How Lyndon Block Built 7 Insurance Brokerages Through Community Building

Lyndon [0:00:00]: If I was waiting on the sidelines waiting for the perfect magical.

Lyndon [0:00:03]: Here's a brokerage to take over, and it's gonna cost you a little to no money, and it's gonna be this...

Lyndon [0:00:08]: We have all the stuff they're gonna stay and it's got a perfect digital marketing plan and accounting crime and everything's ticket Eb is sixty five percent, like, it's not happen.

Lyndon [0:00:19]: Like, that'll never happen.

Lyndon [0:00:21]: And so because of that, you have to get in over your head.

Callan [0:00:27]: Welcome to The Insurance Growth Lab, where we go deep on the growth campaigns and strategies driving real results in the insurance industry.

Callan [0:00:35]: Callan Harrington, founder Flashgrowth And in each episode, I sit down with marketing and growth leaders from carriers and Sure tech and top brokers to break down one specific initiative, whether it's how they marketed a product, scale a channel or solved a specific growth challenge.

Callan [0:00:52]: It's no fluff just tactical insights you can apply in your own company.

Callan [0:00:57]: Alright, Lyndon, I've been excited to...

Callan [0:01:04]: I've one of them excited to get you on the shelf From when we had our our conversation previously.

Callan [0:01:09]: But really, I'm really excited to dive into this one particular story.

Callan [0:01:14]: So if you could for a minute.

Callan [0:01:17]: If we could go back, I know you're at an insurance conference it's to Saskatchewan.

Callan [0:01:20]: And a guy comes up one year.

Callan [0:01:24]: He's talking about marketing, due a phenomenal job.

Callan [0:01:27]: I'm purposely not saying his name so I don't give this away.

Callan [0:01:29]: And then he does a heck of a job.

Callan [0:01:31]: He he comes back.

Callan [0:01:33]: He's asked to come back again.

Callan [0:01:34]: And he basically tells the the crowd and calls everybody out for not doing anything.

Callan [0:01:40]: Can you walk me through this?

Lyndon [0:01:44]: Yeah.

Lyndon [0:01:44]: For sure.

Lyndon [0:01:44]: It was in Sas tune and Chris P so well known in the insurance spectrum here Kevin in talked about social media and marketing, and the first year, and I and I decided...

Lyndon [0:01:56]: Yeah.

Lyndon [0:01:56]: I'm gonna adopt these practices, so I was doing one Facebook post a month and Thought I was changing the change in the world.

Lyndon [0:02:02]: So when he came back, and he just right hooked us in the mouth saying, you haven't done anything.

Lyndon [0:02:09]: It's kind of, like, a wake up call to me of, like, you you know, you're absolutely right.

Lyndon [0:02:13]: So after the conference, I met him up the bar and we were just kinda talking shooting the breeze and he slid me as up business card.

Lyndon [0:02:21]: And he said, hey, If you ever any advice, just, you know, give me a call.

Lyndon [0:02:24]: And that was to his detriment because I picked him up on that.

Lyndon [0:02:27]: And and I gave him a call multiple times.

Lyndon [0:02:30]: So that started the conversation, like, what do I do??

Lyndon [0:02:34]: You need to update your web site, make it mobile friendly.

Lyndon [0:02:36]: You need to be posting daily on Twitter, Linkedin, you know, Facebook Pinterest Google Plus back when that was a thing.

Callan [0:02:43]: Yeah.

Callan [0:02:43]: Right.

Lyndon [0:02:44]: We did all the things.

Lyndon [0:02:45]: And so then he's, like, see what you get done, come back in a week.

Lyndon [0:02:48]: So we follow up in a week.

Lyndon [0:02:50]: He's like, so what did you get done?

Lyndon [0:02:51]: I, I got them all done.

Lyndon [0:02:52]: Now now what?

Lyndon [0:02:53]: He's like, oh, okay.

Lyndon [0:02:54]: Here's another ten things for you need to do.

Lyndon [0:02:57]: Start texting, start this.

Lyndon [0:02:58]: Start that.

Lyndon [0:02:59]: Like, just gave me a laundry list, trying probably to s me and, like, just shut up a little bit.

Lyndon [0:03:05]: Like, here's enough for you for a while.

Lyndon [0:03:07]: And so after he's, like call me in a month after that's all done, so I called him in two weeks.

Lyndon [0:03:12]: And I said, like, hey, I kinda got all that of stuff done.

Lyndon [0:03:15]: He's, like, no way you got that stuff done like, yeah.

Lyndon [0:03:17]: Like, it's done.

Lyndon [0:03:17]: He just...

Lyndon [0:03:18]: And I think that sparked him a little bit because I was being persistent.

Lyndon [0:03:22]: I was executing.

Lyndon [0:03:23]: I wasn't, you know, and he and then he started auditing my work a little bit just seeing, like, what have you been doing And then he's, well, really, there's nothing else to teach you over the phone.

Lyndon [0:03:32]: So best thing we could do is probably just have you come down to Connecticut for for a few days and and spend time with my marketing team.

Lyndon [0:03:39]: And I think he was kinda saying that tongue in cheek, like, just just leave me alone.

Lyndon [0:03:43]: But again, I'm a little slow, so I said, okay.

Lyndon [0:03:49]: Sounds good.

Lyndon [0:03:49]: Name the time in place.

Lyndon [0:03:50]: So so we...

Lyndon [0:03:53]: You say, well, let me get back to you.

Lyndon [0:03:55]: Yeah.

Lyndon [0:03:56]: Two weeks goes by.

Lyndon [0:03:57]: Doesn't get back to me.

Lyndon [0:03:58]: Understandably so.

Lyndon [0:03:59]: So I phoned him up again.

Lyndon [0:04:00]: I said, I know I'm being, you know, a real nuisance here, But, like, did you actually mean what you said?

Lyndon [0:04:05]: He's like, I did.

Lyndon [0:04:06]: Come down July eleventh to the fifteenth we'll make some time for you.

Lyndon [0:04:10]: Not only that.

Lyndon [0:04:12]: He's, like, my family's is the way you can stay into my house.

Lyndon [0:04:14]: And, again, I I don't really know this guy other than meeting the convention.

Lyndon [0:04:18]: So I, like, the fact that he offered me his place just blew my mind.

Lyndon [0:04:22]: So Anyway, flew down there.

Lyndon [0:04:25]: Spent four days with him, and his two head of marketing teams learned everything, about Google and Adwords and search kings and tagging, and you name it and he taught me everything Seo optimization website, Like, we went through it all.

Lyndon [0:04:37]: And free of charge, which, again, blew me out of the water.

Callan [0:04:43]: Oh hundred percent.

Lyndon [0:04:44]: And and I kinda of felt, you know, and and at the end of the conversation, we went know for a drink at the end of it all and he's, like, First of all, he's, like, this isn't free like it is, but he's like, I'm am going to make sure this was not a waste of my time.

Lyndon [0:04:57]: So I will be auditing you and watching you, and you need to make sure you keep this up.

Lyndon [0:05:01]: I was like, okay.

Lyndon [0:05:02]: Accountability.

Lyndon [0:05:03]: Right on.

Lyndon [0:05:04]: And he's, like, And let...

Lyndon [0:05:05]: And and tell me why are you're here?

