Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: All right, so we had a pretty good episode today. Today we have Pete McGuinn on from ReMax mainline. I enjoyed the conversation. I think that we got into some really cool stuff.
You know, this business, the mortgage business, the real estate business is not an easy business. And I think we tapped into some, Some pretty funny conversations, but. But some lessons today. What do you think?
[00:00:24] Speaker B: I. I think that it was really cool to kind of break down the difference of what motivates people and negative stimulation versus positive stimulation. I think that. I think if you listen, you're going to get a whole lot out of it in terms of what drives you and how to have grit as they. As we say.
[00:00:47] Speaker A: And I think that if he didn't steal his guidance counselor's car, his guidance counselor might have given him different advice.
[00:00:53] Speaker B: There was. Yeah, there's definitely.
There's some, Some gems in this one.
[00:00:59] Speaker A: All right, well, let's get to it. Listen, let us know what you think. Subscribe and share this show with your friends.
[00:01:15] Speaker C: You're listening to Selling the Dream. This isn't an interview, and we're not journalists, but each week we'll ask our guests to open up and share their secrets to business success. Let's have a conversation and have fun.
[00:01:29] Speaker A: Hey, everybody. Welcome to another episode of Selling the Dream. Our project, our excuse to hang out.
Joe and I, Joe Iredell, my co host from. From Delco, currently living in California as always joining me here today. We got a pretty cool show for you.
Yeah, man. We're here to talk about sales, entrepreneurship, leadership. Those are our kind of our themes. But I think today we. We're gonna. Maybe we'll get in trouble. Maybe we'll have some fun. I don't know.
[00:02:04] Speaker B: We'll see.
[00:02:05] Speaker A: We'll see. What's going on, Joe?
[00:02:07] Speaker B: Not much, man. Just rocking and rolling, baby. So. So what's it. It's day three for you off the drink or what?
[00:02:16] Speaker A: It is officially like hour 13.
[00:02:20] Speaker B: All right, there you go. You get the hour 14.
[00:02:23] Speaker A: I'm working on it, though. One day at a time. Not to make light of that kind.
[00:02:28] Speaker B: Of stuff, but that's day, dude. I'm telling you, it's a. It's a beautiful thing, dude.
[00:02:35] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, I'll get there. Okay. You keep, you keep being that, that beacon, that, that, that lighthouse.
[00:02:41] Speaker B: I'll.
[00:02:41] Speaker A: I'll get there eventually.
[00:02:42] Speaker B: Tipping point. It's kind of hard when you hang.
[00:02:45] Speaker A: Out with, like, certain people, you know? You know, some people that are hanging out with us right now, like, it's hard, you know, What I mean, to not drink.
[00:02:52] Speaker B: Let me say this. Let me say this because this is a good. I've heard this several times recently. They say if you, if you hang out with four drunks, you'll be the fifth. If you hang out with four billionaires, you'll be the fifth. So you hang out with me, you'll be both.
[00:03:13] Speaker A: You got it, brother.
I believe it when I see it.
I was out with Dave Sinclair the other night. Ah, yeah. Me, him, and Liam went out.
It was. We had a lot of fun, told some Joe stories.
It was, it was a good time. It was a good time.
[00:03:32] Speaker B: Where the bodies are buried. That's for sure.
[00:03:34] Speaker A: He should. Now Liam knows where the bodies are buried, which is kind of scary.
So if you're watching this on YouTube, Pete's just sitting here awkwardly, like, quiet as we talk. If you're listening on. On podcast, you don't even know he's there.
But, but yeah, let's, let's bring our buddy in. We should have some fun today.
Pete McGuin and I have been friends for, gosh, I want to say maybe 12 years. Has it been that long, Pete?
[00:04:04] Speaker D: I don't know. To be honest, I think I had a full head of hair when we started hanging out. I mean, so I don't, I don't, I don't know.
[00:04:11] Speaker A: I don't think he did.
[00:04:13] Speaker D: Spoiler alert. That's my lie. That's my lie.
[00:04:15] Speaker A: Oh, damn.
So, so, Pete.
19. 20. 20 years in real estate.
[00:04:26] Speaker D: 22.
[00:04:27] Speaker A: 22 years in real estate, which we basically came in at the same time. We've seen all the ups, we've seen the downs. Pete is a, Is a man of determination and grit, and I thought that would be a great, A great opportunity to bring him in, talk about some of the things that, that, you know, that Joe and I talk about. So, so, Pete, thank you very much for joining us today, and we look forward to having a nice, A nice chat.
[00:04:51] Speaker D: Yeah, thanks for having me.
[00:04:53] Speaker A: All right, so first things first. I, I, I'm getting better at this. I, I don't want to forget about our two truths and a lie. 90 of the episodes, I forget, and then I have to, like, awkwardly work it in, in the middle, and it's not an easy thing to do. I pull it off, but it's not an easy thing to do.
[00:05:10] Speaker B: All right.
[00:05:11] Speaker A: Yeah, I do. All right. I do. All right. So, so we're gonna, we're gonna go right to it right now. We're gonna start two truths and a lie. Joe, the Human lie detector is going to figure it out by the end of the episode. Keep you on your toes, make sure you don't slip up.
[00:05:25] Speaker B: Why don't you tell you, my record hasn't been very good lately.
[00:05:28] Speaker A: Joe, I. I wasn't going to say anything, but you're right. You really got it. You got to get. Well, our guests are getting savvier.
[00:05:37] Speaker B: I think they are.
[00:05:38] Speaker A: Especially when they know that you're gonna guess the lie. Right? Yeah, I think that has something to do with it. Yeah, I'm just, you know. That makes you feel any better?
[00:05:48] Speaker B: It doesn't, but. All right.
[00:05:50] Speaker A: All right, Pete, let's go for it, man. What are your. What are your two truths in a lie?
