Yeah, I'll show you how to get it. But you have to be willing to do the work for the syndicate. It's a motherfucking movement. This is the circuit. You ain't gotta be perfect as long as you gotta put the work in. 1s If when it comes to the bullshit, you will learn, you will love. You just might be my kind of person. Welcome to the syndicate. Where real estate wholesaling is what the business is. Ain't gotta talk about it when you're out here living. So if you attend getting it and welcome to the syndicate are. 3s Well, welcome to the syndicate. 2s Let's go, let's go, let's go. Welcome to the center. 5s Go forth. All right, guys, you're listening to another episode of the Wholesaling Syndicate podcast. Very excited for the guests we have here today. We have Donny and Donny. Thank you so much for joining us today, man. Oh, brother, thanks for having me on. You got a voice for radio, man, I like this. Yeah. I at least get the voice I know about the face. Like you. Me both. You. Me both. Right. I love it, man. Yeah. So for people who may not know who you are yet, uh, do you want to give us a quick intro? For sure. So Donnie Bovine, the CEO of Success Champions Networking, we run B2B networking groups all throughout North America. You know, biggest passion is just help. As many people get to freedom through building a business as we possibly can. I love that man. Yeah, I think freedom's literally the most important thing. Yeah, that's definitely the American dream. So I'd love to get started with people's journey. You know, how they got into it. And, you know, for me, that's my favorite thing is hearing different people's entrepreneurial journey. Yeah. Um, so what were you doing beforehand? How did you get into entrepreneurship? Uh, so, uh, 25 years of sales guy almost 20 of those years were spent working for other people, uh, turn 40. And it was the first time I even heard you could start a business. Right? You know, just a blue collar kid. You work, you get a job, you retire. Right? Um, but turn 40 started hearing those guys like Gary Vee, Tim Ferriss, and all of them gets talking about, you know, being an entrepreneur. And they made it really sound stupid easy, right? Like, like anybody could do it type of thing. Um, almost to the point where the word entrepreneur became almost like MLM, you can be a millionaire overnight type of thing. So. But turn 40. Launch my company, and within 24 hours after launching my company, I'm slapped with a non-compete that I don't remember signing. Last career was supposedly one of the top sales trainers in the country. Don't know what that means, but I'm really good at flapping my gums in front of a room. Um, but launch my company, uh, immediately went from making almost seven figures to zero. Uh, and six months of trying to build a business. My wife's jeep was repossessed. We almost lost our farm to foreclosure. Um, but was able to, uh, my wife cashed in her 401 K at that point. She got Jeep back, saved the farm, and we went from that point to now being the CEO of the company. Yeah. Well, man, thank you for sharing that, man. I feel there's a lot to unpack there. So what was your mindset like going I mean, you're top of the world, you know, making some figures boom. Back down and then, hey, I'm going to do this thing. A lot of excitement, I feel. Let me tell you. Um, uh, you want to feel like you're not a man. Look at your wife and just say, hey, babe, the jeep just got repossessed. You know, I'm three months behind on the mortgage. Um, and the first words out of her mouth were, we're going to lose the house. Um, and that's tough, dude, because now you're not holding up your end of the bargain as being a dude. So, um, it was a really dark moment in time, you know? Um, but. Graciously. I got a good woman and she's a ride or die. So yeah, when she decided to cash in her 401 K, you know, and a lot of people don't know this. At that same point, my number one client that I had when I was doing sales training reached out and offered me a vice president of sales job with a $350,000 base salary with a commission structure. That would have put me almost back to seven figures. Um, if I hit all the numbers and, you know, I had a choice, you know, do I go back into corporate America and eat shit, if you will? Or do I freakin keep chasing my dream of building a company? And, uh, we decided to bet on the company. How hard was that choice? Um, for about 24 hours. Stupid hard. But my wife and I both realized that I was broken, if you will, at that point. Meaning there's no way to go back to somebody else. Tell me what to do. There was no way I could go back and and go back to being the road warrior and traveling all over the US and doing that kind of stuff. So, um, but for 24 hours, knowing my wife just cashed in her for one day, knowing that our whole world was topsy turvy and I had no way of making income at that point because I didn't know what the business was going to be. Um, it was it was it was difficult for 24 hours. But once I realized that there was no going back, it was pretty easy to put my head down and start getting after it. Yeah, that's great man. You're the, uh, the Alchemist. I you know, I feel like I have years ago, but I couldn't tell you all the details of it. Yeah, I feel like that. Um, I just read everyone talk so highly about it. Finally read it, like, last year, and I'm like, wow, this book, like, explains the journey so well, right? I feel at that point I feel like it always happens where you know you're going through it, and then there's a chance to turn back. And, you know, it's just weird how that happens. Kind of like the universe test you almost. Yeah. See how bad you want it. I I'll speak for me, but I think a lot of people, you know, end up this way. I had to hit rock bottom. Right. Um, because without hitting rock bottom, there was no reason to fight, you know, because I was always a guy that kind of just figured it out. Like it was a phrase I used all the time is I'll just figure it out, right? Always figure it out. And that always figured it out. Always kept me at, like, capped at a ceiling. Like I couldn't get past it. So I literally I needed to hit rock bottom. So I'd actually start fighting and know what I was fighting for. Um, and you know, I love J.K. Rowling's quote that says