Communication and Leadership in Business Growth with Mike Fitzpatrick

Unlock the secrets to brand amplification and mortgage mastery with Mike Fitzpatrick, founder of Legendary Mortgage, in this captivating episode. From our chance meeting at GrowthCon3, we explore the transformative power of speaking and networking in brand development, revealing insights into navigating the competitive lending landscape with a distinct value proposition and personal branding strategy.

As we journey through the realms of selling, public speaking, and community building, discover the hybrid future of post-pandemic events and the crucial role of self-review in honing communication skills. Dive into the essence of effective leadership, as we discuss the magic of grace, trust-building, and cultivating a collaborative culture that propels businesses to new heights. Whether you're a novice or a seasoned pro, join us for an episode that promises to revolutionize your approach to leadership, speaking, and brand development, leaving you inspired to craft your path to success.

NOTABLE QUOTES
"Watch the way that people operate, watch their process because you'll learn more from that usually than from what they say on the stage." – Mike
"By going around and shaking hands and having conversations with people, that helps build up your credibility and trust with them, also for the event host too." – Philip
"It's really good as a speaker if you're willing to stay that extra time because that helps the event host and gives that much more credibility for them and makes the event that much more special and unique too."  – Philip
"Continue to find ways to find that spark, and that could be podcasting, that could be speaking, that could be driving value." – Mike
"Whenever you build a business, build a vision, people need to fit within that vision." – Philip
“Whenever you're speaking, you want to give some people some access to you so they feel important." – Mike
“If you truly care about what you're doing, you can learn a lot from listening back to yourself.” – Mike
“The more vocabulary you have in your tool belt, the better that you're going to be able to articulate things to somebody.” – Mike
“Your body language exudes what you want to try to communicate to somebody, whether it's face-to-face or if it's even voice-to-voice.” – Mike
“I don't ask anybody to do anything that I've not done myself or actively doing myself.” – Mike
“From a leadership position, make sure that at some point during the year, go roll up your sleeves with the section of the business that you're not super comfortable with.” – Mike
“You got to be the lighthouse, the North Star to the people that look to you for leadership.” – Mike
“You need to be humbling yourself constantly to try to learn from [your team] at the same time, and not just being a dictator or totalitarian.” – Mike
“See the forest outside of the trees, not only seeing the trees themselves.”  – Philip
“Make sure that you're operating in grace before you operate in anger.”  – Mike

RESOURCES
Mike
Website: https://www.legendarymortgage.com/ 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/realmikefitz/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-f-372b2478/ 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fitzteam 

Philip
Digital Course: https://www.speakingsessions.com/digital-course
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamphilipsessions/?hl=en
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@philipsessions
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philip-sessions-b2986563/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/therealphilipsessions

Transcript

Philip Sessions: 0:16

What's going on, guys? Welcome back to another episode of the speaking sessions podcast. I've got a very unique guest here. We've got a long history, a long time coming to get on this podcast here. I've got Mike Fitzpatrick here. We met was that 2018, at GrowthCon3 very long time ago. Been seeing this guy doing the work, putting in the work, making things happen in the lender space, the mortgage industry and a real estate space, just in general, seeing him being a loving dad, as he says in his bio, fun loving dad that loves helping people reach their goals and you can really see that. And he's the founder of Legacy Mortgage. And today we're really going to go into how do you build yourself as a brand to be the recognized person in a world the lending world being so flooded with a bunch of lenders, especially right now, with how crazy it is, and how do you differentiate yourself. But before we get into that, mike, welcome to the show.

Mike Fitzpatrick : 1:19

I appreciate it, man. Yeah, it's been a. It's been a long time coming. I mean just launching the new company and everything that's been going on, and I mean 2018 seems like ages ago. I mean, we went through the decade of COVID that we had, and now it's been great and congrats on your your second little one coming. I've got two little ones now, too, and it's definitely a blessing to have all of this transpiring at such a young age. You know, on my side and I'm just just grateful for every opportunity I've had. It's been crazy.

Philip Sessions: 1:53

Yeah, and it's definitely blessings for sure for both of us, really for all of us, because we all have amazing opportunities in our life for sure, and so I would. I would love to kind of hear your thoughts, because I mean Grant Cardone and all this stuff it'd be kind of curious to see your thoughts. But from growth con three being this massive event and it was it was a spectacle, to say the least, and everything. What was kind of your takeaway from that? And I know we weren't going to necessarily talk about this at first, but what was your takeaway from this massive event like that Because I know you got a lot of other events too, versus maybe some like smaller events, what. What is your idea behind that? And then maybe a little bit more from like the speaker perspective of like how they're actually pouring into that audience and everything.

Mike Fitzpatrick : 2:37

Yeah. So for me, whenever I go to the the massive spectacle ones, I'm locked in on networking. I mean, that's how we met, that's that's how I've met a lot of people that I'm pretty close with. I think Michael Nast was somebody that I met, one of Grant Cardone's original kind of social media guys. He's the guy that got Grant on live streaming and doing some of the social media stuff that he did. So that's been a light up, what I consider a lifelong friendship. And I'm in.

