From Boutique IT To Big Impact: How Pointech Solves Real Business Problems

Ready to rethink what “IT support” means? We bring back entrepreneur and Pointech founder Austin Ramsey for a candid, high-energy conversation about turning technology into real business outcomes. Austin shares how a boutique, strategy-first model beats the old sales playbook by starting with listening, mapping how revenue moves, and designing systems that deliver peace of mind. The stories land close to home: a chance furniture pickup reveals a failing phone system that’s bleeding revenue; a next-day temporary fix and a thoughtful rebuild turn chaos into reliability and long-term growth.

We dig into Austin’s evolution from solo founder to project leader and partner, including a behind-the-scenes look at a 20,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art surgery center where he served as lead project manager for connectivity and infrastructure. From owner items and compliance to vendor coordination, he explains how large builds succeed when someone owns the details and protects the timeline. Along the way, he breaks down his signature mindset: crush the box to remove limits, then think beyond big to keep momentum after milestones. That approach creates intrapreneurs—team members who innovate from within—and aligns IT with the business instead of the ticket queue.

AI threads through everything we cover: using tools like ChatGPT and Gemini to accelerate writing, design, and problem-solving without outsourcing judgment. Austin shows where AI saves hours, where it can mislead, and how to balance speed with verification. If you care about practical technology strategy, operational calm, and a smarter way to scale, this conversation is your playbook for 2026.

Subscribe for future episodes, share this with a friend who leads a growing team, and leave a quick review to help more people find the show. Got a question or a story about tech saving (or sinking) your day? Send it our way and join the conversation.

To help you to navigate the home buying and mortgage process, Jonathan & Steve are currently licensed in Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia, contact us today at 423-491-5405 or visit www.jonathanandsteve.com.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome To Benchmark Happenings
• 0:46 Meet Austin Ramsey Of Point Tech
• 2:19 Founding Story And Entrepreneur Mindset
• 4:10 From IT Vendor To Strategic Partner
• 6:02 Crush The Box To Build Intrapreneurs
• 8:22 Listening First And Understanding Business
• 9:55 The Marketplace Table To Lifesaver Phones
• 12:05 Boutique Model And Referral Growth
• 13:33 2026 Theme: Think Beyond Big
• 15:40 Big Projects And Faith-Led Preparation
• 17:05 Surgery Center Tech Build And PM Lessons
• 20:10 Partnering With Other IT Firms
• 22:05 Owner Items, Planning, And Peace Of Mind
• 24:10 AI Becomes The New Default Tool
• 26:05 Speed, Creativity, And Caution With AI
• 28:05 Contact Info And What Point Tech Offers

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:03

This is Benchmark Havening. Brought to you by Jonathan and Steve from Benchmark Home Loan. Northeast Tennessee. Johnson City, Kingsport, Bristol, the Tri-Cities, one of the most beautiful places in the country to live. With tons of great things to do and awesome local businesses. And on this show, you'll find out why people are dying to move to Northeast Tennessee. And on the way, we'll have discussions about mortgages and we'll interview people in the real estate industry. It's what we do. This is Benchmark Happenings, brought to you by Benchmark Home Loans. And now your host, Christine Reed.

SPEAKER_02: 0:46

Welcome back, everybody, to another episode of Benchmark Happenings. And you know what? We are way into 2026. It got here before we knew it. Time passes by so quickly. But today, the star of my show is probably one of my favorite all-time entrepreneurs, Austin Ramsey, uh, developer owner of Point Tech. So, Austin, thank you for being here.

SPEAKER_01: 1:15

I'm so glad to be here. What a great start to 2026. It's been.

SPEAKER_02: 1:18

Yes. And you know what? And I always love having you on this podcast. And I think this is probably what our third or fourth.

SPEAKER_01: 1:25

I think at least three or four. I've lost track.

SPEAKER_02: 1:27

And I'm telling you, if if you all have not listened to the podcast that we've done with Austin Ramsey, uh, founder of Point Tech, you're missing it because he is just a wealth of information. And um, you know, Austin, I think that um you inspire me. I think just our previous conversation that we just had before starting this podcast, I was like, oh man, you've got me, you've got me fired up and ready to go for 2026. So you know what? Point tech is a great um company that you founded uh several years ago. You you just you've been an entrepreneur since you were very young, a DJ. And um, I mean, we've had podcasts where we've talked about your your history and stuff, but but Point Tech, tell us, tell us what's happening with Point Tech.