rock bottom is a foundation of which I built my life. And I think that summarized where I needed to get to. And I don't tell anybody to go purposely try and hit rock bottom, you know. But I will tell people to take risks big enough where in my case, I was literally betting the farm, you know, to get after it. There's no better tool on the planet to meet the dude in the mirror than building a business, because you're going to find out what the hell you're made of real quick. Yeah, no, that's the truth, man. So how so? After that turning point, you had the option to turn back. You said, fuck it, I'm going to keep going forward. Um, how long did it take to actually start seeing success? You know. Started making revenue at that point because I just became a business whore and just started saying yes to anything. Um, so I ran several different companies in that time. Uh, but I found podcasting. Shoot. Um, April May of 2018 and launched my first podcast. And that one took off really, really, really well. Uh, and we launched a podcast production company from there. And I've taken that company to multiple six figures, probably took me about another year before that really started generating that kind of revenue. But at the one year mark, my non-compete came up from the sales training. So I launched a sales training organization, and I had such a chip on my shoulder that I grew that one to well into multiple six figures. Um, and then took that all the way up to the pandemic. And when the pandemic broke out, uh, you know, my businesses, two different businesses doing multiple six figures each. And, uh, I was looking at the world at that point. You know, I'm two and a half years in the business starting to feel like I understand what it felt to be a business kind of starting to legitimate legitimize that I was a business owner, and I realized the whole world didn't have two and a half years when Covid hit to figure out how to build a business online, they had about 30 days. And that's when we launched Success Champions Networking. So I love that. Yeah, I feel like it's crazy. I feel like Covid for a lot of people, um, to interview a lot of people, you just kind of hear that was kind of they they realized they made pivots and things there, and they kind of got on the right path. And. You know, it's crazy how crazy. Ben, can I just remember when that all broke up? And I kept thinking back to oh eight because I was selling commercial printing and, you know, oh, eight years when the economy just went to hell in a handbasket and mortgages went south. And, uh, I remember years later hearing that in 2008, there was more millionaires built in that moment of world crisis than any other time in history. So when Covid hit, I knew there was going to be some people that were going to run straight into the fire, and there are some people that are going to run from it, and we were going to capitalize. So, um, it wasn't necessarily about pivoting for me. It was, where can I find a vehicle to help as many people as possible? And it afforded us a really cool opportunity. I'm sure Success Champions networking would be as big as it was if we launched any other time, because I feel like we just hit the right stuff and doing the right things. But I think Covid really pushed us into a place where we were in a unique time. I could totally capitalize on this, and I want to say I'm capitalizing from people with Covid and we know it was a tragic time, yada yada, yada. But, um, uh, it was an opportunity and we just seize the moment. Yeah, 100%. So what is the trajectory been like for you? How do you how do you how did you go, um, and, you know, build it to the level that you have now, a lot of hard lessons. Uh, you know, uh, I heard somebody describe being an entrepreneur is kind of like a heartbeat monitor. Like even on the same day, you can be like, oh my God, this is the greatest decision I've ever made in my life. And 30 minutes later going, what the hell am I doing this? You know, a running joke between myself, maybe sometimes my wife is. You signed up for this shit, right? Um, so, uh, a lot of it has been some really good business decisions, followed by some really stupid business decisions. But most times, you don't realize how dumb they are until you make them. And then you get a chance to get on the other side of them. So, you know, uh, like all companies, we've had some tremendous highs, some tremendous lows. Um, like originally when we first started with success Champions networking, we were B2B and B2C. We always have been. No MLMs. Um, and main reason for most MLMs, you just type in that MLM and the word Rico charges behind it. And I'll tell you what we don't want MLMs in um. But you know, and it was when the mortgage crisis hit a few years later and all the rates went through the roof, we, you know, lost over 100 members in the network because they were all B2C, touching houses and mortgages and the like. So, um, when that happens is the moment I said, okay, we're going straight B to B, and when we did that, we lost a lot of the other businesses that were in our network. Um, and I have nothing against B to C, but if you are selling a B2B business and you're in your networking with a lot of B2C individuals, it becomes a lopsided situation of introductions and the like. So. But we made the choice to go to B to B, and it was a rough out the gate. But I can tell you it's the number one best, you know, business move we've made. Because now we found a really cool niche in the marketplace that allows the people who sell B to B to go out and network with other people to do B to B, and so some really cool doors opens a lot, creates a lot more very cool synergistic, you know, relationships and, you know, collaborations and the likes, all of that. So yesterday I was lucky enough, uh, you did an event here in town in San Antonio, uh, networking without being a jackass. Um, can you kind of explain, uh, what your speech was about for people who might have missed it? Yeah. I mean, most of us grew up in this game of, uh, networking. And you go networking to find referrals, you go networking to find business. And, you know, that's just the stuff we grew up on. And if you're in a transactional business, like the person you sit across from is a person you need to sell to and