Podcasts about Reo

Many real estate teams try to build an appointment-fed model with ISAs serving agents ready-to-go opportunities. This can work - it can create efficient production.But when Ryan Crighton and Danny Rinaldi tried it, they discovered it wasn't building agents who were as strong and well-rounded as they wanted.Learn how the shift from appointment-fed to well-rounded happened, including what prompted it, what it took, and what it produced for their 23-agent team serving clients in Las Vegas, Henderson, and Boulder City.Learn the accountability structure that's enforced more by the environment than by team leaders and the vibe-first recruiting approach that attracts new agents who exceed performance standards before anyone asks them to.And learn how Danny evolved from ISA to coach to sales manager, what that role looks like day to day, and how he and Ryan complement each other in a partnership that lets each of them operate in their strongest area.Watch or listen for Danny's and Ryan's insights into:0:00 Intro and welcome1:22 Being in the weeds as the must-have characteristic — and why agents watch what you do more than they ask what to do2:08 The difference between vibe and culture — and why vibe is what actually drives performance and retention4:11 How Ryan built from REO listings in the 2008 downturn to a 23-agent brokerage team, and how Danny went from Brooklyn phone sales to Las Vegas sales manager10:00 Why new agents book appointments before they know anything about real estate — and why knowledge without attitude slows them down16:17 Why Danny leads recruiting conversations with vibe, not accountability — and how accountability reveals itself before the agent ever joins17:34 How the Creighton Rinaldi accountability system enforces itself. No manager required.19:06 How the peer accountability pod model (inspired by Brett Jennings, Ep 98) turned Danny into a facilitator — with agents coaching each other for most of the hour26:59 Why Danny makes phone calls side-by-side with every new agent within 24 hours of joining — and what that did to prospecting adoption29:32 How Nevada's two-month gap between passing the real estate exam and receiving a license became a training opportunity32:37 Why handing agents ready-made appointments produced weaker agents — and what happened when they stopped37:25 Why too much focus on market stats gives agents an excuse not to prospect — especially in one of the most volatile real estate markets in the U.S.40:23 Why the team model is the only structure built to meet what today's real estate clients actually expect41:51 At the end, Danny gives an impossible-to-follow team story and a sought-after spreadsheet and Ryan reveals a frivolous ride and a timely sports team.Related episodes→ Peer Accountability Pods with Brett Jennings→ Leadership Structure with Ryan Rodenbeck and Johnny McCarthyBook mentioned in this episode→ The War of Art by Steven PressfieldConnect with The Crighton Rinaldi Team→ Ryan at CRHomeTeam dot com / 702 217-1048→ Danny at CRHomeTeam dot com / 347 598-0913→ https://www.instagram.com/dannyrinaldi/→ https://www.instagram.com/crightonrinalditeam/→ https://www.crightonrinalditeam.com/team-pageConnect with Real Estate Team OS→ https://www.realestateteamos.com→ https://linktr.ee/realestateteamos→ https://www.instagram.com/realestateteamos/

Elizabeth Heritage reviews Te Kaikaukau: The Swimmer - I te Ao o te Reo by Witi Ihimaera Smiler published by Auckland University Press.

Are you ready to uncover the massive hidden real estate opportunities hitting the Lone Star State this June? Welcome back to The Note Closers Show! In this episode, we are diving deep into the freshly leaked June 2026 foreclosure data for Texas's biggest counties. After a significant dip last month, foreclosure filings are officially bouncing back, sparking an 11% swing and creating a prime playground for note investors, REO hunters, and private money lenders. Whether you are looking for subject-to deals or trying to deploy private capital, this monthly market breakdown is your ultimate roadmap to distress debt success.

The age-old debate in real estate investing, is it better to go direct to seller, or direct to agent? In this value-packed episode, Brent Daniels sits down with the incredible flipping master, Jerry Norton, to break down the exact pros, cons, and profit margins of both strategies. Jerry takes a trip back to his 2004 origins to explain how the 2008 crash forced him to pioneer the REO listing strategy, and how the market has drastically shifted since then.They also dive into the mind-blowing success of investors grossing $1.7 million a year with zero marketing spend using the direct-to-agent model. You will learn the harsh realities of Proof of Funds when dealing with agents, Jerry's highly effective "5-5-5 Method" for daily agent outreach, and how to safely navigate the terrifying rise of TCPA text-blasting lawsuits. Whether you want the massive spreads of direct-to-seller or the zero-cost scalability of direct-to-agent, this episode will help you find the perfect model. Be a part of the TTP training program now.---------Show notes:(0:00) Beginning of today's episode(1:00) Brent's introduction to direct to seller vs. direct to agent(3:40) Jerry's origins and how the 2008 crash forced an REO pivot(7:43) How Hugh Boy grossed $1.7 million with zero marketing spend(11:06) Why mastering real estate strategies is a developmental process(13:05) "Sniper" listed properties vs. networking for off-market deals(15:43) Overcoming agent intimidation with Proof of Funds and Earnest Money(21:02) How licensed agents can successfully navigate novation disclosures(23:39) Preparing to go full-time with six months of living expenses(27:35) Handling seller-financed paperwork and title company recordings(28:47) Jerry's 5-5-5 Method for daily direct-to-agent outreach(30:42) Tracking quality conversations over raw call volume(32:16) How moving to Puerto Rico saves millions in taxes(33:17) The 80% drop in active wholesalers and surviving the market(35:02) Navigating TCPA lawsuits and scrubbing the Do Not Call registry----------Resources:FlipsterReal Estate DisruptorsBatchLeads@jerrynorton on Instagram@realbrentdaniels on InstagramTo speak with Brent or one of our other expert coaches call (281) 835-4201 or schedule your free discovery call here to learn about our mentorship programs and become part of the TribeGo to Wholesalingincgroup.com to become part of one of the fastest growing Facebook communities in the Wholesaling space. Get all of your burning Wholesaling questions answered, gain access to JV partnerships, and connect with other "success minded" Rhinos in the community.It's 100% free to join. The opportunities in this community  are endless, what are you waiting for?

Register here to attend the live virtual event "Why Investors Are Targeting Oklahoma Real Estate in 2026" on Thursday, May 27th at 8:00 PM Eastern Time. Keith explains how rent payments are starting to factor into credit scores, boosting accountability for tenants and strengthening landlords' position.  He introduces the "GRE Duck" to show how a plain long-term rental can quietly build wealth through several profit centers beyond visible cash flow. Keith also shares why he expects a new era of heightened inflation and how owning real assets with long-term fixed-rate debt can help investors stay ahead of it. Finally, Keith is joined by a GRE Investment Coach, Naresh Vissa, to highlight Oklahoma as an under-the-radar, business-friendly market that many investors see as a promising "next place" for cash-flowing rentals. Episode Page: GetRichEducation.com/607 For access to properties or free help with a GRE Investment Coach, start here: GREmarketplace.com GRE Free Investment Coaching: GREinvestmentcoach.com Get mortgage loans for investment property: RidgeLendingGroup.com or call 855-74-RIDGE  or e-mail: info@RidgeLendingGroup.com Invest with Freedom Family Investments.  For predictable 10-12% quarterly returns, visit FreedomFamilyInvestments.com/GRE or text  FAMILY to 66866  Unlock truly passive real estate income—visit flockhomes.com/GRE today to see if your properties qualify for a 721 exchange with Flock Homes. To get in the best physical, mental, and professional shape of your life, go to DanielThomasHind.com and apply for Daniel's intensive 1-on-1 coaching for burnt-out entrepreneurs and executives. Will you please leave a review for the show? I'd be grateful. Search "how to leave an Apple Podcasts review"  For advertising inquiries, visit: GetRichEducation.com/ad Best Financial Education: GetRichEducation.com Get our wealth-building newsletter free— GREletter.com  Our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/c/GetRichEducation Follow us on Instagram: @getricheducation Complete episode transcript:   Keith Weinhold  0:01   Welcome to GRE. I'm your host, Keith Weinhold. The American consumer is in real trouble today, and persistent inflation is poised to make it worse. How should real estate investors adjust their strategy? Learn the difference between delinquency, default, and foreclosure. Why making an early mortgage payoff is almost always ill-advised, then we explore an investment market that's poised for potential today on Get Rich Education.    Keith Weinhold  0:32   You know, Mid South Homebuyers, that top Memphis turnkey provider, I learned that a secret weapon behind their explosive growth is more than just you buying their properties. It's an executive coach for nine years now. Their CEO, Terry Kerr, and his COO, Pat Nix, have worked privately with a coach who I've now learned from too, and he doesn't market himself online anywhere. After 12 years behind the scenes, that coach is now making himself available exclusively for GRE listeners. His name is Daniel Thomas Hind. If you're a hard-charging business owner or investor who wants to get in the best shape of your life, physically, mentally, and professionally, you can fill out an application for a free consult. This is private one on one coaching for those willing to go to uncommon lengths to achieve uncommon results. Thanks to Daniel, we've all become better leaders, better operators, and better men. It started by showing up for ourselves. Now it's your turn. Go to danielthomashind.com H I N D, that's danielthomamashind.com and sign up before spots fill.   Keith Weinhold  1:45   Flock Homes helps multifamily owners exit the operator grind, whether it's your sixplex or a 50 unit apartment through a 721 exchange. This defers your capital gains tax. It's a strategy long used by institutions. Now you can swap tenants and toilets for passive income and zero management. Request your initial valuations. See if your property qualifies at Flock homes.com/gre that's F L O C K homes.com/gre   Corey Coates  2:18   You're listening to the show that has created more financial freedom than nearly any show in the world. This is Get Rich Education.   Keith Weinhold  2:34   Welcome to GRE from Arcadia, California to Arcade New York, and across 188 nations worldwide. I'm Keith Weinhold. You're listening to Get Rich Education. Around here, we don't look at a house and see four walls, we see five profit centers quietly doing jumping jacks behind the drywall. At the same time, most people seem to think cash flow is something that you catch in a stream. Hey, well, Who's in trouble out there amidst persistent and rising inflation? Well, you know the answer, it's just another reflection of the K-shaped economy and the hollowing out of the middle class. Now we can look at how many Americans are missing their mortgage payments. The mortgage delinquency rate is historically between one and 2% That just means that's the proportion of borrowers that get seriously behind on their mortgage payments. That's the normal range over the long run. Today's figure is pretty low at 1.1% so on the low end of that historic one to 2% range. So homeowners are in good shape, but credit card and automobile loan delinquencies are now deeply concerning, and a lot of times these people can be your rent paying tenant for credit card delinquency. Back in 2022 the rate was 8% Now 13% of credit card users are seriously behind on their payments. How about automobile delinquency? Back in 2022 it was 3.6% Now it's 5.6% and then there's student loans. The proportion of seriously delinquent student loans is 10.3% That's the highest since 2020 So the average borrower entering student loan default is now fully 40 years old. Before the pandemic, it was just 36 and a half. Now, there's surprisingly few hard statistics on the exact average age at which Americans fully pay off student loans, but the best available evidence from a platform. Called the Education Data Initiative, it suggests that the typical borrower who successfully repays on a standard timeline finishes somewhere in their early to mid 40s, and a substantial share of borrowers still carry student debt into their 50s and even 60s, so the US student loan crisis is intensifying. How about your tenant in that rent payment? About one in eight renters are behind on their rent payments per the CFPB. Almost every tenant catches up. Some live a paycheck to paycheck timing game. The payment that renters are most likely to miss is for credit cards, and, like I just put the numbers to, they are more than twice as likely to miss a credit card payment than they are an automobile payment. To most tenants, losing the car would mean losing the job, so they'll make the car payment before the credit card payment, and eviction is catastrophic, so they don't want to face that. They'll make that rent payment before a credit card payment too. Alarmingly, half of American credit card users carry balances from month to month, fully half the average interest they're paying is 21 to 22% I mean, sheesh, if Luboo is in a collection of wildly overpriced Stanley tumblers that all look big enough, waste of money. Now, some debtors can tap home equity to pay their consumer debt, but a lot of them aren't homeowners, all right. So, what does this all mean for residential income property owners? Well, since 1980 rent increases have compounded at 3.9% annually, that's the number, so almost 4% rent growth since about the time that Ronald Reagan became president, but rent growth is currently lagging behind this, and I expect that rent hikes will continue to be pretty paltry for the next couple years. Inflation is stressing tenants' consumer purchases too much for them to deal with steep rent hikes. The median household income of a US renter is $55,000 Overall, it's $84,000 All right, so to be clear, that 84k household income is not for homeowners, it's 84k overall for every American household. The 55k number is just for renters. What all this means is that this coming higher wave of inflation from the Iran war, where you're now poised to potentially see the highest rate of inflation of your entire life occur in the next couple years is that when you're looking at adding rental property on your pro forma, you can see how the numbers would be with those historic 3.9% rent increases each year, but it's wiser to run your numbers with no rent increase at all, because higher inflation on all these consumer products means it's less likely that they can handle a rent hike   Keith Weinhold  8:25   In the mortgage world. What's the difference between delinquency, default, and foreclosure, anyway? Because some people use a couple of those terms interchangeably, but there is a difference. The timeline is that once you're 30 days late, that is delinquency, and this condition occurs the moment that a single payment is missed. And at this early stage, your bank still hopes that this is temporary, because the bank actually doesn't want to take back your property. They're not in the business to do that. They want you to be able to keep making your payments in general, because if a borrower keeps missing payments and a bank has to take possession of the property, well, then that bank has to pay legal fees and court costs, and even property taxes if they end up taking back the property. Yeah, the bank pays all of that if they have to take it all right, so that's 30 days. What about when a borrower gets to 90 days late on payments, where we're trending closer to the bank having to take back the property? Well, 90 days, that's the point at which we're in mortgage default. When a homeowner's 90 days late on payments, the lender kind of says to themselves that bank is saying, hey, this is serious, and they file what's called a notice of default with both the homeowner and the courts at the 120 day mark. This is pre foreclosure, right? So, after about four months or more of missed pay. Payments and state timelines vary. Texas is famously Formula One fast, really lender friendly, then, but timelines can drag on for one to three years in a bunch of northeastern states, Florida, Illinois and Ohio, so they're more borrower protective, and during Covid, this was overridden, and even fast states became slow. Beyond 120 days of non-payment, this is foreclosure, the legal seizure process. This is when the home sells that auction to the highest bidder. That's sort of like Sotheby's for distressed drywall, but if no bidder raises their paddle, well, then the property returns to the bank and becomes R E O. You've probably heard this term before, that stands for real estate owned, R E O. It also kind of means bank owned, and bank owned is the phrase that kind of makes more sense. That's what REO is, all right. Yes, this is when the bank becomes the home's reluctant landlord, and if the occupant has not left, the bank can formally file for eviction. Banks don't like being in this position, and they might sell the home cheaply. Why would they do that? Because, again, banks are not in the business of owning property, and they don't want to pay those holding costs, besides paying legal fees and court costs, and the banks now having to pay property tax because they do temporarily own that foreclosed upon property. Now they're also usually paying for maintenance, repairs, and insurance, a non-paying borrower like this can typically cost a lender 1000s per month. So this is the difference between delinquency, default, and foreclosure. But, like I said, we are at a time when mortgage delinquency rates are historically low. Instead, it's consumer debtors that are more likely to default today on things like their credit cards and their automobile loans. The takeaway for real estate investors here is that in today's inflationary times, renters are increasingly cost-burdened, rent increases are historically slow. That's sort of the bad news. And then the upside, the good news is it also means that tenants must delay home ownership and keep on renting from you, because as they struggle to pay these rising expenses, it's also harder and harder for them to form a down payment and go buy their own place, that's the real lesson with the parts of the economy where you see default trends today.    Keith Weinhold  12:52   Now, if you're an income property owner, like I am, you probably have mortgages with a bunch of different banks, lenders like I do. You've probably noticed more than once that various banks and mortgage servicers, a lot of times, they feature these early payoff tools, enticing you to pay your mortgage off ahead of time, before it goes its full 30 year term, or whatever your full loan duration is. I mean, a lot of banks love it when you try to pay off your own early. It's often good for them and bad for you. And there are a few reasons that banks do this. They reduce their default risk if a bank convinces you, the borrower, to aggressively pay down your principal. It also builds equity faster, and you become less likely to walk away, so it's safer for the bank during downturns. Say there's a borrower with a 300k property and a 50k loan balance, meaning it's mostly paid off. Oh, that's far less risky to the bank than one with a 300k property and a 200k loan balance, meaning that you have less equity in it. So banks value stability. Another reason that some banks want to roll out the red carpet to try to get you to pay off your mortgage early is because banks recycle capital. They don't simply hold every mortgage for 30 years. A lot of loans are sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, or they're bundled into mortgage-backed securities, or they're serviced for fees. So your originating bank, when they first made that loan with you, oh, they've already earned their origination fees and servicing income and cross-selling opportunities, so getting principal back from you sooner allows them to reissue new loans sooner, and see rising interest rate environments like we've been in lately that changes the incentives for banks too, because if current mortgage rates are higher than your old rate a. Wow, then banks really love getting your old low rate loan paid off. Just say, for example, you have a 3% mortgage that you got five years ago, and new mortgages today are 7% Oh, if you pay off or refinance the old loan, oh well, now the bank can redeploy that money into higher yielding loans. Now they can lend it out at today's 7% that is really valuable to them. So encouraging your payoff, that is often just some consumer service positioning and marketing. You'll see messaging like, hey, make extra payments, or hey, you can own your home faster if you make extra principal pay downs, that's sort of marketing psychology. Because emotionally, a lot of consumers, they're not thinking big, they still emotionally love debt freedom, because a lot of them don't even consider true financial freedom is something that's in the realm of possibility for them, so banks provide tools because customers oftentimes want them and like them. Regulators actually like this position too. It's positioned as responsible lending optics, and financially healthy borrowers are deemed to be safer customers, but a bank sure does not want delinquency or foreclosure from a wealth building perspective. Productive low-cost debt benefits you, the borrower, enormously.    Keith Weinhold  16:34   And on previous episodes, I've talked extensively about how making extra principal pay downs on your mortgage is a bad idea, and that's whether it's rental property or your own home, and you know, I'll bring a new example to this for you. It might feel good to pay off your mortgage faster. Your bank probably likes that, as I just explained, but feeling good doesn't build your wealth. Let's just take a 400k mortgage at a 6% mortgage rate. We'll keep it simple. With a 30 year loan, your payment is about 2400 monthly, so you'll pay 864k over the life of the loan. Well, instead, with a 15 year loan, your payment's 3376 and you'll pay just 608k over the life of the loan. So, by paying extra principal with the 15 year, you save about 255k in interest over the life of the loan, and that's it. Most people stop right there, and they think, oh well, then the 15 year paying down principal faster than that has got to be the smarter way, look, I can point to this on paper and show you, no, but with that extra about $1,000 per month of mortgage payment that you made by going with the 15 year, if instead you would have just invested that at an 8% return, you would have about 1.1 million more dollars in your pocket. Some people say they sleep better because their house is paid off, but I would rather sleep knowing that my money is growing faster than my debt is costing me. I only used 8% as a return, too. If your dollars were instead invested in a different vehicle, say in buy and hold income property. We know that it can be multiples higher than 8% and all the while, if we keep our own money and avoid making an early pay down, our cash is also going to remain more liquid than if we sunk it into the house, because houses make terrible banks. It is indeed rather myopic to make extra principal payments on a mortgage loan in most cases. In fact, somewhat related to this, coming up on a future show, I'm going to tell you about the biggest financial expense you will ever have in your life, it is not taxes, it's not housing, it's not interest charges, it's not inflation, it's not paying for children, and it's not health care. Most people have never heard of it. The biggest financial expense that you'll ever have in your life. I'll talk about that coming up in a future episode.    Keith Weinhold  19:23   Is today's American housing market a buyer's market or a seller's market? In fact, it's somewhat of a discussion that you can have. There's not a clear cut answer, because more so than usual, it depends on which region of the nation you're looking at. As we know, six months of available supply is a balanced market nationally. There's only 4.4 months of existing housing supply, but almost twice that much new housing supply. National median home values are only up about 1.1% year over year. And what's the future of the investment market? Good, I'm going to discuss this and more with a guest later today. I would like to seriously thank you for your listenership. GRE is a platform largely built on long form trust, podcast listeners, newsletters, coaching calls, and referrals, releasing a show 52 weeks a year for between 11 and 12 years now, and the show is delivered every week from me, a real human flesh and blood host with a pulse and sometimes a cowlick in my hair, really human stuff going on here. I say this because robot podcast hosts are becoming more common, though I still wouldn't say that robot hosts are widespread. Amazon's Alexa Plus now produces AI-generated podcasts featuring chats between two robot co-hosts, but here on GRE it's always been human delivered with no plans to change that promise, and speaking of human connection, I learned that a number of successful guests that you've heard here on the show, they've gotten counsel from a rather special executive coach that's really developed some of these people that you've heard on the show. This coach has helped people show up as the best version of themselves and build them into better leaders, better operators, and better men and women, just like you, I know there's a gap between who you are and who you could be. When someone points out that gap to you, that can be a motivator alone, and when you learn the steps to close that gap, you really start to fulfill your potential. It often takes a trained eye from the outside to get you on the right trajectory and build the sort of person that compounds and builds you closer to your optimal self and people of enormous success have a coach or mentor behind them. Steve Jobs did, Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, Taylor Swift does the accountability piece alone is often enough to elevate your performance. I just learned about this coach this year. This man has been the behind the scenes key to success for a number of not just real estate related pros and GRE guests, but other people too. And interestingly, he hasn't marketed himself online anywhere. Well, I got curious, I learned more about him and kind of tracked him down, and he and I had a great lunch in California together not long ago, and I have since learned from him after 12 years behind the scenes. Well, it was quite a successful lunch, because that coach is now making himself available exclusively for GRE listeners. His name is Daniel Thomas Hind, the number of people with life-changing testimonials from working with him is pretty remarkable. So, if you're a hard-charging business owner or investor, and you want to get in the best shape of your life, physically, mentally, or professionally, you can fill out an application for a free consult. It's private one on one coaching, if you're willing to go to uncommon lengths to achieve pretty uncommon results. Thanks to Daniel, we've all become better leaders, better operators, better men. It started by showing up for ourselves. If it sounds interesting to you, now it can be your turn. You might at least look into it, since it is close personal one on one coaching. He can only help a limited number of people. So, complete an application before spots fill. You can go to Daniel Thomas hind.com H I N D is how you spell his last name, that's Daniel Thomas hind.com More next, I'm Keith Weinhold. This is Get Rich Education.    Keith Weinhold  24:05   What if you got your mortgage loans the same place I get mine? You sure can at Ridge Lending Group, NMLS 42056 They provided GRE listeners with more loans than anyone, because Ridge specializes in investment property. They'll help you build a long-term plan for growing your real estate empire with leverage. Start your prequal, and even chat directly with President Chaley Ridge. While it's on your mind, start at Ridge Lending group.com That's Ridge lendinggroup.com    Keith Weinhold  24:36   Let me ask you something: if you've worked hard to build wealth, is your money positioned to actually support your goals. A lot of accredited investors leave capital sitting in cash because it feels safe, but inflation and missed income opportunities can quietly erode its value. Freedom Family Investments offers Freedom Notes for investors seeking structured income backed by real estate. It's a straight. Forward approach built on real assets, not speculation. In full disclosure, I'm an investor myself. What I like is that their team walks you through how it all works, so you can decide if it aligns with your portfolio and income goals. Every investment carries risk, and nothing is guaranteed, but with a track record of consistent on-time investor payouts, they built real credibility. Go to freedomfamilyinvestments.com to book a clarity call, or text family 266866 that's Family 266866    Keith Weinhold  25:38   This is Peak Prosperity's Chris Martinson, listen to Get Rich Education with Keith Weinhold and Don't Quit Your Daydream.   Keith Weinhold  25:52   For an in-house chat, I'd like to welcome back our head investment coach here at GRE. He has his MBA, but perhaps more importantly, he's an active real estate investor himself, and he spends his days helping GRE listeners cut through the noise and actually make smart real estate investing decisions, and this means helping you figure things out, like what market fits your goals, whether cash flow appreciation or even showing a tax law should be your priority, and how to think about financing and what properties, the exact properties pass the smell test, and maybe most importantly, helping investors like you avoid expensive mistakes. And yes, the coaching is free to GRE listeners at GRE Investment coach.com And basically, if the real estate world feels like Costco on a Saturday afternoon, he helps you find the free samples, find the exit, and get the good deals without getting run over by a shopping cart. It's time for you to share with the audience. Naresh Vissa.   Naresh Vissa  26:53   Thanks a lot, Keith, for having me back on the show. Always a pleasure to connect with our loyal GRE listeners and followers,   Keith Weinhold  27:01   a lot of loyal listeners, some that have listened to all 600 plus episodes, starting from back in 2014 and Naresh we continue to see income property builders provide incentives that we haven't seen in years. Tell us about it.   Naresh Vissa  27:19   We're at a key point in this real estate cycle, Keith, regarding incentives, because we had GRE, and I think investors will tell you this, not just through GRE, but maybe in their hometowns and their local markets, that they're seeing incentives that they've never seen before, and a major reason for this is understanding why these incentives are there in the first place. If we go back five years to 2021 we didn't really see any incentives in 2021 outside of maybe like one year of free property management, which isn't the most enticing incentive out there, but today we are seeing more incentives than we've seen, at least in my career as a real estate investor, which is not very long, it's only about 10 years, but in my career as a real estate investor, in my career as a real estate investment coach, and a major reason for that is because providers, we call them providers, we can call them local market builders, or specialists, or flippers, wholesalers - we'll just call them sellers - they want to offload inventory, they want to sell their homes as quickly as possible. And why is that? Because we're not in a 2021 environment anymore, where a property gets listed and within three hours the first offer comes in, and within 24 hours multiple offers are in, and within two days of property is sold. We're not in that environment anymore. There are a variety of factors about why we're not in that environment. Part of it is economy related, part of it we talked at length about Doge, and the government contracts that have been cut. I mean, we're talking about hundreds of billions of dollars that are worth of dollars that are no longer pumping into the US economy, and the many jobs associated with that. We're also talking about the artificial intelligence, so the tech industries for the last few years, have not necessarily downsized, but changed their job functions, or removed, just eliminated job functions entirely, and this has affected markets, not the entire United States, but it's certainly affected some markets that we operate in, Florida, certainly in Texas, you can look at Austin, Texas, for example, and see the impact that the artificial intelligence and AI has had in the sector there. There are just all sorts of reasons, and so this is why builders, they're not building as much. So there were five years ago what are called spec homes. And pre construction homes, pre construction homes are homes that are to be developed and they get buyers ahead of time and they don't build until they get a buyer and then they build and they complete the property. Pre construction homes are not being done anymore as compared to custom home. A custom home is when you have a buyer and the building has started, the buyer has paid a good portion of the building, and the property is complete. But in pre-construction, they haven't even broken ground, they haven't even gotten permits, and a lot of investors have been scared away from that, saying, Why get a home like that when I can just buy a spec home or a custom home. A spec home is a home where the builder just builds a property and they hope that a buyer is going to come after it's built, and the problem with that, as we're seeing today, this is why builders are trying to offload their inventory. It's because so many of these spec homes were built because these builders thought, oh, 2021 2022 those are such amazing years, but now in 2026 they built these homes, and there aren't buyers throughout the building process, they weren't able to get buyers, and there still aren't buyers available, so what do the builders want to do, they want to offer really, really enticing incentives, because it's very highly likely they took out some type of construction loan, and they took out some other type of loan, and they've got all this debt on the property. Builders are not landlords, builders build, they want to build something and sell it off. They do not want to hold on to it and let something just sit there, that builders make money by selling their property, so all these different reasons are why we're seeing incentives like we've never seen before. And to give you an example, instead of one year of property management, we're seeing two years of property management. Yeah, instead of closing cost credits, we're seeing builders and sellers in general actually pay money to buyers, so they close on a property. Let's say they, instead of a closing cost credit, you close on a property, they'll literally just wire you or overnight you a check for x amount of dollars, and this is not like $1,000 $2,000 We've had some investors get up to $50,000 mailed to them after closing on a property, so I think this is a really, really good time for investors to find deals. You brought up Costco earlier, I'm like the Costco finder, it's a really, really good time to find deals, because through networks like GRE we have access globally, not just mainland 48 states, not just United States, not just globally, whether it's teak timber parcels in South America or in Central America, or it's duplexes, quads, single family homes in mainland United States, we have access to these deals, to these incentives, whereas your average person, they're just reading some headline saying, oh, real estate is a bad investment right now, and home values are supposed to crash, and there's so many homes available for sale, and there's going to be this big crash, and and inflation is very high, which means interest rates are really high. That's like the general consensus, but that's what the mainstream news media is telling, and that's what's creating a consensus.   Keith Weinhold  33:29   That's what clicks and fear. Yes,   Naresh Vissa  33:31   that's where I say that there are GRE is here to find those diamonds in a rough to find those incentives to find those good deals to find those markets, just like even in the stock market, the stock market can be at all-time highs, but you can still find those diamonds in the rough that are good, high-quality companies. Maybe they're undervalued. There's always going to be some type of diamond in the rough. I don't think we've ever gone through a period in our lifetimes where it was like, oh, everything is going so well, and there's nothing to invest in. There's nothing we should just do nothing with our money. I don't think there's ever been a point. There's always in any asset class in any industry. So that's why I say right now I'm seeing incentives. That's how I began this conversation. I'm seeing incentives that I've never seen before, and I'm excited to share them with all of our GRE followers.   Keith Weinhold  34:24   Yes, there's never perfection in a market like a panacea, where everything is tuned in just right, and it's really not a buyer's market nationally, in a sense. Now it sort of feels that way, because in 2021 to 2022 we had such a frenzy and such a run up in such a seller's market that things have come somewhat back more into balance. We still have substantially less than six months of supply on a national basis, but yes, to your point, some people are really cashing in on. These incentives, and that's created a pickup in activity recently that you've seen with investors.   Naresh Vissa  35:07   I have absolutely seen a pickup in activity, and there could be.. I don't want to speak in absolutes.. there could be a variety of reasons for this. Number one is the stock market has consistently reached all-time highs for the past few weeks or so, and many people, they liquidated some of their portfolio, they liquidated some of those stocks, and said, all right, it's time to get into real estate. Another reason is, yes, you do see these headlines that are doom and gloom, next big crash, and there are some markets in Florida, for example, in Texas, for example, in the DMV area, DC metro area, Maryland, Virginia, and even in some parts of California, you do see a stagnation in home values, maybe even a decline in home values in some of these areas, but I bring them up because some areas where investors own are still thriving and doing really well, and many of those investors who we work with at GRE, they opted to 1031 and say, you know what, I had this property, it appreciated by 60% since I bought it, 60% 50% whatever it might be, and I want to cash out. Well, I don't want to necessarily cash out, but I want to sell in 1031 into an undervalued market, or a market where the homes have declined, or maybe it's an up and coming market. For those who don't know, 1031 is special tax favored strategy from the tax code that allows real estate investors to sell a property and to essentially replace it with a like kind property, and there's tax break, you don't have to pay a capital gains tax or anything on it. There's nothing like that with stocks. So, if you sell a stock, for example, you can't get a more expensive stock with that capital gain and avoid paying the capital gains tax. Unfortunately, you can't do that for stocks, but for real estate, you can. So, we've had several investors do that, where they, 1031 they said this market, it's taken off, maybe it could go down, who knows, but I'm selling at the peak, and I want to buy somewhere else, so that's what we help people do, that's what I help people do, I help them find those deals, those incentives, those markets that could be up and coming, or maybe that declined, and that's why still it makes a lot of sense to be on the lookout for those deals.   Keith Weinhold  37:47   Now, one such place is potentially the Oklahoma market. Last week here on the show, I had your co-host for an upcoming event with me, Richard, whom is an Oklahoma City provider, and we were sort of a phrase that I use, Naresh, is that next place, that next place, Oklahoma City, where the prices haven't run up, it's business friendly, and you do have these affordable prices, and you have landlord-friendly laws, potentially that next place where your dollar goes further, and as the Oklahoma City Thunder go deep in the playoffs, you know the nice thing about Oklahoma is that you can still buy real estate there without needing an NBA contract to afford it. In fact, we were spotlighting their $145,000 new build detached single family rental. Now it is tiny, and it comes with both LVP flooring and granite. I mean, it's something that sort of sounds like science fiction in Metro New York City and coastal California. I don't know if paying 145k would even give you permission to look at a house, but that's one opportunity that we've been talking about here. Niresh,   Naresh Vissa  39:03   let me talk a bit about Oklahoma, because this is a market that we haven't covered much. In fact, we, I would say, have never covered it in writing. It's not heavily featured throughout GRE's history. Yeah, it's not prominently featured on our website. This is a newer market, and I brought up the term up and coming, so I brought up the 1031 people are 1031 into up and coming markets. Oklahoma is an up and coming market. It's a very landlord friendly state, it's a very tax friendly state. The property taxes are significantly lower in Oklahoma, for example, compared to a Texas or a Florida, which are two very popular in real estate investment states. Investors go after Oklahoma is not quite as high, their home insurance isn't anywhere as high as a Florida, for example, but the best part. It is because of all these different factors. Oklahoma has a lot of industry, and we'll go into it this Thursday on our webinar. Go to GRE webinars.com to register, but Oklahoma, the tourism is getting up and running. The energy industry still has a very important part to play in this world's energy consumption, Oklahoma, it's got huge academic areas. You have Oklahoma University, you have Oklahoma State, you have a plethora of Tulsa has a very strong university there. You have medical schools there. Oklahoma is an underrated state. People don't think about Oklahoma when they think about what are the greatest states in America, or what state that I want to move to, but Oklahoma, I think, is that next up-and-coming state, because there's actually more stuff now. I brought up tourism, you brought up the Oklahoma City Thunder, they never had really any professional sports teams, what, 20 years ago,   Keith Weinhold  41:02   right?   Naresh Vissa  41:03   And the Thunder now are the best NBA teams. They have been the best, and I'm rooting for them. So this is all good. That's the Oklahoma City area, where the Thunder play, but, like I said, I brought up other markets, like Tulsa, where we have inventory, and there are a few others that we're going to cover, but mostly the best properties that we're going to cover on Thursday are in the Oklahoma City area, places within 45 minutes, 50 minutes from Oklahoma City. So, as you're watching the webinar and following the Oklahoma City Thunder, that should only kind of enhance as the team does better and as Oklahoma gets more publicity, and is on TV more, and you see all those nice stills on TV, and those shots, and ESPNs covering the city, that's all very good for real estate, and for publicity, and this is like an intangible reason to invest in Oklahoma that actually makes a very big difference. So, overall, Oklahoma is what I would call, like I said earlier, up and coming, the home values, because it's up and coming. You can't get $145,000 new construction property anywhere in the United States right now. When I say anywhere, there's a little bit of hyperbole there. If you look to some boondock towns and cities, yeah, you'll find them, but are they really good renters markets? Are they good appreciating markets? Well, in fact, the most of the state of Oklahoma is now, and definitely that Oklahoma City area is. So, I'm excited about this online special event we're having this Thursday, because, like I said, this is a new market, just like the team, I mean, so many fans are just new to Oklahoma, you know, like Oklahoma, like what's in Oklahoma. Well, attend our special event this Thursday, GRE webinars.com and we're going to get down to the nitty gritty of it. I think this is out of all the up and coming markets I've covered over the last 10 years, I think this is the best one, because the problems I had with some of these up and coming markets, like Memphis, for example, crime.. it's why are they up and coming? Why are the home value solo? Well, you know, crime was a major issue. There's no comparison between an Oklahoma City or a Tulsa and Memphis, for example, or a Baltimore. There's no comparison when it comes to esthetics, when it comes to newness, niceness, crime, homicides, no comparison. So, to me, this is a no-brainer. And I think investors should be really excited about this.   Keith Weinhold  43:32   There is anticipation for Thursday's live event, which you can enjoy from the comfort of your own home. You'll learn about real estate investing, you'll get to chat with Naresh and the co-host, Richard, that provides there. Ask any questions that you want to have answered in real time. The event name is why investors are targeting Oklahoma real estate this year. It is this Thursday night, the 20-eighth, 8pm Eastern, 5pm Pacific. Sign up is open@grewebinars.com It's free. Naresh, we all look forward to seeing you Thursday night. It was great having you here.   Naresh Vissa  44:06   Thanks a lot, Keith. Looking forward to seeing everybody.   Keith Weinhold  44:15   Yes, the Oklahoma City Thunder are the reigning NBA champions, and they've gone deep into playoffs again this season, but what you'll find more interesting about Oklahoma City's real estate investment market is that it's business friendly, still affordable population growth, job growth. There are still good deals. You don't need to have a venture capital exit just to put some rental property in your portfolio, and while those $145,000 properties are small detached cottages with LVP and granite, there are other single family rental and duplex styles, all new build, everything here is new construction, the. Like a nice looking 565k duplex in Edmond, Oklahoma. I'm looking at a photo of it right now. Edmund abuts right up against Oklahoma City. Between 2010 and 2020 it had whopping population growth of 16% That is not random. People vote with their moving trucks. Learn more about Oklahoma's growth in energy, aerospace, aviation, logistics, and tech, along with Oklahoma City's downtown revitalization. This creates the rent-paying tenants with stable incomes that we need at the event, the provider is even offering two years of free property management, and they handle all the tenant placement for you. Save your spot for Thursday now@grewebinars.com Our team will see you then. Next week, we'll have Rich Dad Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki back here on the show with us. We'll see you Thursday. I'm your host, Keith Weinhold. Don't quit your daydream.   Unknown Speaker  46:08   Nothing on this show should be considered specific personal or professional advice. Please consult an appropriate tax, legal, real estate, financial, or business professional for individualized advice. Opinions of guests are their own. Information is not guaranteed. All investment strategies have the potential for profit or loss. The host is operating on behalf of Get Rich Education LLC exclusively.   Keith Weinhold  46:36   The preceding program was brought to you by Your Home for Wealth building get richeducation.com  

