Steve Trang Hey everybody. Thank you for joining us for today's very special episode of Real Estate disruptors today we have my good buddy Ron Bartlett. Bartlett holdings and Brandon flew in from mobile, our Mobile Alabama saga how he's hired over 250 sales reps to have been a part of 100 plus transactions per month. Now on a mission to create 100 millionaires and information on this podcast alone is enough to help you become a millionaire in the next five to seven years. If you'll take consistent action, you will become one. Now we know you want to be a successful real estate investor. In order to do that you need to be able to consistently buy houses at Deep margins. You may not be contracting the houses or buying them deep enough causing you to potentially feel frustrated or anxious. So we know how deflating it can be walking out of the house without a signed contract. So we've helped hundreds of people by 1000s houses the margins. The me the worst sells on Instagram to find out how so you never have to worry about revenue again. And the show is brought to you by Iris sister company investor lift get access to 2 million cash buyers across the country. Go to investor live.com Put in disruptors to get 10% off. And if you have it today, please tell your friend below share this episode right now. That way we can all grow together. And this is a live show. So please ask your questions for rent to answer. You're ready. Rhen Bartlett I'm ready, man. Steve Trang All right. So first question is what got you into real estate? Rhen Bartlett What got me into real estate? Um, it's a great question is long time ago. For me about five years ago, I was running an advertising agency. And I called on an old business partner of mine, and we just hit it off. And he was like, man, you know, have you ever thought about real estate and I was like, Absolutely not. didn't own a house. Definitely didn't own any rentals never bought a house rented didn't know what equity was. But I knew how to close deals. And I knew how to market and that was attractive. So we teamed up never look back since. Steve Trang So talk to me about marketing, right? Because I think one of the most important parts of running a successful sales organization or Real Estate Organization is marketing. So talk to me about your marketing background. Rhen Bartlett Yeah, so I tell people all the time, you don't run a Real Estate Organization, you run a sales and marketing organization, your product is real estate. Right? And so running a successful marketing organization. You have to know your product, right? I think it consists of a few, a few pieces when you're marketing. It's the product, the list and then how you distribute it. Right? Once you understand those concepts, it's not really that tough, right? We just met or got to listen to Jeff Hoffman on stage at CG, what'd he tell us? He said, Go out and get to know your people understand their problem, create a way to solve it. Once you know how to solve it, then your messaging just has to be catered to that. So you effectively communicate, hey, I can solve your problem. Steve Trang Right? Rhen Bartlett And after that, Steve Trang before that, though, right, like you had your marketing agency. Like, what got what prompted starting a marketing agency? Rhen Bartlett Well, I worked for one, right? So I'll tell you when I was 25 years old, I was a server in a bar. And I got fired. And I was selling everything in my house to pay rent. And this guy, Chris Khalif, who is a dear, dear, dear friend of mine, he called me and said, Hey, I want to buy this mattress that you have. And so he pulls up, he gets out. He's driving a nice car, he's in a suit, he's on the phone. He walks in my house, looks at the mattress, kicks it and walks out and I'm like, hey, what do you do? And he's like, I own advertising agency. And I said, I'm coming to work for you. And he smiles says no, you're not gets in his car and drives off. So I googled what is an advertising agency, seen what it was went and figured out really quick, Hey, maybe I could build websites. And I just called him every day, every day, every day for about a week. And finally he said, You know what, just come in and talk to the guys ran. I'm like, okay, so I go in, and they're sitting in a production room. And, you know, they're young kids fresh out of college, making car commercials, and built some great rapport with them. They liked me. And he was like, Well, I'd love to hire you. But I don't have any money. I said do not work for free. So I showed up started, you know, fiddling around building a website. He didn't have a website, he just did car commercials for local car dealerships, and just kept showing up, kept showed up, kept learning on YouTube, how to build websites, how to do social media. And then I accidentally sold a website on accident and got a commission check. And they built it and I said, Wow, I'm in sales now. Steve Trang Yeah. Rhen Bartlett And it just kind of exploded from there. We built his business up pretty big. And, you know, it just it just kept evolving. And I kept learning and had a real thirst for knowledge. And I did not want to go back to bartending. Steve Trang I think there's a lot there, right. As far as you got. You were told no, Rhen Bartlett yeah, Steve Trang multiple times, Rhen Bartlett multiple times. Steve Trang And you kept harassing the guy following up with him. Rhen Bartlett Yeah. Steve Trang Which is important part of sales. And then on top of that, when he said I don't have money to pay us at work for free, and there are a lot of people I think that you know, maybe listen to the show, that may be above working for free. You know, if you haven't done your first deal yet, and you want to pay for mentorship, but I don't want were free, I want to be scrappy, like, what? What did you take from your experience? Rhen Bartlett I knew that I did not have the pedigree, I did not have a college degree, I did not have the background. I knew the only reason I was the only way I would get an opportunity to get into a professional organization was to work for free. Right. And you're right, I think a lot of people do have a sense of entitlement. And by the way, I kept working there and then going to bartending that night until I made enough money. That's how I continue to pay my bills. But yeah, people think that they don't want to work for free. But you know, I think that it's a misstep. I think that there's a lot to be gained from going in and working for free, because you're much more driven, then to begin to earn a paycheck. And I think you figure out what you like to do. Because if you're working for free, you tend to gravitate towards things that you actually like to do. So it doesn't feel like work. It's been fun, if that makes sense. Steve Trang Makes total sense. So I'm your partner reached out to you and say, Hey, let's do real estate together. And you're like, Absolutely not. But you did. Rhen Bartlett Yeah. Steve Trang Was he doing real estate at that time? Rhen Bartlett He was Yeah. And I was I was working with a guy who I thought I was gonna become a partner with and it didn't end up working out. It was not in the cards and I really wanted to own something I really, you know, Gary Vee was hot at the time, I wanted to be an entrepreneur. And, you know, I would have went to work probably for a lot less than then he paid me at the time, but just for the for the shot during equity in our instance. And it was looking back it was it was one of the best moments of my life. Steve Trang So tell me about your first deal. Their Rhen Bartlett first deal, they're probably about a weekend, you know, I didn't know much I was completely overwhelmed second guessing my whole life. And the decision I had made completely foreign space to me, and had an appointment. And then I was told to go out on it. And I went out on it. I knew what I could pay for it. And I stepped outside and made a phone calls like do there's no way they're gonna sell his house for $40,000. And Max Porter said, Don't you freakin leave unless you got a contract in your hand go off from 40 grand. And so I did. And after about three and a half hours of, you know, putting that Southern charm on them. They agreed to it. And I walked out like, clammy and shaken. And from then on. I was like, oh my god, I'm addicted to this. This is awesome. Steve Trang What was the Do you remember what the value was? Rhen Bartlett Oh. The value then was probably about 50 A buck 60 ARV. Steve Trang Okay. And you had to offer 140. So this is 4040? Sorry, 40. Very first time. What was your thought process? Because you were saying like that? There's no way they're going to do it. Rhen Bartlett Yeah. Steve Trang Talk me through that. Rhen Bartlett Sure. So I had no sales process, right. It was just hey, go make it happen. Just kind of cowboy gunslinging. My thought process was I just don't know why they take this off. Right. I didn't understand wholesaling. Really, I didn't understand the value exchange. The convenience, I really at that time didn't understand why people would actually sell their house to a wholesaler. I really do now I understand on a very fundamental level. But it was it was a challenge, right? I looked at it as a challenge. And I was also like, kind of earning my stripes. Hey, if I'm gonna be what I'm supposed to be, this is a mountain that I'm gonna have to climb. I'm gonna have to do this. And I just sat in there. And I listened to the people and told them what I wanted to offer and why I thought it was a good deal and why they should do business with me. Steve Trang Yeah. Rhen Bartlett I told him that it was my first deal that I worked for an established company that I really needed to get it. And you know, they they had inherited the house, and it was junked out. It was brick on a slab and it ended up, you know, I know the flipper that bought it. And I went and looked at the final product because I was super curious. He did a phenomenal job. But man, you know, just thank you. I'm kind of excited thinking about it. Now. You know, it's kind of like your first kiss, I guess. Steve Trang Yeah, Rhen Bartlett your first your first wholesale deal. Steve Trang What lessons did you learn in that transaction Rhen Bartlett in that transaction? I think resiliency not to give up, right? Just to stay in there and fight for what you want. But also just to be nice for people and have some empathy, right? They were going through a situation where they had this house, they had no money, it was emotionally a very tough situation because they had inherited it. And you know, so I just learned to listen and to have empathy and to tell the truth, right. I told him what I was gonna do. I told him we were going to wholesale it. I told him I knew exactly who I thought was gonna buy. And I went out and watched a bunch of YouTube videos where people were wholesaling deals, but always telling them that they were going to buy right a little bit manipulation there. It's not 100% Sure, you could say, oh, well, we're gonna double close it. So technically by but I just learned that, you know, be resilient, have empathy. Tell the truth. Steve Trang Got it. So that was your first deal. I mean, were all your other deals easier at the appointment after that? Rhen Bartlett No, absolutely not. In fact, it became a little tougher because I tend to get