[00:05:53] Speaker D: Well, I'm gonna do it sports based. 2. Two Truths and a lie. And it's probably for the same reason, like, I got sports on the brain ever since the Super Bowl. Probably part of the reason why you're going through your drying out period is the run. I think most of Philadelphia probably feels the same way. Anyhow, getting down to it, the three things are, I grew up behind a future hall of Fame athlete.
I don't know if I should. For number two, I don't know if I should use the person's name, but I. Anyway, I once sold a house to somebody who may have caught a pass on 4th and 26th in South Philadelphia.
And the third one is, I have a Super bowl champion that lives in my neighborhood.
[00:06:31] Speaker A: Super bowl champ. In your neighborhood. Grew up behind a future hall of Famer and sold a house to Mr.
Delivery. Fred X. Yeah. Because, you know, because he always delivered.
[00:06:47] Speaker B: Mike Schmidt, you live in, like, springtime.
[00:06:48] Speaker D: Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa, Whoa, whoa, whoa.
20 questions. Also, we're changing the. We're changing the setup here.
[00:06:55] Speaker B: All right, all right.
[00:06:56] Speaker D: No, I'm just making fun. He doesn't live. No. And he doesn't live there anymore.
[00:07:01] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:07:02] Speaker A: All right, so let's get into it. Pete, I know that one of the great. We. We have some really good conversations. One of the great conversations we had not long ago was, you know, we. We talked about the value.
Because this. This. This is a discussion here because maybe, maybe, Maybe we agree, maybe we disagree. The value and. Or lack of value of the chip on one shoulder.
[00:07:27] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:07:27] Speaker A: All right, so, so. So I'm gonna. I'm gonna turn the floor over to you, you know, to start. How important is it that someone or how valuable is it to have a chip on your shoulder? Let's. Let's.
[00:07:41] Speaker D: Let's.
[00:07:41] Speaker A: Let's start there. What what is it? You know, hey, do you think you have a chip on your shoulder?
[00:07:46] Speaker D: Well, yeah, so I. I think the conversation started from an event that we both went to, your event that you're hosting, and I. I said a joke, which, you know, may be true, maybe not, when I said, I've had a chip on my shoulder so long, I should have named it.
So, I mean, I can only speak from my own experience, obviously, but I don't always look at some of these things that we go through as a negative. Obviously, they might come from a negative place to start, depending on what. That, you know, what created that chip. But, you know, I think what we were talking about or what I struggle with sometimes is, you know, I think a lot of people have a backstory. Obviously, a lot of people have gone through different things throughout their lives. But, you know, for me personally, the things that I went through gave me this chip. And this chip has pushed me beyond where I think I may have gotten otherwise. And the reason why I'm looking at that now is I have three kids, you know, 6, 8, and 10 years old, and I'm doing everything possible to give them a great life, as I should, you know, but at the same time, I was wondering, not that I'm looking to set them up to struggle, but I was wondering, if I create this life where they don't have that same struggle that I had, will they end up, at the end of the day, having the motivation that I've had?
And that's something that I really struggle with. I don't want to make their lives hard. I don't want to make them struggle by any means. But at the same time, looking at my own life, part of the reason why I am where I am is because of the struggle, because of that shift. So it's. It's a difficult thing that I'm actively struggling with, to be honest with you.
[00:09:18] Speaker A: It's interesting that you say that. So, so as I define what. What a chip on. On your shoulder means, you know, like, some people look at a chip on a shoulder as like, I had to come through adversity and. And get through the adversity. Other. Other definitions or perceptions of what a chip on a shoulder might mean is somebody who. How someone responds to doubters.
And. And I think that, you know, let, Let. Let's. So, so.
So, Joe, why don't I. Why don't I. I pass this over to you for a minute? Like. Like, how important is it that you come through adversity? Number one, that. That's One version of having a chip on your shoulder. And number two, how do you feel about doubters?
[00:10:03] Speaker B: I.
So I have the same dilemma with my kids where it's like, I know where I, I know I got to where I am because of chip on my shoulder. But it didn't have to do with the access and the availability and, and what I had. It had to do with doubters. Like, that's the chip. Like, and literally that is my main motivation is when people tell me you can't do this because of that or whatever. And I always say I need everyone in the world to tell me I can't. I need like one or two people to, to, you know, help me believe that I can and I can do anything. So that's where my chip comes from. Literally, like everything that I've done stems from something in the back of my head where someone's been like, ah, that's crazy, you're nuts. Or whatever. Like your ideas are nuts. And, and, or if somebody screwed me over, they're like, dude, it's on. Like, here we go. And like that drives me to no end. Like I will go to the end of the year, I'll burn the world down to get somebody back. Like, bad as that sounds, that gets me up. So yes, I have a chip on my shoulder. But then to the flip side of that, is it like, is that better to provide, you know, like remove obstacles for your kids or for people that like make them struggle? Like, so I don't think there's necessarily. I'll tie this all together. I don't think there's a correlation between common struggle versus revenge Chip or like motivation of like, I'm going to do this because it's gonna get a stimulus from someone who's given me a negative feedback in the past. So that's, that's where the, the difference is.
[00:11:52] Speaker A: I think, Pete, when you, when you talk about your Chip, right. Let's just call him Chip, right?
I just gave him a name.
We were talking to Chip. When you and Chip are hanging out, you know, shooting.
[00:12:06] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:12:08] Speaker A: Your chip on your shoulder comes from adversity. Is it, is it.
How does your chip relate to the doubters? Or is it just self doubt maybe? Is it, is it self doubt that you had to constantly come through not realizing whether you even could in some cases, but you were forced to because you had no choice not.
[00:12:27] Speaker D: You know what? I don't think I ever dealt. I don't think I ever had self doubt. You know, I think where like a big part of it came from.