you're out networking, right? You know, most times you get that deal. Life is good and you don't need anything beyond that. Um, in the B2B game. And a lot of people should think about this, even if they sell B2C, what happens right now and in the moment? It's not about the first meeting, the second meeting, the third meeting. It's about the 20th and the 30th time year round. Somebody. It's about that lifelong relationship. I want people to think about, you know, this is somebody I'm going to meet and do business with for the next five, ten, 15 years down the road and be able to look at people at really long relationships. In the same token, if you understand that referrals and whatnot do not come from networking, referrals come from your clients. It's like, you know, you go find a new amazing restaurant. First thing you want to do is tell everybody about it. And it's the same thing. If you really serve and take care of your clientele, they're going to tell other people about you. They're going to really try and open up your doors. So if you look at it from that perspective, networking is not about referrals. What's it about? It's about introductions. So a referral is an introduction with a sales call attached. Like it's like, Bob, meet Sam. Go have a great conversation or and sorry Bob, meet Sam. Sam's interested in what you do. Go have a conversation. There's a sales call expected. So that's a referral. An introduction is just putting two good people together. So if you understand that, you know, you go into networking and say, hey, I do X and I'd love to meet your whatever industry you serve. Well, and it just changes the dynamic of the entire conversation. So a lot of it was focused on that and just trying to teach people a lot higher level of networking than they're typically used to. Yeah. No, it's great man. I got a lot of great takeaways. I know the audience did as well. Um, can you kind of explain, uh, the pyramid and how that works? For sure. So, um, this is something I figured out, uh, when I was selling Sandler training, but. If people will take a pyramid, they put themselves at the top and just tell everybody to put you at the top, um, and then take their client base. And I want you to think about who's your perfect ideal client. Right. Um, whoever that perfect client isn't just your one best client in the center of that triangle, you write down what industry that client is in. Okay, then I want people to think about who else sells to that client but are not direct competition for you. So in that vein, you put you at the top, and then you find two industries that also sell to that ideal client that are not competition. Now you go around instead of saying people like, hey, I'm a commercial printer, I'm looking for people who need commercial printing. You know, I'm a commercial printer. I'd love to meet your marketing person. I'd love to meet your branding person. I'd love to meet your website design manager. And these are all people that are also going after your perfect client, but they're not competition for you. So imagine if I sell commercial printing and I meet, you know, 100 branding people. I meet 100 marketing firms. Each one of those has a client base that if we can form a relationship, I can open up doors for, they can send me tons of referrals into their client base. And when you think about it from this perspective, very rarely, like if somebody is selling commercial printing, I don't have conversations with people about needing to order business cards and postcards, but I do meet branding people. I do meet, you know, marketing consultants and. Website developers, and so I can introduce people to a ton of those people, which will then provide and bring them just a ton of value. Yeah, I think that's great, especially from a real estate perspective. I mean, there's so many industries, um, or really other businesses that would work and fit this dynamic 100%. Um, so I think really it just, uh, it was really eye opening for me. So I sounds like you're looking for ways to add value to them by getting, um, giving them connections. And you kind of mentioned a little bit yesterday, but how do you make sure they're reciprocating. Yeah. And so, you know, we all grew up in that philosophy and I'm not bashing on any organizations. But you know, Barry's got that organization called Givers Gain, right? Where, you know, it's literally, you know, give, give, give, give, give, give. And if you always do that, you know, you're eventually just going to get, be taken advantage of. Right? Um, and you meet these people all the time. They're like, man, I give all the time, but I just get nothing back. And I, you know, I tell them it's because if you don't take from the network, then you're going to be taken advantage of. So you can't just give, give, give. You have to take. So we teach a five GS, which is give, give, give, get, give. And in that process you sit down with somebody and you take them through the triangle themselves. You say, okay, cool. Um, who's your best client? What industry are they in? And then you think through who else sells to that perfect industry? And you go, cool, let me see if I can introduce you to those person. Right. So now you start making introductions to those people as if you make three, 4 or 5 introductions. Now you can say, hey, can I tell you specifically who I need to meet and see if you can get introduced to those people, but you're not looking for the end user. You're looking for that synergy client that is also selling to your ideal client. So let's say I do commercial printing. If I can get introduced to a web design company, that web design company also needs to meet branding and marketing companies. So if I introduce them to them now, I start making a lot of introductions and the likes, and then we can say, you know, my best client that I'm actually working with is a client that's in whatever industry you're going after, and odds are they can introduce you right to them. If they make an introduction, you immediately turn around and give them another introduction. And the reason you do that is because most times people don't understand the power of opening doors for other, right. They haven't really learned that. So it's almost an uncomfortable act for somebody to to. 1s Or so. You gotta make