Lyndon [0:05:06]: And I'm like, well, you know, we we're thirsty.

Lyndon [0:05:08]: We'd worked all day.

Lyndon [0:05:09]: We're at the bar.

Lyndon [0:05:10]: So, yeah, what are you what do you mean?

Lyndon [0:05:13]: He's like, no.

Lyndon [0:05:14]: Why are you down in Connecticut?

Lyndon [0:05:15]: Like, what what put that into your head?

Lyndon [0:05:17]: Like, what why are you here?

Lyndon [0:05:18]: And I just I kinda was tongue tied.

Lyndon [0:05:20]: I didn't really know.

Lyndon [0:05:21]: And he's like, he's, like, because you're a persistent son of a gun.

Lyndon [0:05:24]: Like, in you could almost sense a little hostility, but I so I was like, oh, like, like, sorry.

Lyndon [0:05:29]: I know Overstate my welcome by probably quite a bit, but but but he said it it's...

Lyndon [0:05:38]: It was a compliment.

Lyndon [0:05:39]: He's, like, this is actually a really good thing.

Lyndon [0:05:41]: Because so many people quit or get when things get hard, they back down or when people feel like they're getting put off it just loses traction.

Lyndon [0:05:50]: And so he's like, this is a really good thing to you and your persistence and and your ability to keep pushing.

Lyndon [0:05:55]: And so I've I've carried that with me ever since.

Callan [0:05:59]: Well, I think it's a great story for so many reasons.

Callan [0:06:02]: And I love you telling because you've got, like, that quintessential Canadian dry sense of humor as you tell that story, which makes it so much better.

Callan [0:06:13]: But one, you know, I think I've heard this about Crisp so over the years.

Callan [0:06:18]: So many times, and people speak so so highly of him.

Callan [0:06:23]: But, you know, one of the...

Callan [0:06:24]: I think the interesting things is sometimes those opportunities do come by, but I I, I had totally agree with what he's saying.

Callan [0:06:31]: Like very few people actually will...

Callan [0:06:33]: Even though he was being incredibly generous, very few people actually a hundred percent take them up on that.

Callan [0:06:39]: Even less people are gonna just fly down there and make that happen, but it is interesting how when those times happen, they can be of the most valuable things ever.

Callan [0:06:47]: If you just take advantage of it.

Callan [0:06:48]: When it happens.

Lyndon [0:06:50]: Definitely.

Lyndon [0:06:50]: So many people have...

Lyndon [0:06:51]: And this is what I've just learned is a few entrepreneurs or people that have made huge businesses or whatever.

Lyndon [0:06:57]: They're they're actually pretty willing to share if you...

Lyndon [0:07:00]: Mh.

Lyndon [0:07:01]: Are authentic and genuine and show interest they don't mind sharing their story.

Lyndon [0:07:05]: So I I've just appreciate that over time how...

Lyndon [0:07:08]: I've had a lot of mentors and people in my life that are just willing to give me information because you asked, and then because they're generous.

Lyndon [0:07:14]: So...

Lyndon [0:07:15]: Yep.

Callan [0:07:16]: A hundred percent agree with that.

Callan [0:07:17]: And and the beauty twos you could pick up, you name it from a book perspective and learn so many of those things, and I find it so interesting.

Callan [0:07:26]: So, you know, obviously, you've had a ton of success you've either builder or acquired seven brokerage across Saskatchewan.

Callan [0:07:34]: You self funded, which that's really...

Callan [0:07:37]: That you self funded mellow insurance, with the...

Callan [0:07:39]: Which is a digital insurance.

Callan [0:07:40]: To be honest with, I'm just as impressed with that.

Callan [0:07:43]: Because I've been in the digital insurance space.

Callan [0:07:45]: I had a digital insurance agency, but self funding it is really really hard because you got a lot of upfront cost and you don't see any of that for three to five years.

Callan [0:07:56]: Was that the case for you in that, like, in with the digital agency?

Lyndon [0:08:00]: Yeah.

Lyndon [0:08:00]: It was very typical.

Lyndon [0:08:01]: It was...

Lyndon [0:08:02]: I think year five pretty much to the date where we're were like, hey, we're no longer in the red.

Lyndon [0:08:05]: Like, there we got It was the office when Oscar gives him business advice for the Michael Scott paper company.

Lyndon [0:08:12]: It was that to the letter, like...

Lyndon [0:08:14]: So...

Lyndon [0:08:17]: Yeah.

Lyndon [0:08:19]: But it was a lot of, like, what maybe I lacked in funding I made up for swiss sweat.

Lyndon [0:08:25]: I you know, I I was going back to my farm background with my my dad farmed and and you just had to work your way through is it was twenty hour days.

Lyndon [0:08:34]: It was it was just a grind.

Lyndon [0:08:35]: And so, you know, me and one other person, just everyday, scaling it up, flying around marketing it.

Lyndon [0:08:42]: You know, it was it was a lot.

Lyndon [0:08:44]: The video content, the the website, the the coding, the...

Lyndon [0:08:48]: You name and I figured it out.

Lyndon [0:08:50]: And it was...

Lyndon [0:08:51]: Would have been nice Ai I was around back then because I didn't really know what I was doing talk.

Lyndon [0:08:55]: Could ask for some support.

Callan [0:08:58]: So true.

Callan [0:08:58]: It is so true.

Callan [0:08:59]: Well, so let's talk about that a little bit.

Callan [0:09:01]: Like, what what one?

Callan [0:09:04]: What made you persist with it?

Callan [0:09:05]: Was it that you were seeing traction and you could see where this was going or you were just having so much fun building this or something totally different.

Lyndon [0:09:13]: So it kinda spiral from the Chris Parodies story of, like, to Gary Van vaynerchuk.

Lyndon [0:09:18]: You know, he was kind of the the online marketing Guru.

Lyndon [0:09:21]: Right?

Lyndon [0:09:21]: So in one line, Gary Van vaynerchuk was, like, said that you said you should be actively cannibal your business.

Lyndon [0:09:27]: And just for some reason I just jumped out me.

Lyndon [0:09:30]: Like, eat out from the inside.

Lyndon [0:09:31]: Like, what is going to disrupt your business that you didn't see coming.

Lyndon [0:09:34]: Blockbuster Netflix, Amazon retail, You know, Like, what was the thing that was gonna just show up, like, a thief in the night.

Lyndon [0:09:41]: And so I took that to heart.

Lyndon [0:09:44]: And was just thinking of, like, what is the way that insurance is going to...

Lyndon [0:09:47]: Oh, it's this is the way that it is, and it's so regulated and safe and Like, yeah.

Lyndon [0:09:52]: But somebody's gonna do something.

Lyndon [0:09:53]: Like, I just I just felt it.

Lyndon [0:09:54]: And so from there, I just started looking at, well, what does the consumer do just in normal life, You know, You got Uber Eats.

Lyndon [0:10:01]: You got Uber and skip the dishes.

Lyndon [0:10:03]: You got just ex ex how you book a flight.

Lyndon [0:10:06]: Like, everything was, like, Api integration and being able to do it and and funnel it into one interface.

Lyndon [0:10:12]: And so I did a lot of research on that, and then I tried to, like, yeah, build that in the insurance landscape.

