Appraisal and Addiction with Daniel Eftimoff

In episode 10 of Tru Mentors, Derek Skubisz interviews Daniel Eftimoff as they discuss the role of an insurance appraiser, the importance of setting boundaries, and the power of obsession in learning and growth. Daniel also shares valuable insights on mental health, time management, and the impact of personal experiences on professional development.

Tune in to learn more about the alternative dispute resolution process in insurance claims.

TIMESTAMPS

[00:01:37] Appraisal Process in Insurance Claims.

[00:09:48] Appraisal Success Journey.

[00:13:40] Learning from Bad Seminars.

[00:17:07] Gratitude for Career Opportunities.

[00:20:48] Overcoming Struggles with Addiction.

[00:26:21] Curing Inner Issues with Substances.

[00:29:12] Overcoming Addiction and Mental Health.

[00:36:53] Setting Boundaries for Work-Life Balance.

[00:42:12] Be Obsessed with Learning.

[00:44:37] Growth Advice.

QUOTES

• “With the appraisal process, it's an alternative dispute resolution. So disputes come up when there's a disagreement. If through the claims process, through the claims handling and the packaging and everything, you guys can't agree on what they call the amount of loss, usually it's kind of like the dollars, but like maybe some of this damage is or isn't, you know, this method of repair is correct or proper.” - Daniel Eftimoff
• “I don't need drugs and alcohol to be crazy. I do therapy. I believe in good communication with your peers, with a spouse, and with my son. It's tough. I don't know how to do all this stuff. And so I go and seek out others. who can help me learn what I need to do.” - Daniel Eftimoff
• “You can't really ever judge people because another thing is sometimes people snap, they get angry, but they're so bottled up inside, they just need help. They need somebody to talk to, and their screaming and yelling is not that they're rude to you, they're not being harmful to you, it's them asking for help. You know, and sometimes you do have to hold back and stand back and maybe talk to them because that helps a lot.” - Derek Skubisz

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS

Derek Skubisz

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/derek_skubisz/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Derek-Skubisz/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derek-skubisz-b015051a3/

Daniel Eftimoff

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61556652989415

Email (Office Manager): holly@dae-light.com

Phone: 520-309-6736

WEBSITE

Lifetime Restoration Inc.: https://lifetimerestorationinc.com/

Dae-Light Loss Consulting: http://www.daelightloss.com/

Transcript

Welcome to the True Mentors Podcast. This is the ultimate destination for aspiring entrepreneurs and business enthusiasts alike. Join us as we embark on a thrilling journey into the dynamic realm of business, where we unveil awe-inspiring tales of individuals who have conquered formidable challenges to attain extraordinary success. Get ready to be inspired and empowered. And now, here's your host, Derek Skubisch.

Hey guys, welcome to another episode of True Mentors. Today's guest is Daniel, an appraiser from our side towards the insurance. Welcome, Daniel.

Derek Skubisz

Thanks so much for having me today, Derek. Anytime.

Daniel Eftimoff

So Daniel, explain to us, what is an insurance appraiser? Like, what do you do? What is your role? And what makes you be such a big part of the claims world?

Derek Skubisz

Sure. So, you know, in the claims process in general, a lot of the guys that we work with, a lot of our counterparts and other companies and stuff, either they're a contractor who is assisting in the claims process, maybe a public adjuster, you know, or whoever it may be, they're kind of dealing with the front end of a claim. getting the claim filed, taking the photographs, doing the inspections, supplementing, things like that. Exactly. With the appraisal process, it's an alternative dispute resolution. So disputes come up when there's a disagreement. If through the claims process, through the claims handling and the packaging and everything, you guys can't agree on what they call the amount of loss, usually it's kind of like the dollars, but like maybe some of this damage is or isn't, you know, this method of repair is correct or proper.

When there's a disagreement with the insurance.

Yeah, but when you have a disagreement, there's something in the policy itself that affords you the right to have an appraisal. Now, it's very similar in some regards to the original adjustment of the claim. At the same time, you're using the evidence that's already been built up, so you're not supposed to be like out there doing your own thing for the first time. You've got, you know, the documents and information that come from the PA, all the stuff that's coming from the inside adjusters, you know, any expert reports, anything like that. You're using that stuff, but you're getting a fresh set of eyes. from two different people. So I've never worked on the claim before. I haven't been a part of it. I'm not your brother.

