The Zach and Pat Show
62. Figure It TF Out (feat. Ryan Hansen)
(upbeat music) What is up guys, welcome back to the Zach of Pat Show. I'm Zach, I'm Pat. This is the show about manhood, fatherhood, entrepreneurship and the mentality it takes to be successful at those things. And we'll probably sprinkle in some helpful, real estate advice too, 'cause that's what Pat and I do. You know guys, life can be tough. You can go through some things and struggle at times, but this is the show to let you know that you're not alone. So if you're someone out there going through any of these things, this is the show for you. Shout out to our friends at Neurogum for keeping us energized and focused. Neurogum is a chewing gum as well as they have mince. And yeah, it keeps, it's got caffeine, healthy ending, vitamins B6 and 12, helps with memory and focus. I like to chew it really all the time. If I'm driving around, showing houses without my clients, if it's laying later in the afternoon and I don't wanna grab another coffee or any drink and I just need a little something, I'll just pop a piece of Neurogum. So get out there and try some Neurogum. - Also producer Murph here on behalf of Captain BeardCo, we are a St. Louis local grooming company. We aim to create a product that is simple and formula. I mean, we have like seven or less ingredients in every given product and something that we actually make by hand. And I know from personal experience, I, whenever I started my men's grooming journey, really taking care of my beard, sculpting it, shaping it, making sure that it looked presentable and took pride in my appearance. One of the things is I wanted to invest in some men's grooming products. A lot of the beard oils I've used in the past have been really greasy and ruby and stain your clothes and let, otherwise, leave residue on your hands. You won't get that with us. We have amazing scents. We have a few amazing products and at the end of the day, we are all about educating you on why you should use something instead of just hoisting product your way. So if you're a man looking to groom better, or if you're someone who wants to get something for a man who's looking to groom better, give us a check out at Captain BeardCo. - All right guys. And now to introduce our awesome guest today. A friend of mine, he's a real estate agent. He's lived, I feel like a numerous lives and we're going to get into all that. The great and powerful, Ryan Hanson. - What's up guys? - What's up dude? - Thanks for coming on, man. - Thanks for coming on, man. - It's part of the introduction, all right. - Absolutely, bro. Well, yeah, we were kind of talking before the show. You and I got to know each other through first form originally and, you know, you obviously started training Jiu Jitsu at Watson's a little bit ago. - Thanks to you dude. - Yeah, you were the push. - Well, thanks. I'm glad you showed, I'm glad you ended up showing up 'cause I mean-- - Makes everyone drink the punch. - Yeah. - It's like, dude, it's like, I feel like I just try to convince everybody I know. - Dude, wow, that's the same point. - You just wants to beat the shit out of all of us. - It's like, yeah, come on, come on. - Yeah, come on, I want to beat you guys up. I'm not going to show you that I'm a tough guy. - Yeah, so we, yeah, Zach, we go back probably, we were just talking about like 2016 when I was in first form. I think we actually first met at Summer's Mash, the first Summer's Mash. And yeah, we've been in and out of each other's lives ever since and I think now with Jiu Jitsu, thanks to you, I see you way more often, and thanks for having me in. - Of course, man, yeah. So yeah, those one thing I wanted to ask you is, and kind of whatever happened with first form, 'cause I don't believe you're with them anymore. - Yeah, so I got with them in 2015. I was one of the first athletes that won the athlete's search. That was the original like five. There was like me, Big Thai, Marissa, Amy. At that point, first one was just starting out. They were in Green Park. They had small little headquarters. It was a crazy story how I got into that with Sal and Andy, and it was a complete surprise. And I became an athlete. I was with them until I basically shut down my gym. So before real estate, I was a personal trainer. I had a gym for probably my own gym for probably three or four years. And then I just got burnt out on fitness, being a trainer, being like an expensive babysitter at the end of the day, you know, you're just kind of making sure that the client stays consistent. And after 10 years of doing it, I was like, this isn't for me. So I shut down the gym, actually moved back to New York City, Brooklyn, where I'm from. And then with that transition, I think first one was just like, well, he's not really in the industry anymore. I've gone into restaurants and just kind of like part of ways, but it was like an unspoken thing. I, even with them, I kind of have always done my own thing. I didn't have the social media file. A lot of these guys had that had 500,600,000. I was just a local dude that had a gym. So I appreciated the opportunity 'cause it opened a lot of doors, but I never really felt like I fit in with what they were trying to go for, with that whole very heavy social media presence, very heavy sponsorships. And just really like, you know, just posting a lot. It wasn't my thing. I was training clients. - Yeah. - So yeah, no bad feelings. Nothing, you know, anything negative happened. Just parted ways. I'm not in the industry at all. I mean, obviously I work out. I stay in shape, but I'm not actively, you know, taking the supplements or training clients or doing online coaching. - Okay. I was always wondering kind of what happened. - Yeah, a lot of people ask me it. Yeah, just kind of like the progression of things. When I moved back to New York City, I just stopped getting the phone calls and obviously they're a huge company. I don't expect them to be like, "Hey, like let's sit down and talk." And I decided that my phone stopped ringing. So I was like, "All right, well, I guess that's the end of that." (laughing) - Fair enough. - Yeah. And then, yeah, I ended up moving back to St. Louis after New York when COVID hit. And then I got into restaurants and then got into real estate. I'd always been doing Airbnb, but now I'm also a full-time realtor. - I'm a realtor. - Yeah, just like you. And also, dude, you just do just like that. (laughing) - Would you agree that Brooklyn has the best pizza? - I mean, New York City has the best pizza. Do you know why? - Why is that? - The water. - That's what I was wondering. - So it's a harder water. So their bagels are really good. Well, I mean, I'm biased, but the bagels, the bread and the pizza tend to be just different based on the water. And when I moved to St. Louis, that was totally different pizza style that I never even-- - Everyone hates a pizza. - Everything was different, right? The water, the shape, the cheese you guys put on it. - Provel. - It was like, this is not pizza. - It's a cracker. - Yeah, for real. - So everyone says-- - I mean, I love it, but-- - And we love it. - I embraced the St. Louis culture behind it, but, you know, I'm a city, New York City, get a horse. - If you're not from here, you can't even adjust to it. - I've had it. - Like probably three or four times, and I'm just like, yeah, all right. - Yeah, it's fine for what it is. - If you're from here, in your blood, then it makes sense. - I think it's still better than Detroit style pizza, though. - Like-- - What's Detroit? - Little Caesars and Jets. - Like the thick, yeah. - It's the thick square. - It's like knock off Chicago pizza, if anything. - It's funny how different regions have different styles, right? - Yeah. - I think St. Louis, I think what we have is exclusive to us. - Yeah, and it's like, I don't think it's as popular, like, like, you feel like you can go anywhere in order, or you can, you've heard of Chicago style pizza. - It's a brand. - You've heard of that. - Yeah. - You've heard of that. - Or, but like, you know, I feel like it's St. Louis style. - Unless somebody is from St. Louis and Booth to a different place, I've heard that happen where people live in Florida and they'll have like, gooey butter cake and pizza, but they'll bring it, you know, like-- - They're from that. - They're transplant. - Our food probably has the biggest diabetes culture to it. - Yeah. - Dude, that was the thing with personal training. It was really hard to convince somebody to give up gooey butter cake and, like, butter wise, or it worked out, like, it was like going uphill. It was a swimming upstream, whereas, like, I felt like if I was in New York City, it's more health conscious. People are more aware to it. They're more willing to invest versus, unfortunately, our environment, people, yeah, don't want to give that shit up. - Right. - Am I allowed to curse on you? - Oh, yeah. - So, was your gym here in St. Louis? - Yeah. - Yeah, so I moved here in 2010, 2011 from New York City. - And what brought you here? - Originally a job. So I graduated college with a market. - Okay. - You know, it was destroyed and melted in 2008, 2009. And nobody in New York City, or even across the country, was hiring. Like, everything was going to shit. So I originally moved here to work with Wells Fargo on the fixed income and trading floor and kind of being like the liaison between a broker and an FAA. So it was like this weird, you know, it was the after college job that you're supposed to get when you have the degree. - Of course. - So I moved here, actually, still there, the Wells Fargo downtown. - Down to Jefferson? - Yeah, exactly. Off at Jefferson. And I did it for a month and hated it. I knew right away. Yeah, I was like, this is not for me. I went to school for entrepreneurship. I'd always thought I'd be a, you know, sole, solarpreneur or somebody who had their own business. And I moved here, hated it, but I was here. I was living on Wash F, I had a loft. And I wanted to be some way in the fitness industry and then I ended up becoming a personal trainer for club fitness, club fitness to lifetime fitness and then lifetime to my own gym. - Okay. - But yes, I've been here-- - What was like the progression there? - How many years like what? - It was about like two to three years at each of those. So I was like two years at the, it's not there anymore. The club fitness off of Delmar in New City. - Okay. - It was like a bub up in the center. - Yeah, yeah, I remember that. - Yeah, it was the second floor. That's my first ever training job. Actually, my first ever training job was Finney's. - Really? - Jesse. - Wow, small world. - Back in the day, I think I answered it at, this is like 20 a year. - All in one fitness, right? - All in one fitness. He had just bought that, it was the balleys. He had just bought that. And I didn't know anything about MMA or martial arts, but I knew that they had that in the first level and the gym was above it. And I think I answered to add dude on Craigslist for a job. Like, it was 2011, like when that was like a thing, he would like post. - Yeah, Craigslist was, yeah. - That was like where you'd find jobs. So I ended up getting a job for them. They kind of trained me, had to be a trainer, but my first real training job was actually a club fitness. And then I went to Lifetime for a couple of years, and then I actually lost a Lifetime job because of first form. - Really? - They saw it as a conflict of interest because I was representing another company that sold supplements, first form. And then Lifetime also has their own supplement line. So I was appearing in like, first form at the time, their Instagram and all that stuff. And then my boss at Lifetime was like, dude, you can't be like pushing first form products and also be at Lifetime. And I kind of knew we were on the outs and I wasn't really agreeing about what management was doing. So I luckily met a guy who had a CrossFit gym and he had extra space, I was subly. So I ended up getting fired literally a couple of weeks after I got the first form deal. And then opened up like a small section of my gym inside this CrossFit gym. And was paying him a thousand bucks a month. - So it was like the first primal? - Yeah, that was, obviously it was the first primal. And we kind of split the gym down the middle, literally had that for probably two years and opened up my own spot right next to fifth flavors off of, what is that? Clayton Road and Chesterfield. So it was in Chesterfield, it was in Chesterfield. And I had that for two, that's a long way to get there. I had that for about a year. And the issue was I got burnt out, I turned 30. I was like, what am I doing? I've been doing a personal training for 10 years. And my rent was super high. It was like 4,000 bucks a month. But I went from 1,000 bucks a month sublies to four grand. And I was like, oh, thinking I was big shit, I'll grow into the space. If you build up the outcome, I just