Come learn from the master himself, Josh Pitts! Why did he go LIVE everyday, how did SHRED Media get started, and where is social media going today!

Your snippet of this Episode of the Modern Lending Podcast

• Another emphasis of you don’t need much equipment to start
• Just create content, get in front of a camera
• Just be authentic, and the attention will come
• You cannot judge what your doing to the big names.

Episode Transcribe

Alec Hanson:What’s up, everybody? Welcome to the first-ever, live-streaming Modern Lending podcast episode.

We’ve all had to pivot. Times are crazy, and man, going live on our podcast now is something that we have to do because I can’t bring anybody into this cool studio anymore because God forbid they cough on me. So I think it’s so fitting right now that the first guest that we ever bring on, on the live Modern Lending podcast, is the one and only, Josh Pitts.Now, before we bring him on, I got to say a couple things about this guy. If you don’t know who Josh Pitts is and Shred Media, you’re not paying attention on the internets. This guy has been a massive inspiration for so many people, including me, to just start filming.I got a small story. I was watching this guy go live every day, and I’m like, “Who is this guy? Why is he going live every day?” I’m watching his brand build. I’m watching his place of influence in the industry build. I’m like, “Man.” I got a little jealous. I’m like, “Dude, this guy’s killing it out there.” I had this aha moment of like, wait, I can do it too. I could do this too. And Josh, I owe this all to you. So as we bring him on here, and let’s roll the reel. Let’s get Josh Pitts in the studio. We’re here! We did it!Josh Pitts:What up!Alec Hanson:[inaudible 00:01:47]. Man, look first of all, Josh, I wish you were here. I wish I could give you a hug, a fist bump, and we could just do this together, but thank you man. Thank you for coming on the first live episode of the Modern Lending podcast. I want to give you a chance to kind of talk about a lot of things today, man, a lot of things. The first is I just want to say, thanks dude. Seriously, thank you for having the boldness and the foresight to put yourself out in a position of vulnerability and to pull a whole industry kind of behind you. I’ve just watched this happen, and I’ve been so impressed. So I want to start with what’s your background in the industry? I know you do loans, but why did you get in front of the camera? What pulled you into this new world?Josh Pitts:First and foremost dude, I am humbled and honored to be hanging out with you, Alec. Dude, I’ve been watching what you’re doing, and just before we got on, I was telling you I’m so proud of you for your hundred video challenge that you did. I mean, look from where you started to where you are now. It’s absolutely brilliant. So kudos to you, kudos to loanDepot, everything that you’re doing. I got my LD hat on today. I didn’t even mean to match this purple going on. This is awesome. This is freaking money. I mean, I’m really excited to be doing this because you know this is something I absolutely love doing, I have a passion for, I love putting out great content.So I got my start in the industry, everyone knows I’m an originator at heart. I’ve been in this industry for 10 years, absolutely love it. I’ll always stay in the mortgage industry. We’re definitely making some pivoting right now as Shred continues to grow, as our team continues to grow, as we’re seeing new opportunity. Yeah, so I started as actually a junior LO in the industry, worked my way up, was an originator for years and years, owned my own mortgage brokerage. Then a few years ago I just started. I was traveling, going to these different conferences, and I’m just like, “I want to do something different. I want to start putting out content.”It’s funny that we said that you and I were talking about this earlier, but I’ve watched a lot of other industries. I’ve watched the gaming industry. I’ve watched other sales and marketing, just different industries. I started seeing a lot of people put out content. Gary Vaynerchuk was one of the first guys that I’m like, “God, this guy’s putting out a ton of content.” I’m like, I wonder if I can do the same thing.There was people in the mortgage industry. You got guys like Ryan Hills who were putting out content with the RE source. You have people that were putting it out there, but nobody was doing it on a regular basis. So I said, “Well, what if you could put out a daily show? What if you actually put out a show and had a new guest on every single day?” Little did I know, Alec, how much work that would be. To get a new guest every single day and put out good content. Blew my mind, so difficult. I learned so much from it, but it was a ton of fun. So we started with a daily LO life, just talking with originators, talking with great people in the industry.Alec Hanson:Yeah. You say that like you just like, we started with the daily LO, but like okay, break down your kit. Look, I know people that are checking us out on LinkedIn and Facebook and YouTube right now are seeing kind of overlays, nice mics, and headphones, and graphics, and music. You were in the dirt with a Nokia phone, what was your kit when you started doing this?Josh Pitts:Dude, my kit was this. It wasn’t even an iPhone. It was literally old iPhone. It was an iPhone 7, I believe.Alec Hanson:Yeah.Josh Pitts:just started with an iPhone, do we swear on this show? Is this PG?Alec Hanson:[inaudible 00:05:17].Josh Pitts:It was a shit show, man. It was so bad. It’s funny because I go back and watch some of the videos, even some of the guests trying to get guests on Facebook. I was one of the first guys. I remember one of our first videos when we were able to figure out how to do a dual guest on an iPhone where you could barely see them in the corner, but they were having issues and I was having issues and I couldn’t hear them and it was terrible quality, but it didn’t matter. People just started showing up watching it and I’m just like, “Okay, I’m just going to keep doing it.” Literally my first about a hundred episodes were all done for my iPhone. I didn’t have a mic. I didn’t have a good camera. It was just done from the iPhone because that’s what I had. I didn’t know any better. I’m just like, I don’t know if people are going to watch this. I’m going to start putting out content.I did. Then of course we added a few things. Now we’ve got mics, we’ve got cameras, we’ve got different things, but it all started with just like, “Hey, I want to put out great content and I’m literally just going to start.” That’s what I started with.Alec Hanson:That’s one of the themes dude that I hope everybody hears on this. For people that are unfamiliar with Shred Media, I want you to break down kind of what that is and what the place is in the industry and how you saw that when you would just go on the LO life back in the day. You just got to start. You