Why Thrust is a Must With Entrepreneur Mike C-Roc

Wes Schaeffer: Mike C-roc, all the way from Maryland, man, you are doing a few things. What are you made of founders. Is that right, is that right, is that you

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Yes, Wes. That's it, man.

Wes Schaeffer: Alright man, let's

Wes Schaeffer: C-Roc. Welcome to The Sales Podcast man, how are you?

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Doing great man. I always start every interview with gratitude and just want to let you know I'm appreciative of the fact that you allow me to come on here and share and means lot I'm humbled. The to have the opportunity, man.

Wes Schaeffer: Man, it's great to have you. You've got a you've got your own podcast. Where do you made of

Wes Schaeffer: Yahoo Finance top business leaders of follow 2020

Wes Schaeffer: CEO of people building good grief, man. Once you like save some kids from a tree or something just round this thing out.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: I did that to

Wes Schaeffer: My room on LinkedIn to put it huh

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Yeah, my son, my, my kids up there to get them because I'm allergic to cats. I don't mess with the cats. But yeah, man. I got my hands full and I'm doing it on purpose because

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: I'm just trying to see what I'm capable of

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: You know what I'm made of.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: So,

Wes Schaeffer: Most of us don't get pushed on kind of just just being comfortable through life.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Yeah, that's my kryptonite man you know I wake up I want to be. I want to be a hero to people.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Superhero but like I really have this thing inside of me, which I think it's comes from being around a lot of broken people growing up and I want to help people see the greatness that they have inside of them and put them on track to get it but

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: I've gotten to some really dark spots in my life when I was comfortable and complacent and as soon as I start to feel that thing, man. That's a little bell rings and I'm off to the races. So yeah. Hundred percent agree man.

Wes Schaeffer: How do you juggle that though between

Wes Schaeffer: You know, not being so idle. You can goof off, but then redlining it Ryan and just driving into the ground.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: My wife usually speaks up and sounds the alarm.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: You know, I go hard and then she's like the

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: What is it called in a car, a car, a

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Governor, not the governor. But the thing. It's like a thermostat thing is a thermostat that that kind of blows when it gets too hot like

Wes Schaeffer: Wow was that all that the tech commoner.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Something, something, yeah. Something blows and then it's like, Okay, take a, take a an audit here what's going on and just prioritize some things take some things out.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Make sure that everything that you're doing is going towards the life of your dreams that you set out your, your mission. And if it's not, then you got to remove it.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Right, you know, and that's what we do. I mean, there's, I just go hard to because I think that I don't want to take any chance of if I don't go that extra step that I missed something huge.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And I'll tell you a quick story on that. Like, I met a guy on Instagram. I messaged people like I did you I have a

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Way that I go about messaging people lifting people up encouraging people and then we connect and then I come on shows and

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: I got a guy on Instagram, one time and he answered me and then I brought him on in live on Instagram. We set there chatted

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And here we would just went into business together on a, like a project to could turn into hundreds of millions of dollars. And so I'm always afraid I'm gonna miss that one relationship, you know, so

Wes Schaeffer: So,

Wes Schaeffer: When it comes to like you know you going hard right. Are you a, like a specific goal setter like I'm going to achieve these things. By this time, or is it, like I'm going to go in this direction and know it's the right direction.

Wes Schaeffer: And and as long as I'm in that in that going in the right making progress, then

Wes Schaeffer: I'm happy with with making that progress.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Yeah success to me the definition of success is having your ideal picture of where you want to go, who you want to be where you want to be and who you want to do it with

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And always making incremental progress towards that ideal situation. So I have a saying thrust as a must. And that lines up with my concept of rocket fuel which I'll talk about later, but

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Thrust is a must you always have to be moving forward. I'm not a big guy on setting.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: timeframes and things because I go hard. Regardless, I don't have a problem with like procrastination and stuff. So to me,

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: I just go. Now, some people have procrastination problems. That's because they have a responsibility problem, they're not taking 100% responsibility.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And west. What I found is when you don't take 100% responsibility for things the blame game starts

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And also the waiting game starts you're waiting for someone else you're waiting for something. So I take 100% responsibility which allows me not to have to put that lines on things and I just go

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Right in every decision I make thought that I have. Where did I say an action I take goes towards my goal. Instead of away from it. Very simple.

Wes Schaeffer: How do people get there, though, right, we're in this victimhood

Wes Schaeffer: Society. Now it's like being a victim is virtuous at least online right everything

Wes Schaeffer: Yeah, you like

Wes Schaeffer: And we know that's not but that seems to be the norm. I mean, this does somebody have to hit rock bottom.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Sometimes

Wes Schaeffer: You know, yeah.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Sometimes I think, I think what it comes down to.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Excuse me.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And what my whistle.