them. Okay? So as soon as they open a door for you, you immediately turn around and open a door back to them, and it changes the dynamic of the relationship. And what you'll find is they'll want to open more and more doors for them, because you actually continue to help and serve them. Yeah, I love that. So is it the give give, give, give. Is it always a 3 to 1 ratio. Is that I usually run in about a 4 to 1. But it can vary because some people might be a little bit harder to make introductions because I may not have the contacts in that particular industry, but however many I can get up front, I'm always going to keep one of my back pocket, because if I can get them to open up a door for me, I'm always going to turn around and give one back. So 3 to 1, 4 to 1. You know, as long as you're giving more than you're asking for makes sense. And does that change at all for the for me to see if that real estate is mostly B2C? I think for real estate, they need to look at it for more of a perspective of who are those key, you know, synergies and people that can work for. And I think real estate honestly should, should get out of the normal game. So, um, I when I think about introductions, I think about, okay, it's being introduced, the right people, the right places and the right opportunities. So if I'm sitting in real estate, instead of asking for somebody looking for a home or somebody who may want to sell their home or their likes, I'm going to start asking, you know, where is the person I'm talking to? Where are they hanging out that they don't see other realtors, where they don't see other people doing what I do? And there's several places you're going to find that a realtor can go in, and there's not a single competitor in the room. And if you can get introduced to these right rooms and these right opportunities, it's an absolute game changer. And so so it's beyond even looking for the individuals that can open doors. It's the places that they can get into. And then if you're looking on synergy influences don't look for the one mortgage broker, you know, look for being introduced to the person who has 100 mortgage brokers working for them. Right. Because you want to get introduced to the one to many versus getting introduced to the one on one. Right. And then just to kind of share, let me know if I'm on the right track from your speech yesterday, kind of where my mind was going. So really with wholesaling, we're looking at we're usually dealing with distressed homeowners, right. Um, so usually they're going through divorce. They're going through some kind of financial issue moving across country. What have you. They're getting older. Yeah. Um, you know, they want to downsize and just want a quick cash offer or need a creative solution where a real estate agent wouldn't be able to help. Yep. Uh, so typically where we come in, um, so some of like. And I know y'all get in the right rooms, um, but some of the synergies I was thinking with referral partners, um, would be like divorce attorneys or, um, you know, bankruptcy attorneys, estate attorneys. Right. State attorneys. Yeah. Yeah. No exact spot because, I mean, you meet the right. The state attorney. You meet the right, you know, divorce attorney. You know, especially somebody a little bit more high profile. Now you're not getting just one referral. You're getting multiple referrals over time, over time. But you also got to think about, okay, cool. If I get to meet an estate attorney, who the hell do they need to meet? Right. And for them, it's divorce attorneys, right? It's the same people, right? So connect them with the other. Absolutely. So now you connect them to the other people that are also targeting. And what you're doing is you're creating, like these little tiny power teams of people that are collectively coming together, all working on the same end client. That's great. Yeah. To even think of that further thoughts, that's super helpful. Are there other ways to add value besides connections that you found with? Yeah, 100%. So there's opportunities. So like a guy like me, you know, I'm always trying to get on stages. I'm trying to get on podcast. You know I'm trying to get into those kind of secret rooms. So, um, if you think about when you're sitting across from somebody, you got to kind of start thinking through what's the biggest value I can bring this individual. And sometimes it's it's hearing about a private dinner, sometimes it's hearing about an event. Um, sometimes. And one of my favorite things I used to do when I was selling Sandler training is, is sometimes it's about getting a favor and a favor can be if I was trying to go after a particular CEO, I'd go figure out what that CEO's, what board he sat on, because almost every president of the company sits on a board, nonprofit board somewhere. I'd figure out what that nonprofit board was, and if I really wanted a conversation, I'd go out and figure out for that nonprofit, what's the gala coming up? What's a dinner coming up? And as soon as I find that, I go through my client base and find 3 to 5 people that I could get to buy tables for that event, and then I'd call the CEO up and go, hey, I've sold 3 to 5 tables for your gala coming up for this nonprofit. Is it okay if I introduce some straight to you so you get credit and take care of that? And they take that call every time because I just brought them, you know, tens of thousands of dollars in some cases to their nonprofit. Now, later on, if I call up and say, hey, you want to grab a coffee, grab a cocktail, invite me into your office now, I brought them tremendous value up front. They'll give me that second conversation. So think way beyond just introducing to people. But think about what's the opportunities, the door you can open from that perspective. That's great. Yeah, it's. Are there any other ways you like find like how you can add value to people because you feel like sometimes you can come and straight out like, hey, what are you working on? How can I add value if that people don't want to ask for help or feel like they? Yeah for sure. Something I found a phenomenal question to ask somebody is what matters most to you right now, right? So every time you ask somebody that you're going to get these cool, different answers of things are into. So they may say