Lucas Sherraden hosts Brian Weast from the Wiest Group in the DFW area, exploring his journey in real estate from teaching driver's education to leading a successful team. Brian shares insights on shifting strategies, from focusing on REO properties during market downturns to leveraging technology and relationships for growth. He highlights the importance of structured lead generation, understanding profitability, and the challenges and rewards of building a real estate team. This episode offers valuable lessons for agents aspiring to elevate their business with actionable strategies and a team-first mindset. Connect with Brian at https://www.weastrealestate.com/ ---------- Be sure to leave a rating and review and don't forget to go to www.builthow.com and register for our next live or virtual event. Part of the Win Make Give Podcast Network

What's worse? Adversity or no respect? [1:09]Respect or adversity? It's the NFL's world. [12:37]The five “must see” games. Name That…Movie, song, or person. [20:00]Summerall. Fargo. REO. C. Christie.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Summerall. Fargo. REO. C. Christie.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What happens when you get slapped with a $742,000 judgment, lose your cars, and find yourself riding a bicycle in 103-degree Phoenix heat at absolute rock bottom? You start dialing. In this special crossover episode, Brent Daniels sits in the hot seat as a guest on the Grid Talk podcast to share his ultimate real estate origin story and the exact steps he took to build a massively profitable business from scratch.Brent pulls back the curtain on how he clawed his way out of massive debt by driving for dollars, skip tracing, and relentlessly picking up the phone. After making an astonishing 45,000 cold calls over eight years, Brent reveals the exact psychology of a successful cold open, the only six responses a seller will ever give you, and why mastering "energy management" is the true secret to scaling your income and avoiding burnout. Be a part of the TTP training program now.---------Show notes:(0:00) Beginning of today's episode(2:23) Brent's origin story!(4:26) Hitting rock bottom with a $742,000 judgment and riding a bicycle in the Phoenix heat(8:22) Crawling out of debt by working REO sign calls and transitioning to driving for dollars(13:40) The four essential pillars to fully prequalify any distressed property owner(15:40) Lessons learned from personally making 45,000 cold calls over eight years(16:50) Six possible responses you will get when asking a seller to consider an offer(21:59) Why energy management is far more important to your success than time management(29:45) The danger of treating business revenue like Monopoly money(39:05) The perfect Real Estate Schedule (RES)(40:18) Brent's advice to his younger self on hiring, making calls, and buying assets----------Resources:Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert KiyosakiLexisNexisTTP InsiderBrent Daniels - Real Estate Coach on YouTubeTo speak with Brent or one of our other expert coaches call (281) 835-4201 or schedule your free discovery call here to learn about our mentorship programs and become part of the TribeGo to Wholesalingincgroup.com to become part of one of the fastest growing Facebook communities in the Wholesaling space. Get all of your burning Wholesaling questions answered, gain access to JV partnerships, and connect with other "success minded" Rhinos in the community.It's 100% free to join. The opportunities in this community  are endless, what are you waiting for?

Are you ready to take your note investing to the streets?Welcome to another Money Monday! This week, we are diving deep into the world of "Roadshows" and a specific niche that is seeing a massive surge in inventory: Reverse Mortgages (HECMs). Whether you are a seasoned note buyer or just starting to look at distressed debt, understanding how to navigate these assets can be a total game-changer for your portfolio. In this episode, Scott Carson discusses a unique "divine intervention" moment—a trip to Tulsa, Oklahoma, that perfectly coincided with a fresh tape of over 35 reverse mortgage assets in that exact market. We break down what exactly a Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) is, why families often walk away from them, and how you can step in to create massive equity through foreclosure or REO plays. We also talk about the reality of "engineer-designed" platforms versus real-world note trading, the importance of product over platform, and why the "Tulsa Note Roadshow" is just the beginning of a new way for our students and investors to partner on big deals.

