Need ideas on how to boost your real estate business? Social media is the answer. Today’s guest has only been in the industry for three years but the success they’ve amassed is proof that it works. John Schuchman is a Podcast Host and Coach at The Real Estate Survival Guide. After leaving a series of W2 jobs, John ultimately found his calling in real estate in 2019. As the pandemic hit, John didn’t give up and posted content on various social media platforms consistently—and that was when his real estate business really took off! Now, he’s helping others achieve the same success. Tune in as he shares tips and tricks to get you more clients and, hopefully, close more deals. Plus, get to know more about John’s journey into real estate, the challenges he faced, and how he overcame them.
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How To Use Social Media To Boost Your Real Estate Business With John Schuchman
I’m excited to have our guest, John Schuchman, on the show. I met John at Podcast Movement this 2022, and we were in a class together. I noticed he had a real estate podcast, so we connected. John has been a realtor in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. He’s the host of The Real Estate Survival Guide Podcast. He helps real estate survive in the real estate business. John teaches everyone how to treat people the right way to create the business they’ve always dreamed of.
He left the W-2 job that he was struggling mentally and emotionally from and went into real estate. With no advertisement, he tripled his business in one year and now teaches the audience how to do the same. He now makes a six-figure income in the real estate business with his passion, his clients, the real estate business, and helping people grow their businesses through social media. John, welcome.
Thank you so much, Heath. Thank you for everything you do to help lenders out there and help your team. Thanks for having me on the show. I’m excited.
One of the things that struck me about you is the fact that you’d only been in the business for a few years. You had a podcast, and you’d done 200 episodes. We were talking earlier. You inspired me just now. I was listening to a couple of your podcasts. I was getting ready for the show, and I was like, “I’m going to record a short podcast.” Thank you for that. I’m curious where you get that confidence and the desire to help people.
Some of it is fake it until you make it. I won’t get into all the details of when I started the podcast. When I dreamed of the podcast, which was about September or October 2020, when I dreamed of it, I had probably sold about $30,000 in real estate. I was a nobody. I was a scrub. The more I looked around looking for somebody to do something, what I kept hearing from people that are making $200,000, $300,000, or $400,000 a year in real estate was, “I don’t have the time.” I’m in a great mastermind with an awesome guy named Vincent Pugliese. He has the Total Life Freedom community. He’s all about time, location, and financial freedom.
I’ve been in this group for a few years. It changed my life. Look up The Wealth of Connection. It’s his new book. I don’t get anything for telling you that, but the book changed my life because what he basically teaches you is that the way you’ve been doing business is wrong, and you need to do it differently. All that to say, he released that book earlier this 2022, but he’s been teaching us those concepts for years. I remember him saying this to me when I went to a retreat in October 2020. We were talking about reoccurring business and income.
I was like, “I’m a realtor, so that’s not possible.” He was like, “It is possible. Let’s talk about it.” What I also learned is the power of a podcast. I reached so many people with my show that I would’ve never met. I was on a Zoom call supporting another realtor’s book. Many people on the call were like, “John, tell us about your podcast.” I’m like, “I wasn’t here to pitch my show.” It’s about serving people. Everything I do in real estate is about serving and connecting with someone. To summarize, I was thinking, “What do I wish would’ve been there when I became a realtor?”
The power of a podcast is reaching people you never would’ve met. Click To TweetAt that point, it was a year prior, but I had barely made $40,000 in the business. I said, “I wish somebody would’ve taught me this stuff.” I had a lot of people at the time reaching out to me with questions, people that I trained with. I’m like, “Didn’t we train together? Why are you reaching out to me?” I didn’t say that. I tried to help. What I learned from that was I was a pretty quick learner and pretty quick to apply things to create success in real estate.
Half of those people now have either failed out of business, and the other half are in the membership I run to help them build their business. I wanted to help people. As lenders, realtors, and your clients read this, you have something you can create that you think is pretty ordinary that everyone else thinks is extraordinary. I’d encourage people with that. Usually, what people are asking you is a good sign that you should be creating a platform membership podcast around that thing.
What I’m hearing from you is everyone has a great story, and all have their own content. All you have to do is have the courage to be able to put it out there. I’m curious. Give us a little background. How did you get into real estate? Go back as far as you like and tell me a little bit about your journey so we can get to know you a little bit.