had the first form, well, I was still on that first form kit. I had a lot of attention on me. So I was like, yeah, open up a 2,000 square for gym. I'll get the client because I got this big. Yeah, I thought I was going to be solid. And I mean, I was growing, but just not at the rate I needed to. So that's actually why I got into real estate at the time because I just bought my house, too. I couldn't afford my $2,000 mortgage and the $4,000 month gym. So I started renting out my extra bedrooms. I had a three bedroom on Airbnb. And then I was making enough to cover my mortgage and then something for the gym. So it was a crazy-- You're using Airbnb. I was trying to make it. So I was putting a lot of effort into the gym. And then at one point, I was like, wait a second. I'm getting up at 5 AM trying to train my clients. And I'm doing really well on Airbnb, real estate. Why don't I start to figure out what to do with this? Because the whole thing, you can have real estate be somewhat of a more passive income stream versus grinding it out every day at the gym from 5 AM to 8 PM. Training, training, training, training, break, training, training, training. So I had these two things going on at the same time where I was training but also running an Airbnb out of my house. Almost like a hostel because it was the extra bedroom. It's got to be kind of weird having people come in. I was single at the time. It was fun. Yeah, it's not ideal because you have strangers coming in and out. But I was younger than I was single. I actually hung out with some of my guests. We'd go to restaurants and pizza places and I'd give them recommendations. But every weekend for probably three years, there was somebody, some people saying about it. But it paid my mortgage. And that's still the house you live in today? Yeah, so that's still the house we live in today. I rented out full time. Either I stay with my girlfriend or now she lives with me. So that doesn't happen. But we were kind of going back and forth, which was a pain in the ass, but it does well in terms of like 500 bucks a night, two night minimum-- Yeah, I'm 509. --1,000 bucks a weekend. And so it makes sense. Or we travel or right now, we're staying in the front. Like we have somebody staying there for like five days. We have a friend down the street that we just kind of crashed in his place. So we're trying to actually take it off Airbnb and being go a different direction with the real estate. It's really hard to like be moving out and like cleaning and flipping and then having clients call me. And just a lot of moving parts now. So I've done Airbnb since I bought that house in 2017. And where's that one? It's actually up by Watson. It's two blocks, dude. Really? It's right by the shape it's arena. OK. And so it's a cool off. It's a perfect spot. Yeah, so-- I've seen the pictures. It looks sick. Well, when I bought it-- Thanks for 500 and 9, it better-- Yeah, no, it's sick. It's dope, dude. Like, I mean, it's 2,400 square feet. So it's a Jacuzzi tub, movie theater, fireplace, 35 foots. It used to be a car dealership, an old Ford dealership. It was built in like 1902. Got the brick, the tin ceiling. So it's beautiful. But it's like my baby. So yeah, I rented out still. But I think this month, it's probably going to be the last month. We're probably going to try to buy something, live there full time and not mess with it. And just have that full time-- Yeah, because right now-- I was going to say, I was like, dude, I mean, you're in the industry. I'm sure you can find something. Go find like a small house somewhere that you're like, dude. That's what we're looking for, because yeah, this back and forth now, we have two cats now. It's like a whole circus. Yeah, and you're going to pack everybody up. In the truck, like, all right. Yeah, everybody, come on. Let's get all our shit. And it's happening every weekend. So we leave our stuff there for the most part. We have a closet. We lock up. And we have to take all our food out. But we have an actor stay there. We're right by the Fox Theater. So we had actors stay there for like two weeks. And I think they paid like three grand. So it's pretty-- it's good. Yeah, that wouldn't-- It makes it work. Get rid of that. But I would go get something else. Yeah, I'll always have, but I need something else to be like more permanent and not be so like unsteady with stuff. You're a professional booger at this point. Yeah, no, we have a system down, bro. I can get it down in like an hour. I can go to the house in an hour. That's awesome. And actually, it's funny, you actually become more like, I don't know, conscious, or like, I don't like minimum-- You just start getting rid-- like, you don't need all this stuff. Like, I pretty much like pack a suitcase that I would take. And there's like three outfits. And I just run through them for like four or five. Yeah, it's interesting. You realize how much stuff you really don't need. And you really like get real smart and efficient with it. That's awesome. That's smart. That's a silver lining. Oh, it's great. I mean-- But it's a pain in the ass. [LAUGHTER] You move out of your house every weekend. So how long have you been in real estate now? So, yeah, the first attempt was Airbnb back in 2017. But I got my license last year. Actually, a guy I met at the gym that fit city. We started-- we had a bunch of tattoos that were really good. We started talking about that. And he's like, I'm an agent. And I was like, oh, I do Airbnb. He's like, I always wanted to do Airbnb. And I said, well, I always wanted to be more into real estate. So we kind of started talking about stuff. And I think we got coffee in the next week. So you should just get your license and see what happens. This was last year. I got my license was with a brokerage. When you first get in, you don't really know what you're doing. No, it's a mess. Yeah, it's kind of-- You need-- at least this is my opinion. And this is what happened to me. And I just kind of got really lucky with this, is you just really need to find a good mentor. And have someone that's really going to kind of show you the way, because there's a million different ways to do this thing is what I'm realizing. I didn't know that. I thought there was really like one way to do it. But there's-- I mean, I've seen there's a lot of different agents that do things very, very differently than I do it. And it might work for them, but it's not something I want to-- you know, it's just you got to figure out what works for you. Because my only experience with real estate was Airbnb, and then obviously buy my own house. So I didn't know it was kind of like pick your own method. I thought it was just one size fits all this, how you buy a house, how you sell a house, how you inspect. No, it's your own business. So you can choose-- Whatever you want. --and kind of whatever works for you. You know, the way I think about it is-- I mean, I think it is my real estate coach kind of told me this once, and it's something that's always stuck with me. But he's like, you need to think of yourself as a marketing company that sells real estate. Yeah. Because that's really what it is. I never knew that until you're-- when you really are in it, that's when you understand that. You're like, oh, OK. Well, now, I mean, there's a bunch of different ways to do marketing. You know, you see the-- I see your video. I mean, you're-- The video's up to my marketing. It's attention. This is my marketing. You know, it's like, obviously, we talk about a lot of shit here. We don't talk about all real estate, but it's a good portion of it. It usually ends up coming up, and that's the stuff that he'll clip up and he'll throw online and like, oh, shit. This guy knows what he's talking about when it comes to real estate. I'll say, you're doing a great job of the social media arm of it, too, especially, and bringing in the Jiu-Jitsu and having that. Yeah. So I think you're doing a great job of marketing, because I thought it was just like, you want to buy this house? Here you go. No. It's like, oh, it's-- It's everything else. I want to market to-- I want to work with people that are like me. Like you. That's why it's on my broker. Huge portion of my business is my friends from either the Jiu-Jitsu gym or the CrossFit gym. My friends that I grew up with, you know, people-- And I've been to say, it was my whole-- Yeah, my sphere of influence. I've been here my whole life. So that's a big advantage that I have over-- Yeah, I'm over and over you. Yeah, exactly. No, no offense. But that is a big advantage that I've been here my whole life, so I went to 12 years of school here. So even the people that I don't-- like, for example, I got this guy, we're going to be listing his house and helping them buy. So that'll be a double dip situation where I help them sell and then I help them buy. But like, we went to high school together. I had to like call a couple of my buddies. I was like, hey, man, do you remember this guy? I kind of remember him. Like, I remember him. And like, ended up going over there and I'm helping him and his wife sell. But like, we were friends on Facebook. And that's how he remembered that-- And he saw all my posts. And you were consistent. Exactly. And he reached out one day and I was like, oh, cool. Yeah, I think I kind of remember you. And then we got over there and we were laughing about that. He was like, yeah, we weren't really like friends, were we? And I was like, yeah, no offense. I had to kind of like call a couple of people and like, you know, try to remember who you were. Yeah, no offense calling. But yeah, it was-- it's just funny. That's just how it goes. I mean, there's a bunch of different ways to do it. Yeah, that is one thing about St. Louis is it is so close knit and the whole stereotypical, where'd you go to high school? I didn't have that. So I've had to build my own relationships and friendships through my own means. You see from the gym, honestly, and just old clients. So yeah, that was difficult. A lot of my stuff right now is coming through Zillow. It's just a way to start. But to your point about the mentor, dude, that was like the game changer. Because I always had another brokerage that I thought was going to be a different situation. You know, things happen, whatever. So I ended up switching. And the brokerage I'm at now, shut out the Schneider real estate. They've been great. Like my mentor Nick, specifically, and then also Jeremy. Like Nick's my direct. Jeremy's been-- they're both in a really big help. Jeremy Gables? No. Jeremy Schneider. So he owned the company. Yeah. He actually bought into this brokerage that's been around in St. Charles since like the '70s. So they have a huge like, you know, reputation. They're great. They're solid. There's no shape. You know, with real estate, there could be some shady stuff going on. So they're solid. And they've had a really good training program that they put me through. And they're always there to answer my questions. But that was the thing. Because I went into real estate not knowing anything, not knowing, like I said, like what the agent's responsibility was, or as the owner's responsibility. And I was like, they're that first brokerage. And I was like, this is not. And then the second one, I've gotten more comfortable. I've learned a lot. And I've been doing it for, I would say, consistently for the past like three or four months. And I've sold, I think, six houses. Yeah, it's just not bad. No, that's right. That's really good. It's really good. And I didn't know, like, the metrics. I'm like, I don't feel it, but I talked to my broker. I've talked to other people. Like, yeah, you're on the right track. It just takes time to build that relationship and build that, like, OK, this person I sold the house to, they might buy another one or sell that one in the next three or four years. You gotta hold on. 100%. And, you know, like a way I think about it too is, you know, every single person I work with, it's like, you gotta think of them. It's not just that one transaction. It's like, man, I want to be a real estate agent for life. And it's also like, I want to be a real estate agent for life, but I also want to be all your friends and family as a real estate agent for life. So I want to do such a good fucking job that you tell all your friends and family. So that's best marketing. Yeah, exactly. Word about creating fans. Exactly. That book is awesome. If you haven't read it. Oh, I have it. Is that Seth Jordan? Who's that written fan? Shoot. Who was that that wrote it? Some Simon Sinek or something. I don't know. We're Daniel Pink. Ken Blanchard. OK, I didn't mind. Oh, yeah. Yeah. But yeah, to your point, that's honestly what social media is. It's word of mouth, just in a virtual handheld version. But I believe, yeah, to your point, Zach, if you do a good job or an exceptional job, that person has no option but to tell somebody. So yeah, that's my way to do it, to really treat my