Hi, and welcome to episode number eight of Old School New World, The Life of an Entrepreneur. I'm your host and guest today, Mike Diaz, as we continue to roll out the 30 steps of success in our series. Now, today's three steps that we'll be discussing will be knowledge, sell yourself, be yourself, and ask effective questions. Now, as we go through these three steps, these are just things that I believe and have faith.
If you sort of listen to them, apply them in your own way, they will help your business. Now, of course, I'm a mortgage broker and founder of DNA Lending Group, but I also believe that these steps are good for any sales industry. So if you're a young entrepreneur looking to get into sales or are in sales. And perhaps you're a little stuck.
These three steps, in addition to the ones we've already discussed and the ones we will continue to discuss moving forward, will help you in your journey and your success to achieve the goals you have set for yourself. So let's dive right in. Knowledge. You know what they say, knowledge is power. And it's so true. If you know the things that you're discussing with your clients and friends or your referral partners, of course, there's a confidence that comes in what the client gets from you.
But you know what else is powerful? Is acknowledging and realizing that, hey, wait a minute, I don't know the answer to the question they're asking. And the best thing you can provide your client or friend or your referral source is, hey, wait a minute, I don't know. I'll get back to you. You know, when you do that, if you think about it and ask yourself, you know, if I've been in a situation where someone told me they're not sure they'd get back to me, how did it make me feel?
I believe that you said, hey, this person is, you know, at least taking ownership or is acknowledging, hey, they don't know. You know, and I've been in this business 31 years and I got to tell you, I'm a smart guy. I'm not going to set that aside, but I'm smart enough to know that I don't know it all. You know, I don't find myself that often anymore saying, hey. You know, Sam or Sue or Joe or John, I'm not 100 % sure.
And even if I'm only 99 .9999 % sure, I will say that to them and say, hey, I'm 99 .99 % sure that this is how it should work. But let me circle back with you when I get 100 % confirmation on that. And that itself builds something with the client or the friend or your referral partner that you're discussing. And it establishes trust and credibility because they are seeing you and hearing you and they appreciate the fact that you're not just flying off the seat of your pants.
You know, I'm sure we've all been in situations where we're talking to someone about whatever topic it might be. And they're like, oh, this is like Joe know -it -all. He thinks he knows it. And, you know, I know I just read something last week that goes against that. So it's important to be mindful of how you are delivering the knowledge you have and to be cognizant of, am I 100 % sure? Now, knowledge isn't just about...
The product or the features or the benefits of whatever it is you're selling in my business, of course, is mortgages. You could be selling dental equipment. You can be selling insurance. You can be selling all sorts of different things. So it's not just about the product. It's about the value you're providing them, your clients or friends, about what you're saying. So sometimes knowledge comes from strategies. Sometimes knowledge comes from different types of technologies are available.
So I'll give you an example. of strategies. Like in my business, you'd be surprised how many Canadians don't realize that if you simply make biweekly accelerated payments, that you're shaving off three and a half years of your amortization within the first five years. And they also don't realize. So I'll give you an example. If you start with a 25 -year amortization and you make your biweekly accelerated payments after five years, instead of being down to 20 years, you'll be down to 17 years.
And then the following five years, Upon the renewal, they're continuing that same strategy of biweekly accelerated. Now they're not only down to 12 years, now they're down to nine years. In reality, if you're making some additional payments, someone who started with a 25 -year amortization can pay off their mortgage in 15 years. So that is absolutely possible. Now, life happens, young families, especially first -time homebuyers, have kids. Kids, as we all know, can be costly.
They, of course, have an amount of love they bring into our lives. But there is cost involved with having a family. And that's important. So the knowledge you can provide is just strategies around that. Lump sum payments is another example. You know, when we talk about product itself, variable first fix, some people are on the fence on what to choose. But the value of the variable product, especially in a decreasing rate cycle like we are, goes a long way.
And when it comes to knowledge, it's super important to remember what our clients, friends and referral partners are craving the most. And what they're craving the most is counsel, advice and insight and support. Because, you know, in this wild world we're living in at the moment, you know, there's so much value. You can provide with your knowledge and it could just be something where you have a mentor or you have a colleague, you're within a team and you guys are having your team meeting.
