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You Can't Afford Me
Making the leap from employment to entrepreneurship can be a scary time. The biggest fear people have is the unknown. Here on the “You Can’t Afford Me Podast” we speak with hustlers and innovators on how to make the most of your journey. If you have questions we have answers.
You Can't Afford Me
Rise and Grind: How HD Bros Conquered Real Estate Media
What happens when you blend childhood friendship, entrepreneurial vision, and a keen eye for market opportunity? Chris Smith's journey with HD Bros Media provides a masterclass in sustainable business growth built on relationship foundations.
From convincing his parents to split the cost of camera equipment as a teenager to running a thriving media company covering the East Coast, Chris shares the unfiltered story behind his 13-year entrepreneurial journey. His path began with skateboard videos and an almost-appearance on MTV's Scarred, eventually leading to a specialized real estate media company that's become the go-to resource for professional property marketing.
Most remarkable is how Chris built this enterprise alongside his lifelong friends—his business partner Dan has been in his life since third grade. Together they've scaled HD Bros to a team of 40, serving clients from Baltimore to Charlotte while preserving both their business relationships and friendships. Chris offers candid insights into how they've defined clear roles based on individual strengths, allowing each partner to thrive in their zone of genius.
The conversation delves into the personal side of entrepreneurship too—balancing work demands with fatherhood, maintaining a rigorous 4:30am fitness routine, and navigating the inevitable low points of business ownership (including a nail-biting moment when they nearly missed payroll). Chris recently expanded his entrepreneurial portfolio by obtaining his real estate license, demonstrating his belief in creating multiple income streams while leveraging existing networks.
Whether you're considering starting a business with friends, looking to carve out a specialized niche in a competitive market, or struggling to balance ambition with family life, this episode delivers practical wisdom from someone who's walking the path with authenticity and purpose. Visit hdbros.com to learn more about Chris's work or connect with him directly on Instagram @real_chris_smith.
www.themrpreneur.com
Are you trying to reach decision makers, entrepreneurs and sales professionals, then you Can't Afford Me is your next marketing move. With six episodes a month and a growing audience of CEOs and industry leaders, your brand won't just be heard, it'll be remembered. Advertisers can place audio ads on our podcasts and even secure visual placements in our full-length YouTube videos. This is where smart brands earn attention. Lock in your ad spot today before your competitor does. Email sam at enzomediafirmcom to receive more information.
Speaker 1:Welcome to the you Can't Afford Me podcast, where we skip the fluff and dive straight into the ground Real entrepreneurs, real struggles and the unfiltered journey behind success. Let's get into it. Hey guys, thanks for joining us on another episode of the you Can't Afford Me podcast. This interview is well overdue, even though I just asked him the other week but got a good friend on here today. A lot of times people think we're in similar fields and competition. You shouldn't be talking to them. I relish these opportunities because we're actually in different sectors, even though we're in the same field. We're in different sectors and I think there's a lot of value that he's going to be able to add to this conversation and talk about the great business model he's built, what he has going on a new business that he's built, what he has going on a new business that he's entered into here recently. So today we got Chris from HD Bros on the podcast how you doing, buddy.
Speaker 2:I'm awesome, thank you. Thank you, it's good to be here. The place is sweet and, yeah, just like you said, the competition is non-existent. I like to think of it as collaboration that's how we, we both win right, absolutely so.
Speaker 1:Give everybody, take 60 seconds, give us a quick rundown of who you are, what you do okay, uh.
Speaker 2:So I started a business hd bros um right out of college, uh, 2012, so we've been in business for 13 years now, um which is a huge feat in itself.
Speaker 2:It is I'm definitely proud of that. It's a media business, so like we're talking about here, very similar. We kind of dialed in on a certain niche, which is the real estate aspect of that Not doing anything crazy or world changing or anything like that. With what I do, one of the things I'm most proud of with my business is that I built it with my best friends.
Speaker 1:So my which is another major obstacle, because that's where most business partnerships fail. Most people are like I'm going to go in business with my buddy, this is going to be awesome. So to hear it last 13 years is no small feat either.
Speaker 2:It is. It's very cool, yeah, I mean most of the guys who are staffed on our team. They're lifelong friends of mine, nice. We grew up together, played baseball together, skateboarded together, started doing the video thing early on, school projects, things like that, so just kind of work through life together. So it's really cool and I mean where we're at now, we're excited and, like you said, it's not easy working with people, especially close friends, like that. So, it's very tough, but it's been a pleasure for sure.
Speaker 1:Love that, love that. All right, let's start to break this down like a fraction, man, because I'm excited to talk to you about this. So, number one how did you get your start in video? So you said you're a skateboarder, so I'm assuming I'm going to make an assumption you were that early crowd that, like guys on the skateboard- one guy was there with the camcorder getting all the six shots.
Speaker 2:Is that your entry to videography? Yeah, you hit the uh nail on the head right there. So, um, growing up did the skateboarding thing. There was very few people who had the equipment to do that. I was lucky enough to find myself with that. I talked my parents into um getting me a pretty nice camera early on.
Speaker 1:I worked for it.
Speaker 2:The arrangement was I get a job, work through the summer and they'll meet me halfway with the camera gear. So that was a little sales done by me and a little, you know, hard work and effort for sure. So did that in school, got the camera, I got the gear. Uh, we took full advantage of that. We. We use that uh to do our high school projects, to do uh, you know, we we weren't like crazy partiers in high school or anything, but what we did do was make stupid funny music videos and and basically just using, uh, using those tools and really having fun with it.
Speaker 1:Nice, nice. So I mean number one hearing that you were on that trend a little bit early, like a lot of kids today. How old were you at this time? Like 15, 16 or something like that.
Speaker 2:Exactly, I was 15 and yeah, you got it right there.
Speaker 1:Man.
Speaker 2:I'm a psychic dude, you must be.
Speaker 1:Most 15, 16-year-olds like their first job, like they're taking that money and buy a new pair of Jordans. Your mindset was already on. I need this piece of equipment so I can make content.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Not to backtrack too far, but I guess I've kind of always had a business mind. In middle school we sold skateboard T-shirts for our skate team.
Speaker 1:Nice.
