Why Indianapolis Is Exploding (And Why Community Matters More Than Money)

I never thought I [music] would be a big city person, but the amount of investment just coming into Indianapolis, the amount of growth, our geography, the way we're located, the way that our government [music] to this point has run somewhat okay um fiscally, there's just so much happening here that you want to be a part of it. If you are struggling to get connected in a city, being genuinely curious is going to be the your best tool to finding friends and [music] to finding more community. Welcome back to another episode on the Roots podcast. I'm your host Tyler Lingal along with my co-host Max Moore and we have our very own agent Ian Dealiz here. For those of you who are not familiar with Ian, which might be a lot of the audience here because he works mostly retail clients. He's like our first-time home buyer agent. Um he's an expert. He's been in the industry for five plus years. Six. Six years. Five. I said five plus. [laughter] I mean, come on now. Uh he's a faith-driven individual. He brings that into every single encounter that he has and that's really what drew me and Tyler to bring Ian in. He's become a brother and I mean behind the scenes at Roots, he's just our biggest little cheerleader. So the best cheerleader in the stands, bring the pom poms and the whole nine yards. But thanks for having us. Yeah, excited to be here today. We like to start every episode off with a planting roots segment, which is planting roots here in Indie. So all about kind of planting roots where you're at. So, if you had one billboard in Indie that was just up perpetually, what would it say on 465? Oh, man. Cars whizzing by. Real estate related or anything? Anything. Um, if there was a billboard up, I think there's probably one question that is really all that matters to answer in this life, and it's who is Jesus to you? Um, if you don't have an answer to that question or if you haven't actually taken time to think about it and research it and ask that question, you're missing out on the most important thing in this life, the reason that we're here and the reason that we do what we do. And so, it's one of those questions, not one of those big signs. I was just driving down to Florida not that long ago and um, believe in Jesus or go to hell. I'm not sure that I'm not sure that billboard does very well. And uh there was a lot Yeah, there was a lot in Georgia and there I thought it was hilarious where there was a lot of zombies coming out and says, "Are you going to be one of these or are you going to be in heaven?" [laughter] Uh which I thought it was hilarious, but um they have a good sense of humor down there. It is a good sense of humor hopefully. But it's also uh a bit divisive and I think it's really just comes down to asking that question like who actually is Jesus? Um that is if if he is who he claims he is or if he's not. if he's a crazy individual, was he real? Was he not? I think it's very clear historically that he was. So then is what he said true about himself, about the world, about us. Um, and if that's the case, then we need to be thinking about that. So that would be the billboard. Reminds me of the quote from CS Lewis. He is either a liar, a lunatic, or lord. That's exactly right. You have to choose one. You have to choose one. And that uh that would be the billboard cuz I think at the end of the day all the other stuff that we think and talk about and care about is uh a little less important. Something to make you ponder. Maybe that's what we should make our first question of the podcast episode [laughter] instead of Jesus. That's an eternal question. Yeah. This this life is very brief and uh there's a lot more after it. Yeah. I love that. If you could describe India in one word, what would it be? One word's tough. Um, I want to say something that feels like small or community or connected maybe is the right word. I've been to a lot of different big cities and experienced a lot. Um, I've traveled a lot in my life and Indianapolis is a very interconnected city and it's so cool because you have these little pockets of these neighborhoods that are their own. They're so they're proud to be their own place. You have a Broaderable that loves to be Broadle or Fountain Square that loves to be Fountain Square. Um, but we're all within this umbrella of Indianapolis. And so yeah, I think community centered um or community based, small, connected, whatever that that makes you feel. Um that would be the word that I would kind of put out there because it's it's a place where you you you were asking me before we got on the air like I want to know what you think about Indianapolis in general. And Indianapolis is a place that you have all of the goings on of a big city with the ability to be very interconnected with people that are there. And the amount of times where um I went to a Gregory Allen Isakov um concert not that long ago with my wife and I saw Tyler walk up and we were sitting there and I must have seen at least a dozen or more people walking up like, "Hey, how's it going, man? Oh my gosh, I haven't seen you in forever." And I I I don't know any other big cities where that necessarily could happen. Now, am I an agent that gets around and meets a lot of people? That that could be part of it. [laughter] That could be part of it, too. Um but I think you still need a house. [laughter] Hey, you still need a house? Yeah. You still renting time to buy? Uh no, but I think it's cool that you can be that connected and you can be plugged into a lot. Absolutely, man. Absolutely. It's it's just true. If you're here and you've experienced it, then then you kind of start to understand because I'm from a small town. I'm from southern Indiana, little little town called Princeton. Um, not a whole lot going on there. We have a Toyota manufacturing plant and that is kind of the heartbeat of it. Uh, we're close to Evansville. It's the nearest city and uh I never thought I would be a big city person. I just I kind of had a disdain for any sort of city life. I thought that was for for losers. I'm not a city slicker um by any means. And then I come here for college, I go to Uppy and after college, got it right into real estate. And real estate forces you to understand a city. You have to learn all about the different neighborhoods, all about the different streets, the pros and cons of each area and trying to memorize the map of Indianapolis in my head and understanding when someone's talking about an area, what does that actually mean? I find that fascinating. makes me feel like I'm in a video game. Trying to remember a map on a video game is how I think about it. It's like, okay, well, I know this area, what it's good for, what it's bad for. And all the different streets and how street by street here, I think, is what's fascinating. Um, and I just I know Roots just posted a really cool post and one of the things was talking about investing in Indie and how it is so street by street. You have a $700,000 brand new build going up next to a fix and flip. Um, and it's it's pretty cool to see that on a consistent basis, especially near downtown. So, connected and dynamic. Last question here for you. You're a big indie neighborhood guy, obviously. Goes without saying. We just talked about that. Yeah. Well, maybe we can explain why that's that's a thing if you want to afterwards, but ask the question. Yeah, we'll dive into into that, I'm sure. What is your what what's your favorite Indian neighborhood and why? I'm going to be biased and say the one that I live in because I have to. Um there's a there's so many good ones for different reasons. Um I'm curious what neighborhood you're going to call where you live. Yeah. First, so it's technically Delaware Trails is is where it is. Delaware Trails South if you want to be specific. M um it's