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Leaha Crawford and Rhonda Nolen are business consultants that discuss the current struggles of small business owners and entrepreneurs. Each episode covers steps necessary for smaller businesses and business owners to grow and prosper.
Unknown Speaker 0:00
This is a que un the studio's original program. The following is a paid program sponsored by Crawford management group and smart time consultants. Please be advised that the voices and opinions you hear do not represent the views of 91.5 Jazz and more the University of Nevada Las Vegas or the Board of Regents of Nevada System of Higher Education.
Unknown Speaker 0:27
Hi, my name is Leah Crawford. And I'm Rhonda Nolan. And you're listening to the let's talk with Leah and Rhonda show for all the beautiful entrepreneurs out there. This is for you. Good morning in Las Vegas. Hey, this is Leah Crawford, one of the hosts of the let's talk with Leah and Rhonda show. It is a brisk Saturday morning, I hope you're up and about and, and doing the things that you love to do. As Rhonda was saying, I hope you got your workout in, he touched the toes moved around a little bit, because it's getting warmer outside. It's been cold the past couple of weeks, but it's getting a little warmer outside. Well, today we have a special guest in the show every week, we have a special guest. And this time, we're going a little bit different. We're going to record a corner in real estate. I have an old acquaintance that we realized we've known each other for some years. Haven't seen him in a very long time. But he's very good Mario. Well, welcome to the show.
Unknown Speaker 1:23
Thank you so much, Leah, for having me. It's my absolute honor to be here. Thank
Unknown Speaker 1:27
you. Well, thank you for accepting the invitation. And we became reacquainted again. I've known you for some years. But tell me what brought you to Las Vegas. So
Unknown Speaker 1:38
back in 2002, which is a long time ago at this point. Now, I found Las Vegas from Detroit. So I was living there in Detroit, I was just kind of trying to figure out my way through career wise, I was in a career transition. And I had the opportunity to start my career second career anywhere. And I chose Las Vegas, obviously, the weather was a big, big, big factor, for sure. And in real estate prices at the time, was super comfortable. And it just seemed like a great place to be for a lot of different reasons. And so I found Las Vegas and eventually ended up making your acquaintance. So let
Unknown Speaker 2:17
me ask you this, though. What all have you done here? So before I get into the good stuff of what you're doing now, I just want to give you a background. Yeah. And you want to listen, because when we get into what he does, you can be like, Oh my God, I need to meet him. Go ahead.
Unknown Speaker 2:30
So initially, I was a mortgage loan officer, up until 2008. So we're talking six years had a great career, I was helping a lot of real estate agents at the time and had always been intrigued with real estate, but had a finance degree leaving the University of North Carolina and Greensboro. So I just felt obligated. So I just felt obligated to to make sure I did something that was finance related. And so initially I found mortgage and I was helping a lot of families first time home purchases and refinances. So I'm helping them to capture a lot of their equity, helping investors purchase not only a first but build a portfolio and using leverage. So I had a lot of meaning and benefit to me and I just gravitated to it until one day, you know, we just didn't have I have a career there. Exactly. 2008 Yeah, whole world changed world changed, right. So I had a really, really soft landing at Nevada State Bank. So I was approached by someone who was starting a sales team there didn't have any direct banking experience, finance,
Unknown Speaker 3:32
but she had finance experience. And you want to want to I mean, UNC is a heavy, that's a that's a physical,
Unknown Speaker 3:37
I feel good that I was gonna figure it out pretty quickly. And I didn't really have an opportunity. That was the only thing that was in front of me. So I needed to kind of secure my family and secure myself at the same time. So Nevada State Bank was great for me, I was a initially a part of a sales team, and even initially being hired, the role changed because the world changed back then. And so we were fortunate to be on the side of where we were acquiring banks. So my job at that point was not necessarily to sell, but retain. And we have different, very different different
Unknown Speaker 4:11
selling, selling is one thing, but retaining and maintaining something totally different. Yes.
Unknown Speaker 4:15
And it wasn't really an environment to sell. And a lot of business was just trying to figure out how to stay open and started my business then in 2008 2007, seven years, so more people would need.