Speaker 2:So did that whole thing. So just kind of played along with that, knew that there was something to be done with the media. Youtube was still like just up and coming. It was early on there which I've got a cool YouTube story whenever that fits.
Speaker 1:No, let's get into it.
Speaker 2:It's with the YouTube story. Yeah, so not that I have any regrets.
Speaker 1:I was like you ain't on the low, got like 10 million subscribers on YouTube. Dude. No, I wish.
Speaker 2:So not that I have any regrets, but I do think I missed the bubble on YouTube a little bit by not capitalizing on it. One of the things we did, we, we, my friends, played paintball. Yeah, so, um, they were doing paintball and I started filming these paintball tournaments. So I got to the point where we actually were filming professionally, um, for paintball, and it's not just like the one in the woods, it was like that like kind of air ball kind of thing.
Speaker 1:So we were doing the one you see on the espn ocho or stuff like that.
Speaker 2:It was, and at um, at the time it was actually trending to be a pretty, um, big thing. It was shown on espn the regular espn too. So, um, we, we ended up doing a stint in professional paintball videography and we had a great following on youtube, um, before our original youtube channel got erased and how old were you at this point?
Speaker 2:this still around 16 17 so, yes, that's when it got started, the professional thing extended through um college. Actually, I would just go do that over the summer and we would travel, hit all these tournaments up nice, and it was. It was a fun time, uh, a lot of traveling, a lot of um explicit activities and fun, fun yeah, I'm sure I'd like to say you're a married man.
Speaker 2:We can't, we can't go too deep in the history now um, and then the other thing with the youtube was, uh, I had a email in our youtube account but we didn't know how to access at the time. Mtv scarred. They had hit me up to be on the pilot episode and we saved it. We had the email and everything. Again, this is don't have regrets. Really wish I did that. I had broke my arm skateboarding.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And one of my other buddies was filming me no-transcript, my wrist was all mangled up. You could. You could see it on camera how mangled it was, and that's what scarred reached out about.
Speaker 1:Um, but I was like it's okay, mom, I didn't hit my head, it was it was only my wrist, so that's kind of a funny little joke with the wrist protectors out there after that I actually, um, didn't really skate much after that until uh recently with my son, so I was gonna say I see you kick flipping all the time now in videos.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm trying to get back in there, but yeah, uh, that that was cool.
Speaker 1:Um, missed it, missed the email because we were just teenagers, weren't paying attention so how much longer did it take you to find that it was like years later you realize you had an email from years later we were like hey, there's actually an email that we saved and we had it somewhere and they reached out.
Speaker 2:Wanted me to be on the first episode, the pilot episode of scars. So anybody who doesn't know what that is. It was. You know that crazy show on mtv, just another trendy show where people were getting mangled up and you know doing that. Jeez. Ironically enough also, I recently had a YouTube account banned from YouTube because it was that I re-uploaded the video of me breaking my arm and their policies changed so you can't show graphics, stuff like that now, yeah, blood and gore.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:But that's where I got found on was.
Speaker 1:YouTube so yeah, that's an awesome story. Let's track back a little bit. Um, cause you said as early as the age of 14, 15 years old, you kind of got that entrepreneurial bug. Where did that come from? Did you have parents that were entrepreneurs, a cousin, a brother, sister or somebody like? Where did that spirit come from?
Speaker 2:um, I mean, both of my parents are realtors. Uh, so you know they work for themselves. They've got their own business. My grandma, um, was their team lead, so I just grew up with business oriented family um, but I I like to think of myself as a creative um. And then the business stuff I think was, I was able to have freedom, doing what I wanted to do, and I realized that early on um, not rebellion, but yeah the skater um, sold the t-shirts in school, got, you know, got in trouble for doing that um.
Speaker 2:So it was kind of like a fun way of I would get in trouble on a light scale because I was pushing the boundaries and saw what you can kind of do.
Speaker 1:Now they bring guys like you and me in the classrooms to talk about entrepreneurship. It is, and back then you got in trouble for selling a Snickers bar for 50 cent over market value.
Speaker 2:Oh, full circle. That's how I got the T-shirts for free, because we were selling them to all our groupie girls that were in on the skateboard team.
Speaker 1:Yep yep, let me ask you this Do you think entrepreneurship is a skill that's learned, or that you're born with?
Speaker 2:I'm a believer that any skill can be learned. You know your time and dedication and what you're putting into it. You know your time and dedication and what you're putting into it Um, certain things reverting back to like the creativity and stuff and maybe having a good eye with a camera and things like that you definitely are born with those are, you know, gifts from God, um, kind of kind of deals there. So being able to find out what you're good at, though, is, I think, the ultimate skill, because that's where people lose it and don't really know their direction.
Speaker 1:You gotta you gotta find that what was my gift, kind of deal, and then work from there yeah, we all, we all been blessed with that one gift, but a lot of people make it to the grave and never being able to identify what that is, and I think that often comes from fear of just willing to explore. Like a lot of people just aren't willing to take the risk to be happy, which is crazy as that sounds or like I'll just take the safe path, versus like what is it that really speaks to your soul? Because, like you could be hardcore about football Doesn't mean you're built to be one of the guys on the 52-man roster that's actually going to play on the field. But they have marketing departments for every NFL team, they have concession stands, like there are all these adjacent things that can have you in that space and you can be linked to something a little bit more that's your passion. So now the real estate thing makes a lot more sense to me, knowing that both your parents and your grandmother are both in real estate. So let's talk about that piece, because that's the niche that you guys have carved out at HD Bros, and I want to dive a little bit more into the partnerships as well too, but that's where Enzo Media Firm got their start too, so my reasoning was probably different than yours since you grew up around the business.
Speaker 1:My reasoning was I'm just starting this business and I was looking at it from a marketing component and I was like I need to get my name out here. What professional knows more people in the community, like who's connected the most? And the answer I kept coming back to was realtors. So, initially, just focusing on walkthrough videos and things like that, those are services that we no longer offer. We like I had somebody hit me up I got to get better at texting you that Like two people hit me up the other day asking for walkthrough videos and I was like here's Chris, he's your guy. Like talk to him. Um, we still work with realtors, but we focus more on the branding aspect of things. Like whether it's developing a podcast forum or like doing some branding video or educational videos, things like that.
