Ever find yourself scrolling through a barrage of self-promotion on social media, yearning for something genuine? Jason Stier steps away from the usual mortgage talk to share a slice of real life with his daily Facebook thoughts, and these sparks of authenticity are lighting up the internet. Tune into our chat with the VA loan maestro as he opens up about the magnetic pull of being your true self online. From fatherhood to facing everyday hurdles, Jason's straightforward and engaging posts remind us that it's the personal touch that truly resonates with audiences.
Who knew that a military strategy could teach us a thing or two about standing out in the business world? In this episode, Jason draws parallels between the battlefield and content creation, underscoring the importance of consistency and niche-focused know-how. Witness how a simple, yet effective routine of sourcing inspiration from everyday interactions can produce meaningful content that strikes a chord. We also tackle the delicate dance between professional life and personal time, highlighting how our social media personas can serve as a professional tool while offering a glimpse into our true selves.
As we wrap up our enlightening discussion, it's clear that providing value should be at the heart of every content strategy. Jason's 'Did You Know' series serves as a masterclass in delivering educational content that not only informs but also builds community. We encourage you to soak in the wisdom Jason imparts on VA loans and so much more. If his insights stir something within you, consider magnifying our voice with a review, and don't forget to subscribe for a steady stream of enriching dialogues just like this one.
You can follow Jason on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/va_loan_boss/
You can follow Phil on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/phildodds/
Ever find yourself scrolling through a barrage of self-promotion on social media, yearning for something genuine? Jason Stier steps away from the usual mortgage talk to share a slice of real life with his daily Facebook thoughts, and these sparks of authenticity are lighting up the internet. Tune into our chat with the VA loan maestro as he opens up about the magnetic pull of being your true self online. From fatherhood to facing everyday hurdles, Jason's straightforward and engaging posts remind us that it's the personal touch that truly resonates with audiences.
Who knew that a military strategy could teach us a thing or two about standing out in the business world? In this episode, Jason draws parallels between the battlefield and content creation, underscoring the importance of consistency and niche-focused know-how. Witness how a simple, yet effective routine of sourcing inspiration from everyday interactions can produce meaningful content that strikes a chord. We also tackle the delicate dance between professional life and personal time, highlighting how our social media personas can serve as a professional tool while offering a glimpse into our true selves.
As we wrap up our enlightening discussion, it's clear that providing value should be at the heart of every content strategy. Jason's 'Did You Know' series serves as a masterclass in delivering educational content that not only informs but also builds community. We encourage you to soak in the wisdom Jason imparts on VA loans and so much more. If his insights stir something within you, consider magnifying our voice with a review, and don't forget to subscribe for a steady stream of enriching dialogues just like this one.
You can follow Jason on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/va_loan_boss/
You can follow Phil on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/phildodds/
Well, hey, everybody, welcome to the level up your content podcast, where we help mortgage loan officers make better mortgage content every day. Super excited to be back with you guys this week and we have a real special guest on the podcast today and he's special because he's the first two-time Guest on the level up your content podcast. Super excited to have him. Jason Steyer, the V a boss who just kills it on Instagram, facebook and pretty much everywhere. I I think so, jason dude man, I'm so excited to have you back on the podcast. Welcome.
Speaker 2:You know I appreciate the offer and it might be the first time I've ever been asked back. That's why I appreciate all you do for our community and and Having people on here that are, that are real and honest and share very valuable things and you know, as we all know, sometimes that can be a rarity. So we appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, that's, that's awesome. I'm surprised nobody's ever asked you back, because I'm, you're, you're a what one? Your wealth of knowledge. I think you're super entertaining to listen to you and You're doing, doing great things. It's kind of give you guys, like everybody's listening just a little bit of you know Backstories and, especially if you haven't listened to the first episode, go back in the archives, I think it was.
Speaker 1:He was like maybe episode four or five, but Jason really broke, broke down his his niche he's he specializes in VA loans and he really talked about how he kind of has built his content around his niche and it was just a really, really great conversation, which is obviously why I wanted to have him back.