clients. Obviously, I don't have a lot of clients, so I can really focus on them. So building that relationship and making sure you're going above and beyond will eventually lead to, hopefully, more business. It will. Just being a good realtor. Like, that's also going on. And be good at communication. I feel like there is another huge piece. So that's a piece I missed. I didn't realize how communicative you have to be, because it moves so quick. So like calling people. Who would really call? I live-- yeah, I didn't really call people. It was just very quick, like, text here and there. Like, I'm having to answer the phone. I'm at the store. I'm at the gym. I'm trying to fix deals, save things and specters. So that was all new to me, too. My social skills, or my, I guess, extra version has to be-- You have to be through there. You have to be networking events and all that. I was always pretty open and social. But this is a new level of, like, you're constantly on the phone with clients or with bot, you know, all that. Well, that's super important. I mean, especially on my end of it, on the mortgage side. Are your mortgage-- Yeah. The communication between the loan officer and the agent is huge. I've got a deal right now that I call the agent. I can't get through to it. And there's been things that have been going on because I took a deal over. Yeah. And they gave me 10 days to close it because of the holiday in there. And we're starting from scratch. And I'm just like, and we have to get the condo approved. We've got to get all this stuff. It's a condo, too? Yeah. Oh, good luck with the H&W. Oh, yeah. And with everything that's going on right now. But we're the only ones because that's the problem. This was the third contract on this condo. Is it in Brentwood Forest? No, that's done. Brentwood Forest is-- That's a nightmare. Brentwood Forest, unless you got somebody buying cash, that's the only way those things are going to get done. They can't even go non-warnable at it. But this one here, like, there's certain things in and outs that we are able to get through on our end that, I don't know why other ones haven't been able to figure this out yet. But I got a deal closed. And that listing agent called the agent that I closed the deal with from Keller Williams was like, hey, who did this? So that's how I got the deal. So yeah, you made it happen. Yeah, so I got the deal. And now, they're like, oh, we got to do this. But we get it. I don't know if the appraisal side of it came back appraised too high and came back with a score. And you had the gap? Well, no, they already knew. They were buying it for $200 and it appraised at $196. So they already knew that. But even at the $196, so appraisals get graded on a scale of one to five by Fannie Mae and Freddie back. A one being the most accurate five being over. I'm highly inaccurate. Anything above a three requires a second review called the CDA. So we got this and we're putting it through, but we submitted for the CDA, but you have the holiday in there. So they're backlogged on that already. We were supposed to close last Friday. And I'm telling these guys, I'm like, listen, we're going to have to push it until we get the CDA. We're not clear to close until that CDA approves its value. And we got it yesterday, but they push closing. But I'm trying to call the agent and explain this to her. And I'm not able to get through. And I'm like, so-- Like she won't pick up the phone or you just want answer. I called left the message and then-- That's clear. --you're back and then called her again to explain it, left the message, and then she didn't come me back until like six o'clock at night. I mean, I think-- I called her like 10 o'clock in the morning to explain this. Like, hey, we need to push closing. I thought we would have the CDA back where they're behind. They're pushing us out another couple days. So we need to push closing. No answer. So I'm calling the listing agent. Who's the one that got it over? I'm like, hey, here's where we're at. If you're able to get through to her, let her know. I haven't been able to. It just drives me nuts when I can't like-- That's correct. Yeah. Because here's a flip side. You guys call me. You expect me to answer that phone immediately. Or if not, I'm getting back to you within a timely manner. I expect the same thing. You know, and it's-- I mean, that's agent 101 to be able to have that open-- like communication back and forth, I don't understand people that don't. Yeah, when I took the class to get my license-- obviously, stereotypically, you don't really learn much from that class that you're actually going to use. But the one thing that the instructor said once that always kind of stuck with me is like, man, anytime I phone rings, I answer it. Any time-- because when my phone rings, that means there's money in it. It's like, what's the good way to think about it? Yeah, if it's a random phone number, like, I always answer it. Half the time, it's a VA. But that's kind of-- that goes against what, I think, honestly, like, general people. Nobody answers the fuck. Especially with numbers that they don't know. But one thing I'll tell you. One thing I'll tell you. You're going to call them back. You're going to say, oh, 3-1-4 number? Hey, I just missed calling this number. They're like, what the hell? I don't care. One thing I'll tell you guys is that Guild has us doing. We've got a spreadsheet. I think you and I looked at it, but track how many calls you get, and then, like, how many leads-- what percentage of those leads convert, and then, like, the actual dollar amount, and then, work backwards to figure out how much each call is worth, because that's what we-- because when you look at it, when you look at it that way-- You're going to pick up that phone when you see it work a couple of grand. So, on our end, it's not quite that high. But, you know, like, I did the numbers last year. Every phone call that I received was, like, $600. So, you're going to pick up that phone? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. So-- Which is so, like, basic one-on-one, like, pick up the phone. Or, like, follow up. Follow up. That's huge, though. Huge. I mean, the follow up is, that's, like, one-on-one. Yeah. You got to follow up. And, especially-- But, I mean, honestly, because I think people just forget. I don't think it's, like, on purpose. I think we have so much going on that you can just create those opportunities for people to talk and open that conversation more. I also think it's their systems, too. You know, it's like, you need to kind of have systems in place. And I'm like, OK, this is my day where I follow up with these people, or this is my day where I-- That's a great-- yeah, I read Ryan Sirhan's book. So, like, Sirhan, he was talking about how he structures his day into, like, a block, where, like, the first block is prospecting. The second block is usually, like, showing their, like, active business, and the third block is, like, networking. Yeah. So, that way, because, you know, when you first start, it's kind of like, what do you do with your day? You don't-- especially when you're first starting out. That's surprising. That's the hardest part. You're, like, messing my fucking email signature. Right. It's like, you know, it's like, you're playing business. Yeah. You're, like, doing the shit that's not-- And I need to get my business card. I need to get my business card. I need to set up an LLC. Yeah. Like, get business, let's put some money coming through the door, and then we can, yeah. Fuck around with all the fun stuff. We've talked about it a few times, but we call it our non-negotiables. Like, these are the-- this day, this is my non-negotiable for Monday, non-negotiable for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. And my day's not complete until those non-negotiables are done. And it's time-blocked in there. Is it a lit-- you have a list of things you have to do every-- Every, like, Mondays. So it's, like, Monday, this will be repeating for people that have heard about Mondays. I call real estate agents to try and set up appointments. And so, like, that's my goal-- That's your goal for the day. Yeah, call and get at least two appointments set up for the next week. But ultimately, I'm calling a minimum of 10 agents until-- to get those appointments. Tuesdays, Tuesday updates. So every deal that I have that's under contract, I'm calling the buyer, buyer's agent, and listing agent to let them know where everything's at and how things are moving. Wednesdays, we've got the podcast, but that's when my follow-ups are for, like, anniversaries, past client birthdays. If it's the last Wednesday of the month, I'm following up with clients that just closed previously whose first payment's coming through. It's nurturing those relationships. First payments come and do, hey, you know what? Hey, we need to get your account set up. I just shoot them a quick text. Let me know if you need help getting your account set up. Thursdays and Fridays are for my people that are pre-qualified and pre-approved. The pre-qualls, I'll reach out like, hey, we're still pre-qualified. We're not fully pre-approved yet. Are you ready to start looking? If so, I need to do the full credit poll, or I'm still missing these docs. Can you get these turned into us? Do you have any houses that you're wanting to go see? Also, on Thursdays, I'm sending out text messages, Thursdays and Fridays to clients that are fully pre-approved. Hey. What are you looking at this weekend? You guys got any houses you want to see numbers worked up for. So that way, they're heading into the weekend and prepared and they're not wasting their time if they don't like the numbers. And they feel comfortable, but 'cause you're on the phone with them. Exactly. You're guiding them through the process. So they have the mortgage guy and the agent with them. Exactly. All right. We've got a team. We've got a team behind it. Yeah. I mean, we've got a team behind it. Buying houses, I mean, it's a huge financial. They have to feel comfortable. It's the biggest financial thing that you're going to take. For sure. I mean, that's how I mean. That's how I look at us. I mean, we've probably closed. How many together you think? Shit. Pretty. They're 40 or 50, probably. I'd love to go drink. Oh, we should count that one. But yeah, I mean, that's... How long have you been doing that list when I'm... So, just like you guys getting in, trying to figure out like, what the fuck am I supposed to do? I got like, when I first got in, the only thing was like, "Hey, you just need to get connected with real estate agents." So, I spent a lot of time networking, lunches, just back then, people were still going in the office, not many people going in the office. What year was this? 22, May of 2015 started. Wow. I've been doing it a long time, dude. Yeah, going on 10 grads, six. And so... But yeah, so that's what I did the first couple of years. And then I realized like, the behind-the-scenes stuff, like I had a team that handled a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff for me, so I didn't have to worry about it. But then it started growing and growing and growing. And now I had to start spending more and more time doing the things that I needed to do. And I'm like... To keep that team. Yeah. And what do I need to do? So, I got into coaching. And that was 2017, 2018. That I got into coaching. And that's when we started getting everything structured and coming up with those non-negotiables. And then we just have been fine-tuning it every year since. So, as the business continues to grow. Cool. So... That's good. Yeah. I think I saw a video too, Zach, of you being like, take 100 calls, or do 100 calls in the beginning of the day. Yeah. So I would do a circle dialer. And I still have it. I just don't get on there too much. My VA does a lot of that for me. And my agent that I'm training underneath me right now, he gets on there too. But it's a, I don't know if you've heard of it. Like, it's called Mojo. And there's a bunch of different programs. Please follow up boss. I don't know if you can follow up boss. Okay. I don't, yeah. It's, I think there was a couple of them out there. Mojo, and I think another one's Red X. But basically, like, it's a program where you can pull up on a map. You basically draw a circle or draw whatever on the map. And it'll pull up all the phone numbers associated with those addresses. And then you can have a three-line dialer. And it'll dial three lines, three numbers all at once. And you only, you only talk to the people who pick up. If they pick up. Otherwise, if it just goes to voicemail, it just skips over them. It just sits over them. Yep. And so you can... I still look into that. So you can rip. I mean, dude, you can rip a hundred dials and anywhere from 45. But these are completely cold. These are just you. Yeah. Yeah. But it's also, but like what I like about it is you can, you can target it. Like you can target a specific neighborhood. So it's like, okay, well, I would like to get more listings in the 350 to 500, you know, $500,000 price point. Okay. Well, here's a nice neighborhood in, you know, in Oakville or something. Okay. Okay. I draw this up. And basically what I... What are you saying to them? So yeah, this is my script. And so I, you never just want to call and say, hey, you sell your house. 