What Building a $200M/year Team Can Teach You with Ben Carbone - The Long Game - Ep. #96

You don't truly understand your business until you start building a team around it.

In this episode of The Long Game Podcast, Ryan sits down with his business partner Ben Carbone, team lead of We Close Deals, co-owner of We Stage Homes, and owner of Woodstock Estates, for a wide-ranging conversation on what it actually looks like to run multiple businesses at once, make smart hiring decisions, and lead a team that believes in the mission.

Ben shares where things stand across his portfolio: We Close Deals is on pace to do over $200 million in transactions in its first full year as a team, We Stage Homes has completed over 65 stages in seven months after starting on a whim with a Google Doc, and a 130-unit acquisition in Maine is weeks away from closing.

They also dive into an Ascend Summit postmortem, providing takeaways from each of the speakers and panelists that helped make the event the success that it was.

What You'll Learn:

• How We Close Deals grew from a collective 50 million to 200 million in gross sales in just 12 months, and what actually drove that growth
• Why the moment you start building a team is the moment you finally understand how your business really works
• How to decide which tasks belong to you and which ones to offload, especially when you're running multiple businesses at once
• Why managing your own properties might be costing you more than you realize, and how opportunity cost should drive that decision
• What urgency actually looks like in practice, and why the wealthiest operators respond the fastest
• The Ascend Summit postmortem: key lessons from the speakers
• Why culture isn't built in team meetings. It's built in the small moments, the birthday cakes, the names you remember, the wins you celebrate together

If you're managing multiple businesses or building a team and trying to figure out how to do more without losing the things that made you successful in the first place, this episode is an honest and energizing look at what that process actually requires.

Interested in connecting?

GUEST
Ben Carbone
Team Lead, We Close Deals | Co-Owner, We Stage Homes | Owner, Woodstock Estates
bcarbone@lamacchiarealty.com | https://www.weclosedealsteam.com 
Instagram: @ben.carbone | @weclosedealsteam 

HOST
Ryan Richards | Branch Manager, Northpoint Mortgage | NMLS 1987735
rrichards@trynorthpoint.com | www.financewithteamrichards.com 
204 Turnpike Rd, Westborough, MA 01581
Licensed in MA, CT, FL, NC, NH, PA, RI, ME, TN

Follow us on Instagram @financewithteamrichards @the.longgamepodcast

#TheLongGamePodcast #FinanceWithTeamRichards

Chapters:
00:00 Episode Setup
01:34 Ben Returns
01:58 Scaling Lessons
04:02 We Close Deals Growth
06:49 Leadership Mirror
11:16 Launching Staging Company
14:14 Delegation Decisions
17:39 Urgency and Focus
22:08 Downtime CEO Mindset
24:45 Working On Business
25:24 Mortgage Push Pull
26:41 Hiring Key Players
27:12 Seamless Partner Communication
28:13 Blueprinting Closings Together
28:41 From Vendors to Partners
29:14 Hiring for Growth
29:36 Stop Self Managing Rentals
31:14 Buying Back Your Time
33:09 Scaling With Property Managers
34:19 Ascend Summit Recap
35:33 Anthony Lamacchia Lessons
39:46 Culture and Leadership Standards
40:57 CJ Sincotta Focus and Scale
46:22 Principles and Closing Thoughts