Speaker 1:But I consider Jason a great friend of mine. He is somebody that motivated me, inspired me to really focus on on the VA loan benefit and helping our veteran community, so that's why I love having him on here and his content is so, it's so good and and and we just talked about this before we hopped on Jason Awesome with the videos, right, always putting something out. But what I really wanted to talk about today was, specifically, he posts a daily thought every single day on Facebook and it's not necessarily around his niche, it's just like kind of what's in his head. Can you talk a little bit about what that is, maybe some of the feedback, maybe some of the crazy comments and the conversations you had? Just kind of share this content idea with our listeners.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So Every morning I mean I would all came about, I post something and it's. It is typically what's in my head, or something that happened with my kids, or or just something that that is on my mind that morning, and Most of it I would say probably 95% of it has nothing to do with the mortgage business. It's just daily life, because I think how it came about honestly is I think people, people forget right. Social media can be so disconnected and we, we get these thoughts that, oh well, these people are so unrealistic.
Speaker 2:And anybody who knows me knows I'm about as real as it gets. I have no filter. Sometimes that's not a good thing, but but. But here's. The thing is that I think this world People like to take themselves way too seriously. Right, and I come from a generation that you know we didn't have a Lot of the things that we have now, and and so you know if I've, if I'm dealing with something, I mean we all most of us have kids, most of us are married or we have a significant other, and and we deal with daily life things. We deal with mental health issues, we deal with work issues, we deal with all these different things, and so for me, it's like the everyday thing.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:And so you know, yeah, I mean I do a lot of content and videos and all these different things with with what I do for a living, but I want people to understand me. I think that is the most important thing that we can do for people when we're trying to influence them, especially through social media, is get them to know us.
Speaker 2:Yeah right, not just a. Well, hey, jason does VA loans? Yeah, but maybe they can know me as a father. Get to know me in my thought process, you know, when it comes to my kids and my wife and in our daily lives and things that we deal with, because I'm just like you man, I don't, you know.
Speaker 2:I I heard a saying one time and I think it was Brendan Burchard who said this, or somebody along those lines a high performance coach, we all deal with the same things. Everybody deals with the same problems. The high performers deal with them for about 15 minutes. Other people let them affect it Way longer than that. Yeah, we're all dealing with the same stuff. So when I started posting these things, it was um, you know, sometimes I poke a little fun at people because that's my, if you have to know me, my, I'm a very sorry, I'm a, I'm a smart ass. I mean, it's just me. I'm very sarcastic with things. I don't do it to intentionally offend anybody, but I just I. Sometimes I do I'm sarcastic and Because I want to, I like to keep it real and have fun and keep it light.
Speaker 2:Right, there are serious topics in this world mm-hmm but Most of those serious topics are things that we don't even control right.
Speaker 2:We don't, and so we. I want to make sure that I'm trying to keep it a little light, provide some levity. Talk about my life and my kids and how crazy they are. And I have a 10 year old son and and he's just like me, you know, he's has no filter. He says what's in his brain and it comes out of his mouth, and sometimes that's I, I. I reap the consequences of that, having that, that, that spawn. But I know what other people do too, and there's a lot of world events, there's all kinds of things that are affecting our lives, and and Some of the engagement is man, how should I put it? It's, it's rather unique, what, what buttons you'll push with certain people. And it's not my intention is to not piss somebody off. My intention is to get people to think. Don't take yourself so seriously well, right and.
Speaker 1:I think, and I think what you're, and just just to kind of break it, break this down for for anybody listening so if you go to Jason's Facebook or Instagram, what he did, he post today's truth, right. So this is some. This is what's cool about is it's something every day, so he's staying top of mind, right. So there's a strategy behind this that you guys, I want you guys to understand, is that he's posting something every single day and he's staying top of mind with people because every single day, when they log into their platform, whether they like it or not, jason Steyer's today's truth is going to show up, right, and and it's just like, it's like a, it's like a one sentence thought.
Speaker 1:And what I think is cool is you kind of post it in the graphic that you've. You kind of make it looks like a tweet, yep, which is super cool. So like, like when you posted the other day I thought was funny is, like you said, if we reenacted the shit we pulled in our teens and twenties, we would all be tick tock famous by now. Right, it's just funny. Yeah, nothing to do with mortgage, but it's.
Speaker 1:It's a today's truth, you know, and you got like 26 comments on it. That's incredible engagement. What was the? And there was one, okay. And then this one y'all keep, can't this one, okay. And this is when we had all the winter weather show up. Y'all keep canceling school because of high winds. That's why my niece's favorite color is three.
Speaker 2:Hey, just so, I have three nieces, right so, and I. They're aged from 15 to nine, almost 10 years old, and and you know it's funny because you know it we all can relate to those types of things. But there's also a strategy behind it, right, and what's funny about social media is you can post the greatest educational content in the history of the earth and nobody pays attention. Yep, you post something funny that everybody can relate to, and it's a totally different vibe, and I think when you could put that happy mix in there with what's real about you and also what you're, who, the people that you're trying to serve, I think there creates that balance.
