Coffeez with Joe Shalaby - Selling Sunsets ft. Robert Drenk | Coffeez for Closers with Joe Shalaby Ep. 38

Episode Date: September 18, 2024

Robert Drenk (Selling Sunsets TV Show) is a real estate mogul and co-founder of Optimum First Mortgage, which he launched in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. His company has successfully funded over $12 billion in loans and completed more than 30,000 transactions. Drenk's focus on a customer-first philosophy has earned Optimum First a stellar reputation, including an A+ Better Business Bureau rating and 5-star Yelp reviews. Under his leadership, the company rapidly grew into a major player in the mortgage industry by perfecting processes that allow clients to close deals quickly and efficiently​.For More Check Out our Playlist: https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgPwyhl8CkXiM0cBtuY8A_6JS60FueLz3&si=0_2dnoPkYV6jcSGwCheck Us Out on all Platforms!Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/coffeez-for-closers-with-joe-shalaby/id1726674707Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2KkQWRqHSHcCK3TVfsRKUK?si=hjTnUOjFS5eTDxBjgf4RwQ&preview=noneAmazon: https://www.amazon.com/Coffeez-Closers-Joe-Shalaby/dp/B0CRYLQRW6Coffeez and Closers Socials & WebsiteWebsite: https://coffeezforclosers.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coffeezforclosers/TikTok: https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbnU0T3RrLXdPbC1BR2NLc2lWcExqWklQaHlQUXxBQ3Jtc0tudi1GV2Zod3hRYzRhTkhONFBuMlptblNGSlJ1QzhpV0tzbHh5YThNR0R3Y2RnNnU5NV9ER3E5ZUhxMjdUUWp1UWo4MVl6Q2szeXo1cFh1OHNkYkxDR1F0MXZtMTZ6QnZoakdzSnJpVl9PcWZBOU9zZw&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tiktok.com%2F%40coffeezforclosers&v=uXvk6LY9lS8Facebook: https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqa2pLZ2pMaUxmSTh4dy1qazMtdlBjX2pVN1AxQXxBQ3Jtc0tua2RUTUNsRmJob0RKWlVqeDhNaUN4US1rdlRvUG9Fdm5SNk1jU1pQNzNLQnVmUmtGMGtMYUViZ2pLMXJkOVJUci1kMk9DN2poTThVV2NFd0tISWdDMzNwOEZ2c3pVb09lbEhjemJHblRsS1RKdHZqbw&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fpeople%2FCoffeez-for-Closers-with-Joe-Shalaby%2F61556355642488%2F&v=uXvk6LY9lS8 Joe Shalaby SocialsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/josephshalaby/TikTok: https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqa3p6VlRzR1BWMkJQM1ZIaUdVZHhYVTYyak43QXxBQ3Jtc0tuUXVBOE1oZUJYTmZIZnNENUgxQkhjamk4RXJHb09MWU9OczJhLWpnX0JwN2pENzRhaV9NajJROW5nek1tQ1VvVE40ZFJuUUI2cnI0ajNKLXE4d1VMUUpkTGFHR0tGY0o5NUhnWnZnaXJoZXdEM0piaw&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tiktok.com%2F%40josephshalaby&v=uXvk6LY9lS8Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/josephshalabyE Mortgage Capital Socials & WebsiteInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/emortgagecapital/Website: https://www.emortgagecapital.com/Twitter: https://twitter.com/Emortgagecap #1 Mortgage Company on Social on 🌎#1 Non Delegated Lender in the Country🌟#1 Broker in CANMLS #1416824"Mortgages Are What We Do Not Who We Are"™https://finance.yahoo.com/news/learn-why-e-mortgage-capital-192000740.htmlAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

What's up, everybody. Welcome to another episode of Coffees for Closers. Today we're going to welcome Robert Drink, the dynamic owner of Optima First Mortgage, and a notable figure from selling Sunset. Beyond leading a premier loan company, one of the best in the country, Roberts an innovator in the financial and RV industries, and the founder of the Ultimate Arm Wrestling League, known for his relentless business drive and commitment to communication, Robert's a devoted father of three from Surf City USA.

Join us as we dive into his journey of financial empowerment, his ventures into reality TV, and how he balances his bustling career with family. Get ready for an insightful conversation filled with valuable lessons and inspiring stories. We welcome Mr. Robert Frank. Thank you for that intro, Joe. That's awesome. Yeah, yeah.