a bit of an ego sometimes I have to stay humble and check myself. And I thought I was hot shit. And yeah, I fell on my face a lot after. But from that, I realized that, hey, I need a sales process. I need a systematic way to ensure that I'm taking the right actions and the right steps, saying the right thing to the right person at the right time with the right offer. And that's kind of when I become super obsessed with sales. Steve Trang Yeah, got it. So how long ago was it? You said you started this four years ago? Rhen Bartlett About about four and a half? It would have been five years, it would be five years and January. Steve Trang Okay. So we're, as part of a growing organization like, what were some of the early challenges you faced in in that whole selling business? Rhen Bartlett Definitely leadership. Right? I didn't have a ton of leadership experience, I was a big knucklehead. And I made a lot of leadership mistakes. Steve Trang What are some of those leadership mistakes? Rhen Bartlett Which one did not make? I mean, just trying to be a dictator hollering at people belittling people, I had such a burning desire to win that I really, it was me putting myself first and my needs first and my ego first, and not taking into account that hey, these people that work for me that I'm privileged enough to have on my team, although I didn't look at it at it that way, then it was their privilege to be on my team. Right? Steve Trang Well, that's the first step of leadership. Rhen Bartlett Yeah. You know, that they were there to serve the company instead of the company being there to serve them. You know. And once that paradigm shift, Steve Trang to remember the first one, we're like, going back to like, the first time you completely blew it in a leadership situation. Rhen Bartlett I really can't pinpoint it, man. There's Steve Trang the biggest one, Rhen Bartlett the biggest one. Hmm, I don't know. Let's circle back to that sense. It'll come to me nothing. Nothing big comes up off the top of my head. But something will come to me here. Steve Trang But there had to be also like a situation, you know, because for five years and make a lot of mistakes, Rhen Bartlett there was a light bulb moment, right? We were sitting, we were sitting in a quarterly. And we had hit a ceiling at the time. And just trying to figure it out and couldn't understand why we weren't hitting our goals. And Gary Harper was actually there running if you know, Gary. Sharper. He said, You guys don't have a talent problem. You have a leadership problem. And that really hit home. Right Steve Trang is now now now the focus the crosshairs. on you guys. Rhen Bartlett Yeah. And it really made me reflect because I wanted to do everything I wanted to be successful. I was challenged. But I was just not. I found success early on by doing everything myself. But as our team grew, I continued to try to hold everything. And I continued to try to do everything. And I continued to be a diminisher accidentally, of course. But once I understood what he was trying to say, because when he first said it, I was like, ah, that's not the problem. I'm a great leader. Best leader there is. But it sank in. And I couldn't find a reason why that was not the truth, if that makes sense. Steve Trang When was this approximately? Rhen Bartlett Probably 2018 2019. Steve Trang So you have Gary Harper coming to your office. And you're complaining that you're not hitting the numbers or not hitting the goals? The metrics? Rhen Bartlett Yeah. Steve Trang And you're more or less. I'm just guessing here, like, our people are inadequate. They're not doing what they're supposed to do. Yeah. And he looks at us like that's not the problem. Rhen Bartlett It's not the problem. You're the problem. Steve Trang And you had to reflect on that. Let that sit. Let me see. Rhen Bartlett Yeah, Steve Trang a little bit. Rhen Bartlett Yeah. Steve Trang How long did it take for you to like, realize, like, wait, what do you think is correct? Rhen Bartlett It was probably pretty quick. Steve Trang Okay, Rhen Bartlett right. Steve Trang Because that's something that could easily feel you can easily become defensive. Rhen Bartlett Yeah. And I probably was for a moment, right. But there was some there was one particular young lady on my team that I really trusted. And I asked her, I was like, he's wrong, right? And she's like, No, he's not wrong. Right. And then I think I was open and then I began to look inward, and I say, Hey, listen, I really trust her. I trust Gary I don't think they would steer me wrong, right? And then I just got to it and I do. What I do every time I find a deficiency or a skill set that I'm missing is I just start to read, read, read, read, read, read a bunch of John Maxwell books, a bunch of, you know multipliers is one of the most impactful leadership books that I've ever read by Liz Wickman. advisement Liz Wiseman. Yeah. And then we jumped in and did some training with Larry Yash. Nene. And then I really got confused because what I thought leadership was, is not how they define it. Steve Trang No, it's very different. So Rhen Bartlett very different. Steve Trang I mean, I think, correct me if I'm wrong, you know, I think a lot of us when we start leadership, we kind of have like, I'm gonna tell you what to do. Rhen Bartlett Yeah. Steve Trang And then you execute it. Rhen Bartlett Yep. Steve Trang Right. That's that 20th century industrial complex military complex, leadership style, which worked in the 20th century, more or less, they might not have been high morale, but a worker Rhen Bartlett got the job done. Steve Trang Right. So you're talking about like, maybe you watched the movie 300 You're inspired. Right? Wow, they, they got things done, you know, you face adversity together, and so on. Rhen Bartlett Yeah. Steve Trang But that took you only so far. And one of the things I've learned from Jason medley, and Larry, which is like, what got you here won't get you there. Rhen Bartlett Right. It's very true. Steve Trang All right. So you got that you had this humbling moment? And then you sign up for Larry Yashraj SEAL team leaders. Rhen Bartlett Yeah. And to give credit, Steve Trang the first thing you did, or you said, we read John Maxwell Rhen Bartlett read a bunch of books written when read a book because it took a little time before we could Larry could get to us. But it wasn't just me, right? It wasn't just me that had the piffy epiphany moment, we had an executive leadership team. And it was a collective moment where we all seen we fell short in that area. Right. And then we wrote, We all rallied together and supported each other and said, Hey, this is a deficit that we have as a company. And we're committed to improving it. Right. And I think that's what that specific team in that season in our business. That's what made them great. Yeah, made us great. Steve Trang So John Maxwell, I think is more or less I look at kind of like The Godfather leadership, right? Like he's written so many leadership books. Rhen Bartlett Yeah. Steve Trang My favorite of which is good Leaders Ask Great Questions. Rhen Bartlett Yeah. Steve Trang So you go through this journey. So you read the books. You read. Liz Weiss was multipliers, which is another amazing, Rhen Bartlett amazing, Steve Trang amazing book. When did you start seeing yourself evolve or see things change as a leader? Rhen Bartlett As we were going through Larry's training, I think, you know, we signed up for Larry's training because it was SEAL team leaders. Steve Trang Same thing. Same reason, Rhen Bartlett right? Steve Trang I have a badass seal. Rhen Bartlett Yeah, Steve Trang to coach me, right. Rhen Bartlett I like to see myself kind of as a warrior. You know, a Spartan like, I'm very intense. I'm very focused, I like to go to war. Every day, I get up and I put my helmet and I grabbed my shield and get after it. And I was just like, What a perfect fit. This is gonna be great. Like, he's gonna teach me how to be an assassin. And Oh, my word. Was it the complete opposite. It is right. And it super confused me. super confused me. But the the very first lesson is where he he begins to talk about language. And I began to realize that I had very bad language. Not bad as in, I ran around cussing all the time, which I probably did. But it was not a language that built people up. Right. It wasn't a language that by natural distinction, raised all the ships, if that makes sense, right, Soto sounds Yeah. And so we immediately changed our language and language is so dynamic, right? And he talks about this, he talks about this in his new book, how leadership actually works. But, you know, I could say, hey, go grab a phone. And depending on who you are, you could grab two different things, Steve Trang right? Rhen Bartlett You know, actually, you could grab multiple things, because you're compete, you could grab your computer, you could grab a cell phone, or you could go on my laptop, yeah, you could go grab it. So you know, it's so dynamic. And he goes on to teach about distinctions and having distinctions in your language. So we started to recognize that and we started to understand that you can be a leader, a follower or a manager, and still be a CEO or COO or director. And that was inspiring to me, and humbling and eye opening and all the other things that come along with that, but I think that it was it was a huge paradigm shift for our entire team. We all tried to start to kind of teach treating each other different speaking to each other different. And it opened up a whole can of worms with NLP for me and just really being hyper focused on Language and positivity. And it was a it was a really pivotal moment in my professional career. Steve Trang One of the things you talked about, you know, leader follower manager, for me like, it's actually a relief. Because I feel like at the leader all the time, Rhen Bartlett yeah, Steve Trang that's how I felt. Rhen Bartlett Yep. Steve Trang But reality is, depending on the situation, I can be a leader, I can be a manager or a follower. Rhen Bartlett Yep. Steve Trang I just need to make sure that everyone around me is clear. And I'm communicating to them, which I'm wearing. Rhen Bartlett Yeah, Steve Trang I'm a leader, follower manager. Rhen Bartlett Yeah, there was another principle too. And I don't remember why I picked it up, maybe you'll you'll recognize it, know where I got it. But somebody that I really respect or a book that I really thought highly of it says you don't have to be right all the time. And the best thing to do is to as the leader of the organization, and is to admit and be vulnerable to your team. That, hey, if I mess up a lot, in fact, I'm probably the biggest knucklehead in the organization. Right? And that's okay. I'll ask you for grace when I mess up. And I promise I'll give it back when you mess up. And I think that was a big stress are a big lever that relieved a lot of pressure, because I felt like always had to be right. I felt like I always had to have the answers. And that's one of those accidental diminisher moments, you don't actually great leaders, they put it back on their people to help come up with creative solutions. It's often the frontline workers are the ones that have the most creative and unique and innovative ideas, because they're in the they're in the grind every day. The magics