Was when I remember when I was in high school, we had a guidance counselor, and he had been with us for years. He. I don't really understand why now that I look back on it, but he started with us in middle school, and I don't know if they were doing a thing where the guidance counselor, like, moved along with you every year as you kind of progress through school, but whatever, if that was or wasn't, that's what happened. So he was with us from middle school, when we all came over to high school, he was with us, etc. And then I remember I struggled in school. I had a. You know, I have a learning disability. Had a learning disability.
More prevalent when I'm in class every day. But anyway, so when it got to the point where we were supposed to meet with this gown and counselor and talk about what the next steps are, I remember I went in one day and said, like, hey, I don't know, I think I want to be in business for myself, but I know to do that, maybe I should go to college. And he literally looked at me and said, you don't need to worry about it. You're going to go to jail. And I was like, what?
And he was dead. Seriously?
Oh, yeah. And look, in all honesty, like, when I grew up, you know, because of other things that were going on outside of that, you know, I did go through a period of getting into a fair amount of trouble in school, but it was never jail time trouble. It was like nonsense trouble, you know, like things that get me suspended but not arrested, you know, convicted. Yeah, yeah, yeah, allegedly. Never convicted, but yeah. So he looked at me with a completely straight face and said, don't worry about it. You're gonna go to jail. And I was like, are you serious? And he was dead serious. He never helped in this, in the situation with trying to pick out a school or figure out what to do, because in his mind, he had already written me off. And I was a senior in high school. And so I remember that day. And I haven't done this, and I probably shouldn't even say this on the podcast, it's going to be on YouTube. But I remember that day, I was so pissed. And I said some something, we're gonna come back. And I don't even know where I came up with this thing at the time, but I was just so angry. I was like, someday I'm going to come back. I'm gonna find your mortgage, I'm gonna buy it, and every month you have to pay me to live in your house.
That would have been awesome. I looked it up. He still has a mortgage. I do look it up from time to time. Although I don't have the possibility that.
[00:14:40] Speaker B: This guy's just a genius, though, and he motivated you, like, you know what I'm saying? Like, it could have been, like, this kid. I'm just gonna tell him he's gonna go to.
[00:14:50] Speaker D: Yeah. I don't know if it was that much goodwill hunting involved in his kind of mindset or if he literally just thought, I got other cases to work on. This kid's going to jail. Move on. Next.
[00:15:00] Speaker A: When I.
I like to work this into as many conversations as possible. When I ran my marathon, I. I remember talking to someone who I. I respected, and. And they were, you know, we were talking, and I'm like, yeah, I signed up for a marathon. He gave me, like, a crooked look, and I'm like, what? He's like, you signed up for a marathon? I said, yeah. He goes, how much do you weigh? And I'm like, I don't know, like, 225. He's like, way too heavy to run a marathon. Like, that was his response, right? And I'm like, you might be right. What the hell? Like, you can't say that, but I will tell you. Miles, 13, 14, 15, 16. I absolutely use that as fuel. Hands down, I. It played in my head, like, way too heavy to run a marathon. And the closer I got, mile 18, mile 17, the more belligerent my energy was towards the finish line, simply because he. He. He doubted, you know?
[00:16:05] Speaker D: Yeah, it's great fuel.
[00:16:08] Speaker A: Is it healthy fuel?
[00:16:13] Speaker D: I. I look, I mean, I. I think just based on the conversation so far, all three of us have used it in some way to project, to move us forward. I'm sure you could find plenty other people that found it was catastrophic to them, you know, I guess it depends on what your personality is. If you have a personality that's going to say, great, you know, now, like, I don't care what you think now. You've just motivated me to do it 10 times harder. Or do you have where you say, like, oh, well, if you don't think I can do it, then I definitely can't do it.
[00:16:42] Speaker A: It.
[00:16:42] Speaker D: I don't know. I think it depends on the personality.
[00:16:46] Speaker A: It's funny, because some people let doubters in, and, And. And I. I've seen people like Joe said, you know, you do need a couple people that do believe in you, and. And it's amazing how one person that does believe in you can change the game completely for, for what you, what you're capable of and what you experience, what you accomplish in life.
You know, I, my, my family, no one went to college in my family, at least my mom's side of the family.
And, and it was my physics teacher in ninth grade that started talking to me about, you know, engineering and college and what colleges to go to because I showed an interest in, in physics.
And that dude, Mr. Maxwell, I remember, like, he was that, that stereotypical like, teacher that, that, that, that, that I talked to that gave me the confidence that maybe I could go to college. Maybe I, maybe, maybe I am going to go to college. Now, Pete, he passed away, so he doesn't know. I only made it one semester in engineering, but I did transfer over to marketing and I graduated with a marketing degree. But every time I fix something around the house, I always remind everyone in my family that I was an engineer for one semester.
[00:17:55] Speaker B: So when you drive a train.
[00:18:02] Speaker D: Why do you switch over to marketing? Because you wouldn't have become the SWAT member that you were if you had stayed an engineer.
[00:18:08] Speaker A: Pete. I told Pete about the SWAT team.
[00:18:11] Speaker D: No, I listened to that episode today.
[00:18:14] Speaker A: It was great. Oh, did you? All right. Yeah. I wasn't sure. I guess we did talk about it at one point. That was some wild stuff there, man. That was some, that was a good example of, I guess the opposite of being doubted. Right?
[00:18:28] Speaker B: Dude, we had such a chip, chips on our shoulder, man, because that was.
[00:18:32] Speaker A: A different kind of chip. But why was it. All right, let's, let's dig into that.
[00:18:36] Speaker B: A little difference between swagger and chip. Like, swag is like, I'm gonna come in. Watch this. Look at me. Chip is like, watch this. You, you doubted me.
You know what I'm saying? So there is a difference between swagger and having it 100.