Mike Fitzpatrick : 3:05

I'm so locked into the networking aspect when I'm at big ones like that. I have ADD a lot of the time. So whenever I go to something like that, it's very hard for me to focus on a speaker that's 150 yards from me, that that may be not well heard because of the venue that we're at. So once I got there and I could, I got the lay of the land. I was like, all right, I'm going all in on networking. Sorry, grant, but I snuck my way into the VIP sections. I slid my way into the VIP parties and wasn't wasn't supposed to be in them, but I ended up getting in a circle of people that just brought me along.

Mike Fitzpatrick : 3:42

And I would say that when you go to events or you go to things that you're trying to learn from, especially for your audience.

Mike Fitzpatrick : 3:51

That's like trying to get better at speaking and trying to do these things.

Mike Fitzpatrick : 3:55

You need to watch the way people operate, whether it's the speakers and how they network after they're done speaking. Watch the way that people operate, watch their process, because you'll learn more from that usually than from what they say on the stage. If you, if you really pay attention to who they are off the stage, you learn a lot of the times, a lot more than what they say on the stage. Of course, what we say on the stage matters, but if you're the type of person that gets on the stage and you're 100, and then you get off the stage and you don't want to talk to anybody and you scurry right out and you don't, you're not personable. You're probably not going to land with as much of an audience as if you would be humble and have humility to stick around for a minute. Maybe you weren't paid to be there for that long, but if you don't have another engagement to get to, I would highly encourage you, if you're speaking on stages, to work the room afterwards.

Philip Sessions: 4:46

Yeah, and that's such a great point, man. That really just creates that relatability and even more trust. And we know some of these big names, such as Grant Cardone and Ed Milet and stuff, that they probably come into these events and they're right out the door and we get it. They're busy. They probably literally had that time to come speak a little bit of a buffer before and after for travel and whatnot, and they're there to deliver the message and leave. But for those of us that maybe aren't at that level, and even for them, going in there and just trying to not only share your message but, yeah, relating with the audience, shaking some hands, kissing the babies, so to speak Everything is a thing that we should be doing, because that's what really helps the event host at the end of the day, too. It helps you as a speaker and business owner, because more than likely you're going to speak, that you have something that people can get afterwards too. That's what most speakers have. They're not just only getting paid to speak, they have some kind of course or product service, whatever that compliments their speaking and helps grow their business. And so by going around and shaking hands and having conversations with people, that helps build up your credibility and trust with them, but then also for the event host too. It's like man, our speakers they don't come in.

Philip Sessions: 6:00

And I don't know if you know Tony Wattley or not, but he's owner of 365 Driven and that's what he does A lot of his events. He's like hey, my speakers don't just come in and speak and leave, they're there for the whole event, they're there with us the whole time and I really like that. He takes that unique approach because a lot of people don't do that. With these retreats or these speaking events, these conferences, it's just speaker comes in, they leave and there's no interaction with the audience. And I get that some people you got to be in the VIP to get that access and that's fine there. But it's really good as a speaker if you're willing to stay that extra time, because that helps the event host and gives that much more credibility for them and makes the event that much more special and unique too. So I'm glad you brought that out.

Mike Fitzpatrick : 6:46

Yeah, and honestly it's if you're just starting out on the speaking side of things, like it could lead to more opportunities for you to get on other stages. Like I have spoken on a stage where whenever I came off the stage and spoke to people, I ended up getting three more opportunities to go speak at different networking events for the people that were in the audience. So it's something that when you're first starting out and you're grinding and you're trying to figure out your way, it can lead to more opportunities for you to sharpen that sword too.

Philip Sessions: 7:18

Yeah, and then on flip side, like before you go on and speak to I've done this myself and I've heard other speakers do the same thing they go and talk to the audience because then they hear what the audience is wanting to hear and wanting to see, and now they can call out that one audience member be like, oh yeah, and bring up that conversation that y'all had, and it's like their ears, they're just paying full attention and they're bought into you even more. And there's probably somebody else that feels like man, I was having that same conversation because you got a group of people that are there for a specific purpose and so they're all going to be fairly similar to each other. So when you call out that one person, other people are going to feel like, wow, mike or Philip, they're talking directly to me. So, yeah, I try to have that conversation before and after is a really good thing for the relatability on both sides. But then, like you said, so many opportunities can come out of the conversation afterwards too, and too many people don't know about that.

Mike Fitzpatrick : 8:17

The struggle is and it's a book that I believe in wholeheartedly which is the how to win friends and influence people. The struggle is whenever you're on a stage is you don't have that opportunity in that moment to truly sit there and connect and learn from your audience at the same time as you're trying to pour into them. So the pre show and the post show is very important for you to understand. Okay, the next time I do one of these things, I'm going to go listen to myself back, see where I got stumbled. But the next time I do one of these things, I'm going to understand where the audience is at, and you could be speaking on a multitude of different topics depending on your background and what you do, and connecting with somebody in the audience, like you said, is a is a huge way for you to influence people while you're on the stage, because you understand who the audience is and you've connected with somebody in that audience.