just got to start. Turn the camera on and start. Man, there’s nothing truer than that because now fast forward look at Shred Media today.You’re trademarked which is epic. What did you see for Shred Media in the industry? Did you have the vision for what it would be in the beginning? Did it grow as you’re like, “Wow, this has taken on a life of its own?” Give everybody the story there.Josh Pitts:Yeah. So I started Shred Media just over a year ago beginning of 2019. I was kind of looking to pivot from the daily LO life. We were doing great things, but we really didn’t have our place. And frankly to be honest, we weren’t monetizing. I was still just originating to this day. I still people ask all the time, like, “Wait a minute, do you still originate?” No, I do not originate. I still have my license. I have an active license. I still get a ton of referrals from this. People ask all the time, “You still get referrals?” All the time. It’s amazing. Like just putting out content, like how many referrals I get and we pass those along to our great team. And they’re the ones in the trenches who are doing it.But about a year ago, as I was doing the daily LO life, I was kind of looking for a way to continue to put out more content. I read, this is what I enjoy. I love putting out content. I love streaming. So I started looking around and I’m like, “Well, I wonder if we did like some type of media agency or some type of media company.” But I didn’t know, like what, like, I didn’t know if you could even make money doing it. I didn’t know if we could make money as an organization. I just knew how to take care of my family. And so what we did is we were sitting around and playing with names and shred, being a snowboarder, coming from Utah.Alec Hanson:Yeah, hold on. [crosstalk 00:08:03] like, “Hey, what’s this guy in Utah using my surfing term. Like my Cali term bro.” You totally took it. And then I got it with this snowboard. I got it later. But at the beginning I was like, “Hey bro you’re taking Cali’s term here. Careful.? But now, respect.Josh Pitts:Dude. It’s funny. So we love surfing here in Utah, we have our boat and we love to shred and we had kind of played with a name and I have a terrible habit of buying URLs and domains. I have hundreds of URLs and domains, like really bad.Alec Hanson:How many do you own. How many URLs do you own?Josh Pitts:Legit, probably just over 200, I believe is what we have now.Alec Hanson:Yes, you for sure have a problem.Josh Pitts:It’s so bad. I’ll think of a name and I’m like, “I want that. I’m going to go buy it.” And my wife, we’re literally looking at like our GoDaddy and some of our accounts. And she’s like, “What in the world are you ever going to use this domain?” And I’m like, “Maybe.” I’m a hoarder when it comes to URLs. It’s really bad. But anyway, so shred, I was kind of playing with names and I’m like Shred: Show up. Hustle. Repeat. Every. Day. And it’s literally funny that we’re saying this because we were having this argument last night, not argument, but we were laughing because one of our friends was like, “Where did you come up with shred?”And I’m like, “Oh, well we were just sitting around and I came up with it.” My wife’s like, “Wait a minute. I was part of this. Give me some credit.” My wife’s like, “Hey, I was there. Like I was throwing it.”I’m like, “Okay. So I got to give my wife’s from credit too because she helped with, Show up. Hustle. Repeat. Every. Day. And next thing I know, Shred Media was born and we just started putting out content. And literally the next thing I know, we have people reaching out to us just because we’re out there. We’re just putting out content.Companies are reaching out to us saying, “Hey, can you help us with this? Can you help us with marketing? Can you help us with this and this and this?”Alec Hanson:You’re a modern marketing agency almost because you’re in the space where everyone is and leading the way.Josh Pitts:Yeah. So we have companies reaching out to us saying, “Hey, can you do marketing? Can you do PR?” And I didn’t want to go down that road. So I had literally just read the book, is it behind me? I don’t know where it is. Play Bigger. Have you ever read the book Play Bigger?Alec Hanson:Oh no. I heard of it. I haven’t read it yet. Now it’s on my list.Josh Pitts:Awesome book. Absolutely read it guys. If you’re listening to this, I read the book, Play Bigger and basically it talks about becoming a category king or creating a category. And I’m like, again, I didn’t want to be a PR firm. I didn’t want to be a marketing agency. I’d seen those. And the marketing agencies, no offense, but a lot of marketing agencies within the mortgage industry were just, they didn’t get it. They were trying to come in and they didn’t see what I did.Alec Hanson:I agree. I totally agree.Josh Pitts:And so I’m like I want to do something different. So I came up, I coined the phrase attention impact agency and I’m like, people need attention. That’s what they want. They’re craving attention. But that attention has to have impact with the audience. So we became an attention impact agency. And when I put that out there, it literally, the phone just started ringing like, “Hey, we heard you’re an attention impact agency. We’re not even sure what you do, but can you help us?”And I’m like, “Sure, we can figure it out.” Next thing I know we have companies reaching out to us to like, some of our partners are, I mean, UWM, Caliber, Home Point Financial.Big companies are reaching out to us saying, “Hey, we need your help. Can you help us?” And I was honored. I was humbled. And then we started putting together strategies and plans and then started working with them, putting out great content for them. And that’s what we do. That’s what, as an attention impact agency, we were helping companies do.And now I’m excited like you and I were talking about pivoting is we’ve had so many people across the industry, mortgage, originators LOs, saying, “Josh you work with these big companies. Can you work with us individuals?” So we’ve talked about it a little bit, but we’re releasing the Shred Squad and it’s designed for it. I’m still an originator at heart Alec. I always will be. I love helping the people who are in the trenches. We have a lot of people asking like, “Can you help me put out good content? Can you guide me through that? What does that look like?” Just like you and I are talking about right now, where do you start? How do you build? When do you start building? And just really the strategy and the tactics. I’m all about trying something. And if it doesn’t work, tweaking it a little bit and just keep putting out content.So the squad, the Shred Squad is we’re getting ready to release it. On a completely different platform than this industry has ever seen. It’s totally, there’s nothing that has ever been done in the industry like this so we’re excited. [crosstalk 00:12:10].Alec Hanson:Let’s just break down what it’s going to be. Is