The Marketing Channel Everyone is Overlooking

Drew Carroll: Ads don't fix a business. Ads don't make you money. Right? Ads magnify a

Steve Trang: business. Mhmm.

Drew: And that's it. If you have a core product with a core messaging angle Mhmm. And you're having a hard time selling it to your friends, it doesn't matter how expensive of a media buyer or how well produced your ad is or anything. All you're doing is magnifying that. I remember my partner at one point going, $100,000,000.

Like, well, you know, a vestibule. $100,000,000. Yeah. I don't know how I'm paying for rent.

Steve: Hey, everybody. Thank you for joining us for today's episode of real estate disruptors. Today, we have Drew Carroll with lead Zolo and Drew Flynn from Toronto to talk about the one marketing channel everyone is overlooking. Now you guys know I'm on a mission to create a 100 millionaires. The information on the show alone is enough to help become a millionaire in the next five to seven years.

If you'll take consistent action, you'll become one. And, guys, you get value out of the show. Please hit that subscribe button. Don't keep us a secret. That way we can all grow together.

You ready? I'm ready. Alright. So first question for you is what was your life like right before you got into real estate?

Drew: Right before I got into real estate, that's a good one. Well, I was working as a media buyer

Steve: Mhmm.

Drew: For a media company. We were, specifically working with course creators and influencers at the time. Mhmm. My now business partner was running that company and, kinda started at the ground floor. Yeah.

So we got a lot of lot of experience in that time running a lot of ads for a lot of big names, which is so cool.

Steve: Influencer space. So there are some people that like to use the word guru. Uh-huh. Right? Are we talking about that we're talking

Drew: about here? I I'm happy I'm happy to draw the line and make the difference. Oh, yes. Absolutely. Sure.

I think I

Steve: think it's a

Drew: pretty interesting topic as a whole. Mhmm. So I think there's a lot of gurus out there. Mhmm. And I call them gurus versus influencers because they're the people who are maybe not, influencing the right way.

So I would I would classify an influencer as somebody who's influencing for the good. For example, you influence a lot of people in sales, and that's a great thing. There are other people who don't have any sales experience Mhmm. But they are quite happy to regurgitate what you're saying and trying to build themselves into a guru. So Charlie Munger has a pretty cool, story about this.

There was, a gentleman, mister Planck. He won a Nobel Prize in Germany Mhmm. Years ago Yeah. For, what was it?

Steve: Physics of some sort.

Drew: Physics of some sort. Yeah. Metaphysics or yeah. Anyways, he and so right at that time when you when you win a Nobel Prize, you basically go on tour. Right?

It's like doing a podcast tour when you have a book. Yeah. So he was driving around. He had a chauffeur, of course, and he would go to all these events. So he had hundreds of these things.

Mhmm. And so it literally got to a point where they're driving to one, and the chauffeur turns and looks at him and goes, listen. I've heard your presentation so many times. Mhmm. He's like, let me give this one.

He's like, I know it word for word. I got up there and he crushed it, the whole thing, right down to the q and a. And then he got to the q and a, and somebody stands up and asks him some, like, crazy question, like, outside of the scope of that, but but obviously, really, they didn't. He he was quick. He was quick witted.

Right? So he's like, you know what? This is such a basic question that I'm gonna have my chauffeur stand up here and answer it.

Steve: And

Drew: so that's how he dealt with that. But it's a funny story. But to me, it really shows that, like, this is what happens. Right?

Steve: Mhmm.

Drew: People like to watch a lot of content and pretend that they know it Mhmm. When they don't. Right? Like, I can you can give me a sales script.

Steve: Right.

Drew: I'm so it could be your sales script that you made millions of dollars with. I'm gonna fall flat on my face. Right.

Steve: Right?

Drew: I'm not a sales guy. I'm not sales trained. I don't know the intricacies of it. I haven't gone through an experience, and I don't have a visceral experience of it whatsoever. Right.

So and I think that, to me, that's how I classify the two. Right? You have these gurus, or I call them fake gurus, just couldn't like the word. So when I say guru, I mean it kinda maliciously. And it's like it's these people who are trying to prop themselves up on other people's content Mhmm.

Without the, you know, without the actual experience, man. Like, I wanna see your bruises and scars. Yeah. That's that's what tells me you know something.

Steve: Well, that's where you get the mastery. You know, we talk about there's the there's the knowing. You know, we talk about this actually in kung fu. You know? It's like there's, like, there's the you don't you don't know anything.

There's the awareness of it. Mhmm. And there's a part where your brain knows, but your body doesn't.

Drew: Mhmm. And

Steve: it's not until your body does what your mind knows that you've actually mastered the concept. So I could go and learn something in martial arts, but just because I know it doesn't mean I can apply it especially under pressure.

Drew: Mhmm.

Steve: Right? And that's where you're talking about the visceral. Yeah. Right? Like, oh, yeah.

You just do this because you've done it so many times. You can actually contextualize it versus the the theoretical.

Drew: Right.

Steve: Yeah. So go ahead.

Drew: It's another cool analogy kinda on that thought. Right? Like, I don't fear the man that's learned 1,000 kicks Mhmm. Or the man who's learned one a thousand times. Right?

To have that experience in those chops. Yeah. Totally.

Steve: Exactly. And, you know, you talk about the word guru. So guru has kinda gone back and forth. There's positive connotation, negative connotation. So growing up, it's positive connotation.

Once you got on social media, it's very, very negative connotation. Yes. Tony Robbins did a thing on Netflix. I'm not your guru. Yep.

Was that the meaning behind that? What was the

Drew: So that's that was my what my personal take was. Just just seeing that title and watching that. Now Tony was just trying to impress upon people that, like, you don't need me to make a change in your life. Right? And and it was well done, and it was it's very Tony.

To me, like, I took that as, like, yeah. Like, people need to stop idolizing people, and it's not like I I totally like, Tony's got his chop. I I really respect that man. Yeah. But to me, that's what that's what I felt when I heard read that title.

Right? It was just like, yeah. You're damn right. You're you're not a guru, and I appreciate that of him. Right?

So for me, he's a he's a positive influence in the world. Yeah. He's not a guru. He's not just this talking head that's built by marketing. And Right.

And maybe there's another distinction there.

Steve: Okay. So you're helping buy media for influencers. So what does buy media mean? Because I think for a lot of people that, are maybe a little bit outside of the the, the inner workings of a marketing company, buying media, like, could mean a 100 different things. What does that mean?

Drew: Sure. So super simple. Run YouTube ads. Run Google PPC. Yeah.

Run the Facebook ad side of it. So we have clients that come to us. They have a great product and a funnel typically to a webinar Mhmm. That they're doing really well with, and they would come to us for our experience specifically in YouTube. This is really where we started, where my partner started ten years ago Mhmm.

To his agency. And so that's what they they would come to us. We would help them script and make ads and basically run traffic to the top of their funnel. Mhmm. And then, you know, we would consult with them on their funnels and whatnot as well.

But that's that's what I mean by media buying, and and I appreciate the asking the question because I've definitely gone on a rant and people kinda being lost with it. So, yeah, specifically the people who are clicking the buttons inside of the ad accounts.

Steve: Well, because it if I think of by media, it could come across as potentially, right, as, like, I'm gonna go buy this news station. Well, that would be a good that would

Drew: be a good thing to do.

Steve: I'm gonna go buy this anchor's perspective. Right. So yeah. And I Or, like, lobbying. Right?

Drew: Sure. And I think that's where the term comes from. Right? So, you know, Roland Frasier talks about this when when he he talks about, like, acquiring companies

Steve: and Mhmm.

Drew: Acquiring multiple companies. And if that's what you're trying to do, what you should be doing is acquire a a central company Mhmm. And then acquire a media outlet for it. Right. And so he would he would distinguish that between, like, by a Facebook group would be, like, a media that could feed your main company.

Steve: Right.

Drew: So when I when I say me, I mean, digital marketing might be a better, phrase for it. So running YouTube or Facebook, TikTok.

Steve: And it is an interesting term because, you know, like, I'm looking at if I wanted to get more eyeballs Yeah. Right, they'll say, like, go buy a media buyer Yeah. Or go go work with a media buyer. But there's all these different elements. You kinda you just you kinda went through it pretty quick, but there's elements of, like, creating the ad, creating the message, making sure the message, the market, the media Yeah.

All those other piece work together. Looking at, what is a reasonable ad spend per day for this reach. Yeah. Right? Like, there's all these different elements into it.

So, like, at a high level or a medium level, like, for someone that's never bought ads before Yeah. What are, like, the three major things you should consider before buying media? The biggest obstacle I hear from newer wholesalers is finding buyers for their deals. Because unless you've built a massive buyers list or have a huge dispo team, you might struggle to move your deals. So when we started working with InvestorLift, we've been able to reach new buyers and sell deals faster at higher prices.

We can see buyers in our area, their contact information, and with the new AI capabilities, connect with the buyers most interested in our deals based on the algorithms. We can also see who's clicked on our deals, how many pictures they clicked on, and how long they spent looking at it. And finally, what actions they took after engaging with our deals. We are now connected with thousands of buyers in our markets, and we now know exactly where we are with each deal and what next steps to take. If this sounds like something that would resolve or help your dismal process, I highly encourage you, go to the website, put in disruptors for 10% off so you can focus on locking up deals unless I'm worried, stressed, and frustrated about finding buyers.

Drew: So the first thing that I wanna make crystal clear, and I don't think like, nobody talks about this, and it running a media company drives me nuts. And and yourself, I'm sure, run a lot of, ads and whatnot for yourself. Ads don't fix a business. Ads don't make you money. Right?

Ads magnify a business.

Steve: Mhmm.

Drew: That's it. So if you have a core product with a core messaging angle Mhmm. And you're having a hard time selling it to your friends, it doesn't matter how expensive of a media buyer or how well produced your ad is or anything. All you're doing is magnifying that. So number one is understand and I don't wanna get too cliche here, but I'll I'll say it because people understand it.

Understand your avatar. Mhmm. Right? Who are you selling to? Understand, like, what are their pain points?

Right. Right? And I and we can talk about wholesaling ads in a bit too, and I and I can talk around that.

Steve: Yeah.

Drew: But what are their pain points, and how are you and why are you the best person to solve that? You would answer those questions, then go put up an ad. And I don't care if you record it on an iPhone five walking around nervous shaking. If your message is right Mhmm. It's gonna it's gonna resonate, and it's gonna do well.

Right? You don't need to have Grant Cardone ads or Tony ads. Right? There's big and flashy, but they also have their message so refined. Right?

Like, I remember being in a room and being blown away as a team of of there's got must have been eight, copywriters and media buyers in this room. They're all looking at this one web page, and they spent three hours answering one question. You know what the question was?

Steve: Who's avatar?

Drew: What's one word we can remove from this? Right? They were so focused in on the message, and their message was so dialed at that point that for them, the the best they could do and and I apologize. I guess I skipped over the avatar a bit there. But but for them, that's such a high level.

All they're trying to do is simplify their message. Right? It's not people have this fantasy of, like, it's gotta be these great ads. I gotta rent a studio and all that kind of stuff. That's the one in 23% at the end of your journey.

Steve: Mhmm.

Drew: You wanna have the the biggest lever, but the biggest fulcrum is your message, knowing your people. Yeah. And and that's honestly, you hire a good media buying company, and that's what they're gonna talk about. Don't talk to them about targeting and where they're placing your ads. And, honestly, don't talk to who cares if it's Facebook, YouTube, TikTok?

Mhmm. Some people will be like, oh, my avatar is not on TikTok. It's like, well, let's let the data find out. Right? Let's make sure we have a good message that resonates with your avatar.

Steve: Mhmm.

Drew: And then who the hell cares if we put it on a billboard if if it's resonating with the right people and it's driving the right traffic and you're converting and your ROI is there. I don't care about cost per lead. I don't care about click through rates. I care about ROI. And if that's there, that's all that matters.

Steve: I'm gonna totally geek out here for a minute. Cool. And I have to do this because you're the expert here. Yeah. Yeah.