SPEAKER_01: 2:20

Yeah, so I mean, you know, Point Tech six years ago, believe it or not, I was actually looking back and uh you know, you get your LinkedIn uh notification on your your work anniversary. Uh for me, my company founded anniversary. And six years ago, um, I was uh in college still trying to figure out, you know, do I want to go down the path of a traditional route at Eastman or Google or travel somewhere away and or do I go out on the limb and and really take this entrepreneurship thing to the next level? I was always I've like you said, uh I've been an entrepreneur at heart since I was in elementary school. Um I'm actually proud to say I've never had a W-2. I've always been a 1099, so I wouldn't even know how to read a W-2 if I if if I saw no, I've I I I I know what a W-2 is, but you know, I just I've never been a W-2. And um I'm proud of that because I think, you know, it's the exciting thing about being an entrepreneur, especially coming into the new year, is you can really do anything. And I remember in school, um, you know, people would say, you know, you could set out and do anything you wanted to do. And I used to always think that's kind of hogwash, right? You could really do anything you want to do. And I thought, but in reality, it is. Um you can literally, in today's world, with we we're just talking about AI, right?

SPEAKER_02: 3:34

Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 3:35

With technology and AI, with YouTube, the resources we have today, I mean it. I mean, you can literally do whatever you want. Um and so if you set your mind for it. Um, but yeah, point tech, uh, you know, five uh now six years going into year seven, um, I started it with the idea that I wanted to be a boutique IT consulting firm, right? So I'd watched a lot of businesses that were using IT providers, and a lot of times they were very sales-driven. They would come in trying to sell a bunch of products. They didn't really understand the business, they didn't understand the people. Right. They didn't understand what drove revenue and where the costs were. And I really wanted to be be in the weeds with the business. And so a lot of times uh I I would come into a meeting to talk to a future client just to learn how the business runs and what brings you revenue. And and by the end of the meeting, I got to understand enough that I could develop a strategy to help that business grow, right? And so IT being technology focused helps businesses uh with efficiency automation today with AI. Uh, there's so many ways it helps businesses grow, scale, uh, save cost, stay relevant, right? Um and over the past six years, what I've found is that Point Tech is more of a it's an all-in consulting arm that's gonna partner with a company across different areas of the business. And so uh that could be from you know, general IT support, right? So helping to keep your systems, your network secure, but it could also be helping with your physical access control, right? You gotta keep your doors locked, uh partner with other companies outside to help look into that. Right. Um helping businesses look at ways to leverage different solutions that a normal IT provider wouldn't necessarily come in and be able to help adapt to, like software, uh services that are external to a traditional IT role. So I look at myself, uh, you know, I have the idea of crush the box.

SPEAKER_02: 5:44

That's I was getting ready to say you are the cheap box crusher. I'm the cheap box crusher. Think outside the box.

SPEAKER_01: 5:49

Yeah, so and I used to always hear that, you know. I I I, in fact, I had a mentor of mine, um, he uh, you know, said, you know, think outside the box, and I loved that. I really do. And I I love that concept. I took it one step further because I think if you think outside the box, the box is still in the room and it's a limiting factor. Why not crush the box? Get rid of it, throw it away. Don't even think about the box anymore. And that motto now has become such a huge element to how I do business and how I orient people to thinking, you know, just about problems. And so what ends up happening um is you end up developing intrapreneurs. Okay, so there's entrepreneurship, so that's external. You're building a business, you're starting your own business. But inside of a company, you've got intrapreneurs with an eye, right? Those are employees that are intreneurially solving problems in a business, right? So that they're not going to go out on their own and start their own company, but they can help that business start new things internally. Absolutely. Which is a huge value add for a business.

SPEAKER_02: 6:56

And and people who can operate in that capacity are so valuable to the company.

SPEAKER_01: 7:01

Correct. Correct.

SPEAKER_02: 7:02

You know, absolutely. And that's what I love about what you're what you do, Austin, is you actually you sit down with your clients and you you ask questions. Yes. And you listen. Yes. And that's why I think it's made you so successful.