It's such a blessing to have you here. Robert, I'm stoked to have you. and I know I hit you up while we were in Phoenix to have you on the show. So I appreciate you making it out here. So we're going to dive right into it. You know, I've been tracking a lot of your success for the last couple of years. You've been doing some great things, a big, almost like a public figure in the mortgage space and been dominating mini spaces. But one thing I want to ask, before I even get into the conversation, is the ultimate arm wrestling league.

Totally different, right? I get that one a lot. It's more of a passion as a child. I think you're my age, so you probably watch that movie over the top of some Mr. Stallone, the truck driving one. So I grew up in that

and grew up in a city called Lake Paris, California, so we didn't have a whole lot to do. So we arm wrestle, you know, and that was our young age, nothing to do. So just go around the lunch table and arm wrestle all the kids, and you get sent home each day with a letter saying, hey, Robert didn't pay attention in class,

but he was arm wrestling. So, you know, I had this passion. at a young age and decided to take it up later in life. So now where is the ultimate arm wrestling league? Like where do you even do that at? Like you still going. I, you know, I headed the whole thing up with,

I brought this business partner Bill Collins on. He was a world arm wrestling federation top referee and long time badass arm hustlers like world champion. Great guy had met him at an arm wrestling competition. And I said, hey, I want to be the UFC of arm wrestling. Let's do this together.

So I brought him in on a 15% stake. and held 85, and we did arm wrestling. I invested over $3 million in it and got really, really close to bringing on a really big fish, along with Fox Sports One. But unfortunately, the owner of legendary entertainment, he backed out last second, and then the whole thing kind of crumbled on me,

lost a TV deal, lost everything, but it was really, really close. Oh, man, that seems so fun. So is it still, do you still air anywhere on television? Not on television, not airing on television, but the events still take place today. My business partner, Bill Collins, runs it. And I just more took the focus back into the mortgage industry.

But it's fun. I actually just went out and recently arm wrestled last year against this arm wrestling whisper. He's got a huge following, a couple million followers or something. And he's really entertaining. He's good-looking guys, so I think he tracks all the women, you know. And his stamina is incredible. Blew me out of the water how his stamina was when I went and arm-wrestled him.

I haven't pulled in a couple of years. I beat him one, I think one or two of the rounds, and he beat me three. But entertaining match, so. We'll arm wrestling just get dominated here real quick just for the audience. So I like to start the show with just an icebreaker question, and that was my first icebreaker to talk about the arm wrestling. But so you're a super busy guy, crazy life. How do you start your morning?

What's your morning routine like? Oh, man. The first thing I do, I obviously get up in the morning and I do a facial to myself. it's weird, but I want my skin to look good. And then I want my daughters to follow suit with that. So I do a skin routine first thing in the morning. Sounds odd, but that's me. He's got to keep your beauty going, you know.

Keep that skin looking young. And then I wake up and put my drink together in the morning with my BCAAs, and I go right to the gym. Yeah. The first thing I do every morning is I get right in the gym to start my day off. So the beauty routine starts at what time? Usually about 5.30 in the morning. Okay.

I'm up between 5, 5, 5.30 in the morning, take a shower, do my facial stuff just to wake myself up and feel good and then I'm in the gym as quick as possible. Yeah, you got some good skin though, you know, it's like whatever you're doing, it's working. It's working. You know, the beauty routine, like, I don't even know how old you're, I think you're, you know, I can't tell with that beauty routine. Oh, you're funny. I'm 43, so.

Yes, it's working, yeah. It's working, yeah. So you start, what age did you start in the mortgage industry? So I started the mortgage industry in 2008. I just sold my RV dealership and, and I thought. what space could I get into that's going to give me a further reach than just, you know, San Diego County. I wanted something bigger. And so I reached out to my business partner now, and I said, he was my high school friend. I said, hey, let's start a mortgage company. And that was 2008,

end of 2008, beginning of 2009. Actually, I'm going to digress here, the RV company, because what, did you start, Mike's RVs over there off the 4-05? Is that the one that we're talking about here? That's what it was, yeah. Right out of high school, I ended up working for the, company called Metropolitan Home Mortgage with my best friend from high school. And we both went to work there. And after like 90 days, I'm like, this isn't for me. I'm out. And so I found an RV dealership at 18, 19 years old. I'm like, I'm going to go work there. And it was Mike Thompson's RV. I walked in in shorts and a flip-flops and ran into the general manager. I didn't know who he was at the time, but he was a GM. And I'm like, hey, I want your job. And the guy had to have been laughing his ass off.

