In this episode of Connect & Convert, Dennis Collins sits down with Brian Tewes, founder and owner of Tewes Lending in Orlando, Florida. Brian shares his entrepreneurial journey, detailing the challenges he faced while starting his own mortgage company and the strategies he employs to successfully market his business in a competitive landscape. He emphasizes the importance of being hyper-local, focusing on building relationships with real estate agents, and providing exceptional customer experience. Brian also discusses the advantages of working with a smaller, local mortgage company, including faster processing times and lower interest rates. Throughout the conversation, Brian offers valuable insights and advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, stressing the importance of perseverance, adaptability, and continuous learning. Whether you're a small business owner or considering starting your own venture, this episode is packed with practical tips and inspiring stories from Brian's experience in the mortgage industry.

Hello again, it's Dennis Collins with another episode of Connect

& Convert your sales accelerator podcast, where you learn the insider secrets to

growing your sales faster than ever.

Hey, my partner, Leah is off today.

I have a very special guest that I'd like to introduce.

I'd like to welcome today a very special guest to Connect & Convert.

His name is Brian Tews and Brian is the founder and the owner of Tews Lending,

which is based in Orlando, Florida.

He's a native of South Florida, but he found his way up to Orlando.

He went to UCF to get his MBA, UCF, go Knights!

Heh heh.

Charge on.

Charge on, buddy.

He is now in his fourth year, so it's a fairly new business.

He's in his fourth year of ownership of Tewes Lending.

I love to bring people like Brian to the attention of our listeners.

Uh, our listeners are mostly small business owners or people who

aspire to be a small business owner.

Okay?

And Brian didn't just think about it, didn't just talk about it.

He did it.

Brian.

Okay.

And so from his lips to your ears, he is going to help us understand

all the trials, tribulations and the joys of being a small business owner.

Hi, Brian.

And welcome.

Hey, Dennis, thank you so much for having me.

This means a lot.

Really appreciate the opportunity.

It's a pleasure because, uh, I mean, you're one of

the first people I wanted to get.

Our podcast is still somewhat new.

We've got about 35 episodes in already.

We, we release, release one a week.

So we're very aggressive.

So we're, we're trying to build up some really good guests and

you're going to be one of them.

So, uh, I love the tagline that you use in some of your

marketing, "Let's Get You Home".

How'd you come up with that?

What does that mean?

Uh, that's a great question.

So "Let's Get You Home", I mean, obviously it ties into the more huge piece of

the business, but, uh, I was very, it's very key on some of the words I chose.

So for example, the very first one, let's, I chose let's and not

we'll get you home or I'll get you home because it's a team effort.

It's a partnership.

So it's not just myself and my team, it's also the real estate agents we work

with, the title agents, as well as the actual consumer, the buyer of the home

or the borrower getting a refinance.

It's, it's all coming together.

So that was very first on let's being the very first word and

then get you meaning, okay, who are we actually focusing this on?

And that is the client and then home, which is that could have several meanings.

Yeah.

It could be get you home, get you into a house.

Or get you to the finish line.

A lot of my social media, my caption is getting you there.

Whatever your goal is, that's what we want to help you

accomplish in a in a team effort.

So it all kind of Combined into "Let's Get You Home".

Hey, Brian.

I love the wordsmithing.

I mean, this wasn't just something you came up with.

Uh, uh, you thought this through.

I love the double meaning of home.

I caught that and I was going to ask you about that.

What does that mean?

And you just described it.

It has two very, very strong meetings.

So, you all, you actually started in the business as a branch manager for

your dad, who is also Brian Tewes, which I have confused on several occasions.

And, uh, Dad Brian is living the life down in the Florida Keys.

But you opened a branch office of Tewes Mortgage, uh, and talk to us

about how that happened and then I want to talk about 2021, the year

you decided to found Tewes Lending.

But first of all, tell us about your background with your dad.

Sure.

So my dad not always tried to put a bug into my ear about getting into mortgages.

It was more so find my own path, whatever that may end up being.

And it was in.

2017 when I realized I need to be doing something different,

need to be doing something more.

And at coincidentally the same time I was purchasing my first property,

which of course my dad helped me do the mortgage, started asking tons

of questions to him, not just your typical, what's my monthly payment

going to be and how much cash do I need?