things like, man, my kids playing soccer. And that's really a big thing for me, right? Or they're saying, you know, I'm trying to find a fishing trip for my family to go on. I'm trying to find whatever. When you figure out what really matters to somebody now, you're getting ammunition to go cool. Who I know that could help with that, right? You know, if the kids are into soccer, can, you know, you introduce them to maybe a pro soccer player, maybe you have a relationship there or something, but it's about finding what somebody else is really looking for and what they're leveraging. And then figure out, can you connect the dots to help make that thing happen. So it creates a lot of opportunities. And just what matters to you most right now is such an open ended question. You know that oftentimes you're going to find it's, um, business related stuff that they're into, and that helps you figure out a lot of cool places to be. I love that. That's great. I feel like one thing I've noticed about you ask a lot of powerful questions. Is that something learning or sales training? Where do you pick up on these sales over the years? And somewhat sales training? Because I think the greatest skill for anybody, especially somebody in sales, is the ability to ask the right questions. And what's phenomenal is the the questions that are the most powerful don't even feel like questions. So it's small phrases like even what you just did the right is it's a cool way to ask a question because you're leaning in and want to know more. So it could be a simple phrase is, oh, tell me more about that. Or ooh, I really like that. What does that mean? Right? Or sometimes even dead silence gets people to really open up to you. Um, but when you get people talking, you're going to learn so much. And it's, it's not about taking advantage about somebody. It's about looking for for opportunities to provide extra value. And most people, because they have so much nervous energy that when they speak, they won't shut the hell up long enough to be able to get that feedback and input back, you know, back into them. They're trying to think about, how do I turn this into a sale? How do I turn this into an opportunity for me? You need to flip the script and go, how can I provide enough value? So when I do ask for mine, right, I've already provided enough value on the front end that when I ask for mine, it's no big deal, right? Um, and just most people don't think that far ahead, right, I like that. So one of the other questions I want to ask you. So one of the biggest pieces of advice people have for new wholesalers or people that want to get into real estate investing, is to go to these groups, go to the real estate meetups, go to the events. Um, what are some of the biggest mistakes you see? People, if it's something they've never done before, it's brand new. It's a lot of people that have w-2s that are just transitioning to real estate. What are some of the biggest mistakes they make at these networking events, and what advice would you have for them? Yeah, the number one biggest mistake is they try to make themselves bigger than they are. Right. They try and portray that they're, you know, been doing this for years. Um, I think most people, if you're just starting out, the greatest thing you can do is just tell people you're just starting out and you have no idea what the hell are you doing? Um, people will come to your rescue at that point. They'll they'll come bail you out. Um, the other thing they'll do is they fabricate success. Like, they'll lean on what they've done else in life, trying to make themselves look bigger and more awesome and the likes. Um, other things I see them do is they get really pushy in the room and they try and big dog, you know, the people in there about, well, I'm going to do this. I'm going to be the number one wholesale flipper person in the world. Um, and there's other thing you'll see them do is just not give a shit about anybody in the room, right? They they walk around almost like the people in the room don't matter. Um. And the likes, other times they become a wall hugger, right? They won't ask questions. They won't put themselves out there because they got really nervous energy and really pent up. So they'll go to the events, they don't talk to a soul. They leave and go home and they're like, okay, networking doesn't work, right? I'm not going to do that kind of stuff. But also, I don't know if I'd go to the real estate stuff if I was just starting out right. I would go to other places where people are going to know the big real estate agents, right? They're going to have the big, you know, relationships with other people that are going after my ideal client base. Um, and then go, people tell people, hey, I'm just starting out in wholesaling, still learning this game and trying to figure it out. So I'm just out in rooms trying to meet as many people as I possibly can to understand who's the exact cool people I need to be talking to about this. And that interesting perspective is you're not going to see a lot of wholesalers in particular, out those type of networking events. So now you become top of mind for the people when they hear this kind of stuff. I love that. I think that's a that's great advice. And that's why I, like me with other industries, is because you get advice. That's not the same thing that's been parroted again. And you know, I think that's super, super great. Um, yeah. Man, I, I've got a bunch of great takeaways and, um, you know, one of the other questions I had kind of going back a bit is, was once you. You build these relationships and once you do start to, um, you know, add value, how do you, um, I guess, stay top of mind and keep those relationships? Um, what's the are you still looking at working more on, like, fostering those relationships you built, or is it more important to build new ones, or how do you balance it? It's a solid mix. Um, I've found over the years that you feed those who help feed you. Right. So, uh, I'm going to give, give, give, give Astra mind give again. Um, but if it gets to a point where where I've provided a lot of value over the years, there's a point to move on. I can't tell you exactly when. It's kind of a gut call, but if I've opened doors for you for a year and you've never done