Philip Sessions: 9:08

That's such a great point. This is actually a good segue for us to go more into the lending space for you. We know it's pretty crowded. We also know right now there's becoming less and less lenders because of the craziness of that real estate market, but you've been able to survive this long. You've been doing it for quite a while. It's been almost a decade overall since you've been doing it.

Mike Fitzpatrick : 9:30

Yeah, I've been doing it since 2015. Okay, coming up on a decade. Yeah, yeah.

Philip Sessions: 9:38

Yeah, for sure, yeah, and there's been a lot going on since 2015. For sure and everything, but we have a ton of lenders, we have a ton of real estate agents and obviously that's probably your number one, or, I would think, obvious from outside perspective, that's the number one lead source for you is a lender who brings you a lead for somebody that's wanting to purchase a house. So, as a lender and you're in a pretty populous area as well there in the Myrtle Beach area how are you differentiating yourself from the other lenders?

Mike Fitzpatrick : 11:01

I would say that there's a couple of key factors when it comes to differentiation. Number one would be value. If you're a lender that is personifying your value as your job description, so there'll be a lot of lenders out there that the way that they present their value proposition to a real estate agent or to a referral partner is like oh, get your loan closed in 30 days. I'm like yeah, man like, but you're presenting your job description that's not any different than anybody else that works at a bank or anything that they do. And I would say that if you're going to drive real value to people, again it's the when friends and influence people concept is connect with them and understand what is it that they actually need. So what does a real estate agent actually need from me? For me to add to what they do, for them to be more successful, and I think that that's the thing that I have done. That differentiates myself and my team from just another person that's like hey, put a loan in my hand and I'll close it for you. We're actually coming up with tools and I'm creating ways to drive value to agents, whether it be teaching them about AI and just overall presentation of what their value is Because you know, you've probably read some things about NAR and the lawsuits and everything that's going on on the real estate side, and it's going to be very, very important for realtors to understand how to present their value to a customer, because they're going to ask a customer to pay for their value at some point if these lawsuits go as far as they could go and that's really, I think, the biggest factor on my side that's allowed me to quote unquote survive this craziness over the last 18 months is just truly understanding what my value is and understanding that it's okay for me to personify that value. It's not egotistical, it's not pompous, like I'm going out there and I have a heart to help people, and people that don't know me can say whatever they want to say about me, because I do put a lot out there on social media. But I truly have the heart to help people and, of course, I'm a believer.

Mike Fitzpatrick : 13:04

So that comes from a place and that's what I think has set myself and my team apart is the fact that we understand what they're going through and we're on the phones at the same time as they're on the phones and we're coming up with real value pieces for the people that refer us business. That's going to make their life easier and it's going to help them personify why the client should do business with us, so that drives value back to the agent, and that's really what changes the dynamic a little bit, rather than being like, hey, here's my job description, send me deals and it's all about the presentation. It's just like speaking on a stage or speaking in general. It's all about how you present it and your veracity in which you present it.

Mike Fitzpatrick : 13:47

And I think that a lot of people just get into the mundane of like I've been doing this 10 years and they lose the spark, man, they lose that thing that got them to where they were at the beginning, which was, oh, I closed a million bucks or a million and a half bucks in a month I made 15 grand. I've got this huge spark now. And now let me go tell everybody about how great I am. And, unfortunately, when you get beat up a little bit with the COVID times and how many loans that we were doing as an industry, that's just, it's taxing on you as an individual and you've got to continue to find ways to find that spark, and that could be podcasting, that could be speaking, that could be driving value. You've got to find a way to keep that spark in your life and a lot of people lose that and they end up losing a lot of business because of it.

Philip Sessions: 14:32

Yeah, and one other thing I thought about that a lot of lenders like say, oh, I can get you a half a point or a point less and interesting Really Again. Yeah, okay, great, you can write alone, you can help my client be able to get money. So, yeah, that's not a differentiator. Like, yes, obviously it is because you're getting a lower interest rate, but I mean, that's that's barely anything that I've known plenty of people that will pay more for it. The same quote, unquote, same service, because they felt like they got treated better or this person is better for whatever other reason that really doesn't actually provide value within the specific service that they're looking for, but because of these other things and the character of that person, that's why they wouldn't work with them. So there's so many great points there that you brought up.

Mike Fitzpatrick : 15:20

And honestly, like the, the change over and creating this brand of legendary mortgage is that that word in itself holds us to a different standard.

Mike Fitzpatrick : 15:30

In my opinion, in my team, my team has fully embraced that.

