Simplifying Condo Document Management with the Eli Report

0:00Welcome back to the show. This is Randy Dick here on the return on life podcast where it's hey It's not always about the ROI, but the ROI does certainly help with the ROL the return on life and today's guest Really really brings the ROL to so many people his clients his customers and we're gonna dive deep into his business how he Really does bring return on life to his customers and clients which shows mostly real estate agents Property managers and purchasers. So we're dive deep into that, but my guest today is Thomas beady and he is the CEO of octa AI technology and The man behind the Eli report. So what does Eli report mean while we're gonna get into that? So welcome here Thomas Thank you for being a guest on the podcast Thanks, Randy glad to be here Right on well, I'm gonna dive into this one question that I've always had and I thought okay

1:01Where is Thomas from because we we connected over a coffee and a lunch and I was going this guy must be from the UK But that's not true. Is it? No, I'm actually born and raised in the Vancouver area Although I did move to the UK in my mid 20s for seven years Okay, so that's where you picked up a little bit of an accent because I thought okay This guy is really from the UK, but here we are. We're all Canadians. We're all Canadians. Hey Um, well, let's dive deep into what you do at octa. What is octa? What is the Eli report and how do you save Real estate agents gobs a time? Well, that's that's really a great question. We started in 2018 Over a discussion about how when you bought a used car you got a report of its history But when you bought a condo you got hundreds of pages of PDFs and we thought that for such a significant purchase There had to be a better way to understand what really mattered about the communities that you were looking at

2:05Whether you're doing that as a buyer whether you're doing that as a realtor whether you're serving them as a property manager Or as another stakeholder and and that's what led to us building Eli report Eli stands for every little item because we try and help you understand every little item about your condo And we've now delivered over 25,000 of those reports over the past nearly five years Saving agents and buyers gobs of time and making sure that they're much better informed about their communities That's incredible 25,000 reports Well, and uh, by the way, I didn't know I didn't know the acrimon in what it meant. So that's really cool. I love that. I love that um And so who who is the brains or who is the inspiration behind building this did you have people come to you and say gosh Thomas we need this or did you just go hmm one day I think I can do this Uh, I I love hearing stories about building and for me a bunch of my career focus has been around financial literacy So um when the the several of us that that founded octoay I got together

3:10There were personal stories about having moved into a condo and being hit with a special assessment There were stories about being property management space and understanding that a lot of people didn't really understand Out the rules about being in their community or the upcoming issues that were were critical to That community's physical health So you know for me it was really about trying to convey What mattered and and give that perspective So it's a zero to one tool if you live in a community you probably know it inside out Which you don't know is how you compare to others and uh, we're not working on that angle as well Hmm. I love that how you compare to others. Yeah, that is that's a really cool when we have that tool up and up Up and operating it's it's in the pilot phase now. It's called an annual benchmark report and for anyone that's living in a multi-family community They're able to jump in upload their documents And we'll do their hard work of finding the communities most similar to it across their province or jurisdiction

4:14Generally 10 to 30 other buildings built at around the same time with many of the same characteristics And it's gonna be really powerful um, so yeah try it out now It's still very much in the development phase, but it's ready for for testing While that is going to be an incredible benchmark test It's now going to really elevate some buildings I would think and bring value to them and it might just Soften the value in some of the others. That's interesting. That's really cool We've had that question a lot even about Eli report from the very beginning and and I want to take it back 30 years to to the first Originations of car facts because Some people thought the car facts was going to do the same thing all you're going to wreck the value of my car because it's a lemon But it was actually those first dealerships that adopted it you know on put the car facts report on every car That built trust and transparency with their customer base Maybe they lost a bit of money on that lemon, but they were transparent with their buyers

5:14That buyer paid a fair price and they came back for the next car which hopefully was a nicer one on the lot and You know, we're helping realtors do that now. I mean having I've been delivered 25,000 of them Initially, I said we never killed a deal We have But for good reasons and a couple of those came to light just this year Interesting and you are in what provinces State all provinces and states We do documents that are in english So Quebec is the unknown for us at this point But language translation tools are pretty good and that's a market. I'm sure we'll enter in the near future Fantastic fantastic Scaling is a buzzword scale scale scale how have you been able to scale your business and what strategies have you used for The Eli report because to be in all provinces except Quebec and then all states is quite a feat in itself

