Why Jarrod Blackwell Believes That Empathy In Business Drives Digital ROI | Episode 94

That's basically what your business is.

Right. Right. Like you are literally helping each individual person. Right. And seeing them win is what gets me excited. That's right. Like seeing someone saying, I was able to do X because you enabled me to do it. Yep. Is just, it's like the best feeling ever. And we leave it live in a world where again, it's I I think we live in a selfish society and not many people are out there to help other people. I mean, I was kind of that person. I still kind of am always look always looking for that person to come to the channel. But I was always looking for that person to come save me and help me. But I realized I can only help myself. Not everybody realizes that. Not everybody has the ability to do that. So if I can help someone do that in their business, I love that. Like seeing someone else succeed over myself, it's just it's sometimes too selfish, selfless for me to say, but like that's what drives me.

Welcome to the podcast dedicated to real estate, insurance, and building your business. Join us as we take you along our own business building journeys with additional wisdom from our network of local and national experts. Welcome to Bricks and Risk.

This episode is brought to you by Property Management Redefined. PMR is not just managing properties, we're creating partnerships that build long-term success for property owners. John and his team can be reached at manage at gopmr.com or by phone 267-753-6005. Tim. Yes, Sean. Who's a good client for PMR?

Property management redefined is looking for property owners who value three things accountability, reliability, and a results-driven approach. They want to maximize returns, but still provide client and tenant satisfaction.

There's a lot of property managers out there.

Yes, there are. What does PMR do really well? Biggest thing is they're seamless and they're worry-free. So with that approach in mind, it allows the property owner to put their trust in PMR and know that the results will be there. The other thing I think a property owner is really going to value because they do it so well is that they have a local expert team, boots on the ground, managing your properties and your tenants' expectations every day so that you feel good about your investments.

We have millions of listeners out there. Tens of millions. If they want more information, how do they find PMR?

Right here, guys. Reach out to John Sachs and his team at Property Management Redefine. We'll take good care of you. Hey everyone. Welcome to another episode of Bricks and Risk. I'm Tim Gardy. And I'm Sean Mooney. Today, Sean, we have another local, awesome, super cool guest. We have Jared Blackwell, the owner of Let's Be Strategic. How are you doing today, Jared? I'm doing great. Hello, everybody. How are we doing? Thanks for having me. Welcome on in. All right, so background on Jared. He's the kind of guy who sees the world for not just what it is, but for what it could be. As the founder of a boutique digital marketing and relationship management firm, he thrives at the intersection of strategy, creativity, and human connection. Whether he's mapping out a campaign or deep in conversation, Jared leads with curiosity, empathy, and a healthy dose of humor, which we do as well.

Sometimes.

Because life's too short to not enjoy the ride. Born with a brain that runs in high gear, thanks ADHD. He channels his energy into listening deeply, thinking big, and always finding the story behind the problem. Philly is home, people are his passion, and impact is the name of the game. He's married to his wife, Kelly, and has two children. Your son is Xavier and your baby girl is Zara. Is that correct? That is correct. All right. So you mentioned leading with curiosity, empathy, and humor. Why curiosity? Like, why is that a way that you roll?

That's a good question. Um Franklin, it's good. I just like to solve problems. Um there's always a problem. There's always something happening beneath the surface. It may be someone who's, you know, lost someone. Maybe they're going through a rough time, but they're ultimately projecting it as just being, you know, upset or angry or one way or another. Um, and just being curious and reading between the lines and ultimately seeing what's in the book is where my passion lies. I just love finding solutions to problems, and curiosity peaks at Robb Shuck.

Yeah. That is Rob solvers and deal makers. That is a Robbie Shuck move. So that's awesome. So all right. So here's another question about that that part of your background. So, how has leading with empathy helped you in business? Because you said curiosity, empathy, and humor. Obviously, we all have good sense of humor. We're pretty much cracking up before we even started this show. Um, what is it about empathy, empathy that has helped you in business specifically? Good question.

Um, I think empathy, it's like one of the easiest things you can do as a person. Yeah.

Is just be empathetic to others, or the easiest thing to not be. That's true. It can be easy or it can be extremely difficult. Most people are not empathetic at all.

Because it takes a little bit of effort to kind of dig in.

Oh, absolutely. You gotta ask the right questions, right? And you gotta be, again, curious. If you're not curious and you take things for what it is, empathy doesn't really matter because it's not my problem, right? Right. So ultimately being empathetic is it's the saying goes, right? Everybody's fighting a struggle that we know nothing about, and it's the truth. You know, people aren't as everybody's happy to tell you when things are good, but no one actually comes out to say when things are bad and ask for help. And leading with empathy, it just allows me to listen to people's stories and just make them feel hurt. And I think that's a big thing.

You talked recently about being in a meeting and you went in and and there was a you know a few people in it, and it was like this person was talking about their stuff, and this person was talking about their stuff. Yeah. And nobody was like listening or like it was all talking, weighing in about, oh, you know, how about you or what about you? And it's that empathy allows you to put yourself in that person's shoes to understand what they're going through, and then finding the solution to their problems. So they kind of do work in tandem.

