Oz Konar:
Hey everyone, Oz Konar here with Business Lending Blueprint. I have an amazing guest here today with me, James, who is a part of my community, he’s one of the members of the Business Lending Blueprint. He’s been having a lot of success and I want to get to know them more. And as you know from my prior interviews, I record them when I do that so I can share it with you guys. So James, welcome, buddy, great to have you here.
James:
No, it was great to be here.
Oz Konar:
Thanks for sparing time to do this interview with me. So I know you’re becoming an important part of our community and you’re really active within our Facebook group. And you recently funded your first deal, which is a pretty good size deal. But before we get to that, I want to get to know you a little more. What’s your background? How did you decide to become a business loan broker in the first place?
James:
Okay, I pastor a church, as well, a small church, and I’m also a chaplain. I got into first selling insurance, so I got my license and started doing that. And I didn’t really like it.
Oz Konar:
Didn’t like it.
James:
I mean, I had some success, but then I like to watch YouTube, so I noticed you on YouTube. And it seemed like the more I watch it, the more, all of a sudden, I’d be drawn to your ads. And it just seemed like the more I listen, the more it began to make sense to me. And it was something, “Hey, this might be something I can do.” And so-
Oz Konar:
What exactly was making sense? What were some of the points in your mind that you convince yourself that, “Hey, this could be a good opportunity.”
James:
Yes. Something that you could do from home during this, something that is recession proof, something that you can use your phone, your computer, and you’re not limited by outside forces.
Oz Konar:
Yeah.
James:
You [inaudible 00:02:04] from your home, basically. And so when I started listening and a lot of things you were saying started making sense to me. And it sounded like it was something that’s well structured to where it’d be something that I could do. And you made that clear that this is something you can go into and not have any knowledge of it and something that does not require any special license. But what is important is just to get the training to where you know what you’re doing. And so that appealed to me.
Oz Konar:
All of those points are really appealing and obviously you’ve seen all of them and you recognize them. That’s really important because if I … and we get people from all kinds of backgrounds. Obviously yours is a very unique background, too.
James:
Right.
Oz Konar:
It was amazing. But a lot of the times people who’ve been exposed to like insurance, mortgages or real estate, real estate agents. They have what it takes, but they noticed that that’s not where they want to be involved with, like the insurance, the mortgage and the real estate industry. So for that reason, they start comparing to what we’re doing here and they go, “Wow, this is no brainer.” Like you can almost combine all of them without the negative side of like telemarketing, pulling on doors and trying to sell it to your friends and family and whatnot. And truly own a real business, without partnering with someone. So those are the benefits that we see happening and you nailed all of them.
Oz Konar:
So fast forward, then obviously you saw the videos of mine and decided to pull the trigger and joined the community. So what are some of the things that surprise you positively that you didn’t expect? Or some of the things that you said, “Oh, wow, this is really good.” And the community.
James:
Oh, yes. Far as dealing with the Facebook community is awesome. I mean, anytime you asked a question, there’s at least three or four on the low end. There’s sometimes 10, 15-
Oz Konar:
Oh, yeah.
James:
And they all make sense and go together, far as giving you good input. And yeah, I hadn’t seen anything like it, it’s great.
Oz Konar:
Yeah, community is becoming more and more important because honestly, when I put together the Blueprint, I thought it was going to be the content. If the content is good, people are going to like it. Yeah, I think our content is superb to anything that’s out there. But I think what keeps people together is a sense of community, without anyone expecting anything in return. So our community is not structured in a way that, “Hey, people are helping you out because they want a piece of your deal.” It’s just, they just help you because they just help you. That’s how we learn together as a community, and we’ve grown because of that, and we have a good culture, I believe.
Oz Konar:
And that’s because of you guys like quality of the lenders that we somehow attract. I think that’s one thing we’re doing right, somehow, that we’re getting really high quality individuals who really want to do this and want to grow their businesses. So congratulations for pulling the trigger on making that decision. So let’s talk about the deal that you funded, you recently funded a deal through one of the programs. And like you said, you have zero background on this, so you’re not a business loan broker from past life or anything like that. So how did that come about? Was it like a real estate deal?