I'm not, you know, family member, anybody close related. Yeah.

And there's no conflict of interest. And I also can't work on a contingency. So where you as a public adjuster can get a percentage of the claim, I can't do that because then I would be more invested in trying to get more money, which would mean I'm not biased.

So you're just based on a fee off per claim per house. How do you charge for that? So you don't have to say the dollar amount.

No, no, no, that's okay. We'll talk about it a little bit. When I first started, I was doing more of a flat rate. Okay. So like, Hey, you want to do the appraisal? Here's how much it's going to cost. You know, yes or no. Um, on some of the bigger stuff, I started charging hourly. So I would do like a minimum retainer. Hey, here's how much you have to, you know, pay me to start. Right. Yeah. So you know that it's a, and then every hour I charge this much money. If you go over the amount of money that you've paid me, then you have to pay me more. If you go under, I always take that first retainer as a minimum. So, you know, let's say that the clouds align and everything goes great and I've got everything solved in a few hours. Well, I'm going to at least make that minimum retainer. Or if it's LRI and it's a very difficult situation, maybe it's much larger. You know, maybe it's just more adversarial, whatever it may be.

Who is responsible for paying an appraisal fee? Would that be on the policyholder or would it be the contractor? Would it be the public adjuster or the main person that hires you physically?

So I'm not a lawyer, so I always have to be kind of careful about some of these things when it's legal advice or, you know, a legal interpretation. But as far as the policy goes, it says that they're each responsible for their own appraiser and they split all the other costs equally. So, you know, that right there says that the carrier pays their appraiser. The policyholder pays their appraiser. If there's any other expenses that come up for the appraisal as a whole, they're supposed to be split evenly. And if you go to what's called the umpire, which is like bringing in a third party, it becomes like a best two out of three, right? If the first two guys agree, no big deal. Everything's done. If they can't quite agree, you bring in a third guy. And then whoever can kind of convince that third guy that they're more right, that's the final outcome. Then half of that fee gets paid for by the policyholder, and half of that fee gets paid for by the insurance carrier.

So it's basically like a game and you just go into overtime.

It's kind of like overtime.

In a way. Yeah. That's really awesome. So an appraiser could really benefit a homeowner that has a loss to their home and they're not getting the dollar amount that they should.

Yeah. You know, and it can vary anywhere from method of repair. You know, maybe the insurance company is saying, hey, we think this slope is repairable. You know, I'm dealing with one right now where the insurance company is saying that the structural damage to the home isn't that bad and it can be pushed back into a plum and then restructured and, you know, re-supported with cross-framing. Yeah. And the problem is that the policyholder and their experts are saying that because the original bottom plates are starting to deteriorate, when they go to shift it back, it's going to cause more damage. Yeah. So, you know.

You have to reconstruct the house.

That's one of those things where everyone's kind of in agreement that there's something wrong, but how it needs to be handled in order to get it back to a pre-loss condition, there's a disagreement on that.

That's really awesome. How can somebody become an appraiser? Like what do they have to go through? Is there a specific training license? How do you obtain that?

So in pretty much every state, there is no license, no training, no requirements whatsoever. It's just the knowledge. So you don't even have to have the knowledge, right? It becomes a little dangerous. So anyone, their mother, their grandmother, you know, or Uncle Bob could say, hey, I'm an appraiser. But that doesn't mean they're qualified to be an appraiser. There's a registration in Louisiana, which I think is the only state that does anything like that. But even then, that's not really like qualifying you so much as it is. You just have to apply and register with the state. There are some great courses and there's some great organizations out there though, that do help with appraisal and umpire specific trainings and certifications. That's really good. Yeah. You've got the IAUA. Windstorm and Plan, which stands for Property Loss Appraisal Network. And all three of them offer courses. One of them is one day and one or two of them is like a week long. Yeah. Those are more about the nuts and bolts of the appraisal process. The other piece of it is really like hands-on knowledge and training and the things you picked up from previous jobs, your experience, you know.

Correct. Yeah, I get you. If a person does want to become an appraiser, let's say it's somebody young that doesn't know what to do and they want to become an appraiser, what do you think they could expect? And it's not that a person that knows a lot, it's not a person that doesn't know anything. Somebody that's mediocre, what do you think their expectancy is as a salary yearly?