You're talking about tariffs, you know, knowledge around tariffs. It's really important just to give someone a sense. I'm not an economist, but I do my research. I look into different things of what's happening. And here's what I can tell you about tariffs. You know, tariffs are twofold. And I've talked about this before. Tariffs are not going to be a good thing for certain industries. You know, the steel, aluminum, automotive, some farmers. It's going to be difficult.
And it's creating a lot of uncertainty. And what tariffs are, are inflationary. So of course, Canada's inflation rate is at their target and Bank of Canada wants to keep it in around the 2%. So we have some room there. We're just below it. Tariffs are also recessionary. So whenever there's a recession or whenever there's a slowdown in the economy, the Bank of Canada's responsibility is to refuel the economy. How do they do that? They drop the rates.
The tariffs for the overall cost of borrowing is a benefit to consumers, especially those in variable products or looking to get into the market to try and figure out, hey, what's the strategy? That's where counsel, advice, insight, support goes so much wider in terms of what you provide your clients and friend than, you know, all the interest rate is this. Because anyone under the sun. can go on the internet, the good old internet and say, oh, here's a bunch of stuff is what they're saying.
But when you're talking about counsel and advice and insight and strategies, that's something that you can't get from the internet. Now, some might argue you might be able to, but that person to person connection is so, so important. So yes, knowledge is power, but the power part.
is what you do with the knowledge, what you do when you provide that information to clients and not just about the product, but everything surrounding what it is that they're getting themselves into, because this way you're providing meaningful value. Right. So that's something to be very mindful of when we're looking at knowledge. So especially for the new brokers out there or new agents coming into the business or even some that are two years, three years, even five years into the business.
Remember, I've been in 31 years and continue to learn. And I can tell you, if you tell yourself, oh, I know it all. Be careful with that because we just don't know. I have a saying. If you ain't learning, you're burning. Meaning, you know, you're just going to stop. There's going to be a plateau. So always be open to learning, learning from others, learning from things you read. So that's a really, really important piece of what we do.
So do yourselves, but more importantly, do your clients, your friends, your referral partners a favor and provide value with respects to the knowledge you have. Because, you know, again, they crave that counsel and advice. That would be one of the other steps embedded in the 30 steps of success. So let's move on to ask effective questions. You know, it's so interesting when I think about the questions we ask. You know, we always think it's, you know, a 50 -50. For 50, I want to win.
I want my client or friend to win. We have to understand that it's not 50 -50. 50 -50 is a losing proposition. And what we like to do is win. So if you want to win. You have to remember it's 100%, but it's 100 % win for your client, friend, or referral partner. And so when you're asking questions, it's not about you. You know, at the end of the day, yes. We're here to support and guide our clients and friends, but it's all about them and the mortgage business.
99 % of them is the biggest investment they'll ever make in their lifetime. So, you know, it's super, super, super important to remember what we're trying to do for them should be about them. The win is for them. So 50 -50, throw it out the window. It's 100 % you should be aiming for and 100 % win for your client. So, you know, you might be wondering, OK, Mike, what are, you know, the effective questions I should ask? And listen, I said this, you know, just before and I'll continue to say it.
I continue to learn. So when I meet with my clients and friends, you know, I have a successful referral based business from clients and friends and even some realtors out there, of course. But, you know, I've really structured it a certain way. And when they come to me, you know, especially in the first half of my career, I would ask what questions, you know, what have you set aside for down payment? You know, what area are you looking for?
The problem with what questions is that they're more superficial. They don't get into the crux of who the person is. And so instead of asking what questions, or you can combine it, I'm not saying you abandon what questions, they are important, like, you know, what income do you earn or, you know, what do you do for a living? But add in a question like, you know, why did you get into this industry that you're currently working in? Why do you want to live in this
area? Or why are you currently living in this area wanting to go to this area? Those questions dive deeper. Those questions will tell you about the values of people. So I'll give you an example. I was recently discussing a client who was referred to me by my great accountant, and he is an engineer for Rogers. Super successful and in the business for 35 years. So one of the questions I asked was, you know, why did you get into engineering? Like, why did you choose that
industry? And he was, you know, had a little chuckle about it. And he said, well, you know, when I was 15, and this client of mine is in his late 50s, when I was 15, I wanted to build stereos. And so when I heard that, you know, I thought to myself, wow, here's a young guy, 15. And one of his, you know, ambitions when he was 50 was to put together a stereo so he can build it. And so you start to get to know them a bit.