So we talk about two different things, avatar and messaging. Yes. So, and this is so appropriate. Right? Like, I think a lot of the way we've built marketing wholesaling businesses today is very different than when I started close to twenty years ago.

Yep. Right? Today, I can just hire Lead Zollo. Yeah. And I'm done.

Yeah. Right? I don't have to put any additional thought into this.

Drew: Right.

Steve: Right? But let's just say, hypothetically, there wasn't a lead solo, and there weren't other marketing companies out there. Because, like, you can really just plug and play today.

Drew: Yeah. If I

Steve: were to start my own marketing campaign, let's start with the avatar. How do you figure out who your avatar is?

Drew: Yeah. That's a great question. So what you're saying is assume I haven't done this before. I don't have a buy box. I don't have any of these terms, right, that that

Steve: they'd like to talk about. I was at the seminar

Drew: Yeah.

Steve: And they said you should buy a house, become wealthy. Yep. I'm gonna start marketing for homeowners.

Drew: Right. So what I would do well, what I would do is go find somebody in the space who's making millions of dollars

Steve: Right.

Drew: And and pay for their time or or offer to work for them for free. And I would just be, like, you know, in the back rooms, like, reading other ads. But but, yeah, to to your point to make it simple is I would go, okay. Who's the person that's gonna sell their house for less than what Zillow says? Because that's that's the game.

Right? Right. Who's Zillow says $3.20. I need to buy it for $2.60.

Steve: Mhmm.

Drew: Who's gonna do that? And I would just sit there and be like, who the hell would do that? Right? Like, that's that's a huge ask. Mhmm.

And then you go, okay. Well, you know what? I know of my aunt. I remember when my aunt passed away, say, and my mom inherited this house. And we're in Canada, so, like, it was two provinces away, which might as well be on the other side of the world.

Mhmm. Right? And it was a hoarder house, and it was rundown. And my mom's had so much stress. There was back taxes.

There was this and another thing. And she didn't know what to do. And, like, she just wanted the burden gone. To her, that didn't hold value. Right?

Steve: Mhmm.

Drew: Zillow might have said $3.20. But to her, it was just like, I just need this off my plate. She also wanna do the right thing for everybody else, you know, the brother's brothers and sisters and stuff like that. But she she's the perfect avatar. Right?

Steve: Right.

Drew: Hey. If I went up to her and said, listen. I got this done tomorrow. You will never get another call from a bank about the back taxes. Nothing.

And, like, I know this is still a $6.20, but there's all this work and blah blah. If I just give you $200, you know, I could I could get you to sign paperwork. I'd probably have the money to you within a month. But, really, by tomorrow, you never have to think about this property again. Would you take it?

She

Steve: go, yep.

Drew: It's 200 extra grand she didn't have before that, and she's in pain and all these kinds of things. So for me, that's a starting point. Right? It's personal story. Right?

I'm sure a lot of people have personal stories. And if not, go Google it.

Steve: Right.

Drew: Right? And so now I'm like, okay. Now let's start working back. If what would my mother have need needed to see on a billboard? Don't don't worry about Facebook or whatever.

On a billboard that if she read it, we would like, what if there's a billboard that just said, did you inherit a house two states over that's behind on back taxes that needs more work than you're capable of putting in than you just want out of that? Mhmm. She she would have pulled over the cart. She probably wouldn't even pull over the cart. She'd been, like, driving with one hand trying to dial the number.

Like Yeah. It's just so simple.

Steve: And that message is speaking to our heart.

Drew: Yeah. Exactly. Mhmm. And so I I would start there and go guess, pretty specific. Right?

So, like, now let's generalize a little bit more. Okay. So I know if somebody inherits a house that's rundown, that's shitty. What if somebody's living in the house that's rundown and, is is like they can't look after themselves anymore, and they need to retire, like, move to a to a self aid home or something like that? That would kind of fit.

Steve: Mhmm.

Drew: So now how do I make a message that might speak to both of them? I'm okay with, say, segmenting to have two different ad campaigns for each, but, like, you know, we we wanna have a big enough audience here. So what message would speak to both of them? And that those are the types of questions that I'd ask myself. And then I I would write an ad.

These days, I go to chat GPT

Steve: Mhmm. And I

Drew: would type in my mother's story and say, like, what what ad would resonate? And just, like, really look at those pain points. And and and you need to look at advertisement or you need yeah. You need to look at ads as service. Mhmm.

Right? You are providing a service. So you're not trying to swindle. You're not trying to impress and, oh, I'll get you the most money for your house. Screw that.

Mhmm. Right? People looking for the most money for their heads, they're talking to realtors.

Steve: Right.

Drew: Right? Solve a problem. Just be a force for good. I have a a super quick story here. A friend, Elijah Rubin Mhmm.

Was talking to him the other day, and he was talking about how he was on a call with the seller. And she's going through a really hard time, and he's like, he just wasn't focused on the house because she was in so much pain. Right. And he, like, suggested a podcast she should listen to, like, help her out this hard time she was going through. And, like, if it's right with the house, like, this is my number.

Like, this is my offer and my number, like, let me know. And she called him back, like, two days later, not only wanting to accept his offer, but this other friend who's in a similar situation asking Elijah if she could if he could help them.

Steve: Right.

Drew: Right? There was no talk about sell them or buy their houses. Like, can you help this person? Mhmm. He got a two for one.

Steve: Right. Yeah. So and that's really powerful. Right? It's about it's about the person.

It's not about the house. Yeah. So getting the message right, you know, this is something that I've kicked out a lot on. And, you know, I was in Craig Proctor coaching, some time ago, also a Canadian. Right?

And then I have a

Drew: team here.

Steve: And I learned through his program. I was like, oh, Dan Kennedy wrote all your ads? There you go. I'm gonna study Dan Kennedy. Yep.

And I went down, I wanna say, a rabbit hole for, like, two years Yep. On just copywriting theory.

Drew: Yep.

Steve: Right? So how valuable skill is copywriting with what you do right now?

Drew: Sure. I would say that it is, like, a nine out of 10 in being valuable Mhmm. To the point where I won't touch it. Mhmm. I'm I will not walk I will not give anybody suggestions, like, specific suggestions on an ad.

I will not write a sales p. It is that important that I will hire out for it. And I've been in this for ten years.

Steve: Yeah.

Drew: Right? Like, that that's how I think I think it's everything. Like, clicking buttons in an ad account is clicking buttons in an ad account. Right? When you hire an agency to do that because you don't wanna click the buttons, not because it's hard.

Right? Right.

Steve: It's ridiculous.

Drew: Exactly. Yeah. Right? People think there's some mystery behind it. It's not.

It's but you need to hire a copywriter, and I and you know you have the right copywriter when you read their copy and you go, that's what I do. Right? And, like, you're just blown away by it.

Steve: I'd buy that.

Drew: Yeah. Damn right. Yeah. Do you wanna buy my house? Like yeah.

Steve: Yeah. So when I've told people, like, if you wanna learn if you wanna learn copywriting, like, go read all Dan Kennedy stuff. Put your wallet somewhere where you can access it.

Drew: 100%. And I've read all Dan Kennedy stuff. I'm I'm a huge nerd. Like, you and I were both going to File Hockey Live this year. Yeah.

And, yeah, like, I I'll read it. I love, like, Ogilvy on advertising. There's so many great books, but I learn it I learn it to understand it as a hobbyist and to know who to hire and to and to be able to ask the right questions. Mhmm. But I'm very, very, very particular and focused on on my circle of genius, and that's not it.

You know, it might you it might be assumed that I am because I'm media. Mhmm. But I'm telling you, there's multiple facets to me.

Steve: There's layers to it. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that, it's it's a great point that you're so into it that you're you're hiring it out, but you can vet it. And that was something that, you know, when I designed my own PPC campaign Mhmm.

Right, like, again, starting back, I did all my own stuff. Yeah. I create my own campaigns. So then when I eventually hired it out, I could ask the right questions and vet the source. Make sure not vet the source, but the providers, like, do you actually know what you're talking about,

Drew: or

Steve: are you just selling me something?

Drew: Yeah.

Steve: And then so we talked about, like, you know, the right way to do avatar and and and marketing. That's not what I did. Right? Like, what I did when I started was I just completely just copied everything Shantaire was doing.

Drew: Sure.

Steve: Right? Why not? I just saw okay. This is what his website looks like. Yep.

Here are the ad campaigns. There's a tool, Keywords Spy. Yep. So, you're familiar with that one? Yep.

Right? So, like, you can just download his entire PPC campaign Sure. With all the keywords and the I don't think I could get the negative keywords, but it got I

Drew: don't think he had any Yeah.

Steve: You could get the negative keywords, but you can get all the ads and the phrases and this and that. And you just, like and you just run those campaigns. It's like, okay. I like that one. Keep that one going.

Pause this one.

Drew: Yep. You're a funnel hacker.

Steve: Is that what it was?

Drew: Yeah. It was what Russell Brunson would say. Right? Yeah. Yeah.

Steve: Worked remarkably well.

Drew: Wow. Is he successful? Is he making millions of dollars?

Steve: He was at the time. Yeah. Right? Like, he was in Phoenix, he was, I think, he was the guy in Phoenix at the time. Now he's nationwide.

Drew: Yeah. Don't change a word. That, like, that would be my recommendation. Yeah. Don't change a word.

Yeah. I also think it's important too, and I and I and I'm I wanna be very intentional about clarifying things because it's really important to me. Like, when we're vetting people and I'm vetting a copywriter, you're vetting a PPC company, it's really important to know the difference between vetting and managing. Right? I know copywriting enough to know that there's way more that I don't know.

Steve: Mhmm.

Drew: So I know enough to know if somebody's trying to sell me versus somebody just knows more than me. And that's what I want, the tingles. Right? I want that, oh, yeah. He knows way more than me.

Absolutely. That's

Steve: fine. Absolutely. So we went down this, you know, big tangent, but I was just super curious, super nerdy here. So you go work with Kyle. Mhmm.

You're buying camp you're buying, media. Yeah. At which point does this turn into real estate?

Drew: Yeah. So, yeah, it's a great question. So I will say and maybe we'll start back a little bit because it it'll help contextualize.

Steve: Sure.

Drew: So when I was a kid, my both my parents owned a company. So, like, my father owns an auto body shop. Well, at the time, my grandfather did, and my father was working there looking to take it over. And my mother owned a daycare. Mhmm.

So my early experience of entrepreneurialism and and running businesses was they're highly stressful. They suck. I gotta work. You know, I'm home for dinner, and I'm back at work. So, like, I was jaded.

Like, I wasn't a big fan of this whole starting a business. It looked hard.

Steve: Well, now I'm I'm I'm thinking about with my kids here. Alright. Let's make sure we make it look easy.

Drew: Well, yeah. Well, maybe not easy, but, like, aspiring. Right? Like, this is, like, this is hard work for a reason. Right?

I didn't. My parents didn't tie to the end of it. Like, it was it was hard work so we can eat tonight, and it was just like, woah. There's gotta be a better way. Right?

So, at the time, I was working at grocery stores, the local grocery store. I'm from, like, a town of 3,000 people. So I'm local grocery store. I'm in the backroom in the meat department, like, mopping floors and that kind of stuff. My older brother at the time graduated high school.

He didn't wanna start a business. Very smart guy. He started pursuing his PhD in Waterloo. That also jaded me. I didn't like the idea of all that work.

I didn't enjoy high school very much. So I remember graduating high school and kind of being in the spot and being like, running a business sucks. Right? It's a lot of hard work. My parents don't have any money, so can't be very fruitful there.

Academia looks like it sucks. My brother's working days and days and days and going further and further into debt. Mhmm. That doesn't make any sense. And I was like, my guidance counselor, and she's like, oh, we've worked in the meat department.

You know that, meat comes into trade, and you only need four thousand hours. For the last four years of high school, you've gathered the four thousand hours, so you just need to go write an exam and you have your meat cutter's license. I was like, easy. Love it. Right?

So I did that. I was 18 years old when I graduated high school, and I was making over $20 an hour to the time. It's a lot of money, and I was making more money with my friends. Half of my friends were in university, so I was, like, hanging in their dorm room, sleeping on their beds. I got the party side of it, plus I was making money.