Speaker 2:And I've gotten some not so nice comments on things. People get really truly offended with some things. I'm looking, I mean look. I Mean everybody has a Chance in this life to be offended or not to be offended. That's it, mm-hmm, and so I think that's a good thing to do. That's it, mm-hmm. And so it's there. I mean, I don't know. I mean my wife gets on me every once. She's like you shouldn't do that. I'm like why, though? It's me? I'm not intentionally trying to offend anybody, it's just to get people to think just a little bit different, but also from a content strategy. It's relatable, people can view it and that in the, in the people that I influence and I serve, and my clients and my friends Well, we're all pretty much alike.
Speaker 1:That's what I was just about to say is that people Too often, especially with their content, they are scared to offend anyone. But when you offend people, you actually draw other people To you. You have created tribe, yes, yes, and you have a tribe of people that love you know you have filled odds is who love everything that you post and think it's hilarious. And when you, when you, when you post certain things, were like hell, yeah, I'm glad Jason said that. And again, yeah, you may turn people away, but just as many people you turn away, there's probably three times as many people that you are drawing into your tribe. And that's why I think this strategy is so good, because it's it's very easy to make, it doesn't take a lot of time.
Speaker 1:I Think some of the things you say, like you may not and we'll talk about it. You may not know it or not, but like you would talk about very current events. That's why it translates like that last one that I read about the weather there was huge storms all across the United States. That's something that was current, that was going on. I've seen you reference Famous celebrities at times. That is a that's called influencer surfing. So you will talk about something or some celebrity and people will see that and it'll just Engages them and it captures them. Is that is that? Is that the strategy behind it? Or you're like no, I'm just, I'm just gonna talk about the culture and current event.
Speaker 2:But I'm trying to figure out that, some of it depending on where I land that day, maybe because I've seen something in the news, or I see something that's trending somewhere, or I'm looking at some celebrity going what a fool, you know what I mean. I mean that kind of thing and then, okay, well, I can capitalize on that, right, and I think that if you look at, you know, political events, geopolitical, you look at things that are in our world and in the United States, with celebrities and and Current economic things that are going on, those affect me too. Right, those interests. I'm a, I'm a consumer, just like everybody else, but I also like okay, well, this, this is talking about, I don't know, taylor Swift or something, right, I mean, obviously she's all over the place, like her, or not?
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:Well, when I post something about Taylor Swift and how I'm tired of looking at her on a football game, well, people are gonna comment about it. Yep, and I'm not trying to be disrespectful with it, it's just, it's a current event people are gonna comment about it. She is top of mind with everybody.
Speaker 1:And that's great that people are, and that's that's what's why it's such a good strategy. Why I love it so much is because when people comment on it, negative or positive, that boosts you in the algorithm. It puts you in front of people that they're friends with or people that they follow, and then also more of your. Then when you come behind that for the next two or three days and you post VA loan comment or a content or you're educating about the veteran community and veteran benefits and things like that, it gets pushed into their feed. All because you took 30 seconds to just share a thought About Taylor Swift and you were talking about like the political stuff. There's another one that you posted.
Speaker 1:You know Everybody's frustrated with inflation right now, so you posted three years. We went from not being able to find toilet paper to not being able to afford it. Like who doesn't freaking love that? I mean everybody can resonate. Yeah, you know that statement. I don't care what side of the aisle that you're on and again, it's just is. It is just probably something you pop.
Speaker 2:Man and it is, and I Know I would not recommend, and this is not, this is even a strategy I take. I obviously have my political stance, but there's a certain topics that I don't talk about. I will. I will. I will try to talk about things that affect Everyone, because we're all human at the end of the day and we can all relate to them. And even you know, as a Strategy, I will get people, whether it's agents or other veterans or whatever, that will see these things, or just people, and they'll message me through because they don't want to comment on it. Right, people still have that fear, whatever, reason right, they'll actually private message me.
Speaker 2:Hey, man, I saw this, this is funny. Or hey, I saw this, or I, I've gotten those, those direct messages. Yeah, that talk about it not being so funny. Look, miss, I said I apologize, I've been. My intention is not that. You just have to understand my personality type and the way I'm wired. This life is serious, man, and the the less serious we can take ourselves.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I think the better off we're all gonna be.