You don't need a huge savings account or even a ton of life experience to start investing in real estate. At just 18 years old, today's guest used her entire life savings to buy her first real estate deal. It was just an empty parcel of land, but it ended up becoming a $120K home-run deal that catapulted her toward 10 more deals over the next six years! Welcome back to the Real Estate Rookie podcast! Tiffany Da Silva had just graduated from high school when she decided to go (literally) all-in on real estate investing. Despite having no credit and just $12,000 to her name, she took the plunge, using every last dollar to bid on an empty parcel of land at a tax deed sale. What was going to be a simple land flip turned into a rental property that has made her over $120,000! With proof of concept, Tiffany went back to the well, buying up several more real estate owned (REO) properties at auctions and even dabbling in new construction. Whether you feel you're too young to invest, too old to start, or somewhere in the middle, anyone can follow Tiffany's blueprint and copy her success! In This Episode We Cover How Tiffany bought her first real estate deal at just 18 years old Tiffany's journey from zero to 11 real estate deals in six years How to buy discounted properties at tax deed sales and auctions Using hard money to fund your off-market real estate deals Real estate owned (REO) properties explained (and how to find them!) And So Much More! Check out more resources from this show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BiggerPockets.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠h⁠t⁠tps://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/rookie-713. Interested in learning more about today's sponsors or becoming a BiggerPockets partner yourself? Email ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠advertise@biggerpockets.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Master the Microsoft co-sell evolution today. Subscribe to our Newsletter:https://theultimatepartner.com/ebook-subscribe/Check Out UPX:https://theultimatepartner.com/experience/ In this deep-dive panel discussion, industry experts Erin Figer, Erika Irby, and Reis Barrie celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the Microsoft Co-Sell program by dissecting its evolution from its 2016 inception to today's data-driven, outcome-focused landscape. The group explores the critical shift from transactional sales to modern, frictionless co-sell motions, emphasizing the importance of signals, intentionality, and building credibility with Microsoft field teams. Whether you are navigating the complexities of the marketplace, struggling with reseller enablement, or looking to integrate AI into your sales process, this conversation offers actionable insights to align your organization's go-to-market strategy with Microsoft's evolving priorities and achieve results. https://youtu.be/KV1MGSoyWbQ Key Takeaways Effective co-selling has shifted from autonomous, fragmented motions to a highly collaborative, data-driven approach essential for modern cloud GTM strategies. Credibility is the currency of partnership; without trust from vendors and customers, technical go-to-market motions will fail to produce long-term outcomes. The “REO” (Reseller Enablement Offering) model is an operational unlock for ISVs to go global and sell local without the friction of multi-party private offers. Integrating AI into CRM systems is vital for identifying total addressable market (TAM) signals and maintaining sales velocity. “Don’t automate a bad process” remains the cardinal rule; technology should be used to refine existing, successful motions, not to propagate inefficient ones. The human element—community, in-person events, and empathy—is a necessary differentiator in an increasingly digital, automated B2B landscape. If you're ready to lead through change, elevate your business, and achieve extraordinary outcomes through the power of partnership—this is your community. At Ultimate Partner® we want leaders like you to join us in the Ultimate Partner Experience – where transformation begins. Key Tags Microsoft Azure, Co-sell evolution, Hyperscaler strategy, SMB partner investment, Cloud Marketplace, Veeam GTM, Partner Center alignment, Channel enablement, REO, Cloud consumption, ISV scaling, Go-to-market optimization, Partner-led growth, Azure consumption, Channel friction reduction, Outcome-driven sales, Microsoft ecosystem, Revenue acceleration, Partner alignment. Transcript Erin Figer Panel For Cut Out [00:00:00] Vince Menzione: So when we, so, uh, this all started ’cause I was trying to figure out what was next when I left Microsoft and I had this woman who was doing work, actually starting the co-selling process when we first started doing co-selling. And she was working with one of our partners and she was working with my team when I was at Microsoft. [00:00:17] And then I said, this lady knows a lot about this stuff. So I reached out, I left Microsoft, I said, I think we can help each other. Like, I think we’re gonna, I got these companies that I spoke at Microsoft’s conference. They’re like, can you come help us out? And we teamed up. And, uh, we’ve been friends and doing fun stuff ever since. [00:00:34] And she’s spoken at just about every event in some capacity or another, whether it was on stage or a workshop. Aaron Feiger. And then, uh, I, I found, I also, through Aaron, I met this other gentleman who had another company and he was doing amazing work with ISVs or SDCs, uh, Reese Barry from Carve. And then, uh, when I think we started up the event, I mean, Erica Irby came to one of our first events and spoke on stage. [00:00:58] I was like, yeah, this. The person knows what she’s doing. So I’ve asked the three of them to come up and kind of round out and end the day, but all three of ’em have a tremendous, uh, background in this whole process of co-selling go to market strategies. And I thought you, you can, I’m just giving it over to the three of you. [00:01:17] Erin Figer: I we don’t need [00:01:18] Vince Menzione: a, you don’t needer you don’t need a clicker and you, you know what you’re all gonna be talking about. But these are some really smart people about how to partner with Microsoft. So, yeah. No, thank you for having us. [00:01:27] Erin Figer: Um, hello. Hello. I think this is on. All right. So actually we’re gonna do an exercise. [00:01:32] Um, I want everyone to close their eyes. Close your eyes. Close your eyes. All right. I want you to think back to January of 2016. What were you doing? Where were you in your career? What company were you working for? What was going on in your Microsoft partnership in January of 2016? Okay, Erica, what was happening for you? [00:01:59] Erika Irby: So, uh, is this on? Sorry, I cannot tell. Um, I was at Veeam for the first time. We had just launched our first, uh, endpoint backup, uh, product in April of the previous year because nobody knew what cloud was yet, and people were scared. So we had to launch that product. And we had a relationship with Microsoft in a sense that about 20% of our business sat on Hyper V. [00:02:25] That equated to about, I think like around 90 ish million dollars, which at the time was incredible for us. But to Microsoft was, you know, like, who are you guys again? And, um, we begged and begged to have any type of communication with them. Events. Funding nothing. We did not know what Azure consumption was. [00:02:43] We didn’t have any of that information. And if somebody would’ve told me at that time that nine years later we would sign a five year contract with them and have multiple products dedicated to Microsoft, I would’ve been like, y’all are bananas. [00:02:58] Erin Figer: Reese, what were you doing in January of 2016? [00:03:00] Reis Barrie: Uh, let’s see, Jan, 2016, I was moving from Orlando, Florida to Seattle, Washington, uh, sight unseen with no place to stay. [00:03:10] Uh, to take a job at a place called Microsoft or Consulting Gig, a place called Microsoft. Um, kicking off some of the cool motions that we’re, uh, we’re gonna talk about today, I think. [00:03:20] Erin Figer: Does anybody know the significance of January, 2016 in the audience? Any takers? It was the launch of Cosell officially for Microsoft. [00:03:31] Congratulations. We’re celebrating 10 years of officially. Problematizing how you connect with the Microsoft sales organization in a programmatic at scale way. And try to build meaningful relationships. And I have been helping partners since the inception of Microsoft’s Cosell program. Um, I was on the partner side, Reese was on the inside. [00:03:59] You were at a partner. So we have all seen the evolution of Cosell across all three hyperscalers launching, you know, their co-sell initiatives. So I just wanted to take a moment to recognize. I didn’t know how many people realized that it’s been 10 years, it’s 10 year anniversary. I think it’s a big milestone. [00:04:15] Huge. So. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we, you know, when they launched it, I went, I was consulting for a startup outta Boston and we were trying to get Microsoft’s attention, competitor to fame, and I went to the business development guy and said, uh, do you, did you just see this program that Microsoft launched? I think we should include this in our branding strategy and we should use co-sell as a way to get our brand out to Microsoft and be able to tell our story of who we are and what we’re doing and that we’re in their accounts and they don’t even know it. [00:04:55] ’cause we’re the startup out of Boston who switched over from AWS to Microsoft. And we did, and I put every single opportunity in the system I could for the first six months, which was the last six months of their fiscal year. We go to partner of the, we go to, what was it called? Them WPCI think at the time. [00:05:13] Mm-hmm. Uh, in Vegas. And Nasuni won wins like all four wards worldwide. US Education, healthcare Partner of the year because I put 117 deals in the system and then it seeded Na Sunni’s Marketing for the next two years. ’cause Microsoft gave them tons of money and attention and we were off to the races. [00:05:35] Right. And then it was, can you repeat that? And we went and repeated it with Red Hat and Rubrik and Nintex and Quest and. I don’t know, lots more. But it was, it’s been fun journey co-selling. And it’s interesting to see now, um, how we continue 10 years later to evolve co-sell. And so Erica, what were some of the takeaways you had today listening to the conversation about how co-sell, how you’re modernizing and co-sell is changing inside your organization, especially now being a boomerang. [00:06:08] Erika Irby: Yeah, well we call it a Veeam ring ’cause everything a veer ring, everything has to start with with Veeam. Well, one thing I was gonna comment on, I think I’m sitting here thinking how wild is it that back in the day we actually had to define that co-sell was an action that, that, you know, partners and vendors needed to take or, and different vendors and alliances. [00:06:25] I mean, now we can’t even imagine going to market without, you know, that, that attach. But at the time, we were just very autonomous and everybody sold their own product and it, it took like this actual motion, um, to get us working together. But now look at us. I mean, this community is incredible. And we can also see this by, and even when AGU was mentioning earlier, all the bosses he had in his room, I mean. [00:06:47] How many people like know each other. I mean, this is like part of that, that ecosystem. But today, um, a couple of things I took away, and by the way, we want a lot of interactions, so we’re going to kind of throw it back out at you guys. But for me, um, outcomes came up repeatedly that was mentioned multiple times about outcomes. [00:07:04] Um, speed with intentionality. I think that was super critical. We have to go to market. There has to be a sense of urgency, but if we’re not intentional, it’s like, what are we doing? It’s just like a big mess. Um, and then credibility. And this is something I think is super important, regardless of, um, all of our emotions, all of our go to market, all of the, the things that we do, if we are not credible or not building trust with our vendors, our, our co-partners, our customers, we will never be successful. [00:07:35] Um, so those are the three main things that I took away from, from everybody talking today. And I, I thought, I mean, to me personally, I thought those were pretty powerful. [00:07:42] Yeah. [00:07:42] Erika Irby: So we’d love to hear. [00:07:43] Erin Figer: Yeah. And I know Reese, you have been doing a lot around outcomes and changing kind of the cosal, um, intention. [00:07:54] Reis Barrie: Yeah. The, uh, the, just thinking back to today, like that was like such a, it was really a, a big key theme of today. Like everyone talked about, whether it’s pivot of, of sales, partnership, um, even when you’re talking about AI and some of the, the, uh. POC discussions. So the live like type of stuff, everything was centered around that narrative. [00:08:17] And so, um, and it’s the same with, it’s the same with partnerships. It’s the same with your co-sell motion, same with your benefits utilization, um, and the way you’re utilizing partnerships. And so that’s, that’s a huge, huge component of, um, what I also took away from today. Um, and then somebody, I think it was Mark who said it that I’m gonna, I’m gonna steal this because the, the whole, um. [00:08:40] Near and dear to my heart of like, don’t, don’t scale automate ai, A-I-F-I-A bad process. Like as someone who deals with like, for the most part, bad processes, like day in and day out, um, and trying to refine them and improve them. Like, that’s one of the first things that we, uh, that we talk to partners about when it comes to their partnership and, and the processes they have in place. [00:09:03] So those are like two really big, just takeaways from [00:09:06] Erin Figer: Yeah. Nice. So we’re here to learn from each other, right? Like this is an ultimate partner community of learning from each other. So I’d really love to hear from the audience, like what are some of the things you’re doing in your cloud? Go to market approach and co-selling that you’re trying out. [00:09:23] Either you tried it, you failed fast, you learned from that, that you can share those lessons learned or like what’s working and how are you changing to be more outcome driven in your cloud go to market, uh, approach. Any takers in wanting to experience share? Great. Give that man a mic. [00:09:50] Audience Member: The SMB investments. Um, these, these new, I don’t know what they are. I partner accelerators, PBAs, uh, there’s kind of something going on in the SMB space where it just seems like they’re coming outta the woodwork to come help. On deals. I’ve never seen Microsoft really embrace the customer that they, the way they have in SMB in the cos sells. [00:10:10] I’m not sure if anybody else is seen that, but seems to be working. It’s two things. One, you at Data 60 [00:10:22] America. [00:10:54] I think, I think part of the rarity there is that. Typically you wouldn’t get a seller attached, right? They’re unmanaged that they’re kind of in the nobody cares category, but, [00:11:06] um. So Microsoft made a huge investment in the distribution space saying we’re gonna lean on distribution to help enable our 165,000 indirect resellers that we have as a business. And part of that enablement goes back to field sales alignment. So there’s these roles, ca roles called um, partner Solutions Sellers, PS. [00:11:30] And so they’re aligned by, um, solutions architecture, if you will, for Microsoft. So, or cloud solution area, whatever the new term, modern work, uh, or, uh, AI work, AI workforce, um, data and ai. And so they are there to help support your deal. So it’s, it’s a huge investment and one that I would just can say continue to advocate for it if you’re seeing success with it, because I mean, we’re heading into FY 27 planning for Microsoft. [00:11:58] So. Like there, there could be role changes. So I would say if it, if it’s helpful, like make sure you’re talking positively about it. [00:12:05] Reis Barrie: Yeah, yeah. Just to, to your point, like I, I’d say like, um, in the last six to 12 months, like that’s been a, a thing that’s like we’ve to go back and like, I mean we manage a portfolio of a couple dozen, dozen partners at this point, and so we’ve had to go back and rewrite some of our playbooks, reeducate some of. [00:12:26] Uh, some of the partnership folks that we use because, um, historically you kind of get into this like void of, you’re in partner center, you’re picking, you know, account alignment and it’s not managed. And so it’s like, okay, I expect to do nothing with this deal on the Microsoft side from a co-sell standpoint. [00:12:42] Um, but that’s kind of, that’s changed quite a bit, um, in the last six months where, um, it’s not like a, it’s hard to create, it’s hard to create processes and dependence around it ’cause it’s not like a guarantee that you’ll get, you get engagement, but. Uh, you see more eng engagement, more on more and more deals. [00:12:58] Um, and so we’ve had to go back and work with some of our partners to rewrite some of our, uh, deal sharing playbooks to account for, uh, things like that, which is, it’s super cool to see, frankly, um, to see engagement on these, like predominantly. [00:13:12] Erin Figer: So in that motion. So first off, for the folks that are on the other side of this black curtain by the food station, if you guys could please stop the conversation. [00:13:19] It’s really hard to pay attention to what’s going on in this room. Um. Thank you. Thank [00:13:25] Erika Irby: you for saying that. [00:13:26] Erin Figer: That was a great, that was a great, that’s a great point. And what I wanna talk about next is like in order to kind of continue to evolve the playbooks and they’re changing and people are changing, and priorities are changing, what are some of the signals that you guys are using internally in your organization, whether you’re building or buying, um, but would love to learn from all of you. [00:13:46] What kind of signals are you looking at to help you continue to like co-innovate, co-sell, co-market? Um, in your go-to market strategies? [00:13:58] Audience Member: Yeah, [00:13:58] Erin Figer: please. Um, [00:14:00] Audience Member: well, I’m, I’m, we’re building everything from scratch right now because we’re brand is integration. [00:14:39] Like having our, our engineer be able to interact with product [00:14:43] Erin Figer: engineer. [00:14:50] I’m gonna pick on trend ’cause I had just spent last week with them and Sanjay, I think like what you guys are building internally, um, using signals, building it into an AI agent. To help you understand your tam, you wanna share a little bit. [00:15:06] Audience Member: Happy to, and I’ll disclose. The first thing I did was hire Aaron Feiger to run my co-sell operations, uh, for the, for the second time. [00:15:12] It’s [00:15:13] Erin Figer: nice to be a GDI again [00:15:14] Audience Member: for the second, so well planted. Um, but honestly, like I can’t have an environment where I fail my sellers, like this process has to be frictionless in co-sell and marketplace operations. Or I lose trust in my own house, let alone in my channel and in my customer base. So. Uh, building that strong foundation is like job number one. [00:15:34] I’ve been, I spent a decade at Trend. I’m back, uh, five weeks on the job now. Um, but I’d say we’ve built a multi hundred million dollar cloud marketplace business thinking highly transactional. And what we’re trying to pivot to is a highly dated driven approach where we can look at any cloud in any region around the world, figure out roughly how many accounts they have. [00:15:57] Figure out what those customers are spending and things that we can protect from a cybersecurity standpoint, knowing that four or 5% of that total spend will be spent on cybersecurity, doing an overlap of where I have existing customers in that drawing a tam, overlapping that with my incumbent partners to get the Venn diagram of like, where’s my sweet spot to move this forward? [00:16:18] And then where’s my blast radius? So when I sit down with a guy leading France, or a person leading healthcare. I can have a really specific opportunity about how to leverage my cloud partnerships to accelerate deals and expand growth in a very surgical, data-driven, propensity driven way. And it like totally changes the conversation. [00:16:40] And the other thing we’ve done because you get a lot of pushback and when you’re working with Microsoft, uh, I was chatting with a few folks today, like if you’re in cybersecurity, it’s not easy. They got a 25 billion ish dollars cybersecurity business. So you gotta find your swim lanes. And the dialogue I have now internally with my sellers is a major League baseball analogy, which is, if you play major league baseball and if you hit the ball 30% of the time, you’re gonna go to this little thing called the Hall of Fame, right? [00:17:07] If you bat 300, if you’re in sales and Microsoft, or Amazon or whoever helps you, 30% of the time, you’re gonna go to this thing called President’s Club. That’s the difference between sitting at home in Ohio and sitting with your beach. You know, your, your toes in the sand. So it’s, we’re really trying to change. [00:17:25] Uh, one of the first things I ask my team is, what’s our brand promise to our sales leaders and our sales team? And if you don’t know that answer, you got a fricking problem. So you gotta get that. What’s your Brene Brown would call it? What’s your North Star? What are your values? Whatcha are you gonna deliver? [00:17:38] Right? So you gotta get that right and then you gotta be relentless in making it frictionless. And then you gotta hire Aaron Fier to run your co-sell. [00:17:46] Erin Figer: Okay? Okay. And so, I mean, I think like that’s a trend that I’m seeing across the partners that I’ve been working with is how they’re using data and doing more data driven, um, decision making and getting to their TAM faster so that as they start to then look at this pathway of, okay, now I’m trying to go to market, what. [00:18:11] Programs does Microsoft have or my other partners have that I can use to move me down that path faster. But getting that tam and feeling more confident about it, like, this is the group, this is the subgroup that I’m gonna start with until I see something that says, oh, I need to deviate and do something different. [00:18:30] Um, so I’m definitely seeing that trend. Like what are you seeing, uh, what are you guys doing at Vem? [00:18:35] Erika Irby: Um, so a couple different things. So like you were saying, we, we do leverage, um, AI more, uh, recently for New Deal Reg, um, automation. And we lit, literally just launched it this week. So this is the week that it’s exciting until the, someone tries to use it for the first time and then for. [00:18:52] Um, so I can’t wait to see my emails later, but, um, it, it’s, we’re seeing like that, that that movement, which is, uh, definitely good for that. We have a task force internally for marketing, so trying to figure out how we’re gonna, um, you know, leverage that, uh, um, internally. And I think that Veeam, you know, they, they have been on the forefront of technology for, for a while. [00:19:12] You know, they were the first with the. Virtual backup and, you know, all these things, you know, really trying to be ahead of the thing, ahead of the game. But, um, one thing I, I, I love how many people brought up the intentionality and the mindfulness because I think sometimes we can easily. Put out a whole bunch of tools. [00:19:28] I love that you called out the point about the bad processes, um, because it actually, I think, can just create more confusion, more of a mess, and that, um, really mindfulness will be so much more beneficial, you know, down the road for your partners, for your customers, for everybody that has to, you know, do that interaction business with you. [00:19:47] I did wanna call out that I thought it was lovely that you had a positive comment about Microsoft. I dunno if I, [00:19:53] Audience Member: yeah, [00:19:53] Erika Irby: I like rarely hear that. So like, awesome. I hope that does get back to Microsoft. I hope that they do, um, continue that. I’m sure their SMB is quite a bit bigger than maybe others, but that is a massive install base for, for Veeam as well. [00:20:07] And even though we’re driving and trying to push into the enterprise, protecting that install base is just absolutely critical for success. [00:20:15] Erin Figer: What about you race? [00:20:17] Reis Barrie: So if I’m looking at like signals, I, I think. Uh, I’ll focus on too, I think you mentioned, uh, the, the cycles of change at Microsoft. Like it used to be an annual thing and now it’s like a, then it was a half base thing, and then it was a, now it’s a quarterly thing basically. [00:20:30] Um, but there’s also like, there’s, there’s big signals and small signals, and so annually we still get like that, like the, the, the guiding direction so that we can align. How we talk about ourselves, how we talk about our partnership, how, how we enable our sellers and whatnot. And then we got a lot of programmatic shifts from a, from a quarter to quarter standpoint. [00:20:50] Um, and so focusing on the, like these, um, these signals so we can align our, our messaging and our frameworks to align with, with, with our partnership, um, is, is one thing that’s, you know, super, super important to keep, keep tabs on. Um, and the second one, I’ll, I’ll give, you’ll. Mention is more on the cus sorry, uh, customer side, but like the seller enablement. [00:21:15] And so how is your, on the marketplace side, how, how are your sellers talking to your customers about marketplace? Um, are they, are they bringing up earlier in the, in the qualifying discussions of how does the customer prefer to buy? Um, are there fire drills with two weeks to go, um, till the, till the deal closes and now the customer wants to go marketplace and, and no one knows how to do it? [00:21:37] Um, seen that way too many times. Um, and so, but how, how, like studying kind of the, uh, maturity of our sales org to see well, like where, where, where is our, our, where are our sellers competent to have this marketplace discussion? Um, because I often relate, like, this is kinda a silly analogy, but I, I, simple stuff works really, really well with me. [00:22:00] But I like, have you ever been to a farmer’s market and you’re like nervous to buy something? ’cause you don’t know if they take credit card. [00:22:07] Audience Member: Yeah. [00:22:07] Reis Barrie: And so like to me, I’m like, okay, well, like it’s the same thing with Marketplace to me. And so like, it’s, it’s the same concept of you want your customer to be able to buy, they want the way that they would like to buy. [00:22:19] Um, and you want the person that they’re interacting with to be able to, um, facilitate that, that transaction in, in a way that feels frictionless. Yeah. Right. Uh, and so that’s a lot. Like, those are the kind of, the really two deep signals, um, that we, we look at a lot. [00:22:37] Erika Irby: I wanna make a comment on the marketplace. [00:22:38] So I don’t know if anybody else is experiencing this, you know, Veeam being an ISV, we have a really strong traditional, traditional channel motion. So, to your point about how sellers are, are managing the marketplace, to be totally honest, we struggle on, um, that, because right now it feels like a deal that goes to the marketplace is taken away from a reseller, and that reseller loses out then on that upfront margin and. [00:23:06] Um, there’s not a clean path necessarily for, you know, just because the, the deal happened there. They really, they still need to maintain that because they’re the one pri providing the services. And somebody had brought up earlier that, um, A SMB customer will never be successful without a partner. And I, I totally agree with that, but it’s like that part is missing. [00:23:26] So we almost need like a mindset change. In the channel where the marketplace is just a route to market and how the customer receives the product. It shouldn’t totally matter because at the end of the day, the, they still have to provide the services. It’s like, I could go to Home Depot and purchase a bunch of pipe for my house, but can I install it a thousand percent? [00:23:49] No. I would destroy my house. I used to have to have a plumber. So I think there’s, we could help our channel by changing that mindset, and at the same time, we, we need the marketplace owners to, to provide the benefits so that it is still very attractive for those traditional. Partners to, to push their customers there or else I, I think we’re just gonna constantly have that strife. [00:24:11] Erin Figer: Yeah. Does anyone in the audience, has anyone in the audience activated REO with Microsoft? You have? Yeah. So how’s it, like, how’s it going? Yeah, there’s Bump. Yeah. [00:24:32] Audience Member: How that shifts making people more effective in their roles individually. So we’re early stage of it, but it’s, it’s been a good experience. [00:24:42] Erin Figer: Has it helped to kind of unlock some of that friction with the resellers and continuing to include them to get to the s and b customers? [00:24:49] Audience Member: Yeah, I think the, the challenge that we’re working through right now is, you know, Erica may have said it, but it’s. [00:24:56] It’s not just the, the view of the marketplace taking people out of the equation, it’s how do we use the marketplace for, for co-innovation to keep people in it. So if, if, if it’s gonna take three to five of, of us in this room to deliver that spectrum to innovation for the customer. Um, how do we use the marketplace as a force multiplier of bringing that together and making that transaction easy? [00:25:21] Yeah. If, if our consumers are more and more influenced by Instagram and TikTok Shop Now buttons, like my husband’s texting me about my stuff that showed up today, [00:25:31] Erika Irby: which is none of his business. [00:25:32] Audience Member: None of your business. That’s right. Just put it [00:25:36] Erika Irby: in my room. Thank you. [00:25:37] Audience Member: If people are, people as consumers in the, in the u, us consumer based economy is driving more and more people through like that social experience of purchasing, that is an area where I do think Microsoft could help us and we could help ourselves in marketing how that, how we leverage it to be a force multiplier versus another omnichannel. [00:25:58] Well, [00:25:58] Erin Figer: so on that note, how many of you have put a button on your website? Click to buy? Yeah, [00:26:02] Audience Member: that’s, that’s where I’m at with our marketing team. [00:26:04] Erin Figer: Right? [00:26:04] Audience Member: Yeah. That’s, I think, the next evolution for us in the, in the REO piece. [00:26:08] Erin Figer: Yeah. Yeah. [00:26:10] Audience Member: I, I don’t want it on our website. I want to, I want it on my Instagram, my LinkedIn, my TikTok reels. [00:26:15] That’s, we’re going to, sir, it’s coming next week at our sales kickoff. Yeah. [00:26:21] Erin Figer: Nice, nice. Anybody else? Uh, activated. REO [00:26:28] besides the, you know, RE speed wagon? Uh, it’s the Microsoft Reseller Enablement. Um, offering, so like you activate your resellers to just take your listing and be able to do a private offer so that you don’t have to do multi-party private offers anymore. Your resellers can just take the listing and sell it directly, and they don’t have to wait for you to send them the offer. [00:26:52] Then they have to go do, so it takes out some of the steps and that friction in the process streamlines it and it allows them to like. Add on and do their own pricing. And then the reseller, however you have your arrangement with that reseller, continues to pay you in the back end for, um, selling that through the marketplace. [00:27:11] Erika Irby: I think I’m going to have you come and do a webinar for our Veeam partners to, to help them with that, because to your point, I don’t, I don’t think it’s as prevalent yet. It’s, it hasn’t really caught on. [00:27:21] Erin Figer: Yeah. It’s been really an unlock of, I had a large, um, ISV that I helped. We implemented REO internally, so they have 34 marketplace offerings and they have this initiative. [00:27:36] They wanted to go global, sell local, and so they launched five more publishing accounts and they came to me and said, we need to replicate our catalog five times 34. And I was like, oh God, please, no. And luckily like two months later, Microsoft, like GAed, uh, REO, and I was like, here’s your answer. We’re not going to do that. [00:27:58] We’re going to enable each of your publishing accounts to be resellers of your quote unquote gold standard publishing account, and that we actually implemented REO as an internal mechanism for them to issue their own publishing accounts, to resell private offers in local currencies. Um, and that was really an operational unlock for them. [00:28:25] All right. Anybody you wanna ask a question to the audience? [00:28:29] Audience Member: Okay. I’ll just keep going. [00:28:32] Erin Figer: Um, all right. So what are some other, um, signals or ways that you guys are evolving the way you’re co-selling? Um, does anybody else have some experience shares that they want to, to share with the audience? We’ve got, we’re using data, uh, we’re using some ai, we’re helping us get to our audience faster. [00:28:51] I really loved work span, um, building in an AI tool inside your CRM system, um, so that you can get some of those signals. Any other signals that you guys are using, uh, to change the way you’re co-selling? [00:29:07] It’s quiet on [00:29:07] Reis Barrie: Maybe, maybe I’ll share one, but Yeah. Yeah. So, um, just when it comes to, like, for us, account alignment to me is like one of the most important things and consistently doing, uh, you know, account planning and account alignment against Microsoft their accounts. Um, now it’s a bit interesting ’cause you can include some s and b stuff in there. [00:29:27] Um, but also, uh, Jason you mentioned up there, the. Uh, marketplace rewards, having the propensity mapping. And so looking at not only from an account alignment, um, what Microsoft accounts are, we, um, you know, areas are we most penetrated in, but also of those accounts, which ones are already buying on marketplace. [00:29:47] Uh, maybe have a commitment to Microsoft in, in some way to help us just further, uh, further target and focus on, you know, if we have 500 opportunities that we’re trying to, um. I’m trying to work through, um, to Sanjay’s point, like what’s, what’s the 30% that I’m gonna get my batting average on? Um, and so that constant account alignment to us is like a, is a huge, huge signal, um, for us to focus on. [00:30:14] Um, and then you can even take it a layer deeper to identify, okay, well if I’m looking like, do I have density within Nina had the, the ou up here on the screen. So do I have densities with density within like specific. Uh, verticals or regions, um, or segments that I should maybe if I just focused on that one segment or one vertical, um, you know, then all of a sudden I, I’m super successful having an executive sponsorship in that, uh, in that ou, something like that. [00:30:44] Um, and, but that, that’s all starting with, um, the foundations of that being that consistent account alignment and leveraging some of the, some of the propensity stuff that Microsoft is, is providing. [00:30:56] Erin Figer: And then making sure you’re like bringing it back into your CRM and storing it so that you can continue to use that information ongoing. [00:31:03] And we’re trying to figure out how to embed more and more. [00:31:37] And are you integrating like. Microsoft and other partners into that data as well. It’s like, this is a great partner. Incorporate them at this point in the journey. Yeah, we um. [00:31:50] When [00:31:50] Audience Member: you’re in the process with, with Microsoft, we haven’t opened it up externally, so that’s our crawl, walk, run is we’re, we’re trying this out internally. Let’s see if we can work the bugs out, get the agents working, and then how do we now go to our MSP community and offer this up as an agent they can use within their sales team. [00:32:08] And on the end of. We’re still working in the middle, but front end profiling, it’s helping a ton, um, and giving us a lot of good intel that the sellers are driving through the agent on the back end. It’s, it’s giving us not, um, just propensity data, but what’s resonating. So if we launched 12 products this year and we trained sellers on. [00:32:28] What’s hitting, where’s my pipeline velocity coming from? Where’s my close rate coming from? So that every month when we have our sales town hall, it’s like, here’s the top three sales motions that are actually driving pipeline and fast to cash close rates. [00:32:42] Erin Figer: And I gotta imagine that helps you get to your differentiators. [00:32:45] Audience Member: Oh [00:32:45] Erin Figer: yeah. And refining your superpower story. [00:32:48] Audience Member: That’s right. That’s. Yeah, because it’s for, for our sales team. I mean, we were talking about it earlier, it’s all about simplification. There’s so many options, so much noise. It’s like, just go focus on these three things and this is where you’re gonna deliver impact and outcomes to your customer. [00:33:01] And if we’re doing that, we’re all winning. [00:33:03] Erika Irby: Yeah. I, I, um, just recently, this is why one of the coolest things that Veeam has done, we just launched this tool called, um, expansion iq, and it’s part of our command, the expand motion this year where we’re really. Upselling and cross-selling our, um, install base. [00:33:17] This tool takes all the partners individual propensity data, puts it against four solution plays that we think are the main plays, and then provides them, this is what you could be earning if you took this motion. And then from a marketing perspective, we provide them. And to do this, here’s your campaign. [00:33:37] Here’s your this, here’s your that. Step one, send this email. Like very, very, you know, just, uh, planned out. And I loved what Nina said earlier today when she shared that, um, org chart. Essentially with all the different, um, industry focuses we are driving. One of our go to market actions is a Microsoft healthcare campaign. [00:33:56] That is like very, very specific, but it’s helping our partners in that manner. Could they go to their own database and pull their own and do all this stuff? Of course. But for our sellers to go blink and then give them a report and be like, here it is. It makes it so much more relevant. And then the steps just, they just hand that to their marketing org and then they’re just off and running. [00:34:18] Going back into your team to say, Hey, we rolled out these 12 things, only three landing. You gotta go back to the drawing on the other side. Or We need more money for these three. Yeah, but let’s figure what’s not with customer [00:34:38] to record the. [00:34:47] Audience Member: A better, faster, uh, listening post for, uh, can I talk really loud? Um, it’s, it’s, it’s helped turning on a listening post for our engineering, our marketing, our service delivery organization that would’ve taken months or quarters to get spun up in an executive board meeting or something. Right now they get it real time every week. [00:35:09] Okay. [00:35:09] Erin Figer: So what I’m hearing, like the theme here is to really like. Understand your sales process. Also, your co-sell sales process that runs in parallel with that. And how do you continue to serve up the right data at the right time to help your people take the right next action to continue to drive those outcomes that you’re looking for, but then also using data to circle it back, to say what’s working, what’s not working, to continue to refine that whole motion. [00:35:43] Um, so if you’re not doing that, I think that’s a big aha moment and takeaway, uh, from today’s session or from here today is like, okay, am I really identifying all the opportunities in my process to involve data to help my people continue to drive outcomes? [00:36:04] Audience Member: You [00:36:04] Erin Figer: have a, [00:36:05] Audience Member: you have your head in up back there, Gary. [00:36:06] Yeah. I, I couldn’t tell if, uh, you were prompting me when you asked that question and I, I didn’t want to, you know, do a shameless plug for cloud, but I think everybody [00:36:15] Erin Figer: should shamelessly plug, plug away. [00:36:16] Audience Member: Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, you brought up a mitt and, uh, the co-sell thing, but it, it does relate to what Reese had said about, um, you know, the being at the farmer’s market and. [00:36:26] Not sure what, you know, can I use a credit card or not? And I think that, um, or [00:36:30] Erin Figer: can I use Apple Pay? I still ask. I’m like, do you, do you accept Apple Pay? [00:36:32] Audience Member: Oh, yeah. Yeah. So it’s like, I think, uh, a lot of times you don’t understand the seller in that situation is not sure how to handle that conversation. So, and there’s not a lot of information about their, about that. [00:36:44] Like how to, when it comes to a seller talking about marketplace and asking about the commit. Because the commit obviously is one of the main drivers, right? 900 billion out there. And committed spend across all the hyperscalers. So how to actually bring that up with a customer and what if they don’t know, right? [00:37:05] So there’s a whole process that, you know, they, they need to be taught this. But the first thing that’s also come up multiple times is activating them also means how to engage them. So an approach there of how to engage your salespeople is critical because if salespeople aren’t in it, they’re nothing’s happening. [00:37:23] You’re not gonna do well with marketplace. And on the co-sell part, it’s kinda the same thing. The typical thing, and I remember talking to Aldo Desal about this at another Ultimate Partner event, but uh, you bring your salespeople into a call, like you set up a call with, with Microsoft and the seller comes in unprepared. [00:37:42] Typically they’re not sure what to say and it’s a little bit intimidating. How, how, how do I, you know, what do you do in this situation? Like, so you start talking about product ’cause that’s what you know, and it’s the last thing you want to do. You, you want to understand what they care about, like em stage and, and, uh, what’s your consumption story and what kind of MRR impact you’re gonna have. [00:38:03] So it’s, these things are just unusual topics for the salespeople to be prepared, uh, to talk about. But it’s critical if your salespeople are gonna be enabled that they can do that. So I think from a co-selling standpoint, that’s just what I want to mention. And by the way, we offered a tool that does that. [00:38:20] Erin Figer: Nice. Awesome. Thank you. Uh, I mean, I don’t know about you. Reese Cloud Atlas. Every time we helped an ISV with their cosell motion, we would say, okay, we’re ready to go share cos sells and drive introductions. Have you done your sales enablement? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. We’ve enabled the sellers we have, and then we launch like the first batch of cos sells and then they immediately come back. [00:38:43] Stop, stop, stop. Don’t share any more deals, like we’re causing too much confusion. Uh, we didn’t do our sales enablement. Wow. Grace, [00:38:52] Reis Barrie: I mean, sound [00:38:53] Erin Figer: familiar? [00:38:53] Reis Barrie: It sounds very familiar. It sounds too familiar. Uh, P-T-S-D-A little bit there, but the, uh, sorry, [00:38:58] Erika Irby: but that’s why you guys have jobs. [00:39:00] Reis Barrie: Yes. Go on. It’s, it’s, um, but this, you know, I, I always come back to the, the concept of like, if we showed up to a Microsoft co-sell call the way we do to a customer call, like, oh. [00:39:14] Erin Figer: It, [00:39:14] Reis Barrie: it would, it would be night and day difference of the value you’d get outta your Microsoft partnership and co-sell. That’s all. It’s [00:39:20] Erin Figer: Well, [00:39:20] Reis Barrie: but I think people [00:39:21] Erin Figer: forget Microsoft is your customer too. [00:39:23] Reis Barrie: Yeah. [00:39:23] Erin Figer: They’re your partner, but you have to sell to before you can sell with and through. So you first gotta like master the sell to. [00:39:30] Reis Barrie: Yeah, a hundred percent. So there, there’s there like, and then to your point, [00:39:34] Erin Figer: it’s still true. 10 years later, people, it’s still true. Back to the fundamentals, right? [00:39:39] Reis Barrie: Yeah. It’s, [00:39:40] Erin Figer: yes. Go for it. [00:39:44] Audience Member: The, um, Microsoft being customer, right? So, and I love what you said about sem uh, alignment. So we actually made it a point, um, in our co-sell process, we have a validation checkpoint with Microsoft. If we build a co-sell packages, um, we are an si We’re not primarily ISV, but I think that’s shifting as well gradually. [00:40:10] And ESI kind of becoming a little bit of ISV. Um, so why it’s important, I think like Ree said, like you come up, you show up to co-sell call and you just pitch your services or say, well, let’s do account planning with this and that. Right? But what if it doesn’t work in the field? So that validation became critical for us, and I can tell you that now we have success stories that are actually proven based on that multifaceted feedback, uh, as to it’s one thing to build it. [00:40:46] Yeah. But is it useful for seller, for Microsoft sellers actually in the field? Can they actually position it and help clients to be more successful? Because that’s the ultimate goal. So that validation became, uh, an important checkpoint for us, uh, to make those packages repeatable and successful for customers at the end of the day. [00:41:06] So when we talk about signals, you absolutely right. It’s not just customer signals like we use ZoomInfo, we use all this data points, et cetera, but it’s also signals from the field because while Microsoft is a huge organization, they’re also very dynamic. On very regular basis, a lot of things changed. So taking those signals into account, uh, has created that, what we call like, more of a holistic approach for us, uh, to make it more meaningful. [00:41:33] So [00:41:34] Erin Figer: I like it. And you made it sticky by making it like a required point in the sales process? Absolutely. That everyone stops. Take a moment. [00:41:41] Audience Member: Yeah. [00:41:41] Erin Figer: And make sure that we’re all on the same page. [00:41:43] Audience Member: Yeah. And I think for us as si it’s even more critical. Like I, I, I think there is a lot more to happen in marketplace as, as, as much as we talk about it, but being in si I, we still kind of figure it out, like how Mark marketplace actually becomes a place of transaction for a size. [00:42:01] Yeah. So that’s why, you know, we’re passionate about packages and it’s not just a matter of publishing it and say, oh, it’s co-sell ready? Then what? Yeah. Right. So yeah, so, so that’s why that, that checkpoint is very important for us. So [00:42:16] Erin Figer: definitely, definitely. I think you ladies over here in the corner had some, some hands up, Michelle and, and the other Michelle, Michelle Squared. [00:42:26] Audience Member: Thank you. Michelle Squared. I like it. Um, so. I’ve been a little quiet because I wanna just give my background. So I’m a global VP of channels and alliances and, um, I think it’s a bit of this, uh, the movement, right? So I love your farmer’s market analogy so much. I’m gonna steal that. Thank you. But the reason is because you don’t know unless you’re gonna meet your partners where you are or meet your customers where they are in that journey. [00:42:53] So the first time that they’re selling whatever their goods or wares are, and somebody says, do you take Apple Pay? That’s a clue. And then when you hear it over and over again, you realize there’s a correlation that there’s a need in the market. So in In my life, all roads read to Romes, right? Reseller and VARs, OEM, alliances, MSPs, MSPs, ISVs System integrators. [00:43:17] And as a partner leader, you wouldn’t necessarily think marketplace is first because you feel like you’re going around your partners. But am I meeting my partners where they are in their journey and choosing to procure the way they want to procure? And I think that’s the notion that I have a lot of learning from this team and everyone in this room to understand how do we in a company. [00:43:38] Prescribe the right solution to, to meet our partners in that journey. And I’ll use, kind of circling back to the MSP space, PAX eight, one of Microsoft’s largest partners created a marketplace dedicated to MSPs. And while I was the global Channel chief of SonicWall, a lot of partners said to me, I like you. [00:43:56] I like your products, I like your firewall, but unless you’re on the park, PAX eight Marketplace, I’m not gonna buy from you because they make my life frictionless. And easier to do business with. And I think that’s the motion that every vendor in this room needs to understand is, are we truly meeting our partners where they are? [00:44:14] PS I work for Carrero DDoS Solutions and come to talk to me about that. Thank you. [00:44:18] Erika Irby: Well, and a Guo owes you some money for that commercial right there. [00:44:30] Audience Member: From, we’re actually community first. Um, as an MSP, even though we’re national, like we really focus in on community local touch. Um. Like you said, um, um, Southern seldom me in a southern way. Like that’s what we focus on. I’m your [00:44:45] Erin Figer: huckleberry. [00:44:46] Audience Member: I love that. Exactly. Um, and we’re seeing a ton of success with actual in-person events now. [00:44:53] Like the majority of our business is come in, leads are coming from that right now. And even though, like I, I truly believe in digital first motions, we need to be on Instagram and have that self-serve motion as the next generation comes up in our. Buying and transitioning to their kids or whatever that looks like. [00:45:14] Like we have to remember that there’s also a trend of tactile in person people first coming with it. And so like we, I, I feel like there, there has to be that motion engaged and I would love to hear your thoughts around how are vendors thinking about engaging in that community driven approach, not just the platform itself. [00:45:37] Erika Irby: Yeah, I, I personally also, this is hilarious ’cause we’re like best friends, so we can talk about this later, but, um, from a Veeam perspective, Michelle, um, we are seeing a resurgence in like these thought leadership type of events. And I think there’s, this is, this is sort of related, but just to, this is kind of how I think about this. [00:45:57] Um, Barnes and Noble’s business has like gone through the roof lately, and they are, they’re actually like opening more stores, which is bananas because at one point they were like going outta business because nobody wanted to go and like, touch a book or talk to somebody. But that is changing, thank God. [00:46:11] Right? That is like changing and people are actually like becoming more social because they’re missing this. Um, my kids’ generation refers to places like Barnes and Nobles as the third place. Like this magical place that exists where you can talk to a real human that’s not on your phone. Like it’s, it’s amazing. [00:46:28] But anyways, we’re, I think we’re starting to see this in marketing. We used to like pump everything out digitally, but after a while people get that form and they’re like, I am not putting my dang information in this form. And then your ability to capture that lead completely dissipates. All it is, is, is now an impression, which is. [00:46:47] Fairly worthless. You can have millions of them and nothing happens. So we are definitely investing more into, um, uh, live events, but also with the live streaming because then people can, they’re still watching it live. They still have to register for it. They knew they couldn’t make it. So I think that there’s definitely that digital aspect that’s super helpful. [00:47:05] But a purely digital, you will never make that connection. [00:47:10] Erin Figer: Yeah, I mean, I think. Unfortunately, COVID made us, you know, all do things digitally. But now that we’re past that, getting back to that multifaceted approach, I think if we think about what’s going on in the B2C world, lots of communities within communities, there’s whole company’s getting created, like women are bringing women together to do craft circles. [00:47:37] And literally. Okay. But like I did that digitally. That was pretty awesome. I was like three years. That shameless plug. No, I, no. But like then now there’s like companies that are actually like renting space, bringing people together, like crafting and while they’re doing the activity, um, if anyone’s ever done therapy, a therapist will say. [00:48:01] You know, if you wanna get your kids talking, get them coloring, like distract them and they will start to open up. And so you distract people with an activity and they start to open up. And what they really are, thrive, like what they really need is in this digital world where we’re getting so much information, we still need. [00:48:22] The next layer of filter to help us vet out and validate and confirm like our thinking or like our suspicions on things like, am I in the right going down the right path? Is this the right direction? So there’s still a human element that needs to be involved in that buyer journey, and you’re seeing that with these little micro communities inside communities. [00:48:45] Um, and so I’ve. I mean, I love micro communities inside of bigger communities. I’ve started two of them, three of them. So I, it definitely, like, we need still that in person, uh, interaction and I love seeing it coming back in our space. [00:49:04] Erika Irby: I, I was just thinking about ear, the, the previous panel and the, the topic came up about who can assist partners as they transition from that direct to CSP motion. [00:49:15] And I mean, yes, it, I think Microsoft plays a role there, but I think it would behoove Microsoft to invest in these communities and they would enable that change. Yeah, [00:49:26] Erin Figer: yeah, yeah. There is a person inside of Microsoft who has that remit, but she’s like one person, one person trying to do that. I was like, wow. [00:49:36] Okay. Grace, what are you seeing amongst your partners and also your perspective with working with Microsoft? [00:49:42] Reis Barrie: Yeah, yeah. Um. There’s a really good, uh, the frontier study, the work like door work study that they did, um, which talks really heavily about just like in this, you know, post 20, you know, 2020 culture, how like the amount of busyness has just increased in an insane amount and how a, a really strong use case for AI is to buybacks from that time essentially, um, for us to, you know, return back to a, a normal state and I think social creatures, right? [00:50:10] And so, um, in this. I run a fully remote company, which is like a blessing and also like really interesting to try to create a really strong culture within people that are, you know, 13 times zones apart times. Um, and so it’s uh, it’s a really interesting thing and coming together and, um, into an in-person space or a place here or a place where you can actually talk to your customers, talk to, um. [00:50:39] Step away from that, like that busy day to day where like, I, I can’t even fit a 15 minute break in to grab lunch. You know, days like how much, supposed to find 15 minutes to just have a, a casual conversation and these types of events, which I’m sure Vince is cheering back there that we’re talking about this right now. [00:50:57] But the, uh, but these type of events, they let you decompress from that day and they let you kind of just have these really important conversations that, you know, bring us back to just being humans To me. [00:51:10] Erin Figer: And being human and co-selling with each other. And on that note, we’re 44 seconds over. Yeah, we’ll give it back to Vince, [00:51:18] Reis Barrie: but we were plugging Vince’s events, so I think we’re okay. [00:51:21] Vince Menzione: We One more question. We have one more question from, sorry. Oh yeah. [00:51:23] Reis Barrie: It’s [00:51:23] Audience Member: maybe more a, a shared just as we’re talking [00:51:25] Vince Menzione: by the clip, right. [00:51:27] Audience Member: And to compliment everything that you guys have been talking about around co-sell and. Getting ready in line with Microsoft to speak to the customer and speaking. So the signals that we’re going after are on the actual conversations that are happening in the conversation. [00:51:41] So aside from all the planning, which I agree on, we’re building agents to hear what’s going on on the calls with Microsoft, on the calls with customer, and grab those actual signals. Are we answering the questions in the right way? What types of questions are coming back to us that we weren’t able to answer. [00:51:58] Maybe we forgot some information that we planned on and thought about can we signal and provide that feedback to the user, the seller, or whatnot on the call. And so as we’re doing this, ’cause we’re in the communication space, so we have some self-interest here ’cause that’s sort of the future of our business. [00:52:12] But it’s a really interesting opportunity for us to grab these signals to improve how we’re selling with our customers, how our partners are selling with our customers, with Microsoft. It’s just an interesting way with everything that’s going on full circle, we’re trying to complete that sort of sales journey with AI and, and grab those signals and keep getting better all the time. [00:52:32] Erin Figer: Yeah, I love that. And I think it’s like the ongoing balance of people, process and technology and how do you continue to keep the human in the loop? It, as we continue to introduce and evolve AI and use of data in our companies is like continuing to be mindful about the human in the loop. Um, part of that journey. [00:52:54] So thank you all. [00:52:55] Vince Menzione: Very cool. Great conversation. [00:52:56] Erin Figer: Thanks for all the audience engagement. We appreciate it. [00:52:59] Vince Menzione: Co-selling the house, co-selling the house. [00:53:02] Audience Member: Thank you, Vince. [00:53:02] Vince Menzione: Thank you. And I remember that January, 2016. Yes.