You know.

A ballpark.

That's a really tough one. You know, that's kind of like, like I know with your company, you have sales reps, right? Yeah. Yeah. And so it's like, I can tell you what a good sales rep should make, but it's really up to each individual, what they put into it to kind of what they get out of it.

Yeah. Cause you get paid by the appraisal that you get. And if you keep doing a shitty job, well then.

Well, and everyone's got to start somewhere. Yeah. I, my first appraisal was maybe seven years ago. I did one appraisal that year. So from an appraisal standpoint, I mean, I, you know, I brought in... Oh, seven years ago when you started, you only had one appraisal that whole year? When I started doing appraisals? Yeah. Yeah. You know, it was just one of those things where I knew about it. I had more industry knowledge. I have construction background. You know, I do pretty well with negotiations. And I had sent one of my claims to appraisal. It didn't go very well. I wasn't happy with the results. I wasn't happy with the person who was the appraiser. And I thought to myself, gosh, I could do this better. And so I just talked to a few buddies in the industry and said, if you ever need to head this way, let me know.

Some good guidance, right?

And somebody ended up saying, yeah, let's, let's do one. That's really good. And I did it and it went really well. I actually, on my very first one, I got them everything they were asking for. which is not common. People should not expect to get everything they're hoping for. But usually they tend to be more favorable outcomes.

That's really awesome. When did you see your success in the appraisal world go pretty high?

In the last three years, you know. about a year and a half ago, I was doing appraisals pretty regularly. I had kind of shifted away from, so like for me and my, background as far as like my knowledge and you know, everything goes My dad was a contractor and then he did like build a developer his dad before him So I was like growing up playing on construction sites and stuff And I worked in the trades when I was younger. I did electrical work. I did a little bit of plumbing I did some carpentry, you know, and so like I kind of got that piece of it. Mm-hmm

A little bit of training over everything.

I had a buddy with a roofing company, Storm Chaser, you know? People don't like calling us that or don't like being called that, but that's kind of what we do. So, you know, that's where I started. I kind of got hungry for more knowledge and I just kept training myself. So once I had some of that and I started to move away from like the sales aspect and I was really more interested in the policies and stuff. I started getting asked to speak at some of the events that you see in the Chicagoland area. And that's when it really started to boost me in front of people who hadn't really

knowing who you were before.

Exactly. You know, and appraisal has been a hot topic for a couple of years now. You know, and a lot of people have done it with like not the best results because like I said, anyone can do it, you know. And so kind of getting some new clients over time where it's like, hey, we like you a lot better than the last guy. Hey, you haven't given us a reason to go look for somebody else. Exactly. You know, it's starting to build up that client base. So it's really been the last like three years or so that it's it's really been a big push for me. And it's today it's become my primary source of income.

That's really good. Yeah. I mean, those seminars, they're really good. I think every single one that I see, I will always try to go to. Some I can't make, but I think you could learn in every single seminar something. You know, there's a lot of knowledgeable people. Like you state, people probably didn't know you before, but you went and you spoke at these events and there's so much knowledge from you because, I mean, you're a very knowledgeable guy in the insurance industry. You know, so there's a lot that you could learn from people that that's really awesome. That's really good.

Yeah, I truly believe that. Even the bad ones. Like sometimes I've gone to a few that have just been like, oh, this is rough. I've learned something I don't want to do. I've learned, you know, I've seen myself sometimes through other people's eyes, you know, and realized, oh, I do that. And I don't want to do that. Like, I didn't realize that's what I was doing or that's, you know, I want to do better, be better. I try to hold myself accountable to a pretty high standard. You know, especially because I haven't always, like, lived that kind of a life. Yeah. And so sometimes, yeah, sometimes all I take away from something is what I don't want to do. But even that is knowledge.

Yeah, that's really powerful. When did you notice, like, your mindset shifting into seeing yourself in other people's eyes and realizing that you kind of want to live a different life?

So, you know, when I first started in this industry, I was super hungry.

Was it like sales? So you started off with sales when you came back to Illinois?