Wes Schaeffer: Yeah.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: It, you know, I think it comes down to.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Really understand. Here's the thing. When I said responsibility. Hundred percent when you don't have that and you're not taking ownership and being in control. You're giving control to someone else. That's one you become a puppet instead of a puppet master.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: I don't know anybody that wants to be a puppet. But yet, they'll go ahead and leave responsibility to someone else. It's they don't know something

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: They're lacking data and the correct information or they're confused. So you have to get the game right and you got to get them the right information. Here's the thing though. I just thought about this last week.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: I know it's not right to blame people. Right. I know that it's 100% response I take responsibility, man, what could I have done differently, what can I control right

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: The other thing I thought about. And if we can get this picture painted to people when you blame other people, it never feels good.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Here you're trying to blame people to alleviate the responsibility off your shoulders, but yet you feel like shit. Excuse me, I'm a lot of

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: You feel like crap on here. When you're pointing the finger West at it, man. I was West deep inside you don't feel good.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And you'll notice the people that have the victimhood mentality. You're never happy, they're miserable. So if we can paint the picture to say, hey, does it feel good to blame people

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Let me tell you something, when you take responsibility for something, even if you don't think you're wrong. And you say, now that's how my legal if you didn't kill somebody. And I'm not talking about that.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: But what I'm talking about. In a situation, say, Look, I. That was my fault. I apologize. At defuse situations right away.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: It makes you feel good to take responsibility and the other person has it takes the wind out of their sails if they're coming at you about something. So, you know, I think this painting the picture with people and we just got to continue to do that and and be committed to it.

Yeah.

Wes Schaeffer: Did

Wes Schaeffer: You talk about being in a dark spot you know being around. I'm just going to assume like a tough situation. I don't know if you hit your own rock bottom or are seeing others, but how

Wes Schaeffer: How did you either climb away from that or thrive within it and help bring those up because you had, you know, 470 something podcasts now episodes and I've spoken to a lot of people that that hit that rock bottom divorce health, you know, financial ruin.

Wes Schaeffer: And and I've asked this slide and most of them have said, Yes, I'm just gonna let him hit rock bottom. You know how

Wes Schaeffer: When and a lot of people probably going through dark times right now right code has been a kick in the pants for a lot of people, it's the holidays would ads on extra

Wes Schaeffer: Reasons or opportunities for people to kind of have that pity party you know you have a process or something.

Wes Schaeffer: Yeah steer people towards that help them self correct

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Yeah, so I grew up in a broken home. I don't remember my parents together. So growing up to me.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And I had could have had it worse. Don't get me wrong. Okay. I talked to a guy last week that grew up in an orphanage. Right, so I could have had it worse not saying for victimhood or pity here. I'm telling you a story real quick about this so

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: I don't remember my parents ever together and I did the child support battles of custody battles all that crap all parents can step-parents coming into the game and then their agendas. Got to be Matt.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Matt and it's just a mess and as a kid, you're going through all this. See, and all this. And there's a lot of conflict.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: I came to a point one time where I was living with my dad for three years and and the conflict was going on so bad that it was taking it out on me a lot.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Psychologically, and mentally. I was, you know, traumatized as a kid from eight to 11 I went through that 11 years old. I said, I gotta get out of here. So I told my mom to file court papers. Get me out of there. And in doing that.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: My dad was blind side of the court papers, obviously, because I couldn't tell him I was living in the house and I didn't know what would happen.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: But anyway, he eventually can front of me when he got the papers I came home from school one day and I sat on my bed for about five minutes because he told me to go to my room and it felt like five hours while I was waiting for my hero. My dad to come back and

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Confront me and my dad had these rough hands and big four arms. He had a masonry business land block and pour concrete. I always looked up to him. He's my hero, man.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And he always cared about $100 bills in his pocket with a rubber band around it.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Used to flash it around. I looked up to him for that kind of stuff. So, but when I found when he found out that I wanted to move with my mom and I confirm that even though he told me that you don't have any money.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: They're poor and you're going to go there and they're not going to have everything you have here and he takes that $100 bills out peels one off accomplices up and throws that being said here, you're going to need this when you're living on the streets with your mother one day.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And so when that happened,

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: I'm a stubborn guy. Okay, I'm stubborn to a fault. I don't think being stubborn, it's a bad thing if you're stubborn on the right things.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And I'm also always been told by my mom, since a young age before I even knew the word leader that I was going to be a leader and influence people

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: So that was imprinted in my mind, early on before I even knew what that meant. So what happened when you do that for someone young or someone that doesn't