6:15It is and scaling is difficult I know this is my second startup and and scaling is always hard In this case a lot of it has been through word of mouth and since we didn't have a physical presence on the ground anywhere else A lot of the growth has come from us doing proactive outreach to those that can save the most By using a tool like ours. So you know, that's what this is all about right return on life Hmm awesome awesome and of course AI is the next biggest buzzword or maybe it is the biggest buzzword today How is AI fitting into your business and how does that Enable you to do more With less time and bring better value or more value Yeah, AI is amazing We started in 2018 and it wasn't what it is now. I can assure you um Our focus has not been generative AI although we do now labor on GPT technology to summarize results for

7:15For our users It was extractive and we try and pull everything that matters out of a building's documents using AI All of the unstructured data is is pulled out without human intervention But we do a proprietary models that we've built and trained and continue to update To ensure that those results remain relevant um and and in AI speak we're we're high recall low precision because we want to catch everything Even if that means we pick up something that's less important and and so Do you have a lot of is there a lot of um human touch in this process as well or once you've Loaded the address the It just takes off and builds the reporters are For our users to or Enter an address drag and drop the documents or give us a link to the documents and you're done You'll get your report within anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes um It's it is quick and hands-off behind the scenes. We have these great AI tools for unstructured data

8:20But like every great startup that says everything's easy and automated. I can assure you it is not We're up to a team of 12 five of them are admins They are checking the tabular data on every building and every report that goes out Uh, and that means reconciling building budgets looking at their insurance policy terms And we're available looking at the reserve funds study or depreciation report to reconcile that 30-year Capital forecast and it's a lot of work. So so yes, we are technology enabled It is efficient But it definitely takes the dedicated attention of humans combined with AI to get us to that plus nine ninety-nine percent accuracy Across all of the data that we prepare and provide Mm-hmm. Is there any new technology trends that are coming that maybe The majority of the listeners don't know about that your You're because you're cutting. Yes. You're you're out in front of a lot of this Is there something new coming along that You can share with the listener? It just gets more and more powerful doesn't it?

9:23I mean that the fact that you could go from asking and having a kind of tailored response to things To being able to prompt a few a few words and have it produce a video for you is is really mind-blowing You know the realtor audience has been using AI Quite effectively over the past couple of years to show what an occupied building and the home may look like If you put in some modern furnishings because a lot of people who are selling whether they're downsizing or changing stages of life um Haven't put that capital into their homes haven't put in the the sort of modern touches and Although it can feel deceptive if you don't know you're looking at something that's been enhanced Being able to picture yourself in a home is a huge part of the buying and selling process As you and the agents know so well and an AI is a really great tool for that So I wouldn't say it's new, but certainly it's it's seeing greater adoption

10:25And I think that there's going to be continued developments in that space that add value Yeah, you know, I think that the real estate industry itself is Very fast moving fast pace with technology and it's really because every agent is really A creative business individual and entrepreneur that just keeps driving and driving and driving to you know out Sell a wit of smart the next real estate agent which is just really fueling a ton of creativity And in fact our our CEO of EXP Realty Glenn Sanford I know was in a very special room with CEOs of major major corpse from all over the world And he was blown away by how advanced The real estate industry is compared to most industries when it comes to AI They get right staggering how like Many of the CEOs didn't even

11:26What's this thing called chat what chat what so You know, I think that's that's a really cool thing about real estate because every Individual every realtor is really Driving the creativity of this business And they thought so much to gain You know, not everyone is a word Smith and when you're writing a listing description Being able to throw it into something that can help craft a slightly More polished message. I think it's really cool. And it takes seconds You know, you can use GPT. There's a tool called listing AI There's just a lot of different ways that you can take your your own phrasing your own wording and elevate that to something that's Got a great marketing slide. Yeah, that's so funny because I do remember so many I know I've coached Mentored so many agents in my my long my my short long career that that has always been Something has come up. Oh man. I hate doing the description the property description and for me it was never

