into business. But if you're going to 2464 02:08:26.750 --> 02:08:30.200 work for someone you want make sure that their team is a honest 2465 02:08:30.200 --> 02:08:30.470 team. 2466 02:08:31.010 --> 02:08:33.230 Johny Fernandez: In Manhattan, I'm Johny Fernandez with 2467 02:08:33.260 --> 02:08:34.250 deBanked News. 2468 02:08:44.510 --> 02:08:47.120 Here with Dassie Cole from Better Accounting Solutions, 2469 02:08:47.360 --> 02:08:50.030 Dassie, it's great to see you, people are familiar with you, 2470 02:08:50.030 --> 02:08:54.530 you've been on our videos before. So Dassie, Broker Fair 2471 02:08:54.530 --> 02:08:58.010 2021 walk me through so far, what's your experience been like 2472 02:08:58.010 --> 02:08:58.580 here today? 2473 02:08:59.650 --> 02:09:02.020 Dassi Cole: First off, I want to say that it's just amazing to be 2474 02:09:02.020 --> 02:09:05.590 back and to see all of our friends that we've been, you 2475 02:09:05.590 --> 02:09:08.740 know, coming to the fairs and seeing them not having that for 2476 02:09:08.740 --> 02:09:11.560 the last two years. It's so nice to be back and actually seeing 2477 02:09:11.560 --> 02:09:15.850 everyone face to face again. So all that is behind us now we 2478 02:09:15.850 --> 02:09:20.230 could continue on with going into 2022 stronger than everyone 2479 02:09:20.290 --> 02:09:21.460 ever so. 2480 02:09:21.460 --> 02:09:23.110 Johny Fernandez: So walk me through. I mean, there's been a 2481 02:09:23.110 --> 02:09:25.810 lot of different discussions and different panels and different 2482 02:09:25.810 --> 02:09:28.090 networking. What's been your favorite thing so far? 2483 02:09:28.720 --> 02:09:32.920 Dassi Cole: Mainly, because I'm down at the vendor table. Just 2484 02:09:32.920 --> 02:09:37.030 meeting the familiar faces and seeing how everybody's business 2485 02:09:37.030 --> 02:09:42.730 is doing to date. And just, you know, networking, setting up 2486 02:09:42.730 --> 02:09:45.670 meetings already, you know, people want to move fast. So 2487 02:09:45.700 --> 02:09:48.730 even tomorrow, we have meeting so it's working out you know, 2488 02:09:48.730 --> 02:09:49.420 it's really great. 2489 02:09:49.769 --> 02:09:52.019 Johny Fernandez: So let's talk a little bit about there's been a 2490 02:09:52.019 --> 02:09:55.079 lot of changes a lot of new people, what advice would you 2491 02:09:55.079 --> 02:09:57.239 have to new people that are just starting in the business? 2492 02:09:57.810 --> 02:10:01.290 Dassi Cole: I would say just have everything in place, your 2493 02:10:01.290 --> 02:10:06.240 goals in place have a platform before you start the company 2494 02:10:06.960 --> 02:10:09.990 being you know bookkeeping I could tell you you know having 2495 02:10:09.990 --> 02:10:13.590 your books done proper from the beginning from the gecko they'll 2496 02:10:13.590 --> 02:10:17.160 help you you know gear your financials for the future so 2497 02:10:17.160 --> 02:10:19.680 that you know exactly what's going on in your business so 2498 02:10:19.800 --> 02:10:22.170 just having a you called platform and there's so many you 2499 02:10:22.170 --> 02:10:24.840 know companies that you can be here at Broker Fair that can 2500 02:10:24.840 --> 02:10:27.780 even help you get to those goals. 2501 02:10:27.870 --> 02:10:30.270 Johny Fernandez: So let's talk a little bit more about you know, 2502 02:10:30.270 --> 02:10:32.070 the different panels that have gone on there's been 2503 02:10:32.070 --> 02:10:35.250 conversations regarding like the Great Debate then like New York 2504 02:10:35.250 --> 02:10:37.440 law just a lot of different things. What's been your 2505 02:10:37.440 --> 02:10:37.890 favorite? 2506 02:10:38.790 --> 02:10:40.740 Dassi Cole: Well, I haven't really had a chance to go into 2507 02:10:40.740 --> 02:10:43.770 any of those panels as of yet since I've been downstairs at 2508 02:10:43.770 --> 02:10:47.070 the vendor table where it's pretty packed now at this time 2509 02:10:47.070 --> 02:10:51.090 so been pretty much dealing with that not so much the panels 2510 02:10:51.090 --> 02:10:54.030 although I'm sure later on today I'll get into one or two. 2511 02:10:54.480 --> 02:10:56.070 Johny Fernandez: So what would you say to someone that's 2512 02:10:56.070 --> 02:10:58.290 watching this that isn't at Broker Fair because they 2513 02:10:58.290 --> 02:11:01.080 couldn't make it or you know, life happens or whatever what 2514 02:11:01.080 --> 02:11:02.370 would you say to them watching this? 2515 02:11:03.180 --> 02:11:05.760 Dassi Cole: Keep checking deBanked.com make sure that you 2516 02:11:05.760 --> 02:11:10.050 get on to the next show because it's definitely worthwhile to 2517 02:11:10.110 --> 02:11:14.220 you know, meet people and also it's a it's a great turnout 2518 02:11:14.250 --> 02:11:16.620 you'll you know, meet your friends probably that you've 2519 02:11:16.620 --> 02:11:21.540 never seen before and just speak to them on a daily basis. So I 2520 02:11:21.540 --> 02:11:24.000 would say you know, definitely come check out the next one 2521 02:11:24.060 --> 02:11:25.200 wherever it is, you know. 2522 02:11:25.830 --> 02:11:27.030 Johny Fernandez: Awesome. Well, thank you so much Dassi. 2523 02:11:27.030 --> 02:11:27.540 Dassi Cole: Thank you 2524 02:11:56.640 --> 02:11:58.740 Unknown: If you're trying to get in, this is the place to be. 2525 02:11:59.280 --> 02:12:01.410 Great to be back out to be in person. 2526 02:12:01.890 --> 02:12:03.840 Nice to put a face on the voice. 2527 02:12:04.740 --> 02:12:07.680 I was very excited to meet with a lot of my ISO shop. 2528 02:12:08.160 --> 02:12:11.760 I personally love Broker Fair. I think it's such a unique 2529 02:12:11.850 --> 02:12:13.140 experience and event. 2530 02:12:13.980 --> 02:12:17.910 This is the premier event to be part of if you are in the 2531 02:12:17.910 --> 02:12:19.260 alternative lending space. 2532 02:12:31.560 --> 02:12:33.990 The Broker Fair bringing everybody together allows us to 2533 02:12:33.990 --> 02:12:37.170 have that one time a year where we can really all take advantage 2534 02:12:37.170 --> 02:12:38.430 of everybody's experiences.