Speaker 1:Well, and there's a and again. So I think, just going back to this, the negative right people are so scared of offending people.
Speaker 1:You know again, the you are going to acquire bring three times as many people into your tribe as the people that you're gonna offend. First of all, yeah, and to like the strategy that you're using and you may not know this or not, but it's kind of that shock jock, right? No, rush Limbaugh, you know, yeah, a model where you know they say things that are kind of shocking and thought-provoking and it creates interest and it draws up engagement. And You're doing it in such a simple way, by just sharing, you know, simple thoughts and, like you, and I think you just kind of comment on everything, kind of comment on culture. But where I think a lot of loan officers Could implement something like this is it doesn't necessarily you don't need to comment on the same things that Jason does.
Speaker 1:You could talk about sports, you could do a daily sports thing or something that interests you if you go to church, right, and and you want to share something with your faith, yeah, you're probably gonna offend some people that that aren't Christians or whatnot, but again, you're gonna, you're gonna bring three times as many people who appreciate what you're sharing Into your tribe, and so there's all these different Things to talk about. You know, maybe, maybe you're something on here. You're not as naturally funny as Jason, you know that's that's probably a lot of people. That doesn't mean you have to try to find the funniest things, your thoughts. You're just sharing things you're thinking about with things you care about.
Speaker 2:Though it's it's with the word natural. Yes, right, you gotta be natural about it, because I have seen, you know, people put things out. I'm like I don't even sound like you, yeah, right, it's like I'm trying to be that, or I'm trying to get people to do it, and I'm like I know you and I doesn't sound like you, yeah, and so if other people know you, it may not, you know, so it's, there's a, there's a happy balance with that. And, like you said, I mean if it's a, if it's a, you know, a sports thing, or if it's a current event thing, or if it's a religious thing, and I'm certainly okay with all of those things, because what I am pro is free speech.
Speaker 2:Yeah and I won't be able. I want people to be able to be themselves without fear of retribution. That's what I do, but there's also a business side to it. Yeah and you know, and I'm on all those platforms and I and I do different things in different places, because it resonates with different audiences.
Speaker 2:Yep and you know it's. It's really not that complicated, to be honest with you. It's just. I think the biggest fear that a lot of people have is they are. They have this fear of judgment, like I'm trying to be everything to everybody or I fear I'm gonna. I have this fear that I'm gonna offend somebody and I'm like you could walk across the street and not say a word and offend somebody. Yep, literally in today's world. So, so instead of putting that amount of anxiety and stress on top of you, just be you. I would rather suffer from the things that I know and do than the things that I don't.
Speaker 1:And you could apply that to the exact same way that you've built your business right. A lot of loan officers are scared to niche down because they want to help everybody, and so you're like, if you're helping everybody, you end up helping nobody. It's the same thing with being scared just to be yourself on social media, because people gravitate towards authenticity and there are people that are out there for you, that are in your tribe.
Speaker 2:Especially in markets like this, where we may be in a down market compared to, obviously, other years and they forget the things that got them there. Right, go back to. There's a theory in the military called the Small Wars theory. So if you look at, like special forces and special operations people they don't are not doing out doing 35,000 halo, foot halo jumps and all that kind of stuff all the time. Right, they're waking up every morning and doing the little things over and over again that got them there. So if you're talking about going out and shooting a thousand rounds a day, well, if you're somebody in our world, you're not trying to create the next viral topic, you're trying to be you and do it consistently. That's what people want to see. Yep, that's it. But when we get in markets like this, you think you've got to go do 9,000 different things.
Speaker 2:That is so not true, just do what got you there to begin with. Just do more of it.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I think that's you know in this. When it comes to this content, we have such an opportunity we live in the greatest time in human history to influence people From right here. I don't even have to leave my office, but we try to do too much. Just be you, put that content out there daily, consistently. Be you, be authentic, be valuable, and the rest will take care of itself.
Speaker 1:Well, let's talk about the content. So you, what's your? You know, when you come up, do you have like just like a notes app on your phone, like, how do you come up with these ideas? Man, I will hire a writer.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so so my process and this is going to be super complicated. So you got to pay attention to this. I get up in the morning Usually it's me first. I'm sitting around, I'm looking at different things. I'm, you know, I look at from the previous day. I may watch a little TV. You know, I go through my daily devotionals and things like that, and I'm watching TV or I hear something I'm like that's good. So I start scrolling through this oh, that sounds good. I write it in my notes and there we go. That's it. It's that complicated.
