Records & Real Estate Podcast
Striking Chords in Music and Mortgages with Sam Sharp and Larry Steinway
Ever wondered how the thump of a bass drum echoes in the halls of real estate? Our latest episode brings together the unlikely duo of music and mortgages with Chicago's own Larry Steinway and Sam Sharp. With their roots deeply planted in the rhythms of music and the hustle of the housing market, these two friends strike a chord as they share how they've managed to orchestrate a symphony of success in two distinct worlds. Their stories resonate with the beats of legendary drummers and the buzz of a vibrant city, proving that when it comes to life's rich tapestry, harmony can be found in the most unexpected places.
From the setback of a broken hand that led to triumph in the mortgage industry to the transition from selling appliances to sealing property deals, our guests' tales are a testament to life's improvisation. In this episode, Larry and Sam riff on the highs and lows of their journeys, revealing how they've tuned their skills to perform solos in both the studio and at the closing table. Witness the birth of bands like Ruby Grass, the shift from touring gigs to family commitments, and the evolution of a musician's career against the backdrop of Chicago's dynamic landscape.
Wrapping up, we spotlight the unwavering loyalty and entrepreneurial spirit that drives our guests. Sam Sharpe unveils his latest endeavor — a podcast aimed at enriching life's composition beyond the nine-to-five. As the curtain falls on this session, we're left with a melody of adaptability, personal growth, and the undying pulse of creativity. So come on and join the bandwagon, as we trace the notes of Larry and Sam's remarkable careers in the cacophony of Chicago's music and real estate scenes.
Have someone you think should be a guest on this podcast? Let us know! Email your suggestions over to: karen.sandvoss@berealtygroup.com, andrew.wendt@berealtygroup.com
Connect with Karen and Andrew at Be Realty: Be Realty Group
Email the Show: karen.sandvoss@berealtygroup.com
Guest: Larry Steinway and Sam Sharp of Revolution Mortgage and Guaranteed Rate
Link: Billy Cobham
Link: Rubygrass
Link: Liquid Soul
Link: Dead Fest
Link: Northbrook
Link: Landmark Inn
Link: The J. Davis Trio
Ever wondered how the thump of a bass drum echoes in the halls of real estate? Our latest episode brings together the unlikely duo of music and mortgages with Chicago's own Larry Steinway and Sam Sharp. With their roots deeply planted in the rhythms of music and the hustle of the housing market, these two friends strike a chord as they share how they've managed to orchestrate a symphony of success in two distinct worlds. Their stories resonate with the beats of legendary drummers and the buzz of a vibrant city, proving that when it comes to life's rich tapestry, harmony can be found in the most unexpected places.
From the setback of a broken hand that led to triumph in the mortgage industry to the transition from selling appliances to sealing property deals, our guests' tales are a testament to life's improvisation. In this episode, Larry and Sam riff on the highs and lows of their journeys, revealing how they've tuned their skills to perform solos in both the studio and at the closing table. Witness the birth of bands like Ruby Grass, the shift from touring gigs to family commitments, and the evolution of a musician's career against the backdrop of Chicago's dynamic landscape.
Wrapping up, we spotlight the unwavering loyalty and entrepreneurial spirit that drives our guests. Sam Sharpe unveils his latest endeavor — a podcast aimed at enriching life's composition beyond the nine-to-five. As the curtain falls on this session, we're left with a melody of adaptability, personal growth, and the undying pulse of creativity. So come on and join the bandwagon, as we trace the notes of Larry and Sam's remarkable careers in the cacophony of Chicago's music and real estate scenes.
Have someone you think should be a guest on this podcast? Let us know! Email your suggestions over to: karen.sandvoss@berealtygroup.com, andrew.wendt@berealtygroup.com
Connect with Karen and Andrew at Be Realty: Be Realty Group
Email the Show: karen.sandvoss@berealtygroup.com
Guest: Larry Steinway and Sam Sharp of Revolution Mortgage and Guaranteed Rate
Link: Billy Cobham
Link: Rubygrass
Link: Liquid Soul
Link: Dead Fest
Link: Northbrook
Link: Landmark Inn
Link: The J. Davis Trio
Welcome to Records in Real Estate, a podcast about well records and real estates. You'll be entertained and informed as we explore the intersection of these two worlds through interviews with Chicago's most interesting and successful people from both industries.
Speaker 2:That was Andrew Wendt and I'm Karen Sanvoss. We are Chicago Real Estate Brokers, Property Managers, Avid Music Lovers and your hosts of Records in Real Estate. Andrew yes, Karen, we had a great conversation just now.
Speaker 1:We had a wonderful conversation with Larry Steinway and Sam Sharpe.
Speaker 2:Two musical powerhouses in Chicago with a million bands, everything from bands that played Chick-Karri to Foo Fighters and the Grateful Dead. Just crazy. Liquid soul, Liquid soul.
Speaker 1:A lot of names in there, a lot of good Chicago names, an opportunity for us and our listeners to sort of research some of them, if you didn't really know who the names were.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and here's two guys that are at the top of their game, both musically and professionally, and they have found that balance and they talk about that.
Speaker 1:They do and they talk about their friendship and what got them into the mortgage industry and their musical journey. And yeah, it was just, it was lovely. Yeah, let's do it. Let's get into it. We are here with Larry Steinway and Sam Sharpe and you guys are our guests today. This is a rare occasion where we're doing two guests, but you guys are good buddies, huh.
Speaker 3:We're very good friends, we are, yes, we might hold hands actually we might hold hands, cool idea.
Speaker 4:That's right. We have a couple's massage scheduled after that.
Speaker 1:Is that why we have a hard stop?
Speaker 3:That's why we have a hard stop. That's why we have a hard stop.
Speaker 1:That's a hard stop for a song to begin with Did you guys meet through music or real estate or know each other before Mortgage? Mortgage.
Speaker 4:We met, sam was at guaranteed rate and I was coming back to guaranteed rate. After leaving, I went to guaranteed rate, I left guaranteed rate and I was coming back and Sam was a leader there, nice.
Speaker 3:We were coming from Wind Trust at the time right.
Speaker 4:Federal Savings Bank.
Speaker 1:Oh wow, yeah, I guess I.
Speaker 3:So this wasn't all that long ago, then 2009?, oh, 2009.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Nice 2009. Yeah, because I remember I had just made the move back and that's what it was. You wanted to connect because it was like, did we make the right move?
Speaker 4:Yeah, was this a good idea? I wanted to meet some of the top people and Sam was in the building, yeah, and I said he's up, you were upstairs. You were on the upstairs floor.
Speaker 3:They just recently took away that desk after all these years. Wow, yeah, they redid the whole floor, so now I can't sit there.
