Introduction:

In the latest episode of Scroll Sessions, we had the pleasure of hosting Taylor Weeks, the current Vice President of Sales at Onset Financial. Known for his remarkable journey from an Account Executive to a VP, Taylor’s story is not just about professional growth but also about the art of building relationships and driving revenue.

Taylor’s Journey:

Starting at Onset Financial at 23, Taylor recalls the company’s exponential growth from $30 million to nearly $600 million in annual sales. He attributes this success to consistent personal and professional development. His initial focus was on finding a mentor, which he found in CEO Justin Nelson, whose leadership significantly influenced Taylor’s career.

Sales Insights:

Taylor’s approach to sales revolves around understanding client needs and providing tailored solutions. He emphasizes the importance of relationships in sales but clarifies that they are a means to open doors, not the end-all. The real game-changer, according to Taylor, is offering solutions that genuinely benefit the client.

Taylor’s Personal Growth:

Taylor’s success in sales profoundly impacted his personal life, from buying his first home to traveling the world. He stresses the importance of balance in life, covering health, wealth, love, and happiness. For Taylor, success in sales is not just about financial gain but also about personal fulfillment and growth.

Advice for Aspiring Sales Professionals:

For those venturing into sales, Taylor offers invaluable advice: commit fully, focus on personal development, and confront your fears. Sales success, he believes, comes from a deep understanding of one’s goals and the consistent pursuit of growth, both personally and professionally.

Conclusion:

Taylor Weeks’ journey and insights are a testament to the power of perseverance, growth mindset, and the importance of building genuine relationships in the world of sales. His story inspires many and offers valuable lessons for both budding and seasoned sales professionals.

Find Taylor Below:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/taylor-weeks-31158253/
https://www.onsetfinancial.com

Podcast Transcript

0:03

[Music] well today we’ve got Taylor weeks on the

0:09

scroll sessions podcast Taylor weeks is the current Vice President of Sales for onset Financial um we’ve connected on

0:16

LinkedIn like back and forth we sent a couple messages and uh we’re excited to have you on the podcast and uh we can

0:22

just honestly get love to get into your background tell us a little bit about who you are why why onset and uh a

0:29

little bit just about your background also it sounds like you’re a dad as well how many kids you have and stuff like

0:35

that uh two kids with another on the way oh boys or girls uh boys boys awesome

0:42

boys do you know the third yet we don’t we we have waited and you’re opting till

0:47

the end yeah and it’s it’s a fun process it’s um just I mean that’s more my

0:53

wife’s thing but hey I’m very supportive of her um but but for me I mean yes i’

0:59

I’ve been with with onset for 10 years it’s been pretty incredible I I think a

1:04

lot of people look at that and say why have you been with the same company for so long and for me it’s been the non-stop growth and so both growing as

1:13

an individual but also professionally when I started with that company they were doing 30 million a year in sales

1:18

last year we did just a hair under 600 million holy wow um and so yeah this

1:24

year we’ll Eclipse that again we’ve we’ve just been on this absolute rocket ship and so you know

1:31

23 it’s interesting because at 23 when I started with that organization it was

1:36

really a question of at that point in my life I I knew that I needed to get into a company and

1:43

in a position where I could get mentored by someone that was great and so you start looking at different companies you start looking at your future and you go

1:49

okay well what’s what’s the right place for me I met our CEO Justin Nelson and the guy I mean it takes just a couple

1:56

seconds of Medi him to know this there’s something special about this this man and and there has been it’s it’s it’s

2:02

been such an incredible journey of growth as they took a chance on me while I was still in school yeah very young

2:09

and even though I had had s some success in sales because I I started with door to door sales and I was like that that

2:14

was the first time that I ever made and and I laugh at this now but I made a thousand bucks in a week and I

2:20

thought I was rich I was like Wow 23 this is awesome yeah Ian this is it and

2:25

uh so so started that what did you sell insulation wait what insulation door oh

2:31

okay we had a customer that did this mhm so really an odd it sounds odd but it was it was a really interesting but easy

2:38

sell once you got your first one because you’re telling people hey write me this check for $3,000 or

2:44

$5,000 we’ll put insulation in your roof and it’s going to save you x amount on utility bills so you you’ll earn this

2:51

back in five years or 10 years or whatever but the utility companies would actually send them a check back for the

2:57

amount and they got a tax right off the end of the year but a lot of people go that’s tooo good to be true so most

3:03

people they look at you and they go okay dude too good to be true yeah right scammer yeah so it took a it took it

3:09

took a while to get that first person in the neighborhood you got that first one that’s just just reference selling hey we did this for the Johnson oh yeah and

3:15

then we did that for for these guys up the road and and it was just referrals and then people started getting their

3:21

checks and that was just yeah easy easy yeah but but like most things right it’s

3:26

always really hard getting started yeah I think about an airplane taking off uses 70 50 to 70% of its fuel just in

3:32

the takeoff and then it coasts wow I didn’t know that that’s so that’s very interesting okay well there you go

3:38

there’s your fun fact for today that is I’m fullly useless facts uh so but and

3:43

and so I think about that when when you’re starting any any new project

3:48

business position whatever it is it’s going to take so much energy to get it off the ground the good thing is is

3:55

you’re going to get better more skilled at it you’re going to have clients as time goes on and I’m not saying you’re just coasting but you’ll you’ll find

4:01

that that cruising altitude where you can just maintain yeah and so that that

4:06

that was my first time really realizing that in door to-door cells and so I I try to apply that to everything I do that’s awesome uh which is started with

4:12

onset consistency is everything it really is 100% And what were you studying in school so I I was I was

4:19

actually at slick doing my associates and I wasn’t sure what I was going to do um because I was doing door-to-door I

4:25

was moving around and it’s really interesting because I the our my manager he was successful but

4:32

he was taking his wife and his two kids everywhere with him so they’re they’re taking him up reloca every six months

4:38

like it’s fun for a guy that’s single like great they paid my rent and everything’s great yeah but then you got

4:43

a family I I thought I just thought that’s not the life I want so I I came back to Utah and was just wasn’t sure what I was