Absolutely. And I'm not gonna sit here and say I've always thought that way, right? It's lessons learned that I used to be the one that felt like I needed to talk about myself. Right. Right. And then you get to a point where it's like, well, I just left that conversation, didn't even let that person talk or like ask them anything about themselves.

What do I know?

What did I mean learn about that?

A great way that I could summarize it is just it's very easy to assume. Right. It's to assume that if someone is in a bad mood or someone seems upset, and you know, business or life, you're you're kind of thinking it's like, well, what did I do? Right. Or or what's what's your why didn't they look like me? Right. What's your problem? This must be your problem. Whereas something may have happened to him or her, and you're not gonna ever learn what had happened, which again, it's really none of your business. But I think to your point, leading with empathy is listening, is probably the most important part. And I think when you go into any meeting, even this podcast, I feel like the podcast has really made Sean and I even better listeners than we were before. I'll even look back at some of the episodes and I'm like, man, I'm freaking talking too much. And it's like, and it's not to say that, like, yeah, a lot. And it's not to say I'm doing anything wrong. It's just like something gets said in the conversation. I just want, oh, yeah, let me let me add to that. But what I think having empathy is not only a good thing to have in business, but in life because it allows you to just be like, How are you doing? Like, how's the family? Or if you're single, how are you? Like, how's life? Have you traveled? Like, how's business? All that stuff. And I think getting in that mindset of just asking how someone's doing, it's usually gonna lead to a few more things. Maybe you'll get a little dose of what's going on, and for whatever reason, something bad has happened to that person or in their life, or work sucks, or like, you know, someone passed away, or finances are tough, or whatever. But I love how you put that down initially because not only does the curiosity like help with that. So if you're curious, you're gonna want to ask questions. And then just sitting back and letting someone like vent pretty much. I find that that just leads to all sorts of benefits, not only in the relationship, but just in the, like you said, solving problems, conversations, things like that. Absolutely.

There was one episode that we talked about, and I referenced a similar scenario.

Oh, yeah, when you were talking to your team. Uh was it that one?

It was it was the one where the guy called in and someone in the office like, what a jerk or whatever, you know? And I'm like, Well, you know, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe he's got something going on. And then it was literally a day or two like to follow up that we spoke to him again, and he was like, Yeah, he's like, My son just died. Oh, yeah, this was the one you talked about. And it was like, Wow, you really don't know what people have going on in their life, and you almost have to give them like I don't want to say space, but the opportunity to be that way. You want to give them grace, yeah, give a little grace.

We don't give ourselves enough grace, and to your point about that, it's a good example is you know, when people ask me, like, oh, how's the baby doing? How's mom doing? Yeah, that's the last question. Right. Sometimes I'm like, Well, what about me? Yeah, like how am I doing? Seriously, you know, everybody again, I went through a lot in a year. I lost my I started a job, left or I'm sorry, I left a job, started a new job, had a kid, lost my dad, started a business all within a year.

Yeah, condolences on your own.

And a lot of people, you know, I I thank you, thank you. And I went I went through a really rough time. I just came out of it. It's it was like two years.

Yeah.

And one of the things that I had to get over, and you start to real understand this is like, why why isn't anybody reaching out asking how I'm doing? Like I'm yearning to tell somebody like this is what I'm going through. But at the end of the day, it really makes you realize like people we shouldn't assume what people think. We shouldn't care what people think because most people are just thinking about themselves.

Not in a bad way, but in a way, it's human nature. It is. It's literally, it's like, you know, I I I go back to the Sky episode because there were so many good, like, psychology, psychological things in that one. And just like how he was saying, like, you know, you want to think of the other person and lead with the kindness. Because again, when you're coming from that perspective, it really just allows people to open up, like you said, you know, just how you doing? Not like, what are we talking about today? What's the deal? You know, who's gonna win or who's gonna lose, or blah, blah, blah what's the score? Our brain tells us to do that, is what he said in the episode, because our brain is in like survival mode. So if the brain's in survival mode, your first thought is usually like, I just gotta like defend and survive. Yeah. And then the second thought is usually like he has said, you're not responsible for your first thought, but you are responsible for your second thought and your first action. I think is how he put it. Great episode. And Sky Michael's like, shout out to Sky. Yeah, you guys know each other. Partner with him. Yeah. That's awesome. And uh, I just find that when he said that was just such it related to everything, relates to being a parent, relates to being in business, you know, family, not even being a parent, family, parent, your parents, siblings, cousins, you know, friends. And I I I thought that was just such great ideas.

Well, the other part of that too is when you go in for any type of business, and it could be sales, it could be marketing, whatever. Um a lot of times too is that that person's like prepared to answer your question with just uh an automatic reply. And if you don't ask the right questions, you might not actually get to it's almost like they answer with what they think they should be answering with. But that's not the real issue, or that's not you're not going to get to the real solution by answering that, and the only way to get to the real root of the issue is to ask questions and listen.

100%. Talk less. Right down.

Love it. Talk less. Talk less.

You know, listen to Sean more.