right next to Holiday Park, right kind of adjacent to Meridian Hills and a little north of Crow's Nest. And again, all these little names of these little pockets in Indianapolis. I think what I like most about it is because you are adjacent to some affluent areas, you benefit from that. Um you're close to a really nice park over there, but homes are still relatively affordable. Um, it is affordability is difficult in Indianapolis to be in areas that maybe are quote unquote more desirable. Um, but when I found this place a couple years back with my best friend Cam, we uh we got very lucky finding it. Um, and got a really good deal on it. Wife and I have put a lot of work into it since. Just put in new floors, painting, put in new trim. We have a lot more to go, but we've we've been putting a lot of work into it. But the neighborhood itself doesn't necessarily have like a lot of amenities or anything like that. Um, but it's quiet. There's a lot of there's a couple of good schools there. The Orchard School, Foxhill Elementary is just down the street. We did a street sweep there for our first one. So, you guys kind of got to see firsthand the there's a lot of diversity in the different types of homes in the area, different price points. U, but everyone kind of comes together and Holiday Park is kind of that good community. Yeah, very much so. Suburban yet somewhat urban. Yes, it's a very good vibe. You wouldn't drive there and think that you're necessarily in inside of 465 in Indianapolis by any means. So, right, I'm curious and I'm sure Max has much questions, but before we dive into the rest of our segment here, um, you bought it with a partner. Yeah, you and your wife loving it. How How has that gone? Um, I just got lucky to have a best friend that he and I are on the same page about everything. Um, so we bought my first house. Bought our first house when I was 21. Uh, just had to got my license and we were tired of renting after one year and we were like, "Hey, this was right at in the middle of COVID. We got some money. Let's buy a house." The rate was 2. 8%. Let's give it a shot. Uh, so we bought our first house and then we're like, "Oh man, this is that wasn't very hard. Let's do it again about a year and a half, two years later. Um, this time I'll be the primary buyer on it." So, we go into that one as well and we give it a shot and we just got a I think in the 5% rates on that. We just went into it together. Um, we just split everything 50/50 and the wife and I live in this one. He lived in the other one for a while. We're still in the process of trying to sell that one still. Uh, but we live in this one and that'll be we we've kind of just split things right down the middle and keep it super simple. So, it's good to have a a a friend that you can completely trust when it comes especially when it comes to money. So, he's paying part of the mortgage, too. No, where I'm currently at is just my wife and I. Yep. Yep. Okay. So, we split it. He gives this one, I have this one. Got it. Yeah. Makes sense. Yeah. It's like a house hacking done with a equity partner. That's basically what it is. Yeah. Except very unofficially. Not very well written up. [laughter] When we first bought it, I was brand new to the game. Didn't know what the heck I was doing. Stretchy BT operating agreement. Maybe not even that. That's [laughter] what I was at. No operating room. Yeah, I was just rolling with it. Spitting the handshake. Exactly. Yeah. It's very hard to find people like that that you can actually trust, but when you do, you just It's invaluable. I know Cam. He's a He's a great guy. Financial advice. He works at Charles Schwab, so he knows money like in the back of his hand. Yeah. Good guy. Very interesting. You were alluding to uh why you love indie. Yeah. I want to dive in. Why you love indie? Yeah, absolutely. Just in general, kind of why what what has drawn me to it. Yeah. What's kept you here? Yeah. Well, a big part of that is wife's family's here. Um, I do also have a brother that lives here. Uh, my oldest brother and oldest sister. They're twins. Um, they both live here. Sisters in Brownsburg, brother's up in Cicero. Now, by the way, Cicero, for anybody that's listening, if you haven't experienced Cicero and you want an amazing Cicero experience, go on July 4th to Cicero and just sit there throughout the day and watch how that community comes together for that event. M I think it will change your mind about a lot about the Indianapolis community, about small town Indiana, and about how undivided we truly are as a people. I think you'll really appreciate it. So, I just want to throw that out there. But love Cicero. Um, so he lives there. Put that one up. [laughter] Love that there. Um, but yeah, Indianapolis as a whole, man. It go back to what I was saying is it doesn't feel big, but it is. So, I have the opportunity, you know, as an agent, you there's a certain amount of pie. There's enough pie for all the agents to make money, right? But when you're in a bigger city, you have more opportunity. You have more opportunity to meet more people that need to buy a house. Um, and so as a as a business, there's just there's a lot going on here. the investment. People listening probably already know this, but the amount of investment just coming into Indianapolis, the amount of growth, what because it's the way of it's our geography, the way we're located, um the way that our government to this point has run somewhat okay um fiscally is there's just so much happening here that you you want to be a part of it. If if you're going to be planting roots, if you're going to be starting a company or starting a business and you're not at least considering Indianapolis, combining that with the fact that it's affordable to live here, um is amazing. I mean, I've helped a couple of different clients come from couple from California, um from out of state moving here. They're they just can't believe how affordable it is to buy a decent house. They're like, "This is only 300. This is only 400,000." Like, yeah. Puts it in perspective. It puts a lot Yeah, it does. It does. They have so much money and and they come here and they're like we can just we have they feel rich and so I they are they seriously and so that's a big part of it. I think financially it makes a lot of sense where a couple of hours from my parents and some of my other siblings um and as much as we like to travel yes would I love to live in a warmer state more more uh do I hate winter? Sure. But growing up when it's 50 degrees out in spring has a shirt off. It's true. [laughter] It's true. It's true. I'm barefoot out there with a shirt off trying to run some routes. Um but growing up I traveled a lot. So we lived in New Zealand for a period of time. Lived up in Minnesota for a period of time. Kind of all all over moved a lot and what we did always have was a home base of little Princeton, Indiana to come back to. So, I have a lot of friends that are when we're talking about planting roots, especially here in Indianapolis, people that are in their 20s, they just get out of college, they're trying to figure out what they want to do. A lot of people like, I want to go move to California or Arizona or Florida or Texas, or I want to go just out and move. I think moving is is an awesome it's aspirational. It's it's change. It's great. But at the end of the day, if you're not picking where you want to live, the one thing that I will say about Indie that I haven't touched on yet is the community, is the people. Um I've just been very blessed to meet a lot of amazing people, including you guys, including the team, um people in my church, and my siblings are here, like I said. And if you're leaving a group of people like that because you just want something that you're not even sure what you want. You want better weather or you just think it would be nicer