Welcome to Action Solves Everything, the show for those who want to stop overthinking and start producing. I'm your host, Alex Montagu, broker, leader and founder of Lockstep Realty. Around here, we believe movement creates momentum. Clarity comes from doing, and the agents who take action are the ones who win. Every episode is built to help you grow your skills, your confidence, and your career. Now let's get to work. Welcome to another episode of Action Solves Everything. I got a guest man, one of the best ones we'll have on the show, Jon Bell from AT Properties. Jon is a total stud, man. Third generation realtor. He's been in the business north of 15 years now, coming off over $20 million in production last year. He's written over $16 million in production this year. But Jon's got his hands in everything, so he's just not out transacting buyers and sellers. He's. He's an investor. He's got something everywhere. And Jon is one of the happiest guys you'll ever talk to. So, Jon, what is up, man? I've been waiting for this conversation, dude. Oh, yeah, Lots of fun. You know, we live too good of a world to be sad, right? We're blessed, so we're staying happy, man. I just had a conversation on a previous episode with Matt King, and I talked about that, and I talk about it in a lot of the episodes is like, if you like this, we have an incredible opportunity and the world is really hard right now. I mean, everything is made to be more difficult than it needs to be. There's intentional wedges dividing us as people. But to get up and choose to be happy and give the best service we can to those around us is a choice. And look, man, since I met you a handful of years, something you've always done, and I actually remember a funny story. I think I played the worst round of golf I've ever played in my entire life was with you and Trent. And that whole time, it was the worst day of my golf career. But, boy, did you pat me on the back on every hole and keeper, encouraging me along the way. And that worked for me. So I appreciate that. We must have been on the same team and I was trying to get you rolling or something. I was trying so hard and it got worse and worse. But, dude, what's going on in your real estate business? What are you working on right now? Oh, man, a little bit of everything. I've started to venture into a little bit of the higher end stuff, which has been cool mid to high ones, several million dollar plus listings. Big difference from where I started 15 years ago. Bank owned world 15 years ago to now is a pretty big difference. Before I ask how you got where you are today on the north of a million bucks, why don't you rewind a little bit and talk about, you know, you're a third generation realtor, so was it always designed in your mind for you to get into the business or was there something that made you be like man, I really want to do this and then talk about what it was like getting started doing that. Bank owned world. Yeah. So I, yeah, third generation grandpa, my uncle, my dad, my brother in law even for a minute and myself all in real estate. Grandpa has, has passed away. He's, Gosh, it's been 30 years since he's been gone, but he was a Tucker guy back in the day, did some developing. So I, I remember him, you know, vaguely. I was seven years old when he passed away so. But I still remember those conversations with, with him and my dad and my uncle. My, my uncle and dad both had independent brokerages. When I joined in 2011, I joined my dad's independent broker brokerage called Mint to sell realty and then, gosh, pretty quickly became the managing broker. It was pretty small, you know, there was, there was only like, you know, five to eight of us at that time and a lot, a lot of change, a lot of transition since then, but I didn't, I felt like I'd probably always be in real estate, you know, following in the family's footsteps. I think if you asked my grandpa what he told my dad or my uncle was, was don't do this, this is a lot of work, this is stressful. My dad I think told me the same thing. So part of it, you know, the Bell family, we do hard things. I tell, I tell my kids that all the time. So you know, I, I jumped in going to, I went to college just kind of as a backup plan. But I always knew that when I got done, that's where I was headed. That's awesome. So 2011, you jump in the business. How old were you then? 22? 23. 23, yeah, dude. So I started when I was 25 and it's easier today to build a business than ever because the power of social media and online marketing and things like that. But dude, 2011, you jump in, we're coming out of the crash. We're like crawling our way out of crash. I got in in 12, so I'd love to hear what it was like for you in 11 and how did you get put on the bank owned path? Yeah, it was, it was definitely a different time. You know we, we had several bank owned opportunities. I kind of jumped in with both feet with my dad on that. He had already been working so he started Mint to sell in 2009 and he had formed some good relationships through lenders and some asset managers in the bank owned space. And my dad also worked another full time job at the time so he had both kind of things going. So he was gosh overloaded is, is a understatement on working a full time job and then doing. I want to say I'd have to, I'd have to ask him to be sure but I want to say he had I think over a hundred bank owned transactions in like one