Speaker 1:Do they put you down in the basement? Yeah, of course. From the top to the bottom. That's where I belong. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Janitor's closet.
Speaker 1:That's right, I don't need much room just to headset my clear connect.
Speaker 3:Times are tough, janitor's closet.
Speaker 1:Now did you guys like how did you bond? Did you bond over music right away? I would think of.
Speaker 4:We did one day and Sam, I'll try not to during this podcast Hogg with microphone because I am a talker. You're okay, so you can kick me if I'm going on, but I do remember the day when we bonded and I was sitting there talking about my band, if you recall, and I was loud. Okay, because my desk was in the center of the floor and Sam was in his corner, which they only put the royalty of mortgages at Guarantee Rates sat in the corner.
Speaker 3:Basements and corners. That's where we go. Basements and corners, yeah.
Speaker 4:And they take the people right in the middle, right that need the most help, need the most help, yeah exactly.
Speaker 3:You can jump in at any point from all angles and I'll save him. He's drowning.
Speaker 4:And it was back in the day when everybody went to the office. Yeah, like if you working remotely, you would be. Look, people would look at you with a I don't. I don't understand that.
Speaker 4:You know we don't do that here, right? So I was in the center of the office and, as my usual quiet, tim itself was talking and I hung up the phone and Sam kind of like hey, heard, subject matter, you know, and he just kind of went into the music a little bit with me. Oh nice, we started talking and I'm like, oh, do you know, you ever heard of Billy Cobham, you ever?
Speaker 3:heard of this guy and Sam's like, um, yeah.
Speaker 4:And Sam's like I'm a drummer, I go well, I'm a bass player and Sam bass players and drummers.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's impotical.
Speaker 4:It's pretty much it's pretty much peanut butter and jelly, yeah, and we, we don't get the glory, you know, but you can't have a band, really that's great what you're talking about.
Speaker 3:They say a band's only as good as their drummer. So it's true. That's glory. I don't know what it is, and who is Billy Cobham for our oh? Let's Sam take that Billy Cobham is a drummer from a long time ago who, uh, he's. He's not, I guess, to say he's a drummer, he's a thunderous powerhouse of complicated music. Okay, fusion, fusion, rock, jazz, fusion, that but very accessible and very uh, just, uh, just hammer fisting, but with Vanessa, I don't know how else to put it.
Speaker 4:He's probably one of the greatest drummers ever Gravitaris.
Speaker 2:Are we? Are we pronouncing him right? It's Billy Cobham. Cobham, do you know? Yeah, oh yeah, personally.
Speaker 4:No, I'm a drummer as well. So yeah, oh, really, so do you remember? Return to Forever.
Speaker 2:No, I don't know his music.
Speaker 4:If that's the name of an album, that's I he played with three incredible musicians in a band called Return to Forever, which I absolutely really influenced me because it was music that I could never play.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 4:And it was Stanley Clark, chick Corea, aldi Miola and Billy Billy, cobham, cobham, cobham. Wow, not cobham, did he do?
Speaker 3:stuff with zappa ever. I think he might have Do some zappa, I think yeah, he did zappa.
Speaker 4:They had all kinds of and yeah, he, uh, yeah.
Speaker 3:He was very big into that scene. It was like jazz fusion kind of weird eclectic odd time signatures, uh, you know john mcgloffsland style maha beach orchestra feel and he just had that really wild. He's a wild man when it comes to the drums, like he's just a unique sound to where once you, once you know who he is and you hear him play, you immediately you recognize it.
Speaker 4:Yeah, you're never gonna go to a bar and hear anyone covering that stuff. I've done it. We've done it. I don't see him.
Speaker 3:I have played in groups covering that stuff actually. Yeah, absolutely did play on a group that did a Billy Cobham cover, not, not are you saying you're as good as Billy Cobham?
Speaker 1:I'm better.
Speaker 2:That's a modest the Beatles thing they're probably.
Speaker 3:Better. Better than jesus too.
Speaker 4:What's in the coffee. But I will say that nobody if he plays that at a bar, all that stuff. That's how you clear a bar too.
Speaker 3:Yeah, last call, yeah, this is great, let's go another bar.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you get the Billy Cobham sign from the, from the manager, like, yeah, wrap that up, have a little Bob Dylan, please, please, you could do that.
Speaker 2:It was actually it was cool.
Speaker 3:Look. So remember, larry would bring his bass into work and and stuff. So we'd see him and he's got some really great basses, good relationships with the people at Lakeland and and everything they've done and he's brought some amazing basses. And so We'd go and you know, he'd bring it in that city, pull it out, we would talk about it and just talk through music and everything, and then we would talk about mortgages for like five minutes, nice and uh, bass and music for that.
Speaker 4:You know there's, some of the greatest basses In the world Are made About 12 blocks from here. Really, yes, yes, lakeland musical instruments Okay, that's a shout out. I'd please like to get royalties, but uh, yeah, it's made right. They're made right up here. Amazing. And my friend, dan lakin, started the company Way back one, and I could name just a few artists that play their basses or have or do or have bands. You bass players from bands like the foo fighters. You too, john Paul Jones from led zapplin. Wow, rage against the machine.
Speaker 3:Just a cut. You're covering all of the I've heard Just a couple small bands.
Speaker 1:Yeah these are Butler from black Sabbath and so this is why we have this podcast to get to know new bands, right.
Speaker 4:Yeah, these are new. They're upcoming artists.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna check them out New to me.
Speaker 3:Very indie, very indie rock, very yeah, very, very big they were. They were featured in high fidelity. Yeah, the records were played.
Speaker 4:Yeah, they're made right up there and because I knew Dan lakin way back in the day when I had a band and yeah, um, I got to know all the, the, the elves in the wood shop. So we save the people that are covered permanently and saw us. I think we just have a future guest alert?
Speaker 2:I think so, I think so Is it all basses, or is it any?
Speaker 4:No, they do also electric guitars, guitars yeah that's fantastic.
Speaker 2:All right, no drums, no.
Speaker 4:There was a big man, bass, a drum manufacturer, bison drums, luddwick, luddwick.
Speaker 3:Some people yeah, I didn't heard of luddwick. I'm pretty sure they were never heard of luddwick.
Speaker 1:Well, let's let's talk a little bit about how it's lending mortgages, the real estate market in 2024. Why do we have to?
Speaker 4:I was, we were, we were having.
Speaker 3:So much fun. We'll get back to music.
Speaker 1:But uh, you know we do have to cover a little bit of business. Sure, let's get to the business for tax purposes.
Speaker 3:That's right.