Speaker 1:That's it. It's just, you're inspired by the day, do you? Do you have?
Speaker 2:conversations from the previous day. Yeah, maybe somebody sent me something in a text. I'm like, oh, that's pretty cool. I'm going to take that, because now I get people, oddly enough, sending me things. Hey, this will be for good for your today's truth. Post this that's amazing. So my wife will send me things or agents that I do business with. Oh, this, this is funny, and they'll send me stuff. That's awesome.
Speaker 2:So now it's kind of, you know, in, in in a. To a certain degree it's kind of taken on a life of its own. But that's the process. I do it. I post it at the same time every day, between 715 and 730 my time, central standard time, every single day, that's it. So I have that done first thing in the morning. I type it up, do it in Canva, download it to my phone, post it social media and that's it. Takes me 45 seconds.
Speaker 1:So you make it in Canva yourself? Yeah and just, you probably just built out a template, cause I think you could probably go in and type in Twitter template and Campbell pull something up, and I know she changed the background to fit your brand, which you know, which is perfect, like it's nice and easy and that's it.
Speaker 2:I'll do it based on the time of year. So over Christmas I had a, you know, christmas background. You know, typically it's a patriotic background, but over Christmas was a Christmas background. I'll do Thanksgiving or certain holidays. You know there are certain holidays. I will quote people, I will make that the background. So it changes it up a little bit, but then it always goes back to the patriotic theme. Right. So it's consistency. But you got to mix it up just a little bit and you know, sometimes, you know, like we just had the loss of three soldiers and that drone attack in Jordan, I'll put out something and I'll make it all black and white.
Speaker 1:But you're, you're, again, that's where you're, you're doing real time events and, again, not everything you put up is is just straight comedy or funny. It's not straight culture. It's really, it is really unique to you because it shows the different sides, right. It shows that you, you, you really do care about our country, our military, like it's not just a, it's not just a show, right, it's not. It's not just a way to make money. You care about those things, you care about the culture, you care about things that impact your family and your kids. You care about things that impact the economy, like it just shows what's important to you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it does, and I think that, especially in our businesses, right, If you, if you drill down to that, I mean, I love this country for all its. You know good and bad. That's how I was raised and and, and I try to raise my boys the same way. But when you look at our business, right, we, we everybody wants to take it so serious, Like we are conducting brain surgery. We're not. We're selling 30 years worth of debt. There's nothing sexy about 30 years worth of debt. We're not selling Ferraris. So don't take everything so serious, right, Take what we do and the conversations I have, and this is what's so important. If you're, you know anybody who's out there that's trying to make content, the best thing we can do for that content is to have conversations with other people.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That, even may you be your competitor, somebody you perceive as your competitor because you're going to learn things from them, but you also might help them. And I think what we've done in part what I've tried to speak on in this, in our world so much that's, I mean personal is, you know, we, we, we sacrifice our own mental health, but I talk about those topics either in these posts or videos. That I do because we've created this culture, this hustle culture, where we forget that we're fathers and we're husbands and we're wives and we're aunts and uncles and all these things First. That's the only thing that anybody's ever going to remember us by.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:And, yeah, people know what I do for a living, but I also want them to understand that my family comes first and it's reflected in the content that I put out, and that I'm going to have conversations with Phil and other people in other regions and markets and we're going to talk about those things. We're going to be anti-hustle culture. That stuff sucks. People need to stop talking about that crap. Yes, we work, we do things, but it's created a cancerous culture within our subculture and I hate it. So you know I get people hating on me because of well, I got to work 24 seven. Well, good for you. I'm not hating on the way you do it, I'm just tired of people making it the standard. So we're going to put content out there that talks about it, and if you don't like it, I can't help you.
Speaker 1:So I have two things. First off, you talked about driving conversations. Right, Like all we're doing, like we're putting out the content to drive conversations and that's the most important part of it. Like putting out video content that you know it could be the greatest and best video and, trust me, I'm the one. I try to put out awesome looking videos and have a great hook and engagement and everything like that but what you're doing is so simple and it generates conversations. Now, it may not be mortgage conversations, but you're just having conversations with people and ultimately, that is the goal of social media is just to have conversations with people. So when you sit down to think about making content, that should be at the forefront of your mind.