or two years while working a full time job. So I want to go back, I want to go back to this down the, down the road I want to hit on this. But that aligns with the bells. Do hard things. That is not easy. If you've ever done a bank owned deal, you're waking up and choosing hard every single day. I think even David Goggins would appreciate that. So you're rocking and rolling there. But dude, I think you and I met 2018 and you had built an awesome business. So talk about your journey a little bit and share with the listeners how you got take us through a little bit of the time of your, of where like just in your journey and what makes you, you in the business. Yeah, so I, I started in the business with, with my dad and just a small independent brokerage. I never jumped in to any of the big, big box stores, Carpenters, Tucker's, ReMax, that was not my thing. I jumped in bank owned early and then rolled that into like hey this is a whole lot of work. Their chart, their, their commission splits were way less than a resale or, or a retail space. So like I, I quickly wanted to transition to that but I was 22 so you know not, not all my friends in sphere was really buying homes yet. So I had to kind of be patient in that I, I by the time you know, 2018 came my dad was starting to, ready to, ready to pump, pump the brakes and move in towards, towards retirement and he was working on a not for profit at the time and I had the opportunity to purchase out the family side of the business and that actually transpired 1-1-2020. So I think that's maybe where you're asking and 1-1-2020 is when I bought the company from my mom and dad and brother in law and they went in and my dad kind of retired and my brother in law went. He was more of a finance guy. So he went into finance side of, of another business. And we 2020, that was a, that was a crazy time. Covid years bought the business. A couple of months later. Covid happens and you know, we're bracing for impact and the opposite happens, you know, I mean, the 20, 20, 21, 22 were super wild years for real estate. And it added fuel to the fire. We, we grew. I think it was about 4x in that time frame from 2020-21, mid 21. And we were just kind of bursting at the seams. And we had one staffer at the time. We went from selling, I think it was like 20, 25 million as a company to 80 to 100 million. One staffer and myself. And I was our man, managing broker, finance guy, hr, you know, doing everything. So it was a hard time. I love to also hit on. I mean, look, you're a family man, you're a dad, you're a husband. Like, hit on that. Like you're trying to build something in those years. Your growth in that market, for those who don't know, was yours for the taking if you worked for it. And there were some folks that chose not to work. I remember the day they deemed us essential workers. I threw masks and gloves on and went to work. I was like, I can't sit at home for another day. I can't do another ring party or zoom party or whatever the hell we were doing. But also like, there was a lot of money that was pumped into the market, artificially done to hold the rope. And buyers, people wanted to move and sellers were unsure. So if you were fearless and you could handle the communication and everything that came along with it, success was yours for the taking. So you guys are going through 4x growth, hit on what like family life looks like for you guys during that time as well? Yeah, it was obviously busy. I luckily had some good experience to lean on in 2018. Personally, I went through a very tough, just mental year. I was pushing, pushing, pushing, trying to hit ridiculous numbers. Me and one other guy were trying to do 100 transactions in a year. We hit it, but it was at the cost of everything else. At that time, I said I was a bad husband, a bad dad, a bad friend. And I learned a lot from that period in 2018. So I figured out a way and kind of made a promise to myself at that Time like I'm never going to get myself back to that spot. So I'm going to work hard, I'm going to show up every day and I'm going to give it all I got, but I'm going to make sure I take care of myself a little bit better so that I don't get in a, in a bad spot later. And that, that mindset shift helped me get into. Sorry. Getting a phone call helped me get into like a really good routine with that. So I wasn't missing family dinners, I wasn't missing family sports. You know, watching my girls play in a game that's, that's been very important and something that, you know, I said, I'm not going to let my, my job cause me to miss those things. So family, you know, Faith, family and then work. Right. So it's like that's kind of the, the way that I've always run my business. And it's kind of turned out to be okay so far. I had a conversation with somebody earlier today and when I had my kids, it was like it was 2022 and everybody that was in my life as a client or a friend or somebody that I really valued that supported my real estate business, it was like they encouraged the boundaries that I was, that meant so much to me that I didn't know how to set. And when I got in the industry, I had three goals. It was like recession proof business. Did it build a business that allowed me to be a present husband? That's always a journey and a challenge that I work through. And then the last one was if I ever had kids, I wanted to be a present dad. And what was cool was like