What is crazy about my journey and people’s journey is you just walk through open doors. If you’re out there and you’ve lost a W-2 job, I promise you I’ve lost more W-2 jobs than you can count on your fingers and toes. I probably lost 30 jobs. I never really found my niche. I was six months here and six months there. Sometimes I would take a promotion or get fired. I wasn’t sleeping with the boss or stealing money. A lot of W-2 jobs want you to fill a position and do the work. They don’t want you to dream. They don’t want you to be a visionary. I’m very much always building.
With my wife, and even now, I’ll go to these retreats for Total Life Freedom, and she’ll be like, “What’s the big idea you’re coming back with?” She knows I’m going to come home and build the next thing. I still remember the date, February 26th, 2019, I lost my last W-2 job. This is the short version. I had never found a job I had been successful at. I was in banking, retail stores at Sears, restaurants at Chick-fil-A and Red Robin, worked for a limousine company, cleaning cars, and worked for Sleepy selling mattresses. If there’s a job out there, I’ve done it.
First of all, I always had struggles paying attention. I learned that I had ADHD, never got diagnosed, never took medication, got into real estate, and started taking something which has helped me. All that to say, I was always onto the next thing. I could never focus on a W-2. I was always dreaming and being a visionary. For instance, I worked at Chick-fil-A. I still love Chick-fil-A. I love their culture and the company. What I will say is at 12:30 at Chick-fil-A, they’re trying to get 120 cars through the drive-through. I’m not kidding. That’s not an exaggeration. That’s how many cars we did. That’s 120 cars in an hour. That’s 30 seconds per car.
All that to say, at 12:30, when we were rushing food out the window and trying to get the guest through the drive through was not the time to dream and be a visionary. It was the time to stand there and get the food out the window. I never had the tax to understand, “This isn’t the time to dream, improve, and move things around.” That would frustrate a boss. In every job and all the failures, I feel like I’ve been super blessed. In all the jobs I’ve had and all the struggles, I was always good at sales and relationships. When I lost my last W-2, I was like, “What do I do now?” I applied for 50 jobs over a few months, and it’s not an exaggeration. No one would hire me.
The bank I was at blackballed me. I don’t know what happened. I know I couldn’t get a job at the time. Timing is everything. Now, I could get a job in five seconds because they needed employees. Maybe it was just a way of God saying, “This is not for you.” I remember a final interview I had, having two interviews left. I started my real estate course that summer because I knew people in real estate. We said, “If you don’t get one of these last two jobs, we feel like that’s a sign to go head-on full-time into real estate.”
The last one I interviewed for was a position with Wells Fargo. They said they were going to hire me, and the next day they called me and said that an internal candidate came through at the last second and applied, and they went that direction. That, to me, was the sign like, “You’re going to grind. You’re going to build this. You better make it work.” My wife was pregnant at the time. I did the class over the summer and officially got licensed on August 27th, and our son was born on September 2nd.
Suddenly, new parent, new career, and we had to make it work. The big lesson in all of this was when I got into real estate, I created success because I had no other choice. That following summer, in June 2020, I have done two deals at this point. One made $2,000 that April and one made $3,000 or $4,000 that June. From February 26th, 2019, to June 2020, I have made $5,000 to $6,000 in real estate, whatever it is.
You must have some savings in the bank.
No, we did not. We survived off my wife’s $40,000 job at the bank that fired me. She was still going there. Imagine the emotions on that. The job had discharged me without cause. I got unemployed for six months. That took me from February to August as I got licensed, and then I hit the pavement. This is not like, “John becomes a realtor. He has instant success.” That’s what people want to hear. In the meantime, I would do Uber, DoorDash, and GrubHub. Whatever you could do in your car, I did in those months. In the summer of 2020, and there’s a reason I’m saying this, we had $70,000 in consumer debt. We owed about $155,000 on our home. We bought it for $165,000. It’s not like we paid off a ton in four years.
Two years later, in June of 2022, I paid off my house. It went from $70,000 plus our house in debt in June of 2020 so bad in the hole that we asked the family, “Can we move in with you?” They were renting, so they didn’t feel right about having people move. Anyway, it didn’t work out. I feel like the minute they said, “No, it’s not going to work,” was the minute real estate really picked up. It was crazy how it happened. Within a two-year period, I then had paid off my house. We’ve been so blessed. We’re so thankful, but it’s just crazy how it’s all happened.
