The Real West Michigan
Do you want a better life? Want to hear secrets and stories about your West Michigan Friends and neighbors? This podcast is dedicated to sharing the adventures, challenges and heartfelt stories of REAL PEOPLE in West Michigan. We explore business, entrepreneurship, real estate, overcoming obstacles and challenges of those building our cities and neighborhoods. LISTEN to your friends and neighbors LEARN their SUCCESS SECRETS, hear VALUABLE INSIGHTS to GROW YOUR SKILLSET, YOUR NETWORK and to be a part of our growing our community from Grand Rapids and beyond!
NOT FROM WEST MICHIGAN? These stories of struggle and success have no borders. Though these REAL PEOPLE are located here in West Michigan, the relevance is global! Enjoy some insight into these adventurous lives!
The Real West Michigan
In Case You Missed It: Highlights from Episodes 5-8 with Michelle Crumback, Scot Kellogg, Bob Hein and Santiago Estrada
Ever wondered how one can rise from the depths of despair to find ultimate success? Michelle Crumback’s story is one for the books, as she takes us through her incredible journey from homelessness to becoming a cherished jeweler who values every client’s experience. Tune in for Bob Hein’s expert advice gathered from over 25 years in the mortgage business at Mercantile Bank, where he shares his best marketing strategies and the power of staying consistent. And let’s not forget Scott Kellogg, who wears many hats as the broker owner of 616 Realty and a manager of a small rap business in Chicago. He’ll give you the inside scoop on the importance of mentorship and seeking guidance in any career.
On a more emotional note, we tackle the difficult subject of childhood bullying, fitting in, surviving gang life and the influence of the marines and faith on Santiago Estrada's journey. This episode offers not just stories, but lessons in overcoming adversity and finding strength within.
Video Podcast available here: https://www.youtube.com/@TheRealWestMichigan
THIS EPISODE IS SPONSORED BY: THE PALMER GROUP real estate team. The Palmer Group is an energetic team within 616 REALTY led by Eldon Palmer with over 20 years of experience helping people navigate the home buying and selling process in West Michigan. To support the channel and all of our guests, contact Eldon@ThePalmer.Group, drop a COMMENT, SHARE, LIKE or SUBSCRIBE to this podcast.
You can also learn more at https://thepalmer.group/
Whether moving to Michigan or another state, we can help and would love to chat with you over a coffee or your favorite beverage!
HAVE A SUGGESTION? WANT TO BE A GUEST ON THE PODCAST? Reach out to Eldon@ThePalmer.Group or send us a DM.
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Hey, welcome to this episode, which is a compilation of highlights and best moments and key takeaways from four episodes that we've recorded here previously. We want to give you a taste test and a sample, so enjoy these recaps and check out the full episodes. Yeah, good, good, I need to do my real estate one. Let me just all right. This time we have my friend and client, michelle crumback. With michelle crumback jewelry, she shares her story of being homeless at a point and how she got into the jewelry industry and really some special stories about how she got into the jewelry industry and really some special stories about how she works. She's well-loved and actually this is our second most watched episode on YouTube. So enjoy these highlights and go take a look at the full episode.
Speaker 2:You know they walk in as a client and they leave as a friend, and that's the most important part about business for me.
Speaker 1:Sure, I think that's super valuable. It's kind of how I've looked at my business the same. It's like I don't know you want to do people. Do business with people that are friends and they're friendly and and I think it just creates a deeper connection For sure.
Speaker 2:He was a farmer and when he walked into the store it wasn't my turn to help him, but all of the other salespeople scattered because they didn't want to help him and I just walked up there as bubbly as can be and was just happy to meet him, get to know him and he pulled $6,000 cash out of his boot and paid for a piece of jewelry that took him three minutes to decide that he wanted to buy it. But he said he went to three other stores in Grand Rapids and no one would pay attention to him. They treated him horribly. So that was a lesson early in my career.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that you know how important it is to treat everybody equally, regardless of what how much money you think they have, or where they've been or you know. You need to know your strengths and weaknesses for all things at a young age in business and relationships. So I self-diagnosed and asked people that knew me what my strengths and weaknesses were, and then and then I went from there. So I knew what my weaknesses were, so I would spend time with people that were stronger in those areas, and then I spent time with people that were strong encouragers. So if they could see the strength in you, they would water it, you know, and that served me well, and I think that's the same principle today and I think it will always be that way. So, but you can't be afraid to admit that where your weaknesses are as well.
Speaker 1:Welcome to this clip with Bob Hine at Mercantile Bank. Bob has navigated 25 plus years in the mortgage industry and for anybody to do that in any industry, they've had some great knowledge, tips, tricks and experience, and so Bob shares some of this insight. So whether you're just getting started in a career, transitioning careers or a long-term veteran, there's plenty to learn here with Bob. Thank you. So, refrigerator magazine, what are some of the other things you've done over the years for marketing?
Speaker 3:Yeah, very consistently. I've done mailings and refrigerator magazines.
Speaker 1:I can testify to the mailings.