Ed Lane conducted a training session on buyer scripting strategies for challenging market conditions, covering five different buyer scenarios and corresponding dialogue scripts. The session focused on addressing common buyer paralysis caused by market uncertainty, including discussions about interest rates, market timing, and life decisions versus market conditions. Ed shared specific scripts for first-time buyers waiting for rate drops, move-up buyers frozen by fear, luxury buyers concerned about market timing, downsizers afraid to give up low rates, and buyers paralyzed by uncertainty. The training included practical examples and visual aids to illustrate key concepts, with Ed demonstrating how to use ChatGPT for script assistance. The session concluded with a discussion about eXp's potential headquarters relocation from Washington to Texas, and Alyson sought advice about handling a high-end REO property with specific commission structure questions.

In the latest episode, Dan covers: ✅ How to structure your listing language to attract qualified buyers from the start ("seller financing available for deserving borrowers with a large down payment" works wonders) ✅ The best DIY platforms for finding seller finance buyers — Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist are still producing results ✅ How to find a great REO-specialist agent, even in markets you've never worked before ✅ Why pre-screening takes just 5-10 minutes and filters out 95%+ of problem borrowers before you go under contract ✅ A real deal breakdown: Dan's own recent Michigan REO — listed, 6 offers received, and closed in about two weeks with an 18% down payment and a 677 FICO borrower Dan also shares updates from his note portfolio, including a messy Wisconsin bankruptcy situation, a high-stakes California non-performing note, and news about the latest Note Accelerator cohort. This episode is a must-listen if you've ever found yourself stuck with a bad borrower — or if you want to make sure you never do. Call The Underwriting prescreening guide: https://calltheunderwriter.com/prescreen/ Call The Underwriter Register for the weekly Call The Underwriter onboarding call, every Thursday at 12 ET

On this episode of Zen and the Art of Real Estate Investing, Jonathan Greene interviews Mike Russo, head of product innovation at Auction.com. With more than 20 years of experience spanning franchising, proptech, and distressed assets, Mike shares how his career evolved from early roles in real estate franchising to building platforms and eventually leading product innovation at the largest distressed real estate marketplace in the United States. The conversation explores how investors can navigate today's real estate landscape, particularly when it comes to distressed properties, auctions, and identifying real opportunities versus perceived deals. Mike explains how platforms like Auction.com actually work behind the scenes, including reserve pricing, auction dynamics, and why many properties cycle without selling. He also shares practical advice for new investors, emphasizing the importance of starting with lower-risk opportunities like vacant REO properties and building experience through repetition. Jonathan and Mike also discuss the realities of active investing, from flipping houses to managing rentals, and why many investors underestimate the complexity and operational demands involved. They highlight how technology can be a powerful tool for sourcing deals, but cannot replace on-the-ground knowledge, experience, and due diligence. The episode also touches on market dynamics, investor behavior, and the risks created by inexperience, FOMO, and misinformation. For investors, this episode offers a grounded perspective on how to approach distressed real estate, avoid common mistakes, and build a sustainable investing strategy over time. In this episode, you will hear: How Mike Russo transitioned from real estate franchising to leading product at Auction.com How online real estate auctions actually work, including reserves and bidding dynamics Why new investors should start with vacant REO properties instead of jumping into foreclosures The risks of inexperience, FOMO, and relying too heavily on online deal analysis Why seeing properties in person and getting real reps is critical for long-term success How to think about active vs. passive investing and the realities of managing real estate assets Follow and Review If you enjoy the show, please follow Zen and the Art of Real Estate Investing on Apple Podcasts and leave a rating and review. It helps other listeners discover these conversations and supports the show's growth. Supporting Resources Connect with Mike Youtube: http://youtube.com/@mikesrusso  Instagram: @mike.s.russo LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikerusso1/  Connect with Jonathan: Podcast - www.zenandtheartofrealestateinvesting.com Brokerage - www.streamlined.properties  YouTube - www.youtube.com/c/JonathanGreeneRE/videos Instagram - www.instagram.com/zenrealestateinvesting Instagram-  www.instagram.com/trustgreene Instagram - www.instagram.com/streamlinedproperties Instagram - www.instagream.com/zenupstate Zillow - www.zillow.com/profile/trustgreene Bigger Pockets - www.biggerpockets.com/users/TrustGreene Facebook - www.facebook.com/zenandtheartofrealestateinvesting Jonathan's Hub Site - www.trustgreene.com Email - Jonathan@trustgreene.com This episode was produced by Outlier Audio.

Unlocking the Power of Frontier Partnerships Subscribe to our Newsletter:https://theultimatepartner.com/ebook-subscribe/Check Out UPX:https://theultimatepartner.com/experience/ In this compelling discussion from the Ultimate Partners Winter Retreat, Microsoft GM Katharine Kennedy joins Vince Menzione to break down the operating models of “Frontier Firms.” Katharine shares her incredible journey of scaling the ServiceNow partnership from zero to $1 billion in TCV and reveals her current mission: building Adobe into the next great frontier firm for Microsoft. The conversation dives deep into the necessity of AI-led innovation, the critical importance of placing trust at the center of every technological stack, and why traditional quarterly business reviews are being replaced by real-time, constant connectivity. Whether you are an ISV, SDC, or channel partner, this session provides a roadmap for navigating the tectonic shifts in the AI ecosystem through organizational alignment and shared vision. Key Takeaways Frontier firms integrate AI up and down the UI, agent, and data layers while evolving their internal operating systems. Successful partnerships require a shared vision at the highest level that melds two mission statements into a single belief system. The traditional QBR is becoming outdated, replaced by real-time, constant communication across engineering and product teams. Trust must be the primary pillar of AI development, supported by core principles like fairness, reliability, and accountability. Leading with co-innovation and customer-centric data solutions is more effective than leading strictly with revenue goals. Strategic use of the Microsoft Marketplace remains a “hidden gem” for achieving scale and high-velocity growth. https://youtu.be/OU22MIfs-1A If you're ready to lead through change, elevate your business, and achieve extraordinary outcomes through the power of partnership—this is your community. At Ultimate Partner® we want leaders like you to join us in the Ultimate Partner Experience – where transformation begins. Key Tags: Frontier Firms, SDC, Microsoft GM, Adobe Partnership, ServiceNow, AI Operating Model, Responsible AI, Co-innovation, Partner Value Chain, Organizational Alignment, Microsoft Marketplace, TCV, Data Sovereignty, AI Agents, Adobe Firefly, Azure, Ecosystem Growth, Digital Transformation, AI Governance, Strategic Partnerships, Tech Leadership. Transcript: Katharine Kennedy Vince Menzione: [00:00:00] Honestly, it’s people. Yes, with agents. Um, and I know we hear that and it’s very like, oh, what does it mean? Are we really using it? I cannot tell you how many agents I use in a day. We just finished Ultimate Partners Winter Retreat here in beautiful Boca to a sold out crowd. Come join me now for a compelling discussion on the impacts of the tectonic shifts we’re all seeing. We, we’ve talked about MSP, we’ve talked about channel. We’ve talked about marketplace. We haven’t really dug deep into the SDC conversation, and I still, that doesn’t roll off my tongue. I still say ISV in my own mind, but the software development corporations, um, we’ve had several executives from that, from that world. Sandy Gupta has been. Um, many time guests, uh, at, at, at our events and we really wanted to double click. And I was so fortunate to meet Katherine Kennedy several months ago and learned about what [00:01:00] she’s doing and what the work that she’s driving. So I wanna invite her on stage ’cause we’re gonna have a very intimate conversation by Yeah, we call these so great to have you here. And, uh, you’re a GM at Microsoft, which is a big deal, by the way. A lot of people don’t know that. Thank you. And you’re running, uh, two of, I’d say two of the most significant partners within the Microsoft ecosystem. I would say obviously two. Now. Just one. Okay. We’re doubling down on focus. So nice to meet everybody. I, I wish there was a fire ’cause it did. What you Well come on. This goes off heat by the way. We get back off a little bit. This goes off our, so all good. So tell us, give us your, yeah. Give us your background and your role. Katharine Kennedy: Sure. So Catherine Kennedy. Nice to meet you all. Um, I’m a GM at Microsoft previously overseeing both the ServiceNow and the Adobe practice. Um, spent the last four years building ServiceNow too. What now our previous guests got to refer to as our REO, you know, exciting, uh, big growth [00:02:00] partnership. Um, so we took that from, for them from $0 in terms of shared revenue to a billion dollars in TCV. Um, and they have one of the largest Macs now with Microsoft. And we did that over the course of three years. So we’ll talk a little bit about. Um, the mindset, uh, and the operating models and things that we implemented with ServiceNow. Um, and then at the time, um, they asked me to take on Adobe as well. And when we saw the opportunity at Adobe, we said, wow, we really need to focus here. And so I have the privilege of being able to focus on Adobe this year. And, um. What I’m most excited about is the ecosystem and the ecosystem opportunity with Adobe as we build them into the next frontier firm or Microsoft. Vince Menzione: And of course we use the term spark, the ecosystem, so yes. Um, so let’s, let’s dive in [00:03:00] here. Use the term mindset. I was thinking about mindset. Market shift, frontier Firm, how do those things align together? Microsoft has been talking, I mean, Judson up on stage and Ignite talking about frontier firms. Nina’s talked about frontier firms. This is a shift in how organizations operate. Yes. In for some, yes. Uh, for others. I was thinking, what are you seeing across the SDC community specifically where you’ve managed before, where you’re managing now, but with ServiceNow and Adobe as an examples? What defines a company that’s truly making this leap? Katharine Kennedy: So as we’re looking at these frontier firms, uh, especially in the S-D-C-I-C spaces, we’re looking at, um, how do they implement AI up and down their stack, but then across the operating system, um, and. I refer to it in our business as the partnership value chain. ’cause we look at our SDCs and ISVs as partners. Um, and so the partner operating model between Microsoft and in this [00:04:00] case, Adobe or ServiceNow, has to be solely in lockstep and moving at warp speed. It’s as, as we’ve been talking about all day, it’s just moving so fast and so the tighter. We’re connected. The Cohesity across the company, um, is absolutely critical, but it’s AI up and down, AI across, um, and what I mean by that is, uh. That’s from the UI layer to the agent layer down to the data layer. So unlocking all of the layers of the stack. And then across the operating model, how are we empowering each executive to buy in on that North star or that strategy that we have jointly? And then how do we drive that operationally to execute at the field level? And that’s. Probably the biggest undertaking, um, I’ve ever done because it’s really you, your team becomes, uh, [00:05:00] these we’re like ants running between two giant companies. I mean, it’s just back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And um, that’s really the art and the science of it is that honestly it’s people. Yes. Um, and I know we hear that and it’s very like, oh, what does it mean? Are we really using it? I cannot tell you how many agents I use in a day. It’s truly remarkable. Vince Menzione: You mentioned North Star, so I wanted to Yeah. Can I double click on it? Katharine Kennedy: Please do. Yes. Happy to. Vince Menzione: Yeah. I think about mission and purpose and all that tying into North Star. Are, are you implying that an organization needs to get its North Star, right? First and then how, how, and what, what are most of these organizations you’re seeing today, not the ones you manage, but other organizations in the SDC portfolio? Like where are they in terms of the continuum? How are, how are they moving along and what’s your guidance to them? Katharine Kennedy: It’s a good question. So I’ll start by saying my observation, my opinion is [00:06:00] as I’m looking across the companies that are successful and the ones who are yet to be successful, um, the key differentiator is that there is a shared vision at the highest level of the company that drives all the way down to the field. And what I mean by that is we’re taking two mission statements and we’re melding them together. Then we’re creating a belief system and it becomes a cultural shift across two companies versus, Hey, we’re gonna have all of these siloed, tactical, yeah. Operating units and they’re gonna do their own thing and maybe they’ll be successful over here. Maybe they’re doing something different over here, but we’re really. I think I heard Nina say this also, we’re pulling that red thread through the company. Yes. Um, which is critical. And I’ve seen so many companies just show up for the revenue. And yes, that’s an absolute outcome and it’s a [00:07:00] tremendous outcome if you do it right, but you have to do it right. You have to pull that red thread and you have to have every single part of the. Partner value chain buying into this strategy and this North Star, and if they don’t, if one piece of that chain is not bought in, you fail. Yeah. Vince Menzione: Organizational alignment is what you’re saying and what, what I’m hearing is in order, in terms of getting the AI Strat, the North Star aligned. Yes. You’ve gotta get the, I call the C-Suite aligned. Yes. You need to get all the functions of the organization aligned to the thread that you talked about. Yes. And then what does that look like? What does that North Star look like? What is it, what is the ideal example of what the North Star would look like? I’m, I’m a frontier firm. I brought in on ai, music agent ai. I’m doing all the things that we’ve talked about earlier. Katharine Kennedy: Yes. Um, so I think it, so operationally, um, it’s moving the operational rhythm from what used to be [00:08:00] qbr. Frankly, I think that’s outdated. Yes, it is. It is real time, constant communication. And yes, there will be checkpoints and they could be weekly, they could be monthly, they could be quarterly, but this is just real time constant communication because the pace of business, the pace of innovation is going so fast. We have to have that direct line of communication product to product team. We have to have that direct line of communication, engineering to engineering, because with everything going in on. Everything going on in the macroeconomic climate today, especially given concerns around sovereignty. Um, I run a global business, so we have customers saying, Hey, I don’t wanna host my data in a place where I don’t align with the values. That’s a real situation. That was actually a topic at Davos, as you mentioned, um, Nina. And so, um, we’re rapidly addressing these concerns with our customers and meeting our customers where they are. [00:09:00] Um, but it’s that real time constant connectivity. Um, and we’re frankly. We’re seeing it across the board. Um, but the operating model has to change. We have to look at more advanced, modern models, uh, for these partnership businesses to sustain in this next wave of transformation. Frankly, Vince Menzione: you know, it’s, so, you talked about values? Yes. This is, this leads into another conversation, right? When we talk about ai, we talk about, we talk about AI and the use, use cases. We skip over things like values and trust and governance. Katharine Kennedy: Oh, good segue. This is, this is my passion, please. Oh, I get so worked up about this. Good. So I, I had the privilege of, um, sitting, uh, with our SLC community a couple weeks ago, and, uh, they introduced, oh, here’s our amazing new, uh, pitch. We were just [00:10:00] speaking about it in the back actually. And, and it is, it’s amazing. And, uh, they said, do you have any feedback? And I was like, oh. And I waited and I saw everybody, every, you know, oh, we need to change this or tweak that. And I, and I waited. And then at the last moment I stood up. I was like, okay, I gotta say it. I was like, you say intelligence and trust. I, this is a small tweak, but trust has to be first, foremost, first, last, center, everything. Trust has to be everything. And, um, and I truly mean that. And I think, you know. Of all the companies I’ve worked for and I’ve worked for quite a few, um, Microsoft is the company that I believe in the most that can do the most good in society and in the global. Macroeconomic economy, a anything right in the world, in your communities. Um, and so one of the things that really struck me, and I keep coming back to with Microsoft and the, the topic of trust is how Microsoft, [00:11:00] um, was first to the table in this, in this, um, moment of ai. You know, introduction a few years ago to say, Hey, we need a set of core values and ethics and principles that we’re all gonna, we’re all gonna marshal around and I haven’t heard it as much recently, and now it’s coming back. And, uh, you know, the, the six core principles that Microsoft used is, I’m just gonna tell you right now, our fairness, reliability and safety, privacy and security, inclusivity, um, transparency and accountability. And it’s not. Just six principles that you see on a poster in the offices. These are embedded, again, back to the operating model across every single aspect of our business. So within our product, within our engineering, even just in our collaboration tools, you could be sending a teams message and you’ll get a notification, Hey, this is not aligned to the Microsoft. Core [00:12:00] values of ai. And so there are gates and governance and guardrails built into every layer of our technology stack and then across the company in our operating rhythms. And that is what gets me so excited and gets me up at, at out of bed in the morning. Um. I actually got a call from Sila. No one wants a call from Sila. Does anybody know Sila? Uh, yeah. Yes. Okay. That’s our legal, that’s our legal team. Legal affairs. Sila. Yeah. No one wants that call. Uh, I actually, I got so excited. I was like, are you calling about responsible ai? ’cause I was one of the first, um, I was one of the first to raise my hand to say. We will sign up. Was it Brad Smith calling you? Oh gosh. Oh, that would be a dream. I think he’s so, I’m, I love him. I think he’s so cool. Um, I love that you actually, sorry, side, I’m gonna take you on a side tour. Next slide. Um, my favorite thing to do is pull up the news and you’re seeing something from the Prime Minister in, you know, Germany and Brad [00:13:00] Smith’s in the foreground Yes. Of every photo. You’re just like, wow, we’re influencing at such a global. Um, base that I could just, it’s hard to wrap your head around sometimes, but, so anyways, going back, I’m gonna take us back to trust. Um, please. Vince Menzione: Well, I just think we need to apply it back to ai, right? Because it is so important. It is. It is. These agents are out there and if they’re not governed and if you don’t Yeah, yeah. Katharine Kennedy: I’m so, so, yeah, thank you. Keeping me on track. So, so why I am excited about it is, is because, um. As we’re going out into our communities, um, we’re here in the southeast and one of the biggest issues that comes up over and over again is, how do I trust that AI is not gonna learn off my data? How am I gonna trust that it’s telling me the right information? And so on and so forth. And that’s when I get to this great conversation about trust and our responsible AI pact and, um. This is, this is truly what I mean, that it can be a force [00:14:00] multiplier, but it can be a force for good. And if you don’t have those guardrails and that governance and those principles aligned across the companies. You fall down, right? You fall down with the customers, you fall down with the organizations you’re serving. And so going back to our North Star two, we align there, we align with the values and the ethics, and then we can start to really build a business together. And that’s how we were able to do it so fast. And so, um, at such scale, at such global scale, um, with. ServiceNow, but now we’re going to take a mature partner in Adobe and we’re gonna take them to the frontier in a way you haven’t seen before. So. Just a little commercial. Adobe is gonna be announcing their Adobe marketing agent. I love it as GA next month. So they are a frontier firm for us. Yes, very exciting round of applause for Adobe there. For Adobe. Yeah. And more to come. So we’ll be [00:15:00] having, uh, their firefly, uh, video models coming out on Azure and available through Marketplace as well, um, coming soon. So lots of exciting things happening. Vince Menzione: Sounds exciting. So let’s talk about those partner big wins that you’re saying. Give us some examples of those. Katharine Kennedy: Now are you talking about from a Microsoft and Adobe co-innovation perspective? Yes, from the co-innovation perspective. Okay. Yeah. Um, so from a co-innovation perspective, this is. This is a labor of love. Um, I approach it in a very disciplined manner. The way that we look at, um, these frontier firms is we’re leading with co-innovation versus leading with revenue. And it’s a, it’s, it’s a paradigm shift that takes everyone to buy in back to my earlier point, but also, um, the hardest part is. Teaching companies, um, to do things differently. Uh, so we start with [00:16:00] engineering and product. And actually before we get there, we start with customer and we sit with our customers. We understand what our customers are asking for. We’re understanding the value that they need unlocked, and typically it’s at the data data layer. And so what we’re doing is we’re seeing, okay, what are the data things? What are the data silos that need to be unlocked? And so we start to kind of build up from there, taking the customer perspective. Then we sit with engineering and product and we say, okay, what do we have on the truck today? How can we elevate this to an AI led AI first motion that meets our customers where they are in their AI journey? And delivers value and business outcomes day one versus, hey, we have to go through this laborous process. One of the other things we’re seeing is forward deployed engineers. Um, so thinking about, Hey, how do we sit with our customers and start architecting. What they need to address their business challenges today, um, because AI [00:17:00] can solve a lot of this, right? And so it’s a really interesting model shift that we’re seeing across the board within Microsoft, within our largest ISVs, and within our customer and our, um, ecosystem community with our GSIs, our sis, as well as our channel. Vince Menzione: So I know we were. You’ve had a lot. We, we had Jason up here talking about marketplace. Yes. And Jason Grey, Ja. Oh no, Jason. R Jason. R Jason. Yeah. We’ve had Jason Grey. He’s had Jason Grey. Yes. Well, we, um, you’re, you ServiceNow got called out in that last set session. I know. I was thinking about marketplace and co-selling. Yes. And then ecosystem. So I wanna like tie those three things together if that’s possible with you. Like what are you seeing from a best practice perspective. Obviously ServiceNow has been a top a top partner. We’re starting to see a lot of, well, channel D, channel [00:18:00] resellers, and the like. What are you seeing from a best practice perspective and is there yes. Central opportunities there? Katharine Kennedy: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Okay. Three things. Um, one is AI led innovation. First and foremost, you gotta have the solution. You gotta have it. If you don’t have the solution, you don’t have something to sell. Second is a, um, AI led go to market hero motion. And what I mean by that, so in the, I’ll use ServiceNow as a, as a. Example ServiceNow. We created a, the first, uh, copilot plus, um, ServiceNow assist agent to agent go to market hero story. It landed really well with our customers and so we started to build off of that and we integrated across, um, up and down the stack. Like I mentioned, the data layer, the agent layer, and the ui. Um, and our customers were thrilled. They were like, wow. What else can we do with this? Can we unlock HR with this? Can we unlock. [00:19:00] What else can we do? Finance? Can we do finance? And so we started to see these, these moments in time where our customers were taking the technology and taking it to places we just hadn’t even thought about yet. Um, so I would say those two. And then the third would be, uh, making sure that we’re enabling the field. In a way that they know that story, they can tell that story, and then they have access to people to support that story. Um, and then wrap that in marketplace leverage micro, uh, marketplace as a scale motion. And now I know we still have opportunities to continue to improve around marketplace. Um, but we’ve come a long way and we’re seeing tremendous growth and scale out of this engine. So it’s, it’s definitely a hidden, um. I would say honestly, it’s still a hidden gem in the Microsoft. Uh. Bag, if you will. Vince Menzione: $300 billion in total.[00:20:00] Katharine Kennedy: Yeah, I seriously, yeah, but not anymore, I should say. Yes, I’ve been to Singing from the Rooftop. Yes. Vince Menzione: And you’re gonna be back this afternoon, right? Yes. A session with Ashley, so, oh, okay. I think, was it with Ash? Maybe? Oh know, maybe. I don’t know. Maybe. I’d be delighted it’ll be back the same. I’m happy to be back. I wanna make sure, I do wanna make sure, we’ll, we’ll cover some more of this there. Katharine Kennedy: And then the last thing, yeah. Shared KPIs. Yes. Shared KPIs. We gotta track it. We gotta be accountable. So get your vision aligned. Get your vision, get your organizations across all of the disciplines aligned. Yes. And then have a set of shared KPIs and owners for each of those KPIs. Yes. Right. And govern it. And govern it. Govern it, yeah. Report up to the CEO on a weekly basis, on a monthly basis, on a quarterly basis. I started reporting up to our CEO and he was like. What is she doing? He’s like, this business is going really, it’s growing fast. What is she doing? Can we do this somewhere else though? Um, it’s, you know, making sure people know the story, um, [00:21:00] and everyone’s buying in and they’re accountable. It’s, um, it’s a simple thing, but it’s powerful. Thank you for having me. Vince Menzione: Thank you so much. I really, yeah. Appreciate it. Thank you everyone. Alright, thanks. You don’t forget, ultimate Partner Live is coming soon, May 11th through the 13th in beautiful Bellevue, Washington. I hope to see you there.