Speaker 1:I think you guys are the best in this area. When it comes to doing walkthrough videos, like you say you're not doing anything groundbreaking, but like I don't think at our peak with walkthrough videos that we were making stuff as clean and efficient as you guys were, and part of that, too, was also I rarely look at my quote unquote competition Um, but when I saw the level that you guys were doing things, I'm like there's no, like I don't have the desire to eclipse that Like they're doing a great job. I'd rather focus on these other businesses or these other sectors and let me just funnel the business to them. So for you guys obviously understanding you come from a real estate background with your family why have you cause? It's been ultimately 13 years. You guys have just carved out this niche. What is it about real estate and marketing that has worked for you guys?
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, I mean it. It was that we kind of fell into it, got not lucky, but we were just at the right place right time, took advantage of it. Uh, back in 2012, nobody was doing video especially, but professional photography for real estate was brand new. Still Nowadays, the joke is nobody. I mean you don't see iPhone photos. You don't see people taking their own photos. You're not considered a professional at all anymore. But that just wasn't the case in 2012.
Speaker 2:So, in between us freelancing and doing all of our other creative jobs to stay afloat, my parents and then Dan, my business partner. His mom worked for the same company, coldwell Banker. Elite and Stafford, fredericksburg, and we had some family, friends and just a lot of contacts who worked at that office and they were like what about doing a video tour, kind of deal.
Speaker 2:And they were like what about doing a video tour kind of deal? So again, it was almost presented to us and then us just being the only people who had the tech and the gear to be able to do that we were like, yeah, let's do it, me and Dan, we were doing it ourselves, and it started as a couple of shoots here and there for agents we were charging, you know, 100 bucks to do photos and videos.
Speaker 2:Back then I've been there and uh, but that was fine. That was fine when you're making money, yeah you're making the money.
Speaker 1:It's like I'll do that for 100 bucks myself you know I'm right out of you don't have the overhead of office space employees and all this other stuff so we did that and uh, we were getting to the point where we were both doing too much work.
Speaker 2:Uh, we moved into my parents rental house in stafford, fredericksburg um area. And uh, our other friend was a year behind us in college and just graduated. He didn't know what he wanted to do with his job stuff.
Speaker 1:You're like come on at the crib man, we'll work you in. He came in.
Speaker 2:It was just a little, it was our little, you know, start from the garage house where HD Bros got kind of formed there and he did that, and you know.
Speaker 1:See, that's got to be awesome. Like that's a part of entrepreneurship that I wish I had gotten to experience, because you hear these stories about guys. Because, gotten to experience, because you hear these stories about guys, because, like when YouTube first got big and it was like influencers, they all lived in the same apartment complex so they were all just popping over each other's room, popping outside, creating videos. So like I just like relishing that idea of like waking up and immediately having your boys there, like we're getting to work, and it's like late nights 11 30 you're you're popping beers, you're ordering pizza, but you're still sitting there having editing sessions, talking about business plans. Like to me that sounds like heaven as a single guy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was uh, I mean it was exactly that it it's. It could get emotional for me because it was that cool. Um, we say it was like some of the best times of our lives. I mean we were, um, yeah, single guys. Uh, sure, we had uh some girlfriends and things like that.
Speaker 2:My girlfriend at the time now my wife, um, so got to grow this thing with me, um, Kaylee, obviously, uh, so grateful for her, um. But yeah, we, we did the late night sessions, we would work weird hours and still have some freedom and fun, and we would go golf or you know, do whatever we wanted, and but we were grinding. We were grinding 24 seven without the responsibilities of kids, you know life, full relationships, Um, you know, just without all those responsibilities, it was a nonstop work grind, but it was so much fun.
Speaker 2:I mean we had the, which I got all these pictures to show for it too, which is cool. Whenever I do my, whenever I write my uh bio book or whatever, I got all the photos. But we had a painted on whiteboard in the living room, just in the middle of the living room. The whole wall was a whiteboard. It wasn't cleanly painted or nothing, it was just scribbled on. It's going to work. At all the shoots that we were doing, we had all the you know the plan that we were doing it was. It was a great time, dude. I love that.
Speaker 1:I love that Like someone who's a true anybody listening, that's a true entrepreneur. Like that gets your juices flowing, man, like that's just a great environment to be in. Let's talk about the business. Actually. No, no, no, let me stick on that real quick. So inform me because, like I've seen your brand grow from the outside, it's my understanding that when you guys first got started, all the staff that you originally brought on were just contractors. It seems like you guys have moved more towards that route where you're probably still doing some contractors, but now you may have some part-time or full-time employees. So talk to us about the structure of what HD Bros looks like.
Speaker 2:Yes, so we cover a huge area right now huge for us anyways. Different people, different mindsets, but we're Baltimore to Charlotte right now, so got a pretty good range. East coast we do travel for some big projects and things like that. Outside of the areas. But you know, we've got an in-house staff of about 10 10 guys. I say guys, but um, some girls too. Both of my little cousins are on staff with us as our admin. Um, you know, uh, project manager kind of role, keep it in the family yeah, it is.
Speaker 2:It truly is family friends business. We've got so many, um so many I can't even uh count, but um, we've got, uh, the team's about. It's about 40, a little bit more than 40. Now, uh, we just hired 13 new photographers, uh, this spring. So it's, it's, uh is that contractor?
Speaker 2:part-time, those are those are contractors and they start as subcontractors. Uh, we have incentives for them to be full-time with us if that's the route that they want to go, kind of a couple-year plan. Some of our photographers started with us over eight years ago now, maybe 10 years ago now, so they've been with us for a while and those are the guys that got promoted and got to the uh salary kind of position where we do have the um insurance and some benefits, um, some minor benefits for sure. But uh, yeah, it's uh probably about 20% um staff and then the rest subcontractors, that there is a lot of um, not not a lot of turnover, but I mean a lot of the guys that we're hiring, a lot of, I keep saying guys, but we also have females for anybody out there.