Speaker 2:How can people forget social media? Right we have to be social and I think that you know, sometimes I'll put videos out just because I get pissed off. I mean, that's what it is. There's no other intent than for me to feel better. That's it. Now. If people engage with it, great. But I guarantee you this people watch it, people see it. It resonates with other people, that's a video I mentioned it just self, just to get it out, because I'm going to explode if I don't.
Speaker 1:But those are actually engaging videos. They're called rant videos. You ever get it Like if you go on YouTube and someone's like oh yeah, I've been on those. They're ranting about something and like it feels good for you, but actually that is an engaging video strategy, is just ranting, I mean. Yeah, I did one time that was.
Speaker 2:that was basically like it was nothing but a profane. I mean I got it was a veteran that was taking advantage of and it was nothing but a profane laden tirade, but it was shared hundreds of times because it was authentic and people can. They can get on me for saying and talking like I talk and say it, but it's me, I don't really. I mean I'm not going to apologize for it, I don't do it intentionally to be rude, it's just me. I think that's the best thing that we can do is own those things and just have conversations.
Speaker 2:And hey, man, I saw this video and I want to. I send, I send messages like that to agents and other loan officers like, hey, man, that was a great video, that's you know. That struck a chord with me personally and I appreciate that and I think that's the best thing that we can do for each other is be social. Yeah, it allows me to connect with people like you and other LO's and real estate people and people in our world from all over the country, and it's the greatest thing ever.
Speaker 1:So the other, the other thing I wanted to bring up that you talked about was this hustle culture. The hustle, yeah, and man, I tell you what it really has infiltrated our, our industry. Yeah, and I will tell you that's one thing I really do appreciate about you and there's a lot of other loan officers and leaders in our industry that do this as well. But you're not ashamed to be a dad, you're not ashamed to be a husband, and you talk about the importance of doing that, and in a market where loans are at a premium, you're still. You're still sticking to your guns and saying, yeah, no, I'm not going to, I'm not going to sacrifice my family time to get that pre approval done. I'll get it in the next day.
Speaker 2:I did that for years, man, I did it for years Like well, I think a lot of us have, and it comes at a cost. It's not. It doesn't make you smarter, doesn't make you better, it doesn't create more business. It actually creates less boundaries, which is going to eat up your time.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, I tell people that time is the only commodity we can never make more of. I can make money, I can create more friends, I can create more acquaintances, but I can never turn back the clock and I'll have a time machine to go spend it with my wife or, you know, my son and and cause he is the best reflection of me that I will ever have on this earth and he is my responsibility to groom, to mentor, to be his friend. All those things Um and I make. I will never apologize for that.
Speaker 2:Now, it doesn't take me away from my business because I have set up systems in place to be able to do that. I think that where people miss, they think it has to be one or the other and it can be both respectively if you have the right systems in place. And my partners don't. They don't suffer when I'm on vacation. They don't suffer when I'm taking the evening off to go to a movie with my family. They don't do that because I have system in place to take care of it.
Speaker 2:And Again, it's like you said loans are the premium, but also relationships should always be at a premium, always, and I even sometimes forget sometimes about my relationships, or my most important relationships, that I get those reminders and then we dig back in right, because it's like the old cliche goes you got to run with the ones that brung you right and you can't forget it. We're so busy trying to create so much business that we forget about the people who got us there, and that is the worst thing as a loan officer or real estate agents you can ever do. And we're not. We're your business partner. That's the way we have to view it, and my wife and my son are my first and foremost in my life period.
Speaker 1:Well, like I said, I really respect you for that. I think there's a dad culture that's making a comeback in our industry, because I noticed a lot of these hustle bros, you know they're divorced or they don't have kids, you know, and so I love the idea that, oh, you're a successful loan officer, whatever, you close so much business and whatever, but you're not a good dad and you're not a good husband, you know, and I think we should take that over being, you know, whatever production numbers that you think are.
Speaker 2:So that's the moment that you and I will leave on this earth.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And I think anybody who has kids would say this openly is that they're the only thing that somebody's going to remember. Yeah Right, your son, your kids, they're never going to remember how many loans you close. What they're going to remember is the time you spent with them. I don't care if you're just sitting around. You know shooting the bull, playing Monopoly, playing video games, you know swimming, whatever. That's what they remember. Those are the fondest memories I have with my family when I was a kid, Not how many hours my dad worked at my grandfather's shop or in the old field or all these things. Where I come from in Oklahoma, I don't remember any of that. I remember him being gone a lot. Right, that's what I remember and I'm not going to do that.