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Know any different, or you start imprinting things in your head all your actions and words start leading into that direction.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: So when my dad told me that. And through that hundred dollar bill at me.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: First thing stubbornness kicks in, you're not going to win. I'm not going to need that you're not dictating my life. You're not the terminal my future. I got this. And that fire was lit.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: From there, I thought to myself, I'm in this ordinary situation. Every kid goes through this. There's got to be other kids that were given up on by their dad, I'm going to show them.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: How to have a great life and accomplished great things, despite coming from this and that's what went through my head. And so I didn't know how I was going to do that except to be a role model. I just went hard and everything I did hustled

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: You know, if I had a job to do. I would do extra and I just wanted to show people because I always felt like my dad was watching to see if he was going to be right.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And I wasn't gonna let that happen 30 years I lived off that now there's been other stories throughout my life where

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Dark spots. You know, I, you know, got in the dark spots where it just wasn't a got off my game and I felt that, and then I get back on track and realize, man. I just wasted some time and I gotta get back going again. Right.

Wes Schaeffer: Mm-hmm.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: So I wrote a book called rocket fuel.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And that books coming out February 7 it's on sale now. And the book is all about some of those stories and anecdotes that lead me to understand a concept that I've developed called

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: rocket fuel and basically it is to turn all setbacks letdowns and difficulties, all that toxicity negative people into the conversion of rocket fuel for your future.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: So if you can think about if you want to accomplish something Western life.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: You know, I know you said you're an Air Force and you guys have you know goal or target. The goal for that is to accomplish it accomplishment. Right.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: I'm gonna hit that that that that target the things that stop you or not. The wins and successes and the encouragement and all that. It's all that other crap.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And all that other crap comes into play all that negative toxicity rocket fuel is no good until you use it. So I don't like to just eliminate obstacles.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: I like to convert them into fuel because resiliency means getting back to that original shape after before the setback. I'm not good with that. I want to blow through that.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And so this concept I had, I was living off this thing where I was turning the setbacks and the rocket fuel.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Three years ago, I decided to bottle it and share it with people and that's what I'm doing, man. And so, yeah, dark place. Been there. Understand that I don't ever want to feel that way. Again, I don't like the way that feels in my heart, my stomach my mind.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And I don't ever want anybody to feel like that. So it's all about getting out of that as fast as possible.

Alright.

Wes Schaeffer: So as you were growing up.

Wes Schaeffer: How you. How did you arrive at this place right business owner and whatnot, where you

Wes Schaeffer: Just, you know, job to job. Do you have mentors. You know how

Wes Schaeffer: What's the journey to get there. And, you know, are there some tips like that our listeners could. Can you save a few years off of their journey to get there, a little quicker.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Yeah. So I started off in sales in 1998 I had some odd jobs. Before that I worked for my grandfather's and uncles, who were in the masonry business.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Did some hard work and. But then I got into sales in 1998 I dropped out of college with a 4.0 I just was disengaged. Not interested anymore and wanted to go out and start making money, but really what it was. I spent years party and I never partied until I got to college.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: So I when I did that, I lost focus and just that's part of the part of those dark periods where I got off track. And I don't talk about that a lot of kind of embarrassed by because it's not me. You know, I grew up really focused, all the way to

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Had a goal in mind I was intentional about what I was trying to accomplish, and then I got off track. I started trying to please other people. I got like cocooned in a way of trying to please. Other people rather than focus and staying on my my my purpose so

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: When that happened, I went out and got in a sales job and I was cutting my teeth and in home sales Handling Objections

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Breaking the ice and building rapport with people, closing deals that night while you're in the house. And I did that for nine years.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And I look back, and I'm like, man, part of that part of that time though I was going party in when I wasn't working man I was going out to bars and chasing women and doing stupid stuff, you know, and

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: I was always feeling this anxiety and feeling inside of me like I'm not built for this. This is not what like my purposes, but I didn't understand that feeling. I was just dealing with this feeling and I

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Now look back on and I realized I was not going after my potential. And I think that anybody knows when they're underachieving

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Are not doing what they're supposed to. There's a feeling that comes inside of you that tries to speak to you.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And lets you know you better get your, your button check, man. You're not on you, not on the right track.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And that translation to me wasn't coming through clearly for a while and I think it had to do with, you know, drinking and partying and you know when you do that.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Like like marijuana for, for example, it's it's a it's a thing that's been coming legalized and I didn't realize while I was smoking weed back in college.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: How much I was clouded during the time that I was smoking weed until after the fact, when I stopped and I look back, and I'm like, Wow, man. No wonder I was feeling like that.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: So yeah, I mean, that was the thing I got into sales and then from there I went into real estate and got into mortgages. I don't know. I think that you got to kind of follow

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Your ideal life of what you would want to do in a perfect world, I think that's the first step that you do.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Because you're never going to go after something really great unless you can think of it and really attempt to

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And so what I did was I wanted to be in sales. I wanted to build a team. I wanted to start building people and have an influence in people's lives.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And that's them from that young age. And so I got into a business in the mortgage world where I could build a team.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And start developing the people and building them and they could focus on the mortgages and I would build the people

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And so I encourage people to do what you want to do, like, you're going to have to do some stuff you don't want to do and you don't like, don't get me wrong, you got to figure out how to make money.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: But at the end of the day, you should have some kind of grand vision of the most perfect life that you would want and start there and then reverse engineer backwards, of how to get there.