Speaker 4:All right, it is almost tax season, isn't it? It's coming, that's right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the latest thing is you try to consult the tax accountant and they charge you for consultation. Now, oh really, oh yeah absolutely I tried, tried talking to a couple people that were referred to me from reputable sources and they were like great book, here it's and you go into their calendar to book and it was like 300 dollars for the half hour Wow okay. I'm like that's fine, I'll get all my tax advice from instagram.
Speaker 1:I'll just youtube my stuff. Yeah.
Speaker 3:I'm just gonna go to social media.
Speaker 1:Well, all right. So so I have a kind of a softball question. Yeah, maybe it is, maybe it isn't. Why did you guys get into Lending and what do you? What do you guys do, what you do, sam?
Speaker 3:money, I guess, was the driving factor. You get into the business I don't even know. All right, so I'll make this as short as possible.
Speaker 4:We have a hard stop at 3 pm. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3:I broke my hand. I broke my hand and I was touring. It was a touring musician at the time. That's all they did and I, I was broke very quickly. I had to cancel a couple tours, which is like seven months, and I didn't know what I was going to do to pay. The bills Grew up very, very poor, no one to turn to for money.
Speaker 3:I mean, I had sold everything out of my drums. At this point I was like I don't know, I'm gonna do my roommate and business partner one of my best friends, still till this day he had started a mortgage company. He would, he would telemarket at a mortgage company between tours. He was also a guitar player in a lot of these groups I played with. So we had uh, he got long story short. He got me into the business. I remember he came and he was like, hey, you should, you should try this, I think you'd be really good at it. I was like that's a horrible idea. But uh, I was, I was broke, so I got into it. And then, you know the idea, back Back.
Speaker 3:This was 2000, end of 2001. You could make your own schedule right. So I was like, oh, I could do this, I could make money off of a commission check and then go on tour. So it seemed like this dream job. It's like, oh, I'm gonna, I'm gonna be able to do this.
Speaker 3:But you know what happened is you? You get into it, get a big paycheck and all of a sudden like, oh, you know, money's a drug, it's addictive, right? I mean I was like, oh, this is nice, I can make, I could buy that new ride symbol it was. You know, all rationalization around. I'm like I can do this to make this part of my life better. But which, pretty soon. I started coming into the company early. They gave me keys to open up, to lock up, and then, after my first year, they made me a partner with them in the business because I just I'd taken to it really well and it was just uh, so it was really out of necessity. I was broke, I needed money, I apparently like to talk a lot and that was a good combination with mortgages. So I, just I, I fell into it, luckily, and uh, now it's been a career, 22 years later.
Speaker 1:Well, for 22 years, I mean, you must Also enjoy it.
Speaker 3:I'm better at mortgages than Billy Cobham. That's a fact.
Speaker 1:That's the quarter of the day Uh.
Speaker 4:Larry. So yeah, sort of it's. It's interesting I was um. I was working selling appliances and TVs at apt.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, we use them yeah.
Speaker 4:I. I met Ricky apt during the college years and you know he said, hey, come to the store and work in the warehouse. Okay, and we were friends. So I went to the warehouse and within a week his dad had said you're a talker, you're not in the warehouse. They have what's called the private sale. You ever heard of their private sales? Yeah, okay, they have a private sale, um, like twice a year and it's like Police are guiding cars in and out. I mean it's, it's uh, it's craziness. And I was in the warehouse and he's like throw on a sweater, because all the sales people wore sweaters.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 4:I remember I put on a sweater. My name is Larry and I wore a sweater that said steve on it, okay. And so I went and he's like just sell clack radios and walkman. Remember those.
Speaker 3:That's right, right, so that tells you. I need context. What did your hair look like?
Speaker 4:Like, it was. I had a feathered back each side. I had the scott bio thing Okay.
Speaker 3:Wow yeah, so I was.
Speaker 4:This is 1962.
Speaker 1:So you look remarkable. I really really daily injections.
Speaker 4:And so I went, I sold clack radios. The next thing, you know, he saw me selling tons of stuff. He goes go into the refrigerator. Anyways, I sold appliances, and so one day my sister was a processor at a company called Chicago financial service okay, financial services who actually went out of business, unfortunately, last year.
Speaker 2:I was there recently, just recently, and he was a great guy to get really brilliant was the owner, and I think he was done.
Speaker 4:Anyways, he's a bit older and, um, very good guy and my sister was a processor and basically I went to I he came into buy appliances and I said, oh, this bill is going to be 6432 dollars or whatever. And I said, oh, and there's sales tax 8%, so it's gonna be 4 and a half. And I totaled it up in my head and he went okay, you, your sales guy, larry, but you're good with math, aren't you? I said, yeah, street math.
Speaker 2:I said Not algebra, not calculus.
Speaker 3:Yeah, street math. I love that I can do street math quick.
Speaker 4:I mean, mortgages is a street business, I don't want to tell you how you learn street math, but I did learn it.
Speaker 1:Okay, sure.
Speaker 4:How you learn. It is a secret.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's so anyways. Records in real estate after that's right.
Speaker 4:It's on dark web how to learn street math. So I learned my street math. He said come in. Your sister says so. I I did. I went in there and I learned mortgages and then I formed a band, okay in that period, called ruby grass, and we were uh quickly Got on the radio in Chicago. We are an XRT in the mix. We wrote an L in 1997. Nice, we sold about I don't know 175,000 copies of that.
Speaker 2:L and we played everywhere.
Speaker 4:We played the house of blues y2k show, all this stuff. And then I met my wife, liz, okay, and we, we got engaged, we got married. I'm running around the country with this band but still doing some mortgages, okay. So, and I kind of remember the day, you know, and Liz is like, hey, um, the mortgages do, and I'm like somewhere I don't know where with the band, okay, and she's like I'm like out of town or something, had my uh flip phone, the Motorola Remember the plastic one I had to wave it for signal and she's like she's like the mortgages do on our little studio on uh st Paul, the one one bedroom thingy, and I'm like, fine, just, I'm busy just transfer money from savings to checking. Well, so you know, I know I need not to work here all day. That's the problem. There's nothing insane.
Speaker 1:OK, we have blown through, sort of like 2024.
Speaker 4:But anyways, that's kind of like but she had a mortgage is impressive.
Speaker 3:We did, we did.
Speaker 4:We had a little mortgage and because her dad, when we got married, helped us out, a little mortgage named Steve, little mortgage named Steve Steve mortgage. And any event, the story really is is that Liz was like she had. Then she got pregnant and she's kind of like hey, you know the band thing. And, truth be told, we went to New York, we had a we're on the radio, we got right in front of Sony Entertainment. I was one office down from Tony Metola, who was married to Mariah Carey at the time, begging for a record deal, got in the office because I was the manager of the band, reuben Kincaid, like, and I sat down in the chair and they said thank you so much, but we're going to take a pass and I'm like oh OK.