Speaker 2:They're creatives and at this point in time they have the camera gear. Originally it was hard to find people with all the gear. Now it's more common. So we're getting people who have the gear are kind of doing whether it's weddings, whether they're doing event stuff on their own they, they have the gear and they start out weren't maybe not the secondary job for them, but where their day job, and then they go do weddings on the weekend. So it works out, because then we're not, you know, guaranteeing a full workload for them and then having to let go because early on also, we would make these hires and not that we were promising anything, but you would get a hire and especially during busy season they might have a good workload, but then with real estate it is seasonal, so if it's slowed down then we might lose them because that's just not, you know, that's not fitting with their lives. But uh, now we've got a good flow and yeah, we, we onboard slowly, slowly, as far as you know you start people as contractors before?
Speaker 2:yeah, but the training process and everything is is really dialed in. Nick, that other owner who I said lived with us at the house, he, he does all our training and he kills it. He's got um a crazy retention rate actually right now. So we're, we're the cultures there, people are enjoying working for us and working with us and, uh, and we're getting the right hires.
Speaker 1:Love that Let me. Let me ask you in terms of the quality control, because when you're hiring contractors and they're using their own equipment, how do you maintain a certain level of quality? Because some photographers are Nikon people or Sony or Panasonic. How do you guys maintain that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we are understanding that as many shoots as we do, we're not perfect and we will never say we're going to be perfect. We say that we will fix any problem, any error, any mistake, Um, and we will make our clients happy and appease them. Um, but yeah, we do, you know, 200 shoots a week. So there, with that being said, we're, we're pretty, pretty good, Um, we're pretty good. Qualities is pretty consistent across the board. But doing that many, you are going to find there might be a hiccup here or there. We run things through quality control. Again, the training guy, Nick, he's awesome. Even with their own equipment, it doesn't matter if you've got a Canon, a Nikon, whatever. The quality for the most part is going to be pretty accurate right there. We get them all the settings, we get them all the shot list, everything like that. So we're really systemized with the approach to building it.
Speaker 1:Love that, love that. Let's talk about the business partnerships. So up to date, I think I've started nine 10 businesses, which I think all but one I've had multiple business partners with, and the business relationships that have been the most successful were with people that we were the opposite Like. I love being in front of the camera, I love being a salesman, I love being the spokesperson, but the greatest business partners I had they wanted no part of that. They wanted to stay behind the scenes. They wanted to do the numbers, all the stuff that I hated doing, and some of them started out as friendships and that worked out well, and some of them started out as friendships that just ended up badly.
Speaker 1:How have you guys been able to make clear distinctions in your roles, maintain a great working relationship, but also, it sounds like you guys have maintained the friendship as well, too. How do you do all those things collectively? Are you an aspiring entrepreneur? Our one on one coaching tailor strategies to your unique business goals. Dive into interactive workshops fostering skills essential for success. Looking for an inspirational speaker for your next event? Book Mr Prenuer to elevate your gathering. Visit wwwthemistaprenuercom to learn more and embark on your path to entrepreneurial success. Mr Prenuer, empowering your entrepreneurial spirit your entrepreneurial spirit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that is the hardest part, for sure. Dan, nick and myself, you know we definitely have some different characteristics and things that work for us, so just figuring out what. Again back to what your skill set is, what you play best, what position you play best. Nick, the training guy. He's I said this in his wedding speech. I was his best man, so I said it. He's Mr Utility. He could do pretty much anything that you ask of him and he doesn't want that spotlight.
Speaker 2:So he's not a sales guy at heart in my opinion. Nick, sorry if you want to be, but he's not a sales guy at heart in my opinion, nick, sorry if you want to be, but he's not and he understands that and he just kills the roles that he's been given.
Speaker 2:He is great with people, he knows what he's doing, knows how to understand people and work with people, so him being the photographer trainer role has just been super, super good. Um, dan operations guy for the most part, um, I would say the difference between me and Dan, I'm more, I am a little bit more loud, um, so the sales thing is is good for me. Um, I think I'm a creative. Um, dan's a creative and also, but he's also a technician and dived into the camera stuff and the gear stuff early on. With every new piece of equipment that we got from early on drones and stuff he was taking stuff apart, fixing it up.
Speaker 2:Dan's my oldest friend in the business, known him since the third grade. My oldest friend in the business. Um, known him since the third grade and he, he has. He's been um, he was my best um, my best man at my wedding and, uh, he told some funny stories and stuff too. But he is he, he's always been there to um, ring me in, pull me back because, uh, yeah, I can get loud, I can get um, you're the dreamer emotional. Yeah, I mean to a, because, yeah, I can get loud, I can get emotional.
Speaker 1:You're the dreamer.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, to a degree we're all big dreamers or we wouldn't have got this far. But yeah, I do think I'm optimistic to a fault and it's all going to work out.
Speaker 1:Same here, yeah because Michael needed Scotty, scotty needed Rodman, and when you have a team where everybody understands their role, dennis Rodman knew when he went out on the court his job was not to put 20 on the board. 20 rebounds, not 20 points. Scottie knew he was there to support MJ. Hey, when MJ's on the bench, scottie, you're the man running point, like the ball is in your hand. But when MJ's on the court, we need you feeding the ball to him, getting him open, setting, checks, all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1:How long did it take you guys to identify Because I think that's the thing that holds back most business owners is identifying what you're truly good at and where your gifts are. And it's a different dynamic with you guys because you've been friends for so long. So, like you've probably picked this out as friends, like over the years. But like coming into the business setting was an immediate thing, like hey, you're our operations guy, you're our sales guy. Or did it take some time for that to evolve and you guys to truly figure out who was going to sit best in?
Speaker 2:what role Um, but we, you know, not recently, but you know, past several years, we've really just um dialed in on on those focuses and where we're good at early on. Uh, we all had to play a part and, you know, in different aspects of the company as a startup. You know um getting the finance together.
Speaker 1:I hate doing stuff like that, so, but we had, we had to do it um, you know, getting the finance together.
Speaker 2:I hate doing stuff like that, so we had to do it. Getting the schedule organized, that's not my favorite thing to do. My favorite thing to do is maybe design something cool, make something look cool. I think I've got a good eye with the photography part. That's what I've been fed from the beginning and, yeah, I think I can talk to people and do that, and we've just kind of leaned into those, those points.