Lyndon [0:10:16]: Like, man, We're broker and generating contra.

Lyndon [0:10:19]: I'm not moving heavy equipment here.

Lyndon [0:10:21]: Like, it should be an easy logistical online way to do things.

Lyndon [0:10:25]: And it just baffled me that no matter how many times I try to do something.

Lyndon [0:10:30]: I just hit a roadblock after roadblock, like, and and again, I thankful for that highlight reel of Chris Curtis persistence, I just never took no was an answer.

Lyndon [0:10:38]: It was like, kate, not this way.

Lyndon [0:10:39]: Try it different way.

Lyndon [0:10:40]: And eventually, after hitting my head up against the wall thirty seven times.

Lyndon [0:10:44]: I finally found a connection in the chief Technological Officer of S gi at the time our Crown Corp for insurance for auto insurance.

Lyndon [0:10:52]: They're like, hey.

Lyndon [0:10:53]: You need to talk to this guy in calgary, and you need to figure out how to do this.

Lyndon [0:10:57]: And so me and this good friend of mine Brad and Bosch came up with Mel.

Lyndon [0:11:01]: And we...

Lyndon [0:11:02]: He was kind of the the guy that could get me across the finish line.

Lyndon [0:11:05]: I built it so far as what I could get it to, and then he was the one that kinda built that Api bridge to get it finished.

Callan [0:11:11]: So How are you driving leads to it?

Callan [0:11:13]: Was that just through Google Ads, things like that?

Callan [0:11:16]: Or are you buying leads or what did that look like?

Lyndon [0:11:19]: This is where I'm old school.

Lyndon [0:11:20]: Word a mouth, You know, like I started that way using our brokerage foundation as a way to drive traffic to our online space.

Lyndon [0:11:28]: But then it started morph into more, like, hey.

Lyndon [0:11:32]: Like, what are the products that we are selling online?

Lyndon [0:11:34]: Like, we're not selling commercial or crazy policies we're selling tenant condo home rental home, personal lines products.

Lyndon [0:11:40]: Okay?

Lyndon [0:11:42]: Well, who drive?

Lyndon [0:11:44]: What's the pipeline look for that?

Lyndon [0:11:45]: So it's like property managers, mortgage brokers, realtors.

Lyndon [0:11:49]: Those are the people that are usually waiting for insurance to complete before you could actually get those deals closed.

Lyndon [0:11:55]: So I started knocking on those doors just locally at first in Saskatchewan building up our network in our pipeline that way.

Lyndon [0:12:02]: And, literally, like, face to face door knocking property managers showing up at their thing and saying, hey.

Lyndon [0:12:07]: Can I talk to Gary and nick who are you?

Lyndon [0:12:09]: And Yeah.

Lyndon [0:12:10]: It was it was that old school cold calling showing up, you know, with a business card hat in hand kind of style that eventually spiral and meeting ended up landing a few larger partners across Canada, and then that grew my you know, we were first digital in Saskatchewan, but then it was like, oh, you wanna referral all your business from Ontario to B.

Lyndon [0:12:31]: Okay.

Lyndon [0:12:31]: Well, then I need to get licensed I need to get Apis.

Lyndon [0:12:34]: I need to...

Lyndon [0:12:34]: And it I just kept growing based on the connections we were making.

Callan [0:12:39]: So let's say you got a property manager?

Lyndon [0:12:41]: Yep.

Callan [0:12:41]: What would they then do?

Callan [0:12:42]: Would they integrate this within their property management software?

Callan [0:12:45]: Or would they email this to, like, how do they get...

Callan [0:12:49]: How did you get this to the end user to then get a policy?

Lyndon [0:12:53]: Like, a lot of this mid technology, a lot Ab b testing.

Lyndon [0:12:56]: Right?

Lyndon [0:12:56]: We tried to integrate right into their software, and they had, like, I can't remember what the company is called Rent Moo or something like that Were, like, tenant could log in and do pay their rent.

Lyndon [0:13:05]: You could upload their insurance documents, and then you could buy a policy on there, and we integrated with that.

Lyndon [0:13:10]: And it was good, but it wasn't really taking off, like, we thought.

Lyndon [0:13:14]: So then we actually peel it back a little bit further and just said, like, hey, Like, what happens if during that lease contract do your team just kinda, like, advise hey you need to get insurance.

Lyndon [0:13:23]: Mh.

Lyndon [0:13:24]: Go to Mount level.

Lyndon [0:13:25]: You can do it while you're sitting right here and you can get the keys today.

Lyndon [0:13:28]: And that seemed...

Lyndon [0:13:30]: And so when we built an online portal and funnel for the client easily to use and they could buy tenant insurance in less than two minutes.

Lyndon [0:13:36]: Then we built in a a consent disclosure that allowed us to send that document right to the property manager.

Lyndon [0:13:43]: And so they like that as far as keeping their tenants and landlords happy with everybody's compliant and has their insurance.

Lyndon [0:13:50]: No one's going to cancel if they do cancel, they get a notification say, hey, billy and twelve b just cancel his insurance.

Lyndon [0:13:56]: You need to go rattle this cage.

Lyndon [0:13:57]: So that really made them happy because they knew that their tenants were insurance.

Lyndon [0:14:02]: So Yeah.

Lyndon [0:14:05]: It was just a really good rep, you know, relationship that were we were helping fix a problem that they were having with a lot of tenants that were not insured.

Lyndon [0:14:12]: We were allowing them an easy way to get insurance so they weren't waiting, and then we're keeping them accountable.

Callan [0:14:17]: Yeah.

Callan [0:14:17]: I love it.

Callan [0:14:18]: And that's an...

Callan [0:14:19]: And...

Callan [0:14:19]: It it is funny how often you think...

Callan [0:14:22]: And I've been on...

Callan [0:14:23]: So I spent...

Callan [0:14:24]: You know, I was an agent, and then I also spent a most of my career on the insure tech side.

Callan [0:14:28]: And I could tell you I've seen this.

Callan [0:14:30]: I couldn't tell you how many times on the insure tech side that, you, like, what you said is is dead on and that we think on the tech side, that's like, well, if we just do this integration.

Callan [0:14:43]: If we're in their portal.

Callan [0:14:44]: Like, they're portals where they pay rent and everything.

Callan [0:14:45]: Like, they'll they'll sign up.

Callan [0:14:47]: No problem.

Callan [0:14:48]: No.

Callan [0:14:49]: It's not the case.

Callan [0:14:50]: Like, it's...

Callan [0:14:50]: You need somebody to push that sell that and everything else.

Callan [0:14:55]: Now it's gonna be interesting how Ai plays a role in this and people's propensity if you go straight to Ai.

Callan [0:15:00]: But at the same point or to any, like, chat G clog, whatever it might be.

Callan [0:15:03]: But at the same point, there is often like that final mile problem.

Callan [0:15:07]: Like, you need a human in the loop for the final mile to actually get the transaction to happen.

Callan [0:15:12]: It sounds like that's what you experience.

Callan [0:15:14]: Is that right?

Lyndon [0:15:15]: Yeah.

Lyndon [0:15:15]: You could lead the horse of water It couldn't make a drink exactly.

Lyndon [0:15:18]: So, no.

Lyndon [0:15:19]: It's been...