Unknown Speaker 4:25
It was ironic people were needing to count they everybody wanted to know how much money they had. They were really okay. You want to what, let's make sure this works. You know, they were asking different type of questions. When I first started my business,
Unknown Speaker 4:39
and it was tough to be able to fulfill requests for business owners at Tommy banks were pulling back they're actually becoming much more risk averse. And so fortunately, because we acquired a couple of banks that were pretty much CD heavy. I remember one of the banks was Community Bank in Nevada. I don't know if you remember them and Silverstein bank was also a bank that was a part of that acquisition, it really was a takeover from FDIC. So my job was just to make sure that none of the depositors left because we really, really needed deposits. Because loans were in jeopardy. There were companies, great companies that just weren't in a position financially to continue to make payments or at the rate in which they were obligated. And so we had to do everything we could to secure our bank ecosystem,
Unknown Speaker 5:25
the whole ecosystem, that's right ecosystem, you have to be aware of the ecosystem. And then what side of the ecosystem Do you want to be on?
Unknown Speaker 5:32
That's right. Okay.
Unknown Speaker 5:33
I love this Nevada State Bank, and how long did you stay at the bank,
Unknown Speaker 5:37
I was there to 2015. And so I was fortunate that I end up transitioning to a different role at the bank, I went into the small business department, initially as a sales administrator was a title. And so my job was to support the manager and support the relationship managers in whatever capacity needed reporting, supporting them on appointments, and lots of various more
Unknown Speaker 6:03
information, ships, everything, you can't really, I mean, just tell a lot of the especially new business owners, because I remember we were doing a seminar and we were talking about bail. And as a business owner, because we deal with a lot, we talked a lot of entrepreneurs, you have to have bail, and what is bail? So bail is you have to have a banking relationship. Yes. Not just I went into a bank and opened up an account. No, you need to have a banking, relationship. And accountant, CPA, preferably, right? And the reason why because all of us bookkeepers is different from having a CPA much different. So you have different levels there. So you want to have a CPA that you can call on insurance? Yes, having the right insurance, and then a lawyer. Yes. And having a good lawyer because of a good lawyer, anything happens, they got the connections because they network, and then with this bail, make sure these people know each other. That's true, but just relationships. And I remember someone asking me, you know, well, I'm a new business owner, I don't need to have that. No, you need to build them now. Before you need them. Because when you need them, I mean, it's like every time you call me, you want something, you build them now you meet them on a football field, you meet them in and about, you know, just different events, doing different things, volunteering, you meet the people, so that when you have a need, they'll take the call. Absolutely. Because I can't tell you the number of people to say, well, I call they don't answer the phone, how can we you call the answer? Because I talked to him all the time. I mean, we might not talk all the time, but we have a good relationship that if I make a call, they know, it's something that you know, it's something that we need to do. And
Unknown Speaker 7:38
everybody you mentioned in bail, they all have similar relationships with other businesses who've been wherever you are, or wherever you're trying to go. And so that can be a great guide to make certain that directionally. You're doing all the right things or let you know what to expect. There's always growing pains. And the level of all that available that you just mentioned is level. Absolutely, there's
Unknown Speaker 8:04
levels to it. Because with insurance, when you think about it, insurance, making sure that you everything you have is is insured, and you have the proper amount of insurance. Yes, you know, having that conversation with your insurance agent every year, just to talk about you know, just live changes, it could be a 15 minute conversation, alright, nothing changed, okay? Because you're paying them absolutely every month. That's right, every month you're paying them. So a phone call once a year is not a lot to ask.
Unknown Speaker 8:28
And allows aren't static, right? They're dynamic. So you know, just as much you can be underinsured, you can be open should be over insured. Exactly. So keeping, keeping them abreast of where you are, personally and professionally, does a lot to make sure they can bring the kind of value that you need, because there's levels to the information they provide to you because they're only going to sometimes, not all will meet you where you are. But as you grow, so the nature of the relationship, but also the information they provide. So as
Unknown Speaker 8:58
a banker, what type of questions could a small business owner ask you or I mean, just to get to know you have with someone gets an account, someone get to know a banker. So you are your small business bank? Absolutely.