I was really diving into the specifics and into the weeds of mortgages.

And the crazy part was, It was all clicking in my head.

It was, it was one of those instinctual things that were coming to me.

So chatting with my dad, thought about getting my mortgage license, doing

it on the side, while still having a full time job, and that went nowhere.

Absolutely nowhere for the four months that I attempted that.

No leads, no clients, nothing, just absolutely nothing.

Uh, so.

When I decided to leave the corporate world, I was working at

an investment bank at the time.

I had a couple opportunities to get into mortgages.

One was under my dad's wing.

And then the other one was actually working for a, um, uh, for a pretty decent

sized mortgage company here in Orlando.

And I chose to go under my dad's wing for obvious reasons being family, right?

But then also a little bit more challenging.

My dad was still down the keys.

Zoom was not a thing.

So I think we were using Skype.

That's how he was teaching me.

And what ended up really being a, a two man operation, him down the keys and me

here and then I actually had a couple close friends of mine decide they wanted

to try out the mortgage industry, next.

So, you know, I had my own branch.

Uh, so that was the first three or four years was growing my business,

growing the name of Tewes up in Orlando because outside of my college friends,

nobody had really knew who I was.

So that was, that was probably one of the biggest challenges was

marketing, was marketing, the name, the brand here in central Florida.

And also learning how to become not just a manager, but a leader in a true

professional entrepreneurial environment.

That was the first three or four years of me being in

this, uh, in this line of work.

So it's been very, very interesting, very challenging.

Come from a COVID in 20 and then also 2021 real estate wise, housing

market wise, we blew up right.

As much as everybody else, and we can thank the two and 3 percent interest

rates for, for most of that abundance.

Yeah.

In 2000.

Yeah.

But in, uh, in 2021, that was a, it was a very challenging year outside of,

uh, yes, again, tons of business, great opportunities, but learning how to scale

up was something I had never done before.

Heard the phrase, knew the definition, was not something I was looking to achieve.

And the market forced my hand, forced our hands.

Again, I'm still working with my pops.

And we went through a lot of hiccups, obstacles, road bumps, butting heads.

It was not easy at all.

And, um, in 2021, it was towards the latter part of the year.

It kind of got me thinking like, man, maybe not.

There's absolutely no bad blood between my dad and I.

We absolutely love each other, talk to each other still every day.

But there were just certain things that he wanted to do for scaling the McKeith and

what I wanted to do in central Florida.

That was, they were just different.

And it wasn't a matter of having my own branch.

It was this might be where I need my own company.

And I thought that, but I was truthfully too scared to tell him

and we actually had a meeting.

I went, I went down to the keys and he said it.

He said, son, I think it's time that you potentially have your own company.

So, uh, it was, I was, I was too, yeah, I was too chicken, you know what?

And he kind of, uh, pulled it, pulled it out of me.

So that's, that was a transition.

So that was how I got into it initially.

And yeah, eventually my, my own shop.

Great story looking back and you, you, you documented

all, you know, what a tough time for any business 20, 2020, 2021, even

2022, and you probably started, uh, Tewes Lending at one of the most

challenging times ever in our economy.

Granted, there were some low interest rates, which didn't, which didn't hurt,

but there was a lot of stuff going on.

What is it that you didn't know then that, you know, now, as you look back and

say, how did I overcome that obstacle?

What were the obstacles that you had no way of predicting

to start up Tewes Lending?

Yeah, man, the start of Tewes Lending.

I, I did not realize how, how much goes into, you know, you see all the, uh,

the marketing of like, oh, to, to create your LLC or create your S corp, just go

to this, just go to this website, go to this company and they'll do it for you.

And that's it.

Oh my God.

That is one out of a hundred things you have to do.

Um, so you have to register with the state of Florida.

I'm not just talking Sundays.

You need to get your, um, employment taxes, the I mean, I was going on, I

was going on state of Florida websites.

I'd never even heard of or seen before.

Um, It was, it was a whirlwind to get your certain business licenses,

not just with the state, but with the city, with the county.

Um, before it was just, Oh, I just need my mortgage license.

Now there's so many other licenses you have to get.

Um, compliance wise, I had to get a compliance team, make sure that all

of my, um, my legal documents were in line, that my disclosures were correct.