Lyndon [0:15:20]: The online portal been a super simplistic platform for them to use, but you had to get people the confidence to purchase it.

Lyndon [0:15:27]: So the other real or roadblock that we came up with was kinda like, tenant was easy.

Lyndon [0:15:31]: Like, twenty bucks a month, fifteen bucks a month, whatever it was, the client was willing to do that very quickly.

Lyndon [0:15:37]: Home, now it's a big investment.

Lyndon [0:15:39]: Now do I really understand...

Lyndon [0:15:40]: Understand you know, flood zone coverage and water protection and and all those other different nuances to a home product.

Lyndon [0:15:49]: Do I feel confident buying that without having someone advise me on it.

Lyndon [0:15:53]: And so...

Lyndon [0:15:54]: And and you're spending, you know, a hundred and fifty to two hundred dollars a month.

Lyndon [0:15:56]: Well, now that's an investment.

Lyndon [0:15:58]: And now I'm nervous that, what am I actually getting here.

Lyndon [0:16:00]: So to build the brand up, build the confidence.

Lyndon [0:16:02]: That's where having these mortgage brokers or partners kinda giving that warm, hey, these guys are good.

Lyndon [0:16:08]: They're local.

Lyndon [0:16:09]: They're...

Lyndon [0:16:09]: They'll take care of you.

Lyndon [0:16:10]: Like, that that's helped, but we still need to work on that.

Callan [0:16:14]: Yeah.

Callan [0:16:14]: Alright.

Callan [0:16:15]: So I want to I wanna shift gears a little bit.

Callan [0:16:18]: Honestly, the funny thing is we're literally hitting on the exact opposite of ne insurance.

Callan [0:16:22]: And So in something I'm I'm personally very interested in.

Callan [0:16:27]: And that's these agencies with this small community, strategy and feel.

Callan [0:16:34]: Can you walk us through that.

Callan [0:16:35]: What does that mean to you?

Lyndon [0:16:37]: Yeah.

Lyndon [0:16:37]: I mean, at my roots, I come from a small town, a farm community, and, you know, like, every small town, you've seen businesses come and go or or as the business as you wrote or the schools, you know, get down in size.

Lyndon [0:16:51]: The town falls apart.

Lyndon [0:16:52]: And so kind of in my...

Lyndon [0:16:54]: I don't know.

Lyndon [0:16:55]: Foundation as a person is, I wanna I wanna see if these small towns thrive.

Lyndon [0:16:59]: I I don't like when big companies come in swoop in buy things up or the banks buy the bank up, and then now they move it to the central location of a big urban center and now you're gonna drive an hour to get to the bank.

Lyndon [0:17:09]: Those things just always bothered me And so we've been trying to acquire small town offices that are either going to close or don't really have it...

Lyndon [0:17:19]: Another direction to go.

Lyndon [0:17:20]: Maybe they're losing market share, and they're...

Lyndon [0:17:22]: There's, you know, flounder, so to speak.

Lyndon [0:17:25]: So if we can help alleviate that whether it's partnership, whether it's acquisition, whether it's However, we can.

Lyndon [0:17:31]: We're trying to keep those small town businesses alive.

Callan [0:17:34]: Okay.

Callan [0:17:34]: I'm gonna ask some question.

Callan [0:17:35]: I have my own theories on this, but I wanna hear from you.

Callan [0:17:39]: I think many people would argue buying a distressed asset, I feel like bad that I'm calling a distressed asset.

Callan [0:17:46]: But if they're buying a...

Callan [0:17:48]: If an agency struggling, losing revenue year over year, many people would run away from that.

Callan [0:17:54]: Why buy that?

Callan [0:17:55]: Why buy that that agency.

Lyndon [0:17:58]: I don't know if this is a warren buffett quote or not, but usually, when everybody's running out of a burning building, someone's running in and they're making money doing so...

Lyndon [0:18:06]: Well, that love the quote.

Lyndon [0:18:08]: I love the I probably butcher it, but But I think, you know, where there's...

Lyndon [0:18:14]: Where something's not a value.

Lyndon [0:18:16]: There's...

Lyndon [0:18:16]: That's where value is?

Lyndon [0:18:17]: Like, I think they're struggling for a reason.

Lyndon [0:18:20]: Well, why are they struggling?

Lyndon [0:18:21]: What boxes aren't they checking?

Lyndon [0:18:23]: Is it distribution?

Lyndon [0:18:24]: Is it personnel?

Lyndon [0:18:25]: Is it market share?

Lyndon [0:18:27]: Is it tech.

Lyndon [0:18:28]: Is it...

Lyndon [0:18:28]: Like, what can we optimize in that business in that town.

Lyndon [0:18:33]: And so I think that's kind of the lens I look at it.

Lyndon [0:18:36]: And that...

Lyndon [0:18:36]: That's that's what I've learned.

Lyndon [0:18:37]: I shouldn't say that's how I started it.

Lyndon [0:18:39]: I didn't go into this knowing all this.

Lyndon [0:18:40]: Oh, this is a great.

Lyndon [0:18:41]: There's a diamond in the rough here.

Lyndon [0:18:42]: Let's go find it.

Lyndon [0:18:43]: Like, I didn't know that.

Lyndon [0:18:44]: It was more so this is gonna try method that we've learned, but it just...

Lyndon [0:18:49]: I felt like almost like an obligation.

Lyndon [0:18:51]: Like, it was, like, this is, like a philanthropist in me was, like, we should be doing something about this, and we need to help them.

Lyndon [0:18:57]: And if there's a way to, like, that the cash flow can offset the cost to buy it, and it's just a net zero, but we keep it alive, then that's a good thing.

Lyndon [0:19:07]: So that's how it started.

Callan [0:19:09]: What of the hypotheses I've had around this?

Callan [0:19:12]: Was...

Callan [0:19:12]: And I and and I'll tell you kinda, like, where this came from.

Callan [0:19:16]: We inherited a house in the Napoleon, Ohio.

Callan [0:19:19]: Have you heard in Napoleon, Ohio?

Lyndon [0:19:21]: I've never heard the Napoleon dynamite.

Callan [0:19:24]: Yeah.

Callan [0:19:24]: There's no world where you'd her her of heard of Napoleon it's a very small town in Ohio, even if you were from Ohio, you to odds are not not a knock against Napoleon, we actually love Napoleon, but super small town in Ohio.

Callan [0:19:38]: In the examples that I that I kinda think of is my partner when her grandfather passed away, and we had to get insurance.

Callan [0:19:48]: Right?

Callan [0:19:48]: I've been in here forever.

Callan [0:19:49]: The easiest thing is to just move it onto to my plan.

Callan [0:19:52]: Right?

Callan [0:19:53]: As opposed to keeping it separate with the current local agent.

Callan [0:19:58]: Well, that was hard to do because you don't want to pull business away because that everybody knows the local agent.

Callan [0:20:07]: And everybody will know if you didn't...

Callan [0:20:09]: If you pulled away from whomever that local agent is.

Callan [0:20:12]: So for me, I feel that these are some of the most.

Callan [0:20:15]: I don't wanna to say under underrated it.

Callan [0:20:17]: The under underrated is not the right word, but under the radar great businesses to get because you get so ingrained in that local area.