Mike Fitzpatrick : 15:35

So we have a core value called live legendary, and live legendary is just a whole different way of life. Everybody's got their own definition to what like that is what live legendary is, and it's just been really cool to see it progress and see everybody embrace their version of what that is, and it's even permeated into our referral partners and the people that are closest to us, being touched by us because they're starting to reciprocate like, oh man, I really like that concept of Live Legendary. I like the way that you're doing that. It seems like you guys have a different gear that you're in right now, and it's really been humbling to see it all happen, because you know you're on to something whenever it just starts happening on its own and people start like having their own piece to what they want legendary to be for themselves, and that's when I really could see like, man, this is going to be something special. This is something that's osmosisly growing without me putting my actual hands on it, and it's been pretty cool to watch.

Philip Sessions: 16:38

Yeah, that is really cool and that Live Legendary. When you think about that and I know Ed Milet for saying this, I'm sure somebody else has said this before him but whenever you build a business, when you build a vision, people need to fit within side of that vision. So when you say Live Legendary, people in your company and even outside of your company can think about their vision of what legendary means for them. So therefore they're kind of encompassed in that or under that umbrella of your company because of that core value and really that word legendary there. So now they can see themselves within your company and working with you and everything. It just gives them a great feeling. Because who doesn't love to think about what their legend or being legendary in their own mind looks like and what that would feel like when they become that legendary person for themselves?

Mike Fitzpatrick : 17:28

and everything.

Philip Sessions: 17:28

That's the perfect thing, that you had there, yeah, and then I wanted to go back with the realtors and providing this value. This is one thing that really can go across industry. I'm curious what you do, because I know you host events and stuff like that. So how are you going about hosting these events to provide that value for the realtors, to again bring them into your ecosystem, so that way you differentiate yourself from the rest of the industry?

Mike Fitzpatrick : 17:56

Yeah, so it's a multitude of different layers. So we'll have some in-person events, but we'll we do a lot of like webinar based type of things and for my team I have a platform that I've built, legendary Connect. But then we're going to be building a similar platform for realtors to where, literally every week, I'm going to be just dropping knowledge and dropping value and little courses, little mini courses, on how they can use AI to advance their business. And I truly think that in the next decade of our lives, in the sales cycle and the speaking cycle and everything, it's not going to just be like these major course builders that you go speak on a stage and you've got these courses that are built. I think you've got to go a layer past that and have an interactive community that you build and there's platforms that you can build that kind of stuff on that have courses but also feel like social media, and I think that that's really the future, because people want access.

Mike Fitzpatrick : 18:58

I mean, the thing that brought me to growth con and the thing that I had a lot of fun with was gaining access to people that I wanted access to, and so whenever you're speaking and going back to the beginning is like, at the end of speaking, you want to give some people some access to you so they feel important.

Mike Fitzpatrick : 19:18

And it's the same thing with some of this virtual stuff. You've got to find ways to leverage your time and give people access to you and the doses that you're able to, in order to give them what they need to keep coming back. It's like a drug. You want to be the drug dealer and you want to be the holder of the value, and you've got to find interesting ways to do that. And so COVID showed me a lot Through COVID. Before that, we were doing mainly in-person networking events and presentations and those kinds of things, and then, during COVID, a lot of that stuff shifted to digital and now we're able to do both, which is amazing. And then now you're able to leverage your time 10x and it's been really cool.

Philip Sessions: 19:59

Yeah, people want to be a part of communities and I'm really finding it's more like micro communities as well. Now we've moved past this, or starting to move past this whole like general business thing. And now I want to learn this very specific thing. And as we get more and more coaches and this has been probably about a year ago, but I actually referred a client or a potential client over to somebody else because they're like, hey, I need a speaking coach and then, as we got talking, I was like, no, these are like man, I just don't like my voice and my tonality and I really want to change, like the range that I speak in. And I'm like, ah, so you don't need a speaking coach, you need a voice coach, which seems kind of bizarre. Like a voice coach what? But that's what I needed. They needed somebody that was specialized in that and, yeah, could I have helped them with some tonality? Sure, but a voice coach would help them out so much more.

Philip Sessions: 20:50

And so we're seeing people want to get a very specific skill set or they want to be around a group of people that are all about a certain thing or maybe a certain couple of topics, versus just very generic business or just sales, like. Let's like really dive in on one thing and everything. That community aspect, especially with COVID, has really changed the game as well. People want that community more and they like I think we've adopted a lot of the hybrid or the online virtual stuff, but we do like to have that in person as well still. But having that community where you can get on Zoom calls like this and have conversations with like-minded people is so powerful. And yeah, if you're building out a course, make sure you get that other side too of that community, and that's also something that I'm working on building out as we speak to put all that together around speaking, of course, and everything. But how do you feel like these events and just becoming a better speaker has helped you with your business growth?