Transcript

0:00

If you're someone who's looking to start a new venture or grow a team, but you just don't know how to prioritize, how to develop the team or the culture, what hire to make next, or how to manage multiple things at the same time, then today's episode is going to be exactly for you. I sat down with my good friend and business partner, Mr. Ben Carbone. He's the team lead of We Close Deals, real estate agents based out of New England, on pace to do over $200 million in transactions, co-owner of We Stage Homes, a staging company here in New England, along with owner of Woodstock Estates, an Airbnb short-term rental and soon to be wedding venue in Connecticut, and multifamily investor. So someone who has a lot going on. Ben and I align in a lot of different business avenues and channels, and today we talk through what's going on in Ben's world, the challenges he's facing as a leader, growing his team, streamlining his operations. And on top of that, we dove into our recap of the Ascend Summit, our first entrepreneur-focused mastermind held here in Worcester. We had entrepreneurs from all over New England come to listen to our panel of speakers who are business owners operating at the highest level. Hopefully, you find some value, insight in today's episode. Stay tuned and enjoy the show Please join me in welcoming Mr. Ben Carbone to the show. My man, happy to be back. Welcome back in the new space. New space. Same year, but feels like a new one. I know. We were just running through the timeline of when you were last on. It feels like forever ago. Yeah. But back in January. Yeah, it's funny how much changes in what on a clock would look like a short amount of time, or on a calendar a short amount of time, but, you know- A lot changes when you're moving yeah, everything changes. Yeah. Yeah. So I want to get into, you know, talking about some updates, and I know the last time we were on the show it was, like, just starting with the rebrand, going to The Long Game. Yep. And obviously since then have developed the concept a lot, and I think it obviously aligns with everything you have going on. We're just talking about how entrepreneurs manage businesses and some of the challenges they run through different than, you know, just real estate. I think as you know as an operator, there's so many, uh, iterations of the development of a business. There is, and you don't really understand until you're in it, right? And I'm taking this from our event at the Ascend Summit. You said, "I don't have it all figured out and I'm building the airplane in the air." Yeah. Right? And it's kinda like when you start a business or you start to accumulate real estate or multifamily, you have a concept or a, a plan in mind, right? And you're like, "Okay, I understand what goes into it." But you really truly don't until you start to scale and build, and you bring in team members and you bring in other people, and now you have partners and, you know, you're, you're scaling and you're at 10, 12, soon to be 35, 40 buildings. Yeah. What does that look like, right? You're almost away from that solopreneur phase and you're trying to figure out operations and systems, and it's, it's challenging. It's… It brings new challenges, too. Yeah. That's, that's what I've enjoyed about, you know, developing the team, is you force yourself to get almost a better understanding of your business, like how it actually works. Because in order to get 20 buildings onboarded, you need to know the intricacies of the property management even more than you might otherwise think. Right. You know, you know what to do when someone calls for a maintenance request, but how is it all going to play out from first phone call to respond? I think with, even with my business, I started to think more about, like what does our process look like? So someone calls, what happens from the first phone call to they're pre-approved, looking for a house? Like, what are the steps? So it forced me to go deeper and really figure out how everything functions to kinda lay out that plan, but it's even more difficult when you have multiple businesses. So tell, tell me for those who don't know, like what… I know you've… I obviously know what you have going on- Yeah but what's some big updates you got you're excited about? Uh, so Brooke and I A year and a half ago about now, um, we started a team called We Close Deals, and we have 19 agents including ourselves. So 19 agents, um, and a full-time marketing girl, uh, who also has someone else that helps with marketing. So that is a real estate team, um, that, you know, Brooke and I both have been licensed around five to seven years, uh- Selling a ton of homes up in New England selling a ton of homes. Uh, we're on track to do $200 million this year in gross sales across, you know, our team. Uh, internally with Lamacchia, Lamacchia is on pace to do over $4 billion. Uh, so you know, we are a small nugget of what makes up Lamacchia, but for what we came from and what Brooke and I have done, right, we consistently sell anywhere from 25 to 40 million individually. Um, so to be able to go from, you know, say, a collective amount of 50 million to 200 million with a team in just a matter of 12 months is pretty exciting and pretty awesome. Yeah, it's incredible. Yeah. And seeing, seeing your team members develop into those types of agents and professionals must be a, a cool accomplishment. Oh, it's awesome. Um, you know, I think as you start to develop and you become, you know, a team lead or someone that's building a team, uh, you get joy out of seeing other people's success. Mm. Um, especially newer agents or newer people that join, you know, a, a mortgage brokerage or, you know, our, our team is… Some of these agents that we have, uh, they joined the real estate industry a year ago. Wow. Two years ago, and they're already on pace to achieve much more than their personal goals, but what we had envisioned for them. Um, so you know, it's, it's unbelievable to watch that snowball effect and what a collection, a culture like We Close Deals has and how that allows people to develop. We just say, "Okay, we are top producing agents. What do other top producing agents need to reach that level?" And we're just building a platform so they can do that. So it's the mentorship, the resources. Sure, we have Lamacchia there for extra additional resources, but then myself and Brooke, we bring in a marketing girl. So there's levels to it, where- Mm … we're just building it. We're taking all that- I guess, sticky stuff out for the agents where they feel like they need to do it when they first start. But once you build that platform, they can just succeed and sell and do what they need to do. And that's what we tell them. We say, "Guys, like, your job here…" And it's funny, people are like, "Oh, I don't wanna be salesy. I don't wanna be a salesperson." Well, guys, let's face reality. You are. You are. Yeah. You are. We're all salespeople. Um, but it's how you, how you handle that and with the integrity and the character. You're selling yourself more than the house. Yeah, and that's what we're trying to build, right? Is build your brand, build yourself, and use We Close Deals as a platform to do that, and it's amazing to see the success. Through that process, what do you feel like as a leader now you focus on more than you might have otherwise in the beginning? Yeah, so i- it's funny. You, you learn a lot about the business, but you learn more about yourself. Mm. Um, and I think that's just, you know, an evolution of being an entrepreneur is- As you face new challenges, like you said, you learn so much more about the type of person you are or the capability you have to manage people or give advice or say, "Okay, you're looking at it through a lens that you may handle a situation, but this person's completely different. How do they handle a situation?" I'm learning the dynamic of other individuals and the way that they could be best suited to build