Callan [0:20:26]: I'm curious if you ended up finding the same.

Callan [0:20:29]: Because I I could think of, like, what you just said, you know, if somebody's heading towards retirement and maybe doesn't wanna put in the same amount of hours that they always did.

Callan [0:20:38]: I could see the business going down, But if you put in new life into that, I could see these being great businesses, but I could be totally wrong.

Callan [0:20:45]: I'd be curious in if if you seen similar.

Lyndon [0:20:48]: No.

Lyndon [0:20:48]: You have a very valid point there.

Lyndon [0:20:49]: I never thought of just the guilt of least small town deal.

Lyndon [0:20:54]: It's real.

Lyndon [0:20:54]: Deal.

Lyndon [0:20:55]: Yeah.

Lyndon [0:20:55]: Net coffee row is real.

Lyndon [0:20:57]: So...

Lyndon [0:20:58]: I think you're onto something there for sure.

Lyndon [0:21:02]: When you're in a small town community, there's a certain pride to that town.

Lyndon [0:21:07]: Right?

Lyndon [0:21:07]: You have small town rival you, you know, everybody plays hockey for that team.

Lyndon [0:21:11]: And I think because of that community, like, loyalty and ties together.

Lyndon [0:21:15]: I think there's a an obligation so to speak of we need to band together to support.

Lyndon [0:21:21]: And so most of the time we found that that loyalty runs deep, and people understand that if they're not supporting local, it's not gonna be local for long.

Lyndon [0:21:33]: So I would say you're very accurate in your in your point that the urban markets per s are more turnover, less loyalty, more of a...

Lyndon [0:21:44]: A key cog and a wheel number in a whereas small town, you know, everybody by name.

Lyndon [0:21:49]: You know their kids, you know, their grandkids, you know, you know, what trip they just went on, and and the relationships is different.

Lyndon [0:21:55]: So the sticky points to keep the clients are a lot stronger.

Callan [0:22:00]: How do you find?

Callan [0:22:01]: Like, you've done a good job expanding this?

Callan [0:22:03]: Are these now coming to you?

Callan [0:22:05]: How do you find these agencies?

Lyndon [0:22:08]: Yeah.

Lyndon [0:22:08]: There was a a while where I just was pho everybody and just saying, like, Hey, if you're ever interested in selling just in looking for an option.

Lyndon [0:22:16]: Just...

Lyndon [0:22:16]: I'm here.

Lyndon [0:22:17]: And that got us a couple just through cold calling and people were maybe approaching retirement, but hadn't quite done

Callan [0:22:24]: sleeping on their couch, that makes sense.

Lyndon [0:22:26]: Yep.

Lyndon [0:22:26]: Exactly.

Lyndon [0:22:26]: So...

Lyndon [0:22:27]: And so that worked for a while.

Lyndon [0:22:30]: But now it's, I think when you look around, there's, like, probably five or six big cons cons that obviously you go phone them up and say, hey, I wanna sell my business and they might eat you up, or they might not want you because you're a single person operation and they're not interested in that type of infrastructure.

Lyndon [0:22:48]: They want something that has a little more meat potatoes to it.

Lyndon [0:22:51]: But again, it's it's is ironic as it is.

Lyndon [0:22:55]: I think similar to the keeping the clients loyal and that I think that runs deep into us owners of small town businesses as well that, you know, I don't wanna sell my soul so to speak.

Lyndon [0:23:04]: So what other options are there, who's actually going to acquire this business, So maybe they look internally to a staff member, but if they're not interested or afraid of the debt, who else is out there.

Lyndon [0:23:15]: And so between the cons consult and maybe their staff, they're finding a couple handful of us guys that are from Saskatchewan local.

Lyndon [0:23:23]: Mh.

Lyndon [0:23:23]: And have the ability to acquire it.

Callan [0:23:26]: Do the cons look at their, look at those agencies?

Callan [0:23:30]: Are they big enough to get on their radar?

Lyndon [0:23:34]: Some of them can be.

Lyndon [0:23:34]: But, yeah, a lot of them aren't.

Lyndon [0:23:36]: I mean, I think I think at the beginning age it faces there they're like, a lot of small town guys.

Lyndon [0:23:41]: They were they were just got buying everything that had a pulse.

Lyndon [0:23:43]: Right?

Lyndon [0:23:44]: Like it was like, yeah.

Lyndon [0:23:45]: Oprah oprah for you get a car.

Lyndon [0:23:47]: You get a car.

Lyndon [0:23:48]: And now they're probably being a little more choo.

Lyndon [0:23:50]: They've they've probably got a decent portfolio of brokerage and they don't need to pick every single one up anymore.

Lyndon [0:23:57]: So the ones that are maybe not optimized not on a really strong Bms system and they're doing things more manually or, you know, maybe you'll have a handful of staff.

Lyndon [0:24:06]: I would say they aren't as excited to go get those, and so they're probably low balling them and offer with intention to just migrating it into another urban branch.

Lyndon [0:24:16]: And then losing what they lose.

Lyndon [0:24:18]: Mh.

Lyndon [0:24:19]: And that's not appealing to a brokerage wanting to sell and stay living in their community.

Lyndon [0:24:24]: They still have to look at their people in the eye in the town and so I think that's where we kinda shine is we're we're a local option that's got community roots and we wanna wanna keep those offices open.

Callan [0:24:37]: Here's a question.

Callan [0:24:37]: How...

Callan [0:24:38]: Okay.

Callan [0:24:39]: Let's say, this say...

Callan [0:24:41]: You you purchase this agency your partner with whatever that might be.

Callan [0:24:44]: Just for the sake of this exercise say you acquired it.

Callan [0:24:47]: And this was an agency that was declining, they they didn't have year over year growth.

Callan [0:24:54]: You bought it.

Callan [0:24:56]: How are you turning that around?

Callan [0:24:59]: What does that process look like?

Lyndon [0:25:02]: I mean, sometimes it can be quite a challenge because when there's an owner in that branch who's been there time and true for thirty years.

Lyndon [0:25:09]: Mh.

Lyndon [0:25:09]: And now you're not there every day because Obviously, we have multiple locations.

Lyndon [0:25:14]: I can't be everywhere.

Lyndon [0:25:15]: I've tried cl myself.

Lyndon [0:25:16]: It doesn't work.

Lyndon [0:25:17]: And if you see multi simplicity?

Lyndon [0:25:20]: Yeah.

Lyndon [0:25:21]: Yeah.

Lyndon [0:25:22]: I'm the fourth one.

Lyndon [0:25:22]: Now.

Lyndon [0:25:23]: The clone of the clone they have a lot of value in that person.

Lyndon [0:25:29]: Like, I've done my insurance through Ron forever and Ron's the guy.

Lyndon [0:25:33]: And now Ron's is not there.

Lyndon [0:25:35]: And so it's for the loyal client, it it can be actually the opposite where you almost...

Lyndon [0:25:39]: You might lose something.

Lyndon [0:25:40]: And so for me, the biggest thing we can do is to be present in that town in that community.

Lyndon [0:25:48]: So during a an acquisition, I am in that town every day.

Lyndon [0:25:53]: I am going to coffee.

Lyndon [0:25:55]: I am at the concerts, the, whatever the big hockey game that's going on.