this something for LOs if they can independently sign into, register, be a part of?Josh Pitts:Yep, 100%.Alec Hanson:And when they get into the squad, what happens? What’s their experience or what are you providing?Josh Pitts:So when you get into the squad, I like that squad mentality. It’s, hey, when you join a squad and going back to military, a squad is your family. It’s the people that you can expect and rely on. They’ve got your back. They’re going to be protecting you. If you’re part of the squad, there’s no backbiting, there’s no fighting. You call each other out when you need to call each other out and you’re going to go on a mission. When your squad is the people you’re about to run into the line of fire with. So you know that they are there for you no matter what.Especially when shit gets real, when shit gets tough, they’re the ones behind you saying, “Alec, you got this dude. Hey, let’s work through this together. Let’s have a conversation.” So that’s where the Shred Squad is all about. Plus, we teach you how to do it. We teach you how to put out great content, how to create, where to start. What does your niche look like? How do you start to put out content around that niche? What equipment are you starting with? StreamYard is a great, you mean you both use StreamYard, we use OBS, but most people don’t start there. Most people just start with their phone. But with technology-Alec Hanson:Yeah, and they just hit the go live button.Josh Pitts:Yeah. And a lot of people I’ve been getting so many questions out and you’ve probably seen this. Facebook just went through a huge update on their Facebook Live.Alec Hanson:Yes, they did.Josh Pitts:My inbox has been flooded like, “Hey Josh, I can’t do live anymore.” And if you didn’t know, you actually have to be approved for doing guests on Facebook Live depending on your page. So there’s a lot of questions out there and that’s what we want. We want to guide people through that process. We want to help you as an individual, get that attention and have impact with your audience. So we created a squad around it. We created a community specifically designed on helping you grow your brand, get more attention, make sure that attention has impact with your audience. It’s going to be a ton of fun, man. Super excited.Alec Hanson:First of all, congratulations on pivoting.Josh Pitts:Thanks man.Alec Hanson:And I’d love to break this down for our salespeople out there because we’re all having to pivot. I mean, I’m doing my podcast live now as opposed to in the studio, fist bumping. You’re pivoting to a squad that can directly help originators. And we’ve got originators who are working from home, sheltering in place. Amazon is sold out of the Logitech cameras. You can’t get them.Josh Pitts:Some crazy…Alec Hanson:And it’s wild. People were like, “I ordered my camera, but I don’t know when I’m going on?” And everyone’s learning the new normal. And I think we have fundamentally as an industry changed because of this. And not just our industry, I think our country is. But man, I mean, talk about a sales guy or girl who is used to going out and going to networking events, hosting lunch and learns, hosting first-time home buyer seminars, meeting with realtors, going out to open houses. And now, it’s like, “What do I do?”And everyone’s stuck staring at social media and staring at their phones and hiding from their kids in the bathroom. I know maybe not you, but there’s some people who are hiding in the restroom with their phones, locking the door. And so, what encouragement and what kind of advice would you give, Josh, for our LOs out there who are stuck at home? What would you tell them to do?Josh Pitts:The biggest thing I would tell them, because you and I were talking about this, Alec, is you have to decide if you actually want to put out content. And I’m all about, you have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. You have to… Even doing this, you and I, we’ve done plenty of these, but it’s not something that we’ll…I don’t look at myself on camera and I’m like, “Man, I look good. This is awesome. I totally kind of like… ” It’s still uncomfortable. Every time I go on a live or I get invited to do something like this, there’s still that sense of a little bit of uncomfort and you have to be willing to push yourself outside those limits a little bit. But at the same time, if you do a couple of videos and it is absolutely you don’t enjoy it, you absolutely-Alec Hanson:Hey Josh, check your audio cord. I think it’s… I’m getting a little bit of feedback on you. I’m double checking that. I think it’s on your side.Josh Pitts:Hold up.Alec Hanson:Hold up. You sound like you’re mixing into robotic. It’s epic. Hey, if you’re listening right now, let me know. Are you guys hearing the same audio feedback I am? This is the benefit of live, because I’m texting my guy who’s helping me put this show on right now, and I’m like, “Is it our audio or his audio?” So, drop a quick comment in if you’re seeing it too, or if it’s just on my side, and then we can keep rolling.Josh Pitts:So, I just got back from… because I have my team on it. They say it sounds good. Let’s see.Alec Hanson:Let’s rock and roll. And I got the same feedback [inaudible 00:16:42].Josh Pitts:Okay. Cool.Alec Hanson:All right. Then back to you.Josh Pitts:So, making sure I… My team just texted me. She’s like, “No feedback. You’re good.” And I’m like, “Okay, sweet, as long as we sound good.” Sometimes it’s funny because as a host… This is a perfect example, Alec. And I’m glad this even happened, because sometimes as a host, sometimes you have really bad audio and you’re like, “My gosh! I’m freaking out. We’re live. People are going to be judging me.”We’re still doing this, ladies and gentleman. This isn’t going to stop us. We’re going to figure it out. We get to adjust on the fly. Some people, this would totally kill them and they’d lose track of their… Now I can hear what you’re talking about, though. Funny enough, I can hear that feedback that you’re talking about.Alec Hanson:Really?Josh Pitts:So, that’s really interesting that I can hear it now. But again, this is a great… Ladies and gentlemen, Alec and I have done how many of these? We have tech issues. It still happens. You just work through it. Most of you probably can’t even hear this feedback that Alec and I can. Totally okay. Don’t worry about it. Just work through it.So, I would tell everybody, going back to what I was saying, is if you put out a few videos and it’s totally not for you, that’s okay. I had this guy send me this message the other day saying, “Josh, you’ve inspired me. I tried putting out videos, but it’s just not for me. Can you give me any inspiration?” And I asked him, I’m like, “Well, how many videos have you put out?” And he said, “Well, I put out four videos.” First and foremost, four videos?Alec Hanson:Not going to cut through it.Josh Pitts:You’ve got to put out more than that.Alec Hanson:Not going to