Um, that even if everybody on my team, uh, just granted everybody on my

team was independent contracted, but make sure those contractor agreements

were, were shaped up and compliant.

So, yeah, the creating an LLC, creating an S corp was the start

and that's step one and step two.

But there are, there was so much more.

Uh, and at times, I, it's one of those times where it's like, you

don't know what you don't know.

And there were times where I didn't, I did not know what I needed to do, but I

would get a nice, lovely letter in the mail that said, Brian, Tewes, Tewes,

Lending you haven't filed for this.

I'm thinking, oh crap, I need to jump on this ASAP.

And that's sometimes that's how I learned.

It wasn't Lisa wasn't the cops knocking at the

door with handcuffs or something.

No, no, it was not.

Not that that's, not that that's serious.

Okay.

But here's, here's, here's a question.

And as you talk about those obstacles.

I, uh, you know, I hope that informs a lot of our listeners who are thinking about,

who are contemplating, they had this dream of their own business, uh, there are some

preparation steps that you need to do.

And probably somebody like you who could mentor them would be a good idea

to talk to somebody who's done it.

That's kind of the reason I wanted you on the podcast is to give our listeners.

A chance to understand, but I have a question, okay, with all of that

difficulty, all of those hoops that you had to jump through, which is

more difficult, jumping through those hoops or figuring out how best

to market the new Tewes Lending.

Oh, man, at the time it was, it was the hoops.

It was definitely the hoops.

Um, but now it is, and after the hoops were taken care of, yeah, definitely

the, the marketing of Tewes Lending.

Once, once you figure out the hoops to jump through, um, it's a matter of

just renewing those hoops every year.

And if you create a, I created a list of every, Almost like a checklist of

everything that you've got to do, so I don't need to rethink that, but marketing

branding the company was a challenge.

I mean, even to this day, people still say Tewes Mortgage, even

though it's Tewes Lending.

So that was a challenge in itself.

But yeah, there's so many different tactics you can go about.

You can trial and error to see what works.

Um, there's a lot of competition, a lot of competition in central

Florida that does not stop.

Um, as you mentioned, a crazy time, 2020, 2021, and even 22, a lot of

people got into the mortgage industry, though there was more competition.

And now I've got a brand new company to market.

That's not, that's a, that's a recipe for disaster.

So to, to kind of get past that was for sure a, um, I can't think

of another word of the challenge.

It was, it was even to this day, um, marketing is at the

forefront of, of my mind.

Um, we can help our clients.

We can help our realtors, our title partners.

Um, but our biggest thing is we need to be known.

We have to be out there.

So, um, that, that today is still the, you know, one of the biggest

accomplishments we have to strive for.

What has worked best for you?

Obviously, we, uh, we're our overall, uh, group is called Wizard of Ads.

Okay.

We have 75 Wizard of Ad partners all over the world.

And one of our biggest challenges is marketing.

We, we, we tackle that challenge for small business owners every single day.

So I would love for you to talk about what is working best for you.

What have you found is the most effective way to market Tewes Lending?

It is, and it sounds so simplistic, but it is a combination of

being present at events and it is a social media push and also email marketing.

So I pride myself on being the mortgage expert.

Yeah, there's a.

You've got a question.

I'm going to have an answer for you.

If I don't know the answer, give me 20 minutes and I'm going to

get back to you with that answer.

Um, so that's, that's really my push.

And then to be able to market that on social media, not just Facebook and

Instagram, we're on YouTube, we're on LinkedIn, we're on Tik TOK, we're

basically everywhere except Twitter or X.

So being able to, being able to showcase that my team and I

are experts On those different platforms has been really helpful.

And then also emailing out to just kind of be on the forefront of somebody's mind.

And if there is an event, then show in person.

We are, I guess this is a little bit of a unique thing.

We are one of the few mortgage companies that with the exception of investment

properties, If you're trying to buy a primary home or a secondary residence,

we can only do Florida and a lot of mortgage companies will push and say,

we can do this in five states, 10 states, all states, which is fantastic.

But for us, we are local.

We are hyper local.

So there is enough business here.

in central Florida.

So I would tell you actually that that is one big advantage is that we don't

go in target to Georgia or Texas.

We are right here in Florida, right here in central Florida.