in the mud, right, go play in the mud Steve Trang must be a southern saying, Rhen Bartlett No, it's just something I made. But Steve Trang okay, so then, so you started diving deep into leadership? And you know, getting better at it. When did you see a shift throughout the organization? From the, like a, I guess, a when you see the culture change and be when you see the results change? Rhen Bartlett Yeah. So we continued to the culture began to change as our language changed. And we began to really lean into our core values. And we also got really big on accountability. I think we were sitting in an L 10. At one point in time, completely avoiding all the problems, because it was uncomfortable to discuss. Steve Trang Yeah. Rhen Bartlett And somebody just said, we're just we're not talking about any real issues here. And I had been thinking it for the past three or four weeks, like these tins are a waste of time. And in fact, if you ever think your L tins are a waste of time, you're avoiding the issues Steve Trang and probably guess who's not using it? Rhen Bartlett Yeah, you're avoiding it isn't a waste of time. And that was that was huge. And there was a couple of team members on the team at that time that probably weren't a great fit, right, and would have been offended or felt challenged for bringing up issues. And so we made some shifts there. And we started holding each other accountable. And you know, there were some conversations had that, hey, we got to step it up. Like we have so much potential, so many great people, so many talented people, but we're doing ourselves a dis justice, by not talking about the hard stuff by not addressing the elephant in the room, by not using all of this wonderful information is at our fingertips. And you know, we're actually being lazy guys. We're taking the easy way out, which is making our lives and our business exponentially more tough. Steve Trang Right, you gotta rip off the band aid. Rhen Bartlett Yeah, exactly. Steve Trang So the other thing too, is you're talking about, you've hired over 250 sales reps. Rhen Bartlett That's a guess. But maybe maybe even a conservative guess. Steve Trang So I imagined that was pretty easy. Rhen Bartlett No, Steve Trang no, Rhen Bartlett no, I'm not feel green. It's not pretty easy to they got it down to size. Steve Trang So you've hired over 250 You've kept over 50 on the way so what were some of the biggest challenges when you first started hiring salespeople? Rhen Bartlett The management portion of it right? You know, it's like anything else, people or people, they're all greatly different. They all have different personalities, they all have different strengths and weaknesses. And and it's tough to understand. You kind of want to put it into a box and manage everyone the same way, which again, is taking the easy path, right, that would be avoiding the tough work. But um, so that was you know, the onboarding was tough. The training the sales training was tough. And then the continue management and getting them to perform and keeping them bought in to what we were trying to do. Because it's very easy to sell somebody on coming to work for you. Steve Trang Yeah. Rhen Bartlett Right, it becomes increasingly difficult at scale, to keep them sold on the vision, when you as a leader, aren't always walking the walk that you portrayed in the beginning, Steve Trang which is really easy to do if you're selling it hard. Rhen Bartlett Yes, Steve Trang yeah. So let's talk about, you know, the first few hires? What were some of the things you learned with your first few hires? Rhen Bartlett Well, I don't know about things I learned with the first few. But eventually, I learned that I have to stop selling this job. Steve Trang Alright. So Rhen Bartlett you know, Steve Trang you elaborate, like what selling this job means? Rhen Bartlett Well, yeah, I mean, I would say things like, Hey, you can come here and make a quarter million $300,000 a year, I'm gonna teach you everything I know about real estate, you're gonna have 20 qualified appointments on your calendar, and all you got to do is go get them to sign a contract. You know, just things like that. Right? And then they what you're doing then is setting false expectations. Because we all know that a third of that may be half true, right? You're gonna get some qualified appointments after a third of that. Could you make $250,000? Of course, will you make $250,000? Well, maybe 5% of your staff will, from an acquisitions or dispositions stance. And so we just kind of shifted and started saying, Hey, we got a great culture, and we help a ton of people, this is how we help them. But this job is freaking hard. I'm hard to work for I have a high standard of excellence. It'll be very rewarding and very challenging, and you're going to learn a skill set, but you're not gonna get qualified appointments, you're gonna have to fight for them, you're gonna have to dig for him. You know, essentially everything that we were selling, we tried to, you know, Steve Trang undo it, Rhen Bartlett undo it Steve Trang went the opposite direction. Rhen Bartlett And of course, not all of that was true. But once they got in, we price anchored him is essentially what we did. Steve Trang Yeah. Rhen Bartlett And so once they got in, they're like, Oh, well, this isn't as bad as he said. And then the expectations were this pie in the sky, almost undeliverable, Steve Trang and we went from over promising and under delivering to under promising and over delivering Rhen Bartlett and over deliver Steve Trang a much better experience, Rhen Bartlett much better experience. Steve Trang So then that's the sourcing side. What about, you know, I think one of the biggest challenges people have is like, Ren, I meet Ren, you know, an event. And I say, you know, what, this guy, I think he's got some talent, I'm going to hire, I'm going to recruit him to work for me as my as my acquisition guy, Rhen Bartlett right? Steve Trang And then lo and behold, nine months later, after, after I teach, run everything I know, right? Is competing against me, in my market. Rhen Bartlett Oh, yeah, it happened. Steve Trang So talk to me about what you guys have done to effectively made it make that less desirable for them to go do? Rhen Bartlett Well, one thing we did, is we asked better questions in the interview process. And we tried to understand, are we hiring an entrepreneur? Are we hiring an employee? Right? Because there's a difference. You may have an employee with entrepreneurial tendencies, but an entrepreneur is an entrepreneur, right? They're gonna, they're gonna see it, they're gonna innovate it, and they're gonna try to go do it. And we want to understand that that's the case, because I think everybody should have the right if they want to go start their own business. And in fact, I've shifted my mindset through some previous experiences recently that I'll help you do it, I want you to go do it. And I want you to tell me, and let's get an exit strategy together and then go, right. But we don't want to we want to create an environment where they don't want to leave. Right? Where we give them we understand their why we understand, why are they there to make a paycheck, because that paychecks only the vehicle to help them accomplish their goals and their dreams. And if I can do that within the company where they don't have to leave out, I'll have better retention, I'll have better tenure. And I'll have a better culture, right? Because if they're leaving to go do their own thing, they're seeking something that you're not giving them. They're at your company, Steve Trang right? Rhen Bartlett Which could be a bazillion different things, right? It could be it could be anything. And so just asking better questions on the front end, and once they're there, understanding what they need and continuing to challenge them great. People want to be challenged. A players want to be held accountable. And they want to continue to receive nourishment, if you will, you have to keep nourishing that nourishing their soul. Steve Trang Yeah, Rhen Bartlett that makes sense that answer your question. the long way around Steve Trang what, uh, what are two or three things that you guys have done intentionally to make sure you're retaining top talent. Rhen Bartlett Um, so I think I learned a great lesson, I have a buddy of mine that owns a Chick fil A, and everyone's experienced Chick fil A, and you know that they're probably the only one of a few fast food chains that do it right, you go there, you have a great experience. And so I really try to suck as much information out of that guy that he would get me which was very little. But the one thing that I did get is in the back of their restaurant, they have a career path from how you can go from a cashier all the way up to a proprietor talk to the owner of a particular location. And so I think that people want to know, what is their path forward, they want to feel like, if I choose to put in the work cannot progress, and better my career and myself and my position in life. And that was one thing, right, we gave the path probably wasn't as well defined as, as we would have liked it to be, but they knew, because there was also and we told the stories of other employees that have had risen up, you know, through the ranks and started, you know, one gal specifically, you know, she was making 30k, and she's up making over 200, leading a whole division start as a lead manager become a, you know, higher up executive. So, giving them that path forward, continuing to challenge them in the right ways, and showing them that if you do the right things, here's the reward. And this is how you continue to sow the seeds of success, not only in your own life, but in others. And you know, so So we let We're big on on sharing and each and building that team and building that camaraderie and then giving them an identity. Right? I think that many companies are blind to the fact that, well, let's start here, right? I had this paradigm shift one time sitting in church, I was trying to hire a videographer. We needed some content, and I could not find one. And if I did find one, they wouldn't show up for an interview. And I was like, Man, I must not be offering enough money. So we like jacked at, like $75,000 for a guy to come in and shoot content. Still nothing. Right? And so I'm sitting in church one day, and I'm looking around, and I go to a pretty big church in Alabama, you know, there's one on every corner. But I just because video productions on my mind, I really start to notice how great the video production in our churches. Steve Trang Yeah. Rhen Bartlett And then I'm looking, I'm like, these are the greatest musicians around. This is the greatest production quality. Oh my god, there's like 15 Camera dudes running around with converse and hipster clothes on. And like, they're probably here for free. Steve Trang Yeah. Rhen Bartlett What are they doing right that I'm doing wrong? And then I was like, Well, God, you're here for God, of course. And I said, Well, I you know, I'm not that. But then I asked another question is, well, what is God? And you could say it's a higher power creating the being or whatever. But what is that? And if you break it down to the micro, and what is what is the church? It's a community. It's connection. It's love. And it's a place where people