cut.Josh Pitts:You’ve got to… And I even told him, I said, “Well, is it more that you don’t like doing it, or is it hard for you because you’re putting out videos and you’re seeing that maybe not a ton of people are watching?” And he said, “That’s it, Josh? I want more people to watch what I’m doing.” And I said, “Dude, it takes- “Alec Hanson:Okay. Let me add to that, dude, because you’re so right. So, I’ll be super transparent mode right now. Right now, on LinkedIn, there’s around 10 people watching, on YouTube and Facebook, there’s 22 eyes on the screen right now. And somebody might say, “Well, you’re talking to like 35 people right now, that you’re talking to. And that’s not a huge reach.”And I’m like, “You got to understand, when this content continues to roll through the world, I routinely get thousands and thousands of views on this stuff over time.” And it’s not about this moment, this moment that you and I are having this conversation. This conversation will exist in perpetuity for people to continue to engage with. We’re going to re-release the audio of this on the podcast later. So, somebody who’s not watching live and they’ve subscribed to the podcast will get it.People don’t understand. I coached remote LOs yesterday. I’m like, “Film the video live as if it’s just a pre-recorded video, as if it’s a video you’re going to post later and watch what happens.” So, you are a hundred percent right, dude. That is the perspective I think everyone needs to have. And look, we just jumped up to like 40 views. So, you got to have the long-term perspective, man. You’re nailing it.Josh Pitts:Well, and that’s just the thing, Alec, is like everybody watching this right now… And it’s funny because some people will watch some people in our industry. There’s people putting out content. You look at guys like Barry Habib or Dave Savage or Anthony Casa, and people are like, “Holy cow! They have hundreds of people watching them live. Congratulations! They’ve… ” You know what? They’ve done a great job, but you can’t compare yourself to them. They started somewhere and they built up. They have a very loyal following.And that’s what you have to do, is you have to start somewhere and build that loyal following. I’m the same way as you, Alec. Sometimes I’ll jump on, and sometimes I’ll have 10 people watching me live across all my channels. And I’m totally okay with that. Sometimes I’ll jump on and off a couple of hundred watching me live across the channels.So, you cannot judge what you’re doing just by that, especially when you’re getting started. I put out content because I love putting out content. I don’t care if 10 people watch it. I don’t care of a thousand people are watching it. I love putting out content. I’m putting out valuable content to try to…Because even if only 10 people watch it, but two of those people you inspired, or as an originator, if two of those people who watch are like, “My gosh! I connect with Alec. This guy is brilliant. I’m going to follow his content religiously.” There you go. And next time they come around to buying a home or refinancing, those are two more clients that you didn’t have before.We have to stop over-analyzing our numbers, especially you were just getting started. You can’t compare yourself to other people. You can’t compare yourself to myself or even Alec, because we’ve been doing this. Alec’s put out hundreds of videos. I’ve put out hundreds of videos. And so, you’ve got to give yourself time to grow.Most people, there’s a huge opportunity right now to be doing this stuff. And I tell people now is a better time than ever. And if you have the mentality of, “Well, there are so many people doing it right now. My gosh! Josh, I see originators in this group putting out content. There’s no more room.” Shut the hell up and do it. Please stop saying that. Stop making excuses. If you look at the world of gaming, ladies and gentlemen, there are tens of thousands of gamers putting out content. And there are still people jumping into putting out new content. Like you just got to start putting out content.Alec Hanson:We got to talk about that. We’ve got to talk about that as an analogy into our world. So, everyone that doesn’t know what Twitch is hasn’t been paying attention. There are people live streaming their own game play video games. I mean, some people don’t know this, so I’m just going to… They’re on social media, they’re on Twitch, they’re reposting to YouTube, et cetera. And they are just screen casting and live streaming themselves playing a video game. Josh, do you know how much that industry is worth right now?Josh Pitts:Oh, billions, man. Billions.Alec Hanson:Billions of dollars of kids and some adults playing video games. And we’re sitting over here afraid to put a message out to our community and our homeowners and our potential home buyers about how to navigate this crazy time. We’re sitting back in fear. You nailed it, dude. Fear is what’s crippling the best of the best to get out in front of the camera. Fear of candidly bullshit, fear of their own insecurities, how they look.So, I love Gary V. He’s been a major inspiration to a lot of people and he’s like, “Do all these stuff.” And no one’s doing it and he’s like, “oh, you’re afraid I get it.’ And now he’s trying to unpack that as a message. And I think that’s holding so many great people back because they have such amazing stories to tell and they’re afraid. And so how did you deal with that? How did you conquer fear in that regard?Josh Pitts:Dude, continuing showing up, hustling and repeating every day. I guess, Shred. Trust me because a lot of people ask, “Well Josh, you’re super confident, you’re enthusiastic.” I battle my demons every single day to like all the rest of you. I overanalyze my number. Sometimes I overanalyze a video. I’ll put out a piece of content that I think is going to get thousands of views and it will only get 20 views. Trust me ladies and gentlemen, I know what you’re going through. And that’s why I wanted to build a squad because building a brand, putting out content, is hard, it’s frustrating, it can be depressing at times.So, you have to have that squad mentality of like, “Hey Alec’s having a bad day, I’m going to jump in the squad because I know somebody there and they can pick me up. They can say, ‘Hey, you know it’s all right, you get through this.'” so I mean, you have to have that mentality, you really do. And again, for all those who are listening, I apologize now because I can’t hear the audio and I have had a few people text me like, “Hey, we are having audio issues.” So, I apologize. I’m not sure. I just tried to reset my mic on this side, but we’re going to push through it. Again, we push through it, we adapt, we overcome, we improvise. But what about [crosstalk 00:24:06]. Go ahead.Alec Hanson:Let me share this on top of Josh’s thing. Yeah. I want to get to Omar’s question in a second so let’s pull it off, because it’s a great question into