[00:18:53] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:18:53] Speaker A: Well, I will say that part of the success we had in those, on those SWAT teams is, is twofold, right? Our current, our local managers were like, these guys are killing it. We know they can help this book come in. But then we show up and there's these like 35 year old reps that have been doing this for 10 years looking at us like, there's no way these kids are going to come in here and, and help us. Like, so there we had both. We had, we had people who believed in us and then we had people. So it's like that, that's a volatile mix. All they had to do is light a match and we just blew that place up.
[00:19:30] Speaker B: I Think. I think they just wanted me out of the office. They're like, you gotta ship this guy out of here, man.
[00:19:34] Speaker A: Yeah.
Joe, we learned last week with the doctor that you're good in small doses. What was that word?
[00:19:41] Speaker B: In small doses?
[00:19:42] Speaker A: No, the doctor gave a word. You're fine in small doses, but you're unhealthy in large doses.
[00:19:49] Speaker B: I didn't write that word down, but.
[00:19:51] Speaker A: I'm gonna look that up.
So chip on your shoulder forces you to potentially do things you otherwise might not do. And. And one of the things that I've always. A chip on my shoulder has pushed me to be was to work hard.
[00:20:07] Speaker B: And.
[00:20:10] Speaker A: So much so some people might say, like, you know, brute force is not the way to go to be successful, and it's probably true in some respects, but hard work has always been in my DNA, going back to my. To my very first job.
And I wanted to shift gears here a little bit. And I want to talk about your.
Joe, I want to talk about your first job. And then, Pete, I want you to talk about your first job, because I thought that was an interesting story. Joe, what was your first job?
[00:20:40] Speaker B: Let's see. So my first job, I was like, probably maybe 11 or 12, and I sold newspapers in front of our church. And it was like, it was actually like, you make some money, like, give me a couple hundred bucks, and I like. But I wake up at, you know, before the first. I think first service was at like 7 and then till 12, but it'd be cold outside, like in front of the church on like an island by Lawrence Road. If, you know, I went to St. Pius and they'd just give you a stack of Philadelphia Inquirers and I'd sell them and make a dollar for everyone. I saw you sell about, I don't know, 150, 200 papers. That's what I did. That was. It was good. A good gig.
[00:21:24] Speaker A: Yeah, that's not bad for 11, 12 years old.
[00:21:26] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. For real. It was a very sought after concession.
[00:21:30] Speaker A: Oh, really?
[00:21:31] Speaker B: Yeah, it really was because it was. It was good money. And then, like, when my family was done with it, because my brothers did it too, we passed it on to, like, another family and they did it. So.
[00:21:42] Speaker A: And.
[00:21:43] Speaker B: But we got it passed on to us from a family who had older kids, too. So it was like, it was.
[00:21:47] Speaker A: Was it the Merlino family that handed it down to you?
[00:21:50] Speaker B: I don't remember. I don't remember the names, but.
[00:21:55] Speaker A: Pete, what was your first job?
[00:21:56] Speaker D: So my first, like, I did newspapers as well. But, like, my first job outside of that was when I was either 14 or 15. I got hired at an engineering company.
And that's an interesting story, because what happened was a friend of mine's parents owned it. She had a birthday party, and we were over at the house. And I've always loved cars. And somehow during conversation, she said, my dad has a Cobra. Like an AC Cobra, the original kind. And my instantaneous. I don't even know what made me say it, but I said, if he let me work on it with him, I'll work for him for free. I knew he had a company. I had no idea what he did for a living.
And anyway, she told her dad, and he hired me on the spot, and I worked for him for, Shoot, I don't know, five years, six years, something like that. Up until. Almost. Up until I became a realtor.
[00:22:50] Speaker A: What age was that?
[00:22:51] Speaker D: I started when I was 14, and I worked for him up until, like, about 20, 21, something like that.
[00:22:57] Speaker A: And now were you getting. You weren't working for free the whole time?
[00:23:00] Speaker D: I never worked a day for free, actually. Yeah, I never worked a day for free. I think he just liked the fact that I was. I. I thought enough to offer that he hired me. To be honest with you, that entire time, I never touched that.
The whole reason for me offering to work for free, it never. Never worked on it. But he was a huge. You know, he was a huge factor in my life as it was, anyway. I mean, he was somebody who came up from nothing. You know, he went to Williamson Trade School, came out of there and started an engineering company, built it up. And so he had a. He had a lot of grit, you know, and so he taught me at times where I was going through that adolescent period where I was kind of rebelling and whatnot. He was. He was teaching me how to kind of hone that and work hard and kind of keep my head down. And he did. I mean, like, for. He made me work very hard all the time. It was never like, oh, I don't feel good today. He did not care. Like, there was no softness about it. But in actuality, I mean, he. He is a huge part of how I ended up where I am, too, just having his guidance and at a time when I kind of needed it.
[00:24:06] Speaker A: The most, you know. Yeah.
The opposite of your guidance counselor. That you were.
[00:24:12] Speaker D: Yeah. And very much so.
[00:24:13] Speaker A: That you were robbing.
[00:24:14] Speaker D: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:24:18] Speaker A: You're going to jail. What do you mean by that?
[00:24:20] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:24:20] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:24:21] Speaker D: Can we define that?
[00:24:22] Speaker A: What you use the word grit is. Do you think there's a difference in grit? Is there a difference in grit and hard work?
[00:24:36] Speaker D: I. Without knowing the true definitions of them, I'd say yes. I mean, I think you could be hard working with. Without having that ability to just not let anything stand in your way, which is kind of what I think grit is.
[00:24:50] Speaker A: Yeah, I look at grit. Grit is like, it's passion and perseverance. You know, it's. You got to want something bad enough that you're willing to put up with the unexpected challenges that are going to come along. And we've talked about this, Joe, with other Sale. Other. Other entrepreneurs. And one of the, One of the conversations we had, I think you said, if you told me all the things that I was going to have to deal with as an entrepreneur ahead of time, I never would have became an entrepreneur.