Tip tip for Tim. Let Sean speak. Tim, shut the F up. I'll remember to do that.

So can you cut that mic?

Uh we're good. We're gonna leave that, folks. Get him a new computer, too. Uh so a tip for listeners and watchers, you had said find your authentic self. It's the root of success. We did an episode on authenticity where we were talking about like authenticity in business and sharing the things that you like, the things you're passionate about. Why was that a tip that you wanted to share with listeners and watchers about being authentic?

I think because we're, you know, we live in the edge of technology, right? We're definitely moving to a more inauthentic world. And you even see social media, right? People post their wins. You don't really see many losses. You know, I got to $10,000 a month and here I am. Like, what did you do to get there? Um, so ultimately bringing that in is I think super helpful just for us to humanize ourselves. Um, I mean, it's tough.

It's well, to that point too, also is like, what does the person on the other side want to see? They don't want to see the post of you, yeah, hey, I got 10,000. I I'd rather, as a viewer, and I'm sure a lot of people out there, because I'm a pretty popular guy.

Extremely popular. Um, the sunglasses say a lot too.

Look how many followers I have.

I think he just crossed over 112 uh for the weirdest Instagram profile I've ever seen to keep done.

Followers, just straight followers.

Yeah, I know.

Anyway, um, I want to see like how you got that.

Right.

I want to see like, was it the calls? Was it the meetings? Was it the networking? And if you can document that, that's way more powerful than I got 10,000.

Yeah, absolutely. And I think even just as small business in general, like we're putting ourselves out there. So if we don't know who we are and are authentic to ourselves, how are we gonna help anyone else? So I think authenticity is a big thing, and especially in this world age of technology, and ultimately just finding who you are as a person. I'm still doing that. I mean, 37, still have some time, but at the end of the day, might not have time. I don't know. Yeah. So I'm trying to find out who I am, what I can offer, and actually be able to sit here and say that, right?

Do you think the gap widens with AI, like the value on the real authenticness just becomes more valuable?

Oh, 100%. I think that's the hardest part that we're in, and that's the problem I want to solve for, you know, whether it's real estate agents, whether it's insurance um agents, whether it's small businesses, is being able to bridge the gap between the building or the relationship and using technology to work for you, not you know, you you working with it as opposed to you working for it. So, how can you automate those mundane tasks that you spend a lot of time on and just spend more time developing yourself and being you and offering value to other people?

We uh we had another interview with uh Josh Buchter, the Wolf of Broad Street. What's up, man? Hey Josh. Very well. He had a line of his episode that was so good because we got into the subject of authenticity, and he said, Your vibe attracts your tribe. And I think like to piggyback off both of your points, people care what other people think first. People are just like, How's this gonna be perceived? Like, who's gonna make fun of me? Who's gonna judge me? Who's gonna crap all over me? So, because the first reaction, the psychological reaction is usually like, what do others think? It's easier for you to try and please other people in business and in life, with your marketing, with your decisions. But one thing I loved about what Josh said if anyone is is rocking the authenticity right now, it's it's Josh. And he has literally built a marketing tribe, let's call it, you know, from scratch, community, just by doing his thing. And then he met his partner, Beth. What's up, Beth? And now they work together because they're both like that. Like they're traveling the world, they're they're helping business owners. And I feel like one of the biggest value points that they bring to business owners is confidence because of the authenticity, because they're just rolling and being themselves, and people love that. It's so refreshing because, to your point, so many people are not being themselves. They're they're trying to portray an image of what they think their clients, coworkers, family, friends, neighbors, what do you want to see? Like, what do you think? And they lead with that. So they have this like persona. And I think the authenticity that that one really spoke to me is because it almost comes back to empathy. It's it's one of the easiest things to do. How easy it to just say, This is what I like, this is what the music I like, the shows I like, the food I like. You know, it's so easy to just what do you like? Right. But no one wants to talk about it. Because if you talk about it, then someone will be like, Ew, you like that? Why do you like that? And you're like, oh shit, now I gotta tell people why I like that. Right. So uh I really love that advice.

Well, it's also too bringing the person out. Like a lot of people are uncomfortable doing that.

Yes, right? Most people are uncomfortable being themselves.

They they are, and and to find that authentic voice, you you have to like do it and do it over and do it over and do it over because that's reps. Like you and I, like the first couple of episodes, we were you were you were dressed pretty professional.

Yeah. And now I mean I think to your point, genuinely, you have to, I think you have to have some some sort of life event or something to happen to you that makes you take a step back in yourself to say, what do I want? Like the world isn't as complicated as we make it, we make it, right? Like we assume, you said that earlier, we assume as humans, way too much. Way too much. Way too much. And I even learned this from Sky. You know, at one point I was at an organization and you know, didn't want to go show my face in the offs again because I thought X, Y, and Z. And he was like, Stop right there. He's like, Stop assuming, stop creating a story that you don't even know if it exists. Right. You're just doing that to as as a fear-based mechanism to you know, say it's it is this is what it is, but it wasn't. So I think that's a big thing is we gotta stop assuming.