come together to make the world a better place. And I said, That's it. If I can offer those things, community connection, identity, and betterment of society. Maybe these guys will come work for me for free to write. Steve Trang Yeah, absolutely. Rhen Bartlett That was big. That was huge. And we changed our entire we rewrote our core values at that time. We changed kind of our mission statements and things like that. And we started to attract those type of people. Steve Trang Yeah, Rhen Bartlett right. Steve Trang He has a few more resources than you, right? Rhen Bartlett Yes, he has Steve Trang no more recruiter Rhen Bartlett anymore. A few more recruiters than me. But if you break it down, it's that simple. Man. People want connection, Steve Trang right? They want to resonate on purpose. Rhen Bartlett They want purpose. Steve Trang I'm on purpose. We had someone that used to work here, and someone's like, you know, like, okay, it's like, what's his qualifications? Oh, he works at the church. Rhen Bartlett Yeah, like, Steve Trang and the last time I'd been at church was like, 1999, you know, I was like, so he knows how to plug like a microphone into like, a speaker. Like, who cares? Rhen Bartlett Yeah. Steve Trang But we hired him on and he was good. He was a great audio engineer. And then I went to baptism. I don't know, it's like earlier this year or late last year. I was like, whoa, this. This is a concert. Rhen Bartlett Yeah, Steve Trang it this is not a Rhen Bartlett they have great talent in church. And most of them are they're working for free in service of their higher power or for very minimum wages Steve Trang now. So that was four. We're talking about retention and management that there's some overlap. All right. The other thing too is, you know, you gave a great presentation at collective genius, honestly, six, nine months ago, maybe a year ago, right. And it talked about the importance of culture. And part of that was like, making a great first impression. Can you talk about that? Rhen Bartlett Yeah. So we've all started a job before and shown up. And you had that first awkward day, right? Where you walk into an office, you don't know anybody. Everybody's looking around at you. They don't really know why you're there. You don't have the company logo on your chest yet. And you walk up and ask, Hey, where's John? He's not here yet. John was the person that you were told to meet up with? And you're like, well, heck, what do I do? It's really awkward, right? And so that's the employee or the candidates first impression of that company, whether they mentally or consciously think to themselves, Oh, this place sucks. But subconsciously, it's rooted in their impression in their memory, that this wasn't maybe what it was sold to me to be. Right. And I just had this idea one day, I might what if, what if their first day is like a ballet, it strung together and it's just seamless? And it's perfect? And how can we really make that person that candidate that employee feel like, just wow, just blown away? Kind of like the Chick fil A experience? Like, hey, they're out at your window, taking the order. And so, you know, we put in some some things that are called Pretty sneaky ninja tricks in the in the interview process, asking just particular questions, you know, things that they wouldn't think anything. Oh, hey, by the way, what's your favorite coffee? I was grabbing Starbucks this morning, they had a new coffee out, right. And the final product ended up being, you know, them being met down either at their car at the elevator with their favorite cup of coffee and being escorted upstairs to find a shirt in their size and their favorite candy bar with a notebook with their favorite quote on the inside. And it just creates such a different experience employee experience. Right? And and what do you think happened when they got home? On that first day? What'd you think they did on their driving Steve Trang company ambassador? Rhen Bartlett Exactly. They called someone and they said, Oh my Lord, you're not going to believe my first day at this place. And that peak so and so's interested in then they start research and thinking, hey, is this a place? I want to go work? Steve Trang Yeah. Rhen Bartlett And so we're doing that to attract top talent. Because top talent wants to be wined and dined. Right? They know they're good. Like the hot chick in the bar. She knows she's hot, you better buy her beer, you're not gonna walk up to the hot chick say, hey, buy me a drink. don't work that way. Steve Trang Oh, no, I think we can make that work. But yeah, you're absolutely right. The I remember my very first day a couple of times right at a company. And like, Okay, you show up at 830 or 8am? Because you think that's the right? You don't know, it's your first date. You don't have time. So Rhen Bartlett yeah, Steve Trang you get there. You're there before everybody else. And you wait for your boss to show up. And I think I was like showing up at 830 on my very first day at work. My boss doesn't roll until like, 1111 30. Or not rolling, but like doesn't meet with me. Rhen Bartlett Yeah, Steve Trang it's like just kind of twiddling his thumbs, like, sit there. It's awkward. Rhen Bartlett So they're gonna have your laptop and nothing. You're just gonna sit in there. Yeah. And the cool thing about my experience, and all this is like, and I've heard you say this before, none of these ideas are original or proprietary. Right? Everything that I've just described, there's been instances in life that have kind of smacked me in the face, and reminded me, but like that whole first day dance come from sales boss. Steve Trang Yeah, Rhen Bartlett right. He outlines everything to create that brand ambassador in his book, which has been consumed by millions and millions of people. He actually came to our office, he said, I heard about you guys. And I heard how well you've implemented the practices in this book, and I just got to see it. I can't remember what's the author's name of the sales, but he came in with Wisman. Yeah, he came to our offices because he wanted to see it in real life. Because we took I took my team and I said, Hey, everything in this book, step by step, we have to do it. And we did it. And it's still talked about, like, people still come up. And they say, Man, I just can't believe like, you know, just the smallest little weird things that people really remember the quote, being in the notebook that you bought me. I had forgot my pen on the first day because I was nervous, but you had me a pin with the color ink that I preferred. Like that was so neat. Steve Trang Yeah, Rhen Bartlett you know what I mean? Like the me one thing, one trick that always did was I got the recruiters to add the person start date with their name. And so when I passed them in the hall, I could say, Hey, Steve, I'm so glad you're here. And that I got more feedback that that blew people away that already the CEO or the CEO whatever role was at that time, knew their name, and when apart instead of the hallway, I dressed them by name. And it's those little moments, those little micro moments in time that set the stage for those brand ambassadors. Steve Trang You know, it's interesting talking about, like, we know, right, but we don't, there's not a lot of original ideas. We've got to listen to Jeff Hoffman yesterday, speak on the mainstage and talked about like visiting your customers and this and that. And as I'm listening to him was like, this guy sounds exactly. Like Sam Walton. You know who the guy that created when the biggest empires, right? Walmart, and Sam's Club was all done by Sam Walton. Rhen Bartlett Yeah, I find it pretty interesting. And all of the successful titans of industry. They leave clues. Steve Trang Yeah, Rhen Bartlett they leave clues. That times may be different, but the principles remain the same. Right? You told me something earlier, what was the quote you gave me earlier? That Steve Trang Oh, Jason Lewis. Yeah. The the quote, my quote, for the event for the last three days, was that you don't need to learn anymore. If you can just close the gap between what you know. And what you do. There's a lot of money in there. Rhen Bartlett Yeah. It's so true, right? We know all the things. I mean, how many books have you read? Steve Trang A couple 100? Yeah, Rhen Bartlett what if you just wait, if you never read another book, and went back and implemented everything that you had learned in these books? You would be you would find more success, Steve Trang I would be selling hundreds and 1000s of millions of books. Rhen Bartlett That's right. Steve Trang If I could just execute everything I learned. Rhen Bartlett I try. I had a I used to read for sport, right? I would every year I would post a list with how many books I read. And it was it was a lot. And I had a mentor Howard shores actually his name, he's a scaling up coach. And he said, stop it. Right. There's a there's a funny Saturday Night Live skit, stop it. And I said, What do you mean? What do you mean? It's my superpower is reading all these books. He's like, Man, how many books have you read me books in your audible right now? I'm like, 800. He's like, open one up. The most recent one you've read? And I said, okay, and I went, and I think it was sales acceleration formula. I remember it very specifically. And he said, you're done with the book. I'm like, yeah, he goes, Alright, give me four principles from that book that you've implemented in your business, Steve Trang called you out there, Rhen Bartlett call me out. And I said, Well, Howard, I don't think I've implemented anything. And he said, Well, why read it? So you can hang it up on your bookshelf? And so it looks cool, you know? And so it was, it was pretty interesting. Taking that and thinking and sitting on it, right? Because these books are so great. But nobody actually implements the things that they tell them to do. Steve Trang Yeah, Rhen Bartlett right. And so what he said he does is he goes, I read like two books a quarter. And I don't move on to the next book till I've extracted some principles, and I've implemented them into my business. Steve Trang Yeah. Rhen Bartlett And so it slowed my reading down tremendously. I don't feel like I need to read for sport anymore. But that's the thing. And that's why we got really good with what we did is we would just execute on a level that others would only talk about, Steve Trang but there's so much of the Keeping Up with the Joneses, right? Like read this book, read that book. Have you read this book? Rhen Bartlett Yes. Yes, Steve Trang tough. So another thing we talked about was, you know, being able to do triple digit transactions now. I'm not even doing triple digits a year. I'm one of the smaller folks within collective genius, Rhen Bartlett right? Steve Trang To do 100 Plus transactions in a month, that sounds almost ludicrous. Probably broke a few things, Rhen Bartlett broke everything. Steve Trang Yeah. So let's talk about like, what were some of the three, four, maybe five key things that helped you to do that. Rhen Bartlett Having the right people in the right seat is the number one backed by the right culture and the right purpose, right. You'll you'll find that when people have an aligned purpose, they'll work and tolerate exponentially more than if there is no purpose at all. You