No, I was actually selling solar for a few years down in Arizona. So I'm born and raised here, but I was down there for a while. And when I was down there, I started in solar, because it was kind of the big thing at the time. A lot of sun down there, you know. And so that was where I kind of started. And it's a great industry to be in, you know. You're not, especially out there, it was saving people money. It was a good product.

Their electricity is so high in Arizona. Yeah. They're paying for an average house like $700, $800.

Yeah, I've definitely seen bills that high, I have. You know, they have good insulation, the houses are getting better, they found ways to be more efficient and effective. You know, so you get bills lower in the two and three hundreds, but I mean, for like eight, nine months out of the year, if you have AC, you're running it pretty hard.

Non-stop, yeah. Yeah, I mean, the solar industry is good when you put your focus into it. The issue that we have is people that start in it, they become extremely successful with solar. Then they start blowing money, buying dumb shit. And a person that makes five, $600,000 in the first year will go and buy a Lamborghini and stuff. But what they don't understand, some of these solars that don't get installed, well, maybe they'll never get installed. because it won't pass inspection. It won't be allowed to be put on the property. And now they got to pay money back or they got to lose on their, you know, car payment, or maybe next year isn't as good with solar than what it was that the year before.

Well, I mean, I think in general, that's a problem with people, you know, money. Yeah. Don't don't count your chickens before they hatch. Right. Like I got all these eggs in the basket. They all look great. I can take these eggs and I can go sell them, but I'm selling them like they're worth for a chicken. And it's just an egg. I don't know if it's ever going to be a chicken. I've been guilty of that. I can still I can still blow some money. Amazon is kind of my guilty pleasure.

You know, Amazon's a problem for everybody. They're just the other day. I mean, we had Amazon come every single day. And I told my friends, I was like, dude, I'm going to delete that. You can't do that. So she went for a bachelor and she had to get all this stuff. But I feel like my neighbors were probably like, do these people are like, what are they on? They're just blowing money left and right. And it's like the problem is on Amazon, you could buy stuff that I like is like five, ten dollars. You know, that's where it starts adding up because you don't even have to go to the store. Oh, yeah. Now, we spend more gas money than

No, I, uh, yeah, I've been, I've been trying to tone it down lately, especially, uh, you know, I'm going to be doing this, working on my house and stuff, trying to watch the money and everything. But, uh, I've noticed there's less chaos in my house. Cause there's less Amazon packages.

Yeah. Yeah. How's your house coming along? Good.

Yeah. So we just, um, we just rented an apartment down the street. I'm going to be moving out. Um, mostly we've started moving out in the last couple of days, mostly tomorrow. We're going to be doing some stuff. Yeah. Um, but I'm just really grateful because, you know, like this industry, the work that I do, the relationships that I've built, they have afforded me the opportunity to be able to do a renovation, you know, rehab, remodel a small addition on my house and, Gosh, 10 years ago, I couldn't have imagined having the life that I have today. Owning a home, being able to not just own it, but pay all the bills. be able to do a remodel.

You know, it's... And you live in a very nice area.

I mean... No, no, listen, I live... I do. It's a really great neighborhood.

It's a really good family neighborhood.

Yeah. No, but it's... We always get made fun of because the big major street right there is 47th Street. Yeah. And everything north of 47th Street, those are like the rich people, you know, and then everyone south of 47th is like, God, we can barely afford to live here, but we live here.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's a very nice area. Every time it's it's in the summer is really nice. You know, there's so much stuff that you guys could do there, especially like you have a kid. So you guys have parks, you guys have events, you have farmers market, everything just down the street. Yeah. We don't have anything by our house.

Yeah, no, it's been really great. I've been there about six years now. I had a little condo in that same neighborhood. And then about two and a half years ago, I got this house. And it's just been great to be a part of it. The school is really what does it for me. Yeah. You know, my son's in third grade now. And I just I couldn't imagine having him somewhere else. It's such a great Just support system for him. He has some like extra needs that he has in school and stuff. And we've worked really hard, you know, as like a team with people at his school to be able to give him everything he needs to be successful.

That's really awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Did you always live in the area or what made you go?

So I grew up in Willow Springs, which is maybe like 15 minutes south. You know, I'm living in LaGrange now. And so I grew up over there. And yeah, I spent like all the time we'd go to downtown LaGrange, check out all the little shops and the this and the that.

They do have cool shops.