4:52

going to do started school thought that’s a good first step was working crappy warehouse job and which was which

4:59

was fine it’s paying me paying my way to school yeah man because I I was I really was you know I thought if I’m going to

5:05

go to school if if I can get through it without debt I really want to and I was lucky enough to be able to pay my way through school um but I hated did that

5:15

warehouse job for year year and a half and I hated it it was it was terrible and just because it was it was

5:22

a so physically demanding that I’m going to school fulltime and so I was just I was wiped out all the time yeah so I

5:29

started just looking at different options say ask some friends hey tell me about jobs if you have a job you like

5:35

tell me about it and this was one of the ones actually my buddy replied to me back on Facebook and said hey you know

5:40

you should come check out our company onset Financial so I did and and again after

5:46

meeting the owner owner I was like Ben I’m in are they in on me yeah and I was lucky enough that that they took a

5:51

chance on me at that point and it’s it’s been it’s been it’s been a it’s been a long ride it’s been a wild ride though

5:57

man I’ve learned a lot in the process was that sales so you started in sales uhuh yeah so it’s what what does an

6:02

account executive do make a $100 a day calling into businesses trying to find groups that are growing I mean what does

6:09

our product do we we sell money so simple as that but we’re sell money I

6:15

mean it is yeah you’re s funding it’s it’s just that yeah it’s but we’re looking for clients that are growing and

6:23

you know looking at high growth I we we think of ourselves as the rocket fuel for these businesses that

6:30

they have an opportunity to really scale quickly and most banks you’ll find they

6:36

they’ll get behind fast growth to a certain extent but it scares them they like consistent growth 5 10% a year so

6:43

you see groups that are maybe earlier stage um they’re I don’t know 15 20 25 million

6:50

and and now all of a sudden they’ve caught caught some new customers that are allowing them to really accelerate that growth that’s where we step in so

6:58

most of our clients are more in that call it 50 to $500 million range as far as revenues go but you know we we we’ll

7:05

have a a gamut anywhere from that 10 15 million all the way up to several billion dollars as far as as annual

7:11

revenues go so so for me when I had started that business it was way over my

7:16

head I’m used to dealing with consumers I had not done businessto business I’m calling these CFOs an ex yes and I’m

7:24

still at school as a lowly 23y old yeah I haven’t even got my degree yet all

7:30

these people are much more influential than I am obviously they have they’re very smart and I still to this day

7:36

appreciate how smart these people are because I’ll be honest I I have I I went through school got my MBA and I’ve

7:42

learned more from dealing with these Executives and understanding how they operate their businesses and what makes

7:48

those businesses successful or not yeah you see plenty that are not successful and you go ah we wouldn’t touch those

7:55

and then you you you talk to them a couple years down the road and you realize oh okay I can see why the the

8:00

people running that business had no no business running it right and and and so why did it fail okay writing was on the

8:07

wall but it’s I’ve learned more directly from those people and and and also you start to gain this this confidence in

8:14

yourself when you realize you can influence people more successful than yourself older than yourself more

8:20

accomplished more more degrees smarter everything else with a good sales process and with a good product right so

8:27

it it taught me a lot about if you have a good product if you be confident in yourself and you have a process that you can follow to sell you can start to

8:35

influence people that are in a much Tony Robbins actually he says it in an

8:40

interesting way he talk he talks about uncertainty if you’re totally certain on your product and other people are people

8:46

are getting ramped up to certainty if you two meet and one the one who’s going to influence the other is the one that’s

8:51

totally certain so it helped me yeah confidence love it% confidence certainty

8:57

there’s relationship advice as well trying to date yeah oh yeah

9:03

100% yeah relationships I I I like in sales to relationships constantly because there’s

9:11

they’re one and the same man like people buy from people 100% yes yeah and very

9:18

rare well I mean obviously you guys Pro you provide a service that’s obviously valuable and so do like so do we like so

9:24

do most other businesses for the most part are valuable to somebody businesses that are successful that stick around

9:30

that stick around 100% But at the end of the day like I would say one of the huge

9:36

decision makers is if they like that person and if they actually have a relationship with that person it’s going

9:41

to be the deciding factor over whether or not the product’s good or really serves a purpose for sure and and and

9:49

and I I think about too like as you’re dating we we think

9:54

about as as I train guys on sales I I I try to differentiate a lot of people they just go in and they talk about

10:00

features hey we’re so great because of this we’re the best because of this right they’re just constantly flexing

10:05

their muscles but they forget about the client right what’s in it for them why why does that matter it’s great that

10:11

that you do XYZ really well but how does that benefit their business and and I I think dating is similar right it’s to to

10:18

go up to a girl and say I’m rich I’m goodlook I’ve drive this awesome car back there go on a date with me maybe

10:25

right but if that’s all your conversation is centered around as you go on that date that’s probably your last one right

10:31

there has to be there has to be a two-way Road here of how that benefits the person you’re speaking with and it

10:36

also I think there’s something to resilience as well I I my I think about my wife I I I look at

10:42

her as well out of my league I I’m sure you know most of us probably do that are married like how I got pretty lucky yeah

10:49

and uh resilience man it’s I I I usually look at people with a with a a pretty wife and I go that’s a good salesman

10:55

right there cuz I bet you she she didn’t just come up and say yeah let me give you my number yeah there’s a lot of

11:00

convincing that had to go on there probably right and and you got to take a chance on yourself you got to you got to

11:06

bet on on on the chance that someone says no right and and let that be okay yeah that’s that’s awesome well how like

11:14

in your success that you’ve had with onset how has that influenced like your personal life and obviously going from a

11:20

college student into an AE and you’re you know probably starting to make money like how how did you you know balance

11:27

your professional and your personal success you know it’s it it’s interesting

11:34

because I I I’ll say a lot of it really comes down to having a very supportive

11:40

wife uh I wasn’t married in fact did just started dating um my wife Kenzie

11:45

when I started with with onset hold on your wife Kenzie yes yes Kenzie Kenzie

11:52

no way KY K oh dude we we got to go on a triple date yeah we got to do it with

11:57

the k you’re now like one of probably at least six or seven people that I like

12:04

know now who have a wife named McKenzie or Kenzie so so that was going to be my question is it McKenzie or is it CU my