[00:25:23] Speaker D: Right.
[00:25:24] Speaker B: Like, but I think that grit, so, so the grit factor has to do with. For me, it's like, all right, so there's. You go to business school or whatever, you read a business manual, and everything in the business manual says, this is how. This is how it's done. And then when you actually go to do it, you throw that completely out to window and be like, all right, so I know that this is the right. This is the path. Like, this is how the process works, but that's not going to work right now. And I just have to figure out grind and, you know, like, literally come up with solutions completely out of the box and maybe not textbook, but, you know, whatever it takes to solve the problem or get it done. And the willingness to continue to do that knowing that, like, that's not the final solution, like, there's going to be something tomorrow that you've never even thought of. And, like, you're going to have to grind through that and then grind through that. And like, so that's. That to me, it's the do whatever it takes mentality to get things accomplished is really. And that's the separate. That's the differentiator. Because like most. There's a lot of people that start businesses, and I don't know what the statistic is, but most of them fail. So the reason is because once you hit, like, when the best laid plans, you know, don't go how they're supposed to, most people don't. They can't overcome it. And then they don't, you know, they just, all right, well, this didn't work. Let me try something else. So, like, the perseverance to get through those issues and just you know, know that the end result is what you're looking for and how you get there is not necessarily exactly defined. I think that that's what, that's what defines the grit factor of, of how that works.
[00:27:06] Speaker A: Pete, what's your correlation to your business as a salesperson, but also as an entrepreneur? Because real estate professionals kind of, they, they, they, they are both, they're salespeople and entrepreneurs in a lot of ways. Like, you know, what are some examples in your career where you're like, wow, I didn't expect this, you know, but, but you had to tap into something or figure out a way to get around it?
[00:27:30] Speaker D: Well, yeah, I mean, just to kind of tap into that same hard working versus grit conversation. I had a situation that took place last year, the year before. I don't remember at this point, but you know, like, I generally work a ton of hours. That's just comes with the territory with being self employed, but which I think would fall under the hard work category, if you will. But I had a situation where a couple years ago, selling this house, large house, three story Victorian style house, and the. My client had scheduled a cleanup company to come clean the whole house out. And it was three days or so before settlement. I think we were settling on like a Wednesday, so they were supposed to come over the weekend. I called her first thing Monday morning and said, how's the clean out go? How'd everything go? And she said, nobody showed up. So that's kind of where the grip part kicked in. So I called a friend of mine who owns a dumpster company. I had a dumpster dropped off within the hour and I cleared my schedule for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. And I grabbed another person and for three straight days, almost around the clock, we cleaned out that property like that. That would, that's. I don't, I don't love doing that stuff, but like, I will not let something stand in the way of, of having a transaction close if I can avoid it. And in that situation, I felt bad for her. It wasn't her fault that the people that she hired bailed on her and left her kind of high and dry. And so what we, you know, we ended up filling up three 40 yard dumpsters. If you have any idea what a 40 yard dumpster size is, I mean, it's about the size of a tractor trailer. Took us three.
[00:29:00] Speaker A: Anything?
[00:29:01] Speaker D: No. Yeah, she, she had moved out everything that she had wanted ahead of time. I mean, it was just, she'd been in the house for 40 years or something. It was 40 years worth of stuff. It. It. It was. She had parted with. Parted ways with it. She didn't want it anymore. And it wasn't like a wasteful thing. It wasn't, you know, there was nothing that could be donated, unfortunately, just for different reasons over time.
[00:29:23] Speaker B: On Hoarders. Right?
[00:29:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:29:25] Speaker D: Was I. Look, she. I. For whatever reason, it was just a lot of stuff, you know, and, and, you know, a lot of people said like, oh, I would never do that. I would never do that. Well, that's what separates us, is that I will do that. I don't love doing it. I don't advertise, like, free junk removal as a part of my service. But at the end of the day, if something stand in the way, I'm gonna get through that something.
[00:29:48] Speaker A: But it literally ties right back into how we started this conversation, and that is that, like, you know, you are used to adversity because you faced adversity. You know what I mean? So, like, so you were blessed with these challenges, whether it's in childhood, adolescence, or even young adulthood, that when you, when you are given the opportunity to overcome adversity, you build a muscle and you build a. Your resilience to, to, you know, where other people, like Joe said, the first sign of bad weather, they're already packing up the tent, you know, like, so.
[00:30:27] Speaker B: Not to cut you off, but it's just like, all clicked in my head. So the grit, like how this all ties in is that people who don't, on the surface, who don't have the natural talent or natural attributes to accomplish something on the outside, as an outsider looking in, then those that, like, when they say they're going to do something, those around them will say, well, you don't fit the profile. You're not. You don't have the pedigree, the intelligence. You don't have the degree, you know, the education or the physicality, whatever it is, so they'll naturally doubt, right? So that person then takes that internally and says, f you, I'm going to do it. So that creates a scrappy individual with a chip on their shoulder because of the fact that someone told them they're not. So where the grit comes in, it's someone who doesn't have the natural abilities or skills to complete this task, and irrespective of that, gets it done through other means and just through sheer willpower to get it done. So that's where the. I feel like the chip on the shoulder combined with the grit to get it done without the, you know, tools that would naturally get those tests done. So like in your case, like, maybe it's, it's a little bit different in terms of like clean out and things like that. But for, for somebody who's where we see grit, it's because this person, against all odds, against all abilities, was able to complete this task or get something done, you know, just through sheer willpower. So I, I think that that's where it all kind of ties in.
[00:32:04] Speaker A: I guess it brings you back to the old saying, talent, Hard work beats talent that doesn't work hard.