Unknown Speaker 9:09
And largely, I was in an outreach level capacity. So I was out touching business owners at different levels. Beautiful thing is because we were an SBA lender, you meet businesses and startup phase to establish to businesses that are maturing and been around for a long time, so you get a chance to meet them all. But in terms of how to do that is asking questions that are appropriate towards becoming bankable, and typically that stars with the Depository relationship, because at that point, you don't have the business seasoning yet to warrant a bank loan. But you want to find out what
Unknown Speaker 9:48
is bankable. Now talk about bankable because what is bankable before we get because we got to jump into what you do now. So what is being bankable, bankable
Unknown Speaker 9:55
is having an existing relationship that matches you mentioned with Bail that starts at the Depository level, it transitions to a treasury management or merchant services level. And then it grows to a lending level where now I'm looking to expand my business, I'm looking for capital to continue to grow, I'm looking to leasing a space and I need a loan for the tenant improvements, or I'm looking to buy a building because that became very popular. And if any business owner that can I strongly encourage that's a whole conversation from
Unknown Speaker 10:29
the top online, because that's where I am, yeah, I'm in that I'm working, I'm getting that Dubai builder, you
Unknown Speaker 10:36
absolutely have to because it becomes when you're looking at the exit, you can always keep that real estate, and you always have a cash flow associated, that is not contingent upon the business. And so some of the most successful businesses, owners that I know and I've had the pleasure to meet, that was a big part of their business growth was owning the real estate. Because they creates a an annuity stream for them, they never have to sell it. They can always occupy there's always businesses looking for a place to rent, they're not necessarily looking to own. And now that's your post business revenue. But all social legacy. So if you look at generational looking at your legacy, at some capacity, having an owning that real estate, is something that can I'm
Unknown Speaker 11:22
about to put that on my board, I'm gonna put that right, right in that thing, by and it used to be up there by the building bothered by the build outs just by the builder about to build and that's all we need. I just bought a building. All right, so talking about what you do now, because you transitioned after that. What are you doing now.
Unknown Speaker 11:38
So now I am a real estate professional. I'm real estate agent, I'm a real tour. And my focus is in probate. So I spend a lot of time helping families that have left assets behind unfortunately, they may have had a will maybe didn't because anything that is a will or less, which means they're intestate, they didn't have a will has to go through the probate process. And what I advocate for now is a living trust because that way your assets and your things you've accumulated in life are private to anyone I actually when I leave here, I'm heading down to the third floor in a district court and I'm going to pull up some probate file. So I shouldn't know that Tony Shea own however many properties that he passed away with. But certainly there's a lot of people that we know it I didn't have proper estate planning. I was fortunate enough, as I say to
Unknown Speaker 12:31
say it again, because going to tick tock Yes. And Facebook. Yes, Instagram for the information is not at an I had an another attorney in here, you know, shots out to shot a hole. And we talked about She said her battle is with Tiktok Esquire.
Unknown Speaker 12:49
Yeah, it's everybody's battle, okay, in whatever capacity you're in, you know, it seems as though there's a lot more trust and people we don't know, than people that we do, who are professionals and who have spent the time to learn and educate themselves and others. But we are challenged those who are considered professionals in our, in our daily paths. And so it's unfortunate, but it's a battle that we have to under actually just redirect a lot of people who have thoughts and misunderstandings about because
Unknown Speaker 13:20
he only gives you part of the story, right? Because when I watch sometimes I'm not what I do, because when I watch sometimes I just listen. And I'm like, but they missed a whole it sounds good. But when you're setting up a trust, there's a process to setting up a trust. It's a whole process is not just you go file some documents, there's a whole process to the trust, and you want to go and pay the professional, the attorney, that that's what they do, they do. And that's why you want to have that lawyer. So if your lawyer doesn't do it, because lawyers, they all don't do the same thing. They all don't do the same thing. You know, they have their specialty. When you want to go find someone that's special, it makes it a lot easier. Let's go on, it's less pain.