12:10

wife is just it’s k i ns so it’s just there you go Kenzie Kenzie keny ours

12:15

ours are both McKenzie but our wies spell them different but if my wife if somebody calls my wife

12:21

McKenzie they’re probably elderly or don’t know her yeah well my wife gets

12:28

that too I love how we both also did that at the exact same time we were like hold on it’s also Kenzie that’s crazy

12:35

that’s how I know this was meant to be yeah awesome I love it this is fantastic um where were we we were

12:41

talking about just like professional and personal success it’s interesting because my wife she’s she’s entrepreneurial minded she comes from an

12:47

entrepreneurial family uh her family owns a couple pawn shops here in Utah called big dong Pawn big dog Pond and

12:55

she was a model when we started dating she left to California to go pursue that full time so we did the long distance

13:02

thing and my success was Al I had quick success but it was kind of spotty those

13:07

first couple years because I wasn’t really sure what I was going to do right wasn’t fully committed so I was like oh

13:13

am I going to California am I staying here and so I had this kind of up and down success it’s and that I think comes

13:19

with anything when you don’t don’t fully commit especially early on in an AE role right a lot of like you get really high

13:26

you get really low you get really high you get really low yeah and and at those that

13:32

age the age yeah there’s something to maturity but the high and lows man that

13:37

that emotional roller coaster boy does that that make your journey 10 times

13:43

longer 10 times more challenging that it needs to be and it really was just that because you if you’re fully committed

13:50

then then some of the failures along the way they’re just not as big of an issue versus oh well do I stay do I do I go

13:58

but as I looked at the job market and considered okay do I go somewhere else and looked at California I was going

14:04

back and forth to California every weekend it was just like man this is this is the right place for new be this

14:11

this is really where I need to be and I just committed myself to say hey I’m going to be here at least five years I’m

14:17

G to give it everything I got and see what happens and it’s it’s amazing what happened when I made that commitment

14:24

because my uh girlfriend at the time Kenzie she

14:29

decided to to come move back and live with me uh we ended up buying a home

14:35

buying our first home um she had a she sent me

14:40

this I’ll call it a a demand letter little ultimatum totally and and she had

14:48

a couple demands on one of them was to take her to Paris so ended up taking her to Paris to get um where we got engaged

14:54

which was great and we end up going back to Europe for honeymoon which was just incredible yeah I mean and I had never I

15:01

had never been out of the country she took me out out of the country the year before we got engaged we went to Mexico

15:07

and I was like oh my gosh dude this amazing I’ve been missing so much in my life and so it changed a lot because all

15:13

of a sudden I went from I grew up in a family that didn’t have much money I never had much money

15:22

and it started to not only give me an opportunity to look at things different look at money differently but also get

15:28

around success people that were you know helping me make better decisions along the way and so started to do these

15:33

things I was like man owning a home and starting to travel and and invest in

15:39

some of these different things it it was cool to grow as personally and also professionally and and and and then to

15:44

to be able to support my wife as she built her business and and she’s built she’s she’s just incredible at marketing

15:51

and branding she she really is the opposite of what I do but has built a a

15:56

a um supplement business business I guess the easiest way to put it that that does between 1 and two million a

16:02

year in sales that just out of the house mostly selling collagen for women to help grow their hair and so yeah man so

16:09

it’s helped me you know be able to to support her so she could grow that and and so it’s been it’s been cool man for

16:15

me I think the most most awesome thing now that I’m in the role that I am today

16:20

is is new young people and I I won’t generalize to say just young men but I

16:26

just find that more men refer this industry than than women because it’s very hard it’s very very challenging

16:32

there’s a lot of it’s a long sell cycle so this isn’t something we’re going to have a sell every day yeah uh every week

16:40

you’ll be if you’re good you’ll have a sell every month but especially when you’re new you might have three or four

16:46

deals all year annually that’s it and so it’s it it requires some major patience

16:53

that was that’s not something that I naturally am strong at and that’s why I started longdistance running to start

16:59

start training myself D just like lock in some patience we were talking about running before uh we were recording and

17:06

maybe you can hit on that a little bit about so what kind of running do you do

17:12

it you run races or do you just run I do I’ve tried a little bit of everything so I’ve only done one Ultra it which was a

17:19

50k where at uh did that one in Moab which one the dead horse no no no it was uh

17:27

actually yeah was it Moab or was arches I did it start of 2022 so um oh early

17:35

like January uhuh oh yeah so it was it was arches okay yeah the Arches uh 50k okay thank I’m familiar with the race

17:41

yeah see see you’re you’re so one of the guys at onset his name’s Dustin Bond he does tons of of Ultras okay and so he

17:50

took me on a I don’t call it an ultra it was a 25k down at analou did the 50k at

17:56

arches and I I just my body hates those long runs man I I

18:02

hate those long runs so everybody’s body hates the long run that’s see my body won’t even start

18:09

running so it’s fine some people’s brains are just crazy enough to not listen to their bodies well when I look

18:15

at Dustin you know it’s interesting he’s like your telling is you can go fast and I’m like that for sure for him he can go

18:22

for forever I I mean he’s got I’m slow but I can go the stamina That’s it man

18:27

he’s not he’s not in a hurry these giant Cales and just can go for forever I’m like okay man like that’s not you do you

18:34

that that’s not me I I start cramping up and hate my life after after 20 miles and I’ll get there right I’ll figure out

18:40

a way but but it it does teach you how to how to just manage I I doing my first

18:46

marathon I I was like I I think I’m done runting for good and it’s interesting how just it pulls you back there’s

18:52

something about just committing yourself to go do these hard things and then then you go do it yep and because there’s

18:57

something always goes wrong wrong something always goes wrong guaranteed chafing or cramping or stomach oh oh

19:04

dude yeah that that was actually the biggest problem I had with the with the 50k was I I ate too many gels early on

19:12

and not enough food and I was like oh my stomach was just killing me man that’s that’s okay we got to the end and I was