tactics. I think sometimes too, and Omar this is not necessarily reflected at you, but I think sometimes people get afraid like, “If I don’t have the nice mic, if I don’t have the right camera or the right lighting…” And they use that as an excuse not to contribute and post content. So, that’s probably not you Omar, but for those that is, you got to get away from that.Josh did all this stuff on an iPhone, don’t worry about that. But I do want to unpack the fact that you’re going to have roadblocks, you’re going to have things that come up that stop you. You’re not going to have time. I mean, these excuses are rampant. I mean, even right now, right? Like my wife, may God bless her, she’s homeschooling a six and an eight-year-old, she didn’t sign up to be a homeschooler. We can’t go in the office, we can’t go anywhere, I’m locked in my garage. It’s a new world and there’s lots of excuses on why or what could hold you back and the more you lean into that, just recognizing you’re going to have to overcome it.And here’s the thing I want to say, Josh, this is why I think I connected with you on a spiritual level early on because, the fact that Show Up has been a theme for… It’s obviously part of SHRED. In 2000 and something, 10, 12, I can’t even remember. I ran a campaign for my salespeople called Be There and it was just literally, you got points to go to open houses, go to… We did points just to show up, literally just to be there. And then when I launched our Modern Lending Playbook, my whole campaign was show up and evolve. Just show up, just be where the people are.And that’s where all the growth is, that’s where the opportunity is, it’s just you being present and being willing to step forward. And I think I just connected with you on that because that’s been a part of your theme and that’s been part of my theme and I’ve been like, “Dude, we have a shared bond and that just get out and get where the people are.” So, Hey Omar, let’s put the question up there because it’s a really good one. And we’ve got a few minutes and we should talk about it because-Josh Pitts:So, real quick, going back to Show Up, I want to talk-Alec Hanson:Yeah. Okay. Let’s do.Josh Pitts:… ladies and gentlemen if you show up, you’re ahead of 95% of the industry. Truly, just showing up.Alec Hanson:I know, it’s the truth.Josh Pitts:All right. Throw that question back up there, because that’s a good question.Alec Hanson:Actually no, I got a story now. Hold on.Josh Pitts:Okay, go.Alec Hanson:So, I’m 23 years old and I was told by my mentor at the time to just go out and meet agents at open houses and at broker previews. Just go out, just meet them, say hi, shake your hands, drop the business card off, just go out and say hi. And I was like, “Okay, whatever you say.” And this is 2003 when everyone was refinancing the world and I’m just like, “I was told to go hang out with realtor, so I went out.” I remember this realtor who is still kicking serious ass in Orange County. This guy named Don Abrams runs his own brokerage, I owe so much to this man.He’s a major agent, does tons of business and on Thursday he had a broker preview open house. So I walk in, in my suit and he’s on the Bible Island he’s like, “Dude, you can’t wear a suit here. What are you doing?” And I’m 23, scared to death. And I’m like, “Don, I just want to introduce myself, I’m Alec.” He’s like, “Great.” I leave. Next day he has another listing, Friday, so I go to that one, “Hey Don.” “Alec?” Like, “Yeah.” Saturday, another listing I show up, Sunday. So, four days in a row, he’s at an open house. And I try to be sensitive on open house days because there’s people and customers.But I walk in and I’m like, “Don.” And he looks me dead in the face and he’s like, “Alec, are you going to come to every single one of my open houses?” And I’m terrified. I have massive Call Reluctance, fear of rejection, all my insecurities are right here. And he’s like, “Are you going to come to every single one?” And I’m like, “Oh God, this is it. This is the moment.” And I squeak out like, “Yeah. Is that okay?” And he actually he laughed, he gave me grace and he said, “It took my last loan officer two years to earn my business, keeps showing up.”Took me six months. Six months of showing up every day. On a weekend, one day he calls me and he goes, “Hey, I’m sitting with the Johnson’s,” I can’t remember who, “they want to buy one of my listings. Can you do a prequel right now on a Saturday?” And I was like, “I’ve been waiting for this moment, Don, tap, tap I’m in, let’s rock.” And dude showing up it’s the game. That’s the game. Okay.Josh Pitts:[inaudible 00:28:23].Alec Hanson:You want to talk hardware for a sec for Omar?Josh Pitts:Yeah, we can totally jump on to that question. That’s a good question.Alec Hanson:All right. So he asks, “On the tech front, could you give us some good recommendations on hardware? Mics, cams? We know the limited supply, any other places to look besides Amazon and eBay?” I got some answers for this, Josh, why don’t you share your perspective?Josh Pitts:Yeah, when it comes to, if you’re just getting, Omar, going back to what I was talking about earlier, if you really are like, “Hey, I want to put out good content, want to put out quality content,” then again, I want everybody to know, you don’t have to spend money. You can start, I started with my iPhone. I, to this day actually, still use my iPhone for some of my videos, because it’s great quality. But if you’re going to get a camera, it is really hard to find a camera on, especially a decently priced camera, on Amazon. Like Logitech, some dude, I don’t know if you heard this, Alec, but some dude out of China bought all the Logitech cameras. He saw this trend, that’s where they’re all at-Alec Hanson:No, no.Josh Pitts:… this dude … legit. Yeah, legit. We did a bunch of research. This guy out of China bought a ton of them, and now he’s basically selling them for twice as much. You can find them out there.Alec Hanson:That’s messed up.Josh Pitts:And this guy’s one of them … I’ll post the guy’s name, because I’ve been trying to get people not to buy from this guy because it’s so messed up that he did it. Anyway, side story. So, starting with a Logitech camera, there’s a couple of great little cameras out there. My camera right now, I’m running a Canon EOS 90D. It’s a 4K camera, it’s way above what you will ever need, but we do a lot of content, so that’s what we use, and our setup is not easy. I have an HDMI cable running into an El Gato capture card, so it gets complicated. But simply, go buy a webcam. Most laptops have a great webcam. Here’s the thing too, is Facebook just barely started allowing you to even do 1080p video. For the longest time, they would only allow me 720-Alec Hanson:And yet [crosstalk 00:30:04].Josh Pitts:… and most cameras only run 720 anyway. Alec Hanson:Yup.Josh Pitts:Yeah, so you don’t have to worry about it. 720 is still great quality. I don’t worry about the quality … people