know, and if you can attract people to that purpose, and you all have a common goal and you believe in what you're doing, it becomes a lot more fun to do it. Steve Trang Right. Rhen Bartlett You know what I mean? And so that's the first thing is getting the right people on your organization and making sure that they're bought into what you're doing. Make choose doing something good right? If your people and look wholesaling can be looked at me any different ways? Steve Trang Yeah, Rhen Bartlett right. I'm a big believer that it really serves a purpose. And it really helps people. But I've had people in my organization before, heard him say it. Y'all are stealing houses. I know that's not true. We're trading equity for solutions. Steve Trang Right? Rhen Bartlett Right. And we're not putting a gun to anyone's head to sign a contract. But I've also had people in my organization that say, we changed lives. We gave this whole lady who had nothing to eat there was falling through her floor a safe place to stay, and food for three months. Right. And that's the difference and doing and hitting a ceiling and spinning out and just going to the moon. Steve Trang Right. So right, right people and the right seats. Rhen Bartlett Chasing the right mission isn't common, believed upon mission. Steve Trang And that one is really deep to unravel. What would you say? That's one point? Rhen Bartlett Yeah. Second, second thing is your sales and marketing organization. You got to have salespeople? Steve Trang Yeah, Rhen Bartlett you know, are so many folks. And they say, I want to do big numbers. But I don't want to manage salespeople. They're a nightmare. And believe me, they can be when you take the wrong approach Steve Trang after that before. Rhen Bartlett Yeah, Steve Trang more than once. It's, it's tough. People are hard to manage, especially salespeople. Yeah, I was talking to someone the other day, they're like, why don't you go do this? Because of course I am. We're humans. Rhen Bartlett Yeah. Steve Trang Right. And Rhen Bartlett yeah, Steve Trang there's, there's, there's hiring people. And it's hiring salespeople. It's like, I don't know. It's like, I can't think of a good example. But it's like, it's another level of difficulty. This is like, Rhen Bartlett Sure, Steve Trang right. Like, you're hiring, like administrative people. You're hard. You're hard difficulty. Right? Like, Rhen Bartlett yeah, Steve Trang implementing systems. Rhen Bartlett expert level, Steve Trang right. Yeah. Like these meetings. Right. Also, hiring people is hard. And hiring salespeople? Yeah, I gotta be expert, because not only are you managing people, but you're managing people are going through lots of emotions, Rhen Bartlett yes, Steve Trang because the cycle of a transaction Rhen Bartlett can go up and down Steve Trang can be a roller coaster. Rhen Bartlett Yeah. So I'm a big believer in building a very large Salesforce, right, because just as you just said, it's up and it's down. But you find consistent, a consistent revenue model. And it's only stabilized when you have X number of salespeople, per your quota goals, which is typically about 150%. So if I want to hit, say, 100 transactions a month, I need enough salespeople by their KPIs on average, to do 150. And then you kind of find a consistent sustainable revenue model. And then you also have to account for the churn your bottom 30 30% are going to churn, you know, I have a rule of thirds. 33% of your people are crushing it and happy and they're attracting other people to the team. The other 33% are neutral. Maybe they're winning, and maybe they're losers, and you ask them on any given day, how they feel about working for ran and, you know, the bottom half, they're looking for another job, you ask them about their job, I hate it, they don't give you leads, the training is awful. RINs awful, his breath stinks. He's ugly, you know? Yeah, the leads suck the opportunity suck, the lead manager suck, the management sucks. And so you just have to understand that, and it's any organization, right? There's a, there's a couple of great books out there Who Moved My Cheese and our iceberg is melting, all talking, change management. And both both of those books bring back to the role of third principle. You know, you're gonna have your hands and you're gonna have your house, you just have to understand it, and account for it and hire a staff up Steve Trang salespeople. We're talking sales and marketing, but we're talking about salespeople that Rhen Bartlett well sales, and then you got to you got to provide opportunities for your salespeople. And they have to be able to capture those opportunities and turn it into revenue. Steve Trang Yeah, Rhen Bartlett right. And so if we added two more, we'll be good training program, good management program, and you got to produce the opportunities. Steve Trang Got it. We're gonna talk about the managing program in just a second. So before we get into questions, I want to talk about also the whole person perspective, because I've heard you talk about it, and is a very interesting point, when we're talking about, you know, management. What is the whole person perspective? Rhen Bartlett Yeah, so the whole person perspective is kind of an ideology that I've strung together. In dealing with people in general, right, this this isn't just towards managing salespeople, but managing anyone or being a part of anyone's life, right? The person that shows up to work every day, that's 25% of who they are. Right? They're only at work probably about 25% of their time, if that. The other 75% is how they show up to work to be your employee to wear that logo on your chest right and so, and everybody has stuff going on in life, right? Maybe they're fighting with their kids, maybe they're fighting with their wife, maybe they don't have any, any. Maybe they're having financial issues, right and you have to know the person and kind of where this this come from is one day we're sitting In a meeting, and I'm with all the people that are directly report to me, we're having a sales rep problem, right? There's always sales rep problem. But I'm listening, and I'm listening and listening, and they bring up one rep specifically. And it was sad. I don't know what's wrong with this guy. He's just not performing. And he used to be a top performer. And I said, it's funny, say his name. Because he called me yesterday, right? And I'm pretty well removed from running the sales team at this time. And I said, Did you know that he's having a problem at home? And you guys have just shifted the pay plan? And he's freaking out? And there's some things going on. Did you know that? And they said, Well, you can't, you know, I didn't know that. And should I know that you can't know all the people that report to you that way? I said, really? I said, Yeah, it's impossible. And I went around the room, and there was eight of them in a room. And I told them exactly how much money was in each one of their bank accounts within $10,000. And how much they thought, whether they thought they made enough and their jaws drop, right? Because, and they said, How the hell did you know this a while listen to you, when you talk, I'm listening. And I'm collecting data. So I can be a better servant to you. Right, and we went through, and we've done some research from that. But we really tried to understand our people. And we strung that together. And I'm like, man, you're a servant to the people who work under you. And part of the way that you and they respect you and admire you as a leader, and as a mentor, they probably wouldn't work for you. And so it's your job as a leader to serve them in whatever capacity they need served in the season that they are in right now. Steve Trang Yeah, Rhen Bartlett whether they're having financial hardships, or whether they just got a $30,000 paycheck. Right, I'll give you example, above where I just gave example, that dude, have the hardship. But I've seen a rat one time, get like a $35,000 paycheck, big paycheck. And I called him. And I just knew the first year I made real money. I had a big tax bill coming. Right? I didn't know it until I got it. I told him, I said, Yeah, I said, Hey, man, congratulations. What are you going to do with your money? And he had had it all spin already. And I said, Well, you know, you gotta pay taxes on that money. What I gotta pay how much? Well, I don't know, on your particular situation. But this is about what I pay. He's like, Whoa, no, no, no, I mean, probably do some research, talk to an accountant, something like that. And he called me at the end of the year, and he said, dude, thank you so much. Like, if he wouldn't have called me that day, I would be in real hot water right now. But I did what you said. And I taught to count it. And I started putting a percentage of every paycheck up. And it really just went back and solidified that you got to be there when your people are winning, and you got to be there when you're losing. But unless you're listening and paying attention, and being a servant leader, you're gonna miss those opportunities. Steve Trang Yeah, Rhen Bartlett right and powerful. So bringing in closing that loop on the whole person perspective is like paying attention and being there for the whole person, not just the employee. And if you can do that, you will build more trust, more loyalty, and more understanding. And when you have those pillars, you get performance. And that goes back to why are your people not leaving, and going and starting their own business? Because they have that. Steve Trang Now? That super deep? Rhen Bartlett Yeah. Steve Trang A lot to unpack there as well. What are one or two things they can do intentionally to make sure they can do that, at least to the best of their abilities? Rhen Bartlett Care? You truly had to be the greatest leaders on Earth really care? Yeah, I think, right? Think about who are the greatest named name a great leader, Mother Teresa, Dr. Martin Luther King, like there's two that just come to mind, who cared more than them? Like Dr. King got shot trying to do, you know, like, he put herself in a position like that, who cared more than those two great leaders. Right. And so I think it starts there, you really, really, really have to truly care. And then you have to listen. Right? You have to listen, you have to pay attention. And I think you just have to keep it's really hard for me, I was early on and I had to learn humility, right. I walked into my office one day, and there was a sticky note that said humility before honor on my computer screen. And it was probably because I had been a little bit of an ass the day before. Steve Trang Yeah, Rhen Bartlett but I kept that sticky note, I still have it somewhere. Yeah, I still have it. It's a bookmark in one of my Napoleon Hill books, but humility before otter so I think you gotta care. You got to have empathy and you got to listen to your people, because they'll tell you exactly how to make Jim, they'll tell you how to make them successful. They leave clues just like all the great titans of industry. Steve Trang Yeah, that's brilliant. So, before we get into the questions, guys, please ask your questions. Before we get to the questions, we're going to share a quick announcement. So let's go ahead and roll it here. Hey, Steve Trang. Here. A lot of you have been asking me for sales