I'm actually doing a loan for his daughter right now. But Mark Rosenbaum ended up being a really great mentor for me and took me under his wing and kind of built me up in the RV industry. And I did every damn position from 19 to about 25 years old. And then eventually I went out and opened my own RV dealership. You ended up. So, but Mike Thompson's RV, you started there and then you left there and started your own RV dealership in Huntington as well? No, I took off. So there was an area in San Diego. We'd go to these meetings. So Mike Thompson's at the time was the biggest RV dealership in the world. I think he still is. He's top, top five, I think right now.

top three, I think Lazy Days and a couple other ones are a little bit bigger, but he was the biggest at the time, and we had three locations, and I went to work there as a salesman and quickly became a finance manager, and then ended up being a finance director, a used motorhome manager, and then eventually as a GM, and sitting in these meetings and learning about what areas had the most opportunity, it was San Diego. So I was constantly in these meetings here, San Diego, San Diego, San Diego, and I was like, screw it. I hopped in my, I had a Dodge Viper. I'm 25 years old, you know, and I was making good money at the time.

I'm driving down to San Diego. I'm going to go buy my own lot, basically. I'm going to start my own RV dealership. I was just a young kid with big aspirations, really, you know, looking back, I just had no fear. That's all it was. It was just a no fear thing. And I drove down there and I ended up finding a lot, and there was this old guy.

I actually was driving down, and there was a sign that said N-A-I San Diego. And it said, Chula Vista. And I'm like, oh, shit, that's Mexico. I was kind of like, oh, where am I going? So I get off the free when I walk into NAI San Diego, and I meet this guy, Mark, and he's like, hey, what are you looking for us? I'm looking for a lot. I want to buy.

I want to do an RV dealership down here. And he goes, let me take you my office, and I'll show you an aerial map. So I look on it, and I see this little RV square off Mission Gorge Road. And I'm like, what's that? He goes, oh, that's World RV. This guy, Bob Jacobs sounds it. I said, great, how do I get there? I drove down there.

I park, I get out, I walk in a lot, and I see this old guy on an elliptical in his little office, right? And I'm like, what's this guy doing? And he walks out. And I'm not kidding you, two and a half hours, three hours later. I hit it off with this guy. He owns a company. And I asked him, I said, hey, have you ever thought about retiring?

And he goes, yeah, in a few years. And later that day, I gave him a deposit. We opened escrow, and I bought the company and closed in 30 days. Dude, that's awesome. That's awesome. Big aspirations. The kid crushed it. So what age did you sell the RV company?

So I bought it and I bought that and kicked it off at 25. And I owned a home in Irvine. I ended up selling the home in Irvine. I moved down there. And I lived on the lot for like 90 days. I was just living in an RV right throughout my lot, just a toy hauler. And, you know, it's a sacrifice. You've got a sacrifice to grow sometimes.

And that was it. I took my dad down with me and my wife at the time. And we just went down to San Diego. I never been there in my life before. So I started the RV dealership. And within three years, I ended up buying. It was a boat dealership. across the street. It wasn't doing very good with a huge indoor showroom. I bought that and then

took it over and put motorhomes over there. So I had two RV dealerships and then three years later I ended up selling them. Well, did you buy the land too? I didn't buy the land. No, they were just leases. Yeah, you bought the business though. That's awesome. And you crushed it and entered the mortgage space after. Yep. Went big. So I like to refer to you and I said this to you on text. Like you're like the real mortgage Howard Hughes. You know, you like you got into flying. You're always flying. you're always jet sent and you got the cool cars and it's like this guy's living the dream um when did you start flying uh it was about five years ago five six years ago i was you know was chartering airplanes and doing that whole thing here and there and i hated waiting for people

yeah time is the number one valuable thing that we have as a human and and i'm like wow why am i waiting for pilots or why am i waiting for this like i want to just do it myself so i flew out to uh god where it was oklahoma and i bought a brand new airplane and i hired a cf i and I said, fly back with me. And it took us three days. We're flying home. This airplane only went 120 miles an hour, right? It's a little 2019 or 2019 Piper Archer.

And we had a hundred knot headwind one day. We have 100 knots to the head and the plane goes 20, 120. So I'm going 20 miles an hour. The cars underneath me are passing me. I was like, oh my gosh. So that was my first experience. I bought the plane, flew at home of the CFI, and then I was dedicated to it.