There’s no secret that you’ve been successful. You’ve created a podcast and now a successful business. I know that your main focus is on social media. For the audience reading that may dabble in social media from time to time, whether they’re a loan office or a realtor, what’s some advice that you can give them about social media and what they can be doing now to boost their business, especially in a time where interest rates are going up, and people are freaking out? What advice would you give our audience?
Get in front of people. I run a membership for realtors now. I even have a couple of lenders in there, which is pretty funny because they just like the advice. What I find is people will say, “I tried social media,” and I’m like, “For how long?” They’re like, “I did it for a month.” I’m like, “No.” This is not to say John is so great, but when I got licensed in August of 2019 to be a realtor, I posted and did my first deal the following April.
From August to April, it’s seven months, and my second deal is in June. In nine months, I posted about real estate multiple times a week and built a following. What I learned and what I want people to know is when you post on social media, first of all, people are like, “I don’t want to pitch to my friends.” Here’s what I’m going to tell you. You are being selfish by not telling people about your business. Sometimes people think it’s the opposite. Heath, do you know lenders out there that are screwing people over left and right?
Totally.
I know realtors out there that have no integrity and aren’t caring for people. “By not talking about my business, you’re being selfish.” That’s a great quote from my friend Vincent Pugliese who I mentioned. I had you on my show, and we’ll tell people honestly, “It’s not a time to buy. Maybe you should rent.” I’m going to do the right thing. I’m going to treat you the right way. If you can’t afford this house, I’m going to tell you. I could approve you, but you are not financially there. You have no savings. You’ve got credit card debt. You can buy, but in certain situations, you probably need to make more money or pay off debt, etc.
I posted for nine months. What I’m saying is you’re being selfish by not talking about your business. Two, the people that are already your friends on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram, want to support your business and know what you’re doing. I still get messages nowadays where someone will see a Facebook or Instagram story and say, “I didn’t realize you were a realtor.” I’m like, “I’ve posted for three years about this.”
That’s how the algorithm works that people will not see you, and then they’ll see you. My encouragement is to get out there and post. Be generous on social media. Help people. People will see that. People want to do business with people they know, like, and trust. If you know that John loves the Philadelphia Phillies, Starbucks, and Chick-fil-A, and then we meet for a meeting, and I’ve had clients like, “I thought you would show up with Chick-fil-A.” It’s like they already have a connection because they follow me on social media.
I like that. What I hear you saying is just go do it, as Nike said. Go post something. If you’re not sure what content to post, it’s whatever comes up. It’s whatever is happening now. I’m going to take that to heart and start posting on social media because I’m the old-fashioned belly-to-belly phone call guy.
That works too. The thing about social media, and for lenders and realtors reading this, is that it is free. When realtors say to me, “I don’t have any money,” I’m like, “Cool. Neither did I when I started my business.” We were broker than broke. Go post on Facebook. Go post on Instagram. Get your Google My Business profile working. All those things are free. Heath, when we talk about social media, we’ll talk about this. One of the big misses people have is in your bio.
My bio on Facebook says speaker, podcast host, coach, realtor, and whatever, in some order. It says, “I love helping people fulfill their dreams.” It has my phone number. Every single post I post, “Coming soon. Under contract. Sold. For sale. Client review.” I’m good at getting client reviews. Every single one says, “If you’re looking to buy or sell, call me.” The miss is you don’t want someone seeing your stuff in their feed and then having to jump through hoops to reach you. My bio has my phone number right there. My post has my phone number. It’s in everything so that people can be on their phone while they’re out scrolling on Facebook and go over to their phone app and dial.
Be available. Answer your phone.
There are so many lenders and realtors. We’re a dime a dozen, but you know what I do better than anyone, and I know you do if you’re having success? You answer your darn phone, and you’re nice. If you can answer your phone and be nice, you’re better than 90% of the people in your business.
If you can answer your phone and be nice, you're better than 90% of the people in your business. Click To TweetDon’t take it personal. I tell people this. Real estate agents and clients say, “If you are selling real estate, I’m working.” Remember that. If it’s the weekend and it’s 9:00 PM, and you’re writing a contract, I am working. Don’t worry about, “Is he working?” I am working. If you call me and I don’t answer, text me.
That’s the thing to create success. It’s being available. I have clients all the time that are like, “I’m sorry to bother you.” I’m like, “This is my job.” If you go to Walmart or Target, you don’t have to tell the cashier, “I’m sorry to bother you.” It’s their job to be there. It’s my job to be available. Sometimes that means nights and weekends. Guess what? All those people that are calling me while they’re working in the mornings, normally I’m hanging out with my family. That’s my time off. Realtors and lenders, we work different hours, but we’re flexible, and we make time for our family.