management training. I didn't feel quite right teaching it. But I found the perfect guy to teach it for us. So rent. Tell us about it. Rhen Bartlett Steve, we're going to be introducing some really intense fundamentals and philosophy behind the management of sales teams have a ton of experience building really high performance sales teams, and really taken a little bit of this and a little bit of that management practices and theories from all over the place and brought them together to create a unique whole person perspective that drives low performers, to high performers and elite caliber salespeople into sales champions, and couldn't be more excited to partner with you on it. And the sales disruptors brand, Steve Trang for sure. So go to disruptors.com/success. And we'll see you at the next event. Hey, Steve Trang here, a lot of you have been asking me for sales management training. So we got a few comments and questions are ready. Pretty cool. So on Instagram, W music says to the most respected guys, it's based on a better operating game than Ryan. So very nice compliment. On Facebook, we got Ryan's Olin. He's saying that I fail, fail, fail, fail fail more bodies meant more production, right. That's not. That's not an unusual concept. So it's cool. It's cool to see a situation where succeeded sounds like a much better structure than it did the time. So a question from on Facebook from D. McCall, what is an L 10. Rhen Bartlett An L 10. Is the weekly leadership meeting. So it comes from EOS operation, operating system, but it's the weekly leadership meeting, right? It's where you sit down. There's a strict agenda. It's good news, customer employee headlines, metrics, IDs, identify, discuss, solve close out. And it's where your team comes together on a weekly basis and solves problems. They review the metrics they look for, you know, there's a bunch of different stoplight report metronome, whatever. But it it's the weekly meeting that moves the needle. And in short, Steve Trang I would say that it is the most impactful meeting we have in the week. Rhen Bartlett Yeah, Steve Trang right. Like we have sometimes we have our discovery meeting and says I can't figure this out in 10 minutes. But yeah, the only way it's for the business to move forward is to intentionally resolve the issues are, are getting in the way of us accomplishing our goals. Rhen Bartlett Yeah. If it's not the most impactful meeting, you're doing it wrong. You have the wrong people or you're hiding from accountability. Steve Trang Yeah, the another book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. Right? The ability to have difficult conversation. That was a that was really good one. And other than one other one too, right is what was Larry I just title book, Rhen Bartlett how leadership actually went Steve Trang how leadership actually works, right? When everyone in your organization is free to challenge everyone else in the organization? Rhen Bartlett Yeah, Steve Trang game changer. Rhen Bartlett It is it very much is. But it starts with the basic principles that five dysfunctions dysfunctions of a team, you have to have trust. If you and I are working together, and I don't trust you, I'm not going to challenge you. Right, for whatever reason, exactly. I may be scared that you're gonna fire me or that you're going to excommunicate me or you're gonna go talk trash behind my back. But if I trust you, I will then put us in a position to have a constructive conversation for the betterment of the organization. Steve Trang Right, Rhen Bartlett right. Steve Trang Absolutely. Tim Sarpy on YouTube wants to know, what were the struggles growing, expanding into new markets? Rhen Bartlett Yeah, all of them. You know, we rob from Peter, to pay Paul, early on. You know, Steve Trang I've had that experience. Rhen Bartlett Yeah, yeah. So you know, taking resources from one office to another. That was a struggle, management, remote management can be tough, right? When you have offices all over the country. On a cost structure, sometimes it's tough to afford to put leadership, a real leader in those offices. And so that that can be tough maintaining the culture. And you know, just the blocking and tackling of the business understanding the market, hey, this house, we can pay for it over here and over here. We can't right. And construction costs vary greatly from state to state, right? We're in Phoenix, Steve Trang your costs, Rhen Bartlett you know, you might be able to renovate a 2500 square foot house full cosmetic for 40 grand, but up in Flagstaff, it may cost you 65 That impacts your numbers right. So you have to know that and then there's some state to state reg collation around title work and stuff like that. But the biggest challenges, I think, in scaling a sales organization is understanding that you got to have the right people. And you got to hire quick. And you got to train quick. And you have to give them the resources that they need to be successful and get the heck out of their way. Steve Trang Yeah, Rhen Bartlett you know, Larry says, you micromanage your underperforming team and you don't manage a performing team, let them manage themselves, high functioning individuals have self management, self regulation, I believe is what he calls it. Right, Steve Trang exactly. Rhen Bartlett So Steve Trang you said something in there about having leaders in each location. That's something you guys did. That's something you guys struggled with, what does that mean? Rhen Bartlett I mean, we we definitely struggled with it when we started, you know, growing outward, but now we tried to manage remotely, right? It works. You just got to, you got to move around, and you got to stay present, you got to stay relevant. Right. We're moving towards a more remote world. And that's a piece of the puzzle that folks got to really figure out. How do I manage someone when they're not sitting next to me every day? Steve Trang Yeah. Other thing too, right? I mean, people want you to be present. And how do you how are you present? The Zoom meeting? Yeah, that's like for me, I had so many people like Steve, you know, you're doing this, this and this. Why don't you expand? Why don't you do have multiple offices? I was I was just in Phoenix, right? Like, yeah, you're I'm in Tempe. Why don't you have a location in Peoria? Why don't you make a location in downtown Phoenix when not duplication here and there? And I say like, I don't believe I'm a leader qualified to have my culture built. Rhen Bartlett Yeah, Steve Trang into each one of these offices, like the main hub will have the culture to the best of my ability. But the culture, I don't believe this can be a limiting belief. I don't believe all the other tertiary offices, secondary offices, have the same level of culture and accountability and leadership as the main hub. Rhen Bartlett For use specifically Steve Trang for me as a leader. Rhen Bartlett Yeah, yeah. Because I disagree with that, as a broad statement, you got to have brand champions, and how well you build those brand. Champions, is how well your culture will expand. Right, how it'll be in other offices. And, and, you know, I know, other organizations and other businesses that are common to most people I know, you know, going back to Chick fil A, for example, I'll keep using them. But I know some Chick fil A locations that are exceptionally well ran from a cultural standpoint, and some that are poor, right. I think too, that the better aligned, the employees are with your mission. And the more that they understand it, the more that they're bought into it. That the more that that's what strengthens the culture. Steve Trang Yeah. Well, I think a key word that you said was understand, right, like, that's the one thing I learned that one thing, but one of the biggest things I learned from Larry Ash was that everyone has to understand the why. Right? This is that this is what we do. It's not how we do it. Those are important to Rhen Bartlett Yeah, this is why we Steve Trang why do we do this? Rhen Bartlett Why we do it? Steve Trang And now everyone's aligned? Rhen Bartlett Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, I mean, there's everything that you could think go wrong with expanding, it goes wrong. But I think the better question is, what did you do, right? And we were relentless. And we moved quick. Steve Trang Yeah. Rhen Bartlett When we found a deficit when we found something that wasn't working. We figured out how to fix it. Steve Trang So CeCe wood here is wasn't there the book? So we've mentioned a lot of books here. So I'm just gonna rattle them off. There was traction multipliers, sales acceleration, formula, sales boss, good Leaders Ask Great Questions about the book that we talked about here. Rhen Bartlett Um, I think that I think that covers it multipliers there. We said multiple. You did. Okay. Steve Trang Yeah. All right. So hopefully, CZ, that answers your question. Then I've been Hernandez on YouTube. got the chance to work with red. And the culture that was built in the company is next to none. That's awesome. Fantastic. So right on YouTube, how come you guys didn't go nationwide? Rhen Bartlett You know, I think that was always the dream and the vision, right? And I'm not with the company any longer and I don't know what their future plans are. But the goal was always to be as big as we can. We can be, you know, it takes time. There's a saying that a lot of people overestimate what they can do in two years and underestimate what they can do in 10. And, you know, even one of my biggest tips, you and I spoke about our takeaways and I left I think the most important one out and it's listening, sitting and listening to all the people and collective genius and there's people that are been in the real estate game one year, and there's oh geez that had been In the real estate game 5060 years. And they, it's the stain of it's, it's hanging in there, it's being consistent, right was was a big takeaway for me that I left out in our conversation earlier. It's like, but can you survive through the good times and the down times? Right. And so, you know, I think that you can accomplish anything. If a company wants to go nationwide, they can, and they will. But you got to live through rough market conditions like this, to be able to do it. And once you do, you'll learn, you'll get better, you'll adapt, you'll innovate. And then, as long as you hang in there, you know, there's no reason that any company can't go national, if that's their aspirations. Steve Trang Yeah. So I learned from a mentor recently, was Nick Peterson. He talks about, you know, making sure you always survive, no matter what, right? Good Times bad times. Got to make sure you survive no matter what you have to make sure you don't get blown up. Rhen Bartlett Yeah. Steve Trang Because you can just completely throw away what you worked all these years to accomplish. And we saw it even in the last few months. I mean, I personally know people that have lost seven figures. Right? And since June, right, since the Fed rate hike. Actually, I was talking to a buddy last week, and he said that he personally was on a phone with someone in our market. Who for the month of August, logged in negative 800,000 a month. That's a tough pill. Rhen Bartlett That pill to swallow, Steve. Steve Trang Yeah. I know. I could never