Yeah. You know, there's so many little movie theaters there. everything is really cool there. So I was familiar with it. And then, um, I went to a grade school. I went to a, um, a little Lutheran grade school and it was in LaGrange. So it was a little bit of drive from my house, but I was just really familiar with that area cause I had spent a lot of time there growing up. Um, and when we moved back to Chicago from Arizona, it just was kind of one of those areas that I always wanted to be in.

Always stood out for you.

It just kind of ended up working out that way.

Yeah, that's really awesome. Yeah. Well, everything has kind of a path in your life, though. It's crazy because sometimes I feel the same way. I'll be driving and just think in my head, I'm just like, holy shit, the way things worked out is just insane. You know, you'd never imagine that it actually will. But you did have the imagination before.

Yeah. So, you know, when I was younger, I was pretty messed up. I did, you know, a lot of drinking from a pretty young age. Um, you know, I was the guy on the weekends at the high school party that like everyone's calming down. And I'm like, well, no, let's come on. It's only 3am. Like we've got work to do. This guy never leaves. And, uh, you know, I got a little bit older. I ended up getting into some drugs and stuff.

Um, I knew a good amount of trouble, you know, were you in the drug world?

How many years? I burned bright and hard and fast, so it wasn't that long, but probably about be four or five years, but I guess that's a pretty long time. You know, we hear people who spend decades kind of struggling with that stuff, but it was about four or five years for me, but it was pretty tough and you kid yourself, you know, you just kind of keep going on repeat. I was working in some of the trades and stuff and out of college, And kind of functioning, but still kind of like trapped. Not really there, yeah.

Yeah. Well, so was it the environment that you were or was it the friend group that brought you into the heavy drug world?

You know, it's a really great question. And sometimes I struggle with figuring out what the answer really is. You know, I ended up moving down to Arizona because I had family out there. I was really just running away from my problems, though, too. But they came with, you know, the move down there isn't what fixed it.

You know, I had to create more issues when you moved out there.

Just different issues, I think. I found myself in the same kind of trouble. I found myself with the same kinds of people. And I just finally had to make a decision that like, gosh, I really don't want to do this anymore. And it was tough. It was a tough path. But I started to find new people in recovery and in sobriety that were kind of looking to do the same thing and trying to make the same changes in their lives. And that's where like the magic started to happen for me.

Did you always have like support from your family, like parents and stuff, of trying to take you out of the drugs?

Yeah, no, I've, you know, My mom is just amazing. I put her through hell when I was younger.

She's probably really proud of you now. I think so.

I do pretty all right today. And I think for a while there, she was still kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop. Like, hey, is it going to stay good or is it going to get worse again? You know, and I remember I bought her a washer and dryer for Christmas a few years ago. And she was like, you got to you got to stop blowing all your money. You're going to run out and you're going to, you know, because you kind of have that mentality that like. Maybe I was doing OK now, but was it going to last? And we've gotten to a really great place where she's changing plans for my remodel, costing me all this extra money now. And I'm like, mom, I can't afford this. And she's like, you'll figure it out. That's awesome though. So yeah, no, I've always had a really good support system. Um, you know, family has been really big for me. Um, and I just don't know. I really don't know what I would do without my family. You know, my mom, I have a sister. Um, my mom has sisters, my aunts.

Do you think you would still be in the drug world without them? I mean, you can't really answer that.

No, yeah. You know, impossible to say. I do think that like, it brought me to my knees and I was desperate to get away from what I was doing. And I don't know that having anyone specifically in or out of my life would have been the thing that changed everything. I think that the big thing was like where I was at and how willing I was to work hard to make a change, but having that support, having those people, huge. Huge.

Yeah. So getting into it, like getting into drugs, did you immediately notice you had a problem and you wanted to get away from it or did it take a little bit and then you started realizing that like, Hey, I have a problem. I can't get out of it.

I immediately noticed that I loved it. That's what I noticed.

It's because it's the way it makes you feel?

I was always real awkward, at least in my head, and I still feel that way. A lot of people tell me I'm a good talker, I'm laid back and sociable, but in my head, A lot of anxiety. I'm always kind of wondering, like, what's going on? Am I OK? Are you OK? You know, am I talking too loud into this mic right now? You know, your mind's racing. And in my mind kind of stopped racing.

when I started drinking and when I started doing drugs, you know, it's, it's like, um, it was an inner issue that you were curing with a different product in recovery.