or cooler. Um I'm not sure that that's necessarily the best reason. I think planting roots with intentionality and making long-term decisions. Um Indianapolis is just a great place for that. If it's a great place to get rooted and if you want to go to those places then then go travel, take vacation, go explore it. I think that's the beauty of travel. Um, but that's also the beauty of having a place to call home. Um, and I think Indianapolis is a great place for that. Yeah, that's the best indie promo that I've ever heard. You know what I you know what always shakes me is um fascinating how quickly you just meet people. Like you can build a core and you can build a community very easily. But uh there's like automatic trust in indie. Yeah. Like it's just wild. If Tyler connects me to somebody, they're like, "Oh, you know, Tyler, you're a business, Tyler. I love you now." And then I go and meet with somebody else and then they [snorts] connect me to them and then all of a sudden I'm like talking to the mayor and how did I get here? I don't know. But immediate trust. Yeah. No, it is. I think it's part of just the mid maybe the Midwest culture. Um, but I started out a lot in the creative space, too. Um, and so the guy behind the camera, AJ, can maybe speak to this as well, but you know, the the creative community here in Indianapolis is incredible. I mean, I I've known there's so many amazing creators, and they're all so open-handed here. Um, and I've heard from some of them that have been in other places, um, namely other maybe major markets that you would think of, LA being an example of that where maybe things are a little bit more closedfisted or it's harder to find that type of community. Whereas here, you come and you meet some people and they're just like, "Yeah, here's how I do it. Here's what it is." Same. Yeah. And same thing with the same thing with the agent market here too is like I you can go and talk to anybody and at least in my experience I haven't had a single agent that isn't willing to share what they do or how they do it here. Um and that's just really cool to see that. And I think a big shout out to at Properties the brokers that we're with too they really try to foster that environment and it and it shows like you can talk to anybody at any time about hey what do you think about this or this neighborhood or how would you do this process and they're open to answering that. Um, and I think that bleeds or that's um maybe shows Indianapolis as a whole is a lot like that. And I do think there is a lot of immediate trust because it's like, hey, oh, you had you said one good word about this person. Well, now I automatically like that person, too. And that and that just happens a lot. Um, as someone that's not a natural networker, per se, um, I'm more of a one-on-one get coffee. I don't like ne necessarily networking events. Um, but there are so many different good ones. I think C7 would be a great example of that. I think a lot of what you guys and us as roots are putting on um with a lot of those networking events, it's just you go to those and all of a sudden you start chatting with some people and you realize that it's those are authentic conversations. Those are authentic people trying to make a good difference. Um which if if you haven't been to a Roots event, you you need to at least experience it once just to see what it's about. Um have a conversation. Don't you don't honestly you may get more out of it not being a real estate pro just experiencing the world um through that lens. I mean whenever I go to a a networking event that's outside of just being an agent I almost learn more and I meet so many more cool people cuz it's like well I don't I don't understand this finance world but I'm at this networking event. Your world's fascinating to me. And I think um if you are struggling to get connected in a city, being genuinely curious is going to be the your best tool to finding friends and to finding more community. If you're actually curious about what someone is telling you or about their life or about their job, you're you're going to find so many more cool avenues, so many more so many cool stories and people to network with. And I think my dad showed that me to me a lot. um he will be the one that sits down and every server we have, he will find out their life story, uh their purpose, their goals and aspirations within a couple of minutes. Um because he actually genuinely cares and he actually wants to know what's going on in their life. And I think I want to emulate that. I want to if I'm sitting down with someone for a cup of coffee, I don't want to sit there with with the idea of, okay, well, I want to get something out of this conversation. Like I want to sit there and learn, okay, well, who are you? Why do you do what you do? I I don't really care necessarily what you do as much as why. What's what's driving you? What's your purpose? And I I honestly think that is a super skill. The idea of sitting down face to face with someone with no agenda. And it's really uh deenergizing for me when I sit down and realize, "Oh, dang it. They just wanted a business thing." I try to wrap those meetings up and that's why I stopped getting coffees. Like early last year, I was trying to follow Tyler's networking tree and I got down to like 20 people and then all of a sudden it's like this guy trying to I'm like I already have a lender. I already have a partner for this. I already have like I don't I'm not open to that. I want that's where faith I think steps in. People with faith I notice will sit down and there's a deeper reason why they're meeting. Yeah. Which is really important. So now I find when I'm uh like I had lunch yesterday with a colleague and um he's like a baby Christian actually and [clears throat] like we're talking about the Colts and the Hooers and I'm like I'm not talking about this for an hour. Like I was like cool. I like to rooe him on. I'm not going to sit here like some I feel like guys want to just talk sports and chitchat. I'm like this is surface level and we actually just talked about faith and like he's looking for a church. We talked about churches in the area and um just what we're learning in the scripture and it was 10 times better. Yeah. He was like, "Dude, I've not had this." He He literally was like, we had two of those meetings. Um, we all we you actually know who this person is. I won't say his name, but he's like, "These are incredibly valuable for me." I was like, "That's awesome." Like, I'm glad, you know, the Holy Spirit was able to do that cuz it wasn't me. It was him. It's the willingness to have a level three conversation. Um, and a [clears throat] lot of times that that starts with like if I'm sitting down with someone, I I can ask a lot of questions, but unless I'm vulnerable first, unless I'm, you know, willing to open up my own life to somebody, then then they're probably not going to do the same. Um, and so that's what I have found is like, well, if I'm going to go into a conversation with a stranger, whether I don't know what their intentions are or not, but let let them let me share a little bit about my story, get a little vulnerable about a thing or two here and show them like, hey, I I'm willing to open up my life to you and and let you see peek peek behind the curtain because I I want you to do the same. I how am I supposed to get to know you if I don't ask those types of questions and you don't know those types of answers from myself? Um, and that has been a huge focus for me. Um, I I took a couple years back I took a Clifton Strength Test assessment. Now, I have always uh despised those types of tests and assessments, whatever you want to call them. I thought they were gimmicky, kind of silly, and stupid. Um, I was with the agency and they and they wanted us to take I said, "Okay, great. I'll give it a shot. I'll