Speaker 1:And if that resonates with you, like being a good dad, being a good husband, like that's important to you and that resonates with you. That is exactly why I think social media and making content is so important, because the power of this is that you can make a video, you can post a today's truth and that content is working for you while you're spending time with your kids, while you're spending time with your wife.
Speaker 2:That's why I?
Speaker 1:think making you know, having a YouTube channel and YouTube videos that educate your borrowers on the things that you talk about all the time. They can be watching those videos in the evening while you're out spending time with your family. You don't have to take that call and they can consume that content and it's actually a better business model for somebody who's focused on being committed to their family than some of these other business models we see that are popular in the hustle bro culture in our industry.
Speaker 2:Yep, I agree wholeheartedly, man, and, like I said, it's we, you know not to get too deep, because I'm not a deep person when it comes to live this, and I try to, you know, but it's we get one shot at this life, man, and there's no do overs.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you know there's no such thing as perfection. We're just trying to do the best we can every day and I think that that are you know for anybody, whether you're in the loan officer world or the real estate world or just being a human. You know just 1% better every day, man, incremental changes, and and surround yourself with the people who can get you there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, speaking of those people, you talked about your business partners. Right, you treat your real estate agents like partners, you know. So, another aspect I think of, of your content strategy, like again, I think that today's truth is is a great idea. Any of you LO's that are listening to this, I think you should definitely, definitely implement something like that and just try it on one platform maybe try it on LinkedIn, or maybe try it on Facebook and just post something every single day and and and, something that you're you know you're passionate about, right, that's like. I think that's that's important. But the other thing you do is you provide a lot of value based education in your content for your business partners. You know, and again, I know, you do videos again, and I'll be the first person that will 110% be like. You guys should be doing videos and things like that.
Speaker 1:But the stuff that Jason posts, especially for his niche and and it's it's real simple, just educational things like what did I the, did you know the? Did you know series that you do, and it's like. So here's a post. This is just from a few few weeks ago, maybe a couple weeks ago. It says, with PCS season starting up, just a reminder. I've had to help a few this week whose realtors and lenders weren't aware, and it's just a graphic same picture of you. Looks like you've been using this picture probably for about 10 years, and it just says the VA does not require you to have a lease agreement to offset a mortgage payment on a departing residence. And so it's like you just throw out these nugget, these educational nuggets, so like where today's truth is, like you, authenticity.
Speaker 1:I'm Jason, right, but then this kind of content is. Here's my expertise, here's my competency. Can you talk about how you, how you, decide what to post, or do you have like a strategy around that? Or is it just kind of like? Somebody asked me this question yesterday and I think everybody needs to know it's now I'm just going to post about it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's kind of it's a little bit of both. I mean, there's some strategy behind it and I mean this time of year is when we have a lot of military PCS's. There's over 400,000 between now and August, so you got a lot of people going back and forth all over the country. So obviously this is from a strategy perspective, putting things out about this that affect service members when they're buying houses at different duty stations and all these different that's relevant to the agent, which is relevant to them. Right, I'm trying to provide value, so they can provide value, and it's this the agent may not know either. They do know, but they don't know. It's marketing, right.
Speaker 2:People forget that everything that we know from an educational standpoint is marketing. Right, it doesn't have to be the next viral video you chasing the cat with a sledgehammer or something. It is. It is just simple basic blocking and tackling of marketing and putting those things out there as gentle reminders. So I create these, I have a database of them and I will regurgitate them over and over and over again, because guess what never changes? The plight of a military family never changes. It's always the same. So the content is always relevant. I'm not having to reinvent the wheel based on certain things or different loan programs that change all the time. Yep, this is a constant, and so if you extrapolate the same problems that you and I and agents experience over and over again, write them all down, create videos to that, create static graphics, then you never have to recreate it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you just repurpose it.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's repurposed, that's it. And guess what they do? They pop up in your Facebook memories from a year or two or three years ago. Oh, that sounds good. I'm going to do that one again. I regurgitate it, redo it, boom post it again. It doesn't matter. So it's. It's educational content that provides actual value to people. Some of that value is something that I'm never going to get anything in return over like VA assumptions, right, I created a VA assumption ebook. I created a class. I get nothing from that Zero. But when I teach that class, when I post that graphic, when I hand out the ebook, I'm giving out value for no expectation of anything in return. That's my, that's our job is to do that.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:We want to sell all the time. This goes back to being social but also providing the value through that social and people remember it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yep, and that's exactly what the content is. You're just at. You're trying to add value or you know, and always talk about with social media you want to either educate or entertain, right, yep, jason does it really well, he does both really well and that's why and that's why he's super successful. But they have that value basis, like you're just out there educating people and that's really easy content to make is just answering questions or solving people's problems and then just just posting about it. You know it's not rocket science. You talk about blocking and tackling like that's the basic stuff you know, or want to have the things that work, like those Lincoln Riley passing concepts that he runs. You know, I know you're a big Lincoln Riley fan, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:For you. Jason's a huge. Oklahoma football fan so yeah, I know, lincoln Riley fan, lord Lovin so, but yeah. So the best thing I can tell you is that, from a loan officer or real estate perspective, your daily life in your world Is all the content you'll ever need.