Wes Schaeffer: Do you need to have that vision of the perfect life or is it sometimes enough just to know your meant for more

Wes Schaeffer: Right and start our dip polka sometimes like we're way deep in a hole. You may not know. Oh, they're just beautiful oasis up there with hammocks and, you know,

Wes Schaeffer: Good with a steel drums and, you know, like, dude, I just don't want to be bitten by rats and, you know, sleeping in mud.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Yeah, I get it. But to me, you know, we have a problem because we don't know what our true potential is

Wes Schaeffer: Mm hmm.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: You know there's things like so, you know, I see your point. With that, but I just don't want to limit myself or anybody else when I talk to people. I don't want them to limit themselves so

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: What I always talk about is going into a desert. Finally, a lamp with a genie in it you rather lamp and the genie pops out and says, Listen, I'm going to give you the ideal life, what would that be

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And then really try to visualize it in your head and write it down and get it on paper, no matter where you are, because here's the thing. Have you ever done the lottery thing when

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: The Powerball is a 500 million or something and you think about man, what would it be like if I won that like

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And it kind of gets you juiced up a little bit. Well, when you do this visualization of your ideal perfect life.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: It starts to get your juices flowing, you get inspired and if you're feeling like crap. It's a perfect exercise to do to get you going again and get you some momentum.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: I think you just got to get that you just got to get that thrust going moving forward a little bit.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And so yeah, I think that, why not do that. Mm hmm. Because if you don't do it. You're not going to definitely not going to hit it, you're not going to come anywhere close, you're going to be just below that, that just just survive mentality.

Right.

Wes Schaeffer: So you're doing the in home thing nine years. How did you make that pivot into into mortgages, because

Wes Schaeffer: Yeah, those nine years. I mean, you were working for another company right and

Wes Schaeffer: Yeah, immediately make the shift into owning your own business or did you jump in them. Now, to learn it, then do your own thing.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: No. So I actually was doing that. And I was just born like just burnt out, and I hated it hated life. I just didn't like it.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And I talked to my buddies and they all were in the mortgage business. And I'm like, guys, what are you doing

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And we're doing this, you know, mortgages. Well, let me get my real estate license and maybe I can send you some business and I'll make money there and maybe I'll build a real estate career.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And the first year I got out, I got out of the water treatment business. I went in the mortgages and I did good. I had top listing agent top selling agent. The first year was doing fine. I just didn't like showing people houses. This is to me.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: It's like, well, you know what the mortgage thing is the same thing as real estate, except I don't have to show the houses. Let me do that now my best friend was my my referral partner, I would refer him deals

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And it was an hour and a half away from my house, and I'm sure there was mortgage companies around where I live, but I wanted to work with them because I knew him and I thought it would be cool.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: So then for five years after that when I made that switch. I drove an hour and a half each way to work this is before remote was possible.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And I would drive to the mortgage office and work from like nine in the morning till I don't know, six or seven at night, get back on the road and drive back and I had a wife and a little kid at home.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: When I just had to do whatever it takes. So the lesson there when I look back on that I did whatever it took and for five years. I did that.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And was just committed to learning the business committed to building and figuring things out.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And so the transition when I did it. I took a line of credit on my house.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: For about three months worth of income, just to get by.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Basically burn the ships mentality brother and I look back on and think to myself, like makes me sick to my stomach to think about it.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Um, I guess I always kind of went back to the water treatment. I was doing in home sales for water treatment systems. I kind of always went back to that, maybe, but I didn't have a plan B, man. Honestly, I was just like, this has got to work.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: I think, I think.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Arnold Schwarzenegger said when you have a plan B. You start focusing on Plan B too much and then plan a doesn't work.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Yeah, so I was burned ships mentality and that wasn't the first. I'm sorry, the last time I did that, either. So after that happen.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: We had a situation where that company. I went to work for. I was there for 12 years and the owner started having money disappear and wasn't doing things the right way and

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And we were trying to run a company and build a company for him, and it just, it just crumbled. And we had to switch companies and when we switched companies we burn the ships again because all the money that we had was stolen from us.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Captain, and at that point I had to bring 22 employees to a new company and way way it works is we run a division for a company. So the mortgage company is owned by individuals. And then we own a, like a profit loss center underneath of them.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And we took 22 employees and I had to make sure those employees are paid