12:29I never struggled with it, but you know, I just remember hearing that so much Yeah, I mean, I always used to just be about those code words, right? You know, you describe something as being cozy or You know you you know what they are. They're great words that that are used traditionally by agents But this these tools are are great. Yes, they are What do you see as far as a trend because you see 20 we've done 25,000 reports What is the trend when it comes to Strader properties That we should be aware of as a agent a buyer a seller what are some of the trends that you're seeing over and over again that we We should really pay attention to One of the things that affects strata, which is a beautiful term used only in British Columbia and Australia As opposed to condo or condo corporation fun of association or almost association across the rest of North America Is that BC has an interesting rule for funding future

13:29Capital projects and we've based it on the operating budget. You have to put away at least 10% right But what we see over and over and over again is how poorly funded strata's are for these upcoming capital projects and what that means for special levies Just last week I responded to post online indicating that this year alone about a hundred thousand owners of strata in BC We're faced with a special levy next year the numbers going to be closer to 140,000 It is a huge issue and something that we're trying to inform Everyone a bit more about with every Eli report that we deliver And so you're saying that the special levy is unique to birch Columbia and Australia nowhere else The term strata is unique to us our approach to funding upcoming capital projects is different from Ontario where they need to be fully funded So at least every year in Ontario they do a reserve fund study that compares what needs to be done

14:34Let the amount of money to have in the bank and make sure they're on track to be able to pay for it In BC we don't look at it that way We require you to put some money aside But we don't really require you to fund your future projects at all So when it comes time to do the roof If your fund has four hundred thousand dollars in it and it's a one point two million dollar project eight hundred thousand dollars is a cash call a special levy To the owners of that strata in accordance with their unit entitlement but they're they're share of the the common pie And you know on average these special assessments are on the order of magnitude of seven thousand five hundred dollars a year if you're one of the lucky ones that gets called Some of them are hundreds of dollars and some of them are hundreds of thousands of dollars And I'm sure you've seen some of those in your career Many many. Yeah Wow. Hey, well, that's very insightful. Thank you for for sharing about You know The business and what's happening there. Let's move on. Let's move on to another topic The underdog topic and

15:35If you're enjoying this and you think you're getting great value out of this as a listener Please hit the subscribe button at the bottom of that page. We would love you to do that. We love subscribers So let's talk a little bit about This thing called the underdog and um, you know, I know you've you've Experienced a little bit of that somewhere along the way in your life When you hear underdog what comes to your mind? What do you think of when you hear underdog Thomas? Well, I think it's somebody that's that's got no choice but to be scrappy, you know They've they've really got to dig in and and work hard. I I've been very fortunate in my life I've had a good start. I started my career in finance. I earned good money. I got great experience I I feel like I've been very fortunate. I don't feel like I've always been an underdog But but when you do get onto the startup side of the the field You are an underdog. You're competing against those with greater capital greater tools More manpower

16:35You've got to come up with something unique and you you really do have to be your own Best spokesperson and that's something that I've been reticent to do and and I need to do more of it. So you know, I really appreciate that perspective because You know many people when when they hear underdog they think of you know their situation where they've either You'll have to overcome some big obstacle or you know life Give them the best opportunity whatever it may be But I love that you share about business and really every startup is Underdog in a big big way under capitalized somebody else is ahead of you. So I really appreciate that perspective and And I think that is you know Jeff Bezos. I remember saying We always think like we're a startup at Amazon If we think like we're startup will always have a good year because we're scrappy we're fighting We're doing this. We're doing that just to like survive. So

17:37I really appreciate that perspective um Is there been any personal underdog moments in your life? um I think everyone has their own underdog stories in moments. There's there's always been some time in your life where things have not gone the way that you thought they might Uh, and we've all had our own surprises and our own challenges. I'm not unique in that respect um, you know in my early 30s. I had cancer and That caused a change of mindset and a change of of trajectory if you will making slightly different choices about my priorities and I guess about what I wanted to do with my time It's interesting um, we Life brings us Things that we're not expecting that we don't want That we wish not on anybody not even our enemy at times And yet those are the things that have really probably changed a lot of perspective in a positive way

18:39I mean, I've got many of those um, I'm a serial underdog and um, you know, I'm sure that you know Cancer really makes you really think everything prioritize everything. So Yeah, I could I could see how that really is um, you know I was like Easily easily cured and I'm back on track and you know, I'm still here. So so that's all good I mean we talk about these underdog moments in our lives and and I shared mine But but what about yours Randy? I mean, I know that you you had your first kid in your mid 20s And and then you became a realtor, but what was your underdog moment? Oh well, I think many of our listeners know this But uh if not um, I've had many many of the underdog moments my my biggest Underdog moment my first and and biggest was when I broke my neck at 14 and woke up paralyzed and had to spend months in a hospital and and you know a year to kind of Learn how to walk and and do all the things again. So that was amazing. I mean in your teens like that. I mean, it's lucky you were young