Speaker 3:So I was like did you pitch him on a refinance?
Speaker 4:I said See, that's why.
Speaker 3:Sam.
Speaker 1:Opportunity.
Speaker 4:That's why he ranks higher than me in the.
Speaker 1:Scotsman he drinks a lot of lemonade.
Speaker 4:So I basically came back to Chicago, told our band, said, guys, I love you, we're having a baby, I need to focus on mortgages Full time. And we did our last show in 2001 at the Park West Jam Productions Sold out show. It was fantastic, nice, and it was a great. We went out like on top of the right way Went out there. And then in 2011, we did a reunion show and shoot us and sold it out in like 48 hours Get out of here.
Speaker 1:That's great.
Speaker 4:That's cool. So that's how I that was there. There. It is so good for you.
Speaker 3:Yes, well, babies and babies and music apparently don't go well, they don't go well, yeah, money.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah what was your was feeding babies, right, yeah, right, I mean, I'm so promised feeding them and keeping a roof over there, yeah.
Speaker 3:So it costs more than one hundred and seventy five thousand record sales to feed your baby.
Speaker 4:When you, when you have to split it with all those other members.
Speaker 3:Is that street math yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, sam, tell us about you, know your, your bands that you've played in since, since Lyra, just oh boy, all this with his.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's a pretty wide array.
Speaker 3:I had. I'd moved here back in 98 with a band it was called Isabelle Hayes. It was a kind of a fusionish band, very Frank Zappa, like on time signatures but like funky, groovy, fancy stuff. He loved us. We were in Colorado, came from Colorado originally, so I got my first half of my life there in my last half in Chicago, and we had we'd moved here to to make it big. We had been touring a lot and we needed a city at the time. Ironically, denver wasn't really supporting its musicians very well.
Speaker 4:There's an aquarium rescue unit, though from there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, that's the thing. There's like a few one-offs here and there, but, and we were making, we were starting to get in good with, like the Fox Theater because we were playing bigger theaters there and they were going on tours throughout the West Coast and playing these. We went from opening for bands like Liquid Soul actually, remember we open for Liquid Soul, yes, got the cat cat house, I think, or cat something in Cat's Eye and in Seattle. And then the next tour we were, we were the headliners, so like we were going through these theaters opening and then headlining and started building us. We're like, all right, we need a real city. And we two of the guys were from Downer's Grove. The guy actually who got me to the mortgage business is Brian Ford, great guy Still. He still produces music, he's in California now and he's doing mortgages again, which is weird, but that's desperate. Yeah, okay, so not exactly, but anyway.
Speaker 3:So I moved here with that band and you know, shortly after we moved here, like within a year I think it was, the band broke up because, well, in Colorado rent was $200 a month and you know it was easy to get around and do everything. And in Chicago, I mean this city really, you get hazed. When you were Chicago, it's like you know, I remember my car had the boot on it. We had all of our gear stolen from our trailer like all kinds of stuff, did it, yeah, and that's a big, a big move. So the band broke up.
Speaker 3:But when the band broke up I had connected with our neighbor. There was this guy. His name was Charles Levi. Charles Levi is a Chicago icon bass player. He's a place for a group called my Life with the Thrill Kill Cult and I grew up listening to them. I grew up listening to everything. Even though I was playing in this, this hippie band. There was a point in time where I used to listen to a lot of well, still do listen to a lot of metal, a lot of thrash, the death, like the heavier, the dirtier. My son, who just turned seven, it's his favorite type of music.
Speaker 3:He tries to put it on his first friend Like no, that's no like sepultura and a much heavier Slayer was like when I was in high school. So I was like I learned to play the drums by playing along with Slayer records Like it really was my thing. That's heavy, yeah, it was. So the bass player moved in next door and I remember they were going on tour and they I wanted to play. They were going to go on tour with Thrill Kill Cult and there was this girl named Meg Lee Chin. She's going to come from the UK. She has a song she just put out. It's like this, this kind of hip hoppy mixed with industrial kind of sequences and stuff. And Brian got to play guitar. Brian's phenomenal guitar player, great musician all around. He plays drums, plays everything. He's really talented. But I remember they're like, oh well, brian's going to play guitar. I'm like, well, I need to play drums. They're like, no, we have a drummer already. And I was just like Brian didn't even listen to your music. I'm like this is ridiculous.
Speaker 2:I grew up on this.
Speaker 3:So upset and Brian was like, oh, you know that sucks or whatever. But then they had this drummer. There was a band, chicago band, called the beer nuts that's what they were called, the beer nuts and they had this Very original yeah, but they had a drummer. She was like six foot tall, blonde bombshell and her name was Dickless, that's what they called her. So, like I remember, he told me he's like Dickless is playing drums and I was like this is obviously an R rated podcast. Yeah, yeah, it's well, you can beat me if you want, but it's the truth. So it's funny because I really wanted this gig. So they Brian was learning their music and I took the CD because this is how we did it, and CDs, and I took their CD and behind the scenes I learned all the songs, no for no. And when they had their first rehearsal I showed up at rehearsal because they lived next door.
Speaker 3:We lived in this loft on Lake Street. The Lake Street lofts were infamous. We, there was a lot of history in those buildings with music and I remember I just sat there and hung out, because we all know musicians are unreliable. And I hung out and they said, uh, she didn't show up and there was like hey, and and Meg was from London and she was there. She'd flown in for this tour. It's a big deal, right, she's like this, we're going on this tour. This is my career. Where the hell is this drummer and and Charles, who's he's the musical director of the band, is feeling the pressure. He's like Sam, you want to. You want to sit in on a song? You think you can. I'm like, yeah, I can fake my way through this. Played, played one song, stopped the song and turned around. They're like you want to go on tour and like, there you go. That was it.
Speaker 3:I went out on tour with them and every time, every time, I was like, before the tour got back, if they weren't going out again, I cooked up with someone else, because as soon as you could play drums with sequences and samples, invisible records was the record label. They just started basically whoring you out to all these different labels, paying you nothing, cause you're like, oh, you can play this stuff, you'll do it. You don't care how much money you're making, right, this is the kid we're going to put on drums, right? So I did that and then I just went through a wide array of different Chicago industrial bands like sister machine gun, like all these. They were big, they did really well.
Speaker 3:People from guys from the play to ministry, all these different bands. And it's so funny too, because then, like I'd get back from tour and I booked, there's this guy, Tony Dale, chicago icon drummer. He's an amazing guy. He was out in Vegas now he used to connect me with his management company who did all. He was in a band called the Shy Lights, which is a Chicago also, you know, very big thing.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Well known the Shy Lights are. No, they were, they were huge. And so, tony, he's drummer, we go along really well. He was in a band with me and with his management company, how he fill in with him to play for the tokens. So they did. The lion sleeps tonight.