Speaker 3:I've seen a lot of your mailings over the years which I've discontinued, but I'm going to start up. I've got one ready to go up. Yeah, I mean, it's just keeping your name and your face in front of people. And I was talking to a very successful realtor many years ago about mailing. He said he did and what do you do? Do you send like an info letter, like a quarterly info letter, or you know? And he said you do a postcard. You do a postcard. You know, nine times out of 10, it's just going to end up in the trash.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:But at least a postcard. They're looking at your face all the way to the trash. That's true, yeah, so, yeah, so I do postcards, um and uh. You know there's a lot of email campaigns that people do. Uh, I think you start doing those too often and you just end up in spam.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:So, um, yeah, but anything, whatever you're going to do, I think you got to do consistently Right, so you can do mailers. You need to do them at least a couple of times a year. You can't do like one and then another one two and a half years later it's just not going to.
Speaker 1:And the goal is just to keep your name and face in front of people. Yeah, consistent, yeah.
Speaker 3:Well it does. When you don't have to sell yourself constantly with new marketing and paying for marketing and your customers sell you for yourself, you take a lot of pride in that, you get a lot of satisfaction out of it, but it's also um, it's very economical way, right, just?
Speaker 1:do a good job, do a good job, period right yes, and remind people, and one thing I've noticed is you have sometimes have to tell people, remind them or show that, show your work, like that's something I hated to do in math class yeah, but I learned early in sales. It's really just part of the communication process is showing your work. Look, you solved the problem for the client you got to let them know.
Speaker 3:Sometimes you do. You got to toot your own horn.
Speaker 1:Sometimes you do just a little bit welcome to a clip or two from rap battles in real estate with scott kellogg, the broker owner of 616 realty, where he talks about how he got into the real estate business, how he managed a small um rap uh business, I guess, in chicago area, and really a lot of fun here.
Speaker 4:So enjoy these clips with scott kellogg well, I I did learn um bringing people in asking for help, um asking questions, finding mentors. You know there was a whole lot of business lessons in there that I didn't realize at the time I was learning, but I I learned a ton, a ton of those things you know, of the importance of other people yeah, I mean knowing what I know now, like seeing some of that, like you do do a great job with hiring people and and staff surrounding yourself with people that can kind of take care of some of that stuff.
Speaker 4:So um can clearly see you've learned that that that really always stuck to me is is where do you want to be? What's your bigger picture? And I didn't have it at that point in my life, um. So at that point I my dad, offered me a job. He was a home builder, um built and sold his own houses, and so I thought he offered me a job and I thought, why not? I don't have anything else going on. But I really didn't like it. I'm not a home builder, um, but I I half-heartedly put some time in there. But it got me thinking real estate. At that point, um, I thought, boy, I'd really like to sell the houses, um, and so that nudged me along into getting licensed as a realtor welcome to this clip with santiago estrada, who tells his story of growing up in saginaw, surviving gangs, guns, violence and eventually escaping, essentially via the military.
Speaker 1:He's got a wonderful story to tell and enjoy some of these clips.
Speaker 5:I didn't fit in. I wasn't into sports and I had never really I was never taught how to meet people or how to have friends or be friends. So I got beat up a lot. Yeah, I mean I got. I got beat up a lot. Yeah, I mean I got beat up a lot. Well, what I say is beat up, even if it's like pushed down. I remember one time, as in like the fifth grade, fourth grade, and some kids unzipped my backpack and took all my books and threw them up in the air, into the wind, and all my papers and everything, and then they pushed me down and kicked me a couple of times and laughed and took off. So it was.
Speaker 5:this is at private school this was at private school yeah, this is at catholic school, um, so, but it was things like that that happened probably, I don't know like nine or ten times. And to make matters worse, like sometimes I'd have to walk home from the, the catholic school home, and I had to wear the uniform of blue pants, white shirt, black shoes, and so when I walked by the public schools, I was a target and kids in my neighborhood looked at me like I was weird and I got bullied a lot. My neighborhood, uh, for my uniform, um, pushed down. Just, you know, kids can be cruel. Kids can be cruel. Yes, one day a neighbor taught me to, taught me to box. I seen a neighbor boxing in his garage.
Speaker 1:That was the thing back then too. It was like, hey, learning to box, I mean rocky was kind of coming out, and so that was like people, hey, learn in a box, I mean Rocky was kind of coming out, and so that was like people talking to Karate Kid. Maybe that was just sort of a thing, yep.
Speaker 5:And so Richard taught me how to hit the bag, work out and take a hit, and that was probably the best gift he had ever given me was punching me, because it started to take the scare away. It started to okay, I don't have to be scared in this moment, um. So, for better or worse, my dad said no, uh, to helping me, um, defend myself, yeah, um, and richard said he would if my dad said yes. I said my dad said yes, and, uh, he. So he said he gave me a few lessons, um, which didn't really help. They helped me enough to to lose the fear, um, but there was several times that you know I still got into confrontations. I was like, oh, but it didn't, it didn't go as good as it should have yeah, well, I don't think they ever really do really for either party, right I?
Speaker 5:mean I was in a couple of nights as a kid, and just there's no winners. Exactly there's no winners.