Unknown Speaker 14:01
We've been going back to your bail, analogy, whatever the lawyer is for that particular business need, they know the right specialist, they're very well networked, probably one of the better networks. That I know. So if you need a specialist, they'll have someone on speed dial. And when
Unknown Speaker 14:21
somebody's doing bankruptcy, somebody's doing accident, somebody is doing, you know, business stuff, setting up businesses and stuff like that somebody else's, you know, and they'll tell you, I don't do that. And
Unknown Speaker 14:31
I think from my just anecdotal research and just analysis, I think it's largely because they don't have the ability to publicly market and advertise that they spent a lot of time just professionally networking, and they they built a lifeline on referrals. That seems to be one of the better referral networks that I've met by way of profession that they always know someone if you give them your scenario they can tell you to may
Unknown Speaker 14:58
have no problem referring because I know, for me and family, you know, it's Wednesday practice family law. I started off with one person and they were like, well, you know what, Leah, this got real tricky. I'm gonna send you to this person and had no problem, no problem with it, no problem with it. And no, you're right, that is one of the few professions where they have no problem referring to the next person, whereas in some professions, they try and undercut the next person, right? And
Unknown Speaker 15:26
it's a scarcity mindset versus scarcity mindset of abundance, exactly, instead of being. And to your point, even in probate, there's administration, which is typically just more or less the procedural process of probate, and then there's litigation, right. So when you were saying when things were changing in your world, on the Family Law side, there are those who specialize in litigation, if somebody specializing administration, if you
Unknown Speaker 15:49
need to litigate, you got to find a call, you got to find a litigator. And when you find a litigate, oh, boy, that's, this is different, right? Because when you find a litigator, and that can art man, I tell my my daughter is an attorney. And I look here I'm not arguing with you know, it's not, it's not a fair fight. It's not a fair, it's not an am equipped. But let me do some more research. And we can come back and we can circle back to this conversation, because I know you've already researched and thought about it. And now you think, yeah, don't argue with attorneys. I don't very smart yet. Don't like you, right? Until I get to research to figure it out.
Unknown Speaker 16:27
Right until later till later.
Unknown Speaker 16:28
Let me get some more research. Alright, so in what you do, because again, there are different sides to that. And we talked about that you said you were on the worktop was out when you were How did you start this career.
Unknown Speaker 16:40
So towards the end of my banking career, I really understood that I was building a business always been in some kind of business development capacity. And I just wanted to build something for myself, I wanted to build something for my family, I wanted something that have a direct impact that was transferable with me, right? I did transition to a different bank towards the end of my career. And that was when my light bulb moment happened. Because I had some great relationships with my clients at Nevada State Bank, they didn't transition with me to my new bank. And it wasn't anything to do with me or lack of confidence in the bank. It was they were situated, I did what I was supposed to do while I was there. And they didn't need to make a move.
Unknown Speaker 17:26
And that's you want to know what and that's very, I love that you said that. Because I can't tell you the number of people that you know, they they operate out emotion and get in their feelings. You know, well, I'm going here, I want you to, I'm gonna take this. No, you will know what that's yours. Because I don't work in scarcity. I work in abundance. And because I work in abundance, I did what I was supposed to do for you. Now I'm gonna go over here and probably impact another set and bring in help them to get the just their life in order. And I just had this conversation this morning. Is your glass half empty or glass half full? Who are you? Right? And that's our milk. Mine is half full, because we always there's always room for more we are always pouring in pouring in. You know and give it you know, and yeah, because take us take as long as you let him. Yes, sir. Yes, ma'am. Yeah, they take us to take but as a giver, I could have done, done,
Unknown Speaker 18:18
gives me better recognize and give you
Unknown Speaker 18:22
what you have, especially as a business owner, you have to because I know for us, we change our policies. You know, when you come in, you come in the office, you drop stuff off, you drop off or check your drop off or check that swamp. But that over there, when you come back, once you check them, we'll have another conversation. Real easy. And it was interesting, because as a small business owner, you have to have that hard line because I can't call Nevada energy and tell them I can't pay the bill because they didn't pay me as a business. That was a growth moment for me in business. You know, so it was growing pains though. Yeah, tearing people down and turn them away.