SPEAKER_01: 7:18

Well, I think the whole the the old motto is talk with your ears is a huge one, right? I love that. You know, when you walk into a room, I love to just sit there and absorb and soak in all the details. And, you know, a lot of my clients today actually had a conversation earlier this week where a client, you know, the the CEO literally was like, you understand our business. You understand our industry, you understand what we do. And my my comment back to that was that's my goal. If I don't understand your business, if I don't understand how you operate, then all I can do is provide you products and services that maybe solve part of your problems, right? But maybe not all of your problems. And so, you know, a lot of times um I, you know, I've I've had a lot of very interesting examples, but you know, I remember one of the clients that I that I that I onboarded, um, it was a funny story because I was uh had was looking for some furniture and actually on Facebook Marketplace found this table that my mother found for me. She said, Hey, check this out. You might like this. Go visit them, look at it. So I went and vet with them and table was great. And uh I happened to be on the phone talking to a client, right? You're always on call when you're on a business, right? And the the the the guy there, he says, What do you do? And I said, Well, I do IT work. You know, a lot of times it's hard to describe what what I do, right? I do IT work.

SPEAKER_02: 8:42

Well, their eyes usually start to glaze over because they don't understand it. But I I wanted to just share too, Austin, what a great compliment from your previous client that's that actually told you, said you really understand us, you know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 8:58

Oh, it was it was huge. That's that's when you know. I mean that's that satisfaction, you know, we've been able to dive in, yes, get in the weeds, right? And and really help understand it.

SPEAKER_02: 9:08

Right.

SPEAKER_01: 9:08

Um, but yeah, so he asked me, you know, what do you do? And it's IT work, and he said, Oh, wow. He said, Well, you need to talk to my my uh my daughter, she runs our business, and uh we're having some issues with our phones, right? Fairly large business, but they're having some phone issues. They've been working back and forth with the provider uh on this, could never get to the issue. So I come in from buying a table, and next day I had them a temporary phone solution built out where they could operate. They were losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in missed calls because calls were going to an empty, busy tone, right? So a fairly simple, in my mind, was a very simple problem, right? You're not getting calls, but to them, they were at the end of they were at their wits' end, right? Right. They were losing revenue, they were losing clients, a very long-term business. So came in next day, got them operationally, over the next few months, rebuilt their whole network, put in a permanent solution, and three years later, they're a great client of mine that I operate with, and we're continuing to evolve in ways that they can leverage technology to grow. That's great. That is the that's one example of many examples of how my have how my business comes in, and I'm not looking for uh I'm not sales driven. Um I don't have any sales. In fact, I can say with with very hundred percent confidence, I don't pay for any marketing. The only marketing I pay for is when I buy my coffee cups that I've got some branded coffee cups. Um but I do not do any because I want clients to either one find me or me stumble into them and be able to make a relationship built out of that. I don't want to, you know, I'm I'm not trying to go out and and just get 20 businesses.

SPEAKER_02: 10:51

And you don't need to.

SPEAKER_01: 10:52

I don't.

SPEAKER_02: 10:53

You really don't, Austin, because that I mean that's how we we learned, Stephen, my husband and I learned about who you were is through Becky Rockwell.

SPEAKER_01: 11:01

Yes. Oh, yes, so sweet.

SPEAKER_02: 11:03

And and and shout out to Becky Rockwell, we love you, we miss you. Yes. Um, but but it was you know, it was through her, you know, saying, you guys have to call Austin. And and that's what it is, and that's truly you don't have to spend a lot of money on this marketing and advertising because your clients, they are I guess you provide an elevated touch.

SPEAKER_01: 11:26

Yes. I call myself a boutique consulting firm, right?

SPEAKER_02: 11:30

And you're really beyond boutique, I think.

SPEAKER_01: 11:33

Well, thank I well, I th I feel like I'm so going into my 2026 vision, you know, we were just chatting a minute ago. Yes. Um, I try to orient with a concept, right? And and and over the past six years, really it's been crush the box. That's that's been me, that's been my company. Um, and and and I I constantly comment to people, you know, go crush that box, you know, just as it's just a mindset uh or keep crushing it, you know. Right. This year though, I had this I do a lot of driving with my work, um, and and I'm I'm actually notorious for never using uh music in my car because I'm always on the phone. I'm talking to clients, talking to friends, etc. Um, but when I'm not, I usually just drive silent to think, right? To just have that mind time. So some people like to mow the yard and think. I personally don't. Um I like to drive and think, right? Um so in my head, I was thinking, what is 2026 for me? Right. And and I've had some cool milestones. I'll talk about one of those projects just a minute, but I've had some cool milestones in 2025. So this year, it came to me in a moment that it's think beyond big, right? You can do big things, and that's great. And those big things are different skills for different people, right? What's big to us could be small to somebody else, could be big, bigger than to somebody else, right? Uh it's all based on where you're at. But think beyond even that. So if if if if you're shooting for, you know, one goal, right? That's great. Think beyond that goal. Because guess what? When you get to that goal, that'll stop if you don't have another goal. So for me, that's what really coming into this podcast today. It was was I'm I'm just I'm really fired up in this concept of think beyond big. Um and you know, I think we're at a point in, you know, there's a lot more optimism coming into just our country today. We've you know, we've had a lot of challenges, right? And there's been a lot of uh a cleanup that's had to occur, I I think is the words I've I've described.