You flew at home from Oklahoma with 100 knots against you, 100 headwind? For a short period of time, yeah. Probably took like a... Three days. Oh, my gosh. So how do you fly for three days straight? Well, you know, you fly for, you know, three hours, and then you stop, and then you get fuel,

and then you stay at a hotel because you're exhausted, and then you get up and you do it again for three hours, and then stop at another airport, get back up in the air, fly for another three hours, because you've got to use a restroom, you know, the little airplane doesn't have a toilet. Yeah, yeah. How fast does your plane go now? Right now, the airplanes that I'm flying, I'm flying, or anywhere from 350 to 400 knots.

Man, that's amazing. It's amazing. I know you always have like, you're like I'm on cat life number nine now. I think I am, really, you know. You're like a walking miracle. But it's an inspiration though. Thanks.

It's an inspiration. Now, out of all the industries you decided to enter, why did you enter the mortgage industry, the riskiest business of all, where you would make no money for the foreseeable future? Oh, that's a good question. So in the RV business, you know, the mentor that I had, Mark ran Mike Thompson's and the owner, Frank DeGallis, great guy, still owns a company today. He's a good friend.

What I learned is I wanted more. You know, he's wealthy. He's very well off. He lives a great life, but he's still in that RV dealership every damn day because his reach is only so far. And I thought to myself back then, like, the richest people in the world are reaching millions of people. They're not reaching Orange County, San Bernardino County, and San Diego County, right? They're reaches across the United States, across the world. And so, you know, sports athletes, musicians, they're making pennies or dollars off millions of people

instead of $20,000 on one RV in Orange County, you know. And so I thought, what can I do that gives me a bigger reach so I could have bigger success in life? And I thought, the mortgage business. And so the way I looked at it was, It's a bigger risk, but it's going to have a bigger reward. And I just went for it. That was it. I sold the RV dealership, and I said, I'm going mortgage. Who told you about the mortgage industry?

Well, remember when I was 18 or 19, I got into the mortgage industry and my best friend. He worked for his cousin. We both went to work there. And I saw that, and I just got out of the space because I didn't like it at the time. I liked to sell face-to-face, and we were doing everything over the phone. So I just hit him back up when I sold the RV dealership and I said, hey, look, let's do a mortgage company. And at the time, he had quit his cousin's shop,

and he went and got a broker's license, him and one other person. And they were working in this little tiny office. And I said, look, I've got all my ex-finance managers. We sold, you know, $500,000 RVs. It's the same financing shit. So why don't I bring all these finance guys in, all fund the company.

We'll hire some processors. My ex-wife at the time was a, she did all my stuff in the RV industry. My dad worked for me. So I took everybody that was in key positions that understood it. And I said, let's start this mortgage company. So my best friend and I went 50-50. I funded the company and in three months I got all my money back.

That's awesome. You know, your entrepreneur journey is like really fascinating. And a lot of people don't know. Like everyone sees like Robert Drink, you know, Howard Hughes of Mortgage, like fancy cars, planes, but they don't know what you put in. Like your entrepreneur's career. Like what do you think's been the biggest source of your, that drove you to be an entrepreneur like this?

Oh, man. I really, I think it just goes back to my childhood. I like change. I'm not afraid of change. There's no fear for me and that. And I give that to my dad. You know, growing up, I grew up, I went to 13 schools. You know, so I had to adapt to change. We lived in Florida. We lived in Lake Paris, Marino Valley, Huntington Beach, then to do a different part of Florida. So it was constant change. And as much as I'd like to say it's a great thing, which it is, it also comes with some downfalls. You know, but the change is probably my biggest strength into what made me a great entrepreneur is not being afraid. So you're fearless. Yeah, basically. And that's because of change. And people are scared of change.

But it's like, it kind of goes back. Like now you're like marketing and you're on bank rate. Like you don't want to change from that though. But I'm fearless, right? No, I'm just going bigger in that space. Yeah. I know that space. Yeah.

You know, as you get a little bit older, I'm going to be honest. You know, now there is a little bit of hesitation on certain things. I think I'm a little older and a little wiser now. Yeah. So I'm not quite a little bit. as wild and crazy as I once was. I used to risk no fear. So how big,

how important is taking risks now for you? Still, it's still very big. You have to take risks. If you're not willing to take risks, somebody else is, and they're going to beat you. Yeah.