their business, because not everyone's going to build their business the way I built my business. Right. You know, not everyone's gonna go and make 100 cold calls a day to build relationships in a market that may not be so advantageous for them, right? Mm. How do they build their business? What do they do? And how can we cater to that and ensure that they can continue to do so, um, without hiccups and challenges, you know? It's a credit to Brooke. She showed me, you know, more of that lens, is she's incredibly good with people. I mean, she was a teacher, a seventh grade teacher. But it also goes hand-in-hand. You know, she's, she's very, um, empathetic and also, uh, curious when it comes to what this person loves about life or a- anything like that. And yes, I have a granular, um, similarity there. Right. But she has an overproportionate amount- Sure … of that, uh, quality, which has allowed me to really step into a new lens and go, "Okay, this is the way working with 15 females needs to look." Right. That's a very different dynamic. Yeah. And all different backgrounds and different perspectives. Yep. And it's funny, when I was talking to Jamie on, on the show on our last episode, she said something very similar when, when talking about being a leader in your business, and she said, "If there's something that's not working, the best place to look is in the mirror." Is in the mirror. And I said that's such a great anecdote to that point, because I've noticed even within what I do is, in the team that I manage, there are more than one way to respond to a situation or more than one way to phrase an email or have a, a call and have the dialogue go that is still sufficient. Yep. But it's hard to accept that, especially, I think, early on, for me anyway, because your only real reflection point is how you do things. Yeah. You don't have another perspective of there's another way to do it until you, until you see it play out. Right. And you are, and I guess as you are talking to your team members, you kind of are facing yourself in the mirror, right? It's the inflection point that you have and how you respond, what you do, the way you hold yourself, the way you show up to a meeting. Mm. Right? Like, you have to be on. That's just a requirement. Yeah. And everyone has down days, sure, but the level of requirement that you have as a team lead or a, or owner of a company… I mean, I look at someone like Anthony Lamacchia, where he has, he has 900 people- Yeah … that work for him. His responsibility that he carries every single day is insurmountable compared to, you know, 19, 20, 25, including other businesses that I have. Right. I think what I love so much about this phase and this season of life is you're continuing to develop yourself, and you have the opportunity to each day. A- and if, if you do it- long enough and consistently, it's, the amount of things you can accomplish in a short period of time is incredible. Yeah. Like, even from what you've come from, from January to now. Yeah. Some things you probably never would have imagined, you know, have happened over the past six months, but just from that continual improvement. That's what I, I love that component of it. That's so cool. I always think about what's, like, what's the next thing I get to learn- Yeah… about business? Because I think it's, it's very different when you're an, when you're the operator at first. When you're doing the task, it's all about just mastering the craft of sales, of getting negotiation, all the finite details. But then when you get to the, the growth phase, it's a whole new chapter of, of development. Yeah. And it, I love that you learn the art of business at that point. You do. Which that's what I've really come to find out that I love. Of course, I, you know, enjoy s- talking to my customers and, and helping with the mortgage process, but in the back of my mind, I'm now more so thinking about how do I grow the team, the business into an organization, versus when I first started, how do I get another loan? Exactly. Like, your mindset changes. Yeah. It absolutely does. Yeah. And there, there's iterations to it, right? I mean, as you begin to scale and develop- Brooke and I started the team in, in May of 2025. Sure, she had her own team, I was building my own. But as you start to develop this, in November we realized very quickly, in November of 2025, and it's funny, maybe a month after we decided this we had this podcast. Yeah. And you're like, "What's going on?" I said, "We're starting a staging company." Yeah, that's right."I don't know how we're gonna do it, but we're starting a staging company." That's right. And we started We Stage Homes off of a whim, where we said, why don't we create this ecosystem, vertically integrate where we are We have so many listings on our team, and obviously Brooke has a bajillion. Sure. Yeah. Um, where how can we reduce the cost that we pay for outside staging and keep it in-house, but also serve other people and other clients to the highest degree, that we would also do that internally? Right. So we started We Stage Homes, and we've already done over 65 stages in the last seven months. Wow, that's awesome. Um, you know, and we're getting great results. We're building a team around that. Shout out to Ashley Marama and Ashley Eisenhower. Mm. Right? They've been, uh, key components to doing that. And now, I mean, we've gone through a little turmoil, as you expect in the first six months of a startup. Mm. Certain people, they leave for other opportunities, movers, things of that nature. And we didn't understand what actually went into the operations of a staging company until we said,"Let's do it." Mm. And then we were building the airplane in the air. Right. It's what you had to do. Who do we need? What are the key components? Oh, wow, we need invoicing to be more official than just send us a Venmo or a Zelle or collect a personal check. Right. No one can run around for that. So we had to hire … Now we had to hire two movers almost full time to ensure that we have the moves. We're g- we have to buy a truck. Right. Because the trucking costs are absolutely astronomical. Um, luckily we have a warehouse at Woodstock Estates that we can utilize the garage and the barn. Right. Um, my, my mother is gonna be hopping on and helping in the admin position to ensure that everything's organized and, and all in, in intact, and then the inventory's there for when we have stages. Then we have the bookkeeper that we brought on to do all the invoicing and all the financials. Mm. And then Ashley's our lead designer. So we went from just an idea to now almost a six-person organization just off a whim. It … What's so funny is that before you got here, I did a solo episode talking exactly about that concept. That you can … Everyone starts an idea. Once you do, you come up with a plan. Yeah. That initial plan Don't take it as sole truth. Like, there- It can be literal. It can. Yeah. There is going to be evolutions, and I- you should encourage it within, you know, your team and your people. I know you do. Because there'll always be ways to find better opportunities or be more efficient and, and do more with the people that we have. Yeah. But it's incredible how impactful the right people are when it comes to building organizations. And I think one thing that, you know, I know you've always done an, you know, excellent job of, is surrounding yourself with some awesome people. A lot of que- time I get questions about… I was actually talking to, um, a realtor up in New Hampshire. He just saw my podcast and called me and said, "Hey, can I pick your brain?" I was like, "Yeah, sure." Love that, dude. Yeah, great. That's cool. Um, great. So we were talking about business and he's like, "You know, I need to hire someone and, and I've got an ad, I got a t- transaction coordinator, I've got a virtual assistant helping with marketing. But I, I need something." And we were going back and forth. And I think one of the problems