Yesterday, Apex Critical Metals published their first drill results from the Rift Rare Earth Project in Nebraska. Hole 2 returned 81.6 m at 2.02% REO, including 50.9 m at 2.40% REO. The results also returned a highly enriched Neodymium-Praseodymium ("NdPr") zone with an average NdPr distribution of 49% over 10 m with an average 0.75% REO grade. Joness Lang of Apex talks about the results in this episode of MSD.

Master the $500B Cloud Marketplace Engine Subscribe to our Newsletter:https://theultimatepartner.com/ebook-subscribe/ Check Out UPX:https://theultimatepartner.com/experience/ In this compelling discussion, Vince Menzione sits down with Dexter Hardy, founder of Ntegral and the visionary behind Spark, to deconstruct the massive transformation happening within the cloud ecosystem. Dexter shares his journey of evolving from a traditional systems integrator to a marketplace powerhouse with over 300 solutions and customers in 100 countries, revealing the “Marketplace Operating System” that drives global sales without a massive headcount. They dive deep into the Spark GTM methodology, discussing how companies can bridge the gap between building a solution and actually driving “Get It Now” transactions while navigating the $500 billion committed cloud-spend landscape. From the nuances of multi-party private offers to the critical role of AI in becoming a “frontier firm,” this episode provides a high-level masterclass for any partner looking to turn the marketplace into their most effective revenue stream. https://youtu.be/VLkkuHPpYuk?si=x03Odt2UsCjhtVf4 Key Takeaways The cloud marketplace represents a potential $500 billion in committed spend that partners cannot access without MAC-eligible, transactable solutions. Marketplace as a Service (MaaS) helps traditional SIs pivot to becoming SDCs or ISVs by providing a strategic roadmap for IP conversion. Successful marketplace strategy requires a “Marketplace Operating System” that aligns digital sales with your internal operations and business goals. The “Get It Now” economy allows for 24-hour global sales and lead generation without the need for traditional manual email or phone chains. Becoming a “Frontier Firm” means combining human experience with AI to do things faster, better, and more efficiently than the competition. Co-selling is evolving beyond just the hyperscalers to include rich, multi-party private offers involving resellers and distributors. If you're ready to lead through change, elevate your business, and achieve extraordinary outcomes through the power of partnership—this is your community. At Ultimate Partner® we want leaders like you to join us in the Ultimate Partner Experience – where transformation begins. Key Tags: Integral, Spark, Marketplace as a Service, MaaS, Marketplace Operating System, Marketplace Strategy, Transactable Offers, Get It Now button, SI to ISV pivot, SDC, Microsoft Marketplace, AWS Marketplace, Google Cloud Marketplace, IP Co-sell, MAC eligible, Multi-party private offers, REO, Reseller enabled offers, Cloud Committed Spend, Frontier Firm, AI agents, Spark GTM methodology, Marketplace Optimization, Digital Sales Flywheel. Transcript: Dexter Hardy Audio Episode [00:00:00] Dexter Hardy: AI in the hands of someone who has no idea what they’re doing is just a, it’s a faster way to failure, right? Yeah. ’cause they have, they [00:00:06] Vince Menzione: still don’t understand the concepts. [00:00:11] Vince Menzione: We just finished Ultimate Partners Winter Retreat here in beautiful Boca to a sold out crowd. Today I’m joined by Dexter Hardy, the founder of Integral for a compelling discussion. Dexter, welcome back to the podcast. Great to be here, Vince. It’s [00:00:29] Dexter Hardy: always a pleasure. [00:00:30] Vince Menzione: It is so good to have you back in Boca. [00:00:33] Vince Menzione: Uh, we just wrapped up our ultimate partner executive winter retreat. We call it the Winter Retreat now. [00:00:39] Dexter Hardy: Yep. [00:00:39] Vince Menzione: It’s still February when this airs. It’ll probably be March or April. [00:00:43] Dexter Hardy: Okay. [00:00:43] Vince Menzione: But, um, yeah, the weather in the north has been, they’ve had a tough winter. [00:00:49] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. It’s been brutal [00:00:50] Vince Menzione: for, it’s been brutal. Even, even Atlanta where you are. [00:00:53] Vince Menzione: Had a little bit of winter this year as well. [00:00:54] Dexter Hardy: I was happy to get on the flight. Yeah. It was like 29 degrees the day out, so, [00:00:59] Vince Menzione: so, um, this is your second time Yeah. On Ultimate Partner. And we’ve been friends for, we’re just talking about this. You’ve been to every single one of our Ultimate Partner events. [00:01:10] Vince Menzione: Nine events, [00:01:12] Dexter Hardy: yep. [00:01:12] Vince Menzione: Three times here in Boca and then in other cities like Dallas and Las Colinas. Seattle, Seattle and Reston. Oh my goodness. And we’re back in Seattle again in May. So, uh, we’ve been, we’ve been busy. We’ve been busy. Both of us have [00:01:27] Dexter Hardy: Scott Myer [00:01:28] Vince Menzione: up and we’ve been, and we were introduced. We’ve been friends and worked together. [00:01:31] Vince Menzione: And so I would love to get caught up on you and Integral. [00:01:35] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:01:36] Vince Menzione: Um, the first time we sat down, we talked about Integral as a marketplace. Uh, customer base or, or, or vendor supporting the marketplace. [00:01:45] Dexter Hardy: Yep. [00:01:46] Vince Menzione: And you were, you’ve been, uh, showcased at Microsoft with the Marketplace organization. You’ve done some astounding things in terms of driving business without like a big sales force, you know, and driving marketplace sales, uh, to very high levels. [00:02:02] Dexter Hardy: Yep. [00:02:03] Vince Menzione: And, uh, and now you, I’ll call it a little bit of a twist and turn, but now. You’ve taken all the great learnings, and I’m probably sharing some of your thunder here, but you’ve taken all the great learnings that you’ve had in marketplace and your business [00:02:16] Dexter Hardy: mm-hmm. [00:02:16] Vince Menzione: And now you’re like looking at all these other companies, they’re probably trying to do the same thing and finding ways to help them. [00:02:21] Vince Menzione: So let’s, let’s talk about that. Let’s talk about where you’re going. [00:02:25] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. So, so thanks for that. And it’s always a pleasure to be, you know, in the room with you, especially on the podcast, uh, seeing it grow over the years. And, um, to kind of double click on. How did we get to where we are with, uh, spark Bi Integral? [00:02:40] Dexter Hardy: Um, it’s our marketplace as a service offering. Um, we [00:02:46] Vince Menzione: marketplace as a service. You get that? I just wanna make sure people are listening and watching. Get that. That’s a, that’s a new acronym for me. [00:02:53] Dexter Hardy: That’s a new one. But, but what we, how do we get there? So to your point, yes, we. We’re a, um, marketplace first organization looking at the digital sales leaned in heavily on marketplace. [00:03:08] Dexter Hardy: Um, and what we were doing internally was we created our marketplace operating system. Like literally, how do we run our business? How do we digitize, how do we get those, uh, how do we turn the marketplace into our 24 hour sales guy? Yeah. Taking all those lessons learned how you deal with the hyperscale or how do you understand, you know, the, the signals that’s happening in the market. [00:03:33] Dexter Hardy: Uh, coupling that with, because we’ve been a member of this wonderful organization and getting into the partner community ecosystem, we get asked a million times, I bet. What do you do? How do you do it? That’s help us understand marketplace and so what we. What we saw there was an opportunity to both lean into the challenges that other partners are facing. [00:04:00] Dexter Hardy: If you’re an SI that’s trying to pivot [00:04:02] Vince Menzione: yep, [00:04:03] Dexter Hardy: and be in the marketplace, you’re already established company, how do you create Transactable offers? How do we take the the marketplace opportunity and leverage AI and put our agents in the marketplace? Our aha moment was this is, this is an en enablement opportunity that we can get into and basically be the first ones in because we leaned into it, we understand it. [00:04:35] Dexter Hardy: What makes us different from the other companies is we actually use that methodology every day. [00:04:43] Vince Menzione: For those who maybe didn’t listen to the last podcast we did together, I know this story, but I want others to know the context of it. Tell us about your transformation to a marketplace firm. [00:04:54] Dexter Hardy: Okay, for sure. [00:04:56] Vince Menzione: Maybe the shorter version. [00:04:57] Dexter Hardy: The shorter version, [00:04:57] Vince Menzione: but I, I do know that there was some, you were in business for a long time before this became the business strategy. [00:05:03] Dexter Hardy: Yeah, so the shortened version business founded 2002, Microsoft partner for many years. Yep. 2020. Si. Si as an si. 2020 COVID. [00:05:16] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:05:16] Dexter Hardy: Consulting 2.0. [00:05:17] Dexter Hardy: How do you do what you do at scale for others? Taking your ip, converting it. We did that at 2020. Embraced the marketplace. We created our solutions, deploy them to the marketplace. The rest is history. We leaned in how [00:05:32] Vince Menzione: many solutions in the [00:05:33] Dexter Hardy: marketplace, over 300 solutions. I wanna [00:05:35] Vince Menzione: make sure people [00:05:35] Dexter Hardy: got that. [00:05:35] Dexter Hardy: Over a hundred, 300 [00:05:36] Vince Menzione: solutions. [00:05:37] Dexter Hardy: Over 300 solutions. Yeah. Uh, we have. Customers in over a hundred countries. I mean, and [00:05:42] Vince Menzione: yeah. [00:05:43] Dexter Hardy: You know, continuing to build and expand our customer base on a daily basis. And so, [00:05:48] Vince Menzione: and they’re, and they’re buying when you, while you sleep. I mean, we, we’ve known each other pretty well for a number of years. [00:05:54] Vince Menzione: And [00:05:54] Dexter Hardy: yeah, [00:05:54] Vince Menzione: you have customers like, um, I’ll throw out a number, like 25,000 customers, probably, maybe beyond that. And these customers are buying your solutions. All hours of the day and night, [00:06:06] Dexter Hardy: right? Yeah. I I love the get it now button in the marketplace. Literally all they have to do to work with us or transact with us is click on, get It Now, and that’s the transactable offer that everyone, there’s this mystique around. [00:06:19] Dexter Hardy: People are like, well, we don’t have any leads. We can, you know, our, we have an offer in the marketplace and nobody’s clicking on it. And I’m like, Hmm, [00:06:27] Vince Menzione: yeah, [00:06:27] Dexter Hardy: we can help you with that. Right? And so, um, you know, that’s how we. Our, our story with that, our background with that was it’s our 24 hour sales guy. We drive our campaigns, we align with the solution plays. [00:06:41] Dexter Hardy: We’re getting those clicks with, to your point, without this huge army of people. Yeah. And so now we’re saying from a marketplace strategic advisory, a lot of people were saying it earlier, like, you know, marketplace isn’t this adjacent thing to business. How do you strategically think about it as. Um, part of your business all up. [00:07:03] Dexter Hardy: How do you add that as a revenue stream, uh, for your organization? And yeah, there may be some changes that you need to make, you know, how do you incorporate the channel? How do you add in all of the things that you’re currently doing, but create that as a flywheel for this. Get it now economy. [00:07:22] Vince Menzione: So all the, I’m, I’m thinking out loud, like there’s probably a lot of people watching you up on stage at these events talking about how you evolved your company and grew it. [00:07:31] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:07:32] Vince Menzione: Going, that’s me. [00:07:33] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:07:33] Vince Menzione: That’s me. The old, the old version of you absolutely is them. [00:07:37] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:07:38] Vince Menzione: And they all, they all want help. [00:07:39] Dexter Hardy: They all, [00:07:40] Vince Menzione: everybody wants help in marketplace. [00:07:41] Dexter Hardy: Right. And [00:07:43] Vince Menzione: yeah. [00:07:43] Dexter Hardy: And, and to that end. Because I was them. I understand how their mind, it’s a mindset shift, right? You’re saying, okay, we have these traditional sales, we’re a systems integrator, we have all this ip, these, there are all these things that we can do. [00:07:57] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:07:58] Dexter Hardy: I don’t, how do we convert this to transact ability? How do we get our sales teams enabled to sell it? And I was, and my, my feedback and my response to that is, well, one, we have a service for that. It’s our marketplace advisor services. I’m sorry for the plug, but not sorry. [00:08:16] Vince Menzione: No, we’re, no, we’re gonna plug today as well. [00:08:18] Vince Menzione: Much as you want. [00:08:19] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:08:20] Vince Menzione: And then I think about this too, because a lot of these sis are developing, we’re just, uh, talking with Agua about MSPs, developing agents for their customers and then making ’em repeatable. [00:08:30] Dexter Hardy: Yep. [00:08:31] Vince Menzione: And so you have other sis that are creating AI tools and agents. Microsoft is created and the, and so has AWS and Google, they’ve created space in their marketplaces for agent AI tools. [00:08:44] Dexter Hardy: Yep. [00:08:45] Vince Menzione: And so now you’ve got all these companies that were traditional sis that are now becoming what we would call ISVs or, or SDCs. And they need help in getting these solutions to the marketplace. [00:08:57] Dexter Hardy: Absolutely. [00:08:58] Vince Menzione: So, so talk about what you’re doing with Spark. [00:09:00] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. So our concept with Spark is. When you look at enablement, so you’ll have platforms that are enablers and a lot of people will say, well, what makes Spark different? [00:09:12] Dexter Hardy: Why? Why you versus Tackle Or Sugar? [00:09:15] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:09:15] Dexter Hardy: Any of the other work span. Work span or any, they’re all friendlys to us because we’re meeting you where you are. Right. In order for you to use their platform, you gotta already have the solution together. [00:09:29] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:09:30] Dexter Hardy: Right. They can help you deploy. There’s Deploy. They are a deployment firm or [00:09:35] Vince Menzione: Right. [00:09:36] Dexter Hardy: Um, platforms We’re saying [00:09:38] Vince Menzione: they’re middleware in many respects. Correct. Between the, they’re, [00:09:41] Dexter Hardy: they’re integrated into the marketplace. They’re highly embedded into the systems behind it, and we’re saying what happens before that? I have no idea what solution to build. I have no idea how we’re gonna take advantage of Marketplace. [00:09:58] Dexter Hardy: How is Marketplace gonna change? Again, we had these conversations at dinner. Um, [00:10:04] Vince Menzione: yeah, [00:10:04] Dexter Hardy: all of the big players are saying, we have channel, we have our sales teams, we have all these things already. How does marketplace play into that for us? And so that Marketplace strategic advisory goes into it and says, here’s how. [00:10:19] Dexter Hardy: Right. We have a. Our Spark GTM methodology goes into how do those things play together? What are your KPIs or what are your business goals as an organization all up? And then we marry this, basically a Venn diagram of how we marry marketplace with your current objectives. Okay. To not just be this, uh, ubiquitous thing that’s kind of sitting over on the side, like, let’s just put it in marketplace because we need to, and nobody knows it’s there and nobody knows it’s there. [00:10:49] Dexter Hardy: It’s part of. Everything all up. Your messaging, your sales organization, your, um, documentation that you have for your organization. So now everyone understands, not just you as the, let’s say you’re an SI that you were, but you, the si with your agents and how that plays into your bigger value proposition. [00:11:10] Dexter Hardy: So take [00:11:10] Vince Menzione: us through the, go to the methodology you described the Spark methodology. [00:11:15] Dexter Hardy: Yep. So, um, a lot of people, when they think about. The methodology, you’ll say we’re a, we’re an si. I’m just going to use an example. You’re an si. How, how do I get somebody to click on my, my opportunity? How do I get somebody to understand what we have as a value proposition? [00:11:39] Dexter Hardy: And I’d say to people, well, there’s this, it’s part of the methodology. There’s product viability. Can you build something? Versus should you build something. Right. [00:11:50] Vince Menzione: Interesting. [00:11:51] Dexter Hardy: If you are, if you are out there today and you’re saying, I mean, everybody’s seeing Claude, the agents, you can, you can ask AI to build you pretty much anything. [00:12:00] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:12:00] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:12:01] Dexter Hardy: Now the question scary and that, that’s a, that, that introduces a new problem. But it’s, can you do it or should you do it? [00:12:08] Vince Menzione: Yes. [00:12:09] Dexter Hardy: And and what I’ll tell people is part of our advisory, so the steps are. What is your North Star right now and what is the software that would enable you to get on that AI rocket ship to propel you even further with where you are? [00:12:27] Dexter Hardy: Those are the solutions that we would try to [00:12:29] Vince Menzione: Okay. [00:12:30] Dexter Hardy: That out, pull out of, uh, as part of that marketplace. Um, advisory Second, what partner or partner organizations are you a member of? Is it Microsoft? Is it the AWS? Is it, you know, Google Cloud? Google Cloud, what have you, and let’s say Microsoft. What are solution plays? [00:12:51] Dexter Hardy: What is Microsoft focused on? How does what you’re doing as an organization align with that go to market? Mm-hmm. Because now you have that jet power of what they’re, um, promoting along with your organization. [00:13:06] Vince Menzione: Nice. [00:13:07] Dexter Hardy: And then the final piece is, well, now that you’ve done that, how do I get it into market? [00:13:12] Dexter Hardy: How do I, uh, get people to click on it? And that’s where some of the secret sauce that I won’t divulge on this, [00:13:19] Vince Menzione: uh, [00:13:20] Dexter Hardy: but there is some secret sauce to getting the ICPs to lean in, getting the [00:13:25] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:13:25] Dexter Hardy: You know, you’re listing to light up inside of that. And so that’s. You know, that’s at a high level. That’s kind of how the marketplace, [00:13:32] Vince Menzione: I think what you’re alluding to, and I, I don’t wanna put words in your mouth, but I do think you’ve done a very good job on what I would call maybe digital marketing, maybe. [00:13:41] Vince Menzione: Would that be the right terminology? Yeah. To make your solutions discoverable, to make people understand that they’re out there and to lean in and be able to purchase them. [00:13:51] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:13:52] Vince Menzione: Which I think I would say that’s probably part of the secret sauce, probably of Spark. That is what you’re saying because a lot of organizations struggle here. [00:13:59] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:14:00] Vince Menzione: They put something in the marketplace and nothing ever happens with it. Even even big companies do that. They don’t know how to do it. [00:14:06] Dexter Hardy: So, so yeah. Without divulging the secret sauce, I had a gentleman ask me yesterday, um, during the conference, so how is this different from SEO? I said, good question. [00:14:20] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. Is is SEOS? Is, is SEO involved? Sure, but that’s not the final answer. Because you could do SEO, that doesn’t mean anybody. That just gets you, doesn’t mean anything. Doesn’t mean anything. And so. That’s why I keep going back to this methodology of really aligning it with, uh, what it is you’re trying to accomplish, who it is you’re trying to get to lean in, and then what is the value proposition? [00:14:42] Dexter Hardy: Because at the end of the day, Vince, I think even with any service, like I said, we did our first offerings with our R zero offerings and now we’re doing this. It’s what is the value, right? Um, it’s a hard. Thing to do to really wrap your brain around how your, how your business is going to change from, if you’re doing direct sales and you got your bag and you’re out there selling to now, you mean I don’t have to pick up the phone and call you? [00:15:15] Dexter Hardy: There’s not an email chain that goes out. It’s literally people are just clicking on Get it now to get it [00:15:21] Vince Menzione: and getting it. [00:15:22] Dexter Hardy: That’s a, that’s a mind shift change and that’s. To your point, there is some market, there is some marketing expertise that is required. [00:15:29] Vince Menzione: And we’ve also talked about, I know you and I went down a journey on the co-sell business [00:15:34] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:15:34] Vince Menzione: And how difficult it can be to get a, a seller from a Microsoft or a Google and Amazon involved, unless it’s, you know, a $10 million transaction, they don’t want to get involved. [00:15:45] Dexter Hardy: Right. [00:15:46] Vince Menzione: Uh, you really wanna reach the customer. Because you know, the hyperscalers is great. If you’re driving a ServiceNow or an ADO a big solution, it’s gonna be tens of millions of dollars. [00:15:56] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:15:57] Vince Menzione: But if you are an SI and you’re selling this as part of maybe a services offering, or you’re selling it as, you know, you’re just selling as a standalone. [00:16:04] Dexter Hardy: Right? [00:16:05] Vince Menzione: Um, you want as much eyeballs and transactions as possible and you’re not gonna get that just going co-selling. [00:16:12] Dexter Hardy: Right. And, and the other part of that I will say about co-sell. [00:16:17] Dexter Hardy: I think co-sell has gotten like a dirty rap or bad rap around it. Co-sell is with the hyperscaler, but it’s with other partners too. [00:16:28] Vince Menzione: Sure, [00:16:28] Dexter Hardy: right? Oh yeah, absolutely. So, um, being in the marketplace gives you the option of co-selling would, not just the hyperscaler, but co-selling with other orgs. And so now anytime that you’ve give, you’ve given yourself that X factor on top of your existing ability to deliver. [00:16:44] Dexter Hardy: That’s where you’re seeing the true power of marketplace. [00:16:47] Vince Menzione: And yesterday you were on stage with Jason Rook. [00:16:50] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:16:51] Vince Menzione: And this was part of the conversation. It was you, Jason Rook and Amit Sinha at, at uh, work Span. [00:16:58] Dexter Hardy: Mm-hmm. [00:16:58] Vince Menzione: And part of the conversation was around the, uh, reseller enabled offers. And I think what that’s somewhat of what you’re alluding to is that you have other wait routes to market channels to market. [00:17:10] Dexter Hardy: Right [00:17:11] Vince Menzione: through building other partnerships for co-selling. Yeah. That what you, you were alluding to. Yeah. [00:17:15] Dexter Hardy: So, so yeah, there, there are a million ways to, once you’re in, once you have a transactable offer, that’s when you get the magic unlocks. Right. You, the barrier to entry is being in marketplace with a transactable offer. [00:17:31] Dexter Hardy: And if you’re outside of that loop, again, the REO. You’re not available. Guess who? Guess who can’t do that? [00:17:39] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:17:40] Dexter Hardy: If you’re not in the marketplace, you can’t do that. [00:17:41] Vince Menzione: Can’t do that. [00:17:43] Dexter Hardy: Multi-party private offers can’t do that. ’cause you’re not in the marketplace. [00:17:47] Vince Menzione: No. [00:17:48] Dexter Hardy: Right. And so what we’re saying is think about all up, how you’re missing out on. [00:17:56] Dexter Hardy: All of these wonderful opportunities to, I think, I think the number got thrown out a couple of times. Jason ran away from it when you said it’s like a $300 billion number on, he [00:18:07] Vince Menzione: didn’t want, he didn’t, he didn’t want me sharing or he wasn’t, he, he didn’t want to, uh, what, what did he say? Validate that that was the right number, but $300 billion in potential cloud budgets. [00:18:21] Vince Menzione: That you could have access to. We know the number across the three hyperscalers is north of 500 billion. [00:18:27] Dexter Hardy: Yep. [00:18:27] Vince Menzione: It’s just that Microsoft doesn’t break out their numbers and make them public, and so we, you know, [00:18:32] Dexter Hardy: and, and [00:18:33] Vince Menzione: estimates. [00:18:33] Dexter Hardy: What I would tell everyone that’s listening, I would invite you to consider [00:18:37] Vince Menzione: Yeah, [00:18:38] Dexter Hardy: the following. [00:18:39] Dexter Hardy: If you’re not in the marketplace with a IP, co-sale or MAC eligible solution, you’re not eligible for that. [00:18:49] Vince Menzione: That’s right. [00:18:50] Dexter Hardy: Spend. And so is that worth it for you as an organization to say, yes, we need to figure out this and get involved with that? [00:19:01] Vince Menzione: So I’m an SI and I raise my hand. I’m like, Dexter, help me. [00:19:06] Vince Menzione: What happens next? [00:19:08] Dexter Hardy: I would say. Let me introduce you to my team. [00:19:12] Vince Menzione: I love it. I love it. [00:19:13] Dexter Hardy: Um, [00:19:14] Vince Menzione: and you’ve been building your team since, uh, we go back now four years, but like yeah. You, you’ve been growing your business, hired some incredible people in your [00:19:22] Dexter Hardy: team. Yeah, we have some rock stars on our team. I’m really, really happy with my team. [00:19:25] Dexter Hardy: Uh, you know, we’re still growing and it’s, it’s a wonderful thing to be in this economy and still growing. Yes. Um, and like I said, yes, we, I would introduce you to my team and my team would then help you, uh, through. The marketplace advisory. We can help you with the health check. We can do the strategic advisory, the alignment around, here’s what we’re doing. [00:19:47] Dexter Hardy: Another thing that I’ll go ahead and put in here, if you already have listings in the marketplace and people aren’t clicking on them, we have marketplace optimization as well. [00:19:58] Vince Menzione: I love that [00:19:59] Dexter Hardy: because we, again, that conversation comes up all the time. Yeah. We put, we, we invested in Marketplace and we have our listing out there. [00:20:08] Dexter Hardy: Nobody’s clicking on it. Well, we can help you with that too. [00:20:11] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:20:12] Dexter Hardy: Right, because to your point, it’s not just building an ar, arbitrarily writing something about it, putting it in marketplace. Right. That’s, that’s an arbitrary approach. We’re saying how do you turn those into a lead gen, revenue gen, um, operation arm of your business. [00:20:29] Vince Menzione: Nice. [00:20:29] Dexter Hardy: Which is what we call market marketplace operating system. [00:20:33] Vince Menzione: Marketplace operating. Okay. So we got another, I got another word I need to learn. Another acronym I need to learn. [00:20:38] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. You know, I [00:20:39] Vince Menzione: less, [00:20:40] Dexter Hardy: I’ve been around Microsoft too long, I guess. [00:20:42] Vince Menzione: Yes. I [00:20:42] Dexter Hardy: created all these, [00:20:45] Vince Menzione: so, um, just perspective could, because you’ve been in the marketplace since we talked about COVID. [00:20:50] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:20:51] Vince Menzione: Really. So that’s five years. Five [00:20:52] Dexter Hardy: years. Yeah. [00:20:54] Vince Menzione: Um, talk about how it’s changed from your perspective. I mean, I, we talk about it all. We talk, we have leaders like Jason and Cyril comes here and. Does, uh, speaks about some changes going on, but tell us your perspective on how it’s evolved. [00:21:08] Dexter Hardy: Um, so the marketplace is always evolving really. [00:21:12] Dexter Hardy: Um, from, from when we got in early in the marketplace. Uh, REO didn’t exist. Multi, multi-party. Private offers didn’t exist. The amount of committed spend on hyperscalers little was, wasn’t there. Um, the seller, the field sellers within the hyperscalers. Marketplace wasn’t part of their thing. So, um, you know, when that, when that frontier, not just that, not to confuse terms when that frontier opened up Yeah. [00:21:43] Dexter Hardy: Like there were, you know, it, it really wasn’t a clear path on how do you channel, how do you do sales, how do you integrate with the team? Um, and now there’s a lot more options, uh, for organizations that want to keep some of those motions together. Disti are now able to get involved with the conversation. [00:22:05] Dexter Hardy: They were kinda locked out for a while, but now with the s and the multi-party private offers and disti are in the conversation, [00:22:12] Vince Menzione: it’s lit up the disti like crazy. Yeah. In fact, we were, we just spent time with a few and some friends there and [00:22:19] Dexter Hardy: yeah. [00:22:19] Vince Menzione: Yeah, it’s been wild to watch this. [00:22:21] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:22:21] Vince Menzione: We haven’t talked about AI very much. [00:22:24] Vince Menzione: I mean, we talked about it from a solution and something you put in the, the market as an agent. But we haven’t talked about the change in a big way. Um, what’s your perspective for the partners out there and how they need to think about AI and embracing it and where they are in the journey? [00:22:41] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. Um, I really, AUL said something, uh, in his, in the panel discussion that he had the other day and it, it just really resonated with me. [00:22:53] Dexter Hardy: Uh, will AI take your job? Probably not. The person who’s using AI [00:23:00] Vince Menzione: will take [00:23:00] Dexter Hardy: the job. Will take you [00:23:01] Vince Menzione: job. Yes. [00:23:02] Dexter Hardy: Same thing. That’s really [00:23:04] Vince Menzione: so true. [00:23:05] Dexter Hardy: Same thing for, same thing for companies. Yeah. If you don’t have, and I, I’ll, I’m, I, I’m really gonna ask, I should have asked Jason this question. Why isn’t there a badge for frontier firms for SDCs? [00:23:21] Dexter Hardy: That’s a solution. Partner badge, not a frontier firm. [00:23:24] Vince Menzione: Yeah, [00:23:24] Dexter Hardy: but I’ll say if your company isn’t investing in combining people and ai, you’re missing the boat. [00:23:36] Vince Menzione: Yeah. So be a frontier firm. [00:23:37] Dexter Hardy: Be a frontier firm where it doesn’t matter if you’re an si, SDC, if you are not leveraging that superpower of how do we do things faster, better, quicker. [00:23:50] Dexter Hardy: Make that part of your go to market and your operating total operations, you’re going to get left behind. [00:23:57] Vince Menzione: Yeah. We’re hearing it loud and clear. I mean, all the sessions we had yesterday. [00:24:02] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:24:02] Vince Menzione: All the people like yourself that have been here are all frontier firms. They’re all companies that have leaned in, in a big way. [00:24:07] Dexter Hardy: Right. [00:24:08] Vince Menzione: Um, and in some respect, I mean, we we’re, I’m, I’m saying proceed with caution because I, I know by 2030 our world is gonna look very radically different than it looks today. [00:24:17] Dexter Hardy: Yep. [00:24:18] Vince Menzione: Uh, we just, I need to make sure we have the security and the governance and the data structure the right way so that we just don’t, things don’t just go crazy in some respects. [00:24:27] Vince Menzione: Right? [00:24:27] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. And I, I do think that, um, to your point, you have to, we still have to keep the human factor in everything that we’re doing. Um, there is, again, it’s AI plus your experience that makes you better. [00:24:46] Vince Menzione: Yeah, agreed. [00:24:47] Dexter Hardy: AI in the hands of someone who has no idea what they’re doing is just a, it’s a faster way to failure, right? [00:24:53] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. Because they have, they still don’t understand the concepts. And so I really want to make sure that, you know, when you think about ai, think about it from the context of experience, right? Yeah. [00:25:06] Vince Menzione: And yeah, we can go, we can go down a, a whole discussion point here about ethics and what I’ll call AI for good. [00:25:14] Vince Menzione: Mm-hmm. Like I said, having the right approach, having an ethical approach. We talked about Microsoft on stage yesterday with people like Brad Smith, who, uh, there’s people that have this, this right philosophy and approach to ai. Right. That [00:25:29] Dexter Hardy: right. [00:25:29] Vince Menzione: It will do good for the world and not bad for the world. [00:25:32] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:25:33] Dexter Hardy: And I think that has to be, well, I’ll just speak for myself. Can you do something and should you do something [00:25:42] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:25:43] Dexter Hardy: You have to, that should be a question that you’re asking yourself. You should be evaluating and you have to have whatever your moral compass is that has to align with your moral compass. [00:25:53] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. Because they’re, you know, because with AI the can you do something becomes a lot bigger. Yeah. [00:26:02] Vince Menzione: Good point. Good point. [00:26:03] Dexter Hardy: Should you do it well, you know, greater good. I think as a, as a collective, one of the things that’s. If it hasn’t rained true. Uh, we all live on this planet. We all are part of the, we’re all in part of a connected ecosystem. [00:26:21] Dexter Hardy: Um, and so can we do it? Should we do it? Those are questions that we need to, you know, really think about as we continue to leverage AI and do the things that we’re doing. I mean, there’s, there’s a lot of opportunities. [00:26:36] Vince Menzione: Good points, good points. So for partners watching, listening today, um, two, couple things. [00:26:43] Vince Menzione: First of all, it’s changing fast. We need like, what would be, we’re at the beginning of 2026. We’re the first quarter, 2026, maybe the end of the first quarter at this point. [00:26:53] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:26:54] Vince Menzione: What is the one or two or three things that partners need to go do differently or better? And then, um, what would you say to them about marketplace and embracing marketplace? [00:27:09] Dexter Hardy: So I’m gonna answer the second question first. [00:27:12] Vince Menzione: Okay. Sounds good. [00:27:14] Dexter Hardy: Get in the marketplace. [00:27:15] Vince Menzione: Get in the marketplace, [00:27:17] Dexter Hardy: period. [00:27:17] Vince Menzione: Like why wouldn’t you be in the marketplace? [00:27:20] Dexter Hardy: Every hyperscaler has doubled down, tripled down. Yeah. On their marketplace. Microsoft had multiple marketplaces, now it’s just one. [00:27:28] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:27:29] Dexter Hardy: Writing should be all over the wall. Not that [00:27:31] Vince Menzione: one. There is, there is no market without marketplace. I mean, literally today, the old way, days of selling, the old days of co-selling are gone. [00:27:39] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:27:39] Vince Menzione: Like the days when we, we got pos and we, we sent a, an Excel spreadsheet to Microsoft to tell ’em about the deals that were co-sell. [00:27:47] Vince Menzione: Ready? Those days are gone. So you’re saying we’ve gotta be in the marketplace now and then, what would you say maybe the one thing that’s, let’s limit it to one for all of our amazing viewers, listeners, and ultimate partner guests, when when you, when I see you in Bellevue again, ’cause you’re gonna be in Bellevue, May 11th to the 13th again. [00:28:08] Vince Menzione: Absolutely. With us helping lead the marketplace conversation. What do they need to be doing now? Right now? Besides getting the marketplace? [00:28:18] Dexter Hardy: Besides getting the marketplace, I, I would, I would do a hard look at operations. [00:28:24] Vince Menzione: Operations. [00:28:25] Dexter Hardy: Like a lot of companies, they’re growing and they, what is it? How are we looking internally in our organizations to figure out again, can we do it? [00:28:34] Dexter Hardy: Should we do it? Companies need to focus on their superpower, even, even the big ones, right? Um, being. Not having the focus, not look, looking at or listening to your why as an organization can, can put you in a, in a really weird space. And so, uh, with everyone being able to grow and do what we’re doing, I would say lean into your why, [00:29:01] Vince Menzione: like into your why. [00:29:02] Dexter Hardy: Lean into your why. [00:29:03] Vince Menzione: I think too, I think what you, what you’re saying here, and I’m, my, my reaction to it too is that, uh, we’re, we’re so caught up in the moment right now. And things are changing, so it feels like they’re changing so fast, like coming back to philanthropic and [00:29:20] Dexter Hardy: yeah. [00:29:20] Vince Menzione: What’s evolved just in the last month or so that people are taking their eye off the why or the wall, so to speak and reacting? [00:29:29] Vince Menzione: Is that, is that your point? [00:29:31] Dexter Hardy: Yeah, that’s my point and, and I’ll give you an example. So AI is different from the following technology, but. And I both were around for the blockchain, blockchain, blockchain conversation. [00:29:45] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:29:45] Dexter Hardy: And if you weren’t doing blockchain, you weren’t part of the conversation. I invite you to consider how many conversations have you heard about blockchain do? [00:29:56] Dexter Hardy: Again, AI is a little bit different because it’s, it’s an enabler. It’s, it’s, it’s, it, it does a lot more than that. But I, I will say. AI is gonna become table stakes. And that’s why I say you have to, you have to embrace it as an organization. Yeah. And if you’re not, you’re gonna get left behind. [00:30:13] Vince Menzione: Okay. It’s a drop. [00:30:14] Vince Menzione: Drop the mic moment there. So drop the mic. I’m gonna ask you one more question, personal question. Yeah. I’d love to ask this of every single one of my guests. [00:30:22] Dexter Hardy: Yep. [00:30:23] Vince Menzione: I probably have asked this to you before, but I’m gonna ask it to you again. [00:30:26] Dexter Hardy: Yes. [00:30:28] Vince Menzione: You are hosting a dinner party. You can have this dinner party anywhere in the world. [00:30:32] Vince Menzione: We could talk about locations as well, and you can invite any three guests from the present or the past to this amazing dinner party. [00:30:41] Dexter Hardy: Mm-hmm. [00:30:42] Vince Menzione: Whom would you invite today and why? [00:30:48] Dexter Hardy: Wow. So the last time I answered that question, for those who didn’t hear the first podcast, it was Barack Obama. [00:30:56] Vince Menzione: Yeah. Nelson [00:30:57] Dexter Hardy: Mandela. [00:30:58] Dexter Hardy: And my great-grandparents. [00:30:59] Vince Menzione: Your great-grandparents. I remember your great-grandparents [00:31:02] Dexter Hardy: In this conversation, it’s gonna be more than three people. I’m sorry. [00:31:07] Vince Menzione: All right. But [00:31:07] Dexter Hardy: it make [00:31:08] Vince Menzione: some exceptions here. We’ll make them. [00:31:10] Dexter Hardy: It would be my great-grandparents. Still [00:31:13] Vince Menzione: nice. [00:31:14] Dexter Hardy: My parents and my children. [00:31:18] Vince Menzione: Very cool. [00:31:19] Dexter Hardy: Because I want to look back and let them see the same reason that I had them there before. [00:31:25] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:31:26] Dexter Hardy: Look at what you started. [00:31:27] Vince Menzione: Nice. I love that. [00:31:29] Dexter Hardy: Look at the continuation of your legacy in my parents. [00:31:32] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:31:32] Dexter Hardy: Look at what I have been able to build because of the investments and the things that you’ve poured into the love, the energy, the effort, the sacrifice, and then the sacrifices that I’m making to pass into that legacy. [00:31:46] Dexter Hardy: The next legacy. So this would be a. This is why I would say leaning to your why, like understand the importance of family. [00:31:54] Vince Menzione: Tell us about your great, your great grandparents. You told me about this on the last podcast for those who didn’t, didn’t listen in. [00:32:01] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:32:02] Vince Menzione: And don’t have the inclination to go back. [00:32:05] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:32:05] Vince Menzione: But I think it’s a great story. [00:32:06] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. So, you know, growing up in the south [00:32:10] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:32:10] Dexter Hardy: Alabama specifically, uh, my great grandparents were part of, you know, slavery era. [00:32:16] Vince Menzione: Yep. [00:32:16] Dexter Hardy: Jim Crow. Jim Crow. Crow. Yeah. The whole. [00:32:21] Dexter Hardy: The history of the United States and what, how it was built, you know, [00:32:26] Vince Menzione: an important part of the history of the United States, by the way, that we all should never forget. [00:32:29] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. So again, some of those, some of the ceilings that are out there now, there wasn’t even an option for. [00:32:36] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:32:36] Dexter Hardy: And so that’s why I really wanted them to, I would really want them to be here to see something that they probably could never even conceive as an option of, of it being. [00:32:47] Dexter Hardy: Uh, to be able to see where things are and then to, you know, why my kids, if this is where we are right now, I want you to dream big. The same amount of energy it takes to think small is the same amount [00:33:04] Vince Menzione: of energy it takes to think big. Dream big. Dream big. Dream. [00:33:09] Dexter Hardy: Dream big. [00:33:10] Vince Menzione: I think we’re gonna leave on that message. [00:33:12] Dexter Hardy: Yeah, [00:33:12] Vince Menzione: that’s a great message. [00:33:13] Dexter Hardy: Awesome. [00:33:14] Vince Menzione: So great to see you, my friend. It’s [00:33:16] Dexter Hardy: always a pleasure [00:33:16] Vince Menzione: to be with you, so always a real pleasure for me as well. [00:33:19] Dexter Hardy: Yeah, [00:33:19] Vince Menzione: and I want to thank you for watching and listening and being part of Ultimate Partner and the Ultimate Partner YouTube channel and our great guest and friend, Dexter Hardy. [00:33:30] Vince Menzione: Great to see you again. [00:33:31] Dexter Hardy: Always a pleasure us. Thank you, [00:33:33] Vince Menzione: sir. [00:33:33] Dexter Hardy: All right. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks. [00:33:35] Vince Menzione: Don’t forget, ultimate Partner Live is coming soon, May 11th through the 13th in beautiful Bellevue, Washington. I hope to see you there.