That's it. So, yeah. You're going to eat your lunch. Yep. So, you know, I like to ask this question, but we kind of answered it,

you know, but, you know, when you start a business, there's this element of like you're crazy. what do you think like why were you crazy enough to start your own business what do you think is it is it the fearlessness is it i just wanted more i want a freedom that's the same reason why i fly right it's freedom it's being able to do what you want when you want how you want and i don't believe anybody does it need better so why rely on somebody else like go do it yourself and uh and you know

when it came to leaving the rv industry and wanting something bigger it was if i back up to 2008 i knew I saw the market crashing. I saw it coming, right? I was like, oh, crap, this is coming. You know, and I saw a lot of my buddies that went out and opened their own RV dealerships failing and not paying the banks and going belly up. And once you go belly up, you can't get back in that space. Once you burn a space, you're out, right?

And I didn't burn it. I got out of the space and I got out successfully. And I remember thinking, God, in the mortgage industry, there's a lot of people burning space, right? And, you know, like one of them, the guy Daniel Seidak, great guy. did big things, I guess. And- crash some lambos. Crash some lambos, had some fun,

Ferraris and had some fun, and I knew, like, he couldn't get back in the space. So if a bunch of these big guys can't get back in the space, I figured I'm going to jump in and take that risk and have the reward that comes with it. Love it. Now, you're, like, very resilient. You went through a lot of tumultuous times in your life,

flying, different business. What do you think is the source of inspiration for your work ethic? You're crying. You got crazy, tenacious grit. I think just growing up with nothing, right? I think when you have nothing and you want something more in life that you're going to do whatever it takes to have what you want. And, you know, I grew up in a 900 square foot house with seven kids. I lived up. You're one of seven? Yeah. I have six sisters. Wow. Yeah. So growing up on a couch and fighting for one bathroom,

maybe that's what it was, right? Wow. I didn't know you're one of seven. Yeah. Six sisters. So you got a lot of nieces and nephews. I've got a few, yeah. I got a few. Matter of fact, one of my nephews, I got him into flying, and he's in college right now. Just passed his commercial license. So I got him doing it.

Yeah, I think I saw a post about that one day. Man, six sisters. That's amazing. Yeah. I would love that. You just don't see families like that nowadays. You know, I'm like, I got four kids. You got three?

Three? Yeah. Yeah. So even like three, that's a lot of kids. Yeah, it's a lot of work, man. Three kids. Let me tell you. I got three in the most.

My ex-wife's a, she's my fourth one. She's a hardest. That's like, you sound like my wife with me. Like, I got five kids, actually. So what do you think, like, what do you think were some of the biggest challenges? This is two full question, when you started the RV company and then when you start the mortgage company. One of the two biggest challenges? Yeah, that you face, starting both those businesses.

Because you were 25, you were a kid. I was young, yeah. Starting your own RV company. That's a big deal. It was a big risk. I mean, I really didn't have that much. I thought I had way more than I had. But I really didn't have anything.

I had enough to get it going. And I didn't even realize, like, I guess how risky that was at the time. But I took everything I had and I just went for. But if you believe in yourself, like, you're going to win. And that's really what it comes down to. How much do you believe in yourself? And what are you willing to sacrifice? Like I said earlier, I slept in an RV for 90 days, a toy hauler, right?

Like, are you willing to do that? Are you willing to put all? of your eggs in your own basket. And if you are, then you're going to win. And if you are, then you're going to lose. Don't second guess yourself. So I think the biggest thing was taking the risk. And then secondly, making sure you hire the right people. Having the right people around you makes all the difference. So when I worked at Mike Thompson's, I put all the key people around me and every job aspect that I knew needed to be done. And it wasn't just because I thought I was eventually going to go up in my own, but I just like having people around me that are my people.

right key people that are good that work that understand what i'm doing before i'm going to do it so i don't have to go back and go hey you know you should be doing it this way no you know how i'm going to do it so you do it that way and um i put those people in these key positions had all these basically basically everything covered so when i went to open my own spot every everybody just went that was it that's awesome that's awesome so when uh and the same thing applied in the mortgage space you did the same thing both RV and and carry the that same philosophy. I've got guys that still work at the mortgage company that worked for me in the RV space. And it's same thing here actually. It's funny to say that I had an company in 2008

American mitigation or 2007 and they're still here. It's like almost 20 years. They're family, right? You build these relationships with people and they become family and you want them to be successful and rise with you. So yeah. Yeah, that's awesome. That's awesome. You treat people like family. You treat them with love and it's like they're there. They've been with you forever. Now, like, what sort of specific skills or mindsets do you think are imperative for success right now in the mortgage industry? Just staying positive. The biggest thing you can do is believe in yourself and stay positive and understand that this business comes with ups and downs. So no matter what you do, as long as you stay positive, you're going to end up positive, right?