will comment, and again, as you continue to put out more and more content, then yes, you probably need to upgrade it, but again, for most LOs, most originators, $100 camera, $50 camera … I think the Logitech, what is it, the C920 or whatever it is?Alec Hanson:Yeah, it’s like $60.Josh Pitts:Or the L920? Whatever they … yeah, it’s $60, and it’s a fantastic camera. I promise they’re going to come back on the market. We’ve actually had conversations with Logitech. We have a very good relationship with them, so their cameras are going to be coming back. Stay tuned for it.And then my favorite mic to buy is the Blue Yeti Microphone, it’s $149.Alec Hanson:USB connection.Josh Pitts:USB connected. It is the best microphone to start with. Bar none. You can adjust the sound quality, like you mentioned Alec, it’s a USB mic, so if you’re starting with a … in my opinion, audio is way more important than video, especially when you’re starting. That was the one mistake I wish I would’ve … we started with a Blue Yeti, I have one over here behind me. Start with good sound quality, because is, I think, in my opinion, everybody should have a podcast, and both Alec and I do is every video that I do, I strip the audio, and I put it into a podcast for him too, so people, you can put it on iTunes, you can put it on, I use Buzzsprout to basically put it out to all the different podcasting. So audio is way more important than video. I always, people are always like, “No, video, video, video.” No way. Audio is way more important. People listen to audio. Again, if you’re at the gym … I know none of us go to the gym right now, but when we all go back to the gyms? I listen to podcasts when I’m working out. You don’t really watch YouTube when you’re working out. You just listen to a podcast. So if you’re starting to put out content, audio is big. Strip that audio out and turn it into a podcast.Alec Hanson:Even people have their YouTube or something up on a sub, on a tab while they’re doing emails and working, and they’re not even looking at the video, they’re just listening to the audio.Josh Pitts:100%.Alec Hanson:So, you’re nailing it. Audio is crucial in this day and age, and you can’t skimp on the price for a good mic. And I second the Yeti, I use it at home, I use it everywhere. They’re incredibly good, and they’re not that expensive, candidly. And they don’t require you to have technical skills. You just plug it in. You’re rocking.Omar, the other question on best places to look. I’m scanning Target, Walmart, BH Photo, all those kind of retailers online that we used to go to Amazon for. I think everyone’s finding, by the way, this is so funny. Now that people are so pissed that Amazon is like, “Takes two weeks to deliver now,” they’re like, “Oh. I used to have it Prime and get it in the hour, and now they’re having to send ventilators to save humans and I’m mad, I can’t get it tomorrow.” But go to Target. Get it tomorrow from Target. It’s one of those things that I just find so freaking hysterical. Okay, Josh-Josh Pitts:This is the mentality of our industry though. It’s so bad. Amazon shot themselves in the foot because they created this expectation of two day, you can get anything in two days, and now the world is mad because it took six days. And that’s still so fast. Guys, stop freaking out. It’s just baffling to me.Alec Hanson:Yup, and so here’s my question. You mentioned podcasting, and you said everyone should have a podcast. Which of course, immediately peoples’ heads fall off, and they’re like, “I could never do it, it’s too much,” and that. But I want you to share why, I want you to share where to go if I, how did you learn how to do a podcast? And really, I’m a local LO. I do 30 million a year, which is awesome. You’re doing God’s work right now. But you’re telling me to have a podcast? Why? I want your insight, I want you to share it.Josh Pitts:Absolutely. So, first and foremost if you’re starting a podcast, I’ve watched trends. Again, I have watched so many trends outside of our industry in marketing, in sales, I mean just in so … in gaming. I’ve just watched so many other trends happen, and if you have watched the trends, and again, don’t get mad at the messenger, I’m just … over in China, what they’ve done with podcasts is mind boggling. They have hundreds of millions of podcasts. And we’re just starting to scratch the surface of a couple million podcasts. People think, they’re like, “Well oh, everybody’s got a podcast these days.” Great, man, as a matter of fact, they don’t.If you look at Buzzsprout, if you look at a lot of the iTunes, yes, they’re popping up. But again, there’s some targeting that you can do, and you can utilize your podcast locally, in your local community, that people will listen to it. And it is so cheap to have a podcast right now. It’s basically free. You get an audio, you can even use your iPhone. You can literally record an episode on your iPhone and you can put it out on a podcast. But here’s why. I started a podcast because I saw the trend, and now our podcast has grown exponentially over the last few months, just because people are listening. That’s, you hear great guys like Gary Vaynerchuk talking about that. And like you said, I’ll be sitting here doing some work and I’ll have YouTube up in the background and I’ll be listening to audio. We’re a very audio driven society. We listen, I mean look at Alexa. You can’t see what’s going on on Alexa. If you use Alexa, or if you use Google Home, or whatever you use, it’s all audio. So-Alec Hanson:Yeah, keep listening.Josh Pitts:… Yeah, people are listening right now. Everybody’s listening. CIA is listening to us right now. That’s a whole nother topic.Alec Hanson:Oh, man. This is a good podcast.Josh Pitts:But literally, people are listening to you. And here’s the other thing too, to be honest, Alec, is people are more comfortable doing audio than they are video, which I don’t know why. I don’t get it, but some people are so uncomfortable on camera. Let kind of pop your little bubble right now, because believe it or not, you look the exact same on camera as you do in real life. So if you actually meet people in real life, holy shit, people are like, “You look the same!” It baffles me when I have originators say, “Well, I feel uncomfortable on video.” I’m like, “Well, do you meet clients in person?” They’re like, “Yeah.” Then I’m like, “I’m totally baffled because you look exactly the same on camera as you do in person, so I’m missing something here.” So if you don’t feel comfortable-Alec Hanson:I always say the same thing. Especially, do you bring a stunt double in for your face-to-face customer applications? A stunt person? No.Josh Pitts:Yeah. It’s like, “Hey guys, bring in the double. We’re going to set up a quote right now. We’re going to bring in the double. Hold on just a sec, ladies and gentlemen. We’re going to switch out.” No, you do it on video. So, anyway. Sorry, we digressed. Audio, people listen to