They have this saying that I really like, um, they talk about if you're swimming underwater, And the longer you hold your breath, the more you like want to take that next breath. When you come up and you take that breath, it's like a sigh of relief. Like your body starts to think like, hey, you're going to drown. You need air. My life kind of feels like I'm going to drown and I need air. Except I never get the air until I have a drink and it's like I get to come up above the water and take that breath for the first time. And when somebody in recovery told me about that and like, you know, gave me that analogy, it made so much sense to me.

Yeah, it clicked in right away in you. That's really awesome. I mean, going from that to becoming as successful you are. I mean, dude, I got to give it to you. You're pretty successful in this. And like going from where you became, you know, getting your own place, having a kid, raising a kid, doing all of that stuff. I mean, it's hard. It's not easy. And to beat addiction is massive. I mean, I feel like people who beat addiction are a different kind of a breed. Right? Because addiction is extremely hard. Barely any people ever beat addiction. It's a very low percentage.

It is. They say the numbers are something like 2%. Yeah. Which is, you know, that's depressing. That's sad.

But if you realize, like, people who beat addiction become such good entrepreneurs.

Massive. I mean, I had to hustle pretty hard to get what I wanted to get before. Now I just hustle pretty hard to get something different that's a little less destructive. And, you know, I, I get the opportunity to help others as well as helping myself.

Do you think your addiction kind of has a impact on your success right now because you never want to go back in the world. So you keep working harder and better or that doesn't affect at all?

No, I think that, uh, I think that I'm very motivated to keep that in the back of my mind. Oh, that's really good. That that's where I came from. Yeah. And that's where I can go back to, you know, I don't use the word beat addiction because like, I don't think you can beat it. I think you can get away from it. Control it. I think that you can, you know, you can get to a place where you're not letting it affect you and control you on a day to day basis. but I think that it's always kind of hanging out there. Once it's really gotten you once, be it months, years, however long, once it's really gotten its claws in you, it never really lets go. So I always kind of think about that in the back of my head, that I'm a big fan of mental health, not just because of being sober or anything like that, but because I'm crazy, you know? I don't need drugs and alcohol to be crazy. I do therapy. I believe in good communication with your peers, with a spouse, with my son. It's tough. I don't know how to do all this stuff. And so I go and seek out others. who can help me learn what I need to do and then practice it because I'll kind of learn theoretically what I should do and then I'll mess it up a bunch of times.

That's really good because none of us really know how to do any of this stuff. You know, nobody teaches us that. Nobody really gets taught any of that and you kind of go, in a way, you're kind of like an animal, just let go. And you go and you figure out your own life and how do you raise a kid and how do you deal with the stuff that you're saying? I mean, that's really difficult because thinking about it now, like, I don't know any of this stuff. You know, you're going into the world where it's like, so you get a kid, you're like, and a lot of people are like, wow, they have their first kid. They're so paranoid with, they don't know what to do with the kid.

It's scary. It's intense. And I don't think people can tell you about it until you really feel it, until you really experience it. And then there's all, there can be the shame around it. Like there's this idea that you're supposed to just know what to do. And so if you don't, then you feel bad about yourself. You feel like you're broken or you're wrong. Um, or there's something wrong with you because you look at everyone else and you think that they've got it figured out, but they don't. I mean, most people don't, you know? And the ones that do, it was hard work and practice and lots of mistakes. They say, don't compare the way you feel inside to the way that he looks outside. That one was really tough for me. Because you look like you got it going on right now, right? And I feel really small inside. So I'm thinking you must feel great and big inside. And I must feel and look small inside and outside, you know, and, and I think we're all just doing the best that we can. And, uh, and so it's, it's really tough for you to compare yourself to others because you don't really know what's going on with other people.