And, you know, at the end of that conversation, threw in a bit of humor around when we were talking about the products and different things. And I said, hey, you know, just like you're, you know, 15, you're building something, we're going to help you build something now. That's sort of paraphrased. It wasn't exactly like that, but you get the gist of the point there. You know, it's important to ask those types of questions. You know, why do you want to live
in this neighborhood? You might find out they have two young kids, you know, where it's really important that we choose a good school district for our kids. You start to get to know them a bit. So those why questions go deeper into the relationship, builds more rapport. And the funny thing is, when you're asking these why questions, clients, you know, subconsciously will start to feel that trust and that rapport. So they'll start opening up to you a bit more.
So again, what questions are still very good. They're more about features, you know, and the why questions are more about the benefits of what we do. So when you're asking those effective questions, just be mindful of that as well. And so the value you can provide clients, so back to value, because value in what we do, guys, I can't stress enough how important it is and meaningful value. So as an example, when you ask the question, you know, why are you choosing this neighborhood?
And they tell you, you know, we wanted this neighborhood, we're planning a family, we have kids. So you might have some real estate contacts and they haven't chosen a realtor yet, as an example. So what do you do to help your business? You might reach out to your realtor and say, hey, I have these clients I just spoke to. They don't have a realtor yet. Can you give me some information about really good school districts? Or you might do the research yourself.
But if you involve your realtor, you would then just send out an email, a follow -up email. I've talked about that in the first three that we discussed. So you send out an email. You're not trying to sell them anything. You're saying, hey, I was doing some digging. Here's three pockets that are really good that my trusted real estate partner sent over to me because I went to ask them. And guess what that will do? Client will say, wow, you know, they really listened.
God gave us two years, one mouth for a reason. And a client will say, they really listened. And wow, I haven't chosen a realtor yet, but this realtor seems to know where I want the kids to go or planning for our future. And you can create a referral to your trusted real estate partner. And that's how we've created a referral based business. We are the ones that are referring out, you know, the law of receptivity.
I'm always open to accept all the gifts that come in, but I'm very, very big in giving. And that means giving to. the partners that I have. So, you know, it's definitely something to be mindful of because then that will spur on the relationship. And now you've connected perhaps your client to this realtor. And what does that do to add
value? Now that you have your trusted real estate partner connected with your client and you're in the middle and you're looking after things on that side, the process now becomes seamless. It becomes a client first. approach. So that is super, super important. We're talking about asking the effective questions. You know, there's a slew of other questions. Don't get me wrong, but try and stay away from the what questions and focus on the why questions. And why is that?
Because the what questions typically only cover sort of the superficial aspect of things. The why questions dive in right in here, the values. who they are, what they represent. So that is step number two. So we've talked about knowledge. We've talked about asking effective questions. Number three is my favorite, which is sell yourself and be yourself. So, you know, when you hear that, you might say to yourself, you know, of course I'm going to sell myself.
Yeah. Selling yourself was who you are. I'm a mortgage broker. I've been in the business 31 years, or even if you just started. And, you know, I had someone I was talking to that was a pilot who's now an agent. That's a great opening elevator pitch. You know, I used to be a pilot. I used to fly around the world. I used to care for, you know, 200 people on a daily basis. And when I asked them, hey, do you tell your clients you're a pilot? They were like, no. I said, yes, you should.
Yes, yes, yes. You know, win, win, win. Yes, yes, yes. And so, you know, I just thought about this sidetracked. Yes is three words. Yes is a positive word. Win is three letters. Yes, win. It's important to sell yourself in that respect, 100%. You know, what you're really doing is selling who you are. And when you're selling who you are, you know, there's nothing better than you can sell is that yourself, your authentic, genuine self.
You know, authenticity, and I've talked about this before a little bit. You know, some people say, well, how do I become authentic? You don't become authentic. You just be authentic or you just be it. Whichever personality type you have, Be it. Embrace it. You know, throw a bit of love in there for yourself. You know, look in the mirror and say, hey, Mike, I love you. Talking to myself, of course, guys, I don't want you to love me. You might. But show yourself some love, okay?