What what the hell more did I want?

Steve: Yeah.

Drew: So I started working with the company, meat cutting being meat cutter. Kinda traveled a little bit with them. I had a manager at one point with whom I despised. He was just she she was terrible to her employees.

Steve: Mhmm. And so

Drew: I kinda, like, made a vow at one point. Because I I've been asked multiple times to be her assistant. I was just like, no. No. I just wanna cut meat, man.

Go party. So, anyways, there was at one point, I remember very distinctly being in the cooler, and there was an employee crying, because she was not very kind. And she's like, you know what? I'm gonna take the assistant meat manager job. I I I think that I can be a force for good here.

So I did that, and that really turned me on to management and wanting to manage people. And, like, I got really inspired by leadership books, all this kind of stuff. I got really excited. Needless to say, I grew very quickly with the company to the point where I was sent across the province to open up multiple stores with them, run their Meet program, and then eventually offered a store a couple stores to run. This at this point, I was the youngest store manager in the company.

I was pretty excited, pretty high on myself. I was making good money.

Steve: The youngest

Drew: I was 28, and, like, the compensation was great. It was, like, 80 plus 50 in bonus. So, like, I was on Hot Life. This is 10 ago. Mhmm.

So the problem was is that it was a grind, and I was working eighty hours a week. And grocery store margins are between 1.53%. So I'm talking you're managing a 100 employees. You're doing a quarter of $1,000,000 a week. You have a huge space that you have to look after.

It's gotta be clean. You've gotta buy products. You gotta sell products. It's all fresh. I worked in kinda like the Whole Foods of Canada.

Right? So it's like, you gotta turn over your apples every two days. Like, it's crazy. Mhmm. Right?

And I remember sitting there just being like, this sucks. Like, this isn't what I want. Right? The margin sucked. Business sucks, and it just business sucks.

And so I was like, I'm working all this time. I feel like I'm pretty smart. I've got all these chops. I'm managing a $13,000,000 store at the time. I'm like, there's gotta be something else.

So I remember going home, and I remember just seeing a course online. It was like how to run Facebook ads for local businesses. I was like, how to get $1,500 retainers.

Steve: Yeah. And it's

Drew: just like and set up the ads. It's like a day's worth of work. And I was like, that's it. Golden ticket, baby. Right?

So I quit my job on the spot. Like, I'm done.

Steve: On the spot.

Drew: Yeah. That was it. I just I saw it. I saw it for the very first time in my entire life that I saw it. And I didn't know what it was yet, but I saw that, like, in through simplicity with profit somehow.

Are you

Steve: sure it wasn't because how much you hated your job? Could have

Drew: very likely been. Could have very likely been. And I don't suggest anybody do it because I took a $30,000 payout, and I was $30,000 in debt before I landed my first client. So there was 60 k of swing there. Yeah.

But that that but then you find the complexity center. Right? Sales was hard. I'm not good at sales, man. I don't I don't talk well to strangers.

Maybe maybe a little more confident now and a better at it.

Steve: I'll say right now, you strike me as a person that could sell.

Drew: Well, sure. But I could talk about my company. I'm I'm proud of my company. But at the time, when you're trying to sell something you never sold before, like, I'm sure you've seen with new newbies in in this industry, like, it's hard.

Steve: Yeah.

Drew: It was super hard. So, yeah, there was there was a time so so that's when it got hard again. Because then it then I felt the complexity again because then I gotta learn sales, and then I had to learn media buying. Then I had to, like, hold on to clients. I gotta write contracts, and I was just like, what is going on?

Mhmm. Right? And I

Steve: was

Drew: just like, I can't do this. So what I need to do is find a job at a media company to learn how they're doing it Mhmm. You know, and and try and, like, hack them

Steve: from the beginning. Fell for someone else's ad Yeah. That they were buying media for.

Drew: 100%.

Steve: And you're promised the magic pill. Yeah. Bought the magic pill. Wasn't quite Yeah. What you thought it was.

Yep. Yeah. How long from when you did that to you're like, alright. I should go work somewhere else first.

Drew: Not very long because my wife got pregnant. It was like this is like, literally, I quit my job. I came home and told my wife that I quit. Oh. And she said That

Steve: was not a team because of discussion.

Drew: No. And she told me she was pregnant. So it was a real coming of of, you know, fate at that time. Very stressful coming of fate. So anyways, it was I wanna say well, it was ten months later because I remember being, my daughter my daughter being born and being in the hospital and taking and being on the phone for Toronto Police Services, applying for Toronto Police Services because I didn't have any clients.

I was broke. And then immediately after that, I got an email from Kyle Salarud, who's now my business partner, who was looking for media buyers.

Steve: Mhmm.

Drew: And I was like, I I know enough about it to pretend I know a lot about it, so I'm gonna go apply.

Steve: Yeah. Well and and I think there's something here. You know? A lot of wholesalers, something that will say is go work somewhere else. Mhmm.

You know, swallow your pride Yeah. You know, for a short period of time, learn on someone else's dime. Right? So you get the skills and the experience, and you get to see how the sausage is made for the most part. And then do whatever you gotta do.

You know? We have something. We have a noncompete to to work at our wholesaling company. Yep. You know?

Kinda went back and forth. We wanna do this or do do this or not. But what we have in our noncompete is after three years, you can do whatever the hell you want. Yep. Right?

I just need a three year commitment. After that, you wanna compete against me, then go for it. Like, no one's gonna hit you for that. I just need through your commitment. Yeah.

Right? But in general, we also recommend other people, like, go learn somewhere else, and then you can go do this. Right.

Drew: I think it's brilliant advice.

Steve: Yeah. But you did this a little differently.

Drew: Well, yeah, I didn't know what I was doing. Right? I'm just, like, fumbling through.

Steve: I'm gonna say you you were somewhere and then you stayed there.

Drew: Well well, not really. So I worked there. Well, I do now. I guess I'm director of operations for that company. But but I was there long enough to realize that it was, like, it was higher margins than a grocery store, but it was complex.

There's a copywriting department. There's an editing department. There's a YouTube media buying department. There's a TikTok media buying department. There's partner support, and there was all these things, and it was heavy.

Mhmm. Right? It was heavy. So I was learning this and just be like, maybe this is just what business is. Mhmm.

Right? It's complex, it's hard, and it's low margins. Right? I wanna it's like I wanna go interview everybody. Yeah.

Two cc awards and award you win with ClickFunnels after you've done a million dollars in revenue through their software. I wanna go interview every two cc'er because I bet you most of them spent more than a million dollars to make that million dollars. I don't

Steve: think you wanna I don't think you wanna look under that hood.

Drew: Exactly. Exactly. And this is what was this realization was coming to me. And it was like, I don't know. I don't know how much I love this.

Steve: Mhmm.

Drew: And then, Kyle asked me to come fly out to North Dakota one day, and he's like, I I need you to meet a friend of mine. He's like, I got an idea. He's like, I really like working with you. He's like, I think we need to start another company. And I was like, like, what's the concept?

What's you know, what dissolved this? And he's like, I'll show you when

Steve: we get here.

Drew: So I flew to North Dakota, and he's just like, this is what we need to do. And he had, you know, like, the the four by eight flashcards. They, like, pushed it over to me, and he goes, PPL company Mhmm. Find clients, make ads, make funnel. Mhmm.

And he's just like, as long as we just stick to this Mhmm. It's gonna rock. Because, you know, Charlie Munger once said, you know, you need to make things as simple as possible, but no more simpler.

Steve: Mhmm.

Drew: And so, you know, to to you know, it's not about reducing everything to zero because that doesn't work. But there is a way to simplify business, and there are business models that are highly profitable Mhmm. That you can serve a huge audience. I would say courses and info products is a way to do this as well Mhmm. And not hate it.

Yeah. And so we took that, and and, you know, there's more of a story about Leadsolo there. But we took that, and we went, we just need to find an industry who's not being served well that we can help. And we're gonna set up a model where there's no retainers. They're not paying us ad spend.

There's no contracts. There's no I gotta meet with them or with partner support every week to justify why we're running their ads. Mhmm. We need to simplify the whole process. We need them to come in, buy what they want, and leave and get the best value humanly possible.

And, again, for the first time in years after being jaded with this whole thing, I was inspired. And that's how we and that's how we started Leadsold. And we still have that flashcard.

Steve: What's the difference between what you guys were doing and this PPL model?

Drew: Yeah. So there there's a large difference in terms of, like, just business structure. Right? But I think what we learned over time was the biggest value was was really having this understanding of media buying. So we were maybe a little arrogant coming into it.

So we took on some clients and so we started I I I'll reel it back a little bit. We started with one wholesaler in North Dakota, and we arrogantly just said, listen. We'll we'll provide leads for you. You get 50% of all deals. Mhmm.

And he was just like, no deal. And we're just like, okay. Shit. So then we're like, what about this? We'll pay for the ads to get you deals.

We need you to just give us, you know, something. We just want proof of concept for this. So we did that. And it was great, and he made a whole bunch of money in the first month, and we were just like, holy crap. But what we noticed was our our cost per lead was quite high.

So at the time, our cost per lead is about $200 a lead. But we're just like, he's making all kinds of money. We can charge $350 a lead. Let's go. Mhmm.

And he was in a mastermind, Dave Schwartz's 8020 mastermind, and so he went and told everybody in the mastermind. So next thing I know again, we just started this thing. Right? We had the we had the three things that we were focused on. We're luckily, we had a YouTube video company, so we were able to, like, have them build a funnel and ads and stuff.

So what happened was we're taking on somebody who's working in just one little area. So Philadelphia, for example. And somebody came. They gave us $10 for 30 leads to give them 30 leads in Philadelphia. We didn't realize we're used to running nationwide campaigns.

We're used to running global campaigns for, you know, Tony Robbins or Grant Cardone and all this kind of stuff. Like, we're just like, oh, yeah. I was running Philly. No big deal. Well, to fulfill that $10,000, contract we have with that client probably cost us $15.

Our cost per lead spiked because it was different in different areas. That's when we started doing a lot of research and, like, PPC and SoCal is $250 a click and, like, all the stuff. So we're like, this is this is what we need to do, is we need to be able to run nationwide. Mhmm. So because once you run nationwide, you cut your lead cost, like, significantly down.

Steve: Right.

Drew: And if we can run nationwide and we had a platform where we could distribute, so Steve can come in and go, I only want Philly leads. Mhmm. Fine. I'm gonna run nationwide, but when a lead comes in affiliate, it goes to Steve.

Steve: Yeah.

Drew: Right? And if it comes in in Harris County, it's going to Naaman. Right? If it comes in anywhere else, it goes to RJ because he'll take anything. Mhmm.

And so that's what we need to do. And so we started running it, and and we just like, the proof is there. Right? It was like we were getting leads in SoCal for a $150 where people were paying $250 a click. Mhmm.

And we're just like, this is it. We need to crowdsource the biggest PPC campaign that's out there.

Steve: Mhmm.

Drew: And once we do that, we will beat everybody because the the company that spends the most with Google or whatever, we're feeding the AI the most, right, which means we get the richest data back. The richer the data in, the richer the data out. So that's that was really the turning point for us was understanding this and going, we can we can be the biggest force for good in this entire industry because we can do what nobody else can do. Everybody else is just trying to run a little PPC campaign here and there, and they're paying it if they ask for it.

Steve: Right. Okay. So what are the three things again?

Drew: Find clients, make ad, make funnel.

Steve: Gotcha.

Drew: I could add to it a little bit by, like, finding a good piece of software to distribute the leads

Steve: Mhmm.

Drew: Which is another one of our companies now where we're developing that.

Steve: Yeah. Yeah. So the biggest difference then is before, you were finding clients

Drew: Mhmm. Yes.

Steve: And then filling those and and make sure those clients are happy.

Drew: Right.

Steve: Now you're getting the leads and then distributing the clients.

Drew: So it's

Steve: kinda like the order is reversed.

Drew: Completely reversed. And somebody can come in and spend a $179 and get a lead or buy five leads. Mhmm. Right? Spend whatever it is, $650 and get five leads rather than, oh, I'm new to wholesaling.