Um, so being able to people say, find your niche or find your, um, your clientele in

a sense is, Florida and central Florida.

Um, so that's, that's one thing that we just try to, again, hyper focus on.

That's interesting.

It, it, it, it creates another question in my mind.

As a consumer, as a customer, what are the advantages and disadvantages?

I have a, as you said, a ton of choices.

Some of these are big national companies that can do anything anywhere.

And others are like Tewes Lending that are localized into a particular part

of Florida, into the state of Florida.

As a consumer, what are the advantages and disadvantages of working with a

bigger firm, versus a smaller firm?

I'll start with the disadvantages.

So the disadvantage of working with a smaller company would be minor.

Others is we might not have all of the, uh, the technology that a

larger national company might have.

Yeah, I give you a given example.

There's one mortgage company.

They're nationwide.

And they have an app.

So if you're trying to purchase a property, they'll say, Hey

Dennis, just download our app and everything is going to be there.

Um, whether we need documents from you, um, you want to see where

exactly we are in the process.

It's all going to be in, in your, your app.

We won't have things like that.

But that, that's probably the biggest disadvantage and the other

disadvantage is, okay, if you want to buy a, um, a vacation home out

in Denver, Colorado, we might not be the best option for that, right?

We can, we can maybe finagle a way to create an investment property,

but if it's just a straight up vacation home, that's, that's not us.

So those are the disadvantages.

The, the advantages absolutely outweigh the disadvantage.

Number one, we are faster.

Um, we are, um, we're faster, we're cheaper, we're easier to work with.

There is not a, a, um, a supply line of people you have to speak to.

There's a very minimal group, so you know exactly who to go

to should you have questions.

Um, because we are a smaller operation, we can be a lot faster.

So, the national average for someone purchasing a property right now, do you

want to take a guess how long it is?

To get financed?

Yeah.

Okay.

How long is it, national average?

I'd say, uh, 60 days.

So, it's 42.

And that's off of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

We are at 17 days.

Whoa.

So, yeah, so, and that might not mean much if you want to close in 30

days, what's the point of 17 days?

Well, if you and five other people are trying to bid on the same home,

someone that says I can get this done in less than three weeks is

going to win over a 30 day or 42 day.

So that's one huge advantage.

We are also on the wholesale side.

So, you know, if you're trying to buy a certain item that's at Whole

Foods versus Sam's Club, Sam's Club is probably going to be cheaper, right?

If it's at both places, but you need a membership to get into Sam's

Club, and we are that membership.

So we have Um, we have wholesale mortgage interest rates, um, that are

generally anywhere from, uh, we call it basis points, 10 basis points.

So 0.

1 as much as up to, um, half a percent lower than your national average.

So when you see on CNBC or these other websites that the average

30 year mortgage rate is at 7.

1, that means that we're probably at 6.8 or 6.9.

So we're saving you money.

We are faster than the competition.

And we're hyper local.

We also know all of the tax laws and every piece of a fee or transaction that

goes on in here in Florida, you know, we don't have to worry about any rules

or regulations in the other states.

We know all of the rules for right here in Florida.

So those are some of the advantages.

Um, that I think outweigh the disadvantages.

I certainly like faster and cheaper.

Those, those would appeal to me right away.

And certainly knowledgeable.

I, uh, you know, boy, it, it can be, you know, buying properties,

I don't have to tell you, you do it every day you're in that space.

It can be very confusing.

Uh, and there's a lot of regulation, a lot of, like you said, a lot of paperwork, a

lot of stuff that has to be done, right.

Or somebody's in jeopardy.

Somebody may have a problem.

So, uh, let me, let me jump back into marketing for a second.

Cause I, I just, I'm on your social media.

So I see a lot of what you do.

And I'll tell you one thing that has really gotten me.

And that is your little videos.

I think you release those.

I don't know if you have a timetable.

It seems like they're weekly, at least maybe.

I don't think they're more often than that.

Do I have that right?

Maybe once a week.

Yep.

Yeah.

Once a week.

Yep.

I love your videos.

In fact, the latest one I just noticed, uh, I think it was today.

Fix and flip is, uh, I think one of your latest videos.

I haven't looked at it yet.

Tell, tell, tell the audience what fix and flip is.

Yeah.