'Cause most people... Good morning. You want to sell your house? It's like, no. No, I always call and like, I want to call and say, like, be like giving them something. So like, what I'll do is how I kind of pick the neighborhoods is I'll pull up. Probably a past sale. Yeah, exactly. I pull up something that just, that just flows down the street. And I usually look for something that's like a good story. Like, ooh, hey, this is perfect. They bought it for X, they sold it for Y. Well, not even that. I want to say, hey, this house down the street just listed for 300,000, but it went for 40 grand over the list. Yeah, it's a really like, wow. It's a man's hot neighborhood. You know, it's like, and so, and another thing you can do is like pre-record voicemails. So I'll call and like, I'll, like, before I start calling, I can record a voicemail. Like, hey, this is Zach with Keller Williams. I just, I just want to let you know, I just sold the house down the street at 123 Main Street. Just was letting the neighborhood know about the sale. And I thought you guys would want to hear the good news. House was listed at 300,000. Ended up selling for 350 in 30 days. You know, if you or any of your neighbors know of anybody in the neighborhood looking to sell, this is a great time to do it. Please give me a call if you have any questions or if you want to, you know, a property analysis on your house. He's got it down. And I just would, you know, and rip that. And 'cause, I mean, if you're calling to let someone know that information, it's not, it's not, people still hang up on you. Yeah, I'm sure. But it's like, you're dude, you're calling to tell them, say, hey, like, man, I got some good news to tell you. Yeah, your house is, you got some equity. Yeah, for sure. You might want to cash out. Yeah, 100%. So I've-- The issue though, it becomes like this is down the line, but like, then they cash out, but then where did they go? And then that's the other-- Well, that's the problem right now. Yeah, 'cause I've been in situations like that too. Like, I did an open house in this area, like the Rittner School District. And I did the open house, like the neighbors came. I started talking to them and they were older and they're wanting to downsize. But we started talking and they're like, yeah, this is listed, you know, for, I think it was like two, went for, it was 185, went for like 220. And they were like shocked 'cause, you know, they had lived there for, you know, 30, 40 years. They probably bought it for 50 years. Yeah, they probably bought it. I'm thinking like, okay, and then we had that conversation. It's like, where did somebody like that go because the market is-- They need to sell the buy. That's the problem, you know. So it's like this. Well, and that's-- But you never know if people's situation, they may move out of state, they may go to assist living or something. Well, it's another thing that I do the midterm rentals. And it's kind of something where I wanna get some more of them so that I can like, all right, well, you need to sell your house, I can throw you into my-- I can throw you in there for a month or two, you know, and it's a furniture rental. You just gotta go get a storage unit for all your stuff. You can go store all your stuff. You can live here for, you know, two, three months. And then I've got this furnished place. It's in a nice area, it's a nice house. That stuff like that set you your part as an agent. Like, our broker, that's your Airbnb. I know it's gonna-- Yeah. I wanna say some baller ass one. Like, my broker used to have a moving truck that he would offer. I'm like, "Damn, that's so cool." Having these different-- Or he does like a shredding serve. I don't know, that's like thing too. I didn't know any of this stuff going into real estate. I thought it was just like, here's the house, here's the contract. Congratulations. It's a whole lot of stuff. You gotta create it. You gotta create like a, like a new thing you'd like to do is-- Like, I mean, I need to get back to doing this 'cause I've been working with a lot more sellers recently than buyers, but I'll, you know, show up, you know, with a bunch of moving boxes one day. And like, you know, a little stuff like that, you can do to kind of like set you apart. Like, hey, moving sucks. Here's the most thing to worry about, you know, just shit like that. Little easy stuff that you can do, just kind of sets you apart. It's like, okay, I go spend 50 bucks at Home Depot on, you know, get them, you know, or you think a bunch of cardboard boxes that they gotta, you know, put together. Cool little trick if you're almost somebody that has kids. The Barrenstein Spares were a moving book. Awesome. It's a book about moving. About moving? Okay. Now I guess you could find that 'cause the Blueies become a big thing. I think they've-- Blueies got one. I think they might have, yeah. Blueies took over. They just did. Different, different, yeah. Generation. Exactly. Yeah, we were about. Yeah, we were about. Now it's Blueie. Yeah, now it's Blueie. Yeah, we've tried to get Calvin into Blueie. He doesn't-- He's not into it, dude. He just went-- Give him a little bit. Not from the trains and trucks, dude. Give him a little bit. There's things that roll, things that roll it in or loud. That's all he wants. But one other thing I wanted to get into, so I know you did kind of a stint where you were working in restaurants and stuff like that, so I kind of wanted to-- Yeah, we can talk about that. That's a, you know, I spent about 10 years in the restaurant now. It's just so funny about the similarity. So, yeah, I had the gym for, I was a personal trainer for, let's say, 10 years, from like 22 out of college to about 30. With fitness, obviously nutrition is so important. I wanted to learn how to cook besides just making some bullshit chicken and some rice, right? So, I'd always been interested in food. I liked to show people that you could have food, taste really good and be good for you, with some simple tricks in here. So, when I moved back to Brooklyn, after I showed down my gym, just kind of figured things out and kind of like find my next thing. I was in New York City, which has all these restaurants, and I loved restaurants. I loved food, I loved, you know, just to eat and go out or whatever. And at the time, I was actually reading Anthony Bourdain's book. And I love that aspect of like, it just seemed like a deeper understanding of-- - He really romanticized it. - He really did. - And the books weren't, the show was incredible. And I just loved his way of thinking. He transferred it, I know, I know. Actually, I have his, as a chef knife, but AB, when I went to culinary school, I got that tattoo just to remind me of like, just his way of thinking and just his, yeah, anyway, I can go up on a whole thing with him. But I remember reading one of his books, he went to CIA, which was Culinary Institute of America, which is like the top culinary school in America, or let's say in New York. So I was like, oh, well, shit, I'm in New York. I don't know what I'm gonna do with myself. I love food, he had kind of romanticized it. Let me try culinary, or let me try restaurants. I had no, the only experience I had in like, let's say, service industry was nightclubs. - Okay. - I used to work as like a door person, a bouncer, and like a makeshift bar back with filling in, like, you know, when I was younger. So I ended up going to culinary school, but that was in 2020. And I got accepted. It was a beautiful school. It was like this campus. They had restaurants on the campus. It was amazing. I have such a good time. I got elected to be like the kitchen leader, even though I had no experience. I'm like, this is amazing. And then COVID hit. So COVID sent us all home. And, you know, like in the beginning, it was two weeks, then it was a month, then it was two months. I was back in Brooklyn trying to wait it out for culinary school. Cause that, mind you, I'd started in January and then COVID hit in March, as you remember. So there was only three months, but I was loving it. And went back home to Brooklyn and they tried to do like an online pseudo, but like, cooking is the worst, but for sure you have to be in the kitchen. We cannot do power points when it comes to cooking. - Right. - So I was like, this is not, I'm not gonna pay tuition. And I could just do YouTube if we're gonna do this. - Right, this is how we're doing it. - Yeah. So I ended up meeting a guy at culinary school that we hit it off. We were in the same class together. I moved back to St. Louis. And I was like, "Hey, bro, we should do something." - He was from, he was from St. Louis. - No, he was from Seattle, but St. Louis was open. So, you know, New York was a fucking war zone at the time. So we both, I and him ended up going back to home to Seattle. I went back to St. Louis. I was like, "Bro, we should do something in St. Louis together. It's open. I got my law. I was on a forbearance, so I was living rent-free. Everything was shut down. So for me, they didn't give a fucking Missouri. So we moved in together and we just became like roommates and we did catering stuff. And then I started working at a restaurant. So the first restaurant jobs I worked at, we're in St. Louis when I moved back post-COVID. And I worked in like Guidos on the Hill. I worked at a fancy restaurant in Clayton. I worked at like a sandwich shop. We did some catering with my buddy from culinary school. So I probably had about, I mean, all in from like 20, the end of 2020 to probably 2020 recently. I mean, I was working at Ballpark Village as a manager. And then I worked at Sunday Best, which is the old Juniper as a manager. So I basically did everything in restaurants from back to house, front to house, and then management. And in my two, three year of that run, I will say, I mean, you could speak to it too. It's hard. It's a lot of hours, a lot of fun. Like I met great people, great laughs, it's so laid back, but you know, worked in 12, 13, 14 hours, your income, I mean, it's similar to real estate. It's kind of, it can change. It can vary, you can have really good nights. Correct. You can have, you know, but you can, you can have horrible nights. Yeah. And you just deal with a lot of bullshit. Yeah. And the hard part, you know, because I most recently I was kind of in like a GM role, you know, that was my last role in a restaurant. That was at the barbecue spot. Yeah. And I loved it. And like I put my heart and soul into it, but boy, it's just, it's so, so difficult because you've just got, you know, kind of these, you have to make people like a believer. And it's hard to make someone care about it as much as you do. And you know, you're talking about like employees and everything. Yeah, the employees is where it is, where it's, where it's difficult. I mean, customers can be difficult too. But like the hardest part for me was finding good quality people that want to, that want to, they can follow the directions. Like I told you to make the sandwich this way. You put this, we put this many pieces of cheese on it. We put, you know, three slices of tomato, not two. You know, like it's like there's all these different things. And that's like basic, like I shouldn't have to tell people, but fortunately restaurants can sometimes have a low barrier to entry. And that's exactly it. It's like, it's kind of like a side job, but all I guess it'll, I'll go work at a restaurant. No big deal. It's like, exactly. I can go, and they'll, they'll drop you for another dollar an hour down the street. You know, like, oh man, wait, so I'm making $15 an hour and I can go there and make 16. Fuck off. There's no loyalty. Yeah, which I mean, I'm in restaurants in general, are hard from the top down, from the owner and the margins on the street. Well, you're a margin. That's frozen. It's razor thin. And then you're dealing with, I mean, the shit I would deal with at ballpark village, the, from the employees, well, also both sides, the customer side. I'm trying to drunk people at ballpark village. Yeah, and the expectations and then the volume, because, you know, when you're at ballpark village, we're getting hit from, like, zero to 200 in a matter of seconds as the game lets out or goes in. So it was definitely like an experience of, I don't know, like stress management and dealing with customer relationships and managing sketch. It was just a lot, but I ended up leaving the restaurant industry when the restaurant was at shut down most recently. And I had my license and I was like, you know what, this is the