I'm gonna dish out the $2 retainer. Mhmm. I gotta dish out the $5 for the first month ad spend all for the end of that first month. That That company tell me, it'll be another two months before we're dialed in.

Steve: Yeah.

Drew: Right? Because that's the agency. Like, we're running that agency on another right? On the other side. And it's like, that doesn't work for everybody.

And and we had to come to a realization that, like, the top 1% is literally the top 1%. Who's helping the other 99%? It's not fair. Right? Like like, they don't get to come in.

They're cold calling and sending SMS text messages like, holy crap. How prehistoric is this? And, like, what a way to they're just gonna have the same experience I had. They're gonna be inspired because they see something on YouTube and see somebody make $10 in a phone call, and then you're gonna get into it. And it's gonna be complex and hard, and they're just gonna be discouraged, and they're gonna be back cutting meat in the back to the grocery store.

And I don't want anybody to have to go through that again because entrepreneurialism is, honestly, in my opinion, the the greatest gift all of us have.

Steve: I completely agree with that. So you do the PPL model. Mhmm. So, fortunately, you didn't come talk to me for advice, because I've done the PPL model as well.

Drew: Interesting. Same industry?

Steve: Yeah. Right? Because, again, like, when I built my own campaigns Yeah. I saw how lucrative it was. Yeah.

Like, hey. Like, other people, like, you should do this. Yeah. And so I was selling leads, right, I think at $200 a lead at this at this point. And I came to realize very quickly, I think within, like, six to eight months, I hate this model.

Drew: Why?

Steve: Because the feedback was always the lead suck. Yeah. And it was always, no. I'm making a lot of money on these leads. Yeah.

Not the leads. But you couldn't go in there. It's like, no, Drew. Here's the problem. You're taking two days to call them back.

What CRM are you using? Okay. That's not a real CRM. I'm getting a real CRM. Couldn't say these things.

At least in my world, I couldn't imagine saying these things to a client. I was like, ah, this is terrible. Just scrap the whole thing.

Drew: Yep. Yeah. Totally.

Steve: Is that part of what your partner success thing is?

Drew: Well, well, we don't have partner success now in this company. Right. But I can't tell you how we beat that. Yeah.

Steve: Yeah. Please. When you started your real estate business, it was with the dream to change the world and make an impact. The reality is you might not be near that. If you're like many investors, you might be frustrated.

You just can't succeed in getting your salespeople to do what they know that they should do. They operate on their own terms. Meaning, they don't follow your process that you know produces consistent results. So each month feels like a roller coaster because revenue is coming in inconsistently. How relieving would it be if your salespeople did follow the proven process, were receptive to feedback and training, and could be held accountable to the results that leads to their success and your success?

Would your company stop riding in the roller coaster of revenue, frustration, and mental drain? And that's why we brought in Wren Bartlett. He's built a business that's wholesale a 100 plus houses a month. The people he brings into his business are bought into the process. They have a deep understanding of their role and are excited to be held accountable because as a business owner, he truly knows their deeper why so that we can demonstrate that our company is here to provide for their true purpose.

If you'd like to finally stop dreading managing people who don't follow a process, produce inconsistent results, and aren't bought into your company, sign up for our sales leadership program to end the emotional stress of inconsistent results and finally have a fulfilling business working with people you want to be around.

Drew: First off, and I just gotta tell this quick little story and I'll share it to our support, team. She's awesome. She literally came to me, the a dispute came in. So we have dispute. So there's absolutely, legitimately lead you should dispute.

Like, you got a lead who's on the MLS. It's under contract with a realtor. Dispute it. We'll give you we'll recredit your account, get to you freshly, for sure. So we have a dispute department and support it looks after.

And and somebody sent in a dispute, and, of course, they cc me on it because they got my email. And it's gonna be different because I got the CEO. But the reason was the person wanted retail for the property. So I remember slacking support and she was like, so how do you respond to that? Like, a good training opportunity.

Right? So how do you respond to this person who said that? And she said, oh, it's just really simple. I just replied and said, we don't grant disputes or sales objections. I was like, wow.

Like, on the nose. Right? Like, just on the nose. And the reason is is because she's seen every piece of content that every one of our clients has. Right?

And is a part of her indoctrination into our company. But, like, if if you think about where do our customers come from, we don't do, like I think it's been a year since we spent a dollar trying to acquire clients into our company. Mhmm. What we do is we sponsor events where people are working leads live.

Steve: Mhmm.

Drew: That's how we started. We go put a big chunk of change to sponsor an event, plus we give we supply the event with all the leads. Right? Very expensive for us. Oh, yeah.

But why? So that every single person in that room is gonna get social proof. Mhmm. Because it doesn't matter how crappy they all are.

Steve: Social proof.

Drew: There's gonna be people deal deal deal. RJ Bates in the very first time we did this with the wholesaling live last year, not this year, it's last year. RJ Bates got a $1,300,000 contract live on stage in sixteen minutes. Mhmm. He made he made 6 figures in sixteen minutes with one of our leads.

Now when somebody goes, the leads are crap, we go, you should probably talk to RJ about that because he must be doing something wrong because he's crushing it.

Steve: Mhmm.

Drew: Right? Or Tyson or Naiman. Like, we we are very strategic to make sure that that we are showing social proof of our leads. And it's not because, like, we don't wanna grant disputes or anything like that. We want to be a part of the inspiration.

Right? We we we didn't come in to selling leads and wholesaling because I wanna have a cave of gold coins to sit on for the rest of my life. We came in here to disrupt this industry, and, you know, it's funny with your name, and I should I should show you our our value slide, for our company because that's literally what it is, is that we are here to disrupt this company and help sellers in need. And so we have to overcome objections from our clients and help them. So, like, when our support girl said that to that person, she didn't it wasn't in it wasn't with a malicious tone.

It was sell like, this is an opportunity for you. This is sales objection, and you need to look at it like that. Not because you want your $179 back Mhmm. But because this is an opportunity. I want retail.

I don't care, man. Right. Like, my mother wanted retail in that store. She wanted it, but she was very willing to take a quick payout because the you know, she had some pain. Yeah.

Your job's to discover

Steve: that. So when did you guys go down to North Dakota?

Drew: When did we go like, when did I fly or do me call for the first time to do this? Mhmm. It would have been November, December 2021 because in January 2022 is when we established Leadsolo LLC.

Steve: Got it. So enter '21 is when you guys first branched into real estate.

Drew: It was definitely our first ex yes. It's when we thought we were gonna partner with this wholesaler and we were gonna take over the world, which didn't work, and then we got our butts kicked with leads and stuff. So, yeah, it was probably we tried a bunch of different models. But, yeah, January 2022 is what I'm saying.

Steve: Those models? Because, like, I I I just shared a story of my failure. Right? Like, I I tell people, like, you know, I started with these other companies that didn't work, and I can't remember all of them because, you know, they just get they get pushed in the back, but one of them was this PPL model. So what are some of those Sure.

What are some of those things that you thought were for sure gonna happen?

Drew: Yeah. Absolutely. They didn't. So the when we first had the proof concept for the leads of $200, and we're just like, if we can sell these for $350 because they're converting, you know, one and eight or something, I believe, our first client testimonial was. Yeah.

Steve: We got insane margins.

Drew: We exactly. They're crushing it. We can crush it. If we're making a $150 on a $200 lead, we're happy. Everybody's good.

And then just, like, finding there's certain areas where it's costing us more. Mhmm. And we were it was, like, it was bad, like, the two cc, comment I made before. I literally say that because when we got our first two cc, we made our first million dollars. My p and l was negative $250,000.

It cost me $2.1.25 to make 1,000,000. Like, it was it was But

Steve: you got it.

Drew: What's that? But I got it. I got it. Sure. So so then the next thought was, okay.

What we can do is offer PPC. So we know how to do p p c. We can basically template the model in terms of the keywords and names like you did with Sean Terry. Now what we were able to do was create that for everybody by creating this perfect campaign in one area, and then we just have, like, duplicate for people. So then we put together a webinar.

I started selling off the back of a webinar. So it was $4.97 a month for us to manage your PPC campaign. Problem was we did a little too good of a job on the webinar. My conversion rates off that webinar were astronomical, like, 20 to 25%. If a 100 people showed up, I was making 25 sales out of $500 a month thing.

Problem was it was great. The problem was they didn't know what they're buying. Right? So, again, we're realizing that 99% of this industry are people who are just been recently inspired and are just like, I just saw somebody on you. I saw RJ or saw you, Steve Trang Mhmm.

And he's making this money, so I'm jumping in head first. And I saw this webinar, and, you know, these leads, these guys are awesome. They've worked with Tony Robbins. I'm signing up. Right?

And then so then it was like getting emails. So when do we start when do we get our leads? And we're like, well, we're tap your campaign, and then I need you you need to put your credit card on file. Like, I explained in the webinar, and, like, you gotta pay for ad spend. And they're like, well, how many leads do I get for the 500?

And they're just like, oh, man. They don't understand. Right? They didn't

Steve: connect the dots.

Drew: They didn't connect the dots. I didn't connect the dots

Steve: for them. Right? This is

Drew: on me. But so it just it didn't work because even when we did change the webinar, it was a lot more informative. The problem was is that, like, it it just wasn't a fit because they didn't understand what they're buying. They didn't understand the industry.

Steve: Right.

Drew: So that was tough. We made a lot of money and then ended up refunding a lot of money because it was just like, this isn't what they need. And so we had to come back, and that's when we rethought the PPL model. And we're just like, we need to go nationwide. And and and the biggest because the biggest thing is the data to Google.

Right? So when we're doing these multiple PPC campaigns, we can, like, connect it all in an m m MCC at the top, and everything optimizes for the same conversion.

Steve: Mhmm.

Drew: Right? So it doesn't matter if you're in North Dakota, South Dakota, California, New York. We're still gathering on the same data. So we're still even if somebody's only spending $20 a day, they're getting the benefit of the $30,000 we're spending collectively. So then we just had to, like, let's just take this over, to the other side.

Let's go back to what we know is gonna work, which is nationwide, and let's start let's start winning the game at Google.

Steve: Yeah. So you work in Dakota, you get one really happy client. Mhmm. Word-of-mouth spreads within Dan Schwarcz's eighty twenty community. Yep.

You get more clients. Yep. And it just And then

Drew: we had to fire all the clients because we were going broke.

Steve: Okay. Alright. So it wasn't easy Yep. Just yet. And then you had to fire other clients or you had to at least reset expectations with all these clients.

Yes. Well, we had to, like, double

Drew: double our prices, and they weren't into paying $700 for a lead because that's a hard pill to swallow. So then

Steve: you had to redo all that. Mhmm. What happened after that?

Drew: Yeah. So then we knew the PPL model is gonna work. There's there are issues with the PPL model. Right? So I can run a nationwide campaign, but what am I gonna do with the lead in Alaska?

Right? And, like, you you only start with a small handful of clients. So it's like, okay. So I've got this small handful of clients in a few cities, still having that same issue as prior. Right?

Still can't really run nationwide because I don't know what to do with all these other leads. So that's when we started partnering, with some other, with with RJ and some other people where we'd send them leads, and they would send us a percentage back on closed deals, which ended up being quite fruitful for us. We had to we had to learn pretty quickly. Like, we were at one point, we're just like, we're just gonna do this to everybody. Like, heck, yeah.

Let's just, like, bring everybody on to JVs. We had to learn very quickly that, you know, integrity can be an issue with some people. There's,

Steve: you know, when nice.

Drew: No. No. And then there's also, like so now I need to, like, hire at one point, we had to hire somebody who was auditing CRMs, and then there was, like, a well, we gave you this lead. Yeah. But the lead was in my system before that.

And, like, it was just, like, it was a mess. And so what happened was is we went from simplicity back to complex and was just like, no. Again, this is too hard. Let alone, we have people like RJ jumping up and down going, I don't wanna split. Give me a price per lead because I'm paying you too much.

Right? So then there was that. But it it it evened it really quickly because after wholesaling live, we had a lot of clients come on board. And ever since then, like like, we, yeah, we we filled up the country very quickly.

Steve: So when was Wholesaling Live?