19:48Yeah, I mean that was the really great part. It was it was 14. So um, you know, I had a lot of uh peeing vinegar in my my veins to find a new way to to make it all work again And I did so that was the first one Number two would have been flunking great. Wow. That was my second underdog moment And so they've just kept coming but you know, I I just So admire the underdog within and I believe everybody everybody has the underdog DNA within them the spirit within them and even if they think they don't They do because there's been a moment somewhere in their life That it didn't work out and they had to work extra hard scrap a little bit harder fight for whatever they thought was the Thurs and they deserved so the underdog spirit is alive and well and gosh Hollywood makes the best best movies When they're talking about the underdog that's true that's fast movies always are an underdog theme in my opinion anyways

20:53Yeah, yeah, so You know, I think the underdog theme is alive and well and um, I'm just messing around with it because I'm working on a book Of course about the underdog DNA and one of the things I think of you know the the 23 of me I don't know if you've done 23 of me or done a You know and analysis on where you're from and who you are and and all that but I thought Maybe there's a 24th chromosome called the DNA the underdog DNA chromosome You have to be wired different for sure um, so so there must be it's that little extra special something That makes you want to get out there and build mm-hmm. You know, I think we can look at At the immigrant mentality and do you know a parallel with that You know the way that you see You know an immigrant come to a new country and how they just Fight scrap do whatever they have to do work three four jobs in some cases just to get by

21:55That truly is a parallel between the underdog DNA the spirit of the underdog in and an immigrant I heard a story recently from a young man in Toronto who had a harrowing journey to get here and that works in construction Is doing some training because you know, so you won't be able to do that forever given how physical a job It is and you write that that mentality is something that I think you can draw a lot of inspiration from How's this book coming Randy when can we expect it? Well, I'm uh, I'm deep into it. I'm connecting with my publisher here again Uh, at the end of December here and we're gonna like crank through it some more and um Hopefully have this up and ready to be published in February march Fantastic. Yeah fantastic. Well, thanks for asking about that. Um Well, I'm gonna have to you know, make sure that you get a signed copy for jask me about the underdog DNA That's good. It'll be on my bookshelf with some of my favorites

22:56You know, I I think of uh a books. I've enjoyed and wish I read when I was younger one of them is I never split the difference from Chris boss uh on on on just understanding negotiation and what matters to people and um and how you know as a young person you can kind of frame Better some of the choices that you make in those early stages of your life and of your career Um on on the facet of of having a mutual win Uh, but not just trying to move towards that splitting the difference. Yeah, I thought it was a great read It is a great read and and the seven human behaviors that uh Chris walks through in that book Is essential is essential for understanding how we Not manipulate but help our clients in real estate understand how to Navigate through you know the decision-making of Listing selling the deal whatever it is But if we as agents really understand those human behaviors then we could just help frame it for the client so much more

24:00So much easier for them to process. So those are those are really important for us to understand as agents um and that's part of actually my One of my my pieces my modules in my my coaching program actually I do walk through Chris's seven human behaviors and how we can use those to help Our clients get what there was fantastic, you know, we I get asked a lot about you know Well, what's the future of being a real estate agent and how is technology or AI gonna change that and I think it's gonna Enhancing I think you you've got that human connection. You've got this understanding of the expertise that comes with knowing And and that is something that that agents will continue to have and to build and to grow Sure access to more information. It's democratized. There's more data out there I think that that's fantastic I'd like to think that we're playing a small part in bringing some of that data out there But it's the relationship that really matters and your ability to deliver that expertise in that knowledge Yes, amen on that

25:01Well, let's move on to the next topic here And again, I just want to remind you to subscribe. I hope that was a great section of learning for you And so please hit that subscribe button. We're gonna move into mindset and Performance mindset and performance and of course, I mean, that's always a hot topic How does mindset and performance impact you Thomas and do you have any rituals Daily rituals morning rituals that help you Set up for the day when it comes to mindset and performance I mean, I'm fueled by coffee like like most good good startups, I guess But I don't have a lot of rituals. I think it's mostly about dedication. I have goals. I want to see them achieved I work as hard as I can Not always as efficiently as I know I need to but but the day is long and I cram as much into it as I can And and I just see that as being the the main driving force