Speaker 2:Sure.
Speaker 3:And then went in their best thoughts I thought, oh, do the jungle, I'm not going to do it for that. But that led then. That led to like the temptations and like, because they, as soon as you, again the same thing. As soon as you got out and you were responsible, you showed up on time, you did a good job. Then they started booking in for those gigs. And then I remember coincidentally auditioning for Liquid Soul. Oh, yeah.
Speaker 3:And then tomorrow's. Just he just passed, unfortunately, which is really sad, but I saw funny because I remember they called me for the audition. I had such a chip on my shoulder. I was a dick, like seriously I really was, I was, I had gone. I thought you had to be this way.
Speaker 2:So you're the opposite of the Diclist. That was the opposite of the Diclist, I was.
Speaker 3:I was like this guy needs to learn a lesson, like seriously. And I did, fortunately, I'm very happy I did. But I remember talking to Mars about Liquid Soul you know Chicago band and I'm like, well, how much are you going to pay me? That was it. And I'm like, if I can't make at least this amount of money I remember it was like 30 grand or something a year yeah, was it like, oh, I can live off this. Oh my God, like, if I don't make this amount of money, I'm not even stepping in the studio. And he was like, well, you don't have the gig yet. And I said, yeah, I will, though, so I need to make sure this is worth my time. And I remember it.
Speaker 3:And it was between me and a Royal Prince Franklin, who happens to play drums for Lenny Kravitz now. And it's so funny because I did the audition and then they called us both back, the two of us, and I played with them and I was like, oh, this is great, it went really well. And it was kind of weird because I didn't get along with their drummer at the time when we opened for them, because he was really weird about his drum set. And so I was like oh great, I'm going to boot these guys out. And I remember Royal Prince Franklin walked in. I mean, he's got like big earrings, he's a cystic, like lanky, six foot five. God, I mean, he's just like. Immediately he walked and shook my head. I was like oh no, you're not the gig.
Speaker 4:He had the look, he had it all done. He's phenomenal player. He's just an idol player there was nothing there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that was it. So anyway, but yeah, and then there was a bunch of other bands Jay Davis Trio, chicago, another staple, who, coincidentally, his father was one of the biggest, most iconic producers in Chicago music scene, carl Davis, and he produced, I think, the Shy Lights actually. And it was funny because the Jay Davis Trio was the same way. I remember when they were auditioning drummers, my friend was auditioning for him and I remember calling up Julio and being like hey, I'd like to audition for you, but one of my friends is auditioning for you and if you're considering him, I don't want to audition. And again, same thing. He was like you don't even have the gig. And I was like and again I was like but I will, I'm like, so I'm going to do this.
Speaker 3:So they and it was funny because they had he said actually his name's Ryan Murphy, he's a drummer for Poydog Pondering now. And he was like listen, we want Ryan, but Ryan's a lighting director and we can't because he's on tour all the time. And I said I have an idea. I'm going to come in and play with you guys, if you like it, then I will do whatever gigs Ryan can't when he's on tour. And for like two years we were both just. We just rotated the drummer, j Davis, and then Ryan had a bound out and I stayed on.
Speaker 4:So some of them are much more loyal musicians. Yeah, that is about. Hey, that's 10 years, 77 different artists that I've played. Not one of those bands ever sold 100. Did you ever play the double door stand? Did you ever play the double door stand that?
Speaker 3:was our stomping ground, my favorite, literally my favorite venue in the city. We used to sell at the double door at the J Davis trail.
Speaker 4:When you talk about equipment getting stolen. We had a gig at the double door. We played there a bunch of times I'll never forget. We pulled up, we're loading in. We had a big show, we sold a bunch of tickets, we had a headlining and everything's going good. And then we come out. Somebody stole our drummers drums while we were loading.
Speaker 3:Yeah, oh my god.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that was.
Speaker 1:Like dancing.
Speaker 2:Okay, so let's have a week break.
Speaker 1:That sounds good.
Speaker 2:Andrew.
Speaker 1:Yes, Karen.
Speaker 2:You know what time it is. It is time for our record of the week record of the week. Last time I had a record and you said you would have one, do you?
Speaker 1:I do. The record is a Tom Waits record called Mule Variations which came out in 1999. And you know, tom Waits is, I would say his name is well known, but he's also probably, you know, not at the top of many people's lists unless they're into that. You know, folk music or sort of in the vein of Bob Dylan or John Prine, and I'm sure a lot of people love Tom Waits, but to me he's not, wasn't well known until I discovered randomly and this was like 20 years ago his album Mule Variations, and I've been looking for it on vinyl and I happened to find it and so I haven't picked it up yet but listened to the album today and just wanted to make sure it was something that I wanted to invest in. And it is definitely something that I want to invest in. It's a fantastic album. It's not kind of on the you know best Tom Waits album, it's not on the top of people's lists, but it is really cool.
Speaker 1:He's a singer-songwriter, again, kind of. You know his early stuff is more sort of folky and jazz, but then he gets into it feels like you're listening to Charles Bukowski or something like that, put to music. It feels like more like poetry put to music like his. His delivery, his song, his singing and the lyrics that he produces doesn't like ever really match up with the music behind it, but it all sort of ends at the right time. You know what I mean. Okay, yeah, yeah. So Mule Variations great, great album. I was doing a little research and he actually has a tie to Chicago, so he wrote the song that the wire used for their theme song down in a hole. Yeah, he wrote it for an album. I don't remember the name of it, but he wrote it for an album. It was an album that they made a play out, of, that debuted and maybe only you know was performed at Brier Street Theater by the Steppenwolf Company.
Speaker 2:No shit, that's really cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so Mule Variations by Tom White is my record of the week. Check it out. Well, thank you guys, I want to just kind of keep moving forward. Yep, this is an amazing conversation. Yeah, we still play together, I'm loving life.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I'm still playing a lot with my new band.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and what's your new band's name?
Speaker 4:I was hoping you'd ask. Keep it brief. I will be conscious of other people's time, and I love you, sam, I do. You know that. I'm so happy. I love you too. We haven't seen each other in a while, so this is really good.
Speaker 2:Really good.
Speaker 4:We talk all the time, but, yeah, seeing each other, it's you know, mortgages or when we didn't talk, we haven't talked business yet, have we? No? Okay, I'll make this super quick. No, I'm a little different. I'm the man. I take my business acumen and I become the manager of the band.
Speaker 3:So I do my own right. Sam knows that I played with him. I played in a couple different traditions A couple times.