fill this out. They're paying for it. Why not? Okay, [laughter] I'll do it." So, I sat down. And it took a while and I'm reading the results and it's just like looking in a mirror at myself. I'm like, "Oh crap." This is the first time I had taken one since like high school, right? So, it been unfortunately a long time getting older and I'm sitting there reading these results. I'm like, "Oh, I I my number one strength is a relator." And I never even thought of it in that way. But it also kind of breaks down like, "Well, what what does that even mean? What are the negatives that come alongside of those things?" And that was really powerful for me to kind of help shift the way that I actually did business because I saw directly in front of me, well, this is what I'm best at and gives me the most life. So, let me actually spend the time and focus on that. So, if a relator is my top strength, if I enjoy having these conversations that are level three and deep, more one-on-one, I want to get to know you. Then, let me build my entire business doing that. Like, that's what I want to do. I don't want to try to get a bunch of leads coming in and knock [clears throat] down a bunch of deals. Like I would rather a smaller business that goes deep with very few people that I actually know, love, and trust than a huge business with a bunch of people that I don't know very well. Um, it's a longer term play. It's a longer term game in terms of business, if that's how you want to look at it. But it just leads to a lot more fulfillment in what I've done. And it leads me to being more plugged into my community, more plugged into my church. I actually stay connected with people from my fraternity or or from my past life that you know normally I wouldn't do when I was Can I just keep going on tangents? Yeah, absolutely. I I was in high school. We're going to call this out. Just tell me [laughter] tell me to time out when I need this out. Feel free. No, this is rolling. This is great. I was in high school and so I had a girlfriend at the time and uh we were getting near the end of high school and she had some of her friends were going off to college. Okay. So, I grew up traveling a bunch, like I said, whether it was going up to Minnesota for all all summer or going off to New Zealand for a year or two, like just traveled a lot. I'm great at making friends, making connections, but because I traveled so much, when we're talking about planting roots, right, the name of this, like you plant roots, but then if you move, you rip the roots out. And I did that so much as a kid. Move, plant roots, make some good friends, get really good connections with whether it was at church or the school I was at or whatever it may be. But then boop, got to move to the other side of the world. Good luck staying connected with me. Didn't have a cell phone. Had no social media at the time, right? So I'm got so used to planting roots and getting ripped out that it it I became numb to it. So my girlfriend at the time, she had some friends going off to college and I'm sitting there and she was real upset about it. I was like, "Why are you being upset? Like whatever. They're just going to college. It's nothing in the world. Like you'll maybe see them, maybe you won't. Who cares?" And my mom was like,"Ian, you need to be a little bit more um what was I can't even remember the exact word. He's like, "You need to be more soft and you need to understand where she's coming from a bit more. That that's a blind spot for you." And then it wasn't until years later and especially recently that I've really started to understand what that meant. Um and I think that's why I love real estate so much is because it forces me to do the thing that I became numb to. It forces me to stay connected with people. um when I would have never texted someone again. If if I don't see you, I don't think about you, I have a lot of other things I could be doing, I'm going to forget about you. Um but intentionally creating a list of okay, well, here's a hundred people and these are the hundred people that throughout my time in life that are still relatively here in Indianapolis that I that I want to stay connected to. Like not people that I'm going to try to solicit business from, but people that I actually love and care about. Um even if they use other agents, it doesn't matter. these are the people that I want to actually be connected to. And that's the beauty be beautiful part of a CRM is it's it it helps me manage my brain which is all scatterbrained and helps me stay connected with people that I actually care about. And in return, if I do a good enough job um if they ever ask about business, then that's what I'm here for. But at the end of the day, it's like I get to stay connected with this person that I want to with. It's incredible, man. And it's a huge blessing to be able to do that. That's what our team is really focused on, me and Max, is do care for your advocates. Be advocates for them. Actually, lead first, the money will fall, right? It's like number five on our priority list, right? Yeah. Yeah. I I want to go back to the I don't remember which assessment that you said. Whatever it is, Clifton Strengths. Yeah. Maybe [laughter] a Neog could be whatever you're taking. Uh I love when taking those one, you said it looks like staring in a mirror, which can be intimidating. I'm not this uh this person. This isn't what actually is stirred up inside of me. But then you went back to your childhood and the upbringing and the way that the Lord shaped you to be available and ready to be that person that sits down and has a deep relationship and manages relationships. That's like the molding piece. every time that I talk to somebody about you're a heavy connector when I'm sure that there are things within your childhood that built up that connectivity within you. Um, and I don't know, it's just interesting to see how that works. I've always said I need to have a therapist to actually help me break down all this stuff. I've just kind of done it on my own. Um, [laughter] and I think I'm probably missing a few things, but 100%. I remember there's a a few years back I was sitting in the backyard just like breaking down like, "Oh crap. this is what I get from my mom. This is what I get from my dad. Like I and I actually started to understand like where my personality was coming from. Um and it it is fascinating like your your childhood does shape you but also the decisions that you make now as long as they're intentional will continue to shape the direction of your life. Like it'd be very easy for me to say well it's just not something I want to do so I'm just not going to do it. Like I would rather do this so I'm just going to I'm going to do it this way. Um, but it's like no, I I want to be intentional about doing something that I don't actually it doesn't come naturally, but I know I want to do it because that's the type of person that I want to be. Um, and you guys often times, Tyler specifically talk a lot about habits and habit building. And that's a big piece of it. Like it if it doesn't come naturally, okay, we'll start small. What is step one going to be? How can I not forget about the hundred people, who are the five, who are the 10 that I really need to be be loving on and sending the most encouragement to? And then some 3x3 will be developed. [laughter] Yeah. And you're the systems guy, so I'm like, well, Max will tell me maybe how to actually put it together, but I'll just kind of do what feels right. So, uh, yeah, I don't know if that was a huge tangent from your initial question, but No, [laughter] it's it's all it's all beautiful. I my curiosity goes into the business development as an agent. Um, I think it's daunting to step into the industry that we're in. It's so widespread, so much competition, but like not also competition at the same time. Yeah. Um