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And I had to make sure I knew we could make money. If we could just get it up and running. But we had just enough money in there.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: To get it like have enough time to get it going. But also, we couldn't take a paycheck. So my partners and I

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Took minimum wage, because you have to get paid at least minimum wage in this business for six months.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Lived off of savings, anything that's that we had. I was running up credit card bills burn the ships saying this is gonna work.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Like I've never claimed bankruptcy him for my life. But if I have to do it. I'm going to go all out, make this thing work.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And then if I have to claim bankruptcy, man. I mean it's, I'm sorry, like I did my I gave it my all right so we just burn the ships and went for it.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And we got in a whole roughly 170 $5,000 with the company, we were working for because they basically gave us up.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: They were like, We believe in you, kind of thing and then six months, we were able to take a paycheck and then from there, we never looked back. And it took us only two years what it took us seven years to do before to build a company up to 10 million in revenue annual revenue.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: So when you burn the ships. That's the lesson when you burn the ships and you just commit know looking back no lifeline.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: You usually prevail.

Yeah.

Wes Schaeffer: Yeah and that funny. It's like we

Wes Schaeffer: We say too comfortable. So we never know. I think it was David Goggins talks about

Wes Schaeffer: THINK HE WAS WHEN I CAME OVER THAT 40% rule.

Wes Schaeffer: Right.

Wes Schaeffer: Right. And when when we're ready to quit. What is it when we're ready to quit. We have 40% more we can give

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Yeah, or you're only

Wes Schaeffer: 40% or

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Something like that.

Wes Schaeffer: Either way, you got a lot more you you can give

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Yeah, really makes you think like your mind shuts off before your body's ready to

Wes Schaeffer: Yeah yeah

Yeah.

Wes Schaeffer: Yeah, I do that I do two things. You know, I do jujitsu and a couple times a week. I'm pushed through that, like, I'm tired or whatever.

Wes Schaeffer: There's one or two guys that I wouldn't say they're full blown assholes. But it's just, it's not a pleasurable experience to train with the spar with them. Right. But our instructor I key pairs job with everybody. So, you, you're not gonna hide right

Wes Schaeffer: Well, I'm not really good with big guy. So I just avoided know you're gonna find everybody, young and old big fat strong, you know,

Wes Schaeffer: And it's like, you feel like I'm going to die.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Yeah.

Wes Schaeffer: And you push through and you get them in, you know, either you get them or you don't get got

Wes Schaeffer: All right.

Wes Schaeffer: Doesn't when I I'm so tired. I mean a 12 year old should have tapped me today and that didn't get me so

Wes Schaeffer: I mean, we need to push ourselves a little bit. Probably a lot

Wes Schaeffer: Of cushy lives we lead

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Yeah, without a doubt, man. I mean that's something that I always say I'm grinding like I'm broke. Like I you know I don't know if you know Grant Cardone 10 extra guy over here, this thing he always talks about going to zero. Take yourself to zero and

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: You know, I just always think that way now. Like, I think I'm broke. Like, I don't have money. I don't I don't I don't pay attention to the fact that I have like reserves in the bank or anything. I'm like, I got to make it happen right now.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Because that's the thing that made a difference for us when we were trying to make it

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Is that we we had two options, man. And I don't want to. I don't want a fallback plan. I just want to go and I want to be like that for people so they can see what it's like. And they see why you keep having successes and you keep leveling up is because I'm broke man I broke

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: I spend money. By the way, I spend money.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Now I don't I don't say I spend money, I should say I invest money in businesses.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And things that can, like, help me level up, whether that's mentorship programs or businesses.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And so I take my money right now I don't buy I don't buy anything anymore. Like, I rarely spend money on myself, except for these things. And I take this money and I just get rid of it.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Constantly get rid of it. It's either going into businesses, I'm invested in or things for self development invested in myself.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And I'm focused on this right now because. And by the way, I'm not scared because I know I can make money. So if you know if everything fell apart. I can make money somehow and I have that confidence. But I'm big on just grinding like I'm broke

Wes Schaeffer: And it's funny when when you know how to sell you know you know you can get by.

Wes Schaeffer: Right. Second man. Oh.

Wes Schaeffer: Yeah, I'm helping like three different companies one sells you know

Wes Schaeffer: To the short term rental space, how to, you know how to lease your houses out and rent, you know, another software and

Wes Schaeffer: Another is in this crazy

Wes Schaeffer: It's hard to even describe concisely, but in the marketing space identifying prospects by filling in their data very advanced stuff. And it's like, so all their stuff.

Wes Schaeffer: Because I'm I'm doing the script and I lead a Monday call you know I got import exporters' I got a videographer, you know, all these different thing. I'm like here. Here's how you do that. Here's how you sell that. Do you ever saw that before, no. Never saw that before my life now.

Wes Schaeffer: What's the problem. What's the problem right

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: What's the problem. And what's the solution.