Speaker 1:Yes, you just have to.
Speaker 2:You have to remain hyper aware of it, right? So you talked about notes. On your phone, I have a note section that says video ideas. Every time somebody has a conversation with me or I run across something, I type it in there. I mean, it's pages long, but I can go back and repurpose it. Oh, that's good. I'm going to go back and do that one again, right? So if you're talking about budgeting for military families, if you're talking about things that are going to affect their PCS, is I created a PCS guide, a PCS toolkit, all those things from needs, and so we just send it out to people? Well, I mean, there are free resources that you should just give away. I did not create it. I'm just putting my spin on it and then we put it out there. That's it. It's not simple.
Speaker 1:It's brilliant and again, you can just do that with your content. I mean, that's exactly. You know what the content is. So, yeah, well, we've been going at this for a little while, so I'm going to get you, get your wrapped up back on your day, because I know you got more, you're more veterans to get to you and and to help someone. I'm going to end with this, this one question, a super deep question that that I've been asking everybody when does Oklahoma finish in the SEC next year?
Speaker 2:Oh Lord, I mean first year. Still, man, I bet it's. You know, if I had to break the SEC up into thirds, ok, I would say they're probably going to finish with that schedule, which is a freaking beast. I mean that's a hell of an indoctrination in the SEC. Yeah, in Alabama, the LSU, on the road to end the season, I'm going to say they're going to finish maybe at the top of the bottom. Third, honestly, is a realistic. I'm not a. I'm not one of those that's going to blow smoke. Look, I'm a realist. They're getting ready to be indoctrinated into big boy football.
Speaker 1:Well, I think losing Dylan Gabriel that hurts. But you talk about Alabama and LSU. Alabama, huge turnover. I think they're going to have a year. Lsu loses Jaden Daniels. You know that actually might turn out a little bit better for you guys than you think.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I mean, I'm trying to be optimistic but I'm going to try to manage my own expectations. So I don't break TVs and throw things. That's what happens. But I'm excited. Honestly, as a fan of football, I love college football. I'm not a big NFL fan because I like the purity of college football, but I want to. I'm a competitor, I want to play the best. That's the true barometer of where we stand. Same thing in our business. If you don't compete against the best, it doesn't matter, in my opinion. Yeah, I want to, I want you to. I want you to throw your best at me because I'm going to. I'm going to prove what I'm worth. But you know that may surprise me and finish somewhere in the middle of the pack. But there's some really good teams in the SEC. Man, I mean it's that's some big boy football. So we'll see. It'll be excited to go watch it live. Now I go travel the SEC and watch road games, so there you go.
Speaker 2:There you go.
Speaker 1:I'm excited about that All right, man. Well, dude, I appreciate you coming on, like always, enjoy talking to you, appreciate your friendship and everything that goes along with that, and so where can, where can listeners find you on Instagram and Facebook? What's your handles?
Speaker 2:Everything is. You can look me up by my name or VA loan boss. You can go to VA, va boss home loanscom, which is a site that I use. Has a lot of educational resources, videos, va buyers guides, all those things. But you can find me on social If you want questions, want to meet with me. Just I mean I'm one of those guys that will give everything I have. I don't sell things, I just you know I'm me and you can have whatever I have, good or bad.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think it's VA loan boss on Instagram, right? Yep, yep. Jason Steyer on Facebook and I'll link everything down in the show notes for you guys. If you guys want to get on, follow Jason. I highly recommend that you do. And also, if you're not really proficient at VA loans, just following him. You will learn so much and you'll be better equipped to serve our veterans and they deserve it, quite frankly, so, again, man, I appreciate you so much.
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