Speaker 1:So love that, love that. Let's talk about your personal life. So your, your wife was around. So you and I share that similarity in terms of I started dating my wife right when I became an entrepreneur. Like, literally that week it was like think I'm going to leave my job within the next six months and I'm going to do X, y and Z. So I always like when I'm, when I'm talking to younger guys, like I always tell them, like if they're on a career path like this, don't wait till the money comes and all these other things and success, find you a real one now because you know why she's there, like if she's there with you in the early days.
Speaker 1:My wife reminds me now there were plenty of times that she had to pick up the bill on dates and things like that when we first started dating. Um, so talk to us about the dynamic of what it was like for your then girlfriend. You're now wife. What was the journey like for her with that? Was there a lot of frustration in terms of because the money everybody thinks, as soon as we start an LLC, that we're just paid Like it takes a long time to get the bank roll up and to pay yourself because we're so entrenched in the work Like I would forget to pay myself at some time. It was like oh crap, why is there no money in my bank? Oh, I haven't paid myself in a month. Okay, maybe I need to do that.
Speaker 2:I mean it's hard to, even you know, get a lease. It's hard to buy a house Like. It's an entrepreneur, it's a. There are a lot of roadblocks ahead and, and it takes a lot of grit, determination, you cannot, you, just you can't quit. That's the number one. Yeah, my, my wife, um, I think it worked out good for us because she is five years younger than me.
Speaker 1:Same with me.
Speaker 2:People call me a cradle robber.
Speaker 1:I think no that's the right way to do it, because I'm building a business, I need somebody who can have kids a little bit later after I've built this to a certain point.
Speaker 2:So she was still. She was in her last year of college at Virginia Tech when me and the guys were at my parents' house renting that out, so I got to see her enough for what we needed to have a relationship. It was you know I had relationships before and long distance stuff didn't work out, probably because of my maturity level.
Speaker 1:Honestly, Takes us until like 26, 27 to fully develop as men, for sure.
Speaker 2:So this time it did, because I knew what I needed to do as far as we were working. We were working Again, it was fun, that was my fun, but we were working, so I got to see her on the weekends that she was home or I would go visit on occasion. So it was a good transitional period of oh, we're not living together, we're not on top of each other so much. She knew what I was doing and what we. You know what we were trying to do with each other and feel it out.
Speaker 1:What was her reaction when she'd walk in the house and you guys have a half painted whiteboard on the wall and guys are going great. I'm immediately imagine, uh, what's the show that was on?
Speaker 2:hbo, uh, silicon valley. That's immediately the house I pictured when you said that. I mean, it was that and again, that's why, like I said, I could get emotional because it it was that fun and and I don't know if it was.
Speaker 1:You know we were, we were living the way we were doing because we had access to stuff like that or vice versa, but no, that it it's fun when you're living that lean and like you really don't have many responsibilities and it's just like man as long because, as guys, like the only reason we have nice homes is because we're with women. If it was just got like I could live in a cardboard box and I'm straight like I'd sleep here at my office. If, if that was the was the case, if I was single, I wouldn't even need a house. Um, what was her reaction? Coming into that scenario and seeing how you guys were operating? Was it like this is weird or this is something really cool that you guys got going on?
Speaker 2:I think that, or a combination of the two. I think that she at the time thought it was cool because I was older and our finances weren't together, so she just thought everything was, everything was good. She, she knew I wasn't balling, but she also didn't know um, I was strapped like everybody, like everybody was Um, so it was more like this is cool. This is, you know, interesting. It's, I think, for her it was nice to see somebody working towards something and just, you know, going through life. So that was cool, um. But now it's like um, being married and everything. I'm like you knew who you married, like with the, the wildness and my attitudes towards life and, um, just just how extreme I can be. Um again, um, I'm intense, um, emotionally. With anything I do I'm intense, um, I go balls to the wall.
Speaker 2:You know a hundred percent, 150% on everything I do, and that was with work, with play, with anything. So, um, yeah, now it's like, well, you knew, you knew what you signed up for, and she'll say that and stuff too. And that's not to say you don't work on things. I've been working on things and I've definitely improved, um, with multiple aspects of my life. But, yeah, it's absolutely same same core of a human, same uh grind, grit and determination.
Speaker 1:Like I said, yeah, because I, on my very first date with my wife, I laid out to her what it's going to look like dating an entrepreneur. Because we were talking for a couple weeks online before we actually had our first date and I was like, look, I've dated a lot of girls and they say they want a boss man, a CEO type, and then they actually get them. I joke with my wife She'll watch those real husbands, real housewives of Hollywood, stuff like that. And I always point out to her I was like huh, who's her husband, who's he married to? Oh, blah, blah. Why do I never see him on the show? Have you ever thought about that? Because he's working. They get to shop and do this tv show and do all these other things.
Speaker 1:But like, if you want, this lifestyle requires that their husband is putting together deals. So, like our current house, like I had to get rid of my office once we started having kids and that ended up turning into a playroom. Yeah, I told my wife this is non-negotiable the the next house. I just have to have an office. Number one for tax benefits, get to write off a portion of the mortgage, but number two, we can't continue to elevate and live this lifestyle if I can't operate the way I need to operate. So on that note, because I think how old are your kids?
Speaker 2:I've got a three-and-a-half-year-old and a one-and-a-half-year-old. Okay, so three and a half year old and a one and a half year old Okay. So we're not too far apart, boy and girl, yeah.
Speaker 1:And that's that's the right way to do it. We got my daughter's five and my son will be turning four in July. So boy, girl, we're done. I just have to make my appointment to get snipped. Talk to us about not? I kind of hate. I'm going to stop using this.
Speaker 1:I hate the term work-life balance because I think in our world that does not exist. There are moments where work doesn't need as much of my attention and I can dedicate more time to my wife and kids. But then there are also weeks where it's like all right, there are two nights this week, daddy's got a conference or something like that, or I need to work late. I got this going on, so I'm not going to be around the house as much. How has that been for you in terms of making sure that your family's getting what they need?
Speaker 1:Now I'm going to make another assumption. The reason I started my business when I did is because I never wanted to be that dad to tell my kid no, like hey, dad, I got a soccer game today. You're going to be there. Oh no, daddy's got to work. I wanted to make sure that I was in business long enough established so that when those times came, I never had to look my kids in the eye and say Daddy can't be there, he's got to work. So what's that balance like for you, and do you struggle with that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely so. That was my life growing up, my parents both being realtors. They had flexibility.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but Saturdays and Sundays they're showing homes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, saturdays and Sundays they're showing homes. Yeah, and it's not to say they weren't working on the vacations, working in between the baseball games, but the flexibility that they had allowed them to be at everything I was at. They were at all the games. My dad was a coach. They were at all the practices, everything. So that was early on. I was like, no, I'm never going to miss something important to my kids, so that's the whole reason for business and building it and important to my kids.