time. Like, I've already been kind of beaten up by the industry. I kind of got, um, with ballpark village, they just kept extending my hours. And I was on salary. So, you know, once they kind of bring you in, they're like, oh, well, now we're going to open the bar till 1 a.m. I was like, well, I signed on and it was 10 a.m. Or 10 p.m. Not 1 a.m. And then when I moved to the other restaurant and they shut down after 10 years and you saw, you've seen a lot of restaurants close their doors. I'm just like, this is not for me. So then I got into real estate and that was full time. Like I said, four months ago. Have you guys seen that show the bear? Dude, I love it. Yeah, we just, we're all caught up. It's me, my girlfriend, it's like, it's what it's like. And that's why I love it. Because it's like, it's such a good, yeah, we just finished it, like, two couple days ago. That's the one with the lip from, um, yeah, shameless. Shameless, dude, it's so good. Because it is like, when they're yelling at each other, like, yeah. I'm like, you know, this is like, this was my life for like 10 years. My girlfriend's like, oh, they do is screaming yellow and cursed at each other. I'm like, that's kind of how it is. Yeah, like it's, it's pretty true. Like it is. It's like, I mean, it's interesting to see the bear now, though, because like, obviously when you work and you see, and I don't know, I'm only on episode three, like how that's going to work with the new menu changing every day and like, his standards are so hot. And like, that is great and like, uh, idealistic, almost like, dreamer setting, but like in reality to find that work and to find that like, well, just, just wait, they do a pretty good job. Yeah. You see what you're finishing? Yeah, it's good. Yeah. But like, I mean, when I, where I worked it, uh, when I worked at Sugar Fire, you know, we did two, two menu spec, two new menu specials every single day. Completely new. Completely new menu. I never, never, I mean, I'm sure it's coming back. They would, they would come back. But I mean, the whole thought was is, and this is what's difficult about barbecue, specifically is, you know, okay, if you're going to a sugar fire and you want to get brisket or you want to get ribs or something, you want the brisket that was cooked. Right there. That was pulled off. Yeah. I want to smoke a lot. Because it, you know, the night, that's the thing that you don't think about with barbecue is your, the night, the night before the day before you're cooking for the day. The next day and you're totally gambling on, okay, well, last year. You're betting on how much you're gonna sell. Exactly. And you have no idea. So like, you know, there's a day that goes buying, like, dude, we have fucking seven briskets left over. Where do we do it? We got to repurpose it. Yeah, we got to repurpose it. It's like, because we still have to cook fresh briskets for tomorrow. So, okay, tomorrow's a brisket grilled cheese. Yeah, she shredded up or put it in something. Cut it into whatever or, you know, you gotta turn it into sides and you do all this things. And it's like, it can get like, and we tried to do the similar thing at the barbecue place. I was at, but like, you know, we had these, these, like, very high level chefs working at Sugarfire. I mean, the food's fine. I mean, it sounds really, really, you know, like a lot, at least the ones that I worked at, they all came from the same restaurant, like, and which was called, which is closed now. It's called Wells was the name of the restaurant. And it was really good. I went there once before they, before they closed and, and, but they were all trained under the same chef. And, you know, he, he sounded, he sounds just like, it sounds like a very similar situation to like the bear, you know, like a very, like, like, fine, fine dining, like, you know, the, the delicate little plates and stuff like that. Like that's what they were doing. And so like, they kind of took that and put it towards casual to like casual bar. Casual was cool. And, and it was just such a fun place to work at because I mean, they were so busy. I mean, it was the busy by far the busiest restaurant I'd ever worked in. I mean, they were doing, like, 100 grand a week on sales, which is and by you go by any single one of them, especially around lunchtime. Yeah. And that line is out the door. But yeah, I mean, in your, your goal is to sell out every day. Like you want, you want like, if I'm, if I'm selling, if I, if we close at nine p.m. and I'm selling out of everything by like eight p.m. That's like a perfect day. You know, like, if the, the people are the last pennant people that are showing up, like right before closing, it's like, hey, yeah, we got turkey and sausages. That's not the sole because it's so in flux. Like, you don't know the weather is dependent. The events that are going around, uh, people's tastes start to change. Like, fine dining is kind of falling by the wayside. Now it's more fast, casual, and your inventory expires. Yeah. You're on the clock. The clock is ticking on your food costs and like, yeah, it's just, it's amazing when a restaurant does six be successful and then also scale it. Like that's crazy. You're like a diamond in the rough. Right. But even like barbecue, man, you're like, you said it before, your margins are so slim. Like, it's like, yeah, it's, I mean, from my understanding, like, you know, making a like 10 to 20% profit is like, that's like, that's good. That's your considered good. Yeah. That's the goal. And like, I think the way you make it is volume, all these things. Yeah. Have you guys been to Gordon Ramsay's new kitchen? No, I haven't. I haven't heard the best. I've heard. Yeah, someone said, I heard someone say something negative about it, but, you know, I don't know. It's a nice spot. It's a nice spot. They do a DJ thing there now too. That whole four seasons. Yeah. Um, it used to be the old cider or center house. Right. Yeah. Yeah. I never went there though. I will. St. Louis is a good restaurant scene. Yeah. Like for what it is, um, there's some, a lot of hidden gems and they're affordable and you can get in and a lot of different cuisines and there's a lot of good chefs here. So we were working with one of them. I mean, he's got a stuff on hold, but he owns lucky accomplice. Oh, that's like when I do that. That's been you better. Logan. He trains it. Awesome. Does he really? Yeah, he's a blue belt. Yeah. I'm sure I've seen it. He opened up press. He has a bunch of tattoos. Skinny ball dude, tall. Okay. I know press. That's right next door. Yeah, right next door for both of his places. I know there's, okay, that makes sense now because one of the guys in my fundamentals class is a chef at press. Yeah. Blue belt? No, in my basis class or white belt. Okay. But he works at press. I bet Logan probably bought him, bought him in black. Hey, but yeah, lucky accomplice is really that's right down the street from me. So that places fire. Yeah, I want to go to press. It's pizza. It's like a pressed pizzas. Yeah. It was he said it was like an idea that they were just like messing around with one day at at lucky accomplice and I'm like, man, this is good. Yeah. Lucky accomplice has this like toasted ravioli. That's just one giant. Yeah. He's good dude. We want to get him on a podcast. Yeah, he's just an interesting like he's been he's like cooked all over the world. Like he's kind of like a world or no. Yeah, most chefs at that level are really interesting. People like no. Yeah. I think they they've traveled. They're super smart. They're very creative. They're very like. Yeah, it's like a certain type. It's a type of person. Yeah, for sure. And then so you obviously you've gotten into jujitsu over the last couple months. Thanks to Zach. Yeah. I want to hear how that's been. So yeah, I, I'd always, I mean, I think I was the first exposed to it like you, like Joe Rogan. That was years ago. Also my buddy Adam, who owns and pose well. So I had been on his podcast and number he had kind of talked about it. But this wasn't like in the right, I guess like state in terms of like my own fitness and what I really thought of it. And then my buddy Robbie. So I just kept getting more like people coming into my life that had either had done it or had talked about it. And then sure enough, I was at Omen and we were sitting at the bar and I had no idea that you were a coach there. And I was like, you know what shit? It's right down the street. I have no excuse at this point. I know the coach. Part of it was my own honestly, like my own anxiety about it. Exactly. Dude, it's scary. It's a scary thing. Fuck. Yeah. I'm in shape. I'm tattoo, but you walk in. It's like, it's like you're in the gladiator dome. I'm like, I'll never forget walking in and seeing these guys just like go at it, sweating in. I'm like, what the fuck is this? Yeah. And they do that every day. Yeah. And my first class ever, dude, like it was like a pass. It was just weird uncomfortable position. Anyway, but luckily I knew you and that was back in September of last year. And I would say since January, I've been pretty consistent twice a week, at least three times sometimes. Yeah, dude, it's just so fun. And it's like, I mean, it's like nothing I've ever experienced in terms of like, I thought about the other day, like, why, why have I stuck with it this long? Like, you know, because I feel like I'm kind of over the hump where like, okay, I'm past six months, I'm past like the honeymoon, where like it's new and it's fun and you're like, all excited and like trying the new moves at now becomes like the reality of like, oh, this shit's actually fucking hard. And I see why most people quit at this point. Oh, for sure. Like, I think the failure, or it's like, it's like, it's like 90%. I think it's like, I think I saw something once that was like, it was like 90 or 95% of people that put a white belt on for the first time, I don't make it to believe. Yeah, and I get it. It takes a long time. It could be expensive, injuries, life, you know, just it gets too hard. So I get all that. But there is a certain element of like, why am I here? And, you know, getting up super, I go to the six AM. So getting up super early, the people I've met, the just the physical feeling, like my body feels bad. I mean, I have some pain from competition. But at the same time, like, I just have a more connected, I don't think that makes sense. No, 100%. Like, I think there is something too, it's going to sound weird when I say it. But like, the physical touch, you get really close to people when you're sweating. We're not, because we're not, we don't do that in every day. Like, you meet somebody for the first time in class, and you're just like, all right, let's do it. And you just beat the fuck. I mean, not really, but like, Oh, no, you did. And then you become like, friend, and you like talk about it. How'd you get that? How'd you get me? Yeah. Well, what was that? Yeah, I think there's like this, this idea of like, you're helping each other, and you're teaching, and you're taking it, and you're around other guys. I think that's important too. We talked about like masculinity, like being around other guys. That's, that's something that we know, just being around most men. And then being that environment, the uniform and the structure and the hierarchy and the vest, there's just all this shit that comes when you start to really look at it. And yeah, I mean, I'm, I'm hoping I'm in it for the long haul. I'm trying to like take care of my body. I'm also 37 with no wrestling experience. So I had the competition this weekend. I got my fucking ass kicked, which was crazy. Because I, well, dude, I'm probably just trying to do that. I'm watching thing. I did it on Saturday, first competition. I mean, I do pretty well in class, but the competition is next level. It's a different way to get like an adrenaline dump. I'm not sure if he felt it. Oh, yeah. People, I've been competing for a long time, and I still get it. You know, you get this like nervous feeling right before you go out there. There's a next level of like, when you're in class and you're rolling with people, there's still like, you don't matter. Yeah. And you're like, it's your friends. You're not really trying to like, go for their neck. When you're in competition, you're going for the fucking neck. And I felt that you could feel that energy. And I'm like, damn, this is like real. This is not just like, you know, live sparring in class. It's not someone you know. Yeah, you don't really know like their style or like. So the first dude I was able to last, I have good endurance, thankfully. I was able to last a full time, but he's kept scoring on me. Like I could not get it's so dumb. I look back at the video like I was stuck in side control, which is like one of the first things we fucking do. I could not figure out that's still I was pushing and like dumb. I should have framed and I should have escaped. But at one point, I was able to get on top of him. But he so we he scored, he ended up winning on points. And the second do again, like basic ship. But when you're in that, when you're in the arena, all that shit goes out the fucking door. Like I had had gone through it and visualize like, okay, if he gets me here, I'm gonna do this. I'd gone through it the night before. As soon as I took him down, he got me an armbar and just fucking locked it up. And I knew I can slip out. But he was and I he just fucking and I felt something like because I I was trying to be my girlfriend's there. Her fan like I'm not trying to tap in front of her. I'm like trying to rip that shit out. And he just he cranked on it. And like I lost in like 20 seconds. Yeah, fuck. But it was very sobering and humbling. 