a lot of times people have is where do you draw the line on what core task you should do- Mm … versus someone else? H- how did you navigate that, and especially with multiple businesses, right? Like, if you only have t- 12 hours in a day, maybe 14 hours in a day, you can't possibly touch every task. So how do you draw the line of, okay, these are my tasks or my responsibilities, versus I need to find someone great to take care of the rest? It's a challenge. Uh- Yeah … you know, it's, it's another one of those challenges where every single day I am try… I'm figuring out what core tasks make the most sense for me. Mm. I think what they are, what tasks are most urgent and which tasks are going to produce the highest results in that set moment as to where I need to focus my attention. Mm. Other ones, you know, I can offload. I have Maddie Parvey as an assistant, as an agent partner who does a lot of the showings, a lot of the inspections, you know, a lot of the open houses, right? Those tasks may not be best suited for me. But the larger ones where I'm negotiating and writing the contracts, I'm then negotiating after inspections, possibly there for a particular client who has an ins- an inspection, right? So we have 15 units under agreement in Southbridge, and I absolutely need to be there. Sure. I am, you know, uh, representing the buyer and the seller, so I need to understand exactly what everyone is seeing in this transaction- Sure … to be able to communicate that fully. I can rely on Maddie for that, yes, but that is a very highly oriented task where there's $2.2 million on the line for either client. Um, right? A big investment. More involved. And then there's also a large commission there. But it's also reputation, and how am I serving those individuals, right? Right. I, I need to be there. Um, and I, I- Sure. And it's more involved- It's more involved… with the type of property. Of course. And, and sometimes, you know, it just, it's a matter of what you are best at. Mm. You figure out what you are best at, right? I'm not best at sending emails, but my mother certainly could be, or- Sure … actually Marama certainly could be compared to me. Sure. Yeah. What do you do when it, something comes your way that you know you shouldn't handle? Do you innately just… I know you're, probably your answer, you just deal with it? Or do you actually send it to where it should go? Again, I think it depends on the urgency. Yeah. I, if I'm in the moment and I have that split second where I can do it- Yeah … I, I just do it. You just do it. Um, and I think it's because that's how it's always been bred in me- Mm-hmm … where if something comes up, take care of it right away. If someone texts you, respond right away. Mm-hmm. Right? Don't wait because I, now I'm finding with the limited time that I have, uh, after ha- having a, a daughter four months ago, and we have two under two, is that time is really of the essence when it's of the essence. Yeah. Because if you have three split minutes where you have something you need to address, take care of that in the moment because you may have a kid pulling on your leg two minutes later. Unpredictable, right? Unpredictable. It's very unpredictable. Or, you know, Sonny's climbing on the coffee table- … and he's trying to jump off. About to jump, yeah. You know what I mean? So it's like- Sure … you gotta jump into the moment and be like, "I'm here, I'm there." But I, it's funny, I, I remember a podcast and I'm trying, I'm trying to think who it was, but they said the wealthiest people in the world respond the quickest. It's true. And because they know how important time is. Mm-hmm. Rather than letting it go by the wayside and them thinking, "Oh my God, I have to respond to this message, I have to respond to this message," all day, that takes up head space. Mm-hmm. They just get it, respond. Boom, done. I saw something similar. I think it was actually, uh, Bruno who put up a post about it online and it was, it was very similar, but it's like you, if you want something done or you need a quick answer, call the busiest person you know. Yeah. And it, and that's truthfully like w- with how you operate. I know if you've got all these things going on, but I know you'll always answer. Yeah. And it, it's, if it's something important relative to the business, like of course right away. Yeah. And I think that's, I've noticed it across the board even, you know, with everything that we do, but especially in the contracting space. Like hit or miss sometimes, but the people who really take pride in their business and have a lot of jobs, they'll get back to you- Right away … quickly. Right away. You want a quote, they'll come tomorrow, they'll send it same day. You need us out next week, they'll be there. Yeah. And it's, it's because I think they understand that the power of urgency. Yep. And that's one thing I've, you know, I've realized through doing this show that is almost innate maybe to, you know, someone like you and I, but not to everyone. Like people draw up five-year plans. I mean, I have an idea of where I want to go, but I'm worried about how fast can I do the things that are in front of me. Right. And it wa- it was, it was funny, I was talking, uh, on the way home last night I was, I was talking to someone driving home and we were talking about the idea of urgency and I was like, "Well, sure, I could rub two sticks together and figure out how to grow and scale an organization. But why, why would I rub two sticks when there's gasoline?" It's like why wouldn't I, you know- Ignite it … maybe right, get that mentor or get that coach or whatever you need to put that extra boost on your business- Let's do it in six months. Why wait 12? Why? Yeah. There's no pride in, in dragging yourself through the trenches, you know? But I think the idea that everything's urgent is what most entrepreneurs who are highly successful, they always have that urgency. And I think that's what we heard on the Ascend summit too. Mm. Was every individual on that stage, they had a vision and a plan to get to a particular degree, but they were so urgent about the tasks that came up on a daily, weekly, monthly basis. Because without those tasks being completed in an urgent manner, they're not going to get to that five, seven, 10-year goal, right? Right. And even Anthony was saying, right, it's like you have to be urgent. You have to be serious. You have to take- Now … every single moment that you can to take care of it now. He goes, "'Cause if you don't, you may not ever get to where you wanna be." That's the last place I wanna be is looking back wishing I did something faster. Yeah. You know, it's… Everyone has that regret. Even me, I always joke with my mom, like,"Couldn't have had me five years earlier?" You know, like Have it sooner, right? Faster, faster. Yeah. But I think that, that, that idea is also though it can be a shackle in some cases. Like, it can be a crutch. Or I notice sometimes I'm trying to learn this skill, but some things don't need to be immediately answered or, or maybe they… there's a better way to phrase it. Yep. Uh, I think I'm trying to learn that because I'm very similar, where if a client texts me- everything in my power to answer them as fast as possible, which might mean taking myself away from a task that I was midway through- Yeah… to respond. Absolutely. And so I think I'm, I'm trying to learn the idea of setting the expectation and still delivering on your commitment, but setting that up front. Of m- depending on, you know, if the best way to get to me is establishing the communication channel. You know, if it's during the week, text. If you wanna, you need to, you know, talk through something, give me a phone call anytime. But if you want numbers for a property, best way is to send an email to my team. So setting those standards- They'll get back to you … we'll always get back to you same day. So at least if they send an email at 9:00 in the morning and we haven't gotten