my, the, the, like my clients were the people that got behind me and pushed me to be like, you want to be there for your kids? You want to be there for that? And that was a huge reason that Lockstep has evolved and grown how it, how it did because there was, I always had a fear. It was like, I have no idea how to get out of this mess that I built that's been an addiction for so many years. But it was like my wife supported the journey and then the kids came and it was like, I can't leave my wife at home with two little kids for bed and bath every single night just for another deal. Like, who are these deals for? It's like, yes, it's for the consumer, but how much of it was designed as an ego play for myself based on a stat or a metric or a previous year? So Dude, I love that you recognize that. Like talk about what that transition looks like. So like you go from 100 deals to this next stage of business for you, how are you wrestling that internally? And then I think there was some other transitions for you during that window of time as well. Hit on those. Yeah. So I think the big aha moment was hey, how do we sell the same volume with less transactions? And it wasn't like I was turning away a lower deal because it was a lower deal. I would still do those, but I, I would, my, my sphere naturally there's some natural growth to that as you get older that in your sphere those people have their second, third move up homes and those are more expensive. So volume could stay the same while transaction count went down. That's a, that's a, a big deal for a stress load, right? The less transactions, less, less stress loads, you know. So I went from a hundred, you know, we did a hundred transactions. I think I was 60. I think I was like, I don't know, maybe it was 80, 80 of those. It was, it was a lot. And then I think I slowly started going the other way. But the volume actually stayed the same or actually went up when I did. So in 22, I think I did like 27 million. That 21 or 22, 27 ish. And that was with like 60, 50 or 60 deals, you know, so it's, it's a lot different volume or more volume with a lot different count on, on transactions that, that helped a lot. The other transitions at that time, I mean we. 21, mid 21, we were at that spot in our, our second brokerage, if you will, that we bought the company from. Dad Rise Real Estate was the new company that had 4x and about 18 months and bursting at the seams, had the opportunity to partner with and merge companies with another local brokerage in Indianapolis. And you know, it was a longtime friend of mine, I'd known him for a decade at that time and it never made sense for us to get together. And I kind of looked at something that he was looking at and solved some problems. And you know, I'm like, let's, we, let's get together and talk through this. Let's have some, let's have some, some real honest conversation to see if there's a way that it makes sense for both of our brokerages to, to come together and then grow this thing. And that was probably right after I met you. Really. I mean 18, I think I met you 18 ish. Those conversations just a couple Years, short years after. And then that moved fairly quickly. So I, I think we were up to 20 something agents. We merged with a company called Platt Collective in Indianapolis. They had I think 60ish at the time. And, and so we joined and had 80 pretty quick. So it was 2020. We had like five, six agents to 22 where we had 80. And now we've just poured fuel on the fire, started a brokerage franchise here, called out properties and have been growing that like crazy. I think we're up. Last count was 225 roughly agents across the city from Lafayette, West Lafayette area, down to Evansville. So. So growing it like crazy. And that's been a lot of fun. Gosh. I think you asked what were some of the other things. My wife and I did a Airbnb business for a while. We had four Airbnbs in Nashville. Commercial investment, you know, moving and shaking. We love to. Just to grow. And I'm sitting out in front of actually my kids school right now. They're going through a lot of growth and having a lot of meetings with their cfo just trying to. How can I help? Right? How can we help grow this thing? I love like growing businesses. It, it is, it fuels me up. I love selling houses. It fuels me up. Those, those are the kind of things that, that are fun. Yeah, dude, I, I love that you said that and I love that you just hit on that. The idea of like, I love to grow businesses. I, I tell this story and I, I always laugh about it. I was at a exp national convention a couple years ago. We had some agents down there with us. And those things are awesome because you get to spend time with your peers in an environment that you never get to spend with them here. And so like, we're out, we're having fun. We're at a dinner. And one of the girls, Sarah, is a lockstep pillar. She crushes it here. She's one of our top producers and she's just a cornerstone of what we've accomplished. And she looks at me and was giving me a hard time and was like, do you have any hobbies? And I was like. And I thought. And I thought. And I was like, that's a. Like, I like to work out. I like to travel with my wife. I like to spend time with my wife and kids. And I like to work and I like to build things and I like to build business and build like, I'm like, lockstep is a passion project every day for me. And we, we still joke about it. Today