19:18

I was just like get me real food like these peanut butter sandwiches are not doing it right they do say that the best

19:23

Ultra Runners can just eat the most food so so what so what you’ve done ultral

19:29

tell me a little bit about what do you usually eat what’s your what’s your diet uh just I try and eat like real food but

19:35

soft stuff and Tailwind Tailwind is it’s like a beverage that has calories in it

19:41

so it’s easier on the stomach it was invented by a guy that was running the Leadville 100 in Colorado okay and he’s

19:48

like this is all I took instead of eating and pretty significant yeah his stomach was way better and ended up

19:55

making a whole company out of it so now Tailwind is is pretty much just liquid

20:00

calories so Che out it’s kind of like getting an IV of calories into you

20:05

instead of uh trying to muscle down a sandwich or something you know what I mean but I still I think on Long races I

20:12

still after a certain point you do need a little bit of real food or else you get that brain just

20:19

mush and body mush does stomach the the brain mush I I does is there any way to

20:26

beat that after the 18 to 20 miles I mean have you been able to to hold start saave off the no I think no matter what

20:32

it like sales right like I I do think running and sales or running a business

20:38

have a lot in common because when it comes to running there will be a point of friction yes and you got to push

20:45

through you got to push through it because there’s light on the other side meaning every time and you know how this

20:51

feels right there’s the runnner high but then there’s also the Bonk so you’ve got the Bonk and the runnner high so I feel

20:57

a bonk BK around a certain mileage right might feel it at Mile 10 might feel it at Mile 20 but I always then feel a

21:05

runner’s high at some point both are shortlived and I think that that’s the concept of sales too is it’s you have

21:12

Bonks you have Highs but consistency is the reward in sales not the highs and

21:19

the lows like you’re not running for the runner’s high you’re running to prove consistency I think the same thing’s

21:25

true in sales that consistency is what’s rewarded over the highs and the lows if you focus on highs and lows you’re going

21:30

to give up yeah 100% And as long as you continue to just push like you’ll beat out everybody else who gives up because

21:37

eventually eventually you in the hair yeah yeah eventually someone will give up and you’ll be ahead if you just

21:45

continue the path for sure so like what what’s some examples I mean maybe

21:50

professionally where you’ve like pushed push through a a bonk face obviously early on when you were

21:57

dating getting the demand list yes yeah exactly well it’s funny after after that

22:02

commitment I had a ton of success was able to to get promoted to a manager I was the youngest manager company ever

22:08

promoted couple years later maybe the youngest VP then 2020 hit there’s my Bon

22:14

stage’s racked over the head yeah and it was incredibly hard because you saw

22:19

things going just we continue to double business quarter after quarter after quarter after quarter just for I I just

22:26

think about our team yeah and and then all of a sudden everything falls off a cliff and you go oh my gosh

22:32

what’s going on and then so you have a quarter where you have next to nothing and then another quarter where there’s

22:38

like next to nothing you’re trying working as hard as you can to ramp up and manage people at home and all these

22:43

just changes and so for me at at 30 I’m going man this is the biggest

22:49

professional challenge I’ve ever faced but we overcame that we ended up still finishing having a great year and a lot

22:55

of that came from that final qu all the hard work that we put in all the focus

23:01

consistency right it was just like we know how to do this we know how to win and it had to keep reminding people that

23:06

don’t don’t lose sight of why you come to do this every single day don’t lose sight of the rewards that are available

23:12

if you’ll keep showing up and so it was cool we ended up being the the top team that year and you know getting getting

23:18

rewarded for that and being able to go celebrate and and do some fun things so it was it was it was really great so

23:24

that that’s that’s definitely a bond phase man and and that that that’s part business right the es and flows come

23:30

with business there are times that you’re killing it there’s times that you’re just getting beat over the head right but success is success is is is

23:38

waiting for those who don’t give up right those who don’t don’t quit so to exactly your point right that’s the key

23:43

yeah I know that’s awesome I mean during Co like for us like we honestly PIV we tried to Pivot who we serve to during

23:50

more or less coid during that you know more or less recession that we all went through did you guys feel like you

23:56

needed to Pivot Industries for who you were focusing on did it or did it really just come down to like just sticking it

24:02

out through that year it it was just waiting it out I mean a lot of it was fear fear stopped people in their tracks

24:09

because it’s hard to make decisions when you don’t know what’s around the corner everyone was dealing with something they’ never dealt with before so for

24:16

business owners they’re going is this going to continue am I going to lose my business what’s going to happen I don’t

24:22

want to take on debt or buy equipment or grow my business or do anything if if I

24:28

don’t know not going to be around tomorrow literally right why why obligate myself so it was more people

24:34

just needed to see that the world wasn’t going to light on fire and we weren’t all going to die and because it was it

24:42

was scary there for a minute right I I I mean I don’t know what your your thoughts are on Co I won’t get political I was a hypoc I have been a

24:48

hypochondriac in my life so pre- pandemic you know I’m already scared that I’m going to get sick from

24:54

something pandemic hits and early on all I’m doing is he and that like everyone’s

24:59

going to die you know there’s no cure they’re putting the death count on anyways but like it I mean it was like I

25:06

there was a certain fear like I had just had we just had a brand new baby in January of 2020 oh my gosh so we come

25:13

into March and we have the earthquake happen in Utah we have Co hit we go work from home we had just moved into this

25:20

apartment and I’m like my entire life is going to end and keep in mind our business is pretty new we’re four years

25:26

old so our business was new and it was like okay either this is going to be really bad or really good ended up being

25:33

really good for us just like it’s all about waiting it out right I think the one thing you said that was most

25:40

impactful was you made a decision that where you sold yourself you said five

25:46

years I’m gonna give myself five years and when you sell yourself on something and you keep your commitment to yourself

25:53

look at the rewards you become the youngest manager you become the youngest VP like those things are really

25:59

important to do and so many people forget to do them in the sales space and that’s why they’re jumping every year or

26:04

every two years right and you’ve been consistent at onset for 10 years and it’s like it’s paid off man oh it has I

26:12

mean they it helps that it’s a great company it help they treat you really well and at the same time to be mentored