Reo Eveleth, writer and creator of the podcast “Tested,” and Sydney Bauer, a journalist who focuses on sports, health, culture and LGBTQ issues, join Sarah to talk about the International Olympic Committee reinstating genetic testing for female competitors, the history of gender testing in sports, the effects of the IOC’s policy on trans athletes and athletes with differences of sex development, and more. Also, we celebrate Trans Day of Visibility and trans joy with former soccer player turned host and speaker, Uncle Fish. Plus, the Fleet are in, the faves are down bad, and 26.2 times two. The NWSL schedule can be found here Listen to Sarah’s conversation with Reo Eveleth from 2024 here Listen to Reo’s “Tested” podcast here Read more of Caster Semenya’s statement on the new IOC policy here and here Follow Uncle Fish on Instagram here Check out Team Iron Transmasc on Instagram here You can now WATCH Sarah’s interviews! Subscribe to @iHeartWomensSports on YouTube and check out the Good Game playlist here Leave us a voicemail at 872-204-5070 or send us a note at goodgame@wondermedianetwork.com Follow Sarah on social! Bluesky: @sarahspain.com Instagram: @Spain2323 Follow producer Alex Azzi! Bluesky: @byalexazzi.bsky.social Instagram: @AzziArtwork Follow producer Bianca Hillier! Bluesky: @biancahillier.bsky.social See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Stop Chasing Vendors and Start Closing Deals Are you tired of spending more time vetting vendors than you do analyzing deals? In the fast-moving 2026 real estate market, your success is defined by the strength of your team and the speed of your due diligence. Whether you are closing your first note or managing a portfolio of hundreds, having a reliable "boots on the ground" network is the difference between a high-yield win and a costly mistake. In this episode, we are pulling back the curtain on a massive national database of experts—honed over 25 years in the industry—to help you streamline your workflow and keep your overhead low.Key Topics & TakeawaysComprehensive Due Diligence Outsourcing: We are rolling out a "one-stop shop" for the essential tasks that often bog down investors. From pulling Broker Price Opinions (BPOs) and conducting thorough title work to skip tracing and lead generation, you can now leverage an established infrastructure to handle the heavy lifting across all 50 states.National Reach with Local Expertise: While Texas remains a powerhouse for investment, our network extends far beyond Austin. We discuss how to access localized experts—including mobile notaries, realtors, and title reps—who understand the specific nuances of their markets, ensuring your due diligence is accurate and culturally relevant to the asset's location.Cost-Efficiency and Competitive Pricing: One of the biggest hurdles for individual investors is the high cost of retail due diligence services. We break down how our leveraged relationships allow us to provide these professional services at a fraction of the cost you might be paying elsewhere, directly impacting your bottom line and increasing your ROI on every deal.A Call for Quality Vendors: This isn't just for buyers. If you are a real estate professional—a realtor, BPO agent, or service provider—we are actively looking to expand our referral network. We discuss how quality vendors can integrate into our ecosystem to provide value to a growing community of active note and REO investors.Personalized Strategy Sessions: Moving into the final stretch of the year, we are offering direct consultations to help you compare your current due diligence costs. By booking a strategy call, you can identify exactly where you are overpaying and how to refine your systems to ensure you are ready to "kick ass" through the rest of 2026.Your Path to the Top Starts with a Phone Call The year is already moving at lightning speed, and there is no room for "lazy" systems in a competitive market. If you want to close more deals with less stress, it is time to tap into a proven network of professionals who are dedicated to your success. Don't let paperwork and vendor management hold you back from the lifestyle you've been building. Watch the full video to see how these new services can transform your business, then head over to book your strategy session. Let's work together to make the rest of 2026 your most profitable chapter yet. We'll see you at the top!Watch the Original VIDEO HERE!Book a Call With Scott HERE!Sign up for the next FREE One-Day Note Class HERE!Sign up for the WCN Membership HERE!Sign up for the next Note Buying For Dummies Workshop HERE!Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Here's How »Join the Note Closers Show community today:WeCloseNotes.comThe Note Closers Show FacebookThe Note Closers Show TwitterScott Carson LinkedInThe Note Closers Show YouTubeThe Note Closers Show VimeoThe Note Closers Show InstagramWe Close Notes Pinterest

Stop Chasing Vendors and Start Closing Deals Are you tired of spending more time vetting vendors than you do analyzing deals? In the fast-moving 2026 real estate market, your success is defined by the strength of your team and the speed of your due diligence. Whether you are closing your first note or managing a portfolio of hundreds, having a reliable "boots on the ground" network is the difference between a high-yield win and a costly mistake. In this episode, we are pulling back the curtain on a massive national database of experts—honed over 25 years in the industry—to help you streamline your workflow and keep your overhead low.Key Topics & TakeawaysComprehensive Due Diligence Outsourcing: We are rolling out a "one-stop shop" for the essential tasks that often bog down investors. From pulling Broker Price Opinions (BPOs) and conducting thorough title work to skip tracing and lead generation, you can now leverage an established infrastructure to handle the heavy lifting across all 50 states.National Reach with Local Expertise: While Texas remains a powerhouse for investment, our network extends far beyond Austin. We discuss how to access localized experts—including mobile notaries, realtors, and title reps—who understand the specific nuances of their markets, ensuring your due diligence is accurate and culturally relevant to the asset's location.Cost-Efficiency and Competitive Pricing: One of the biggest hurdles for individual investors is the high cost of retail due diligence services. We break down how our leveraged relationships allow us to provide these professional services at a fraction of the cost you might be paying elsewhere, directly impacting your bottom line and increasing your ROI on every deal.A Call for Quality Vendors: This isn't just for buyers. If you are a real estate professional—a realtor, BPO agent, or service provider—we are actively looking to expand our referral network. We discuss how quality vendors can integrate into our ecosystem to provide value to a growing community of active note and REO investors.Personalized Strategy Sessions: Moving into the final stretch of the year, we are offering direct consultations to help you compare your current due diligence costs. By booking a strategy call, you can identify exactly where you are overpaying and how to refine your systems to ensure you are ready to "kick ass" through the rest of 2026.Your Path to the Top Starts with a Phone Call The year is already moving at lightning speed, and there is no room for "lazy" systems in a competitive market. If you want to close more deals with less stress, it is time to tap into a proven network of professionals who are dedicated to your success. Don't let paperwork and vendor management hold you back from the lifestyle you've been building. Watch the full video to see how these new services can transform your business, then head over to book your strategy session. Let's work together to make the rest of 2026 your most profitable chapter yet. We'll see you at the top!Watch the Original VIDEO HERE!Book a Call With Scott HERE!Sign up for the next FREE One-Day Note Class HERE!

In this episode, Dylan Silver sits down with Chad Urbshott to discuss opportunities in the distressed mortgage space. Chad shares how he began investing in single-family homes before transitioning into purchasing non-performing loans (NPLs) and distressed mortgage notes. He explains how distressed mortgages occur when borrowers fall behind on payments and how investors can acquire these loans at a discount through brokers, investment funds, or foreclosure auctions. Chad also walks through his journey from buying REO properties on the MLS to purchasing mortgage notes before foreclosure.   Professional Real Estate Investors - How we can help you: Investor Fuel Mastermind:  Learn more about the Investor Fuel Mastermind, including 100% deal financing, massive discounts from vendors and sponsors you're already using, our world class community of over 150 members, and SO much more here: http://www.investorfuel.com/apply   Investor Machine Marketing Partnership:  Are you looking for consistent, high quality lead generation? Investor Machine is America's #1 lead generation service professional investors. Investor Machine provides true 'white glove' support to help you build the perfect marketing plan, then we'll execute it for you…talking and working together on an ongoing basis to help you hit YOUR goals! Learn more here: http://www.investormachine.com   Coaching with Mike Hambright:  Interested in 1 on 1 coaching with Mike Hambright? Mike coaches entrepreneurs looking to level up, build coaching or service based businesses (Mike runs multiple 7 and 8 figure a year businesses), building a coaching program and more. Learn more here: https://investorfuel.com/coachingwithmike   Attend a Vacation/Mastermind Retreat with Mike Hambright: Interested in joining a "mini-mastermind" with Mike and his private clients on an upcoming "Retreat", either at locations like Cabo San Lucas, Napa, Park City ski trip, Yellowstone, or even at Mike's East Texas "Big H Ranch"? Learn more here: http://www.investorfuel.com/retreat   Property Insurance: Join the largest and most investor friendly property insurance provider in 2 minutes. Free to join, and insure all your flips and rentals within minutes! There is NO easier insurance provider on the planet (turn insurance on or off in 1 minute without talking to anyone!), and there's no 15-30% agent mark up through this platform!  Register here: https://myinvestorinsurance.com/   New Real Estate Investors - How we can work together: Investor Fuel Club (Coaching and Deal Partner Community): Looking to kickstart your real estate investing career? Join our one of a kind Coaching Community, Investor Fuel Club, where you'll get trained by some of the best real estate investors in America, and partner with them on deals! You don't need $ for deals…we'll partner with you and hold your hand along the way! Learn More here: http://www.investorfuel.com/club   —--------------------

Are you tired of the "dark side" of real estate—dealing with toilets, tenants, and trash? In this episode, Scott Carson, "The Note Guy," pulls back the curtain on a real-world case study in Texarkana to show you how to become the bank, not the landlord. We dive deep into a performing note deal on a $65,000 property that delivers a staggering 16% return—or even an infinite return if you know how to structure the arbitrage. Whether you are looking to invest a small amount of your own capital or want to learn how to raise private money using Self-Directed IRAs, this episode provides the blueprint for building a cash flow machine without the headaches of traditional property management.What You'll Learn in This EpisodeThe Texarkana Case Study: A breakdown of a 3-bedroom, 2-bath asset sold on owner-finance terms with a 13% interest rate.The Math of a 16% ROI: How buying a performing note at 80% of the Unpaid Principal Balance (UPB) creates immediate equity and high-yield cash flow.The "Infinite Return" Strategy: How to use private money at 8–10% to fund 85% of a deal while you keep the difference in interest and a "cha-ching" on the front end.The Three "Cha-Chings": Identifying profit centers on the front end (origination/funding difference), the middle (monthly cash flow), and the back end (payoff/refinance).The 6-Figure Blueprint: Why you only need approximately 20 "small" deals to generate over $100,000 in annual income.SDIRA Secrets: How to find the 6 to 9 private investors you need to raise $1,000,000 for your note portfolio.Foreclosure as a Safety Net: Understanding why Texas is a "friendly" state for note holders, allowing for a 90-day foreclosure process if a borrower stops paying.Asset Appreciation: How a $65,000 property can grow to $100,000 over 10 years, increasing your security and potential REO profit.11 Exit Strategies: From "The Flip" to "The Flow," learn the various ways to monetize both performing and non-performing notes.Market Insights for 2026: Why note buying is the smartest strategy in a landscape where traditional REOs and wholesale deals no longer make sense.Stop flipping burgers and start flipping notes. Real estate investing in 2026 is about being a "Lienlord" and leveraging the power of the bank. If you're ready to master the fundamentals and start your journey toward a 6-figure side hustle, don't miss our upcoming 3-day Virtual Note Buying Workshop. We offer a 100% money-back guarantee because we know this proven plan has helped thousands of investors succeed. Visit NoteBuyingForDummies.com to grab your seat at 50% off and start building your cash flow machine today! Watch the Original Video HERE!Book a Call With Scott HERE!Sign up for the next FREE One-Day Note Class HERE!Sign up for the WCN Membership HERE!Sign up for the next Note Buying For Dummies Workshop HERE!Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Here's How »

