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Hey guys, I am back here with Sean Smith from Dedicated Financial,

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the CEO of Dedicated. So Sean,

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tell me what is it like being back in New York from Minnesota? I know you had a,

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a little bit of a travel, um, for Broker Fair this year.

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Well, first it was great getting off the plane and it was actually warm here,

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so I started thawing out as soon as I landed. But, uh, you know,

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I'll tell you what, we've been coming to everyday Bank show since inception,

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never missed an event, and it has been a, a critical event for us every year.

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And, uh, it's just led to so much growth and connections and relationships.

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So it's just exciting to be back. We love the big Apple. I mean,

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nothing beats it, right? So it's excited to be back.

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So tell me, we have a long day ahead of us.

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What are you looking forward to most throughout the event today?

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I feel like I'm gonna not give the best example, just feeling like, uh,

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better on the block for a while, but just connecting with my friends,

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to be honest with you at this point, uh, you know,

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being around this industry for the last 13 years, um,

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it's just seeing people that, you know, connecting,

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asking how people are doing right now, we're really relevant, unfortunately,

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or fortunately, depending on, on who you are. So I just, I,

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I love the connections that some of my best friends are here in New York.

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I know if I come into the city, my schedule's always gonna be busy, uh,

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just like here. So it's just fun to connect with my friends and,

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and say hi and see how we're doing and how the business is.

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So being a veteran in the game,

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how has the industry kind of changed from when you first started to today?

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Yeah, I mean, there's just more businesses in the space, both in MySpace,

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in the funding space, in the broker space. It, it's, it's really packed in, um,

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it regulation oversight has come in and is trying to come in more, which,

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uh, I think is a good thing. Mm-hmm. Uh,

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as long as we can work with the legislators to do it responsibly. Right. Um,

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and I think that with these kind of shaky times that we're going through right

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now, it may thin the hurt a little bit, uh, which can kind of be painful,

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but in that can be great opportunity, uh, for those who, uh,

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are nimble enough to pivot and, and to stay, uh, relevant. And honestly,

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I think the next biggest thing to be looking forward to is what's going on with

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ai. I think that is gonna change the game. It already is.

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And if you don't realize that you're, you're already missing the boat, really.

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It definitely is changing the game.

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And are there any hurdles that dedicated may have had to come over or

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overcome, I should say? Um, going into 2023,

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Our biggest one is growth. Mm-hmm. And so I'm really in the process of, uh,

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growing the office to over 160 person office when most

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people are setting people home, working remote, downsizing their office,

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things like that. But just due to economic times,

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our volume has dramatically increased. Mm-hmm.

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And so the hurdle has been being here,

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but still working with someone as I get my old space subleased as I build out my

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new space, you know what I mean?

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It's just like fast growth time for us and doing that responsibly and doing it

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well for our clients.

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Well, you put on a pretty good game phase. So I,

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I hope the event goes well for you today, Sean,

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and you make a ton of connections and I will see you throughout the event.

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Thanks Anaya. Appreciate it. Of course. Thank you.