where it's like, I don't, I don't really. I'm not a hobbies guy. It's like I had Dustin McKibben on here with art home photo, and like, he's doing this really cool project with his daughter around Pokemon cards. And it's like, my kids aren't at that age yet, so, like, I skin things down to the simplest form and it's like on my work environment, it's what drives me every day. It keeps work from feeling like actual work and it's just a constant pursuit of self improvement. And then also like that self improvement done correctly improves everyone's life around you. And look, that's what makes small business amazing. I do want to highlight you guys at App Properties. I told Mark Nottingham this when he was on, and I say this all the time. You guys probably have the best collective group of agents in the Indianapolis marketplace from a quality of person perspective. And I enjoy so many of the folks that you guys have over there. You know, agents, you know, you, Trent, Mark, like, the guys over there are just fantastic. But I think something that's really cool that you guys have done is like, you guys are not a, a realtor, and Mark's just not, you know, one of the brokerage owners. Can you talk a little bit more about, like, what you got your hands in over there, like, foundation title, some of the commercial properties that you guys do? Like, what's that look like for you guys? Yeah, we, we love to own any real estate that we would have otherwise rented that is kind of a. It's like, why, why pay someone else rent when we can pay ourselves? So we kind of have a philosophy that if, if we're going to be in an area for the most part or within reason, we're going to try to own that space. Real estate is, is one of the ways, in my opinion, one of the best ways to set yourself up for retirement. Real estate has historically continued to increase in value year over year over year, with the exception of a few years. Right. So it is a very good retirement vehicle. That is a vehicle that I've, I'm obviously really close to. So I, that's where I choose to spend a lot of my investment dollars. So any office that we own, if you walk in it, it's likely that we, we own it as, as a kind of a rule of thumb. And then from there it was like complimenting businesses, like, what are the other businesses that we are using all the time that we can also, like, have some real input in and make sure we are getting the best client experience title was one of those, right? How do we, how do we make sure that the client experience is. Is the best that it can be? It's like, well, we, we can control that, right? Same thing with, with some of our lending partners. You know, we want to make sure that we have some of the best lending partners out there. So we, you know, we, we did a lot of trial and error and we did a lot of figuring out who are we gonna, who are we gonna partner with? Because we want our experience to be the best experience that it can be. And then we just give them opportunities with our agents. You know, make. Make relationships and, and grow. Grow your business in that way. So there, there's a few others. I mean, Trent. Trent started a company as you may have talked to him about at some point. Hitman Solutions. I know, I know Lockstep does another complimenting business. That that business was started out of frustration as a realtor. So Trent was frustrated that all these people that were. He was getting quotes from, from a mold perspective after an inspection, they were overcharging. They weren't doing great quality work. And he was like, you know what? I can do that better and I can do it. Make the client experience better and make it a better end result for that person. So we started Hitman Solutions. That has has morphed into all kinds of things. It's foundation repair, crawl space, wet basements, you know, all that. So like, those types of things start, you know, businesses start out of problems that we see as a result to make the client experience better. And that's, that's ultimately what all of these guys. Rex is another one. He started a property management company, right. So it's all of those things. Business. Like you said, growing businesses are fun. And that's something that we love to do, especially when it's going to help our clients at the end of the day have a better experience. Man. I think, look, realtors are what they are. They get the, they get the wrap. They get likely because it's earned in so many instances, whether we like to admit that or not. And so much of our industry is perceived as a commodity. A loan is a loan. A title company is a title company. Look, everything is perceived as a commodity until it's not right. So it's like it is not a race. Some folks will look at this as a race to the floor. Who's the realtor that'll do it the cheapest? Who's the painter that'll do it the cheapest. And look, if you have to paint a house three times because you pick the cheap guy, it's more expensive than doing it the expensive way, the right way one time. And it's a concept to measure twice, cut once. But look, I think our industry is better. Like, I think about what Hitman does. I think about, like, folks like you guys. The industry is better when people are constantly solving the problems that our industry faces. And it's not just like, hey, I want to sell more houses, but it's like, I have a passion to the craft or I don't appreciate that the realtor and client