Mike Fitzpatrick : 21:54

I think a lot of people underestimate and this is a sports thing for me a lot of people underestimate their ability to improve based on watching or listening to themselves, and so for me, podcasting and speaking is just that. So whenever I played quarterback, I would always be in the film room the next day for hours. I'd be rewinding like all right, you dummy, why'd you do that? Why 'd you throw that ball there? What'd you do there? And it's the same thing with podcasting and speaking. It allows you to flow better. So when you get really good at that, then you translate that into your business and you get on calls and you're trying to pitch somebody, you're trying to close somebody. It makes it a lot easier for you to do that because they're like man. Nothing trips this guy up. This guy is on it, he knows what he's talking about, he's able to articulate information, he or she. And it just makes it a much easier process for you to close clients because you're constantly listening to yourself back and listening to what sets you in the wrong direction. If you get asked a certain question and you go okay, all right. I need to figure this part out because when Phil, when he asked me this question, like I had no answer for it and now I got to go research and it just makes you better. If you care, if you truly care about what you're doing, you can learn a lot from listening back to yourself, and a lot of people will be like, ah, man, I don't want to listen to myself, like, ah, that's terrible, I hate the way that I sound similar to the person that you were talking about. And it's one of those things that you just have to do, because you do not improve unless you see where you've made mistakes and you move forward and correct those mistakes and it just makes you better.

Mike Fitzpatrick : 23:36

S o it's, it's had a tremendous impact on my business because it just made me more articulate. I mean, I come from the South, so at certain points I have a draw that I've got to work on, and it's not all the time, but there's there's certain words where, like, my Rs get jacked up and I've got to, I've got to fix that stuff, you know, and and it's, it's made me a lot better. It's made, it's made me a lot of money, even though I've not been super consistent with my podcast and and this year I'm going to be doing a lot more with that, even though I've not been consistent. The times that I have podcasts and the times that I have been consistent has improved my business tremendously.

Philip Sessions: 24:12

And so many good points there. And, yeah, even if we have that Southern draw, I think, yeah, when we go to speak, I think getting rid of some of it is a good thing. Getting rid of all of it, I don't think is because that is a unique thing to you, but there are definitely people, especially you, dealing with more real estate stuff. You're going to have people moving from up North coming down here and then, yeah, you have that thick accent, if you will. What are you talking about there, like? And it just makes it like oh, you're somebody different than me, and so there are times where you want to kind of modify that a little bit for sure. And and vice versa, if you're from up North and you speak very fast, you want to try and slow down a little bit, and I guess for us in the South, we want to speed up just a little bit because we can't get very slow when we talk and everything, and I like that.

Philip Sessions: 24:58

You mentioned podcast videos, stuff like that have helped you articulate better. What are some things that you could give? Let's focus in, like on salespeople, that salespeople, besides the reps I mean reps very first thing that you should be doing, and then I like that you said reviewing what you're doing as well, trying to record those videos, stuff like that. But what are some might maybe daily, actual things that somebody can work on in order to get better at speaking? I?

Mike Fitzpatrick : 25:24

would say making sure that you are reading a lot. The more that you read, the more vocabulary that you get into the way that you speak, I think will help salespeople out, whether they're going to speak on a stage or they're going to pitch a client. The more vocabulary you have in your tool belt, the better that you're going to be able to articulate things to somebody, especially on a stage. I mean, you don't want to have a limited vocabulary on the stage. You're not trying to blow people away with the vocabulary. You're not trying to make yourself sound smarter than you actually are. I think that I have a talent of keeping things simple and really just dumbing down very, very complex topics to being things that are very, very easy to understand, and so you've got to just make sure that you're reading a lot and you're also repping it. I mean, the repping, the piece is the most important.

Mike Fitzpatrick : 26:20

So if you're not somebody that wants to podcast or wants to go speak on a stage, I would highly encourage you to record or set up a video camera in your office and record yourself on your calls when you're cold calling every day or if you're pitching to people, because you'd be surprised that how people feel your demeanor just based on the way your face looks while you're speaking on the phone or something like that. There's a lot of people that say you should smile while you're on the phone and these different things, and there is some science to that. The more that your body language exudes what you want to try to communicate to somebody, whether it's face to face or if it's even voice to voice, if your voice to voice, your body language, still matters, and I think people lose that, they'll be all slunched down in their chair at their office and people, believe it or not, can hear that. They can hear how dejected you are, whether you're putting a fake facade on or not, and it's something that we in sales have to work on constantly.

Philip Sessions: 27:20

Yeah, and then even standing up, that helps give more of that energy and everything. And I found for myself when you're on a phone call you can do this. Obviously when you're on a zoom call on a webcam you can't do this. But the pacing a little bit as well helps me really think as I'm talking with them and helps me really almost stay focused, because now I'm kind of walking around instead of sitting here and oh, let me look over here, what's going on over there? And like I'm going to look over here, like I actually it helps me stay focused and be in on that call by walking. But then I also get more of that energy because it's very easy, like I said, to slouch down, to roll your shoulders forward and everything. And those little things like that do take away that energy, for sure. And I just kind of add to that too.