Are you tired of the "dark side" of real estate—dealing with toilets, tenants, and trash? In this episode, Scott Carson, "The Note Guy," pulls back the curtain on a real-world case study in Texarkana to show you how to become the bank, not the landlord. We dive deep into a performing note deal on a $65,000 property that delivers a staggering 16% return—or even an infinite return if you know how to structure the arbitrage. Whether you are looking to invest a small amount of your own capital or want to learn how to raise private money using Self-Directed IRAs, this episode provides the blueprint for building a cash flow machine without the headaches of traditional property management.What You'll Learn in This EpisodeThe Texarkana Case Study: A breakdown of a 3-bedroom, 2-bath asset sold on owner-finance terms with a 13% interest rate.The Math of a 16% ROI: How buying a performing note at 80% of the Unpaid Principal Balance (UPB) creates immediate equity and high-yield cash flow.The "Infinite Return" Strategy: How to use private money at 8–10% to fund 85% of a deal while you keep the difference in interest and a "cha-ching" on the front end.The Three "Cha-Chings": Identifying profit centers on the front end (origination/funding difference), the middle (monthly cash flow), and the back end (payoff/refinance).The 6-Figure Blueprint: Why you only need approximately 20 "small" deals to generate over $100,000 in annual income.SDIRA Secrets: How to find the 6 to 9 private investors you need to raise $1,000,000 for your note portfolio.Foreclosure as a Safety Net: Understanding why Texas is a "friendly" state for note holders, allowing for a 90-day foreclosure process if a borrower stops paying.Asset Appreciation: How a $65,000 property can grow to $100,000 over 10 years, increasing your security and potential REO profit.11 Exit Strategies: From "The Flip" to "The Flow," learn the various ways to monetize both performing and non-performing notes.Market Insights for 2026: Why note buying is the smartest strategy in a landscape where traditional REOs and wholesale deals no longer make sense.Stop flipping burgers and start flipping notes. Real estate investing in 2026 is about being a "Lienlord" and leveraging the power of the bank. If you're ready to master the fundamentals and start your journey toward a 6-figure side hustle, don't miss our upcoming 3-day Virtual Note Buying Workshop. We offer a 100% money-back guarantee because we know this proven plan has helped thousands of investors succeed. Visit NoteBuyingForDummies.com to grab your seat at 50% off and start building your cash flow machine today! Watch the Original Video HERE!Book a Call With Scott HERE!Sign up for the next FREE One-Day Note Class HERE!Sign up for the WCN Membership HERE!Sign up for the next Note Buying For Dummies Workshop HERE!Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Here's How »Join the Note Closers Show community today:WeCloseNotes.comThe Note Closers Show FacebookThe Note Closers Show TwitterScott Carson LinkedInThe Note Closers Show YouTubeThe Note Closers Show VimeoThe Note Closers Show InstagramWe Close Notes Pinterest

Watch On YouTube : https://youtu.be/DNV711BVCcY Subscribe and Listen to the Blaqrose Supreme's Podcast HERE:

Whether you are a seasoned real estate pro or a newcomer looking for a high-yield entry point, nonperforming notes (NPNs) offer a unique "backdoor" to property ownership. In a recent episode of the Note Closers Show, Hold or Sell Edition, note expert Scott Carson broke down a prime opportunity in New Bern, North Carolina, involving a single-family home with massive upside. With a foreclosure date already set, this deal is a masterclass in how savvy investors can leverage distressed debt to see returns that far outpace traditional fix-and-flips.Key Takeaways from the New Bern Note OpportunityThe Asset Details & Location: The property is a 925-square-foot, three-bedroom, one-bath single-family home located at 571 Rocky Run Road in New Bern, NC. Situated on nearly 0.7 acres, the home is in a solid market near Raleigh and Greenville with a population of over 31,000. While the previous owner is deceased, the property has been well-maintained and recently cleaned out, sitting just off Highway 17.The Financial Breakdown: The note has an unpaid balance of $51,000 and a total legal payoff of approximately $60,000. The seller is looking for bids around 80% of that legal balance—roughly $48,000—plus a $1,000 broker fee. Recent BPO (Broker Price Opinion) values the home at $189,000, with a quick-sale price of $179,000, providing a massive equity cushion for the note holder.Strategy 1: The Foreclosure Exit: For investors seeking a quicker turnaround, finishing the existing foreclosure process is the primary play. North Carolina is a nonjudicial state but features a unique "upset bid" period that can last from 30 days to several months. If the property sells at auction for the full legal balance of $60,000, an investor at the $49,000 entry point could net an $11,000 profit, representing an annualized ROI of 44.8%.Strategy 2: The "As-Is" Resale: If the property does not sell at auction and the investor takes it back (REO), they can choose to sell it as-is. By listing the property at a conservative $149,000 to ensure a fast sale—allowing the next buyer to handle the upgrades—the investor could net approximately $134,000 after closing costs. After the initial investment and a small cleanup budget, this path offers a projected gross profit of $83,000.Strategy 3: The Fix-and-Flip Model: For those willing to manage a renovation, a $30,000 rehab could bring the property to modern standards. Even when listing at a discounted "moved-in" price of $169,000, the projected net profit stands at roughly $73,000. This strategy yields a 92% annualized ROI, though it requires more active management and local vendor oversight.The New Bern deal highlights why note investing is often called "the cleanest way to play dirty real estate." Whether you prefer the hands-off approach of a foreclosure payoff or the higher-margin potential of a full renovation, the numbers in North Carolina are incredibly compelling. As Scott Carson notes, the key is taking action before the foreclosure clock runs out.Watch the Original VIDEO HERE!Book a Call With Scott HERE!Sign up for the next FREE One-Day Note Class HERE!Sign up for the WCN Membership HERE!Sign up for the next Note Buying For Dummies Workshop HERE!Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Here's How »Join the Note Closers Show community today:WeCloseNotes.comThe Note Closers Show FacebookThe Note Closers Show TwitterScott Carson LinkedInThe Note Closers Show YouTubeThe Note Closers Show VimeoThe Note Closers Show InstagramWe Close Notes Pinterest

Your Note Investing Super Bowl: Build a Dream Team to Dominate 2026!Alright, everybody! Scott Carson here, ready to tackle a crucial topic that's been lighting up my phone: building your ultimate note investing dream team. With the Super Bowl on the horizon, it's the perfect analogy – you wouldn't put a quarterback at nose tackle, right? The same goes for real estate. You can't be a solo-preneur, trying to do it all yourself, especially when you're buying notes in 20+ states like me!Many new investors (like Vincent from Harrisburg, PA – this one's for you, buddy!) think they need to master every single task. But here's the kicker: delegating isn't just smart; it's essential. I've been coaching for almost two decades, and the most successful investors aren't just good at one thing; they're great at assembling a team. So, let's draft your winning lineup for 2026!Here's how to build your note investing dream team:The Scouting Report: REIAs & Networking: Your first stop? Local Real Estate Investor Associations (REIAs) and BNI groups. These are your recruiting grounds for investor-friendly realtors, title companies, and other pros. Don't be a wallflower; get there, ask around, and find the right people who want to work with investors.The Playmakers: Realtors & Title/Attorneys: You need reliable realtors for BPOs and market insights (especially out-of-state!). Pair them with investor-friendly title companies or real estate attorneys for seamless closings and secure money transfers. They're critical for evaluating and closing your deals.The Coaches: Licensed Servicers & Foreclosure Attorneys: For note investors, a licensed servicer is non-negotiable – they collect payments, handle communication, and manage legalities, saving you headaches (and potential fines!). A real estate attorney in every state you're active in is your offensive coordinator for foreclosures and workouts.The Finance Department: Hard Money & Private Capital: Even if you're the bank, you need a bank! Build relationships with hard money lenders for REO rehabs and, crucially, cultivate private money investors (IRAs, OPM). Your network of other investors can also be a goldmine for capital.The Ground Crew: Contractors & Property Management: When you take back an REO, you need reliable contractors (roofers, HVAC, handyman crews) to get it market-ready. For rentals, a trusted property manager (preferably local) is essential. These are your boots-on-the-ground, turning a problem asset into a profitable solution.You're not Tom Brady, trying to throw the ball to himself and run the field without blockers. You need a team that takes things off your plate, provides expertise, and moves your deals forward. My success, and my students', comes from building these relationships.Don't let the thought of doing it all yourself cripple your ambition. Leverage your network, find your dream team, and watch your note investing portfolio soar. If you need help finding these all-stars, reach out – we have a nationwide network ready to help you take your business to the next level. Go out, take some action, and let's go win that Super Bowl!Watch the Original VIDEO HERE!Book a Call With Scott HERE!Sign up for the next FREE One-Day Note Class HERE!Sign up for the WCN Membership HERE!Sign up for the next Note Buying For Dummies Workshop HERE!Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Here's How »Join the Note Closers Show community today:WeCloseNotes.comThe Note Closers Show FacebookThe Note Closers Show TwitterScott Carson LinkedInThe Note Closers Show YouTubeThe Note Closers Show VimeoThe Note Closers Show InstagramWe Close Notes Pinterest

Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://theultimatepartner.com/ebook-subscribe/ Check Out UPX: https://theultimatepartner.com/experience/ https://youtu.be/-flNeKF6CxQ?si=xIIQ4LUl7oraQjkg Microsoft’s Cyril Belikoff joins Vince Menzione to reveal the seismic shift occurring within the newly reimagined Microsoft Marketplace. As the industry moves toward a predicted $300 billion partner opportunity by 2030, this discussion deconstructs the evolution of the “Frontier” vision, the launch of the AI apps and agents category, and the critical “Resale Enabled Offer” (REO) that is currently doubling deal sizes for early adopters. Whether you are a software company looking to scale globally or a reseller aiming to stitch together complex AI solutions, the message is clear: the flywheel is already spinning, and those who wait for a “perfect strategy” risk being permanently displaced by more agile competitors who are getting their feet wet today. Key Takeaways The Microsoft Marketplace has been reimagined into a single destination for discovering, buying, and deploying AI apps and agents. Analysts predict a staggering $300 billion opportunity for partners within the Microsoft Marketplace by 2030. The new Resale Enabled Offer (REO) allows software companies to authorize channel partners to resell on their behalf across specific geographies with minimal overhead. Cloud migration is far from over, as massive amounts of on-premise data and ISV apps still need to be modernized for the AI era. Marketplace deal sizes are doubling as customers use Azure commitments to retire their marketplace acquisition costs. Successful partners are moving away from “boiling the ocean” strategies and instead focusing on transacting one or two deals to learn the ecosystem’s mechanics. If you're ready to lead through change, elevate your business, and achieve extraordinary outcomes through the power of partnership—this is your community. At Ultimate Partner® we want leaders like you to join us in the Ultimate Partner Experience – where transformation begins. Key Tags: Microsoft Marketplace, AI apps and agents, Resale Enabled Offer, REO, Cyril Belikoff, Azure Marketplace, AppSource, cloud solutions, software companies, digital transformation, AI strategy, channel led sales, ISV solutions, cloud migration, Azure commitments, Microsoft Cloud, Frontier vision, MSP opportunity, marketplace transacting, AI monetization, global scale, procurement, IT deployment, technical modernization, partner ecosystem, business applications. Opening Lines: [00:00:00] Cyril Belikoff: Marketplace is really the extension of our vision for Frontier, uh, and the Microsoft Cloud. You know, the, the Microsoft technology takes a customer a long way, but in many ways to complete the thought. If you’re in football terms, you want to cross over the line and score touchdown. You can’t just get, uh, to the red zone. [00:00:20] Cyril Belikoff: You actually need partner solutions. [00:00:26] Vince Menzione: So let’s, let’s kick off to Marketplace a little bit right, too, because, uh, it’s been a big year for Marketplace, or 20, the first half of 2026 fiscal year 2026 has been a big year. A lot of announcements, a lot of things going on in the world, in marketplace. Where do we wanna start there? Let’s recap some of it. [00:00:44] Cyril Belikoff: Yeah. Um, so, um. It feels like a long time ago, but in, at the end of September, [00:00:51] Vince Menzione: yeah. [00:00:52] Cyril Belikoff: Um, at the AR tour, uh, in Chicago, we announced a new Microsoft marketplace. We reimagined that experience. It’s a new customer experience, single destination for customers to. You know, discover, find, try, buy, and deploy cloud solutions, AI apps and agents all in one place. [00:01:11] Cyril Belikoff: And so historically, we’ve had a little bit, uh, of decentralization. We had this thing called the Azure Marketplace and AppSource for different experiences. AppSource was more for teams and, and copilot. Um, and, and office, Azure Marketplace. Of course, that was for Azure. We brought all of that into one place. [00:01:30] Cyril Belikoff: So customers, whether they are looking for a SaaS solution running on Azure, an agent that snaps into copilot, an experience that runs in our security store, now they can go to one place. Um. marketplace.microsoft.com. It’s one, it’s the new Microsoft marketplace. And we have an, of course, we have a, we had, we launched a brand new category, AI apps and agents, and we launched that category in September. [00:01:54] Cyril Belikoff: Uh, bringing together numerous, uh, uh, partner offerings. Yeah. And today we have the largest catalog, um, probably in the mid four thousands of AI and agents. Wow. Available to customer. So fantastic. There was, there was quite a big moment in September. Um, and then fast forward a little bit to November, we announced a resale enabled offer, um, at Ignite [00:02:15] Vince Menzione: eo. [00:02:16] Vince Menzione: Eo [00:02:16] Cyril Belikoff: eo. I, [00:02:17] Vince Menzione: I like EO reminds me of the band back in the day. [00:02:19] Cyril Belikoff: Yeah. R Speedwagon. There you go. Uh, well, and it’s, it’s not that far from it because Oreo accelerates. Yeah. Um, what partners can do, uh, with the marketplace and really connects. Software companies and resellers, which I’m sure we’ll talk about in a second. [00:02:34] Cyril Belikoff: But that’s really the recap, um, of, uh, you know, the new Microsoft marketplace, how we enabling it for, uh, for partners through the the resell enable offer. [00:02:45] Vince Menzione: So, I know we talked on this a little bit, but I wanna maybe just expand on it. What does the frontier push and the marketplace evolution mean for partners? [00:02:53] Vince Menzione: Because I, I think it’s huge for both, for these partners to really monetize and accelerate their success working with you. [00:03:00] Cyril Belikoff: Yeah. So, um. Marketplace is really the extension of our vision for Frontier, uh, and the Microsoft Cloud. You know, the, the Microsoft technology takes a customer a long way, but in many ways to complete the thought and to, you know, uh, uh. [00:03:20] Cyril Belikoff: If you’re in football terms, you wanna cross over the line and score a touchdown, you can’t just get, uh, to the red zone. You actually need partner solutions. [00:03:28] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:03:29] Cyril Belikoff: Uh, and so that’s where the partner solutions, combined with Microsoft’s first party offerings become a really, really. Great offering and powerful offering for our customers to, to become Frontier. [00:03:40] Cyril Belikoff: So we have obviously a ton of AI experiences, our own co-pilot experiences, uh, Microsoft Foundry, which is a platform for ai, but in, in many ways, we need those industry solutions. We need those AI apps and agents from partners to complete that offering. And that’s really. How it comes together and, uh, you know, uh, I heard you from o was just on before me. [00:04:01] Cyril Belikoff: They actually predict that the Microsoft marketplace, uh, is a 300 billion partner opportunity by 2030. Yeah, they’re talking about, I think, mid eighties growth. We have literally seen our business for the last three years, and we are in the middle of our, uh, you know, third year doubling. And so when you get three or four years of doubling every year, that’s compounded doubling. [00:04:24] Cyril Belikoff: Um, so, uh, we have seen lots of momentum from customers, lots of interest. We’ve made it, you know. Interesting for customers. Um, and incentivize our customers with their Azure commitments that can retire their marketplace, uh, acquisitions that way. We’ve made it, we’ve put incentives for partners and for our own sellers. [00:04:44] Cyril Belikoff: So we really creating the flywheel for everybody in the market to see value from, uh, the marketplace. So. Like, like, like you mentioned, like m the, uh, you know, suggested [00:04:55] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:04:55] Cyril Belikoff: It’s only exploding the opportunity on marketplace. [00:04:58] Vince Menzione: Well, and you both touched on the fact that the data is not in the cloud yet. [00:05:02] Vince Menzione: Not all the data that needs to be in the cloud in order to drive the future of where we wanna go from a society. Mm-hmm. And from a business application perspective needs to be in the cloud. So huge opportunities for partners around data states, around securing that data, governing that data, and so on, on top of all the business applications, [00:05:19] Cyril Belikoff: right? [00:05:19] Vince Menzione: As promise. So incredible. Yep. So let’s [00:05:22] Cyril Belikoff: talk about, yeah. The call migration. The call migration, people think that is over and it’s long from over because customers have plenty, uh, on premise, uh, not only Microsoft technology, but the, the, the, the software company or the ISV app that sits on top of it. Yeah. [00:05:36] Cyril Belikoff: And that needs to be migrated, managed, modernized, um, and marketplace is a big part of that too. Um, but there’s so many services and, um, opportunities around it. [00:05:45] Vince Menzione: Incredible opportunity. Let’s talk about the channel and the channel opportunity. You, you touched on this earlier, right? So this really lighting up the channel. [00:05:53] Vince Menzione: I saw this loud and clear when we were at Ignite. Like this is a huge opportunity for the Es, for the resellers, for all the partners. And as part of REO, you’ve got huge opportunities you’re laying out for them for the 500,000 part partners. You know, we talk about the Bill Gates moment down here in Boca. [00:06:09] Vince Menzione: This is where it all started. Uh, yep. How, how do you think about marketplace in the channel today? [00:06:16] Cyril Belikoff: Yeah. You know, it’s, um, it’s vital. You know, we have a customer need, um, from. The smallest is small business all the way to enterprise. And the really, the only way we serve that, the only way we know how to serve that is with our partners from the largest of partners that serve our top enterprises down through, um, what we call small and medium and then down to our small business. [00:06:41] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:06:41] Cyril Belikoff: Um, and so, you know, we have seen our. You know, while our, we’ve seen a doubling of our business, we’ve seen three, three and a half to four x doubling of our channel led sales. [00:06:53] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:06:54] Cyril Belikoff: Um, over the last year. And so while our overall business is doubling, channel is accelerating even, you know, even more. [00:07:02] Cyril Belikoff: And so there, there’s a need from our customers because they buy from our channel and there’s obviously a need from the channel. And so we created this resale enabled offer. As you mentioned, we, um. We announced private preview in September and launched GA at Ignite. So, you know, uh, November, just before Thanksgiving holiday and retail Enable offer is all about scale and how we connect a, a, an independent software vendor or a software company. [00:07:27] Cyril Belikoff: To authorize a channel partner to resell on their behalf on a particular geography. And then that allows software companies to expand into new markets with very little overhead. And it allows the channel partners to create a set of offerings, not only from one partner, but you might have multiple software companies or applications that you stitch that are together to create an end-to-end customer offering or experience. [00:07:51] Cyril Belikoff: And so we are seeing, we are seeing many to many relationships. So software companies might authorize many resellers, many markets they’re in, for example. Yep. And then resellers, um, they’re, they’re becoming authorized resellers from many software companies so that they can really stitch together, end into end solution. [00:08:09] Cyril Belikoff: And it, we’re loving it and we are getting great feedback. It is early days for our global availability for, uh, re office, which. But we had partners that were literally waiting, um, uh, and waiting for deals. And within the first week there was, they were, uh, processing the, the Oreo deals at, at, at quite large scale already. [00:08:31] Cyril Belikoff: So. We are excited about the feedback that we’re getting. We, as you know, we, we stay close to that feedback and we listen well, um, and adjust from it. So we got more work to do, but, um, it’s a great opportunity for, to connect our, our multiple types of partners, software companies, and resellers. [00:08:48] Vince Menzione: Yeah, I agree. [00:08:49] Vince Menzione: And you know, I talk to a lot of these organizations myself, and there is palpable excitement. In the channel from Distees that were sort of disengaged a couple of years ago, maybe, trying to figure out where they were gonna monetize. And the other way area that’s aligned to this as well is the Ms. P community. [00:09:06] Vince Menzione: So these MSPs are getting bigger and bigger, and organizations like Accenture, Avanade, and ndl. Or becoming MSPs or creating Ms. P practices within their own firms. But there’s even these smaller MSPs, but many of ’em are getting to a billion dollars or more. These were little mom and pop companies years ago, but the customer so needs to have, you know, especially with ai, right? [00:09:27] Vince Menzione: Because we’re in a constant state of evolution right now. I need somebody that can help me on the tooling and then also help me on, you know, getting the tooling to work. And so, uh, we’re seeing a lot of excitement from that. Community, which wasn’t really as engaged with Microsoft the way they that they are now. [00:09:43] Vince Menzione: They’re really getting engaged in a big way. [00:09:46] Cyril Belikoff: Yeah, it’s promising. Like you say, you know, the, the, we’re all learning this new AI world and obviously marketplace has taken off. We’ve had the classic SaaS solutions or cloud solutions on marketplace for a while, but really un having the local partner that’s close to the customer, what the customer’s trying to need to do and be able to connect the, the traditional. [00:10:07] Cyril Belikoff: Software as a service applications with these new AI experiences and really, uh, stitch them together and help them operationalize, you know, in their own, you know, cus in their own terms and what they’re trying to, uh, do is so important. You know, um, and to your point there, there are large, they’re the large ones that are seeing opportunity on the marketplace. [00:10:27] Cyril Belikoff: But the, you know, when you get down to, uh, medium and smaller businesses, they really need their local friendly resetter to help them. [00:10:35] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:10:35] Cyril Belikoff: Uh, so you’re right. We are seeing an, a new en energy engagement from not only our existing 500,000 partners, but a bunch of those new ones. [00:10:44] Vince Menzione: So, uh, again, second week of 2026, and people are really just starting to wake up from the holidays. [00:10:50] Vince Menzione: Now they’re getting ready for their s ks. All these partners are lining up and getting their teams aligned. Uh, you’re in front of them. Let’s have a conversation like what should they be doing better and differently? What do they need to go do now? It’s 2026. [00:11:06] Cyril Belikoff: Yeah. Um, you know, first of all, if you’re a software company, you know, understand what the, the Microsoft marketplace can help you with, uh, can help you scale to global markets, remove burdens like tax, um, a processing, engaging with customers. [00:11:21] Cyril Belikoff: Um, we’re seeing an acceleration and doubling of, uh, not an acceleration deals, but doubling of deal sizes, as you know, through the marketplace. Uh, and there. It helps with engagement at different types of companies, whether it’s, or different types of, uh, roles in a company, whether it’s a, a procurement person or an IT person or a business person. [00:11:42] Cyril Belikoff: So, you know, get onto the marketplace, create offerings, um, and give us feedback. And then on the reseller side, um, also lots of opportunities, you know, register as, as a reseller, um, you know, understand the benefits and. The, the Azure sponsorships that we have available for you, that you can close deals with their, their, their credits and, and incentives that we provide to you. [00:12:06] Cyril Belikoff: And then figure out how you do your first deal with a software company. Um, yeah. You know, a lot of people will say like, should I have a big strategy? And Yeah. Yeah. I mean, if you want to, that’s okay, but just getting into. Uh, the marketplace, figuring out one or two deals, transacting and seeing the opportunity is many ways the best way to do it and to learn it yourself. [00:12:28] Cyril Belikoff: And then you figure out, okay, where, where’s the opportunity for me in this deal? Am I in the transaction? Uh, am I in the services around the transaction or combination? Um, and just getting your feet wet will get you going and, and, uh, get you learning. [00:12:42] Vince Menzione: You know, I think about this in the, the time the partners are, they have this huge opportunity with Microsoft around marketplace and then thinking about how they build their own ecosystem. [00:12:52] Vince Menzione: And like you said, don’t, don’t try and boil the ocean, right. Don’t try and do it all at once. Mm-hmm. But start out small, but understand, you know, work with the Microsoft teams, understand how, how co-selling works, how to engage with the, with the Microsoft organization. How to, how to be up on marketplace, how to situationally. [00:13:09] Vince Menzione: You know, Jay and I were talking about this 28 moments and he talked about a deal that started out as an AWS deal, but it wound up a Microsoft deal because NTT and Software one were involved in the in the deal and influencing the customer’s decision process. Right working with Microsoft. And so we just need to be smarter, I think. [00:13:28] Vince Menzione: I think today it’s a very different model than it was 20 years ago when you and I got started in this business. Uh, yeah. And people just really need to go think about this more strategically in how they build this. [00:13:39] Cyril Belikoff: It’s great. I totally agree. Um, like I said, getting your feet wet, understanding the co-sell to your point and, and, and how Microsoft sells. [00:13:48] Cyril Belikoff: Um, and then understand what customers are trying to, you know, get, get, get out of it with their, their Azure commitments and how they can retire their Azure commitments through purchases on marketplace, which in sense them, um, to also work on the marketplace. So you, I think partners will find Microsoft sellers. [00:14:04] Cyril Belikoff: Own compensation, um, incentive to work. We’ll find that customers are incentive to transact on the marketplace. And so just enter that, you know, triangle and, and get engaged and, uh, and learn and then give us feedback. Like, like I’ve mentioned many times with you, we, uh, we take feedback every month from customers and partners in, in forums like this, um, in other forums, and then we evolve and, you know, build out, uh, stronger experiences. [00:14:31] Vince Menzione: Yeah. Cyril, I want to thank you again. So great to have you join us today and, uh, so excited to continue our, our mutual relationship and our beneficial relationship in 2026. So thank you again for everything you do and supporting us. [00:14:45] Cyril Belikoff: Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Happy New Year to yourself and uh, and your community and, uh, thanks so much again. [00:14:50] Cyril Belikoff: Appreciate it. [00:14:50] Vince Menzione: Thank you, Cyril. The Ultimate Partner Winter Retreat is gonna be here in the Boca Studio. This is the third year that we’re gonna be here in Boca. This is always a favorite of our community members, our executive members, our sponsors and speakers. We’ll all be here in the studio, which is a really intimate setting. [00:15:12] Vince Menzione: We can see upwards of 40, 50 people. Uh, we’ll be hosting an incredible dinner at the Boca Resort overlooking the golf course. That’s an incredible property and, uh, we’d love to have you join us. Thank you for being part of the ultimate Partner community, and I hope to see you this year at one of our events. [00:15:30] Vince Menzione: Thank you.

2026 BOUYON MIX by Blaqrose Supreme is here for you. Filled with some of my favorite vibes from Mas Dominic 2026 from artists like Ridge, Pudaz, Trilla-G, Shelly Alfred, BRG Hollywood, 1T1, Reo, DJ Taffy and more. Watch On YouTube : https://youtu.be/Q3oJEtQWdZc Subscribe and Listen to the Blaqrose Supreme's Podcast HERE:

Ryan Smith, top producing agent specializing in REO properties, returns to provide an update on the state of the Chicagoland foreclosure market heading into 2026! Ryan starts with an overview on the foreclosure process and expectations when getting into a foreclosure transaction as a buyer. He provides tips on positioning yourself as a legit, experienced buyer in the eyes of REO listing agents. Ryan gets granular on latest foreclosure statistics and provides his outlook on the REO market heading into 2026. He closes with his take on Chicago's crime problem and the neighborhoods that he is bullish on! If you enjoy today's episode, please leave us a review and share with someone who may also find value in this content! ============= Connect with Mark and Tom: StraightUpChicagoInvestor.com Email the Show: StraightUpChicagoInvestor@gmail.com Properties for Sale on the North Side?  We want to buy them. Email: StraightUpChicagoInvestor@gmail.com Have a vacancy? We can place your next tenant and give you back 30-40 hours of your time. Learn more: GCRealtyInc.com/tenant-placement Has Property Mgmt become an opportunity cost for you? Let us lower your risk and give you your time back to grow. Learn more: GCRealtyinc.com ============= Guest: Ryan Smith, RE/MAX Properties Link: Ryan's Instagram Link: SUCI Ep 70 - Ryan Smith Link: SUCI Ep 28 - Ryan Smith Link: The Chicago Way (Podcast) Link: DAWGS Vacant Property Security Guest Questions:  02:05 Housing Provider Tip - Understand manufacturer warranties on appliances and reconsider extended warranties! 04:15 Intro to our guest, Ryan Smith! 10:47 Risks associated with buying properties at the auction. 13:12 Understanding properties in receivership. 15:55 Expectations on REO transactions! 25:15 Key Foreclosure Statistics! 35:54 Ryan's outlook on the foreclosure market. 42:55 Promising south and west side neighborhoods. 46:19 Solving Chicago's largest issues. 47:20 What is your competitive advantage? 48:12 One piece of advice for new investors. 49:20 What do you do for fun? 49:50 Good book, podcast, or self development activity that you would recommend?  50:45 Local Network Recommendation?  51:51 How can the listeners learn more about you and provide value to you? ----------------- Production House: Flint Stone Media Copyright of Straight Up Chicago Investor 2026.