Yeah, and you have to conquer that, right? It's like it's it's for most for some people, it's like a paralyzing thing. Yeah, I I can't go in the office. What like right?

You know, what are people gonna say about me behind my back? Like, what are they gonna assume I'm here for? Like, it's crazy.

Yeah, remember when we did so we did our OG episodes, and we I think we came in here twice. We recorded our first, like, let's call it five or six, and then we came in here the third time, and you were like, I don't like it. Yeah, I'm like, Well, what don't you like? You're like, I don't like how I sound. Okay, tell me about it. And you're like, you know, it's A, B, and C. I said, here's the thing I can talk too much. If I'm talking too much and you got a thought, just interrupt me. And you were like, Really? I'm like, yeah, I'll I can pick myself back up pretty easily, but interrupt me. So then we started recording more episodes, and I'd be like, and he's like, and I'm like, all right, Tim, keep that thought in your head. All right, don't lose that thought. Right. And then now, you know, almost 90 episodes deep that we've recorded, it's just this is how, this is our our vibe, this is our routine, this is what we've good at because of the reps. Because you said that the reps matter. Life events, business life events matter. Like when big things happen to you, you can go crawl on a corner and say, why me? Woe is me, or you can say, you know what? Maybe there was some reasoning behind that. And now I'm supposed to do something different or look at things differently or pursue something else, whatever it is. And this has happened to me too. And I just feel like if you can try, because it's very hard to do, if you can try and look at things that way, you'll be shocked at how fast you start moving in the direction you want to move in because nothing, you don't really care about anything else anymore. You're just like, I know what I'm doing now, I know where I'm going and what level of time. I know what's important and what's not as important. Absolutely. So therefore, I know how to spend my days because everything is just it's one day at a time. Like, stop looking six months, six years, 25 years ahead. Just look as like, yo, it's it's one step at a time, it's one day at a time. So if I handle my day this way, I'll wake up tomorrow and see what tomorrow's like.

Absolutely. I mean, that's the problem with big dreamers, right? Is we're constantly looking into the future to where we want to. It's not easy. Now, and I I've I've experienced that in life. And, you know, I've always like in my younger years kind of gotten by on natural talent, right? I'm a natural relationship builder, naturally know how to, you know, solve people's problems, but then got to a point where I want to get promoted, but I was told. Jared, I can't promote you. It's like the way you act influences other people. And it was just, you know, not being in my seat all the time, but I could put up the same numbers as those who were. And I really took a step back and was like, wow, like this person, I used to take constructive criticism as someone's putting me down or criticizing my, you know, human. Yeah. But now it's just a way to learn and grow. So every now, I think that's what a lot of people do. To your point, is when something happens, like, why me? It's somebody else's fault. Yeah. Just take a look in the mirror first.

Why are they such an asshole? Right. Like what the hell's wrong with them? It's like, yo, look in the mirror. Take a minute. Like there may they may be an asshole, but they may also have a point. Right. So rather than just say, this, them, the other thing, you could say, you know, let me think about that for a minute. Like, take your time, think about it. You know, constructive criticism and criticizing yourself is a good thing. Um, so another thing that you put down that I thought was interesting, and we can relate to this, is you were very open in talking about ADHD. So why does it help you to even talk about it? Because you wouldn't have put that down on our questionnaire if it wasn't something you were comfortable with. So having ADHD, especially in business, because I've had business partners with ADHD, uh, I do not have it. Um, but what is it about that that makes you comfortable like sharing things about it? What was the question again? ADHD. You're open about talking about squirrel? You're like, am I? Did you see that? When I had many of them.

Okay, Sean, let's talk about something. Is this Santa Monica? No, I mean, it is really important. I mean, for me, it's a daily struggle. And I didn't feel confident and comfortable to be able to say that until I would say the past couple years. Again, everything like it falling into that depression kind of made me reflect on myself and just be able to understand what I have a superpower with it. I can do many things at one time. I can ultimately think ahead a lot faster. I can get from A to Z a lot faster than other people. Absolutely. But there's a detriment to it, right? You know, sometimes lack of attention to detail or overthinking, and then, you know, paralysis analysis paralysis by analysis. Correct. So just really being comfortable to those who do struggle from that. And I'm not talking about, you know, everybody says they have ADHD now. And there are a lot, probably a lot more people now, especially with society, with screens, with our, you know, uh, I call them adult pacifiers, so your cell phone and social media. Um, so just being able to feel comfortable talking about it and what where I struggle, I think is the biggest thing because I can now admit, like, hey, these this is me. This is where I excel, this is where I struggle. So especially in, you know, looking when I was in W-2 land, as I like to call it, that was a big thing because not everybody knows how to manage that type of person. I I ran into those issues.

Yeah.

Can we get uh can we talk about your business a little bit? Of course.

Yeah, you don't want to talk about life anymore? No, let's move off topic. I I had one more question about that.

Uh, you're gonna have to wait. All right. Um, your business. Can you talk about your business, what you do, and a recent project you might have worked on that you really enjoyed and kind of like what came out of that?