SPEAKER_02: 13:33

I think a lot of really good things have happened, don't you? Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 13:37

Oh, I think we're just starting to see now some of the growth that, you know, all of the planning over the past year to kind of I mean you know, and and I'm not a uh I I I do love the stock market. It's it's a great indicator and and it's at all-time highs. That that definitely helps to to see that show success, right?

SPEAKER_02: 13:56

Even my company stock's going up. I was like, okay, that employee stock purchase program's paying off. Yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01: 14:05

But it you know, it's good to see that, you know, and and that's even something that you know I've got I've got companies that, you know, I'm a fairly I'm a financially savvy person, right? I've got companies, I do trainings, and I'll say, hey guys, FYI, Acorns is a great little app that you can download on your phone, you can robo invest. These are employees that have not thought about investing. They just think you have to do a traditional, you can invest outside of traditional routes and build a future for someone else. Those are value ad points that I come. Now, I'm not a financial advisor. I don't now say I'm I always have a disclaimer, I'm not a financial advisor. So seek a financial advisor for full counsel, but FYI, you know, those are value ads that that we can bring to the table. Um, but yeah, I think, you know, with this whole idea of 2026, think beyond big, you know, I am really excited. You know, my company is I'm starting to enter into some of the the larger scale projects that I've always dreamed of doing. Um, you know, and and a lot of that is just being positioned. They say luck is opportunity meets preparation, right? Um, and you know, I know you and I are both faith, heavy in faith, and and the Lord guides, I mean, he, you know, has blessed us tremendously. And and and where I'm at today is is is a testament to that, 100%. Um, but you know, we prepare to be in places we want to be. Um, and you have to prepare. And so I've been preparing. I've been kind of what I would call doing my my my legwork to get there, right? And now I'm starting to enter some of those bigger projects and and I even have some plans, you know. I've I've I've always had a lot of ideas around uh, you know, speaking engagements and coaching engagements, going to groups and helping them orient, right? And so that's kind of some of the next phases of what Point Tech's gonna start to do is really break into the veil of of just continuing to help inspire companies to crush the box and now think beyond big.

SPEAKER_02: 16:08

That's right. I love that. And you know, you've been preparing and you've been working very, very hard and building that foundation that is gonna be that's provided you that that ramp to go into those bigger projects. And and I was so excited to hear about your project that you wrapped up from 2025.

SPEAKER_01: 16:30

Yes, yeah, we're just actually, you know, we've got about a month left. Um so over the last year, had the opportunity to work with uh the John CI Surgery Center. Um so that's a 75-year-old company, great group of people. Um they have outgrown their space. Um that they have developed a 20,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility. It's beautiful. If you drive by it, it's it's incredible. It is it's beautiful. It's it's uh, you know, maybe I think people are biased right now, but I I don't think it's biased. It's the prettiest surgery center built right now. It is beautiful. Um my company um through an interesting uh relationship, I'll say it that way, um, you know, got involved uh early on um and quickly became the lead project manager for all of the infrastructure technology, um uh uh the IT, I mean just the connectivity of the building. Um and and there's a lot of partners in that. It's not just Point Tech, so there's a lot of partners that are playing their roles in that project. But Point Tech was was was able to come in and be the project manager of that. And and that's been just an incredible project to see it come together, to see all the moving parts.

SPEAKER_02: 17:49

Right.

SPEAKER_01: 17:50

Um, you know, and I think you know, going back to when I was, well, when I was when I launched Point Tech, you know, I I had this decision point, right? Do you do you jump to the traditional route? Um came from a traditional family, right? They have have have worked job, you know, nothing wrong with that. Um and I decided to go this entrepreneurial path. And you kind of think in your head, where where's it gonna lead me? Right. And you can think about I know my first dream was that I would own this large IT company that would have tons of employees managing tons of sites and quickly realized I did not want that. I do not want to do that. I I love what I'm doing. No. Amen, right? Uh and so um and now uh ironically, but fortunately, I get to partner with other IT companies to be partners to projects. I mean, that's a very untraditional IT thing. A lot of IT providers are very tight-knit, private, they guard their clients, they guard the business, they're not gonna let anybody else involved. Um, and some of that is is understandable with security and pride things.