it. Like I said, it’s so easy to get good audio and good quality audio right now and putting it on a podcast. So part of the squad, we actually walk you through how to set up a podcast, where to start. You can use Libsyn, you can use Buzzsprout. I use Buzzsprout because it’s so simple. Like anything, there’s a learning curve, but again, we can help you with it. I know Alec, this is something that you’ve done. But why?I want to get tactical. Because some of you are probably asking, “Why would I do a podcast?” You can connect with people in your local community. Imagine this just real quick. So let’s say you’ve got a real estate agent because that’s everybody. We’re so one track-minded and we think about real estate agents. Let’s say Alec’s a real estate agent and he’s having an open house. What if you went to Alec and said, “Hey, let’s do a podcast about your open house? Let’s talk about not only the open house that you’re having, but let’s talk about the local restaurants. Oh my gosh, let’s bring one of the local restaurant owners in and let’s have him on the podcast as well talking about during the open house they’re offering 25% off to come and actually do a quick open house for that restaurant as well.”So now people are going to come to the open house. They can go a block down the road to the local bakery, they’re on the podcast as well. That’s a win-win. You have to look at things like opportunities like that. That’s tactical shit right there. I just gave you an idea that you can implement that now you’re valuable to that real estate agent because I guarantee they haven’t done that with any other originator, but now you’re putting them out there. You just partnered them with another local business where now they can collaborate together. Again, you’re bringing like-minded people together. That’s all on a freaking podcast. You just having-Alec Hanson:Here’s the thing that you’re echoing or that I want to echo; your reach goes up. You interview and talk to those people, they share with their community. You’re doubling and tripling and exponentially pushing your reach out for free.Josh Pitts:100%.Alec Hanson:For free.Josh Pitts:For free.Alec Hanson:For free.Josh Pitts:Dude, it’s crazy to me. The fact that people are like, “Well, what do I talk about on a podcast?” Here’s the thing, you and I have been going for almost 40 minutes now. And I tell people “When you first start, don’t try to go 40 minutes. Don’t even try to go 30 minutes.” My live show, Daily LO Life, I shot for 15 minutes. Again, us as humans, we have short attention spans first of all. Number two, if you’re trying to put out long-form content, you have to work your way up to it. Again, both you and I, when you were doing your hundred day video challenge, I think you were to two minute videos, right?Alec Hanson:Yep. Two to three minute, four minute videos were long. That was it because they were quick hits.Josh Pitts:Yeah, and that’s just it. So people are asking themselves like, “Josh, I can’t do a podcast. I can’t sit for 30 minutes and talk to somebody.” It doesn’t have to be 30 minutes long. Again, if Alec is a real estate agent and I’m bringing in a local business owner or a local bakery or a local restaurant, that’s right there just introducing themselves. Alec can introduce himself. “Hey, I’ve been a real estate agent for how long. I’m with this company.” Talk about the house. There’s a couple of minutes. Now, the local restaurant owner, talk about them, why they started the restaurant, the food that they have. “Hey, we’re offering a 25% discount during this time if you come to this open house.” That’s 10, 15 minutes right there.And again, here’s the thing that I see originators making the mistake, is they think the show has to be about them. Alec, my brand and my show has been built around other people. Great people like Alec. You don’t have to be the expert in mortgage, but you don’t have to be the center of attention. Other people love when you stroke their egos. Focus on Alec, focus on their other restaurant person. You may say 30 seconds of content, but you’re the one who initiated it so people see you as that expert. Guys, this is the stuff that is actually going to change your world.Alec Hanson:It’s such a no brainer. Here’s how I want to compliment what you’re saying. So one of the first books that was thrown in my face as this young sales guy was How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie. Classic book, super aged and old, but super relevant all the time. You don’t have to have the content. If you just ask people to talk about themselves, they will talk forever about themselves. And exactly Josh, what you said. If you ask them to introduce themselves.Let’s say it’s a local restaurant, which they’re all struggling. They’re all struggling right now. They can’t open. They’re doing takeout. They’re trying to be creative. And you get the owner on the podcast. You talk to him, you go, ‘When did you start the restaurant? What’s your favorite dish there? How are you managing this COVID insanity? And how can people help you?” That’s 40 minutes. Those four questions will consume 40 minutes of conversation while this business owner explains how they’re trying to save people’s jobs that are employees’ jobs, their cooks and their waitresses and their staff, and how they’re trying to support their community. And the whole time, all you got to sit there and just do is just this. “Yeah, tell me more. Yeah, tell me more.” You just got to do it.Josh Pitts:You do, simply. And coming back to that Alec, you just have to do it. Because I guarantee there’s somebody watching this show right now like, “Oh, I can’t do that.” You can. Let’s just talk about worst case scenario. So let’s say you do this. You reach out to Alec, you say, “Hey, I hear you’re a real estate agent. You’re doing this open house.” I don’t even know if people can do open houses right now. Let’s just talk about there’s no open house. Let’s just say, “Hey Alec, let’s have you on the show. Let’s talk about our local community. So you’re a local real estate agent. I want to have you on my podcast. And where’s your favorite place to eat? Oh, you love to eat at In-N-Out down the road. I can think of anything else and In-N-Out sounds delicious to me right now. So hey, let’s reach out to the local manager.Speaking of, total side note. There was a run from 2015 to 2017, In-N-Out had just come to Utah, and I reached out to one of the managers and I said, “Hey, let’s do a show talking about it.” That’s when I was first getting into all this stuff. I did that. I won the business of every chain inside of Utah. I did almost every loan for In-N-Out employees for years, and doing something just like this.Alec Hanson:Mikey, that’s one of our clips right there, dude. That’s so gold. That’s so gold. All you did was interview the In-N-Out guys and you got all of their business?Josh Pitts:Dude, I literally was doing In-N-Out. It’s funny because me