[00:32:11] Speaker B: You know, like hustle, hustle beats talent when talent doesn't hustle.
[00:32:16] Speaker A: Yeah, that's exactly what I said, Joe.
[00:32:19] Speaker B: Like why you have to refrain. You said hard work.
[00:32:24] Speaker A: But, but like, like so, so the, the hard work factor is the differentiator, right? Like, like God given skills and abilities and talents or I guess I should say the talent, the, is the ability. You know, you practice that ability, work on that ability. You know what I mean? You know, it can become a skill and some people just have to work a little harder. But, but when you don't quit that and you just keep putting in the work and you keep putting in the work and you compound, you do the work on yourself. You know what I mean? That's another thing, like a lot of people don't, don't do the, they're not honest with themselves. They don't, they don't actually look within and say, okay, where, where do I need to improve in order to accomplish this thing? Right? And those are, you know, maybe they bang their head against the wall for five years before they realize there's something they need to do. They got to become a little bit of a different person in order to accomplish this big goal they have. And you know, it's a long journey. Grit requires patience because especially in some of your bigger objectives, some of your bigger goals. Sprinting is easy, right? Doing something, maximum effort for a short period of time is actually pretty easy. It's doing, giving your maximum effort and then having to tap into some other resource, whether it's your doubters or whether it's, you know, hard work or whether like, like, like, like your creativity, you know, and, and just continuing to put one foot in front of the other towards that, that big goal that, that, that, that makes, that makes or breaks someone's ability to accomplish something.
Pete, tell me about, talk about grit, right? You're gonna love this story, Joe.
Talk about that. Can you talk about the foreclosure?
[00:34:11] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure.
So a big portion of my business For a lot of years, was doing repossessions.
It's. It's trailed off pretty work that's gritty.
[00:34:20] Speaker A: Work to begin with. These are not like. Like most real estate agents shy away from this stuff because it's not easy work. There's a lot of shit you got to do.
[00:34:29] Speaker D: Yeah, I mean, originally, the way I got into it was, you know, I saw people and how they were treated during the foreclosure process, and it just didn't make me very happy, to be honest with you. I just. I thought it was agents that were working in that world. Not all of them, but some were kind of kicking people when they were down. And it's like, I don't know how much dominance you have to show somebody who's already losing everything. Like, you can. You can treat people like humans at a time like that, in my opinion. So that's kind of how I got into it. I wanted to. To still accomplish the same goals for the banks of getting their assets back, but do it in a way that the people could leave with some dignity and feel, I don't know, better about the situation, all things considered. But anyway, so I had this one foreclosure one time in Glen Mills, and it's close to my house. I was like, I'll just pop over. I'm going to serve the notice. So when I go over for my initial contact.
[00:35:18] Speaker A: So. So Pete had to serve the foreclosure notice like that. That's part of the deal, right?
[00:35:24] Speaker D: Yeah, he's already crazy. All right.
[00:35:27] Speaker B: Okay. Okay.
[00:35:28] Speaker D: It's everything kind of from start to finish, so.
So I'm sending the paperwork. I'm walking over, not walking. I drove to the people's houses, Knock on the door, and the wife answers the door. And I said, hi. You know, I always open with this stupid joke because I meant it, but I was, like, trying to, like, softened it a bit, saying, like, hey, don't shoot the messenger. Literally, I said, hey, I got a piece of paper here. Just look at, you know, to let you know your home's been foreclosed on. We want to find a peaceful transition to have you leave the house. And she said, no, you don't know what you're talking about. Our house is not being foreclosed on. And so I'm double checking. She's making her. Her confidence in the fact that I was so wrong made me kind of question if I was at the right address. I've got to be at the right place. Fast forward a little bit. It turns out her husband had all of their mail sent to his business address, so she did not know that they had been foreclosed on. So she said, let me call my husband. I'm gonna have him come over, and we're gonna sort this out. So I thought, no problem. This is fine. So a couple minutes later, there's a guy flying down the street in a BMW 7 Series. And I'm like, okay, here it goes.
Pulls in the driveway. And as soon as he pulls in the driveway, he hops out of the car and he puts his hand behind his back. And so.
[00:36:47] Speaker A: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
[00:36:48] Speaker D: I know what you're implying. Stop right there. I've got a piece of paper.
You don't. You don't have to pull a gun on me. I get it. You know, I said, you could. You could do this. You could shoot me. And even if you got away with it, they're just going to send some other person with another piece of paper, and you're going to have to just keep shooting people over and over again. So why don't we dial it back? And so that kind of calmed down the temperament a little bit. And so I'm going through the process, and he admitted that the mail was being sent to the office and that he had fallen behind, that they were losing the house and all that. And so during that process, like, I have to go through. Because part of it is I have to. If people will allow me to go into the house, take photos and stuff. So I'm trying to warm my way into that situation.
So I'm making small talk, and I said, what do. What do you do for a living, sir? And he said, I repossess cars. And when he said he repossessed cars, I lost my mind. So I was like, wait a minute. So you have a gun on you because you're afraid when you're part of your job is to go repossess somebody's asset, that they're going to come out and they're going to pull a gun on you. So then you have a gun as well. And he said, yes. I said, go fuck yourself. And he said, what? I said, you just did the same thing to me. The thing that you're fearful of in this situation, you're now doing to me. And he did end up apologizing, but that was. That. That sucked. The whole thing sucked.
[00:38:12] Speaker A: How crazy is that?
[00:38:13] Speaker D: Sorry for cursing, by the way.
[00:38:15] Speaker B: That's so. So that. That's how that process works. You get served, then you have to go in and, like, take pictures and while they're there and everything, they're just like, yeah, so.