to the person sitting on the edge of their seat like I kind of want to be an agent. How do you not be a sleaz bag to those relationships? How do you actually care for them? Right? That's the fear typically is that you're going to be just manipulating the relationships that we have and turning them into consumers or clients and be transactional. How do you stay trans transformative in the relationship? in any business or in any endeavor. If you're go if you're wanting to be an agent and you're wanting things to be authentic, you have to start with yourself first though. If if my intention and my goal, if my aspiration, if my drive is business, what what fruit is that going to bear 5, 10 years from now? What fruit is that going to bear for my conversations and my relationships? If my goal and aspiration and intention is loving on people because I am loved, is is sharing the word of God, is sharing Jesus, the name of Jesus, the power of Jesus with those around me, the power of the Holy Spirit. And that's my actual ambition. That's my actual goal. That's where you're going to see real fruit. And I don't know how I could go through this business. I don't know how I could go through my marriage. I don't know how I could go through really much without having that level of foundation and security. There's I don't necessarily have a business answer to the question. I probably could come up with one, but at the end of the day, those all have an end. Those all have a limit. There's only so much a habit can do. There's only so much being, you know, there's only so much that that I can do on my own. It is impossible to do on my own, the amount that I would like to do or the impact that I'd like to have. um my my foundation, the fruit, the the anything that is good comes from the father because that is what he has given me. He's given me some gifts, given me joy, he's given me the ability to relate, to have conversations um and to be authentic. And I I don't think that take that out of the picture, then all of a sudden I would be doing it because I'm trying to make more money because I'm I'm trying to get something out of a conversation. Um, and maybe certain people feel that way and that that is very much that has happened in my career where people were like, you know, we we don't want to use you as an agent because we see you as a friend and we don't want that to get convoluted. And I totally respect that. I see that. And that's a very hard conversation because I do what I do for those people specifically and when they don't want to use me, it's like, well, what am I doing this for? And it comes to questioning myself. Um, that would be the baseline answer to the question. It's actually the uh anticipus though, right? It's the opposite. of the question it's that you've done such a good job that the people are afraid to use you because they don't want the transactional to come in but I I think the uh the underlying is the attrition rate is like three three years in our industry 87% quit in the first five years first five okay so 87% first five because there's only what 13% of us that walk in and maybe do the first deal and go yeah my mindset might have been I want to close a deal but then you get done with it and you're like whoa somebody owns a house now, right? and like what do I do to help them when the first furnace filter needs changed or they have like the first mortgage payment and they start getting scared and get anxieties and like how do you use a tough road to do this uh this industry uh transactional it will break your spirit it'll break your soul it'll break your body and mind and I say that from direct experience yeah I only say that from working in 2022 doing so many out of state investor transactions that they don't know who I am. There's no advocacy. It's just a deal. It's just a commission check. And what that did to them and me was hellish. Like it's it's truly from hell in my opinion. Like I can't Maybe some people can do that business and somehow keep their soul and spirit alive. I was forced to reckon with I cannot. Yeah. It's not authentic to me. And I actually it's like they say when you see um a sleazy girl like don't fight that urge run away. And that's the same thing for me in business transactional. You just run away. Like I don't think some some people you can't fight that temptation to just go make money. At least I can't. Yeah. So I have to do it with the purpose in mind of honoring their who they are as a person first and then the business following. Right. Yeah. And I'm like you. I I get very demotivated now just talking about business. I can't really sit down to those coffee meetings anymore and authentically do it. I used to do it and probably be the one more leaning into the business side when we met. Like that was me actually. I have been now transformed by Christ to be more like him, which is I'm watching The Chosen right now. It's a very good series. Anyone who's interested in what we're talking about should go watch it. Yeah. Yeah. And you look at Judas And he's the one I relate to the most, which is bad. And my brother said the same thing and some you cop out like other people said the same thing. But if you look at who he was, he was the business guy. Yeah. He was the guy who was like, "Hey, why are we not there's this part where they're like doing laundry in the Sea of Galilee." And he's like, "We could hire people to do this for us. Why are we doing our own laundry?" And it's like, isn't that what we're saying in business? Let's go hire a bunch of people to do all this dirty laundry that we don't want to do. Yeah. and like they didn't do that. He was like, "No, it's actually how we do this that people will notice what we're different." And that was very convicting to me there. Absolutely. And if if we we sat down, was that last week or so? Um and we're talking about kind of end of year talking about numbers. I I don't you know, at the end of the year, while I'm in the middle of it, I don't know my numbers. I couldn't tell you exactly how many houses I sold, what my volume's at, those things. I, you know, this is maybe just bad business management, but I I don't pay attention to it. I don't look at it. All I focus is on if I'm going to if I'm going to succeed, I have to do what I need to do today to the best of my abilities and do it for the best reasons. A huge part of that as well is if I succeed, it it can't just be for myself. Like, yes, I need to provide for my family obviously, right? But if I'm going to succeed in real estate and and make money, then there is no reason that people around me shouldn't also feel that and be impacted by that. Shout out to my sister-in-law, Brooke Min. She owns this awesome little store in Speedway. It's called Beer and Designs. It's a little boutique. They sell the cutest little things. If you want to if you want to shop local, especially in the holiday season, this is actually from her shop. Go check it out. Um, my business when it succeeds impacts her directly. I use her for my closing gifts. It's it's all like Indiana stuff, handmade stuff, people from local. Like, there's no reason that shouldn't be the case. There's no reason that if I get to a point where I I get enough business that other agents can't be impacted by that as well. I have teammates. That's why I'm a big part of this team. Um, specifically, is like I want what is it? Uh, rising tide, all all boats lift or whatever the phrase is. And that should absolutely be the case. Um, [laughter] I think I missed an inside joke there. I think I say it like every other episode probably [laughter] and I say it wrong every single time. I think the I think the boats have sank a few times on accident. [laughter] Yeah. I I don't know the exact term, but uh but it's it it is true and that that is my gauge of success. It's it's a lot less what hits my bank