Absolutely. So my business is really taking like the heartfelt relationship building approach and bridging the gap between how to do that effectively and using technology to do so. So whether it's you know, you're a small business, you have to maintain your client relationships. So using a CRM, understanding, hey, you're a small business, you're a real estate agent, you have to have systems and processes in place. So really just under, like you said, really leading with empathy, understanding the person, understand how they work, and then being able to suggest systems, tools, processes to be able to help them function at a high level. And again, kind of take those repetitive, mundane tasks, automate those, and then create authentic-based marketing, something that not everybody's getting. It's geared to you and it's geared for those you're actually delivering it to. So a good project that I worked on recently. Hmm. I mean, I work on a number of different projects. It's interesting because at the beginning of the business, I mean, I've been doing this for probably about two years now. I've marketed myself as a toolbox. I didn't really, you know, I have a lot that I can do from, you know, more consulting to team trainings to operational systems and processes to spreadsheets, stuff like that. So really just figuring out what my lane was is ultimately the hardest part. But honestly, just I really get my energy comes from enabling others. So that project right now is I'm actually working with Sky Michaels, partnering up with him as a tech guru on he's doing a forever real estate client. So with Skye, we partner very well because he has philosophy down, right? Everything that I've learned about real estate and building relationships, a lot of has been from him and confirms the stuff I've learned from other people. Um, and then I ultimately bridge that gap to how does technology work for you? So doing one-on-ones with agents, being in, you know, calls with 30 plus agents really there to want to build a better business, build be more productive, and build better relationships. So it's six weeks long. We meet every Tuesday and Thursday, and it's been it's been awesome. It's been so fun and hearing these agents really saying, like, Jared, you help you help me do this, like you help me breach that confidence. Or again, I'm just an ear for them when they truly need it.

So the one question, uh when it's from a technical standpoint, CRMs, a lot of times they're kind of proprietary. Are you able to just take what they have and like implement those systems within their CRM savant?

Yeah.

Uh yeah. Uh sure. CRM master? No, no, like I because everyone's different, right? Like, I think my CRM is not going to be like a a real estate person's CRM. So are you able to like go into their system and and figure out like how to use or how to maximize? Or are you suggesting like, hey, try and use this one?

Like, how does it work? Great question. Um, so actually, that's one of my uh lead magnets, right? Is a free CR CRM audit. Because if I don't That's a good one. Yeah. Why not? Because I get it.

Do you feeling good now, Mr. Miami Vice? That we uh we got those questions out.

Um can you let them talk? Yeah, absolutely.

Let's be strategic.com and book your free CRM on, right? Um but no let's be strategic.com. Got it.com calm. Um no, but to that point is as Tim said, active listening, right? Or not active listening, but just understanding people, right? I have to the way I do it is I'll have a call with you. I need to understand who you are, how you work, what makes you tick, what you like doing, what you don't like doing. From there, understand your business, right? How who are you targeting? How are you targeting them? Most of these questions are never answered by people. So then that's hey, you need to figure this out, or I'll help you figure this out. Right. Regardless, it's being able to understand the person, understand what they want to accomplish, their goals. And then again, they're all they're all relatively the same. There really isn't much difference to when it comes to CRMs. It's being able to track actions, conversations, and use data to understand am I doing things right? Um, and also having a reason to follow up. If you know Tate after you call somebody, that's great. Regardless, it's it's fairly straightforward. And it's again just understanding who you are and how you work best. And then I build that to help you.

So you're almost like a CRM consultant. So, like, how how common would you say when you're diving into someone's CRM system, do you think maybe the CRM system might not be a good fit for him or her? Or is it mostly like you had said, they're pretty much all the same in some way, shape, or form? Let me just tailor your current system to more of what I see as your approach, and then we'll move forward with that. Like what's more common?

Yeah, I would say pro usually someone already has an existing CRM coming to me saying, I want to maximize this. So depending on their goals, you know, I'll go through, ultimately show them how to do that, enable them how to do that. And then ultimately it's up to them. If they have, I'm working on a project right now with a transaction coordination company and their platform isn't sending out their automated emails, like the platform itself is like going under. The founders are nowhere to be found. They all left the company. Oh, wow. So that's where using my expertise and having experience with tons of different CRMs comes into play because then I can suggest, hey, here's what I would do for your specific use case. But to answer your question, it's mainly they have one, they want to learn how to optimize it. And I just get my head, even if I don't have experience with it, give me two hours. It's really all I need.

Where did you, all right, where did you pick up your CRM skills? Was it at a company specifically? Is it just like a natural skill set for you?

Good questions. I mean, I've been around the block, I've been at a number of different employers. Um, so in my sales roles, right? In sales, it's funny, it was sales, but now I would say relationship building. So I had to keep track of who I was talking to, who I was targeting, what did I talk to them about? ADHD. I don't remember anything. But what I can do is when I have a conversation with you, sit here and literally type notes. I'm paying attention to you, but my hands are just moving.

Right, right.

Um, so then, you know, using that to follow up, it's just I've had so much experience with different CRMs that it was like, these are all whether it was home built or you know, a sales force, it they're all relatively the same. It's just a matter of how technical you are to build onto it and what you want to link it to. So it's just using that experience to impact others who don't have that.