Wes Schaeffer: Just engage asked some good questions.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Yep.

Wes Schaeffer: You know, and so I'll take the calls. And if we're going to record this, I'll do a few I'll show you on, like, how do you do that, like, dude, just learn on a cell phone, I'll talk to people.

Wes Schaeffer: Yeah, right. Everybody's afraid of selling. Oh, I don't want to be in sales. Sales people or pushy.

Wes Schaeffer: You probably get that

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Yeah, I mean really when it comes down to it, though, if you're if you're finding out doing a good job fact finding with people and finding out what they need, what their needs are, where they are and you're just solving problems for them it's it's not pushy.

Wes Schaeffer: Right, I

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Mean, I think, I think it gets pushy. When you are taking one thing. Here's, here's the thing. Like people approach prospecting

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Where they're trying to sell things. And when you're prospecting yeah if you can get a sale on the prospecting call are

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Great, but the number one objective of prospecting is to get out of obscurity and get known like let people know who you are and what you do. And at the end of the day, then you follow up with them and that's when you get to sales.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: People try to sell on that first call when they're prospecting and then they get pushy, and I get aggressive with the people. And that's not the people aren't ready to buy right there. It's not like that's not the arena for that.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And that's where it all comes down and people just aren't trained for that.

Right.

Wes Schaeffer: So like in today's world, if you're making prospecting calls you know

Wes Schaeffer: Would you be like, inviting them baby to a webinar, you're doing or download something or you just is. It's like maybe a set script just probing for pain and then trying to set an appointment later for a full on demo or appointment. Like, how would you approach.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Yeah, well, like for what I do right now I don't have the time to make the phone calls.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Yeah, because I'm so many other things. So obviously, you see what I did on LinkedIn. You know, we messaged you listen to a little bit of your podcast.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Comment on it give you some encouragement and then from there we engage with you. And then we it's it's value add and courage.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Get noticed. Get out of obscurity, which I did. You didn't know who I was. Prior to that, probably, if you did great. If not,

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: That's that's on me. I got to get out of obscurity with you. So I did that. That was via direct message on LinkedIn. I do it on Instagram. I do it on Facebook.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And I have a team that helps me and we message people and get engaged with them once you're out of obscurity, then you find out what their needs are well for you. You have a podcast. It's about sales.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: I'm an expert in that field. So I can add value to your, to your, to your, to your audience. So I'm solving a problem, even though there's not money transfer and hands here. Oh, I forgot to tell you, I do have a fee for being on here but

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: The money transferred here, but I'm solving a problem, you had a problem. Not that you have a hard time finding

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Guests but I'm just saying you have some spot open. I go fill that that void. That's all you got to think about. It's the same thing and sales. It's the same exact transaction that we happen here or have here is that somebody hasn't need

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: You go find that person has a need, they find out about you that you have the solution to the problem. And then you just insert solution.

Wes Schaeffer: Mm hmm.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: I mean, simplify it.

Wes Schaeffer: No.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: But yeah prospecting calls like prospecting calls in the mortgage business we're calling real estate agents, you know, we try to call

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: You know 50 a week.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Agents and develop relationships with 50 agents or more of the good good guys are calling 100

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And just developing relationships and getting out of obscurity, so that when they have that buyer come along, they, they're like, hey, man, I'm gonna call Mike because he's he's on top of his game he's hungry.

Wes Schaeffer: So how does that work in your world, because that's a, that's a competitive world especially right now right rates are so low housings booming, you know, my son's a brand new agent.

Wes Schaeffer: He's struggling a little bit cuz he he's kind of learning what you already learned

Wes Schaeffer: A left handed.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Licensed agent. So, yeah.

Wes Schaeffer: Yeah, and they and they're making him just be a buyer's agent right now to begin with and hell Southern California.

Wes Schaeffer: You know, they're getting 50 offers and 72 hours that we know more open house because the Cove is so scheduled appearances, people are paying you know 10% over appraisal all cash you know $10,000 earnest money. No, no closet, you know, nothing like, holy crap.

Wes Schaeffer: So in the mortgage, guys. They're killing Ryan those couple of crappy image be mortgage on

Wes Schaeffer: Yeah, but it's got to be so competitive right everybody in their brother going to be calling every agent saying hey yeah US. US.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Us us to call yeah you'll be surprised because

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: The only the really good people were actually making the phone calls.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And most of the real estate agent. I'm sorry, the mortgage people right now are focusing a lot on reef eyes.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: So they forget about the real estate agents and those people. Those loan officers that actually still call on the agents during this re five boom were the ones are going to continue to have the business when revise dry up and the rates go up.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: But at the end of the day for your son and for anybody in sales and business. The solution to any of those problems. One is, don't think about competing