Drew: So this was last year November. When was it this year November? So I think it was around November both years. So

Steve: k. So it was the end so you started officially in the '22, and then Wholesaling Live was the '22. Correct. And this was an event with Charles and and Michael. That's right.

Gotcha. What was the idea? Like, what convinced you guys it's it'd be wise to sponsor an entire event?

Drew: Yeah. So for us, it was we were just so passionate about it. Like, we believed in it at this point. We'd We would

Steve: imagine that was not a small cost. Right? I'm I'm guessing it was multiple tens of thousands of dollars

Drew: It's $50.

Steve: Yeah. To be the premier sponsor.

Drew: Yeah. We were in the premier, actually. Robert Wensley, and he's done this to me three times. He just, like, sneaks right in on me. So we're we were second, but we're also the we also had to provide all the leads.

Steve: He's gonna be in town tomorrow if you wanna if you wanna get worse for him.

Drew: I heard.

Steve: So, okay. So fifty grand

Drew: Yeah.

Steve: To be the second sponsor.

Drew: Yeah. Well, it was, like, 30 plus 20 in leads

Steve: or something. Or 20 in leads? Yeah. Okay. So, again, last thing is an unproven concept Yeah.

But this is a risky bet.

Drew: What we knew was that everybody we were giving leads to wanted more, and we just like, everybody was making a return. Like, I like, just everybody. And so we were just like we we knew it was right, and we knew all we have to do. And luckily, we had another company that was loading the bill. Mhmm.

So we, we we leaned on that a little bit. And then, yeah, we just knew it would work. We just needed more people on the platform. Yeah. And and like I said, right, it cost us 1.2 to make our first million and and but at no point were we ever deterred.

Mhmm. We just, like, we need to hit a a tipping point.

Steve: Okay. So you struck a check. Fortunately, maybe one of those Robin Peter people situations. Yeah. So so you get this going.

Was it, like, immediately you saw a return, or was it still kinda like

Drew: No. It it wasn't until 2020 well, I shouldn't say that. It was probably immediately we started seeing a return. Yeah. Until the company was profitable, it wasn't

Steve: because I saw all the ads afterwards. Right? Like, you you go to lizolo.com, and then it's like, bam. We're selling a lot of '22.

Drew: Absolutely. Yeah.

Steve: Nonstop. So

Drew: Yeah. You can you don't get a better testimonial than that.

Steve: Yeah.

Drew: Yeah. So it was pretty well. Like, it was it probably wasn't immediate, but, yeah, it was pretty soon after there that we hired our second salesperson. Yeah. And then we were profitable since for sure.

Steve: And then you guys I was gonna ask we're gonna talk about closed Olympics. What else did you guys do before closed Olympics?

Drew: Let me try and think this through. There was another event. I can't I'm blanking on it. There was oh, no. I guess I should say, like, prior to Wholesaling Live in 2021 or 2022 at the beginning, we did go to Milwaukee to Tony Romero's.

Mhmm. Hustle harder. I don't know. Turn up the hustler or turn hustler don't turn up the hustle's mic. But, yeah, we went to their event, which is interesting, not as a sponsor, but just kinda feel that through.

I don't know I don't know actually that we sponsored another event until Closers Olympics. Actually, it might have been the other

Steve: one that

Drew: I was talking about.

Steve: About. Yeah. Because Robert's hooked in and got the Yeah. Robert. Go to Robert.

Go to Robert. I mean, he's got, like, an unlimited I feel

Drew: like he's just, like, half a step ahead of me with, like, knowing people. You know?

Steve: He's got he's got unlimited capital.

Drew: Yeah. Well

Steve: so in going through closed Olympics, you know, when we when we rate the winners through the event, right, RJ was king closer. Right? Unfortunately, he was. He still won. Mhmm.

Right? But he was the second biggest winner, I consider, in that event.

Drew: Yeah. Agreed.

Steve: Right.

Drew: Agreed.

Steve: Because you guys are are by far the biggest winner.

Drew: Yeah. I 100% agree with that. Not arrogantly, but, like, honestly. Like like, hands down, to this day, we get applications that say, you know, heard of you from where? Closer to Olympics.

Like Right. Like, it's just now it's in the records for forever. But but, yeah, it was a massive opportunity. I remember getting the call from Elijah well, the DM from Elijah. No idea who this guy is.

Right? It's like, oh, RJ told me to reach out. I'm like, yeah. I got you and 37 other people in here. Mhmm.

I don't know why I actually called him back because I just don't respond to DMs. Mhmm. And he was just like, I I need you to sponsor, like like, for we need leads for this and just explain the concept to me. I I didn't understand what it was. I was going on and, like, looking it up online and from what I understood, iSpeed was, like, running this event and I'm just, like, alright.

Cool. Like, I'll join with that. Like, I like the iSpeed guys. I guess, theoretically, they're they're competition, but not really. So it's like, I know Jean.

I know Liam. Mhmm. Like, let's hop in and and figure this out. It turned out that ISP was actually only doing, like, the first part and it was just us for the last. I was like, okay.

I was actually on holidays as well. I was at my cottage, at a cottage up in Muskoka. So I'm there with, like, this crappy Wi Fi, like, trying, like, texting my business partner being, like, dude, we gotta, like, triple the lead flow or something. These guys need leads. And he's like, what's going on?

I'm, like, Closers Olympics. Ever heard of it? It's like, nope. And I'm just like, well, we're taking a swing. Right?

Steve: Yeah.

Drew: Yeah. And, like, really didn't know anybody, other than RJ, of course, and Damon, but, like, none of the organizers or or yourself or anybody that was there.

Steve: Yeah.

Drew: But, yeah, we were just, like, people are working our leads, then it's gotta be worth it. Like, at the end of the day, we just need people working our leads, and everything will be fine after that. Yeah. It's like that's why we started with only selling 30 lead packages. Mhmm.

Which is, like, you can't buy one because as you and I both know, the the the law of averages say

Steve: Doesn't work.

Drew: It doesn't work. So buy 30 at least. So if we can do this publicly Mhmm. Anywhere we can do it publicly, we will.

Steve: Yeah. And and when we're messaging you, it's like like I was saying, like, you you're the biggest winner. Because, like, from the get go, people are locking things up. Yeah. They're getting contracts.

Drew: Yeah. And I'm so here I am nerve like, shake. I remember, like, the first person is, like, three leads in and ringing. I'm just like, this is so bad. Like, I've never, like, felt more on stage in my life, but it wasn't then it was, like, the week later, I started watching the recordings of Path Closed Olympians.

I was like,

Steve: oh, man.

Drew: Yeah. I know we were looking pretty good.

Steve: Mhmm.

Drew: We're looking really good.

Steve: Yeah. I would say perspective wise because, so I participated as a contestant, in the first one, and all we have are dead leads.

Drew: It was that so what was, like, cold call leads? Or

Steve: I I think there were any leads. Right? It didn't matter the source. They were just dead leads. Right.

Right? And I will still still stay here. For the record, I was the only one that actually closed a deal in that first one. Right? But that was it was just dead leads.

Second year was everyone submit your leads. Right? But they had to be fresher. Right? They had to be within, like, the last couple weeks.

Yeah. Right? Like, people you talk to that you couldn't close. So there was more quality.

Drew: There was more conversation at least.

Steve: More conversations. And then I'm sitting here as a judge this year where I mean, the most recent one. So, like, six months ago, I was like, holy crap. Like, everyone's answering the phone. Mhmm.

What is this, what is this, what's what I'm looking for? Not magic, but what is what is the sorcery? Like, what is going on that everyone Yeah. Answers the phones. And, so, yeah, I I watched this take off.

I watched people signing contracts. I watched people blow in sales.

Drew: Yep. Oh, yeah.

Steve: Really discouraging or disheartening as a sales coach watching people just break every rule

Drew: Yeah.

Steve: In sales. You know?

Drew: But what a brilliant little concept. Like, not brilliant for the sellers. And and, again, we're focused on on the sellers and and our company, but really in terms of sales. Like, they're, like, they're that's pressure, baby. Like, you have thirty minutes from the moment somebody picks up.

Mhmm.

Steve: Yeah. So, so, yeah, again, I was messaging. I was like, man, this is crazy. You guys are you guys must be booked out. And I think you said, yeah.

Like, at this moment, we're booked out for the next two weeks. Like, close to the business wasn't over yet. Yeah. And And your salespeople were booked out for two weeks. Yeah.

So I don't think could there could have been a better scenario for you guys.

Drew: Couldn't have been. It was it was phenomenal. And even well, I guess Wholesaling Live was a few months ago.

Steve: Mhmm.

Drew: And we didn't do a lot there. We did a little bit with my, with with Charles. We're two weeks booked in now. Like, it's just there's everybody talks about us, and it's it's awesome. And it's Right.

It's really done well.

Steve: So for the uninitiated, who's never heard of LeadZOLL Yeah. What exactly is LeadZOLLO?

Drew: Yeah. So very, very simply, right now, it's it's it's a pretty manual process right now, but it won't be in the future. But yeah. So we run nationwide ads, and we run a lot. We spend tens of thousands of dollars every single day running ads, and we're gonna get into other stuff.

Like, we're gonna start buying TV spots and stuff just because we need more sources of leads. Mhmm. It's crazy. So we do this on a nationwide. Although, like, one website, theoretically, think about it.

We have 10 different brands to diversify. But, basically, everybody's going to one website in one form, and they fill it out. And then then it goes into our our distribution software. So when you sign up with Lead Zolo, you sign up and go, listen. I only want leads from this county, this county, and this county.

And it doesn't have to be contiguous. Like, you can grab a county from Jersey, a county from Texas, whatever, top 100 counties on investor lift like a lot of people are doing right now. It's phenomenal. And then you get put into our system at that. You're then given a wallet where you put a credit card on file and you put money on.

And so you just have this balance. And then as a lead comes in in real time, it round robins because there's gonna be multiple people in a county. Right? So say there's four people in Harris County, it it just round robins. First person gets one, the second person gets the next lead, third gets the third, and it comes in.

We'll, you know, put it onto a Google Sheet, integrate with your CRM, whatever you need, and just deduct from your balance. Pause. Start whenever you want. Whenever if you wanna ever wanna change a county, it's got email or support. They'll have it done within hours.

Yeah. Very, very, very simple. You choose where the leads are coming from, and it's not on a marketplace where they're old and they've been sitting. It's like literally while there's like they filled out the form and they're on the thank you page and your phone is buzzing and, like, you could be talking to them also on the website. Mhmm.

Like, it's that's that's really what we found to be the key to success. I didn't really understand this concept of speed to lead, until I got into this industry. Because, again, I'm I'm pretty, like, sales stunted. Like, I I, you know, I don't I don't know much about this stuff. So

Steve: Yeah. So I think we missed out important detail here. How are they getting to the website?

Drew: Right. So you so my partner and I run a YouTube ad agency. So we're YouTube is where we got all of our chops.

Steve: Alright.

Drew: So 90% of our traffic comes from YouTube. We're diversifying at this point because we do not maybe I'm shooting myself in the foot by saying this, but it's fine. We do not believe that platform creates quality. Right? Because at the end of the day, in a single day, you've been on YouTube, TikTok, Tinder, whatever.

Right? Everybody's been on all these app. You're not a different person when you're on a different app. Right?

Steve: If I

Drew: was trying to sell you on YouTube leads, I would have something different to say, but whatever. So we we don't discriminate that way. Yes. Our claim to fame is YouTube. People really got intrigued by us because we're on YouTube, and there's no other wholesaler on YouTube.

Believe me, we have all the spy softwares. You're talking about a spy software for PPC. We have them for YouTube. I can type in wholesalers or name of ads and see who's running. Nobody.

The only person that's ever done it is Opendoor, and they failed miserably. And that's why they've crashed and why they don't spend any more ads money on ads. So, yeah, everything comes from there. Now we're we're opening up, like, we're running some Facebook. We're running some TikTok.

We're definitely gonna be, buying some TV spots. Mhmm.

Steve: We're gonna

Drew: be buying some radio spots. Like, everybody in the like, I've got, like, 13 buyers in Phoenix. Right? Everybody wants me, including myself. Right?