Speaker 1:So that's the whole reason for business and building it and and um, we forget that sometimes we're building a business. We forget Cause recently I've been listening to a lot of podcasts where, like the people have attained that level of success, like the money's there more money than they need and you're at this crossroads in your life, or like you're still grinding and hustling like you used to, but realizing you work so hard to get to this point so you can enjoy these things in your life and it's a switch that has to take place at that level. Like, once you get there, like hey, I have attained a part of what I'm looking to accomplish. I need to make that conversion and make sure that I'm taking the vacations. I'm doing this with the kids.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and you know the vacations will come, that stuff will come. I think it's more of like the day-to-day stuff Again your kids being able to, you know, see you, laugh and be good with your wife, you being able to see all those moments of the kids' growth and all of that. So, taking them to school, you know, going to work right after dropping them off at school, though, and to pick them up from school, you know, taking them to their first swim practice, those things are super important and, again, I knew that's what I wanted to do and it's awesome to see that it's it's happening.
Speaker 2:um again, not, it's not balanced. I mean you've got to, you've got to be time, you've got to have a good schedule and get focused and organized, but maybe you're working at 8, 9, 10 at night. I mean you do what you've got to do to make it happen. So, yeah, I don't think it's balanced. For sure it's just getting what needs to be done done.
Speaker 1:Why did you go get your real estate license last year and this is news to me as of a couple months ago, because I kind of saw it like you I mean obviously like the marketing that you guys do, like you're heavily in the real estate community, and then after, like I'd say, over the last few months last year, like we've all kind of formed this habit among a few of us that that know each other, we're like religiously uploading our workout videos in the morning to social media whether it was like a quick storyline, and then you'll tag me in some stuff, I'll tag you on some stuff. Um, where and through that you were always talking about like realtors working out, and I'm didn't put the two and two together that you were a realtor. Why did you step out and I'm didn't put the two and two together that you were a realtor? Why did you step out and decide that you want to get your real estate license?
Speaker 2:You know they, they say you want multiple streams of income, um, as an entrepreneur, especially um. Hd bros is my baby Um. I, you know I got the tattoo, I got the EST 2012. Um, it's my baby Um. But you know I, I was looking for maybe something else, and that's personally, financially. Uh, another Avenue to maybe have um, and this obviously just fit and went along aside with what I was already doing. So it wouldn't, it wouldn't have to take away as much as something else might've had to do.
Speaker 1:You're in there already, photographer, uh, getting photos of a home. You may be like. Huh, I think I got a buyer for this place.
Speaker 2:Um I'm in the network, um I I know the people, um you know I just so many of of my mentors, my friends, um my parents, so many people I know are just agents and uh, opportunity. Also, I take advantage of opportunity and I was given one. Um I was um not pushed, but um Matt Cullither kind of talked me into um doing it a little bit. I said this um I've said this to people just talking to him but in my 13 years of doing HD bros, no one's ever been like have you ever thought about getting your license? And maybe that was what I was putting off, Like I didn't want to do it. But he was like, why don't you? Why don't you like, almost like, are you stupid? Why don't you?
Speaker 1:that sounds like Matt.
Speaker 2:He's like why don't you have it, like it just makes sense? And I'm like I mean, it does make sense to a degree. Um, the biggest concern I had and still have, which is why I'm not like advertising it as much as you just put me on, blast advertising it, but, um, I'm not about to self-sabotage what I built with the company, so that was was going to be my next question.
Speaker 1:Like what's the not balance? But like how much time during your week are you dedicating towards your real estate license and how much is dedicated to HD Bros?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a it's a after hours kind of thing, and like I say after hours meaning I do my HD Bros, get my stuff done first, and then I, I just I have a spear of influence of contacts and people that you know potentially want to buy or sell a house, and I just make sure I'm doing the followups. A lot of, a lot of things, um, a lot of real estate is just being a good person and being able to communicate and, um, stay on top of people, checking in with people and all things I should be doing anyways. So it just was as simple as that. Like, I mean, sure, there's CRMs, there's strategies, there's a lot to learn in it, but a big, big chunk of it is, you know, are you a people person? Are you, again, good with communication? Can you talk to people? Can you make people feel good? Do they like you? Do they want to work with you? So that's being a business owner and, I think, being a realtor as well.
Speaker 1:On the fitness tip. Why do you take your fitness so seriously? So actually, no, I'm not even going to say that because I don't want to influence anything with your answer. Why do you take fitness so seriously? Because a lot of people look at business owners I think a lot of the people that we hold on high pedestals like I was using this example with somebody the other day when it comes to like Warren Buffett, Obviously the goat of investing. But I was watching a video where Warren Buffett basically goes to McDonald's every morning and gets the Egg McMuffin and the hash brown. Basically goes to McDonald's every morning and gets the egg McMuffin and the hash brown and he actually has himself on a budget where, like if something got closed, then he only has $2.50 to buy.
Speaker 1:If something went well, then he has $3.50 to buy. But a lot of those guys that we view as like the goats of business, obviously, looking at them, they're not taking their health as seriously. Why is that something that's so important to you?
Speaker 2:So I mean, I'm big into my church, um, so, number one, we're, uh, bodies of God. So, um, that's number one, you should respect yourself. Um, I, I really believe that you should. You should hold yourself to the highest standard, especially if you want to influence other people, you gotta be doing those things on your own. Um, yeah, I get the question. Especially if you want to influence other people, you've got to be doing those things on your own. Yeah, I get the question what are you training for? Because, yeah, my hashtag is train. So I do get the question quite often what are you training for? And my answer is always the same Life, life. I say life.
Speaker 1:Life is a physical sport.