Philip Sessions: 28:04

Speaking of taking away energy, I always like to say this that, just like the camera adds 10 pounds to us supposedly when you're on camera especially, but even when you're just audio or on a phone call, you're really losing like 20 or 30% of the energy that you're sharing there. And that doesn't mean now you should start screaming into the mic to sound like you're really excited and everything. But try and raise that energy, really focus on really over exaggerating that energy, which really goes back what you said about reviewing your content, because you probably thinking like man, I look like I was excited, I look like I was engaged in it and you're just sitting here the whole time talking like this and you realize how monotone you are like just how bored you look.

Philip Sessions: 28:50

And imagine if you were actually on video with that person instead of a phone call. What would they be thinking Like oh yeah, we've got the greatest product ever over here with my straight face right now. I just love the company and all that we do to help our clients. I don't sound like it, I don't look like I believe that at all, so you really have to show that, and that's some solid advice right there, especially when it comes to the sales game.

Mike Fitzpatrick : 29:16

Yeah, I mean, even you wouldn't do that if you were speaking in front of a group. So why would you do that? Whenever your voice, the voice with somebody, you know like you're not going to sit there and be like, hey, I'm a, I'm a lender, I'm so glad the 5,000 people are here and I just just happy to be here. You know, no, you're going to be animated, you're going to be excited, like you'll see me use my hands a lot on my hand person and you'll. You'll see like people walk into my office. I've got loan officers walk in my office and they're like who the heck were you yelling at? I'm like, no, I was like really into this conversation. It was, it was a lot of fun. You know we were collaborating and it's and it's a lot of fun. So it's something that you really should review at least weekly, if not daily, in my opinion.

Philip Sessions: 29:59

Yeah, I completely agree there. And so now we've talked about the speaking, how you differentiate it yourself from other lenders. How are you using that to help lead your team? I'm curious on that.

Mike Fitzpatrick : 30:13

Yeah, I would just say by example. You know I'm the type of person that there's a lot and this is going to this feels icky coming out, but it's, it's true and it's one of those things that that I do truly live by. I don't ask anybody to do anything that I've not done myself or actively doing myself. So one of the things for me in the lending world is the less leaders that we have in the in the lending side of things that don't produce, the better. Because when you lose touch of the actual loan, like you, you get one layer removed from the actual loan that you're trying to get to the finish line. You become number one, not super valuable Number two, you just kind of get out of touch with it.

Mike Fitzpatrick : 30:56

You know, like if you're not touching loans constantly, you get out of touch and and so from a leadership position that in any business I would hire, highly, highly encourage leaders to make sure that at some point during the year whether it be quarterly, monthly, whatever Go roll up your sleeves with the section of the business that you're not super comfortable with, but, like you just need to make sure that you understand it.

Mike Fitzpatrick : 31:22

Like, don't go micro manage that that team, let that team leader do what they need to do to run their team. But you need to go, maybe sit with that team leader and some of the people on their team to understand what could I be doing as a leader to make you guys better, what could I be doing to drive that ball down the court? And I think a lot of people lose side of that because they get out of touch with their business. They just start. They start managing their business rather than working inside of their business and there'll be a lot of coaches that say don't ever work inside of your business. You need to manage it, you know, but every once in a while, quarterly at least, you need to get your sleeves, roll them damn sleeves up and work inside of your business for a minute so you can understand what your people are going through.

Philip Sessions: 32:03

Yeah, get back to reality. I mean, obviously, as the CEO, as leadership, you don't want to be literally in the day to day every day. Right, that is not good for sure. But yeah, you need to have those touches, because I know from a corporate background that's probably one of the biggest complaints that you have, these senior executives that come in and they make these decisions that completely tear apart the day to day operations.

Philip Sessions: 32:29

It's like this makes no sense when you look at the day to day and now I mean they've got, they've got their side, their knowledge and stuff too. So there there is definitely a benefit to what they're saying, but it's it's very difficult to implement when they act like oh, I mean you just start doing it, no big deal. And I've got a buddy that he owns an insurance agency and he's the leader, but he'll get in there every once in a while and we've talked about this and he's even showing like videos and stuff that you can just see the difference when he starts pounding the pavement, you know, going door knocking or they're doing cold calls and he gets in there and does that, the whole team's morale boost up and he he's like hey, jokes around, he says hey, man, I got to show him the old man could still do it.

Mike Fitzpatrick : 33:10

Yeah Well, not only that, but I'm seeing it to that point, like one of the things that we do here is if you get shut down on a phone call, you're trying to call somebody, or cold call an agent, or whatever. You get shut down Like, come, put that on my desk, let let me call that person now. And that way I'm constantly showing like, hey, there's, there's actually substance to to what I'm I'm telling you. And, more often than not, like I had one instance where, where one of my loan officers she was like this guy just like got me off the phone super fast and then so I jumped on and literally got us a meeting with their entire group.

Mike Fitzpatrick : 33:47

You know, and and it wasn't, it wasn't the show that I'm superior, it was, in that moment, the show a different way. Rather than, hey, the way that you approach this was very, very sales. It wasn't. It wasn't hey, let me get to know you so I can win you as a friend before I try to influence you, and and that's ultimately what got that person closed. And that's that's where, as a leader, you've got to make sure that you're constantly finding unique ways to show that you, that you have value. That way, they keep coming back to you and and and seeking out the value that you've got.