SPEAKER_02: 18:55

There's certain information things, right?

SPEAKER_01: 18:56

Uh and and then corporate groups too have certain stricter uh kind of uh boundaries there. Um but just in the past year, I mean I've been able to partner with two companies that before I would never dreamed of doing. And it's a great partnership, and it's unlocked a whole new idea for me. In fact, one of the companies was like, you know, we don't really do a lot of the consulting, right? We just do the infrastructure. Like we're really and they really are good at the infrastructure, uh, the network, the the the the security, but we don't really do the consulting. We're not really gonna advise deeply into the business. And I'm like, well, that's what I do. That's a that's what I do. That's my bread butter.

SPEAKER_02: 19:41

It's through that partnership that they will, you know, they'll be, you know, recommending you, sending you the business.

SPEAKER_01: 19:48

Correct.

SPEAKER_02: 19:50

And vice versa. Vice versa. Yes. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01: 19:53

Yeah, and then being able to be in the middle of that where you've got the best of both worlds, you know, and you know In this surgery center, you know, it's kind of been unique because, you know, when you're developing a project of that size, you know, you've got a lot of moving parts, you know, and and when you're building, uh it's like when you're building a house, you got a lot of moving parts, and you have a contractor that's managing a great deal of that. But there's even things that the contractor is kind of outside their scope or that they will partition off as a owner item. They call them owner items, right? So the owner is responsible for this. And that can be overwhelming on a large-scale project because you know, you've got, you know, here, I mean, you know, you've got all the licensing requirements, you've got all the equipment requirements, you've got all the state inspection requirements. Yeah, the sometimes the I you know, I always say, and not in this project, but I always say that a lot of times businesses think of IT last. It's kind of like uh I was talking to another IT provider, no joke, and we were reminiscing on these examples, and they were like, Yeah, you know, you it's it's like you get those calls from somebody like, yeah, we're moving tomorrow and we want to be online. And like, oh great. Well, do you have internet over there? Well, no, we thought we'd just go over there and it's there. And they're like, Well, no, you've got to activate the service, you know. And I had an example recently where it was a similar scenario where they were moving, you know, uh, and and it was kind of like, oh, well, we just turn on the internet and it just put a router in and it just works. And it's like, well, we've gone from this to this, and no, it's a lot more than that. And in a in a good environment, uh, what I say when when point tech has won is when you, the client, are at peace, at rest, and you don't think about anything. You just think about, you know, doing the things you need to do. Because there's things that I can't get involved in. I mean, my company will not get involved in because it's not my scope, right? But that peace of mind factor, if and in fact on my website, I've got some little banners that pop up when you go to my website, and one of those literally is peace of mind. And I wrote that because when point tech wins, there is peace of mind on the other side of the table. And that's a shared peace of mind because I know that the client isn't trusting point tech to do the things we need to do to make it work. Um, and so just creating that uh that that that that that agreement there is just is just huge.

SPEAKER_02: 22:22

Well, and that's just so important, Austin, and what you do. And um, you know, I think I was thinking back when you and I first started our podcast, and we were talking about AI, chat GPT, and it was like this kind of weird thing out there that we just really you knew, of course you knew more, uh certainly, but I was almost fearful of it, and now I'm thinking here we are three years down the road. It's everywhere. It's everywhere, it's it's incorporated in our daily lives, all of our companies have it. Baxter just launched BaxiChat, you know, to you know, if you want need help with your emails and things like that. I mean, it's just social media. I it's just um I'm almost blown away by the the speed of the technology and AI.

SPEAKER_01: 23:16

It's rapid, and I think to me, I use the analogy we just said to a minute ago, but I am I use the analogy that now AI, Chat GPT is like Google. Yes, used to three or four years ago. You Googled everything, right? And Google's got the wrong Gemini, right? A great, honestly, Gemini, cool example. My logo, which I've not launched yet, and and I don't even know if I'll change it yet, but I always envisioned having my logo. It's point tech, but it's one T. Point tech. So you say it real quick, point tech. But I always envisioned my T to be half black on the left and half gold on the right, because my colors are the black and gold and the and the orange, and the orange is my accent color. So I never did it. I launched the company, I've had my logo out. So one day I was on my phone, I thought, I don't really want to break out Illustrator, it's a design software that you can go in and do that. I didn't really want to do that, and I didn't even know if I'd even like it. So I thought, you know what? I'm gonna Gemini. I uploaded my logo. Five minutes later, after telling it a couple tweaks, it did what I'd been thinking about for six years. Done.