James:
It was a startup.
Oz Konar:
Wow.
James:
The guy formerly had a business and it shut down-
Oz Konar:
Okay.
James:
But he had this desire to start back up, he still had his company and everything. But I got to say this first, I was wondering about doing the LinkedIn, I was like, “Man, I don’t know.” And then somebody from the group community said, “It’s a must.” And I was like, “Well, that is true.” So I went ahead and started just doing what you told me in the training. So as I did that, it was the LinkedIn that this guy got ahold of me.
Oz Konar:
Oh, wow.
James:
We started talking and he … I take a lot of notes. So I was looking through the notes and everything and the scripts, those things are important. Because it’s good to get them in your mind, but then as you begin to talk, those things can kind of … you can ad-lib with them and put them in your own words, as long as it lines up with the same thing. And it helps your conversation in order to build that rapport into saying, “Look, this is something that can really help me out.”
James:
So as we began to talk, he was more interested, it was a good lead, his mortgage was paid off on his home.
Oz Konar:
Nice.
James:
I think a key thing is with this material, it helps you build that rapport because when people listen to you, you need to know something about those loans to where they can hear that you can help them. And that’s what we’re doing, we’re trying to help them.
Oz Konar:
Which is so important. Yeah, the consultative approach that I talk a lot about. The goal of the Blueprint is not to train highly skilled closers or telemarketers or anything like that. The goal is like teach already very nice, kind human beings and turn them into consultants and consult them. Because these people are … like, I don’t buy into that belief of, “Hey, you have the business owner who’s treated like a totally separate species of creature versus we have the sales people.” No, we’re the same people.
Oz Konar:
So you’re a business owner, at the same time you’re selling something to another person. If we treat it that way, I think our job becomes way easier. Instead of we’re trying to understand this new creature and how to close this, how to say this, and how to say that. It’s not that, I mean, you get that. So you ask another human being what their desire is, what their need is, and they tell you. And you learn the products that would fit into that box and you tell them, “Hey, I got this. If you’re interested, here is the process.”
Oz Konar:
If you do that, not only you are being totally transparent, but you’re not losing from who you are, what made you who you are. Our goal is not to transform somebody to make them a salesperson, it’s just bringing out the best in them and use it to help another person. I think you’re a prime example of that, you learn this one product and you have 10 plus products. Which helps these person gets funding through their real estate, so they can start a business.
James:
Right.
Oz Konar:
It’s like a combination of startup through getting funding for the real estate. And you just put it all together and help this person and you got it done. And you have a customer for life now, then he can not only refer other people and they’ll need you for other stuff when he starts the business. So how much was the total commission on that deal?
James:
$3,250.
Oz Konar:
Wow. Yeah. That’s amazing. And that was your first deal, right?
James:
Yeah, yeah.
Oz Konar:
Congratulations, that’s definitely a solid deal. So obviously a lot of people are watching this right now, what would you say to someone who might be in your position, like before you joined the Blueprint, who’s considering becoming a business loan broker through the Blueprint. What would you recommend them to do?
James:
Okay, do know that the teaching is solid, the community not only is there to tell you information. But one thing I do like is that they support you, they encourage you along the way. And encouragement is something that’s needed, I think, especially now. Because we live in different times, but still this business is still moving on. But yet in any kind of business I find is that there’s going to be challenging at times, but if you keep doing, I feel, what you’re trained to do, good things happen.
Oz Konar:
Absolutely, absolutely. Amen to that. Yeah, this is great. Thank you so much for joining me today, James. I don’t want to keep you any longer. Do you have any questions for me or anything I can do for you?
James:
I just want to say thank you for the teaching, for the program. It is well worth it.
Oz Konar:
Appreciate it, man. Thanks so much.