experience is xyz. It can be better in the end user deserves better. And I think, like, that's right. When you look at the businesses that you guys have your hands in, I think at the impact that like Lockstep pursues to make every day it becomes. It becomes less like, I mean, they're just realtors. And it's like, it's really neat. Like, I see so much of what you guys do and so many agents you guys have it at and what they. What their businesses are like. And then you see other folks that you cross paths with that do not care about this industry. And what sucks is barrier to entry is so simple and so cheap that anybody can get in and do this and then maintain their license in. The person that suffers the most is the consumer that doesn't know any better. And that's right. You know, it's like, it's an unfortunate thing. But look, I think, look, we'll sell well north of 300 houses this year. I think we'll bang on 350. And. And something I'm most proud of is that not only do we make the impact on every agent that works here and every staff member that works here, but 350 homeowners have a better experience and a better understanding of what our industry standards should be. And to me, that's. That's important. I mean, look, 220 some agents for you guys. You're banging probably a couple thousand deals over there. And it's like, you guys do a great job. It matters. And Hitman and Foundation title, those things, they're small pieces, but it's a way to make the biggest impact possible. And you guys are doing that. Yeah, that's right. It's the end of the day. How do you make the client experience better? How do you make. I want the client to be like, man, I thought this was going to be way harder than it really, really was because that means we did our job. You know, like, I'm. I don't want. I don't want to, you know, cause a lie here. Because there are hard deals, right? There are definitely hard deals. There are things that shouldn't go certain ways, but they do because people are people, right? But for the most part, you know, we want. Gosh, in my buyers consultations, I will say, listen, guys, I want to get to the end of this. And you look at me and be like, man, that was super easy. If that happens, I've done my job. If, if we. But also if I call you and there's a little hiccup, that probably will happen because I always. I kind of joke about. I'm like, if we don't have something that surprises us in real estate deal, it doesn't even count, right? So, you know, we joke about that, but it's like, how do we make it easier on the client and how do we make this process smooth? A lot of it, too, comes around communication. It's like, if you don't. If you're not a good communicator and you're trying to sell real estate, that's a real. That's a tough job because there's a lot of therapy in real estate. There's a lot of conversations that have to happen that are maybe not easy conversations, but the easiest way is through communication. That's if it's text, if it's call. I'm a call guy. I get made fun of a lot for being a younger, younger generation. I'm. I'm 30. I'll be 38 next month. So I'm still, I guess, considered maybe a younger On. On. On the generation scale. But I'm a caller, man. I'm like, don't text me. Like, let's. Let's talk. Because you can just hear tone. You can feel the conversation. So much better than a text, right? So you can. There's a. We have a core value here at Lockstep. It's called Better Together. And it's a simple concept, but I had a. We had an offer written on a listing of ours recently. Guy writes an offer, we send a counter back, fireworks way. And I text team member. And I'm like, at Lockstep. And I was like, yo, can you tell me what happened? And he tells me what happens. Like, here's what I'm trying. I'm trying to get on the phone with the other agent. You won't get on the phone with me. So I call the agent's team Lead. And he's like, thanks for filling me in on this. Here's everything I know. You pull your side, I'll pull my side, and let's get this thing back on the rails in the next couple days. And the reality is, so many transactions are made to be a pit of war between a buyer and a seller, when the reality is, if we're working together. Look, working together does not mean that there's no conflict and there's no issue or disagreement or hard negotiation or things like that. That's not it. But our job as realtors is to pick up phones and have quality relationships to resolve challenging situations. That's what you're paid for. And look, when you look at how realtors are compensated, if you do that really well, we're insanely underpaid. You cannot convince me otherwise. But if you don't do anything and you avoid and you text and you're never available and. And look like your dad was able to do it with a second job. But oftentimes the people with secondary jobs or that do this job part time, they do not give this the attention that it deserves or that is requ. And so it's like, it makes it really hard when it's like, I want to win. And when I started in the business, I was taught, win or lose, you win a deal, you lose a deal. And as I evolved in the industry and built better relationships and built better interpersonal skills on my end and became a better communicator, it's like everybody ultimately wants the same thing. Like, a seller wants to sell, a buyer wants to buy. That requires a similar destination. Yep. Can you work together to get