Now it’s a difficult time in the real estate and mortgage business for some of us because it is the way you look at it. I’m curious. What are you excited about now in real estate and in the real estate business? What really is like, “People are not getting it. I’m excited about it?” and why?
I love this question. I am excited for the market to shift, which most of the realtors are saying they’re scared of. Let me tell you. 25% or 20% year over year is not sustainable. That’s why a shift is coming. I still believe one year from now, prices all over the country will be up. They’re not going to be up 30%. They’re going to be up 5%. My clients that have been priced out of the market now the rates are high now have a little bit less buying power, but I’m excited for my clients who don’t want to compete with 35 offers, 50 or 60 showings, people waiving inspections, and covering up $50,000 appraisal gap. I’ve seen that here in PA. We’ve seen it everywhere.
I’m excited for people to be able to buy homes. I remember buying my house in 2017, and it was $165,000 or whatever it was. My house is now worth $250,000. That’s not sustainable for people making $50,000 to $60,000 a year on one income. It’s just not. I’m excited that people will be able to buy. I don’t know how you feel about this phrase. They keep saying like, “Marry the house, date the rate.” If you get a 6% to 7% interest rate now and you’re going to refi that in twelve months, Heath is there to help you with your refi.
Fannie Mae even came out and said that 2023 rates would be 4.5% percent. Rates can’t continue to go up. They can, but most people believe, “The Fed’s going to continue to increase interest rates. Therefore, mortgage rates are going to increase.” Mortgage rates will only continue to increase if we don’t go into recession. If we go into recession, they’re going to come down because the government is going to start buying mortgage-backed securities again, which is going to bring down interest rates.
I love what you said because I was about to say that. This is why trusting an industry expert like Heath is so important. If you ask me about the rates and I’m a realtor, I always say I’m the house guy. I’m not the numbers guy. This is why trusting someone like Heath, trusting a local lender right, is so important. This is why realtors out there and lenders have business partners. I have a lender here I use in PA. I refer him from the rooftops because he gets me to closing. He does such a great job. He treats people the right way. It’s great for even your clients to read this blog and know what you’re doing so that you can say, “Maybe you’re not trying to buy now, but let me tell you what’s coming in the next year.” You don’t have a crystal ball, but you do in a way because you study this stuff and read the information that the Fed releases every few days. You need an expert to help and guide you.
A lot of loan officers are reading now. What advice would you give loan officers from a realtor’s perspective in this market?
I had a business partner who used to be great at relationships, would show up at settlement, and be on time. As his business got busier, he would show up late, not return calls, and be late for meetings. I said to him, which I released on a podcast, “Do the things that got you there.” I really hit him hard because I was like, “I want to do business with you. You got to be that guy. The reason I worked with you in the beginning is because you did all these things.” For those lenders out there, you guys were so busy in early 2022 and late 2021 that you forgot to call your clients and see how they were doing. You forgot to share those reviews on social media.
I do social media all the time. The sheets are over there. I have an 8×10 sheet about the whole page of reviews I’ve gotten from clients because 100% of my clients have given them that we’re on Google, but I never shared it on social media. I said, “John, do the things that got you there. Those stinking reviews that you got on Google, put them in the template that your company makes and post them on Facebook, even though it’s been a year later.” You can sit on your Facebook all day and say, “I’m a great lender.” No one cares. Do you know what you need to share? Those videos, photos, and reviews from your clients saying, “Heath was the best lender I’ve ever worked with. I would work with him. I’ve worked with fifteen lenders, and he was the one I’ll go back to.” That’s what you want to be sharing.
What’s your process for getting those on social media or getting a review?
I love this question. It’s one of my favorites because 100% of my clients have left a review. I’ve done 50 to 60 deals, whatever it is, but 100%. There’s a site RateMyAgent.com for realtors. Go there. Look at Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. I’m pretty sure I’m in the top three with reviews. I don’t do the top 100 deals in the county, and probably not the top 200. I do 30 to 40 deals a year. That’s where I’m at. Many realtors out there are out there doing 50, 60, 70, or 80 transactions. They forget what got them there, and they’re not getting reviews. I have a template. I’m happy to share it. You basically need a template that says, “Here’s the place to leave the reviews.”