SPEAKER_02: 24:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 24:23

Done. And so I mean, that would have been a designer, that would have been going through illustration. That would have been a process. And so now people are using AI in a way that, you know, you don't Google anymore. I mean, I rarely go to Google anymore unless I'm truly searching for a website. I go to Chat GPT because it's gonna give me so much more context and it can work out scenarios for me. You know, if I'm trying to, you know, write an email and I want to sound, you know, maybe I want to make it sound real strict, you know. And uh I I'm not honestly, I'm not I I don't like writing. I like talking. I talk all day long. I hate to write. So writing's always been a I've got writer's block is what I always say. I have writer's block. And oh my gosh, Chad GPT, I mean, I can give it the basis of what I want to say and within a few seconds, it's there. I mean, what a huge and it has unlocked so much for me because it takes away that that stress point, right? So I can focus on the bigger things that I need to work on. So, I mean, just how powerful now, and I think, you know, it's the other side of this that I always say is you do have to be cautious to AI right now. Um, I still think we're in this development learning.

SPEAKER_02: 25:42

I think so too.

SPEAKER_01: 25:43

And I have saw some real real world examples of of people using AI for authoritative data, graphics, that inaccurately has displayed data, geography, and facts.

SPEAKER_02: 26:02

Right.

SPEAKER_01: 26:02

And I've seen it firsthand. And uh fortunately, people still read and analyze. You know, people still we're still using our God-given brain that God bless us with to actually. I hope we always do, right? But think about when you just start to accept things as is, it's not there yet.

SPEAKER_02: 26:22

Well, and people have been ruined from false information. Yes. And and using that.

SPEAKER_01: 26:28

So Oh yeah, look at the past. I mean, that's been the crazy huge.

SPEAKER_02: 26:33

But um, well, Austin, you know what? I'm so um excited with uh Point Tech, where you're headed in the future, uh think beyond big, you know, your motto for 2026. And I just thank you for all of your excitement, your enthusiasm, your positive mindset. And um so share like, you know, I know your your website and things like that for people to contact you.

SPEAKER_01: 27:04

Yeah. So if you want to look me up online, it's pointtech.us, that's one t p-o-in-t, e-c-h dot us. Um, full disclosure, my website's very um very basic. Um, I'm kind of working on a little revamp with my consultancy arm of that. Um I no joke, I launched that website because I had some partner companies, soft uh equipment vendors that were like, where's your website at? And I'm like, oh. So two hours later I had a website built. No, that's not even be that's not even being fake in that regard. Um so I launched the website, so I was officially point tech. Um but pointtech.us, um, you know, and uh I am one of my goals this year is with that Think Beyond Big is I'm trying to get more oriented to sharing insights and so look for things to come in that regard. Um so but yeah, if you're ever if anybody's ever looking for a provider that can kind of come in and listen, um, like I said, speak with your ears. That's what point tech does come in, and and uh you know, I often just enjoy the conversation, even if it does not lead to something that we can do, or maybe it's not something that we have the capacity to do right now, but just to have that conversation. I always love the idea exchange, right? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02: 28:21

Yeah. Well, Austin, thank you so much, and um look forward to our next podcast.

SPEAKER_01: 28:30

I appreciate you having me on here. It's always a great time, and what a way to start 2026.

SPEAKER_02: 28:35

It is, absolutely. Yeah, well, thank you, Austin.

SPEAKER_00: 28:52

This has been Benchmark Happenings, brought to you by Jonathan Tipton and Steve Reed from Benchmark Home Loans. Jonathan and Steve are residential mortgage lenders. They do home loans in Northeast Tennessee, and they're not only licensed in Tennessee, but Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia. We hope you've enjoyed the show. If you did, make sure to like, rate, and review. Our passion is Northeast Tennessee. So if you have questions about mortgages, call us at 423 491 5405. And the website is www.jonathansteve.com. Thanks for being with us, and we'll see you next time on Benchmark Happenings.