[00:38:27] Speaker D: Well, so what ends up happening in a lot of these cases is you do, even though the banks are entitled to get the property back, they can save themselves a lot of time and effort and money if they offer people money to leave, which sounds kind of convoluted that you would pay somebody to leave, but you're paying people to leave under certain conditions. And part of those conditions are you won't destroy the property, but they won't know if you destroyed the property. Don't destroy the property unless you let me in first so I can take pictures of it the day that I serve, serve the paperwork to you and then compare those photos to the day that you're moving out to then pay you your check. And so a prime example, this only happened once, but a prime example of this was I had a situation where we were taking back a house in Chester Springs. It was a new community house was built in mid 2000s or so, maybe 08. And so I went through on the day they let me through, I took all the photos. The house was pretty nice. I sent the photos back to the bank. Everything was good. I think we had negotiated a ten thousand dollar move out fee.
And then on the day of the move out, well, actually pause that for a second leading up to that, I noticed that there was a pod in the driveway. But it never occurred to me that that pod was being switched out, which I just live and learn, I guess. I don't know if there's tag numbers on them or not, but I just didn't notice. Anyway, on the day of the move out, I got a call at 7:00 in the morning, give or take. And the person said, we're done, bye. And I was like, well, what about the money? Don't you want to meet up with the money? Nothing. Complete silence. So I drove over to the house and I walked in and they took everything. And I mean everything. The kitchen's gone, the tub's gone, the toilets are gone, vanities are gone. Everything, Everything. Hardwood floor. They ripped the hardwood floors up. Every, they took everything. They turned it into a shell. And so I called the police and I, the police showed up and said like, we can't prove that they did it. I said, well she just texted me at 7 o'clock in the morning saying we're done. Now it's 8 o'clock in the morning, so unless you got the fastest demo crew in the world that came over here in an hour, like I'm pretty sure we could prove they did it.
[00:40:42] Speaker A: She meant we're done. The demo. We're done. We got everything. We're done.
[00:40:45] Speaker D: Yeah. And that's the way the bank looked at it. The bank never pressed charges with them because the banks thought, like, oh, well, they did our demo for us, even though my opinion is that none of the demo needed to take place. And they wrote them. They left one wall up in the living room. They took. They took drywall. They literally took everything. It was craziest thing.
And they wrote, you're welcome on the wall.
[00:41:06] Speaker B: That's insane. They leave.
[00:41:09] Speaker D: When I talked to the neighbors, I was like, do you. Did you see what happened? They said, oh, yeah. They. They kept getting all these pods delivered, and they'd fill it up with a bunch of construction material, and then they call another pod, and they fill that up with construction. So they took all of the materials with them.
[00:41:22] Speaker A: That's not cheap.
[00:41:24] Speaker D: I'm like, what are you gonna. How much can you sell a used toilet for on Craigslist? Like, how are you gonna turn this into money? I don't understand.
[00:41:32] Speaker A: That's wild, babe. But that's. And. And. But you know what, though? You know, again, like, talking about grit, I think that it takes a special person to. To. To be able to kind of, you know, thrive in that environment, you know what I mean? In that hostility and that unexpectedness, you know? And I think that that's why. You know, I think that's why you've gotten to the point where you are from a. From a professional standpoint.
And you. You stayed out of jail, dude. That's the best part.
[00:41:58] Speaker D: Way to go so far. So far.
[00:42:04] Speaker A: All right, let's get into two truths and a lie. I'm gonna recap. We stayed away from a lot of super bowl stuff, even though. One last. I want to give one last analogy here real quick.
Michael Jordan lived on the doubters. Jalen Hurts ignored the doubters. I think they both had very different approaches to their success when it came to doubters. And I. If we have more time, I would get. I would like to go down that path about the Jalen Hurts thing, because I think that guy. That guy was purpose driven for a totally different reason. Even though he was doubted at every single stage of his career, I don't think he let the doubt fuel him. I think he ignored the doubt. What do you think?
[00:42:48] Speaker B: I don't know. I think he's. That guy's different, man.
[00:42:52] Speaker D: Yeah, he's built different.
[00:42:53] Speaker B: I. I love. I love Jalen I think he's weird. Like, I. I think he's weird. Like, he's too quiet and there's something. I don't know. I don't know him personally, obviously, but.
[00:43:02] Speaker A: Like, I just like his one liners, man.
[00:43:06] Speaker B: He's just too cool of a cat, man. He's a cool cat. Dude.
[00:43:09] Speaker A: I didn't walk through the fire just to smell the smoke.
[00:43:12] Speaker B: Come on, man. How can you be that cool all the time? The dude's like the coolest dude. All soft spoken and like, yeah, man. Yo. It's like, keep that guy away from my girlfriend, you know?
[00:43:23] Speaker A: Yeah. Walk softly, carry a big cigar.
[00:43:26] Speaker D: What was Jordan like? I'm not. I know we got to wrap this up, but, like, I don't recall Jordan during his prime. You know, I. I know we know him now, like, being a figurehead of what he is, but, like, during his prime. But, I mean, he was pretty similar. Right? He wasn't super chatty. Right. Am I missing.
[00:43:41] Speaker A: He was. I thought he was flashier. I think, you know for sure he had more vices. I don't think Jalen, you know, has the vices that Jordan had.
[00:43:51] Speaker D: Yeah, but we know the point. We. We know the vices.
[00:43:55] Speaker B: He was out and about. He'd be on the golf course.
[00:43:58] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. But I'm saying, like, he would bet. He would bet people like, 10 grand on a putt. You know what I mean?
[00:44:03] Speaker B: Like, the dude was kind of what he's saying, like, in terms of the media, Jordan was way more out there. Like, I don't think you see Jalen, you know, in. In the celebrity magazines and stuff. Like, that definitely was.
[00:44:18] Speaker A: But I know for a fact when he talked to Jordan, he loved when people doubted him. Going all the way back to his high school basketball coach. That. That didn't take that, you know, that cut him, you know, that old. That whole story. He loved. He fueled on doubt. He needed people to doubt him.