anything for me, then I'll let that relationship move on. But, um, to the best way to stay on top of mine is to open doors for others, right? Um, think about it as anytime somebody open a door for you to get into a room, an opportunity, a conversation, you know, oftentimes you keep that person closed and oftentimes you want to reciprocate, right? You want to help in return. So if there's people that you were doing know or doing big, amazing things, and you really like to have that relationship with them, you know, figure out what they need, help them get there, and then nurture that that relationship for a long way. And the best way to nurture that relationship is figure out what they need and then keep getting that need for them. Eventually they're going to come around and say, okay, let's sit down and talk or, you know, uh, let's figure out how to work together because you keep pouring into them. Yeah. That's great. So I guess on the flip side, how do you cut off the people that you identify as takers and like, you've done a lot for them. There's not reciprocating at all. I just move on. Yeah. Right. You know, and if they get a little huffy, like, you know, constantly take, take, take and they're like, hey, you know, I haven't done an introduction for me in a while and I'll be up front. I'll say, hey, you know what? This has been really fun. I've loved opening doors for you, but can I ask you a tough question? How many introductions or referrals have I given you over the year? And they'll be like, ah, I don't know, probably a bunch. And I'm like, and for me, I almost always know I'd be like, well, I've given you 34 or 35 this year. How many have you given me? And they're like, I don't know. And when you look at them and say, it's been zero. Right. Watch their facial expression, you know, and watch what happens when when that happens. Because a lot of times people think the reciprocating, they think they're giving value and they don't know. So sometimes we got to bring awareness to it. Um, and sometimes, you know, you just walk away, you quit talking to people and they naturally go away. Yeah. That's great. I think that's huge. So tell us about the events. And you have the badass, uh, Business Summit. Yeah. So yeah, we got the Badass Business Summit coming up September 18th through the 20th up in Fort Worth, Texas. Uh, three days, phenomenal networking podcast speeches. Um, we just created an environment where you get to meet the people you need to meet, interact, and create a lot of opportunities for people to create collaborations, create synergies, build their personal brand, uh, be introduced to the right rooms and the right opportunities. And we have a lot of fun with it. I mean, uh, we're doing all kinds of craziness this year, but every year at the summit karaoke party breaks up because, you know, there's no better way to get people to let their hair down than put a microphone in their hand. Right. Um, some people should be on stage and some people should not be on stage. But it's all about having fun and a good time. Uh, this will be year five for us doing this. Um, and it's it's it's been a lot of fun. We're getting ready to start something new. So every Monday we go live on LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube. Um, and we're going to start in the next couple of weeks, um, where we invite our members of the groups, uh, to come in, but they're going to be able to submit an issue that they're going through, and we're going to put them on the hot seat on the mic, and we're going to give live advice right then and there for myself, my brother Keith, Doctor Stevie Don, who's one of the greatest speakers on the planet, Bernie DeSantis will be in there. Uh, Payton runs and produces all that for us. So but we'll start bringing a ton of value to the members. And while people get to hear somebody else get advice from us, they'll be able to get direct advice for their businesses and such. So a lot of cool things coming down the pipes with all the stuff we're doing, all of that, that's super exciting. And I know you just touched on LinkedIn and that's kind of your main focus. You kill it on there. Uh, I LinkedIn, I haven't really made the jump. Um, wholesaling, it makes more sense to probably play on Facebook. I mean, and truthfully, um, you got to play where your audience is, um, and, uh, but you got to think about. Cool. If I'm going to play where my audience is, where can I get that the other wholesalers aren't hanging out in? Right, right. So I tell people all the time, go geek out on things. You geek out because I'm like, for you, I'm sure there's stuff you're into that's beyond wholesaling. Like, you know, I do the baby goats, I do the Ren fairs and that kind of stuff. So I'm not going to go into a business networking. If I'm doing wholesaling, I'm going to go into the Ren Faire groups. I'm going to go into the baby goat groups. I'll go into the barbecue groups, the rum groups. I'm going to build relationships and friends up there. And every once in a while, you know, jump in, drop in, hey, I'm a wholesaler. This is what I do is what I'm looking for. My favorite, whatever this scenario is, is the things I'm looking for, you know? And you'll be amazed that when you can geek out on the things you geek out on, uh, what happens when you find people that are geeking out on the same thing? So yeah, I think that's huge. So as far as LinkedIn, what are some of the biggest differences? Um, using LinkedIn as opposed to some of the other platforms. So Facebook's more about a personal vibe and what you're doing in the moment. LinkedIn is about the personal vibe, but it's about the lessons you've learned in life and how you can apply those to business. I think the biggest difference is Facebook. People are going to get to know your world. LinkedIn people are ready to talk business now. So it's from that different perspective. Um, I think right now LinkedIn is the easiest platform to gain traction on and greater attention on and getting more of your right type of clientele, especially if you're in the B2B space for people to lean in. I added 12,000 followers last year, or um, mainly by putting out, commenting, engaging in other people's comments, uh, and finding relationships to get along with and building out these synergy. So. Um. Everything we do in this life is about building a personal brand. And you can do it on Facebook or LinkedIn. I just prefer it on LinkedIn. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. It's super helpful. Yeah, it's one of the big things I was thinking is, you know, like we're talking about trying to build relationship with those referral partners. And I imagine it's probably a lot easier to find them on LinkedIn. It is. It is because they're everybody's on LinkedIn to network. It's like a massive cocktail party, you know, our massive after hours. So if you go out and you treat it as such, you know, and people are like, I put out a post on LinkedIn and nobody saw it, nobody commented on it. I'm like, yeah, because you put out one post, do it for a year and then tell me what happens, right? Do it for a year, go comment on other people's stuff and then tell me what happened, because it took me nine months to break 10,000 followers, you know? And then it started snowballing from there. But, uh, once you start understanding and finding your voice and that what you want to talk about on any platform, it just gets easier and easier to continue to show up 100%. Now, one of the things that I do, you do live cold calls. Um. What advice do you have? I feel like one of the things you said is you're like, oh, I did it once. I'm not very good at. I feel like I hear that all the time with cold calls, people are like, oh, I make calls for a couple of days and yep, this doesn't work. Uh, what advice do you have for people that are just starting to make cold calls? Because it's one of the best tools if you're just starting out? Yeah. I mean, and if you guys just go to YouTube and type in Donnie Bovine doing live cold calls, you can find the videos there. Um, and let's be honest, I hate cold calling. Right? It's a prospect methodology I don't like doing, but it frickin works. So this is why I teach it. Because I can't teach something I won't do myself. So the biggest thing is you got to become human fast. You know, uh, we all hate being sold to. So, uh, if you don't believe me, just pick up one phone from a telemarketer or go on a used car lot. Right? We all hate being sold to. But we love to buy. So you got to be, you know, very, very, very fast in becoming human. And one of my favorite ways to do that is literally say, this is a cold call. Is it okay if I tell you why I'm calling you? You want to hang up? And a lot of times they're going to laugh because nobody ever says this is a cold call out the gate, right? Um, and so oftentimes they'll say, all right, what do you got now? You got to go in very, very, very specifically and say what you do without beating around the bush and be very confident in it. So you can literally say, I'm wholesale houses and I'm not sure if you're in the market to, you know, sell your home at this time. But that's what I'm looking for, either from you, your neighbors or other people you may know. I'm looking for distressed homes that, you know, people are actively looking how to get out of their mortgages and the likes. That's what I'm looking for. And you'll find that a lot of people are going to tell you no, right. A lot of people are not going to be into it. But I don't know what number of dials or number of conversation you'll get into. But you're going to find somebody going, oh my God, I've been trying to get out of this house right now, and I have to do it now or I lose a thing. Right. And that's a conversation you're looking for, I say, yeah, actually I've been slacking the last couple of weeks, but usually every Wednesday I do live cold calls to show people. And yeah, anyone says they love cold cons. Yeah. They're like. They're like everyone we hired. Uh, we're interviewing Vas ones. Like, my passion is cold calling is my favorite thing in the world. Like a fucking liar. Yeah, but, uh. But. Yeah. So you want a great interview tactic when they say that. What's that? Is vitamin. And as soon as they walk in hand on the phone. Yeah. And say dial. Watch him squirm. It's the funniest thing in the world. Yeah, I think that's the biggest thing. One of the mistakes I made with hiring people, um, it's one when I first did it, I'm like, oh, I'm going to build it up, renew all the sales training before we put them on the phone and they end up building. There had to be this huge thing and none of them worked out. But the people that I'm like, hey, just jump on the phone like it's easy to do it. And like, those people ended up becoming killers. Yeah. Every time. And it's it's it's baptism by fire. I mean, you just got to learn it by going through it. And the only way to learn anything, you know, it's Mike Tyson says everybody's got a plan to get punched in the face. Right? And same thing here. You just got to go do the thing. Fuck it all up. Figure out, okay, okay. That sucked. How do I do it? Better go back and do it again. Go back and do it again. And so people that can get through the rejection, get through the tough times and learn and apply, uh, they realize that repetition build momentum. Once you get momentum going, it's a lot easier to keep it going. 1s I think that's literally the best way to get better. Yeah. Cool, cool. And, um, the only other people is to record your calls and listen to yourself. It usually sounds a bit different. Yeah. Tell them to do this. Tell them to actually video record their calls, and then when they go back and listen to it, to turn off the sound and just watch your manuals and body language. It's pretty telling when you can see, because what most people do when they're cold call is they're all hunkered over, right? They're all, you know, bottled up. And I'll tell people, go buy a freaking headset, get walk around because we naturally talk with our hands. We actually are walking around. So buy a headset, just walk around the room, but go see what your mannerisms are. Your body language can be heard on the other end of the line. You know, so, so stupid. Things like standing in front of a mirror while you're cold, calling and making sure you're freaking smiling, smiling. 