Lyndon [0:26:01]: And I'm just connecting and networking.

Lyndon [0:26:02]: And I think for those types of people.

Lyndon [0:26:05]: They wanna know that you're a real person.

Lyndon [0:26:06]: We get one of our offices I had a a past partner that didn't work out very well for us at.

Lyndon [0:26:11]: And and that was our our challenge was that he wasn't present, and we were hurting, and I'm like, dude, Like, you gotta you gotta be in the trenches.

Lyndon [0:26:18]: Like, you gotta be there.

Lyndon [0:26:19]: And he thought there was a different way to skin the cat and I disagreed and I I mean, the proof is in the pudding at the end of the day.

Lyndon [0:26:25]: If you can be there and show that you are local and genuine and authentic and a real person.

Lyndon [0:26:32]: I mean, that goes a long way.

Lyndon [0:26:34]: And if you can establish that early, those first impressions are huge.

Lyndon [0:26:37]: And you don't have that coffee row that we talked about murmur saying, oh, it's this big conglomerate out of, you know, Ontario that bought this place.

Lyndon [0:26:46]: No.

Lyndon [0:26:46]: It's the guy down the road who farms and does the same things you guys do.

Lyndon [0:26:50]: It's their son.

Lyndon [0:26:51]: Like, that that goes a lot further.

Lyndon [0:26:54]: And then once you have that loyalty bought in, then you start to, again, promote more products, more innovation, more market share, we can price.

Lyndon [0:27:04]: We can get you a better price than you have because maybe that past broker only had one company, Now you have, you know, twenty.

Lyndon [0:27:10]: Now that word the all starts.

Lyndon [0:27:12]: Now like oh, these guys are, you know, authentic, genuine good people, and they're actually saving me money, boom the top goes off and all the policies that the old owner might have lost.

Lyndon [0:27:21]: They're all coming back to again, because they want they wanna be locally, but maybe they didn't have a choice.

Callan [0:27:27]: That's interesting.

Callan [0:27:28]: Okay.

Callan [0:27:28]: I wanna go back to this.

Callan [0:27:29]: So you said, when you acquire this agency, deals done, you're in there every day.

Callan [0:27:35]: Do you do you already know some of these people or you just going like to the hockey game cold.

Callan [0:27:40]: Like, you don't know anybody and you're just showing up.

Lyndon [0:27:45]: Yeah Who invited that guy.

Lyndon [0:27:46]: Just some stage for a creeper.

Lyndon [0:27:49]: We...

Lyndon [0:27:51]: We...

Lyndon [0:27:52]: I try to establish myself obviously with my...

Lyndon [0:27:55]: The staff that are there.

Lyndon [0:27:56]: If I can get it get in there, I'll go to, like, their family stuff, their community stuff.

Lyndon [0:28:01]: Hey, There's a pancake breakfast at the hall this Saturday.

Lyndon [0:28:04]: You should come.

Lyndon [0:28:06]: The Blueberry Festival is coming up this weekend.

Lyndon [0:28:08]: You know, maybe you should come and put a booth in or something like that.

Lyndon [0:28:12]: And so...

Lyndon [0:28:12]: And then at that point it's just connecting.

Lyndon [0:28:15]: It's just talking.

Lyndon [0:28:16]: And my my old man, said P r is what makes your business tick.

Lyndon [0:28:22]: That is everything to a business at its core.

Lyndon [0:28:24]: And so I've I've evolved that into, like, yeah.

Lyndon [0:28:27]: Google online Seo, Youtube, whatever.

Lyndon [0:28:29]: That's the P r that I've been better at, but you know, it starts at the kitchen table, and that's kinda of at the small towns, that's how the business deals get done.

Lyndon [0:28:40]: So, yeah.

Lyndon [0:28:41]: If I can have cinnamon bun with Ant helen, and whatever then that blossoms into something more.

Lyndon [0:28:47]: And so...

Lyndon [0:28:47]: Yeah, It's It's a little awkward to start.

Lyndon [0:28:50]: I...

Lyndon [0:28:50]: We

Callan [0:28:52]: tried bet I love it, but I bet.

Lyndon [0:28:56]: I don't we play the Men and Game, and then that doesn't make sense to someone who maybe isn't, but But it's like, well, are you?

Lyndon [0:29:02]: And who are you related to?

Lyndon [0:29:03]: And you're...

Lyndon [0:29:04]: Oh, your dad is cousins with my uncle Ricky and and and eventually, you make a connection.

Lyndon [0:29:09]: Right?

Lyndon [0:29:09]: You're only seven distance or separation of away from everybody.

Lyndon [0:29:12]: So eventually, you find some common ground.

Lyndon [0:29:15]: And then from there, a relationship can kind of build off of.

Lyndon [0:29:18]: And so that's kinda how how I've done it.

Callan [0:29:22]: I love it.

Callan [0:29:23]: I think it's super interesting.

Callan [0:29:25]: I don't...

Callan [0:29:25]: I be curious how many other people go to that length when they do it?

Callan [0:29:30]: And I think it's awesome.

Callan [0:29:31]: So here's a question.

Callan [0:29:32]: How do you scale that?

Callan [0:29:33]: So you...

Callan [0:29:34]: You know, let's say you buy three agencies at once.

Callan [0:29:36]: Like, you're gonna have to be in a lot of places at one time.

Callan [0:29:39]: How are you scaling?

Callan [0:29:40]: Like, how old do you pull that off?

Lyndon [0:29:43]: It's been a challenge.

Lyndon [0:29:43]: We did three acquisitions in a year.

Lyndon [0:29:45]: I mean, not all at once, but in a year and it was Yeah.

Lyndon [0:29:48]: It was just...

Lyndon [0:29:49]: Yeah.

Lyndon [0:29:49]: Three months to four months every day in the first one.

Lyndon [0:29:52]: And then it was like, okay.

Lyndon [0:29:53]: Well, now, I need to be every day in the second one, but maybe I'll do four days a week and still do one day a week at the first one.

Lyndon [0:29:58]: And then the third one was a little bit less.

Lyndon [0:30:00]: And then you're trying to, like, scheduled time, which again, I'm not a fan of, like, hey, Call, you know, he'll be here Thursday at three.

Lyndon [0:30:07]: Like, I'm that goes against kind of my bill...

Lyndon [0:30:11]: You know, I I like to be available.

Lyndon [0:30:12]: And so that's Yeah.

Lyndon [0:30:14]: That's tough.

Lyndon [0:30:14]: But you're right.

Lyndon [0:30:15]: So I've tried to really be strategic with our managers, our partners of who who I trust, who shares a similar mindset as I do.

Lyndon [0:30:24]: I mean, for me, again, P r comedy with being able to relate to people, kind of a chameleon at times.

Lyndon [0:30:31]: If I have good people like that in those offices, I worry less about being there every day.

Lyndon [0:30:37]: But again, on a new acquisition.

Lyndon [0:30:39]: Yeah.

Lyndon [0:30:40]: If it's three once that would be...

Lyndon [0:30:41]: We haven't had that opportunity yet, but we we almost did.

Lyndon [0:30:45]: We almost had four in one, but it didn't pan out And, yeah, I would have had to split myself, and I don't know how that worked out.