Unknown Speaker 19:02
Why especially in a professional service capacity? No, we have intellectual capital that we figured out we can just
Unknown Speaker 19:10
because you can you share, right? But
Unknown Speaker 19:12
it costs money that value because you
Unknown Speaker 19:15
think about how much did you pay for your degree? The first one right? Yeah. Oh, not added. I went and someone said that to me. They were like Leah add up how much money you spent and classes. And I started adding the money up and I was like,
Unknown Speaker 19:29
Oh, y'all can pay me right. And this should be nothing wrong.
Unknown Speaker 19:33
There's nothing wrong with that. And I was like, when people talk about friends. I was like, if somebody's your friend, they should tip you. Right? Not only pay you but tip you. Right. Right. You know, but again, so when you say I'm sorry, back to you. So when you started this when we off on a tangent when you started this in the being a realtor being a real estate professional, as you called it. What was the driving force about working with probate law probate so
Unknown Speaker 19:59
a lot I was actually exposed to probate in my very first career, I was a financial advisor back in Detroit. And so as you know, as people pass, typically those assets will leave the lead the brokerage, right. And so they wanted to have a way to shore up some of that so that it would stay within brokerage. So there was a big push for us to have our clients name my successor trustee, so that familiarized me with just estate planning, right, in general. So that kind of I'd already had some familiarity with estate planning. And one of the things I learned early in my real estate career was you have to have a specialty, there's so much we can do with the real estate license. And I've certainly, you know, I'm sure we'll get to this at some point in the conversation I've, I'm stretched in a lot of ways in leveraging my real estate license. But those who are found to be successful and wanted to model my business after they had a specialty, if it was new bills, if it was condos, high rise land they'd spent especially had a specialty, although we can do it all. They
Unknown Speaker 21:03
just, they they they narrowed it down, and they did what their specialty was, and they didn't look at oh, this person. Nope, this is my specialty. And we're gonna figure out how to make this work. Got
Unknown Speaker 21:12
blinders. And so I learned early on, I had to find what what was my thing? So again, it was a lot of trial and error. Okay. And then I found probate one, because I wanted something had a little higher barrier of entry, in terms of just taking the knowledge and expertise to a level because it is nuanced with with probate, so although anyone can do it, there's certainly a difference. When you're having a conversation with someone who focuses on probate versus a general real estate agent who absolutely can,
Unknown Speaker 21:45
they can do absolutely can. Okay, but that's yeah, I understand that.
Unknown Speaker 21:49
But I understand how important it is to articulate to the buyer's agent or to the buyer, even the start at the state level of what it's going to take for us to get the property to a level of being sold. And typically, that involves things some ancillary services, I'm gonna have no impact on but I just have some trusted professionals, who I've done some business with in the past, they clean out homes that you helped with donations, they just an estate sale, so they just do some things on a personal property side that make the sale possible for the family and also help maximize the value of the estate. The second thing is just a lot of times individuals and families I'm helping the person administrator is out of state. So safeguarding the home, which is something simple as Oh, sure, no trespassing sign.