Speaker 2:Yep, there is a saying of you know, do you take off days? And the answer to that is, um, no, you don't plan for off days because, again, life it's, it's going to give you off days. My kid's sick. I got to take him to the doctors. Um, you know the conflict of schedule. I got to help my wife out, something like that I might not be able to get that workout that I had planned in. So you just don't plan for for off days. You plan to work and you plan to better yourself every day and if something happens, well, you did your best throughout the entire duration leading up to that.
Speaker 2:So it's like it's not do or die kind of thing right there. Um, I, I got the fitness group on Facebook. Um, recently is actually doing pretty good now, um, but we're doing a pull-up challenge in there and same same type of thing. Uh, one of my, one of my beliefs in fitness is you gotta be able to do a pull-up, yeah, you gotta be able to do a pull-up, and people laugh when I say this. But like you fell off a cliff, or you fell off the side of the road or you've hanging off a building. Yeah, exaggerating, sure, but like you just did find yourself.
Speaker 1:Because you can do one single pull-up, you can't do a pull-up. I heard a stat and I may have mentioned this on the previous episode Majority of Americans cannot do five push-ups.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and I don't like to use that one, but you need to be able to do that one. I'm kind of that one's kind of. You've got to be able to do that. Pull-ups are a little bit more hard to do a little bit, especially for women, not taking anything away from women. So we've got a bunch of women in in the Facebook group now. Stephanie Brown Um, she's actually uh, got the idea going for doing the pull-up contest. She's trying to do 10 pull-ups and that's like that's pretty impressive. Um, so it is.
Speaker 2:It's um, as silly as it sounds, you got to take your health serious. You can't perform your best and work if your health health isn't there. So, um, you've seen me. I'm big on early morning workouts and that's because if I wait too long in the day, something else is going to come up, something's going to happen. Um, my ideal time is yeah, my alarm goes off at four, 30. Um, I get to the gym by five and get my stuff done. It's, it's quiet, it's, it's nice, it's peaceful, I know I don't have people bugging me and stuff going on, and text messages and emails aren't coming in that early in the morning.
Speaker 2:And you're prioritizing the most important thing and, in my opinion, your health your fitness. So you, you do that and then, sure, work is important, money is important, but you can't have any of those things if you're not put together as a person.
Speaker 1:I heard somebody say one time if I offered you $10 million today, would you take it? And the answer is, of course, yes. Okay, cool. Let me put another caveat on that I'll give you $10 million, but you can't wake up tomorrow. Which are you going to take? Well, of course, I'd rather wake up tomorrow. Okay, so your health is a bigger priority than money, like, don't ever forget that. And the 5 am thing. So you got me beat by 15 minutes. My alarm clock goes off at 445.
Speaker 2:Well, I got a secret for you. Hit me hit me?
Speaker 1:Is it the daylight savings?
Speaker 2:No, the secret is you use tools to your advantage. And I was talking to my other business partner, rob, the other day. He was like, yeah, you're back on your early stuff. I'm like, yeah, well, you know, I do what I got to do. I've got the kids. So, um, sometimes you don't get as as much sleep, um, even a pre workout or anything like that.
Speaker 1:I take the. I take the pre-workout and creatine mix in the morning. Okay, so well, I can't be up that early and not put something in my body, I do like to work out on an empty stomach, but I need that pre-workout mix.
Speaker 2:So you wake up and then you take it though.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:Like. So I have mine prepped at my nightstand, and then my alarm goes off 30 minutes before I even wake up.
Speaker 1:So I just imagine rock and roll music playing. The second the alarm goes off.
Speaker 2:Your head banging and you got your. It would be that if my wife wasn't next next to me in bed. But no, the alarm goes off. I wake up, gotta pee whatever. Slug my pre-workout. My alarm set 30 minutes earlier than I need to go to the gym. Um, some people don't believe in the pre-workout. Some people are going to call me a cheater or you got to use something no, it's a tool yeah, it's a tool, and you're not at the gym at 5 am?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I am, so don't give me tips.
Speaker 2:It is what it is, but that's that's worked for me, and that comes down to the preparation tool. Also, it's like I was prepared the night before.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I like the cheat because that's dumb, that I don't already mix that, because that's. That's a legit five minute piece of my morning when I'm like trying to get my gym shoes and all that stuff. If I just made that the night before, stuck it in the fridge, I'm Gucci, not even the fridge.
Speaker 2:Stick it by your nightstand, not even in the fridge that all right.
Speaker 1:I'm trying that tonight like legit trying that you think you're gonna sleep in once you start getting that.
Speaker 2:Uh, you know that pre-workout 30 minutes before you start itching. You don't't even need another alarm, you're up.
Speaker 1:And it's also something too with. I don't care if you. I think just rising early is a hack of success. Now, even if you're not going to the gym first thing in the morning, it could be meditation, it could be your moment with God, it could be reading a book, it could be planning your day, whatever it is. But everybody that's at a level that I hope to attain, in whatever facet of life that is. They all get up early, and I'm not one of these ones that's going to be on Instagram.
Speaker 1:Man, you got to get up at 3 am, seize the day like blah blah, blah, chug 50 protein shakes like close $10 million worth of deals. Blah blah, blah. None of that. Cold plunges, like all that stuff. But I do think there's something that said there's a feeling that you get when you're up and you know most people have their alarm clock hasn't gone off yet, like the fact that I know by the time I get home to shower from the gym, most people are just having their Cheerios Cheerios. Meanwhile I focused on my health. I've already gotten some content out for the day for branding and generally at least my warmup. When I'm on the treadmill I'm listening to a good podcast or an audio book, so I'm already doing all these great things to start my day when most people haven't even put the milk in their Cheerios yet. To me that's an empowering thing.
Speaker 2:Stacking the wins. That's what it's about, stacking the wins. And yeah, I mean, if you're a winner, if you're competitive, if you just have that mindset, it is and you can use it. Being competitive can be negative for sure, but it also is super. It's super driving, like for me, um, I, I'm my biggest competitor. Sure, I, you should be your biggest competitor, improving on yourselves, but it's not bad to take other people and be like man, I'm uh, I woke up earlier than him today or use it as a competition.