And it's kind of like snowboarding. You know, I train a lot of people out of snowboard. I love to snowboard. and you want to look where you want to snowboard. If you're looking down, you're going to fall on each shit. If you're looking up and you're looking where you want to go, you're going to go that way. It's the same thing in business. You've got to stay positive.

If you start getting negative, you're going to end up negative. So I stay positive. Nice. So you're good at snowboarding too? Arm wrestler, snowboarder. I'm decent. I've got one. I ride one ankle.

I'm decent, but yeah. What do you mean one ankle? I've got one ankle that's just completely shattered. I crashed. car two years ago and it shattered my ankle five surgeries so oh yeah you when you crashed the Ferrari gosh that that's that was scary that was a that was a that was a life changer for me honestly really yeah what did it what lessons do you think it it taught you oh god so many honestly um a to be thankful for everything you have because you just never know like one minute everything

could be over that's that's really so the biggest thing is just being thankful and living in every moment. And I think, you know, you said something earlier about I'm constantly doing something. And that's because I'm thankful and I'm grateful for everything I have. But I know I have one life and I only have so much time. So I try to balance everything the best I can, you know, getting up early at, you know, 5 in the morning or 5.30 in the morning, getting to the gym right away so that I can come home and then spend an hour with my daughter and get her off to school.

My oldest daughter lives with me full time, basically. So I try to spend that morning with her. but if I wait to 630 or 7, I'm not going to be able to have that time with her. Or you've got to choose, Jim, you know, but I need the gym to get my mind right, then come home and be fresh with my daughter, get her off, and then get into the office. Love it. Now, after all your success and failures and then life-changing moments, like, how do you continue to find motivation?

What do you think inspires you the most? Gosh, that's so many things. I think my kids inspire me probably the most right now. I think it changes. You know, I can't say it's always my kids. Sometimes they drive me nuts. I hear you. Yeah, I don't know.

I just probably my kids, I want my kids to enjoy life that I didn't have when I grew up. So I try to do as much as I can with them. We just went to Vegas this weekend and took their football team and the coaches on a private jet, went to the mansions and had just a phenomenal time with everybody. And I wanted the children to see what life can be if you really want it bad enough. Nice. Now, I want to kind of pivot the conversation. Are you, and I know we briefly mentioned this, but are you starting to see any

implementation of AI in your business or on the underwriting side, on, you know, the origination side, or how do you think it's going to impact what you're doing right now? Well, I think it's definitely coming. I have not done a good job with that. AI, I couldn't tell you the slightest thing. I know it's definitely going to make things much more efficient and cost-effective in the mortgage industry. I definitely know it's coming, but I let people like,

you figure it out first and then I pick your brain. Yeah, we got to adopt quick. You know, you got to be early adopters. And that's one of the things we get to sit down and chat about it. And, you know, you realize where some of the deficiencies are when you mastermind with all the best of the best, right? And that's why we attend these events and just kind of pick people's brains. But one thing I really admire about you is how you're fostering talent.

Like, how do you think you're fostering talent? You've created family relationships with these guys. What are some of the other things you're doing and really foster these guys? That's what you do. You got some great talent. You invest in your people, you know, and it's not just, you know, work or being there for them. I answer my phone 24-7, right? Because communication's key. And when your people need you, you need to be there for them. And you've got to treat them like family. I do with my daughters and my son. If they call, I don't care, I'm doing. I answer the phone. And I try to do that with the people I work with so that they know they're important. So you've got to give them your time. You got to show them the care and concern. And then you've got to be personal with them. You know, and I try to do that with my employees. family at work. You know, I, we go out to lunch. I take different people to lunch every single day and just talk to them about their day and what they're doing. And, you know.

You cut out to lunch every day with someone wanting to build those relationships? Yep. That's awesome. That's awesome. Do you have, like, any specific mentors in your life? I've got a few. You know, like I said, Mark Rosenbaum from Mike Thompson's RVs, one of the sharpest men I've ever met in my life. Mike Anstitch was also one of the guys at work there, very close to him.

and obviously, you know, I talk to Matt Isbia probably every couple of days. So he's incredible. That guy's definitely the smartest guy I've met my life. Yeah, he's been an inspiration of both of us. You know, he's helped me with him all the time and he just fires you up. Oh, he fires you up and time management, right? That's the one thing that I can definitely tell you I've learned from Ish, is his time management is incredible.