26:17

or a guy that’s just incredible I and it’s just that went that five years and was like okay this that was worth it

26:23

committed myself for another five and and so I try to I I try to look at things from a a little bit of a longer

26:29

point of view than just what what’s going to happen in one year I think people underestimate what you can

26:34

accomplish in 10 years and overestimate what you can do in one year and so you overestimate what we can do in one year

26:39

you get frustrated and you go ah man I didn’t hit that but I a lot of the most

26:44

of the goals I set for my 10 years right to say hey let I don’t know how I could possibly get to 100 million in sales

26:52

within 10 years but that’s my goal well we were able to accomplish that right and exceed that and we we continue to

26:58

grow as a team I think about my my time as a manager going from you know zero to

27:03

to last year doing 50 million just as a team as you grow grow grow and it’s it’s an interesting journey to to scale that

27:11

quickly and put processes in place that work that you can just put people into your business and have them succeed and

27:17

so it is it’s I mean it’s a journey of learning it’s but but you have to commit long enough to see the rewards that

27:22

actually happen right to get to the the the rainbow with a pot of gold man I was going to ask Taylor like you guys ramped

27:29

very quickly I mean I think you said where where was the starting like revenue of like onset 30 so when I when

27:35

I started in see what year were we in so in 2013 when I started yeah they had

27:40

done 30 million that year and that was that was a actually a big jump from the year before so company started in 2008

27:46

okay probably the best time to start a finance company yeah no kidding um and so it was it was it was tough going the

27:54

first few years there and they I think they really started to catch their stride 2011 2012 so I I got to get on at

28:01

a at a good time yeah yeah for sure and then you guys ramped all the way I mean you’re what you said past 500 million

28:07

600 million yeah so I mean it’s it’s a that’s a massive leap in the 10ish Years

28:14

um what and you’ve kind of you’ve seen it as more or less uh entry level and AE

28:20

all the way to VP what what have been some Frameworks if you can share that like you’ve been able to like put in

28:26

with your team or that onsets put in place so that you guys could have that success and be able to ramp so

28:32

significantly in the last you know 10 years you know I I think we do a few

28:37

things just differently than others in the marketplace and and so it just allows us to get to think creatively um

28:46

to move really quickly I mean I’ve seen like personally I’ve seen deals get done

28:51

for millions of dollars in less than a week I can think of a couple just off the top of my head of five million that

28:57

we did in what three or four days another five million we did in five days just crazy crazy to be able to turn

29:04

around that type of funding in such a short period of time and so they it it really our our owner Justin nilson I

29:11

mean that guy’s done some incredible things to just really streamline the underwriting process to put funding

29:17

sources in place that aren’t just like a lot of a lot of finance companies right that are Independents so we’re we’re

29:22

independently owned they’re dependent on one source of capital right dependent on

29:28

One bank or they’re dependent on certain private lenders to stand

29:34

behind them so instead we’ve got we we’ve got a number of banks we can turn to but we’ve got a number of private

29:41

sources Capital that are unique to us and we’re very lucky because they’re

29:48

we’ve built such a strong relationship they really only will work with us they won’t work with any of our competitors and so it allows us to to I think just

29:56

separate ourselves as far as what we can do for clients as far as speed uh flexibility and when you think about

30:02

flexibility that might be financing out of the country uh that might be financing a project that has a lot of

30:07

soft cost that maybe they’re buy buying a building and they’re going to renovate the entire inside While most lenders are

30:14

going to look at that and if they’re not financing the building and say that sucks I don’t really want your drywall

30:19

and flooring and we can still get comfortable with those types of deals so I I think it’s more what we’re able to

30:25

offer to our clients that that separates us so much that they see the value and

30:31

and by adding value in a way that others aren’t you you buy loyalty right so your clients begin to come back again and

30:36

again to you for doing a great job for you know over promising and then overd delivering yeah no that’s it’s huge and

30:43

obviously like relationships that you guys have you know internally externally have been massive to your success big

30:50

time yeah that’s awesome and I I think it’s interesting too you going from AE to VP you transition to

30:57

you know someone who’s doing the work and you’re still doing the work now but now you’re also managing people who are

31:02

doing the work what what has been that Journey from you was it hard like what have you learned going from you know

31:10

entry level to a manager in the last 10 years what’s been your you know it’s it

31:15

I’m a much I’m a much better manager than I am

31:20

in a executive I’ll tell you that on my my skill set is I I think I’m I do one

31:26

thing really really well and that’s finding good talent and developing that Talent yeah and I would say based on the

31:33

results I’ve had since becoming a manager versus the results I had before kind of speaks for itself because

31:39

it’s I I love I I mean truly I love the process of of training people on how to

31:46

become successful showing them so showing them the way and then helping them get there

31:52

and I’ve been able to see a number of people real their lives absolutely change by coming to work with me right I

31:58

get to have that impact for them and their families so it’s it’s a totally different role but I I like processes I

32:05

like putting Pro I like explaining thing in processes putting processes in place to say do XYZ and you’ll get y uh or do

32:12

ABC and you’ll get why that’s probably a better better way to say it and and so

32:17

that’s that’s a big thing I think I I found that it’s just a different way of thinking when you’re in account

32:23

executive you’re really saying just told hey this is what you need to do go do it right and people who know how

32:29

to follow Direction well usually have success and and then as you start to figure out the business for yourself you

32:35

you put your own twist into it you put your personality into it and that’s that that’s the goal right be yourself people are at the end of the day they’re going

32:40

to buy you yeah and for me I try to just just look at how do we have success how

32:47

do we find some consistency in our success what are things that you could do again and again that are going to

32:52

somewhat normalize your results and so I when I do that look at okay that’s

32:58

that’s the process I’m going to put in place that people can follow to get these results to get a customer to give

33:04

you an opportunity or to take a proposal that we’re sending and get them to sign it more often than not and so that’s

33:11

that that’s that’s the biggest thing that I I shifted my focus on it’s not to just finding deals it’s it’s how can we be more efficient how can we win more