and another real estate agent, we were doing those… They just came to us. We became the local In-N-Out mortgage people just because I did an interview with them. I’m like, “Hey, let’s talk about In-N-Out, why they’re coming to Utah, why it’s good timing for that.” And dude, that provided me millions, tens of millions of dollars of business over the next couple of years. All over a simple interview. So anyway, going back to this, if there’s not an open house…Alec Hanson:It’s so easy, dude. And look, I don’t want to downplay anybody’s hard work here. I’m not trying to crap on anybody and be like, “It’s so easy to get loans. All you have to do is interview the In-N-Out guy.” But sometimes it is that easy. Some day you just showed up. I can’t do it sometimes.Josh Pitts:And you may be thinking, “Well, I can’t do that.” But why can’t you? Yes you can. It truly is just a decision you have to make in your head if you’re willing to. You have to be uncomfortable. If you want to grow, if you want to grow your business, especially in times right now. I love the comment by Bob [Guertin 00:44:03]. Sorry, Bob, I probably slaughtered your last name…Alec Hanson:I think you got it.Josh Pitts:… but you have to think outside the box. It’s outside of the box thinking right now. That’s what you have to do. These ideas Alec and I are giving you right now, this is outside the box thinking. You just have to be willing to execute on it. Showing up is just part of it, and that’s why it’s show up and hustle. Now you showed up, now you actually have to go do something with what we’re giving you. And everybody can.Alec Hanson:And here’s the thing guys, everybody listening, you get better. It’s a skill. No one likes lifting weights in the beginning. No one likes it, you’re terrible at it, no one likes working out in the beginning. And we all know the truth, it’s a skill. You get better and you get more confident and you get more relaxed and everything improves. But if you don’t start, you never see the benefit of that.Josh Pitts:Perfection comes through practice. Like I tell everybody, “Your first video is going to suck.” I’m sure you’ve gone back and watched some of your first interviews, Alec, and some of your first videos? So bad.Alec Hanson:I don’t even bring that into my life anymore. I’m free. That’s the past, I’m looking to the future.Josh Pitts:But all of you can do it. Don’t expect your first video to look like this. Alec has done a great job and built it over time. Your first video, people, they want to see you. And here’s the thing and you’ve heard it before. It’s so cliche, but people think about you a lot less than you think they think about you. They’re not thinking about “Oh my gosh, that video Alec just put out, that was garbage. That was terrible.” They’re just happy to see you right now. People are craving that relationship. You just got to put out some type of content so they see you, that’s it.Alec Hanson:And I want to compliment that by saying everyone has their unique audience.Josh Pitts:Oh, 100%.Alec Hanson:There’s people that like me. They like my goofiness, they like my nerdiness. And there’s lots of people that are like, “I hate this guy. I don’t like him.” They don’t have a connection to me. And you have to realize, your unique audience is literally waiting for you to step out into the spotlight. I always make this comment, as much as we try to be enlightened, we judge people. We’re judging people. You’re judging me right now. Not you, Josh. You love me. I know you love me. But you’re judging this episode. You do it all the time. You see someone on the street, you judge them immediately. And then sure, you can change your judgment and you can try.But my point is, sometimes they want to see their own people, whoever they are, come online and then they immediately resonate. Josh, there are some people that we resonate with instantly. Right?Josh Pitts:Yep.Alec Hanson:You see them. Kind of like when I mentioned our show up similarities. I feel like we’re kindred spirits. You have that connection. So if you never show up, that whole group of people that is waiting for you, they’re not going to ever get to experience you. And you need to show up for your audience. Everyone has a unique audience waiting for them.Josh Pitts:And that dude, I couldn’t have said it any better. Show up for your audience. Here’s the thing, one of the mistakes I see originators trying to do is they try to put out content that attracts other originators. Why would you ever do that? What is wrong with you? And here’s the thing too, I’ll have an originator say, “Oh Josh. Well, I saw this other piece of content, but I can’t put that out because they already did.” Yeah, you can. One of my favorite lines is steal like an artist by Austin. Another great book, Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon. My favorite book in the world, Steal Like an Artist. Now, I’m not telling you to plagiarize and say word for word. Don’t be Jay Shetty. Don’t be an idiot.But if Alec does a great video and I’m connected to him as an originator. And, again, he’s in a completely different demographic. He’s in California, I’m in Utah. I’m going to go take that video, I’m going to put it out to my audience too. I’m just going to put it in my own words. Don’t overthink content. Our industry is full of great people. I can think of some phenomenal people. If you don’t follow Ryan and Jessica Ehler right now, Ryan Ehler puts out some phenomenal content. Does a great job with it. There’s so many. Andrew and Katie puts out great content. There’s so many great people putting out content, go follow them, watch the videos that they put out, and then just put your own spin on it.Because again, your audience is waiting for Alec. My audience is waiting for Josh. Ivan’s audience is waiting for Ivan. Omar’s waiting for Omar. But they’re waiting for you. They’re not seeing the rest of the industry’s videos right now. They’re just waiting for you, so go put out content for them.Alec Hanson:That’s the end dude. That’s got to be how we wrap this down. They are waiting for you. So, Josh, super excited for Squad. Can not wait. Everyone on here that is watching this not live or on a replay, connect to this guy. Wait for the Squad announcement drop. When is it coming? Do you have a date?Josh Pitts:Yeah, May 1st.Alec Hanson:Oh, we’re here. Okay. May 1st, man. We’re on the edge of it. That’s pretty cool.Josh Pitts:It’s coming.Alec Hanson:That’s going to be an epic community of like-minded people trying to push themselves forward. I love that you’re doing that. Thank you for hanging out with me today. Thank you for everything you do for this industry. Guys, thank you for listening and participating with this guy. Please like, share, respond, all that stuff. We love engagement. I love doing this live. I love the comments. This is going to be the new thing, the new normal. So thank you guys for hanging with us. And with that, end the show. Take care.