back to them by 10: 21:18

00, like it's okay. Yeah. We're going to. You'll get numbers today. Right. But past me would say I had my email on one screen and my loan application software on the right. So all day I'm back and forth. Oof. I still do it. It's terrible. But that means I never, every time I move from one screen to the other and go back, I gotta reset my whole train of thought. What was I just doing? Right. What were the nuances, what were the numbers? And it, it drains time and energy. You may be leaving more on the table- Yeah than you would ever, ever imagine, unless you take yourself out of that lens, right? It's hard to step back. It is. But I've tried to, I've been trying to be better at that. I think it's a skill that's hard for entrepreneurs to learn because you're so focused on now, urgency. Results. Get back right away. Results. Yeah. Results. We're obsessed with results, and we're addicted to results. Yeah. Uh, you know, and it's funny, like you go on vacation or you take a day off, and I used to be absolutely terrible at this. I'm still bad. If it, taking a day off, I'm bad. N- no, but like when I'm like,"Okay, I'm taking the day off," I would feel so guilty. Mm-hmm. And it was a guilt against myself where I'm like, "I should be out there hustling. I should be out there doing more." You know? And it's as you're growing and as you're in that growth phase, you are trying to compress so much time into a, into a short period where you're like, "No matter what I'm doing, I have to be doing something to generate a result," when sometimes doing nothing may be generating more results than you could imagine. And that nothing could be- with your family, talking about ideas with friends around a, a fire, or just taking a break for a moment and stepping away from your phone and reading a book or listening to a podcast. Because results could be subconscious, where you're absorbing new information that then brings a new idea to your business, and tenfold, 10X. You're taking gasoline that you wouldn't ever know you had, right? 100%. Yeah. And I think that, that's something that I've learned too, that I'm trying to be better at, is downtime in the right application and for the right duration is sometimes the only way to see the bigger picture. Yeah. Because there's so many little things coming at us all the time, that if you think about the role of, I talked to Andrew Bosco, who took over as CEO of Candor. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Really interesting perspective, because he's really embodies the CEO mindset, and he said, "All I really do all day is ask questions." Huh. He's like, "I don't really do anything." And I was like That is awesome. Like, yeah, we were talking about it. Yeah. He's like, "That's really all I do." Like, he… Someone will come to me and say, "I can't get something done by this deadline." He's like, "Why?" They go, "Well,'cause the system doesn't work." He's like, "Well, why is that our system?" And so he's like, "But all I really do is I'm trying to encourage people- To solution … to take a step back and look at the bigger s- the bigger system." He goes, "We ultimately realized we got rid of an operating system, we changed our software, but all I try to do is just challenge people to take that step back and, and look at the bigger picture to see better ways to do things, better solutions. And then where do, where do we wanna be as a company?" He goes, "That was one thing I was tasked with when I got there, is who, who is, who is Candor Realty? What are we gonna do?" Very interesting. And so he said, "Ultimately, we came up with the goal of we wanna help a million people, um, reach financial freedom." I said, "That's awesome." He goes, "But that's the kinda company we wanna be." Wow. So he goes, "Now, everything we do, we shape around that." Big vision. But had we not taken the step back to align the vision, could impact what we're doing right now. And so I find, like, those moments of, of solace or focus on something that's not just doing, they're hard to remove yourself when you're in, in the weeds. Yeah, and it's kinda like working in the business ver- versus working on the business, right? And we've, we've catered that to our team now, where maybe once a month we ask them, "What are you doing to work on your business rather than in the business?" And Anthony Lamacchia came out with something. He's like, everyone in the summer months, real estate agents, they get into closing mode. Mm. They have six, seven, 10, 20 deals set to close, and they're only focused on closing those deals rather than getting new business and building a pipeline. Mm-hmm. Right? And I've, I've fallen victim to this. Of course. Because you're in the mode, you're in the mode. Push, pull. But yeah, what can you do to step back and work on your business, or work on something else that's going to drive your business, right? Yeah. So how do you do that as a mortgage officer? What are you, what are you doing in those moments where you're like, "Awesome, I got 25 deals in the pipeline set to close"? And it's tough, because I feel like files you always have to be in. Fires come up all the time Yeah And that's the hard part is sometimes that there's a lot of time-sensitive challenges. And s- right now I think just the nature of the market, there's a lot of contentious, challenging files. But I haven't figured out the perfect solution. I'm, I'm working through- Mm … my plan for that, but it's the inevitable push/pull. My, obviously, you know, my dad's been in the business for 35 years, and he said the hardest part about being an originator, being in sales is, is not falling victim to push/pull You get all the business and you're like,"All right, time to push it out." Right. You push it all out, and you're like, "I gotta pull more in." Yeah. But keeping the, keeping the ship moving at the same speed is a, it's a hard challenge. But I think the solution ultimately is kind of what we were talking about this whole time, finding the highest value tasks that I should be working on. Mm-hmm. And then filling the rest with people who can help support, and that's what I've started to do over the past six months, um, with hiring Natasha and, and Alex, and obviously Trent, and then offloading everything else so I just have more time. Yeah. But ultimately it's, it's… I think for me, I'm, I'm realizing that now, where, okay, I'm looking at where do I wanna be in 12 months? Who, what does my team look like in 12 months? Okay, let's hire them now. So I'm already looking at bringing on one other person hopefully, we'll see, maybe next, uh, 60 days or so, uh, two more people, and then I wanna actually, you know, continue that development now. And what are those people? What are those key players? So key players will be someone in what I would call a, a pipeline manager/business development rep. Nice. So someone who can take over communication with updating our realtors on statuses of clients, whether it's pre-approvals, active, and then really being that strategic partner for people. I think it's missed a lot in the mortgage industry, but you know, if you align with your team, rather than, "Hey, here, let's service this client," how do we make this process as seamless and possible for both of our teams- Yeah and for everyone we interact with? So every time that a deal gets put together it's, I already know what's gonna… I already know how they work. You have all the ingredients there. Calling the transaction coordinator,"Hey, h- t- talk to me. How, how are we… Can we, how can we work better together?" Yeah. No one calls the transaction coordinator. No. Call the, you know, call the paralegal."Hey, I notice sometimes it's you or now sometimes it's John on the email. Who's on the email? Who do we want to email? Is there a better way we can communicate? Um, are there different, uh, what's your standard title expectation? We do business with you all the time. We always, we never really know. What, what is that like?" "Oh, usually two weeks, but we can go fa-" Like, really lay out the blueprint. That's awesome. And then what happens after closing? S- not