33:18

more deals uh efficiency really is that it’s like I want to I I want to be

33:24

consistently winning one out of four proposals send and if I can do that then then we have a lot of success right if

33:31

if it falls below that then that tells me my my process my system is is is broken okay so I appreciate my my

33:36

question was uh more or less when you bring an AE in on their first day like

33:43

how do you set them up and lead them to success so I I everyone’s got their own

33:50

individual path to success so so when we come in I obviously want to get to know them more on a personal level but I have

33:57

them set goals what is it you want out of this in your first year and after setting your goals then we’re going to

34:02

have you actually put that on paper and a vision board right so some of those goals may be a

34:07

little I mean I want you to dream big but if they’re totally just unattainable

34:12

make a million dollars year one yeah exactly we’re GNA we’re going to set you on the right path and say this is I want

34:18

you to get there but it might take you a couple years so this is this is how we’re going to get you to this is what

34:23

what’s going to be the first step to get to that that the bigger goal uh we’ll have them put vision board together and then also an action plan so what type of

34:30

effort are you going to put in to get there and so I think that’s the big thing is everyone wants the big rewards

34:35

but they’re not willing to put in the work required to have this this major success and and that comes from Al

34:42

putting in the work on a day-to-day basis but also the professional development right what are you what are

34:48

you reading how often are we going to be training together to make sure that you have good habits in place that are going to help you become successful so so we

34:55

want to schedule all that out and then then I I meet with my guys every Friday so every Friday I get to meet with everyone

35:00

individually get a sense of how they’re doing we do accountability to see how they’re doing on on track to their goals

35:07

and that that allows us to to realize okay do we need to speed up in certain areas do we need to add something new in

35:14

like what changes do we need to make along the way so allows allows us to constantly assess how do we get you to your goals so I want people to take

35:20

ownership I want them to set their own goals I’m not going to set them for them obviously we have minimums you have to hit quota right that’s that’s a given

35:27

but everyone comes in I think because they are ambitious they see bigger things for themselves so I’m like set

35:33

your own goals I have accountability over that and I’m going to support you every step of the way so so that’s that that’s how I go about it cool I love

35:39

that I think that’s awesome if I if I can ask for for you guys right if with some of the best leaders that that

35:45

you’ve worked with or or seen personally what have you seen for for getting people into Quick success are there

35:50

things that you’ve noticed that typically work is as as people are getting into success quickly or or have

35:56

been in good strategies for um people to

36:01

you know as they’re setting off on a New Journey to to help find success it’s a great question I I think just with people that I’ve interacted in the last

36:08

you know since I got into my roles I’ve always been kind of a an entrepreneur I

36:14

mean I worked uh out of high school as a carpenter I worked in a bakery in high

36:19

school like I I’ve had bosses but after post High School I I’ve been an entrepreneur I’ve always just started a

36:25

photography business but I’ve been mentored and I’ve had a lot of mentors and been in school I think the number one thing that I’ve seen is uh really

36:33

the like the personal accountability thing is huge and then having having something to actually uh like work for

36:40

and I I think you you hit on both of those like those points perfectly and also writing them down like there there

36:48

is something and I think a lot of people said let’s make goals let’s like set this training schedule or whatever but

36:53

like actually writing a goal down and then putting an action plan in place to hit it like even if you don’t hit the

37:00

goal like exactly you’re prob like it’s like the whole thing you shoot for the stars land in the moon rightt like

37:06

you’re still going to be much further than you were if you didn’t do anything

37:11

at all um and so like even if you make this insane goal I want to be you know a

37:17

millionaire in two years like even if you if you write it down you write your plan and maybe you don’t hit that

37:23

million dollars in a year or two years you’re probably going to get get you know 500,000 600,000 maybe you know get

37:30

close to it and there’s no way you would have ever gotten there without actually putting the work and putting the action

37:36

plan in place so I know like mentors that I’ve had um have always been on

37:41

like the strategy side of things and the execution side and really having that plan is just huge and then obviously

37:47

executing it but love that yeah that’s on my side but yeah I I think I would

37:53

say that uh the people that I look up to as mentors for Success have a similar

38:01

definition of success as myself right so um people that I look up to I think that

38:10

for me I believe success is

38:16

that outside of money it is how am I treating people do I feel like I have

38:22

integrity in my life do I feel like I’m making personal growth with my family

38:27

with my friends and am I personally engaged with the people around me are they feeling like they can trust me and

38:34

look to me am I feeling like I can trust them and look to them and I think that uh thinking of a few people in

38:41

particular I I Mentor or I mimic their success uh as far as how they treat

38:50

others so I try and look to the way they’re talking to people or I try and look to the way that they’re

38:55

communicating with people or I’ll try to mimic the way that they are uh living

39:02

right if there’s a sense of I’m I’m eating he they’re eating healthier they’re exercising more they’re doing

39:08

specific rituals that are helping them be better like those are the things that I look to to try and mimic and that’s

39:15

where I feel like that’s the type of mentorship I look towards when it comes

39:20

to success I’ve never really looked at I do have Financial I think

39:26

goals and I want to be more successful financially right so when I have those mentors they’re more it’s more data

39:34

driven I’m like sure hey you own rental properties talk to me about them I want to understand more about what you’re

39:39

doing but those people I’m not necessarily looking to them from an

39:45

internal success perspective so that’s kind of a long-winded uh way to say it

39:50

but I feel like I look at different aspects of it I guess I don’t know I I

39:55

love that because I I think about things really we talk about four pillars right health wealth love and happiness and I

40:03

think you got to meet all all all four of them uh and you can you can simplify that even further to just say health

40:08

wealth and and you know spirituality right I think um spirituality and then

40:13

then family and friendships but I I I think you got to you you’ve got to fill your cup on each of those

40:20

levels or else you’re just going to be unsatisfied it’s if youve you’ve got no friend friends no

40:26

family but you got a lot of money man you’re going to be miserable yeah for sure yeah so I I think I’m with you guys

40:33

and that’s I try to help people see that money is only one part of the equation and when you’re young you start to think

40:40

you think man all my problems will be solved if I have money that’s the whole equation yeah it’s not and you we all