100%. And I go back and like, okay, I got to work on it. I forgot my control and armbar defense because it's so basic and it's so funny how like I went in, you know, going to class consistently. I was getting out of moves. I was tapping blue belts in class. I'm like, Oh, I'm good. I walk in. I'm like, fuck, next level. Right. It is. It's a but man, it's it's just so fun. There is something about it. And and well, and like you said it before is like the people and they do it. I think that that's that's one of the reasons I stick around to because it's like, man, it takes kind of an exceptional person to like take this much punishment and like stick around. Yeah. And like keep showing up. When I when I'm in the six on M class, especially, I'm like people that are getting up at five, 30 in the morning and coming to a jiu-jitsu class and paying and investing in themselves and getting their ass kicked consistently. I'm like, this is a different type of person. And this people I want to be around. Even if I'm not like interacting with them, like, but just that, this I feel great leaving class in the morning or even just anytime you feel like you conquer the world for the rest of the day. Yeah, I did the hardest thing I'm going to do. Most people aren't going to even step foot in that class or step or they're going to step foot in the class and then quit after like a couple months because they're going to make up some bullshit. Excuse. So those people that are the blue and the purple belts are even down the line. Like I'm like, damn, they're really in it. And I can respect it. Yeah, it takes an exceptional person to stick around or crazy as well. Yeah. For sure. Well, I feel like one thing I've noticed is like a lot of the people that are like the higher level belts that have stuck around. It's like, I feel like they excel in other areas of their life. Yeah, that's true. That's a good point. I mean, that's kind of why we look back on a lot of the past guests we've had on this podcast. It's been a lot of like higher level jujitsu guys. Look at those black belts. Yeah, they're black belts that have done that he's also he's a black belt, but he also does this. You had to be pretty smart as you get up the ranks, I think, too. Like it's mental. It's not anything. No, it's definitely not. And you have to be like you said, like cognizant of your fit or your weaknesses and kind of be a little bit more of like a student and that takes a little bit more like eagle ego and humbleness beyond. So it is an interesting person that is more receptive to things I feel like. I really agree. I mean, I think humbling yourself as a student is hard enough as an adult, you know, and I think the thing that like you said, it's the weirdness of having to go toe to toe with a grown man in a sport where they're trying to their choke you out or joint lock you. I mean, like going with you, like a week or so ago, like it going with you is the exact anxiety I get because it's especially a Kyle school because what is Kyle really great at pressure passing, it's that feeling of not being able to breathe having someone literally on that's my throwing their that's my growing their shoulder right into your neck and clavicle. Like that's I used to panic a lot more about that still sucks. I still fucking hate it. And my brain still goes to if I was in the street right now, I get killed. But it's also got to be like, well, you can also take yourself out of that and you can really grow from it. And again, just do minimize the ego cultivate it. Don't don't sit there and be like, Oh, you're right. There is an element of that when you get tapped or like you get like you feel like, Oh, but at the same time, like it does take a little bit like a step back to be like, Hey, can you teach? It's weird for a guy to take that direct. I feel like how you did inherently like we're like, we don't want to ask for direction. I noticed this as a as a trainer with my especially my male clients like they just just this is like weird especially when they're older or like they have more. It's just like a weird element. But at the same time, I see that a lot in jujitsu like you have to be the student you have to be a little bit more like, Hey, can you teach me that? Like, I don't know that we don't know everything. Well, I mean, I think it goes back. I mean, we're afraid to look dumb. Yeah, ask questions and look dumb. But with jujitsu, like if you don't ask these questions, you're gonna even dumber once you're actually, yeah, you're gonna keep getting fucked up. And you know, I think that's I like how they have the basics classes. And because it gives you that that foundation to move up. And I mean, I need to once the baseball's over and I can get back into the basics, because I've been just been going straight, just thrown thrown to throw. I will say I went through basics. I went through twice for that reason, because like I went to fundamental I went to basics. I went to fundamentals. I'm like, this is too much for me. I'm not getting my ass kicked. I'm not even understanding it. Like, I don't know what I don't know. I went back through basics again. And that time, like the second pass, I like now I got it. And then also I was the the Yugi or the oui. Yeah. So I felt like what it felt like to actually like have somebody move well with you. Like someone who's actually doing it. Yeah, when you and Jason, I was like, okay, this is how it's supposed to feel like, sometimes with the white belts, like they're just a little bit more spazzy. They don't know. They don't know how to like sink down. So like, oh, this is how it's supposed to feel. So it was interesting being on that side, rolling with somebody consistently that were demoed on that knew what the fuck they were doing. Right. No, feeling the pressure. That's something that I feel like most people, you know, it's you got to, it takes time to like develop that pressure or being able to like the callous, like nowhere. Yeah. You know, like, I don't know, distributing your weight. I think there's there's a tell you what, rolling with big mic. You learn what that pressure is. What do you normally go? Usually lately, it's been at 10 a.m. on Mondays. Okay. Yeah. Nice. Do you teach that? You know, I've been going as a student. Okay. And so that's one now that we've had this, the second. Who teaches that Trevor? Yeah, Trevor, if you were ever gone with Trevor, I buy accident. I didn't roll with him, but I like my second or third class ever. I was confused with like the fundamentals and the basics. So I ended up going to a 10 a.m. And cause like, this is like the next level. Like, oh, but Trevor was there. He's like, he'll be fine. Yeah, it was fine. Yeah. Trevor's Travers. Great. I trained with him pretty regularly. And he kicks the shot on me every time. Just watching him move and how quick and explosive. That's what's so cool. It's, it's an art and a science behind it. When you see somebody that knows what they're doing, it's, it's just like cool to see, like just like flows. Oh, yeah. Like if you watch two people, I heard that this analogy wants, it's like, it's not, you know, it's, it's not like a fighting like a car crash. No. It's like fighting like dance. It's like, it's like water moving around a rock or something, you know, and if you watch two people that actually know what they're doing, it's like almost like a dance. Yeah. Well, there's sometimes where he's like, he's showing like what we're supposed to be working on. And he's like doing it so quickly. I'm like mesmerized by like how he's doing like, wait, wait, wait, pay attention to my right. Slow down one and a half times. He's, yeah, he's, he's a freak. I think one of the actually something I saw recently that I think is a really great visual to what you just mentioned, Zach was I saw, I don't know how long ago this was. I think it was in the like last year, but I saw Bo nickel and Gordon Ryan go at it in a grandpa competition. It's like, Bo nickel is a savage. The dude is a bad motherfucker, but it's like, as a pure wrestler, he'd go up against Gordon Ryan. And they said like Ryan can't use guard even he's still beat him with a triangle. And it was just like, dude, it's just that next level. And again, I don't have any wrestling experience, but like, I know it's got like to be taken down by a bunch of former wrestlers and I was in college. So like, you have to like kind of duplicate that aggression. But I mean, aggression and jujitsu does not really get you anywhere. It's knowledge and it's technique and it's the ability to really spare your energy throughout the whole fucking thing. Because that's that's the one thing that you notice with like brand new white belts as they like hyperventilate when they're the reason I'm one of those. You're just like, dude, yeah, relax, but still like smiling. There's like there's a dance. I like try to I try to nasal breathe though almost as like as much as I can, you know, until I really start getting something. But to your point when somebody's on top of your pressure and you're like, you start to get like you get panicky. I try to smile like that someone told me they're like, no, they're like, if you can like get yourself out. It tricks your body. It tricks your body. Yeah. If you're in a stressed out position, especially if someone's got you in mount or a really tough side, smile a little bit like you're going to look like an idiot, but you're probably not going to use it. You're right. Okay. You're not going to be smiling in a minute. Fucking Kyle. Yeah. So funny. He's hilarious. Got a get a lot of I will say the instructors that Watson have been great too, because that they they make it informative, but also like engaging and fun. Yeah. Colin does it. They're they have a good back and forth of like it's instructional and practical, but also like enjoyable. Well, I mean, dude, and it's it's not all gyms are like that. I don't know if you've I've been to one I went to when I was in New York City, I went to actually Renzo Renzo Gracie. Hands up. Yeah. So him, I went to his gym in the upper west side and was down her there. Oh, no, no, no, no, the basement. It was in the basement. The blue base was a blue. Remember, it was great. It might have been blue, but it's like a legendary gym. So yeah, so there's a crazy story associated with that. But basically, there was a guy there that this is insane. An uncle brought his kid. There was a kid's class. This shows you how New York City is just out of control right now. Uncle brought his kid to the kids class. One of the kids in the kids class messed up his nephew a little bit. The uncle, who's like a grown man, threatened the little kid in the locker room with a box cutter in the jiu-jitsu gym. So these are Brazilian. These are like, you know, like, these are like from Brazil. And this little like, you know, uncle clubby dude is threatening a little kid in the locker room. Anyway, they got wind of it. The instructors got in their face. This is all my first class there. I'm like, what the hell is going on? And six NYPD officers show up and arrested to in the middle of the class for the adult class. By the time it all like changed changed over, like the kids class was ending, the adult class was starting. I get on the mats and I see these officers walking, talk to this uncle dude and arrest him while he's teaching the class. I'm like, this is insane. Yeah, that's right. And yeah, I was into all, it's so funny that you would think to do that. Why? Well, first of all, what the fuck would you do that? Second of all, of all the places. Yeah, we were talking like the other day, we were like, man, because we were saying something, I was like, man, can you imagine the worst place to like, break into somebody's car or like, you know, like try to rob, you know, you know, that, how do you say his name? So also in Portuguese, all ours are now ages. He got robbed in New York City. Yeah. He live tweeted it. Yeah. And he'd be the fuck, like all the people you would think you'd see the ears are like, most people don't know. Most people don't know. College like all of the people go after you go after a fucking dude that like from the age of three on has been fighting people. And he's from like one of the, you know, the family. Yeah. That was so crazy. And he, yeah, he beat the, he like drove her in his car and like found him and beat the fuck out of him. Well, even, even like in the, in the community, like once you're someone who is so adept, like remember back, like a couple of years ago, whenever Andre just like, okay, I didn't do anything to it. Yeah. Dude, I remember John Donner standing there in his fucking new balance is just like, yeah, his white, like, just do it. I'm waiting for you. Yeah. He just wears, he just wears a rash guard everywhere. He's fucking great, though. Yeah. He's like a cartoon character. I would hate to get shit talked by John Donner. I don't think he does. That's a ball dude. Yeah. That's in every like BJJ fanatics video. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's like, you know, he's like the best coach or Ryan GSP. He coach Gordon Ryan, right? Yeah. Yeah. He's, yeah. So yeah, but what I was saying is like not all Jiu Jitsu gyms. To your point. Yeah. So there, there's Jim was like more traditional. They got a warm up. Yeah. And I did, I will say I did like they were big into like the, not that Watson doesn't do this, but like they, they would do like this line where they, everybody talked to each other and like introduced to each other to each, like the new person, there was like this weird hierarchy thing, but the move line up there. Yes. Yes. That's what it was. But the moves didn't have a sequence. Kyle has it more of like, I guess from his teaching background, a block sequence that builds. This one was just like, they were throwing out random moves. Like, I ran into this like, weird choke and then we're going to do this like pass. Yeah. And then we're just going to live spar. Yeah, it just doesn't, it doesn't connect. There was no like, okay, if you were here last week, this is what we're going to work on this week. And this is the connection between it. Yeah. So this is the pass that gets you to mount. Yes. And then from mount, we're doing this. And I was surprised because of the history of that gym or just that family. I mean, it's just to each their own, it's just different style. But I tend to, there's things I liked about each, but I tend to like that style of like connectivity because it makes more sense to me because I don't have that wrestling background being like, what the fuck am I going to do with this like random, you know, pass that I learned? Well, there's, I mean, there's a lot of gyms out there that are super traditional. Like you have to, you know, you have to bow to the instructor, you have to, you know, you have to bow before you touch them or before you step on the mat, you have to, you know, we line up every time we do these crazy warmups where we spend 30 minutes warming up. They do the shrimp down the mat. That's one of my favorite things is that Kyle doesn't do any of the work. We just go right into it. Well, it's like, he says, if you want to warm up, get there early, right, you know, because it's like, I'm here to give you an hour worth of jiu-jitsu. And we're, that's, I mean, we're, we're, our stuff is so dense because we don't have all that, not filler, but like that's kind of like fluff. It's an hour of like, we're drilling, learning and sparring. You're trying to get dishing on your own time. Yeah. Which I do. I mean, I think we all do that. So we don't need that. I'm not there to warm up. I'm there to actually learn. I like to get there 15 minutes before and, you know, kind of try to break a little sweat, do some stretching bullshit with my buddies on the mat. And then I get to it. For us, for us, the hobby was even like, dude, if you really want to get your strength edition done, like, do it right after class. You guys, you're tired, you're winded. That's the perfect time for you to work on all those little details that you're not going to be doing on the mat. So you want to do some kettlebell swings, do it right after class. You want to go on a run, do it right after class. Don't sit there and make it this thing where you put it off and you don't do it and you ignore it, and then your strength edition goes on the two. Yeah, that's a good point because I think you can get unbalanced too, because when you start to get into Jiu Jitsu, you're like, I'm only going to do Jiu Jitsu, but I'm like, well, I'm only good at just okay at Jiu Jitsu because of what I've done in the past. I need to keep that shit up. I can't just like throw by the wayside and be like, oh, I'm only going to do Jiu Jitsu, fuck all the strength conditioning, the mobility, the run. Dude, that was me, man. I mean, when I first started Jiu Jitsu, I was like, all right, well, I'm just doing this six days a week. That's all I was doing for like a year. And then I looked in the mirror one day, I was like, man, I used to kind of be a lot more muscular than I am. And then I started lifting again. And then a couple of years later, I got into CrossFit. Because I've noticed that there's a lot of parallel, a lot of people that do a lot of guys at Jiu Jitsu also do CrossFit. It's just kind of like a similar kind of, it's the group dynamic. It's the functionality of it. Yeah, no, I love it. I think that's helped me with what the Jiu Jitsu is doing the CrossFit. Yeah, well, it's the car. I mean, definitely helped. I think it helped. It simulates. I mean, nothing's going to simulate doing Jiu Jitsu, like doing Jiu Jitsu. I was fucking dead yesterday. Dude, I was, so I'm the lowest I've ever since high school. I'm 185 pounds. I was too, for most of my life, I was like 200. I'm 185. And the only thing that's changed is Jiu Jitsu really only twice three times a week. I've lost, yeah, 15, probably close to 20 pounds. And I've never like, I've always kind of had this plateau of hitting like 195, 200, 185, I've got, I think the scale was broken. I'm like, this is not the right scale. Crazy. Yeah. I don't think I ever saw my abs before I started doing Jiu Jitsu. Same. Same. Like I really didn't. I mean, I spent years working on it. It's funny because, you know, the classes, it's an hour, but like the only live rounds were really going at it, like 20 minutes, 20 minutes, but that 20 minutes, you're gassed. It's a 20 minutes. I mean, 100% everything's turned on. You're like trying to. So yeah, it's a crazy workout in a very condensed amount of time. So I know, I remember seeing some like posts a while, because you're not on Instagram, right? No. Yeah. I remember seeing some posts a while back that like you, when you were like younger and just fucking. I was yo, yo, bro. So the little backster on that, I grew up in New York, Jersey Shore is a real thing. Everybody is over 200 pounds in New York or Jersey, getting into nightclubs, having that strength conditioning, you know, a little bit of an athlete, but always into the gym. And I just, I don't know if it's my personality or I was good at it. So I, you know, when you're good at something, you continue with it. And as I had my personal training business, I was like, the better shape I'm in, the more clients I'm going to get. And I got to look the part. I took it to the most extreme, like I do with most things, the most extreme level. Hence the tattoos. Yeah, no, seriously, it falls into that. Yeah, I'm not going to just get one tattoo. I'm going to get all the fucking tattoos. I'm not going to just be Jack. I'm going to be fucking super Jack. So I ended up getting up to like 200 and like 30, 40 pounds. I was like, me, but just 400 pound, with four or five, four or five on bench press, like 500 pound dead. I was just lifting so heavy, but I was also using all types of shit, which I can talk about. Yeah, I mean, I was all the above, you know, started the first cycle when I was probably 22, 23 tests, and then with the deck, did everything wind straw, all the above. And it's funny how when I started talking about people don't realize most people in the fitness industry are on stock. Maybe even jujitsu, I feel like jujitsu is the dirtiest sport of all time. Really? Yes, there's no test. Okay, that makes sense. Because I see some of these guys very, very little way they're getting this way from jujitsu. Yes, there's no way. Gordon Ryan is very open about his steroid use. I think I saw a picture of him when he came off and he looked like he's got a really bad stomach or something. Yeah, he's got something stomach. And I don't exactly know the. So yeah, I did steroids for like most, I mean, not most, but it's very common for five years from like 22 to 27. And I was like, what the fuck am I doing? I'm not when you're in New York or when you were here. I know it was when I was here. It was when I was I started in New York because I was around it. I mean, I started working out when I was 13, but I started really using, let's say, when I was 22, 23, so there was only a couple years in New York. And then I moved here. And then I joined Powerhouse Gym, which over there, yes, obviously it was buried. And that gym was like a very meat-heavy gym. Oh, yeah. So I was I went in there like once or twice. It was cool. It was a great, it was a great, it was a great, it was remember how big it was. It's kept going and all these and all these now. So I started using there and blew up. And like, my body just bonded so well. But then as you get older and mature, like, what the fuck am I doing? You know, I'm not at the club trying to pick up girls anymore. I'm 27 years old. So I need to figure out why I'm doing this. So I just stopped cold turkey. Really? Yeah. There was a slight, I mean, obviously strength is not there. Luckily, I kind of sort of like went unscathed. Like I got my testosterone checked. It was fine. Like you haven't had any endocrine issues? No, no issues. Thank God. But I just ended up stopping and had a little of a lull. And you know, there's signs mentally, we're like, okay, I'm not as strong. I'm not as big or like I used to wear double X shirts, but that's old dumb shit. And I feel better, look better. And I know that this is sustainable. Yeah. I mean, that's that was like, I always wanted to be like, just jacked. Everybody, everybody does. And but then like once I've realized, yeah, once you and I think Jujitsu is like a real like eye opening thing. You don't have to be. You don't have to be because it's like that's the most like you can. There's some guys, I'm sure you've experienced it, some guys that look like like the most unassuming dudes, but then they grab a hold of you and you're like, what the fuck is this? It just feels like, oh, yeah. What are you? And I kind of like the little guy that was done yesterday. Yeah. It's funny. You say that. I feel like Jujitsu has more of a subtle, like quiet confidence that you end up as you go through your journey. Whereas like, you know, when you're jacked, it's kind of like a bam in your face. And it's not. Yeah, it's not as like true. It's not true, really, because I think it's like took most of those guys in the gym, they get taken down by in a fighter in a Jujitsu. We're like, if you're training true martial arts, you should be able to hold your own when shit does go down. Right. If you're in a gym and you're lifting heavy, you may look like you can hold your own, but you need to ask fucking him. 100% because it's like you're good at picking stuff up. You're not good at fighting like a sport. It's a way more dynamic. Yeah. And that was the interesting about Jujitsu versus lifting even like in the gym. It's so like linear versus Jujitsu is way more dynamic. And you have to move your body in ways that you're probably not used to. Yeah, you're not like, I'm not, yeah, you're not. This is easy. Yeah. You know, even like you thinking about pulling your arm out of an arm bar. Yeah. I guess that's like a row. That's a row. But even then it's not so, I feel like even in gyms, it's more strict and controlled. This is more explosive and just like whatever you can figure out. You're moving your wrist around. You're doing all these things. Well, you don't normally in the gym. You're not having anything stopping you from moving. Like you're just pulling the weight. I've had to retrain myself to be more, I would say like loose and relaxed because I went from such a background of like, reginsing, like bridging and like bracing versus this is like controlled and breathing and times to be rigid, times to be loose. So I've had to kind of retrain myself and to be more just like loose and relaxed. So, yeah, it's, it's, but yeah, steroids was quite, that was quite the adventure, huh? I mean, I look back. I think I looked old. It's so great. I'm 37. I think I look older, looked older than because it just changed. Yeah, I remember seeing like one picture. You don't want to say like, I feel like you're in like a red tank top and you're just fuck. I was just, yeah, we should, we should find the picture. I'll send it to you. I'll have Murph throughout on every time. Every so often it'll show up in my, like, you