account and more are the people around me being positively affected by the way that I run run my business. If if I'm not running my business by impacting people positively, by impacting the community, by impacting my friends, people in our small group, then then I'm missing something. If if I'm not having other people in my life succeed because of my success, then I'm really doing it wrong. Yeah, that's a good measure, right? Whenever somebody's like, "How do you measure success?" Being able to break that down. I believe it is uh a rising tide will rise all boats or all boats. That's what it was. We're close. I think it got to hit the got to hit the studio and Yeah, [laughter] that's one of our core values. We need to memorize those. The boats. It is the boats. The boats. Um carry them, right? That's a [laughter] different thing. But I I love the sentiment. It's Dallas. I hope Dallas actually watches our podcast. There's no way that Dallas has any clients that is not from roots at this rate. This one like this guy has he has his whole week is booked up by a ripple effect of you know he mows like five lawn marketing no self-promotion just does good mowing. He just does good mowing and I get an invoice at the end of the month and he trusts that it's gonna on like a word docu sends you a word doc. It's amazing. And uh he's an example of like I know his business has exploded as a result of doing good work, having a good hustle. Um and I was actually having this conversation with my wife. We hired a cleaner off Facebook. Shout out Brooke. She only cleans in Hendricks County and we were looking for somebody good and we kept asking for referrals and nobody was giving us referral. It's like to these Minute Made or whatever big companies. I think that's Lemonade. Lemonade, but yeah, close. [laughter] No, there's literally I think there is a service called There is a cleaning service called Minuteade. Okay. Minute maid. I get it. Yeah. Not not That's witty. That's witty. [laughter] Um but it's like a a big corporation, right, where they're hiring all these cleaners and sending them on the cars. Um and we wanted somebody local. They hire they come in, they crush, they continually they're like giving gifts, noticing little things, noticing it's my son's birthday, they Amazon a a gift over and like I'm like, "Sarah, we have to blow her business up." She's like, "Why?" Like because that's what we do. Somebody does a good, somebody loves on us. We have to. That's the best way to repay them. It's like, but we're hiring them every 3 weeks to clean our house. Like, they're getting paid. I'm like, yeah, but what happens whenever they're cleaning 50 houses as a result of we we refer them to Trent and then Trent's like, "Hey, you should check this." Absolutely. Uh, which has started to happen. It's like fun to It's like a little game in my in the back of my head. Yeah. Um, it's why I am closing the doors in my GNC store because I can't do that there. There's nobody else that I can affect. I'm just helping people's health that like naturally do they really need the supplements in the store and we could go on a whole breakdown around that. There's no passion, drive or purpose and where there's no intersection of that business and success don't exist. Doesn't matter about what comes after it. Yeah. I that I mean it brings me back to I mean how I got even into real estate was you know I'm sitting there in college finishing up my junior year. At that point, I was triple majoring with a minor um in the honors school doing all this schooling. What am I doing this for? Um and I had to start asking myself actually what that question was. Like what am I doing this for? Like what do I want? What's the job that comes out of school? Shout out. It's no it's not IUI. It's Uppy. Always for heart. And trying to figure out what I wanted to do. And I'm sitting there and I I put a I put together a list of the things that I wanted to do and you know didn't want to be stuck in an office. Wanted to be moving around. Wanted to impact others which everybody wants to say that. I didn't even know what that meant. I want to be a positive impact in the world. Great. You can do that anyway. You can do that in any capacity. Um but I walked through a house that had just been flipped by my girlfriend at the time's dad. And I was like, "Okay, so you bought it for this, you sold it for this. You did it in this long. Like I want to be a real estate investor. I need to make my last and checked all the boxes and I'd been praying a lot about what I wanted to do and it and it just clicked and I'm definitely in a different space than I was in um now in the retail space, you know, starting out in the investing space and I've got I've kind of seen the whole gambit. Um but to your point, if if somebody is is wanting to experience or thinking about being an agent, like there's a reason that that you know, [snorts] what is it 13% only make it, right? It's it's not easy. And if you aren't doing it for the reasons that are lasting that that are grounded in something deeper than it it looks good on Netflix, right? Like if you're if you think that's the lifestyle that you're going to get, you're just you're just wrong. And there are agents that do it specifically for that reason and have talked to them. They are driven by money. That that is their motivation. That's just not the type of person that I would want to become. And that's not the type of person that I I think is going to you're going to see lasting fruit and you're not going to find lasting joy and happiness in that pursuit. Now, if you're doing it for an earnest purpose and you see the vision, you think that your giftings are in the lane of real estate and you think it checks the boxes, if you think you can manage your own time well, if you can manage relationships well, then then by all means give it a go. I think you should start by talking with roots and seeing if you would to start here. It's a great place to start. Um, but if you're doing it for any other reason, if you're doing it for a reason that is selfish, I I would maybe just look at other options first because it's it will burn you out very quickly. It really will. I mean, it almost burns me out and I feel like I'm doing it for the right reason. So, [laughter] and it it's still very very hard. Very hard every year. It's so challenging. It's probably the hardest industry. And those people on Netflix, they don't sell houses anyways. Most of they're on the Ryan Show. If they're on the Siran show, they do sell houses. There you go. There's a lot of successful agents options. You can look up anybody's numbers. Just go on solo and they don't I watched the I was like these guys just need Jesus. Yeah. Yeah. [laughter] And like look Ryan, you have a lot of gifts and talents and you genuinely seem like a good guy. I was like you just need to do it for Jesus. Yeah. And there's a lot of successful agents and you can you can be successful by worldly standards, but just where is that taking you at the end of your life? That's the question. And it takes you back to that beginning question on the billboard is like and it leads into that, right? It's like, well, who is Jesus to you? Cuz if if if you're doing everything for yourself, if you're putting yourself on the throne of your life, that is your goal is to make yourself better financially, if you're doing everything for a selfish motive, it just it doesn't last. It doesn't last. Yeah. I think the hardest piece in that or maybe this is just a challenge that I'm going through is the timing of it, right? It's you can arrive at where you feel you should be. and then having the patience because his timing is is key and he has the control of that and he's going to implement when that's been the biggest shift I think for me is uh trusting the Lord's timing. There's a lot I want to do and I was just