40:46

figured that out with a little bit of wisdom and experience but but trying to help people understand that right away that yeah F your life will become

40:53

imbalanced at certain points right there there are times that you have to work more there are times you got to put more time in the family times you got to put

40:59

more into your health and that that’s okay right different things are going to require more of you at different times but you know I think if you know what

41:06

what you’re after you know what you want you know what where to put your attention at different times and and yeah but I think that all the clarity

41:12

comes from actually figuring out what do I want I I and that that I think that’s one of the biggest things I I try to

41:18

really help people understand as they come to work with me is I want I’m asking that question all the time what do you want right and I because I ask

41:24

that one to myself all the time too what do I actually want and and that I think helps you cut through the minutia of

41:31

what everyone’s else’s expectations are versus what we actually want in our own lives yeah they’re they’re usually very

41:37

different but we can let everyone else’s expectations Cloud our Judgment of what we actually are chasing what we’re

41:42

actually going towards yeah if we’re following what we actually want on a daily day-to-day basis I think you you

41:48

get more results you find more happiness in your daily life and frankly you’re going to be a lot more fulfilled yeah

41:54

that’s great 100% I love look at people like you and I’m like I would see Taylor as someone as a good example of the type

42:01

of person I would want to mimic when it comes to success right like and I don’t

42:06

think because Taylor has a lot of money that wouldn’t be my first assumption I’d be like because he’s high energy because

42:12

he’s friendly because he’s confident like I see those things and then I immediately and this is probably a

42:18

mistake on my part where I immediately am like oh if I have a lot of money I’ll be those things right I’ll be high

42:24

energy I’ll be confident this but it when in reality it’s the reverse people

42:29

make a lot of money because they’re high energy they’re confident they’re caring those types of things so that’s uh I

42:36

think that’s a perspective that I have a lot but well our habits Drive everything right and and I I think about that in

42:42

cells right our processes our habits the things that we do again and again that’s going to determine our success yeah and

42:50

I mean it that happens in sales it happens in in our home lives it happens in everything our habits really Drive

42:56

everything and so I I I think if we can be really good about setting our good

43:01

rituals morning routines right we can control our energy in or enthusiasm that is totally in our control I can’t

43:07

control what a customer does but I can control how I approach every conversation I can control how prepared

43:13

I am for those conversations right to increase the odds that I I actually can get the outcome I want so so you’re

43:19

exactly right it’s the success comes as a result of the habits and rituals that we put in place and then following those

43:25

again and again and that’s a hard part right it’s easy to to to start a habit for a little period of time but then to

43:32

keep doing it long enough to to make it actually matter that becomes a lot more challenging well it’s like in the atomic

43:37

we were at Atomic habits as like a leadership team at uh at scroll and it’s such a good book my my whole I made my

43:43

whole team read that book this year yeah it’s such a good book and like I mean the that book in my opinion like boils

43:49

down to it’s compounding habits it’s like you have to start small because if you start big first usually it things

43:56

don’t go so well and he gives a lot of like sport analogies in that book um but

44:01

I think one of the one of the greatest pieces of advice is that start small start with something that you can do

44:07

every day and then once you nail that you know over 30 days add something else and then continue to compound that and

44:14

over your lifetime like it will have it will pay dividends forever you know yeah

44:20

it’s the concept of like you don’t have to go on a run just put on your running shoes while you’re brushing your teeth

44:25

yes y right if you just put them on after a week you’re going to feel kind of silly that you’re putting on your

44:31

running shoes every day and not going on a run like you’re going to start going so yeah and and he talks about a lot

44:38

about like visualizing more or less the person that you want to be yes and then

44:45

putting the like look at the PE look at the person and who they are and then start to do the things that they do

44:51

right in in small habits maybe not going out and running a marathon IM immediately you know but like you said

44:57

just putting one one foot in your shoe at a time and taking it Taking it from

45:03

there one day at a time so um on to to

45:08

kind of wrap up let’s do a rapid fire of some sales questions maybe like uh some sales

45:14

dilemmas that I think add some some Ro play yeah know um so uh

45:22

questions that I have for you because you’ve got 10 years of experience and tons of tracked Revenue behind what

45:28

you’ve done so I think that what you have to say on this is very valuable uh

45:33

excited I good friend of ours we’ve had on the podcast before Mark America Smith oh yeah uh famous for getting in a lot

45:41

of trouble on link did uh he had posted about um how sales is not all about

45:49

relationships and how and then he said he kind of emphasized hey if you could

45:54

tell me the last person the name full name of the last person you bought something from that was an

45:59

expensive purchase then I’ll give you 20 bucks um and he says he doesn’t hand out

46:05

the money very often it’s pretty much the the LinkedIn post I butchered that but um we kind of talked about how sales

46:13

is a lot of relationships and I want to kind of hear a rebuttal I guess it obviously we love

46:20

Mark but I just want to hear what are your thoughts on that and how would you uh go about that statement you know I I

46:27

agree with Mark uh quite a bit on that actually because I I think about sales a relationship’s going to get you in the

46:33

door yeah I know it it’s people we hear this all the time people buy from people

46:39

they know like and Trust because a lot of times purchases are made emotionally but they’re backed up with logic so it

46:46

has to make sense and and in our role we’re dealing with people in the finance

46:51

World they they double check everything their accountants their CFOs and so the

46:57

logic side of things always comes into play yes they make decisions emotionally but the logic backs it up so I think

47:03

relationships are what gets you an opportunity it’s what gets them to say I’m going to give you a chance because I think that I could enjoy working with

47:10

you I could see ourselves being Partners over the long term but if we come to the

47:16

table with something that makes no sense a solution that doesn’t fit a total

47:22

square pig in a round hole it’s not it’s not going to work they’re not going to move ahead so I think the solutions

47:28

I whiff right what’s in it for them I think that’s such an important key we always have to be thinking about how is

47:34

this going to be benefit our customer or client and then and you have to build a relationship to know what their problems

47:40

are if you don’t build a relationship you don’t know what the problems are you’re not going to be able to sell the relevant solution and you’re not likely