know, memories. Yeah. I'm like, what the same person? Yeah. Like I said, you feel like you've lived a couple of lives. I think even in before we talked, I like talked about like, you know, sometimes people have their own paths and I don't have a traditional path, like coming from New York City, just different experiences, different environments, my upbringing. I've kind of meyandered through things and, you know, to each their own. And I'm grateful for those experiences because I have met and done a lot of cool things along the way. I was on a reality show at one point. Oh, really? What shows it? Yeah, I was a dating show back in 2021 next when I was single. That's the MTV one. Yeah, the bus that I walked out like, nope. Yeah, we were talking about that. Humiliation, bro. Like, that guy's in therapy for like 20 years. Yeah, I thought machine. No, so I, I thought it was when I had Instagram, they found my Instagram, they found me on Instagram at the time I had a big following because of first form. And every time first form would shout me out back in the day, I'd get like a thousand followers. This is like early 2017. It was crazy, dude. Like thousands of followers every day, every time they put me in a video that I was tagging. So anyway, I had a big following. I was still posting, but like nothing. I wasn't really doing anything other than like cooking, calling or shit. So they found me, it was Discovery Channel, and it was a dating show. And it was going to be either, what's the, what's the other one they do? Love and know, naked and afraid. That was the original. And they said, we also have a dating show. I was single. So I was like, I don't want to go on naked and afraid. I probably would die. I'm not like outdoorsy like that. So let me try the dating show. So I thought it was a scam. But sure enough, I called them back. It was an LA number. They, we talked for a while, I still had an application. I sat down with Discovery. This is all during COVID. So it was all virtual. So I sat down with like a panel of Discovery producers and they drilled me for like an hour and a half on questions, lifestyle, who I was, social media stuff. I had to take a two, 300 questions like evaluation with a therapist that took like five, make sure I wasn't going to like snap on the show and like fucking go crazy full blood, like they, they really went, you know, make sure you were legit. And sure enough, I got selected and they flew me to Columbia, the country for a month in 2021, 16 contestants dating show on a like a reservation right by Pablo Escobar. Like his, this is actually a funny side note. This place that we were in, they have a hippo problem because of Escobar. Really? When he would had, do you love the hippos? He had his own, because he's crazy and has all this money. He imported animals for his zoo, his private zoo. Apparently hippos like got out and this whole little township in Columbia has a wild hippo problem with their super fucking aggressive and they go after people and they have to like put them down. Anyway, so we were in that same area. So like we drove by his old like ranch and it has like the plane that it's insane. So flew in whatever was there for a month. I ended up making it to the end. You can watch it. Oh yeah, it's called Love in the Jungle. And it's so crazy because there was Discovery Channel, so they wanted to make it more like educational, but it was a dating show. So like they're trying to basically to burn. I don't know what the fuck they were trying to do. So everybody was assigned an animal based on the personality type. And for the first four episodes, you weren't allowed to talk. You could only like go off of people's energy. Only if you want a challenge on the challenge, you could talk to a girl. So in the house, you could not talk for the first four episodes. It was all about like mannerisms and you know, attraction by the eyes and like, it was fucking weird. But I understand what they were trying to do with it. They're trying to take away like the facade of like, you know, the small talk and the dating apps, like truly somebody's energy. Like if you see a girl or whatever and you're like into her, like what makes the attraction there from a primal level that is not like, you know, just the way we communicate, which is through our words. So yeah, they sign us an animal and then we'd have these challenges. And then if you won the challenge, you had a date that the producers would set up and you could talk on the date. But when you're in the house for the first episode, you couldn't talk. And then eventually they took that they took that restriction off. And then they would eliminate eliminate eliminate as you went on. And then I made it to the final three. There was like a question game and then we got out in the question game. So yeah, it was crazy. Yeah. So that's another like side tangent little like side quest that I did when I was, because it was during COVID and I was like, what the fuck I wasn't wait, I wasn't going out. I wasn't doing shit. I was like working in restaurants. Like I take time off and I was like, you know what, this is an opportunity where like I could be on TV and kind of see what happens. And yeah, no, I would have definitely taken 10 episodes. I got paid like 10 grand to do it. We vacation met some cool people. I have clips that I show people it made a really good bar story after like we got up when I was going out, I'd be like, Hey, you this my friends they look like a reality show. I was having any good dates on that one. Not so my girlfriend now is like super regular down to earth good girl next door, which I always was attracted to. The girls on the show were like the influencer, LA, whatever, not really doing shit. But I, yeah, like really into themselves. I'm not into that. Yeah. The guys were cool. The guys were all regular. It was weird how the girls really didn't have, I mean, I don't want them. It just was just not my thing. Like I'm not into that whole social media thing. I'm not into 200,000 followers. I'm not into only fans. I'm into just a regular good old pretty girl next door. It comes from a good family and has good like morals and things like that. I don't need that though. I lucked out, but you know, we still I don't really talk to that group anymore for a while. We all kept in touch, but I don't have Instagram anymore. We all had a group chat on Instagram. It was a good time, it was a good experience. And I think everybody from what I remember, there was a couple that I think they had broken up, but they lasted like two years from that show. They were the only couple that actually like stayed together. They moved in together and shit. But yeah, that being on reality show is fucking wild dude, because you have a camera in your face all the time, all the time. You cannot take the microphone off. There's cameras in every corner of every room. No lights can go off because they have to be able to move in and out and film things. So like, we have to sleep with the lights on. There was no doors on anything. So bathroom, bedroom, because they have to get in and out with the camera. How long were you going for? We actually, so we filmed 10 episodes. They did like a self quarantine because it was during COVID. So I was stuck in a hotel room with a guard outside my door for a week before we even got on the show to like self quarantine because I was flying in from a different country. And then I didn't know this. I came in as a they call in the in the show world, a disruptor and disruptor comes in like halfway through so they didn't know I was coming in. So they had already established like relationships and like connections and I came in as like to fuck it all up. So I had to stay. I had to stay in my hotel room for like a week and a half. Everybody else was like a week. And I didn't know anything. They just basically put me in the hotel room. I was able to go out like literally like prison like once a day to work out and then I was in the room. That was it. Today would bring me food and shit. So anyway, and then the actual show film for like two, I say it was like two weeks. We did an episode a day. We filmed all fucking day. And then two weeks of filming, I would say and then we went home. That was exhausting. Yeah, I was and it was a lot like it. Also, I'm not really a big part of your drinker anymore. And there was alcohol. Not they they lick you up because they wanted me to feel loose and comfortable on camera. They had a look probably the size of this room. Stocked for 10 days. Stocked, breakfast, lunch, dinner, mimosas, shots. They was and yeah, I mean, you're on no sleep. You have no energy and you're drinking all the time and you're not really eating and you're in the fucking Colombian like jungle. I was curious like how like the timeframe of the shooting we were doing an episode. So we'd have three shoots a day. We'd have one shoot in the morning that was like an intro. We'd ever shoot in the middle of the day, which was like the challenge. And the third shoot was party and then and then the selection and then limitation or whatever. Yeah. So it was like we had it was down to us. But the crew did the crew was a 350 person crew for 12 for 16 people. It was like a like a movie production. Like it was pretty crazy. Yeah. So that was just crazy. Weren't you like fixing? I was just kind of a completely separate topic, but it's something to maybe think of it. Weren't you like fixing up? Yeah. So that's yeah. So also during COVID, I was going to get bored. I started thinking of all these random shit. I bought these old campers because I at the time with COVID was happening, everybody's going outside, right? They wanted to be out in nature and experience things like like, well, shit, I want to, you know, do something with this. I have the Airbnb's. My Airbnb was not doing well at the time. So I bought these campers, renovated them with the buddy of mine. They're not air streams, but they, you know, air streams are a whole different thing. But they're like these, they're 1960s, like the called Shostas, they're like little toasters. So my buddy owns a farm, we put them on there, we rent them out on the weekends. It's a whole outdoor. Yeah, we still do that. Yeah, I'm trying to actually get rid of them because with real estate and everything going on, it's hard to manage. I mean, honestly, the guests are paying the ass because they're not used to camping. They think that it's Instagram and Pinterest and not true reality of like being in the Missouri heat in the middle of the summer or being rained on. So we've had a lot of complaints about, you know, weather, see what we can't control. Right. And if I'm doing the real estate stuff and all that, I don't want to be dealing with a guest that's complaining about, you know, it's too hot. I'm like, well, sorry to do your camping. I know I can't control that. Yeah. So I did, I've done it. Let me call God real quick and just enjoy being out like this part of the experience of like the unpredictability of being in nature, like, you know, go float down the river, go fucking bait. I mean, figure it the fuck out. So that's the tagline for the figure with the fuck out, dude. But it's just amazing how like they think we're like a concierge, we can control things. So I'm actually in the midst of selling them to somebody, a younger, two guys that are part like they have been in school together. They are friends. So they're going to run it through my friend owns the farm. So that way I can focus on real estate and other stuff. Because also, it's in Eureka. So it's 45 minutes to flip them. There's a guest problem. I have to go out there. So we're actually supposed to close on the sale. Oh, nice. That's awesome, man. Well, man, it's been it's been quite a ride. I'm sure that we've got more what the what the get you back on here. And yeah, this is fun. Yeah, this is a good time. But we like to roll over the place. Yeah, we like to end our episode with a surprise question. We called the tomb, we called the tombstone game. All right. So I'm on the spot. All right. Here, rise line, Ryan, what does it say on your toes? To be to side note on that, you know what animal I was? Oh, yeah. What was Ryan the line? Ryan, Ryan, Ryan, Ryan. When they gave me that, I'm like, Oh, this is perfect. It's a good one. Ryan, the line. All right, tombstone game. Here, here lies Ryan. What does it say on your tombstone? Damn. They figured it the fuck out. I figured it the fuck out. I figured it the fuck out. Yeah, seriously. I love that. Everything. I mean, everything at the end of the day, you can, if you try hard enough, I believe is figure out a bowl, you know, you just got to, you know, yeah, I would say that's perfect. Perfect. Awesome, man. All right, guys. Well, thanks to everybody for paying attention. If you haven't, click subscribe yet. Please hit subscribe. That, that helps us out a ton. Hit that like button, comment what you guys thought below, and we will see you next time. [Music]