Speaker 4:Yeah, he's, sam's filled in in a pinch. I remember had stomach flu the day of the gig and I'm like oh my God and I call Ghostbusters right here. And he took care of it, and without any. I will have to say he didn't learn any. He didn't know half the songs.
Speaker 3:I wrote out some of it.
Speaker 4:He just showed up like listening to it on the ride down and did it, you know, but actually it went really well.
Speaker 3:It went really well that gig was awesome.
Speaker 4:They said if ever we're in a pinch we'll call him. So unfortunately you have it because it stinks when I'm when the drummers on the day of the gig out. But we have my bands. It's called Deadfest Band. Okay, okay, and Deadfest Band has been very fortunate. Eight years ago a friend of I'm not I'm a dead fan, but not like I never played dead that much. Okay, and I'm a big Led Zeppelin classic rock guy. A friend of ours died of cancer in Northbrook. Okay, eight years ago.
Speaker 4:I get the phone call from his really close friends. They're like Larry, we're having the service at the church and then we're all going to go to the landmark in Bar and we're going to can you put together a dead band that does kind of a thing, a tribute, and I'm like, of course you know it's Chris, this guy and great guy too, and he loved the dead. So the bar, hometown bar in Northbrook, the landmark in, he said he's going to clear out the bar or whatever. We I got great musicians, david Allen from Mr Blotto, who's a great keyboardist, a couple other fantastic musicians, and we did this thing and we blew the roof off the bar. Nice, okay, and they were like you got to come back Like when are you?
Speaker 4:So I waited a whole year. I called it dead fest was the name of it. That was kind of a mistake because the name really is not good. We it was, I'll tell you, I didn't exist very quick, but it was dead fest, the first show. I'm really trying to do this quickly. A year later I said we'll do it again. It went from like 50 people to like 350 people, like like the bar was like line, like you can't. I had no idea. So then people were like you need to do like more often. So I slowly started building in more shows, more shows, more shows, and I will tell you last year was a great experience. The last two years I've got some great players. I got a guy named kid Mikey Schroeder on drums. Who's he played with Melvin Seals, who is Jerry Garcia's keyboard like real, like pedigree players.
Speaker 4:Okay, I'm the only guy really in the band. I'm mad. Also he has a business but like I'm really the only guy that's not a full-time musician now. The bottom line is we are completely booked in 2024. I'm booked in 2025.
Speaker 1:Nice, that's great.
Speaker 4:So, I don't. Yeah, we're playing like Retro on Roscoe. I mean we're, yeah, we're. It's like people are calling me to be like Larry. Can you play our bar in April?
Speaker 2:No, no, can't do it why.
Speaker 3:I'm booked.
Speaker 4:I don't have any more time.
Speaker 3:That's why Good for you. So people like the dead? Apparently they do. Who knew?
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's kind of an up and coming thing yeah like the Foo Fighters. I think they're going to make it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it sounds like it.
Speaker 3:That one guy didn't die that one guy didn't die.
Speaker 1:You won't ever know.
Speaker 3:Sam, do you play? Still Sorry, oh yeah, oh Sam.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I still, I still play quite a bit. I do a lot of fill-in, you know, the one thing I'll tell you is you get as you, as you get older, it's harder to find people to play with. So J Davis Trio plays once a year or something like that, because it's been over 25 years. So I think people are done. So then, as I start to branch out, we moved to the suburbs in like 2019, which is like the death of the musician.
Speaker 4:I got a side project going where I was going to tell you about that Black Jagger yeah, black Jagger yeah. We talked about it.
Speaker 3:We talked on the way in and so yeah, so I've been going around. There's a guy, kevin Ford, he's a keyboard player who was in the group Isabelle Hayes that I moved here with. I do a lot of gigs with him. We had a group called Elevator, but now he has a group that he put together called the Imperial Boxman. Kevin is from the is a Chicago Afrobeat project, which is like people like them, they do.
Speaker 2:So I played that a few different times. It's all originals, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah. So the Imperial Boxman is great. You have to get Jonathan Marks, who's the drummer, in that. And it was great because when I learned the material for their shows to fill in because I did like, we did like a month where we're playing once a week at the Dorians in the behind the record store in Wicker Park, and it was amazing because it was the first. It had been a long time since I had been challenged like that because the drummer he's a phenomenal drummer, he's a definitely an on-demand drummer in the area and the parts he had written were just so Tasty like it is really good and and complex.
Speaker 3:You know, a lot of the tunes are in seven and just different things and and the way he's, he's very fluid player, so and so still playing those guys.
Speaker 4:seven, seven, four timing, that's right.
Speaker 3:Yes, so my newest, my newest project that I'm working on I just decided this is to play with myself, so Drums, yeah. Oh wait, where are we going?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I've decided that that in my that I never I stumbled into music playing like I played with, you know, by myself, playing with records and doing all this stuff, and then I got into playing with other people after that. So I figured, since I'm having such a hard time finding all the people that I want to play with all the time, I'm going to just start focusing on myself and then I think that'll that'll push me into Either doing what I need to to find other people or you know, that's the weird, the world works very strange. You get what you put out. So I'm putting, I'm putting it out there Sure. So you know, hopefully coming up in the next year I'll have some, some other projects that will work on. I did my own trio. I do my own trio as well, like organ trio, nice keys and bass, and we we played during COVID.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we have fun. It was great. It was like so it was the height of cove. Yes okay, so we played in his garage, the detached garage.
Speaker 3:That's right, that's right.
Speaker 4:It was we just wanted to play. Yeah, he had a couple friends and we just went in there and it was like, because we are so we were at the stir crazy point in the dead of the winter, yeah, and Sam's like why don't we just open the garage door? Like you know, my wife saw. No, you can't go there there's why it's like not digging it. Everybody's not digging it. Carry was kind of she was cool but my wife was not digging me going there.
Speaker 3:Where you, where you going.
Speaker 2:What are you doing?
Speaker 4:I'm like he's gonna leave the garage door half open.
Speaker 2:It was bitter cold out there one time.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and we, we got together and just Jay, I, just I was like starving for.
Speaker 3:Please. So Larry only plays with me when he's starving first.
Speaker 4:Honestly, sam and I both know if we had a different life, we would. We would be doing, for sure, I, just I we got commitments, man, it's worth.
Speaker 3:It's worth saying I do play that I realized. I just realized I just had a gig last week and I played this group called dirty MF and the smoking section and dirty MF is DMC from liquid soul.
Speaker 1:Oh cool, so I'm like I'm not gonna wait.