For our listeners out there, watchers and watchers, and and people who are aspiring to dress like you. Correct.

Yep.

Um that are not currently using a CRM. But they should because we talked about this before. It's like I don't care if you're run a paper route. Yeah, you should have a CRM system. What would be one that you could uh name by name that like a beginner could just more or less like plug and play um to get up and get going with like ease of use, like more the rookie platform, let's call it. To just get them on a system, like what would be one that you might know of that hey, try this, it might really help your business.

Yeah. It's also a very loaded question because again, I gotta break that down, right? Like it's gonna be industry, it's not industry agnostic, right? Like if you're in real estate, that's gonna be a different answer than if you're insurance. But I'm gonna answer your question. I'm gonna say HubSpot. I think HubSpot out of the box out of the box.

We used that for 10 years. I'm sorry, about we probably use it about seven years. Yep. Uh it's easy to use, out of the box.

You can set it, you can set it up and start working with it.

I absolutely loved it. It was so great.

It is awesome. And then you can customize it. That's the biggest thing. So whether you're in real estate, whether you're in insurance, you can customize it to your specific use case.

Yeah. One thing about HubSpot that not a lot of people talk about is the cost. So if you and then the cost is really based on contacts. Right. So the more contact, if you have a company or your business, whatever you're doing, and it's got like tens of thousands of contacts, HubSpot gets very expensive. Oh, absolutely. If you're running a business where, like, hey, you know, I got like 200 people, 300 people, you know, sub, you know, under a thousand, I think HubSpot's probably not too bad. And HubSpot, what I what was hard about it was really in what do I want to customize in the beginning. So I think someone like you is highly valuable for HubSpot because you have the experience and you can ask the right questions. But the one thing I loved about HubSpot is once you customize it, it is so easy. It's so fast. I mean, the changes you make once you get it moving are like so minor that you really don't have to change much. It's got the email capability, it's got the event event capability now where you can go in and ask, hey, give me a summary about my past actions with X contact.

It's got all your data. Why would you not use that? Oh, I was really good.

Is it uh is it like Zapier driven on that when you connect in?

Yeah, integrates with you don't really need Zapier. I mean, you can, but not really. So where I suggest using it is like using it the free version to figure out if you want to use it. Yeah, especially for small businesses just getting started. You know, someone like myself, I I don't want to keep overhead low, so I don't want to pay a lot of money for CRM. So that was a really good free option. But to your point, once you get to a certain threshold of of contacts, you're probably gonna be making good enough money to pay that monthly fee and it's worth it. Yep. Um, but CRM's are the it's it should be the lifeblood of every business. It really should be.

Yeah, love it. All right. One of the things you love most about what you do, you would put helping others. So you said you get your energy for for helping someone with a problem, which we just talked about, and you love enabling and teaching others. So, what is it about helping others that really you love about business? Let's keep this business one. I think it's I mean your business that's basically what your business is. Right, right.

Like you are literally helping each individual person. Right. And seeing them win is what gets me excited. That's like seeing someone saying, I was able to do X because you enabled me to do it, is just it's like the best feeling ever. And we leave it live in a world where again, it's I I think we live in a selfish society and not many people are out there to help other people. I mean, I was kind of that person. I still kind of am always always looking for that person to your own level of selfishness. Absolutely. But I was always looking for that person to come save me and help me, but I realized I can only help myself. Not everybody realizes that. Not everybody has the ability to do that. So if I can help someone do that in their business, I love that. Like seeing someone else succeed over myself, it's a it's sometimes too selfish, selfless for me to say, but like that's what drives me at the end of the day.

There was a recent quote I saw online, and it was something to the effect of, you know, a lot of people are out there trying to write their own book, right? But someone said, Well, what if you what if you took that book and you became a chapter in someone else's book, and that and that was like a hundred people that had you as a chapter in their book to kind of like put it in reverse. Right. And like you'd much rather have that.

Absolutely. That's a legacy, right? Yeah. You're mentioned in multiple books, your name is highly sought thought of, sought after. So yeah, I think that's that's that's how it should be, right? And being able to reflect on my life, my experiences wants me to help other people get to the same point that I've gotten to and still have more work to do.

And that's kind of the point of the podcast, is we really wanted to connect people, use this as a platform to connect people and to help people. And when we talk to people about the podcast, we're like, why are you doing it? How do you monetize it? That's right. Top questions, right? Right. And and him and I are like, I don't know. We like it, it's fun. Yeah, uh, we get to like build this community within our podcast, and like we take an enormous amount of value from that.

As you should, because you're off well, here's the thing you guys are offering people value, whether you whether you know it or not, right? I hope someone listens to this and hears my struggle and yeah, you know, it helps them, right? Exactly.

Um I hope someone hears your website and goes to your website for a free CRM all that says, yo, I saw you on bricks and wrists, man.

You ready to do some business together? I know a lot about you now. Absolutely. I and I'm gonna go and to your point of that, like I'm a go giver. Like I wanna, I know it might not come back through the same door, but I'm gonna compl continue, continue to give value till someone says, Hey Jared, what can I do for you? And that's the magic question, right?