Unknown Speaker 22:37
And that's huge. I'm glad you said that. But uh, you're listening to the last talk with Leah Rhonda show I had Mario joiner over here with me is a real estate professional specializing in probate. So if you know someone that needs, you know, just enough because because we don't know what we don't know. And that time is an emotional time and emotional time, but you can contact me at Mario at 70271238 by four again 702-712-3854. He's a real estate professional that focuses on probate on probate. Probate. Alright, so dealing with the emotions of the family, when this time when this when it's, that's a lot,
Unknown Speaker 23:24
it's a lot heavy, it's heavy, heavy, heavy, because a lot of people involved that have various levels of relationship with the decedent. So you're getting a lot of
Unknown Speaker 23:35
back even though the right terms like as I call them, you know, like okay with the deceit. And so
Unknown Speaker 23:39
there's a lot of backstory that you end up listening to, as opposed to just listen, because it helps them to articulate what helped and they're going to need with a conversation or distress they're having with making a lot of financial decisions when they didn't even know they were going to be in this capacity, and may not be able to have the proper time or opportunity to grieve. And now these all these financial decisions are thrust upon them. And they have to make a lot of decisions very fast, very fast. And so just helping them manage the emotional side of that and just trying to relieve as much as I can, from what I know, while we are process, they don't always often even know what to expect. The case loads are so heavy here, but every attorney is this almost to the max with cases right now. And so the level of attention that they may be able to give to that individual file could differ and may not be enough because not everybody is created equal. You may have your own process, but this person may need a little bit more than maybe someone who's a little more situated organized and maybe not as emotionally dependent during this time on helping to make
Unknown Speaker 24:52
you don't know. That's and that's one thing I can honestly say it's probably not the commerce person and when it comes As the death it just creates is just something different is processed and that loss
Unknown Speaker 25:05
well, and in the level of phone calls that they receive from individuals as asking them to make a decision is never thought every day is constant. And they're being bombarded with phone calls, text, social media stalking, reaching out to them at their business or emailing them at on their business. I mean, it's just it just never.
Unknown Speaker 25:24
So my idea just to shut down and cut the phone off and just disappeared. That's a good idea.
Unknown Speaker 25:29
But they're gonna find you nobody Well,
Unknown Speaker 25:31
I promise you, I promise you, I got it all laid out, I got it laid out. I know, you know, because I understand that because when it's a lot, and it's stimulating in a different type of way, it is stimulating in a different title.
Unknown Speaker 25:45
And as much as the scenes information is public, so as yours once you accept the responsibility as administrator, so your phone numbers out there, your address is out there. So it stops no one from knocking on your door and asking the questions because you didn't answer the phone, or you didn't respond to a text.
Unknown Speaker 26:01
That's why I told y'all disappearance. Oh, that's absolutely. And lead a phone where you want to have it, have at it, answer all the calls, where you a place unknown for it. And so I get me together to be able to handle that.
Unknown Speaker 26:15
And that's what's most important. And unfortunately, there's some financial responsibilities, that may dictate how long that process is for you, right? Because oftentimes, if you're just talking about the property, there's a mortgage component. And typically, there isn't a lot of assets within the estate, to continuously maintain the property. And so that has to come from somewhere. And if you're not in a financial situation where you can absorb that, in addition to your normal expenses, as a person you own cost of living, that it does force you to make some decisions pretty quickly. Because you want to preserve the estate.
Unknown Speaker 26:55
So what I can tell you is, especially when it comes to you know, let's get let's get our stuff in order. So we'll trust, analyze where you are, no, just do some things, just to get your house in order. And you know what you need to get your house in order. You know what you need to get your house in order, because you want to get I mean, as my grandmother said, Well, I'm not here that's on y'all. But no be considerate of those that you leave behind, because they're going to miss you. This is one of miss you.
Unknown Speaker 27:22
It's one of the biggest things I see where they just they don't even know where to start, right, because we often don't have those conversations. And it doesn't matter, you know, race, ethnicity, any, they just don't talk about those things. And I don't know, if it's generational, I don't know where that comes from. But just somehow leaving a roadmap of what you had just to make sure that whatever you had is going to be cared for and safeguarded. But a lot of times I'm helping people start from scratch, they have no idea where to begin to look. And they may not even captured everything that's there. They may have just simply dealt with the most known areas, you go to the bank, you know where they used to work, you know, maybe they had an insurance policy because
Unknown Speaker 28:07
you got to final tax return. It's a whole it's a bunch of stuff. And then you want to be around credible people. You want to be around good people who you work with matters because who you are, who you work with matters. And yeah, who you work with matters of Mario, I want to tell you, thank you. Thank you for accepting my invitation. I want to bring you back. We need to do some things together. Yeah, so let's stay in touch and again, the information for Mr. Mario Joyner 702-712-3854 Again, 702712385470271238 by four. You've been listening to the less talk with Leo Raja show. I am Lea Crawford. And until next week, Las Vegas. You know, get your workout in. Let's get in shape. Let's get in shape us get in shape. Peace and blessings. Thank you so much. You're welcome.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai