1 00:00:00.190 --> 00:00:03.480 Walk me through, I mean, what's, uh, what's been the highlight of your, 2 00:00:03.480 --> 00:00:04.760 of your business this year? 3 00:00:05.990 --> 00:00:09.200 Well, we've done a lot with the ERCs, which is fantastic. Um, 4 00:00:09.200 --> 00:00:13.800 obviously the ERCs are, are coming to, uh, a messy point. Um, 5 00:00:13.960 --> 00:00:16.960 Q one and Q two were a little bit difficult when it comes to the merchant cash 6 00:00:16.960 --> 00:00:18.960 advance funding. We felt like we were funding more last year, 7 00:00:19.260 --> 00:00:20.920 but as in the last couple months, 8 00:00:20.920 --> 00:00:23.200 it seems like small businesses are biding quite a bit more. 9 00:00:23.340 --> 00:00:26.760 So our funding numbers are increasing. Um, but us personally, 10 00:00:26.760 --> 00:00:28.600 we're going through a lot of different structural, uh, 11 00:00:28.600 --> 00:00:32.200 changes which we're excited about adding on different groups of people in terms 12 00:00:32.200 --> 00:00:35.200 of digital marketing and, uh, other types of inbound leads. 13 00:00:35.200 --> 00:00:37.080 So that's what we're most excited about for the year. 14 00:00:37.460 --> 00:00:39.520 So, coming to Southern California, I mean, 15 00:00:39.520 --> 00:00:42.640 you're obviously here for networking to improve your business. 16 00:00:43.060 --> 00:00:45.240 How does coming out here help your business? So, 17 00:00:46.350 --> 00:00:51.000 Well, I got to put a lot of faces to names. Uh, met a lot of lead providers. 18 00:00:51.140 --> 00:00:51.480 Um, 19 00:00:51.480 --> 00:00:55.120 I just listened to the seminar with Lendio and that was absolutely fantastic to 20 00:00:55.400 --> 00:00:58.800 speaking on behalf of how the entire industry needs to innovate so we can 21 00:00:58.800 --> 00:01:02.280 compete against players like Intuit, Amazon, uh, PayPal, 22 00:01:02.420 --> 00:01:06.080 and Loan builder players like this that are basically giving instant approvals 23 00:01:06.080 --> 00:01:07.080 on their loans. Um, 24 00:01:07.080 --> 00:01:10.320 it's definitely something that we need to take a peek at in regards to changing 25 00:01:10.380 --> 00:01:12.240 the way that we all do things. Um, 26 00:01:12.280 --> 00:01:14.960 I feel like there's a lot of brokerage shops out there that are still just doing 27 00:01:15.220 --> 00:01:17.480 the mundane cold calling to try to get a position done, 28 00:01:17.500 --> 00:01:20.440 and they're looking to maximize revenue charging, you know, 29 00:01:20.440 --> 00:01:22.240 maybe fees at the end of the deal, you know, 30 00:01:22.240 --> 00:01:25.560 that might not be the best way to retain clients long term. So that was really, 31 00:01:25.580 --> 00:01:29.720 uh, informative. In addition to that, um, you know, just a lot of, uh, uh, 32 00:01:29.720 --> 00:01:33.400 particular funders that we are not signed up with or funders that maybe we had a 33 00:01:33.560 --> 00:01:35.600 relationship with in the past that we could rekindle. So, 34 00:01:36.180 --> 00:01:39.360 So for you, for you guys, I mean, what's, uh, 2024 hold? Like 35 00:01:40.140 --> 00:01:44.160 2024 holds a lot of recruitment, I will say. Um, 36 00:01:44.420 --> 00:01:48.800 we had quite a bit of players that were on our team in 2022 and going into the 37 00:01:48.800 --> 00:01:51.960 beginning of 2023, we've cut, we trended a lot of fat, 38 00:01:51.960 --> 00:01:54.800 which I'm excited about giving us an opportunity to kinda rebuild. 39 00:01:54.900 --> 00:01:58.760 But 2024 is gonna come with a couple new offices and a lot of recruitment. 40 00:01:59.180 --> 00:02:02.400 And then overall, I mean, you, you're c e o, you're young. 41 00:02:02.430 --> 00:02:05.440 What advice would you give to other young guys trying to get their foot into 42 00:02:05.440 --> 00:02:06.273 this business? 43 00:02:06.340 --> 00:02:08.080 Do not take no for an answer. I mean, 44 00:02:08.150 --> 00:02:12.960 when we first started it was Cisco tables and laptops and, you know, 45 00:02:12.960 --> 00:02:15.880 college students working during the covid years, right? 46 00:02:15.900 --> 00:02:19.240 Or during the covid year. Um, you know, they're let go, let out a, uh, 47 00:02:19.240 --> 00:02:21.960 classes let out of, let out of, uh, of work. 48 00:02:22.140 --> 00:02:25.560 So that's what I would say is just do you gotta find a, 49 00:02:25.560 --> 00:02:28.440 an just speaking on behalf of Linda, you gotta find innovative ways to, 50 00:02:28.500 --> 00:02:29.880 to get what you need to get done. 51 00:02:30.020 --> 00:02:33.000 You can't take no for an answer and don't be scared to make mistakes.