there? It's crazy to me how many people want to do it behind an email and a text message. And look, some folks can do it, or sometimes that's what a schedule requires. But I. I'm in full agreement with you. It's like, better together. The concept of, like, picking up the phone and saying, john, look, dude, here's where we are. Here's where you are. Is there a middle? And do we work together, or is this just not a fit? And this combative behavior, it just is not. It's not a good thing. And look, the TV shows create the embellishment associated with it, and people think it's real. And the truth behind it is, so many more deals happen behind the scenes of folks going, hey, we're frustrated, you're frustrated. None of that matters. Do you still want to buy? Yes. You want to sell? Yes. Cool. How do we get there together. How do we get there? That's right. Yep. Dude, love that stuff. So, like here you are now, part owner at that, doing all the things you're doing with the commercial buildings. What's future Jon look like? What are you working on? Like, where are you headed? Yeah, I'm, you know, I, I joke still to this day of like, what do I want to be when I grow up? Just because I do have my hands in a lot. My wife jokes with me quite often. She'll be like, wait, you own that building or you're part of that, Jon, I need to know these things. So it's funny, it's funny and it's not right, but I don't know is the answer. I love where I'm at. I love still selling. I kind of find it hard to believe that I'll ever shut that down. I don't know. I just, I love it this. There's still a thrill like you're going to know what I mean here. I don't know if the listeners will just because they may, they may not all be realtors, but the look on the wife or the husband's face when you tell them that they got the house. Oh, it's like it's pure joy. And I eat that stuff up. It's like, you're not doing it. When you get to the point in real estate where you're not doing it for the paycheck and you're doing it for the satisfaction of others, at the end of the day, that's what matters and that's where the pure joy in real estate comes from. So I don't see myself not selling. Maybe that tapers down. Maybe I move into more of a luxury market. Time will tell. I'll continue to buy and sell investment real estate and fine tune the companies, the other companies that we've started and grown. We'll see if there's any others that are started as a result. But I think I'm in a good spot. I think we'll continue to refine a future. Jon Bell's gonna just keep a pulse on. Yeah, my kids are fifth grade and going into fifth, going into third prime time for sports and different things. So I don't know, I might help coach something. Right. You never know. You're about to be peaking as a dad peak dad time right now. Yeah. I have a question and I want to go back a hair. How did you cut into this luxury space that you're working in now? I know you said, hey, my price point goes up over time, but yes. But also there's an intentional thing that I'm curious if it was done for a listener to go, hey, here's how I totally overhauled a personal brand to go from hustle in the banks to north of a million bucks on a traditional price point that you're working towards, like, share a little bit of that. Yeah. I mean, it's a 15 year journey. Right. It's. It's not something that you're like, oh, I want to go start selling million dollar houses tomorrow. It's learning from the hustle of the$50,000 houses. I was selling in 2011 at 2%, you know, just running, running BPOs for these banks and just putting myself in precarious neighborhoods. And, you know, it's like, I don't want to do that. So. So now what? And then slowly but surely, you know, you, you start moving up to the 200, to the 300, to the 500. My sphere, I'm getting, I'm getting at an age that's older, and my sphere continues to be refined. You know, year over year, those people are buying their third, maybe fourth house. So, so there's some natural exposure to higher end. It's. It's not like I hang out at Reese Nichols all day and try and pick up buyers at the jewelry store. It's just natural. Right. It's just something that. It's just kind of naturally happening and asking for the opportunities. I think, man, so many people don't ask for the business. Putting yourselves in, in the position to, to, to be the one that they want to call. Right. I mean, there's some, there's some areas. Zionsville, Hunt Club Road, you know, in particular, I, I just sold one over there recently and somebody said, man, you broke on, on the hunt Club road. That's a hard one to break into. And it's like, I, it's just the people. Right. It's the relationship. It's not. I, I never, I never looked at it as like, I want to go find people who are going to buy a million dollar house. It was just, I'm going to build relationships and if I do my job well, whatever house they buy, ideally they're going to call me. Yeah, you're the guy for the job. Yeah. So I think over time that it's just kind of slowly gotten there. I don't want that to sound like that. I'm not going to help the person buying the $300,000 house either, because I want them to succeed. I want them to win. Too. So I see a little of both. But yeah, I think it's just a natural transition where I'm at in stage of life. It's been so long doing it, you know, it's natural. Dude, I love that. I laugh about your story. At 2% and a 50 grand