having I had a two and a half hour coffee meeting before this talk about that relational equity and this guy was telling me about he wants to do these micro communities and Airbnbs and he's making a very good salary in development and has this awesome development background. He said, "I've been doing all this for another person and it's [clears throat] time for He's like, "I feel like a racehorse and God's about to like let down the gates and let me run." And I was like, he was getting very emotional even telling me. He's like, "I've had this dream repeated of this raceh horse." He's like, "I'm this racehorse." And he was like, "I'm about to be unleashed." And he was like inviting me into it. I'm just sitting here like I didn't really have any words. I was like, "Yeah, let me think about it, pray about it before I because this guy's intense. He's very intense guy." Um, and as I was sitting there thinking, I was like, I also want to do a lot. And I feel like in past eras, it was always like, let's go now. Let's start now. Let's go do this. Take action. It's always like, take action before you're ready. It's like a whole entrepreneurship principle. But when you shift your paradigm to be uh facing the Lord first, sometimes he's like, wait and keep doing what you're doing and stewarding the clients you have. Steward the team you have. He's like, "Look at how much you have with roots. Look at our amazing team. We have 10 agents. Why would you discount the impact that this can have first?" And so I'm like, "Yeah, you're right." So when that door opens, I'll probably not walk through it. I'll run through it. But I don't know what that door even is. I don't know if it's in real estate, frankly, actually. So it's a willingness to walk out and let it all go. Yeah. That's actually what I admire about you. That's what you've taught me in the last year is that I think that if you uh felt convicted into a calling that you would into the abyss of real estate and you'd walk through the door and you'd go Yeah. uh very quickly and maybe I'm wrong there and there's things deep down that maybe that's not true. That's but at least that's what you've opened my eyes to is like wow uh broaden your horizon. Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot more to life than just real estate. Um, yeah. One thing I wanted to speak on that is I I don't know if this is a everybody feels this way. You know, I've asked a lot of different guys specifically and and some say yes, some say no, but there there's this desire to do this big thing, right? There's this this this drive to have this big impact that that I feel like I have in my life. if I I've felt this way since I was little of just like I there's something big out there that I'm meant to do this leading a massive company or or I don't know what that looks like something big and you know through our 03s I've talked to you a lot about this kind of throughout this year I'm starting I've I've really started to realize that the big thing is what I just do on a daily basis not just some some you know objectively big thing. So where where I started to understand this was reading when Jesus was talking to his disciples in um leading from the back of the table. You you don't want to sit at the head of the table. You don't want to sit near the head. Like we should be the ones that sit at the sit at the foot of the table. We should be the ones that are washing other people's feet. I I in my career I have tried very often to be at the front to push lead because I I think I I am a natural leader. My my parents have always told me that. I've kind of seen that play out in a bunch of different ways in my life. But I I have this tendency to want to lead people and people just seem to just follow when I do something. But I've the big impact that I want to have is not for the name of Ian to be shared but to be a part of something that is bigger than myself to be in to be leading from the foot of the table from from behind as part of the group and just leading by example not necessarily putting Ian first because Ian first doesn't lead to any of that lasting fruit that I was talking about. putting Ian first leads to selfishness, leads to pride, leads to me feeling like I'm doing it all myself and God needing to humble me in some very ferocious ways sometimes. Um, and I I think the the powerful part of real estate and specifically being on a team now and being a part of Roots is I can do that without having to worry about where my name is going. It's not about me, it's about the team success. It's not about my numbers. It's are the people in my life also feeling that success. And the more that I have gotten rid of myself, the more that I have been selfless, the more joy and actual um gladness and happiness that I've seen in my life. And I I struggle with that on a daily basis. I mean, I I feel like the most selfish person at times, wanting all my time to be for myself and thinking that my desires are the most important. But when I when I do it well, when I self-sacrifice, that is that's where you see the most fruit. That's where I have found the most joy. Um, and specifically in real estate, you you can find that a lot, especially on when you're a part of a team. So, that's been really cool. [snorts] It's been immensely helpful and it's lifted our company up huge. Like there's so many different little things that you don't even you're not even aware of or maybe you are that like get implemented as a result of you being in that se in the feedback loop. uh is immense. At least it's showing fruit. It is. Yeah. Yeah. You guys you guys are great leaders, man. And it's it's nice to be able to trust in good leadership and do what I want to do what I am blessed to do on a daily basis and know that the head of the ship is heading in the right way. Really a u it's not a tagline or a name tag, right? It's how you act, right? Yeah. Serving serving others, which is hard. Yeah. Not everyone should want to be a leader and puts a greater responsibility for you. You'll be judged start harder in heaven if you're in a position of leadership. No, I think I might have actually realized this my junior year of high school now that I'm thinking about it. See, this is what I'm talking about these therapy things. I think if I had a therapist, these conversations would be great. We have a couch outside therapist. [laughter] Um, but it is funny the So, I played soccer growing up. love sports. I I am I I enjoy my athleticism and athletic endeavors. Um and being on my soccer team, the best year I ever had was my junior year. It was when I we had this guy in our name, his name was Hunter. Hunter, if you're watching this, you're a beast, dude. He was just a killer. Dude was incredible. Unbelievably gifted. We had amazing players on that team and we made it all the way to semi-state that year. But I had so many assists. I just loved getting assist cuz every time I was going down, I knew where exactly where he would be and he would get the ball and we would score. I I think I set the record that year for a high school's assist record, which I'm more proud of than the fact that I got a ton of goals as well. Um, but I think there's a there's a beauty of being that co-pilot and not having to be at the very front and being able to assist that person in the best way possible and to be that second in command. Like, hey, look, you you take the leadership, you take the fame, you take the name, that's great, but let me be the engine that helps make that possible. There's watching a ship that is watching a team do something that's very impressive is so much better than when I'm out there doing an individual thing and and I succeed well at it. And like I've always loved team sports probably because of that because it's not a single endeavor. It's when I can go out there. I play a lot of sand volleyball too now. when