survive an 800k month. I don't think I'd be married. So negative 100 came on. Rhen Bartlett Yeah, yeah. Man, look, you know, I think one of the things that makes us all great is we're super resilient. Right? wholesalers, people in real estate, they're resilient. There was a gentleman at this past meeting, say has been bankrupt three times. And the dude is extremely well off today. And I thought about that, right? And what did they talk about? At the event, paranoia, Steve Trang productive paranoia, Rhen Bartlett productive paranoia? And I asked him, were you always productively paranoid? And he said, No, but I am today. And I may have been bankrupt three times, but I'll never be bankrupt again. Steve Trang I remember, not this event, but an event prior I want to say maybe one or two CDs ago was Mike Watson talking about? Rhen Bartlett Yeah, what a vulnerable, great, amazing presentation Steve Trang about how he got destroyed. last recession. Rhen Bartlett Yep, Steve Trang you did everything right. He did everything by the book. And he got bought with equity. And he still got destroyed because of some litigious people that sued him out of existence. Rhen Bartlett Wow. Steve Trang Right. So it doesn't matter, even if you do everything right. Rhen Bartlett And look at him today. And look, he is the most successful multifamily developer that I personally know, on a first name basis. And he got crushed. Right. Steve Trang I mean, he got, like, you know, I mean, he mentioned right, he was suicidal for Rhen Bartlett Yeah. So you know, that resiliency, right? The ability to just hang in there, that consistency through the ups and downs. Steve Trang So I'm just saying all these things, right. Could you tell me why not go nationwide? And those are the kinds of things that goes through my mind? How much how many chips I want to put out there? How many? How much risk do I want to take? Rhen Bartlett Yeah, and nationwide, I think you got to figure out as a business owner, like what makes sense for you? You know, does what and hey, I want to go nationwide. It sounds cool. But what does that actually look like on a day to day basis? Are you flying around all over the nation visiting offices away from your family, with your daughter on FaceTime saying, Daddy, when are you coming home? I've been there, you know. And I enjoyed every second of it. But I don't know that today. That's what I want to do anymore forever. Steve Trang Right. Rhen Bartlett There was a time when that's a that was the that was the life that I envisioned. Right. But I really envision being and raising my daughter. Steve Trang Yeah. So the follow up question from Ryan was how did you? How did you pick your markets? Rhen Bartlett Um, so I'll answer that a different way is how would I pick my markets today? How about that? Because I think that we've made some mistakes there. How I would pick a market today is I want to chase larger profit per deal. I want the widget which would be the wholesale fee to be as big as possible. And you do that by chasing median house price. I think that on average, your wholesale fee is going to trail about 10% of median house price, right? So you know, work and doing some work in Atlanta now. And the average house price is about $330,000. And you'll see average wholesale fees about 30 grand, right? If you're, you know, in a in a in a market where the median house price is 150, you're gonna see 13 to $15,000 wholesale fee. So I think the better question is how what are today rather than how did I and today I would go and I would look for a good, affordable median house price because I can account for my wholesale fee being about 10% of that. And the larger the wholesale fee, the better your margins, the more money you'll make. Steve Trang Yep. And then lotto has an interesting question, what is an acceptable gross profit margin for wholesaling business? Rhen Bartlett That is a that is a very good question. And it's also a tough one, it's going to be what is acceptable to you, as the business owner, right, you may draw a line in the sand and say, Hey, I'm not gonna make any less than 40%? Well, you're gonna sacrifice growth, because you can only grow so fast at a 40% margin. But if you say, Hey, I'm willing to build equity over cash in my company, then, and I'm okay for the next three months making no money, because I know that I'm gonna get an ROI off of that cashflow, investment, then I think it comes down to the business owner and their goals. Right? Steve Trang Yeah, Rhen Bartlett I think there's a margin of safety. For example, if you're operating at 20% margins, and you the market shifts, 20%. And all the sudden you're doing 20% less in business, do your margins go to zero? And are you in a cash position to survive? Just like we were saying earlier? You know, so you have to think about those things like what's your current cash position? What are you willing to sacrifice? How much is your overhead? Right, it's very important question. And, you know, what's your risk tolerance? Steve Trang Yeah, I think there's all absolutely key questions. So, right now, you know, with everything you got going on, what What is your motivation? What is your why? Rhen Bartlett My wise to, you know, I have, I haven't always made the best decisions in life, right, historically. And I just my wise to be the best person that I can be. Right? A man of integrity, a man that helps others as much as I possibly can. So that, you know, when, when I'm on my last bed, right, I have no regrets. I don't ever want I don't want to regret sacrificing time with my family or being a husband. I don't want to sacrifice being a bad father or a bad husband for financial gain, right? Because you can't take it with you. And so, but I have a big heart forgiving, right. And so I want to have a balanced work business life. I want to continue to give and help others and share the little bit that I have to share and try to help people you know, like you you have a goal to make 100 millionaires I haven't quantified mine that exact. But I just want to give all I can give, you know, and be happy doing it and live a life by design. Do what I want to do when I want to do it with the people that I want to do it with. Steve Trang Course. And I think that you know, when we're talking over lunch, right, BJ kind of shared. Like, you know, the lessons he learned from his dads Rhen Bartlett that hit home? Steve Trang I don't know. Celebration of Life, would you want to call it but you want to share with that real quick? Rhen Bartlett Yeah, there was a gentleman that won the belt he he got up and presented about, you know how well their business was doing before this little correction, and then everything that he had went to went through leading up to this week. And then Friday, his father passed and they were wherever, probably at the family house, remembering and talking about his dad, and he said his data was a super successful. Some type of medical professional medical practitioner, some type of doctor built a big firm, highly successful helped tons and tons of people made a ton of money had a ton of properties. And he said on his drive home, he realized not one time. Did anybody bring up anything related to business? Yeah. They talked about how good of a servant to the church, how his charity contributions. how great of a husband, a father, a brother, a friend, but not once did they say, man, he run one hell of a practice. That dude was a business tycoon I once was it brought up you know? Yeah. And so that that punched me in the gut a little bit, and it kind of helped bring into alignment. Like what is my why? Right. And I believe I really believe it's the service of others. Steve Trang There's no talk about like, it's like the seven regrets and nine regrets. Like this lady went to all the hospices and like, survey people. And no one ever says, I wish I worked more. Rhen Bartlett Yeah, Steve Trang no one ever says I wish I worked a few more hours. I spent more time with my family. Right. Rhen Bartlett And it's tough. You know, when you're building a business to remember that. Steve Trang It is Rhen Bartlett right. It's super tough. And I think there's a season you know, madly Jason Mellissa first come into collective genius. Somehow we were we were talking and work life balance got brought up. And I said, I never see a time where I would ever work less than 80 hours a week. And you know, Jason's got that swag. He was like, young, but let me tell you, right, the one day, it won't be that way. And it's probably in the last year that I remember that conversation. I remember thinking, You know what, I really I really don't want to work 80 hours anymore. And so, you know, you got through those seasons in life, I think, Steve Trang what is your biggest struggle right now? Rhen Bartlett You know, life is good. I don't really have any struggles. I have a lot of great friends, a lot of great mentors, a lot of great business partners in my life. If I had to come up with a struggle, I think it would probably be slowing down and being being where my feet are. Right? Especially when I'm with my family. It's many times it's hard for me, my wife asked me all the time. What are you thinking about? I'm like, what are we talking about? And she's like that look on your face, like you're thinking about something. And I, most of the time, don't even remember what I was thinking about. But obviously, I was deep in thought. And I think my biggest struggle is being being where my feet are when I'm with my family and turn it off that business brain because it's constantly searching for efficiencies and improvements and ways to make things better. I'm not a brand new big idea guy. But I'm an innovative idea guy, like how can I innovate this idea to make what I'm currently doing better and more efficient and make more money and help more people? And so I think it would just have to be turning that off. Steve Trang Yeah, Rhen Bartlett when it needs to be turned off as a struggle. Steve Trang What are you doing about that? Rhen Bartlett Nothing currently, I need to do something. Steve Trang Yeah, it's tough. I mean, we all struggle with it. Rhen Bartlett Yeah. Yeah. Steve Trang Socially, you know, as we've we've been, what's the word? We've injected additional ADHD into our bodies? Right? Like we, between the cell phones and everything else? Like, when? Like, here's what complaint so much like that on board? And I my answer to him always is good. You need the skill. Rhen Bartlett Yeah, Steve Trang you need this ability to sit there and do nothing. Because if not, you're gonna be addicted. Rhen Bartlett Yeah, it's very true. So but now you bring up a good point, what am I doing about it? I need to do something about it. Steve Trang Yeah. Just just doing some things we learned this week. Right? Like, what are you worried about? What are you doing about? How do you stay motivated? Which might be a silly question for you, but what how do you stay motivated? Rhen Bartlett I'm pretty good at, I think the most important conversation you have is the one you have with yourself. Right? And I'm pretty good at self talk. You know, there's a great diagram, right there. It shows motivation. And it shows peaks and valleys, motivation peaks, and then it goes down and it peaks and it goes down. But then it has this straight line going all the way up. And that