house. One of the first deals I ever did when I got in the business, my team lead that I just started for handed me a rental lead list from a rental listing that he had. And there was like 100 rental leads that had signed calls and stuff like that. So I called all the leads, I converted one to a buyer, I took them out, I wrote an offer, and I remember sitting there doing my own pencil math when I wrote the first offer. And it was, we wrote a 115 on a 125. And I remember thinking, I'm going to get 3%. And 3% of this is 3,300 bucks. And then I got to pay a royalty fee to century 21. And then I got split the lead in half. So I made like 1300 bucks. And I. My goal is to make $100,000. And I go, I got to sell like 94 houses a year. Year. I gotta do a lot of it. And I was like, I'm never gonna get there. And funny enough, we got a counter offer in the middle at 120 and my buyer walked away and they never bought a house. Oh, no. So like, it was just like, I think, look, man, people forget about the journey we have. You know, we do Internet leads here. We buy Internet leads. I've had some conversation with folks about identifying what is a good or a bad lead. And oftentimes good or bad leads are determined at price points. And it's like, look, if you get a name, an address and a phone number and an email, that's a hell of a lead. Holy smokes. That's right. That's somebody that raised their hand and said, help me, I want to move. It's not about the money. It's about the lifetime value of a relationship. And I love to touch on that. But dude, this is phenomenal. Jon, I could talk to you all day. But one of the things we do to wrap this, normally we ask about where can folks find you online. But you had told me you've been off social media for six months. I bet your soul feels so clean. It does. Yeah. So I've never been a social guy. Social media guy, we'll say very social in person. I accidentally got logged out of Facebook several years ago and Then I like tried to hack my way back in. I didn't know my password. I think the way that the story ends on that one is I tried it so many times that it just completely erased my profile. It's like, okay, so that's when my Facebook career ended. And then I have an Instagram. I think it's like sell with Bell or something like that that I had created after I got locked out of Facebook. And I don't have time for wasting 20 minutes just thumbing through stuff and there's. What do they call? Doom scrolling. I just don't have that time. So I think it was actually at church, our pastor, it was like, hey, we're going to do a fast. So what's something that you can fast from? It was a 21 day fast. So I picked alcohol and social media. Well, that was in January. This is funny. This is. This maybe paints the picture. I'm off social media. But I. I have had a drink since then. I was gonna ask you. Yeah, yeah, I did. Day 22, right? Yeah, day 22, I had a drink. No, I think I went like 30 or 40 days before I had a drink. But that's funny. But no, I. I just never picked a social media back up when I need a minute. This is, this is also. This is kind of a peak inside my brain that I get a laugh out of if I need a minute to just do nothing. I play solitaire on my phone, play a game of solitaire. I get back to it and I'm ready to go. You're an old soul, man. I love that. I am. But dude, we always wrap this with one question. And look, I think the show is called Action Solves Everything. And action is something that's a pillar. And every single person that's going to be on this show or has been on this show is someone that's an incredible action taker. In 15 years, you've gone from somebody entering into a family business to somebody that owns a powerhouse rental portfolio and is an investor and an incredibly successful business owner. What does taking action mean to you? That's a great question. I say it like this to a lot of people. I'm tired of talking about it and I'm ready to be about it. We can talk about plans and we can massage things a million ways to Sunday, but let's get going, right? Like, let's start. Let's take the first step that lets you go to the second, and so on and so forth. Risk. Risk is involved with a lot of things that you do. But you gotta be able to take a risk from time to time and hope it pays off. But if it doesn't, put yourself in a position where it's not gonna break you. So I think the answer to that question could be a lot of ways, but it's like, take the first step. Action is, is movement. Quit talking about it and let's be about it. I love that. Jon, congratulations on everything that you're accomplishing right now. I appreciate you as a friend and it's been a pleasure watching your journey, dude. So thank you for joining us today. I know the listeners have a lot to take away, so thank you again and we'll talk to you soon, brother. Absolutely. Thank you, man. Thanks for listening to Action Solves everything. If today's episode pushed you, challenge you or help you even take one step forward, send it to someone else who needs that same nudge. We all get better when we grow together. And if you're looking for a partnership that actually believes in coaching, collaboration, accountability, and actually becoming the best version of yourself, shoot me a message online at All Social handles. Lex Montagu. That's a L e x m o n T a G a n o. Remember, success rewards the ones who move. Take action and I'll see you on the next episode.