5149.

Right.

5149. And then also the Bob Berg episode, the author of the Go Giver, we had him on. So we actually did an episode with him. And yeah, it's like, I feel like all three of us have a very similar mindset, you know, lead with value, help others first, ask questions, empathy. And then to some people, they hear that and they're like, How the hell are you supposed to grow a business always thinking about someone else or just trying to help them? Because there's something in this world that I believe is called reciprocity. And reciprocity can take 10 years, it can take 10 minutes, it can take 50 years, and it doesn't matter. Like, I think if you're looking at reciprocity as like, if I help this person, they're bound to help me at some point, then you're just gonna become impatient. I think if you look at it as like, if I help this person, it's gonna get them to where they want to go faster, hopefully with less pain, maybe with a little more, a little more money in their pocket. And if that come back comes back to benefit me in some way in the future, I'm open to it. Like it was almost like when Bob said he's like, not only do you want to give and lead with value, you don't want to be someone's doormat, but you have to be open to receiving. And I think people are constantly in business, in sales, in life. They're trying to like win. Yeah. And when you're only focused on winning, you're really only going to be focused on yourself. Absolutely. Now, if you look at it as trying to help someone else win first, the the end result of that, and we've learned this through the podcast, is like there's just like endless opportunity when you do that because no one's ever gonna forget that. And most people don't do that. Like, so then you stand out. It's just like you said, the chapter in the book. If you're one chapter in someone else's book, like you've done something, something that has meaning, something that's helped others, something that people won't forget. I mean, you hear philosophical stuff from like thousands of years ago, it's still on Instagram because these people just understood it back then. They were saying things that resonate today. And that's why that lives on. So I really love that.

What am I gonna get out of it? Yeah, yeah. Like it happens all the time. And for me, I'm like, it's just it's such a bad taste when you're like, well, I don't know, like maybe you'll get something out. But there's that expectation where you have to kind of deliver X, Y, and Z, or else they don't want anything to do with you.

That's a difficult way to live. Because then you're constantly in this anxious waiting mode of like, when's it coming? When's it coming? It's harder to live. I gave you two leads, where's my one lead? I gave you five leads, where's my one lead? And it's just if you're constantly worried about that, you're doing the wrong thing.

Right. It's having expectations that you shouldn't have. Like, I dropped expectations for people a long time ago. Like, I think we're inherently born born into as good over time, life events, tea learning, you you become bad or stay good, or you're you're just jaded at, you know. So I think it's just it's just so it's so like hard to live life in a just angry all the time. It just makes no sense or expecting things from other people. It just I don't know.

But you're also bound to be let down. Yeah. Yeah. Like you're you only gave me two leads this month. Why why didn't you last month you gave me four? Like it just becomes this.

Yeah, it's tough. I had a situation in business and it was, you know, a company I was working for had uh, you know, I had partnered with another company that was we were trading, you know, leads back and forth, right? Because you're not. We're I'm helping you, you're helping me. It's it's just unspoken. After I left that said company, the person I partnered with got a call from the owner of that company and said, Why aren't we getting any more leads from you? And straight up was just told, like, I did business with you guys because of Jared. That's that's why I worked with you. That's powerful. And that's ultimately like a huge, just it put a huge smile on my face because it was like, okay, I did good by this person. I will continue to do good by that person, and they did good by me. And that's it.

The relationship survives. It doesn't matter what changes come in work. Oh, the relationship survives, right?

It's like it's validating that all that work you put in, all that time you spent to build that relationship, it actually mattered, and and you were the reason.

Yeah, because that's the hardest part of my job, right? Is like, how do I, you even said it earlier, like monetizing the podcast. Like, how do I monetize just being a good person, connecting other people, right? It's I'm figuring it out, and I'm sure it'll figure itself out as we go down the road. But like it, it's it's just so hard to like to do that. It really is.

Yeah, absolutely, totally agree. Your quote was really great, it was simple but powerful. Perfectionism equals procrastination. Why'd that one resonate with you? Is that yours?

Did you just hear that somewhere? No, I heard that somewhere. Um, dear friend of mine told me that. Jenny O'Neill told me that. And I wrote it down, sat in a sticky note, sits on a sticky note right in front of my desk. That's cool. Ultimately, because I fear, right, holds us back from getting the stuff done that we want to do and or dream of. Um, and ultimately I I have ADHD, so we procrastinate a lot. I want to be perfect, right? I want to make sure everything is in line before I put myself out there. And that goes to like even like I love that you guys do this. I love making content, but I don't want to I fear what what people are gonna think. If I sit in front of a camera just by myself and put stuff into the world, yeah. So it holds me back. It has held me back, but I'm trying to overcome that bridge, and we don't always have to be perfect.

Yeah, I think that's super powerful. It's like even when we started this podcast, and you know, we had thought about do we just ditch that episode? Do we ditch? Can we pitch those first 10? And then when Mooney asked me, he's like, Well, what are we doing? I was like, No, we're putting it out there because we shouldn't care what other people think. We should use that as a learning lesson to say, hey, we put it out there so you can see, you know, 90 episodes deep now, we're like this, but episode two wasn't like that. And it wasn't like that because we didn't have the reps, we didn't have the experience, we're trying to find our voices doing podcasting. We're still trying to find our voices.