Mine says Facebook, Zillow, Realtor.com, and Google. It’s not in that order. Google’s really number one. I said, “Here’s the place to write the reviews,” and in the template, I say to people, “If you wouldn’t mind, copy and paste these on all the websites,” and I explain the purpose. When some people look for a realtor, they’ll look on Google, Facebook, Realtor, and Zillow. Having all these reviews on all my profiles helps me. The other thing that I’ll say quick is I joke about it the entire time. If you hear me, you know John likes to have fun. John likes to joke around. This is how I run my business, and it’s worked.
There was a client once that I met. Long story short, someone from my church texted me, “Are you open to more clients?” I said yes. I got on the phone with the potential client. We talked for 30 minutes and got to know each other. They said, “We like you. There’s this house we’d like to see. Can we see it?” I looked at the listing, and all offers were due by 5:00 PM, two hours later. I said, “I’ll be there in an hour. Let’s get in the car.” I got in the car and went to meet them. That night, they said, “Thanks so much. We appreciate it. We’re excited to work with you.” They didn’t like that house, but they were excited to work with me. “Thank you so much for coming out last minute.” I said, “Absolutely. Make sure you leave that in the five-star review at the end.” They died laughing and thought it was hilarious.
The same client later, I missed a call and forgot to call them back. They said, “You didn’t call me back.” I’m like, “I’m so sorry. Make sure you leave that in the one-star review at the end.” It’s like joking at your own expense. The miss is you’re all asking after the deal. Once we’re through appraisal and everything and are clear to close, I said, “It’s Friday. We settle Monday. Do you guys mind doing me a favor?” The guy Jeremy said, “No, John. I’m not leaving you your stupid five-star review right now,” but he did. Have fun with it. If you’re like, “Can you leave me this review?” nobody wants to do that. I say, “Thanks so much. This is how my business grows. Will you leave me a review?”
Not to get into the weeds, I’ve had clients who don’t use a computer. All they know how to do is Microsoft Word. I’m like, “Type that up. Email it to me. I won’t change anything at the settlement table.” I will create a Google account for Heath Barnes at HeathBarnes1@gmail.com, put it in private mode, make the account, let you log into Google, let you leave the review, log out, and the account’s gone. You’ll never use a Google account. If you have 15 to 20 minutes at the settlement table, have them write the review. I’ve had people do it there. I’ve had people come with a review that they text or email me, and then they just copy-paste. Make it easy for people to want to give you reviews.
I love that. What I hear is to make sure you ask for the review between the clear to close and the actual closing. That’s what I’m hearing. There’s a famous quote that says, “The value of services rendered greatly diminish after it’s been performed.” The further away you get from closing, the less of a hero you are. The day before closing, you are a rockstar.
It’s so true. Imagine not asking for these, and then in three years, you’re like, “Can you leave me a review?” and they’re like, “Who are you?” They don’t remember.
Now that the time is slowed, and I feel guilty saying this, I’m reaching out to a lot of my previous clients and saying, “We’re going to help you get your PMI removed.” In my mind, I’m thinking, “If they didn’t leave me a review before, I’m getting it now.” After we have their mortgage insurance removed, I’m going to have them give a review. This is great information.
People love visuals. Don’t just screenshot the review from Google. Canva got a lot of cool stuff for free. I use Photoshop for our team stuff. Go search review templates on Canva, and put one with the client’s name and a picture if you have one and they’re willing to share it, “Thank you so much, Bill, for leaving this review for my business. It was such a pleasure to help you and your wife find a house.” Share it on your page, tag them, and their friends will see it. That’s how we built our social media. I run the social media for our team, and we get 10,000 to 20,000 views a month on our business page on Facebook. Everybody says Facebook pages are dying. I’m like, “No, you’re just not using them the right way.”
Did you say you’re writing them for the client?
No. I had one client, and I’m not trying to insult him. He said, “I’m so old. I don’t even know how to type.” All the docs were in person. I said, “I’m here with my computer. You tell me what to write, and I will type it.” That’s what I did for that client because they did not have a Google account. They did not know how to use a computer. I then had them read it and say, “Please make sure this is what you said verbatim,” and they said, “Yes, that’s fine.” Think outside the box, guys. That’s what we do in real estate and lending all the time. “I can’t get a review because a person doesn’t own a computer.” Guess what? I can type in for them at settlement and get their approval to submit it.