47:45

to close I think that’s so well said and I think was it in the post that he like

47:51

people buy more or less solutions they don’t buy from people right and I think the EMP empasis is that the relationship

47:58

gets you in the door the solution closes the deal closes the deal right and the point to that is relationship got you in

48:05

the door so it’s going to get you more bids without a doubt if you have the best product then you’re going to close

48:11

it you have the best rates you’re going to close it so that’s a great and and so and solutions I you know I think about

48:17

rates right people always think oh what’s the pricing and rates are always the easiest one to to lean on sure if

48:24

you can’t show different types of value and so I mean that’s that that’s where it comes down to really know if if I

48:31

don’t know what the real problem is and I’m making a decision that I’m just going to lay the I’m look at everyone the same I’m lay all the price across

48:38

the table and say okay whoever’s the cheapest I’ll pick them right but having a good relationship you start to really uncover what the real issues and

48:45

problems your customer has so you can present a relevant solution and does that always have to be the cheapest no

48:51

and sometimes it’ll be more expensive than the others but it provides more value to that company and so I I think people leave a lot of

48:58

money on the table because they’re they’re just trying to play this game of well I’m not I don’t know how to add

49:04

more value than the next guy so let’s just go cheapest price and if I’m the cheapest all the time that that’s a

49:09

that’s a tough business model to hold on to see that’s a great Point trusted advisor right like the relationship

49:15

trusted advisor is valuable because I’m looking at buying a second property right now right and my friend who I’ve

49:21

gone to lunch with a bunch and we’ve talked a little bit about this off air but he uh he’s always been willing to

49:29

give me advice on what to do when I want to get into investment properties MH then uh time has come that I’m looking

49:36

at getting one I reach out to him for a quote relationship got him in the door yep and his rate was higher than another

49:42

quote that I got but uh to your point I did reach back out to him and say hey

49:48

why is this I want to understand is there something wrong with this other one because I’m going to look to him as

49:53

a trusted advisor right and I still could end up doing something with him based off of you know he might come back

50:00

and help me understand the situation A little better so because I’m a novice and he knows what he’s talking about and

50:06

I trust him well and that trust is important because I I I think we’ve all had situations where he went with what

50:12

looked to be the cheaper option but turned out to be a nightmare and ended up costing us more money in the long run

50:17

y so I I try to help people see the full picture right because exactly what your buddy’s doing sometimes you only are

50:23

looking at through one lens and yes through that one lens you’re going okay that’s my best solution but is

50:29

there something I’m missing and bird’s eye yeah I yeah I exactly right exactly

50:36

right it’s when you don’t know everyone’s business model there’s and you don’t there’s a lot of fine print to read through with financing you know

50:42

you’re going through right now you you got to be well informed right to make sure that that what you see is actually

50:47

what you get and I think that’s important one when there’s that drastic of a change I I usually have to dig into

50:53

that too what’s going on here so hopefully your buddy can uh can can can Salish that one and maybe help you I

51:01

love it I love it my uh sales question uh how do you structure your ae’s day

51:06

like what what is the most efficient use of time throughout the day and how do you guys

51:13

structure it great that’s a great question morning time is Grind Time that

51:18

8 to 12 come in and call as hard as you can and and we want that to be calling

51:24

new prospects right not calling your existing customers yeah so that you can get 60% of your work done in in that

51:31

morning and then afternoon is when we do follow-ups so with prospects and Deals

51:37

we’re trying to move forward conference calls that’s where any leads or deals that theyve brought in we do a call

51:42

together to start to move that deal forward and um any other administrative

51:47

type work is all held for the afternoon as well so morning time is Grind Time get as much done as you can afternoon is

51:53

for any that cleanup followup conference calls and um administrative work love

51:58

that um other one is what uh or maybe the last one to wrap that’s up what is

52:04

the number one piece of advice you’d give a new

52:09

AE or anyone wanting to get into sales a great wrap-up question I feel like that is the one that we want to that that is

52:16

a great question I guess a couple things right so first and foremost if you want to get into sales just just commit

52:22

yourself right if if you’re just saying hey I’m going a dabble you’re not going to be very successful because there are

52:28

people that are fully committed and then and if you’re going into something half committed versus someone that’s fully

52:33

committed you’ll lose every time yeah but I I think commit yourself at the same time to just personally developing

52:41

if you do want to enter celles so that you can start to learn some of the skill sets required uh I think about empathy

52:47

that’s something I didn’t have before I went into business to business Cs and and being able to understand where people are coming from I use that at

52:53

home with my wife and it helps with a lot of arguments I use it with my clients yeah totally and it’s something that I I developed as

52:59

a result of this this you know this business this industry and and are you

53:06

are you willing to lean into your fears it would be my last thought right if you really want to get into cells you have

53:11

to lean into your fears I think that’s in anything right if you want to start a business if you you have to want the

53:17

outcome more than you we have to want the outcome more than you’re afraid of doing XYZ maybe

53:22

that’s asking for the business or picking up the phone and making a dial I I see that happen all the time as I consult with businesses and and help

53:29

them put you know cell structures in place or just change some of their sales strategies and a lot of times it’s like

53:35

how do we help these guys overcome some of the fears they have that are really stopping them from success so I if you

53:41

want to get into sales know why you want to get into sales and commit yourself fully if you can do that and then commit yourself to personally developing you

53:47

can be ultra successful I love it man I love it thanks for coming on today Taylor it a super fun conversation

53:53

really really appreciate and nice to know you now loved it I appreciate you guys yeah we need to get you on the

53:58

phone with our AES man any time you let me know thanks for having me anytime you

54:04

you need a little pump up for your group man that’s on me oh dude you’re awesome thanks well where can people find you uh

54:10

so you can find me on LinkedIn so just my name Taylor weeks and then also I’m on Instagram Facebook and um at wealthy.

54:19

weeks so I talk a lot about just different strategies for business different strategies for mindset and

54:26

success and um obviously do a lot of business Consulting as well from the sales side and debt side so we love to

54:32

hear from you cool awesome cool well thank you so much that’s a

54:40

[Music]

54:47

r

English (auto-generated)