Speaker 3:I'm trying to think. I'm like who am I playing with right now? I'm like, wait, those are the recent gigs I've been doing. Yeah, I think now we're gonna, we're gonna start playing a lot more because liquid soul won't, won't, I guess, probably won't so, and you look like you have some other question, I do have some other questions.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I want to make sure I get. In some questions.
Speaker 1:I have one question, I think. I think this will be interesting to you guys, but what qualities do your favorite realtors possess?
Speaker 4:loyalty, loyalties number one loyalty to who loyalty loyalty to someone, okay, okay, meaning this is podcast gonna be aired, or is this just for the four of us?
Speaker 1:I.
Speaker 4:Want to have a career after this your words, why? No, listen, you know I Find loyalty is a word that's getting diluted in today's economy. You know, and I, I find that you know we, we do things I know, sam does, I know that I do to help an agent Make a deal happen, close the deal, earn a commission. For some reason, the next customer that comes across, they seem to just feel this madness to have to refer three lenders.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 4:Larry, you helped us so much you got it done. You closed it in 12 days because another lender couldn't thank you so much, and for that return my next client. I am going to recommend several other mortgage lenders for you to compete with.
Speaker 4:So you make the least amount of money possible. Yeah, and I find that to be a practice that is taught in the real estate industry and it's not. It's not their fault. I'm not blaming any particular agent, but I know that some names please Blaming anyone? No, it just seems to be that as a taught Thing yeah you know, and, and I find that to be frustrating yeah, I really do, and I think, when you hear me position it, that way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it makes sense.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I would rather them say hey, I'm gonna refer Larry because he's done a really good job for me. Yeah, and if things don't, if you want someone else, if it, because sometimes you get on the phone and they're like hey, I want this or I want that, or I saw this or that and I can't you. There wasn't a connection Cuz I'm not very likable and so sometimes you know there's just a not happening. That's fine and they're okay, call me, I'll get you someone else right. But to throw those three names out there, yeah, it's almost like saying I have a referral for a real estate agent and it's in your area, but I think I'm just going to refer three or four other ages.
Speaker 3:How does that feel? Yeah, okay, so you don't like that.
Speaker 4:I don't like that. Am I allowed to say this? Yeah?
Speaker 3:So loyalty.
Speaker 4:Like a loyalty Sure. That is the quality that to me is most important. Love that answer.
Speaker 3:I like. I think for me, creativity and hustle, that's it. I like the. I think that so you don't care about loyalty. I mean, loyalty is something that's that you can I don't want to say earn, but it's something where if you make yourself so in demand, then you don't have to worry about it as much, right, and I don't think why my wife's not loyal to me. I know that's exactly it for me.
Speaker 3:No, I think I think that what I like it's been 22 years of doing this right, a lot, of, a lot of ups and downs in this career, and the one thing that's becoming apparent to me right now is that and I think this happens to a lot of people as you get older is that we have a limited amount of time to do things, and you know I've been busy enough to where I don't have enough time to to get through everything Like.
Speaker 3:That's just how it happens. So for me, I've made a decision to work with with people who first so I said hustling like you have to want to work, right. I don't like. I don't like the people who you. I don't want to be in a position where you're you're working and you're killing yourself to get something done for someone and on the other end, the person's dropping the ball. I like partnerships where people are like okay, I'm working hard, you're working hard, we're getting there. But outside of that creativity, I think that things change in 22 years. The one only thing that's constant in our industry is it's constantly changing.
Speaker 4:I love that, by the way. That's, that's great, that is good.
Speaker 3:It's the truth. So I find my partners that I look for are are the people who are looking for ways to change. You know, I like, I like, I like Instagram, I like TikTok. People are like oh my God, I hate this. I love that.
Speaker 3:When I talk to people, I was like I just can't stand social media. I'm like why Like besides the fact that you're on it all the time Like, why are you, why do you not like it? I'm like it's, it's a. You realize that people pay millions and millions of dollars for television ads and now you can do this stuff for free, and it's just an example of this modern marketing world. So when I, when I talk to people and I partner with them, we, I find the people that get excited. If I have a limited amount of time to do things, I want to do that with the people who, when I pick up the phone, I want to talk to them. We're going to have some ideas, because the reality is that, at this point in time, when it comes to helping client layer, you're the same way when it comes to a client coming to me to get a mortgage. I've got that down. That is. That is like breathing it's it's, it's atomic right.
Speaker 2:That's like tiner shoes, right, it's just like it's just there.
Speaker 3:I know, I know the steps and as much as things change, it's still the mortgage business right. Like 22 years ago when I got into this. I learned it pretty well and it was underwriting.
Speaker 3:Not much has changed Right. So you know I ask questions, you do those stuff. So outside of that, I'm like, okay, well, I know that part can be knocked out of the park every time. I know if someone comes to me then then, if I can, very good conversion rate. So outside of that, I like to find the people who I want to get excited with. Outside of that, like, how are we going to get people through the door? What are we going to do? What are you? Are we embracing these different types of tactics? And you know how can, how can I make sure that when this person calls me, I don't find myself going like I've been going out of my way lately. When someone calls and I don't want to answer, I stop pursuing that business relationship. I agree with that. I'm just like I'm done. I'm not going to do that anymore. Because why am I? Why do I want to feel this way? I'm going to frame things in a positive way and I need people who are going to do that same thing. I love that.
Speaker 4:That's a better answer than mine. What's not it is. It is.
Speaker 3:Oh, and I want them to be loyal Above all else, above all else, yes, yes.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Yes, loyalty All right.
Speaker 1:Well, as we wrap up here today, what is next for you guys, for Sam and Larry together?
Speaker 4:I want to save the best for last, so I'm going to go first, okay. By the way, this has been really great. I just want to go on record. Yeah, okay, thank you.
Speaker 2:No pun intended.
Speaker 4:No, I really enjoyed this. I want to thank both of you I want to thank Sam too. You know it's, it's a what's next for us. I mean, listen, it's interesting. This last year a lot of loan officers that are very close have gone in different directions.
Speaker 4:Right, we've scattered a little bit, right, okay, for one reason or another, okay, and I think that the direction for for people like Sam and I and I'm not speaking for you is we're pros, right? Mm-hmm, the numbers show it. Okay, I'm a semi pro, he's a pro, okay, all right.
Speaker 4:So we're pros, and I think that this year is going to be another tough year. Okay, I think this is going to be another year of continuing to reinvent yourself, change, get in front of people, hone your skills. I think we're still kind of figuring ourselves out a little bit Okay, at least I feel I am, but I do think that we are setting ourselves up for some tremendous years in front of us, and I don't think the run's over. Okay, I think the way we're doing business, though, has to change. The consumers behaviors have changed, the referral partners have changed, society's changed, and we have to change with it, and so, every day, we're looking at each other, we're having deep conversations, sam and I, we get together every couple of weeks. We share ideas, we talk about. What we're doing has nothing to do with the, the companies we work for. It's really about ourselves. So, for me, that, where am I going? I'm going to constantly work on evolving in today's ever changing market and adapt to the society's changes of the real estate industry. Nice, whoo, what, how?