I offer the same thing to you. I want to help people with social media. One of the ways I’ve built my membership for realtors was I got on free social media calls with them. What I joke about is in fifteen minutes, I can tell you that your social media sucks and what to do about it. There are so many simple things, even the phone number thing, that people miss. This isn’t a pitch because I have nothing to sell lenders. I am happy to jump on a call if someone messages me like, “John, I’m struggling with social media. Can you take 15 to 20 minutes and give me some tips?” I’d walk them through that because this is a way. People have asked me about social media and are like, “What else?” I’m like, “Free social media is the one thing I did.” I want people to feel like social media is an asset and resource for them, not a stressor.
Social media is an asset and resource, not a stressor. Click To TweetI feel like it’s going to stick around, the social media thing.
Here’s the thing. Several years ago, people said Facebook was dying because adults are on there now. Stop it. It’s always going to be there. Your friends are there. Even in my membership, I encourage realtors to do short-form videos. Here’s what I would say to anyone reading this. If you don’t like the way you sound or look, neither do I. When I record a podcast, even in our house, I have three episodes a week. My wife is not allowed to listen to the podcast when I’m around because I don’t want to hear my voice. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. I don’t want to hear it, but my show’s growing a ton. People clearly don’t hate my voice, or they wouldn’t listen.
Get out of your head about how you look. I have this stupid spot on my face that, in the sun, gets discolored. Guess what? Nobody cares. Everybody is so concerned about what they look like. They do not care what you look like. Not to beat the social media horse, but 60-second short-form videos are the new thing. In my membership, people were like, “I don’t want to do 60-second videos. I just want to post pictures on Instagram.” Two weeks later, they were like, “Instagram changed the algorithm. I can’t even find photos anymore.” I’m like, “This is what I tried to tell you were coming.” For lenders, here’s what I would do.
If you don’t want to be on video, you might have to get over that. You can post a 60-second reel, “Guys, here I am at my desk today. Here I’m doing a preapproval for someone.” Obviously don’t have their name in there. “Here’s the computer. Here’s the day in the life of a lender. This is what I’m doing.” You could be driving. I know a realtor. It’s Truck Talks with Kelly. He films while he’s watching the road, but it films from his dash while he’s driving, and he’s just talking about real estate. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. When I talk to people about social media, what are the questions people are asking you? Someone said to me, “John, can you explain equity to me? I bought my house for $200,000, and I owe $150,000.”
That’s a question a lender could answer on a 60-second video. They said to me, “Is my equity what I don’t owe?” Their house is worth $300,000. I’m like, “Technically, in your equity, you would need an appraisal if you like a HELOC. You’ve got $150,000 in equity if you’ve bought for $200,000, paid off $50,000, and now it’s worth $300,000. You have $150,000. You have 50% equity.” She didn’t know. There is a great website AnswerThePublic.com. It’s only free a couple of times a day but screenshot that. Some of my episodes are like, “What are people on Answer The Public asking about realtors?” I’m going to read a few to you. “How do lenders make money? How do lenders verify employment? Where do lenders get their money? Why do lenders do an appraisal? What is a lender’s order appraisal? What do lenders use the credit score for?”
What you’re saying is that’s where you get your content from.
Yes. For lenders reading this, “Why do lenders sell your mortgage? Why do lenders use gross income?” Go answer these, “Why do lenders charge points?” That’s a great one now so that your rate is not 10%. That’s why. Even as a realtor, sometimes, I’m like, “I don’t get points. What is buying down the rate?” My head was like this because it was around a circle. AnswerThePublic.com, go on there, screenshot that, and record those videos. Put your camera where it’s not even front-facing and record. That’s what it is. However you look, whatever you said, you mumbled, it does not matter. People want to see you.
Here’s something I did, and this would relate to lenders. My first deal was in April during COVID of 2020. Right as COVID started was when I felt like, “My business is going to go now. Now we couldn’t leave our house for two months.” I started doing Mortgage Mondays with my preferred lender. I knew nothing about lending. I felt like I was an idiot. I brought an expert onto my Facebook Live. All of a sudden, my business, out of nowhere, is growing a ton. People are seeing this stuff. I didn’t care what I looked like. I didn’t care what I sounded like. I didn’t even have a mic at the time. It was just me on a laptop. I could beat a dead horse.
There are so many opportunities lenders for you to educate your client. Remember, clients want to do business with people they know, like, and trust. How do you build trust? Get on there and say, “This is why we charge points. It’s not just to take your money. It’s to buy you down a lower rate.” It could be, “If you’re interested in seeing what a mortgage would look like with points, I can run the cost estimate on when you’ll break even on the points.” That’s a way to meet potential clients.