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Like, you got to get competing out of your mind like you got to dominate like even if you're not the best. He's just starting right he needs to start thinking, I'm the best

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: I am the best I intend to be the best. I am the best I dominate this market and then

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Write that down and consistently think that what happens from there. All your thoughts, words and actions start leading in that direction.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And so the the other answer is to get a big pipeline, you need a big pipeline of people prospects.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Not a pipeline of actual sales coming through or contracts, you got to think big on the top line and build your top of your funnel is biggest possible

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: That's where the air comes in when you don't have that. And it's like this, then everything becomes a problem. Oh, there's no inventory. There's no houses on tomorrow, everything's under praising

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Someone so undercut me all these other things happen when the pipeline.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: I mean that the funnel at the top of small, the answer is you got to figure out a way to be obsessed about growing that top of that funnel and then from there, man. You're, you're rolling because

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Nobody's going to focus on that part, by the way, except the super successful. So if you can get that right in your head. The rest takes care of itself. And you can have all those problems. That's fine. You got numbers.

No.

Wes Schaeffer: Sales cures all ills.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: No big pig prospecting pipeline has

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Cures it yeah because sales come from that like my my guys come to me and I'll bet you complain about something.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And man had agents pests because appraisal came in, like, Well, no, not. First of all, we didn't do the appraisal, but

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: If they're pissed and I don't want to send it. You need more agents, you need to be calling more agents, because if one gets pissed at you and you had for now. You have three we have 50 and one leaves you have 49

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: What situation. Do you want to be in

Wes Schaeffer: Yeah. Amen.

Wes Schaeffer: So is it is it

Wes Schaeffer: If nobody else is making those calls and it is easy to stand out.

Wes Schaeffer: But I mean, if they're a decent agent. Don't they have a decent relationship with one or two other good mortgage, folks.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Yeah, but they're always one deal a transaction away from being pissed at that loan officer.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And so it's a timing thing. Now this sounds wrong because this is not, I don't ever encourage this, but if you think about

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: You know, a timing thing when you go in a like such a husband's not treating his wife right are given our attention.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And then there's always some creep on the sides, trying to creep in. Again, I'm not trying to

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Label loan officers is creeps doing this. But the point I'm trying to make is that soon as they're not being paid attention enough by that loan officer.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: It's a timing thing or deal goes bad. It's a timing thing. And if you're routinely consistently calling on them. Just stay in and check with them not not bug and I'm just like, Hey, how you doing, is there anything I can help you with

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: But getting creative with your follow up. There's, there's, there's all kinds of ways to be creative with follow up.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And if you do that, the timing thing and you get the right time, then you perform you're good to go. But again, you don't worry about one little one agent. You don't worry about one prospect, you get trying to get a million.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: You know, and that's that solves the problem. Most people don't do that.

Wes Schaeffer: Amen.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: You got to be willing to do what others aren't willing to do

Wes Schaeffer: Yeah, I'm very few are and I've told him, and he's that's the thing we can't, we can't want something for someone more than they want it right and sometimes I just got a skin their own nice because he's, he's a good kid just graduated college no debt.

Wes Schaeffer: You know, lived at home made the commute.

Wes Schaeffer: It's all good ride and working in my business. I said, Look, dude.

Wes Schaeffer: You can get certified on HubSpot, you know, I can pay you 50 bucks now and pay 100 bucks an hour, you know, if you're really good. And I'm like,

Wes Schaeffer: You got time, you know, in the summer, right, Mike, if you spent three months over the summer. You'll be really good at this. Not hundred dollars an hour, good, but you'll be good.

Wes Schaeffer: I can pay you, blah, blah, blah. And I said he would work a little bit. Then he leave you and go, goof off with his friends. I said, Look, dude.

Wes Schaeffer: You guys said that computer to your eyes bleed and you go rent your eyes out and go work for four hours more and you do that for a month, then you might start to crack the code, you know, but you can't want it for them.

Wes Schaeffer: Yeah, right. I just made available. And then I what but now you know things are starting to come around. Now he realizes dad might have a little nugget here there to help them so we'll see.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Ya know it's it's it's difficult to get your boys. The listen to you have a son is 14 and same thing

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: I'm always fighting on trying to figure out the best way to get him to go after something to respond. It's not easy, but the thing is is that they're going to either learn from us fathers are going to learn from the world.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: But yeah but yeah but we're both. But the fact of the matter is, is that you're not gonna learn this lesson for me, you're gonna learn from the world. And I tell you, I'm a lot easier. Even though I'm tough one. Yeah, I'm a lot easier than the world.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Pick your teacher your teacher

Wes Schaeffer: Oh, we don't know. We don't know when we're young, but

Wes Schaeffer: Yeah. So yeah, he's learning, though, it's all good.