So basically a fix and flip is a type of loan program we offer for anybody

that's trying to purchase a property.

They see it as the ugly duckling in the neighborhood.

They want to fix it up and then either keep it or they

want to sell it for a profit.

We have loans that are specifically designed for that.

And what I was mentioning in the videos and the other marketing pieces is that

we don't care if you've never done a fix and flip before, or if that's

all you do, we can help you no matter what end of the spectrum you are on.

So I kind of dove into a little bit of the specifics on the videos and the other

marketing pieces, but in a nutshell, you could have again, zero experienced,

you got to put some money down, right?

I think we have it at 20 percent down, but if that property costs

$30, 000 worth of work, you don't have to come up with the $30, 000.

We're going to finance that for you.

So you're coming up, you're coming up with that's

great.

That's great.

And, and my younger real estate investing days, uh, you and I would have been,

uh, even better friends than we are now.

Yeah, it's a, it's a really, really strong and, and simple

program and it gives as well, it gives people the opportunity to, to take

their time with the flip if they want.

I mean, we have anywhere from 12 to 18 month terms.

So a lot of people like to get in and out in two to four or five months.

Um, but if there's delays or anything and kind of gives them the shot.

And also another reason we, we talked about it.

Last thing I'll say is a lot of people don't know that we have that loan type.

Everyone thinks that we're just cookie cutter.

Someone trying to buy a primary home or an investment property.

No, like we can get into some unique programs too.

So that was another reason we pushed out and say, Hey, like, don't forget, we can

actually do these types of loans as well.

That's why I like your little video series.

What's been the response?

Uh, by your customers, by potential customers, what kind of response

do you get off your little videos?

So if I, if I do get feedback for the most, for the most of the part,

most of the time, it's, it is positive.

Uh, it's a lot of people asking questions, engaging, wanting to

know more, which is really cool.

And the, the weekly update video that I send out not on social media, but also,

uh, YouTube and email market as well.

I mean, we'll get anywhere on the low side, 20, 30 views up to

a hundred or so, and people are emailing back asking questions.

So that's really it.

We just want people to know that, Hey, here is a 45 second or 90 second update

on what's going on in the mortgage world.

And we know what we're talking about.

So at any point in someone's day or life, they think I need

something with a mortgage.

They're thinking Brian and his team, they know what they're talking about.

I'm going to go to them.

I couldn't agree more.

You are building your brand.

And you're doing it 45 seconds, 60 seconds at a time, but I, I have

never watched one of your little videos where I didn't learn something.

Okay.

I mean, you have taught me a lot of stuff and I thought, you know, I knew

a lot of this stuff having been a real estate investor for most of my life,

but no, you have brought me information and I'm sure others that we had no idea.

And that is a real, uh, point of, of differentiation.

How many people are doing that?

Uh, you know, that's, I'm sure there are others, but they

don't do it as well as you do.

Yeah.

Well, thank you for that.

No, there's, yeah, there's a.

There's a decent amount of people that are doing it, but it's one way

to just show, show your knowledge, show your personality to me.

I think the last video I posted, my, my camera was falling off to

the side and I was like, Oh, I need to straighten on my camera.

And I kept that in the video.

Cause it's like, Hey, I'm, I'm human too.

I'm I make mistakes.

Uh, but yes, that's, that's a little bit about it.

We talk a lot on this podcast, uh, Connect & Convert

about the emotional side of connecting and you, you said it.

Perfectly be real, be authentic.

Okay.

Uh, the old, uh, false narratives, they don't work anymore.

People are looking for real people.

And on those little videos, you're a real guy.

And that's, that, that's why I commend you on those videos.

They, they hit all the marks.

And you know, that's even something you may want to expand.

I'm not sure, you know, how much time you have, but those are very effective.

And, uh, I think they're a great, great marketing tool for you.

Let me talk a little bit about customer client acquisition.

I know you work closely with realtors.

Uh, I have two realtors that I'm thinking of in my life that I know,

you know, and have worked with.

What is the best way for Tewes Lending to acquire clients?

What's worked the best?

Um, the best way I've been able to actually have

a, a sit down with realtors.

I mean, I, outside of the sphere of influence, I'd say probably

90 percent of our business does come from real estate agents.