I want the Phoenix lead myself, but I am in the round robin like the rest of my customers because I have to be. But I just I need to find more lead sources for sure.

Steve: So, yeah, YouTube is not your only source. But why why have you found success in YouTube when others haven't?

Drew: Well, sure. I would say pain tolerance is probably the first answer to that Mhmm. With my partner when he started this his agency

Steve: Yeah.

Drew: Way back. Like, I remember him telling a story. He was working with Dan Henry. He was running his YouTube ads. And and Kyle, my partner at the time, he didn't know what he was doing.

He just know he wanted to try it, and he would gain, like, $100 opt ins or something like that. And luckily, Dan's a good guy, and him and Kyle became friends. But, you know, when Kyle started, like, fading it out on on Dan's time, and he really came down with a really, really solid strategy for YouTube that just worked really, really, really well. And then we grew that, agency, you know, to what it is today. And then we we took, you know, what we know of YouTube, and so that was our starting point.

And we're just like, it's the same targeting and the same audience as Google PPC.

Steve: Mhmm.

Drew: So we could get what people were paying $250 to click for for sub $200 leads.

Steve: So then, are you suggesting that your marketing I don't know. It's not copy because it's video. But

Drew: Well, it's copy.

Steve: Yeah. So is that your your your differentiator?

Drew: Part of it. Yeah. A large part of it is, so the copy is important. Right? And, like, we were talking about before with the avatar and the messaging.

Right? Like, when we launch a client, we make them, like, three ads and 10 different hooks. So it's really 30 ads, and we're testing all this kind of stuff. Yeah. Sure.

That's a big piece of it.

Steve: Mhmm.

Drew: But at this point, really what it is is the 10,000 leads a month that we're generating, feeding all that data back to Google, going these are good leads and these aren't great leads. Mhmm. So that

Steve: they Google can tell us.

Drew: Exactly. We're using AI. Right? Like, everybody wants to talk about AI and chat GPT and Elon's next robot or whatever. Do you know where AI started years ago with Meta and Google and YouTube with their, media buying platforms?

That's what they use.

Steve: So you say AI. We Is it more machine learning, or is it AI?

Drew: Machine learning, I would argue, is AI. But yeah. Absolutely. So and and So that's different. What's that?

Steve: I I I look at it a little bit differently. Okay. So we'll talk about that in a sec. Sure.

Drew: Absolutely. But yeah. So we we have the best trained bot. Right? We have we we because we spend more money than anybody else and we generate more leads than anybody else

Steve: Yeah.

Drew: We we Google's trained. Like, so it's just to the point now where we can just turn on that and crank it up. Yeah. Yeah.

Steve: So, yeah, Google knows Yeah. This person wants to sell. So this is outside then. Are we still using, like, they Googled sell my house fast, or is that no longer a data point as part of who you're marketing to?

Drew: It's still a part of well, it's a part of it. Like, that's a data point we would give Google Mhmm. To be like somebody who is using the keyword, sell my house fast or sell my house for cash or sell my house this month. Yeah. We want the people who are doing that in your Google, but when they come over to YouTube, let's get them.

Mhmm. And and that's how we do

Steve: it. Right. Because that's more like, it's not retargeting, but it's some form of

Drew: Using an audience. Right? We're we're telling Google people who have used these words, put them in a big bucket. Mhmm. And once they get on YouTube, get in front of them.

Right. And then and then that evolves. Right? Then Google starts learning from other data points Mhmm. What that's gonna do, and then we can do, like, what's called open targeting.

But we're using the AI to really direct it. So it's not that it's not a part of our media buying strategy anymore. Of course, it is. We have thousands of campaigns in our accounts.

Steve: Right.

Drew: So it's definitely a part of it, but then we we lean on AI. And that's why we can't really be beat. Like, I can confidently say that I love anybody who can because I would have a lovely conversation with them about it. We we just we can tell Google who we want, and this says okay because it has tens of thousands of data points to Yeah.

Steve: Well, I mean, that's the biggest competitive advantage.

Drew: Yeah.

Steve: If someone wants to learn more about Lead Zolo, where would they go? Go to

Drew: leadzolo.com. Book a call with one of our guys. Honestly, we we have a lot of clients. Our guys are really just gonna talk to you and understand what counties you want in, and and if, you know, if we can give you leads in that county. Because at this point, you know, there's a there's a lot of there's a big backlog for it.

So I would suggest to to go talk to somebody on my team.

Steve: Gotcha. Yeah. So, changing gears a little bit. Sure. You had the opportunity to work with Tony Robbins?

Drew: I've had with his team. I've had yes.

Steve: Talk to me about, like, what that's like.

Drew: Sure. So very exciting. So because my business partner has a pretty big personal brand built around his company ad. Like, he was reached out to at one point. So nowadays, when these big guys do these big virtual launches, what they do is they have their own teams that are running ads, but what they'll do is they'll reach out to big influencers.

So, like, Tony is gonna go to Grant. Right? And say, hey, Grant. I'm doing this thing. Can you promote it to your list?

Mhmm. Right? Hey, Russell Brunson. Can you promote it to your list? Right?

Because they know they know that that's where their biggest bang for the buck is. They can give them 50% of all revenue based, on that live event, and that's a hell of a lot cheaper than running their own ads because it's a guaranteed two x with zero risk. Right? So what they also do is reach out to, like it's not just Tony and Grant. They want more people.

So they'll reach out to anybody who's established in the industry. So, Kyle got a Facebook message one day and just be like, hi. I'm so and so's assistant. You know, Tony and Dean's team wanna know, like, if you'll basically be an affiliate. Like, run ads for them.

We'll give 50% of everything. Can you promote it with these people? And so we did that for a few years. Like, every year, we would do it. They have leaderboards and stuff.

At one point, we leaderboard, leaderboarded and did really well. We got to, you know, come down Scottsdale, hang out with Dean's, mastermind.com or whatever it's called and and that and so it was great. So we just kept getting invited for these things and then that kind of spirals. Right? Because then it's like, you know, Grant's Grant's there, right, watching the leaderboards.

And now Grant's gonna do one. So he's, like, screenshotting the leaderboard. Next thing you know, Kyle's getting a DM from, hey. I'm Grant Cardone's assistant. We want you to run this for us.

And then, you know, that's that's kind of how that stuff works. So it's really exciting it's really exciting to bring in a pile of leads and watch an event happen live and watch Tony present. And, like, it's a very different world when you're watching him present and pitch. And, like, you're like, man, like, he's pitching for me right

Steve: now.

Drew: Mhmm. Right? That it was surreal. It was surreal.

Steve: And then one thing I I like, you're talking about how, entrepreneurs, right, where they should start, their aspirations Yeah. But not get overwhelmed Yeah. By a huge goal.

Drew: Yeah. I yeah. I'm I'm very passionate with this because this is something that's really new to me. I just did a little four day retreat myself really looking at goals and and where I wanna be in life and stuff like that. Mhmm.

And it's just really struck a chord and and been something I'm talking about for a little while now. And I think it's I think what we get fed a lot is this whole, you should have this big, hairy, audacious goal, that scares you and, like, you should be looking up to it and, like, that's, like, vision board of your billion dollar company. And, like, I just I personally never bought into it because I was just like, I don't get it. Right? Like, I remember my partner at one point going, $100,000,000.

Like, well, you know, that's the goal. $100,000,000. And we go yeah. I don't know how I'm paying for rent. Like, how like, I just like, I don't get it.

Like, it it was very uninspiring for me. And I and I found this to be true over some time. We have some teams and, you know, I like to work with our teams personally and on a lot of stuff to keep them inspired and they need it, and it's great. But, like, setting, like, hey, media buyer making $3 a month. Like, you gotta set a $100,000,000 goal, and that's gonna inspire you and pull you through bad times.

I just don't think it's true. And I think that it's important that, you know, we have these goals, but, like, always step back and go, like, why? Right? Like, I wanna be a Kardashian. Right?

I get my sister-in-law loves to say this kind of stuff, and it's like, why? Well, I wanna jet. Why? Where are you gonna go? You don't like to travel, and you don't even like being in the air.

Last time you were in the air, you took three pills and were chaotic, but, like, why do you wanna jet? Like, I don't get it. Right? And and I think that that's true of all of us. Right?

We can we can get really wrapped up in seeing Grant in his cars or Tony's 30,000,000 house and be like, I want that. But at the end of the day, do you? Do you like do do you know what's involved in running a $100,000,000 a year company? Or what do we take to get to a company to a $100,000,000 exit? Is that what you wanna do?

The the the old fisherman fable. Right? He's the fisherman. He spends, you know, he spends all day. He wakes up in the morning.

He goes out and he fishes, and he catches a few fish enough to feed his family, sells a couple at the market, makes a few bucks, eats his dinner with his family, they have a few drinks, they laugh, they dance, they go to bed. Mhmm. In the morning, he does it again. And the the businessman from New York comes down and goes, this is the best fish I've ever had. And, like, your ability to catch this fish is amazing.

You know what we could do is we could build this fleet of fleet and you could train all these people and you would and we'd have all these different boats. And then what we could do is we'll sell it up to New York. And I know somebody who we could sell hundreds of millions of dollars of this a year and this, this, this, this, and this. And he starts taking the fishermen on the journey. And at one point, he just gets overwhelmed.

Right? He's just like and all these people and all these boats and all of this stuff. And the and the the guy looks at him and goes, well, we're gonna sell for a $100,000,000. What are you gonna do when you have a $100,000,000? You just need to think about that.

And he goes, I'm gonna wake up in the morning. I'm gonna get my boat.

Steve: Mhmm.

Drew: I'm gonna catch a couple

Steve: of fish.

Drew: I'm gonna go talk to the to my friends at the market. I'm gonna feed my family, and I'm gonna have a couple of drinks and dance. Mhmm. So why did you do everything in between if that's what you're already doing? And I think I think that a lot of us miss that.

Right? Like, I wanna spend time with my daughter. Mhmm. I work till 03:00 every day. I have tremendous amount of time with my daughter, but I spend too much time thinking about this $100,000,000 business that I'm not present in those moments.

And and so it's not that I don't think people should have 100, like, goals of a $100,000,000. I do. But I certainly don't let it consume my daily life. And I know to break it down to milestones where I can really celebrate my success and my time and everything like that on the way there and not get wrapped up that I'm a disappointment if I don't get there. Mhmm.

Just that it's a wonderful target. Right? Like, you know, shoot for the moon. If you miss, you might hit some stars. And, like, that's just kinda how I think you should live your life.

But I also think it is really hard to be an entrepreneur. And if you're struggling and you're not making $10 a month, you shouldn't have a vision board for a $100,000,000 and that's all you look at. Yeah. I think what you need to do is break up the steps to your first $10 a month and just focus on that so you don't get overwhelmed.

Steve: Right. And

Drew: then once you reach that, make your $100,000 a month goal or whatever it might be. Mhmm. But don't just, like, be stuck staring at it because you'll just be overwhelmed. And at the end of the day, you'll realize that you just wanna wake up the morning and get in your boat and go catch a fish.

Steve: So that's interesting. I haven't heard that from that perspective. Right? I've heard it where, like, it could demoralize a team.

Drew: Sure. So, yeah, team oh, absolutely. I I, prior and I have talked to this at length and being like, we're at 150 k a month, then, like, you know, once we get to 500 k a month, we're all going to Disney. Mhmm. And everybody's just like, how like, I don't know how to triple your business.

What?

Steve: Right.

Drew: What's your experience with that?

Steve: Well, that's exactly that. This, it's you know, we've been at this level for years now. Yeah. And you keep promising this, like, when we get to the promised land deal. Yeah.

And, you know, you need to be more realistic. Yeah. Right? So it's demoralizing if they're not seeing progress. They need to see progress towards that goal, and it has to be, kinda like what you're saying incremental.

Drew: Yeah.

Steve: Right? But then the other part you're talking about is sticking to your genius does not mean you have to sacrifice.

Drew: Yeah. And I think that's

Steve: a that's I think that's a, like, a, yin and yang there. Like, I think that's the exact opposite principle.

Drew: Yeah. I love that. That's great. So first, in terms of incremental, I just think people need to focus on their business like it's compounding interest. Mhmm.