Yeah. And I learned that I learned that not long ago. Um, I don't really remember how it happened, I was watching a video of there's a guy that goes and tips waitresses like a lot of money. He'll give them like five, $10,000 and he went to go tip a waitress and there was a family behind them that were very quiet. They weren't talking and he knew something was wrong and he paid for their bill. The waitress then later saw him in a few weeks or something, she said, one of their very close family members passed away. And what you did for them, it inspired them. And it was a massive story that came out. He never knew what was going on with them. You know, so you can't really ever judge people because another thing is sometimes people snap, they get angry, but they're so bottled up inside, they just need help. They need somebody to talk to, and them screaming and yelling is not that they're rude to you, they're not being harmful to you, it's them asking for help. You know, and sometimes you do have to hold back and stand back and maybe talk to them, because that helps a lot. It's massive. But too many people are, no, you need to react, and I need to go back at him, you know, with my claws, because he's coming at me. But if more people just took a step back and realized like, OK, he's mad. I could control this right now. I don't have to get mad. You know, it's the way you interpret stuff towards people.

I think that's so true. You know, and I think that. I need to remember I'm the guy that can get angry, that can snap, that can be totally inappropriate for what seems like absolutely no reason whatsoever. And I want you to give me a little bit of grace How messed up would it be for me to be in the opposite role and not try to give that other person a little bit of grace when I'm expecting it from you, or at the very least hoping to get it from you? Just the whole topic of mental health and everything. It's also, back in our industry, the lines really blur for a lot of people. work in 12, 14, 16 hour days, six, seven days a week.

Not everybody's built for that.

I mean, and I did it, you know, I, when I started, I knew nothing about this industry, but I knew I was smart. I knew I was capable. I was working like 12 hour days and then I would let them keep me in the office till like 10 o'clock at night, you know, just be on the computers doing their little training programs. because I wanted to learn things that they weren't asking me to learn, but that they had the training stuff for. Two months in, and I knew how to write my own estimates in the estimating program that we use. And they didn't expect me to. It wasn't even part of my job to write estimates, but I started to be able to learn and do things I could understand what was going on with the file itself, seeing how the estimates were built, which gave me a better understanding of how to handle things on my end. And that stuff's not sustainable, though. I'm like an eight-hour-a-night type of sleeper. That's what I like to do. But even a few years ago, I was still working too much. And so I've really, I've made a real effort to work like nine to five, Monday through Friday. It doesn't always happen. You know, I make exceptions. Sometimes I, you know, I get up early, I'll go to the gym, I'll get home. And just the house is quiet, nothing's going on. okay, maybe I'd jump on the computer for an hour. Um, just cause I got a few extra things, get a few phone calls at night and you know, okay, I'll take them. But I do a pretty good job of, you know, turning the phone off, being a dad at night, um, being present for different things on the weekends. And that's the other part that I really like about shifting into the appraisals is it's slightly less erratic. I'm not dealing with as many, like, homeowners one-on-one, you know, they want, they want information and it's like, okay, shoot me an email and I'll give you an update, you know, versus feeling phone calls when they're home on the weekends and stuff. So that's been really huge for me to try to like set some of those boundaries and really enforce them for myself.

Yeah. That's really good. My, my, uh, my mentor just told me about time block. right? Blocking out your calendar for specific things. I've never done this. Yeah. I, so what I've been doing since I started my company almost a year ago, I don't block anything out. I go to the gym in the morning and I work nonstop. So I work from 6, 7 a.m. all the way till I literally put my head to sleep. And he's like, dude, you got it all fucking wrong. You can't do that stuff. He's like, you got to time block your gym. You got to time block your emails and your text messages. Or when you spend time with your dogs, your fiance, your work, everything that you do. And that's the only thing you do in that time of the day. Right. So now we're building that out. And it's a massive difference. Dude, you have so much less anxiety and your life makes so much sense like your job.

So I've, I've been trying to practice more of that myself just using the calendar period. Yeah. You know, so like it's a great tool for me to make sure that I'm touching the different files I need to, um, you know, and, and yeah, I am, I'm blocking out email time. Um, and I, you know, I have different family stuff that I block out. Even if I'm going on vacation or something, I put that in there. So I know when I'm looking forward, at the very least, I'm not going to schedule my normal stuff then. Exactly. But when I have some of those times, and I'm dedicated to that, I'm becoming more efficient and effective with those things too. If I'm just sitting there on the computer for four hours and I'm jumping between different files and projects and things, you know, I'm checking my phone, I'm getting calls and stuff. I'm not really as focused on any one or two of those things and I'm getting pulled all over the place. You're just getting it over with. I just, uh, I just started giving my girl my cell phone, um, the office girl that I have for like one hour from time to time. Just when I've got one of those things blacked out and it's like, all right, just take this. If it rings, it can go to voicemail. But like if it's with me and it rings, I don't know if I can let it go to voicemail.