only for the client, but for us as partners, like you and I. We should know what that client is going to get for communication for the next five years. But between from me, from you, and build a campaign around it. Right. So it's all seamless. Um, and similar on the- It's brilliant … on the event side. You know, I don't, for anyone, mortgage professionals listening, I can't give all my secrets, but I have I have some, I have some good thoughts. I want to talk to you about that, but that's a big thing, is like run it as a business partners. Yeah. Like, most lender agents- They just are vendors to each other. They just do their thing, and they post a couple, you know, combined photos with each other on a rate sheet or whatever it is, and that's what it… That's all. Yeah. Yeah. There should be, you know, a semblance of a, a business partnership. Let's sit down and let's… What's our plan next year? You know? Yeah. What, what's your, uh… What if you're like, "Well, you know, Ryan, I'm actually gonna really start going full commercial," or whatever the case, right? Like, we- that should be a conversation that we figure out, well, okay, what is our relationship gonna look like so we both can get where we wanna go. Absolutely. Let's drive the ship right there. Yeah. That's smart. So. That's awesome. Yeah, I think the, the partnership is important. So that, that key role for me will be, uh… I'm really excited. I've… I found someone who I think will be, be really good. So. Nice. We'll see. And she's… Uh, she speaks Spanish. Wow. Which is huge for our team because we always have the clients who, you know, speak Spanish, and other than pleasantries, I'm not very useful. So. Yeah, I get that. I get that. So. I'm thinking about the same thing, "Who am I gonna hire?" And it's mostly just, I think, the personal assets that I have. I'm pretty well-structured in my real estate business. Mm. Um, but I keep getting the question, uh, especially now with kids, and it's from financial advisors. Mm. It's from other individuals in my life that, you know, are, are very successful. I think you asked me that yesterday too. I did. I did. And Ryan said, "You still manage all your properties?" Yeah, I do. You do. I do. Um, and- You do … I think I'm getting away from wearing that as a badge of honor of, yeah, I, I manage all my properties. It is a point of pride. It is. It is, and it's, it's cool, right? Like, everyone's like, "Oh, you have, you know, 55 units. You manage all those?" Like, yeah, I manage all those. I got systems down. No big deal. It's, it's, it's clean. It's easy. But then I go, okay, when matters do arise, uh, with properties or certain things, right? Like, we had a untimely death, uh, last week, and it, it spent a lot of time, you know, organizing people, getting a trauma clean unit out there, talking to the detectives, et cetera, et cetera, right? Like, that takes up time. Mm. Um, if I had a property manager, I'm not handling those conversations. Uh, you know, my property manager would. And my property manager's dealing with, okay, people that may be delinquent in rent. What do we do? Mm-hmm. What's the system? What's the process? I have it all bottled up in my head. So to be able to excrete that and put it out somewhere and then allow someone to take that over, I think will allow me to do more things in my life that may produce higher results or just build a better real estate business, build a bigger team. Um, so that's something that probably in the next 60 to 90 days I'm already working towards is whether it's just someone internal- Mm or a property manager, I'm gonna hire that out. I can't, I can't continue to do what I'm doing. It, it's- Yeah … I think, and as you know, it's, it's the opportunity cost. Yeah. And that's where I always look at it from, you know, that… We talk about the book all the time, but buy back my time, how to buy back your time, and it's like the principle of, well, calculate your ex- income based on where you wanna be, and then divide it out to see how much your hourly rate is, and if you can find someone for 25% of that, it's worth it. Yeah. I always joke with my… My parents sometimes are old school with stuff like that. They're like, "Well- You know, they get it now because I've said it so many times, so like, but my, my dad's friend I was talking to last week, and he's like, "You bought a new house?" And I was like, "Yeah, we're closing soon." He's like, "Do you get a new law- you get a lawnmower? You ride on or you push?" I'm like,"I'm not mowing the lawn." He's like- He's like, "What do you mean?" I'm like, "Ab- absolutely not." Yeah. And then he's like, "Well, why?" I'm like, "Do you… Well, I'll go into it if you want." And so I said, "But look, you know, if I spend three hours mowing the lawn, plus weeding, raking, and all that stuff- Yeah that costs three hours of my time. I could outsource that for $60. If I go create one revenue-generating activity, I'm willing to bet on myself I can make more than $60." Yeah. So that's the whole, you know, concept we went through. At some point I'm sure I'd love mowing the lawn. I was walking the other day and I saw some guy out, a older man, he was watering his flowers, and he was just 60, you know, 60 years old, just out watering his flowers. I'm like, "That looks nice," you know? Yeah. I could see that at some point. Yeah. There's pride in that, I think. There is pride, but that, I changed recently where obviously, you know, I have someone who does property management for me now internally, and she had a property management background. I tell you what- I don't miss a single thing about it. Not a single thing. Is it Tasha? Tasha does, yeah. Nice. It's an evolution to data dump my thought processes into her, um, to her, for her to be able to do. But you just deal with them as they come up. Yeah. And you create those systems of like, all right, anything under 500 bucks you can approve. Anything over, come to me. Right. If there's any tenant challenges, before you respond, send me your draft, I'll read it. That's it. That's it. Yeah. If you need attorney advice, here's, you know, one guy that I use for everything, all of my consultations, et cetera. Yeah. Um, but I think what has really pushed me to that, and the other side is obviously have the team, have We Stage Homes, um, you know, is my portfolio. Mm. I'm buying 130-ish units in Maine. Uh, and- Soon. Yeah, soon. So about a month away from that, um, with Tony Eisenhower. And we are hiring a professional property management. We're just gonna be essentially asset managers, where we sit back and we ensure that the operations run smoothly. Mm. But rather than being there and managing the properties or managing the managers, right, we're hiring a professional management company to do all that, that they've already had these properties under management for. Because the amount of time that we would have to spend to efficiently create a new property management company to manage this for ourselves… Uh, not even a question. I mean, we did- And what's the ROI even on, you know, how much money do you really save if you did that? Yeah. That's the question. Yeah. Does it make sense? Yeah. No, it doesn't make sense. Ton of time. So, uh, thinking about that is why wouldn't I just create the same type of protocol here? I think you should. Yeah. I think the ne- next time we talk w- that answer should be no. Yeah, it should be no. It should be no. It should be no. It will be no. Yeah, it will be no. Yeah, you won't… I didn't regret. I don't think you will- Yeah… either. No, definitely. Definitely not. Brought you a long way. But I wanna also talk about the event we just had. Yeah. So Ascend Summit. Ascend Summit. Now a month and a half ago. Crazy. Crazy. But we've got a lot of good feedback, and I know for us this year, our big, our vision was much broader. Yeah. Um, so for those who don't know, we hosted, we… Ben and I run a group called The Informed Investor. We talk a lot about entrepreneurship, multifamily, real estate investing. The goal objective is really to bring together a room of like-minded people who want to do something significant. Yeah. And