Speaker 3:am I supposed to follow that? I don't know.
Speaker 1:Now.
Speaker 4:I can see why he did that.
Speaker 3:And now, ladies, and gentlemen, Sam Sharp.
Speaker 1:Wow, he's like I got 11.
Speaker 4:It's 11. I got a guy in the.
Speaker 1:I got a mic. I'm going to mic drop you know what?
Speaker 4:I'm one more than tech. I'm going to do what he said Larry's mic went to eat and laugh it.
Speaker 3:I mean, I had ideas for this year, but now I have new ones that you need to formulate. Yeah, I'm going to surround myself with this I'm listening the Colton ticket.
Speaker 3:I love it. I have a. I was. I was listening to a podcast and the, and they were talking about the way that they set up their lives and they talk about. I can't remember that It'd be this. The story would be so much cooler if I could remember the word for it. There's a Japanese word for it and it basically means you do one major life event every year. Oh nice, right. So you plan something major. It's called sushi, yeah, it's called sushi, and so the idea is that you're supposed to do something of significance to and it could be different for everyone, right, it could be a major trip around the world. For example, the guy who's that was talking, he his was. He wrote his bike across the country. Now, the funny part is you listen to these podcasts from these successful people and they do these amazing things because they're already just famously rich.
Speaker 4:Right, and they're like I have 300 million.
Speaker 1:So I can't. I spent 19 hours a day meditating. They have money, they have money, they have money, they have money, they have money, they have money.
Speaker 4:They're like saying to me, like I'm just like all right, yeah, yeah, yeah, fuck us all, money Got it.
Speaker 2:But anyway, the concept is very good. The concept is good.
Speaker 4:Yeah we get the idea Keep going, so make a point.
Speaker 3:Sam, what are you going?
Speaker 3:to come out, here we go. So the idea is to figure out something big that you do every year and something that you want to do, and then you find other micro events around that. So, for me, this year, and what I plan on doing is we talked a little bit about this earlier I'm actually starting a podcast, nice. Yes, it's not necessarily real estate related, though. It'll be coming out. It's called a divided life and it's going to be very in line with what we're talking about. Larry will be a guest on there because he has a very interesting story, right. But the idea for me is I want to start this because I'm looking for ways that my number one goal this year is to find a way to make things more fun, more interesting and to be a little bit more true to what I want to do, rather than just focusing on the success of the industry. Nice, I love that. I think if you focus on the right things, the business comes into play.
Speaker 3:From when I first started in the business, my mantra and what I always used to say, there was two sayings, and I believe both of these. The one I used to say is that don't focus on the money, focus on doing a good job. If you do a good job and the business is right, then the money will come. That's how I practice my business and it's what led me to be one of the top originators in the country. And then I also used to say that the market does not dictate how much business you do, just where you get that business from. So I'm looking to go back to my roots. Focus on that, not look at the numbers, and just have a good time, do a good job, connect with the right people. Start this podcast because it's going to be incredibly fun. Might'll be video, thus everyone's have to stare at us, and I would love to. Actually, I think we're going to have to turn the tables for my guests.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 3:Of course. So for this year it's knocking out one big item and then just trying to figure out ways to be better at that and ways to be a better father and a better family man with my family and my kids and my wife, and to be a better husband. So I've got small goals this year.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, pull the moral card on me.
Speaker 4:I didn't go there with the family.
Speaker 3:If my wife listens to this, yeah.
Speaker 4:I was going to say now I can't share this with Liz. Okay, I love being a doring wife that I care for so deeply in my amazing children. But anyways, you had to get that in, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you guys so much for being here. Thank you, yeah, that's been great. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2:Come on back and you know, I feel like we've just scratched the surface.
Speaker 4:That's right. Why don't we? We'll get together in the summer and see what's happened in a half a year there we go.
Speaker 1:You like that plan Sounds like a plan. I like it. I like that, all right. Thanks guys. Thank you Andrew.
Speaker 2:Yes, karen, I'm going to do some projects.
Speaker 1:Are you going to have me genuflect on some deep subjects?
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:Keeping that religious theme going.
Speaker 2:So we were talking about self-improvement and moving forward and reinventing. So why do that? Why keep evolving?
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know it's funny. I remember very distinctly being an adolescence, maybe an older child, maybe I was 10 or 11. My mother would always be in school, like taking these advanced degrees, and you know, at the time I probably wasn't thrilled with school and, you know, not too many grade schoolers or junior high kids are, like, really in love with that type of school, so I just didn't get it.
Speaker 1:Like why are you doing this? You've been done with school Like you, don't? You have a job, you know, and I don't think we got into it too much. But and I don't know if I learned the lesson there in the moment, but yeah, I mean, looking back on it, it's always been very impressive to me that she, you know, spent so much of her free time improving herself. And you know I get it now. I mean, it's really it's kind of when you're living a well-lived life, it's kind of the forward moving action. In some respects.
Speaker 1:I'm just always interested in learning. I mean, just take this podcast, for example. Every time we record an episode I learn something more about how to record a better podcast. Yeah, you know, sam talks about this like taking a sort of Japanese word or concept where you take one big thing and add it to your life, or maybe it's not one big thing, but it's it's a big thing to you. And I love that because I think that self-improvement, but also the risk-taking aspect of self-improvement, comes in there when you take sort of big leaps. But you can also, you know, just be open to learning something new every day and you know, I think that's really, really important to sort of connect with life, connect with the people that are in your life at the time you know, connect with your business and your work and you know your family. It's sort of being open to that self-improvement aspect that is really ingrained in the human experience.
Speaker 2:I like that, yeah, and it doesn't have to be that big thing. You know it can be somebody. Just I don't know, listen to another podcast and they were talking about you know, take a different way home from work. You know, go down that street. You've never been down before, totally.
Speaker 1:What's there? Yeah, I mean even like sometimes you know when you're walking and you just simply lift your head up. I mean, a lot of times you're walking through the neighborhood or walking and you're just like I do this because I'm clumsy, you know, just frame my ankle. But you know you're looking down at your path ahead of you and you know you don't see the whatever you can see from just simply lifting your head up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So that's why I was a question of why self-improvement? Yeah, I think so. Yeah, that's why, Great thanks. This has been an episode of Records in Real Estate. Thanks for listening. We hope you enjoyed it. Today's episode was brought to you by Be Realty. Be where you want to be. Be Realty.