Because it's so important because it helps you stay connected to yourself. There's something called work -life balance. We've all heard it for years and years. I've recently revisited and re -look at this. work -life balance motto. And when I heard it resonated a great deal, it's work -life integration. And so, you know, when you're an authentic person, it's important to be who you are at the core all the time.
But when you're living a work -life balance, you're working and then you don't have to balance family. This idea of work -life integration is that you have to make compromises within yourself. with your partner, with your spouse, with your family. And so you have to integrate them. So perhaps, you know, if you have kids, you bring them into the fold a bit to let them know what you're doing. You know, don't shun them out.
Like, so if you were on that work -life balance model, you're separating, you know, because I've just spent time with kids. The integration part really, really talks to and centers around, you know, being who you are. And don't be afraid of who you are. You know, you're an amazing individual. You know, you do great things to help and serve people. And so it's important to make sure you give yourself a big squeeze, a big hug. And remember that people will feel your authenticity.
Sell yourself, be yourself. How do you sell yourself? Is by being yourself. You know, authenticity is tied closely into integrity. You know, integrity comes from the Latin word in, not, tegr, meaning pristine or whole. If you do what you say and say what you do, you're a man and a woman who sticks to their words. So you are whole. Because if you, for example, if you lack an integrity, that means, well, I'm going to do this for you and you don't do it.
Or you do this in the opposite of what you said you're going to do. People start to doubt your integrity. They start to doubt if you're authentic. So that's really, really important. So it's very tied together, authenticity and integrity. And, you know, I have a great friend of mine, Salt of the Earth. You've heard me speak about him before. He's been a guest on the podcast, Roy Cocholo. And he has a new page called RC Truth.
And he talks a lot about integrity and how important it is to be true to yourself. And I have a great story I came across that I want to share with you guys. When I heard it, it was like, oh, That's amazing. It's a story about Gandhi, a lady who brought her son. She traveled far. They knew Gandhi, the influence and the inspiration that he had for so many. So she brought her child. Her child was eating sugar out of control.
And so she brought him there because she wanted Gandhi to tell her son to stop eating sugar. So she gets there, travels hours and hours to get there. And she says, can you please tell my son to stop eating sugar? He sits there, turns to the mother and says, Come back in two weeks. The mother said, but we traveled this time. Just tell him to stop eating sugar. Come back in two weeks. Two weeks later, traveled all the way back and Gandhi looked at the child and said, stop eating sugar.
And lo and behold, the child stopped eating sugar. It was phenomenal. And the mother says, you know, why did we have to come back all this way? His response was because I had to stop eating sugar. So think about that. You know, in order for someone. To be able to help someone else, they have to be living it. So Gandhi, he himself stopped in order for the boy to feel what he was asking because he entrenched himself in not eating sugar.
You know, when I heard that story, it just gives me goosebumps. It's just tremendous because there's so much in us that if we decide we're going to do something, and that's the power that we have. You know, that's the power that we can instill in the sales industries that we're in. But we have to be true to ourself. We must be authentic. We must live a life of integrity. And, you know, magic starts to come from that.
So guys, this episode, episode eight was a bit short, but we covered knowledge, ask effective questions, and of course, sell yourself, be yourself. If you haven't subscribed yet, please subscribe. If you have any questions, please reach out to me. You can reach me any place on social, old school, new world. Drop me a DM there. Of course, as I said, I'm the founder of DNA Lending Group. Email me at mike at dnalendinggroup com or even what I love the most. Give me a call. Let's talk.
It's 416 -357 -4003. Guys. Appreciate you stopping in and listening. I appreciate you guys a great deal for the support and the love that you show what we're doing here. And please, if I could ask a favor, and it's the only favor I'll really ask here, spread the word, ask others to subscribe. Let's build this and make it something great because the idea here is not for my benefit. It's to help and serve as many people as we possibly can, especially as the podcast is called.
old school, new world, the life of an entrepreneur. I want to help young entrepreneurship. I want to help the young people getting into this, wanting to figure it out. We'll continue to do what we do best. Guys, again, thank you so much. Appreciate you and have a great day.