And every minute's worth tons of money, right? Right. he's very successful. So any time you get with Matt, you need to absorb every little bit that you can absorb from him. And a lot of the stuff that I picked up for Matt has made my personal life better. What are some nuggets you can share with the audience here? Just again, the time management so that I have more time to be with my children. So one thing that he does is he goes on airplane mode when he's with his kids.

Like nobody's bothering him. Nobody bugs him when he's with his children. You're not going to reach him. It doesn't matter. His kids come first. so he makes that time for his kids. But everything else in his life, if it's something that doesn't deserve his time,

he finds somebody else that does it, right? So like when I went to his house, as little as his, I don't know, snack closet, completely organized, somebody handles all the snacks for his kids. He just basically tells him, hey, this is how I want it, and they do it that way every day. So he's not having to sit there and make sure his kids have the proper snacks. It's silly.

But now I hired an organizing lady at my house, and she comes every single week like clockwork, and she handles everything from laundry to organizing my clothes in my closet. Right? I've got housekeepers that come, and they make sure that the house is dialed in. So I don't have to worry about anything

but making my bed in the morning, which is probably the first thing I do and my kids do. But outside of that, you don't have to worry about anything. So now it's like, okay, what's important? Straight to the gym, right? Get back from the gym. What's important? Spending an hour with my daughter,

shutting everything off, spend that hour, get her off to school. I'm not worried about all the things that I can pay somebody 25 or 35 or 40 bucks an hour, to do, right, so that you get the most out of your day. And I think that's what I learned from Matt. That's awesome. Those are good nuggets. And I don't have an organizing lady. She kind of has a blended job. So that that's... I'll introduce you to care. She's phenomenal. She organizes everything down to the color. Everything's color coded in the closet. Your drawers, you name everything

in your house, like your kitchen, your bathrooms. I don't even go to the store anymore. She goes to the store for me. Yeah. So I don't have to worry about that kind of stuff, you know. That's awesome. And I hope people kind of understand the importance of that because that's why he became a pilot, right? It's like you wanted to just not deal with the going on an airplane waiting around a couple hours. I mean, John Wayne's great, but go to John Wayne. You're sitting there for an hour. Like, who wants to waste an hour of your time going to the airport just through security checkpoints and sitting around? These people who are listening are going to L-AX.

L-A-X. It's like, that's like a day going and coming back. no thanks like you don't even know what that's like you're when was last time you went to lax have you ever been to lax i've been to lax i've been to i've flown i actually flew my little piper archer as a student pilot into lax which was incredible right because he got the big jumbo so they spin you in circles until they fit you between two airplanes and then you come down for your landing and you have to be full throttle all the way down the runway to get off otherwise a jumbo is going to ram up your ass so yeah that was a great lesson at lax for me that's awesome um now uh like

what's what's something that what's your favorite thing that you do to relax out of all the activities you're snowboard fly like what's your favorite thing to do flying flying hands down i mean i love the snowboard um i've got a lot of hobbies i like um it doesn't it's not calming for me but one of my biggest things i love is watching my daughter play football both of them play football play flag football yeah that's why we were in Vegas they had a flag football tournament out there and so he went out and I love watching her, but that's not a calm moment. I'm that dad on the sideline screaming at the referees. I got ejected the first game.

First game with it five minutes, I get ejected. And it was just, hey, the girl stepped out of bounds. He gave her a touchdown. No, she really stepped out of bounds. And he was not the kindest person. And then he ejected me. I'm like, and that's in Matt Line Arts League. That's so funny.

Like, I get that way myself with my kids baseball, too. We're passionate. I think I'm much more upset when they lose than he. is. He doesn't even notice. I'm just like kicking the dirt. That's funny. That's how I am. But flying is definitely probably the most calming thing because you shut everything out. When you fly, your life's on the line. So everything gets shut off. Nobody's trying to reach you. Nobody can contact you. You don't have, you know, anybody can get a hold of you. So you're in the air. It's just you and peace. Nice. Now, you got a lot of great things going. If there's anything that you could change

in your life, what would you change? Why would you do it? Well, you know, I can't say I would change anything. There's nothing in my life that I would change. I'm very, very happy with where I'm at right now. I've got goals, you know, so. We're going to get into that. That's going to be the next question, actually. As we kind of wrap up here, it's actually a three-part goal question.

Okay. What's your personal goal? What's a family goal and what's a business goal that you have? Okay. Those are all three great things to bring up. my children's goal is just more time playing sports and sitting and doing homework with my kids so that they get straight A's. That's the most important thing. You sit with your kids and do homework?