Speaker 2:Um, you know, when you were in high school and playing sports or wherever you got to, um, the gym was always like, uh, I'm going to lift more than you and and that's, that's just my mindset, it's it's I'm going to do more than you. It's fun, it's game. Like my best friends, um, you know Nick, he's he was my lifelong uh gym partner and it is it's like we know we, we get the best workouts when you're with each other. I typically work out by myself. Now, um, it's hard to find people who who want to work out like you, and I'm not saying that for any reason. I'm not pushing crazy weight. I'm not, um doing anything pro level, but what I will do is I'm going to make it hurt, I'm going to make it work and I'm going to give it my best, and a lot of people just haven't got to that point.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's keeping the best people around you. Like my best friend since I've known him, my credit score is going up over 200 points Like I had crap credit score. But hanging out with him and like you, picking up certain gyms and he's like pushing me in certain areas and to that point like we used to be gym mates as well too, and it was like you know, my mile time was coming down here. I was starting to put more up on on bench press, like all these different things. Like I think having there's a difference between competition and healthy competition.
Speaker 1:For sure, I think it's great having healthy competition, people in your life that are going to push you and that could be with your spirituality, that could be with your finances, that could be with your business, could be your romantic relationships. But I think if you don't have people around you that are constantly pushing the needle for you in certain areas, if you're staying stagnant, you're moving nowhere at all. I'd honestly rather move backwards than the stay still. Yeah, because at least then I can kind of gauge and see, okay, I'm not on the same level I was last year. I gotta, I gotta track this up.
Speaker 2:Um have you read let them.
Speaker 1:I don't think I've read that one. It's my. It's my phone in here. Remind me, I'm going to put it on my list.
Speaker 2:I was sleeping on that one for so long. It's um. I listened to it on audible but let them um, the let them theory it's. It's a great book and one of the lines I really just I really liked it and it's stuck with me because, yeah, people are like comparison is the thief of joy, or competition, this, this and this. And no one of the lines she says in the book it's um. Comparison can either be torture or it can be a teacher, and I was just like that's what I wanted. I was like, yes, you, it can be bad, for sure, it can totally kill you if you let it. Or you could take the people that are beating you, that are doing better than you, and you could sit down and say what in the heck are they doing that I'm not doing, didn't learn?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I think, the segment that gets people in trouble is, you know, trying to keep up with the Joneses. When you look at the superficial stuff, like, oh, the neighbor's just got a new Mercedes Benz, I need a Mercedes Benz to keep up. Like, first off, most people driving an electric car are like in their up to their eyeballs in debt, like it's not everything that's shining in gold. Man, like people got to realize that. There's one question I'm starting to ask as we close out. There's one question I'm starting to ask every guest, and that is talk to us about your lowest moment as an entrepreneur.
Speaker 2:I mean I used to journal more. I haven't really been doing that, but I used to journal and I would have. I would have you are so poor written down in my journal to the, a motivator and a reminder of don't ever let this happen again, kind of deal. I mean, there's always low points. I had a low point recently where I was struggling with friend work balance and the biggest thing was we were just all so busy. I'm used to working with my friends being um, all together, uh, doing that thing and like we're we're at different points in our lives now where we all have kids, we all, um, you know, we're just all busy and I was taking it personally and putting a lot of things in my mind that weren't necessarily true, but I was struggling.
Speaker 2:I was like man, I'm not seeing these guys. Um, his business going is good, like we're doing great numbers, but like, is everybody happy? Am I just feeling this way, like what's going on? And and again it was um, you know, it's just the time of life, that it is, it's the season that it is, and um, alex hormosi, um, you follow him. He posts a bunch of stuff in his little snippets and he's like the best friends are the busiest friends yes hands down and and again a lot of that.
Speaker 1:So I if my friends can drop at a dime in five minutes, like I mean your best friends if you're in emergency they're gonna drop whatever they're doing. But like, if I can just hit you up and like, if I'm not playing phone tag with you, I don't know if I should be your friend, cause, like well, as we were sitting here in this podcast, like one of my friends called me Um and it's just like we've been playing a little phone tag this morning. It's like when I'm available he's not, and vice. There's a lot of truth to that piece there.
Speaker 2:Yep, and it's all positive spin and stuff. Now, and I say this again, this is for entrepreneurs and people who want to get started in business. But I remember being in Nick's apartment with just four of us and we weren't going to make payroll. We weren't going to make payroll.
Speaker 2:It's the scariest thing we all got on the phones and we were calling. We were this was before we had automated invoicing and people owed us a lot of money and we all got on the phones and we were tracking it down and and trying to get this money so we can make payroll, because we had subcontractors and people we had to pay and um, you know, there there's been multiple points where I've put personal money in my teammates, the other owners, we've taken pay cuts and different things that you've got to do. It's tough, it's tough and it will eat you alive if you're not just prepared, prepared to know that it's not easy and that you just got to keep going.
Speaker 1:Thousand percent, thousand percent, thousand percent Love. That. That's a perfect note to end on Cool man, if people want to get more information, reach out to you. Uh, hire HD bros, where can they go?
Speaker 2:Uh yeah, hd broscom. Um, again it's. It's real estate specific media. So all your listing stuff photo, video, drone, you know everything that's common. We're built for teams, built for systems. If you do a lot of volume, if you have a lot of listings, if you're looking for consistency and you're looking for someone who's going to take care of you throughout the entire process, that's, that's what we're here for.
Speaker 1:Love it, love it. If someone wants to hire you as a realtor, where can they reach you?
Speaker 2:Throw your IG out there. Yeah, you can. My Instagram is real, chris Smith, and Facebook, chris Smith. There's a lot of them, so, but real Chris Smith on Instagram.
Speaker 1:Chris is like man Sam, shut up, man, you're going to blow it up too much on that side.
Speaker 2:I could use it. I could use it. I could use a couple of clients.
Speaker 1:Good stuff. Appreciate you being here, buddy. Thank you, Sam. We'll see you guys on the next episode. In the fast paced world of business, your digital marketing strategy shouldn't be a burden. At Enzo Media Firm, we make it effortless. We specialize in empowering medium to large businesses with comprehensive digital marketing solutions, from dynamic video marketing and podcast production to advanced web development and social media strategies. Thank you, we keep your marketing aligned with your vision, even if you're short on time. Enzo Media Firm where marketing is just not simplified. It's personalized, effective and designed for your success. Discover the ease of digital marketing with us. Visit wwwenzomediafirmcom to get started.