So what's that?
[00:44:35] Speaker B: And gambling. He was.
High school coaches make it to the NBA.
[00:44:44] Speaker A: You know how much he made on that bet that he bet his high school coach?
[00:44:47] Speaker B: You give me 10 to 1 odds.
[00:44:51] Speaker A: He purposely got cut. He purposely got cut from that team so he could go back and bet the coach. I'll make it next year.
[00:44:57] Speaker D: Yeah. He's standing back.
[00:44:58] Speaker A: Yes.
All right, all right, all right. So two truths and a lie. Let's get back to it. We got. The first was, I grew up behind.
[00:45:08] Speaker D: A future hall of Fame, behind a.
[00:45:10] Speaker A: Future hall of fame athlete. The second was sold a house to Fred X.
And the third one was super bowl champ, lives in his neighborhood. Joe, which one do you think it is?
[00:45:32] Speaker B: So the. So let's see. So future hall of Fame. Did you say the sport that the future hall of Famer is in?
[00:45:39] Speaker D: No, I did not.
[00:45:40] Speaker B: All right, so I know.
[00:45:41] Speaker A: And. And wait, wait, wait. Here's the other question. Is it a current, future hall of Famer, or were they, like, are they in the hall of Fame now? They weren't in the hall of Fame when Pete lived there. That's. He said future hall of Famer.
[00:45:53] Speaker B: So when he lived there. Right, so I'm not asking other questions.
[00:45:57] Speaker A: This isn't 20 questions. You got to go with what he said.
[00:46:00] Speaker B: No, I know. That's what I'm saying. So.
[00:46:03] Speaker A: All right, so hustle works better than talent. When. Go ahead.
[00:46:07] Speaker D: What?
[00:46:08] Speaker B: We mess it up. All right, so there's. So I know where. He told me where he grew. I kind of know the area. So you got Tug McGraw, you got Mike Schmidt. So it said wasn't Mike Schmidt. So I got that out of him. So it's either Tug McGraw. Is Tug McGraw in the hall of Fame? Did he make the hall of Fame?
But I know that they're all kind of that area. But then there's Kurt Schilling. If he's like, kurt Schilling lives in west. All right, so. So let's. Let's move on to the next one. Fred X. Definitely, Definitely lives in the area. Know that I actually hung out with them one night. This was funny. At. At a bar.
Tell that. So I'll take that story offline. But he's a cool dude, so. And then super bowl champ in your neighborhood. Media, maybe. All right, so I'm gonna go with. I believe that the lie is super bowl champ in your neighborhood.
[00:47:11] Speaker A: I'm gonna say. I'm gonna say I know Pete a little better, so there is a little bit of a disadvantage there. I'm gonna say the lie was he sold a house to Freddie Mitchell.
[00:47:21] Speaker D: Okay, Kenny, you are correct.
But. But there is a caveat. So I'll just run through them real quick.
[00:47:29] Speaker A: They're all lies.
[00:47:30] Speaker B: He didn't sell them the house. He repoed his house.
[00:47:39] Speaker D: The two. The two truths real quick. So I grew up behind Mike Richter, who was a goalie for the Rangers and is in the NHL hall of Fame.
[00:47:50] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:47:52] Speaker D: Nolan Smith lives in my neighborhood now, who obviously just won the Super Bowl.
But with Fred X, I only didn't sell my house out of my choosing. I. For whatever. I. I don't share the same affinity as you do for him. I think he drives me crazy. And so he got my phone number at one point, and he called me and he said, hey, this is Freddie Mitchell. Do you know who I am? And I could tell by his voice that it was. And I said, yeah, I know who you are. And he's like, 4th and 26th. And I was like, yeah, yeah, no, I know who you are.
At the time, he was going through issues, allegedly going through issues with the irs.
Allegedly. Allegedly. And so he said, I want to buy this house that you have in South Philadelphia. And I said, look, that's fine, but I'm going to need proof of funds. And he said, yeah, yeah, no problem. What are proof of funds? And I said, I just need an account that shows because it was a cash only purchase, the shows that you have cash in the account for the. For the amount of the purchase. And he said, I already told you, I'm Freddie Mitchell. I was like, yeah, I know who you are, man, but I still need it from you. And he said, I want you to call that bank and you tell that bank that Freddie Mitchell wants to buy their house. And I said, freddie, it's sovereign bank. They don't know who you are. I need to see an account with your.
[00:49:13] Speaker A: With.
[00:49:13] Speaker D: With the amount on it. And he said, I went to the. I went to the bank today, and they told me I've got car pay diem for whatever I want. And I was like, what did you say? He said, my bank told me I had car pay diem. And I was like, seize the day.
I was like, I think you mean carte blanche, man. He's like, you know what I mean? You need to find another agent, man.
[00:49:41] Speaker A: Oh, dude, that's funny. That's good stuff, man.
[00:49:43] Speaker B: Yeah, he's. He's. He's buddies with a mutual friend of ours. I'll tell you later.
[00:49:51] Speaker D: Hopefully your friend doesn't watch this. Allegedly.
[00:49:55] Speaker A: I always say, if you're here, minute 48, God bless you. Like, you know, anything we say now is fair game. You know, one person listening.
[00:50:04] Speaker D: My mom's gonna watch it through throughout the entire thing, so no idea what we're talking about.
[00:50:12] Speaker A: All right, Pete, I appreciate it, my man.
[00:50:14] Speaker D: Thank you very much.
[00:50:15] Speaker A: Catching up again soon.
[00:50:18] Speaker C: Thanks for listening to Selling the Dream. We know you don't want to miss a single episode, so go subscribe today, wherever you get your podcasts, and then make sure to share the show with your friends and leave us a review.