aligns discipline. Right. And so I don't know that I stay extremely motivated, but I stay extremely disciplined. Steve Trang Yeah, Rhen Bartlett I'm very regimented. You know, especially when I'm not traveling on the road, I do the same thing at the same time every day, for the most part. And it's those disciplines that make sure that I get I'm intentional about getting done the work that I need to get done, right. I have a lot of coaching students and I tell them, It's IP itemized, prioritize, execute, itemized, prioritize, execute. And if you can be disciplined in the execution of your prioritization, you're gonna you're gonna accomplish your goals. Steve Trang Are you a little competitive? Rhen Bartlett What are you, Emma, you bought my shot? What else say, Steve took me threw me into the wall the other day. I was pretty upset. I wasn't happy about it was, uh, Steve Trang you were not. And you came back harder on defense. But, you know, I'm asking this question, because, you know, like, we're all pretty competitive. And one of the challenges we have being competitive is like he did what? Yeah. All right. Now we have to beat those numbers. So like, do you find yourself fighting against that? Rhen Bartlett Use? I used to be really big on to that, right. But my competition is when myself these days, I think, you know, I'm in a race to be better than I was yesterday. I'm really big into that. And I'm competitive with myself. And I'll tell you, man, you look, you look at people doing big numbers. And a lot of times, it's not what it appears to be. And you look at people that have built big empires and that you think you admire, right? Just like titans of industry and go and study them, and they're completely miserable. Yeah, right? There's a story about a fisherman and a guy on a beach. And the guy goes up to the fisherman and says, Hey, you're just fishing with one pole. Right? Are they? No, that's not. The guy's laying on the beach. And he's just kind of fishing with one rod. He says, You should you What are you doing? He's like I'm fishing. That's like, well, you should buy more poles and get a boat. And the guy's like, why he's like, seeking catch more fish. And he's like, why? And he's like, so you can buy a whole fleet of boats. And the guy's like, why? And he's like, so you can make a bunch of money and retire and lay on the beach. And the guy looks around, he's like, but I am laying on the beach. Steve Trang Right. Rhen Bartlett Right. And so I think that you got to just understand what you want out of life. And, and comparison is the thief of joy. Right, that you've heard that before? And just like, I used to, I used to want to, you know, outdo everybody else. But I just want to outdo the man that I was yesterday. Steve Trang Yeah. Takes a lot of growth to get to that point. Rhen Bartlett Yeah. Steve Trang So this might be a trick question for you. How do you measure success? Rhen Bartlett Daily optimized experience. Steve Trang All right, Larry, be proud. I was gonna send him this clip. If you screwed up this this question. Rhen Bartlett sustainable over time. Steve Trang Yeah. So in case you guys don't know, we're talking about my son like an inside joke. Ryan and I both have the same leadership coach, and you would probably I mean, he's a Navy Seal the hip right. You'll probably end this at night. Rhen Bartlett Yeah, Steve Trang we got that one wrong. What is your superpower? Rhen Bartlett That's a great question. And I got your, your form. And I was supposed to respond to this. I don't know if I did that. I Steve Trang I don't recall. Rhen Bartlett I don't think I did. I think it's I think I have a few things that I'm really good at. But if I had to say one thing, I think it's self awareness. You know, I'm, I'm pretty good at knowing when I'm an ass, and then going back and fixing it. You know, we all make mistakes in life, and we all fall short. But it's understanding and admitting it, man, I'm wrong. And then let me go work to be better than I was yesterday. Steve Trang Yeah. Rhen Bartlett So I think it's self awareness. And just I would like to say humility. But I know that's not always true. But Steve Trang it may not always be true, but I can tell that you care. Rhen Bartlett Yeah. Steve Trang You want to be better? Rhen Bartlett Yeah, for sure. Steve Trang All right. And I think that's a big part of humility. Because once you don't think you can get better. That's when you're gonna Rhen Bartlett Oh, boy. Steve Trang Yeah. What's the greatest lesson you've learned? Rhen Bartlett I think that the greatest lesson is you're gonna have setbacks in life. Right? Everybody will. And it's, it's the man that you become through that adversity? Does it? Do you become better? Do you remain the same? Or do you become jaded and carry a victim mentality? Right, everything in life happens for a reason. And it's where we end up is how we adjust and overcome to the seasons in life that do happen. Steve Trang Yeah. Rhen Bartlett Right. And so I think, knowing that it's just, you know, and it's not about the end, right, talking about the stuff with BJ and his dad, it's the journey and who we who we become there and staying self aware. And that realizing that, you know, like I said, just trying to get better every day. Steve Trang That part about you know, the army taking the lessons and are you coming Jade or this or that? Because I can say there are a lot of elements of myself where I become jaded, right during 15 years, like there are certain things like should I respond this way? Should I react this way? But I do. Rhen Bartlett Yeah. Steve Trang What is your favorite best or most interesting failure? Rhen Bartlett Favorite, best or most interesting? Failure? Um That's a great man, you ask us some deep questions here. Probably, you know, it would it would have to be around my daughter or my wife. It's really easy to show up a certain way at work. Right. And it becomes increasingly difficult over time to continue to show up the way you want to show up at home. And I think that through building this, this business that I had spent the last four years of my life building, I really started to realize that I wasn't showing up the way I showed at home. You know, you work all day you grind all day you get home, he just exhausted leave me alone. Right? And so I wouldn't say favorite or interesting I would say most impactful was me realizing that hey, I'm not showing up the way that I need to show up at home. And being self aware, like we spoke about and trying to, and I still struggle with it right? There's many times that, you know, my daughter will run up to me and want to play and want to do play a board game or something, or my wife will want to go on a date. And I'm just like, man, you know, it's it's. So I think that I try to get better every day with that. So I don't know that your question Steve Trang absolutely does. And it's huge, because we know, going to the office, we got to be prepared for the office. Rhen Bartlett That's the easy part. Going to the office is coming home and show right off. Steve Trang So this instead of looking at it like I'm leaving work, Rhen Bartlett yeah. Steve Trang Think about it. Maybe we're like I'm coming home. And if you've prepared? Rhen Bartlett Yeah, Steve Trang coming home? Rhen Bartlett Yep. Because laughter party. Steve Trang Yeah, it's a completely different thought. That's as also really deep as well. Final question for me. There was one more question from the audience. But final question for me is what book have you gifted more than any other? Rhen Bartlett The manly art of raising a daughter? Every guy that I hear has a daughter, I give it to us send it to him? Steve Trang I don't have that book? Rhen Bartlett Well, I'll send it to you as well. Steve Trang I'm just just, I'm just putting that out. Rhen Bartlett You haven't had a daughter in the past three years have we become friends either Steve Trang putting it out into the universe? Rhen Bartlett Well, it's it really impacted me. You know, I had me she come to live with me when she was about one year old, I was single. I didn't have a clue what I was doing. And I was scared. You know, and like anything. When I feel uneducated, I begin to read. And that book really was impactful for me. So I've given it a lot. I've given that and I've given the law of success a lot. And oh, another one that I give all the time is How to Win Friends and Influence People. Steve Trang Have you read a strong father strong daughters? That's one I liked a lot. Rhen Bartlett Really? Steve Trang Yeah. I was talking to Ryan Weimer a couple of days ago or Yeah, daughter. And he's like, What do you recommend? Like, start with that? Rhen Bartlett Yeah, yeah. Okay. What was the name of it? Steve Trang Strong father, strong daughters. Rhen Bartlett Okay, Steve Trang talks about the importance, because you've heard like, you know, there's that old cliche, like, Daddy issues and this and that, right. Rhen Bartlett Yeah. Steve Trang Don't be the dad that causes issues. And he kind of talks about Rhen Bartlett no joke, Steve Trang the do's and don'ts. Question from the audience here. So they're asking a greater David, are we real? Now? Yes, I am at real. So if you guys are interested, as a licensed join us real happy to have you join us, David. So I want you to think about the last thought you want to leave our listeners with while they make a few quick announcements. Guys, if you got the eyes today, please. Like, Subscribe, Share Comment, you know, I'm being completely transparent here. We want to manipulate the algorithms. So if the more you guys interact, the more people reach, the more millionaires we can create. And then we do have pointed disruption. We had that earlier today. So check that out every week. And we got 70 talks every Friday, except for tomorrow, because I'm going to be in Denver with Paul sparks for our live event. And then we do have coming up next Wednesday, John burly, a very fascinating life story. I got to talk to him. And he was on the circuit back in the day with Jim Rohn. And Zig Ziglar. Can you imagine? Rhen Bartlett No, I cannot Steve Trang like your life would be if you got to just spend all your time with those guys. Rhen Bartlett Yeah, that'd be cool. Steve Trang What are some last thoughts? You'd like to leave all the listeners with? Rhen Bartlett Yeah. Well, you know, I'm thankful to be on the podcast today. Thankful to be able to share my story. I've not really shared it much. I know I've had my head down ground and for the past close to five years, so excited to be able to do that. But you know, if I could give the listeners or the viewers anything, it's just like, like I said, Man, try to be self aware. Stay humble. Be 1% Better than you were yesterday. Steve Trang Yep, absolutely. And if someone wants to get a hold of you, Rhen Bartlett at Ron Bartlett Steve Trang at RAND barley, really that simple. Rhen Bartlett That simple, man, Steve Trang I was trying to guess you're trying that didn't work. Awesome. Thanks so much. Rhen Bartlett Oh, yep. Steve Trang And I'm looking forward to our partnership. If you haven't checked it out, be sure go check it out. disrupters.com/sales management training or I don't know. They'll pop that up on the website or on the on the screen. So thank you guys. And we'll see you guys next week. Rhen Bartlett See ya.