1s I mean, that shit just works. But most people. And the other thing I tell people is, don't cold call alone. Don't sit there by yourself and just dial down. Dial now find a buddy and turn it into a game. The game I love playing it. Love to play is you go, I go, right? So it's like, okay, I'm gonna make a dial. If I fuck it up, I need you to bust my chops. Give me a hard time, tell me how bad I did. But if I win, if I do something good, man. High five it and go. And you know. And every time you fuck up and your buddy makes fun of you. All right, don't worry. You're dialing next. Let's go. Right. And now you got both of you that are going one after another, and you get somebody who's like, cool, man. Maybe next time, try this. You know, you're giving me advice back and forth and having fun. It just makes cold calling a hell of a lot more easier when you got a buddy you're dialing with and getting after with. Yeah, I love that. Yeah, I think I can gamify or kind of trying to like a game for me, I just. 1s 100%. 100%. But man, that's great, man. I got a bunch of great takeaways. Um, any other tips you have for someone? A lot of these people, like I said, they have w-2s. They're kind of afraid to make the leap into entrepreneurship. You know, if someone, they really want it, they know in the heart they do it, but they're afraid to make that leap. What advice would you have for them? Um, continue to build it up on a side to your income matches what you want your side gig. And that's the best advice I can give you. The dumbest advice I can give you. And this is really shitty advice and you should not take. When I'm about to tell you to do. I can quit your W-2 and dive all the fuck in. Um, it's really bad dumb advice, but I really think for me, had I not, you know, almost lost everything, I wouldn't have found the fighting spirit to try and stay in the game and build this thing. But that's horrible advice. And seriously, people shouldn't take that advice. It's what I needed to do. But it's not what everybody else needs to do, right? Most people should go the safe route and build up their side gig till it matches their W-2. Yeah that's great. I guess knowing your personality types, I'm the same way I get fired and my fucking. I'm never working with someone else again. And, uh, I didn't get fired. I quit on my own, but, you know, same time. But yeah. No, I think it's, uh, just knowing kind of your personality type. If you value security more, you have to build that up and do that. And I mean, there's you can definitely do it part time. You can do it. You know, we had a guy in my mastermind he made. More than a salary in 60 days. 90 days. Doing it? Yeah. Yeah. Then he was able to quit. So just kind of knowing your own personality type and how to make sense for you. And I think for most people, you just got to do it long enough that you figure out how to make it work for you. Most people throw in the towel way too early on this stuff. Um, just because they've never bet on themselves long enough to win at anything. Right. So. So stay in it long enough till it till it actually works. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Another question I love to ask people. Um, you know, one of our big things is, you know, living life one day at a time. You focus on winning. Today, I believe tomorrow is going to take care of itself. What are some of the things you do to make sure you win today? So, um, Andrew, Andrew Huberman, uh, Huberman labs podcast. I love listening to his show. Uh, he did a fascinating study on long distance runners and with long distance runners, what they found is like, if you're doing 100 miles, 200 miles, they don't focus on the finish line. Don't focus on getting the hundred miles. They focus on what's the next thing they can see in the distance. And run to. So I will tell most people is you got to look at each day is what's the thing that you can accomplish today, right. That allows you to get to that thing in the distance and get to, um, and it may be. Christ, I did a cold call today. Right? It may be. I did a post on LinkedIn and maybe I reached out to a realtor. You know, what's the one thing that if you can get that done today, right, you'll win the day, but then you got to celebrate getting that one thing done, because that's where we screw up often, is we don't celebrate. What's that one thing we accomplished? Um, and if you don't find the micro wins to and figure out how to celebrate those, then you're going to beat yourself up over the long game. Because this shit's hard. It's not easy, right? Um, and you're going to get punched in the face a lot along the way. I have to say, it's, uh, it's simple, but it's not easy. Yeah, 100%. 100%, man. It's been great. I got a bunch of great takeaways, and it's been my awesome man. I really appreciate you having me on here. And and guys, if you are into this and you've got any tips or value, do type a favor man. Share this episode out with somebody else. You know, I always say building my own podcast. One of the toughest things I've done because you're building a following, a building audience. So if you share this out for time, man, it's literally like giving him a freaking, you know, a personal hug because it's that much value. So tag us. Take a picture wherever you're listening to this, tag us in it. If I see it all, come comment. But you know, definitely share this out to other people. Yeah, I know, that'd be a huge help, I think. Appreciate you guys for listening. Donate. Where's the best place for people to go and follow you online or to learn more about? Yeah, follow me online. Literally go to LinkedIn, find Donnie Bovine Boy, Vince, the last name on there. Um, I'm the only one on there. Um, or you go to success champion networking.com and you can find all of our information there as well. Awesome. Thank you brother I have to do this again. Absolutely man. I'd love to do it. 1s Um. 1s Cool. 1s Hey, this is Kyla. Thank you for listening to the podcast. I truly appreciate you. If you want more of this information and you want to see these actually recorded live. Go ahead, join our Facebook group. It's a real estate wholesaling syndicate. It's right on Facebook. Google it. You'll find it typing on Facebook. You'll find it. I look forward to seeing you guys in there. We give a ton of free information in there, a bunch of free trainings, free courses and get all the scripts, contracts, everything you need A to Z absolutely free and I look forward to seeing you on the group.