Callan [0:30:53]: In four different ways.

Callan [0:30:55]: I never mind.

Callan [0:30:56]: I answered my own question.

Callan [0:30:57]: I'm an idiot.

Callan [0:30:57]: Yeah.

Lyndon [0:31:01]: Great.

Callan [0:31:02]: You know, I I wanna touch on this briefly.

Callan [0:31:03]: So, you know, you talked about comedy?

Callan [0:31:05]: And obviously, you can...

Callan [0:31:06]: Anybody's listening can hear You've got a very dry sense of humor.

Callan [0:31:09]: Wait You used this?

Callan [0:31:11]: What...

Callan [0:31:11]: How did you use this to generate business?

Callan [0:31:14]: I thought that was very interesting when we spoke.

Lyndon [0:31:17]: Yeah.

Lyndon [0:31:17]: It's been again an evolving, you know, like, anything in life, you have to first put yourself out there, and then you can learn from it.

Lyndon [0:31:25]: But so after the crisp, so, Youtube, Facebook started to dabble in that a little bit, but it was mostly just on a professional level community events, you know, things like that.

Lyndon [0:31:35]: And then that kinda morph into, like, well, what does the client wanna see?

Lyndon [0:31:41]: What's the user experience.

Lyndon [0:31:42]: And so that evolved in the, obviously from that side of it, but but on the marketing side, it was, like, man sure sucks.

Lyndon [0:31:48]: Like, everything about this business people hate.

Lyndon [0:31:52]: It's like, premiums go up.

Lyndon [0:31:54]: I don't...

Lyndon [0:31:55]: Even wanna buy it, but the bank told me I to buy it.

Lyndon [0:31:57]: And now Gotta do it in the eleventh hour, and you're asking me a bunch of questions and it's really pissing me off.

Lyndon [0:32:02]: Like...

Lyndon [0:32:02]: Yeah.

Lyndon [0:32:03]: Yeah.

Lyndon [0:32:03]: So for sure the the purchase process sucks.

Lyndon [0:32:05]: And then I have a claim, And then no one will contact me, and they're not paying out what they should.

Lyndon [0:32:09]: And so that whole experience is just awful as well.

Lyndon [0:32:13]: And so I've just...

Lyndon [0:32:15]: When I go to market that, I kinda have that self deprecating humor with our business a little bit.

Lyndon [0:32:20]: Like, how do I laugh at our pain a little bit?

Lyndon [0:32:24]: Like, it's a grudge purchase, and so then I've morph in the comedic pieces of, like, how do I make insurance fun and light even though it's so dark and and frustrating.

Lyndon [0:32:34]: And in that, give...

Lyndon [0:32:37]: And let's go back to the Gary v point, like, give all your knowledge away for free.

Lyndon [0:32:41]: Just give it away.

Lyndon [0:32:42]: And then if people see value in that, they'll return it with maybe a purchase or a sale or or a referral or something like that.

Lyndon [0:32:50]: But if you're trying to soft sell something so they buy your book.

Lyndon [0:32:55]: No.

Lyndon [0:32:57]: They're not gonna buy it.

Lyndon [0:32:58]: You need to provide the value first.

Lyndon [0:32:59]: So I kinda took that information away and I was like, hey.

Lyndon [0:33:02]: I'm just gonna give away insurance knowledge, information.

Lyndon [0:33:05]: And it's gonna be so dry.

Lyndon [0:33:07]: You're not gonna watch it.

Lyndon [0:33:08]: So I need to spin that in a way that's entertaining and fun.

Lyndon [0:33:11]: And so it started with me making a news anchor, you know, Ron Burgundy, nor Mcdonald's type of weekend update.

Lyndon [0:33:20]: And just...

Lyndon [0:33:21]: Yeah, More of that dry comedy into insurance.

Lyndon [0:33:23]: It first few episodes are awful.

Lyndon [0:33:26]: Like, I look back now and just like...

Lyndon [0:33:28]: Like and I took so long to produce that and and put it out there because the perfection in you is like, oh, I could tweak that.

Lyndon [0:33:36]: I tweak that that clip didn't tie in quite right.

Lyndon [0:33:39]: And and I screwed it I just that first clip took me three months.

Lyndon [0:33:42]: Yeah.

Lyndon [0:33:42]: And I was just...

Lyndon [0:33:43]: I look back at it now.

Lyndon [0:33:44]: I'm like, it's garbage.

Lyndon [0:33:45]: Like, But but now, maybe my new stuff is still garbage, but I don't know.

Lyndon [0:33:51]: But I feel like it's really progressed.

Lyndon [0:33:53]: It's gotten punch here.

Lyndon [0:33:55]: People like more people talk about it once in a while.

Lyndon [0:33:58]: My kids even talk about it.

Lyndon [0:33:59]: They tell me to act like Joey because Joey was this fitness instructor.

Lyndon [0:34:04]: I was gonna get your policy into shape.

Lyndon [0:34:05]: And,

Callan [0:34:08]: it's awesome.

Lyndon [0:34:09]: Yeah.

Lyndon [0:34:09]: Wearing tights and pit fibers, but Anyway, and...

Lyndon [0:34:14]: Yeah.

Lyndon [0:34:14]: So it just kinda bring that S snl type.

Lyndon [0:34:16]: Mh.

Lyndon [0:34:17]: Humor into insurance and and it's really worked well for us.

Callan [0:34:22]: I love it.

Callan [0:34:22]: So, you know, I got a couple of quote, like, kinda, if looking back at this.

Callan [0:34:26]: Right?

Callan [0:34:26]: So you've got Like I said, you've got a digital agency and you've got the total opposite.

Callan [0:34:30]: You've got multiple agencies that are small community based agencies.

Callan [0:34:35]: As you move forward, and you talk about cannibal isaac it, do these continue to coexist exist to these all formula one, what does that look like?

Lyndon [0:34:44]: Yeah, man.

Lyndon [0:34:44]: Like, I I kinda have a hybrid model for everything.

Lyndon [0:34:47]: I I never seem to jump fully into one camp or the other.

Lyndon [0:34:51]: So some of our brokerage are ama under one brand.

Lyndon [0:34:54]: Some are on their own still and there's reasons for that.

Lyndon [0:34:57]: Some of it, like, one of our branches we just recently purchased has a real estate component.

Lyndon [0:35:01]: So we have a real estate business.

Lyndon [0:35:02]: So while, that's a lot of compliance regulatory.

Lyndon [0:35:05]: There's signs that are on people's doorstep steps for sale, like, that's a lot of rebranding and, yeah.

Lyndon [0:35:12]: Let's just leave it the status quo and not make waves even for Seo, people searching finding.

Lyndon [0:35:17]: Let's not touch that.

Lyndon [0:35:18]: But then other branches we're trying to consolidate.

Lyndon [0:35:22]: But then it's, like, well, that branch is really out there in the middle of nowhere, do they really even know our brand or our name or whatever?

Lyndon [0:35:29]: And so we're figuring this out, like, from a marketing standpoint, it's a nightmare, like, because you have all these brands and websites and things to keep up and maintain.

Lyndon [0:35:40]: So I think, selfish, I'd like to just bring it all together under one roof.

Lyndon [0:35:45]: But when I think locally, when I think community minded when I think of what's best for that town and those people, I think sometimes not as best to leave it as is.