Another way to say that is people want to do business with people they like, know, and trust. They got to like you first before they even want to get to know you, before they even trust you. Before I let you go, tell me about a time in your life in which you overcame those and what you learned about yourself. I’m curious.
I love this question. Heath, it’s been cool watching your journey and when I had you on my show, hearing about your triathlons and things like that. The biggest thing is you have much more in you than you think you do. You shared on my show that in triathlons, you have 40% more than you think you do. When I lost my job in February 2019, it was so traumatizing that you guys know the dates because I’ve said February 26th, 2019, twenty times on this episode. I went into a downward spiral mentally and emotionally. I did not want to be alive, contemplated suicide, and all those different things. What I needed was someone to support me.
My wife was still working at the bank that fired me, calling me, making sure I was alive at home. That’s how bad it got. What you need if you feel like you’re struggling is just one person to support you and say they believe in you. If you are in an emotional downtime where you think you should not be alive, I’ve been there. I get it. Let me tell you. You have value and purpose, for one. It’s okay to be there. Don’t do anything rash. Talk to someone. My wife was so constant for me that she kept her calling like, “I want to check on you and make sure you’re okay today.”
I get emotional even thinking about those days. Once I was at a good emotional point, I said, “I have to go and build success because there’s no other option.” It became in real estate. For you lenders out there that feel like you’re struggling, you have potential. You’ve seen it. You made money last year, and you made money the year before. Do the things that you did that created success.
Sometimes we get so caught up. I’m on a team, and I help lead a team. Andy, whose name is on the team, the other day he said, “We should get on a billboard.” I said, “Relax. Let’s build the basics where the agents are getting the training they need on our team before we talk about a billboard.” That example says that some of us are so worried about getting bigger and having our name in lights and everything else when we just need to work on getting better, not bigger. You must have that solid foundation.
Better is better for yourself. It’s not comparing yourself to someone else. Compare yourself to yourself. If you want to make yourself feel worse, compare yourself to someone better. Do you want to feel better? Look at somebody worse. I heard a quote. In fact, it was from E60. I was watching the Freddie Freeman show on E60. If you haven’t seen that, it’s spectacular. He’s my favorite baseball player.
In the middle of thinking about quitting baseball and all these things happening, his wife sent him a simple text that said, “You didn’t come this far to come this far.” That simple text changed his life at that moment and allowed him to continue. What I hear you saying is if you have one person supporting you, you can make it through it. If you’re reading this and you’re looking for that one person, I’ve got my hand raised, and I’m sure John does as well. There’s nothing better in life than helping someone through a difficult situation. We all will do more for someone else than we’ll do for ourselves.
I love what you’re saying. I googled that Freddie Freeman E60. His story has been incredible. I want to watch that. In Vincent Pugliese’s book The Wealth of Connection, he shares a story about Frank Sinatra. Frank Sinatra was in his last years. He was performing shows, but it wasn’t the Frank people remembered. I don’t remember the exact story, but at one point, he either forgot the words or wasn’t singing it correctly and stopped mid-show and thought, “I’m done.” I’m getting chills thinking about this. One person in that audience stood up and clapped and said, “We love you, Frank,” and then everybody clapped. Google the story. He later said that that one person was the encouragement he needed. He went on to perform for a couple more years. Sometimes you just need that one person clapping in the crowd to keep you going. I hope that’s helpful to somebody.
I’ll leave you with one last quote that I heard from a buddy of mine who also has a mortgage podcast. He said that a person without a vision is a person without a future. A person without a future will always return to their past. If you’re struggling, create a powerful vision that’s going to pull you forward. John, I appreciate you being on this show. If our readers would like to connect with you, what’s the best way for them to do that?
You can find me on social media @John_Schuchman. My website is TheRealEstateSurvivalGuide.com. There I have information about my podcast, about me, and my journey. Soon I’ll have info on the membership. The biggest thing is if people need help with social media, I’m not asking you to buy anything because I have nothing to sell you. Connect with me. Ask for help. Let’s jump on a 15 to 30-minute call, and I’m happy to go through it with you. That’s where you can find me. Heath, thank you so much. Thanks for what you’re doing to help your team and people in the mortgage industry do well and survive. Thanks so much for having me.
Thanks for being here, John. I enjoyed it.
It’s my pleasure.