Philip Sessions: 34:21

And so explain that thought process a little bit, because I mean, I know what you're saying there, but how do you get that person to know you? How do you make sure that when you do this because I could see where this could go bad with the employee where they're like, oh, mike just came in, he stepped in and saved the day, like cool, but maybe and and I know you didn't go and be like, yeah, you suck here, I'll fix it and make it happen, but how did you go about that conversation? Besides, you know the little bit that you said. If you could go into some detail, it'd be awesome, because I think there's a lot of leaders that struggle with how do I show by example, without being like this is how you do it or I'm better, and make them still feel good, that them, being your employee, still feel good about it and learn the lesson, ultimately, from your example.

Mike Fitzpatrick : 35:07

Yeah, it takes a lot more than just a couple of steps. You know, you, you got to constantly be building that relationship with that person to be able to get on a level where they're going to bring that to you. So this that when these situations happen, it's not solicited from me. I'm not reaching out to people saying hey, like if somebody has shut the door in your face, like let me take a whack at it and show you how to do it, or whatever. These are situations where I built trust with this person. So they're like hey, I don't want this opportunity to go by the wayside because I had a, I had a semi warm introduction with this person, but they still kind of kick me off the phone. Can you help me with this?

Mike Fitzpatrick : 35:45

It's and that's that's what I mean like whenever you're in leadership and you're finding unique ways to show value to your people and build trust with your people, then when they have situations like that, there's no ego involved. There's no. Well, mike's going to make me look stupid, or I don't want to look stupid, or whatever. There's no ego involved in it whatsoever. It's just there's an opportunity here and Mike might have a skill set that allows me to solidify this opportunity and I'd like to learn from him in this moment. So let me go put it on his desk, let me listen to what he does.

Mike Fitzpatrick : 36:16

You know, and and that comes from constant trust building. You know, that comes from constant showing that, like, I'm a man of my word and I'm not going to I'm not going to demean you, I'm not there's never going to be a situation where I yell at you. There's never going to be a situation where I say that you're doing a terrible job. You know, like, I'm going to let you know that if you're actually doing a bad job, that you're doing a bad job, but I'm going to do it in a way that empowers you to do a better job after I've told you that you're not doing that great of a job.

Philip Sessions: 36:46

And so how are you building that trust? Besides, like this situation, what are some things that you're doing outside of that to make sure you're continually building that trust? Because, as leader, it's definitely something we need to constantly be doing, constantly filling that bank, if you will, and everything putting those deposits in. So how are you going about building that trust? Execution man.

Mike Fitzpatrick : 37:08

You just got.

Mike Fitzpatrick : 37:08

You got to execute on a daily and weekly, monthly, yearly basis, day in and day out. You got to be the the, the lighthouse in the North Star to the people that that look to you for leadership, because if you're constantly faltering or you're constantly not executing, and and that's where, like on the lending side if you're not producing, like what do they have to be really following? And and that's that's why I think that I build trust with people, because it's it's it's also a difficult thing when your manager is producing, because there are going to be people that come into the environment that are like why is Mike always the top producer? Is he taking business from us? Is he not giving us opportunities that he could be giving to us?

Mike Fitzpatrick : 37:50

And and that's a that's a dynamic that takes a lot of trust building too. So there's there's a lot of competition that will come after me, in particular, because they're like well, mike produces, don't you think that you're not producing as much because your manager is producing and it's just a weak way to recruit? But it's also one of those things that you do have to build some trust for your people to understand that you're not taking opportunities away from them. You're actually providing them opportunities by being really damn good at your job and and and making sure that you're leading by example.

Philip Sessions: 38:21

And I could see both sides that like, hey, you're taking the opportunity away, but also, because you're bringing in some of the money to into the mortgage business, that you're able to provide other opportunities for them. You're able to keep the lights on, so to speak, rather than trying to take money off of whatever they sell. You get a percentage, that commission, which I'm sure that might be in there too, but yeah, that's the only way you make money. Well, I mean, to me that sounds a little more sketchy than you're going to close in your own deals to make your own money instead of money off of their back kind of thing.

Mike Fitzpatrick : 38:53

Well, and that's the reality is like I I, I make my living and I support my family off of my production. I, I, it's not that, and that creates a dynamic. And so you got to make sure, as a leader, if you're in that situation and that's your philosophy that you don't let that become an ego thing, like, well, I don't need you because I make my income off of my production and I don't, I don't really need you, like that's, that's so far from the truth, because they might bring something to the table that makes me better at my job. And it's one of those things where it's got to be constant collaboration, to where you are executing as the leader, which, in turn, gets them to execute as the, the person that works for you. But you also need to be humbling yourself constantly to try to learn from them at the same time, and not just being a dictator, totalitarian that says this is the way that we do things and there's no other way, and that, I think, takes unique individuals.