Right? Like, you if if you are a disciplined investor, not a trader, let's draw that line. If you're gonna do not look at your stock every day. Right? Don't look at your stock every quarter.

Like, maybe look at it once a year. Mhmm. Right? And that's usually look at your business in terms of growth because if you can consistently do 20% a year, you can turn $10 into a trillion like Warren Buffett did. That's it.

Alright. I gotta do. But yeah. So in terms of, like, building a business and sticking to your genius, I think that that's also a bit of a misnomer that people kinda get fed, and I think it it builds into people getting discouraged.

Steve: Mhmm.

Drew: Because I think what a lot of people imply is that, like, you need to learn everything. Right? So you're gonna start a business. So you should learn how to talk to sellers. Right?

Let's learn sales. Well, yeah, I got in front of sellers. Right? So let's here's the marketing module. Let's go learn marketing.

Mhmm. Right? And then once you do talk to the seller, you need to dispo it. So here's your dispo module, and then you gotta you gotta learn that. And then you gotta learn TC, and then you gotta learn.

And then just like, the next thing you know, it's just bigger and bigger, and you don't love it. Right? You're not just getting your boat and going fishing anymore. Right? You're it's it's become overwhelming.

And not only that, you're not great at anything. Right? Like, you don't get to wake up in the morning and be inspired if you have to do the finance call. Like, you gotta meet with your CFO, and then you gotta meet with in my case, right, you gotta meet with your media buyers, and you gotta meet with your copy team. And I'm like, I'm just spitting plates.

Right? And I don't love it. But I think the people who are truly, truly, truly successful in life, what they do is they just focus on what it is they absolutely love. Right? Like, for you in sales.

Right? And then you just find people who are absolutely brilliant, the other things.

Steve: Right.

Drew: And you just give them a piece. Right? You find somebody who's absolutely brilliant in marketing. You give them a piece where you pay for the leads. Mhmm.

You find somebody who's absolutely brilliant. If you don't if dispo is not your thing, you find someone who's absolutely brilliant at dispo, and you just do sale. Eric Cline talks about about this a lot, but he doesn't talk about it. I guess, shows it a lot.

Steve: Demolition is it a lot. Yeah. For sure.

Drew: Like, he screams sales all day long, and then when it's dispo time, Tony Mott walks in. Right? Yeah. So I I think that that's what people get lost in is that, like yeah. You become rich and famous or whatever you wanna call it by just being in love with something.

And and, like, look at everybody who's famous. They have or not famous, but, like, super successful. They have they'll have it's it's their team around them. Right?

Steve: Look at

Drew: the president of The United States. He isn't he's not making all these calls and everything. He just has a brilliant team around him.

Steve: I think I think that's a subjective statement.

Drew: Well, okay. Fair enough. I I mean, in in historically, collaboratively.

Steve: Right. Agree to disagree. So how do you hire outside Yeah. Your area of competence. Right?

So, like, I mean, you were talking perfectly. Right? Like, we I always describe the journey and if if you get into this. Right? Okay.

So I wanna be a wholesaler. What do I do? I watch a lot of YouTube. Right? Yeah.

Obviously, binging real estate disruptors. Yeah. Right? And it's like, okay. I how do I find sellers?

That's always the first question. I mean, hey. Is this business even real? Okay. Now that I believe this business is real, how do I find a motivated seller?

Great. I got them on the phone. Now what do I say? Yeah. Right?

Okay. Now I'm able to close them consistently, but my paperwork's a mess, and I'm always putting out fires. Alright. I gotta get a transaction coordinator. I gotta get executive assistant admin.

Oh, I probably should have a CRM. Right? And then this is going well. Alright. I'm really good here.

I can do all these things, but I am working eighty hours a week. I need to bring in salespeople. Mhmm. Alright. So now I bring in salespeople.

Now it's a different set of skills to manage salespeople. Right? And then we haven't mentioned the finances yet. Yeah. There's a lot of things along the way.

So how do you, a, identify your area of competence or genius? Yeah. And then, b, how do you hire the rest?

Drew: Sure. Great. Yeah. I think it's a

Steve: great question. Entire podcast episode, but you have ten minutes.

Drew: Ident identifying your competence, I think, would be the hardest one. So I think I'll I'll just talk to just generalities with that one.

Steve: Mhmm.

Drew: Like, if you had to wake up and just work in one part of your business today and just knew that the rest of it was taken care of, what would you do today? What in my case, I do a lot of calls. Right? What calls do I look forward to taking in the day? And what work do I enjoy doing?

And I and I don't mean, you know, sitting on my couch and watching my favorite reality show, which is American Politics. So in the same so to answer the other side of it is I just started a wholesaling company four months ago. Four months ago, I started one. Mhmm. I've never talked to a seller.

I don't know what TC means. I just keep saying it. Dyspo, I don't know. Something to do with investor lift. I don't know.

Steve: Right?

Drew: I don't know any of this stuff. Right. And I don't care to know any of this stuff. Mhmm. But I will have a huge wholesaling company.

I will have a $100,000,000 portfolio in the next five years. Mhmm. So what did I do? I went, okay. What am I good at?

Oh, well, I could probably get leads. Mhmm. I know a guy. Right? I'm gonna bring my my business partner in with this.

Mhmm. He's like I would just assume he has a PhD in data science. He he doesn't. He went to school for mark, for business. But he's just the most brilliant person when it comes to, like, numbers and critical thinking.

So I'm gonna bring him in. Right? Just seems like a natural fit. Okay. So what else do I need?

I need somebody who's great at operations. Am I great at operations? Hate it. Nope. Let's find somebody.

Mhmm. So I went to a friend and went, who do you know that's the best operator that you know? Name came in his mouth immediately. Done. Who is the best sales trainer Mhmm.

That you know? I don't want the best salesperson. Mhmm. I don't want a one man show that's gonna get burnt out. I want the best sales trainer that you know.

And he said, Steve Trang will say no. So I'm like, fine, second best.

Steve: Mhmm.

Drew: So then I went, who is the best at Dispo? And we wanna build we wanna buy and hold here. So it's not just like flip like wholesaling. I want someone who can wholesale, but also can identify really, really great opportunities no brainer potentially. They own like a management company in multiple states or something like that.

Yeah. Done. So then we met and we all went on a call and I went, you get a piece and you get a piece and you get a piece and I'll take the smallest piece and that's totally fine. Mhmm. Let's meet once a month, and you guys can tell me how good how big the company is growing.

Steve: Right.

Drew: And that's what we do. Now the the immediate reaction is gonna be like, well, we don't like not everybody knows that kind of people, and I'm in maybe a different situation than most. But if I was to start with no money, I don't know nobody, I would go to an event or I would join a course. I would pick I would pick what I think is gonna be my genius because it can change. I would I would start with sales.

That's kind of integral. I would join a community like yours.

Steve: Mhmm.

Drew: And I would be asking every single question in the world. I would make sure that everybody knows my name, including you. I would be the most vocal person because I do that everywhere I go. Mhmm. Every I don't leave a room unless everybody knows my name.

Steve: Right.

Drew: And I would immediately just be like, I really like sales. Is anybody here good at Dispo? And I would ask that question every single day. Mhmm. Every single day.

Is anybody good at lead? Like, does anybody know, like like, a a good way to talk to get in front of motivated sellers? Like, anybody really cracked the code on PPC? Love to talk to you. Love to talk to you.

Love to talk to you. And never assume that this company will be all mine. Always go in going. I'm going to be giving the piece of pieces away of this company Mhmm. Because I wanna find people who are great.

Because you were talking before, what you're really looking for when you're hiring people and giving them the three year contract are you're looking for entrepreneurs because they're the most driven. But really what you need is an intrapreneur. Somebody who's willing, who doesn't have the biggest risk tolerance as you. So they don't wanna like necessarily start their own company, but they really wanna come up with ideas and grow something. Mhmm.

You wanna find those, but treat them like entrepreneurs by giving them a piece.

Steve: Alright.

Drew: They'll feel good because you're the ringleader. I'm the CEO. Mhmm. Right? They'll feel good.

Oh, good. Hang goes, we get sued. He's gonna deal with it. Right? But I'm also giving you your piece going, hey, man.

Scott's the limit. You wanna make a $100,000,000 with me? We then guess we've got a growth. This is 200,000,000, so we each get a piece or whatever it might be. But I would knowing what I know today, I would never start a business alone ever.

Yeah. Because there's too much shit I don't like, and there's people that love it. So why?

Steve: So you're giving out equity Yeah. From the get go.

Drew: 100%. Interesting. Build build a dream team team. Build a dream board. That's what we did.

Steve: How do you let's say, the dispo guy doesn't carry his his weight.

Drew: Here's your well, he didn't get I would I would analyze that very quickly. And go, okay. Well, the company's made $200,000. You own 25%. Here's 50,000.

Steve: Mhmm. So you buy them out?

Drew: Yeah. And so.

Steve: There wouldn't be any sort of relinquishing or anything like that. It was

Drew: There would be something. Sure. But it'd be so menial. Right? Like, it's not worth it.

A festering headache will cost more every day.

Steve: Right? You bring people in fairly quickly. You vet them. You make sure they're qualified.

Drew: Sure. And I guess that that might be where I have a bit of an advantage where I can talk to people who I know are the best of the best. Right? Like, I I I Mike Lima's on my board. Right?

I know Mike Lima's good because I can see how many hundreds of millions of dollars of transactions he's done. Like, I I

Steve: He's a lot of deals.

Drew: Yes.

Steve: Yeah.

Drew: So I I vetted very, very well.

Steve: But, yeah,

Drew: it would be it's the same concept of hiring and firing. Right? Hire fast and fire faster. Like, you just you need to be able to look at that and realize that the pain it'll cause me to have to do just by myself for the next six years is a lot more pain than having a tough conversation right now and ending this relationship.

Steve: I completely agree with you. It's not the logical part that I disagree with. Right? It's the ability to, like

Drew: Don't hire friends.

Steve: Yeah. I gotta go do this. Yeah. I gotta go to Drew's office, or I gotta schedule a Zoom call with Drew on a Friday afternoon. I was like, Drew Yeah.

So, it's not working.

Drew: Welcome to business. Right.

Steve: Well, I get that. Right?

Drew: Yeah.

Steve: But for a lot of the people that are listening, our average, listener, I don't believe, has the experience to not just fire people. I'm sure they've got that experience, but to, like, sever, an LLC or a corporation or whatever.

Drew: Great point. Okay. Great point. Yeah. I guess I guess I definitely ran over that.

I'll give you my experience in that. We didn't incorporate our company until three months in. Like, we I think we're just doing it this month. Mhmm. And we do it for four months.

Gotcha. And and, yes, intentionally for that reason. Right? Like, it just wasn't in it or wasn't worth it or whatever. We can all just, like, walk away and there's no paperwork to deal with.

They'll be a little different now that we're incorporated. But, yeah, I would I would definitely so back to the situation where I'm in your group and I'm who's the dispo guy, what like, let's do a few deals together before we do anything.

Steve: Let's date a little bit. Yeah. Yep. Alright. So right now, it's, you have multiple companies.

So where are all the different companies?

Drew: Sure. So I own, private consulting, which I'm definitely getting out of. I don't have the time frame anymore. We have Lead Zillow. I run Adleg with my partner, which is the YouTube ad agency.

We have a software company now because we couldn't find the software that we want. So we're, like, really kind of a band aided Frankenstein Mhmm. And to to be able to run everything as smoothly as we are. So now we're creating this, the whole thing, all in one package, that will serve so many so many industries, and it'll it'll just be beautiful. So I'm really, really excited for the software company.

And then we own the, wholesaling company Mhmm. Or the portfolio now.

Steve: So there's a lot going on here.

Drew: Yeah. But there's a thread between it all. It all has to do with marketing.

Steve: Right.

Drew: And my part in each company is very specific.

Steve: Mhmm. So why are you doing all this?

Drew: Yeah. Because now I love it. Right? Mhmm. Three years ago, I would never have done this because I would have been overwhelmed and whatnot.