we're out there on the sand volleyball court and we're playing 4v4 and I love being on the team that has maybe some of the less athletic players, maybe the the team that we shouldn't win because the other team's better than us. They're taller, they're more athletic, they have better hitting, but we go out there, we work as a unit. We we keep the energy up, we work together, we communicate well, and then we still win and it frustrates them because they know they should have beat us. That that is satisfying. That is Well, I'm not a volleyball player, but I liked playing on Ian's team best [laughter] cuz I was always better. It was fun, man. Yeah. It's so much fun being able to lead in that lead in that way. Um, watching other position get me out there. Yeah. Oh, you'd be fine, man. We'd have a blast, [laughter] dude. It's so much fun. I'm not playing if Brook's playing. She's unbelievable. Crazy. Um, thanks for sharing. Thanks for sharing all your gifts. Uh, you want to take us out? Yeah, absolutely. Um, we have, uh, some rapid fire questions here at the end for you. So, what's your favorite date night spot in Indie? I'm going to pivot the question if that's all right. Sure. I'm a coffee guy, so [clears throat] should know you you ask you ask a lot of questions I've seen to your guests about date night spots and places to get food. I'm going to shout out the indie coffee scene. One of the only cities where there's more local coffee shops than Starbucks. Um, so Indianapolis, another reason I love it is because of that reason. It's if you are wanting some of the best worldass coffee, Indianapolis is the place to be. so many different places. If I name some, there's going to be others that I'm missing out. Commissary is a huge one. Helm Coffee is another one. Amber Coffee. All the guys that make coffee at those shops are doing it at a national level. Um, and they're just on the side on the corner of the street. You would have no idea. My favorite vibe date spot, this has been the since the moment I walked in the doors. I get this from my dad. I love hole-in-the-wall places. I don't like chains, okay? I want a place that has character, that has vibe, that has meaning, that you walk into it and you feel it. The Red Door Cafe, if you walk in that place, you'll know exactly what I mean. It's on this beautiful church. Um, I believe it's on New York Street. It has a little red door, a little arched red door. You walk in that front door, and you will understand what I'm talking about. Immaculate vibe. The owner, Cyrus, is an awesome dude. Very kind to me. Um, throughout the years, the coffee is great. The baristas are nice. Um, they have a venue there as well if you're doing wedding venues or anything like that. So, shout out the red door. That would be my answer to that. I remember maybe a suggesting uh like provider or something and you're like, "No, I'm try I'm going to take you to Red Door." [laughter] And I walk in and it was like one other person in there. It was like really quiet. Yeah. And the guy was chatting up the barista and I found out he like was the writer of the the Urban Times. He's like the newspaper of the the Urban Indie. And he was like there. I was like, "Oh, wow. This is like I feel like where you'd run into like Himmingway or Steinbeck or one of those guys like this type of place. So it was a cool vibe. Yeah, I love that place. Yeah, I haven't been. I guess I got to go. That's where we'll have next door. You don't like coffee though? It's not that I don't like coffee. I just I'm allergic to milk and peanuts and like nuts and milk. It's worth it for the vibe. Yeah, it is. Uh I guess I can drink it black. Second question for you. What's one habit that's changed your life? waking up in the morning and getting in the word. Um there there is nothing more impactful. There's nothing more important um than waking up and starting my day not on my phone, not on work, not on anything that I would want to do, but getting into the word of God and trying to soak up some of the wisdom on a daily basis. For someone who struggles with that habit, how where do you start? What I do, it's a huge book. There's a lot of wisdom. Depends how you want to read it. I am in the process of reading through the entire Bible and I've been in that process for almost two years and I'm in Acts. Um, you don't have to go quickly. I started out in Genesis 1. I'm now in Acts. What I do every morning is I start with a psalm and then I flip over and then I read either a chapter or a half a chapter, a couple of verses of my book of Acts and I'm going to make my way through the entire rest of the Bible. Um, if you're wanting to like study a specific book if you're new to it, um, the Gospel of John is probably the most um, concise and easy way to see what the Gospel is all about. Clickbay, um, [laughter] if you will. it captures it very well. Uh but a psalm or a proverb a day. Um and I pair that with just reading through the Bible currently. So that's what I would say. Yeah, I love that. Awesome. Uh we'll finish it out here. Uh what is an area of your life you're currently working on growing? The word that has been on my mind the past few months is selflessness. Um that is the biggest area. expecting our first child on the 24th of December. And with that comes a whole wave of selflessness needed and dying to self on a daily basis. Whether it's shows that I would want to watch instead of my wife or time that I want to take for myself instead of giving to others. Um I I that is an area that I am focusing a lot on and I am seeing very evidently every day how bad I am at that. So, we both became fathers recently and still in that battle. Yeah, good one. It's a good If you're already head straight, pointed and focused in that you're going to be all right. You'll be okay. For sure. You got to walk in knowing that. Otherwise, it'll punch [laughter] you in the side of the head. You'll be knocked out a little bit and hopefully you wake up. Some dads don't Some dads don't wake up. I I think you'll be fine. I hope with with the Lord's help. Yeah. Awesome, man. This has been another episode of the Roots Podcast. Before we cut out, where can people find you? Roots. It's all about roots, baby. If you are trying to either get into the industry, whether you're trying to invest in the industry, whether you're trying to become an agent in the industry here in Indianapolis, or you're looking to buy a house or sell a house in Indianapolis, the beautiful thing about Roots is it's all-encompassing from the start to the finish. We can walk you through every process. For me specifically, if you are a renter here in Indianapolis and you want to explore what it looks like to buy, not commit to buying, but if you just want to understand the process, if you want to create a plan for yourself, that's the way to do it. I've seen a lot of renters or a lot of people in my sphere want to buy a house. Everybody wants to buy a house. That's the goal. But very, very few people actually take the first step to what it takes to do that. Um, I have a very easy two-minute quiz that I would recommend people that are renting if they want to explore buying that they take it. Um, that can be linked in the show notes. Appreciate you guys for doing that for me. Um, and if you take that quiz, the next would be meeting with me and creating a plan. What is it going to take to buy? What's the timeline? What can we do just for you specifically? So, that would be the answer to that question. I'd love to love to connect with all of you. Thank you, beautiful gentlemen, for having me on here today. Uh, this was really really great actually. I love chatting with you boys doing this. Yeah. Thanks for your time. This has been another episode of the Roots [music] Podcast. Um, check out our next master class. Go to rootsrelady. coevents. [music] See you there. Peace.