share thoughts. We bring in speakers who have, are operating at an incredibly high level to share their stories. And this past June, we had an awesome turnout and some great feedback. So let's, let's talk about it. Let's dive into it Yeah, it was, it was awesome. Um, it was definitely, I think, outside of, I would say, maybe our comfort zone in terms of, uh, the style of the event- It's different the type of operators we were bringing to the event. We are so deeply immersed in the real estate industry that, you know, we could absolutely build an event catered to real estate agents, real estate investors and, and lenders super easily. Yeah, sure. Um, but this time we wanted to really open it up and get operators and entrepreneurs and people doing really big things. Uh, and I think we had a great lineup of speakers. Um- Yeah … Anthony Lamacchia is known for, obviously, his real estate advice and his real estate charisma and the company he's built, but we wanted to really hear the inside details of how he built that. Uh, and he went through the iterations and the evolutions of all of it. The early TV ads. The early TV ads. Him asking, you know, banks for loans and excess credit lines- Mm … so that he could fund TV commercials, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to do what he did. The type of nuances that he saw happening in the market and what changed him to hire people or shift from a particular model like Brooke and I have, a team model into a brokerage model- Mm and what that looked like. Um, just absolutely fascinating when you, you know, start to look into what drives an entrepreneur to be the way they are. And Anthony went back even into his childhood. Mm. And I, I always remember this, and someone actually brought it up to me when I told them something very similar four or five years ago. He's like a little brother to me. Mm. Uh, but Anthony said, you know, he kept telling his grandfather he wants to be in real estate, he wants to be in real estate. And his grandfather said, "Then why are you dressed like that? Why are you dressed like you want to be a landscaper?" He said, "Well, yeah, Grandpa, I, you know, I, uh, I, I landscape during the day and I sell real estate at night." He's like, "You just said you want to be a real estate agent. Why don't you dress like a real estate agent? Otherwise people are gonna continue to ask you, oh, you still work for your father's company?"" Right. And it was very similar to this kid that, um, I was, I was very close to his older brother, and I told him maybe four years ago, I saw him somewhere in public or out in the gym, and he's like, "Oh, I wanna be successful. I wanna do this." And I'm like, "Well, the way that you are presenting yourself now does not tell me that." I go- Mm … "You have to look the part. You have to be the part you wanna be. You are the main character in your own movie. If you're not dressing like the main character you want to be or you're being, or you're presenting yourself that way, you're never gonna be that main character." Correct. And he brought it up to me yesterday, just out of the blue. And I didn't even remember telling him this, but he was somewhere and- Um, we have him doing some stuff with We Stage Homes and now We Move Homes kind of thing. And he was with this big agent who's known me my entire life, uh, in Connecticut, and she's like, "Oh, I didn't realize that you'd be involved with, with Ben in things like this." And he said to me, he's like, "Yeah. Well, I, I changed the script for myself." He's like, "That's why I'm involved in things like this now." I love that. So it was kind of cool to see that, but I don't even remember telling him it, you know? Yeah. It was just, like, offhanded advice. I love that. Yeah. Yeah, I love that. And, and within Anthony's story, I think for me too, the, one of the takeaways I had was I think his ability to just make decisive but monumental changes in his business. Like, he talked about multiple significant pivots in his marketing strategy, the business structure, and his ability to make that direction change and just go all in on wherever he was heading. Yeah. Like, he believed in the out, in the long-term vision. Yeah. Which I think is hard to do in the moment. It is. It's so hard to be like, "All right, let- let's, you're focusing on this right now, let's take a left turn." And to be able to just say, "Okay, let's do it." Yeah. You know, I see the vision, I see the, where the market's going. His ability to see the future, I think was, was incredible. And he had individuals on his team that trusted him to make those decisions. Mm-hmm. I think that's a key thing that, you know, I don't know if he really went into detail about that, but all the individuals that have been with him since he started the LaMacchia Company, uh, are still with him, right? He's celebrating 15-year, 20-year, 22-year anniversaries with his people that started out when he was just an agent. Yeah. And, you know, they have trusted him along the way to make the decisions he's made. And I think it's, it's very tricky to find those individuals that, you know, will support you through any decision that you make. Especially when they're financially invested in your success. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Very cool. Very cool. Yeah, and people like that, I feel like long-term employees like that, they don't stick around just for f- the financial part. No. They believe, they believe in where we're, in where, where the mission is going. Yeah. And where- Or they're like, "Hey, I like this guy, so I'm gonna hang out with him." Yeah. That too. Like, yeah that, that's part of it, but no. It definitely is. I, no, but no, but it's not, that's not the reason. No. It's all about the culture, the business that you're building, the type of individual you are and the operator you are. I mean, there's a reason that he's built the company to 900 plus individuals, and he's gonna continue to scale. 100%. And I think that, that also aligned with when, you know, it reminds me of when Angelo was talking about being present for his employees. Like, when he walks through his warehouse of thousands of people, he got mad. Angelo messaged me, did I ever tell you that? When I mixed up how many meals they did. Oh, n- oh, no. That's why we, I tried to get Cam to change my audio. Oh, he got pissed.' Cause he comments and he's like, "It's Like, "That's a lot of meals," you know? And he's like, "No, it's a week." So I'm like, "I'm sorry." It makes sense why they're doing 70 million. Yeah. I'm like- … I should've done the math, right? Yeah. But that resonated when Angelo was talking about being present in front of his pl- employees. Walking through the warehouse, you know, hundreds of people, and everyone from the cook to the delivery person in the back handling the shipment would say, "Hey, Angelo." You know, he'd come up to him, "Hey, Angelo." All excited to see him. We witnessed it. He knew their names. We saw it. And I mean, that's culture in itself, right? 100%. He said, "Nobody is different than anyone else." He walks through, he puts a hairnet on, says hi to everyone. Everyone gets a birthday cake. Love that. You know? That's, that's something, that's culture. That, the little things matter. 100%. They do. If you want everyone to believe in your mission and work harder for you, they need to know you're in it- Yeah … and that you care. Yeah, absolutely. And somebody I think that on that panel, uh, CJ Sincotta- Mm… who's incredibly young, but- Yeah um, gifted with vision and also, you know, an o- a great operator. I think he's wise beyond his years, being 25 years old. Uh, he had a very similar, I guess, um, philosophy to this, is not allowing cancerous employees or people that aren't motivated to continue to stay in your organization. Mm. I think he said he's gone through 150 people in the last five years. It's a conveyor belt, but he has teams, he has crews that are there and committed, and he's not going to allow someone to disrupt that culture that he continues to create. Hard work, excellence, building a team, right? If someone comes in here and they're not willing to put in the work as the guy that, you know, has been here for five years- Mm well, what are you doing on the team? And I think with, with CJ too, it, it reminds me of Anthony Lamacchia's story in that he had the ability to make significant changes in his business quickly. Quickly. Like, he cut down his service offering, I don't know the number, but by a lot. And it's hard to, to do that as an owner when you see so many restaurants that offer food that you know they probably never sell. Yeah. But why is it on the menu? Imagine the menus are, like, eight pages long. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, he find, he found the opportunity to go to just go really focused and deep on something, and I think, you know, that's, uh, obviously part of the Alex Hormozi model of, of- And with that, he said he has about two and a half years of backlogged work. Wow. So he needs to scale, he needs to grow, right? There's a demand for him to grow. That's incredible. And I don't think if he, if he didn't shift from the window washing, the deck cleanings, all the things that he was doing where it was like, "Hey, here's my book. Pick what you want for a service," rather than, "This is what we do. This is what we're gonna do, and we're gonna deliver with excellence-" Mm … you know, he wouldn't have had the amount of back- backlog or company that he has now. I mean, he's on track- No … to do 7 to 10 million this year. That's insane. Which is crazy. That is insane. And just, just with what he's doing with, you know, backyard, uh, patios and hardscapes. But he has the, he has the business mindset to really frame that into a machine. Yeah. Which I think… and, and that's just the start of where he wants to go- Yeah … you know, with, with his vision. So I, I thought that was really cool. And when he was on the panel, I really liked, and I, I don't really, I don't love to use the word humble, but CJ in his responses was very humble. He was. He would say, "I'm not where all of these other individuals are, but this is where I think it would make sense for me to be, or the lens that I'm going to look through when I do have this company or as I'm building this company." He's figuring it out as he goes. Yeah. Right? Like everyone else. Yeah. Yeah, and that's, that's the frame I take on this podcast a lot is in some of my solo episodes I'm like, "Look, I haven't figured it out, but this is what I'm doing." Yeah. And by the next time we talk about it, hopefully I figured it out, and I'll tell you. Yeah. You know? So- Exactly … it, it's, you learn a lot from that approach too, and I think having that mindset is so important because if you do think you know everything, it's hard to see opportunities that are right in front of you. Oh, absolutely. You have to take a step back and, and really think about, is this the best way to do something? Is this the best way for the business? Like we were talking about earlier with taking, you know, that kind of reframe moment of, let me take the high-level picture. See what this looks like from 10,000 feet. Yeah. Yeah. And, and encourage your employees, I think, to do the same, which I know CJ always has that di… He, he talked on the panel about having that employee culture of, "How do I stay close to my employees if we're seasonal? How do we create that culture where we're all together, we're all pulling in the same direction?" And, and that's hard to do without taking a moment to, to look from the outside. Oh, absolutely. And similar with Jamie when we, we talked earlier actually about her comment regarding if you see a problem in your business, the best place to look is in the mirror. I appreciated her perspective when it comes to managing employees. Like, her story about when she started her business was all about the clients and the relationships, and now she finds more joy in forcing herself to become a better operator- Mm… to better serve her And she's like, "That's actually what I enjoy the most." Yeah. And for me, I resonated with that because I find a lot of enjoyment now in the development process of creating a team that enjoys working together, that enjoys the mission we're on together. They see the vision. And there's a lot of enjoyment in that. Of course, clients are a huge component of my business and something I really enjoy, but I don't see my clients every day, 365 days a year. You're right. Yeah. I see my people, you know, my employees. So I, I, I enjoy that process and I think having that perspective is, can be super powerful. I totally agree. And she is celebrating their wins- Mm … and looking for ways that they can become better aestheticians or better injectors or operators themselves, right? Because they're serving their own clients also. So it's very similar to, you know, we close deals. Yeah. Is we love to share as a team the wins collectively that everyone is having, but also how can we individually serve our agents that work with us and for us to build their own business and continue to serve their clients, right? It's, it's the quarterly givebacks where we are donating, you know, money back to a charitable organization that may touch one of our team members, you know, near and dear to the heart. Um, what does that look like? What is the experience? Who are we giving back to? Do we feel good about it? We feel great. We feel great, and we're all together, and we're all- Right raising money for one cause. It's not just about how to be the best agents, how to be the best person. Yeah. And that's one and the same. It's a part of the whole mission. Absolutely. Absolutely. And then our last panelist was Jim Murray who got up on stage. Jim owns five different businesses across multiple different industries, and I think one thing that Jim's message really got across for me was stand on your principles. Be a man of your word, follow through on your commitments, exceed expectations, and don't waver when things get hard. Right? If the work gets hard and you committed to doing it, then that's what you signed up for. It's refreshing because a lot of times in today's culture, people don't talk about that. No, they don't. If they do, they don't mean it. Yeah. And he hold- Jim means it … he holds his team to that standard. Mm. You can see it. I mean, we went and did a workout with him, and he had two of his team members there working out with us on a Saturday. Yeah. And he goes, "Every single team meeting- People should be here focused, intentional, do vision boards together, and we're all here to get better And the idea of bringing that together I think is really important because a lot… Sometimes you have one person in an organization, especially at the higher level, who say and mean those things, but they don't encourage everyone else to do the same. Yeah. But he was really big on that team building aspect that I thought for me definitely took something away. It's just a fresh reminder. And it radiates through everyone in the organization. Someone asked me what are my principles, what are they? You know, m- makes you think right for a second. Of c- of course, you always have your pillars, but you don't always think about them. No. So I think it was a refresh from that moment because a lot of businesses, whether you choose to actually establish them or not, they shine through. They do. People can see the writing on the wall. Absolutely. Love it. Well, I know we could talk all day and I'm, I'm excited and I want to conclude us now, but I'm excited for, uh, the next time around because I can't wait to hear what you got in store. Yeah. Hopefully, uh, sooner than six months, but things are always moving and- And the next time I ask you, do you manage your own properties, you're gonna say… Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Always a pleasure, man. Um- Yeah, man … for anyone who wants to learn more about Ben, we'll drop all of his information in the show notes. You can follow him on Instagram, follow We Close Deals. If you're looking for an Airbnb in Woodstock, Connecticut- Woodstock Estates Woodstock Estates. Come find us. All right. We'll catch you on the next one. See you later.