But now I love it. Like, really, the biggest reason that we started our portfolio, and our wholesaling company was because I came really good friends with Elijah. And it was just like, a, it's kinda high it's kinda hard not to get high on your own supply. So it's like we're seeing all these people make all this money with our leads, and we're just like, are we, like, are we cutting ourselves short here?

Steve: Mhmm.

Drew: The other side is I I wanna own real estate. Right?

Steve: And I'm

Drew: at the point in my life where I'm really focused on investments. So it's like, how do we do that? So and then the first thing was how do we have as minimal interaction that is possible. Mhmm. Kyle and I, involvement with our real estate company is one hour every thirty days.

Like, that's it. We're there's nothing more expected from us that was in the contract from day one, and that's fine. And everybody else is just so well compensated that it's fine. Right? So so that's just why we did it.

The software was because we could not find a solution to what we needed. It was to the point where, luckily, we knew we know a really talented developer who's eagerly trying to get out of his job. And we were just like, can you build this? And he just kind of laughed. And he goes, yeah.

I've been building it for five years for my company. He's like, I can just build that for you. And we're just like, we need to do this because aside from us, it's just totally worth us just paying him.

Steve: Mhmm.

Drew: They're paying a salary and and building it for us, but we're also in the marketing space. We also do we also know a lot of people in this industry. And, like, very quickly within, like, three days, we have people lined up to beta test set. And we haven't even started software yet. Right?

Like, it's it's we just have buyers lined up, so why wouldn't we? And, again, it's the exact same thing. The developer, we did not hire, which we could have, but we didn't. Instead, we formed an LLC. We gave him majority share.

Steve: Mhmm.

Drew: And when our part is this, we will pay you x amount of money for six months to develop this.

Steve: Mhmm. If it

Drew: takes you longer, then it's on your dime. We'll pay I'm just gonna pay you x amount of money for this. Once that's developed, we will then once it so you'll have six months to put it in our hands. We'll then pay you another x amount for another four months until we get you x amount of clients.

Steve: Mhmm.

Drew: So, basically, all I'm saying is I'm putting in some cash. But aside from that, I'm just saying when it's done for me, I'm gonna pay this other cash, and all I have to do is get people on get paying clients onto your software, and then you take it from there.

Steve: Yeah.

Drew: I already have a backlog for it, so why wouldn't I?

Steve: So you're a Canadian citizen?

Drew: I am.

Steve: Do you get depreciation from real estate here?

Drew: No. Not really. Well, it would depreciate before it got to me.

Steve: Got it. So why am I real estate here?

Drew: Because I can. It's just simple. Right? It's just it's simple and it's there and zero involvement and zero cost. Right?

There's opportunity cost. Mhmm. Well well, I shouldn't say there's no cost. We are paying for our we are paying for leads, all the leads. That is our cost.

Right. What do I have to do? Nothing. Just make sure that the ROI is positive every month. Like like, to me, it's not that it's real estate and I'm passionate about getting into real estate.

For me, it's just equity building every single day.

Steve: Sure.

Drew: It's kinda cool to hear the stories, man. What you guys do just blows me away. Like, the convert like, now I get to hear, like, sales floor conversations, like, just them telling us on our monthly call. Right? Like, I talked to this person.

There's this issue. It's hilarious.

Steve: Well, you get to experience a lot of it listening to audience calls.

Drew: Yeah. There's that.

Steve: But going back to, like, why are you doing everything you're doing? Yeah. What's the big overarching why?

Drew: The big overall yeah. I wanna build generational wealth for my family. I grew up my parents didn't have a lot of money, and so I got really fixated on cash. And I need cash, and I need cash. And then and then I had a daughter, and then it was like and and then then I started making some cash.

And, like, you don't you don't put $10,000,000 in your bank account before you ask why. Right? Like, it's way less than that before you go, oh, I got cash figured out. But do I want my daughter to grow up in the same way I did Mhmm. In terms of, like and for me, it was just a a lack of security all the time.

It's like, no. You know what I wanna do? Is if I had 10,000,000 invested just in the stock market at a 10% whatever average return, and all I took was 5% of that, so $200,000 a year. I would have $200,000 a year plus 5% growth, so it would more than cover inflation on average. Theoretically.

Theoretically. And then when I die, my daughter gets $200,000 a year plus growing growing with inflation and a big money pot. Like, that to me, that's just generational wealth. I can actually hand my children something after I'm gone. And, you know, it's now, like, I'm I'm, like, my my mother-in-law and my father-in-law are are big, government workers stuff, and they're very proud of their pensions as they very much should be.

But for me, the problem with the pension is that it dies with you. It's selfish. And I'm not I don't need anything. Like, I'll drive a 2016 Subaru Legacy until I die. I don't care.

I don't need a car, but I want my daughter to never have to worry about money and only ever chase her passions every single day of her life. That's it.

Steve: I love that. What's your biggest struggle today?

Drew: My biggest struggle today? Focus. That's why I've been talking about it so much is because it's certainly on the top of my head. I'm I'm blessed to have a partner like I do who's who really keeps me reined in. Mhmm.

But, yeah, I think it it's just really being focused and really staying present. I've had to you know, I've spent a lot of time just really focusing on that and and then just enjoying the the gifts I have. Like, I got to yesterday, I was breaking into my cold plunge with my ax. It's how cold it was in Toronto. Mhmm.

And then by yesterday afternoon, I was in a pool in Scottsdale. And, like, man, like, I could I could not thought about that. Right? Like, I could just let, oh, I've gotta fly Phoenix. I got this podcast.

I gotta meet some people this, and I got more business stuff, and I'm gonna miss four days with my daughter. Like, I could be focused on that right now. But, no, I'm also focused on, like like, the most beautiful experience I just had today on this golf course.

Steve: And It's a good time of year to be here.

Drew: Yeah. It really is. It's not too hot. I'm surprised how cool it is.

Steve: No. This weather is perfect right now.

Drew: Yeah.

Steve: How do you measure success?

Drew: Yeah. That's a great question. I'll let you know when I'm there. No. Security.

So a sense of security, I think, would be success for me. I don't know what that is, and I don't know, materialistically what that means. I know that in the last twelve months, I feel significantly, more secure in my life, and that's really because I can just keep looking at my daughter and and know that she's just looked after and, you know, heaven forbid I get hit by a bus tomorrow. You know, my wife and my daughter aren't moving back in with my, you know, with my in laws or anything like that, that they're looked after and and that I made an impact, that I have a legacy, and that there's a reason for people to talk about me after I die.

Steve: What's been your biggest regret?

Drew: God. I just wanna be cliche and say I have no regrets, but let me I don't know. I think I think my biggest regret is probably not, like, taking a step back and, kind of defocusing a little bit sooner in my life. Like, maybe 40 years old soon, and, like, it's taken me this long to not chase money, to not, like, put a dollar amount on everything. Like, everything was a dollar for me.

And it still doesn't come with cash. Right? Like, I feel like even if I was bro even if there's a butcher in the back of a of a grocery store right now, I think that I would it would at this point in my life, I would come here and just be, like, be more focused on, like, experiences and such and not just be so concerned with that I need to be at a certain dollar amount or own certain things or have my name on a business is literally on a vision board for years of my life. And just like, it's not important. Like, that's all pompous and that's all ego.

And I just I didn't care to hear the other side of it. Right? I just, like, I needed to fulfill ego. And once I felt fulfilled ego, I would, you know, be a great person then. But you gotta let go of it first and and

Steve: Yeah. You gotta let go of your ego first.

Drew: Yeah.

Steve: Yep. What book have you gifted more than any other?

Drew: I can say what I've gifted. I can say what I will now gift moving forward. I'll I'll tell you both. So, what I have gifted the most in the past would be Robin Sharma's Lead Without a Title. Robin Sharma is one of my favorite leadership authors.

Steve: What's the title?

Drew: Lead Without a Title. Mhmm. So it's definitely something, a lot of people in management and stuff like that should read. It's very, very, very inspiring. And Robin Sharma as a whole is incredibly inspiring.

Steve: Gotcha.

Drew: I think I would currently, I just read, Poor Charlie's Almanac, and I really like it. I just think that that just wouldn't suit everybody, but I think, anybody in business should read it.

Steve: Someone in Benjamin Franklin's book?

Drew: It would Charlie Munger's, but, yes, Benjamin Franklin has an almanac as well.

Steve: Okay. Yes. So poor Charlie's.

Drew: Yes. Poor Charlie's.

Steve: Is that the one that's got, like, 270 lessons in there, or is that something?

Drew: No. That's another one. This one is, like, 11 talks that he's given over the years. So, it's like Harvard and stuff like that. So Charlie talking about all sorts of different things and his perspectives on life, and it's Yeah.

It's beautiful. Life and business. So

Steve: Yeah. He's, we lost a good one.

Drew: Yeah. We did nine days before his hundredth birthday, man.

Steve: Super wise. Yeah.

Drew: And blunt. Right? Like Yeah. And I think that's nice. Right?

There can be polished people. Again, right, there can be polished chauffeurs, but then there can be other people that are just super wise and unforgiving in terms of, like, I don't care if I brush you the wrong way.

Steve: Well but I think I I don't know when he became that way. Maybe he's always that way. But we generally find, like, once you get past, like, seventy, seventy five Yeah. You're you just live your life on DGAF mode.

Drew: Yeah. Yeah.

Steve: What was the one that stuck out? Was, you know, was it Robert Gordon Gekko on Wall Street? Greed makes the world go around. Right? It's a famous clip from Wall Street.

And Charlie Munger's speech I saw about a year or two ago was envy is what makes the world go around. Right? It's not that I want more. It's that I want what Drew has. Interesting.

And I'm gonna work harder so I can have what Drew has. Not that I want more. I just want what other people have. That's what drives the world. I thought that was don't think he's wrong.

Drew: No. That it sounds it's pretty profound, actually. It's interesting. It's definitely something I wanna think about for some time. Yeah.

That's I like that a lot, though. Because you don't know what you don't know. Right? Like, you you can't want a private jet until you've seen somebody in a private jet and then Yeah. Created some association or meaning to that.

Like, you can't want a $100,000,000 unless you can conceptualize what it is. Yeah. That's interesting. I like that a lot.

Steve: Yeah. I I had lunch the other day. I was invited out, and the guy said, yeah. You know, I have my own private table at Capitol Hill. It's like, I didn't know that was a thing.

Drew: Can you

Steve: write that down on the vision board? Right.

Drew: Right.

Steve: Right? I didn't know I wanted that until I saw someone else have it. Yeah. So, yeah, I gotta definitely check out that book. So, guys, if you found this valuable, again, please subscribe.

Rising tide does lift all boats. Right? The only way for us to help more people create more millionaires live life on their terms is to get in front of more people, and the only way to do that, you're the YouTube guy. And if you tell me if I'm wrong, they subscribe. Those are positive signals to the algorithm.

Drew: Engagement makes the world go round.

Steve: Absolutely. Alright. So what are some last thoughts I wanna leave everybody with?

Drew: Yeah. I just want everybody to know that, like, being an entrepreneur should be fun and that, like, you know, it's not just me pitching LiDolo, but, like, don't like, if you wanna be a wholesaler, fall in love with wholesaling, it's Search and Mediavine. You don't need to go through the shit that we go through every single day. Go through your own stuff. Right?

You wanna dispo and you wanna be go virtual, get investor lift. You don't need to go and try and find 4,500,000 buyers. Right? Like, go find the people who are successful in what you want to do and either hire them or model them. Yeah.

And I think that, you know, a lot of people need to hear that a lot earlier in their entrepreneurial journeys.

Steve: Yeah. Definitely. I know I needed to. I try to be try to figure it all out. Like I said, I built my own PPC campaigns.

Yeah. Ran my ran my own YouTube ads for a bit. Hilarious. If someone wants to get a hold of you, what's the best way for them to do?

Drew: Just go leadsolo.com. You'll fill out, you'll tell us a little bit about your business, and you'll be able to jump on a call with somebody with my team. Everything's very personable. And, yeah, we we just wanna learn more about you and see how we can assist.

Steve: Alright. Perfect. Thank you so much. I appreciate this. Thank you guys for watching.

I'll see you guys next time.