Being able to sit down with them, whether it be over coffee, lunch, or heck, even

a Zoom call I've done sometimes, is huge because sure I get to tell them about

me, but more importantly, I get to learn about them and their business and I

get to learn what is working for them.

Who are they targeting?

How are they targeting it?

Are they doing open houses?

Well, maybe we can join them there.

Are they targeting Airbnb investors?

Well, then I can teach them that we have an Airbnb investment loan.

That's, I would say, probably the most successful piece is being able to have

some one on one time or just be in front of a group of agents and teach them.

Yeah, I'm a CE certified instructor, so I can teach the agents, give them some

CE continued education credits and then right then and there I'm in front of

10, 15, 20 agents where, okay, now Brian definitely knows this stuff and they

have an opportunity to ask me questions.

Um, and vice versa.

So face to face time with real estate agents is probably the most successful

part for me to acquire clients, my team and I do acquire a client.

That's great.

Uh, or you, you, you hit two principles of influence right

there that I, Talk about a lot.

Number one, the principle of authority.

You're setting yourself up as the real estate mortgage authority and the

videos do that reaching out and doing these little meetings with realtors.

You are setting yourself up as the authority.

And the second principle is the principle of liking.

Um, you know, people do business with people they like, okay.

And you reach out and touch people and do these one on ones and

these face to face meetings to activate the principle of liking.

There's no surprise to me.

Why, you know, as you know, a lot of small businesses don't

make it to their fourth year.

There's no surprise to me how Tewes Lending has not

only made it, but has grown.

I look at your lineup when, when you started, I think

there were one or two of you.

Now, I think I count five or six people that are working with you,

which obviously speaks to your growth.

So thank you.

Okay.

As we wind this down, one, one quick question about customer experience.

I know you believe in communication.

You believe you believe in education and communication.

Love it.

And community involvement.

And you just explained all that.

Just give me a brief vision of what it would be like for me to

be a customer of Tewes Lending.

What, what are, what should I expect?

How would I be treated as a customer?

The very first thing that you would experience is either myself

or someone from my team reaching out to you actually via text message and

saying, Hey, Dennis, we were connected from Joe Schmo, and I wanted to, um,

reach out to you, see if I could help you answer any questions you might have.

What is a good time that works for you?

And I don't call you out of the blue hoping that you're, you

know, not recording a podcast.

I'm sending you a text message, so I'm on your timeline, and I'm saying,

what does your schedule look like?

So I am, I'm accommodating to you and your schedule.

So that's first.

And then once we actually get on the phone, I'm asking you tons of questions.

I want to hear your story.

You don't hear much from me until the very end.

I kind of let you kind of run the show and I'm I'm learning about you.

From after that introduction call or that, um, I guess exploratory call.

We'll call it, then I'm saying, okay, Dennis, Here's what we've

got to do to accomplish your goal.

We've got three steps we're going to tackle and it's, I

need you to do an application.

It takes three minutes.

It's really simple.

Then after the application, I need a few documents from you.

It's not a long laundry list.

It's really short.

And then the third and final thing is we're going to double check your credit.

So I'm outlining to you exactly what is going to happen in that order.

And every single time I'm keeping it simple.

I'm making it known that there's not going to be a whole lot of friction.

I do not need a lot of your time.

And then once you do these quick three things, you're done.

So I make it very easy to understand of this is not going to take a whole lot

of time, minimal effort, and that's it.

And then once that minimal effort is taken care of, you rest assured knowing

that we're going to take care of it.

Once you accomplish those three steps, what we have a different

conversation about, okay, if you're trying to purchase a property, what

does that monthly payment look like?

How much money do you actually want to put down?

Where's that money coming from, et cetera.

And then from there, assuming you have a real estate agent, you know, the fun part

begins, you start shopping for the home.

But even then.

We are, we're following up with you, you know, we're checking in

and say, Hey Dennis, happy Monday.

Uh, did you have a chance to go look at homes this past weekend?

If so, how was it?

Were there any properties that you need a, you know, an estimated monthly payment on?

Or if it's a Friday saying, Hey Dennis, happy Friday.

Um, any homes you plan to look at this weekend?

You want us to break down any payments for you?

Because sometimes.