26:02Have those goals Awesome, and of course, you know as a startup and putting all that energy and work life balance must not always be As easy as it appears, but I think you make it look pretty easy I'm glad it looks that way to somebody You know, we we all have Scare's resource in the form of time, right Randy? I mean, this is the one thing that nobody gets more of so We've got to use it in the ways that we want to and I can say confidently that the switch to a startup was a great return on life for me Because I was able to choose my hours um and and I think You know, realtors don't have as much control over that. They're kind of working when their clients are able to deal with them So they lose weekends they they lose time in the evenings and and I am I'm able to in this career And I wouldn't have been able to if I'd stayed in investment banking

27:02Spend you know the morning or the dinner hour with my family and and that part I have control over I then go back to work um at night and often don't finish until late But I I have that ability to control my time to a limited extent and I get to prioritize the things that that matter to me and to matter to my family so That's important. I love it. You know, that is the one commodity that everybody Has the same ownership of you know the billionaire to the uh to the homeless on the street It is time nobody gets more of it nobody gets less of it, but We we as any Human being can bend time we can control how we use our time and and actually bend it in my opinion But that's my thinking of it and how we use it effectively or Ineffectively and so um I appreciate you sharing how you've you know found more time in the day yet

28:03You could continue to keep balance in your life your family Your children and all that so that's really really good. I will say that there are some of your uh your guests that have proven to be far more effective With their time management than me. I think uh it might have been go-go who Indicated just how relentless she was about controlling her time and I do not do that I I pour my time into whatever I'm passionate about But but some of your your guests have been far better at that than me Well, hey, we're all we're all on this this racetrack together and um and at some point we catch up to one another and some point You know they leave us in the dust, but it's all about just you know Being on the race of life the racetrack of life, so that's good Um growth and learning do have any Significant books that have kind of given you the north star on on all things or is there a great book that you Go man. I really need to share that book with the list

29:06You know that that never split the difference was the most important one for me I found that one to be really impactful I have a bookshelf full of books that I would love to read if I can find some time But I I haven't been able to prioritize that and I have read a couple of novels just just for the sake of it on recent vacations because I I feel like I've lost a lot of the time that I used to dedicate towards reading and Yeah, right on I'm gonna just touch on that book a little bit because I think that is a really important book Never split the difference yet. This is a common Common thing that happens in real estate while we just split the difference But I'm gonna share with the listeners many of your realtors Please please try never to split the difference because what you're doing when you're splitting the difference Is that your client has only two options or two feelings after you've done that?

30:06Hmm We had to split the difference But we got the deal done Or why did we have to split the difference? I didn't think we needed to split the difference So it's it's a difficult Process for them to be excited about which means if they're not thrilled and excited about it The chances of you getting a referral are far less So I'm gonna encourage you never split the difference if you can be the Go shader that you are hired to be And don't I will admit my own experience that we did not split the difference We came down and in an interesting step when I was negotiating the purchase of my current home And we did get to a point where there needed to be a gap that was was filled and In the interests of preserving my marriage Because it had gone back several times We we acquiesced and and I left a little on the table. I know I did it But it was for a good reason. So Well, you know happy house happy spouse or happy spouse happy house. I guess is the way it says

31:09Is meant to be so yeah, sometimes we do things just to make it all work make it all work I'm speaking of making it all work. What about mental fitness? What's your your fitness routine like do you have a fitness routine? Oh, I wish I had a fitness routine. I try and get out and play with my son He's 11 whenever we can so we'll play some street hockey when the weather's good That's his sport and his things. So now I don't only just take him to his hockey games But he's old enough to ref the younger kids So now I take him and watch other kids play hockey too My wife and I laugh about how that's evolved and changed But no, I mean that's that's my my relaxation When the weather's not so good You know he's young he likes to get me on and We'll play some rocket league and Minecraft together So we occupy our hours with with fun and games Right on right on did you play hockey as a kid? Only recreationally. I learned a bit late. I broke my front teeth learning how to ice skate I tell people it was a hockey injury. It really wasn't