Lyndon [0:35:53]: So we've kinda of done a bit of both.

Callan [0:35:55]: Yeah.

Callan [0:35:55]: And I could see...

Callan [0:35:56]: I could see the case for either one for, especially for that community.

Callan [0:35:59]: If it was...

Callan [0:36:00]: They all in, you know, within bigger cities than brain.

Callan [0:36:04]: Like, create a create a brand makes total sense.

Callan [0:36:07]: But you're in that local community and everybody knows it.

Callan [0:36:09]: By that one, you probably got people coming to pain in person.

Callan [0:36:11]: They probably like to know the same agency, and probably pretty confusing if something else.

Lyndon [0:36:18]: So We did learn that in one of our branches, like, that when we rebranded it to a different name, they they thought we were out of, like, the country.

Lyndon [0:36:26]: Like, this is a big conglomerate buying us.

Lyndon [0:36:28]: I'm like, no.

Lyndon [0:36:29]: It's just me and I'm here.

Callan [0:36:32]: So I I wholeheartedly believe that.

Callan [0:36:34]: One hundred percent.

Callan [0:36:36]: So Linen, last question I have for you here is if you could go back and talk to the guy that's sat...

Callan [0:36:45]: Just...

Callan [0:36:45]: When Chris Be told you guys you all are doing nothing.

Callan [0:36:48]: If you can go back to that guy and have a and have a conversation with them, what would that conversation be?

Callan [0:36:55]: What advice would you give them?

Lyndon [0:36:56]: I think it's the same advice that My father gave to me that probably got me into a lot of problems, but it was never...

Lyndon [0:37:03]: Yeah.

Lyndon [0:37:03]: Wait.

Lyndon [0:37:04]: Yeah.

Lyndon [0:37:05]: Wait.

Lyndon [0:37:06]: Well, the I don't know how Pg this posh

Callan [0:37:11]: Oh, you you say whatever you want.

Callan [0:37:12]: You're talking.

Lyndon [0:37:13]: The one advice was keep your packer in your pants.

Lyndon [0:37:15]: But the other one was to never say no to an opportunity.

Lyndon [0:37:19]: Maybe those are conflicting messages, but but they never stay, they never say no to an opportunity, has stuck with me in business.

Lyndon [0:37:30]: And so with Chris so, hey, wanna come to my house.

Lyndon [0:37:35]: Yes.

Lyndon [0:37:35]: When.

Lyndon [0:37:36]: You should do this.

Lyndon [0:37:37]: You should be cannibal business.

Lyndon [0:37:38]: Okay.

Lyndon [0:37:39]: How.

Lyndon [0:37:39]: You should...

Lyndon [0:37:40]: You wanna buy my brokerage.

Lyndon [0:37:41]: Yep.

Lyndon [0:37:42]: Let's do it.

Lyndon [0:37:42]: I've never...

Lyndon [0:37:43]: I shouldn't say I've never said no.

Lyndon [0:37:45]: But, like, that mindset has been entrenched to me of, like, Mh.

Lyndon [0:37:48]: If there's a will, there's a way we got...

Lyndon [0:37:50]: We can figure it out.

Lyndon [0:37:51]: And because of that mindset, it's got me into a lot of hot water, but it's also got me to learning and grow as a person.

Lyndon [0:37:58]: And so if I was waiting on the sidelines waiting for the perfect magical.

Lyndon [0:38:03]: Here's a brokerage to take over, and it's gonna cost you a little to no money, and it's gonna be this we have all the staff.

Lyndon [0:38:09]: They're gonna stay and it's got a perfect digital marketing plan and accounting crime, and everything's ticket Eb is sixty five percent, like, it's not to happen.

Lyndon [0:38:20]: Like, that'll never happen.

Lyndon [0:38:22]: And so because of that, you have to get in over your head.

Lyndon [0:38:25]: That's another class.

Lyndon [0:38:27]: I got too many stupid cliche statements, but like,

Callan [0:38:30]: oh, these are great gray.

Callan [0:38:31]: I lot mall.

Lyndon [0:38:32]: Bite off more than you can chew and chew.

Lyndon [0:38:33]: Like, that was my grandfather and it was like, yeah.

Lyndon [0:38:36]: Like, get in over your head and swim and figure it out.

Lyndon [0:38:39]: And I think because of that, yes.

Lyndon [0:38:42]: It's been a strain at times.

Lyndon [0:38:44]: Like, one of our first offices we acquired, I had a partner with it at the time and And within, a year and a half, we we acquired another brokerage as.

Lyndon [0:38:53]: He has we had two locations.

Lyndon [0:38:54]: The staffs that were done.

Lyndon [0:38:55]: We're we're out of these offices unless he goes.

Lyndon [0:38:58]: It's him us.

Lyndon [0:38:59]: It was a team or the coach kind of thing.

Lyndon [0:39:01]: And the reason that like, this partnership in these acquisitions even happen was this whole never say no opportunity.

Lyndon [0:39:08]: I was eager to grow.

Lyndon [0:39:10]: I was eager to make a splash.

Lyndon [0:39:11]: I was hungry in the supermarket, and this guy said, hey, we should partner and do this.

Lyndon [0:39:16]: And it was a terrible decision to partner with this person.

Lyndon [0:39:20]: Now would I have bought these two brokerage without him?

Lyndon [0:39:23]: Probably not.

Lyndon [0:39:24]: Because I was building Mellow?

Lyndon [0:39:25]: I was doing all these other things, and he was supposed to be the guy in that office managing it and it it went terribly.

Lyndon [0:39:31]: I got sued it was the one of the hardest moments of my professional career.

Callan [0:39:35]: Mh.

Lyndon [0:39:36]: I'm heavily drinking all the things.

Lyndon [0:39:38]: And then I did seventy five hard.

Lyndon [0:39:41]: I got back into shape.

Lyndon [0:39:42]: I cleaned up my habits, and I became more resilient, more una unidentified than I've ever been in my life.

Lyndon [0:39:47]: Well, that doesn't happen unless I just dive in.

Lyndon [0:39:50]: So dive in, figure whether it's marketing, whether it's...

Lyndon [0:39:54]: But doesn't matter what what you in need insurance or not, dive in, figure out.

Lyndon [0:40:00]: That's...

Callan [0:40:02]: I love it.

Callan [0:40:02]: I mean, the reality is your...

Callan [0:40:03]: I mean, I I definitely subscribe to that Right?

Callan [0:40:07]: Like, you're pushing yourself out of your comfort zone.

Callan [0:40:09]: You're never gonna grow unless you're outside of that that comfort zone.

Callan [0:40:11]: And that does not mean that's gonna be easy.

Callan [0:40:14]: Just because it's a good opportunity.

Callan [0:40:16]: It does not mean that's gonna be easy to say yes to it.

Callan [0:40:18]: So I love that.

Callan [0:40:20]: Linden, this has been a ton of fun.

Lyndon [0:40:22]: I have laughed quite bit on this discussion so

Callan [0:40:26]: I love, man.

Callan [0:40:26]: Thank you for coming on.

Lyndon [0:40:28]: Thank you, killing for having me Appreciate it.

Lyndon [0:40:29]: Absolutely.