We will have, uh, buyers come to us and say, yeah, can you show me what 123

Main Street's going to cost and we'll give you the monthly payment and you'll

say, oh, that, that's way too high.

I'm not even going to bother going to look at it.

Thank you for saving me the time.

So we're, we're really big on that.

I'm trying to make sure yourself and also the real estate agent you're

working with don't waste any time.

Um, and then once you do find the home, we're going to hold your hand,

the entire process to the finish line.

So that's just a little bit of a snippet of what you can expect.

Um, as the client.

I'll be, I'll be right over.

I think I need to apply.

I, I wasn't going to buy anything, but maybe I should, as you know,

customer experience wins the day.

And you have set up a very personal company business that has your

characteristics, your warmth, your communication skills, your, your

strategy, all the stuff that, that you, the founder and owner bring are

now transferred to your customers.

And it makes for a great customer experience.

And, you know, we talk on this podcast a lot about that.

You could be the customer experience kills everything else.

The culture and the customer experience beats everything.

And you have done that, Brian.

One last thing as we close out, any words of advice for that budding

entrepreneur, like the young Brian, who is not sure what to do, any words of

advice, any words of encouragement or discouragement for those young folks

that are trying to figure it out?

Yeah, um.

Man push through like it's it is a discovery in yourself.

I mean, I have, I have tried and succeeded.

I've tried and failed and sometimes what you think you want ends up not being it.

You know, I'll give the example pieces of advice, but the example

is, I thought I wanted to have a 15 to 20 person operation.

I figured man, you know, first and foremost, that's going to be

a huge impact in central Florida.

Number two, The money is not going to be bad either.

Um, but what I very quickly learned was I don't want to, I, and to, I don't

know, have a better way to phrase this.

I don't want to be in charge or leading or managing 15 to 20 people.

That is a lot and you need a lot of specific qualities, characteristics,

and that, I would say, working and leading with a team is by far the most

difficult part of being an entrepreneur.

So, if you are a solo entrepreneur, pros and cons, everything

is on you, good or bad.

If you have a team, then maybe you had a bad month, but your team had a great month

and you're still okay, or vice versa.

But man, it is extremely difficult to, uh, to constantly lead a team.

It does not stop.

It is a full time job.

So I would say definitely going back to the advice is try things out.

If you believe you want something, go for it.

And then lo and behold, you might be right or you might be wrong.

Either way, that's okay.

Um, so that's, that's probably the biggest piece of advice I

would say so far is go for it.

Wow.

That's enlightening.

The, the, you know, we could do a whole nother podcast on managing or leading.

What's are they the same or different?

And I think you just defined it.

They're different.

When you have a staff, you have to manage.

And lead when you're a leader, you lead and you know, that's that's a

discussion we have with our small business owners all the time.

Are you going to work in your business or on your business?

And that's a decision that has to be made.

Sounds like you've made it.

What a joy, Brian.

I thought I knew you well, but I didn't.

I found out things today that I didn't know to deepen my respect

and appreciation for what you do.

I want to thank you for taking the time to be on Connect & Convert.

Ladies and gentlemen, you've been listening to Brian Tewes,

the founder and owner of Tewes Lending at Orlando, Florida.

Brian, what's your contact information?

How could somebody get in touch?

Give us.

Awesome.

Thanks Dennis.

So easiest ways to look up Brian Tewes on anywhere, social media,

you're, you're going to come across either myself or my dad.

So hopefully I'm the younger one.

You look at the photos.

Uh, but on, on Instagram, I'm Bri, the mortgage guy, so B R I, and then

the mortgage guy, um, so I'm there.

And then TewesLending, so T E W E S, if you look that up in, you know,

any social media platform, uh, you'll find us, uh, and my, my direct email

is brian, B R I A N, at TewesLending.

com.

Again, T E W E S, Lending.

com.

And feel free to reach out to me.

Any, any questions.

questions, ideas, scenarios.

I love it.

I live it every day and I would be happy to help anybody that I can.

Well, again, thank you for your time.

Thank you also for being so open and vulnerable with.

With the answers.

I mean, what a help it's been to me and to our listeners.

So that wraps it up for this edition of Connect & Convert

the sales accelerator podcast.

We'll be back next week.

Stay

tuned.

Mhm.

Mhm.

Yeah.

Mhm.

Mhm.

Mhm.