Send us a textYou can't fake perspective. It's earned in the lows that most people won't talk about: childhood chaos, addiction, grief that knocks the air from your lungs, and careers capped by glass ceilings. We sat down as owners and team leads to tell the truth about how those lows forged our leadership, sharpened our empathy, and set the tone for how we build brokerages that actually serve people.We start with raw origin stories and the flip from victimhood to agency—therapy before tactics, faith before funnels, and mentors who make you fix your life before your lead gen. Then we break down the real market from 2023 to 2025 without spin: morale is a metric, culture is hard work, and smaller wins keep teams moving. You'll hear how we cut break-even side plays, killed bad spend, and focused on what we do best so our people could keep winning even when the weather turned.Looking ahead, we outline a clear 2026 plan. Scott shares a global dive into modular construction and factory robotics that could cut build times to days and costs below $100 per foot, with partnerships spanning China, LA, and Dubai. Ronnie leans into scaling Resi Realty by embracing the hard lessons of 2025 and doubling down on people-first systems. Jeff commits to owning a headquarters, expanding into new cities, resurrecting a profit-focused production team, and entering asset management and REO as cycles shift. The throughline is simple: invest in people, protect hope, eliminate waste, and make sure every effort returns value.If you're tired of empty hype and hungry for practical strategy, mindset shifts, and real leadership, this conversation is your playbook. Subscribe, share it with someone who needs the push, and leave a review telling us the one choice you'll make differently this year.Use this version for podcast platforms (clean formatting, dual CTA included):2025 Wins & Losses — A Conversation About Pain, Purpose & LeadershipIn this Christmas Day special, Mark Jones hosts an incredibly raw and transparent roundtable with Scott Malouff, Jeff Garza, and Ronnie Trevino—three of San Antonio's top real estate leaders.Together, they discuss:Childhood traumaAddiction and recoveryLoss of loved onesLeadership pressureBetrayals in businessMental health & emotional intelligenceFaith, healing, and rebuilding a life of purposeThis is the most vulnerable conversation ever recorded on the Key Factors Podcast.If you're navigating life, business, or leadership in any capacity—this episode will speak directly to you.Apply for Home Financing with Mark Jones: https://www.iThinkMortgage.comSubscribe to The Key Factors Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@keyfactorspodcastCHANNEL DISCLOSURE: Mark Jones, Senior Loan Officer | NMLS#513437 iThink Mortgage powered by Premier Mortgage Resources | NMLS #1169 Equal Housing Lender All content on this channel is for educational purposes only and does not constitute a commitment to lend. Loan terms and availability are subject to credit approval, underwriting guidelines, and market conditions. Opinions are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my company. No compensation is given or received for referrals, endorsements, or podcast appearances, in coSupport the showKey Factors Podcast is Powered by LoanBot.com Host: Mark Jones | Sr. Loan Officer | NMLS# 513437 If you would like to work with Mark on your next home purchase or as a partner visit iThink Mortgage.

In this episode of the Be Wealthy Podcast, Brett Tanner sits down with Michael Velasco, founder of Exchangeable, for a deep dive into the powerful world of 1031 Exchanges and how savvy investors use them to grow wealth while legally minimizing taxes.Michael shares his 20+ year journey through real estate, accounting, and tax strategy, showing how every step of his career prepared him to become a leading expert in 1031 exchanges. Together, Brett and Michael break down the fundamentals of exchanges, common mistakes investors make, and the advanced strategies high-net-worth individuals use to protect and multiply their portfolios.This episode blends real-world investing strategy, tax education, mentorship, and long-term wealth thinking—making it essential listening for any serious real estate investor.

HSE Mid West's REO says the location of a new hospital for the region will be up to the Government. It follows confirmation from the Health Minister that the Government has accepted all three recommendations from HIQA's review of emergency care capacity in the Midwest. After meeting with Clare's Oireachtas members, Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill confirmed that work will begin in the new year on expanding capacity at University Hospital Limerick, developing a second site for UHL, and progressing plans for a new Model 3 hospital with an emergency department for the region. On Thursday's Morning Focus, HSE Mid West REO Sandra Broderick spoke about the pathway for the future of healthcare in the region. Photo (c) Alan Place

In this episode of the Seller Finance and Creative Deals podcast, Dan Deppen sits down with Jamie Bateman of Labrador Lending to talk all things mortgage note investing. Jamie shares how he transitioned from rentals and a background in title and mortgage into buying first-lien notes across the country, eventually building a note fund and team to serve investors. He breaks down how he thinks about geography, foreclosure timelines, and the biggest real risk in notes—what you don't know about the interior of the property. Jamie explains how Labrador now serves three types of investors—passive, hybrid, and active—through their income fund, done-for-you asset management service, and one-on-one mentorship plus community. They also dive into the niche of HUD HECM (reverse mortgage) deals as a pre-REO play, why deal flow has shifted since the 2010s, and how both Jamie and Dan are pivoting strategies, including Dan's approach of buying "broken" seller-finance notes and cleaning them up for institutional demand. This episode is a great fit if you're looking for ways to scale, simplify, or reposition your note investing in today's market. Want to create your own seller-financed notes? MAKE SURE YOUR NOTES ARE SELLABLE, VALUABLE, AND COMPLIANT: https://calltheunderwriter.com/  Are you Ready to work with Dan to learn how to invest in notes yourself? COMPREHENSIVE NOTE BUYING COURSE: https://www.notelaunchpad.com   Connect with Labrador Lending Website: www.adversity2abundance.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/labradorlending/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/labradorlendingllc/ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/labrador-lending/?viewAsMember=true Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChYrpCUlqFYLy4HngRrmU9Q 3 Core Services Integrity Income Fund: labradorlending.com/passive-investors Asset Management Service: labradorlending.com/hybrid-investors Labrador Mentorship: labradorlending.com/investors/active-investors   Connect with Jamie LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jamie-bateman-5359a811/ Twitter: twitter.com/batemanjames

Hey, investors! Scott Carson here, and I've got a juicy deal that's hotter than a Texas summer! If your lazy assets (and maybe your self-directed IRA) are sitting idle, this is your chance to put them to work on a prime piece of Georgetown, Texas real estate. This isn't some long-haul, snail-paced investment – we're talking a six-month or less turnaround, with conservative numbers figuring in a year!This beauty is one of 48 reverse mortgages we snagged from a hedge fund. The borrower's already passed, HUD's got it cleaned out, and we're looking at a clean, well-maintained property needing just a little lipstick and a fresh coat of paint. Texas foreclosures are fast, and we've got the team ready to rock and roll. This is a potential 10% (or more!) return on your money, secured with a first lien.Here's the breakdown on this Georgetown Goldmine:The Deceased HUD Gem: A clean, 3-bed, 2-bath, 1,348 sq ft home in Georgetown's hot 78628 ZIP code. Borrower deceased, heirs not fighting, property in good shape (interior inspection available!), needs cosmetic updates only – no structural nightmares.The Numbers Make Sense: Current legal balance: $185K. Conservative Fair Market Value: $297K. We're picking up the note for just $170K. Add back taxes and foreclosure costs, and we need $176K in funding. That's over $112K in built-in equity!Exit Strategy 1: Quick Auction Cash! With a 90-day Texas foreclosure and a $191K legal balance (after taxes), a quick auction sale is likely. You get a guaranteed 10% return on your $176K, paid out even if it sells faster than 90 days. We're talking $4,400+ interest in under three months!Exit Strategy 2: REO Flip for Bigger Bucks! If it doesn't sell at auction (our preferred scenario!), we take it back as an REO. An additional $20K for rehab (total $196K invested) for light cosmetic work. Potential net profit of $52K+ with ROI up to 20% if we're doing a one-year prepayment penalty.Due Diligence & Timeline: Full collateral file, realtor CMAs, title update, HUD interior inspection, and exterior video are all available. We're aiming for mid-December funding to kick off a February foreclosure and a March/June sale. Fast, efficient, and profitable!This isn't just another podcast episode; it's a real-time opportunity. We're looking for funding in December, so if you've got an IRA or some passive investment cash ($176K) burning a hole in your pocket, and you want 10% or more, let's talk!For the full due diligence package, comps, and all the nitty-gritty details, reach out directly! Book a call with me at talkwithscottcarson.com or text (512) 585-3810. Let's make some money together before 2026 hits!Watch the Original VIDEO HERE!Book a Call With Scott HERE!Sign up for the next FREE One-Day Note Class HERE!Sign up for the WCN Membership HERE!Sign up for the next Note Buying For Dummies Workshop HERE!Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Here's How »Join the Note Closers Show community today:WeCloseNotes.comThe Note Closers Show FacebookThe Note Closers Show TwitterScott Carson LinkedInThe Note Closers Show YouTubeThe Note Closers Show VimeoThe Note Closers Show InstagramWe Close Notes Pinterest

Hacer click aquí para enviar sus comentarios a este cuento.Juan David Betancur Fernandezelnarradororal@gmail.comHabía una vez un reino donde la más pequeña de las ofensas era castigada duramente. Aquel día el sol del mediodía caía a plomo sobre la ciudad, convirtiendo los adoquines en una parrilla ardiente que  hacia aún más caliente el esfuerzo de caminar. Y sobre ella iba a  caminar un recluso.  Al recluso, demacrado por meses de oscuridad en el calabozo, la luz le hería los ojos, pero no podía parpadear. No se lo permitía el terror.Sobre su coronilla afeitada descansaba un cuenco de porcelana solida y fría. Dentro de este recipiente había un aceite dorado y denso que colmaba la vasija hasta desafiar las leyes de la física; el líquido en su superficie formaba una curva convexa sobre el borde, era un menisco tembloroso que amenazaba con romperse ante el suspiro más leve o al movimiento más levemente desincronizado—Recuerda —susurró el verdugo a su espalda con su voz grave y seca como el polvo del camino. Una  sola gota de aceite. Solo una mancha en tu frente, y mi espada cortará tu cuello antes de que el aceite toque tus cejas.Comenzaron la marcha. Y el recluso sabía que su vida dependía de aquella cruel marcha. Debía llegar al otro lado de la ciudad sin derramar ni una sola gota de aceite. El primer desafío fue el propio cuerpo del recluso. Sus músculos, atrofiados por el encierro, gritaban ante la rigidez forzada. Tenía que deslizarse, no caminar. Cada paso debía ser una danza de amortiguación, rodillas flexionadas, cuello rígido como una viga de hierro, la mirada clavada en un punto fijo en la nada. Detrás, el golpe rítmico de las botas del verdugo y el siseo del acero al rozar la vaina servían de metrónomo macabro.Entraron en el mercado de las especias. La primera tentación fue olfativa. Nubes de azafrán, de ajo, de comino, de carne asada y de pan fresco golpearon su rostro. Su estómago, vacío durante días, rugió con violencia, una convulsión interna que hizo vibrar su columna vertebral. El aceite osciló peligrosamente. El recluso apretó los dientes hasta que le dolieron las encías, ignorando el hambre, ignorando el aroma a pan recién horneado que parecía llamarlo por su nombre. Apreto su conciencia en lo que hacia y Siguió adelante.Luego vino el caos sonoro. Un comerciante tropezó y una bolsa de monedas de oro se rompió a los pies del prisionero. El tintineo del metal precioso rodando por las piedras fue hipnótico. La gente se abalanzó gritando, empujándose para rapiñar el botín. Un niño pasó rozando su pierna. El instinto humano de mirar hacia abajo, de ver la riqueza, de protegerse del tumulto, fue casi insoportable. Sintió el aliento frío del verdugo en su nuca, una advertencia silenciosa. El recluso fijó la vista en el horizonte, convirtiéndose en una estatua que camina, sordo a la codicia.Atravesaron la plaza de los herreros, donde el calor era infernal y las chispas volaban. Una brasa diminuta que salto de una de aquellas fraguas  aterrizó en su hombro desnudo. La piel siseó. El dolor fue agudo, punzante. Todo su ser quería sacudirse, gritar, saltar. Pero el miedo a la espada era mayor que el fuego. Soportó la quemadura, dejando que el olor de su propia piel chamuscada se mezclara con el del aceite que seguía, milagrosamente, en su sitio.Y entonces, llegaron al centro de la ciudad.El aire cambió de repente. El hedor a sudor y bestias desapareció, reemplazado por una fragancia embriagadora de jazmín y agua de rosas.Allí sonaban los tambores. Un ritmo sensual, profundo, que resonaba en el pecho. Eran las bailarinas imperiales, famosas en todo el reino por una belleza que, según decían, podía detener corazones.Entraron en su campo de visión periférica. Eran remolinos de seda

Jefferson Starship is an oddly overlooked band on classic rock radio. In the annals of late 70s-into-the-80s corporate AOR radio rock and roll, they sat firmly and fittingly with Boston, The Cars, REO, Styx, Foreigner, and the rest of that gang.  While those bands still get their four cuts played repeatedly on the classic rocker stations (and burn those few cuts out), Jefferson Starship was quietly placed to the side.  Hmm.  Let's revisit the rock of their catalog and see what we think.

Reo speakers, learners and supporters have gathered in Hastings to celebrate and champion te reo Maori. Maori News Journalist Pokere Paewai reports.

In this conversation, Rick Kinzer discusses his company Cell24, which specializes in purchasing REO assets across the United States. He shares insights into their business model, the importance of relationships in real estate, and the challenges faced in the industry. Rick emphasizes the need for consistency and a long-term plan in real estate investing, while also highlighting the current market trends and opportunities for investors. He concludes with advice for aspiring investors and ways to connect with his business.   Professional Real Estate Investors - How we can help you: Investor Fuel Mastermind:  Learn more about the Investor Fuel Mastermind, including 100% deal financing, massive discounts from vendors and sponsors you're already using, our world class community of over 150 members, and SO much more here: http://www.investorfuel.com/apply   Investor Machine Marketing Partnership:  Are you looking for consistent, high quality lead generation? Investor Machine is America's #1 lead generation service professional investors. Investor Machine provides true 'white glove' support to help you build the perfect marketing plan, then we'll execute it for you…talking and working together on an ongoing basis to help you hit YOUR goals! Learn more here: http://www.investormachine.com   Coaching with Mike Hambright:  Interested in 1 on 1 coaching with Mike Hambright? Mike coaches entrepreneurs looking to level up, build coaching or service based businesses (Mike runs multiple 7 and 8 figure a year businesses), building a coaching program and more. Learn more here: https://investorfuel.com/coachingwithmike   Attend a Vacation/Mastermind Retreat with Mike Hambright: Interested in joining a "mini-mastermind" with Mike and his private clients on an upcoming "Retreat", either at locations like Cabo San Lucas, Napa, Park City ski trip, Yellowstone, or even at Mike's East Texas "Big H Ranch"? Learn more here: http://www.investorfuel.com/retreat   Property Insurance: Join the largest and most investor friendly property insurance provider in 2 minutes. Free to join, and insure all your flips and rentals within minutes! There is NO easier insurance provider on the planet (turn insurance on or off in 1 minute without talking to anyone!), and there's no 15-30% agent mark up through this platform!  Register here: https://myinvestorinsurance.com/   New Real Estate Investors - How we can work together: Investor Fuel Club (Coaching and Deal Partner Community): Looking to kickstart your real estate investing career? Join our one of a kind Coaching Community, Investor Fuel Club, where you'll get trained by some of the best real estate investors in America, and partner with them on deals! You don't need $ for deals…we'll partner with you and hold your hand along the way! Learn More here: http://www.investorfuel.com/club   —--------------------

This week Scott reviews another tape of assets from a new provider. Buckle up your boot straps and hold on tight for this thrill ride of reverse mortgage notes. Scott dives into the map and spreadsheet, outlining the positives and negatives of the assets, giving tips along the way!Illinois Foreclosure This state takes longer to foreclose on!Manufactured Homes with far comps: How accurate are BPOs with far comps?REO and foreclosure When do you fix up and when do you flip?Days on Market How can you get a good price for an asset in a slower market?Max Claim What exactly is the max claim?Redemption Period and Foreclosure in the same sentence! This one is for the pros that are the most patient of note investors that are prepared for some possible litigation with estate holders!Manufactured Homes at high BPO's These assets are out in the middle of nowhere with comps from 20 miles away.Elderly Owners: Reverse Mortgages require owners that are 65 years or older, you are potentially foreclosing on grandma!HUD Claims: What is the HUD Max Claim?The Seller. This is not Scott's usual seller, so expect surprises when working with a new provider.Whether you're a seasoned investor or new to real estate note investing, it can be a challenge so grab your education to get the right start.Watch the Original Video Here!Book a Call With Scott HERE!Sign up for the next FREE One-Day Note Class HERE!Sign up for the WCN Membership HERE!Sign up for the next Note Buying For Dummies Workshop HERE!Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Here's How »Join the Note Closers Show community today:WeCloseNotes.comThe Note Closers Show FacebookThe Note Closers Show TwitterScott Carson LinkedInThe Note Closers Show YouTubeThe Note Closers Show VimeoThe Note Closers Show InstagramWe Close Notes PinterestGet signed up for the Next Virtual Note Buying Workshop Now!

This week, Scott reviews another tape of assets from a new provider. Buckle up your boot straps and hold on tight for this thrill ride of reverse mortgage notes. Scott dives into the map and spreadsheet, outlining the positives and negatives of the assets, giving tips along the way!Illinois Foreclosure This state takes longer to foreclose on!Manufactured Homes with far comps: How accurate are BPOs with far comps?REO and foreclosure When do you fix up and when do you flip?Days on Market How can you get a good price for an asset in a slower market?Max Claim What exactly is the max claim?Redemption Period and Foreclosure in the same sentence! This one is for the pros that are the most patient of note investors that are prepared for some possible litigation with estate holders!Manufactured Homes at high BPO's These assets are out in the middle of nowhere with comps from 20 miles away.Elderly Owners: Reverse Mortgages require owners that are 65 years or older, you are potentially foreclosing on grandma!HUD Claims: What is the HUD Max Claim?The Seller. This is not Scott's usual seller, so expect surprises when working with a new provider.Whether you're a seasoned investor or new to real estate note investing, it can be a challenge so grab your education to get the right start.Watch the Original Video Here!Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Here's How »Join Note Night in America community today:WeCloseNotes.comScott Carson FacebookScott Carson TwitterScott Carson LinkedInNote Night in America YouTubeNote Night in America VimeoScott Carson InstagramWe Close Notes PinterestGet signed up for the Next Virtual Note Buying Workshop Now!

In this episode of Uncommon Real Estate, Chris sits down with Terence Coles — a Maryland-based agent and investor who just signed 20 listings in 45 days.Terence isn't doing anything flashy. He's not dropping crazy ad budgets or pulling magic scripts out of thin air. What he is doing is showing up prepared, confident, and relentless in his follow-up — without ever sounding pushy.You'll hear how Terence:Prepares before every appointment like he's already won the dealTurns follow-up from “annoying” to “inevitable”Builds instant trust — even when the person he meets isn't the decision-makerUses his phone as a secret credibility booster (this one's wild)Wins deals by making people feel like they're his only clientConnect with Terence:terence.coles@thereduxgroup.com301-479-5598Connect with ChrisInstagram: @craddrockFacebook: Chris CraddockResources

LDV Mahi Monday Happy Monday Shifters!... We hope that you got some much needed rest over the weekend especially if you were in Christchurch, THANK YOU!... Who can claim the title of experiencing the most AWKWARD moment?... What is root of all evil in the modern day era?, Are people starting to catch on and separate themselves from it or do they zero clue?... We catch up with Ngahiwi Apanui-Barr - Chief Executive of Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori... To talk about Te Wiki o te Reo and how everyone can be involved as we say Haere Mai to the 50th anniversary of Te Wiki o te Reo Māori... Click the link below to be a part of Te Wiki o te Reo Māori history by placing a note in the time capsule that is going to be sealed up and not opened until the 100th anniversary - https://www.reomaori.co.nz/time-capsule Hit that link below to stay caught up with anything and everything TMS. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.facebook.com/groups/3394787437503676/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ We dropped some merch! Use TMS for 10% off. Here is the link: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://youknowclothing.com/search?q=tms⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Thank you to the team at Chemist Warehouse for helping us keep the lights on, here at The Morning Shift... ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.chemistwarehouse.co.nz/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 00:00 - Intro 3:48 - Check In 9:41 - Daily Bread 17:47 - Well That Was Awkward 29:26 - The Root Of All Evil 40:41 - Ngahiwi Apanui-Barr 1:02:50 - Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yesterday, 1.3 million fans tuned in to the Kelce Brothers podcast, "New Heights", LIVE, to watch Taylor Swift. AND IT BROKE THE INTERNET. The first trailer for a two-part Charlie Sheen documentary is out. Here's part of it. Did you know Willie Nelson is a 5th-degree black belt in a Korean martial art called GongKwon Yusul? He is also a 2nd-degree black belt in Taekwondo. Luke Combs has a hilarious story about how he found that out a few years ago. – HERE HE ISKevin Hart is teaming up with Netflix for a new competition series to find the next big stand-up comedian. He'll be joined by a group of comics, who will be announced at a later date. Academy Award–winner Denzel Washington, now 70, is back in theaters with Highest 2 Lowest. During a recent Extra interview, he was asked what advice he'd give to his younger self—and without skipping a beat, he said: “Pray more. That's it. Pray more. Get on your knees more.” people.com+13people.com+13movieguide.org+13Highest 2 Lowest opens in theaters August 15, followed by a premiere on Apple TV+ September 5.People joke about men dating women HALF their age, but with Leonardo DiCaprio you could say that almost-literally. He's 50 now . . . and his current girlfriend Vittoria Ceretti is 27. Dancing With The Stars judge Derek Hough has been named the new host of the long-running entertainment news program Extra. He will replace Billy Bush, who announced his departure from the show earlier this year after a five-year run. Hough will join Extra for its 32nd season, which premieres on September 8th.Kevin Cronin Makes 'Heartbreaking' Decision on Touring FutureFormer REO Speedwagon vocalist Kevin Cronin has decided that his solo band will no longer tour after their scheduled 2025 dates.Cronin decided to tour as The Kevin Cronin Band after falling out with REO bassist Bruce Hall, a decision that seems to have hurt him business-wise.Cronin explained, "This [current] tour has been a delight, but not without its challenges. It's not easy going out as the Kevin Cronin Band, I will tell you. You can't overestimate the power of the name REO Speedwagon and that ubiquitous, winged logo. They mean a lot to people. I can sit here and say that the Kevin Cronin band is doing the same thing until I'm blue in the face, but when people see the Kevin Cronin Band, there's a question -- 'I wonder what this is gonna be?' -- whereas if you see REO Speedwagon and the winged logo on the bill, it's 'I know what that is.'"Even though he's called his decision to no longer tour "heartbreaking", Cronin will appear at select shows, like the Rock Legends Cruise in 2026. If you were rich and famous, what would you collect? Maybe you'd track down a series of dream cars, maybe you'd go for unique artwork, or maybe you'd just totally pimp out your existing keychain collection. Here's a list of celebrities with strange, wildly expensive collections: See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this episode of the Passive Income Playbook, Pascal Wagner interviews Ryan Duff, a former mortgage broker who spent 14 years underwriting loans before transitioning into LP investing. Ryan shares how his front-row seat in the lending world gave him a unique edge in identifying quality sponsors and structuring successful deals. He discusses the three core pillars of underwriting—borrower credit, asset performance, and market fundamentals—and why sponsor quality trumps everything in investment decisions. Ryan also breaks down how lending standards have tightened post-2021, what LPs should really be asking for in due diligence (hint: request the REO schedule), and how market dislocation is creating powerful opportunities for plugged-in investors. Ryan Duff Current Role: Founder at Seaport Capital Advisors, capital advisor and LP investor Based in: East Coast (primarily invests in Southeast and Midwest markets) Say hi to them at: LinkedIn Visit investwithsunrise.com to learn more about investment opportunities.  Get 50% Off Monarch Money, the all-in-one financial tool at www.monarchmoney.com with code BESTEVER Join the Best Ever Community  The Best Ever Community is live and growing - and we want serious commercial real estate investors like you inside. It's free to join, but you must apply and meet the criteria.  Connect with top operators, LPs, GPs, and more, get real insights, and be part of a curated network built to help you grow. Apply now at ⁠www.bestevercommunity.com⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, I'm joined by Shaun Farr, President of Landvoice, a leading real estate technology and data firm that's been helping investors and agents find profitable off-market deals since 1991.   Shaun shares exactly how Landvoice sources its unique lists that include pre-foreclosures, for-sale-by-owners, expired listings, and a brand-new distressed properties dataset—and why these tools give you an edge in today's competitive market. We also dig into compliance, targeting strategies, and how combining great data with creative deal structuring can create win-win solutions for sellers and investors alike.   Whether you're looking for your first deal or adding to an already robust portfolio, this conversation will open your eyes to data-driven ways to find opportunities other investors don't even know exist.   Key Talking Points of the Episode   00:00 Introduction 01:28 What is LandVoice? 03:07 Specializing in off-market data for real estate investors 06:12 Pre-foreclosure and REO data: how Landvoice blends multiple sources for accuracy 08:04 Expired listings and why agents love partnering with investors 09:01 Neighborhood search tool for hyper-targeted prospecting 10:15 The new Distressed Property list: 4 levels of motivation before foreclosure 12:09 How distressed data + creative deal structuring creates win-wins 14:08 New tools coming to LandVoice in October 15:01 Join QLS Live in October!   Quotables   “We're blending the biggest foreclosure sources to eliminate blind spots. You won't find a better file in the country.”   “The distressed list gets you in front of homeowners before the foreclosure competition shows up.”   “Expired listings are gold because you're negotiating directly with the homeowner, not through a licensed agent.”   Links   QLS Live https://smartrealestatecoach.com/qlspodcast   Real Estate On Your Terms and Deal Structure Overtime https://wickedsmartbooks.com/podcast   FREE Master's Class http://smartrealestatecoach.com/masterspodcast   FREE Strategy Session with Chris Pre http://smartrealestatecoach.com/actionpodcast   QLS 4.0 https://smartrealestatecoach.com/qlspodcast   Investor Resources https://smartrealestatecoach.com/resources   Apprentice Program https://smartrealestatecoach.com/apprentice-pod   In the Trenches Bootcamp https://smartrealestatecoach.com/ittb-pod   3 Paydays Virtual Event https://smartrealestatecoach.com/3paydayspodcast   REI Blackbook https://smartrealestatecoach.com/REIBB-pod   7 Figures Funding https://smartrealestatecoach.com/7figures-pod   Land Voice https://smartrealestatecoach.com/landvoice-pod   Propsperity https://propsperity.io

The plan was to have Reo, host, journalist and producer of Tested Podcast, on to just chat about some soccer. They're a massive women's soccer fan and the idea was to just yap about soccer instead of the deeply heavy stuff they usually get called on to discuss — and then World Athletics did something stupid. Ugh.But before we get into that, Reo & André relive the absolute cinema that was the Gran Final of the Copa América Femenina. We discuss bad decisions, then suddenly great decisions, and all the drama and bangers along the way.Then we dive into NWSL stuff. We discuss Trinity Rodman's triumphant return, what might be wrong with Angel City and Bay FC, Ally Sentnor's trade to Kansas City, and North Carolina's frustrating fumbling of a press conference they scheduled.After, we get into World Athletics' new decision to restart sex testing. Reo takes us through the history, the premise and guise used to continue to bring these tests back up, what they are and the flawed science around them, and what we can do to help push back against this alarming trend across women's sports.Please subscribe, rate and review. We appreciate y'all!=============Support Reo's WorkTested PodcastTested NewsletterCoyote Media Collective (donate)=============Follow ReoBluesky - @reveleth.com=============Follow UsBluesky - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@diasporautdpod.bsky.social⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠diasporautdpod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠=============Music credit: Finally by Loxbeats ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://soundcloud.com/loxbeats⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.Free Download: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://bit.ly/FinallyLoxbeats⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Music promoted by Audio Library ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://youtu.be/fGquX0Te1Yo⁠