32:12You know, I you know needed a little Little help there But I I'm not a great hockey player, but boy, I love the game. It's fun right on I have Fake chicklets as well Um hockey from hockey of course just like you we were Yeah, hockey injury Oh hockey injuries right Uh, hey, we'll um subscribe to this podcast today click that button and enjoy All of the podcast never miss one podcast by subscribing. Let's move on to Return on life, which is really what this podcast is all about and absolutely just a bit of background on that I chased the ROI year after year after year which was fantastic, but at some point you just Realized that there's something more than money which was life And so that's where I coined the return on life and then this podcast camera that so when you hear return on life Thomas What does that mean to you? What does that mean to you?

33:15I mean for me it means being as productive as you can with the time that you've got and it means Choosing to dedicate the time that you can towards the things that are most important to you while still fulfilling your obligations as You know member of society you do your work you pay your bills you pay your taxes You spend the time you can with your family and if you're lucky enough along the way You're working on something that you're passionate about and that you care about and in my case I am so I have that sense a good return on life time management is something I'll still work on Hmm, you know, but you make a great point there when I when I ask that question often people go to Zen mode they go to the beach Sitting on the beach with a my tie that is what they Think of when they hear return on life, but what you shared was no I'm in a passion lane that I love and it could include work It could include work and a busy busy schedule, but I'm getting so much out of this time

34:18In life that it is super valuable and I've often said this guys return of life can mean Everything from you know, you're all in on your your startup and you're actually pounding in 16 to 18 hours a day To yeah sitting on the beach with a my tie because it is different for everyone So I really appreciate your your response to that It is yeah, I mean there's that balance though We are fortunate enough to take some time when we can to go on a vacation this year it was Italy next year It'll be Japan We we value those experiences and times and It adds obviously to our lives and it enriches the life and experiences of our our son So that's something that I I do value absolutely that's amazing. I really appreciate you sharing that You know one of the things that I've done in my life and I've always Encouraged everybody that I coach you mentor is to actually build out your calendar Here we are in the month of December build out your calendar already for next year and put all the most important things on the calendar

35:25Which is a trip with your family that's pretty important stuff Absolutely hey for that trip today So you can't wiggle your way out of that deal out of that deal with your family and out of that trip And so I really appreciate you sharing that that's what you're doing. You've got a trip plan to Japan That's awesome. I want to go to it is awesome. I do love that I will say that that I've been not great with a lot of things but but not canceling Is been a core part of my career in my in my life choices Um, you know, I think there's been only a couple of times that I've I've ever had to pull out of A short trip or or something like that for work and I've you know been through careers and spaces where that is Not very common. I've worked with people who always prioritized work over everything else and um You know, they they financially did very well for themselves And I hope that they've enjoyed the fruits of that labor, but I I always think that there is an importance to having some balance and

36:27I encourage every one of our employees and team members to get out there and do the same Book your time off spend that time do something recharge It'll break give you that energy that you need to come back enthusiastic and and willing to bring something to the table yourself As you're you're back at work. Yeah, you know, we need to really press this point um You're not to pronounce you're a realtor. You're a business owner Do not do not bail on that trip that is planned that is so so important for your Your your sanity to recharge your your batteries the emotional piece the creativity the creativity that comes out of getting away from work Is incredible. So this is really about return on life, but it's also about bringing life to your business Whatever your business is so super super important great share great share um legacy Family return on life

37:27How do you see that all playing out for you and do you ever do long-term goal planning um geno wickman Which is a great book called shine he wrote shine and he talks about 10-year Gold the 10-year goal so he goes out 10 years and the reverse engineers it and And weekly he goes through that 10-year goal I think he goes through it almost daily and after reread the book again just to make sure But I know they go through that 10-year goal often and reverse engineers it in his mind Do you have any Long-term legacy goals for you and your family? I'm not as uh I'm not as focused on an end point. I think as I am on the process Um for me it's about making sure that we're we're working towards something that we think Is good and for me it's it's trying to build things that I think should exist and um, you know That is not the easiest path you've had guests on your show that said Come out and said directly I don't build anything new I do what works and I do it over and over again and uh good for them