Mike Fitzpatrick : 39:46

I think the most successful people in the in the world are are operating in that, that they're not a totalitarian, they're, they're collaborating, and Elon Musk is one of those people that that I do look up to and if you really talk to the people that are around him. Yeah, there's moments where he's like, no, this is the way we're doing it and there's no other way. But most of the moments he's collaborating like how do we make X better? How do we? How do we make a space X better? How do how do we do this? And he's he's often sitting around the table having these discussions and I think most leaders end up being really good salespeople that get elevated to a leadership role and they lose sight of the fact that, like, they still need to be good at the sale side of it. But maybe you weren't the one that was the most well fit for that role. You were just really good at sales. So constantly humbling yourself to get better as a leader is super important as well.

Philip Sessions: 40:42

Yes, for sure, and admitting when you don't know as much as the other person, because you're in that leadership position not to be the top producer, not to be the one that's the best at whatever service you provide for your business, you're there to lead and manage the team and help the business move forward. And oftentimes that's if they're not comfortable with being a leader, that's what they fault to that, oh, I'm just going to be good as an operator, as the worker be, if you will, and that's the worst thing to do, because you are needed as a leader, even if sometimes it seems like you're just. You're just a cost to the company and stuff like that and you're not really the one producing. There is a need behind the scenes, the paperwork person, so to speak that needs to happen there to see the vision, see the forest outside of the trees, not only seeing the trees themselves and everything. Very good. But, mike, I'm curious what's next for you when it comes to public speaking? You got any events coming up or anything you're planning on doing?

Mike Fitzpatrick : 41:45

I haven't booked anything, mainly just getting the company off the ground. But I would say probably the second and the third and fourth quarter I'll probably be going around and you'll see me some places. I've got people that have reached out but haven't booked anything. Want to get this company humming on all cylinders and then from there get back out and start speaking again.

Philip Sessions: 42:07

Yeah, I get that completely in a sign of a good leader making sure that everything's good at the home base, if you will, before you go out and go hunting, some more right Take care of things there and then go out and go on those speaking engagements. So if people want to follow you, where's the best place for them to follow you?

Mike Fitzpatrick : 42:23

I have been told that I need to build my Instagram a little bit more. My Facebook has a ton of stuff, so you can follow me on Instagram at realmikefits.

Philip Sessions: 42:31

All right, there we go, and that's with the Z right at the end. Yep, all right, just making sure. I don't know if you were trying to be a fitness celeb within all the two or not. Yeah, nice, awesome. Well, I got one last question to ask you. So make sure everybody that you go follow Mike there over on Instagram. But if you could only share one message for the rest of your life, what would that message be?

Mike Fitzpatrick : 42:54

That's a tough one, man.

Philip Sessions: 42:55

You stumbled me that's what I like to do.

Mike Fitzpatrick : 42:58

I would say love your fellow person, your fellow man. Make sure that you're operating in grace before you operate in anger, and try to do that as much as you possibly can, because sometimes the quick twitch anger is going to get you in a lot of trouble. I would say, most often than not it'll get you in a lot of trouble and it's super freeing when you can operate in grace and go ah, that person might have had a bad day and I'm not going to react to that. I'm not going to react to that. I'm not going to bring myself down to a place to where I'm going to let them row me up. I'm just going to show them grace and I'm going to move on. That truly has changed my life.

Mike Fitzpatrick : 43:39

I used to be that person that would react in anger or react in a way that I would gossip or I would speak ill will of people, and I just got to a place of being really shackled by that and just basically said you know what, from now on, I'm just going to show people grace and I'm just going to either move on or I'm going to kill them with kindness straight to their face and be like hey, what's going on with you that you feel like you need to attack me in that way? What about what you just said to me makes you feel better now that you've let that out? I'm sorry that you feel that way, but what is it that's going on in your life that's going to make it to where you feel like it's okay to treat people that way? When you speak to people that way, that direct, a lot of the times they go from here to here trying to hug you like that, hmm.

Philip Sessions: 44:33

So okay, like a very mature leader right there. That's definitely, I would say, one of the harder things for a leader to do that, to be able to just to get outside of themselves and outside of those emotions and just look at that other person and then, yeah, like you said, they must be hurting or something's going on for them just to lash out at you like that, as long as you're the one that's always being kind to them. Now, if you're being a jerk a lot of times and they're lashing out probably because you're a jerk, yeah, but if you've been a good person to them 99% of the time and they just lash out at you for whatever reason, yeah, there's something else going on there. It's not you, you just happen to be the person that they probably honestly feel most comfortable doing that to. They realize that you're probably not going to blow up on them. For them blowing up on you and everything.

Philip Sessions: 45:22

But yeah that's a great message. I like that message a lot yeah, Cool. Well, Mike man, we appreciate you coming on sharing so much value about how speaking can impact your life, your business and everything, and just be able to help move you forward and differentiate yourself as a business owner in your space and everything.

Mike Fitzpatrick : 45:42

Yeah, man, I appreciate you having me.