Wes Schaeffer: Yeah, but you know reminds me because you're talking about. And when we open like you wanted to help people you want to be a superhero to people. You said but

Wes Schaeffer: Can that get you into trouble sometimes just just because sometimes people don't see you know Jesus said, or I know no man's a profit in his own town.

Wes Schaeffer: Yeah, I like you. You bring the goods.

Wes Schaeffer: But people may not recognize it or they take you for granted. You know, how do you keep that from dragging you down.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: I don't, because I converted into fuel. So like if I'm in this hometown. Here I've had people laugh at me that paid make comments. I'm all over the social media like I'm omnipresent like

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: I really listened to what my mentors told me like follow the blueprint get everywhere.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: So then once somebody sees me they see me everywhere. And I did that on purpose. Now I have a go to the gym. I'll go to the golf course. These guys make jokes and comments and

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And I'm just like, keep talking, man. Because that just fuels me like it just the more they say stuff. The more I convert

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And so then that keeps me going like, I can't let up. If I feel like a like a down day like it's a rainy Monday or something. I don't feel like I do it anyway.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Because my dad is watching these guys are watching and I'm trying to be a role model to people and I can't let people down. So that's what goes through my head. And so, yeah, and in my

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: In my own town here it is kind of tough sometimes but i just i just like you got to convert it. You got to use it as fuel.

Yeah.

Wes Schaeffer: Amen. And so, your book is coming out January next month.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: It's on presale right now. Mike see rock com forward slash book.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: That's Iraq with know K

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Likes direct com forward slash book. And that's available. It's coming out in February 7 though, there'll be ready to go and Grant Cardone wrote the foreword for the book and it's pretty awesome. When I read it the first time I got chills.

Wes Schaeffer: All right, I will link to that Mike care.com slash book. Alright, that comes up.

Wes Schaeffer: Got the video there. Get the classes, maybe looking. Oh, cool.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Yeah, we haven't made an announcement about

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: The forward yet publicly, but I'll just do it on these podcasts, because they'll be coming out later a little bit later. We're going to be

Wes Schaeffer: So come out a couple of weeks.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Yeah, so we're going to be making an announcement around them so

Wes Schaeffer: Yeah, the second guy today come out with the book in January, man. I think I need to write a book, real quick.

Wes Schaeffer: Yeah, I don't have a January launch their minds, February mines February, I'm good, I'm good.

Wes Schaeffer: All right, good food, then

Wes Schaeffer: I'll do one in March. Yeah, so so grants book sorry grants show he's on Discovery Channel undercover billionaire Season two.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And so that's January six, so if you haven't seen undercover billionaire, the first season. You got to watch it, Glenn Stern's does an awesome job.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: They basically give them 100 bucks a beat up pickup truck and a dead like a cell phone, no contacts in it. They can't use their name.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And they got to get dropped off in place, they don't know where they're going and start a business that's worth a million dollars and 90 days.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Glenn Stearns did it the first time you got dropped off in Erie, Pennsylvania. I will give you all the details because I you should go check it out. It's eight episodes. It's great. And then now grants doing it season to January sexual get to watch him and

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: It's gonna be

Wes Schaeffer: It's gonna be pretty good even heard of it, but yeah. Discovery Channel. Cool.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: He was you know how he talks all the stuff right we we know he's built this big business. But now let's see if he could start over and do it now knowing what you know and and watch the steps and processes that he uses

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And how he converts setbacks.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: That's what I'm interested to see because

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: You know I we all think about that. What if you had to start over or the people or something right now is trying to start from scratch.

Right.

Wes Schaeffer: And a lot of people are being forced with that. And that's why I was wanting to ask you about the whole victim mentality.

Wes Schaeffer: You know, because it's it's easy. It's easy to fall into that it's easy to say, oh, woe is me, you know, and you know, I want to help people build that back as well. If they've been knocked down

Wes Schaeffer: This is crazy, man. It's crazy times

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Yeah, you know, and some people sit in it longer than others, but, you know, the big there's there's some people that have had the best year that they've ever had in their life.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Or business this year.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: And you know it's it's what they're made of, like, it's how they're built and they made the right decisions and took the right actions, then there's other people that are learned and some people, you know, they're beyond help. I just don't they just don't have it in them.

Wes Schaeffer: Yeah.

Wes Schaeffer: Oh, yeah, yeah. He's got let him go.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Yep. Yeah.

Wes Schaeffer: And then send them your book.

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: All right, I read rocket fuel reading

Wes Schaeffer: All right, I'm linking to it. Mike see rock with no K Mike's iraq.com slash book.

Wes Schaeffer: Alright, man. I like from Maryland, stay warm. My brother. Thanks for coming on the

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Show thanks West per se to man. Proceed to have any great

Wes Schaeffer: Day, you

Mike C-Roc Ciorrocco: Too. Bye.