38:30I think that's great if that if that's the formula to their success and building their legacy That's fantastic for me. It's it's this should exist. I will it doesn't I will go make it happen and um You know for me that's that's the reward um, you know the fact that i'm Responsible for a team of people. I take very seriously um That is I think the biggest burden on an entrepreneur or anybody that's that's running a small business is the fact that You're not just responsible for yourself. You're responsible for them too and um and that way is particularly at times when when Capital is not easily to come by uh, but You know, I think at every stage uh of a company's growth there's opportunity and uh for me that that's the most important part Right That is great great. So we'll finish on there But I just want you to maybe give a little bit of a plug about Ely report Maybe share a little bit why it's so important for real estate agents and then we'll go into speed round

39:32Let's talk about their return on life, right? I mean they've they've got clients. They're buying their selling um We don't help with uh with the tax tones. There's just not the Availability of documentation on them But anytime there's a multi-family situation and you've got condo documents Stratodocuments um, you know, you're delving with anywhere from 400 to a thousand pages of minutes Phyla's rules depreciation for research studies warranty reports goes on and on um It's a lot our tool takes that and distilled it down to what matters Helps you get through that information and can bay it succinctly share it with your clients add your comments leverage your expertise Doesn't relieve you from your responsibility to know what's in those documents But it makes it so much quicker for you to do it. We'll take that three-hour task down to a matter of minutes And you'll you'll look great. So that's why we built Ely report I think that the the layers that we're going on to now to add value to those communities I think is even higher we've started partnering with

40:33Insurance companies who are are are saving these owners Big money on one of the largest line items on their budget Um, and and we're now starting to do that with others that serve All of these condo owners and communities. So there's my plug. I think it's a great tool For for you whether you're a buyer a realtor A property manager or another stakeholder in that industry right? I think you could have the tagline for the Ely report as return on life For sure Hey subscribe button is below if you like what you hear please please subscribe So we're going to go into speed round speed round here we go. Are you ready Thomas? I'm ready Awesome text email face-to-face or a phone call Oh, you know what I love email on that old but it doesn't work anymore People get hit with too many emails you you've got to try and get them on the phone and eventually me face-to-face For anything that happened. So um, well, we're a remote team. We do everything digitally

41:34I'm going to have to admit that that email is is not what it used to be. You got to connect with people right? I'm take out Find dining Uber eats or a home cook meal Oh, that's a tougher one than you'd think my wife is an amazing cook. She's Persian and I love Persian food very underrated um But for my son's sake, it would be fine dining He found that he's quite a foodie and he's he's really bought into those Experiences and 11 years old. He's a foodie You know, it was March of 2020 and I think you know something was going down at that time We were over in the UK and everyone got the call to come home Um, we ended up spending a weekend cornwall as we waited for our return flight Accelerator return flight to happen and we ate at Outlaws kitchen and my son became a foodie just like that. So

42:37That's awesome either a favorite band or favorite movie Oh um, I I love Shawshank redemption and I know too many people do so you know That's that's maybe a bit but it's it's a great story. That is a great great movie. Yes, underdog, right redemption Absolutely you betcha book audio or podcast Well now it's all podcast I told you I don't have the time to to read the books. I used to listen to audible on my way to and from work on a commute I don't commute so now I get podcasts. They're great Well, and there's so many great platforms now that actually summarize a book in 20 minutes Yeah, and um, you know, I've been doing some of that. It isn't the same, but You know, you get to read two or three books or listen to two or three summaries of books a day, which is pretty pretty incredible Last question last question a bit of a trick one

43:38If you were a scratch and sniff sticker A scratch and sniff sticker Thomas and I rubbed your shoulder. What would I smell? I'm hoping you would get some vanilla with coffee beans, you know, there's something about that combination that Um, it really hits so That makes me warm in the heart that certainly does yes Thomas you've been an awesome guest and you've brought so much value to our listeners Talking about the Eli report. You're an amazing individual dynamic and I so appreciate you being on our podcast return-to-life podcast And Randy thank you for making return on life a greater focus for us I think that we do overlook it in our daily lives. Thank you Hey, thank you for joining me on the return-to-life podcast. I'm excited that you're here I need you to hit the subscribe button on the youtube channel and follow us on Spotify and Apple podcasts Comments reviews Guest that you think should be on this would be so important for us

44:41So we want to hear from you as well And of course we're on all the social platforms where we are always discussing everything that is above that R.O.L Return on life