Well, it also might be helpful for that person that's out there that's thinking of doing it. Oh, should I do it? And then they can just go watch our first episode and say it's truly to your point, it's a win-win.

Because if you can get over your own nonsense and just say, I'm fine to put it out there knowing it's not nothing's fucking perfect. So I'm fine to put it out there knowing it's not perfect. And let me see how people react to it. Because again, when we were putting out our early stuff, like, I don't get a ton of reactions about the early ones. I did get a lot of people to laugh about calling them the OGFs because they're like, that's pretty funny. And then I did have one person say, I love that episode in the beginning where you were talking about relationships. I was like, as much as that was an episode one, that was the first thing we ever recorded. And they were like, Really? I was like, first time Sean and I sat down, you know, we had no notes. We're like, we're talking about relationships for like a half hour. And we just like went at it. Right. And then I listened to that now and realized, like, yeah, we we've come a long way. We still have a long way to go. But I think to your point, not being afraid to put things out there because you're not completely satisfied with it. No one's probably ever gonna be completely satisfied with it. You got to put them out there to figure it out. Absolutely. If you put it out there, you're gonna get some feedback, you're gonna learn something about yourself, you're gonna read it again online, be like, oh gosh, why did I say that? You're gonna fix it, and then you're gonna get a little bit better as you go. So I thought that quote was fantastic.

Use data to tell the story, you don't assume it.

Exactly.

Well, that's you know, remember that uh there was a video that I brought up one time where it was the I think it was a reorder.

One of the thousands of videos.

The dad, remember the dad gave the phone to his daughter to record? Oh, yeah. And she all she did was re so she recorded him, but then she cut up all his hmm. Yeah, yeah. Um and she and she strung them all together and it went viral. That's really great. You know, so it is kind of that lesson is like if you don't go out and do it, whatever it is, a video, a post, uh whatever, is like you may miss that opportunity. So not only like procrastinating is paralyzing, but like, what about that missed opportunity that might be out there for you?

Right. Isn't that what they say? Like, you know, obviously not to bring death into the thing, but you know, had my dad pass a couple years ago. Like they say when you pass, like you see the version of yourself that you always wanted to be. Yep. And that's that's so true, man. Like you you miss so many opp you miss so many shots you don't take, right? Is that what they say?

Yep. Uh Michael Scott say that. Yeah. Wayne Gretzky.

Wayne Gretzky.

I thought it was awesome. Yo, fantastic discussion. Keep going.

Hold on. Oh, yo, I forgot. Let's let's oh yeah. Is it uh still just bring that drum roll, right?

Christmas segment, gift time. Christmas in July? That's a real thing. Christmas in July. All right.

Segments brought to you by go put on my Santa outfit. Jared, uh, I'm just gonna leave it to Jared to something for you, guys.

I love it. This is a first. And I stayed on try to stay on theme with the wrap.

This is actually, yes, this is the first time a guest has ever given us anything.

We're gonna promote this.

So note to guests we are not shy about receiving gifts.

Uh these are handmade from you, just as I made my my neat. This is pretty neat for you guys. I'm gonna like it.

Wait, is this uh this is two for both of us? There's for both of you. There's me to unwrap.

Yeah, you'd be the you be the unboxer. This is like ASMR stuff.

Is this how you open gifts? We'll do it, we'll do it.

Yeah, right. What if there was like a bump out your gift bags? What are you doing?

Oh get out of here. Yo, yo, banging. Look at that. Those are handmade by by me.

Yo, dude.

My whole hobby. I like to make t-shirts.

Dude, my man, absolutely. That is big. Thank you so much.

Absolutely phenomenal. Oh, we're rocking these. Check that future episode.

I wish he put a QR code to his website on the battery.

I was gonna put your website on the banner. I love it. I love I love the bright. Oh, I love it. It's banging. Tried to get as close to your logo as possible.

Oh well, you gave us a gift. So so just want to say before we shut it down, why don't you tell our listeners and watchers where they can learn more about you and everything you got going on? Awesome.

Uh, you can learn more about me at let's be the letter B, L-E-T-S, B Strategic.com. You can email me, J A R R O D at let's be strategic.com. Um I'm not gonna put my phone number out on the end of the world. But reach out to Tim, reach out to Sean, they'll connect you with me. And I really want to help you. So if you need help, you just need somebody to listen to, let me know. I'm here. Awesome, fantastic. Well, and thank you guys very much. I can't wait till this can be. Thank you for the gift.

This is your gift. I'm your gift. That's all we have for this one, folks. Thank you for tuning in again to another episode of Bricks and Risk. See you next week. Thank you for joining us on another episode of Bricks and Risk. Our goal is that you walk away with one or two valuable nuggets, and we greatly appreciate you sharing your time with us today. You can find all BR episodes on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and anywhere else you get your podcast content. Until next time, keep learning and keep growing.