I can't. You know bothers me if I don't answer a phone call it bothers me so bad. I have to get to it Yeah, but now what I do is I don't answer any phone calls after six anymore.

I Mean in your quality of sleep. The worst thing I can do is check an email right before I go to bed Because every once in a while, it's like, you know, one of those emails and I won't sleep for the next three hours. No, I will lay there. You will be tired. And I just will not stop thinking. And and it ruins my whole morning, my whole next day.

You know, just so crabby all the time. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's really awesome, Daniel. You have a really good story, man. You're you're you're a special human.

I appreciate it.

Some good stuff in your life. I'm proud of you, man. Yeah.

Thank you so much.

How can our audience find you if in case they do need an awesome appraiser?

Sure. So the name of my company is Daylight Loss Consulting. We are I have a website. I don't know if it's up yet. I just kind of rebranded. Um, but anyone is free to email me or my office manager. Uh, my email is Daniel D a N I E L at day hyphen light.com. Now it's spelled D a E hyphen L I G H T.com. So D a E hyphen L I G H T.com. My office manager, same email, Holly, H-O-L-L-Y at D-A-E hyphen L-I-G-H-T dot com. You guys can also call me, 520-309-6736. I probably won't answer before 9 a.m., and usually not after like 6 p.m., Monday through Friday. If I don't recognize the number, I might answer, but I'll let you know that I'll call you back, give me a call, you know, Monday through Friday or whatever it may be. Um, you know, we just put together some like really great, um, client packages, you know, for people who are kind of curious more about what our fees are like, what our services we offer are. Um, but we do a lot more than just appraisals. We do a lot of like actual claims consulting. Uh, we've been doing some hands on training with some different sales guys, you know, just kind of, Not just the processes, you know, I'm not, anyone can kind of teach how to do the inspection, but sometimes understanding why each component and piece of the inspection is so important to the file and how that translates to more money for the company and the sales rep down the road. You know, those are some of the things that I see aren't really being talked about as much. And when people can really understand the why it can help them be more effective and efficient.

That's amazing. Before we go, what is one piece of advice you would tell yourself when you were 20 years old?

Be more obsessed about things. When I want to know something, when I want to learn something or take something on, I become obsessed about it. And I feel like that has been so beneficial for me. I didn't know everything there was to know about building a roof. I knew some stuff in general, but like, you know, I wasn't a roofer. I did carpentry, I did electrical plumbing and general labor, interior remodel stuff. When I became obsessed with roofing, I bought all the roofing books. I, you know, I did all these videos. I was hanging out on job sites. You know, I have helped rip shingles off. I've helped re-nail decking. I've been throwing sheets of plywood up on the roofs. I mean, all that stuff. Just getting obsessed with it and really knowing it. I mean, I did the same thing with my washing machine when I wanted to buy a new washing machine. Before I did it, I got obsessed with it. I looked at all the different reviews, all the different features, all the different price points, all the different places to buy them from. What did I want? What do these things have to offer? You know, I don't use fabric softener anymore. Correct. Yeah. I use vinegar instead of fabric softener. When I fell down that rabbit hole because I got obsessed with my washing machine, you know, and so like that, I just think is something that can be really beneficial for people is to just get really excited about what you're getting into. And, and let yourself kind of run with it, you know? So, so that I think is something that I wish I would have started doing when I was younger, uh, versus just having been doing it for the last five or seven years.

That's really awesome. That's really good. Well, you guys heard it all from Daniel, the things that you could overcome to be the person that you want to be. Daniel is extremely successful in the world, and he's done a lot in his life to overcome the things that he had to deal with. Daniel is also a person he could always reach out to for help and he will always be there to help you and talk to you because I've been there as well. Thank you guys for listening to True Mentors.

Thanks so much for tuning into this episode of True Mentors. We sure do appreciate it. If you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to the show wherever you consume podcasts. This way you'll get updates as new episodes become available. And if you feel so inclined, please leave us a review. It is how the show grows and how new people find the show. Until next time, friends.