Yeah, I sit with my daughter and do homework. That's one thing we have tutoring. That's the only thing that's delegated out. For me, that's time that I enjoy spending with her because I want her to remember what is most important. And most important is life is for me with my daughter is to have structure and be disciplined and understand that you have to work for things. in life. And that's what school teaches them, in my opinion. It teaches them that, hey, you have to put this work in. So sitting with her and doing homework with her teaches her that that's important to me, right? And so if it's important to me, then it's going to be important to her. So that's

awesome. That's my oldest one. She, like I said, she lives with me more full time right now. She's had some struggles over the last few years. I think the divorce was tough on her. So giving her that attention right now is really important. The homework's getting hard right now. Some of the stuff. I don't even know. She's like, dad, what's this? I'm like, uh, let me ask Siri, hang on. Chat, GPT it now. See, I'm picking things up from you. I'm going to be chat, whatever that is.

AI, I got to learn it. So, and then a family goal. Family goal, I'm actually going right towards that. I'm really happy with where I'm at with my ex-wife right now. You know, everybody's got personal stuff. But we're in a good spot. I just took her to Vegas. My goal, honestly, with my family would be to try and help her be the best of

best version of her. You know, she's my ex-wife. I obviously, she's going to be in my life the rest of my life. So arguing or fighting or not helping her be the best version of her is not something I need to do. I need to put more effort into making her still the best version of her for my kids' sake, for her sake, and for my sake. So I think it starts with her. It starts with me and her and the relationship that we have, and then it's going to trickle down to the kids so that we can still be that one, you know, happy family and then eventually, you know, get remarried again at some point and invite that into the family aspect. I think, you know, that's always what God's will is for family units, right?

And if that's even on the table, even on your mind, and I'm not saying this as a, you know, to preach or anything, but, you know, the family unit is gold. That's good that that's on your mind. And that's good that's something that's, you know, at the forefront of one of your goals, because that's very noble that you're even inviting that as a potential. I mean, you have to be that way, right? I've done the whole Playboy single thing, and really what I've learned is it doesn't bring you a ton of happiness.

You know, that's not where my happiness comes from. Is it fun? Can it be fun? Yeah, sure, but that's not the happiness. The happiness is definitely, you know, inviting, you know, you can get spiritual, whatever you invite God and a family into your life and teach your kids right from wrong and have that aspect. So that's definitely more so where I'm headed.

Yeah, we live in a chaotic world now. we were talking about it. It's just a world of craziness. And just like craziness is just getting more accepted. And it's like weird now, time. So my biggest fear is like, and I'm sure your biggest fear too, it's like our kids getting even close to that world, right? It's like terrifying.

That's very scary. Yeah. There's just stuff. I mean, the social media scares the shit out of me for my kids. Yeah. My oldest is, she's so tech savvy, man. She can get in your phone. Let me know how she gets in there.

She changes everything. Next thing you know, she's got your face. face thing on her and every social media app i try to delete them they can bring them back on i don't know how to get rid of this stuff but they're sharp at a young age and it's scary because i wasn't that that smart you know that tech savvy yeah well i mean they're born with it you know so they're like they got i think my they're they're creating youtube channels like seven now it's like i i gotta pay somebody to do that still i had a rotary phone at her age i'm not kidding. We had a wall heater and a rotary phone. We had the green one with the circle thing.

Yeah. We didn't have that. So, and then, uh, then last thing is a business goal. Business school. So my goal this year truly was to double business from the year before. And we're on target right now. Love it. Love it. And I hope you do and I hope you quadruple it. Thank you. I hope you quadruple it. And, and because you're a good guy and you deserve the best. And, you know, I hope God brings you nothing but blessings and continues to allow you to crush it. I got one last question, then we adjourn. When you're in front of the pearly gates, what do you think God's going to say to you?

Oh, man, that's a good one. I don't know. Hopefully he tells me I did a good job. I don't know. God, you're hitting me with a good one. I don't know. I don't know what he's going to say. I guess I got to keep doing the best job I can do for my family,

for kids, and continue to help other people. and then hopefully he says you did well. That's what I wanted to hear, man. You've been an awesome guest, Robert. And I hope a lot of people are inspired by what you've said to the audience. And a lot of people don't know your story. So this is, I think, your first public display of your story. So God bless you.

I don't want to arm wrestle you in public because you can just destroy me. Thanks, everybody. Robert Drink, CEO of Optimum First. God bless him. awesome dad, awesome person, make sure to follow him. Thank you. Thanks for having me, Joe. Absolutely.